#I’ve spent several hours this week playing Minecraft

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

It’s crafting time!

[an-aussie-button-masher]

What Year Is It?! Five Games That Will Make You Forget What Time Is

   Have you ever started playing an open-world game early in the day, before realising you’ve completely lost track of time and suddenly you’ve been playing for ten hours straight? Video games have a unique way of drawing us in and letting us get lost in the fun of it - some much more so than others. Assuming you don’t have any schedules to maintain, letting yourself get lost in these games is often both fun and incredibly relaxing, so I’ve found a small handful of games here that are perfect for it. Who needs to keep an eye on the time anyway?

Stardew Valley    Farming simulators are always surprisingly relaxing, and Stardew Valley is one of gaming’s best examples. Not bad for a game developed by just one person! It’s easy to lose track of both real-life time and the in-game clock, but be careful not to end up passing out at 2:00am from exhaustion - in both cases! Tending crops, walking around the valley, talking to all the townspeople, exploring the mines and more takes hours of real time, yet never gets particularly tedious thanks to the upbeat music and fun, simple artstyle. The game starts out slow with sluggish tools, but upgrading your equipment over time and unlocking more abilities as the game progresses means everything gets much quicker. Of course, that just means you have more stuff you can fit into the entire day!

Minecraft    It may have changed and evolved an insane amount over the last decade or so, but Minecraft will always be an all-time classic time killer. Exploring both on and under the surface can lead to hours of peacefully wandering around long after you’ve forgotten why you even set out in the first place (always try to remember your home’s coordinates!). For an idea of just how vast Minecraft’s overworld is, it can potentially stretch to over 60 million metre-long blocks - that’s about five times the diameter of Earth, and almost as big as Neptune! Building your base is always a loop of exploring for resources, crafting them together, building with them, exploring, crafting, building, and so on. Even the music is so soft and calm, you almost never get particularly frustrated no matter what happens!

Slime Rancher 2    What happens when you take all the stressful or tedious parts of running a farm out and replace them with adorable graphics and easy-going gameplay? You get Slime Rancher 2. Once you get started, you’ll quickly form a routine over time and your brain ends up going into autopilot mode as you make the rounds through your ranch and beyond. Before you know it, several in-game weeks have passed and you’ll know the entire map like the back of your hand! Hunting down the various resources of Rainbow Island can be a bit time-consuming, but it isn’t long before you figure out the most efficient paths to take to find everything and it becomes like a habit. With the cheerful style and relaxing music that stop the game from getting boring, you’ll sink into Slime Rancher 2 in no time.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom    Breath of the Wild was already a massive game in its own right, but its sequel Tears of the Kingdom took it two steps further. Adding countless islands floating above the kingdom of Hyrule and the vast, cavernous depths beneath, TotK effectively tripled the explorable map - and tripled the amount of distractions. As soon as you decide to do something in the game, there’s always ten more things you’ll spot on the horizon that lead you away from your original objective, and before you know it you’ve spent six hours doing side quests before you realise you’ve barely started the first actual story quest. Between hundreds of shrine challenges, hidden koroks and other collectables scattered across the three-layered world, there’s always something nearby to do no matter how lost you get.

Horizon: Forbidden West    There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of a finished to-do list. Why not take that feeling and put it into a post-apocalyptic robo-dinosaur world? Horizon: Forbidden West has seemingly near-endless side quests, errands and collectables, and as intimidating as it might seem at first, it’s extremely satisfying to slowly chip away at it and watch all the icons covering the map disappear one by one. You can even make your own to-do list with the “jobs” mechanic - don’t have enough resources to buy or craft that important bit of gear you’ve been eyeing? Turn it into a job, and those resources will appear on the map for you to track down with ease. Even just riding across the map is relaxing; you could use fast travel, but why not take your time and enjoy the scenic route?

   Wait, it’s time for the end of the article already? I wasn’t ready! Well, if you enjoyed it, or if there’s any other games you know that fit this list, feel free to let me know! Likes and reblogs are much appreciated!   Thanks for reading!

[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n tommy tubbo jack and ranboo - how y/n made friends with everyone

this is an extra to the great adventures series

requested: yes/no

warnings: cursing

tommy

you were actually friends with tommy when he was streaming to a few viewers, and you even watched as his channel grew. eventually he asked you to mod for him, as he knew he could trust you and because had experience being a twitch mod. he was also the reason you began streaming. as for how you met, you were in the same classes as him in highschool, and since you were the ‘quiet’ person in the class, they sat tommy next to you. honestly, you hated him when you first met him and the feeling was mutual. you didn’t want to sit next to the rather loud teenager and he had no one to talk to anymore as his friends were on the other side of the room.

“do you ever talk?”

“heh?”

“i said do you ever talk...do you always do that”

“do what”

“that fucking HeH.”

“are you mocking me simons?”

“noooo why would i do that...”

“it’s y/n.”

“right, yeah, yeah, i totally knew that.”

“great now please leave me alone i’m trying to work.”

“loser.”

“the fuck did you just say?”

“nothing.”

it was that moment tommy decided he was going to make you just like him, and a few years later that’s exactly what he did. by year 11 you and tommy had grown extremely close. the last day of school arrived a lot earlier than expected, everyone was extremely stressed, no one knew what to expect or what was going to happen. you found yourself hanging around with tommy a lot more as you had no idea if you would both be going to the same college, in september you received a text message that made your night:

tommy: college sent out emails telling you if you were accepted go check

*2 minutes later*

tommy: well?

y/n: i got accepted

tommy: me too

y/n: call me right now

tommy: i’m about to stream..have you ever considered streaming?

y/n: absolutely not

tommy: make an account and stream after me i’ll raid you..make me mod you know how people can be

once college started up, you were slightly nervous the two of you would drift away from each other. however this was far from the case, although you both did different subjects and he was only in on wednesdays, the pair of you would hang out together a lot more. he would be in your streams and vice versa, you would either be in his tiktoks, or you would be the one filming them.

“y/n make a tiktok we can be mutuals.”

“please god no.”

you spent so much time at his house either talking about random things, playing whatever game you could find, or streaming. he dragged you to every meet up he went on, allowing you to meet people such as niki, phil, and, wilbur. you didn’t know this, but he would constantly bring you up in conversations with dream, which eventually lead to you joining the smp in october where you would later be able to meet the likes of jack, technoblade and jschlatt. the only person you didn’t seem to see on the server was his other friend tubbo.

ranboo

you had become friends with scott after being his first twitch mod and when he noticed you started streaming, he was extremely supportive, always raiding your stream once he ended his. today you found yourself bickering with scott because he wouldn’t let you in mcc despite the fact you were ‘the best minecraft player.’

“y/n, i watched you die in minecraft 7 times last night within 5 minutes.”

“oh i’m sorry mr perfect, let me in mcc.”

“no.”

“fine i’ll make my own.”

and that’s exactly what you did..well you tried your best.

you started your stream as soon as scott ended and had him call you on discord after explaining to your chat what you were about to do.

“scott final chance let me in mcc, i’ll settle for access to the practice server.”

“fine.”

“REALLY?!”

“absolutely not!”

“fuck you, ill be in it one day!”

you left the call telling chat you didn’t need that negative energy in your life.

you really have scott to thank for you making friends with ranboo, scott made a tweet explaining what you were doing on stream which caught ranboos eye.

Smajor1995: after not making it into mcc again my good friend @y/n has decided to take it upon themselves to make their own on stream!! ill also be in the stream (if they answer my calls) *twitch link*

ranboo joined your stream and was instantly met with you yelling at scott (again) to let you in mcc.

“IM YOUR TWITCH MOD!”

“i will ban you from mcc!”

“you don’t have the nerve... so he left the call this is bullshit watch me land this water bucket clutch down this ravine so we can find axolotls and build an army.”

*you died*

you pulled your hood over your face before sinking down your chair taking a deep breath.

“FUCK!”

you calmly got back up and looked into your camera.

“i was so close, so very close.. HEY CHAT SCOTT SENT ME A LINK TO THE SERVER!”

a few minutes later you were able to get onto the server, only to be kicked less than a minute later. the reason you were banned being ‘i watched you fail the water bucket clutch down a ravine.’

you continued your build on your server and just spent the rest of the stream talking about anything that crossed your mind, that was until you decided to copy ace race. once finished, you looked into your camera and pulled your microphone closer to you.

“so this is race ace, so scott doesn’t sue me, and basically it’s going to be this course, but i’m going to change a random section practice it every day, not tell anyone it changed. of course i’m going to tell my team we have to win, oh fuck i forgot scott was watching my stream..it’s okay he didn’t hear me he’s too busy planning how he can rig the next mcc.”

ranboo found himself enjoying your content and even noticed you in his chat multiple times.

“just a minute chat i’m just sending an important dm to my mods.”

that’s when you noticed chat paused for a minute after you sent a message, it confused you for a minute before realising ranboo made you a vip on his channel and you decided to do the same for him on your channel, from there you added each other on discord. the pair of you made friends extremely quickly, you were constantly part of his streams as you would call him on discord not realising that he was streaming.

“hi y/n, by the way i’m streaming”

“i just wanted to ask if you knew how to break into a house?”

“....why”

“i locked myself out by accident and my parents are asleep come help me.”

“you are in the uk.”

“okay? catch a flight.”

chat honestly loved you and your friendship with ranboo. the pair of you only met a few weeks ago and you were already acting as though you had known each other for years.

jack

you and jack met for the first time on the smp, which would have been fine, however you met during lore and your characters weren’t exactly the best of friends. once lore had ended, everyone said their goodbyes and left the call. a few moments later you received a discord message from jack asking if you were available to call any time soon. since you were back in lockdown, you had plenty of free time. you arranged a time and date a few days later you called jack, where you had your first proper interaction out of character.

“hello jack!!”

“oh hi y/n i just thought it may be a good idea to get to know each other, well you know considering we’re both on the dream smp.”

“yeah, yeah, i understand what you mean.”

the pair of you ended up getting along with each other, it was slightly awkward for the first 5 minutes of the call, but that was expected since you hadn’t really met jack before and were anxious to call him. however, after that the conversation started to flow and you found out the pair of you had a lot in common making it easy to come up with things to talk about. it ended up feeling as though you were catching up with a friend you hadn’t spoken to for a while.

“has anyone told you your accent is really strong.”

“so is yours, y/n, what the fuck is that supposed to mean.”

“it means your accent is strong, duh.”

jack asked if you’d like to stay in call and join him on the smp whilst he streamed, and you gladly accepted the offer as you really didn’t want to do your college work, and you were enjoying your time with him. a few minutes into the stream jack had killed you several times.

“JACK STOP KILLING ME!”

rather than answering you he just sat laughing. he then went on to attempt to mute him microphone, he failed. however he didn’t realise this, so you sat listening to his plan on how he was going to kill you again. this time you were prepared, you sent a message to tommy telling him to log on along with your location. few minutes later tommy was by your side and helped you kill jack several times for revenge.

“Y/N...TOMMY!!”

“you didn’t mute your mic, so i told tommy you were bullying me.”

“im gonna go...BYE JACK, BYE Y/N, ILL SEE YOU SOON!”

“i can’t believe you.”

“hey you’re the one who didn’t turn your mic off.”

“how did you know?”

“i had your stream on my other monitor.”

“ayeee you watch my streams?”

“...i’ve been a sub for 4 months.”

the two of you stayed chatting and playing for another hour. the pair of you were already so close and you had only met each other the other day. this was just the start of your friendship, soon enough you were in a laugh and the stream ends challenge on his stream, however due to lockdown rules this was done over discord leading to you accidentally leaving the call several times.

“and they’re gone again!”

*4 minutes later*

“SORRY JACK IM BACK!”

“stop leaving y/n!”

“oh i’m sorry, let me just go yell at my wifi to stop cutting out!”

a few seconds later you could be heard faintly in the background screaming at your wifi as it would continue to buffer. as soon as restrictions were over one of the first things you decided to do was go to jacks and stream a laugh you lose where there was a punishment if you were responsible for losing the last heart. however everything was apparently hilarious in person as you would constantly laugh, meaning you were responsible for losing the last heart.

“y/n give me your phone.”

“no.”

“you lost let me tweet from your account”

“fine..”

soon enough your fans and friends with your notifications on received this twitter notification

“y/n: jack is so cool and funny he is also really tall i am not”

tubbo

tubbo was actually the last person you met and made friends with, your community were convinced for some reason that you both didn’t like each other and that’s why the pair of you didn’t talk to each other. this was far from the case you were both waiting for the right time, tubbo was an extremely busy teenager and you didn’t want to interrupt him, and tubbo knew you were currently in a stressful position since you had recently joined the dream smp, also you were still meeting people so he didn’t want to stress you out. this doesn’t mean he didn’t want to be your friend, he actually asked tommy since he had been your friend for at least 4 years what would be the best way of getting to know you.

“mate they hated me when we first met, just talk to them or something. you could have met them the last time i went up to visit you, but they ended up not feeling too good and went back to the hotel room.”

“when are you next coming up?”

