#What is Queue Management System?

[dhirajmarketresearch]

[thatdammchickennugget]

Hi Marky! 💘😽 thought id pop in for a request - I liked this groceries idea but I thought I’d spin it a bit. For a au pinning where you flat with Blaise and Theo and one time when Mattheo is over you’re out of groceries so he offers to go with you. And it’s just bit pining over doing a mundane task together - kind of inspired by the song groceries by mallrat sorry if this is shit lmfao ily! 🤍

pairing - mattheo riddle x fem!reader

warnings - fluff, soft matty, theo and blaise are pretty useless

a/n - thanks for the request flower, I love it 💕

wordcount - 849

“Whose turn was it to buy groceries?” you asked, staring into the barren wasteland of the fridge. A half-empty carton of orange juice and a single, lonely lemon mocked you from the shelves.

“Not mine,” Blaise called from the living room, where he was sprawled across the couch like a Renaissance painting.

Theo, perched on the armrest with a mug in hand, raised a brow. “It was yours.”

You slammed the fridge door shut. “No, it wasn’t. I went last time. It’s someone else’s turn.”

Blaise didn’t even glance up from his magazine. “I vote Theo.”

“You can’t just ‘vote’ me,” Theo retorted.

“Watch me.”

You rolled your eyes, leaning against the counter. “You’re all useless, you know that? The only thing left in this flat is desperation and vibes.”

“And even the vibes are questionable,” Theo said, earning a snort from Blaise.

At that moment, the front door opened, and Mattheo strolled in like he owned the place. He glanced at the scene—Blaise reclining like a bored prince, Theo sipping tea like he was better than everyone, and you looking moments away from a breakdown—and smirked.

“Trouble in paradise?” he asked, shrugging off his jacket.

“We’re out of food,” you replied flatly.

“Out of food, out of coffee…” Theo mused. “Out of patience, if we’re talking about her.”

You shot him a glare. “Don’t test me.”

Mattheo chuckled, leaning casually against the counter. “Sounds like you need to hit the store.”

“She does,” Blaise chimed in, flipping a page.

“Well, I’m not going alone,” you said, crossing your arms.

Mattheo raised a brow. “You scared of the big bad grocery store?”

“No, I just know that if I go alone, I’ll end up doing everything, and then you three will eat it all and leave me with nothing but crumbs.”

“Harsh,” Theo said, though he didn’t look particularly offended.

“I’ll go with you,” Mattheo said, surprising everyone.

The room went quiet for a beat. Blaise raised his head, looking between you and Mattheo with barely concealed amusement. “Since when do you volunteer for manual labor?”

Mattheo shrugged. “I’m feeling generous.”

“Generous?” Theo snorted. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Shut up, Theo,” Mattheo muttered, his ears tinging pink.

You hesitated, glancing between the boys. “Fine. But if you’re coming, you’re carrying the bags.”

“Deal,” he said, already heading toward the door.

“Have fun, lovebirds,” Blaise called, earning himself a glare from Mattheo and a not-so-light smack on the back of the head from you.

♡

The grocery store was quieter than usual.

Mattheo grabbed a cart without being asked, his fingers drumming lightly on the handle as you started down the first aisle.

“You’ve got a system, right?” he asked, glancing at the list in your hand.

“I don’t need a system,” you replied, tossing a loaf of bread into the cart. “I know what we need.”

“That’s a system,” he said, smirking.

“You’re a system,” you muttered under your breath, and his chuckle sent a small thrill through you.

The two of you moved through the aisles in a rhythm that was surprisingly natural. He handed you things from higher shelves without asking, tossed in snacks you didn’t have the heart to scold him for, and even managed to charm an older woman into letting you skip the queue at the deli counter.

“You’re awfully good at this,” you said as he expertly steered the cart around a corner.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he replied, smirking.

“Sorry, I just didn’t peg you as the domestic type.”

He shrugged, adding a pack of chocolate biscuits to the cart. “Maybe I’m full of surprises.”

You tried to ignore the flutter in your chest as he said it, focusing instead on grabbing a box of cereal.

By the time you reached the self-checkout, the cart was full, and the air between you felt lighter, more comfortable. He took over scanning the items, his grin widening every time you tried to help.

“Are you having fun?” you asked, exasperated.

“Maybe,” he said, scanning a box of tea. “It’s cute when you get all bossy.”

You opened your mouth to reply, but the words stuck as his grin softened into something warmer, more genuine.

Mattheo carried most of the bags without complaint, the muscles in his arms flexing just enough to make your heart race if you looked too long.

“Thanks for coming with me,” you said after a while.

“Anytime,” he replied, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye.

You hesitated, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “You didn’t have to, though. Blaise or Theo could’ve—”

“They wouldn’t have,” he interrupted, his voice quiet but certain. “And even if they would’ve, I wanted to.”

The simplicity of his words left you momentarily speechless.

By the time you reached the flat, your heart was racing for an entirely different reason. As you unpacked the groceries together, his hand brushed yours, lingering just long enough to make you wonder if it was on purpose.

And when he smiled at you—soft, a little shy—you couldn’t help but smile back.

Masterlist

Requesting Guidelines

[kaiyunsim]

safety zone —

pairing : bf!wonbin x m!reader

summary : after a year of dating, you and wonbin agree to move in together. only thing is, he didn’t know you had a habit for being shirtless.

warnings : fluff, shirtless reader, kinda cringy

a/n : sorry for such a short fic :( it also seems so half-assed but i can’t keep working on it just i lowkey have writerd block for this.

queueing : safety zone - leehi, supernatural - ariana grande

[requested]

— wc : 0.5k — not proof read —

it’s moving day.

there are boxes everywhere, bubble wrap all over the floor, and somehow wonbin is still trying to alphabetize the spice rack while you’re shoving ramen packets into a random drawer.

“that’s not where those go,” he says, eyes narrowing.

“they go in a drawer, don’t they?”

“not with the can openers.”

you just shrug. “it’s efficient.”

wonbin sighs like he’s already regretting this decision. he probably isn’t. probably.

still, it’s cute the way he furrows his brow and mutters about ‘systems’ and ‘organization’ while placing your cereal boxes in height order.

he keeps getting distracted every time he unpacks something sentimental.

like the framed photo from your second date, the one where you’re both making stupid faces. he stares at it a little too long, then quietly places it on the shelf beside the bed.

“you kept this?”

“duh,” you grin. “you fell asleep halfway through the movie. it was adorable.”

he blushes and mutters something about having ‘dry eyes,’ but you catch the small smile he’s hiding.

then, disaster.

you start changing your shirt, completely unaware.

wonbin turns around mid-sentence, sees skin, and immediately short-circuits.

“y-you’re just walking around like that?!”

you blink. “uh… yeah?”

he tries to act normal. he fails. he spends the rest of the evening avoiding eye contact and knocking over a glass because he’s so flustered.

you don’t comment. but you do store that reaction in your brain for later.

wonbin learns that you sleep like a starfish and somehow manage to slap him in your sleep.

you learn that wonbin has an elaborate coffee ritual involving freshly ground beans, water temperature control, and judgmental looks when you mention instant coffee.

