Advice I'd Give to My Younger Self.

Be unapologetic about your presence. Never enter a room with your head lowered. Hold your head up like you are proud to be who you are. Take up space. Be bold in your actions. Let your voice be heard.

You don't have to be perfect. Get over perfectionism and the fear of being embarrassed. Learn to own all your flaws and insecurities and continue to do what you love.

What other people say mean nothing. Never loose sleep over anyone’s opinion of you. They are not God and they don't define you.

Believe in yourself. You can be successful just like those people you look up to. You have what it takes. Hone your skills and be great too.

Appreciate your unique gifts and qualities. Stop comparing yourself to others and changing yourself to fit in. Always stay true to yourself.

a good workout can change your day, your mind, your mood, your spirit, your life ♡

I don't know if you've discussed this before but I don't really get madols/thaumarks in terms of value.

I thought it was like yen as in the anthology Azul is fretting over a 100(100 yen is 0.65 usd) coin and they all think he's paranoid, making 100 madol seem insignificant.

But then 50,000(yen to usd is 316 usd) madol for an item is supposed to be crazy expensive? As shown in the prologue.

Which isn't much for the exchange rate.

At the end of book 3 it states that the menu in the mostro lounge is then priced at 5-16 thaumark an item????

It makes no sense

I talked about the difference between thaumarks (in EN, similar to the American dollar) and madol (in JP, similar to the Japanese yen) in this post. You will find many examples there as well!

You might be confused about the value of thaumarks and madol because currently the yen irl is weak. For reference, right now 100 yen is 0.65 or 65 cents in USD (not even a full dollar). However, I believe that the “true” exchange rate for thaumark to madol is more accurately described as 100 yen for every 1 dollar/1.00 USD. This results in a "cleaner" converted number and is closer to the value of the yen to dollar (106 yen to 1 dollar) when TWST first came out in 2020–though EN would not come out until a few years later. In 2024, the conversion is closer to 150 yen for 1 dollar, and this difference is probably what resulted in your confusion.

Knowing this, a thaumark is actually 1/100 the value of a madol. Just move the decimal point of the numver over to the left by two spaces to do the madol to thaumark conversion! This would make the value of a 50,000 yen/madol item actually closer to 500 dollars/thaumarks.

It should be noted that the broken chandelier in the prologue is stated to be worth “a billion” or more in both EN’s thaumarks and JP’s madol. Some numerical values like this are left unchanged between the two servers.

In real life, the value of currencies fluctuates all the time! But in a game like TWST, the currencies can be stabilized and unchanging regardless of what happens in the real world. That's likely the case in this situation.

In the anthology comic you referenced, the whole joke IS that Azul is fretting over what is a miniscule amount of missing money because he is just that stingy. The 100 madol coin and its 1 thaumark (or 100 sorcents) equivalent are supposed to be seen as not a lot of currency. He's overreacting over some change in both JP and EN currencies.

As for the pricing of menu items at the Mostro Lounge, I don't think the values are strange at all. The prices quoted, however, are a little off. The items mentioned in book 3 actually range from 6-15 thaumarks or 600-1500 madol.

Azul explains that the drinks on the menu are 6 thaumarks/dollars (600 madol/yen). This is even more expensive than asking for a glass of juice or soda at a restaurant (a few dollars or a few hundred yen). It’s about the same price as a specialty drink (think like a mocktail or something). Putting that another way, that’s about the same cost as a tall Starbucks drink.

Azul also says that there is a limited menu with items for 15 thaumarks/dollars (1500 madol/yen), which I imagine are like the lunch sets or desserts. Many cafes and especially anime/manga collab cafes (which are notorious for being costly) have similar pricing for their dishes; in some cases. Here is an example of a menu from a Tokyo Mew Mew collab cafe (although you can find several others with matching prices or cost even more):

Let's also keep in mind that Azul only stated that items on THIS particular limited collab menu were 15 thaumarks/dollars or 1500 madol/yen each. We don't know if other limited collab menus or if the regular item menus are higher/lower cost. We should be cautious of using the 6-15 thaumarks/dollars or 600-1500 madol/yen range to cover the entirety of the food and drink prices that Mostro Lounge offers. For example, in Azul’s Dorm Uniform vignettes, he specifies that he’s selling the Mystery Drink for 1500 madol/yen or 15 thaumarks/dollars, which is significantly more than (/over double) the usual cost of a Mostro Lounge drink. If you got the mystery drink with your lunch, you’d already be in at $30 or 3,000 yen for a single meal—and again, this is only if you don’t count extra costs for tax and/or tip.

