#remind me to make posts for some of my other sets someday

[cyeayt]

Ambivalence OC Profiles

ive been tagging some posts as my ocs and i want to talk about them so here are the three main characters of my ambivalence oc set.

Ambivalence lore (very cliche but this story is more for me to process religious thoughts and weird relationships): its basically an incredibly stereotypical urban fantasy setting where there are realms/planes where magic is more distilled, there's a heaven and a hell analogue and like, werewolves, etc. There are a gods/demons that sometimes organize stuff and might try to end the world but eh. there's a group who tries to stop that happening but its centered around one specific god and gets v culty, they are referred to as "the knights" from here out. Ben spent his childhood as a 'chosen one' figure (he's half demon), and got really fed up with the whole bit. Alice was his friend and brief girlfriend when they were younger. During the last arc of their childhood and after the last big battle, their ragtag hero group gets absorbed into the knights who have been gaining numbers and legitimacy. Ben runs away and Alice takes it hard. The main story takes place a few years later when they reunite.

I've made them each in these three picrews to properly capture the vibe.

Ben:

Reuben (Ben), 24, he/him. Ben lives alone in a house he inherited from his maternal grandfather. He likes to live simply and peacefully, and works as a carpenter. His hobbies include pottery, gardening, and collage making. He is badger coded and capable of great violence, but is very calm most of the time. Since cutting ties with his old life, he has simultaneously mellowed out and repressed a lot of shit. He is trained to fight with a broadsword, although he turned his old one into a garden sculpture. He has a lot of scars and pain from old injuries. He is generally very stoic but is pretty emotional if you can read his understated facial expressions. He values the happiness and safety of himself and the people he loves, and dislikes liars. He can often be hypocritical and selfish.

Alice:

Alice P. Morrison, 23, she/her. Alice lives on a remote knight compound researching and developing ways to protect the balance of the planes. It is a very high stress environment and she's honestly pretty miserable. She likes caffeine and graph paper, her hobbies include sleeping and eating. Sometimes she goes hiking in the surrounding woods. Since Ben left, she has lost connections with old friends and mentors and become increasingly reliant on an unhealthy relationship with the director of the knight organization. She is trained to fight with only magic and can maybe use a spear. When she eventually gets out she will enjoy live music, painting, and reading nonfiction books. She's 'dog that you might think is a large rat or sick cat at first' coded. She shows her emotions pretty strongly and gets embarrassed easily. She cannot read facial expressions she just knows Ben really well. She values values knowledge and approval and dislikes apathy. She can be petty and stubborn.

Max:

Maximilian Hadley, 24, he/they. He certainly is here. Ben meets Max after leaving the knights and as Ben makes a new life he and Max build a relationship that Ben is hesitant to define, although Max would like to. They are outgoing and very socially adept, he likes fashion, history, and forming connections with people. his hobbies are a lot of what people around him want to do, but he personally enjoys horseback riding. Their family is very rich and owns a lot of animals. He knows little to nothing about magic, although his moms got up to their fair share of bullshit before he was born. He is not trained to fight but he would try to bite if it came to it. He is fancy cat coded and expresses his emotions carefully. They value connection, loyalty, and finesse. They dislike cruelty. He often struggles with boundaries and can be pushy or jealous.

Other Characters:

John: Ben and Alice's mentor figure, was not very good at the actual raising children part of it, was injured in the final battle and died as the knights were taking over.

Archer: Another mentor figure, they were closer to Ben and ended up faking their own death after he left. Was involved with John's sister.

John's sister: So very dead real narrative haunting gal she was prophetic and very mentally unstable about it.

Mason: Stereotypical fighter guy, was very close to Alice and Val, is still essentially loyal to the knights but doesn't talk to Alice anymore.

Val: Mason's partner and also fighter gal, was always quick to put herself at risk for the others and it caught up to her. She's been in a coma since the final battle.

[residentflamingo]

Twice Members’ Favorite Places to Kiss You

Twice x fem! reader

Genre: fluff!!

Warnings: so sweet you’ll get a toothache <3

A/N: I have so many good drafts I want to share with you guys, but my motivation has been at 0% because school has been kicking me in the ass 💀✌️ But lately I have been getting a lot better, so more works are expected to come soon! Which also means I will be opening back up my requests box :D Someone did request me to write something a long time ago, and I’ve been steadily working on it over time. It’s got about 3,000 words on it, so as long as my lazy ass doesn’t put it off to writing it, that draft will be coming out soon as well. Thank you to all of you lovely people who have been patient, and also the ones that have been liking my posts. You guys are phenomenal and I love and appreciate all of you ❤️

Nayeon

Lips ♡

A very standard one, but well suitable for her

She loves how soft and plump your lips are

Like Sana, Nayeon is a very affectionate person

So after she’s had a loooong day at the studio, all she wants to do is give you some repetitive and silly kisses that end up in slow and passionate ones

(Sometimes she’ll even bite your lip if she’s feeling a little bit frisky that night…)

“Oh my gosh I missed you so much Y/N. You won’t believe how many new dance routines they made us learn today.”

Her favorite kinds of kisses are good luck kisses and goodnight kisses <3

(And the passionate ones of course ;)

Nayeon loves how sweet it feels to be able to show her love through a kiss, and be able to feel your soft lips in the process

Kissing your lips make her feel grounded, and wanting nothing more than to spend every moment of every day with you

Jeongyeon

Forehead ♡

Very domestic and homey feeling for her

Her kisses are always very sentimental and sweet

She doesn’t kiss as often as other people, which makes the wait worth it every time

“Here honey, you go lay down and rest. I can do the rest of the laundry for you.”

Always kisses you randomly and making sure it catches you off guard

She loves seeing you all flustered and shy <3

Kissing you on the forehead reminds her of being married to you someday, and just being able to protect you from harm

You are everything to her, and she never wants you to feel anything less than that

And if you’re shorter than her, then it’s an even better reason for her to kiss you on the forehead <3

Will also give you the biggest kiss when she comes home from work 🥺

“I missed you so much honey, what have you been up to?”

Momo

Tummy ♡

When you had previously told her about being insecure about your tummy, you never thought she would take it so seriously

But oh boy how wrong you were

It instantly became Momo's favorite place to kiss you

Momo made sure to always remember it so she could prove your insecurities wrong

She loves how soft and chunky your tummy is, and just can't ever get enough of it

Also loves how much you giggle when she kisses you

If you ever have those days where you're not feeling too great, she will start giving you kisses there first and make sure you feel so loved and beautiful

“You are so beautiful Y/N. Don’t you ever forget it.”

“Your stretch marks are not ugly at all honey I promise. They make you look even more gorgeous.”

She will sometimes leave hickies and bite marks there too, but only when she’s in the mood and you give her permission

If you are also pregnant, she will not hesitate to smother your tummy in kisses then too <3

It would be almost impossible for her to keep her hands off of you

Her end goal is to always make you feel loved, and to remind you that you are the most beautiful woman she has ever set her eyes on

Sana

Dimples ♡

We all know Sana is a very affectionate person. So choosing her favorite spot to kiss you would be impossible right?

Nope not at all for her.

The first thing that had drawn her to you was your radiant smile

But the deal breaker was the dimples that came along with it

She just couldn’t get enough of them

Once you guys had been dating for about 3-4 months, you both had gotten very comfortable with each other and started being all lovey dovey and such

That was when you noticed how much she loved to kiss your dimples

Any chance she could get, she made sure to kiss you in that same spot

It never failed to make you blush every time, and that’s part of the reason why she would constantly kiss you there

She also loves how well they compliment your face, and how adorable they make you look

“Y/N have I ever told you how much I love your dimples? They make you look so cute!” *pinches your cheeks*

Jihyo

Cheeks ♡

She doesn’t mind kissing on the lips. She loves it actually, but she just enjoys kissing your cheeks even more

Jihyo’s kisses are the most genuine ones you will ever feel in your entire life

Sometimes it’s hard for her to say how much she loves you outloud, so she’ll express it through her kisses

When you’re having a bad day and come home tired, she’ll wrap her arms around you and give soft pecks on your cheeks

Or when Jihyo has to leave for early morning dance practice, she’ll slowly wake you up by peppering your face with kisses too

It’s just a super sweet gesture for her, and your puffy cheeks are too cute for her to not kiss anyways

She loves the way you blush when she randomly walks up to you and kisses you

Jihyo adores you so much, even if it’s hard for her to say outloud sometimes

When she does, she makes sure it meaningful, and at the perfect time

“I love you so much Y/N. Even if I don’t say it outloud that much, I really do. You’re my world, and I never want you to feel any lesser than that.”

Mina

Nose ♡–-

When you confessed to her that you hated the shape/size of your nose, she made it one of her top priorities to make you feel less insecure about it

Her shy persona may keep her from expressing a lot of things, but it didn’t stop her from showing her affection for you

You were used to her always giving you warm hugs, and very soft kisses on the lips

But when she added your nose to the agenda, it was game over for you

She loves to kiss your nose when you look super cute, and she can’t handle it

Or when you’re doing something sweet for her like washing the dishes, or doing her laundry. She’ll always find a way to pay you back with affection

“Thank you so much baby. You’re so sweet.”

