#got me zooming in on that handwriting

[grandtreeangel]

[hey-august]

omg #5 for a blue bottle with quotes #1 “Give me that.” and #6“I like this.”? and super congrats on 250!! Your writing is wonderful <3 <3

Thaaaank you so much, anon!! I appreciate this so much! 🩷 I'm glad bottle was the first one I got to write - it was the first one I came up with when creating the prompt list. 🥹🥹

Prompts: Bottle (blue), "Give me that." "I like this." Teaser: "Messages in a bottle - feelings and thoughts sent into the world by cowards who were too afraid to keep them." Warnings: SFW. Not an established relationship. Some negative feelings of not being enough, stagnant, and not fitting in. Word count: ~1.4k

Check out my 250 Follower Prompt Event and see fulfilled prompts here.

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

“Captain, we found another one!”

Buggy’s head whipped around before the rest of his body turned, facing away from the shoreline he had been studying. Cabaji held up a bottle. It was sealed and unlabeled. The blue glass turned translucent in the sunlight and revealed a shadow within.

“Give me that!” Buggy shouted as a hand zoomed over to snatch the bottle. He held it aloft to study the movement inside while questioning Cabaji. It was by luck that one of the crew noticed the odd bobbing in the water not long ago. 

The pirate captain retreated to his quarters, footsteps moving in time with the drumming in his chest. He was certain this was another one. The bottle and the wax coating the top were familiar. Fingers picked at the trails that hardened along the neck of the bottle, a fruitless attempt at assessing how long ago the container was filled, sealed, and tossed. Just like all the others, the material stuck fast. No softness indicating recent activity, nor crumbling from an extended passing of time.

Buggy pulled out a knife from one of his coat’s interior pockets and deftly cut along the mouth of the bottle before sticking the knife into the wax covered cork. He tugged. And tugged again. And once more. Barely any movement. He slapped the heel of the bottle, hoping it would jostle the cork. Nothing. Shit. Gripping the wooden handle tightly, he tried twisting next. And tried. An awful screeching squeak filled the room as the cork whined from the motion. Satisfied with the movement, he pulled again. Nope.

Frustration coursed through his muscles, trembling his hand and shaking the bottle. If he wasn’t so worried about the object inside, Buggy would have welcomed the tinkling of smashed glass long ago. The captain collapsed into the chair behind his desk and eyed the sapphire bottle. He chewed on his lip and sucked his teeth, letting the thoughts in his head run their courses. With a silent nod, he nested the bottle between his knees and gripped the neck in one hand. Disconnecting an arm, that hand gripped the knife handle once more and drew back. After a few tense seconds, the cork popped with a hollow sound. As if his lungs had been corked as well, Buggy released his own breath.

Finally, he was able to tease out the paper inside and unfold it. The papers were never rolled, always folded. It seemed to be easier to stuff them inside the bottles this way. Familiar handwriting filled his vision. Familiar, yet unknown. Buggy didn’t know the author, but had come across enough bottles and letters to create a one-sided connection. Well, sort of one-sided. While the pirate had read seven (soon to be eight) letters, he currently had six bottles in his possession - three brown, one green, and the newest blue bottle. He had used two other bottles to send his own letters out to sea, filled with anonymous responses and shameless hope that they may find their way back to the owner.

Why, though? Why did these writings have such a hold on him? Buggy wasn’t sure. At first he thought they were silly. Of course he expected the first few to be treasure maps, not words from an unknown person. Messages in a bottle - feelings and thoughts sent into the world by cowards who were too afraid to keep them. But in each one, he learned more about the author. About you. He felt special reading your innermost thoughts. The ones that you couldn’t trust to anyone, so you released them to find their own journey or disappear.

You wrote about sunrises and sunsets. How you wished you could live among the colors on the horizon. The ink captured your loneliness and longing in words that matched the ache Buggy held inside. Feelings of not belonging, of not being enough, not doing enough, of fear, and of regret. You wrote about pain. And happiness. Sometimes you drew pictures of seashells you found. Of the seagulls that woke you up each morning. The crabs that you believed bullied you whenever you walked along the shore. So many details, but never enough about who you actually were.

Buggy wanted to know more. He wanted to offer you what you wanted - to live in a world of color. To find a place where you belong. Even though there was a slim chance his own responses would find you, there was a chance. Maybe. Eight of your own letters found their way to him, so perhaps that luck could extend the other way.

Afraid of skimming your letter too fast and speeding through the moment with excitement, Buggy dragged a finger below each word. He paced himself, wanting to savor the warmth of another new connection with you. He also admired each detail, as if it were art. Splotches where the ink flowed too fast, the places where you forgot to dot your i’s, the inconsistent spacing when you wrote too fast or worried about running out of room, the way your a’s always tilted to the side. 

In this letter, he could see your handwriting change along with the intent behind your message. What started with lighthearted musings and observations soon turned emotional. Shakey thoughts about the world beyond the one you knew. Concerns that you were wasting your life just dreaming. Hopes for a sign - something that would pull you out of the pit you felt trapped in.

Despite all that you poured onto the paper, there was still space for your little scribbles. Scattered seagulls looked at Buggy from the margins of the paper, as if waiting for him to do something. Even though he was only seeing them second-hand, the pirate could see the annoyed endearment you held for those noisy shits. But it was the picture you drew towards the bottom of the paper that really caught Buggy’s attention.

“Oh, this works. I like this…” he muttered to himself while leaning in. 

He pulled the paper close to scrutinize the lighthouse you drew. Your house. In a previous letter you mentioned living in a lighthouse, but that was barely enough information to do anything with. There was no way he could go up to each lighthouse he sailed past and successfully ask if someone had been sending messages in a bottle. Well, he tried it once and nearly got knocked out. You must be somewhere in this area, based on where the bottles were picked up. Now he had a visual to reference and a little more hope to hold.

---

Stepping around the crab holes littering the beach, you headed towards the edge of the water for your morning walk. A cool breeze swept past and dragged grains of sand to meet your bare feet. Unlike you, the sun was still waking up. A blanket of creamy orange and fiery red blended into the slate-blue of the retreating night.

Among the caws from the seagulls and the whispers of incoming waves was a soft but high-pitched scrape. The sound of something being dragged along the sand. It wasn’t long before you came across the source - a blue bottle rolling on the shore. You picked it up cautiously, wondering if it was one of your own tossed bottles.

Back at home, you picked off the wax top and untied the soggy red and white striped fabric wrapped around the neck. It took a few tries before you were able to pull out the paper inside. A paper filled with loopy handwriting in blue ink. A letter that felt like it was intended for you. Someone wrote about receiving a message in this very bottle, a message that they read multiple times before finally replying, in hopes the bottle would find it’s way back. The swirls of ink were comforting, building words that unfurled in your chest. Words that made you feel seen and heard, despite the anonymity.

You had started writing to release some of the thoughts that had been plaguing your mind. A part of you hoped they would find someone who felt similarly, but you believed it was more likely that the pieces of you would sink to the ocean floor and cease to exist. And if your bottles were found, you never expected the sentiments would be returned. And yet, fate felt differently.

Hot tears stung your eyes and fell onto the paper before you pushed it away. Tears brought by the comfort of a stranger. Someone who also experienced hardships and struggles, and carried fear. But they also lived. They described a vibrant life, the kind you dreamed of. The kind you’ll keep dreaming of, growing from the seed embedded in this letter and from the care a stranger held for you.

[ur-dad-satan]

Wally Darling is talking to US (WH update)

I saw a few people talking about the Welcome Home update and so far all the posts I've seen keep forgetting that Wally's eyes are on the site if you zoom out. Wally's eyes aren't the only thing there as of this update. This may have some spoilers so feel free to ignore this because I'm talking about what's there and what I think it means.

