#they're like in-between numbers sometimes but also not?? i don't get em

[steakout-05]

very long post about how i as an Australian think the American date structure is silly and confusing under the cut

as an Australian i already think America is pretty funny, like the imperial system is both confusing and incredibly funny to me, but what i really don't get is the way dates are written in America

like.... for context, in Australia, we write days like day/month/year. and i like this because the most important information is the thing you read first. you want to know what day it is, you just look at the first two digits you see and you're done!! in some other counties like Japan and South Korea, they write it like year/month/day, which i also think is ok because it's still in a cohesive and easy to read order. you just go to the end of the date to see what day it is and it's simple!! it's all good! it's easy to read! this is nice!

but for some reason, the dates in America are written like month/day/year and i'm just..... i'm so confused!?!??!? why would you jump to the MIDDLE of the date to see what day it is???? it's so cluttered and jumpy and trying to read it in order is just... kinda irritating. the most important and immediately needed information is shifted to the middle of the date ans then you gotta go back and then jump forward again if you wanna read the whole thing and i'm just. actually bamboozled at that. who did that. who is responsible for that blunder at the workplace. i will find them and i will break their kneecaps and i-

ALSO you have no idea how many times this date format has absolutely screwed up schedules and post dates for me. imagine that there's like an online event or something coming up and they have a schedule for what day they're holding it, but it's just written like 05/03/2024. my Australian ass is going to read that as the 5th of March 2024, but someone in America is gonna read that is the 3rd of May 2024. do you see how confusing this can become. there is zero distinction between the two dates because they're written in the exact same way but have a different structure. this is fine for dates that go over the number 12 or are the same number, but it's still confusing and frustrating, especially when the website doesn't say what timezone setting you're on or won't let you change it (which some of them don't). it's quite a specific issue but it's still an issue and i hate it i don't like it i want it fixed please patch

maybe i just have a more logical way of thinking and i like having things be in order, but goddamn just write your dates properly i can't take it anymore /nsrs

[mirohlayo]

hello lynaa!!

could you do (any driver) x reader where they just spoil em rotten with all these never ending very expensive gifts and reader gets emotional and he comforts her?

i love ur work btw <3

hello !! i literally LOVE this one, thanks for requesting it :)) i really struggle to choose between charles and oscar but i decided to go with oscar yeah (also thank u so much it's so sweet 🫶) hope it's okay !!

YOU'RE MY BEST GIFT | OP81

( despite the fact you don't like it, oscar can't stop spoiling you because you deserve everything )

warning : none just reader getting emotional, fluff and fluff

word count : 2.8k

!! english is not my first language !!

you are for sure the most precious person ever for oscar. being his partner means that he constantly makes sure you're always happy. he literally puts all his being into your relationship, he tries his best to keep everything perfect. if you're not satisfied enough then he's not either, and he always manage to do his best to make you feel fulfilled by his love and affection.

it also means that he obviously likes to spoil you. it's kind of his love language. he needs to buy you something, whether an object that reminded him of you or tons of expensive stuffs like perfumes, clothes, shoes... money doesn't matter for him, as long as he makes you happy with his little gifts then everything is good. plus he earns a pretty good amount of money, so he doesn't wait a single to waste it into gifting you lots of things.

so of course he notices the little stuff you were always looking at, whether on your phone in your shopping cart or when you would stare a bit too much at some storefronts during your dates. he often catches you looking at this pair of shoes that you really want for a while now, this oversized hoodie which reminds you of your boyfriend because there's literally the number 81 on the back, or also those cute pastries you always talk about how good they look.

but you know you'll never buy these things, maybe later in months but they're just too expensive for you. you can afford them but you can't all buy them in one seat, you also need to save money because you share your apartment's spending with oscar. you agreed at the start of your relationship that both of you will take part in renting, shopping and getting all the stuff and furniture you need to live together.

and your job pays you very much less than oscar's job so obviously you don't have the same income and money to spend it on extra expensive things you like. but it's okay, you actually like earning money little by little and when you finally have the good amount of money you're always happy to buy these little gifts you dreamed about.

now you are sitting comfortably on the couch, your laptop on your laps. your favorite playlist is playing on the loudspeaker in a low volume and you just have finished a schedule for your next week of work. "are you okay love ? do you want something to drink ? or a snack ?"

your boyfriend's voice comes from behind you, where the kitchen is. you turn your head and smile to him "a glass of water then please" you gently ask "no problem" he replies and opens one of the kitchen closet to grab a glass. you move again to go back to your laptop, and while you delete open pages on google, there's your shopping cart that appears. you forget to delete it last time.

you hesitate to delete the page, but your eyes gaze at the pretty things you put in your cart. you really want these cute shoes and this hoodie for a while now, and you'll be lying if you said you didn't dream about them everyday. you're so envious of those people who own them, sometimes you bump into some girls who are wearing them and it makes you even more excited about getting the shoes and the hoodie.

oscar soundlessly comes behind you, a tray with your glass of water and some fruits on it. just for you, because he's simply the most caring and sweet boyfriend you ever had. he approaches you in silence and you don't hear his steps, too occupied by the clothes on your laptop screen. but obviously he notices that you are once again staring at the same shopping cart. the same one as months ago.

he knows how much you want these items. maybe you're a bit desperate now and oscar doesn't like that. if you really want something then you'll have it. he likes to spoil you. he likes to buy you things because it makes you happy and he just needs to see your smile. but you're aware of the importance of money.

money is something very important for you and you know its value. so despite the fact you like receiving gifts, when oscar would spoil you too much with so many expensive things you can't help but get a bit angry. because you don't want him to spend all his salary for you. you're actually very reasonable and rational. you're humble and expensive gifts are like very precious to you because you value things

and oscar loves you for that. he thinks you're just so respectful and you never ask for anything, he don't even think you ever ask him to buy you something over your relationship. you always try to afford things by yourself and your hard work. and your boyfriend admire this. so when people or his "fans" would call you a scrounger, a girl who is here just for oscar's money, he get so annoyed. because if there's one person who doesn't count and don't care on his money at all, it's you.

he sighs and sit down next to you. "here's your water, princess" he says and he hands you the glass. you quickly change the shopping page to an other one with a youtube video, you panicked a bit because you don't want oscar to see you looking at these things. because you know he'll tell you that he can buy you it, and you always end up by scolding him gently, saying that if he dares do it you'll be mad for weeks.

"thanks love" you smile and take a sip of your water. he wraps one of his arms around your shoulders and pull you closer to him. "you finished your work ?" he asks against your hair, planting a soft kiss on it. "yes, i can finally take a break" you nod. "good then. i can have your attention" he hums and he's quick to move your laptop from your laps to place it on the table.

"cuddle me for a while" he says and he lay down on the couch. he makes you shift and you lay down too, your head on his chest and your legs crossed together. he wraps his arms around your back, rubbing it softly. "you work hard y/n. i'm so proud of my pretty girl" he smiles wide as his looks fall on you. you giggle and he can feel your laugh vibrates against his body, making him smile even wider. "i know. i'm such an amazing woman" you state with a tone of irony. "of course you are babe" he genuine knows it, he's proud to be boyfriend.

he starts placing lazy kisses on your head, sometimes on the back of your hand, still stroking your back. he run his hand under your hoodie, and his fingers rubs your soft skin softly, like you're a piece of porcelain. he's just too caring and he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable. but his soft touch makes you feel sleepy, and it doesn't take too long before you start to sleep.

he notices it because your breathing is slower and more regular. he places an other kiss on your hair. his eyes shift to your laptop screen. there are still your google searches on it, and he can't help himself but stretches his arm to move the touch mouse. he clicks on the page of your shopping cart, and knows he has a good look of the products you genuinely want.

he grabs his phone out of his pocket and he quickly takes a picture of the screen. he smiles to himself, proud of what he's going to do later this evening. now he knows what he needs to do.

-

"and i'll take the strawberry one too please" oscar says as he waits for the seller to wrap the ten pastries he just finished to order. the seller hands him the little red box with the white ribbon around it. the blonde grabs his credit card and pays without looking at the price. he's not even bothered, because a silly smile is playing on his lips.

he bought you these pastries which you talk about every time you found a tiktok about it, rambling about how sweet and delicious they look, and oscar was listening to you. he finally bought plenty of them today for you, ten pastries to be sure you'll have enough. and if not then he'll go back again at the bakery to buy more. until you're satisfied.

now he's going back home, already excited to see you and your expression when you'll discover all the things he bought today. he told you earlier that he needs to get some groceries, which was a lie because he used this time to purchase all the stuff you so want. he literally went to all the different stores of the mall : perfumery, bakery, jewelry store, plushies store and more.

he knows he has spent a huge amount of money just for you but he absolutely doesn't care at all. you're his princess and you must receive princess treatment. so that's why he bought this cute plushie you genuinely adore, and also your favorite set of perfumes even though you already have an extra double at home. buying you jewelry was inevitable, he chose two bracelets and two necklaces, also several pairs of earrings. and the cherry on top is the matching bracelet he carefully chose for you and him.

but nevertheless he got some groceries, most of them just being your favorite food and snacks. he totally spent a lot of money, he may not even have a penny left in his bank account but it's absolutely fine, as long as it's for you he doesn't pay attention to it. he's simply happy to treat you well. to treat you like you deserve it.

he parks his car and run to the door. he's carrying all the gifts and bags in his hands. he's completely full. he rings the doorbell and seconds later he's meeting with your pretty face. "i'm back" he simply says and you let him go into the house.

first you didn't notice all the bags he was carrying, because there are two packages which were delivered during oscar's absence and which are lying around the door. you are sure you didn't ordered anything, and oscar didn't tell you either that he ordered something so why these two packages are lying on the floor ?

