#(which is something I don't say about myself too often haha)

[pomefioredove]

HIII I SAW THE FLIRTY PROMPTS EVENTS AND RAN HAHA

Can I please get "You're a shy little thing, aren't you?" with Rook please???? 🙏🙏🫠🫠🤍

anon this one is PERFECT omg screaming...

summary: "you're a shy little thing, aren't you?" type of post: short fic characters: rook additional info: romantic(?), reader is gender neutral, reader is not specified to be yuu, Rook being a little freak, shamelessly flirty, not proofread a part of this event

There's that feeling again.

Your heart rate picking up, muscles tensing, adrenaline urging you to find somewhere to run, a quiet corner to lurk until those eyes you feel on the back of your neck have turned away...

You're surrounded by people, but even the crowd isn't enough to hide you.

For so many years, you hadn't been noticed at all. An unsaved seat, a forgotten name, a dull, drooping wallflower with nowhere to root. Ignored and undesired, nothing more than a piece of furniture in everyone else's lives.

You had long come to accept that it's just how things are, even here.

And, so, the feeling of being watched is wholly unfamiliar.

You slip out of the midday crowd and into a quiet corridor. Your worst fear, really, is that whoever's keeping their eye on you is picking you apart at the seams, analyzing your every flaw...

As if being quiet didn't make you enough of a target...

"Ah, there you are! I thought I lost you,"

You nearly jump. For a moment, you're tempted to look around the vacant corridor for someone hiding in the shadows, because, surely, that voice isn't addressing you.

The boy at the other end of the hall tilts his head. "Ah, do not be frightened! I was only worried you had been swallowed by the crowd,"

You blink.

"...Me?"

"Oui," he responds, putting his hands on his hips. "You are such a tiny thing, I could not let any harm befall you under my watch."

There's something rather unsettling about his gaze. Familiar, even.

"Tiny?" you scoff at the description. "...Who are you, anyway?"

His smile is just as uneasy. Too eager, you think. "Je suis désolée, how rude, I have not introduced myself yet. Where are my manners?" he scolds himself, taking a step forward.

"Rook Hunt."

No, not familiar at all. You've never seen this man in your life, even if there's something about his gaze that strikes a chord with you.

You give your name in return, to which he hums.

"You are quite the interesting creature, you know."

Creature? You give him a sour look, and he chuckles.

"I mean it in the loveliest way. Like a flower which takes a century to bloom, or a comet one might see but once in their lifetime,"

He speaks enthusiastically, and thus fast, leaving you dizzy with metaphors and imagery.

"...Is that a compliment?"

A small smile graces his lips, and he leans forward. "Would you like it to be?"

Full of surprises. You instinctively lean back, further away from those piercing eyes.

He hums again, eyes shining with amusement. "Ah, ah, have I embarrassed you? My apologies,"

"I'm fine," you lie, and leave it at that. You can't seem to come up with a good excuse, and your face feels warm.

Rook tuts, circling around you like a predator surveying its prey.

"...There is no shame in being flattered, chérie. Though I would gladly embarrass you all day just to see that lovely look on your face again,"

You watch him carefully, though avoid eye contact as he stops, eventually, standing in front of you again with a little smile.

"It is a shame you hide yourself, even now. Your beauty should be appreciated," he says. "...Though, I admit, I find the idea of keeping it all to myself rather tempting."

He's going to give you a heart attack, you think. You can feel the embarrassment swelling in your chest, making your heart beat a little faster and averting your gaze to the ground.

He chuckles. "You're a shy little thing, aren't you?"

"I..." you cough awkwardly, eyes fixed on the floor tiles. "...Don't get complimented often."

Rook places a hand over his heart, as if offended by the very thought. "Non? What a cruel world we live in, where such beauty goes unnoticed! The very notion wounds me!"

"Well, then..." he says, getting down on one knee and taking your hand in his, kissing each of your knuckles.

"...Let me make up for it, chérie."

[highly-opinionated-nerd]

After reblogging those One Piece fashion posts yesterday, I wanted to play, too, so I've been going about my day dressed in my little Zoro-inspired outfit and guys, I'm truly living my best life. I'm having so much fun. Legit can't wait to do it again with some other character tomorrow

[chubs-deuce]

Hi! First of all I wanted to say I love your art so much thank you for sharing your work with us!

If I may ask, how do you come up with the poses in your art? Do you use refs or just sketch them from imagination? Any tips you could share about it?

Figuring out poses is the hardest part of art for me and I am just in awe of how dynamic and great the poses are in your work!

Thank you again and I hope you have a great day!!

oh boy am I ever happy to talk about this!! :D

first of all thank you so much!! <3 I'm genuinely so happy to hear that aaaa-

So-

In regards to coming up with ideas? I oftentimes just kind of fuck around and find out - a lot of times I just get a momentary brain-spark that gives me a glimpse of an idea if that makes sense? It's mostly just the general vibe, a specific feeling, a facial expression, a rough silhouette and if it intrigues me enough I will try to pursue the idea in-depth!

I normally do try to do the poses by hand myself, but sometimes the image in my head isn't detailed enough and I get hung up on where to place the hands or legs or for some reason or another I just can't get the torso and head to sit right... so I get a little help!

More specifically I use a program to make pose references! :D

It's called DesignDoll and it's free on windows (tho you can't save without the pro service which is meh but it offers perfectly succinct functions as is already so I never bothered with the paid version)! It can be a bit finnicky to control sometimes (the elbows and knees love twisting into random angles whenever hands/feet are moved) but it's really really versatile once you know what you're doing! Ngl making raking references in it can take me up to an hour at times but it's really fun too so it's never been a bother for me haha

Some recent examples:

What actually helps me the most with this process tho is the fact that I can make these poses and choose the angles and everything myself! I find that the process of making the refs actually really helps me refine the concept in my head - a lot better than I would be able to in a drawing anyway! Plus I'm very lazy so I hate redrawing things overly often haha

You can probably see it the best in the first drawing and the karaoke one - I didn't use the references 1:1, I still do change things spontaneously if I find it works better for my drawing that way - so I don't really use it for the proportions so much as just visualizing my idea with more precision that I can then adapt properly into the artwork :D

I highly recommend doing something similar if you often find yourself with only fragments of a pose or no clear idea for one!!! DesignDoll isn't the only program of this kind either so it's worth looking into other alternatives too if you don't have a windows system to run this one on!

(just please do not use generative AI for art references! Always remember that there is no such thing as ethical generative AI! ;w;)

[simplyreveries]

hewwoooo i was the anon who requested the trey + vil with plus-sized reader :3 i really love your writing!!!! so expect me to come back here pretty often :D you can call me 🫀 anon from now on hehe (and also expect all my requests to be platonic except for trey oop)

im here for another request !! may i request the shroud brothers, vil, leona and trey with an ignihyde!reader ?? my self-insert is actually an ignihyde student based on the fates so i cant really insert myself into twst x readers with yuu!reader lol. no pressure tho <3

here ya go!! I'm super happy you liked my other one, I apologize for this one's wait i got busy!<3

idia shroud

it’ll take a while for the two of you to become any sorts of close. i can imagine your meetings (even though he's your own DORM LEADER lmao) will be brief and vague, sometimes seemingly halfhearted when he is forced to tell his dorm something, to which he usually just messages.

you’ll find him lurking and leaving his room in the late hours to get something or go the sam's mystery shop if it's still open for instant food or stuff of that sorts. nevertheless, you still are an ignihyde student so you two do seem to get along pretty well. even in those short moments— he finds himself being okay around you.

i guess you could say he is relieved you're one of the few people who won't make idia feel utterly awkward or uncomfortable running into so that's definitely some sort of a relief for him. in fact, that usually entails you two ending up hanging out together or doing something stupidly fun together.