Now, of course there's the five commands we got around the website before this update. The Write hello, write ok, Move Barnaby, turn the Playfellow Exhibition upside down, and the reverse this image of Sally to be specific. All five of those commands got responses from someone within the website or even someone in Welcome Home. I saw someone say that it's Wally making these changes, and I honestly agree. The "Write hello" is met with red writing in Wally's handwriting.

Now, we know for a fact that this is Wally's handwriting because of the bottom of the Guestbook where everyone signed their name. This is the same handwriting as "Wally" and "Home" in the guestbook.

All of their handwriting is so distinct and only Wally's and Home's names are written in a) the same font and b) the same smiley/accent. Wally is talking to us and/or the WHRP team.

The Write ok is also completely wonky. We all assumed that meant add ok to the URL or just type ok and something would happen; however, the sticker page got completely rearranged. It's a complete mess and the character stickers spell out OK with a smiley face in the "O". Directly under "Neighbors" is Wally's little sticker gif thing and a little house has been constructed around the right eye and one around a Home and a Wally sticker.

It's also worth mentioning that the home sticker in the "welcome home house" is the only Home sticker on the page anymore. I haven't mentioned that the new little drawings that Wally's done have messages when you hover over them. This one in particular says "I did not write this. I did something else. I know who these neighbors are. Do you like them too?" I can't tell if that's Wally trying to come through or something/someone else.

When it comes to the Move Barnaby command, just a glance will show that Barn's name isn't there with Wally's and Howdy's. Barnaby's name is literally moved off of the page with a small drawing of the blue man himself with the message "Do you like Barnaby here?" The silly little guy is showing that he's answering whoever is trying to talk to him.

Barn was physically moved and then asked whether or not it was done correctly. That's also the only place he was moved from on the entire transcripts page.

The playfellow Exhibition page also had a little message saying to turn it upside down. Now anywhere on the page it says, "The Playfellow Exhibition" or even "The Playfellow Workshop" those words are upside down. There's also a drawing of a Christmas tree with an eye on it near the top.

When you hover over the drawing, it says "I did not know what to do. I think I am correct. Is it Homewarming where you are? Happy Homewarming." First of all, what is Homewarming? Is that supposed to be like a housewarming or a Neighborhood holiday or something like that? Also, what is the little guy confused about? Why would he be wrong when the instruction is so clear?

Lastly, the reverse this image of Sally thing is possibly the most bizarre thing about the new update. Of course, the command says to reverse the image so many people just flipped the picture horizontally. This is what we expected but this is what we got.

We got the literal BACK of the picture. You can still see Sally's hand and her shoes, but this shouldn't be possible. How can we see the back of the curtain when it's not a 3D picture. This one in particular leaves me with a bunch of questions and not really any theories. What does this mean for the sake of the website and therefore Wally and the other neighbors? Is Wally the only one who can communicate this way or even trying to? Are the others going to be able to communicate with us and the WHRP team?

In all seriousness, this is so cool and turning out so good! I'm really invested and so proud of Clown and all the voice actors. I can't wait to see where this goes from here and what the next update brings. <3

[woman-respecter]

Yo im super curious now who is that ex bestfriend that u mention on the taggs sometimes? Give us some ☕️

LMAO u have no idea how long i’ve been waiting for someone to ask me this. warning this is long and tells like. the entire story of our friendship which is probably more than u asked for haha

i’ll give the TL;DR here and the full story uner the cut

TL;DR: we were best friends for about 3 years, she found out i had feelings for her, and, though she promised she would stay friends with me, ended up completely abandoning me, refusing to ever speak to me again.

ok so exbestfriend (i’ll call her R) and i became friends in my very first class of freshman year of college. we really hit it off and had like completely compatible ADHD wavelengths. i wouldn’t say we were inseprable that year bc i had other friends we spent more time with but her and I, along with another girl from our class (who was kinda insane. i’ll call her G) would spend a lot of time together. sophmore year R and i got closer and started spending a lot more time together. she was kinda my best friend at that point but also didn’t go to the play that i starred in and worked really hard on which was a minor thing but something i still remember. second semester sophomore year we got a lot closer and spent a lot more time together, often without G. middle of the semester i realized i was in love with R (i remember the exact date actually. feb 28 2020.) but youse know how 2020 was, we got sent home for covid.

during the pandemic i took a gap year and R did zoom college but she and i stayed very close in touch, facetiming and texting all the time. we even sent *handwritted letters* to eachother which i still have. in fact she was the *only* person from college who kept in touch with me then. she usually seemed too busy but tried to make time for me. during this time i fell more in love with her.

first semester my junior, R’s senior year was mostly a really good time for me (until the end which we will get to.) we were finally able to see eachother in person after over a year. G wasn’t there to third wheel because she was studying abroad. and R and i became inseparable, even deciding to take a class together (economics, which i loved and R hated). we also became part of a larger friend group which was great for me because i never had that, but still were closer with eachother than the rest of the group. we spent as much time together as possible and saw eachother almost every day. i will admit i was a little to clingy to her at times but she didn’t seem to mind. during this time she was very affectionate and caring towards me. she even did little things that made me think she may have returned my feelings like holding my hand. the other girls in our friend group seemed to believe that R may have liked me as well.

and here’s the part you’ve all been waiting for IF YOU ARE HERE FOR THE BREAKUP START READING HERE: for hanukkah i knitted her a pair of mittens, which i gave her along with a letter borderline confessing my feelings to her. after reading the letter she called me, told me she didn’t return my feelings and that in fact she now felt uncomfortable with me hugging her or telling her i loved her (as a friend) but said she would still would remain friends with me no matter what. the next day we had a convo over text where she said some pretty hurtful things which caused me to kind of act out the next time i saw her at a get together with the rest of our friends. the last time i saw her in person that semester (or, spoiler alert, ever) was when i had to beg her to drive me to the airport to go home for the semester because i could not get an uber but she only did so begrudingly (even tho before my confession of love she had planned to take me to the airport that day)

during winter break i tried reaching out to her to talk things out but she said we didn’t need to. i tried to text her about the game we both played (genshin impact haha) but she would never respond. when we got back to school i kept trying to get her to hang out with our friend group but she always said she had something going on or straight up not responding. she didn’t text me on my birthday either. eventually at the end of february, i think my other friend (who is currently my only remaining friend from that group fun fact) contacted her and told R how bad i was doing because of her absence (oh yeah i forgot to mention, i became suicidally depressed from R’s absence) so R called me and while we argued about a bunch of stuff and she was somewhat homophobic towards me (she said she was more comfortable being friends with G because G was straight) she eventually told me that yes we could be friends again she just needed more time. which i guess i was ok with but it did not stop me from being suicidally depressed.

a month later i reach out to R like hey i really miss being friends could you let me know when you want to be friends again. a WEEK after me sending that text she responds and tells me she doesn’t want to be friends ever again and says some more hurtful shit. that’s the last i’ve heard from her. i almost offed myself at this.

rest of that semester goes badly, my depression gets worse and worse to the point that i lose the rest of my friends except for one (who happens to share a name with R, a sick coincidence) because they can’t deal with it. also R blocks me on instagram and genshin impact.

my depression is a bit better now, it was super treatment resistant so i changed meds a few times. but i’m still not fully recovered from this and i never will be. all i want in life is to have her back. there is an R shaped hole in me that will never and can never be filled. i’m not sure if i’m capable of ever loving again.

so yeahhh thats it. if u read this whole thing ur insane but i love u 💖

[wingsofimagery]

Wishful Prayers

🧧 Summary: Jongho and you prepare for the Lunar New Year, writing up fortunes, as more people visit during this time around than during the Western New Year. 🧧Characters: Dragon!Jongho + Zodiac Keeper!Reader [Zodiac!ATEEZ + Zodiac Keeper!Reader] 🧧Genre: Slice of Life, Zodiac Spirit AU 🧧Rating/Warnings: General/SFW; Content warning: loosely based on Buddhist religious practice, but no religion is directly mentioned 🧧Word Count: 1635 🧧A/N: Back with a pt two! The LNY has not ended yet. I still have less than 3 more days left~ Pt 1 here

You scrambled around to clean the temple. People were coming to visit soon for the lunar new year. You wanted to make sure it looked clean before the crowd arrived. Jongho sat behind a table, legs crossed as he wrote fortunes onto a scroll of paper, wrapped it up, and threw it to the side. You stopped sweeping for a moment to watch his concentrated form. 

