#just because I need a magnifying glass don't mean it don't happen--

[ianthoni]

Do you think Anthony has any tattoos about Ian? Any specific tattoo you think is Ian coded? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ok get ready guys cause this is a LONG one.

Do I think he has it? YES! Would i talk openly and show my delulu? No. And i know some people hate my "analysis"s lmao. But I'm gonna talk about a few sane(no) ones.

The first one which is totally Anthony's perspective on Ian and him is the "The moment in front of you was forged in the stars". He talked about how them coming back together was something that had to happen. They needed to live all of this. He connected it to destiny and universe. Which he's still doing it in his instagram stories but most importantly he talked on interviews and how their connection was so special etc. So here's the banger. Not many people know this but Anthony has a tattoo on his torso(? idk what you call that) he got that tattoo before they bought Smosh right so it can't be about Ian? Wrong. They reunited in November '22. And he got that tattoo on April '23. Probably around the time they talk about buying it back. Let's say it's before them buying Smosh it is still about their friendship with Ian cause he was waiting for this. He says everything needs to happen for me to get back to you. It says "The moment in front of you was forged in the starts" THAT IS SO DAMN 😭😭😭😭😭 the way he thinks what's happening to them is destiny is so 😭😭😭 also he got his "happy mind" neck tattoo at the time too which is so cuteee

AND THE SECOND which not many people would agree with me and find me delusional is the arm tattoo he got "In order to live life we need fire ... " He called Ian fire/sun in multiple occasions. So i assume the fire that he needed was Ian all along. Also he said Ian is the sun and he's the magnifying glass, you know what they create together? Fire! And don't forget Ian's iconic "if we burn it to the ground, I'm happy to do that with you" Also Ian is a fire sign, his favorite character in the movie that he's obsessed and watched 5 times is a fire character, his favorite pokemon that he chose as himself is a fire Pokemon bla bla bla. There's an ongoing Ian is fire theme.

And OK well fuck it we come this far everyone and their mom calls me parasocial already. I have no proof of this just the fact that he didn't do it in the time of his 4 yo relationship for some reason but after. He has a "láska" tattoo on his chest. Which means "love" in Czech. (Bc his tattoo artist is Czech not because he has a Czech gf)

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Theodorus: Sit down.

Mozart: Nobody tells me what to do!

MC: Please sit down.

Mozart: *immediately sits down*

[blacknedsoul-blog]

A detailed explanation from my headcanon that Annabel has ADHD

So I had this six fucking hour trip. On a bus. Alone. And I was bored out of my mind, because sitting around being bored is as close to mental torture as it gets for me.

Fortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel: I was inspired. Away from the burnout I have with fanfics, I remembered that I've mentioned this headcanon several times on Nevermore's Discord and just thought, what better time to talk about ADHD than when I'm having a pretty ADHD moment?

But before I start, there are a few little things that need to be pretty clear on the table:

I'm being a bit hypocritical here: in general, I'm deeply against diagnosing fictional characters for two reasons: first, it's an impossible task to distinguish between character traits and symptoms to such an extent that you can go around forever without coming to a real conclusion unless the author of the work confirms it, and second, even if you have the disorder you're talking about, you can fall into the trap of perpetuating stereotypes or generalizing, thereby invalidating other experiences. So even if the tone of this review sounds very assertive, it is because of my writing style. I am in no way diagnosing Annabel; this is an analysis of her character through the lens of a possible disorder.

In relation to the above, where I point out an event in the comic that can be read as a symptom, I am not reducing it to "this only happens because she has ADHD". You CAN'T reduce a person's personality to "they has a disorder," and when I point out these examples, I'm not doing so with the intention of denying the background behind it, but rather pointing out how, under the magnifying glass of having it, it might exacerbate that behavior.

I am NOT a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a neurologist: I am a woman with ADHD. One who has done a lot of research on the subject, been in therapy with a psychologist who specializes in the disorder, and talked extensively about it both with friends who also have it and with professionals. But I don't have a career in mental health, I don't pretend to, and everything you'll read below is a mixture of research and personal experience.

You're going to see a lot of "we" or "those of us with ADHD" because, as I said, I have it too, but this is all a generalization made for the sake of flow. The symptoms of this disorder can be expressed in many different ways, and not everyone has all of them (for example, there are some that I don't have, but it would be strange to change the voice of the text just because of that, it makes it harder to read). If you have ADHD and read a symptom and think "hey, I don't get that", that's perfectly normal. Your experience is valid and I don't want to pass it on. But it would be exhausting for me and for the reader to use tentative phrases all the time.

If this text resonates too much with you, I strongly recommend that you see a professional, if you're able, and not self-diagnose: ADHD has many symptoms in common with autism and other neuro divergences, don't risk misdiagnosis.

If you have a different opinion than mine on this subject and want to share it with me, I'll be happy to read it, if I don't answer it's because I forgot (forgive me?). But you can be sure that I will read it.

Anyway, let's get started.

What is ADHD?

According to the NIH (National Institute of Mental Health) website, this is the definition of ADHD:

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. People with ADHD experience an ongoing pattern of the following types of symptoms:

Inattention means a person may have difficulty staying on task, sustaining focus, and staying organized, and these problems are not due to defiance or lack of comprehension.

Hyperactivity means a person may seem to move about constantly, including in situations when it is not appropriate, or excessively fidgets, taps, or talks. In adults, hyperactivity may mean extreme restlessness or talking too much.

Impulsivity means a person may act without thinking or have difficulty with self-control. Impulsivity could also include a desire for immediate rewards or the inability to delay gratification. An impulsive person may interrupt others or make important decisions without considering long-term consequences.

Here is an impression that needs to be clarified: ADHD is more about an inability to regulate attention than a lack of it. A neurotypical person may choose to focus on a task to get it done, we may procrastinate to death because even if we want to, we can't focus on it, or stand there absorbed in it ad infinitum until the house falls down around us (and we may still have trouble noticing). This is understood, Understanding all this, here is the list of Annabel's behaviors that could be interpreted as symptoms.

Hyperactivity

One thing that not everyone knows is that hyperactivity is not about running around like an uncontrolled animal. It can manifest itself in many ways, and there are many types: physical, mental, and even emotional.

In Annabel's case, she seems to be the first two types.

Perhaps due to her difficulty in expressing emotions, it is quite obvious at this point in the comic that her moods are made explicit through gestures: playing with her rings when she is happy or nervous, touching the ribbon around her neck in moments of anxiety, or playing with her hair almost as a default state.

Annabel.

Doesn't.

Sit.

Still.

Never.

It is also clear that Annabel is always planning something. Always.

This can be read into the logic of mental hyperactivity: when you have it, your brain just doesn't stop. Ever. And that's something that resonates with this lady.

Emotional Dysregulation

The part of the brain that regulates our moods works…erratically. Not to say it doesn't work at all.

This leads to a painfully common problem in women with ADHD: lack of emotional regulation is seen as drama, and instead of being taught tools to deal with it, we are taught to repress and bottle up emotions.

Annabel has highly internalized this as a defense mechanism. But here's the thing: if repressing emotions instead of learning how to deal with them in a healthy way is harmful, being biologically unable to regulate them can be even worse.

It touches the right nerves, and if you catch us flying low, it can cause explosive outbursts.

Possibly violent reactions to feeling offended or uncomfortable.

Or completely over-the-top reactions that we can't control.

And it's not just anger that's affected, it's the whole emotional spectrum. Another emotion that is very noticeable is fear. If we don't develop tools to help us calm down, we don't get scared, we panic.

If this happens too often, we can become prone to developing severe anxiety or frequent attacks.

We may also have great difficulty dealing with frustration. Our brains love rewards, and feeling that we're not getting them because of our own inability to do something can be downright annoying. And if we don't have the tools to express our frustration appropriately, we can have quite childish reactions, ranging from temper tantrums to…pouting.

I find it funny how several of these pouts are caused by Lenore, a bit like "Oh, come on, honey, what are we talking about?"

Another important thing to note here is that one of the most fucked up and notorious symptoms of this lack of emotional regulation is RSD, short for Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, defined as "a problem that interferes with your ability to regulate your emotional responses to feelings of failure and rejection. While rejection is almost always unpleasant, people with RSD experience overwhelming levels of emotional pain. This can lead to long-term mental health problems, fear of failure, and behavioral changes that negatively affect them throughout their lives."

