#not saying it's a good system; just saying might as well use your options
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I want to preface this post by saying I'm not trying to paint the world as bleak and hopeless, this is just something that's been on my mind
With all the horrible things in the world right now, it's struck me just how much the people who've died are dead, and no matter what we do now there's no turning back the clock
That may sound obvious, but what I mean is that nothing we do will ever be able to make these wrongs right
Which ironically just makes it all the more important to fix things as soon as possible, both to prevent more irreversible damage, and also because if we can't do enough then we're obliged to at least do what we can
I know that none of us here are heads of state, or major politicians, or billionaires who bought a social media platform to avoid the FTC beating us into a fine paste for insider trading due to non disclosed shares of said company while driving up the price by saying we were thinking about buying it; so I get that there's a limit to what we can do and out governments are filled with dumb assholes who refuse to do anything to help (some seem to want to, but there's enough people blocking them a lot of the time)
So I don't... I don't have a direction here... I assume you're already doing what you can when you can, and keep it up. I don't know... it's just horrific how many people are suffering and how we'll never be able to take it back
That's what's on my mind with all this and... and it's very frustrating and I'm not even the one in danger with any of it
Keep trying to do better I suppose... and it's not something I have much hope for, but I guess vote in any upcoming elections, given that if there were less awful people in office maybe a few more decent things would get done
Like be a single ticket voter, take what's important to you and say "I only vote for people who support what I want supported"... and then vote for those people
I have no faith in it, but I think you gotta at least try it
(Bonus suggestion, think it's particularly hopeless but vote in the primaries cause that's your one chance to get a trash candidate off the ballot)
#I mean I very much am a single issue voter right now; you can bet I'm gonna be looking at people's history with how they've voted on it#I frankly encourage you to do the same; and I'm not gonna tell you what your issue you should do it with is either#you make your own choices; I just... I'd rather people vote for someone they think is gonna do the most like they'd want#rather than vote for no one#though also I'm American; I get it; they're both assholes; whichever thing you're voting for it's red of blue asshole#but still... some of them seem like they'll do a bit more to support shit I like and some are actively sabotaging it#like I'll straight up say I can't stand mike johnson in specific and if he was in my district I think I'd vote for a cannibal before him#so like... I'm not gonna tell you who to vote for; I'm just gonna say you might as well shoot your shot at it#cause if enough of us hopeless scum shoot our shot then technically the person we want gets elected#and the US is pretty corrupt but they generally put in the person who gets the most votes; electoral stuff aside#not saying it's a good system; just saying might as well use your options#by all means if you've got other stuff you're doing to make the world better keep at it#more to changing things than voting; but it certainly can't hurt#and once again; do it mail in if you can so you don't waste your time in lines
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Yoongi
𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 | Business Decisions
He's not who people might think he is.
Tags/Warnings: Alien!Yoongi, Human!Reader, Unstable AU, set prior/during the Jungkook storyline, dystopian AU, space/Sci-fi/cyberpunk-esque, strangers to lovers, Angst, Violence, Drama, romance, adult, eventual smut
Length: 3k Words
-Masterlist
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Min Yoongi is, despite his looks and quiet nature, a very kind person. Or at least, that's what some very selected people will tell, if one was to ask them.
His tail softly sways behind him as he keeps an eye on the main operational panel in front of him, while you watch. His cat-like ear snaps a bit irritated at something- when his eyes turn towards you, glaring. “can you.. stop staring?” He requests, and you nod, instead turning to look out the large window of the spaceship instead. You’re quiet, but not mute- having talked to him quite a bit before. Maybe you simply don’t speak much, or don’t put much value in.. smalltalk.
That’s fine by him. He doesn’t either.
He's found you- or rather, you found him- just hours earlier at an outpost, asking him to take you along to another location in exchange for a small amount of money. Where he went next you didn't care- you only needed a ride to get around, most likely used to this kind of life, since you'd obviously chosen him very specifically amongst all the other options at the bustling restaurant.
In hindsight, it made sense that you approached him despite his grim appearance- he was the shortest and least threatening looking species in that restaurant at the time, and was also one of the only one's there without any company at all. You're clearly smart about this whole process of finding a ride from one place to another-
otherwise, you wouldn't have lived like this for so long, having done this for years, according to you.
“There is.. Food over there. If you’re hungry.” He tells you, and you look over to spot the metal trunk in a corner, before you nod at him, not moving at all however.
“I’m not.” You answer, though your stomach growls as if to disagree, making you clearly a bit ashamed of it, eyes widening at being betrayed by your own body like this.
“Just eat. I wouldn’t offer it if I didn’t want to give it to you.” He mumbles to himself, resuming his task of checking the ship’s systems again while you stay seated where he’d last told you to sit. You still won’t move, and he’s unsure why not- but he’s also aware that he shouldn’t get too invested in you. You’re gonna be dropped off next stop, and that’s gonna be it- which is for the best, because getting involved with humans is never a very good idea.
And he’s also still on a mission to get his revenge- and secure his place in the foodchain, to be no longer seen as nothing but a docile little pet. A mission that might as well kill him- and if he can avoid pulling anyone down with him, he surely will.
When he notices your eyes blinking longer and longer, he walks to fetch a sleeping bag from one of the other metal trunk in the corner, to offer it to you. “Sleep. It’ll still be a few more hours until we’ve reached the next outpost.” He says, and you take the sleeping bag from him with a thankful nod, before you spread it out right on the floor where you sit, to crawl into it and lay down. He has a suspicion what your way of earning money had been until now, but with your behavior so obvious, it’s very clear to him now.
It makes him upset. The fact that you’ve been driven so far just to somehow survive.
Either way, he stays awake to both keep himself safe just incase he’s misjudged you and your intentions, and to make sure the old and very small spaceship keeps it’s course as it sometimes tends to deviate over time due to the old navigation system. And yeah, maybe he also can’t help his instincts as well-
Unintentionally guarding you while you sleep, eyes always checking up on you any time you move in your sleep.
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Min Yoongi was born on Zoldos- a small, cold and relatively poor planet, which had been industrialized for ages. He remembers his father making toys out of junk he found while working at the metal factory each day, turning trash into small spaceships for Yoongi to play with.
Most of his time however was spent with his mother, and the many children she’d foster over the years of his childhood- many of them he’d see as his sisters, as all of them would be girls given up by their families, since in his culture, they’re said to just be expensive and too much work to raise. Maybe this way of growing up, helping his mother with the young kids every day while she taught him everything he needed for his future, made him into the man he is today.
His father had always been described as ‘unusually soft’ compared to what is usually expected and seen in his kind- Xaqal people tending to be combative, easily irritated, and quick to escalate situations into physical violence to defend themselves from others. But his father was already uninterested in any of the usual past-time activities his coworkers would indulge in, like underground fighting, or gambling- rather spending his free time home with his son, foster children and partner, which was unusual in itself. Usually, partners of his kind don’t stay together after their children learn how to walk- but Yoongi remembers that even when his mother passed, his father would continue to live at the same house, to find new homes for the remaining children, before he moved away as well once Yoongi decided to leave the planet.
Yoongi is still in contact with his father, and doesn’t believe that he should’ve been raised any different than how he was.
But his now rather soft and kind character comes with a price to pay- with most people on other planets not taking too kindly to him and his friendly nature at first. Friendships don’t pay your bills after all, so the first lesson the young man had to learn back then, was to toughen up, and start thinking of only yourself first and foremost. Getting attached to others was a risk to take, and would most likely end in a burden one might think of unnecessary.
Even so, Yoongi has made friends along the way. From a very, very charismatic guy named Seokjin and his mother on Cryon, or the stoic and self-admitted younger ‘Asshole’ human-Bolku hybrid going by the name of Jungkook. But other than that, he keeps himself independent- away from others.
However, for some reason, he’s now sitting with you on a bench on the outpost while his spaceship is being refueled, having bought you some warm food to eat, despite your active arguments against that. Maybe because you’re obviously in need of protection, or because you’re not a threat whatsoever- but he feels like he should at least make sure you’ll be okay on this outpost, before he’ll leave you here.
Deep down, he knows it’s not the question if you end up getting into a situation where you’ll be killed- but more so, when.
“What are... your capabilities?” Yoongi asks after a moment, watching your hands as they tear apart a piece of bread to dip it into your hot soup he bought. A warm and filling meal was a good idea to him, since it’ll keep you energized for longer than just a snack or fast food.
You look up at him, caught off guard, as you swallow down, thinking.
“Hm..” You hum as you think. “I.. Can read maps pretty well. And I’m good at cleaning.” You say. “But I could probably learn other things pretty quickly, if needed. It depends on the job I could get.” You explain, and Yoongi nods.
“So if you had to learn about another species’ health and how to care for it, you could learn quickly?” He asks, and you nod.
“If.. Given enough recourses to teach myself.” You mumble, continuing to eat. He’s getting the feeling you’ve not had a filling meal in a while with how eager you are to finish all of it.
“I will not offer you monetary compensation.” He says, and at that, you look up again. “But instead a place to sleep, regular food, and.. Basic protection.” Yoongi explains to you, and at that, you instantly nod.
“I can do anything!” You chirp, desperate- and he carefully pushes you back down by your shoulder, calming you down again. “Really-”
“I believe you.” He nods. “But Be aware that I am not just some traveler.” He remarks, and you nod.
“I understand.” You say.
“Hm. If that’s the case-” He starts, looking over to a small shop that sells different electronics. “-I’ll get the necessary equipment to finalize our agreement. Stay here- and don’t talk to anyone.” He commands, and you nod, continuing to eat while he gets up to walk into the shop.
Many of the people inside this shop are wearing the distinctive blinking tiny tracker around their necks- either from a simple leather collar, something more sleek like a silver hoop, or even one with a chain. It’s to be expected, as most of what is sold here is equipment for ‘personnel’, as it’s called across the galaxy, after the term ‘slave’ had been outlawed and categorized as a slur.
Yoongi can feel the eyes on him, since the tall, green-skinned lady at the counter most likely waiting just like the rest of them for another person to follow him to buy equipment for him, as it’s normal for his kind- but the second he picks out a combination of a tracker, and EID tag, and a simple, silver collar that wouldn’t stain or sit too tight around your neck, people become interested.
“Size is a bit small for you, kitty.” The alien woman giggles, scanning the items to add the price of everything together. “You know how to set the EID up?” She says, clicking at the end of her sentences a foreign tone, similar to an insect.
“I know how it works.” He tells her, voice stable and monotone, something he taught himself to never give away any sign of his actual emotions. Because showing them will show weakness- and Yoongi needs to keep up an appearance of indifference at all times, just so people can never quite figure him out.
People naturally fear the unknown, down the line, no matter the species.
“Alright. Just out of curiosity though..” She says, clicking sounding again as she narrows her dark eyes at him while he pays. “...who the hell wants to be under the command of a Xaqal?” She says, some people in the small store giggling to themselves as if a joke had been told.
“Someone who will live a fairly comfortable life from now on.” He simply answers, payment confirmed by her system, before he takes the bag of items, and leaves- gazes following him long after he exited the store.
He’s relieved to still find you right where he left you, no one seemingly having tried to take you away, or worse yet- so he taps your shoulder to gain your attention, nodding towards his ship in the distance. “Let’s go. I need to set up your EID after we take off.” He says, and you nod, getting up to follow him.
“Are- are you sure I’m a good choice?” You ask, walking after him like some lost pet, eager to keep up with his rather fast pace. For a Xaqal, he’s surprisingly tall- not quite as tall as some of the other human’s you’ve met, which normally are considered a shorter species, but also not as short as some of the Xaqals you’ve seen in the past.
“Are you trying to sway my mind?” He wonders, opening the cargo door to his spaceship, before he climbs in- noticing how you don’t follow. So he walks back, and has to swallow down a laugh- because you clearly struggle to somehow pull yourself up on the iron steps, which are too high off the ground for you to properly reach with your legs. “...well, at least you won’t take up too much space on the ship.” He mumbles to himself, before he holds onto one of the metal handles on the sides, before he pulls you up by your arm so that you can make it onto the steps, able to finally climb inside.
