#hopefully i'll get to finish most things before my holidays so i can rest my brain for that one (1) week i get off

[redheadspark]

"This reminded me of you" & calling to hear their voice, with Druig

A/N: AWWWW ! Yay Stella! Hopefully this makes you smile, bestie!

I'm not gonna follow the movie or its canon on this one, it'll be an AU work :)

A Longing Heart

Summary: Needing to go home for the holidays was a bit rough, but your boyfriend's calls and text made them bearable

Warnings: tooth rotting fluff :)

"How long will you be gone for?"

"Only two weeks,"

Druig was helping you pack, rearranging the clothes you already folded to place in the suitcase as he was looked rather grimace from the thought of you leaving. You grabbed a few more sweaters before moving back over to him, watching his facial expressions and seeing how he could barely crack a smile, "Druig, if I don't go home to see my family for the Holidays, they'll kill me. Especially my mom,"

"It's merely Christmas," He mumbled, you sighed and planting a kiss on his cheek, "And may I remind you, the last time you were with your family you and your mom went toe to toe about your schoolwork and work load and..."

You both paused, Druig sighed and was rubbing his face before he could finish his sentence. You gave him a kind look, seeing how he looked rather sheepish in striating this conversation that you have had so many times.

"And you?" You ended, Druig nodded his head slowly. Your mother never liked Druig, not since the beginning when you took him to have dinner with her 6 months ago. It was a cordial dinner, your mother was being civil and kind to him, but both yourself and Druig could sense she was judging him from the moment he said hello. She thought of him as brash, too opinionated or even aloof for her daughter. You have talked to her, over and over, in how Druig was good to you and never made you cry or broke your heart. He was the perfect gentleman and boyfriend to you, and you weren't going to change her mind on the matter.

So it was safe to say that your mother had a grudge with you now.

"Druig, it's only for the holidays and nothing else," You reassured him as you leaned against him, "My siblings want me there as well as my dad, and I'm only going for them. If my mother has a problem with who I date, even though I'm a grown adult, that is her fault,"

"You know, if anything does happen there, you can call me anytime," Druig explained as you were getting the last of the clothes in the suitcase, Druig then sipping it up for you as you moved to get your backpack ready, "It's only a three hour drive from here to your house,"

"No, I'll be fine. You can enjoy your time with Ajak and the others at her house," You replied as you got the last things together, "I can handle two weeks with my family."

"Still, just in case," Druig commented, making you smile as you tossed the back pack on the bed and wrapped your arms around his neck. His hands were resting on your hips, you two watching each other lovingly in your dorm room as your ride was going to be there within 10 minutes. You were hitching a ride with a mutual friend who lived in close to your house, and you were trying to get there before the snow storm would come through and close the roads for the next week.

"I'll call you if things go south," You explained, seeing him smirk, "But I'll probably call you since most of the time I'll be bored out of my mind,"

"I'll look forward to it," Druig said with his smile, "And you and I can exchange our gifts when you get back, deal?"

You smiled, leaning up to give him one last deep kiss before you two would be apart for two weeks. Of course you were dreading in seeing your mother and her ever judgmental comments on your work, on your school work, and of course, of Druig. It's been a calloused shield that came over you every time you met up with her, trying to just make it through the dinner or the conversation before you could leave. There were even a few times when you had to walk away from her and take a breath, all from those comments that should roll off your shoulder but they stuck to you hard. Maybe she knew you were older and not as cooperate with her when it came to what she wanted for you, but the words were getting more and more bitter as the years went by.

Yet this was Christmas, what was the worst that could happen?

"Deal," You replied, Druig smiling before he reached down to take off a beaded bracelet to place on your own wrist. It was one of the very few things he would wear daily, mostly because you found it at a swamp meet on your first date together and thought it suited Druig well.

He never took it off.

"You wear this, and think of me when things get a bit too much for you," Druig explained, you feeling the beads slide against your skin as he kissed your wrist, "It'll be fine, okay? You believe me?"

How could you not? He knew that struggle you were having with your mom throughout the past few months, how there were moments you walked to walk away from her or yell at her to shut her up. Druig was still calm with you, giving you hugs in those low moments and kisses in the stressful ones too. The fact that he never ran from you because of your enduring mother, that made you love and cherish him all the more.

"I do,"

The first few days were bearable, showing up on the doorstep of your childhood home with your dad grinning and your siblings hugging you like crazy. The snow just started and the storm was due to come through within the hour. Your mother hugged you, her sweet smile there etched on her face as she greeted you. Smiling back, you were just as civil as you settled back into your house. You knew to keep your guard up around her, especially at the first dinner together as she was asking the typical questions that were both common and more personal.

