#its so old and the creator only made it because a friend asked and I love that. so many typos and grammatical errors and. I love it

[sailor-aviator]

Hey.

Go ahead and get settled because this will be...long, in true Liz fashion.

So, by now I'm sure most of you have heard what's happened. If not, you can search this blog for some answers or others for more.

I joined this fandom offiicially at the end of September after being a long time lurker. I had just lost my job and times were uncertain for me. I felt inspired to write, and as someone whose formative years were shaped by the fandom experience, I wanted to feel that sense of belonging again - to feel like a part of a community. I've talked about it on here before, but I started my fandom days in the original Hunger Games fandom when the first movie had just come out, and then I shifted gears towards the SuperWhoLock fandom. If you know anything about SuperWhoLock, then you know you had to have pretty tough fucking skin to be a part of any of it.

Of course, this was back in the day when fandom was an actual community and not authors having to beg for scraps of engagement and people thinking its a numbers game. I was a fairly large blog within the SuperWhoLock community (Waywardly-Carrying-On was the username), but I left fandom for a few years because life got hectic and I felt like I had outgrown the fandom itself as I was no longer watching any of the shows. As the years went on, I started to yearn for the fandom experience again, which is how I found myself dipping toes into several different ones.

I was so excited to publish my first fanfic. I had convinced myself that I wasn't a good writer (much to the chagrin of my irl friends), and I had put a pause on writing my original story. I wanted to write this idea about a cowboy and a girl using characters that I had grown to love like I did way back in my older days. So, I started posting, and I was so excited for the story, that I kept posting almost daily. MamaMay was one of the first people to embrace not only my story, but me as a person into the fandom. She made me feel welcomed and wanted.

Pretty much right off the bat I was already getting anons telling me that I was being too much and that I needed to calm down with all the posting. I was confused because...this is Tumblr. It's literally a blogging website? Why wouldn't I post? I decided to ignore the mean words (not before giving my opinion, of course) and kept on doing my thing. Well, the anons got continually worse and worse. I had a suspiscion as to who the anons could be, but I never had concrete proof. So, I experimented with blocking suspects until finally it worked. I'm not naming names because that's not my style, so don't even bother asking.

The fact of the matter is, some of you have entered fandom spaces for the first time, and you don't know how to act. You don't care to learn fandom etiquette as you've made abundantly clear by calling fandom olds every name under the sun while utilizing the anonymous feature. Newsflash, you're part of the problem. You're the reason why authors don't want to publish anymore. You are the reason that something that's supposed to be fun is starting to feel like a goddamn chore.

How many times can authors on here say that we aren't machines? We have lives outside of this website: family, friends, jobs, school, etc. Some of you really are just hellbent on making everyone around you miserable, and it's sad. You can't just leave well enough alone and let people enjoy something, no you feel like everyone has to enjoy it the same way as you.

Some of you go after authors on here because of some weird sense of jealousy too. I don't know why my shit blew up, babe, I really don't. But I started out with no followers and no support just like everyone else. I'll tell you what helped me though: following fandom etiquette and reaching out to other creators to build an actual community. None of this "I've reblogged three of your things and now I'm messaging you so that you return the favor." No, I reached out to make actual friendships which is what fandom is SUPPOSED to be. If someone was clearly not interested, it was fine!! I backed off and kept doing my own thing.

Some of you think being mean on the internet makes you big and bad. Guess what! It doesn't! It's loser mentality and I feel genuinely sorry for you. I'm sorry that people in your own life made you feel so small as to feel like you had to lash out at strangers on the internet who are just trying to have fun.

Anyway, this is my really long way of saying that I am taking a break for a little bit. I have no idea how long it will be - could be the weekend, could be a couple of weeks, could be forever. I need time to decide if this is something I want to keep persuing. If I come back, I don't know if I will remain a TGM blog or if I'll shift gears and hop into another fandom with a rebrand. Guess we'll just have to see.

To the people on here who have been a constant source of joy, laughter, and support: thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Your presence has meant everything to me, and I hope that my break sees me wanting to come back and giggle about the silly plane movie with you all again.

Nothing but love,

Liz 💛

#psa #public service announcement #this has been a psa #liz speaks #liz rambles #long post

[c1nn4-bunny]

In case anyone wanted an update on my mental state atm

I'm so normal and okay about him (I'm in the Anger stage of grief, okay.)

I've always really hated reading x reader stuff (I'm a trans guy... who ends up interested in male characters... I'm sure you can assume why I'd be a bit miffed about the gender ratio on those, right. And how some/most gn!reader ones are just straight up lies or afterthoughts for what was very clearly meant to be a x female!reader — apart from the fact gn!reader fics in general are rare to see) but istg I'll fuckin do it. I WILL force myself to mentally correct everything if I have to !!!

#i have such a hatred toward x reader fics you have no idea okay #like its a rational one considering my circumstances but eugh #horrible that hes making me genuinely consider... r e a d i n g #> Crushes on bookworm boy who likes reading > Mad that he has to read #my time being a Wheatley simp did nothing but teach me that the only way to get ANY sort of #male or gender neutral reader fics was to literally sell my sould to satan or scroll for days on end to the tiniest caverns of a page #addition to the clearly not disguised gn!reader ones: last minute change from very obviously a ship fic #yeah hi i see you and your barely disguised ship-fic masquerading as an x reader. im strangling you actually <3 #mini-mae was always so pissed off about it again ESPECIALLY during the wheatley simp era because come the fuck ON #the only expection ive made for gn! clearly being female is that Nigel smut fic I have saved simply because it's so funny to me #its so old and the creator only made it because a friend asked and I love that. so many typos and grammatical errors and. I love it #i want to remaster it as an homage because it's simply that funny. HELL MY SILLY SELFSHIP NIGEL IS BASED ON THEIR DESCRIPTION FOR HIM! #with added details ofc. the original draft of him is meh. i like my decision to accidentally make his hair longer with each drawing #BUT YEAH ive been joking about rewriting for a year now. ill do it eventually lmao <333 #anyway uh rant over Cashew is ruining my brain im going to go scroll some tags now... and maybe check some sites... #c1nn4bunny.txt

[year2000electronics]

wow. four years old huh. i'll keep this part short but sappy rant under the readmore! happy four years!!

it feels like just yesterday when i watched this series on a whim because my friend kept making jokes about my ocs with hlvrai quotes and then it was so funny and engaging that it pulled me out of a months-long depressive slump... feels like just yesterday that my work was finally being seen by people, yesterday that the summer of 2020 was one of the most interesting summers ive ever had, yesterday when the 2020-2021 school year ended up being one of the most difficult times of my life and hlvrai really helped me get through it. without exaggeration this series has changed my life

yeah we all may have had ups and downs, like a LOT of downs, but ill always consider hlvrai to be very special to me, not just because i love it but because it represents so many good things to me: friends joking around having fun, friends carrying their past experiences with them (gmod rping, an affinity for extensively-planned bits, jokes that could ONLY be made by rtvs with each other, you get it), and how the best things often come from happy accidents, from people who DARE to CARE, because hlvrai is good because theyre not afraid to be silly! theyre not afraid to be stupid and sincere and ridiculous!!

and the most inspiring part to me has always been that hlvrai wasnt made to chase any trends. it didnt come in the wake of anything, it was made, and then after it was made, rtvs pretty obviously made it clear that they wouldnt let their lightning-in-a-bottle series box them in. like everyone on the team is very strongly against ppl being parasocial to them, they dont let people beg them for the funny half life info and references, all that. as a creator its cool to see people doing what they love and not succumbing to any pressure algorithmically or otherwise, especially during the lockdowns, when a lot of other streamer-based fandoms cropped up that had a VERY big 'encouraging being parasocial' problem. its always been nice to have a web series thats just one of many awesome things rtvs has done

hlvrai was everything i could have ever asked for and more, and me myself i was perfectly content with just having the standalone series forever, because sometimes a standalone thing is all you need. but with hlage, bbvrai, and hl2vrai being announced, im still so happy to be here and so happy that i get to keep enjoying one of my favourite pieces of media <3

#hlvrai #my art

[queerprayers]

Today is (for many of us) the feast of Christ the King, and I wanted to take a moment to honor that. I was baptized on this feast, and I've always been drawn to it. Originally instituted by the pope in 1925 as a response to growing nationalism and secularism, making it the newest element of the liturgical year, most Lutherans and other liturgical Protestants also honor this day.

