#THEY GENUINELY SEEM QUITE NICE

[marzipanandminutiae]

its really too bad that you didnt respond to the well written response nbraraeaves made to your incredibly cruel and judgmental tags on that post. they brought up a lot of good points and its disappointing how youre so unwilling to hear any perspective other than your own.

Genuinely I had no idea what this was about until I scrolled halfway down their blog. Maybe next timetry specifying the theme of said post at least, so I have some idea about what I've been "incredibly cruel and judgmental" in regards to? We're not mutuals, and this was such a quickly dashed-off reblog that I didn't think to keep track of it after moving on to the next post.

I found what you were talking about, I think. I tagged a post about wanting community tags to block "x reader" fics- that is, second-person fics where the reader is a given character's OC love interest -thus:

Which, I admit, was a bit snarky of me. Although I will clarify that I meant it as an expression of genuine surprise: most fandoms have stories ranging from breathtaking to unreadable, quality-wise, in every sub-category of fic, so it surprised me that I'd never come across any Well-Written But Not My Thing stories of the Xreader variety. Logically I still figure there must be some out there, somewhere; it just seems strange that I've never found them.

the commentary, unlike this ask, was very polite and considered, and made some points I hadn't thought of before. (hence why I am actually responding to it, instead of simply deleting the ask)

They mentioned a lot of things I'll admit I hadn't considered- I assumed it was mostly just people wanting to bang a specific character. Which would be fine, to be clear! I don't go into Xreader circles and yuck anyone's yum- I said this on my private blog, where I thought nobody into that sort of thing would see it.

Which leads to another point: I did not think anyone who was into Xreader would be following me.

Listen, on the balance, the Xreader fanfic in my fandom tends to be. Not kind to the female main characters, Lucille especially. And again, that's fine; I'll just avoid those fics. But it lead me to assume, clearly incorrectly, that most CPeak Xreader writers hated my Best-Beloved Blorbo, and therefore were unlikely to stick around once I made my love for her clear.

(Why I didn't think about other types of XReader writers...I can't say. Fandom laser-focus, I suppose.)

Now, clearly I was wrong- that commenter is a CPeak Xreader writer and at least tolerates my immense desire to blanket-burrito Lucille like a hissing kitten enough to actually read my fanfic. It's for them that I'm answering this, not you; however that post came to my attention, it's still worth sharing, and they shouldn't be punished for what some anon with a bug up their ass does.

@nbraraeaves: I appreciate you sitting down to tell me why your preferred form of writing is meaningful and enjoyable to you. Thank you for your comment. While XReader will probably never be my thing- honestly, more because I want the characters to be with each other and not me than out of any perceived Inherent Failing of the medium, above tags notwithstanding -I can understand your perspective on it much better now. I hope it continues to bring you joy for a long time to come

@Anon: you may now retreat to your hidey-hole, proud and secure in the knowledge that [checks notes] you got a random person to stop being a little bit disdainful towards your favorite fanfic genre on the Internet. your gold star will be arriving in 3-5 business days

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Lackadaisy Enrichment

[cerise-on-top]

How would arm wrestling go with TF141+Alejandro and rudy?? just a random thought i had and you're a great writer keep at it hun :))

Hello! I only write for four characters at a time, so I chose the first four you mentioned! I hope that's alright! But feel free to send the same request in again with Alejandro and Rodolfo, I don't mind :-) And thank you, I appreciate it! I'll keep going for a while! Probably for at least another half year or so ^^

Arm Wrestling with the TF141

Price: He doesn’t have time for something as childish as this, so he’ll likely dismiss you when you ask him to. It’s not that he’s afraid to lose, quite the opposite he’s proud when his soldiers are stronger than him, whether that be physically or mentally. But he’s too busy for something like this, he either has to be in a meeting sometime soon or has an ungodly amount of work to do. You’d need to either rope Soap and or Gaz into this as well for him to actually consider arm wrestling you. Plus the two or three of you need to be very annoying about this as well. If you promise to shut up about it, he’ll allow it and fight you, but not for long. Truth be told: You’d need to be very strong in order to win against him. Out of the TF141, he’s the second strongest and doesn’t relent easily either. He does have some pride as well. Try as you might, without some good amount of muscles you likely won’t win. If you do win he’ll sigh and ask you if you’re finally happy, if you’ll finally leave him alone after this. Do that, you have enough to brag about like this as it is. However, if you lose he’ll give you a look that screams “I told you so”. Despite him knowing that that will only spur you on to do better, to finally beat him, he will give you some advice on how you have a better chance at beating him. After all, he needs his soldiers to be at their best, physically and mentally. He won’t train with you, but if you’re really determined to beat him then you can train with either Soap or Gaz. They’re not as strong as him but it’s better than nothing.