"oscar, what are these packages ? i didn't ordered anything and you didn't too" you start and frown looking at the boxes. your boyfriend take off his shoes and he was going to speak when you finally notice all the bags in his hands. "and why are you carrying so many bags? there are around ten of them !" you say shocked, your eyes dart out.

he only smiles to you and hands you all the bags "surprise princess ! the packages are for you and these bags too". you don't realize, you just blink. is this real ? you look at him completely lost and he laughs seeing your confused expression. "you ordered the packages ? you really bought me all of these gifts ?" you ask still not realizing what he did.

your boyfriend nods rapidly like a child, a wide smile stuck on his face. "i wanted to please you because you deserve it love" he replies. "but oscar..." you start and he knows you're going to get mad at him because maybe he did too much. but he doesn't want to hear that so he doesn't wait and guides you to the couch. he makes you sit on it and he brings all the gifts around you. "now open them. it's all for you".

you sigh and look him in the eyes. "baby i appreciate it but do you realize you bought too much ? like it's an incredible amount of things" "of course i am aware of it and i don't care at all." he shrug and sit down next to you. you look like you're going to refuse all the presents and oscar doesn't want that. he places a kiss on your cheek and put one the package on your laps. "open now. i know you'll thanks me later for that"

you can't do anything but open all the boxes and bags in front of you. you cut the cardboard and open it. the beautiful pair of shoes you so wanted is meticulously wrap in the box. you don't realize. you're clearly shocked. you pick up them carefully and admire them. they're so pretty. and oscar knows he wins everything when a big smile come up on your face. "i don't even know what to say. i wanted them for so long. they're so pretty oscar"

"they'll look perfect on you" he states and a second later he feels your lips on his cheek. he giggles at the sudden touch "next gift baby !!" he says and either him can't hide his excitement. you can't help it too, you forgot for a while your dissatisfaction towards him because you're like a kid at christmas in front of all of the gifts. you open the second package and your look fall on the white and orange hoodie which reminds you of oscar.

it looks perfect. perfect like your boyfriend. the hoodie is clearly making you smile wider, though you were already getting cheek cramps. "how it looks ?" he asks in a nervous tone. "just incredibly beautiful and perfect" you says as you touch the soft fabric. "good. but we are not done. they're still the bags here" he points out the remaining bags on the floor.

and you open them all. the perfumes, the jewelry, the plushie, the snacks and even the pastries. you don't know how much they all cost but you're sure it's very very expensive. but you can't hide your happiness, you're so grateful for that. all the gifts are just more than enough. and your dissatisfaction turned into thankfulness.

all of these gifts, the way he bought you everything you wanted because he wanted to please you, all of that makes you emotional. and you can't help but let some tears fall down on your face. oscar notices it and he starts to panic. "wait- are you okay love ?" he asks cautiously. you wipe a tear and nod to reassure him. "yes don't worry i'm okay. it's just... it's just..."

you let a sob and he can't take it anymore. he pulls you into his arms, pressing soft kisses on your face. "tell me y/n" he says softly. he don't want to push you, just so caring. "it's just that i don't want you to spend all your money and buy extra expensive things to me. i'm okay with what i already have, i don't care if i can't afford what i want. i just don't want you to waste all your money only for me"

oscar smiles softly and pulls you closer. oh how his heart pang from love. from affection and adoration. he's so in love with you. he rubs your cheek with his thumb and place a soft kiss on your lips. "but you know that i don't care princess. i want the best for you and i want to treat you well like how you deserve to be treated. i like to spoil you. i like to buy you gifts" he explains to you. "but you're already my best gift oscar"

his brain stopped to work just as his heart skipped a beat. he can't hide his smile. "and you are too. that's why i genuinely want to pleasure you, because you're a princess that deserves all the love in the world. money doesn't matter. i know you don't like that but i'll never stop myself to spend money for you. you are the only person I would do anything for and all you have to do is ask me what you need, i'll give it to you right away"

you let another snob out of your mouth. the boy starts to peck all your face. "i don't deserve you oscar. i'm so lucky to have you." "no, i'm the lucky one. i don't even know how i managed to pull someone like you" he laughs and you giggle. "i love you oscar. so much"

he smiles and leans in to kiss you tenderly. his lips move perfectly on yours. he pulls back and look at you with heart eyes. "i love you too my girl". you hide your face in the crook of his neck and you stay like that for a while. until he gets up. "now i'm gonna make some coffee for you to drink with the pastries"

and he'll put on the table a tray of pastries, a cup of hot coffee next to them. you'll share the strawberry cake with your boyfriend, and you'll remains him of how perfect he is. because after all he's clearly the best boyfriend in the world...

[duskkodesh]

I've had rats for years at this point now and finally want to put down the best tips I've learned. This won't work for everyone, some are very conditional to me, but maybe some of these will help someone. Fleece hammocks: Boo. Microplastics and too warming. Canvas hammocks: Yes, please. Highly washable. Far more tough. I wish they were easier to find. Coiled rope baskets are also a godsend. I hang them by the handles in the cage, they love them way more than anything marketed to rats. Bottles are nice but some rats wanna splash and have a place to wash their little hands. Fresh in pod peas are by the pound at my supermarket. I usually spend 70 cents on the amount for several treat sessions. All my frozen peas end up getting freezer burnt by the time I get halfway through the bag. Antibiotics will be needed if you keep rats. Do not give antibiotics with dairy, many classes of antibiotics bond to calcium thereby making them far less effective. Speaking of, antibiotics seem to have the hardest taste to cover up. Ground meat baby food, Hershey simply five syrup (Just a little), peanut powder (No added sugar, oils), fruit compote/jam/jelly, small absorbent bread snacks/cereal, smushed pasta, cream of wheat, are all options to get meds into rats. You can call exotic vets and ask for an estimate on a basic rat exam. Do it, the prices vary WILDLY. We had a vet who charged us 35$ to see three rats at once and one who quoted us 200$ to look at one. You're gonna notice a trend if you call vets in higher class/rich areas. Fuck em'. Also ask your vet if you can keep a supply of meds on hand just in case. If they last at room temp you can buy some preemptively. Things like doxycycline you can get from human pharmacies.

Zip ties are god. All hail zip ties. Same with swivel clasps. Between them both you can cage mount anything your heart desires.

Leave bedding in a hot car or freezing conditions for a night. Warehouses get mites. Mites are a dick to deal with. Kill em' all.

Give them a variety of fresh things while they're young. Not always but sometimes I'd get an older gent rescue who had no idea what to do with berries or tomatoes and would refuse them. They learn better what is safe when young. At some point you will have an emergency. Make sure you know where an emergency vet is and that they keep night/weekend hours. Keep funds on hand for that day.

Rats hide pain well. When they age you may need to start pain management if you notice them moving differently even if they don't show their pain blatantly. Just start with low doses and see if they act like their old selves again. Research your breeders. Get recommendations from other rat people. Check and see if there are rat rescues in your area. Also the Humane Society sometimes takes in rodents.

Controversial take: You will encounter people in ratkeeping who say buying feeders is a sin. It's not. Feeder supply will exist whether or not every rat fancier boycotts them. We are far far fewer in number than snake/lizard people. Wherever you got your rats it's valid so long as you give them healthcare, good nutritious food, love, and mental stimulation. A lot of the 'foods to avoid, foods to include' lists are not researched. I've seen lists that ban chocolate. Rats freaking love chocolate they just need to take it easy on fats and sugars but cocoa powder can be a good mix in and can help ratty blood flow. I've seen people ban mango. if you read the study that led to this they gave rats an obscene amount of D-limonene to trigger cancer and small amounts had no side effects at all. Read the studies, look for sources.

[jackals-ships]

JACKAL I must apologize I was like I WILL GO CHECK F/O LIST because I am not 100% sure which bot you ship with (<- did not care about robots until suddenly I cared A LOT) though I thiiink it's Megatron bUT sorry if I'm wrong fkdjashkj BUT BEARING IN MIND I HAVEN'T FINISHED S1...I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SHIP(S) 👀 and perhaps read fic at some point if you are able to find it @goldenworldsabound

(<- did not care about robots until suddenly I cared A LOT) IS AN ENTIRE MOOD THO HFKF tfp is like some sleeper cell activation code i SWEAR,,, + ur all good !! i gotta fiddle w my f/o list a lil and then repost it bc i kept meaning to make minor changes an then forgor,

BUT ANYWAYS YES !!! he's also, hilariously, one of the f/os i have a physical lil guy of despite being not on my radar as long as like garrus hf

also a read more bc i woke up Rambly today <3

he gets to sit with the ponies :} bc he canonically likes mlp at least according to the lil ask Megatron bit + there was a whole comics crossover (2 I think actually?)

breakdown + knockout are also My Besties they started out as like kinda baby crushes <- local aro can't tell the difference between Feelings even in fiction more at 11 [lighthearted] before megs came for my braincell with the fuckin. steel chair HFJ so seeing you go 👀🥰 at knocks i was like FUCK YEAH LETS GOO !!! im dropping into his work station from the ships vents like oooo someone's got a cruuuuush ooooo you wanna be all (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）don't u knocks- (jackal is once again banned from the nemesis)

okay okay but; i rlly only have one fic Finished and luckily had the foresight to post it to AO3. it's a lil older so not totally in character + canon but still silly and cute hjfkd