I have differing opinions on secular rule/the separation of church and state (and evangelism, for that matter) than the founders of this feast did, but I can appreciate the yearning for more world leaders/political groups/religious groups to recognize our true callings as human beings--to each other, to Love. And I love the concept of combating nationalism with allegiance to a higher power!

"King" has a lot of political implications, and mostly negative associations for anyone like me, so I wanted to point out how the original encyclical describes this title of Jesus's, by quoting Cyril of Alexandria: "Christ," he says, "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature." Today is the reason I'm not a monarchist--there is no earthly ruler that has my allegiance. There is no earthly rule established without force. My allegiance is to Christ, the ruler of the only valid kingdom; to God's house, the only state without lines on a map; to Love which is the universe, the only empire that includes people by embracing them rather than conquering them.

We can only understand so much of who God is. We separate out God's roles; we can only focus on one tiny piece of the universe at once. (This is why we have holidays--to honor pieces of our religion in human time.) The king we are called to serve is only called "king" because that's one of the closest words we have in our language to describe what we're talking about--the old-fashioned meaning of king, one born for the role and called to die for the role. A romanticized meaning perhaps, one that has never been true in any society, one that has caused so much harm, but nonetheless one used throughout centuries to get across one of the ways we approach God--along with "father" and "friend" and "bridegroom" and "creator."

We pray for God's kingdom to come because that's an idea we can understand--we can logically process that a new kingdom coming, a new empire conquering, means everything changes, the rules are turned upside down. We hold this language while acknowledging there is so much more to it. If you can't stomach using these words, if they are filled with violence for you, I encourage you to sit with that truth, consider what it would be like to take earthly ideas and fill them with Love, and also acknowledge you do not have to use this language. We try to hold God with our words and fail over and over. We come to God from our culture and language and time and we squint at the universe. We see in a mirror dimly, for now.

As we encounter earthly nationalism and imperialism and colonialism and warmongering, as we see people claim that their nation-state is chosen by God, we honor power turning on its head today. We see Jesus revealing what kingship, what ruling, what power is when Love is the center of the universe. Jesus, who had more power than any human, fed the hungry, hung out with the oppressed and misunderstood, threatened the powerful without violence, was killed by earthly empire, and conquered death with life.

May we, as members of God's kingdom, under Jesus's rule--by choosing this as our practice--serve the only king who has ever deserved our allegiance. We work to bring our communities and religious groups and, yes, our nation-states, closer to the image God has set for us, but ultimately we know we are creating and navigating human-made borders between things that will one day be one.

You already know what God has asked of you. It's not a democracy but neither is it a monarchy, really--it's something else. Something you have to opt in to, but don't really get a choice in. Something you can run from but never escape. Something that once you see clearly, you'll never be satisfied without. You are technically free to abandon the work, but you would be abandoning the only thing that will make us whole. Call your government representative. Go to a protest. Give money to the person by the side of the road. Read a book. Hug your lover. Feed the birds. Denounce your country in favor of your community and every single human being. You are a citizen of the universe, which is God, which is love. Christ the King, the reign of Christ, means what rules us is Life.

(We look down the road to Advent--to new year, rebirth, apocalypse. "Apocalypse" meaning unveiling, revelation, disclosure. We see in a mirror dimly, and then--thy kingdom come--we see face to face. All at once, awfully, blindingly, daylight after years of darkness. Christ the King says, what if New Year's Eve was a surrender to time and power? What if before you even remembered Christmas exists, you were confronted with the reality of your calling? This is the feast of victory to our God. Alleluia!)

#having a lot of thoughts!

[kirain]

your gale takes actually got me to look deeper into forgotten realms lore (esp where it pertains to the afterlife) and long story short i’m at least a little bit fixated on it now and also will go to bat for that wizard basically at any point. also wild magic. i’ve been reading so much about wild magic, it’s so so interesting. esp wild magic sourced from the far realm and the implications that could have for a wild magic mage in esp the bg3 setting

Thank you, I'm so glad to hear that! I'm still learning about the lore myself (there's so much), and we should all be thanking Larian for introducing so many new people to D&D!

Wild magic is insane, and I had a great time using it with my sorcerer. The magic system in general is truly fascinating, as is its history in context of the game. It's just too bad it's linked to a god. I think I've said this before, but an irksome detail about Mystra is that she technically isn't a "bad" god, but she should definitely keep her fingers to herself. Every iteration has done objectively horrible things to mortals, but because she's written by a man who clearly favours her (in my humble opinion) nothing she does is presented as wrong. 😒

These asks actually reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine. He basically said, "Elminster is on Mystra's side and he cares about Gale, so obviously Mystra is right." But here's the thing:

Not only is Eliminster a really annoying self-insert made by Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms (and I mean that literally, he's admitted he's a self-insert), but Eliminster has also had ... "relations" with his surrogate daughter. He's betrayed his friends for Mystra. He's killed arguably innocent people. So you'll have to forgive me if I don't look to him for moral guidance. He also slept with the previous iterations of Mystra and blindly follows her commands, so he might just be a teensy bit biased. In fact, if you look at various forums, you'll see a lot of players complaining about the character's irritating Gary Stu status, and that Dungeon Masters hate putting him in their campaigns.

Elminster will never question Mystra, because in his mind she's a perfect being who deserves everything, including people's lives; ignoring the fact that pretty much every god in D&D is canonically flawed. He's the type of person who would tell a grieving parent that God took their recently deceased child for "reasons we cannot comprehend".

He says he took no pleasure in burdening Gale with her ultimatum, but let's be real—he wasn't that hurt by it. In fact, the Elminster we meet in game isn't even real. It's a snow clone. He couldn't be bothered to visit Gale, who he apparently respects and cares about, in person. The only time he shows any genuine emotion towards Gale is in the ascended epilogue, when he writes him a disappointed letter. And I wouldn't be surprised if that disappointment is more about him challenging Mystra than actually achieving godhood.

Though it should be said that Elminster is also a victim of Mystra. The iteration before Midnight (current Mystra) groomed and abused him for a millenia, yet for some reason we, the audience, are supposed to pretend there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, we're supposed to view it as "sexy". As if Gale and Elminster are "lucky" to have caught her attention.

Reading up on the lore surrounding these two is truly horrifying. Elminster is old enough now that his actions are informed and unforgivable. He helps Mystra groom boys to exploit and never questions her. He's not merely complacent, he's active in her ploys. Despite his numerous heroic feats, I personally can't overlook it, especially when he could have been Gale's biggest defender.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #larian studios #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #bg3 mystra #elminster #lore

[godesssiri]

10 Thrifting Tips – Part ? I lost count just check my thrifting tag

1) Make friends with the staff. If you go into a particular thrift store frequently it’s well worth it to get friendly with the staff. Ask them about their day, chat with them about what you’re buying, infodump if you’ve found something exciting and unusual. When the staff get to know you and know what you buy they’ll start pointing out things in the store that have come in since the last time you were there, that fit your interests. They may even start putting things aside for you. Recently I walked into my favorite thrift store and had 2 separate staff members say ‘Oh I’ve got something for you’. Plus having the staff greet you by name and having little inside jokes with them just makes the whole experience more fun.

2) Brita jugs turn up at the thrift store frequently. If tap water in your area is safe but has A Taste, keep an eye out at the thrift store.

3) Coffee making equipment. Capsule coffee makers, the wire racks that hold the capsules, French presses, these all get donated frequently. The occasional espresso machine comes in – and goes out very quickly. Now and then you’ll find pour-over coffee equipment. If you like your bean juice you can get the equipment you need to make fancy bean juice at the thrift store.