ortho shroud

aside from idia he actually did make an effort to get to know you in the first place and in his attempts to get idia out more, suggested you guys hang out at times! he’d claim and tell idia how interesting of a person you were— plenty of stories as someone who even has been or lived in their homelands, the shaftlands!! he wants to see everyone in the dorm get along well. so, you may see him actively trying to get you and idia to be friends as well haha

im sure you two did become unlikely friends though it's inevitable, especially with ortho. he is happy to see his brother get along with you, its very common soon enough that you guys commonly hang out together.

ortho is very sweet whenever you pass him by in the dorm or in school always saying "hello" or asking how you're feeling. he's happy to be able to get along with others in his dorm.

vil schoenheit

he's curious about you quite a bit considering he knows how the reputation of ignihyde students are well…. very reclusive and don't really interact much with others and other dorms. he has worked with ignihyde students in the past with favors and needing stuff for his film making club (like the magical wheel he needed for epel once) which usually makes him prompt to coming towards you a lot to inquire and get any tech and gadgets that could be used for films they're making… even if you may not be the most outgoing person, he’ll surprisingly feel quite easy to talk to.

if you tend to take on the habits of your fellow dormmates or your dorm leader, he will once in a while tell you to make sure you're taking care of yourself and make sure you're doing things like self-care or sleeping right. it's nothing harsh or anything but it's a small way he looks out for you as he gets closer to you throughout time.

you're like a favored student of his from that dorm, he has grown to be pretty fond of. you've piqued his interest enough and helped him out too that he does seem kinder to you in ways.

leona kingscholar

originally, he really had no interested talking to or frankly being around any of that dorm. besides like idia during dorm leader meetings, he barely even knew anyone there despite it being at least his 4th year in that school. he still finds it, unusual and even strange that you've become rather close to him (even if that may feel one sided but it's just leona ok)

he does tend to feel more content and okay with you if you’re more on the quieter side anyway. he does grow a small sense of fondness to you— he even finds himself slightly surprised as your the last person he expected to garner his attention. but nevertheless, you found yourself nicely close to him even if he doesn’t show it the best.

leona sometimes makes quips or teases about your own dorm, how considerably different the two may be. especially a lot at first before you two grew closer, he just found it strange almost, to find yourself close to him.

trey clover

its funny because besides like ortho or idia and maybe a few various students of that dorm here and there in the school— ever so introverted and quiet he doesn't see that many of your dorm. even cater himself admits he doesn't seem to really know or have any friends from that dorm and he's cater! trey will muse he’s beaten cater at that by dating one.

you may have to get used to his dorm being pretty social, considering all the events they hold whereas you’re probably used to the cold and quiet ignihyde dorms. you may have to even adjust whenever you decide to come over and see trey, especially with people like cater or ace who are heavily social.

he hopes you’ll grow and find yourself comfortable there, you’ll find him laughing bashfully when pointing out their antics in comparison to the dormmates you're used to. you'll find him chuckling asking how you manage to put up with some of them, he can only imagine how different it must be for you.

[shiftylinguini]

Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack:

@phoebe-delia asked in response to this fun lil ask game:

Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back? . (for the ask anything) Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back?

Now THIS. This is a good question, and something that is very much on my mind and has been for a while, as I am currently absolutely in the midst of this and trying to army crawl my way out. I don't have any magic bullets (is that the saying? idk) but I have been here before and i do have a small arsenal of tips or methods that I find can help me. 

Here is my Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack (In no particular order):

Write anything 

This is hardly groundbreaking advice, and it's also the hardest thing to actually do (imo) so do not beat yourself up if it takes a while to get to this. Basically, write ANYTHING―it can be aimless, it can be pointless, it can be crap (crap is subjective!! don't let the brain gremlins win!!). 

Don't think about posting it, don't worry about anyone else ever reading it, just fling a few words onto a page and feel the rusty faucet turn on, proving to yourself that it still works. 

Try and sus out what it is that's blocking you 

Again this one is hard and annoying but functional. Once you can put your finger on the particular reason you're staring at a flashing black line on a blank page it can help you kick that reason off your lawn and into the bin. 

And then, take it out of the bin and be kind to yourself about whatever that reason is. Maybe you feel shit because you're comparing yourself to others, your last fic felt like a lead balloon, you can't muster enthusiasm for what you once loved doing and fear that it's gone forever, you're projecting in a Tumblr post―whatever it is, it's something all the writers you admire and aspire to be like have felt, and been annoyed with themselves for, and so you can wrap it up in a blanket and put it on a shelf and be kind to it so it, (respectfully) shuts the fuck up. 

(and remember, everyone feels insecure about their stuff. Like literally everyone, at some stage, feels like their stuff is rubbish)

Cheat on your OTP 

Okay this one might not work for everyone, but it really does for me lol. Ruts (not the sexy kind) can often come with not wanting to engage in my usual ships, being annoyed by my lack of ability to fucking write them/anything/all my ideas taste like cardboard/bleh, and stepping out on them and reading something new can snap me out of it. Just, an injection of new ideas or scenarios or words or even just a little reprieve from being fed up with myself, which ideally, is why we're all here anyway. 

(And then I come crawling back, and am welcomed with open arms haha)

In a similar vein:

Engage in media 

This subtitle is genuinely terrible, i am sorry, LMAO, but essentially: find a piece of media that makes you go "oh, helLO sailor", unhinge your jaw like a snake, and consume it whole. 

Let it nourish you, inspire you, excite you, making you feel SOMETHING, and then take that and think "fuck, what if i wrote bleepbloopblarp" and even if you write nary a single word, you've thought about it and that fucking counts. 

It might be an album, a book, a song, a show, gifs of a hot person, the wikipedia summary of a movie, literally anything counts here if it makes you feel a twinge of creativity. 

Ask yourself, what would Astolat do? 

No for real. @candybarrnerd and I genuinely use this haha.  

Worried your idea is stupid? Astolat would say write it. 

Worried it's too weird? Nah, just write it. 

It's dumb and no one will read it? Just write it for you *waggles eyebrows* (and then find out that yeah, nah, someone else will absolutely read this and be real fucking happy about it haha.)

Worried you're a one trick pony and have already written this fic before, like, and not even once before, and also you're projecting again in Tumblr post? WRITE IT AGAIN! As Astolat once said, "it's a fic so nice, I wrote it thrice". 

It's good advice. 

Make a friend or lean hard on the ones you have here

Misery loves company because it knows they'll come out of this together :). I know, I know, that's fucking NAFF, but fandom is all about finding like-minded freaks and blowing up their DMs because you saw a gif and now feel a kind of ways about it. 

And lastly: 

FUCK STATS! 

I mean I love stats (yay validation!), but god can they make you feel like a worthless shit (hey where did my validation go :((( ). It can be really insidious, so piss that right off when it starts to fuck with your confidence or outlook on your own writing.

Hopefully there is something useful here, even if it's just looking at this advice and thinking "no that's shit, it's writing POISON" cos then you can maybe do the version you think is NOT shit, and that might work. 

Good luck, fellow travelers!!

