#then I spend 15 minutes in a queue

[esoanem]

Gothmog clearly understands that Someone has Done Some Bullshit to me and I require Affection from her, but sadly does not understand that in doing so is preventing me from taking the necessary response

[strangerhands]

ohmygodddddd i am a fucking genius...👁️ the fic idea i just came up with. the Specific Line i thought up. its such a random idea but its so so cute and sweet and ugh its gonna plague me forever. kinda proud of myself to be honest so lets just hope i can Actually write it soon🧎

[sturn-wrld]

🪼sunsets at the beach

pairing: matt x reader

summary: where matt takes reader to the beach

genre: SMUT!!! if that makes you uncomfortable dni!

warnings: unprotected sex (don't be silly, wrap your willy), nicknames (babe, baby)

a/n: day 11 of smutmas. parts of this fix are almost poetical. this one is a little longer than usual i would like to think. idrk.

masterlist

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

hey baby do you want to come to the beach with me?

yeah of course baby :)

i'll be there in 15 love you

love you

as you rushed around for 15 minutes to get ready to go to the beach with your boyfriend matt, you were wondering why he would suddenly want to go to the beach at 5 in the afternoon in the middle of winter. i mean you had an idea but kinda rushed it away because he could just come to your house for that.

you heard a knock on your door. you opened it with overwhelming amount of joy to see your boyfriend. it had been a while since you saw him last and you really just wanted to spend some quality time with him. "matty" you said reaching your arms out for a hug, "baby" he said pulling out the y sound as he hugged you. "you ready to go?" he asked me as we released from our long hug. "yeah, i think so" you said looking around after picking up my bag making sure that i didn't forget anything. "we aren't actually swimming though right? because it's freezing and i don't want to get sick" you said looking at matt wonder in your eyes, he just laughed. "no no no don't worry beautiful i wouldn't do that to you" he said place a piece of hair behind your ear and place his hand on your cheek, caressing it. "okay let's go then" you said walking up to his car.

as you hopped in the car, you connect your phone to the aux and started queueing up some songs. he looked over at you as you reached the first red lights and said, "you are so beautiful" you looked back at him making eye contact before looking away to your lap smiling and blushing. he placed his hand on your thigh, where he drew little circles for the remainder of the drive to the beach causing your panties to become a mess, but you soldiered through it as this was a sweet gesture from your sweet boyfriend.

he parked right above the beach where you could see everything from right by as sunset was at its peak. "wow this is so pretty" you say staring at the beautiful orange and pink tones that a shining band reflecting against the ocean, the remaining sunlight sparking against the blue ocean. "not as pretty as you" you look over at your boyfriend to only look away again flustered.

you looked down at your lap to see out of the corner of your eye, matt's pants starting to tent and his hand making it further and further up your thigh. you now looked directly at his crotch and back up to his face where he now became flustered before looking away. "i'm so sorry baby" he said trying to apologise for having a boner, "it's the first time i'm seeing you in weeks and i stuff it up by getting hard" he said pressing his palms to his face and looking down.

"who said you ruined it" you said while now slowly caressing his hard on. "what" he said his breath hitching in his throat. "i mean we clearly haven't done anything like this in a couple weeks because we've been apart but what if we need it" you said feeling his boner a little rougher. "are you sure your okay with that baby? i don't want you to think we need to just because i'm a horny fucktard" all you did was start to undo his belt as he looked at you, eyes filled with seduction. he continued to pull of his belt and pants until his bottom half was naked and his hard cock was sprung up against his stomach.

you took his dick into your hands as you slowly started run your finger over his tip before starting to fully pump his now fully extended length. his noises were every where. he was whining like you had never heard before. you suddenly took his cock into your mouth, his hands going straight into your hair. "i love you so much gorgeous" he said feeling up your ass making you moan around his cock, making him vibrate and groan even louder. as you started going a bit faster, he started bucking his hips up into your mouth, hitting the back of your throat. you felt him twitch meaning he was close to his finish. you started bobbing your head up and down faster to prompt his orgasm. he whined impossibly louder as his loud shot down your throat. you gently took your mouth from around his still hard cock. he grabbed a nearby napkin to wipe the excess cum from his cock and around your mouth.

"get in the back baby" he said sweetly wiping the cum from your mouth as if he isn't about to rearrange all of your internal organs. you obeyed and crawled into the back, him following behind. he crawled on top of you, making out with you, his cock teasing at your clothed centre. you started moaning already. matt noticed your sudden neediness and tried to rush the foreplay section a bit as you were just wrapped around his cock. he pulled off all of his remaining clothes and all of yours before placing himself comfortably in between your legs, rubbing his cock up and down your aching core.

"babe please stop teasing" you said grabbing his shoulders and neck, not being able to bear the mixture of semi pleasure and pain anymore. he started kissing up your stomach and chest until he was aligned with your face. "your wish is my command beautiful" he said pushing his cock into your core. you moaned in response not knowing how long you were going to last with this amount of pleasure. he started thrusting in and out of you at an inhumane pace that caused you to own lifer and louder with each thrust. "are you already close my baby" matt said feeling you clench around him already, a signifier that you were close. "yes baby, you make me feel so good" you practically screamed. "alright hold on for just a little bit for me" he said simultaneously going faster and faster pushing himself towards the edge. "i don't think i can last much longer if your going the fast" you said in a drunken haze almost not sure if your surroundings anymore. "it's okay cum for me now beautiful" with that you released with an unruly moan as he cummed inside of you.

he slowly pulled out of you, positioning your selves so he was slightly underneath you. "look at the sunset baby" you said as the sun had almost passed the horizon, the orange hues now overpowering every other colour"

"it's almost as beautiful as you"

taglist

@its-jennarose @ilovemattsturn @frozenvegitableoil @ermdontmindthisaccount

[totally-italy]

Y'all, time blindness is literally such a mood because some days it's like: 'Oh my gods, I've been up for hours and it's only 9:30? And I've actually been productive... today is going to be a good day and I am actually going to do something with my life'.

And then, some times it's more: 'What? It's 9:32? Already? What is this? I haven't done anything! It's almost 10, which means it's almost the afternoon and I have done nothing!' and my brain is just in a whole melodramatic Victorian petticoat kind of mood, whilst the clock still firmly states the time of 9:32.

Finally, there's the bored and understimulated time-blind brain mood, which is just... chaos.

My grandmother: The queue is probably going to take about 15 minutes, so just go and look around the market for a bit.

Me, after spenidng what feels like ages looking around: *looks at watch.

Watch: 5 minutes have passed (girl, chill).

Me, after having tried to kill more time and spending even more time looking around:

*looks at watch.

Watch: 3 minutes have passed.

Me: *Literally goes back to the queue out of sheer boredom and exasperation.

[twig-tea]

Rules: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

I was tagged by @sorry-bonebag and @bengiyo (thank you both!). It's funny to see so many folks talk about not having 10, when I had trouble narrowing it down 🤣 So, here are shows I've reached for for comfort recently, in no particular order:

Until We Meet Again. Listen, I get that it's depressing, but it also ends and mends the intergenerational trauma set up in the first 15 minutes, and in the Dean/Pharm storyline the show queues up typical drama problems just for everything to be fine, it is SO comforting. And if I need to cry, ep1 part 1 will get me there, guaranteed.

Azumanga Daioh. This show...is so weird lol. It's a 20-year-old anime at an all-girls high school. There is a 10-year-old prodigy, a weirdo transfer student, a butch beauty, a simp, a loud class clown...it's not exactly GL because the girl who has a massive crush on her classmate never does anything about it and that's not really the plot. There is no actual plot, it's extremely slice-of-life except when it ventures into absurdity. It's extremely quiet and chill for this reason. The stakes are so low!

Star Trek: The Original Series. Like Ben, I am a Star Trek fan forever. TOS is my favourite and I've rewatched... a lot. Rather than the stakes being low, they're high but everyone is exceptionally competent and can solve impossible situations. And I really, deeply love the problem-of-the-week style storytelling and found family vibes.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? Everyone already knows this one, it's so good. Their relationship is so wonderful and the food is delicious and inspiring. In this show, things aren't perfect and that's ok, and I get deep comfort out of that.

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line. I love a sports anime, and this hits the key notes: you have to have love for the game and play with integrity and with your team in mind, and never give up on your dream. And this installation was pretty short, so easy to binge.

Our Dating Sim. This is recent but I've already decided to go back and rewatch this rather than start something new at least twice, so I'm counting it. Something about how these two settle into the friends to lovers dynamic is just delightful their familiarity and ease transfers to me through the screen.

Ingredients the series. Everyone calls this our pandemic comfort commercial for a reason. I have rewatched it a LOT. It is incredibly domestic and very chill, and once again full of good food. It helps that the episodes are so short so again, it's an easy binge.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (series). Another one that lands on multiple people's lists. This show is incredible and has such good character arcs. I will never get over how perfect the change in Zuko was handled. This one is partially comforting because of how long it's been in my life and how many times I've watched it, but also the found family vibes and the problem of the week format once again is very comforting to me.