He’ll adjust the steps in the future. Maybe add one. Or rather three.
Back in the main navigation center of the ship, where your sleeping bag is still laying in front of the front windows, you sit down right there, as if you’ve accepted this spot as your place to exist.
The ship calms after it breaks orbit, softly flying through the empty space while Yoongi sets up the EID tag for you. The electronic identification device opens a new window on his control panel as he places it on the scanner he has, asking for him to input the necessary information- and he looks over at you, where you sit, looking out the window.
“Once I set this up, it can’t just be undone.” He tells you, and you snap your head towards him, before you nod. “Alright.” He mumbles putting in his own information and ID number as your set ‘Employer’- scanning the chip placed onto the bone of his forearm, before he waves you over. “Put your arm here.” He tells you, and you do- though nothing is scanned at all, no matter how you twist or turn your arm. Yoongi’s brows furrow. “Where’s your ID-chip?” He asks, and you perk up, before you turn around, pointing somewhat to a spot on your back.
“My spine- it should be between my shoulders.” You say.
“Spine?” He mumbles, unsure. The spine is not a good spot to place an ID chip, no matter how small it is- it could still dislodge and get in between important nerves or even the vertabrae, causing damage that would be potentially fatal. “Why is it there?” He asks, picking up the scanner to run it over your back- a beep signalling that the chip had been found, and sucessfully read by the device.
“As far as I know, most humans and Yon get it there, because its harder to get out.” You explain, having turned around to curiously watch Yoongi tap away all the info into your future identification. “Because, you know, Humans and Yon are popular Personnel. People would just chop their arms off and exchange it for a prosthetic later after they'd take them and put them up for sale. So to combat that, we get the chip on the spine instead.” You say, and Yoongi cringes to himself, realizing now why he sees so many humans and Yon people with a prosthetic.
“I’ll research any risks to make sure you’re not doing any tasks that might end up immobilizing you.” He mumbles as he finishes up the settings, the red blinking light on the EID tag turning a steady green, signalling that it’s ready to be worn.
“Oh, don’t worry. The chip is attached to the bone, so it doesn’t move.” You inform him, and that reassures him quite a bit, as he nods, and uses quite a lot of force to clip the tag onto the silver collar- metal snapping into place, making it hard to get it off again.
“Alright. Come here.” He tells you, and you almost proudly stand straight, offering your neck to him as he clips the collar around you- electronic lock clicking shut, never to open again for anyone else but him. “Is that alright?” He asks, and you nod, while he tests- slipping two fingers between the metal and your neck, just to make sure it’s not too tight. “Alright.”
“Alright.” You mirror, getting only a mild reaction from him.
“I’ll order some books and electronic information devices for you to study. We’ll pick them up at the next outpost.” He informs you, and you nod, taking this as a signal that you’ve been dismissed- so you walk back to the sleeping bag, sitting down on it to look out the window again.
“Can I.. sleep a bit?” You wonder, and Yoongi nods.
“I don’t need you right now, so you can rest.” He accepts, and at that, you eagerly crawl into the sleeping bag again to sleep once more, giving him a moment to think about what he’d just done.
He blames his instincts, the fact that his kind lives in groups and usually prefers company at all times. Maybe it’s the fact that he actually does need someone to be able to help take care of his health if a job went south. Or maybe, he just can’t shed the way he’s been raised, even though he’s not that kind person anymore. Even still, he feels odd, looking at you asleep in front of those large windows.
Like he just got himself entangled into something a lot more complicated than he believes right now.
#bts imagine#bts fanfic#bts fic#hybrid imagine#yoongi imagine#min yoongi imagines#yoongi imagines#yoongi x reader#bts yoongi imagine#min yoongi imagine#min yoongi x reader
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if ur taking requests, can we see what happened the time reader denied miguel and he begged? if ur not taking req you can just ignore this <3
word count: 1143
a/n: this got much longer than intended, i don’t think it necessitates explicit tags, but there is dubious consent. I suppose there are slight hints to events in the film as well, but honestly blink and you’ll miss it stuff. referenced fic here.
The date goes alright. The man in general is alright. Reasonably you know you should be satisfied with alright. It's not like you have much going on elsewhere. Except for the fact that you're fucking Spider-Man. One of them, at least.
You don't know much about Miguel other than that, and a couple of other things you've pieced together. Most things you didn't even learn from him. Corporate gossip is the source material for half of his portfolio. It's taken you months to get just those pieces, and you know you're not a girlfriend, but can you be blamed for wanting more?
He certainly expects more from you, you realize, when he shows up at your place an hour after you get home from being out.
“What a coincidence," you laugh. “I had a feeling you might show up, and here you are."
"You look nice," he sidesteps aggressively. It's unlike him to ignore anything resembling an attitude, but he does now. For what reason doesn't even seem important. All you can think is that you want this man out of your apartment, and maybe even your life.
“That's what he said." you reply, wincing at the brightness when you move to hang up your coat. The lights are set to activate when there's a human presence, but he must have hacked the system to turn them off, so he could sit in the dark like a lunatic. “He said, 'you look very nice,’ too. Except he had a lot more enthusiasm."
"So what? You pick him. That's it?"
"I'm not picking you. You aren't even an option.” The rage quietly taking over his features isn't like anything else when it's directed towards you. His brows begin to pinch, and when he opens his mouth you see hints of his fangs.
"Why not?" He starts to step into your bubble. You have less space to retreat before your back is against the way. You can’t see the rest of the room past his broad shoulders, and he’s got his neck craned down so he can see every cute expression you make.
"I know nothing about your past, or even much of your present, to be frank." You say the words monotone secretary style, still trying to have control. "I assume you're busy with things I can't even dream of, and I don't think you want me near any of that either. You have issues, and I don't need you to spill your guts, and we could go on about this forever. It won't be worth it, it's not even interesting.”
“I can make it more interesting." You can see that he intends to fuck you. To use sex to make the problem disappear.
"One for the road," you smile, because at this point why not. He's never been bad at this part, but you have leverage, and if it’s the last time you’ll see Miguel, you might as well blow it. “Sure,” you say, “if you beg me.”
You clench your things when you see him even consider it, and it gets worse when you hear him.
“Please,” he starts, teeth gritted, and you start to think about them in your flesh. “Please, let me fuck you. That’s what you wanna hear? I wanna fuck you. I wanna feel you come on my dick. That good enough for you, baby?”
“Sure, good enough,” you try to downplay, but you think you might want it more than he does.
He's faster to take you than a human man ever could be. You’re pinned to the floor, his fingers in your hair, one hand at your hip and the other at your neck. He just holds his hand there, flexes his fingers, so you can feel the threat of a squeeze. He stares you down. “Nothing like that,” when you cock your head, he doesn’t elaborate.
“Give me a kiss,” Miguel demands. He’s so shy about it that you fall for the bait. He doesn’t waste a minute before trying to shove his tongue in your mouth, like there’s no point in kissing you if he can’t, but the problem is he also drools, because he’s keeping his mouth just a little too wide so he doesn’t cut you with those teeth.
“Just fuck me,” you hiss between kisses, feeling like you’re drowning in him.
“Gonna be nice after being so mean, huh?”
“Maybe,” you groan, “if you stop talking.”
“You sure, baby,” he gives you one last out, “you want me to split you on my dick? Not my fingers first?”
“I don’t care. Do what you want.” You let yourself go limp in his hold, and he does as he threatened. You feel him remove your layers slowly, a small torture, but you’re fit to endure when it leads to the warmth of his hands. They grab you all over, your stomach, your tits and shoulders. Then they make their way down.
Miguel makes a pleased grunt when he finds you wet, and doesn’t waste any time. You feel his cock split you, something you can’t get used to. You used to try and fight it, writhe and squirm. It took you a couple times to realize you’re too weak. In Miguel’s hands all your strength needs nothing. Every time he’s pinned you against him, held you close while inching his cock inside.
He moves his hips till you can feel his balls on your clit, and then sighs. Relief, something you wish you could be granted. You’re whining, all because you can feel him throbbing in your guts, against your cervix.
“Listen to me next time,” he grumbles, sounding strangely fond of you.
Then the sympathy fades away, and he starts to move. He’s not gentle, he’s fucking you to prove something. He’s the only one who can give it to you like this. Who can make you lose your mind on a cock.
“This is what I wanted, fuck.” You can tell it affects him when you wrap your legs around him, dig your feet into his ass to push him in deeper. “Feel so good. Can’t stop clenching all over me, huh. Feels like you’re trying to milk me.” He huffs into your neck. “That it? You want my come, baby?”
He brings his hips down harder, so deep in you breathing feels difficult. You moan and agree to whatever he says, nodding without thinking. Making promises you can’t keep.
He tells you that your cunt’s the best, nobody else can take me this deep, and that’s why you can’t date other guys, need to keep this pussy mine. All while you look into his eyes with a blank stare, almost like you love him while he drills you.
“That’s why you’re gonna be good for me,” he says, “because if not, I’ll just remind you again, just like this.”
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What are some of your Will headcanons?
Any angsty ones?
hair style:
will's hair has a Mind Of Its Own. it is impossible. brushing it? keep dreaming. styling it? dude just give up
he can, however, wrangle it into two french braid pigtails. those are fun.
in the august after the giant war, the aphrodite cabin take it upon themselves to 'style' nico, including giving him these little elastics with a skull charm (like this but with skulls), but he doesn't like tying his hair back very much (too tight) so he gives them to will as a joke.
will LOVES them.
he literally wears them almost every day. the next time they go out on a supply run, nico sees these little elastic charms and buys them for will. he can't summon the courage to give them to him face to face but he leaves them on his bed. will adores them, too, and it starts something of a tradition of people giving will charm elastics as a small thank-you.
he has a collection of them and wears them whenever he wears his hair in braids.
his favourites are the skull charms, though.
artistic ability:
will really doesn't have many musical talents. he's hard of hearing and while hephaestus-made hearing aids definitely work better than mortal ones, it's not really something that can be cured, so he has a lot of trouble staying on key/making music himself.
however! apollo is the god of poetry and art in general -- that is more than just visual!!
will is a really good writer, poetry especially. he's very articulate and verbose and writes with startling clarity. he's written a lot of songs and a lot of poems, although he hasn't shown anybody in years.
he used to share them with his older brothers and sisters and sibling, but...well. obviously that's no longer an option.
he's never stopped writing, though. he may keep it to himself, but it's kind of an open secret. he's scribbling in his notebooks all the time -- it's impossible not to notice.
his friends and siblings, however, are the only ones who know that he writes creatively. they've peeked over his shoulder here and there (and also kayla is a huge huge snoop, like, badly, and austin is easily convinced to be complacent in her crimes), and sometimes he says things that are just kind of poetic.
no one else knows, though. he's deliberately obnoxious about it -- every once in a while, at campfire open mics, he'll clear his throat loudly and grin as people groan and recite something so bad apollo might have written it. most people think will's quite bad at writing, actually.
another thing he's really good at is drama, which is a surprise to absolutely no one. although beyond his regular histrionics, chiron had shakespeare as part of his curriculum, and will could play puck like nobody's business. he recited a mercutio so good once lee actually cried with laughter (so did everyone else). on a hauntingly beautiful february in 2004, he played ophelia by the creek so beautifully that it was silent for a good four minutes after he finished.
there are very, very few people at camp who remember that. will hasn't recited anything in a while.
an unexpected bonus of his medical knowledge, actually, is a really good understanding of depth, space, and anatomy.
he's a surprisingly good artist.
it started pretty normal -- he was having trouble articulating a question to michael one time, and in a fit of frustration drew a diagram to try and explain himself. it was really good, even as rushed as it was, so michael used to give him 'homework' that was hand-drawing posters of various body systems to hang in the infirmary.
it was kind of spooky how will could do it without looking it up. just close his eyes and start sketching an accurate nervous system. cool though.
his older sister, cass, encouraged him to branch out of anatomy diagrams and create whatever he liked. she made the unfortunate mistake of giving him several cans of paint and free reigns on blank infirmary walls (they're freaky and boring) to a nerdy eight-year-old -- that's why r2d2 and c3po are chilling on the wall by the mortal medicine cabinet.