Let's do some math terrifying, I know... Deuce is shaking for what I assume is the regular order for a student dining in. We will order 1 drink and 1 item from the limited menu. Without tax (and tip, if Twisted Wonderland has that), this alone would cost you $21 or 2,100 yen. It'll cost even more if you order extra drinks or dessert. I imagine that just the 1 drink and 1 limited menu item together already cost significantly more than what you can get to eat at the school cafeteria. Because NRC is based on a British boarding school, let's use the irl cost of the average British high school's lunch costs (2-3 pound sterling, according to Google) to compare. 2-3 pound sterling is about 3.70 USD or 370 yen. Even if we were to assume that a private British boarding school would charge significantly more for food (because it's a "fancier" institution)—be it double, triple, or quadruple the price—students would still be paying a fraction of what one casual meal at the Mostro Lounge would cost. Not only that, but NRC students are getting more bang for their buck in the cafeteria, since food is served buffet style. You get a lot more variety and amount of food for much less initial cost. Comparatively, Mostro Lounge is the expensive option 🤡 (even if most of the main cast and NRC student body seem to be from pretty well-off families and could probably afford eating there daily, no problem). The average high school student has no income, has limited allowance, or earns minimum wage, so that cost of a fancy Mostro Lounge meal would take quite a bite from their personal spending budget.

Fuck your word count!

༺𖤐๋࣭ ⭑🕸🦇🕸๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ 𖤐༻

"Focus on your word count," "Write 2,500 words a day," "Real writers set monthly word goals."

SHUT UP! Your word count doesn't matter. You're just stressing yourself out.

It doesn't matter if you write one word today or 10,000! At least you wrote something! Focus on that.

Quality and sanity of quantity.

✨Time for Vanilla’s Opinion 🍰

Edition #1: thoughts on hate & caring about what others think of you.

Regardless of what people think of you, you need to understand that it only matters/ means something if you decide it to. What i mean is that i know lots of people say “you should only care about your opinion. Others opinion of you dont matter” but that’s only true if YOU DECIDE IT TO BE TRUE. I will say this again: this is your life!!!!!

If you choose to accept and believe the nonsense that others will think/ say of you, then you are saying “i dont have the confidence and self love in myself to only accept my opinion, so im going to give you the power over my emotions and how i act :)” do you really want to do that? Because that’s what you’re doing when you start acting based on how you think others are gonna think of you and what their perception is.

Remember: what other people think of you is just THEIR PERCEPTION. Stop making your personality & yourself dependent on what another person thinks of you!!

And also, some people will literally just hate on anything because of how sad their life is. I mentioned this before, and im gonna mention it again: there could be a video of CATS PLAYING on YouTube and you’ll find someone criticising and hating on that. That’s how sad some of these people in life are. So stop trying to or thinking that since you love yourself and you’re “perfect” that everyone should/ would like you because THATS NOT TRUE.

I read this quote once: “you could be the most juiciest, yummiest apple in the world, yet there would still be someone out there who doesn’t like apples.”

“So then.. what do i do if I receive hate? It’s still mean and hurtful.”

WHY does it still hurt??? WHY are you giving that person ANY control over how you feel???? If this person is someone who’s your friend or close to you, when they do it, TELL THEM THAT YOU DONT LIKE IT!!! Without communication and understanding, you will only start to build resentment for the other person, creating a toxic relationship. Comunícate your boundaries clearly by telling them that firmly, NOT in a joking manner, that you don’t like it. Now ofc if they do it once more, remind them again. Most of the time, if this person really cares about you, they will respect your feelings and stop doing that. But if it happens more times, you’ve gotta stop giving your energy to them. Reserve that for something that actually matters.

You may or may not have noticed that i did not write “just cut them out” because i know how difficult that can be, especially if you’re a kid still living with your parents. Because at some times, you’re stuck in the situation you’re in for a while (for example: a workplace, living at home, in 1 class at school) so its not as easy to just “cut them out”. And that’s why i wrote “stop giving your energy to them”. Because THATS what the parasites are feeding on! Your energy and attention! Take that away from them and see what happens.

BUT….;

know that what I’m NOT saying is to be a stone-cold bitch who doesn’t care at all about others or their happiness. (Because honestly, doing that shows me that you’re a lot more insecure) A lot of people now would be like “but it’s not my responsibility to ensure they’re happy. They are their own person in charge of their own actions and feelings!” Sure, ok. But then don’t come whining to me about how you have no friends and how you feel so lonely and sad. ‘You’re your own person and in charge of your own feelings’, remember? So if someone decides to leave a relationship (whether it’s a friendship, or with romance) with you because you don’t make them feel happy, then don’t be surprised about that because ‘they are their own person.’

But look, i completely agree with the fact that you and every individual indeed are in charge of their own feelings and actions, but just stop and think about it for a sec; would YOU want to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t give a hoot about your happiness? Yuck, no!!

