#Top 5 Best ironing board

[caesium-55]

—seven days. [ iii ]

pairing: max verstappen x manager! reader.

summary: as the third time world champion, max verstappen's manager, you function on the belief that whatever max verstappen wanted, max verstappen shall get. but this time, after four years of working as his manager, you can't give him what he wants anymore and that was to stay.

author's note: hi hello welcome to part three. i flunked the quiz. lemme know what you think. NOT BETA READ. NOT EDITED. this chapter kinda sux. can't believe i went through a breakup just last week and i still cant write decent post-breakup scenes.

tags: @whatamidoingwithmylife-ramdom @eugene-emt-roe @bellezaycafe @barnestatic @theseerbetweenus @wcnorris @notyouraveragemochii @lpab hope i didn't forget anyone.

masterlist.

you: *sent a link*

him: ?

him: what's this

you: benefits of crying

you: read it it's enlightening

him: some people do not cry over a breakup you know and that is totally okay

you: why crying helps.

you: 1. tears release toxins, stress hormones to be specific. it is good to let all the bad energy out.

you: 2. it aids sleep. no need for further explanation.

you: 3. crying releases oxytocin and endorphins. i know you don't know what an oxytocin or an endorphin is but they're happy chemicals.

you: 4. crying helps you receive the support you need from the people around you. EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY is okay, max. stop treating it like an STD.

him: it feels like an std

you: pussy

you: emotional vulnerability is a thing and it's normal so stop trying to be a big strong man when you're barely holding it together.

you: you may look fine now but i know you

him: please stop

you: no

you: 5. crying has a self soothing effect. very nice actually. it activates the rest and digest system.

him: what even is that

you: the parasympathetic nervous system

him: ??

you: this is why you shouldn't have dropped out of high school

you: education is important yknow

you: youre already lacking in three forms of intelligence, academic, emotional n social intelligence

him: fuck you im smart

you: fuck you 2 and yeah you're smart but only in geography

you: you probably can't do your taxes

him: im dutch so the company's account department do it for me by default

him: the american system is just weird

you: cant argue w/ u there

you: also, 6. crying helps restore emotional balance

you: see? you need that

you: yknow now that i think abt it you should consider seeking therapy

him: what makes you think i’m not in therapy right now

you: well have you considered getting MORE therapy?

You stand in front of the body mirror, holding the Red Bull polo shirt against your body to see how it looks on you for one last time. On your right sleeve, the word MANAGER is written in bold, white text. Because that was what you were. Just a manager.

In another universe this is not the shirt that you’d be wearing. The MANAGER would have been ENGINEER. In another another universe where your family has been well-off enough to continuously send you to karting school and you would have been the one driving the fucking car by now.

You know, if Max has even tried talking to Horner and suggested that you should be moved into the engineering team, then you wouldn't be stuck wearing this god-awful polo that burned your skin every time you wore it for work. Everybody reduced you as Max’s American manager and because you are American, most of them kind of just assumed that you're dumb, you know?

Does the world even know how smart you are? That you graduated top of your class, got the best thesis award, and that you had finished your masters just this year? Did they even know that a Japanese car company wanted you on their research team? That a NASCAR team wanted you on board as one of their engineers? Does Max even know?

Fuck no. He only knows that you're the best at ironing clothes and organizing his Google calendar and memorizing his entire coffee order by heart. He knew you're good at extinguishing kitchen fires and kicking ass in YSL Opyum heels. You doubt he knows that you can do Calculus in your sleep.

You can take it if the world puts you down for your appearance. But if the world puts you down because of your intellect? That's a different story. You'll take any insult to the face but not to your intelligence.

You have four days left in Monaco so you have begun packing already. You're right, everything did fit into three suitcases. Also, you haven't told Max yet. For some reason, you’re too anxious. Which is shocking to say the least because you never ever gets anxious when it came to Max Verstappen. You wouldn't have lasted this long working alongside Max if you were a pussy.

Max Max Max Super Max Max—

“[Name] here. Need anythin’, champ?”

Hearing a sob on the other end of the line immediately activates your fight or flight response. Your eyes widen and you toss the Red Bull shirt aside. Your legs leads you to the nearly empty shoe rack stationed beside the front door, grabbing the pair of shoes at the very top of the tiny shelf and throwing them on.

“I’m comin’ there. Hang on, Max. You wait for me, okay?”

He doesn't answer, just continuing to sob and the sound absolutely breaks your heart.

You run to his penthouse at a speed that will even put the RB19 to shame. Not even bothering to knock, you barge in and yell his name in the empty halls of his penthouse. You search in the kitchen. He's not there. The living room. Not there either. The room where his simulations are. Not there. You run to his bedroom upstairs.

The door is locked. Dammit. Panic overflooded your system.

“Max, sweetheart, you there?”

No answer, but you can hear a faint sound behind the door if you press your ear against the wood. Firefighter training covered how to open a fucking door when it was locked so this once again becomes a situation where you're grateful that you did that tiring and borderline suicidal volunteer work.

Max keeps a fire extinguisher inside his penthouse as per your advice. There is one stationed in almost every room inside his house. You knew there is one inside his room and another one just at the end of the hallway. You make a quick run for it and once you have the extinguisher in your hands, you run back to his door.

“Step away from the door!” you instructed while your mind mentally calculates your payment plan as you hit the door knob with so much force, the walls tremble at your strength. You're functioning on pure adrenaline. Your instincts only yell one thing and that is: go to Max. No one and nothing in this world will keep you from him. It isn't long until his bedroom door broke down. With one last final kick, it crumbles down from its hinges and you forcefully pry it open and sprint inside.

Max tucks himself in the tiny space in the corner of his huge bedroom, his knees shoved up to his chest. A 181-cm tall man trying to make himself as small as possible.

This is it. This is the bottled-up emotions he's been storing since Abu Dhabi. You cannot say you have not anticipated this. Max is bound to explode sooner or later.

Panic attacks have made a home in Max’s body since he was a child. That's what one gets when they’re parented by someone like Jos Verstappen. He killed Max’s soul and made the boy a machine and for what? To shape a child into a man, a racer that he wanted to be but failed to become at the cost of Max's mental health and childhood.

When Max looks up with that heartbreaking look on his face, you almost crumble. Almost, because you cannot crumble. Not when Max needs you.

Sometimes, you forget what it took for Max to become the champion that he is today. A childhood sacrificed for his dominance on the tracks. A whole lot of hatred from the people to become a WDC. And now, a love lost for his third consecutive championship.

“You came,” his voice cracks towards the end.

Your eyes soften, “You called, Max. Course I’ll come.”

You barely brace yourself for the impact that is Max’s body wrapping around yours in a tight hug. The man have literally launch himself from the floor to you at sixth gear speed. You stumble backwards slightly, holding his bed for support so the both of you won't fall down.

“Max—”

“No,” he whispers and his grip on your tightens as if he's afraid that you’ll slip away if he even tried to give your lungs space to breathe. “Don't speak. Stay.”

What Max wanted, what Max would get. So you shut your mouth, shuffle slightly so he'll be in a more comfortable position and allow him take whatever he wants from you. This will be the last chance he’ll ever do it anyway because in four days time, you’re flying to Texas.

You stay for what is probably hours in that position. Crumbled together on the floor, leaning against the side of Max’s king-sized bed. Your shirt is completely damp from his tears but you cannot even bring yourself to care about it.

“Your shoes…” It's the first time Max has spoken since the start of his meltdown.

“Hm?” you turn your head and your nose nuzzles against his hair, making you scrunch it up a little. His hair is tickling your nostrils. If you lean a little forward, your lips will meet the skin of his temple.

“They’re mismatched.”

Brows furrowed, your eyes move to your feet and see that Max is right. Your shoes are indeed mismatched. On your left is one of your Adidas slides and the other is your slip-on Skechers. You ran from one building to another in mismatched shoes. Fucking embarassing.

“Ignore them.”

Silence.

“You good now?”

“No.”

“Okay,” you say. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen.”

You hear Max let out a shaky breath, “Just stay for a while. Don't leave me alone.”

“Okay.”

Eventually, you manage to talk Max out of the hug. You're beginning to feel claustrophobic but you do not want to say it out right so you try to negotiate instead. That's how you and Max found yourselves inside his kitchen again. You're trying to replicate your Abuela's cheesecake, which she was known for back in Austin, and Max is…well, he's Max and he’s trying to be helpful in any way he can. If it's some other day, you'd have shoved him out of the way because you prefer working alone in the kitchen. Having eyes on you gives you anxiety. But given today’s circumstances, you do not have the heart to make Max leave so you task him with doing the little stuff like mixing things and throwing shit to the trash can nearby. And he does so splendidly.

“Thank you, by the way.”

“For what, baby?” You internally wince at your own slip of the tongue. Damn that habit of yours of calling people with affectionate call signs. Thankfully, Max seems to have not noticed it.

“For coming here.”

You shrug.

“I only did what you did for me in 2021.”

Again, your breakup with Leo was bad bad. You spent a month crying for a love lost and Max was there for you. For the most part, at least. You want him to focus on winning and winning alone that you pushed him away a lot of times but you appreciated how he was more obedient to your commands, that he held his tongue so he wouldn't piss you off even though he was not liking your words, and that he was considerate of you.

“I hope you won't go into fights though,” you chuckle. “Like I did after my breakup.”

He smiles, shaking his head lightly and you know he's recalling the memory. 2021 is a hilarious year for you, the Red Bull manager. You went viral after getting into a cat fight with a girl and a whole fist fight with her boyfriend.

You and Leo called it quits a week before Monaco and even though it had been four races since then, your heart was still in a quite fragile state at that specific race weekend. One minor inconvenience was enough to ignite a wild blaze of fire within you and nobody could extinguish the flames.

After Silverstone FP1, you were leading Max to the cool down room to brief him with Horner’s relayed instructions and someone had thrown a glass bottle towards the both of you while walking. Originally, Max was the main target of the bottle but you happened to have moved towards the line of trajectory and the bottle landed on your temple, hard enough that you stumbled upon impact.

You barely heard Max’s shocked gasp and shout of panic over the sound of glass shattering on your foot because the only thing you could register was the terrifying feeling of a thick liquid trickling down the side of your face and you didn't even need to see it to know it was blood.

The only thing you saw was red and it was on fucking sight.

Fucking Hamilton fan. Fucking Hamilton. He’s in Max’s way. He’s in your way. He’s the wall that was dividing you from your dream position in the engineering team.

You shoved the iPad you were holding to Max’s hands and marched down to the woman wearing the Merc #44 merch, swiftly jumping over the barricade and grabbing her by the collar of her pristine white Versace top.