Rejection and fear of failure are a problem for us. So much so that we may seek strategies to avoid it as much as possible, even when it causes us problems (such as not completing a task for fear of doing it wrong). This is an issue that can tear us apart emotionally.

Annabel is terrified of being rejected or despised. Her whole life has been built around appearances and getting the right people interested in her. If she can't do that, what good is she?

And that's something that comes up a lot in her relationship with Lenore. Repeatedly, in fact, but my favorite has to be this one:

Annabel thought it would be the smart thing to do to break that bond because she knows they're never going to see each other again. But the look on her face when Lenore calls her a "damn liar" is just painful to watch. I think ripping her heart out with a rusty spoon would have hurt less.

Finally, on the subject of things that aren't so funny: that thing Annabel does about biting her fingers when she's in a critical situation is something I used to do, too (only I'd bite my knuckles or palms).

My psychologist explained to me that when you feel like you're losing control, you immediately look for something to ground you, and unfortunately, physical pain is often a quick (if damaging) way to do that.

Codependency

Okay, here's a thing: it's not that we have a tendency as such to codependency, but this is a situation that can occur due to bad practices within a relationship. Especially a couple one.

As it stands out, people with ADHD can have a lot of problems with micromanaging ourselves, remembering things, dealing with our emotions, etc, etc, etc. And it is natural for close friends, family or our partner to help in those processes.

The problem arises when that help starts to become a parentification process where the partner who is providing support starts to do this on behalf of the other person, infantilizing them in the process.

This is a cocktail for resentment on both sides: the party calling the shots can easily feel that the other is putting a huge burden on their shoulders and not trying hard enough, while, on the other side, no one likes to feel like they are being treated like a child. Let alone that the person doing it is your partner.

But at the other end of resentment, there's codependency.

The constant feeling that you are a burden, insufficient or even disposable.

And that means you have a lot to make up for. On a regular basis. So much that you put yourself in a situation where you have to make horrible decisions so that someone else doesn't have to because somehow you owe it to them, who hasn't had that happen?

What I mean is that yes, Annabel feels like she owes this to Lenore because she only remembers the part where Lenore came kicking in doors to save her from a marriage she didn't want. And if she can't do this for her, she doesn't deserve a relationship.

Feeling inadequate, that your partner is doing you some kind of favor by tolerating you and ending up idealizing their in the process is obviously not unique to the neurodivergent experience.

But we try, we try really hard and, like anyone else, we like to feel that the effort we put in is seen and valued.

If we are not careful about that, we do indeed fall into the risk of becoming codependent. The desire to feel loved or valued becomes a constant hunger for validation from which it is difficult to escape because we are aware that our brain will never function in a different way. And if that is mixed with RSD, it can become an even bigger problem.

Novelty, games, challenges, and rewards

Producing dopamine on a normal basis is one thing our brains aren't very good at (one of the reasons we can be prone to depression, for example), but you know what they love? Challenges and rewards.

New things feed our endless curiosity, but for some reason unknown to me, our brains really love challenges and dares. They give us dopamine like we're on a high.

So much so that some people use it as a tactic to perform tasks they don't like: "How many dishes can I wash before my dinner is ready?", "If I can finish this in less than 30 minutes, I can go get chocolate."

One medium we may like very much for this reason is games. Board games, card games, or virtual games. It doesn't matter. Games provide a very good balance of challenge and reward.

If you see that Annabel seems overly interested in how this works, it's because there may be a part of her that thinks "aside from the deadly situation we're in…this is like the most hardcore escape room ever" and inevitably there's something here that stirs her bug.

It may be something she loves about Lenore. As a good hypocrite, Annabel despises the rules she knows so well, so when Lenore comes along with this gimmick and completely changes the paradigm of what she knows, there is inevitably something that appeals to her. Others who are good at the game look down on Lenore's disdain for the rules, to Annabel it is fucking appealing because it offers a range of unexplored possibilities that she fucking loves.

Erratic Communication

When our brains are running at full speed, communication can become a challenge, and we tend to exhibit erratic patterns.

One of these is info-dumping. Touch a topic we know about or are interested in and it's like stepping on a landmine: we explode talking about it. Non-stop. You'll have to hit us to shut us up.

Another thing is that we can have a bad habit of interrupting. A lot. It's not malicious, it's just that we're really into the conversation and want to participate as much as possible.

That said, even if we're extroverts, it can be a nightmare to withhold information or participate in a conversation if it doesn't grab our attention. It's not that we want to be disrespectful or anything, it's just that, again, we have no control over our ability to pay attention and we're swimming against the tide to hold on to whatever it is you're telling us.

This scene is something I've seen in friends with ADHD and have been told I do: stare at people while doing your best to do the hamster run to remember what they're telling you because you know it's important, even though your brain is putting it together with junk information because it's not engaging your attention in the right way.

Ignore the murderous stare part, it's not that common - at least I hope not.

Drinks that are like a pill

Our brains are not designed to produce certain hormones naturally or, in some cases, they produce them under other circumstances. For things like that, we can take pills, develop strategies to help our brains produce hormones.

And drink coffee. Lots of coffee.

Caffeine can be extremely relaxing for us because it can actually help our brains keep functioning, you know that stereotype of the highly coded ADHD character who drinks coffee like it's his life? Well, that's because.

You know what other beverage has a similar effect? Tea. Theine is also a natural activator, perhaps less aggressive than coffee, but it can have a similar effect.

If you're interested in describing this topic in fanfic or touching on it in fanart, tea should have a relaxing effect on Annabel and even help her concentrate.

Boredom

We get bored. A lot. And we get painfully bored. Here's what happens: boredom is caused by a lack of stimulation, and our brains aren't stimulated just because we can't regulate our attention to seek out that stimulation.

Add to that the fact that when we are bored, without dopamine hitting our receptors, our executive functions diminish and we function like shit.

Boredom

Is

Fucking

Murder

Because our brain starts desperately asking for dopamine and we can fall into really unhealthy behaviors like fighting, being chronically online, or eating because we can't find anything better to do. This also contributes -again- to our depression or anxiety.

Conclusions (and if I don't make the joke, I'll die)

In the book ADHD After Dark (a study of ADHD, relationships, and physical intimacy), Ari Tuckman draws some interesting conclusions, one of which is that on a statistical level, people with ADHD seem to be more likely to have what he calls "sexual eagerness": kinks, fetishes, a tendency to be adventurous in bed, and the like. Again, our brains love play, and both intimacy and flirtation can involve a lot of it.

So…

Um…

…well, I think Lenore will be happy. Good for her.

Anyway, this has been a seriously long explanation. Thanks for reading this far.

[powderblueblood]

I wonder how Lacy would react if Eddie ever read her journal 👀 Like if he ever happened upon it accidentally. I'm picturing a full on nuclear explosion. Scorched earth. That kind of thing.

ANON YOU BETTER FUCKING---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, it's the end of the goddamn world, as far as she's concerned.

like, she's comfortable enough with him that she eventually leaves it sort of kind of lying around right-- except for, not really, eddie does pinch it out of her bag. he does a really good job of sneaking excerpts when she's out of the room, and that shit gets addictive.

starts like this-- she's researching something (shit, maybe it's even hellfire club, who knows, not me) for the streak and eddie's like, "what the hell is she even scribbling about in here all the time..."

first of all, she's got imperceptibly tiny spy-level cursive that he feels like he needs a magnifying glass to read properly but with a little squinting and a little spirit, he's getting places.

and the places. are. crazy.

"what the fuck are you doing."

he hears her voice from the door of the drama room, and it is like he's been caught red handed with his first stolen copy of penthouse all over again (i'll let you guess who caught him-- because it wasn't wayne and it wasn't al, but she does live in forest hills trailer park). heart hammering, brain scrambling.

lacy, for her part, is red hot tip to toe. curiosity killed the cat, right, but she is going to skin eddie munson and make a coat out of him.

"lacy-- now, lacy, let's not--"

"asked you a question. i asked you a question, munson."

she moves fast but he's faster (used to scampering; he has rat blood).

"i have questions for the author!"

"i have a bullet with your name on it!"

"it says here that steve harrington is the kind of guy that would proclaim to love pussy as a pushback to his chauvinistic past, but would keep fingering you in the wrong hole-- care to comment!"

"i was bitter-- it doesn't fucking matter! give it back!"

