#i missed out and i wanted to do a yard sale so bad and didnt get to be here for it!

[audiovisualrecall]

Love how I can ruin something so easily

[squeakadeeks]

hello, here to pester you with a question >:3!

where do you get the money to make your cosplays?? i'm in the middle of crafting a bunch of stuff for a plant convention and gyatt damn everythings so pricey

:((

along with the storage ive been getting this one a bunch too haha

to tell true, this is no fault on your part so no frets here at all !!! BUT i'm not comfortable discussing my personal finances online. because on a wide scale, anything in regards to money gets incredibly niche to a person's circumstances and will make people get upset/can leave you vulnerable to a lot of bad things. My pay scale and spending habits are not something i'm hip to sharing online since its really private and opens a lot of dangerous doors. (also my spending habits are not exactly healthy or generalizable either.) I'm not saying this to like...dodge being a secret billionaire or anything, but even if i say "i work a STEM job" I've had people get weird about even just that information.

That being said, there are ways i make cosplay more affordable.

usually in-store fabric shopping at say joanns, is just about as expensive as it gets. if you have to shop only at joanns, michaels, etc the bill racks up fast. There are some in-store fabric shops that are cheaper, especially if they are wholesalers or general fabric warehouses, but those are not easy to find outside of cities most often. Joanns does have good coupons, and i can only shop at joanns these days if i have a coupon or there's a sale on that fabric type i'm interested in!

online wholesale fabric shops are a good way to find fabrics that are at lower prices, but then it does incur extra shipping costs. because of that i try to limit the number of orders I make (more orders, more extra shipping). this looks like grouping orders between projects, or even compromising on fabric types based on the stock of one website so i dont have to split an order between two sites.

sometimes you really do have to sacrifice material type. theres been a number of projects this year that i wanted to make out of a nicer type of fabric, even Thistle for example i considered making out of a dupioni, but it was just too dang expensive. dupioni would be around $25 a yard...vs poly suede which is $6. or even a cheaper satin at $3 a yard is a common sub i use as well. I also very frequently have to throw out entire cosplay ideas just based on cost since its just not feasible no matter how many compromises i make.

reduce the burden by extending your timeline. unfortunately theres no way around it, most projects i make are $200-300, and thats....fairly low in the grand scheme of things for crafting-focused cosplayers on mid sized projects. but either way, dropping all of that at once in one place is a huge blow to the wallet. but if you break up that whole $200 cost into say...$20 chunks from one week to the next, its softer. if you cant or dont want to reduce your budget, expanding your timeline is a good solution. now granted, that does cause a problem with the whole "less orders means less shipping costs" but the weighing of those two scenarios has to be done person to person/project to project.

STOCKING UP....when there are sales or other things, building a horde can be a great move. like silverbell didnt actually show up much on my finances this month because all the fabric i used on his suit was storage fabric. so it was ""free"" to me this month, because i already bought it.....3 years ago...and that money isnt real anymore haha.

this is really regional and depends on where you are, but thrift stores can have material sections that have good fabrics as well as sheets/blankets/base garments etc. ive been weirdly lucky with finding great fabrics at thrift stores...like literal joanns fabric for half the cost there, but thats super SUPER hit or miss and not something i rely on, but i do check that section whenever i'm there

[wanna1things]

Mafia AU! Park Woojin

yall i love park woojin

Genre;; kinda fluff + friends to lovers AGAIN WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND THIS and angsty themes?? + mafia AU

Warnings;;  yes there’s def some violence here

Pairing;; Park Woojin x reader

Requested;; yes by anon here and also here

Summary;; You’re reunited with your old best friend in the strangest of ways….

Style;; bullet point

Word Count;; 2204

Others in the series;; Daniel | Jihoon | Minhyun | Seongwoo

masterlist • request rules • request something

me? posting before midnight? interesting...