The events that followed were too fast. You grabbed her collar. She pulled your hair. You also pulled her hair. Someone pulled her away from you. You tried to grab her, clawing her bare arms with your manicured nails. She screamed. You screamed back. You pulled out some curse words in Spanish as well because cursing her in one language alone is not enough. Her boyfriend appeared. A quick punch to your cheek. You fell to the ground.

The world stood still. There was a sting on your palm because your skin got torn from the hard surface of the concrete ground. You let a bloodcurdling war cry and your Dad would definitely be disappointed at you for using the boxing techniques he taught you for self defense purposes only to fight a guy two times your size.

Everything was a bigger blur from there. But you did remember the sensation of Max’s strong arms around you, stopping you from lunging forward again. He was saying sweet words to your ear to calm you down but your brain failed to intercept them so you could hear the words, could hear his voice, but not understand any of it. You remember Christian Horner's disappointed face that haunted you even two years later. You remembered feeling so terrified as you sat outside Christian Horner’s office waiting for the final verdict while he and Max and a few of the Red Bull higher-ups argued about your future with the team. You remembered hearing Max’s loud snarl on the other side of the mahogany door: “Did you see her face?! There was blood everywhere! On her nose, on her mouth, on the fucking side of her head!” You remembered the girl taking the case to court. You remembered fearing that you’d be sent to jail. You remembered that she lost the case because it was ruled as self defense and your injuries were grave. You remembered discovering that it was Max who used all his power and got the best lawyer to fight your case. You remembered the atmosphere in the Red Bull garage shifting when you entered it a few weeks later and everyone stared the bandages and bruises. Everyone thought one thing: of course, it would also take a monster to manage a monster like Max Verstappen. You remembered Lewis Hamilton, seven-time world champion, apologizing personally for the fight caused by his own fan. He didn't need to but he was so sincere with it that you cried when he handed you the apology flowers. God, how could you even hate this man? Your anger towards him was misplaced.

You’d been living with the guilt ever since, that you were horrifyingly violent for a day, that you were capable of killing for a day. And it could happen again. One day. God, you hoped you wouldn't have to see that day. You knew all your coworkers have been careful with angering you ever since. They're terrified of you even. Max should be, too. But then again, why would he when he already saw the horrors done by his father’s hands ever since he was a child? He was used to it.

“I won't,” he says, smiling at you. “I wouldn't want to add anymore problems for you to clean up.”

But you will not be the one cleaning it up because you resigned. You didn’t tell that to him though. Not right now. He just had a meltdown over Kelly leaving him and the news of his manager leaving him too will destroy him.

The cheesecake is a little burnt when you take it out of the oven but it actually adds more flavor to it so yeah, that's a win.

“We should drink,” you suggest.

“It’s mid-afternoon.”

“We drank at mid-afternoon yesterday,” you give him a blank stare. “With Alex and Charles, remember?”

He doesn't say anything as you make your way to his fridge and pull out two bottles of beer. Max has champagne stored somewhere but you have enough of those expensive champagnes. You need beer. Beer is good. Beer is nice. You're a beer type of person and it is time Max becomes one, too.

“I’m no scientist,” you begin, biting off the beer’s bottle cap. “But according to chemistry, alcohol is solution.”

Well, technically, edible alcohol or ethanol is not a mixture. Rather, it's a pure substance that happens to be a liquid at room temperature and typical atmospheric pressure. Pure ethanol is not a solution. Hard spirits though? That's a solution.

Beer is not a hard spirit. It's more of a fermented drink. But Max doesn't know that, though, so you don't bother explaining the science behind it.

Somewhere down the road, the two of you move to his living room. You use the Youtube app in his TV to search karaoke video and have the bestest time of your lives. You're screaming along some Daddy Yankee and El Alfa songs and Max doesn't know how to speak Spanish so he’s just vibing to it.

At 5 PM, you pull out Max’s expensive vodka bottle. Now this is the real shit. The ten bottles of beer? Those are just pregame. Max is already drunk with just those because he’s a pussy but you’re no pussy, so the only right answer is vodka! Viva la vodka or whatever.

Your throat gets tired of singing and Max gets tired from dancing, too, so you both decide to just go entertain yourselves in other ways. First, you introduced Max to beer-pong. He loses, of course. He sucks at everything not racing. Then, the two of you move onto chess. Max gives up mid-game. He cannot understand the rules. Then, lastly, you move to the billiard table Max owned. He only used it when the other guys are over and you do not even know why he bought it when he sucked at playing billiards.

“You know what Kelly said the morning before the race?” Max suddenly says and you look up at him, brow raising slightly. He’s drunk; his skin is flushed and he is all giggly and smile-y as he sits on the billiard table’s side rail and using the billiard stick as some sort of support stand to keep him from falling. You hope he won't accidentally poke himself. You're no better, too. Ten beer bottles and a few glasses of vodka. But you’re not as drunk as Max, and you still have a straight vision and you can still sink the colored balls into the pockets of the billiard table.

“Hm?”

“That it was unfair for her.”

You raise a questioning brow, “Why?”

“I bought shoes and they don't fit her.”

You blink. He laughs at himself as if he has uttered the funniest joke in the world.

“Three years of relationship gone because of a single pair of shoes,” he continues. “She wanted those shoes, too.”

Kelly….what the fuck?

“But that's okay. She….She made me open my eyes, you know? She made me realize what I truly love.”

“Racing.” It's not even a question. It's the truth.

Max stares at you, long and hard, and you look away first because you fear that if you allow yourself to stare too long, you’ll drown in those beautiful blues. This is enough heartache for the day. No need to add more.

“Hey [Name],” he begins. “If I asked you to kiss me, would you do it?”

[frogasaurusrex39]

unreliable narrorator Y/n doing a school project on the Thorn General or whatever they called him

The Amazing Biography of The Valley's Loyal General (With pictures!!) Written by Y/N!

[!!REQUESTS OPEN!! Characters: {Y/N}(Written first person), Grim(Briefly), Mozus Trein, Lilia Vanrouge, Malleus Draconia, Gargoyle, Ortho Shroud, Idia Shroud, Azul Ashengrotto, Jade Leech(Briefly) Word Count:1,342 Warnings/Spoilers: ooc-ness (since the narrator is *unreliable*), A joke about emo stereotypes (Not all emos follow the stereotypes and I don't mean any harm by it. Shoutout to all my emos reading this) Also somehow no spoilers Extra: Y/N stands for Your Name, E/C stands for eye color

It was a gloomy morning in Homeroom, my classmates sluggish, the desks on fire, Grim hungry, demons rising from portals, my air pods dead, oh it was absolutely dreadful! I was about to die!

However...Trein-Sensei's words sparked life in my dull {E/C} eyes. A massive homework assignment!! Now I hate homework, especially big projects, but this one was amazing! A biography on any historical figure from the Valley Of Thorns War back in the day. He wrote down the list of people available on the board, but I already knew who I wanted. The mysterious Right General of Briar Valley (Pretend it's sparkly I lost my glitter pen) Not the Queens, not the Left General, not the legendary Man of Iron (or was it steel?) The Right General! He was so intriguing. How was he so known yet such an enigma? I was going to find out. But I had competition. Lilia also wanted to do his project on the General. I couldn't let him snag this opportunity from me. I played it civil when I first heard of his plans. I humbly asked to take the General for my essay, but he refused! I am an amazing charmer, and I tried working my magic, but he just wouldn't budge! So I had no other choice....I challenged him to A DUEL!! (DUNDUNDUN!!) We met at the courtyard in the afternoon. I came ready to fight. I wouldn't let this weirdo beat me. (Before you come at me, he literally picks his nose, THAT'S WEIRD!!) I had my sword and my legendary gear which I got from my Great Grandfather. He said I was destined for something big, and this was it! Lilia had his own gear he must have gotten from his housewarden or something, but it couldn't top mine. Everyone came out to watch our duel. We both unsheathed our blades and charged at each other. The crowd cheered my name (I'm a famous warrior of course it's expected)! We dueled fought with all our might, but...he had defeated me! I laid on the ground, beaten and bruised. I looked up at my opponent, who roared laughing. It lasted for what felt like eternity. (It was only like a few seconds but for dramatic effect Sensei!!) "This means The General is mine." He eventually spoke. I glared up at him. How could I lose to an old man? (No offense I know you're old too) One who's...Emo? (No offense to emos!!) He must've had his teen angst and rock music powers stored up to trash me. Bested by someone who wears 5 pounds of eyeshadow everyday...blech. I didn't speak... I couldn't... I was embarrassed in front of the whole school.... He laughed again.... No! I couldn't let this twink beat me!! (Don't google what twink means). I kicked him in his balls and rained victorious! He begged for mercy, and I gave it to him. (I can make any man beg, especially the stupid kind)

So, the Right General Of Briar Valley was mine!! And I already knew where I could get my first bit of information...A source no stupid nose picker had... Malleus Draconia! (Or as I like to call him, Tsunotaoru [Hornton]) (Okay yes now I notice Lilia literally is his bestiepoo (or something.) But still!! For dramatic effect!!) According to my math he must've met the General at least once in his life. He's the heir to the thrown throne after all. The General is still alive both had the time to interact. 18 years to! (I think Tsunibuni [Horntonwornton](pronounce it with o) is that age) So it was perfect!! I set up an interview in the library. He was willing to answer my questions.

He answered all of them!! It was perfect!! I told you Tsunibuni [Horntonwornton] would be of use!! Though it did take some persuasion... "Where'd you hide the body?" I queried. "I'm not telling you that." He protested. "Are you sure? What if I.....Hurt your precious gargoyles" I said as I picked up a massive gargoyle and held my legendary sword to it's throat. It looked at Mallypoo with tears in it's eyes. "Y-you wouldn't..." He stuttered. "A-ANYTHING BUT THAT!!" (I told you I can make any man beg) "Oh I would." I smirked and brought the dagger closer. "Poor little gargoy won't make it out of this alive." "NO! FINE, I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW!! BUT PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT HURTING MY PRECIOUS POOKIEWOOKIEBEAR!! MY SWEETHEART!! THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!" Of course, he didn't have the answer to everything, so I did have to hit the books. I hit them with a stick. It wasn't effective. Don't know why. Maybe I did it wrong? Or did I have to use something other than a stick? Oh well... My last option... GOOGLE!! But I was running short on time and the Wi-Fi was down...so I had to contact a good ol pal of mine. The first real Android...

Ortho Shroud.

I called Ortho up and raced out the door. He answered right away but there was one problem... He was busy getting Idia out of bed. He was sad about some sort of gambling game. So I made my lil broski a deal. I'd wake his brother up and he'd let me use his search engine. So I ran to Ignyhyde!! Once I got there he was waiting outside for me. He quickly thanked me and took me to Idia's room. (It was so messy, and it smelled like unwashed shut in, it was disgusting) But I was determined to help him out!