A smile crossed over your lips as you observed his focused self. His horns shone with brilliance as he communicated with the stars. All the boys had the ability to read the stars. They could give vague but also specific readings to people. They did not have to hand it to the person personally; the fortunes somehow always made it to the rightful owners. 

“They’re tied by fate,” Seonghwa once told you when you asked them how these fortunes were so accurate. People always came back to inform you how scarily precise they were.

You pretended to sweep again, quickly making your way behind him. Once you were directly behind Jongho, you laid the broom down on the floor. Kneeling on the floor, you wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your chest against his back, careful not to step on his scaly tail.

“Almost done?” 

“Just got about fifty more to go,” he responded while writing without faltering. 

You hummed in response as you continued to observe his handwriting; beautiful penmanship enraptured you with the smooth brush gliding across the parchment. You were always envious of his handwriting, always wondered how he wrote the hanja so proportionally. You always had trouble writing them properly despite being taught by him in your younger years. Eventually, you gave up. The writing was too hard, the identifying was too hard—everything basically. 

“You’re not done with sweeping,” he commented as a matter of fact. 

You laughed sheepishly, cuddling him from behind and rubbing your cheek against his, “In a bit, you’re warm and cuddly.” 

“Do it now. You’ll have plenty of time later to give me your affection. Now go.” 

You pouted but knew he had a point. If you finished up quickly, you would have your way for the rest of the night. Then, the following morning, it would be straight to work to greet the people for the new year. So you stood up, forcefully pulled yourself away from him with a sulky pout, and grabbed the broom to sweep the remaining area. 

When you finished your task, you zoomed back to where Jongho was sitting. He had just set the fortunes into a box. He turned in his seated position just as you came tumbling into his arms. He could never get used to your clinginess, but he welcomed it all the same. His hand went to pat you on the head, fingers carding through your hair while his other arm wrapped around your waist. 

“I’m milking you of all your affection. I won’t be able to see you for twelve years after this year ends. I’ll be lonely for the next nine years,” you sighed against his neck, where you buried yourself against. 

Jongho shivered at the feeling. His heart swelled with pain. He knew how lonely you would be once he returned to his statue state. It was the same every cycle, and you guys had already gone through the cycle a handful of times. Of course, it did not make things any less lonesome for you despite having experienced it multiple times. That was why he and the other boys would always spoil you when they were around. He could not let you wallow in sadness for long, though. Superstition is that being sad around the new year will cause the rest of the year to be filled with negative energy, so he did his best to cheer you up. 

“I’m not going anywhere yet. Let’s enjoy our time together and celebrate the beginning of the year with the community. We will serve a good year. We can worry about the rest later down the road. This year just started, after all. So keep your chin up, and smile for me.” 

You made an attempt to smile for Jongho as instructed. You two had some time to spend together, so you decided to watch a drama he picked up a day ago. You tried your best to stay awake, but soap operas usually put you to sleep, so your eyes began drooping down after an episode in.

Awakened by the sound of people bustling, you sat up straight instantly. You pick up your phone to view the bright screen. 10:25am—you had overslept. In panic, you threw yourself out of your bed and darted into the bathroom. Jongho must have brought you to your room without waking you up. He must have herded the morning crowd without you, too. That dragon was talented in everything he did, but now you felt terrible for not waking up on time to help him out. 

With a hop in your step, you ran out after doing your morning routine. While tying the bow around your waist, you greeted everyone with a wide smile. The temple was filled with people in the bright morning, but that did not discourage you. Instead, you became more energized to help ensure the vital day went as smoothly for everyone as possible. You slapped his arm gently but scoldingly when you got to Jongho, who was out and about in his human form. 

“Why didn’t you wake me up? Today’s a big day. There are so many people—”

“I’m handling it perfectly fine, aren’t I?” he quipped.

You paused as you observed the controlled crowd, “Well, yes, you are, but—” “I think that’s all that should matter. Now you can help me. Plus, you’re well rested, so you should be able to pick up half my burden just fine.” 

You sighed with resignation but took over half the tasks he was doing. Together, you both assisted the visitors as well as conversed with them. You greeted them with wishes of good health and fortune. You made sure the elderly got to where they needed and did whatever their bodies could not let them do. All went well as Jongho took care of the fortunes for the visitors. Just like last year, the guests gleefully exclaimed about their fortune. Although some felt discouraged with theirs, most were happy with their results. 

Time slipped by, and soon, the bustling crowd became lingering souls. It was no longer crowded like earlier in the day. Jongho went about cleaning up the place (messes left by kids of visiting families and those negligent of common courtesy) while you escorted the remaining crowd out of the temple. With a final smile to the last visitor, an elderly woman who came every year since you started your guardianship, the doors to the temple closed. 

Finally, there was room for you to breathe. Your shoulders slacked with relief as a sigh made its way out from your lips. There was still one more thing to do, though. You closed your eyes briefly to release the tension in your body. Jongho walked over to you with his fortune for you. He was back in his hybrid form, finding it most comfortable. 

“Do you want to read it now? Or after we do our new year’s prayer?” 

You opened your eyes to look at the folded piece of paper in his hand. Deep in your thoughts, you reached out to take it from him. You held onto it as you replied, “I'll read it after. The prayers are more important.” 

You made your way to the biggest shrine in the temple. Jongho got on his knees, kneeling on one of the cushions laid before the table filled with incense burners and fruits on plates, amongst many other offerings the visitors had placed. He clapped his hands together as he said his prayers silently. You slowly knelt down to do the same, eyes closed to say yours. With a bow, you both concluded your new year’s prayer. 

Jongho stood up first as he lit up incense sticks for the both of you. You each stuck yours into the burner and clapped your hands together for the last time. 

“Now, go ahead and read your fortune.” 

You laughed quietly when you saw how much his dragon tail was swinging around, betraying his emotions, “why are you so worked up? Is it because the fortune is good for me this year?” 

“Stop asking questions and read it for yourself!” he urged. 

“Alright, alright… chill your pants,” you lightly pushed him out of annoyance, but there was a smile on your face nonetheless, indicating to him that you were not actually mad. You read the fortune silently, eyes scanning the text Jongho wrote with focus. You hummed when you finished, folding it back up into the triangle he originally made. A smile stretched across your lips, and you thanked him for it. 

“I hope what I wrote is all true,” he wished in a soft voice. 

“So do I,” you pocketed the fortune into the pouch strapped to your body, “now, we worked hard today. Let’s get something to eat. How does eating out sound?” 

“Perfect, I’m exhausted.” 

“I’m sure you are, my little dragon,” you cooed as you gave Jongho an affectionate pat on the head; you did not forget to scratch near his horn where he felt the most pleasure, “We’ll go celebrate with…” 

“I want to go to a Hong Kong cafe.”

You raised your eyebrow, “that’s kind of specific.” 

“Are we going or not?” he had already begun walking to his room to grab his jacket. 

You laughed but also went to bundle up before leaving the temple. 

“A Hong Kong cafe it is~”

[bellysoupset]

Sicily - Part 1

I have no patience whatsoever! So here, have part 1:

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

Vin was not the type to make a big fuss out of his birthday. Most years he only went out with Leo, Luke and Bell and they got drunk and smoked weed, maybe sung in the karaoke.