"nancy wheeler has the intellectual stamina of an american girl doll with a particularly starchy backstory, but at the very least--fuck--at the very least, it means she won't end up like her mother, who almost definitely cashed in on the last of her souring good looks--stop fucking screaming!--to assist in the spread of billy hargrove's petri dish of sexually transmitted diseases! lacy!"

"what?!"

"it's like you've written fucking hawkins babylon!"

she shrieks, because he only knows about hollywood babylon because of her! don't you dare use a woman's cultural touchstones against her!

eddie just about dodges a d20 that's been flung at him with eerie precision.

"okay, that almost got me in the eyeball!"

"good! all the better to not read my fucking journal with, you provincial pigfucker piece of shit!"

"no, no no," eddie says, and he's like up on a table now because the guy loves to be up on a fucking table, holding that journal waaaay above his head, waaaay above where lacy can reach it (short, evil), "i need you to hear my favorite part."

he doesn't even need to read this part from the cursed tome, because it's memorized.

"al munson probably has no bearing on the way eddie munson lives his life, because he's a deadbeat the way his son is destined to be a deadbeat. but the mere genetic suggestion of that piece of shit--you said piece of shit, right?"

lacy stops. stomach dropping.

"--is enough for you to want to cut the brakes in his little boy's van."

a beat. the silence is, like. heavy. eddie stares down at her and she can't meet eddie's eyes. like. at all. she feels-- really bad. mouth all dry. steps off the chair she'd been standing on.

eddie crouches to face her. maybe his ripped jeans strain a little more at the knees, i don't know. he uses the journal to tilt her chin up, to look at him, to face what she's written about him, in paper and ink. (fancy ink. fountain pen ink. paper's not too shabby either.)

her heart is hammering out her chest, body not quite sure how to process guilt like it processes anger or resentment or annoyance or (more recently) laughter.

"lacy," he says, voice husky and serious. "i just have one question."

"... yeah?"

"why didn't you cut my brake lines and kill me when you had the chance?"

and the way the smile breaks over his face (sunrise after months of gloomy winter, yadda yadda yadda), she almost wishes she did.

almost.

"can i hazard a guess?" he's gonna hazard a guess. he flicks to one of the most recent entries and lacy, weakly, tries to slam her hand over the page. this one he's had to read a couple more times to get the gist of it. because this one is really scandalous.

"dear reader," god, what is this? is this his lacy impression? it's awful, "it has taken you less than five weeks to become incapable of imagining your life without--"

"don't," and lacy actually snatches the journal from him this time, clutching it tight to her chest. "if your ego gets any bigger, it'll become cancerous."

or y'know somethin like that

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Hello To All!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! I read on my phone and I’m not able to find stories. If there’s a way, please tell me how.

Please suggest adult stories for me with a great/happy ending. I prefer chapter stories of adult Klaine. Any suggestions are welcome. Need something to read tonight. Thank you for all you do!

Hello, when I search from my phone, I go onto our libary blog and into the "magnifying glass/search" at the top. I type in a particular word like "adult" or "enemies to lovers" and then a whole lot of previously recommended fics appear. Alternatively download A03 app, and you can search and filter on it.

Also on AO3 check out our 2023 Klainebingo which has 191 tagged stories written 2016-23 that fandom have recommended - not all adult klaine, but definitely worth looking at.

What I've done is made a list of recommendations here of some of Klaine fics I've enjoyed, where they are adults, or mostly post college age. Some newer, some older. ~ Jen

Seven by @scatterthestars

How far would you go for someone you love? For Kurt, that means doing the unimaginable. But if it means saving his dad, he's willing to take that risk. A risk that has him leaving his home to go states away to spend a week with the last person he ever expected to meet. Over the course of the next seven days, things don't go as planned, or thought.

Can seven days change everything?

~~~~~

Feel my heart's intention by @kurtsascot

Blaine started to hate Kurt on his first day. And it was a shame, really, because they could have been cute together. 

~~~~~

Falling for You By @caramelcoffeeaddict Coffeeaddict80

A fic written based off a mash-up of these two prompts from the @gleepotluckbigbang prompt page -- Prompt1: During rehearsal I tripped and fell into the orchestra pit and landed on you Prompt2: I have to share a dressing room with the most obnoxious, self-centered jerk; and when you sent flowers to our dressing room, they took them assuming they were for them but they were really for me Featuring: Broadway!Kurt, PianoPlayer!Blaine, Obnoxious!Broadway!Sebastian

~~~~~

Rock, paper, scissors by @gleefulpoppet

Kurt and his seven-year-old daughter are moving from the hustle and bustle of New York to the Rocky Mountains for a fresh start. On a connecting flight from Atlanta, they meet a warmhearted man who captures their attention with his enthusiasm. Will they ever see him again? And even if they do, how will he fit into their new life?

~~~~~

Nashville! by @hkvoyage

Kurt lands the lead role in a new musical, but it flops during the previews. However, his performance captivates Nashville’s newest country music sensation. They share an instant connection and it grows deeper as they get to know each other. Will Kurt be able to save the musical and keep the man of his dreams? An AU meeting featuring country singer!Blaine and Broadway!Kurt.

~~~~~

Made to keep your body warm by @quizasvivamos

Blaine is a meteorologist who works as a weatherman for a local New York news station where he's especially well-known for predicting storms. But, when a huge nor'easter blows in and the news crew is trapped at the station for three days by snow, can he predict what happens when he meets a young new intern?

~~~~~

If music be by @blurglesmurfklaine

Kurt’s just trying to survive his last semester of college, which means making it through student teaching in one piece.

~~~~~

In my place by @heartsmadeofbooks

Blaine has always been shy and introverted, so after his father dies, he looks for comfort into his childhood dream - owning a bookstore. But then Kurt Hummel walks into his life, turning his dream into a complicated affair.

~~~~~

These inconvenient fireworks by @redheadgleek

After an unexpected Tony award, Kurt Hummel is Broadway's hottest up and coming star, which comes with expectations and some admirers that won't take a hint. When his best friend Elliott Gilbert suggests that they pretend to date to get the leeches to back off, Kurt takes him up on the idea. It's all working out great - until Kurt starts to fall hard for the dark-haired music director of his latest musical.

~~~~~

Scenes from December by @spaceorphan18

An exploration of Kurt's life throughout various Decembers. The story of family and how the definition of family changes over time.

~~~~~

Home away from home by @lilyvandersteen

Cooper buys a hotel sight unseen and asks Blaine to run it for him over the summer. Only, the hotel is a health and safety hazard and Inspectors Hummel and Abrams are hell-bent on closing it down. Can Blaine spruce the hotel up in time and save Cooper's investment?

~~~~~

Living Haphazard by anna_timberlake @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion

Have you ever thought of getting cheated by a house broker and getting to know that you had to stay with another stranger who was also cheated? What if you are getting stuck up with the stranger in the apartment due to unavoidable circumstances? What if you hate him as well as have a crush on him? What if you had to fight your inner self and the stranger? What if he agreed on helping you which can only happen in dreams? This is a real living haphazard, isn't it?

~~~~ Someone like you by @iconicklaine

Kurt and Blaine keep up their very own version of "When Harry Met Sally" for years, a friendship fraught with sexual tension and longing, until the agendas of Adele (yes, THE Adele), a bored NY socialite and a super-sweet hetero couple bring our boys together. The only problem is... they're both in committed relationships.