4) Handmade pottery mugs. Story time: About 6 or 7 years ago I went into a thrift store and someone had obviously just cleaned out their mug cupboard and donated a pile of handmade pottery. I bought 4 because I thought they were cool, very tactile, nice to hold. This AWOKE something in me. Humans have used handmade pottery for thousands of years and there’s something about holding a handmade mug that sparks a genetic memory of warmth and comfort. Pottery also has much better thermal properties than mass produced ceramic, hot stays hot longer and vice versa with cold. Build up a little collection of handmade pottery mugs from the thrift store, each one has its own personality and it brings joy using them.

5) In the same vein: teaspoons. Build up a collection of fun teaspoons and take joy from using different ones depending on your mood. I have one with an owl on the end and another with a rose, a brass one with a wiggly handle in the shape of a snake, one that has the branding of an airline that now only uses wooden stirrers - probably because people kept pocketing the stainless-steel teaspoons (I always wanted to steal one as a child but never had the nerve). Whenever I need a teaspoon it’s always a little endorphin boost to open the drawer and select the perfect one for today.

6) If you need something to do a specific job, be patient, you will find the perfect thing eventually. I switched to solid shampoo and my old soap dish wasn’t big enough to hold my shampoo bar and my regular soap, so I waited and watched and found the perfect little glass tray that was exactly the right size and fits perfectly on the shelf in my shower. I could have bought a brand new made-for-that-purpose multi soap holder, but it wouldn’t have been as cool looking and when I’m done with it, it wouldn’t necessarily get another life.

7) Gift supplies. Thrift stores often have a selection of unused gift wrap, bags, bows, cards. It’s worth it to sift through what they’ve got and buy any you think you might use – even if you don’t have an immediate use for it. That stuff can get expensive so if you can create a small stash then, when you need it, you won’t have to shell out $$.

8) Look for things that can be made over – or thrift flipped as the DIY content creators like to say. There’s so much satisfaction from looking at something that was plain ugly when you bought it and you’ve turned it into something pretty. It doesn’t need to be a major transformation that requires 5 different power-tools and 100 bucks worth of supplies. It can be as simple as a lick of paint, but every time you look at you will feel good about it.

9) Sometimes it’s worth buying something that’s just really cool and figuring out a use for it later. I bought the coolest little silver plated mustard pot; it has 3 legs and at the top of each leg is a lion head. Do I eat mustard much? No. Did I know what the heck I would use it for? No. I get bad indigestion and keep antacids on hand, I hate how once you tear open the roll, they tend to spill everywhere so I like to put them in something. Guess what holds exactly one roll of antacids? If something is just freaking awesome but you don’t know what you’d use it for, you will find a use (and it will be so much cooler than anything else you might have bought for that purpose).

10) Use the fancy stuff. Don’t ever look at something in a thrift store and think: that’s too fancy, I’ll never use it. If it’s not bought and used it ends up in landfill. Save it from the landfill and use it. Today I bought the most OTT fancy silver pepper shaker to sit next to my stove and hold ground pepper for cooking with, one of my housemates never puts the damn pepper back in the cupboard when he’s finished with it, so now we have this ostentatious silver shaker next to the stove top. One of my dogs can be relied upon to get half of his food on the floor before he hoovers it up, I could have got a plastic mat to feed him on but I had a spare thrifted marble cutting/serving board (I have a problem, I own 3, I have so much trouble resisting them), and another plus - he can’t destroy it like he would a plastic mat. I keep my toothbrush in a crystal bud vase. I decant my micellar water into a bottle shaped like a seahorse. I eat off pretty vintage pink glass plates. Using the fancy stuff from thrift stores both helps you romanticize your own life and it gives these items another life. Do be sensible though, some items made before the early 1970s including glassware and dinnerware contain lead in the decoration so do your due diligence and be safe.

#thrifting #thrift shopping #solarpunk #solarpunk tag #eco home #fuck capitalism #reduce reuse recycle #sustainability

[yonpote]

also some ppl asked me abt what i was talking about w like. SOME fans' perceptions toward dnp's early relationship. giant nonsense under cut :3

essentially it was about like, i guess we have an idea in our heads about what a parasocial relationship between a celebrity and a fan looks like right. and there can be issues there when boundaries are crossed, particularly when the celebrity is the one to cross that boundary without acknowledging the inherent power dynamic that they hold. this is still an issue that can happen with youtubers to this day ESPECIALLY because the line between creator and fan is so blurred.

when we hear about how dan and phil's relationship started out, from the current perspective we have towards parasocial youtube relationships, it can look a lot like that power dynamic. i mean for the most part, its something that's joked about, but specifically from the view of a "crazy fan". dan is phil trash, hes the ultimate phillie, he's the parasocial fan who won, i mean even HE joked about it back in the day (in a much edgier way) with his video about befriending internet stars by doing all these horrible things.

but it's important to remember what youtube was like in 2009, and what youtube culture specifically in the UK was like in 2009. those old halloween gathering vlogs and old sitc vlogs are all still up on youtube, and you can see it really was just. 50 nerds standing in a field huddled around doing whatever. the only thing i could compare it to in my personal life was going to facebook group cosplay meetups in washington square park in nyc, just a bunch of nerds wearing horns in a park and then going to get mcdonalds afterwards lol.

a youtuber wasnt even a real thing at this point in time. there was no money to be made really, just internet clout. cant remember who said this in a call recently, but someone made this comparison: dan and phil meeting each other was less like a modern day youtuber meeting a fan and more like a tumblr user with several thousand followers meeting a tumblr user with a few hundred followers. like in terms of a dynamic, sure phil was a few years older and had some internet clout, but that didnt have nearly as much weight back then as it does today. also fine lets talk about the age gap.

dan was 18 and phil was 22. a lot of (american) people talk about this and are like "oop red flag!" and im american so i kinda get it. especially when you know about how college dudes can and do prey on girls fresh out of high school like that. but a couple things to remember.

there are different standards for age differences in relationships everywhere around the world and we cant just view everything from the one mindset we know, and in terms of mental differences, 18 really isnt that different from 22 (frontal lobe aint done developing just yet yall)

they are two queer guys. and im not saying whatever isnt possible but like its something to take into account that queer relationships are just not going to be in the same framework as het ones.

they are two neurodivergent guys. a common thing w neurodivergence is feeling like youre being left behind by peers.

alright lets focus on that last point shall we? think about it this way. dan had just finished [UK equivalent of high school SORRY FOR BEING AMERICAN] but he is taking a gap year. from what hes said and what we've seen of this time, it seems like his friends have gone off to uni and he was kind of alone and figuring out what he should even do. idk if he even decided on studying law yet by the time he started talking to phil.

speaking of whom... phil had also just finished school, he finished his masters at uni! i posted a clip on here that i found really interesting from a (pre-dan) 2009 vlog of phil being open about like, feeling scared about what to do once school was over. he had to get a job and move out of his parents house and become a Real Man.

if you think about it, dan and phil were in much more similar boats than you might think at first glance. they were both extremely internet queerdos who were being forced to "grow up" and felt kind of isolated from their peers who seemed to have their shit together in comparison. there was a lot they could relate to even outside of common interests or anything like that.

its not a lie that there was some parasocial nature to their relationship at the start, but it's not nearly the same as other later cases of youtuber-fan relationships. but also! maybe im only saying all this cuz it worked out right? what abt [redacted] and [redacted]? two queer guys, similar ages to dnp, similar amounts of internet clout, but they didnt work out. so maybe it really is just bc its dan and phil specifically that it managed to work out.

#if u dont know exactly who the redacteds are thats fine you understand the gist of it based on the descriptions i used. #aka dont ask me who the redacteds are #myrambles

[1016week]

1016 Week 2023 - The Round-Up (Part 2)

Hello again, fellow Piarlies ❤️💙 Like we said here, we'd like to invite you all to come celebrate Piarles with us here on Tumblr! Today, on the 26th (AKA, the 10+16th) we are celebrating our beloved squid boys by posting the final round-up of all content created for 1016 Week 2023.

