#twice a year i decide to try it again then play for 10 minutes and get scared and turn it off

[lazylittledragon]

genuine question: is elden ring supposed to be basically fantasy survival horror or have i just been wrapped in cotton wool my whole life

[silentcryracha]

❍ ‗ Tough Work - Bang Chan ‗ ❍

Pairing : Bang Chan x f Reader

Summary : Bang Chan gets his plans ruined yet again by a late notice schedule and he's pissed. His friends call his girlfriend to the rescue to calm him down before he punches his laptop.

Word count : 3.2k

Warnings/tags : a little angst at the beginning, Chan is an emotional mess, swear words, smut (ONLY 18+), sex on a desk chair, unprotected sex (don't be silly goofy y'all), use of pet name baby, baby girl.

A/n : I had some inspo (not gonna tell you eheh) + it's the holiday season so yeah why not! Let's slut the holidays away🤣🙏🏻 merry Xmas pookies 🤎Also be KIND it's my first full written fic since like...august or sumn

masterlist

ps: No Beta'd. Do NOT repost on other socials. Leave feedback if you feel like it, otherwise enjoy!

♡︎.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

 When Hyunjin called you, it definitely came as a surprise. It was around five pm and you were doing absolutely nothing except chill on the couch watching a movie on your (very deserved) days off for the holidays. Until the phone suddenly rang, making you curious as you saw the name calling. Especially since you thought you heard Chan, your boyfriend, saying that they were working today.

'Hello?'

'Hey, yn, hi. Are you busy right now?' your friend's voice sounded slightly defeated as he answered, even though you could tell he was trying to play it off.

'Hyune, hi. No, I'm not, what's up? Is everything okay?' you sat straight, listening carefully.

'Yes and no. Listen, we got some late notice from the company and now Chan hyung is pissed. Like very pissed.' you frowned as he sighed, 'But mostly he's upset. And I know for a fact that the only thing that can calm him down it's you. Would you mind maybe coming over?'

You and Chan were supposed to meet at your apartment to have dinner together later, despite that you didn't even think twice before getting up and walking to your room to change quickly.

'Yes, got it. Don't worry, I'll be there in 10.'

-

You didn't bother getting ready properly, with a full on makeup and hair done, or a carefully picked out outfit. Usually you'd have some decency going out, even just for meeting your friends. But right now you didn't have the time, nor the mood for it.

Hyunjin didn't give too many details, but since he mentioned a late notice schedule, you probably imagined that it would mess with your and Chan's plans for New Year's. It was not the first time that it happened unfortunately, but then again, it was his work. He couldn't truly help it, and you knew that it upset him.

You put on a gray wool oversized dress, some pantyhose, a padded jacket and a beanie, after quickly fixing your hair slightly. Then you grabbed your bag and before you knew it, you were in your car driving to the boys' dorm.

-

Like you predicted, around ten minutes later you arrived and opted on sending Hyunjin a text instead of ringing the bell. He immediately came to answer the door and gave you a quick hug and a small smile.

'Changbin is not home. Me and Jisung are going out for a while, okay? Let me know when the threath has been doomed.' he joked, just as you waved to Jisung who was wrapping a big scarf around his neck. He smiled back and hugged you too.

'Thank you, yn. He wouldn't hear us out at all, so we decided to call you.' he said. You shook your head slightly as you took off the beanie.

'It's okay. I'm sorry that you guys probably also had some plans spoiled.' you responded. They both had a sweet yet quite defeated expression on as you switched places, them on the doorstep on their way out and you on your way in.

'Ah, It's alright. It's out job after all. Take your time, alright?' Hyunjin replied, and you nodded with a small smile before they closed the door behind them.

You sighed, mentally preparing to try and not look too disappointed. You were, of course, but now it wasn't about you. And besides, the last thing you would've wanted was to make Chan feel more guilty.

You made your way down the corridor to his room, which was pretty much silent. You knocked on the door gently, and just after a couple of seconds your boyfriend showed up. He was wearing a black hoodie, gray tracksuit pants and his big headphones. His face looked tired, serious and there was the slightest hint of red in his eyes.

His expression switched fast as soon as he realized it was you at the door and not one of his roommates, which had already taken turns in trying to comfort him and calm him down. He even had a small argument with Changbin, hence why he had to leave the house before they started shouting names at each other.

'Yn? What- weren't we supposed to meet later? Did I loose track of time-?' he quickly glanced down at the time on his phone, taking off the headphones with one hand and discarding them on his bed. The wallpaper being a sweet picture of you too making yout heart shrink a bit.

'Channie, hi baby. No, it's okay, you didn't. A little bird told me you needed some cheering up.' you smiled sweetly at him as you brought your hands up to stroke his arms.

He scoffed, releasing himself from your grip gently, just to walk back and plop down on his big plush desk chair.

'Which one of those fu-...ah, I don't even care. I assume that they told you, then?' he sighed heavily, stopping himself from curing at his friends. You walked closer, taking off your bag and jacket, placing them on the clothes hanger behind the door.

'Don't be mad. They did it because they care about you enough to not see your hair turn white from stress before your time.' you tried to lighten up the mood, but it didn't seem to work as he just proceeded to put his head down in between his hands.

Your smile fell, taking a deep breath, understanding that he really needed some time to get out his feelings first.

'Just about a late notice schedule. Nothing more, but I assume that it's for New Year's. Is that why you're so upset?' you scrunched down in frot of him, your hands placed on his knees.

He waited a few seconds before speaking, his voice low and quite monotone. 'We got two Japan schedules for the 31st and the 1st. But we have to leave on the 29th. And we'll probably not going to be back before the 2nd. Just in time for our already pre paid and organized planes to be canceled. Of fucking course.' his tone getting sharper as he spoke.

You stroked his thigh gently to comfort him, 'I'm sorry, baby. I know you were looking forward to a few days off.' you responded. He shook his head, frowning as he sat up straight.

'Fuck the days off. I can have days off all year. I was looking forward to spending at leas one fucking holiday with my girlfriend, in peace in a nice luxury cabin in the middle of damn nowhere.' he ranted angrily, before pausing for a second and giving you a quick look. 'It's me the one who should be sorry.'

'But it's not your fault, Chan. It's work, you have schedules and many times they may not be planned. That's how it works for many other jobs too, think about it.' you try to reason, once again taking his hands into your stroking them.

'It's the third time in four months. First it was your birthday, then Christmas, and now New Year's. It's starting to stress me out. Isn't it stressing you out?' he asked, frowning. You sighed.

'What do you want me to say? 'Chris this is too much, you're always busy with stuff that's out of your control so I'm leaving you'? Is that what you want to hear?' your tone slightly more stern. You weren't mad, but his constant throwing himself under the bus was bothering you. He widened his brown eyes, squeezing your hands slightly.

'No! What? Of course not. I was just-' you stood up straight, shushing him.

'Then stop with that shit. We can reschedule later. I don't give a fuck whether it is December 31st or April, or whatever. I'll be happy to spend time with my boyfriend and that's it. Okay? Stop beating yourself up about it.' your voice got warmer. He leaned forward, resting his head on your stomach and wrapping his arms around your waist to bring you close.

'Still. Im sorry that I keep disappointing you. You deserve better.' the last sentence made you snap so you pushed him back slightly, making him look up at you.

'Oi, don't say shit like that. It's not true.' the little oi clearly being his Aussie influence.

'You are better. You're the best. Don't ever say that, because it's not true. I love you.' you cradled his face in your hands. His big brown eyes looking up at you so sweetly.

'Am I though?' he said sadly. Always doubting himself, you sighed internally.

'Yes you are.' you planted a kiss on his lips, trying to lighten up the mood 'Besides, you know that I'm too honest. If you were being shitty to me I'd tell you. Well, I'd tell your friends first and then you. Just to add that bit of embarrassment.' you shrinked your eyes jokingly, finally getting a chuckle out of him.

That made you smile in return, as you kept caressing his cheeks with your thumbs. He looked up at you again, shaking his head slightly with a small smile on his face. 'What?' you said cutely.

'I love you so much. I wonder what did I do to deserve you.' you smiled sweetly at him before switching again, and clicking your tongue.

'Getting sappy here, Christopher' you released his face, about to turn around to go get your phone, just to shoot a quick message to Hyunjin reassuring that the situation was handled, but chan grabbed your hand making you turn around.

He laughed, smirking up at you slightly. 'Hey, come back here' you chuckled, letting yourself be dragged back. You were now standing in between his legs, him still sitting on his big desk chair.

'You need something?' you joked. 'Just my girl. Right here. Close to me.' your smile turned into a smirk, as your hands started to wander on his shoulders.

'I am close.' his hands came up to your waist then down to your hips, pushing you more into him, your faces close.

'Closer' you carefully straddled him, your arms around his neck.

'Enough?' he chuckled faintly, his lips grazing your neck and then whispering 'Never' into your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

'Greedy boy' you teased 'I can get even more greedy. Will you let me?' he looked back at you, the slightest hint of humor in his voice, but his eyes were telling a different story.

'Yes' you respondeded without a doubt. 'Go ahead. Do whatever you want. I know you need it.' at that point he crashed his lips to yours, immediately starting a passionate kiss. Your hands gripped his broad shoulders as his hands pressed your hips down to his crotch.

At that point your dress had already pooled around your hips, so the only thing separating you two were your pantyhose and panties, aside from his own pants. As you continued kissing and grinding, he got hard quite quickly.

One of his hands were holding you close to him while the other wandered under the dress and then straight to the hem of the pantyhose and the panties.

'Off' he mumbled in between kisses, so you carefully stood up, a little dazed from the heat of the moment and quickly discarded them both at the same time. Chan also got up to get rid of his own pants and underwear, and then reprised to kiss you.

He tried to lead you to the bed, but you stopped him 'No, I want to ride you there' you slowly pushed him back on the chair, his gaze not leaving you for a single moment.

'Fuck baby' he cursed, before widening his eyes for a moment 'Wait let me close the door-' you pushed him back again, shooting him a smirk.

'Relax, baby. Hold on' you went to close the door, turning the lock for safety, even though you knew that most likely none of the members would've stepped back into the house unless you told them to.

'Need you so bad, c'mere' he grabbed your hand, almost making you stumble into him. You chuckled, straddling him again. He wetted his fingers slightly with some spit before his hand went straight to stroke your slit. You moaned into his neck, as you kept your knees raised at his sides to allow him access.

'So wet already' he teased, making you groan and hump his hand more.

'You made me go out in the cold and interrupt a good movie. Now get to work, Christoper.' you complained, erupting a chuckle from him.

