#this was a nice break from troubleshooting

[gardenofbones-if]

How would the RO's respond to MC playing a little prabk on them? Like making them a coffee but putting salt in it instead of sugar?

First I must answer the unasked question of whether or not coffee exists as we know it in the Arid Plains, and the answer is yes, absolutely there is coffee! And Z was obsessed, long ago, when they were able to enjoy beverages. (U is a tea-drinker.)

So we're running with the coffee example.

Although for the record if someone salted my coffee I might un-friend that person, lol! Some of us have sensitive palettes, or at worst, deadly allergies.

This one really depends on your relationship dynamic.

☾

U wouldn't assume it was intentional at first. Although tampering with drinks is exactly the sort of calculated mischief they themselves have wilfully engaged in, they do it to gain an advantage over their adversaries with poisons or potions.

So a 'prank' would be a novel concept for U and they might struggle to understand that MC's intent was not malicious.

If you're already thick as thieves, U is demanding to know how you failed at such a simple task, with great affront - they really thought you were more capable than this!

But if the friendship or romance is undefined, the response is going to be a bit different: assuming they watched you prepare it and they're certain it isn't poisoned, then U will cough to hide their reaction and silently drink it all without a word.

When they find out it was intentional, congratulations: you've started a game you can't possibly win!

Although you can expect a serious (yet smug) apology from U when they inevitably take it too far. And if you push your luck, you might even be able to get an apology for being smug while apologizing, too.

𖤓

Z is a bit of a prankster, and is by far the more likely twin to figure out the joke without interrogating MC! They're very observant and have a keen sense of the material world, and an awareness of what's going on around them at all times.

Right down to the slightly different clink of the salt spoon.

What was that?

What are you doing, MC?

If Z somehow fails to pick up on the vibes (or isn't around while you're preparing their drink), you can expect a colourful display as they splutter over their coffee, and then set about investigating exactly what went wrong, doubtless dragging MC into the problem-solving quest and unintentionally providing bountiful opportunities to further the prank!

However, if they do catch on, then they greatly enjoy having discovered it on their own.

Z will pretend not to suspect you until they return the favour, likely with a prank you could have never anticipated. Even if you (unfathomably) don't find their retaliation amusing on its own merits, Z's riotous teary-eyed laughter is contagious.

Thanks for the ask Anon and I hope this answered your question!

[sibyl-of-space]

Capacitors came in!!!!! Next time I have a free day I'll be able to swap out all the dead capacitors on the AC adapter for that camcorder, and after doing that I'll be able to see if it's outputting the right voltage to charge the camcorder, and after doing that if it IS the right voltage I'll be able to see if being able to charge the camcorder fixes the problem (or if the problem is something else)

... And if it's still not the right voltage I'll probably give up on the AC adapter and just buy a replacement and then move on to testing the camcorder itself

ANYWAy it is just late enough in the evening that I can't be bothered to do it tonight, I want to just sit down and watch speedrun vods and zone out. But I'm excited to see if it works after this. The fact that jumping that blown fuse on the other camcorder has actually fixed the battery and charging issues (...but unfortunately not its other issues) is heartening, it's immensely satisfying to have fixed something in a circuit that I had to figure out myself

[quarterlifekitty]

little continuation of my idea for John in this post

imagine John scrolling through r/AITA. He likes a bit of drama. Likes to judge the relationships of people he's never met and will never meet. It's his reality TV. And in the sea of people who are too nice to break the kneecaps of their woefully shitty partners, he sees a post from you:

It's about your boyfriend throwing out some empty jars you'd saved even though you'd told him you were planning to use them, he'd insisted they were taking up space-- that you were essentially hoarding trash. And he could tell just by reading how sad it had made you, and it infuriated you how willing you were to accept the blame-- that maybe you were being the asshole and your dickhead boyfriend was just trying to be helpful.

As more people asked questions for context, he learns more about this sham of a relationship. Three years and this guy is just a boyfriend? John's livid. Such a shitheel of a man leading on a sweet little thing like you. Liked making candles and decorated pen holders from the little jars your yogurt came in. And he hadn't even locked you down! John would've had a ring on your finger after a couple of months, max. You'd be on your second or third baby if he was the one looking after you the past three years.

You're using a throwaway account, but it's not hard for him to pull a favor or two and find your main account. And he sees you doing all these adorable little things. Showing off your crafts, how you like to reuse things, how you like to neatly budget yourself and how you can't resist a sale-- he sees this full record of all the little troubles and treasures you come across. Troubleshooting a new computer program, asking if this little patch on your bathroom wall looks like mold, your good humor when showing off your messy first attempt at using a russian piping tip while frosting cake flowers. And in every little detail he finds another thing that should be cherished, another worry that should be set right for you, another thing that should be taken care of before you even have a chance to think of asking strangers online for help.

You post a lot of pictures. It won't be hard at all to find you and show you how things should be.

[velvetlilith777]

Fighting Frostbite

Elliott x Fem Reader

18+ NSFW 🌨️ MDNI

Author's Note: heheheeheeeee I saw this post on Pinterest and knew our favorite author would be perfect for the plot! <3 I hope you enjoy!

Synopsis: A ruthless blizzard has made its way into Stardew Valley, separating you from your beloved poet. When enough is enough and Elliott makes the trek to your farmhouse, his hands get a little too cold...

Disclaimer: I am not someone who subscribes to the popular idea that Elliott isn't rough in bed! That man loves you, and he's gonna give it to you 🫶🏻

CW/TW: there's really a plot here if you squint but it's actually just full on smut, unprotected p in v, oral (male receiving), deep throating, hand job (female receiving), the poet is hung your honor, praise kink baddies rise, frostbite mentioned but not legit

Minors and ageless blogs do not interact! You will be blocked.

Word Count: ~1.9k

Dividers by: @bernardsbendystraws (trees) and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more (snow) 🖤

🎄Ficmas Masterlist! 🎄

Smut under the cut!

The forecast had been bleak. Well into the deep of winter now, meteorologists had been warning of a vicious snow storm moving in for weeks, with temperatures falling well below freezing. Yesterday she came in fast and with a fury, burying the valley in feet of snow with no sign of stopping in the coming days.

But farm work stopped for nothing, the weight from the snowpack breaking and warping some of the older fencing you hadn't been able to replace yet, having to repair holes you weren't aware were causing drafts in your barns, troubleshooting a broken heater and of course, feeding and caring for the dozens of little lives you kept on your property.

It had been a long, arduous and frigid day, all you wanted was to run a hot bath, warm your skin and relax your muscles. So that's what you did, adding some lavender epsom salt as water fell from the faucet and lighting a few candles to set the mood. You finally sink into the steaming water, skin tingling with warmth as your mind lulls off.

Elliott on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to see you. He knew the weather was bad and you had been busy because of it, but it had been days since you’d been able to see each other. Deciding that enough was enough, he bundled himself in his thick, wool coat and scarf before heading out into the bitter climate. It had been too long since he’d seen his muse, so if a trek through heaps of snow was what separated the two of you, then he’d certainly do it.

Creaks cry out from the old hinges on the farmhouse door, causing your eyes to pop open. You aren’t expecting anyone, but your mind eases when you hear a familiar, deep voice call out.

“Hello?”

Elliott. It’s just Elliott.

“In here!” You melodically call.

“Oh, there you are my love. Staying warm?” His face flush from his trek in the outside elements.

“Trying.” You rest your head and arms on the side of the tub, looking up at the writer fondly. “My heater is struggling to keep up but the water is nice.”

“It looks like it,” He lets out a hearty chuckle at the steam still dissipating in the air as he places his scarf and coat on the counter next to your sink.