It turns out that all our Piarles content was too powerful for just one post - you guys blew us all away with the sheer amount of content you created, and apparently you blew Tumblr away too, because the Part 1 post broke the character limit 🤭 So, here is Part 2 of the official 1016 Week 2023 round-up! Don't forget to give our wonderful creators some love in the form of reblogs, replies, kudos, comments and bookmarks ❤️💙

Day 5 - Boat

I pick you up and take you through the night by @wolfiemcwolferson [fic]

Pierre and Charles have an understanding - things work a certain way. Pierre decides to change that.

we're made of starlights by @your-littlesecret [fic]

“We should go.” Charles says, breathless from the run from the office. “Go? Where are we going?” Pierre frowns, tilting his head slightly. “The boat. Anywhere. Everywhere. We should go.” Charles pants but Pierre seems to not be understanding it yet so Charles takes a deep breath to steady himself and takes another step forward. “Do you remember when we were young? We had the dream, of travelling the world on the boat. We can do it now. We should go.”

king of my heart by @chaesonghwas [fic]

Back on Daniel's yacht, Pierre has some time to think... and stare at Charles' abs, just a little bit.

i'm bound for the heart of the ocean by @duquesademiel [fic]

Pierre is the reason Charles is alive, and for that, he can’t be anything other than incredibly thankful. As much as Charles had always admired the sea, he’d never had the intention of dying surrounded by her. Pierre rescued Charles from a shipwreck and brought him into a life of piracy. It's not what he'd always hoped for, but he finds it definitely has its perks.

I’m Never Gonna Waste My Love On Anyone Else by @espithewarlock

“Pierre, what the hell is this?” “Are you saying no?” “Am I saying…what the fuck…I’m not…you haven’t even asked me a question!” “It doesn’t seem like I need to.”

Day 6 - Montreal

montreal is for lovers by @chaesonghwas [fanmix]

Monza + Montreal embroidery by @gaslybottoms [cross-stitch]

Taller In Another Dimension (Playlist) by @wolfiemcwolferson [playlist]

I wish I could have you in secret by @your-littlesecret [fic]

Charles reminds himself he’s not there on vacation, he’s there on a mission – that he still doesn’t know what it is. So those luxuries don't matter and Pierre- well, he matters but only because they’ll have to work together on this. Or: Charles and Pierre have to pretend, once again, to be in a relationship so they can succeed in the mission. But something is different this time.

my way back (to a life i would choose) by @duquesademiel [fic]

“What did you mean?” “Maybe we should…” “No, no maybes, Pierrot, like ten years ago. What are you saying?” The year is 2032, and Charles and Pierre have a conversation to finish.

Another Window To Break Out by @espithewarlock [fic]

It started out innocently enough. A friend of a friend knew about a job opening and recommended him for the role. One very quick interview and job offer later, and Charles was uprooting his life to move to Montreal. Piercing blue eyes stared back at him on the other side of a firm handshake. “Pierre Gasly, nice to meet you. Welcome to Stroll Engineering and Architecture.”

together in our imitation leathers by @fenesacha [fic]

Charles swears that he's trying to break his streak of dating assholes, honest. Pierre seemed like a nice, respectful young man until he propped his feet up on the dashboard of Charles' Ferrari.

piarles + soulmate timers AU by @singsweetmelodies [fic]

Charles' soulmate timer stops when he is seven years old, and he meets the boy with the bluest eyes he's ever seen.

Day 7 - Traditions

It Was Love in a Minute by @espithewarlock [fic]

All Charles wanted was Pierre, sitting across from him at a too-small table, legs tangled together, tucked away in a hidden corner of a cafe.

never coming down with your hand in mine by @duquesademiel and @wolfiemcwolferson [fic]

Pierre, as the oldest of the two, often takes the lead on their firsts. That's their little thing, their tradition of sorts: any big first step in their relationship is taken together, but suggested by Pierre. Except for one. The five times Pierre took the first step, and the one time Charles did.

i watched it begin again by @your-littlesecret [fic]

Pierre feels like it becomes a tradition. Every Friday, Pierre sits with Charles on his favourite table and they work side by side until one of them needs to go home or has something they need to go to or friends that want to do something last minute.

swear to be overdramatic and true by @chaesonghwas [fic]

Charles' birthday is coming up, and Pierre knows exactly how he wants to celebrate their annual tradition.

tied with the same thread (unconditional) by @singsweetmelodies [fic]

Charles sways forward, leaning fractionally into Pierre's touch. He looks… exhausted. Pierre's heart pangs, and he tightens his grip on Charles' hoodie, using it to tug him gently through the door and into Pierre's house. It's not the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last. He and Charles have… something almost like a tradition, for after tough races. They go to each other's places, and no matter how late at night it is, they always unlock their doors for each other. They are each other's confidantes, each other's safe places. They can talk about anything and everything, or they can forget about the rest of the world and just be for a little while.

give me a chance, let me tell you (if i can) by @yukierres [fic]

5+1 times Arthur interrupted them and the one time he didn’t.

a king under your control by @fenesacha [fic]

Charles sees a field of daisies and a crude leather ball, floating unnaturally in the air between them, and then a boat with a rug that stays impossibly dry, and in both, a boy with bright blue eyes and an impish grin. A boy who was present for most of his life, until he left to study music and his world fell apart. So, really, he should've known this would be the gods' answer.

❤️💙

#1016 week 2023 #1016week #event masterpost #1016 week 2023 final round-up #❤️💙

[danpuff-ao3]

💌 for the ask game pls :)

Ooh hello! Thanks for the ask! :D

💌 A fic that inspired you to create something for it

To be very frank with you, my knee-jerk reaction was to cringe because my very first thought was to remember that I wrote a fanfic for a fanfic once. I really loved a particular fanfic very much, but it's linked to an old friend group and bad memories and a lot of hurt. Hurt that was, oddly enough, stirred back up today by another means. (I love hearing that my old friends are still naming and shaming me in their fan club of hundreds of people 😬)

The fanfics I wrote have been orphaned since then. And while this feels like perhaps too much information...I feel called to share all the same. I remember being so proud of that work and putting so much love and care into it only to now feel regret, I think. I am a lady with a lot of passion and a lot of love, and I've felt so self-conscious in my life about being "too much"...and now I feel deeply humiliated in so many ways. And deeply hurt all over again.

So perhaps I'm sharing this to say...for all the joy fandom has, it has its shadows, too.

But also to say...for all of the fear and all of the pain, I never stopped sharing.

Had I not been proactive in building a new path for myself when I left. Had I not been so dedicated to staying in fandom...I might not be here now. Had I ducked my head in shame, I might never have stood up again.

In spite of how awful that whole experience was, and how awful it continues to be nearly two years later, I'm still here! Still reading, still commenting, still making friends. Still creating!

There are people in fandom who genuinely care about me. Who want me for more than hits or kudos or comments. Who want me for more than what I can do for them. Decent people who have treated me with respect, even when our paths diverged. Wonderful people who support and encourage me, for better and worse.

More than that, I realized my own power. I finally taught myself that I deserve more. That I deserve respect and compassion, and that if others can't or won't give them to me, then I can at least give them to myself.

And in the time since, I've learned that one horrible experience doesn't mean every experience will be horrible.

Which leads me to, finally, actually answering your question!

There is something very scary about being so moved by a work, especially now. There is a greater hesitation to reach out and let myself be that inspired by another work, and to also put it out there, and have my love be known.

But, well...I've written many a fic rec for various fics! Various rec lists. More specifically, I've made title banners for a few fics I love! I'll share them here, actually. All of them, even the bad ones I cringed at!

Fic links: Hypothermia, Post Mortem, The White Road, When the Rose and the Fire Are One, The Afterlight. (@inarticulateimbecile, @perverse-idyll)

And I've BOUND BOOKS for fics I really love!

Fics: The White Road, Fragile Hearts, Chrysalis, In Between Days, A Choriambic Progression (@perverse-idyll, @writcraft, starcrossedgirl, atrata, Mairead Triste and Aristide.)

I also hope to bind Nights of Gethsemane and Invictus in the future. And a host of other fics! Also When the Rose and the Fire Are One! God there are so many fics I'm DYING to have on my shelf!!!!