Love Sick. I know. But it is the first BL I saw, and it stuck with me. I usually skip around the BL cut when I go back to this (which I still do). Pun and Noh spend a lot of time together in silence or with the OSTs playing, and do a lot of talking in body language and eye contact. Even though they're young and awkward and things are unresolved for so long, when they're together just the two of them this show (and their relationship) is easy and comforting.

60s Batman. There are several sitcoms that I would watch an episode or two if it's on (Frasier, the Nanny, Third Rock from the Sun, Golden Girls, Schitt's Creek), but the Adam West Batman is just... incredible. It is so silly. It is so earnest. It was ahead of its time. And once again, that problem of the week storytelling with incredibly competent characters is deeply comforting to me.

[Also shout-out to sorry-bonebag's Taskmaster mention because i have definitely rewatched it a bunch too!]

Tagging @italianpersonwithashippersheart @callipigio @my-rose-tinted-glasses @chickenstrangers @justafriend-ql @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas @visualtaehyun @solitarywandering @thewayofsubtext @respectthepetty no pressure as always!

[mekatrio]

anime con log diary whatever

the epic outfit for today:

thankfully no traffic so that was epic. i was there pretty early (10:30-ish) so it was easy to find parking. got lost in the mall for like ten minutes until me and friend found some staff members for the con, and they showed us the way. the entrance was rly out of the way lol, usually theres two point of entries, but one was out of service. u had to follow a rly specific path to get there. there were also a bunch of buddha statues near the entrance stairway?

idk what was up with that. anyways since we were early there was no queue for us to get in. very nice. also its the weekday so i heard that theres significantly less ppl here today than there'll be the next two days. also very nice.

several booths were still being set up while we walked around. we checked out the official vendors first before checking out the artist alley, which was the main reason we were there. immediately my friend finds and starts buying some hoyoverse merch. i check the booths out w her for a while and then i get myself a green tea latte. then we check out the goodsmile booth and i find these

very cool but i do not get them, bc 1.) expensive, and 2.) i do not like plastic figurines. i also stop my friend from buying a persona 5 joker figurine. she goes and buy some more hoyoverse stuff instead. then we go check out the artist alley... and then friend realizes she left her water bottle somewhere. and as per usual with the cons i go to w her, we are seperated. and then we meet up again, but not before i buy two epic items:

i am sooo happy w these two purchases 💜 they were the only ones of their kind, so im glad i got them when i did. the gengar plush will live on my purple bag and be gomamons new neighbor, like so:

^ this was also how my bag looked for the rest of the day 🤭 yayyyy 💞 anyways after looking thru the artist alley some more, we take a break to get some food. cuz we barely had anything for breakfast and we are fucking starving. the food area looks like this:

and everything there was unsurprisingly expensive lol. me and friend get the cheapest thing there, which are pizzas

tho im kinda starting feeling nauseous at this point.. and have to keep myself from throwing up. thats what happens when u take supplements + drive + drink a green tea latte on a nearly empty stomach and little sleep. dont do that. so i go to the bathroom and freshen up, and eventually i feel better. i eat three slices of pizza and give the last slice to friend, and sadly have to throw away the rest of the latte or i would feel sick again. but i feel way better now that ive eaten.

we then spend the next two hours going thru the rest of the artist alley. me and my friend joked abt the possibility of finding at least 1 (one) kgpr merch. or possibly tota merch. but unsurprisingly, there was absolutely none Lol. tho i did find vesperia merch instead

literally only one booth was selling vesperia merch haha. also surprisingly there were quite a few ace attorney merchs? its surprising to me cuz the last art event i went to only had one narumitsu sticker in the entire place. but here there were several

^like this artist, who i didnt know was based in malaysia! ive seen their comics on tumblr a few times. didnt buy from them tho, sorryyy.. anyways, various pics from the artist alley:

after we finished looking thru the artist alley and had bought our fill of art (and good god did my friend buy loads of art), i checked out a second hand vendor that i saw earlier. they had loadssss of stuff, and me and friend spent a good 15 minutes digging thru this massive tub of pins and keychains in hopes of finding smth good

i was rly hoping to find something tota or kgpr in here, cuz if they were anywhere in this convention they would be here.. but sadly there was none haha. it was rly funny digging thru this thing, i kinda felt like a racoon/archeologist. oh but i did find these two pins which made me laugh

and in the end i found and bought a bunch of revue starlight merch + a cute embroidered pin

and then after that we finally left the con.. we spent a good 5 hours in there. we went to a store for me to grab some stuff for home, then played 2 rounds of taiko hehe (6 songs total). then we went to grab some food

^ the mall the convention is in also has a fucking river flowing thru it lol. i remember seeing this as a kid, its been over ten years since ive last been here

then i drove my friend home in ATROCIOUS weather... omfg it was raining so heavily. and stupid navigation app sent me to drive on some nearly flooded roads 😑😑😑😑 but we made it in one piece and i chilled in her room for a bit. she took a pic of everything she brought... which was SO MUCH LOL

^her haul. and then finally i arrived back home.. here is my comparatively much smaller haul:

but yayy it was a fun day today ✌️ but now i have work tomorrow.. bahhhh

[rinkwrites]

hey loves,

So the term has officially finished here in Scotland! Here are my plans for the holidays...

Vacation

I'm spending a fortnight in London visiting family right at the start of the holidays.

I'm also going to Iceland which I am very excited about. I've never been their before and it sounds really cool!

While I am away I may be quite inactive on here, especially while I'm in Iceland. I am not planning on taking my laptop with me so I will post less. However I may queue post some essays for while I'm away.

Academic Goals

Finish kickstart work for Higher Courses. While at home aim to do a lesson every 2-3 days for both Bio and History.

Brainstorm ways to improve the schools mental health support system for your role as an MHA.

Personal Health Goals

While at home, exercise 4 times a week, every week.

Drink >2L of water everyday

Avoid unhealthy foods with lots of sweets, salt or fat.

While at home eat <1500 calories everyday to try and lose some weight (PSA: this is not a promotion of unhealthy eating habits I am overweight currently due to struggling with a binge eating disorder for many years.)

Personal Improvement Goals

Do a Duolingo lesson everyday. (I am learning Dutch)

skincare and journal, TWICE A DAY, EVERYDAY

while at home do at least 15 minutes piano and 30 minutes cello everyday

try and get a job

I hope everyone has a great summer when it comes! I'll check in here when my holidays ends and let everyone know how it went. xx

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Do you want us to put character ages next to their names when we submit them from now on?

If you do that, the poll will probably end up in the queue faster cuz that means I don't have to spend an extra 5 to 10 minutes verifying ages but I won't require it. Just please have the decency to quit submitting 15-year-olds even though they look like they're in their 20s or even 30s. Please people have decency and respect the rules

And for people who have super specific photo requests, you can submit a photo with the request too. So there is no more complaining about why did the OP use the ugly photo of the character? It would also mean your poll would probably end up in the queue faster

Just some ideas because my request box kind of exploded last night. There's a reason I said requests are closed while I catch up and people are not respecting that because they're still flowing in. But I don't want to shut off asks completely

[hahahahawk]

I want a fake person to live in my computer. But not like that.

The neurospicy coping/productivity technique “body doubling” is about seeing someone doing your desired activity helps your executive functioning circuits let you also do the desired activity.

I’m not a scientist about this, I just have a wonky brain that responds well to this (but not working in an open plan office, go figure (that probably has to do with agency and consent, but this is a derail))

Today I tried a utility/tool/“game” called Spirit City: LoFi Sessions. You get an avatar in a cozy apartment, and both avatar and apartment can be customized. You set the lighting/time of day and tell your avatar where to go (“on the bed”, “at the desk”, “on the window seat”, “by the fire”) and what to do (writing, typing, gaming, drawing, meditating, knitting (as a knitter, I judge the knitting animation “not bad”)).

There are lofi-chill out music playlists in the “game” and rudimentary productivity tools like a todo list, a habit tracker, a pompodoro timer, and a “journal” feature.

The gamification is earning coins (by logging in, having the app open, and using the productivity tools) to buy different furniture/clothes and following hints to find new wacky pets.

I’ve spent about 15 years obsessing over productivity tools and techniques, so that side of the utility did nothing for me. I pay for Spotify, so the included music did nothing for me (the songs were pleasant, but repeated too soon for my liking, and I wasn’t interested in manually switching the playlist every 40 minutes). Dress up/decorating does nothing for me.

Needless to say, I got a refund pretty quickly.

Well, I did… but not without some hesitation because holy shit the body doubling aspect did something for me. At a few junctures in the hour-ish I had the program open, I looked over from my main project, saw my avatar typing away at their desk and thought “hell yeah, we’re getting stuff done” then went back to my project without doing any random googling or checking social media.

I considered keeping the “game” just for that aspect, but

The window didn’t fit well on my vertical monitor

The avatar wouldn’t change tasks/take breaks without my input

I would *so much* love to have a CG avatar in the corner* of my screen that would have its own pompodoro timer and mostly spend 5 hours typing on their laptop in a variety of locations, but also model “get up and stretch/snack/drink water” for me.

