#bc everything i have to do for it is so finicky

[wackywatchdotcom]

ive posted so much every single day on this blog for weeks now i feel weird having barely posted today . ive been busy but uhhh heres a random image i never posted from my tadc art folder?

[ur-local-neighborhood-scene-kid]

GUYS I printed a glow in the dark and rainbow gradient flexi spino and a few flush objects along side it, and I love how they turned out!! I’m especially surprised that the tiger is still fully articulate as such a small size! It’s only about 3 inches tall to give you perspective

And here I held the light on them for longer to get a stronger picture! The pics came out pretty accurate to how they look irl!

[notthesoup]

For a fic request: how about easing Vander's tension after a bad day at The Last Drop? (gn/m reader)

PAIRING vander x gn!reader

TYPE oneshot

GENRE nsfw

SYNOPSIS reader takes care of Vander after a busy day

NOTES blowjob, biting, hickeys, slightly dom/sub but not really, only some aftercare bc both of y’all are tired, and overall really cute and horny. thanks for the request! first time writing smut, please be nice

© notthesoup - all rights reserved. even when credited, these works are prohibited to be reposted, translated or modified

It had been a long day for Vander. Although he didn’t have the morning shift at The Last Drop, you had to wake him up due to a mishap with the beer dispensers (neither you nor Gert, who was manning the bar, had the proper knowledge to fix whatever was wrong with the finicky machines). It shouldn't have happened; Vander had recently hired someone for maintenance on the machinery in the bar, which he thought was frustrating in and of itself because he could've easily done it himself if he just had the time to. But he was stretched thin, covering shifts for those who were sick with something or other. It was getting colder, and in the coming days it would snow -- you could smell it in the air. He was happy to give out paid sick days, but it meant being on his feet and working nonstop for the past week, as customers trickled in and out. So, Vander inhaled a deep breath at the crack of dawn, and rose out of bed to work again. He had checked everything on the beer dispensers, the temperature and the pressure source, but the problem lied within the tubing, which was pinched.

"Maintenance guy must've jumbled it," he grumbles under his breath. Gert, who was wiping down the counters (night shift didn't do a good job, you note)(who was on night shift again?), was too far away to hear, but you did.

"S'alright love," you say, coming around the corner as he stands up, finished with the tubes, "go wash your hands and get back to bed, I can take it from here." He looks at you fondly, but sighs.

"No, I won't be able to fall back asleep. It's fine," he says before you can protest, "could you go take a look at our inventory lists?" He looks to Gert, with a rag still in her hand, "and find out who was on night shift, yeah? I'd like a word."

"Sure thing Vander," you kiss his temple and leave to complete your tasks and usual paperwork.

By the time the last customer left and the last tasks of the day completed, Vander was dead on his feet, at once restless and tired to the bone. He felt a tad disoriented; famished, but food didn't sound appetizing. Sleepy, but his mind couldn't stop whirling.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆

Throughout the day as you were doing menial paperwork (double checking inventory, budgeting, and the like), you were also keeping an eye on the kids. Vi had eventually taken Powder, Mylo, and Claggor to the old arcade for a few hours, which left you with enough time to run errands to restock the kitchen. They’d be having a sleepover with Ekko, Benzo knowing the two of you desperately need a break. After sorting some things out in the storage room, you gently shut the door and lean your head on the cold wood.

"Long day?" Vander says quietly, though still startling you. "Sorry sorry," he sets a hand on your shoulder.

"Not your fault," you walk with him downstairs back to the bar, "just, jittery, I guess. Busy day." He nods in agreement. He makes his way around the empty bar to pour you a drink, but you place a hand on his arm, stilling him before he reaches the other side of the counter. His arm is warm against your palm.

"I might've had a long day, but you look like you're about to keel over, Vander. I'll handle the drinks."

"Thanks love," he looks at you fondly, nodding.

"Of course, any time," and then proceed to pour two glasses of apple juice from the mini fridge under the counter. He raised an eyebrow at you, as if to say, 'really?' You only wink in response, clinking your cup to his once it's in his hands.

"Here's to another successful. And for the new hire to not work the night shift again until things here calm down," you chuckle, and he laughs. Vander sips the juice and sighs thoughtfully, the cider sweet on his tongue. You come around the counter to sit on a stool beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady yourself. You lean in to kiss his cheek, his beard scratchy against your skin.

"Missed you today," he says, tilting his head at you.

"You miss me always," you flick his shoulder and half-heartedly roll your eyes. He hums in response, smiling. The two of you sit like this for a while, content with basking in the silence of each other's company. The sun outside is going down, the streets growing quieter. You both had closed the store a few minutes ago, knowing that Benzo had a spare key and would drop the kids off in an hour or two.

As the ice cubes slowly melt in your cups, you occasionally look over at him, taking in familiar details. White is starting to creep into Vander’s hair, and laugh lines crinkle at the sides of his eyes. You've been with him for many years now, and know some of those lines are there because of you, with the amount you make him laugh. Your heart swells at the thought that your presence in his life was enough to settle into his features; it makes you feel almost possessive. Subconsciously biting your lip, you try to hide a blush, but you can feel the heat concentrated on your face, pooling on your cheeks.

When he notices, he laughs, a giddy feeling in his chest. "What's 'a matter, hun?"

You rest your chin on your hand, shaking your head. "Nothing nothing. You’re just handsome, is all.”

“Oh that’s all, is it?” He hums, grinning.