It was uncomfortable to say the least.

"So, you're still with Druig I take it?" She asked as you took a bite from your chicken. Your dad cleared his throat, giving you a calm stare with a soft smile as your sister and brother watched too.

"I am," You replied, "He wishes you guys a Happy Holiday. He's having a joined Christmas with some of our mutuals friends who can't go home because of the storm. You know mom, Druig's actually top of our class in the Psychology Department,"

"Oh, good for him!" You dad said in a cheerful tone, you ignoring your mother who looked like she had a scowl on her face while she took a drink from her wine. You grinned, knowing your dad was a fan of Druig and always liked him since the beginning, "He always liked Psychology, right?"

"Yeah, his Senior Thesis is nearly done and he's thinking of getting a scholarship for graduate school," You explained while you grabbed your wine glass, "Actually, his last paper on family dynamics and the impacts of parental control was well received by the professors and deans,"

Your dad chocked on his wine, your mom eyed you I suspicion as your siblings giggled, but you remained calm as you took a small sip from the red wine in your glass.

Way to start the holidays.

You called Druig right after when you went to your bedroom, sitting next to the window and seeing the massive snowflakes fall to the ground and on the roof with your phone against your ear.

"You did not say that!" Druig said in a shocked tone, you giggled as he sighed on his end, "It's only first night!”

"I couldn't help it," You reasoned in a shrug, "She asked about you and I told her what you wrote. It's not my fault she couldn't handle the title of you paper,"

Druig laughed, you laughing with him as the whistling winds of the snow was heard outside your window.

"How bad is the snow where you are?" You asked him as you grabbed a blanket to throw over your shoulders.

"Not too bad," Druig replied, "We're all hunkered down at Ajak's house now and we have enough food to last for at least 3 days. They all say hi by the way, and they wish you a Merry Christmas."

"Tell them I say hi!" You said back, pausing to look a the breaded bracelet on your wrist and touching it with your fingers. It was only the first night and you were missing him, wishing he was there with you to help ease some of the uneasiness, or to be with him and far away from the thick tension in your home.

"I miss you," You replied in a hum, your voice softer when you said it.

"I miss you too, more than anything," Druig said in agreement on his end of the phone, "Just let me know if you need me to come get you."

"I don't want you to drive in this weather," You explained as the wind picked up and the snow was falling a bit harder, "It'll be too dangerous,"

"I don't care, honey," He commented back to you, "Just say the word at any time and I'll get you out, okay?"

If there was one thing you loved about Druig, it was his persistence in making you feel safe and happy. He loved taking care of you, he would go to lengths to make sure you were okay. Maybe he knew that your home life was not the best and he was willing to make it better and heal it somehow, and knowing he was only a phone call away was reassuring for you in those tense moments that you knew were going to happen.

"Okay," You replied.

You lasted until the day after Christmas.

Your mom was scolding you big time, once again, for your choice in what you wanted to do after graduation and Druig was then dragged into the conversation. It was only you and your mom that started talking, which lead to raised tones and then a screaming match your mom was once again calling Druig out for being a bad choice for you and your future.

"You need stability and someone who will support you!"

"And you don't think he will?! Druig supports me more than any of the boyfriends I have ever had!"

Then it got personal and brutal, you not backing down in how your mom was dragging Druig's name through the mud. You had no choice but to defend him, not understanding how your mother never saw the good in Druig but saw the bad. Even when you dad tried to intervene and stop your mother to shouting down your throat, you weren't going to run off when you knew you had the fire in your belly to defend the man you loved.

"I have seen him go through much more shit than anyone else in my life and he's endured all of it! He's so kind and treats me so well, mom! I don't understand why you hate him so much when he wants to have your approval?!"

"HE'S NOT WORTHY OF MY APPROVAL, AND IF YOU WISH TO BE WITH HIM YOU WON'T GET MINE EITHER!"

That was the straw that broke your back.

Your dad finally took your mother to the kitchen as you rushed to your bedroom slamming it shut and texting Druig with shaky fingers that happened. He immediately texted back within seconds.

I'm coming to get you.

You packed your stuff and a few other things that you needed to not be able to be home for some time, not until after finals. You needed to get out of that house fast and quick, not wishing to talk with anyone or to see anyone. Christmas was over and done with, the jollies were over in your mind while your clothes were shoved in your staircase half hazardly. Your mind was reeling from what your mothers said about Druig and yourself, almost making it sound like she was ready to give up on you since you were going against her wishes with who to love and what to do with your life. The adrenaline was pushing through you so fast that your hands were shaking and your tears were falling.

You needed to get out.