I tried everything! Shaking him, screaming, promising him ice cream, nothing! He was a stubborn fire boy. So, I had one option left... Water. So, I really didn't think this through, but I guess his fire hair goes out so.... I MADE HIM BALD

That was not what I wanted to do! I swear! He was mortified! I know I'd be too if I lost all my hair... I didn't know what to do! I panicked!! But luckily, I figured out what to do with the help of Ortho. However...It involved Idia leaving his room... Which was hard to do. So, I did the same thing to Idia as I did Malleus. "Come with us or-... Hatsune Miku gets it!" "NO! ANYTNING BUT HATSUNE MIKU!" It was a piece of cake.

One hoodie later and we rushed to the one place where all our problems could be solved. Mostro Lounge. Azul's known to grant people wishes. Once we got inside Jade led us to a table, but we had to order drinks before Azul would see us. Of course we did, they have an awesome Mostro Lounge x Mystery Shack drink. Idia said they needed a ship name. I don't know what he meant, no boats were involved. After getting our drinks eventually we were allowed to see Azul. Ortho reassured his brother as we entered the octopus's office. Now I know what you're thinking... He's a sketchy man and it'll be hard to get his hair back for a fair price. So, how'd we get out of this without anemones on our head? Well, I don't know. I had to finish writing this paper before tomorrow and I didn't have time to sit and do business deals. Therefore, I left them. (Don't judge me!! This was a big assignment!) So how did I get the information I needed? Well... I read the books. That's a way better method then hitting them. Learned that the hard way...And hours later I had all the information I needed to write the essay! The end

"{Y/N}.... The assignment was a 5 paragraph essay on a historical figure. That's not what this is." Trein said as he slid the paper back over to me. "WHAT?! BUT THIS IS QUALITY CONTENT! IT'S ENTERTAINING!" I shouted back. "Half of this stuff didn't even happen." "Well, dramatic effects!!" "Redo this." "Hmph... Fine."

WOW, WILD RIDE!! YOU MADE IT TOO THE END THO!! I LOVE THIS Y/N CREATURE I MIGHT MAKE AN OC OUT OF THEM ONE DAY!! That's for the future tho rn I gotta add tags and post this. Comments appreciated My requests are open Thanks for reading Byebye!!

[bomberqueen17]

Matcha Top Sewalong #5

Done! All I need to do is hem it.

But. For sewing-alonging-purposes here's the last day of work on it. And once I've hemmed it I need to like. Measure it and then make my decisions about what adjustments to transfer back to the paper pattern for my final draft. Because of course my buzzy brain wants to immediately move on to a new shiny thing (we're gonna make leggings next) but the actual smart thing to do is to make this over again in a fair copy in really nice fabric. (In a drastically adjusted size.) Because I do like it.

So anyway, the breakdown:

So I think when we'd last left off, I'd decided I needed to unpick the shoulder detail and gather several inches of excess shoulder seam length under it. So I did that; I cut off a couple of inches of the faux-epaulette, and then put gathering threads along the seam and pulled those taut, pinned it down, and re-sewed it.

[image description: Blue fabric under the presser foot of an old sewing machine, with a stiffened piece of black fabric with embroidery on it lying over the top. I'm pulling on two thick white threads with my fingers, pulling the gathers tight prior to pinning the placket down and then distributing the gathers with my fingertips as I sew over them. Yeah I'm not a big fan of a thousand pins.]

Remember the whole point of this was that as the pattern isn't properly scaled, it was assuming that me having huge tits also meant my shoulders were vastly broad. And they're not. But I didn't want to cut off excess fabric because that would alter the shape of the armscye (that's the curved seam on the body of a shirt into which a sleeve is set, or that forms the sleeve opening in a sleeveless garment, and it's pronounced arm-sigh, for any of y'all who haven't done a lot of sewing youtubing yet lol)-- setting a sleeve head into an armscye is an exercise in patience and wizardry at the best of times, attempting to alter either one is likely to result in jankety disaster.

As it happens, this pattern already has you gather excess bodice width into the collar, to give its distinctive shaping. It turns out that gathering excess shoulder width under the faux-epaulette also looks baller as fuck, so I'm going to take that into consideration as I cut my next draft out.

So next was setting in the sleeves:

[image description: on a flowered ironing board, the blue fabric is sitting with the curved armscye carefully laid flat and the top of the sleeve head pinned to the top of the armscye curve. On top of all that, my perfect angel clingy cat is sitting on the garment with her tail curved right into my working space.]

The sleeves went on pretty easily-- I get why they have you do it before the collar but honestly it didn't matter that I did them after-- and then the last step was to sew up the side seams, which was so easy I didn't even pin it anywhere, I just matched up the underarm seams and pulled the seams straight either side of it, got the seam allowance to lay right, and then sewed it in one go.

Now for the try-on.

[iimage description: a mirror selfie of me in a large drapey blue garment with my arm held out to one side. The sleeve extends to my wrist, touching the back of my hand.]

These sleeves are supposed to be elbow-length but again, the scaling up in all directions equally does not take into account the fact that I do not have tits on my elbows nor are my arms plus-length. It's pretty safe to say I could cut a size 14 of this garment all around and still have plenty of ease. I measured, and have cut off six inches from these sleeves to hem them.

[image description: me half-turned wearing the drapey blue garment, showing the V-neck detail, the shoulder pleating (though the lighting isn't ideal to show it off, sorry), and the length of the sleeves. The background is partly blurred by the phone's Portrait setting, but not entirely; it is my mother-out-law's bedroom because she has a huge mirrored closet door. By my leg, my cat is sitting with her tail touching me because she was so clingy yesterday, and the silhouette of her ear looks like something's wrong with my calf.]

There's a lot of ease in this, which I get is the design of it; I am actually torn about sizing down at all. I might not! I love that it's so swingy.

As far as the length, IDK. I left two extra inches on the bodice panels for hemming, I always wind up with my hems uneven and I wanted to leave room to not have to cut it shorter than I wanted. The last smock I made is SO short in the back because i'd fucked up the cutting and there was one divot at a hem that couldn't be evened out any longer, and i'd meant it to be wearable as a solo layer but thanks to this i have to wear it over other layers, ugh. So. Anyway. IDK. it's hard to tell the length because depending where you set the collar on your shoulders it can vary so much. Next version should probably have a smaller size of the collar and shoulder details for sure.

[image description: a closer-up mirror selfie in bad yellow lighting of the shoulder detail and upper sleeve of the garment]

But the detail of gathering the bodice sleeve under the shoulder detail does look good, I do like it. So I'm going to do that again in my next draft. I'm just deciding-- do I size down overall, and then slash-and-spread to put width back in to gather up here? or do I just size down overall and figure there'll still be plenty of width?

I just have to decide. Either way, the shoulder detail needs to both be narrower and thinner, smaller every direction, and also I feel like the interfacing is actually too stiff. I might just interline it with fabric for the next version, I can't decide.

In the meantime, I'm going to hem this garment with the shortened sleeves and I think I will actually wear it a fair bit, it's comfortable and reasonably cute. Might shorten the overall hem too, need to decide on that.

Either way I need to write down my adjustments and probably make myself cut out the next version before I forget, and before I move on to the next thing, which as I said, is leggings, and I'm excited to work on those lol.

[allthingskakashi]

• Another Time, Another Chance •

[Kakashi x Reader] || 5k

Based on the Fluff prompt: "You have something in your hair... Do you want me to get it out?"

A/n: i received the request for this in 2020,started writing it in 2021 and finished it now at the end of 2022 so this fic has made a very long arduous journey before appearing on your feed today. This is needlessly long (5??? K??? Words???) bc im physically incapable of writing shorter fics. Been super out of touch so i hope this doesn't read like a drag, ending seems a bit rushed to me but i needed to be stopped from adding any more words. thanks so much for reading!!<3

********

You had been dreading this day all week.

Ever since the invitation arrived in your mail, you’d been wrecking your mind, trying to think of excuses— something, anything, to get out of the dreadful misery this day was about to present. Any possibilities of a sudden ankle fracture or an unexpected call to duty, however, were put to rest when you ran into your dear friend, the childhood bosom bud you’d recently reunited with after ten years, on your run to the grocery store this morning— who demanded—well, warned, really— that you “better fucking show up” to what was going to be one of the most important nights of her life.

So there you were now, standing in front of your closet which was filled mostly in hues of blue or black, and rolls of what people refer to as “practical clothing”, looking for that one peach-colored dress you had stuffed at the back somewhere after the last time you wore it— the one that your mother had given you many moons ago on your birthday.

If you had known that you would be coerced into attending an engagement party not five days after your return to your village, you’d have delayed your return. But fact of the matter remained that Kurenai was indeed your best friend, and if your being there mattered to her that much, then perhaps you could push your own feelings—and by that you meant your general detest towards weddings and anything involving matters of the heart (Shinobi don’t show their emotions, that’s rule one) aside.  Well, that and the fact that she threatened to hunt you down if you deigned to not show up.

But it’ll be fine, you told yourself. You would go, congratulate the happy couple, smile and nod at the people who approach you, have a round of drinks and appetizers, and slip out as soon as the crowd thickens. All in all, it shouldn’t take more than one, one and a half hours tops. You could do one and a half hours. It’d be fine.

 Forty minutes and heaps of wrinkled clothes scattered all over your floor later, you finally managed to find the dress you were looking for. It’d need ironing and there was a stain in the front, but it could be covered up with the silver butterfly pendant you had. A quick glance at the mirror informed you that the load of laundry you were about to do would have to wait until tomorrow. Your hair was greasy, and you needed to do something about the bags under your eyes.

And of course, a present. You needed to get a present. This truly was turning out to be a massive pain in the ass.

...................................................................................

 With the towel wrapped around your hair, you laid your dress out on the ironing board. You must have been eighteen when you last wore it but thankfully, it still fit. It was a beautiful piece— the fanciest piece of clothing you owned, no doubt, with a sweetheart neckline and lace detailing at the back.

Seeing the dress after so long did open a floodgate of memories…

It had been one week since your sixteenth birthday.

You had just passed your jounin exams.

You could still recall how the air felt that day, grain to grain in your mind. You were elated, you’d worked so, so hard for months. And finally, it had paid off. Anything seemed possible that day. The sky was the colour of water, the sun had never shone brighter. Everything was possible.

Even confessing your emotions of deep adoration to the boy you’d admired all through your young years.

It’s now or never, you’d told yourself. You’d never feel as courageous as you did that day. It was the perfect time.

And so, you’d put on your best dress, picked some daisies from your backyard, and strode off to where you knew you’d find him—the boy whose name cluttered the last pages of every notebook of yours, the one who starred in each of your daydreams— Kakashi Hatake.

You’d found him climbing a tree in the forest, a piece of cloth tied over his eyes and another tying his hands to his back. Chakra control practice.

You still remembered the tremor of your voice and the gigantic gulp you’d taken before uttering the next words. “Kakashi, would you mind coming down for a minute?”