[oursystemblog]

is wishing you could be a system a symptom of being one? i was reading your blog yesterday and i got very very sad, and other system content will often make me sad because i relate to feeling like, in system terms, an original personality/memory holder who is too sad and traumatized to function and doesnt want to front, only its like i always have to be me no matter how much i hate me, and hate existing. so as a result i just dont function really. i relate to stuff you said about shutting down when in too much distress, like going emotionally numb, and i also dissociate a lot. but even when my mind is on something else and im acting different, its not really like switching to a different mode of awareness. i think it might be better if it was. i wish i was an alter so i could go dormant forever. im scared that its too late to completely rehaul how i conceptualize... living, thinking, being, etc... im scared i have to be me forever. im not sure this is a normal or appropriate way to feel... and im sorry for asking something so emotionally loaded too. i dont even know what im asking really... i guess just, if you have any advice, and if you ever felt this way before you realized you were a system, and how you realized. thanks if you answer. sorry

Hi, i wanted to try and write a helpful response however it ended up being Way Longer than i expected to say anything substantial so it's under the cut

I can't really give a 100% certain answer to your question—Symptoms like emotional shutdown and dissociation in response to stress/trauma are also possible without necessarily being a system, ultimately I can't say whether or not you are one (it took me a while to even say whether or not I was one haha). I personally didn't have the experience of wishing i could be a system before i figured it out, but I think I've heard from some other systems that they did experience that; I suppose it's different for everyone.

i'd try to give a more helpful response about how i realized i was a system but i actually don't remember very much about it—I guess I was always aware that I had an "other state" of myself with Very distinctly different mannerisms from my own who was pretty consistently "triggered out" by specific situations (the other state was also aware of themself like "oh, i'm in This Mode again"), and then eventually i thought "that might not be normal actually" and started researching about dissociative disorders some more

Regardless of whether or not you have alters/are an alter, I don't think going dormant would solve the problem, even though I absolutely understand the feeling. While we were still discovering our system we were in a pretty bad place, and when we discovered our own emotion-holder she was very angry and sad—which scared me initially, and i Kind of Wished that she would disappear or that I could just be A Normal Regular Singular Person. A while later I calmed down and realized it was not productive to wish things like that, so I tried talking to her and telling her that it was okay to feel angry, but that things can be better now than in the past and we are capable of healing—treating her with compassion

I think having a conversation with A Literal Part of Myself that held our anger and sadness was helpful, but I also think it's possible to do something similar even if you're not a system—to treat yourself with compassion too, I guess is what I'm getting at here.

I didn't think it would get better, but it did. I mean it took a while and there were ups and downs , but as long as you're still here it is never to late to learn to live again and to recover

Ultimately, everyone's circumstances are different and maybe what helped me doesn't apply the same way to you, but please try to remember that things can get better. Healing is possible, i wish you the best

[youaremycosmo]

《Press here》 taemin x reader scenario

Firstly i wanted to say big thank you for everybodyone who read my previous scenario and liked it! Actually i have so much things in mind, and i'm planning to make some kind of story <3 still it's so much work haha This scenario was inspired by Taemin's sweet instalives, hope you'll enjoy it!

Word count// 1,008 words

Pairing// Taemin x you

Summary// Little sweet talk before sleep... or maybe something else :D

Genre// fluff + mild naughty talk

Warnings// none MASTERLIST

- Ah, when will you be done? - Taemin groaned again in past twenty minutes, sitting in bed under the covers and staring at you constantly.

- Give me one moment more, please - you replied, slightly annoyed by his questions, and reached for another cream. You were sitting at your desk with your legs crossed and just have been doing your evening routine. The day was quite busy today, you had a test and a few classes, so it was relaxing to have some time to yourself.

Taem, however, was so impatient today. All the time he patted the spot next to him on the bed or pushed back the covers saying it's time for you to lay down. Yes, his arms were also a comfortable place to rest, but you needed soothing atmosphere filled with taking care of your body.

- Baby, you don't have to put on so many creams, you're already beautiful - Tae complimented you sweetly. You snorted under your breath at his words and glanced at him. Taem blew you a kiss and smiled widely.

- I'm beautiful because I put cream on myself, baby - you answered as lovingly yet artificially, looking back at the mirror. - Besides, you could take care of yourself too, if you're so bored…

- I already applied my cream - he said happily. - I smeared it on my face and… look, even my elbows are soft and moisturized! - he pulled up the sleeve of his Kuromi pajamas.

You blinked a few times as Tae showed you his elbow. Sometimes Taemin really said weird things and acted… at least unusual.

- I'm impressed, really...- you replied after a moment's thought, suppressing a chuckle. - Do you need some kind of reward for this?

- A kiss. I like kisses as rewards - he murmured, completely missing your sarcasm. His eyes went to the button as he started playing with it. In moments like these he definitely didn't look nineteen, with his cute expression and just being in his affectionate and clingy nature.

- You're too spoiled, definitely - you put eye pads and crawled over him to your side of the bed, pecking his lips lightly in the process. He was actually right, even those were moistured with strawberry lip balm.

- And that's not going to change because I like being your spoiled baby - he said with satisfaction, adjusting his pillow and laying down next to you. - What is it? - he asked, running his finger under your eyes.

- Eye pads. I'll take them off in a moment, you couldn't wait - you rolled your eyes, sighing heavily.

- Of course i couldn't wait to hug you - Taem smiled playfully and got a little bit closer. You just stared at each other faces in complete silence for a long moment. Even though you were further than usual, you could still feel the radiant warmth of his body, as well as the incredibly strong love written in his eyes as he carefully traced every inch of your face.

It was a few weeks now since you moved out from your parent's house. Everything still seemed so weird and kinda clumsy, because there wasn't anybody who would say what should be done in home. Of course you knew how to do household duties, but Taemin was much more laid back about it. He often said you shouldn't be so stressed about little mess or preparing meals, but you just wanted this place to be as comfortable as possible. Because it was your and Taemin's home.

You frowned slightly and leaned closer to his face. You reached for his chin, making him show you the right side of his nose. For a few days now, you have noticed a strange dot in this place, which finally today took on the right colors and showed its appearance. But it was still barely visible.

- I was wondering what is it, and you're just getting a mole here - you said thoughtfully. - You didn't have it before…

Taemin grinned, obviously pleased with your little discovery. - It's especially for you... Of course, besides it makes me even more handsome - he said amused, reaching for your hand.

You watched carefully as he gently flexed your fingers, leaving only your index finger.

- If you press here… - he put your fingertip to his new mole. - I love you - he tensed the body slightly, saying it in a changed voice.

You laughed out loud. - You're an idiot, I swear - you snorted and he undaunted pressed your finger to his nose again.

- I love you - he said again, this time looking deep into your eyes. - You can press whenever you need it - he murmured, kissing your fingers affectionately. Even though you had been together for over three years, all his gestures were still so tender and filled with undying emotion.

However, you bit your lip lightly, carefully reaching out your hand from Taem’s grip.

- What if I press here? - you asked with giggle, reaching quickly under the covers and squeezing his crotch lightly. Taemin widened his eyes in surprise, even moving his hips back slightly at your gesture. Well, sometimes your playful side would start when he didn’t expected it at all.

- Hey, I'm all romantic here, and you only think about one thing! - he said indignantly, but it caused him to let out a soft laugh. You knew it was just a cover and Tae loved being sweet and innocent as much as a little bit naughty.

- It's not true - you whined loudly and quickly sat on your boyfriend’s hips. - I'm currently thinking of pressing more points on your body than just one - you added excitedly. - And the first one is here - You touched his lips with fingertips.

- Can I say something anyway? - he asked quietly, visibly stifling his giggle.

- Aish, let it be. Quickly - you rolled your eyes, taking your fingers slightly away.

- You look so weird with those eyepads, I won't be able to focus - he said completely seriously just to burst out in laugh, to which you started to hit his arms in annoyance. Sweet talk switched to lighthearted wrestling match just in few seconds, but it was so you and Taem.

[lxdymoon0357]

I need to comfort Minho…and give him a hug…and and and…and I need to tell him he’s sosososososososo loved and he needs a huggggggh

(Same...mentions of reader being richer than wookyung, also yes inspired by Glacier in March! also drabble, so short... T^T and so shitty...I hate myself, anyways enjoy!!!)