“that’s not coffee,” he says.

“then what is it?”

“a war crime.”

—

it’s a lazy saturday morning.

wonbin is peacefully sipping his coffee, his weird ritual when you walk into the living room, shirtless, yawning, and stretching like you didn’t just casually murder his soul.

wonbin chokes.

like full-on coughs into his mug, eyes wide, red ears.

“you—y-you’re just walking around like that?!”

you blink. “uh… yeah?”

wonbin refuses to make eye contact for the next ten minutes. he starts talking to the fridge.

you smirk. this is going to be fun.

from then on, it becomes a game.

lounging shirtless on the couch. walking past him like it’s no big deal.

he tries to stay strong. he fails.

wonbin starts covering his face with pillows. he dramatically sighs every time you enter a room. he mutters “this is fine” like a man barely holding it together.

you’ve never had so much fun. but wonbin has had enough.

the next morning, as soon as you step out shirtless, a shirt hits you in the face.

“what the—”

“put that on.”

“did you seriously just throw a shirt at me?”

“yes. i refuse to be weak anymore.”

you glance at the couch. there’s a pile of spare shirts folded next to him.

“you’re carrying extras now?”

“yes.”

“even inside?”

“especially inside.”

he is prepared. he is smug.

but you are the master of counter-chaos.

so you wait. patiently.

that evening, you sit next to him on the couch. close. he notices. you stretch out, then, without warning, lay your head in his lap and close your eyes.

wonbin malfunctions.

his hands hover awkwardly above your shoulders. he freezes. he tries to focus on his book. he can’t even see the words.

you breathe evenly. you’re napping. actually napping.

wonbin does not know what to do.

does he touch your hair? does he gently move you? does he explode?

you shift a little, mumble, “comfy,” and snuggle in.

wonbin dies again.

he sits there, completely frozen, for the entire nap. twenty minutes of pure, unfiltered suffering.

when you wake up and stretch, he’s staring into the void.

“you good?”

“fine,” he mumbles.

“you sure?”

“…yes.”

“you look like you saw god.”

that night, cuddled up in bed, you kiss his temple and whisper,

“you’re cute when you’re shy.”

wonbin groans and shoves his face into your chest.

“stop.”

“never.”

he grumbles, but pulls you closer.

and yeah this is home.

tysm for reading :>

perm taglist : @s0shroe @minoouz @the0p @mon2sunjinsuver

[trainsinanime]

The darkly ironic thing is that if you are worried about the recent news that someone scraped Ao3 for AI research, then you're probably vastly underestimating the scale of the problem. It's way worse than you think.

For the record, a couple of days ago, someone posted a "dataset for AI research" on reddit, which was simply all publicly accessible works on Ao3, downloaded and zipped. This is good, in a way, because that ZIP file is blatantly illegal, and the OTW managed to get it taken down (though it's since been reuploaded elsewhere).

However, the big AI companies, like OpenAI, xAI, Meta and so on, as well as many you've never heard of, all probably had no interest in this ZIP file to begin with. That was only ever of interest to small-scale researchers. These companies probably already have all that data, received by scraping it themselves.

A lot of internet traffic at the moment is just AI companies sucking up whatever they can get. Wikipedia reports that about a third of all visitors are probably AI bots (and they use enormous amounts of bandwidth). A number of sites hosting software source code estimate that more than 90% of all traffic to their sites may be AI bots. It's all a bit fuzzy since most AI crawlers don't identify themselves as such, and pretend to be normal users.

The OTW hasn't released any similar data as far as I am aware, but my guess would be that Ao3 is being continuously crawled by all sorts of AI companies at every moment of the day. If you have a fanfic on Ao3, and it isn't locked to logged-in users only, then it's already going to be part of several AI training data sets. Only unlike this reddit guy, we'll never know for sure, because these AI training data sets won't be released to the public. Only the resulting AI models, or the chat bots that use these models, and whether that's illegal is… I dunno. Nobody knows. The US Supreme Court will probably answer that in 5-10 years time. Fun.

The solution I've seen from a lot of people is to lock their fics. That will, at best, only work for new fics and updates, it's not going to remove anything that e.g. OpenAI already knows.

And, of course, it assumes that these bots can't be logged in. Are they? I have no way of knowing. But if I didn't have a soul and ran an AI company, I might consider ordering a few interns to make a couple dozen to hundreds of Ao3 accounts. It costs nothing but time due to the queue system, and gets me another couple of million words probably.

In other words: I cannot guarantee that locked works are safe. Maybe, maybe not.

Also, I don't think there's a sure way to know whether any given work is included in the dataset or not. I suppose if ChatGPT can give you an accurate summary when you ask, then it's very likely to be in, but that's by no means a guarantee either way.

What to do? Honestly, I don't know. We can hope for AI companies to go bankrupt and fail, and I'm sure a lot of them will over the next five years, but probably not all of them. The answer will likely have to be political and on an international stage, which is not an easy terrain to find solutions for, well, anything.

Ultimately it's a personal decision. For myself, I think the joy I get from writing and having others read what I've written outweighs the risks, so my stories remain unlocked (and my blog posts as well, this very text will make its way into various data sets before too long, count on it). I can totally understand if others make other choices, though. It's all a mess.

Sorry to start, middle and end this on a downer, but I think it's important to be realistic here. We can't demand useful solutions for this from our politicians if we don't understand the problems.

[wangxianficrecs]

Posting Schedule, Changes & A Small Break

~*~

My fellow wangxianists.

I am very sorry that I have to make this announcement, but I need to take a little break.

Let me start by promising that I will not abandon this blog and I will definitely continue posting, but I really do need a break. For the past two years, I managed to keep this blog running with daily fic recs, no matter what was happening in my own life. I prepared the queue for when I had a major surgery last year and for when I went on a long vacation this year, but currently the queue is empty and I can't bring myself to hastily throw another post together just so that I will not miss my daily fic rec.

In the beginning of August, I moved across the country and started a new job. It's my dream job and I worked hard for literal years to have this opportunity, but it's also very demanding and I often come home and continue working. I just don't have as much time anymore to read fics and then prepare a fic rec post (write the rec itself, make the graphic, format everything, etc.) and I found myself only hastily reading whatever short fic came across my dash and then quickly throwing a post together and it's becoming an unfortunate pattern. I don't want fic-reading burnout. I love reading fic and I love this fandom very much. I also still want to have enough time to write my own fanfics. It's my dearest hobby and I often neglected it to keep the WangxianFicRecs queue running.

Needless to say, things have to change and here's what I decided so far:

No more daily fic rec posts

From now on, I will add all posts to the queue. My own recs, Follower Recs, Proud Author Spotlights, Event Boosts, everything will get added to the queue. So on some days, e.g. you might get one of my recs or your might get a Follower Rec. And if there is no post for a day or two, that's fine too.

Bringing back old recs

There are over 1.400 bookmarks in the WangxianFicRecs Collection and we made posts for all of them. Going forward, whenever the queue is looking a little sad and empty, I will queue some of our old recs similar to Throwback Recs. I'm sure there are more than a few recs you missed originally.

