For a month long tour, it seemed like nothing compared to the week long wait to get home. Her headaches converted into migraines, breakdowns now being fits of anger where evidence of it happening would be the trashed hotel room the housekeepers have to clean up. To keep herself occupied, Y/n tried to watch the posted performances of the group but seeing them express themselves on stage without her, happiness written all over their faces despite the harsh realities they push through bothers her. Why can't she have it that easy? All those years of pushing herself and it's falling short right in front of her.
The flight back was possibly the worst of it all. Rinko seemed to have some sort of stick lodged deep within her ass and whenever she was in a bad mood, it reflected onto Y/n. She refused to speak to anyone—claiming the negative energy was too much, Rinko then went around with such an attitude that put other staff in a frightened frenzy. At some point, she confronted Y/n about her ignorance and scolded her regarding the matter, going so far as to belittle her for "acting out" which sparked some exchanged glances among the staff (and a few nosy bypassers) at the gate. New seating arrangements were made in order to reduce any further arguments and conflict.
Having returned to Japan, things were bitter between the head workers and Y/n, everyone had their own take on her outburst and Rinko's response to it—some better than others. The staff at the company held a little surprise for Y/n where her, Yuki, Hoshi, and Cyuti could have a break for the rest of the week, giving them time to reconnect, and essentially get Y/n out of this headspace of hers.
The group hung out in the main room of their shared home, babbling about how the release went and all the performances they did. Y/n listened, but not actively, she appeared out of it. The only one to catch onto this was Cyuti, who then nudged Yuki to speak up. "Everything alright, babes?" She moved from her spot next to Hoshi, plopping next to the dazed woman. "Yeah... tired. I think." Y/n rubs the corner of her eyes, easily dimming the mood. "I'm fine, really. I'm proud of you all, you guys did amazing out there." She tries to lighten it up, but the fire she's sparking just keeps dying.
"... What happened? They updated us on the tour, how are you feeling?" Cyuti crosses her legs, inching her way into the circle. "Did Rinko give you a hard time?" Hoshi laid her own head on Cyuti's shoulder. "I don't know. Everything was just so... chaotic. I wasn't feeling well, I started missing you guys, the critical feedback. And between Rinko and Itsuki... not to mention Tsukishima." She listed off, muttering the man's name quietly. Cyuti groans at the name and almost walked off of it weren't for Hoshi holding her down. "I blew up at Rinko last night because she kept giving me shit about me wanting to keep my space and... I just got irritated." The three girls just sit in silence, taking in their friend's words. Hoshi—given knowing her the longest—empathized with her and scooted over to hug Y/n. "Do I even wanna know how Tsukishima contributed to this?" Cyuti leans back in her spot, an eyebrow quirked up.
"I don't know what the hell he's got going on, he wants me to meet up with him today, but I'm scared to. All we've done is argue over the phone, there's just so much happening. I don't know what to do." Y/n rants, glancing over at her phone for a quick time check. It's five in the afternoon, he should be done with practice right about now. "What do you know?" Yuki jokes, only for it to backfire.
"I know I'm exhausted, Yuki." She emphasizes, covering her face anxiously. Her head's been filled with so much in only a month, she knew what all this consisted of when she signed her contract and yet firmly believed she could still hold a normal life when she did.
A pregnant pause coats them all, their thoughts all unified but no one exactly sure if what they should say is appropriate. They want the best for Y/n seeing as she's the youngest, and it's their job to be there for one another, but can they do that if their suggestion directly affects not only their career, but them as well.
⋆｡˚🪼🫧˚｡⋆
The summer breeze is brutal against her body, pushing her in all sorts of directions while waiting for Tsukishima. He'd checked in on her earlier to confirm she was actually going to be there, later sending her their meetup spot. She'd left her phone with Hoshi (before praying that she didn't break it) and set off. In the distance of the early evening, she spots the male grabbing some vendor food and positions herself beside him.
