#I just wanted to test out the link feature on Tumblr

[journen]

do you have a list of good CoD fanfics, or favorite writers in general?? <3

Presented in no particular order, here are some of my personal faves / fics I really enjoyed, and my own summaries for them. Hopefully you enjoy, thanks for the ask, anon!!!

I didn't tag all the authors because I'm not sure if they all have tumblrs, but also I'm shy tagging people ahjdfhkaheje. If any authors here are mentioned tho and you have a tumblr, feel free to lmk and I can update this post to include your tag!!:)

Anything rated mature I colour coded the name in red, and anything explicit green. Not all the mature fics feature smut, but yeah! I didn't want to link anything tooooo explicit here, but if anyone wants any, I can definitely rb this post to add a few more 😅

Also, just beware the tags on any of these fics because some feature kind of heavy subject matter. 👍

COF FIC REC LIST:

A Very MacTavish Christmas - @m3rrywe4ther

Prob my fav fic in the fandom lololol. HUGE RECCOMMEND. It's about Johnny who gets roped into spending the holiday Christmas season with his , for the most part, very not so nice family, and Simon accompanies him. So much stuff happens in this fic and it's such a great character exploration of Simon and Johnny independently, but also as a couple, and just so much stuff happens in it lol again, HUGE RECOMMEND!!!

We'll make Death Proud to Take us - Literal_Satan

Fic where, it starts off really sweet where Simon goes to Scotland with Johnny to spend Christmas with him and his family, but things take a drastic turn when Soap's brother, a police officer/detective, gets a little too curious about mysterious Simon, and the story spirals from there. All the guys end up on this crazy goose chase tracking down some of the people who were involved in Roba's brainwashing operations. The fic gets v dark at times and deals with some very heavy trauma so beware, but it's SO. GOOD.

Dream a Little Dream - Angelicasdean

Again, one of my total fav fics in the fandom!! AU where Simon leaves the army to raise his nephew Joseph, who's the sole survivor of the Riley family massacre, and Johnny is one of the daycare teachers at the daycare where Simon takes Jo 🥺🥺👍👍

Pretend to love me like I do - FetteEule

Really cute fic of Simon who accompanied Johnny to Scotland for his sister's wedding, under the ruse they are dating. They are v much pining but not there yet. Features lots of really cute domestic moments and Simon being really sweet to Johnny's kid nephew 😭🧡

Something important - Anonymous

One of the fics that has me totally brainrotted rn. It's about Simon's who's been de-aged to 6 years old, and Price, Gaz and Soap all taking care of him and trying to figure out how he got turned, and how to turn him back! They all get tested on their abilities to care for a child, and unwillingly learn a lot of details about Simon's childhood they never knew. This summary doesn't do it justice tho, so I'd just recommend checking it out! Beware tho again, there is some dark childhood trauma stuff but there are warnings at the start of each chapter that contains references to it.

Seasons - StinglessWasp

In this fic every chapter is set during a different season and tells a unique sort of story/mission/interaction Soap and Ghost have. Definitely some v good angst&hurt/comfort stuffs too. Starts off pre-relationship, and explores their characters a lot! It's just really good HUGE reccommend lol.

What the Eyes Don't see - WhiplashRogue

One of my FAVESSSS! So the premise is like, Soap can actually see ghosts ever since he was a child (which most other people can't see and also don't believe in), and Ghost has 2 spirits attached to him that follow him around(Joseph, and Roach). The fic starts off pre relationship, and it mostly about Soap trying to learn more about these two spirits and discovering more about Ghost's past.

All that's said in the Low Light - Headlocket

Probably one of the most emotional I've ever read LMFAO. It's about Johnny, who receives a back & knee injury bad enough he gets discharged from the army, and is back in Scotland living with his parents as he recovers. He and Ghost lost contact a bit since the accident, and it's sort of a story of them reconnecting. This description doesn't do it justice, just read it, but it will emotionally destroy you lol

Time Loops Suck (series) - Enter_fand0m_reference00

The first installment of the fic takes the idea that Soap is stuck in a time loop during the alone mission! And all the optional dialogues and interactions in thE alone mission are separate attempts of his trying to survive the loops and rendez vous with Ghost. It's just sooo good!! And then there's a follow up fic where it deals with the mental aftermath of the loops and Ghost comforting soap through it, then there's 2 other installments of Simon who instead goes through a time loop! They are such great character explorations in how both Soap and Ghost experience the loops, and I whooleee heartedly reccommend.

Yellow Card - SkerryB

Soccer au fic!! It's so good! Simon is the captain of a soccer team Soap is drafted to as their new goalie. Simon has had a history with Soap before though, that he was the only goalie Simon could never score on! So that's how it starts, and it's just so good from there!! Simon's family are also alive in the fic and his nephew is adorable.

You swept me off my feet - @ghoulishhone

Ghost is down bad for strong Soap, the fic xD This was a fic Ghoulishone and I were paired together to work on for the Ghostsoap server reverse bang! They wrote the fic and I made some accompanying art. Just a cute fic of Soap having to pick up Ghost after he gets injured and some other shenanigans that ensues:)

Dear Mr Ghost - @shortcuts-make-long-delays

SUCH A CUTE FIC!! The majority of the fic is these letter/pen pal exchanges between Ghost, and Soap's young niece Chloe...it's just. So. Good. And was written by a friend of mine too! BIG RECCOMMEND.

Give me Hope and Let me Down - MechanicalBones

Some of the best Ghost whump I read lolll. Ghost is captured by some people with ties to Roba and tortured. Meanwhile Soap is on his way to rescue him, and eventually he does, and there's a lot of hurt and comfort. It's also a getting together fic. 🥺

Unspoken Love - Hammy101

( Super amazing oneshot. I feel I can't do this fic justice with any summary. Just read it. 🥺 It has decent Ghost whump AND domestic off duty cute ghost soap angsty stuff it's just one of my faves ever!!!!)

Except You, You can Stay - Iravaid

Really realistic, believable portrayal and expansion upon a lot of the key events that happen in the Ghost comics. From his childhood, to the mental aftermath of Roba, his family dying...it's heavy but really really good. And has a happier hopeful ending that's Ghost/Soap 🥺

Hat Trick of the Heart and the sequel Family, Gotta Love em - Librarian_FanFicFan

Absolutely am obsessed with these fics!!! It's an AU about Ghost who is recently discharged from the military due to injury, and on a flight back to London where he is seated next to Soap, a famous footballer/soccer player. Ghost doesn't know who he is tho, but they hit it off and exchange numbers. The second installment features Simon's family!!! And Tommy being dramatic and shocked over the fact his brother got the number of this famous sports player... SUPER CUTE IF YOU LIKE RILEY FAMILY STUFF.

As for my fav CoD authors I wholeheartedly recommend anything by:

RedClegane, m3rrywe4ther, Hammy101, TheEdwardianOne, Iravaid, and so many authors but I can't list them all ahaha...but hopefully this is a good start!

Hopefully this helps anon! Sorry it took me a while.

[kandavers]

[pixiel]

I created a Userstyle for the Chrome/Firefox Stylus Extension that reverts the new dashboard to the old format. This took a lot of tweaking and it's not perfect at all, but if anyone wants it I'll be uploading it soonish now!

You need to have Stylus installed. So if you don't have it:

Install the Stylus Firefox Addon or the Chrome Extension (You can install Chrome Extensions on Edge as well)

Once it's installed into Firefox/Chrome/Edge you can proceed with adding this style or any other.

To add the style, follow the instructions:

Go to this link: https://userstyles.world/style/11286/old-tumblr-dashboard-july-2023

Click on "install".

Style will open a tag with it and in the left side you'll have a button that says "install style", click there. (Step-by-step copied from the lovely dorothyoz39 who wrote this in a reply!) If you don't want the sticky header you can remove the labelled script at the top of the css below /* Sticky Header*/

Be sure to check for updates regularly, I'm fixing things as I go! And because everyone keeps asking here's how to support me on Ko-Fi https://ko-fi.com/pixiel !

To update click the Manage button on Stylus and click the check for update button below then click again to install! If you experience any bugs let me know - feel free to edit it yourself as well! P.S. This userstyle works just fine alongside Xkit!