you never forgot park woojin

you two were neighbours ever since you were born, you were best friends from the very start

you were literally inseparable even in school

woojin once cried so hard they had to call his parents in because he wasn't put in the same class as you so he had to change class HDKKF

but really,, you two were more like the same person than anything else

you'd spend all of your time together, always going to each other's houses and sleeping over I mean you were neighbours

when woojin got a trampoline you were there almost every day to play on it

and when you got a game console he was always over at yours to play on it

but one day he disappeared suddenly with no word said to you

it was the middle of high school, you two had stopped being in the same classes all the time and although you each had your own group of friends you two were ,,, the closest

still spending most of your time together and doing homework together for the classes you shared

but then woojin missed a day of school

and then another

and another

until it was a whole week

you immediately thought the worst, that he was sick

so after you got home from school that day you ran straight to his house only to see a 'for sale' sign in the yard and the house completely empty

when you got back to your house you asked your parents about it and they just mumbled something about the mafia

and just like that you never saw him again

you got on with your life, but it was difficult

you hadn't got a friend to say everything to anymore

nobody as close to you

and it made you feel very,, alone

and if what your parents had said about the mafia was true then

for all you know woojin could be a gangster or worse, dead

you'd just never know now

but you poured yourself into your work

you studied as hard as possible, partially because it was a distraction but also because something in you made you think that maybe, just maybe, if you did well woojin would be proud of you

wherever he was, that is

and you really did do well

you went to one of the top colleges in the country with a high gpa

but even though you'd succeeded it didn't feel right

you didn't have woojin there to celebrate with you

you didn't have woojin going to college with you

it was... different

but you got on with it

you found a small apartment in the suburbs to live in while you attended uni, and although it was kind of cramped it was homey and also very cheap

your friends at college said it was ,, in a kind of dodgy area,,, but you ignored them because well

you'd never seen anything bad happened and your neighbours were a crazy cat lady and a photographer how dodgy could it be???

that was until you were walking home one day, later than usual

you'd been doing work in the library for an essay that was due in a few weeks time

when you came across something odd - dodgy

3 men stood with their guns pointed towards another man on his own, with his own gun

all the men had your backs to you but

one of them seemed familiar

you approached further, making sure they didn't notice you because haha you didn't want to be shot

he... reminded you of someone

or was he the someone he was reminding you of?

wait

it's?

"Woojin?"

it was only a whisper but

the man closest to you, turned around, his gun pointing to the floor

and as he looked you in the eye you knew

it was definitely woojin

as much as you wanted to run to him and hug him for 2991934 hours to make up for the years you'd missed together

there was a dangerous situation

just as one of the other men tutted and turned to woojin

the person they were all facing ran away into the night

the tallest man fired in the mans disappearing shadow before walking off, followed by the other man

"Woojin? Are you coming with us?"

"I'm just going to stay here for a bit. See if he comes back."

the tallest hummed in approval before turning to walk away

"You shouldn't have lost focus."

as soon as they were out of sight woojin ran over to you and hugged you tighter than you've ever been hugged before

"I've missed you so much, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

you smiled into his shoulder and took a deep breath

"It's okay, as long as you're okay it's all okay."

he pulled back from the hug and looked at your face properly, lit up by the streetlights

"You've gotten prettier, I'm sure!"

you rolled your eyes at him and smacked his shoulder

"Shut up, if anything you've got... handsome.... er???"

he laughed at your attempt at a compliment and stepped back

"It's dark, do you want to come to mine? I live nearby!"

and he did

he lived closer to your college than you did which made you jealous,,, but his apartment was also way bigger than yours with 2 bedrooms which made you even moRE JEALOUS

he went to make you some tea and when he returned you two sat on the sofa, watching tv

to be honest,, neither of you were focused on the tv,, more on how good it felt to be back together again

"I really missed you woojin, I thought you were dead."

you sighed and breathed slowly, your chest heavy

"I wouldn't die on you, you know that."

his tone was serious but he looked at you next to him with a smile

and you felt your heart jump a bit

it hasn't been long since you last saw him but you were sure he'd gotten even more handsome

in fact he was really,,, good looking ,,,

he explained that when he left it wasn't really,,, his fault

his dad was Kang Daniel's dad's, the head of the mafia, old friend, and he'd called in a favour which meant he needed woojin's dad's help

and the area you lived in wasn't really ideal,,,

so woojin moved away and then with all that happened

he managed to get involved in the mafia himself

but he wasn't really heavily involved

not as much as his friends minhyun and jihoon, who were with him earlier

minhyun was higher up,, and jihoon was as good as a trained assassin who watched over newbies like a hawk in case they tried to stray

but woojin wasn't nearly as involved as them

he just did small jobs, jobs that didn't need a lot of work or violence because although he was good with a gun they said he had ""too much of a heart""

and he was totally fine with that,,, he didn't really want to go around doing bank robberies or hits

before long you got talking about yourself, your uni life

when you mentioned your grades you noticed the proud look on woojins face and it made it all worth it

because not only did you make him proud but the grades brought you here where you saw him again

when you mentioned where you live you noticed woojin started to look like he was

,,, in thought ,,,

and he suddenly spoke up before you'd even finished your sentence

"Do you want to live with me? I'm closer and you don't have to pay me rent!"