Elliott kneels down beside the tub, placing a kiss on your temple as he does so.

“So sorry for arriving unannounced, darling. I simply missed you too much to wait for this storm to pass before seeing you again.” He coos, reaching his hand to cup your cheek.

“Elliott!” You jump at his icy touch. “You’re freezing!”

Taking his hand in yours, you begin to examine his skin. Cherry red flush colors his knuckles and finger tips.

“I don't think it’s frostbite,” you remark, “ but just in case.” In one swift motion you shove his hands into the water next to you. The redhead sucks in a breath through his teeth, flesh burning at the sudden change in temperature. “You should've worn gloves, handsome.”

He chuckles. “Yes I suppose I should've. An unfortunate oversight on my part. I was just in such a rush to get here that I forgot.”

Your brows furrow. “Elliott, you have to take care of yourself for me. What if you lost all of your fingers to frostbite?”

Pulling a hand out of the water and placing it gently between the thighs near your knees, he squeezes the chub lovingly.

“Have I told you that I missed you already?”

“You may have mentioned it.” Your saccharine voice tails off.

“Let me say it again” his voice low, “because I really, really missed you sweetheart.”

Elliott catches your lips in a sensual kiss, his movements slow but firm. Eventually, his tongue pushes through your lips and begins dancing with your own. Your arms wrap around his neck, in an effort to pull him closer despite the tub wall separating the two of you. His hand kneading at the flesh of your leg harder now, sending heat rushing down to your core. A whine finds its way from your throat to his mouth, a growl leaving his in response.

The author pulls away from your lips, dragging your bottom lip for a moment with his. You stare into each other's eyes, mesmerized by your lust.

His large hand slowly slides down the inside of your thigh towards where you need him the most, his sight never leaving your face despite yours watching his wrist sink beneath the water. Your legs spread open as he’s nearing his destination, the need in your stomach growing tighter and tighter.

Gasping as his fingers find your clit, your eyes lock back onto his as he begins to rub small circles around the bundle of nerves. Speeding up to a moderate pace, his lips mold into a soft smile as moans start spilling out of yours. Your gaze never leaving the other’s until the coil in your stomach starts burning hotter. Obscene sounds getting louder and louder, falling out of your mouth more rapidly as you throw your head back. Elliott dips his head down taking a damp nipple into his mouth, sucking and nipping at the mound, making your pussy throb and your toes curl.

“Ri-Right there El.” Are the first words you’ve mustered in minutes. His fingers ruthless against the bud, melting your brain. “Stay there and I’ll cum.”

His digits remain where you tell him, but his pace speeds up. Your core begins tingling, burning as cries are torn from your throat. Water is swirling about the tub due to his movements, sloshing around and mixing with your voice in a symphony of his efforts to have you reach your climax.

“Show me how much you missed me beautiful,” He mutters against your skin, kissing his way up to your collarbone before marking the sweet spot. “Let go for me, love.”

In the following seconds, the heat in your stomach boils over. His name is torn from your throat, and he thinks it may be the sweetest sound he’s ever heard. Cunt pulsing under his touch and muscles twitching as his motions continue. What once was pure water is mixed with your juices gushing out of your sweet hole. Your hands find his shoulders, anchoring themselves on them as your vision goes fuzzy.

You ride through your orgasm, his fingers working you through it as he mutters “That’s it. There’s my beauty.”

You press your lips to his as his movements still, hungrily and desperately. Tangling your hands in each other's hair, gasping and puffing in between sloppy kisses.

“Need more of you,” you pant against his mouth.

He pulls away, your chests heaving in unison.

“You've always been able to have as much of me as you desire, gorgeous.”

Without hesitation, you're picked up bridal style and taken to your bed, being sat at the foot of it.

Your hands rush to his belt as he pulls his sweater over his head, broad chest flexing in the moonlight beaming through your window. Once the button on his pants has been undone, he feverishly pushes them down, his heavy cock springing up as it's freed.

Knees hitting the floor as you sit before him, hand taking his member as you run your tongue along the underside. His long fingers tangle in your hair as your tongue circles around his tip, already dripping with precum. You push his head into your mouth, hollowing out your cheeks and sucking. He draws in a breath, stopping himself from ramming his dick into the back of your throat, letting you take your time.

You finally give him what he’s craving, working your way down his shaft until you're choking, the vibration against his sensitive tip driving him crazy. Your head starts bobbing back and forth, grunts spewing from the man towering above you as you slurp and pump. Refusing to take any less of him than you can, tears start streaming from the corners of your eyes as you continue shoving him into your throat, the imprint showing through your neck. Auburn locks fall around his shoulders as he tosses his head back in ecstasy. Your tongue swirls around his tip as you speed up your ministrations, his fingers pulling even tighter on your hair.

“You're doing too well, love.” He stops your movements, pulling out of your pretty little mouth with a pop and standing you up to kiss you deeply. “I was far too close, and nowhere near finished.

The writer turns you around and pushes you onto the bed, positioning you onto all fours. He leans down and licks a stripe from your clit to your entrance before inserting two fingers, moving them in a scissoring motion to stretch you out.

“You're already so wet for me again.” Elliott muses.

You let out a moan, rocking back in his fingers before answering. “When am I not wet for you?”

He laughs heartily, “Is that so, darling? Then you must be ready for this.”

His fingers leave you empty, but it’s only for a brief moment. His thick cock lines up with your entrance, before gliding in to the hilt. Your core is stretching and burning wonderfully as he begins railing into you.

“Three days is most definitely too long to be away from my muse” he grunts out between thrusts. Your tits bounce stunningly as his hips rock aggressively into hours, marks forming from his fingers holding onto your flesh.

“G-god Elliott,” You sob out. “You feel so goo-od.”

Elliott knows your body well, but that doesn't mean his heart ever swells any less when you tell him that he’s working you right.

Freckled skin leans over your back as his lips brush the shell of your ear. “Yeah? You're taking me so well my love. So well.”

You feel that same lighting start charging inside of you, sweet little hole squelching around Elliott’s weighty girth as it drags across the velvety spot inside of you. His orgasm isn’t far behind, with you squeezing him just right and moaning out his name sinfully.

“El! El I’m gonna cum again,”

“Me too, dove. Let me feel you cum around me. Cum on my cock, darling.” He growls out.

Those words have your waves crashing into the cliff, cunt fluttering around his mass while your back arches into the mattress below you. He’s only seconds behind, white hot spurts gushing out of him as he ruts into you, thoroughly milking the both of you.

As your highs die down, you both crawl to the top of your bed, wrapping yourselves in your quilt and each other's arms fully spent. Before falling asleep you grab his hand, bringing it level with your eyesight.

“Stopped the frostbite just in time,” you giggle.

He laughs quietly and shakes his head. “Whatever would I do without you, love?”

“Clearly, we never should go days without seeing each other again so that we don't have to find out.” You smirk. “I happen to like all of your fingers.”

He snorts at your implication. “I know you do, darling. I suppose I’d have to agree. I don't want to go that long without you again.”

[stitchthesewords]

I'm gonna upload this to ao3 later but I wanted to post this now before its too late! @eydilily happy birthday I wrote some Tangtho based on the art you posted. Warning for smoking and Redstone being treated like an addictive substance.

Redstone buzzed. It was important to know that. Redstone buzzed and when you were surrounded by it for hours on end, it seemed like your head never stopped buzzing. Like somehow the buzzing could form words that would cure all your woes with your latest project. Like they whispered exactly what you needed to do to get the right torch to turn on. Tango was constantly surrounded by redstone.