So to put it in more simple/ plain terms: be KIND to people, bring smiles to peoples faces when you can (give them a compliment, help them out, listen to them, offer advice, etc.) but don’t something that compromises your own wellbeing and happiness. Cus like, how is complimenting someone’s hair or eyes gonna hurt you? If anything it would just make you happier. But also don’t live your life constantly on the edge, afraid of what he’s gonna think of you, what shes gonna say about you, etc. etc.

I guess that’s pretty much it. <3 anyyywayys i hope you enjoyed the 1st edition of the series! If you have requests, comment on this post of send an ask using the ‘tea’ button ☕️

Xoxo, Vanilla

How to create a new version of you:

Ask yourself these questions:

• What do I like about myself and what do I want to change about myself?

• What kind of fashion style do I want and how to show it?

• What kind of personality traits do I want and how to express them?

• What stops me from being the new version of me and how to overcome it?

• What are my future plans or goals and how to achieve it?

• What kind of people do I get inspired from and who do I need to take distance from?

Hey, glowing ball of light on my yard. Not normal. No physical presence. Do you guys need to get out here or should I just wait it out?

It's just light energy. Seemingly sunlight. Mostly a nuisance, it's not burning anything. Just a bright ball. I tried to cover it but the tarp just kinda went through it. So yeah. Or of ideas other than "build a box around it".

Hm, sunlight. I’d be careful, sunlight is nothing if not the byproduct of a massive nuclear reaction. I’d keep your distance and watch the grass or plants nearby. If it seems okay, it might be safe enough to go near it. Still be careful. If you’ve got a Geiger counter handy (and everyone should!) test it out.

We’ll send someone out, but in the meantime, you might feel it necessary to, yes, build a box around it. But not just any box. You’re going to want to get copper mesh and construct a faraday cage. It’s actually sold as a pest control tool, but you can use it as an apotropiac in a pinch!

You’d be surprised how often faraday cages work. In this cage you can probably just put a table under it and line a cardboard box in the mesh, then put it over top. Or failing that, put it on your windows.

I need to find the pamphlet I made ages ago. Apotropiacs And You: Protection 101! Jenny, can you —

It seems like one of the biggest and most common mental hangups I find in almost everyone is a failure to adapt to superseding concepts.

That's to say, sometimes, earlier on in life or in understanding of something, you will be told a simplified version of the truth, often a black and white silhouette of an idea. However, the more you learn, the more you're meant to find the shades, the blurriness, the nuances of everything. It seems like many people don't understand this, or more accurately, are never rewarded for doing this.

The issue seems to be that on a rhetorical level, the most easily transmissible ideas are those black and white statements, the ones that punch the best. Most people don't attempt to engage in concepts on a deeper level out of their own interest, so if all they are surrounded by is surface level statements, their understanding of the world will never advance beyond a surface level.

This is what happens with bigots when they are confronted with actually interacting with the people they choose to hate on a more personal level. To even speak to someone is to treat them in some way as a person, and so, while they almost never budge on anything that doesn't directly affect their life even after these sorts of learning experiences, they are forced to add shade on something they desperately want to be black and white. Obviously, many people's delusions win out even with direct contact, but still.

This also most certainly affects leftist spaces. It feels like there are two different kinds of leftist spaces, ones where the solution to differences is to put up harsh walls and outlines between everything and police those rules strictly, and the other where the solution is to let them intermix and talk it out. It's sadly difficult to simply cast away that first one, the silhouette, when it comes to politics, because even progressive groups need to consolidate together to push on a rhetorical level for cultural acceptance and systematic changes, but the internals cannot reflect this idea, because it simply isn't how anything should work. It's a defensive reaction to difference, drawing lines around yourself so everything makes clear and simple sense.

Absolutism is a philosophy for children, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It just means that we're meant to graduate from that eventually. Allow yourself to see the grey, and you might find that there's a beauty to the shading.

talking about mentally ill tnt duo

them learning to use safe words outside of sex or dynamic stuff, to have an alternative way of communicating during episodes

actually that's a very important thing: everyone, establish a system of "safewords" with the safe people in your life.