he doesn't paint a lot now, 'cause he doesn't have the damn time, but when rachel finds out who painted the infirmary walls she hounds him until he takes a morning to paint with her. they have a lot of fun. they end up with more paint on each other and their clothes than their canvases, predictably.
siblings:
when will was a kid, he had twelve older siblings.
apollo tends to have kids in brackets. he is, as everyone knows, a hoe, so he'll be busy on olympus or with artemis and go a while without having any kids, and then he'll be on earth for like three years and have a litter. so a lot of his kids end up the same age.
before the war, in the same cabin, there was: cass, the oldest, 18, somewhat year-long; diana, 18, year-long; lee, 16, somewhat year-long; michael, 16, somewhat year-long; gabriel, 15, summer-only; leanna, 15, summer-only; mercury, 15, summer-only; kate & phoebe, 14, summer-only; laurel, 13, summer-only; amir, 13, summer-only; melody, 12, summer-only; and will, 8, year-long (for now).
their abilites were pretty vast and well-rounded, and they came from all over the continent.
there was a time when the infirmary wasn't understaffed at all.
will doesn't like to think about it.
style:
on their birthdays, apollo leaves them all a gift on their bunks (or their beds at home, if their birthdays aren't in the summer).
each of them gets a piece of blessed gold jewelry when they're ten. will got a pair of threader earrings with thin blue sapphires that he loves. he can't wear them often because they're a genuine hazard in the infirmary (yes, more than flip-flops) and he doesn't want them ruined. but he wears them on the rare days he has off.
he actually has quite a lot of jewelry! because he is a sappy nerd, he has two watches: a hephaestus-made one, totally waterproof, weatherproof, and monsterproof, because it helps quell the anxiety when so many people are counting on him (he has to know when people will be better and how long he can be away from his patients, also used to tell people to fuck off when he's on break lol); and his mother's much nicer watch that she gave to him when she dropped him off at camp for the first time -- it's not changed for the time zone. he knows what time it is for her, and it makes him feel better about being so far away from her.
he wears both watches on the same wrist, ala chad danforth.
he has a third watch. it was lee's. it's got r2d2 on the face. will got it for him with his own money when he was nine years old, for his birthday. it lives in a box under his bunk. it's cracked and broken and never tells the right time except on 1:52 p.m. on june 30th, although the year gets farther and farther off every time will checks it.
contrary to popular belief, will does not actually wear the same pair of cargo shorts every day.
...because he has seven pairs of the same shorts.
he does have other shorts through. namely swim trunks and a pair of tighter shorts he wears specifically to kick ass in volleyball. he didn't try for this or anything, he got the shorts at the thrift store, but he's pretty sure they might be designer. he gets a lot of compliments from the aphrodite cabin when he wears them.
he also has a collection of nerdy t-shirts (his anakin sand-rant t-shirt is worn to threads), novelty pajama pants, hoodies, and flannel.
he has more than one tattoo. he has several, actually; constellations, lines from freckle to freckle so faint you can barely see them: the seer, the drummer, the archer, the tiny lion, the archangel, the maiden, the lyre, the twins, the boat stern, the hearth, and the singer.
just plain will:
he's slightly red-green colourblind.
when he gets mad, his cheeks puff up and he gets all red in the face before erupting. his older siblings used to call him tinkerbell.
he gets teased for being so dramatic that he was named for the most dramatic apollo kid who ever lived -- shakespeare. but his actual, legal name is just plain will solace. when pregnant, his mom used to mutter 'it's you, me, and sheer fucking force of will, baby' to herself a lot, as a kind of mantra, and then will was born and she thought it would be kind of funny to name him will (she was right). lee invented william andrew solace so he'd have something to yell when will got in trouble lol.
he has the climbing wall record. this is because he climbs a lot of trees. he has no explanation and no one is going to stop him.
when he was a kid, and the whole mythology thing was explained to him, he misnderstood michael's explanation of food sacrifice as one to be done to all theoi/mythical beings. he worked his way to praying through the entire pantheon, a horde of minor gods, hestia, chiron, argus, and half the nymphs before someone caught wind and explained to him properly. it is the main reason all the nymphs and dryads are so endeared by him. he used to go around asking their names and very seriously writing it down in his little notebook to pray to them properly.
he carries around notebooks constantly. at first, diana gave them to him because he was driving everyone bonkers with his endless questions and she needed Five Minutes, Will, Gods, Please of silence, but he really took to it and wrote everything in there. he keeps them all as a sort of diary. kayla reads them any time he has his back turned.
it is really, really hard for him to talk about his siblings. but he knows kayla and austin feel kind of left out and hurt about it, since they didn't get the chance to know them like will did (the kids never met them), so sometimes, late at night, he calls them softly over to his bunk and they curl up, one under each arm, and he tells them stories until his voice goes hoarse and they're long asleep.
#i have so many fucking more but i have to stop because i actually want to write some of these so bad#dude.....the LORE this ask inspired i have pages and pages#why did no one tell me how fun and also heartbreaking it is to invent characters#will solace#will solace headcanon#will solace angst#ask#longpost#headcanon#pjo headcanon#my writing#solangelo
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baby (cat) a board !
🛋️ pairing : 엔하이픈 ot7 + gn!reader . genre : fluff . cw : none ~ pls let me know if i should add smt .
— synopsis : a new addition to the family sounds like an amazing plan so why not adopt a kitty !
— note : bit of a tmi but cats are my favorite animal in the world and i wanted to write something like this bcs enha + cats = everything to me ! so here it is ~ hope you enjoy ! all kinds of feedback and reposts are appreciated my loves <3
heseeung :
— 'what are you talking about what is that cat distribution system'. you came back home one day after work with a little creature hiding in your tote bag. you told heeseung that the cat actually chose you that's how the cat distribution system works and now you have to keep it there's no other option. he let out the biggest laugh ever, you looked so cute with the small ball of fur in your hands. he could say no so when you asked for the second time if you can keep him he just nodded his head.
jay :
at first he might be a little hesitant — 'Honey i don't think it is a good idea, we have very busy lives who is going to take care of him?'. he was right though, but you wanted to adopt one for the longest time so, as soon as he said that to you, you started pouting at him — 'No y/n don't do this to me please oh gosh'. using your secret weapon (that's how you call it) you end up convincing him, telling you to take your cost and hop in the car. even though he wasn't a big fan and kinda allergic too he spent most of his free time playing with the kitty.
jake :
the biggest animal lover i know. he didn't let you say a word, as soon as you entered the house with the kitty he took the small animal in his arms — 'i do not care what you have to say he is our kitty now' he said, running back to your living room and sitting down on the sofa, playing with his new bestest friend. — 'well that was easy'. you thought, looking at your boyfriend who was being bitten by the kitty.
sunghoon :
he wasn't really sure either and, even though he refused a bit at first, he ends up loving the cat more than you. most of the time you would get back home to the sign of your boyfriend sleeping on the couch, the small ball of fur laying on top of him. because of that you teased him a lot, telling him how much he hated that idea of having a pet and now he event cuddle with him — 'he is cute baby what am i supposed to do' he said, signaling at the small kitty laying on the couch.
sunoo :
— 'omg love this is the cutest cat i've ever seen'. you showed him a picture of a baby cat that was up for adoption. you've always wanted a new pet, him being out most of the time makes you feel a bit lonely so why not adopt one — 'yeah we can go and pick him up together if you want to'. on you're way to the shelter you discussed name ideas, decided on what to buy, etc. he ended up naming him so you can think of him every time you call your new pet's name.
jungwon :
we all know that our wonie is allergic to cat's fur but how can he say no to you ?. when you came home all excited with the little creature hiding in your arms, your eyes shining and the biggest smile ever plastered on your face he knew he couldn't say no — 'Fine yeah me can keep it baby'. he even took you to different pet shops to buy toys and everything for the new family member, seeing you so happy makes his heart pound. he has the biggest soft spot on you.
ni-ki :
he would be the one bringing him home this time. remember that -key episode where he played with some kittens ? well, at the end of the day he took one home. he didn't bother telling you if you wanted to keep it or not, he just brought the little kitty home with him — 'You don't understand we need to keep him please babe' he was practically begging you on his knees at this point, putting it straight into your face telling you how cute he is, making you hold it and everything. at the end of the day you accept keeping the small animal, he was pretty cute after all and your boyfriend seems like the happiest man alive.
#— my work 📑#enhypen#enhypen sfw#enha#enha sfw#enhypen fluff#enha fluff#enha drabble#enhypen drabbles#enhypen scenarios#enha scenarios#enhypen soft hours#enha soft hours#enhypen headcanons#enha headcanons#heeseung#jake#jay#sunghoon#sunoo#jungwon#ni ki#enha x reader
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Any thoughts on *why* so many people are subliterate now? Is the educational system really that much worse than it was even 15-20 years ago? Or is the tsunami of information we all live with too much to deal with? Or is there something else going on?
...I do have Thoughts on this, actually! Quite a few of them! And I suspect that the answer to your slate of options might be: D, all of the above. I will address your points out of order (sorry.)
B: As for the information tsunami/superhighway, I don't think it's to blame in itself. As the president of an academic organization said at the biennial conference in 2016, "Nous lisons de plus en plus, mais nous lisons autrement" (we read more and more, but we read differently.) It says something about what he meant and about that particular historical moment that I was live-tweeting. And obviously I'm not saying that reading the internet is bad (I read the internet all the time.) But I do think that it facilitates habits of minimal, shallow, or superficial reading, and I do think that's a problem. I once had a student say--in class!--that the historical essays I assigned were challenging for him because he's more used to reading tweets. I stared at him for several long seconds before saying "Then this is good practice for you." I also had a very sweet student in a first-year college seminar who just had no clue how sentence mechanics worked, so I had to find a gentle way of asking, in office hours, "Do you... read at all? for fun?" "Oh, I read all the time," said this sweet student confidently, and my own reading habits enabled me to counter: "Fanfic or published works?" And yep, that's your problem right there. Obviously I read and write fanfic myself. But reading principally fanfic is a great way not to learn how grammar works.
A: in the US? ...yeah, it kind of is, actually, which is horrifying. Like a lot of the rest of my demographic (educator, xennial, NPR devotee,) I listened to the APM podcast Sold A Story. In going to find you the link, I found bonus episodes which I also highly recommend, in part because they include criticisms of the podcast and notes on policy. But what this podcast describes also tracks with my experiences in two very grim years when I tutored reading at the elementary/middle school level, and also found reading comprehension to be a weak link in ACT/SAT prep.
C: this brings us to "something else going on?" And I don't know what that is. But even my college students who can read at a basic 6th-grade level (sob) seem to have really stunted capabilities for inference. I ask them to make inferences and they look at me with the heartbreaking expressions of confused dogs. Or they'll see something blindingly obvious and say things like "Could this... possibly be...?" and I say brightly: "Yes! that's absolutely what it is! good job!" instead of saying: "What the **** else would it be?" Sometimes an entire class of students will read something without comprehension and subsequently thank me for "explaining" a text when all I have done is paraphrase it. And we're not talking academic articles here; we're talking 2-4 page excerpts of primary sources selected with TLC for a target audience of beginning college students. So far I have not snapped and screamed, "I didn't explain shit!" But I do find myself having to, well, explain that explanation would mean digging deeper into the text. I also find myself puzzled and alarmed by the fact that they don't seem able to identify or describe what they find challenging. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "Just the entire thing was confusing"...! I've modified entire courses to try to get students more of the reading practice and additional skills they need. I'm not sure how much it's helping.
I really wish I had more answers. What I do have is a lot of despair.