Housekeeping

I will take a break for at least a week (I'll add all submissions in the inbox to the queue) and take some time to think about how I want to run this blog going forward. I've also promised myself to finally clean up our tag page and maybe get a better system sorted for making the graphics.

In the meantime, thank you for your support and being such lovely followers! I really love running this blog and I want to keep loving it going forward.

Love, Kay.

[fuck-customers]

It’s bad enough when customers get upset because they think being told no they can’t do something because it’s fraud = terrible customer service, but when fellow employees start acting just like the customer, it makes my blood boil. Today I had a nonprofit organization, who was already set up as sales tax exempt in our system, insist we allow him to make his purchase using his nonprofit’s sales tax exemption status when he uses his own credit card on the website. I explained to him he couldn’t do that per the instructions on his state tax exempt certificate however I advised him if he placed the order over the phone with a representative, it could work because the representative would have to read him an affidavit that affirms his purchase is for his nonprofit and that will allow the exemption to go through. The reason is because the billing address on the payment needs to match or be affiliated to the information on the sales exemption certificate for nonprofits. But if he’s using a personal payment online, the billing address won’t match what we have on the tax exempt account. If he does the order over the phone and agrees to our affidavit, then he’s able to bypass that rule. However this affidavit isn’t available online yet. He was ok with that at first, so I transferred him and included my notes in the transferred call. The call went to a sales representative I know who sat a few cubicles down from me so I could hear him. This representative, while a nice guy, tends to rambles on a lot, is kind of an airhead, and has a tendency to side with the customers and always apologizes to them unnecessarily. In this case, he apologized to that customer and said because I wouldn’t help him, he couldn’t help the customer. That pissed me off because he was throwing me under the bus for nothing. It’s not that I wouldn’t help him, I legally couldn’t do things the way the customer wanted. I didn’t do anything wrong, my customer service was perfect; I addressed the issue and gave an alternative. If I had just said no and didn’t offer any other suggestions, then that would’ve been wrong. This affidavit was created specifically for this scenario with nonprofits because was the project manager behind it! I was so sick and tired of this problem so I worked with some tax and legal experts to make the affidavit happen and even trained the sales teams on it so they’d understand the purpose for it. Just because I said no to the scenario the customer wanted doesn’t mean I was wrong, doesn’t mean my service was terrible, and doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do my job. This representative often calls my department for help and gets me most of the time since I’m higher in the phone queue but after this ordeal, I don’t want to talk to him anymore.

Posted by admin Rodney

[majoryeager104]

I hate to be that person but your drabble about endeavor breaking touya and his s/o apart for the sake of their careers was just so good i can't help but ask if you could possibly make a part 2 😭😭😭 maybe they keep seeing each other in secret or i dunno they both apply for UA and pass and since they stay in the dorms no one can stop them from being together

Omg yesss ofc I’m on it

Summary: after his argument with Enji, Touya sneaks out with you and the two of you decide to keep your relationship secret

(Bonus teen Shiggy bc I need happy endings for him too 👌😩 oh and loml Rumi)

Touya grinned at you as you waved through the window, crossing the room to let you in. He pulled open the window, grabbing your hand and pulling you through and into a tight hug. He stayed like that for a moment, the feeling of your body against his providing some relief for his anxiety. 

“Can you believe this? What’s is being together have to do with success huh?” You complained sheepishly, wrapping your arms around him. 

He let out a soft chuckle, ruffling your hair. “Dunno, but I don’t think my old man’ll be too pleased that you’re here” he said dryly, and as if on queue, there was a firm knock at the door. Touya put a finger to his lips, glancing at the door, and back at the window that was still open behind you. 

“Touya, open the door, our discussion wasn’t over” Enjis deep and robust voice filling the room through his locked door. “Let’s go” Touya mouthed, tugging you towards the window with a wide grin. “Touya?” Enji spoke again through the door, knocking once more. You couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh under your breath as Touya pulled you through the window, shutting it behind you with a quiet click. 

You had both snuck out like this before, so you both climbed down the tree outside his window with ease, laughing in delight at the booming voice of Enji as he entered Touyas now empty room. Meanwhile, Touya grabbed your hand, running down the street with you as chaos ensued in his house behind them. “He’s gonna kill you for this Touya!” You laughed as you ran behind him, his tight grip on your hand yanking you towards run beside him as he let out a gruff laugh “what more can he do to me huh?” 

You didn’t have an answer to that, so you merely laughed once more as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Tenko, we can hide there.” Touya suggested and you nodded, the two of you slowing down as you approached a convenience store. “Snacks? Your usual?” he grinned, sitting you down on a bench to catch your breath. You nodded, and he walked in, carrying Enjis credit card with a grin. 

——

The two of you ended up at Tenkos house, sitting around playing Minecraft while the two of you figured out how the heck you would get out of this. 

“You could just break up like they said” Tenko teased, his suggestion met with boos and scoffs from you and Touya, as well as Rumi, your friend, who’d come to meet you here after you told her what happened. “What so they can treat these two more like puppets than they already did?” Rumi retorted, earning a chuckle from Tenko “I’m only joking… I’d say your only option would be making it into UA-” “that’s easy” Touya scoffed, grinning at you as he leaned back on the couch. “More specifically,” Tenko continued, shooting him a glare “into the same class. They’ve started dorm systems this year, meaning if you two really wanna stay together, without your parents knowing, you need to be in the same class.” He explained “otherwise you’ll be separated 24/7” 

At this, you sighed, crossing your arms. Everyone in the room had a powerful quirk, and you all aimed to join UA together when admissions opened, but ending up in the same class might be more tricky than you thought. Touya noticed your sigh, shoving your shoulder with a sharp look. “Hey. It’ll be fine, we’ll manage. When have I ever let you down- don’t answer that” he shot a look at Rumi, who’d held up a hand to answer with a smug grin. 

——

Touya returned home to face his fate of being yelled at for the next three hours, and you stayed the night at Rumis house. Unlike Touya, you managed to slip out of trouble by saying Rumi was upset over a breakup and the two of you had an emergency girls night. When the two of you came up with it she was cackling like a mad man, even more so when she found out Touya had been grounded (again)

As soon as admissions opened, the two of you, as well as Rumi and Tenko, signed up for the entrance exam, and, to no one’s surprise, you all exceeded expectations with flying colors. 

The worry now was whether or not you’d both make it into the same class. 

“I’m in 1A. Makes sense” Touya said smugly as he read his acceptance letter, before glancing over at Tenko, who was grinning. “Same here.” “IGHT BET” Rumi cheered, holding up her letter like it was Simba in the lion king. They assumed that meant she was in too. Touya looked at you, furrowing his brow as he watched you stare at your acceptance letter. “Doll if you don’t open the thing I might burn it.” He said, probably more anxious than you. You nodded sheepishly, pulling open the letter, the paper smooth and firm between your fingers. 

You pulled it out, slowly. Accepted. But what class? You pulled it out further, reading word for word. Now Tenko and Rumi were anxious too. You stopped, taking a deep breath as you stared at the envelope, your answer just behind the thin paper. Touya grabbed your hand, gently, sliding closer as he pulled it out the rest of the way, his eyes narrowing as he read the final paragraph. 