The words were set on your tongue and your little heart banged within your ribs. You’d watched as he climbed down the branches with his eyes and hands redundant with the same meticulousness of a cat.

The moments he had taken to take off the blindfold and free his hands may have been the longest moments of your life.

And then, he’d fixed his dark eye on you, the frown on his face making his annoyance at being interrupted painfully clear. “What is it?”

Now usually, this is the part where you stopped reminiscing and yanked yourself out of the memory. If only you could go back in time, grab your younger self’s wrist, and yank her out of that very situation itself. But alas, that’s not how things work.

Back when the wound was still fresh, you’d replayed the next few moments time and time again in your mind but with the years, you’d mostly succeeded in blocking that part out entirely, as if you could just ignore it out of existence.

You hated to admit it now, but it truly had broken your naive heart into pieces. After all, being met with an impudent “That’s stupid, you shouldn’t” after confessing your admiration to the guy you’d written poems about in your journal isn’t exactly every sixteen-year-old’s dream.

But these were all in the past. Now when you thought of that moment, you just felt pity for your young, foolish self.

If only you could go back in time and…

Regrets aside, you were proud of how far you’d come. There was very little that could faze you now and things like juvenile crushes and fantasies about romance were things of the distant past. You’d burnt your journal not long after that incident—the one filled with poems about how Kakashi’s hair reminded you of the moon.

Eurgh. The thoughts made you cringe now.

It’s not that you didn’t find chances at romance past that one unfortunate incident. You’d left the village at seventeen, and in your ten years of voyage around the world learning about medicine, you’d come across many a man who had shown interest in you. But none had piqued yours.

But now, finally, you were home. Truth be told, you’d missed Konoha. The village, at least. The people…were another question. Once you’d left, you were almost completely out of touch with your friends back here and it had partly been intentional.

Which was another reason why the evening’s ceremony was turning out to be a particularly dreadful affair for you. You hadn’t seen these people in a decade and now to see them all together, at one place, in an engagement ceremony of two of your old classmates…it was all a bit overwhelming. You never were much of a socializer and after that incident, your self-esteem had taken a huge blow, leading you to mostly isolate yourself from your peers. It also hadn’t helped that Kotetsu and Izumo had been sparring that hapless day not far from where Kakashi was and had watched the entire situation unfold in front of themselves, and had then taken the liberty to do a dramatic retelling of the events to each of your comrades, with embellishments and exaggerations added for flair. You had been mercilessly teased, mocked, and ridiculed for weeks.

Sigh.

Was there really no way you could get out of this?

........................................................................................

You stood in front of the big stretch of lush green grass, known as the Konoha Public Park. Yellow lights twinkled in the distance where chairs and tables had been set up in close circles. Rows of cherry blossoms stood swaying along the edges of the park, their feathery pink petals swirling about and settling on the grass under your feet.

Soft music and cackles of laughter flowed into your ears from where you stood now. Right ahead of you was a small arched bridge, hovering over a stream of water. The way the lights danced on the water made it look like little stars were floating along the currents.

The place really did look beautiful.

They must have spent thousands on this thing, you couldn’t help but think. It made sense. Asuma was the third Hokage’s son after all.

All around you, more and more people started to come in—mostly in pairs of two. You still didn’t see anybody you knew yet, and you couldn’t decide whether that was good or bad.

Far in the distance, your eye caught Kurenai, arm in arm with Asuma, throwing her head back and laughing at something he must have said.

Alright.

You took a deep breath.  

Here we go.

Once inside, the sea of faces—some familiar, some unfamiliar was making your mind dizzy. Wherever you looked, it seemed like the throngs of happy couples never ended. Was everybody on some kind of love potion in this town?

Your mind was telling you make a run for it, but it had only been— you checked, twenty minutes. You had already met Asuma and Kurenai and congratulated them, and exchanged niceties with a few other old friends who had come to ask you about your journey.

You had yet to pass forty more minutes somehow and there was only one thing to do—hit the bar.

The bar was a few feet long counter on one corner of the park, stocked with all sorts of premium brands and manned by three people dressed in black and white.

If this was the engagement party, what in the hell were they gonna do for the wedding?

“Hi, can I have a vodka cranberry, please?” you said, sitting down on a stool. This spot provided almost an entire view of the venue and you could see two very familiar-looking guys making their way towards the bar, and judging by the way they were vehemently waving their hands, it looked like they—Kotetsu and Izumo recognized you too.

You had NOT prepared for this.

Thankfully at that very moment, the bartender slid a glass of crimson liquid across to you. The ice cubes bumped around on the surface as you grabbed the glass in one hand and your purse in another, took a quick sip, and made a dash for the farthest end of the park, completely cut off from all the merriness.

Clutching the glass close to you, you took quick, hasty steps��stumbling and tripping your way along the sprawling field, all the while keeping an eye behind you to make sure you weren’t being pursued. The grass was uneven in some parts, and your heels weren’t helping.

With a lurch of your heart, you felt your toe hit what must have been a rock. In seconds, your glass was flying from your hand as you attempted to steady yourself, only to feel your body crashing into someone else’s with a thump.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I’M SO SORRY,”, you screamed out, before looking up to glance at the unfortunate bystander whom you had no doubt doused in your drink. “Please let me-”, you started, but your words dissolved in your throat.

Your drink was fine.

The glass was intact.

And holding it was none other than Kakashi Hatake– the last man you ever wanted to see, let alone crash into.

Great.

Okay, deep breaths. Maybe he won’t even recogn–

 “Hello, y/n.”

 Ah, perfect.

Words, words, words. What are some words?

 “Kakashi”, you heard yourself respond. Thank God.

Within the walls of your brain rang a thousand different sirens.

“I heard you were back in town, you look well”, said the man in front of you, whose figure towered several inches over your head.

You didn’t remember Kakashi being quite so tall. But then again, the last time you’d seen him, he’d only been a boy. His gangly limbs had grown into muscled arms, his once gaunt torso, now broad and firm–even beneath the dark grey suit that he was clad in right now.

You hoped you didn’t look too floored.

“Yes. You too”, you managed, looking back at him, ensuring to not look too surprised, or more accurately, awestruck with him.

In the absence of the headband, Kakashi’s silver hair– free and silken, caressed his eyebrows. His face, though covered in its majority by a mask, had sharpened along the edges, in contrast to the boyish softness it once held.

With most of his face covered, you couldn’t help but look him in the eyes.

Surely you were immune to him by now? He was handsome, yes. But so, what? You’d seen handsome men before. Been in their company, spent time with them, studied with them, lived alongside them.

Kakashi was no exception.

If he had any similar feelings of astonishment in seeing you after all this time, he didn’t let it show.

“Anyway, I better…”, you muttered, proceeding to reclaim your glass from him, and stepping aside to move past his still surprisingly tall figure. “It was good to see you”, you said, without looking back.

Barely had you taken a step when the voice behind you called out.

“Not even a thank you for saving you from public humiliation?”

And there it was. The cockiness.

Perhaps he hadn’t changed that much after all.

Sighing to yourself, you turned on your heel to face Kakashi, fixing him with a glare.

“Thank you so very much”, you drawled, flashing him your phoniest smile.

Kakashi sniggered, speaking through a smirk as he bridged the gap between you. “Now, now, y/n. That didn’t sound very sincere”.

He was clearly enjoying this. Embarrassing you once in this lifetime must not have been enough.

And could he stop saying your name?

But you were no longer an infatuated doe-eyed little girl who blushed and fawned upon him. And you wanted that fact known.

“Don’t you have something better to do rather than being a pain in the ass?”

An impish glint peeked through Kakashi’s dark eyes.

“Pardon me, I didn’t realize I was being,” he paused before adding, “a pain in your ass”.

You didn’t enjoy the way his enunciation of the last two words made you squirm. You needed to get away from him. Fast.

But fleeing would be cowardly. And more importantly, why would you? He no longer had an impact on you. No, you were going to stay right here, look him in the eye and face him.

“What are you doing here anyway, Hatake?”

“Same thing as you are, rejoicing in the union of my closest friends.”

You scoffed, repeating his words back to him, “rejoicing in the union of your closest friends?”. “I’d have thought these things are beneath you.”

The smirk was unrelenting on Kakashi’s face. “You must not know me very well then, Y/n.”

There it was, your fucking name again.

“Y/N! Kakashi! There you both are, I have been looking all over for you!” shrieked Gai, coming towards you with hurried steps. You had already exchanged pleasantries with him earlier in the evening, and unlike some others you had encountered, Gai remained exactly the same as he had been when you last met—warm, generous, and very, very spirited.

“Yes”, you retorted, “and I’d like to keep it that way. Now if you’ll excuse me”, you said, turning around to walk towards the centre of the park, where a buffet table had been stationed, with sweet and savory items laid out across its stretch.

Once again, however, your attempt for departure was interrupted.

“Is everything okay?” you asked, as Kakashi stepped up beside you.

“Yes, yes, everything is fantastic! Don’t you worry, Y/N. I was only looking for you to ask you to join us. All of us back there have been playing some very fun games, and you are missing out on all the fun!”, Gai said, pointing behind him to a gathering of people.

“Oh um, I actually…” you started, ravaging your brain for an excuse, but you knew it would be as fruitless as telling Gai that a thousand push-ups a day was way too many push-ups.  

“No excuses, Y/n!”, “You too, Rival!” Gai added, cutting Kakashi off in the middle of an unoriginal excuse about requiring to use the washroom. “Come on now, over here”, Gai ushered, leading you towards the gathering as you and Kakashi followed with thwarted faces.

Taking a large plentiful sip of your drink, you kept your glass aside, hoping it would be enough to fuel you for whatever lunacy lay ahead.  

If only you could go back to the moment in time when you made the decision of coming here and smack yourself in the head.

“Well, what are we playing?” Kakashi asked without fervour, standing beside you with his hands in his pocket as he soaked in the sight in front of him. Multiple pieces of paper had been cut into squares and piled up on the grass.

“I’m glad you asked, Rival! Everybody, gather around please!”, Gai called, as each pair of eyes fell upon him. “For our next game, we’ll be playing Paper Dance! Please form yourselves into groups of two, pick up a piece of paper from the ground, and position yourselves on it. Please remember that both partners must be standing on the paper at all times! When I say start, the music will begin and you will have to dance, maintaining your balance. Once the music stops, the paper will be folded into half and both partners will stand on the halved paper. The music will begin again and when it stops the next time, the paper will be folded into a quarter, and the same will keep repeating until there is only one remaining couple on the floor! As the paper keeps getting smaller, one partner is allowed to pick another up to make space, however, the minute either partner falls off the square, the team will be disqualified! Is everyone clear on the rules?”

A booming roar answered Gai as everyone around you hooted and scrambled to pick up papers for their teams.