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repeat offender, hiromi higuruma.
pairing hiromi higuruma x f!reader
word count 1.9k
synopsis vignettes of hiromi higuruma's life, featuring his inevitable early-onset mid-life crisis, his disillusionment with the justice system, and how he can't seem to shake you off.
content contains law partner's daughter!reader, no curses au, corporate/big law lawyer!hiromi, bratty, always trying to get a reaction out of him reader x just trying to survive the day hiromi, slight age gap (hiromi is 26, reader is 20), eventual smut in later parts, sfw but suggestiveauthor's notes something a bit different; just wanted to test out diff narrative formats lol (and also, this was the closest thing in my gdocs to being finished & i feel guilty for not giving y'all new content)
all the wrong dialogue options were chosen here
Despite the ceiling clearance being so high that it’s enough to make a man of his stature feel small and the fact that despite all the warm bodies in this banquet hall right now, it would still be more of a challenge to bump into someone rather than avoiding them; despite the fact that the air conditioning system must be working overtime since he hasn’t felt the need to shrug off his tuxedo jacket once, despite the fact that he’s free to leave at any time he wants since he’s already gone through the obligatory introductions and the empty pleasantries—
—despite it all, Hiromi Higuruma feels trapped. The walls are slowly closing in on him, and someone from across the massive room is laughing a bit too loudly, and the ceiling, with its intricate crown molding, feels like it’s going to collapse onto him at any second.
That’s the problem when you decide to be someone you’re not. He’s constantly on his toes, always having to look behind him, always trying to make sure his mask isn’t going to slip. Fresh out of law school. Top marks, top of his class, actually. As expected, as always.
Hiromi is used to setting the curve, so it doesn’t take him long to learn how these circles operate. Laugh at the right jokes, order the right drink, find the right people to praise, the right suit to wear — he’s good at figuring out the right answers to everything.
“The party’s never going to end, so if you feel like leaving, you might as well just go now.”
Hiromi turns to face the source of that sentence, only to have to glance downwards, taking in the sight of you. Glossy lips, long lashes, slinky gold gown clinging to the curves of your body. He swallows. Hard.
You smile. Sweetly.
“Before you go, though, you mind getting me a drink from the bar?” You point to the bar that’s across the room, the area Hiromi just left, one old-fashioned in his hand.
The first wrong thing Hiromi says is, “It’s an open bar.”
Your shining smile barely falters, but he catches the subtle curve of a frown almost taking shape.
“Do you really think I could fight off that crowd?” You give him a faux pout, one that only emphasizes the pretty shape of your lips.
Looking like that, he thinks you wouldn’t need to fight the crowd to get the bartender’s attention. Everyone would probably be clamoring for yours, actually. He doesn’t tell you this, though. Instead, he says, “Like you said, I might as well just go now.”
Boo. This stranger is no fun. What a waste of good looks, you think to yourself. Taking in the way his body fills out his suit, the tall bridge of his nose, the sharpness of his features — maybe it’s for the best that he’s no fun. You’re not sure how you would be able to keep your cool if he actually was interesting.
“Don’t just paraphrase. I remember saying that after telling you you should do that if you feel like leaving.”
He wonders what you’re doing here, at one of the biggest charity galas sponsored by the big law firm he’s going to be joining shortly after his graduation. There’s no way you’re a law student; only a select few final year students were invited in the first place. He can’t fathom you being someone’s plus-one; looking like that, he certainly wouldn’t be able to let you out of his grasp.
He doesn’t ask you anything, though. He doesn’t compliment you, or say anything that’s on his mind. Instead, he hands his half-empty glass to one of the catering employees walking by that’s collecting dirty glasses, and he tells you, “I’ll be heading out now. Good luck with the bar.”
It certainly wasn’t the right thing to say, but being a genius comes with some pressure. He figures he’s allowed to give out a few incorrect answers every once in a while.
apex predator
The click-clack of your four-inch heels making impact against the tiled floors of your father’s law firm serves as a signal to everyone that they need to seek immediate shelter (read: cower in the nearest coworker’s office) and try not to make direct eye contact with you.
When the boss’s daughter comes to visit, everyone’s on edge.
Everyone except the new hire.
Hiromi Higuruma is by no means slow on the uptake, but he’s clocking in the most billable hours out of everyone. Very rarely does he get a chance to take a break, and he doesn’t plan on wasting what few precious minutes of a break he can get on hiding from some brat whose single defining characteristic is sharing the same last name that’s plastered on this skyscraper of a building.
When he passes you by in the hallway, you catch a glimpse of him from the corner of your eye. Broad shoulders, slim waist, and a familiar slope of a nose bridge you’ve seen before. You almost falter in your footsteps — almost.
bucket list idea: fuck in an elevator
There’s something intimate about being in the same elevator as someone else.
When there’s a handful of people, it’s casual. Simple. Someone who forgot deodorant, someone who’s running late for work, someone who just burnt their tongue trying to drink their coffee too fast. All of it is mundane.
Being in an elevator where it’s just you and him — you haven’t decided yet if it’s a gift or a punishment.
“My father loves the work you’ve been doing,” You’re the first one to break the silence. You can only hope that he’ll be the first one to break the distance between you two: a respectful four feet apart.
Hiromi clears his throat, straightens his tie. He’s staring straight ahead, right at the shiny silver of the stainless steel doors. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m not the one who said anything about your work.”
The corners of his mouth almost turn up at that. He fights the urge to smile.
“Then thanks for the honesty.”
“Do you like that?” You ask him.
“Like what?”
“Honesty?” You ask it innocently enough, but when you give him those eyes, and make your lips form that pout, everything comes out sounding sultry. He’s convinced you could be reading his most recent M&A deal out loud to him and make it sound like you’re reading an erotic romance.
“Well, I’m a lawyer.” He finds that he has to bite back his smile when he’s around you. He stares at the slowly changing numbers on the screen. The two of you entered from the parking garage, and the elevator’s making its steady ascent to the thirtieth floor.
“So that’s a no.” You muse.
Hiromi makes no comment.
whatever pays the bills, i guess
Hiromi Higuruma, unlike every other undergrad trying to get into law school, does not take… creative liberties when it comes to his personal statement on why he wants to become a lawyer. Potential medical school students lie and say they want to “save lives” because “living with six-figure student loan debt for the first decade out of school and then making crazy bank afterwards seems like a good trade-off” just doesn’t sound very awe-inspiring, does it?
In another life, he thinks he’s probably a defense attorney. Representing the Little Guy. Keeping alive his desire to uphold the principles of justice and that the wrongfully accused receive fair representation. Even with the odds stacked against his client, he’s certain that he’s good enough to win their case.
However, the world is unfair. Doing the good thing rarely pays off. Being a good person doesn’t get you very far, either. One of his former classmates was such a bright, kind girl. Passionate statement of purpose, too. She applied to all the same law programs as Hiromi and got accepted to exactly zero of them.
Hiromi got into every single one, and his statement of purpose was honest, straight to the point, and damn-near clinically cold.
I need a competitive environment that takes pride in its intellectual rigor, but I have no desire to pursue medical school just to spend a decade in college and residency. Law school seems most appropriate for my needs.
who hired the intern?
Hiromi doesn’t know what you do around the firm, just that you’re constantly here.
Even when you’re not physically present, he still finds traces of you lingering everywhere. The scent of your perfume that sticks to the elevator’s walls, your now-empty medium sized iced matcha latte in the trashcan of the breakroom, whispers of your names when his colleagues are in the mood to gossip, the click-clack of your heels that he can hear from inside his office even though his door is closed.
He can’t tell if you’re just inescapable or if he’s constantly subconsciously seeking you out. He doesn’t want to know the answer.
What he does want to know the answer to is why you’re sitting on top of his desk at seven in the morning, your medium sized iced matcha latte in all its green glory (this is the first time he’s seen it full and not as an empty plastic cup in the trash). You’re wearing a fitted white button down with a gray wool skirt that will have the HR manager doing a wide-eyed double-take when you walk past her. Your legs are crossed, and Hiromi scolds himself for noticing.
He focuses on your face instead, upset to see that you’re still doing that unfair move of yours — that pout, those eyes.
“What are you doing in here?” Hiromi manages to get the words unstuck from his throat. He’s not even sure how you got the keys to his office, and then he remembers who your father is.
You smile brightly.
“My dad says I need some ‘resume-boosting’ activities, and how convenient is it that the firm is looking for an off-cycle intern?”
How convenient, indeed.
“Still doesn’t explain why you’re sitting on top of my desk.” During your chirpy exclamation, Hiromi manages to pull himself together. He’s getting a few steps closer to you. He’s not going to sit behind his desk, not yet, but his approach only serves to bring you two into closer proximity. If you stretch your legs, the pointy tips of your stilettos will brush against the fabric of his trousers.
“Well, every intern at the firm is apparently assigned a lawyer to work under. Y’know, to be a mentor.”
He can’t decide if he likes or detests where this is going.
“And,” you continue. “Dad only wants the best for me. It’d be, like, kind of suspicious to be working directly alongside my father, though.” Yes, Hiromi muses. Because getting a law internship at one of the most prestigious firms during your undergrad is certainly not suspicious at all. “So, the next best thing would be the so-called prodigal lawyer that everyone can’t stop praising. How convenient is it that you’re able to watch over an intern for the semester?”
“Very convenient.” Hiromi raises an eyebrow. “Are you going to get off my desk now? I can’t imagine you’ll be able to learn much if your back is going to be facing me when I’m sitting at my desk.”
“Whatever you say, sir.” You hop off the desk, gently tugging your skirt down in place. He keeps his eyes focused on your face the whole time.
#hiromi higuruma x reader#jjk x reader#jjk x you#one shot#drabble#fluff#imagine#jjk headcanons#hiromi higuruma x you
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Well, Still Salty.
I was cranky yesterday and I thought a good night's sleep would provide some adjustment in perspective, but unfortunately "spending yesterday not on tumblr" also offered perspective and got there first.
Up front: feel free to comment or reblog on this post (replies may be heavily delayed) but if you feel the urge to Like, I'm going to ask you to take one more step and go to https://www.tumblr.com/support, select "feedback" as the category, and enter a line or two about the new dash. It can be as simple as "Your new dash design is difficult to use and is driving people off the site". I'm not asking everyone to do it, but if you're going to Like this post, that would be a helpful action in addition. You can delete any response they send; no reason to expose yourself to the unique combination of incompetence and condescension with which they handle feedback generally.
Also up front: yeah, if I find somewhere else to go and go there, I will certainly let you guys know beforehand, I'm not going to just evaporate. I'll be broadcasting about Tumblr's replacement on Tumblr very heavily. But I can't deny that it is now an active goal of mine to find a viable replacement for this site. (More on this in a moment.) You will always be able to find me on AO3 as copperbadge, or via [email protected]. (More on this in a moment also.)
This kind of thing is why I refuse to fuck with staff now or ever; I don't trust them and I never will. Watching @wip respond to almost every complaint or suggestion with "but that would be really hard" is telling. Whoever is pushing blocks around at Tumblr wants a lucrative site that's easy to code, but lucrative is hostile to community and code is difficult by nature, and when the architecture of the meeting hall is hostile and cheap, people don't stick around.
I've been watching the site as every change made it incrementally worse, from a buggy post window that doesn't allow ease of editing to the new dash (which is the reason I'm writing this in a text window off Tumblr). I genuinely do not think I can use desktop Tumblr like this unless I can install something that will put it back the way it was, and roughly 40% of the content you guys get HAS to come through desktop. It's impossible to do on a phone or so time-consuming it's not worth it. I cannot code Radio Free Monday on a phone; it's a struggle to code it on a single-monitor laptop (I usually write it on my work computer, where I have two monitors). Even writing image IDs on the phone is difficult and something I rarely do. Tumblr is becoming an actively difficult place for me to make content, introducing friction left and right.
But where does one go? I've tried other platforms and they're either worse to use or they don't have the constituency. The problem with a lot of discourse around internet addiction is that it often points out how glued people are to their phones without asking what it is they're doing on those phones. I'm not addicted to social media; I don't doomscroll, I don't care what celebrities have to say, I don't find 140 characters useful or interesting, I don’t find most “funny” videos very interesting. I create a lot of original content for public consumption, significantly more than many social media users, and if that becomes difficult, then the site suffers more than I do. But it's undeniable that social media, and this social media in specific, is where my people are, and yeah, I like seeing you all every day. It makes it difficult to leave even when Tumblr is the best of a bad set of options.