Fandom can be such a beautiful place. Creators are friggin' fabulous and share so much beauty and feeling with the world. I'm so very inspired by so many creators and their works. And however scary it is, I hope I never stop indulging in my enthusiasm. I hope I never stop reaching out to others and sharing myself with them. Even with the risk involved, what I've gained in this community has been worth all that I've lost along the way.

There are so many great connections to be made. With fellow fans, with creators. It's worth being able to brighten someone's day with a kind word or even a "I've been frothing at the mouth over your work so I made this thing, I hope that's cool" because 9 times out of 10 that is, in fact, very VERY cool. There is so much to be gained from each other and I hope I remember that, even in the hardest times.

Sorry I turned this into a soap box moment. The ask game was meant to be for funsies, but I can't deny what stirs my soul! 🤗

Fic Rec Ask Game

(I promise to be chill for the next answer, probably)

#asked & answered #fic rec ask game

[bogkeep]

i don't know if it's just me, but there's posts that i keep seeing that are like "people need to stop cycling through fandoms so fast," usually with a sentiment about the importance of commenting and sharing people's work and nurture their communities. i think Fandom Sustainability is a very interesting topic so i have THOUGHTS............ like first of absolutely all, that's a weird onus to put on people. Fandom Is For Fun. people don't usually control what their brainworms are gonna wriggle about. nobody should have to sign a five year contract for Enjoying Thing Together With Others. like. i understand that a lot of these posts are directed at people that are Enjoying the works of fanartists and fanfic writers, to urge them to share and react and feed their inspiration - but what about me, A Creator Of Such Things? are you making it my obligation to keep drawing fanart for a specific thing? becuase i've gotten plenty of lovely comments and feedback and all around soft and fuzzy feelings from the communities i've partaken in, but i'm only human. it's not that i lose love or interest for the properties, it's just - sometimes life happens. sometimes my momentum is unsustainable and i gotta slow down eventually. sometimes i want to draw other things! and yeah, i'm only one person, i'm not a whole fandom, and i can only speak on my experiences. i just feel like there's a narrative of "nice comments and engagement can keep an artist/writer go on forever" which i don't really agree with. reblogs and comments absolutely make me want to make more stuff! being part of a community is absolutely inspiring and fills me with ideas! but that can only take me so far. i think plenty of artists carry the same feelings of guilt for not drawing more X, or have gotten asks pleading for more Y. feeling unappreciated is not the only reason people stop creating a specific content.

my next Thought is that i think there are external sources causing fandom lifespans to shorten. i think there's a well documented phenomena that it's easier to sustain a fan community for long running, serial media with waiting time inbetween content, than it is for one-off movies or like, entire showruns premiered all at once for bingeability. and the current climate of "we're probably going to cancel this show after two seasons for capitalist rot reasons" and disillusionment with corporation and streaming services? probably not helping either!

i DO think there's something to be said for the speed of social media as opposed to, what, email lists? snail mail compendiums? but early tumblr was like, dominated by approximately five fandoms or something for years and years, so it CAN be done. clearly. maybe the change for discord servers to be the main hubs for communities, as opposed to old school forums? i think that may be one of the culprits for sure, because servers are so fast and exhuasting and there's Stuff going on all the time and you can only keep up so much before you burn out. i think. maybe it's just me who's burnt out thinking about it, because i know there can be really good servers that are well moderated and paced and sustainable! i've tried fandoming in several formats - i've done old school forum. i've done discord server. i've done Small Group Of Friends. i've done Just Vibing On My Blog/Twitter. and to me - and this is of course personal experience and not speaking for everyone else - the best longterm strategies for me has been the ones where i have the least contact with the actual fan communities. partaking in communities has been amazing and inspiring, i've made lots of close friends i'm still in contact with, but active participation in fandom is not something i can hold up forever. i can either burn in a fiery blaze for a little while or i can keep a low simmer for a long time. it's so much easier to love a story on my own terms when i don't have to be involved in every controversy of its fan community, even if it means trading away ideas and inspiration and drive. there's a balance to be struck between the two, of course. then there's like... sometimes something happens, either with the Media or with the Fandom. there's always going to be a risk with attaching yourself to a community and pouring yourself into it. do i have to keep loving something even if the creator of it makes it too weird for me? should i have to stay in a space that causes me stress or pain? sometimes the right thing for us to do is leave. sometimes we need a change. i think it's lovely when people stay to keep communities good, to keep creating good fanwork in spite of dissappointing creators. i think it's good to nurture love, but. it's a choice everyone has to make for themself. you should stay because you want to, not to martyr yourself for the sake of proving a point. last Thought i want to honor is that yeah, i believe there's Attitudes Afoot that are a sustainability drain: how old can a fandom get before it's Cringe? how large can a fandom get before it's Cringe? either we're all Cringe or none of us are. people love what they love, and is it not cruel to mock someone for something so joyful, based on arbitrary lines in the sand? if pre-2014 tumblr culture was good at anything it was to love hard and fearlessly. i DO think it's worth creating good and sustainable communities, to love well and responsibly, and find joy on your own terms. i think there's many ways to fandom and one way isn't more right than the other. a relationship is worthwhile even when it's not everlasting.

#too long for twitter #hi i'm writing essays based on 2-3 posts i saw on my dashboard over the past couple months again #can you tell i'm burnt out and have fandom trauma #using the word Sustainable fifty times because i think that's at the core of intentionally doing things always

[cinamun]

TAGGED by @simmerstellar ! Thanks friend!

Come get to know me y'all!

1. What’s your favorite sims death? I haven't had a sim die from anything other than old age in a HOT minute but I saw a LP and the murphy bed death seems so unecessarily violent lmfao.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? BOTH! I consider my style Maxis Mix. We love a nice combo of both.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Not anymore but at one point I had to. Let me explain: I don't know if it was a glitch but like after every meal with grannie's cookbook, Indya would gain weight instantly. Didn't happen with anyone else (although everyone else are athletes of some sort). She's always and forever thick but something was definitely up with the food mods I was using. Anyway, we're good now since I'm not playing her HH exclusively anymore.

4. Do you use move objects? Absolutely. Its too restrictive! Gotta play test when I do though because routing errors make me irrationally angry.

5. Favorite mod? Wickedwhims. I don't care! If I want my sims to get freak-nasty I have a blog for that and WW never fumbles. If I want them to do cute little intimate things, WW is there. If you don't like the smut, I feel bad for you son.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? I've gotten pretty much ever iteration of this game except for almost all of the kits and the star wars pack.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? ALIVE. I don't understand the other one honestly lol. We're going LIVE as soon as I press play so....

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Obvs Indya Drake!

9. Have you made a simself? Yes! But she needs help lol I'm not good at that at all so there's a resemblance but she doesn't really look like me. When I do gameplay with her I say she's my "sorta-kinda self sim" lol

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? gloomy, neat, loner, romantic

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? Black but like BLACK Black, not the BLUE Black lol.

12. Favorite EA hair? All of the afro textured ones.

13. Favorite life stage? Young adults.

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Gameplay mostly stories but I love to decorate!

15. Are you a CC creator? I will recolor the shit out of something! That's about it lol

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? All my mutuals and anyone who reads my story! #Squad

17. What’s your favorite game? The Sims 4 is the only game I play. Don't @ me.

18. Do you have any sims merch? Nope.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Nope, but I have been asked to make a channel and got that far at least. No videos lol.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? If anything, less alpha and more maxis match.

21. What’s your Origin ID? [redacted]

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? All of the ones that do it for FREE and for the love of the game. I donate too because I understand its not easy, but also not worth a month long paywall or conveniently forgetting to publicly release something.

23. How long have you had a simblr? 2015 are my earliest posts I think.

24. How do you edit your pictures? Gshade and Photoshop Elements 2020

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Cottage Living is the goat IMO even though I don't play it much anymore. I do very much enjoy Island Living and Growing Together will round out a nice top 3.

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? I haven't really thought about it. I just figure the sims 4 is nearing the end of its era and we're gonna start hearing about project rene more and more.

oh! tagging @shesthespinstersimmer @bridgeportbritt @iplaysims4 @beebeesiims @thegloomiestwhim @hazelminesims @therichantsim @omgkayplays @softerhaze @crsentfairy

please ignore if you don't do these or already did this!

