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astrogre · 6 months

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What gifts to buy for each Venus sign

Christmas is among us, my favourite season and time of the year. Venus is the planet of love, by nature it can display what we like to receive from others but if you don’t know their Venus or the house it’s in you can try to look at the persons Sun sign instead but Venus is ideal.

A gift based on their:

Sun sign will make them feel seen and like you know them well, it will be a gift they may appreciate

Venus sign is all they’ve ever desired it’s the pinnacle of their ideal gift. Especially as Venus represents how we like to receive and experience love

Aries/ 1H Venus

Gym membership, running shoes, thrill seeking experiences like tickets to bungee jumping, rock climbing, a skydiving event, gym outfit, tickets to their favourite artist, tickets to festival, cool lighter, archery classes, tickets to sports games, a shirt with their teams logo or merch from their favourite artists, scissors set, cooking tools, hair styling products like hairspray, hair dye, Fitbit/apple watch, knives set, sports gear, heavy bass headphones, tickets for those room smashing experiences, take them clay pigeon shooting, family destroying board games like Risk or Catan, diy tattoo kit, diy piercing kit, theme park tickets.

Aries Venus are by nature thrill seekers, Aries is ruled by the head and has 1st house influences, they can certainly appreciate something that ignites passion, they are impulsive and quick by nature to pursue what they desire. They need gifts that match their decisive nature and to let out that pent up energy they have in them, I honestly think experiences are the best for them. Or a box of hair dye for their impulsive moments

Taurus/ 2H Venus

Hire a chef or take them to a really good restaurant for a 5 course meal that serves orgasmic food and has impeccable visuals/atmosphere OR you can even arrange a 7 course homemade meal with the finest of recipes! , fine jewellery adorned with a gemstone, culinary experiences, cooking classes, kitchenware, go to fragrantica.com and find a high quality perfume to give, premium home decor, art, antique items, antique furniture, comfortable cosy clothing, hot water bottle, gardening tools, plants, selection of seeds for their garden, diffuser, essential oils, desserts like baklava/ferro rocher, luxury goods, wellness retreat subscription, day at the spa, tea set, comfy velvet winter pillows and bed sheets

Oh my Taurus natives, they know how to break a bank for Christmas and if not they can enjoy luxury on a budget! They enjoy the finer things of life of course Venus ruled, they know how to induge in pleasures and satisfaction. Due to the earthy influence they have a green finger and a natural affinity with plants and gardening, they may love flowers or want to grow plants themselves. Taurus venuses are rather easy to gift, if you know them they usually have a vice, it may be sleep, food or pure laziness, get them something according to their vice and they will treasure it.

Gemini/ 3H Venus

Really cool stationary, Spotify subscription, comedy show tickets, books from their favourite genre, a notebook, Grammarly subscription, cards against humanity board game, Duolingo subscription, multiplayer games, home kit recording studio, language learning stuff, calligraphy classes, kindle, portable car charger, Bluetooth speaker, karaoke machine, suitcase, travel accessories, a musical instrument, sealing wax kit, creative hobby supplies, microphone, podcasting equipment, audio editing software, a car, vr headset, Nintendo online subscription, Netflix/HBO/youtube/crunchyroll subscription

Gemini rules communication, short journeys and social engagement. Blessing these natives with tools to enhance their pleasant hobbies will make them swoon in gratitude, if you want to get them something make it engaging and whimsical. These natives are ruled by mercury and always welcome something that requires the mind.

Cancer/ 4H Venus

A cooking set, baking set, comfort food, commission artwork of the family, family photos, some really nice home decor, a keepsake/musical box adorned with velvets and soft materials that will store sentimental objects, a locket necklace, family recipe book make a recipe book of all their favourite foods and some foods you know they’d like, soft fluffy blanket, the family heirloom, hand crafted quilt, hand painted ceramic mug, animal crossing game, sims 4 game, games relating to the home, bring and fly in family that are far away as a surprise and cook their favourite meal together, household utilities, lush bath products, a personal chef for a day, a personal butler for a day, custom family tree art, ancestry DNA kit (please be careful though once you use them they keep your data and if they get hacked your information is out there), home movie night, comfy slippers and pyjamas, family board games, this christmas make them Christmas dinner this time.

Cancer rules the home and there’s nothing more appreciated by a cancer Venus than things that remind them of this. They are by nature expressive and nurturing, this time let them be pampered!

Leo/ 5H Venus

Hair care products, gift card for their favorite store, make them an edit no joke like a TikTok edit that makes them look really cool, one of those light up mirrors or a pretty handheld one if they don’t have one already, book them a photoshoot together if they don’t like the camera maybe post them on your social media and show affection for these bold natives, theatre tickets, bold sunglasses, luxury watch, good jewellery, VIP experiences like backstage passes or reservation to exclusive invite only restaurants, designer clothing that is a prestigious brand they love, commission style artwork, make them a playlist of songs that reminds you of them, fine wine, personalised fragrance creation that allows them to create their own signature fragrance, personalised makeup makeover, hire a stylist for them

A perfect gift for Leo’s need to have an element of self expression, luxury and incorporate their personality that garners attention from peers. They need a gift that makes them feel special, something tailored specifically for them that cannot be gifted to anyone else. Personalised gifts do well either this placement too. When I think of these natives I just think of that Meghan Trainor music video “Me Too” watch that and you’ll get their vibe.

Virgo/ 6H Venus

Skincare products, a blender for smoothies, lots of cleaning products, multi purpose aesthetic storage containers, Quora or chat gpt subscription (these guys like to be well informed), give them scientifically researched bath products that have all that vitamin breakdown qualities, make them a notion template to help them plan, quality office supplies like a desk organiser or chair, practical fitness gear like a yoga mat, a fitness tracker, get them a personal nutritionist, tailored meal prep services, bookshelf organiser system, a stylish briefcase, home office makeover (BUT PLEASE GET THEIR PERMISSION FIRST), online course subscription, digital subscription to news feed, you can never go wrong with practical things, an ikea haul, Costco membership, minimalist decor, multi vitamins, a precision watch, set of labelling and sorting tools, a neat tidy chess board, get them a nice little pet, honestly for some reason whenever I think of Virgos I think of matcha. Get them something matcha based.

Virgo Venus natives need gifts that resemble their routine and organisation, they can be rather difficult to purchase for since they have such a specific taste in mind. Gift cards are practical for them but they really need something that allows them to be more prepared. Take them out for comparison price shopping like say if you want to get them a sofa tell them you’ll take them out to Costco, Amazon, ikea, and compare the best ones. They are also very clean and efficient.

Libra Venus/ 7H Venus

Trending Make up like the fenty hot chocolit heat lip gloss, Korean skincare products, beautiful piece of art, a wedding ring 😏, bouquet of flowers, take them to a beautiful botanical garden, fashionable accessories like a silk scarf, books and courses on design, take them to a couples romantic date, a couples workshop, write them a love letter, museum date, tickets to an art exhibition, fine dining, an astrology synastry reading, if they’re single set up a blind date with someone who you KNOW they would like (make sure they’re handsome/pretty), couples retreat, love coach Patreon subscription, pottery/painting classes, relationship podcast subscription, relationship psychology books, fine fragrance/cologne

Libra is ruled by Venus and 7th house, all things related to love beauty and pleasure align with this native, even if they are single they have a natural gift for delving into relationships. Make sure that whatever gift you give them it is pleasing and sensual

Scorpio/ 8H Venus

Intimate gifts, a psychological crime documentary playlist like Epstein island documentary or YouTubers who speak of renowned cult leaders, personalised astrology reading, a dark seductive fragrance, dark artwork, dominance and submission guide book, shadow work journal with a lock on it, dark poetry and literature, escape room adventure tickets, monopoly game, dungeons and dragons game equipment, bdsm accessories, personalised erotic art, leather/latex clothing, bonding activities, empowering books like 48 Laws of Power, martial arts training, taxidermy, personal development workshops, intense workout equipment like a punching bag, chess, daggers, locks on their door or for their belongings like installing a lock for their drawers, buy them a ring camera and subscription, wine tasting experience

Give them something sultry and deep, it has to be psychological and empowering. They are not impressed by superficial gifts that mean nothing to them. They really like gifts that allow them to explore their nature and the darker aspects of existence.

Sagittarius/ 9H Venus

A scratch off map that allows you to scratch off countries you’ve been to, a surprise holiday where you take them abroad, Duolingo subscription, a wanderlust journal for them to document their experiences, passport accessories, an electric guitar, drums, take them to a fireworks display or do one at home for them, a telescope, a drone, binoculars, philosophical books or religious books based on their own beliefs and religion, running shoes, horse riding in the sunset experience, musical instruments, motivational and positive affirmations book or make some for them yourself, a book collection of all their motivational and positive messages they have said, a compass, pay for their tuition for a course they’ve always wanted, traveling stuff like suitcases, pillow for travelling, a portable flask, a disposable camera, a Polaroid camera, a tent, tickets to a cultural festival, hiking gear, skiing gear, camping gear, sketchbook, a donation in their name

Sagittarius Venus and 9H venuses love the concept of exploration whether it be in the mind or physically, the best gift you could give them is one that allows them to take in so much culture, information and experiences.

Capricorn/ 10H Venus

Customisable credit card (CUCU is a good site for this), a nice power suit like business attire, vintage pocket calculator, cufflinks or a tie, formal shoes, pay for their CV to be analysed by professionals in their industry, elegant timeless clothing and jewellery, make them business cards, get them a corporate slave (an assistant will do), pay for business class flights for their next trip abroad, project management courses, tickets to Ted Talk event, take them to and big them up at networking and entrepreneurial opportunities, a sleek desk, submit their work for trophies and awards, quality furniture, Starbucks or their fave coffee place gift cards, a fountain pen, personalised desk name plate, professional photoshoot, designer accessories like a Swiss watch, leather wallet, cheque book, pay for a professional calligrapher to design their signature, time management software

Our sweet cap Venuses and 10Hers need their professional acknowledgment, give them anything timeless and a way for them to better themselves. They love being the best of the best so give them things that support their ambitions.

Aquarius/ 11H Venus

A 3D printer, high tech phone, a gamer console, smart home device like Alexa, chat gpt subscription, AI art pieces of them, rubix cube, VR headset, bespoke one of a kind art piece, tickets to a science technology conference or musem, networking events, phone case, futuristic home decor, membership to an niche club their interested in, mini indoor garden like a plant terrarium, pay for an astronomy stargazing experience for them, alt clothing, goal setting journal, a camaraderie for their friendships can be a bracelet for an example, tickets to a unique workshop according to their niche interests, video editing software, a unique invention prototype for the industry their interested in say if it were cars then a mini Tesla or something, volunteer together, design software, film festival tickets, social cause merchandise, unique fashion piece, astronomy kit, an AI boyfriend or girlfriend, take them a Ted talk.