You hesitantly picked one up yourself, but there remained one simple problem. Everyone around you had already found a partner, barring only…Kakashi.

Without sparing him a glance, you approached Gai, but before you could get a word out, Gai spoke.

“So sorry, y/n, but I will be the coordinator for this game, to make sure nobody is cheating. Kakashi there seems to be without a partner as well, so you can pair up with him, over here Kakashi!”

“Wait, but–”, you interjected, but Gai had already pushed you and Kakashi together, signaling the DJ to start the music.

“Everybody in their places…and start!”

An upbeat lyric-less melody engulfed the expanse of the park.

As if being shanghaied into attending a wedding and bumping into Kakashi in a less than graceful encounter wasn’t enough, you were now being made to DANCE with him, smack in the middle of the Konoha park, in the audience of hundreds of people.

This evening was truly shaping up to be the stuff of nightmares.

The only advantage in all of this—if you had to choose one, was the fact that in front of you, Kakashi looked quite uncomfortable himself, try as he did to shroud it.

Every pair around you had their arms linked—chiming to the tune, swaying and spinning, throwing their heads back in laughter. The contrast of your partnership as compared to every other team on the floor was like fire and ice.

Tapping your toes in reluctance, you put as much space as possible between you and Kakashi on the small scrap of paper, looking everywhere but ahead.  

“Kakashi! Y/N! That’s not dancing”, Gai interjected, coming around to you. “Put some enthusiasm into those youthful bodies of yours and shake it out!” he added, belting out a serpentine body roll for demonstration.

Flashing him a thumbs up, you pretended to pick up the pace, only to revert to your designated foot taps the moment Gai turned to the pair next to you. Your eyes fell upon Kakashi in a reflexive glance, and you found your dance partner staring right at you, his face an expression of curious amusement.

“Killer moves”, he jibed, but before you could retaliate, Gai’s voice interrupted the music. “And…stop! Amazing everyone! No couples have been disqualified yet, so before we start the next round, everybody please step down from your papers, fold them in half, and retake your positions on them.”

You and Kakashi stepped down from the paper at the same time, each bending down to fold the paper. Your head bumped against his and you jumped back, going back a few steps and letting him do the task as you tucked a loose strand of hair back in place.

Having folded the paper in half, Kakashi stood with his hands clasped in front of him, waiting—almost daring, you to step over first. Looking him in the eye, you stepped onto the paper, the space on which had significantly reduced now.

You felt yourself gulp as Kakashi came forward.

“Ready everyone?”, Gai’s voice rang in the background.

Your feet were touching, your face inches from Kakashi’s chest.

“Start!” called Gai, as a different, less upbeat melody spilled from the speakers.

The scarcity of space made it impossible for you now to look past Kakashi’s figure. With your face mere inches from his chest, you could make out the distinct cliffs of Kakashi’s collarbones peeking through the open top of his shirt. A silver chain peeked through, glinting under the canopy of lights overhead.

Kakashi swayed lightly to the tune, his movement so minuscule as to be missed by anyone not standing centimeters away from him.  

The song playing was familiar to you. It was the instrumental version of your favourite song from your teenage days. There had been many a night you spent writing poetry, this very song playing in the background as you scribbled away.

Droplets of sweat had begun to trickle over your back. The air felt thickened with the smell of chrysanthemums and nostalgia.

You persisted, focusing your eyes on a singular button of Kakashi’s suit, counting the seconds in your mind and waiting for the welcome interjection of Gai’s voice.

A soft warm breeze jostled through the crowd, leaving Kakashi’s hair ruffled. He reached up to pat it back into place, nimble fingers brushing past your forearm as he did.

Explosions like fireworks erupted through your pores where his fingers had trailed.

Your throat seemed to be getting narrower and narrower.

Without a thought or a moment’s realization, you felt your feet trampling away from the muddy piece of paper underneath and over the grass, sprinting, carrying you away. Away from the insufferable melody, the sickening smell of flowers, the disgusting exhibit of affection displayed by couples in each corner, the wretched black mole on Kakashi’s chest under his right collarbone where your eyes kept dragging.

Heaving as you caught your breath, you seated yourself on a wooden bench at the edge of the park. Your heart hammered in your throat as you tried to make sense of what had transpired. Somewhere in the distance, you could hear a faint voice, “Y/N! That is against the rules! Sorry, Rival, I am afraid I will have to disqualify you too.”

Multiple pairs of eyes had turned to look in your direction. You must have looked insane. Running across the field like that, matted hair sticking all over your face. You really had a penchant for embarrassing yourself, it would appear.

This was all too much, all of it. The wedding, Kakashi, your stupid fucking heels that made your soles ache.

Much to your relief and fortune, a woman’s voice replaced the maddening sound of the song blasting through the speakers at that precise moment. It was time for toasts.

Undoing the straps of your shoes, you laid your bare feet on the grass, leaning back to rest your head on the bench.

It was a clear night, the stars shining with all their might, as if in celebration of your friends.

You closed your eyes. The cool grass was soothing underneath your aching feet.

“Are you okay?”

Ugh.

You opened your eyes to see Kakashi standing over you, looking down with an expression almost resembling… was it concern?

You didn’t think he was capable.

“What now?”, you sniped.

Your patience was running thin, you needed to be away from here.

“You left this”, Kakashi said, holding out your glass of vodka cranberry that you’d kept aside earlier.  

“You seem awfully attached to my drink”, you jabbed again, but Kakashi ignored it, coming around to take the vacant spot beside you.

“What happened back there?” he inquired, turning his eyes on you as you looked down at your feet.

What DID happen back there?

“Nothing, I just…felt dizzy. Didn’t get time to have lunch today”, you lied, although only partly. You had, indeed, not gotten time to have lunch that afternoon, you were too busy scouring the market for an appropriate gift, all to ultimately settle on the quaint night lamp that had caught your eye in the very first shop you had visited.

“Hm, then this may not be such a good idea”, Kakashi responded, keeping the crimson-filled glass beside him on the bench.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Kakashi gesture to a server standing a few feet away, holding a tray filled with what appeared to be dumplings.

“Wait, are those dumplings?” the sight of your favourite snack provided the ideal distraction from the less-than-savory thoughts that were beginning to nestle inside your head.

Your stomach growled in agreement, as you realized how hungry you had been.

You piled six onto a small plate and watched Kakashi carefully place two into one of his own.

“God, I missed these”, you exclaimed through a mouthful as Kakashi thanked the tux-clad server, before turning to his plate.

“They do NOT make dumplings like this outside of Konoha”, you added, smacking your lips and digging into the next one. “I need to make up for all the time I lost not eating these.”

Kakashi let a smile slip, watching you in silent amusement. “Well, it looks like you need these more than I do,” he said, offering you his plate.

You couldn’t help but gape.

Was Kakashi Hatake being nice?

“Uhh…”, you hesitated, but Kakashi’s eyes looked entirely genuine, much to your shock…and despair.

He was making this rather hard.

“Is there any reason why you’re going out of your way to be nice to me and following me around like a puppy dog the entire evening?”, you blurted, expecting Kakashi to retort with a brazen remark, an insult to match the ones you had been hurling at him all evening.

Instead, he shrugged. “Got some making up to do my own”.

The words made you turn. The air between you had shifted. “What does that mean?”

But just as easily, the tide had rolled over. “Nothing”, Kakashi said airily, piling his dumplings onto your plate.

You studied his face once more to make sure this was not some juvenile prank. In his eyes, you read only kindness.

“Well um…thanks”, you said, putting your seventh dumpling in your mouth.

Kakashi gave a wave of his hand. “I owed you one.”

Still ruminating about his earlier comment about having things to make up for, you asked, “For what?”

“For freeing me from the torment of dancing for another second.”

The mole under his collarbone made a flashing appearance in your mind and you looked away, coughing on your last bite.

“Right, uh yeah, no biggie”, you said, clearing your throat. “Anyway, I uh, am gonna take a lap around the park, the toasts are over, and Gai looks like he’s about to start up another game again. I’d rather not be in the vicinity while he’s recruiting participants”, you added, slipping back into your shoes.

You wanted to get away from him, you needed to get away from him.

You had spent the last ten years of your life keeping Kakashi Hatake from your mind, and your last ten minutes had been spent studying his hands as they rested on his lap.

And recalling how his fingers had felt against your skin.

You stood up, looking back to take his leave, but something in his eyes rendered you powerless over yourself. Because the next words you uttered were, “Do you wanna come with?”

With his tone the embodiment of nonchalance, Kakashi accepted your gracious offer, yet something in his demeanor made you glad that you’d asked.

Once on your way, however, you found yourself at a loss of words. The scent of Kakashi’s perfume clouded your mind—an aquatic smell, subtle yet lingering.

In an attempt to avoid any further unwanted invitations, the two of you kept to the edge of the park, seeking concealment underneath the shadows of the cherry trees that lined the perimeter.

“Pretty night tonight”, you commented without thought. The silence had become too dense.

“Yes”, Kakashi nodded in agreement, looking up at the sky, “Lot of stars.”

“Mmhmm” you mused in response. “Very starry.”

Petals of cherry blossom had littered the ground, carving a pink, velvety path of their own.

You spent a few minutes walking in quietude again, before Kakashi broke the silence. “You know, if you look close enough, you can make out the Six Paths constellation in the sky tonight.”

“The Six Paths constellation?” you asked eagerly, grateful for his intervention.

“Yeah, up there”, Kakashi pointed at the bejewled satin sky. “The brightest star there in the middle is supposed to mark his Third Eye, the smaller, dimmer stars on each side his eyes, and the one at the bottom the tip of his beard”

You halted to look, glancing in the direction of his finger before glaring back at him.

“You just made that up.”

Kakashi looked back at you, the thinly veiled smirk on his mouth giving way to a hearty chuckle, “I did”, he admitted sheepishly.

You couldn’t help but laugh along.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” you chided through a chortle.

When Kakashi laughed again, the stars dimmed.

“I missed it, you know?” you confessed absent-mindedly, “The village. The…people.”

“The dumplings”, Kakashi appended.

You laughed again. “Most of all the dumplings, yes.”

A long subdued, familiar sensation crept up your neck like the arms of an old friend.

A breeze passed through.

Petals from the blossom branches rained upon you in a tender, pink shower.

Kakashi’s gaze was soft on yours.

“You have something in your hair,” he said, nodding towards your right. “Do you want me to get it out?”

“Oh um…” you fumbled, reaching up for your hair, but stopping midway. “Sure.”

Kakashi stepped closer, reaching across to touch a pink petal lodged over your ear.

Inside your chest, your heart hammered. It had been for a long time, you realized—growing louder with each thrum.

Once.

His fingers whisked past your cheek.

Twice.

Kakashi smiled down, silver hair gleaming like moonlight.

Thrice.

Your eyes widened.