Your dad came in and hugged you, apologizing for your mother and pleading for you to stay at least one more day. All you could was cry and shake your head, feeling terrible that your father wanted you to stay. But he knew where you were coming from, he understood since he listened to all of that fight. You loved that your father was not going to hold you hostage, he was more reasonable compared to your mother. So he slipped in some money into your pocket, helped you pack the rest of your clothes and present before walking you down the stairs to the front door when Druig texted that he was outside in the car. You didn't looked behind you at your mother, who was in the kitchen and watching with a hint of remorse in her eyes from the fight.

You couldn't stomach looking at her.

The cold air hit you hard as you hugged your father goodbye, feeling him squeeze your extra hard and whisper in your ear that he loved you. To call him anytime you needed him, and that he still supported you no matter what. The little car waiting by the sidewalk in front of your house had Druig and your best friend Makkari at the wheel, both of whom were swatching you say goodbye to your dad. As you were going down the steps of the front porch, Druig rushed out to meet you halfway across the front lawn, taking your suitcase in hand and wrapping his other arm around you to escort you to the car. You even saw him give a look behind you both at the house, a dark look on his face with someone on the tip of his tongue. You just tugged on his leather jacket to get his attention back on you, tears were still evident on your cheeks.

"Just get me home," You murmured, Druig knowing that you meant Ajak's house. That place felt more like home that your real one. He nodded his head and kissed you forehead lovingly as he got you to the car.

As Makkari drove the car onto the main highway, Druig sat with you in the back as you silently cried and he held you close. You told both Makkari and Druig everything, both of them were furious with your mother and Druig wishing to rip her a new one. But he simply held you, letting you cry into his chest and try to release all that pain in the car. You felt safer in the cramped little car than in your own home, which said a lot.

Druig traced the beads on your wrist as you were falling asleep from exhaustion, smiling a bit to see it on your wrist. He would fight tooth and nail for you, and now that he knew your mother wasn't going to hold back her ill feeling towards you and him, Druig would fight her too.

He would fight for the girl in his arms.

The End.

#druig fluff #fanfiction #writing #barry keoghan #druig #marvel #eternals #druig x female reader #druig x you #druig x female reader #druig x reader #druig x oc #druig x y/n #druig eternals

[godtier]

hi I'm alive just busy bc holidays!

some minor blog updates for those who care:

I'm trying, generally speaking, to pivot more towards original posts again instead of using this as a reblog repository.

this blog is very old (going on 14 years!) and I used to be pretty active in my fandoms on here before the porn ban. when I came back, I lost a little over 50% of my followers due to my inactivity, with a good portion of the rest being dead blogs at this juncture. my blog was never "big" in any fandom I participated in, but I do miss the interaction with people.

I didn't really know how to get back in the swing of "normal posting," so I fell into using this blog as a repository because that was easier. there isn't anything wrong with that, ofc, but that was never the point of this blog. I have side blogs for that purpose that I'll probably revive soon instead.

that doesn't mean I won't reblog random things ever again on here, but I'll probably taper them down to more tailored things. stuff like fandom related posts or art refs/inspo rather than straight up memes 24/7. tho don't be surprised if a few slip through anyway. I'm not made of stone! 😭

this blog has, and always will be, focused around my interests. I don't post anything remotely political and intend to keep it that way. I will also say, I'm not very big about discussing my real life details in general; I am extremely private online and at most there might be vague hints at what I do for a living, but I keep my online persona segregated from real life as much as possible. that's more an FYI than anything else, just so any followers know what not to expect when I get back into "normal posting!"

so what's "normal posting" mean for me, then?

mostly discussion, theory crafting, or meta posts revolving around my fandoms, mostly Capcom titles, so I hope y'all can enjoy those as they come. I may also post the occasional informative post, mostly dealing with proper op sec for the web, among other things, as that's an interest of mine. if that ain't what you're here for, no worries. o7

but regarding planned post content, I'm working on a huge set of meta posts (yes, plural) analyzing vava/vile from megaman x, so any megaman followers, keep ur eyes peeled for that.

I've also been meaning to finish some drawings too so I'll hopefully be posting smth sometime soon. if you're more interested in my art, you can follow my art blog @deadawake!

lastly, been trying to finish fanfics that I've had languishing in my files. again, mostly megaman related, but I do have an RE fic rotting away in there somewhere. maybe I'll post that, too.

that's it! I guess you can think of this as a "new year's resolution" post! we'll see how successful I am 🤞

I hope y'all have a safe and happy holiday season! o/ see you soon!