Sure, it was healthy necessarily, but the server was encompassed by people who didn’t know when to quit working on their projects. Tango wasn’t even the worst of it – Decked Out 2 notwithstanding. But, to be fair, Tango’s new big project was all redstone.

Minecart rails didn’t buzz in the same way! They didn’t buzz at all – which is what Tango told himself when he was down in the bowels of his binary system. Decked Out 2 was loud; this was quiet. This was peaceful, even. Sure, he was still troubleshooting and running into problems every five minutes but it wasn’t like he was down there for days on end. Staring at an observer line as it blinked but didn’t go off correctly for the thousandth time.

Color him shocked when he noticed the fire on his head died down to embers and his back ached in a familiar way. Okay. Okay maybe he needed to move, get some fresh air. See his neighbors. Maybe he had mail!

No mail was to be found but that was fine. It gave him an excuse to stretch his legs beyond the confines of his factory. A quick look at his communicator told him Etho was online and who better to go see – easily within walking distance, a redstone buddy he could complain to. It was the perfect solution. His tail flicked side to side as he thought about just what to say to his good friend. Fire reignited on his head and he even found himself almost buzzing. Just like redstone.

Etho was just…nice to talk to. Different from Impulse or Zed when he wanted to troubleshoot, different from Skizz to hang out with. Something quiet, contemplative. Calm in a way Tango could never hope to be. He liked that about Etho.

His tail sparked as it flicked around when he saw his neighbor outside, working on his landscaping. Perfect! Tango was worried he might be buried in Frogger or something and he’d have to be the one doing the redstone retrievafication. Retrievifying. Whatever. He waved his own clawed hand at himself.

Etho was absorbed in his landscaping, but there was a way to his movements where it was clear he knew someone was watching. Every move of his hands was deliberate, and when he stood up from the dirt, he half turned to smile at Tango.

“That was you! How’s it going buddy?”

Tango grinned. The two of them met somewhere in the middle of Etho’s front yard and exchanged a hug, where Etho visibly scrunched his face under his mask. “You smell like redstone.”

“You act like that’s a bad scent! Ead de Perfume de Tango or however it’s said. If I don’t smell like redstone, that’s when we have a problem.” His sharp teeth glinted in his grin as Etho rolled his eyes and waved Tango inside.

“So, I’m where you decided to take your break?” Etho held the door open for Tango, dodging his sparking tail as he walked past. Tango’s fire didn’t really hurt; it was warm, it produced heat, but it was more like extra voluminous hair. Made of fire. Still, the instinct to didge fire still hadn’t really left the hermits senses.

Etho had his own reasons to be nervous around fire.

“Who better to hang out with than my good buddy good neighbor Etho, huh?” Tango propped himself up on a block, crouched over so he was eye level with Etho and leaning his chin on his hands for balance. “Your house is coming together now that you finished Frogger. Could you imagine if I built a little home after Decked Out?”

Tango laughed a little and Etho’s eyes held a fondness. “You lived in Decked Out – and besides, Frogger is not nearly the same size of a game.” He smacked Tango on the shoulder and laughed as he knocked tango off his feet and spilling onto the floor in a heap of Blazeborn glory. He still offered Tango a hand, pulling him up with enough force he pulled Tango right to his chest. Tango’s hair ignited into an inferno. Etho made a sputtering noise, mouth full of his firehair.

“Sorry.” Tango skittered back, looking anywhere but Etho’s face. He could hear the little, too knowing chuckle pass Etho’s lips and that made him pout, cross his arms. Stomp his foot even a little.

“You are adorable when you pout,” Etho said. He didn’t let it hang in the air for long, walking past Tango towards his back door. “So are you here to troubleshoot the factory or just hang out?”

There was one long glance cast over his shoulder that had Tango scurrying after him in the wake of it, hair dying down back to its normal warm blaze but slowly. Ever since Decked Out 2, but probably before if Tango thought about it too hard, Etho’s voice made him blush. Maybe it was the first Decked Out that did him in. Maybe he’d always been done in.

“Hang out, I suppose. You’ve got a nice little garden, everyone is telling me I need to touch grass. Seems like a win win.” Tango followed Etho without really watching where Etho led them, but soon enough he was greeted to the sounds of the outdoors and the sights of Etho’s landscaping.

It was peaceful in a way a steampunk factory was not and Tango almost felt bad for dotting Etho’s neighborhood with it. Almost. He stretched, feeling his shoulders creak and then pop. Etho leaned on his fence, almost like taking a seat on it but not quite, gaze up towards the roof.

“I need to be able to see the clouds from here, I think. Roof is too solid.,” He said, turning to look at Tango. “Wouldn’t it be nice. Smell the dirt, see the clouds. Get some sun. I feel like everyone is always complaining we both need to do that.”

Tango hung on to Etho’s every word, nodding his head and leaning on his head. “At least you get a nice, unobstructed view of this lake you built,” he said. Etho agreed.

There was a silence, nature playing out its own theater for the two of them to enjoy in each other’s company. Tango spent plenty of time with the hermits this season – at least he felt like he did. People were constantly coming by the factory, he was playing Frogger occasionally. He raided bastions with Skizz and Impulse. He teased Scar. But for the first time he realized he’d missed the company that Decked Out 2 had. Getting a kiss on the forehead for good luck. Sitting in the lobby holding someone’s hand. Everyone sleeping piled together so they could get right back to it in the morning.

Tango’s ears flicked, slightly, and he opened his mouth to say something. What that something might be he wasn’t sure. Every season it was like the hermits had to work their way back up to admitting they missed each other, to sharing kisses and beds again. It felt like they’d only just gotten there in season 9 and now Tango was some kid to scared to admit he had a crush again. He closed his mouth. He opened it again, trying to work around it, when Etho cleared his throat.

He didn’t actually say anything, but the noise threw Tango off as he dug around in his pockets. Tango’s attention was transfixed when he produced two redstone torches and fidgeted with them for a moment. “Do you want one?”

Tango reached over and plucked one from his hand. They were...it was hard to explain. Redstone buzzed, yes, but it could also vaporize. Being surrounded by powered redstone meant you were breathing in time bits of vaporized redstone. Sure it wasn’t good for you, but it was another danger of being a redstoner.

What didn’t help is they often sought it out on their own.

Tango placed the torch in his mouth. It needed to be close to your face if there was only one, something that was just there to dull the itch to get back a redstone project. Etho held his own in his mouth, hand cupped around his face to hide it from view. Like he was embarrassed by it.

Tango felt that need for closeness again and stood up, going to be beside Etho. There was a gentle, bubbling water sound from the lake just before. The rustle of wind. Etho’s...beautiful and scarred face. Without a word, Tango found himself reaching out to cup Etho’s face in his own hand instead.

There was maybe more of a mischievous grin as he pressed the two redstone torches together. Redstone flew off in little sparks, a small cloud of faint red they really only saw because they knew what to look for. Etho chuckled.

There was a moment longer before Tango stood back a bit and, holding the torch in his teeth managed a ‘thank you’ that was...probably coherent. It made Etho chuckle again, a delightful sound that warmed Tango’s whole chest. He took the torch into his hand and Tango’s knuckles to his lips and pressed a kiss there.

Redstone buzzed. So did the feeling of companionship.

[wanderingaldecaldo]

WIP Wheneversday

Tagged in the recent-ish past by @aceghosts @shimmer-like-agirl @merge-conflict @luvwich (twice lol) @streetkid-named-desire @nananarc.

Tagging with the usual no pressure caveat: tagbacks on all the above who tagged me :3, @sweetmage @theviridianbunny @newnamesamecharlotte @lemonlilactea @slayerdurge @blackrevell @sailorskunk @olath124 @ghostoffuturespast and anyone else who wants to share what they're working on! Art, writing, VP, modding... whatever! Do it and tag me!