'Okay, okay.' he surrendered, I'll warm you back up real quick, baby girl' at that point he lined up his hard cock with your pussy, gathering some wetness before helping you sink down on him. You both moaned deeply, mumbling some curses.

'Fuck, Channie...so big' he hummed while kissing your neck as his hands supported the back and forth movement of your hips. You started kissing as your hips kept on going faster, then slower again, then going in circles.

After a while though, Chan seemed to notice you trying to get more stimulation to your slit, so he decided to take matter in his own hands.

'Wait, baby, hold on' he interrupted the kiss and grabbed the hem of your dress, taking it off of you and throwing it on the carpet nearby. The fact that you weren't wearing a bra was a pleseant surprise.

'No bra? Naughty girl' he smirked, making you laugh faintly. He attached his mouth to one of your nipples, sucking and licking, while he played with the other with his pointer and thumb.

'Ah-' you moaned as he grazed the nipple with his teeth lightly, 'Wait, you too' you said, this time being you to take his hoodie off. In the meantime your pussy kept grinding on his dick, a bit more lazily since your knees were kinda starting to ache a bit.

Chan seemed to remember what he wanted to do before getting distracted by your tits, so he stopped once again 'Turn around baby. Want to touch you properly' he said sweetly as he helped you change positions.

You were now sitting with your back pressed to his chest, one of his hands grabbing your breast and the other working on your clit. He was making you feel so good that your mind was starting to get a little fuzzy, your hips grinding on his cock and his fingers mindlessly.

'Yeah, just like that. So good for me, baby' he whispered into your ear, his nose pressed to the side of your head, 'Such a good fuckig girl for me' he kissed your hair, your head, your neck.

'C-Chan, baby, m' close' you whined, one of your hands covering his one on your breast, while the other was between his hair desperately holding on for dear life.

'I know baby, I know' he sped up, pounding you so quick and deep that you were seeing stars, 'Come for me, c'mon. So beautiful' he groaned.

'My beautiful, patient, amazing girl' his fingers applying some more pressure, 'Really don't deserve you' the last phrase so quiet that your fucked out mind almost didn't catch it. Almost.

'C-chan, oh my god' your back arched, moaning out his name as you came. His rythm gradually slowed down, but his thrusts were still sharp and deep.

'Come inside me, baby. Wanna feel you, need to feel you, please' you pleaded, grabbing his jaw to kiss him. He moaned into your mouth, and after a few more sharp thrusts, you felt him coming inside you.

'Yes, that's it, so good' you cooed, giving little kisses on his mouth 'Love you so much' you whispered. He smiled slightly in the kiss, hugging you tight. You moved around, getting more comfortable but still hugging each other tight and cuddling. You were left in a comfortable silence for a while.

'I heard that, you know.' you said softly, his gaze pointing down at you as his fingers still delicately caressed your arm.

'What do you mean?' he asked. You didn't look at him, concentrating on playing with his hands.

'You know exactly what I mean. Stop saying that. I mean it. I love you, and I know that you love me. There must be a reason why we're together and we work. So stop getting into your own head' your eyes locking with his. 'Promise?'

He chewed on his plump lip, definitely feeling guilty that he got scolded yet again. Naked, on his bedroom chair, after some mind blowing sex and a whole lot of feelings. In the end he sighed, nodding and planting a longing kiss on your head.

'Good. Now get me a blanket or something, I'm fucking freezing.' he laughed, bumping his head gently to yours jokingly. Then he helped you get off him and opened one of the closet's drawers and grabbed a fuzzy blanket.

'Wait for me a second, I'll get something to clean up.' he told you as he quickly put his hoodie and pants back on. You nodded as he exited the bedroom. Wrapped up in the blanket, you searched for your phone in your bag. When you found it you quickly dialed Hyunjin's number, who picked up after just a couple of rings.

'Hello?' you could hear some noise in the background, so you assumed that they were maybe in a bar or something.

'Everything's fine.' you said, sitting down to wait for Chan to come back.

'Oh, I'm glad. I knew you would make him reason' just as he said that, you clearly heard Jisung yelling 'Are you done fucking or what' with some laugh erupting.

'Oh my Gosh' you replied, embarassed while you pinched the bridge of your nose with your fingers.

'Shit! Yn, I'm so sorry about that. This motherfucker is just jealous you're getting some' he chuckled, as you heard Jisung saying something along the lines of 'Fuck you'.

'Hyunjin!' you scolded him, not being able to not laugh. They laughed.

'Sorry, sorry. We'll be back in an hour or so, bye!' and he hung up.

'You know, I would've betted on Jisung, because he's a nosy fucker.' you got startled by Chan's voice. He closed the door behind him again and scrunched down in front of you, gently helping you clean up with a warm damp towel.

'But he only talks behind people's back. Should've known it was Hyune.' he sighed. You smiled, messing with his hair.

'C'mon. You should be thankful. You started off wanting to punch a hole in the wall and now look at you'. you teased. He smirked, getting up and discarding the towel in the dirty clothes basket.

'Yeah, the power of pussy I guess' your mouth went slack, as you threw at him your previously discarded panties. He caught them, laughing hard at your outraged reaction.

'Oh so that's what I am to you, uh? Good to know, Christopher' you feigned annoyance and dramatically crossed your legs, looking away from him.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' he laughed, coming close to grab your had in between his hands and kissing you. 'You know It's not true. Well, not only-' you gasped in shock again as he threw his head back laughing.

'You little-'

♡︎.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

That's it folks! I know it was quite a rollercoaster, but hopefully decent nonetheless. Until next time <3

[neuroticbookworm]

Rose's Day of Asks

What are some of the shows where your hyperfixation really thrived? (I have no idea if this sentence makes sense but I hope you get what I mean)

Have a great Day💜

I opened a blank doc and put this list together 3 minutes after I received this ask 10 (yes you read that right, ten) months ago, and then I let it sit in my drafts for no reason other than making myself miserable. Anyway, I woke up today and decided to release this into the wild, for.. reasons *wink wink*

Over the years of consuming media, I've observed that there are a few key factors of said media that heavily contribute to my hyperfixation brainrot:

Smart and snappy writing

Good romance arc that convinces me to believe in the couple

Treating the miscommunication trope as the plague that it is

And with that handy lil list, let’s get into it.

The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi

I binge-read Mo Dao Zu Shi or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation during the 2023 Holiday Season, and my brain was immediately taken hostage and was not released from its grasp for several months. I then binge-watched The Untamed with @lurkingshan during the 2024 Holiday Season and promptly lost my mind yet again. For a story that handles so many nuanced characters and their complex relationships between multiple narrative threads, it coheres so well that it almost looks easy. From the politics of the xianxia world it is set in, to the decade-and-some-long romance arc between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, every part of this story is meticulously layered. Almost every character in this show evokes complicated feelings in me, and I am not gonna stop thinking about them anytime soon.

I Cannot Reach You

I’ve never felt so connected to a show as I did with I Cannot Reach You as I was watching it. It was as if the show had a direct line to my braincells, listened to exactly what I wanted from it, and then immediately obliged. Every boy in this show is so precious to me: Yamato, who tried so damn hard to confess his feelings to his best friend, no matter how many silly BL tropes tried to stop him; Kakeru, who tackled his best friend into a hug and held him in place so he can't walk away from him without talking about his feelings; Hosaka, the closest thing to a self-insert I’ve experienced in BLs, strutting around and calling these fucking boys out on their dumbassery.

This show has no patience for frustrating, overwrought trope silliness and prioritizes rooting its characters in their humanness. When Kakeru punched Yamato for trying to play a clumsy, pining romantic hero after conveniently forgetting his confession to Kakeru and then kissing him, I damn near ascended into a higher plane.

His (2020)

Oh this movie made me cry ugly tears after a long time, y’all. This movie, at its core, is about a bunch of people who tried so hard to not hurt the people they love, but ended up hurting them in the process anyway. Shun’s quiet sadness broke me. We see Nagisa in tears multiple times in this movie, always begging for forgiveness from the loved ones in his life: Shun, Rena, and Sora. Rena trying so damn hard to not let her anger, that stemmed from the trauma of being married to a closeted gay man, impact her daughter’s relationship with her dad and his partner, got me in my fucking chest. I think about the movie’s final scene where Rena tells Shun that she doesn't know how to ride a bike, at least twice a week.

Utsukushii Kare

The chokehold this show had on me for the two days I watched it, tearing my hair out in the process of trying to figure out what Hira’s and Kiyoi’s deals were, is second to none. I was completely fascinated by Hira’s idol worship of Kiyoi, and was trying so hard to understand the flavor of frustration that I could see in Kiyoi. I tried to solve Kiyoi’s face when Hira tried to commit murder like a goddamn puzzle. I went full bulletin-board-with-red-strings insane trying to figure out the inner workings of their brain. And when I finally got to The Revelation.. the scream I SCRUMPT. What a show, what a time, what an experience.

La Pluie

Ah, La Pluie, how I love you so dearly. It was one of the first BLs I watched as it aired weekly, and I had so many thoughts about it after every episode that I joined the La Pluie Meta Tsunami on Tumblr. This show consistently gave me brainrot week after week, all the way till the finale. It took the classic romance trope of soulmates, decided to deconstruct and interrogate it with its four main characters, and executed the themes flawlessly. I am still so glad that this show stuck to the courage of its convictions. And as always, here’s the link to The Great La Pluie Meta Roundup.

Theory of Love

*unleashes an evil witch laugh*

I sing praises for this show every chance I get, and most recently I did it on the latest The Conversation podcast episode. It is in that very episode that @bengiyo had a brilliant brainwave, which led to @lurkingshan conceptualizing and launching the Theory of Love: The Romcom Rewatch project at a speed that makes me fear her powers. This show is special to me for so many reasons, including being the one that made me break out of my lurker tendencies on Tumblr. I hyperfixated on this show so hard that I started *sharing my thoughts* on the Internet.

I am hoping to write many, many words for this show in the coming weeks, so lemme wrap up by highlighting how this show stands out from the rest on this list. Theory of Love has the most flaws compared to the other shows on this list. One of my main qualms with the show is that the side couples did not add to the main theme in any way, rendering them inoffensive, but ineffective additions. And yet. And yet. This show lives and will live rent-free in my head till the inevitable heat death of the world as we know it. The growth arc of Khai is one of my all-time favorites in media, and I think about it every time I see a fictional or real-life man behave as if they are deathly allergic to change. I am so excited for the rewatch project, and I can’t wait to share the thoughts that’ll be knocked loose in my head for the next 12 weeks.

