#I'm sure you opened the rest of the post and went o_o

[litrallymadlad]

you mentioned you were reading trc at some point—what are your thoughts on it so far? :0

HAHAH IT MADE ME SO MAD I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO CONTINUE IT. I got like two chapters into the second book and haven't picked it up in a couple weeks.

I've been wrangling in my rants about trc so if you're interested to know em I'll put em under the fold below. BUT FAIR WARNING: I think I missed the opportunity to read them in middle/high school because I think I really would have enjoyed them then and been able to read them later in life for the nostalgia factor because THE VIBES WERE IMMACULATE.

BLUE PISSES ME OFF. FUCK HER HONESTLY. She's so unnecessarily mean to the lads (specifically Gansey AND I'M A GANSEY APOLOGIST. I LOVE THAT MAN I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.) It's giving 2012 not like other girlies PICK ME VIBES. I ENDED UP SKIPPING BLUE'S POVS CUZ SHE'D ALWAYS SAY THE FOULEST THINGS ON THE PLANET and I'd have to put the book down. I just don't respect her as a person LMAO

AND ADAM PISSED ME OFF for similar reasons but his beef with Gansey was a lot more personal so the justification was there. BLUE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THESE GUYS. TALK ABOUT PRIDE AND PREJUDICE MY GOD. Adam's angst was like, a deep character and circumstantial flaw that I can get behind. BLUE???? I get the impression that she's supposed to be a y/n character which is very 2012 tumblr girlie of her so I'm supposed to insert my grievances with rich boys and wanting to kiss em onto her BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT TO BACK HER UP. SHE'S ON HER OWN.

ALSO I'm convinced the kissing scheme is BS because theoretically she can kiss the love of her life AFTER he dies. What's stopping her from kissing a corpse. Necrophilia?? NO!!!!!!!!!!! That doesn't have to stop her. Why aren't we considering the possibility that the person she kisses could die before she even kisses them and then in a fit of grief she kisses them or gives them mouth-to-mouth trying to resuscitate them. YOU KNOW WOT OIM SAYIN BRUV??? ALSO Istg the logistics of the kissing scheme CHANGE. IT CHANGED LIKE THREE TIMES. I think it was just a matter of rephrasing it but with something like that THAT'S LIKE A PROPHECY. YOU CAN'T BE MIXING UP THE LANGUAGE. THAT DEFEATS THE PURPOSE. It added to the unreliability of the narrator misinterpreting it and it made me want to wring someone's NECK. Cuz by the end of the book I was like "I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT THE ORIGINAL VERBIAGE WAS."

Also, what if she has MULTIPLE LOVES?? I'm of the belief you can love someone the same amount in various parts of your life like??? Do widows just never love the same way again? What if the love of her life was a childhood friend who died tragically? LOVE IS DIFFERENT FOR EVERYONE AND EVERY RELATIONSHIP. IT'S NOT ALWAYS A HIERARCHY WHERE THE END-ALL-BE-ALL IS YOUR PARTNER. She loves her family! What if she kisses her mom on the cheek and she knocks out DEAD. WHAT THEN. DOES IT HAVE TO BE ON THE MOUTH?? I don't trust anyone relaying this prophecy. FUCK THEM, HONESTLY. I'm sure I'm just reading into it too much and am bitter about the verbiage constantly changing. It's probably more like a fairy tale Disney vibe of True Love HAHAH IF SO IGNORE ME.

Honestly I think if I'd just read this in middle school/high school I'd like it a lot and the nostalgia would be unreal. It'd be so iconic. But at this point I think I'm too old to vibe with it HAHAHA I FUCKING LOVE GANSEY AND ADAM THOUGH. THERE'S LIKE NO FICS OF THEM (and them alone, no Ronan). I'VE READ THEM ALL. THEY'RE SO GOOD. THE GANSEY X ADAMS OF THE WORLD KNOW WHAT THEY'RE FFFFFUCKING DOING.

[deepiphany]

“When I close my eyes, it's you there in my mind”

“Why do I pull you close and then ask you for space?”