Over time your insecurities had slowly gone away after receiving so much love and support from her, making your nose the very very least of your worries

Having someone like her in your life made you realize that looks weren’t every thing, and that you never have to worry about when you’re with her

“Honey your nose is so cold. *kisses your nose* Here let me kiss it some more so it will feel warmer...”

Dahyun

Hands/ fingers ♡

Dahyun is very loving and sweet

She loves to hold your hand when you two are walking around Seoul together, or just cuddling on the couch

She loves the intimacy it brings between you two

If she doesn't express her love with words at the moment, she will express it with actions

She'll bring your hand up to her lip and pepper your knuckles, fingers, and whatever else with kisses

Something else that she would never admit, is how she loves the softness of your hands

It reminds her of when she was little, and she would hold her mother’s hand

Dahyun wants you to feel loved and adored by her at all times, even if it’s not verbally

When you guys are at restaurants, she will have no shame holding your hand from across the table and kissing it

“Dahyun be careful. People might see us.”

She’ll just laugh and say, “Let them. Nothing will ever stop me from expressing my love for you darling.”

Chaeyoung

Jawline/Neck ♡

We all know Chaeyoung is a big romantic

And can sometimes be a bit flirty with it too

So it’s no surprise that her favorite place to kiss you, would be the most intimate and steamy

Even though it is her favorite spot to kiss you, she doesn’t really kiss there very often

But when she does, she makes sure to go all out

She loves how intimate it is, and loves hearing/ seeing your reaction every time she kisses in that area

Most definitely will leave hickies too, so be aware when she starts going to town down there

“You like it when I kiss you like this baby?”

You can just already see her smirking while saying that…

She loves riling you up and making you melt from her touch <3

Tzuyu

Ears ♡

Tzuyu is a one-of-a-kind woman, and the sweetest one you have ever met

When you guys first started dating you it stayed at the awkward stage for a little bit longer than most couples

But when she started warming up to you, her affection towards you became even greater

It started with little kisses on the nose, then on the cheek, lips, she eventually progressed to your ears

You thought it was weird at first, but you eventually grew to love it

Tzuyu loves to hug you from behind because of the height difference, and she’ll often whisper in your ear how much she loves you

Sometimes she’ll nibble a little bit too after kissing it, but not very often

If you have slightly larger size ears, she would tease you about it every now and then

But not enough to where you would feel insecure

She just thinks your ears are super cute, and make you even more loveable

"I love you so much Y/N... Don't ever change. You are perfect just the way you are."

[paradoxoftrees]

My Blog Thingys

👍🪐💀

Hiya I guess you found my cursed blog full of random fanfics and… other things. This is a place mostly dedicated to my fanfic, Abominations for Solutions, but other stuff heavily populates this place as well. Hehe…

What I Do:

Fanfics for UTMV, The Lorax, etc. Some will be crack fics and totally… just random I guess, where I put characters in absurd settings and watch them chaotically navigate (this will mostly be seen with Cross and Dream because I like twisting their interactions)

My only serious fic out right now is Abominations for Solutions.

I'll be posting on Kindle Amazon publishing at some point, when my mind decides to wake up.

I sometimes make rando concept soundtracks for certain scenes.

uhhh that’s it I guess.

Just some Reminders:

Everyone is welcome :] just no rudeness or sucky things or harmful behavior towards others. No drama. For real. Let’s keep things friendly in this community.

I don’t do NSFW but I’m open to angst and MANY other dark topics in stories like violence, angst, etc.

Fanart is much appreciated.

My ao3

Always feel free to ask me anything, about the fic, random stuff, idk. I liek to RAMBLE… a lot. Wheeee

What is my undertale fic even about?

this thingy:

In a post x-event multiverse, no one would've predicted the painful fall from peace about to unfold.

After discovering Dream’s secret, Lux kidnaps her brother and forms a secret cult, recruiting multiverse children who have suffered at the hands of their parents. Just like her. She leeches off their negativity to unleash her ultimate revenge on her father and Ink. Someday. Somehow Gradient is wrapped up in Lux’s psychotic thirst for justice.

Meanwhile, PJ escapes the Antivoid and Error’s abuse, only to find himself wrapped around Lux’s finger, a deal in exchange for Gradient's release. If only PJ knew how to manage the toxic shard of Lux’s soul inside his own…

The Cream team searches for their lost children following their abrupt disappearance, trekking into the darkest corners of the multiverse.

But behind the curtains, there is a much larger force brewing behind Core Frisk's reign. A force that will reshape the multiverse as all know it and those protecting it. New voices are called to action. A now heartbroken Dream must confront his past to preserve a peaceful future.

Who will win? Who will die? Who will be found… who will be lost…

Oh yeah crescent eats his own tentacle.

[authorspirit]

🐾🐾 Boop! Boop! 🐾🐾

I'd love to know what simmer has got you hooked right now! Please share what you're binge-reading on Simblr!

Share this with other simmers to get some recommendations on who to follow! Let's keep spreading some love! 💚

This list is going to be long. :') SORRY BUT NOT SORRY. And I'm sure I'll be missing people here.

There are a lot of stories I have started reading in the middle of it and intend to catch up the beginning of them. But I can instantly get hooked on so many stories, as long as someone puts "previous | next" buttons, I'm in danger of falling into a story's universe. (I also have the hardest time to follow everyone but I try to.)

@matchalovertrait (OF COURSE YOU) I still need to catch up before I met sassy toddler Dulce. I can't believe she's a preteen now. I do enjoy following people's legacy challenges and I like how I forget that it's one with how you really create your own storylines around the base requirements.

@ice-creamforbreakfast I'm not going to lie, I came for the CC, I stayed for the BACC challenge and I am now following the Romano legacy.

@gooretrait I really do love following legacy challenges. Also, console player?? It's also a good reminder of all the fun you can get without cc and mods, just very inspiring imagination-wise.

@eurosimmer breaks the fourth wall in her captions and it's hilarious to me. It's also a legacy challenge, but oh boy I forget it everytime.

@pleasanttaleswithkaityb completely changed my way of playing! (and also of sharing content on tumblr) I also have a soft spot for taking townies as a base, because we kind of all know the backstories for them a bit. (I say that and I never played Sims 2, just binge-watched Sims lore videos.) I love how people change their stories.

@ruthplaysthesims Talking about appropriating Sims townies and make them evolve, I LOVE Kaori's story. In TS4 we all know the lore is meh (with it being on supposedly another timeline etc). The Mt. Komorebi storyline is SO interesting, I really have to play in that world someday without ruining them all. And somehow, Ruth made it even more interesting! Like I already wanted to know more about them, now I'm looking for any little bit of detail referencing their childhood or something. Anyway I highly recommend, I love all the new stories she put out as well (Raina 💖)

@kamiiri Back to other Sims lore game, I LOVE Strange! I watched a LP of Sims 2 on PS very recently and somehow found Strange at the same time... The setting, the weaving of all the storylines together, continuing all of them together... I love it. It's also very cinematic I'd say? There's something in those screenshots, I love it.

@holocene-sims One day I saw a notification of them and next thing you know I was trying to read everything about Grant from the start on mobile (but it's hard to read on mobile so I have A LOT to catch up). So now I'm catching up the recent story posts! But as I'm writing this post, I know I have a lot to catch up already.

@cinamun Add it to the list of "I should really read the beginning of it but for now I'll just keep on trying to catch any post they make", Things Fall Apart's universe has really sucked me in and I really like how cinamun interacts with everyone! (I admit I am a lurker but I want to try this lemon pepper wings recipe someday and share them with all the readers.) Reading TFA really gives me the vibes of watching a daily evening TV show with my family: we did not necessarily watch since the beginning, we just one day started watching all together, and now we're eating dinner in front of it every night. (And of course sharing our reactions)

@havenroyals If you like some spice and love messy stuffs, you'll be served. I also really like the Gossip queen edits it's just such an interesting way to add variation to tell stories.

@theroyalsims In the same vein of the Gossip Queen edits, I really like how we follow the story of the royal families with articles about them and not from their direct point of view. (I'm also currently trying to guess who is getting married soon because I know there is a royal wedding soon among those sims.)

OK small pause because we've entered the royal simblrs that I follow. There are a lot, it's how I found the simblr community in the first place. One thing I have to say is that I love all the collabs people do, the way so many stories are interconnected through everyone's sim and I genuinely think it's a lovely community (even if I'm not part of it myself as I'm just a reader).

@sosa-royals is the first royal simblr I came across and read everything. The drama? I LOVED it.

@officalroyalsofpierreland After meeting child Maria Aisha I had to learn more about her family. I was not disappointed.

@funkyllama this inevitably led me to want to learn more about the Ionian Union and I really like the world building in general? Also those last edits? I love it.

@empiredesimparte of course there is the complete Europeansim on my list. I particularly enjoy reading in French sometimes when my mind just wants to rest from reading in English. I also love Hortense and everytime I see a big event in the story I would be like: "oh J'AI LA REF ! It really looks like in real life." (you are very talented at building). And in general, I really recommend the worldbuilding tag? Because I love it?