Gaz: Oh, he’s down for any challenge. However, unlike Price, he’ll be a little shit about it if you lose, giving you some sarcastic comments about how strong he is. He doesn’t mean it in a bad way, but he does like the accomplished feeling of beating someone at something many people are better at than you. Gaz isn’t among the physically strongest soldiers out there, but he can use his noggin better than most of them, so it’s not uncommon for him to lose against Soap in an arm wrestling match. It gathers quite a crowd from time to time as well since the two of them can be at it for more than ten minutes at a time. Gaz usually loses, which hurts his pride a bit, but he doesn’t sulk too long about it. So you losing to him feels good to him, but if he goes overboard with his comments he’ll apologize and make it up to you somehow. However, if you do win, then please don’t make too much fun of him, he hates it enough as it is. He’s not mad at you if you do win, he’s far too mature for that sort of thing, but you don’t need to rub salt into the wound. But you can be certain that as soon as you’ve asked him twice for a match that he’ll come to you from time to time and demand a rematch as well. He’s just that eager to finally score another win against one of the soldiers on base. He’ll be annoying, but it’s kind of endearing just how ambitious he is, you gotta give him that. Once he finally does win against you he’ll give you a big smile and shake your hand. If you’ve had many matches before then you can be certain he’ll feel something bittersweet, like a rivalry that just ended. But don’t worry, he’ll continue to challenge you.

Ghost: Doesn’t want to arm wrestle with you, doesn’t care about it either, you can annoy him all you want. Unless you rope Soap into this again, he won’t even consider it. You both need to be very annoying about it, with both of you calling him a chicken for refusing you. Cluck at him as well and he’ll give in eventually. He’s quiet the entire time, the only thing showing he finally accepted your match would be him waiting at the nearest table for you. The two of you would gather quite the crowd, with lots and lots of people coming to watch you. After all, who wouldn’t want to see that? The Ghost potentially getting his ass kicked at an arm wrestling match. Again, you’d need to be exceptionally strong to beat Ghost, he’s the strongest out of the four. If it’s obvious to him that you’re struggling to keep him at bay, he’ll toy a bit with you. Nothing like some harmless fun. He might seemingly give in for a moment, only to take it away from you and then beat you properly. In fact, you could try to get his hand down with both of your hands and you would likely struggle, if you win in the first place. Ghost is a force to be reckoned with. Besides, he likely won’t accept another challenge, so you better make this one count. If you win he’ll be pleasantly surprised, he was confident you wouldn’t. There won’t be anything fancy going on, aside from the cheers from everyone on base and their congratulations. Ghost will congratulate you as well. If you lose then he’ll tell you that he told you so, but won’t take it further than that. Might give you a pat on the shoulder if you did well against him, but that’s about all there is to it.

Soap: I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one to challenge you first, actually. This guy is as competitive as it gets, so there’s a chance he’s challenged everyone on base to at least one arm wrestling match. It’s a friendly and harmless way for him to show others what he’s made of, that they better not push him around, regardless of who they might be. However, he never turns down a request like that, everyone’s beloved sergeant needs to be there for his subordinates. Plus he’s a fun guy as well, who loves a good challenge. He’ll wish you good luck against him with a confident grin. It’s not that easy to beat him either since he is very muscular, but he’s no Ghost when it comes to physical strength, so it likely won’t be impossible to score a win. Harder to beat than Gaz, but easier to beat than Price. But I reckon you should do your best to beat him since he can be quite annoying when he does win. He references the two of you having a match, which he oh so graciously won. He’s a bastard like that, who will make fun of you for a bit. He’s not above rubbing salt into your wound when you’re making yourself out to be more important than you actually are. However, he’s just as annoying when he does lose, always wanting to fight you again and again until you’ve finally lost. He has his pride and he will make a fuss about it as well when he does win. Not above cheating to get what he wants either, so he might invite you for a strong drink afterwards, intoxicate you and then have another match. But he’ll do that exactly once since winning like this doesn’t feel nearly as good to him.