The room was quiet for a moment, until everyone sighed in relief as they sighted the massive grin on Touyas face as he looked at you. “We’re all in 1A” he grinned, and Tenko and Rumi stood up, cheering along with Touya. You smiled too, joining them in their little celebration, your previous anxiety melted away. 

——

It took no time at all to convince your parents to let you stay in dorms. You used Rumi as an excuse, keeping Touyas presence a convenient secret. Touya did the same, and for the first time in ages his dad was actually pleased with him. Touya hadn’t mentioned you in weeks, his gripes and complaints about the arrangement slowed to a stop. 

But you best believe that as soon as both your parent’s cars drove away, the two of you were laughing and sitting together with your friends in the common room like the little arrangement had never happened. 

I love David Bowie hehe

Banner Creds to @ Sharlock 🙌🙌🙌

[confusedblakex]

A burning quiet (Pt2)

Pairing: Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane X (Male) Reader

Summary: This 'human'... a being so soft, so delicate, and yet his power was not drawn from hate. He is like you.

Wordcount: 1848

Warnings: Imprisonment, Mentions of war

Requested by: Me

Notes: Galra commander reader; My final goodbye to Voltron as it leaves Netflix

Last edited: 25th November 2024

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Shiro awoke with a start.

“Matt! Sam?” he called out, eyes darting across the room… no, cell. Where was he?

The room was bathed in a soft purple glow, a smooth marble floor and cold metal walls. A rectangle of thin fabric lay over him and he shook it off onto the floor.

One of the walls was an energy shield, the reason for the purple glow. Without a thought, Shiro jumped up to his feet and pounded at the shield, his hand stinging at the contact. It felt like thick glass.

It only took a moment before he gave up, opting instead to see what he could find outside his cell.

The room outside his was a bedroom. Stuffed animal heads decorated the wall, and a large bed  in the centre of the room - directly opposite his cell. Between him and the bed was a two-person table with two chairs on a small rug, and little else in the room. The door on the right side wall was shut.

Shiro was alone. Alone in a cell in a bedroom on a ship in space.

He vaguely remembered the recent events. His capture, Sam being sent off to the labour colony, the area. He remembered attacking Matt to take his place in the queue. He remembered managing to kill the gladiator that he had been sent to fight, and he remembered two Galra commanders fighting for him like property.

That’s right, the purple man with the axe won.

Shiro’s thoughts cut short when the room lit up in a yellow light. The door to the bedroom slid open and heavy footsteps sounded on the stone floor.

---

You walked into your room, a bowl carried carefully under your left arm. With a wave of your hand, the lights in the room turned on and the door locked behind you. The Earthling you had caged was standing by the energy shield, glaring at you.

“Where am I?” he demanded, “Let me go!”

You languidly made your way over to your bed, opening a hidden drawer under the mattress and throwing - what Shiro made out to be - a knife into it. You looked up to see the man’s glare and rolled your eyes.

“Well I would if you’d let me get to the door,” you said, as you walked over to the cell and pressed your hand to the control panel. The purple energy shield phased away quickly, and the Earthling stayed standing still. Uncomfortably lingering in his open cell - you were standing too close. He didn’t trust you.

You backed away from the cell, moving towards the table and pulling out a chair.

“Sit.” you commanded. You pulled out your own chair, and sat down, trying your best to look polite and relaxed. The Earthling warily sat down across from you, physically on edge and prepared to run at any moment.

You gently placed the bowl you had been carrying onto the table, carefully pushing it towards him. The Earthling looked down at the bowl, small magenta grape-like things filling it to its brim.

“Oxoco berries,” you clarified calmly, “they will help you regain your strength after your fight, help your body heal. They’re sweet and a little tart.”

The Earthling looked down at the berries again, picking one out of the bowl and rolling it between his fingers, seemingly evaluating it.

“Do you remember how you got here?” you asked to break the odd quiet that had overtaken the room.

“Not fully,” the Earthling admitted after a moment’s hesitation. You huffed air through your nose quietly, realising you weren’t going to get any more out of his as he sniffed the berry in his hand.

“You are on one of the Galra Empire’s flagships. You were found by one of the Empire’s commanders on one of the outer planets of your solar system and bought here, where you were deemed fit enough to fight and fought in a gladiator arena for Galra entertainment,” you told him, trying to keep it concise but accurate, “after you somehow defeated Myzax, I fought for ownership of you.”

“You cut off his arm,” the Earthling said, staring at you. He popped the oxoco berry between his fingers, the deep red juice splattering down his hand. He was odd, almost like he was constantly judging your every move, so on edge.

“Eat,” you reminded him, “if I was going to poison you I wouldn’t have fought for you,”

Your rationalisation seemed to work, as the Earthling looked at you a moment longer, then back to the berry juice on his hand. He tentatively licked at it, smudging a little on his lips.

“They taste like cranberries, a berry back on Earth,” he said quietly, picking another from the bowl.

“Oxoco berries were once grown on the planet Noxxal, they are now only grown on dedicated agriculture planets.” you shared, not quite letting your facade drop.

“Noxxal…” Shiro remembered that name being mentioned before, he remembered it from your fight with that other Galra commander.

“It is the planet I am from.” you explained carefully, “It was once very similar to other green planets such as your Earth, but after the Empire took over, all the natural resources were harvested and the planet became a toxic wasteland,”

Perhaps this Earthling was like you. Your tactics of nicety and caring were seen as deception and a threat. Letting one’s guard down was something so rare on this ship, and if this Earthling was like you in any sense, he would only give his trust to someone who equally trusted him. Perhaps that is why you were drawn to him.

“I am Noxxian and Galran, though that is not public knowledge,” you shared, momentarily being entirely transparent, “you are not to speak of my impure heritage to anyone else, understood?”

You were ashamed, deep down. And that truth was not one told lightly. His attitude seemed to shift a little as he nodded, he relaxed slightly.

“What is your name, Earthling?” you asked, wanting to refer to this man by his name than his species.

“...Shiro,” he said slowly, “-And we call ourselves ‘human’, not Earthling.”

Though you kept it well hidden, you were happy. He spoke a little more this time.

“Thank you, Shiro,” you said, a small smile playing at the corners of your lips, “I am Commander (y/n) (l/n), but when we’re alone you may call me (y/n).”

The human - Shiro - nodded again, taking another berry from the bowl. His eye contect still remained fierce, but it was no longer malicious.

“I’m sure you have questions?” you asked with a sigh, relaxing into your chair, fully prepared for anything he had to ask.

“Where’s Matt? The other human I was with?” he asked instantly.

“After you injured him, he was deemed unfit to fight and sent off to one of the labour colonies,” you explained, “very smart of you to do that,”

He paused at your compliment, processing the information.

“Why are you helping me?”

“Why does anyone do anything?” you asked. It wasn’t a simple question to answer.

“I may be a commander of this empire, but that does not mean I agree with what it is or what it does,” you began slowly. Shiro looked as though he was about to talk, but you stopped him.