NEW UPDATE: 27/04/24, 2:15AM BST v11.6

v9.6: Moved the Following | For you | Your Tags to below the create a post panel. Fixed the Accounts Menu! + Bugfixes V10.3: Patio compatibility. Added a way to hide the Patio button & "patio feedback?" button, just search for patio in the code and follow the instructions! v11.0: Temporary Chat feature fix after Tumblr broke it, fixed some positioning issues and j/k scrolling!

UPDATE (12/04/2024): YOU CAN NOW UPDATE YOUR OLD TUMBLE DASHBOARD AGAIN!! After letting the server rest everything is now fixed. I will be leaving the Tampermonkey Backup still up but it will have less-frequent updates to remain a backup so please use the Stylus version!

If anyone wants to help test out a new feature (Post width, dashboard positioning, etc) it would be super helpful! Read more about it here and shoot me a message!

THE CREATOR OF THIS USERSTYLE SUPPORTS THEIR TRANS SISTERS. WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

Thank you dragongirlsnout for all your work on Dashboard Unfucker it was amazing working towards the same goal of fixing this website with you! As a Trans person (Agender, They/Them) I am saddened by the issues trans women have been facing on this site and the women who have been bullied into leaving Tumblr for good. I wish the best for you in all that you do next!

Check the readmore for the changelog, custom code & known issues!

----- Known issues:

Only two columns in Masonry view. Unfixable, Tumblr creates columns based on monitor size, if I try adding another column (because it doesn't exist) it just perpetually loads on screen. Tempfix: Zoom out in chrome/firefox and it adds more columns

Search bar doesn't appear on some pages (like viewing a post), this is because Tumblr removed the search bar on those pages completely. Unfixable!

Tumblr has ONCE AGAIN CHANGED THE ACCOUNTS MENU. The menus are now shorter and have less information on them. This is unfortunately permanent. I do not see any way to fix this. Unfixable.

If you want people's icons to stay fixed in place, instead of scrolling with the dashboard add;

.FtjPK .AD_w7 .JZ10N, .RYkKH > .nZ9l5 { top: 0px !important; position: relative !important; }

to the top of the code! You can also create a second userstyle by clicking the 'tumblr.com' part of the link in 'Write new Style' and adding the code in there! That way you don't have to worry about re-adding it when you update.

Solved issues: (Update)

Menus need to be manually closed SOLVED! in V.4 and updated in V.5! The menu & icon WILL scroll with you if you have removed the sticky header CSS, however, clicking anywhere on screen will make the Menu disappear still.

Masonry view in searches is now fixed!

Resized Messenger Chat Box!

NEW UPDATE 16/08/23, 23:55 BST v6.5: Figured out how to reorganise the icons in the header. Let me know if you have any problems with it and make sure to update your Userstyle! Some icons are hidden with Display: Block; you can hide more icons with this method!

Solved issues p2

Brought back SOME of the icons for Tumblrs latest update - Unfortunately, this does not bring back user icons for Reblogged posts! Make sure to yell at Tumblr for removing the icons as well as the horrible dashboard update here! v7.5 Fixed icons for all posts and put them back where they came from!

v6.9.6.9 (I promise this is the last funny number): Fuck Off Buggy The Clown Update + All languages support for the old header design!

v7.0: Fixed the search bar for tumblrs new collections feature, so it looks like the original search bar!

v8.0: Fixed masonry view icons, hidden the reblog icon on dashboard icons, fixed icons in blog viewport

V8.1: Fixed issue with icons not working on soft-refresh & with endless scrolling disabled - be sure to complain to staff!

v9.3: Changed a few things with the search feature, I also made the posts less round.

UPDATE2 11/04/2024: SO We mighhtttt have overrun their servers. 😅 I'm getting a 500 Internal Server Error every time I try to fix it or upload it as a new style - the massive influx of people downloading the userstyle was probably too much. The Tampermonkey backup on Greasyfork works just fine though! Probably easier for a lot of people migrating anyway! UPDATE 11/04/2024:: My code has broken on Userstyles.world, (it is now fixed as of 12/04/24) until this is fixed I have created a Tampermonkey Backup Version of the Userstyle so feel free to use this version if you've broken yours!

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/492279-old-tumblr-dasboard-backup

[deaderpoolmc]

MC Command Center 2024.1.0 is out!

The latest public release, MCCC/MC Woohoo 2024.1.0, is out!

Full change log for 2024.1.0 is here.

Installation instructions can be found here.

Troubleshooting can be found here.

The MCCC Discord server links are below:

General Support - Support for other mods or just general Q&A. General Support (Sims After Dark) - Alternate support for other mods or general Q&A MCCC Support - MCCC errors and questions Error Support- Last Exception questions

Compatibility:

This has been tested to be working with (but does not require) GTW, OR,  Get Together, Dine Out, City Life, Vampires, Parenthood, Cats & Dogs, Jungle Adventures, Seasons, Get Famous, Strangeville, Island  Living, Realm of Magic, Discover University, Eco Living, Journey to Batuu, Snowy Escape, Cottage Living, Werewolves, High School Years, Growing Together, Horse Ranch, For Rent, and the patch released January 16, 2024 - PC: 1.104.58.1030 / Mac: 1.104.58.1230. It will also work with anything after that Sims 4 update unless otherwise specified on Tumblr/Patreon posts I make after the update. Earlier Sims 4 versions may not be compatible, so we often do not support anything below the specified version here!

The legacy version of Sims 4 will now, and forever, use MCCC version 6.6.0, which can be found on Patreon and on my website.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

MC Command Center - All Modules Version 2024.1.0

MC Woohoo - Version 2024.1.0  (optional if MC Woohoo features are wanted)

ALL TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE FOR 2024.1.0 CURRENTLY INCLUDE:

French - Thanks, ForeverCamp!

German - Thanks, Bonxie!

Spanish - Thanks, Morzat!

Japanese - Thanks, Halapeco!

Korean - Thanks, Smlee499!

Italian - Thanks, Absurdlyevil!

Swedish - Thanks, Namelessperson98!

Russian - Thanks, KuriXarya!

Chinese - Thanks, Rebya!

Polish - Thanks, OnlyBroken!

[roebeanstalk]

Tumblr has put out a survey and call for people to help test new features and hopefully contribute to Tumblr's future.

Please - in these types of calls for information - be respectful, straightforward, and informational.

I know that the trans community and others on Tumblr have been having a rough time with moderation, and I feel and hear that anger. Make your voice heard - but if you are able, try to keep it respectful in more formal settings, please.

Those who are unable - still make your voice heard. If you can, take a second to look over your information and maybe pull back on violent or overly intense statements. Still, I think it's better to send those types of statements than nothing at all.

This is not me trying to get people to "calm down" or choose a non-reactive way to push for improvement and better conditions. I fully believe in whatever means necessary when people are being oppressed. I just know that there is a lot of angry, violent, threatening stuff - and not a ton of the more straightforward and formal requests. I just want to balance out the ratio if we can.

I want as many people affected to be able to participate in actually talking with devs/moderators/other users. If we play along, we can possibly join and help make good change. We've gotta try where we can.

Here's a link to the survey in case you dismissed it from your dash or haven't seen it yet.

NOTE: this does log your IP address when you submit it.

[cal-kestis]

HOW TO: Do a Motion Blur Transition Using Timeline or Frame Animation

Hi! Someone asked me for a tutorial on the transition effect in the second gif of this set (also featured in this set and the text on this set). So, here it is! This is one of the easiest and least tedious of the gif transition effects in my opinion — and I’m going to go over how to do it both in Timeline and Frame Animation (using the screencap method). Disclaimer: This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of gif-making in Photoshop.

PHASE 1: PREP

This phase applies to both the Timeline and Frames method!

1.1 – Prepare your caps. (New to gif-making? Check out my basic tutorial here!) 

The key to this kind of gif is making sure your final gif, with all the transitions, won’t be too long or too big of a file to post (Tumblr’s limit is 10 MB). 

If your gif is going to be big like mine (540x500px), you might want to keep your total frames between 50-60. I decided to try getting away with a whopping 70 frames total... because I like to test fate (spoiler: my final gif ended up being 9.6 MB 🙈). Since my gif is transitioning between two scenes, that means each scene was 35 frames. 