“That went straight to your ego didn’t it,” you joke, rolling your eyes. He’s staring at you, a dumbstruck smile on his face.

“Maybe,” he says, as you get up to put your two cups in the sink. You could clean them later, you think to yourself. You two need to head upstairs and get ready for bed.

Taking Vander’s hand, you lead him up the steps to your shared bedroom. It’s not the most spacious, but the two of you make it work. Besides, you’d be lying if you said that the chaotic mix of your belongings didn’t bring you comfort.

After entering the room, you gently push him to sit at the edge of the bed. He’s eager to place his hands on your waist, pulling you closer to him, trying to get your belt undone. Although he’s enthusiastic, you can tell he’s still somewhat tired from the events of the day. You push back on his chest a bit with your hands, shaking your head a bit. “Tonight’s about you, love.”

Vander tilts his head, whispering a soft “oh.”

And with that you tip his head back with a single finger, lovingly kissing him. Your lips are chapped but he doesn’t seem to mind. His beard tickles as your face. You break the kiss to lead a line down his neck, heart thumping loudly in your ears. Even after all these years, he still makes you thrilled. After helping him out of his shirt, you bite at his chest, along his ribs. You continue until you’re kneeling, looking up to find him basking at the sight of you. Vander looks almost drunk, his pupils wide. You unclasp his belt in a practiced movement, one handed.

“Cocky bastard.”

“You love me for it.”

Vander huffs in response, fighting back a smile. You tap his thigh twice and he quickly lifts his hips so you can slide his pants off, his half-hard dick catching on the waistband. You leave his gray boxers on and he looks from them to you confusedly. You almost giggle, “patience.” He huffs again, decidedly impatient.

You lean your head down, leaving trails of kisses along his inner thighs. Vander weaves his fingers through your hair, finding gentle purchase. You trace a nail under the outline of his cock, but otherwise concentrate on his thighs. His breathing is heavy, but you don’t have him begging yet. You start to leave open mouthed kisses, which quickly turns to biting and sucking, his skin left red with fresh hickeys.

Vander grunts out a plea, so you lean back to admire your handiwork. He lets out a breath he was holding, and you notice his boxers stained with precum, his cock straining against the fabric.

“You poor thing,” you say, massaging his sore thighs, “worked so hard all day, and you’re being so good for me right now.” He almost whines. Almost. You lick at his tip, the fabric wet against your tongue. He lets out a low moan, hand going still against your hair. You keen, prideful.

“Please,” he rasps. You don’t even have to him tap twice before Vander bucks his hips, inviting you to slide off his boxers. You oblige, slipping them off slowly, sensually, until they’re pooling by his ankles. You take one more look at him to find he’s been staring at you, eyes half lidded and reverent. You cheekily blow air at his dick. He curses at the sensation.

“Please.” Vander’s voice is low and raspy as he says your name, his chest heaving with every breath. With that, you trace your tongue up the slit of his tip, enjoying his reactions immensely. He comes apart so easily under your touch, and it’s at this point you realize you yourself are soaking wet. You want to grind against the floor but remain singleminded in your plan to satisfy him, to bring him relief after his work today. Today is about Vander, you remind yourself. He deserves this.

You slowly take the length of him into your mouth, feeling the way he twitches against you, his veins hot against your tongue. He’s girthy, and you don’t have much room to move your jaw, but do the best you can to deep throat him.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he gasps.

He’s careful not to thrust into your mouth, but it’s a near thing. You stop moving, Vander’s hand caressing your face. Slowly sliding off until you’re able to swirl your tongue around the top of his cock, he moans your name again, loudly.

You start pumping his shaft with your hand, up and down, up and down, while you focus your tongue around his sensitive tip. He won’t last long like this, you know, his thighs holding your head in place, so you suddenly stop your movements again. Vander gasps, looking back at you, his mouth agape. “Why’d you stop?”

You stand up for a second, pressing your mouths together, making him taste himself on his tongue.

“Missed you,” you say between kisses.

“You always miss me,” he parrots back. The two of you are blushing profusely, your ears burning, his face and shoulders a gradient of pink.

“Shut up,” you grin. The ‘make me’ is left unsaid, but settles over your shared room like a blanket. You go back to your knees in response. This time, Vander grips your hair a little harder, breathes a little heavier. You’re on him in a heartbeat, spending no more time with your back and forth. You need him, in your mouth, gasping your name out like a prayer.

Vander curls his back in as you blow him, your head bobbing back and forth against his cock rapidly, hands twisting whatever doesn’t fit into your wet mouth. At first, he thrusts occasionally, but soon he loses himself against your touch. You can feel yourself starting to lose your breath, and his hips moving faster, starting to falter. You moan at the knowledge of his unravelling, the vibrations sending a new wave of pleasure down his shaft. Slick wet sounds reverberate against the walls of the room, joined with the sounds of his grunts and incoherent words.

Soon enough, something tightens, a chord snaps, and Vander barely chokes out a warning before he’s cumming down your throat. You pump him a few more times before taking him out of your mouth with a wet pop. His head is clearly swimming but he’s still looking at you, always at you, his chest heaving with heavy breaths. In this moment, you can tell that nothing else in the world exists to him.