#text post #update post #hopefully this doesn't scare anyone away 😭 #I just want to make sure it's established before I start pivoting #and ofc if you want to send me asks please do! #I enjoy talking to ppl #you can also DM me #here's hoping I don't fall off the wagon

[stray-lily]

// Home for the Holidays

self-insert gn reader, all members included, a wholesome little fic

happy holidays everyone!

disclaimer: names, places, etc. are from my mind and/or are used in a fictional manner and should not be taken as reality. I do not own Stray Kids and their characters in this story are not necessarily accurate to their real-life selves.

word count: 1.6k

After many weeks of promoting, performing, and producing, the day of their official break finally arrived.

While it wasn't quite long enough to travel long distances, they were still content with the break. Even if it meant they wouldn't be interacting with their Stays as often, their break would hopefully let their fans rest as well.

Well, there was at least one Stay that wouldn't be resting.

An old friend of theirs, y/n was eager to see their borderline-insane friends (even if they definitely acted the same, but that's not important now). They all planned to decorate the boys' dorm with an ornamental tree and other little trinkets—anything else that followed would be a free-for-all of chaos.

"Oh, you guys really want a hug today, don't you?" Through the phone screen, another live Channie's Room began to close. He turned the volume of a lovely song down while glancing over the rapid-fire comments.

He stood from his chair and gave his camera a big hug, something that always made you giggle. One of the members snuck into his studio to record that very moment on their phone some time ago, sending it to the group chat, and he looked a bit awkward to say the least. Mostly trying not to knock things over, the fluffball of a man wasn't a natural camera-hugger. But the sweet action never went unappreciated by the fans.

"Thank you, Stays," Chan smiled, now back in his chair, and posed in his signature sign-off. "Thank you, baby Stays. And I'll see you next time! Bye-bye!"

With that, the live ends.

And you immediately send Chan a message.

y/n: Channie! Get some rest too :( you're being a hypocrite if you keep telling us to rest when you don't

[delivered: 23:10]

You flop on your bed and bury yourself under the covers. The snowy wind makes itself known, creating an annoyingly cold area in by the window.

Though it takes a long time to fall asleep with all the bubbling excitement of seeing the boys again so soon, you sleep dreamlessly. That is, until your morning alarm—the instrumental intro to Ex—goes off.

You listen to it for a while, humming some of the lyrics, before shutting it off. On your screen is a message from Chan.

chrispy: i know, i know but i had too many ideas :( see you soon!

[received: 03:25]

Dang it, Chan.

It's still snowing when you look out your window, though the wind seems nonexistent at least. You dress warmly and take your bag to the main room, where Dad finishes making pancakes and Mom reads a novel with a cup of hot coffee.

"Morning, y/n," Mom greets cheerfully with a sip of her drink.

"Morning!"

"You meeting up with the kids today?" Dad asks while you dish up a bit of breakfast. Kids, isn't that accurate.

"Yes, hon, she told us last night at dinner. And the night before." Mom sets down her book with an amused twinkle in her gaze.

"Did she?"

"She did."

"Ah. Pancake?"

You smile at them, though it disappears the more you eat and distract yourself.

The faux tree your family put up a few weeks ago stands brightly in the living room, a few wrapped packages underneath it shimmering with the colorful lights. Wintery-themed decorations fill the house, most of which is in the kitchen, living, and dining room. The most recent is a string of cut paper snowflakes—another folded strand of them being safely secured in your bag.

"You have everything you need?" Mom asks once you finish your food, beginning to pour her second cup of molten caffeine.

"I think so. Yennie said they have most of what we'll need when I texted him, also mentioned that Chan and Lix were getting an excessive amount of lights."

"Can I trust you to be the reasonable one?" Dad leans over the counter with his hands folded in front of him dramatically.

"Yes, Dad. I'll do my best to steal both brain cells, one if I'm lucky."

"And if you can't?"

"Then it might become Lord of the Flies, minus a plane crash and plus sleep deprivation."

"Stick to stealing a brain cell, yeah?"

"You two," Mom murmurs and shakes her head with a smile.

Checking the clock, it's close to eleven. You take your dish and utensils to the sink and wash them, placing them on the drying rack as Dad starts to put away leftover pancakes in containers. He hands a larger one to you (as a peace offering in case you couldn't get the brain cell) after you pull on your puffy winter coat.

"Have fun," Mom calls out as she fills a pitcher to water her poinsettias before her coffee cools. "I love you!"

"Bye, y/n! Good luck!"

"Hon!"

"What?"

You close the door and turn the key to lock it. You slip the key around the necklace chain back under your coat, knowing fully well that if it was loose in your bag, you'd never find it.

The snow is light, but a breeze still chills the air. Luckily the sun decided to peek out from behind the grey, warming everything considerably.

