#so queue post should be easy and nice

[rowanisawriter]

the fact that we didn’t have any april fool event on here and that instead on that day they removed the quick queue feature. I can’t wait until this website is plunged into the depths of hell where it belongs

[passionthatmoves]

In any case, in 2024 it is possible to eat delicious food you didn’t make yourself, watch movies that have recently come out in the cinema, buy all manner of clothes, tools and fripperies, do the food shopping, speak to friends and family and earn a wage – all without ever leaving the house. Why should we, then? What’s in it for us? There are a number of ways to answer those questions, not all of which will appeal to everyone, but it is worth setting them out. Living a real, physical life outside the home is good because humans need friction. Convenience is alluring but it is dangerous, because getting used to it means forgetting that being alive isn’t meant to always be easy. We should run our errands in person and queue at the Post Office and eat in restaurants because it is good to remember that sometimes we have to wait around, or go to several shops because the first one didn’t have what we needed. Resilience is one of the most important traits a person can and should develop, and it works like a muscle. Glide effortlessly through life and, when something bad does happen, because it always will, you won’t know how to react. On a similar note, forcing ourselves to go out even when we’d rather stay on the couch can remind us that good, surprising things usually tend to take place when we least expect them. You may bump into an old acquaintance while out buying a pair of shoes or a carton of milk, or see someone you’d forgotten even existed. You may get to pet a very cute dog, or have a nice laugh with an old lady who struck up a conversation with you, or help someone else who got knocked off their bike and feel good about it, or, or, or – the possibilities are endless. That’s the entire point. The outside is where the unknowable can and will take place, and that’s what makes it so wonderful. A life without any serendipity is hardly worth living and yes, chance is precious enough that it is worth its cost.

Marie Le Conte, 'The Introverts are Winning' (25 July 2024) The New Humanist

[inchidentally]

Okay so I was thinking about why Oscar didn’t go and congratulate Lando right after his win but I think the answer is quite simple. It’s because he felt a little at odds with himself.

He lost out in that race because of the safety car the same one that secured Lando’s chance. (you can hear him audibly swear over the radio when it came out, which he NEVER does) He was pissed at the timing and then to top it all off gets his race ruined by Carlos of all people (again) and THEN when he’s desperately trying to force his way back thought he field he’s told to stop fighting because Lando is in the lead.

So whilst I’m sure he was happy for Lando, he was, at the same time, mourning his own loss. As he should! He’s a racing driver. he should be pissed at losing especially at no fault of his own.

So he gave Lando the space, let him take in his well deserved victory and once he’d calmed he congratulated Lando earnestly, without his feeling for his own race getting in the way!

And I think it’s says a lot about how understanding and kind Oscar is. He knew if he congratulated Lando as soon as they crossed the line he wouldn’t have meant it enough so he waited until he did mean it.

What do you think?

KES BABE you're gonna make me long post !!!

I've actually got to weigh in (pun intended) with a very real technicality that my cousin pointed out when I was looking for Oscar once we finally got to watch!

all of the drivers who congratulated Lando not only were father figures/big brother figures to him, they also finished in the top 10 and quite literally had finished their weigh in nice and quick - the exception being Daniel who did not have to go and see the stewards. quite literally Oscar had to wait toward the back of the queue to finish his parc ferme shit (did we ever even get eyes on him?) from there he had to go see the stewards. depending on who they spoke to first out of him, Carlos and KMag and how long they kept him in the meeting, from there he'd have had to find out where Lando was (celebrating? interviews? cool down room?) and then run around to wherever he was. and ofc if he was in cool down he wouldn't have been allowed in.

so technically maybe Lando would've still been easy to find in Oscar's gap between finishing in parc ferme and going to the stewards, he might also have been stood waiting for his interview or even doing it or he might have already headed to the cool down room etc etc etc.

but I am NOT going to expect Oscar to try and navigate all of that when he not only had his top 3 position ruined but now he also had to go and find out if he was going to be penalized as well !!

especially when he knows he's got ample time to congratulate Lando anyway and Oscar is not remotely the type to care if cameras are around to broadcast it or not. the other non-podium drivers were going to entirely different garages and who knows when they'd cross paths with Lando again.

so honestly I personally think this all came down to technicalities more than anything else and if Oscar had finished in the top 10 at least then he would've absolutely been right there to congratulate Lando both for the ease of it but also bc it wouldn't have been as awful a result even if did receive a penalty.

and equally if he had the time to think of it, he would've assumed Carlos was already headed up there to congratulate Lando (and possibly could have seen him) and it was not !! the time for Oscar and Carlos to cross paths at that moment !!

BUT AS YOU SAID !! I think if there was time for him to get past the frustration and anger at what had happened to his own race and those mitigating factors weren't as much of an issue as I'm guessing they were, we know damn well that he'd be thinking what you said <3<3 bc even when things are going horrendously for him, Oscar never loses his head. and if he at all thought he'd bring his own negativity to the biggest moment in Lando's career so far then no WAY would he have risked it.

and bottom line is that one hug has ended up paling in comparison with how much Oscar was there for Lando in Oscar accepting 50% of the upgrades, obeying team orders for Lando rather than trying to get back in the points, showing up for Lando's celebrations twice in a major way, then going out to celebrate him all night long and posting about his win on social media for days afterward <3 like sure it would've had wider publicity if there'd been a hug right after - but Lando's beaming smile and thanking Oscar shows that he doesn't rate publicity as being more significant than everything else Oscar did for him that weekend ;__;

and what's actually really killed me is that surely surely there had to be an element of it for Lando where he remembered last year telling the press how it stung and hurt that Oscar had achieved any kind of win before him. that Oscar was never a showboat about it and always specified that it was a sprint win and not a real race win. that Lando was always the one to bring it up and give Oscar his dues but that Oscar never brought it up again afterward himself. and the mounting anxiety for Lando of what if Oscar got that race win before him? and how much that anxiety must have been at it's peak watching Oscar leading in Miami?? literally I think it would've been too much to humanly expect Lando to cope at all well. I think the absolute least amount of grace we would have given him would be to not go and immediately celebrate it with Oscar but honestly? if he'd decided to just do his post race interviews and slip away quietly until the video with Andrea then none of us would have judged him for it AT ALL. it would have been an unavoidably bittersweet day and knowing what the press and haters would have done to him would have paled in comparison to Lando having to live with knowing that Oscar got there first and so much quicker. and genuinely I think it would have taken a certain amount of shine off of it for Oscar as well and he would not have even slightly expected Lando to put himself through any more of it than strictly necessary for appearances.

(seriously I think we all breathed a sigh of relief over this win as much as we were elated about it !! we will never have to exist in a timeline where Oscar got his race win before Lando)

so not only will Lando have not remotely expected Oscar to show up in parc ferme for a hug, he has clearly counted every moment of Oscar celebrating his win as golden and beyond the call of teammate duty. and that not only did he make sure that posterity recorded Oscar's achievements earlier in that race, he made sure that he thanked him by setting the example of what could be done on just half the upgrades.

we all expected each of the hugs Lando got right after that race. each of those men has helped to raise Lando and has watched him since he was small and awkward and painfully shy and suffering heart-wrenching race results. they needed to hold their boy in his moment of purest happiness.

but none of us could have reasonably assumed how Oscar - only just out of his rookie season and Lando's teammate of just one season and a bit - would react to such a devastating race for himself while also on the biggest day of his teammate's career to date.

one hug would honestly have been a perfectly fine bare minimum and plenty of other drivers would have called that good and begged off.

equally tho one measly hug shouldn't make anyone underestimate how extraordinarily above and beyond and then some Oscar has been for Lando for the past week. that not only has he celebrated it and celebrated Lando, he's done so in proportion to people older than him who have known Lando much longer than him and who are not direct rivals to Lando.

like genuinely, the general F1 fans keep saying what a gentlemen and exemplary one-of-a-kind teammate Oscar has been through all of this and they're absolutely right. we not only got to rejoice in Lando's win, we also get to rejoice that he has a teammate who has proven his worth and made the McLaren driver partnership secure for the years they have to come <3<3

[cloudcountry]

sneaking riddle out to a summer carnival!!!

SUMMARY: you take riddle to his first carnival!

COMMENTS: takes place post-overblot. honestly this can be read as heavy pining or established relationship LMAO also riddle wears heels outside of his housewarden's uniform shut UP

please be nice to me i am rusty i fear

TAGLIST: i'm going to be doing this again so let me know if you'd like to be tagged in stuff!!