Thank you so much for the ask, @my-rose-tinted-glasses, and I hope you like my extremely overdue response <3

[na0koz]

atsumu thoughts (pre-timeskip!)

- once he learns what rizz means he turns around and says “w rizz” to osamu whenever he even speaks to a girl. i hate him

- he’s a mamas boy 100% sorry about it im not sorry actually . he only recently stopped crying to his mom whenever something didn’t go his way

- speaking of crying, he still cries sometimes. he’s not embarrassed of that part of himself and he’s comfortable with his emotions. he doesn’t really talk to anyone about them though ☹️

- i think we all know he sings in the shower. his showers are also extremely hot and extremely long

- on nights where he stays up wayy too late analysing his play he ends up watching those top 10 most dangerous rollercoasters (“it’s already 3am i might as well stay up”) he’s late to school every time he does it

- says birthday parties are lame so doesn’t have them but secretly it’s because in 3rd grade everyone showed up for osamu and he is scared it’ll happen again or no one will show up if he has his own :( weeping

- has considered using toner (about fucking time) without telling anybody and showing up to school looking the same as osamu

- if he had snapchat his bitmoji would be purple with a bikini or some dumb ass cringe shit like that i am Sick.

- once decided to skip school and sat by a river for like 30 minutes. he then convinced himself he was gonna get arrested for it, went to school and practically asked for a detention

- constantly yelling. his parents don’t even check if he’s okay anymore because he’s probably yawning or sneezing or “laughing”

- spent months, almost a year, trying to learn how to raise one eyebrow. currently can only do it while squinting the opposite eye

- definitely sleeps in some weird positions like he ends up hanging off his bed and stuff

vivi’s note: im in an atsumu mood hi . ive been listening to ready to be by twice and ooouuuhhhh they are saving the game once again

[lifespectator]

Spasibo

Wanda Maximoff x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary: After time of being together, Wanda shows you how much your love means to her.

Warnings: None, just fluff

Translation: Spasibo = Thank you (In russian according to google)

A/N: Well, I've been away from writing for like 6 months. I know this is probably not what you want or expect. But I felt the need to write something to get myself going again. Plus, it's been a year since I made my first post on Tumblr (June 24, 2022) so why not? Hope ya'll enjoy, though :)

"Are we there yet, Wands?" You asked, Wanda, who was pulling you by the arm.

You trusted your girlfriend with all your heart, but after walking blindfolded for 10 minutes and tripping with rocks for a couple of times, you were impatient to know where she was taking you. Wanda wanting to do something like this was completely out of her normal behavior but you always supported her actions, so you went with it.

Wanda giggled. "Relax, boo. We're almost there." Wanda answered. "I promise you will love the surprise." She reassured.

"Great, I was beginning to think you were trying to murder me." Your joke won you a glare from Wanda that went unnoticed by you thanks to the blindfold. Instead, she decided to play along.

"Throwing that possibility out the window was your first mistake." Wanda murmured loud enough for you to hear. A blank expression plastered on your face until you heard the young witch burst in laughter. She looked at you to notice your serious expression.

"Oh, come on. It was funny." Wanda said. You gave in and chuckled. "Ok, fine. You did get me there." You surrendered to Wanda's claims.

You kept walking with Wanda leading the way. Some minutes before, you realized that the floor below you was grass meaning that you were either at a park or an open field. Going to the park with Wanda was a normal thing. Both of you engage in that activity at least once or twice a week. The odd part is that Wanda insisted on going at the time when the dark of the night was completely filling the sky. Without forgetting that she had insisted on covering your eyes with a scarf she owned.

"You have some crazy ideas." You remarked. Wanda responded with an 'mhm'.

"In what aspect though?" Wanda asked, in a teasing tone. You first questioned what she meant but blushed when you caught on. Wanda smirked at your reaction.

"Control yourself now, we're here." Wanda informed. You exhaled as your hands reached to remove the scarf but was stopped by Wanda's own.

Wanda walked behind you. "Let me do it." She brought her hands up to the scarf. "Are you ready?" She asked, sounding rather enthusiastic.

"I am." you answered, eager to know what all this was about.

"Hope you like it." Wanda untied the scarf, finally letting you see again. After blinking a few times to get accustomed with light, what lied in front of you warmed your heart. A picnic blanket with a basket on top of it. She invited you to sit down on the blanket.

You sat next to her, admiring the candles that were also placed in the middle of the blanket. They were fake but they showed Wanda's attention to detail.

"This is so beautiful." You complimented Wanda's work, she offered her signature sweet smile in return.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm loving this." You admitted, the little stuff that Wanda did for you always showed how much she loved you. "But what are we celebrating?" You questioned.

Wanda looked at you, frowning. "Y/N, did you really forget?" Her tone made you gulp. Her mentioning your name with that tone showed that she was not pleased with your question.

"I- I'm sorry, I really don't remember." It scared you, since you didn't remember Wanda telling you anything and your anniversary of being with her was still months away. You felt your body shake a bit in nervousness.

Wanda got closer to you when she suddenly erupted in laughter. "Relax, I was joking." She confessed while still laughing.

"Damn you really did scare me this time." You said in relief. Wanda placed around you. "Oh, baby, please forgive me." She comforted, your hand reached for her hand that was on your shoulder and carefully placed yours on top of hers. "It's alright, Witchy. I could never stay mad at you."

Wanda smiled, taking her hands off yours and reached for the basket where she pulled out a champagne bottle and two flute glasses.

"While it's true that there isn't anything important to celebrate today." She handed you a glass. "Today I felt the need to celebrate our love because your love has made me stronger and has cured me in several ways." Wanda popped open the champagne bottle and poured some into your glass.

After pouring champagne into her glass, she put the bottle down and raised her glass to make a toast. "To our love." Wanda announced. You brought your glass, making contact with hers. Both of you giggling to the clicking noise.

"To our love." You said, offering a warm smile.

You and Wanda brought the glass up and drank from it. You were the first to bring it down and waited for Wanda. Once she brought it down, you moved closer to her and without hesitation, connected your lips to her. Wanda reciprocated with the same passion.

The kiss only ended because you pulled away to catch some air. You looked down to see her also panting. You pulled her close and she relaxed into you.

"This was really special, Wanda. Thank you." You said, being grateful for her. Only Wanda would do such a beautiful thing for you.

"Stay with me forever." Wanda told you. You ran your hand through her ginger hair. "Don't worry, I'll never leave." You assured her.

"Spasibo." Wanda muttered in a low breathy voice, resting her head on your chest.

"Did you say something, my love?" You asked, stroking her silky hair.

Wanda closed her eyes. "Just enjoying the moment." She answered in a soft tone. The only noise she wanted to hear in that moment was the thumping sound of your heart beat. To her, it was a demonstration of how much you loved being with her.

"That champagne looked expensive, where did you get it?" You asked in an attempt to start a conversation. Wanda shifted a little and looked up at you.

"A magician-" She stopped mid sentence and grinned. "Or witch in this case never reveals her secret." Wanda said. She wanted to laugh at the thought of Tony trying to find one of his many expensive bottles. She could apologize, in the event she was caught.

It didn't matter to her. What mattered to her in that instant was you being there with her. She was grateful for your love and attention. The young witch wants to use the rest of her life showing you how much that meant for her. Because your love was a medicine, fixing up all the open wounds.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Word Count: 1,102

A/N: I would tag my masterlist but links don't work :,) (I'll be fixing it soon)

[clearwillow]

Happy Halloween! I had a wild thought and decided to see if I could dress up the few households I've made in the Sims this year. I didn't want to mess up the individual households, so I saved them to the gallery and started a new save so I could put them all in one household. Because I thought it'd be easier to control all eight than travel with one set, then invite the others to the amusement park I built.

Don't do that to yourself if you're only used to keeping watch over 1-2 sims, especially if you leave autonomy on. Under the cut are some notes and more pics when I sent them to the amusement park.

In the first 10 minutes of dumping them all in one house, we had MF!Hanyou Inuyasha and Kagome "woohooing (a butt pat at best) in the kitchen, pissing Youkai Inuyasha off because she was "cheating" on him. (Thanks to MCCC I fixed that because that didn't happen before Lovestruck changed stuff) but this also trapped everyone in the dining room cause no one would walk through there.

Other things you might find funny:

Everyone likes to gather in the bathroom for some reason, and it's always when someone needs to pee.

MW!Inuyasha does not give a shit and will walk through the house naked. Does a full house tour then gets embarrassed. SIR -

They were fascinated with the flat screen tv but continued to watch terrible movies...?

Because I used the WW mod to help adjust poses since I'm still not used to dropping the teleporter object in the right place, I didn't think to disable some...features. The shower has been a favored place for them to go. Again, whenever someone has to pee. I even put in a second bathroom but it wasn't good enough.

Turns out the ones that have hats with their costumes like to keep their hat on at this time. Clicking stop action is not nearly as satisfying as it would be to turn a hose on these sims.

MW!Inuyasha's costume is cut so high that I needed to disable another feature that I originally thought was an odd shadow. Nearly choked on my cough drop when I realized the shrubs needed to be ripped out.

MF!Hanyou Inuyasha's costume is exactly what you think it is IYKYK

No one wanted to actually sleep in a bed. Everyone took turns napping on the couch. I'm glad I didn't go heavy on decorating this house. Ungrateful shits.

At the amusement park lot I made in Windenburg, there's 5 functional rides, a haunted house, go cart course, ferris wheel, some carnival games, and food. Enough to keep sims busy and boy did it...

Gotta appreciate how they picked which cart they got in on their own. Don't remember who won though, I was chasing down another sim.

A couple of the rides on the lot:

And these two idiots 🤣 That's the face of a man who's sitting next to a demon dressed as an angel and realized he could be manifesting disaster.

This haunted coaster was in a basement level of the lot. No joke this was Kagome's face the entire time.

They really liked playing the games and emptying the households funds. Lost track of a sim? Probably throwing darts.

But there's also the haunted house, and if the sim wasn't playing games, they were probably going through the haunted house. Youkai Inuyasha wet himself twice but kept going back.

Sims can also get a scared moodlet (quite a few of them did, like MW!Kagome). MW!Inuyasha was just trying to get a piece of pizza when Kagome runs up to him and just screams. He screams back. 5 minutes later they were making out on the ferris wheel, so I guess she got over it.

I had to pose them in groups outside the haunted house entrance in sets because of clipping issues, but still they are some doozies.

