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dodgerkedavra · 5 months

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my 2023 year in review: completed works edition

I got tagged by @oknowkiss and feel VERY presumptuous tagging anyone else LOL but here's all the stuff I did in 2023, less a couple secret/unrevealed fics!

Completed Fics

February

Good for You || Drarry || 4.5k || E

Draco has only ever wanted to be a very good boy. He has no intention of blurting that out to Harry Potter at pub night.

April

Now I Know In Part || Drarry || 39.8k || E

Harry Potter is the savior of the Wizarding World. Draco Malfoy is a reformed Death Eater turned Ministry Curse-Breaker. Five years after the War, they're brought together by another mysterious curse. Only this time, Harry's the one who needs saving. More specifically, he needs Draco. They have one month to break the curse, and the clock is ticking.

May

If You Miss It, Try Again || Drarry || 23.9k || E

The healers promised Draco he wouldn't get pregnant a second time. They were wrong. And this time, he's pregnant with his best friend and roommate Harry Potter's baby. Nine months is all he has to figure it out.

June

In the Presence of My Enemy || Drarry || 41.1k || E

All Harry knows is that Sectumsempra is for enemies. He doesn’t know that it will bind him to Draco Malfoy, for better or worse, ‘til death do them part. Only one of them will survive, and they’re running out of time to choose.

A Mist That Appears (For a Little Time) || Drarry || 22.6k || E

“Give me November, and I’ll teach you to be happy. There’s only one condition. You must swear on your magic that you won’t fall in love with me.” Harry’s so tired. His whole body hurts. If Malfoy can teach him how to be happy, then... “Okay.” Harry is working himself to death. Draco only has November to help him. Falling in love is strictly against the rules.

July

A Page with No Space || Drarry || 0 words, Enchanted Journals || M

In a desperate bid to get Malfoy to talk to him, Harry Potter slips him an enchanted notebook during sixth year. Five years later, he finally gets an answer.

I Swear I'll Keep You With Me || Drarry || 3.5k || E

Harry Potter doesn't mean to drop the Snitch in Malfoy Manor. In order to get it back, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to keep Draco Malfoy with him. It's the chandelier's fault, really.

August

Lover, Where Do You Live? || Drarry || 38.5k || E

Harry Potter has been running away since the War, disappearing into his job as a freelance curse-breaker. Work is his life. Home doesn't exist. He's about to disappear again when he runs into Death Eater-turned-Healer Draco Malfoy. It's supposed to be a one-night-stand. They're not supposed to pine for each other. Harry's not supposed to sleep with Draco a second time. Or a third. Or a fourth. But when a nasty curse sends Harry back into Draco's arms, he might be forced to admit that home's been waiting for him all along... Or: Harry wants to go home. Draco wants to be a home. It's hard to say it out loud.

September

Starlight in the Void || Drarry || 40.4k || E

An overgrown cottage in an unassuming seaside village is the perfect place for Harry Potter’s fresh start. Harry gets two weeks of peace before he hears rumors of a mysterious hermit wizard who lives in a stone tower in the woods. He’s dismayed to discover it’s none other than Draco Malfoy. He’s even more dismayed to find that his life is once again in danger, and only Malfoy can save him.

Angel, Can't You See? || Drarry, Pansmione || 15.6k || E

Harry Potter has been missing for two and a half years when the Wizengamot passes a Marriage Law during an emergency session in the dead of night. When morning comes, Hermione Granger finds herself assigned to none other than Draco Malfoy. It’s hideously unjust, but simple: she must stay at Malfoy Manor for seventy-two hours, after which she and Draco will be married in a Ministry-supervised ceremony. Hermione stays at the Manor for seventy-two hours. As for the rest of the Ministry’s plan…

October

Fall on the Earth || Drarry || 15.3k || E

Harry Potter hates being separated from Draco Malfoy. Not because he's in love with him, for Merlin's sake! Because they're Auror Partners. One time is all it takes for Draco to be attacked with an illicit potion. Until it wears off, Harry's job is taking care of his partner. Harry thinks the effects of the potion can't possibly be as serious as Robards says. He thinks wrong.

November

Nemeses with Benefits || Drarry || 0 Words/Socmed || M

Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter don't like each other. It's just a convenient arrangement.

The Scent of Soft Rains || Drarry || 20k || E

For a single moment in the middle of being burned alive by dragonfire, the heat so intense it feels freezing and the pain so vast it’s the size of the sky, Harry is relieved. He won’t have to wonder what it’s like anymore.

December

I Was Late (You Were Early) || Drarry || 12.1k || E

Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy make a pact that if they’re both still single on New Year’s Day in ten years’ time, they’ll get married. It’s a long ten years.

So that was at least a couple stories in 2023!!

#drarry #completed #2023 #year in review

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offender42085 · 4 months

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Post 1150

“... You took her life for no apparent reason, other than that she bit your finger.” --Judge

Charles Reese Karn, Wyoming inmate 34943, born 2003, incarceration intake November 2023 art age 20, sentenced to life

Murder

In October 2023, a Cheyenne man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for strangling his girlfriend to death was sentenced to life in prison.

Charles R. Karn was sentenced by District Judge Catherine R. Rogers, who gave him a life sentence without any qualifications for minimum prison time. The sentence was more strict than the recommendations made by the assistant district attorney for the case and Karn’s public defender.

Karn was arrested in June 2023 after Phoenix Cerenil was hospitalized. At his arraignment in September 2023, Karn pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in a deal that Public Defender Diane Lozano said she got for him.

At the sentencing, Karn was handcuffed, and 11 Laramie County Sheriff’s deputies were present in the courtroom. When she began the hearing, Judge Rogers asked that all lawyers remain seated at their respective tables “for security purposes.”

She added that she wanted to “minimize movement around the courtroom.”

Public Defender Lozano, when addressing the court about the defense’s sentencing concerns, said she would not call Karn’s family to address the court due to his mother’s previous interruption.

She began by saying that she would address the court in an unconventional manner, given the coverage of Karn’s case and his consistent desire to plead guilty.

“My client came to court today expecting a life sentence,” she told Rogers.

She added that Karn let her share the details of personal conversations she’d had with the defendant in order to give the court a better picture of his character.

“I felt that Mr. Karn and I had a connection,” she said.

Throughout her statement, Lozano made no apologies for the defendant’s actions, calling the statement he made during his guilty plea “honest” and “brutal.”

Later, Lozano said she wanted to clarify some confusion surrounding Karn’s second-degree murder plea. She said the defendant always intended to plead guilty to first-degree murder, and, as his defense attorney, she spoke to the state about an agreement to allow him to get a lesser charge in exchange for his willingness to plead guilty so quickly.

She offered to get Karn that agreement as early as his preliminary hearing, she added, but said that Karn wanted to attend that hearing because he did not want to seem like a coward to the Cerenil family.

She pushed back on the idea that the second-degree murder plea was a surprise to the state and said “it shouldn’t have been.” She added this case had the most misinformation and misunderstanding of her career.

Lozano continued her statements by saying that Karn had a number of characteristics that should be considered for his sentencing. She cited his age, childhood trauma, reduced mental capacity, acceptance of responsibility, remorse, potential for change and value as a human being when defending him.

She presented details previously not heard in court about Karn’s childhood trauma at the hands of his biological father, going back to when he was 4. She also said Karn had had two stints at the Wyoming Boys’ School in Worland, which she said took a serious toll on his mental health and may have negatively impacted his ability to improve.

“We have a system that generally works for most kids,” she said, adding that Karn was too “complex” and that the system didn’t work for him.

She continued by saying that, if criminal charges he faced at the Boys’ School had never happened, he might have been able to get treatment, and they would not have been in court that day.

“I guess that makes me sad,” she said.

She also said a psychiatric specialist said Karn likely had a trauma and stress disorder, anxiety, potential obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a developmental disability and an impulse control disorder that might have contributed to his behavioral problems.

She concluded by saying that Karn’s family believes he has changed and asked for a sentence of 20 years to life with credit for time served, adding that Karn still seemed like a “kid” to her.

“He is but a child,” she said. “He’s a child that’s done horrible things, and he will face the consequences.”

After a brief recess called by Judge Rogers to decide if Karn would share a statement, the defendant gave a speech, restating his guilt and culpability to the court.

“I have a lot of emotions,” he said. “I feel lonely now that I took Phoenix’s life. ... I took somebody that had a family. ... Phoenix did not deserve what I did to her.”

He said he was sorry, but did not ask for forgiveness, and acknowledged that he was “selfish” and that “saying sorry will never bring her back.”

Judge Rogers told Lozano, when determining Karn’s sentence, that she did not see many factors that weighed in Karn’s favor.