The interaction I’d want to have with this avatar:

Patting them on the head to tell them they’re going a good job.

I do *not* want that behavior reciprocated to me because I refuse to be complimented by inanimate objects (or people who don’t know what they’re ‘complimenting’)

Them suggesting I take a break whenever they do

Me notifying them when I start a break/get back to work. (I do a lot of flow state work and usually prefer flexible breaks rather than scheduled ones)

I will accept feedback (and data exports) about my working/taking a break patterns

—-

* I think the large default window was both a blessing and a curse for Spirit City. It allowed the avatar to be big enough to feel like a person in an environment instead of a stick figure in a box. But I don’t actually have a lot of screen real estate to give over. So it’s be nice if the program handled being odd window sizes better.

Anyway, Rusty’s Retirement is an idle game that doesn’t scratch the body double itch (though it might if you identify as a robot), but it is a calm farming game that is designed to only take up a strip along the bottom/side of your monitor and it’s been much better for my productivity. It’s great for the occasional quick hit of dopamine (bring it to the front, plant some crops, queue some bot upgrades, put it away again), and also useful for short breaks. On those longer short breaks, I make larger functional and aesthetic changes to my farm, but it generally takes less than five minutes to catch up/run out of content. After that I’m generally ready to jump back into work, and if I’m not it’s usually a sign I need to stand up and take care of some other needs.

[market-board-baron]

My schedule for working on the MSQ:

5:15 - Wipe Cheeto fingers on pants and dodge girlfriend’s look away attack. Ready to roll.

5:30 - Finish restocking my retainers and sending them on ventures. Time to get back on track.

5:31 - Back at the summoning bell because I realized I’ve got a bunch of scrap material from desynthesizing things I couldn’t turn in for GC seals.

5:40 - I should probably do my daily tickets at the Gold Saucer.

5:52 - Triple Triad open tournament in 8 minutes? That has to be done.

6:11 - Place 8th in open tournament.

6:19 - Place 6th in open tournament.

6:33 - Place 8th in open tournament.

6:39 - Finish sending my retainers on ventures. Notice the FC garden needs some love.

6:43 - Thinking about the FC, I realize nobody has sent the airship out today. Better do that.

6:44 - Airship could really use some new components. I’ll start work on that.

7:01 - After gathering for 20 minutes, look up on the wiki what you need for even a single part. Give this up as an exercise in futility.

7:02 - I’m in Coerthas for darksteel ore. Might as well pay Haurchefant a visit.

7:10 - Break for supper.

7:37 - Send retainers on ventures. My inventory is full now and I need to turn in for GC seals.

7:42 - I’m capped on seals. Spend it all on 4.0 materiel crates and pray for Copycat Bulb.

7:44 - Pull three King of Anemos and one Yugiri minion. Discard them all. I should probably get back to the story now.

7:47 - Teleport to the next story quest area before remembering it’s a trial. Watch the trial video guide.

7:52 - Wow, that looks hard. Watch the guide again.

7:57 - Have completely tuned out and am making a meme about trials in FFXIV.

8:02 - Watch the video one more time. Realize I’m not up to this today, or at least not right now. Hop on Minecraft.

8:40 - Restock retainers and work up the courage to get this trial done. Watch the video guide one more time.

8:45 - Make another meme about trials. Realize that I will have to watch the guide one more time, and that by the time I do and then get matched in a queue, it will be past bed time. Head back to the FC house.

8:50 - Water and fertilize FC plants. Some of them are ready to harvest!

9:10 - Have been fully engrossed in a gardening crossbreeding guide for half an hour. Realize I forgot to do my PvP roulette.

9:18 - We’re 4 minutes into Seal Rock and have 0 points. I’m at battle high 0. Shout “comeback starts now” into the chat. Two of our party leaves. Place third.

9:31 - Retainers will be back from ventures in a few minutes. Might as well send them on one more venture before bed. Am out of venture tokens.

9:33 - Buy more venture tokens for GC seals. There’s a commotion in the streets of Ul’dah. Some kind of parade?

9:40 - Have walked a lap in the parade. No idea what’s going on. Stop at the Itinerant Moogle and check out what he’s got. I’m not far off of some of the cooler items.

10:29 - Have played several rounds of Frontlines. Managed to snag a second place finish in one of them. Have enough tomestones now, but am capped on wolf marks. I should probably spend those.

10:34 - Been poring over the options for a while before finally dropping the full 20K on cateblopas horns. Will probably never wear them.

10:37 - Walked around Wolves’ Den for a while before logging off for the night.

11:01 - Logged back in to send retainers on one more round of ventures.

[garaksapprentice]

Review: the Daedalus Falcon e-spinner

Originally posted on my blog: https://garaksapprentice.blogspot.com/2023/09/review-daedalus-falcon-e-spinner.html

(There's a ton of photos in this one and much as I love you all, I cannot brain moving them all over here. So if you want all the pics, please check the blog.)

I confess, this is a departure from my usual "let's do things with the least amount of money we can get away with" style. In my defence, I strive to be frugal rather than cheap. I don't mind spending the money to get a good quality, durable product, if it's something I know will get a lot of use. An e-spinner definitely fits that category for me, for several reasons.

One, I fall well on the frog hair end of the spinning spectrum, something most traditional wheels just aren't designed to accommodate. I actually found it faster (and easier on my legs) to use a spindle for the kinds of fine, high-twist yarns I prefer to spin. But, there are limits to how fine I can comfortably go on a spindle - anything past about 50 WPI and I have to concentrate just on the spinning. Not good when you typically use a spindle on the go.

Two, I have a lingering knee injury that doesn't like the treadle action of most spinning wheels (something I find hilariously frustrating given I ride a cargo bike anywhere I can't take the train).

Three, I spin mostly to weave. Much as I love spinning, I like it to end eventually so I can move onto the weaving part of the equation.

After three straight months of research, the Daedalus Falcon came out as the hands-down winner for my goals of speed, fine yarn, and product durability.

Why Daedalus?

Daedalus manufacture high-end e-spinners and spinning accessories. All their products are designed to need little to no maintenance, and to last 20+ years - they're seriously well put together.

They make five different e-spinners to suit just about any spinning preference, from super bulky art yarn to ultra fine frog hair. The Falcon is specifically designed for production spinning of fine yarns - it can reach speeds of 4,200 RPM, over twice what I could get from my Ashford Traditional wheel.

Ordering

I'll be honest, I spent a long time thinking about which model, and whether to order a Daedalus at all. These beauties are high-performance machines built to last. But, that means they come with the price tag of a high-performance machine. Plus currency exchange. Plus postage. (Yikes.) In all, I spent just under AU$2,000 on my Falcon set-up (I ordered three extra bobbins at US$90 and some yarn control cards for US$24).

At the time I ordered (November 2022), there was an estimated wait time of 12 months or more. Luckily for me, if not my bank account, Daedalus expanded their production capacity over the 2022 Christmas break. I reached the front of the Falcon queue in June 2023 (seven months from sign-up). At the time of writing (September 2023) there is no queue for the Falcon, and the Daedalus team are working to banish their waitlists completely.

The package

My Falcon came party disassembled, cradled in bubble wrap. (I wasn't thinking about writing a review when I ordered it, so I didn't take pictures.) The flyer assembly was individually wrapped for transport, as were the speed controller, inverter, cables, and welcome pack/spares bag.

The inverter is a standard laptop style pack. It comes with a US-ended jug plug, but that's easy to change out for whatever your local plug end is. I dove into my box of spare cables and leads and had a compatible jug plug in less than two minutes. If you don't have a box of old computer cords lying around, what century did you time travel from plan ahead and buy a new one.

Importantly, the inverter outputs 15 volts! Make absolutely sure that you've got the right one when you go to spin! Most laptops nowadays run on 20 volts - you don't want to damage the motor by running it faster than it's designed for.

{pic on blog}

The extension cable for the speed controller, and the power end on the motor itself, is some non-standard end that I've never seen before. (It's probably very common among people who know things about electronics; I'm not one of them.) It's similar to USB-A connectors in that the ends are directional; if you don't get them the right way up, they won't connect. The cord itself has a protective, braided outer and feels very sturdy.

From top to bottom: the outside of both ends, the female end, and the male end.

The Instructions

The guidebook (also available as a PDF on their website) is beautifully designed, and clearly written. The parts diagrams are clearly photographed and labelled. I've found the instructions easy to follow, even with a scattered brain.

It includes:

getting started

fine tuning the tension

how to use the speed controller

a page of "handy tips"

how to change the bobbin

an RPM speed table

changing settings in the speed controller menu

maintenance

flat packing for travel

the Daedalus battery (purchased separately)

Daedalus' social media and contact details

The first page has a QR code that takes you directly to the Daedalus YouTube channel, where you can find videos on how to assemble and disassemble each model. My one quibble here is that the QR code takes you to the channel as a whole, rather than to the specific playlist for the model you bought. The videos themselves are short, to the point, and well shot with clear lighting and narration.