But that was before. Before he got a super extra girlfriend who loved to party and didn't understand what "no" meant. Before he nearly broke his neck in a car crash and worried his parents half to death. Before his birthday incidentally lined up with a long state holiday.

So this year they were celebrating his birthday in "style" as Wendy had called it. She had been incredibly secretive about everything for a month now and Vince couldn't say he wasn't amused and enthralled by it. It was heartwarming to know how much he was loved.

He had, so far, walked on Wendy talking on the phone with his mother twice, in a zoom call with Lucas, with Jonah too, and hiding packages in the closet, giggling with Bella. So Vince couldn't say he was surprised when she straddled him in bed, a week before his birthday and held up a deep red box before his eyes.

"What is this?" he asked, lying against the pillows. She had a large, manic smile on.

"Open it up."

He rolled his eyes, putting away his book, marking the page and taking the box.

"You're a bit early for my birthday, honey, it's only in week..." Vince said, voice trailing off as he found a simple cardboard box, long and skinny under the paper wrap. By the package he had judged it was a watch, but no watch would come in a little paper box. A pen?

"Open it, open it, open it," Wendy said, almost bouncing with how happy she was. Vince smiled, pulling the lid off and then removing the box contents: a handmade long ticket, in Wendy's handwriting.

"I don't understand this, Wen," Vince said, picking up the paper and reading it. You're invited to the best birthday trip ever. Dress code: your birthday suit and that speedo I love. Turn it around- "what...?" he turned the sturdy cardstock around and then raised his eyebrows. Clipped to the back there was another ticket, this one not so handmade, "Wendy, no. This is too much."

"It's not," she rolled her eyes, leaning in and smashing her lips against his, "I wanna make love to you in a beach. I want to see if you get tanned or red like a lobster," she said against his mouth, "I want you to have the best birthday ever."

"Wendy, amore mio," Vince's voice was strained as he pushed her back, holding the ticket before her eyes, "this is a ticket to Tonnara. È in Sicilia, Wendy! Sicilia, Italia!"

She jumped when he switched from English to Italian and Wendy rolled her eyes, sitting back on her heels and cupping his face, "Vincenzo," she said in a stern voice, "we almost lost you this year, you understand that, honey? Please let us celebrate you?"

"Not in Italy!"

"No one else thinks it's that big of a deal," she smiled, hitting his nose with hers, "your parents wanted to go to Sicily anyway-"

"My parENTS!?" Vince exclaimed, pushing her off his lap and pacing the room, "Wendy Marshall, what did you do?!"

"Lucas has a house there! It's not the end of the world-"

"Lucas doesn't have houses, his father does!"

"We're going!" Wendy got up on the bed in order to be able to see eye to eye with him, "all tickets are bought, your mom is over the fucking roof. Bella and I already shopped for it. Jonah switched all his hospital shifts! It's in four days, Vince. We're going and you're going to love it and you'll let me and all our friends spoil you rotten because we love you and this was not just my idea, it was everyone else's too! Capiche cábron?"

"Cábron is Spanish," Vince scoffed, then his shoulders dropped as he took in a deep breath. A smiled sprouted up in the corner of his lips, "fine, but ask for it in italian."

"You want me to beg?" Wendy rolled her eyes, but she was smiling again, "you're out of your mind-"

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him and grinning, "say per favore, amore mio."

"No," Wendy looped her arms around his neck, "let me go."

He chuckled, squeezing her and letting his hand wander down, pining her to the bed, "can't believe I'm going back to Sicilia, I haven't been there in years..."

"Yeah," Wendy smiled, squirming under him and kissing him, "you're going with me. With all of us."

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

Wendy wasn't kidding about everything being decided already. Even his boss had been talked with, seeming entirely too smug as he cornered Vince in the museum after a tour.

"Your pretty little girlfriend said you two are going to Italy," Troy said, big smile on. He was a tiny man with striking blue eyes and a bowl hair cut, "sounds like a proposal sort of trip, Vince. Do you wanna tell me anything?"

"I'm not proposing," Vince rolled his eyes, "it's far too early for that, we've only been together for a year."

"Uhm," Troy shrugged, "well, you know how these college girls are. Ring before spring, Vince."

"Wendy isn't like that," he insisted, "it's not about some ring, it's because of the accident I had at the start of the year. Scared them all half to death."

The older man nodded in understanding, "scared us too, Vince. Either way, enjoy your trip. You don't have to come next Friday."

Vince raised his eyebrows, "you're giving me the day off...? Our busiest day?"

"Your little Tinkerbell is very convincing," Troy shrugged and moved away, leaving Vince stunned into silence.

"Did you bribe my boss?" Vince asked later that day, as he sat on the bed and neatly folded the clothes Wendy was throwing his way.

"Troy?" Wendy asked, crouching before a drawer and digging through her swimming suits, "no, I just asked."

"And he agreed? Easy like that?" Vince frowned, stopping folding a minty green dress, "are you a witch?"

"Yes," Wendy teased, looking over her shoulder and blinking innocently, "I'm an angel, amore mio."

"Well, clearly..." Vince shook his head, surprised, "you even convinced Leo to join."

"Can't take the credit for that one, it was more of a group effort between Jon and Luke," Wendy straightened up, stretching her back, "I talked with your mom and Sophia is sooo excited that Luke is going too."

"Oh no," Vince chuckled, "wait until she finds out Lucas is basically married and Bells is tagging along."

"Poor thing," Wendy laughed, "can't blame her, he's dreamy."

"Marshall, shut up," Vince rolled his eyes, "come to bed, you fold, let me pick my own clothes."

"We're going to carpool tomorrow," Wendy said, a handful of minutes later as Vince threw her the clothes he wanted to take, "you, me, Luke and Bell in Lucas' car. Leo and Jonah are going in Leo's car, the trunk is bigger for all the bags."

"Where are we meeting Luke and Bell?" Vince asked absently minded, "Jon's?"

"Yep, my car is staying in his building."

"Alright, honey," Vince couldn't help but feel a wash of anxiety dawn on him. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been on a plane, to Sicilia no less... Home.

They left terribly early that morning. Wendy muffling yawns against his bicep and Vince himself blinking against sleep. Jonah was already downstairs, in the parking lot of his building, but Leo wasn't nor was Jon's red car.

"He should be back in twenty," Jon explained, helping Vince get the bags out of the car and loading them in Leo's car, "he's taking the kitten to his work friend who's cat sitting for us."

"Bet you already miss her," Wendy chuckled, still sleepy, "Lucas texted ten minutes ago, said they were leaving too."

Vince made small talk, since Wendy left him to his own devices, face pressed to his arm as she napped standing. He had chuckled at her for opting to come still dressed in her pjs, but Wendy had simply rolled her eyes and said "it's a fifteen hours long flight, Vince. I wanna be comfy, I don't care what people say."

"You guys are already late," Leo said when Luke and Bell finally arrived, ten minutes later than they should be.

Lucas cringed, "sorry guys, my fault," he owed up, so Vince immediately knew it was actually on Bell. He looked at the ginger and frowned.

"Everything okay, Bella?"

She nodded, although she looked a little pale, "just not used to waking up so early," Bell yawned, rubbing her eyes, "let's go?"

Leo and Jonah waved goodbye, entering Leo's car with Leo in the driver's side and Lucas threw his keys to Vince.

"You drive, I'm gonna go in the back with Bell," he said, all smiley, although he looked a little tired too.

Wendy frowned, "guys? Everything ok?"

"It's alright," Bella sighed, sounding frustrated, "I just woke up queasy, that's all. Lucas is making a fuss."

"Aw sucks," Wendy sighed, "don't you wanna go shotgun then? Avoid carsickness?"

Bella shook her head, "no, I'm just going to try and nap. Don't worry about me."

It was an hour and a half to the nearest metropolis, where they were getting the plane. Wendy's type A personality, mixed with Lucas and Jon's control freak behavior meant that their flight only left at midday, but they were leaving town at 7 AM.