“how about next week, and i’ll bring y/n, i really don’t understand why you’re nervous tubbo, it’s y/n they wouldn’t hurt a fly..well hmm.”

“see you next week then!”

a week later tommy dragged you to the train station.

“uh tommy where are we going?”

“...on a train.”

“no way, really? oh my god!”

a few hours later you finally got off the train.

“ill go with my dad to check into the hotel room, do you want to come with us or?”

“i think i’ll go for a walk and stretch my legs.”

“right okay, meet you at the beach later”

you spent a few minutes walking around the beach picking up any rocks and shells that caught your eye, little did you know it would result in you meeting tubbo. once you finished putting your new collection in your pockets you noticed a small crowd of people walk up to someone asking for pictures assuming it was tommy you walked over to the boy, it wasn’t tommy it was in fact tubbo. at first you stayed silent not wanting to really cause attention to yourself. you only spoke up when some people started to make inappropriate comments towards him.

“oh sorry to be a pain guys me and tubbo have plans with tommy in a few minutes, we should go so we’re not late. bye guys.”

you smiled and waved as they walked away. you looked over to tubbo, you could tell he was still pretty anxious about what just happened and honestly if you was in his position, you would react the same way.

“we should probably move from here incase they come back and see you’re still here, are you okay?”

“im feeling better now it’s over..thank you”

“oh it’s no problem i’m, y/n btw.”

“wait you and tommy were still meant to be on the train.”

“the train was actually on time, tommy went to check into the hotel i wanted to stretch my legs, i also wanted to collect some rocks.”

“did you collect enough or did you want more?”

“im not going to say no if you wanna go collect some with me.”

the pair of you walked around keeping each other close incase the people from before returned. half an hour later, the pair of you sat on a bench close to the beach so you could show tubbo everything you decided to pick up, he ended up keeping a rock he liked to have as a memory. tubbo wrapped an arm around you as it was getting cold whilst you watched the sunset.

“tubbo i think tommy forgot about me.”

“you can spend the night at mine, i’ll send him a message to let him know.”

“are you sure?”

“of course!”

“this has to be the most unsafe thing either of us will ever do, we hardly know each other and now i’m staying at yours.”

tommy sent you a message explaining that he didn’t forget, there was a problem at the other hotel and they had to go find another one, but you’ll be fine to stay at tubbos for the night. the pair of you spent the entire night learning as much as you can about the other person. it had only been an evening but you already knew the pair of you would be great friends.

taglist:

@dumb-chaotic-bi-energy @uselesssapphickitten @l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @renleicrashed @c1loudee

[ray-ray-writings]

Family Matters-Awesamdude

This is a Sam x gn!reader also with a bit of Son!Tommyinnit x gn!reader as well in the dreamsmp! Thank you to 🍉 for this idea!!! (P.S. Do you all remember that Fundy video where he coded it so that he could take Dream on a movie date? Yeah we’re going to pretend that that code applies to Minecraft and so you can have TVs so you can watch movies and stuff lol… That’s all) (P.P.S. This took longer than I thought it would so this is my only post for the night. I’m sorry)

Masterlist here!

After spending a lot of time with Tommy, Y/N and Sam decide its time to expand their own family

Y/N’s POV

“Honey I’m home!” I heard my husband call from the front door. “In the kitchen!” I called back as I finished up dinner. “I also brought a guest. Hope that’s okay.” Sam announced as he entered the kitchen. I looked away from what I was doing a little confused. “Of course it’s okay, who did you bring?” I questioned as he approached me, leaned down and gave me a quick kiss as a greeting. Sam simply grinned and moved out of the way revealing a blonde teenage boy standing in the doorway with a grin on his face. “Tommy!!” I exclaimed, leaving the stove and running to the young boy. “Hi Y/N!” He shouted in response, allowing me to wrap my arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. 

“It’s so good to see you! I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while!” I told the young boy, pulling back slightly from the hug. “Yeah, I’ve been a bit busy with Tubbo. But I ran into Sam as he was walking back from the prison and we started talking and he invited me back here for dinner. I hope that’s okay, I can leave if you want, I don’t want to intrude” Tommy rambled off nervously. I couldn’t help but let out a scoff of disbelief at that, “Okay course it’s okay! You’re always welcome in our home Tommy. Come, sit! Dinner is almost reader,” i said before peeling myself off of the boy and ushering him to the open seat at the table. 

I quickly returned to the stove where Sam had taken over making dinner and had actually finished by the time I got there. “Do you want to serve or do you want me to?” Sam questioned softly, giving me a warm smile. I let out a hum before responding, “I’ll serve if you want to get drinks.” Sam gave me a nod, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to my lips before moving away from my side and getting cups. I quickly grabbed three plates before portioning out the food I had made and carefully carried the plates over to the table and set them down in front of our respective chairs. “Thanks Y/N. Thanks Sam” Tommy thanked us as we set the food and drink down in front of him. “No problem kiddo” I responded, sitting down in my own seat before Sam sat in his. “Let’s eat!”

The three of us ate together and talked about our days as well as catching up with what Tommy had been getting up too. It felt really nice talking to Tommy. Ever since Philza had moved out to the tundra with Techno, we had kind of taken Tommy under our wing. Sam had spent a lot of time with him building and I had spent a lot of time with him mining and gathering materials. It had been a little bit since the three of us hung out, Tommy had been busy with Tubbo running their country. 

“Can you stay for a little bit longer?” I asked the younger boy as we cleared plates from the dinner table. A bright smile formed on his face as he nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, yeah I can. What did you have in mind?” Tommy responded. I gave him an excited grin before quickly putting the dishes in the sink, grabbing his arm, and pulling him into the living room. Sam also put his plate in the sink and followed behind us. 

Once in the living room, I softly pushed Tommy to the couch before rushing over to the TV and putting in a new movie I had yet to see and I knew that Tommy and Sam would enjoy it too. I turned back around and found Tommy sitting in the middle of the couch and Sam sitting to the right of him. I giddily took the spot open on the left side of Tommy and hit play on the remote. 

Once I had settled on the couch, I moved my arm to wrap around Tommy’s shoulders and pull him close to my side. Tommy gave me a confused look but I shrugged, “I wanted to be close to you and my husband, and this is the only way to do it.” At my words, Sam reached up and wrapped his arm around Tommy’s shoulder too, his arm resting on top of mine. Tommy seemed to accept my answer and settled down, almost curling closer into my side. 

The three of us mostly watched the movie in silence, laughing at the appropriate parts and joking about something the characters were doing. Toward the end, I felt something drop onto my shoulder. I looked over in confusion and felt my heart melt at the sight. Tommy had fallen asleep and in his exhaustion, he head had dropped onto my shoulder. I looked up and met Sam’s eyes, who was staring fondly at the two of us. 

“He really is like our kid sometimes” I whispered to my husband. His eyes didn’t leave Tommy’s form. “Yeah… Do you think that maybe… possibly… we could… ya know?” I knew what he was trying to say. “Really? You want to?” Sam’s eye flicked up from Tommy’s sleeping face. “Yeah, I really really do… Is that okay?” There was a moment’s pause where we both stared at each other, glancing down at Tommy before meeting his gaze again, “Of course that’s okay Sam. I really want to start a family with you. I love you so much” “I love you so much too baby.” Sam, as carefully as he could leaned across Tommy and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips before settling back in his spot with a grin on his lips. We were going to do it. We were going to start our own family. 

*Time skippppp*

Tommy was the first person we told when we had gotten confirmation that we were going to be parents. The two of us made Tommy’s favorite meal and told him that we were going to have a baby. “I’m going to be a big brother?” Tommy gasped in excitement. Tears filled my eyes at his words. Of course Sam and I considered him as a son, but we didn’t know he thought of us in the same way. “Yeah Tommy,” Sam chimed in, tears forming in his eyes as well, “You’re going to be a big brother” Tommy shot up from his seat and ran over to me and threw his arms around me. “Oh this is going to be so cool! I’ve always wanted a younger sibling and now I can finally have one! I’m going to teach them so many curse words!” That made the both of us laugh, “No you absolutely will not” I chided, laughter lacing my voice as tears began falling down my face. “Oh I absolutely will.” 

The next few months were spent preparing for the baby. Tommy was a great help. He spent a lot of days helping Sam extend our house and prepping a nursery for our new addition to the family. Tommy also spent a lot of time helping me. Making sure that I had everything I needed and that I wasn’t over exerting myself, which I found very sweet. Tommy did not leave our house during this time and so we decided to build another room for him to live in. 

Once the baby, a beautiful little girl, finally arrived, Tommy was so stoked. He almost never left her side. Tommy would spend several hours holding our little baby, Stella. There would be many nights where Stella would wake me or Sam up with her crying and by the time either of us got there, Tommy was already holding her, trying to sooth her crying. He was really truly the best big brother to Stella. 

“You guys haven’t had a proper date night in a long time yeah?” Tommy asked randomly one night as the four of us were seated at dinner. Sam and I shared a look before turning back to the boy who had become our son, “Yeah, I guess not huh?” Sam asked with a chuckle. I couldn’t help but chuckle as well as I fed Stella, “It’s been since… I don’t know, before we announced we were going to have Stella. But it’s alright, Stella has taken up a big part of our life and she needs a lot of attention, it’s what being a parent is. We’re alright” I told the boy, looking over and throwing a wink to Sam who threw one back at me with another chuckle. 

Tommy was silent for a moment, contemplating his next words before he spoke, “I mean… Maybe I could watch her for the night while you two go out and have a proper date night” Tommy offered. The offer surprised me. Because yes, Tommy loves his little sister and spends a lot of time with her, but he has only spent time around her when we were around as well. “I would be a really good babysitter too! I would make sure she was fed and she had a clean diaper and went to bed on time. I pinky promise!” Tommy rambles, trying really hard to convince us. 

I looked over to Sam who was already looking at me. I rose my eyebrow at him, and he shrugged in response before raising an eyebrow at me in return. I also gave him a shrug in response before we both turned back to Tommy. “Alright” we both agreed in unison. “After dinner we can pick a date and time, how’s that sound?” Tommy let out a cheer at Sam’s response, startling Stella a little bit. I giggled and quickly soothed her, getting her to go back to eating before looking back at Tommy, “I take that as a yes?” “Yes! Absolutely!” 

So the date was set. Next week the two of us would go out on a small date together, leaving both of our children behind back at the house. Each day that passed, Tommy grew more and more excited about the date. I honestly think that Tommy was more excited about our date than we were. Once the day finally arrived, Tommy practically shoved the two of us out the house, slamming the door closed behind us. 

I couldn’t help but hesitate to leave the front of our house. Sam immediately noticed and wrapped his arm around me and pulled me along the path, “Come on hun, they’ll be fine. You know Tommy loves her and wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” I let out a sigh but nodded and rested my head on his shoulder, “You’re right. You’re right. I’m just nervous about leaving her,” I admitted. Sam let out a hum and leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head, “I know baby. Me too, but Tommy’s got this and if he needs anything, he knows to get a hold of us.” I nodded once more, “Yeah… Yeah okay. Okay… Let’s go have fun baby.” “Let’s do that”

The two of us left the house, only glancing back one time each to make sure the house was still standing until we were out of view of it. Once we could no longer see the house, the two of us began to focus on each other and our date night. We allowed ourselves to get lost in each other and go back to the giggly cutesy couple that the two of us were before we had our baby. Not that we’re still not giggly or cutesy, it’s just that we have definitely been more stressed due to our child. But we were able to have an actual, proper, date night with no screaming kids interrupting our kisses or hugs. It was actually really nice and relaxing. 

When the two of us came home, it felt like we were on cloud nine. For the first time in a long time, we didn’t have to worry about either of our children. We knew where the baby was and that Tommy was taking care of her to the best of his abilities. The house was quiet when we walked in, which was a little weird. Normally, Tommy would be talking to Stella if she was awake, but if she wasn’t he would have put her in her crib and come back downstairs to watch a movie or something… But the TV wasn’t on and he wasn’t talking. 

“Tommy?” I called out softly through the house. No response. “Tommy?” Sam tried, his voice also soft. Also no response. “Maybe he’s asleep?” I murmured, walking forward further into the house, Sam following behind. “Maybe. But that would be weird too, he usually never goes to be without telling us goodnight.” “Maybe he’s trying something new” “Maybe.” 

The two of us walked through the house quietly, looking for any sign of Tommy or Stella. Sam and I parted ways as we walked through, Sam went to the kitchen and I went to the living room. My eyes scanned the room and immediately stopped on the most adorable sight I had ever seen on the couch. I poked my head out of the living room and called to my husband softly, “Sam. I found them,” I whisper shouted causing him to step out of the kitchen. “Yeah? They in there?” “Yeah… Come look.” Sam quickly walked down the hallway and peered into the living room. “Oh my gosh” he whispered as his eyes met the sight, “I know right?”