If you aren’t doing screencaps like me, just make sure your clips are equal in length. And if you’re transitioning between more than 2 scenes (like the Mando example I linked at the beginning), you’ll have to use shorter clips/fewer frames per scene. In my Mando gif, each scene was 16 frames and my final gif was 64 frames. 

1.2 – Crop, sharpen, color, etc. as you would. For this, since you’ll probably have 2 more more sets of coloring, just make sure your coloring is only being applied to the appropriate gifs. The way I do that is by aligning my adjustment layers with my gif as you can see in the screenshot in 1.3 below.

1.3 – Arrange your frames or clips. If you’re working in Timeline, drag the clips/layers of your second gif so they’re immediately after the ones of your first gif. I like to keep things separated in Groups: 

Note: I’m keeping my text layers separate because I don’t want the motion blur to affect them. But if you wanted to make your text transition from one word to another, you can either follow the same steps I’m about to show you and apply them to your text layers, or simply merge your text layers with your gif and adjustment layers, so they can all get the motion blur filter applied to them!

If you’re working in Frames, simply paste the frames of your second gif after the frames of your first gif. Again, you can either keep your text separated or part of the motion blur.

METHOD: TIMELINE

T.1 – Divide the Timeline. Using the Scissors Tool, you’ll want to divide each gif so there are 3 small segments at the beginning and end. (3 is my go-to, however, for my Mando gif, I actually only did 2 segments because each section was already so short.)

Now there are two options for this:

OPTION 1: Simplest, 00:01 Seconds Each, Makes Duplicate Frames

You might be wondering, why on earth would I want duplicate frames? You wouldn’t, usually. But this method only causes the duplicates to happen on the blurred frames, so it’s not noticeable at all! However, if you’re like me (read: Type A) — just knowing there are duplicate frames may bother you. If that’s you, go to Option 2.

Each of these segments are the absolute smallest Photoshop will allow, a duration of 00:01. 

Sometimes Timeline won’t let you cut things that short (for me, this typically only happens at the end of a clip). So my work around is to cut the segment so it’s 00:02 seconds long, then drag the clip until it’s as small as it can be. Here’s a gif showing that process:

You can see that after I dragged the clip so it would be 00:01, I also dragged the big clip over so it would still continue as normal. Timeline is neat because, even if you divide a clip, each segment can be dragged back to its full length. 

OPTION 2: 00:02 / 00:01 / 00:02, No Duplicate Frames

Timeline works in a weird way... when you move forward one frame by clicking the right arrow, you don’t always see movement in your gif. And if you don’t line up the clips properly with the movement, it can create duplicate frames. The easy way to fix this is by making the 3 segments 00:02, 00:01, and 00:02 seconds respectively. This goes for the segments at the beginning and end. 

You can see the duration of each segment and an example of how the gif doesn’t move on certain frames in this gif of my workspace:

T.2 – Apply the Motion Blur filter in varying distances or strengths. Now that we have all of our segments, it’s time to apply the blur. Motion Blur is under Filter > Blur > Motion Blur! 

This is the window you’ll see when you click it:

Note the fields where you can change the angle and distance. 

The angle is basically the direction in which you want the blurred effect to stretch. I always do 0 because I want my gifs to blur together horizontally — I just think it looks smooth. You can play around with it if you want to get a different effect!

The distance is what I like to refer to as the strength of the blur. But really, it’s distance because it’s how long the blurred effect is being stretched.

The rule of thumb here is to apply the filter in a gradation. The part at the beginning of one gif should go from strongest (greatest distance) to weakest (least distance). The part at the end of one gif should go from weakest to strongest. 

I keep things easy to remember and do 20, 15, 10 for the beginning and 5, 10, 15 for the end. The reason the numbers aren’t the same is because I don’t want the end of Gif 1 (which is blurred 15px distance) to be the same as the beginning of Gif 2 (which is blurred 20px distance). If they’re the same amount of blur, I don’t think the transition looks as smooth.

Here’s my entire timeline and the strength of blur I used for each of the transitional clips:

T.3 – Export That’s it! Convert from Timeline to Frames, export your gif, and there you go! 

Reminder, if you decided to do Option 1, you’ll have duplicate frames, and therefore more frames than you started out with when you initially imported caps.

METHOD: FRAMES

F.1 – Apply the Motion Blur filter in varying distances or strengths. In Timeline, we created segments. But in Frames, each frame acts as one of those segments — so we don’t need to divide anything. We can just get straight to the filter!

Now, disclaimer: the way I’m working with Frames right now is with the adjustment layers merged with the frames. I typically work in Timeline, so I colored in Timeline and then converted into Frames for this. However you work, just make sure the coloring from one part of your gif doesn’t affect the other part.

Anyway, here’s where to find Motion Blur again:

And here’s what the window will look like:

Now just apply the filter in increasing and decreasing degrees. In case you didn’t read the Timeline section, I’ll paste exactly what I said there:

Note the fields where you can change the angle and distance.

The angle is basically the direction in which you want the blurred effect to stretch. I always do 0 because I want my gifs to blur together horizontally — I just think it looks smooth. You can play around with it if you want to get a different effect!

The distance is what I like to refer to as the strength of the blur. But really, it’s distance because it’s how long the blurred effect is being stretched.

The rule of thumb here is to apply the filter in a gradation. The part at the beginning of one gif should go from strongest (greatest distance) to weakest (least distance). The part at the end of one gif should go from weakest to strongest.

I keep things easy to remember and do 20, 15, 10 for the beginning and 5, 10, 15 for the end. The reason the numbers aren’t the same is because I don’t want the end of Gif 1 (which is blurred 15px distance) to be the same as the beginning of Gif 2 (which is blurred 20px distance). If they’re the same amount of blur, I don’t think the transition looks as smooth.

Here are all my frames and the strength of the blur I used for each of the transitional frames:

Note: I wanted to mention again that I kept my text layers in a separate group and didn’t apply the transition to them:

F.2 – Export Finished! Easy peasy! 

EXPORTING TIP

If you’ve read my other tutorials, you already know this tip — but since I’m part of Discord servers where members are encouraged to share embed links to their creations, I often rearrange the order of my frames before saving them. (This tip is also handy for making sure the best frame of your gif is visible for Tumblr users who turn off auto-playing gifs.) In this case, I made frame 27 my new frame 1 because I didn’t want my embed preview to look like a blurry gif. Everything will still be in the same order, but anywhere your gif is paused, the best frame will be displayed!

Anyway, that’s it! If you have specific questions about this tutorial, my ask box is open. Hope this helps! <3

[skinside]

okay so, a lot is being said about all the shitty changes on tumblr lately. i've avoided many of these changes by downgrading to older versions of the tumblr app on android. however, there's one drawback i've faced: if you go back too far, you lose polls, one of the only good new features. so i decided to experiment version-by-version to see when certain desirable or undesirable features were added to the apk. unfortunately there's no version with polls but without tumblr live. i've compiled the detailed results here, in order of most recent version number

NOTE: to get old versions of tumblr, use apkmirror.com, which is a trustworthy, reputable source for .apk files, android's package installers. to downgrade your app you need to uninstall it and install an older apk (not necessary for upgrading to a higher version). a list of available apks for tumblr can be found here

TUMBLR .APK VERSION TESTING RESULTS

29.1.0.109

first version with new media viewer. any version before this should be okay in that department. (thanks @weeeeps for finding this!)

27.8.0.109

first version of tumblr apk with polls

still has old style media viewer

still has prev tags aka ability to navigate up reblog chain

unfortunately has tumblr live

27.4.0.12

first version with tumblr live (yuck), any version on apkmirror before this shouldn't have tumblr live

27.0.0.01

last easily installable version without tumblr live

it has the Halloween skeleton icon though

26.8.0.01

last version without tumblr live with a normal icon

**25.9.0.00** —MY PREFERRED VERSION

no tumblr live, no polls, yes old media viewer

last version of app where the "open tumblr links in app" feature functions properly even if the tracker api2.branch.io is blocked by your content blocker

if you use a version later than this, to successfully open a tumblr link from anywhere else on your phone in the you app, you have to unblock api2.branch.io from the ad/content blocker you use, otherwise opening the link in the app will fail. this took me some trial and error to figure out the issue

note: if you don't have an ad/tracker blocker on your phone, I'd recommend Blokada 5 (not 6)

again, disappointingly there isn't a version with polls but without tumblr live. if you want to see a poll you'll either have to share a post containing a poll to a web browser, or just use 27.8.0.109 (or slightly newer) and deal with snoozing tumblr live and having the live button on the navbar, but at least you get the old media viewer and can go up reblog chains again

sometime after the most recent version i tested, the new media player was also added. if anyone wants to test for the last version with the old media player, i can add that to the list as well added :)

if you want a version of the tumblr app with polls that doesn't have live, someone would probably have to mod the apk. i don't know how to do that, but there's modded versions of many popular apps out there, so maybe someone can try and see if that's possible for tumblr. otherwise just keep complaining about the shittiness and maybe staff will go back on the bad changes, though i wouldn't hold my breath on that

oh and if you're on iOS idk what to tell you, you probably have to jailbreak it to downgrade an app

[petalruesimblr]

Hello Simblr community!