@anachrosims' @prydainroyals Talking about someone talented at building? Yeah, I still have to catch up from the beginning. But this one should be feasible as it is more recent? (I don't know, you're also a good writer, PLEASE tell me what you can't do.)

@nexility-sims Among stories that are easy to start digging in someone's universe, I would recommend reading 1992. Eventually I'll read the story it's a spin-off of and @/armoricaroyalty's story, but yeah. My list of stories to catch up is already long for now.

@trentonsimblr and @ardeney-sims I'm putting both of them in the same bullet point because I've been wanting to enjoy their stories for a while and only decided to fully commit when Between A Rock and A Hard Place started. Similarly to 1992, it can be enjoyed without having the whole back story but yeah. I'll definitely enjoy reading the back stories of main characters and "side" characters (which you see glimpses of in BRHP).

@thegrimalldis Very similarly to the previous bullet points, I started reading with a "spinoff", the prequel "Maximilian" rather than the main story after seeing the username a lot of times. I have since caught up the main story I believe, but I may have to reread to be sure. I also have to read the story of succession (because it's complete and I like complete stories).

@theroyalthornoliachronicles and if we have to go back in time, I would highly suggest Ali's story! Though I can't wait to see modern Thornolian generations? 👀 Also, I'm a reader from after Ali lost her blog and I would say now is the best time to start reading if you're like me and have a massive TBR pile, since we're at chapter one!

OK I think I had most of my currently followed stories. I'm 100% missing people but I will try to reblog more of people's stories so you all can see what I'm reading at the moment!

Did this post take me two hours because I'm catching up on reading WHILE answering? Yes.

[no-where-new-hero]

✣ Blake Wrapped: 5 Star Reads 📖

The first half of this post can be found HERE, and these were my 5-star reads for the second half of the year (in rough order). Tagging @batrachised, who was interested in recommendations!

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh I posted a lot about this when I read it because in my opinion it’s one of the best SFF novels I’ve come across in a while. It reminded me of DWJ’s Hexwood, which is already high praise, but it’s a fabulous character study with incredible dynamics. It’s another new book with truly horrible marketing, imo—the whole “queer sci-fi” angle gives the impression of a Gideon the Ninth rip-off, but there’s much more political and social commentary with fabulous world-building. Highly, highly recommend this one.

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan I loved the first book in this duology, but this one was exquisite to new heights. Even though it was never that overt, it did a lot of great meta-commentary work on the chosen one trope vs the doomed by the narrative trope, especially their intersection with gender expectations. The prose was simply gorgeous, occasionally philosophical, always sure-handed. I recommend the whole duology, though mostly so that you can get to this one.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson I picked this up in my library’s for sale room, and it was the best choice I made this year. I can’t believe I had been missing out on Jackson for so long. It’s a ghost story and a Gothic novel and a girl book and feels a bit like the shadow side of an LM Montgomery story. The language and characters are rich and strange and is so thoroughly a Blake Book of all time. I want to be able to write something like this someday.

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang The reports of its readability are true—I went through this in three hours. I get why people complain about certain elements in this, but it also lives up to the hype, in my opinion. I might be the target audience as an aspiring author (who got throughly traumatized by the portrayal of terminally online author culture lmao) but I do think those dynamics and circumstances are its strength, more so than the social commentaries on Asian American tokenization, etc.

How Long ’Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin I don’t often read short fiction, but I was in the mood for some good SFF shorts to learn from, so picked this up. Jemisin is a master of form—her ability to depict a world in such a brief span, to make such deep characters with such clever scenarios is unmatched. Certainly, there are some better examples than others, but the best makes me wish there were a whole novel set in that world.

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson This one is a slight cheat because it’s not Jackson’s best, but it’s also a Blake Book of all time, so how could I not give it five stars? I wish I had discovered it in college, if just to be able to be insufferable and call myself “irl Natalie Waite” everywhere. It’s such a Tumblr book too—the veiled queerness, the Plath vibes, the dark academia setting, the unhinged vibes. The prose is gorgeous and unsettling and is such a good portrayal of a character.

[culpeppercheckers721]

Turn Week 2024– Day 4: Set It To Music

Get ready, this is gonna be a really long post methinks!! 🤠 Also I just rewatched the last two episodes of Turn and am still in emotional shambles from that, so please bear with me.

AS SAID: I warn you that this is a very long post with lots of links, and also that this turned out way less hinged than I mean it to jfc (then again being unhinged was my whole goal on here so) 😀

Since I am such a degenerate for setting the things I love to songs, I believe that I shall break this up into odd little sections:

Songs for certain scenes:

The Night Boat

Though this may not be incredibly specific, every time I hear this song, I can picture so clearly every scene by the dark, blue waters of frog’s cove, and can see Caleb approaching in his literal, well, night boat ;) Also if you know me well enough you may already know I have a weird thing when it comes to Turn & Duran Duran— their music is excellent for creativity for me (and also, as much as I love the original version of Night Boat above all, here I use the Danse Macabre version as it’s simply spookier, and better for this vibe ;))

Fuel to Fire

Alright, a little bit of canon, and a little bit of AUs all in one. Though there is already a song playing in this overall scene, some individual moments from it, and just Abe & Townsend’s energy around each other this season in general just screams this song to me. If you recall season one of Turn, you may remember a montage of Simcoe terrorizing Setauket in Against Thy Neighbor while a rendition of a song called Katie Cruel played in the background, sung by none other than Agnes Obel, so she already has Turn vibes considering her music has literally been featured in the show! And even if she hadn’t, the lyrics and the energy of this is so unshakable to me, I cannot imagine ever listening to this song and not thinking about Abe & Robert or at least Turn in general, and not to mention, as some of you may be familiar with, a literary masterpiece by a similar title (Like Fuel to the Fire, I beg of you go read it).

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Ok I know this is even less historic-feeling than the ones included so far, but here me out. I can’t exclude this one because of how much the end of the Nightmare intro, when Abe goes “it’s rainin’” makes me think of this song every time. This scene and this song alike both contain the rain symbolism, they’re both about mourning a father, and ALSO Jamie Bell literally stars in the music video of this song which I find very ironic!! So no, I could not exclude this one. 💕

Songs for specific characters:

Right Where You Left Me

Annlet shippers, I am not trying to hurt y’all, and I know everyone uses Taylor Swift for everything but uh. As arbitrary as most of these lyrics are, for some reason I can picture either of them just sitting in Rivington’s, frozen and thinking about one another and what they’ve done, to this song. And it is depressing but kind of intriguing. So if I hAVE TO THINK THAT SO DO YOU.

Touchy Feely Fool

Wow so much Abraham. Call me what you will but the FIRST time I heard this song I thought about Abe. I cannot help it. It’s hard to explain it, but this just. Reminds me of him so much. Especially when you think about his relationship with Richard, juxtaposed with “maybe someday when I’m older, I’ll be better off like you, I’m better off a stick, I’m better off a stone, I’m better off a jerk, I’m better off alone…” etc. I know I am FUCKING INSANE BUT THE ABE ENERGY IS UNSHAKABLE TO ME. HAHSHAHS. Anyways, attached is an extremely shitty old edit I tried to do for him with it, once again feat. copious Townhull vibes. As you can see it did not go well, and many things went wrong, but now’s as good a time as any for me to post it. As another wise Turn fan once put it: I may be fucking crazy, but I am free.

Songs for AU shit:

Familiar

More Agnes Obel for you! I know this is really unoriginal, I’ve seen a few people relate this song to Townhull in the past I think, but like. I just love it so much, and I can see the vision lmao.

Love Like Ghosts

Keeping with the weird-ass ghost motif, we end, for now, with another song that has the right vibes for a Townhull AU of mine, specifically when it comes to the events of Mended, I think; time for some good old Lord Huron. I hesitated to put this on a playlist for them at first because I really wasn’t sure if it actually fit, but for vibes alone, and this particular scene in such a plot… yeah. ;) If nothing else, the “spirits” that follow Abe could be that of his brother’s memory, and plus, the title and chorus— “love is like ghosts”— is simply hauntingly poetic to me ;)

Was really hoping to get this post up before midnight, but alas, here we are. Anyways, happy late 4th of July to all those celebrating, and even if you are not celebrating, I still hope you have a wonderful evening!! ❤️🤍💙

[needfantasticstories]

SKIP'S LU MASTER POST

List of Collab projects and my fics. All credit for creating LU goes to Jojo, who is amazing! And THANKS A MILLION to @hotcheetohatredwastaken for reading my stuff and offering advice and encouragement. She deserves all the love and kudos for her fics!

(My AO3 name is SkipBreaker)

WRITING PROMPTS

Collection: Write It In Your Style (or draw!)

Prompt: create something about the chain helping a family rebuild their house after a monster attack.

ALL products welcome if tagged appropriately. Let’s see all your styles and beautiful brains at play! Tag all your friends. There is no deadline. Tag works as “LU rebuild the house prompt” and please use TWs.

LU Rebuild the House Prompt | Archive of Our Own

MY FICS

Short Fluff/Crack

Sneaking Apples and Other Tales A collection of one-shot crack or fluff pieces.

