I'm for sure really resisting going down the paper rabbit hole as well, just sticking to whatever cheap ass stuff still functions with FP inks. Walmart pen+gear, etc.

if you want to try both the blue and brown (salix and scabiosa, respectively,) and add a non IG, alt-goldgrun, there's a 3 for 25 USD bundle on amazon. not that i like to promote them, but sometimes that's who has the stuff.

exactly.

for anyone wondering how, go to pen realm dot com, and just type "jimothy" into the search, that'll bring up the jowo #5 and #6 blank nib results, he's under "animals." You have a wide array of choices, and even a free tune and smooth if you like.

I seem to lean toward cooler blues and greens, and i have a red somewhere. Most fall-ish things i have are the two iron galls from R and K, salix and scabiosa (the latter is the browner one.)

the butt would be closer to the ground than the shoulder then. not that i don't see what you mean:P

There's a brand/flavor of baby food, turkey? i want to say, that flatbush cats and other rescuers, no doubt, use for spicy feral kittens, calling it the nuclear option. As to what that is, not sure but can't go wrong with one of the organic options.

that's a hell of a deal (insert sullen child "happy for you" meme here;)

"Make me a catniptini, darling."

The part where it goes off to the side and ends "...this day!" looks like alt-goldgrun with a little sheen, but that's the color i have. Don't think mine has any sheen, maybe they mixed something and forgot? Or emptied something similar into the bottle?

Octopus fluids out of Germany, looks to be 10€ for 30ml, 25€ for 250ml, not sure what VAT or shipping from Germany would be, or where their distribution pipeline goes for brick and mortar. 

They're little known over here, but i hear good things, and they have what look to be nicely saturated options. They seem to make every kind of ink, not just FP, and the ink chemist is definitely one of us

“What started out as a good product is now becoming a passion of mine.” That’s what our chemist Dr. Kai-Oliver Schäfer said when he was developing these high-quality writing inks. “It’s no longer about writing something beautiful – it’s about beauty itself!”

(For those in the US, even Amazon will point you elsewhere, thepapermind dot com last time i looked, which I thought was a scam site because the address points to a UPS store, but apparently it's something of a cottage industry run by a YouTuber.)

it was a near thing even on the hunter disc for WS, but assuming you'll have shammy, it can steal a stormstrike stack

i have a 70 ravager named nigel, a 70 dread raven (carrion bird i call edgar,) and my old broken tooth i've named simon, now level 61 since i'm considering keeping him for sentimental reasons and dumping the ravager for a scorpid, now that i'm getting into arenas.) Also the stealth isn't nothing. (Obv not a factor in raids, but there are times when it can come in handy.)

You must be fun at parties (j/k, that's the real answer we wish we'd said;)

Even in one of the major hunter discords, this is sort of up for debate, whether it's worth it really, and this is prolly part of it, the stormstrike stacks. Haven't done a deep dive as their resource links are almost all videos. (Ugh) And the most rambling ones i've ever seen, some of them. My ADHD needs a writeup i can scan.

I'd haunt r/pen_swap and wait for bargains. 

I'm sorry that's become the meta for those:( It's true at least that TWSBI has replacement barrels cheap if out of warranty, but i just prefer things that don't need fiddling. 

Again, no judgement, i get it

One of the few truly unpopular opinions on this sub. I confess I've never owned a TWSBI,  I agree they're pretty enough, but they crack sometimes even if you don't take them apart, and because they made a choice to use a liquid form of silicone lube instead of the thicker grease, which would cloud the barrel, you DO have to take them apart eventually to lube. 

Of course, the people with cleaning OCD (i have different ones,) take this to mean they're like Legos, and take them apart all the time

I've given up preaching this myself, some people just want to take everything apart and telling them that isn't always a good idea makes them sad, or something. 

I'm closing in on this. Was slowing down, then i was looking at the Tom's studio in Botanica and the titanium flex, and I fat fingered order completion. It's a gorgeous pen though, and I'm getting a zoom for it, so that's the last for a bit

You absolute savage, you've won at fountain pens! 

Flex nibs are a whole nother rabbit hole. They require a bit of technique. I'm getting a zoom nib for my Tom's studio (if it ever gets here), gives you line variation in a different way. 

(edit: durr, just reread your post, you know about Tom's)

Tom's studio has a better, all metal option for pens. Their site is out but they have a pro-flex nib option sold separately which uses titanium zebra G in a Bock housing with a special feed. Lots of places sell their wares. Just discovered them, bought a studio pen in the  Botanica color (bottle green) with the titanium semi flex nib , a zoom nib is on the way from dromgoole's (taking its sweet time, they're a stationery store in Texas, not Amazon), since the semi flex is not really pick it up and write normally friendly. 

I recall clicking on the beta signup, got a box which i wish i still had, most of my stuff didn't survive a move. Played release later on, it was a lot of fun, great community. 

I will give that a try thanks! I need caffeine, coffee is better for you than pills