“While there are mitigating factors,” she said, “in this court’s estimation, they are few.” Rogers called Karn’s series of offenses, culminating in Phoenix’s murder, an “enduring” crime spree.

“When I review your juvenile history, I conclude that every effort was made,” she said, “to allow you to return to and remain within the community, to receive rehabilitative services in the community. ... When I read your (criminal history) ... I conclude that you squandered every opportunity.

“... You took her life for no apparent reason, other than that she bit your finger.”

#inmate

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writingcold · 10 months

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Updated 5/12/2024

My master list might still be a bit small, but I'm workin' on it. All stories below are for the 18+ crowd. Minors you are not welcomed here.

I like to have completed stories before I start to post up so as not to have any lag in posting time.

All fics are works of my own. They are pure fictional stories meant to be enjoyed but not taken. You have your own ideas - let's share them instead of take them. Yes, as to date, all my fics are Jake stories. The rest of GVF are featured in them (especially Bootleggers and Wildflowers) but he's my muse and that's why you will not find solely featured stories with the rest of the band.

June, 2022 - the first fiction!

Rayne, a small town librarian, finds herself falling for Jake after meeting when he is part of a music education initiative. It's a good old fashioned falling in love story told in three parts. Content warnings will be labeled on each part.

Sweet Rayne Master List

September, 2022

Violet is a woman working her ass off in two jobs. When the band walks into her bar on a Wednesday night, it changes the scope of her whole summer. Violet is bruised and battered, on the mend from a rough spot that life has dealt her. Jake may be the distraction that gets her through. Jake is featured as a full switch in this fiction. Content warnings appear on each part. 18+ only

Neapolitan Master List

Thank you to @gardensgatedaisy for her lovely Secret Santa pic of my Neapolitan Jake

December, 2022

Our story picks up right at the end of Neapolitan, finding Jake and Violet navigating what it means to be and grow in their relationship. This story focuses on Violet's continued healing from an abusive relationship. Content warnings are listed on each part. 18+ only

Neapolitan: A Continuance Master List

July, 2023

The Kiszka/Wagner Company is relatively new to the community of Kingsford. Cora is seeking for a way out of certain starvation and ruin for her family when she gains employment under the new ownership of the mercantile and general stores. Rumors of shady business practices of her new employers aside, she is certain that she is on a path that will see her family out of debt and into a better light.

Completed October 2023

Bootleggers & Wildflowers Master List

November, 2023

Amanda Fischer and Jake Kiszka have been in love forever it seems. They find that even the best of plans can go awry when life steps in the way. This is a love story, but it takes a lot to get to their happy ending. It's a story that is challenging and angsty and hard to read at times, but it's theirs. This is an AU set in the 1980's, centered around a music shop and bookstore.

Completed December 2023

Best Laid Plans Master List

Completed, April 2024

What starts as a one night stand, turns into a journey that spans decades.

This is my first reader feminine insert X Jake long fiction. God I hope I don't fuck it up.

Celebratory Drinks and Fleeting Embraces Master List

June/July 2024, Maybe? - Coming soon

A cursed love. A graveyard. An entity. An AU story that spans time.

The Dead Master List

The Single Traveler: Jake X fem reader 18+ Only - mature read You find yourself traveling during the holidays on your way to Hawaii to party with friends and get stuck in Seattle in an ice storm. Perhaps the handsome stranger who wants to share your quiet corner will turn into something fun.

Fireside: Jake X fem reader 18+ Only - sort of a mature read You are trying your hardest to get away on your vacation with Jake to the cabin in the woods. You experience all sorts of hurdles that make you increasingly frustrated. You are a total mess when finally - finally - you reach the cabin to find Jake sitting fireside waiting for you...

Wild Child: Jake X fem reader 18+ Only - You and Jake are heading home from a weekend away and sharing your favorite moments of that weekend when things turn heated.

Bound: Jake X Chris Turpin slash fic. A tangent story off of the chapter fiction The Dead. 18+ Only - A journal entry of Yakov Petrov (Jake) detailing life in 1850's Michigan while he and his love, Christian Hertel (Chris Turpin inspired), record the land in art.

Updated May 2024 - Hope for more stories to follow! swirly dividers by @ firefly-graphics

#greta van fleet #gvf #jake gvf #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #josh gvf #sammy gvf #sam gvf #daniel gvf #danny gvf #greta van fleet fanfic #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van fleet fanfic au #greta van fleet au fic #greta van fleet x ocs

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exsequar · 9 months

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August 18 is my birthday. I feel like I need to say something about this year of my life... and this is the closest I have to a blog. Pull up a chair.

Tonight I stood on the roof of my beautiful modern apartment building, in the most vivacious neighborhood of Seattle, gazing at the panoramic view of the downtown skyline, Space Needle, mountains and water and the rolling hills, all backlit by a softly electric sunset, listening to my gorgeous and sweet neighbor working shirtless on his bike behind me, and reflected on what a fucking year it's been.

Tomorrow I turn 36. One year ago, I thought I would never be happy again.

This 36th year of life, a perfect square as I am fond of pointing out, has been anything but perfect and certainly nothing so predictable as a square. But as I sprint across the finish line, proudly taking the trophy that declares I Survived Thirty-Six, I am deeply grateful for how this year has shaped me and set me on course for the life I want... for the first time ever.

One year ago, I was at the nadir of a monthslong spiral of anxiety and depression. The night of August 18, 2022, I did not sleep one wink, despite attempting many substance interventions, because my soul was so wrought with torment and guilt and fear. And this was a new experience for me; I had had low points before, but absolutely nothing even resembling this black hole that felt impossible to escape. I won't go into why, but suffice to say there was one new toxic ingredient in my life that had slowly devoured my happiness, my confidence, and my hope. I couldn't see a path out.

Then... slowly, then abruptly, things began to change.

In September, I decided to look for a new job, to change at least one variable and cut out some toxicity. With what felt like shocking speed, interview offers started coming in after just four taster applications. After a brief interview process, I was astonished to find myself in a new job much closer to home, joining a team that included one of my favorite past coworkers.

In October, I took a couple weeks off to try to gain my footing before starting my new job, and traveled home to see family. During these two weeks, I suddenly learned that my landlords were renovating my building and I was being kicked out from my apartment of four years (with 6 months to move out). I quickly recovered from my shock, went on one round of apartment visits in the coolest area in town right near my new office, fell in love with the third building I saw, and signed a lease within a week. Importantly, around the same time, a huge element of the toxic drain on my life became suddenly much, much better, which started to free me from that suffocating weight. Additionally, the relentless, deeply kind support of some close friends finally started to lift me out of the darkness. (You know who you are, I love you.)

On Halloween, 2022, I started my new job. I instantly hit it off with the other two women on my team. The third day, I tested positive for COVID - IN the office! No longer a COVID virgin, I slunk home to do my various new hire trainings in quarantine.

In November, I bought an e-bike to use for my new 1.5 mile commute. I immediately loved being back on two wheels and frequently commuted by bike even in the grey Seattle winter.

Two days before Christmas, 2022, I moved into my new apartment. I shed most of my furniture, many belongings, and started from a beautiful almost blank slate. My new place has the aforementioned roof with panoramic views, huge windows, and all kinds of amenities I didn't have before (a dishwasher!!!!!! laundry!!!!! being mid-thirties is losing your shit over in-unit laundry).

I traveled home for the holidays and had a wonderful break.

January 2023, I began preparing for the biggest fucking trip of my whole entire life. To ANTARCTICA. Yes, you heard that right. I began preparing for an EXPEDITION to ANTARCTICA. For FUN. I still can hardly believe it myself. My friend had invited me in Dec 2021 to join a trip to Antarctica in March 2022, but omicron kiboshed that, and I think the universe knew I needed this to happen in 2023. That I would be just emerging from The Great Dark, and what a better place to beckon me forward than the White Continent?

January, February, and March all felt like a frenzy of preparation. I continued to learn and grow more happy and confident at my new job, growing ever closer to mhy awesome little team, but all the while my mind was floating among the icebergs and penguins.

March. Two days before I was supposed to leave for Chile, the first part of my trip, I tested positive for COVID. IN MY OFFICE. AGAIN!!!

After a brief bout of despair, I ended up getting paxlovid, moving my flight back a week (for $1000 extra ;_;), and joining my friend and her mom in Argentina instead.

March 20, 2023, I set sail aboard the m/v Plancius for Antarctica. What followed was the most deeply spectacular, yet also the most deeply healing, two weeks of my life. I don't know how to summarize it. I felt true peace for the first time... certainly in a year, but in what felt like decades. Possibly forever. I was soul-happy. It's the only way I can describe it.