Someone to love me...

Sighing...Minho sadly stood outside your house with you by his side, you huffing in annoyance from the heavy rain and storm which ruined your date night....

"...I'm so sorry darling....How can I make it up to you?" you say apologizing to him, you knew he often didn't get this free or if he did he didn't really like going out a lot, so he did a lot for this as it was a year anniversary as well...

"..No-no...you don't-don't need to make up to me, this is my fault.." he mumbled, his voice cracking in between as you sighed, you cupped his face and softly kissed his cheeks and wiped his glassy eyes threatening to leak tears "..I just...I planned a lot..and it's ruined...god...I'm sorry for crying..." he mumbled as she only cupped his cheeks and nuzzled your face into his neck,

"it's fine....It's not our fault, rain came today! We can still make it special!!" you say, trying to cheer him up which worked slightly as he smiled and nodded and you got your butler to prepare a car for you. You decided to go without a driver today, driving on your own as you didn't wanted to call up someone the next morning or something and drive anywhere ...

you both entered the house only to find Eunhoo ruined the house with Megumi cooing with him...Minho stared in horror while you were only fighting Eunhoo to get Megumi in your arms...you won!

--

"..MEGUMI NO!" Minho almost lost his soul as he picked up the kitty from the stove...Megumi apparently had no self preservation skills and was about to burn his paws on the stove because he just made TEA!

Almost dying as he pet the kitty softly, he walked out to the hall to join you and Eunhoo as you two gossiped and talked about everything. the moment you see Megumi, you get up and immediately coddle the kitten to death, being it's literal mother...

it seemed as though you loved Megumi than your own self, which you probably did cause you felt that the kitten could never do anything even when it peed on Minho in front of your eyes...and Megumi apparently knew you could never be mad at it so it dared to cause as much misfit as it could get away with...

as you started the movies and opened the many snacks and INSANELY expensive drinks you bought for Minho and Eunhoo saying "Oh, it was nothing, my sister was being a bitch so I guess this will give her a lesson, haha!!!" (the drinks are above 1000$....) the two were appalled and you forced them to drink it and finally they did...sighing, you cuddled between the two with Megumi somewhere nearby doing something...as you finished the movie and started another one, and another one and yet another...

Laying your head on Minho's lap while Eunhoo was already passed out from drinking too much and eating too much with Megumi also sleeping a top of him, it's butt on Eunhoo's face...

[olderthannetfic]

I've done some reading challenges before and I think they can be fun if they have a purpose: for instance, something like the Read Harder challenge, ones that encourage you to read from different genres or read more diverse books, etc. I have a sort of evergreen challenge where I encourage myself to read more books written by authors from different countries, and keep a spreadsheet of which countries I've "read." (I also do this with other kinds of entertainment like movies.) But it's definitely true that some of them just seem to be for the gimmick and aesthetic, and for people who prize quantity over quality of reading in a sort of commodity-fetishism (as they're prizing books as markers of intelligence over the actual experience of learning and expanding your world via reading). Like when the challenges start to be things like "read a book with an orange cover" that's where I start to roll my eyes a bit, haha.

I will say that while I try not to be a snob about reading, it does drive me nuts when I've had people lord over how many more books they've read or how many more pages when they're reading beach reads and YA and other easily digestible stuff whereas I'm reading stuff that is heavier. One time when I was working some crappy minimum-wage job in college, I was reading this big omnibus of all Jane Austen's works (because I was taking a class on her where I was required to read those, not that I wouldn't read Austen otherwise lol) on my break, and one of the other employees asked me how many pages it was and I answered and he was like "pfft, that's nothing, I read all the Harry Potter books in a week and they're more than that!" And I wanted to be like.... yeah, me too, dipshit. I mean, I didn't literally read them in one week, but when each one came out, I devoured it within a day or two like a lot of people did, despite it being 800 pages. Because Rowling's prose is really easy to gobble up like that. Not that Austen is impenetrable or anything (I don't think she is and I think that's precisely why she remains so evergreen popular), but she does require more effort than *that*, particularly when you're reading her work for a literature class where you're expected to write a paper analyzing it, so you want to linger to make sure you really deeply understand it.

I've read academic monographs that were 150 pages long that took me weeks to get through, and I've read 800-page bestsellers that I ripped through in a few days. Pure page length does not determine how long it takes to actually read something. I mean.... in fandom we should all be aware of this, how many of us have devoured some 100k fic in a night or two? As someone who has written some of those academic monographs myself and therefore is familiar with how word count tends to relate to book page length, I can verify for you that that is the equivalent of devouring a novel in the same time frame. But it's a lot easier to do that when you're reading relatively invisible prose and are invested in your OTP getting together (or whatever) vs. if you're trying to digest someone's very dry and convoluted argument about Foucault.

--

I just read all of Scum Villain in about five minutes, yeah. And it was great, but nothing to brag about as an achievement.

I've got this friend who goes on about reading sooooo fast but then admits to often rereading to catch things that she missed the first time. It came up when I was explaining how seldom I reread or rewatch anything. I tend to remember it far, far too keenly after one time through, and it just doesn't hit the same a second time. I still read pretty fast, but not that fast.

I don't think it's snobby to roll your eyes at people who clearly don't grasp the difference between different difficulties of reading and—this is key—who are trying to wave their dick at you about how great they are. They started it!

The time I do roll my eyes is when people think you should read mega hard prose in order to learn, especially in order to learn vocabulary or get faster at reading. That's not what the science says. (Apparently, the fastest way to improve on that kind of thing is to read mass quantities of faintly hard-for-you stuff, not stuff that's hard hard.) But to learn how to decode confusing arguments? Yes, absolutely.

I do wish people would put a little more effort into unwinding their own tortured syntax on Foucault though.

[mazeinthemiroh]

is it too soon to make another request?? idk but i have another idea. can u do an ateez reaction to the guys dating someone whose personality is like another the one of the members, not sure if i worded it correctly but i’ll give an example. so hongjoongs s/o is similar to wooyoung in terms of being a chatterbox and the other members just make fun of him for it or something like that.

idk sorry if it’s so specific or if it’s confusing but to be completely honest my brain isn’t working after i read what u wrote hehe <333

ateez dating someone with a similar personality to another member

genre: fluff, angst, crack, literally everything bruh

word count: 1.1k

warnings: emotional whiplash if you read all of them in one go lmao

author's notes: a brief run down that no one asked for: wooyoung's is ANGSTY, yunho is jealous (and hot), hongjoong is clueless, mingi's one is subtle and cute af, etc etc etc just have fun with it idk???? love yall <;3

hongjoong

"and then he said to me 'well at least i can actually dress myself properly' like?? my style is sooooo much better than his so for him to have the audacity to say that is-"

you rambled on loudly to your boyfriend as he listened to you with immense interest. it didn't matter how loud you were or how much you had to say, he was captivated by your stories, finding the way you express yourself funny and endearing.

"they remind me of someone," seonghwa mused to san as they both watched you both from the kitchen. "wooyoung?" san questioned before nodding at seonghwa, " oh yes, absolutely."

they heard your explosive laughter sound in reply to something hongjoong said and started laughing too. "should we tell him?" san asked seonghwa, clearly amused by the realisation they had made.

"no," seonghwa shook his head with a smile, "he'd go crazy."

seonghwa

you were known for being blunt and sarcastic when it came to your humour, which honestly confused seonghwa immensely especially in the early part of your relationship; he couldn't tell when you were being serious or joking.

it was only when he observed you and yeosang together did he realised that you had an extremely similar sense of humour to him.