Tiny Mike Modding

Tonight I am deep in the guts of this man, Scorpion Tiny Mike, trying to help out some fiends friends by giving him a torso. Just one small thing to fix.

Love Wolvenkit's new experimental feature helping troubleshoot.

Wait, what

Writing

I said I wasn't going to do another WIP Whenever until the Presidential PWP was published, but it's like. 99% of the way there. I need like three sentences max before it's Done done, so whatever, here we are. 🤷

I've had a hankering to get back to the corpo AU, and I started a lil prequel with Val and her old friend Akira. I can't share anything yet because it only exists in meatspace, so I'll settle for something I probably haven't shared from the thousands upon thousands of words written for the longfic.

Putting it after the break bc this is getting long...

For those who aren't familiar, the corpo AU takes place some time after The Sun ending. Val gets a lead on a huge corpo gig, but she'll need a partner to go undercover and guess who her best candidate is?! It's Mitch, it's always Mitch.

This WIP has been a very big challenge for multiple reasons:

I have never written the fake relationship trope

it's a slow burn and I am not known for my patience

I am not posting it until it's complete, and has been revised

#3 is the really big pain, because I want that dopamine, but also because after it's done, I want to possibly rip it up and redo it.

It’s early when Val lets herself into the Afterlife. Claire won’t be in for a few hours so she should have the place to herself. She needs to write up protocols for Crispin on handling gigs and mercs while she’s away. While she will still be reachable in an emergency, there is no reason to risk that call being intercepted and blowing their cover. The faint sound of thumping bass and scratchy synths grows louder as she approaches the back of the bar, and light seeps into the hallway from Nix’s office. The netrunner dances at his desk, tapping away at keys while his shoulders, hips, and legs keep time to the beats.  Val leans against the door frame and crosses her arms. “You here early or late?” Without turning, Nix answers, “I’m late and you are way too early, Boss Lady. Looking for my report?” “Among other things.” “I’ll email the full findings, but short of it is the identities are clean solid. Took the liberty of digging up some photos of your man Mitch. Cleaned him up and ran him through the deaging filter, slapped a suit on him. Not too shabby for an old Nomad.” At that Nix turns to look at her, and she steps into the office, joining him at the desk and peering over his shoulder. Young Mitch stares back—full head of mussed black hair, twinkling blue eyes, unlined and unscarred face. Handsome. “Huh. Nice work. Need anything from me?” “Nope, already took care of yours. Easy enough to find pics of Night City’s most famous living merc.” He grins at her and she rolls her eyes.  “Just so long as they don’t connect my face to the name.” “Speaking of names, the identities are blank. You have names you want to use?” She rests her hand on her fist as she thinks. “What are the chances we can just use Mitch’s name? That eliminates the issue of him forgetting and not responding.” Nix turns back to the terminal and clacks away at the keys as he pulls up Mitch’s files. “Aside from the obvious issue of two Mitch Andersons with the same face, it shouldn’t be a problem. The name is common enough.” “So how do we get around that? In case someone decides they want to know more about him.” Standing, Nix hums and mirrors her posture. “If they’re just doing a search on the local Data Pool, there shouldn’t be any problem. Anything deeper,” he trails off. “Got an idea. Let me do a little more digging and I’ll let you know what I find.”

[contritecactite]

Since @fandomtrumpshate starts up again soon, I thought I would babble a bit about my experience last year! Specifically, let's chat about podficcing. A nice and arbitrary 9 reasons to do the thing below the cut!

Thing 1: It's so much fun! I am bouncing up and down at the prospect of doing it again. In fact, I am planning to offer a slot for any fandom this year rather than just ones I'm familiar with!

Thing 2: Nobody was bothered by how amateurish my readings are, how basic my recordings were, or by the extra whistle and sibilance and mouth sounds that sneaked in. Nobody was annoyed that I don't do accents or intense voicework/character voices. It's something I want to improve in the future, but it's really not necessary—reading a fanwork aloud is first and foremost about making it accessible in a new format. Anything else is just icing!

Thing 3: People who want their works read are going to be communicative! The folks I worked with last year were happy to go back and forth until we decided which works were the best fit for me, and they were happy to answer my questions about how to read/interpret certain lines, etc. It was so much fun to toss around idea with them (even if we didn't end up using them all)!

Thing 4: This is a zero-entry-cost hobby (assuming you already have a device of some sort to read fic in the first place). You don't need fancy equipment and software. You can get the job done with an inbuilt audio recording app on your phone, and if you're in a quiet and non-echoey place, it can sound just as good as something made with a dedicated mic and such. Don't let "but I don't have a recording space" hold you back! Sit in your favorite chair and put your phone by your face while you read me a story. That's really all you gotta do.

Thing 5: In direct contrast... it is a good excuse to dip a toe into gear and software. There are lots of fairly cheap suitable microphones, and Audacity is free. I recorded one short fic via three different methods just to troubleshoot for fun!

Thing 6: You don't have to get it right the first time! (Or second or third or...) I save outtakes (profanity warning!) for the creators whose work I read. Sometimes a cat walked in and told me a mournful tale at top volume. Sometimes the neighbors turned on a leaf blower. You can even get silly with it on purpose if you need to warm yourself up! I do a lot of yelling "this is so silly and I am so embarrassed!" into the mic before I try a serious read.

Thing 7: You get to spend so much time with a work and its characters! You're gonna read that thing so many times to make decisions and to alert yourself to what's coming next. You'll be able to recite it around a campfire and it'll feel cozy and familiar (or, you know, extra painful if it's heavily angsty).

Thing 8: If you play things back and tweak them as often as I did, it goes a long way toward getting past hating the sound of your own voice or feeling disconnected from recordings of yourself. I've always been so so shy and hesitant to speak aloud in real-life conversations. I won't claim that I'm completely over any of those things, but spending time getting familiar with what I sound like in an objective, task-oriented setting has helped me learn to listen for my own vocal cues when I'm feeling too overwhelmed to process other kinds of feedback. I'm much more aware of what my uncertainty sounds like, for example, and am better able to cover for it now.

Thing 9: If you're also a writer as I am, it helps you look at your own writing through a new lens! I have been known to write 50+-word sentences, but now I (sometimes) stop to consider the punctuation breaks. How readable is this paragraph? Where would I take a breath if I were reading? Where would the emphasis naturally end up and how do I change that of it's not what I wanted?

I think people who are Better At Things might not necessarily have all the same experiences I shared here, but personally, I'm grateful for the opportunity, and I look forward to doing it again!

Here are the works I read for FTH last year:

Evil Plans by Sodium_Azide

The Night The World Didn't End by Aethelflaed

and the one that belongs to the earlier outtakes:

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by my dear friend QuothTheMaiden, who still seems to like me just fine even though there's a terrible whine behind the whole thing (this was the troubleshooting fic btw. Software updated and defaulted to the wrong device, but I picked the better read over the better sound quality in the end).

[windvexer]

O ye wise Chicken

I call to thee

For advice on a matter

Harken to me!

So anyways, I have always had incredible luck, my partner on the other hand… let’s say that it’s not the worst in the universe. If you were trying to turn someone’s luck around, who was almost radioactively unlucky, how would you go about it? Thank you for your time and for answering all of our questions, oh wise Chicken! 🙌🏻

Good evening.

For any magical operation where some concept is out-of-order (luck, prosperity, relationships, etc) it's not always helpful to just add in more of the concept (conjure luck, conjure relationships, and so on).

Absence-of-concept is only ever one reason for things to be out of order, and it may be a symptom rather than a cause itself. There are many reasons why any particular concept could be malfunctioning.