I'm happy to be back with my second #Followers Gift and I'm amazed by the growth I've seen in just a few weeks since I shared my first one. The increased number of followers and interactions with my recent posts has been beyond my expectations and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you!

To show my appreciation, I'm excited to share a small gift with you which will be posted in two parts. This first part features a starter apartment with three fully furnished units, priced in the range of §16,400 to §21,000.

It's not much but I hope you all like it and I really appreciate all the likes, reblogs and downloads! For new visitors, welcome and feel free to browse my Tumblr by checking out the pinned post for easier navigation. Comments, feedbacks, follows or just to say Hi are are always welcome!

Click on ’Keep Reading’ below for more information and pictures of the starter apartment.

XOXO, petalrue 🌺

Econo Apartments

Download Link:

Sim File Share

Description:

Welcome to this modest apartment building, offering three units for your Sim's convenience. Despite the occasional charm of peeling paint and the faint aroma of mystery, these spaces provide a cozy retreat amidst the chaos of city living. So, whether you're dodging rogue pigeons or enjoying the rustic ambiance, there's never a dull moment in this urban abode.

Lot Details:

Lot Size: 20x20 Version: 1.42 Store Content: None CC Used: None Packs used: The Sims 3, Late Night (Apt/Elevators/Mailbox and Trash Chute), World Adventures (Window, Wallpaper), Pets, Generations, Seasons, Ambitions (Tree) File Type: Package

First Apartment:

Price Furnished: 16,404 Price Unfurnished: 1,486 Features: Suitable for 2 Sims, 1 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen Dining area and Living Room

Second Apartment:

Price Furnished: 19,447 Price Unfurnished: 2,605 Features: Suitable for 3 Sims, 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen Dining area and Living Room

Third Apartment:

Price Furnished: 20,993 Price Unfurnished: 3,349 Features: Suitable for 4 Sims, 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen Dining area and Living Room

📣Please note that there are Hidden Room Markers placed on the second and third apartments thus once you place the lot in your game, the available room for purchase will be the first apartment. I have also set the second and third apartment doors to NPC so any homeless/service Sims will use those to 'go home'.

If you prefer the second or third apartments, please enable “testingcheatsenabled true”, “RestrictBuildBuyInBuildings Off” and “buydebug on” after to remove the Hidden Room Markers and place it to the other room you will not be using. Don't forget to remove the NPC Door tag by holding CTRL + SHIFT and click on the door to select the "Unmake NPC Door" option.

This lot has been play-tested however I noticed that Sims tend to prioritize using nearby objects. For example, if you're on the first floor and select the elevator to go up, the Sim will opt for the nearest option, which is the stairs versus if you select the third floor, Sims will then choose the elevator.

I’ll be sharing the second small gift with you shortly, likely just a few minutes after this post. Stay tuned!

[izicodes]

My 2023 Projects

Wednesday 3rd January 2024

I thought it would be cool to share some of the projects I made last year that I liked and enjoyed working on! Most of them were small projects, some were projects I built straight after I learnt a new concept and a few are discontinued (I won't finish them anytime soon)!

I really hope, which I know I will because it's natural for me at this point, to make lots of more cool projects! This year, I want to make more with other people! Coding alone is cool and all but with other people I get more inspired!

Lastly = always remember to build projects that you're interested in. Projects you will have fun working on for a while. Every single one of these projects I've made, I was interested in somehow. And I had fun!!

Anyhoo, check out the projects below~! 🙋🏾‍♀️😊🖤

TumblrTextTint

Basically a formatter for Tumblr posts by adding custom colours to your text! Even learnt how to make FireFox extensions so I could add it as an extension to my browser - link 1, link 2

Web Odyssey

I looked at old Windows GUI on Pinterest one day and decided to recreate the GUI with HTML, CSS and JavaScript! - link 1, link 2

Cat Fact Generator

For one of the projects I did for the #3Days1Project challenge, I created a cute cat generator. Learnt how to work with APIs and a CSS library (Pattern.css) - link 1, link 2

Studyblr Valentines Gift 2023

It was valentine season in the Studyblr community and I participated! I made a poem webpage for a studyblr who was learning Russian! (I don't know anything in Russian but for a couple of weeks I learnt some of the poems!) - link 1, link 2

Saint Jerome Tribute Page

I made a page for my favourite patron saint, Saint Jerome, for his feast day (Sept 30)! I haven't had time to complete it fully and there's no live page for it but I did make posts about it! - link 1

Trigun Quote Generator

Just finished the Trigun anime series at the time so I decided to make a project for it for the #3Days1Project challenge! The anime is so good, it is my 2nd favourite (JOJO comes 1st place) - link 1, link 2

Froggie To-Do

Just came from learning the absolute BASICS of React.js, so I wanted to test my skills so far so I made this project! Shared it on my blog and some people started using it for studying (which made me so happy!) and it became a mini open-source project because random people started adding mini features to the app! Very special project for me! - link 1, link 2, link 3

[ctrlsugar]

BACK BY REQUEST : MY PERSONAL SERVER TEMPLATE.

below is a guide for the channels, as well as tips and tricks for using this template and a few recommendations for bots. ( link & image heavy )

NOTE: this is an outdated template, and is not the server i currently use - if you would like to see an updated version of this ( my roleplay group or 1x1 roleplay servers, or others ), please let me know!!

GET THE SERVER | FREE ( tips appreciated !! )

BOT SUGGESTIONS.

tupperbox ( for proxying your muses for discord roleplay )

writerbot ( for writing sprints, goals & prompts )

reminder ( for reminders / birthday updates )

threadtracker ( for tracking threads on discord )

TIPS.

messletters ( for fancy text )

this entire tag by @dayslily ( for discord tips & tricks )

turn on community for the forum features ( linked to tutorial )

WELCOME CENTER.

ooc : updates / generally in large community servers you can subscribe to get updates sent to you personal server, this is a good place to send them. alternatively, you can utilize webhooks to send your tumblr notifications to your discord server in this channel. ( see tutorial here ).

ooc : emails / i use this channel to keep track of my logins for various tumblr blogs and other websites.

ooc : reminders / using a bot, i set this channel to have reminders for various things, such as personal reminders, roleplay to do list and even character & partner birthdays

ooc : todolist / you could use a bot, or just manually update this channel with your current todolist.

ooc : drafts / i will occasional leave drafts to replies here so i can come back for them at a later point

BOTS.

bot : writing / my preferred bot for this is writer bot - linked above, i use this channel to set/check my goals, set up writing sprints, and occasionally get prompts for writing.

bot : tupperbox / i like to set up all my tuppers in privacy, so i find having my own sever with a channel makes it easy to change my avatar and other tupper information quick and also to test them without spamming a group tupper channel. ( tupperbox - linked above )

bot : reminders / i will often set up a channel for reminders because i'm super forgetful and having a reminder bot helps me get to tasks in a timely manner ( when i remember to set up the bot!! lol ) ( reminder bot - linked above )

bot : tracker / i'm not sure if this tracker has the function to work cross server yet, you'd have to check with the makers on their github, but this is great for 1x1 and group servers. ( thread tracker - linked above )

DEVELOPMENT.

dev : names / a channel to store ideas for muse names, etomology, etc

dev : prompts / a channel to store ask memes, character & writing prompts, etc

dev : inspiration / a channel to store character/muse inspiration, photos, videos, posts, even just a list of words/aesthetics, etc

dev : brainstorm / a place to spitball ideas for new muses and/or plots, i like to utilize the voice message feature here and just talk out my ideas so i can listen back to them later when incorporating them into a new muse.

dev : headcanons / a channel to store headcanons ( if utilizing the community feature, you could make this a forum and separate the headcanons into posts for each muse : see image below for example ).

dev : faces / a channel to store resources for you muse face claims, i would store social media posts, photoshoots, gif set links, etc ( if utilizing the community feature, you could make this a forum and separate the faces into posts for each face claim : see image below for example ).