Riddle’s first instinct is to turn right on his heel and walk out of there, and if it wasn’t for your hopeful smile and bright eyes he probably would have. The bright flashing lights, the screaming, and oh Great Seven, the food were all things his mother would have screamed at him for participating in. He supposes that's why you brought him here.

Just the two of you. No Ace, no Deuce, not even Grim is here with you.

The smell of grease and sugar is in the air as your fingers intertwine with his. The action catches him off guard, and you use it to your advantage and drag him deeper into the carnival. He vaguely hears you ask for tickets, making small talk with the vendor as they exchange a handful of tickets for your thaumarks.

(Letting someone else pay for his activities would also be something his mother would yell at him for, he thinks. He’s too busy trying to figure out how safe the ferris wheel is to examine the thought further.)

He’s glad Grim isn’t here. The thought makes his mouth twist in displeasure at how immature he’s being, but deep down he knows the direbeast would be hogging all of your attention. It’s easy to dispel the thought when you grab his hand and lead him into the chaos that is the carnival.

“Which ride do you want to start first?” you ask, a bounce in your step as you turn back and smile at him.

Riddle eyes each one warily. They all look rather horrifying, and if he’s honest with you he’d say he doesn't want to ride any of them.

His eyes catch on the drop tower, and it’s at that moment that the tower drops, and Riddle watches with wide eyes as the people on the ride plunge to the bottom, screaming like they're going to be killed.

“It’s for fun! Adrenaline, you know?” you say hastily.

He’s certain he’s gaping at the ride like he’s seen a ghost.

“We could try some games...?”

Riddle takes a moment to compose himself, shaking himself out of his stupor. He’s never been so out of his element, but he knows for sure you’d never lead him astray. You never have.

“Which one is your favorite?” he asks, watching your face relax.

“I think we should start with the ferris wheel.” you smile softly, and he can't tell if you're dodging the question or if that is your favorite ride, “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s a good ride to start with when you’re nervous.”

He wants to thank you, but the words get stuck in his throat. He lets you chatter about each game and each ride as you pass them, the ground beneath you uneven and bumpy. Riddle is glad you told him to dress comfortably—as ridiculous as it would have been to wear a pair of his heels for a carnival, he’s struggling even in his dress shoes.

You should always look presentable. There is no use complaining.

He feels you squeeze his hand again. You’ve found yourselves in front of the ferris wheel, with the queue shorter than he imagined it’d be. He looks over to you with a question in his eyes, and you giggle.

“Sage Island isn’t that crowded around here, you know? It’s already pretty isolated from everywhere else.” you say, “Don’t worry about it, just let me take the reigns today, okay?”

You bump your hip against his playfully as the line starts to move, and Riddle stumbles after you as you squeeze into a cart. You bounce in your seat as the attendant shuts the door and sends you up into the sky.

Riddle has seen the movies, the cheesy ones were the cart was a little bit bigger and the view was a little bit brighter, but he never understood the appeal of sitting there and watching rides move with someone else.

Now he gets it.

Your hand is still touching his, and he swears if he focuses hard enough he can feel your pulse against the heel of his palm. Riddle spares a glance at you, only to find you looking at him with a hopeful smile.

“Isn’t it nice?” you ask, voice soft and sweet and kind.

“Yes.” he nods, choking on his words as the scent of your shampoo wafts towards him.

You’re both so close.

The ferris wheel starts moving again, and Riddle feels a stab of disappointment in his chest. You laugh at his pout, bumping shoulders with him.

“Don’t worry, we get to go again!” you say, and he perks right back up.

He loves the ferris wheel. He wants to go on it again sometime, if you’d let him.

It seems like only a few minutes before you’re off of the ride and you’re pulling him over to all the food stalls, The smile on your face is infectious as you rattle off the different types of carnival food, talking about the strawberry variants of each one. It fills his chest with butterflies to see you so attentive—truly, he feels spoiled when you buy him a strawberry funnel cake and a caramel apple and even strawberry flavored shaved ice. In return, Riddle insists he pay for your food, and you laugh before accepting.

“I just wanted to treat you.” you confess, sipping on the drink your ordered, “You worked so hard during exams and even worked with others to make sure they were doing okay. Deuce did really well because you inspired him to work hard. You’re amazing—and you deserve a day off every now and then.”

It takes him off guard, just how candid you can be, especially with someone like him. Maybe it’s because you’ve seen him at his most vulnerable, you’ve seen parts of his past only Trey knows, you took the time to get closer to him when everyone else kept their distance, He knows now that that distance was his own fault, which is yet another thing you helped him realize, and—

You’re still doing more for him, over and over again. It’s like a debt he’ll never be able to pay back.

So instead, he reaches over and grabs your hand, the pads of his fingertips pressing into your palm.

You look over at him.

“Hm?”

His heart feels like it’s caught in his throat, but he forces the words out.

“Thank you for today.”

The smile that stretches across your face is the widest one yet. It’s triumphant, like his smile was the prize for winning a game you’d been playing for far too long.

“Of course, Riddle.” you scoot closer, “It’s no problem at all. I hope you’ll do this with me again sometime.”

He will. In a heartbeat, he will.

[cosmerelists]

If Cosmere Characters Were on Tumblr...

Sure, we blog about Cosmere characters. But what if they were here, blogging for themselves? Here is what I think it might be like...

1. Dalinar: Never changes the default icon

He gets blocked a lot.

Dalinar: How odd. No matter how many blogs I follow, my “dashboard” remains empty.

Renarin: I think they all blocked you because they think you’re a bot.

Dalinar: A bot? But I took your advice and chose a unique blog name: Big_D9762.

Renarin: ...

Dalinar: What?

2. Jasnah: Acts like Neil Gaiman

She comes on tumblr as a break from doing research and ruling, answers a few questions, and leaves again.

Anonymous asked: I love your work breaking down gender barriers in Alethkar by being queen and stuff! Do you plan to further erode unnecessary gender distinctions, like by letting women eat spicy food and show both hands?

Jasnah-Kholin: Wait and See.

3. Vin: Reblogs a thousand things in a mad fury and then disappears for days

She does not use the queue function.

Vin: Yeah...I don’t fuck with the the queue function. If you see me, you see me.

Elend: Hey Vin, did you reblog the crab rave like 15 times in a row?

Vin: I was feeling it.

4. Elend: Has a carefully curated queue

His “queue” tag is “Vin is a queue-T.”

Elend: The only exception I make are donation posts and political ones, since those need to be reblogged immediately.

Elend: But otherwise, the queue function is great for lovely, regular content!

5. Adolin: Runs a fashion blog

He has ALL of the Rosharan runways.

Adolin: It’s easy to let Alethi fashion dominate, but a REAL fashion blogger makes sure to have a wide variety of nations and fashions.

6. Shallan: Posts her art

And she tries not to be frustrated when her quick Kaladin sketch gets tons more notes than her very detailed sketch of the chasmfiend.

Shallan: It’s like, I get it--Kaladin fan art is ALWAYS popular.

Shallan: But that chasmfiend was very detailed!

Adolin: Maybe you should draw Kaladin riding it.

Adolin: Shirtless.

Shallan: ...

Shallan: I’ll take my three notes, thank you very much.

7. Tien: Always reblogs no-note art posts

And he always leaves a nice comment too!

Tien: The colors in this are so lovely!!

8. Navani: Considers herself a tumblr patron

She’s one of those bloggers who, if she reblogs your post, you know you’re about to make it big.

Navani: I don’t really make original posts, of course. I’m not a real blogger.

Navani: I just find other people’s clever posts and help promote them!

Navani (typing): "This...has...10,000...notes...to...me...”

Navani: You know they’re happy when they just respond “PLEASE NO”

9. Kelsier: Stirs up his followers with so. much. discourse.

Especially about Hoid.

Kelsier: Friendly reminder that Hoid (1) will let a planet burn to get what he wants; (2) beat up an innocent ghost (me) once; (3) is dating someone WAY younger than he is; (4) insults women.

Hoid: I insulted men too. I was the King’s Wit.

Kelsier: I’m adding you to my DNI.

10. Szeth: Very popular for his “shit posts”

Szeth, of course, is 100% sincere the entire time.

Szeth: It is odd.

Szeth: The vent post I made that simply said “my talking sword is a bad conversationalist” has like a million notes.

Szeth: ...

Szeth: Tumblr is a strange place.  