Always remember the specific niche interests of these natives they like things that are very niche and so sometimes asking them is actually the best thing to do. But make sure it’s something they’re passionate about not all of these natives live tech but they certainly are innovative.

Pisces/ 12H Venus

Seashell necklace, watercolour paints, fantasy book collection, their favourite mangas, handmade artwork, stained glass window art, dream interpretation book, flowerpedia book, vinyls, yoga mat, contact lenses, tickets to their favourite artist like mitski or the sort, create a playlist for them that’s about fantasy and imagination, they might like Disney consider taking them to Disneyland, windchime, subscription to mindfulness app, astrology book, go to the aquarium together, windchimes, art supplies, a dream journal, sound healing instruments, pay for their spiritual retreat, zen garden decor, a mystical music box, water fountain, take them to a mesmerising body of water, prayer mats, diary, write them a heartfelt letter of how amazing they are, take them to a nature retreat, wearable art

Dreamy imaginative gifts would be perfect for these people, they need gifts that allow them to appreciate their escape world where they have a reality that’s just better than here. Give them things that are as beautiful as their inner world.

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bisexual-thoughtss · 1 year

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Tim Laflour x Reader

Summary; art student!reader asks Tim to pose for a drawing, sexual tension ensues

“You want me to what?” Tim startles at your request and the blush on your face deepens.

“I know it’s a weird ask, but it’s for my figure drawing class,” you tell him.

“You want me to pose nude for you,” he repeats and you nod. You know it’s a strange request for your best friend, but you desperately need a subject to draw and it’ll be purely professional. At least that’s what you keep telling yourself.

“You don’t have to be fully nude! Tasteful, really. Artfully draped fabric,” you explain with full puppy dog eyes, even though he’s already agreeing.

“Only for you,” he grumbles, putting on a show of being put out about it.

“Thank you!! I’ll get my stuff, set up on the couch!” You rush to gather your drawing kit as you leave Tim to prepare himself.

“Ready?” You ask as you walk back in. Tim is waiting for you on the couch, a sheet pooled around his hips.

“As I’ll ever be,” he laughs. You pull up a chair, setting up your small portable easel with your sketchbook and spreading out your various charcoal pencils and erasers.

You frown as you look up and see how awkwardly Tim is sitting on the couch. You give him directions on how to sit, but it’s still not right.

“Can I pose you?” You finally ask after a few minutes of unsuccessful maneuvering.

“Yeah, sure,” he sounds nervous but you figure it’s just the nudity he’s nervous about.

After closing the curtains, you turn on a lamp for a more direct light source before moving to situate him. You start arranging his limbs much more gracefully than he was previously sitting. He’s forced to lay on his side as you usher his legs up onto the cushions, propping his elbow on the arm of the couch. He rests his head on his hand as you arranged the sheet to drape well in the light while still covering his modesty. You school your features into carefully neutrality as your hand accidentally brushes against him through the sheet, not willing to give away how much it had affected you. You could feel the heat radiating off his skin and all you wanted to do was touch. The light casts shadows against the dips of his muscles formed from years of hockey practices, while his broad shoulders are starkly highlighted under the lamp. Taking his chin in hand, you tip his face toward the light with a small smile.

“You’re so pretty,” you praise before you think better of it. Watching the way the blush on his cheeks spreads down his neck to his chest is worth your embarrassment at letting that slip from your mouth. You turn and sit behind your sketch pad, pretending you hadn’t said anything.

Unbeknownst to you, Tim was having a small crisis in his head. It had taken all of his willpower and several unfortunate thoughts to keep from pitching a tent in the sheet as you were arranging it, and once you called him pretty and looked at him like that, he knew he was done for. He stays as still as he can while you’re staring at him while you draw. He’s seen you draw before, but you’ve never looked like this. You’re looking at him like he’s actually a work of art and he’s not sure how long he can take it. He sincerely hopes you won’t notice that he’s been half hard since you touched him. He’s doing everything he can to will away his hard on but watching you stare at him like that is ruining his resolve. Deep in thought, the end of your pencil finds it’s way between your teeth as you give his body a once over and he feels himself twitch. Your soft intake of breath alerts him that you definitely noticed and he wishes the ground would swallow him whole.

“So how do you like it?” You ask casually as you continue drawing, his mind clawing its way out of the panicked, horny rabbit hole it had fallen down to try and answer you.

“I- what?” He asks dumbly, your smirk hidden from him behind your paper. You could tell he was getting riled up, the tent under the sheet growing by the second.

“Modeling, you seem to be enjoying it,” you say neutrally, your double entendre not lost on either of you.

“Y-yeah, it’s alright. I don’t think I’d want to do it for anyone else,” he tells you, worrying his lip between his teeth. You can tell he’s embarrassed about getting hard in front of you, but you can’t help teasing him a little more.

“You sure? Seems like you like being looked at like this,” you smirk, confident in the strokes of your pencil and in your flirting.

“Just.. just by you,” he mumbles.

“Yeah? I don’t think I want you to model for anyone else either, want to keep you to myself. You look so good like this,” you hum, watching him struggle not to squirm under your gaze. You rise from your perch to walk towards him and he makes no move to get up.

“You can get dressed now, or…” you pause, watching his pupils dilate at the unspoken words, “I could reward you for being such a good model? If you want?”

You’re giving him an out just in case. Your friendship wasn’t something you wanted to sacrifice, but you’re pretty sure he wants this just as much as you do.

“Please,” he murmurs nodding up at you, pulling you closer by your hips. His fingertips slip under the hem of your shirt, pushing it up over the swell of your breasts. You yank it the rest of the way off as he noses at your skin, leaving a trail of kisses up your torso before reaching up to pull the cups of your bra down and attach his lips to your chest. You gasp at the suddenness of it, your hands clutching at his shoulders for stability. He clumsily unhooks your bra as he continues lavishing your breasts with sloppy open mouthed kisses. Your hands find their way to his hair as your back arches, pressing him more firmly to you. He groans into your skin as he pushes your shorts and underwear down in one go, leaving love bites down your torso as he does. He barely allows you enough time to step out of them before he’s burying his face between your thighs. You double over at the sudden onslaught of pleasure, his hands clutching your ass and pulling you closer. He shifts your leg, settling it over his shoulder to give him more access. You wobble unsteadily for a second but his arms cage you in and hold you up.

“This is not- ohh my god, not what I thought you’d want as a reward,” you moan, barely getting the sentence out as his tongue works against you. Whatever he may have said in reply was muffled, unintelligible words vibrating against you deliciously.

You can’t even focus on what you’re saying as praise falls from your lips, the swirl of his long tongue against you effectively melting your brain. His tongue dips into your entrance, and you’re sure he can’t breathe with the way he presses his face against you but he doesn’t seem to be worried about it as his lips move to suction around your clit. Burying your hands in his hair to hold him close to you, you can’t help but buck against him. His answering moan directly against your clit has a string of curses falling from your mouth as you fall over the edge. He works you through it, before moving to lap up the mess down your thighs. You struggle to get your breathing under control as he finally leans back, letting your leg fall from his shoulder. Your legs feel like jelly, and Tim realizes a second before you do that they’re not going to support you. He helps you sink to the ground softly so you don’t hurt your knees and you giggle all the way down.

“What’s so funny, eh?” He asks, mock offended.

“That was the best head I’ve ever gotten,” you sigh dreamily, head resting against his thigh as you calm down and he snorts. After a moment you get your wits about you again and remember what you actually had in mind and snatch the sheet away. His gasp at the sudden cold air turns into a moan as you kiss teasingly around his cock, never quite touching him. A stuttered please is all it takes to convince you to have mercy on him. You lick along his length, a broken moan falling from his lips as you swirl your tongue around his head. Your tongue dips into his slit teasingly and his hands twitch at his sides. You take him in your mouth but you can tell he’s still holding back. You whine around him and he jerks at the sudden vibrations, hands finally coming up to grab your head. Still, ever the gentleman, he doesn’t push or direct you, his hands simply resting in your hair and grounding you as you suck. You move back to his jewelry, teasing around it with your tongue before you wrap your lips around the metal, humming lightly. The effect is instantaneous as Tim dissolves into whimpers under you, thighs twitching as he squirms. All the teasing does him in quickly, his grip on your head tightening as he jerks underneath you with a whine.

“Please, please, please,” he chants incoherently and you have mercy on him, taking him back down your throat as he comes undone. After you swallow, you look up to find him staring down at you in awe. You can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of your mouth when you see the state he’s in.

“I made such a mess, I’m so sorry,” you laugh, taking in the smeared charcoal on his skin. Along his shoulders, on his forehead, up his thighs, everywhere you look.

“You can make a mess of me literally anytime,” he grins, pulling you up onto the couch to cuddle with him.

#tim laflour x reader #tim laflour #senseless #tim laflour imagine #senseless 1998 #matthew lillard x reader #matthew lillard

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fallouttrait · 8 months

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An Archive of gloomytrait custom content

Anyone who has been following my blog knows I've been trying to locate gloomytrait's old cc for ages and I have found some of their missing cc through other simmers.

I've decided to make my own archive of their cc in case anyone else has also been looking for their custom content. If for some reason anyone has a problem with this, you can shoot me a message but gloomytrait has deleted their blog and all their download links.

If anyone has their cc feel free to send it to me and I can add it to the folder. (As well as a big thank you to anyone that does! ❤️)

As of Friday January 26, 2024 this folder has:

Grunge kit Addons (May require the kit?)

Grunge Kit Addons Part Two can be found HERE

Gloomytrait's Semi-Functional Stroller

Shopping Trolley

Functional Handbag

Connor Hair

Chrissy Hair

Rhea Hair

Eddie Hair

Gloomytrait x Lilacdreamers Cottage Core Kitchen Collab

Interactive World (Functional Shells)

Cottage Flowers Wall

Portable Walkers

Service Dog Harness (Cats & Dogs required)

Portable Rollator V1 & V2

Old Fashioned Suitcase (Growing together required)

Gloomytrait's 80's collection

per original notes: all CAS items are base game compatible, except for the roller skates. The Seasons Expansion Pack is required for them to show up in your game! The overrides are available for male and female Sims. Please only put one override for each in your game at once. They're available in four different colors. You can mix and match colors (example: you can have gloomytrait80sSetRollerSkatesDefaultReplacementMYellow and gloomytrait80sSetRollerSkatesDefaultReplacementFPurple in your game, but not gloomytrait80sSetRollerSkatesDefaultReplacementFPurple and gloomytrait80sSetRollerSkatesDefaultReplacementFPink) The foosball table, dancefloor and car (woohoo spot) require the Get Together expansion pack. All other buy items are base game compatible.