Short Angst

Febuwhump2024 Mostly one-shots, some are draft chapters for my bigger fics, especially Hidden Hero because torturing Sky makes me feel big feelings.

Here Now is a short fic collab with the amazing artist @hiimgin over us thinking about how nice it would be for Hyrule to get a hug from the best huggers, Twilight and Sky. She turned it into beautiful art, and I turned it into a whump-lite fic.

Longer Works-In-Progress

Angst-heavy for now, but they have bits of romance, fluff, and crack, and I'm slowly adding more. Update irregularly. If there are things you want to see in them, feel free to tell me and I'll consider it! Feedback keeps me alive.

Hidden Hero: (undergoing rewrites, plz skip to next fic) Prequel to Blood and Blade. Sky has a terrible time during the War of Ages.

(Warrior, I'm coming for you and the battle of Skyloft, someday...)

Blood and Blade: Ghirahim becomes everyone's problem when he ends up in Wild's era. My most ambitious project so far. A lot of elements for this fic and HH were taken from my first LoZ fic, TBD.

Friends and Foes: The start of my Hyrule kick, wherein Hyrule does a very Hyrule thing: gets injured while lost, and makes new friends. They kind of remind him of the Links. What could go wrong?

TBD: my first fanfic, and strictly LoZ set between BotW and TotK for now, though it could become LU. Wild has a terrible time when the Yiga start to recover after BotW. (Romantic fluff in the beginning, and other parts are probably so cringe, but I don't care anymore. I'm allowed to be a little freak. It's unfinished, like all my big fics, and it will probably change a great deal along the way.)

[hayffiebird]

Taste of Strawberries, chap. 45

Hayffie Post-Mockingjay Multi-chapter, Rated M

Summary: Four years have passed since the end of the war when Effie returns in to Haymitch’s life once again. An old friendship is renewed. Will it lead to something more?

Meanwhile Panem has entered a new era. The rebellion’s over, the borders are open but in the shadows, anger and mistrust are smoldering. Something that will affect Haymitch and Effie’s life in a way they never saw coming.

Chapter 45, Take me drunk, I'm home

He staggered through the rain, wetter than a shot of whiskey dropped into a mug of beer. Nothing but thick black clouds above.

No moon. No stars. You couldn't see anything but the path right in front of you. Nothing to guide your way but the distant lights of the district.

The duffel bag was lost. Probably in a ditch somewhere. Soaked and vile. Like its owner. Or maybe he just tossed the thing in some corner of the train, after he’d finished the last bottle. He couldn't recall.

Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. Now that Effie and the kids were gone.

Where were they now? Which district? Did she manage to get them to sleep on time or was she still on rocking duty? Exhausted. Alone. While the train added mile after mile between them.

Once his family had gotten onboard back in Eleven, he was supposed to just sit back and wait. Bags packed. Ticket in hand, until his own train pulled into the station.

But he didn't. Walking up and down that misty platform. The smell of damp concrete. Distant rumbling. The unforgiving sky, overrun by storm clouds as dark as the soul of president Snow.

He couldn't stand 5 minutes of it. Hell, not even one.

If he was going to wait, might as well do it on a bar stool.

One of the local pubs was just around the corner. Chaff told him as much. Back when they were passing a bottle between themselves, he described the way in detail. The shops. The landmarks. Which road to turn and when.

“We’ll go there someday”, he said, the last time they ever spoke to each other. “Bring the little lady. If we survive this blasted war, drinks are on me.”

The bell above the door gave a merry tinkle when Haymitch pushed inside, 10 minutes later.

Just like Twelve, he thought. The one Sae and Ripper put up at the Hob made the exact same noise.

In the end, he didn’t mount a bar stool. Place was far from empty, despite the bad weather. Or maybe because of it. He couldn’t sit and wonder which ones of them mourned Chaff. Or – worse – if no one was even left besides Pearl, still alive to do so.

“A bottle of wine please”, he said and set the duffel bag on the counter. “Red. Whatever looks good. Or better yet, make it two. And the amber one over there.” He gestured to the rows by the mirror. “No need for a glass.”

The barkeep recognized him. One glance told him as much. But then again, who didn’t?

Must be Bernard, he thought. Unless the owner of this place had changed since the end of the war. Lean fellow. Same skin tone as Chaff, but his hair was grayer by the temples.

At least he didn't tell him to get the fuck out of his pub. The man simply reached for the desired bottles and set them on the counter, one by one.

“Will I have my work cut out for me later?” Bernard’s voice – if it was Bernard – was neither merry nor hostile. Just practical. Matter-of-factly.

“No”, Haymitch said. “I'm not staying. Not for long.” He got out his wallet, handed over the last of the ruffled bills. “Keep the change. Can you remind me I need to leave in an hour?” He glanced at the wall clock. “Hour-fifteen minutes? There's a train I gotta catch. Can't miss it.”

“Sure.”

Bag clunky and heavy, clinking with bottles, he found his way out into the beer garden. Dumped himself by the first available bench. The moist which had collected in vast continents on the painted wood, instantly soaked through his underwear.

More of the stuff trickled inside the collar of his shirt. Tepid as a cup of tea, forgotten on the mantelpiece. Summer rain, the kind that made you sweat even more.

Whatever. Here he was alone. The leafy trees growing around him offered some shelter but still: No one dumb enough to loiter out here today.

He unzipped the bag. Twisted the top of the first bottle he encountered. Didn't even hesitate before he had the first sip.

What for? Effs and the kids weren’t here. Amy. Ian. God only knew when he’d hold them in his arms again. No. He couldn't think of one good reason why he should board his train stone-cold sober.

Just don't get too deep in your cups, you ass, he warned himself before the second mouthful. Or else they won't allow you on.

He had to go home. Couldn't – wouldn’t – embarrass June and Annabel in front of their friends and neighbors. He'd been enough of a pest whilst under their roof.

Talk about wearing out you're welcome.

Half a bottle. Then the train.

And so he drank. Watched by no one but a ruffled mockingjay hiding in the trees and the occasional pair of eyes through a window.

His recollections thereafter were hazy. Nothing but bits and pieces – the passage of time.

Birds like black confetti, high in the sky. A lone dog barking. The splatter of water through a downpipe. The aftertaste of wine. Fruity and sour.

But the barkeep must have kept his promise because hours later, in the dead of night, the mentor of District 12 staggered out onto his own soil once again. Tanked to the gills. Again.

Home.

Shoulders sagging, rain dripping down his hair, his hands, his eyelashes, he hardly ever looked up. No need. He could walk this way blindfolded.

The ground felt soggy, slippery under his clumsy feet.

Different district. Same downpour. He swore it followed him from place to place. Taunting him.

Not that he didn’t deserve it.

He staggered through puddles as deep as his ankles. Didn’t bother to swerve off his path much. Only mindful of people’s windows. Their vegetable gardens.

Last thing he wanted was to ruin someone’s future dinner or frighten the kids in their beds with the sound of his squelching boots.

Lights were on in maybe one in ten houses. The Goat Man, who had a history of insomnia. Delly Cartwright’s youngest cousin who couldn’t sleep without a night light. Bristel and her husband. Naked and tangled in bed perhaps?

Most were dark though. Doors bolted shut against the night.

Not all of them. Up ahead, he saw the open window. Just slightly ajar to let the air in, on a warm night like this.

Someone was awake. Golden light spilled through the curtains of the living room. As he approached, he could just make out the soft rattle of cutleries against china over the pattering rain. A cup of tea perhaps. Or maybe a bowl of soup.

Half-blinded he rubbed his eyes, his soaked face. A pointless attempt. More than a little round under his feet he made a slack fist and knocked. Once. Twice. Or, in his state, it was more like pounding.

Eyes downcast, the first thing he noticed when she opened the door was her house slippers. Woolly and soft in a quiet pink color. A birthday gift from Hazelle.

Hand against the handle, she wore the same simple robes her mother wore before her. His gaze lingered on the small baby blue flowers around the hemline and the hems of her wrists.

Effie’s work. She stitched them onto the fabric, back during that summer she spent with them after her overdose.

Peeta loved the details and Nella loved the very texture of the little leaves and blossoms. Used to follow them with the tip of her finger.

Forget-me-nots.

Throat choked up, his dull, blood-shot eyes finally met her gray ones.

Seam gray. Like the eyes of his mother. His brother. His son and daughter.

Sae gave a quiet smile. As if expecting him.

“You better come in”, she said. “Before you catch your death out here.”

Haymitch’s face crinkled up like a worn tissue. He couldn’t help it. Couldn’t hide it. Not from her. The tears he’d carried within, for hours and hours – just below the surface – finally welled up.

All at once.

His old babysitter spoke nothing further. Water soaked through her slippers, but she paid it no mind. Just stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

He tried to speak. Tell her how sorry he was about the hour, the fact that he was drunk, that he didn’t know where else to go – but no words came out. Only sobs.

The old woman held him. Her small frame so frail and yet so strong. She caressed the back of his head, just like when he was a toddler, speaking soft, soothing words in his ear.

And Haymitch clung to her. Like a child to its mama, while raindrops tinked against the sphere-shaped porch light.