It seems like a lot of the internet, lately, is the best of a bad set of options.
All that said, Tumblr forced a sudden, unwanted, and unchangeable reskin on me a day after I listened to a two-hour podcast about addiction while working on building a newsletter system for my author site. I spent the evening before this happened in contemplation of my relationship to social media and to my readership and how I might alter it to my benefit regardless of whether that's also to Tumblr's detriment. Their poor timing, I suppose. A lot of the theories advanced on the podcast were, to put it kindly, bunk, but one of the suggestions for people questioning their relationship to an activity was a dopamine fast -- removing something in your life that gives you quick but unsustained dopamine hits, so that you can take some time to level out and examine your behaviors. On the one hand, that's not at all how dopamine works; from the jump it's a bad theory. But on the other, pulling back from something you think may be causing you difficulty is generally speaking a good tactic.
Removing myself from Tumblr yesterday was an active process: because I have ADHD and often will forget something exists if I don't systematize my engagement with it, Tumblr is normally pinned to my browser, with the app on my phone's top screen. Removing the app and closing the window meant that while I occasionally reached for Tumblr, it was less frequently than I expected, and the lack of access reminded me why I wasn't there. I missed you guys, but I didn't miss getting distracted from work by my dash, or the pressure to respond to the volume of communication I receive through the site daily. I don't think my use of tumblr as my sole social media has been unhealthy, per se, but certainly yesterday felt both quieter and calmer after I walked away.
But that's a temporary relief, because you are my community, and not only do I not want to leave my community, it's a resource for me. One of the reasons I do things like Radio Free Monday and the weekly Hug on Saturdays is that I try to make sure that resource is reciprocal. Leadership involves service. Leaving would be easy in the short term, but in the long term, leaving my community without having another place to meet it, or another community to go to, would be harmful to both of us. I'm already someone who isolates, and while I have a strong brickspace circle of friends, they fulfill sometimes different needs.
Though I do appreciate the wild vote of confidence from the comments to my last post telling me people would come with me where I went. That means a lot to me. I will attempt to make it either unnecessary or as painless as possible. Just know, I see your faith and friendship and I appreciate it.
Sometimes at my old job I'd be in very tumultuous meetings where a lot was discussed and not much agreed on, and the most useful thing to me was always to say, "What are our next steps? What would you like me to do because of this meeting?" So what are next steps, all this being the case?
First, I'm going to be off Tumblr, mostly, for another couple of days, because clearly I need the break and a few days won't matter too much. Again, I will be back either to continue on the site or to let you guys know, at length and volume, where I'm headed. The former is much more likely.
Second, I'm going to be actively looking for both a widget I can install to reset the dash (recommendations welcome, I currently don't even use xkit) and a wholly new platform that's a realistically viable alternative. Even if the dash gets reset, the shitty post editor is here for good. Attempts to source alternative platforms in the past have taught me that it needs to have a mobile-friendly site or an app, a similar structure to tumblr, and a reasonable chance of actually attracting users. That's a heavy venn diagram unlikely to be fulfilled anytime soon, but I'm now invested in finding it, instead of just passively waiting for it to happen to me (as Tumblr did when it pulled me off LJ).
Third, I do have an email newsletter in the works! I'm just wrestling currently with setting up how people sign up for it. This wasn't meant to be "my main broadcast platform"; it's meant to be a once-monthly email to share book news, targeted at people who aren't on socials or who just really love content from me, I guess. :D The plan was for me to assure Tumblr users that it was not extra content, just select content repackaged into a digest. But it will be one way to ensure that if I'm moving around outside of Tumblr, you'll know about it. I hope to have a link to a signup page soon. (I'm....dealing with some code issues.)
Fourth, I'm going to be combing through the last ten years I've spent here and pulling anything I think is of value into an archive. For now everything will remain here as well, and I'll let you guys know if I think that's going to change, but it's clear that this space is moving only one direction, towards a place I can't exist, and when/if it crumbles I want to have already evacuated what's important.
So there you go. I'll possibly be posting sporadically (the Saturday Hugs are queued six months in advance so that'll happen) but if nothing else and if not sooner, I'll be back full-time next week starting with Radio Free Monday. I appreciate your patience and your kindness in the meantime!
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This may be a bit out of your area of expertise, but you're the only person on this website I really know of who could know anything about this, and after your storyboard artist post was so informative, I decided I may as well toss my hat into the ring. I am passionate about character design. Would you know anything about whether this a role that's worth pursuing?
I used to want to be an animator, but heard too many horror stories about the field and decided not to pursue it; a smart choice in retrospect, since as it turns out I simply CANNOT do art in an academic setting. Now I'm trying to go through to be a teacher as a "safe" option, since it's ethical, stable, and comes with good pay and great benefits in my country. However, I'm starting to realize I don't want to be in the school system for the rest of my life, and may be choosing safety over fulfillment. I want to design characters, but I've never been able to see a way to make a living off of that. Now I'm realizing the perfect role for me may have been in front of me all along?
I'm starting to think I may want to start looking into character design. Do you know anything about this job?
I think it's worth pursuing anything that you're passionate about~
I'm mainly a storyboard artist/episodic director but I've done a lot of visdev character design~ It's a tough job to get into full time just because there's not as many character design jobs and a highly competitive position. I'm unsure of what kind of knowledge you're looking for. Might help to ask a more specific question? It's just such a big job that varies from production to production, there's different types of character design, the responsibilities you have depend on what kind of media you're character designing for etc.
But to go back to the meat of what you were saying, I'd say it's worth it. But if you don't want to give up the stability of a teaching job, you can do both (depending on how demanding teaching is). Part time freelance is always an option, which is my go to. I usually take on about 5-10 hours a week of freelance if I'm offered a character design opportunity. But for freelance it is important that you market yourself and get your name out there so you can get those opportunities (which honestly might be the harder part of that job)
Hope this kind of helps and answers your question!
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Hi Hell, congrats on the exciting foster kitten news!
I just applied to adopt a kitten and had my interview for her today. The woman seemed most interested in convincing me of how terrible dry food, traditional litter (she preferred clay), and tap water is for cats. She said the carbohydrates and ingredients were terrible for their kidneys, the dust in litter is bad for their lungs, and the chlorine in water is harmful. I have a 12 year old cat named Scipio who has been using those things all his life, and now I feel guilty and scared for his health. He seems perfectly healthy to me but she said “cats are stoic.” What do you use with the Tiny Terrors? Is she extreme?
Well, I'm not a vet, so the actual answer is that your cat should be getting what their doctor recommends. But I've had those conversations with people before, and I can give my two cents--just take it with a grain of salt.
So...it's basically always true that you can spend more money on fancier 'health' options and there is, to some extent, benefit to the pricier choices. But there's a point at which that benefit is pretty minimal compared to what you get for the midrange price options. This is as true for pet health as it is for people health.
It's true that wet food is usually a better option for cats. Among other things, it helps them stay at a healthy level of hydration, can be easier on their digestive systems, and is often more palatable for cats who are elderly or have dental problems. But that doesn't mean that dry food is inadequate--Mal and Vice used to split a can of wet food daily, and graze dry food whenever they wanted. They're currently eating almost exclusively dry food, because Vice is on a sensitive skin and stomach diet to help address his overgrooming. I would avoid the bottom-end dry foods, because they seem prone to contamination, but that's more manufacturer quality than an issue with the dry food generally. Dry food is usually a nutritionally complete way to feed a cat, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Mal and Vice drink tap water. They have a bowl of still water, and a fountain with an inbuilt filter. The fountain is because if they don't have running water, they will make running water by splashing their bowls all over. I can't speak to chlorine but it's definitely healthier than drinking out of puddles, which is what they would be doing if left to their own devices.
They use clay litter because that's what's effective and affordable. When I'm changing it out I generally give it a few minutes for dust to settle before I let them at it--someone always wants to make a deposit in the clean box--but there's pros and cons to all the litter options out there.
In a perfect world with infinite resources, I'd be feeding the cats a careful balanced diet of fresh-prepared meats and filtered spring water, and they'd take dumps in a tiny kitty toilet that cleaned itself without my help. But that's not really practical or achievable for me, my life, or my cats, and frankly, it's not necessary. I want them to have a good life. It doesn't need to be a perfect one. If your cat is doing well, and their vet is giving them a clean bill of health, you probably have nothing to worry about. I'm not a professional; you should consult your vet and research options for yourself (which is what I do) but you're not doing anything wrong here.
I will say that when I was going through the process of adopting Mal and Vice, some places (usually private rescues) wanted me to jump through INSANE hoops to even apply. I respect that their hearts are in the right place, but... There are hundreds of kittens in shelters right now that need homes desperately, and the quality of the cat has very little to do with the quality of the rescue--they might have more or less vet work done, depending on where they're coming from, but nobody's managed to fundamentally change the nature of the beast. If you can provide a safe home, food, clean water, and attention to a cat, that's really all they need. The rest is just gravy.
#look i deal with a lot of animal cruelty in a professional context#and if your cat is having their basic needs met#and is healthy and happy and safe#then youre good#there is so much worse that their life could be#there's always someone who thinks anyone not providing the absolute platinum standard of care is somehow neglect#its not#there's always a better best bestest thing#but that doesnt mean other options are bad
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I think I got a lot of new followers recently because twitter keeps going to shit. However, as you probably know I can't and don't post nsfw art here.
You can find my NSFW socials on my pinned post. I think a lot of people are hesitant to join platforms which aren't fully available to the public yet but if you'd like to keep up with my nsfw art I'd like to:
Urge you to visit my website and subscribe to my RSS feed for gallery updates!
Suggest you follow me on either Pillowfort or Cohost (18+).
In the last year I have started using PF and Cohost more than Mastodon, as they've implemented new features and their posting system is more in line with what I enjoy: robust tagging and filtering, ability to post MANY images, and readmores for long posts.
If you've been hesitant to join either of those platforms since you don't know what to expect here's a small-ish review of both purely from my experience as someone who: a) enjoys profile customization b) likes to have an organized art gallery that is filterable by tags.
This review is aimed at artists looking for NSFW spaces to post! UI screenshots might have suggestive terms and images. Proceed with caution.
Edit: Good grief tunglr, if you open this on the web dash the images aren't shown in the neat galleries I put them in to make the post shorter. Head on over to the permalink if you'd like a better looking post!
Let me just say that if you're looking for a review on more technical aspects of these platforms, like security and moderation policies. I'm not your guy. You'll have to look elsewhere for that. I'm focusing on QoL UI and community aspects.
Though both these platforms allow nsfw, please make sure to read their ToS/Community Guidelines for rules on what is and isn't allowed. Though as far as I'm aware they have pretty similar rules.
Pillowfort
Overview::
Pillowfort has more years under its belt being available to users than Cohost does, as such I THINK the artist/fandom userbase atm is larger, which means you might see more activity there. UI as of right now is very comfortable and the site runs pretty smoothly. Loading times are very decent. Posting is easy, though the image uploader is a little wonky (they are working on fixing this). You are able to create and manage communities based on interests or themes, which people can follow or join and all post in the same space. You can personalize your profile by adding images, links, and formatted text to your sidebar, as well as customize your own profile colors. Tag searches in my experience yield results of both art and aesthetic irl porn and gifs. If that's something you miss from ye olden tumblr days it might be worth a look.
Pros:
Posts have privacy options (everyone, logged in, followers, mutuals, only me)
Has a DM system
Posts have Commentable, Rebloggable, NSFW toggle
Can post MANY images on a single post
Readmore feature for long posts
Robust tagging system
Robust filtering system: hide or click-through warning (by installing Tassel userscript only)
Customizable profile colors, Light/Dark mode for whole website
Communities you can follow/join for shared interests
You can filter posts on profile by tag
You can filter posts on profile by "original poster" or "reblog"
Cons:
wonky image uploader, cannot upload multiple images at once
Cannot search for multiple tags at once
Search for terms with periods in them is currently broken (ex. "D.Gray-man" will not yield any search results)
Communities have few moderation features atm
Without Tassel installed the filtering system is pretty garbage atm (you can either show or hide nsfw or filtered tags completely, with no click-through warnings)
No multiple account/side blog feature yet
Some inline image formatting options are broken atm
Default endless scrolling
No progressive web app for mobile atm
For a more in depth explanation of PF's UI and features you can check out this official post.