Download via Simsfileshare

#ts4 #the sims 4 #ts4cc #ts4 dl #ts4 custom content #gloomytrait #*archive

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commodorez · 5 months

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I still believe the craziest form of computer program storage format from the 1980s is the cassette tape. Logical I get it but to store entire programs on little tape (that I only remember using to play music) is just crazy to me. Idk

Agreed, cassette tape for data storage was really clever. The concept had its heyday was the 1970s in a wide variety of encoding schemes for different computer platforms. It did persist into the 80s, mostly in Europe, while the US switched to floppy disks as soon as they were available for systems. The majority of my Ohio Scientific software is on cassette.

Talking with UK vs. US Commodore 64 users in particular will highlight the disparity in which storage mediums that were commonplace. I've got a few pieces of software on tape for mainly the VIC-20, but I rarely bother to use it, because it's slow and annoying. To be fair, Commodore's implementation of data storage on tape is pretty rock solid relative to the competition. It's considered more reliable than other company's but Chuck Peddle's implementation of the cassette routines are considered quite enigmatic to this day. He didn't document it super well, so CBM kept reusing his old code from the PET all the way through the end of the C128's development 7 years later because they didn't want to break any backward compatibility.

The big thing that really made alot of homebrewers and kit computer owners cozy up to the idea was the introduction of the Kansas City Standard from 1976. The idea of getting away from delicate and slow paper tape, and moving towards an inexpensive, portable, and more durable storage medium was quite enticing. Floppy disk drives and interfaces were expensive at the time, so something more accessible like off the shelf audio tapes made sense.

I've linked two places you can read about it from Byte Magazine's February 1976 issue below (check the attribution links).

You might recognize a familiar name present...

There are a few ways to encode binary data on tape designed to handle analog audio, but the KCS approach is to have 1's be 8 cycles of 2400Hz tone, and 0's be 4 cycles of 1200Hz tone. I say cycles, because while 300 baud is the initial specification, there is also a 1200 baud specification available, so the duration of marks vs spaces (another way of saying 1's and 0's), is variable based on that baud rate. Many S-100 computers implemented it, as do a few contemporary proprietary designs.

The big 3 microcomputers of 1977 that revolutionized the industry (Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and Tandy TRS-80 Model I) each have their own cassette interface implementation. It kept costs down, and it was easy to implement, all things considered. The Apple II and TRS-80 use off-the-shelf cassette deck connections like many other machines, whereas the original variant of the PET had an integrated cassette. Commodore later used external cassette decks with a proprietary connector, whereas many other companies abandoned tape before too long. Hell, even the original IBM PC has a cassette port, not that anybody bothered to use that. Each one used a different encoding format to store their data, rather than KCS.

Here's a sample of what an OSI-formatted tape sounds like.

And here's a Commodore formatted tape, specifically one with VIC-20 programs on it.

I won't subject you to the whole program, or we'd be here all day. The initial single tone that starts the segment is called the "leader", I've truncated it for the sake of your ears, as well as recorded them kinda quietly. I don't have any other tape formats on hand to demonstrate, but I think you get the idea.

You can do alot better than storing programs on tape, but you can also do alot worse -- it beats having to type in a program every time from scratch.

#kansas city standard #cassette tape #commodore vic-20 #ohio scientific

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why-animals-do-the-thing · 1 year

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🎂 birthday fundraiser!! 🎂 For my 30th birthday, I'm asking for your help raising the funds to purchase a specialized set of PPE that will allow me to safely return to zoo industry meetings and events.

I’m a freelancer, and I’m also disabled, which means the last three years have required some pretty hard choices to protect my health and ability to work. That’s meant giving up doing what I love, including being part of the zoo world. and being completely absent from everything the zoological field is doing. The thing is, the end of Covid precautions mean I can’t safely engage in the conferences that are crucial to my research and the types of things I teach about on this blog. Staying relevant in the field requires being up-to-date on what’s going on (which conferences are ideal for) and the networking at meetings is what builds trust and relationships that help me learn things. I also just miss being part of the zoo world so much. The thing I want most right now is to be able to attend the AZA and ZAA annual conferences this fall - especially because I’m dreaming of submitting an application present my work at both of them, for the first time ever!

I found this really neat PPE kit that should let me attend meetings safely: it’s basically a combination of a mask, a portable HEPA air filter, and a battery pack that you wear as headgear. Because it’s fancy technology, it’s $$$. If you’re able to help contribute towards helping me fund it - even just a couple dollars - I would appreciate it beyond words. This is all a labor of love, and it’s something I want to be able to continue doing for a long time. To do it well, I have to be able to physically get to industry meetings and participate in them to make it work. It’s a major equity issue that industry meetings are choosing to drop Covid-prevention policies and are therefore unsafe and inaccessible to disabled researchers Iike me - but this PPE option gives me the freedom to continue my work without having to risk my health.

Even the smallest amount helps. Thank you so much.

A photo from one of the last meetings I got to attend pre-pandemic, meeting a mountain tapir!

#fundraising #disability in the days of covid #all I want to do is present my work at national meetings without risking getting sick

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bamsara · 2 years

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Hey! I thought your talk on stream about your go-bag and what's in it was interesting, but I process text better than audio, so I was wondering if you had advice on putting one together? It's fine if you'd rather not! Thanks either way!

Okay! Note that some of these things are gearing up in prep for sudden homelessness or natural disaster (tornados, personally) but some are just generally good things on hand you might need to keep. Also, some tips involve a car, skip those if they dont apply.

You're going to want a backpack or duffle bag with comfortable enough straps that are thick and sturdy enough to hold the weight of everything you are carrying while also keeping you balanced. I got my blue one at a charity give away for students in poverty, those heavy duty school bags for textbooks, but you can thrift the same bags for around $5-$10, at least in my area.

What I have in the front pockets, in smaller ziplock bags:

Ziplock bag of first aid supplies (bandaids, gauze, sterile wipes, ect)

Small hand sanitizer, bottle or wipes.

Baby wipes, water based.

Matches

Small travel deoderant, small travel shampoo, travel hairbrush, and the bare minimal needed for a 'freshed up look' of make up like concealer, mascera, and face wash. Good for spucing up for job interviews if you end up in a situation where you're living out of your car, and can't acsess a full bathroom.

Menustration products. Pack SEVERAL if you are someone who bleeds, or a few if you just want some on hand just in case for someone else you are with.

Mouthwash, toothbrush and toothpaste. If you don't have enough room, opt for mouthwash/toothpaste combo, and just rub it on your teeth.

Self-protection, dependant on what you prefer. I keep pepper spray and a tazor in the car at all times, and in the bag if not out in the console.

Pocket knife and scissors. You never know when you might need to cut something.

If you can get some and they fit in the bag: Gloves meant for gardening. Thick enough to protect you if you go dumpster diving. I have a list of tips of safe and legal dumpster diving here.

What I keep in the main pocket of the bag:

A large gallon ziplock baggy with emergency clothes in it, consisting of: Pants, short sleeve T-shirt, and 3 pairs of underwear/socks. If you can fit it, slip a long-sleeve shirt in there as well. Keep a 'nice shirt' like a button up or something 'nice casual' in there for job interviews.

You're going to want a jacket in your go-bag, but since they can be bulky, it might be best to just leave one in your car. Also good for when you're out somewhere and just get cold suddenly.

RAIN! I have a small one-person umbrella in the side pocket of my bag, and a yellow poncho from walmart in main pocket. I recommend having both, but its fine if you just can fit one.

A bag of COMFY clothes, aside from the intial emergency clothes. For me, I call it the pajamma bag, which just has a pair of sweatpants, T-shirt and fuzzy socks.

FOOD AND WATER. I keep ziplock baggies of non-perishable food in the bag like: granola bars, slim jims, fruit gummies, cans of preserved fruit, ect. You need to pack at least 2 bottles of water. I think I freaked out Twitch stream a little bit when I pulled out 6 bottles of water out of the bag, but I'm telling you: the more water you can carry, the better.

The 'entertainment satchel', which is basically anything that you can do that doesn't require electricity like your phone does that can keep you busy. For me, it's a ziplock bag of a journal/sketchbook with some colored pens. This can be a small book or something.

A sewing kit. One of those travel ones, the tiny tin ones. Comes in handy plenty of times.

A water-tight folder/baggie that will protect legal documents for you. You probably wont keep them in the car, but if you can grab them on your way out, keep them safe in something they can't get damaged in.

A portable battery, a cord for charging your phone and extra wall thingie to plug it into. You can get a decent battery for around 20 bucks on amazon, and your car and public spaces like a library can let you charge your phone.

PETS! If you have a pet with you, PLEASE pack the things needed for them ahead of time in your go-bag. Doggy bags and treats and food and the like. I'm a cat person, so I keep three ziplock baggies: one with treats, a large one with food, and one with cat litter in it. You can usually grab a cardboard box by a dumpster for a make-shift litterbox if need be.

Depending on who you talk to, money may or may not be a smart thing to keep in your bag, but I say keep at least $50 of cash in there for absolute emergencies, if you can afford to store it.

An extra pair of shoes. If they don't fit in the bag, you can store them in the car, or tie them to hang off the bag if you really need them.

Also, not really go-bag related, but I suggest keeping a blanket in your car. If you don't have a car, they make blankets with straps that you can attatch to your backpack, or you can take a long sock or piece of fabric, wrap it around a rolled up blanket, and tie it to your bag. It might not look aesthetic, but it'll be worth it to have it.

Change out the items in your bag every couple months, usually as it starts to get colder or hotter. Currently I'm changing out my stuff from summer items to winter items, like warmer clothes and what not, so I had the bag already near me to show twitch chat. Thanks for everyone that came by Twitch chat and talked by the way, it was fun!

#sara shush #go-bag #go bag tips

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manicpixiefelix · 3 months

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head, heart, hand. {Felix Catton/Reader/Oliver Quick}

Part 17.

Summary: Learning little things, and big things, on these summer days. About each other, and how the world sees you all, in the garden, in the family room, in hindsight, in the study late at night.

{ masterpost }

Need to Know: They/Them. Explicitly NB Reader. FWB!Reader/Felix. Reader is from a well off family but has pretty much been adopted by the Cattons.