There on the couch was Tommy and Stella. Tommy’s head was tilted back onto the back of the couch and baby Stella rested on his chest. Tommy’s hands rested protectively on Stella’s back holding her close to him. Small snores were falling from the young blonde’s lips as he peacefully slept on the couch. Over Tommy’s shoulder, a burp rag rested and beside him a half drunk bottle lay on it’s side. It seems that he was trying to get her to eat, but she just wanted to snuggle and sleep. 

“He really is the best big brother that anyone could ask for,” I whispered to my husband who hummed in agreement, “He really is. They’re the best kids that parents could ask for.” Kids. Our kids. They are our children. A small tear made its way down my cheek causing me to let out a sniff, “yeah, they really are.” Sam looks over to me and chuckled, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. “You big softie” he teased, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Oh hush, you’re the same way,” I mumbled, my face pressed into his chest. I felt a chuckle rumble through his body as he laughed at me, “Yeah… You’re right. You’re 100% right.” 

We stood there for a few moments longer before I let out a small yawn. “Tired?” Sam asked, pulling me away from the hug slightly to look at my face. I gave him a small nod and a tired smile, “Yeah, I had a really fun day with this really cool guy and now I’m a bit tired,” I told him. Sam laughed and pressed a small kiss to my forehead. “Wow, that guy sounds pretty cool,” Sam claimed, going on with the joke. “He really is. I love him lots, we have two children together that we should probably put to bed right now.” Another laugh escaped his lips, “I’m sure he loves you lots too. And I’m sure he’d agree with you about getting the kids to bed. I bet he would suggest you get Stella and he get Tommy.” It was my turn to laugh at him, “Yeah. I would definitely agree with that,” I giggled. Sam gave me a soft smile before leaning down and giving me a soft and slow kiss that I instantly returned. “I love you so much” “I love you too” 

After we broke apart, the two of us softly moved to the children that were knocked out on the couch. Ever so carefully, I peeled Tommy’s hands from his sister’s back before picking her up and tucking her to my own chest and stepping away from the couch. Sam quickly took my spot and ever so slowly and carefully picked up our son bridal style. We carefully made our way to our respective child’s room. I carefully laid Stella down in her crib, tucking her in, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, and leaving the room. 

I made my way to Sam and I’s shared bedroom, quickly getting ready for bed and crawling into bed before Sam entered the room as well. We were silent as he got ready for bed and crawled in next to me. “Have any troubles?” I whispered, curling myself into his chest. Sam’s arms immediately wrapped around my body, cuddling me closer. “No, you?” “Nope. All good on the Stella front.” “Good” 

We were silent for a little while longer, his hands rubbing up and down my back softly, lulling me closer to the edge of sleep. “I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you,” Sam murmured after a while, breaking the silence. “For what?” I responded sleepily, confused at what he was saying. “For this. For letting Tommy in our home. For Stella. For giving me family.” A soft warmth filled my whole body at my husband’s soft confession. I carefully pulled my head from his chest and peered up at him softly, “Oh baby. You don’t have to thank me for that… It was just a part of your decision as it was mine. We’re in this together babe. You and me, it’s our family. Our little family.” 

I tilted my head up and Sam got the message. Our lips met in a soft but passionate kiss. The kiss said everything. “Thank you” “You don’t have to thank me” “You’re my family” “I love you” Another wave of warmth flooded my body, making me feel cozy and warm. It was a feeling that I never ever wanted to leave my body. It was a feeling that could be caused by no one else, only my husband, the love of my life, my everything. “I love you so much” Sam murmured against my lips. “I love you too. So much more.” 

Well that ending sucked… lol but there you have it! I really hope you enjoyed it! If so be sure to leave a like or maybe even a reblog!!

[anwynb2003]

Um... I think I made a BatFam AU while half-asleep...

Ok so, I wake up, and it seems last night I wrote out a messy explanation of a story that I just might have to write now... but I've read literally one Batman comic (Death in the Family), and all my knowledge comes from either YouTube, Wikis, and stories on AO3...

Hyperfixation is fun, isn't it?

Anyway, here's a copy-paste of what I wrote in my half-asleep state at around 2:00 last night (note, the doc itself is simply titled "C'mon. You Know."):

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tireeeeed let’s do this

Okay so

AU: No superheroes. Bruce Wayne is just a rich dude who starts taking in orphans because reasons.

First up was Dick Grayson, who he adopted when he was 9.

7 years later, he added 13-year-old Jason Todd.

3 years later, 12-year-old Tim Drake.

2 years later, 14-year-old Cassie Cain.

And finally, 2 years after that, he learned of and gained custody of his only biological son: 10-year-old Damian Wayne.

Only a year after Damian joined the family though, Brucie boy died, presumably in a “tragic accident”, but it’s quickly revealed that someone’s altered his will, leaving his kids with none of the family’s fortune; not even their home.

Dick, who’d moved out a few years ago, now has custody of his 3 youngest siblings, and only a small, 2-bedroom house in Blüdhaven to care for them in.

Jason, who for a variety of reasons had run away at 15, and had stayed away for the most part, reluctantly agrees to move in Full House style to help Dick, while all the siblings work with their ex-butler/grandfather figure Alfred, and family-friends Jim and Babs Gordon to figure out the mystery of their father’s death and will.

Tensions run high, Dick’s having a breakdown, Jay’s struggling to Dad (verb), Tim’s gay and spiralling, Cass struggles with speech, and Dami’s emotionally stunted. Yay!

So we got:

Dick, 24-year-old officer of the BPD. Adopted at 9 years old after losing his parents in a circus act gone wrong, Dick stayed with Bruce until he was 18, when after a heated argument he left for college. He made up with his father over the next couple years and stayed in contact, often visiting him and his siblings.

Jason, 21-year-old, works part-time at a gym in Crime Alley, Gotham City. Adopted when he was 13, after several years of living on the streets after his step-mother’s death by overdose and his father’s “peace out” moment. Discovered the identity of his birth-mother, ran away to go find her because teen angst and increasing fights with Bruce, then she was found dead a week later (her ex was charged and found guilty) and while Jay couldn’t be found, much of the blood at the crime scene was his. Then, randomly, he contacted his family again 4 years later, at 19. Didn’t move back in, and things were quite tense between him and Bruce, but still hung out with his siblings outside the home (though he was angry at Tim at first, for being adopted less than a year after his “death” and "replacing" him).

Tim, 17-year-old honours student. Adopted when he was 12, but actually started hanging around the house a little before that, as Dick was tutoring him after school. This helped both Dick, and Bruce to discover how neglectful and emotionally abusive his parents were, and Bruce literally had to sue for custody for this kid. He won.

Cassie, another 17-year-old. Adopted at 14, she’d been on the streets much like Jason had, but of her own volition… to a point. She was scarred after seeing her father do… something, when she was only 8 years old (she’s repressed so hard that even she doesn’t remember exactly what), and so ran away. This thing traumatized her so much that she lost her ability to speak for years, and has only just started learning to talk again. Instead, she usually uses ASL.

And Damian, an 11-year-old ball of politeness, good manners, and pure, unadulterated rage. He was born nine-months after his mother date-raped his father, and was raised in quite an… odd way, by said mother and her father. Long and short of it: crime family, but not a close one. He rarely if ever actually saw his mother, and when he did she wasn’t overly affectionate. He spent most of his early days being groomed to be his grandfather’s heir, only for their entire organization to be captured by police when he was 10. It was now when the emotionally stunted, spoiled brat was put into his father’s custody.

Main issues:

-Dickie boy stressed ooooooouut, gotta be a breadwinner and keep his siblings together and safe

-Jaybird technically never made up with Bruce; they’d actually made plans to get together and talk things out, but then, y’know, death

-Timmy, poor thing, is balancing school, work at Wayne Enterprises, and investigating the case of his father’s death, and has seemingly forgotten what sleep is. Adding on the fact that Bruce being dead means his (granted, chosen) role as heir to the company seems much more real (even despite the fake will, he's confident he'll figure it out and find the real one), he’s not doing all that great

-Cassie, sweetheart, has been emotionally traumatized for years, and now just has more trauma to add to that with Bruce being dead. She’s getting better, but struggling

-Dami, baby bird, is filled with more rage than usual, and is endlessly worried about all the animals in his “zoo”; Alfred remains at the manor (though he has not met his new employer), for the sole purpose of making sure they stay fed, watered, bathed, and more or less cared for.

So, to sum up, Dick’s working to support them and trying his best, Jay’s Dad-ing while Dick’s at work since his hours are more flexible, Tim hasn’t slept in years, Cass needs therapy and hugs, and Damian has a growing army of stuffed animals to fill the gaping hole in his life where his zoo used to be (since he could only bring Titus and Alfred the Cat with him to Bludhaven).

Will they be able to figure out who had their father killed and get their family legacy back?

Hell if I know, I haven’t written it yet. Probably. Get off my back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, long story short, I seem to have issues, but this is happening now apparently.

Not right now though, Ima go play Minecraft.

[mcyt-transcribed]

transcript of “where I've been”

TW for discussion of cancer and Covid-19

 Here’s the Google Doc link or you can click on the read more.

Techno: Yo, Technoblade here with another upload, oh my God I can’t believe it. We’re back, we’re playing Bedwars, uh, I don’t know why I said that in the present tense because I actually recorded these Bedwars games a few days ago. I have- I’ve played like, almost no Bedwars since the win streak, which was like, I dunno, years ago - so, you know, forgive me if I’m a little rusty. These are literally just the first three games of Bedwars I played, recorded them, and then just threw them in this background footage because, you know, I like live commentaries a lot, but I feel like sometimes, when you have a topic to talk about, having to play a video game simultaneously can sorta- it can sorta detract from the commentary, you know?

But before that: a plushie commercial filmed on my iPhone.

We got the first one - it’s Technoblade. He’s in a flying pose. He’s flying to save some civilians or he’s falling flat on his face. Depends on who you ask. Alright. We got the- We got Technoblade. He’s sitting down. He’s- He’s seated. He’s seated. It’s incredibly exciting. Uh, we got- we got Technoblade but he’s- he’s a giant- he’s a gigantic pillow. It’s Technopillow. This is actually- This is actually really- This is really soft. You’re gonna have to take my word for it.

These plushies go on sale on September 3rd at 3 PM EST at youtooz.com. The last ones sold out in around eight hours, so be prepared. I mean, one of them was like, two minutes but ehhh, it’s not happening again.

So where has Technoblade been? I know I’ve been gone since like, June. I was actually being really productive in July, which I know you guys are gonna- You’re not gonna believe me when I say that because I made no content. But I was! I was, you gotta believe me, okay? I was getting so much work done IRL; I was like, filling out paperwork, making business moves, working on merchandise, buying new equipment to make new videos. ‘Cause I really wanted- I really wanted to increase the rate at which I was making videos, ‘cause I kinda spent- You know, I kinda spent like, all this time becoming a famous YouTube and then instantly like, stopped uploading. Which, I mean, to be fair, I guess that started more in like 2018. So, that’s more just a pattern now.

 But I figured, you know, this whole thing where I go two- you know, one or two months without uploading- I don’t want that to be me, man. I wanna be uploading at least once per week. So I spent a lot of time preparing to do that. And the plan was that I would start doing that in August, but I took a- It didn’t- It’s, uh- It’s not going great, I’m not going to lie to you.

So in the last two days of July I noticed that my right arm was starting to hurt a decent amount and I thought- My best guess was that it was some kind of repetitive stress injury, ‘cause you know I’ve been playing video games since the age of like, five. It’s pretty much nonstop. I was gonna get carpal tunnel at some point but, uh, I took a few days to rest my arm and it really didn’t… really didn’t feel any better after that. And so after a few days of that, I looked at myself in the mirror and I noticed that my right shoulder was starting to swell like crazy and I was like, “Oh my God! I must’ve broken a bone, this is-” I mean, this- It looked- it looked crazy.

So, you know, the next day - August 2nd - I, uh, headed over to the doctor to see what was wrong and uh, they ran a couple of scans and then they came back and they told me that, uh, the reason my arm hurts is because I have cancer.

That really couldn’t have gone worse, I don’t think. I feel a bit silly talking about this with, uh, Minecraft in the background; it feels a bit out of place. But I’m a Minecraft YouTuber - I don’t- I don’t do a face cam. Which is I guess how most people would talk about serious things, with a face cam. I also probably, uh- *chuckles* Also probably a bit weird to plug my merchandise in the- in the same video, like, “Hey, guys, I have a- I have a terrible disease, also buy my plushies, bro.” But uh- *laughs* Listen: I’ve been waiting so many months to sell those plushies, bro. And it keeps getting delayed and now cancer thinks it can stop me. No no no no no. I’m trying to make some bank, bro. I wanna get paid, also they look fantastic, I mean just look at them, they look incredible. Alright?

I mean, I guess it would be ideal to like, split up the announcements, but I’m going back into chemotherapy next week; I don’t got time for this, man. We gotta go!

To be fair, I could make this a lot weirder; I could have like, the thumbnail be a giant red arrow pointing to my tumor with the caption “Might die! Not clickbait!” *laughs* Yeah, just the ultimate- the ultimate YouTuber, bro. We’re clickbaiting the whole process.