Therefore, you've got two options: figure out what is causing the malfunction and then address it, or go in blind with a broad spectrum plan of action.

Divination, probably especially energy reading, can pinpoint why luck is out-of-order. However this may be a tricky read to tackle, and also requires the skill to make a custom plan of action. Also, exploring and thinking is tiring, and it can be easier to just take action.

Any time something is out-of-order - luck, job, relationships, timing, what have you - try a plan of action similar to this one, and see if it helps. You should take careful notes of all the actions you take, because if it doesn't help, you will need those notes to help troubleshoot.

First, an offering to the spirit world. The function is to please helpful spirits and stir them to action; but also to appease unhelpful spirits who may be causing trouble. This offering may be done once, but the ritual should be undertaken seriously, with as pleasing of gifts as can be reasonably offered. Jason Miller has a nice general offering in his book Protection and Reversal Magick, which is a good format to follow.

No matter what ritual you follow, it is vital to include a portion that explains this offering is being done out of respect to the spirit world, to soothe any tensions, and to supplicate aid from any helpful parties.

Second, a personal cleansing and hex-breaking. A person does not need to have actually been hexed or cursed to benefit from hex-breaking. Find or develop a spell which breaks up, destroys, banishes, or evacuates jealous and deleterious energies from around the unlucky person. In fact, any spell to break the evil eye will likely serve. Perform a personal cleansing before or after (or both) to wash off any last trace of jealousy cast on by another.

Third, a personal amulet generally designed to protect against the evil eye (for some reason I suppose I think this is an evil eye situation), but also against bad luck in general: have it rebuff or turn away these things, sort of like a bumper that will bounce your unlucky person off of misfortune and steer them in a new direction.

(For those not dealing with luck, protect against whatever it is you want to stop - protect against loneliness, for example. Envision that you do not have absence of friendship energy but rather intrusion of aloneness energy. This is not necessarily literal, but it is a thought exercise to help develop strategic plans of action and deploy magic in a greater variety of ways)

Fourth, any spell to conjure what is desired. So for your unlucky partner, any spell to conjure or manifest luck. This can be done either as a one-off spell, or something continuous; if you want to do more magic, then do both. A one-shot spell to get things started and a continuous spell to carry the torch. Explore Allspice for luck spells, as well as any cultural luck charms.

Fifth, engage in cultural rituals to bring about what you desire. For luck, a lucky rabbit's foot, found dimes, numerical clovers, or hung horseshoes are all cultural symbols in these parts; choose one, and invest in it. This is a different kind of magic - folk magic, if you like - that's more about linking and aligning to the whole.

Someone radioactively unlucky is, perhaps, unplugged from the whole. The natural exchange passes around them without touching them. A cultural ritual is an action of reconnection, to indicate they are stepping back into the game. At least, this is what I think.

Anyway if this is all too much, I highly recommend that you, Anon, do not skip #2. Throw in a protection amulet and I expect things might level out.

[sundays-sims]

× NAVIGATION ×

patreon   |  TOU  |  instagram  |  download section

× FAQ ×

“This link is broken or doesn’t exist anymore” and “Where can I find X set”

head over my blog’s download section to have access to a list of all my free content; this is an easy-to-navigate list, with direct download links (mediafire or patreon) & includes all my older sets that had broken links.

→  download section  ←

“This bed is broken”

when the game adds new features through updates, it can break certain type of content; to update my beds & have them work properly again, you will need to re-download them here :

→  beds update  ←

“Where can I download your builds?”

my builds & rooms are not available for downloads because I do not keep them myself. I usually create simple rooms only to showcase my content & take pictures, I then delete them.

“What ReShade/GShade do you use & where can I download it?”

my GShade presets are all my own personal presets. I think that one’s preset is such nice way to add a unique touch to pictures & I won’t share any of my presets for that reason.

“Do you allow recolors & conversions to other Sims games?”

yes. I allow recolors & conversions (to Sims games ONLY), as long as my content is already released for free & out of early access. For more information, please read my terms of use;

→  terms of use / t.o.u  ←

“I just downloaded X set, and my game won’t start”

this can happen for a few reasons; your game isn’t up to date, you have a lot of duplicate packages, or files got corrupted while downloading. If you download a lot of fully finished builds with merged cc (or into different files), you could end up with a lot of duplicates of the same object. This could cause your game to be slower or even not start at all. Secondly, downloading a lot of files at the same time, especially on patreon, seems to be causing problems & corrupting files. The corrupted files will cause your game to either crash at start or give you an error message. Try taking the last files you downloaded out of your Mod folder and re-downloading the set, or sets, only one part at the time. This seems to always work for me. My content is tested by multiple people (and me) before uploading & I would not upload broken content. If you are facing issues with an older set of mine, it is most likely a problem that occurred while downloading or with your game/mod folder. I am always happy to help when it comes to my content, but I will not “fix” any other creator’s content. In short, make sure to check for: - batch fix (e.g. broken beds updates) - game updates - cc duplicates - corrupted files Lastly, if you did all the above, and are still having problems, do not hesitate to send me a direct message (DM). When it comes to troubleshooting, I will not answer comments below posts for the simple reason that it makes it difficult to have a conversation. Going back and forth with replies into a comment section makes it too difficult since it will most likely require going through a few steps to solve any further issues.

"Do you do commission work?"

no, I dont. I often take suggestions or make small polls on my social media (insta & patreon), feel free to follow me & participate in those, send me pictures of things you like etc.

"Are you WCIF friendly?"

yes. I will do my best to remember where it was from, but since I don't keep any builds in my game, it can sometimes be difficult. Also, please note that I often write a small WCIF section at the end of my posts, take the time to read all the way down!

Thank you all for being here, supporting my work & taking the time to read.

S. xx

[janekestrel]

So You Want to Play Dragon Age: Origins in 2024 

I have recently gone through the semi-grueling ordeal of trying to get this almost fifteen year old game to work on my PC, and after writing up a list for my friend of all the mods I used to make it functional, I was informed that the tumblr population may have a use for this information as well! This game, while very Of Its Time (2009), is one of my favorites. It is full of great characters and has a lot of heart, and it is still important to the story and lore of Dragon Age overall. I think it's worth your time! So if you care about the story arc of this game series and have the opportunity to play this one (especially with Veilguard officially existing and theoretically coming out soon), I strongly recommend it.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert on modding and I will almost definitely not be able to help you troubleshoot anything if you run into any problems. This post is just compiling the information and links I collected while on my journey to get this game playable on my PC. Most, if not all, of these links come with access to forums where you can ask for help from people who will be able to provide it, and that is where I recommend you look for answers! This game is old enough that almost every problem that is possible to run into has been experienced by someone else, so it's very likely that reading through the forum posts will get you the info you need.

Level 0: I just want this old ass game to work on my modern computer. I do not wish to install any mods, I am just here for the story and I don’t care what the game looks like while I play it.

To avoid the game crashing pretty much constantly, particularly any time you’re in a location with a lot of NPCs (so, any town), you will need to change your graphics settings to Very Low. It will look like dogshit. Most eye colors will not be visible and armor will be weird and glossy and in general the world will look like it hasn’t finished loading. But it should work.

HOWEVER: you may still run into various game breaking bugs and other issues that can be resolved by a mod in the next section, so be aware of that.

ADDITIONALLY: When I first opened my game after installing it, it looked extra shitty because it was defaulting to 800x600 resolution for some reason. It does not seem to be great at detecting monitor settings without help. Go into the game's settings and make sure the resolution is set to whatever your monitor is. This might seem obvious, but I wanted to mention it just in case.