"Took you long enough." He squints to read the items on the small-printed menu. "Had to settle in. I flew in this morning." She glances at her watch before peeking over at the menu herself. "How're you feeling?" Tsukishima questions, pointing to some shaved ice after finally being able to see that tiny ass font. "Better than the last few weeks." She shrugs off, ordering some water for herself. "That's good. Can't have you passin' out on me." They both stand off to the side, Tsukishima waiting for his own order.
It's quiet, nothing awkward, at least on his end. Y/n just wanted to get this over with, lay down, enjoy her time off, relax for a change and—"Has opening up to people always been hard for you? Or is it just me?" He breaks her thoughts, glancing down at his feet. "Not really. Just guys who ignore me." Clearly whatever bitterness she had earlier carried over. Tsukishima bites his tongue, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it already was. "Only because you stood me up, but this isn't about that."
"I'm not working against you here, take my word for it or not, but whatever you're juggling, I want to help. I know you have a good support system, Yachi told me, and... I guess I wanna be apart of that." He mumbles the last bit, scratching his neck. "I'm willing to take whatever punishment comes with being with you. Dont forget you're not the only one with fans and followers." That bit makes Y/n scoff, she's not oblivious. "People have died, you know? From this kind of thing. 'm not comparing but it gets extremely bad in my field." This makes him scoff in return, he's not oblivious either.
"Good thing one of us is mentally stronger for that then. I can protect you, in fact I want to, if you'll let me. Is that so hard to believe? That someone genuinely cares and isn't just saying that to get into your pants?" Her head whips in his direction and the smuggest look is on his face. "Unless that's what you want, I can do that too." Tsukishima jokes, and it does get a short laugh out of her, before she shakes her head in disbelief.
The vendor calls out his order, he steps from her side to retrieve the both of their items, handing her her water. "I've grown out of that actually, I actually took my job seriously after all that." They walk ahead to find an empty bench. "Just a suggestion. I'm serious about being there for you though. You don't have a choice." He nudges her lightly, and she dramatically pretends to be hurt. "Damn, aggressive much?" Y/n rubs her arm.
They talk a little more, formally exchanging apologies for their angrily sent messages and having her inform him on every little bit of her travels, even the not-so fun bits. Like he said, Tsukishima listened to every part of her rant down to the letter, leaving them out there for god knows how long just talking, observing, listening. After they finish up with their mini-date, she's in a much better mood than she was before, and she's greatly convinced that this could work out for them.
And so was he.
ᐟᐟ☆ fun facts 🥂
₊ ⊹ none!! (other than the fact that this took WAY longer than it shouldve)
I have at last seen the 2004 Phantom movie in full. Here's what I got in the final quarter. If you have borne witness to my rambles, thank you. It has been a journey.
- The way the audience hears Don Juan Triumphant and immediately all their ears are bleeding lol fair. What is this set, though? Don Juan is having a bonfire? Yeah yeah “the flames will at last consume us,” I get it. Say less.
- ERIK DESCENDING UPON PIANGI WITH HIS FLUTTERING CAPE. OK BATMAN.
- I can't believe Gerry is shirt-open functionally nude in PONR compared to my man stage!Erik wearing a fucking Ghost of Christmas Future shroud with only his shaking Hands to demonstrate his abject horniness. They're trying to put the PORN in PONR and everybody is watching like 👀👀👀👀👀 and yet somehow this is one of the least sexy PONRs I have ever seen? I miss Mommy Christine and the two of them fighting for dominance :(((((
- fkdjsflaksjd he put his hands on her and Christine really said "choke me daddy" I'm sCREAMING. This girl is like 98% micro-expressions but her main expressions are just👁️👄👁️ or 🫦
- Erik stop SMIRKING
- when they begin their descent into hEEEELLLLL and Erik asks "why???" I swear he's asking her why she tore off his mask. I am also not exactly sure what Emmy's Christine hoped to achieve in that scene either tbh
- Daroga, come get your boy Raoul!!! Keeping his hand at the level of his eyes ain't doing shit for him while he's drowning! That's an excellent scene. The recurring trap door usage is fun. It's a little bit Scooby Doo in a good way.