So after the scans come in, I get transferred to another hospital which has an oncology award, so it’s a lot more specialized towards what I need. And I’m sorta like sitting there in the bed for a couple of days like, “Hello. Could I please get some healthcare? Could I- Could I just get a- Could I just get a crumb of healthcare? Please! Like, I *stutters* I wanna see people sprinting, you know? I feel like I want to see some urgency, you know? If you guys gotta- *stammers* You know, there’s like, this tumor on my arm - if you guys could just- if you guys could just get rid of it. Just get rid of it right now! Could we just go? If you gotta cut off my arm, cut off my arm, bro - do what you gotta do. I won’t complain, man, I’ve won enough Minecraft tournaments. I’ll just play Minecraft with my feet from here on out, bro. I’ll still be B tier at least, okay? It’s fine. Do what you gotta do.”

But then the doctors are telling me, “Oh, well, we can’t- we can’t do it immediately. We gotta- We gotta find out what it is, we gotta run some tests, do a biopsy.” I’m like, “Okay, do the biopsy.” Like, “Oh, well first we gotta do some scans.” I’m like, “Alright, dude, the scans.” And so it took a couple of days and then they did a biopsy, uh, three days later. And then I was like, “Alright. Let’s go!” And they were like, “Oh, well, the biopsy is gonna take like, a week or more to get back.” And I’m just sitting here like, “Bruh, please. Please, just treat me.”

I mean, it makes sense. It makes a lot of sense and I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but I’m just sitting there in the hospital like, “Please. Please, healthcare.” So they get the biopsy and they send me home and they’re saying like, I’ll come back in like a week or so when they have a treatment plan prepared, and so I- It was a very fun week at home ‘cause I was sitting there still not getting treated and I was just like, looking at my tumor like, “Alright, Mr. Tumor. You know, you need me to survive so it’s in your best interest to just- to just chill out for a little bit, you know? We don’t wanna go too crazy.”

And faintly- Faintly if you strain your ears, underneath my skin you can hear:

[Dream’s speedrun music plays for a few seconds]

Techno: Yeah, it was a really fun week. But I did finally get started on chemotherapy, which is a wonderful process. Let me explain chemotherapy. So basically uh, you know how society has progressed for thousands of years of technological and medical innovation? So basically, one of the top three ways we have to fight cancer is uh, for you to go to the hospital and then they uh, plug you into a machine and then they inject poison directly into your veins for several days. That’s uh, that’s one of the best ways we’ve got of going about this and the poison- it’s supposed to kill the cancer - it uh, also kills things like, you know, blood. But ehhh, does anybody really need blood? I feel like it’s pretty optional, you know? Uh- *small laugh* Blood for the Blood God as it were, alright? Uh, I’ll take what I can get.

I, uh, you know, I used to have a channel meme- ‘cause back in the day- you know how my motivation always goes up and down in, like, cycles? I used to have a meme where whenever I’d get super motivated I’d, ya know, I’d start uploading, like crazy. I’d also do things like get a haircut. And, so, I joked that, uh, the less hair I had, the more I’d upload. ‘Cause that’s- the hair was holding me back. And so, if that’s still true, I gotta say, chemotherapy, that’s gotta be daily uploads or something, bro. *laughs* It’s gonna be- Chemotherapy Arc is gonna be fantastic for content.

Well, ya know, after I got diagnosed, I, uh, I’ve been making a lot of phone calls- ya know, informing all of my distant family members about the situation- and, I gotta say, of all the phone calls I’ve made, nobody took the news worse than my health insurance provider. They’ve been inconsolable for weeks. They were like, “You got what!? No!” 

I mean, I had no idea they cared so much. They’ve just- oh my God. I- I think they’re the real victims of this. I mean, could you imagine? Could you imagine? Like, look at me! I was a healthy twenty-two year old, I, like, barely went to the doctor, even for, like, regular appointments. I- I guess I went to the dentist, that’s the one thing I did. I was the freest paycheck they’ve ever seen in their lives. They could’ve been milking money off of me for decades. And then, bam, cancer, bro. *laughs* Oh, those poor guys. 

Uh, the one- the one favor I- I do wanna ask- If you guys could all do one small favor for Technoblade- uh, you know that coronavirus thing you been hearing in the news for the last couple of years? Uh, I want you guys to get rid of it. Just, uh, I want it gone. Just a couple days should be sufficient for you guys to do that.

No, but, seriously. I’m kind of, uh, immunocompromised right now, which means, uh, if a bacteria touches me or, like, a virus touches me, I will explode. So, yeah, uh, I wanna- get the vaccine, is what I’m saying.

I’m gonna get cancelled by the anti-vaxxers for saying it, but it’s such a good vaccine, bro. Pfizer got full FDA approval, this week, for people aged sixteen and up. I think you- you can also get it if you’re eleven to fifteen if you’ve got emergency approval or whatever. Uh, I mean, if you have any concerns, don’t listen to a Minecraft YouTuber, but, please, at least talk to a doctor. Because it’s- it’s so good bro. It’s so good.

The hospitals are currently getting flooded by unvaccinated people. I’m gonna go ahead and speak on behalf of all cancer patients when I say that it is incredibly annoying when the- when the hospitals are getting overworked by people dying of preventable diseases. I’m just saying- we got dibs on those hospital beds. So, ya know, you- you probably don’t- you don’t even want them really. You don’t even want to need them. So, I think the vaccine… what is it? It, like, reduces the chances of you needing hospitalization from Covid by, like, ninety-six percent? I mean, it’s so effective, bro! Come on! I mean, you might still get, like… I mean, you could still catch coronavirus, but, like, the symptoms are gonna be so much milder, bro, I’m just saying. Think about it. Think about it. Talk to a doctor.

I remember when I first went in for chemotherapy, A: I was thrilled, ‘cause, like, yo! Healthcare! Inject it into my veins, bro! Let’s go! But, also, like, the first couple of days were actually pretty chill. I was like, ‘Dang! This is easy, bro!’. And then it kicked in. And then it kicked in. My energy levels were zero; they were absolutely nothing. It’s hard to describe how tired I was, but I think my one example is- so they let me go back home. And after several days of resting, I had a virtual appointment with a doctor. And, so, they were, like, ‘Alright’. And I was just sitting there, like, ‘Wait a second. You guys want me to sit upright in a chair for an hour? What is this, the Olympics, bro? I’m going back to bed! What? What?’ *laughs* ‘Wha? Let’s calm down here. Sitting in a chair? Am I Superman? Like, come one, bro.’

As you can probably tell, I’m feeling a lot better right now. Which is, uh, I think that’s part of the process, is, uh, you get a little bit of recovery time to, uh, ya know, eat a lot of really good food- get the weight back- and get ready for the next round.

And, uh, before we go back for the next round, I’m gonna be playing a lot of video games, uh, making some content, seeing if I can get some more videos prepared, because, uh- I know people are gonna be like, ‘No! Technoblade! You don’t need to make videos for us! Please rest!’

Nah, this isn’t about you, bro. This is about me. I enjoy this, man. This is, like, one of the safest and most fun things I could be doing right now, bro, I’m gonna do it. I don’t know how much content I could make, ‘cause I’m kinda slow, but we’ll see. We’ll see.

I already have a video prepared for next week, uh, September third. You guys are gonna love it. It’s, uh, it was actually- it’s kind of, kind of an old video. It was, uh, from a few months ago, but it’s very good. So, yeah! You guys have that to look forward to. 

And, for the record, I know I’ve been complaining a lot in this video, but I just wanna clarify that the doctors I have are, like, insanely good, bro. I’m gonna be getting some of the finest healthcare in the world, so don’t worry about me too much.

I think the treatment has already started to show some results. I- I mean, it’s been so short of a time, so the results aren’t gonna be insane or anything, but, at the very least, the speedrun music has stopped playing. 

So, yeah, that’s where I’ve been and that’s what I’m gonna be doing for the foreseeable future. Wish me luck, and, uh, wear a mask, I guess. Ya know, standard coronavirus procedures. All that coronavirus stuff and like, getting vaccinated - that goes double for Californians, okay? But it helps everywhere.

Uh, that’s all I’ve got for today. See you guys next time!

[loveyouforevergrace]

My Friendship With Grace

Grace and I met in my eighth grade math class, though it was seventh grade for her. She was honestly way too smart to be in the class, but she was required to have a math class on her seventh grade schedule, so she got pulled into the advanced algebra class for eighth graders. She barely showed up most days because she went to a special group where she learned concepts and formulas that I won’t get around to until my senior year of college. On the days Grace did show up however, she pestered me a lot. Being pestered wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I didn’t mind her too much. She had braces, I had braces; she was kind of a nerd, and I was kind of a nerd too--it worked out. I would desperately try to figure out the answers of my homework (I still don’t quite understand trigonometry), and Grace would take my phone and play games on it for the entire class. I was definitely fond of her, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. If someone had told me that the eleven year old girl clicking away at Tap Tap Fish on my iPhone SE would grow up to be my best friend, I would’ve told them they were crazy.

Grace and I have an incredible amount of overlap between our interests, which is coincidentally how we reconnected as I went into high school and she stayed in middle school. I was playing a god awful video game with my friends one summer afternoon, League of Legends, and somehow ended up on a team with Grace in it. She entered the call and I recognized her squeaky voice immediately, so we both got talking again pretty quickly. At the time, we bonded over our unfortunate addiction to video games, and our love for Panic! At the Disco, though I like to believe our interests have become a little more refined in recent years. These days we like to go shopping, or just talk about clothes nonstop. We watch anime together, and we’ve moved on from sucking at League of Legends to building dreamy treehouses in Minecraft. In my opinion, our music taste has definitely developed too. She’s fallen down the K-Pop rabbit hole, whereas I’m a bit more into R&B and hip-hop. Despite our differences, I can always trust Grace with the aux cord. Deep down, I don’t think either of us is entirely out of our pop punk phase either. We’ve definitely had some interesting moments in the kitchen as well, whether that’s making an actual meal, or messing around with those DIY cooking kits meant for children. We did once make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for our friend group, and it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Additionally, we’re lovers of all things cute (which is definitely reflected in our Thanksgiving pie), and whenever I’m visiting her, we go on frequent Daiso (a chain of dollar stores with objects imported from Japan) trips to stock up on stationary, matching keychains, and other silly trinkets we don’t really need.

That’s the one disadvantage to the friendship--I have to visit Grace, and I don’t mean a walk across the street, a twenty minute bike ride, or even an hour long drive. I mean a three hour plane ride. Right before my freshman year, Grace’s dad got a new job opportunity working in Seattle, Washington. Essentially, she was torn out of the Midwestern cornfields and dropped off at a new trendy school in a new trendy neighborhood on the west coast as soon as we had started getting close. However, this didn’t stop us from deepening our bond. We did a surprisingly good job at staying in touch, and for the past five years we’ve been able to text for hours a day and call several times a week. As much as we both wish we could meet up at a small cafe for weekly study sessions, it’s just not possible, but we improvise. I’ve spent many nights on the phone with Grace while we watch cheesy animes, eat cut up fruit, and work on our homework. We miss each other like crazy, and COVID hasn’t made that any easier, but the saying “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” couldn’t be any more true.

When Grace and I do get the chance to be together, we go all out. I don’t know any friends who hang out quite the way we do. I don’t know anyone besides Grace who I’d be comfortable sharing a bath with while we wait for our lasagna to finish cooking in the oven. None of my other friends will have a candlelit dinner with me while listening to the Minecraft soundtrack, nor will they wake up at six in the morning to eat strawberries with me while we watch the sunrise. We once found out we were gonna be in the same airport at the same time, and decided to eat breakfast together before we had to part ways. We spend hours walking around the Mall of America since none of the malls in Washington even come close to comparing. One time we went to the art museum and pointed out any sculptures and paintings with two people in them that reminded us of ourselves.

That brings me to another point - Grace and I are insane at gift giving. With her sheer artistic talent, and my uncontrollable spending habits, we really do each other justice. Those sculptures that I mentioned Grace and I compared ourselves to? She made me a mini version of them for Christmas. No one else has ever taken the time to do something like that for me. This goes both ways. I know no one has ever gifted Grace an enormous package filled with nothing but merchandise from her favorite Sanrio character, Keroppi, or gifted her an entire outfit (complete with accessories) on her birthday. Even the letters she writes to me feel like tiny presents, they’re always handwritten and covered in adorable little stickers. She seals the envelopes with a wax stamp and everything. No one has ever done something so romantic for me before, not even my last boyfriend who I dated for two years.

I can tell Grace literally anything, and she can tell me anything too. I’ve found that in most relationships, there’s always certain things you can’t say to the other person. I’m bound to clash with almost everyone in my life at one point or another, and I can’t vent about someone’s BS to their own face. Even though things do get talked out with them eventually, it’s often after I have a lot of reflection and planning on how I want to discuss things. Grace is the exception to that--I can tell her anything. We almost never fight or get upset with each other. In fact, the only time we’ve ever had friend problems was when a girl at Grace’s school wasn’t too fond of me dating her ex-boyfriend, and she tried to mess with our friendship as a result. As you can probably guess, we got it figured out pretty quickly.