Note: This story is AU after "Sexy" and assumes Kurt and Blaine graduate from Dalton in the same year. In this future fic, set in 2025, Blaine is based off of Season 2 Blaine. Originally posted on LJ and S&C.

~~~~~

The Journeying By @flowerfan2

Freshly graduated from music school, Blaine is thrilled when he is chosen to stay in the cast when the production of Into the Woods he was lucky enough to be part of in Boston moves to Broadway. He knows it’s going to be hard returning to New York City – the scene of his epic breakup with his fiancé and the emotional meltdown which cost him his place at NYADA. But he’s determined that this time, everything will be different. Little does Blaine know that out of thousands of potential castmates, his director has chosen none other than Kurt Hummel to play the part of Jack. Blaine has worked hard to recover from their breakup three years ago, and struggles to find a new way to relate to Kurt and simultaneously protect himself, especially when tragedy strikes.

This story looks at what would have happened if Kurt and Blaine had reacted differently to the break up in 6x01 than they did in canon; if events hadn’t brought them back together as soon, and if forgiveness hadn’t come so easily.

[whichstiel]

A Christmas Prince II

I haven't even watched THAT many Christmas or other holiday movies yet this season, but I just vividly dreamed an alternative sequel to the Netflix's A Christmas Prince.

The movie began with them divorced after a short but rocky marriage. The magnifying glass of royalty charred them both and they parted ways amicably (but also obviously heartbroken).

After the opening recap monologue where she talks about her whirlwind royal romance and subsequent heartbreak (disclaimer: I haven't watched the movie in at least a few years - what even happened in it?) we cut to her leaning in to kiss her new girlfriend. (That's right, Netflix says bisexual rights!) They're ready to spend their first Christmas together. Her new girlfriend really wants to introduce her to her parents when the whole family gets together for the holiday. It's bittersweet for our heroine but she tries to move on.

But Amber (I just had to google her name, shut up) gets a call from her Journalism Boss, the Boss of Journalistic Sources. The crown jewels from her former lover's kingdom have been stolen!!! And there's nobody better to cover the news than Amber.

Amber breaks the news to her new girlfriend buuuuuut also obviously makes a big terrible lie out of it. Instead of "sorry, babe, I need to work," she tells the girlfriend that she can't meet the parents because her Christmas surprise is an all expenses whirlwind romantic trip toooooo ALDOVIA. Her girlfriend is apparently NOT a news reader, connects no dots, and packs her skis, baby!

They arrive in Aldovia. Amber tries to spend the whole time wearing slouchy hats and sunglasses, so that nobody in this tiny, fake European monarchy will notice its famous former queen. Hijinks happen. She probably gets recognized by the butler, or something, who secretly plots to "accidentally" reunite her with her former husband who has been pining for her this whole time.

The girlfriend is a sweet but lazily written cinnamon stick who is mainly in the movie to be holiday-card cute and super sweet to Amber (while Amber spirals after glimpsing the Prince - er, King? IDK). We want Amber to reunite with her lost love but also? Girlfriend is sweet like kitten? Must protect??? Maybe this will be a Frozen situation and the girlfriend will turn out to be a total Hans.

Amber is trying to focus on the case - er, journalism story. WHO STOLE THE ROYAL JEWELS? She is only in the country for this reason! She definitely does not find herself comically hiding herself in hedgery to spy on her prince! Especially when a princess comes to town looking to give away her rose, if you know what I mean.

This part of my dream is a little fuzzy, which probably means it doesn't actually exist. So let's have a little fun and make it up.

We can throw in a...baking contest. How about Amber goes undercover as a contestant to sneak into her former home and nobody will recognize her at all because, uuuuuuh, she just has "one of those faces?" (Her bakes are terrible.) She tells her boss that she's only in it to find the jewels and save the prince's kingdom cover the news story.

While Amber is living her worst life, her actually still pretty new girlfriend is busy being a solo tourist of Aldovia. We get what could be a sad montage of solo Christmas card moments (decorating cookies at the local snowy farmer's market stall, holding baby bunnies at the Pet Palace Emporium (the bunnies wear little fake poinsettia bows), and drinking hot chocolate while looking at CGI snowy mountains). The thing is, she's not sad about it. Girlfriend is having the BEST time. It keeps things light for this Netflix romance and we don't feel too bad for girlfriend. She is in a stale three month relationship and all she has is this amazing overseas vacation to show for it!

Amber ends up getting discovered at the palace by the prince. He pulls her into a lavishly red and green decorated room to hold a hissing conversation about why she is there, is she there because of this princess interloper, does she want to get back together, does she miss him too, has she happened to spot any very shiny rocks anywhere?

They decide to solve the mystery together before parting ways FOREVER. One last adventure! Hijinks ensue again, and we're made to suspect the interloping princess, the mysterious relative of the prince who just so happened to be visiting and may be trying to steal his throne, and probably a mysterious shopkeeper who bears some resemblance to Santa Claus and keeps showing up unannounced all over the movie.

While they try to find the missing jewels, Amber and the Prince fall back in love. Or, realize they never fell out of love.

Amber breaks up with her girlfriend - probably during the baking contest - and runs off to stop the prince from getting engaged. It turns out the princess interloper is nowhere in sight and the prince is just...staring out over the mountains, longing for Amber.

Finally, we get back to my dream. The snowy garden is full of twinkling lights and Amber and the prince lean in. Turns out they never stopped loving each other. They vow to let nothing get in the way of their love again. It's time to get married again! They can overcome anything including Journalism and Jewel Thieves! Will their marriage crumble again?

That's probably for next year's sequel.

The cinnamon-stick girlfriend soothes her sorrow by heading back to the Baby Animal Emporium to snuggle more bunnies. The spurned Princess shows up, looking to soothe her heartache with some, uh, bunny snuggling as well. I guess they're going to be featured in the spinoff movie?

Oh, and what about the JEWEL THIEF? We almost forgot about the mystery sub-plot! A squirrel lumbers across the yard while Amber and her prince reaffirm their love. It's...dragging a ruby pendant. They follow the squirrel and find the entire treasure trove of Aldovia shoved into a hollow tree. The thief was small and furry and there's no threat to the kingdom after all! Let's turn to the camera and laugh, share a kiss, and.......fade into snowy mountains while a generic Christmas love song plays us out.

[astrojulia]

Anything that makes us sick take us away from ourselves, just as said in DYLAN DOG MATER MORBI, “the first thing that the disease takes from you is your identity”. In the last year, for example, I got badly sick and had to stop everything to treat it, in that moment you would not see my aquarius energy even with a magnifying glass. When this progresses to your mental, it means that there’s a part of you that i always sick and that needs to be worked on, and when you heal your wounds you will be yourself and your sun sign again (but don’t blame yourself is some scars got left).

You've heard that words have power and that our life is governed by what goes through our mind, right? Sometimes we wish so much to be another thing that we delude ourselves! You know when we want to be part of the cool kids and change the way we are, even mocking what we once love to do? The way that popular astrology degrade some signs, I can undertand why some want to act like “this is not related to me, I’ve never lied in my whole life, Gemini always say the truth” even though.. everyone lies! Work on who you are and who you want to be, we can only be better if we know who we are now. Don’t try to be someone else.

To be born on the cusp in to be born at the beginning or end of a sign’s season (normally between day 18 - 23). When you’re on the cusp, the “intruding” sign dilutes or water down your Sun sign, so if you were born in the beginning of the Aries season you can have a finger or two in Pisces and that changes the bright red color from Aries to a more cold one.

To simplify it, your astrological signature sign is the zodiac sign that is the most unique to you. This signature summarizes the others, to find it you will the element and modality you have the most in your chart, and then see the sign that represents the element+modality combination. So, if you have Aries Sun but counting all the other planets you have a dominance in water and fixed, your signature sign is Scorpio and it may change you red tone a little.

If your Sun is in Aries, the Zodiac sign by Mars, but Venus is the dominant one in your chart, her energies of peace and harmony will overpower the competitive and fighting that Mars could give you. Dominant planets are really important in someone personality, but this is rarer because the Sun itself is an important part of knowing which is your dominant planet.

This can happen for many reasons, adoptions, people who grew up without tutor or someone older to tell them when them where born, I even saw a post of someone on internet who get confuse with the date of birth because as it was born close to Christmas, it parents celebrated on another date to be able to celebrate. Without the time of birth, it is already difficult to make a natal chart (some even say impossible), imagine without the date too.

I refuse to say "you don't believe in astrology" because astrology is not a belief… nobody says they don't believe in architecture, biology… Being critical and questioning things is great and I encourage you to do that with everything (my posts included). However, there is a big difference in having critical sense and being skeptical about a subject. Being critical is everything you see is questioned and revised, being skeptical is you will never agree with a subject because you’re sure that what you know is the only answer to that question.

Progression - Our planets do not stop in time! We learn everyday (thanks lord) about something and our planets accompanies our evolution, your Aquarius Sun can be progresses to the Pisces Sign and you can feel like you’re not so cold like you always ready about Aquarius.

Your annual chart (or Solar Return) - Every year the currently planets aspect our own aspects (natal chart) and that’s why we are a little different every year. So that’s why you can be feeling a little to much Virgo this year, but maybe the next will be Sagittarius.

Sources:

Servant of the Fates - post inspiration (When I wrote this she still hadn't reposted...)

Naiad 1/Naiad 2

Template by sorberts on tumblr

PSD by wildfireresources on deviantart

[rockitmans]

Blaine Anderson Vs. Valentine's Day (4/14)

Summary: Blaine drunk posts on his Instagram asking for a date for Valentine's Day. He gets one.

Notes: Written for the @klaineccfanficlibrary Valentine Challenge. Today's song is I'll Never Not Love You by Michael Bublé

Be sure to also check out the collection on AO3 and Stick Season by @blurglesmurfklaine I'm finding it so fun to write as part of a community event. Seeing other people post theirs really keeps me on track. And all the lovely comments of course!

Read on AO3 or below

~~~~~~

He can't just leave it like that. Hi. What was he thinking? He quickly taps out a follow up without letting himself doubt it too hard. 

