#and what's making feel better isn't even what i want to do? so you're 0/2 for communicating and getting me to act in a functional way

[aceascake]

.

[impactedfates]

hello! jing yuan meeting his kid he had from a previous relationship?

so jing yuan had a previous lover, he didnt visit her until he learned that she was in a bad situation/ struggling with poverty

so he goes to visit and sees a kid that looked like him that he never knew of, they were neglected by their mother while he was gone all these years

reader is the kid, thankss

★ A/N: I decided to mash these 2 into one as I feel like the reader would've gotten trust issues if their mother neglected them, not to mention what if the mother lied to their kid painting JY (their father) as a bad guy :0 Anyways, I hope the anons don't mind I merged the requests into one

☆ Genre/Trope: Platonic + Familial + Hurt/Comfort?

★ Format: Bullet Pointed Scenarios

☆ Warnings: Readers mother is neglectful/a toxic mother (+ alcoholic)

★ Extra: Reader is young (11-12) // Jing Yuan trying his best to heal whatever his ex partner did // Also 2 posts in one day haha, had a bunch of free time during the storm

I feel like for Jing Yuan to not visit his past lover nor have her contacts, she'd have to already be a bad partner. What I mean is, Jing Yuan seems like the type to even after a break up, not want it to affect his relationship with the other person UNLESS said other person was toxic. If that makes sense???

But anyways, I don't know if that mattered. Let's assume that a friend of said ex partner went to Jing Yuan for help. Explaining her situation in hopes Jing Yuan would be willing to help.

He is, much to the delight of the friend. However he underestimated just how bad the situation is, as when he went to check. The house is in shambles.

Dirty dishes building up in the sink, trash on the ground it's hard to move around in, there's a kid and aeons it smells like such dog sh-

Wait a kid!?

Jing Yuan stares at you, you stare at him. It's just...silence. Despite everything and how long it may be. He knows that you're his kid. And after getting over the initial shock. He gently calls you over, but you refuse. Shaking your head and even creating a bigger distance.

He lets out a small sigh, unsure on what to do but just decides to look for your mother again. Telling you to please stay put, and once he does find the mother. Passed out on the couch with alcohol bottles around, he gets an even better view on what you seem to have went through.

Things have been dealt with, the mother is gone and in jail for child negligence which leaves you with your biological father who is more than happy to look after you.

At the same time though, your mother had both neglected your needs. Giving just the bare minimum to keep you alive and had fed you lies. The man in front of you may be your father but you can't help but believe the harsh words your mother told you.

But to your surprise, he's nothing like how she described. He's...gentle...patient...and never raises his voice at you. Even when you make a mistake and start tearing up ready to apologise, he's already brushing it off. Saying it's fine, not to worry.

Jing Yuan isn't bothered by your behaviour at all. He understands and knows. He takes a few days off work, to just ensure you're all better. You get new clothes, a big meal prepared for you and a new room. It's such a...new feeling.

Jing Yuan doesn't force you to do anything, doesn't force you to hug him or be near him. All he asks is that you stay safe in the house. He doesn't outright ask for you to trust him just because he's your father, he gains your trust. No matter how long it'll take for you to be comfortable around him.

Even when he needs to go back to work, he asks you if you're more comfortable to come with him to work and he can set up a place where you can relax and do whatever you wish. Or if you'd rather be at home. If you choose to just stay at home, he'll order some guards to ensure your safety and if Yanqing has gained your trust in this time. He'll ask the young boy to be your babysitter even if your age difference isn't that large.

Overall, Jing Yuan is definitely surprised to find out he has a child but that surprise turns into unhappiness when he finds out how you've been treated. He ensures your mother gets put in jail for her negligence then takes you in. He doesn't force you at all to trust him, he slowly earns it and whether or not you do end up trusting him eventually. He doesn't mind either outcome.

Because in the end, he doesn't care if you actually trust him or not. What he cares about is if you're healthy and happy. That's his main priority at this moment and time.

If/When you are finally ready, he's there with open arms. Happy to have you see him as a father figure and happy he can heal whatever damage his ex partner ever did to you.

He's happy because you're happy.

I started basing this slightly off a book I read for school as I thought it fitted haha. I'm unsure what to think of this but hopefully it's okay...

[thechekhov]

Since you've covered a pretty big bit of the manga so far, can I ask what are your opinions on it? Deeper than just the quick reactions you've shared with us so far.

What are your opinions about the manga's characters? Its pacing? The mystery element? The magic system? What areas do you think it succeeds, and what areas do you think could be better?

I understand if you're reversing judgment until you finish, but you've also read quite a bit of the story so far. Idk, I'm just curious!

Especially seeing as you're a writer yourself, so I imagine you have a different perspective on how the story functions as, well, a story!

Oh, hmmm... that's an interesting question.

As of right now I'm on chapter 35-36 so I'm about a third through the story. The first major arc (find dragon, yoink falin out of its body, etc) has kinda happened, and we're hitting some larger world arcs.

As you mentioned, I DO want to withold judgement but for now... But I will say what I think thus far, with full awareness that my mind might be changed later depending on circumstances.

Comment 1: The manga is finished! Actually, just knowing that makes me feel like it's a more cohesive storyline.

Maybe I'm boring, but I'm not a huge fan of neverending storylines in general. Naruto, Bleach, etc. They have their place in the forever-young-monster-of-the-week genre, and I know why so many manga just keep... on... publishing....... but I feel like there's a lot of merit to being able to just wrap up a story and say 'there, that's how it ends'.

Comment 2: Laios is very well developed, even at this point of the story. Senshi remains a mystery. Marcille... speedran her arc?

I think this is the closest thing I have to a criticism. While I think Laios' character is well-paced in its revelations throughout the series (the slow ramp-up from 'oh this guy is weird' to 'oh, this guy is a freak club card carrying member' to 'oh, this guy is the freak club president' was great!) Marcille is.... a little more of a mystery to me.

Now, perhaps my memory is bad. But I did find her turnaround at the end of the Red Dragon arc a bit... out of the blue?

Don't get me wrong. I think it's entirely believable. But I wish there had been more hints - or rather, more visible progress of her studies of ancient magic. I know it's been mentioned, and there WAS that chapter of her and Falin during their school years... but watching episode 2 of the show on netflix when she goes 'I feel useless, my magic doesn't help anyone :(' and then reading the manga and seeing her straight up go from 0 to 100 as she decides "we're gonna rearrange falin's bones and then I'mma raise her using this ancient technique I've been studying all along that I didn't tell you about because it was sus" is... a little bit of a turn?

Maybe it's on purpose! Maybe, when I read further about her personal journey, the pieces will fall into place more neatly. But compared to the rest of the characters, which seem relatively steady in their reveals (Laios, Chillchuck, Senshi) Marcille took a bit of a turn.

Which, again, isn't bad! It just seems contrasted to the rest of the team.

Comment 3: The magic system is more like a magic ecology.

Actually, in the beginning, I found the magic system Marcille used very vague. It was just a 'do what needs to be done' type of power with very few apparent limits or power balances aside from 'sometimes you run out of mana'. But I think at this point, I'm beginning to assume that the details of the magic are closer to the functions of an ecosystem or an organism, and therefore WHAT the magic does is kind of moot point. Marcille is just a little bacteria inside of the great intestine labyrinth of the dungeon, and she is using its energy to survive, like a sort of microfauna.