The bond Grace and I share is definitely not a common one to find. I’ve had friends tell me how badly they wish they had a friendship like Grace and I have, and honestly, I don’t blame them. I love every single one of my friends so much, but there’s such a great connection Grace and I have through our enjoyment of general dumbassery, but also our appreciation for things that are romantic and adorable. She’s the homemade whipped cream to my strawberry pie, the Dancing Figure #1 to my Dancing Figure #2. I want Grace to be in my life for a very long time, and I don’t doubt that’ll happen. I can’t wait for us to fall victim to the 50% divorce rate when we’re in our forties, and realize that “she was the one” all along. And I’m only half kidding.

[hotforhandman]

Shigaraki Week Day 5

Yes it’s late. I taught my parents how to play minecraft to pass quarantine and now the whole family’s spent frikkin days in our world lmao 

Confetti - Blade – Wounds

The Price of Victory- Read it on AO3

Commission me! Help me out on ko-fi!

“I won.” Shigaraki breathed, giving a slightly hysterical laugh. Redestro was being fussed over by a handful of his followers, and Shigaraki was left swaying, the sudden lack of imminent danger setting his injuries in sharp relief. And yet even now, reality felt distant and fuzzy.

“Woah, woah!” Spinner ran forward just in time to catch him as he keeled over, Compress hot on his heels. “Fuck… Shigaraki…” He lowered him carefully to the floor, taking in the open wounds and vicious injuries that covered Shigaraki’s body. Shrapnel wounds, bruises, scrapes, friction burns, not to mention the deep cracks welling with blood that ran from his cheek all the way to his hand, where the skin was all but gone, oozing blood and other fluids onto Spinner’s clothes. The other… missing half his hand, nothing but loose skin and raw flesh where his middle finger, pointer and thumb should be. And then there was his ankle. Spinner’s stomach turned; limbs should not bend like that.

“Oh, hey…” Shigaraki giggled, and the dazed look in his eye suggested that he wasn’t all there. “Spinner, we won…”

“Yeah. Yeah, we did.” Spinner tried to smile, but his panic wouldn’t let him. “Hey, Shigaraki, you’re gonna be okay, right?”

“Huh? Oh… Yeah, I’m always fine…” He closed his eyes for a moment, panting shallowly, and Spinner’s heart plummeted.

“No, no, no… C’mon, stay with me!” He shook Shigaraki lightly, and Shigaraki hissed, opening one eye again.

“Don’t do that. Hurts.”

“I need you to stay awake, yeah? We’re gonna get you fixed up.”

“Mhm…” Shigaraki opened his eyes again, lashes fluttering. Spinner adjusted his grip, holding him closer.

“Okay. Okay. We’re alright, yeah? Toga- Toga’s not doing so hot, but Twice is with her… He’s helping her out, using clones to get her blood back. I dunno how that works, but he’s doing it. I got stabbed a few times, but that’s, that’s fine, I can handle that. Nothing vital. I dunno about Dabi, he looked kinda crispy, but he was still on his feet. Compress is the only one who got away unscathed, I think. We just need to get you something to eat, yeah? You’re far too thin. You’d like that?” He looked down at where Shigaraki was curled into him, head pillowed on his shoulder, his crushed hand dripping blood down his emaciated chest. “Shigaraki?” He jostled him, and Shigaraki’s head fell back, limp. “No, no, fuck, Shigaraki!” He cupped his cheek in his claws, tears blurring his vision. “Shigaraki, please!”

No answer.

-+-

“Hey.” Spinner rapped on the door lightly, a quiet announcement of his presence. Shigaraki blinked sleepily from his position on the hospital bed, watching him. “You doing any better?”

“Still hurts.” Shigaraki muttered in a hoarse voice. Even with all of the painkilling drugs in his system, the extent of his injuries meant every movement sent blinding pain through him. Even though he was still exhausted to the point of delirium, sleep eluded him beyond short bursts thanks to the jolts of pain and his racing mind. The ceiling of the room he was kept in had a handful of pipes running across it, and Shigaraki had spent hours staring at them until the ceiling around them went grey. He was reminded of the room where he had first spoken to Sensei immediately after his historical fight with All Might, when he’d found out his beloved mentor would never see his face again. He would be lying if he said some small part of him wasn’t afraid he’d sustained some permanent damage. He was reassuring himself with the knowledge that if he had, Ujiko could and would fix it.

“You really scared us.” Spinner came in and pulled up a chair. The scraping of the metal legs on the concrete floor made his headache spike, and he grimaced. “When you passed out on me I genuinely thought you’d died.”

“Sorry… I couldn’t help it.” He murmured. “I was so tired.”

“I know.” Spinner went quiet for a moment, rubbing his hands together awkwardly. “Shigaraki?”

“Hm?”

“Is it true, what Ujiko says? That you’re gonna let him… mess with you?”

Shigaraki sighed heavily, wishing he could use his hands. That hadn’t been Ujiko’s secret to tell, and he had been dreading having this conversation. “His research… all of it. It’s been leading up to recreating Sensei’s power artificially.”

Spinner’s eyes widened. “You… All For One?”

Shigaraki nodded. “Yeah. The ability to take and use Quirks without going crazy like the Nomus. They’re failed experiments… And now there’s this new guy. Ujiko thinks he’s got it figured out, finally. If this one comes out still cognisant and sentient, it’ll be ready. Then it’ll be my turn.”

“Are you… sure it’s safe?”

“Look at me.” Shigaraki looked at him, and gave a sardonic smile. “This line of work is never safe. But that’s the reason why there were so many trials. So when it came to me, he’d know what he was doing, and it’d all go smoothly. Then all of this?” He made his best approximation of a gesture down at his body, ignoring the jolt of pain. “Never again. And you guys, all the pain you suffered, all the injuries… We’ll be untouchable. All those wounds, inside and out, they’ll all heal.” He gave a tired, strained laugh. “Finally.”

Spinner didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to see Shigaraki like all those specimens in Ujiko’s labs, intubated and unconscious, floating in tanks like something out of a horror movie. Those few hours where they hadn’t been sure if Shigaraki would live were some of the most terrifying of his life. How much was their victory worth?

“Don’t.” Shigaraki caught the look on his face. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. You’re a villain, you’re not supposed to care.”

“I’ve always been kind of a shitty villain.” Spinner half-joked, rubbing the back of his neck. “You guys are… You’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to family.”

Shigaraki was quiet for a long time, and Spinner was afraid he’d crossed a line, but then Shigaraki muttered quietly, “That’s why I have to protect you.”

Spinner blinked, and for a moment he was at a loss for words, opening and closing his mouth several times. “You’d better turn out okay, Shigaraki. We’ll all be waiting for you.”

Shigaraki closed his eyes, every single one of his wounds aching and itching, a reminder of the pain of being human. “Yeah. I will.”

[queensparklekitten]

An Incomplete List Of Things I Did In Quarantine Before We Went To The Cottage

-stayed up past 2am every single night

-spent entire class periods watching precure

-drank vanilla and instantly regretted it

-randomly wore the fanciest clothes i had

-found a cylinder of mesh fabric and wore it on my arm

-cut my nails into sharp claws which i have not done since i was 11

-tried to recreate aikatsu outfits using things like scarves, hair accessories not worn in my hair, long necklaces not worn as necklaces, extra shirts, washable marker tattoos, pieces of ribbon, etc. 

-made SCP Foundation jokes constantly

-written this on the whiteboard calendar

-scared the hell out of my parents by playing minecraft ambient noises at night starting on minimum volume and getting gradually louder

-put a circle belt on my boobs (which resulted in this image)

-found out that free books online websites exist and impulse reread all of dear dumb diary

-woken up with my hand hurting and no clue why (happened again today) 

-spent what probably amounts to weeks on end refusing to leave my room with all the lights out and curtains closed

-impulsively stabbed a cereal box with a serrated knife and then cut out a chunk of the box while there was still cereal in it

-imagined up very graphic scenarios and thought “wow my mind can go to fucked-up places” 

-used a zoom call as a makeup mirror

-had a dream that ended with me curled up alone trapped in an empty cold leaky concrete room trying to sleep and hoping someone wound find me, and then been woken up by the neighbours’ toddler crying, and when i went back to sleep the dream continued like i was waking up still alone in that room, and after a few rounds of this, i caught on in the dream that i was dreaming, and while semi-conscious i intentionally kept myself in the dream and asked if, since this was a dream, could it have a better ending than me trapped alone in this cold, empty, leaky concrete room with nothing but my clothes and hoping someone would find me. then i gained control of the dream, and i changed the setting completely. now there was cookies and fluffy white something and hanging out with people and i wasn’t cold and it was much less hopeless. however, i lost the cute magical girl dress i had been wearing in the dream, and after i changed the setting, i lost the awareness and control i had previously had. it stayed that way until i woke up. 

-sunbathed on the roof for over an hour in heart-shaped sunglasses and my moms made no attempt to get me off the roof because this was the first sun and fresh air i’d had in weeks

-started a spontaneous performance of Revenge in a zoom call

-stayed up all night writing a 7000+ word story without taking breaks or sleeping

-talked to my containers of mixed glitter as if they were my children

-drew the eye of providence on my hand in sharpie 3 times

-when my mom was leaving for the grocery store i said “it’s dangerous to go alone! take this” and handed her my toy sword

-wrote a song parody at 1am and made myself cry while writing the lyrics (posted an audio recording, link here)

-FINALLY showed my family Atlantis: The Lost Empire which i’ve wanted to do for years

-me and my brother threatened to knife fight each other and only stopped upon realizing neither of us knows a thing about knife fighting

-wore a slinky on my arm

-slept in past 9 every day and skipped breakfast every day as a result because it was closer to lunch, which became such a habit that recently i got woken up by accident before 9 and didn’t have breakfast

-there was a few instances where i stabbed myself with a safety pin in the middle of the night and kept it up until there was blood

-rewatched all of Willcraft Animations Monster School at 1:35am on a school night

-converted my favourite mobile game which shut down into a version with physical cutouts of the powerups, custom roulette wheels and dice which were substituted with random number generators and randomcolour.org because i did not have access to custom roulette wheels or dice, a lot of Keeping Track Of Things, and the villains becoming playable characters as it goes from match-3 to a full-on multiplayer VS battle. Can I just say it was fun as hell to come up with stats, skills, and star ratings for the ridiculous-looking CurePuz enemies. 

-refused to participate in family movie nights and later watched that same movie by myself, several times

-freaked out my parents by standing there in a white dress in the dark holding a glowing book (the glow came from my phone hidden behind the book displaying the lyrics to Sis Puella Magica) and singing in Kaijuran

-went weeks without seeing the sun and when i first saw a sunny patch through the window it hurt my eyes (like, actually painful) because i was spending so much time in the dark in my room 

-my mom spent a while thinking i was becoming a vampire

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 129

July 18

I'm feeling extra tired tonight and I'm not sure why. Just kind of run down, I guess, or maybe feeling one of those bouts of ennui that sometimes sweep in when you've had too many of the same day in a row. Maybe it's because I started MPRE study today and it reminds me that I really need to get a job even though I have no idea what school is going to look like this year or even what searching for a job will be like or who is hiring. It's just easier not to think about that stuff whenever possible, but at some point I'm going to flop face-first into all of it and I'm going to have to deal. And that is a depressing thought.

Good news this evening on the kitten front; all four kittens were accounted for at feeding time tonight. At first it was only the same two tabbies as last night and I was worried, but then the third tabby and the tuxie joined in and they all ate like tiny starving wolves. Mama didn't show up at all, which was a little weird, but I guess I can try and trap her separately if I really have to. The kittens are much bolder and more foolish when she isn't around, so that would make them easier to get in the drop trap all at once. I've inched the food a little further away from the storm drain to get them used to coming out for it, but at the same time I don't want them coming out too far and attracting attention from people in the parking lot. That just makes things more complicated. Day after tomorrow is trap day! 

The kiddo played Minecraft most of the day, with mixed results. When he is having fun with Minecraft he has a lot of fun, but when it is bad, he is super-frustrated. Today he managed to both blow himself up with some misplaced TNT and bork his entire world by doing a command line to give himself 1000000 rockets instead of 100. Hopefully this sort of experience helps him learn to cope with frustration in productive ways, but right now it's just unpleasant for everyone. I was able to commiserate at least, having rage-quite Minecraft several times myself over various misfortunes. The thing about Minecraft, though, is that it is always there and you always go back to it eventually. 

Tomorrow is grocery day again, or rather, a few groceries and a lot of school supplies. Last year Walmart did not offer school supplies for grocery pickup, but this year they are, even the rollback stuff. Assuming it works and is not all just unavailable tomorrow, that will be very excellent! We still don't know what school is going to look like, but I figure I can safely assume that notebooks, pencils, glue sticks, etc will all still be required. And I simply cannot resist a good twenty-five cent notebook! I'm also getting all the snacks that will be required for our trip. The idea of going anywhere is kind of scary, especially on a trip that is very likely to require an overnight in a hotel room. It's funny because six months ago we spent ten days in a hotel room at Christmas with my folks and it was great because we had our own space to spread out, a pool and unlimited hot water. Now I don't want to even overnight in one. But sixteen hours really is a very long time to drive all in one day. 

