#How to Get Started with Accessible Design

[x-prettyboy-x]

Okay Erik request, maybes like fem!reader who's kinda scared abt getting a beautiful tattoo done by him 🥰, but calms her down if you know what I mean 😜😜😜, I can't remember if this is canon but perhaps Erik with a tongue piercing... If his mouth is involved 😍😍

Anxiety Management

Oh anon how I love you. I am such a firm believer in Erik having a tongue piercing. First time writing smut, its fine. I got this. I dont got this.

Pairing: Erik Campbell × Fem!Reader

Warnings: smut 18+ minors fucks off thank you, mentions of needles idk

Contents: oral(f receiving), fingering, established relationship, reader being terrified of getting a tattoo, erik calming her the best way he knows how, Erik with a tongue piercing and putting it to work‼️voice kink? If you squint? Hand kink. My god i love his hands.

Wc; 1.5k

Masterlist

You had no idea why you were so fucking anxious rightnow. Eriks the one doing the tattoo, no one else is here, the shop is closed. It's the best environment for you to get your first tattoo in, and yet you cant sit still. Can't stop freaking out over nothing. Erik was already all set up, his tattoo gun ready to go and all the ink he would need, sleeves rolled up with the usual black latex gloves. You were not staring at his arms. Absolutely not.

Erik picked up on how anxious you seemed pretty quickly, set aside the fact he'd given many people their first tattoos, he knows you. Knows the signs. He sighed quietly and scooted his stool closer, tilting his head at you with that shit eating grin of his.

"You changing your mind on me already? I haven't even started yet." He was teasing. He was always teasing. And most of the time, you loved his teasing. Not in this situation.

"Shut up. Im not changing my mind I'm just- nervous. Anxious. I cant fuckin sit still. Im allowed to be nervous, you're about to stab me with needles over and over." You were rambling, the anxiety getting the better of you.

"Well, baby. If you want me to do this, you kinda have to be still. And it won't be as bad as it is in your head, I promise. The tattoo isn't even that big. You'll be fine. Can you lay back for me? Need access to your forearm." He wasn't teasing you anymore, his voice was softer, less.. gravel in his tone.

You took a deep breath and laid back, extending your arm out for him on the table. Erik carefully put on the stencil and had you check it was the right placement, that you liked the design. And of course you did. Erik drew it, you always loved the things he drew up, that's how you ended up in this train wreck of a situation anyway.

Erik picked up the tattoo gun and moved closer, but stopped when he saw how badly your hands were shaking. You hadn't even noticed. He let out an exaggerated sigh and put the tattoo gun back down, standing up and pulling off his gloves and tossing them aside, "Okay."

You went into panic mode. Great, now he was mad at you. You were acting like a child and now he's mad at you. You quickly sat up and started rambling again before you could stop yourself, "Erik, baby. Im sorry. I'll calm down, I'll sit still, please just- give me like five minutes and I'll suck it the fuck up and-"

You didnt finish. You couldn't, not with Eriks hand on your jaw, tilting your head up to look at him. Not with that look in his eyes. That look he gave across a room and you knew what he wanted. Knew you needed to find the closest empty room avaliable.

"I'm not mad. I'm just gonna help my girl relax, yeah?" Oh you loved that voice. The voice that sent a pleasant shiver down your spine, made you wanna jump him on the spot.

He let go of your jaw and carefully pushed you to lay back, and you damn sure weren't gonna fight it. Once you'd gotten comfortable, he wasted no time in working to get your jeans off of you, and you didnt hesitate to help him. He looked up at you with a cocky smirk once he noticed the dark spot already forming on your panties. He let out a quiet 'hm' as he slipped the fabric down your legs, putting them in his pocket for now "Haven't even touched you yet, you like my voice that much?"

Yes. Among other things. Like his hands, you could stare at his hands for hours, and you had. You couldn't count how many times you'd watched him tattoo a client, watching his hands as they worked. Thinking about all the things those hands could do to you, have done to you.

He grabbed you by your thighs and used them to pull you closer to the edge of the chair, like you weighed nothing. That got your attention, your daydreaming quickly forgotten.

"I know you know how to use your words, pretty girl. I asked you a question."

How the hell were you meant to focus on forming words when he was looking at you like that? When he was trailing his hand further and further up your thigh torturously slow. "Well?"

You let out a huff of frustration and laid back, looking up at the ceiling so you didnt have to see how he was looking at you. Like he wanted to devour you. "Yes. I really like your voice."

"Good girl."

You felt him push your thighs apart, and even now, after you've been together so long and done this so many times, you couldn't help the slight embarrassment you felt. Couldn't help how you struggled to look at him. But all that was quickly forgotten when you felt his hand finally reach your heat, finally touching you where you needed him most. He pressed 2 fingers into you, wasting no time in starting up a steady pace, curling them just right to hit that spot he knew would have you on the edge in minutes.

You let out a breathy moan, your nails digging into the leather of the chair under you. You hadn't expected him to move so quickly, not that you were complaining. Erik usually liked to go slow, liked to drag it out and tease until you were a mess and begging for something, anything. But he had a purpose now.

"Yeah, that's it baby. Just feel it and relax." He whispered, kissing along your thigh. You hated how easy it was for him to work you up sometimes. You hated that he knew he had that much effect on you even more. So many times he'd look at you a certain way, whisper something in your ear while you were out in public just knowing it would work you up.

Just as you felt that knot start to tighten, that pressure starting to build, he stopped, pulling his hand away. You let out a whine before you could stop it and sat up on your elbows to look down at him, but before you could even get a word out to complain, his mouth was on you. The cold metal of that damn barbell in his tongue rolling against your clit just right. You were so fucking grateful in that moment that he'd made sure the shop was empty, a loud unfiltered moan being pulled from your throat. You laid back once again, your back arching off the leather under you. Your hand found its way down to his hair, fisting into the black strands and pulling him closer. And fuck you could've cum right then and there just from the sound that escaped him, low and desperate, almost a growl.

The tongue piercing had started as a joke. Erik had always loved going down on you. Sure, he liked getting head too but if he had the choice, he'd live between your thighs if he could, living off nothing but the taste of you and the sounds he pulled from you. One night, while you were laying on his bare chest, both of you still trying to catch your breath, you'd laughed and said he should get his tongue pierced. He took it to heart. He came to you with his tongue freshly pierced within a couple days. The healing process was torture for him, but my god he made up for all the lost time when it finally healed, keeping you on your back and him between your thighs for hours at a time. The best few days of his life if you asked him.

When your orgasm finally wrecked through you, your thighs clamping around his head and your moans getting higher pitched, more urgent, his tongue just fucked you through it until he felt you ease up, your moans of pleasure turning to soft whines from the overstimulation, the hand in his hair trying to push him away rather than pull him closer, only then did he stop.

Erik moved away with a groan, running his tongue along his bottom lip as he watched your chest rise and fall with each heavy breath you took. Erik loved this, the aftermath. Seeing you so beautiful and wrecked because of him. He walked around to the side of the chair, running a hand through your hair and giving you a smile "You still with me, baby? Hm?"

You looked over at him and nodded, carefully sitting up. "Yeah.. fuck, that piercing was the best joke I ever made."