Warnings: reader, felix, venetia, and oliver getting high in the garden together, some degrading language (kind of a given any time venetia and reader are in the same room at this point), heavy discussion about the reader's parental trauma/neglect

A/N: 5812 words. i think i cast venetia in a bad light sometimes which i feel bad about because i love her to pieces, and she and the reader love each other very much its just that she's gotten used to being arguably too verbally prickly with them in order to rile her brother up mostly, and she forgets (and maybe i do too) what that looks like from the outside. anyways, just for absolutely no reason whatsoever, have you ever looked up what different flowers mean in flower language? much to think about.

TAGLIST IN COMMENTS!! // TAGLIST ALWAYS OPEN ! (just message or comment to be added)

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Venetia rolls her joints with little hearts at the end where the filter would go if it were simply a cigarette. It's a trick she learned during what she calls her 'gap year', what Elspeth calls her 'grand wine tour of Europe', and what Felix and Farleigh have recently started cruelly referring to as 'the year Venetia inspired a TV show'. While you do think it's mean, you also quietly agree that Billie Piper bares a striking resemblance to the young Catton woman in the ads you'd seen for Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Cruel implications is all you would say on the matter, not that either of the boys had been game enough to say it to her face.

But the thought floats through your mind in this moment, taking just a moment to admire the way she's expertly curled the paper before you bring it to your lips. She watches you with that smile that tends to intimidate others, sharp and mean and hungry, sharp gaze on your lips as you inhale, lips remaining sealed as you offer the next hit to Felix on your right. Venetia's focus follows the joint, straying from you to admire the way her brother takes a hit before he too passes it on to Oliver.

Felix muses to no-one in particular about how long it's been since he'd been out here to the Fairy Ring Garden, but only gets a response from Oliver, and a strained one at that as your guest holds smoke in his lungs as long as he's able, muttering that it's beautiful. Sitting on the grass in the morning sun, you squint at the iPod in your hands, trying to choose some music.

Venetia suggests Amy Winehouse. Felix calls his sister tragic under his breath, to which she flips him off. Still, it's the best suggestion you've got so far, so moments later, the singer's rich vocals warble out of the little, portable speaker you'd plugged into the headphone port.

"Good dog," Venetia says with a particularly mean sneer in her brother's direction as she takes the iPod out of your hands to place it on the grass, replacing it with the joint you'd all been passing around once more. Out of instinct, you place your free hand on Felix's chest, telling him that whatever reaction he was going to have really wasn't worth it. Venetia rolls her eyes, "boo, you whore," she snarks, laying back on the grass.

"I'm taking the rest of this as compensation for emotional damages," you hold the joint between two fingers, telling Felix to just roll another from the kit still sitting in the middle of the impromptu circle the four of you had made. Much to both yours and Felix's surprise, Oliver moves too quickly to let him, rolling with the air of someone who'd seen it done often without having done it himself.

Both you and Felix watch him for quite a while as he stumbles through the task like a baby deer taking it's first steps. Things are getting fuzzy and warm around the edges already, and you're caught up in watching the way Oliver's hands work.

"Why 'd you put up with her?" Oliver asks bluntly, frowning at his work. Venetia's indignant 'hey' goes otherwise ignored by the three of you and it takes a long moment for Felix to respond.

"She's my sister?" But in his confusion it sounds more like a question, talking about Venetia like she's not even there. But Oliver stops, and finally looks at him; he offers a rather sad looking, clearly unfinished joint, not as an offering but as a silent request for help. Felix takes it and tries not to look too endeared by Oliver's failed attempt as he fixes it.

"Not you, Felix," Oliver, after a moment, looks away from Felix, right to you, eyes wide and earnest as he watches you take a long draft of your own joint, now burned well down. His gaze makes his intentions clear, but still he offers, "she's mean to you too." Too, like he'd pointed out about Farleigh all those months ago.

"They like it," Venetia scoffs at the sky dismissively, but Oliver refuses to acknowledge her, even if Felix takes a moment to scowl at his sister and her constant, casual degradation of you. But a slow, amused smile spreads across your lips in the moments that follow, you can't help it.

"I love that you worry about me, Ollie," you sigh almost dreamily. Clearly not expecting that, you have the pleasure of watching Oliver blush with surprise, "you're so fucking pretty, Ollie," you add, though you're pretty sure you couldn't have stopped yourself from saying that out loud if you tried. He blushes harder, while Felix and Venetia both try and stifle their giggles; you take another hit, tilting your head just a little as you look at him, analysing him. Finally, when you ask his favourite flower out of seemingly nowhere, Oliver seems like he can't function under your gaze like this, and chooses to lay back in the grass, mirroring Venetia.

"Darling, you're such a lightweight," Felix snorts, speaking from the corner of his mouth as he holds the rerolled joint between his lips as if intending to light it. Before he can flick the lighter on, however, you take his chin gently in hand, guiding him to you, pressing the still-glowing end of your own joint to his unlit one for several long seconds, until his caught successfully.

When you and Felix join your companions in laying back on the grass, you do so together. His arm is around you, coaxing you to lay with your head on his chest, beside him under this perfectly blue sky.

"Why would you want to know something like that?" Oliver's voice reminds you he's there only moments later.

"Because their robot brain needs to know everything about everyone at all times," at least Venetia sounds fond when she chimes in, even if her words aren't exactly the most complimentary.

"You're lucky you're pretty, Vee," Felix cuts in with a casually cruel tone; you can feel the way he twitches with irritation, "because you have so few other redeeming features."

"I am pretty," Venetia agrees airily, pointedly ignoring his insult, "you're such a darling brother, Felix," she adds with painfully sarcastic faux-sweetness. Felix's only response was to sigh with incredibly loud disappointment, while you tried to stifle your giggling, caught up in the sensation of him tracing abstract patterns up and down your arms, and the idea that you could count on the ever-relaxed Felix Catton to always come to your defence. Had this been the case for years? Over a decade? Yes. Would it always make you a little bit giddy to think about? Almost definitely.

"And it's not like I'm wrong," Venetia finally broached the silence once more, "as if they don't already know our favourite flowers," she points out, before making a rather insistent noise. You bark at her command, it seems - those cheerful little yellow ones on the inner ring of flowers - dismissive, but the sound of her scoff has you correcting yourself, suddenly feeling a sting of shame and not quite knowing why.

"The chrysanthemums." The other three echo the name of the flower, one right after the other, all taking turns to turn it over in their minds and mouths as you almost burn your fingers finishing off your joint. As if trying to prove yourself, you add, interrupting them all, "Fi's are forget-me-nots."

Felix seems surprised to agree, like even he'd forgotten that detail about himself, or perhaps forgotten that he'd shared it with you, while Venetia's laughter has turned fond and knowing; it's a little condescending too, like she'd expected as much from you, but you try not to dwell on it. It's Oliver's voice that you focus on, endeared as he quietly murmurs the name of the flower to himself, like he can't quite believe something as soft as Felix having a favourite flower.

"Now I'm curious, Ollie," Felix finally speaks up, and you hear the grass shift beneath his head. He must be turning to look at the man in question, "do you have a favourite flower?" He pauses for a moment, "or is this one of our weird things, like wearing cuff-links to dinner every night?" He tries to play it off, but there's those notes of self consciousness that you're surprised he often gets when talking about tradition around Saltburn.

The grass near Oliver rustles, but your comfort overrides your intrigue to watch him.

"I think it's fox... Something?" Oliver says after a moment, "my favourite flower," he clarifies, "I haven't put much thought into it," he admits. You hum thoughtfully before asking if it could be foxglove. He confirms as much before going quiet.

There's a lull that follows in which Felix asks after Farleigh's whereabouts. Farleigh should be here, your hazy mind immediately chirps, you love Farleigh! Venetia sighs, sounding incredibly put-upon to be explaining that Farleigh was in the computer room, obsessing over his ex-boyfriend's MySpace updates that he'd missed lately. The ones about the tour.

"The guy from that Broadway show?" Felix asks with vague interest.

"No, his ex-girlfriend is touring with that Broadway musical, that he knows about, that he at least pretends he doesn't care about," Venetia corrected, "the ex-boyfriend is that one from that band, the one who wrote that song about him that got nominated for that award?"

"Grammy," you supplied automatically.

"Right," Venetia barely acknowledged you, "anyways, he's on that big, American tour with all those tragic, emo bands that are a big deal, which is apparently news to our dear cousin."

"Is that the one we were all talking about getting tickets to a few months ago?" Felix asks after a moment of silence, patting you on the arm as if his words weren't enough to get your attention. You hum in confirmation.

"I think so; The Warped Tour, we were going to make a vacation of it in LA this summer," you sighed rather forlornly at how the idea never got off the ground, "it was Anabel's idea -"

"- God, she's always been such a groupie for those kinds of boy-band-types -" Felix mutters derisively under his breath as if he hadn't spent the better part of two semesters inviting her to his dorm to listen to him play guitar knowing full well she'd practically be on her knees at the very suggestion. So of course you ignored that aside to finish your explanation.

"- except she turned around and said she hated the line up, when really she didn't want to admit her passport expired and she couldn't be bothered with the paperwork for a new one -"

"Actually," Oliver chimes in, though you're not sure if he was adding to the conversation, or if he'd even been listening, "when I was a boy I got to go to this botanical garden that had all these fancy flowers usually from the rest of the world." Oh. Flowers again? Sure. "There were these ones that got flown in from Australia, and I couldn't help thinking that they weren't worth it to fly all the way over here from Australia. Too long and curly and pointy; pretty, but not the kind that..." something about the way he speaks about the experience, about the flowers, it catches in your mind; Australian, long, curly, pointy, pretty, you tried to commit to memory, "that's worth spending your time on." He clears his throat and his tone seems almost forcibly lighter, "foxgloves are prettier, wouldn't you think? Yeah..."

Silence hangs between you all for several long, pensive moments.

"What colour were they?" You ask softly.

"Foxgloves?" Oliver knows you don't mean the foxgloves. He asks anyways. Everything always for the sake of the act, the pantomime of propriety.

"No."

"Red."

There is no more that needs to be said in the moment, but later you will be grateful when the details stick through the haze of your memories. Through the quiet, Venetia mentions how she misses the purple pincushions, how sweet and strange they were, and how cruel you have been to order the gardeners to prune the flowers before they can ever bloom.

The mere mention of those purple fucking pincushion flowers sours your mood; your one regret amongst your garden, a conceit to Felix that even he wishes he could take back knowing now how much you'd end up hating them. It's been a year since a single purple pincushion has bloomed in your garden, and you've been down here at least once a day all Summer, meticulous, pruning the bulbs yourself with much malice aforethought. Part of you is so filled with fury in this moment that you consider going over and uprooting the plants by hand right now, but Felix's arm around you, Felix's chest, solid and warm beneath your head, Felix's steady heartbeat in your ear, he grounds you.