"You never know what could happen," Wendy shrugged when Vince voiced it, keeping her voice a whisper, "we could have a flat tire or there might be a traffic jam... If you ask me, we're leaving too late already."

"You're an insane woman, sweetheart," Vince shrugged, glancing at the rearview mirror. Lucas was resting his head on the window petting Bell's hair as she lied across his lap, "alright, buckle up. Folks."

They drove the first forty minutes quietly, Wendy napping against her window, Lucas far away and singing under his breath to soothe Bella. Vince couldn't remember if he had ever heard Luke sing, but he wasn't surprised his best friend had a beautiful voice, it was a pity he never ever sang.

As they neared the one hour mark of the trip, suddenly Bella sat up straight and rolled down the window, groaning loudly, "ugh," she moaned, poking her head out.

Vince glanced back to the rearview, "Bells? Do I have to pull over?"

A sick, airy burp answered him and then a groan as she kept her head out of the window, "uhm... I think so, sorry."

"It's alright beautiful, morning sicknESs is liKE ThAT!" he laughed the rest of his joke as Bella kicked his seat.

"I'm not pregnant you ass!" she groaned, clutching the door handle as Vince switched on the lights.

"Of course-ow?!" Vince whined when Lucas flicked his ear hard, moving on the seat to rub his girlfriend's back.

"Shut up, Vince," he scoffed, gently pulling Bella's hair away from her mouth with one hand, rubbing her back with the other, "we're stopping, baby, just take a deep breath."

"I'm trying," Bella groaned, another wet burp punctuating the end of her sentence, "Vince, pull over!"

"Just a second!" he exclaimed, keeping his voice low, although he doubted Wendy could actually sleep through the commotion. He pulled the car to the dust shoulder, near a gas station and no sooner the car had come to a stop, Bella pushed the door open and almost fell off with a harsh gag.

Lucas scrambling to grab her by the shoulder was the only thing that stopped her from taking a dive in the asphalt. Vin cringed in sympathy, reaching in the glove compartment where he knew Lucas kept napkins and a water bottle.

Only then did Wendy open her eyes, seeming out of it, "what's happening? We're here?" she yawned and Vin shook his head.

"Bella's redecorating the road," he said and Wendy took a second to understand. She let out a sigh.

"Aw, honey, switch places with me," Wen turned on her seat, already opening her door, "the backseat is no good."

He heard another wet, gurgly burp and more vomit hitting the side of the road. Vince glanced at the rearview, Lucas was rubbing Bella's back, seeming terribly worried.

"She's fine, Luke. Carsickness happens to us all once in a while..." Vin frowned as he saw a car slow down and stop a couple feet ahead of him. Leo jumped out, seeming confused.

Out of everyone, Leo was probably the most excited. He had never taken an international trip... Or any trip, so he was basically vibrating with happiness.

"Here," Vince handed Lucas the napkins and water bottle, "be right back."

He jumped out of the car and met Leo halfway through, "everything is fine, Bella just a little carsick," Vince said before the blonde could even question him, "you guys can go ahead, we'll catch up in a second."

"Are you sure?" Leo frowned, glancing past Vince's shoulder to where Bella was still hanging out of the door. Vin had left his own door open, so only the puddle of sick on the ground could be seen.

"Yeah, she's fine. Bells is tough as nails, don't worry," Vince smiled brightly, patting his friend's shoulder, "go on, we'll catch up at the airport."

"Alright... My phone is with Jonah, so just call if you need us to stop ahead," Leo nodded, "poor Bells, it's gonna be a long trip."

"Fifteen hours, kiddo, I thought you were excited" Vince rattled him, causing Leo to laugh and swat him away, walking back to the car.

By the time Vince was back in the driver's seat, Wendy had switched places with Bella and the poor ginger was pressed up against the door, her eyes closed.

"I'm gonna take this as a sign of good luck," Vince teased, while Lucas fished out a plastic bag from his carry-on bag and planted it on Bella's lap.

"Thanks," she said in a small, tired voice, "it better be good luck."

Vince smiled, slamming the door shut and squeezing her knee, "or pregnancy."

"I'll make sure to aim at your lap, you idiot," she rolled her eyes, slapping his hand sharply, while Wendy let out a scoff and Lucas groaned loudly, pushing his shoulder from the backseat.

"Just drive already, Vince."

He smiled, pulling the car back on the road. It was going to be a good trip, he could feel it.

TBC

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

You should host something similar to the sexy man competition and do best tokyo rev character

Fuck it I'm in. We've got the random names to make the bracket

We've got the bracket (i did want to do it online but couldn't find anywhere which let me put in so many names without a subscription, excuse the handwriting and the fact this is on the back of a document)

We've got the zoomed in version

Stay tuned.

[thegoblinboy]

Ghost Files au Part 2

Part 1

The camera was zoomed out a bit, finally giving the audience a image of the house the boys would be ghostbusting in. Steve was doing a voice over describing the history of the house. There were a few snorts coming from Eddie who wasn’t trying to agree with the other that ghosts were real. Now both of them are sitting at their desk. Eddies rolling the dice between his fingers as he’s looking over at Steve with a look that can’t be translated. He’s wearing a band t and looks very comfy.

“Please tell me this isn’t going to be another Sally situation.” Eddie comments in a serious tone. Steve snaps his head looking at the other man baffled.

“What do you mean another Sally situation! You were the one that laid on the floor, in a middle of a pentagram begging to be fucked!”

“Oh don’t bring that up! I was being considerate of the demons feelings, I didn’t think they wanted me to ask to top on the first date! You know how demons are.” Eddie says in a serious voice.

“Sadly I do,” Steve says before he’s looking at the camera acting as if Eddie couldn’t hear him. “He’s the demon, somebody help me.”

The camera zooms in on Steve’s face for this before it zooms out and there is silence for a second. Eddies just silently staring at Steve with a questionable look. “I can still hear you, you know.”

Steve turns his head looking at the other male, “no you can’t.”

“Yeah. I can.”

Steve snorts shaking his head with a awkward smile as the camera pans in on his face. Lifting up a piece of paper that had sloppy handwriting on it.

“Please, somebody help me.”

The next shot of the video leads them back to the creel house. Steve is walking carefully around the place, a loud thump is heard from above and he doesn’t even react. The camera person does, who whisper yells at Steve. Who once again doesn’t hear them. The camera is quickly cut to another scene. Of Steve being pulled carefully to the side by one of the camera people. Eddie is currently upstairs doing his own thing.

Camera once again cuts to just a five second video of Eddie just yelling in goblin noises at the ghosts before snapping back to Steve who seems a lot more situated then before. Giving the camera a thumbs up before he’s walking around again. It’s dark and he meets Eddie in the kitchen. He’s about to say something but Eddie beats him to it.

“Dude, are your hearing aids glow in the dark?” Eddies already in the others bubble. Hands moving the other the way he wants. He’s gasping as he jumps up and down clapping his hands before quickly gesturing for the camera to move along. “Stevie, you are-“ a loud bleep is heard on the screen, whatever Eddie just said has been censored for the video. Which was shocking as he had just spent ten minutes going into great detail about how he wanted the ghosts to kill him.

The man then forces the person to zoom in on the hearing aids, which were glowing in the dark. When the image finally focuses the viewers could see that said hearing aids were decorated to look like ghosts. Then it moves to Steve’s face which is obviously red and glaring at Eddie who’s just grinning happily.

The rest of the video goes by in a blur, before it snaps back to both men finding their own rooms. Two seperate cameras watching each one. Steve’s eyes are wide and staring up at the ceiling as he shivers under his blankets. He got the colder room, and he felt like he was going to piss himself from fear. “I bet that evil son of a bitch is sleeping! Like he’s at peace or some shit. One thing you need to know about Eddie is that he’s a insomniac, he can never fall asleep- which is why he gets those eye bags under his eyes.” Steve rambles out talking about his coworker.