Comment 4: Man, the worldbuilding is cool. It's so cool.

I don't think I've seen another story that goes so deeply into dungeon ecosystems before this one. Not only are the people who live there fleshed out in terms of individual cultures and traditions and norms, there are also monsters that serve as a natural fauna that inhabits the halls of what OUGHT to be a mindless 'turn left and fall into a trap' setting!

There's sticking monsters into your world, and then there's 'digging out a trench 1 meter deep, pre-soaking the soil, inserting monster's roots lovingly into the spot, and then covering it with fertilizer and spritzing the leaves'. I don't doubt that there ARE other works that go into this level of detail, but the dedication and the ideas Kui-san has for this very much makes the dungeon a living part of this entire tale. :)

I'll probably have more to say later but for now.. that's about it!

[flamebringer0]

[Image ID: Sketches of an original character, numbered from one to ten. He is a Nightwing, a kind of dragon from the Wings of Fire series. Each sketch depicts him posed differently. In the first sketch, he is using his forelegs to hold a spear while using his back legs and wings to walk. In the second, he is looking at his tail through his forelegs. In the third, he is sitting on a deck chair. In the fourth, he is standing normally and displaying the undersides of his wings. In the fifth, he is flying. In the sixth, he is standing on his back legs and looks uncomfortable, like he's about to fall over. In the seventh, he is standing on his forelegs and looks even more uncomfortable. In the eighth, he is laying on his stomach, looking away from the camera. In the ninth, he is standing with his forelegs braced against some kind of barrier, looking over the top of it. In the tenth, he is sitting on his haunches looking away from the camera. /.End ID]

Sketching random poses for practice.

Part [1] [2]

Some commentary:

1. Dragons in WOF are often described as moving around while holding objects like spears and scrolls. This usually looks weird to me in the graphic novels, where they mostly end up doing a strange three-legged walk that I imagine would get tiring after a while. There's also a part in The Lost Heir where Anemone apparently walks around with a lance jammed in her armpit... foreleg-pit... whatever. My headcanon is that this three-legged walk doesn't really happen, and instead the way to walk while holding something is to either hold it with your wing, or (as shown here) walk with your wings and hold it with your forefeet. I think this idea might sound weird and therefore not occur to people because they think that the wing is so thin that it must be too flimsy to walk on, but I feel that if it's strong enough to carry a dragon in flight it must be strong enough for this. Maybe. It makes sense to me anyway.

2. Originally this was sort of inspired by the pose at 0:34 in this video (cw for violence). I wasn't really satisfied with how my attempt looked so I changed the head to be doing something else. I still like that pose though and I might try it again.

3. This was inspired by Spyro sleeping on the deck chair in the remake of Spyro 2. I don't know if they have deck chairs in Pyrrhia. My friend told me the chair is about to get impaled and i guess he's correct. Maybe it's made of a very thick fabric.

4. This is how dragons T-pose.

5. What do dragons do with their legs in flight? This question bedevils me. When I was creating my Minecraft skin (this) I changed how the legs are posed during the flight animation several times, and I'm still not sure it really looks right.

6. Before I got into WOF I mostly only drew anthro characters, so something I want to understand better is how to draw a character standing on two legs without making it look like they have a human skeleton. My headcanon is that dragons can learn to stand and even walk like this, but most don't. You can tell an expert from an amateur because an expert will stand all the way up onto their toes, whereas an amateur will keep their heels on the ground. I think the main students of this technique are circus performers. If you do this in public you will be stared at. The only tribe where a lot of dragons can do it is Rainwings, because they think it's funny. The only major non-Rainwing character who can do it is Qibli.

7. Standing on your forelegs isn't really considered harder than standing on your hind legs, but it is considered a more advanced technique because you're much more likely to snap your neck if you fall over.

8. It's really hard for me to draw a tail curling away from the camera like this. I don't exactly understand what I'm doing wrong. The scales look weirdly skewed to me, like a Playstation game where the polygons are touching the edge of the screen. This happens regularly but I haven't figured out what to do about it.

9. Standing on two legs is a lot easier if you brace the other two up against the wall.

10. Wings look silly here. Wings are the hardest part of these sketches to make look naturalistic I think, probably because I conceptualise dragon bodies as like ... a dog with wings, as opposed to a bat with forelegs. Hopefully if I keep doing this I will be able to develop a holistic understanding of the anatomy of a body plan that does not exist. That's my ambition, anyway.

[caffstrink]

do you have any tips on how to live off as artist professionally?

First of all art isn't always a viable option depending where you live. The only reason ive been able to live off art is because the american dollar is worth 5x more than the brazilian real so even if i didn't get many comms i could still get by with the few i had. and if that wasn't the case I'd pretty much be eating breadcrumbs off the floor like a pigeon.

1. Whore yourself out and draw fanart of every popular or trending thing to gather attention to youe art

2. Learn your platforms: learn how each websites algorithm works, learn what are the best hours to post, etc

3. I cannot stress enough how important it is to find your niche

4. Everyone is fake no one wants to be your friend, other popular artists will start following you the moment your following becomes good enough. They'll start to interact with you too and want to become mutuals in order to share followings/traction. If you can play into that you can get them to share your stuff as well, but honestly don't fall for it bc most of them shittalk other artists on their privs or personal servers and the stress isnt worth it

5. Draw nsfw if possible/if you're comfortable with. People who commission porn pay well and they often have very few options when commissioning stuff bc most artists don't accept porn commissions.

6. Accept being an artist is a hard job that doesn't pay really well. If you're freelancing on comms life's always going to be a tightrope, so i suggest trying to do professional work once in a while so you can at least have the security of a salary. Draw backgrounds, gestures, scenes, studies, and the likes, bc those are what companies will want in your portfolio

7. Depending where you live it's extremely hard to live off as an artist, and being an artist is often means a very difficult struggle with finances. It's a job that requires passion, and more often than not turning art in a job causes creative burnout and complete loss of spark for it. Ask yourself: why do you want to be a professional artist? Isn't it better to keep it as a hobby? Maybe a side gig if you need money? You can still pursue art even if you don't do it to earn money, and it doesn't make you any less of an artist. It's a difficult job, and you need to understand its not going to be viable at all times and sometimes you'll have to throw in the towel and do something else to survive and there's 0 shame in that.

8. Be professional and courteous with your clients. Don't be a doormat, but don't go around ghosting people or being passive aggressive or taking them for granted and never deliver any product. Doing art for money is a JOB. Treat it like such. Inform your clients about delays, or any issues that may come up.

9. Take care of yourself and by that i mean eat decent food, exercise your arms, get 8 hours of sleep and get some sun (or take vitamin D periodically if youre a basement dweller). This isn't some self care uwu shit, it's actual science that your body is a machine and not providing what it needs to function leads to issues, and some of those issues include affecting your mental health, and mental health issues include and are not limited to: anxiety, depression, burnout, loneliness, feeling like your art sucks, feeling unmotivated, feeling like you're a failure, etc. Same with physical: for the love of GOD you DON'T want wrist issues. You dont want carpal or ulnar nerve entrapment. Don't draw 24/7. Don't push yourself either. If youre feeling shitty its time to STOP. Just picture a shitty graphics card trying to run minecraft with 5 shaders and 10 mods at once on fullscreen with 60 fps. Thats you. Youre the graphics card

10. Don't be a bitch, don't get involved with drama. Can't be an internet artist if you get cancelled so don't try to start shit at any point in time. Don't be a shit person.