"hey, is this drink for me?" seonghwa pointed to a cup of coffee on the counter. "no, it's for the dog," you said nonchalantly, not thinking too much about what you were saying. seonghwa blinked, "we don't have a dog."

yeosang snorted at seonghwa's reaction and patted him on the back, "i think they were just joking." to this, he laughed sheepishly, "yeah, haha i knew that, obviously..."

yunho

"wow," wooyoung remarked as he watched you dance, "your dance style is so similar to mingi's."

your boyfriend, yunho, had invited you to hang with the other members in their dance studio. you'd been interested in dance for a while now and knew a thing or two about how to move.

"mingi, go next to them and both of you do the same move," wooyoung ordered, suddenly very intrigued with the situation. both you and mingi seemed to add the same unique style, the same sort of flare to the move. yunho watched on, and he couldn't help but be jealous.

mingi watched both of your reflections and saw what wooyoung was talking about, "he's right you know," he smiled at you, "maybe we should make a duet together."

"if there's anyone y/n's going to be doing a duet with," yunho interrupted mingi and glared playfully, before wrapping a possessive arm around your waist, "shouldn't it be with her boyfriend?"

yeosang

yeosang laughed hysterically at your bold claim.

"y/n," yeosang snickered, "there is no way you could defeat me in an arm wrestle. and i mean that in the nicest way possible."

yeosang was very confident in his abilities, and you couldn't blame him. he was going to the gym more often and especially focusing on building muscle in his arms. and you were just as impressed as he was with his results.

but he was very quickly humbled.

when it came to the actual arm wrestle challenge, his confidence shrank as you very quickly beat him. his eyes grew wide in awe and confusion whilst you stayed silent and grinned in response.

"what the-" he whispered, not believing the situation. "have you been getting tips from jongho?"

san

san found a lot of positives in the fact that your personality was quite similar to his roommate, yunho's personality. but there were a few things that he didn't perhaps like.

"come on guys," he whined, "that's literally the 5th game we've lost. neither of you are trying."

because you liked playing video games too, san invited you to play with him and yunho. which backfired, tremendously.

you and yunho were definitely not taking the game seriously at all. both of you were in a state of delirium by how much you were laughing at your ridiculously bad and chaotic playing.

"we're just playing sannie~" you said cutely and gave him a little smooch on the cheek after seeing his pout grow. your competitive boyfriend was not impressed!

mingi

"do you really need to sleep with all these plushies?"

mingi laughed as he stared at your bed covered in different variations of plush toys and cuddly animals, alike.

"i have to hug something when i sleep, okay?" you confessed rather shyly, as you grabbed a blue dinosaur plush and held it to your chest. what you said reminded him of san, who had the same issue. he too said he felt more comfortable sleeping this way.

"well," mingi grabbed the plush toy from out of your hands and wrapped your arms around his waist, "now you have me to hug while you sleep." he grinned and kissed your cheek. "and i'm much bigger than a plushie! there's more of me to love~"

you giggled at his reply as your grip tightened around him, feeling very much loved.

wooyoung

"i'm pretty sure you have every david bowie album ever to be released, y/n. your collection is incredible."

hongjoong was flicking through your cd collection, clearly engrossed with delight. you and hongjoong had the same taste in music and a shared interest in pop icons and culture. this was something your boyfriend, wooyoung, did not share with you, and he was starting to get insecure about it.

he watched on with arms folded as he sunk back into the couch. there was nothing he could contribute to the conversation, and he started to feel left out.

"i'm going to head home," wooyoung called out, grabbing his coat and heading for the door. "why," you began to feel worried that you and hongjoong had neglected him from the conversation.

"no reason," he responded bluntly, "i'm sure you'll have fun without me."

jongho

as the maknae, jongho was simply used to being pampered and taken care of by the other members, especially by seonghwa. and not by choice. jongho is actually a very independent person who likes others relying on him, instead of the other way around.

but when it came to you, he didn't mind at all.

"have you got your lunch?" you asked as jongho was getting ready to leave. "yep," he smiled, patting his bag where his lunch. you went over to him to adjust his tie for him. meanwhile, seonghwa watched on, quite appalled and offended.

"hey! you don't like it when i help you with stuff," seonghwa complained accusingly at jongho, who didn't even look in his direction.

"yeah it's because you're annoying when you do it," jongho teased his older friend before giving you a kiss on the cheek as a thank you.

[suckerforcate]

hi!! You asked for requests so here I come 👀👀 How about a fluffy fic with Larissa x reader who is a short and shy professor?

Nervous Mess

Pairing: Larissa Weems x Reader

Word Count: 831

Warning: none

A/n: Okay, so about this one. I do like it, that's not the problem but I am not quite sure if it's exactly what you wanted. It turned out rather flirty and less fluffy. Also I wasn't sure if Larissa and R should already be together or not. I decided for them not to be together pre fanfiction. If you want it different, that's no problem. Just send me a request and tell me so!! <3

You had always been very shy, an Introvert many would say. In addition to that you were very short and didn't take a lot for people to be taller than you. So next to Larissa, you literally looked like a garden gnome. Whenever she talked to you, you felt like your neck would snap, and she could so easily tower over you.

As imaginable being shy and short didn't mix very well with meeting someone who was very tall, smart and brisk and hot as hell. It just turned you into a nervous mess. Stumbling over your words even more than usual and making a fool out of yourself every time.

"(Y/n), could we talk for a second?" You nodded and turned to look at Larissa. Again she was towering over you, looking amazing and making you blush like an idiot.

"Could it be that you have a problem of sorts with me? It seems you don't talk very much around me, and you seem to always be quite nervous around me." Crap, your shyness had made the absolute wrong impression. You liked her, more than you probably should.

"I- No, I don't have a problem with you. I just… Yeah, you are the reason but..." she rolled her eyes, a little annoyed at your stammering.

"Oh, please. Get it over with. If you have a problem, that's okay. Maybe we can work it out." You shook your head at that and finally found your voice. Even if you could really look at her while speaking.

"No. I don't have a problem with you. I like you, a lot. Really, maybe even too much. It's just-... I've always been very shy, and obviously I'm quite short. But when you tower over me like, like you do right now and look so incredibly good while doing so. I just get flustered and nervous and I don't want to make a fool out of myself, but then I do just that." Larissa met out a deep laugh at that. Finally, you looked up to her, seeing relief but also mischief in her eyes.

"Do I make you nervous?" She was flirting, no doubt about that. And, it was working. She winked at you and ran a finger across your face, over your lips and just before turning around she breathed a quick kiss on your lips. Absolutely speechless you stood there for about another minute or two before you pulled yourself together and went on with your day.

From that on she took absolute advantage of the newly learned information. Your relationship was... Well, what was it? You weren't friends, but you also weren't a couple. She just flirted with you like crazy, kissed you all the time and was being the sweetest angel at the same time.

It wasn't uncommon for her to just come up from behind and hug you, laying her head on top of yours and gently placing a kiss on your hair.

On the other hand, it also happened often enough that she came up to you whenever you were close to a wall, gently pushed you against it and towered over you while steadying herself by leaning on the wall with one hand. With the other hand she took you face between her fingers to kiss you and let out a cheeky comment before leaving again. Of course making you putty in her hands and your knees wobbly.

The next time she did exactly that, you took all the courage you had in yourself (which wasn't a lot to be honest) and just asked her.

"Larissa, what are we?" She actually looked a little started at that, not having expected that you would ask something like that while she was trying to fluster you. Haha, ambushed out of the dark, you thought. Win for you.

She took a step back at that, her face kinder and all the flirtatious demeanour washed away for the moment.

"We can be whatever you want, darling." She was being sweet right now, why could she still make you knees pudding? With just one word.