Maintaining glossy eye contact, you swallow hard. Vander opens his mouth as if to say something, but only manages a whimper. Laying a soft kiss against his thigh, you reach for a hand towel you keep in the bedside drawer, and begin to gently wipe him off. He shudders, still very sensitive, and you slow your movements. Vander blinks, taking the sight of you properly in. Your hair’s a mess, skin sweaty, clothes ruffed up and rumpled. He brings a hand to your own and guides the towel to the side of your mouth, swiping at a spot of cum you didn’t realize was there. “Love, what are you — oh,” and begin to laugh.

Dropping the rag, Vander leans down to kiss you. He bites at your lip, but you pull away and shake your head.

“Tomorrow,” you say as you go to turn off the lights. He’s in bed by the time you turn back around. Curling up against him, he whispers back to you, a promise.

“Tomorrow.”

ARCANE MASTERLIST !

ADDITIONAL NOTE! if you like my work, please consider reblogging and/or commenting! thank you if you do 🤍

[strongermonster]

I work in special collections and we have thus book scanner that my boss and I hate with a passion cuz its finicky and annoying as hell, but then you look up how much it costs and it's more than my student loans. I wish I could wack it with a baseball bat

when my work got rid of all the cash registers except for one and replaced them with self checkouts about... i think 3 or 4 years ago? and the total cost for 4 + labour + having to rewire everything and change the phone lines and all that was WELL over $150,000 dollars, and there has been without a joke, not a SINGLE WEEK where all 4 are up and running correctly.

for the first YEAR none of them could take cash bc there was a known issue with the coin slots on that model, so every customer paying cash (half of them on seniors day) had to line up at the single human register.

canada is doing this tax-free event thing right now and if you buy anything and try to combine it with another discount (seniors for example) the entire thing shuts off. incredible.

[inoreuct]

zosan angst 👀 post whole cake island where zoro is mad for sanji not relying on him enough to help with his family drama. swears to become a better man for him. sanji thinks zoro is the ideal man (he’ll never tell him this though) and doesn’t have to deal with his family drama bc he can “solve it himself” they fight, their screams are heard by the whole ship who is all negatively effected by it. they come to the point of throwing punches (something sanji would never do outside of this intense monent). zoro grabs sanji by them shirt, gets sanji down on his knees, and is hitting him in the face. sanji stops hitting him back and breaks down crying, zoro sees this and stops being angry instantly.

“why can’t you just let me help you”, zoro wants to understand.

sanji’s sobs echo through the room his nose running with blood and tears, “ i never thought i was worthy of being saved.”

zoro’s eyes widen. sanji gasps out through tears, “im sorry”.

something breaks within zoro, he kneels to sanji’s level, and holds him tightly as he sobs into his neck

“i’m sorry too. you are worth more to me than you could ever think.”

zoro take’s sanji’s face into his rough calloused hands, wiping away the blood and tears, “let me me be there for you”.

i swear this prompt grabbed my brain cells and SPRINTED bcs this was slightly more than 1.6k words,,, thank you anon 🤭🤌🏼

Zoro catches a heel to the jaw, lets it whip his head to the side and rolls as he hits the deck. 

His blood is a metallic bloom in his mouth, rose-red as it splatters across the planks and drips from his chin. He’s half sure he just lost a tooth. He’s very sure he bit his tongue. 

He thinks he rather deserves this pain, even if he’s not exactly sure why.

It had started when they were back on the Sunny, after the whole shitshow on Whole Cake Island; Zoro had paced about the deck, strung tight as a tripwire, still itching with the urge to look over his shoulder and around the corners and unwilling to take his hand off Wado’s hilt.

He’d retreated to the men’s quarters alone, too wound up to seek out Sanji’s usual company as waited his turn for the shower and then scrubbed until his skin turned raw. He’d changed into clean clothes and lay down on his bed, put his hands behind his head, tried to breath in time with the gentle rocking of the ocean and found something still binding his lungs tight.

He was safe. They were safe. And yet, it had still felt like his skin was crawling. 

After tossing and turning for a good twenty minutes he’d given up trying to fall asleep and hauled himself out of bed, trudging to the galley for a glass (or a bottle, more like) of whatever liquor he could get his hands on. The ship had swayed as he’d grabbed a half-filled bottle of scotch, bumping the door shut properly with his hip because he knew Sanji was finicky about it.

He’d hesitated before going back to the shared cabin. His bed hadn’t been the only one empty, and there was cigarette smoke rising from the helm. 

Sanji had barely reacted when he’d settled beside the cook, elbows propped on the railing as he took a swig of his drink. It went down easy; everything Sanji had always did. Some nights Zoro found himself wishing for more of a burn if only to help him feel something. 

He’d eyed Sanji out of the edge of his vision, tongueing behind his canines as he noticed the way the cook’s hair was all over his face, more so than usual. Both his eyes— no, not his eyes, Zoro had realised. Both his eyebrows were covered—

And it had sunk in slowly, like a lead weight to the bottom of the ocean. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he’d muttered, half to the mouth of his bottle, and Sanji had sighed.

“What do you mean, marimo?”

“You know what I mean.”

And Sanji had. He’d tilted his head, taking in a bracing breath, lips pinched in something that was supposed to be a smile. “Not your battle to fight.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Zoro had snarled, suddenly angry, and it made him dig his nails into the peeling paper label beneath his fingers. “You— We do this shit together, curly, that’s what we agreed—”

And Sanji had turned away silently, pushing off the railing and walking off to God knew where, and Zoro had grabbed his wrist before he’d realised what he was doing.

“Do you just not trust me?” he’d gritted, desperation sharpening his tongue, a little voice wailing in his head and sounding a bit too much like his younger self for his liking. 