[twothpaste]

I saw this post you made https://www.tumblr.com/twothpaste/748684553658515456?source=share and it reminded me of your Intermission AU fic, Hatchback, where the Chosen 4 are basically on a road trip! IIRC there's a flash forward to the future where Paula is a teacher, and she's called "Mrs. Jones" that would imply she's married. Who's she married to? And what happened with her family after she pursued education, especially considering how her mother was heavily against it? And how are the rest of the Intermission AU cast doing in the future?

Aw jeez, that's a lot of big questions! How 'bout I be a little silly and answer them in reverse order 🤸‍♂️

Future Lucas & Claus do wildlife rehab work together. If I think too hard about them tending gently to sick baby deer & mending birds with busted wings, I get teary-eyed sappy and have to sit down. Kuma refuses to settle into any particular career, genuinely happier hopping between employment and doing odd jobs she calls "freelance work". She marries a lady named Ash - based on a kinda communal headcanon about Kuma dating one of the Tittiboo waitresses - I swear I'll draw her someday. Duster becomes increasingly eccentric over time, a gracelessly aging Z-list rockstar.

Future Ness is a civil engineer, doing his small part to try and make suburbia a less hellish place to live, for his boring little family & everyone else besides. Paula starts her teaching career as a college adjunct, intending to work her way toward tenure, but derails into teaching high school for a while due to some circumstance or other. Though teaching niche college courses was always her dream, she unexpectedly realizes there's a lot of good she can do for high school kids, so she sticks with it much longer than she'd planned. By the time she does eventually get back around to becoming a college professor, she's probably in her 40's or 50's. Jeff designs rockets & satellites for the European Space Agency, while Tony jogs their jack russell terrier 5 miles a day and engages in cartoonishly daring news reporting work. Poo goes on wild anthropological surveys all around the world, and never gets into politics (much to his family's immense displeasure, but they can deal).

Future Porky probably never gets better ❤️. Picky comes out as a trans woman in her mid 20s. Tracy supports her all the way. Flint and Lighter are off having an Old Men With Pickup Trucks Slow Burn Friends To Lovers Redneck Romance in their 60s, but I'll never write it, so you'll have to fill in the blanks yourself.

I have not resolved the Paula's Mom Plotline in my head yet. As much as I'd like for her mom to chill the fuck out and let Paula be Paula, I think the hard lesson of coming to terms with a parent's faults is probably more the direction it's headed in. There's also the mess of like? Her dad supports his daughter despite everything, but he's too spineless to challenge his wife over it, and he's also dealing with some kinda debilitating illness?? The conflict might come to a head during her senior year. I've got a Paula fic idea floating around on my backburner, so I'll probably sort it out sooner than later. Regardless, our gal's gonna set firm boundaries and live her life.

As for "who is Paula married to," there is actually a possible or probable answer. The catch is: absolutely none of y'all are gonna like it ☺️. As some of you may have gathered, my funny Mother College AU is very and truly crossed over with [ my Dana's ] funny Yugioh College AU. The amount of interconnected nonsense going on offscreen would make your head spin, and this happens to be one of our silliest interconnected nonsenses.

There's this kid from Zexal named Dumon, he's canonically a tragic historical figure and a horse enthusiast and also an alien for a while, don't worry about it. Dana's college Dumon is a nerdy little butch lesbian (I mean, [ look at him ]), who - like Paula - also spends about 90% of his time at the campus library. It started as a joke <- fatal last words. They share a love of pretentious literary analysis and medieval history and quiet noontime study sessions spent over expensive lattes. Dumon's still a bit shy of her noisy bunch o' D&D friends, but maybe they'll break the ice one of these days. Paula's mom keeps forgetting his name. Paula keeps having to firmly remind her he's from Utah, not Arkansas. And that yes lesbians can use he/him pronouns, they've been doing it for decades, gosh Mom can you get with the program already.

Anyways, if things keep going the direction they're headed, my Paula might very well be marrying a Yugioh character. Thanks for asking, anon! ^_^

[electricbluebutterflies]

Hi! I love your george/bertha one shots on AO3! It always makes my day when I see you’ve posted one (I like to read at bedtime so I go to sleep with a smile on my face).

Here’s a prompt for another one if you’re up for it!

“Could have been anyone… but it was you.”

PG-ish / yay fade-to-black moment and also on ao3.

If nothing else, Bertha is practical. The goals she had set for herself required another person meeting a few specific characteristics, but beyond them…

Circumstances as they are, she is still delighted by where her plans have led her, and still not quite sure she did anything to deserve the life now beneath her fingertips. It has all been too easy and too sweet, and she knows just enough of the world to wonder when the other shoe will drop, and-

Let it not be soon, she begs whatever may be listening to her desires. Let her enjoy this first.

She is not a romantic, and yet she is in love; she has always seen marriage as a means to an end, if done right a way out of a life she did not want, and perhaps she is too hopeful only a month into forever but it is already something more, and-

Never in her wildest dreams did she realistically think she would enjoy conversations with a husband, would want someone else’s presence so close so much, but she picked that one out of all her options and-

A year ago, she thinks, a year ago when she talked her way into yet another invitation given out of pity to a too-ambitious girl who only had one good dress, there was no way of knowing-

Everything she wants is hers, she thinks as she hears a soft knock on her bedroom door. This is how all of her days end now, with presence if not anything else, planned time to tie up whatever loose threads were pulled in passing earlier and the idea of living a more separate life from this man is unthinkable and-

There must be something concerning in her expression. She learned the warmth of him first, but also the devotion, also the absolute commitment and she knows he had other options and she still wonders why-

“Sit with me,” she says before this can get strange. Her perch on the edge of her bed may indicate desire, but it is also easier for more innocent activities than… oh, someday she is going to have a bigger space and more furniture and a decent sofa to be held on and-

He does, and he takes the hint and pulls her into his arms, and she feels a certain kind of vulnerable that she wants to hate and can’t. If this truly becomes her safe place, if she lets herself bloom deliberately as part of a set, if she rethinks her plans and adapts even better…

“What are you thinking right now?”

“How lucky I am. I want what I want, and that could’ve been with anyone, but… it was you.”

She knows all the petty gossip they caused – less than some of her other schemes would’ve, she reminds herself, but still. At least they are close in age, at least they met in an acceptably explainable way, at least he has treated her impeccably both before and after and-

“You do give the strangest compliments,” he murmurs, and there is delight in his voice all the same, and he kisses the side of her face, and-

She turns to take a more proper kiss, and she’s learned she likes doing this now that she can whenever she wants. She feels her body spark almost immediately, and she is still figuring out how much she can start but she wants, and-

“You make me unspeakably happy. Is that really that strange?”

More kisses follow, and if their current position becomes ideal as hands start to wander…

Let her have this, she thinks as she is made warm. Let her always have everything.

[nigh-temptation]

Alledia, in this version, is split up into 7 countries:

Windsor

Coco

Lufen

Nautilus

Frontera

Kanalis

Gulfeńn (which is split into more regions, or provinces)

(I will draw a better quality map someday 😔)

I made the map a little less of one big supercontinent, and I thought that making this world feel a little bigger would help make this story feel more vast without needing to leave the planet (I am never forgiving Kazu for that goofy ending in book 7, it literally came out of nowhere)

I will update this map later (I’m going to move the mountain range in Gulfeńn to the coast, so that geographically it makes a little sense as to why that whole area is an arid desert, and extend the mountain range up up north a bit)

During the war all the western countries are known as the Common Alliance (or at least, it will be if I don’t think of a less cheesy name). The best way to think about these countries is this:

(The flags are a bit ugly, but I tried my best 😭)

Windsor:

NOT occupied by Gulfeńn yet

the superpower of the CA

It’s really cold up there

Like… wet and cold

This place is just 1940’s England

Their national animal is the whale

I imagine Windsorian cities looking like Dunwall from Dishonored

Coco:

I haven’t come up with much other than it’s a small nation with not that much to offer in the way of trade, and was actually going through negotiations to become a part of Lufen before the war

Not occupied by Gulfeńn

Nautilus:

They are only partially occupied by Gulfeńn

The “front line” country

A lot of citizens have been displaced from here

This country (in my head at least) reminds me a little of Ireland

Frontera:

Completely occupied by Gulfeńn

A lot of elves actually live here

Human-Elf relations here is a lot more chill than in… say Windsor

Kanalis:

Also completely occupied by Gulfeńn

Basically if Chicago was a country

I always read Enzo and Rico’s lines in a Chicagoan accent, because they have Italian names 🤷‍♂️

Lufen:

‘MERICA RAAAHHHH 🦅🦅🦅

Idk, I have it in my head that this is cowboy country

This place is a lot looser than The boarder countries or Windsor

It’s a bunch of farmland broken up by forest, plains, and towns (kinda like where I live)

These guys are technically neutral, but have been sending supplies to Windsor

I will have a separate post for Gulfeńn (and why I am spelling it like that), but for now I want to focus on the human countries.

You might be wondering… how exactly did humans end up on Alledia anyways? Well my friend, I have a surprisingly simple answer for you!