Here are some images of the UI.
---
Cohost
Overview::
Cohost feels like it has a small artist/fandom userbase at the moment. However, to make up for that it has a pretty slick UI, it works great as a progressive web app on mobile, and it recently implemented an ASK system similar to tumblr's! Everything loads pretty quickly, and you can switch between your "latest posts" feed and your "bookmarked tags" feed. You can access your likes as a bookmark system, but as a whole "notes" and engagement numbers except for comments are not visible anywhere (this is wonderful for my personal mental health). It has a simple post editor and though the image uploader only allows 4 images that will load with lightbox, there's a workaround to upload MANY inline images if you want. The catch is you'll need to use a bit of markdown or html to do that. (more on that below) Though you can't personalize your profile colors, you can add personality to your page by making very cool pinned posts and adding images to your sidebar.
Pros:
Animated avatars! (listen i like having my animated komui icon)
You can make multiple "pages" (blogs) which function independently for comments/asks. switching between pages is effortless
Ask system, with anon toggle (you cannot reply privately atm tho)
2 Factor Authentication
Progressive web app for mobile works like a charm
You can preview your post before you post it
Posts have a NSFW toggle and you can save drafts
Can post MANY images in a single post (bit of a workaround as you'll need to upload your images to a draft first and then add them to a new post with some markdown or html code)
Readmore feature for long posts
Robust tagging AND filtering system (show, click-through, hide completely), plus CW system to give your posts additional click through warnings you deem necessary
You can do incredibly cool things with HTML and inline CSS on your posts
You can filter posts on profile by tag, and you can have pinned tags
Toggles for hiding reblogs, replies, and asks on profiles
Paginated browsing instead of endless scrolling (things load faster)
No engagement numbers visible ANYWHERE
Cons:
Image uploader does not let you upload multiple images at once. Limit to 4 images (can upload more as inline images with code)
Advanced post formatting (ex. bold, italics, bullet list, inline images etc.) has to be done through markdown or html + css which is not the friendliest for those who don't know any code (there's a button for a markdown cheatsheet when you post tho!)
No dark mode, or customizing profile colors atm (however there are workarounds to changing site colors with Stylus extension)
Cannot search for multiple tags at once
Cool things you can do with CSS on your posts might look very bad on mobile
Since you can do some crazy things with CSS on posts, you might come across eye straining visuals and movement on some posts. There are settings to tone this down, and people are pretty good about tagging things, so with some good filtering you should be able to avoid this however.
A little quieter on the artist/fandom front (but we can change that)
Here are some images of the UI.
If you made it to the end of this review thanks for giving it a look! If there's something vital you might want to know that I missed in regards to UI and posting features let me know and I will try to answer. But again, this is not a technical/security issues/bugs review so don't ask me about that.
Lastly, I've been seeing a handful of NSFW artists I follow on twitter hopping on bluesky. I REALLY suggest you do a little research on the owners and platform to see if you think joining is worthwhile, since I have a feeling many artists might not want their alternative to be a site owned by crypto advocates (and also a billionaire). Some basic research will get you there. Just take heed and use your best judgement. On that note Cohost is strictly against crypto (I'm guessing PF might be too but I don't have a link that I can point you to confirming this atm).
I believe community driven and supported platforms are the way to go. If you end up thinking either of these two places are worth your time, do consider getting your friends and favorite artists on board or supporting them! You'll get added perks on both platforms if you become a supporter. PF recently added the ability to have MULTIPLE AVATARS (PFPs I think they're called nowadays) which I think is super cool (i really miss that from LJ days).
Again, thanks for reading and I hope to see some of you there!
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💗 how do you make them feel? 💗 ~ pac
• pile 1 • 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
your person feels conflicted. they feel as though they need to be in control of themselves and what they allow themselves to think about because if they leave their mind to it’s own rulership, fears and anxieties will set in. they release these anxieties by allowing their ego to control them instead.
this person feels like they’re not good enough. like they’re not even one of your options anyway. this person could think that you’re not even attracted to their gender, so they either think that you’re gay when you’re actually bi, pan, etc. or they think that you’re straight when you’re actually not.
you guys could also be a different race or from a different culture than this person, and i feel like they’re the type of person who has either been conditioned to only seek partners within their own race/culture or that was always just an expectation of them that they were happy to fulfil.
this person could even be in a relationship of some sort, already. or in an arranged situation if they’re from a culture that participates in that (i feel like that’s for someone specific). they could even have a child already. if not then i feel like i’m picking up on the type of future that they dream of, regarding having a family. you don’t fit into that image for them though. and it’s not because they don’t want you to, it’s because of some sort of differences between you two. physically. identity wise. something about this person feeling like there’s no way that you two could make a relationship of any sort work, due to the criticism and judgement that would come from others around them about you and your differences.
i’m also seeing that they may feel as though you’re not even interested in a person like them. they feel like you’ve completely released them for some reason. like they were never that important to you. i feel like you guys didn’t even get to know each other that well, because i’m picking up on a separation. a disconnect.
this person still thinks about you, but it feels like they don’t want to. it makes them uncomfortable because the feelings that they had towards you before are still there. when they think of you, they still feel the way that they did when they could actually see you and be around you. i don’t think that this person is used to not being able to control their feelings for people. they seem very in control of themselves and a very typical, emotionally cold and distant masculine.
they haven’t been able to be their usual selves when it comes to you though. they can’t just tell themselves that you were just another person that they met because the connection that you both had was very apparent. very different for this person. if you guys are opposite genders, this person doesn’t usually connect to your gender group for anything other than superficial reasons (could be sex, money, power and influence. anything.) but with you, they felt like you guys were just naturally on the same wavelength. like you saw each other clearly and just understood each other. they don’t find that often in people who they have feelings for (surface level feelings at least). i feel like they genuinely feel like you’re a soulmate basically. i don’t think this person speaks in “soulmate” terms though, so they can’t even put it into words.
i just heard “she’s different”. switch the pronoun if you need to, but that’s what this person would say to describe what they think of you and why they feel this way. because you’re different. in a great way. i’m feeling like you were a shock to their system. are y’all aquarius/uranus/11th house dominant? 👀🤔
they’re still keeping hope alive that you’ll meet each other again. but that triggers their fear of disappointment. they might even feel goofy af for staying stuck on you for so long, but they don’t want to release the idea that meeting you again is a possibility. because that’s what they’re hoping for. at the same time though, they don’t want this to happen because what could they do if they’re so worried about the opinions of other people? they feel as though being able to see you again would be futile because they feel like they wouldn’t be able to get the outcome that they want with you anyway. the feelings for you are persistent within this person because they feel like you’re someone significant and special in their life (even if you only knew each other for a short while), but ego-wise, they’re ignoring them. this person is so conflicted. their mind without the distractions is a mess.
• pile 2 • 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼
ngl, you guys trigger this person. but not purposefully. this person knows that the abundance and wealth that they have in the materialistic or physical sense isn’t good enough for you. i feel like this person could be a part of hustle culture, or they’re just extremely hard workers. workaholics even. they might think that physical appearance, money, and materialism were all that they needed to be wanted by anyone that they wanted, but it’s not the same with you.
i’m also seeing that this person feels ridiculed by you? again, i don’t think you’re actually doing this, but they feel as though they’re under criticism or scrutiny. you could’ve put this person in check? 👀
actually, they could be projecting right now. i feel like they could be a very insecure person, but they secure their persona and physical appearance to make themselves seem confident. you don’t give af about any of that though, so you see right through it, triggering tf out of them. you’re seeing the most vulnerable sides of them without them even lowering their guards. this person knows that you’re intuitive af. i don’t think they’d use that word, but they know that you just know shit about people 😂
you make them feel as though there’s value in them. damn. i felt a pang in my stomach as i typed that. you might’ve been able to tell that this person was seeking your attention in small ways but talked yourself out of believing it. they were. you validate them. your attention and their interactions with you both validate but scare them.
this is someone who wants to portray themselves as a big, strong, powerful, emperor type of person, but they feel the complete opposite around you. they feel powerless around you. this person might clearly be scorpionic, plutonian, or an 8th house person in nature. they could have a very intense, fixed, heavy, stable, but maybe unnerving energy to them. very intoxicating in a way? there’s something about them that just seems dark. but intriguing. yeah, they’re probably scorpionic/plutonic af. but you see through the outer shell that they navigate this world in. they have no idea how you do it, but they like it although they’re not used to it.
you also make them feel nervous when speaking. this person might feel like they don’t communicate “properly” or sound intelligent enough in general day to day conversation. they don’t usually care though (it seems on the surface anyway. this is actually quite a deep insecurity of theirs too) and it gives them a bit of anxiety when wanting to speak to you. it’s like they clam up or shut down. they might even ruminate about all of the conversations you guys have had, knit picking at everything that they think made them sound “stupid”, or at their tone of voice, etc.
i think you guys actually planted the seed of introspection into this person. they’re not often in situations where they feel “below” someone else in some way, so feeling like that around you was uncomfortable but also rewarding for them. i feel like this person is either stoic af or egotistical af but in a quiet way. the type of person to “humble brag” 😂. i really believe that you kickstarted this person’s soul searching journey by exposing a bunch of insecurities to them that they themselves never really paid attention to.
you make them want to improve and be a better person. thoroughly from the inside out. not the outside in.
you know what i’m seeing rn that sums up this person’s feelings perfectly? i’m seeing a king who gives orders and controls everything - all day, everyday. nobody can get him to do something that he doesn’t want to do, or to feel any other way about himself other than prideful.
his queen though? she keeps him in check. without even having to say anything. her presence alone makes him want to act right, but the pressure that he feels to be better in her presence also causes him to start searching for anything and everything that he needs to improve. and when he receives confirmation that he has made his queen happy/proud (she compliments him, laughs at his weak ass joke, gives him words of encouragement), he becomes happier. he feels as though his queen’s happiness is his reward for his improvement. but he still suffers from major anxiety about “failing”. so much to the point where sometimes, he has to take space away from her because he’s dug himself into a hole full of self deprecation and self criticism. some of you guys might notice that this person is hot and then cold with communication. or that they hesitate around you. aw, bless 🥺
this is so fucking cute, pile 2. your person is a secret simp for you lmaooo.
