#total potato quality and then some

[nhaneh]

Played the original but on the PC lmao

Well, it has been a mixed decision to not put FFVII on the poll for favorite final fantasy games.

I gave my reasoning as it was more recent, by which I meant, between the nostalgia for the original and the new fans brought in by remasters remasters it would probably dominate, and while other games have remasters, VIIs are significantly different to be a new category for me.

As I only had 12 spots on the poll, I decided not to include it on that particular poll,and include it in a future one if the poll was popular. And I'm amazed at how popular it was, and how many nice things people have said in the reblogs.

I was going to do this later, but the time seems right for now. So, throwing in everything but the movies-

*I know that the later games come out on more systems, I'm just keeping it simple and sticking to play stations and mobiles.

*Oh yah, I now remember why I was going to wait. I meant to include Rebirth. Oh well, that can go in a future poll about spinoffs/ sequels and the like

Feel free to give reasons or fond memories in the notes or reblogs.

If you haven't voted already, here's the poll for favorite final fantasy game. (Its the first. Other games like tactics will show up in future polls)

[sunsetsimon]

i love your stuff about big eater simon with a reader who doesn't eat a lot, but i was wondering if you could do something with a reader whose appetite is as big as his?

☼ quality time is simon’s main love language, and eating is one of his favorite things to do, so being able to have you keep up with him in terms of appetite? he’s even more in love than he already was before.

it’s no surprise that a man his size with his lifestyle has to eat a lot to maintain himself, but i think people underestimate how much simon can really eat.

he’s not big on eating out, so most meals he’s making himself unless you offer to cook instead. a normal breakfast for him would consist of 5 or 6 eggs scrambled (or over-easy depending on his mood), at least 4 links of sausage, a side of potatoes, and some mixed veggies. sometimes he’ll even have baked beans and toast as well before topping it off with a homemade protein shake.

your grocery bill is hundreds because of how much the two of you eat, which he pays for of course, but he tries to be really good about using all the ingredients you already have at home to not be wasteful.

☼ so when big si is scarfing down his breakfast, his heart just swells seeing you keeping up with him. it’s a bonding experience for him to sit next to you while eating meals, talking about your day or watching a show in between each bite. your plate isn’t as big as his of course, but watching you eat a bigger amount of food makes him feel whole. simon just wants you to be happy and healthy, and knowing you’re eating well just marks those things off of his list.

plus he has so much fun cooking with you! he isn’t the best chef and only has a few things he knows how to make, but being led in the kitchen by you is so hot to him. he's a man who can take orders, but fuck they're so much better when they come from you.

☼ he eats pretty healthily for the most part, but he loves snacking. you can't be sitting on the couch for more than 10 minutes before he's standing up, "do you want some donuts, love?"

"simon we just ate dinner 20 minutes ago."

"okay... so is that a no?"

"hmm.. no, give me a few."

he chuckles as he already knew your answer, grabbing his favorite snack of white powdered donuts and cold milk to share with you. the entire bag ends up gone in that one sitting, and he just complains about how it's not his fault because they're so small! even though he purposely grabs the mini's every time, saying it'll make him eat less - yeah right.

☼ it's a breath of fresh air for him to be with someone who doesn't judge him on his consumption, he's just a big hungry man. although he has normal confidence and understands he has to eat a lot to maintain his shape, it can make anyone feel a bit insecure hearing comments of "wow you're eating all of that?!" si loves to indulge on anything food related, so the second you mention wanting something he's ready to go get it!

☼ also, he totally studies the menu before he goes anywhere new. opening the safari app on his phone, there's at least 1 menu to a restaurant in his tabs at all times. while trying to choose where to go for your dinner date, he's searching every restaurant, naming dishes off the menu he thinks you'd like. the choice is always yours though! he just wants to eat with you :)

[inclosedwalldelusion]

40 sentences that will teach you more about nutrition than a $400,000 medical degree

From Brett Boettcher @brettboettcher1

40 sentences that will teach you more about nutrition than a $400,000 medical degree.

1) Meat, eggs and animal organs are the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.

2) Bone broth is loaded in collagen and helps repair the gut so you can heal from the inside out.

3) Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease, insulin resistance does.

4) Your ratio of triglycerides to HDL is a great indicator of mortality risk; the lower the better. ·

5) Protein is the most metabolically active macronutrient and it isn’t bad for your kidneys.

6) There isn’t quality evidence to show that dietary cholesterol impacts the cholesterol in your blood. ·

7) There is even less evidence to support that total cholesterol is bad for your health since it is inversely correlated to mortality risk. · 4h 8) Walking before and after meals is a great way to improve digestion and reduce blood sugar spikes.

9) Fiber is the last thing you need if you have IBS or diverticulitis.

10) Dairy is great for your health and its saturated fat intake is inversely correlated to heart disease.

11) Most nutritional recommendations were introduced based on profit margins, not health outcomes.

12) Calories in and calories out is all that matter, but some calories make you hungrier (sugar/grains). Other calories (protein) help you burn more calories.

13) Multi grain just means they took 2+ different terrible sources of grain and put them together into one product.

14) Cereal and bread for breakfast will spike your blood sugar and have you starving before lunch. Try Greek yogurt or eggs instead. ·

15) “Intuitive eating” and “listen to your body” makes no sense considering 88% of people are metabolically unhealthy and addicted to food. No one would say “intuitive crack use.”

16) Eating is a stress on your body; The less often you can eat, the healthier you’ll be.

17) Plan your meals around the protein source (with its natural fat) and add a small side of carbs if needed.

18) Eating for satiety is more important than relying constantly on willpower. Find filling foods and avoid foods with addictive properties (ultra-processed).

19) You don’t have to know how to cook. Grill a meat, sauté a green vegetable, bake a potato. Mix and match a million ways.

20) Eating many of the same foods every week isn’t perfectly optimal but it’s likely your best path to consistency and therefore success. ·

21) Becoming more insulin sensitive should be the focus of any health-related nutrition plan.

22) Salad dressings are one of the worst things you can eat for your health. High in calories and inflammatory industrial oils.

23) Eating 5x per day won’t boost your metabolism. If you are trying to gain weight, it’s an excellent strategy.

24) Bacon can be healthy, just avoid the processing with nitrates.

25) Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt are two of the best sources of protein per calorie.

26) Carbs are beneficial around a workout. But many sources of carbs are processed and easily overeaten. Focus on single ingredient foods.

27) You can’t be healthy at any size no matter what your mother or liberal arts professor said.

28) Eat a high protein meal before attending social events that are filled with junk food.

29) If eating out, order the food with the highest protein content.

30) The #1 reason people fail is that they don’t prepare. Meal prep, meal plan, have ready to eat protein sources. · 31) The food you eat directly impacts your mental health and processed foods are correlated with depression and mental illness.

32) Processed foods have been engineered to be as addicting as possible. Your taste buds can be retrained with natural sources.

33) “Plant-based” foods are made in laboratories and are an easy way to sell overpriced junk to consumers at high margin.

34) Eating 1 gram of protein per lb of ideal body weight daily will do more for your body composition than spending 30 minutes on the treadmill.

35) When in doubt, if it comes from the center aisles of the grocery store or has more than 3 ingredients, it’s not good for you.

36) Many foods labeled as “keto” “paleo” or “high protein” are far from meeting the intended definition.

37) Your gut is responsible for 70% of your immune system; feeding it sugar and other inflammatory foods is making you sick now and later.

38) Genetics play a role but over 90% of the country has a resting metabolism within 500 calories daily. Being fit is possible for everyone.

39) Flipping the food pyramid upside down is closer to healthy eating than the traditional suggestions.

40) Eliminating drinking your calories is the first change to make when trying to improve your health.

[mint-8]

Platonic! Yandere PVZ Plants x GN! Gardener/Neighbor! Reader

Platonic! Yandere Sunflower

- Yandere Sunflower enjoys spending quality time with you! Whether you are working in the garden, doing some other work, or simply chilling under the sun, Yandere Sunflower will make sure to be by your side at all times!

- Yandere Sunflower's favorite activity is singing! They will sing whatever songs you favor and will be delighted if you sing alongside them! Even if you are not the best at it, Yandere Sunflower will be there to cheer you on and practice! They are even willing to let the other plants hear your melodic voice, but only if you promise you'll spend extra special time with them later, ok?

- Yandere Sunflower also loves seeing you dance around the lawn. They are definitely going to make you the star of their reality show when it finally airs. It's going to be a huge hit, they promise!

- Yandere Sunflower who really appreciates you sitting to bask the sun with them and simply... talk. It can be pretty chaotic with the constant zombie hordes and Crazy Dave's antics, but Yandere Sunflower finds solace in the fact that they were one of your very first plants. I mean, Peashooter was there too, but... without them, you'll be completely defenseless against the undead! You need them after all! It's comforting, knowing that very few plants will provide you with the sun necessary to fight and protect your house... it makes them feel needed and loved.

- Yandere Sunflower who gets along well with everyone else in the garden, especially their close friend group: Peashooter, Wall-nut, and Potato Mine. Yandere Sunflower knows them the best and trusts them completely to keep you safe. And you know the saying, best plants stick together :)

Platonic! Yandere Peashooter

- Yandere Peashooter, like many other plants in your garden, has a strong will to protect you, their dear gardener. They make sure to practice their pea throwing abilities every day and encourage the rest of the plants to do the same!

- Yandere Peashooter who acts like a proper, hardworking leader to the many plants in your house, but who in private acts like a diva and is completely spoiled in your affections and time. They are willing to share, but only to those close to them, and even then, Yandere Peashooter might act a bit hurt and annoyed when you come by to cut their leaves or water their roots.

- Yandere Peashooter who gains so much pride from being your very first attacker plant, knowing they hold that special place in your heart and memory bank, helps them go through the tough times, so they take that pride and convert it into energy to defend you from those putrid zombies!

- Yandere Peashooter who loves it when you spoil them with affection, but more often than not, also simply enjoys watching you do your chores around the house. You are always so diligent and focused when taking care of them and the rest of the plants, which inspires them to uphold such discipline as well when in front of others!