#ask game

[comic-sans-chan]

Well, I've been thinking about it again, and I've come to the conclusion there is no version of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship that wouldn't have ended in a breakup. Maybe if Gabriel hadn't shown up, it wouldn't have come so quickly, but it always would have happened this way.

Not to link fandoms, but this was an issue we ran into with another show ages ago. I was a teenager in that fandom and it was a bittersweet comfort show about child neglect, alcohol abuse and growing up too fast, and the main ship was incredibly dysfunctional. This made sense, because both characters had baggage. The show promised again and again, these two are soulmates and will end up together eventually, but when it ended, the creator of the show said, "Yeah, I want to make a sequel where they're older and have broken up." This was devastating to many of us. I outright ignored it for a while. True love means forever, why would they break up? The creator promised they would end up happy together, so this separation period made no sense. How can two people be right and wrong? But as I got older and the world's shapes began to take on more definition, the more sense it made. Of course they would break up. They were both already broken.

I think with a lot of stories, particularly the ones we come back to again and again, we tend to fall into similarly comfortable conclusions about those stories. Of course, once a story is over, why would anyone's first instinct be to come up with ways in which the ending is doomed? Good Omens ended with Aziraphale and Crowley fighting to be together and winning, so we accepted that. What they have is true love and true love is forever. That's supposed to be the end.

But it's not. Of course it's not.

Crowley is from a household of abuse. Two households. He started out innocent and ended up falling into a hole with a bunch of other angry children and got the innocence beaten out of him over six thousand years. Only, he still had a friend from that old household. A good one. That friend was like him but smarter, more careful, so he learned from him. He learned to be cautious. He learned to keep secrets. And he loved his friend to the point it became an obsession to keep him safe from both physical and emotional harm. He didn't want Aziraphale to ever have to go through what he did. That obsession turned into its own kind of damnation, for both of them.

Aziraphale is still in that old house, but he does know how to keep his mouth shut and his head down. He knows not to ask questions. He knows not to make suggestions. He just does his job, takes the hits with a smile, and figures out ways to be happy in secret. He rebels quietly, where no one can see him. One of his key characteristics is that he's intelligent. It shows.

They've grown up on opposite sides of a fence. They've argued since the beginning. They agree on outcomes but never the footpaths to those outcomes. They've never totally seen eye-to-eye, they've always tried to twist the other to their way of thinking, they've never quite respected each other. This was clear in Season 1 already, but Season 2 shows that they still don't know how to work together. They're more aware of the other's plans now, but those plans are never the same. Aziraphale thinks Crowley's plans are silly, is unsurprised when they fail. Crowley thinks Aziraphale is being all-around ridiculous, is only willing to humor him up to a point. They swap places again with Aziraphale driving Crowley's car and Crowley running the shop, but Aziraphale changes the Bentley to suit him and Crowley throws books haphazardly about. They adore each other, but there's no respect, and this is what culminates in their breakup.

It's a painful truth, but children of abuse often end up in dysfunctional relationships. When you have no idea what love looks like, it's hard to emulate. That's just the way it is. The dysfunctional beliefs that spring forth from abuse need to be unlearned and the realities of how life and love really work need to be trained. It's no wonder Aziraphale and Crowley love humans so much, then--we've shown them possibilities they never could have dreamed of. But it's not enough.

Crowley learned to hide, so he hides. He doesn't believe in happily ever after. He never chased Aziraphale because he thought retirement with him would be joyful; he only chased him because he loved him. He doesn't move into the bookshop. He doesn't tell Aziraphale he's living in his car. He doesn't tell Aziraphale the full extent of Gabriel's evil or Shax's threats. He hides in his car and thinks of how to keep Aziraphale safe and unburdened. He yells at humans to feed the ducks correctly and gets drunk. He knows how tenuous safety is, so he doesn't feel safe. That's it, that was the ending he fought for. The ending he expected.

Aziraphale does believe in happily ever after, though. He expected Crowley to stay in the bookshop, but Crowley simply wouldn't. He tries to goad him over in every way he can think of, but it never works. Crowley maintains distance, maintains the clearly set boundary lines of "mine" and "yours." Aziraphale has fully accepted Their Side, but his idea of Their Side is different from Crowley's. He expected the world. He expected big sweeping kisses and dancing and sharing everything with each other. He calls Crowley constantly and Crowley runs to his side every time he needs him, but he always leaves after. Aziraphale fought for safety and believes he won it. This wasn't the ending Aziraphale expected.

It's easy to imagine now, when you take a step back and really absorb the landscape, Neil and Terry discussing sequels and saying, "Well, of course they would separate, so the sequel would begin with that. They've split, Aziraphale is back in Heaven trying to fix things, and we go from there." It's not the first time they've broken up, but it is the first time they've been able to be properly together, so of course it wouldn't work. Not right away. Not at first.

They're just at the beginning of the unlearning, and we go from there.

#my posts #good omens #go #ineffable husbands #ineffable idiots #this post is two weeks old now lmao I'm clearing house #wrote this at like 2 am #for anyone still struggling

[daman19942]

Get to know you: Sims Style

Thank you to @executables-sims for the tag! Took me a few days, but this was fun to fill out.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

Easy, death by Cowplant! It's so iconic and peak Sims-ridiculousness. That it made its way into future games is no surprise. Plus, I don't have a ton of accidental death in my game, and the Cowplant keeps me on my toes.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Maxis Match as much as possible. I love TS2's aesthetic, even is some of it appears dated. My game certainly looks better in 2023 than it did in 2004, but it is still recognizably TS2

Do you cheat your sims weight?

No, I let it happen organically. Especially because I use Simler90's Slower Fitness Increase and Nopke's Fitness Decay, both of which really make you work for it. They are essential to my gameplay, but mean more of my sims have a high body skill than is probably normal. They are doing their best!

Do you move objects?

Of course. Why it isn't enabled in my UserStartup file is a question I ask myself daily.

Favorite Mod?

I have more than 500 mods so I don't know how I can pick. I could just say NUMENOR in all-caps to say everything he's done. But I'll go with a recent favorite, Nyami's Actual Alcohol Mod, because it adds chaos to gameplay and chaos is good.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

Living. We are in Live Mode, folks!

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

In an older prompt, I answered with Daniel Monona, but since then it's definitely been Duke Patricio. I've made him 3 times (in my OG 2000's game, where he married Nina Caliente, in a Base Game Starter hood, and again in my 2020's game). He and Zeeshan are my favorite couple and I'm sad they are so close to old age because I've had so much fun playing them (but I've also been giving them way too many extra days with Elixir of Life or Life Fruit).

Ari is #2, but I haven't played him for a bit because I'm stuck on what to do with him as a Vampire...

Have you made a simself?

Nope, only one of my old TS2 Exchange avatar, which was intentionally not what I look like.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Never really thought about this, but maybe black?

Favorite EA hair?

Two male hairs, Rocker and Shortmop. Those two haircuts were iconic in my 2000's saves. Jeanette is my favorite CC hair.

Favorite life stage?

Teens. It's where my sims start to develop their personalities, and I begin to think about what I want them to do. They also haven't fully grown into their facial features yet, so you can get all sorts of good and bad surprises. Plus, they can cause lots of of trouble.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I still consider myself a builder, even though I play my game much more frequently these days. But I think 400+ uploaded lots in my time playing this game allows me to hold onto that label.

Are you a CC creator?

I guess so! Learning how to mesh and use Milkshape in the last year has radically changed how I see myself in the TS2 community, and has stolen so many days from me (the trial and error of making, and the trial and error of uploading), but its been a very fun skill to develop.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I love my mutuals but I don't interact with other accounts too often. I don't post on a Sims discord or anything. Maybe I should?!

Do you have any sims merch?

I do not.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No and I would definitely not have time to produce one!

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Loaded question time! For one, my game is much more LGBTQ+ than when I shared neighborhood save files with my siblings growing up. Now that it's my game, exploring different relationships with my sims is one of my favorite parts of play.