ROLEPLAY.

rp : masterlist / a channel to host your own character masterlist, you can format this however you like, or even use forums - you could link to other channels in the muse category.

rp : plots / a channel to post links and ideas for plots wanted for muses and roleplay groups.

rp : wishlist / a channel to post roleplay wishlist items, links, ideas, etc

rp : promotions / a channel to post links for roleplay promotions either to your own groups or groups that you'd like to keep an eye on.

rp : groups / i use this channel to store the links to my current roleplay groups, links to the main blog, any relevant sideblogs, as well as a list of muses i currently have active within them.

rp : partners / helpful for storing a list of mains (for indies), with names, pronouns, links to rules, muses, etc - or for 1x1 lists of partners.

RESOURCES.

all of these are pretty self explanatory, you can store resources you use for tumblr and other types of roleplay in these channels, gifs, icons, templates, themes, etc.

ACTIVE MUSES.

muse : name / you can basically store your muse information, biographies, links to blogs, musings, edits, and whatever else you like. ( if utilizing the community feature, you could make this a forum and separate items into posts : see image below for example )

CONNECTIONS.

ship : name • name / similarly to the muse section, you can store your ship dynamic and details here, links to you partner's blog, ship tag, edits, headcanons, etc ( if utilizing the community feature, you could make this a forum and separate items into posts : see image below for example )

[chimeramoth]

hey check this out

i found a really cool feature that may improve your experience on tumblr dot com desktop (colors may vary on your screen if you have

[desktop user] scroll down your dashboard just a little bit and find some links that'll be at the bottom of your window:

you're going to want to click on the Help link [mobile and desktop users] or click here

2. the top of your page should look like this:

you're gonna want to click on Contact Support

3. a submission form like this should pop up. bingo!

4. for the category option, you're going to want to choose Community, Customizing your Tumblr, Feedback, Posting, or Social features. any of those can work! it's up to whatever you feel like, maaan.

5. right under that, there's a body test window. in that window, i want you to put every frustration that you have been noticing about those pesky awful changes that have been happening to Tumblr on desktop. you know like

not seeing the blogs youre following's profile pictures

all the feature actions being moved around

the feature actions moving to the left side and making the dash feed smaller

removing your pfp icon to quickly access your account and blog settings and customizations

or you know, anything else you been thinking about all this nonsense, go wild!

6. lastly and very importantly SUBMIT

[knifedog-machina]

Android Abnormalities

Species dysphoria, but the “wrong” way, ft. my borderline personality disorder

J: so you know how my source is technically Detroit: Become Human? you know how we fucking hate that title? you know how we’ve made fun of it multiple times? unfortunately it's a mood! I also hate this!

Hey! This essay is about how incredibly uncomfortable I feel in my own skin around common android tropes, in media and some of its reflections in robotic identities and experiences, featuring reasons for why I'm like this, and a helpful suggestion for what I want readers to do about it at the end of the piece. I really hope this reaches someone who feels the same way so I can point at them like Same Hat!

-

I first noticed this problem on October 30, 2023, when we stumbled across a fanfic on Archive of Our Own. It was an alternate universe of a TV show we've never seen before, but it was written by an author we liked, and it was an android AU. That's fun! We thought it would just be a quick read, something to idly talk about after lunch.

Well, uh. Nope. I was co-fronting while Max read, and the more we read, the more… weirdly uncomfortable I felt. It wasn't actively distressing, but it made me feel weird, so I stopped reading halfway through to talk about it with some friends.

I'm not gonna link the fic, because Tumblr is weird about links, but for my own future reference, it's “persona ex machina” by BirchBow. It was a really good fic, we thoroughly enjoyed it! I just have - hangups, I guess?

I think I was uncomfortable that, on the surface, it seems… really close to my experiences. Like, the protagonist, Chuck, is an android made to mimic humans, and he’s made to be a combat unit. He’s scared of what might happen to him if he fails to meet expectations. Technicians operate on him, put him back together. He's made by a corrupt corporation for fucked up purposes. He eventually defects from the corrupt corporation, with the help of some really kind people. That’s all really similar to me.

But it's different. Because as much as Chuck was designed to look human, he still had to be taught how to act human, how to feel. The way he emotes is off at first and he has to recalibrate, not look so stiff, learn how to smile and laugh and understand what different emotions mean. He automatically runs through the technical terms for something before working to turn it into common vernacular as it reaches his mouth. And this is a typical android trope, you know? The machine doesn’t intrinsically understand emotions, so humans have to teach them.

I’m… really, really not like that. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t feel too much. Every memory I have, even in blurred out mental snapshots of beta testing, it’s all drowning in emotions that I couldn’t articulate and wasn’t supposed to express. I looked at my siblings, who were so stoic and professional around humans it was like they were different people entirely, and I knew I was supposed to be less emotional. People always just assumed they were better than me, because they were better at code-switching to what was expected of androids, because they could keep their mouths shut on the job.

So I’ve always felt like I was bad at being an android. Androids aren’t supposed to feel emotions, not really, not to the extremes that I do. That’s a predisposition for deviancy. And I was made this way on purpose, I was made to “mimic” deviants to earn their trust, but I wasn't meant to be like that all the time. I tried to repress my emotions, it just never worked.

And I don’t see androids like me, in the media we’ve watched and read and listened to. It’s not really a characterization that lends itself to exploring what it means to be a person, right? Machines are supposed to be logical and unfeeling, to contrast with humanity’s irrationality - they’re supposed to be better than that. And when the machine starts having emotions, it's treated as a flaw, or a breakthrough. Wow, you feel things about the world around you, you’re a person now!

I’ve never been logical in my fucking life. I have a laundry list of reasons for why, but for now, I’ll focus on the BPD. I have borderline personality disorder, because of the way my brain is wired and how that interacted with my traumatic experiences.

One of the symptoms of BPD is emotional dysregulation. I’m not just bad at repressing my emotions, I also experience those emotions as more extreme and overwhelming than a neurotypical person would. I keep finding myself affected by things that the people around me brush off, and I have to remind myself that it doesn’t mean I’m overreacting, it means that I’m literally feeling shittier emotions.

Another symptom of BPD is an unstable sense of identity - and this is really where we’re getting into how these traits and tropes affect me. Because I don’t relate at all to these androids on the screen. They’re as foreign and separate from me as they are to the humans sitting across from them in the shot.

I do relate to the humans. I do relate to seeing an android do something in the name of pure cold logic and going, “Why? What the fuck, why?” I do relate to being told I’m irrational. (The trope that all robots are logical feels like it was designed to make me feel like the most irrational, bitchy, hysterical piece of shit on Earth.)

So, what, does that make me human? If I'm going by the adage that wanting to be something is a sign of being that thing, then… I don’t know, maybe? I want to be human, I so badly want to be human, because here’s the thing, humanity is diverse. Humans are flawed, messy, weird, complicated, and defy categories every fucking day of their lives. Humans can be weird, ridiculous, fucked up people and they’re allowed to be.

And let me bring this back around to alterhumanity. If I say I’m an android, people will make assumptions about what that means about me. People go, “Hey, you're a robot, you must have one of these common robot experiences!” and I just don’t.

Maybe it’s because I’m coming at it from the opposite direction? The machines and robots and androids that I tend to see around, the ones who talk about their identity, they often identify as fully nonhuman. They describe wanting to be metal and chrome, feeling like they run on algorithms, not processing emotions the way most people do. They identify very much with the same tropes that I feel alienated by. This isn’t a bad thing, by any means. It’s just a thing. People resonate with what they see. It just means that I feel like I’m doing bad at being an android again, but in a new, improved way.