- Yandere Peashooter will only ever trust their 3 best friends: Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Potato Mine, with their dark secrets and knowledge of their obsession. They might not be the strongest plant, but they are a veteran in this war, and they know exactly where to hit, so it hurts the most.

Platonic! Yandere Wall-nut

- Yandere Wall-nut is a total sweetheart who is a great listener to you, their beloved gardener, and who happily accepts their role as a defensive plant to protect the rest of the garden! They are very selfless and are more than willing to sacrifice their entire body (literally) for the greater good (that being your protection, of course).

- Yandere Wall-nut enjoys spending time with you, like any other plant. But they would rather let you use them for any purpose you might have! As a feet recliner, as a cup holder, as a resting stool... you can use them for anything! But you are so kind to them gardener, you always sit by them and talk about your day. You are just the sweetest.

- Yandere Wall-nut doesn't mind feeling the teeth of the undead violently chewing and ripping off their shell, thankfully they can't feel that much, so it's just like a massage! But they hate seeing you sad and frustrated whenever you place them to protect the other plants. It makes them sad. Wouldn't you rather let loose of that frustration on them?

- Yandere Wall-nut is so desperate to please you that they are more than willing to become your stress toy. No, really. You can kick them, throw stuff at them, and even try to set them on fire! Yandere Wall-nut wouldn't mind too much... if it means feeling such light pain will result in your happy smile, then they can easily make that small sacrifice. Plus... you are paying attention to them... you are touching them with such fervor... it's totally worth it ♡

Platonic! Yandere Potato Mine

- Yandere Potato Mine enjoys the silence and calmness when they aren't fighting hordes of zombies. They enjoy simply taking in the sun and watching you work around the garden, usually without you noticing. They can be very sneaky if they wish to, but feeling your lovely kisses and pats whenever they do a good job battling the undead makes them feel butterflies, which will usually flare up their antenna.

- Yandere Potato Mine enjoys your attention and your love, but they prefer watching from afar. Or rather, from below. They usually don't hang out with the other plants that much. Aside from some insta-kills specimens and their close friend group, Yandere Potato Mine can usually be found sleeping and enjoying the sun whenever they are not stalking their favorite person in the whole world.

- Yandere Potato Mine who works best as an intelligence gatherer whenever Peashooter, Sunflower, or Wall-nut aren't able to find you. They can put their faith that Yandere Potato Mine will always know where you are and report back. They are great at blending with the environment. After all, they've had plenty of practice.

[monimccoythings]

Tiny and cute!

Here I come with a new one! Thanks to all the shitposts that give me life and inspiration to write this! I think this might be the last one I write of this series for now, because I’m literally out of ideas lol. But it has been really really fun. I really enjoyed it. But don’t worry, I’ll keep posting if I get more ideas.

Ayyy lmao when I get a better quality of the angery boi in a pickle jar I update it. This contains spoilers!!! If you haven’t watched the movie yet, go and watch it now! It’s worth it!

Previous parts: 1 and 2

Next parts: 4 and 5

tags: @loveforfandomsstuff @harpy-space​

After so many tiring weeks working your ass off for the minimum wage, you finally got a very well deserved vacation. Which you were totally planning to spend with your friends and your little pal.

He was such a grumpy pants, he cussed you whenever you came close, but deep down inside his little black heart you knew he craved the attention. If only he didn’t try to bite your fingers with his hampter teef.

So, you, Peach, Mario, Luigi and Toad set off on a journey to the Kong Kingdom, a tropical paradise, for a week of unashamedly lazing off. Since nobody trusted Bowser to be left on his own without causing a ruckus (throwing the piano over and over again against the bars of the cage), you so kindly offered to bring him along in a pet carrier. Oh he was big mad now.

Didn’t help that you kept feeding him apple slices through the bars saying “does the Big Boy want his appy slices?” and it certainly didn’t help either that the Big Boy really wanted his appy slices. To make up for the embarrasment, maybe you’d let him take a sip of your Caipiranha plant cocktail.

The Kong Kingdom was something you wouldn’t have even imagined in a thousand years, and you came from the Mushroom Kingdom. Throw tropical paradise, with Aztec aesthetic and Nash Car in a blender, mix it, and that’s what you get.

One of the Kongs kindly took you all to your huts and very wisely ignored all the Traffic regulations and laws of safe driving, which moved you so much, you spent the entire journey with tears in your eyes and your mouth open in a never ending scream of pure terror.  Yeah, next time you were walking.

One of the most peculiar traditions of the Kongs that you experienced there was some kind of tournament in a stage that was literally floating on air. You had to say it was a bit awkward when the kinda handsome? and cocky prince of the Kongs invited you all over to ‘smash’. Oh well, it would be way too difficult and weird to explain it to them anyways, and quoting Mario, ‘that was a pipe that wasn’t worth exploring’.

The tournament was like watching a real gladiator battle, but the gladiators had superpowers, and they were monkeys. Of course DK won, since, until Mario, he was the undefeated champion. He was a show off, you were truly impressed and cheering for him. He sent a flirtatious wink your way. And a loud thump was heard from inside the carrier. Awww, potato man didn’t want anybody else catching your attention. That was so sweet of him, actually.

The truth was, that despite this being a bit of a holiday, the real reason you all were there was because the turtle had to answer for his crimes against the Kong Kingdom. Godzilla v. Kong. It was jury duty for your friends, yaaayy.

Apparently Bowser didn’t get the memo. He was absolutely angery, screaming, raging, fighting. There was no way to handle him. To try an coerce him out of the carrier and into a proper cage was a task no Kong was patient enough to endure.

Would have it been easier to handle if he had remained in his temporary enclosure? Yeah, it would, but Kongs were monkeys with deeply rooted traditions, and if the teeny mutant ninja toitle had to be in a cage on the witness stand, then he would be in it, conscious or not. Looks like they had very little regard for the rules of the courtroom, but he had tried to kill them, so they were even.

Nobody took into account the possibility that he would manage to break free and make a run for the entrance. Tbh, it was kinda sad to watch him give the effort of his life trying to get to a door that was like ten feet away from where you all were. Still, no Kong was able to lay a hand on him, given how slow he was and how eager he seemed in getting hit, it was as if they were avoiding him on purpose. Peach would later explain you that given the nature of the power up, if he got hit in any way the mushroom would loose its effect and would turn him back to his original size, which was a big nope.

While the jury was debating wheter let him enjoy what little freedom he would have before he was tricked back into the pet carrier or just pick him and finish it, you had a moment of enlightment. That was it, the moment you had been waiting for for the last months, what you had unconsciously been training for your entire life. This was your moment to shine, your moment to be the hero, your moment to-

“Look at you so tiny and cute!” You gushed, picking him up, mindful of the spikes in his shell. He wiggled, trying to be set free and demanding you to put him down that instant or throw him as hard as you could against the wall. But the only thing you wanted to do was...

* smooch * You kissed the tip of his nose. You had been wanting to boop it since day one, and its scales were as soft as you had imagined. Your life dream had been achieved.

Bowser went very still in your hold. His eyes were wide and his pupils had shrunk with shock. The Kongs looked horrified at you so casually holding a narcissistic and psychotic tyrant like a pet, Peach was awkardly smiling at the eldest Kong, Cranky, while Mario and DK were trying as hard as they could to not burst out laughing. Luigi quietly snapped a pic and quickly hid the phone in his overalls, when the guards shot him dirty looks.

It were a couple of uncomfortable minutes that felt like years for all of you, until someone decided to clear their throat, snapping all out of their stupor. Bowser was still frozen so putting him inside the cage was easy. And so, the trial went on without any more disturbances. Whetever the sentence was, he didn’t hear it, nor did he care. Because his mind was occupied by something else. The kiss.

BONUS SCENE

You didn’t know how it had all started but suddenly there was a loud explosion and the entire castle was on flames. Tumbling, you made your way through a bunch of screaming toads towards the source of the blast. Because you perfectly knew where it had started.

The thick smoke made your eyes watery and you blinked several times, trying to clear your vision through the tears. You coughed several times, your lungs ached and you felt like you were going to pass out at any given moment. But you had to keep going fowards, make sure everyone got out safe. And by everyone you meant every single one of the creatures inhabiting this castle.

Finally, you reached the giantic doors. Exhausted, you tripped and desperately clinged onto the golden knobs, burnng your palms in the process due to the overheated metal. Thankfully, your weight was enough to pull the doorknob and push the door open.

You fell against the cracked marble floor, the only things in front of you were the dark columns of smoke that clouded your vision and the burning roar of the flames in your ears. Until, you saw it.

A gigantic dark shadow with glowing red eyes pulled out from the darkest of nightmarish Hells. The eyes burned with a flaming passion and seemed to be piercing your soul. For the first time in a long time, you felt true fear running through your veins. Still, you were too stunned to move.

A low rumble came out of that disturbing sight. It started to approach you, with every step it took the ground shook, and the less time you had to make a run for it. A shiver ran down your spine at the thought that were you brave enough to run, this monster would catch you in a matter of seconds despite its size.

A sob got caught in your throat when the smoke cleared and you got to see the owner of those eyes.

Your little fella. Your beloved tiny musical tot that played piano. Literally everyone’s warnings against him suddenly came to mind. He was not so little now.

Bowser extended one hulking arm, and with one of his meaty fingers, he dragged a claw through your collarbone without breaking the skin, like some twisted version of a caress. He let out a low purr, certainly deepest than it had sounded merely days ago. “Look at you...So tiny and cute...”

[wolfes]

NEW EDITOR 101: A GUIDE FOR GIFMAKERS by v @shangs

Hi friends! I know I said I would do this way back in April/May when this change was announced but I've been massively busy lately so thank you all for being patient with me :)

Based on the results of this poll, I will be trying my level best to help make a guide for gifmakers to best deal with any problems that have been present with the new editor. However, it's worth noting that I have personally not experienced any of these problems myself and I have no record of any problems from other people that I could send to staff and get guidance on, so for some of these issues I will unfortunately be a broken record.