✿8 LETTERS✿

Jennifer pushed her back to prevent them to fall in her face. Today was a long day. She had to stay back in Uni to complete an assignment as she had completely forgot about and if she hadn't turned it in today itself, she couldn't have been able to pass the semester. As she had turned in the due assignment and looked at her watch, she had thought, 'I'm... Doomed!!! RUN!'. She was late for her work.

She had to work extra hours than what her shift was to compensate for being late. On normal days, her work place manager would have let her off the hook since she was always quite punctual but since she worked in a food place and since it was weekend, there was too much crowd and they often needed more employees than usual to handle everything smoothly.

She smiled sadly as she realised that there won't be anyone worrying about her going home late since she lived alone. She didn't have a boyfriend who would occasionally check on her either. All her friends were just as busy as she was so she didn't expect anything from them.

On her way out of the 'Staff Only' room which she had been in for the past ten minutes for a quick rest, she collided with someone near the exit.

"Oh I'm sorry." She apologized quickly. "I wasn't looking—" she looked up at the person standing in front of her and paused. "Oh, Cameron!"

She knew Cameron since the day she had joined here. He was pretty easy to get along with as he was very charming, friendly and out going. They worked together for a few months and then their shifts never overlapped again after her Uni started. She had started missing him a lot, unaware of the fact that she might've developed a little spot in her heart for him.

"It's alright." He smiled at her. "I need to go though, kinda in a hurry. Let's catch up with each other later!" He said as he began walking in the direction of the Kitchen.

"Works with me." Jennifer yelled loud enough for him to hear as he had already stepped inside the kitchen by then.

'Alright. You can pull through! Only a few minutes left until I'm free!' She thought to herself as she looked at the clock.

She worked diligently no matter how hard it was on her until the last minute of her shift. She wondered how all these people went out like this on such a cold night. It was the start of winter and everyone were wearing coats or sweaters and gloves to warm themselves up. Sadly for Jennifer they didn't have a warm uniform so she occasionally had shivers run down her spine everytime the door opened and the cold wind blew right by her side.

She smiled merrily when the clock ticked to terminate her working hours for that day and quickly removed her apron as she made her way towards the changing room.

She changed quickly in her regular clothes and put on some warm clothes over then. As soon as she got out as she started looking for Cameron. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to spend some time with him after all these months.

She searched for him everywhere but to no vail. He couldn't be found anywhere. She pouted sadly as she thought he might've been too tired and had forgot about her. He might've just went straight home.

She sighed as she left her working building and started walking towards her appartment on the sidewalk. It was pretty late so there was no one to be seen on the road. Buses had stopped running so she had no choice but to just walk.

A long time had passed until she sensed someone's presence behind her. She heard someone's footstep's walking in the same pace as she was.

At first she thought that it might be someone innocent. But she got a little taste of fear when that person seemed to take the exact same turns as her at intersections.

'It's okay. They might be living in the same area as mine.' She consoled herself.

She licked her lips nervously when the footsteps started to speed and could be heard closer and closer to her.

'No! This isn't it!' She started running for her dear life.

"Whoever you are! Just back off! I have a weapon on me!" She tried to threaten them with wavering voice.

"Jennifer!" They called out her name making her halt in tracks. "It's me— ouch!"

They hadn't expected her to stop all of a sudden and bumped their nose on the back of her head.

"Cameron!" She whipped around with anger evident in her voice. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"I was worried about you, okay?" He said as he rubbed his nose with his hands to lower the pain that he felt. "No need to raise your voice at me like this. It's just that it's quite late so I wanted to accompany you."

Her anger quickly dissipated upon listening to his words. "Oh Cameron..." She said with a small smile on her lips.

"Also, I've been wanting to say something..." He trailed off as both of them began walking together.

"Shoot." Jennifer said as her veins filled with thrill. She knew where this was going. Finally she was going to see the day she had been waiting for!

"You know me the best, you know my worst, seen me hurt, but you don't judge, that, right there, is the scariest feeling..."

"W-what are you talking about?" She said, completely taken aback. 'I don't know anything about you except for the small time we spent together working!' she thought to herself.

"Opening and closing up again I've been hurt so I don't trust. Now here we are, staring at the ceiling." He continued to say.

"We're on a road... Staring at a lamp post..." She said as she made a weird face. What the hell was going through Cameron's mind?