He laughed, grabbing your jeans off the floor and your panties from his pocket to give them back and let you get dressed. "Yeah well, you know better now than to joke about me getting a piercing of any kind, because you know I'll do it. Now.. you gonna sit still and let me get this tattoo done?"

You gave him a nervous look, watching as he put on another pair of gloves and made sure his tattoo tray was still good to go.

"About that.. Can I still have that five minutes?"

[sourtomatola]

(Wrote this a while ago finally decided to post with a little pic to go with it)

Vampiric equinox AU and vampire Eclipse by @miwachan2

less that 2,000 words.

You’re not sure how you slipped away again. Or even how you’ve been kept alive for this long. You’ve seen how he was with his prey. Heck, you’ve experienced it more than once.

You’ve seen the herds of people he ushered though his residence, never to be seen again. You’ve seen the other’s who have survived. Surviving once, twice, then usually being seen no more after the third time.

But you’ve survived. You’ve survived his feedings more than anyone else has, despite blacking out from blood loss every time. You knew better than to think he was going easy on you. Not him. There was no mercy in his endo. Not an ounce.

You were a survivor. But you knew it was only a matter of time before your luck ran out. So you ran first change you got.

Your simple dress fluttered as you ran through the estate. You yanked the enlarged sleaves back onto your shoulder’s fruitlessly, the wide neckline designed for exposed shoulders. He did always like the easy access.

The thought made you choke back a shudder as you rushed out every door you could find, trying to evict yourself from this nightmare.

You burst through a larger door and fell into the night, enveloping yourself in starlight. You looked straight up and gasped at the beauty of the night sky, the ever-expanding sight of space taking away your gasping breath.

It was your first time seeing the sky in weeks.

“Little Dove…where did you fly off to?”

You had hoped to time your escape with the sun, but it would seem you had no such luck on that end, having instead to have timed your sleep schedule with the Master’s.

That voice jolted you out of your trance as you cursed under your breath. Of course he was aware of your escape! It’s not like you were trying to be sneaky exactly, you had just hoped to have the sun on your side.

You took a deep determined breath and started to run again. You made another feeble attempt to protect your neck with the loose sleeves of your dress, trying to give yourself courage and feel less vulnerable, even if just from the cold night.

As you started to reach the end of his domain and the beginning of your hope, a large cold hand snatched your arm harshly. You shrieked in frustrated desperation as you tried to yank yourself from the grasp, only to hurt your arm in the process. His bruising grasp held you firmly where he wanted you.

“Oh come COME now, If you wanted a tour of the night, you simply could have asked. As your host, I would have obliged.” He chortled in amusement, as if to laugh at his own joke. “My tenacious little Dove~”

You flinched and faltered in your fight as he spoke. His voice…you’ve heard it enough during traumatic times that it was like Pavlov’s dog. You body now shook with fear and expectation of pain.

“H-host?! You are nothing but my j-jailer!” You spat bravely as you yanked against his hold again. The thought to knaw your own arm off crossed your mind, but you didn’t dare show your blood to this beast. He would no doubt get far too much pleasure from it.

His grip, to your utter shock, suddenly vanished from your bicep, making you stumble in confusion as to why you had been freed. Of course, the thought of true escape had been too good to be true.

He then snatched up your hand and yanked you back towards him. He pulled you into him, but let your feet stay on the ground as he suddenly began to guide you in rhythmic stepping. He pulled you along in nonsensical directions, seeming to have no clear path. It confused you until he started to hum to the stepping, making you realize through your fearful eyes, that he was dancing with you.

“You play with your victims too much.” You grumbled and tried again to pull away from him. That went about as well as you expected, considering being held in a frame by a very large, very strong robot.

“Think of it as food prep. One would not prefer an unseasoned steak.” He hummed, seeming unbothered by your struggle.

“Oh yes, of course. How could I ever forget what I am to you.” You glared as he spun you out in a flare of dancing showmanship. With one hand free, you quickly slapped your short skirt down to attempt to stay modest. He giggled at your actions if it was nothing more than watching a kitten playing.

With only one hand still in his grasp, you tried to yank it out and was almost successful, managing to get out of his palm. Like the expert trapper he was, he swiftly readjusted his grip and yanked you back, spinning you again, but this time trapping you between his arm and body.

Effortlessly, you were lifted up and pressed close to him in the dance frame again, but this time he carried you. He held you high off the ground, and tightly against his chest. You kicked slightly in the air as a protest but gave up with an exasperated huff.

In such an intimate position, he could no doubt feel your pounding heart and breathless lungs perfectly. Your face heated with blush, feeling like a book forcibly opened, unable to hide anything. At the same time, however, you could also feel his inner working. Clicking and whirling that you have no doubt heard before but have never noticed, nor felt the vibrations of. It somehow brought you comfort feeling as though he was just as exposed as you were in this sense.

He once again began to lead you in a dance, but this time taking away your choice of footwork and will to follow. Forcing you to join in his unhurried movements back into his property, and farther from your freedom.

“No begging this time? I rather miss the begging.” He smirked as he looked far down on you.

“You’ll get no such pleasure from me this time.” You spat and looked away from him. The ground was a long way down. You hated that you were starting to get used to being place so precariously in his arms. You slightly hiked up your legs awkwardly, trying to feel less exposed and precarious.

“Oh? But it puts me in such a good mood~ I think you will find it preferable if I’m in a good mood.” He smugly cooed.

Your rage burned, your current position making you far bolder than you should feel at the moment. “Oh please! As if that’d make a difference! You’ve never shown me mercy! You’ve always been shocked every time I wake up! I’m not surviving by your fake version of kindness, I’m surviving because of my own will to live!” You snarled back at him.

Suddenly your back hit a wall that seemed to come out of nowhere and knock the wind out of you. You coughed, now being caught between a rock wall and a hard metal chest, your lungs slowly being crushed. You looked up in shock at the mildly amused smile above you. The glowing yellow eyes however, were anything but amused.

“You’re taking for granted my generosity, and throwing about insults that I do not appreciate.” He said flatly.

Your heart admittivity dropped at his tone, adrenaline rushing as your body screamed at you to get away form his as soon as you could.

“I am not mad however, because I am a merciful host.” His tone softened as his free hand coming up to give your exposed neck a stroke. You flinched and began to struggle again, knowing what he was planning. No matter how many times you survived, you always feared not waking up the next time. Not knowing when your luck would run out and he would actually drink you dry.

He watched you fight his grip, his wicked grin growing and showing off his lethal yellow weapons. “Beg.” He demanded cruelly. “Beg, and I will be sure you wake up again.”

You hesitated. He didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve this. Yet you couldn’t help but trust his word. Or at least, you wanted to. He hasn’t tried to keep you alive so far, right? You knew the only thing special about you was your fighting spirit he seemed so fond of.

He pressed into your more, his knee hitting the wall behind you, and separating your legs, just barely touching the edge of your skirt. “Beg.” He commanded softly. Your desperation to survive spiked again, but it also seemed to have cut off your ability to speak as you began to sputter and gasp from breath, being unable to form his desires.

He pulled back just enough to let you breath before leaning his head into your exposed neck. “Beeeg~” He sang before giving your flesh and swift lick. Chills rushed over you and a word finally formed from your mouth.

“Puh…p-please!” You wheezed fearfully.