I've also become much more Maxis Match as I get older. The 2000's were a wild west for CC creation, and my old saves are bursting at the seams with painted-on clothes and the mid-decade emo aesthetic that I have absolutely no interest in playing in 2023.

Lastly, my build style used to be modern and CFE heavy, but now I prefer traditional (modern works better in TS3) and makeovers.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

I'll take a historical approach to answering this, because there are many active creators whose work I love, but I also try to preserve the legacies of the original TS2 pioneers. Here are 5:

Numenor - The Modfather. His mods did more to expand this game than just about anyone in the heyday of TS2. If you are reading this, you know who Numenor is. Need I say more? Windkeeper - Probably the best Maxis Match CC of the old era. Her stuff holds up remarkably well. en7en - aka "That Pagoda Guy." Yeah, he's the CFE genius who made the Eiffel Tower and disappeared way too soon. A huge inspiration on my old build style. Ehaught58 - one of the great builders across many different Sims eras. I need to upload some of his old TS2 lots. I wish I could still access his Exchange page because it was a treasure trove. His lots were often huge and unfriendly to old machines but would be fine now. A very recognizable build style (dark woods, earth tones). Daihtnaoz7 - If he did nothing but discover CFE he'd still be a legend. But he also wrote the single bridge, double bridge, and atrium tutorials, demonstrating how to best take advantage of this new cheat. A literal gamechanger. I paid tribute to him here.

Honorable mentions: Cyclonesue (TSR), Hatshepsut (TSR), Tiko (TSR), PiaNouka (Exchange), GoddessByline (Exchange), Wintermuteai1, Minideidad (Exchange), Cireking213 (Exchange, still around as CK213 for TS3 and TS4).

How long have you had Simblr?

I think I made this in Spring 2020. Right as COVID was shutting everything down, I found myself playing TS2 a lot more and eventually discovered Simblr. The old, big sites are either shells of their former selves (MTS), or don't allow TS2 content anymore (TSR), so I figured if I wanted to be active in the TS2 community nearly 20 after the game came out, I had to be on Tumblr.

How do you edit your pictures?

I have a Photoshop action that crops, brightens, and sharpens, and somehow pictures still take me way too long.

What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

Answering for the first 3 games (as I haven't played TS4)

TS1 - Makin Magic! A perfect final EP for the first game. Though Unleashed was probably my very first EP. TS2 - University (I'm in the minority here, but it's so much fun when you have big dorms or chaotic houses). Seasons is #2 TS3 - Late Night. Bridgeport is gorgeous and the new lot styles were fun and I wish they could be ported in TS2.

Tagging: @katatty @lilakartoffelbrei and @bayoubashsims if you haven't gone yet!

#Tag meme

[blueiight]

if one can feel happy in childhood, that’s because one went without knowing the truth about one’s self. — oskar von reuenthal, lotgh ova ep93. in the name of pride.

and isnt that the crux of ep93’s flashback scene? the foundational belief reuenthal has of his own irredeemable nature lies underneath it all. we were introduced to reuenthal’s backstory in ep28 as a means to excuse away his sexist philandering personage, but this 5-7 min flashback sequence of ep93 truly completes the puzzle on who reuenthal is and how his past forges this present choice he will make. falsely accused of treason once more, yet this time an admiral in the inner network was killed for it [and an attempt was made on reinhard's life]. so someone has to be the fall guy for this crime, and reuenthal will take the charge...

while reckoning with this, reuenthal reflects on his life. he contrasts himself to the recently departed yang wenli, who was his exact age & a man who desired peace. reuenthal finds yang's brutal death to be so cruelly ironic. reuenthal believes ardently that he is incompatible with peace & under that, he believes he is cursed. if a just creator exists, reuenthal argues, then he is only fair in his malice.

when reuenthal thinks of his father carrying his mother’s corpse, of the common abusive refrains he heard in his childhod, the first thing his childlike apparition runs to is mittermeyer. his safety, his closest companion, the only reference of ‘healthy family’ he had. he thinks of his friend, shrouded in gold, happy with his wife, while his now-adult self is cast into the darkness. could he have a family and be happy too? he thinks. elfriede runs over his mindscape and in it, holds their child as if to say no. the product of his abuse of the woman who tried to murder him mocks his past desire of ‘wanting this seed of nuisance, the reuenthal lineage to end’. bc now, he has a child on the way. reuenthal explicitly compares being falsely accused of treason to this child, as theyre both situations he didnt want. but where reuenthal has no desire to be an active father (+ all the complicity in the kid's conception). he had no complicity in the uruvasi incident yet all the desire to play the role of traitor.

reuenthal thinks of his kaiser, his kaiser’s dearly departed kircheis, the recently departed lutz… all these people: random admirals, aristocratic women, all these symbols of polite society. before thinking of mittermeyer and eva again. and once more, his father interjects with the refrain ‘you should have never been born’. and reuenthal the man turns once more again into reuenthal the child.

we see leonora taking all the chips in the poker game, how leonora in reuenthal's mind resembles reuenthal himself, symbolizing how reuenthal saw her as a reflection/the root of his own vices with her lover who resembles mittermeyer... and the same old murder suicide attempt with leonora and infant reuenthal. reuenthal’s father repeats ‘you should have never been born’, with a now adult reuenthal saying the titular quote. he truly has internalized & believed that his father was right about him, that he was born to make his parents suffer + should have never been born. reuenthal excuses his childhood abuse, with the implication of why he was ‘unhappy’ in childhood being that his father was onto some innate stain his child self was born with.

we see when reuenthal said the titular quote, its to mittermeyer when they were meeting with military academy students, and ever so savvy mittermeyer asks ‘is it like being drunk, or being sobered up?’ and reuenthal says he doesnt know, but ‘its better to die drunk than sober,’ thinking this as he says such. [also something to think about later on for when mittermeyer confronts him in an ep or two later, how his last words to reuenthal was 'you're drunk on blood-colored dreams' ... reuenthal getting drunk as he dies slowly in agony waiting for mittermeyer to arrive. i digress.]

and reuenthal’s curious on intoxication, love and devotion, we are taken back to the night that reuenthal went to reinhard to save mittermeyer’s life.

‘that anointed one, that dear one nine years my junior, had thought of usurping the goldenbaum dynasty…i was in shock. truly, theres a wide difference between the ambitions of great v. ordinary. i was then carried away by it, and gambled on Him.'

reuenthal always loathed the aristocracy, but was complacent in it up until mittermeyer infuriated the nobles, and even then, could not free his friend directly. his devotion to reinhard is spurned by reinhard’s utter boldness in spiting the old guard.

and where reinhard is his loyalty, mittermeyer is reuenthal’s love. however way u cut it, reuenthal and mittermeyer canonically care deeply for eachother, and the flashbacks set up reuenthal's 'intoxciation perhps including love or loyalty' line too well with mittermeyer and reinhard representing one/both to reuenthal as they're the costars in reuenthal's mindscape from here on out.

regretting that he could not have any more days with him, believing he 'chose to gave it all away'... he thinks of all the fights they got into, all the fun they had together, and how mittermeyer so vociferously advocated for reuenthal’s life the first time his loyalties were put in suspicion. he knows, he begs even, mittermeyer, the wulf der sturm, his dear friend, to not do that again. because theres multiple political figures who would benefit from reuenthal AND mittermeyer’s downfall. reuenthal is fully willing to go down alone & not let his dear friend suffer the rammifications.

and this is when, the earlier question of why reuenthal’s so eager to be the traitor is fully answered.

its in the name of pride. 'for my pride, i have no choice but to fight.' he says. which is another reason why he begs in his head for mittermeyer not to intervene, because pride where a man raised in an aristocratic relic of a space empire retreats to, when the self is hollowed out. pride, mixed with almost intrinsic capacity for self loathing and blame. reuenthal knows he did nothing wrong here, but the image he's created for himself and the political quagmire he is in requires that he gears up to fight. and reinhard. oh, that dear one.