For now you must simply remain content knowing that none of Eddie's precious, purple pincushions will ever bloom upon the grounds of the Saltburn Estate again.

"Venetia," expression pinched, you address her with far more coldness than you think you've ever directed towards her before, "shut up."

You don't remember when exactly during the day you asked Duncan to fetch you all the botany-related books in the house that made mention of plants native to the Asia-Pacific region. Knowing yourself, and knowing Duncan, however, you're not surprised by the small, neat stack you find the following evening on your desk in the lilac study.

While you fully intended on continuing your trend of wearing something provocative and continuing the pantomime of propriety with Oliver as the two of you had been doing each night for almost a week, Sir James raises the suggestion of a family movie night instead. Felix whines when Venetia and Farleigh champion the suggestion of a scary movie, and pouts when they bully Oliver into agreeing with them.

"Don't ask them," Farleigh groans when you're called upon for your opinion, "they're just going to say whatever Felix said but in a different voice," he rolled his eyes. You and Felix both choosing to flick little pieces of cantaloupe at him from your desserts does nothing but strengthen his argument.

Nobody thinks to ask Poor Dear Pamela her opinion, sitting at the end of the table, looking less than thrilled by the suggestion of The Ring, so everyone else decides that you and Felix are out numbered. On the way back to your rooms to change out of your dinner clothes, Oliver tries to apologise, and Felix tries to pretend that it's fine and he's just putting it on for Venetia and Farleigh and that he absolutely does not have the temperament of a rabbit when it came to anything scary. He is, of course, lying. But Oliver doesn't realise that just yet.

Venetia, always invigorated by a social triumph such as this, and never one to let a well-earned moment of joy pass her by, tucks her arm in Oliver's as the family meets back up in the living room. The moment is not missed by either you or Felix, who both glower at her bold display of affection as she ignores you and pulls Oliver onto the sofa. The large, plush armchair next to the sofa, with it's wide, low arms almost fits both you and Felix, though it's more of a token gesture than anything. No-one is surprised when he pulls you into his lap less than ten minutes after the film begins, arms around you and watching with his chin on your shoulder, ready to hide his face against your shoulder at a moment's notice.

When the film ends and the lights come back on, Venetia finally notices how you and her brother are sitting, and opens her mouth with malicious intent in her eyes.

"Watch it," you warned her before she could say any choice, disparaging remarks, "remember who's kept you off of What Not To Wear the past six years," you remind her; Felix, giving you a little squeeze, levels a smug smile at his older sister over your shoulder. Venetia closes her mouth, expression immediately turning.

"I can't believe they're still making that show," she spits, stalking from the room. Farleigh, finally getting up and stretching, follows her out at a far more relaxed pace.

"I can't believe they're still fighting Y/N to put you on it."

With those two having left, Elspeth and Pamela both give you curious looks, Elspeth asking if it was true. You confirmed as much with a blithe shrug, finally getting to your feet.

"Years ago one of the hosts was trying to track Ven down after seeing her on a red carpet and word got back to dad - or, well, his assistant at the time - and he remembered that I'm pretty close with the Cattons," you gave a humourless smile, offering Felix your hand to help him up from the sofa, which he gladly took, "however Ven was deeply offended when I asked her if she wanted to be on the show," Felix let himself chuckle at that, while Oliver was taking longer to stand, strange look on his face as he listened to you with surprisingly rapt attention.

"And they've been, what, continuing to ask after her even though she's said no?" Elspeth frowned, but you sighed, shaking your head.

"No, apparently Ven sent in a particularly rude letter despite me informing them of her refusal, and now dad's assistants seem to think I'm her agent and I get a call every time the show is threatening to add her photo to a montage of worst-dressed celebrities."

"Didn't she freak out when you refused to get an episode pulled when they actually did it?" Felix snorts, to which you rolled your eyes.

"That's why dad's assistants keep calling me, because of how she reacted to that episode."

You do feel a little bit bad for Venetia in this moment, when you see the resigned disappointment in both her parents' eyes at the story. The rest of you do finally filter out at this point, all heading back to your separate rooms. The walk is quiet for the most part, except for when Oliver, who'd been looking as though he was ruminating very hard on something, looks to you.

"Y/N, what does your dad do for work?"

You know and hate that Oliver sees the moment in which his question makes you uncomfortable, no matter how much you try to not let it, nor how desperately you try to hide it. Shrugging as you desperately shoot for casual, you sigh.

"I'm pretty sure your guess is as good as his," you say blithely, so casually evasive that Oliver doesn't really think to call you out on it before you get to your room. But after you and Felix wish him good night and head into your room, you close the door and slump against it with a heavy sigh. Felix lets you have this moment of respite to yourself, quietly moving about the room, getting ready for bed.

"Do you think they'll even show up?" Finally Felix breaks the silence, and you just make a vague noise, "to the dinners they told mum they'd be at," he clarified after a beat.

"Probably," you muttered, dejected at the prospect as your mind wanders to the couple who reluctantly created you.

"They asked about you," you admit to Felix quietly. From what you can hear, he stops, "mum, specifically," the memory of the phone call with your grandmother burned bright in your mind; it wasn't particularly recent, had happened at the start of your last semester, but you'd kept it to yourself for so long. You'd tried to disconnect yourself from it, tried to take solace in your grandmother's fury on your behalf, but you feel your face heat up with your own anguish, "asked how you were and if you were still living in 'that beautiful house with the Reubens and all those royal portraits'," voice trembling with both heartache and resentment, you slide down the door, tears welling even as you had your eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Nan sounded so angry when she told me," you whispered, knees drawn up to your chest, "I've never heard her like that; she made it sound like she yelled at mum for- for- for ages -" you feel when Felix settles down beside you, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you close. This is when you finally break, when you finally let yourself cry, whimpering, "but I bet mum just hung up on her the minute she felt like the fucking victim."

Felix isn't the one who needs to be apologising right now, but part of you knows you'll never get one from the people you crave it the most from. Still, he apologises with his lips against your temple. You know your best friend well enough to know his heart is breaking for you, and fuck you wish you had been strong enough to push back this breakdown, but you couldn't -

"She asked for you by name, Fi, full name," you sobbed curling up in his arms, burying yourself against him in your misery, "they haven't spoken to me or about me in eleven years; they haven't even said my name- they've acted like I don't exist to everyone - everyone - even to my own grandmother for eleven years!"

There's no easy sleep that can be found after a revelation like this, but Felix, even after he manages to drift off, is unwilling to let you go, unwilling to let you feel even the slightest bit alone for the rest of the night. It continues through the next day, even as you assure him you're fine, that you're glad for his comfort but that you've overcome the despair that had hit you so tremendously last night. It's not even much of a lie.

You spend the day with the family who'd taken you in without hesitation, and feel a swell of pride within you as you hear Oliver comment enthusiastically on the Palissy plates Sir James had always loved dearly. You yourself vaguely recall the plates getting a page to themselves in the very book you'd gifted Oliver about Saltburn, so you were glad to see him putting it to good use.

A little white lie about how deep Oliver's love for Palissy genuinely was really wouldn't hurt anyone. Honestly, it was worth it for just how brightly Sir James' eyes shined at one of Felix or Venetia's friends finally taking an interest in his antiquities like that.

But all day, Felix was never too far away. Not that he was incredibly obvious about it, at least not from anyone else's perspective, but you could tell. Quietly, you were grateful, even if you were still trying to convince the both of you that you were okay. Something about being able to just lean back and know he'll be there in times like this, times where you need him to be there but don't know how to say it out loud, is a comfort you never want to take for granted.

You want to thank him but it gets caught in your throat. But standing on his balcony as the sun sets, sharing a cigarette, you take his free hand for this one, quiet moment. Your voice is full of affection, full of thanks, full of love, too much for you to even look at him, focus kept on your hands, your fingers laced with his.

"My Felix."

"Always, love," he kisses your forehead.

That night, the only time you are without him is when you end up in the lilac study, wondering if Oliver will even show up after last night broke the tradition. Either way you'd use the time to continue to go through your botany books on the hunt for red, curly, pointy, Australian flowers. You keep seeing bottle brush but something in your heart said it wasn't right. However long you'd actually spend perusing the books tonight would depend on if you had company.

But eventually Oliver does choose to darken the doorway with that hungry-eyed stare you've never seen in the light of day, and you take your time with noticing him. Tonight you're lounging on the cream sofa in one of Felix's shirts, not even bothering to do the buttons up; you've pulled it mostly close for a pass at modesty, considering the only other thing you're wearing is underwear.

"'re you seducing me?" He sounds amused; you're surprised by how quickly he cuts to the chase, but you try not to let it show.

"Is it working yet?" You turn another page of your book before you finally look up, playing almost at boredom. Oliver, barely visible for the lamp light, the gallery beyond him nothing but shadows, huffs a laugh at that, and for reasons you can't quite understand, he drops his gaze. He breaks the moment, the rules of the game. Oliver doesn't look away, he never has before.

"You trying to get me in trouble?"

"Depends on what you consider to be trouble," your smile grows wider as you carefully set your book to the side, fixing your intrigued gaze upon Oliver properly, "perhaps I'm saving you from trouble." In a sense, the more nights you can get him to spend here with you, the less he's falling prey to Venetia's planting herself beneath his window you're sure she's doing, just as she had with Eddie a year ago. At least this time you've learned.

"I think you may very well be the trouble," Oliver looks up, just in time to see your wicked, delighted grin.

"Then I am definitely trying to get you in trouble," you don't even hesitate before firing off the inuendo, smiling wide and proud at your own quick wit. The sight of Oliver's very genuine smile and laugh catches you off guard too; it'd been so long since you'd seen it, you forgot how taken you were with him when he lit up like that. Then, as the laughter died down, Oliver walks in, he sits with you, lets you lean against him.

"You've been saying a lot of..." he hesitates, turning to you. Oliver wears a strange, lopsided smile, but from the corner of your eyes you see something reserved in his gaze as he takes in the sight of you in this moment, "generous things about me." He's too close to miss the way your breath catches. Venetia and Farleigh are dirty fucking snitches, "'s alright-" he tries, but there's clearly some kind of reservation in his voice as he staves off your stammered apology, "knew what I was getting into, didn't I?"

With Oliver's arm around you, you can't help but wonder aloud -

"Did you?"

"I thought I did," he admitted softly, and you tipped your head onto his shoulder, then you feel him shift, feel his lips on your forehead and voice soft, "I think I thought I'd be alright anywhere if I was with Felix." For reasons you try very hard not to think about in this moment, Oliver's words sting.