Blaine: Bold tactic to assume that poem would get my attention and not just end up being deleted

He immediately throws his phone face down on his bed and paces around the room several times, trying to breathe. He can do this. He can talk to other humans. Even ridiculously gorgeous ones that for some reason seem interested in him. 

Barely a minute passes before his phone chimes and he tries to tell himself to be chill and not answer straight away but the anticipation is killing him. He grabs his phone. 

Kurt: And yet here you are. Interesting. 

God. He actually answered. And he's so cool . It's going to take him less than thirty seconds to realise how lame Blaine is. Blaine doesn't have game. He doesn't usually even realise when people are into him. He's fallen into every relationship he's had so far fully because the other person has spelled it out to him. 

This was clearly a mistake. A horny error in judgement. He's half tempted to just delete the app right now and pretend this never happened. The Philippines is nice this time of year.  

But then his phone chimes again and Blaine grins stupidly as he reads the message. 

Kurt: It was a gamble. I'm happy it paid off. 

Blaine: Well. It was helped by the fact that I am very interested in these claims that you can pick me up. 

Kurt: Oh no. That was my roommate's suggestion. She's going to be insufferable now. 

Blaine: Your secret's safe with me

Kurt: Thanks. But she's also much cooler than me if I'm being honest. I may prove to be a disappointment. Flirting with strangers on the internet is all fun and games until they actually reply 😅

Blaine blinks. He hadn't thought about it that hard, but if he had, he would have assumed that this was going to turn into sexting, getting off, and then mutually agreeing to never speak of it again. Or at least he assumes that's the way this sort of thing goes. He doesn't really know. 

But maybe that isn't what this is. Interesting.

Blaine: And do you make a habit of flirting with strangers on the internet?

Kurt: I want to be really smooth and be like 'only the cute ones 😉' but fuck it. No I don't usually. I'm like an honest to God Broadway romantic. I need at least dinner before I can consider getting my dick out. 

Kurt: And I realise a simple no would have sufficed 

Blaine huffs out a laugh. Okay. Definitely not sexting then. He's kind of relieved. It would have just been a way to let off steam after the emotional bomb that was Sebastian's betrayal. He hasn't really had time to sort out his feelings about Sebastian yet. Sam's solution to the problem was to get him spectacularly drunk and there's been little time for introspection since then. And that's mostly been on purpose.

He knows if he starts to think about it, it will bring every scrap of his hard earned self worth under a magnifying glass. He'll sort through all his insecurities for the reasons why Sebastian might have cheated and probably invent some new ones just for fun. He doesn't want to be terrified to love again. He doesn't want to lose his ability to love quickly and generously and all in. He doesn't want this to break him. 

And right now that means chatting to a cute guy that doesn't want to just get off with him. And regardless of anything else, it will be a funny story to tell Tina later. 

Blaine: Ah yes that well known Broadway hit, "Dinner for dick." We all know it

Kurt: Say what you like about Barrett Wilbert Weed but she smashed that one

Kurt: Listen you don't have to keep talking to me. I understand my mouth was putting out checks that my ass can't cash. Literally. 

Blaine: I want to keep talking to you. A gorgeous guy that's into Broadway and fashion? Maybe that wish journal I kept when I was thirteen really did have magical powers after all

Blaine: Although I'm still not a superhero so perhaps not 

Kurt: I never had a wish journal but I did have a hope chest. I cut up magazine pictures to compile my perfect man and it obviously looked outlandish and not like you at all

Kurt: But I am pretty sure I made my perfect man a musician 

Blaine: Well thank God I have that going for me at least

Kurt: You have a lot more going for you than that

Blaine: And I thought you said you didn't flirt with strangers on the internet 😉

Kurt: You're right

Blaine gets a jolt in his stomach, terrified that Kurt is about to promise to cut out the flirting or even stop talking to him all together. But then the next message comes through.

Kurt: Maybe we should become not-strangers so I can flirt with you without fear 

Blaine bites his lip against a smile, feeling the flush creep all the way to his ears. Who even is this guy?

Hopefully he's going to find out. 

Blaine: Sounds perfect 

[a-sentient-horax]

January 24, 2023

Ok, last day of classes for the week! I have a lot to do today, my life is a little hectic at the moment. I have one of my best friends coming to watch the puppy today which is great.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about friends and about myself lately, brought on by my birthday party laments most likely. Anyway, I've been thinking about how like, I've never actually had long-term, healthy relationships modeled to me. My parents got divorced when I was very little, and then my dad had a live in girlfriend for 6 years before she and her daughter moved out. My mom got married to another guy for 5 years until they divorced, and then she had a baby and moved in with a man for about 3 years before they split up. And I was living like, around these different families for different periods of time at different rates. So a stable family was never like, modeled to me and the closes I came to one was gone after 6 years. I don't know how to make and maintain long-term relationships. And certainly I've had difficulty engaging in healthy relationships and I say that taking on the full understanding that I had engaged in toxic behavior in relationships, romantic and platonic. So on one hand, I think I should cut myself some slack, like obviously this is hard to learn and obviously I'm going to fuck it up on accident and I just need to keep working at it. But on the other hand I am like, so mad and sad and upset and I just feel defeated. Like it is so embarrassing to be a 23 year old adult woman going to grad school and being like, "yeah I really struggle making and keeping friends and I am still learning to navigate a lot of social systems and social queues." like ugh girl really. It's just not the vibe and that's so disappointing.

Another thing I have been thinking about is how hyper-vigilant my mother made me. I saw a tiktok this morning that really resonated with me. This lady was talking about how a parentified child can learn hyper-vigilance as a way to try to keep their parents/siblings happy by trying to read facial expressions and tone and try to manage how everyone in the household feels. She said it's a form of control and like, feeling like you have control of a situation. And then had the thought that maybe my childhood was my mom begging me to get control of her, and I never could. Because that's a ridiculous thing to ask a child I mean imagine me asking a one year old to help me get control of myself like, it's not gonna happen that one year old has never seen like a tiger yet its not even been bowling.

I just feel like I am getting better at identifying how I feel and trying to reach the root cause of it. I am beginning to think maybe the way to feel better about myself and make more friends is instead of examining every flaw I think I might have with a magnifying glass, pushing myself as hard as possible to fix it, maybe I just start accepting that the world is how it is, people are how they are, and maybe I am worth the time and effort it takes to be myself.

[lemonsbakery]

Alright, its finally time for me to break my fingers to write down all the silly hcs I have for roguefort..and some others..kind of..

oh god how do I start this uhmmm

forgive me for my awkwardness throughout this all please, I havent done this b4 pls spare my soul

Roguefort's nationality is French and their race is Asian, they were born in France and moved to wherever cookie run ovenbreak takes place in back when they were around 7.

Roguefort has seen what people think of them before, they've seen how some cookies WANT them to come and rob their homes. The moment Roguefort found out about this information they realized how much of an advantage that put them at during robberies. that didn't mean Roguefort wasn't unnerved at the thought that someone out there wants them to steal all their personal belongings just because they're charismatic and pretty, the thought of it to this day sends shivers down their spine.

The interaction Roguefort had with Cotton Candy cookie constantly loops in their mind like a broken record player, they have no idea how to feel about it to this day

Roguefort doesn't sleep a lot despite their energetic demeanor, during the day they have to plan out heists and plan out how to properly get away with their criminal activities, and during the night they have to act on their plans, jump across buildings, jump INTO buildings and get away successfully so that they don't get arrested by the popo so they really don't have much time to snooze. This caused Roguefort to sloowwlyy gain eyebags, luckily Roguefort is good with makeup so they just cover them up.