"Isn't it amazing?" He said as he took her hands in his, making her blush a little. She was thankful that it was winter so she already had redness on her cheeks making it hard to notice her blushing.

"How almost every line on our hands align, when your hand's in mine—"

"We're literally wearing gloves right now, idiot!" She frowned at him.

"It's like I'm whole again. Isn't that a sign? I should speak my mind?" He asked her.

She pulled her hand out of his grip with force. "What the hell are you talking about, Cameron? If you're here to play decipher the cryptogram then I'm sorry I don't have time for your BS. Leave me alone if this is what you wanted to do!" She began walking away from him.

"All it is...is... eight letters..." He stammered. "So why is it so hard to say?"

She halted in her steps and gulped in anticipation. Was he going to say the exact same thing that she had imagined?

"What eight letters are you talking about?" She turned around to ask him and walked closer to him to hear him clearly.

"I— I. Uh... I don't know how to say it... I— I'm sorry..."

She smiled kindly towards him. "It's okay," she said. "I won't make fun of you. No one would know what you say to me now." She took his hands in hers.

"B... BUTTOCKS!" He finally managed to say.

"What the hell?" She pushed his hands away from her, making Cameron stumble backwards. "Are you freaking crazy? What do you expect me to say?" She felt so offended at his words. "IDIOT!" She yelled. "You don't know anything!"

"Then what do you want me to say!? What should've I said, huh!?" He yelled back at her in frustration.

"It's so freaking easy, you idiot!" She sighed in frustration.

"FARTFACE!"

___________________________

I know! I know that I raised everyone's expectations by adding some image aesthetics (that I totally didn't rip off of Pinterest) and lyrics aesthetics in the beginning but then you scroll towards the end and see "FARTFACE" and just wonder what happened here O_o

Ugh idek what happened here it's all because I couldn't get this out of my head when writing this—

[my screenrecorder sucks at recording good quality audio bare with me :)]

“It isn't cute nor is it funny, I've written a cursed story” — Dee; December 2020

I KNOW I WON'T GET ANY STORIES REQUESTS NOW AND IT'S OKAY I UNDERSTAND WHY ANYONE WOULD NOT WANT TO ASK ME TO WRITE ANYTHING FOR THEM(ᗒᗩᗕ)

[armory-rasa]

Hello Gabriel! First of all, I want to say I really love your work! It's really inspiring and detailed! I wanted to ask how you set up your own business, because it seems really hard to start working and then actually get costumers. Did you make a portfolio, or was it word of mouth? I don't know if you've written about this before, so sorry if I'm just asking again. :)

Short answer: lol, I started my own business because I’m really bad at convincing people to hire me.

Long answer: STRAP IN! (This is probably more backstory than you wanted, but I promise I’ll have some advice about the how-to at the end)

So I mentioned that the first leatherworking I did was for the Hawke cosplay, and that came out reasonably well. Then a friend of mine was like, “Hey, you should use your skillz make me some leather handcuffs” and I was like, Hokay. So when people ask “How’d you get started selling kink gear?” my smartass answer is “Because D-rings come in packs of ten not packs of two.” I made a pair for my friend…. and then made four more pairs, because else what was I going to do with D-rings? And then I made an Etsy store and put them up for sale, because what use had I for four pairs of handcuffs?

…and people bought them. o_O I was like, Can you guys not see that I have sold ZERO things before? Why do you trust me to actually deliver the goods? What makes you think I have ANY idea what I’m doing??

So that was a thing that was going on in the background – I added a basic collar to my inventory and started making them in colors that you don’t normally see kink gear in, which a lot of people quite liked, and it was a nice bit of side cash, enough that the hobby was paying for itself.

Then my lawyer (who was not at that time a lawyer) moved out to California for law school and she was like “You should come to California with me, because it’s better than Texas” and I was like, Hokay. And everyone was telling me, Ohhhh, but the job market in California is so bad!, and I was like, Nah, I’ll be fine, yo.

…Aha... ahaha, about that. I wound up in a totally above-board but very sketchy-sounding arrangement with one of her professors in which my official job title was “houseboy.” We met at a gay bar called Headhunters where he was like–

The professor: “So what do you do?” Me: “I’m looking for a job.”The professor: “I’m looking for someone to clean my hot tub! I’ll start you at $12/hr.”Me: “Hokay.”