Sanji had barked a laugh, burning his cigarette down to a stub in one long inhale. “Now that’s bullshit.”

“Then? What?” I’d do anything, is what he hadn’t said. Anything for you to let me in. Let me help. 

“It’s not your fight, alright? Just leave it.”

Zoro had wanted to scream, just a little. He’d been distantly aware that his grip was in danger of crushing the bottle but he hadn’t cared at all. Sanji had shoved him away when he hadn’t let the matter go (because how could he?), and he’d shoved back, and then it had escalated until they were fighting across the deck and now—

He snaps out of his head when Sanji screams, a ragged thing torn out of his chest, abandoning all reason to tackle him bodily to the ground. Zoro stumbles and hits the deck hard, pain flaring sharp as his elbow jams into the ground and a fist sinks into his gut. He’s snarling as he rolls them over, as he pins Sanji’s wrists to the ground and lets out a grunt when a kneecap catches him beneath the ribs.

“Why can’t you just stay out of it?!” Sanji yells, right in his face, hair a mess and eyes wilder than Zoro has ever seen up close.

He falters. Just for a moment, but it’s more than enough for Sanji to slip out of his grip and wriggle away, and the pit in his gut grows ever larger. “They hurt you! They were hurting you!” he roars, scrambling to his feet, and it rather feels like someone has a crushing hand wrapped around his heart.

“It doesn’t matter!” the cook cries, swinging a fist towards his face, and Zoro dodges. Sidesteps, slams a foot down behind Sanji’s kneecaps and slugs his knuckles across a pale cheek if only to snap Sanji out of whatever the fuck is going on, he raises his fist again and—

Freezes. Bile crawls up his throat as his heart sinks. Sanji’s eyes are wet, so blue they’re nearly glowing in the darkness, and Zoro is so, so tired. He vaguely registers the rest of the crew behind them and he angles his body to hide Sanji from view; he knows the cook would hate their nakama seeing him like this. The hand he has wrapped in Sanji’s collar loosens, falling away like fluttering paper, and he drops to his knees with a heavy thunk.

Sanji shudders, and Zoro feels sick. His — he doesn’t know what they are, but Sanji is his — cook’s cheekbone is already bruising, blooming purple-pink, and guilt sinks its claws into his stomach. “Why can’t you just let me help you?” he hears himself plead, breathless and choked, and Sanji smiles with blood across his teeth.

“Because I never thought I was worthy of being saved,” he whispers, looking down at his trembling hands. There are tears dripping off his chin now, luminous streaks down his face that suddenly looks haggard in the starlight. “And I never wanted you to see me like this.”

Zoro thinks he breaks. Shatters right apart like the bottle of scotch on the ground not far away from them, amber seeping sticky into the wood. He’d have to apologise to Franky later, he thinks a little wildly, throat tight and fingers numb as he reaches out to pull Sanji to him.

The cook goes slack like a puppet off strings, hiding his face in the crook of Zoro’s neck as he really starts to cry. Zoro sits back on his heels and takes his weight, cards a hand through his hair so that it doesn't stick because he knows that Sanji would make a fuss about it being all over his face later, and it’s these tiny, trivial things that wrench a hollow sound from his lungs. “There’s no such thing as it not being my fight, you hear me?” It comes out more watery that he likes, but the laugh-sob Sanji lets out tells him the message got across. “If it’s your fight, it’s my fight. I’m with you till the end no matter what happens.”

“It’s pathetic,” Sanji hiccups, shoulders hitching as he tries to get himself under control.

“No, it’s not.”

“I’m pa—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Zoro hisses, at odds with the way he rubs a soothing palm over Sanji’s back. His knees are starting to hurt. He doesn’t care. “They hurt you. They put you through some fucked-up shit, cook, and then you had to go through it again. And you were strong enough to make it out but you— You could stand to give it a rest, alright?”

It’s times like this when he wishes he could be better with words, because Sanji looks a little like he might start crying all over again when Zoro takes a peek at his face. He presses his thumbs flat to wet skin, salt cooling in the night wind, dragging up along Sanji’s cheek as the cook sniffs. “Let me be there for you,” he rasps.

He feels like he’s been scraped raw from the inside out. Like someone had hollowed him out with a ladle and now his guts were spilling all across the deck. He doesn’t know how to describe the twisting in his chest when he thumbs rust-red iron away from Sanji’s bottom lip, regretfully cups the spill of colour spreading over the right side of his face. “Look at me?” he tries again, and Sanji does, fine lashes clumped with tears and inhale trembling. 

“I’m sorry,” he gasps, and Zoro is an open wound, raw and weeping as Sanji climbs into his lap and curls up into a ball. 

“You are worth so much. To the crew, to our friends—You’re worth more to me than you could ever know. So shut up and stop trying to deal with it alone,” he says in lieu of a reply, achingly quiet. He hopes it’s enough as Sanji digs lithe fingers into his shoulder. 

He welcomes the pain like an old friend. Bears it gladly, for if he could take all of Sanji’s he would. 

But he can’t— So he tries. Tries to be gentle, as much as he knows how, sits properly and folds his legs and rocks them back and forth because it helps Sanji’s breathing even out. Traces the spirals of his eyebrows and brushes his mouth over the bruise on his cheek, presses his silent apologies into skin.