That being said, I have been using the new editor for a few months now and it hasn't been too bad. So don't be discouraged by the new editor if you still love to make gifs and share them. You may need to adapt a bit, but it's doable!

This is meant to be comprehensive and will be explanation and image heavy. Full guide under the cut.

CONTENTS:

What is the new editor?

Steps to take before posting

Making a post

Troubleshooting

01. WHAT IS THE NEW EDITOR?

Some of you may be asking yourselves what the point of the new editor even is and why it's being implemented in the first place when we already had a (mostly) functional editor. My very limited understanding of it as a CS student is app compatibility and flexibility. I'm not totally clear on the details nor am I 100% certain this is the case, but NPF posts (basically, posts made with the "new editor") first started with the mobile app. I'm unsure if the different post types were simply too unwieldy to transfer to the app - having to make a whole bunch of post types when with the new editor you can now have posts with any elements you want without the rigidity of a set post type - or if it was simply not able to be implemented, but the apps have always used NPF. The majority of Tumblr users are coming from the mobile apps. Then it became a case of having the legacy editor for the web users (which were fewer in number) and the new NPF editor for everyone else. That takes resources to keep around and it's pretty inefficient. Naturally the older editor that was used by less people was going to get the axe, especially since you couldn't tell on mobile that there was even a difference between NPF or legacy posts.

So now here we are and the posts are NPF. This means they're in "Neue Post Format." Basically, every post you make is by default a text post, containing "blocks" of other media - as gifmakers we will primarily be dealing with photos.

I understand that it's frustrating to many to see "our gifs are now rendered as text posts" and ask WHY it's happening when photos should logically be rendered as photo posts - but the fact is, there's now no real delineation between a "text post" and a "photo post." The reason NPF posts are now "text posts" is because that's how they are rendered for desktop themes, not because everyone is going to see your post as text and your gifs are going to be compressed into the quality of a potato (though I know some have seen this issue - more on that later.)

02. STEPS TO TAKE BEFORE POSTING

The long and short of it is that you may have to update your theme. More detail here for those who are interested, but check that your theme supports "new editor posts" or "NPF posts" AND that this is true for original posts (you can read more about why in this ask and, although this may be a bit time-consuming, test it out on your blog). I can say with certainty that my second theme Cygnus supports original NPF posts. This is NOT true of my first theme, though.

You can try to add the NPF Fix by @glenthemes to your own theme (beware if you don't know HTML/CSS) or try this tip by @burningblake for original posts.

Feel free to add theme makers with fully NPF-compatible themes in the notes! I have been happily using my own theme so I can't say to what degree others' themes are NPF-friendly.

03. MAKING A POST

If you're sticking around to post on the new editor and you have trouble ordering your gifs around, here's a little guide on how to post.

If I click on "Photo" from web and open up the editor, here's how it looks:

I went ahead and added three full-width gifs and the editor put them in like so:

You'll most likely also have to order your gifs around in the way you want them. You can go ahead and hover over your gifs to see the button to orient them (the four dots in the top left corner) and the button for an image description (the three dots in the bottom right corner). I've attached images of all three below:

If you hold the orientation button, move your gif around until you see the blue line that shows where your gif will end up in the spot that you want it. For example, I wanted to move the second gif below the first one, so I oriented it so that the blue line would show the marker between the two gifs:

Now my gifs are oriented nicely! Of course, this is a simpler layout, but the principles still hold.

If you save your gifs as a draft and reopen them or you just notice a large gap like this in between your gifs when you're in the editor, don't worry.

This will not show up in dash view or on a desktop theme that supports original NPF posts. For example, this is how the gifs' gap (without modification) looked in my desktop theme:

With your gifs ordered, the final step is to add alt text. You can read more about alt text and why you should use it here. (Feel free to ignore the sections about the captions on the legacy editor since it is no longer relevant. It's also unnecessary to clearly mark descriptions if they're not in the caption of your post because they will clearly show up under "ALT" on Tumblr.)

If you click the three dots in the bottom right corner as seen above, and click "update image description:"

You can add the description you like and click "update." Your photos' alt text will show up under the "ALT" bubble on Tumblr. This is generally a good practice to get into to make your content more accessible, so I hope you guys will consider using alt text regularly :)

Also, I've noticed that in the editor, if you go back and edit something it will take some time to show up. You may have to refresh the page or load it again after some time, but your edits should be there. I would not go back and edit posts again if you see your posts haven't shown up. I also advise against editing your posts on mobile because it's easier to make a mistake.

And there you go, you've successfully made a post with the new editor!

04. TROUBLESHOOTING

I'm sure you've all been waiting for this. Unfortunately I am probably going to be extremely unhelpful if the editor hasn't been refined in the last few months for those experiencing issues. I'm going to go in the categories that I listed out in my original poll, but keep in mind that I haven't personally seen any of these issues on my end so I haven't been able to contact staff with any evidence that this happened other than my poll.

Dashboard view quality issues: I haven't noticed this issue. I'm not sure if this has been fixed since the original poll was posted. If you're experiencing this issue, this is not something I know how to fix so I would contact staff with screenshots of the issue.

Desktop theme side padding: As noted before, this is a theme issue. If you change themes to something that is NPF-compatible with original posts, there shouldn't be any more issues here.

Small gifs on mobile: In my experience this was happening regardless of what editor was used; it's a bug that seems to have been fixed since this poll was created. If you're still experiencing it, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I would advise contacting staff.

New editor doesn't accept gifs of size 9.8MB < x < 10MB: I haven't experienced this issue so I would say the only workaround would be to either trim the size of your gif so that it is under 9.8MB or whatever threshold seems to be the cutoff or contact staff (I am so sorry for constantly having to suggest this 😭 unfortunately there's no trick I can offer because the new editor has been taking all my gifs just fine)

Logistical issues ordering gifsets: I hope this guide has been able to answer the majority of questions and shed some light on some of the more buggy behaviors of the new editor, but if you have any more specific questions you can feel free to shoot me an ask!

HTML issues / colored text: Unfortunately it seems colored text may be deprecated entirely? This could be for accessibility purposes because I believe screen readers would read out every single letter of gradient text in captions which I imagine can get quite frustrating for users of this technology. I recommend just using the normal rich text editor. If you want small text, you can highlight and click the <s> button!

Other: If it seems like something I may be able to answer, please feel free to ask me. Otherwise... hound staff 😭

Here's where you can hound staff, btw. If you're having major issues I would advise you guys to submit support tickets. That way if there are any widespread bugs, staff will hopefully be able to fix them.

I hope this guide was helpful to you guys in dealing with the new editor, and happy giffing <3

[hopeful-engineer]

🌞 Self-care vs. self-indulgence vs. avoidance

Sometimes it may be a hard to swallow pill, but there's a difference between self-care and self-indulgence:

🍭 self-indulgence: spending too much money on stuff you want, but don't really need, like clothes you'll wear twice and then leave in your closet, where all they do is take up space, books you'll never read, subscriptions you'll forget about

✨ self-care: saving money; planning your budget; buying less, but better quality; thinking twice, before buying something you want, but don't need: "Will I really use it? Do I have enough money to buy it, without worrying, that I won't have enough to buy something more important? I want it now, but will I still want it tomorrow?" (note: I didn't write "don't buy anything except necessities" anywhere. Buy the stuff you want, but do it consciously, plan it and think before buying.)

🍭 self-indulgence: eating fast food and unhealthy snacks; drinking soda pop, energy drinks, tea with a lot of sugar, or too much coffee; adding sugar to everything; drinking too much alcohol

✨ self-care: eating as healthy as possible; learning to cook; avoiding fast food, sweets, potato chips and other unhealthy snacks; reducing your sugar intake; drinking water, fruit juices, tea without added sugar; planning your meals; buying natural food (note: It doesn't mean "never eat anything unhealthy again, never add sugar to anything, never drink alcohol". You can treat yourself with some pizza, or sweets, or beer sometimes, but it should be a treat, not part of your everyday meals.)

🍭 self-indulgence: staying up until 3 AM to watch films/series, play computer games, browse social media, chat with someone, or even to do something, that doesn't involve technology, for example draw or read books; sleeping until 11 AM, because you went to bed too late; sleeping 12 hours at the weekend, because you slept 4 hours a day during the week; hitting the snooze button; laying in the bed for too long after waking up

✨ self-care: fixing your sleep schedule; waking up earlier; going to bed earlier; sleeping 7 to 9 hours every day; avoiding all-nighters; having a fixed wake up time and a fixed bedtime, the same every day, including weekends; getting out of bed immediately when your alarm clock rings (note: I know there are circumstances, that can mąkę having a fixed sleep schedule is impossible, or next to impossible, I also know in some situations it's totally normal to stay up late, like you don't have to leave a party at 9 PM just because you want to stick to your sleep schedule, that would be unreasonable. Do it the best you can under your current life circumstances, and remember, this is about everyday life, not some rare exceptions.)