Level 1: I am willing to install two necessary mods because I want the game to both work and not look like dogshit.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO INSTALL: Large Address Aware + patch from this random Steam user. This is the thing that will tell your game to stop being so scared of the fact that it is no longer 2009 and it is installed on a computer with more than 2GB of RAM. For LAA to work with the Steam version of the game, it needed extra fiddling, so this very nice person pre-patched it and uploaded it with instructions on how to install it in this post: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233222451

If you do not have the game through Steam, you can get LAA and install instructions here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/

Ultimate DAO Fixpack  This fixes a bunch of random bugs and issues, of which there are many. I don’t even know what they are, because I installed this before I started playing and therefore have not encountered any of them. It's like a vaccine for your game. It's on Nexus, like most of the rest of these are, so you will need to make an account there to download it. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4689

Level 2: I am willing to install a few additional mods to improve the experience of playing the game.

Before I link any more of the mods, here is some very basic mod-related guidance that may be helpful to someone who is a complete beginner to modding this game:

Most of the following mods you will need to “install” in the override folder yourself (i.e. just copy them over to it); in my experience, the Nexus Vortex mod manager thing does not work 99% of the time with this game, so don't bother with it. I made a DAO Mods folder on my computer to keep the zip files in, then I unzipped them to the override folder here: Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override

If any of the mods say “install using DAUpdater” (the fixpack does, for example), that is an application you can find in the game's installation files, wherever you have those. (Steam users can easily get to these by right clicking the game in your Steam library and going to “manage > browse local files.”) It will be in the “bin_ship” folder. You should only have to associate the DAZIP file type with this application once--afterwards, you can just double click the mod file and it will open in DAUpdater.

If any of the mods say “Install using DAO Mod Manager,” that is here: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/277

The most important thing is to read the mod developer's instructions on how to install it. Don't assume everything will work the way other mods do. If you install it wrong, the mod will not work and could even cause weird or alarming side effects. Just trust me.

I strongly recommend these:

Mouse Cursors for 4K DAO This will give you options to make the cursor bigger. This is a good one just in general for accessibility reasons. The default one was tiny on my monitor and I kept losing sight of where it was, especially during combat. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/5167 Install location is in your game installation files under packages\Core\data\cursors - pick the size cursor you want and overwrite the original folder (and keep a copy of the original somewhere)

UI Mod - Readable Fonts and UI  Basically just makes everything bigger for higher res monitors (and for general accessibility) so you don’t have to squint at microscopic text on your screen. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/73

Level 3: I am willing to install even more mods if it will make the game look better.

There are a lot of these on Nexus to choose from, and not all of them are compatible with each other (which is important to remember and look into if you start installing a ton of mods). These are the ones I like that also play nice with each other:

Unique Face Textures for Companions  This mod preserves what the companions/important characters look like but improves their skin textures and makes their eyes clearer. Make sure you also copy the textures folder into the override folder along with the Companion Morphs folder, I forgot to do this at first and it made Alistair look very shiny and blurry. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4666

Dragon Age Redesigned  This is a huge mod full of graphic improvements to like every NPC. This mod comes with a pdf of instructions on how to install everything and is pretty easy to navigate. There are also versions of most of the companions as well, if you prefer this version of what they look like. (Some of those will require extra mods to install--the pdf will tell you what you need.) https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/686

Also potentially required for this one, depending on which version you pick: https://www.moddb.com/mods/tmp7704/downloads/tucked-hair

Level 4: I want cuter hair and armor choices for my character.

Another thing there are countless mods for, and if you’re getting this into it, I recommend going through Nexus and perusing on your own. These are the ones I was able to get to work on my computer with the other mods in this list installed:

Jenya’s Random Hairstyles: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4795

More Hairstyles: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/392

DA2 Grey Warden Armor: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/3258

Level 5: That is all fine but the game is still unplayable until I can bring my dog everywhere with me without sacrificing a companion slot.

You are right, which is why this is actually the most important mod on this list.

Extra Dog Slot  This lets you add your Mabari as a summon. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/664

Final notes: This is NOT in any way a conclusive list of DAO mods, there are obviously so many for this game and if you want to do more than this, knock yourself out! I just wanted to post this as a starter pack for these types of people:

1. Brand new player who just bought it on Steam for $2 or whatever it was and wants to play but is intimidated by the idea of modding it 2. Returning players who haven't played in forever/on a PC and want a place to start with mods that will get the game to work 3. Really anyone who wanted to play/replay this but when they started up a new game, it just started crashing over and over and it was making them really mad and annoyed so they gave up because they didn't know how to fix it

I have been every player on this list at one point or another and a post like this would have been really helpful to me.

Now go out there and have fun defeating the Archdemon, fellow Wardens 🫡

[runveganwankerrun]

Tue 29th April '26

Gutted to see the were on a pair of my newer shoes. Bought just August past, it's not as if they are the only ones I run in. There's only 320km on them. I got 2000k out of my first pair. Vibrams are great for longevity. There's no support to break down, so the go till I literally wear holes in them. Not this pair.

I emailed the supplier and I learned something. They are billed as a gym shoe "with some running " So, not a running shoe. My bad. I'm sure that was written somewhere when I was buying them. However, as a gesture of goid will, I've been offered 15% discount on my next pair. That was nice, I thought. They didn't have to do that.

Next consumer item today 😁 My Shokz over-ear phones went wonky a few days ago. The left ear stopped working altogether, just out of nowhere. I emailed Shokz, and after the usual troubleshooting efforts and sending them a video to show the silence on the left, they have sent me a new set. Yay for customer service!

This is this morning's pre run stuff. Pineapple, spinach, ginger and turmeric smoothie. Matcha green tea. I won't drink the whole thing. Imagine all that sloshing about inside you during a run!

Isn't it amazing how we can do down what we've done. I'm in danger of berating myself for "only" running 4k today, but I ran for half an hour! I can run for half an hour! Many, many people in the world can not do that. Kudos to me and my fifty-six year old body.

It's sunny and warm this morning. It's so lovely to run on a day like that. I chose the hilly 5k route, but made the conscious decision to do 4k as an "easy" day. I've strides tomorrow, so want to be a bit more rested, without breaking my streak.

No bad news about the right knee niggle from yesterday. Both knees do have a bit of a tendency to feel a bit weak. Weight loss will help hopefully.

Everlast knee support today. I think I prefer it. It feels more like a hug for my knee.

[regulus-things]

Matthew Engler X Reader (Maybe a Series) Sneak Peak

Matthew and Reader were long-time friends, before Natalie, when Matthew and Natalie got married she forced Matthew to cut Reader off, and they haven't seen each other since. After Natalie's murder, he reaches out to her for support.

Reader is Joe's sister, they got separated in the system. But found each other while Joe was still in New York, just keep each other at a distance. Trust issue much. Y/n was a baby when Joe killed their dad and their mom gave them up, she got adopted into a very nice home and managed to have a very normal life. Leading her to have a PhD in computer science.

This is my first ever fanfic, sorry if it's cringe :) Thanks for reading!

Warnings: Suggestive Content, Nothing too graphic, Kissing and Groping.

"Matthew!" Y/N shouted from downstairs closing his front door loudly, multiple grocery bags in her hands.

Scurring over to the kitchen, placing the bogs on the counter, starting unpacking them, when a pair of arms circled her waist, burning his head in her neck, his scuff scratching against her skin.

"You smell good." He said holding on to her tighter, "What did you get?"

She let out a small laugh letting herself relax against him, her hand wandering into his hair, while her other hand traced over his around her waist, "Nothing fancy, just some snacks and something for dinner later. " Y/n said.