I don’t fully know :/

I’d like to think they stumbled across the “Gate” (or portal thingy that Emily stumbled into) at some point hundreds of years ago, and adapted accordingly… but that leaves a couple of plot holes (how did that many people fit through the Gate? How did people of that many different cultures come all at once?) so let’s just not think about that for now 😅

The time period in which this will be set is more so in the 1930’s-1940’s. Because this is fantasy, we don’t have to be exact, and we can be a bit more flexible with “historical accuracy” or whatever.

I feel like a war oriented story such as this would benefit more from a Dieselpunk aesthetic. That way we have a bit of the modern age to work with, in terms of technology, and a thematic framework for the story right off the bat.

Here is an example of Dieselpunk! This piece is called Gray Monster by Jakub Rozalski:

I think mechs, blimps, and wartime would work perfectly with this genre of punk

final quick note, in my version of this story there are a couple different powers at play: The Common Alliance (bad-ish guys), The Resistance (okay guys), Gulfeńn (bad-ish guys), Ceilis (meh guys), and the Luna Moth Crew (good guys!)

Remember, this is an ongoing WAR. It is NOT a good time to live in Alledia, and the world should feel as such. With that being said, this is not going to be a “gritty” depressing story. I still want to capture the magic that the early books had. We can still have some fun with it!

Let me know what you think and if I should change anything :D

[scribefindegil]

71?

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

A big old messy scratchdoc!! I try to use headings to keep the information somewhat organized, but they work best if I let them stay pretty sprawling. It's usually something like:

Top section: What are The Themes? Why am I writing this story? Are there important symbols or visual motifs I want to keep track of? Are there reminders to myself that I want to see frequently to bring myself back into focus (re: tone, characterization, types of description or details to focus on)?

Character Section: I don't always do this, but for big fics or things with a large ensemble cast I usually lay out each important character, the basis of their arc/conflict, and how they contribute thematically to the story. If it's AU or set post-canon or there are other reasons that information about the character would be different from their canon counterpart, I note it here.

Reference section: Any specific research I've done for the fic. Lists of things like minor characters' names, descriptions of settings or OCs, etc.

Revelation List: I stole this from DMing advice blogs, but any time there are mystery elements to a fic I always lay out the Revelations (what the characters need to learn) and the specific clues or circumstances they encounter that allow them to reach those conclusions. Do they find and interpret evidence? Do they get information from another character? Do they do research? Even if I don't plan out all the details of the plot, I need to understand how the characters are going to reach each of the Revelations or I'm going to get stuck.

Timelines: I don't always do these either; it really depends on the fic, but if there's a specific chronology I need to keep track of (or a secret structure that would get lost in the full outline) I try to write it down

The Plot: Finally!! The actual outlining part! I start by writing bullet point versions of the events I know will happen (I usually have a pretty strong sense of the beginning and climax of a fic by this point, even if I still have a bunch of fine-tuning to do) and then work backwards or forwards to fill in the gaps. If it's a mystery fic (and most of my longer fic has at least some mystery elements) I refer back to the Revelations list to make sure I have scenes that cover all the necessary Leads and Revelations to get the characters to the endpoint.

Snippets: For certain scenes, the outline version doesn't accurately capture the Vibe I'm going for, so I have a section at the end where I write quick, tiny, scaffolding-style first drafts. These usually have almost no relation to what the final scene actually looks like, but it's about pinning down the idea and the atmosphere.

These documents are really big and messy and I usually need to go back and edit them as I go, because my original ideas inevitably undergo some shifts as I figure things out, but that's the fun of it!

It has to be the right type of fic to make this worth it, but sometimes I'll also do a scene-level outline in an Excel spreadsheet, with columns for Scene, POV Character, Location, Characters Present, Events, Reactions, and Plot-Important Info. This is good for super plotty/mystery-heavy fics and fics with big ensembles that I can't keep track of other ways. I have an enormous and beautiful outline in this style for the Owl House Tam Lin AU which I do still want to write someday, bc while I didn't end up loving TOH as a whole I do love a lot of the characters, and also we came up with possibly the best plot twist of my life involving 400 years of moon phase records so. It's on the back burner but it's still on the stove, as it were. And the good thing is that because I have such an exhaustive outline it will be easy for me to pick back up at any time if I want to!

[slushiepizza]

hi slushie (my redacted blog is cashandprizes in case this helps)! saw your post about work stuff and idk if any of this will help but just some ideas. for context i will say I'm also in school and working part time at an office job and can definitely struggle somedays to stay on task!

Category 1: skills/techniques

Organize your stuff - but not how other people tell you, in a way that works for your brain. So many people will tell you to get a planner and if regular journaling/writing doesn't work for you, this probably won't. I will say I make a google calendar for each class and put assignments and reminders in before the semester starts from the syllabus. As for work stuff, honestly I have my basic tasks that I'm always doing and the rest I get five million messages about in the work group chat. But this might not work for your brain! Maybe you're a sticky note person, or maybe you like phone reminders. Maybe you need fun notepads like this. You know your brain best.

Figure out the optimal background noise configuration to make your brain work. Some people put on music, others put on podcasts, some people listen to nature sounds, some people need complete silence (noise-canceling headphones are great for this). If you know you've been most productive in school libraries or coffee shops, find that ambience and play it. I always recommend mynoise because it really helped me during the pandemic and there's so many noise machines (nature sounds, public spaces where people "talk", ambiance, music, etc.) - I find the brain "hacking" (binural beats) are adjustable enough to keep me focused without being too anxious and can be hidden under music. But there's always youtube asmr or lofigirl or any number of other things - again, you're your own best expert

Timing. I'm a major pomodoro fan, because I find the work-break-work-break-work-long break system really helpful for not just keeping me on task but reminding me to get up and stretch. pomfocus allows you to modify the timers and I like it a lot, but you can also use a phone timer. what's useful for me is knowing that there's a set time limit - all things end, and I can keep trying and being unsuccessful but at least i did it for that whole time. idk, works for me, maybe it will work for you. or not, that's okay too!

Reward system. the rewards might be the most important part (might just be me). sometimes motivation is getting to the reward, sometimes it's being done, and if it's getting to the reward you gotta have a fun reward. I have set things to be my rewards that I enjoy (playing five minutes of a phone game, watching a video, scrolling down tumblr) like I made a playlist of shorts and short videos on youtube to watch during breaks. That and stretching out my body helps a lot and reminds me to stay focused when I am working.

Good snacks. I had a professor in undergrad tell me "if you're going to have a meeting with yourself you need a good snack" and she was wrong about a lot of things but not that. sometimes having an easy and yummy snack food and a yummy drink makes the difference when you're working.

Figure out what distracts you and plan for it. the thing is you can't eliminate every distraction, right? but if you plan for how to handle them, that can help. so first figure out what gets you distracted (silent enough to hear your thoughts, hearing other conversations, being cold/hot, uncomfortable chair, etc.) and see if you can manage that or plan for it. for example my office is freezing in the summer and sweltering in the winter, so I dress in layers and keep a snuggie in my desk when I'm on campus because if I don't i will spend all day complaining about the temperature and not working. do i look ridiculous in the snuggie, sure, but i wasn't shivering and got my stuff done.

Category 2: support systems

accountability buddies. if you have friends or coworkers or whoever that you can be like "ok. i am going to do this. if you see me on discord/tumblr please fist fight me" that is so helpful. sometimes when I'm working remotely I will sit in discord vcs to parallel play because I know it keeps me accountable for doing my work. if you can find or make something like that happen, it might help you stay on task or keep you motivated?

friends/supports in general. sometimes it's really nice to just talk about how you're struggling. they can't always fix it, but it can be nice to just be heard and validated. also, if you have coworkers, they might have had similar experiences or you might all be struggling, which could be an indicator that you are not The Drama

talking with supervisors/advisors/etc. definitely daunting, but sometimes talking to supervisors can be helpful - or it can suck. try to figure out their vibes and ask other coworkers first. you might also be able to get resources from your advisor, trusted professors, campus resources, etc. that are worth investigating.

i'll keep it short, but i always feel obligated to ask if you've considered therapy - it's because i'm in therapy school and this is my life sorry. it's not for everyone, but some people find it useful.

wow jesus sorry this was so long. i hope maybe any of this was helpful??? i am sorry you are struggling and i hope you have some good outlets to work through it and some solid friends. i hope things improve!!! wishing you the best (also i love your art not totally related but we praise your art constantly in the discord)

Hi, Lexi. Thank you so much for giving such a detailed explanation omg :")) it definitely helps a lot and it gives me peace of mind to have actionable steps like you've given me, I will try to apply them and hopefully they can help me get back on my feet again. And thank you for the kind words, and for always supporting my art; your kindness gives me the strength to keep doing what I do ^^ To everyone else, I hope these tips can be of use to you too!!

[sincerely-sofie]

Do songs that you listen often to ever remind you of characters or events from TPiaG or other stories you've written? It happens to me a lot with stuff from a story with OCs I've been helping my best friend make for years now.

Anyways, I'm asking about it because a song from my playlist reminded me a lot of Twig when I heard it while driving the other day. I had heard the song a million times before, but when I was thinking about the lyrics more they seemed to perfectly fit her internal conflict. The song was Blurt by Mega Mango if you want to take a listen.