Sanji’s spine bows beneath his hands, and the cook’s fingers are wound tight into the back of his shirt like it’s a lifeline. His pale hair tickles Zoro’s jaw, impossibly mussed and starting to curl with the sea air. Their crew is waiting. Worried, surely, but they can wait a little longer; Zoro will make it up to them.

For now, he thinks he and Sanji have earned this. 

fin.

[t3ddyd0ll]

if darling knew your yans beforehand and was compliant with a relationship, do you think the yans would've tried to have a normal relationship? like not kidnapping them at all, would they be able to handle it? except thomas and viktor because i don't know how you'd be able to achieve normalcy if you're a doll or in a cult..!

– 🧣

i’ve thought about this before too!! and the answer is sort of!

simon would be real sweet, but very clingy and protective. tracking ur location, watching you at work, keeping an eye on ur friends to make sure they’re not hurting you or getting hurt, if they’re really good to you. (though hed be jealous when you hang out with people without them). he wants you over at their house allll the time and wants you to spend the night, every night. hey, why don’t you just move in? he could make the money, he can take care of you, you don’t have to worry about anything, doesn’t that sound nice?

and you’d have days where, sometimes you’d like to leave, but you’d be too tired to drive, and you’re not sure why? but oh, simon’s there to take care of you, don’t worry <3. and sometimes you’d like to leave for work in the morning, but for some reason, your manager took you off the schedule ….??? without prior notice? so, looks like you have the day off! you can stay with them :D!!! and sometimes, your alarms just wouldn’t go off. technology can be sooooo finicky sometimes, huh?

they’d also like to do pretty much all the things they’d do for you when you’re a kidnap victim. like, pleaaasseeee let him cook for you, wash your hair, let him tuck you into bed and hold you, let them do everything for you!!

other than that, simon would be semi- normal. they'd even leave their house to go on dates with you! just. please don't let go of his hand?

wyatt would stalk darling irl a LOT. following you pretty much anywhere you go, tracking ur locations if they cant be out. they’d want to hang out alllll the time, and be veryyyy jealous if youre hanging out without them. lots of checking up on u and panicking a little when you don't answer your phone. they'd be very possessive and obsessive, like, extremely. they'd also still make a shrine for you, as well as carrying around a little pocket shrine. they'd work more to buy things for you even if it makes their mental and physical health decline, and they'd spend more time worrying about you bc you're not cooped up in their apartment. but! it's okay. that's what the stalking is for, right?

overall though, they'd be very sweet and attentive just like when darling is kidnapped! just more anxious.

emiliano would be the most normal of the bunch i think. while he'd still show his possessive and obsessive traits, would still stalk you, still try to control you in smaller ways, he'd also be much more secure in your relationship! he'd want to have sleepovers a lot and spend a lot of time with you, but he's not gonna panic if you don't respond to a message right away. he'd have an easier time having time away from you, but wouldn't want it to last too long. also, you'd never have to worry about being hurt by people ever again! if someone tries, they're getting killed <3! also, you can't ever break up with him, so don't even think about it.

you’d be correct also that thomas and vik would have a uh. hard time being normal given their circumstances with darling.

[carltonlassie]

In case ppl were curious about the open hardware, open software gay ipod. As you can see, next to other mp3 players.... It's massive. But the good thing is that it should be easy to repair, customize and replace parts all you want. Also, unlike the other players (which are old tech by now), it has Bluetooth which is great. But the setup took the longest time, because I was having issues with the microsd card I was using. It would crash in the middle of a song and get stuck in a boot loop until I took out the SD card. I had to set up a dev environment to get the debugger running to find out that I was having the same memory allocation issue as the others. So I followed the suggested fix of removing all the album art on all the files, and it seemed to work for a second before it crashed again. In my desperation, I reformatted the card to FAT32 so I can put it back into my sansa, but somehow??? it fixed the malloc issues?? (before it was exFAT) So I'm just keeping my eyes on it and trying to actually listen to songs, but now i'm noticing some user experience quirks.

ex) on rockboxed sansa if I select a file from the file browser, it plays the rest of the songs in the folder and even moves onto the next folder if I reach the end, but Tangara only loads up that single song into memory. You can go through the 'albums' menu and select to load the entire album but still, it only plays that the album and doesn't play any more than that. sometimes I just like going through my own file structure rather than the indexed database, so I wish there was a better experience there.

The scroll wheel is a bit finicky imo, even after I've adjusted the sensitivity it takes me SO many tries to get the dial to move up just one entry. Sometimes the small controlled movement I'm making to go up just one line registers as a long press, which makes the UI jump up a whole page. I think there are some feature requests that are asking for a "hybrid" approach of it acting like a button and a scroll wheel so we'll see where that goes!

Under the cut for the other mp3 players I have

Sansa fuze has a bad screen, I think I messed up the ribbon cable when I opened it up to clean. Just gotta go back in there and fix it again 😭. Also the mechanical wheel (which is a rubber coated plastic) is STICKY because the rubber disintegrated, so I really do have to open it up to disassemble everything to clean it out. But otherwise it sounds great, takes an SD card, compact and customizable enough.

The Ipod mini has a bad battery that I replaced but the rockbox + sleep state messed up the new battery and it won't hold a charge anymore so, I put in the original battery and reverted it back to the original software which SUCKS bc itunes (I think u can foobar2000 it actually, but haven't tried yet). I don't think rockbox and ipod mix very well in terms of sleep state which is so unfortunate because I love the feel of the hardware but hate the software.