I landed back home on April 5.

On April 6, my company was hit by a massive cyber attack. Yay!!!!?

The next few months were a chaotic scramble of new experiences and creativity. But through it all, my team only grew closer, and the uncharted territory was in some ways an exciting challenge that only enhanced my sense of feeling alive.

The peace I felt in Antarctica came home with me and spread through my life in waves. I began doing things for joy, and getting my body out moving in the world. I had quickly fallen back in love with biking, so I started looking for groups to ride with and began joining free bike rides all over the county as often as I could. I met delightful people on every ride. I bought a second bike that would be zippier and easier to tote around. I bought a new car that would let me carry around this second bike more easily. I joined a summer rec soccer league, biking to a local field to play under the setting summer sun every Friday, and met some of the fabulous queer folks in my new neighborhood. I watched halftime drag shows on artificial turf. I started feeling physically healthier to match my sense of my soul healing. I laughed all the time.

August 18, 2023 starts in less than an hour. Today, the penultimate day of my 36th year, I worked and laughed with my team for the morning. I flirted with a darling guy in my building, who I have been lightly flirting with for months, for over an hour. I went to the farmers market outside our office and bought beautiful berries from the handsome farmer who loves his bees so much. I picked up an order of fantastic cookies, an early self-gift. I took my new car for a fun new type of car wash (the car sits still and the washing robot arms move around us??). I called my dad. My best friend of nearly 2 decades asked if she could call and we talked for over an hour. I went home to my kitties. I played Stardew Valley and listened to my favorite music. I finished a spectacular audiobook (Strong Female Character by Fern Brady, a memoir of growing up an autistic girl with no diagnosis, and getting diagnosed in middle age). I went to the store to pick up ingredients for my favorite birthday cake that my dad always made for me when I was a kid.

I climbed up to the roof, where my handsome neighbor was quietly and shirtlessly fixing his bike, and gazed out over the gorgeous deep red horizon.

I didn't quite cry. My eyes stung softly as I bit my lip and smiled. Yes. This is where I want to be.

And I can't wait to see what 37 - a prime number, harder to come by as we age - has in store.

#my posts #nightblogging #happy birthday to meee

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geminineart · 5 months

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I decided to do an Art Summary again! And this year I wanted to focus not in my best pieces, but in the ones that sum up my year better♥

January I started doing videogame art on my own (Trying to make my own projects and participating on game jams), which is basically what I want to take from this year overall.

February was a dead month due to a tragic loss.

March was focused on commissions, work, money!

April was focused on a very delayed Magical March ♥

May wasn't very active per se, but I got to post some old art for a project I worked on during 2022, and call me superticious, but I feel posting them gave me good luck! ♥

June was dedicated mostly to selfportraits and reworking my commission options and prices

July was Art fight! I got to do lots of pieces this year!

August was dedicated to making adoptales, in the hopes to both work on my stories and get some extra income!

September I dedicated it to OC art and fashion design, playing around with my warrior princess Arabelle while I continued with commissions!

October was also a busy month, but I got to do some Halloween art, and I'm really happy about it!

November was mainly dedicated to another game jam. Working hard on achieving the dream!

December has been mainly for real life and work has been slow, so there's only a little doodle to sum it up.

Overall, I feel this was a... complicated year. Lots of inconsistency and a lack of focus, and I don't feel there's so much to show for it. Emotional pain has been the most notable constant for me, and today I'm hoping to leave that all behind a welcome a new, much better year ♥ To all of those struggling, I hope you can look back and appreciate the little things you accomplished (I myself I'm trying to take my beginning in the world of gamedev as my summary of this year!), even if you don't feel they're as muchs as you'd have wanted♥ Let's start 2023 with a good step!

Thank you to those who read all this and thank you all for being here all this time ♥ Hapy new year, I love you all! ♥

#art summary #art summery 2023 #artsummary2023 #2023 summary of art #summary of art #summary of art 2023

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boldlyvoid · 1 year

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No Longer Alone Together

Part One | Masterlist

Sunday, November 27th, 2022: The Recap

She’s standing in the bathroom, it’s a cold November morning, evident by how frigid the tiles are on her bare feet. She’s up because the kids are in her bed now, Spencer isn’t home, the world is still quiet but her mind was not. She has so much to do, she doesn’t feel good at all and she thinks she knows exactly why… its just the worst time ever to go through the first trimester again.

Last December it was hectic as all hell with 3 kids. Atlas turned 7 just 5 days before Christmas, his birthday always took priority over the month, but this year she was nervous she wouldn’t be able to give him all the attention he deserves… Not when she’s currently gripping the kitchen sink like her life depends on it, nauseous as ever, waiting for this pregnancy test to tell her what she already knows.

They weren’t actively trying… though, when were they ever? They’ve never used protection in their time together, resulting in Atlas in 2014, Noelle in February 2016 and little Luna in September 2019. There was a big gap between having Luna and taking this pregnancy test… not that they weren’t having sex in that time, they were just too busy dealing with COVID and zoom school and young immune systems every single day for almost 3 years.

Life was stressful enough as it was with 3 kids under 10, they didn’t need a newborn on top of it all while the world was shut down… at least Y/N didn’t want that right now.

On the other hand, Spencer was sharing his seed with anyone who asked for it.

She liked to phrase it that way as if it wasn’t just her best friend and her wife who wanted Spencer’s sperm to have a genius family of their own. It always made her laugh to see people's reactions to finding out Spencer now had 2 kids with another woman and that Y/N babysat said baby from time to time.

At the height of the pandemic, Emily and Laura were locked away in their DC mansion wishing they had a baby or two to share their time with… Laura always knew they wanted to be pregnant one day, she was fully ready to book an appointment with a clinic and look through books of donors when the world shut down.

Emily, ever the planner, said: “if you want a smart and cute kid, we should ask Spencer to be our donor and we’ll do it right here at home, just me and you and the turkey baster.”

Only the last part was a joke… until the device they bought to help do the inseminating looked a lot like a turkey baster.

Emily and Spencer always joked about being siblings separated at birth, she cared for him like a big sister and he’d kill for her if he had to. He almost did during the Scratch era of their hell job… So when Emily asked Spencer if he’d ever considered donating his sperm to help her make a family, he didn’t have to think too hard about it.

Asking Y/N if she was okay with it was the hard part for him, for some reason he really thought she’d have a problem with it… but it was actually quite fun helping him provide a sample in a cup. With Emily and Laura doing it on their own without doctors' help, not wanting to go to a doctor's office during the pandemic, it took a few tries, and then they had Peter Joseph, better known around their house as little PJ, in February 2021.

Now Laura is pregnant again, at 35 weeks currently and on baby watch for all of Christmas, her due date is 1st of January, 2023 but you can’t really expect a second baby to come on time… the BAU family was all placing bets on just when this new Prentiss baby was going to join their ranks, Y/N thinks the baby might even get to share a birthday with Atlas.

Derek also had a son right after they had Noelle. Hank Spencer Morgan was adorable, it must come with the name. JJ and Will had Michael not too long after, rounding their total to 3 kids which made them try for Luna to even it up again.

Before Spence left the FBI for good, they had a few new members join too, one of which was a lovely man named Matt who had a wife and 4 kids, they had their 5th right before Spencer quit— literally about a month before the accident that decided it all for them.

Much like JJ and Will, they had agreed early on that if things at work got to be too much, if what happened with Hotch ever started to happen to them, then Spencer would quit. They never expected it to actually happen, then Spencer was caught in an explosion, he went down hard and came home feeling fine. But he wasn’t fine.

Finding Spencer unconscious on the floor was the scariest thing she’s ever been through and poor Atlas saw it too.

They called 911, and Spencer was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance while she had to stay behind with the kids and wait for someone to come and watch them before she could follow him. It took 20 minutes for Will to show up, 20 minutes that felt like hell on earth, and then she was at his bedside for 2 days.

With Diana and Liam there too, they held Spencer's hands after surgery and waited way too long to see if he’d ever wake up again. It was a slow brain bleed, he was lucky his wife was coming home to find him, otherwise who knows how long he would’ve been on the floor, waiting for help, unable to ask for it himself.

He didn’t go back to work after that, he recovered at home with his babies and decided that he was going to stay there with them for good. He loved being a stay-at-home dad, it allowed Y/N to take up more hours at the museum again and he got to do crafts and take adventures and watch them grow up. It was fun until the kids both started school, Luna was still really little and day trips to the science centre and big crafts weren’t really her speed. He was bored most of the days when the house was empty and quiet during nap times…

So he wrote a book.