The video is cut back to a bundle of limbs and hair. Eddies currently on top of the blankets with his face buried in a pillow, soft snores leaving him. Unlike steve he is very warm and nice and cozy in fact this was the fastest he’s fallen asleep in a long time.

Then Steve’s on screen as he looks more frightened when he hears the wind outside. There’s a faint but loud whistle coming from somewhere. The cameras falling off the bed in the chaos as the viewers get a nice shot of the others ass in shorts sprinting out of frame. He’s off screen until you see him sprinting into the frame of Eddie’s video. Who’s still knocked out. Steve’s face is red but he hops in the bed startling the other a little bit. “Move over you dick.” Is faintly heard by the camera. Both men are moving around the bed. Eddies looking up and glancing at the camera. His hairs a mess and he’s glaring at the the screen. Though he’s mumbling something at Steve before he’s relaxing again.

The video stays on for the rest of the night, it catches when Eddie rolls over on top of steve in his sleep, and it also catches one of the doors silently shutting in the corner.

I had a LOT of fun writing this one. I got this random idea though, if you watch ghost files you know they did a watch party but they also did have Q&A’s after each video. So I’m coming to ask for everyone to gather up some questions and comment them down below so that Eddie and Steve can answer them. (Please be chaotic as possible) ((please don’t do the ask box because I kind of just want to put every question into one post))

I’ve never done a tag list before so bare with me, I tagged who ever seemed interested but if you don’t want to be let me know (: also let me know if you want to be tagged in the Q&A with the boys (:

Tag list; @asbealthgn @mentalcyborg @manda-panda-monium @vecnuthy

[arlerts-angel]

i saw your handwriting in an ask and zoomed over here lmao, it’s so pretty 😭🤩 how are you doing? that assumption ask looks fun but i’m scared to get entirely read to filth 💀💀

(i just got back from work and these past two days at work were really bad, and i have to go in early tomorrow so i am currently trying to use my selfships to cope bc the whole thing was just so bad that i am struggling to be optimistic about it atm and i just feel kinda sad. seeing your asks did make me feel a bit better though ❤️‍🩹)

- 🫶

thank you!! i enjoy handwriting a lot, i think it's something a lot of people don't do often anymore with phones and the like lol

i'm doing pretty good !! thank you for asking ☺️🤍

i am so sorry that you've been having such a hard time at work :( how is ken comforting you?

i hope you are able to find something good about your work situation, whether it's a resolution or a new job 🩷

sending you lots of love and good vibes 🫶

[heythereitsace]

The Spoonie's Way

I've tried/failed at The Artist's Way for several years. I've tried to tough it out on my own (bad choice) and with real life groups (better) and weekly Zoom meets (best). But I've always struggled to keep up the habits I develop over the twelve weeks, particularly things like the Morning Pages, and I think I've realised why:

The Artist's Way is not designed with disability in mind.

For me, specifically, I've got hypermobility. That means my body bends further than it should, and it makes certain things more painful or much more effort. One of those things? Writing with a pen.

The Morning Pages are a cornerstone of The Artist's Way, and right off the bat you're told that they should be done long-hand (handwritten) AND first thing in the morning.

"Just get up half an hour earlier," the book prompts you. "Gift yourself this morning time."

No no no. My poor broken hands means that half an hour is not nearly enough time to scratch out three pages. I need at least an hour, maybe 90 minutes, to get that done. And my hands are RUINED after that. Like, don't ask me to now make breakfast, or drive, or do up buttons. Looking back now, no wonder I couldn't get through these courses! I was being asked to do MUCH more than Julia Cameron thinks she's asking, because I'm not the default body she imagines when she's putting this course together. I don't think it's malicious, I just think it's a lack of thought.

The hardest thing about it (before you realise this course isn't designed with disability in mind) is that the course tells you "This may be tough, but stick with the discipline of it. It's worth it."

That may be true for folks without jelly joints, but this was NOT a worthwhile discipline for me. I threw myself against it again and again, and all it did was hurt me, wreck my mornings, and make me feel like a colossal failure.

So, if there are any fellow spoonies also struggling through The Artist's Way, let me share with you a few tweaks that myself and other spoonie friends have used, so that you can enjoy the challenge without it being impossible.

YOU DON'T NEED TO HANDWRITE YOUR MORNING PAGES. I give you permission. If you've tried it and it hurts, or it puts your body into a bad position, or it takes way too much time out of your day, TYPE THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS. I like to use a website called 750 Words which is inspired by the Morning Pages. It's a really simple writing space which gives you a confetti celebration on the screen when you hit the target, shows you your writing streak, and converts your daily mind-dump into beautiful data which I ADORE. 750 Words is free for the first month and then you pay after that, but it doesn't even need to be that complicated - just write in a Google Doc, or whatever writing space works best on your computer. As long as it's saved and stored in a way that you can find it, and it's not going to be easily accessed by others, you're doing great.

YOU DON'T NEED TO WRITE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. My partner has ADHD and mornings are NOT his friend. He hasn't had his meds, he's often struggling from coming to bed late, it's just the absolute worst time for him. You know when IS a good time? Writing in the evenings. He loves doing that. Once he gave himself permission to sit down and write in the evenings, he didn't miss a day, and it became an awesome daily wind-down for him. If mornings are complicated for medication or insomnia or neutrodivergent reasons, experiment with writing at different times and see if you can find a time that better fits you. Being able to write regularly is more important than writing first thing.

IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE THREE PAGES. Buy a smaller notebook. Or buy a bigger one and write just one page. Choose your own word count on your digital doc. Set a timer and write until it goes, or write until YOU feel you're finished. This is your space. Find what works for you.

TREAT IT LIKE A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT. Everyone's different, and it might take a few goes to find exactly what works for you. So, by all means, try the Morning Pages as described to start with. But if you find that it doesn't work, rather than coming down hard on yourself for 'failing', treat the whole thing like a science experiment. So, it didn't work today. Why was that? What can I tweak to get a more consistent result? And then try that change for the next iteration. You don't have to keep bashing your head against it hoping for a different result. We spoonies have it hard enough. Mould this creative tool into one that fits your hands, your body, and your life.

[ratofscience]

This as usual will be a bit all over the place since ADHD brain is extra strong right now.

Another week another game I played with the same lovely gentleman as usual, I'm learning more and more. This time it was Jedza vs Zoraida we went 5-7 he won, but I am super happy with that result. I maxed my first scheme but the second I couldn't do. I did a list around scheme markers. I am still very new and I have a lot to learn but it was really fun.

The schemes and strategies (i got to pick) were plant explosives as our strategy. Schemes were, sweating bullets, hold up their forces, deliver a message, the ones I picked were ensnare and information overload.

I got 2 for plant explosives

I got 2 for information overload

I got one for ensnare

The lists were: Jedza, Sophie, lamplighters 1-3, Mikhail XVI, grave goo and Austera & Twigge. Mikhail had a 'flush with cash' upgrade the rest were plain.

My opponent had Zoraida, Bad Juju, Waldgeist 1, 2, Silurid, Doppelganger and Will O' The Wisp.

It was a tough one, and a long one, it was technically my second 50SS game, but this was the only one I understood and got somewhat well results as. But Zoraida is so annoying with her obey and her hexes. Waldgeists are also soooooooooooooo annoying since they give out slow, so half the game my grave goo had slow. So he couldn't do much, he was definitely the LVP. You can see in the last picture the cornucopia of effects on him. (Ignore my terrible handwriting >_> I had to proxy him and Twigge and I made my own cards)

The deployment went fine, but he got the first turn, so he put out his underbrush markers, not to use it better for myself, but to stop me from crowding lampmarkers in the middle >:(((( you can see the horrible placement of those in the first picture.