I heard on my local community group that Virginia Beach's titular beachfront got shut down today because of too many people on the beach. I am at once rolling my eyes and grumbling that people are morons and admitting to myself that I understand the impulse. The guys have gone to the beach twice since we got back, though they have gone during less popular hours and to less popular beaches where there are not many people. Not everybody really has that option, and the beach in VA Beach is beautiful, especially when the weather is so hot and muggy. And most people did not have the chance that the kiddo and I did to decamp to a privately-owned island back in March to wait out the first days of the pandemic on a beautiful and practically empty beach (also empty because the ocean is _cold_ in March, but the beach is still fun!) Being safe without going crazy is a luxury that varies wildly with your financial and family situation. We personally do not have a lot but we still have the main breadwinner's job, one that can be done remotely. We also have families with greater resources than us who can backstop us and help out, as well as provide other places to go and still be relatively safe. 

It doesn't keep me from judging entirely when I see people doing objectively dumb things, but I'm trying to remember compassion and empathy as well. Back when I ran the soup kitchen, I would get incredibly frustrated by people who would intimate (rarely say aloud, because we were all pious churchgoing folk) that most people who needed our services were there because they made bad choices and if they would just do x, y and z, they could better themselves in no time. And of course maybe x, y and z would help, but how do you do any of those things when you don't have a home, or a healthy mind or body, or if you're so deep into an addiction you can't see a way out, or you have a criminal record that will keep you from ever being a real part of society again? You can't know what people are going through unless you're willing to sit down with them and hear them and actually try to understand. Sometimes all you can do is give them a hot meal and a smile and some human contact they don't have to sacrifice their dignity to get.

I don't know why the people go to the beach, or the bar, or the dine-in restaurant. I don't know if it's their only outing in months, or if they're at the end of their rope from staying indoors, or if they're just desperate for things to not feel so bad and scary all the time.  I suspect that many of them do it because they are willfully ignoring the risk, which is not great. I absolutely think they ought to be wearing masks because that is an easy way to help yourself and others. But the only person whose heart I really know is myself, so it behooves me not to pretend like I know why other people do things that seem foolish and risky. So I'm glad they closed the beach today, but I'm going to try and do better about judging the people who went there. 

In slightly related news, my sixteenth wedding anniversary is next week. I am feeling kind of bummed about the extremely limited date options available to us, but it'll be okay. Honestly, I suspect that if we gave the kiddo his own pizza and pop and unlimited screentime for the evening, he would happily babysit himself in his room and allow us a romantic living room date. But I think we may just have takeout for three and a raincheck for when things are not quite so strange.

[notwhoiwanttobeyet]

tumblr journal [1]

NOTE: hi pLeasE don’t read this. this is just a way of coping with my mental illnesses. this is completely unedited, highly personal and i stRonGLy advise you look away. i hope you’re having a good day! happy holidays :)

also don’t mind the spotify links along the way; just some songs i almost or did cry to while writing this 

tw: suicidal thoughts, anxiety attacks, (breast) cancer

hey tumblr, 

it’s been a while since i’ve really vented. a lot of us use tumblr as a copying mechanism (me included) and i think it’s important i evaluate my current situation and break things down. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1WVunZLZM2zLTm5rAvKZkF?si=a94u_JAsRX2VCWOD6z4l-Q

exam season is over; i’m on summer break. and that’s great. no more school. no more exams and assignments and testing and all that FUCKING BULLSHIT THAT THE SYSTEM PUTS US THROUGH. i’m sorry, i’m trying to stay calm but it’s so fuckiNg hard. i’m literally going to cry i- so yeah, as we know, towards the end of the year school fucked me over and i really, reaLLY, REALLY wanted to die. so when school finished i was like “oh i must be all good now, right?” but i wasn’t. i was left feeling so numb, to be completely honest (and cliche).  

then i got sick which was soooo fucked. apparently a lot of people who went to our small friend kris kringle gathering got sick which sucks but because i spent so much of this year in isolation, i forgot what it felt like to be sick and oh bOY it fucking sucked. i over exaggerated because i’m sensitive and wanted to die. i was sick for like a week and my parents quarantined me because my mum is recovering from a breast cancer surgery and couldn’t afford to get sick so i was like locked in my room- on my own- which yeah, i do anyway but this felt sooo different. this felt like, completely fuckEd because my parents were wearing masks around the house and would leave food in my doorway, etc. i felt like a complete MONSTER to the people i love. i also obviously couldn’t hug them or anything, leaving me touch starved and ugh- it just wasn’t a great experience. 

also my mum is recovering fine and stuff but it’s an emotional fucking time for everyone and i’m so stupid i haven’t told anyone about my mum being sick and all. like people don’t ask why i’m acting up because i’m ALWAYS acting up. i’m always sensitive and angry and having mood swings. that’s just me, being mentally ill. so no one asks why i’m worried. my mum has/had BREAST CANCER- brooo. she’s had one surgery which went well and will most likely have to have chemo and/or radiation in the coming year. we get the results back after christmas. so that’s a thing. 

i have a secure group of friends which i’ve always wanted, but it doesn’t feel right. it never feels right. like today the three of us went shopping and THEY WENT CRAZY- i was so stressed and had literally like 6 different mental breakdowns in the 2 hours we were out. they were bumping into people, running around, trying on every item of clothing ironically in every store. that shit stresses me out. and there’s nothing wrong with that- they’re good people and they’re not doing anything wrong really - it’s just normal teenage stuff. but i’m note normal, i’m super anxious and everyone was looking at us and it made me sooo uncomfortable. like- i could elaborate more but thinking about it hurts. i felt like i was their mum or something, shepherding them around and making sure they didn’t break anything else. they- UGH// they broke a perfume bottle and rudely ran away from a teacher i have a good reputation with. like i said, they’re just normal teenagers but it fucks me up. it’s not them, it’s me. on the bright side i saw this same lesbian couple i saw the other day again :) i never see wlw or mlm couples in public really so it makes me soo happy when i see them :) i also saw this girl in an unnus annus hoodie and i was gonna say something but i’m too *anxious* so i just stared at her until she looked at me weirdly and i ran out of the store. oH and there was a girl in an mcr shirt ahh-- she was really pretty but i was too busy running it was a whole thing like my mum was coming to pick me up and i had 10 minutes so i ran up from one end of the mall to the other and then upstairs to this store to but this fucking wonderwomen shirt and then i had to run all the way back and i’m not the most athletic to say the least and i wanted to CRY but yeah. what did i learn today? people aren’t for me. friends aren’t for me. and again i know i’m built to be alone. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/7wTqEW5nrMhvyEhEyTnOMd?si=ata2BwOPQji3twov9wTZWg

i’m really thirsty. ew not like tha- i fucking hate society

cinnamon rolls not gender rolls. wait my friend got that on a poster let me see if i can find it,,,

yeah here it is ^^^^

also: my hair. i’m so happy having it the length it is but mAn i just- i just- i hate myself lol. like i don’t know what else to say. i think i’m ugly and every time i look in the mirror i want to cry, and it’s going to be like that forever so i need to just except that. i am ugly, i hate myself. like- bro come on. it’s been like this forever and it’s going to continue to be like this forever so i need to stop fucking crying over it.

https://open.spotify.com/track/05JtBVWRtSzqLoj7jj30kn?si=30W4pt7dT8G3cbzaUMqldw

oh my god this song i’m about to cry. this is what i want. why can’t i just be- not me!!! 

these past few days i’ve literally been playing minecraft bed wars all day. like all day. and it was okay but now my eyes hurt and my head hurts and my hands hurt and i hate myself and everything hurts. 

also- music doesn’t feel right. it’s been like this for a while now, it’s getting better though. before i couldn’t listen to any music at all - now i’ve been listening to kid krow on repeat : ) 

god bless you, conan. my number one song currently is *cough* E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE (which they are btw) which is- fucking terrifying and funny at the same time. i genuinely like CORPSE though- i’ve watched every among us stream and i love his songs- in the past i would have considered myself a simp (?) maybe (?) but i had a nightmare about it and i can’t awifjisenf simp no more. i still appreciate him, i just- had an awakening. 

sexuality crises also suck a whole bunch. there was a 1-2 day phase a few weeks ago where i was low key PRAYING to be a lesbian lmfao. like it sounds stupid but i was crying over that shit. background info: no i’m not one of those straight girls, i’m a bisexual female who’s almost a full on raging homosexual except i am attracted to men. and i wish i wasn’t, believe me when i say that. but i have realised i am bi so it’s okay. i thought i was a lesbian and awilfjnawr labels but no, i am slightly attracted to men sometimes. but to answer your question if i am lucky enough my future wife and i will be married and living in a cottage. 

ugh. life. bru h i’m actually a train wreck- i had an anxiety attack crying trying to find my childhood tinkerbelle and friends dolls the other night. and then to make matters worse, i found them in a box with a whole bunch of other dolls in the same box including StRawBerrY ShoRtCaKe doLLs and i smelt my stawberry shortcake doll hesitantly while crying and she still smelled like her strawberry scent and i was DEAD. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1F6IbA7di42uPc3cff8PXV?si=COKcG_UbQh-GhKYJ5vtIgg

ugh. so this has been my update so far. oh wait-

christmas. holy shit how is it christmas. i want dEatH like. reasons why i’m sad for christmas: it doesn’t feel like christmas so i feel like i’m not going to enjoy it, i’ve had no motivation to clean my room so the contents of my wardrobe is all over my floor because i was mid resorting the drawers when i got sick, i’ve wanted to ask for doc martens and my chemicals romance + other artists’ merch all year but i have SEVERE ANXIETY so of course i didn’t and now my parents have gone and bought me a new phone or something which of course i’m grateful for but my iphone 6s works just fine. it’s a waste of money which we need at the moment but because i’m too anxious i didn’t ask for anything this year so my parents have just chosen to spoil me and- aW SHIT! i can’t=

anyway so that’s my bullcrap life. i mean my bullshit rant. am i glad i did this? yes. do i feel any better? kinDa? i don’t know okay. what am i going to do now? i don’t know. probably lie on the floor and drown in self pity in hopes of melting into the abyss. i might read my book which i’ve yet to finish. maybe reading can be my knew things, seeing as i have zero hobbies. i read like once in a blue moon.

this is it for now, good luck, future me. 

sincerely, 

jordan ♡

https://open.spotify.com/track/7B3z0ySL9Rr0XvZEAjWZzM?si=HyWPKutjRTuPumafim7_Vw

[the-absolute-worst]

Game modding is fun, but hard

TL;DR every mod for every game is a culmination of hundreds of hours of work, and if you’ve ever used mods for a game, be thankful for them.

I’ve been around the block a few times. I’ve modded several games. I have a decent amount of programming experience. I’ve made mods for Minecraft, Skyrim, Dwarf Fortress, Pokemon (multiple generations), Dark Souls, etc. But you know what the big thing that modders really take for granted is?

The tools and information that are publicly available.

For pokemon, there’s a tool for everything. Map modding, wild encounters, starters, scripting, you get the idea. There’s an absolute shitload of tools and information available for these games, the same goes for everything else in that list, and while it’s still no easy task, modding is made leaps and bounds easier because of these tools. But recently, I’ve been diving in to modding Darksiders Warmastered Edition, for which no tools or information exist. No one has modded this game beyond some translations, and some fancy shaders. The translations DO actually decompress a portion of a data file and recompress it. But that’s it. It’s a lengthy command you have to enter in a terminal, and then you get language files out, edit it, and put it back, and it ignores the plethora of other information in the file. So much so, that a modded file will break it. The shaders don’t even actually modify game files. They only use a D3D wrapper to implement it, and that works on a LOT of games, basically for free. I want to go deeper, so I have. I’ve spent weeks trying to dismantle game files, and put them back together. I learned what every byte of every file is for, and I have successfully extracted all 618 oppc archives the game uses, rebuilt them, and played through the entire game without a crash. I’ve ripped game models, albeit without skeletons or animations. The files for those are ripped, but I don’t understand the format. I’ve decompiled portions of the game executable to find a hashing function to verify my work. I’ve written the only tool in existence to mod this game, and it doesn’t do anything. This is barely even ground work compared to all the tools for these other games. I don’t have scripts, I haven’t managed to even dent the world manifest file, and the sound streams file is a fucking nightmare taking up a massive 3 GB. For all the wonderful things my tool does, it doesn’t do a single useful thing towards modding the game. The only viable mod at this point is texture modding. Strictly aesthetic mods, that don’t change a thing about the game except how it looks. I’m okay with this. In taking on this monumental task, I’ve come to a greater appreciation and respect for all game developers, especially the modders that don’t get paid for it. They do it for the love of the game, and to get more out of some of their favorite things. Every mod for every game took someone a massive amount of time and effort to actually create. When we use the tools others have created, we are standing on the backs of giants. So to all the creators out there that make or use the tools to mod their favorite games: Thank you for what you do, and your contributions to the community

[norgad-vcd]

Revised Text

What goes on, online?