“Ah, there you are! Oh but I do believe you can do better than that…” He chided happily before letting the flat of his teeth brush across where your neck and shoulder met. His free hand slithered up your neck and gently clenched your chin, keeping your head in place.

“P-please don’t…don’t drink it all! I-I’m begging Eclipse! Let me wake up again, please!” Bitter tears fell from your eyes as you gave him what he wanted, craving that second chance to survive again.

“There it is~” He grinned and nuzzled his face under your chin, making your breath hitch. Your heart pounded faster, the thought of him not keeping his word tearing through you. “This has been so much fun~ How could I ever end our little game permanently? No dear Robin, I am far from done with you.”

A breathy chomp sound came from his voice box as he took your neck meat in between his teeth, making you flinch and tense up, awaiting the pain. When it was delayed, you relaxed to hear him giggle at his prank. His teeth bit your flesh far to gentle, nothing but a play bite.

Your face turned beat red and hot at the humiliation of his toying with you, making you beg and flinch at his words. You let out the breath you were holding and began panting, stunned when you feel you should expect his teasing’s by now.

“There.”

While flushed and relaxed, he sunk his teeth into you for real, biting deep and sucking on the wound hard. You gasped and cried out from the shock, feeling more embarrassed with how he toyed with you, and that you fell for it again.

Your hand came up and grabbed at his arm, clenching the fabric of his shirt sleeve in your fingers. ‘Don’t let go’ You told yourself. ‘Stay conscious, and don’t let go!’ Even with your wavering vision, you told yourself that holding on to his shirt meant holding onto your life. “Stay alive, don’t let go…” you muttered blearily.

Eclipse hummed questioningly, but kept enjoying his meal, working your flesh in his mouth to keep the blood flowing. He gave one last lick before looking at where your hand held firmly in your unconsciousness. “Well…fortunately for you and I, you seem to be quite good at that.” He smirked.

[lookingfts]

Enjoy media again

This is a bit of a long one, but if you want to change your relationship to technology in a manageable but effective way, you might find this interesting.

Over the past year or so, I’ve realized how exhausting technology has become. I’m a Millennial, so I grew up with CDs and VHS/DVDs. I was attached to the hip with my iPod and I have fond memories of browsing video stores to pick something for family movie night.

Then came smartphones, and streaming. And I was happy with both for years, until I realized:

I hate my phone. And I hate streaming. And I hate, more generally, what modern technology has evolved into.

Everything is designed to die quickly, to hoard your attention, to screw creators and suck your energy and joy dry.

I’m not alone in this, of course. At the end of this post, I’ll link to some great videos that helped motivate me in making changes.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but I wanted to share a bit of the journey I’ve been on and the changes I’ve made to fix my screwed-up relationship with technology.

First up: my phone is a black hole.

If you asked me, I would say I’m not addicted to my phone. I rarely use any social media except for Tumblr. I don’t need to use my phone much for work. And yet, somehow, my screen time was consistently seven hours or more.

How? Where was that time even going?

So I started taking suggestions from other people and applying them to my smartphone. Here are the big ones, and how well they worked for me.

1. Deleting games

This is pretty self-explanatory. If there’s a game on my phone, I’ll blink and suddenly be on level 400. It’s what I do while I watch TV. And I never feel like I have anything to show for it. Games are not inherently the problem; but without any kind of tangibility, it just all washes over me with no impact.

So I don’t keep games on my phone. If I’m really itching to play something, the Google browser has some free games without ads, like Solitaire. But even that I have to tread carefully with – it’s too easy to keep shuffling. I have a hunch that if I broke out a card deck and played Solitaire the old-fashioned way, I’d get a lot more out of the experience.

2. Hiding apps from the home screen

Some apps just stare at you. If you hold down until the app wiggles, and press Remove App, you have the option to remove it from the home screen but keep it in your app menu. I find this extremely helpful for apps that often distract me. For me, that’s email and Tumblr. Those are my “slot machine” apps – the ones that I refresh to get the hit of dopamine from something new. The point is for me to have to work slightly harder to get to them. To create friction between me and my time wasters.

The first day after you move something, you will compulsively click on that slot 100 times. And then you'll realize how much you were reaching for it.

3. Setting time limits for apps

The first night that I set a 45-minute time limit for email, Tumblr, and Instagram (which I rarely used to use, but had recently found myself checking mindlessly, even though I can barely see the actual posts from my friends anymore) – I was already over the limit for the day. That felt like a wake-up call. Why was I on my email for 45 minutes? There’s nothing critically important in my email. Ever.

I find myself with a different mindset when I open these apps now. The ticking clock in my head makes me view each moment I spend on there as precious. The goal is to see everything I want to see before I’m blocked. This artificial scarcity makes it more interesting and less compulsive.

4. Changing my phone to black and white

This. THIS. This is the single thing that brought my screen time from 7 hours a day to about 1 hour a day.

Putting my phone into black and white did something to my brain. Almost immediately, I could feel that my eyes were less strained and my mind was quieter. I did not expect that.

It’s an accessibility setting, and it’s not easy to get to, for obvious reasons (Apple doesn't want you to). For iPhone, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. I used the Grayscale and there’s an option to control the intensity of the filter. I have mine at about 85%, since the full 100% grayscale is a little hard for me to see.

I’m not kidding. This is game-changing. It takes away 90% of the temptation of your phone. I can still do everything I need to do – and for the things I want to do, like looking at pictures in color or watching videos, I use my iPad or my laptop or my TV. Those devices have never had the same issue of overuse for me; I think phones tend to be the easiest to abuse. But whatever device causes you problems, you can probably use some variation of these tips to help.

Second: streaming sucks now.

Not just the cost, or the ads, or the fact that you need 7 different services to watch everything you want.

For me, it was the decision paralysis. Every time I booted up Netflix, I felt overwhelmed by choice. How do you wade through all the low-quality filler to find something interesting? Nope, nothing here. Move to Amazon Prime. Move to YouTube movies. Move to Disney+.

I not only found it exhausting…I felt as though the endless choice was making media meaningless. Movies, TV shows, and music were all blurring together in my brain. Once in a blue moon did I actually get excited about something I saw on a streaming platform.

There are other issues: streaming movies and shows can be altered. They can be deleted without warning; even for things you bought. Algorithms control what you see, and you lose the feeling of choosing for yourself.

Now, I kept Netflix, mostly for its original shows. I’m on the lowest ad-supported plan, which is about $9 a month. I may cancel it and only keep it for a few months out of the year, to catch up on everything at once. It’s not hard, with seasons being like 8 episodes.

But I canceled everything else. I canceled Sirius, I canceled YouTube Premium, I let it all go.

Here’s what I did instead:

1. I got a library card.

I’m privileged to have a lovely library very close to me, and I was embarrassed that after 13 years of living in this town, I didn’t have a card. I recently started getting back into reading physical books as well. So I got my library card and checked out some books.

I had no idea how much libraries offer now. With my library card came completely free access to Freegal Music, Hoopla, and Libby. Those will probably vary depending on your library.

Freegal Music is basically like any streaming music services, only you’re limited to five downloads a week. But you can stream almost anything, and I find that the curated playlists take me out of the "sameness" that I felt with my YouTube Music playlists.

Libby and Hoopla have e-books, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, music, and binge passes that you can check out to binge content on other streaming services.