“You’ll ask ‘Why are you here then if you don’t agree with it?’ but it really isn’t that simple,” you explained, “on your Earth you know very little outside of your own solar system, but out here, the Galra Empire has taken over a third of known space and is constantly expanding,”

“Your Earth is just beyond the edge of the empire in its current state, but that won’t last forever,” Shiro looked to you, concerned, but you continued, “it has taken my ancestors generations to get to this respectable of a position in the empire, but from within I see all of its flaws. When a ruler is so incredibly ruthless and a society from inception has been built on war and ego, normal good people become warped and support the wrongdoings of the powerful because they have never known any other life.”

“And I need you,” you confessed.

“There is a weapon - Voltron - it is the only thing powerful enough to even threaten Zarcon’s position on the throne and, by extension, the empire as a whole,” you made sure the human was keeping up with you as you spoke, “to stop Zarkon from ever getting his hands on it, it was split up and hidden. One of its pieces is hidden on your planet.” His brows furrowed. 

“When the time is right, we will send you back to Earth. I don’t know when and I don’t know how. All I need, is your trust.”

“Why me?” Shiro asked, not yet grasping his position in all of this.

“You’re strong, you can fight, but you’re kind,” you said softly, “this ship will wear you down, and you’ll still have to fight in the arena, but I believe that if you escape, you could save the universe.”

You felt deeply sorry for the man, to be pulled out of a human life and dragged into intergalactic warfare, to have no choice but to fight endlessly for cheap entertainment or to fight for the freedom of his home planet. 

You sighed and reached for an oxoco berry just as Shiro did, causing you to draw your hand back at the physical contact. He looked confused for a moment, before taking two berries from the bowl and holding one out towards you. You unfurled your fingers and he pressed the berry into your palm.

His skin was… warm and squishy, it felt so fragile. How did this man kill a Galra with nothing but a blade? With your cold, hard skin, tough and smooth, yet this odd fleshy creature had the strength to kill, but a warm and gentle touch.

You shook yourself from that headspace. You took the berry and bit into it, savouring the tart flavour before standing up frm your seat.

“When we are alone, you will be free to roam my room, you may speak to me however you wish, and I will do my best to make you comfortable. But you must stay here.” you instructed Shiro, “If other Galra find out that I am treating you well and that you are not just my ‘pet’ the consequences would be dire for the both of us.”

You garnered no verbal response, but a curt nod was all you needed.

“As I’m sure you realise, none of this is to be spoken of outside of this room,”

“I understand,” he said, eyes never leaving you. He was trying to figure you out, the weird purple alien man who was kind in comparison to his warmongering species.

“I will do my best to keep you safe… though I fear my best may not be good enough.” you spoke quietly, half hoping the Earthling couldn’t hear you.

[dhirajmarketresearch]

[imitationgame77]

Pinging and Tapping

In the world of the Murderbot Diaries, communication is often conducted via comm and feed. Generally, comm is used when internal network is not available, or when one is trying to communicate across space, and feed is used when people are on the same network and allow each other access.

We also often see “pings” and “taps” as a way of quick communication.

Generally, pings are used for comm communications, and taps are used for feed communications, but there seem to be different purposes. Here are what we can gather from the story, and also from real life examples.

[Pings]

Purpose in the MB world:

Pings are typically used for signalling, checking connectivity, and getting responses from other systems or units. They act like a way to see if the other side is present and ready to communicate or respond.

Purpose in Real Life:

Network Connectivity: In computer networks, a "ping" is a diagnostic tool used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. It measures the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer.

Usage in the MB World:

Status Checks: Used to check if systems, such as satellites, drones, or transports, are active and responsive. For example, pinging a satellite to see if it responds​​.

Communication Initiation: Used to start communication with other systems, often to establish a connection or share data. For instance, pinging a transport to offer media files in exchange for a ride​​.

Detection: Used by systems to detect the presence of specific units, like SecUnits, without direct contact​​.

Usage in Real Life:

ICMP Echo Request/Reply: The ping command sends an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) Echo Request message to the target host and waits for an ICMP Echo Reply.

Network Troubleshooting: Used to determine if a particular host is reachable and to measure the latency between the source and destination.

[Taps]

Purpose in the MB World:

Taps are used more for internal communication within the network or feed. They serve as a means to acknowledge, signal actions, or provide private communication without verbal interaction.

Purpose in Real Life:

Internal Communication: In many systems, "taps" or similar mechanisms are used to signal and communicate internally within a network or system.

Usage in the MB World:

Acknowledgments: Used to acknowledge received messages or instructions. For instance, tapping back an acknowledgment to confirm receipt of instructions​​.

Private Communication: Used to send private or secure messages within the feed, often to communicate specific commands or information discreetly. For example, tapping the feed to communicate privately with another character without others listening in​​.

Control Signals: Used to signal or control actions within the feed, like tapping to instruct a character to fall back or take specific actions​​.

Usage in Real Life:

Signalling Mechanisms: Within computer systems, taps can be analogous to various signalling mechanisms like inter-process communication (IPC), which includes methods such as semaphores, shared memory, and message queues.

Acknowledgments and Control Signals: In networking, control signals and acknowledgments are crucial for managing data flow and ensuring reliable communication. For example, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) uses acknowledgments to confirm the receipt of data packets.

Network Taps: In the context of network security, a "network tap" is a device that allows access to data flowing across a network for monitoring and analysis.​​.

[Comparison]

In both the fictional world of Murderbot Diaries and real life, pings are primarily used for external signalling and connectivity checks, while taps are used for internal communication and control within the feed network

-------------------------------------------------

[Something Worth Noting]

There are some instances where taps seem more reasonable, but pings are used instead.

In Artificial Condition when Murderbot was watching Sanctuary Moon, and ART was trying to get its attention, asking to watch World Hoppers together. (see Artificial Condition, Pings, 5, 6 my AO3)

In Network Effect, when Murderbot finds that a hostile vessel (i.e. ART) was approaching and notifies the team quickly (see Network Effect, Pings, 1 my AO3)

In Network Effect, when Murderbot was locking itself up in the bathroom (see Network Effect, Pings, 11, 12 my AO3)

In Network Effect, when ART requested a private connection (see Network Effect, Pings, 13 my AO3)

In Network Effect, when Amena comes along with Murderbot to investigate Barish-Estranza shuttle, but is told to wait outside. She offers to help to which Murderbot pings acknowledgement (see Network Effect, Pings, 14 my AO3)

At the end of System Collapse when Murderbot pinged Three to ask if it wanted to listen to Holism explain planetary infrastructure (see System Collapse, Pings 15 my AO3)

Of these, 1, 3, 4 are where ART was sending pings to Murderbot. This is actually quite sweet, because we can tell that ART is being very polite to Murderbot. ART is fully capable of slamming into Murderbot’s private feed, but in all of these occasions, Murderbot has been rejecting feed communication which it reserves for friends and clients. ART is respecting this.

Instance 2 is unusual, and I am not 100% sure why Murderbot chose to use ping here. But since it was emergency, and ping is a protocol where it receives automatic response if it had been received at the other end, it was sufficient for its purposes.