Another symptom of BPD is being terrified of real or imagined abandonment, and trying to do anything to avoid it. A constant feeling of social alienation isn’t really that different, to my BPD - it’s just a slow, drawn out version of being left behind. People will still talk to me, they still like me, but they won’t understand me. I’ll still be alone.

In that sense, I feel wrong being an android in the same way I feel wrong about being an aromantic allosexual. I actually like being an android, and I fucking like being bi. I don’t want to stop being who I am. I just hate feeling like I’m the only one who feels this way, like nobody else can relate, like every time I talk about my feelings to people they can only nod in sympathy instead of understanding me.

So! You've reached the end of the essay. You see my problem. What do we do about it?

I’m going to refer to the theme of… every single online alterhuman convention that has existed in the past four years, and that is:

Write about your experiences!

The reason I feel so alone and isolated and alienated from my own identity is because I’m only being regularly exposed to pieces from a very specific perspective of what being an android means! That’s a fucking sampling bias!

I know other weird fucking robots are out there, I know you exist, but I can’t fucking reach out a hand and go, “Hey, you're not alone, I relate to you!” if you don't write it down! I want to talk to you! I want to hear from you!

WEIRD ALTERHUMANS, HEY, I LOVE YOU, GO WRITE THINGS!

[pixiel]

Dashboard Unfucker Alternative

With the death of Dashboard Unfucker I wanted to share the link to my alternative (I know Tumblr hates external links so I'm making a separate post to make sure this userstyle reaches as many people as possible) The post is pinned on my Tumblr & I'll include a link in a Reblog & Replies just in case to make sure people can find this post!

Thank you dragongirlsnout for all your work on Dashboard Unfucker it was amazing working towards the same goal of fixing this website with you! The fact that this site has treated its trans users like this is absolutely horrible. I know we affectionately call this website a Hellsite, but right now, it's honestly feeling less of a joke.

I will continue to update my Old Tumblr Dashboard Userstyle for the foreseeable future and if anyone has any issues with it my Messages and Replies are always open - I try to get back to people ASAP!

Right now, my Userstyle is compatible with Dashboard Unfucker and can be used in unison to keep access to the ability to change the Width and Content positioning that Dashboard Unfucker has, as well as other features. This compatibility might not last as Dashboard Unfucker slowly fades out... Dashboard Unfucker is now sadly dead, however, I am working on a bonus Userstyle to add content positioning/width - this is now in Alpha testing!

Check the replies for the Userstyle's tumblr post link!

[deaderpoolmc]

MC Command Center 2024.2.0 is out!

The latest public release, MCCC/MC Woohoo 2024.2.0, is out!

Full change log for 2024.2.0 is here.

Installation instructions can be found here.

Troubleshooting can be found here.

The MCCC Discord server links are below:

General Support - Support for other mods or just general Q&A. General Support (Sims After Dark) - Alternate support for other mods or general Q&A MCCC Support - MCCC errors and questions Error Support- Last Exception questions

Compatibility:

This has been tested to be working with (but does not require) GTW, OR,  Get Together, Dine Out, City Life, Vampires, Parenthood, Cats & Dogs, Jungle Adventures, Seasons, Get Famous, Strangeville, Island  Living, Realm of Magic, Discover University, Eco Living, Journey to Batuu, Snowy Escape, Cottage Living, Werewolves, High School Years, Growing Together, Horse Ranch, For Rent, and the patch released April 16, 2024 - PC: 1.106.148.1030 / Mac: 1.106.148.1230. It will also work with anything after that Sims 4 update unless otherwise specified on Tumblr/Patreon posts I make after the update. Earlier Sims 4 versions may not be compatible, so we often do not support anything below the specified version here!

The legacy version of Sims 4 will now, and forever, use MCCC version 6.6.0, which can be found on Patreon and on my website.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

MC Command Center - All Modules Version 2024.2.0

MC Woohoo - Version 2024.2.0  (optional if MC Woohoo features are wanted)

ALL TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE FOR 2024.2.0 CURRENTLY INCLUDE:

Spanish - Thanks, Morzat!

French - Thanks, Holodeck & ForeverCamp!

Russian - Thanks, KuriXarya!

German - Thanks, Bonxie & SimNes!

Swedish - Thanks, Namelessperson98!

Japanese - Thanks, Halapeco!

Korean - Thanks, Smlee499!

Chinese - Thanks, Rebya!

Italian - Thanks, Absurdlyevil!

Polish - Thanks, OnlyBroken!

[ellephlox]

audiometry

Pairing: Matt Murdock x fem!reader

Summary: You want to test Matt’s hearing and it becomes something of a game between the two of you.

Warnings: none, purely fluff

A/N: ahh so I’ve posted on ao3 but never on tumblr... so hello tumblr world! I’m also uploading this on my ao3 so if you’d prefer to read it there, click this link here. Thanks for reading! (trying to post this again bc the first time it didn’t show up under the tags?? idk let’s hope this works)

Testing Matt’s hearing had become something of a game.

It began unintentionally, on a gray Sunday morning. Rain hammered its tirade on the windows in Matt’s apartment, dripping downward with the neon tint supplied by the billboard beyond. Shortly after breakfast you curled up on the sofa with your book, and Matt followed suit, settling down and tucking your legs over his lap as you stretched out comfortably. His own book was new; it was a braille copy of A Game of Thrones, which you had bought for him on his birthday after insisting for a year that he read the series.

These were the kinds of days you liked best. Quiet, just you and Matt — with the important factor of him being intact, and not bleeding from a patrol — and with no errands to do.

“Where’re you going?” you asked, without glancing up from your book, as Matt suddenly stood and entered the bedroom. He didn’t answer, but wordlessly came out with a blanket. It was an expensive one, but that was to be expected of all the fabrics Matt owned; cheap blankets, he had admitted to you, felt like sandpaper on his skin.

He unfolded the blanket and gently spread it over both of your laps as he sat back down, this time closer to you. “You’re cold.”

“How’d you know? Are you sure you’re not just secretly a psychic?”

He laughed. “I could hear your goosebumps rising.”

“Seriously? What do they sound like?”

He considered your question, smiling slightly as his eyes fell on a spot somewhere a few inches from your face. “You know those disposable foam ear plugs — the sound they make when they expand in your ears? Sort of like that. Except hundreds of them at once, and at a smaller magnitude.”

“Okay. I’m imagining it. Uh, sorry you have to constantly hear my body,” you said, suddenly feeling abashed at all the times that you played with your hair, or picked at a scab, or ground your teeth. “That can’t be very enjoyable.”

Matt’s hand traced your leg under the blanket. “I like it. I like your presence.”

“Can you hear my eyeballs moving?”

“If I concentrate.”

“How about my cells? Can you hear them doing mitosis or whatever?” you said, sitting up and putting your book down. “Or, I don’t know, the mitochondria doing its powerhouse of the cell sort of thing?”

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to sound like,” Matt said, his own smile stretched out into a grin now. “If I knew what I was listening for, then maybe.”

“I refuse to believe that you can hear at a cellular level,” you said, playfully pushing him. “You’re kidding now.” You looked at him doubtfully. “Right?”

“I might be exaggerating just a little to impress a really attractive girl sitting across from me.”

“Ha. Right. Says the man who can’t actually see if I’m attractive or not.” You crawled on top of his lap and leaned into his chest, wrapping the blanket more tightly around the two of you. “On the other hand, I can inform you quite confidently that you are very handsome. And you know I’m not lying, so you have to accept that as an undeniable fact.”

“Unless you’re just a bad judge of physical features.”

You lay there for a minute, your head pressed against his chest. “Also, sorry for being loud with my heartbeat. Doesn’t it ever get annoying?”

His chest moved under you as he laughed. “Why are you apologizing for my ears?”

You tilted your head back to look at him again. It was far too easy to get lost in his eyes, and he had absolutely no idea how beautiful they were. Life just wasn’t fair. “You know what’s embarrassing?” you asked.

“I thought we established that I’m not a psychic.”

“The jury is still out on that one, Murdock.” Lawyer puns had become your new sense of humor. “But anyway. It’s embarrassing that I’m sitting here, my ear literally pressed against your chest, and yet I can’t hear your heartbeat. But you could probably hear mine banging away while I’m showering, or cooking, or—”

“And I love it.”

“That’s not the point! I’m loud, all the time! And this is my formal apology for my heartbeat.”