Words, phrases, emojis, tapping, squeezing, etc - create a system that allows you to discreetely communicate. examples of what it can be used for: * reassuring/getting reassurance (when for whatever reason you can't express it verbally) * communicating that a joke has gone too far, * asking for help with getting out of an uncomfortable situation (for example a social event), * making sure something you're saying is genuine and honest - it's important especially when you both have issues (don't abuse the phrase by asking about trivial things) but when you need to make absolute sure that what's being said is fully true it's very useful to have a little safe word that you know neither person is going to break. this comes in handy with things like checking if someone's safe, or when you need reassurance that they definitely care about you * communicating that you're not feeling safe (great to have with parents/parental figures in your life/someone reliable with a car for when you need them to come get you from somewhere) * communicating that you need to say something and be heard out, and that you don't wanna attack them, but this is an issue that you have to work through *communicating that you need space - or the opposite

There's reasons ways to use safewords in that manner, but i'd say it's very important to develop some kind of a system like that with close friends/partner(s)/parental figures etc

aaand of course yes absolutely great hc fully support that (lmao i got a little off-topic)

As a writer, what are some elements that you would want to see included in a romance between a female autistic character and a male character (who grew up with a sister who is autistic? This is also a bit of a forbidden romance and I’m trying to plan this out well to be very respectful and good representation of the autistic community (idk if that’s the write phrasing so forgive me if I’m saying it wrong). I’ve already started research, but I just need maybe a few ideas/suggestions. thanks!!!

Firstly, remember that no autistic person is the same so his sister being autistic doesn't mean he'll know everything about it or what it's like to be autistic. It would be nice to see some representation of how different autistic people can be by showing differing traits in his sister and the female love interest - eg, differences in masking, different sensory issues, different ways they stim, different ways of enjoying special interests etc.

You could show her struggling with aspects of dating culture (going out to bars which are loud and overstimulating? No thanks) and taking things literally (eg, being asked if she wants to go for coffee and saying no because she doesn't like coffee when the guy is actually trying to ask her on a date.)

Show that she is liked for her autistic traits, not despite them. Maybe he likes that she's very honest, or enjoys listening to her talk about her special interests. Let her be a fully 3-dimensional character wither her own likes, dislikes, goals and interests, and try not to fall into stereotypes.

Definitely don't treat it as if he's some kind of hero for dating an autistic person or for 'dealing' with her autistic traits! Like with any disability, that would be very disrespectful. Also I hope the forbidden romance aspect isn't because she's autistic? I'd need to know more context to know how I feel about that.

If you're not autistic yourself, please do get a sensitivity reader who is, whether that's a friend or a professional.

Speaking of good autistic representation - have you seen the show Dinosaur that came out recently? It's about an autistic woman and her relationship with her sister who's getting married, and it has a storyline where she starts dating the guy at her coffee shop. I love how she was portrayed (she stims with her hands in exactly the way I do!) and it's very funny and warmhearted, plus the lead actress is autistic herself, so if you're looking for inspiration definitely check it out. It's on Hulu and BBC iPlayer :)

I just found out my bf has been lying and cheating on me since day 1. We’ve been together for a year and four months. We had the best relationship in my experience. My first ever healthy relationship. I thought I landed a good man with good morals. Hard working. Great communicator. Family man. Etc! But all through out the relationship he was talking to others, even met up with one of them during the Christmas holidays back home!!! He invited her out for a drink. According to her, he was single. It’s so shocking to think he could live a double life. Not once throughout the relationship did I have a single clue. We planned on getting engaged and married and having a family. Says he wants to marry me and I’m the girl of his dreams. The one he wants.

What’s your advice on infidelity in relationships? Pack up and leave? Try to rebuild the trust? Has any of your followers gone through this and were able to rebuild trust? What’s the process? What steps did you two take. Any advice, insights would be helpful. From you or your followers. Thank you.

I have the opinion that if you’re not legally bound by marriage or even children then you have no reason to stick around and struggle. You are going through emotional labor for someone who could potentially not even marry you in the future and even bring diseases into the relationship. Ultimately, it is your choice but you’re young and can find someone who actually means what they say. Even if you’re able to “rebuild trust”, it’s never the same and you will constantly be looking over your shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Oh how I want this event where twst boys will be turned into children. The chaos!

That might be an interesting event for late spring/early summer, seeing as Japan has Children's Day on May 5th. It's a public holiday meant to celebrate children's individuality and happiness. I know that this kind of idea is already popular within the fandom; plenty of fan artists and fanfic writers (myself included) have done this prompt before. (If you're interested in reading those, I'll refer you to the masterlists for whichever characters you are looking for.)

Maybe it could be an event where the staff could shine as parental figures/guardians to the boys who temporarily turn into little kids? Crowley is the token absentee dad/j We at least know that Sam would conveniently be the one providing all of the childcare items www It could also give a chance for "younger" characters (ie first years or other smaller family members like Cheka + Ortho) to step up and fill the "big brother" role. Although... I do get the distinct feeling that some first years would end up bullying their child dorm leaders or at the very least not taking the best care of them 😅

Get it off the pedestal

Girl just do your daily affirmations, and then forget about that goddam desire of yours, don't make it your top priority, make affirming and be consistent your top priority, then go by your day.