"Well, I'd like us to be more. More than this. As much as I enjoy it, I want to go out on dates with you and I want to make you feel good and happy and pretty. I think I want to be your girlfriend?" Bold. You would have never thought that you would be the one to ask her something like that.

"If you'd like that, I can happily tell you that that's exactly what I would want too." Relief washed over your face. And just a second later you started grinning like an idiot.

But something must have been in your tea this morning to make you bolder. Because before you could rethink it you pulled her down into a kiss. And you saw her blushing. An actual blush grazed her cheeks. You really needed to do this more often. It just looked too pretty.

[nerves-nebula]

so, my original question was this:

how do you go about writing topics like abuse, sa, etc., because i had thoughts about adding these sort of things in a storyline of mine, but i'm not sure how i would do it without being seen as somehow offensive. i want to do it mainly for awareness purposes, definitely not to romanticize it or justify it, as well as vent a bit personally (thats more with the abuse topic though)

so i was just wondering how you think of it, is all. thanks!

this is really long and meandering so. under the cut. also, might be a lot of typos, i'm not re-reading all of this to make sure :P

i mean well. yknow. ok so like. i'm not really an expert here, cause I mainly write stuff how I'd want to read it, and there's a lot of people who do NOT want to read abuse stories the way that I write them and that's fine. me personally? I like getting into the graphic bits. I remember what happened to me, for the most part. I also like getting into the complicated feelings (like for example the weird kinks you can get from trauma) but I mostly avoid posting that stuff here because. well. because of a lot of reasons, mainly that people actually do not enjoy when abuse survivors aren't chaste about the ICKY parts of their abuse heahfshaf.

BACK TO THE POINT THO: the main thing that i've usually seen other survivors get annoyed at is the sa & abuse being used for shock and nothing else. like, the victims of the abuse not mattering or being used as fodder. and also, victims not having much of a life outside of their abuse.

I know that's rich for me to say cuz I can't stop abusing my characters and I tend to not have much time to do things other than what I'm REALLY interested in- so to a lot of you guys my characters can seem like they're kind of just going through it 24/7, but that's not really how I see them since y'know, I see the whole thing in my head.

but I've noticed that myself and others like it when abused characters also have like, other shit going on. imagine that, I know. A lot of people want characters who's abuse is kind of tangential to them. (not my preference, but this is something I've seen a demand for)

in a way I have a similar thing going on, though I frame it more as "let them get silly with it" hah. As in, I like when characters who are abused or sexually assaulted get to also be silly (editing this to be more clear: It's nice when a character experiences a full range of emotions & experiences. or has a normal day, or does things completely unrelated to their abuse. it feels jarring to some people but the reality of living with abuse is often jarring, as i'm sure you're aware. because one moment you're having a normal ass day at school or something and the next you're at home experiencing things that people consider too horrific to even talk to you about. so a kid hanging out with their friends being a normal silly kid can go a long way to making what happens to them feel more real, at least to me)

I also like it when abuse victims don't react in pretty ways to their abuse. when they get messy with it, when it makes them mean and preemptively lash out at people, when they fight back and aren't innocent. and maybe they never were innocent (which doesn't mean they deserved abuse, but a lot of people subconsciously believe that if you are a bad enough person then your abuse doesn't count or it doesn't matter as much)

one of my favorite characters when I was younger was (and still kinda is) Yuudai from Sakana. for a lot of the comic Yuudai was a genuinely mean person. Sakana is a comedy comic tho, so of course things don't get too dark for too long and people mostly ignored or just scowled at his jabs, but the main character was genuinely scared of him. So if you think about it, you really wouldn't wanna be around Yuudai irl because he was NOT fun or nice haha. long story short Yuudai's got some personal stuff going on, including (spoilers) an emotionally abusive ex who tells him on screen that no one else can stand being around him because he's so mean.

AND THE THING IS,, that's not entirely a lie??? like, it's a lie that no one else could ever love Yuudai, but it's not entirely untrue that Yuudai is kind of mean. which is what makes it effective. it also makes it clear that not all people who are mean are abusive. which i like.

OK THAT WAS A HUGE TANGENT so let me try to actually give some advice.

FOR ME, writing about abuse is akin to writing about, for example, race. in that you really do need to know why it's wrong to be racist in order to make an anti-racism story. You need to go deeper than just "we're all people" and really understand the malicious and insidious history of race science. you need to internalize that race, as it's thought of in modern day america, is NOT REAL. it's completely constructed. there is no genetic difference between people that you can figure out based on the color of their skin and their facial features.

you need to understand that all of that was made up and pushed by a lot of people to justify a lot of things. and you need to understand, at least generally, the state of various races oppression, and the histories there too.

it's like that, to me. which isn't even to say that you need to understand the exact histories, just the general mechanisms, y'know? (unless you're making a story about a specific kind of racism in which case you kind of do need to look into stuff. like, at least listen to activists and the like)

but like, you don't have to study every case of abuse to write about abuse haha. you just have to understand a lot of the contemporary issues abuse victims have. yknow, the reasons people get abused, the reasons people can't LEAVE abusive situations. how abusers get away with it. which is easy enough to do cuz the internet means you can listen to abuse victims by like, category or something. and that's another thing, not every kind of abuse is the same.

for me, I like expressing the feelings of abuse victims. especially parental relationships. including stuff like how much they might love or have loved their abuser. rage, pain, pleasure, adoration, helplessness, denial, the addictiveness of being given a sliver of praise, or the horror of living with a monster who does nothing but hurt you :D! the slow realization that someone who was supposed to love you absolutely does not. or at least, they don't love you in a way that's good.

umm this has all been very meandering and i'm not sure if its been helpful, so here's a very meandering bullet point list of things i try to do (these are NOT requirements for a good story or anything, they're just rules i follow for myself so I don't lose to the plot. you can and absolutely should do things outside of this these are my personal thoughts I'm spewing over here)

at no point should the narrative imply that the abuse was justified or necessary (for example, imagine a narrative where a magical child is abused and that abuse is said to be the reason they can control their magic instead of hurting people. in the broken earth trilogy, multiple characters with magic-earth abilities have their hands broken as children to prove they can control themselves. we're told this is for their benefit, but we later on see a small island that raises their magic babies just fine without hurting them, so the idea that this systemic abuse is necessary is disproven by the narrative. this is cause that's how it is IRL, corporal punishment has never made someone more disciplined or emotionally regulated and that's just a fact)

Focus on the abuser can be extremely minimal to extremely extensive. it really depends on the story you're telling, but how much you focus on the abuser vs the victim can majorly shift the tone & what the story is about so it's important to consider this going in (in Switch by A. S. King, the abusive sister who's fucked up the entire family isn't even named. She's a hole in the narrative. Switch is largely about taking the time to heal from something bad once it's over, so this make sense. in the Broken Earth trilogy, one of the main POV characters is both a victim and perpetrator of some pretty extreme abuse. I'd say that abuse wise, the broken earth trilogy is more about trying to fix things the best you can, moving on, and trying to be better, even if it hurts)

There are a lot of different ways to react to abuse and it will change you (I would recommend looking into different people's experiences, or common ways people react to abuse. a lot of people aren't aware they were abused until it's long over. or, if you're lazy like me, you can mostly just draw from your own experiences hah. but if you're gonna like, for example, write an entire cast of people who've been abused, it can be good to get more variety in there. some people react in ways that are completely incompatible with other people. which can be fun in fiction, cause then it gets messy :D)

What are the other environmental factors? (race, gender, class, sexuality, species, etc. these can all play a fun role in how someone reacts to being abused)

What's the point/Why does this matter/Why am I even making this? (I ask this about all my stories, sometimes it's just "because I want to share it" and sometimes it's like, "because I would want to read it" but it can also be more high concept, like for example, there are a lot of stories out there about the cycle of abuse and how abuse victims can end up reenacting things that happened to them because they've just internalized it as normal behavior.

don't forget to have fun :) (fictional characters are toys and if you're not getting silly with it in a fulfilling way then whats the point. loosen up a bit! it doesn't have to be a PSA!)