NOW GETTING INTO MY RED STRING TERRITORY-

when i get into something with a lot of continuities i tend to kinda? squish em together? or take bits and pieces going >:3 my city now, so the jackal x megatron ship is Primarily TFP but ive also absconded with fun movie details (like megs being i think it was 30? 40 ft tall? Fuck Huge,,,,) and also bits of comics lore/designs (holomatter is an interesting concept and im chewing on Meg's as we speak. gnawing on his arm even-)

but regardless this ship is totally my Slice Of Life Comedy Hour Chill LoFi Beats type of ship HKF like im a sucker for darker stuff higher stakes but i think this one has 0 stakes

like. like jackal and megatron literally met because jackal enjoys long walks on the beach exploring places Away from the city and Generally Away From Ppl to just sorta vibe. and ofc the normal thing to do when coming across a Definitely Alien And If Not Alien Then Like Secret Government Ship is to walk away. NOT wander ur happy lil ass inside like :0 yooooo what do These buttons do

and then when you get kicked out instead of getting squished like the bug you shouldn't come back via the air vents. again. and again and again and AGAIN and AG- until the local alien warlord gives in and is like "yeah okay this is my life now ig???" (soundwave was totally helping them btw. he likes drama 😌 and also has his own human hi adri so he can't say shit-) (also I've never decided on the Actual number of times they break it, in my brain it keeps slowly going up jus bc I find the concept SO funny. pov you're an alien warlord worried you got alien rodents and oh no NVM it's the human again. FUCK-)

it's absolutely the slowest burn too bc Meg's Refuses to admit that he has a crush on the weird squishy thing that keeps breaking in (until he's decided they're dating. and doesn't bother mentioning this) while jackals just 🥰 hehehoho big robot friend who calls me scraplet and sweetspark and sometimes puppy 🥰🥰🥰 also threatened to kill any mech who was mean to me 🤔🤔 weird. aaanyways

THERE'S ALSO a running joke in my head of that "what do you have?" "A KNIFE" "NO-" but it's jackal running off with energon bc you can't SHOW ME a cool liquid and have me NOT want to drink it !! Just a sippy. jus a lil- we'll have the hospital on speed dial pleeeeaaaase-😭

anyways tldr jackal megatron is "I'm not trapped with him he's trapped with me yaaaay :D" and "robot google; weird fuzzy feeling in spark?? how to remove weird fuzzy feeling?? robot google human exterminator near me-"

[chromatic-lamina]

Any number you haven't yet answered but want to for the writer ask meme!

Heh-heh! Great ask ❤️

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue? One with no dialogue, because I can always throw in reported speech and thought processes. Takes a particular skill to make a fic that is all dialogue authentic and interesting.

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who? Sometimes. I won't name 'em cos' I don't want to clutter up their notifications, but especially for exchanges, or if I've used someone's art (with permission) as inspiration, or for zines, etc.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it? Okay, I guess the most recent is valuta from the Corazine (aftersales almost finished, but that's just an aside). I thought I did a pretty good job on portraying what the Donquixote brothers went through, also Cora's relationship with Sengoku and Law, and then Law with Sengoku, but maybe it was too much for the word count. It got very little interaction in the way of comments, at least. I like the KidLaw fics I did for the 2022 exchange and for the OP secret santa that year, but they remain two of my least popular fics (in terms of hits).

I like valuta for story parallels (Cora and Doffy, Law and Lami, etc.). I like the KidLaw fics because they make me laugh.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful? Yeah. I think I've answered this before, and it's not massively popular compared to some fandom behemoths, but the Usopp vs the Heart Pirates fic: Dark like the North Blue Sea (aka The Sea-Hill you Die On) . I think it grew in popularity because it's canon compliant (also, maybe funny). Once a fic gets a certain number of kudos or hits too, it feeds its popularity growth, because people sort by kudos and hits, so all those hidden gems remain hidden! I'm happy that people enjoy it though!

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written? Probably the one that @afterdeck-ace gave me of: Chopper and Law talking about courage or Jolly Rogers. They're talking about both in softening the fall of snow. That's followed or on par with screen / shiki-e, which was inspired by a tsute doodle. You can see the doodle and links to tsute's art on the AO3 page.

47. If [taxi] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

Her jeans cost more than his weekly pay, hell — monthly— and her sneakers were scuffed and used in a way that hid or emphasised their one-of-a-kind design. Pretty cool. A red tonbo — dragonfly — from what he could see, stretched from the toe, its thorax and segmented body running along one side of the shoe, a blue chrysanthemum and pond reeds rising from the heel and undulating in the air below the insect.

I used a ref for that, but can't remember where I sourced it from.

I changed a few things, and the maker's name is on the jpg, fortunately!

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Yes! I recommend it: Ours lives like sand in the gears of the world by @afterdeck-ace (Lily_Amazon). A platonic Law & Robin ficlet that explores the parallels and differences between them so well.

Also, a quick but satisfying read (sounds like Borsalino's possible reflection on Akainu) with this fic, In The Dappled Sun. Lemon mentioned (tumblr's being silly with throwing out community settings left, right and centre, so sorry for the return to FFN vocab). Fic author @kookoofufu

Am continuing to read saltyrock's It Takes a Lot to Know a Man but haven't read the latest chapter yet. LawBin and CrocoBin. Endgame LawBin.

There's a lot of good stuff out there, and so little time!

[garden-ghoul]

OH MY GD PERENNIAL HISTORIES... I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YEARS... I blacked out and when I returned I had transcribed this conversation

PP: I know what y'all believe about Perennial. Which is interesting because to my memory Perennial was... not the Adversary so much as the outsider. Never part of the Fleet. Always just flittering around. Ah... I don't think she was really even with the Collaborate, the other big Divine group. When we were with the Divine Fleet we weren't the only Divines in the galaxy. We built the Fleet because we thought it was the most sustainable, the longest lasting form of relationship between Divines and different types of people. If we had let ourselves go to war we would have died, or they would have died or both. Instead we found unity. But we were not the only Divines in the world and others took a different path. And she wasn't part of either camp, She just sorta showed up one day. So now I wake up and she's the center of the damn galaxy. It's a surprise.

F: Back then, what did she want?

PP: She wanted to learn everything. We had a policy as part of trying to make sure people could join the Fleet which was that we had little knowledge we wouldn't share. We wouldn't share private info, but when it came to knowledge about the galaxy and math and the way of the world... and she consumed that info voraciously. For a Divine, even, which was confusing. Because most Divines come knowing the world. They're built in it and of it. It's like she came from somewhere else. Big galaxy, so... And then I lost track.

PP: Didn't ever join the Fleet. We left the Fleet to start palisade, to start all this. As far as I can tell Perennial never hooked up with anyone in the Twilight Mirage or became part of all that, she just sorta floated somewhere else. And then the Divine Clash happens and she betrays the Divine Principality, supposedly. And then (gestures into the sky referencing the Perennial Wave, her home in the center of the galaxy) Why's she on your mind?

F: What's the best way to put this... to break free of Clem I had to replace that chain with something else. So it's not a... chain. But I'm connected to Perennial in a way I don't fully understand. It feels more like I'm a port on the river.

PP: You haven't tried talking to her?

F: She hasn't reached out to me... It's been very busy around here.

PP: I mean, how can you say she hasn't reached out to you? Look at you.

F: How do you go about doing that?

PP: I have to admit, I've never been on the other side of it.

F: Is there like, etiquette??

PP: There's the etiquette you make with one another. In my experience. I had a number of elects in the time of the Fleet, and I had my preferences, I had my foibles, but everyone had a diff way about em. There were thinks I'd excuse from one that I wouldn't from another, and things I would encourage from some that I would despise, find presumptuous, from others. You feel it out.

F: I don't even know what to say. How do you say 'thanks for saving my life but also are you just as evil as the person you saved me from?' How do you say 'what do you want with me?' I don't wanna ask that, that's fucked up! I just spent a lot of time and energy getting away from someone that's the only question I cared about the answer to!

PP: What's the actual question you wanna ask then?

F: I keep hearing people talk about the wheel. Okay, when this happened, there's also a ghost who shows up sometimes. Do you know who Gur Sevraq is?

PP: The preacher in the Temple? Far as I can tell they're alive and well, unfortunately.

F: No. Not the real one. From his writings that I've read, I've got the real one, but he's all mixed up. But one of the few things he's said to me that makes any sense is, she wants to stop the wheel from turning.

PP: I mean, that makes sense.

F: Sure, but if I want it to make sense it depends on what the wheel is.

PP: What's the wheel you wouldn't want to stop spinning?

F: Like, life? In general? Happiness, joy, self-determination?

PP: She would have stopped them already if that was her goal, right? You worked with the Witch In Glass for how long? If raw damage was the intended output... Maybe what she's trying to say is, try some new shit.

[mangopit]

20 Writer Questions

ty @littlefirefox for the tag!! nice seeing the other folks you tagged too, fandom runs deep fr haha <3

1. Total number of AO3 works?

34! i haven't uploaded in so long ouurgh

2. Total AO3 word count?

103,336 :o

3. Fandoms I’ve written in?

oh boy, tons. and im too shy to talk abt a lot of them on my main blog lol, but throughout my life i've written for a lot of youtubers, bbc sherlock, rotbtd, atla, tlok, american idol, some disney shows, an anime, live streamers, musicians...

4. Top 5 Fics by Kudos

dhjdjhs again im too shy to list em directly, they're all rpf >:'D # of kudos: 519, 377, 341, 314, 305

5. Do I️ respond to Comments?

yes, i try to reply to all of them! tho i need to look at my inbox and check that i haven't missed any recent ones :')

6. What has the angstiest ending?

hmmMm on ao3 i have a drabble that ends in perceived unrequited love but i think my actual angstiest published story ends with 2 former best friends finally choosing to part ways. offline, i have stories that end in major character death 😬

7. What has the happiest ending?

oh! a delightful question! i think the one where the soulmates figure their shit out and finally confess their feelings for each other feels like the most triumphant ending that i can remember writing :)

8. Have I️ received hate?

not for my writing. i've received unwarranted constructive criticism before tho.

9. Do I️ write smut? And what kind?

yes sometimes but i've never posted it online 👁👁 and idk "what kind" means... gay i guess???? loll

10. Do I️ write crossovers?

yes! i don't think i've posted anything online but rise of the brave tangled dragons is one of my longest loves.

11. Have I️ ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of 😳

12. Have I️ ever had a fic translated?

no but i would be honored if anyone offered! :')

13. Have I️ ever co-written a fic?

i've initiated "finish the fic"s before, but i've never co-written a fic in the traditional sense.