Finally, one bonus image that I happened to get when I was posing them for the big group picture. I had all of them go sit on a hay bale, pose them, then used WW to move them around.

This dumbass decided to do his idle animation right as he sat down. If you don't know what I'm talking about, mermaids and mermen in Sulani will randomly make dolphin sounds. It's as funny as you think it is, because you don't expect it when it happens.

Custom content creators and modders deserve all the love for what they can do, hands down. I am also so sorry for the cursed creations, if any of those creators see this lol

[littlealeta]

Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 2 Review

Long post! Scroll down for a TL;DR and Aleta Rewrites Version!

I had a lot of thoughts after watching a LP of this season, but I decided to go back to the first season to see how it holds up against this one. I always felt this season was a little off, but I wasn't sure. While the first one isn't amazing, it was still a lot better than whatever this season was. But even without playing the first one, this season Is still badly written in general so I'm not going to compare the two much.

Story

To start with the positives, there are some good ideas in here. Seeing how Clementine has grown since the first season and the themes of figuring out who to trust and side with are good themes to explore. However, the execution of these things are horrible. The game doesn't actually explore the trust theme much, your choices do not have much impact on the theme of your story or the characters, the trust theme gets thrown out the window by the time Carver is introduced and you are forced to stick with this group of shady people, and Clementine is treated like an adult and forced to babysit all the pathetic adults around her.

First of all, the intro tells you all you need to know. A random b!tch comes in to bully and threaten our 10-year-old protagonist (who has never even met her in the first place), Omid and Christa are both written out of the story, and a dog dies, all happened 30 minutes in. Jeez, relax, story. Spoiler alert, yes, Christa does not come back. And Clementine just decides to forget about her. The beginning of the game does a good job of showing you how pointless and melodramatic the rest of the story will be.

The next episode has Clementine seeking help for her dog bite. No one believes her and decides to lock her in the shed. God, this season is mean-spirited. Even I think Lee was treated better in season 1 than Clementine A FUCKING CHILD. I get being worried about it being a walker bite, but why lock a literal child in a shed, like have some mercy, man.

I will explain more about the story in the character section. But what I will say is that overall, there are a lot of quick deaths and characters getting written off, so don't get too attached to these characters, because you won't get to bond with them too much. None of the characters really get much time to grow or shine due to the story writing them off 1-2 episodes in. There was potential for Nick and Luke to grow, but they both die before that can happen.

After Carver dies, the story seems to struggle with figuring out where to go. As terrible of a villain Carver is, at least he has some point to the story unlike a certain Russian guy who comes out of nowhere and the story wants you to sympathize with despite trying to kill you TWICE. Oh, and Kenny comes back... somehow.... and the story makes him out to be a bad guy all because he was trying to whip all the manbabies up into shape and protect everyone from the russian b!tch who ambushed them. In no way am I saying Kenny is a saint or that the way he approaches situations are always healthy, but the game makes him out to be a madman and everyone else is morally correct or sympathetic when everyone in the group are fucking manbabies except for Clem.

The ending is a mixed bag. I would say the choice between leaving Kenny for Wellington (due to overpopulation) or staying with him is one of the few times where I think the game makes actual sense. But the fight with him and Jane before that just feels so forced. It's just again, the game trying to prove to you through this annoyingly cynical woman that Kenny is a bad man and shouldn't be around Clem. So she does something completely heartless to try to prove that to Clem, when I'm sure many (especially a hothead like Kenny) who found out their baby was left to die would probably react that way or close to it. Why couldn't this b!tch have stayed gone? Why am I supposed to like these characters?

Characters

Nearly every character here is just unlikeable, forgettable and dumb. They are so dumb that they literally make Clementine do all the dirty work while they sit there with a thumb up their asses. I even forgot to write a couple characters into this section because they were just that unmemorable. Even the characters that I liked have their own problems.

For example, Pete is probably one of the characters that I liked more, he's one of the more rational adults and has one of the few deaths that made sense. I also like Alvin too, his love and commitment to raising the baby that may or may not be his is admirable and his death at least serves a purpose. Luke is perhaps the most rational adult in the group, but he can make some dirty coward decisions (like for example, running away from the group twice (yeah another way the story tries to keep you from bonding with these characters) and refusing to shoot Carver) and he acts out of character in episode 4. Thankfully, he mellows out in episode 5 and we get to see more of his personality as he pities himself for not doing more for the group. But then he dies, so goodbye character development.

Kenny is still the same, sometimes an asshole but also loveable and kind. Clementine is still Clementine, with a bit more sass and edge which is to be expected. I personally would've liked more done with her, but I'll explain more in an Aleta Rewrites version.

I'm in the minority when I say that Sarah (Aka Futaba) is a good character. A lot of people call her useless, but I think she's a worthwhile example of what would happen if you shelter someone in an apocalypse and she can make for some good back and forth with Clementine. I would've liked to see how she grows, but she also becomes an annoying burden and then just dies. I understand she's coping with PTSD and her father dying, I have no problem with that. But girl, you are in a zombie apocalypse and you're just sitting there letting yourself die in a house. Come on, now.

Now, for the problematic characters. Nick is just Ben 2.0 but more hotheaded and less likeable. His whole deal with Matthew made no sense because he claims that he shot Matthew for allegedly pointing a gun at his friends, but HE was the one who drew the gun first before Matthew so why he shot him, I don't understand. I think there could've been a better way to keep this storyline intact without having him going insane thinking Matthew was going to kill Clementine and Luke.

Carlos and Rebecca are just straight up assholes to Clem in the beginning and Carlos treats Clementine like she's his own FUCKING ANXIETY RIDDEN DAUGHTER, WHAT?!?!?! Like I said, I think it's interesting to show the ramifications of sheltering someone in an apocalypse but I just can't get over these two being the ones to push the bright idea of letting a little girl suffer in a shed. I would say Rebecca's story with the baby is cute, though.

Sarita... doesn't really have much personality. She's a pretty likeable character, but I think there could've been more to do with her (see the Aleta Rewrites version).

Mike was ok until he started whiteknighting Arvo. Bonnie was a weird character. At first, she sides with Carver, but then she joins the group and is on their side while also making some dumb decisions like *coughs* Getting Luke killed on the lake *coughs* and also whiteknighting Arvo.

Jane just gave off so many red flags. She's cynical, always telling Clementine the worst that could happen like Sarah being dead after losing her glasses and Kenny being a bad person. She has a hidden evil side (willing to leave a baby in the car out in the cold). She gets involved with Luke for whatever reason. And she just seems like an extremely twisted character overall while trying to keep up the cool, nice girl act.

Carver and especially Arvo are both horrible villains. I felt like something interesting could've been done with Carver, he wants to raise the baby that may or may not be his, but he was such a confusing character. On one hand, his motivations seem clear, he wants to get rid of Alvin and help Rebecca raise the baby. But then he has another motivation is that he is a ruthless Karen who wants everyone to work with him and will hurt them if they make even the tiniest mistake. Arvo just feels completely out of the blue. Even if you didn't make the choice to steal the supplies, you still get ambushed by his group. He's clearly a villain yet the game wants you to sympathize with him at the same time. Also a confusing mess of a character.

Gameplay/Animation/Voice Acting

What about the gameplay? Well, besides me not liking the QTE events, the gameplay is still relatively the same and I don't have much to complain about it. Overall, the gameplay and the technical aspects such as the animation and voice acting are still competent. But I'm a writer first and foremost so I focus on the writing more and don't have much to say about anything else.

Overall/TL;DR

I give The Walking Dead Season 2 5.5 bells out of 10.

It was pretty hard to rate. I mean, I have so many mixed feelings about this season and I don't think it's an awful season, but it does so much wrong in terms of writing. I don't want to be too mean to it because I think it's playable at best, it didn't make me want to rip my hair out. The gameplay is competent and there are a few characters to like here (though, it really doesn't help that pretty much every likeable character is killed off and have issues of their own).

But overall, the story rarely makes sense and is just overall mean-spirited and melodramatic, filled with pointless deaths, dumb character decisions, and characters being assholes. One character from the first season gets treated like a villain despite being one of the more rational characters in the group. Characters die before they have much time to develop. Clementine is an 11 year old who's either treated like the only sane adult or treated like a clueless child. Story throws in a bunch of random conflict that throws off the pacing and consistency. Both Carver and Arvo yo-yo between being somewhat sympathetic characters (at least in how the story portrays them) to completely ruthless classic villains. Even the more likeable characters have their own problems, usually as a result of dying off too soon. Or even just other things like Luke being out of character in episode 4 and Sarah becoming an empty husk before her death. Sarita is an anomaly in that she's not an asshole, but pretty much a blank slate.

Aleta Rewrites

Clementine has no character development whatsoever and is somehow a cold, blood-thirsty killer and wise way beyond her years after only two years. Instead of being this static Mary-Sue, why not give her a coming of age story? Show her as a still sensitive, naive little girl losing her innocence as she makes some big choices and sacrifices. Make her hesitate a bit and freak out over the stuff she is doing and going through. Show a major breakdown over everything she's going through. She doesn't need to be a Sarah, but she does still need to have some vulnerability. This could make her bond with the adults (especially Luke and Kenny) much more dynamic and emotional. And THEN by season 3, we can see a cold, cynical, blood-thirsty Clementine, hardened by everything she had to go through, especially in season 2.

Luke. He should've survived at least up until season 3. I could see him having a more heroic death where he sacrifices himself for Clem. If he was able to survive longer, I think he would've had some great character development. Either it's going to be him making less stupid choices, or having to make more morally grey choices in order to survive.

Sarah (aka Futaba). They at least should've kept her until season 3 as well. Maybe season 3 would be the development of Sarah struggling to become more of a badass.

Nick, like I said, the guilt about a huge mistake he made is a good concept to explore. It was just the way it was done didn't make sense. They could've done the simple thing of having Matthew pull out his gun on him first, being suspicious about the group, which then causes Nick to shoot him. Nick could've survived a little bit longer as he tries to make up for his misdeeds, and maybe he dies while doing so.

Sarita, how about having some drama come with being a replacement goldfish for Katjaa? Since Kenny is an emotionally unstable character, maybe he and Sarita don't really get along that much and he's only using her as a rebound. But Sarita doesn't want to break up because she kinda loves him and she wants to keep him happy, it's a codependent issue.

Jane, I think is one of the characters that possibly could've been written out in this season. She's a strong and smart character, so after teaching the group all her skills, having her die instead of Luke maybe during an all is lost moment for the characters would be emotional and would cause the group to go frantic, if only she was a more likeable and loyal character.