There's also a difference between self-care and avoidance:

😨 avoidance: staying home all the time; not going to any events, because meeting new people is stressful; always declinig your friends' invitations

✨ self-care: not going to that big, loud party, because it's too overwhelming, but going to a pub with a few friends instead; inviting your friends to your home, when going out feels too stressful; declinig some invitations, when you don't have time and/or energy, but accepting others, when you feel better and have more time; gradually increasing the number of social interactions you have, to be able to meet new people with less stress

😨 avoidance: having no plans for the future; thinking, that there's no point in having any goals in life; telling yourself, that ambitions are generally pointless and hence you don't have to do anything and be good at anything

✨ self-care: having specific, short-term goals and an overall vision od your long-term future; knowing, what you really want to do and what you're good at, and sticking to these things; consciously choosing, what to learn and what to give up on, based on if it's important to you, not to other people; not distracting yourself with too many side plans, when you have one main goal; knowing, what is your passion and what is your ambition; knowing, that you are ambitious mainly for yourself, and only secondly for the society; believing, that you are capable of achieving your goals

😨 avoidance: not studying at all, because it takes time and energy; procrastinating until the last moment before the exam/test/project deadline; always talking the easiest way possible with no ambition beyond barely passing the exam/test; having no plan, no study schedule; never asking for help, even if you're failing, because you think asking for help is a shame, or you're simply too shy; dropping out of school/college because it's stressful

✨ self-care: knowing that you're studying for yourself, your grades don't define you and that real knowledge and skills are more important, than grades; focusing on these topics, that are important to you for your future studies/career, and being the best you can in these areas; being good enough to pass at everything, that isn't important for your future plans; planning your studying and starting early; taking regular breaks to avoid burnout; asking for help if necessary, but trying to do as much as possible and reasonable on your own; acknowledging that, despite the education system being flawed in so many ways, it also gives you many opportunities;

Of course, self-care includes bubble baths, eating cake, listening to your favourite music and slowly drinking tea, while watching the rain outside through the window and letting your thoughts wander, but these aren't only forms od self-care and definetely not the most important ones. Of course, sometimes it includes staying home with your cat instead of going to the party, sleeping in, instead of studying for an exam, because you're exhausted, or giving up on something, instead of trying again and again, but this should happen in some, specific situations, not be your default response. Real self-care should focus on improving your life, not escaping it or avoiding it.

This post doesn't mean, I'm perfect at all of these things. Actually I struggle a lot with many of them. This is a piece of advice for me, too.

[dozing-marshmallow]

Would it be alright of I request some headcannons for Chris x co-host reader? Where the reader enjoys the show/challenges the show puts the contestants through just as much as he does? Thx!! 💕

P.S. I really enjoy your writing!

Hi there! Absolutely! And thank you so much, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoy my writing! 😊 Enjoy!

CHRIS MCLEAN X CO-HOST READER HEADCANONS

Regardless of how high your reputation was, this was still Chris’ show; you were lucky to be on it. 

If he thought you were hogging the spotlight for too long, he wouldn’t hesitate to interrupt you mid sentence.

Alike the man in question, you had your humble introduction, and screen time explaining the concept of Total Drama to the audience alongside him.

You quickly became famous for interjecting Chris towards the end of his explanation of orders to the campers, with filthy suggestions that poured more weight on their behalf.

Wouldn’t help when you covered your lips in pretend apology.

Unlike Chris and Chef, who chose to eat in the separate tent away from the contestants, you went out of your way to eat in the mess hall, same time as them to rub it in their faces the better quality of food you got in comparison to theirs.

Some of the nicer contestants like Owen and Beth begged endearingly for a share, whilst some of the daring contestants such as Duncan and Leshawna spat curses on you.

Needless to mention, you never let them have that slice of heaven.

There was an episode where Chris let you have complete control over the challenge and whether or not it was a reward one.

“In spirit of the summer camp, I’ve decided on a gardening challenge.” You explain to him,“Each contestant will pick a seed to plant, and they will be given no instruction to what their seed will need in order to grow, so if they’re really stumped, they may be allowed to get a look at their respective seed guides or swap out their seed...in exchange of answering ten questions correctly. These questions can be about anything ranging from humanities to math. For that process, we’ll have them locked in a glass chamber with an easily accessible separate compartment above them filled with all attainable enemies of gardening. Fruit flies, mosquitos, lacewings etc.” 

You pause to look at Chris, seeing how he’s catching on where it’s going by his restless face expression,“For every question they answer wrong, the hatch will open automatically, slowly. First team that’s able to have all members grow something will win.”

“Wow! Okay, that’s a really good challenge idea. I’m surprised I didn’t come up with that!” Chris commended you, before he broke out into laughter,“It’ll boost the ratings for sure!” He notices your ready tray of seeds and begins reading out the labels,“Talipot palm... Raspberries... Potatoes... Tomatoes... Hey (Y/N)...” he finds you already beaming at him,“This is a guess...but don’t a lot of these seeds need at least a month to grow?”

“Exactly.”

Also known as the episode of which they do not speak of.

You never understood how in spite of that, you were still the more favourable host to the contestants.

Maybe because you weren’t as self centred as Chris?

Either way, you used every figment of hope to remind them that you aren’t there to make anything easier.

And you remained that way, up to where the show was supposed to be over, had it not been for Owen deciding to gamble his luck and kicking off a new game.

“Owen’s definitely lost his win now.” You comment wearily.

“Tell me about it.” Chris yawns,“I’m so bored. Wanna get back to the lodge?”

“Say no more.”

Long story short, you basically called it- not only did Owen lose his money, but thirteen other contestants got tied with him.

Given the situation, Chris declares a new immediate season, where you would be cued to open an empty briefcase for the producers to have someone edit wads of cash in.

However, you accidentally open up the wrong briefcase, this briefcase storing a pack of water snakes that slithered out onto the planks and into the lake, causing the contestants of the future season(apart from Izzy) to scream and frantically swim their way onto land.

It was a ridiculous scene, but what can be done? You and Chris laugh as the final episode of the season comes to a close.

You’re already looking forward to what happens next! And you have a good sensation the contestants feel the same.

[weaselle]

if you want to give a critique to an artist, but are worried about how it will come across, a great way to be super chill with feedback is to do these 3 things

if you have access to notes or comments or messages already left, just take a minute to scroll through them a bit. If a hundred people have already said "you suck at writing relatable characters" maybe your well meaning advice to write more relatable characters isn't appropriate anymore.

use a compliment sandwich

use "I" statements

Compliment sandwich is easy. Find two things you like about the piece, and put your critique between them.

Example:

"what a great story, i really enjoyed the setting you've provided for it. I had a hard time making a personal connection with some of the characters, but I love the twist ending!"

So, sure, critical feedback can be hard to make palatable, but you see how two thirds of this is actually positive feedback. And the part in the middle is gentled by using an "I" statement, which explicitly does not say anything bad about the writing or the author -- not connecting with the characters could be a personal failure on the part of the reader, and this statement is phrased to acknowledge that.

That's what makes "I" statements a little trickier. The first step is simple, start your feedback with "I" to help you frame it innocuously

So like instead of "You Need to Write More Relatable Characters" or "None of the Characters Are Relatable" i might say "I Had Trouble Relating to the Characters" In this way you are not asserting yourself as anything but The Expert in What You Have Experienced (which we all know is true) instead of telling someone what they did wrong or what they need to do, as if you are An Expert in What They Are Doing

And it's better quality information. Imagine I said "You have trouble writing relatable characters" or "These characters aren't relatable"

But maybe this artist has had 100 comments about Relatable Characters and 78% of them are about how relatable they are. That means i'm actually wrong. They have written pretty relatable characters. So i'd totally be wrong.

Plus i'd be wrong in an accusatory way, and "this is what you should have done/this is how you've messed up" is something any artist getting feedback (especially online) has to kind of shield themselves against. Everybody has a way they would have done it "better". And you especially have to find a way to not give your energy to people are both wrong and antagonistic online. So being accusatory and wrong, even accidentally, even with the best intentions, is a great way for me to get ignored, or, if i catch the artist in a vulnerable moment, get clapped back. Or if they are new or very sensitive, hurt their feelings.

Whereas "I had trouble relating to the characters" is just, an accurate depiction of your experience. "I didn't notice the stop sign" doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with the stop sign. Sure if a number of people say it, maybe do a little check up on the sign's visibility. But at the same time, "i didn't notice the stop sign" doesn't say the stop sign is wrong in any way, like, maybe you were just thinking about mashed potatoes and didn't notice the clearly visible sign, who is to say.

And that makes you helpful. Even if 78% of the responses that deal with character relate-ability are "these characters are so relatable" if, say, 17% of them are along the lines of "i had trouble relating to several of the characters, I didn't make a personal connection with them before moving on to the next character" it might help that author really dial in their characters for that story.

Now, just beginning your sentence with the word "I" doesn't make it what we're looking for, it's just a great place to start. What you're trying to make sure you do is Only Describe Your Experience, without giving advice or rendering judgement on quality or technique. Especially avoid anything that says "you should". Even indirectly.

You might be tempted to tell them something like "I feel like if I had more time with each character i would connect with them better" ... but this isn't actually the kind of "I" statement we want.

It's the same as saying "I feel like you should spend more time on each character" which is just putting "I feel" in front of a "You Should" statement, see how that works?

and If you say "My experience was i spent the whole story thinking about how you need to spend more time with your characters to make them more relatable" you're not really talking about how you experienced the story, you're telling them what they "need to do".

Avoid giving advice.

Even something like "I was kind of bored during the dialogue" is better than telling them what they should do. After all, maybe nobody else was bored during the dialogue. Maybe you were thinking about mashed potatoes and missed how good the dialogue was.

See a good I statement doesn't pretend to have the answers. Sure, taking more time with the characters might be a solution, but maybe there's a pacing thing I'm doing so i'd prefer to find ways of helping readers connect to the characters better in the time allotted.

"i had trouble relating to several of the characters, I didn't make a personal connection with them before moving on to the next character" alerts me to the issue while still allowing me to be the one to decide what to do about it. It doesn't say "I think you need to slow this down" it just says "i couldn't keep up"

And "I couldn't keep up" isn't accusatory or antagonistic or anything like that, so it's an easy more friendly way for an artist to hear feedback.

I did this example for writing because (looks at yet another long ass post) i love writing, but it's true of feedback on anything.

I hope people find this helpful. I didn't write this because of any bad feedback i've gotten (tho gods know i've gotten some bad feedback in my time).

I wrote this because i wish there was a more satisfying balance between critical feedback as the Monster as currently existing on most of the internet, and the Helpful Creature it could be.

I would like more people to feel comfortable giving critical feedback on my little writings. Like, I post poems and stories and like, idk, science and nature articles, and of course i am hoping for people to say nice things about them (and people do! thank you <3 ) but artists do actually often want feedback about the not great stuff too, if it's done politely. If i write a poem and nobody can figure out what it's supposed to be about, i kinda need to know that so i can grow as an artist.