[sitkowski]

this place is haunted ( vinny mauro x f!reader )

pairing: vinny mauro x f!reader

cw: 18+ MDNI ⚠️ mentions of sex work, rough sex, sex tapes, rough oral sex (m receiving), vaginal fingering, choking, face slapping, unprotected vaginal sex, spooky shit is happening (or is it?), character death (???), just trust me on this one.

word count: 2.9k

author's notes: so i found this on my drive, written for someone else but never given so i turned the oc into a reader insert. consider this an extra halloween thing. title comes from "undead ahead 2", divider by @saradika-graphics

this fic is being dropped into the queue!

⇉ masterpost || taglist signups

“I’m sorry, you want to what?”

Rolling your eyes in the mirror’s reflection, you turn around to look at your boyfriend. “You heard me.”

“I did hear you,” Vinny nods. “It sounds like you just told me you want me to rail you in a haunted house. On film.”

You can see the smirk on his face, knows that he’s just messing with you for the fun of it. He knows what you do for a living, and has never had any problems participating in it. “It’ll be good content for Halloween. And we don’t have to meet everyone else at the cabin until the day after tomorrow.”

“Babe, you don’t have to sell me on anything. You kinda had me at railin’ you—”

You laugh and slap at his shoulder. “I didn’t say it like that! I said that we should check out one of those abandoned locations and film a little something.”

“So it’s either my kind of haunted house,” his eyebrows raise. “Or yours.”

“Well I mean if you wanna invite Justin and Rick along, I’m sure I wouldn’t mind.”

“So you want a gangbang for Halloween?” Vinny hums thoughtfully, before shaking his head. “Nah, Rick’s tattoos are too noticeable and I kinda like the idea of being the only one you fuck on camera.”

You’ve been doing this for a while now, long before you and Vinny ever knew each other. Back then, it was just you doing solo stuff. He knew that you’d been posting stuff online when you started dating, he never once asked you to give it up. You were together nearly two years before he got involved with it. You always kept his face out of it, and it was easy for him to be anonymous when he didn’t have any tattoos. If the band knew, no one said, it was probably his best kept secret..

“I even got a very cute costume,” you say. You see the interest spark in his eyes.

“Please say slutty ghost,” Vinny crosses his fingers and you reach out to swat him again. He catches your hand this time, twisting it behind your back. “Hey now, be nice.”

“Or what?” you challenge, and he lets go of you only to slap your ass hard. “Ow, dick!”

“What do you think of going to Frick’s Lock? They close before dark, but I can get us in.”

The idea of filming a scene in an abandoned nuclear ghost town is pretty appealing, You can admit that. You’ve been there on one of the day tours and know that doing a night shoot could work, the place is just run down enough to give off the spooky, haunted vibe you want.

“You think we’ll see some ghosts?” you ask teasingly, knowing that despite the set up, it’s always a possibility. And both you and Vinny believe in that sort of thing.

“You never know,” he says, before slapping you ass again. “Okay, you find your cute little costume and get your shit together, I’ll set it all up.”

“Thank you baby,” you smile and kiss him. “You always give me the best presents.”

The drive into Frick’s Lock is silent and dark. You’ve got a bag with everything in it you need, and Vinny brought his camera and a few lights. Typically when it’s nothing but a couples scene, it’s just the two of you filming anyways. You’ve done this sort of thing before, filming in a location besides your apartment. But it’s the first time that you’ve chosen a spot so public, and for Halloween no less. Vinny’s hand slides over your upper thigh as he drives, and you bite your bottom lip in anticipation.

The place is creepy at night. You can admit that. You have to drive down a few thin, winding roads before they reach the small row of abandoned shacks. You didn’t ask how Vinny got you in here after closing. You didn’t need to know. You have a specific window of time you're allowed to use. When he stops the car and turns off the headlights, there’s just enough moonlight for you to be able to see to get into the building without using the flashlights on your phones.

It’s just one room that you walk into, the walls are grimy and moldy, the floor scattered with leaves and dirt. You know that some of it is for dramatic effect for the tours, but mostly it’s because whoever is responsible for the upkeep just doesn’t care. You sit down your bag and let Vinny work on the lighting so that they’ll at least be able to see, along with a handful of candles that you brought along. You take a picture of the room once he’s out of the camera’s view, so that you can post it on your social media to hype people up.

You show the post to Vinny before you make it, as always. Despite it being your thing, he always gets a say in things you post that involve him. Snagging your phone from your hand, he switches it over to the camera again. “Give ‘em a little peek, sweets.”

Your costume is in the bag, and you’ve got no problem changing right there. Outside, there’s a loud screech that makes both of you jump. Something moves past the window and you hear the flapping of wings. Just an owl, you assume. You take off your jacket and then your shoes, shirt and jeans, adding them to the growing pile.

The outfit you put on isn’t so much a costume, just a thin strapped short black dress and fishnets. You’d done your makeup and hair before you left the house, but you smear your eyeliner some, even though it’ll all be a mess later. You brought different boots than the shoes you wore in, and you let Vinny help you into them. He stays crouching down at your feet, fiddling with the camera settings before snapping the picture.

“Pretty little goth girl took a wrong turn in the woods on Halloween, hm?” he asks. You blow him a kiss before making the post and then passing the phone to him for the pov shots.

The only other thing you brought with you was a sleeping bag to toss on the floor so you don’t end up with splinters. He spreads it out on the floor for you.

A loud scraping rattle startles you both, and it’s followed by a low hum. Vinny gets up, glancing out one of the grimy windows. 

“Is there power here?” you ask.

“There aren’t any light switches, so I doubt it. Maybe it was a water pump or something for one of the other buildings,” he shrugs and takes off his own leather jacket, tossing it aside before setting up the camera in the right place.

Air seeping in through the windows makes the flames flicker ominously, but you ignore it. You give Vinny a look as you hit the button for the camera and he smirks, hooking an arm around your waist and hauling you against him. “Ready to play?” you ask.

“Trick or treat.” he murmurs before he kisses you, and you laugh against his mouth.

There’s no sound in the room but the hissing of the candle flames and the slick slide of your lips. Vinny’s hands grip your hips hard, bunching up the skirt of your dress a little. You moan quietly against his mouth, reaching between you to rub your hand along the front of his jeans. You can feel him getting hard for you and you flick her tongue against his as you squeeze gently. When he pulls back, he slips on the mask that he brought with him, usually you just film it from an angle where his face doesn’t show, but the room has no furniture and a lot of the both of you will be in frame for this.

The floor is not forgiving on your knees, and you can feel the wood snagging your fishnets as you kneel in front of him and wrap your hand over his belt buckle. When you raise your eyes to him, you’re met with your phone’s camera, and you bite your bottom lip.

“You're gonna be a good girl for me?” Vinny asks. His mask muffles his voice enough that you probably wouldn’t recognize it as his on film. 

You undo his belt and the button on his jeans, pulling the zipper down torturously slowly. You give him wide, innocent eyes. “I’m always a good girl.”

Vinny laughs and it makes you grin as you shoves his jeans down, followed by his boxers. His free hand winds into your hair as you take his cock into your hand, licking up the underside slowly before pulling back and taking him into your mouth. He moans quietly and you hum around him.  You take him deeper, letting him hit the back of her throat. The noises you make are obscene to your own ears, echoing around the room. Vinny’s fingers yank on your hair, moving your head back and forth for you. Tears slip from your eyes as you gag, grabbing onto his thighs to balance herself. you keep your eyes upturned to the phone’s camera, knowing that your face is already a mess.

Outside, there’s the sound of snapping branches and rustling. you pull off Vinny’s cock, coughing and wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand. “What was that?”

“Probably a raccoon,” Vinny shrugs. “Maybe a ghost.”

“Ha ha,” You roll your eyes. “Wanna invite the ghost in for a threesome?”

The hand still in your hair twists viciously and you whimper, trying not to smile. He lets go of your hair only to wrap his fingers around his cock, stroking slowly, tapping the tip against your mouth. You open up and stick out your tongue, licking him teasingly. You can’t see his face behind the mask or the camera lens, but you know the way he’s probably looking at you better than anything. Shuffling back a bit, you move until you’re kneeling on the sleeping bag, and crook your finger at him.

You sit back and spread your legs, the hem of your skirt riding up our thighs. Vinny kneels between them, giving you a little slap on the outside of your thigh as a sign for you to spread them wider. There’s nothing beneath your fishnets and his free hand slips between your legs, fingers teasing into you through the holes. You moan and rock against his hand, trying to get him to put his fingers deeper. But he’s just warming you up and after a few minutes, he pulls away. Ignoring your frustrated whine, he reaches up and slaps your cheek before pushing those fingers into your mouth roughly. 