Carver. Focus more on his motivation of trying to raise the baby. Considering that the story tries to make him sympathetic at some points, maybe don't imply he r@ped Rebecca in his backstory? I just feel like having that kind of topic even for a villain makes a character instantly unsympathetic and irredeemable. Maybe he was an old fling or flame and she used Alvin as a rebound or another fling that became a relationship or something, idk. Maybe Carver is someone who constantly steals from the group or is an assassin working for someone to kill someone or two in Carlos's group in order to make enough dough to raise the baby.

I could see Arvo being a minor villain to the story if you choose to steal the supplies, but he overstays his welcome. Instead of Arvo, BONNIE should've been the secondary antagonist after Carver. Actually, have HER turn out to be the one who wanted Carver to work for her in assassinating someone. She was initially allied with Carver when the group first talked to her so it'd make sense she'd want revenge after his death. We don't have to have that whole lake bullshit. We don't have to have Bonnie blaming Clementine for someone's death and then turning her back on her while allowing someone to point a damn gun at Clem. JUST MAKE HER WANT VENGEANCE! Seriously, how hard is it to make her be the one to shoot Luke in the leg and Clementine causing her near-death experience? Or idk, that would conflict with Arvo. Maybe don't have him in the story at all. Unless maybe Arvo gets one of your allies killed (maybe Mike, who probably lets himself die in order to make up for stealing the supplies, But also, Mike doesn't do anything so maybe he should die at some point in the story anyway by either Bonnie or Arvo).

Kenny and Luke already had tension built up for episodes and with Kenny gradually losing more and more of his sanity, it would make sense for HIM to be the one to attack Luke because their tension reached a breaking point and Luke did something that he strongly disagreed with. Maybe it was stupid, maybe it got someone killed. Maybe it was Sarita? She was the closest to Kenny.

[arosebyan0thername]

A rant

For the Second Time in less than a year of living together, Trevor has not paid our rent on time, and I truly cannot sympathize. Rent was due on a Saturday, I sent him my portion on Monday, which is late but I know he literally never pays it on the day it's due bc he told me so himself. But we only have a 7 day grace period, and idk if he thinks it's longer and just didn't learn his lesson last time or if he's forgetting about it or what, but I can't brush it off, because he drove to LA this morning to go see a musical with someone he's been trying to hook up with and keeps getting rejected by and won't accept it I guess. And last weekend he drove to Phoenix for a hookup, and the week before that he flew to his hometown in Michigan for a week for his friend's wedding. The wedding I can understand but then maybe stop vacationing for a little while after that??? If you can't fucking afford to pay OUR rent on time??? I have not even $200 in savings right now because I had to take some out to pay some other bills. I did buy two hozier tickets this week, but it amounted to less than $300 and that's the largest non-essential purchase I've made since before Christmas. He regularly goes to play MTG at a card shop nearby and always buys alcohol while he's out there and usually also buys himself dinner, and frequently buys new cards (which aren't fucking cheap, for those unfamiliar with card games). He buys new expensive shoes and jackets all the time, he comes home with takeout or donuts or fast food all the time; I would just like for the person who I rely on for housing to be the least bit responsible with his spending. I don't give a shit what he does with his own money, but we signed this lease together and he needs to keep his end up. He also makes almost double what I do, so how the fuck is he the one who can't afford his bills? It's only happened twice but it shouldn't have even happened once and this really truly may be the deciding factor in whether I renew a lease with him or not. AND! He wants us to get a bigger unit when our lease ends! He thinks, somehow, that a three bedroom with a wrap around balcony will cost the same as our current two bedroom with standard balcony. I have told him every time he's brought it up that I Absolutely Will Not be able to afford an upgrade and he is still pushing it regularly, but he can't even fucking afford our rent right now apparently! He agreed when we moved in that he'd pay more than half the rent because he makes more money and because our complex is like 5 minutes from his mom's house and like 10 minutes from his job, but about 45 minutes from my dad's house and 30 minutes from my job. He agreed that he would pay more, and he's only paying about $100 more than me, when, again, he makes about double. There's no fucking excuse for this. He isn't in college like I am, he doesn't have near weekly medical bills like I do, he doesn't pay the top most premium healthcare package like I do; my life is more expensive than his, and that isn't to say that I think he should pay even more in rent, but that I don't think it's fathomable that I can still pay my rent on time and he can't.

[fr-wiwiw]

15 questions, 15 people

I was tagged by @lienwyn! it's been ages but i have time to do this one now! Thank you for the tag dear ✨

1. Are you named after anyone?

I'm not. My mom's eldest brother gave me my name collaboratively with my parents. It was supposed to be something different like great figure from my country but it felt like a huge responsibility, so they changed it thank God for that lol

2. When was the last time you cried?

Just today. I wouldn't say full on crying, just a minute or less type of crying when you feel overwhelmed by something or when your brain decides to rewind a certain event in your head.

3. Do you have kids?

No but I have a baby turtle that I love <3

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes yea when I'm having certain conversations with my group of friends or when we're playing online games and if there's a current event (ex: politic figure doing something foolish), it will jump out if i'm flabbergasted once or twice.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Hmm.. depends. But my eyes would scan them up and down- and I realized that can come off as eyeing them like i'm some kind of arrogant person. I'm sorry to these people, I never meant to come off like that. But i like observing creatures and I draw too, so I tend to see them as a whole or if they behave and talk in certain ways and tone. I just notice things

6. What's your eye colour?

Dark brown almost black if there's no lighting. Typical asian eye color

7. Scary movie or happy ending?

Happy ending. I cannot watch scary movies bcs of my strong visualization and imagination. I can visualize almost anything from my memory and imagine them do anything next to me right here right now. It's... uncomfortable especially when my brain decides to scare me when I see dark places. it's the downside of being an artist

8. Any special talents?

So far.. I'm good at art related things. I want to try my hands on sculpting, painting in canvas, diorama, play more music instruments as a hobby and many more. But I don't have the time and money, hopefully in the future. I just love being involved in my curiosity and see what I can make out of it xD

I'm also good at reading people and situations. I'm a big empath too which comes in handy when I imagine or write. Or connect to people. I'm people's go to listener usually hahah but I create some more boundaries for this. It drains me because I feel deeply.

9. Where were you born?

Indonesia.

10. What are your hobbies?

Uh.. drawing, reading, playing video games, writing, listening to music, sing, eat out and take walks in mall or just strolling through shop marts.

11. Do you have pets?

Yes. I once had 2 red eared slider turtles for 11 years. Then 2 mini pomeranian, and another baby read eared slider turtle which sadly didn't make it for only a month. But my friend gave me another baby turtle, she's always ravenous and lively ^^ so cute.

12. What sports do you/have you played?

Oh man.. I played a lotta sports I even got a tan back then lol. Futsal (indoor soccer), soccer, kasti (kinda like softball / baseball), swimming, running, basketball, badminton. Would love to try snowboarding tho ngl it looks fun but I heard it's damn expensive. And horse riding. The only sport I play now is playing console games😂 would love to be active at sports again in the future

13. How tall are you?

156cm (5'11)

14. Favourite subject in high school?

English and art (but depends on the teacher)

15. Dream job?

Right now? A freelance or full time artist with stable income or good amount of followers to pay off my day to day living without a worry. I am a freelance artist, just not financially stable yet. Hope I can get there

I'm so late to this particular tag game so I apologize if any of you have been tagged before. @gaylilsherlock @uhhhhmanda @gayautisticraccoon @briwates @technitango @kdramastrix

[marvelandponder]

15Qs and 15As!

Thanks for the tag, Marvel, this sounds fun! Tagging: @smallcrystals, @digikate813, @eddiescorner, and @bevinbrand if she feels like it :) Don't dox yourself on the 'where were you born' question tho, y'all. We're better than that. Are you named after anyone? Two people! My Uncle Stephen and my Nana (maternal grandmother). My brother was named after my dad's high school best friends

When was the last time you cried? I think the last time was a couple weeks ago watching anime. I love a good cry, I've embraced that that's how I express a lot of emotions

Do you have kids? Nope! I'd like to someday, but all in due time.

What sports do you play/have you played? I'm not a team sports kind of girl anymore, but I played soccer as a kid and really enjoyed that.

Do you use sarcasm? Usually only obvious sarcasm. Bevin and I will often use excessively obvious sarcasm with each other to express love. A little linguistic game we play with each other. We never enjoy spending hours and hours on the phone together. So unlike us! Where would you get that idea?

What is the first thing you notice about people? First thing? I feel like my anxiety is charge of that: looking out for how friendly they seem, what they laugh at (if they do), how approachable they might be. I had pretty bad social anxiety disorder from like 14 - 22ish and human beings tend to do the social thing once or twice.

What is your eye color? Hazel! Looks brown but up close you can see there's a lot of green around my pupils, too.

Scary movies or happy endings? My media diet is heavily skewed towards happy endings but every now and then, nothing satisfies like a good tragedy.

Any talents? People know I like the writing thing! I'm also learning to draw now and picking up guitar again for the first time since before uni!

Where were you born? A hospital about... 30 - 40 minutes away from me? I don't live in that city anymore, and haven't since I was 3, but we stayed in the same general province!

Don't dox yourself, folks!

What are your hobbies? Writing, drawing, guitar, going for bike rides or walks. Geeking out by myself or with friends! I'm also starting to learn some German and pick up a few more cooking skills.

Do you have any pets? Nah, wish I did. My living situation doesn't allow for it. But my dad has a dog who I love so much and get to visit! And my sister has two cats who used to live with us that are excellent cuddlers.

How tall are you? Uhhhhh I think 5'11? To use ancient Tumblr Lingo: Tol, not smol

Favorite subject in school? In Elementary - Middle School, it was English, because reading and writing. In high school, Psychology, Legal Studies, Guitars, History, or Writer's Craft

Dream job? Cool question, I'mma over-complicate it! For my career, it's either one of two things: Creative and/or helping people. Add another axis onto that: Stability vs. freedom. I like stability. It helps me feel happy and builds self-esteem to build stuff up. So since most of the creative jobs I'd be down to try have a lack of stability (and often crappy working conditions), I decided to start with stability and helping people! My current job is actually the goal I set for myself to get into in 5 - 10 years. So. Whoops! Got in early! I can't stay beyond this year (covering a mat leave) but wow has it been good experience. And it's cool shit that I like to think supports people in building something good for themselves.

Not a ton of creativity though, and so what's cool about life is that the time horizon isn't just right now, forever. The job I'm in now is a dream job of mine based on the criteria I set out (stable, treats me right, and helps people), but I have other dream jobs I'd like to also try out!