Almost like an autobiography, he took the things that happened to him in his first few years of being an agent and turned it into a Sherlock Holmes-style novel. Retelling the adventures of Dr. Sebastian Reeves and his colleagues at the FBI, getting caught in the middle of a serial killer's sick games… Fishing For A King was published on October 14th, 2021 and the sequel, Where Dead Men Rise was just released, taking Spencer away on his first-ever book tour around the country.

Which is why he’s not home currently. He’s not beside her for the first time ever as she takes a pregnancy test… Instead, he’s doing book signings, TED talks and being interviewed by every news outlet in North America. And tomorrow he’s on Jimmy fucking Fallon. What?? It was insane how much their little life has changed since 2013.

You see, normally when they planned for a baby they were testing all the time, they always caught it early… this time they didn’t plan at all, she wasn’t testing because she didn’t expect it at all but then the nightmares started up again. Her boobs hurt, she could smell everything from a mile away and she wanted to cry all day long over everything and nothing at all… she knew exactly when she got pregnant too, and even joked about it right after he pulled out for a matter of fact…

They had some of the best sex of their life at the start of Spencer's press tour thanks to Aunty Penny who watched the kids so she could go to New York with him. It was the first time in 7 years that they’d been completely alone for more than a few hours and they spent all of their free time in bed. Of course, she got pregnant, and they were so fucking happy, it was just like in the beginning.

The test is positive.

The brightest positive she’s ever seen, too, seeing as it’s been over a month since she saw Spencer last, she was a lot more pregnant now than she was with any of the other kids, when she saw their first positive tests it was after 1-2 weeks… right now she’s about 8 or 9 weeks pregnant.

She’s going to have 4 kids.

They’re going to be a family of 6.

They were catching up to the Simmons, slowly but surely… hopefully, this isn’t twins cause then they’d match up perfectly.

She puts the test in the cabinet behind the mirror, knowing the kids can’t get into it so they’d never see it. They knew what it was, at least the older two did. Being 6 and almost 8, they remembered when she was pregnant with Luna in 2019. They had their dad’s memory after all.

The kids are up and in her bed, the girls cuddled into each side of their brother as he holds their iPad in the middle, his legs crossed with his cute little toes moving to the music on his show. She found a cartoon Santa Clause series from the early 2000s and put it on for them, they have watched almost the whole first season in the last few days. It’s so cute seeing them so peaceful and happy together, getting excited for their favourite time of year.

They’ve been sleeping in bed with her a lot without daddy being home. They wanted to call him the moment they woke up, but being in LA now meant they couldn’t. They didn’t understand at first, so she had to get out the globe from Spencer’s office and taught them about timezones and how the earth moves around the sun while rotating on an axis, making a 24-hour day.

Holding her phone flashlight up, she pretended it was the sun in their very dark room (it was 6am.) they understood from then on that when daddy was on the other side of America, he was 3 hours behind them and probably still asleep, so they had to wait for him to wake up and call them.

“You guys hungry?” She asks as she walks back over to the bed.

They all nod and scramble to pause their video so they can jump out of bed and race her down the stairs. They each get their choice between Eggos and scrambled eggs or cereal and fruit, she ends up making them all scrambles and waffles with some cut-up grapes and orange juice just to round it into a full meal.

Thanks to an episode of the Waltons one night, the kids have started saying a sort of grace before every meal.

“Dear father, we miss you, we hope you’re having a good day in Los Angeles and that mommy lets us watch your interview show tomorrow,” Atlas leads.

“And bring us back something cool,” Noelle teases with a smirk.

“Can he hear us when we do this?” Luna whispers across the table to her big brother who just shrugs, having no clue what they’re doing, they just want to wish their dad a good day while he’s gone.

She doesn’t have the heart to tell them that they say dear father as a way to talk to god, to bless their family and their food and insure that good things come to them… they weren’t a religious household in the slightest, but if the kids wanted to be spiritual in their own way and send a blessing out for their dad, who was she to stop them?

They have little conversations with each other that just amaze her, she somehow created 3 amazing little geniuses with the biggest hearts to match. Much like her, Atlas was into dinosaurs for a while, he was often asking to come to work with her on weekends and snow days off from school, he would give anything to dig something up and learn about it all day. He collects rocks, he knows everything about space and the moon (which is just a big rock) and he plans to work at the Smithsonian one day too… just on the Air and Space side.

And he probably will, seeing as he has his dad's genius brain after all. He’ll probably be able to get a Ph.D. or two by the time he’s 25.

Noelle is more into learning how things work and move, she loves the cars movie franchise and thus all things with wheels. She’s been spending a lot of time with Henry and Michael, playing Tony Hawk games on the play station which caused them to build a skate ramp in the backyard while Will wasn’t looking and using her as the test dummy.

She broke her arm in 2 places and the cast comes off next week, with just enough time for Spencer to come home and sign it before they cut it off.

Luna, on the other hand, she wouldn’t be caught dead near a bike or anything that can get her dirty. She’s always been very meticulous, she learned fine motor skills long before she wanted to walk, which wasn’t helpful when babies also love putting things in their mouths. Spencer’s knowledge of CPR came in handy a few times, unfortunately. Now she’s 4 and her attention to detail is mainly spent on legos which she has learned don’t go in her nose, mouth, ears or anything thing that’s not lego branded…

She has the LEGO art pieces that match the art at mom's work, they’re her favourite. She’s also started to draw a lot, she was probably going to be their artist.

The 3 of them are so incredibly different yet so wondrously alike. They absorb knowledge like a sponge, they respect each other's talk time, and they butt heads often, but they never hate each other. Fights never last long. They end with hugs and apologies and understanding that they’re all learning how to be good people and mistakes are bound to happen.

That was always their fear when they became parents; that their kids wouldn’t get along. You see, not having siblings meant that Y/N and Spencer didn’t know what it was like. From what they knew about JJ, she took her sister for granted till it was too late and wished every day that she still had her around. Then there’s Hotch, he loved his brother but they were so different and had such an age difference that now they never talk.

They didn’t want that for their own kids. So seeing them so happy together, they were best friends and co-conspirators, 3 unstoppable forces that could band together within the blink of an eye… How was she going to add a 4th to their already perfect group without it disrupting everything?

“Are you guys excited for Aunt Laura to have her baby soon?” She cuts into the lull in their conversations, thinking that was a good segue. She wanted to know their thoughts on having another baby in the family without asking them outright.

“I’m excited,” Luna answers with a sweet smile, “I want it to be a girl cousin.”

“Me too,” Noelle agrees. “Mama, do they know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”

“I’m not sure,” she genuinely didn’t know. “I think they’re keeping it a surprise.”

“Like a present,” Luna says, often vocalizing every thought she had, as always.

“Yeah… speaking of, on December first we’ll really start to celebrate, but what if we used this time while daddy is away to go get his Christmas presents?”

“So we don’t have to worry about him seeing it?” Atlas completely understood and his smile told her he was on board.

She nods, “yeah, we can go out today if you guys want?”

They all chant a very enthusiastic yes, bouncing in their seats with excitement.

They celebrate Christmas and a little bit of Hanukkah with Emily and Laura most years, the All-idays party was also coming up, which meant they all had to get another present for that… before they get dressed and ready to head out, she keeps them at the kitchen table with a piece of lined paper and asks them what kind of gifts they want to get for their family members.

“Because Christmas is about a lot more than just a man in a red suit giving you guys things, it’s about showing everyone in your life how much you love them, as well,” mom explains, like every Christmas, but this year they seem to understand it a lot better.

For white elephant they each had to bring in a gift, something that could be picked and stolen and loved by the person who eventually ends up with it. So they had to brainstorm some really good gift ideas that everyone else in their family group would like.

Each year the list of guests gets longer, this year there are 10 cousins, possibly 11 depending on when Laura goes into labour, and that’s not even including Y/N’s 3. Soon to be 4.

Thats 15 BAU kids… 16 if you count Jack, but they’re not coming this year, perfectly happy back in Seattle with Hailey’s extended family.

They needed to also consider all their aunts, uncles, and grandparents… it was so many people. Thank god uncle Dave had a big house.

They get all bundled up for their trip to the mall and go over their rules of being out in public on the drive over. They have to always be touching the kart or holding each other's hands, they can’t walk away from Mommy even if they’re excited about something, they have to bring her to the excitement so she doesn’t lose them. And they know scary people do exist and not everyone out there is kind for good reasons. They’re hyper-vigilant, they stick together and they’re always rewarded with a sweet treat at the end of the day because of it.

Spencer calls when they’re in the middle of the game store, shopping for the older kids, like Henry, Jake or David, getting them a new game for the switch, which everyone has. She has to decline the call cause the store is too loud and hectic, sending him a quick text saying they’re out right now and she’ll call back soon… but with so many things in her hands and 3 kids to watch over all alone.