And from the top of my head thats it, hope you like eating plain bread 🍞

[zouofzouey]

Sick of Being Sick | MHA & JJK

Hey, I'm sick right now. Share in my misery, will ya?

Series; MHA and JJK

Characters; Bakubabe, Todobroki, Kiri luvs us all, Shinshino (Shinso), JenniferLawrenceLover666 (AKA Itadori), GoGoGojo, Megumi my love... and I think that's it.

-----

Bakugou

This man makes you soup. Which, I know soup sounds boring but like, this is some serious gourmet shit

He'd be the type to say stuff like: You got this sick cause of your own stupid actions dipwad...

But then turnaround and tuck you all nice into bed with a story (maybe not that last part but whatever)

He's also the type to stay 10 feet away from you

I mean, keep your germs to yourself ya nasty

No cuddles or kisses or anything that has to do with being in close proximity

Good luck getting even a fist bump (Not that he would normally do that but you know whatever)

He'll give you your meds and your DayQuil or NightQuil but he's gonna be wearin a mask I swear

10/10 on taking care of you

0/10 for smooches :'(

Todoroki

Being taken care of by this man is pretty sweet

He loves you with all his heart and is willing to run miles just to make you feel better

But honestly, he might mess up here or there

Like he wouldn't heat the soup up properly (Unless you like cold soup)

If you have hot or cold flashes, boom, the instant temperature regulator 3000

Even if it got him sick, he would give you your soft forehead kisses or late-night cuddles

Would 100% get sick right after you get better

Hopefully, this isn't a cycle...

8/10 on taking care of you

10/10 for love <3

Kirishima Eijiro

Kiri my man my dude my legend mi compadre don muchacho is very good at taking care of you

I mean, c'mon, Kirishima is a lovely manly man who wants nothing more than his partner to be happy and healthy

Moreso, he gonna take care of you like his life depends on it, which is true, your life is his life... or some weird couple saying that I wouldn't know about because I'm single

This man gonna cuddle your sickness away

You're gonna be in a headlock from the next week so get comfortable sweetie

He's going to get all the pillows and blankets he can find to fit on your bed ASAP

Snuggle party y'all

He would absolutely go to the drugstore at 5 in the morning just to get you your DayQuil

An honorable man who is willing to do anything for the love of his life

10/10 on taking care of you

10/10 for smooche smooches and love

Shinso Hitoshi

Shinso's pretty lazy, not gonna lie

He loves ya, but your medicine is on the other side of the couch, so he just- can't- reach-

You'll be lucky if he'll even make you some decent food

It's probably going to be just microwave dinners :/

Okay, let's be real, Shinso is gonna have you sleeping even before he does

Like I said, he loves you and will show it in his strange Shinso ways

You're getting some good sleep

How does he do it? He has his Shinso magic that can only be used on rare occasions. The magic of ✨prescription drugs✨

Yeah, that'll have you knocked out for sure

What drug you may ask?

Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to

2/10 taking care

5/10 smoochy

Itadori Yuji

Does he know what he's doing?

Haha, no

But is he trying?

With all his heart <3

He's not great at cooking or finding the right medicines but you know what? A for effort? No, A is for ass. Don't ask questions

Yuji will want to cuddle the last bit of sickness out of you

But he'll come to snuggle up to you when he gets sick and be just like; "You have to take care of me now 👉👈"

He might be a wee bit annoying when it comes to letting you do ANYTHING by yourself, I mean, he's gonna make you stay in bed while he makes you some mediocre soup

Don't get too angry with him though, he just wants to take care of the love of his life

Which is you, not Jennifer Lawrence

Probably

6/10 on taking care of you

12/10 on luvs

Gojo Satoru

Do you think this man's going to stop working? Stop teaching his beloved students? Stay in your house that reeks of sickness? Do all the cooking and cleaning for you while you're stuck on the couch watching his favorite TV show without him?

Maybe not that last part, but he'll mostly do what's said above

Gojo is likely to do nothing with you while you're ill

Just watchin' some sort of stupid romcom you found for free on a random website that may just be a tiny bit sketchy

He's not much of the "taking care of" type. More so, the "I'm going to cuddle the life out of you" type

I mean, you can't be sick if you're dead

He loves you. But your germs be nasty

I imagine he never gets sick, so when he's around someone who is sick, he avoids them like the plague

It just so happens to be that the one who's sick is his s/o

2/10 on taking care of you

7/10 for loving

Fushiguro Megumi

Megumi is also the type to never get sick

He probably won't treat you like you're gonna kill him every time you cough

Unlike someone, we all know and sometimes love

He's pretty damn good at taking care of you

He makes sure you don't overexert yourself

Gumi gets you food that won't make you feel even worse

He gives the gracious gift of water every hour (or any time you finish your current glass)

Warm blankets straight from the dryer, perfectly fluffed pillows, he's got it all ready

Megumi can't cook that well, but he tries because he loves you <3

He'd also get up in the middle of the night if you run out of medicine

24/7 drug stores exist for a reason

9/10 on taking care of you

10/10 for caring

This was originally going to be a serious headcanon thing, but it later turned into satire and sass. Just like my 10th-grade assignment about Emerson. Good times, good times.

[ygodmyy20]

Okay I finally am getting around to this post! It's the 'Fuck how can mob psycho help me in so many ways god damnit I hate and love this show' post!

Shigeo joining the body improvement club, and everything about this part of his story is so personal to me. I just have to talk about it.

So as we all know at the start of the story, Shigeo joins the body improvement club to impress Tsubomi. Thats it. Thats the goal. He also joins because he wants to get stronger and not rely on his psychic powers but really like...the main reason is to impress her.

And this isn't new. A character wanting to get fit, lose weight, change some physical part of themselves for a crush is SO common in stories that you barely notice it.

But what I love, what I ADORE is how this progresses and changes.

This gif from an amazing AMV by @thekagepro24 and it just UGH hits me so hard it is so perfect!!! I could watch this 5 second gif over and over and over again

I just am. I just am dying while running, I just am making progress, I just am enjoying this because I really like it.

This puts everything I feel into visuals (it's so gooooood watch the AMV!!! DO IIIIIIT)

So many times society tells us to change something about ourselves, or we tell ourselves to change for the appeal of others.

Lose weight so people think you're pretty.

Get fit so you can get into clothes that make you look hot.

Get swol to make a person think you're attractive.

You are the one and only you, this is your one and only body. So why are you working out, why do you WANT to get "swol" who are you trying to impress. Is it for yourself? A crush? Society?

I have battled with the above for so long. I come from an athletic background, and did a lot of sports growing up, but I have never been small. I have battled with weight my whole life and had my own shitty bouts with ED.