When we read the context in which 5 happens we notice that Murderbot is now inside the B-E shuttle, and for security reasons, ART had cut it off from the feed network. So, Murderbot has the options of either verbally answering to Amena, or sending a ping for acknowledgement, and it chose the latter.

In instance 6, Murderbot seems to be being polite to Three who is busy (?) watching educational media. They are cordial to each other, but because Three is still not used to being a free SecUnit, Murderbot is being more careful around it.

--------------

If you are willing to be bored to death, you can see my AO3 post for the list of all the instances where pinging and tapping happen!

[sturniolocoded13]

hi!! i know the triplets aren’t huge taylor swift fans so could you write like a matt x reader where she really loves t swift and he bought eras tour tickets for her and goes with her. then the concerts just him focusing his attention on her while she’s excited and jamming out?? thank you so much if you do!! 💖

Part 1: Getting The Tickets

Part 2 - Part 3

Matt had never expected getting tickets to be so difficult. The idea had come to him one night after you casually mentioned that you’d never get to see Taylor Swift live—the one thing on your bucket list. He’d known about Taylor’s Eras Tour for months, but when the dates for Foxborough were announced, something clicked.

“I have to get those tickets for her,” Matt thought to himself.

The first step was finding a way into the madness that was the Taylor Swift ticket system. Matt knew he’d need help. He called Chris, who’d managed to snag some hard-to-get concert tickets before, and the two started brainstorming.

Chris gave him the lowdown on what to expect—countless hours spent refreshing the ticket sales page, waiting in endless queues. But Matt was determined. He spent an entire weekend preparing, making sure he was ready when the presale started.

Then the day came.

Matt sat in front of his computer, fingers poised above the keys as the clock ticked closer to the presale time. His heart raced as he clicked through the verification steps. He kept his eyes on the screen, praying for luck. As the minutes passed, he could feel the tension in the air. Will I get through? Will I be too slow?

The line finally started to move. Matt clenched his fists, trying to stay calm, but his pulse quickened as the screen refreshed with every passing second. It felt like an eternity until the page loaded, and there they were—the tickets.

He grinned like a kid in a candy store as he clicked to purchase them, his hands shaking. “I did it,” he whispered to himself.

Afterward, when he saw the confirmation pop up on the screen, Matt leaned back in his chair, breathing a sigh of relief. He knew it had been a gamble, but the look on your face when he gave you the tickets was worth every second of waiting.

Later, when he told Chris the good news, his friend could barely believe it. “You really pulled it off, huh?”

Matt just smiled, thinking about the smile that would soon be on your face. “It’s all worth it for her.”

[mychlapci]

reading that Tarantulas and Prowl processor overload ask has revived one of my recently dormant fetishes

(this is an expansion on the forced porn download ask actually, wasn't really done b4 sending)

Prowl's archives just being a massive database of miscellaneous data, which seems like a fully practical thing that he'd do for simulation work at first glance, but in truth, he just never deletes anything because he gets off to the feeling of being just sooooo full in places no physical sensation can reach.

He wasn't always like this, you see. Prowl used to maintain good software management habits. He'd defrag according to a strict schedule, used connection buffers often and cleared his processing queues before recharge. He would never think twice about netdiving into shady websites with nasty popups, let alone download anything from there. But eventually, as his processors develop at that exponential pace his handlers noticed upon bringing him online, Prowl got bolder.

Bold enough to make a slip up and plug into a corrupt mainframe, triggering that forced download and kickstarting his fetish for good. He barely remembers anything about that incident other than an overwhelming mental barrage of arousal. Sometimes Prowl wonders if his colleagues at the time knew just what was literally going through his head as he slumped over on the console, seizing in place as they frantically tried to disconnect him safely. Maybe they caught the scent of his overload under his panels, and chose not to say anything.

Prowl would of course say that he was perfectly fine after that incident, but he'd be haunted by that instance of utter bliss he'd felt when like 30 terrabytes of ERP chatlogs and erotic flashgames burned through his neural circuitry. Eventually, he'd start by visiting a library. Full of clean and safe data to indulge in. Then he started logging all non-confidential precinct data, like routine security footage that's get deleted anyways, and dispatch call recordings. Then he started downloading from legal websites, then onto not so legal ones.

He even has backup and extra hard drives stored in his office and habisuite in plain sight, since no one else but other archivists and data specialists would catch on to his kink in the first place. Every once in a while, he'd plug himself into all these units and just let all that data flood through him, his fans and cooling systems squealing in effort to keep up with the deluge of information forcing it's way through his staticy brain, reducing his overclocked cognitive units into jello as his RAM gets consumed by pure uncontrollable math.

He loves the feel of his mind being pounded by googols of nonsense, it makes him hornier than anything else. He'd save anything from the internet, books and numeric databases are his usual go tos; high definition media are a must, the more graphically and audially intensive the better; the most unoptimized and performance heavy video games, anything that would fill up his hungry battle computer until it's full to bursting and melting.

Sometimes when he feels extra naughty, he'd even fire up the various malware and viruses the Spec Ops team would bring back, on top of all the seedy ones he'd find online. He'd trigger them in his processor and lie back in his berth, finger his fluttering pussy and feel the malicious software start tearing through his brain as his battle computer instinctively fights back, making him feel soooo hot all over. And every time he overloads, it sweeps all of his progress, and the self cleaning protocols will just have to restart as he writhes helplessly in the dark of his room.

Software sanctity? Fuck that, he'd hit anything as long as it demolishes his brain and make him into a silly, messy, spasming horny mess. A real dataslut.

god this is so good. He's quite literally overloading his processor out. It's almost like an addiction. Of course, Prowl could stop any time he wants... he could, he just doesn't want to! After a while, pumping his head full of junk data and malicious viruses is the only way Prowl can even have a fulfilling orgasm. Being full of miscellaneous data is just not enough. It's a pleasant pressure in his constantly calculating brain, yes, but if he wants to cum, he needs something stronger. He'll keep frying his brain inside of his helm as long as he gets to feel that electrifying thrill of his battle computer struggling to deflect the attacks on his mainframe.

It feels like he's falling apart at the circuits, delicate wiring so hot that it's disintegrating into dust, and all he can do is frantically rub his soaking wet valve through it all, optics bright and staring off into space as his HUD floods with nonsense. All his senses are completely taken over by the foreign malware, all he knows is that he feels so good.

Honestly, I wonder what would happen if he got stuck like that. Just for a day or two. And someone had to find him in his apartment, face twisted in pure bliss as his frame keeps twitching even after countless hours of continuous overloads. Of course, Prowl's processor gets cleaned out after that, yet he can't help but want to repeat it... to feel so absolutely stuffed and overwhelmed with data that he's just a wet, helpless thing. To give up control and let his processor sink into endless pleasure.

But for now, he's got a morning shift at the precinct to finish.

[swisccfinds]

Kiss-n-Grind Mod by UTOPYA_cc

This is a good ineractable romance mod! I like that is gives more physical interactions with your sim's partner.

Creator's Notes-

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. Quiet excited about this one,

The main idea was to make a mod that will focus on adding more romantic interactions to the game. to add more realistic moments between couples. I wanted to add what I feel is missing from the game.