She forgets until they’re home later that night, after getting dinner at Mcdonald's in front of the TV, they’re watching Harry Potter for the first time when Daddy calls again.

Atlas sees her phone light up with Spencer’s face behind the FaceTime caller ID, she’s in the kitchen cleaning ketchup off Noelle's cast, so he picks up for his mom.

“Hi, daddy,” he brightens right up, Luna comes running to his side, shouting his name at him with excitement.

“Hello munchkins, where have you been? Mama said she’d call me earlier and then she never did?”

“We went out and then got McDonald's,” he turns the FaceTime around and shows the carpet picnic happening in front of the TV. “Mom is helping Noa get some ketchup off her cast, it fell out of her burger and landed right on it.”

“We should sue McDonald's, then I guess,” he teases making them laugh. “Did you have fun at the mall? Did you get any gifts for Grandma and Grandpa?”

“And for you but we can’t tell you what it is,” Atlas explains, “we promised mommy.”

“Yeah, pinky promised,” Luna gives even more detail. “And you know about those…”

“I’m so excited to open it, do you know how many days there are till Christmas left?” Spencer asks, they’ve been counting down since after Thanksgiving.

They take the phone running into the kitchen, where the countdown exists on the fridge, showing him that there were 27 days left.

“What are you— oh gosh, Spence, I’m sorry, I never called you back!” Y/N calls out when she realizes what the kids are doing with her phone.

She’s drying off her hands before she lifts Noelle off the counter and back to the ground, Atlas hands her the phone and Spencer explains how it’s fine, he just wanted to check-in. They catch up in the kitchen for a few moments alone, only to go back out to the living room and finish dinner. The movie is paused, and they set him up on her laptop instead of the phone, the kids all sharing memories from the day with their dad… they missed him so much, they never wanted to hang up but it was bedtime.

“I miss you, daddy,” Luna sighed, resting her head on her brother's shoulder so they could all fit in the frame.

“I miss you, too, looney tunes,” he tries not to get too choked up. “Just a couple more days and then I’m coming home and I’m snuggling you all for hours, you’re going to be sick of me with how much love I’m going to give you.”

She laughs because she knows it’s true, she’s heard him cry on the phone too many times about having, what he could only equate to mom guilt, about not being home with them again when they’re so used to it. He missed them. He missed watching them grow. He felt horrible that he wasn’t there for Noelle in the hospital when she got her cast, he missed Halloween, Thanksgiving and Henry's birthday… he felt horrible without them.

But the kids have school tomorrow, so they can’t stay up late to talk to their daddy. He lets them go just in time to have a bath and head to bed, only to call back 2 hours later that for his alone time with his wife. She answers with her headphones in, all 3 kids in her bed on Spencers side, missing him too much to sleep alone, sound asleep all cuddled into each other already.

They whisper their goodnights, he reminds her just how much he loves her and sends her a kiss all the way from the other side of America. “Did you get it?” He whispers, even though he didn’t have to.

She nods, touching her cheek with a smile. “I love you, Spence… Thursday can’t come fast enough.”

#spencer reid #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid request #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine

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puzzlebean · 6 months

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Here are all the fics I have posted between September 1st and November 14th, sorted by fandom and ship. This is missing a couple of fics that I still need to crosspost to AO3. These will be on the next round-up.

Star Trek

Seven/Janeway:

Happy New Beginning [100 words, General, There Was Only One Bed, Fluff]

Seven and Kathryn have to share a bed.

Formula One RPF

Maxiel

help me hold on to you [1,2k words, Teen and Up, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together]

They always leave, Max thinks.

But Daniel came back.

Chestappen

Staying By Your Side [401 words, General, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship]

Checo assures Max that leaving Red Bull doesn't mean he's leaving Max.

4433

Look at you Now [5k words, Teen and Up, Getting Together, Pining]

Max feels a little weird after winning his third championship, so he decides to call Lewis and ask him for advice. It turns into so much more.

how do you know how to talk to me? [3,8k words, Teen and Up, Mutual Pining, Domestic Fluff]

After the 2023 season Max is tired and needs a change of pace from what he usually does during the winter break. Lewis offers to solve this by taking Max to his home in Colorado. Max happily takes him up on it. He just forgets to take into account how big his crush on Lewis is and how challenging being in constant proximity will be. Because surely Lewis doesn't feel the same?

Courage [1,5k words, Teen and Up, Getting Back Together]

Lewis doesn't expect to see Max on his doorstep years after they broke up, but the outcome is better than he could have hoped for.

The Legend of How You Disappeared [7,7k words, Explicit, Future Fic, Getting Together, Parent Max Verstappen, Past Mpreg]

No one has seen Max Verstappen in years until he shows up at the Dutch Grand Prix with a kid hoping to talk to Lewis Hamilton.

Max and Lewis reconnect and realize they've had feelings for each other all this time. But can Max trust Lewis with his past?

Lestappen

Never Gets Old [100 words, General, Established Relationship]

Charles likes watching Max shine.

Of Course [783 words, General, Caretaking, Established Relationship]

Max takes care of Charles after he is injured.

Lewis/George/Max

might as well be drunk in love [5,1k words, Explicit, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, First Time, Getting Together]

Max presents late. He didn't think he would present at all anymore. Then he's on the podium in Mexico and his first heat comes on. He turns to Lewis for help because he knows Lewis is someone he can trust, someone safe.

Everything in Max’s life suddenly changes but with George's and Lewis' help he can face it. They take care of him.

Charles/Daniel/Max

Don't Tease Me [3,2k words, Explicit, Angst with a Happy Ending, Idiots in Love]

Max is jealous about Charles and Daniel's time in Las Vegas. Being there for the Grand Prix only makes him hurt more.

But maybe Charles and Daniel can fix things.

#seven x janeway #maxiel #4433 #lestappen #chestappen #fanfiction #my fics

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innocent-diamond-2090110 · 5 months

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2023 Music Recap

As requested, this is my summary of K-pop songs that appealed to me this past year! I sorted by order of release date but had to condense the post (hence "Keep Reading"). This post also took me longer than expected because of ITZY's surprise comeback announcement. @_@

Special mention goes to Naver's new music show, NPOP! What's visually different about NPOP is that the on-screen lyrics (& group members' names) are center aligned, whereas all the other shows have lyrics on the bottom left. (SHAME ON INKIGAYO for removing on-screen lyrics altogether!!!) Look at this gorgeous camerawork capturing Eunha during VIVIZ's "Untie" stage:

Anyway, here's the list! Bold italicized = VIDEO; Regular = AUDIO

January 2023

Madness - ASTRO Moonbin & Sanha

Puzzle - SF9

Stamp on It - GOT the Beat

Love War - Choi Yena (former IZ*ONE)

LOVE DIVE (Japanese ver.) - IVE

MOONLIGHT SUNRISE - TWICE

FEARLESS (Japanese ver.) - LE SSERAFIM

In The Novel - Minnie @ (G)I-DLE -> Recording room version

PULL UP - VIVIZ

February 2023

Blanc Noir - LIMELIGHT

Target - CLASS:y

Zealous (Japanese ver.) - CLASS:y

March 2023

Play On The World - Cherry Bullet

Mysterious - Nicole Jung (KARA)

KARMA - PIXY

We Fresh (Japanese ver.) - Kep1er

MVSK (Japanese ver.) - Kep1er

Love Me Like This - NMIXX

Kitsch - IVE

Sweet Juice (Japanese ver.) - PURPLE KISS

Flower - Jisoo (BLACKPINK)

Hold on Tight - aespa

April 2023

Who Dis? (Japanese ver.) - SECRET NUMBER

Got That Boom (Japanese ver.) - SECRET NUMBER

KNOCK - Lee Chaeyeon (former IZ*ONE)

Lemonade - DreamNote

Seven Sins - DRIPPIN

Super (Monkey King) - SEVENTEEN

May 2023

Welcome to My World - aespa

Salty & Sweet - aespa (short dance practice + track video)

WAVE - IVE

All Night - (G)I-DLE

ICKY - KARD

DOXA (Poisonous Snake) - SECRET NUMBER

Propose - Dreamcatcher

June 2023

Sugarcoat - Natty (KISS OF LIFE)

Kitty Cat - Julie Han (KISS OF LIFE)

WICKED LOVE - Choi Yena (former IZ*ONE)

July 2023

Shhh - KISS OF LIFE

Party O’Clock - NMIXX

Air Force One - ODD EYE CIRCLE

ETA - NewJeans

Kill Shot - ITZY

New Emotions - INFINITE

August 2023

The Flash - Kwon Eunbi (former IZ*ONE)