I’ve barely scratched the service of what’s available. Of course, the selection is slightly more limited, and you have to “borrow” things electronically before you can use them. But that only works in favor of my quest to feel more connected to the media I experience. There’s a time limit on it, and that creates some kind of urgency.

If you’re lucky enough to have access to a library, please use it. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. Even if you go literally one time, just to get a card, you can enjoy so many of their digital offerings. (Though my library does also offer fun in-person events, like reading clubs and craft classes. And you can check out 50 things at a time. 50!!!! For a month!!!!)

2. I bought DVDs.

Recently, I went down a rabbit hole about physical media. Like everyone else, I tossed all my DVDs and CDs years ago. Waste of space. It’s old tech.

But it’s true: you can’t own digital media. It’s not yours – you’re only renting it, even when you buy it.

I’m a pretty avid thrifter, and I had always seen the tons of DVDs and CDs and vinyls at thrift stores, but I never bothered to look.

So that was my first stop. I went to my favorite thrift store and found a Blu-ray player for about $9 and a DVD player for $7 (in case one of them didn’t work). Let me tell you – I had a BLAST picking out DVDs. It was so much more fun than clicking through a streaming menu. Right now I have a little over 30 DVDs (at a couple of bucks each – each one was literally cheaper than me renting a digital copy), including tons of my all-time favorite movies. I was shocked that I found so many of my A-list faves on my very first trip – Sunshine, Pride & Prejudice, the whole LOTR trilogy.

Feel free to judge my taste...I don't mind.

(You can also rent DVDs at the library.)

I made sure to buy players that came with the cords so I didn’t have to buy any (I’m only moderately tech literate) and it works great.

Beyond the fact that DVDs and Blu-rays aren’t compressed like streaming and so might actually look and sound better – I was just excited about media, for the first time in a long time. These are my favorites. I own them. I get to look through this collection and decide what I’m in the mood for. I get to keep hunting and find even more of my favorites.

I also got a handful of CDs. I love the way they look. I love interacting with media again. Fortunately, I have the space to display them, but you can also remove them from the cases and put them into a CD sleeve.

A huge used physical media store opened down the street. I’m so excited to see what they have. It might become my new favorite place.

I can still stream on Netflix. I can still buy a movie on Vudu or whatever if it’s something I’m really in the mood to watch. That option isn’t going anywhere. And if you like streaming certain things, go for it. I am not against streaming as a concept. I just felt like streaming had become this draining, chaotic maze that I was lost in, instead of something that made my life better and more convenient.

Maybe we need a little inconvenience. Maybe having everything in the palm of our hand only devalues those experiences and lessens the impact.

Maybe some of these things that I did aren’t available to you – but hopefully some are. I hope this is helpful to anyone who feels like I do. This is just part of my journey, and I want to continue finding a way to live more actively and intentionally in this world that is trying so hard to make us isolated, tired, and passive.

A big shoutout to all these creators who inspired me. Here are a few videos that really helped me:

Only Consuming Media from the Library

The Importance of Inconvenience

Using This iPod for 30 Days Changed My Life (a series)

Replace all of your subscriptions with a library card

[diogenesprintco]

A5-size print of a lobster based on an uncredited illustration from a 30's edition of Brehms Tierleben. I got some new red ink specifically for this guy - I'm starting to get used to the Charbonnel inks as they're more accessible for me here. For those of you interested in shop talk, they seem more tacky and less oily than Cranfield, and I will say the texture seems more uniform across colours. (I am, however, continuing to use Cranfield extender like my life depends on it.) Now that I know how well this one works, I've got a few ideas for other designs to print in red, but I'd gladly welcome any suggestions!

[study-diaries]

Productive Things To Do Over Senior Year Summer Year [Guide + List]

Here is something that most don't tell you. After high school is over, everyone goes into a break mode. Which is completely fine, but the tricky part comes when they completely spend the days scrolling Instagram and watching YouTube videos.

I'm not against social media, definitely no. But I still feel that there is a way to productively use that time spent on your phone. I also don't believe in blindly hustling, so this is fully going to be customized and focused on what you specifically want. Literally.

So, here's how to have a productive and fun summer break.

Step 1: Figure Out What You Want

You have to honestly answer these questions in order for this to work. No influences.

So, take a pen and let's figure it out together: -

What are you currently interested in? (Could be anything. Literally. Finance, marketing, riding a bike, photography)

What kind of person do I want to be by the end of this summer? (Give every detail. Is it productive with a skill? Or is it just a more peaceful person with a more stable mindset?)

What opportunities might come in the next year that I want to be prepared for? (Again, you have to think about this. All on your own)

What times of day am I most focused?

What responsibilities do I need to work around? (family, chores, part-time jobs etc)

Once you have the answers to these questions, you have a general idea of what you want to do, not what you have to do or whatever your delusional idea of productivity is.

Step 2: Create Your Plan

Based on whatever those answers are, create a plan. Not just any plan, it should be something you like. See, most don't like school because they don't see the point of it, they get restricted access of learning that depends mostly on grades.

This would be something that you chose on your own, so obviously there are more chances of you getting it down and actually being excited for it.

So, Make a list of around 3-4 goals that you have to reach by the end of summer. It could be anything. Learning a skill, language or just habit building.

Step 3: Hack Your Algorithms

I don't think most people highlight this specific thing but it's honestly really easy. Social media is not the problem, literally it's not. Here's an easy way to use it that is actually productive:

Search For Things That You Want To Learn.

Watch Content Only Related To That.

If you look at my YouTube homepage, you'd only find business, marketing, coding and finance related videos. Because that is what I actually watch. My screen time on YouTube is at least 3-4 hours. And that is what gets recommended to me every time I open any platform. The more you search for content you're interested about, the more it gets recommended to you.

Step 4: Take Action

I could give you a blueprint and it would not be enough if you don't follow it. So, take actions. Literally. Mini steps every day that pile up when you look back after 3 months.

Small actions performed consistently every day for a week is better than time intensive actions performed only once a week.

Step 5: Have Fun Too. Major Priority

Just because you find yourself wanting to be productive, that doesn't mean you should completely ignore having fun. Set your goals, take steps and actually have fun too.

You need a holistic development plan, not a narrow one. So, go out, have sleepovers, plan loosely and actually live.

You can be productive and fun!

A List Of 15 Things [For People Who Actually Have No Idea What They Want To Do]

📖 Read — Fiction, non-fiction, historical... just something that moves you. 🧑‍💻 Take a course — Online or offline. Choose something you’re curious about. 🎨 Learn basic graphic design — Try Canva, Photoshop, or GIMP . Anything. 💸 Start learning financial literacy — Budgeting, saving, investing. 🎬 Watch documentaries — Pick a topic that fascinates you and dive straight in 🚶 Go on walks — Move your body, appreciate your surroundings 💪 Exercise — It doesn’t have to be intense. Just to keep yourself active. 🧺 Plan a picnic with friends — No productivity, just having fun. 👨‍💻 Learn to code — There are so many free resources. Learn anything. Front end. Backend. 🧹 Declutter your surroundings — Because it helps you to clear your mind. 🛏️ Clean your room and move stuff around — You probably haven't done that in a while. 👩‍🏫 Tutor someone — Keeps you occupied. You help someone and can even charge some meagre charges. 🖌️ Paint, draw, or create — Creativity is really important. 📓 Journal your thoughts — Just let it out. No prompts. Just write what you feel 🍳 Learn to cook — It helps in the long run and you get to eat it later ;)

_______________________________

I hope it helps ! :)

[uiuxcafe]

How to Get Started with Accessible Design | Product Design Manager at Justworks | Sabrina Hall

How can you make websites accessible and still on brand? Sabrina Hall, Product Design Manager at Justworks discusses how businesses and brands need to take web accessibility into account to increase the reach and use of their products, and shares tips and tools to designing with an accessibility lens.