The sansa clip+ is the first one I had and still is thee best, it just has the smallest battery of all of them :( rockbox works great and it has never let me down!

[rookinthecrownest]

Hii, I hope you’re doing great and have had a wonderful start to 2025! You already know I love all your DA fanworks because I’m yapping about them non stop 24/7 but since you’ve been posting more art lately (that latest Lucanis study was SO AMAZING 10000 out of 10 highly recommend staring at it forever), I wanted to ask you if you had any tips you’d be able to share for someone who wants to learn digital art (my delulu 2025 resolution is to try my hand at it lol, we’ll see how that goes): from best apps to use to techniques or anything you think could be useful. For context, I’m familiar with sketching and drawing on paper, but have never done digital art, so my question is less about the mechanics of drawing and more about the medium, if that makes sense. Thanks so much in advance!

Thank you for the ask! <3

AND TYSM FOR THE LOVE ON MY ART IT'S SO APPRECIATED!! ;-; <333

I'm so glad to hear you wanna get into digital art for 2025! I'm happy to share some things that helped me get into it and bits of wisdom I've picked up from others along the way.

Digital art is an awesome medium that gives you a TON of freedom to basically create whatever (so does traditional but obviously with a few more practical constraints like materials etc.) - that being said when you're first transitioning from traditional -> digital it can be a bit finicky. Give yourself a LOT of grace/patience because just getting the hang of the basic mechanics of digital art can be a steep learning curve (at least it was for me).

I'll put everything below the cut bc this will be long and full of rambling.

App Recommendations

Recommendations for apps depends on the kind of digital drawing you're going to be doing. I have an iPad so I can only really recommend apps for iPad lol.

If you have an iPad, I recommend Procreate - I love it, it's what I've been using for the last year or so. It's intuitive and fairly easy to pick up for beginners (and there's a TON of tutorials on Youtube on how to use it/intro to the software).

It's easy to download custom brushes/patterns/textures into the app. Procreate also does this neat thing where it automatically records all of your brush strokes so you can make process videos without having to go 'oh, I should screen record myself drawing this so I can play it back later!' <- nice for someone like me who is very forgetful lol.

I tried the adobe one too (forget what it's called), and I think Autodesk Sketchbook as well a long time ago but I didn't love them. I always go back to Procreate lol.

If you have a computer/PC set up then I assume you'd be working with a tablet. Apps for this kind of drawing would be things like Photoshop/Paint Tool Sai/Clip Studio Paint. I'd recommend watching a few Youtube speedpaints by artists who use these softwares to see how they function and if they would be a good fit for you but I don't have a tablet myself so I can't offer much guidance there.

The Right Tools for the Job

I don't know if you've ever heard this, but I used to hear it all the time. The tools/software shouldn't make a difference, a good artist can work with whatever they have available and make a masterpiece.

And this is true! For expert artists. I've seen some amazing artists pull off masterpieces in MS paint without layers/brush pressure sensitivity/etc.

This is not quite so true for novices (in my humble opinion and heavily coloured by my own experience).

When I first started using procreate and was just using the default brushes I hated absolutely everything I drew. Nothing looked right. I couldn't even make a simple sketch without hating it. It took me a long time to admit that the default brushes in Procreate were just not helping me create what I wanted to create, so I caved and started buying custom brush packs made by other artists. I'm not saying if you use Procreate you'll run into the same difficulty I had, just that if you do find yourself getting frustrated with the default brushes being hard to master at first, don't be like me and feel like an utter failure instead of finding the right tools to help you succeed.

I really like Jing Sketch's brushes, I use them ALL the time.

And now that I'm more experienced, I can use those default brushes and actually prefer them in some instances.

The Right People to Learn From

There's a ton of great artists out there who make digital art/general art tutorials, who I learned a lot from.

On Youtube, check out:

Sinix Design

Marc Brunet

ChrissaBug

On Instagram, check out Derek Domnic DSouza (lots of great content about Procreate in particular, but also just in general very helpful with digital art tips). He also does free workshops sometimes :)

And that's about everything I can think of! Hopefully that answers your question! <3

[rederiss]

U ain’t gotta post this but everyone seems to be missing the point where no one is saying the Trojans aren’t handling things realistically, but rather that in their realistic portrayal they are screwing up royally. And tbh idk if Nora gets that either bc everything they do is framed in a golden light bc at least they meant well!!

I agree! I think My post got misconstrued a little in where people think I am saying Trojans need to be perfect. Earlier in my blog, I have discussed that the Trojans don’t know how to handle trauma and that we should forgive them, but we should still discuss how they are screwing up! Two things can be true and two things can be discussed. We can recognize that the Trojans are trying their best in a finicky situation while also recognizing that they are screwing up and in some cases, they are crossing boundaries.

It is a realistic portrayal! I actually enjoy that they are royally screwing up. However, we shouldn’t just wave it off either. There is nuance and many points of discussion about their Trojans influence. In my specific example with Pat, I was merely criticizing the disrespect of boundaries… and I think that is a fair thing to criticize… Just wasn’t expecting that post to create any discourse (though that is just my own naïveté atp). And maybe in my post, I should have established that I am not expecting them to be perfect so that part shouldn’t have been misconstrued.