You had been wishing to go back in time all evening, but you failed to realize until now that you had done just that.

Kakashi held the petal out to you, the flower blushing a pristine pink in his palm.

And with the next thrum of your heart, you were sixteen again.

[wrestler-smash-or-pass]

Weekly Wrapup 2/18/24

This Week's Rankings:

Kairi Sane - 81.9% smash

Asuka (Zombie Kana Variant) - 80.8%

Gail Kim - 76.7%

Adam Copeland - 72.0%

Melina - 70.9%

Dakota Kai - 70.8%

Victoria - 68.5%

Joe Hendry - 61.4%

Kelly Kelly - 50.3%

John Morrison - 47.5%

Grayson Waller - 36.8%

Ryusuke Taguchi - 28.4%

Austin Theory - 24.3%

Ric Flair - 4.6%

Average smash rating this week: 55.4%

More stats under the cut, along with my observations, commentary, and some of my favorite tags...

Most total votes this week (most enthusiasm)

Adam Copeland - 422

John Morrison - 259

Ric Flair - 240

& 5. Asuka (Zombie Kana) & Grayson Waller - 234

And least total votes this week (least enthusiasm)

Melina - 179

Victoria - 184

Kelly Kelly - 189

Dakota Kai - 192

Ryusuke Taguchi - 194

The closest poll was Kelly Kelly, who won 95-94.

Top Ten Overall

Kris Statlander - 91% smash

Athena - 90.2% smash

Hikaru Shida - 89.7% smash

Minoru Suzuki (Young Variant) - 88.7% smash

Swerve Strickland - 88.3% smash

Toni Storm - 88.1% smash

Hiroshi Tanahashi - 87.7% smash

Hangman Adam Page - 86.4% smash

Bianca Belair - 86.4% smash

Hikuleo - 86.0% smash

Bottom Ten Overall

Vince McMahon - 3.9% smash

Ric Flair - 4.6% smash

Kane (Corporate variant) - 10.1% smash

Miracle Violence Connection - 11.8% smash

Gene Munny - 12.4% smash

Spike Trivet - 12.% smash

Triple H (Terra Ryzing variant) - 18.6% smash

Charlie Dempsey - 22.1% smash

The Boogeyman - 22.6% smash

Brock Lesnar - 23.2% smash

Top Women Overall

Kris Statlander - 91% smash

Athena - 90.2% smash

Hikaru Shida - 89.7% smash

Toni Storm - 88.1% smash

Bianca Belair - 86.4% smash

Bottom Women Overall

Carmella - 47.8% smash

Nikkita Lyons - 48.2% smash

Julia Hart (Cheerleader Variant) - 49.8% smash

Kelly Kelly - 50.3% smash

Trish Stratus (Modern) - 58.1% smash

Top Men Overall

Minoru Suzuki (Young Variant) - 88.7% smash

Swerve Strickland - 88.3% smash

Hiroshi Tanahashi - 87.7% smash

Hangman Adam Page - 86.4% smash

Hikuleo - 86.0% smash

Top Tag Teams

The Golden Lovers - 80.4% smash

Best Friends - 66.7% smash

Motor City Machine Guns - 65.5% smash

Young Bucks - 43.8% smash

Ink Inc. - 25% smash

Ric Flair is officially the second person to receive a smash rating under 5%. He received the third most pass votes so far (first and second are Vince McMahon and Nick Jackson, who both also received a lot more total votes). Ric Flair also received the fewest smash votes (even Vince McMahon received two more smash votes...but again he also received more total votes).

For the first time ever, the polls this week were half women, thanks to probably one person? who sent in like 18 requests, only for women, all in one night.

And now for some of my favorite tags and comments

@regalityandcoffee on Ric Flair: #no one that gross should havehair that cool

@howlinghunters on Kairi Sane: #Her and Asuka could both hit let's be real#And also like#I wanna smash and then like. Just fucking chill and play board games with them lol#'Cause like. I feel they haven't been introduced to the game of life and I'm hoping Uno

@regalityandcoffee on Victoria: #im pretty sure i hd a crush on her when i was like 8 i named a goldfish after her too fjdswkaajwjw

@tetsuya-naito on Ryusuke Taguchi: #now I am not saying he is hot but between curiosity and my mental illness#i want to touch the funky weapon

@pavlovean on Adam Copeland: #younger edge i would but adam copeland i just can’t like that’s peepaw#this is NOT an anti-old-man-fucking sentiment#i am very pro old man fucking#this is an ‘i see him as a paternal figure’ sentiment#which kinda makes it ​ironic that i’d do christian at any age tho

@rcedge on Adam Copeland: #I'm worried the things i'd say here about him would get me excommunicated . Like i'd get a letter from the pope about it.

@jennegatron on Joe Hendry: #he looks stupid and i like that

[mountmortar]

Hi! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think i remember you mentioning at some point that you've replaced your own GB cartridge batteries. Do you use electrical tape, or do you solder? I don't want to damage anything, but I'm looking for a low-key, won't-bother-controlling-housemates method, haha. Soldering feels like something that would raise eyebrows.

I do replace the batteries in my own cartridges!! I solder them on, and in my experience, so long as you properly prepare and read up on how to do it, soldering a battery on is a SUPER quick and easy process. I've never tried the electrical tape method because it seemed kind of sketchy (in the "I don't think that's going to work properly in the long run.." kind of way) but genuinely I promise that soldering is not that bad (just. Y'know. Don't grab the iron instead of the handle lmao). You see people on YouTube having an entire fancy little setup on their desks or something for doing it and it's not even needed; I replace my batteries sitting on the floor with my cartridge on top of a piece of paper and it takes 5 minutes. I will tell you this: when it comes to replacing batteries, solder wick is your BEST friend. Use it. You gotta get every last bit of old solder off those contacts on the board before you put the new battery on.

(Also, as a side note: when buying batteries, no matter which method you're going to try, make sure the tabs on the batteries aren't on backwards. For the love of god, do this. It is SUCH a pain in the ass to buy batteries with the tabs attached wrong and then have to twist them just enough to connect them to the contacts properly so you can solder them on. 0/10 experience just for being annoying as hell.)

[scotianostra]

On June 20th 1887 the "new" "Tay rail bridge opened, the longest in the British Isles.

Firstly let’s get the usual dates thing out the way, I have three dates for this after examination, 1st, 10th and 20th of June, you’d think in an age where we photograph things for posterity, we could get the dates right. I’ve chosen today because it flagged up in my alerts, it’s as simple as that.

We have to salute the bravery of those men who worked building bridges like this, I say men, but look t the photos of the construction workers and see how young some of them were!

I think we all know the story behind the Tay bridge disaster so there is now need to go through it all again but after the bridge collapsed the North British Railway and supporters of the Tay Bridge were determined that it should be rebuilt. William Henry Barlow who had sat on the board of enquiry into the old bridge was asked on the best course of action. After thorough investigation of the options, his recommendation was to build a new double line bridge, completely independent of the old.

Barlow’s design for the new bridge was deeply influenced by the presence of the old. To satisfy stipulations made by the Board of Trade, the bridge was to be constructed exactly parallel alongside the old in order to keep navigation channels open, and its height was to be reduced from 88ft in the old bridge to 77ft in the new. As in the old bridge, the railway line was to run on the top of the approach girders, and through the girders of the high, larger navigation spans. Barlow recommended that if the spans of the new bridge were to be kept the same, girders from the old bridge that were unaffected by the collapse of the high girders, were able to be re-used in the new.

The new bridge was to be built 60ft upstream from the old, allowing the old bridge to become ‘staging’ for the men and materials in the construction of the new. The approaches onto the new bridge were altered; to the south the branch lines were joined on brick arches nearer to the shore at Wormitt, and to the North the eastwards curve into Tay Bridge Station (now called Dundee) was softened. Stringent tests on weight and wind loading in the design and construction of the new bridge were also to be undertaken. The proposals for the ‘New Tay Viaduct’ were accepted by Parliament in October 1881, and the firm William Arrol & Co of Glasgow was appointed contractor.

The new bridge took just 5 years to build, thanks in most part to special pontoon equipment with hydraulic legs which were designed by William Arrol. Various arrangements of these hydraulic pontoons were used to sink and construct the brick and concrete foundation columns, to erect the wrought iron piers, to move the old girders into position for the new bridge, and to erect the new navigation spans. The completed bridge is 10711ft in length, 8396ft of which is in a straight line running virtually north / south across the Tay until it curves eastwards towards Dundee. There are 85 piers; 1-28 forming the south approach, 28-41 the ‘navigation spans’ and 41-85 the north approach. The new Tay Bridge was opened to traffic, without ceremony on 20th June 1887.It still stands as testament to what good engineering was used in it's build.

You can find loads more pickoff the bridge during construction here https://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/virtual-gallery-new-bridge-1887

[patriciavetinari]

Tagged by @patchworkgargoyle to asnwer 15 questions!!

1. Are you named after anyone?

In the real world my name is in like top 10 most common ones in my first language which I hate vehemently for that fact alone. Also, maybe I was named after some relatives with that name but that was never an important part of my lore. I dislike the name anyway.

My tumblrsona is Patricia Vetinari, obviously named after the one and only dark flamingo authoritarian usurper, patrician Vetinari. Lady Margolotta was taken at the time I think but I figure it's for the best.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Day before yesterday. There's this OC who makes Ophelia from Hamlet read like a buddy comedy by contrast and that's in no way shaded by the fact that I'm the one writing the tragedy, I'm completely objective.

3. Do you have kids?

I do not and I don't think I'm fit to be a parent. I think about it sometimes though. I think of names and the names for their potential imaginary friends. And what would our favorite board game be and could I possibly sit down and invent it? Who knows.

4. What sports do you play/ have played?

Used to swim. Loved swimming in family time pools and wild waters like lakes. Had a nickname 'Bobber' as a child. Was strongly suggested (read: forced) into more sportish swimming by mother to lose weight. Was bullied out of the swimming club because of my weight. So you could say it all went

Swimmingly.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Only recreationally.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Clothes. I can't be seriously into fashion, I'm fat and a commie, but I like people watching and seeing the life choices they wear on the outside, of the circumstances they are forced to wear. Either way, most make me sad.

7. What's your eye colour?

Blue. I fee ehh about it. Wanted brown as a teen, would prefer green now. But I can't be bothered with lenses and occasional compliments are nice.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Scary movie can have a happy ending if you're not a coward about it. Happy for whom? Which character are we suggested to identify it? What is a happy ending anyway? Can a happy ending be a scary movie? Absolutely.

That being said, I don't do horror well, and I do like when the characters I like get home, get fed, get railed, get fulfilled. If they had to go through a scary movie for that – that's the story, innit?

9. Any talents?

I am a jack of all trades kinda gal. Is loneliness a talent? I'm a maestro at that.

Also I cook well I guess. Some writing is looking good.