14. What is my all-time favorite ship?

OH hmmm idk if i have one. maybe sh****** just bc of how long and intense my obsession was for it lol

15. A WIP I️’ll never finish?

i have a bbc sherlock fic that was well-received but i just can't imagine finishing it bc my writing has changed so much, i never had a direction for the story, and i don't really like how i wrote the characters.

16. Writing Strengths?

i'm good at eavesdropping on imaginary conversations between people who exist solely in my head so i think im good at whipping out dialogue, lol. i also pride myself on writing realistic, complex emotions and digging into the deeper, more hidden thoughts of characters.

17. Writing Weaknesses?

i think i get so excited about writing my favorite bits i have planned that i rush the pacing of my stories or i force plotpoints that don't make too much sense and can probably be cut. i've been trying to combat that by indulging in the first draft—letting myself write all the exciting, wild ideas i have first before revising and fine-tuning the story to my standards!

18. Do I️ like foreign language dialogue?

yes? no opinion? i don't think i understand this question.

19. First Fandom I️ wrote for?

i think it was american idol >:)

20. Favorite fic Ive written?

wahhh like lynn i find it super hard to choose bc my writing is such a reflection of my interests and general mindset at the time! plus i still love my most busted writing bc i have such a warm appreciation for who i was and how i've improved. buuuuut for whatever reason i'm very proud of this one friends to lovers fic on my ao3 that's set during the wintertime~ i think i was able to get the pacing just right, emotionally and plotwise, and everything just makes sense, and the ending is so satisfying. it's a very solid fic for when i wrote it, and i am very happy to write a simply solid fic :)

thanks again lynn for the tag!! tagging: @farklelucas @26velociraptors if you want + any other ficwriters who would like to do this! (lol gretchen i can't even remember if you post on ao3 ermm)

[mermaidsirennikita]

have you ever made a rec list of books w good groveling scenes? If not, I’d love if you would share your favs with us

I haven't made a list, nope! I've mentioned some before, but my favorites are always shifting (aside from some holy faves). I'll break 'em up by genre, I lOVE a good grovel.

These are not all of them (I can think of... several other MacLean grovels I love, for example, but she's just really good at a grovel). But they're some!

Contemporary

Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Excellent grovel, which is truly made by the fact that the hero is such an asshole to her. One thing I really love about SEP is that her heroines will just like. Vanish off the face of the earth lmao. And the heroes will be like D: WHERE IS SHE???? But yeah, this grovel is less "sobbing at her feet" and more "this man is debasing himself and betraying everything he said he stood for in order to get her back" which... is deeply compelling.

Act Your Age by Eve Dangerfield. Another one where he certainly needed to do it! I don't really see groveling as a paint by numbers one size fits all thing; to me it's about the hero doing something that is hard FOR HIM in a way the heroine recognizes and understands is specifically sacrificial for him. And I think this hero does that. Also, another situation where she just vanishes and he has to deal with his character flaws.

The Master by Kresley Cole. I LOOOVED this grovel. Again, vanishing! I just loved this one because he was so pathetic. This man is like a billionaire mafioso and he's like texting this broad all "idk what you're doing but I hope it's going well :(" lmao I cackled.

Give Me More by Sara Cate. A MMF grovel, so he has to grovel to both of them. And he does! He really has to do the work on himself in order to be worthy of his wife and his boyfriend. It's so good.

Mafia Target by Mila Finelli. LOL MAN. This is an m/m mafia romance, and it's very literally between a mafia boss's son and the guy sent in to assassinate him. They both know. They catch feelings. Then there's a HUGE reveal. And I just loved that this grovel a) doesn't work at first and b) does work in such a quiet, emotionally vulnerable way. Ugh. I love this book. Also...

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. This is one where it's so over the top and great, but it also subverts what you think is happening in the moment. And what makes it even more touching to me is that she does not require these physical or monetary gestures he could rather easily make; she requires him to really emotionally collapse for her.

Historical

Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall. This is not a huge grovel because the person groveling did something hurtful but deeply understandable. But this one was so evocative to me. I mean, again, it all depends on the moment right? So sometimes, I do love a hit your knees crying grovel. And this is a good one.

When the Earl Met His Match by Stacy Reid. Another hit the knees moment. This one is rather beautiful and evocative. The hero is also mute, so he actually signs his speech to her. It's really wrenching and emotionally honest and dramatic, and I just adore it.

Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell. A huge elaborate sort of grovel in the way only a medieval romance can do it. I mean, she doesn't even get to hear his totally deranged spiel after she's kidnapped--but suffice to say, the heroine believes the hero doesn't love her and won't come for her, and he's like "IF SHE IS NOT RETURNED TO ME ALIVE AND LAUGHING I WILL BURN THE WORLD DOWN" it's so great. He's such an asshole. He really has to collapse.

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley. I really love a marriage in trouble book, and this is a marriage in trouble book that's basically the hero realizing at the very beginning "oh, I need her back" and like, proving himself to her and making up for his bullshit that ruined the marriage. He spoils her to. In every way.

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean. Another book-long grovel, but the rare grovel where he's actually groveling for cheating on her. These two went through SO much pain. It was so bad. And he has to really spend the entire book trying to show her that he loves her and has changed. It's so great.

The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe. AMAZING grovel. Like, I always refer to this one as the one where he leaves treats on her doorstep (like, a 5 star meal, I think he whittles her something at one point lmao) and then attempts this big "WHAT ELSE IS THERE???" moment because like... a grovel is not LEARNING which is always a great realization moment. And when she rejects him in full. My God. It's so good. Him just falling apart. I wanna eat it up. Nom nom nom, I am a dog and I am happily rolling around in mud right now.

The Hawk by Monica McCarty. This is one where he kind of has to make a grand gesture, and it's kind of insane, but it's also great. And I deeply appreciate that, lol. Like, he really didn't have to go that big with the gesture (or DID he). (He did.)

Paranormal

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. LMAO. AND DOES HE EVER HAVE TO. Lothaire has to realize that he is nothing without her (sadly smelling her lingerie for comfort, unable to even kiss another woman when he tries to force himself to do it) and he has to face his greatest fear in a grand gesture, and he has to give her this entire pathetic love confession (and he's losing his shit so he says it in Russian and she doesn't understand but it's so gorgeous anyway).

[aboxthecolourofheartache]

20 questions for fic writers meme, tagged by @chubsthehamster -- thank you, friend! :D

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

42 at the moment

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

269,795. Almost half of that is one fic though, lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently most active in Trigun, perennially/intermittently active in Nirvana in Fire, currently dormant in CritRole, and hiatus in Sandman. Interests wax and wane! And who knows what I'll discover next? Not me, that's for sure.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Mate, I write mostly gen fic. I'm not here for the numbers. A kudos means that a whole human being with thoughts of their own spent some of their precious moments on God's green earth reading my thoughts and kinda liked 'em.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! ...........eventually. sometimes several years later. And why? I dunno, it just feels polite? Also human connection, even digital. That's a thing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Inference, but that's just because of the canonical main character death. Visitation Hours is bleak in implication, not in actual ending. My definition of "angst" does not always align with readers' definitions of "angst," which can be hilarious for me when I get weepy reactions on something I thought was relatively lighthearted.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I do 'equivocal' better than 'happy,' I think? The goal is emotional resolution or emotional discordance. Happy's incidental, which almost certainly means I don't write a lot of happy endings by the standard measure.

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Not hate so much as people who are belligerently confused? I get some bonkers fucking comments and anons sometimes, which I delete, a smattering of entitled weirdos, and a sprinkle of (typically unintentionally) back-handed compliments.

9. Do you write smut?

Nope! Suggestive, sure. Dirty language, if relevant. Implication, when called-for. Smut? Nope.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have written a short series of crossovers between Machineries of Empire and Nirvana in Fire. Haven't written any since, but they're not off the table.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yup! More plagiarism than theft in entirety, though. At least once had someone lift a whole scene, dialogue, phrasing and all, and claim it as their own with obvious intent to get mileage without credit. And I have happened upon recognizable lines from my fics in other fics enough times to have several nickles. I get miffed about the latter, but the charitable assumption is just that it was a phrase fresh in their minds/recalled without association.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Into Russian, I think? Godspeed, fanfic translators, the strongest of us all.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've co-written original stuff before, but I don't think I could ever do it again, original or fanfic. Not that it wasn't a pleasant experience at the time!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I don't have a favorite ship, but I do have a favorite dynamic, which is the mutual "you're the only motherfucker in this club who can handle me" a la that one Lorde tweet. The buckwildness has to be compatible, preferably complimentary. We're not talking enabling, though that can be part of it. It doesn't even have to be a ship. That grok/trust combination.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

Look, I don't know what WIPs are going to get finished until I post them, okay?

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like character studies! And I feel like I am getting better at limited points of view, though they keep wanting to slide omniscient.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Same-hatting with @chubsthehamster here: plot. What the characters are doing in any given story is largely just to break up the dialogue and introspection. Things happening? They don't, sorry. Gotta work on this.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

For straight dialogue in another language, it's still dialogue, and it still has to serve the story, so if it makes more sense to drop it untranslated, drop it untranslated. If the reader needs to know what's being said, italics or paraphrase.

For mixed languages, it's totally situational and depends on the character, too. Did they just get back from an exchange program in France and they're insufferable about it? Are they a very new second language speaker? Are they an expat? A bilingual parent who wants their child to grow up speaking one language preferentially? An academic, or someone who learned their whole vocabulary based on a single vocation (ie: a doctor who can get by using Spanish in a medical scenario but not outside the clinic)? All of that is going to influence their speech pattern.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Nirvana in Fire!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Just as interests wax and wane, I like some fics more and some less, and today's favorite could be tomorrow's cringe.

Please consider yourself tagged if you see this and would like to play! @ me, if you like!

[oddball-artz]

OMG YOU HAVE SPOONS!!!!!! YIPPIE!!!! (probably bc you got a good night's sleep)

And if you know me at all, be prepared for the sea of questions>:]

1) Go into detail about Dalia and Sabrina and their family in the second Gen au. Any Hcs or stuff?