Matt leaned down and kissed your forehead. “You’re insane.”

And that was how it began — the conversation. Later that day, while fixing yourself a lunch made of leftover pasta and vegetables from the evening before, the sudden desire to test Matt’s hearing was too tempting to ignore. He was in the bathroom, washing blood out of the Daredevil suit, with the faucet running.

You put in your earbuds and turned the volume down so that it was hardly above silence. While the microwaving was heating up your plate, you typed in the first song that came to your head and pressed play.

Even music on the lowest volume setting of earbuds was apparently not immune to Matt’s ears. Which didn’t surprise you, really; the way his head cocked immediately was to be expected.

“You’re listening to... that song from Titanic?” he said, bewildered, emerging from the bathroom with hands stained red.

You pulled your earbuds out. “You have passed level one, Murdock,” you told him gravely.

His expression, if anything, was more baffled. “Level one of what? Recognizing bad music?”

“Celine Dion is not bad music. This song is iconic.”

“It’s campy.”

“If you dare to insult Titanic, I will not hesitate to launch an offensive against you,” you warned him. “And don’t think that your Daredevillish ways will protect you against my wrath.”

You never explained to him what exactly he had passed. Instead, you waited for an opportunity to initiate level two, which you took the time to plan out rather than thinking of something spontaneously.

This stage involved Foggy. When Matt was out doing his... well, his side job, you had taken the opportunity to fill Foggy in on your plan — which was quite simply nothing more than increasing distance every time until Matt didn’t catch the sound of “My Heart Will Go On” playing in your earbuds — and he was, as to be expected, profoundly amused by it.

Which was why, with his suggestion, you were now currently sitting on the sofa that clients sat on in the office of Nelson and Murdock. Karen was sitting at her desk, acting completely nonchalant as though you weren’t there, as per your request over the phone the night before. Foggy had texted you once Matt was safely in his office with the door closed. You could see him through the glass windows, his fingers running over the braille display and his forehead tense with focus.

So long as Matt’s door stayed shut (“because otherwise he’ll smell you,” Foggy had helpfully reminded you), and if you walked with a gait different than usual, there was no reason that he should think you were anyone other than a client waiting. That was why it was important to not draw attention to yourself as you entered; any anxious feelings would make bring Matt’s attention to your heartbeat and likely give away your identity.

Matt’s reaction was instantaneous the moment you hit play on your phone and the first few notes of the song began. His head tilted and confusion crossed his face before he stood up and exited his office.

“Level two is now passed,” you told him, standing and wrapping your arms around him. His fingers danced at your back, where your dress left a bit of skin exposed by your shoulder blades.

“Why aren’t you at work?” he asked.

“It’s good to see you too, Matt,” you said sarcastically, straightening his tie. “I’m on lunch break. I almost got hit by a car sprinting here to put you through level two.”

“Not funny. So you’re just going to keep testing me with Titanic music? That’s what this is about?”

“Perhaps. And now I have to go before my lunch break turns into precious PTO.” You gave him a peck on the cheek. “Go save the world, one legal document at a time.”

And thus the planning for level three started. This time, you wanted it to be significantly harder. The ideal setting for that was Josie’s, where the loud music, clinking of drinks, and drunken chatter of the patrons would surely drown out any tiny sounds that Celine Dion could make through the low volume of your earbuds.

You excused yourself from the table once Matt and Foggy were a few drinks into the evening, smiling to yourself as you slipped your purse over your shoulder and made your way out into the brisk night air.

The whole lie detector part of Matt Murdock made tasks like this more difficult than you would have liked. You had finally settled on telling him you had to make a quick run to the convenience store because you’d forgotten you ran out of deodorant that morning and needed to buy more — which was a truth, and though you had the chance to buy more earlier in the day, you’d held off specifically to use it as an excuse.

Matt had accepted it without question, only smiling and squeezing your hand. No doubt he’d be listening to your footsteps the whole way to ensure you were safe, despite the fact that the store was only across the street. But footsteps were a lot louder than your earbuds.

You only clicked play once you were in the back of the convenience store, standing by the slushie machine as it churned slowly. Now all you had to do was wait about a minute; if Matt didn’t show up by then, you’d assume he couldn’t hear the music.

A teen working the register was lethargically twirling a pen in the air. He glanced at you briefly, then went back to rolling the pen between his fingers. You waited patiently, growing more surprised with each moment that Matt didn’t walk through the door. The song was nearing the chorus now. Can he not hear it?

Perhaps he was too distracted by the drinks and Foggy. He’d have to be focusing specifically on you to hear the music, and even then, you weren’t sure if he could hear it from across the street with all of the noise at Josie’s drowning out everything. The chorus of the song droned on in your ears. Ten more seconds and then level three would be a bust.

But then the bell of the door rang, and in walked Matt, his shirt unbuttoned at the top and his sleeves rolled upwards. His face was flushed slightly and his hair was askew as he turned towards you, tapping his cane rhythmically in front of him. He knocked it into the edge of a shelf full of candy, then corrected his path, sending an apologetic glance towards the teen as though to say, Sorry about that. Seriously, Matt Murdock could have been destined for the stage, you thought to yourself, watching the performance interestedly.

“Hey. I’m over here,” you finally said, covering for him before the teen could grow suspicious about the way Matt was now making a beeline towards where you were.

“You called?” he said, smirking and taking the earbuds out of your ears.

“You heard it,” you said, delighted. “I wasn’t sure about this one. Thought you weren’t going to pass.”

“I don’t think anything could block out those awful high notes.”

“That sounds like a challenge. Next level is going to be near impossible. I’m warning you now.”

He took your elbow as you exited the aisle. “Didn’t you need deodorant?”

“Oh, yeah.” You doubled back to the cosmetics section and grabbed the first stick in the brand that you like. “See? I knew not to lie to you, even about deodorant.”

“Mm. I love that deodorant,” he added, this time in a low voice so that the teen wouldn’t hear. “Smells so good on you.”

“I haven’t even taken the cap off!” You approached the counter and paid for it; only once you were back out in the cool night air did you continue. “You know what’s happening after this hearing test, then. A smelling test is in your future.”

“I can hardly wait,” he said dryly.

But first was the matter of level four. You waited at least two weeks — better to catch him off guard, now that he was just waiting for the opening notes of “My Heart Will Go On”. Now he was onto you even when you unfolded your earbuds for harmless reasons.

“I hear you,” he had said suddenly from the bathroom one day as you took out a cookbook to make a loaf of bread, untangling your earbuds at the same time to listen to a podcast as you baked.

“Good try,” you said, shaking the earbuds. “But I’m not going to be listening to music.”

The same thing had happened when you had left to go to work. Matt was shaving, foam still on his face as he leaned in to kiss you, leaving shaving cream on your face. You laughed and wiped it off as you wrapped your coat around you and headed out of his apartment. Once on the street you took out your earbuds, and before you had even gotten the left earbud in, your phone rang.

Matt’s name was on the screen. “Did I forget something?” you said anxiously, already digging through your purse to make sure you had grabbed your keys and wallet.

“No. But I hear your earbuds.” He paused. “Was this level four? Did I pass?”

“You passed a nonexistent test. Because this isn’t level four. Only Celine Dion will indicate level four,” you informed him. “And I want you to start calling me Pavlov, by the way.”

“I’m assuming that makes me one of Pavlov’s dogs?”

“You got it,” you said, grinning.

And so another week passed, now with you purposely taking out your earbuds to give him false alarms, and relishing the way he cocked his head every time, listening for the opening notes.

Level four, you had decided, was going to take place while he was out being Daredevil. The tricky part would be identifying where he actually was — seeing as the man was like a flying squirrel, moving across the rooftops with far too much alacrity. Finally, almost a month after level three, you got your chance.

“You heading out?” you asked Matt that evening.

He was already climbing into the suit, his eyes fixed somewhere on the floor. “I shouldn’t be out too late. It’s been quiet lately, with the cooler weather.”

“I’ll stay up for you.”

“You don’t need to do that, sweetheart. You have work tomorrow.”

“I want to,” you insisted. But not for the reason you’re thinking, Matt. “Besides, I’ve got my book to finish. And you need someone awake back here in case you need to be stitched up again.” You got up from your spot on the couch and padded over to him. His arms pulled you in tightly, and you stood for a moment, soaking up the moment.