I would worry less about being offensive and more about being genuine tbh. really, even if i don't like the way abuse is written about sometimes, it hurts way more to see an author just using Tragic Shit as fodder. abused characters as nothing but place holder NPC's to be saved with no thought put into how they feel about it. that shit sucks.

if anyone else wants to add something more concise or important, or like, ACTUAL writing advice, PLEASE do. I'm only one person and I'm not even that good of a writer. i only write because if i don't then I'll die.

[bluegekk0]

26, 24, and 23 for holly + fpk

i'll go in order

23. Favorite picture of this character?

hmm, are we talking in game picture or a drawing i made? if it's the first one then there's not much to choose from, especially for pk (hell, since this is about fpk specifically, then that doesn't really exist haha)

so i'll pick something from my art folder i guess. i hope it doesn't reach self-absorbed territory, i'm always a little afraid of that

for holly, i think i'll have to go with the modern au pic (and also the reference sheet drawing since i reused the pose)

i'm very happy with it cause i think it really fits them. relaxed but slightly hunched over, as if the head is too heavy to hold it up. for the modern version specifically i'm just really happy with the outfit, once again i think it suits them and i like the colors i picked

for fpk, it's gotta be one of these two, i can't decide which one i like more but they're very similar in concept

something about seeing him on tree branches scratches my brain in just the right way. i still like the way i drew his tail in the first one, and the second one is just the right kind of aesthetic for me. i often see similar photos to this, with the moon behind a silhouette of a wild looking animal, and i want to draw something inspired by it. but then i have to remind myself that i already did haha

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

i'll start with fpk cause it's the easiest one for me. both the doctor and rory from doctor who give me fpk vibes very often. rory especially with his awkward tired personality, it's the main reason why i picked him for fpk's voice, it just fits. the doctor, specifically 10 and 11, are a bit more complicated. the autism coded traits they have are very fpk, though a lot of the more emotional moments related to losing others, living for so long and loneliness are a lot more grimm core to me. so i guess rory would be the more obvious one here

holly... yeah i don't know, really. they're a very unique type of character, and i can't think of a single one that reminds me of them 😭 i'm sorry

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

oh uhh. i guess that means i can talk about anything i want? hm

i've been thinking about the little speckles of void in fpk's blood and how that could relate to holly. i guess it all depends on whether it would leave his system after some time, or remain there. i'm gonna go ahead and say that it stays there, but the amount of it is so tiny it doesn't really impact him in everyday life. maybe it could amplify his negative feelings? though since there's very little of it in his body, maybe it wouldn't be enough. but i do like the idea of it making him more responsive to holly's void, in particular the noise it makes. he'd already be able to hear it better than others since his hearing is very sensitive, but maybe the void in his organism would make it even more obvious? like, maybe there are certain frequencies only he can hear because of it? i'm not sure how that would work, or if it's even going to be a thing i nthe au, but i figured i could share my thoughts anyway

[mariana-oconnor]

The Mazarin Stone pt 2

Should I be starting this at 20 past 11 when I have work tomorrow? No. No I shouldn't. And yet here I am. Because time is an illusion and sleep is for the weak.

(It's not, this is a terrible idea...)

Last time on the adventures of Billy:

Sherlock Holmes was looking for a shiny diamond. The guy who stole it came around and was about to bash in his head with his cane when he discovered it wasn't actually Sherlock at all! It was a waxwork. Then it ended with something that apparently wasn't supposed to be an innuendo.

Maybe I should commission some wax works of myself, just in case someone ever comes 'round to try to kill me.

“It is no use your fingering your revolver, my friend,” he said in a quiet voice.

Talking of things that aren't intended to be innuendoes.

The prize-fighter, a heavily built young man with a stupid, obstinate, slab-sided face...

Billy has been going to the same school of character description as Watson, clearly.

"Now, look here, Count Sylvius. I'm a busy man and I can't waste time. I'm going into that bedroom."

I don't know if it's just because I haven't slept well all week, or if this really is just full of inintentional innuendo, but everything is coming across as dirty right now.

“What is it, then?” asked Merton anxiously as his companion turned to him. “Does he know about the stone?”

I'm going to take a second to say that it's really nice how the muscle is being allowed to ask questions and they're being answered. So often, the brawny one just gets told what they need to know and nothing more, but here Mr Merton seems to be an equal partner in this endeavour. Good for these guys, honestly. Just because a man's a prize fighter and has a... 'slab-sided face' doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to be as involved in the criminal proceedings as anyone else.

“That's right. Maybe somebody's behind a curtain. Too many curtains in this room.”

Well, Billy's definitely listening somewhere, or he wouldn't have been able to write this.

There was a vague sound which seemed to come from the window. Both men sprang round, but all was quiet. Save for the one strange figure seated in the chair, the room was certainly empty.

Was the waxwork just replaced by a real person? I kind of want that to have happened.

“I've fooled better men than he,” the Count answered. “The stone is here in my secret pocket."

Oh my god. I can't believe you just said that out loud. While in enemy territory. You have the survival instincts of a panda, istg.

One or other of us must slip round with the stone to Lime Street and tell him.” “But the false bottom ain't ready.”

Yep, that's right, just blurt out literally everything right here and now. Clearly this is an excellent place to discuss the details of your secret plans.

"Come back here, out of a line with that keyhole."

Now you're trying to be surreptitious?

“Thank you!” With a single spring Holmes had leaped from the dummy's chair and had grasped the precious jewel.

He had replaced the dummy. Excellent. Love it.

“No violence, gentlemen—no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!"

Possibly the least effective 'please don't murder me' I've seen.

"It gave me a chance of listening to your racy conversation which would have been painfully constrained had you been aware of my presence.”

“A fair cop!” said he. “But, I say, what about that bloomin' fiddle! I hear it yet.” “Tut, tut!” Holmes answered. “You are perfectly right. Let it play! These modern gramophones are a remarkable invention.”

I can't believe someone actually said 'A fair cop!'

And the wonders of modern technology. A Recording? How unexpected!

“How do you do, Lord Cantlemere? It is chilly for the time of year, but rather warm indoors. May I take your overcoat?” “No, I thank you; I will not take it off.”

Haha! He is secretly three kobolds in a trenchcoat!

“Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satisfaction.”

OH boy, well clearly this guy is due his comeuppance, because he has no idea that he's in a Sherlock Holmes story and therefore if you insult Holmes' intelligence you're for it.

Sorry, Lord Cantlemere. Do not pass go. Do not collect £200.

"I may tell you frankly, sir, that I have never been a believer in your powers, and that I have always been of the opinion that the matter was far safer in the hands of the regular police force. Your conduct confirms all my conclusions. I have the honour, sir, to wish you good-evening.”

“Put your hand in the right-hand pocket of your overcoat.” “What do you mean, sir?” “Come—come, do what I ask.” An instant later the amazed peer was standing, blinking and stammering, with the great yellow stone on his shaking palm. “What! What! How is this, Mr. Holmes?” “Too bad, Lord Cantlemere, too bad!” cried Holmes. “My old friend here will tell you that I have an impish habit of practical joking. Also that I can never resist a dramatic situation. I took the liberty—the very great liberty, I admit—of putting the stone into your pocket at the beginning of our interview.”