WELL YOU WERENT ABOUT TO SAY NO

something in your mind was thinking about,,, living with a mafia member would be dangerous,,, but he was low down so you assumed it would be totally okay

also he claimed that you ‘might be recognised by that guy!!!’ and it was protection lmao nice one

and so you moved in together

it was ;; real fun being together all the time again

it was exactly like nothing had change

you'd order takeout like every night and just eat it and watch tv

I mean of course you'd do your work for college too but

it was like the 2+ years without him never happened

but there was one difference

somewhere in your heart, feelings were starting to grow for woojin

not bad ones lol

LOVE

he had gotten so handsome,,, and so caring ,,, and the way he looked at you sometimes gave you butterflies

but he was in the mafia...????!!!!!

that ain't safe

one day you were home earlier than usual, one of your classes were cancelled

when you heard woojin come in,, accompanied by who you assumed were minhyun and jihoon

of course you realised you pROBABLY HAD TO SHUT UP AND NOT SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE THEY DIDNT KNOW YOU EXISTED

so you went and hid out in the bathroom

as you hid,,, you could hear some of their talking

they were just talking about Daniel,,,, really ,,, and his cool penthouse suite in the hq and how jealous they were of it lmAO

as you got bored of their conversing you looked to the side and noticed

boy had literally used up all of the toilet paper

completely forgetting about keeping quiet you sighed loudly and mumbled "every damn time"

uh oh

bad idea

them mafia guys got MAD good hearing

"What the hell was that??"

"It sounded like a person..."

"Uh.... it's the ghost that haunts this apartment??"

nice lie woojin

"It sounded like it came from the bathroom, I'm going to check-"

before anyone could barge in on you, you stepped out from the bathroom and were greeted by the shocked faces of ,,, minhyun and jihoon,,, and woojin facepalming

"Really y/n? You couldn't keep quiet?"

"Why is there a GIRL in your bathroom? I thought you lived alone"

the taller, older one - you guessed he must be minhyun- seemed more shocked and confused than angry

but as for jihoon...

"She isn't one of us. Who is she?"

"She's my friend from before, she goes to uni nearby so she lives in the spare bedroom is that so bad?"

minhyun shrugged and wandered off back to the living room but jihoon looked at you suspiciously

"You know what you're getting her involved in?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

and then jihoon was gone too

and I guess that was how you met woojins friends

straight away minhyun started to come over every evening to teach you some self defence

nothing with a gun,,, because that's too much for someone who isn't even part of the mafia,,, but just how to protect yourself from attacks just in case

and every time you'd successfully do something, woojin would have that proud look on his face again

which gave you butterflies

before long you were pretty much perfect at defending yourself

if someone even tapped your shoulder,,, you could have them on the floor in 0.2 seconds

even minhyun was impressed by how quickly you caught on

and so your self defence classes finished

in celebration of your completion, you text woojin as soon as minhyun left to ask him what takeout he wanted

he responded quickly with

"Pizza! I'll be back soon!!!"

and so you got to ordering it

it came quickly, before woojin even got home

and so you went to unpack it, leaving the front door unlocked so woojin could get in easily

as you started to unpack the pizza you heard a faint knock at the door

assuming it was woojin, you shouted to him that the door was unlocked, he could come straight in

you heard the squeak of the door opening and closing, still not turning around from the pizza

and that was when you felt it

a cold knife was pressed against your neck from behind, a gloved hand pressing it close to your throat

before you even had time to process the situation your training had kicked in

you couldn't do much in the way of beating the guy up, but you managed to disarm him and chuck his knife out of the window

as you stood face to face with him, your own kitchen knife in your hand the door swung open and there was woojin

you looked over at him and noticed the complete shock as he pulled the gun from his pocket and the intruder backed away

"Get out!!! Do you hear me?? Get out of here!!"

he waved the gun in the direction of the door and within  seconds the intruder was gone

an odd silence fell in the apartment, with the only noise being the wind through the open door

Woojin looked up at you, a strange look in his eyes

"Woojin-"

he walked straight up to you, holding your face in his hands for a few seconds saying nothing at all

and then his lips were on yours

all you could think about was how much you loved him,, not even what had just happened

he pulled back slightly, resting his forehead against yours

"I really need to stop letting the one I love get hurt."

aha i love writing these