Lord Crumbles III sometimes falls asleep in Rogueforts hat for TWO reasons; 1. comfy 2. so Roguefort stays home.

Roguefort wouldn't DARE move their beloved cat while its slumbering on them. NEVER.

ROGUEFORT BABYTALK'S LORD CRUMBLES III WITHOUT REALIZING IT, ITS AN INSTINCT FOR THEM.

On Halloween, Roguefort keeps an eye out for any black cats that need to be sheltered or any black cats that NEED help. Once they've retrieved the cat and made sure its safe they drop the cat off at Almond's place through a window..without letting him know..

Roguefort doesn't do anything illegal during the winter holidays. They sit back during the winter holidays and take a break. Sometimes they'll go around cookie city and watch other cookies celebrating while in disguise, wondering what they did to deserve that kind of joy being stripped away from them. It's not that they loathe the winter holidays, they just wish they had grown up differently is all.

Roguefort calling walnut 'Little detective' has a bit of story behind it. Usually, a grown authority was on their case, like Almond cookie or Police cookie (yes, the popup dude that detects cheating) but one day when they were stealing something simple like a ring, during their getaway a small girl with a magnifying glass came running behind them demanding that they return the stolen ring, this caught Roguefort off-guard, but that didn't stop roguefort from making a smart-ass comment before making their ultimate escape. Right as they were about to jump off a balcony, they turned around and gave walnut a humored grin and said "Watch where you step, little detective!" or smth along the lines of that. Walnut let out an offended gasp and screamed "I AM NOT LITTLE!", Walnut was too winged to realize that Roguefort had already jumped off the building and escaped! (un)Luckily for Roguefort, they managed to hear Walnut's blood-curdling toddler scream on the way down. This event started Walnut's rivalry with Roguefort.

Sometimes when Almond is chasing a criminal he blanks out and ends up passing out in the middle of the chase. This occurs due to Almond often overworking himself without rest; luckily, a certain thief always has an eye out for their detective frenemy. whenever this happens Roguefort makes it their job to safely bring Almond to his bed so he can rest properly and comfortably.

Roguefort knows Almond and Walnut's house like the back of their hand

Thats all I got for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this if you did. Note that I'm aware this isn't very literate, sorry! anyways so did you guys know that rubber bands last longer when they are refrigerated?

[cousticks]

Fave character and why (overall)

What type of characters do you typically enjoy? (for me i usually like dead characters because of their... idk there's just so much to work w there 😭 like so many things for interpretation/potential)

What got you into bsd

What got you into tumblr

Can you give at least one tip or advice on how to recover from a hyperfixation on something when u need to be productive?

Are you better at writing or drawing?

If you could choose, which would you be better at?

Do you like painting?

Are your friends nice?

Forgive me for the random asks. jus answer the ones you want to ty ❤️

Is it weird if I answer all of them? I think all of these are fun to answer so I'm gonna answer all of them. Tysm!!

Favorite character overall is... really difficult. I like so many different characters for so many reasons across so many different medias. Even choosing a favorite from BSD is wildly difficult. Of all characters ever, one of my favorites is Cal Trask from John Steinbeck's East of Eden (the book, not the movie, even though he is played by James Dean). East of Eden is one of my favorite books ever, and most of the incredible themes in it, all of the cycles it represents, as well as the cycles it finally breaks, are done through Cal. He struggles with being good despite a thematic predisposition to being anything but throughout his portion of the novel doomed-by-the-narrative style, until at the end the resolution is that... he doesn't have to be either, he only really has to be him. I love that book dearly and could talk about its themes for hours (and have!). As far as favorite BSD characters specifically, that's near impossible for me to say, but a rough top-group would include Kyusaku, Kouyou, Dazai but specifically mafia era, Kunikida, and Albatross. I don't have any really good reasoning for those top favorites beyond "hehe, I like them," honestly.

I usually enjoy characters that it takes a while to piece together their motivations. Morally grey. And I mean actually morally grey, not the asshole-that-does-nice-things antihero type. I like characters that make me want to think about them and piece them together and study them like bugs under a magnifying glass until they start to catch on fire. Dudes who suck but have so much potential to be more. Make me have to justify why I enjoy them in front of a board of directors. I love to be able to fill in between the lines.

A former friend group got me into BSD back in 2019 because they were all watching it and I happened to have the time and energy to. The sheer amount of media to consume & intrigue of the characters is what made me stay, though.

This is horribly embarrassing but my first stint on Tumblr ~7 or 8 years ago was sparked by learning that the Onceler fandom existed and being absolutely fascinated by it. It was already dying out by this point, so I wasn't active or anything in it, but I thought the way people interacted across blogs to make these wild stories was so fascinating. Specifically the Truffula Flu zombie arcs. I was a Camp Entre loyalist. A couple years later I accidentally deleted my blog and didn't get active on Tumblr again until a little over a year ago, though, when I wanted to start engaging with the fanbases some media I was fixating on at the time.

If I could figure out the secret for recovering from a hyperfixation in a productive way I would be a much more functional person. Sometimes I'm able to approach things with an "if you can't beat it, join it" mentality, and can come up with ways to connect my current task to whatever I'm fixating on. Here's the secret: you're allowed to be cringe with it. If you need to do the dishes and need to make it a mental competition for "oh boy I need to be less of a disaster than Dazai its fucking on" or "I need to do my math homework so Kunikida will be proud of me" or "gotta do my laundry... I gotta be dressy for my port mafia work attire..." then do it. Who cares. That doesn't work all the time, but it can work sometimes. And when it doesn't? I normally just try to clear my mind entirely by doing something that sucks so much I can't think of anything except how it sucks. For me its cardio. I hate cardio exercise. But if I go on a jog and come back I a) feel a little better and more functional because I went on a stupid exercise for my stupid mental health, b) got some of the excess fixation energy out, and c) that sucked so bad i would literally rather do Anything else i might as well be fucking productive. These are not sure-fire ways but they help me. And my most important one? You can't focus when you're stressed. Trying to force yourself to focus when you're stressed about an assignment and panicking because you can't focus will not help you, it will make the problem worse. It is okay to give yourself some grace, walk away, try to put yourself into a healthier mindset, and come back. That's another reason I like to take walks when I can't focus, even if its just a small one down the hall for a glass of water and then back. Don't force yourself. Never force yourself. You'll feel worse and more frustrated.

I'm much better at writing. I'm horrible at drawing, I just do it anyway for fun because sometimes I need to get my fixation kick out in a visual manner. Writing has always been my strong suit.

If I could choose? I think I'd still pick writing, honestly. I'm sometimes jealous of those that can make gorgeous art, but I'm happy in my world of writing because it has helped me in so many other areas of my life as well. I don't live an artists life, unfortunately, and writing has served me well.

I do like painting! I haven't in a very long time, as I don't have the time or energy much, but I used to sculpt and paint my creations. I'm not saying I was particularly good at either, but I used to, and I enjoyed it.

I didn't always have nice friends. But these days? They are. I wouldn't trade the friends I have now for the world.

[not-poignant]

Do you have a lot of different farms in stardew valley or go very long with just one? Also if you have different farms do you do any challenges or goals to keep it varied?

I have over 1,600 hours and have had over 15+ farms in Stardew Valley, and I tend to get bored around the year 3/4 mark, so I've never made it to year 5 in any of them. I started playing in 2016.

I played the first 10 or so without any mods at all, and most of my farms happened before the Ginger Island update, and things like that. Farms 10-13 had some cosmetic and quality of life mods (i.e. mods that let me know when I had hugged a chicken, so I didn't go and accidentally hug it again, and the 'No Children Ever' mod - the BEST - no kids, and don't even get asked to have them, perfect), and farms 14 and 15 actually have some 'cheat' mods to make it easier to play and more relaxing (instant catch for the fish, instant kill for the enemies).

I don't really have any obvious challenges or goals because I like to relax when I play it, so there's no point in making it harder for myself, right? It's very easy for me to max out all my skills to 10 before the end of year 1 for example (I'm usually level 5/6 on fishing with zero mods before the end of Spring, year 1), and usually all I need before the end of year 2 are the rest of the artefacts (I will have all the fish / crops / Community Centre etc.)

I'm not a hardcore min-maxer, but I do lean towards efficiency and low-key min-maxing, which means by the time money is pouring in, I'm ready to restart, because my favourite part of the game is starting to get all my goals. By the time I can sell my Iridium bars in stacks of 100 because I just have too many, I don't really see the point anymore, lol.