"Digital accessibility reflects how we are all different and constantly changing and adapting to the world around us"

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

tbh i think that even unwinnable fights should be winnable. some of the BEST fights i've ever run as a dm were ones i built kill the players (in a fun way. I had some cutscenes prepped so even the loss would be a different flavour of win)- but then they were clever bastards and managed to either win the fights or pull themselves out of trouble. I think it's perfectly fine to plan for a fight that players aren't supposed to win, but you need to let them. if they can't win, they can't lose, and the meaning of that encounter is diminished. do that too many times, and they stop trusting you to give them roleplay prompts and start expecting to sit there waiting while you drive the story for them.

but if they can win... if there is always the chance to win, no matter how impossible the odds, then they ALWAYS have hope. they always get invested. they feel the big emotions of success or the big emotions of failure, and you fucking Win as a dm/roleplay prompter/lead bastard.

[starguider]

I was about to rush through more of the main chapters of Exedra today and then they hit me with Magia Record chapters so i'd probably be a lot further level wise but... Arc 1 hehehe uwu i miss it. So i read it.

I noticed some slimming down which i guess makes sense. since Exedra wants to jump around and show off many stories from the franchise but idk. The game had so so much story and character building. Also no voices? :( sad. Hope they get added in eventually

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Cybercriminals are abusing Google’s infrastructure, creating emails that appear to come from Google in order to persuade people into handing over their Google account credentials. This attack, first flagged by Nick Johnson, the lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), a blockchain equivalent of the popular internet naming convention known as the Domain Name System (DNS). Nick received a very official looking security alert about a subpoena allegedly issued to Google by law enforcement to information contained in Nick’s Google account. A URL in the email pointed Nick to a sites.google.com page that looked like an exact copy of the official Google support portal.

As a computer savvy person, Nick spotted that the official site should have been hosted on accounts.google.com and not sites.google.com. The difference is that anyone with a Google account can create a website on sites.google.com. And that is exactly what the cybercriminals did. Attackers increasingly use Google Sites to host phishing pages because the domain appears trustworthy to most users and can bypass many security filters. One of those filters is DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), an email authentication protocol that allows the sending server to attach a digital signature to an email. If the target clicked either “Upload additional documents” or “View case”, they were redirected to an exact copy of the Google sign-in page designed to steal their login credentials. Your Google credentials are coveted prey, because they give access to core Google services like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube, but also any third-party apps and services you have chosen to log in with your Google account. The signs to recognize this scam are the pages hosted at sites.google.com which should have been support.google.com and accounts.google.com and the sender address in the email header. Although it was signed by accounts.google.com, it was emailed by another address. If a person had all these accounts compromised in one go, this could easily lead to identity theft.

How to avoid scams like this

Don’t follow links in unsolicited emails or on unexpected websites.

Carefully look at the email headers when you receive an unexpected mail.

Verify the legitimacy of such emails through another, independent method.

Don’t use your Google account (or Facebook for that matter) to log in at other sites and services. Instead create an account on the service itself.

Technical details Analyzing the URL used in the attack on Nick, (https://sites.google.com[/]u/17918456/d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/edit) where /u/17918456/ is a user or account identifier and /d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/ identifies the exact page, the /edit part stands out like a sore thumb. DKIM-signed messages keep the signature during replays as long as the body remains unchanged. So if a malicious actor gets access to a previously legitimate DKIM-signed email, they can resend that exact message at any time, and it will still pass authentication. So, what the cybercriminals did was: Set up a Gmail account starting with me@ so the visible email would look as if it was addressed to “me.” Register an OAuth app and set the app name to match the phishing link Grant the OAuth app access to their Google account which triggers a legitimate security warning from no-reply@accounts.google.com This alert has a valid DKIM signature, with the content of the phishing email embedded in the body as the app name. Forward the message untouched which keeps the DKIM signature valid. Creating the application containing the entire text of the phishing message for its name, and preparing the landing page and fake login site may seem a lot of work. But once the criminals have completed the initial work, the procedure is easy enough to repeat once a page gets reported, which is not easy on sites.google.com. Nick submitted a bug report to Google about this. Google originally closed the report as ‘Working as Intended,’ but later Google got back to him and said it had reconsidered the matter and it will fix the OAuth bug.

[kaiserin-belladonna]

Reblog and share and boycott.

Boycott ExpressVPN

[imfromsixam]

My Dream Teen Sleepover (CC Pack for The Sims 4)

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to dive back into creating something special for teens, but I’m thrilled to share that the wait is over! I’m excited to introduce you to the My Dream Teen Sleepover CC Pack, designed to bring the ultimate sleepover experience to your Sims' lives.

This pack is all about capturing the fun and cozy essence of hanging out with friends. Whether it's playing a spin the bottle game (decorative), indulging in makeup or skincare routines, or gossiping about high school, this pack has everything your Sims need to create unforgettable sleepover memories.

Enhance your sleepover scenes with this CC pack that includes 26 items. You’ll find a new vanity with a classic movie star look, plus comfort items like a bed, chair stool, and a sleep mat. For décor, enjoy posters, face sheets, magazines, flower and heart pillows, a polaroid camera, polaroids, a polaroid wall hanger, a skincare kit, a smartphone stand, a spin-the-bottle game, and a wavy mirror.

Don’t forget the electronics with a speaker and three versions of string lights for perfect ambiance. Store your essentials in a dresser and keep surfaces stylish with a night table and tulip night table.

Also, I've always wanted to have floor cushions where my Sims could sit, and thanks to Growing Together, I've been able to use the sleepbag functionality to create them.

Ready to turn your Sims' sleepovers into the ultimate teen hangout? Get Early Access to My Dream Teen Sleepover CC Pack now and start the fun!

Don’t forget to share your sleepover scenes and tag me—I can’t wait to see how your Sims enjoy their dream sleepovers!

About this CC Pack

This CC PACK includes 26 items

Activities: Vanity (Requires Glamorous Vintage SP), Face Sheets (Requires Spa Day GP)

Comfort: Bed, Chair Stool, Flower and Heart Floor Cushion (Requires Growing Together EP), Sleep Mat (Requires Growing Together EP)

Decorative: Posters, Face Sheets, Magazines, Flower and Heart Pillows, Polaroid Camera, Polaroids, Polaroids Wall Hanger, Skincare Kit, Smartphone Stand, Spin Bottle Game, Wavy Mirror

Electronics: Stereo/Speaker

Lighting: String Lights (3 versions)

Storage: Dresser

Surface: Night Table, Tulip Night Table

▶ ACCESS INFO

Public access: December 2

GET EARLY ACCESS HERE

[ripcupid]

Sevika is now a council member, why not make it smut 🤷🏾‍♀️

- I honestly don’t know how I feel abt this or even the ending of arcane but fuck it btw I have another sev fic i should finish soon. 🤞🏾

Send request if you have any 🤍

“We shouldn’t be doing this here,” You pants, holding Sevika's shoulders as she fervently kisses your neck, pressing you against the table, her breath hot against your skin. "You have a meeting soon, what if someone walks in?"