Matthew pressed small kisses into her neck, her head tilting up to give him more access. His hand travelled over her hips, down her thighs, cupping her mound possessively, before growling into her ear, "I missed you" before connecting their lips forcefully.

She let out a loud moan, her hand tangled into his hair, tugging it. As their lips met again, the world seemed to disappear around them. His hands slid down her back, cupping her ass, pulling her closer, the warmth between them building with every breath they shared. She tilted her head deepening the kiss, her heart racing.

Then suddenly-BANG!

The front door opened, followed by it slamming shut.

Matthew pulled back reluctantly, resting his forehead against hers, before straightening, never letting her go, Y/n hid her flushed face against his chest, heart pounding as Theo came dashing into the kitchen.

"The Wi-Fi is downs again Dad!" He exclaimed, not looking up from his phone. Matthew scoffed, shaking his head, pressing a kiss to Y/n's head, "Theo...What did I tell you about knocking," His voice tightens but tries to stay calm, "Uh, yeah, Theo. It's probably just the router. You know how it is, Just, Uh...check the wires or something."

Theo finally looks up from his phone, taking in the scene, before laughing, "Uh-huh sure, because how you holding on to Y/n with your very relaxed posture, it definitely screams 'router troubleshooting'".

Y/n let out a groan burying her head further into Matthew's chest her face deeping a shade of red. Matthew rubbed her back, kissing the side of her head, before glaring at his son, but the opened his mouth again, "Yeah, right, You were probably in... deep conversation on something very important, weren't you two?" he grinned wickedly.

Matthews's glare sharpened, and his grip on Y/n tightened, "Can you go, Theo? what are you doing here anyway, I though you had school?"

Theo let out a groan, while Y/n giggled into Matthew's chest before pulling away, gently kissing Matthew on the cheek, and turning back to the grocery on the counter. Matthew's hands never left her hips, his head resting on her shoulder.

Theo smiled gently at the two, happy to see his Dad happy after Natalie, "Yeah, I'm home. Got tired of the whole 'College life' you know? Needed a break, to process you know. " he avoided his fathers gaze, trying to act nonchalant.

Y/n raised her head to look at him, "Theo, as you sure that's the real reason you're home? Or is it my sister-in-law? That got you hooked."

Theo shyly grins, looking away, "Maybe..."

Matthew and Y/n both laugh, "She married Theo, stop being pervy, It's not a good look." Matthew said kissing the side of Y/N's head before she handed him a package of steaks to put away which he did without complaint.

Theo grinned, raising an eyebrow. "I'm just saying it's not my fault she's got that 'spark', about her."

"Don't let my brother hear you speaking that way about her," Y/n said pulling out a cutting board to start preparing dinner. "He is incredibly protective about her."

Theo scoffed, "Yeah right, I don't think he could give two shits about her, she is always alone." Y/n frowned raising an eyebrow as she started chopping, "What? Joe always telling me how he's with Love."

Theo shook his head, "I know that she's been busy with her bakery and Henry, but I never see him around." he paused for a moment, then added, "anyway, can help with dinner?"

Y/n paused shaking her head, "No but thank you, Theo." she glanced at him, then continued, "He has been volunteering at the library a lot, I'll talk to Marine to see if she knows anything."

Matthew gave a small, almost imperceptible sigh, "I don't know... Joe has always been a bit of an enigma. But if he's volunteering, I would take his word for it, still, I'll keep an eye on things just in case."

Before turning his attention to the salad he was handed to prepare, turning to Y/n "Do you want me to go cook these stakes first, or should I get started on the salad?" Y/n hummed thoughtfully before nodding, "I think that will work better. Thank you, my love."

Matthew smiled and kissed her on the cheek before heading out the back door toward the BBQ, Y/n turned back to Theo, "Try not to read to much into it, Joe has always been a loner. Plus Marde Linda is basically Joe's personal hell." Y/n giggled, and Theo let out a laugh too, "I guess you're right. "

"Well, set the table. Your dad's almost done with the steaks, I'll throw together the salad, and then we can have a nice, quiet evening." Y/n said, handing Theo the plates.

Theo laughed as he walked away, "You sure it'll be a quiet night?" he said wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Y/n went beet red, sticking her tongue out at him.

[dancingthrustars]

They tell you it’s immortality, functionally. A safeguard in case something goes wrong out on a job. It’s a nice way to say you can be way more reckless than you usually are and the worst outcome you’ll have to deal with is a bad hangover and the knowledge of what fucking up and getting your face blown off feels like. Congrats! Cloning and consciousness transfer is real and they’re using it to cut down on casualty expenses during ops. Mostly it just makes you wonder what the hell they do with the bodies. Do they leave it for someone to find? Do they retrieve it? Is there half-a-dozen mangled Jane Does that look like you in morgues across the world?

Probably, actually. Seems easiest.

On top of that, it doesn’t even fucking work that great. In the seconds between whatever gruesome demise you’ve caused yourself and waking up in the cold bath you dream of—you see—you remember—

The shade of tall trees. The way her eyes squint when she smiles. The scent of pine needles and cigarettes. The way her nose crooks from too many breaks. The one leaky part of the roof and the floorboard that’s always creaking underneath. The sound of her laughter. The. The. The.

—nothing. Meaningless tripe. Weird drudged up sensations and half-thoughts bubbled together into a stew that doesn’t exist.

Also last time you woke up you were down a hand and that seems unintentional. The eggheads are more pissed about it than you, something about needing to reset the system and how it was working so well for so long. At least they’re going to have the opportunity to finally switch to that new engram storing that was being proposed, yadda yadda yadda. They assure you it’s not a problem, you’re just going to have to switch to a new body quicker than normal.

And to be clear, it is normal. They’re the ones who told you to be reckless, you can’t be judged for dying on average once every job or two.

They shuffle you off to sit in the prep room while they hit buttons or something and you stretch out on one of the benches, examining the stump of your hand. It’s not like you woke up actively bleeding or anything, it’s just…not there. Like it failed to grow entirely. You could probably still work with it, honestly, but if they’re willing to just slap you into a new body before you get back to business…?

The shortstack they keep partnering you with would probably say that this is a sign of some kind, that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. That there has to be a reason why they offered this insane mad scientist bullshit up to you with the only caveat that you do jobs you’re getting paid for anyways. That there’s a reason they’re only annoyed in moments like these with your repeated deaths. You think she’s probably overestimating, after all you’ve had plenty of free lunches through the liberal application of extreme violence and no one’s stopped you yet. And besides that, you think it’s pretty obvious what they’re getting out of this. You’re guinea pigs for moments like this, for troubleshooting a thing they’re probably going to sell off to the highest bidder once they’ve got the kinks worked out.

Also it’s very likely they’re selling your medical data to someone, that just seems fair.

One of the younger nerds comes and retrieves you, asks you to stand in the biohazard shower so they can ‘recycle this one’. The euphemism makes you laugh, just a bit. Her eyes flicker with eager delight as one of the guards approaches you with an unholstered gun.

These dorks are about as transparent as it comes, you can’t imagine what she thinks could possibly be happening that isn’t already supremely obvious. But then again, what do you know? She doesn’t die anywhere near as often as you, maybe she knows something you don’t. Maybe she’s just scared. Probably that, honestly.

You grin at the guard, fearless. You’re twenty-five, you’re well-paid, and you’re going to live for fucking ever. What could you possibly have to be afraid of?

[missanthropicprinciple]

This week has been a lot and it's only Thursday morning (haven't gone to sleep yet). Like, work has been ramping up because there are a ton of tiny details for event planning. I'm doing all the event support for one department and also supporting the big two-day event in another department that's happening next week. Second time this week someone kicked me out of a large room so I had to book two new spaces...again. Having to troubleshoot because faculty just got back and 1 person RSVP'd for this one book club event so I have to resend the RSVP and extend the deadline. Somehow did not book bartending for an event next week (literally do not know why I did not do that) and my senior colleague went out of her way to find the email in which she asked about alcoholic beverages to make me feel bad. (I already feel bad. So there, loser.) Same person nagged my friend/coworker to do something that was already a hard no. My main boss was not even on campus today and we have not checked in at all. Crying on my break. Getting 7 hours of sleep on Sunday, I have now devolved to 5 and then last night 4. Bad fight with my mother this morning before 8am. Walked 5-6 minutes in 0℉ temps to get into work (and back to the SUV at 5pm). I have to place a bartending order tomorrow, not even sure if that'll work and the difficult coworker isn't even responding to that email when I specifically asked her what she would like. Journaling is so far behind I will have to work pretty hard to catch up. Barely reading anything. Literally barely reading fanfic, just skimming. I was going to really ease into the year but it's been a shit-show from day one. Adding to that is the whole NG abuse thing and that's been triggering for me. Plus the dreaded event on Monday that I will not be watching. Good things? I have some nice friends (aforementioned coworker), and the friend (former coworker) I went out to dinner with. Teaching has been going well. Will be able to take off a bit earlier on Friday because I got in early today. Gonna try to sleep now.

[windvexer]

Hi chicken, I hope you are doing well. I hope it’s okay to ask for advice : this last few days every single spirits I’ve been in contact with refuse to communicate with me. My main way of communicating with them is divination (regarding your post about not taking spirit communication posts as face value I typically don’t have vivid manifestations for context). I have what seems to me clear messages of figuring things out myself for the time being from the cards and I can’t help but feel a little bit abandoned. I was not talking to them on a day my basis but I believe I made some progress on a personal level lately and I may have had some assistance from them from time to time. Do you know if it is common and in your opinion what could be the meaning of this silence ? I can’t identify a way I could have offended all of them so suddenly, but still I hope I am not indefinitely banned from spirit communication. Any advice would be welcome if you don’t mind. Have a nice day.

We are partially in reference to this post (with helpful additions in the notes): Reasons to not always take spirit communication posts at face value

Good afternoon, anonymous friend. I'm sorry you're struggling with this. Of course without more details, I can only speak generally.

First, no, I can't imagine you are suddenly indefinitely banned from spirit communication. That's not really a thing (or, the explanation I believe is complex enough that it would detract from the rest of your questions).

Spirits going incognito or refusing to communicate for a period of time is common. This can happen for a wide variety of reasons. Don't be under the illusion that all spirit workers can immediately connect with any of their spirits at any time, and receive answers.

This post may be helpful to you, but I don't know if it's all that applicable if all you're doing is the occasional tarot reading: troubleshooting spotty spirit connections/“godphoning”

It seems that you may be framing this break of communication as punitive due to some offense you could have made.

In my experience, if you have really pissed off your spirits to the point where they are done with you, A) something major will have happened and you will know about it, and B) their exit will be felt in ways that transcend disappointing readings.

I believe the reason for this silence is what they have told you: that you ought to figure out this one for yourself.

I don't believe that spirits always have our "highest good" in mind, in the sort of New Agey universal sense that everything a spirit does to us is always good for us, so you have to suck it up.

But they do often tend to like us, and they can see further than we can, and in different directions than we are capable of looking. And such a person in that position may well look at you and say, "you need to figure this one out for yourself."

Support, after all, may atrophy a muscle.

This may be an opportunity to look to new places, develop new skills, and try new things. And, if these are trusted spirits, their advice may be in your best interest: they want you to figure it out for yourself.

Perhaps they want to see what you can do. Perhaps they know you can solve it on your own. Perhaps a spirit weather front is moving in and communication will be hazy for a while.

In any case, I expect it is probably a temporary lapse. They happen to the best of us.

[sophia-sol]

the saga of my most recent efforts in maintaining my personal website, over the course of a couple days:

just spent some time updating the custom css for my linkding instance....nobody gets to see the results of that custom css but me, but I was able to fix some irritating aspects of the view that I hadn't done properly last time, and I am pleased!

SOMEDAY I will update my linkding to the most recent version! and then will be able to do some customizing to the css on the guest view!!

looking at the notes I took last time I did a linkding update....not inspiring, lol! last time I tried multiple avenues of attack and had to end up doing it the "stupid way" :P and then I had to reupload my bookmarks from backups, bc the fresh install didn't maintain the bookmarks, but I have so many bookmarks that linkding doesn't like to upload them all in one file, and it's a huge pain!

I should gird my loins and do it before the year is over though. I will be so much happier with the updated linkding!

hot damn I DID IT. I did it!!!! my linkding is now version 1.36.0 (latest) and I am soooo proud

and now, if you go to linkding.aviansoph.com you'll be redirected automatically to the shared bookmarks page! which is set up with some custom css so you can actually see all the details of each bookmark, laid out nice and readably, on a page that should respect your system's preferences for lightmode vs darkmode! my linkding is FUNCTIONAL!!!!! as a place to direct people who want to see all my recs! I'm so happy

aw heckity, I do still need to laboriously upload all my bookmarks from my manual backup. I somehow managed to port over a months-old version into the reinstall, and I did a lot of bookmark editing in the intervening months, so this is insufficient. OH WELL that's doable at least!

ok NOW I am done! my linkding shared bookmarks are a beautiful and useful thing I can show off! https://linkding.aviansoph.com/

oh shit did updating linkding somehow manage to break the javascript on the rest of aviansoph.com????

WELP I restarted my vps to see if that would fix the javascript problem, and a) it didn't, and b) now linkding isn't loading at all. my gloating was premature!

....how does a person go about trying to debug a server. where does one start.

ok so I got my linkding instance back up and running so that's all successful now! but javascript is still broken on the main site, even though it's working in linkding I am currently working my way through trying to figure out how to update my ubuntu, since it's out of date, but the standard commands I'm finding online aren't working and so I am in the weeds of trying to parse the troubleshooting options I'm seeing I think I will not get aviansoph.com's js functional again tonight. an ongoing project.

(the next day)

it's funny how much figuring out tech stuff is just about learning the specialised vocabulary, so as to comprehend what people mean when they explain things

how many different browser tabs does one person need to have open in order to figure out how to make their gd ubuntu actually agree to upgrade

"become a computer nerd" they said. "it'll be fun!" they said. I'm putting on my clown shoes.

wow the version of ubuntu I installed on my vps when I got it last summer reached end of life like a month after I installed it 🙃

I think? I might have successfully gotten my ubuntu upgrade to start????? thank u to this nerd for the info: https://dandraka.com/2020/05/31/how-to-upgrade-ubuntu-from-an-unsupported-version/ anyway now I am in the "wait for a couple hours" step so we shall see how it goes, but I am tentatively hopeful! 🤞

so the upgrade worked and I'm running a recent long-term stable release of ubuntu now. and my linkding is still working! but js is still not functional on the main aviansoph domain and I'm not sure how to approach this one. the temptation is to just rewrite the pages to not need any js anymore lmao but I don't think that's the Right Answer

great news! the js error is one I accidentally introduced several weeks ago, and then just didn't notice it wasn't working till now! it's fixed now, thank u rae, and my website is ALL FUNCTIONAL again HOORAY!

(the next day)

I figured out what a robots.txt file is and what it does, and added one to my website, and WOW my CPU usage has immediately improved dramatically! damn. shoulda done this ages ago!

so as you can see my self-teaching efforts around computing continue to bear fruit! despite the struggles involved in learning things by accidentally breaking things that I then need to fix, I love my website very much. it makes me so happy!