"Oh," it almost gets caught in your throat; your traitorous heart sinks in your chest for just a moment. Except Oliver gives you a squeeze, holds you tight as he seems to realise his mistake.

"Of course you're a given," it almost salvages the moment, and of course you feel as though you have to act like it does, but there's something tight and unfamiliar balling up in your chest. "Felix loves you," Oliver sounds almost wistful, words coming out more like a faint breath, but perhaps it's this strange new feeling in your chest that makes him harder to read in this moment.

"He loves you too, Ollie," you tell him, forcing yourself to inject some levity into the moment. This time it's you who moves, who turns your face to Oliver, forehead against his as you muster up the warmest smile you can manage, pressing against him, making a show of overwhelming affection, "we both do," of course, your tone says, obviously.

And Oliver actually giggles at that, so it must work. In the next moment he's pulled you into his lap. It's so easy for you to readjust, to fit in his arms, in his space, against him, like it's where you were always meant to be.

"Is that you talkin' or Felix talkin'?" Oliver asks finally when you've got your arms settled around his neck, "I don't mind, I'd just like to know."

"What 'd you mean?" You ask, curious about the wording and it's implications. Oliver visibly hesitates, though he seems more embarrassed for whatever was about to come out of his mouth than anything else.

"Speakin' with Venetia made me realise how little I actually know about you," Oliver says carefully. Almost immediately your expression sours, and a long, exasperated sigh is pulled from you, "she's a deeply confusing woman, isn't she?" He adds almost like an afterthought, and you barked a quiet laugh.

"That is a very kind way of putting it," you offered diplomatically after a beat, before letting go of Oliver and leaning yourself back against the arm of the sofa, considering your next words carefully. His hands come to rest on your stomach, but you're surprised when he does up two of the buttons of Felix's shirt, providing you with a little more modesty. Then, his hands come to rest on your stomach and thighs, warm and unmoving.

"You're a deeply confusing individual yourself," Oliver pushes softly, "when I think about you too much, I realise there's not much to think about, least nothin' you've told me," and you hum noncommittally, looking up at the ceiling. The next words that escape you are from a script you'd thought was long buried.

"Yeah but that's kind of the point; I'm not really meant to matter, or be looked at, or thought about -" the words seem to shock even you, eyes going wide as you look to Oliver. The intensity of his stare has your heart hammering against your ribs as you try to back pedal, "sorry- that's not- I mean- sorry, that's really not, anymore that is -" you didn't even believe that anymore, right? Your place in the world as impressed upon you by your own parents for the first ten years of your life. Surely having spent more time by now with Felix and the Cattons than you ever had with them was enough to rewrite a good deal of the cruel way in which you'd been hardwired.

Oliver reaches out, caressing your cheek with that confident smile he only ever seemed to wear when the sun couldn't see him. He tells you that you matter, with absolute sincerity. Then, expression lightening to something fond, even teasing, he warns you not to let Felix catch you talking like that, that his love for you was the kind that would have him throwing a parade just to prove that self-doubt wrong. It was a nice mental image, if only for a moment. You, Oliver, Felix, not necessarily a parade for you per say, but a mess of colour and joy and music in the city, together and happy and -

"I don't know if you'd want that," Oliver's grin is fading, and finally you sit back up, let yourself be wrapped up in him as he continues to trail his fingers across the edge of your face, down your throat, across your collar, "but then again Venetia thinks you don't even know how."

"How what?" Voice barely more than a whisper, you know he can feel how quick your heart's beating, his hand flat and warm on your sternum.

"How to want for yourself, 'least not anything outside of Felix," he keeps his gaze trained on his hand, heel of his palm pressing firmer just over your heart, "which is why I asked; you said you loved me, is that you or Felix talking when you say that?" And finally he looks at you. That tight, sharp feeling in your chest spikes when he meets your gaze. He looks so earnest, so open, so ready for either answer.

But you stand, leaving both yourself, and Oliver's lap cold, but hoping your smile is warm enough compensation. Except you can hear in his voice that he believes Venetia; she'd confirmed what he'd suspected, it's what he left unsaid the night you'd slept with each other. The only thing you wanted was so easily met; to be wanted, and seemingly content with nothing more outside of Felix. A contented sycophant, easy to please and happy to be used; you knew the world was happy with this being your place in it.

And the more you think about it, the more you think Oliver is too.

"Of course it's Felix," you tell him what you're almost certain he wants to hear. No need to scare him off with the expectations of your own feelings on his shoulders. Oliver watches you for a long moment, simply observing as you smile wider, and hope that it comes across as adoring, "which means of course I do love you too, that's a given, Ollie." The sharp discomfort is scraping at your ribs, more painful with each word, hollowing out your chest moment by moment, so you bid him good night, unable to bare the conversation for much longer.

"Just one favour, by the way, if you could," you add by the door. He makes a noise of intrigue, but you can't even bring yourself to look at him. It'll be another just person looking at a placeholder while they're waiting for Felix to be ready to love them back. Usually you don't mind. Usually it's enough and you can still enjoy their company and have your fun. But they aren't Oliver Quick, "just... please refrain from properly fooling around with Venetia? I know I sound like a hypocrite but," you take a deep breath, smiling wide enough that you don't even have to see Oliver, "it kind of goes back well beyond just you."

The next morning, stopping into the study before you head down to breakfast, you intend to collect the book you'd finally found those red flowers in. Top of your pile, you'd left it open on the very page. But you find that someone has turned the page. Scabious, in full bloom, mocking you, surely.

The botany book lay like a bitter seductress on your desk, left open, pages spread and staring up at you; purple fucking pincushions.

#felix catton x reader x oliver quick #felix catton x reader #saltburn x reader #saltburn imagine #felix catton imagine #oliver quick x reader #felix catton x y/n #felix catton x you #oliver quick imagine #oliver quick x y/n #oliver quick x you #oliver x reader x felix #head heart hand fic #venetia catton x reader #venetia catton imagine #manic writer

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dreamerwitches · 2 months

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Kit takes a shot at redesigning some doppels! My main task is to actually incorporate the witch well. Here we gooo!

Kriemhild is already pretty good to me but I wanted to actually incorporate her spectre body. Its helpful shes basically just a silhouette.

Glasses Homulilly takes more from her Portable design, not using the Rebellion-esque arms. Her uhh stick-y thing is now her needles with one already in Kyubey. She also has an extra skirt and wings cause theyre cuuuute

Rebellion Homulilly skews totally in that direction. Spider lily instead of hat and completely removed the portable hairstyle. (It would make it too cluttered anyway). I returned Homura’s arms to the purple arms and she has the mouth covering Rebellion Homulilly’s first form has. The gramophone on her rear is where the Clara Dolls will come out of, because yes, they should be the Clara Dolls, not Lotte

#madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica #pmmm #witch #madoka magica witch #my art #Magia record #doppel #kriemhild gretchen #homulilly

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goldnhourwrites · 4 months

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Not enough people talked about these so I'm gonna do it myself because oh my god (commentary and headcanons below, it's just long)

Sett has a little travel-sized sewing kit in his bag... it's so tidy... sett stitching things back together when his bandmates rip them...

Sett just casually carries around like 20+ pounds of dumbbells. Mans is literally always working out. The grind never stops.

"yo Ezreal can you grab my bag for me?" "Yeah sure--what the FUCK do you have in here? This thing weighs a hundred pounds."

His little exercise headband... and is that a hair tie behind it? Sett with his hair tied back??

Sett's energy bar collection. Sett's the type of person to pack an entire backpack full of snacks for a road trip.

Ezreal has a plushie OF HIMSELF on his bag.

this guy practically collects aesthetic glasses. 3 pairs in the bag plus the circle ones he had in PARANOIA.

Sharpie (for signing autographs???) His signature on the polaroids of himself???

The photo under the lip balm looks like it might be Ezreal and Aphelios. Ezreal's the type of person to make sure he has photos with all of his friends. Ezreal hanging up his favorite polaroids in his room.

can we talk about the all-white fit in the very bottom photo omg

Aphelios has back-up headphones for his headphones.

WHO SENT THE SNACKS. WAS IT ALUNE. WAS IT SOMEONE ELSE.

The writing on the note looks like Korean but unfortunately I don't know any Korean :(

his sticky noted book... is it a journal? is it full of lyrics? who put the little smiley face sticker on the front!! does he write in it!!

I love the idea of Aphelios just pulling out a little keyboard whenever he wants to write down a tune. How well can he play the piano? Only enough to write music, or does he have songs memorized? Does he ever play for anyone?

K'SANTE'S DRAWING TABLET

he's not just in charge of putting together their fashion, he designs it himself. i'm going to scream

I am in love with those glasses. I need art of k'sante in those glasses ASAP. i will do it myself if i have to.

What is his book!! What does the W stand for!!

The way the button on his gloves matches the one on his jacket in his LoL splash art. This tiny detail is driving me insane.

Also, the cologne? The top is the same as his necklace? Does he have a specific personal cologne? So elegant...

Kayn's Pentakill guitar pick. Let me see him play the guitar I beg

The crumpled up receipts. This man goes Shopping (also see: cash, various coins). And he just has a bunch of random shit in his bag because he never bothers cleaning it out.

the open leaking bottle of hair dye. please. do you NEED that

The random jewelry... I love the idea of him either a) taking it off, shoving it in his bag, and forgetting where he put it or b) bringing backup drip with him everywhere in case he needs more

While Sett, Aphelios, and Yone all opted for headphones, Kayn's gone with good old-fashioned corded earbuds. Does he not like headphones? Is it because they mess up his hair?

Big ass box of matches and For Why? Does he smoke? Is he too cool to carry around a lighter? Does he just like setting shit on fire?

Yone keeps a little emergency travel kit. Band mom energy. He's got band-aids and a toothbrush and toothpaste At The Ready.

Bottle of lotion? Yone with a skincare routine? Yone who stays moisturized? Everybody in Heartsteel asking Yone for lotion?

Earplugs (for sleeping on long bus rides, maybe?) I want to see Yone going "I'm sick of this shit" and tuning the fuck out.

Yone is the only one with a real headphone case. Aphelios has his around his neck 24/7, but his wireless earbuds have a case. Sett's just shoving his in there with twenty pounds of dumbbells and hoping for the best.

Yone's got so many little gadgets and I don't even know what they all are. He has his laptop and (probably) his phone, plus a smartwatch, and maybe a portable charger? He's that prepared.