The song is definitely just about dealing with mental health issues in general, but my PMD brainrot made it so that this was all I could think about after my epiphany. On that note, I want to offer you a congratulations for writing characters so well that they takes over my brain from time to time. I greatly appreciate it. :D

First up: Thanks so much for your kind words! Second: Oh my goodness. My friend, you are opening up Pandora's Box. 

TPiaG doesn't have as many songs associated with it as my other projects because it hasn't been in development for several years— however, a vital part of my story development process is listening to music and imagining all the animatics of the characters and storyline that I want to make set to them. I do this for every project that sufficiently resonates with the blorbo frequency in my brain, and TPiaG is no exception! 

In terms of songs that embody specific events but aren't connected to a single character, I regularly listen to “Turn the Lights off” by Tally Hall and imagine a sort of extended theme song animation for if TPiaG were an animated series. There's so many lines that mention concepts important to the story!

Another animatic song, this one set in the Dark Future when Twig was human and starting her and Grovyle's quest to save the world, is "Running Out Of Time" by Lin-Manuel Miranda--- specifically the stretch spanning at roughly 1:10 to the end of the song. I have a very vivid image of Twig repeatedly shouting at Grovyle that they need to abscond ASAP as he frantically gathers supplies that spilled out of his bag while they're being pursued by the sableye, and then of Dusknoir being dismissed by a ferryman as he's interrogating him on which way they went.

I also still listen to “Let's Get This Over With” by They Might be Giants and imagine the rest of that one unfinished animatic I posted forever ago. That song isn't as blatantly connected to the events of the game, but there's a few anchor points in the lyrics I really enjoy. 

As for individual characters and songs I associate with them, here’s a selection with links to Spotify for easy listening!

Twig:

"Hey, Doctor Doctor" by Milk in the Microwave

"Monster" by Half Moon Run

"Smile" by Ukuletea

"Feelings Are Fatal" by mxmtoon

... And now, "Blurt" by Mega Mango as well!

Ark:

"Problems" by Mother Mother 

"Rule #21- Momento Mori" by Fish in a Birdcage

"What You Know" by Two Door Cinema Club

Kip:

"I'm Not Fine" by Blixemi

"Don't Throw Out My Legos" by AJR

"Just Take My Wallet" by Jack Stauber’s Micropop

Grovyle:

"The Villain I Appear to Be" covered by Annapantsu

"Surface Pressure" covered by Annapantsu

(I don't know why both of these songs are specifically the versions sung by Annapantsu. Apparently she's Grovyle-coded in my head.)

Celebi:

(Insert any bubblegum pop or kawaii future bass song of your choice here.)

(Celebi has somehow evaded my ability to assign her songs. I’ll get her someday.)

Dusknoir: 

"I'll Be Good" by Jaymes Young

"Never Love an Anchor" by The Crane Wives

"I Was Me" by Imagine Dragons

Twig's Aunt:

"Family Jewels" by Marina and the Diamonds

"In Fact (Demo Version)" By Gregory and the Hawk

"Ain't It Fun" by Paramore

Twig's Mother:

"Brother" by Madds Buckley

And for those who'd enjoy some Travailshipping songs...

"You Are The Moon" by The Hush Sound

"Dark Clay" by Levi Weaver

"When the Day Met the Night" by Panic! at the Disco

"Can I Have the Day With You" by Sam Ock

"Tongues & Teeth" by The Crane Wives

[ravenlking]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃 finally, i get my own happily ever after. because the words written on your wrist...is my name

gender-neutral warnings: - spoilers for cater and trey's ceremonial robe vignettes genre: angst + fluff a/n: - the cameos are back!! - pictures don't belong to me, they go to their original owners! - please give me feedback :)

Let me know if you'd like more!

𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃

"And Cater," Riddle turned to face the jovial senior. The dorm leader was perched atop his throne, a hand gripping the documents while the other was holding onto his scepter of power. "You're free for today. You may be excused."

Nodding, Cater walked away, ignoring the pleading looks of the poor seconds years who stirred Riddle's ire. Although, he had to admit that Riddle was right in punishing them. Honestly, who thought playing golf indoors was a good idea?

Cater Diamond sighs as he throws himself onto his bed. At last, he was free of anything school-related, free of the strange, whimsical rules of Heartlsabyul - here, in his room, he was absolutely free! Smiling, he rolled around until his hand grasped the familiar shape of his phone and began scrolling through Magicam. Bright, colorful pictures from his online friends, followers, and idols assaulted his eyes as he winced, turning down his brightness. He quickly resumed his routine, scrolling, liking, scrolling, liking, until he reached the end of the latest posts.

"Hmm," He wondered aloud,"I wonder what my friends are doing!" He tapped on a friend of his's Magicam account and scrolled through their latest post. Raven King just posted a picture of her wrist and herself at a cafe; the caption reading: "I don't need a soulmate when I have macarons and coffee! :D #soulmate #HappyForeverAlone #FictionalMenOverRealMen"

Cater let out a scoff under his breath. Soulmates, how dare she carelessly dismiss them. At least, she still had a chance of having a soulmate. At least, Raven got her chance of falling in love someday! He couldn't make out the ebony-black writing underneath Magicam's blurred out editing, but he knew that Raven had a soulmate somewhere out there, waiting for her.

Cater threw his phone to the side before looking at his wrists. Although he knew it was hopeless, some part of his soul desperately cried out for the smallest of blessings from some deity above.

Soulmates; someone destined to match with your soul, like two puzzle pieces reuniting to form a beautiful image. Someone who understands you like no other, loves you as if you were a treasure they spent lives searching for, someone who will always be there for you - Cater Diamond has been dreaming of someone like that ever since he heard of such a person. He's been waiting for his own happily ever after - so why didn't the deity above gift it to him?

What has he done to earn their ire? Why does it have to be him who suffers?

From young, Cater has already lost more friends than he could count because of the constant moving. He's lost his source of happiness and joy in his childhood because he knows that sometimes it's best to clam up and not spent hours on a friendship which won't even last a year.

Why does it have to be him who loses his soulmate too?

Everyone on Magicam has theirs already. Not a day goes by without a new couple uniting with their other half or aesthetically-pleasing date pictures being posted with sugary-sweet smiles and so much love in their eyes. Cater couldn't help the hurting pang! in his heart (or was it his soul) whenever he saw them.

"Ahh," Cater laughs depressingly to himself. "I've dived too deep down the rabbit hole of depression again!"

He flung the bedsheets off him before setting aside his phone. Just scrolling through it would only remind him of all the sadness that he wants to avoid. Maybe looking at the sunset would do him good. His view from Heartslabyul wasn't too shabby, in fact, he had a glorious window view of the sunset over the pocket dimension of Heartslabyul from his balcony!

The sun was just setting over the edges of the dimension, painting the sky in streaks of bright orange and coloring the fluffy clouds in pinks. He could faintly make out the shape of the crescent moon that has begun to peak out.

It has been a while since he was able to put away all technology and social media for a peaceful sunset like this. All his filters and editing were nothing compared to the nature-beauty of the natural sunset.

Something quick, the color of pure snow, flashed across the night sky. Cater stood at attention, emerald eyes tracking it. A shooting star, symbolizing new dreams and wishes to be granted. But this early? It hasn't even been seven yet. He had seen so many people post about how their wishes were miraculously granted after wishing upon a star. Maybe he should try? If not, he'll just laugh it off. He had nothing to lose anyways. Cater clasped his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.

Please, he prayed. Grant me my soulmate. I don't know what I did to stir your ire, but please forgive me. I promise to love them with all my heart and soul. I promise to make their days nothing but filled with light and joy.

He cracked open an eye. The night sky was barren of the shooting star. Whether it heard him or not doesn't matter. Cater's hands slumped to his sides. It was getting late, he should try sleeping a bit. Maybe it would do his unhealthy brain some good. He turned on his heel and walked back.

"Hehe, Cater sweetheart, don't you know that we save the best for last?"

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

Cater Diamond is pleased when the Ceremony ends. He has had a rough time "spawning" copies of himself to paint half the roses in the Rose Garden red. As per the Queen of Heart's rules, to greet newcomers, the roses have to be white and red. Nothing else and the same sentiment was carried out by the fearsome dorm leader of Heartslabyul, Riddle Rosehearts. He was sad that he wasn't able to attend the majority of the Opening Ceremony (seeing the fearful looks on his juniors' face was perfect for future jokes) and playing "Guess the Dorm!" with Trey was always delightful.

He sighed, leaning against one of the multiple hedges grown with much painstaking care from Heartslabyul students. Their efforts were not in vain; Cater could see how the hedge was positively brimming with life.

Finally, peace and quiet. The Unbirthday Party held in honor of the new students from Heartslabyul was delightful as always, but as much as Trey's cooking is delicious, Cater could not stand the sweetness of the tarts. They were aesthetically-beautiful, as expected from the son of a professional baker family, but Cater's poor tongue cried from the sugary sweet taste of each bite. Thankfully, he was able to be excused quickly enough and sought out the Rose Maze for a safe haven.