I have been in therapy, I have read books, I have watched videos, I've been in and out of PT for nearly 5 years because of a lower back and hip pain that NEVER went away.

I never figured out WHY i wanted to exercise. It just always was "To lose weight" because I couldn't get that goal out of my head for years and years and years.

But then I watched mob psycho 100.

And I started a new type of physical therapy.

And was it mp100 or was it the therapy finally working, who can say which did it—probably both—but one day I thought...

....maybe I should just go for a run...for 5-10 mins. Just to see how it feels. It went against all parts of my athlete brain (because 10 mins is too short to see "gains"....which is dumb but whatever)

I thought of Shigeo and how he basically passed out every time he ran for like 2 mins, but he got better. He had to start from 0, well...kinda like negative 5 really. But then he was doing so much not even a few months in!

35 pushups is so hard!!! You go my boi.

Shigeo started off doing it all for Tsubomi, for others, and even if he really wanted to do it to improve himself I think it was a secondary goal initially. Main goal was to impress someone. Secondary was to get stronger.

But then the marathon happened. And those goals SWITCHED! DURING THE RACE! just....man it hit me. It hit me hard. THAT WHOLE EPISODE IS JUST A LOT FOR ME GOD DAMN

He ran for her initially but he continued running for himself. He continued working at it because he wanted to and in the end, after everything, after confession arc, after all that

This scene!!! makes me cry happy tears!! look at how happy he is UGH IT JUST IS SO UGGGHHHHHHH

Anyway if you made it this far, know that everyones journey through their body improvement, mental improvement, emotional improvement is different. We all have to tackle it in the way that works for us.

It took me nearly 10 years to start again because of this beautiful anime connecting the right dots in my brain.

Every journey is different, but just keep fighting on and you'll figure it out!

[yamcha-thelonewolf]

Dragon Ball FighterZ OST

YAMCHA'S THEME

I love this theme. I think it fits perfectly on Yamcha. So after listening to it again and again, I imagined a situation where our boy shows us why he should be chosen in this videogame.

I really like this kind of 🐂💩.

You can find this comment also on YT for a better experience.

0:00 - 00:06 Hey bud! Here's Yamcha! Sorry to be late! I had a little problem with a monkey. Long story.

00:07 - 00:13 So, are you ready to live like a wolf? I'll show you how to have fun my way.

00:14 - 00:23 First. A little muscle warm-up. Let's put a little fuel to the fire. Feel the adrenaline going up? More and more... We're almost there, man.

00:24 - 0:27 Okay, now we can fly! Let's go! Just follow me!

00:28 - 00:40 Meet my world. Everything is cooler from up here, isn't it? This is where the Yamcha myth began. The Diablo Desert. Look at the dunes, the rocks, the wasteland. I was born from nothing and from all this nothing I became someone.

00:41 - 00:47 Oh, look! That was my hideout! You know, the sun was my only friend before I met Puar. So nostalgic... So many memories...

00:48 - 00:54 Anyway... Let's stop here! Let's have some hand-to-hand fight!

00:55 - 1:08 Hey, you're not doing too bad! You move well but you need to be even wilder! Don't worry, you need time! Don't give up! It is the first rule for living in this godforsaken place. It gets a little sweaty, huh?

1:09 - 1:15 All in all, it is tiring to train in this heat, hm? Almost worse than training at 300x gravity, haha!

1:16 - 1:22 Just joking. Come on, that's enough for now. Even the fierce wolves take a rest. Near here is an oasis where you can quench your thirst. Let's go! Let's fly again!

1:23 - 1:49 What a wonderful feeling, right? The warm wind in your hair, no one judging you, you can even scream all you want! You can be just yourself! Damn, I love this freedom! YUHUUUU! THE WORLD IS OURS!

1:50 - 1:56 I'd say we've relaxed enough. Are you ready to start again?

1:57 - 2:03 Come on, show me what you can really do! Bring out the best in you!

2:04 - 2:30 Woah! You've got it! Do you see that? You have to believe it! It really seems that even an underdog can become a wolf!

2:31 - 2:35 Now it's my turn...

2:35 - 2:51 You know, a wolf knows when it is time to attack and when it is time to defend itself. Well, now I really have to howl! Take this!!

2:52 - 2:58 Are you ready? Get ready to cash in on my special move.

2:59 - 3:18 WOLF FANG FIST!!!

3:19 - 3:25 Wow! Are you okay, bud? Come on, get up! I have been gentle, I swear!

3:26 - 3:40 You have been a formidable opponent! I had so much fun with you! Don't blame yourself. You are still a novice, but you have the makings of a wolf! You just have to bring it out. You're cool! You gave me a hard time!

3:43 - 3:53 Hey! How about training with me? We could be a great duo! I help you to be a lone wolf, and you help me to be a pet dog. You know, social life has been bothering me lately... Whatever!

3:53 - 4:07 Is it a deal? Come on, let's shake paws!

4:08 - 4:34 Great! I'm sure we'll see some great things! We are going to have a lot of fun. We'll fight, we'll play some poker games, we'll drink, if you want, I'll even teach you how to play baseball, and most importantly... We'll go out to conquer beautiful girls!!

4:35 - 5:02 Eheh, sorry! It's stronger than me! I like the desert, but the girls more! Okay okay... Never mind!!! Yay for the dunes!!! Man, you remind me of Tien...

5:03 - 5:29 No more jokes! Now it's getting serious! I am ready. No, wait. I am the master!!! Sounds cool! Let's start again!

5:30 - 5:39 Thank you for having faith in me. I promise, I will show you that I too am a great fighter!

⚾Just For Fun.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Trope rating game

tagged by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation (my wife must be trying to kinkshame me or something that's okay I'm into it)

rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic? -10 -> very dissuaded  0 - don’t care either way  +10 -> very enticed  nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.  Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Age gap: +3

It definitely isn't a make or break for me, but sometimes when I'm on the cusp of not clicking something and I see it, especially with certain authors, the temptation is too good to ignore.

Codependency: +5

It's about the toxic love for me. They just NEED each other SO MUCH.

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: + 7

There are the occasional times when the obsessive/possession is too much, but it is RARE at this point. The more "you're mine, I'm yours" there is the better to meeeee.

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): +4

I like it as a background feature most of the time (said as if my most popular written work didn't start as grumpy/sunshine based).

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: +10

I kiss every author who writes it on the MOUTH.

Friends with benefits: +5

I love it when it ends in requited feelings, but I have read it where it turns ugly and stays ugly and I do not ever wanna read that! Please! I'm a big baby.

Sex to feelings: +6

See above pretty much. But also in cases where they were just a hookup and then just fall in love quickly? That's my kryptonite.

Fake dating/relationship: +4

I am alllll for fake dating/relationships, but it absolutely has to lead to the real deal. I can't be edged like that for it to just end. I especially love when it's slow burn for this, so if the slow burn tag isn't there, I may not click it.

Friends to lovers: +2

Something is broken in my brain that this doesn't get me hooked the way any other blank to lovers does.

Found Family: +8

I don't click on stuff BECAUSE of it alone, but it definitely does help with fics I'm on the fence about.

Hurt/Comfort: +10

Yes. I want them to hurt and then be so so comforted. Every time. All the time.