I can't tell what the object beside his smartwatch is (looks wooden?) If anyone knows, let me know? I'm so curious

This man's got even more stuff inside his bag. Yone doesn't leave the house without like fifteen things in case of an emergency.

good news everyone. i'm still losing my mind over them

#heartsteel #heartsteel sett #heartsteel ezreal #heartsteel aphelios #heartsteel k'sante #heartsteel kayn #heartsteel yone

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otgo-brooklyn · 10 months

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Big Brother Slider, the true Mom Friend™

So we all have that friend, who is 100% the mom friend. And listen, are both Slider and Ice little shits of their own devices? Yes, but i'd say that Ice can be a solid Mom friend, when needed. BUT, when with Slider it just goes out of the window, and pair that with Big Brother!Slider, and you have one hell of a head cannon there.

Every time that they go to the bar, Slider doesn't even leave Ice's side, guards his drink like a feral dog, and rounds Ice up when it's time to go home

Stops Ice from having fun recklessly endangering himself

Once at the bar Ice was on his 5th Whiskey sour before a table sent over 3 shots of tequila, Ice smiled and brought one up to toast, and using his mom senses common sense, Slider abandons his chat with Goose and is at Ice's side in about 3.5 seconds saying "no no no no" takes the shots and whiskey sours out of his hand and drags Ice home

Nearly had an aneurism when he found out Ice let someone else (Goose) drive him somewhere

"YOU LET SOMEONE DRIVE YOU? WHAT IF THEY WERE TRYING TO KIDNAP YOU? KIDNAP THEN KILL YOU!? YOU KNOW PEOPLE HAVE A THING FOR YOUNG BLONDES" "WE WERE BOTH GOING BACK TO BASE, AND IM 24" "SO?? YOU'RE PRACTICALLY A BABY" "IT WAS GOOSE! AND YOU'RE ONLY A COUPLE YEARS OLDER THAN ME" "AND?? HE HAS A MUSTACHE! YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU'D TRUST SOMEONE WITH A MUSTACHE??" "YOU WERE IN THE CAR WITH ME!" "SO??"

Slider always, ALWAYS has snacks and Capri-Suns on his person incase Ice gets hungry

It's like clockwork, every time Ice starts to get hungry, hangry, cranky etc. Slider is there handing over a Capri-Sun and some carrot sticks or apple slices

"Well maybe if you didn-" Ice starts before being interrupted by Slider shoving an apple slice into his mouth mid sentence, and stopping what seems to be the next arguing match between him and Maverick in it's tracks. Ice just glowers at Slider with a pout and starts chewing on his apple slice. "I told you not to skip breakfast, now you're gonna be cranky" "Bite m-" and once more Ice is silenced with an apple slice, as Goose and Mav along with the rest of the flyboys watch on in fascinated horror as Ice's temper is swiftly and expertly derailed by Slider and his apple slices. When they're finished Slider promptly procured a Capri-Sun from somewhere and quickly shoved it within Ice's hands before he had a chance to protest. "No" Ice said looking at Slider "Drink it" "No" "Ice" "I don't want to, so im not" "Toma Mikhailovich so help me god" Slider starts, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Ice just huffs and starts to drink. The flyboys never recovered from this.

Once when filing paperwork Ice got a paper cut, as people do, and the cut is small but the tiniest, tiniest, itty bitty drop of blood wells forward and Slider already has a portable First Aid kit spread out on the desk, Neosporin on a bandaid before being wrapped around Ice's finger and Ice doesn't even blink

It's a whole 10 second ordeal and they just continue on with their lives like nothing happened

Ice coughed once after accidentally being caught out in the rain and Slider straight up commandeers the kitchen to make more soup than Ice could ever possibly consume fully convinced Ice is coming down with something

Admittedly, Ice did in fact get the flu, but Slider was too concerned to say "I told you so"

Despite everything, Slider and Ice (platonically) love each other, and Slider is 100% the mom friend between the two of them

If I forgot anything feel free to tell me!

#tom iceman kazansky #ron slider kerner #Big Brother!Slider #Baby Brother!Ice #aviation #top gun fandom #top gun 1986 #nick goose bradshaw #peter maverick mitchell #mom friend #Slider sitting down at the bar sighing dramatically about “teenagers in their rebellious phase”#Goose: Ice is an angel compared to Mav dont exaggerate #Slider: you didn't know him in flight school #ice being a chaotic gremiln to Slider #Ice: And no one will ever believe you #i will die on this hill

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hungrywriter · 7 months

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Herbs & Hearts (Pt.5)

Raiden x f!reader

Raiden roamed the academy grounds, seeking his dear friend, Y/n. A lot of things have happened for the past few days and in just a few days, they will follow Liu Kang to war against the other Shang Tsung, who had disguised himself as Damashi. Raiden wanted to talk to Y/n, just to have a clear mind about her ‘relationship’ with Kung Lao. He had truly missed their friendship, and wanted to spend some time with her just in case anything happened during the war and he wasn’t able to resolve any issues he had with Y/n. He soon found them at her greenhouse, and Y/n was feeding him a spoonful of medicine paste that she had made. He watched their interaction, smiling and looked very happy without him there. As he approached, they finally acknowledged his presence, and Y/n greeted him with a smile. However, Kung Lao's response was less enthusiastic, and Raiden couldn't help but detect a hint of disappointment in his friend's eyes.

“Raiden. Are you here to get treated?” Y/n inquired, preparing to retrieve her portable medical kit from her bag. Raiden stammered, initially hoping for a private conversation with her rather than with Kung Lao present.

“Actually, I’m here to just check on you,” He said, walking nearer to her study table and looking at the plants she had grown. He saw a picture frame sitting next to a plant, and noticed that the picture it holds was Kung Lao and Y/n, taking a selfie. Both of them were wearing their monk’s clothes, so it was pretty recent. When did they take this? And where was he?

"I'm doing well. Both of us are fine. Thank you for asking, Raiden,” She answered, almost robotically. The whole conversation didn’t feel as natural as before, and he wonders if all of this was his fault. There was silence in the greenhouse as Y/n worked on her new medicine. The silence soon became unbearable, but lucky for them, Johnny had run in. All three’s attention was on the actor who raised an eyebrow at them.

“Alright, so something definitely happened here, and I would love to hear the gossip. Unfortunately, Kenshi hurt one of the soldiers again, so I need to borrow Y/n for a while,” Johnny urgently said. Y/n hastily grabbed her med kit and ran after Johnny, who was already running as soon as he was done with his announcement.

Awkward silence engulfed the greenhouse, and for the first time in their lives, they found themselves uncomfortable around one another. Kung Lao turned his chair to tinker with the various items scattered around Y/n's workspace, while Raiden stood beside him, admiring the plant anatomy diagrams on a chalkboard hanging above her desk. He couldn't help but notice a picture frame on the desk, which held another photo of Y/n and Kung Lao.

"Wow, she did all this by herself?" Raiden inquired, hoping to engage in a conversation with his best friend. Kung Lao finally smiled and nodded, his curiosity piqued regarding Y/n's interests. The two friends began to chat about Y/n, and Raiden felt relieved to be able to spend time with one of his closest friends. It was as if nothing had changed between them, and he cherished the feeling, even if it was only fleeting.t.

“You know, I was thinking of asking her out,” Kung Lao blurted out. Raiden froze in his tracks, wondering if he had misheard. Did Kung Lao mean that in a friendly way or romantically? Raiden's gaze shifted to Kung Lao, who sat there holding a precious piece of jewellery. He immediately recognized it as Kung Lao's mother's ring, the same ring that had been used by Kung Lao's father for his proposal. The sight of the ring in Kung Lao's hand added to the complexity of the situation, leaving Raiden with even more uncertainty and mixed emotions.

“Like as in… friends?” he asked hopefully, preferring the thought of Kung Lao approaching Y/n for friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Kung Lao's face contorted in a brief frown, and he stood to face Raiden directly.

“No, Raiden. I mean as a couple. Y/n is perfect, and she deserves to live a happy life, don’t you think?” Kung Lao questioned with a strained tone. Raiden's mind raced with thoughts of the potential consequences of his two closest friends becoming romantically involved. Would they leave him behind? Could Kung Lao care for Y/n properly? How would their relationship affect him if they married? He was spiralling but his friend's hand on his shoulder snapped him out of it while asking if he was okay.

“You can’t do that,” Raiden blurted out unintentionally, cursing himself internally for not expressing his feelings more tactfully. He observed the swift change in Kung Lao's demeanour, noticing how his friend's breathing quickened, and his fists clenched involuntarily. He held his guard up, prepared for a confrontation.

“Why not?” Kung Lao questioned, his face betraying a sense of confusion and mounting anger. Raiden scrambled to find excuses to dissuade Kung Lao from pursuing a romantic relationship with Y/n, fearing the impact on their friendship.

“Because the three of us have always been friends. That's the way it's always been! I don't want that to change," Raiden tried to reason with his friend. However, it appeared that Kung Lao was unwilling to listen, and his frustration only grew. Kung Lao scrutinised Raiden and then returned his attention to the ring he held in his hand.

“Raiden, I don’t want to fight you because you’re my brother. But what I do with Y/n is my business,” Kung Lao declared, managing to calm his emotions. He gathered his belongings and made his way to the exit, but before leaving, he turned back to Raiden.

"It's not my place to tell you this, but our friendship changed years ago," he remarked before leaving. Raiden stood there, feeling worse than ever, a whirlwind of questions spinning through his mind. What did Kung Lao mean by that?

#mk1 x reader #mk1 2023 #mk raiden #mk 1 #kung lao #raiden x reader #mortal kombat 1 2023 #mortal kombat x reader

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catgirltoofies · 2 months

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dragon's dogma's dlc isn't even remotely what people claim it to be

what people say: "you need to pay for fast travel! you need to pay for extra lives! you need to pay for character editing!"

the actual truth:

- you can pay for one mark location. this is an undeniable advantage, especially considering how early you're given it. the portcrystal is overpowered and i think it's the only dlc here that actually really matters

- you can pay for up to five extra lives. you can't buy more than the five dlcs, and getting wakestones is extremely, extremely easy if you want to bother to grind them. especially from the start of the game; every pawn starts with a quest where you get ⅓ of a wakestone for having them in your party for a day. if you really wanted to grind out wakestones, you could hire two fresh pawns, sit on a bench until a day passes, then dismiss the pawns and hire another pair. i don't even know why this dlc exists it's not even valuable and you can just. lose it. they're consumable. it shouldn't exist but not because it's an evil mtx, it's just weird.