- This Final Lair ain’t doing it for me y’all. Where is the chemistry, the manic chaos, the suspense, the accusations, the shattered fantasies, the suffocating combination of fear and despair and love!!! Fuck me UP please I beg!!! The blocking is as bizarre as the 25th anniversary but now it reads as dungeon BDSM with unsafe rope play, and everyone is wet but not in a fun sexy way...
- There was no reason to have Erik smash three (3) mirrors at the end. One would've been fine, I think. He's such a pretty crier, which isn't very Erik in my opinion, but alas. They are all pretty Single TearTM criers.
- I am retracting my comments about his deformity not being "enough." The reason the Exposed Brain helps sell it on stage is because some of us are watching these shows from the second balcony back row, so for a movie it's not as necessary
- Erik lives! *Frankenstein voice* HE'S ALIIIIIVE!!! But if Christine died two years ago, and that ring he left on her grave hasn't been snatched up by passersby, this implies Erik left it recently?? As if he knew Raoul was coming?? Erik PLEASE she is already dead, there's no reason to fight her husband
Okay admittedly this all might’ve packed more of a punch if I hadn’t spread out my watch over the span of a week and tried to finish it while fighting with my cat! Probably this film deserved my undivided attention, but this gets like a B- idk it was cute. I'll think about it. ANYWAY back to writing E/C sickfic---
Sorry for the silence today! I've been working super hard so I can upload the comic tomorrow and this fancy butt having a complicated design does not help.
And here’s something I’ve been working on since a while, but I always got distracted by other stuff, and then I had problems... But it’s finally at a releasable stage, so there we go! :)
I always loved the gnome station from Sims 1, and the weird gnomes from Sims 3, and this is kind of a mix of these things. I’m so excited to share it ^^
Info and download and rambling under the cut :)
It’s actually kinda similar to the woodworking bench, I just changed and fixed a couple of things, so it’s hopefully better in gameplay. It also uses mechanical skill, and sims can make new gnomes on every level (I kinda randomly decided on it lol). I increased the crafting times on the lower level ones, so it’s not that fast now. They also raise tinkering enthusiasm (which is fixed now).
The station itself is slaved to the base game value counter (because I thought the Sims 1 station looked kinda like it, and I want to slave everything). So they pick up any recolors you have for these counters. It can be found among the other OFB stations in the catalog as well.
All the gnomes’ material cost is 50 simoleons, and they sell for 100 simoleons. Sims get the material cost back if you abort crafting.
All the craftables are hidden from the calalogue, and only restockable from the inventory. But where’s the magic you would ask? Well, if you put the gnomes in the world, they might change their pose if you play long enough! (they don’t move around, that would be creepy lol)
Known issues: When sims choose the make many option, the tools disappear from their hand when they start a new object, but they reappear soon.
List of Craftables:
Level 0: Mysterious Mr. Gnome
Level 1: Evil Mr. Gnome
Level 2: Toddler Gnome, Child Gnome, Teen Gnome, Elder Gnome
Level 3: Gnome of the Darned, Abracadabra the Magical Gnome of Laundry, Troglodyte the Magical Gnome of B.C.
Level 4: Brawn Brawn G'nome, s-GNOME-man Bittertotter, Bucktooth Butternut
Level 5: The Magical Gnome of Sculpting, The Magical Gnome of Invention
Level 6: Cracklin Nackerbell, Magical Vampire Gnome
Level 7: Master Manchu the Magical Gnome of China, Sultan Sam, the Magical Gnome of Egypt, Little Léon the Magical Gnome of France
I still don’t know which EPs are required, probably OFB, Free Time, Apartment Life? (sorry for that)
Many thanks and credits to: @nixedsims / Rebecah (base), @veranka (object parts), @hafiseazale (gnomes / gnome poses), @midgethetree (help with the gnome magic)
As usual, please tell me if there is any problem! :)