So After some searching and looking at what should I make first, I have decided to start with a passionate grinding/dancing interactions, There is too much stuff to cover in the club life. that the game didn't manage to add, other than some silly dances. Your Sims couple can't even dance together.

Therefore I ended up turning These new animations into their own mod, It will be a great foundation for all the ideas that I want to add!!

The mod For now will introduces two new interactions with their animations and emotions/buffs

The new pie menu will appear in the Romance category under the name Kiss and Grind, all the new interactions will appear on it:

The interaction won't appear if your sim hasn't had their first kiss yet, or the level of romance is too low

Features Of the Mods:

New highly detailed animation with their own sounds

New pie menu for the new interaction

New icons for each Interaction/animation that will suit their own animation

A new dynamic buff system which increases with the romance bar

These interactions will give you a buff for both the actor and target sim.

There is a chance to get some notifications/comments from your partner

The animations were made to have a more romantic feel to them. to give the player the freedom to use them in any game style they want. All the icons used are custom-made by me, I did put extra time into them to be more visually pleasing and match their original content

Possible outcomes:

I have implemented in this mod a new buff system that will depend on the relationship between the Sims and some other factors:

First of all The outcomes will be highly randomized for both the actor and the target to keep the game more exciting.

The higher the romance level between your sims the higher chance of getting more intimates outcomes with stronger emotions:

Obviously, this is a club-based mod, you take your sim there to meet up with new Sims, So Even with a low romance, The outcomes may be higher and unique If your sim has high charisma.

When the romance bar is higher the 90% there is a small chance to get a notification/comment from your partner.

The mod will be enhanced further in the future, with New animations, New mechanics, and features.

I still love the original idea. So once I have decided all the interactions for it, I will start making them into their own mod, and leave this one just for the club-related animations.

The interactions shouldn't be played autonomously,

Better to wait until the animation is finished and the queue is clear before playing another one.

Requirement : This mod needs the XML injector by Scumbumbo. You can download it here : https://scumbumbomods.com/xml-injector

How to install :

Just put both my mod and the XML injector script into your Sims 4 Mods folder.

Please visit UTOPYA_cc and show some love and support for this amazing mod!

download

[hayanwulf]

Hi hello I hope you’re doing well! :)

I was going to prompt, for spooky season, another vampire Stephen? Maybe a continuation of the Ironstrange one if you’re interested?

(Though I might have already asked. I’m sorry if I have. I remember thinking about sending a prompt and I have no clue if I ever actually did)

Thank you for the well wishes. And, gee, aren’t you a lucky ducky, cause there’s a couple of strangefrost vamp!stephen prompts soon after yours in the queue.

Click here to read the first part of IronStrange Vamp!Stephen

The lust is going haywire, Stephen thought dryly as he came to.

His body felt oddly numb, and the urge to drink, to kill, pushed violently against the semblance of control and stability in his mind’s Sanctum even as his own rational thoughts tried to hold them back. He tried to open his eyes, and groaned at the bright lights that instantly filtered in through his eyes, squinting. He had a headache.

His head was splitting, and his body felt numb, and the lust was pushing its way up relentlessly, and Stephen felt like absolute shit.

The brightness of the room dulled a little, and Stephen tried to open his eyes again, finding a sterile looking ceiling above him. He also realized that he was laid out in a bed. Why was he in a bed? Better yet, where was he?

“Stephen?” A gentle voice called to him, a voice that Stephen was all too familiar with. He stilled, only now catching onto the sweet, inviting scent of blood just to his left.

Oh, Vishanti, he thought as he realized that Tony was not only sitting right next to him, but held one of Stephen’s hands in his hold. He turned to look at the genius, and found a pained look etched in his face. All the memories of what had happened returned to him.

The werewolf fight.

So much blood spilled.

So much blood lost.

And here he was, lying on a recovery bed with Vishanti knew how many wounds while his bloodlust raged inside his mind, rapidly fraying the control and discipline he had worked hard for years to establish. And right in front of him was the love of his life, the one who he had silently sworn to protect at all costs, smelling oh-so-delectable, completely unaware of just how much of a danger Stephen was to him.

Stephen hated himself for it. Would forever hate himself for it.

He swallowed, nervously licking the inside of his lips, and froze, his eyes widening.

If Stephen’s blood had been warm, it would’ve gone cold right at that moment.

His fangs were out.

Which meant his eyes must also be red.

Which meant his true identity was on full display for Tony, for his friend and the love of his life, for the hunter that sat not a foot away from Stephen.

He yanked his hand away from Tony’s grip and tried to stand up, because he needed to get away, he needed to run far far away and never show his face to this man again.

In reality, all he managed was a grunt and a pathetic crawl away from Tony, until he reached the other edge of the bed, wanting to topple himself off but simply having no energy left in his body whatsoever, nor the courage. His wounds tugged painfully, whatever medication was in his system not enough to curb the pain.

“Stephen, hey,” Tony stood up, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”

“What..” Stephen asked in a shaky voice as he tried to prop himself up on elbows and miserably failed at that, even. “I’m.. I..” He tried to form words, but couldn’t find any. What did he even say? I’m sorry for deceiving? I never meant to lie?

I love you.

You smell delicious.

Each thought that flashed through his mind was even more appalling than the previous.

There was nothing, nothing that he could say to Tony.

“You bled a lot, Stephen,” Tony said carefully. “You need blood.”

Horror crept up Stephen’s spine as he realized what Tony meant, when the other man slowly climbed into the bed with him. His mind screamed at him to act on the chance. To pin the human down and drain him dry. And he couldn’t. He couldn’t. It took all of his willpower to not give in to the raging lust inside of him, to keep his control holding true, weak and frail as it was now.

“You need to leave,” Stephen pleaded, shaking his head in denial when Tony’s hand came to gently cup his face.

“No,” The genius declared, and then grabbed the back of Stephen’s head to pull him in until his face was buried in Tony’s neck. Stephen made a strange noise at the back of his throat when his senses were suddenly so full of Tony, the warmth of the genius’ body, the saccharine, tantalizing smell of his blood, the distinct scent of Tony which Stephen, at some point, had come to associate with home.

Stephen squeezed his eyes shut as his fangs itched fiercely, his instincts now a roaring voice inside of his head. His lips were practically touching the tender skin. It would be so, so easy to just give in, sink his fangs into that same skin which he had fantasized many a nights about caressing, kissing tenderly, worshiping.

“Please, Tony,” Stephen begged, wishing that the genius would just leave. He was teetering at the edge of his control. “I can’t hurt you. Please.”

At that, Tony pulled him away to look down at him. He wore a look similar to the pained expression Stephen had seen in his face when he had woken up.

“Stephen, you’re the last person on this planet who would hurt me.”

Stephen’s breath stuttered, tears falling from his eyes. How could Tony have so much trust in him? He did not understand.

“I.. I’m a vampire, Tony,” Stephen whispered in a broken voice, because maybe that would give Tony the wake-up call. Maybe now the genius would realize that this was all real and that he was hugging a vampire so damn close to his neck. That he needed to let go, run, and abandon Stephen for good.