You reach down and tear the fishnets open, Vinny moving the phone just enough to catch it. you can hear him laughing at you behind the mask, and you’d flip him off or say something nasty, but there’s that noise again outside.

“Seriously,” you mumble breathlessly, “I think something’s out there.”

Vinny turns the phone towards the window, “I don’t hear anything.”

Maybe it’s just your imagination. Maybe it’s actually some animal out there wandering through the woods. You’re the one who wanted to do this here. Ignoring the paranoia you feel, you spit on your fingers and reach between you, wrapping your hand around Vinny’s cock and stroking him. He brings all of his attention back to you, and you preen for the camera, eyes turned down to watch as you roll your hips down onto him.

He groans above you as he bottoms out, and you absently think of investing in some sort of stand for your phone because you want him closer like you can usually get him. Instead, you just hook one of your legs around the back of his thigh, and let him push you down flat on your back. His hand pulls at the top of your dress impatiently and you giggle, wriggling out of the straps, leaving the dress bunched around your waist. You bite down on your own tongue so you don't say his name.

His hand clamps around your neck, not squeezing, just holding you down, and you feel the sting of tears in your eyes. You grind against him harder, sharp noises escaping your throat when his thrusts get rougher. Even with the mask, you know that he’s waiting for you to either give him the signal to slow down, or to encourage him for more. You wrap a hand around his wrist, keeping him there.

A thud outside startles you both and you yelp, pushing up on your elbows. “Something is out there!” you insist loudly.

Vinny finally relents, pulling out and fixing his clothes. He saves your footage to your encrypted cloud and gets up, pushing up his mask and walking towards the door. You scramble up, hurrying to get back into the clothes you brought with you. The mood is decidedly ruined, and you walk around the room to blow out the candles before shutting off the camera.

When you follow him outside, it’s quiet other than the sound of crickets chirping. The temperature had dropped while you were inside, and the sweat had barely dried on your skin when you’d yanked on your clothes. Vinny walks around to the other side of the building and you trail him, stumbling a little in the tall grass.

“I told you, there’s nothing out here babe—”

His words cut off, turning into a wet, choking sound. All you see is him at first, until your eyes adjust more and you see the man in the mask standing there. Vinny’s body falls to the ground in front of him, and then you see the knife, covered in blood. You scream, stumbling backwards. Your eyes bounce from Vinny laying motionless in the grass to the man slowly advancing on you. His mask is similar to the one Vinny had been wearing, only it’s dirtier and something is etched into it. He tilts his head at you, wiping the blood onto the leg of his coveralls. You take one last look at Vinny, and you turn and run.

Your first thought is the car, but Vinny’s got the keys. Screaming for help was useless, but you did it anyway, trying to make a break for the road. But you know no one is out here, no one knows you’re out there. Vinny still had your cell phone too. Your Chucks slide in the damp leaves and gravel, but you can still hear him behind you. You know that the road is way too long and you’ll never make it. But you still have to try.

And stupidly, you turn back to look. He was right there and then you’re falling, tripping over your own two feet and landing hard in the grass. You try to crawl away, grabbing onto the nearest tree to pull yourself up. This guy is huge and he wraps an arm around your waist, yanking you up to her feet. you scream, long and loud, trying your best to get away but he’s too strong and your eyes catch on the bloody knife in his hand. 

Under your own screams, you think you hear laughter. You do, and it’s coming from the guy currently holding you. You stop struggling and narrow your eyes. you knows that fucking  dumbass laugh.

“Justin?” Reaching up, you grab at the mask and yank it away, revealing the familiar face. “What the fuck?”

He sits you back down on your feet, ruffling his sweaty blonde hair that had been pushed back. Over his shoulder, you see Vinny coming over. Looking down at the mask in your hand, you see the IX carved in the plastic. It’s Justin’s old mask he used to wear on stage.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?” you screech, smacking him repeatedly with the mask. He laughs and ducks away from you.

“It was his idea!” he protests, pointing to Vinny, who’s now close enough that you can see he doesn’t have a mark on him.

“Oh come on, you have to admit it was a little funny.” he says.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Mauro.”

“Nice try babe, the knife isn’t even real.”

For some unknown reason, you don’t feel as angry as you know you should. These two dumb fucks just terrified the hell out of you. you thought Vinny was dead. That you were going to die. But you feel your rage subsiding, just a little. 

“Fine, whatever, you scared me.” you relent. “How the fuck did you even get here?”

“Ryan dropped me off like two hours ago,” Justin explains. “It took you a lot longer to catch on to me being out there than we thought.”

You narrow your eyes at him again. “Were you watching us fuck?”

Vinny cranes his head to look up at Justin. “You better not have been, that wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Ya’ll are fucking loud.” is all he says, and you slap him with the mask again before throwing it at him and trudging back towards the building to get your stuff.

“Wait, can I get a ride home with you guys? I never told Ryan to come back and get me.”

“You and Vin can ride in the trunk for all I care,” you mumble, enjoying the looks on their faces as they hurry to catch up with you.

⇉ taglist

@ladyveronikawrites @circle-with-me @deathblacksmoke @dominuslunae

@rumoured-whispers @cookiesupplier @kinseysucks @collapsedglasshouses

@thatchickwiththecamera @th4t-em0-k1d @blackveilomens @illmakeyousaywow

@ao3userfeistycadavers

if you ’d like to be added to the taglist, you can find the form at the top of this fic! thanks for reading/reblogging 🩷

[blizzardfluffykpop]

A Good Difference

Summary: The plan like every year before was to spend the winter formal dancing with your friends. But what if there was a change of plans? And everything you wanted, materialized?

Oneshot

Fluff, Friends to lovers au

Word Count: 2,458

Requested by anon

Rich Kid! Eric X Reader 

Prompt: 5. Christmas On and On! (Choose a member’s proposal from the Christmassy mv & send it in~)

Bonus Christmassy fic

[A/n: This is more like subtle rich? If that makes sense. His family has a lot of money, and they live very comfortably. Omg! I didn't realize until I was about to queue it! But this'll be posted on Eric's Birthday! How fitting! I hope everyone has a very happy Eric day!]

------

Ever since Eric’s parents bought him the latest model Audi as an early birthday present. He’s been asking everyone if they want a ride in his new ride. And more often than not, you’d say yes. You’d say anything is better than taking a bus. But his car was the lap of luxury, with heated seats, every control in the car at his fingertips, and a quiet yet fast engine. So, when he comes around to ask, “Hey (Y/n), you want a ride home?” You immediately agree, “Do I get shotgun this time?” He hums, “Yeah~ you could have any seat you wanted since you’re the only one I’m taking home today.” You tilt your head, “Oh, did no one else want a ride? Even Sunwoo?” He smiles, “He skipped today, so… it’s just you and me.” You can’t hide your excitement knowing you’ll be alone with your crush without Sunwoo or anyone else teasing the hell out of you for wanting to sit next to Eric. Sure, his car was nice, but Eric himself? That’s what you dreamed of. He could have all the riches in the world. You just wanted him… Maybe if you had the guts, you’d ask him to Christmassy. But you knew you didn't. So, like every year before, you’d go with your friends and have fun dancing with them.  

You spend the day as usual until it’s time to go home. When your friends hold you up, “Hey, do you mind if we talk here instead, in front of our lockers?” You raise your brow, wondering why they'd rather stay here rather than walk with you to the main hall. “But won’t you guys be late for the bus?” They shake their heads, and Vernon tells you, “No, Lainey’s mom is picking us up.” You tilt your head at Lainey, “Why didn’t you guys say so? I would have loved a ride from your mom!” They both roll their eyes, “Would you have really passed up the opportunity to be alone with Eric?” You purse your lips and sigh, “You have me there…” They laugh at you, “We know.” You sigh, “Now, why do you guys wanna talk by our lockers?” Lainey quickly glances at her shoes, “Oh! We just uh… we have a slight change of plans…” You tilt your head, “How so?” She smiles, “You know that girl I have a crush on in fourth period?” You nod, “Of course I do! She’s all you ever talk about when it comes to history class.” She blushes before she says, “She asked me to the dance.” You grin, “That’s good!” And Vernon puts his hand behind his neck, “I have a date too…” You grin again, “That’s good too!” Before you realize you’ll be the only one without a date, “Oh…” They sigh, and Lainey says, “Yeah… But um… We can make time to dance with you, of course!” You shake your head at them, “No, it’s okay! I don’t want to ruin your dates…” They nod, and you look at the ground. 