I might also be an absolute firecracker in bed but I'd have to get back to you on that after I acquire some empirical evidence, but my theory is strong.

10. Where were you born?

In a hospital in the midst of New Years celebrations in a country that was struggling to be born with me.

11. What are your hobbies?

I have ADHD. Give me a well presented topic and it will become my hobby for a few weeks.

I write silly things about silly people.

I read serious things about silly people.

I run my sims dynasty with an iron fist and a five year plan.

I read about perfumes sometimes. I even wear some and one of these days one of those dainty bottles will get me laid.

I try to learn to play chess. Consistency is key and my inner locksmith hanged himself when I was 13, I still hold memorials for the man and pay a generous pension to his unfortunate widow.

I recently drew a picture of a snake with a muffin.

I sometimes make collages and playlists for my unfortunate OCs.

I currently have 2 moods in music: Eartha Kitt or Vivaldi. No in-between. It's been going on for a month.

I do my best not to have a day without an orgasm (covid has put a slight damper on that but I'm not a quitter).

I duolingo, French. 707 day streak. I will be guillotined for this.

I steal cashew nuts from the office to feed to local birds.

I like vintage kitchens, I make the best hot chocolate, I talk to myself, I plan to turn my life around every other weekend, I go to that drama thing when I don't have a deadly virus ripping through me, I will pet any dog that will have me and any cat that's not fast enough. I've recently broke 400k point record on tetris. I post about all that and more (or less) on my silly little scripture of a blog. I sing badly outside of the shower when nobody's home. In the shower I check if I still can do the wrist lock behind back thing (I can, both sides). I ache for the world and my place in it.

I forgot what the question was, moving on.

12. Do you have any pets?

Beautiful twin monsters, little Deppy (short for Depression) and sweet mild Annie (short for Anxiety). Also a plushie called Fucked Up Evil Little Pudding, he's a sweetheart. My puter is called Bartholomew and we're civil with each other.

This is a very long version of 'I rent. I'm not allowed companionship and warmth of a live being by my side'.

13. How tall are you?

Statuesque 5'2'' in the weird foot measurements. 160 in normal ones.

14. Favourite subject in school?

Chemistry. I was spectacularly bad at it. But I actually tried, the teacher was a few percent less shit than others and sometimes I actually got the material and had wild fantasies of giving old Mendeleev a run for his money. Those dreams were crushed firmly by 11th grade.

15. Dream job?

Sheep farming. Also writing children's books in spare time.

I don't think I know 15 people on here well enough to tag, my affliction is also making me cough my heart out, so please do this if you feel like it and check in on me in a day or so if I had died or not. If you'll have a moment that is.

[falling-turtle]

University of Illyria - a university subhood for Veronaville

For centuries, the famed university of Illyria has been heralded as one of the biggest centers of literature and culture. What will it offer to new generations of Sims? As I promised, here it finally is! A university subhood for Veronaville with Sims inspired by Shakespeare's plays so you can enjoy more Shakespeare in your neighborhood!

Features: 5 households with 8 students in total, based on Shakespeare's plays Twelfth Night and All's Well That Ends Well, all complete with relationships, memories, skills, bios and hobby enthusiasm. 3 dorms, 7 residential lots and 8 community lots. Community lots are fully furnished while with residential lots I left lots of opportunities for you to clutter them with your own cc.

The neighborhood name when you download it is UILL so make sure you don't have another university by that name already. The neighborhood is built on the Three Lakes Template so you shouldn't need a camera mod to see all the lots. Because of the way subhoods work in Sims 2, the names of professors, dormies and other NPCs will be randomized when you add the university to your neighborhood. I included a folder with more Shakespeare-sounding names for your NPCs if you want them for more "Shakespeare immersion" but don't want to come up with them yourself. You can use SimPe to change the names.

Mods that you WILL need: 50 new lifetime wants by Lamare Fix subhood selection by Mootilda Lifestyle Build Bundle (the second link in the top post; extracted from Lifestyle Stories by Argon) Bespoke Build Set by Honeywell Sweetening Fruit Nectar Bar Recolors (ALWoodColours only) and pcsims_smb Seasons Kiosk and More MM Recolours (recolors only) by Michelle

Recommended mods:

Veronaville 2.0 by Delijume is what I prefer to play instead of the original Veronaville, so if you want even more Shakespeare than what the original Veronaville + my university gives you, I recommend you check it out! Veronaville 2.0 also includes a university, in the "English" style so I modeled my university more after the "Italian" style so it'd complement Delijume's. I also created the playables so that they wouldn't "clash" with any of those from Veronaville 2.0

Little Stratford by me, a shopping district also created for Veronaville for even more Shakespeare!

DOWNLOAD

Meet the students at the University of Illyria!

Orsino is trying to win the heart of his beloved Olivia, but maybe there is somebody else close by whose heart he already won?

While at university, Olivia is trying to focus on her studies and leave the partying and dating to others. But will Orsino's new roommate change those plans?

Sebastian hasn't talked to his sister Viola in a long time. Will there be a joyful reunion once the siblings see each other again?

After being dumped by her boyfriend, Helen followed him to the university he's enrolled at with one goal: get him back! Her best friend Diana is fully on board with the plan. Will they be successful?

Bertram and Parolles intend to enjoy their college life to the fullest. Will they also manage to mantain their good grades? And is Parolles truly a bad influence on Bertram?

Thank you for checking this out! Side note: I ran into some bugs while testing the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure they are ironed out now and the university is working exactly as intended but please let me know if anything seems amiss.

[leefkeebs]

Leopold FC980m

Custom PCB (source)

Aflion Melody and Runner switches

Deadline Studio AirR PC keycaps

Lightblue painted stock aluminium plate

Stock plate-mounted clip-in stabilizers

More under the cut.

This build took well over a year to actually get it to it's current state and it's technically not done yet, considering I still have to tune and lube the stock stabilizers.

Issue number 1 before everything else was getting the cherry mx brown switches out of the old PCB to be able to remove the plate because I didn't want to order a custom plate or go plateless. The solder used on the original PCB has a stupid melting point so not only did I have to dilute the solder with my own that melts at roughly 320°c, but my soldering iron was set to 410°c (or more for specific spots, more on that later). A good chunk of the extracted switches were simply not usable anymore afterwards from being slightly molten. The plate has a few hooks and the PCB has holes for them to hook into, one of which is a PTH (plated through hole) hole that goes to the PCB's ground and the corresponding hook lacks paint and is soldered into this hole. This cursed and damned hook was the reason for a lot of frustration as it took quite literally half an hour (maybe more) to de-solder at 435°c while constantly adding and removing solder to slowly chip away at this literal mountain of solder they used.

My next problem was simply getting the new PCB(s). Back then I was a bit tight on money from expenses out of my other hobbies and various mundane things I needed, so it took a month or two to be able to finally order them. Except JLCPCB, the service that was recommended for this PCB by this keebtalk thread, ran out of the MCUs I needed, so I researched if they had any alternatives, but by the time I read enough of the documentation of various alternatives and found one, that one ended up being out of stock as well. So another couple of months passed basically just waiting.

After ordering, an engineer of JLCPCB contacted me because some of the NPTH (non-plated through hole) holes were too close to each other and would be at risk of breaking while drilling and the best option seemed to be just making them PTH holes, because the hook holes aren't connected to anything and the plate's paint makes it non-conductive anyways so it should be fine. Right?

FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY DEVI-

I eventually get the new PCBs and of course immediately scratch one of the 5 I ordered (it still works), tested 2 of them and went to work. Across a couple months (I was preoccupied, blah blah lazy excuses) I slowly chipped away at soldering in the MillMax sockets.

Couldn't have 4 minutes without problems though, now can we? Trying to install the switches and PCB didn't work because the MillMax sockets add roughly a millimeter of distance between PCB and plate and you can already guess that this doesn't play nice with the plate's hooks. I trimmed off the hooks but left them as little poles for aligning the PCB and so everything would be alright. Right?

I assemble the keyboard fully and plug it in to see... it not working. I assumed due to the extra millimeter from the hotswap sockets messing with the tolerances, there may be a short to the daughter board, so I took it apart again and taped any contacts and it still didn't work after reassembly. Now I was getting quite annoyed so I took off the top of the casing and tested it like that and surprisingly it worked. Kinda.

As soon as I snapped the top of the case back on, or pressed down on the plate in the bottom left corner, the keyboard would fire A bunch of keys at the same time.

Seeing this set of keys led me to the right path. I double checked this side of the PCB and saw that the hole for the PCB hook next to caps was PTH rather than NPTH and connected to one of the contacts for caps. Remember when I said one of the hooks was connected straight to ground? Or how I had to remove part of the plate hooks, thus removing the paint that prevents it from conducting electricity? Yeah. One strip of tape later and everything is fixed and works perfectly fine.

That's basically it. It was a pain, but it looks, sounds and types nicely. I'm happy with how it turned out.

[threeboy]

The Perler Bead Flat Melt "No Poke" Tape Method

I like the "flat melt" look of Perler beads it makes them look more like videogame sprites. The problem with the flat melt is it really heats up the peg board which warps and wrecks it for future creations. You can avoid heating your peg boards by using "The Tape Method" but you can end end up with trapped air "blow outs" that wreck the final piece unless you poke holes. Poking holes is tedious and disaster prone so I've been experiencing with this pokeless method...

Let's use our good friend Bowser here to demonstrate:

Make your bead art normally

Make your bead art as you normally do. Since we will be using tape to remove the beads off the board the final work will be flipped horizontally or "mirrored" so keep that in mind.

Use masking tape to cover the beads

Masking tape or painters tape work well. If the tape is curly and you’re hesitant you can wreck the beads so go gentle but boldly. Press tape down on entire piece with finger, popsicle stick, anything you want just make sure all beads are stuck to the tape.

Gently take the beads off the board and set it on your ironing surface tape down beads up.

Iron only until beads begin to fuse

Add your parchment paper and start ironing. Try to use new parchment paper (buy a roll from a grocery store) since the paper Perler provides has creases and they can transfer to the final piece - fresh is best and will ensure smoothness.

For ironing I use a medium-high heat on the iron and keep it moving constantly. I rotate the artwork every 20 seconds so it's heated evenly.

Lift the iron every so often to see the progress of the melted beads (through the paper). You want a partial melt where the beads are fused and start to get square shaped but don't go for the full flat melt yet.

Remove the tape carefully!

Flip the art over, carefully remove the tape, then flip it back and resume ironing and go for the full flat melt. The beads should stick to the parchment paper a bit.

Iron more and occasionally look at the beads through the paper (don't remove the paper it can create streaks) to see the progress of the melt.

After ironing I put a heavy book on top of it so it stays flat as it cools. The total cooling should only take 5-10 minutes.

All done!