[lornasaurusrex]

I miss you Lorna… this is such a mess

This is an old message and I had several other similar messages, but I miss you guys and hope you’re all doing well!! I’m sorry to see nothing has improved.

I saw I was kindly mentioned by @awesomefringey and some other commenters the other day, so just wanted to log in and say hello and log back out for a few more months. 💕

Sending so so much love to all of you. Take care of yourselves and each other, please.

The video is still on YT.

[lyselkatz]

Withering Lotus Flower

深深深情幾許 如果一刀能夠化作兩段 • 就讓一切在這地方 鬆綁 • 峯已回 路已轉 此情何苦枉斷腸 • 愛是沒有人能夠解開的兩難

How deep are the deepest feelings if they can be cut clean? • Let's just let everything loose here • The Peak is behind, the path has taken a turn, why should we remain heart broken by these feelings • Love is a dilemma no one can solve

轉彎 (Turn) - Nicky Wú QíLóng 吳奇隆

Chéng Yì's cover for the MLC concert is so lovely

...☕?/commission

[ghostcrows]

I miss the library :/

[nastytransmasc]

Bro I finally picked her up. I have my practice injection on Tuesday morning and I should have my needles and syringes coming in by the end of the week

I thought this was going to be so much more difficult. If anyone wants to start hrt or transitioning or gender-affirming care and you live in a safe state and have decent insurance it’s really not that hard. It’s not that expensive either (at least with insurance) please don’t wait and put off your happiness like me, do a little research and get started.

I haven’t even started hormones yet, but my depression and anxiety have already lowered considerably and my self-confidence has shot up.

Please please please do this for yourself if you are able to 💚💚💚

[phantajam]

my hot take about descendants is that NONE of the core four were ready for a relationship until maybe like, the third movie (rant in tags)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray

fun YA adventure

follows a girl who’s seen as cursed because of her recently hanged notorious pirate queen mother, and runs away to the navy where nobody will recognise her

and her half-sister who’s desperate to find her before she’s arrested for using a fake name, to bring her home to their dying father & save the family business

both get on the bad side of some pirates and have to brave storms to find each other

aroace MC, sister relationships

arc from netgalley, out april 9

[sysig]

Everything day

[aromanticasterisms]

women 👍

[singsweetmelodies]

Hii <3

7. Please ? Who is your fav TP ?

hiiii love <3333 ooooh, what a fabulous question - thanks so much for asking!!

so i think... currently, my favourite TP is probably fred vasseur. i like the way that he's businesslike and no-nonsense (and doesn't try to say "EVERYTHING IS FINE IN THE STATE OF FERRARI" like certain other TPs 💀) and i like how he seems to be managing the team/drivers - yes, it's only been one year and we can't know much yet, of course, but the gist i get from articles and interviews seems really positive overall. he also hasn't made any absurd claims to the media or started any really controversial feuds, and on the whole he just seems... nice? nice, and fair. and that's all one could ask for, tbqh.

also? i just really, really like the way he seems to love charles <3333 🫶

(get to know me: f1 edition)

[luvsavos]

so not only does genki canonly exist in the reboot but it seems strongly implied that he and doc ketchum worked together at some point??? i do not like that concept At All!

[gopher-jade]

genuinely i can't stand being on the xianzhou luofu. the characters and NPCs take every possible chance to go "ooooh we can't let outsiders deal with this! have we stooped this low!" fine then. let me off this fucking ship since you want to be left to your own devices so badly. have fun with your stellaron.

i can let belobog arresting us slide bc they were under orders from a brainwashed leader that they all relied on, and all of them quickly made their own assessments to accept us, but xianzhou??? all of them are just rude as hell. from their leaders to their rank and file.

[orcelito]

ok ykno what ive been thinking about how everyone can just automatically tell that shionne and dohalim are renan by just looking at them & it's like. how?? theyre just people ultimately. but maybe it's the way the dress, or MAYBE it's bc shionne has bright pink hair and dohalim has bright red hair. none of the dahnans we know have such bright hair colors (tho alphen's grey hair is kinda weird but he's just weird in general so lol)

literally so used to anime hair colors that it didnt register. but kisara, law, and rinwell all have pretty natural hair colors, So

[foldingfittedsheets]

When I was working at the sex shop I was pulling poverty wages. I loved my job but I was on food stamps and still barely getting by. When they hired the stores first male employee and he started at my pay rate after I’d been there for three years I quit.