It will be the first year you’ve danced alone unless you get the courage to ask Eric. You deflate a little, “Um, anyways, I guess I should get going then, huh?” Lainey gasps, “Not yet!” You blink at her, “What do you mean?” Vernon gives her a look before he puts his hand on your shoulder, “It’s going to be a good difference this year.” You roll your eyes, “Easy for those with dates to say.” They both let out little hums. And before they can say anything else to brighten your mood. Vernon’s phone dings. He looks at it, “Cool. Actually! We gotta go… Uh, Lainey’s mom texted me…” You give him an odd look, “You guys are being really weird…” They exchange a look and shake their heads, “No, no, we’re not being weird.” You give them a look, “That’s exactly what someone who was acting strange would say.” They both laugh before they each wish you farewell. Lainey cheers, “Good luck!” You give her back a weird look, “What’s that supposed to mean!” She giggles, “You’ll know soon enough.” You shake your head, “You guys are so weird…” And with that, they exit out the front entrance. 

You roll your eyes but head down the hall and towards the back entrance, wondering what they meant with that last bit of conversation. You shake your head, not letting it get to you as you hum to yourself. Sure, this dance will be different, but maybe it’ll be a good difference, just as Vernon said. You hike your backpack higher over your shoulder as you pop open the door and head to where Eric usually parks. What you didn’t expect to see was Eric lying on his stomach on top of his car. As you get closer, you notice he decorated the front of his car with a fuzzy red reindeer nose on the grill and foam antlers on the windshield. As you get closer, you notice the red rose in his mouth and the rose petals sprinkled all over the hood. You stop dead in your tracks in shock as you realize he was asking someone to the dance. Is that why your friends were stalling you and acting strange? You shake your head as you look over at him. Was this for you? You point to yourself, and he nods. 

Although he seemed so confident lying there, he quickly shifts from lying on his stomach to sitting up, trying to look cool as he sweeps his hand through his hair. And you can’t help the small smile, knowing he felt as awkward as you did. He takes the rose out of his mouth. Wiping any saliva, he got on it off of it. He rubs the back of his neck, “I didn’t know how else to ask…” He rubs the back of his neck as you stand there processing it all. “You really want me to go to Christmassy with you?” He looks at the rose before giving a small nod, and you grin as you come close to him, “Good. I wanted to go Christmassy with you, too.” He looks up at you in shock, “Really?” You nod, “Really.” He grins, wrapping his arms around you, and cheers, “Yes!!!” You hug him back, giggling that you get to go with him. And you look over his shoulder and notice the golden letter balloons that spell out, ‘Christmassy?’ which endears you even more. He planned this all out for you, even getting your friends involved. You shake your head at those little sneaks for helping the cutest surprise. Now, you’ll all have dates to the dance. 

You pull back, and you both grin at each other. He slips off of the hood as he pulls you in for another hug, “God, I can’t wait to dance with you.” You laugh as you hold him, “Really?” He hums, “Yeah, I’ve been dreaming of it since they announced this theme.” You smirk as you pull back, “So if the theme was ‘Winter Wonderland’,... you wouldn’t have?” He gasps, “No! I would have! I just- I uh-” You laugh, “I knew what you were getting at. I was just teasing~” He sighs in relief, and you ask, “So, do I still get that ride home?” He laughs, “Of course, you do, even if you had said ‘no’.” You smile, and before you can open your door like normal. He’s already opened it. You grin as you shake your head at him and get in.

You watch as he takes off the Christmassy letter balloons and sweeps the rose petals into a plastic bag., but leaves the rest on. When he gets in, you ask, “Is that why you didn’t ask anyone but me if I wanted a ride?” He looks down at the steering wheel, “I uh, yeah…” You tilt your head, “That’s not all, huh?” He hums, “I had planned to tell you the whole week. But I had to wait since Sunwoo usually needs a ride… And I wanted to do it all alone. And Sunwoo knew that... So, he called in sick so I could ask you to the dance without him tagging along. And uh, everyone already knew I was planning to do so…” Your jaw drops more the further he explains, “You planned this all out for me?” He laughs as he pulls out of the parking space, “Yeah, I wanted it to be perfect even if it was hard to keep it from you because I feel like I can tell you anything but… I wanted my proposal to be special and just for us.” You smile as you place your hand over his, “It was perfect, and I was happily surprised.” He grins, and you notice his red ears. 

He pulls into your driveway, and you don’t want this little car ride to end. But you knew you had to study, so you unbuckle and look at him. And before you can second guess yourself, you kiss his cheek, “Maybe when we dance together, I’ll give you a real one.” His mouth is a jar as he looks at you before he blinks and gathers his thoughts, “I’m holding you to that.” You giggle, and he catches your hand before you can completely slide out and lays a kiss on it. You blush, and he says, “I can’t wait to dance with you~” You grin, “I can’t wait either.” When you shut the door, you hear him calling someone. The bluetooth resounds as he says, “Mom! (Y/n) said yes!!!” You giggle to yourself as you head into your house. And she congratulates him, and you can’t help but feel more excited for the upcoming Friday. 

---

He gives you a big bouquet of red roses. “I got you the prettiest bundle that the florist and I could find. For the prettiest Christmassy date.” You grin as you take them into your hands and sniff them. “They’re beautiful. Give me one second!” He nods, and you quickly cut the ends off and place most of the bundle into a large glass pitcher. And for the small amount that wouldn’t fit, you put them into a thin vase. And when you come back, he’s waiting with a smile. “I have one more thing.” You tilt your head, and he smiles, “I got us matching poinsettia and rose corsages.” He asks for you to hold out your wrist. And you do, and he delicately puts it onto your wrist. 

He opens the car door for you, “After you, beautiful.” You giggle at his gesture and hop in. And before you can buckle yourself in. He’s hopped into the car and buckles the seatbelt over you before buckling himself in. You thank him, and he turns the car on, and you recognize the song instantly, “You put on my playlist?” He shakes his head, “No, it’s ours.” You tilt your head, and he answers as he pulls out of your driveway, “I made a combination of all our favorite songs… Or at least the ones you always play on my speakers.” You smile at him, “Oh, that’s so cute.” He drives you both to the venue as you both sing along to the songs. When he parks, he rushes around, and you laugh as he opens your door. He holds out his hand for you to take, and when you do, he grins and kisses your hand. “I know I said it before, but you look so lovely.” You blush as you thank him and compliment him back. You walk hand in hand as you both head into the ballroom. 

When you finally get to look at him again, you giggle because how could this fantasy be real? But it was, and he giggles too, “This is unreal.” You agree, and he asks if he can put his hands on your waist to guide you through the dance. You agree and place your hands on his shoulders. He gently sways you two to the beat of the music as you softly talk. You take in all his features, committing each detail to memory as you travel along the dancefloor together. You only move off the floor when you both don’t recognize the current song playing to eat all of the sweet treats. 

You sit side by side, looking over all the people dancing. You lean your head on his shoulder and take in the moment. He asks, “What are you thinking about, love?” And you reply, “About right now.” He hums, “It’s beautiful, but I bet this day will be in our hearts for a long time.” You can’t help but smile at the thought, “Yeah, I think so too.” He kisses the top of your forehead after finishing up a gingersnap. When a familiar sound starts playing out of the speakers, you gasp as you look at each other. He quickly takes you to the dancefloor, and you both giggle at each other as you dance to it. You finally see your friends as the song plays and wave at them as they dance with their partners, you wave at them. Vernon gives you a thumbs up, and Lainey waves back to you cheerily. And it all feels complete. 

The second slow song comes on for the night, one you both know. You stare into his eyes and flick your gaze at his lips before looking back at his eyes a couple of times, and he gives you a small nod. And you kiss him for the first time. It’s delicate and sweet, and when you pull away, his lips chase yours before kissing you again. He lets out a satisfied sigh as your lips move together. When he pulls away, you shake your head, “One isn’t enough.” He grins, “Never with you.” You giggle as you lead him back into a fun dance, and you both move around each other, kissing here and there as you dance. Only ending the night when you’re both tired from dancing. 

He drops you off at your door, and as you fiddle to find the key, he says, “What do you say to another date?” You kiss his nose, “I’d love to.” He pulls you in for one last kiss, “What about Sunday, breakfast?” You hum, “Brunch?” And he grins, “Perfect, I’ll see you then.” You nod, and he walks to his car. You make sure he gets in before opening your door. You give him one last wave before heading into your house and sliding against the door, processing that you just danced and kissed Eric throughout the night, something you could have only dreamed of.