• pile 3 • 🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀
the first thing that i’m hearing is “proud”. you make them feel so proud of themselves. you’ve taught them how to be self sufficient in some way and only rely on themselves for something. i feel like this has something to do with being stable within themselves enough to give up caring about other people’s judgements. you could have this type of energy. very much a mix of aquarian and piscean energy. the type of person who doesn’t care enough to try to fit in with people unless you want to, and because of that you fit in with everyone. you’re multifaceted, and this person may have felt the need to be one type of way when around others. until they met you. then you cracked their stoic, emperor-like demeanour and you influenced them to just let go of control over their self image for a few moments.
damn. i just heard that they feel like no other woman compares to you. deadass. the image on this card is a woman on her knees, crying, but being ignored by the person next to her due to them looking elsewhere. this woman feels ignored in this card. they don’t care about any other person as much as they cared about you. you’re the full package for them. specific for some of you guys: you could be black women and have short afro hair. this person thinks that you embody both masculine and feminine energy in the most divine way in your physical appearance. they also love the fact that your hair is natural and short. they like the fact that you can pull off a “masculine” hairstyle and still look divinely feminine and adorable. i just heard “infatuated”.
i feel like there may be a disconnect between you two. distance? and/or a change between them and their viewpoint on what they find attractive thanks to you. you’re the biggest “temptation” that they’ve ever met, but you’re not someone who they would’ve ever thought that they’d be this attracted to physically. but you are. you’re not their usual type. they may have thought before that they could never find someone who isn’t typically masculine or typically feminine attractive. you guys are this person’s idea of what a perfect mix between masculinity and femininity looks like and feels like. because this is even expressed through your personality.
but, back to the type. they don’t know wtf their type is anymore. not really. you have a very unique beauty. again, aquarius and neptune energy heavyyyy. i heard “fuck the type” lmaoooo. you destroyed this person’s idea of a type. damn, pile 3. you are a bad bitch. don’t fucking second guess that shit ever again in your LIFE. i don’t usually interpret readings that are centred around someone’s looks but your looks are emphasised here. you are a damn temptation to them. i’m seeing that this may be because you look like the type of person who they’d assume would be scared of them but you’re not. if anything, you’re bold af towards them at times. lightly roasting them, calling them out for something, or putting them in their place when they crossed a line switched something in their head about you. that doesn’t have to resonate but they find your attitude paired with your physical appearance intoxicating af. gworl 👀
if you’re a woman, they can tell that you’re for women. they may have seen you defend a woman on her behalf. you may have stepped into your lilith energy. but at the same time, you’re like “one of the boys” without being a pick me bitch and feeding into things that you’re not okay with. you will call men out, but again, you’re like “one of the boys”. they didn’t think that a woman could hold men accountable while not hating them at the same time 😭 your person may be quite close minded. i feel like that’s why i’m picking up on that you could’ve called them out for something. you’ve expanded their mind a lil though.
you make them feel as though they’re attracting good luck and abundance to themselves because of you. i’m literally seeing that they see you as a good luck charm. they may have realised that their life started to become way better after meeting you.
they’re very protective over you because they see you as a rare type of person. they could be quite “possessive?” naturally but they’re not the type to control you. they have a very stable self esteem around you it seems. although they do shy away or become bashful when you know the right thing to say.
they want to share their abundance with you. you’re the type of person that they literally want to spoil. you guys could have lilith in 2nd house/taurus and this person could have scorpio/8th house placements. i’m picking up on placements and synastry that indicates that they just want to give and give gifts and materialism to you. maybe this is their love language. i feel like they’re very much a materialistic person so it makes sense 😂 they really like how natural you are though. i feel like that’s the difference between you and the people that they usually go for. and your naturalism doesn’t just apply to your physical appearance. it also applies to your behaviour and attitude. you don’t force anything. you don’t try to change yourself for anyone.
there’s a longing energy that i pick up from them. again, you guys could have distance between you and you’re in separation. but this person daydreams about you a lot. they’re not anxious during this separation though because they’re convinced that they’ll meet you again. i’m hearing that they’re daydreaming of things that they (hope) they’ll say the next time they see you. they’re not stressing about this distance at all. i heard “i’ve got you already”. 👀👀👀👀 this person’s self assurance is definitely in abundance right now 😭 they’re convinced of this.
#divination#pick a card#pick a photo#pick a picture#psychic readings#tarot#pac#spirituality#tarot reading#pac reading#collective reading#psychic#choose a pile#pick an image
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Hello! I recently played the game and fell in love with it! The story so far, the premise of it, how the backgrounds and side characters and LI’s all work together art wise(at least in my opinion) and immersion isn’t ruined by a sudden change, the music oh goodness can I ramble about music!
Anyways, I have an NSFW ask if it’s alright? Personally, I get overwhelmed when feeling too much or there’s too much stimuli and, for lack of better phrase, lose my verbality. Things become too much and I lose my voice. How would the LI’s accommodate for losing speak, whether it be during sex or an emotional experience? (In short, be unable to vocalize a safe word) I know some “alternatives” that I’ve read about can be like snapping or tapping a certain pattern. I’m also asking because I adore the safe word system in game sooooo much, and am just. Well. Curious. On how a nonverbal safeword would be used (from a story pov, just to clarify just in case)
Thank you so much, nonny! ❤️ Please do ramble about the music, one of my favourite things in the world is pinging Cajsa to show her all the nice things folks are saying about her work!
As for your ask:
Francesco
The idea of someone suddenly losing their voice is a little scary to him, so this is something he would want to be informed of beforehand, so he's prepared to adapt to his partner, should this happen.
(Of course, he's also thrilled to be able to make this happen in the first place)
Keir
If rough play or pain isn't usually involved in bedroom antics, he'll probably just ask to be pinched or otherwise given an unmistakable sensation if things need to stop. But if that isn't gonna work, he's gonna wait some kind of agreed-upon signal or signals to keep communication moving smoothly. Preferably not something noise-based, given his own tendency to be noisy.
Oleander
Frankly, someone being so overwhelmed by sex that they lose their voice is extremely hot to him! His goal in bed is to render his partner incoherent anyways. That said, safewords are very important and figuring out a good signal to make sure things stop when they need to is a very fulfilling challenge to him.
Cirrus
This wouldn't be his first experience with a non-verbal partner. You mentioned tapping, which is one of the first options he would gravitate towards, as well as things like hand squeezing. Of course, sometimes it depends on the context!
During a scene where his partner has their hands tied up or are unable to use them for some reason, he might ask them to nod or shake their head.
Of course, this is risky. If he ever gets the feeling that communication isn't up to par, he'll stop the scene right away.
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Just plain babbling about shorthand
Since reading Dracula might be the first time or one of the first times that people have heard about shorthand, I thought I'd take this thin excuse to infodump. Because I find it fascinating and want to share. (Warning ahead of time, watch out for how many darn times I say "for example" in this post).
For some background, shorthand systems of writing have existed for millennia, but in the English-speaking world, the two most common and well-established systems of shorthand are Pitman and Gregg. Odds are that the Harkers are writing in Pitman. It's the older system (created in 1837) and is to this day more common in England and the Commonwealth. Gregg is more common in America and was introduced in 1888, either only a few years after or a few years before Dracula takes place. There were also numerous other less popular systems floating around at the time.
Pitman and Gregg and most other shorthand systems are phonetic. (Teeline is a more modern shorthand system based on a simplified alphabet, which is also quite popular). Simply put, each sound is reduced to one stroke of the pen. In Gregg, for example, the sound "k" (which includes the letter "c) is a medium-sized forward arch, "a" is a large circle, and "ch" is a short, downward diagonal line. So, instead of writing "catch" you just combine the symbols for "k-a-ch." Instead of "become" you just write "b-k-m." (These "words" are known as outlines).
Some shapes represent multiple sounds. For example, a small circle stands for the vowels in "bit," "bet," and "beet." A large circle stands for the vowels in "cap" and "cape." This might sound like it would be confusing rather than simplifying, but it's generally clear from the context.
There are a bunch of other means which allow you to write more quickly. Common words are further shorted into "brief forms." For example, "the" is represented by "th," "after" by "a-f," and "were" by "e-r." Some common endings or beginnings are also abbreviated, so that "sh" at the end of a word can stand in for "-tion" and "f" can mean "for-" or "fore-" at the beginning of a word. Thus, "Permission" is "p-r-m-sh" and "forgive" is "f-g-v." Common phrases can be combined into a single outlines. For example, for "to be" you can write "t-b" instead of "t-u[space]b." "I have not been able" can be "a-v-n-b-a." (The large circle "a" is the brief form for the word "I" in one of the rare quirks of Gregg that isn't basically intuitive).
Pitman Shorthand is very similar to Gregg (or, more accurately, Gregg is similar to Pitman). Other than using different symbols (for example, in Pitman "k" is a short forward line) Pitman differs from Gregg mostly by its use of the thickness of strokes to differentiate sounds. For example, "g" is also a short forward line, with the only difference being that the line for "g" is drawn thicker than "k."
I learned shorthand absolutely because of Dracula, though for convenience I learned Gregg. As of right now, I'm pretty out-of-practice, and honestly I was never particularly fast. (At my best, I probably was on average as fast writing shorthand as cursive longhand; I think faster than printing, though).
If you're at all interested, I really recommend learning some form of shorthand. It's useful in note-taking or when you don't want people to be able to read your writing (if, you know, you're kidnapped by a vampire or trying to write fanfic at work). It's also just a fun hobby and a nifty skill to be able to say you have.
In my opinion, if you want to learn shorthand, Gregg Simplified is a solid option, because the materials are accessible and the system is a good middle-ground between easiness to learn and quickness to write. I taught myself just following along with the Gregg Shorthand Manual Simplified. The book is broken up into 67 short "lessons." I did one or two lessons a week, maybe a few hours of work, and I was "fluent" in less than a year. I also bought a Gregg Simplified Dictionary, but all you need is the Manual.
(Note that the manual is written both assuming you're probably some kind a secretary and in the fifties. So, you'll learn brief forms for super-useful phrases like "dear sir" or "remit." For practice, they have you read and copy these sample letters in shorthand, and it's almost hilarious how almost all the letters to men are about business matters and the letters to women are advertising sales. There is one spectacular letter that's a man writing to a newspaper to cancel his subscription, because he's moved into a house in the suburbs with another man who gets the same paper. I'm legit tempted to go through the manual again just to find that letter.)
Fun fact! The fastest shorthand stenographer ever recorded wrote faster than the fastest typist.
Also fun fact! It's not uncommon for individual people to invent their own brief forms based on words that they use commonly. So, Jonathan might have been writing "c-a-r-p" (or the Pitman equivalent) for "Carpathian" or Mina writing "t-b" for "Whitby" or both of them writing "v-a-m" for vampire. And I'll bet credits to navy beans they had specific brief forms for their favorite trains.
#dracula#dracula daily#shorthand#gregg shorthand#pitman shorthand#the gregg book also is certain that you pronounce the “h” in “wh” words#maybe you still do#but probably you don't#*marge simpson potato meme but with me and shorthand*
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Little Details For Writers To Make Winters Seem More Real ❄
In the past I did the post “Writing Realistic Winter Scenes,” but it did not quite cover everything, so I thought I would add some more tips! I hope they help for making your stories more realistic.
Stomping Feet.
Only rude people don’t stomp snow off their boots before coming inside. Where I live, you will often also see people giving their boots a good stomp before entering a store.
Once inside a home, take off your boots and (if they have one) put it on a boot tray to stop puddling. If you are entering a store, many locations have rugs by the door. Once inside, wipe your feet a few times.
Holding a drink with both hands and no metal mugs/plates.
Tim Horton drinks are called “Canadian hand warmers” for a reason, so you will often see people waiting for a bus or city train with a drink in both their hands.
As for the metal mugs and plates, I learned my lesson for this one very quickly. When I was an Air Cadet (teens) we would go on weekend survival trips, and most the kids idolized military kits. So, many kids(myself included) would purchase military mess kits. Now, I am not saying they are not handy; plates, bowls, and even a tiny frying pan, all fold up together neatly and flat in your bag, so what is not to love?
Well, when you are camping in places below -25c, and you take off your glove for a moment, you may find your skin sticking to the metal of your plate(thanks to the cold, and steam from your meal). Now, this might seem funny, but if you are not careful, you could actually remove skin.
So, metal is great for cooking and great for the summer, but I suggest being careful if you plan on using them to eat with in the winter.
Bringing Your Animals In
In medieval times, farm animals were often brought into the house. Some houses kept them on the bottom floor while living on the top floor, others not so much. This is to keep the animals from freezing to death, but also to add some extra warmth in the house.
It was not just in the past, either. My past co-worker grew up on a goat farm, and said if it was too cold out, they would bring the baby goats in to run wild in the basement. She remembers it fondly, but it must have been incredibly chaotic for her parents haha.
New Water Source:
Creeks, lakes, and wells will likely freeze over, but luckily you may have another option: snow! Just look for a clean patch, scoop it up, and heat it. It is not a perfect system (during my wilderness survival training days, there were times of picking pine needles out of the water) but it was better than wasting energy to go cut into the ice every several times a day(the holes will re-freeze over).
If it is cold without snow, cutting the ice is exactly what you’ll have to do.
Tree Wells:
Evergreens — like pine trees — are built to shed snow off their triangle-shaped form, so often have little pockets around the trunk with less or no snow. This might not sound like a problem, but occasionally people on skis and other equipment die in them. People are on the move, fall headfirst into them, and their skis are pinned above in the snow out of reach.