Sevika pulls back to you, her eyes dark with desire as a mischievous smile plays on her lips. "I don't care, let them," Sevika smirks, lifting you easily onto the table and wrapping your arms around her neck before saying, "You know why? Cause I'm a fucking councillor now, I make the rules, baby.

You giggle at her boldness, unable to push aside the ache growing between your thighs at the possibility of the rest of the council walking in on you. "Please just be quick, Sev," you plead, playing with her hair as she leans in closer, her lips brushing against your jaw.

"I can't promise that, babe," she chuckles, kissing along your jaw as her hands slips under your shirt, pulling you closer.

You can't help but moan softly as she nips and sucks at your neck, moving your head to give her better access as you give in to her touch. Sevika's hands move with urgency, making quick work of your shirt and bra, tossing them to the floor before standing back to get a good look at you.

"Fuck, baby" she breathes, trailing her eyes over your exposed chest with hunger in her gaze. "Take those off for me," she demands, her eyes locked on your every move as you eagerly comply, stripping yourself of your jeans, leaving you in just your underwear. You blush at her staring, shying away slightly before meeting her eyes with a shy smile.

"Stop being shy, c'mere," she murmurs, stepping forward, her hands tracing your waist before settling on your hips. "You’re so fucking hot," she says against your lips making you giggle before pulling you into a passionate kiss, her lips moving hungrily against yours.

Sevika guides you to her designated chair around the table, pulling you onto her lap as she deepens the kiss, her hands resting on the curve of your ass. You wrap your arms around her neck, subtly grinding against her thigh as she kneads your ass, giving you a playful spank. You tuck your head into the crook of her neck, hiding the whimper that escapes your lips as she rubs over the now sensitive skin.

"Don't hide from me, baby," Sevika demands, spanking your ass again, making you gasp. You face flushes as you meet her intense gaze, feeling a surge of arousal at her hands slowly guiding you to grind against her thick thigh. Your clothed clit rubs against your panties, the damp fabric creating a delicious friction that makes you twitch in her lap.

"Oh fuck, Sev," you moan, bunching Sevika's shirt in your fists as you grind harder against her. The feeling of her strong thigh against your throbbing clit fogs your brain, forgetting about the meeting starting soon, only able to think about how badly you want to cum.

"Does it feel good, baby?" Sevika coos, brushing back your hair and holding your face in her hand. You nod, unable to form words, the only sounds escaping your lips being desperate whimpers and cries. "Yeah, you wanna cum for me?"

"Yes, please," you manage to gasp out, your hips faltering when Sevika flexes her thigh against you, increasing the pressure on your throbbing clit. Sevika's hand leaves your face, trailing her fingers down your neck to your tits, teasingly circling your hardened nipples.

You twitch as she pinches the sensitive buds, chuckling softly at your reaction. She leans back in her chair to watch you squirm in her lap, a wicked smile playing on her lips as she taunts, "My meeting starts soon and I would hate to leave you like this." You whimper in frustration, feeling the heat pooling between your legs as Sevika's finger trails even lower.

"No, please, I'm so close," you cry, humping against her thigh desperately. Sevika's grin widens as she pulls your panties up against your dripping core, reveling in the way you writhe and moan under her touch. As your orgasm builds, Sevika guides your hips to move faster, feeling you drip onto her thigh.

"Can I cum, Sevika, please? " you beg, your voice shaky with need as your head drops against her chest, feeling the tension building in your belly.

Sevika chuckles, stroking your hair gently as she whispers, "Of course, baby." With her encouragement, you finally reach the edge, tucking your head in her neck to muffle the cries of pleasure as your body trembles.

As you come down from your high, you face Sevika again, a shy smile on your lips as you give her a quick kiss before getting off her lap with shaky legs. "You need help?" Sevika jokes, watching you stumble slightly before getting up to help.

"I'm good, just need a minute," you pant using the table to steady yourself.

"Let me help," Sevika insists, picking up your clothes and carefully dressing you.

"Thank you," you whisper, once she's done, leaning up to kiss her once more before heading towards the door, "Have a good meeting,” you wink as you exit, running into another council member as you speed down the hall

[mcmansionhell]

namesake mcmansion

Howdy folks! Today's McMansion is very special because a) we're returning to Maryland after a long time and b) because the street this McMansion is on is the same as my name. (It was not named after me.) Hence, it is my personal McMansion, which I guess is somewhat like when people used to by the name rights to stars even though it was pretty much a scam. (Shout out btw to my patron Andros who submitted this house to be roasted live on the McMansion Hell Patreon Livestream)

As far as namesake McMansions go, this one is pretty good in the sense that it is high up there on the ol' McMansion scale. Built in 2011, this psuedo-Georgian bad boy boasts 6 bedrooms and 9.5 baths, all totaling around 12,000 square feet. It'll run you 2.5 million which, safe to say, is exponentially larger than its namesake's net worth.

Now, 2011 was an anonymous year for home design, lingering in the dead period between the 2008 black hole and 2013 when the market started to actually, finally, steadily recover. As a result a lot of houses from this time basically look like 2000s McMansions but slightly less outrageous in order to quell recession-era shame.

I'm going to be so serious here and say that the crown molding in this room is a crime against architecture, a crime against what humankind is able to accomplish with mass produced millwork, and also a general affront to common sense. I hate it so much that the more I look at it the more angry I become and that's really not healthy for me so, moving on.

Actually, aside from the fake 2010s distressed polyester rug the rest of this room is literally, basically Windows 98 themed.

I feel like the era of massive, hefty sets of coordinated furniture are over. However, we're the one's actually missing out by not wanting this stuff because we will never see furniture made with real wood instead of various shades of MDF or particleboard ever again.

This is a top 10 on the scale of "least logical kitchen I've ever seen." It's as though the designers engineered this kitchen so that whoever's cooking has to take the most steps humanly possible.

Do you ever see a window configuration so obviously made up by window companies in the 1980s that you almost have to hand it to them? You're literally letting all that warmth from the fire just disappear. But whatever I guess it's fine since we basically just LARP fire now.

Feminism win because women's spaces are prioritized in a shared area or feminism loss because this is basically the bathroom vanity version of women be shopping? (It's the latter.)

I couldn't get to all of this house because there were literally over a hundred photos in the listing but there are so many spaces in here that are basically just half-empty voids, and if not that then actually, literally unfinished. It's giving recession. Anyway, now for the best part:

Not only is this the NBA Backrooms but it's also just a nonsensical basketball court. Tile floors? No lines? Just free balling in the void?

Oh, well I bet the rear exterior is totally normal.