And i feel like maybe there are a lot of people who are too worried they'll come off wrong or hurt someone's feelings, who want to make sure they aren't accidentally a part of the asshole hoard it's so easy to find in comment sections. And this is a great way to help make sure you don't accidentally come off like that. I hope it gives some people the confidence to leave some critical feedback on my writing in the future.

[nethercomfies]

Streamer Xiao headcanons

Content: Some general hcs, some stuff specific to a relationship with him (separated so you can just skip to whatever you like), gn!reader

General:

Started streaming kind of on a whim because he was bored one night, but then he actually enjoyed it so he kept going. Back then he had a super sucky microphone and the camera quality of a potato, but over time things improved and now his streams are pretty high quality

He's famous for playing nothing but horror games, particularly because he never gets scared and stays completely composed, no matter how bad the scares get. The whole "totally deadpan guy who stays calm no matter what" thing has kind of become his online persona over time

Because of this persona he prefer to stream alone because he feels like it wouldn't be a great match for collabs

His favourite game of all time is Omori, which is famously the one instance where he completely broke out of his usual unimpressed state and was going through it because the game got to him

Generally speaking, he's more into niche indie games than whatever horror game is currently "in", although he will give more conventional horror a chance as well

Overall he prefers games with a good admosphere over ones that are littered with cheap scares

Also doesn't shy away from games with darker topics. If he does play some heavier stuff, he always makes sure to treat it with all due respect and actually try to start a conversation about whatever the topic is because he thinks it's important

He doesn't really have a set schedule and just streams whenever he feels like it. Sometimes he starts in the middle of the night just because he found a cool game he wants to share right away

Because of this he usually doesn't have a massive audience because people didn't know he was streaming beforehand, but he prefers it that way. He likes the more chill atmosphere caused by just a couple of people watching him play rather than having to entertain a huge amount of people

He usually gets straight to gaming and doesn't do a lot of casual chatting before or after the game. Just every once in a while he might show off his pet birds on stream, particularly when he (or you) recently taught them some new cool trick

In a relationship:

He's always been very open about him being in a relationship and frequently mentions you in offhanded comments

He actually let you design his stream alerts, stickers, etc. (Bonus points if you picked something super cute because it's like... Xiao playing a dark, scary horror game while a chibi catboy version of him is dancing in the corner announcing the latest subscriber)

You'd never guess so based off his online persona, but he's actually really soft and affectionate with you in private. He adores you and always makes sure to remind you of that.

Even if he has a stream planned, he'll drop that in an instant for you, no matter if it's because you had a bad day or just because you really want to spend time with him

But also, he'll sometimes invite you to just sit with him while he streams, which is usually very cute to watch with you freaking out and clining to him while Xiao is just cliff-faced as usual

That being said, he'll break out of that persona if he notices that you're getting too scared. Then he'll usually take a break and make sure to check in on you, see if you're doing okay or if you want to stop and hold you close to comfort you

If you're not sitting next to him while he streams, you always make sure to be in the audience. It's become a fun little game to you to try and get him to break character by subtly teasing him or flirting with him in chat. You're usually pretty succesful at getting him to crack a smile or at least blush a little (But he doesn't mind. He knows you think it's cute and he cares about you being happy more than keeping up some online persona)

Liked this au? You can find more of it here

[sarahowritesostucky]

📖"The Taste of You"

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes

Word Count: 3983

Tags: Fresh AU, dark rom-com, dark!Bucky, pre-serum Steve, kidnapping, cannibalism, yandere/basement wife, meet cute-ish, gay sex n' stuff, ignoring of sexual boundaries, dub-con bordering on non-con, (mostly humorous) gore, (mostly humorous) body horror

Summary: Steve is so tired of the meat market that modern dating has become. Just when he's deleted all the apps and given up on ever finding Mr. Right, he meets the perfect guy at the grocery store.

A dark, cute, funny, fucked up, and very tasty love story.

It's a Fresh AU. "If you can't handle the cannibalism, get out of the kitchen" ... or something like that

9. Fat Marbled

Wait! I haven't read a previous chapter. Story Masterlist

Steve:

He realizes now, what it was about the way that Bucky always looked at him. Steve used to find it intimidating but heady, said that it made him feel wanted, vulnerable, made him feel very seen. “Nobody’s ever looked at me the way that you do,” he’d admitted to Bucky, privately enjoying it.

Now he knows what it was. Bucky was looking at him like prey. He was looking at him like food.

He still stares at Steve, mostly while Steve is eating. Bucky brings all of his meals down to the basement on plastic cafeteria trays. He feeds Steve well: high quality meals made from scratch, juice with breakfast, wine with dinner. Dessert. Steve can’t complain about the food.

But it’s how Bucky sits there and watches him eating it that really gets to Steve. He stares so raptly as Steve consumes what Bucky’s made for him, it’s almost like he gets off on it.

“Explain it to me then,” Steve says, after he’s called Bucky out on the behavior and asked him what’s up.

Bucky actually flushes and looks a little embarrassed. “I just like it,” he says.

"Eating," Steve says, deadpan.

“Seeing you consume something that you need. It’s ... carnal. It’s personal, intimate.”

Steve narrows his eyes and takes an aggressive bite out of his Reuben. “You’d better not be sneaking me mystery meats,” he warns, talking around his mouthful. “Bucky.”

“No, it’s not that,” Bucky says, sighing. “It’s just, I dunno. Seeing you take something I’ve made for you, seeing you accept it and … take it into yourself.” His gaze drifts off as he thinks about it. “Your mouth working, your expression as you taste it, savor it. Seeing the pleasure you get from the flavors, watching you swallow, when you lick your lips …”

Steve scowls, because that’s weird. Not that there aren’t plenty of ‘weird’ things about Bucky. “I don’t get it,” he says.

Bucky sighs and leans over to pluck a potato chip off Steve’s plate. He pops it into his mouth and crunches. “Why do some people have a thing for feet? Or leather? Or Balloons?”

"Balloons?" Steve echoes dryly.

"Yeah, it's a thing." Bucky shrugs. “Weird shit like that. It doesn’t make sense. It just is.”

“... So you’re saying it’s a fetish.”

“No. Not exactly.” Bucky huffs. “It’s just something I feel. I feel good when I watch you eat what I've given you. Why does it have to be complicated?”

“Well it doesn’t, but …” Steve scrutinizes him, suspicious. “Would you feel even more turned on if I was eating human in front of you?”

Bucky’s face goes tight and he looks away, not answering.

“Fuck.” Steve gapes at him. “You would. You totally would!”

“Well we’ve established that you’re a vegetarian, so why are you talking about it?” Bucky says testily. “Eat your sandwich.”

Steve scoffs but he does grab his sandwich back up, taking a huge bite and chewing it harshly on purpose. He swallows and sees Bucky’s eyes glued to his throat. “Fuck,” he says again. “You do. You get off on it.” He’s made Bucky uncomfortable. The other man almost looks ashamed, sitting there on the floor and avoiding Steve’s gaze. Steve’s made him feel bad about it. Something regretful twinges in his chest. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “I didn’t mean to kink shame you.”

Bucky’s eyes snap back up. “It’s not a kink,” he growls, getting to his feet. “Aren’t I just allowed to enjoy looking at you? You're supposed to be my boyfriend.” He snatches up the tray of food and leaves, shutting the cell door behind him.

"Hey!" Steve squawks. He hears Bucky stomping up the stairs, hears the beep of the keypad, the door opening and shutting, then nothing. Alone again, he pouts at having lost his lunch. “... I wasn’t done with that.”

Bucky:

“I need a shower.”

Bucky has just come into the room to collect Steve’s dinner tray. He pauses and sets the tray back down. He stares at Steve long and hard. “Are you gonna be good?”

Steve is quick to nod. “Yeah.” He’s sitting on his mattress, looking small and innocent, even has his hands folded in his lap.

And even though Bucky knows, logically, that the kid is probably thinking about ways to murder him 80% of the time, Steve’s small frame and timid behavior still sway him. He has feelings for Steve, after all. It’s killing him to keep him down here all deprived, no affection or attention. He misses his boyfriend. He wants things to go back to the way they were. But he also knows he can’t be too trusting, too soon.

“Okay,” he says, eyes narrowed on Steve for a long minute, but eventually softening. “Sorry,” he says, going over to unhook Steve’s cuff from the chain. “There isn’t a shower or anything down here.” He can’t risk it, with the women. There would be too many ways for them to try to hurt themselves. He’s got an area where he hoses them off and sanitizes their bodies, once he’s got them unconscious for surgery, but he sure as hell isn’t going to do that to Steve. “Carlo is putting a nicer bathroom in your new room,” he tells him. "It'll have everything you need."

Steve glances over at his current room’s prison issue combination toilet-sink. “Sweet,” he says.

Bucky’s unsure if he’s being sarcastic or not. He hooks Steve’s cuffs together and leads him into the hallway. He grabs him and steers him by the back of the neck. “Be good,” he warns again, and they make their way upstairs.

Steve’s eyes are flicking around, looking everywhere and taking in as much of his surroundings as he can. Bucky sees him eyeing the knife block in the kitchen, sees him clocking all the windows and doors. So he moves him along quickly, going back to the bedroom. At the doorway into the master bath, he pulls Steve back by the hips and whispers in his ear, “I know what you’re doing. Quit it.”

Steve shivers under his touch. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Bucky kisses his ear and gives him a nudge forward into the bathroom. “You’re scheming,” he says. “Think I can’t see that?”

Steve stays quiet. He isn’t facing him, so Bucky can’t see what his reaction is to being called out on it. But he bets Steve’s panicking a little in his head right now. This is the first time he’s been let out of his room, after all. Bucky starts the water warming in the shower and unlocks the restraints from his wrists. “These have to go back on, after,” he warns gently. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Steve turns for the shower, but Bucky stops him.