Also, the manual states that the speed controller has been limited to 50% max speed in the settings - mine wasn't. I've seen other folks on social media also say their controller wasn't speed limited for this model, so it's something to watch out for.

About that battery

Daedalus offer a battery bank that's designed to work with all their e-spinners (yay!). Unfortunately, due to issues with postage, they don't mail them outside the continental US (boo!).

While their website does say that they'll help you find a compatible battery that you can purchase in your country, this is complicated by the part where all their stuff runs on 15 volts. In Australia at least, 15v battery banks with a standard laptop cable input simply don't exist. I spent six weeks trying to find somewhere to buy a battery - I eventually gave up due to my brain frying any time I tried to look at listings.

While I'd like the option of a battery eventually (it would be much easier to set up in the back yard that way), for now I've made peace with needing to lug extension cords anywhere I want to spin.

Spinning Experience

So far I've only spun commercially prepared wools, so this won't be a thorough review of the Falcon's performance over a variety of fibres and preps. (I'll attempt that later, when I get the chance. And finer wool cards.)

Noise

It's quiet. Really quiet. At least two people at every guild meeting I've taken it to have commented on how quiet it is. Most of the noise comes from the flyer rotation, and considerably less from the motor. I'm quite sensitive to noise, especially higher pitches, so I was concerned about this. Luckily it hasn't been an issue. (If you're the sort of person who can hear electricity, it may bother you. I've lost that mysterious ability as I've aged, for the most part, so I can't say for sure.)

I have noticed that the noise changes/gets louder at speeds above about 70% - again, this is simply due to the fact that the flyer is turning at ~3,000+ RPM. At worst I have to turn the laptop up slightly to better hear the video I have playing. The breeze off the flyer sure helps with air circulation on a warm day, too.

Threading

The size of the hooks (loops, really) and the inner part of the orifice make threading a breeze. I do occasionally struggle with very fine, high twist threads, especially when I'm rethreading after a break. That's partly finding the right angle to hold the thread at so that it catches in the hook, and partly my fingers not always co-operating.This is the position I find works best for threading the orifice.

I wouldn't want to try it with a non-Daedalus orifice hook, though - there's quite a bend in the hook, and it's there for good reason. Luckily the Falcon body has magnets on it to always keep your hook nearby.

The magnets + hook combo is great for holding the end of the thread when you're not spinning, too. I just wrap it around the middle of the hook a few times and stick it back on the magnets.

Take-up and tensioning

The take-up is wonderfully light, and can be ridiculously fine-tuned to match what you're spinning. When take-up drops below an acceptable level (once or twice per layer of bobbin filling), a tiny adjustment (less than a quarter turn) is usually enough to get things back on track.

I've filled four part-bobbins so far (two I'm still working on, one I ran out of fibre), at ~65 WPI, 45 WPI, and ~85 WPI. On each empty bobbin, I started with the spring completely compressed and the cord just barely tight/without slack. It took a few minutes of trial and error with each fibre to dial in the correct tension, but once I did, it was basically hassle-free for each spinning session thereafter.

That being said - I found correct tensioning quite tricky to dial in at first, because the hook and dial had shifted on their arms during shipping. If you put your wheel in something to travel with and find the tension is all screwy next time you go to spin, that's something to look at.

This circumstance isn't covered in the guide book, so it took me a while to work out why my "maximum tension" on the dial still wasn't enough to draw on the yarn I was spinning (it only became apparent about a third into the bobbin). Once I realised that the tension dial had rotated on the shaft in transport, I was able to reset it by simply rotating it back to a more vertical position.

{pic on blog}

This is an extreme example, but both the tension dial and the spring hook opposite it can rotate like this if you're not careful.

Starting/Stopping

At first I didn't think I'd need the foot pedal extension cord - surely I'd just be able to bop the controller on and off with my hand while I was spinning?

I was quickly disabused of this notion partway through my second bobbin. When things go wrong while spinning a 60 WPI single at 2,500 RPM, they go wrong fast. Being able to turn the Falcon off with my foot, while frantically trying to salvage whatever's gone wrong, is essential.

A really nice bonus to the foot pedal is that I'm not stuck in one position while spinning - I can sit, stand, rock from side to side, even crouch or kneel. I have back and shoulder problems and an old knee injury, so being able to freely change posture is a godsend for keeping my muscles happy.

And the soft stop/start - oh. my. Dog. I did not realise how much nicer my wheel spinning life could be. A soft stop is built in to spindle spinning by default, and I genuinely didn't realise how much I missed that on a wheel until I started spinning on the Falcon. I sing its praises whenever the thread breaks - the end stays loose and easy to find on top of the bobbin. No matter how gently I tried to stop my treadle wheel, more often than not the thread end would be buried somewhere in the hills and valleys on the bobbin, and there would be much swearing during retrieval.

Bobbin size

Daedalus advertises the Falcon bobbin as holding "two ounces (60 g) of 30 WPI singles". After plying a couple of bobbins of sock yarn with it, I would call this a conservative estimate. I managed to fit 70g of a 32 WPI, two-ply yarn on one bobbin - and it wasn't even well packed!

I've included a couple of in-progress bobbin shots, and what the singles on them currently measure/weight, below. None of them are even close to full, unfortunately - this is the order I spun them in, and right now I need to concentrate on the last one since it's due by December.

{pics on blog}

Sliver from Bendigo Woollen Mills. ~75 WPI, 31g. 19.5 micron merino top from Nundle Farms. ~82 WPI, 29g.  Handpainted 20 micron merino from Kathy's Fibres, ~82 WPI, 12g.

Final thoughts

This powerhouse is not for everyone. It's made for a specific purpose, and it fulfils that purpose beautifully. But it would probably suck at doing things it's not designed for.

While I'm sure you could spin 20 WPI or even 10 WPI singles with it, it won't do the job as well as an e-spinner designed for that. The other Daedalus offerings are worth a look, if you're not as into spinning frog hair as me.

But if you have a deep, abiding love for spinning lace-weight and finer yarns, this is an e-spinner worth looking at. Expensive though it was, it's one of the best fibre-related purchases I've made. (It easily beats the sewing machine and the overlocker combined.)

I'm definitely an outlier here - I have the not-at-all-typical goal of one day having a completely hand-spun, handwoven, and hand-sewn wardrobe. As such, production spinning is my jam - I want fine, high-twist yarns, that commercial mills simply can't replicate. And I want them as fast as my skills will let me go. With that in mind, the Falcon makes complete sense for my spinning goals.

Obligatory disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Daedalus, and this post isn't sponsored (not that I'm against that, mind. This apprentice has to eat). All opinions are my own.

[six-improbable-things]

I was talking to a friend about how I don't have any other social media outside of tumblr, and I realized that tumblr really is my native habitat. It has all the key features I need to survive:

Chrono tags! No need to scroll blindly for 15 minutes and hope you reach the beginning.

Tags in general!!! Being able to organize and find things again is amazing!!

Asks!! Being able to send people messages that they can post on their own blog is so cool!!

The Queue/Scheduling Posts! How else am I going to remember to post "10am on October 4th" and other uber-specific tumblr mini-holidays?

Custom Blog Themes!!!!!!!! Probably tumblr's best feature, imo. I love customizing shit, and I will gladly spend HOURS adjusting my theme to be exactly how I like it.

Cuts/Readmores! Being able to make a long rambling post but not having to take up dash space for people who don't care about what I'm talking about is lovely!!

Yes, this site has flaws (the staff banning black and trans accounts and the rampant TERFs and hate speech being obvious ones), but in terms of function, tumblr is everything I need out of a social media site. And that's why I'm staying here until this site burns down. Because this is exactly the kind of social media that I need and want.

[jackienautism]

hi again!! hope you're having a good one. and yeah that is my icon :)

i do play things pretty fast SDKDFLS i've found that if i don't like. race through as fast as possible i'll end up leaving things unfinished for forever. glances at my p5 playthrough and glances away LOL. played practically nonstop, hit okumura's palace, had to leave my pc for a long weekend, and just. never picked the game back up again whoops

YEAHHH eagle among lions is like. my most anticipated fic that i put on the read later list SDJFLKSD i'm saving it for once i finish all the routes to make up for the fact that i won't have any more routes to play hahah. and HMM... i thinkk the fics that i'd most recommend are child of light by riahk, ghosting by greyimperia, homeroom (or, if we're not recruited in 15 minutes, we're legally allowed to leave) by Schistosity, and let the devil in by greyimperia. which are, respectively, a mercedes character study (speaking of mercedes, she has absolutely rocketed up my rankings. i love her), a linhardt character study, byleth recruits everyone possible (barring hilda) on a blue lions run so edelgard, hubert, claude and hilda have homeroom together and develop a friendship, and uh. not super sure how to describe the last one? but i liked it! it's a one-shot about the lords. inspired by we know the devil if you've played that game.

funnily enough none of those are the time travel fics i've read but i can't like. seem to find the best ones i read?? i didn't spend a ton of time looking through my history tho so if i find them later i'll send another ask lol.

yeah i definitely get that :/ haven't experienced that Too much yet with fe3h but i'm sure once i start searching for more specific dynamics barely anything's gonna turn up :(

YEAH. YEAH ON THE INGRID STUFF. idk maybe im overreacting or misremembering stuff but i feel like since we're both saying similar stuff i'm probably not like. seems like the nightmare scenario! idk it also really bothers me that sylvain and ingrid's paired ending is like. mostly about sylvain's political situation and then tacks on at the end "and he couldn't have done it without his wife and they had many kids" (paraphrased) like. okay :| uncomfortable!

and yeah the game sort of plays up the whole. ingrid as the one responsible for sylvain and felix but it's REALLY the fan emphasis on that that i've seen which bothers me. like they reallyyy like to shove her into the mom friend archetype. idk.

yeah berniegard is semi popular!! i definitely have some art of them in my queue sdjfls. i thought their b and c supports were pretty standard and enjoyable, but their a support (which i've now seen lol) was really good. not one of my absolute favorites, but definitely up there! i can see why this pairing is popular.