Many people talk about how Jean should be pushed, and I do agree. However, there is a difference between pushing and disrespecting a boundary. In that specific part, Pat disrespected a boundary, not just simply push. By disrespecting a boundary, it will cause a reverse effect on Jean’s healing journey… especially with that boundary was an ED boundary. An Eating Disorder is one of those things that are so finicky that anything could set that person off. In no way am I expecting Pat to know this, but it’s more of just… the human decency of not crossing a boundary that Jean so clearly established that I am criticizing (He threw food at him for god sake!)

Honestly, we should discuss more about how the Trojans are messing up while also recognizing the nuances of their unique situation with Jean. Many things can be true and discussed when it comes to this situation. Anyway, thank you Anon!!

[ashthewaterghoul]

I'm certain that he wouldn't have been fired if he hadn't done something that directly affected the band

Ghost has worked with some weeeeeird people before, and they're still involved in the band somehow. So I'm convinced it has nothing to do with the allegations and everything to do with something he did during the tour. Some people have theorized that its the kiss between he and Tobias, that it might've been unplanned and consented... We'll never know. Maybe he just had a tantrum, and that was a good enough reason to end his contract.

everyone says hooray!

What me and my brother have been thinking is that the allegations kinda put Jutty on his last straw. Music contracts can be very finicky and we all know Tobias is NOT going to do anything that could risk him catching another lawsuit.

The kiss is what I think was the final straw snapped.

Tobias has NEVER kissed the Ghouls - only like blowing kisses, or kissing the tops of their heads - but never on the mouth, in a full mask let alone a half mask.

I think Jutty was fired after that bc if it was in fact not consensual, then that is sexual assault and certainly grounds to be fired mid-tour.

If he was just sick or something, I feel like it would be mentioned on stage, like Dew’s broken foot or when he hurt his shoulder during Prequelle.

That predator is hopefully far far away from Ghost now🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

[kittyoverlord]

At work bc I can't take any more time off and I'm a fucking mess. I'm going to park my car in the corner of the parking lot and cry.

We weren't able to do the casting yesterday because I mis-judged how big she was and didn't get enough materials. I started researching what to use and just had to stop because everything hurts too much. My mom's husband Brian is going to look into that.

We have to do a two part mold to do the kind of thing I want to do. I have for a long time said I don't want to learn mold making because it's too finicky, and this is not an ideal time to have to learn that skill. I haven't found anyone or any examples of the kind of casting that I want to do, so there's a lot of unknowns.

If anyone has done this kind of thing before and has any advice, I would love to hear it. We really only get one shot at this and I don't want to mess it up.

My idea is to lay Xamora, my bearded dragon, out and impress her nose to tail, trying to get as many details and spikes as possible. The internet is recommending play-doh to do the inital mold, but it kept bouncing back on us. I was thinking of using an air-dry clay but becuase it shrinks I can only use it to make the silicone mold, then I think will need to do plaster of paris for the final casting.

Let me know if that all makes sense, what mistakes to look out for. I can't do my typical research right now because of the grief. Thanks in advance.

[emberglowfox]

If im understanding that the things connected to their back are meant to house the dragons? Can I ask how? I am feeling a little awe-horror about the implications that a Robot Dragon that I think are the size of a barn ish fits into a tiny spine box.

HI HI yes! that is a very good question

while not the size of a barn (unless you’re 09, in which case it’s arguable) the DRACOs are certainly way bigger than should be able to fit in that Little Fucking Thing (shown in pic below)

in original (VERY original way long ago) versions i wanted them to just fold up. that ended up being just. not really feasible, so instead we’ve got DISINTEGRATION!! yaaay!!

as shown above (and more artfully in the link below bc tumblr is being finicky) the DRACOs (and the PULSARs (aka the v2s, idk if i’ve used that name on here yet) since they’re derivative) dissolve into… i don’t even really know. light? plasma? something of the sort. either way, 8 foot tall, several hundred pound robot now fits in a 10 inch rectangle and weighs maybe a couple ounces. useful!

HERE IS THE EXAMPLE OF THAT IT WONT LET ME LINK PROPERLY BC IM ON MY PHONE

“how the fuck does THAT work?” not a clue! as far as hand-waved futuristic technology in shr goes, this is one of the more egregiously unrealistic examples.

“but wouldn’t such an advanced, versatile technology have a profound effect on the world, even outside of the DRACOs?” it definitely would have, had everything not immediately gone to shit! see, on-core (pre-war megacompany responsible for a lot of things, but notably the DRACOs) developed this technology alongside a lot of others. the DRACOs were basically the culmination of all their advancements; not made to be actually useful, but more to be like, hey, look at all this crazy shit we can do! aren’t we cool?

now defenex, maker of the PULSARs slash v2s, has a monopoly on it (and is the only group that like. has access to the technology, really) and won’t let anyone else use it. lame.

[racke7]

Me vs FF14 dungeon-diving

I did Aurum Vale as a DPS and met a group that kept saying that it was a "nightmare dungeon" and... it isn't?

Like, the first run to the first-boss? Yeah. Definitely a bit finicky, and sometimes RNG-pathing gets involved and you risk getting murked by a toad, but it's... honestly not that bad?

We wiped like... five times. Just doing that single run. There weren't even really any toads involved as far as I saw.

It got to the point where I ended up trying to give the tank a crash-course on where to go:

You take the far left -> aoe everything as you run -> go inside of the boss-room -> take the left turn inside of the room to break line-of-sight with the wall (so that the ranged mobs come away from the toads) -> use a mitigation -> keep using aoe until they all die -> the end.