“Hang on. Let it warm up first.” He pulls Steve back against him, wraps one large arm around his waist and brings the other hand up to his neck. He searches out his artery with two fingers. Sure enough, his pulse is rapid. “Calm down,” he soothes. “Your heart’s beating so fast right now.”

Steve gulps, and Bucky feels that under his hand as well. “Sorry,” he whispers. “I’m nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about. Unless you’re planning to act up.” Bucky runs his lips over the shell of Steve’s ear. “Are you planning to act up?”

“N-no.” His breath hitches audibly when Bucky starts rubbing over his stomach, fingers dipping under his tee shirt to get at bare skin. “Bucky,” he breathes. “What are you doing?”

“You have to take your clothes off, if you’re gonna get a shower,” he murmurs. He feels Steve tense, and tuts at him. “I’ve seen you naked before, Honey.”

“I …” Steve’s throat clicks as he swallows. “I know. It’s just … it’s different now.”

“Why? Didn’t I tell you, Steve? I’m still me. You’re still you.” He kisses Steve’s ear as his hands migrate over his belly, up to his chest, back down over his ribcage. “I still know what you like. Still know what makes you feel good.” Steve whines and Bucky gives him an affectionate squeeze at the waist. “I miss touching you,” he admits. “Don’t you miss it?” Steve shivers in his arms, not saying yes but not pulling away either. Bucky knows he must be terribly conflicted, so he reassures him, “It’s gonna be okay, Stevie. I promise.”

Steve doesn’t speak. He shirks away from the next kiss Bucky tries to place on him. That stings, but Bucky tries not to be too disappointed. He knows there’s damage to repair. So with a sigh he releases him and takes a step back to give him space. “Go ahead. There’s shampoo and stuff on the shelf.”

“But, aren’t you gonna ...”

“I’m staying right here,” Bucky says firmly. “Can’t leave you alone, Steve.”

Steve’s face pinks up but he nods. He isn’t meeting Bucky’s eyes anymore. Bucky feels sad for him as he watches him undress, clearly embarrassed. They’ve already been so intimate with one another, Bucky wishes Steve could just relax, but he’s obviously struggling. He hesitates once he’s down to just his underwear, thumbs hooked in the elastic waistband and peeking up to see if Bucky’s watching.

Bucky’s heart pulls in sympathy. He goes over to him. “Here. Let me help.” He pulls the underwear down slowly but he doesn’t look away from Steve’s face as he does it. They stare at each other. He lets them fall. “Step out,” he says softly. Steve does, looking almost pained now that he’s bared. Bucky traces a thumb along his cheek. “You don’t have to be shy with me.”

“Bucky,” Steve shudders, “I—”

Bucky surges forward impulsively, grabbing Steve’s jaw and pressing their bodies together, kissing him, hard. It feels so good, is such a relief after the tension and turmoil of the past week. He kisses him roughly just that once, then pauses with their foreheads touching, lips brushing together. “Oh, Steve,” he sighs, half complaint, half desire. He wants Steve to want him, to want them, again. Bucky doesn’t want to go without him anymore. He pecks a series of gentler kisses on his lips, lingering a little bit longer each time. Steve stiffens for only a second before he melts under it and his lips part and he begins to kiss back. Bucky hums in approval, licking into his mouth. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “Missed this. Missed you.” He threads a hand into Steve’s hair and tugs against his waist with the other, pulling him flush against his body. “Sweet boy.”

“Wait,” Steve gasps, squirming in his arms. Bucky keeps going though, and Steve whines into his mouth, pleasured despite himself. His eyes slip closed for the barest of moments, but he realizes what he’s doing and still tries to stop. “Bucky, ugh. Wait, wait, no-”

Bucky just keeps kissing him coaxingly, thrilling each time Steve forgets to fight and a little sound of pleasure escapes him. Steve turns his head away and Bucky’s lips slide against his cheek. “Let me,” he breathes. “Don’t you want it? How long’s it been for you?” He lets one hand trail down, cupping Steve between his legs. He’s not hard, but he’s not soft, either. “Bet you haven’t touched yourself this whole time, huh? Haven’t had any relief. Poor baby.”

Steve shows a surprising amount of strength when he pushes against Bucky’s chest. “I can’t,” he says. “Bucky, we can’t.”

“Says who?” Bucky pulls his shirt off in one smooth motion, smirking when he sees how Steve’s eyes rove over his naked chest. Even now, he can’t help but to look, and Bucky gloats over it. “Yeah,” he says smugly, hands going for his fly. “You still want it.” He shucks his pants and his briefs, but once he’s naked it seems to shake Steve out of his staring and he goes back to protesting weakly,

“Wait, no. Bucky stop-”

Bucky backs him up into the shower, the spray falling over them, soaking them. Steve’s back hits the shower wall and he squeaks. Bucky crowds in against him, smirking. “Don’t know why you get so worked up,” he murmurs, grabbing at his hips, fingers digging into the sides of his ass. Bucky curses quietly at the feeling of having him under his hands again. “Christ, this sweet little body, so fucking perfect.”

Steve whimpers and pushes weakly against him, but he’s squirming more than he’s fighting, giving Bucky token protests that only turn him on more. “Don’t,” he says, panting as Bucky starts necking at him. “Oh-”

“Mmhm.” Bucky licks the water from his skin, places hot, sucking kisses all over his neck. “Taste so good, Sweetheart.”

Steve groans and pushes harder against him, resisting. “Stop. We can’t do this.”

“Sure we can,” Bucky says, scraping his teeth over where he’s been kissing, relishing the tiny gasps and responses that Steve can’t seem to help. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

His little body keeps arching, pushing up against Bucky’s larger frame, his hands flying around as if he doesn’t know what to do with them. One second he’s pushing, the next he’s digging his fingers into the meat of Bucky’s arms and shoulders, his back. He makes the sweetest sounds.

Bucky growls and nips at his neck. “Yeah,” he husks, shoving a thigh between Steve’s legs and pushing; pushing him against the wall and pushing up. Steve’s cock is hard against him. “Missed you, sweet boy,” he murmurs against slicked-wet skin. He cradles Steve’s hip and his jaw, moving against him, rubbing his own aching dick against Steve’s belly. “Missed making you feel good.”

“Bucky,” Steve whimpers, squirming against him.

“Shh.” Bucky finds his mouth again and slides their lips together. “Don’t fight me. Let Daddy make you feel good, hm?”

Steve groans when Bucky’s hand closes around his cock. “Ah! Oh …”

“Mmhm, just like that, huh? Just gotta get you warmed up, don’t I?” He works his fist up and down Steve’s cock, everything slick from the water rushing down on them. Bucky presses his leg up more, almost lifting Steve to his toes with it.

Steve squeaks and grabs onto him, nails digging in sharply at Bucky’s shoulders. “Oh!”

Bucky grins. He’s panting against the side of Steve’s face as he jerks him off. When Steve finally looses an uninhibited moan, Bucky moans too. “Fuck, Honey,” he breathes, “That’s what I like to hear.” He seals their mouths together in another harsh kiss. “Don’t hold back,” he tells him. “Let me hear all those pretty sounds.”

Steve’s working for it now, rolling his spine and thrusting his cock into Bucky’s fist, rocking on his thigh in a beautiful display. Bucky’s dick throbs at the sight and he reaches for himself, too, starts stripping it at a ruthless pace. “Come on,” he husks, nudging their faces together as they both look down at what he’s doing. “You close? We’re gonna cum together. You want that? Come on.”

He jerks them harder, and soon Steve cries out sharply and starts to pulse in Bucky’s hand. He shoots off, grunting little, “Ah ah ahs” as he rides it out.

It’s gorgeous and Bucky growls in approval, the sight of Steve’s slim body shaking, of his cum coating Bucky’s hand, setting him off into his own orgasm. “Shit,” he hisses. He slams his eyes shut and shoves his face into Steve’s shoulder, squeezing his dick hard as he comes, feeling it in his balls, so good.

He’s left panting, Steve’s wrung out body in his arms, the water still beating down on them and washing away the traces of their cum. “Baby,” he breathes. Steve is still catching his breath. When Bucky pulls back to check on him, he looks dazed. “Stevie,” Bucky murmurs, cupping his face. He strokes his thumb along his temple, searching out his eyes. “Hey, you okay?”

Steve exhales shakily and squirms in his arms, evasive. “Yeah,” he says, “I’m fine.” He’s pulling, so Bucky lets him go. For a second it looks like he might fall down from legs gone to jelly, but he firms himself up and turns away.

“... Steve-”

“I have to wash,” he says quietly, voice still affected from what they’ve done. Bucky watches as he grabs the soap and starts to lather his hands up, pointedly facing away from Bucky, the muscles in his little back tense.

“It’s okay, Steve,” Bucky tries to comfort him, but Steve remains how he is.

“Could you just give me a minute alone, please?” he asks quietly. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Bucky frowns, but he obliges. There’s nothing in the shower that Steve can hurt himself with. “Okay,” he murmurs, brushing his knuckles over the top of Steve’s ass as he passes. “I’ll get you a towel. Take all the time you need, Sweetheart.” He’s disappointed that Steve’s clamming up on him again, but he figures the poor thing has a lot to process. Bucky won’t rush him.

They’ve got all the time in the world.

Steve:

Carlo’s been over every day, making a racket with power tools. The air in the basement smells like plaster dust. Steve doesn’t like it.

Bucky shows up and says, “Steve. I have to talk to you about something.”

Well that doesn’t sound good.

Steve feels apprehension fill him as he watches Bucky trail into the room, looking glum. He sits himself down on the metal stool by the vanity. Steve marks the page in the book he’s reading—War and Peace, this time. “What’s up?”

“I’m going to the city tomorrow.”

Steve perks up. “New York?”

Bucky scratches behind his ear awkwardly. “Um, yeah. Actually, I’ll have to make a few trips this next week or two. More than a few. I’ll have to leave you here on your own.”

“Really?”

Bucky scowls. “Well don’t look so excited about it.”