Bitter Taste - Jo Yuri (former IZ*ONE)

Better Things - aespa

Picture - Hyoyeon @ SNSD

UNFORGIVEN (Japanese ver.) - LE SSERAFIM

Antifragile - LE SSERAFIM

September 2023

Bite Me (Japanese Ver.) - ENHYPEN

Cave - Lee Chaeyeon (former IZ*ONE)

DALALA - Yuju (former GFRIEND)

Love on Lock - Kep1er

October 2023

You & Me - Jennie (BLACKPINK)

I Want That - (G)I-DLE

Eyes Roll - (G)I-DLE

Flip It - (G)I-DLE

RA TA TA - Ailee

Baddie - IVE

Holy Moly - IVE

RINGO (Apple) - ITZY

Cheshire (Japanese ver.) - ITZY

Video Games - Heejin @ ARTMS (& LOONA)

November 2023

Untie - VIVIZ

AGASSY (Lady) - Soojin (former (G)I-IDLE)

Bad News - KISS OF LIFE

Drama - aespa

Bulldozer - Red Velvet

Amnesia - VIXX

OOTD - Dreamcatcher

Rising - Dreamcatcher

Giddy (Japanese ver.) - Kep1er

BATTER UP - BABYMONSTER

To. X - Taeyeon (SNSD)

Nightmare - Taeyeon @ SNSD

December 2023

Soñar (Breaker) - NMIXX

Crown On My Head - Yeji @ ITZY

Run Away - Ryujin @ ITZY

Mine - Chaeryeong @ ITZY

Rebel - DBSK

#2023-12-29 #music releases #year end recap

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kitekki-khaos · 5 months

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A Year of Khaos: 2023 Review

Welp. 2023 is officially over and we're onto another year. I wanted to put together some kind of year in review thing and since I didn't get a chance to do it during my final stream of the year, I thought I'd just put it all together into a blog post. So here's an overall look at the year:

2023 was my "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" year in an attempt to really feel out what I wanted to do with streaming. So my plan was to pick a Thing for each month, really go all-in on it for the month, and make something focused around that by the end. Then change for the next month, rinse and repeat.

I've always been a Jack-of-all-Trades, which is as much a blessing as it is a curse. I CAN do just about anything if I decide I want to do it, but that also means there's no One Thing I'm really good at. The only One Thing I have is something that's borderline impossible to stream, which is writing. So... Project Year. Try everything, see what sticks.

So I present, the various skills I attempted to build throughout the year and the final product they produced:

Projects Completed:

January: Fashion Design - Ironmouse Outfit Contest Entry

(List continues under Read More)

February: Blender - New VNyan Throwables

March: Variety Streaming - Trying different Stream Categories

April: Game Development - Ludum Dare

May: Sewing - Summer Wardrobe

(horrible failure, just ended up making things in blender, instead)

June: Traditional Painting - Minis

July: Minecraft Redstone - Basics

August: Minecraft Map Building - Halloween Adventure Map

September: Stickermaking - Sticker Chat Banner

October: Dance / MMD - Halloween Transition & Halloween Stream

November: NaNoWriMo - WIP

December: Thankmas & 3-Year Debut Anniversary - Charity Streams and 3.0 Reveal

In addition to the projects I was working on throughout the year, I was also working on the 3.0 model at the same time. Throughout the entire year. Which, I came to realize was kind of a mistake trying to do both. I just barely got the model done in time because my time was so heavily split between so many things. Especially when you add that I was ALSO still editing videos for Youtube all the way until September. (which was a full 12-hour day, twice a week) So I was working on completely rebuilding my models from scratch in a program I was wildly unfamiliar with (blender), doing a new project every month, streaming 3x's a week (usually upwards of 6 hours), AND editing 12-hours a day twice a week to post 2 videos and 2 shorts every week.

It was... a lot.

Last year was a lot.

Too much. Even for me.

There were even a few more things on the list that I wanted to try out this year, but ended up not being able to figure out how to stream it. Baking, for example.

But I'm hoping to find something I can really focus on for the coming year and lessen at least some of my constant uncertainty about what I'm doing with life. And maybe ease up on the work, in general. If I was awake, I was working last year. I was so burnt out and exhausted by the time December rolled around, I had no energy left for my biggest event of the year. Honestly, I'm still exhausted. I wanted to get this post out ages ago but I just had no energy to write it.

I need to ease up a bit next year. Figure out what I actually want to do. But I feel like I have a slightly better handle. Maybe.

We'll see how it goes.

As a final note, here's a list of every game I played throughout 2023, which was honestly a lot. I try to finish as many games as I can, especially the horror games, with the exception of co-op games or sims. Some unfinished games (like Hollow Knight and A Hat in Time) I plan to finish at some point. Others, like Digimon Survive, I've decided to drop for good. Whereas yet others, I'll probably finish on my own as an off-stream game. (Slime Rancher 2 I'll probably play by myself but I've played through Ni no Kuni like 3 times in the past so I'm fine leaving that one where it was).

Games Played - 53 Total

( * - Finished / + - Co-Op/Sim )

My horror game backlog is massive so Indie Horror Nights are guaranteed to return in 2024. Obviously. Horror is kind of a thing. Variety Night is also guaranteed to return because I like having a day where I can just do what-the-fuck-ever.

However, I don't know if Project Night will be a set thing in the future. Additionally, I'm considering adding a fourth stream day but I haven't committed to the idea yet. I want to get back to fashion design but I don't think I'll be picking the seasonal collections back up for this year. Maybe just do themed outfit sets, instead. I may also try making them in blender instead of VRoid this year, as well.

There are a lot of decisions to be made about 2024 still.

I'm not sure what I want out of this coming year yet. But thank you to everyone who puts up with my perpetual indecisiveness, there will be more in the future.

Here's to a new year and new possibilities.

#new years #year in review #projects

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the-aesthetician-writes · 8 months

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September Writing Review

(Also a short update.)

Hey all! I've been gone for a while, I know. I've been trying to keep active in the midst of finding work and life being well... life. So the short and quick version of this is, I'm back-ish!

I have decided to really buckle down and have a try at building up my writing habits. With a couple of months filled with some horrendous experiences I won't detail here, I have realized what I want to do more than anything is writing. I have been attempting the process for the passed couple of weeks and the results have been more than I had expected.

Last month's goal is more or less having a decent amount of work done on all WIPs. And while that can seem overwhelming. I think the way I had set this up this time could hold results. So prior to my recent experiment, I've been writing with the goal of finishing one thing with no deadline (probably not the best method now that I'm thinking about it.) So what I decided to do now is to have a deadline along with tentative goals by the end of the year(NaNoWriMo) and some taking place during the first half of the new year (AroWriMo).

Some of these goals range from solid word counts to more abstract concepts in writing but for transparency (and accountability, really) I'll share them below.

Poco-A-Poco (Webcomic)

Poco-A-Poco is a web comic I set out to make at the beginning of the pandemic. Hoping to create something while in lockdown. It has been abandoned for a couple of years but I have decided to work on it to help build my discipline.

The goal for the last two weeks was to create a total of around 30 "pages" for the web comic. Thinking pages for web comics are often subjective and since I have a passion for graphic design. I felt it would at least work as a warm up when working on it.

The goal after September would be to work on a "page" daily for Poco-A-Poco. Just to build a rhythm and if I manage the time, some day update the comic with what I have worked on.

By the end of 2023, the total should amount to around 122 "pages".

By April 2024, the total should amount to around 243 "pages".

@bybyebitheway

Bi The Way is my ocean punk baby. Also started in 2020 and has had the unfortunate ratio of one chapter released per year it's been alive. With my new motivation with these goals, I decided BTW needed a concrete goal to hit. This was not only to build discipline, but also to build stamina in my writing sprints. I will be trying the Pomodo Method when writing BTW chapters along with the modified Kitchen Timer Method.

The goal of these past few weeks was to write around 4 chapters. I really attempted to give my all these passed few weeks, but haven't managed to work on Bi The Way. However, knowing I had planned beyond these two weeks made me feel better about the initial failure.

This October, I plan on playing catch up on BTW and other WIPs I fell behind on. By the end of this month, I plan on having written 5 chapters along with the four chapters that carry over last month. I feel like the carry over factor will help in building that stamina in terms of writing. After all, the only reason I had set 30 pages in two weeks for Poco-A-Poco was to build in routine. I'll talk more about that later on, but for now my goal with BTW is to have written 4/5 chapters each month. Each chapter having a minimum word count of 1,500 words. BTW will have a hiatus in November for NaNoWriMo.

By the end of the year, I would like to have around 14 chapters.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have around 30 chapters.