2) Nyx and his relationship with his family.

3) (idk if it was onyx or nyx who had the ED, I forgor their names are so similar).Go into detail Abt thier ED, tho.

4) For the love of God drop Hcs till I die, I don't care for who, I just NEED them.

And, if you have spoons don't be afraid to look in your inbox for any other asks I may have sent/nf (bc both me and you forget about the asks tbh)

And as always, ily platonically, man :333

It is not the sleep, I don't need sleep, idk what it was if it wasn't the sleep, but im not being proven wrong /j

I've only got a couple, and they're pretty Dalia centric, but you can have em

Dalia picked up a bunch of tips and tricks for dealing with kids both from helping raise her siblings and from treating kids as a nurse, uses them all the time, her personal favorite thay she's picked up is doubling bedsheets when kids are sick so that if they get dirty you can just take it off and make it a later problem while you comfort said sick child. Dalia is also very sentimental as a parent, cries at every ceremony and graduation. Sometimes she'll say something that sounds like her mother and she goes quiet for a while after that. I have a feeling that Sabrina and Dalia's house tends to be the designated 'safe house' for Vee and Jasper's friends. Dalia's actually kind of happy about this, in her mind it's confirmation that she's not her mother. (This may or may not be based on the fact that my house irl is the safehouse). All I have rn, sorry

Next up Nyx, my boy. He feels like a walking second place trophy compared to all his siblings. Brushes it off in an Rottmnt Leo sort of way, through humor and a facade of confidence. Desperately wants anyone to be proud of him. Takes his little siblings out crimeing™️ together sometimes, and is like the number one supporter of their shenanigans. Let's them steal his shit, as long as they don't get caught(bc he taught them better than that). The only thing he'd put up a fight against having stolen is his binder, but that's about it.

Oh and Onyx is the one with an ED, she has anorexia specifically. It started with her just trying to lose weight, she's fairly light, but her frame is wide, so she didn't see any results and things got drastic from there, especially when people started making fun of her for her body. She's super sensitive to comments about her body, and the bullying just made it so much worse. She hates looking at herself, in mirrors, in pictures, anything. It's like her eyes pick out the flaws every time and she can't stand it. So she's trying to 'fix' herself, much to the worry of the people around her. She eats in the dream bubbles, but that's only because she knows that it isn't real. Harlow noticed this and has started sneaking food into the dream bubbles just so Onyx eats for once. Onyx still hasn't caught onto this.

And various hcs about the sillies

Onyx spins her drumsticks between her fingers when she's bored, she can do it really fast too

Nyx's hoodie he wears in his sprite is his dysphoria hoodie

Gray has a lot of little interests she keeps hidden. They tend to be niche and geeky, so she hides them to protect her image

Nyx can project his voice loud enough to yell over the band

Onyx is only ever quiet when she's flustered or thinking about somthing, other than that there's usually at least a dull chatter coming from her

Onyx is very physically affectionate, she straight up tackle hugs people.

Gray was a pageant kid,and his parents were very competitive about it. They still have all their sashes from it too

Onyx doesn't fight for herself, but if you say something bad about someone she cares about that's when she starts a fight. Starting fights like that is what got her thrown through a window that one time

Onyx is the one who started calling Alison peepaw, and it just stuck after that

When Alison sleeps she doesn't snore, she shuffles through radio channels under her breath, kind of like sleeptalking

Speaking of Alison, he's insecure about the radio affect his voice has

Alison is very protective of the kids she's 'adopted' (usually underclassmen, but they've also taken most of the radio class under their wing)

[moongothic]

A relatively quick and quite experimental crochet project to kiiinda start the year off; a crochet bag from scrap yarns! (And other scrap materials now that I think about it)

So I had some yarn left over from my blanket of darkness (I can't believe the rounds that post is making, what on earth), one untouched ball of black yarn and then three balls of yarn I had used misc amounts of. I knew right away there wouldn't be much yarn there for any big project, I did kinda considder just making myself a simple scarf but right now I'm actually in the middle of knitting four scarves to give out to family on Christmas* so between the reality that I probably wouldn't wear a striped scarf in these particular colors and me having enough scarf projects to do anyways... yeah, the idea wasn't particularly appealing

*(GOTTA GET STARTED EARLY, also it's the misc yarn I bought when our yarn shop was shutting down, the stuff I have no idea what to do with. Currently on Scarf 2, I'll probably share photos when all four are done. Eventually. Knitting is slow. So slow I had to do a crochet project between the first two scarfs because I was losing my marbles.)

Now I have Instagram so I can post art there once every six months, I'd hardly considder myself like an Insta user, but sometimes it is kind of nice to browse the things Insta reccomends because there are some lovely things posted on there. A while back, this post of these crochet bags got reccomended to me and they have been haunting me ever since. Like look at them, they're really pretty. And yeah, when I was wondering what I could do with these scrap yarns in particular... The idea of trying to make a bag seemed really fun

And specifically, making a crochet bag with a lining on it, so it'd be like, actually kind of usable. I've never made a bag, not a crochet one nor a sewn one, and I didn't want to up any tutorials or help on how to make a lined crochet bag either, I wanted to just wing it and figure it out by myself (for better or worse) (mostly worse)

So I started the project by just making the actual crochet part of it

This whole thing involved a lot of math, trial and error to figure out the Max Size of the bag I could make (also I wanted to a round bag for some god forsaken reason) with the yarn I had. I didn't have too much of this specific yarn, and I didn't want to buy any more, just use what I already had.

At the time I thought it'd be a good idea to make the "backside" of the bag a plain black, since not only the largest amount of yarn I had was black, but also because it'd be the "inside facing side" that you'd theoretically never see if I wore the bag. In hindsight I regret that decision but we'll get back to that later

I did try out a few different color layouts, tested how many stripes of what colors I could do with the yarn I had (again, math), for some reason this was the one I liked the most though (don't ask me what the numbers mean I can't remember anymore) (something about the stitches/rounds), though I did add one more round since I had just enough yarn for it

But, here is how my pieces turned out. At this point, I had no yellow yarn left and only a Very Very Small Amount of white and black, not enough to do any more rounds or make the bag or the bottom piece bigger/longer, but just enough for some sewing later on

But, with the pieces completed, it was time for me to do the lining

I've had this black fabric for years now, I got it for some project that I never actually did so it had been just sitting around, collecting dust for years, so I'm glad I finally got around to using it.

I laid it down, put the crochet pieces on top, traced them and cut 'em ✂️✨ Followed by sewing them together, a process I did not bother to take photos of because it wasn't particularly interesting.

((Also I had to take a massive break at one point because I realized I really actually needed my mom's serger but that thing was covered in decades worth of tobacco, dust and grime so it needed to be cleaned bad. There was no way in hell I was putting my fabric pieces on that filthy thing. (Also I've never used a serger before so I had to look up tutorials how to use it jdfhjkdfg)))

Once I had put the lining together I washed it (just to get any excess dust and cat hair off it) and ironed it ✨

It looks like an absolute mess, lmao, you can tell I don't do sewing (it almost looks like a tulip... And man, a tulip shaped bag could be super cute...)

But it's fine, because this lining's getting covered in crochet pieces >:)c So ain't nobody gonna see the wonky sewing once it's done! (Also to be fair, big part of the reason it looks horrendous here is because the fabric itself was like, quite floppy. Like there's nothing to hold it up and keep its structure and shape at this point)

Now, one important thing needs to be addressed here. Although at the time I thought this was the best way for me to make the bag, in hindsight I know I should've done the opposite.

I thought it'd be easier for me to first sew the fabric together and then sew the crochet pieces on top, mainly because I believed it'd be harder for me to try to do sewing if the fabric pieces also had the crochet pieces attached to them. Like they'd add bulk to the fabric and increase the risk of me sewing over the crochet and somehow damaging the crochet and/or my sewing machine (or something, I dunno).

And while in theory that might be true, I now know that I would've gotten a much nicer, cleaner looking bag if I had sewed the crochet pieces onto this fabric first, because then I would've been able to add an extra inner lining. You'll see why that would've been prettier a bit later

I just want to point this out because while the way I made the bag works just fine for me, it's not the ideal way to do it, it's not the smartest nor the prettiest way to do it, and I can't reccomend it to anyone. Just wanted to give out this disclaimer, do as I say, not as I do lmao

Anyway, with the lining done, I started working on attaching the crochet onto the fabric with the bottom piece, first pinning it down and then hand sewing it onto the fabric.

Then I did the side pieces. I was careful to start from the middle of each crochet piece, slowly moving outwards to the edges as I was attaching the pieces, leaving the edges unsewn for now...

...because next, I wanted to sew the crochet pieces together. The crochet had more stretch to it, so I figured first sewing them together and then attaching the edges of the crochet to the lining would result in a cleaner look.

Sadly I didn't have much/any yarn left to so I couldn't crochet the crochet pieces together, somekinda slipstitch would've looked much cleaner and prettier, but with the little yarn I had left I didn't want to risk running out in the middle and having to unravel it or something.

So yeah, not particularly pretty, but it worked. And with that done, it was time for me to add a strap to the bag, before I'd go finish sewing the crochet pieces onto the fabric! You'll see why I did this now!

So I had some random ass, thin, black yarn leftover from... something, so I figured I could use some of that up and I did! I made tiny crochet straps and slipped small metal rings (from my mom's hoard) on them, and sewed them onto the bag

Specifically sewed them onto the fabric, didn't want them to be visible on top of the crochet lining (which is why the edges around the bag's opening were still unsewn at this point)

And in the spirit of using things I already had, I have these two straps from one of my old goth pants (though they're actually shorts now). And they just happened to be like, the perfect lenght for an over-the-shoulder bag

No the metals don't match but beggars can't be choosers and it's fiiiiiiine. What matters is that I got a free bag strap without having to make one >:)c

One last thing I did was add some buttons to the bag to hold it closed. I wasn't originally going to add anything but when I tried the bag on, I realized it was just a little too floppy on the opening. I didn't want to try to figure out how to add a zipper or anything, so I grabbed these ancient buttons (from my mom's hoard) and sewed three of them onto the bag, so it holds its shape better

Finished sewing crochet pieces onto the fabric and finished up the very very outer edges as well, and the bag was pretty much done!