I was initially really nervous when I saw the post for the mattress job. It listed a pay scale that I couldn’t even conceptualize and I appeared qualified. When I got an interview I was over the moon but also petrified. Reactions to my line of work often varied but most people were very embarrassed or skeptical. I worried about how I’d address it in the actual interview.

I lived far to the north of their headquarters and drove almost two hours to get there. When I finally arrived it was in the nicest thrift store clothes I could find, but I shrank inside to see a room full of older white men in nice suits waiting to be interviewed for the same job.

Why did I bother? I was decades younger than anyone else in the room, shabbily dressed, and I suspected I was the only afab person in the entire building. I stewed in my insecurities until I was called in.

The second I met my interviewer I was instantly put at ease. The man had the energy of a therapy dog, he was abound with positive, good natured energy. He was also incredibly beautiful. I grinned back at his welcoming smile as we said our pleasantries. But still. This very beautiful polished man seemed very innocent. How would the sex shop question go?

“I see here you worked at STORE?”

“Yes,” I said hesitantly.

“And that was sales? Or you just rang people up.”

“No, it was sales. I’d help people find products, we were encouraged to upsell, there was sales spiffs, and most importantly we educated customers on products to help them find what they liked best.”

He grinned approvingly and asked, “Can you give me an example of a time you successfully upsold a customer?”

I paused, wringing my hands before I asked, “How vague would you like me to be…?”

“Not at all!” He assured me. “Go for it!”

“Well. A man came in looking for something to make his fingers vibrate so when he was touching his wife it would enhance that sensation. We had cheap $10 cockrings that I showed him first. But we had a rechargeable waterproof one made of nicer material, and after I showed him a demo he bought that one.”

“How much was that one?”

“$110”

“Wow! You had an upsell of 100% from what he came in looking for! That’s incredible!”

He was so truly genuinely stoked and not at all embarrassed that for the first time I saw a tiny glimmer of a future where I didn’t have ramen and peanut butter tiding me over between paychecks.

He asked me to wait then came back to tell me he liked me so much that he wanted to send me right into another interview, if that was okay. He didn’t want me to have to drive back later, it was terribly considerate and exciting. I beamed and told him it would be lovely.

I then had the second worst interview I’ve ever had. The worst goes to the time I applied to be a store manager for a pet food place years later. The district and store manager interviewing me passed notes and texted while I was speaking. When the district manager called to inform me I didn’t get the job I told him I’d never have accepted anyway because I’d never had such a disrespectful interview.

The new man sitting behind the desk radiated an aura of a brick wall. As someone with anxiety I’m highly keyed into the emotional states of people I’m talking to. To receive no feedback at all was my personal hell. After a perfunctory greeting he asked me with no inflection to sell him a pen.

I gathered the shreds of my courage and attempted the Herculean task he’d set me. Through my whole improvised spiel he resisted all attempts at engaging him, regarding me with a cold apathy as I touted the benefits of my fictitious pen.

Halfway through I broke into a cold sweat. My smile didn’t waver but it grew strained as I projected friendliness and warmth into the black hole of his heart. My thoughts scattered and my sales pitch grew redundant in the face of his nothingness. I finally concluded with a hard close and he simply nodded.

He glanced at my resume and commented, “You didn’t ask me to touch or hold it. Though I suppose I can understand from your previous line of work why you wouldn’t.” I shriveled and died inside knowing that I encouraged people to touch dildos all day long and had been too frazzled to offer him the pen.

He bid me a cool farewell. I made it to my car before I started sobbing. I had never been so rattled. I couldn’t understand what I’d done to make him so unfriendly or if my threadbare clothes were what had made him treat me like dirt. I drove an hour and a half to get home, weeping intermittently.

I was therefore taken by complete surprise to receive a call the next day inviting me on board for their five week training program. The first man who’d interviewed me gushed on the phone about how the second guy had loved me and that I was going to be fantastic.

I was in shock. When I showed up to training the second interviewer was charming my new classmates, beaming and laughing. He was an utterly different person. To my dismay I learned he was the trainer for my district and would be my point of contact if I made it through training.

He joked with me later that his interview facade was just a tactic to see how people held up under pressure and I filed him into a category of my deepest enmity. I never forgave him for how small he made me feel that day, but I never showed him the depths of my fury.

I aced every test and went on to be valedictorian of the eight people who had survived the rigorous training process to earn a sales position. When I got my first paycheck I bought myself new clothes, the first non-thrifted things I’d owned in years.