Not to be all sincere about it but much like yours truly who has waited until the literal last second to post this McMansion, this house really is the epitome of hubris all around. Except the house's hubris is specific to this moment in time, a time when gas was like $2/gallon. It's climate hubris. It's a testimony to just how much energy the top 1% of income earners make compared to the rest of us. I have a single window unit. This house has four air conditioning condensers. That's before we get to the monoculture, pesticide-dependent lawn or the three car garage or the asphalt driveway or the roof that'll cost almost as much as the house to replace. We really did think it would all be endless. Oops.

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including a discord server, extra posts, and livestreams.

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar! Student loans just started back up!

[anantaru]

⚝ DAY 10 — DIRTY TALK

kinktober 2024. — masterlist | ao3

— including. — dan heng, jing yuan, mydei, dr ratio

— warnings. — fem! reader, dirty talk, talking you through it, messy, overstimming

⚝ — DAN HENG

dan heng touches you on places no one else could reach— alas, he was calm only in appearance, but every motion underneath was begging for access— he looks at you, eyes dark, flickering to your lips like they hold some terrible truth he needed to find out as his hands, slightly cold, find your waist.

"you make me say things i shouldn't, fantasize about things that should never be spoken aloud," your moan draws out a helpless tune from him, somewhat between half growl and half sob, "you don't know how beautiful you look, spread out like this, glistening for me, it's maddening," as he presses in slowly, exhaling hard, "that's it… you take me so well, so greedy, I shouldn't like that, but fuck, i do," as his hand trembles, gripping your thighs, holding you open.

slowly, he's memorizing every second, every shape and storing you in some hidden chamber of memory inside his brain to return back in solitude.

but it frays too quickly— dan heng hisses when your pussy begins to squeeze him, forcing him to take him deeper inch by inch until he'd be able to graze at your clit whenever he went fully inside your sweet warmth.

your fingers sink into his shoulder as your back arches off the mattress, fuck, he groans against your mouth in response, soft at first, then deeper, more ragged, "don't stop, not yet," he whines out, voice shredded and low, fucking you while simultaneously watching your tits bounce up and down in tandem with his desperate thrusts.

his hands grip at your thighs like he might drown without the grounding of your skin as he kisses you with the restraint of someone taught to deny himself— but beneath it all, there was hunger, even worse, dark, desperate hunger. despite now, when he finally slides his tongue deeper into your mouth, you found it to be not careful anymore, "you have no idea what you do to me," he says, eyes fluttering shut, your pussy throbbing and soaking him with your slick, "fuck baby— no idea how many nights i've imagined this, your mouth, your noises, how you take me."

you feel him twitch inside you— his hips betraying him, his breath a staccato rhythm of need, "let me, just once— lose control."

⚝ — JING YUAN

"how sweet you're reacting to me, dear," jing yuan points out, calm voice trembling at the edges, the way silk tears under a blade, "shaking like that already? i haven't even started," as he drags his cock along your soaked entrance, slow enough to make you beg.

he smiles, "you know i could keep you here for hours, talk you through every second of it while you cry for more," as his hand cups your face, thumb pressing into your cheek, dragging your gaze up so you'd be forced to look at him.

"you want to be filled, ruined, marked— don't you? say it, i want to hear you, tell me you need me to use this perfect body of yours, tell me i'm the only one who gets to see you like this,"

you don't breathe— you simply cannot— not when he finally pushes back in, slow like cruelty, like a punishment designed just for you as your gasp forms into a sharp, raw tune, desperately torn from your lungs like utter worship, and the sound of it— fuck, the sound of it— it breaks him.

jing yuan fucks not like a man, no, it's something different, something broken open from the inside, teeth bared behind it like violence. he's losing himself, not out of gentleness, but restraint he's had caged behind his heart for centuries.

it's in the way his hips shake, the way his mouth drips spit onto your throat as he pants against it, hot and soaked and shaking.

"tight, fuck— you were waiting for me, knew you’d be like this, soaked and twitching, wanting it filthy, needy thing, aren't you?" jing yuan leans down, panting against your lips, "i'll say everything to you, every little thing i want to do, you want my voice in your head next time you touch yourself? good, because after this, you won't know how to come unless it's to me whispering filth in your ear."

⚝ — MYDEI

mydei doesn't even look away when you shake from overstimulation, in fact, he needs to see it happening, "you poor, sweet thing," he drawls, his thumb pushing through the little hood of your clit before dragging your slick from your folds up to your sensitive pearl like he's painting with it, having fun while being cruel, "this is how you thank me? dripping like a broken thing just because i touched you?"

the man was utterly stimulated from seeing you writhing like this, desperately so as he fucks you with his fingers— slow, wet, curling deep, then changing the entire rhythm and flicking through your clit left right left right.

"keep squeezing me like that and i'll think you're begging me to ruin it, sweetheart, that what you want? you want me to fuck you until you forget your own damn name?" his smile is crooked and mean, teeth flashing like a wolf about to bite, "you hear that?" he growls when you wince out the moment he fucks his cock inches deeper.

"listen to how wet you are for me— nothing but a soaked little mess now, fucking filthy, huh? you were made for me, weren't you?" mydei groans low, his breath hot against your cheek as he smears his saliva from your cheek, jaw and neck, suckling on the swollen flesh harshly.

"gonna talk you through every inch while you're losing your fucking mind," he shoves himself in and pulls out completely, only to push his cock inside more devilishly, your cunt gushing and overflowing with his cum and your slick, "you like that, baby? like when i use that filthy mouth of mine and this cock? then be good and open up for me, i'll make you forget how to walk."

⚝ — DR RATIO

"intellect alone doesn't explain what i want to do to you," veritas was already buried in you, movements obscene, sounds wet and loud, but his voice— his angelic voice— was cruel and saccharine sweet all at once, "if you only knew how often i've imagined this, your thighs shaking around me baby, fuck and your mouth? open in those pretty little gasps, your cunt swallowing me like it missed me, hah," as you cry out when he pulls your hips tighter against him, impossibly close, like he could crawl inside your skin and live there, lusting and downright starved.

"mm baby, yes, just like that, keep clenching, i want to memorize how you tighten when i say filthy things, say more, darling, i'll say everything to make you sound like that," veritas licks a stripe along your jaw, like he's losing his mind with the way you sound, the way you milk his cock and squeeze him so impossibly deep, "you're so far gone, twitching like this, drooling for it, your mind leaking out your ears and i haven't even started talking properly yet."

alas, the man kisses your temple, then says darkly, "i'll speak until your thoughts melt, tell you exactly what your body looks like stretched around me, how i want to stay buried here until it stops being fucking academic and starts being more," as another thrust, this one strong enough that his pelvis rubs on your clit, unfolds your veins and boils your blood as your tits bounce up and down.

he needs you closer— no, closer than that— so close there's no space for thought, for breath, for salvation, he crushes you to him, his veiny hands strong and solid as they drag you in, back and back and back again until your breasts were pressed up against the unbearable heat of his chest— his skin slick, sculpted like sin carved into flesh, his muscles twitching with yearn that's already shattering.

"you understand now, don't you? i'm not stopping until you're crying and still begging for more."

©2025 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate, modify, claim as your own

[wirewitchviolet]

Sudokuvania: Digits of Despair is one of the most impressive works of pure game design I have ever seen.