And bcs it felt like I was dealing with very green sprouts, once we survived that (by basically just attrition-killing the mobs) I reminded everyone to "eat a plant after 3 debuffs" before we went into the actual boss-fight.

The boss-fight that we then wiped on, because our healer forgot to heal themselves (I've done that once before, bcs brain-fart, I ain't gonna point fingers, but also like... you're the ones getting worked up about this being a nightmare, try harder)?

But like... it made me remember once when I was doing it as a tank.

We had a very fresh sprout (never done the dungeon before) as healer. And one of the DPS were basically hyping the dungeon up as "really bad" (I don't usually chat much, bcs I'm busy "killing shit" and I suck at multitasking), and it is pretty nasty for a new healer if they don't know what to expect so I didn't disagree.

I don't remember how much of the dungeon we went through before that DPS basically went "yeah - normally it's way worse than this. today we have a fantastic tank".

Which was flattering, but I didn't exactly feel like it was deserved? I didn't do anything much worse/better than the regular tanks?

But considering this run and how it felt so bizarre for this dungeon to be a struggle? Considering that string of weirdo-tanks that I kept having a few weeks back (implying that there are a lot of those to go around)?

I... might be a good tank?

[kaoarika]

tfw you decide to go to the other local of the store I frequently go and I was tooo damn tired to look at the stuff they had (and the place smelled moldy - I feel they have air cooler and not an a/c), and it doesn't help the manga stuff they manage is... weirdly organized.

Like, I would get having a small corner for everything currently published/localized here. Good if it was 2017 (the first time I went there)... relatively BAD in 2025, like 50+ licenses later. Because they are mixing series that the store imported AND ALSO those that they are published here like. Yes, Dorohedoro, as an example. Sure. But the same row had the Spanish's Norma Editorial edition and Mexico's Panini Manga ?? Man, going each two weeks to the one I DO frequent has me conditioned to look at their shelves much more appropiately...

But, man... what a conflicting feeling. This one local always had the imported series behind a glass door bc reasons? And it's so... inefficient to me. Maybe if the glass doors weren't in the entrance? There's a local next door that I am like "it wouldn't hurt them to rent/get the place next door", because the space they have is atrocious. And this is me, who complains "one day will arrive and the local I do frequent MORE will need to do better decisions on the goods they hace organized there"

(the only plus I do have is that at least women work there... the one I go? never, lmao)

SO. Okay. Fine. There was this one title that just got my attention and since their online store is very finicky with the availability of the units they have in stock, by the time they barely have any copies, they always ask the consumer to send a message through WA to ask about them. Sure. Okay. Fine. Cool. I personally asked and turns out that, at least one of the volumes was in their "storage" local, so to speak (which wasn't too far, turns out!), and the other volume is in the local I go. SO, next 2 weeks I will try and get it. Frankly, I'm 80% it will still be there just because it's too niche, and I doubt ppl would like to spend over 260 pesos on it :/ I feel I'm probably the 5% that ventures on niche imported series on the local I do go, because lol.

The storage/center is a little bit like the one I go, luckily. Next door is an "official" licensed Panini store, so I think I get it now why the storage center BARELY has the Panini stock in a "why do we even ask at this point" kind of thing, lmao. If I had more time, I would have gotten one of the few I am missing, but frankly, at this point, online is my best bet to get them :/ (I went for the one I was looking for, and another that was on my watchlist, but was sold out? in the one I frequent... I SHOULD HAVE ASKED, I COULD HAVE GOTTEN LATER, AND I WOULDN'T BE FEELING LIKE REMORSE IN GETTING IT, AND STUFF)

But, man.

This day left me tired and this wasn't the only one thing I did today, lmao. I ended up both physically and mentally tired. Luckily my foot's muscular pain isn't as bad as it was last month, but I feel like the feet remembers and I don't want to go through LOTS of stairs at least for the rest of the year 😓.

I'm pretty lucky with the local I do go, lmao. Pretty. The way they put their shelves is the best. I am so used to it (hence that one time in February messed my perception, with the lack of stock?), and there are times that MAN, it wouldn't be so bad to work there... but I'm like, HMMMM (at least I confirmed their other stores do hire women, but I'm too finicky, maybe 10 years older than them, lol, and I have been doing home office and staying at home a LOT in the past 6 years, that I'm not as friendly as I try to be IRL anymore).

[orcelito]

Somehow managed to mostly finish my C lab today by the start of lab time. But there were a few problems I had with some of the loops I had that my TA ended up helping me figure out what was wrong. So, a finicky lab, But the good news is that the next lab for this class isn't gonna be nearly as much work. Or so I've heard.

Gotta do my essay writing today. Not gonna try to work on my web programming thing today, bc im several days sleep deprived and I need to rest up before driving tomorrow. Just gonna have to try to steal some time to do it after everything tomorrow (if I have the energy for it) & whatever remains will be done Sunday night. Whether I get any sleep or not.

Sigh. I'm almost done, tho. I'm almost done...

[mandy4ever69420]

I really enjoyed your fic recs (such a shame that one of them is not finished:/), please share with the us if there’s ever anything else you might wanna recommend! I don’t trust a lot of other people in this fandom with fic recs but you always have the most sane takes about everything so

i'm glad! my finicky standards and specifications make me nervous to recommend fanfiction for anything bc i don't want to be dropping something that i have notes and concerns about even if it is generally well written. if i find something else i can append it to this post i guess.

very kind of you to say about my opinionated logorrhea❤️ i do my best :)