For example: I'd like to become a published author! And I'd also like to learn storyboarding to maybe try being a storyboards artist someday, or some job in animation.

What I like about the job I have now, too, is that I still have enough energy in and around my job to have a life outside of it. So I can build the creative skills that'll lead to cool stuff and opportunities down the line.

Having multiple dream jobs I think is realistic. And just kinda fun to not only achieve one thing, but look forward to what else I can do!

[melis-writes]

Would you mind teaching me how to create gifs? ♥️ Like what program do you use, how to adjust their sharpness or things like that because your gifts are both beautiful and high-quality! I am still an amateur when it comes to editing. 😭

Hellloooo, sweet anon! Of course I can give a mini tutorial on that for you! :3 PHEW, honestly I haven't made GIFs in a fucking hot minute (since early May!). I put that on the back burner to focus on crunching away that writer's block. 🥲🙄 BUT... Making GIFs is like second nature to me because I've been at it for 2 years now, so allow me to tell you all I know! ❤️

I use Adobe Photoshop 2023! My GIFs are started, edited, cooked and finished all up in there. I know there's plenty of cheaper/free alternatives, but I've literally only ever used Photoshop so I have zero experience with those alternatives. 🥲

Remember, a huge part of how smooth and high quality your GIFs are gonna be is 95% where your GIF source is coming from. Stay away from 720p quality files! You want your GIF screencaps to be pulled from the most HD, crisp source material. At least 1080p unless you absolutely can't get your hands on anything else.

Once you pop open Photoshop, you want to follow...

Click "File"

Click "Scripts"

Click "Load files into stack..."

Now select all of your GIF screencaps. I would recommend a maximum of 85 screencaps otherwise your GIF will be longer/beefier and Tumblr for some reason hates GIFs over 10mb.

Wait for it to load! If your computer is older/slower, this might be a pain in the ass and will be 2x a pain in the ass if you have a high screencap amount.

CROPPING YOUR GIF: Select W x H x Resolution on the top bar.

It's honestly best to crop out as close to the edges as possible for the sharpest gifs. A general rule of thumb I like to follow for cropping/GIF sizing is:

One gif: 540 px x 400 px.

2 gifs side by side: 268 px each.

3 gifs side by side: 177 px, 178 px, 177 px.

Hit enter twice to crop!

Once your GIF screencaps are loaded in, click on "Create Video Timeline" on the "Timeline" option. If you can’t see the Timeline > Window > Timeline.

Click on the stack of 3 small lines on the far right of your Timeline and click "Convert to Video Timeline".

8. Click on those 3 lines again and click on "Make Frames From Layers".

9. Click on those 3 lines again and click "Select All Frames".

10. Click on the 3 lines again and click "Reverse Frames" otherwise your GIF will play backwards!!

11. Then you'll notice all your frames like this showing 0 seconds.

Now you get to decide how fast or slow you want your GIF to play, but we're not using whole numbers like 1 2 3 4. Those will make your GIFS incredibly choppy and slow. Instead, we use numbers like 0.01. I would recommend sticking to 0.05 or 0.06. The higher the number, the slower it is. 0.06 feels just right to me, but 0.05 is more like watching the clip live from the movie. I also use 0.07 and 0.08 when I try to GIF a screencap that's very short so unfortunately you have to slow it down otherwise your GIF zoom replays and if you're making a GIF set it'll look horrible next to the other ones going at normal speed LMAO. 0.08 is a good, sensual slow motion type of GIF. Definitely play around with the speeds until you feel comfortable with how your GIF plays out. Not all GIFs are made with equal speed!

For my example, I'm choosing 0.06.

12. Next, go to the far right where your screencaps are all layered and select every single one of them from top to bottom. Then, right click on any random layer until this menu pops up. Click "Convert to Smart Object".

13. On your Timeline, you'll get your smushed chunky little GIF looking like this.

Now with my extensive experience in navigating Tumblr's hellish rules for GIF size and keeping my GIFS clean, smooth and not too long or not too short, I can easily eyeball this every time but I can see why a beginner with Photoshop GIFs might struggle. You see how big that purple block, AKA your GIF, is? It basically needs to be half of that. The bigger that block, the longer/beefier the GIF.

Slowly drag your mouse over that purple block from start to finish to watch your GIF essentially manually play out in front of you. Then you can decide what parts to trim out using the scissors option.

You can then click anywhere on the Timeline to unselect those now 2 chunks of purple. Then you can select just the one piece you want to delete and either hit the backspace key on your keyboard (Like I do) or right click it and click delete.

14. Next, make sure you drag that little blue arrow thing that lets you comb through the GIF all the way back to the beginning. We're going to edit the actual GIF now and we want to edit the whole thing from start to finish, not have effects randomly playing right before the GIF ends or in the middle of it.

15. Time to sharpen up that GIF as the first part of our editing and make it pretty!!

Click on lower left convert button to Convert from Frame Animation to Video Timeline.

Select > All Layers.

CTRL + click on any Layer > Select Convert to Smart Object.

16. Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

A little menu will pop up and you can select/input these defaults I use for my crispy GIFs:

Preset: CUSTOM.

Amount: 500%.

Radius: 0.4 PX.

Remove: GAUSSIAN BLUR.

Once more...

Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen again only this time for the second Smart Sharpening, make the attributes:

Amount: 10%.

Radius: 10 PX.

17. Colouring the GIFs!

If you don’t have Adjustments tab > Window > Adjustments.

Adjustments > Exposure.

Another little menu will pop up, and you can use my defaults:

Preset: CUSTOM.

Exposure: 0.99

Offset: 0.0000

Gamma Correction: 1.00

Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.

Brightness: *anything you want* Drag your mouse around to play with how you want this to look, there are no set numbers however you might want to note down the amount of brightness you put or took away if you want all of your GIFs to match this one!

Contrast: *anything you want*

18. Colouring GIFs when skintones or scenes are too orange/red:

Adjustments > Selective Color.

Colors: REDS.

Cyan: +6.

Magenta, Yellow, Black: 0.

The reds result in the orange color to begin with, but remember each color has its own counterpart. To decrease red tones, increase the cyans!

Example: Making a blue dress more vibrantly blue à Adjustments > Selective Color.

19. Adding text.

Remember, text layers should be on top of the rest of your layers, even if you have several pieces of text on the GIF. It doesn't matter in which order you stack text layers on top, they just have to be up there.

Click Text Tool on the lefthand bar and then click wherever you want to add the text.

To change text settings on a panel > Window > Character.

18-20 pt font is suitable for 540 px gifs! It's to use Calibri font in italics for text talking or Myriad Pro. Those are GIF text classics.

Right click on Text Layer > Blending Options > Stroke > + Stroke.

Size: 1 px.

Position: OUTSIDE.

Blend Mode: NORMAL.

Then hit OK.

Right click on Text Layer > Blending Options > Drop Shadow > Drop Shadow +.

Once again, right click on Text Layer > Blending Options > Stroke > + Stroke.

Blend Mode: NORMAL.

Angle: 30 > Use Global Light.

Distance: 1 px.

Spread: 17%.

Size: 3 px.

Noise: 0.

Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow > OK.

To center and move the text, just press Y on your keyboard to use the move tool.

20. Finishing up the GIF!

File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy). Check bottom left corner of save screen for GIF size.

Do not go over 10MB EXACTLY! Otherwise Tumblr won't let you post it. You'll have to go back and shorten your GIF as a result, even if that means just splitting the clip off at the very end or very beginning.

Happy GIF making!! :3 ❤️❤️❤️

[fireandiceland]

Okay, I don't give a shit, you can pick and choose, you can make these like two sentences long, but you wanted prompts? here are prompts, bitch (affectionately) SuFin - 30 RusAme - 10 Red Velvet Pancakes (or wtf ever their shipname is) - 18 MintChoc - 35 AusHun - 19 GerIta - 42 TurGre - 33 Dennor - 22 SicIre - 40 Gabio - 45 Francetto - 38 And this is a real shot in the dark but ... Railey - 46

Alright challenge accepted, I tend to go overboard with shit tall time so I'll try to do 3 sentences for each, max. 5 if it's completely impossible otherwise. Get ready for some smooches and prepare for me to probably completely butcher your OC ships 😘

edit after I was finished: sorry this took a little longer but I really wanted to try all of them and had so much fun with these!! thank you bea, love you 💖

Sufin - Weak, sweaty kisses because it’s unbearably hot.

""'s too hot," Sweden panted when Finland oh so graciously pulled away from a kiss that was merely a brush of lips to let him breath. Moving off his lap was out of question though, even if it was getting close to 120°C in the sauna. Judging from the sticky feeling of sweat and humidity they might as well start melting into one soon, Sweden thought. "It's cosy," Finland stated and pressed his lips to Sweden's once more.

Rusame - A hello/good-bye kiss that is given without thinking - where neither person thinks twice about it.

America took another hasty look at his watch while shoving documents, pens, and candy bar wrappers from his desk right into his briefcase, then patted down all his pockets while scanning the room quickly. "Fuck!" he exclaimed when he turned around to find Russia standing right behind, but what he held in his hand put the signature smile back on America's face - his phone! "Thanks, dude!" He took device and pulled Russia into a quick kiss and was softly reciprocated. "See ya tomorrow!" It was only minutes after, when America was on his way and Russia back at his desk, that they realised that this hadn't been their usual goodbye.

RVP - Teasing kisses where one person blows air into the other’s mouth and runs away.

James yelped when Matthew suddenly threw his arms around him, catching him mid-race to the other end of the part where they had decided to hang out for their definitely-not-a-date and taking the last that was left of his breath away with a kiss. The sun was still high, causing Matthew's golden hair and bright eyes to sparkle. James pecked his lips again, lingering a little longer for this one. "Oh? I thought this wasn't a date," Matthew teased but leaned in closer again. "It isn't," James stated, but was about to meet him halfway for the first kiss that would count - if not for Matthew to blow at his lips and run off again. James smiled to himself, seems like he lost the race but was about to win something else.

MintChoc - An awkward kiss given after a first date.

'Is this the moment where I should kiss him?' Allen thought to himself, well aware of the uncomfortable, nightly silence surrounding him and Arthur and the park bench the have settled down on as their very first real date came to an end. 'I'll kiss him' he decided and scooted a closer, leaned in a little and- 'Oh heavens, he's going to kiss me!' Arthur's mind screamed as his heartbeat quickened with every millimitre that Allen's lips came closer to his. He let his eyes fall closed, decided to meet him halfway and- "Ouch!" they both exclaimed at the same time when their foreheads collided in a painful hit, followed by laughter and their real first kiss.