Then I only scored my first VP on rond 3, which put me at a disadvantage. I tried to flank with lamplighter 3 but Zoraida used obey and burn out on his doppelganger so she got fast and moved 6" 3 times and zoomed across the board. Picked up the bomb lamplighter 3's bomb on the second round, then got fast again and moved another two times with 6". He placed 2 bombs at the start of the battle on her.

I killed most of his team, in the end it was just Zoraida, the doppelganger, her voodoo doll and bad juju. My opponent wanted to keep out the inevitability of death since he *had* to heal when he activated bad juju. So the whole match was a struggle for him to kill any of my models, he almost killed Mikhail but he only survived since he bribed the bad juju out of his 3'd attack (he had burnout as well) . Mikhail was outside the bubble of life from bad positioning on my part... (Whoops) the waldgeist 2 threw away Sophie from the bubble with the heave trigger. My opponent said that it wasn't pushing, it was cow tipping.... No comment >_> He did that *a lot* trying to get my models outside the range of Jedza. But it was only at the end one of models died. Because I spread out to get objectives.

A real clutch move that earned me a Victory point was the on the doppelganger, I activated Mikhail, moved, put down a scheme marker, and then used companion on Sophie to discard a card to then activate her immediately to put down another scheme marker so I could get the first point on ensnare. Which was super sick because I thought of that myself and my opponent didn't expect it!! He was genuinely surprised when I told him what I thought about doing! >:D (I sadly couldn't get the last one since it was on round 5 and Zoraida had too much movement outside models activation.)

It was really fun!! Even if it took 5 hours and my head was a bowl of mashed potatoes by the end. I hope to play sometime soon again!

I have a few new models on the way as well so you might see those soon >;)

[hoodie-prince-kid]

I got a creepy anon message the other day and it wont stop bothering me so to cope i drew a shitty Beau/Patch comic. Transcription under the cut because L + ratio + bad handwriting + shitty camera

Edit: Pa-Patch design inspired by this one, i'll make my own soon tho

1 ) CREEP, smirking: *that creepyass anon message I got the other day*

~~~

2 ) BEAU, terrified: L-leave me alone please...

~~~

3 ) [Pa-Patch notices from a distance. He looks back in confusion.]

~~~

4 ) [A hand rests on Beau's shoulder. Beau looks down at the hand.]

PA-PATCH: Oi, Beau.

~~~

5 ) [The camera zooms out to reveal Pa-Patch standing behind Beau.]

PA-PATCH: This bloke bothern' ya?

[Beau nods.]

~~~

6 ) [Close-up of Pa-Patch cracking his knuckles, with a crrack sound effect.]

PA-PATCH: Listen 'ere, bub.

~~~

7 ) [Pa-Patch's shadow looms over the Creep, who's sweating in fear.]

PA-PATCH: Mess with 'im, you go through me. An' I've got a short fuse.

~~~

8 ) [Pa-Patch stands tall, arms folded as he glares down at the Creep.]

PA-PATCH: Got that?

~~~

9 ) [The Creep dashes away in fear as Pa-Patch and Beau watch.]

~~~

10 ) [Beau looks up at Pa-Patch in admiration with his hands clasped, while Pa-Patch blushes and rubs the back of his neck.]

BEAU: My hero! So cool!

PA-PATCH: It's nothin'!

~~~

[foldingfittedsheets]

My DM for our weekly DnD game recently moved to California. It’s been sad and we miss him. He DMs now via Zoom and we’ve got a really nice set up so he feels very present. Today while DMing he had us rolling investigation in a library. He said the books title was Is Sex Necessary? When we all seemed puzzled he prompted, “You two should know… Is Sex Necessary?”

My girlfriend and I were stumped. “We should know or our characters should know?” I asked.

“You!” He insisted.

We looked at each other in bafflement repeating “Is Sex Necessary!?” “Is Sex Necessary…?”

“It’s on your bookshelf!” He exclaimed. So we went over to investigate and sure enough, a slim volume stood on the shelf titled Is Sex Necessary? The whole group, all four of us, clustered around to inspect the book.

It honestly didn’t occur to me to investigate the book for clues, I opened the cover hoping to see a hint as to its origins, and inside found a paper note with my DMs distinct handwriting that proclaimed, “Secret! Do not open!”

It turns out he planted notes in several books over two months ago specifically for this eventuality. Each note had a hint for defeating beholders (which he knew we were gunning to fight after being extorted by one) and were sprinkled through many books. He’d say, “An earth genasi explorer wrote this account called Feet of Clay,” and I’d go pull down my Terry Pratchett book of the same title. Or “A sea faring elf wrote about their study of leviathans in Ship of Magic,” and I’d grab my tattered Robin Hobb to find another note.

It was really cute and immersive and it made him feel a lot closer finding all the little notes he left in our home.

[liu-anhuaming]

2022 Reading Recap and 2023 Reading Goals

Happy New Year y’all! I love collecting little stats about my reading through the year, so I wanted to actually take those data and make a post, since I don’t talk too much about my general reading outside of how many Chinese books I’ve read.

So let’s get started!

2022 In Review

2022 was a great year in terms of reading. Last month I shared a not-yet complete journal spread where I made charts of all my reading stats, so first here’s the finished version:

Now, to write out the important bits for those of you who don’t want to zoom in and try to parse my handwriting.

My reading goal for 2022 was 50 books. I read 75 books in total. 40 of those were in English, and 35 were in Chinese. I read the most books in May (14, mostly manga iirc), and the least in October (2). I averaged about 6 books per month.

I read a total of 21,849 pages. I read the most pages in January (3,208) and, once again, the least in October (511). That’s an average of 1,821 pages per month. The books I read averaged about 291 pages each.

My average rating was 3.75 stars. I had 14 books rated 5 stars, but my most common rating was 4 stars (I gave 45 books 4 stars last year). I had no 1 star reads, only two 2 star reads, and just nine 3 star reads. There were 5 books I didn’t rate for various reasons. The fact that I had so many 4 and 5 star reviews tells me I managed to read a lot of books I really enjoyed this year.

2023 Goals

So I’ve set a couple pretty basic, loose reading goals for this new year. Here’s what they are:

Read at least 60 books total: For the past few years, my reading goal has been a consistent 50 books, but I want to raise it this year. In 2021 I read 59 books, and last year I read 75, so I think I shouldn’t struggle too hard to reach this new goal.

Read at least 20 Chinese books: I actually read over 30 Chinese books last year, so this goal of 20 should be fairly easy to achieve. However, I do want to make this a fairly easy goal for me to reach, because I do have a rather horrific number of unread English books on my shelves, and I would like to dedicate some more time to working through those. So, I’m going to aim low on the off chance that I end up spending more time with English books in 2023.

Read more nonfiction: Pretty self-explanatory. It is only in recent years that I’ve started to read more nonfiction, and I’ve been trying to change that. I’ve got a couple excellent candidates on my shelves, so hopefully this one won’t be too hard.

Get back into audiobooks: in 2021 I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks as I did embroidery, but I sort of fell out of that habit this past year. I want to change that. I have the Libby app on my phone, but I need to get my library card sorted out so I can access it again. 

Read the brick that is Les Miserables, and the much less substantial Moby Dick: I’ve been playing with the idea of reading these two books for a while, but I never actually did it. For Les Mis, I didn’t have any particular reason for not reading it. I just never got around to it I guess. As for Moby Dick, my brother suggested it to me, and ever since that one time he said a book I recommended to him “wasn’t real literature” (yes he’s an English major) I refuse to take book recs from him seriously (yes I know this is slightly petty). But then! I was browsing reviews of Moby Dick and saw a particularly amusing one-star review, and decided that I would, in fact, like to give it a try.

That’s all I’ve got in terms of goals, so here’s to another year of excellent books!