MAN. YEAH on the marianne supports thing. AND. YEAH about dorothea and marianne..... as soon as i noticed that they both had themselves in their dislikes my mind IMMEDATELY went to their potential dynamic.. i also really like a potential marianne/edelgard dynamic just based off of her dialogue about edelgard in cf??? like i'm gonna be mad forever about their nonexistant support chain. also marianne and mercedes.. those two were always at the cathedral praying you're telling me they couldn't have a conversation about faith? and like. mercedes can Read people and she has a desire to help people.. the supports could've been so good.... similarly i think dorothea and mercedes should've had a support chain. and mercedes and edelgard. maybe i'm just shoving my favorite girls together in different combinations but like. the potential is there who can blame me!! and YEAHH you're absolutely right about marianne and lysithea!! genuinely it feels like the a support is missing for those two :/

and yeah despite having sylvain attack felix i didn't even get their special dialogue :( apparently you can only get that one on CF and not VW? well. there's always next CF run :) and yeah that was where mercedes showed up! the caspar linhardt dialogue is. sad. as is the mercie annette dialogue which i also didn't get? that one, based off the wiki, it seems Can occur at the gronder battle on VW, but maybe because they were fighting i didn't get it?? not sure. but i watched it on youtube and it makes me sooo sad. but truly NOTHING makes me sadder than having dorothea kill ferdie especially considering her monastary dialogue after???? awful. petra and edie have the standard eagle vs edelgard dialogue but i feel like petra's political position makes her landing a hit on edelgard like. extra juicy lol. i would've had dorothea also do it but a) she was too far away and b) i still felt bad for having her kill ferdinand.

YEAH SDJFDLDKJ I WAS. not expecting to s support sylvain LMAO but. well! it's kind of funny i made the decision IMMEDIATELY after waking up from getting my wisdom teeth out??? like i was telling my mom about it in the waiting room they put you in before letting you leave. so i'm gonna say s supporting sylvain was a side effect. i did end up enjoying his s support + paired ending though!

as for silver snow, i thinkk you get to keep your class, barring edelgard and hubert? and YEAH it's that particular bond that i sort of envisioned when i first played cf and got to the branching path (as well as seeing dorothea's character shift post-timeskip) that largely held me back from s supporting her on vw. and YEAH the incentive is for SURE needed. i do notttt want to side against edie :(( and i haven't enjoyed siding with the church!! but i hear you get a lot of insight into byleth on that route and i am interested to see all that for myself.

YEAH ashe and marianne can support and it's very sweet! which makes sense since i mean. it's ashe and marianne. caspar and annette's supports, without going into spoilers, do a good job of showing caspar in a more like... competent/insightful light which i've found tend to be my favorite caspar supports. like yeah he's great for comedy but i like when he's taken seriously. and their dynamic is very sweet as well. and yeah shamir is a former mercenary i think?? yeah a lot of leonie's endings are. not the greatest? without spoiling specifically, either she's with someone i do Not want her to be with, it doesn't seem in-line with where her character would naturally progress, or it's just very bittersweet? but her ending with shamir was super in character and seemed relatively happy so. and YEAH i get that for leonie i wasn't really sold on her until post timeskip really? i think also the fact that i'd seen a lot of hate for her beforehand had me prepared for her to like do something bad or be Super annoying and then when she was like. fine. i was like huh i think im gonna like her more. out of spite.

im honestly a major fan of a lot of the nonromantic paired endings but this one was just.. i really think it was the fact that maya was completely offscreen that bothered me. and the fact that their supports weren't like, majorly about her?

yeah annette's songs are sooo silly i love her sense of whimsy and her dynamic with mercedes is sweet! weirdly enough i like their dynamic outside of their supports more than i like the supports themselves, with just the two of them hanging around the monastery together + their dialogue in azure moon cutscenes and stuff. their supports weren't bad or anything, i just felt like their fight was a little awkwardly pulled off, and i feel like there's probably more substance you can get from a potential support chain for these two considering they're one of a handful of duos who have a close history before the monastery.

and ah i get that and i hope that if you want to play the game more, you get the chance to!

i ended up recruiting ferdinand, bernie, leonie, marianne and raphael. planning to get dorothea as soon as i raise my charm! i'm alsooo raising linhardt to b support and if he asks to join my class i'll let him, but i'm not raising the reason skill to get him lol. i kind of want to recruit him bc i miss him, but i don't want too many recruits, so my compromise is leaving it up to chance.

as for hilda.. yeah her supports with byleth have her mentioning a LOT that she just. doesn't get the concept of dying for someone else. and then if you kill her in cf i think claude says something about how he told her to retreat.... much to think about. i think that may have been my biggest character defining moment for her, but i also loveee all of her supports where people sort of. see through her in a way? so her a support with claude and her b support with sylvain are some of my favorites (and she absolutely reads them right back which. again. i love that). and i'd consider those sort of character defining moments for her as well, if not to the same degree and not quite the same thing.

YEAH LMAO LORENZ... i feel like. i definitely see hints of what could be redeeming qualities in him but like... yeah. eventually i'll go through all of his supports, because it's not like i Like disliking potentially interesting characters but like. the dude does NOT make a good impression.

YEAHHHH THE SUNSET MOMENT WAS SO GOOD.... so was the part of their c support where marianne like. apologized for being a bad conversationalist and ignatz was like. "there's no need to apologize, if we'd been talking we would've missed these flowers!!" like. idk ignatz isn't a standout character to me but he's so sweet.. like that's my friend ignatz!! yeah annette and claude have supports!! featuring more of annette's singing. and claude singing i think! they're fun. YEAH SDJKSD sylvain's supports are pretty interesting across the board. and i def get why he wouldn't be your cup of tea LMAO, like.. based on your blog, he doesn't really line up with the sorts of characters you usually seem to get attached to lol. but yeah his supports usually do a good job of showing a different side of his character than much of his other dialogue, especially in the early game (can't speak for post timeskip am obviously). idk there are maybe three characters i got Really attached to before actually playing their route and he's one of them. the others being marianne, mostly due to her paralogue, and annette honestly just based off of general vibes once i'd recruited her.

YEAH CLAUDE AND MARIANNE'S A SUPPORT.... idk i really love how he goes from pushing her a bit to recognizing her boundaries and instead offering reassurance and understanding without crossing them.... so sweet. and YEAH marianne on the end art makes me soooo happy. yeah leonie and claude's.... b support i want to say?? was the two of them discussing religion and stuff and at the end claude's like "hm some people might call this conversation sacrilegious huh" and leonie's like "yeah probably. good thing i don't care and won't tell anyone though" and i just thought that was fun. MAN YEAH marianne laughing at the end of her and hilda's supports was The highlight of that support chain to me....

thank you i am enjoying the lions route so far!! playing white clouds for the third (kind of the fourth, if you count me watching my brother's playthrough lol) time in like. a month? month and a half? idk how long it's been actually.... ok checked and it's been a few days past a month?wow. anyway. playing it That many times has gotten me moving through it a bit slower, although i did play quite a bit today and i've gotten to chapter seven :) i am enjoying the lions! i could see before that white clouds was lions centric in a lot of ways but. man. it is sooo lion centric. i'm not like, super complaining about it? i mean. sylvain annette and mercedes are all probably in my top 5 characters. i am really liking dedue, ashe is sweet, i have Some complicated feelings surrounding ingrid but she is SO interesting to me (man her relationship with knighthood plus the ways you can view her character thru lenses of gender and sexuality..... what a character). while felix isn't my favorite he's still very well written and interesting. and honestly i'm enjoying dimitri more than i thought i would? idk my initial impression of him was very meh and then due to like. the way a lot of people who hateeee edie like. LOVE him gives me the kneejerk reaction of oh well i'm not gonna like this guy. but i'm enjoying him so far! he's like, middle of the pack of the lions for me, but that's still pretty good all things considered.

and man. side note because if i let myself get into it for real i'll get frustrated but. goddd the takes i've seen about edie just going through her character tag........ awful. i've blocked sooo many people already SDFJSL.

YEAH. i do NOTT enjoy siding with the church. eugh. i'm probably not gonna do another replay soon after i finish this playthrough, my silver snow run, and my second cf run, so either i play cf again first (because i miss edelgard and hubert and i don't like the church) or i play silver snow first so that i don't leave off on like. a silver snow playthrough LMAO. who knows.

anyway! i'm torn this playthrough between s supporting dimitri and mercedes because well. mercedes is self explanatory (i love her), and dimitri has the appeal of being like. central to the story as the lord? the thing is i probably won't replay am for a WHILE after this, if i do at all, so this is like my Shot to s support him? and i like seeing the supports myself rather than watching them on youtube or something. so i'm probably gonna do that, assuming i keep enjoying his character well enough (because like. based off of fanart and uh. the general vibes of my last playthrough, his character shifts post-timeskip). and then i'll probably end up s supporting mercedes on my next cf run :) because other than mercie (and dorothea obviously) i think the only other character i really want to s support is hubert?? and like i love him don't get me wrong but. mercie outranks him. and i will probably replay cf a third time eventually because that's probably gonna be my default route on subsequent replays once i've experienced everything once. still who knows how things will shake out i mean. last time i said i wasn't gonna s support sylvain and then. look what happened. so we'll see.

not too much going on with my playthrough other than that! i mean. it's white clouds a fourth time. not too many things to say about that. mercedes cheerfully supporting church sanctioned executions caught me off guard like. that was funny. i disagree with her on that but i did burst out laughing the delivery was sooo funny for what she was saying. and annette is fun in the lions cutscenes :) and as for supports... I LOVE DEDUE...... his supports with annette are so sweet so far, as are his supports with ashe.. liked the sylvain dedue c support as well! liked annette and dimitri's c support.. OH ingrid and ashe's c support is SOOO good. i got leonie and bernadetta's c support for the first time and it was surprisingly good for a duo i did not expect to have supports. similarly, i got felix and leonie's c support for the first time and liked it. im probably blanking on some of the supports i've gotten but like. idk. these are the ones i remember enjoying!

anyway yeah :) thanks again for talking with me about this game, it's so much fun and i'm loving hearing your thoughts!! i hope you have a good one :)

HIII hope youre having a good one too!!!! as per usual :D and okay ! hope you dont mind that i mentioned it

and AH okay i see, i can def see that! hopefully you still enjoy the thing you're racing through just as much though? im sure you do but! and rip to your p5 playthrough</3 speaking of, the same thing bascially happened to me FKNDKF except i wasnt nearly as far as you. i should get back to it. GOOD LUCK W/ GETTING BACK INTO IT IF YOU EVER DO THOUGH!!!!

YESSS THATS SO VALID..... ITS DEF A HEFTY ONE BUT ITS LIKE???? PLAYING THE GAME AGAIN SO THATS VERY COOL. the descriptions and writing style are simply brilliant and auugh couldnt recommend it enough. it seriously is like going through the game again w/ like. slight variations. it's so neat. and thank you very much for the recommendations ! ill def have to chekc those out at some point. i just recently finally made a ao3 acc (which i assume those are on? hopefully?) so i can finally interact w/ fics more properly :] GLAD THAT MERCIE SKY ROCKETED ON YOUR RANKINGS. I LOVE HER DEARLY.... and the one w/ the homeroom seems very interesting (eyeballs) love to read abt those dynamics

no worries man! i already appreciate you sharing the ones you remember :D its all good if you can't find them / you forget though!

yeah</3 its very unfortunate. bc the potential is there but there's!!!! literallt nothing for them! and its sad. im glad it hasnt happened for you for fe3h yet, and hopefully it never does!!!!! and its not a fun feeling <//3 esp since that means you gotta make your own stuff and dfkndf gthats a lot of WORK

NO FOR REAL. I WONT LIE I FEEL LIK EIM MISREMEMBERING / OVERREACTING AS WELL BUT... AS YOU SAID. SINCE WERE BOTH ON THE SAME PAGE I /DOUBT/ WE'RE DOING ANY OF THOSE THINGS. but seriously.....it DOES seem like a nightmare scenario. to be used for a political situation mainly and then on top of that have kids ? like??? thye both hate being used for their crests and yet they have kids ????????? idk if that makes sense. hopefully what /I/ said makes sense though. i just feel it seems very......blegh. for both of them. bc doesnt that just continue the cycle? of crests and shit? idk man. but you're right. that is uncomfortable!\

NO FOR REAL. THEY LOVE TO SHOVE HER INTO THE MOM FRRIEND ARCHETYPE BC THATS ALL THEY KNOW WHAT TO DO W/ FEMALE CHARACTERS😭😭😭😭 AND IT SUUUUUCKS. esp when theres so much to do w/ ingrid..... but nah shes stops the boys from doing dumb shit! ive noticed that this is a trend :///// i hate fandom! anywho. youre right. the fan perception of their dynamic is just. SIGHS. i GET that ingrid and sylvain's supports play into that but just..... theyre both so much more than that

OOOOH NICE NICE.... looking forward to seeing those pieces (eyeballs) cant wait to see their A support now!!!! i mustve gotten their C and possibly B support before but i honestly cant remember its been so long. thank u for hypingg it up for me

DOROTHEA AND MARIANNE'S DYNAMIC WOULD BE SO..... IT WOULD BE SO CUTE I THINK...... esp since dorothea seems to rly enjoy hyping ppl (esp the girls) up... and thats absolutely something marianne needs and deserves. plus dorothea is pretty emotionally aware and has her own experience w/ depression (esp post timeskip) so i feel they can both bond over that......if that makes sense. i just love the m so much. YESSS I FORGET THE SPECIFIC DIALOGUE BUT I REMEMBER MARIANNE MENTIONING SOMETHING ABT EDIE'S STRENGTH OR SOMETHING IN CF?? YOURE SO RIGHT WE WERE ROBBED OF THAT..... ooohh im actually so interested in that now. AND NO YOURE SO RIGHT ABT MARIANNE AND MERCEDES..... THEY ABSOLUTELY COULDVE COMPLEMENTED EACH OTHER NICELY...... esp mercedes potentially helping marianne w/ her burdens and just Understanding that there was something that was always bothering her.... so good. YOURE JUST PAIRING UP ALL MY FAVES TOO 😭😭 i wouldve loved to see dorothea and mercedes.... i dont understand why but i just feel it wouldve been so fun and interesting. YOURE SO RIGHT THOUGH, THE POTENTIAL BETWEEN ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE ABSOLUTELY THERE !!!!! I CAN DEF SEE IT W/ EDIE AND MERCIE TOO.... AND THERES NOTHING WRONG W/ WANTING TO SEE ALL YOUR FAVE GIRLS TOGETHER DFKGNFDG I FEEL THAT SO HARD. also some MAY have come true in three hopes? since they did add new support chains but (shrugs) im not sur ewhich ones they added and which ones they didnt

and oh yeah? i had no idea that it was only on CF.... but i suppose that makes a little sense? hm. sorry you werent able ot get it your VW run though </3 and okay! thank you! ill def have to get those 2 dialogue exchanges at some point... unsure if ill get it myself since ill prob jsut endd up hurting mysself but LOL ill prob search them up and watch them that way. sorry you didnt get annette or mercie's either though :/ and ooooh maybe? but i feel like the game maybe wouldn't have taken that into account but! who knows. OHHH GOSH I THINK IVE SEEN DOROTHEA'S LINE ABT KILLING FERDIE IN THE MONASTERY BEFORE.... ill have to look at it again but ): AND OHH I DIDN TREALIZE THERE WAS A SPECIAL THING FOR AN EAGLE VS EDIE..... i thought what i got was just a standard thing😭 thank u for telling me! but no youre right, petra political standing makes it That much better. and abt dorothea. YEAH FAIR. she can only take so much<///3

YOU CAME TO THE DECISION AFTER GETTING YOUR WISDOM TEETH OUT????? LMAOO THATS SO FUNNY TO ME..... good for you though 😭😭😭😭 AND NOT S SUPPORTING SYLVAIN BEING A SIDE EFFECT OF THE ANESTHESIA LMAO that made me laugh thank you for that. but im glad it worked out well in the end! and that you enjoyed the S support and dtheir ending ofc

AND OH. THATS VERY GOOD TO HEAR THEN. i was afraid that you wouldnt be able to keep the rest of the eagles.... and tbh if that were the case, itd make things tTHAT much angstier for me which i hate but also love yk. and yeah makes sense! i rly enjot that concept w/ byleth and dorothea on silver snow... i love it a lot actually. it makes sense too. yeah ): i feel that, i dont wanna side against edie either. doing VW and AM are already a lot for me lol and yeah man. FUCK the church for real. i guess thats another incentive to play SS which is nice, bc byleth as a protag is sort of ...... eh for me. mainly bc they seem like such a blank slate ):

TRUEEE .marianne and ashe are both super sweet they r very good, so i can only imagine how well they r together. and oooooh yeah? im glad they have some of those moments for caspar then... and that his and annette's supports shine a light on that side of him! def can not wait to watch them myself. of course comedic / comedy characters are needed and deserved and stuff but like...like you said, its nice when theyre taken seriously. esp if their whole Thing is being the "goofy" / "unserious" one yk. yeah shamir being a former mercenary sounds right but i couldnt remember. and oh yeah? i didnt realize that a lot of leonie endings were Bad. ive only looked at her and ignatz's but i cant remember it much. bu tmmm, i see. i dont rly think abt leonie much / im not that attached to her so its interesting to see what you think! sorry that most of her endings fall into 1 of those 3 categories :/ glad that her ending w/ shamir was one of if not th ebest one for her!!! LMAO i didnt realize ppl hated / disliked her? i thought hjer whole thing w/ jeralt towards byleth was a tad annoying pre timeskip but i twasnt enough for me to straight up HATE her yk.... so thats interesting. i didnt know any of that. PLEASE like her more out of spite. i love doing that w/ female characters. esp if the hate they get is overdramatic or undeserved

no yeah i totally get that. it doesnt make sense to throw her in there when there wasnt any sort of ..... establishment of her and ignatz's relationship? like. im pretty sure she was the girl that got ignatz to pursue art since he drew something for her but. thats sort of it right? so youre right, there was absolutely no point in throwing her in there other than to FURTHER not make his and raph's ending romantic

HER SONGS R RLY SILLY !!!! and i lvoe how that was like a focal point of her and felix's supports. they were quite cute actually dkfngdgf and that was like one of my first felix supports ever so my initial impression was that. oh! ok hes not that much of an asshole! i was wrong lmao. hes an interesting character and all and i understand where hes coming from but just. yeah man idk. but all that aside, his supports w/ annette were fun and cute. but no youre absolutely right abt mercie and annette, their fight didnt seem ? realistic whatsoever. like i get it but ????? was that something shed legitimately get upset and say they weren't friends over? and you're right, there was def a lot more that couldve been done considering they met so long ago. i DID however like how annette was like. in their A support. mentioning stuff like "ohh now dont say anything like how you dont deserve good things!" or something along the lines of that and like...i think it gives us a little more insight into mercie's character and why she does what she does

i dont remember what i said but i def want to play more! its just <////3 i wanna enjoy the experience and things havent been as enjoyable for me lately yknow? so im waiting for a time that i DO and CAN enjoy things again. but who knows when that'll be LMAO hopefully after this vacation ill be able to get back into viddy games as a whole :]

ah okay! so the recruits are rather balanced, aside from the black eagles (as it should be)! good luck raising your charm to get dorothea the beloved!!!! and hopefully linhardt randomly chooses to join your class...i enjoy when the characters come to you in the middle of the week to ask. its cute. its a fair compromise, but ill be over here secretly hoping that he does join your class!

AH okay so it was in hildas supports w/ byleth... its been. a LOOOONG time since i watched most of byleth's supports w/ the golden deer, so im not too shocked that i forgot abt that. ANDOOHHH RIGHT I THINK I REMEMBER CLAUDE SAYING THAT ABT HILDA TOO..... that's so ): it rly shows the bond shes created w/ claude fr. and thats real sweet. oooo i didnt realize that sort of seeingf through the mask thing happens w/ sylvain too. but i suppose it makes sense w/ sylvain...considering how he is and all. theyre both actually quite similar huh? theyre both a lot more perceptive than they let people believe. thats real cool. so thats nice that they have supports w/ each other , i didnt know that!

NO HE ABSOLUTELY DOESNT..... i just truly and honestly couldnt give less of a fuck about him. even if he does have potential to be cool and interesting. i just dgaf!!!!! have fun and good luck going through his supports though! maybe you;ll have a change of heart (you truly dont have to) but. eh. yeah

YESSS BOTH OF THOSE MOMENTS ARE SO SWEET.... and youre absolutely right abt ignatz. i didnt necessarily get attached to him but i LOVE what he is and what he is is certainly one of the sweeter characters. and i love that for him. AND OHH GOOD MORE ANNETTE SONGS YIPPEE DFGKNDFG def can not wait to see her and claude's supports then (eyeballs) esp if it features claude's singing too..... i can only imagine how fun the situations are. they definitely are! like. what made me change my mind a bit was absolutely sylvain's supports w/ dedue and his ones w/ annette as well. LMAOOO read me to filth <3 yeah he def isnt one of the characters i find myself getting attached to, so im not too surprised either. i enjoy him for he what he is, but other than that. yeah 😭 but yeah!!!! his supports def do a good job at showing a more ? impressive and intelligent side of him. you're right abt his pre timeskip dialogue though, cant say much abt his post timeskip stuff either. im sure theyre a biiiit better than pre TS but. who knows! marianne<3 my girl marianne.... he and annette are also very good choices though. annette's girlish whimsy is just super appealing

YESSSS.... you rly see a mature side of both claude and marianne and thats so cool.... and also seeing a bit more ? forceful and angrier side of marianne? so good. MARIANNE ON THE VERDANT WIND'S END ART MY BELOVED!!!!! i was so shocked when i first saw it but ouuugh i love it so much. AND AHH RIGHT OKAY... i totally forgot abt that. i just loove claudes overall distrust and shit in the goddess and church and whatnot. its so nice to see tbh. and i vaguely remember his convo w/ leonie being interesting as well! YESSSS MARIANNE DESERVES TO LAUGH AND BE HAPPY.... i just thought that moment was so sweet...i personally dont see their relationship as romantic but god... the besties

glad youre enjoying azure moon so far !!!! :D i know theres only sooo many divergences in plot and gameplay and dialogue and stuff so ! hopefully its not toooo grueling. i know we've already talked abt how quick you play games but GOSH 3/4 times in basically a month huh? good for you! and mmm makes sense that youd be going through it a little slower than usual, it IS your fourth / fifth time playing through so. take as much time as you neeeed yk? but up to chapter 7 already is super awesome! yeaaah white clouds is SUPER blue lions centric. im glad you dont hate it! bc i wont lie it rly pisses me off......esp seeing how LITTLE they gave edelgard and crimson flower. but thats just me! happy its been working for you :] OOOO wwho are your other top 5 characters? is dorothea among them? but anyway. yeah ingrid is jusr That character you know. i understand why ppl wouldn't like her, but her character is SOOO interesting to me. for the reasons that you mentioned pretty much. i find myself relating. and yeah i feel thaht for dimitri. i still dont rly care for him that much tbh. but i do feel bad for him and recognize that hes a cool and neat character (same w/ felix like you said) but i just...... yeah man idk dfkgndg plus as you said, id say the majority of edie haters SUUUCK his dick so its like.... man i jsut dont care enough yk. happy that hes been working for you though :D

YERAH I FEEL THAT LMAO. none of the characters are safe from shitty af takes (esp the girls) just recently went into the dorothea tag and was BOMBARDED by hate from this one loser. sorru that youve seen so many things just by going through her tag :/ i HAAATE wben ppl tag stuff like that w/ the main tag, ESP if its hate. pisses me off. but yeah. attleast theres filtering and blocking. ive just straight up blocked edie critical or fiuicking whatever already. sooo dumb!

NEITHER DO IIIII.... its always so painful for me kdfgfdg atleast most of the time rhea isnt there for when you're paired w/ the church? i understand shes a complex character or whatever but she rly reminds me of a cahracter from resident evil and she PISSES me off so basically i dont like either of them LMAO if it were me i'd probably do silver snow first, just so you end off on a good note yk? or maybe youll enjoy SS more than you think! who knows. but yeah id probably end off on crimson flower so it leaves a slightly better taste in your mouth

oooo very good choices... a ton of ppl certainly enjoy S supporting dimitri so i assume youre in for a treat! i understand wanting to S support the lord though since youre really only to support w/ them. during their route. and as you said, theyre very central to the story and whatnot. so yeah! and i TOOTALLY understand wanting to see the supports for yourself rather than watch them on youtube. im absolutely the same. so hope you enjoy going through w/ it ! AND YEAH LMAO HIS CHARACTER DOES RLY SHIFT POST TIMESKIP. but thats due to Mental Illness yk. he does have a recovery arc from what ive heard (that seems rushedd, just based on what an old friend told me) but yeah! hopefully you'll still go through w/ it post TS bc i do think its a good idea. mercie and hubie and dorothea <3 very good choices for S supports.... have fun w/ replaying and getting those last few S ranks!!!! youre gonna go w/ dorothea on silver snow and then probably mercie on another crimson flower run right? def sounds like a plan !!! CF as the default run makes so much sense to me LOL i absolutely feel the same. but you're right, who knows how things will pan out, do let me know what happens and if anything changes!!!!

yeah yeah! atleast the commentary from the blue lions is something different to look forward to during white clouds. and KFDGNDFG i thinki vaguely remember mercedes doing somethig like that but i cant remember exxaaaactly what she said. shes just so cheerful and shit i lovve her so much. but yeah. supporting the church's executions is a no no. GRRR I FORGET ABT DEDUE AND ANNETTE'S SUPPORTS.... it has something to do w/ cookingg right? and dedue helping her w/ that? DIDNT SOMETHING EXPLODE ON ANNETTE OR SOMETHING IN THEIR C SUPPORT? yesss his supports w/ ashe are very nice... so were his w/ sylvain. thats honestly what made me shift a bit in terms of opinion on sylvain. INGRID AND ASHE'S SUPPORTS ARE SOOO GOOD.... just 2 autistic ppl communicating abt a special interest.... OOOO leonie and bernie and leonie and felix huh? i had no idea they had supports.... and youre right i def wouldnt have expected either of them tbh! YEAAH no worries abt forgetting some, tjheres just sooo many that it makes sense not all of them will stick out in your mind

OF COURSE MAN !!!! THANK U FOR SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS W/ ME. ITS ALWAYS A TREAT TO READ WHAT YOUVE BEEN DOING AND WHATNOT!! and im glad my thoughts dont piss you off 😭 happy to hear that you enjoy hearing my thoughts as well :] bc i of course love hearing yours!!!!! hope you have a good one too!

[eikotheblue]

wait eiko what was your post frequency before you bumped it up??

(context)

Lately it's been hovering between 10 and 20 minutes when I'm actively using the site; It was at 15 earlier, and I just switched it to 5.

I move my queue frequency around dynamically to try achieve queue-homeostasis, so that rate at which I'm currently putting things into it matches the rate at which things come out. Unfortunately, the rate at which I add things varies dramatically based on factors such as how much time I'm spending on tumblr and how active the blogs I follow are (obvious) and how much I've been sleeping (everything is funnier / more compelling when I'm tired???).

On one level, I do this because I like to keep a fullish queue, so I can stop using tumblr with very little warning, and there will still be several hundreds of post to populate my feed for the next while; I could set my queue frequency to 1/hour rn and be set for 50+ days.

But if you flip the bit (and who's to say which is more true?), this is just a moderately ranged and hinged minigame I've incorporated into my blogging habits for inscrutable reasons

[hackfurs]

im going to put a summary of what i’ve been going through under a read more to add some context to my absence. its a long one. sorry. also some trigger warnings for: abuse , death of a loved one , ableism , discussion of topics related to nausea

- i have been failing to deal with an intense workload that began all the way back in 2020, when my old computer died and i had to scramble to replace it in the middle of a global pandemic.

- i was able to afford the computer thanks to everyone being so generous at the time, but afterward, i still had bills to pay and needed to afford food.

- since art was the only way i knew how to make money, my queue quickly outpaced my ability to work and i haven’t recovered since despite permanently closing commissions last year (except if my need was dire).

- the stress and guilt associated with having such a long queue continued to compound, making it harder to do art in any capacity. i feel intense guilt when i draw anything not meant for a client. because of this, i don’t have much love for art at the moment.

- my “brand” of ADHD severely affects my executive function capabilities, i have constant issues with insomnia. weeks pass in the blink of an eye and i have no idea where the time goes. and i’m unable to get any treatment for it. my doctor refuses to prescribe anything, and those in my family are unwilling to help me seek treatment with a specialist for adhd.

- up until may-june of this year when i was able to finally get treatment after months of testing, i had had a chronic stomach condition (for the past 5-6 years) that would give me monthly, sometimes weekly issues such as intense nausea and lack of appetite. i would spend every waking moment throwing up, subsisting off of pedialyte popsicles and a cold medicine strong enough to make sure i was never awake enough to full grasp how awful i felt. i lost all joy for eating. every meal was a gamble if i’d feel fine or doom myself to be bedridden for 3 days. there were times i was so weak i couldnt remain awake for longer than 15 minutes at a time. couldn’t think. i was terrorized constantly by fever dreams. so because of this, my every waking moment became dominated by this obsessive game of “am i sick? am i going to be sick? is this a false alarm?” it was maddening and i missed out on so much. my only experience of MFF 2019 was walking through the dealers den for 30 minutes alone because everyone in the group had already looked through everything and wasnt interested. id never felt so alone in a crowd of people before.

- if i wasnt sick, i was recovering and dreading the next time i would inevitably get sick. it haunted my every waking moment. i thought every time it happened “maybe this one actually kills me”. and the whole time the tests turned back nothing. the meds didn’t do anything. it took over a year to finally get a medication that helped and im terrified of ever living like that again. it was hard to get myself to work when i was an anxious wreck huddled in a corner afraid i was going to die, and while i no longer get sick, those anxieties still color every aspect of my life

- now that im unable to work consistently on what i do owe, and now that i’m taking no new commissions, i’ve made around $500 for the entirety of 2022. which isn’t much to live off of, so i’ve been existing entirely on the good will of others. while i’m so thankful for all the help i do receive, it makes me feel like a leech. it makes me feel like everyone will start to hate me eventually when they notice i’m not getting better as fast as they thought i would. and if im not getting better, what was the point of sending money to help?

- on top of all that, my home life has progressively gotten worse. i opened up about my experiences with autism to the relatives i live with, as well as what i deal with because of adhd, and they have been unsympathetic at best to actively abusive at worst.

- one of them has weaponized my autism against me multiple times, and as recently as last week, intentionally triggered a panic attack in me to manipulate me into doing something for her. i’m not able to stand up for myself. i’m constantly infantilized and attacked for things i can’t help. she lets me live here for free, and if i speak up, i stand to become homeless. i have no other option than to accept the abuse of a family member. i have no money to do anything about it. and any money i do get would be put toward refunding people waiting for art.

- this very same family member is also very accident prone, and recently this year would have died in an accident had i not been there to help her. if i had not heard her calls for help. after this incident, i started to bolt out of sleep thinking i heard her calling for help again, and then i have a panic attack when i realize i had just imagined it. despite everything, it would be blood on my hands if i wasn’t around to help the next time something happened. so now im constantly on edge. constantly on the lookout.

- the other family member i live with is going to be dead soon. he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and he refused all treatment and chances to right the ship before it was too late. so instead, he has chosen to die. i don’t know how much longer he has left. he gets confused. he terrifies me sometimes. but there’s nothing i can do about it.

- i feel alienated from almost everyone in my life now. furries and friends alike. everyone i know is waiting on art from me, so i avoid talking to them to avoid the guilt of acknowledging its been months with no update. and when i dont talk, we drift apart. i stop feeling welcome in discord servers. i got pushed out of our mff group for mff 2022. i wanted to go so bad, but i dont think ill ever go again at this point.

- to wrap it all up in one bleak little bow, i am in the most hopeless place i have ever been in my life. i feel like my career is dead and forever tainted. i can’t blame anyone for wanting nothing to do with me now, especially after making people wait so long. i can’t come back from this. my mental health is doomed to deteriorate. just trying to exist in this house has been traumatizing. my one good irl friend i thought i had wants nothing to do with me anymore. i dont see a way out of this. even if a literal miracle fell into my lap and let me refund all the art i owed, it would all still be fucked. i can never make it right with people at this point. its too late. i wasted too much time. im just fucked and its just a matter of how long im allowed to tread water before real life comes knocking and i sink below the waves.

sorry for all that. i guess thats it.

[piplupcola]

Review of the Undertale pop up cafe

I'll be honest. It was not really worth it. I arrived at 1230pm with a friend and the cafe opens at 1pm. Even then the line was already around the block, which honestly for a game like Undertale is understandable.

But 4 HOURS later we get to the front of the line and were told that we weren't even allowed to pick from the 8+ food items on the menu, just 2 items, which were the Cinnamon Butterscotch pie and Spider donuts, and you could only pick one (though u could buy as many drinks as you wanted). I was disappointed because I really wanted the snowman pieces, but decided to get a pie anyways to try it along with a heats flamesman drink.

The pie was tiny, and cold, and served in a small take out plastic container. It was sickly sweet too, and along with the sweet drink it wasn't great. My friend bought the toriel milk and the sea tea and they were sickly sweet too (she didn't even finish the toriel milk)

We were only given less than 20 minutes to stay in the cafe before they kicked us out so we went to merch shop connected to the cafe to buy some merch, which was basically all sold out (mind you we were only 2 weeks into the cafe event and there was another 2 weeks left) We could still buy them from the shop and have them shipped to my house but it was another $15 for shipping I had to pay for the already expensive merch and food I ordered.

The cafe itself looked nice but that was what it looked like on most days, as an Undertale event itself it was barely any Undertale in it. Just a couple of standees were decorated around and the TVs were playing Deltarune but that was really it. There weren't many seats either, and the background Snowdin music was covered up by the constant yelling of the staff shouting orders for people to collect from the queue.

After we left my friend and I felt quite sick from waiting for hours in the sun and the sweet food which we taught was gonna be our lunch so we drove to Macdonalds for an actual meal to eat.

Overall, if you live nearby and love Undertale and dont mind spending 6 bucks on a pie smaller than your hand then make sure to go early and enjoy yourself. If not, I wouldn't recommend going, especially if you don't live nearby and have to drive or worst fly here for it. It really wasn't worth the wait especially when you can't even order what you want from the experience you're waited for. It's not as exciting as you think so you aren't missing out much, just a cafe selling really expensive and not very amazing food with a hint of Undertale in it. Maybe I'll change my mind when the merch arrives at my place but for now it's a 2.5/5 at best.