The game has actually changed a fair bit since I started playing it, we have a lot more quality of life changes now. There are new crops. There's new buildings. There's new farm animals. There's new scenes with the NPCs. The maple syrup bear, lmao. The little notes and magnifying glass. I've thought a little about trying Stardew Valley Expanded (a mod) but realistically what happens is I play for a little while quite intensely, and then I get bored and forget, and then I come back an old farm and can't remember what my routine was, so I just start a new farm. I'm actually in a 'I should probably update my mods and start a new farm' right now. So I haven't played Stardew Valley in a while.

I'm at the point where I've deleted quite a few of my farms, because I know I'll never go back to them, though I still have around 8 in the list.

I've never played multiplayer because I can't stand it (not being able to pause ruins the whole game for me), and I've only ever married/bonded to four candidates! Sebastian, Alex, Elliott and Krobus. I'm good at giving advice to newbies and even 'mid-tier newbies' (i.e. those who have only completed one farm and have about 60 hours under them), and otherwise just want people to enjoy the game and make it enjoyable for them. Stardew Valley is one of the best games to mod for your comfort (or challenge), and folks who can make the most of it should feel free to without guilt.

I've seen on YouTube some of the challenges people come up with - no farming for 100 days, no leaving the farm for 100 days, no talking to NPCs for 100 days, and so on. Idk, that's not really my thing. If I want to stress myself out, I'll just play Elden Ring or something.

Let me leave you with a pic of all my truffles from just one day of being away from my farm lol

I really miss the mushroom cave hack, but Barone nerfed it once he found out that some of us were exploiting it, lol. I thought it had been intentional, and not an error! :D :D

[luciddreamingstuff]

Niche Under the Magnifying Glass Lamp

If there is one thing I can take away from being in some smaller fandoms, or niche hobbies: You take what you can get and There are people out there who need their medical bills paid for carrying the fandom on their backs.

My two babies are the Lego Monkie Kid:

If you loved Lego Ninjago as a kid and still do to this day, I highly recommend this show. You can find the first couple of seasons on Amazon Prime. Seasons 3 and 4 are gonna be a bit more difficult, and this is what I mean by some needing their medical bills paid. Because the only reason I was able to keep up with the show with it being poorly marketed and dubbing is slow, folks came together to not only find the episodes, but also do their damnedest to fan sub these. I've already written a post about this show and why you need to watch it somewhere on this blog. Anyways, my next baby, and the one I have sunk so much money into already, is Zoids:

Most would be familiar with Chaotic Century or New Century Zero, as the Liger Zero (not depicted here) is the poster boy of the franchise. And with the 40th anniversary upon us, I'm glad I get to experience this niche franchise/hobby in general (My wallet not so much). I say that as I have a few kits that are sadly yet to be built. Right, Zoids if you don't know, started out as a sort of model kit toy line-up with a whole story between two warring factions and the mechanical beings known as Zoids. Most of it takes place on Planet Zi, with the exception being Zoids Wild Zero (and I swear to the gods above, I have been trying to watch this series for years now but finding episodes has been extremely tricky. That or I have just been extremely unlucky.)

Anyways, all that aside, insert here how even small fandoms have their problems and blah blah blah. But in general, I found the hardest part of being in smaller communities is mainly finding the content for them. Again, Zoids just isn't a big thing here in the States, so finding kits can be a little hit or miss. I say this as someone who fell into the pit trap of knockoffs (three to be exact.) and yeah, still new to all of this, only started building the kits recently. And as for Lego Monkie Kid, thankfully the internet exists, and the dedicated fans who work their asses off to find episodes and get them translated? Hats off to you my friends and thank you for all you do. It's always so exciting when you find someone out in the wild, so to speak, who knows about some of these smaller properties. And again, just being in these smaller fandoms, you have a slightly different perspective on Things you wouldn't think about being in bigger fandoms. I never thought I would be building model kits because of my horrible coordination and the fact that a disability I have makes it a little difficult to handle the tiny pieces. But then I discovered Zoids: New Century Zero on youtube some odd years ago and then learned about the model kits. Liger Zero was the first kit I got. Sadly him and my knockoff Mugen Liger took a tumble and are now in Model kit hospital trying to fix the broken parts. And even now, I still hunt for new kits, droll over some I could never hope to own. And I've rewatched Zoids Genesis at least 4 or 5 times now. And before anyone says anything, Yes I have seen Chaotic Century, and I do love it, don't get me wrong. But my favorite Zoid happens to be the Murasame Liger and its evolts. So you can imagine why I would watch Genesis a few more times than the others. And then there's Lego Monkie Kid. See, I loved Lego Ninjago as a kid, always diving into each episode and recording them on the VCR to see anything I missed. And then one day, scrolling through TikTok, I came across some clips of this new Lego animation that was essentially a sequel (I'm not calling it a fanfiction, I swear to the gods I refuse) Of Journey to the West. Which I learned about through Overly Sarcastic Productions. And doing my usual thing, now that I know how to surf the um . . . Okay let's be real here, pirating sites for cartoons and then Amazon Prime for this show. It was so easy to catch up on and the animation was eye candy, the characters and story were amazing, sound design and all.

Anyways, if you made it this far into my rambles, I applaud you and hope I convinced you to go searching around the deeper waters a bit. After all, you never know what you're going to find. Whether it be a gold mine, okay but still a guilty pleasure, the downright bad, or just the strange of the strange. Either way, happy exploring and I'll see you on the other side.

[stardusted-queerness]

How to Write Vision Impairments (from a vision-impaired writer)

In my experience, most books that include a vision impaired character has the character either 100% blind or just impaired enough for their vision to be perfectly corrected with lenses. So, here's some tips from a vision-impaired person.

Blindness and vision impairment is a spectrum.

It's not 100% blind or perfectly corrected with lenses. I'm legally blind, but I'm still able to see a fair bit of stuff and I wear glasses. My glasses don't actually do much in the sense of correcting my vision - instead, they give me depth perception, and my lenses have prisms in them (more on that in a few).

"Legally blind" does not mean fully blind. It's just used as a way to define how much vision loss means you shouldn't and/or can't work, drive, or other things that seeing people can do without thought. In the US, 20/200 with best correction is considered legally blind, which basically means you can see 20 feet of what seeing people can see at 200 feet. It's essentially 10% of working vision.

There's a lot of visual aides!

A lot of people think that the only type of visual aides are screen readers, Braille and the white cane (also known as the "blind cane").

There's actually a lot more visual aides! There's things such as talking clocks, bleedthrough-proof "markers" for boldened writing, boldened lined paper for easier seeing of the lines, large print calendars, amongst other things. I personally use have a backlit, large print keyboard to help me type and I have 2 magnifiers that help me when I have to read regular-print things. If you know Braille, you can also get stickers to put on your keyboard to help you type that way too!

Not every blind person is born blind.

This may seem obvious, but a lot of blind people lose their vision progressively through life. This can be from genetic conditions, or it can be from things like cataracts. Personally, I was born with vision issues, but it's been aggravated by my nystagmus (explanation soon), so I'm slowly but consistently losing my eyesight.

Ways to write blind characters

Like most disabilities, don't make it their entire personality. This doesn't mean don't ever ever mention it, just don't make it something that is constantly talked about or it's the only reason their friends stay with them. If you want a well-written blind character, look at Toph from ATLA. She's blind, yeah, but it isn't her entire character. People's reactions to her is also pretty accurate, especially where her friends would sometimes forget she's blind (I've had this occasionally, even with my spouse - I don't act blind, so people tend to forget about it until a situation where I need aided because I don't make it my entire personality, nor do I harp about it constantly).

Let them have aides other than the "typical" ones. Like I mentioned earlier, there are a ton of aides out there past screen readers, Braille, the white cane or seeing eye dogs.

If the character is in the lower economical classes, there's nonprofits out there that will help you get aides and training. That's how I got my white cane and other aides! And, typically, these nonprofits ask for nothing in return, except that you return the equipment in the case of your vision gets better or you move out of the nonprofit's district.

Don't make it a big deal. Don't make a big scene happen when the character picks up their white cane or grabs their seeing eye dog, or just mentions "hey, I'm kinda blind" (can also say "vision-impaired") "so I can't really see that". Just have the other character be like "oh okay". It's really like that type of exchange in the real world. There's very few instances where someone will be like "yeah right" or "oh I'm so sorry" and begin pitying/babying.