Love Triangle: -8

In any ship, I absolutely hate it. Just be brave and make them polyam instead.

Poly, open relationships: 0

I personally love Steddissy as far as polyam goes, but open relationships are super difficult for me to read. I know that works for a lot of people, but if it's a tag, I'm probably not reading that fic.

Mistaken/hidden identity: 0

For one shots, sure. Anything chaptered, I think it gets into unbelievable territory without very specific other tags with it and I have never seen one that hits the spot.

Monsterfucking: +10

Yeah well. No words necessary.

Pregnancy: 0

I'm never reading a story BECAUSE of the pregnancy tag, but it fits in some cases (the good omegaverse shit if ya know what I mean). I lived it, hated it, don't wanna read too much about it.

Second Chance: +3

I don't know that I have ever read a Steddie second chance fic, but I don't know if this particular trope would make me dive in.

Slowburn: +10

I loooooove a good slow burn. I will read just about anything if it's got a slow burn tag.

Soulmates: +7

Steddie is really the first ship where I was like all in for this trope, so if it's got this tag, I am so so in.

No pressure tags: @wormdebut @wynnyfryd @messessentialist @steves-strapcollection @starryeyedjanai @thefreakandthehair @scarcrossdlvrs @patchworkgargoyle @vecnuthy @corrodedbisexual @stobinesque @legitcookie @matchingbatbites @judasofsuburbia @sidekick-hero @spooky-stevie @inairbinad @simplebtromance @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog

[squadxx4392]

Analyzing 'Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament' - Complete Version

So we all know that Stolas from Helluva Boss is very, very much in love with Blitzo(The 'o' is silent, so pronounced as 'Blitz').

However, throughout the series, Blitzo seems to be oblivious. An example of this is stated in the Helluva Boss series, "Hey! Stolas only cares about having a rugged peasant raw-dog him into his mattress, it's nothing.. y'know.. it's nothing else(Season Two, Episode Six, 10:12-10:20)."

Now, shortly after another episode of the series came out, season two episode seven, to be exact, a music video came out. It was a song for Stolas which, in the first minute, everyone could tell it was indefinitely about Blitzo.

The beginning of the music video starts with Stolas receiving an Asmodean Crystal from Asmodeous, the Sin of Lust, which Stolas had asked for in the sixth episode of season two, "...he needs to access the mortal realm to carry out his work. I know your demons are some of the only ones who can traverse freely and legally. I was wondering if you could help me find a way he could, too?(Season Two, Episode Six, 7:33-7:46)."

Throughout the music video, Blitzo is being compared to the full moon, which, as per an agreement the two made in the very first episode of the series, is a reference to their full moon contract.

Basically, their 'unspoken contract', as Stolas put it, is Blitzo gets to use Stolas' grimoire for his work, and because Stolas requires it to finish his duties with the Goetia family, they have a once monthly meeting on the full moon, where Stolas collects the grimoire and they have a night of 'passionate fornication'.

This is what makes Blitzo think of Stolas as a prick who doesn't want anything more than sex from him. This was stated in season one episode seven of the show, "Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to f**k you, okay? You make that really clear all the time(Season One, Episode Seven, 14:36-14:43)." And this was what Stolas has realized what Blitzo thought of their relationship.

And so, in an effort to prove Stolas truly loves him and truly cares about more than sex, he is going to attempt to give Blitzo the crystal so he isn't made to associate with Stolas as he wouldn't require the grimoire to travel to Earth.

Now, back to the music video, which is what this analysis is truly about. We are going to be analyzing the lyrics of the song, and the meanings behind them.

After Stolas starts singing, he sings, "I am a guardian/a watcher of these ancient rites/yet I find myself drawn from that path/on those dazzling moonlit nights(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 0:30-0:46)." This is a reference to the full moon escapades he and Blitzo have.

"Let me hold you/Keep you close to me/I long to hear your voice/But dearest/I know better now/I must give you this choice(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 0:46-1:01)." Stolas is realizing he can't make Blitzo do something he doesn't want to do, so he's saying the choice is his to make, as it is. And he wants to be able to be close to his lover but he can't because Blitzo is just pushing him away.

"I can give you everything you need/Or do you want to hear me plead/Just look my way/Just look my way/Is there something more that I don't know/That you won't say 'til we've both grown cold/Just say 'please stay'/Look my way(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 1:02-1:33)." Through these lyrics, Stolas shows how much he truly cares about Blitzo. He is willing to plead with the Imp to show him how much he cares about him.

"This unspoken contract/A deed we forged for mutual gain/If that's all this was when you're not here/What is this rooted pain?/I don't care that you're of lower station/Or primed to sate my dark temptations/Why can't you understand?/Let me explain(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 1:36-2:07)." Stolas is shown to be in love, it's shown to be more obvious as he is directly addressing Blitzo with his feelings, even if he's not talking to Blitzo while he's saying it. The symbolism isn't as exaggerated as it was before the lyrics.

"And I'm terrified/As I cry/To make these feelings true/What's left for me/And my broken heart/If I cannot have you(Just Look My Way, 2:08-2:22)." Stolas is very obviously upset at the fact Blitzo does not seem to want him back in a romantic, and really even a sensual, sense, even though there were some notable instances where it is very obviously not true. In Helluva Boss' sixth episode of season two, Blitzo went on a tirade about the reasons Stolas doesn't like him back, as he is in denial about both of their feelings.

"Unless it's me/And no matter what in this world I could give/It's not enough/To get through the walls you've conjured up to live(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 2:25-2:40)." At this point, Stolas had realized that Blitzo tends to want to distance himself from people who he cares a lot about because he's afraid of hurting them. And Stolas is finally recognizing that fact.

"Is this what you feel?/Scorned by a realm that cannot comprehend/What you are/So I'll grant you this mercy/This bind/On our souls needs to end(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 2:40-2:59)." Stolas is finally recognizing Blitzo is not happy in the situation.

The entire music video is more of how his and Blitzo's relationship has evolved throughout the two current seasons and the lyrics are representing the seventh episode of the first season when Blitzo finally revealed what he felt about Stolas, "Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to f**k you, okay? You make that really clear all the time(Season One, Episode Seven, 14:36-14:43)."

"I will try to make amends/For making you means to an end/So look my way/Please look my way/And if there's something more that I don't know/I'll save us both before we grow cold/If you'll stay/And just say 'Look my way'(Just Look My Way - Stolas' Lament, 3:02-3:34)." Interpreting this is Stolas is trying to restore a relationship with Blitzo and failing no matter what he does and it makes him feel like he's drowning as in the last lyric he is seen falling into water and sinking until he slumps into his desk and cries.

If it doesn't make a lot of sense as it goes on, even though it should, it will be okay. Interpreting the music video is basically just Stolas' feelings as he goes through the series with his relationship with Blitzo from start up until the point we're at in the Helluva Boss series.

To summarize, Stolas is very in love with Blitzo, but doesn't think he loves him back and vice versa. And the song and the analytics from the videos and the series itself just prove it in return. And this is why Stolas is in love with Blitzo from Helluva Boss.