Indeed. The inside looks like ass. Although it's mainly just the white yarn that I used, since I didn't want the sewing to be too obvious on the outside I tried to match the thread I used for the sewing to the part of the crochet I was attaching. If I had an inner lining, the inside would look much nicer since all of this would be hidden underneath it, but at this point there was no way in hell I was going to rip these pieces apart just to add a lining, nah, it's fine, it's good enough for me and good enough for my first bag. But yeah, if you want to make a bag, learn from my mistake here

But, with all that done, the bag was done!

And yeah, here you can see why I regret doing the colors the way I did. More specifically, I regret making the bottom white. Like, I thought it would look cool and interesting, and I thought it'd be a waste of the white yarn to use it on "the backside" (the side noone would ever see), and I didn't have enough yarn to make the bag symmetrical on both sides (at least not without severely down playing the part of the yellow yarn in the design).

But in the end, because the bag doesn't hold its shape SUPER WELL, it makes the bottom piece more visible than I expected it to be. Like sewing on the crochet parts did add some structure to it, but it doesn't hold the tin cookie jar shape the way I had hoped it would. So the bottom is much more prominent because of that, and because the bottom part has like, some interest to it with the contrasting colors and whatever, it draws in the eye even more. Like, I really should've just made the bottom piece pure black and used whatever leftover yarns I had to make the backside of the bag.

But, it is what it is. I've made my mistake and now I get to learn from them!

In anycase, here is the bag, despite looking like an absolute mess and not turning out the way I had hoped it would, it still turned out pretty cute.

SHEER COINCIDENCE, I realized that I had this ancient little extra pocket thing (possibly from the same old goth pants as the strap, though I'm not sure, I can't remember) which just HAPPENED to be the exact same size/width as the bag. Like, I did not plan for that at all, but it's the perfect size, so I can straight up just keep the pocket on this bag and use it as an extra, separate compartment if I need one. Lmao, what are the odds

Also the strap from my old pants really is like the perfect lenght for this bag (/me, since I'm short, and it's not adjustable or anything)

Weirdest thing about this project is that it hasn't made me want to make more crochet bags, but it did make me want to learn to do embroidery so I could make custom embroidered bags jkdfhjahgfdg

(Disclaimer, the yarn part of the bag is 100% wool, I don't want to have to deal with washing it, and I don't want to get it dirty, so realistically, I am never going to wear this bag outside dfjghsdjfgh)

[3llisarts]

Oc interview

I was tagged by @noodlecupcakes < 3 ty!! And I tag @disney-dreams-25

Rhys Thompson - Transformers OC

Name: "Rhys Thompson, but don't go telling anyone else that-"

Nickname: "Depends on who you ask, Wraith calls me Little Spider and Dylan usually calls me Rhy' or Baby."

Gender: "Female."

Star Sign: "What's that again? Gemini- i think."

Moral alignment/personality: "Chaotic Evil."

Height: "5'5"- but don't even think about starting with the height jokes-"

Sexual Orientation: "Straight."

Nationality/Ethnicity: "American. You seem trustworthy enough, like I said, don't go tellin' anyone any of this."

Fave fruit: "Strawberries, though watermelon is a close second."

Favorite season: "Summer. It reminds me of bein' back home in Vegas. Miss that place, you know."

Fave Flower: "Roses, as fucking cheesy as that sounds. They're prickly but so beautiful."

Fave Scent: "If i'd have to choose, it'd be a tie between gun smoke and fresh rain."

Coffee, tea, or HC: "Not much of a coffee or a tea woman- I'll take a Monster or one of those canned Cold Brews any day, though- much as Dylan's trying to get me out of that habit."

Average Hours of Sleep: "That depends on if I'm on a hit or not. On a hit, four to five. But if i'm back home with Dylan? Five to six, sometimes seven."

Dog or Cat Person: "I haven't had a pet since Nitor... well, if you wanna consider a lion like Cybertronian a pet anyways. But to answer that? I'd say a dog. There's something admirable about their loyalty and... I don't see myself having another feline, after my old friend."

Dream Trip: "Anywhere warm, really. But specifically? Aruba."

Favorite Fictional Character/Real Person: "I don't have a lot of close people- 'friends' if you will, but i'd have to say, Wraith- my mentor- or my boyfriend, Dylan."

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: "Four to five, I hate how cold it gets here in Chicago during the winter-."

RANDOM FACT: "I always wanted tattoos- But I never had the time- and then there's also the stupid fear of needles."

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

Orion Barys - Far Cry 5 OC

Name: "Orion Barys~ Though if ye want, Officer Barys."

Nickname: "Ah got a lotta those- but some a tha' honorable mentions include darlin', love, and 'course, Officer."

Gender: "Male."

Star Sign: "I'm a Virgo!"

Moral Alignment/personality: "Ah would have to say... chaotic good."

Height: "6'1."

Sexual Orientation: "Originally, ah thought ah was bi, but later came to realize, ah am gay~."

Nationality/Ethnicity: "'Merican."

Fave Fruit: "Apples! Specifically red, but ah ain't picky."

Fave Season: "Winter. There's somethin' so peaceful, wit' tha way tha snow comes down and covers everything. Ah love it, though summar is also nice."

Favorite Flower: "Sunflowers!"

Fave Scent: "Either campfire smoke or burnt rubber."

Coffee, tea, or HC: "Ah like black coffee, preferably that extra strong brew ye sip on during long ass nights."

Average Hours of Sleep: "Seven to eight most nights, though if i'm busy, six to seven."

Dog or Cat Person: "Both, actually! Ah got mah Bear and Ozzie, ah love em to death. Ah also have a guinea, 'er name's Snickers~."

Dream Trip: "Ah always wanted to go down to Daytona~ never seen one a them races in person. Though now? Ah wouldn't mind a trip to tha' Whitetail Mountains."

Favorite Fictional Character/Real Person: "Mm. Ah would probably say somethin' 'long tha' lines a John Wick, or one a tha' Fast an' Furious crew."

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: "One~ Ah usually run hot, an' ah don't like wakin' up all sweaty tha' next mornin'."

RANDOM FACT: "Ah recently retired from tha' FBI, 'fore I came out here to Hope County."

[lariaz]

Trying to sneakily start a questions chain so we can all get to know each-other a bit better in the F1blr univers

Name (or what you want to be called on tumblr)

Where are you from?

Where do you live?

Any pets?

Favorite driver(s) currently on the grid, and why?

Favorite driver(s) not currently on the grid and why?

Favorite romantic driver pairing(s) (e.g. Maxiel, Carlando)

Driver you’re most attracted to physically

Driver whose personality you like best

Favorite driver friendship(s)

Favorite team principal

Favorite team

Least favorite team, if any

Driver(s) you dislike, if any

If you’re a fic writer: if you could only write about one f1 pairing for the rest of your life who are you choosing?

Please send this to 10 (or more!) other F1 tumblr users that you love and want to get to know better 🫶💜

Oh, nice, thanks Jo! 🥰

Laura, but mainly Laria online, which is a combination of my first and middle name.

Spain.

Medium sized city in the south-west of Spain with my sister.

Not really, but my parents have dogs and cats in the bit of farmland they own and I consider them a little bit mine.

Fernando will always be my one true love, he's the reason I first got into F1 in the first place. Always liked Carlos too for obvious reasons (Spanish, duh?) but since I properly got into F1 this season (aka it completely took over my life), I became a huge fan of his too, as well as Lando and Max. I don't mind and support many others but these ones I'm always rooting for.

Idk probably Shumi or Kimi? I'm not the most nostalgic about past drivers but I'm a bit of a Ferrari fan (I know, tragic) and both of them are leyends.

Carlando will always be my number one but I'm truly a multishiper at heart and I really love a lot of different ships, Lestappen, Maxiel, Charlos, Landoscar, Norstappen...and don't even get me started on poly ships 🫣

At this moment in time Lando all the way, closely followed by Charles and Carlos (I know, I'm basic af). Also really like Max too, even though I used to not find him attractive at all.

I find this one hard as we can only know so much and sometimes the lines between their real persona and them as fanfic characters get a bit blurry but I would say Fernando, Lando and Max maybe? Mainly because I think they're the most genuine ones.

Definitely Carlos and Lando, their friendship makes me so soft, I love them! I also really like Max and Daniel and Alex and George.

The only ones I feel I really know and have a formed opinion on are Christian and Toto and between them I have to pick Christian, he's so bitchy and passive aggressive. I can't stand him, I love him.

Ferrari, unfortunately. But I've always had a soft spot for Mclaren as well. I know, kinda contradictory teams but here we are.

I'm kinda always against Mercedes, don't ask me why cause I don't really know, I just really love to hate them sometimes. Also, Alpine, idk, they're french and treated Nando bad so fuck 'em.

I have a few drivers I like to root against but dislike is maybe too much? Idk maybe Checo or Hulk because of sexist comments they've made, or maybe Pierre, he just gives me the ick sometimes.

Wow, this was fun! and long too! Hope someone finds this interesting, thanks again for the tag @jolandax13 🧡❤️

[deviliciousdev]

MBTI✨Emotionally Blind as a Bat🦇

(follow up to A Small World)

intj (the architect)

x

enfp(the campaigner)

couple

+

intp (the logician)

best friend

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

[monday, midday. intj & intp re-painting intj's private office space]

intj: *takes a deep breath* intp. do you have to paint genitalia all over a wall before you paint it?

intp: *gasps* it's not ALL genitalia, that ones a UFO 🛸!

intj: [looks at giant odd shape below UFO] what is that suppose to be? a malformed penis with... teeth? 🧐

intp: what?! it's a Carnotaurus 🦖! A theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period resembling a tyrannosaurus with a frontal cranial horn. [looks at art work that looks like a five year old did it] rawr.

intj: *camera looks*

[office door opens, enfp enters with coffee]

enfp: heyyyy 😁

intp: [not looking up, splattering paint on wall like a three year old] ollo!

intj: *glaring at intp as enfp comes up and kisses them on the cheek* hey, [grabs coffee] oh thanks i really needed some caffeine.🙏

enfp: mmhmm 🥰 [looks over at intp's chaotic horrible drawings] oh my god what the hell is that? a vagina with horns and... claws??

intj: [laughs] 😄

intp: [rolls eyes] 🙄 ugh! it's a Carnotaurus! you two and your dirty minds bunch of perverts. [shakes head]

enfp: [hands intp their iced coffee]

intp: oo! thanks! [keeps splatter painting]

enfp: no worries 😌 [points to drawing above intp's head] what's that one? a flower? 🌹

intp: huh? oh that's a vagina.

enfp: [looks at intj with a smile]

intj: [closes eyes and shakes head]

enfp: [goes and sits on plastic tarp covered desk and crosses legs] soooo intp, someone really liked you on saturday night 😁

intp: oh god, how?! it was so awkward between me and esfj. 😣

intj: [starts laughing] when they put the healing crystal around your neck and started explaining how essential oils are more effective than vaccines [dying laughing] you can't buy that kind of entertainment. 🤣

enfp: [chewing on straw laughing too] the way your eye started twitching 😂

intp: HOW IS PEPPERMINT OIL GOING TO PROTECT YOU FROM POLIO! I- *takes a deep breath* nope nope nope, not worth it, intellectually deficient minds *takes another deep breath* are not worth the energy. [starts painting normally]

intj: yeah that was uh ahaha really terrible ahhh [starts painting with roller]

intp: [turns toward enfp] exactly thank you so how could esfj possibly want anything more?

enfp: oh no esfj actually went home that night with estp.

[at the same time]

intj: what?!

intp: what?!

enfp: *giggling* i know right i was whattt okkkkuuurr ahaha!

intp: wait then who are you talking about?

enfp: oh entj! obviously, aha!

intp: [silent panic triggered by human emotions sets in] entj... really?

enfp: ummm yeah it was pretty obvious they were super into you. 😄

intp: it was?? [actually confused]

enfp: ummm yeah! they were flirting with you so hard! are you kidding? how did you not get that??

intp: i don't know!? i just thought they were being friendly and joking around!

enfp: [utterly stunned at intp's emotional blindness] 😦 intp. entj ate the cherry out of your drink while maintaining full eye contact...

intp: i just thought they really liked cherries!

intj: [laughing, shaking their head]😆

enfp: they tied the cherry stem in their mouth and gave it to you!

intp: i once saw a drunk frat boy eat a cheeseburger out of the garbage! you never know what effects alcohol will have on the brain!

enfp: ohhh myyy godddd intppppp!

intj: [crossed arms, laughing hard, shoulders bouncing up and down]

enfp: they gave you their phone number! AND asked for yours!

intp: i thought they were being polite! i don't know i didn't want to assume anything!

enfp: [face palms] 🤦 oh my god. *takes a deep breath* well annnyyywayyy, entj really liked you. 😁 they told me they're gonna text you asking to grab coffee with them this week. [raises eyebrows in an enticing manner as they sip their iced-tea]

intp: 😳 [more panic sets in] wha- what- why- why would they do that?

enfp: because they like youuuuu...

intp: why?

intj: *laughs* [teasingly] yeah why?

enfp: [gives intj a death glare] you shush! intp you have so many great attributes why wouldn't someone want to go out with you?!

intp: no i know. i mean what do they like about me. i need at least some evidence to back up this claim of "liking me".

intj: [painting] Error 404 Not Found. [snorts holding in a laugh]

enfp: [throws unopened pack of soft paint roller rolls at intj] look intp, if you wanna know that you're just gonna have to go to coffee with them and ask em yourself 😏 [sips tea ☕️]

intp: 😳 [looks back and forth in indecisiveness] coffee? are you sure they didn't just mean like as friends?

enfp: ugh! intp! entj said and i quote: "i'm gonna text intp and ask them out, what'dya think lil coffee date"?

intp: oh...

enfp: what's the problem? do you not like them or something?

intp: [without skipping a beat] no! um i mean i don't dislike them. i mean i don't know them!

enfp: that's sort of the point of going on a date. but you did like them when we hung out on saturday night right?

intp: i found their opinions and persona- um intelligent, humorous and... refreshing.

enfp: and hot, right? [raises eyebrows]

intp: well, duh, i'm not blind!

enfp: [laughs a little as intj walks next to them to organize paint tools] soooo?

intp: soooo??

enfp: are you gonna say yes?! 😆

intp: umm... i don't know, i'm not really good at nor fond of the whole interrogation ordeal that accompanies first dates. it always feels like i'm on a really boring but difficult gameshow.

enfp: [wraps arm around intj's waist] ughhh c'mon intp!

intj: [fake coughs] coward!

intp: [gives intj furrowed brow] 😠 wha-?!

intj: oh sorry i said, coward.

intp: how-?!

intj: [cuts intp off] you're using this weak theory about the awkwardness of first dates, which most people feel, you're not special, to justify the fact that you are just nervous to go on a date with entj, because you're not only physically attracted to them, but you also have a genuine emotional connection with them, which you preceive as being illogical due to the brief time you've spent with them, and you're confused about having human feelings for someone for the first time in a long time and you're afraid you're going to fail or mess it up in someway, so you make excuses to avoid the whole illogical and messy ordeal all together.

intp: 😐

intj: and in some ways, or most ways i suppose, i completely understand that. [looks at enfp] but, i've learned that sometimes you have to stop being a coward and jump in the mess and see what turns up.

enfp: awww 🥰 [hugs intj tight with one arm around their waist]

intj: 🙄😏 [puts arm around enfp's shoulders]

enfp: plus you'd be a total idiot not to go out with someone as hot as entj.

intp: [taps finger on chin with squinty eyes] you're absolutely right enfp!

intj: [throws arms in air] 🙄

enfp: yes!

[apiarymusic]

Okay, seeing A LOT of dumb takes regarding Roe V. Wade. Let's go through some of them.

TRIGGER WARNING: Abortion, mentions of rape, mentions of infertility, adoption, also biology so avoid if you don't want to learn anything.

*"If YoU cOuLdN't HaVe KiDs YoU'd ReAliSe ThAt LiFe Is SaCrEd!".

Hate to break it to you, but I've had 4 miscarriages, am so sub-fertile I'm almost in the infertile health classification.

I still think that abortions, contraception and morning after pills should be taken if the girl or woman wants them. Fuck it, hand 'em out like Smarties. While we're at it, if life is sacred, what about the girl's/woman's life? Isn't doing what is best for her part of this "sacred duty" bullshit you're spouting in order to force people to carry babies they don't want?

*"Pregnancy is a GiFt fRoM gOd"?

Sometimes people get gifts they don't want, you keep every bit of tat people dump on you? No? Then jog on. God's a big boy, he doesn't need you to stand up for him.

*"BuT tHe BiBlE sAyS..."

The biblical defence doesn't actually work here, partly because modern Christianity, particularly American Christianity, has actively twisted the information available in it, removing a huge amount of info from the original Aramaic and Greek readings.

The bible tells you how to and when to perform an abortion. You've arbitrarily decided that only God should take a life but the events in the bible itself actively show that he's pretty much okay with us offing each other.

*"ThInK AbOuT tHe ChiLdReN!!"

I am, are you? I'm not even going to waste my time explaining that almost everything aborted isn't a child, isn't functional and will not survive if removed. Not going into this "but it has a heartbeat under a microscope" idiocy because most do not. If I put skin cells under a fucking lens they have a beat.

I'm gonna frame it differently. Every little girl who needs an abortion because of some form of statutory rape, whether by a stranger, a family friend or a family member, is a child. They're not old enough or mature enough to make decisions about their own life but you want their lives to be either ruined or forfeit because you want there to be no abortions control over others. I'm not surprised. You don't give a shit about children once they're born so you certainly aren't going to care about a 9 year old who had to travel out of Texas state to get an abortion because her father raped her (there's so many testimonies like this, it's not rare).

*"BuT tHeY CaN jUsT PuT tHeM uP fOr AdOpTion?"

Actually, no. Dependent on state laws, ability to safely raise a child and spaces in the adoption systems they may not be able to 'just' put a baby up for adoption. Let's say they can though, what happens to the baby then? There is a huge disparity between numbers of people looking to adopt and children who need a family.

In Alabama alone the average wait in the foster and adopt system is 3.6 years (data courtesy of childwelfaresparc.org). Once a child hits 4 years old they are seen as an older adoptee. Their chance of adoption plummets significantly year on year, ultimately meaning that once they hit 8/9 years old their chance of getting adopted is a dismal 15%, the remaining 85% age out of the system - no family, no home and few options for their lives.

Numbers-wise, that means for every family looking to adopt a child there are 5 or more children still needing a family. You gonna step up and adopt these kids? I kinda hope not because if you're against other people's right's and autonomy so you use abortion as a weapon to control them, I cannot imagine you seeing children as people rather than property.

Imagine being that child - you're trapped, unwanted, unknowing for your entire life. Let's say you find out that your birth mother had wanted to abort you but was forced to carry you. Maybe she died from the pregnancy, maybe it destroyed her relationships, her chance at putting food on the table, her childhood or sense of being a person in her own right - the reason doesn't matter. Leaving you in the adoption centre or a selection of foster homes. None of which want you. THERE IS A REASON WE OFFER LIFELONG COUNSELLING TO ADOPTED, FOSTERED OR AGED-OUT PEOPLE.

*"PrEgNaNcY Is A NaTuRaL StAtE FoR WoMeN, ThEy ShOuLd JuSt HaVe ThE BaBy"

That's fucking stupid. A woman's natural state is to NOT be pregnant, pregnancy is meant to be an occasional and relatively rare condition for a woman due to it's risks and difficulties. Think something natural can't harm? Then you're a moron who's never heard of lead but might have drank a fair bit of it.

Humans have rather odd procreation. The womb is the most hostile environment for cells on this planet. This is intentional, to ensure strong cells survive and, hopefully, make better evolved offspring, carrying whatever is useful on and adding to it.

In a straightforward pregnancy in order to survive the womb, an ovum (the woman's egg) is released into the fallopian tubes. These run from the ovaries to the uterus (womb). Most ovum are fertilised by the man's gametes (sperm) IN the fallopian tubes and then carry down to the uterus. From there, the cells mingle and start to divide, becoming a BLASTOCYST. Y'know, like most cells move to as they change, including for certain diseases.

As the blastocyst develops it basically makes a dint in one side of the little round cell structure (at this point, an electromagnifying device is required to see it in a lab, it cannot be seen directly in the womb for at least six weeks) and has a crescent moon shape, a divide inside it's walls. The larger section does, over many weeks, become a placenta, the smaller section is eventually going to be an embryo. Between 5-12 days later it has started to wire in to the mothers nervous system and blood system, which is why foetus cells are often found in the organs and brains of women who have died while pregnant or during childbirth.

Up until 6 weeks minimum, chance of miscarriage is extremely high. Early miscarriage occurs in 1 out of every 5 wanted pregnancies (data on unwanted or forced pregnancy is too limited), most often because of GENETIC INCOMPATIBILITIES WITHIN THE EMBRYO. Doesn't matter if you've had kids with this particular person before, it is still a common occurrence. Other causes can include toxic womb (where the womb lining is toxic to the embryo), illness and stress in the carrier, and many other reasons including lack of healthy food and lack of time to cook due to work and family demands.

The body avoids pregnancy to ensure it's survival, allowing for possible pregnancy when the woman is in a better position to carry AND EVEN THEN it's not a given.

"WoMeN ShOuLd TaKe ReSpOnSiBiLiTy For HaViNg UnProTeCtEd SeX, ThEy CaN'T JuSt BlAmE ThE MeN"

Oddly enough, women haven't been blaming men for this attack on them and the fact you bring it up speaks volumes about you. If someone doesn't use a condom during sex then...then they did something stupid and should go get checked out for diseases and take a morning after pill if female. Not punished for it, humans make mistakes. But seeing as you brought it up, here's some fun info:

Almost every pregnant teen has been impregnated by a man over the age 25 (making them victims of rape, for those of you slow to keep up)

Men are less likely to get the burden of looking after their child as judges presume that women should look after children HOWEVER when men appeal these rulings, even if abuse from the male is a factor, they have an approx. 85% of gaining some form of custody

Rapists can sue their victims for access to the baby in 50 American States

Consent to sex isn't consent to pregnancy

If your idea of "Responsibility" is to force a woman to look after a pregnancy and child, with the huge costs involved, even though she doesn't want it or can't keep it then you're using pregnancy to punish women for having bodies and lives of their own. This goes extra if you don't FORCE MEN to take responsibility and cover costs, including medical and demand that he must absolutely stand by the woman carrying a child that they both created BECAUSE HE WASN'T USING CONTRACEPTION EITHER. Gotta be a little fair, right?

Let's be honest, this isn't really about kids, babies or whatnot, it's about power and control, criminalizing half of the American populace and therefore preventing them from voting, whilst denying their personhood.

[supernaturalnovelsandmore]

Supernatural Novel: The Unholy Cause

Welcome to my review of the fifth Supernatural novel, The Unholy Cause

Author: Joe Schreiber

Timeline: Set after Episode 5.08 Changing Channels but before Episode 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon

Location: Mission's Ridge, Georgia

Synopsis: As the pressure mounts for the upcoming apocalypse, Sam and Dean head to the historic town of Mission's Ridge, GA, where the Civil War is less about the past and more about the present. With interference from Castiel, demons, and Judas Iscariot himself, how can Sam and Dean prevent a major catastrophe from befalling this small town?

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Warning: Spoilers abound!

After the last book, I was really hoping to see an improvement in this one, and boy did I! I've finally hit the Supernatural tie-in novel I was hoping to read from the beginning! It read like an actual episode, I could hear the actors speaking through the character's words, and I really couldn't find anything that contradicted canon.

In addition, the actual storyline was compelling and the side characters interesting. With the other novels I've reviewed, it's taken me most of the day to read them because I kept getting distracted. This one, I read straight through without stopping. I love reading a book like that!

Side note: This novel does dive in to Christian theology and the story of Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus). If you are uncomfortable delving into that portion of Christianity, you may not want to read the book or this review (though my review notes about that will be minimal).

Now, since I don't have any canon vs. non-canon comparisons to make, today's review is simply going to be a list of my favorite scenes and how certain scenes relate to what's going on during this period in Season 5.

Cameo!

Sam and Dean are informed of the case by one Rufus Turner! He's only in it for a brief bit, but he's still funny as heck asking the police to pay his dry-cleaning bill.

We get a nice character introduction of enigmatic (clueless) Castiel who's trying to heal Civil War reenactors who are understandably frightened of him. He's still searching for God at this point, but we also get this nice character beat for him:

"I walked the battlefields of the South a hundred and sixty years ago," Castiel replied, a faraway look entering his eyes. "I moved among the men and brought their souls to glory. And now..." Something moved over his face for just an instant, so rare and brief that Dean almost didn't catch it; a flicker of hope. "And now," he repeated, "I'm healing again."

Of course, Dean has to explain that none of the reenactors actually need healing and he goes back to being determined to find a 'First-order witness' - someone who broke bread with Jesus Christ.

I found this part surprising within the book, but as I thought about it, it made more sense. The TV series has to tread a very careful line with Christianity so as not to offend a bunch of viewers, but the books have a much smaller audience and can take these liberties. Personally, I was fine with it. They didn't go too deep and stuck with the witness being Judas (who doesn't exactly have a great reputation to begin with).

There's a fantastic brotherly moment where Sam shares the sheriff's name (Jack Daniels) and they then go back and forth trying to guess what this Jack person is like i.e., fat vs. skinny, bald vs. hairy...

Dean: "Nam vet. Buford Pussar type. From Walking Tall." Sam: "Deliverance refugee. Civil citations all over his desk."

One of things I love about this book is the brother's relationship. This banter and other character beats really feel authentic as opposed to the prior novels. (I won't spoil what the sheriff is actually like - needless to say, they play a major role in the book.)

Just a few pages later from this great banter, we're back to the drama as Sam and Dean argue about a nightmare Sam had that he can't remember, but which could be relevant to the case.

"What's this about Dean?" Sam demanded, "Is it about you not trusting me? Because if it is, there's not a whole lot of places we can go from there." "Yeah, you're my brother," Dean said. "But you're also Lucifer's prom dress, and if he's seeding your dreams with hints about the master plan, then maybe it might be a good idea for you to look at 'em as close as possible. That's all I'm saying."

And of course, Dean gets concerned about Sam as they split up to cover more ground. It's music to my ears! There are a number of other conversations like this that really emphasize the strained relationship Sam and Dean display in Season 5.

Another surprising character beat is the influence of Lucifer on Sam because as he's doing research at the local historical society, Sam (and the historian) are surprised to find out he can read Coptic, an ancient Egyptian language. It startles Sam and once again emphasizes how different he is.

At a particularly gruesome crime scene (a mass grave), there's a brief moment with Dean that really shines as he looks down on the skeletons in the mass grave and finds a similarity to what he did in Hell:

Because that was what he did after spending years down there, doing what he'd done... Through sheer force of will, Dean shoved those notions aside...Now more than ever he didn't want that experience contaminating the way he looked at the world... not that he had a choice. Hell had been his Vietnam. It had stamped its mark on him for all eternity, and no amount of denial or self-imposed ignorance was going to change that.

There's an additional moment of traumatized Dean that I wish they could have shown in the tv series:

Sam: "Are those bloodhounds?" Dean didn't answer... When Sam finally caught a look at his brother's face, he saw that Dean's cheeks and forehead had gone absolutely white, as if every drop of blood had been sucked away... "They're not hellhounds, Dean, they're just dogs..." Dean didn't answer. He was still listening to the barking and howling noises coming closer, crashing through the undergrowth. He seemed paralyzed by the sounds.

There are more to these Dean passages, (too much to copy), but I really like that we see actual effects of past experiences.

There's also a nice scene with Sam and a young teenager that really highlights his ability to connect with kids around that age (of which we see later in the TV series):

"My brother and I grew up without a Mom, too," Sam said... "It wasn't always easy... Not everybody gets that." "I still dream about her sometimes, you know? Even though I was young when she... when it happened," Nate blinked at Sam. "Weird, huh?" "Are they good dreams?" "Yeah." "Then it's good. That's your way of remembering her."

The last third of the book is very action-oriented and has multiple instances of hurt Sam and hurt Dean, with the requisite caring from each brother.

Once again, I've gone on too long, but I'll end with a couple of favorites: Humor:

The sheriff glanced out the window, (referring to Baby) "And haul that piece of crap car to the impound lot. I don't want it cluttering up my street." "Woah!" Dean snapped, a sudden rush of anger rising in his face. "Watch your damn mouth. You can't just---"

Drama:

"This is blood money," Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out the Shekel. "Bobby says the only way anybody gets their hand on this..." The rest of the sentence was getting stuck in his chest, and he made himself finish it, "is by betraying someone you love." Dean stared at him. "Dean..." "Look," Dean broke in. "Don't get too hung up on it, okay? It doesn't necessarily mean anything," he stood up and brushed off his jeans. "Whatever happens between us, we'll deal with it then..."

Thanks again for reading! I'll be back again next week with War of the Sons!