Alternatively, these wells can be an emergency shelter from a storm or hunting hiding spot. Do note that you (for the obvious reason of wood everywhere) can not light a fire in these shelters.
Easy Tracking:
It’s not easy to hide prints in the winter, and they are more obvious. This could be good if your character is tracking something, but bad if they are trying to get away.
Some shows have the characters sweeping the ground behind them, but if the snow is over a foot deep, that wont really work.
Realistic Ice:
If you are on a lake, do not expect it to be quiet. It is always flexing and cracking, and sometimes this sounds like a pop, and other times it can sound like the lake is singing.
Ice can also look different. Some (like Abraham Lake in Alberta) is known for it’s frozen bubbles, while others flex so much while freezing that the ice breaches the surface into what look like frozen waves.
While we are on the topic of ice, crampons/ice cleats. Crampons are spikes that attach to your boots, and people here use smaller ones just for walking the dogs. They bite into the ice, making you less likely to slip. They are not a new invention, either. They have found archeological evidence of them that are thousands of years old in different places around the world.
Sounds:
If it is very cold out, sounds are louder. This is one part because there are no leaves on the trees, but also because noise travels through cold air easier. Both these are why any sound (such as the crunching of snow) can seem so loud in the winter.
Alternatively, the snow can muffle sounds (it is an insulator) but only to a certain temperature. This insulation can make the world around you seem almost unnaturally quiet as it muffles any surrounding sounds.
So basically, mildly cold with snow means muffled sounds, while very cold means traveling sounds.
Multiple Socks:
If you are hiking in the winter, it is recommended that you carry at least three pairs of socks to change into at some time. The reason? Your feet will still sweat even if it’s cold, and that sweat can freeze. As a general rule, if your feet start getting cold, consider changing socks.
Boots Near The Fire:
In movies, characters always put their hands near the fire, and that does happen. It is not just the hands, though. People often sit with their boots near the fire and they may start to steam as the ice and snow melt.
This can be so tempting, that there is normally that one person in the group who accidentally melts the rubber of a boot by putting it too close to the fire, or by resting their boot on the metal rings that some campsites have. While we were sleeping in lean-to’s, one kid even scooted too close to his fire in his sleep, and woke to his whole boot melting. It melted so bad, his boot had to be duct-taped together or else they would send him home.
Since people in the past would not have rubber/plastic on their boots, they would react differently to the fires, but you can bet people in the past did the same.
Pack Sled:
If the snow is deep, you may see people (especially skiers and snowshoers) with a sled that has their pack in it. This is to help take some of the weight off you, which stops you from sinking as far in the snow.
Little Modern Details:
Shoveling the Walks
It’s a silly detail, I know, but it is never in books or movies. Here, you have to shovel your walks by law, but there are two other reasons as well. You need to keep the snow from piling up over your boots, and also to keep your vehicle from getting stuck. For this, people either own a shovel or a snow-blower, then put salt or gravel over the icy spots.
Our homes here are built with a roof overhang to keep snow and such from piling at the door, but homes that are not so lucky (such as places that don’t normally get snow) or homes that face towards the wind, might end up being snowed in if they don’t keep up with shoveling.
Prep your vehicle.
In movies and books in cold places with a storm, the hero jumps into the car and rushes away. In real life, they wouldn’t be able to see out the windows. The real process: Start your vehicle about 10min before leaving. While you wait for it to warm, brush off the snow and scrape ice from the windows.
If your character is in that much of a rush, they can put the window down (if it is not frozen) and stick their head out the window while they drive(100% not recommended lol. You can’t even use a seatbelt if you do this).
Fighting for the Register:
If you are a kid and you come in with wet boots, the fight for the spot over the heat register is on! Those with the lucky spot will have far drier and warm boots or mittens for next use.
Dead Batteries:
If it is really cold out and you have something like a phone with you, you had better keep it in your inside pocket(most winter jackets have them) closest to your body. If not, even a full battery can completely die out in record time. Batteries simply are not made to handle extreme cold. They sometimes turn on again if you warm them up, but other times you will have to plug them in and charge them.
#writeblr#writing#writers of tumblr#writingfantasy#writers on tumblr#fantasywriter#fantasy world#fantasy#Worldbuilding#writing tip#writing help#writing tips#writing advice#fantasy writer#writing fantasy#write#writer#how to write#WritingForests#WorldbuildingNature
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On creating a wiki for your worldbuilding
Do you have a lot of lore to keep track of? Whether you're an author, a Game Master, or simply someone who really really likes worldbuilding, this post is for you.
Here's a quick overview of what I'll be talking about:
Platforms people use to create personal wikis
Formats and organization systems you may find useful when creating your own wiki
A brief look at the actual content you might put in your wiki (I'm planning a more in-depth post on that later with more images and demos)
And because this is gonna be a long'un, I'm putting a read-more here! I'll also make downloadable epub and PDF versions of this post available for free on my Ko-Fi at some point in the future.
(I'm also planning to reblog with a list of links later on, but I want this initial post shows up in search)
Also now that you're here, I'm going to say this isn't, like, super comprehensive or anything. I'm just talking about stuff I know a little about or have experience with. Please feel free to reblog with additions and/or corrections as needed!
What is a wiki?
According to Wikipedia, "a wiki is a hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser."
In this case, you'll likely be the sole person making updates to your wiki. The web browser part is optional these days as well, as you'll soon see.
Platforms for creating wikis
Websites for creating worldbuilding wikis
WorldAnvil
This one is actually designed for people who want to create big worldbuilding wikis.
Pros: Worldbuilding prompts! Those are great. It's got a pretty comprehensive set of article types too.
Cons: Kind of expensive to upgrade for features like making your wiki private, and it does NOT work well with adblock turned on, so if you don't want to pay for a membership you'll get inundated with ads. I'm not a huge fan of the interface in general and a lot of it isn't intuitive, but I like what they're doing so I support them anyway.
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Tiddlywiki/Tiddlyhost.com.
In addition to having a cat as its icon and also a silly name, each 'article' you create with this is called a 'tiddler' which makes me think of Chuck Tingle. I haven't used it much myself yet, but I did make an account and it seems pretty neat.
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Miraheze
A community-hosted wiki platform that runs on MediaWiki (which is what Wikipedia runs off of).
Pros: It's not Fandom.com.
Cons: You have to request a wiki and can't just make it yourself, as far as I can tell. I haven't actually looked into this one as much.
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Neocities
An option for if you want to go super oldschool and create a website using only basic html and hyperlinks (without the handy shortcuts of bbcode or Markdown). Monthly cost is $5 usd if you want to have more space and your own domain.
Pros: 100% control over your content.
Cons: Doesn't support PHP databases for wiki software, and can be fairly labour-intensive to update if you break a link or something.
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Fandom.com
Unfortunately, this one is the top result you'll get when you look up how to make your own wiki. I'm only including it here to tell you to stay as far away from it as possible!!
Its staff are known to ban wiki creators from their own wikis and a bunch of other nonsense that I'm not getting into here.
Programs and apps/web apps for creating worldbuilding wikis
Obsidian.md
My personal favourite. I'm planning to make a whole post about how I use it in the near future as part of this article series.
It's a markdown-based application that you can get on just about any platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, etc) which is great. Obsidian is really easy to pick up and use and also has great themes and community plugins!
Best thing is, it's FREE and you only have to pay if you use their publishing service, which... I don't, so.
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Notion
I've heard this one is pretty good too. Idk if it costs anything. It's another "second brain" style app (might be markdown also?) and I think it might do more than Obsidian, but I haven't checked it out much myself.
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Microsoft Word/Google Docs etc.
...Or just about any word processor that lets you create internal hyperlinks. Word may work best due to the collapsible headings so it doesn't get too unwieldy, but *shrug* whatever floats your boat.
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Excel/Google Sheets etc.
Or, again, any spreadsheet creator that lets you create internal hyperlinks.
I'd recommend having some basic spreadsheet knowledge before doing this. It could get complicated. Before I started using Obsidian, I was using Sheets to keep track of my glossary, notes about characters, and plot ideas.
Types of formatting & organization systems
There are as many organization systems as there are people who want to organize their stuff. Everybody needs something a little different! I find the ones that work best for me are systems that have a lot of customization options.
Here are a couple I know of.
Johnny Decimal
This system is absurdly simple in its concept and yet so versatile. From their website (it's just johnnydecimal dot com but I'll link it in a reblog later):
Take everything you need to organise and sort it in to, at most, ten large buckets.
Make sure the buckets are unambiguously different.
Put a label on each bucket.
Their website has a better explanation than I can give in this post, but I'll sum up the appeal of this system as quoted from their site: "There's only one place anything can ever be."
Usefully, part of this method is creating a directory for the rest of the system.
So if you're like me and tend to shove things wherever only to lose track of it later, this is a great system—especially when used in conjunction with the Zettelkasten Method (see below).
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Zettelkasten Method
Originally devised as an extensive paper-based knowledge management system, Zettelkasten is meant to easily add new entries to a knowledge base while giving each one a unique ID for easy 'linking.'
The creator of this method said 'it is not important where you place the note, as long as you can link to it.'
As with the Johnny Decimal system, I can't explain it super succinctly (nor can the website, if I'm being honest), so I'll include a link in a future reblog for a video that gave me an excellent run-down of the basics.
Setting up your own system
An organization system is only useful if you can actually, y'know, use it.
It can be fun to set up a super-detailed organization system with predetermined categories for everything, but is it easy for you to use? How will you navigate it?
Making decisions
There will be a lot of decisions to make as you set up your system. The only set-in-stone rule I follow is... don't set anything in stone. It's okay if you decide something that doesn't work later on.
Figuring out your categories
My advice: go fairly broad. You can always sub-categorize. I'm going to go over my own wikis for Athenaeum and Rocket Boosters in detail in a later post, but here are the starting top-level categories I'd recommend for worldbuilders:
A meta category for notes about your database, templates, and any relevant research you've done.
Characters, including main characters, minor characters, and important figures
Worldbuilding
In the last category, which is the main reason for the existence of my wiki, I might have:
Culture
History
Locations
Organizations
Lore (if relevant)
Technology
Transportation
I'll go over the nuances of these 'main' subcategories in that future post I mentioned. In other words, the stuff that actually goes in those categories!
Determining the importance and relevance of worldbuilding elements
You'll need to figure out whether a topic is complex enough to deserve its own entry, or if it should be a sub-heading under another entry. It's okay if you decide on both! I have short subheadings under some entries that amount to "see [link to main entry on that topic]."
I've also decided to expand subheadings into their own topics, and I've removed topics as their own entry and shoved them under subheadings. I do this a lot, in fact! So it's okay if you don't know.
Templates
Will you be creating several of one type of entry?
Individual character profiles
Towns and cities
Factions
(to name a few)
It might be handy to figure out the basic types of information you'll need about each of those things and create a template for them.
A character template might have spaces for the basics, such as name, role, age, and so on.
Some characters will have a lot more information, and some might have even less than what your template dictates! And that's fine.
A word of warning about using system-creation as procrastination
Creating a wiki can be a daunting task. You might decide it's not for you, and that's okay. But you might also decide to go headlong into the process and work on every minute detail, and that is also okay, but.
But.
Beware of using your wiki as an excuse to procrastinate your actual writing/session preparation. Yes, use it to keep track of all the lore you've injected into your manuscript/campaign/whatever, just make sure it stays in its place as a companion to your main project rather than becoming your main project.
How formal should your entries be?
Honestly this one's entirely up to you. I have a mix. Some entries are written like Wikipedia entries with a thorough explanation of the topic with proper punctuation and formatting, while others are simply bullet-point lists of thoughts and ideas that I can return to at a later date.
What methods do you use to keep track of your lore and worldbuilding? Let me know in a reblog or comment!
And please make sure to check the notes. I'll be reblogging with links, and then reblogging that reblog to make sure they're, y'know, actually visible in the notes.
#wiki#worldbuilding#writing advice#writeblr#writeblr community#resource#worldbuilding wiki#obsidian#zettelkasten#resource by keyboardandquill
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