@tobeaspected

To Be Aspectec is another product of the pandemic and also my first dive into AroWriMo. Having failed to achieve what I originally wanted for AroWriMo multiple years in a row, I plan to finish at least one character interaction just in time for next year's AroWriMo.

The goal for the last two weeks was to have two "scenes" written for TBA. With the goal being more subjective and similar to my goal with Poco-A-Poco pages, I opted to have a definition set for what counted as a scene (for my overthinking sanity's sake). A scene would mean any amount of writing needed before the player makes a choice. (Oh I forgot to mention TBA is an interactive fiction piece, didn't I?) Besides the quantity, anything else was up to me.

By the end of the year, I would like to have 6 "scenes" written for TBA.

By the end of February 2024, I would like to finish one "volume" of TBA. A volume would be a total of two characters and all their interactions, including endings.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have 10 "scenes" written.

@thehuntersacethetic

The Hunter's Ace-Thetic is another interactive fiction project that started during the pandemic. It has been through many different mediums as a way to experiment and learn about different media, but I will focus on ChoiceScript for now.

My goal during the past two weeks was to write out one "episode". Again, with the goal being to build stamina, I added THAT work load into the two weeks as well. More so, the focus these past two weeks was to organize the "episode" structure, with the real priority being on an outline for it.

By the end of the year, I would like to have 4 episodes of THAT.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have 8 Episodes of THAT.

NaNoWriMo 2023 Project (OMS)

For the month of November, I plan to take on NaNoWriMo and work on one of my abandoned attempts. I hope to write to full 60,000 words by the end of Novemember. If anything, I hope I learn how to be a better writer. The name of the book will be: "Oh My, Starsigns!"

"Oh My Starsigns!" is planned to be a sci-fi/ crime drama(?) taking place in the future where the space police have technology that can take over a suspect's body. Along with the police themselves, suspects also posses different abilities. The story will begin when a prison ship crash lands on a distant planet. Really trying hard to not give anything away just yet.

By the end of 2023, I would like to have Oh My, Starsigns! finished.

By the end of April 2024, I have no further plans for OMS other than maybe self publishing on Amazon or somewhere else if I'm able to find a better alternative.

What I've Written So Far (End of September, 2023):

Poco-A-Poco: 20/30 Pages

Bi The Way: 0/4 Chapters, 0/6k Words

To Be Aspected: 0/2 Scenes

The Hunter's Ace-thetic: 0/1 Episodes

What I Plan to Write (October 2023):

Poco-A-Poco: 40/30 Pages

Bi The Way: 8/4 Chapters, 12k/6k Words

To Be Aspected: 4/2 Scenes

The Hunter's Ace-thetic: 2/1 Episodes

Reflection:

I think these past two months have been a great experiment in knowing what to do different for the next couple of weeks. Hope to update you a month from now with good results.

#the aesthetician writes #updates #bi the way #btwUpdate #thatUpdate #the hunter's acethetic #to be aspected #tbaUpdate #writeblr

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dutchforstrangers · 8 months

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Hello...

... It's me. I was wondering if after all these years months you'd like to meet.

Long and personal post incoming, gotta get some things off of my chest. And due to the pregnancy and my maternity leave I have lots of time to overthink and reflect as I crawl my way back to here. No need to read, but if you do so, thank you for hearing me out (:

It's September 2023. Time to look back and reflect for a bit.

After September/October 2022, I kinda spiraled down and became less and less active in fandom. Mostly on Tumblr, but quickly on fanfiction-platforms and Discord as well. I distanced myself from far away friend, acquintances, as well as from closer friends. With that my focus shifted from everything online to everything offline. That shift was partially due to the whole "debacle" from September 2022 and all of its implications, but also because of the exciting things that started to unfold in my private life at the same time.

In November 2022 we (boyfriend and me) bought our first house together! And let me tell you that buying houses takes looooooots of focus and energy. At the same time, the Foundation I started earlier that year with a business partner and friend began to take off more and more and beside all of that I was working, teaching and dancing my ass off. I was met with the reality of life and the fast pace it was gaining, so I did the thing that felt right to do which was going with that flow.

Aside from that, music (Stray Kids - a Kpop band in particular) got me good and the fandom I found gave me consolation and -in a way- salvation from the aftermath of earlier said debacle. Sadly for Digimon-fandom and everything and everyone around and involved in it, that was when focusing on the online world slowly became too much for me. Resulting in fading myself more and more into the background.

In December 2022, we signed all the papers and moved out of our old apartment in the city I was born in. For the first time ever in my life I would be leaving my one and only hometown and it was bittersweet. On top of all that, I got crazy sick right before and during our move, as if my body was resetting itself and telling me this would indeed be the start of some sort of closure. A new path laid ahead!

I had a hard time listening to it though and I kept trying to find ways and come up with new ideas to get back to fandom in 2023 better than ever before. Looking back on that now, that only made me more tired, trying to hold on to the things I was used to instead of feeling confident enough to let go and make the changes I apparently needed...

In comes 2023.

January started with fireworks as usual. Little did I know that another bang would easily outdo the colorful spectacle rising the night's sky on New Year's Eve. Because one week later, I was holding a positive pregnancy test. For everyone who's good at counting, count the months and you'll know it's baby's due date any day now!

Pregnancy was a blessing to me, to us, since we had more trouble conceiving than luck over the past year and a bit. Apparently, the new house and my body resetting was exactly what I needed in my offline life, but in my online life as well. It sort of destroyed all of my ideas for the online-comeback I had been preparing in my head which I felt I was fine with quickly. What I was less okay with, was the way my now pregnant-body-energy was kinda disturbing my friendships, relationships and dynamics with the people I had met online over the course of time.

Interactions didn't stop, but I had a very hard time keeping up and so everything lessened, up till the point where I was -partially unaware- neglecting certain people I had built special bonds with. That has never been my intentions and it'll bug me forever...! But as life (and pregnancy) kept going full speed, I felt where my focus was needed most and so everything -especially me myself- shifted direction.

It wasn't easy for me, but I imagine how much harder it must have been for some of the (online) people around me. I'm well aware of that and believe me as I say I feel guilty and still rather heavy about it. In a way, that's super selfish of me, but again, it seemed as if shifting my focus was exactly what I needed.

I gave myself time and space to be in the moment and reality and that worked wonders for me. I enjoyed my growing belly a lot and all of the baby kick and shuffling inside of it. The idea of this little bundle of a human being leaving my body soon and thus physically leaving me alone by myself again is a sensation I can't really explain. All I know is that it'll be intense and very emotional for me.

The insights this whole overthinking and (inner) process brought me, however, will be worth it. I can feel the tingling of something bubbling.

The process and the focus on me, the here and now, my partner and life growing inside of me gave me the room to breathe again. And that in its turn showed me that the creativity and love for the fandom was never really gone! Though I realized it had become toxic to me, which was why I was experiencing the turmoil towards fandom the way I was experiencing it. I was only focusing on the things that made me sad and overcoming those things as a form of redemption, rather than on what made me return to fandom back in 2021.

When that insight suddenly hit me, I could feel the urge to return in a pace that suits me slooooowly flow back. Probably with ups and downs, but I'll take that.

Present day and to be honest I still feel hurt by what happened one year ago. Due to that, I will forever be anxious and cautious about returning to fandom and the different platforms with whatever form of creative output. Because let's be real, I did become fully shipping-demotivated, got unwantingly rid of my creative and writing-energy and got robbed from my fandom-appettite for a long while because of the fires I had to go through or tried to put down. And I haven't been able to heroically rise from the ashes the way I had imagined.

Instead I came out sad, burned out and confused. I felt bullied by the situation, certain happenings and people. At the same time I was and am still wondering whether people see me as the one who bullied... And that hurts as well, which is a burden I will always carry with me.

So it won't be easy to return and I have no idea in what time frame I will be able to do so. Especially because this once safe place got damaged by others and myself.

Don't get me wrong, I still think this is a safe place to a lot of people and I know it still is one for me as well. Cuz if it wasn't, I would've never written this down and posted this here, right? But how I see it now, is that I have to build that safe space up again., For myself and others, not just for others and what they think of me!

In the heat of hell, other things sparkled. And now a new flame will slow burn into my life soon. Maybe it'll rekindle some kind of my own online fandom-fire to mix with new sparks and breezes. To create a nice and welcoming (thunder)storm that none of us, and especially me, had seen coming.

We'll see.