[jentlemahae]

do you have any advice for self discipline? idk if you struggle with procrastination as well sometimes but you seem to be on top of your studies (i think in some of your tags you once mentioned that you finished all your assignments very early) i have very important exams coming up (if i fail them i'll have to repeat a whole year of school) and even though i know how important it is for me to study i just can't bring myself to even start.. i'm just paralyzed with fear bc i've already wasted so much time and it's impossible to catch up/revise everything now bc i'm running out of time. i think the sheer amount of material i have to study scares me off even more but the longer i wait the worse it gets obviously. i just hate that even though i am very aware of all this i just can't stop self sabotaging i hate myself so much 😭 another problem is that i'm such a perfectionist so if i know i can't do it perfectly i don't even bother but at this point i just need to pass bc i definitely don't want to repeat a year.. sorry this got so long and i know ultimately i just need to sit my ass down and study bc i'm the only one to blame (i had plenty of time to study these past weeks but i just rotted in my room 🙃) but you always are so sweet and insightful so i thought maybe you could give me some helpful advice? hope you have a nice day 💌

hiii! 🫶🏻 so i’ll preface this by saying that i’ve just always been used to having to do well in my studies so atp idek if it’s self discipline or more just a habit ? 🥲 but i also struggle with the same things sometimes bcs there are times where i put off studying certain things bcs im scared of failing TT so these are thing that imo help me!!

i always recommend ppl to repeat the stuff that u have to study/memorize out loud to someone bcs i think that helps u retain information, but i think that doing so by setting certain days to do so also helps in giving some organization! for instance i always repeat whatever im studying out loud to my mom (via zoom lol) and we do so by deciding to see each other on a certain day and on that day i have to repeat out loud to her a certain amount of chapters while she looks at my notes to check that im making sense. and we usually meet 2-3 times for that before my exam so first time i have to say half of the content, second time the other half, and third time i go through everything. does this make sense? and u can do it with whoever u want (parent, grandparent, friend, etc)! (tho tbh studying with a friend has never worked for me :p)

advice 2 sounds a bit odd and ik it doesn’t work for most but to me it works 🫠 when im in similar situations where i have So Much to study, first i read through all my notes* and then i take out a piece of paper and i write by hand** everything i remember. this way i see the main topics in the material and i go back to my notes and add some more important details to what ive written. this works especially well with courses where u just wanna pass and u don’t really care about the grade bcs this way u have a decent grasp on the main body of the course content! (**important to do this by hand bcs handwriting makes u retain info easier + *i always write summaries of the course content and the course progresses bcs then i know i’ll have my work cut out for me for the exam)

when u sit down to sit, put stuff that distracts u far away from where u are !! i kinda get distracted by listening to music lmao so when i study i make sure to put my headphones away from desk (lol), and then i hide my phone from my eyesight so then i can work for like an hour straight with no distractions 🤷🏻‍♀️

this is what comes to mind at the moment! anw best of luck for the exam !!! i know exams can be daunting when u are a perfectionist (😵‍💫) so i am rooting for u !!!!! 🥰💖🫂 as we say in italian, in bocca al lupo :)

[lgcwookjin]

...studying?

HANGUL DAY : study time COUNT : 1.06k

"hello, this is v&a versus’ jung wookjin” he introduced himself with a bow while he was sat at his desk. god that was weird to say--would it ever not be weird? god he hoped so. “today i thought i would do a...study vlog.” he said, not sounding and looking the opposite of thrilled to be doing this.

grabbing the camera, “look...we’re friends right? i can be honest with you?” he said as he was about to make a grand confession to the likely thousands of people that were going to watch this video. “we’re filming a video...will it be out by now? can i say?” he thought for a moment and assumed whoever ended up with this footage would be able to edit around it even if it was released before hangul day. “keeho, tee, and i are filming a video for hangul day and in typical wookjin fashion i have procrastinated terribly study for it. i have also procrastinated filming vlogs for you, so i thought why i not kill two bird with one stone.” he ended with a smirk.

“so! the plan: turn on some music, research about hangul, and make sure we win tomorrow! if there is one thing jung wookjin doesn’t do it’s lose!” he said with determination, but quickly  was reminded of a large failure he had not too long ago, “except for on future dreams..." he said looking away with a shake of his head, frustrating himself. “but that’s okay, because look at us now!”he enthused and then, without meaning to, added in english “everything happens for a reason and all that yadada” a second later his mouth flew open and he covered it with his hand as he caught himself speaking english. 

refocusing himself, he put his hand out straight and chanted to himself, back in korean, “no english, only korean. no english, only korean.” with a thumbs up and a thin smile to the camera, he said excitedly “let’s get started before i mess up again.” he set the camera down and got to work. “i got some books to study” he showed a couple books on the history of hangul, which he had rolled his eyes and thought boring as he put them in his basket. “and the best part: this little dude!” he exclaimed, showing off his children’s hangul writing workbook. “professional right?” he said with a confident cheesy smirk towards the camera. he started with the workbook. 

while he worked, the camera sat on his desk, watching him nod and bop his head to the playlist he had going. once done with a few pages of the workbook he took the camera and showed off his handwriting. “how do you think i did? think i passed the first grade?” he joked. “my handwriting isn’t the best, but i do think i’m at least above this level.” he had mostly gotten the workbook as a joke, but he hand found just writing letters over and over a bit relaxing, especially with his playlist blaring his favorite songs. he hoped the editors would be able to show off his excellent taste in music...copyrights be damned. “i guess i should move on to the actual study..dun dun DUN!!” he sang the noises dramatically as he zoomed in and out on the boring, not fun and colorful looking books. turning the camera back to himself, he looked in despair, “wish me luck.”

he put the camera back down on the desk, fixing the camera until he was satisfied. he then winked and blew a kiss at his own appearance in the viewfinder. immediately after he looked at himself disgusted at his own actions. settling back into his chair, he said “alright, back to studying.” he pulled out the first book on the origins of hangul. it was actually pretty interesting when he made himself pay attention.

as he read, he really got into his playlist and sang along loudly to ariana, tlc, britney, beyonce, and all of his favorite early 00s girls. bored with the subject matter, the footage eventually became a wookjin dj session. knowing his audience were basically all v&a stans, he played rock with you and sang along. he hadn’t been a big v&a stan, but practicing their song during future dreams and now joining the group gave a real appreciation for the group’s music. letting that be his transition from his personal favorites to his lgc favorites he played: some shin, love secnario, miss right, & lucifer by dbsd, advice by jaehyuk, my house & chained up by haru, and gave an energetic performance of up & down by blazing. he also played turn back time by type zero (korean ver. obviously this was about hangul day afterall), and gave an honest try at @lgcparker’s high note before shaking his head defeated, “i don’t know how he does it.” he would have cursed his name if not for fear of the backlash of “versus’ newbie curses at senior?? boycott their comeback now” scaring him a little bit. maybe one day. to finish off he played a few v&a songs, mostly versus since it was his group and they were more his style. he also figured fans might enjoy their new member showing an appreciation for their old songs.

after successfully playing...probably a couple dozen songs (and he could have kept going) while fading in and out of interest in the book he read, he finally found something interesting. he took the camera in his hand and pointed it towards the sentence, using his free finger to highlight as he read aloud, “consonant symbols are based off of the shape of your tongue” he then turned the camera back on himself and exaggerated the consonant sounds with his mouth. “i’m on my way to be a linguistic everyone.” he set the camera down and closed the book.

“alright! i think that is enough studying for today. i hope you all enjoyed wookjin’s...study hour or whatever i should call this. let’s not make this a regular thing because i clearly hate studying. i think this is coming out around the new year so...have a good new year! stay tuned for more v&a vlogs and for more v&a activities. thank you for the support. bye!!” he signed off with a wave and even a couple finger hearts because he thought it was cute or whatever...god he was becoming so cringe.