"Now, let's see," Cater beamed as he took out his phone, quickly tapping on the Magicam app. There was no time to waste! His make-up was perfect, the Rose Maze was a beautiful backdrop, and the sunset was gorgeous! What better moment to take a picture than right now?

As he motioned to take a picture, raising his hand to get the perfect angle, his Ceremonial robes' sleeves slid downwards and Cater's emerald eyes widened drastically. There, written as clear as day, was a name. But not any old name - it was the name of his soulmate.

"No way," He breathed out, shoving his phone into his pocket and reading the name aloud. "Y/N L/N, I've never heard of this name before!"

Pushing off from the hedges, Cater dashed out of the maze. There was no time like the present, he must find his soulmate! He has had enough years of waiting; Y/N L/N, I'll find you soon enough!

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

You felt yourself being glomped from behind, making you stumble forward. You heard the headmaster, Crowley was his name?, let out a shout of surprise before it was masked by the thankful mumbles and squeals from the man hugging you.

"Um, sir?" You gently pried off the hands from around your waist but kept them in yours as you whirled around. You met eyes with a tall senior with bright orange hair, donned in the same strange robes as your own. His emerald eyes were overwhelming with glistening tears as he stared at your wrists.

You followed his line of sight to meet bold ebony-black writing on your arm.

"What on earth?" You gaped at the words on your wrist. As far as you knew, you never got a tattoo! You were sure of it! Why was everything happening so weirdly; first you woke up almost being boiled alive by some strange tanuki and now this-

"Sir, please explain!" You desperately looked at Crowley, who had his jaw dropped and golden eyes widened beneath his mask. "Sir??"

The man in front of you laughed before pulling back his own sleeve to reveal your own name imprinted on his, written in the exact same font. He grinned cheerfully at you and somehow, you got the feeling that this man was going to be the sole owner of your heart, soul, and mind. Something about him felt so warm, so safe, like a little place to go when you feel weak to be re-charge.

"The name's Cater!" He gave you a little peace symbol before popping a kiss on your wrist, where his name was written.

"But you, my little soulmate, may call me Cray-Cray, as in cray-cray about you~"

You laughed as you got swept away by the man's charms.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

Somewhere, far away from Night Raven College, a girl with ebony-black hair and violet eyes sighed as she switched off her phone, the last app on it being Magicam. She took a make-up cleanser and wipped away the illegible scribbles on her wrist. Her mission was complete, she should leave now. She had stirred the feelings needed within Cater in order to find you, and the happy couple was on their way now. But once again, Raven had no feelings, no desires to leave. In fact, she desperately wanted to cling to the magic of this world she loved oh so much. Couldn't she stay, just for a longer time? Her wrist-watch beeped as her time here came to a close.

Raven let out a painful sigh before taking one last bite of her macarons and drank the last of her coffee. Sliding the madols underneath her empty coffee cup, Raven took one last look around the happy ambiance of the cafe. Her heart sunk at the prospect of leaving, but her mind won in the end. Raven reluctantly tapped her feet, disappearing in a wave of purple. Similar to a certain dragon fae's magic, the only thing left of Raven was purple butterflies who slowly flew out of the chamber, leaving no trace of the girl.

A short woman with deep green hair came out of the kitchen, pushing an empty trolley. She moved the table where the girl with ebony-black hair once sat and quickly wiped the table clean for the next customers. She smiled as she held up the little note she left behind.

"Thank you for the delicious treats and warm hospitality, Mrs. and Mr. Clover! I hope to return to your bakery soon."

~ R.L.K

[mirror-to-the-past]

More (Apparently) KH3:Remind and Melody of Memory Stuff

Spiritually pounding on the windows of the Square Enix building- what do you MEAN I find out via YouTube that there's story cutscenes locked behind those egregious Data fights?? (That I'll personally beat... someday...)

(I also just went ahead and watched all the cutscenes for Melody of Memory, because I didn't want to play through a $60 rhythm game, sorryyy)

But first, Re:Mind and its sneaky, sneaky cutscenes...

Everything with Yozora has me Bonkers. I can't believe they've done this. Echoing Sora's first line in the series "I've been having these weird thoughts lately" through his own side of the story, him saying that he doesn't look like how he appears, the 'why do you know that name,' the "save Sora" while immediately drawing a gun on the man in question?? I'm just... *screaming noises* They're bringing everything together with the fiction versus reality stuff they have going on, and guys, I get SO excited when some games go meta. I'm squealing like a little girl; I'm ecstatic. Despite Sora being in (what I now know as Quadratum) and the background of the Yozora fight reflecting that, I can't help but wonder if it was another internal fight due to the arena switching to Sora's Heart Station for a second, akin to Roxas' fight in KH2.

And the music was so pretty... Yozora has a gorgeous theme. The prettier the battle theme, the more insane the KH fight, I say.

Also Riku was dreaming of Sora for a year. Lmao. He just... didn't say anything about it, while everyone was busting their asses. I'll be honest, literally the only way I could take that is that he dismissed his dreams as irrelevant- ah yes, dreaming of Sora? Nothing crazy to see here. Oh, Riku.

Also more importantly than Riku's angst deal- KAIRI WAS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE WHEN SHE WAS A PRESCHOOLER TO ACT AS A KEYBLADE WIELDER HOMING DEVICE, JESUS CHRIST. Kairi 🤝 Megamind 🤝 potentially Superman (I'm not a comics guy):

Getting launched out of their home planets into space in order to escape the destruction of their worlds, given vague and confusing scenarios and instructions to adapt to once they find a new planet, but they really just wanna chill and be loved and keep people safe.

And she's gonna train with Aqua! :D Another professional at getting launched into other worlds (realms). I hope she bonds with Ventus, as I've recently been made aware of their similarities in disposition, and how they are treated by others (hearts of pure light, designated by their groups as "the one who should stay home/be protected", wavering self confidence in their own abilities and self worth). Additionally, the hilarious potential scenarios of Kairi being like "yeah, and my favorite color's actually-" and Ventus interrupts with "Purple. I know," because the man essentially vicariously lived Sora's childhood. I'm super stoked for future Kairi screentime! Loved when she saw Xehanort in her memories and was like 'I don't care if you're a memory, data, manifestation of my heart or any other thing- I hate you, get out of my life forever. Hugs and kisses, die.' Like, 10/10, girl. Fair. Kairi's a volcano wrapped in a sweet package ready to snap at someone.

Riku's like "Y'know Ansem, I'm gonna miss you... 🥺"

And Sora's like "Xemnas, stooop all the violence. How can you take advantage of people with hearts? You should feel your feelings. You're valid, bestie. ☺️"

Kairi's no bleeding heart for baddies, she just wants everyone to get off her damn case, lol!

Also LOL at the fairy godmother of all people being the one to ship Riku off to Quadratum after Sora. My Cinderiku jokes (as well as my previous KH3 post's blurb about Riku determinedly walking into the ocean to find Sora) may not be completely unwarranted, now. Like, Miss 'specialty in dreams?' Miss "If you'd lost all your faith, I couldn't be here. And here I am." Not even to mention "a dream is a wish your heart makes," a very relevant lyric for this set of circumstances, if I do say so myself. I guess that's just gonna be another song I love and sing to myself that now makes me think of KH. 🤷 There's worse things I suppose, for example, like Buddy Holly being stuck in my head for three days straight and making me feel like I'm trapped listening to my uncle's records (thanks, Good Omens).

I ended up re-watching "Cinderella" for the first time in a while because of that part of Re:Mind and MoM. The KH association of the part with Fairy Godmother's appearance is now semi-heartwrenching, given the context of her appearance in "Cinderella," as well:

You have the vocalizing chorus throughout the opening of the scene acting as a callback to Cinderella's "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" song as well as reflecting her inner thoughts, and she has a dialogue with it while she sobs alone in the garden:

Chorus: Whatever you wish for, you keep...

Cinderella: "Oh, no... no, it isn't true."

Chorus: Have faith in your dreams and someday... your rainbow will come smiling through!

Cinderella: "It's just no use. No use at all."

Chorus: No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing...

Cinderella: "I can't believe! Not anymore..."

Chorus: The dream that you wish... *lyric trails off, unfinished*

Cinderella: "There's nothing left to believe in... nothing..."

[Fairy Godmother materializes next to her]

FG: "Nothing my dear? Oh, now you don't really mean that."

Cinderella: "Oh, but I do-"

FG: "Nonsense, child! If you lost all your faith, I couldn't be here, and here I am!"

[the violin and cello come in to finish the last part of the lyric] "...will come true."

Beautiful scene, really. The chorus assisting the animation is delightful... I watched Bambi and Lady and the Tramp (Bella Notte <3) a lot growing up because I loved that old-timey choral work. So dreamy...

Additional funny/sweet bit: I like how Mickey was freaking out to the point of being pinned down over Riku being unceremoniously dropped into Quadratum via Fairy Godmother's spontaneity and enabling.

'You sent my son to the big city ALONE?! He could get mugged, he could get lost, he could get hate-crimed, he could-'

*jump cut to Riku, and he's trying to gauge the value of Earth Money by spying on hot dog stands. He sheds his first known tear of the series by trying to figure out public transit routes*

Anyway, in the words of Cid:

"But what happens next?!"