After the final piece has cooled and you remove the paper If you find there are still small holes you can put heat/parchment paper back on and iron more just don't remove the parchment paper mid-iron with warm beads because it can create streaks.

If you iron too long you may run into the issue of colors bleeding into each other so find the balance you are comfortable with.

Hope this saves some pegboards and frustration.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (5-11 Mar 2023)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊 The Home For The Holidays Job (aurora_atalanta) - 61K, Leverage OT3 AU inspired by that 'fake date' craigslist ad - Eliot-focused & cute

😊 Inside the River (yeaka) - 44K, Spirk, canon-divergent arranged marriage AU - loved the setup for this

😍👂‍The Return Of The King (The Lord of the Rings #3) (J.R.R. Tolkien, author; Andy Serkis, narrator) - I even did appendices A and B, with Andy reading it to me 😆

🥰 wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name (DotyTakeThisDown) - 57K, Steddie AU - Eddie's a professional Dungeon Master (of the kink kind) who takes Steve as a client - good stuff!

💖💖 +91K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

The difference between a poem and a love letter (thismomentintime) - Stranger Things: steddie, 5K - super adorable meet cute!

Mission Impossible (AggressiveWhenStartled) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 20K - very funny

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret (laiqualaurelote) - Ted Lasso: trent/ted, 20K - absolutely delightful post-s2 canon-divergent getting together fic

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Maine Cabin Masters - s7, e9

Schitt's Creek - all s1 & s2, e1-2

Ted Lasso - s1, e1-5

Hot Ones - Pedro Pascal

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

ICYMI Plus - The Internet Hates Hogwarts Legacy

Into It - Are the Oscars Into Blockbusters?

Endless Thread - Return of the Aunties

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Ouija Board 7-Eleven

Vibe Check - Everything Has Led to This

ICYMI Plus - The Internet Should Be Fun

⭐It's Been a Minute - Marilyn Monroe was more than just 'Blonde'

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Big Apple Inn

⭐Switched on Pop - How John Denver got huge in Asia

The Sporkful - Should Fine Dining Exist?

Song Exploder - Kenny Beats "Still"

Ologies with Alie Ward - Detroitology (DETROIT) with Aaron Foley

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Dedan Kimathi Post Office Tree

99% Invisible #420 - The Lost Cities of Geo Redux

Into It - What If 'Top Gun: Maverick' Wins Best Picture? And Other Oscars Predictions

Endless Thread - Owl pursuits

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - More Wonders in Your Backyard

Richmond Til We Die: A Ted Lasso Podcast - Ted Lasso S2E12: You Gotta Follow Your Bliss, Right?

Our Opinions Are Correct - Episode 125: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction, Part I

You're Dead To Me - Vital Electricity

Off Menu - Ep 182: Joe Cornish

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

The Very Best Of Chicago (Only The Beginning) [Chicago]

Hair Metal Hedonists

Rob Zombie

Past Selves [Sub-Radio]

Heavy Industry

I ❤️ Heart

Iron, Wrath & Metal

The Essential John Denver [John Denver]

Presenting James Taylor

Godsmack

[comparativetarot]

Four of Wands. Art by Kim Thompson, from Divine Your Dinner.

IMPROVISING STABILITY

Stay light on your feet and you won’t feel the ground shifting beneath you. Remain flexible and nimble in all areas of life to feel grounded in the dynamic element of Fire. It’s tricky, but you’re well positioned to master this art form. Attach yourself to the process rather than the outcome and make sure you always have a plan B at the ready.

Take these green chile pork chops for example; while maintaining their status as a Southwest comfort food, they keep you on your toes, asking you to save the leftover sauce for another dish. Which dish? The witch dish! (Just kidding, that’s every recipe in this book.) No matter what, you’ll be protected by the magick of garlic, cilantro, and cumin.

MAGICKAL INGREDIENTS: CHILE, GARLIC (SEE ALLIUMS), CILANTRO, CUMIN, ONION (SEE ALLIUMS), LIME

GREEN CHILE PORK CHOPS MAIN—SERVES 3 OR 4

Nothing beats pork cooked in a green chile sauce. The citizens of the Southwest know it and now you do, too. Use a Hatch chile if they are in season, otherwise, poblano or Anaheim will work.

If you have a gas burner, you can char the peppers over the flame until the skin blisters (instead of broiling them in the oven). As a low-key pyromaniac, this is Courtney’s preferred method.

The best part of this recipe (besides potentially getting to light things on fire) is all the leftover green chile sauce you’ll have. Don’t throw it away! Use it on the Queso Fundido or the Crispy Ground Beef and Pickle Tacos, or on anything, really.

1 large Hatch green chile 1 large jalapeño 2 small tomatillos, husked and halved 1 small red onion, roughly chopped 4 garlic cloves, peeled 1 small bunch cilantro, stems and leaves separated 1 cup chicken broth, store-bought or homemade 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon dark chili powder 2 pounds bone-in pork chops, about 1½ inches thick 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1. Set the oven to broil.

2. Arrange the Hatch green chile and jalapeño on a sheet pan and broil until the skins are charred, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the peppers from the oven and immediately cover with foil. Let steam in the foil for 10 minutes or until cooled. Run under cold water to remove the skins, stems, and seeds.

3. Place the tomatillos cut-side down on the same sheet pan and broil until charred, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

4. In a blender, combine the cooled tomatillos, red onion, garlic, cilantro stems, chicken broth, and half the roasted peppers and puree on high for about 30 seconds. Chop the remaining roasted peppers into ¼-inch dice and add them to the puree.

5. In a small bowl, combine the salt, cumin, and chili powder. Rub the mixture all over the pork chops. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the pork chops and sear, undisturbed, until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

6. Pour the green chile puree into the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 140°F, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the pork chops to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, increase the heat under the skillet to medium-high and cook the sauce for 5 to 7 minutes to thicken and reduce. Stir in the lime juice. Taste and add salt as needed

8. Slice the pork against the grain into ¼-inch-thick chunks and top with the sauce and cilantro leaves to serve.

[nataliekabra]

I posted 569 times in 2022

92 posts created (16%)

477 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@rinezha

@papenathys

@tthankstoyou

@chronicintrovert

@navaratna

I tagged 353 of my posts in 2022

Only 38% of my posts had no tags

#the poppy war - 46 posts

#iksw - 14 posts

#babel - 14 posts

#history is all you left me - 12 posts

#dance wip insanity posting - 12 posts

#osemanverse - 11 posts

#simonverse - 10 posts

#kelly loy gilbert - 10 posts

#save - 9 posts

#q - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#the problem tho is that im so used to writing ironically that i legitimately cant tell if *sweet chemicals* is too much at this point o_o

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

smith and rory 😭

19 notes - Posted May 18, 2022

#4

..............adam please also fuck you /j

26 notes - Posted July 14, 2022

#3

WTF RINEZHA IS CANON??

29 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

#2

HI FOR THE LOVE OF THE GREAT TORTOISE IF YOU LIKE SAPPHICS OR ROMANCE OR FANTASTIC LITERATURE IN GENERAL PLEASE READ AN AFFINITY FOR BURNING BY ALEX NONYMOUS

this book has the best romance I've ever ever ever read with the possible exception of hani and ishu. literally. the. best. it's an intrapolation of like every one of my favourite tropes ever and still remains refreshingly original?? you have:

🌹 a gorgeous estranged childhood friends to rivals to lovers dynamic to the likes of catradora

🌹so. much. sapphic. pining.

🌹 the most perfect execution of the grumpy/sunshine or protective nerd/sunshine trope

🌹 angst and vulnerability and healthy communication and validation and then eventually so much fluff after a painfully long slowburn

🌹 apparent love triangle but the female love interests get together instead of either of them ending up with the vanilla guy

🌹 the most breathtaking writing ever

🌹 alternating timelines (from the present when they're rivals in a bunch of deadly heterosexist trials to when they used to be besties at school)

🌹 speaking of, BOARDING SCHOOL VIBES

🌹 homoerotic magic duels

oh the author also happens to be the sweetest human on the planet and has a link to a google doc with the entire novel that's legally available to ANYONE who wants to read it (!!!)

31 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

pls chloe your gay is showing

also this book is so faberrycore???!

216 notes - Posted May 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[stillinaincrad]

For the last few days, I've been putting together a post titled 'Masterpiece Theater', an idea I've had for a while - a list of the anime out there deserving of the title MASTERPIECE. I think it's a word that gets thrown around a little too lightly, and that it is actually quite rare that a show is deserving of it.

How I was going about qualifying them is by originality of the art, originality of the story and plot, the quality of the writing from start to finish, and the number of interesting characters in the cast. This was my criteria.

Which is funny, because when I started doing a little research, the interwebs apparently calls anything with a 9/10 rating or higher a masterpiece, which is laughable. Popularity by no means equals quality, which is pretty much all I've been whining about for the last few years. I mean, 5 of the top 12 rated anime on MAL are Gintama and its spinoffs and movies. Gintama is fantastic, but a masterpiece? I mean, come on - it's basically Airplane! in animated form. And as much as I love Airplane!, I don't think of it as a creative masterpiece. Funny as all hell, but just that. And, am pretty sure is all it was ever meant to be.

Anyways, I digress. I'm making this post instead, though, because I only came up with two very obvious choices that I couldn't argue against - Code Geass is, in my mind, probably the best definition by my microscope. It would be hard to call it anything less, is just 50 episodes of incredible (ironically, with a less than 9 rating on MAL, which means 86 is considered a better anime. I rest my case on the rating system!) After that, I personally would absolutely call Fate/Zero -> Fate Stay Night UBW one, but I can see where someone might argue that there's a lot of meaningless dialogue, etc. Still, given the story, the vast number of great characters, the music, and holy frijoles the artwork? Yep. I'll mince words with you that it belongs.

But then what? Star Driver came to mind, the art style is so one-off, the idea is totally original, it has a ton of character depth, music is so good, all that - but is it more than that? Charlotte has probably the slowest burn to ignite the payload but when it takes off it's such a thrill ride that no one saw coming which is what makes it incredible. But...? Even Diebuster, which I've always felt helped usher in a new generation of anime without abandoning the real heart & soul of creative storytelling which is what made me fall in love with anime in the 90s in the first place, is one I'd be very tempted to include but if no one else feels that way then it'd be pointless. Have said it before, taste is subjective, and what I love might not be what the next person is into, but there's something out there that makes them feel the same way, and that's what it's all about.

So after thinking about it and trying to curate an entire post dedicated to it, I think it's safe to say that there are many, many anime over the years that I think are top-shelf, high octane, unbridled quality shows and will watch again and again without losing interest.

But to call something a true masterpiece, and have everyone accept that uniformly across the board? Well, that's a class of its own, and am not even sure what fits into that column anymore.

[patelaniket]

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Read More : SEBI Registered Research Analyst and Investment Advisor