Anything and everything. It’s a beautiful and vibrant mess of human interaction. Everything from trivial and thoughtless acts to the most sincere and genuine deeds. It’s grounds for the vicious and the virtuous alike. The internet is what you make of it; a tool as good or bad as it’s wielders.

It’d take a thousand lifetimes to see it all.

How about a quick glimpse instead?

Hiya, I’m Tom! I’ve spent enough of my life online that I can confer some of my findings to you. This book is a smörgåsbord of experiences, phenomena, and memories I’ve been witness to and participant in during my time here. While not a full picture, it should help you navigate the ballpark of possibilities out there. My experiences are just one sample from billions; perhaps after this you’ll seek to venture out further into that world-wide web, or - at the very least - understand a little better those who do.

Friendships don’t care about how you nourish them, just that you do.

Catching up online is great for keeping friends close. It might be raining, someone might be away from home, or even sick and stuck at the hospital; the reason doesn’t matter. It might not be perfect - and sure, we could all get a little more sunlight - but for what it’s worth it’s good for the soul and sometimes the best thing on hand.

How do I put this?

It’s not all the same thing though, there’s different tools for different jobs. There’s a difference between how I talk to people in an idle chat and talking to someone in a formal meeting; different modes of communication for different settings and people. It’s the same thing with online modes of communication. Sending a message on Discord to one of my friends, I’d take a casual, grammarless, and very loose style of typing. Contrast that with an email to my grandmother; that’s much more structured and considered, like a half mimicry of a handwritten letter to be delivered by post. People still sign off emails with their names at the end, as if emails don’t also just tell you who they’re from in the ‘sender’ info.

Occasionally I’ll need to message someone I only vaguely know. In these circumstances it can feel a bit standoffish and unfamiliar. I’ll type out sanitised and unambiguous sentences; without tone of voice - or a history of talking to the person online before - it’s hard to judge sarcasm, emotion, and everything else conveyed nonverbally in a conversation. Erring on the side of caution seems to be the best bet, until we both get to know each other’s style of writing a bit better.

Over the first 2020 lockdown, me and most of my real-life friends started a minecraft server together and played through it for the duration of our stint stuck at home. It was like a little clubhouse, each time we logged in and saw things change slightly since last time. We left each other notes and set up gifts and pranks for when people left and returned. It was a great way to keep in touch when we were otherwise very isolated from social contact.

On a lot of platforms there’s a little indicator that tells you if someone’s online, offline, or possibly busy. This is really useful to see if someone might be free to talk or hang out. It’s also really good at betraying to someone the fact that I still have not gone to sleep, despite the fact that I said I was going to sleep about four hours ago.

To be fair, they said they were going to sleep about four hours ago as well.

[JOSH TEXT]

A big benefit to text chat is that if I’m preoccupied and all my friends are talking about something, I’m not left behind and out of the loop. I can always re-read what everyone wrote once I have time, pick up all the new inside jokes and keep up to date with people’s lives. The same can’t be said for voice chat; if I miss a hangout there I’ve missed it for good. This can get a bit weird if people are using both at the same time though; the text portion of the chat devolves into a complete mess of contextless strings of text and images out of nowhere. With a keen eye and a bit of detective work I can often piece together the general gist of the missed conversation, but other times it remains a mystery forever.

Whenever someone sends me a meme, I’m elated. I get to look at a funny picture, but I also get to send that same funny picture to someone else. Who knows how many hands the image passed through before it reached me, and how many more hands it will pass through before it reaches its final viewer. Maybe it’ll never reach a final resting place, instead getting recycled and remixed into memes anew until the end of time.

[ANOTHER GUEST SPEAKER TEXT]

Who are you, on the internet?

Online, your real-life identity isn’t attached to you by default. Of course there’s places where the expectation is indeed a connection to real identities - like Facebook for example - but this is not a requirement. I’m not known as ‘Tom’ online, people know me by my username.

It’s not a fake me, or a way to lie to people, it’s just an alternate expression of myself. We act differently to different people in so many social situations, - from time with family, to at work, and to hanging out with friends - the internet allows even more possible ways to express parts of ourselves. For me, it’s liberating to exist in a state that’s disconnected from the tangle of my real life self, and to keep the tangle of my internet presence away from real life as well.

On the internet, nobody knows who you are.

Unless you divulge them to others, your identity, physical appearance, background, nationality, gender, race and so on are completely unknown; this is the great equalizer. Free from biases based on your physical self, you can be perceived as purely another person.

A clean slate can tempt some however to act recklessly. If an identity and history can be shed so easily, some people feel emboldened to act without the threat of consequences; verbally beat someone up, and then wash their hands of the whole incident.

It’s important to remember that people online are still people; while their faces might be obscured, they still have thoughts and feelings. In general, talking to people online has about the same potential as real-life to be great, awful, or somewhere inbetween; it’s mostly luck of the draw who you’ll run into.

I don’t know the names or faces of some of my closest friends.

That doesn’t mean I don’t care about them; I just care more about who they are as an individual. I still know their personalities, their sense of humor, what they like and don’t, and everything else you’d know about a friend. We still have inside jokes, favourite group pastimes, and all the rest.

Who are you talking to?

When I was younger and my parents would ask who I’m talking to on the computer, I wouldn’t know how to respond.

Do I tell them “I don’t know” and spark images in their heads of catfishers and criminals?

Do I tell them my friend’s username and get told “that’s not a real name”?

Most of the time I’d just try to give a vague non-answer and hope the conversation goes elsewhere. Keep my little world safe.

[SYDNEY TEXT]

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Because everyone lives in different time-zones, it can often be difficult to pre-plan hangouts. Oftentimes me and my friends have planned to have a movie night at a specific time, and then once that time rolls around, one or two people are still offline, probably asleep. Oftentimes whoever was missing will come online several hours later and be sorry and upset that they held everyone up and wasted everyone’s time. Of course, we had all just postponed the movie night and just hung out and chatted instead.

Oftentimes we have to accept that it’s near impossible to have everyone hang out at the same time; it’d require half of us to be up at god awful times or to wake up at 4am for something. Instead of trying to plan big ‘everyone’ events every once in a blue moon, we try to have frequent but smaller hangouts. It might mean that we don’t get to see everyone at the same time, but it’s still workable. If we were to hold out till everyone was free at the same time, we’d never end up hanging out at all.

She should have been back by now.

A while ago, someone in one of my friend groups noted that someone hadn’t been online for two weeks. Dread set in. We all knew that our friend was very prone to getting ill, and we didn’t want to say it but we were worried she might have died. Since we don’t know each other in ‘real life’ it was entirely possible that someone could drop dead one day and we’d never get any confirmation; just left wondering what happened. We asked around in common friend circles, and nobody had heard from her, coming up on about three weeks at that point. We had to do something.

Multiple friend circles of people from all around the world, scrambling to find any scrap of information about our lost friend. One person had ‘maybe’ an address that they sent something to once, but it might have been an old house. We found about three different possible legal names, and had no way to be sure which was right. We ended up sending a letter addressed to the name we thought was most likely to be right, or to “the family of”. Someone tried ringing her house, but the people on the other end of the line didn’t know who we were, and we didn’t know who they were; we got hung up on because they thought we were stalkers. It was all desperate fumbling in the dark, but we were worried sick.

There were only ever two possible outcomes; if she came back we would find out she was alright, if she didn’t we would be left eternally hoping she would. Nobody wants to be the one to say “Hey guys, I think our friend might be dead, we should give up.” Time soon gave us our answer; she was alright. She had been stuck in hospital for a while and didn’t have access to a phone to let us know what had happened. We were all so relieved and had a laugh over how everyone overreacted, but it really did scare me. I’ve learned to really value the time I get to spend with my online friends; next time might not be so lucky, and if something were to happen it’s hard to ever get closure on it.

There’s never been a better time to pick up a new hobby.

One thing the internet’s really helped with is connecting like-minded individuals. Before the internet, if you had a niche hobby, you were probably the only person you know in your town with that hobby. Kinda lame, yeah? Nowadays, you can reach across the globe and connect with everyone who’s into the same stuff as you! Mainstream topics can have gargantuan communities, but what I find even more interesting is the weird obscure hobbies and groups, the kind that would never survive without the internet.

People online dedicate huge amounts of their free time to making resources and guides to almost everything. Need more bespoke help? You’d be hard pressed not to find someone who’s keen to chat more about their favourite pastime, if it means welcoming a new person into the fold. Guides and resources, instructional videos; it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get into carpentry, cooking or, (mine)crafting; you’ll find support along the way.

Some things really should have stayed niche.

Conspiracy theorists. Hate groups. Radical extremists. The internet’s power to connect people can also amplify voices that really didn’t need amplifying. What once were lone people with fringe beliefs - isolated and ‘alone’ - are now monstrous communities with the power to warp people’s sense of normality. There’s a critical mass where people don’t need to interact with people with outside views, they’ve got plenty of people to talk to in your own bubble. They don’t need to ‘go outside’.

We’re all susceptible to this; it’s only human. However, it’s important to stay vigilant. While you shouldn’t keep people around that make you miserable, you shouldn’t block out the first sign of dissent. Maintain a healthy variety in the people you talk to, and the content you consume.

[ANDREW TEXT]

In the rules discussion channel of a board game group I’m in, I swear sometimes it’s like I’m stuck in a time loop. I watch a random person ask a common question about the game, and then someone else will get the rules clarified for them. A few hours will pass, the conversation drifting elsewhere as people drop in and out. Suddenly, I spot it; the same question from before, but from a different person. Like clockwork, another nameless devout will rise up and deliver the answer. And again. And again. It’s like a two-line stage show where the audience is also the cast, over and over and over.

Since profile pictures and usernames are self-selected, every time I talk to someone new I get a weird little keyhole view of what who I’m talking to might be like.

This person has a picture of a cat as their profile image. Is it their cat, or did they just think the cat looked nice? Their username is ‘Millie’, is that their real life name; maybe? Or what if it’s the cat’s name? Are they pretending to be their cat? Are they a cat?

[RAZEK TEXT]

I do a wee bit of online gaming, and in a lot of these games the people you get paired with are completely random. I know nothing about this motley crew I’ve been thrown into, and yet we’re all expected to conform into a cohesive team and work together to win. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the luck of the draw has it that I’m paired with a bunch of inept clowns, and sometimes I’m paired with intelligent and skilled players who I mesh with really well. On the odd occasion, I might even strike up a good conversation with my team, build up some rapport. Start cracking jokes and bantering.

There’s a strong but ephemeral connection..

Sooner or later, the game ends. We say our goodbyes, and the game throws us back to the wind; like two ships passing in the night. There’s a slim chance we’ll ever both be in the same game again, but it doesn’t matter that much. We still had a good time, made a brief but positive impact on someone else’s day; and hey, there’s always the chance one of us sends the other a friend request before we leave.

Having a large presence online - that is, having other people follow or be ‘fans’ of you - is a mixed bag. For me it’s been really good in allowing me to get my art out there and get clients, but it’s also weird. It feels a bit like I’m up on a stage sometimes, everyone’s watching me. I’ve lost the feeling of being ‘just another guy in the crowd’. What if someone reads something I posted the wrong way? Do I keep being aloof and carefree, or will that hurt my image. Should I care?

[CHAI TEXT]

People with large presences can feel familiar, friendly, like you’re already friends. I’ve caught myself falling into this in the past. The brain’s great at filling in the details you want to be real. I realised that I had it written in my head that this person was super cool and the best and that it’d be really cool if we hung out; all extrapolation. While it’s entirely possible that they were everything I had imagined them to be, until it’s tested it’s all just imagination and fantasy. If I’ve never talked to them, how could I even know?

[DAVID TEXT]

What happens when the digital and the physical self have to intersect?

The two identities are from the same person, but they’re not the same.

One time, my parents sent me a text along the lines of “Your sister showed us your art; looking really cool Tom!”.

How.

I’d never sent my family any of my online profiles. I check my Twitter; sure enough in front of my eyes the screen tells me my sister has followed my twitter account. Abject horror. How much did they look at? What did they think? Should I start looking for a flat?

It’s not that I had anything to hide, it’s just that it felt… misaligned. Like two worlds coming together that shouldn’t. I’m sure for them it was just “Wow, look at our son go!”, but for me in the moment it was a sudden wave of confusion and dread.

One time, I was lucky enough to have a few of my internet friends visit in real life. I was showing them around my house, when I ran into my mum. It hit me. Who do I even introduce these people as? We all know each other by our online names and had been using them in conversation minutes earlier, but that would make no sense to my poor mum. And so, awkwardly, one by one my friends rattled off a set of names entirely alien to me. We all barely managed to keep straight faces as each of us discovered “Wait, this person’s called WHAT?”.

We all promptly forgot each other’s names within about two minutes.

Thanks to the internet, I met my partner.