You walk the familiar streets, slipping on a mask as you get closer to your destination. While their residence was fairly undisclosed, you didn't want to risk anything. There would always be the sasaengs you didn't want to cross and a media you wanted no part of. Idols dealt with enough as it is—you didn't want to fuel a fire with a photo.

On the last stretch of the walk, you make sure to be more careful. You walk as inconspicuously as you can, walking inside the complex as casually as you can as well. You reach the boys' door and knock after sending an I'm here to the group text.

Minho opens the door, whom you greet politely with a hello and a bow before he pulls you inside (with a muttered question of why you always greeted him that way, followed by your uncertainty of how to say that his demeanor was intimidating enough that you still felt like you had to).

In front of you lies the beginning snippets of chaos.

With the Aussie leader limp on the couch, Han and Felix run around as the likely aftermath of some snarky comment (or game of Uno, as the package sits on a table nearby). Oddly enough, they're the only three in the present room, leaving four sources of unequivocal chaos unaccounted for.

One said sources grumbles, shuffling out of the hall to the boys' rooms. Hyunjin has to step back to avoid being hit by the duo chasing one another. Sleepily, he looks back to their disappearing figures, then to the living room. He turns back to the hallway and shuffles away, muttering something like it's too early.

Minho drops his head with a sigh and goes off to follow Hyunjin. He and Felix nearly collide on the way.

"Chan, Chan!" The younger shakes the leader's shoulder.

He grumbles, scrunching his face sleepily, and moves to sit upright.

"Hyung," Felix pokes Chan's shoulder. "Y/n didn't visit to watch you sleep all day. She even brought food, come on!"

It takes a while for everyone to wake up and join the huddle forming around the couch. Felix already dug into one of the peace-offering pancakes happily. Minho drags a groggy Hyunjin in, who takes a few sips from Jisung's bitter iced coffee.

Felix, seeming the most awake for the moment, carries in a bag weighed down with various lights. He drops it in the middle of the floor, instructing you all to put them up wherever you could while he wanders off to bake with Seungmin's aid.

In the bag are little decorative snowflakes and snowmen, along with little gnomes that Felix admits he couldn't pass ("they were too cute," he pouts). Someone puts a playlist on shuffle—not 'holiday' music, as you had gotten tired of hearing the repeated songs in public buildings since they began in November.

Chan and Jeongin start decorating the tree with lights and more snowflake ornaments. Jisung continues to bug Hyunjin for snatching his caffeinated drink. Seungmin and Felix intermittently exchange bringing brownies out for people to try, as fresh brownies are best warm. Changbin moves between natural gatherings, helping where needed, until he settles on bugging Minho.

Outside, the snow continues falling steadily.

Once the decorations were in place, the treats were made, and the chaos settled, Jeongin called everyone around the tree with a wide grin.

"Drumroll, please!"

After a few moments, Chan plugs the lights in with a ta da!

The LEDs shimmer against the clear plastic of the geometric snowflakes. At the top of the tree is a compass—a small nod to the song of theirs that remains one of your favorite comforts to date.

The rest of the night is filled with laughter and the usual chaos of the kids. Off-tune karaoke and more schemes by the younger ones (this time, another attempt to reset Changbin's phone) ensue until you find you have to return home.

Today was fun. There was a different comfort in being with this set of friends, and you were glad you could know them this way.

After hugs, well-wishes of a safe walk, and a few promises to get some sleep, you walk back home.

Though the sun just barely set by the time you got back, the house is empty. Your parents left a note that they'd be back later—they decided to take after you and visit friends, too. That made you smile.

With the house to yourself, you grab a snack and a drink and retire to your room to recharge your social battery, settling on rewatching old videos of your friends and fan compilations of their comforting chaos.

—

a/n: a simple short story to distract you if you need it. happy holidays! whatever you do or don't celebrate, whoever you're with, i hope you enjoy it! if you're with *that* family that has drama, i wish you patience and luck, and you can get though it and dont worry, i'm in that same boat this year :/

ily dear human

-nyx ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

#happy holidays #gn reader #wholesome holiday #who am i kidding they're chaotic #stray kids #skz imagines #skz #skz au #bang chan #lee know #lee Minho #lee felix #kim seungmin #han jisung #hwang hyunjin #yang jeongin #seo changbin #fluff #skz fluff #winter #holidays #break #original #fanfic #stray kids au