Your character should have a solid, medically explainable reason to their blindness/vision-impairment. This probably sounds pretty obvious, but there's a lot of things that can cause vision loss or legal blindness. I have a nystagmus, which is basically a fancy medical term to say I have uncontrollable eye movements. These movements can be subtle or extremely obvious. Most of my fits are extremely obvious, and I've sat for over 2 hours before with nonstop movement of my eyes. My eyes shake horizontally (left and right), but the eyes can move vertically (up and down) or in a circular path. This can cause severe headaches.

Remember when I mentioned my corrective lenses have prisms in them? This is one technique that doctors may use to try and help lower the activity of a nystagmus. I have 5-7 prisms in my left lens and 7-9 in the right lens (this is actually a really high amount of prisms and my lenses are super thick because of it). Most nystagmus' have a viewpoint called a "null point", in which the nystagmus's activity drastically decreases (it may still be present, but the severity of it lessens). For me, that is the far right gaze (looking out of the corner of your right eye, like you're trying to see to your right but without turning your head), and the prisms in my lenses attempt to force my eyes into the far right gaze even when I'm looking straight.

Most of all, do your research. Nothing is worse than having a character written in a poor manner, and it's obvious when someone doesn't do their research.

I might do this again for some of the other disorders/disabilities I have, but yeaaaa.

[byemizumikahago]

Is it possible for the victims who received explicit material from mizumi while underaged to file a police report or take legal action? If so, I strongly suggest it.

I got this question a while ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I thought about how to respond, but I never could think of the right way to say this. I knew if I said something too positive that, if the eventual outcome wasn't as good as I promised it'd be, it would've gotten people's hopes up for no reason, and just causes more hurt than good.

On the flipside, however, I knew that if I said something too negative, it would probably just make a lot of people pretty depressed. And it'd probably discourage people from ever trying to take action, or make things better, because "what's the point if it's just gonna be a fruitless effort in the end?"

I thought about just not answering this ask for a while, but I also thought that I should answer, because this brings up an important conversation topic about online predators and how shitty our real world laws are at protecting victims/preventing online crimes from targeting minors.

So, even though this is gonna be a hard pill to swallow, it's important to be realistic and talk about these issues properly, instead of just sweeping the implications this ask actually has under the rug.

So, my answer to, "Can the victims who received explicit material from mizumi while underaged file a police report or take legal action?" is...

No.

Okay, well, technically, yes, the victim can PHYSICALLY go to the police and report it, but my point is that, even if they did, that doesn't mean it'll fix everything. If anything, depending on the context, it could make everything worse. Or (since that scenario I presented is kind of an extreme, and again, don't wanna be too negative), if the victim brought this to the police, the case would most likely be dismissed on the spot. There are also a number of other factors for why taking this online issue to real life wouldn't help, is that;

1: From the few conversations I've had with the victim, their main, primary concern is maintaining anonymity. They seem to just want to put this whole situation behind them, and focus on healing from this experience. They gave me permission to talk about what mizumi did to them, but requested to be completely anonymous.

If this case was ever taken to court, like, actual court, with a Judge and a Jury and lawyers and the public, the victim's anonymity would disappear. Their face would be seen by everyone, and whatever sense of security they had would be gone. Everyone, like their friends, family, classmates, and random people on the street would know them as "that online grooming victim". The label will stick with them wherever they go, and it'll be all anyone can ever see them as.

Also, if mizumi was sent a notice stating that she had to appear in court as the defendant (either in person or by video call), the victim's personal info, like their full name, will be on that notice. And I don't think I need to go into depth on how terribly that'd go.

2: There's the issue of cross-country laws affecting the ability of this report to be taken seriously. Mizumi and the victim both live in different countries, and both have different age of consent laws, and both ALSO have a ton of holes/loopholes that can be exploited, or have to be closely looked into with a magnifying glass to read between the lines. Your local police officer-receptionist, who is working long hours on their depressing job and is constantly tired, isn't gonna bother to investigate the laws of a different country to determine whether this case is suitable for court or not. They're just gonna say "Ah, it's a different country, the culture is different there, the laws are different there, get over yourself kid, and stop wasting my time with this bs"

3: This incident happened a year ago, back in January of 2022. It is nearly the end of 2023, so it's been a little while since this incident took place. To anyone with a brain, you'd be thinking "Okay, sure, it happened nearly 2 years ago now, but that time-gap doesn't mean anything! It should still be looked at in court! The perpetrator has gotten off scot-free for two years, that means the time to act is now, before it's too late!" And I would 100% agree with you, but unfortunately, the people-in-power, who decide what should be taken to court and what shouldn't, do think that this time-gap means something.

In a post from Rainn.org, they state that, statistically, out of every 1,000 sexual assault cases, 975 of the perpetrators will walk free. And, while researching, I came across the Statute of Limitations; it states that there's a time limit to report a sex crime, and it's appliable to most places in the US. It comes from the belief that the sooner you don't report, the less evidence there will be, so there's no point in reporting at all after the fact.

Also, to add onto the un-likelyhood of this report ever being taken as a serious case, the examples I showed you were all from IRL cases of sexual assault. This incident took place online, where there is less physical evidence of the crime taking place. This video series is from the youtuber Illymation, who was a victim of an adult online predator sending sexually charged messages to her when she was a minor, herself. At one point, she talks about her experience with bringing this issue to the police, and how her case was not at all considered seriously before being tossed out. This is just one example from one person about how the justice system screwed them over. But go onto someplace like AskReddit, and you'll find HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people sharing their experiences just like this.

So, yeah. Filing a police report about this mizumi incident not only has a statistically low chance of actually leading somewhere, but may actually put the victim in more danger than not.

So, what does this mean? Is there no point in trying to stop these types of things from happening? Will justice never be served? Will mizumi walk away scott-free, with no consequences, ready and willing to pull something like this again?

Well, personally, I don't think it has to end as depressingly as that. In fact, I don't think it should EVER end like that. I think there's still a way to both not take this to court and have an innocent person doxxed, but ALSO make sure mizumi never has the power to exploit another minor again.

Have you heard of the author, VelvateCarnage, of the infamous danganronpa fanfic "Lavender"? Well, he was exposed as being a creep who sent sexual messages to minors, and basically EVERYONE in the fandom knows this. When he was exposed, he deleted all of his social media accounts, and ran away with his tail between his legs. Since then, a group of have been working together to compile all the evidence of his grooming, and multiple screenshots have circulated, showing his true nature.

Now, everyone in the dr fandom knows what a monster he is, and are now on high alert, so whenever he tries to sneak his way back into the fandom, people immediately notice, and chase him out. This ensures that he can't come back to a space with lots of minors, and create even more victims.

I don't see why the same can't happen for mizumi. I think, that if more people knew about what mizumi did, we could ALL work together to kick her out, and make sure she never comes back.

What I'm proposing isn't the most perfect, best, ideal situation. After all, the best place for a child groomer to be is behind bars, but since we, as individuals, don't have a lot of power to change the system, the best we can do is work with what we've got, and come together to stop more incidents like this from happening.

I might write up a post on what exact things fans can do to help, and stop mizumi from creating more victims, so I'll work on that. But for now, thank you for the ask, throwawaycomplique, you raised a very interesting question; one that really made me realize and reconsider what this blog should be about; not just calling out mizumi's behaviour, but actually putting a stop to it, altogether.

[thegirlwhowritesfics]

fans are angry and disappointed and that's fine. if they think season 4 was bullshit, that's valid. I'm not questioning that. all I'm saying is, people don't need to go around with a magnifying glass and look for reasons to ridicule the show. picking it apart because it hasn't been renewed, or canceled, yet really just isn't it before SDCC has even happened. if we don't have an answer by Sunday, I'll be quiet but it feels like tearing things (not just Mayans but in general) apart for any reason, or no reason at all, is everyone's hobby at this point and I genuinely don't understand this mentality.

this mentality is very common in fandoms its an emotional reaction to disappointment.

there are still people out there who loved s4 and are excited for the future of Mayans and there are others who are going to criticise and speculate about each little bit of information they get.

you'll see this in every single fandom! even if it didn't get renewed I don't want you to be quiet, your voice is just as important as anyone else's! just because the negative voices are louder doesn't mean yours isn't valid.