Almost four years later we’re still going strong, twelve thousand kilometers apart. It helps a lot that a lot of our common interests can be done online, chiefly gaming and movies. But even the other stuff, we can still do together in some aspects. We always say good morning and goodnight to each other on the phone, and fill each other in on what we’ve been up to that day. If we go somewhere and see something cool, we can still share pictures and videos. If I make a really nice dinner, I can send them the recipe and they can have a taste (though that last one might depend on their cooking skills).

Of course, it’s not identical to an in-person relationship. We have to put a lot more effort into reaching out to each other and making time to hang out and talk; it won’t happen by accident. We’re both really looking forward to being able to move together, but until then, being together apart isn’t all that bad.

[WESLEY TEXT]

Listen a moment, before you go.

I am only one person. My field of view is limited, as is my experience. Take my advice with a grain of salt, I can’t prepare you for everything. There’s so much more waiting out there for you to uncover, some good, some bad; be sensible.

[CREDITS ‘N’ SHIT]

[catherinevongro]

I downloaded Minecraft for my phone

and it was such a bad idea???  

like I’ve spent more time staring at my phone in the last 2 days than the week before (probably).  

and, for all y’all that play minecraft, what is a good goal for myself?  like yeah, there’s a progression kinda, and yeah, I could build an amazing house, but what’s a good target to shoot at?  

(I was going to map all ~4 directions from my house (nw, ne, se, sw) but I died on one of the trips, ruining several hours worth of progress, so I’m a little disheartened)  but mapping is just running around seeing stuff.  What’s the thing to figure out, enchanting?  getting a beehive?  making a tunnel through the bottom of the world?  

[geekysweetie]

Top 10 Nintendo Switch 2017 Games for Girls

Like a few of our lucky readers, I was fortunate enough to get a day-one Preorder for the Nintendo Switch. Sadly had to get the plain grey one, but beggars can’t be choosers right? 🙂 What games are you most looking forward to? For me, the only launch title right now that has caught my eye is Zelda, but that’s sure to change as we get closer to release. There are a ton of interesting looking games coming out by the end of the year for the new console.

Here are the Top 10 Nintendo Switch Games Due out in 2017 that I am most looking forward to.

NEW UPDATE: Check Out our List of Upcoming 2018 Nintendo Switch Games for Girls here.

Top 10 Nintendo Switch Games

Mario Odyssey

Mario Odyssey – The new Mario Game looks amazing. It reminds me a lot of Mario 64 with a huge open world full of lots of fun and crazy looking levels. Mario has some new abilities too such as being able to throw and jump on his cap to cross large areas. Mario will fly on an airship to travel to “strange new worlds” (for Mario and his friends), but the world is actually made up of different places that we know in real life such as New York City, and Latin and South America. Mario Odyssey’s release date is December 29th, 2017.

Pokemon Stars

Pokemon Stars – Although it is still a rumor at this time, several retailer leaks such as one that has since been taken down on Gamestop seem to refer to the existence of a new Pokemon Game for Nintendo Switch. The rumor is that it is a new version of Pokemon Sun and Moon with over 20 new pokemon added in. This rumor has not been confirmed by Nintendo and so no release date has been given.

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley – I actually spent the majority of this past weekend playing the PC version of Stardew Valley. True, you can already play this game right now today on PC and other consoles… But imagine being able to play it ON THE GO, away from home. This will be the title’s first entry into mobile or handheld gaming. Stardew Valley is an amazing “tribute” to classic Nintendo games such as Harvest Moon and Rune Factory – so it makes sense that it would find a home on the Nintendo Switch as well. It is such a relaxing game and the type of game that you can pick up and play as little as an hour, or easily spend 20+ hours straight with. The Nintendo Switch ability to switch from handheld to console form lets you play Stardew Valley whenever, wherever, and however you want. Although it is definitely for sure coming to the Nintendo Switch, there is no official word on a release date.

Seasons of Heaven – Seasons of Heaven is a confirmed Exclusive title for the new Nintendo Switch. Graphically it looks pretty amazing for a Nintendo console and much more like something that we would see on a PS3 or PS4. The game is based on a novel by the same name and features a boy with his dog as they travel a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. The fact that it’s exclusive to the Switch gives Nintendo some more advantage. In my opinion a console is only as good as its exclusives! I’m looking forward to learning more about Seasons of Heaven in the months to come. No Release date has been set yet for this title.

Dragonquest XI

Dragonquest XI – There will now be three versions of the newest Dragon Quest game all set to release in 2017. These include a fully 3D version for the PS4, a 2D/3D style for the 3DS and a 3D style version for the new Nintendo Switch. Clearly still, from trailers and screenshots, the PS4 version is going to still have the upperhand when it comes to graphics and resolution. However, the ability now to have a version where you can play on the go (as with the 3DS) OR play on the big screen (as with the PS4) all in one version now (on the Nintendo Switch), gives one some pause into deciding which version of the game to pick up. Regardless of which version you get, this already looks set to be an amazing game. Dragonquest has long been the best selling RPG franchise of all time (yes, even more so than Final Fantasy) and many fans around the world are anxiously awaiting the newest installment into the Dragonquest saga.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Another exciting Nintendo Switch exclusive. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a direct sequel finally to cult classic Xenoblade Chronicles from back on the Wii. The Wii U also saw Xenoblade Chronicles X – However, that was more of a side game, and not directly related to the first. Xenoblade Chronicles remains one of the greatest games on the Wii and until the recent release on the Nintendo E-Store, it was a highly sought after collector’s item. Not only that, but it is a fantastic RPG. I’m so thrilled to see it getting a sequel that I’m almost just as excited for this title as for the new Zelda or SMT.

Fire Emblem Warriors – There is extremely little details known about this title yet. There’s going to a live event on January 18th at 5pm EST dedicated fully to the Fire Emblem series. Speculation includes that the live event will reveal more details not only about Fire Emblem Warriors but also about the upcoming mobile game that was originally announced for 2016 but got delayed until “Sometime in 2017”.

Shin Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei – I am the biggest Atlus fangirl ever. Tokyo Mirage Sessions is my favorite Wii U game – and I’ve been hooked on Persona and SMT games ever since Playstation One days. I suspect that this will be a much darker game than say Tokyo Mirage Sessions or Persona, and go back to gameplay similar to that in Devil Summoner and Devil Survivor. I’m really excited to hear that a new SMT game is in the works. It is such an underloved and underrated series. I was most surprised by this announcement at the Live event last week. There’s barely any details yet, just that it will coincide with the series’ 25th anniversary.

  Project Octopath Traveler – a brand new exclusive from Square-Enix. The trailer seems to hint at an open world with multiple endings and a branching plot that is determined by choices the player makes. These types of games are always my favorite, so I am super interested in learning more about Project Octopath Traveler. It is being developed by the same team who worked on Bravely Default. The artwork is retro which is an interesting approach because as we’ve seen with other titles such as Seasons of Heaven, the console is definitely quite capable of more “Next-Gen” style graphics as well. This leads me to believe that this title will try to pander to us older fans from the 16bit era. Graphics and gameplay seem to remind me in some parts of some older Square games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Saga Frontier, Legend of Mana, Live A Live, and Ogre Battle. Very excited to see where this one goes.

zelda breath of the wild

Zelda Breath of the Wild is by far the most anticipated and exciting launch title for the Nintendo Switch. There are several different collector editions for quite a large price! The collector editions include things like a carrying case, replica sword, soundtrack, cloth map, and coin. Amazon and Gamestop both sold out of these sets already. Best-buy began preorders for them today. But no matter if you get the Special Edition, or Master Edition, Or the base game is available for $59.99  you will be getting one amazing game. Keep in mind, if ordering the digital version, it will take up over HALF of the storage on the Nintendo Switch. Yikes! It is the first time for Zelda to take a more “western” approach to gaming, emulating features commonly found in Elder Scrolls games such as an open world and sandbox style gameplay. It also will have more than 100 Shrines of Trial to explore. It’s going to be a huge game. And from the launch trailer video, I feel that the story is also going to be very emotional and exciting. More so than any other game on the list, this is the one that should not be missed.

I also have to give a nod to a few other 2017 Switch games that didn’t quite make the list including the new Bomberman Game, Skyrim’s first foray into handheld gaming, Minecraft Switch Edition (for much of the same reasons as why Stardew Valley made the list), Mario Kart, Sonic, and Splatoon 2. With strong support from third party developers, and a few iconic Nintendo franchises making appearances, the gaming library for Nintendo Switch is already looking extremely promising.

Also the fact that the console is not region locked gives the fan translation community a chance to shine and bring us all the great games that Nintendo of America will either censor, or simply take a pass and not localize for North America. This could in theory mean that we could see some visual novels or otome games or more JRPGs on this Nintendo console provided that the English speaking Fan Translation community get behind certain projects.

The one franchise I expected to see, and didn’t see, was Smash Brothers. Also would love to see a new Donkey Kong Country game.

Although it is still early days, the future looks bright for Nintendo’s newest console.

Let us know in the comments below what Nintendo Switch Games You’re most excited for!

  Top 10 Nintendo Switch 2017 Games for Girls was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

[datingadviceonreddit]

Just a small warning in advance, this is gonna be a bit long so I'll put a tldr at the end.So, this is about me (19M) asking a coworker (20F) on a date. Now, I've never dated before and this is all new to me. I'm just confused with the things that are happening right now and I'll just cover all the details as they have unfolded. Also, I'm not sure if she uses reddit so I'll be a bit purposely vague on some details just in case.So two weeks ago, I was working in my department when one of my senior coworkers asked if I could help a girl in another department move several carts of product to the clearance area. We worked together for a while and really started to bond at the end of the day. We were talking for several hours, often getting interrupted by customers, but every single time we got back to the same spot and continued. That same day I even friended her on discord, and we texted a tiny bit. The next few days was really weird though. Now, she wasn't working for a few days after, but I did try texting her the next day, trying to start a conversation, but she didn't respond that day, or the next. I began to overthink a LOT and was constantly talking to my friends about it for fear that I messed up. We had also briefly talked about minecraft on the day we met and she seemed really interested in joining the server that I play on frequently, so I sent her the ip to the server on discord in case she wanted to play, but still nothing. The next shift I saw her and she came up to me like nothing happened, and was the same happy and sweet person I met a few days prior. We were hanging out for a bit here and there, talking, and then I asked her casually if she saw the messages I sent her, and she said she did but she was busy and forgot to reply. I found it a bit weird but I believed her. From that point she did start replying to my messages, we had very short conversations on discord, but they were all normal and nothing out of the ordinary, no red flags or anything. This continued for little over a week, and we kept seeing each other at work and kept trying to spend time with each other. After this I knew I wanted to ask her out on a date, because I really wanted (and still want) to get to know her better. The day I planned to ask her out, I spent as much time as possible with her. She even told me that day that she was going to go on lunch at 3, and I went at 3:30 (I was supposed to go at 4) to see her a bit, but she went at 3:30 too and we got to spend spend a bit of time together. At the end of the day, as she was clocking out, I went up to her and told her that I liked spending time with her, and I asked her out. She replied, rather happily, that she would love to and she was even telling me about restaurants and stuff we could go to, and that we could go on lunches and breaks and stuff, which was so awesome. Now the mistake I think I made, was saying that we could share our schedules on discord and figure out a day/time, because as I mentioned before, she doesn't respond right away, and if she's busy she might not reply at all. Another thing is I'm not sure if I was clear enough on my intentions when I asked her out, so I don't know if she's assuming we will be going out just as coworkers, and not in a dating sort of way. If that's the case then I'm not very worried because she seemed really open to the idea of us going out, and I'll have more time with her to be clearer. Now, I didn't directly text her the schedule that night, I asked her something different, just to try and start a conversation so we could then focus on the date. She didn't reply. I waited until my shift the next day to see if she was in, but she wasn't. I sent her another text, this one was more something funny about a show that I know she loves, but same thing, no response. Now I'm caught up to today. I'm not sure if I should text her or not, I saw the schedule for today and I know she won't be in at work, I don't know for tomorrow either. I'm just really confused right now. It's like her irl self and her texting self are two completely different people. Irl she wants to spend time with me and get to know me, and that feeling is mutual, but when texting it's like I have a very low priority, which I could understand at first because I had just met her, but now I've known her for 2 weeks and I've even asked her out and it's like there's no importance online. What hurts me the most is that I know she saw the messages because after I sent them, her profile indicater showed her active for a few minutes after I texted, and then she went offline again.Honestly right now I'm just super confused as to what I should do. I might have messed up setting up a first date, I might have made things awkward for us at work... I'm thinking of texting her again today in case she was just busy again but I don't want to come off as clingy or anything. I don't think I would realistically have a problem texting her again though, because she doesn't seem like the type of person who cares about things like how many texts someone sent. I also see her texting her friends at work once in a while, so I know she makes the time to reply to them. I just don't know what to do right now.tldr: I might have messed up my first date with a girl (who doesn't text a lot) by planning to send work schedules over discord. So far she hasn't replied and I won't see her for a while in person. I am very confused as to what I should do. via /r/dating_advice