[markantonys]

I'm at the end of TFOH and something else I noticed. The nobles do fear Rand cause of his anger and him making them less powerful cause he makes it so the laws apply to them now but it's a plot point that Rand consistently has to remind them that he can channel and that he will go mad. Cause they're actively trying to ignore that. It isn't until the docks when two Tairen lords see him channeling against Lanfear that they start to fear him cause he can channel. Knowing it is one thing, seeing it is something else. So like people complaining about the show not addressing this yet... it's not relevant til the end of book 5!

another very interesting observation!! i remember a scene in cairhien in TFOH when a noblewoman is trying to hit on him for personal gain and he (intentionally) freaks her out by reminding her that he can channel, and we saw something similar with berelain in TSR too, where she was all hellbent on seducing him but then got freaked out by the the whole bubble of evil incident and switched her sights to perrin instead. it definitely makes sense for people to view him almost as more of a regular warlord until they actually see concrete evidence of his channeling abilities. like you say, watching him channel is different from just knowing that (he says) he can!

so there really is 0 need for the show to have shown people being scared of rand's channeling abilities in only the first 2 seasons. even so, they did show it with "selene's" reaction! obviously it was all an act, but it was still a good representation of how the average person would react to watching rand channel right in front of them and it gives the audience a good sense of what's to come once rand becomes a notable public figure and has to face an increasing number of reactions to his abilities. but he isn't there yet.

as far as i can remember, the only significant negative reaction from books 1-3 that's missing from the show is mat's, but i am far from displeased with the show softening mat's attitudes towards channelers, not least because of the romance coming his way. Channeler Hater who has many channeler besties falling in love with Channeler Enslaver who reinforces all his worst prejudices just feels very..........malicious, and putting mat on better footing with channelers to start with definitely eases some of that nastiness, not to mention sets up for a more interesting dynamic where he actually challenges tuon on her views rather than becoming her yes-man. like, a non-channeler main good guy having some anti-channeler prejudice issues could have been an interesting storyline, but i would have preferred it if it wasn't the same non-channeler main good guy who was going to have the romance with the head channeler enslaver villain lmao that's just not a great combination unless you're TRYING to tell a cynical depressing tale of radicalization into a hate group, which i do not think RJ was trying to do with mat.

(it's possible show!mat may still develop some kind of anxiety/animosity around the power, depending on if his medallion is still framed as him wanting protection from channelers. but even if that does happen, show!mat would still never start turning a blind eye to channeler enslavement! granted, early book!mat would never have done that either, even early early "rand channeling is like him eating babies" mat would never have done that.)

[mixelation]

Which akatsuki member/pair would be the worst to randomly encounter

"Random encounter" implies that they have not been sent to murder, torture, or kidnap you, are not seeking you out for intel, do know know about you alredy or find you valuable in any way, nor do they want anything to do with you ninja-wise. You're, idk, in front of them in line at the shop. Or you're eating something that looks really good and one of them stops to ask you were you got it. Or maybe you're passing out flyers on the street. Whatever it is, you are a very mundane person leading a very mundane life and doing a mundane activity.

Which pairs are worse to encounter? Ordered best to worst.

Itachi and Kisame: Itachi and Kisame do not care about you. They will not care about you even if you engage them. Kisame does not care about harassing civilians, and Itachi isn't going to do anything unless it's for a mission or part of his own deranged and nonsensical plots, which you are not part of because you're running a shaved ice stand or something. Kisame is polite. Itachi is.... quiet, which gives the illusion of politeness. You will not remember them in an hour.

Pein and Konan: Pein and Konan also don't care about you, except in a more active sense where they've mutually decided non-Rain Country citizens don't matter. What is a bug to a god? No one. Pein and Konan don't even care enough to squash you. They rank higher than Itachi and Kisame because 1) they're more standoffish, and 2) them being out and about together probably means they're on their way to cause large amounts of destruction.

Sasori and Deidara: Sasori is very grumpy and very violent, but it's in a very controlled way. Deidara is friendly and social, but he has a short fuse and can cause a lot of destruction with minimal effort. They are both apt to care slightly more about you, and therefore are slightly more likely to ruin your day. It doesn't happen frequently, but if Sasori decides you match some internal and confusing rubric for Beauty, he might just follow you home and murder you. I don't think Deidara is a "this person SLIGHTLY pissed me off, I will blow them up" type of person, but he is the most likely on this list to just sort of get you caught in falling rubble even though you're on the other side of the city from his actual target. Unlike the people above them on this list, both Sasori and Deidara might break your wrist or smash your face into something if you piss them off enough, but the likelihood of you achieving this on a mundane, random encounter is low.

BONUS RANKING 1: Tobi and Deidara tie Sasori and Deidara because while I don't think Tobi is likely to do more than minor pranks, he's more likely to egg Deidara on (or have already destroyed Deidara's patience). Tobi is better to encounter than Sasori, but he makes Deidara more dangerous to compensate.

BONUS RANKING 2: Sasori and Orochimaru get an honorary second place for worst people to randomly encounter. Orochimaru is actually quite charismatic when he wants to be, so there's a chance he decides to act benevolently and reel Sasori in for whatever interaction you have with them, which he will make pleasant. There's also a chance he's baiting Sasori into doing something insane, like kidnap you and vivisect you. Orochimaru is playing a game only he knows the rules to, and maybe you will be safe, but maybe you will very much not be.

Kakuzu and Hidan: I feel these two are rather obviously the worst. Hidan doesn't murder people at random, per se, because he does it for religious reasons, but his patterns probably appear random from the outside. Does Hidan murder everyone he meets? No, obviously not. Might he just decide to sacrifice you to his god for reasons that make no sense to anyone but him? Maybe! The chance isn't super high, but it's unfortunately several points above 0. Meanwhile, Kakuzu just gets pissed off and murders people sometimes. He has an even shorter fuse than Deidara, and his fits of rage are MUCH more likely to involve extreme violence. You might not even be what sets him off-- you might just be in the area when Hidan is acting extra annoying. Good luck!

[bepisconsumer]

what are your controversial opinions about celsius

That it has little to nothing that makes it better than Fahrenheit but it rides the coattails of the rest of the metric system and uses its borrowed clout to make itself seem better.

You should be using Kelvin if you're doing science and the benefits of knowing how water feels at any given temperature are minimal for the vast majority of other cases. The 2 main places that we (or at least I)interact with temperature measurement regularly are the weather and making food. Fahrenheit being a more granular scale has a slight advantage for cooking/baking in my opinion, and when you view it as a %-hot scale it works very well for gauging how cold or hot I'm gonna feel outside (there is some slight bias to this point I am aware, but I think it still holds some value)

People can whine that "Celsius is better cause it's defined by a universal constant" all they want, the constant they chose was arbitrary for the sake of making it stay the same and that can be (or has been, I'm not 100% sure) done for Fahrenheit as well. There is also very little value to be had by making the freezing and boiling points of water 0 and 100. Sure, it's easy to remember, but remembering any two numbers at all is easy in and of itself. I don't lose sleep over the boiling point of water being 212 instead of a nicer, divisible-by-ten number.

Speaking of dividing by ten, the biggest advantage of the metric system, there is a distinct lack of this when it comes to Celsius. You don't need to convert to like Kilocelsiuses or some shit like that. In non-scientific settings you rarely ever convert temperature units at ALL, and most of the time when you DO you're just going back and forth between °C and °F so there isn't even any inherent connection to the metric system that Celsius has except for its ubiquity.