[drinkjanola]

yeah so basically i'm gonna lose it soon probably. i think i'm finally ready to give up on my current "successes", like having a job and semi-functioning. i'm ready to get in contact with the crisis line, possibly end up in a mental health facility, and get better. i was diagnosed as autistic at 10. i've received little to no support over the years. the most support i have is through funding, which has given me an iphone, an ipad, an apple watch, and a pair of galaxy buds when i still had a samsung. it'll allow me to claim back certain travel expenses, and go to things like concerts to improve my quality of life. but i never received support in my education. support in learning how to unmask. i even went to a private special education school because it was the only place i could cope with. guess what? i masked the whole time. i didn't learn shit because my teacher didn't want to acknowledge that i finally understood my sensory needs a little more. she thought i was lazy but i couldn't do my school work in the classroom i was shoved into. that school, by the way, is shutting down soon because they were doing so rough financially. they may have failed me but they didn't fail a lot of their higher needs students.

so, as us autistics know, when left undiagnosed and untreated/neglected for too long, no accommodations in sight, what happens? that's right! other shit develops! i have symptoms that align with bpd now. it could just be the autistic burnout doing abnormal shit, but it's definitely in-line with how bpd can appear, and i even have childhood trauma to accompany that. there's other folks out there who end up with other cluster-b disorders, other various mental illnesses, but the fact that i was diagnosed at an early enough age to actually prevent this... and i'm ending up like everyone else that had a late diagnosis? it's so depressing. it makes me so upset. they caught it early. and i knew i had autism from the age of ten. but since i was "smart" and "performed well at school" and i was "well behaved", i never got assistance because it made me not eligible for anything like a teacher aide, like the non-verbal and high support needs student just across the class from me had all day. he got all the support he needed, which he should've, just because his disability was visible. i got ignored because i had "aspergers" and "was high functioning".

i don't remember ever having a good enough break from school, or more recently work, to where i could rest. where i could recover from my burnout. i got maybe a month and a half during summer school holidays as a kid during school. and two weeks between terms. but now that i'm working, even if it's only part time, i never take that two weeks off because i can't afford to. i don't get that month and a half off because i can't afford to. my old workplace was accommodating, but my fixed term ended at the end of february. my current workplace, with all its confusing and overwhelming bullshit, also required me to explain to my manager what autism is. she didn't even bother to google it between our first and second interview.

i'm going to work tomorrow, to cover a shift. then thursday, i'll be gathering all my necessary shit together to hopefully apply for a benefit. then, after my work week is finished, i'll have my mum call the crisis line for me, to see if i can organize going to a mental health facility before i lose my mind entirely. i can feel it getting worse, the autistic burnout i never got a chance to recover from. i've probably been experiencing the same burnout that i've never recovered from for, i'd like to say at least seven or eight years? since i was a child? it'd always just come back and bite me in the ass again after a while. summer holidays were never really enough, i need a year or two off. and i need my mental health back in order.

#autism #autistic #autistic burnout #neurodivergent #asd #actually autistic #mental health #mental illness

[strawbebbiesart]

warm sunshine on kitchen HERBS

other drawings in the series

#1k #digital art #sasha's art #my personal favourites #inktober2020 #artists on tumblr #Illustration #illustrators on tumblr #the other day i realised it's been a whole month since i've finished the last drawing which means!! it took me A Month for this lmao #like yeah there's a lot of details but what really took the majority of time was... not having the time to draw lmao #i am currently as usual struggling to survive due to the overwhelming amount of uni responsibilities lmao #hopefully i'll get to finish most things before my holidays so i can rest my brain for that one (1) week i get off #anyway i'll stop complaining now lmao please look at these plants i am very proud of them #i used my own plant pots as reference but i do not have these exact plants #the herbs from left to right are #bay leaf #coriander #chervil #rosemary #thyme #as you can see i took the shapes very liberally lmao it's more of a feeling y'know #anyway hopefully you all like them!! i love them!! #cottagecore #it's cottagecore vibes i Think right?? i do not know exactly what... cottagecore is but this Feels right #anyway thanks goodbye see u soon hopefully #also Yes this is still from my inktober prompt list despite it being december but i make my own rules cos i'm cool like that #and also i refuse to fail lmao

[taviewritesstuff]

UPDATE - Dec. 16, 2021

Firstly, Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you're all staying safe during this season! Things can get a little stressful, but it's almost over. You can do it!

Anyway, self-motivation aside, I wanted to give this blog a much needed update! I have been working on some little side projects in both art and writing. I'll get to the art stuff in a few, but I want to let you know about the writing projects I've been working on!

Firstly, my magnum opus (at the moment), The Zula Patrol: Dreamscape Crusade Remastered. I'm still working on chapter 4, and though I have an outline ready to go, I find myself stuck on the beginning section. Hopefully, I can get myself unstuck so I can get an update out sometime in the beginning of the year. I also started working on the outline for chapter 5, and man, that chapter is going to be more of a doozy than chapter 4. I can't tell you much, other than a few side characters are getting some well-deserved spotlight and attention, so look forward to that.