“What’ll I do for food?” Steve asks, careful to reign his enthusiasm in. “How long are you gonna be gone?”

“I’ll still come home in the evenings,” Bucky tells him. “I’ll get you all set up with meals and loads of snacks in the mornings before I leave.”

Steve knows he should be excited to be getting this chance, but he feels a surprising pang of disappointment when he thinks of being all alone and not getting to see Bucky for so long. It’s sad to say, but Bucky bringing him his meals has become the high point of his days. He thinks that he’ll be terribly bored, without him there. “What are you going for, anyway?” Bucky looks uncomfortable. He hesitates to answer, which makes Steve grow concerned. “Buck? Why are you going back to the city?” He has a bad feeling.

“... Work,” Bucky admits. “I have to get new product.”

Bad feeling confirmed.

Steve’s lips part and he stares for a long moment, replaying what Bucky just said. “What?” Bucky is avoiding looking at him, and Steve gapes. “Is that what you … that’s what you call them?” he asks incredulously. “Product?”

“Steve,” Bucky groans, swiping a hand over his face. “Please don’t be dramatic.”

Steve stares. “Dramatic? Dramatic??”

“You heard me.”

“You’re going into the city to kidnap somebody!” Steve says, scornful. “Somebody to kill!”

“Eventually,” Bucky says, fed up with Steve’s scolding. He boldly stares him down. “I’ll keep her alive until I can’t anymore. The meat stays fresher that way.”

Her, Steve thinks numbly. Bucky already knows it’s a woman he’s going to kidnap.

Steve remembers the sight of the limbless woman in the other cell, remembers how she’d asked Steve to help her, to kill her. He remembers how Bucky had brought him his dinner one night and calmly told him that she was “done.” He’d killed her. The man who’d said and done those terrible things is the same handsome man Steve met in the grocery store. It’s the same man who won Steve over, who made love to him so many times. Who made him fall apart in the shower yesterday.

“You’re a monster,” Steve breathes.

Bucky’s features harden. “That’s relative.”

It’s really not. “How can you do this to people?” Steve asks, outrage growing. God, how could he have let Bucky touch him again?

“These women, Steve. If you only knew.”

“Knew what?” Steve snaps. “What I know is what I saw in that cell. I saw what you did to her.”

“She deserved it,” Bucky says lowly, eyes burning. “They all do.”

“No,” Steve exhales shakily. “No. You’re a killer.” Bucky’s lips thin and his fists ball up. Steve sees this and he shakes his head. Bucky must be like Ted Bundy, he thinks. He must have a burning hatred for the women he kills. “They don’t deserve what you do to them.”

“They do.”

“You’re sick, you know that?! You’re sick.”

Bucky shoots up to standing. He stalks over and Steve scuttles backwards into the corner, scared. But Bucky crouches down and grabs him by the neck. Steve squeaks in alarm. “Don’t talk to me like that,” Bucky hisses, eyes blazing. “I’m your whole fuckin’ world right now. You got that? I control when and if you eat, sleep, bathe. Everything.” He gives him a little shake and Steve whimpers,

“Stop.”

Bucky leans in close, putting his lips right against Steve’s cheek. His next words are spoken softly, an intimate purr that still manages to be menacing. “I control you, Baby. I control everything.” He kisses his cheek. “So behave. Or there'll be consequences.”

Steve swallows heavily, throat working against Bucky’s hand. “Okay,” he breathes. “Okay. I will. I’m sorry.”

Bucky looks him over carefully. He seems satisfied by what he finds, and he softens. “Okay. Good.” He kisses him on the mouth, soft and slow and dominant. Steve can’t do anything but sit there and take it. Bucky hums, darkly pleased, and murmurs right against his lips, “That’s all I ask.”

Steve’s still tense as Bucky stands up and stares down at him, looking haughty at having gotten his submission. He puts a hand on Steve’s head and pets him. “Is there anything you need?”

Steve shakes his head, eyes downcast. “... W-when are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll be back in the evening.”

Steve ponders that, wonders what he’d do if the house caught fire with him trapped there, alone. Burn to a crispy critter, he supposes. “What if there’s an emergency?” he asks timidly.

Bucky raises an eyebrow. “Are you planning on having an accident, Steve?”

“No!” Steve can see the consideration in Bucky’s face. He figures there must’ve been others before him who tried to hurt themselves. But that’s not Steve’s endgame. “I’ll be good,” he promises. “I will.”

“Carlo will be in during the day,” Bucky warns. “He’ll let me know if you’re trying to do anything you shouldn’t.”

“Carlo?” Steve gets an unpleasant thrill up his spine at this news. “You’re leaving me alone with him?”

“He’s just going to be working on the other room,” Bucky reassures. “Nothing more.”

“But …” Steve thinks about how Carlo is one of Bucky’s paying customers. That makes him dangerous. And if Bucky isn’t there all day, then … “What if he tries to … to touch me or—” eat me.

“He won’t,” Bucky snaps, voice gone hard again. “He wouldn’t dare. I’d fucking slaughter him if he so much as—” he cuts off, catching himself before he starts going on a murderous rant, probably. “No,” he tells Steve. “No he won’t do a thing to you. He won’t even be able to get in your room.” He holds up the little electronic key fob that Steve knows he uses to open his cell. “He won’t have this.”

Steve shivers and nods. “Okay,” he whispers. Bucky pats his head consolingly and Steve looks down, embarrassed. He can’t help it that he feels reassured by Bucky’s fierce protectiveness of him. Even if it is kind of creepy, he still appreciates that Bucky would be willing to kill for him.

Better the cannibal you know, than the cannibal you don’t.

Story Masterlist

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[littlemissangelic]

today so far !! i had an orange (45) before heading to the gym !! right when i got to the gym tho my bf called me to say he was on his way home so i had to cut my workout short, still burned 177 cals though! then i had three carnitas street tacos (578) from my bf (not the best, but old me would’ve had the tacos, plus a bag of chips, & a tub of beans), and a mini olipop (35)

for a little snack while i read my book, im having some halo top vanilla ice cream (90 cals) with some high quality local extra-virgin olive oil (60)

total so far: 778 consumed - 177 burned = 601 net ✨

for dinner i’m planning to have a bowl of mexican beef & potato stew with some boiled eggs (442) & an orange pineapple protein shake (210)

estimated day end total: ~1,278 net cals

[tch-tchtchkaa]

Farming Guide for SoS:AWL

Decided to make another save file for testing purposes. Mostly focusing on 1st year crops and fields and trying to see exactly how long certain crops needed to grow. I found out some nifty stuff! Please note that I might end up editing some things if I find better data.

The different soil qualities have NO EFFECT on crop quality/speed

I believe it's something that only determines which crops can go in whichever field (all 1st year crops can grow in any soil quality, I think hybrids need good quality and up)

Fertilizer lasts for 10 hours

I believe the countdown starts once the animation is finished

4 bags of Fertilizer for A rank 8 bags of fertilizer for S rank (crops only)

This is at least consistent with tomatoes and watermelons. I tried logging how many bags of fertilizer for tree crops but I got through about 40 on the free apple tree and didn't get A rank by Fall Yr1 so I'm a liiiitle intimidated.

Crops only advance to different stages at 12:00pm and 12:00am

From what I can tell the game checks at 12pm and 12am if the crop has been in the ground/watered for enough time to grow to the next stage. I'm going to refer to these 12 hour chunks as "cycles." Due to this particular system, even if you plant crops a few hours apart, they will naturally sync up to the closest cycle. For example:

It's Spring 1 6:00am. You plant a Tomato seed. The game checks at Spring 1 12:00pm if the seed has been planted/ watered for long enough. 6 hours is not enough for the Tomato seed to progress to the next stage so it stays in the "planted" growth stage. The next time the game checks is Spring 2 12:00am. The Tomato seed has been planted/ watered for 18 hours, which is enough for it to progress to the next growth stage

Water lasts ~ 21 and 1/2 hours (from "just watered" to "bone dry" )

Haven't fully tested if the different water amounts impact growing time. If they are kept bone dry they won't progress to the next stage even if the plant goes through multiple 12 hour cycles. There's four levels of watered:

Dark Brown -> Brown (Takes around 6 hours and 45 minutes) -> Light brown (Takes around 5 hours and 30 minutes) -> Tan (Takes around 8 hours and 15 minutes)

Crop growth (Spring)

Tomato

Seed: 10 hours (1.75 hours water) (1 cycle)

Sprout: 24 (9.5~10 hours watered) (2 cycle)

Small trellis: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Big trellis: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Flower: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Green Tomatoes: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Harvestable

Total Time: 5.5 days (11 cycles)

((Plant on Spring 1st before 2:00PM and your first Tomatoes will be available to harvest Spring 7 12:00am))

Watermelon

Seed: 22 hours (2 cycles)

Sprout 36 hours (3 cycles)

Tiny vine: 36 hours (3 cycles)

Big vine: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Yellow Flowers: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Watermelons of Deception: 24 hours(2 cycles)

Harvestable

Total Time: 7 days (14 cycles)

((Plant on Spring 1st before 2:00PM and your first Watermelons will be available to harvest Spring 8 12:00pm))

Strawberries

Seed: 10 hrs (1 cycle)

Sprout: 24 hours (2 cycle)

Three Leaf Sprout: 36 hours (3 cycles)

Six Leaf Sprout: 36 hours (3 cycles)

Flowers: 24 Hours (2 cycles)

Budding Fruits: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Harvestable

Total time: 6.5 days (13 cycles)

((Plant on Spring 1st before 2:00PM and your first Strawberries will be available to harvest Spring 8 12:00am))

Potato

Seed: 22 hours (2 cycles)

Sprout: 36 hours (3 cycles)

Many Leaves: 36 hours (3 cycles)

Bigger Many Leaves: 48 hours (4 cycles)

Flowers: 24 hours (2 cycles)

Harvestable

Total time 7 days (14 cycles)

((Plant on Spring 1st before 2:00PM and your first Potatoes will be available to harvest Spring 8 12:00pm))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me know if this is helpful to anyone else. I'll update this post if need be and probably make this into a little series :3