Oh, Holmes. Always so hilarious with the practical jokes. This isn't as bad as pretending to be dead, or that time you invited a guy to eat with you, then hid something in his meal and he almost had a heart attack, but still... really? I know he insulted you and therefore needed his comeuppance, but still.

"Your sense of humour may, as you admit, be somewhat perverted, and its exhibition remarkably untimely..."

OK then.

That was an odd one. Completely different structure. Third person POV. We got to see Holmes' methods in that we got to see him stage two pranks, essentially. There was little in the way of deduction.

Not sure about that one.

Weird case.

[fitgothgirl]

Hiii look at me making a post! Haven't been super talkative here lately and hardly ever share my workout pics. Here's the one I just finished - I've never seen the t-rex before?? Fuck yeah. 🦖

Things are going pretty well. Since October I've still been successfully slowly cutting back on weed. I'm at the point now where I'm smoking a bowl per evening, if that. I have it locked up in my kSafe until 8pm each day. Soon I'll be updating the rule to 10pm, and after that I'll start smoking every other day, and so on. Me from six months ago smoking all day everyday would not believe I'm at this point! I'm proud. 😁 January 15th is the day I start my official break, two weeks before we leave for Costa Rica, so I'll be sure I won't be withdrawing by then. And when we come back I'm going to keep the break going to hit 8 weeks. Not quitting weed forever but I don't want to come back to the all day everyday shit... Not even daily either. Sounds crazy to me, probably sounds normal to most others though I'm sure lol.

Weight loss has slowed a bit but that's expected now that I'm smaller and I'm like a friggen solitary pound above having a normal BMI lol. Also ever since daylight savings ended, things have been harder to do and I've been feeling more blah. Story of everyone's life I'm sure... So considering all that, I'm still doing really well! No guilt or bad feelings about slowing weight loss or slightly less frequent workouts; no need to rush. At this point I've lost 29lbs/13.2kg total, 19lbs/8.6kg of which have been since late July.

I've also noticed visible muscle! The way my shoulder meets my trap when I flex is more defined, I have more biceps, I can often see my quads, my calf muscle has become an obstacle while shaving lol, etc. Loving it. 💪🏼

An NSV includes wearing more of my women's t-shirts; 95% of my t-shirts are men's shirts (band shirts and Blackcraft lol) since they're more comfy and I often don't like how women's t-shirts fit (depending on how they're cut; women's clothes have zero consistency). But I do have some women's t-shirts and I'm wearing them more again since they fit much better and I'm more confident (my skyrocketing confidence is another NSV!). And another NSV is needing a new belt, and soon here I'm going to need new pants! 😅

Therapy has been helping with all this too of course; I love my therapist. 🖤 She keeps things in perspective and makes sure to hype me up about how awesome I'm doing and tell me to be proud of myself. And since I'm doing so well, she makes sure that I give myself grace when I'm feeling more in a lull. Since things have been harder since DST, I've gotten a bit down or at least worried that I don't want to go back to how I was (health-wise, weed-wise, etc.), but we had a good pep talk yesterday. I'm not even regressing, just slowed down a bit. But who doesn't slow down this time of year...

Anyway, not sure what else to update since it's been a while lol. Had friendsgiving on Thanksgiving weekend, went to Vegas for my bf's work Christmas party a couple weekends ago... Last concert was Psyclon Nine in mid-November (pretty sure that's where I got a cold that emerged a few days later... Either that or an Addams Family musical we went to the next night. But all better now!). And I can't believe I'm saying this but I don't think we have another concert planned until ✝️✝️✝️ (Crosses) in friggen March. So uncharacteristic for us lol. I'm sure we can find something if we want, or I've also been wanting to hit up a Death Guild since it's been a minute for that too. Nothing else too crazy going on, our calendar's been a bit quieter than it has been in years past. But it's kinda nice haha. 😅

[gin-juice-tonic]

Hey Gin this might be a silly thing to ask, but how did you realize you were trans? Cause ever since I saw your trans Stan and Ford I think I had some sort of relivation, it started with just really enjoying the art you drew to me feeling some sort of envy. Either that I want to dress more masculine or that I actually want to be a man, cause honestly when I look at your trans stans I just feel so much gender envy (jealousy?) And on my last period I had a whole crying fit over it starting, which has never happened before. I just don't know if this is actually what I'm feeling or if it isn't. I've had thoughts of telling my mom and fearing the consequence. This is just all so new and I'm honestly scared. I figured I'd ask you since I look up to you and from what I've seen you are quite wise. I don't really know why I have so much self doubt and constantly flip flop over things. It's frustrating, I just wish I could be certain about something for once. Sorry about this, I'm a mess really.

It’s not silly to ask. My answer is unfortunately a little silly, because I’m a goober. I also typed A LOT so its all going under a read more

So, I was 16 and on tumblr even more than I am now, and I was (still am) friends with a trans woman who reblogged a post that was like “Just trans girl things: eating dark chocolate because it has substances similar to estrogen” and I went “Haha i guess I should stop eating it.” followed by “…why do I feel that way” and THAT was followed by quite the crisis.

Trans men weren’t as well known about back then, so I was like “Well, it means nothing, since only women can be trans”. And then I found out men could be trans too and that pushed my crisis further along. And I started to think. About how I liked when people defaulted to male pronouns for me on the internet, or how when i was a kid I would use a crazy amount of shampoo to make my hair look short and flatten my chest in front of the mirror and look at it. Things like that. And I got upset because “no i can’t be trans that’s impossible”. I would google things like “how do you know if you’re trans”, “quiz to see if you’re trans”, ect.

But the idea of being seen as a man was exciting. It was tantalizingly exciting. And I knew it could be possibility for me someday, and I knew that made a part of me happy and I couldn’t un-know it.

Final straw was a nonbinary person I had been following made a post about how they were going to start taking testosterone. And instead of feeling happy for them I just got mad and started sobbing to myself. Because I was so extremely jealous. So jealousy absolutely has its place in figuring things out.

You should think. Think about attaining the things you’re envious about. Does this make you happy? It’s okay if it’s upsetting or scary at the same time. Change often is. But if it makes you happy, excites you, gives you hope for the future, it’s worth thinking more about.

-

You don’t have to jump into telling your mom right away (and I wouldn’t really recommend it till you’re a little more sure of yourself). You can go at whatever pace you want to. I didn’t tell my mom (or anyone in my real life at all) till I was like, 20. And I’d known for 4 years at that point. You’ve sent me a tumblr message, so I’m assuming you’ve got an account here. I’d say asking your friends on this website to address you as male would be a good way to ease into things. And you can see if you like that or not.

For how you dress, again, you can ease into it. Personally it made me happy to dress in athletic clothing (especially tank tops- to show off my non existent guns), or to dress like a greaser (Though I preferred a black t shirt to a white one), or a golfer. None of those things particularly scream ‘man’ but they were man enough to me. You can find things man enough for you. If you want to try out a binder and think you can get one without anyone noticing, my first ever one was a Tri-top from Underworks. They’re like $30 or so. I was able to get away with buying it because I was a cosplay nerd so I just said it was for that.

If you’re the type of person who owns makeup- you could try to find some time alone just to have an experiment of mimicking drag king makeup, or makeup for cosplayers doing male characters. I did that once early on, and while it looked admittedly goofy, it made me ecstatic at the time.

-

Er sorry for things getting so long. But I just want to say lastly that self doubt is both normal and okay. And thinking far in the future (ie- things like coming out to people or hormones or anything like that) might scare you. But you can take things one step at a time if you want to. Play with just looking at clothes, making outfits on pinterest or whatever, imagining scenarios where people address you as male, thinking of names you might like. See what makes you happy, and expand on the things that do from there.

And regardless of what you discover, in the end you will have learned more about yourself. And that's always a good thing.