So between running his odd jobs and the money I was making selling kink gear (about $2000 over the course of that first year), I was keeping myself afloat.

Then The Hobbit happened.

I saw the posters, thought Kili was hot, decided to take a stab at his bracers. I finished the first one just before we left to go see the movie, tossed it up in the shop – and it sold before we even got out of the movie.

That was when the floodgates opened and practically overnight, leatherworking went from being a sideline gig to being my fulltime job. (To wit: I made $250 in December 2012 and *$3,500* in January 2013. That’s more money in one month than I’d made doing leatherworking the entire previous year.) People were buying Kili bracers by the dozen, and flooding me with inquiries asking, Can you do Fili’s bracers? Can you do Thorin’s bracers? Can you do Thorin’s belt? Can you do Kili’s quiver? Can you do Legolas’s bracers?

And I was like, Hokay. (The professor was bemused, and only slightly grumpy at how I suddenly had less time for him.)

Granted, that kind of boom doesn’t last, as I would learn subsequently. There’s a rush of interest when something is new, but nothing sustains that level of demand forever. I got really lucky because I happened to jump onto the Hobbit bandwagon right as it was kicking off, so my bracers were out there first, the first thing people saw when they went googling for Hobbit cosplay. Relatively few other costumers ever even bothered to make the pieces that would be competing with mine, since I’d already done them, and done them very well, (and was doing it really cheap since I didn’t know the value of my labor then), so for a while I was about the only game in town when it came to dwarf leatherworking.

Dwarf costumes kept me fed for about six months before interest started to wane, by which point I’d diversified into MCU Loki armor too. That’s been the story of my business since – keeping an eye out for new fandoms with cool costumes that are in my skillset, and being on the ball about getting them done and posted as early as possible. I cannot overstate the advantage of being the *first* one to do a costume, because there are few fandoms that have truly long-term staying power, so you have to be there when the hype is highest. (Dragon Age, Zelda, Star Wars, etc, have a core of dedicated fans who will cosplay it until their dying day, but those are low-volume markets. My Dragon Age items are not my highest sellers, they are my labors of love.)

I often start with making a small, inexpensive item from a fandom, just enough to put me on the radar when people start googling for their cosplay – like a hook to reel them in. Customers will frequently ask if you can do other pieces from the same costume or the same universe (I started with the Wonder Woman tiara, and built the rest of the set as people asked for it; likewise, the Aquaman armor grew out of a single bracer; people who have seen my Loki stuff have commissioned Enchantress and Scarlet Witch), but they won’t usually ask a Lord of the Rings leatherworker if you can do stuff from, say, Game of Thrones. (Even though I totally could if anyone ever asked for it.)

I will say that specializing in cosplay puts you at the mercy of whatever’s trending, and the lulls between fandom booms can be deadly – when your income suddenly drops from a couple thousand dollars a month to a couple hundred, you best hope you’ve got enough of a cushion to ride that out until the next boom comes along. The more fandoms you’re in, the more diverse your portfolio, the less hard those bust cycles will hit you.

My shop pretty much is my portfolio, because I don’t take anything down (except when I stopped selling kink gear) even after interest is long gone, since it still showcases the styles and techniques I can do. I have a deviantArt with my stuff, mainly because I’ve found that dA – for whatever reason – indexes in google image search faster and higher than any other social media platform. It wasn’t until about this time last year that I finally got a facebook and started making a more concerted effort to maintain a social media presence and promote my business. It’s… coming along. I’m slightly better at remembering to post these days. >_>

I think it’s less about word of mouth than about whether people can find you when they’re googling. (~Search engine optimization~ or whatever.) There are tricks you can do to get yourself ranked higher, but I’ve never tried any of that stuff, just made sure that my listings, etc, are tagged with the right keywords to get picked up when potential customers go googling.

It is hard work (I work… a lot….) but it’s also a lot of fun – there is no job I would rather be doing, and I consider myself very lucky that I’ve been able to turn my passion into my career. (Which is like the most cliched thing to say, but it’s true – there are Etsy sellers who would KILL to be able to quit their day job and focus on their hobby full-time, so I’m aware that I’ve been quite fortunate.)

Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the novel I wrote for you. :D