Instead of doing any of that, Tony huffed and spoke in a dry voice, “Yeah, your eyes kind of gave it away. Or, I don’t know, the fact that you don’t have a heartbeat. I am mad at you about it by the way. But I’ll feel like an asshole if I yell at you when you’re looking like this.” He shoved Stephen’s face back into his neck, and when he spoke next, his voice was much softer. “So what you’re going to do now is feed on me, and we’ll figure out the rest later. I trust you. You won’t hurt me.”

Tears steadily streamed out of Stephen’s eyes as he pressed his nose into the soft skin, inhaling Tony’s natural scent, and the scent of the blood rushing just beneath. He didn’t know what he had done to earn such an absolute trust of this beautiful, impossible man, who never gave his trust away to just anyone.

Tony’s trust was not something to be taken lightly. It was an utterly precious thing. And so Stephen found all the fight leaving his body as he gave in to Tony’s demand.

He recalled years of training and discipline. He firmly clamped a tight vice around his bloodlust, his determination fueled further by his need to protect his precious love from himself. He would feed from Tony, but he would be the one in control throughout. He would stop when he had drunk a safe amount.

I will let myself be hurt before I ever hurt you, he silently vowed, and sank his teeth deep into Tony’s veins.

[feydecay-blog]

So, you want to be a wizard?

Dear Simmer, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to this project of a most particular sort. Please find enclosed a list of all works currently in progress and wishes to be fulfilled. Term begins as of 2025. I await your owl. Yours sincerely,

Changeling An American Obsessed with British Literature

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, and I don't care who knows it at this point. A decade ago, while still haunting the forums of Garden of Shadows, two simmers who shared a love of Harry Potter dreamed a dream. It all started when Dea Ex Machina, otherwise known as @haut-gothique, and I managed some mischief by co-creating a tiny offering for the Magic and Fantasy monthly theme back in 2011. And, well, the rest has been history ever since.

Chocolate Frog Cards

Works-in-Progress

Below is a list of projects I have in the works that are inspired by both the books and movies. Have an idea for something related to what's in the queue? Messages with requests, suggestions, and/or inspiration are very welcome! If it's in my skillset, I'll be more than happy to make it possible.

Harry Potter and the Magic Rock Part I | Part II

Harry Potter and the Hidden Room

Harry Potter and the Convict of Alcatraz

Harry Potter and the Hot Cup

Harry Potter and the Fire Bird Club

Harry Potter and Some Royal Dude

Harry Potter and the Dead Stuff

And yes, the titles have been Americanized since we obviously can't tell the differences between philosophers and sorcerers on this side of the pond. Other sets: Ollivanders Wand Shop Eeylops Owl Emporium Great Hall Gryffindor Common Room Slytherin Common Room Hagrid's Hut Care of Magical Creatures Ravenclaw Common Room Hufflepuff Common Room

Wish List

And now for the wishes! Below you'll find a list of items that I wish existed for The Sims 2 but sadly either don't have the abilities to make possible or haven't started just yet. See something that interests you? Let's collaborate to make it happen!

Various Harry Potter wands made functional with Midge the Tree's Pick Your Wand mod -Hagrid's pink umbrella -Snape's wand -Decat's Harry Potter wands

Functional postal system using deco owls with scrolls/parchment

Simlogical's school system with Hogwarts objects/subjects

Various piles of Galleons for Gringott's vaults

Hogwarts Express car interior

Floating Candles that actually float without OMSPs

Hogwarts houses traits and Sorting Hat that sorts students into houses, similar to the TS4 mod

Pointed Hat accessory for children and teens

Apollo's Hogwarts Gothic Painting as a functional door with the Fat Lady recolor

Resources

Sims Magic Finds at LiveJournal

You can usually find me on Discord at The SimForge and Historical Sims. Say hello if you get a chance!

[cafeleningrad]

Ok by all means the movie "Eden" doesn't seem to be supported by a lot of PR, neither is it met with a lot of public anticipation despite starring both Jude Law and Daniel Brühl, but I've my five cents about it.

For one, the trailer looks badly cut. Second, for being set in the Gallapagos island area, Hollywood slapped their default Middle Americas-piss-yellow-filter over the gorgeous scenery. Third, this movie is failing from the get go. The real life story this is based on isn't a tragedy but autoirony of Germans germaning out in the most German way to ever German.

Alright, anyone remotely familiar with the immigration history of the Americas knows how Germans projecting their fantasy of "living with untouched nature" and spreading their territory-claim towels before anyone can end the count on three is a very German thing.

Except, emmmigrant Germans complaining how suffocated they feel in Germany act, ironically, in the most German ways possible.

The casting decided to cast almost entirely blonde people because they were Germans, except for Spanish-German actor Daniel Brühl...

So, the first emmigrant to Floreana island was Dr. Ritter who was into anthroposophy/reformhaus stuff. So he brought along his lover (whereas he was still legally married) who had MS. But Ritter claimed the good air and contact in nature would be cure enough.

As you can imagine, his lover, Dore Strauch, with MS in a previously uninhabited island, was doing all the actual sustanance work whereas he was writing a newletter for German papers how perfect and idyllic his "Eden" was.

Queue the Wittmer family who also believed their chronically ill son would be curec by contact with nature after reading Ritters newsletters.

Ok, this is something audiences who haven't been to Germany before wouldn't know but Ritter and Strauch were both from Berlin, the Wittmer family was from Cologne. Meaning, these are massive clashes of temperament. The gruff, Prussian-minded Berlin couple vs. the Rhineland jovial nature who mastered the art of understating bad situations.

Interviews of Margarete Wittmer still exist on the web, where she speaks pure Colonia Plaat mixed with Spanish terms in brutally German pronounciation. It's a shame they all speak English in the movie because Daniel Brühl would nail the linguistic hillarity.

The family also brought along their German Shepheard named Lumpi.

What then ensues is so funny: I mean yeah, sure living on a previously uninhabited island wasn't a stroll in the park, the families lived one hour by foot apart and still they managed to have very German neighbourhood disputes of envying the other's garden, their house, their ordering system etc. No I'm not joking these were they biggest gripes with each other.

Oh by the way, Margaret Wittmer gave birth to two childrne on this island, kinda disenchanting the idea of "natural birth". I desperately want to see the regular Hollywood scene in which Sydney Sweeney justpressed out a baby out of her body, craddling it with tears in her eyes but a smile on her lips, cooing it's name: "Rolf...", most adoring expression in her eyes.

By the way the second daughter was called Ingeborg Floreana. On the other hand a Guatemalan friend said that he was in awe of the name Ortrud, and uh many Ingrids were born in 80s Argentina, so I guess this sort of hysterical naming convention joke is lost in LatAm.

So, anyway the third party to the island was a scammer Dominatrix and her two lovers.

So a lot of property issues ensue, and how did everyone solve these quarrels? As good Germans theywroter strongly worded letters, and filed complaints to the Ecuadorian government.

Who on earth fought the fights and struggles of Floreana was a drama when this is just your regular German neighbourhood dispute in a tropical setting.