Secondly, my second side project, SRBA Gaiden: Darkness Rewrite. I haven't written stuff for Super Why in a hot minute, but I have had the ideas to keep writing the latest chapter (which, to be honest, is chock full of fight scenes) as well as incorporating a few new ideas that'll probably show up in Chaos' Revenge when I get around to writing the outline. As for the future of my Super Why stories, I am thinking of doing a few more Gaiden stories before I tackle another huge project like SRBA.

Oh, and speaking of SRBA...I have decided that this story will be the next story to get the "Remastered" treatment! The people have spoken, and to be honest, I'm excited to start this story! It won't appear, though, until I get a good ways into TZP:DCR and BT: Redux. So it'll probably be another year or two before that story comes out, God willing. However, I don't want to bog myself down with more projects than I already have. This will give me more than enough time to finish what stories I have, so please bear with me!

As for other projects...I am working on my H-Bx Honkai Impact 3rd crossover (which I still need to title, lol), but I'm keeping that, and most of the Honkai Impact stuff, on my main blog. Haven't decided when I'm going to release THAT, but that'll probably be way later down the line when I get headway into my other projects.

I'm also working on a collaboration with my good friend Vulaan Kulaas, who goes by @blazing-shadows on this site. She's come up with an AWESOME Sonic AU that we've titled Attero Dominatus (Latin for "Destroy Tyranny"). The character profiles (and their corresponding artworks) will be appearing on this blog so it doesn't get lost in the sea of stuff that is my main, lol. Haven't decided when I'm going to release this either, but I'm thinking of doing a short story to see how this goes, once I sit down and get the details down.

At the moment though, I've gotta buckle down, be an adult and take care of bills and school, so a lot of these will be released when I get the chance to do so. I just can't wait for the holidays so I can enjoy a proper rest from all that I had to do leading up to the holidays.

Take care of yourselves, and have a blessed day!

~Tavie

#author update #fanfiction stuff #real life

[topicprinter]