((Also apologies if there's formatting issues, made this post on Mobile cause I'm on vacation))

[eerna]

So was it any good? tbosas I mean

Well,,,,,,,,, kind of? I had fun, but also went in knowing they won't pay attention to what I loved about the book so my expectations were properly low. TBOSAS is my fav THG book so a different adaptation exists in my head

Non-spoilery: The movie is divided in parts like the book, but there is no rhyme or reason why, no dramatic breaks or changes like in the books. The Reaping isn't on July 4th because of course. Tom Blyth as Coriolanus was a surprise because I expected nothing from him other than looking sort of like old Snow. The movie naturally removed any and all nuance from his character and kept spelling out everything, but there were a few scenes where they let him yknow, act out how his character is supposed to feel, and it was really good! Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray was more of a mixed bag - sometimes she was fantastic in selling the over-the-top dramatic flare, but other times (especially towards the beginning) it was just weird. I firmly believe this is because the movie didn't fully commit to Lucy Gray as a charming crowd director who keeps her heart hidden and instead made her a more honestly vulnerable girl. She dazzled in musical numbers, though, that girl is a performer through and through! Viola Davis was bad I am so sorry but I felt like I was watching a Disney Channel performance and it's entirely the movie's fault and not hers. Peter Dinklage was super good as Dean Highbottom, he makes him all sad and lost without being over-the-top. The rest of the cast was also good. I loved the sets and the costumes, very in-line with what I'd imagined. The night/dark scenes were so dark that subtitles felt like they were burning into my eyes, it was the absolute worst quality dark scenes I've ever seen in a big movie.

Spoilery:

They removed Coriolanus' obsessive love for Lucy Gray and turned it sooo muted :(((( He didn't even want to kiss her before the Games! He didn't try to control her or feel jealousy or ANYTHING that could imply he might turn on her one day!! His emotional changes and impatience and politeness and selfish kindness are also all gone now. Sejanus and he aren't nearly as close as in the book, but there was this funny moment where the two of them had a more intense forehead touch moment than any Coriolanus shared with Lucy Gray and it made me chuckle. Tigris and Coriolanus were very very well done, I loved how she was always his first bestie!!! But I am sort of annoyed they turned it from "Tigris puts Coriolanus down for the way he treats others" to "Tigris is scared Coriolanus will become his dad". Lucy Gray's Reaping was absolutely horrible, she threw a singing fit instead of being a confident performer, so it makes no sense that she just flips a switch into untouchable after. Loved the snake charmer climax where everyone stands up for Lucy Gray and proves that Capitol needs a victor! It worked better for the movie than the book version, and the way the music exists as a meta instrumental scene where the score eventually catches up to her singing - THAT is how ALL her songs should have been treated!!! The way music worked was one of my biggest issues, sometimes they were totally off tonally from what their role was in the books (The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird this is about YOU Maiah Wynne's version makes me sob to this day while the movie version is only saved by Rachel's passion) and only the snake song was properly utilized as a plot point. They were such good opportunities for exposition that is more subtle than just putting whatever is Coriolanus feeling in clunky dialogue. And the clunky dialogue WAS constantly used to make up for the amount of internal monologues, even if it made zero sense -at the end they literally had Lucy Gray say "Haha if you destroyed the guns and killed me you could go to District 2 no sweat hahahaha anyway I'll go get some potatoes bye" like what. In what world would she literally tell him that. She is supposed to be a smart survivor. They also put "it's things we love most" quote as the final line in the movie, and I can't describe what a stupid choice that was, because if it wasn't there the movie would go "Highbottom tells Coriolanus he won't be able to forget Lucy Gray-> Coriolanus' proud exit where he believes to be the victor as snow falls down -> Can't Catch Me Now end credits including the snow motif", which would have been SO much stronger since that song delivers the "Lucy Gray eventually caught up to Coriolanus" message and we don't get it spelled out like we're 5 years old. It's not the only part of the movie where references to the OG stick out like a sore thumb, and I am once again asking Why. Why don't you think your audience is smart enough to understand.

[clatterbane]

About to try some of my own inaugural batch of homemade vanilla ice cream, made the lazy way using some of that commercial pouring custard!

Seemed like a good time now that it's firmed up well in the freezer, and my blood sugar has gone back down from a late supper.

Made using the ice cream freezer attachment that Mr. C also decided to pick up to go with the stand mixer. We hadn't actually tried it out yet (though I had vaguely been thinking about it), until he got a brainstorm the other day and picked up some ingredients including a couple of cartons of the vaniljsås, washed the ice cream maker, and stuck the base into the freezer.

He made a smaller low effort test batch last night, using just a carton of the custard and an eyeballed splash of cream. It tasted good, if a little light on the sweetness. But, the texture left something to be desired--especially after it froze up completely in the freezer afterward. Definitely good for a first attempt.

That still went fast enough that I decided to get the (still very cold!) thing washed and back into the freezer last night, to be ready to play around with it myself this evening.

So, I also went for a tweaked version of the same basic approach. Being the person I am, I worked with a couple.of ice cream recipe calculators on the web to get a better idea of ingredient proportions to aim for and why--and then just winged it with some packaged custard thrown in.

The base recipe I settled on:

150ml whole milk, warmed in the microwave at around lunchtime with 100g of extra sugar dissolved into it (then covered and stuck in the fridge to chill)

200ml custard (hey, may as well count that as milk plus some bonus stabilizers!)

Heavy cream to top the measuring cup up to a UK pint/close enough to 600ml total

Around 1/3 tsp. extra vanilla extract

Small pinch of salt

Still pretty simple, but that thinned it out some and brought the milkfat/sugar roughly into recommended ranges for mouthfeel and freezing qualities. Still a tad light on the sugar, but the finished ice cream tasted plenty sweet to me. It did also freeze a little hard, so I may need to play around some more.

It looked like a good quantity of ice cream mix for that size of freezer bowl, which does seem to turn out a decent two-person batch.

Some in the disconcerting interior color bowl, with some store brand sauce at the ready! That type is basically like runnier Nutella, and not surprisingly worked really well on the vanilla. Without palm oil, before self-righteous randos crawl up into my notes.

This did also freeze up a little hard and slightly crystally, which may have been partly because it could have used a few more minutes in the ice cream maker before I put it into that potato salad tub and froze if the rest of the way. I think it really was a little too soft, but patience really isn't my strong suit.

Mr. C ate a pretty big bowl before he went to bed, while it was still at the soft serve stage (after at least 45 minutes in our really cold freezer), and seemed to enjoy it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Next time up, I am tempted to go more complicated and try for a fairly simple blueberry cheesecake flavor, using some cream cheese and frozen berries.

I also want to try to make some serviceable good old American style sherbet, since you just can't find it elsewhere. Haven't eaten any for at least 15 years now. (The straight orange ice cream you can get here is pretty damned good, though. And I bet it would make at least as good a float with ginger ale or 7-Up.) I do suspect the whole texture thing may be trickier, without industrial ingredients and equipment.

Chocolate is another to-do, but at least it is way easier to find good plain chocolate ice cream without chunks of gluteny brownies and shit in stores here than it was in the UK.

In the somewhat near future, I also want to play around with some other sweeteners including erythritol to make something lower carb, but sticking to easier mode with all sugary stuff until I get more experience working with that. With all the milkfat and some protein to help buffer the carbs, ice cream is relatively easy on my blood sugar anyway. Seems to be a pretty common thing, at least for T1s. I may have actually overshot the insulin for that bowl, so it may be another little snack soon.

But, good investment--even if it did take us a while to finally start using it!

[sprinklenoodles]

Was a bit too tired to do much of anything today unfortunately. No big art or reading which I'm a little bummed about, though not all of the days can be winners. Heck! I should have known I was out of it when I didn't even know what the day was. Or that it's August now but yeah! Brain is failing me. However, I wanted to gift you something anyway. Thus... this thingy!

Tried making Kijo's hair better than the last time (was looking a bit like bootleg Miles Edgeworth there!), but I still have no clue what to do with it. He MUST have hair though. Byakuya's father isn't Mr. Clean. Kijo isn't cool enough to rock the baldness. Or like, the premature baldness even. No bald for Kijo. The Bald Byakuya's are better even. Also, as for this little mini comic um... yeah I have no clue what this means. Maybe Kijo is just a sucker for potatoes and is sad about the stocks. Or, maybe he's just a little hungry. Maybe all Togami's crave potatoes even! Maybe it's just in their DNA. Which... what even is this random headcanon? The Togami family are potato lovers. Just high quality ones made by fancy cooks! Moving on though, I am happy how Jin looks here. I dunno. I like this doodle style of him. His hand MAY be broken but, that's the price to pay when thinking about Kijo I guess. And being in love with Kijo. I say like Kijo is a deity that warps time and space around him if people aren't thinking of him in the EXACT way he wants them too. I cannot tell if these weird tangents are better or worse than BBkuya from two posts ago. Which, that little drawing of mine makes me so amused because I KNOW I just dragged that pic from the net with no thought cus I would have made him a better fitting flavor than honey barbecue. Like, I dunno. Byakuya doesn't give me that energy. Feel he'd be a different flavor of BBQ if he for some reason had to pic. Though, he doesn't look like he'd ever eat it... or even know what it is O_O ALSO, one sorta last thing cus I'm going to go into another tangent guaranteed and also, why not! HERE is where I got the potato stocks. In case one wants to look at them, admire them, or do whatever the hell Kijo is doing. He doesn't seem to happy about it though. Like, I dunno how I somehow drew him looking like he's lost his soul (or what was left of it) but I did. Like, he looks like he's staring off into space. Think it's the size of the pupils or something that makes Kijo look this way. Can't say it isn't mildly amusing though cus it totally is! Hope Kijo isn't plotting anything bad to the people who are messing with his precious potato stocks!

Hehehe. Unfortunately, don't have much to add onto this. Love it though!!

But I once again have a very annoying headache >:(