- you don't need to pay to edit your character or your pawn. you can buy the art of metamorphosis for 500 RC, which you can get easily by simply playing online and having people hire your pawn, which they will do as long as you're online. I've been playing about 20 hours and have over 2000 RC, enough to buy 4 arts of metamorphosis. and even if you DON'T play online, for whatever reason, you can get RC as rare drops from enemies, so given time you can just build up a stock. in addition, following in the assumption it'll be like the first game, you'll be able to edit your arisen and pawn after entering ng+, which is probably a lot more investment than just fighting some cyclopes for RC.

- to discuss the other dlcs. you can buy RC directly, but there's not much reason to so far unless you want glasses or to change your pawn inclination.

- you can buy a makeshift gaol key, which will break you out of jail once, or you can buy one from a number of traveling merchants for like 1000 gold, which is a pittance

- you can buy the pawn inclination change items. these are more expensive to get with RC, clocking in at 2k RC, but inclination isn't really very necessary to change, and certainly not often.

- you can buy a pack of 3 harpysnare smoke beacons, which... do something? they let you grab onto harpies in certain areas and ride them to other places, but i don't know how useful this actually is in general, and I'm pretty sure you can just buy them from some general stores for a couple thousand gold

- you can buy a heartfelt pendant, which is a gift item that makes someone like you. the only relevance to this mechanic, as far as i know, is getting merchants to give you a discount, and for rp to have your beloved related to story events (assuming it follows the same as the first game). in the case of merchants, you can just look at their favorite items and give them Three (3) of their liked items and they'll be at max affection. in the case of your rp beloved, well, you should already care about them. you should get them what they love instead of just buying a pretty necklace. also if you want to search for every seeker token you can get the arisen's bond that way to max anyone's affection.

- you can buy a mod that changes music and sounds to be from DD1. to each their own

- you can buy a special camping kit. it's lighter than the normal kit, so it's helpful, but you can also just buy it for 6000 gold from some traders without needing to buy it.

- you can't even buy ferrystones. you don't even pay for fast travel you pay for a portable fast travel point, which still costs a very expensive ferrystone to teleport to.

- if you see the steam reviews, they're mixed. if you change the filter to only see reviews from people who have played the game for at least nine hours, that changes to mostly positive. the significant majority of negative reviews were made before even playing the game for NINE HOURS.

- there are other valid complaints about this game, this post is exclusively addressing the dlc. i will continue to defend this game because it's really really fun and I'm really annoyed at the review bombs by people who have no idea what they're talking about and are just parroting something they heard on twitter without actually knowing anything about what they're saying

- p.s. i want to be clear; i don't think microtransactions are a good thing and i genuinely believe none of these dlcs should be available as dlc, for various reasons (mostly detailed above). but the issues i have with them are generally the opposite of the issues people cry about, and i want to make clear that while there are problems with them and plenty of reasons NOT to buy the dlcs, the oft-cried reasons are misleading at best and outright false at worst

#dragon's dogma 2

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charminglyantiquated · 1 year

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Asking as someone going to be living shipboard for the first time; there any little comforts/ oft-overlooked items you've learned to always pack over the years? Things that aren't your bog-standard 'warm layers, hand-balm, good knife' but more, things you wouldn't necessarily think of until you want for them.

Good question! Off the top of my head: I got one of those little battery-operated strings of LED lights to hang up inside of my bunk. And my own twin sheet/pillowcase/cheap blanket, instead of just a sleeping bag! I don't bother with those for short trips, but if I'm living aboard the whole season, those made the little space feel much cozier and mine.

Other than that... my kindle, bc there's not a lot of room for physical books. A little sewing kit - most ships have sail needles, etc. but it was nice to have some tools better suited for clothing. A portable phone charger - it's not always convenient/possible to plug in a charger. A deck of cards, my own ceramic mug, a lil pod of water flavoring, my favorite tea - all things that made me happy to have. Wet wipes if it's going to be hot, those little instant hot packs if it's cold out. I knew someone who always had cinnamon toothpicks to chew on and others who had a collapsible camp chair or a hammock to take to the park on days off.

There's probably others, but like you say, it's hard to think of them unless you need them! The above have all improved my quality of life when I had them on hand, though. I hope everything goes well!

#schooner bum life

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haee-elia · 7 months

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spence-tober: day 26 - house flipper

pairing: house flipper/fixer upper!spencer reid x fem!reader

summary: in which your boyfriend needs your expertise, for once

word count: 1333

warnings: lots of talk of plumbing, house flipping, everything in that realm. relationship struggles and communication hurdles, but they work on it... is that a warning?

spence-tober masterlist

“Hello?” You greeted as you walked through the unlocked door to a small fixer upper house. You had knocked beforehand, but you figured through the sounds of clangs and loud equipment that no one was able to hear you anyway.

The house was obviously under construction and you knew that too. The walls were not painted and you could see the spackle covering some holes. Some clear tarps were laid down over some sections of the floor and there were half taken down cabinets in the kitchen.

“Hey, pretty girl. Thanks for coming.”

You turn around and see Derek Morgan, the person who texted you to come over as soon as you got off work and then sent you the location. Not that you needed it.

Spencer had always put the address of the house he’s currently working at on a little post it note just in case you ever needed to find or reach him.

You smile at the tall, muscular man in front of you, “No problem, at all. Where’s the problem?” You ask him while holding your basic tool box that you keep in your car.

When Derek had texted you about a little problem that Spencer and him had been having at their latest fixer upper house with the plumbing in the main bathroom, you had already been out the door at work and figured that the problem wouldn’t be too bad of a fix that you needed a bunch of professional equipment.

“Over here.” Derek gestures and then leads you through a long hallway down to the primary bedroom of the house, being careful to step over the broken pieces of old tile before swinging an arm over to the entrance of the bathroom.

“Morgan, I really think I can just-” Your boyfriend says, not realizing your presence since his head and upper body are contorted under the sink.

“Don’t touch that.” You intercept his sentence, quickly realizing what Spencer was about to touch.

Unfortunately, your sudden interception caused Spencer to bump his head as he heard your voice and a groan sounded out in the bathroom.

You wince for him and help him out of the tiny sink space, rubbing his head where you know a bruise would soon form.

“Who-” Spencer starts questioning, surprised to see you. “Why-” He stutters, “How-”

You shake your head and smile at your boyfriend who’s quite confused. “Derek called me. Said that you have a sink problem.”

Spencer whips his head towards Derek and gives him an accusing and incredulous glare, “I told you we didn’t need to call her.”

It doesn’t surprise you that Spencer didn’t want your help. It wasn’t like he thought he had the skills to fix the problem especially since it isn’t exactly in his wheelhouse. You knew it was because he didn’t want you to think he was dating you or using you for your skill set.

You never thought that he would, but Spencer had met you at a mutual friend’s open house where you had been the main plumbing contractor on the job. Once you had started dating, someone made an off handed comment that it was perfect that you both got together. A plumber and a house flipper!

Since then, Spencer had been adamant that he was dating you for you and went as far as dealing with your coworkers and colleagues than yourself even if it cost him more money.

“Well judging by the way you were about to flood the entire bathroom, I think you need a little bit of help.” You comment, looking about where Spencer was about to implement his ‘fix’.

Spencer’s face flushes and Derek sends a joking glare at your boyfriend.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it from here.” You assure, holding up your portable tool kit with everything you’ll need for the job.

Spencer steps aside at your insistence and you are able to grab the small flashlight from your kit, luminating the dark cabinet of the vanity sink.

“So, what seems to be the problem?” You ask the two men as they step aside in the bathroom to give you room.

“The water.” Derek says pointing at the faucet, “Won’t turn on at all. The tub and shower works. So does the toilet and the rest of the house, but the sink just doesn’t get water coming through it.”

You hum and then retract yourself from the sink and step out to test the faucet for yourself. Confirming that it indeed doesn’t work, you turn your attention back to the sink and set out your tool box.

“Alright,” Derek says, brushing off the imaginary dust from his hands. “Ima set off for today. Got a dinner date with Savannah.”

Both you and Spencer wave him off and with a final instruction for Spencer to lock up, you are left alone.

At first, the gentle twists of metal against metal and your elbows scraping against the wooden cabinets are all that can be heard in the bathroom. You know Spencer is still with you, you can sense his presence.

“You know,” You start to say, maybe for the thousandth time at this point. “You can just call me if you need help with the plumbing. I’m happy to help.” You offer once again.

This has gone on for two years since you have been dating and multiple houses in which you find out afterward that a plumbing incident had occurred and one of your fellow plumbing coworkers had been called to deal with it.

“I know.” Spencer says, almost disappointed with himself.

As much as you both have communicated your separate struggles, it’s still hard for Spencer to send that perfectly crafted text to you asking for help or to have his finger press that call button connecting him to you.

You work in silence, the problem not having been a large or complicated one so it’s quickly resolved. Perhaps maybe thirty minutes go by. Spencer doesn’t leave but also doesn’t try to make conversation, knowing that you prefer to work in silence.

“Alright,” You say, groaning as you shimmy out from under the sink. No matter how long you’ve been doing this job or how many sinks you’ve slinked under, your bones still creak and crack in protest to small spaces.

Spencer offers you a hand and you shoot him a grateful smile. It was not uncommon for Spencer to give you a back rub at your shared apartment after a long week at work. You did the same for him after a particularly busy demo week.

“That should do it.” You say, confirming your work done by pulling the faucet handle towards you, a smile grows on both of your faces as the water runs smoothly through the tap.

“Thank you, really. Thank you.” Spencer says giving you a hug from behind. His long arms wrapping around your waist and his chin resting on your shoulder.

Spencer wasn’t a very big fan of PDA, but in private, he was a touched starved clingy man who would wrap his entire body around yours if he could. Always a hand somewhere on your body and you were no stranger to any type of kiss.

A peck. A butterfly kiss. An eskimo kiss. Any of them Spencer could get behind.

“It’s no problem.” You respond, “Just, call me next time? Promise.” You ask of him.

You feel him nod against your skin and you smile in response. “Okay, let’s go home then. I have the day off tomorrow.”

Spencer hesitates and doesn’t unwrap from your frame, “What if-“ He starts on.

“What if you come back with me tomorrow? You could help and give us the okay to keep working on this bathroom?”

His voice is full of uncertainty and hesitation and you’re sure there is nervousness blooming in his chest. You comfortingly caress and rub your hand on his and turn your head to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’d love that, Spence.”

a/n: i am so close to the finish line now. just gotta close out the rest of the one shots and then ill be done! i could procrastinate the rest until they need to come out (i'm constantly a week ahead and then schedule) but i have some other things popping up with a deadline so ima try to knock these out!

#criminal minds #criminalminds #spencer reid #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds fluff #dr. spencer reid #criminal minds fic #spencer reid au #spencer reid fanfic

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