Original Post Here - First Part Here - First and foremost: thank you all for your kind support in the past two posts... not only the responses, but the dozen+ messages. Some of you just wrote to say you're interested, some even offered to help out. I'm grateful and hope you all keep along with me on the journey - rain or shine.TL;DR from the past: I'm hoping to make the step-up to stop thinking and start doing. I'm going to start a dropshipping e-commerce website with a large number of items & a (hopefully) unique value proposition.Most importantly: I'm not now, nor plan to, sell anything or benefit from this directly by any means. I won't be posting my website, linking to my blog, or offering a course at end (if I start making money). The reason for these posts will be: to gather my thoughts into words, to regurgitate what I'm learning (teaching is the best way to learn new concepts, etc etc) and most importantly to get input from you guys. I'm hoping people may learn from what I do, mistakes I make, things I read/summarize, etc. and that I can learn from your guys' experience.1 - Where We Are NowThe Website: is more or less finished. I have about 20 products left to finalize (choosing pictures, editing description, etc.) & finalizing some of the categories.The logo: I took a lot of your guys' thoughts from the last post and I decided on not spending much money or time on a freelancer. Instead, I DIYed my first logo. It's not great, and it's not going to be my everlasting logo but I think it's good enough for now. A simple picture with text - nothing fancy. When I start turning a profit, I will spend a good amount of money on a nice sleek logo.. but for now, I just want to get going. A special shoutout to all of you guys who took the time to offer your services and time, as well as your advice. Some of you guys that offered your help in design may hear from me in the future :)The website/homepage: Here are some examples to show you what the pages will look like: Homepage 1 Homepage 2 Homepage 3 Homepage 4 As mentioned, there will be lots of adjusting of the categories & information as we go. The categories in particiular will be slimmed down a little as I feel there are maybe too many options at the moment.The products: we have 245 products on the website. As mentioned in previous posts, these have all been vetted for high selling & high rated items/vendors so as to avoid problems as much as possible. Some items only have "details" from the vendor, and some have a few sentences of SEO information from me. At the moment it's about 50 of those done with verbage and the rest with just details. I started with planning on putting verbage on them all, but it was taking too long so I will be launching with just vendor details and adding those individual SEO keywords & descriptions as we go. For example, here are two items: Item 1 Item 2. For your reference, here is the aliexpress link for the first item: Elephant Tapestry take a look at the seller rating, the description, the feedback, etc.The Legal Stuff: This is the major sticking point before I'm ready to launch. A lot of you guys mentioned that my idea of using an LLC & a DBA was overkill and I looked into it further. I decided on bypassing the LLC for now, and just starting as a sole prop w/ a business bank account & credit card and using a DBA. When/if we start making some money, we can move to an LLC (not a single-member one though because it's pretty useless, as far as I've read). I decided against an LLC due to the tax, record keeping, etc. & the fact that in my state the fees for an LLC are about $500 minimum.If anyone has input on this, i'd GREATLY appreciate it.My remainder for this:Decide on a name for DBA & register DBARegister for EINRegister for sales tax in my stateUse DBA to get a PO boxGet bank account & credit creditThings I need to look into:Charging for sales tax -> as far as I've seen I only have to charge sales tax for people who order in my state. I need to make sure it's an origin sales tax state (aka I charge MY rate, no matter where the customer is).Charging for duties/tax? I am planning on starting with the US only as to avoid these problems, but eventually when I go worldwide I will need to figure all this out. Shit is confusing, guys. How the hell do people do al lthis2 - Marketing PlanFirst off: I made the social media accounts. I don't have much going on, but I did focus on using Instagress at the beginning just to get some stream going. All my 10 followers on Instagram say hello ;) As we ramp up with more pictures, I plan to use Instagram the most so that's what I'm worrying about. Later, we can get into Facebook & Twitter. Lastly will be Pinterest, simply for the reason that I've NEVER used it before and it will have the largest learning curve.Instead of explaining all of it (Adwords, facebook ads, bing, whatever.) I'll go into a few avenues that I'm in particular looking forward to:Instagram Influencers: This is the one I'm looking most forward to. I had a fellow redditer reach out (/u/saintsintosea) offering to help me with this with his company Mightyscout. I hope that sounded like a paid advertisement because it felt like it, but I really appreciate the help & offer to work with me on the cheap to help us launch & get started. Give a little get a little, ya know. With sites like this (I know there are a few out there that I plan to look into), as well as my own personal reach-out to 'social media influencers' (that sounds so weird to write) I can get some cheap traffic. My ideas:1) Offer a set amount of $$ for a link/shout-out. This is the most common AFAIK, and if doing this a few times provides a high return, I'll keep going.2) Offer the social media account a % of items bought with a discount code. I know this is super popular in the fitness industry, and I can see why. Offer a user the chance to give something to their followers, and only pay them from the profits. Win-win.3) Make a customized collection for the social media user. For some of the trendy accounts that would LOVE to say "I'm so important that this website featured me" is enough, and I hope to use that as a way of getting free advertising. Maybe throw in a lower amount of % of the profits if I find it difficult to get people to agree for free.4) Offer people coupons for tagging their friends. "If you tag your friend, we'll send you BOTH a 20% off discount" or something.5) Allow users to make wishlists and share. This would encourage people to make wishlists and send it off to their followers (maybe requiring a little $$ like number one) and make it seem less of a paid advertisement. A user I follow sometimes does this in a really humorous way (she posts a link to her wishlist and says something like "boy wouldn't you HATE IT if I used my followers to link to a wishlist like www.xxxxxxxx.com and asked them to buy me stuff. Wouldn't that just be such a sell-out move" but, ya know, with her humor. Followers like it because it's part of her shtick.Facebook Video Ads: I've heard/read that this is probably the most undervalued marketing tool right now. I can definitely see the value of it, and so I plan to make a video of some of the products and throw together an ad campaign. This is probably something I'll have to hire a freelancer to do. Any advice would be appreciated.3 - What's NextSo, we have the website almost ready to launch. I'm thinking all the legal paperwork (DBA, EIN, PO Box, etc.) will take about a week - so I hope to launch in around a week or so. I'm looking forward to it. However.... as some of you mentioned, and as I was looking into, Chinese New Year starts soon. For those who don't know, it's a holiday where Chinese factories are off for about a week, and lots of people are off for anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks. I've looked into and while lots of manufacturers still take orders, their processing time & shipping time is greatly slowed. For this reason, I will launch as normal, explain my shipping time in bold, and see what happens. If we get sales, I'll feel comfortable that they're OK with the shipping times and I'm not fooling anyone. I expect there to be a large amount of errors, returns, refunds, etc. in the first few ~100 orders anyways so this will be par for the course. We'll know that things will only get easier from here on!My next update will read: "website launched, lets look at the traffic"4 - FinancialsRevenue - $0Next post will have expenses to date since not much has changed from last time. Including paperwork fees, ad fees, etc.P.S. I will respond to posts & messages as fast as I can, but please be patient. Thanks. Thanks for your kind words, thanks for your help, and thanks for your love.

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit