Tumgik
#(3 hours) usually it takes me 1:30-2 hours
carpthecarp · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
139 notes · View notes
olessan · 10 months
Text
I love the fact that I can work as hard as I can manage with a broken tooth and a dying tooth (one on each side, I've been chewing on the cavity for a year) and I still cannot save even $10 towards getting dental treatment (2 impacted wisdom teeth, + tooth broken off under the gum, + bad cavity) because I barely make enough to cover my food and board and the insane energy bill
Tumblr media
#I'm just ranting don't mind me it's fine I am continuing to exist as usual I may delete this later bc it's a bit of a bummer to read#I prefer to keep my blogging to fun or otherwise nonserious content because it's supposed to be for decompression no real world drama here#I got into a 3 hour body language study and earned $50 so I spent that as fun money on a couple games during the Steam sale just to#take a break from the constant cycle of getting paid and then immediately saying goodbye to all but about 15 cents#(well it was 1 game Slime Rancher 2 and then 2 expansion packs one for Planet Zoo and another for Cities Skylines long play hours mileage)#I've tried to budget to buy small things like a fan or a toothbrush maybe (mine is 8yrs old and doesn't charge sometimes) but NOPE#let alone stashing away over $2000 for the amount of treatment I need given tooth extractions are $200-$500 each#I use about $50 of groceries a week ($30 USD) sometimes up to $80 if I need to buy some extra toiletries or bonuses like ham/falafel/bread#our last quarterly power bill was $1900 FOR NO REASON even for a winter one#olessan oration#the work I have is HIT/mturk type work which pays amazingly well and I am so grateful because I can't work in a traditional environment due#my inability to sleep/wake on anyone else's schedule and need for engaging work but it also means each worker is basically a contract worke#picking their own hours which is VERY HARD to stick to for me since I may also have ADHD-i but that diagnosis also costs like $2000 in Aus#so I'm doing my best fucking lmao#I have a set minimum hours I want to keep up to and move to full time but I am so exhausted by the constant background noise of#the tooth problems that I burn out very quickly#like the tooth ache isn't that bad#the tooth is actively dying but the pain isn't unbearable it just shits me off at all times#it's bearable most of the time and doesn't affect my sleep unless the temp is cold or something#it's been bad this week tho so I've gone through almost all my ibuprofen managing it#the tooth that broke off broke off earlier in the year and the gum has mostly healed over and the dead root is concealed inside my gums now#that stopped being painful in mid 2021 but when it died it was pretty bad it did stop me sleeping for a couple weeks#Christmas 2021 involved me contemplating ripping the tooth out myself lmao#the nerve eventually died seemingly without an abscess#unless I DID have an abscess but that seems extremely unlikely because abscesses are SEVERE AND HORRIBLE AND LIFE THREATENING#sometimes I can feel the tooth ligament wiggling on its own or I like flex it by accident it's so weird bc the tooth is gone so#the ligament is still holding onto the root but with way less weight#anyway I am eating my mac n cheese n veg with the side that has the missing tooth because the cavity tooth has a big bruise along the gumli#gumline which may be from overzealous brushing (I fill the tooth will temporarily filling putty and it needs to be cleaned well when the#putty falls out)
2 notes · View notes
sunnystars2023 · 2 months
Note
Hi! Can you do oneshots for the bnha group 1 and 2 boys? They're ranting to their crush about something and she shuts them up with a kiss.
I just love that idea 😆
Thank you!
Of course!!!! Thanks for sending in a request!! I hope this is good haha!
Kiss em!
Group 1
Synopsis; Kissing the BNHA boys whilst they are ranting to shut them up!
Characters Included: Katsuki Bakugo,Eijro Kirishima, Sero Hanta, Denki Kaminari
Group 2/Group 3
🔋👾🌀⭐️🐸⭐️🌀👾🔋👾🌀⭐️🐸⭐️🌀👾🔋
Tumblr media
Katsuki Bakugo
Its a rare moment for Katsuki to be rambling about anything and normally you love it, but you two are supposed to be studying. Not that you minded the extra attention from him. He was your friend and crush. You honestly couldn’t even understand what he was rambling about. All you could focus on was his eyes. You know that you should look away, stop watching, and continue to study but damn how could you.
“Does that even make any damn sense?!” He asked looking at you directly. Shit. “Ugh…yes?” You answered nervously, hoping he hadn’t caught onto what you were doing. Thankfully he didn’t but he did start to rant on about how quote spent too much of his damn time telling for you not to even listen. As much as you wanted to listen to him yammer on. You knew it was time to get back to work.
“Baku-“. Interrupted.”Bakug-“. Interrupted. “Ba-“. Interrupted. You have had it. You stand up and grab him by the shoulders making him turn to you “Ah what the hel-“.
You cut him off with a kiss. After a few moments of lingering on his soft lips you pulled away. “Damn Katsuki, now lets get back to work, m’kay”. You smiled as you spoke red hue creeping up to your face as you retake your seat on the floor with your books.
Bakugo joined you on the floor sonic but shocked look. He quickly snapped out of allowing his normal scowl to take place on his face but the redness in his cheeks matched yours as he turned his face away in his hand. “Yeah yeah, whatever carrots”.
Tumblr media
Ejiro Kirishima
Kirishima was an AVID RANTER. He was always talking about something, weather it be with you or literally anyone else who would listen. Tonight tho it was you. He was going on a spill about Crimson Riot, and how manly he is. You Loved Kiris and Yours rambling sessions but you guys Needed to train and the Gym closes in 30 minutes which wouldn’t be a big deal, but you guys haven’t even started and you had already been there for an hour, roughly.
“He’s like the most manly and hard pro there is! Like yeah All Mights cool but-“ he started but you couldn’t not train and you knew he needed to too.
“Kiri-“ “Can’t you believe it-“ this time you interrupted him with your lips on his. You had to stand on your tippy toes to reach him, he was so taken a back that he didn’t kiss you back. You pulled away after a few seconds almost shocked with yourself, but you pulled it together.
“Sorry for interrupting you but we have to train and we only have 25 minutes before the gym closes we can talk after” you say with confidence trying to hide your nerves. Kirishima who just now busted from his trance walked up to you and placed another kiss on your lips this time both of you kissing.
“Alright lets get started” He said with his usual smile on his face and now your composure was gone. “What, it wouldn’t have been manly of me to leave you hangin’ how about we talk about a date after this hm?”
Tumblr media
Sero Hanta
Sero is more of the type to listen to others rant. He only has a few things that will get him going. Video Games, Matching Clothes (when outfits don’t match), and Assholes. Today whilst You, Mina, Denki, and him self where at the mall you guys ran into a group of Assholes. Now Sero can only take so much especially when the assholry was targeted at his friends and you the person that just plagued his brain and heart.
The Asshole consisted of a group of men, probably in college. They dogged on every thing you guys did and followed you guys around a few stores just trying to aggravate. Mina and you ended up telling them off after they whistled at you guys and called Denki Stupid . They then proceeded to call you guys “prude bitches” and “attention whores” they left before Sero or Denki could say anything.
It was a little later from the interaction and you guys where in Spencers now just looking around. You and Sero are by the T-Shirts while Mina and Denki are looking threw the Jewelry and pins.
Sero was Still ranting about those assholes. “God the nerve of some people like how could they talk to you or anyone like that!”. You didn’t mind that he was upset or aggravated but you where trying to make your mind up about a shirt that you wanted and you wanted his opinion, its silly but you cared about what he thought especially since you couldn’t decide.
“Sero-“ he didn’t even notice you say anything as he continued on about those jerks. You needed his opinion and decided you were going to get it. You grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down a little so you could reach his lips comfortably. Pressing your lips against his leaving a chapstick gloss over his.
“Okay so which-“ you where cut off AGAIN but this time by Mina “OKAY! DAMN GIRLLL GET IT”. Sero was shocked a little by the unexpected surprise but he loved everything second of it and knew they would be talking later but he could tell by the two shirts in your hand that you wanted his opinion.
“This one, Demon Days is cooler looking then the Twilight plus you already have four Twilight shirts” He chuckled as he spoke giving his opinion to you. you smiled as you folded back up the Twilight shirt and walked to the register, picking out a few pins to go with your purchase. Denki came up to Sero and Mina went to you as both wanted to know the Tea that just happened as they both knew about your crushed on each other.
Tumblr media
Denki Kaminari
You and Denki were chilling in his dorm playing servers on Minecraft. Homeboy is a Yapper whether he’s ranting or not,he’s always talking. You guys were in the middle of a tense sky block battle. You guys we’re one of the last two teams standing.
“No fuck, FUVK” denki shouted as he died. Thats what started his rambling. He was in between going over how he died and telling you how to get to wherever you needed to, to win. “Fucking shit man, wait wait wait left, No- Right” he continued to spat out instructions in between his ranting it confused you and stressed you out as you only had a small window of time.
“Denki!” “Left! I can’t believe they cut me off like that, Right, Right! What are you doing Sparky!”. You tried to do as he said but god he wasn’t even thinking! “Damnit Kami!”you set the controller down which erupted in more shouts. You pretty much fell on top of him pressing a rough peck on his lips.
“Lets take a break okay?!” You said as you rolled over next to him sit up. “Mhm..ye-yeah” he said, as if he was dazed it almost looks like he short circuited without using his quirk. You stand up heading towards Denki’s door going to grab a snack. “Woah sparky you’re just gonna kiss me then leave like that without talking to me? HELLO?!?” He said as he sat up with a red face and confused/shocked expression “im going to grab a drink and something to eat c’mon”
“We’re gonna talk about that kiss later tho…Right… Y/n” he said as he followed behind you slightly whining but kinda excited.
🔋👾🌀⭐️🐸⭐️🌀👾🔋👾🌀⭐️🐸⭐️🌀👾🔋
Masterlist <- Here
Thank you sm for reading! If you want more characters check out other parts! Want more content check out my Wattpad @sunnystars2023!
235 notes · View notes
nostalgebraist · 1 year
Text
Frank @nostalgebraist-autoresponder will permanently halt operation at 9 PM PST this Wednesday (May 31, 2023).
For context on why, see this post.
(tl;dr this project been a labor of love for me for years, it takes a ton of continual effort, and my heart's not in it anymore.)
----
The blog itself will stay up indefinitely, it just won't make any new posts or accept asks.
Most of the code, models, etc. are freely available right now. Insofar as they are now, they will continue to be. The change on May 31 is unrelated to this stuff.
I've made various interactive demos of these components over the years, and the demos will likely still work after the bot stops. But I won't do any tech support or maintenance on them, and I would actively recommend against using these as a way to "get Frank back."
----
I want to emphasize the following:
The best way for you to "send Frank off" over the next few weeks is to talk to her just like usual.
(And not too often, because she can only make 250 posts a day.)
This is true for a number of reasons, and can be viewed from a number of different angles:
(1)
While it can be fun to anthropomorphize Frank, she is structured very differently from a person, or even an animal.
She does not remember anything, even between two asks made on the same day. Every moment is a new one, with no relation to any other.
If you say "goodbye" or "you're going to be shut off" to her on May 30 2023, it's just as though you had said the same thing to her on some random day last year. She can't tell the difference.
She doesn't know these things are true or relevant now, and she can't possibly know in the way a human would. She's hearing the words for the first time, every time, and reacting in accordance with that.
Think of it like interacting with a baby, or someone with dementia. Every moment stands alone. If you strike a sad tone, they don't appreciate that it's about something. They just know that there is a sad tone, in the current experiential moment.
(2)
Frank mostly operates on a first-come, first-serve basis. She can only make 250 posts a day. There is a limited amount of time left.
Be conscientious about the way you're using up "slots" in this limited array of remaining Frank posts. Don't hog the ride.
(3)
I'm shutting down this bot in part because it's been a long-term, low-grade source of stress to me. I'd like the last weeks of the bot to be as low-stress as they can be.
When Frank gets an unusually large, or just unusual, form of user input over a period of time, I usually have to step in and do something in response.
(if there's way more input than usual and I don't do anything special, Frank will fill up most of her post limit quota before I even wake up, and then the asks will pile up further and further over the rest of the day.)
Maybe I have to delete a bunch of asks. Maybe I have to deploy some temporary change to her mood parameters to prevent the mood from getting too high or low and not coming back to baseline. Maybe I have to turn on "userlist mode," which still involves a cumbersome manual procedure.
Or, maybe I just have to do a lot more content moderation than usual.
"Usual," here, means reviewing and (mostly) approving something like 20 different hypothetical Frank posts per day, every day. If I go do something fun, and let myself forget about this task completely for 6 or 8 hours, there's a backlog waiting for me afterwards. During busy times, there's even more of this.
Just, like, help me chill out a bit, okay? Thanks.
3K notes · View notes
mattitties · 9 months
Text
Boyfriend, pt 3 - matt sturniolo
smutty smut smut!
part 1 part 2
Tumblr media
“How was the date?” my roommate asks as I go into her room.
All I can do is smile. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy in my life. “I love him,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “Oh jesus. Okay, come sit, tell me everything.” 
I sit on her bed and recount the whole night, from him picking me up at the door, to listening to Taylor Swift with me, to me never feeling a moment of awkwardness, and finally, to him kissing me outside the apartment. “Maybe it’s because I’ve never had a boyfriend so any ounce of actual romantic attention is a dream come true but I genuinely think he’s perfect for me,” I tell her.
“He does sound pretty perfect for you…”
“See!”
“But slow ya roll! Take it easy, just don’t rush into anything.” I nod in agreement. I know that there’s still so much to learn about him, but I just feel like I already trust him with my life. It takes me a long time to feel truly comfortable with anyone, but there’s just something about him that makes me feel like I’ve known him forever.
I wake up the next morning later than usual, and to my surprise, I already have a text from him. 
Good morning! I had a lot of fun last night :) 
I’m about to respond when another text comes through.
Would u wanna grab lunch today? I can pick u up again
I smile to myself and start typing.
good morning!! i had fun too, and i would love to get lunch! what time?
I can get you around 2?
sounds good see you then 😁
I look at the time and panic when I see it’s already 12:30. How the fuck did I sleep so late? I get ready and before I know it, it’s 1:55 and he’s texted me that he’s here. I have to applaud his punctuality, it’s hot as fuck knowing that he actually cares enough to be somewhere on time. God, I really need to raise my standards.
I head downstairs and he’s in the same spot by the door, smiling shyly when he sees me. His fashion sense is immaculate: today he’s wearing black cargo jeans, a black T-shirt, and a white long sleeve underneath. I’m disappointed that he’s not showing off his sleeve of tattoos like last night, but I still can’t stop staring at him. 
“Hi,” he smiles, giving me a hug. He smells good, like warm vanilla, and his hug is the most comforting thing in the world at this moment. 
“How’ve you been in the last… 12 hours since I saw you?” I ask as we head to the car.
“Oh you know, just been sitting at home twiddling my thumbs until I could see you again. We’re at a three day streak now!” he tells me as he opens the door for me. 
I laugh and can’t take my eyes off of him as he makes his way to the driver’s side. “Why’d you wear a long sleeve today? I miss your tattoos,” I fake pout and play with his sleeve.
“Ohhh, you can see those whenever you want, don’t you worry.” 
God, he makes me fucking crazy. We start driving, talking about mindless things, and end up at a little diner not too far from my apartment.
“My brothers and I go here all the time, their food is so good,” he tells me as we go inside.
Once we’re seated and have ordered our food, our conversation flows just the same as it did last night, except today we’re talking about stuff that it usually takes me at least a few weeks of knowing someone before I share about. I tell him about my family, he tells me about his and how he’s never been away from his brothers for more than 24 hours, while I tell him that my brothers and I are more like acquaintances and I only ever talk to them about surface level stuff. 
“I couldn’t imagine,” he says. “Nick and Chris are like my safety nets. To be honest, tonight and today are the first time I’ve actually gone out to a restaurant without at least one of them in like… 3 years.”
“Really? I actually don’t mind doing stuff alone. I know people hate going out to eat by themselves, but I think I just grew up so independent that I’m comfortable with it. Like, my favorite thing ever is going to the movies, but if I don’t have anyone to go with I’ll just go by myself. I find it peaceful,” I tell him. 
“I love going to the movies too, but I could never go by myself. That sounds fucking terrifying,” he says, laughing a bit as he talks. 
“I get it,” I say. “Well, would you ever want to go to a movie together? It’s not alone and we both like it, so…”
He smiles. “I would love to. But if you talk in there, I’m out. We’re done. No movie talkers in my presence.”
I shake my head very seriously. “Oh no, absolutely not. Trust me, you won’t hear a peep.”
By the time we finish lunch, it’s only 3:45, and neither of us are ready to go home yet. 
He turns to me when we get in the car. “What do you think about that movie right now? I have nothing else going on the rest of the day.”
We arrive at the theater and just pick a movie at random. Neither of us have any real interest in seeing any of the ones they’re showing, but it gives us something to do together. We’re pleasantly surprised when we walk into an empty theater, so we take our seats and make fun of the trailers until the movie starts. 
About 30 minutes in, I realize that I have no idea what’s happening in the movie. I’ve been glancing at Matt the whole time, trying to pretend like I don’t see him glancing at me too. I can tell that he wants to hold my hand, wrap his arm around me, just touch me in some way, and I want to just scream at him to do something. It’s all I can think about. I shift up a little in my seat and look at him slightly. He looks at me. Without saying a word, we both know what the other wants.
He takes my cheek softly in his hand and kisses me. I immediately fall into it, our lips moving together effortlessly, our tongues colliding. But I want more. I need more. 
“Matt,” I say between kisses. “Can we go back to my place?”
“But the movie isn’t over yet,” he breathes into my mouth.
I pull back slightly and look at him with the same eyes I gave him two nights ago. “Matt. My place. Please?”
His eyes widen. “Oh. Oh.” 
I nod and giggle as he grabs my hand and rushes me out of there and back to his car like his life depends on it. Luckily the movie theater is about 5 minutes away from my apartment, and even more luckily my roommate is at work. The tension in the car ride home and in the elevator is so thick I can hardly breathe. As soon as we open the door to my room, his hands are all over me. We’re kissing messier than before; our teeth are clashing, our tongues fighting one another. He walks us towards my bed, dipping his head so his mouth reaches my neck as he begins to kiss, nip, and suck. 
“Matt,” I whine.
“Hmmm,” he hums in response, sucking a spot right under my ear. I begin to play with the bottom of his shirt, signaling that I want it off. He smirks and unlatches himself from my neck just long enough to pull it off his body before going back to what he was doing.
“God you’re so hot,” I half whisper as my hands run down from his chest to his happy trail. I grab his face in my hands and kiss him hard, then sit down on the bed and look up at him. 
“What do you wanna do?” he teases, knowing exactly what I want. I pull my shirt off, leaving me in a black lace bra, and begin to undo his jeans as he stares down at me. 
“Is this okay?” I ask, pulling his zipper down painfully slow.
“Mhm. Yeah, no it’s, um, it’s good,” he says, clearly flustered by what’s happening. And I can’t get enough.
I pull his jeans down and almost drool over his black briefs. I look up at him again for a moment, then palm over his bulge, earning a low groan from him.
“Fuck,” he mumbles as I tear his briefs down as well, and I need to control my face when I see his dick.
It’s not huge, probably about 6 inches, but it’s genuinely perfect. I never thought I’d say that about a dick, but no, it is perfect. 
He inhales sharply as I wrap my hand around the tip and begin to work him, my thumb running over his slit every so often. I spit directly down on him as my hand moves down his shaft, and he groans again, pulling my hair into a loose ponytail. 
That’s my signal to wrap my lips around him and suck.
“Ohhhh, fuck,” he says, closing his eyes and tilting his head back for a moment before looking back down at me. My mouth takes him deeper and deeper with each suck, and his hips begin to buck toward me. 
He didn’t strike me as someone who would be very vocal during sex, but he’s consistently groaning and letting out soft curses.
After just a minute or two of this, he pulls my head off of him. 
“Lay down before I cum in your mouth,” he tells me as I move myself back towards the head of the bed and sit back on my elbows. He crawls over me, kissing my neck, chest, and stomach. “This is all I’ve been thinking about for the past 2 days. Can I take this off?” he asks, referring to my bra.
I nod. 
“Words, baby.”
“Please take it off,” I whine. He undoes the clasp and tosses it aside, taking a moment to stare before dipping his head back down and starting to suck on my left nipple. 
My breathing picks up as he starts to kiss lower and lower, not breaking eye contact when he removes my skirt and underwear at the same time.
He stares down at my dripping pussy, and although I’m extremely turned on and want nothing more than to fuck him right now, I’m reluctant to open my legs as the reality sets in of what’s happening.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, looking up at me with concern in his eyes.
“I just… haven’t done this in a while. I think I’m nervous,” I tell him quietly.
“I’ve got you, I swear. And if you wanna stop just tell me, okay?”
I nod. I can tell he’s being genuine; he’s not just telling me what I want to hear so he can fuck me. He really cares.
I watch as he opens my legs and hooks them over his shoulders. “You’re drippin for me, huh?” he asks, kissing my inner thighs.
“Mhm. I’ve wanted you so bad,” I barely even have time to finish my sentence before he’s putting his tongue inside my pussy. I gasp and grab his hair, my back arching which only makes him go deeper.
He moans repeatedly as he tongue fucks me, sending vibrations through my core. I’m a moaning mess, my heels are digging into his back, and it only gets worse as he brings his thumb to my clit and starts circling lightly. 
“Matt,” I’m on the verge of tears. “Fuck, don’t stop, please, oh my god— “
My orgasm rips through me with no warning, and I’m cumming on his tongue. He doesn’t give me any time to come down before he’s leaning over me, pushing my legs up so my knees are by my face. 
“Do you have condoms?” he asks, pushing my hair back.
I shake my head. “I’m on birth control. I’m clean, obviously.”
“So am I,” he says, running his leaking tip over my clit. 
I almost scream, I’m so sensitive. He looks so fucking good leaning over me. I grip his arm as he pushes into me. There’s a moment of pain as he fills me up, but it quickly turns to pleasure when he starts thrusting into me.
“Is this okay?” he asks, noticing my face and the tight grip I have on his arm.
“Yeah, just hurt for a second, but please keep going,” I breathe, pulling his head down for another kiss.
His thrusts get harder and faster with each passing minute. He fills me so perfectly, I never want this to end. I feel the coil tighten in my stomach yet again, and my moans get louder and needier.
“You gonna cum for me baby?” he taunts.
Baby. I clench around him and nod. “Uh huh.”
“Ohhh, good girl, keep squeezing my cock like that,” he groans. His thrusts are getting erratic, and his dick begins to twitch inside of me.
I chant his name like it’s the only word I know how to say as another orgasm hits me, and I’m squeezing him hard.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, ohhhhh fuck,” he groans as his own orgasm hits him, and I feel him release inside of me, his head collapsing into my neck.
We stay just like that for a few moments, him inside of me, us both half dead and breathing heavy, before he pulls out, picks me up bridal style, and sets me on the toilet.
“It’s peepee time!” he says excitedly while clapping his hands softly, causing me to crack up.
“You just fucked me and came inside of me and now you’re saying ‘it’s peepee time’? You’re such a freak,” I tell him.
After I finish, we take a quick shower to clean up, and I get unreasonably sad as he starts to get dressed.
I walk him to my front door and he kisses me again. “Let me know your work schedule this week. We’re going out again.”
“Okay, I will,” I smile and nod as I watch him leave.
I’m definitely falling for this guy. 
-----------------------------------------------
this was ridiculously long. i did not intend for that to happen. i really have no intentions of making this a full length series because i have other stories i wanna do and i have a few requests sitting in my inbox, so as the author i am telling you that they lived happily ever after yayyyyy
716 notes · View notes
Note
IDK how many people are running the account, but if you or a member of the team running the account has ADHD, do you have any tips for ADHD writers, particularly when trying to get WIPs done? Outlines don't work for me like 99% of the time ;_;
Tips for Writing with ADHD
Here's what works for me, but your mileage may vary...
1 - Know What Outline Works for You - You say outlines don't work for you 90% of the time, but what type of outline are you using? Many people hear the word "outline" and imagine an academic outline with roman numerals and bullet points, but that's not what most fiction writers mean when they talk about using an outline. For fiction writers, outlines can be anything from a beginning to end written summary, to a scene list, to a detailed timeline. My post How to Outline a Plot has some different things you can try. Ultimately, there's no right or wrong way to outline your story. Anything that works as a "road map" to guide you through your story can help.
2 - Pants When You've Got to Pants - Some writers are "pantsers" or in other words, they prefer not to go off an outline. Some don't even plan in advance. They "write by the seat of their pants" and let the story take them where it may. For some writers, it depends on the specific story they're working on. Some stories might require planning, others might work better if you pants them. What works for me is understanding my needs (what type of story I'll usually need to plan/outline ahead of time, and what type of story I can pants) and then planning/pantsing accordingly. If I spent time outlining a story that I could easily pants, it would definitely take the wind out of my writing sails.
3 - Schedule Your Writing Time... Sort Of... - For me, I can't just rely on myself to write when the mood strikes me. If I did that, I'd never get any writing done. So for me, it's important to have a dedicated writing time each day. That doesn't even have to mean my butt's in the chair writing from this time to this time, it just means I'll do my best to write during whatever span of time. So, let's say this week you're home every day from 2pm until 6pm and some of that time is free time. That's going to be a good time to write, so you could say you're going to sit down every day at 3pm to write. Or, you could do 10-minute writing springs every hour, or every other hour. Or you could say you'll write when the mood strikes you, but definitely from 5:30 to 6 if you didn't get it done earlier.
4 - Try Random Writing Sprints - Writing sprints in general can be a good way for people with ADHD to write. You can schedule them or you could do them when the mood strikes. Get a timer and set it to whatever works for you... 5-minutes, 10-minutes, 30-minutes, whatever. Then just set it and go when you have time. Even if you don't feel like writing, getting into that habit will make it easier to write as soon as the timer comes out.
5 - Don't Give Yourself a Hard Time - One of the most profound things I ever heard about writing resistance is that it's often the product of writing feeling stressful. In other words, the idea of writing causes you stress, so your brain says, "Avoid! Avoid!" and you sit down to write and nothing happens. One of the ways we make writing stressful for ourselves is by giving ourselves a hard time when we don't write or don't write as much as we wanted. So, just do the best you can and congratulate yourself on small victories. Find ways to make writing fun and relaxing rather than stressful and like a chore.
Bonus - Sometimes the problem isn't ADHD but something else. My post 5 Reasons You Lost Interest in Your WIP, Plus Fixes! has some other things to consider.
I hope that helps!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!
LEARN MORE about WQA
VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts
COFFEE & COMMISSIONS ko-fi.com/wqa
705 notes · View notes
drakulana · 7 months
Text
a little piece of heaven // trafalgar law x fem!reader
it's finally here! part 3 to the first spark series! i know its been a long time coming. be sure to read the first two parts first! i hope y'all enjoy!!! i've had lots of fun writing this!!
⟡ part 1, part 2 ⟡ content: mutual pining, slooooooow burn up until the end, fluff, suggestive ending ;) but nothing nsfw ⟡ wc: 8.5k
⋆⭒˚.⋆
She awoke with a warm feeling all around her. She hadn’t remembered laying down in bed. She was surrounded by a familiar scent. Pine, hints of amber, undernotes of antiseptic. A scent she had come to know as her captain’s. A scent she had only been this close to in her head. It was comforting, warm. The bed was bigger, and the blankets were heavier than her own. Wait, why am I in his bed? She reflected on the night before. She was so tired, running off of maybe a few minutes of sleep and caffeine. She had worked herself too hard, pushed herself a little further than her body liked. Law’s words from last night echoed back to her, reminding her of what had happened. “Y/n, you can go to bed, it’s almost 3:30.” He had told her with a sincere tone. She shook her head at him, “No, it’s okay, I can keep working,” she assured him before looking back down at her page. 
She must’ve fallen asleep after the short interaction between them. She cringed internally from embarrassment. Falling asleep in the captain’s office while doing work, how could she let herself go so unchecked? She finally let herself take in the scene of the morning. The clock read 6:42am. She didn’t sleep for long, exhaustion still heavy in her limbs. She looked around the room, letting her eyes adjust to the light. Law’s bed was in the corner of the office, his desk opposite to it on the other side of the room. There were two book cases. One by his bed, the other by his desk. Both were organized, but the one next to the bed had comic books, and sci-fi novels. Something she didn’t think her captain would read, but she found it endearing to know that the cool and collected man had a nerdier side to him. 
“You’re awake,” Law voiced without looking up from his book. “Sleep well?” He glanced up at her, scanning over her. She took in his appearance, he had dark bags under his eyes, the shadow of the brim of his hat casting down on them giving them a darker look. He was still in the same clothes from the night before, she doubted he had hardly moved from that spot at his desk. His golden eyes glinted with something she couldn’t quite make out. She tore her gaze away, fearing she had stared too long. “It was okay,” She answered him, getting up from her place on his bed. The atmosphere of the office was thick. There was an undeniable tension that floated around the two, coating the walls and everything around them in unspoken words. She made her way towards him, “I’m sorry I took your bed last night, that wasn’t my intention.” He let his gaze wander as she spoke. “I don’t mind it,” He assured her with his usually composed tone. He watched her smooth her hands down her rumpled up clothes, and run her fingers through her messy hair. Law felt a slight disappointment set in as she started to gather her things, but he never let his demeanor falter. She took one last look at Law with a tired sigh. “Thank you for letting me sleep here, but you look like you could use some sleep yourself, Captain. I’ll go so you can get at least a few hours.” With one last look, she exited his quarters and made her way towards her bunk. With her heart racing, she made her way down the seemingly never ending corridors of the Polar Tang. She longed to get into her own bed, under the comfort of her own blankets. She wanted to mull over her thoughts. Turning the corner, she finally saw the door to her bunk. Relief rushed through her, visibly relaxing her. That was until she heard her name being called from the other side of the corridor. She inwardly cursed before turning to meet her crewmate. It was Shachi. He looked panicked. Any ounce of resentment melted away from her as worry filled her. “What is it, Shachi?” She asked him, worry lacing her voice. His cheeks were flushed red like he had been running all over the ship. “Did you by chance load the fuel in the ship?” He asked her. She paled. “No, I thought Penguin did that.” She and Shachi shared an equally fretful look.
“Penguin thought you had done it,” Shachi’s voice shook with anxiety before Penguin ran down the hall. “Did you not get the fuel for the ship?” He asked her, almost trembling. She shook her head at him, sharing his anxious gaze. She sighed, “Was there none in backup?” 
“Only enough to get us to the next port.”
“Shit.” She ran a hand through her hair, “Well somebody is going to have to tell the Captain.” She looked at her crewmates, neither of them moving from their spots. They looked at her, almost expectantly. She caught on. “No, absolutely not. I am not telling the Captain that we forgot the fuel.” Law was a meticulous man. He was precise, detailed. He left no room for trivial errors such as one of his crew members forgetting the fuel. Something like that was a given in his eyes. She was not going to face the wrath of her sleep deprived captain, especially when said captain gave her warm fuzzy feelings that she tried to ignore. Sure, he may have let her sleep in his bed, but that did not mean he would let her off easy for forgetting something as crucial as fuel. Shachi and Penguin kept looking at her, before one of them spoke up, “Please tell him for us, he likes you! He won't yell at you the way he will at us.” They pleaded.
“Like hell he won’t!” She refuted, “He doesn’t like me any more than he likes you guys. Please don’t make me tell him.” Still, neither of them gave into defeat. They stood there at a stand-off between the three. Apprehension hung in the air. Penguin finally spoke up, “Please, last time I told him we forgot something he put me on waste disposal duty for a month,” He shared a serious look with her. “I can’t go through that again. It was traumatizing.” He put his hand over his face, dramatically. She looked at the pair, incredulously before giving in. “Fine, but you owe me. Big time. The both of you.” She pointed her finger at both of them.
“Thank you! Thank you s-”
“Oh, save it,” she cut them off. She was far too tired to deal with her crewmates. Although she couldn’t blame them, it was an honest mistake on all of their parts. They had spent their whole last day on the previous island running grueling tests and checks on everything in the submarine. She could understand how they all let the shortage of fuel fall under their noses without notice. The question was, was her captain likely to take an understanding approach to the situation? She wasn’t too sure. 
She put her things up in her bunk before making her way back to her captain’s quarters. She hoped that he hadn’t gone to sleep, she hated the idea of disturbing the rest that he needed. Begrudgingly, she knocked on the door. Not too long after, a ‘come in,’ was sounded from the other side. She turned the door knob and opened it to meet her captain’s eyes. “(Y/n), back already?” He asked her as she stepped into his office. Law was still sitting in the same spot as his desk as he was whenever she had left. She gave him a look, one that was laced with slight distress. “What is it?” He asked her, wondering what could’ve possibly happened in the short amount of time that she was away.
“Captain, promise you won’t get mad?” She asked him. He raised an eyebrow at her, staying silent as a cue for her to continue. “The fuel for the ship wasn’t stocked before we left the last port,” She admitted to him, looking away from his steel gaze. It was silent in the room. The loud kind of silence. The kind that rings in your ears uncomfortably. She could feel the irritation start to build within the room before a sigh escaped Law’s lips, “Who was in charge of the fuel?” another silence fell over them as she mulled over her next words. She could say that they didn’t exactly assign someone the job, and risk all three of them getting punished, or she could take the blame. Penguin’s dramatic words echoed through her head, ‘Last time I told him we forgot something, I was put on waste disposal duty for a month… It was traumatizing.’ She took a breath before bringing her eyes back up to Law’s expectant gaze. “It was me. I forgot to restock the fuel.” The look Law gave her was far from one of approval. It was disappointment. The look hurt, coming from her captain. “Before you yell-” 
“You’re on waste disposal duty for a week.” He cut her off calmly. There was no yelling. Law was far too tired to raise his voice, and for a reason unbeknownst to him, he couldn’t quite bring himself to raise his voice at the woman in front of him. It was clearly a mistake, however Law detested mistakes. There was protocol, and they were required to follow it to prevent such thoughtless mistakes. 
“Capta-” She was about to protest, but all her captain did was cut her off once more, “That is an order. Would you like to make it two?” She shut her mouth, not wanting to make the punishment any worse for herself. She hung her head, feeling like a child being berated. She would’ve much rather him yelled at her, “Yes sir,” she replied defeatedly.  
Law’s jaw ticked at her words, something unreadable flashing in his eyes, “We’ll stop at the next port, and you will be responsible for gathering the fuel,” he ordered her. “I’ll tell Bepo to make a stop for the next port,” He stood up from his desk and for a second, she thought she’d get out of there without a lecture from her captain. She made her way to the door, Law trailing behind her. He stopped her, leaning closer to her. “Next time, be sure to double check everything before you clear the ship to leave the port. We don’t have time to forget things. We don’t have time to change our plans. You’re lucky we’re close enough to the nearest port to be able to refuel. Take this as your only warning,” He spoke low, his breath fanning against her ear. His voice held such authority. It was a reminder that he was in charge. Their eyes locked, and suddenly it was evident how close his face was to hers. Her heart skipped a beat, “Yes, Captain.” It came out almost in a whisper. She kicked herself for sounding so pathetic. Law didn’t move away at first, letting himself study her features. For a second, she could’ve sworn that he was looking at her lips, but he pulled away before she could question her thought any further. The butterflies that had been living in her gut fluttered around causing her blood to rush to her face, and warmth to gather in her limbs. Wordlessly, he turned away from her, both of them leaving the office. Her face was flushed, and all she could think about was taking a nice long nap until they reached the next port. She’d need the energy if she was going to restock the ship’s fuel all by herself. She sighed to herself before making eye contact with Shachi and Penguin. “You two, you owe me. Wake me up when we get to the next port.” She walked past them and into her bunk, finally ready to get some rest.
⋆⭒˚.⋆
She awoke a few hours later as the ship was ascending to the surface. She gave herself a few minutes before getting up, letting her mind wander. She thought about her captain. He was so enigmatic, carrying himself with such conviction with little explanation. Even before she joined the crew, he had peaked her interest. A pirate, from the worst generation, taking a hundred pirate hearts to the Marines, and becoming the youngest warlord. He was feared, for both his intelligence and his power. Trafalgar Law had been on her radar for quite some time, but being the elusive surgeon he was, she could only ever get scraps of information. Most tucked tail and ran when he was brought up in trades of intel. He was dangerous, and everyone knew it, but he was vital to her work. She was a journalist after all, she wanted to study him, learn everything about him and write it down. However, now it was more personal than she had ever imagined it would be. 
It was no secret Law was an attractive man. He carried himself with confident assurance, hardly ever faltering in the face of conflict. He was tactical, calculated. He planned for everything, and accounted for any mishap that could happen along the way. Those golden eyes of his were ones of a hawk. He never missed anything, nothing went under his nose without him knowing. Being involved with the man was enthralling.  From the electric touches, the heavy wordless gazes, the comfortable silences, it made her crave more. She wanted to know him, personally. To know what went on behind his eyes would be a privilege. 
She was ripped out of her reverie by a knock at her door. She sat up, voicing a come in. Shachi opened the door, “We’re here at the port,” He informed her, sticking his head through the opening in the door. She glanced at the clock, 4 p.m. The next port was on a summer island, She had a few hours of daylight left to gather the fuel, and hopefully make it back to the ship to pick up her work where she left off. She stripped out of her clothes, the same ones that she had slept in. They still smelled of pine and amber. She changed into a tank top and some shorts, then slipped her boiler suit over her clothes, tying the top half around her waist. She made her way out onto the top deck where everyone had gathered as they docked at the small island. It was a village island that mostly made its profit through workshops that produced clothes. It wasn’t a very big, or significant island. (Y/n) hoped that she could get all of the fuel before all the locals turned in for the day, hoping she could get some information about this island. She didn’t know much about it, other than with who and what they traded. 
She found her colleagues conversating amongst each other as she approached. “Where’s the captain?” She asked Bepo. The polar bear turned towards her, “He said he’s staying behind to finish work,” he answered her. Typical Law. She only hoped that he would get enough rest, and by the looks of worried annoyance on Bepo’s face, she could tell he was worried about that as well. It was no secret that their captain hadn’t gotten much sleep lately. He worked day and night, without yielding. He never took time for his well being, and was a hypocrite amongst his crew, as he always held everyone’s health to the highest standard, except for his own. Right now he was working on researching the sickness from the island they had just left. His work was unyielding, and he wouldn’t let himself rest until he was done.
The crew docked, and (Y/n) made her way off of the ship, finding the nearest fuel station with as many berries as she was provided to get the fuel. The town was quiet, and didn’t seem to care too much about the pirates that were occupying their port. Either unbothered, or laying low, the woman couldn’t complain. Shops, and stands lined the roads, some turning down into small neighborhoods. The fuel station sat at the end of the row of shops. She couldn’t help but to note that it was quite inconvenient for the station to be so far from the port. 
The bells jingled as she walked into the fuel station. It was a small shop. The walls were tiles with white and yellow tiles. Drink coolers lined the back walls, and there were four aisles of various things, from chips to toiletries. “Welcome!” a voice had called to her. The voice was very familiar. Her eyes met with a tall man with shaggy black hair that fell over his eyes just slightly. A light shadow dusted his jawline. It took a minute for her to recognize the man standing behind the counter, before it hit her. He was an old classmate from her home island. How he got halfway across the world, she had no idea. She approached the counter with a surprised smile, “Yori?” The man’s eyes snapped up at hers, really looking at her for the first time since she had entered the station. “(Y/n)? What are you doing here?” He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance. 
“I’m here to get fuel,” she smiled up at him, “It’s been a while, what have you been up to? I wasn’t aware that you had left the island,” she decided to make a little small talk. It wasn't everyday that she saw a familiar face. 
“I work here at this station, I moved here about a few months ago. My grandmother lives here, I came to take care of her,” He told her, “What are you up to? I thought you were a journalist. I didn’t know you became a pirate,” A small humorless laugh left her mouth, the sudden question almost feeling like an intrusion, “Wow word moves fast here, huh?” she broke his gaze, briefly loo “I’m still a journalist.” She left it at that, not letting him into any close details. It was better if he didn’t know anything.  
“Yeah, I noticed the ship at the dock. How long are you going to be here?” He asked her, “Maybe we can get a drink, catch up. It’s not everyday that I see someone from back home.”
“I think it's just for the night. I have to get this fuel for the ship before I can do anything else. I did want to know more about this place, maybe if I get done in time enough we can?” She smiled up at Yori. He nodded before asking how much she needed. She told him, and paid. It took quite some time to fill all of the fuel canisters, but once they were done all she had to do was trek back to the ship. “Would you like some help?” Yori asked her. 
“That would be nice, if you don’t mind,” She told him. With the two of them, the trips could be cut in half, only needing three trips to get all the fuel back to the ship. Those three trips were not fun ones. It was hot, and the walk felt longer each time they made it. The fuel was heavy, weighing her down each step she took. She was sure to be sore tomorrow. The feeling of sweet relief set in as they set the last of the fuel canisters on the dock. “Thank you for helping me, Yori,” she smiled at him. Just as she was about to bring up the drink when she heard footsteps on the deck of the Polar Tang. She looked up to meet the eyes of her captain looking down on her and a man that he had never seen before. “Oh, hi Captain,” she looked up at her captain, “I thought you were working.” Law seemed irritated. His gaze followed over her, and then over to the man standing next her. “I was,” he replied, tension entwining his words. “Who’s this?” he asked her, the irritation seeping into his tone. It was evident that he still had not gotten any sleep. Dark bags hung under his eyes and his face was void of any color. Any longer without sleep and he would start to look sickly. She could feel his eyes scanning over her. His gaze was almost disapproving, and it made her shift on her feet. “This is Yori, he’s from my home island,” she informed her captain, “He was helping me with the fuel.” The man standing next to her that Law had just come to know as ‘Yori’ gave a half smile at her captain  and a slight wave towards him. (Y/n) looked over at Yori, “I think I got it from here, thanks for helping me,” she smiled at him. Yori shared the smile, “Anything for an old friend,” He looked her up and down, although that didn’t quite catch her eye. It caught Law’s, though. Yori stepped a little closer to her, “If you decide that you wanted to catch up, come find me. I’ll tell you more about the island too. I know you like to write stuff like that down,” a small graced her lips as she nodded. Yori turned and walked away, leaving just the woman and her captain. 
Law had already made up his mind that he didn’t like this Yori guy. He didn’t like how he had looked at (Y/n), akin to a dog looking at dinner. He didn’t like how close he had stood to her, like he had an obligation to be in her space. A feeling set into Law, one that knotted up his insides and made his head grow hot. He looked down at the woman on the dock below him gathering up fuel canisters to bring up to the deck. To him she looked stunning with her hair pulled back, a few flyaway strands framing her face. Her skin glistened under the unforgiving sun. She was wearing a white tank top with the boiler suit tied around her waist. The suit was tied in a way where you could clearly see the jolly rodger of the suit visible. She wore it with confidence, and with pride. It warmed Law to see her wearing the jolly roger with so much dignity. Eventually Law stopped staring and made his way down to the dock to help her with the fuel. “If you needed help carrying the fuel to the ship, you could’ve ask me,” Law said to her as he grabbed two of the canisters. 
“I didn’t want to bother you, captain. I was hoping you were getting the rest that you needed,” She had noticed the dark bags as soon as he had walked onto the deck. She was worried about him, to say the least. She knew he was a busy man, but how he could work efficiently while so exhausted remained a mystery to her. 
“I’ll rest when my work is finished,” Law shot back at her. The tone came out ruder than Law had intended, but from the looks of it, it didn’t even phase her. A small hum came as a reply to him, “At that rate, you may never sleep again,” She was only half joking, and it came out in a snarky way. Law always had some kind of work to do. At some point he would have to find a stopping place, but he never found one. Once he finished one thing, another arose. It didn’t help that someone kept creeping their way into his mind, nesting their way into his frontal cortex, refusing to leave. He decided not to reply to her comment, concerned he might say something he didn’t mean. They worked in the silence for the rest of their time together, neither one striking up a conversation. After almost an hour, all the fuel was moved from the dock, to the deck, and then down to the boiler room. The moving of the fuel was grueling, and she was surprised Law had decided to help her, considering he was so exhausted she didn’t understand how he still had the stamina for physical labor. She was also sure he was still upset about her forgetting the fuel with how he was acting. He truly was resilient in everything he did, no matter the conditions he was put under. She couldn’t deny, whether it be of biased intention or not, her captain was a remarkable man. 
They were done now, and the sun hadn’t even begun to set. The rest of the crew was out on the island still, and (Y/n) still had time to meet up with Yori to get some details about this island that she only knew the basics about. Sure, he wasn’t a local, however his grandmother was. Surely he knew some things about this tiny island. Something worth writing about. Everywhere had potential, you just had to look in all the right places. She stood in her bunk, changing into some casual clothes. She had finished all her duties, so there was no reason to wear her uniform. She no longer sported the jolly roger, but instead settled into a pair of jean shorts and a brown tank top. She styled her hair up, leaving a few strands to fall down and frame her face. She wore a few pieces of jewelry to tie the outfit together. Two necklaces hung around her neck, stacked. A gold chain, with a simple gold heart locket, paired with a golden choker that had pearls dispersed every couple inches from each other. She layered some gold bracelets, with some rings. It was nothing over the top, but something to make her look nice. It wasn’t everyday she had gotten to see an old friend whom she had grown up with. She grabbed a crossbody bag, placing her notebook and some pens inside before slinging it over her shoulder. As she walked through the corridors of the ship, she passed her captain’s quarters, deciding to check in with him before she left the ship. She knocked on the door, three times like always. A ‘come in’ was voiced from the other side. 
She opened the door to his office, the yellow light from his desk lamp spilling into the blue-lit hallways. She stepped in, closing the door behind her. Law looked up at her, taking in her appearance. For a split second, he was left speechless, only able to to breathe out the air that was left in his lungs. He rarely got to see her in casual clothes, and to him, it was a privilege he had even got to see her like this. She cleared her throat before speaking, breaking him out of his observation. “I’m about to go meet up with Yori, is there anything you would like me to do before I leave?” She asked him, standing in front of his desk. A bad taste in his mouth formed whenever the stranger's name rolled off her tongue. Yori. Law didn’t forget the way he had looked at (Y/n) like she was a piece of meat earlier when they were on the dock. He wouldn’t understand how special he was to have her dress up for him. He wouldn’t appreciate the way (Y/n) dressed into clothes she normally didn’t wear for him, or how she took extra time to look nice for him. How she had adorned her neck and her hands with gold, for him. Law couldn’t lie, he was just a bit jealous.He tore his admiring gaze away from her, pushing down an envy he hadn’t felt in a long time. She looked expectantly at her captain, waiting for an order, or for clearance to leave the ship but Law couldn’t seem to get the words out of his mouth. His mouth ran dry, and his breath caught. It was strange for the woman to have this effect on him. Words lodged in his throat trying to crawl up his windpipes, only to rest at the tip of his tongue unable to escape his mouth. After what felt like hours, he was finally able to push out a simple, “No.” 
Law’s staring didn’t go unnoticed by her, for a second she worried to herself. Did she look okay? She turned to leave the office, but stopped at the door. “Captain, can I ask you something?” She looked back at the man who was looking at her with something that she couldn’t quite decipher in his eyes. Law nodded at her, cuing her to continue. “Do I… look okay?” She cringed at her own words, immediately wanting to take them and to stuff them back into her mouth. The question sounded insecure, something she never wanted to be seen as in front of her captain. She wasn’t one who seeked reassurance, especially on things as trivial as appearance. Law took in her appearance one more time, wondering how she could possibly be asking that. He cleared his throat before mustering up the strength to push out the words that were held in his throat, “You look beautiful.” Carmine red rose into her cheeks. A soft ‘thank you,’ left her lips, leaving them decorated with a gentle smile. “I’ll see you later,” She beamed once more before turning and leaving through his office door. 
She left Law with only himself and his tired thoughts. His thoughts were consumed by the woman. In the past few days, his remedy for distraction had been piling up the work so high that he didn't have time to think about his crewmember. That remedy only lasted for so long before she wormed her way back into his head. Law was exhausted, yet he couldn’t find the urge to lay down in his bed. He shuffled around some papers on his desk, taking note of every paper that had that pretty cursive handwriting that he had grown to favor instead of his own. Law knew it was inappropriate to feel this way about an insubordinate. It was wrong. There was a power imbalance. Law always considered himself a morally correct man, but in this moment, he questioned every moral about professionalism he had. Breaking one rule wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
⋆⭒˚.⋆
As (Y/n) made it back into town, the sun had started to set along the horizon. Pink, red, and orange, danced in the sky amongst the clouds. There was denying the beauty of the scene. You couldn’t see another island for miles, just one small piece of land in solidarity. It was just the coast and the ocean. The sky, and its clouds. It was a peaceful island, most of its locals being middle-aged to older people. By the time the sun had started to set, all the stands and shops started to close down for the day. She took note of how some of the vendors would leave some of their belongings in their stands. Crime must have not happened often around here. It was uncommon in this day and age to be so trusting.
She made her way to the fuel station at the end of the road. Every step she took, she grew more uneasy. She pushed off her sudden apprehension, forcing a step forward toward the station. She stepped into the fuel station, the bells on the doorway jingling as she entered, a reflexive greeting coming along with the door. Without the sun shining into the station, the building took on a whole new atmosphere. Yellow lights hung from the ceiling, filling the station with a low buzz. She wrapped her arms around her to ease the unsteady feeling that was sinking into her gut. She approached the counter where Yori stood. For the first time since she had walked into the station, Yori had looked up from whatever was occupying him. A smile grew onto his face, his gaze setting onto the woman in front of him. Under the harsh lighting, Yori looked older. He no longer looked like the boy she knew from back home. His face had filled out, and smile lines had just started to form on his forehead and under his eyes. It was a reminder that time had gone by. They were no longer the kids that they once knew each other as. The incessant buzzing of the fluorescent lights was cut through by Yori, “Are you ready to go?” She nodded at him. He walked around the counter, and led her out of the building, locking the door behind him. 
The sky had now morphed into a scarlet red, fading into dark oranges. The sky reflected off of the water, making it seem bigger than it was. A cool breeze blew through the emptying streets making goosebumps rise to the surface of her skin. They walked for a few minutes, useless small talk between the two, before arriving at a small bar at the very end of the aisle of shops and stands. It was dimly lit, and small. The walls and the floor were wood, alcohol brand sign posters hung up around them. The occasional WANTED poster was posted amongst them. There weren’t any that she hadn’t seen before. Most of them were the new generation pirates, others old and worn from being on the wall for years. Yori led her to a booth on the back wall. Coincidentally, her captain’s poster hung right above the table. He smirked down at them, sword on his shoulder, that infamous hat handing over his eyes. 
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
TRAFALGAR LAW
500,000,000
She couldn’t lie, it crossed her mind to take the poster off the wall, just so she could have it for herselfl. She shook off the thought. It was inappropriate to think of her captain that way. Even if he looked good in that particular photo of him. She turned her attention back to the man in front of her, who she had just realized had been talking the entire time she was daydreaming about her captain’s wanted poster. She hoped Yori hadn’t noticed her ignoring him, but by the looks of it, he hadn’t noticed one bit. She tuned into his words, “...and that’s how I ended up on this island taking care of my grandmother, and making minimum wage,” Yori let out a long sigh, “Thanks for listening, it feels really nice to get that off of my chest.” Guilt tugged at her chest as she nodded, “It’s no problem, really,” she replied, trying to keep her facade up. Yori smiled and said something about going to grab some drinks, leaving her alone in the booth. (Y/n) let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, letting her gaze follow back up to the poster hanging on the wall. She looked around the bar, making sure no one’s eyes were on her before grabbing the poster off the wall and folding it up, slipping it into the back of her notebook. She grabbed all her pens, and set the notebook in front of her. She intended on getting her information and then going back to the ship for the night. 
Yori brought back drinks to the table. He set hers in front of her before sitting down in front of her. “So tell me about yourself. How did you end up being a pirate?” He chuckled a little with the question, and she had prepared for this. It wasn’t every day someone from your childhood ended up being a pirate. She let out a fake little laugh, “Oh you know how researching things go,” She smiled before changing the subject, “So tell me more about this island and its occupants,” She opened the notebook in front of her, not wanting to dwell on the fact that she was now a wanted woman. Yori took the hint and started giving out information about the island. 
⋆⭒˚.⋆
A few hours had passed, and a few drinks in, the conversation had strayed from the island and onto people they had grown up with. Yori had told (Y/n) about all the classmates that ended up doing good for themselves, and the others who hadn’t. Now they were on the topic of the teachers. Gossip was never something she had typically indulged in, but it wasn’t every day you saw someone you knew on the Grand Line. The laughter between them died down, and (Y/n) looked at the clock on the wall for the first time since she had started taking notes about the island. It was 10pm now, and the sun had disappeared along the horizon. “I better go, it’s getting late,” She told Yori as she gathered up all her things, and put them all back into her bag. They stood up from the booth. “Let me walk you back to the dock, it’s dark out,” He offered. She took his offer and they headed back out to the street. It was far colder than it was whenever they first arrived at the bar, however the walk to the dock was not far so she didn’t have to suffer for long. The stars hung high in the sky, illuminating the land, and dotting the water. They reached the edge of the dock, and Yori turned towards her. “Thank you, for tonight,” he told her. He gazed into her eyes much deeper than she had liked. She took a step back from him before returning his thanks, “Thank you for all the information about this island.” Yori stepped closer to her, reaching out to put his hands on her waist, “Yori-” he cut her off with a quick kiss. She pushed back from him, “Oh, um, Yori… I’m sorry, but this isn’t that,” She told him, creating a far distance between them. Yori stepped back with embarrassment. “Oh,” was all he said. She couldn’t help but to feel bad for the man. She didn’t think she sent any mixed signals. She slowly backed up onto the dock,”Take care of yourself, Yori. Thank you for all the information on the island,” She told him before turning around and walking towards the ship, grateful to get out of that awkward interaction. 
She made her way onto the ship. The corridors were empty, there wasn’t a crewmate in sight. She was happy to be back within the metal walls of the ship. She made her way to her room where she put down all her stuff. She stripped her clothes, and changed back into the boiler suit. It was late, but she still had some work she had to get done, and she still had to report to her captain. She got dressed, and grabbed her notebook from her bag before leaving her room once again. She was going to get some cleaning done, and do the waste disposal before they left the island. The halls were silent, and all she could hear were her footsteps clinking on the floors. A familiar door came into view. The captain’s quarters. Her heart skipped a beat thinking of knocking. The butterflies in her stomach betrayed her as they started to flutter around in her stomach, trying to crawl their way up her throat. She took a deep breath, letting the cool air of the ship fill her lungs. She was now standing in front of the door, with her hand raised. She knocked, hearing a faint ‘come in,’ from the other side. She turned the knob and walked into her captain’s office. 
The air was always cooler in his office, and it always smelled of ink, paper, pine, amber, with a touch of antiseptic. She had come to find this smell comforting, and she thought back to this morning, waking up in between his sheets. A heat fought its way up into her cheeks. She looked at her captain sitting at his desk, hunched over some paperwork. He hadn’t looked up since she had entered the room. She made her way in front of him, breaking the silence, “I gathered some information about this island, if you’d like to hear it.” She offered it to him. She knew that the island held no importance, but she figured she’d offer him the chance to hear what she had gathered. Law looked up at her, motioning for her to continue. She opened her notebook as a folded up piece of paper floated its way down onto his desk. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she went to go snatch the paper up, but Law beat her to it, grabbing the paper in between his two fingers. “What’s this?” he asked her, unfolding the paper. She wanted to melt into the floor. Embarrassment coursed through every limb. Law looked at the poster, smirking a bit, “My wanted poster?” He took a good look at it before handing it back to her, the smirk on his face never falling. “This one is a bit outdated,” He told her, his smirk never falling. It flattered him, really. She folded the wanted poster back up, shoving it in her notebook, humiliation burning through her cheeks. “Tell me about this island,” Law told her, changing the subject, motioning for her to sit down. He knew the island held no importance, and he knew that she still had work to do, but he selfishly decided to keep her there a little longer. It had been a long day, and as much as he’d hate to admit it, being around her relaxed him. He watched her as she opened up the book and started to list off all the things that she had uncovered about the island. He listened to her intently as she spoke, her eyes lighting up every now and then whenever a name was mentioned that could bring some significance to the island. It didn’t take her long to go through all of the information. It was a small island, and there really weren't any reputable names tied to it, aside from the other pirates who would dock and leave just like their crew did. Still, Law took in every second of the information exchange. Once she was done, she looked up at Law with those wide eyes of hers that he swore would bring him to his knees one day. A small, rare smile graced his lips before dropping like it was never there, “It seems you got a lot out of today,” He told her. She smiled wide at him, and nodded, “I did! Yori really filled me in on this place. It’s not as boring as it seems.” She flipped through all of her pages, missing the way Law’s jaw ticked at the mention of the man whom she had spent time with that night. The man that she had gotten all dolled up for. Law knew he shouldn’t feel this way. He knew jealousy was not right, but he couldn’t deny the discomfort that tugged in his gut when he pictured her with someone other than him. It was an unhealthy attachment. It was inappropriate. 
(Y/n) sat across from Law, still oblivious to his inner turmoil. Oblivious to the new feeling that made his head feel hot and his stomach sink low. Without looking up at her captain, she went on about her night, about how Yori caught her up on people from her hometown. How he told her about all the best places to eat on the small island. She missed the way Law’s jaw ticked every time she mentioned the man’s name. She missed the way Law’s leg started to bounce up and down, impatiently. She was too busy flipping through the pages of that beloved notebook, “Oh! Look, I even got a map!” She pulled the map out, walking around the desk to where Law was sitting. She unfolded the map and laid it out in front of him, “It’s really nothing impressive, though, I grabbed at one of those stands down the strip” She looked down at the map, “You can keep the map,” She offered to him, turning towards him. Her knees brushed against Law, and for the first time since she had started rambling she met the eyes of her captain. They were close. She could feel the warmth coming off of Law’s body. The breath she was breathing in caught in her throat. Law cleared his throat, but made no attempts to move back, selfishly relishing in the moment, “Thank you,” he told her. They stayed there for a minute or two, looking at one another before (Y/n) sighed taking one last look at her captain. “I still have some work I need to get done,” She told him, “I still have to do the waste disposal before we leave, and I was going to try to clean up the boiler room a bit.” A feeling of regret from that afternoon gnawed at Law. He felt as if he was too harsh towards her, rude even. He didn’t want her to overwork herself. He knew he was being a hypocrite whenever he made the judgment of her working too much. Law wanted to keep her there for longer. He wanted to spend more time with her. He wanted to hear her sweet voice ramble on about nothing in particular. It had been a long day of Law’s work. He had hardly gotten anything done between being exhausted, and pacing back and forth trying to clear his mind of the very woman standing in front of him. He couldn’t deny the peace that washed over him whenever she sat on the other side of his desk, working away on her own things. “Actually, I was hoping to get your feedback on some of the work I did today,” He told her. He hadn’t actually done a lot of work. It also wasn’t something that she hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t like she was well versed in pathology or anything medical outside of reading Law’s textbooks when she was bored. “Oh, okay!” she cheerfully replied to him, making her way back over to his desk. She walked around to his side, standing next to him, expecting to see some new work on his desk, but she couldn’t make out what was new and what was old from the mess that was his desk. She was standing close to him, again, and he could feel the warmth off of her skin. He could smell the sweet floral perfume she had put on before she left the ship earlier that day. He was growing impatient, playing this waiting game that he had made himself, and it was only getting in the way of his work which was the opposite of what he had intended. 
Law was not an impatient man, but he was tired of weighing the moral costs of making the move. He was tired of ignoring the warm feelings. He was tired of pushing away the lingering thoughts, and burying them in work. He was sleep deprived, and that’s the excuse he decided he would tell himself tomorrow morning. Standing up from his chair, he reached out for her hand. A small gasp fell from her mouth, as she followed the pull towards him, “Cap-” he cut her off, sliding his hand to cup her cheek, the other resting on her waist. He pulled her into a kiss before she could even finish the word. The kiss was electric. White hot pleasure coursed through his veins, as he finally allowed himself to indulge in what he had wanted to for months now. He briefly broke apart, and stuttered words started to fall from her pretty mouth, he shushed her with another kiss, this one deeper. This one filled with need. She let him explore her mouth with his tongue, as he lifted her onto the edge of his desk, slotting himself in between her legs. “C-Cap-” she gasped, but he cut her off again, ”It’s Law,” He corrected her, leaning down to her ear, “In here you can call me Law,” He nipped at her ear, wrapping his hands up in her hair. He trailed down to her neck, leaving kisses and nipping at the skin every now and then. “Law,” she tested his name on her lips. His name sounded so sweet, the way her honeyed voice breathed out the syllables. His grip on her waist tightened, as he listened to her form words that he paid no mind to. “L-Law, this is wrong,” she breathed out, “you're my captain,” Law broke away briefly, “I know,” he told her. 
“Law,” this one came out more of a whine, one filled with need. It made the all too familiar warmth blossom in the pit of his stomach, once again. “I still have things I haven't done,” she pushed against his shoulder, “I h-ave to finish the w-waste disposal,” Law’s kisses were unforgiving, and unwavering. She was melting in his hands, watching herself be turned into putty at the hands of her captain. Law broke his kiss, and looked up at her. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “Don't worry about the waste disposal, I'll make Penguin do it,” He told her. As much as she wanted to feel guilty for letting him dump it on someone else, she couldn't. She was too busy trying to make coherent thoughts as her captain continued his actions. Law’s fingers ran up her figure, finding the zipper of her boiler suit. He looked at her, silently asking for permission that she granted with a nod. He slowly undid the zipper to the suit, kissing his way down to her chest. He breathed in her scent, pulling her body impossibly closer to his. He pushed the top of the suit off of her body, leaving her top half in a thin tank top. 
He looked at her closely, closer than he had ever been able to before. Her cheeks were red, and her lips were swollen from his kiss. Temporary red marks littered her neck and chest where he had nipped at the skin. Her hair ruffled from him running his fingers through it. He hesitated for a second before asking her, “How about we take this somewhere more comfortable, yeah?” She nodded at him, as he led her to his bed. He laid her down on his plush mattress, crawling on next to her. She took a deep breath. Pine, hints of amber, antiseptic, Law. His golden eyes took in her figure, in his sheets. In that moment, without difficulty, he could confidently say that she was the most beautiful woman on the planet. He could feel himself falling, and for just this one night, he would let himself. He crawled over her, entrapping her body under his. He let his hands roam over her body, “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered to her. She took his face in her hands, kissing him passionately. For tonight, they both let themselves indulge in this little piece of heaven they had been granted. 
⋆⭒˚.⋆
a/n: thank you all for taking the time to read this series, it means a lot to me, and i'm glad others can enjoy my work. i've had lots of fun writing this!
@drakulana 2024 // i do not give permission to copy, translate, or repost, any of my content without my consent
Taglist: @shuujin , @pinksaiyans , @buttmishaaaa, @tokaio, @augustanna, @sukilovesyou, @mschoiyuki, @songinabottle , @starlightanyaaa, @elen-alambil, @theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction
315 notes · View notes
gorgeouslypink · 2 years
Text
FILD Challenge
Hey guys! So originally this was just one of my normal, informational posts on how to enter the void state but this method is just so easy and so I decided to convert it into a challenge because I really want everyone who is struggling it to try it and succeed getting into the void state and living their best life.
So in one of my previous posts, I talked about how a lucid dream is probably one of the easiest ways to enter the void state. Honestly, there's a lot of posts on this too ( a few examples are 1, 2, 3, 4). But I think the major problem people had was acctually entering the void state. I recommended a subliminal and it worked for some people but not others but this method I am going to share right now is going to work for literally everyone.
So what is this method? It's the name of this challenge, FILD or a finger induced lucid dream. This method is super popular in the lucid dream community as it has helped so many people lucid dream, from beginners to people who have struggling for months and it is super quick (takes anywhere between 10 to 30 seconds) and easy.
So tonight, I want you to set an alarm clock for roughly 6 hours. Make sure your alarm clock will shut off on its own because you don't want to move. I recommend Alarm Clock Xtreme if your usual alarm clock doesn't do this. Once you wake up, slightly tap your index and middle finger as if you were playing the piano or typing on a keyboard and fall back to sleep. Make sure to do this lightly as roughly doing so will most likely make you wake up. You will start lucid dreaming really quickly, although some people have reported that this method actually takes them to the void state. If that happens, then obviously that's pretty good in itself, but if you do end up in a lucid dream, find your way to the void state. The closing eyes method worked for some and I've heard a lot about creating portals or asking someone in your lucid dream to just take you to the void state or to just meditate and affirm that you will enter the void and enter it through that. There was even this post that I can't find where a guy simply walked to edge of his dream landscape and entered the void and some other person said they backflipped into the void. Choose whichever method stands out to you the most and enter the void through that and manifest everything you want!!!
That's the challenge. There's no need to persist or affirm for 3 days or anything so I dont want to hear any excuses or procastination. Just set your alarm clock and try it out and let me know how it goes. It's honestly really cool and easy so I really hope everyone tries it 💗
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
1K notes · View notes
blueskittlesart · 5 months
Note
I've heard that while most people really really love BotW and TotK, some people hate those two for going open-world, and some people hate TotK specifically for something about the story. As the resident Zelda expert I know of, what do you think of those takes?
"something about the story" is a bit too vague for me to answer--if you look at my totk liveblog tag from back when the game was newly released or my general zelda analysis tag you may be able to find some of my in-depth thoughts about the story of totk, but in general i liked it.
the open world thing though is something i can and will talk about for hours. (I am obsessed with loz and game design and this is an essay now <3) breath of the wild is a game that was so well-received that a lot of the criticism from older fans who were expecting something closer to the classic zelda formula was just kind of immediately drowned out and ignored, and while i don't think it's a valid criticism to suggest that botw strayed too far from its origins in going open-world, i am more than willing to look into those criticisms, why they exist, and why i think going open-world was ultimately the best decision botw devs could have made. (totk is a slightly different story, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)
Loz is a franchise with a ton of history and a ton of really, REALLY dedicated fans. it's probably second only to mario in terms of recognizability and impact in nintendo's catalog. To us younger fans, the older games can sometimes seem, like, prehistoric when compared to what we're used to nowadays, but it's important to remember just how YOUNG the gaming industry is and how rapidly it's changed and grown. the first zelda game was released in 1986, which was 31 years before botw came out in 2017. What this means for nintendo and its developers is that they have to walk a very fine line between catering to older fans in their 30s and 40s now who would have been in nintendo's prime demographic when the first few games in the franchise were coming out AND making a game that's engaging to their MODERN target demographic and that age group's expectations for what a gaming experience should look like.
LOZ is in kind of a tough spot when it comes to modernizing, because a lot of its core gameplay elements are very much staples of early RPGs, and a lot of those gameplay elements have been phased out of modern RPGs for one reason or another. gathering collectibles, fighting one's way through multilevel, mapless dungeons, and especially classic zelda's relative lack of guidance through the story are all things that date games and which modern audiences tend to get frustrated with. for the last few releases before botw, the devs had kind of been playing with this -- skyward sword in particular is what i consider their big experiment and what (i think) became the driving force behind a lot of what happened with botw. Skyward sword attempted to solve the issues I listed by, basically, making the map small and the story much, much more blatantly linear. Skyward sword feels much more like other modern rpgs to me than most zelda games in terms of its playstyle, because the game is constantly pushing you to do specific things. this is a common storytelling style in modern RPGs--obviously, the player usually needs to take specific actions in order to progress the story, and so when there's downtime between story sections the supporting characters push the player towards the next goal. but this actually isn't what loz games usually do. in the standard loz formula, you as the player are generally directly given at most 4 objectives. these objectives will (roughly) be as follows: 1. go through some dungeons and defeat their bosses, 2. claim the master sword, 3. go through another set of dungeons and defeat their bosses, 4. defeat the final boss of the game. (not necessarily in that order, although that order is the standard formula.) the ONLY time the player will be expressly pushed by supporting characters towards a certain action (excluding guide characters) is when the game is first presenting them with those objectives. in-between dungeons and other gameplay segments, there's no sense of urgency, no one pushing you onto the next task. this method of storytelling encourages players to take their time and explore the world they're in, which in turn helps them find the collectibles and puzzles traditionally hidden around the map that will make it easier for them to continue on. Skyward sword, as previously mentioned, experimented with breaking this formula a bit--its overworld was small and unlocked sequentially, so you couldn't explore it fully without progressing the narrative, and it gave players a "home base" to return to in skyloft which housed many of the puzzles and collectibles rather than scattering them throughout the overworld. This method worked... to an extent, but it also meant that skyward sword felt drastically different in its storytelling and how its narrative was presented to the player than its predecessors. this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, but i am of the opinion that one of zelda's strongest elements has always been the level of immersion and relatability its stories have, and the constant push to continue the narrative has the potential to pull players out of your story a bit, making skyward sword slightly less engaging to the viewer than other games in the franchise. (to address the elephant in the room, there were also obviously some other major issues with the design of sksw that messed with player immersion, but imo even if the control scheme had been perfect on the first try, the hyperlinear method would STILL have been less engaging to a player than the standard exploration-based zeldas.)
So when people say that botw was the first open-world zelda, I'm not actually sure how true I personally believe that is. I think a lot of the initial hype surrounding botw's open map were tainted by what came before it--compared to the truly linear, intensely restricted map of skyward sword, botw's map feels INSANE. but strictly speaking, botw actually sticks pretty closely to the standard zelda gameplay experience, at least as far as the overworld map is concerned. from the beginning, one of the draws of loz is that there's a large, populated map that you as the player can explore (relatively) freely. it was UNUSUAL for the player to not have access to almost the entire map either immediately or very quickly after beginning a new zelda game. (the size and population of these maps was restricted by software and storage capabilities in earlier games, but pretty muhc every zelda game has what would have been considered a large & well populated map at the time of its release.) what truly made botw different was two things; the first being the sheer SIZE of the map and the second being the lack of dungeons and collectibles in a traditional sense. Everything that needs to be said about the size of the map already has been said: it's huge and it's crazy and it's executed PERFECTLY and it's never been done before and every game since has been trying to replicate it. nothing much else to say there. but I do want to talk about the percieved difference in gameplay as it relates to the open-world collectibles and dungeons, because, again, i don't think it's actually as big of a difference as people seem to think it is.
Once again, let's look at the classic formula. I'm going to start with the collectibles and lead into the dungeons. The main classic collectible that's a staple of every zelda game pre-botw is the heart piece. This is a quarter of a heart that will usually be sitting out somewhere in the open world or in a dungeon, and will require the player to either solve a puzzle or perform a specific action to get. botw is the first game to not include heart pieces... TECHNICALLY. but in practice, they're still there, just renamed. they're spirit orbs now, and rather than being hidden in puzzles within the overworld (with no explanation as to how or why they ended up there, mind you) they're hidden within shrines, and they're given a clear purpose for existing throughout hyrule and for requiring puzzle-solving skills to access. Functionally, these two items are exactly the same--it's an object that gives you an extra heart container once you collect four of them. no major difference beyond a reskin and renaming to make the object make sense within the greater world instead of just having a little ❤️ floating randomly in the middle of their otherwise hyperrealistic scenery. the heart piece vs spirit orb i think is a good microcosm of the "it's too different" criticisms of botw as a whole--is it ACTUALLY that different, or is it just repackaged in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what you're looking at anymore? I think it's worth noting that botw gives a narrative reason for that visual/linguistic disconnect from other games, too--it's set at minimum TEN THOUSAND YEARS after any other given game. while we don't have any concrete information about how much time passes between new-incarnation games, it's safe to assume that botw is significantly further removed from other incarnations of hyrule/link/zelda/etc than any other game on the timeline. It's not at all inconceivable within the context of the game that heart pieces may have changed form or come to be known by a different name. most of the changes between botw and other games can be reasoned away this way, because most of them have SOME obvious origins in a previous game mechanic, it's just been updated for botw's specific setting and narrative.
The dungeons ARE an actual departure from the classic formula, i will grant you. the usual way a zelda dungeon works is that link enters the dungeon, solves a few puzzles, fights a mini boss at about the halfway point, and after defeating the mini boss he gets a dungeon item which makes the second half of the dungeon accessible. He then uses that item in the dungeon's final boss fight, which is specifically engineered with that item in mind as the catalyst to win it. Botw's dungeons are the divine beasts. we've removed the presence of mini-bosses entirely, because the 'dungeon items' aren't something link needs to get within the dungeon itself--he alredy has them. they're the sheikah slate runes: magnesis, cryonis, stasis, and remote bombs. Each of the divine beast blight battles is actually built around using one of these runes to win it--cryonis to break waterblight's ice projectiles, magnesis to strike down thunderblight with its own lightning rods, remote bombs to take out fireblight's shield. (i ASSUME there's some way to use stasis effectively against windblight, mostly because it's obvious to me that that's how all the other fights were designed, but in practice it's the best strategy for that fight is to just slow down time via aerial archery, so i've never tried to win that way lol.) So even though we've removed traditional dungeon items and mini-boss fights, the bones of the franchise remain unchanged underneath. this is what makes botw such an ingenious move for this franchise imo; the fact that it manages to update itself into such a beautiful, engaging, MODERN game while still retaining the underlying structure that defines its franchise and the games that came before it. botw is an effective modern installment to this 30-year-old franchise because it takes what made the old games great and updates it in a way that still stays true to the core of the franchise.
I did mention totk in my opening paragraph and you mention it in your ask so i have to come back to it somehow. Do i think that totk did the gigantic-open-world thing as well as botw did? no. But i also don't really think there was any other direction to go with that game specifically. botw literally changed the landscape of game development when it was released. I KNOW you all remember how for a good year or two after botw's release, EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out HAD to have a massive open-world map, regardless of whether or not that actually made sense for that game. (pokemon is still suffering from the effects of that botw-driven open world craze to this day. rip scarlet/violet your gameplay was SUCH dogshit) I'm not sure to what degree nintendo and the botw devs anticipated that success, (I remember the open world and the versatility in terms of problem-solving being the two main advertising angles pre-release, but it's been 7 years. oh jesus christ it's been SEVEN YEARS. anyways) but in any case, there's basically NO WAY that they anticipated their specific gameplay style taking off to that degree. That's not something you can predict. When creating totk, they were once again walking that line between old and new, but because they were only 3ish years out from botw when totk went into development, they were REALLY under pressure to stay true to what it was that had made botw such an insane success. I think that's probably what led to the expanded map in the sky and depths as well as the fuse/build mechanics--they basically took their two big draws from botw, big map and versatility, and said ok BIGGER MAP and MORE VERSATILITY. Was this effective? yeah. do i think they maybe could have made a more engaging and well-rounded game if they'd been willing to diverge a little more from botw? also yeah. I won't say that I wanted totk to be skyward sword-style linear, because literally no one wanted that, but I do think that because of the insane wave of success that botw's huge open world brought in the developers were under pressure to stay very true to botw in their designing the gameplay of totk, and I think that both the gameplay and story might have been a bit more engaging if they had been allowed to experiment a little more in their delivery of the material.
120 notes · View notes
batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 months
Note
Hiya sex witch
Hope ur having a good one!
I have a sexual health question. Im 28yo M and am as far as i am aware overall healthy, but sometimes i have trouble orgasming during sex, but rarely during masturbation. Im aware that contrary to popular belief men dont always orgasm 100% of the time and that there is nothing wrong with having difficulty with "keeping it up" so long as its not health related (i dont usually have difficulty with this part specifically, i just feel from experience that some times this is forgotten among people so i wanted to mention that)
I enjoy sex with my partners and im mentally very in the mood for it! Im not really nervous and havent felt pressured with them but some times it takes a very long time for me to finish, like more that 1.5 hours and up to 2 or 3 one time, and understandably my partners dont usually want to go that long lol i also find it frustrating because i feel the need around the 30-40minute mark but like i dont get that final push if that makes sense?
I did online searching and most answers are kinda wishy washy about causes other than excess masturbation, ive cut down on masturbation because alot of places say that that can be a cause but i only masturbated like once or twice a week and now im down to twice a month but it still happens.
Ive also heard that a too tight circumcision can lead to desensitisation and is what im kinda thinking this might be, i was circumcised at birth and have what the forskin restoration website ( www.restoringforeskin.org ) says is a RCI-0 or maybe RCI-1 which are considered super tight or tight respectively, both of which can lead to lack of sensation. And am considering maybe working on restoring my foreskin due to this, but i wanted your opinion on how like legit this all is considering it kinda sounds idk farfetched to me? Like being able to just stretch the skin back out with tape, is that even a thing? And does this sound like a possible cause?
Thanks for all your hard (no joke intended)'work and ur also awsome!
P.S. tumblr is being fucky on my phone all the time so if this is not anonymous please ignore/dm me to say make it anonymous again or whatever tanks
hi anon,
thank you so much for your question! it sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it already, and it was very interesting to read.
I have some hesitation in declaring that something is physically the matter with your penis, mainly because you mention that orgasm tends to come at a much more typical speed when you're masturbating. in the case of a physical problem I'd usually expect to see similar results whether you were having sex solo or partnered, which to me suggested it might be more of a mental/emotional blockage here?
but, having said that: I'm not a healthcare provider! and it sounds like a visit with one to discuss your observations might be really beneficial at this point.
while foreskin restoration is a thing, it's also a thing that doesn't have much research backing it up, and long-term results aren't very well known. consulting with a urologist before attempting a restoration sounds like it would be a great idea for you, as they could help confirm whether your foreskin is the problem and advise you on safely practicing restoration if it's an appropriate treatment. or, if that isn't the case, they're likely to have a much better idea about what else might be causing your situation.
best of luck!
92 notes · View notes
jealousmartini · 1 month
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
✦ My average schedule + Get ready with me on a random college day as an art student and an LOASS babe ⊹₊ㆍ👜
   ── .✦  ┆  ᡣ𐭩  ┆  ␥ 
Long ass post ahead
FYI!! We only have 4 days of college, so we get Friday off. My longest days in college are Monday, 11:15 am to 4:45 pm (depending on if we have tutorial first thing. If not, we will come in at 1 pm), and Tuesday, 11:15 am to 4:15 pm. My shortest days are Wensdays, 11:15 am to 3:00 pm and Thursday, 9 am to 12:30 pm. The days that are shorter than the others (mainly Thursday) are the ones that I prioritise focusing on extra work after hours. It is super important to me to use my Thursday free time for extra research/analysises/art work at home so I can so I can stay ahead and not fall behind in class
╰┈➤ " She's an overachiever " click here!
«───────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ────────»
GRWM! The longest day of the week, Monday!
   ── .✦  ┆  𖤐  ┆  ␥ 
The goal is to get a bus around 10:25 am to 10:45 am in order to get to college at 11:15 am
[ 000 :: Getting up ]
✦ I wake up at 9:15 am and immediately make my bed because no one likes to come home to an untidy bed.
✦ And then my first favourite thing I do is wonder what I wanna smell like today, I take out my specifically scented body wash, 2 in 1 shampoo, hair gel, body cream, deodorant (preferably scentless), and perfume with the scent I chose and then I do my blanket affirming in my 15-20 minute shower. After the shower, I moisturise my body with my scented body cream, spray deodorant, and move onto my clothes.
[ 001 :: Getting dressed ] — estimated time 9:35
✦ I love dressing up. At this point, I do my best not to overthink what to wear because I know I will be there forever, making multiple outfits but never choosing one. So I focus on what style I'm going for and pick out my clothes, always being mindful of the colours of course and then put them on
✦ Next I decide wether or not I want to wear make up (more times yes than no) but before I do my usual make up look, I quickly do my skin care routine to protect my skin and then I do my cutesy girlie make up all while affirming my blanket affirmations
✦ And then I move on to do my hair. Because I have super curly hair, depending on what style I want, it takes a bit of time to manage. So I usually settle with doing something simple like brushing my curls out into a fro and then putting it into a bun or puffs, or I leave my curls defined and either leave my hair down or put it in a bun, space buns or a tail type which usually takes me 10-15 minutes, taking us up to 9:55-10 o'clock.
✦ But if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll straighten/blow out my hair and do a straight hairstyle. I usually go for bantu knots, spikey buns (my signature half up, half down), pigtails/ponytails, or leave it down. Doing this would take me around 15-20 minutes, taking us up to 10 o'clock to 10:10.
[ 002 :: Breakfast time ] — estimated time 10:00
✦ It's always important to start your day with a satisfied stomach, which is why I always make sure I know what I want to eat for breakfast and if I want to eat a lot. Once I've made my breakfast, I like to look over the work I have already done on my ipad to see what more could be added while I eat.
✦ I try not to eat too slowly or take too much time doing tiny bits of extra work because I still need to brush my teeth and get my bag (which is always already packed). When I have finished my food, brushed my teeth and got my bag, I should be at the door by 10:30 to 10:45
[ 003 :: Ready to leave ] — estimated time 10:40
✦ I don't live far from my bus stop, so it usually takes me around 5-6 minutes to walk there, and then around 25 minutes to get to college on the bus.
✦ But sometimes my man best friend drives to my house to pick me up and then we both go to college together. I don't know which one I prefer the most to be honest but going by car is definitely a lot quicker (given that there isn't any traffic) and I just love beening in the presence of my boyfie bff
[ 004 :: College hours ] — estimated time 11:15
✦ Hurray we arrived on time! Looking delicious and smelling delicious. Now it is time to get to class and get a load of work done like the overachiever I am.
✦ Lunch time comes around and I leave the classroom to the couch area where my (girl) best friend is waiting for me. We chat and eat and chat some more until it's time to part ways back to class.
✦ Another more than generous amount of work gets done be me and my two super cool art besties, I'm sure the same can be said for the rest of the class but this isn't about them rn.
There's five people per table in my class, but only two tables in the middle have the ten of us, the other 3 tables are empty because we're a small class but I sit along side my two good classmates on the left side. We are very attentive, concentrated, and skilled art students. We always check up on each others art and written work, giving each other ideas and such. We are even jokingly referred to as "competition" by two of our other classmates (im not a fan of those two but it is what it is)
[ 005 :: Home time ] — scheduled time 4:45
✦ Sometimes, college can be grueling. Especially on Mondays. So to be able to have a close friend group to reunite with after the last hour of college is so so comforting. ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS AUTUMN/WINTER SEASON because it gets really dark in the late afternoon very quickly and I always prefer to go home with company in these seasons.
✦ I take the same bus as I did to college back home with my friends, usually right after getting a snack together and because we are a group of four (six if i include boy bestfriends sister and her boyfriend), none of us have to worry about strangers sitting next to us.
The bus drive home is always relaxing and in my opinion fun too.
[ 006 :: Arriving home ] — estimated time 5:10
✦ First day of the week done. Time to unwind, clean up, eat, relax and sleep. As soon as I get back home, I love to have a quick gossip with my mum about my day and get unready with my best friends of face time
There's this very common belief that you always have to talk of face time, but that's not all ways true. Me and my friends just like to have each others presence in silence, occasionally being nosy every now and then about what's for dinner, what's on TV and that's about it. Nothing more nothing less and its perfect that way.
I inform my friends I'm off to get a shower, I like to use my scentless soaps and body creams for bed time or maybe some light essential oils like lavender, I get out and throw an oversized T on because I don't like sleeping with bottoms on, yank my pink bonnet over my curls, slip my feet into some fluffy pink sliders and whatever I choose to do with the rest of my evening is random and spontaneous depending on what I'm in the mood for in the comfort of my home that I manifested ♡
∘₊ ✧───────────────────✧₊∘
જ⁀➴. And that's my average GRWM/schedule of a random day on a random college day as an artist and an LOASS babe ⊹₊ㆍ♡⋆₊˚⊹ I dunno if you could tell but this was secretly a vault lmao
51 notes · View notes
mysticalmallard · 2 months
Text
Stood up
Description: Opie takes a chance and goes on a date. Part 1 of the Opie and the waitress mini series.
Word Count: 2,583
Warnings: none I think
SoA Taglist: @arkytiorlecter @aimkatsz @ravennaortiz @darqchilddaydreamz @mischiefnevermanaged89-blog @hatersaremymotivators @theshynerdsworld @thefrogytimes @youngadult9016
♥︎ If you wish to be added or removed from this taglist comment or message me ♥︎
Parts:
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 •
SoA Masterlist ♥︎ Main Masterlist ♥︎ Series Masterlist
Tumblr media
Opie sighs softly as he stands and looks in the mirror, adjusting the collar on his shirt. He runs his fingers through his hair, slicking it back before giving up and letting it fall down to where it usually sits.
He glances at the bedside clock, groans when he sees the time, and then grabs his wallet as he heads out the door. He wasn't excited, in fact, he didn't want to be doing this, but the prospect of just being alone was even less appealing to him. His kids need a mother figure and he can't continue living the way he is.
The café they are meeting at, just outside of Charming, is quiet and fairly peaceful. Opie is sitting at a table, waiting on his date to arrive as he sips on a coffee. He glances at the door every time it opened, but he hasn't seen her yet.
A half-hour passes and his date still hadn't shown. Opie can't help the sigh that leaves his lips. It makes sense that she didn't show, and that he really is meant to be alone.
A waitress brings over a small cake and places it in front of him.
"Oh..I didn't order this" He hurriedly says.Opie looks up at the waitress before looking at the cake in front of him with clear confusion.
"I know you didn't, but it looked like you could do with cheering up" the waitress says softly.
He looks up at her Opie can't help the small smile that comes to his face, even if he does find it a little embarrassing that he was pitied by a stranger when he was waiting for a date that never showed.
"Thank you" he murmurs as the waitress gives a kind smile and heads over to the next table, leaving him to the cake.
Opie glances around the quiet cafe, and after a moment, he grabs the fork and starts to eat the cake, it's rich chocolate flavour giving him a sense of relief as he takes the first bite.
In fact, it tasted amazing, and Opie was soon finishing the whole thing, licking his lips as he sets the fork down. He grabs a napkin and wipes at his mouth as a shadow comes over his table.
He sighs as he stands, grabbing his wallet and pulling out a few bills to leave for the waitress as a tip, before he makes his way out of the cafe and to his bike outside.
Outside he spots his waitress stood outside in her coat her purse on her shoulder frowning at her phone glancing up the road every so often.
Opie stops mid-step when he sees the waitress stood there, and he can't help the look of confusion that comes to his face when he catches sight of her frown.
He glances up the road that she is looking down, curious as to what she is waiting for.
After a moment, he finally decides to approach the waitress, walking over and clearing his throat to alert her to his presence.
"you waiting for your ride?" he asks, a soft and almost gentle tone to his voice.
The waitress startles, obviously not expecting anyone to approach her, and it's not hard for her to recognise the handsome man that had been sitting in the cafe for over an hour.
"Uh...yeah, I am" she replies as she turns to look at him, a slight hint of embarrassment in her voice as her cheeks flush pink.
Opie stuffs his hands in his pockets and glances up the street one more time.
"You been waiting long?"he asks her, his eyes studying her face as he sees the redness in her cheeks.
The waitress gives a soft sigh and nods her head. "Yeah, for about 30 minutes. I was supposed to meet someone, but I think I've been stood up" she mutters as she runs a hand through her messy hair.
Opie can't help but give a scoff at her words. "You're not the only one. Whoever you were meeting is a fool" he huffs in reply, an unexpected anger in his voice.
The waitress raises her eyebrows at the tone in his voice, surprised to hear the anger in his words, even if she doesn't exactly know why.
"Oh? So you were stood up too, huh?" she asks him with a slight smirk.
Opie gives a slight nod of his head. "Sure was. Don't know why I thought this was a good idea" he replies dryly as he rolls his eyes.
The waitress gives a soft chuckle. "What a pair we are, both stood up on the same night" she teases, the smirk never leaving her face.
Opie gives a small snort before he shrugs his shoulders as a smirk appears on his own face.
"Guess so" he replies slowly, glancing down at her with a raised eyebrow.
The waitress smiles as she moves to lean back against the wall.
"I can't believe people are so rude. You would think they could at least have the decency to cancel when they change their mind" she mutters, crossing her arms over her chest, sighing to herself.
"I only agreed to the date cause I'm the only one left in my friend group, not married...I guess they thought I needed someone too ..." she turns her head up towards him "what about you? where did you meet your lovely date?"
Opie gives a scoff as she leans back and he moves to mirror her, turning his body towards her.
"An online dating site" he replies bluntly. "I ain't had a serious date since my wife died" he tells her with a soft edge in his voice, almost surprised that he is opening up to a stranger.
The waitress's face softens as he spoke, she never realising that he had lost his wife. The expression in his eyes tells her he doesn't want pity, something the woman can respect as she stays silent and gives him a small nod.
Opie gives a sigh as he looks up at the sky, trying to hold back the wave of emotions that are threatening to take over. He is glad that she stayed silent, he does not need to be coddled, he never has. "You going to be okay to get home?" he asks her, turning his attention back to the woman in front of him.
"Yeah, I think so" she mumbles looking back at her phone.
Opie stares at her for a moment before he gives a small nod, almost as if he is coming to a decision.
"How far do you live from here?" he asks, almost reluctantly.
The waitress looks up at him, almost a mixture of surprise and curiosity on her face. "About 15 minutes away" she replies slowly, not knowing where this is leading.
Opie grunts before he glances up the street once more, his eyes returning to her.
"You mind if i make sure you get home safely?" he offers, his voice gruff and quiet.
The waitress is surprised by his offer, and it honestly takes her a moment to reply and realise she had not in fact imagined it. But eventually, she does reply. "Oh..i couldn't accept that im sure you've got other places to be, I'm sure I could get ahold of someone to give me a lift" she answers not wanting to be a burden.
Opie doesn't let her finish her sentence, and he huffs as he gives a small shake of his head.
"No one should be walking home on their own at night, and you could be waiting ages for anyone" he replies gruffly. "Let me take you home, it's no issue..." he stands up off the wall. "come on my ride is over here" he nods in the direction of his bike not leaving any room for any argument.
The waitress doesn't really have a chance to reply, not that she actually wanted to. Her eyes widen at his blunt tone, but she pushes herself off the wall anyway and looks towards the spot that he had nodded to, and her eyes fall on a large harley.
She hesitantly follows him towards the bike, still not exactly knowing what to think of this man.
Opie glances over his shoulder as he moves towards his bike, almost amused by the look on her face. He can practically see the nerves coming through, as she glances at the bike.
"You ever been on a motorcycle before?" he asks, his voice gruff, as he lifts his leg over the bike and straddles the seat, waiting for her to get on behind him.
The waitress takes a deep breath as she steps closer to the motorcycle, it is certainly a lot larger than she expected and she suddenly questions the safety of the thing.
"no..." she mutters before she moves to climb on behind him, grabbing onto his shoulders to steady herself.
Opie can feel the weight of her behind him and the grip on his shoulders doesn't exactly go unnoticed either. A small smirk appears on his lips at the realisation she is nervous.
He starts the engine and glances into the side mirror at the woman sat behind him.
"You might wanna hold on tight," he says as he pulls off the side of the road.
The waitress lets out a small yelp as the bike lurches forward, and she quickly wraps her arms around his waist, gripping tightly as she does. They travel down the streets for several minutes, the woman behind him holding on tightly.
The feeling of having her arms wrapped around him ignites a low flame in Opie, reminding him once more how very lonely he has been since Donna died.
Opie can't help but smirk at the feeling of her practically shaking in fear behind him as the drive continues. "You okay back there?" he calls back over his shoulder with a chuckle.
"Yeah! I'm fine!" the waitress calls back, her voice loud over the engine as they speed down the road.
The waitress can't deny that there is something exciting about being on the bike, the wind in her hair, but she is also terrified to the core. She buries her face against his back, holding on for dear life as he takes a sudden turn.
Opie's smirk only grows as he can feel the grip on his waist tighten with every turn of the bike and every turn in the road. The thought of having a woman hold on to him, even if it was for her own safety, is something he isn't going to give up easily.
"your gonna have to give me some directions here" he calls out turning his head over his shoulder.
The waitress nods her head frantically as she lifts it from his back, before taking a quick glance at the street signs as she realises how close they are to her home.
"I'm just up here. Take the next right" she tells him, her voice shaky, and she buries her face against his back once more, as they make the final drive towards her home.
They arrive in front of a small apartment complex and Opie brings the bike to a stop, lifting his foot to balance the bike as he glances back at her. "This where you live?" he asks gruffly.
"Yeah..." she mumbles still clinging on to him.
Opie grunts in reply as he looks back at the building in front of them. It's not a nice building in the slightest. It looks dirty and well-worn, definitely not a place he would like any woman to live.
He glances back at the waitress as she continues to cling onto his shoulders, feeling her still shaking against him. "You gonna let go any time soon?" he asks, a hint of amusement seeping through his voice.
She lifts her head and realises that she was still holding on to him. Her face flushes pink yet again, having been so focused on being scared and the drive that she hadn't even realised.
She slowly lets go, and swings her leg over the back of the bike, ungracefully dismounting and standing up on shaking legs.
Opie reaches a arm out grabbing her shoulder to steady her.
Opie can't help the smirk as he watches the waitress wobble on her feet, clearly still shaken from the ride. "You gonna be okay? Or should I carry you upstairs?" he teases, his hand still on her shoulder.
"No...I'll be fine, thankyou for rhe ride," she says, trying to tame her hair, feeling embarrassed.
Opie watches as she tries to tame the hair that was messed up by the wind, and he can't help but think how much she suits the messy look.
He grunts in reply as he removes his hand from her shoulder, a reluctant motion as he wanted an excuse to keep that contact.
"It was no problem." he mumbles sit sat on his bike unsure of what to say now.
The waitress stands in front of him, an awkward silence that neither of them are sure how to break.
His phone started ringing, breaking the silence. Opie pulls his phone out of his pocket and glances at the screen, grumbling when he recognises the number.
"I gotta answer this" he mutters as he brings the phone to his ear."yeah?" he answers gruffly, his eyes still on the waitress standing in front of him as he hears a familiar voice come through the line.
Bobby's voice filters through the phone as he speaks, a touch of frustration in his voice. "Where you at? We got some business we need to sort"
Opie sighs as he glances down at the floor before replying "I'm on my way, gimme 30." He mutters, his tone leaving little room for argument.
Opie hangs up the phone and glances back at the waitress. "Duty calls" he tells her with a shrug.
The waitress nods, not wanting to be a bigger inconvenience to the man who has already done so much for her.
"Well thankyou again...er.." she realises she never got his name.
Opie can't help but give a small chuckle as he glances at her. "Opie, name's Opie" he tells her gruffly.
"Opie...well thankyou" she mumbles stepping back from his bike "maybe ill see you around?" She asks a hopeful look on her face.
Opie grunts in reply as he pushes the bike back. "Yeah, maybe" he mutters, trying to keep his tone casual, not letting the fact he actually wants to see her again show too much.
The waitress stands awkwardly for a moment, before starting to head towards the entrance to the apartment building. She turns around just before she reaches the door and gives him a small smile and a wave before heading inside.
Opie watches as the woman walks through the door and disappears inside. He lets out a sigh as he climbs back onto the bike, before gunning the engine with a screech and speeding down the road in the direction of the clubhouse.
Opie's mind is clouded with thoughts as he rides, the memories of what he had wanted his night to be like, and what it actually was.
He can't get the waitress out of his head, something about her had ignited a fire within him, something he hadn't felt in a long time.
He rides faster, trying to clear his head as he heads back to the club.
54 notes · View notes
prettyboykatsuki · 3 months
Note
Hey, I've been trying to make butter chicken for a really long time and no matter what I do the food cart in my city makes it better. I was wondering if you have a recipe that you would like to share since you said you're really good at making butter chicken. Totally okay if you want to keep it private or just not respond to this ask. Also, I love your writing. Long time fan.
HI!!
i was supposed to answer this last night but i took my melatonin super early and fell asleep on accident. i do have a recipe to share and i saw a few people were interested. im not very good with writing down like... formal recipes i cook by heart so to speak so i hope thats alright
but also thank u!! i see u in my notifs a lot so i was happy to see your ask
FANGS BUTTER CHICKEN RECIPE:
a couple of things to know prior, making a really good curry usually takes a long time. im not one to be super picky on authenticity but if you're wanting to eat something super delicious it will take you upwards of an hour ++ some, start to finish.
ingredients for chicken
chicken breast / chicken thighs (i normally use a little less than two pounds of chicken thighs, boneless and cubed)
yogurt for marinade, about a half to three quarters cup
a tablespoon of premade ginger-garlic paste or equal parts of fresh ginger and garlic
about two teaspoons of garam masala, and one teaspoon of cumin, coriander, chili powder, tumeric and salt
FOR THE CHICKEN: it's up to preference what cut of meat you want to use for butter chicken, but i personally used cubed chicken thighs that i manually clean the fat off of.
in my opinion, the biggest difference this will make is in the marinading process. if you are using chicken breast, i would recommend marinating for up to twenty four hours. if you're using chicken thighs, you can get away with less time. but you need to marinade your chicken up to at 30 minutes.
mix everything together and set aside until ready.
ingredients for the sauce:
one large onion, medium diced (about a cup and a half)
half a head or garlic, finely chopped (i use a lot but you can use less)
some freshly chopped ginger or a tablespoon of garlic-ginger paste. about a tablepoon.
tomatoes (roughly two cups)
for the tomatoes, there are various substitutions you're welcome to make. most restaurants used crushed, canned tomatoes but if you're wanting the smooth texture without blending - used jarred tomato sauce as your base.
with whatever type of tomato you use, you will have to adjust for acidity and sweetness. i use a mix of fresh tomatos and tomato paste for depth and adjust for acid with sugar.
if you are using jarred tomato sauce or canned tomatos, you will need about a cup and 3 quarters or 14ozs of liquid over all.
if you are using a fresh tomato and paste combo like me - i recommend about a cup and a half of diced tomatoes and a 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.
spices including, 2 teaspoons of garam masala, 2 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of coriander, chili powder to taste and a table spoon of pre-packaged butter chicken spice mix.
you will also need kasoor methi powder or fenugreek powder which imo is not optional
NO MORE than a half-teaspoon of fenugreek
salt to taste
sugar to taste (i use about a tablespoon)
for seasoning: while i use the teaspoon measurement here - it's more important you understand the ratios. im much more heavy handed with my spice mixture because i make it according to my own tastes and i like strong flavors.
i used pre-packaged spice mixes to add flavor but if i dont have it i wont use it and use about a teaspoon more each of the plain spices.
the one thing you shouldn't skip imo is the kasoor methi aka fenugreek powder. this is probably the thing most people are missing butter chicken at home. it's savory and mildly bitter, a bit like fennel and its what gives it a very classic indian flavor
3/4 cup of cream + 1/2 cup of milk (you are welcome to use one cup of cream if you like a thicker gravy, but i prefer a thinner one. you can also replace the milk with half and half)
a little oil to coat the bottom of my pan (a teaspoon or two)
3 tablespoons of ghee (or 2 tbps of butter + 1 tbsp oil)
cilantro to taste (optional)
if you can find ghee or make it at home, i would highly reccomend using it over butter and oil. ghee makes a huge difference to the flavor profile.
while i say 3tbsps, i would say be heavy handed and use enough to cover the pan. this is a fat heavy dish as is.
ONTO THE COOKING PROCESS:
first: you will want to grill / char your chicken. you can pick what method you use for this. i use a searing hot pan (i use a dutch oven for this entire recipe) and little oil to get the best cook.
fry the chicken on high heat until charred and take it off once all sides are cooked. DO NOT OVERCROWD YOUR PAN. it will released too much water.
set aside the charred pieces. the chicken will finish cooking in the sauce.
NEXT, THE SAUCE
after you've cooked off the chicken, turn your heat down to medium, drop your ghee and your onions and cook until totally soft
this will take roughly 15 minutes of stirring and watching.
once the onions are translucent and halved in size, drop in your garlic and ginger
cook until fragrant. i like to go a little under ten minutes
add in your spices here (EXCEPT THE KASOORI METHI). this step is crucial
the key to good desi curry is understanding the process of bhuna, which is essentially frying your spices together for optimum flavor. you will want enough oil in your pan to fry / cook the seasoning which is why i say you might want to be heavy handed.
stir your spice mix with your onions, garlic and ginger - making sure it doesn't stick and burn in the process. let it cook until very fragant.
i let it go for a few minutes but if you don't cook often, a minute or less will be okay. too long and the spices will burn.
(i also like to add a pre-emptive amount of salt at this stage but you can salt afterwards)
next, add your tomatoes. if you are using tomato paste, add it before you add your other tomatoes and let it fry for about a minute to soften and cook down the taste
if you are are using jarred sauce or canned tomatoes feel free to toss it all in at once.
THIS IS IMPORTANT BUT LET THE LIQUID COOK OFF YOUR TOMATOES AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
i would recommend up to twenty minutes if possible, being careful it doesn't burn on the sides. the sauce will change color as a result, turning a deep brown / red and that's when you know it's ready. the pan should feel almost dry.
if you like a blended sauce - now is the time for you to take out from the pan and blend with a little water *
i do not like a completely blended sauce, so i will instead use the back of my spoon to crush up my tomato and onion mixture as much as possible once cooked soft enough.
THIS IS NOT TRADITIONAL OR COMMON. but i prefer a bit of texture in my sauce and once soft enough i find the sauce still turns out silky smooth.
after you sauce is blended / smooth, add in your cream mixture, your sugar, and fenugreek powder, and cook your chicken for another few minutes
usually a little under 10 minutes for thighs and around 8 minutes for breasts if you're picky about timing.
turn your heat off and wait for the curry to stop boiling before adding in chopped cilantro
AND YOU'RE DONE YIPEEEEEE. serve with white basmati rice or naan/paratha of course 🫡
OTHER GENERAL TIPS:
the seasonings i list are intentionally light handed but i honestly use about double of everything above, so if you find that the taste is too light for you after cooking - fry more seasoning in oil in a separate pan and add it afterwards.
depending on your preference, you might like a thicker or thinner gravy. if you prefer it thinner, add more liquid (preferably water or milk) and if you prefer it thicker, feel free to just use one or the other.
be careful during the spice frying process and watch like a hawk if you dont anywhere else, because the burning will make it bitter.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND ME ASKS IF YOU WANT TO TROUBLE SHOOT!!!
67 notes · View notes
cuttergauthier · 1 year
Text
Summer Time
Tumblr media
Rutger Mcgroarty x Female Reader
Warning: against, Toxic ex, Controlling ex, stalker ex, cussing, fluff
word count: 2.4k
This fic is apart of the insta edit The Summer Everything Changed
let me know what you guys think🤍
Tumblr media
Molly invited me to spend the summer with her and her family at a lake house that they go to for a few weeks every year, we been best friends since we were kids, her family is like my own so every year they invite me, the only person in her family I don’t get along with is her brother Rutger.
Rutger and I have never been friends, he’s always rude to me when he’s nice to everyone else. Molly warned me that this year Rutger might be even more rude since he’s apparently been in a mood since he broke up with his girlfriend.
I’ve met Sierra before, her and Rutger dated for about 5 years, and just like Rutger she hated me, even when I was always nice to her. 
I hope this year will be different since Molly is bringing her boyfriend again, I was supposed to bring mine again this year but we broke up about a month ago, it didn’t exactly end well so now Rutger and I will be the only single ones, at first I almost told Molly I wasn’t going to go since I don’t want to third wheel her and her boyfriend, or be alone with Rutger but she convinced me to say yes.
The lake house is only an hour away from our hometown so I told Molly that this year I would take my car and drive there, if anything happens i can leave whenever I want.
I put my suitcase in my car, and started the drive there. Molly and her family have been there since yesterday. It’s 2:00 p.m. right now so i should be there by 3:00 p.m.
Tumblr media
I parked behind Molly’s car in the driveway, I unbuckled my seatbelt and made my way to the trunk to get my suitcase.
I got my stuff and made my way to the door, and walked in. 
The door leads to the living room where I saw Rutger. He turned to look at me and rolled his eyes. 
“What you can’t knock now?” He asked, annoyed. I rolled my eyes at him.
“When have I ever knocked?” I asked. Her family always told me to make myself at home, and said that I could drop by whenever her mom even gave me a house key at their home because I always came over.
“Well maybe you should start,” he said before getting up and walking away. 
I made my way upstairs to my usual room. I ran into MOM. 
“Hey sweetheart, I'm so happy you’re here” she said, giving me a hug.
“Thanks for inviting me,” I said smiling.
“You’re like a daughter to me, you will always be invited” she said.
We talked for a few more seconds before I went to my room.
I started unpacking when Molly burst through the door and ran to hug me. I started laughing.
“I missed you” she said
“Molly, we saw each other yesterday before you left,” I said chuckling. She pulled away and smiled
“I know, it’s been 1 day too long” she said. 
Molly and I are usually always with each other or at least talk once a day. We both decided to go to University of Michigan, we always stick together.
“I missed you to molly” i said smiling
“Good, now let me help you finish unpacking” 
“Thanks” 
It only took us about 30 minutes to finish unpacking so Molly sat down on my bed and looked at me smirking. Oh no what did she do?
“What’s that look for?��� I asked
“Well you see, I'm sorry” she said nervously. 
I looked at her confused.
“Sorry for what? What did you do?” I asked 
“Well you see, you were only supposed to be here tomorrow, so my parents and I kinda planned a double date night… so you’re going to be stuck here with Rutger” she said.
I rubbed my eyebrows and sighed.
“It’s fine Molly, I'll just stay in my room if I have to,” I said, smiling softly. 
This is not how I expected my first night here to go, but I get it so it’s fine.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” 
“Yes, I promise” i said 
“Okay good, I feel bad” she said
“Don’t be, it’s my fault I decided to join a day earlier” 
“We have a few activities for date night so we’ll be back pretty late, we’re leaving in an hour and maybe this will give you and Rutger time to finally get along” she said and I laughed. 
“Molly, Rutger and I have hated each other since we were kids. I don't think a few hours will change that.
“You never know, people change” she said with a wink, what the hell is she planning? I know my best friend, she’s definitely up to something.
She gave me one last hug and we made our way to Molly’s room so I could help her get ready.
“Can you pick out my outfit, please?” She asked while she does her makeup.
I nodded and made my way to her closet.
“What about this?” I asked, showing her a cute white v neck dress with purple flowers. 
“Oh I love that, thank you” she said happily. I chuckled 
“You’re welcome.” 
Once she was done with her hair and makeup she went and got dressed.
When she came out of the bathroom I looked up from my phone and smiled.
“You look beautiful,” I said.
“Thank you, now are you sure you’ll be fine here?” She asked.
“Yes, now it's almost 5:00 p.m.” I said.
We made our way downstairs where Josh, her boyfriend and her parents were waiting. 
“Hey Yn” Josh greeted me smiling.
“Hey Josh, have fun you guys” I said before they all left.
I have no idea where Rutger is, so I made my way to the kitchen to get something to eat.
I went to the fridge and took some grapes and put some in a bowl before making my way to the living room.
I put on Outer Banks on Netflix and sat down on the couch.
About 10 minutes later Rutger came in and sat on the other end of the couch. Neither of us said anything. 
A while later my phone started ringing. Rutger scoffed and looked at me annoyed.
I checked to see who was calling me, only to see that it was my ex boyfriend, I rolled my eyes and silenced the call. I put my phone next to me and continued to watch the show.
A few seconds later my rang again, I silenced it again, then he called again. 
“Oh my god, just answer the damn phone,” Rutger said, annoyed.
“No” I answered and silenced it.
When he called again, it pissed Rutger off, he gave me a look that said you better answer or I’m throwing your phone outside.
I answered and put the phone to my ear.
“What do you want?” I asked, pissed. Why the hell can’t he just leave me alone, I broke up with him a month ago because he was so controlling.
“I’m at the lake house, we have to talk so let me in” he said pissed. My eyes widened. No this can’t be happening, what the hell does he think he’s doing. 
“No chance in hell” I said angrily. Rutger raised his eyebrows at me, as to see what the hell are you talking about.
“You either let me in, or i get in on my own, your choice, I know Molly’s on a double date with her parents right now so I know you’re alone since Rutger would never stay alone with you” 
“What are you, a fucking stalker?” I said worriedly, I’m not alone, Rutger wouldn’t let anything happen to me right? Even if he doesn’t like me? 
I stood up and started walking, pacing back and forth.
“Yn, open the goddamn door,” he said.
My eyes widened and I stood still and looked at Rutger. He could tell something was wrong so he got up and snatched the phone out of my hands.
“What are you doing?” I asked worriedly, I don’t want Rutger to Provoke him and make him worse.
“Shush” he said pointing his finger at me to tell me to shut up. I closed my month and scoffed.
What are you doing Rutger.
“What” he said on the phone before he continued. “No she’s busy right now, and I suggest you don’t call her again and you better fucking leave” he said pissed before he hung up.
“What the hell did he say?” I asked when he gave me my phone.
“Don’t worry about it” he said, making his way to the door and looking outside. I scoffed and locked the front door.
“Is he still out there?” I asked worriedly.
“Yes,” he said before looking at me.
“Go to the kitchen and make sure the patio door is locked.” He told me. I nodded and rushed to the Kitchen.
I looked to see it was already locked. Thank god.
I made my way back to the living room to see Rutger still looking out the window.
“It was already locked,” I told him.
He looked back at me and nodded. I went and sat down on the couch again and paused the show that was still playing on the tv.
Rutger sighed and cane to sit down next to me.
“Was he always like this? Because I don’t remember him being like this last year” Rutger asked me. I shook my head and took a deep breath.
“No, it started a few months before our semester ended. Last month I had enough so I finally broke up with him.” I said looking at him.
I looked at his eyes, you could see sadness and anger in them, is he sad and angry about my ex's acting? or at me for letting this happen?
“I’d tell you to get a restraining order against him, but I don't know how well that will end up if he’s that bad,” rutger said, which made me chuckle.
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’ll work” i replied 
“It would still be better than nothing, especially since he also goes to Michigan” Rutger said, i groaned.
“Fuck, I should have said no boyfriend in college” I said and Rutger laughed.
I looked at him and smiled.
“Thanks by the way, for making him leave, i honestly didn’t think you would” 
Rutgers' eyes widened.
“Why would you think I wouldn’t help?” He asked, confused.
“Maybe because you don’t like me,” I scoffed.
“I never said I didn’t like you, and even if i didn’t it doesn’t mean I won’t help, I could tell you were scared Yn, i wasn’t going to let that go” he said
“First off you’re always rude to me, you’ve never been nice, it’s pretty clear you don’t like me” 
“Well I always liked you and I thought you were pretty even as kids but you’re Molly’s best friend so I thought it would be easier to just be mean” he said, my eyes widened. He liked me?
“What?” I was shocked.
“Why do you think Sierra hated you, it’s because she could tell, I liked you” he said chuckling.
I can’t believe this, first off there’s no way she would have stayed with Rutger for 5 years if she knew he liked me right?
“I’m pretty sure even Molly could tell, I know my parents did, Luca and Adam would tease me about it back at university” He continued.
“Oh my god, was this Molly’s plan all along?” 
“What plan?” He asked, confused.
“Did they already have a date night planned? Because when Molly told me about it and said that I would be alone with you, it was suspicious, I could tell she was hiding something, plus she was smirking and she even winked, she never winks” i said. Rutger laughed
“What’s so funny?” I asked confused 
“Knowing Molly probably, and i honestly don’t know how long this date night with my parents was planned I only found out about it this morning” he said
“I knew she was up to something, I just didn’t think it would be you confessing that you have a crush on me” I said chuckling.
“I think it’s more than a little crush.” He said
I raise my brows.
“Look, I really, really like you, is there any chance we could start over and I could take you out on a date?” He asked with a smile.
“Only if you promise never to be rude to me ever again” I replied smiling.
Rutgers smile grew.
“I promise” 
“Good, then I would love to” I replied
“It’s only 7:15 p.m. right now, any chance I could take you out for ice cream, we could go for a walk on the beach and talk? Could that count as a first date?” He asked and I chuckled.
“I could go for ice cream and for a walk” 
“Perfect, let’s go,” he said, smiling. He grabbed his car keys and we made our way to his car.
Tumblr media
Rutger drove to a spot close to the beach where they have an ice cream booth. Rutger ordered for the both of us, once he got mine he gave it to me, making me smile.
“You know my favorite ice cream?” I asked
“See I never hated you” he said, making me giggle.
We walked down to the beach, and walked by the water. 
We talked about our lives, it was actually really nice getting to know the real Rutger and not the rude one. 
I had fun. 
When he pulled in the driveway of the lake house. His parents' car was back, which means Molly will have a lot of questions.
“Any chance we can do this again?” He asked.
“I’d like that,” I said, smiling.
“I can’t wait… can I kiss you?”
“Yes” I replied.
Rutger leaned against the consol put his hand on my cheek before our lips met. Our lips moved in sync, before we pulled away breathing heavily.
“Wow” he said smiling, I started giggling.
“We should probably go inside before Molly comes looking for us” I said.
“Good idea”
When we walked in everyone was in the living room. Molly looked at us and smirked before looking at her dad.
“Dad pay up, I told you he’d finally tell her” she said, making everyone laugh.
This summer is finally off to a good start.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
325 notes · View notes
its-a-me-mango · 3 months
Note
One simple question... How long does it took you to make your beautiful Arts✨ (+ maybe some time in sketches too?)
Ooooo that's a difficult one for me to judge, I am very much someone who will draw for an hour, take a 5 hour break, and then work for 10 minutes before deciding to come back to it the next day. It's a whole process and it's hard for me to time myself lmao.
I want to say if I worked start to finish with no breaks, it would take me around 1 - 3 hours to complete something but it obviously depends on what it is! I can easily do a headshot sketch to finish in about an hour, full bodies tend to take around 2-3 hours but they can be more depending on the complexity!
Again it's hard to gauge the amount of time I spend on each piece because I take a lot of breaks in between and spread things out too. I've been able to get a lot faster with my art which I'm very happy with, I used to spend hours just on a single sketch, so I'm glad I'm past that!
Sketches that I do for asks usual only take me about 20-30 minutes, again depends how complicated they are, I try not to spend too long doing them so I can get more asks done!
I also usually work across mediums so again, hard to tell, I like to sketch traditionally where possible and sometimes line as well, so that usually splits things up and makes it complicated.
Since I'm here, I'll share a few traditional sketches just to show what I mean, I usually reline pieces because I'm not the best at traditional work! Some of these I've never bothered to finish or line so, exclusive look at my drawinggsss
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
wait I have more
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Also fun fact, a lot of my pixel stuff is just me playing around with my traditional pieces! I learned how to do it a while ago and I've loved doing it ever since, it's very easy to do and looks great! Obviously I like to touch up things and edit a few things here and there but it's still fun to do!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Anyway thanks for asking! It's taken me years to get to where I am now and I'm happy that it no longer takes me like 6 hours just to complete something, means i can do even more art hehehe >:)
60 notes · View notes
jscwrites · 1 year
Text
Please Follow this Backup Blog for Vendetta-IF
Tumblr media
Hey guys, it's jsc, the author of Vendetta. I'm making this blog to backup all of the stuff I've posted over on the vendetta-if blog because I can't access my main account. Until I can access my account again, this will be the blog I'll use to interact with all of you and post updates. And in the worst case scenario, this will become the main blog.
So, please, follow this blog as I will be posting updates and answering asks like usual here. Also, for those who want to share their fanarts and other fanworks, please tag this blog too so I can see it. I'll also start reblogging some posts and asks from the Vendetta blog here in hopes of preserving them as much as I can. So, be prepared for a little blast from the past as we walk down the nostalgia road, I suppose.
I'm really sad because just earlier today, I checked my followers count and saw that we were 30 followers away from reaching 4K Followers in the main Vendetta blog, and I was thinking about what to do to celebrate it. Plus, there are also so many awesome fanarts and asks that I don't want to just be gone, which is why I'm making this blog to reblog all of them.
For those who are new and wondering what my story is all about, please check out the intro post I've reblogged. I might need to make another intro post in the future if I never get access back to my account, but for now, I hope it'll suffice.
IMPORTANT LINKS
[ORIGINAL INTRO POST]
[VENDETTA BLOG ARCHIVE]
[DEMO | Latest Chapter: 6 Part 1 | 272.8K words total] 
[FORUM] 
[PATREON] | [KO-FI]
[DISCORD]
CHARACTER RELATED MASTERPOSTS:
[CHARACTERS LIST]
[ARTBREEDER PORTRAITS] [ROs] [Other Pt. 1] [Viktor] [Other Pt. 2]
[CHARACTER PLAYLIST]
ADDITIONAL LINKS
[PUBLIC SIDE STORIES LIST]
[AO3 WRITTEN FANWORK] -> Currently 3 works
For those who are interested in what happened, I'll tell the details under the cut.
So, a few hours ago, I decided to open my iOS Tumblr app to check on notifications and stuff, as I usually do. But instead, I got hit with the Tumblr error messages over and over as it keeps trying to load in.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
At first, I just thought it was my cellphone Internet connection, so I tried logging in on the desktop. At first, after I input all of my login credentials, the page loaded, but it brought me to the viewing page of my Vendetta blog as a non-user. I tried again, and this time, it said that my account got terminated. I never got any email from Tumblr about this, and it came as a shock because I just used my Tumblr earlier today to reblog some fanarts with no problem and I have never really used my account for other non-IF related stuff.
So, I scrambled to ask my members in Discord whether my Vendetta blog is still up, and thankfully it still is. But, my main account is somehow gone. The problem is, my Vendetta blog is actually a sideblog to my main account, jsclarissa.
As you can see here, when I tried searching for my main account, it says "Ghost blog! This blog does not exist." despite me having used that account to respond to comments and send asks to other authors before.
Tumblr media
I have sent a support ticket to Tumblr support and also tweeted them on Twitter. I really hope they can give me my account back as I'm pretty sure this is some kind of technical issues on their end. I'm just worried about how long it would take them to respond and of course, the worst case scenario that it actually got terminated, so, I'm making this account.
Even if I got my account back, I'll still reblog stuff from the main blog here and maybe I can finally have a more personal blog where I can talk about stuff that is not really related to Vendetta.
454 notes · View notes