At the end of the day, I doubt any of these opinions I hold will ever matter because the US switching to metric officially is probably just a pipe dream, but in such a case I am fully prepared to die fighting for my right to Fahrenheit in a Metric world

[octocurse-agere]

Splatoon agere HCs !! Squid sisters edition! Part one of a few posts because I feel like I went so far with callie I had to step back because I didn't want to crash tumblr on my end ;;

it went from 3rd person to 2nd person so bare with me pls

Callie!!

I personally think of her as a cg but flip would be cool 2!

Caregiver/Babysitter 4 almost everyone in the NNSS

She's rlly good at remembering everything a little likes! And everything they tell them

Oh, that plush's name is Marshall? I'll be sure to remember!

And she isn't lying AT ALL. You could ask her a year later without mentioning the plush once since then and she'll remember.

She's super strong. Can and will carry any baby who wishes to be held.

Very good at storytelling ! Even without a book, she can recount countless of silly and fun stories to tell

Most are probably from being apart of the NNSS, but from being in octo valley, she heard a lot of good tales, stories and myths that can keep even the most fidgety littles entertained

She's not normally around littles who just want to play, but when they do she can play anything with no stops

Oh, you want to play pretend?

She'll clear out an entire area and set up the most elaborate space, just for you

Oh, you want to play board games?

She has an entire stash, pick your favorite!

Card games, even? Or possibly dress up?

Done and done! She has EVERYTHING. Nobody knows how but she can inherently pull things out of thin air if she wants to.

Will abide by almost every request you have

Not strict with rules

In fact, she only has one

Be nice to yourself

Follow it or else!

She's very good at listening when you need a shoulder to lean on

You can never feel lonely with her at your side! She knows how it feels

She'll give you what ever you need and want to feel better

Even if it's just a simple hug, some time or space

She's always here for you no matter what.

Marie!

Marie is a flip to me. Leans towards caregiving but sometimes even she needs some babytime, y'know?

Doesn't mind babysitting anyone, but only really caregives for Captain 3! But you might be an acception.

Focuses on making sure you're well taken care of.

Have you eaten today? Drank recently?

She makes sure you've done everything required to be happy and healthy.

If you're having a bad day, she'll make you whatever you want

I think she'd cook you lots of food

It might not seem like it, but she's very interested in the culinary arts.

Her favorite? Soup

Don't like soup? She can make almost anything else

Just don't ask her to make anything deep fried

Also, has to be healthy. "A lil' kid likes you needs to eat their veggies!"

Want to be fed by hand? She can do that.

Want to help cook? Can do!

I think she'd call you all sorts of kind and sweet things

And double check every few minutes to make sure you're feeling ok

She can't straight up pick you up like Callie

But will absolutely sit down and hold you in her lap, if you'd like!

She's not super playful, but will try her best

She isn't as creative as Callie, but can absolutely play any role with 100% serious if you want to play pretend

When little, she tends to regress from 0-2 I'd think

Tiny baby brain

She always sticks to someone's side when little

She HATES being alone. Will follow you around like a puppy

Hides under blankets a ton too

Mostly just wants to cuddle all the time.

Has trouble communicating, so you gotta take time to learn how she responds to specific needs or wants

Lots of arm flapping and pointing

Has a stash of baby things and refuses to get them herself

Very picky and has trouble cooperating

Just wants a bunch of attention and cuddles, mainly

Next up : Off The Hook + Deep cut !

[mariyekos]

2024 Writing Count

Oh yeah! I've talked about it on Twitter, but I don't think I've mentioned it here: I'm keeping track of my fics/wordcount for 2024! I did it back in 2021, and then kept track of it for a few months in 2023, but this year I'm back at it again with more detail than ever.

Here's what it looks like. The further I get the more I add onto it as different things come to mind. I love color coding things, so I have a system: 0 word days get red, 1-99 word days get yellow, 100-499 word days get light green, 500-999 word days get medium green, and 1000+ word days get dark green. I also highlight the end of each month in blue to make it easy to see, and milestones (like hitting 50k in January!) are in blue!

More details, including a view of all days, beneath the cut!

Month-by-Month

January was my best month so far. That's when I started the longfic I'm currently plugging away at, which got me most of that word count. As in, it got me over 50k of that word count, because once I realized I was so close to 50k not just for the month but for a single fic, I powered through to the end. January was a month where my main focus was getting ideas down rather than shooting for top-of-the-line quality. You can't fix a fic that isn't written, so step 1 is to write! Right now I'm actually going through what I wrote and re-writing it, which is slow work but worth it.

February was okay. March was a bad month for me, and where I finally lost my "1 word a day" goal. You can tell how hard I was struggling in the middle there, which was from a combination of lack of sleep, lack of time (work and FFXIV prog were exhausting, plus I was trying hard to get through FFVII Rebirth before being spoiled (I failed)), and lack of motivation/inspiration. I got absolutely slammed by doubt and feelings of inadequacy, combined with some realizations about my longfic which means I had to do a MAJOR overhaul that I was absolutely dreading.

April was pretty good! I got slammed by motivation to finish a fic that I'd struggled with before and finally finished and published it. I'd been hesitating because I felt like I was getting that vibe out of another fic, but after struggling with that one I went back to the one I'd eventually publish and had a blast. It was very self-indulgent and I've realized that that's okay! I've rambled vaguely on this blog about it, but it was the fic where I knew I was diving deep into a fanon interpretation of a character that's not really seen in canon, and was worried about how it would be received.

In the end I decided whatever. I know it's fanon, but I love that fanon and clearly other people love that fanon too, so I decided I'd just post it. It has a lower kudos:hit ratio than my other fics but honestly? I don't care. I had so much fun writing it and I got two (2!!!!) whole comments on it so I'm over the moon. If my writing makes even one other person happy, that's fantastic. This fic I decided was ultimately for me in the end, and internalizing that it's okay to be self-indulgent has helped me a lot. When you're okay with self-indulgence, it frees you from a lot of worry and you just get to be happy writing the stuff you love.

Of course, I'm not completely over that. I still really want to get things right. I still do check over things to see how well they align in canon and to try to fix characterization and so on. I still want my fics to be good- it's just that I've changed my standards for what a good fic is to be more about quality than being an exact replica of canon. My current fic (the now 88k Time Travel Fic) is undergoing a massive overhaul right now as I not only improve micro-level things like grammar and phrasing, but also as I work to improve macro-level things like overall flow.

That's the sort of stuff that I think makes me a better writer. It might not always lead to very high word count, but I don't always need to have high word count. Sometimes a low wordcount day where I feel like I improved my craft is more than worth it.