reuenthal recognizes that he and reinhard have this shared warrior's pride, and that reinhard has been empty without conquest, without yang, without someone to battle. this is also, in a way, showing his devotion to reinhard. which is why, right after reuenthal says this to himself, it is for pride...we are shown once more the reinhard from the s1 finale, coldly testing reuenthal and not anyone else.

reinhard in his moment of cruel grief, in losing kircheis + annerose going no-contact with him, resonates reuenthal's intrinsic self-hatred, and recognizes that in him as well as their overall shared warrior's pride. the reuenthal at the time could not meet that challenge, as their world was far too tumultuous and reuenthal devoted to the overthrow of the goldenbaums to risk reinhard's then rather unpredictable, terrifying ire. where now, reuenthal is far more acclimated to a reinhard unsheathed, and has served his duty in the creation of reinhard's legacy... he will commit to this final act of playing the turncoat, to satisfy reinhard's last warcry. reuenthal is also prideful in that he refuses to die in obscurity or be incarcerated by lang. he craves being under the glory of the golden lion, as he said earlier, and he will find infamy in history as the traitor if nothing else.

what this flashback sequence asks us to look at is how reuenthal’s fatalist pessimistic nature & why exactly he decides to play into the rebellion allegations even when he knows he had no involvement in the uruvasi incident. no one will believe him, except for mittermeyer. what this is rooted in complex traumatic patterns, foolish pride, and a political quagmire involving multiple parties, and what makes reuenthal's rebellion such a classic tragedy is that in reuenthal's eyes, his life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. the boy that should have never been born, made only to make his family suffer, becomes a man who left a trail of broken hearts + betrayed his king. yet reuenthal didn't ask to be born, nor did he actually betray reinhard. and he didnt even get to fight reinhard, mittermeyer is the one who puts down the reuenthal 'rebellion'. its incredibly cruel, that the person who loved and probably knew reuenthal the best was the one who was made to be his costar in closing out this elaborate suicide attempt. and he couldnt even make it in time to have their last drink.

#yn. #lotgh #oskar von reuenthal #wolfgang mittermeyer #reinhard von lohengramm #reuenthal's rebellion #the twin stars #icebergs can do the gay subtext in 2085 cuz its meaty here n i am but a peon

[deada55]

(WIP) To Absent Friends

for kloktober day 30 and 31: HALLOWEEN!!! and creator's choice.

synopsis: Ten-year-old William Murderface goes out with Stella for Halloween (Incomplete work.)

tw/cws: none yet

The sun went down orange past the trees of the trailer park behind the misty gusts of wind. The leaves, too wet to flutter, piled up around puddles and slicked up the sparse gravel and gray, sandy dirt that wound through the lots. Groups of parents and little kids sojourned through the misery with as much jubilance as possible. Little princesses holding their dresses up like Cinderella and little superheroes and animals splashed in the shallower puddles.

“William, quit moping! I’m taking you trick-or-treating in just a minute, dammit!”

“Aw, Grandma! I wasn’t!” The knot in his stomach tightened as he pulled his red sweatshirt down and his red sweatpants up over and over, alternating between the two. Neither of them fit right, but they were the only red things he had that made sense to wear with the plastic devil horns Stella had picked up from the grocery store. His fork was a barbeque fork spray-painted red… that was his favorite part, because he was allowed to do it himself, but the paint was already chipping off the thin sides.

He faced the window at an angle, away from the decorative mirror in the corner to his right. His shirt kept riding up, but this time he let his lower be cold. To his left, Stella turned Thunderbolt on his side and brushed the sores on his shoulderblades with iodine with a spare oral sponge.

“Pull your damn shirt down. Don’t leave your fat meat out like that, it’s not polite.”

William reached behind himself and shoved it down.

“Don’t get an attitude with me or I won’t take you nowhere!”

When some kids he recognized from school appeared walking up the road towards his trailer, he ducked away from the window and started towards the bathroom.

“William, wait. Dump the urinal while you’re at it.”

“Jesus Christ…”

He bent down to get the full urinal from under the bed and Stella smacked him on the back of the neck. “Don’t be nasty like that when I ask you to do something! When I ask you to help out, you do it. Don’t run your mouth, you hear me?!”

“Yes ma’am.”

“You need to go back to speech class… Remind me to talk to your principal about that. Go dump that out and do whatever you gotta do.”

He came back with a rinsed urinal and set it back under the bed. Thankfully, his classmates had gone by, and the only people he could see through the window was a girl, her father, and their pit bull with grease paint on his face and body to make him look like a skeleton… at least his front half.

When it was time to leave, Stella slung her heavy, rattling purse over her shoulder and grabbed her cane. Without a word, William unlocked the door and made his way out, holding the outer door so Stella could back down the rickety aluminum stairs without scratching herself on its the sharp corners of the door’s trim. When she was out, she handed him her keys and he ran back up to lock it, and then they went to the car.

Her car was an old Oldsmobile that bled coolant when it was parked downhill. Stella lit a cigarette as they went down the road and the smell slowly steeped into the air in the crumbling, beige cab until it was hot and smoky, not only musty with dry rot. He laid his head against the window though the vibrations made him carsick. His Halloween pillowcase was empty and smooth in his lap napkin at a church banquet. The rusty trailer park became dusty town, the dusty town became the moldy suburb, and the moldy suburb became grassy fields and tracks of land where loggers had cleared the forest naked. The hills faded into black dunes between piney graveyards, full of stumps in place of headstones. Stars poked through the sky. Back at the park, little kids were probably no longer traipsing through the neighborhoods. It was the time for the kids in scary costumes to run amok. Going with Grandma was better than getting a bucket of creek water poured over him, and better than sitting at home. At least Grandma’s friends had candy.

When they got to Denise’s stuffy pink cottage, Stella made him ring her sun-faded doorbell. A little dog barked and howled at the other side of the door. Stella moved off the front step with William and back at the sidewalk so she could lean more comfortably on her cane without teetering backwards. The dog carried on and on.

Denise wore a nursing jacket and an embroidered floral sweatshirt on top of some purple sweatpants and cotton slippers. A spot of canned chili stained her knee.

“Say it,” Stella prodded his heel with the shoe of her cane.

“Trick or Treat?”

“I think you’re too old for that.”

“Denise-“

“Oh, Stella! Hi! I knew you were coming by, but I didn’t remember when.”

“This is my grandson, William.”

“Okay,” Denise glanced at him then held the door open for Stella. William stepped aside and followed her in through the house. Nothing was particularly clean. Dusty candles and overflowing ashtrays lined her hall table, coffee table, dining table, corner tables… The pictures and paintings on the cream wallpaper were bordered by an orange, fumey stain.  The dog’s puppy pads were tucked behind or under almost every piece of furniture and well-decorated with waste. The scratched pink-and-green camelback sofas were reasonably clean, and Denise sat in an impression surrounded by tissues, catalogs, toffee wrappers, generic pill bottles, and Chapstick, with Stella catty-corner on the other sofa, and William on Stella’s other side, by a stack of dingy newspapers.

They talked for a long time. The wedding clock on top of her TV cabinet was stuck somewhere around 3:00 from what William could see. He sat there with his hands on his pillowcase and his pillowcase in his lap, shirt riding up and pants inching down. The longer he looked at the carpet, the hairier it got. Shed fur built around the legs of the sofa like spiderwebs.

His grandmother and Denise began the talking waltz of trying to leave, but Denise was clearly cutting it shorter than usual by the suddenness Stella was compelled to stand. Her knees popped loud enough for William to hear as she picked up her fallen cane and handed it to her… and Denise was already opening her front door! Of course, the plastic outer door wasn’t open yet, so all the wind could do was shake it against its frame.

When they got back into the car, Stella grumbled to herself, burped, and looked into her rearview mirror at William while she shifted out of park.

“That was nice, wasn’t it? What candy did she give you?”

“Nothin’.”

She stopped the car right there and sat quiet. Then, she dug a hand into her purse and pulled out a couple strawberry jelly-filled hard candies.

“Here, sweetheart.”

#metalocalypse #william murderface #stella murderface #mtl fanfic #metalocalypse fanfic #kloktober2023