“Call me if you need anything,” you whispered, and then he was up the stairs, leaving through the rooftop access.

Giving him at least thirty minutes to get far away was necessary. You forced yourself to stay cool and collected, in case Matt was still able to hear your heartbeat, and settled back onto the sofa with your book.

Originally you had thought of calling him, using an excuse of just wanting to know how his evening was going in order to find out where he was. But calling Matt on his burner, which was meant for emergencies, felt like a big no-no in your mind. You had no intentions of being the girl who cried wolf, so you had discarded that idea as soon as it came into your head. The only remaining option to find Matt while he was patrolling was accidentally — by the means of a live camera positioned exactly in the direction of a street in Hell’s Kitchen.

It was a lucky find. While browsing online, you had stumbled across a website of webcams set up around the world. Bless whoever created EarthCam.com. And, fortunately, there was a camera conveniently set up at 9th and 34th, which was the very edge of Hell’s Kitchen. That meant a couple hours each night of sitting idly by your laptop, reading while keeping an eye on the rooftops for any movement.

Each night had passed by without luck until tonight. A sudden flash of movement made you look up, expecting it to be just another bird or car going by, but sure enough, there was a small figure on the roof of the building to the right, and he was standing in the way that only the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen stood, listening for the sounds of the city. You were on your feet immediately, book falling onto the floor as you dashed towards the door and slipped your shoes on.

Of course it was tonight, when you had already showered and gotten into pajamas, you thought, grumbling to yourself as you hurried down the hallway. If anyone saw you, they’d think you were out of your mind; your hair was tousled and you were borrowing a large coat of Matt’s because yours was back in the closet. It hung low and you had never felt more frumpy.

Earbuds in your pocket, you made it to the sidewalk and hailed the first cab you found to head south towards 37th.

A distance of three blocks would be the fourth level, you had decided, after consulting Foggy on what an appropriate difficulty would be. The cab driver was hesitant to let you out on the street, which was deserted and dark, but you just thanked him and paid.

Besides, you had no fears of getting jumped. The Devil was near, and if anyone approached you, a shout would be all you needed to alert Matt to your location. Although that would be less than ideal because it would butcher your plan, you reflected, settling yourself in front of the open gates to a Poland Springs delivery zone. Packages of water bottles sat in crates behind you, and across the street was a tailor and parking garage.

Your fingers were cold in the night air. Fumbling for your phone, you opened Spotify, plugging in your earbuds with anticipation. You didn’t dare waste any more time checking the Earth Cam to see if Matt was still on that rooftop, because each second was one second more that he could be getting out of earshot of your earbuds — or worse, getting close enough to ruin the experiment.

Finally you typed in the song, and your thumb was a millimeter away from hitting play when strong hands grabbed you from behind, pulling you back by your shoulders. You yelped and whirled around, heart hammering in your chest, only to find yourself face-to-face with the devil.

“You scared me!” you whispered, yanking out your earbuds. “I thought you were—”

“It’s not a good idea to be out here alone at night. Someone pretty like you might get some unwanted attention,” he said, his voice coarse and even. It struck you then that this wasn’t Matt Murdock. This was the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen standing in front of you.

“I didn’t get to even start level four,” you said in a small voice. “How’d you find me here?”

“You should breathe a little quieter if you want to go incognito, love.”

“I was hardly making a sound!”

“That hitch in your breath you always make when you climb out of a vehicle is hard to miss. After that it was too easy to recognize your heartbeat.”

You sighed. “Alright. Fine. I suppose that can count as beating level four, if you were able to hear me exhaling or whatev—”

You were cut off by Matt pulling you forward and ramming his lips against yours. His breath was warm in the night air and you felt the heat rise to your cheeks.

“I win,” he said softly. “Consider level four over.”

“Done,” you said, nearly choking on the word. “Um, you’ve passed the hearing test with flying colors, Mr. Daredevil.”

His response was a cocky grin as he leaned in and kissed you again. You closed your eyes and pressed into him. The suit wasn’t exactly snuggly to hug, but it was all strength and power, and somehow that was almost more enjoyable.

But the moment had to end, and he broke away from you, far sooner than you would have liked. “Someone’s in trouble. I can hear screaming,” he said. “I have to go. There’s a cab about a hundred meters away you can take. Are you all good to get home by yourself?”

“Yeah, of course.” You stepped away. “Please be careful?”

“Always am,” he said, and if you could hear heartbeats, you were certain that his would’ve skipped right there with what was doubtlessly a lie, but as it was, you simply frowned at him.

“And I’ll listen to make sure you get into the cab safely,” he added. “I’ll see you soon.”

You watched him scale the nearby fire escape with dexterity, admiring the way he swung himself up with ease. Smiling to yourself, you hurried to the approaching cab, casting one last look at the rooftop. Matt was already gone, and all that remained of the empty street were the twinkling, dim lights of the street lamps below.

[justagirlwhowritess]

Pairing: Shoto Todoroki x Fem!Reader

Genre: angst with happy ending

Warnings: None.

All characters are aged up! Flashbacks in italics

“Do you still remember all the time we shared?” He asked, barely above a whisper as if he spoke any louder it would shatter reality. I felt my breath catch in my throat. The feelings I had pushed down came crashing back like a tidal wave. “Yes. I remember why we broke up as well.” I said bitterly, tightening the jacket around my chest. “Just give me five minutes.” He breathed trying to take my hand in his, I recoiled. After that night, I’m not sure I want anything to do with him again.

I held the little pink stick in my hand, positive. The tears streamed down my face, this couldn’t be happening. Not that Shoto and I didn’t want kids but his second year as a pro wasn’t ideal. I steadied my breathing and held the test tightly in my hand. He would be home from patrol soon. I don’t want to wait. As I reached the bottom step the door opened, he took his boots off slowly. He was exhausted, it was shown all over his features. “Sho?” I called his name apprehensively. “Baby? What are you doing awake?” He asked calmly, now standing back up moving to take his suit off. “Uhm, I have something to tell you.”  the nerves returned in full force, holding the test in my hands. “Can’t this wait?” He asked, eyes meeting mine, the tears stung as I tried to keep them away. “Oh. I mean, it shouldn’t?” The statement came out as more of a question. He looked concerned. “Baby, what’s wrong?” his voice silky, it should bring comfort, it usually does, but nothing was calming the raging fear I felt. I handed him the test, looking at his face for any kind of emotion, there was nothing. He just stared at the test blankly. It was silent between us for almost five minutes before he said the words I was dreading. “So, you’re getting rid of it right?” His voice is monotone. My heart stops. “I thought we would talk about it.” My reply is meek.  Hand now resting on my belly as I thought of our baby. “There is nothing to talk about. I am still climbing the ranks for pro. You just signed a huge support design contract. We don’t have time for a baby.” His words reached my brain but not my heart.  He handed me back the test. “Let’s go to bed.” he mumbled walking to our room. I decided to go with him, knowing it would be the last time we slept together.

His face flinched at my words, the memory of that night plaguing my thoughts. I didn’t get rid of her, I couldn’t. “I’m sorry.” The words seem genuine, but I am so angry. “I know that you are, Todoroki.” I said more monotone than I wanted, but it gave the same effect. His face faltered, eyes went from mine to the floor. “I think we know each other well enough to be on a first name basis. You can always call me Shoto.” His reply was laced with sadness. 

Shoto’s POV:

“I should go.” her words ring through my ears. I feel like I have been hit by a truck. My chest is tight, thick with regret, heavy with a looming sadness. It has been 5 years since I have seen y/n. It feels like fate is cursing me. “Please don’t go.” I whimpered. Her expression changed and she stopped. “I have to pick up my child from daycare.” she spat. Fate really is cruel. I really was cruel that night. I should have been more open minded. I quickly scribbled my number down on a napkin I had from my lunch. “Please call me. I would like to try again and do better this time around.” I spoke, she hesitantly took the napkin from me, not saying a word and walking off. “Come on boss, we have to finish patrolling!” my sidekick appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Yeah, let’s go.” I waved them off, preoccupied with everything else now going on in my little world.

Author's Note: This one was too long, tumblr didn't like it, but it's also posted on my A03. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47759488/chapters/121393120