Take these two days in April- ~250 words a day, lower than my monthly average of 1,050, that I'm perfectly fine with because I did more than 504 words worth of work that day, IMO. You can see on the second one that I finished Before the Nightmare, which is one of the DMC novels. That day I didn't get in many words because I spent my time researching instead, and that was worthwhile! On the day before it, I spent time revising the timeline and outlining things rather than adding to the main body of the fic itself, which again I think was more than worth the time! Having WCs is a good method of tracking things. I'm a numbers person. Seeing big numbers makes me happy. But there is more to writing than just working on the stuff readers are going to see! More that is important and improves your craft! Which is why I decided to include outline counts, for one. That and I'm the type of person who writes full sentences or even paragraphs into my outlines that I will take almost word-for-word into the fic itself so I might as well attribute it to the day I wrote it, rather than the day I copy-pasted it in, y'know?

How The Tracker Works

Some other stuff you might notice are the following:

My notes are a mix of me commenting on what I wrote in the fic and me commenting on whatever's going on in my life. For example, on January 17th I wrote "Went back 2 boys fighting convo" which is about what I wrote in the fic, whereas on January 25th I wrote "Super sleepy. Too late" and on March 2nd I wrote "FFVII Rebirth is amazing." which is instead about why I only wrote so much! Going back to my 2021 word count, I found my notes to be a really interesting snapshot into what was going on in my life at the time, so I don't mind making it a mix of both.

In the above, you can see that the Daily WC doesn't equal the Diff (End-Start WC), because in the comments section I mention that I wrote 3675 for another fic. (The 3675 is from the Fic in the Fic box there, while the 801 is from my Time Travel fic, which is the one with 80k words). But on days where I work on multiple fics I'm usually feeling active enough to be happy to do the very simple math of adding two things together, so I don't mind having to combine a few. If you check the picture above this one for March, you can see that the Daily WC = Diff. for every day that has a Start and End WC. The ones where there isn't a start or ending WC is because I just used the word count function in my document program since I wrote so little it was easy to figure things out.

There's also the Fic List section way back in my first picture, which just includes every fic or fic-adjacent (i.e. tumblr posts where I basically wrote a mini-fic that I will one day turn into a proper post) included in the main word count area. I also included the number of days I worked on each by occurrence. Given the way I track things it does mean that a few fics will be missing a few days because I can only mention one in the fic box (while having it function) so only one gets counted per day, even on days I work on two, but it's close enough that I think it's still a good way of keeping track! I copied the document Geryon partway through the year once I started some major restructuring so that one's split in two, but for the count I made the function count both Geryon and Copy of Geryon so it's just up in Geryon. The reason it's split is that I decided to automate that section rather than doing things manually, which means it include the - day and splits Geryon in two which I wouldn't do if I was doing it manually.

2021 Word count Document

As you can see, things were a lot simpler back in 2021. Both in terms of visuals and things I was keeping track of. One of the biggest changes from 2021->2024 was the addition of the Start and End word counts for each day. When I was doing 2023 I realized how much I hated doing the math in a separate tab, deleting it, fixing the formatting, and then putting the number into the daily total.

Then while talking to a friend (@/dithorba) about word counts, she showed me her document which had a start/end count on it and I felt like my eyes were open. So often I would get to the end of the day and realize I had math to do but would put it off, then do it again, then again, and then trying to figure out my word counts would result in a ton of going through document history, restoring documents, checking word count, restoring it to a different version, checking word count, etc. It became a chore that messed with my totals. (Which is funny because I actually love math! That specific math just was a sticking point for some reason). Then Monse/dithorba showed me the way and I decided I'd add that into my document, even if it "clutters" it up a bit by adding extra rows. I still kept Daily Wordcount separate from the total though, since sometimes I'll work on multiple fics so the start to end count on one fic doesn't represent all the writing I do in one day.

2024 Daily Totals So Far

I got so close to all greens for April and I'm really bummed about missing it because I just plain forgot to write more on my one yellow day. Yeah I was struggling a bit, but I could've written more and forgot to make sure I'd hit 100 before going to bed. Oh well. It was a really good month otherwise. I'll probably revise the color scheme in the bottom row later on so it's more evident which word counts had the most days per month, but for now it works as-is.

Last but not least, here's a link to the twitter thread where I go on about this year's writing. It technically starts in December of 2023 because I turned my thread about my longfic into my thread for all my fic writing in 2024, so whoops to that, but good enough.

This post could be longer but it's long enough as it is, so I'll leave it like this for now. Maybe I'll come back and edit it with more information later. I'll probably RB with additions a few times in the year too!

[stayatsam]

DM tips to make your game better for you and your players

I've been having a lot of thinking lately of how i've seen complaints from both DMs and players of having bad experiences with each other, games falling apart, etc. Put together some tips for DMs out there to help communicate with your players and keep a game from dying. This tip-sheet isn't about campaign-building or storytelling, it's more meta out of game stuff.

Listen to your players and pay attention

This might seem like a no-brainer, but your players probably are not familiar with some of the finer details of D&D, and they certainly don't know what your campaign has in store for them. Be flexible and willing to bend parts of your campaign to suit them.

Listening to your players includes keeping note of how they talk to each other in the game, not just how they talk to you. If a player makes a quick quip about how everyone else in the party has cool magic items and they don't, slip something in for them in an upcoming session that would suit them especially.

2. Be annoying about planning, I mean it

It's easy to feel like you're annoying the group chat or server by constantly asking "Hey wanna get together this weekend?" but it's just something that has to be done. Your players want to play D&D just as much as you do, but it's the Dungeon Master that has to pull the schedule together. DMing comes with a leadership, organizer role that your players automatically look to for scheduling.

3. Post-session talks.

Plan some time after you end your session to talk with your players. Discuss recent developments in the story, comment on their use of technique and spells, ask them where they want to go next, and open a discussion to let everyone (DM included) talk about the game. Even if it's just one or two of your players, it's super helpful and gives a lot of insight

4. Establish a Session 0

This probably should go under 1 but I wasn't thinking of it until right now but: Session 0 is so important. It lets the party get to know each other, talk about their characters' relationships, aspirations, shortcomings and strengths before you dive into the game. This is a pretty solid Session 0 checklist.

5. You are a player too

Dungeon mastering is hard, and can often go un-appreciated. But you are also playing this game to have a good time, and that's something that should be communicated to your players. Be willing to open up a dialogue if a player is doing something bothersome to your game, chances are said thing is bothering the other players too.

6. So, D&D

It's fine to get off-topic and start talking about life and random things outside of D&D while you're in the game, and I'm guilty as both a DM and player of getting very off topic but inevitably I say the line "So, D&D" or "Dungeons and Dragons" to get our attention back on the game. There's usually at least 1 or 2 players in your group that is mildly annoyed when the group gets too off topic, and chances are you're on a time limit before it gets too late in the day/night.

7. Session Summaries

A lot of parties don't take notes, or won't remember every little detail. Hopefully, you'll remember most of these details. At the end of every session, or before every session, write down what happened that session.

Before we start playing, I start each session with a quick summary of the previous week's events. It gets all our brain juices flowing and reminds all of us about important developments. There'll probably be a "Oh I forgot about that!" moment when you're going over past events.

Put these summaries in a place your players can see them too, like a channel on Discord.

8. If you're not having fun, your players probably aren't either

Know when to end a session or game entirely. It's ok to need a break and refresher. And if the campaign itself is just not clicking, sometimes you'll just have to start over. It happens, but it's better to start fresh on a game people enjoy then try to churn out a mediocre campaign. Have fun with your players! You're all in this together.