AusHun - One person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss.

It had started as a simple squeezing of their hands, fingers playing with eachother, a futive kiss on Austria's cheek, a hand reluctantly wandering to rest on Hungary's thigh. By now it was slow kisses exchanged in the dim back of their private loge during the new year's concert, the upper buttons of Austria's dress shirt undone and Hungary's skirt slipped upwards further enough to reveal her underwear. She was working on the next button in row on Austria's shirt while never letting his lips go farther from hers to do more than take a breath. Only when his chest was bare she pulled away far enough to speak. "Do you want to do this?," she asked, one hand running up the inside of his thigh. The answer came in form of Austria cradling her cheeks, immediately pulling her into a kiss that caused her to make a noise she hoped the other guests wouldn't hear.

GerIta - Distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop the other person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead.

"Ger - ma - nyyyy..." Italy whined, Germany's name interrupted by kisses being pressed to his jaw, his cheek, then the thip os his nose. With a heavy sigh he put the cap back on his pen to prevent it from drying out like his motivation and put it aside together with his last bit of self-discipline. "Ja ja, schon gut.." He pushed himself in the desk chair away to get up, but Italy was sitting in his lap immediately, peppering his face in kisses. "Finally! You really - work - too much - Ger - ma - ny!" Maybe Italy was right. A break suddenly didn't sound so bad.

TurGre - An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it.

Sadik pushed Herakles against the wall, rage had tinted his cheeks red and he yelled once again "Why?!" before staring at the ground while trying to get back his breath and composure. Then he looked up at Herakles and their eyes met - and suddenly their lips too. Herakles couldn't do anything, but let it happen. It didn't feel bad, no, it was fine, good even, only it had happened at the time he had expected it the least.

Dennor - A kiss that is leading to more, but is interrupted by a third party.

Denmark couldn't believe his luck when Norway kissed him again and again and again until all the knew was the others lips and hands on him. What were the odds of getting up in the middle of the night to find his insomniac boyfriend in the kitchen as the 2am snack he craved? He sure wasn't doing to do the math now. Or later. Instead he pushed Norway against the table to sit him down there. Standing in front of him and being trapped by Norway's legs around his it would be so easy for Denmark to just pull up his shirt and- "Really? In front of my cereal? Again?" Denmark broke the kiss just in time to see Iceland stomp off while covering his eyes.

SicIre - A gentle kiss that quickly descends into passion, with little regard for what’s going on around them.

"Harry!" Michele protested weakly when his boyfriend suddenly cupped his face, and pulled him into a kiss. It wasn't that he minded being kissed, by god he didn't, but it was a surprising move considering they were in the car waiting for the light to go green. Harry didn't care for the car honking behind them. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to take Michele's breath away with a fierce kiss. Maybe it was his beautifully relaxed expression while driving, maybe it was the orange reflection of the sunset sparkling in his eyes, maybe it was the warmth that radiated from his mere presence at any given moment - whatever it was, it was more important to Harry than the impatient honking.

Gabio - Kisses exchanged as they move around, hitting the edges of tables or nearly tripping over things on the floor before making it to the sofa, or bed.

"Ou-!" "Shhh!" Gabriella was quick to steal the sound of discomfort from Fabio's lips while he rubbed his thigh where the edge of the desk had just been rammed into it. They both knew it would be more than awful for their bosses to find out about their relationship like this - catching them tripping over and bumping into the antique Italian furniture in Gabriella's office. Fabio sighed softly, the pain of the sharp edge already forgotten at the sweet distraction that Gabriella's kisses offered him. Getting caught by either of their bosses was a risk he was willing to take if this was the reward.

Francetto - Whispering “I love you” before a chaste, delicate kiss.

Franceso smiled softly, genuinely, at how a sleeping Dolcetto's chest rose and sunk, over and over with every breath. It had been an insanely long week that had finally come to an end. Even if things hadn't went as planned, at least they had this moment - well, Francesco had it. He descended slowly as to not wake Dolcetto from his well deserved slumber and whispered the three words that were still easier to say when there was no chance for a snarky reply - "I love you" - before leaning in further to plant a feather-light kiss on Dolcetto's lips.

Railey - A lingering kiss before a long trip apart.

Tahir wasn't sure how he got in this position, but by god he wasn't going to complain about being held close by Robert while holding onto him as well, their hands on each other's shoulders, each other's necks. The taste of a recently smoked cigarette still clung to Robert's lips and for once Tahir drank it up because it was him. Their lips barely moved. No teeth, no tongue dared to disturb the closeness as if any movement at all would make this moment pass. Something neither of them wanted, considering they will be parted for weeks once it ends.

[pacinosgf]

After Midnight Mayhems’ first split up, Barbara was nowhere to be seen. Not in Texas, not in California, couldn’t be reached through the phone: the woman had vanished from the planet. Travelling, everyone assumed, since Jim had also disappeared, and they were right. After almost two years travelling around and exploring the world, she came back home a few weeks after Brooke Wellington’s first album release. Healthier, almost totally sober and more introspective than ever and with a leatherbound notebook, every single page filled with random-seeming scribbles to anyone, Barbara didn’t want to talk to anyone. Her hidden scribbles were the idea for what would become her first and only solo album, Contemplations and Ramblings.

It would take a while to convince her to play again, though. The Robinson couple decided to get into producing, Barbara being very vehement about her desire to live peacefully and away from the spotlight, as much as she could. Being a producer and technician meant she got to spend the days analyzing (criticizing), discussing and playing music, all that safely. Why would she want to put herself on the edge again?

She kept writing, almost obsessively, even with no plans of ever returning to the other side of the recording booth. Acquaintances at the time justified her refusal by saying she didn’t want to be compared to Brooke Wellington, former bandmate and lover — the true reason was never revealed, but Contemplations and Ramblings’ production began in early 1982, after Barbara invited her closest friends to her home studio to show what she had come up with on the keyboard, a tune that would later be known as Stroke. She first intended to sell it to another artist, but ultimately changed her mind.

barbara ann: i was so excited, had just written something completely alone, something that i deeply related to. i didn’t want to see anyone else playing it, but i also didn’t want to let the lyrics rotting in my notes. so, i had to release it somehow, and i always thought that if you gotta do something, you gotta do it right.

Barbara played most of the instruments heard in the songs, including bass, keyboard and ryhtmic guitar. Jim played the drums, and any other instrument was played by session musicians. The cover was shot in her property in California, and the full shoot depicts Barbara barefoot and in a modest dress, wandering around the property, the cover clashing with the record content. Though it gained more attention and acclaim with time, Contemplations and Ramblings received modest critical acclaim and attention from the public when it was released. There was barely any promotion and it has been the said that the folk looks from the record cover and name put off a lot of fans from Midnight Mayhems. The only hit was completely unintentional: Call Her got to the top 10 of the country, allegedly written about a major celebrity at the time. In 1997, Barbara Ann told press she didn’t regret writing the album.

Barbara opens the record with Core, announcing her own return after almost four years away from the mic. Disappearing suits me, you don’t need to say it twice, she addresses before anyone else can do it, spending the next four minutes diving into her own core. She knows she is seen as a weakling now, and directly tackles the subject by confessing how much she needed time alone to be able to face herself again. Though I ruin everything / Let it crash over me / I will pick up the pieces / With no intentions to flee again. She doesn’t regret doing it, having understood that her life is for herself and herself only.

Don’t Tell Me is a sorrowful ballad about trying to start over after going through an intense heartache. The narrator pleads to remain unaware of what happened ever since the last meeting with her lover, savoring the sweet memories though conscious there’s no way of fixing the problem. And if you should ever find it in your heart to forgive me / I’m setting you free / We must go on.

In Success, Barbara sings about working hard day and night to make her dreams come true, though nobody else seems to believe. She references her days as a nurse and finishes the song with Here I am, only the tenth hour of this shift / God, if you think you have some time for me / Please, I’m working hard / For some success. It fades right to the next song, Failure, where Barb admits not being able to appreciate her success and feeling empty and angry while supposedly on the top of the world. The song starts as a drunk chat, Barbara laughing while trying to tell her story, but the tone becomes serious in the second verse. The thing is / Nothing matters when I feel like this / Empty, down and more miserable that I want her to think / All this while mistreating everyone around me / Failure is not for the weak. Both are played like traditional country songs with some rock arrangements.

The longest and most personal song of the record, Annie pictures Barbara’s life from her healthy early childhood in Houston to the present. Annie is a childhood nickname, used only by her closest friends, and by revealing that Barbara exposes a softer side of herself that she usually likes to. She talks about her marriage (And if anyone can handle me / I’m glad to say the one is Jim / Through the thick and thin / I’ve been able to trust him), and about her former lover, Brooke Wellington, also referencing her album (I threw myself into the eye of the storm / A natural disaster / I never thought I’d miss).

No one expected a song like Love Bites, but Barbara didn't think about that when she first sang Your teeth on my skin / Gentler than a kiss / I won't turn to ashes / You can bite me, setting a pun with Brooke Wellington's song Ash. She is more rational in Bait, describing the process of trying to get over an old flame when the attraction is so strong: I take care of myself / knowing I will be your bait / at the very first opportunity / Give you myself in a silver plate (...)

Playing With You and Moving On also touch the subject of an old flame, with Barbara being able to acknowledge mistakes from both sides. Bitter in Playing With You, she confesses the wish to see her lover as miserable as she feels, dropping the act and telling the truth. Still, she collects herself in Moving On, giving what may be the last step to get over the relationship: I danced in the eye of the storm / Turned to ashes and howled like a madman / I will take my blame and let you live.

Barbara returns to the topic of facing herself with Stroke, in the happiest of the record. It doesn’t matter what happens, she says, it’s a stroke of luck having myself again.