[navnavprime]

Heyo, small update on places to find me.

It's been a very big while since I've posted anything of note here. Part of it is that life is been hitting its hardest, the other part is losing track of what's going on in Tumblr. I would like to fix that, but steady as it goes. Voice acting wise: I still don't like that we don't have a website outside of Tumblr where I can just upload a soundbyte for people to listen to, but then again I haven't really dipped back into making audio dramas in a very long time. Part of that has been other websites needing a visual accompaniment to go with the audio. I can do that, but at that point, I'm just making videos (which is a lot of work for me to do by myself and takes up a lot of my days). Art wise, we'll get to that past the read more. I'm hoping to get to that eventual balance of "doing things I love" with "doing things that give me money to survive". I'm getting closer, but it's gonna be a long trail. Anyway, where you can find me:

I've been posting a lot on Bluesky! I've been finding some of you on there, and so far it's been chill. I think some people don't like how there's no algorithm forcing other people to see posts (on the main page), but I kinda like it. I may do a lot of reposts there; that's the tumblr brain doing that, but my profile on there will have my art tag if you'd like to see what drawings I've done. I've also just finished setting up my VGen! That is a website that I've always sorta wanted; a sort of online shop that sorta details what a commission from me is like. Making commission posts that give all my services is nice, but they don't have all my terms and conditions, they don't have a visible queue. VGen kinda handles that and I think it's nice. ...and yeah those are the two main sites I see myself on for a bit. Maybe I can make room for tumblr. I know I have a Pillowfort over here, but I have had a hard time checking that out lately. (Also, please toggle your NSFW filters for that site cause I forgot I reblogged a bunch of WOOHOO last I was there) Anyway, for sites I'm NOT on. If there were Youtube videos or Soundcloud links of my old stuff you remember seeing back then, they should still be hosted there, but I don't see any updates from them happening for a very long time. You cannot find me anymore on Twitter because that's my personal choice to not be in a pool of assholes just to get myself out there. Admittedly, I was never "out there" to begin with, so that was a very easy choice. I'm not on TikTok. I have a grandma brain and I just don't wanna film videos on vertical. Anyway, that was just an update for old followers of mine! Thank you for reading if you read through this, I can only hope I can continue making stuff that is cool and maybe funny. Hopefully I'll see you around!

[rannadylin]

Ranna's Knitting Goals: 2025

I don't really make new year resolutions buuuuuut I will make a nice little "Someday!" list out of my Ravelry queue and other things I've been meaning to work on, huh? :-D I might even get some of these done this year and not a decade from now, but no promises!

Publish the Gloves of the Reunited Kingdom pattern: It's...mostly done? I think I got it pretty much done over the summer but thought it could use test knitters before I actually publish it, and that didn't happen and then the fall semester kept me too busy to think about pattern publishing.

Also publish the Ribbon Twist Socks pattern. I'm pretty sure that one was done but it also fell to the Fall Semester trap?

Write up my Feather and Fan Socks pattern and publish that as a free pattern! As I mentioned on my 2024 Knitting round-up post this morning, this is my go-to for self-striping yarn nowadays. In fact I rounded up all the feather and fan socks I could find in my drawers (I don't think any are currently in the to-wash pile but I could be mistaken? I may have also given some away to my mom) so you can see that I do indeed knit this pattern a lot! It's a pretty easy lace pattern (so a nice one for someone new to lace knitting) and looks great with or without stripey yarn, and I thought it'd be nice to have a free sock pattern people can download as a sample before I upload Ribbon Twist and any future sock patterns as paid patterns.

Knits to finish:

Clapotis 2024B! The one I didn't finish in time for the Knitty contest, but it's more than half done and is likely to be my first 2025 FO. I finally took a WIP picture of it just to prove that it exists (and that it is such a lovely colorway!):

Vox Machina Blanket. Seam that thing finally, Ranna! (I hate seaming...)

Dollegina's outfit.

I do just need to seam up the Chorus of Cats hat, and that is much less seaming than a blanket, so surely this one can get done in the next 12 months? XD

Knits to design:

Dolls! I mean, this is the basic doll body pattern and it's not my design, but I'd like to extend my series of fandom-inspired dolls based on it (currently: Dollegina, Dolloth, Fenris (and Hawke), Kylo Ren & Eleven for my niece!) to include some LOTR Rangers and maybe some BG3 and/or Veilguard characters!

Thrill of the Weave Socks: So I got this gorgeous skein of yarn sometime last year and when I opened that package I was in the midst of playing BG3 and my first thought upon seeing those colors was (of course) "Gale socks!" The colorway is called Thrill so (of course) the pattern would have to be called Thrill of the Weave, and that's as far as that plan has gone for now. I have vague ideas of a lace or cable pattern based on the embroidery on his purple camp shirt? That may not come across well in a multicolor yarn, though, so I am pondering Plan B's.

I started work on a colorwork chart for a Lyrium Dagger bookmark... :-D It'd be three colors though, so still pondering whether to do intarsia (not my beloved) or try to do three-color double knitting (what even is that? triple knitting?) or stranded (but for a flat piece...what am I thinking). It probably should be intarsia. And that's why it's still in this rough form and I haven't cleaned up its edges yet:

If anyone who likes intarsia more than I do wants to take that and run with it, feel free!

I'm also working on some mythology-themed dice bags for JCL convention! Got a Minerva and Apollo panel done so far but I need to make some variation of the JCL logo to pair with them for the back of the bag.

Knits from the Ravelry queue:

Amphora Cardi: I have the pattern and the yarn; it was on my 2024 knitting to-do list but not one of the things I got around to, so this is my reminder to self that it needs to happen!

Might be up for knitting a vest this year? Maybe Sennit or Canton or Rockhound. Or Tracery!

Choose Your Fellowship! Mix and match colorwork LOTR sweater? Yes please!

Aglow - I can always use another pretty lace-and-beads shawl! :-D

Techniques:

I tried mosaic knitting (in the Chorus of Cats hat that I still need to seam) for the first time in 2024! So for 2025, my knitting bucket list still includes trying Entrelac and Brioche knitting.

[fountainpenguin]

I've really enjoyed writing "Dreadful Burden," - I have about 7,000 words to go to finish off the whole story (Should be around 40k when it's done). I'm glad I picked it up again; it was really fun to delve into Grian's mindset with this piece, and it'll be nice to have in my buffer queue.

I am no joke chomping at the bit... it's so fun to see his side of things when I know what's coming in Dog's Life </3

After this, my plan is to finish "Chalaza," "The Candles We Light," and "Top 10 Hanahaki Life Hacks" (MCYT) as well as Frayed Knots and possibly Come What May (FOP).

I've been stuck with CWM for a long time since the tone came out much darker and less humorous than what I initially wanted, and it always made me feel a little sad working on it, but I'm hoping I can push through that and add it to the buffer soon. It alarms me how long that 'fic has been a WIP since it was supposed to be an easy finish ^^; I'll be glad to be done. There's a cute scene of Timmy, Chloe, and Kevin doing homework I'm excited to share. I love those three friends who are also struggling with extreme jealousy towards each other so much... Chloe drives Timmy insane, Timmy drives Kevin insane, Kevin drives Chloe insane; it's the perfect racket.

The buffer situation is going well! Thus far it's all MCYT (and of course I'm still moving my Total Drama 'fics to AO3 on Thursdays). I'm glad I'll have things ready to post as my year gets busier. It's also been nice to reorient myself as to where we are in Frayed Knots, as there's still a big chunk of the timeline I have to push through that will take a lot of planning. Glad I'm not trying to get a chapter out regularly right now!

I'd like to wrap up existing WIPs before posting Chapter 1 of "Dreadful Burden," but I'm glad that it's come along (and that I won't worry about contradicting details in the next Dog's Life chapter now that I know what conversations are had in this side story).

It's definitely not gonna be for everyone (Extreme rarepair, digging in of heels and pride because you don't wanna let down your walls in case you look stupid and yet you crave answers about intimacy), but it's exactly the type of 'fic I love writing most: Desperate man on a self-destructive mission seeks control and struggles not to have a total breakdown. Pixels Grian, I love you...

I reread my existing chapters for Arsenic Waltz (NW AU's main longfic; Clockers-centric) and they delighted me all over again. I really want to get some other NW pieces out first to set the scene, but I'm so excited to share that 'fic when the time is right. It's so good.