#personal post #long post

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track2hack · 2 years

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✨ Pinned post ✨

Last updated 26.02.2024

I’m Emily, 24 and she/they pronouns! I’m a horse girl based in the south island of New Zealand and live with my three horses; Ed, Pixie, and Molly; and my mum’s horse Gem. I’m part of the Belfast Pony Club as part of their adult riders/HorseMasters group after being in the youth section for a year, and also enjoy the endurance/RTT/CTR circuit when time and funds allow! I’ve qualified up to 24kms CTR and hope to go up to placing in the 30kms or completing my first 40km 🤞 I used to be competitive in the show jumping circuit but I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to so mainly it’s just pony club and whatever else I feel like during the year!

I used to work for a harness racing trainer for 2 years and then moved on to working for the local SPCA branch as a farmyard attendant/vet assistant and dabbled in the cats & dogs units, right now I’m taking a mental breather before jumping back into finding my passion 🥰

Previously I retrained and sold project horses and standardbreds off the track as a side hustle, I was also an escort/full service sex worker by choice for 3 years and am an advocate for decriminalisation worldwide.

I have diagnosed BPD type 2 and depression/anxiety issues and my inbox is always open to talk!

—

Dr Kananga - Ed

Ed is my very first heart horse, I got him on 05.06.2021 straight off the track as a 3yo but I’ve known him since he was 2yrs! He’s a 6yo (DOB 10.12.2017) 16.1hh bay standardbred gelding by Live Or Die out of an Elsu mare called Ariana Angel. He raced 5 times as a 3yo pacer and couldn’t beat his own shadow home 🙈 He’s my absolute best man and will be with me til one of us dies, he’s my weekend happy hacker and pony club extraordinaire as well as being a super endurance horse! He likes to live life in the slow lane and doesn’t enjoy big competitions so much but in the past I’ve show jumped him to 55cm and he’s done an eventing round of 45cm. He has the softest puppy dog eyes and golden retriever personality and loves his wonky donkey ear scratched or tickle his chin and he’ll be your best friend 🥺😭💕

My confidence with Ed has gone up and down quite a bit over the last 6 months so he’s gone back on lease to Waimak Horse Treks as part of their trekking string until I feel better again! He’s a lovely wee boy and he’ll always be my heart horse but he enjoys trekking and adventuring in the slow lane much more than pony club or eventing so I’m listening to my head and giving us both the best chance to do what we love - and hopefully we’ll come together again as a riding duo when I get this competition bug out of my skin! 🤭

He’ll never be sold but his lease is long term and will potentially be renewed in January 2025.

—

Ouruhia Gem - Gem

Gem is a 6yo(ish) 15.1hh bay pinto mare by Shebeau (Irish cob x TB x PGP stationbred) and out of the thoroughbred mare Ruby Ashley who is by Raise The Flag. I got her as a foster from the SPCA in early September 2022 when she came to one of the West Coast centres as an inspector seizure/neglect case, was fed up and loved on, and then sent down to my centre on a surgery recommendation for her umbilical hernia (which she didn’t actually end up needing) and I adopted her in December 2022! Both myself and my mum fell in love with her (oops 🙈) and I gifted her to mum as a Xmas present ❤️

I backed her myself in summer 2023 and I’ve really enjoyed playing around with her! She went to a professional schooling yard to get some buttons installed during April 2023 and mum has been having a blast riding her in pony club rallies and forest hacking! She’s a nosey little tart and loves getting her own way but she’s a very sweet and very genuine little horse with a lot of try - in November 2023 she had her first eventing start at 45cm and absolutely smoked the cross country, as well as having her first endurance ride around a 12km lagoon track which she loved! Recently she’s also placed 5th in her first 24km endurance ride but there’s no doubt she’s bred to jump, the little tart loves it!

Currently she’s happily competing in pony club team events at 45-55cm but has a whole lot of scope to go higher! She scores consistently in the low 60%+ in dressage but that’s more because I have no idea what I’m doing, not her lack of talent 🤷‍♀️

—

NZPHS Pixie’s Dream Girl - Pixie

Pixie is a 10yo chestnut pinto miniature horse of unknown breeding and stands approx 36” tall. I got her on 02.09.2023 as an ESA/therapy horse in training but mainly as my little running friend to motivate me to get out of bed every day! I’m aiming to do some endurance with her and potentially some inhand showing too. She’s registered with the New Zealand Pinto Horse Society and has really enjoyed being fussed over and loved on by tween girls as a party pony for my friend’s lesson kids!

Eventually once I get my ass into gear I’ll break her to harness and 🤞hopefully🤞 do some pony scurries with her too!

—

Khant Catch Her - Molly

Molly is a 6yo (DOB 16.11.2017) 16hh dark bay thoroughbred mare by Mongolian Khan out of the Iffraaj mare Jenuwin. I got her on 07.03.2024 as my next pony club mount and so far she’s the sweetest wee girl I’ve ever met! She raced 12 times for only 4 placings and never came better than 3rd, and retired off the track in 2022.

Prior to coming to me Molly’s been showing and won Champion Inhand and Res. Champion Ridden Hack, been to pony club rallies, and done plenty of jumping and beach days.

She’s a lot like Gem in the personality department but lacks some of the zing that madam has (thank god 😅) and definitely wants to be your friend, which is exactly what I was looking for in a horse. She’s a real darling and I’m super excited to keep working with her!

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orthodoxydaily · 6 months

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Saints&reading: Sunday, November 12, 2023

ocotber 30_november 12

THE PRIESTMARTYR ZENOBIOS, BISHOP OF EGEIA, AND HIS SISTER ZENOBIA (285)

The Hieromartyr Zenobius, Bishop of Aegea, and his sister Zenobia suffered a martyr’s death in the year 285 in Cilicia. From childhood they were raised in the holy Christian Faith by their parents, and they led pious and chaste lives. In their mature years, shunning the love of money, they distributed away their inherited wealth giving it to the poor. For his beneficence and holy life the Lord rewarded Zenobius with the gift of healing various maladies. He was also chosen bishop of a Christian community in Cilicia.

As bishop, Saint Zenobius zealously spread the Christian Faith among the pagans. When the emperor Diocletian (284-305) began a persecution against Christians, Bishop Zenobius was the first one arrested and brought to trial to the governor Licius. “I shall only speak briefly with you,” said Licius to the saint, “for I propose to grant you life if you worship our gods, or death, if you do not.” The saint answered, “This present life without Christ is death. It is better that I prepare to endure the present torment for my Creator, and then with Him live eternally, than to renounce Him for the sake of the present life, and then be tormented eternally in Hades.”

By order of Licius, they nailed him to a cross and began the torture. The bishop’s sister, seeing him suffering, wanted to stop it. She bravely confessed her own faith in Christ before the governor, therefore, she also was tortured.

By the power of the Lord they remained alive after being placed on a red-hot iron bed, and then in a boiling kettle. The saints were then beheaded. The priest Hermogenes secretly buried the bodies of the martyrs in a single grave.

Saint Zenobius is invoked by those suffering from breast cancer.

SAINT STEPHEN MILIUTIN, KING OF SERBIA (1320), HIS BROTHER DRAGUTIN, (monk Theoctistus 1316) AND THEIR MOTHER HELEN (1306)

Saint Stefan (Stephen) Miliutin, King of Serbia, his brother Dragutin, and their mother Elena (Helen): Saint Stefan was the younger son of king Stefan Urosh I, and grandson of First-Crowned King Saint Stefan (Comm. 24 September). He ruled Serbia from 1275 to 1320. Stefan Miliutin received the throne from his elder brother Dragutin, a true Christian, who after a short reign transferred power over to his brother, and he himself in loving solitude withdrew to Srem, where he did secret ascetic deeds in a grave-pit, dug by his own hand. During his righteous life, Saint Dragutin toiled much over converting the heretic Bogomils to the true faith. His death occurred on 2 March 1316.

Saint Stefan Miliutin, having become king, bravely by both word and by deed, defended the Orthodox Serbs and other same-faith peoples from numerous enemies. Pious Stefan did not forget to thank the Lord for His beneficence. More than 40 churches were built by him, as also many monastery and vagrant hostels. The saint particularly concerned himself with the Athonite monasteries. When the Serbian kingdom fell, the monasteries remained centres of national culture and Orthodoxy for the Serb nation. Saint Stefan died on 29 October 1320 and was buried at the Bansk monastery. After two years his undecayed relics were uncovered.

Saint Elena, the pious mother to her sainted sons, after the death of her husband devoted her whole life to pious deeds: she built a shelter for the impoverished, and constructed a monastery for those wanting to live in purity and virginity. Near the city of Spich she erected the Rechesk monastery and endowed it with the necessities. Before her death, Saint Elena accepted monasticism and expired to the Lord on 8 February 1306.

EPHESIANS 2:4-10

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

LUKE 8:26-39

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you. And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxchurch #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #gospel #bible #wisdom #saints

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