Call Her is the final track, added to the album only a month before release, forcing the album to be remade and reissued before the official date. The song describes the journey of a rising star known by her scandalous behavior, and the not so bright future it might be upon her. It’s been said that Barbara was inspired by the actress Amèlie Bergstein to write the song.

barbara ann: i was attending one of those boring celebrity parties, looking for the guy i was supposed to be making a deal with. he didn’t show up, jim was nowhere to be found, i didn’t know anyone, i was so pissed off and overwhelmed and then she enters — everybody instantly stops, like they can feel her presence. she was on tv, she was on the movies, amèlie bergstein was the biggest star you could think of. she walks into the room barely acknowledging how shocked everyone is, just smiling, greeting and making her way when she stops and looks right at me. “barbara ann, isn’t that right?”

i remember she took me to the bar and i could barely babble a sentence, even more overwhelmed than before. people were saying she’d get an oscar for black widow, it was the first time i felt so in awe in the presence of someone famous. but she was so charming, she dropped the fancy act and spoke to me in her oklahoman accent after the second sentence. mind you, i could only smile and nod! she said she loved midnight mayhems when we were together. 

my expression probably changed when she mentioned the band, and i remember she pulled me closer and told me make a new record so we’ll have nicer things to talk about. i told her i was finishing one, when i didn’t even know if i’d release it. when a woman like that demands something from you, you just accept it. i got home and started writing call her immediately.

it wasn’t the nicest song ever and i think the lyrics were too obvious and maybe even a bit rude, but people liked it and as soon as she caught up the references, she called me to go meet her and play it exclusively for her. the rest is private.

[lunaacity]

you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people — no skipping!

thanks for tagging me @gothmoneyswag! i’d love to share

i decided to use last.fm because my biggest playlist right now is only like 150 songs and i dont think thats large enough

i wanted to leave a comment with each song too but thats optional if you want to do this too

1) Hackle - 1 Trillion Bars

my favorite drill song at the moment. hackle is the only HM member whose music i can say i love, i don’t hate turnagoat but hackle just has a vibe i cant really explain. recommended to sosa enjoyers and people who kinda like HM but haven’t really gotten into it.

2) chase plato - SET YOU FREE

found out a funny guy on tiktok made music and gave him a shot and it was really good. i love the final fantasy sample and chase’s vocals are really good. also follow him on tiktok @ chaseplato he is very funny

3) Oli XL feat. Ecco2k - Hesitate

song makes me feel like i’m the coolest mf to walk this earth. if my life was a movie, this would definitely make the soundtrack

4) Alex G - Bobby

a heartwarming and very bisexual love song. i have listened to this song only once or twice before making this list and i’m happy to come across it again. 

5) BCNR - Good Will Hunting

this song is amazing. objectively fucking brilliant. but i (thankfully) very rarely get in the mood to listen to BCNR.

6) Parannoul - Imagination

i wish i fucking understood korean i feel like i’m missing out because sonically this is really cool. everyone should try this album. i like the new slowthai album better but it’s second for my album of the year right now.

7) Bladee - D-925

it has a few classic bladee lines, but overall it’s one of bladee’s weaker songs. maybe there’ll be another bladee song on this list, but i’ll be disappointed if this is the only one i get to talk about.

8) yeule - Reverle

i fucking love everything about yeule. love love love love love yeule. listen to serotonin 2 and glitch princess or i will kill you.

9) Ecco2k - Peroxide

i mean....... e is a perfect album and this is the most popular song off it. it’s not my favorite, but it is the most accessible, and got me into ecco. this is the first song i recommend to most people who ask for music recs and arent drainers. if you discover 1 new song through this list, let it be this one.

10) MELO - Varovasti

i’m so happy a finnish song popped up here!!! it’s kinda like if brakence was good at making music. it would be pretty basic if it was in english, but very few people are actually making music that sounds like this in finnish, so he’s kind of doing a new thing here. if you don’t know how finnish sounds, i would recommend this just based on that. it’s a pretty language.

i’m supposed to stop here, but i hate rules and i like having fun so i’m gonna keep going

11) Manu Chao - Me gustas tú

another non-english song, and another song i discovered on tiktok. takes me to my happy place. love the song. i feel like it’s set in a post capitalist world where a person is truly free to do what they want and it’s beautiful to be there for a moment.

12) Varg2TM feat. Bladee - SHINIE

a quintessential bladee song in my opinion. Varg is the most underrated DG collaborator. the beat is fantastic, although far from varg’s best work. bladee pops off for a minute straight and the chorus is fantastic. it’s a travesty that there are no more varg + dg songs out there. they exist, varg has played them at shows but these fuckers just wont drop them.

13) Whitearmor and Gud - Frutta E Verdura

this shit makes me cry and it doesn’t even have lyrics. i cant describe it you just have to listen

14) Quadeca - Tell Me A Joke

as a hivemind enjoyer (subscibe on youtube), i’ve known for a while that there is more to quad than rapper impressions and disstracks. i couldn’t have imagined this album in my wildest dreams though. also fucking crazy that he said “what’s the deal with airline food” in the intro to a song about haunting his own childhood home and it doesn’t feel out of place

15) Varg2TM feat. Bladee - Perfect Violation

i swear to god i randomized this, but somehow the last song i’m doing is my favorite song of all time. I could straight up write an essay about it, and i will!

this is the most emotionally loaded song bladee has ever made. yes, more than deletee, more than destroy me. more than every single fucking song he has ever made. the beat is beauty in it’s purest form. every single word is painful. no one will ever capture the pain that stems from love like bladee did here. in a very drainy fashion, every line is nonsense at face value, but i still perfectly understood what the song was about from the first listen. the self hatred bladee feels because he can’t be good enough for the one he loves is so fucking visceral. i have cried to this song countless times. i’ve listened to this song seven hundred times since i first fell in love with it in october. i’ve listened to it around 5 times every day for 5 months and i’m not even close to bored. the best song i’ve ever heard.

There is also a remix that goes fucking stupid. google perfect violation empire line remix.

i’m still really new to this website so i straight up don’t know 10 people to tag so @honeyypunk @akajazy if you’re interested lmao

[tombeane-blog]

America Desperately Needs Digital Narcan

"I want a new drug, One that won't spill, One that don't cost too much, Or come in a pill." Huey Lewis - I Want A New Drug

And then I found one.

All my life I told myself I didn't have an addictive personality.

Oh sure, there were times in my life when I did a few things to a slight excess. Like from age 10 to 50ish I smoked anything that would burn - from dried leaves rolled in newspapers to cigarettes to cigars to pipes. I know for a fact I wasn't addicted. I proved it to myself by quiting hundreds of times.

I will also admit that during a chunk of my formative years I drank more than my share. (plus his share and her share and maybe even some of yours).

But no problem. All that drinking was just me going through a phase. I know it was just a phase because after only a handful of decades I grew right out of it.

So imagine my shock when I recently got sucked down the black hole of an irresistible addiction. All within minutes of trying it the first time.

"Whoa! 'nuff said Beane. Did you finally take that psychedelic trip aboard the Maryjane train? Doin' the Doobie? Reefer Madness? That it?" "No Vern. Nothing like that." "No need be ashamed pal. Nothing wrong with it. Everybody is doing it these days…. especially now that it's more legal than aspirin." "But if it's not the skunk weed… hmmm, let me guess. Is it Coke? Crack? Dope? Blow? Stardust? Nose Candy? Ice?… Did you start riding the white horse?"

"Listen Vern. None of that." "I admit I did see some early warning signs. I bought a Playstation 3 and a couple of games when I retired in 2006." "Ever since I've been a less-than-competent, some say, crappy gamer. Once or twice a year a new game. I will buy one and play a lot over a few weeks. Then I won't play at all for a month or two or three. So I guess I am intermittently hooked - but nowhere near addicted." "But, I should have realized that some hidden hunger was lurking there in the dark and ugly corners of my psyche."

"No Vern, this was something far, far more addictive than anything I've ever encountered."

"And it's not just me. Every day this sadistical Devil's spawn of a temptation creates new addicts faster than a lifelong vegetarian tasting bacon for the first time."

Everyone is exposed because everyone is already addicted to the gateway drugs -smart phones and smart phone games. That's strike one and two right there.

For me the third strike were the apps Royal Kingdom, Royal Match and Piggy Kingdom. Cute cartoon'y game stuff. What could go wrong? Heck, I've got a few minutes to spare each day.

Look, I was convinced I was immune to addiction.

OK, like every English speaking person on the planet, I play Wordle once a day. Makes me feel like a genius.

But that's it. Once for 10 minutes and then I go about my day.

But then few days ago I was a little bored after playing Wordle for the umpteenth time and I thought I needed to try something new.

I remember seeing ads for those three apps pop up on my smart phone 2, maybe 3 hundred times a day so I decided to try one.

I loaded up Royal Kingdom. It was easy and fun. I was immediately hooked and played for a couple of hours. Then it started to get more difficult and I started losing my in-game 'lives'.

When I used up my 'lives' I was given a choice to buy more with real money or wait for an hour or two before another free 'life' would be provided. I was tempted but I'm also cheap so I put my phone down and waited. When I restarted - lo and behold I quickly lost my new 'life'.

I started to realize this was like going out for a steak dinner and in the middle of a good T-bone you are told to pay an additional $2.99 to keep eating or leave the restaurant and return in one hour to finish it. Extremely not good.

After a few hours struggling and being frustrated, I uninstalled Royal Kingdom and installed Royal Match to get a fresh start.

Hours later and running into the same problem all over again. I uninstalled Royal Match and installed Piggy Kingdom.

My need for dopamine hits was growing more difficult to ignore.

I deduced pretty quickly that Piggy Kingdom was geared more for a younger audience. But I didn't care because I could just play and play without running out of 'lives'.

At about the level 50 mark I realized I was hopelessly helpless and had no control over my desire for a constant dopamine rush.

At level 150, I kept telling myself I was going to stop after the next round. But then I didn't. Another round. And then I didn't stop again. And again.

This kept going, and going, and going. I was completely unable to exercise even the tiniest bit of willpower. Swipe up, tap, double tap, swipe down, tap. Watch the patterns and colors swirl across the screen.

I would end one round and reflexively hit 'continue' before the logical portion of my brain could get a word in edgewise. That word being - Stop! Get Up! Do Something!

It was like that lab experiment where a rat is trained to push a button to get a tiny hit of cocaine - and just keeps pushing the button over and over. After a while, the researchers stopped the cocaine reward but the rat continued to push the button just to get the dopamine hit caused by anticipation of the cocaine. Not eating. Not nothing. Living only to push that button.

Like the rats, the constant dopamine rush just wouldn't let go of me.

Over a two day period, I pushed that button for at least 6 or 8 hours. I don't know for sure 'cause I just lost count of the time.

This morning I got up and forced myself to go cold turkey. I uninstalled all three apps.

I swore to myself I would never reinstall them!

So… if you let curiosity get the best of you and you want to see for yourself. - you know - just to try it to see what Beane was talking about.

You will get addicted. But remember. There is hope. I kicked the habit and so can you.

I'm here to help. Just reach out.

(I heard about some game called 'Angry Birds'. Sounds safe enough. Maybe I'll try that.)

[seapiatech]

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