Open to suggestions if there's a particular 'fic you are interested in me prioritizing. No guarantees, but it's always nice to know what interests people.

As always, thanks for sticking around, showing your support, and enjoying my 'fics!

[13eyond13]

Hii for the fandom ask game I'm shooting two of your questions right back at you because when you asked me them they made me immediately wonder about your answers, 23 and 25! Also: 1, 8, and 16!

omg thank you for so many asks!

23. The fandom you're curious about because of a mutual:

@stvlti posting on my dash about the new Scott Pilgrim anime got me curious enough to start watching it recently! I read those comics back in college and thought they were pretty great, as was the Edgar Wright movie. And the anime seems like a very good adaptation of it so far. Can't explain how funny it is as a Canadian to see Canada as the setting for an anime, either... I just feel like we have such a bland normie country to set things in, hahaha

I'm also getting very curious about a ton of different manga thanks to the recs I've received on my blog recently! (X)

25. A piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces:

HMMM.

I think the main thing I get people asking me about here sometimes is how to make more friends in the fandom, especially when you're new and don't know anybody. I think the main bits of advice I have on that front is:

(1) I SWEAR YOU AREN'T BEING SNUBBED/INTENTIONALLY IGNORED, YOU'RE PROBABLY JUST NOT ON OTHER PEOPLE'S RADARS AT ALL

So follow a bunch of other bloggers in that fandom and interact with their blogs first! Like their posts, send them polite/friendly asks looking for their takes (this is especially easy to do when people reblog ask memes), and be brave enough not to go on anon when you do it so they can see your lovely face and actually potentially make a connection with you! Most people LOVE getting asks and are flattered when somebody else asks for their thoughts. If you're genuine with your interest it shouldn't take long for other people to start taking interest in you back.

Which leads to my second point of:

(2) MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY ARE POSTING THINGS ON YOUR BLOG ON A SEMI-REGULAR BASIS! People will probably click on your blog once you start interacting with them, and they will most likely only follow you back if you actually have stuff on your blog that shows your interests/personality/the kinds of things they can expect you to be posting on their dash! You can easily stock up a bunch of posts into a queue if you're worried about spamming the dash or don't want to be online 24/7 too, so it will keep your blog active without you actually having to be there all the time.

ALSO DO NOT HAVE TOO MUCH SHAME TO LITERALLY ASK YOUR FOLLOWERS TO SEND YOU ASKS. Reblog fandom ask memes, it's a great way to give people a template of questions to bug you nicely with, and answering one ask often leads to receiving another ask!

(3) DO YOUR OWN THING WHETHER OR NOT ANYBODY IS CONSTANTLY PATTING YOU ON THE BACK. First and foremost I'm usually making myself laugh here on my blog and hoarding all of these posts for myself, so even when I'm not getting constant feedback from others I'm still having a good time and posting on the regular! I'm SUPER glad that other people get something out of it too, but I think when it comes to blogging you should treat your blog like your own personal little kingdom where you are making the rules, and other people can follow or unfollow as they please.

And finally:

(4) YOU WILL EVENTUALLY LOSE A FOLLOWER OR TWO, BUT SO DO I AND SO DOES EVERYBODY ELSE. Try not to obsessively check your follower count or to take it as a huge calamity if your count goes down instead of up once in a while! It WILL eventually go back up again, and you genuinely have no idea why it dropped most of the time (it probably wasn't anything majorly personal - maybe somebody just is no longer in your fandom, maybe Tumblr is clearing out some porn bots, maybe a follower is deactivating their blog - or maybe you DID post something that somebody didn't like, but that's ok, it's probably better if they aren't following you anymore anyways!) And you should ALSO block/unfollow people freely if they're really making your blogging experience uncomfortable - at the end of the day you don't really know them and they don't really know you, and you will both probably move on and forget about it not too far down the road.

1. List 3 positive things about your current fandom(s):

(1) Genuinely extremely chill and cozy, and almost always has been in my experience!

(2) People have the best sense of humour here. IDK I think I took it for granted that all fandoms were like that but anytime I venture into other ones I find myself being a bit disappointed that people just aren't as funny in general a lot of the time

(3) OMG thank you everybody for all the delicious fanfic and fanart, and for continuing to still make it steadily even in 2023

8. You hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc.):

I'm gonna advocate for a ship I don't even have a ton of personal investment in and say meronia! God, stop sleeping on this pairing already and/or acting like it's way more problematic than it actually is, you silly ancient fandom you (no, they are not basically related, they simply went to the same school in their childhood for a bit). These two definitely deserve to have their relationship a bit better explored!

16. A tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate:

Watari had an entire-ass family of his own, apparently!

Isn't that weird to think about? There is actually SO MUCH unanswered stuff about how his relationship with L actually was set up, especially if you are just going by the original manga serial and aren't using the one-shots or the anime or LABB novel to flesh out L's backstory or any Wammy's lore. And sometimes I think it might be neat to see people exploring it in totally different ways that would still be 100% plausible based on what little we know!

[ask meme]

[tyttetardis]

Hey! I hope you don't mind me asking, but I saw your post with your recording of David at curtain call (really nice of you to record it and share it, thank you!) and I assume you got the front seats tickets they sell on the same day of the performance. I was wondering if you could say around how many tickets they release and if they're easy to get. I live outside the UK and I'm considering making a trip to see Macbeth, but it's a bit daunting not to be sure if I could get a ticket once I'm there. Thank you again!

Hi! No worries, perfectly fine to ask 😊

And you're absolutely correct that I got a front row day seat. Unfortunately there's not an exact science to it and it could differ wildly from day to day how easy it might be to get them. I think there's 19 front row seats - and people are allowed to get a maximum of two tickets per person. So if there's 10 people in the queue when you arrive you should make sure to ask if they are getting one or two. I think the last people I saw arriving arrived at around 9.30 and I'm pretty sure they got tickets. I'd definitely say you should give it ago if possible - it's certainly not like it's impossible to get a ticket ☺️ But it might get more difficult closer to the end of the run.

Best of luck!

[moyokeansimblr]

Hi Moyo :)

I would really love to know about your rules regarding wants/ltws/secondary asp etc. How do you choose aspirations for your sims? Is ltw (for example, career one) more important to you than regular wants (for different careers for example)? Are you trying to acomplish ltw even if sim doesnt have many wants about it?

Hope this is not too much questions :)

Have a nice day!

Hi nonny!

That is so weird, I was just thinking last night I wondered if I should post about some of my gameplay rules and here you asked! Let's see, how can I organize my response to not ramble... I'm gonna ramble anyways I can't help it.

I try to follow my sims' wants, within reason. 90% of the time I'll do whatever they want but it is my game at the end of the day. I don't have a lot of specific want-related rules. One that comes to mind is when teens roll the go to college want. I will entirely ignore it if they roll it prior to their birthday. If they roll it any time on their final teen day then I'll lock it in and then they'll go. But I don't lock it in before because they could change their mind 😉 College is a big decision! With things like engagement & marriage I'd ideally like both sims to want it but that doesn't always happen and then I have to decide whether I think the desire of the sim who does want it trumps the other sim not having the want. Usually I decide it does.

Sims don't get jobs unless they want one, meaning there's no guarantee a sim with a career-related LTW will fill that. However, I do keep it in mind when a sim is looking for a job - in the cases where they just roll a generic 'get a job' want or if they roll any job want I'll hold their LTW career in higher regard and if it's one of the options I will choose it instead of whatever the want is for. I won't spoil which sim but this exact example is in my queue atm. But if my sim isn't showing any want indication for a job I won't go out of my way to be like "well your LTW is x so here you go!"

So to answer that question I'm not sure if that makes LTWs more or less important than regular wants...I guess they sort of are less important because I want there to be a chance that not every sim is fulfilled. At the same time there's a lot of gray area. You could argue with former-townie Renee Andrews who has the custom Self-Employed Talent LTW that I shouldn't make her start a business until she has a regular want for one, but I've kind of made the executive decision that whenever she can afford to that I want her to start one...mostly because businesses are really fun imo.

The same goes for whether or not I'm trying to accomplish a LTW even if they don't roll many regular wants regarding it - it's a big ol' depends. Pol's LTW is to raise 20 puppies/kittens but it's not like he's had wants for Baby and Tarabas to try for kittens (is there even a want for that?). Pol did want to obtain a pet and adopted Baby, but I had to force the adoption of Tarabas and do the rest. But that's because I've personally never completed that LTW and I want to give it a shot so I am. The Max 7 Skills LTW is usually pretty easy because Knowledge sims always want to skill anyways so I don't have to intervene at all there. Same with Romance sims, they'll roll wants to have x lovers or woohoo with x sims regardless. But I obviously have their LTWs written on my spreadsheet for a reason. I'm not going out of my way to fulfill them but they're always in the back of my mind. I guess that's the answer.