Before I say anything else, I am going to be talking about a game that is VERY new and has pretty terrible search optimization, so in case this blog post somehow came up near the top of results for someone, here is the as-of-this-writing-current 1.02 release, and for good measure, here is the official FAQ page with the full version history, any future patches, and an FAQ for some of the more confusingly worded stuff that crops up later into the game. Now on with the praise-heaping!

So... Sudokuvania pretty much exactly what the name implies. It's a -vania, that is, a Metroidvania, and specifically one styled after one of the ones that's actually in the latter Castlevania series so that naming convention actually makes sense. Exploring a big castle, fighting bosses, getting various items letting you explore more areas, maybe breaking out of the borders of the map to find cool secrets here and there.

Also, it's a variant of sudoku. And I don't mean someone sat down with some videogame designing toolkit and made a videogame where some of the gameplay is solving logic puzzles on a grid you fill with numbers (I mean, I guess technically I do). I mean that link to the game I posted takes you to a website with a little built in standard app for solving sudoku puzzles and weird variations thereof, and the particular puzzle it's pointing to, somehow, manages to have a big map to explore, boss fights, special items that give you new powers, NPCs, and for good measure, fog of war. It is, again, an absolutely amazing hacky thing and I'm flabbergasted at how well executed it is. Now you're probably wondering how that even works, and that's why I'm writing this big gushy blog post. Here's what you see when you first load it up:

You're going to notice there is some absurdly small and kind of important text you can't possibly read, and that's because again, this is kind of a hacky thing this site so was not designed for. So it's kind of annoying but if you access this through the proper introduction page, it'll explain that the first thing you need to do is click the little gear icon in the floating tool palette, toggle on Visuals: Draw arrows above lines and Disable emoji replacement, then scroll all the way down to Experimental and turn on Test Large Puzzle UI. That enables you to zoom in and out with the scroll wheel, and right-click drag to pan around. It's... a little clunky because again, this website was NOT built for this, but tada, now you can zoom in, read the text, and start solving at a reasonable size. Then there's a couple gameplay concepts it does its best to explain, but... most people I've shown it to myself included needed extra explanation of a couple important early concepts. So let me just do a little color coding here to make this easier to get...

The map is not, in fact, one great big grid. It's 9 squares (and one rectangle that's not quite square over on the east side). Each of these is its own 9x9 Sudoku grid (well, the starting one is 6x6 and has those mutant 2x3 cells instead of the usual 3x3, and there's that weird eastern mutant). If you're solving stuff in one square, you completely ignore everything outside that square, except for where they overlap, in which case the numbers you're placing have to fit for both puzzles. So if we look at the light grey/green intersection on the left, those three overlap cells respectively can't be 4 6 or 5 (and whatever use you deduce in the grey box, but the pure green cells completely ignore all that, you're just focusing on the green 9x9 (which is going to have the overlap as a starting point, naturally).

The next bit that through me off a ton is the way fog of war works. Let me reasonably zoom in and do a little solving here. One second...

Here's the whole starting area all marked up to hell like you do when you're kinda bad at Sudoku and don't know how to spot a starting point. Penciling in little numbers in the corners. You'll also notice a that... most of the map is covered in this dark grey fog of war. A lot of in-game stuff mentions that you shouldn't go clicking out into the fog of war, because it'll show you names of later areas and preview certain special rules and all, but that's talking about clicking WAY off from what you can see. You are 100% allowed to solve stuff out in the fog of war, and it's pretty stingy about de-fogging. Don't go blindly guessing because then you can maybe end up sequence breaking but... yeah. Sorry I'm spoiling the Front Gate, it's basically the tutorial though. Anyway, first move is obvious, only one place we can put that 6, and suddenly...

Tada, important space so it rewarded us with a little fog clearing. You can also see that this will handily point out stuff in your pencil notes that can't be true, but only if A- it's untrue for standard sudoku reasons not special stuff, and B- it's not in the fog of war (or on the other side of some. You also maybe noticed that weird green thing under that first hint 6? That's something we need a tool for, you don't worry about it until you have that tool. Solving this out some more...

Little more de-fogging, both of the puzzle area and the margins where we're getting new information on playing the game in general. Now right here if you're observant, you'll see that bottom right corner has to be a 6. It's out in the fog of war, but you can mark it if you know what it is. And...

I was cropping it out before but the big purple number pad is always floating off to the side there, and the green text box over it, which among other things has an area name and flavor text for whatever grid you're in. This won't ALWAYS happen when you place numbers in fog of war, but there was a trigger on this 6 to load in a little piece of the first real area, and oh hey, we unlocked "Guide THERMO!" That's our first tool, and it's described up in the upper left.

So tada, from here out in addition to standard sudoku stuff, you've got these "bronze Guide THERMOs" that show up here and there and have this extra rule. You basically never get free numbers in the grid past the Front Gate, it's all slow-marching into new areas using what you're bringing in plus some easy starting examples of how your new tools work, plowing on from there. The fog of war is pretty stingy but it keeps you focused. You'll also notice the rules here mention bosses, all the 9x9 ones have one. It's clearly marked, and you should PROBABLY expose it from the fog first, but any time you're in the area really you, if you scroll around in that green text box or hit the rules button when in a grid, there's a link you can click to go fight it. The boss fights are all separate puzzles (site's good about auto-saving so don't freak out if it takes over your tab and you have to hit back after). These are very themey, sometimes VERY evil (especially boss #1, feels a bit overtuned) self-contained 9x9 puzzles, probably using the same tools their area is themed around, and I don't think there's a single pre-placed number in any of them. Beat the boss puzzle, it gives you some flavor text and a number to place in its cell back in the main castle puzzle, plug that in and you're always going to unlock something cool. Usually a new item, sometimes other weird stuff, and it just goes on like that.

Don't expect to be able to fully solve a given grid in one go. It's a Metroidvania, backtracking is expected. Even if you've fully de-fogged a grid, later stuff might reward you by straight up adding new symbols you couldn't see before or doing weird stuff with fog. It IS all solvable with pure logic... but there ARE a few places that do that thing I hate in tougher sudokus where you just kinda have to pencil in in a different faction and explore 2 possible futures for a bit to see which eventually contradicts itself. And of course the last couple of grids do some really evil mind-bendy stuff.

But yeah aside from a couple gripes where the way a tool works could maybe be a lot more grammatically clear, that first boss being a lot to deal with as you're first getting your feet wet, and a particularly cruel twist later on, I don't really have any complaints. Well, it might need a cool soundtrack. Maybe play some Castlevania music. Maybe switch it up for some real proper boss music when you're nearing victory.

Again I am just completely blown away that someone made something so meaty in a standard sudoku site's normal UI, and really managed to make it feel so much like playing a DS Castlevania. Some real proof of game design being an art form here. And now you too can just completely lose a day or two to it!

[kaurwreck]

I think you're right that it's significant, and I think Mori is clever to recognize that Akutagawa is a rook.

Like a rook, Akutagawa is powerful, but generally contained and often undercut by his predictability. However, because he's keenly aware of his own constraints, and because others often aren't (especially regarding variables they've internalized as known), he's able to play into and against his own predictability to paradoxically surprise them.

He moves within the confines of his rigidity to shape outcomes, sometimes more effectively than his more dynamic opponents and peers. Rooks do that too, if you let them.

Me, knowing nothing about chess, probably overthinking the significance of referencing akutagawa in this scene, but is going to look it up later anyways