Aspirations are chosen based on Zodiac. I have two tables saved on my spreadsheet and I'm 99% sure they're from Cindy/Pleasant Sims because I borrow a lot of the way I play these days from her. I have one that does incorporate Pleasure as a primary asp and one that doesn't - and seems like from my past-self's decision to highlight the one that does that I am using that one for Strangetown 😜

Secondary Aspirations are calculated using interests with this calculator, which I don't know if it was made by Cindy? But I know I borrowed from her. The only additional rules I have regarding secondary asps are that I only assign them once a sim is an adult, and if a sim has the highest number of points in their primary asp then they won't have a secondary. If they tie in a category then I choose.

This seems like a good point to mention that I also don't look at LTWs until a sim is a young adult...unless of course I see it by accident. I have a few age-specific 'rules' for when I check things and add to my spreadsheet. Here are those, along with some other rules I wrote down for myself so I don't forget. Such as because I use the shorter university mod I cheat sims $1k for each semester it skips because idk I think that's fair... gives graduates a little extra money. And then I wrote down the actual amounts per grade in case the popup disappears before I see it since I will put that into each sim's individual bank account. Wondering now if it'd make more sense for me to do body hair as teen too... 🤔 I've always done it at YA but I only recently added in that I want to start rolling for glasses and facial hair otherwise I forget and none of my sims will ever have them. Dunno.

Let me know if you want clarification on anything or have any other questions! I'm always happy to answer about the way I play 🤗 One of the best things about this community is being able to inspire and be inspired by each other!

[electricbluebutterflies]

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis 🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love 🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time? 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now 🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

already answered here but the short version is I don't actually remember

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

I'm on my laptop and emojis aren't an option... also what the hell is a longer WIP, everything I've turned out lately has been "how much of a ficlet can I write in 30 minutes"... I do have a bigger idea I'm batting around but I do NOT know what emojis I'd pick for that, maaaaybe a snake but otherwise idk...

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

Unusually for me, I actually HAVE been reading a lot of fic lately for various babes and all of it has been really good / honestly choosing just one is hard but let's go with these are the hands of fate because the amount of emotions I have had off something under 400 words // I am a nice bisexual woman with a hand kink and this is what I didn't know I've wanted for like two and a half years...

🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time?

Lol, I feel like I write more than I should / I definitely prioritize fic-writing over other things I could (and probably should) be doing. I've been writing a lot more lately because emotional uncertainty and that's how I get through!

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

Grad school is going fairly well / my research area is So Good for me (and also going to influence sooo much of my fic going forward and yes this is intentional / I want those sides of my life to be in conversation with each other and I CAN do that and I'm so excited), I did not get seriously hurt last weekend and the bruises are fading, and I am conveniently off work on drunk-wildife-Nascar-day / I get to spend today doing fun things instead of wrangling huskies with anxiety.

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer’s block and low creativity

If a fic isn't working after batting it a bit, sometimes the solution is to switch perspectives. My writing style is SO focused and internalized and sometimes I guess wrong on which babe is having a more interesting time in whatever scene I'm writing. (A ficlet I did last night that will post via queue in like two weeks, for example... I like where it went with the perspective I chose, but it would've worked just as well / maybe even better through the other babe's eyes.) For more general burnout... finding a new shiny to be obsessed with helps. I've cultivated a very specific ship type in part because it lets me keep a list of "don't have brainspace for them YET but if I need a distraction here's a few easy ones" and there are a few babes that have been on that list for years just waiting for me to need them.

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

I was going to try to link a gifset here but we are NOT dealing with 2014!me today sooo... let's just say a scene in a show I was very into at that point with a character I identified with maybe a little too much, and that era ended ages ago but it was always a really vague reference and I decided to keep the username because it's CUTE.

[ale-cart]

you should be very proud of the work you do it makes so many people so happy!! its cliche but its true!! your work is so great !! It’s really soft and nice and it makes me nostalgic in a way :33

Ahhhh I'm getting so many sweet things said to me today QwQ this is definitely enough to last a whole year omg shshhsb

But thank you! I unfortunately do have some insecurities with my art and how I portrait characters I draw (Dave especially- I never know when I'm being too ooc with him ^^') but seeing all of your guy's nice words and reblogs definitely lift me up in high spirits and make me want to draw literally everyday! I genuinely have to stop myself from posting too many times a day and instead queue them haha...

But seriously I haven't felt this excited to draw in a very long time and I really do appreciate everyone's support. Especially with such kind words like this it's really easy to skip out of that damn art block! You guys definitely make things easier for me, especially with all these asks haha! So thank you alot, I seriously appreciate everyone whose enjoyed my art so far :)))

[art-of-manliness]

Make a Week of Cheap, Easy, High-Protein Breakfasts in Less Than an Hour

If you’re looking to eat healthier, one of the best things you can do to make that happen is to make eating healthier easy. Like stupid easy. So easy, you hardly have to think about it. One way to accomplish this is to prepare your meals in advance so you know exactly what’s in them, and so that when you’re pressed for time, you don’t default to eating whatever unhealthy options are on hand or getting expensive, no-good-for-you fast food. When it’s time to eat, you just grab your ready-made meal from the fridge or freezer. You know, meal prep. One make-ahead meal I’ve been enjoying recently is a high-protein breakfast bake. I got the idea from a fella named Johnny Hadac on Instagram who serves up easy, affordable meal prep recipes for people looking to lose weight/eat better. This breakfast bake takes about 15 minutes to prep. The thing that takes the most time is dicing up your veggies. Bake time is about 35 minutes. When you’re done, you’ll have six tasty, high-protein, low-carb mini breakfast casseroles that will leave your belly feeling nice and full, but without a ton of calories.  Just take a look at the macro breakdown for each bake: * Protein: 50 grams * Carbs: 12 grams * Fat: 22 grams * Total Calories: 452 Cost per bake is $3.50. You’d pay about $13 for a similar breakfast bake from one of those companies that sell ready-to-eat meals online. I know, because I’ve bought them before. So these babies are tasty, healthy, and cost-effective. Here’s how to make them. Ingredients * 6 eggs * 24 ounces egg whites * 24 ounces low-fat cottage cheese * 12 ounces mild cheddar cheese * 6 precooked chicken sausages (you can buy them already cooked) * 1 onion * 3 bell peppers * Salt and pepper Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit Queue up the Art of Manliness Podcast Great to listen to while you’re prepping these. Dice Onion and Bell Peppers This is what will take most of your time. Lay Out Six Cooking Pans on a Table We’re going to prep these like they’re on a Henry Ford Model-T assembly line. I used these aluminum meal prep pans that you can buy at most grocery stores. I recommend doing the same when you first try this out. If you decide to make this a regular thing, you can buy some Pyrex pans. It will save you money, and you’ll be able to reheat your bake in the microwave right in the dish. Spray Each Pan With Cooking Spray Crack One Egg in Each Pan Add ½ Cup of Egg Whites to Each Pan Add ½ Cup of Low-Fat Cottage Cheese to Each Pan If cottage cheese makes you squeamish, don’t worry, you don’t taste it. But it gives the bake more protein and some bulk. Add 1 Diced Sausage to Each Pan I used Al Fresco Sweet Apple Chicken Sausages. Why? Because it was the only precooked chicken sausage available at my local Walmart Neighborhood Market. You could use whatever precooked meat you want to use: bacon, ham, ground beef, whatever. I used chicken sausage because it’s lower in fat and higher in protein. Add ¼ Cup of Mild Cheddar Cheese to Each Pan Add a Handful of Veggies to Each Pan Sprinkle With Salt and Pepper and Mix Ingredients Together You can also add other seasonings as desired, like Old Bay. You know I love me some Old Bay! Bake in the Oven for 35 Minutes Bam! A Week’s Worth of High-Protein Breakfasts If you baked them in the aluminum pans, just slide them onto a plate to reheat in the microwave. ~90 seconds should do the trick.  These actually taste really good cold.  I like to hit mine with some sort of hot sauce before consuming.  Enjoy! The post Make a Week of Cheap, Easy, High-Protein Breakfasts in Less Than an Hour appeared first on The Art of Manliness. http://dlvr.it/T2WgsP