melefim

[melefim]

On the darkest day of the year, I bring you a winter’s tale! This short story is set between Sorcery of Thorns and Mysteries of Thorn Manor, told from Silas’s perspective about a week after his return. It will be posted online in five installments, with a chapter per day leading up to Christmas.

I borrowed the idea of using AO3 as a platform from the magnificent @what-eats-owls, who paved the way with her collection of Little Thieves short stories, The Fallow Year. The Fallow Year is bookmarked on my AO3 page for anyone who hasn’t checked it out yet, which I highly recommend.

Please note, since I don’t want to disappoint anyone, this story is Silas-focused and doesn’t feature on-page appearances by Elisabeth and Nathaniel, though they’re often in his thoughts. I can’t wait for you to meet the glamorous dressmaker Lady Tremayne, who sprang to life in my imagination as I was writing Mysteries of Thorn Manor and hasn’t left me since.

An additional thank you to @glitterghost whose last minute AO3 invite allowed me to share this with you all in time for the holidays.

[melefim]

Things cats were right about all along:

Fuck staying hydrated by drinking enough water - eat! more! wet! food! (watermelon, cucumbers, SOUP!)

Feels great to be really high up in your house where you can see the whole place (loft bed loft bed loft bed loft bed!)

Express yourself as clearly as possible when people are touching you and you don't want them to.

Optional, but you can also express yourself clearly when your people are not touching you and you want them to.

Sometimes it's important to just go "hmm. actually, I don't care" and wander off.

You don't have to be the strongest or toughest to defend yourself, it's enough to just be difficult enough to not be worth the trouble.

Ghosts will eventually leave if you stare at them for long enough.

[melefim]

If you’re looking to add some Vibes, Aldi’s in the US has these in the Aldi Finds section! (They also had Twister, Candy Land, and Sorry)

Also over here laughing at Edwin & Charles getting one for the office game closet- they don’t need blankets, but it’s another version of Clue so of course they’re getting one!

[melefim]

5-25% off is a discount, 30-50% off is a deal, and 60-90% off is clearance. I'm TRUELY SICK of being lured to a clearance section for a measly 20% like please be serious

[melefim]

"I had to ask after seeing this in the comments not to long ago."

"You both have beautiful souls and deserve nothing but happiness. We were all wondering what your favourite dinosaurs are?"

[melefim]

I've been real busy lately because it's December and I work at the post office, so of course I am

But that doesn't mean I can't show up with an unprompted PSA

Hey! Have you ever mailed a letter to Santa Claus? Have you ever wondered what exactly happened to that letter? Well wonder no longer! If it had a stamp and a return address, then odds are that it ended up on the USPS's Operation Santa page!

Every year, the USPS collects letters to Santa Claus, and processes them to black out any identifying information. Last names, addresses, things like that. Then, the letters are posted on the Operation Santa webpage and people can adopt the letters.

Once you adopt a letter, you can buy gifts for them, wrap them up, and package them. Then you get a barcode from the website, and bring them to a post office. The clerk there will scan the barcode, which prints out a label with the address on it, and sends out the gift.

It's anonymous on both ends, and is generally just. A really nice thing to do.

I highly recommend it if you have some money to spare this year and want to give a kid a moment of magic this year

It's one of those things that the post office just happened to be positioned to do, and ended up knocking it out of the park. Unfortunately, I don't think they advertise this nearly well enough, and most letters end up going unanswered

Hopefully, a few more will be answered this year

[melefim]

My fucking cat has figured out how to gently dig his claws into my eyelid and pull my eyes open while I'm sleeping. He does this. It does not hurt. He is remarkably precise and gentle. I however am asleep when it happens and do not appreciate being clockwork oranged by a needy clingy goddamn animal who thinks he needs attention.

[melefim]

What if Edwin has some kind of mark on him from Hell?

Perhaps a sigil cast by Saal or by one of the demons who he traded him to. Perhaps a literal brand. Perhaps a supernatural marking that just appears on the skin of those bound for Hell.

What if Edwin has no idea about this?

Why would he? He can't see himself in mirrors, and even if he could, he would not be taking his clothes off since he doesn't shower. Or what if it's literally on his back, where he couldn't see without a mirror at all?

Anyway, when Charles and Edwin get together, Charles discovers the mark. It's on his back, and Charles lowkey decides not to ask about it because Edwin doesn't speak of it. Edwin literally just has no idea it's there, but Charles thinks he does. Because, in Charles's mind, why wouldn't he? Charles knows where all of his scars are. He had them when he was alive.

So he says nothing, but whenever they're being intimate or when they're snuggling or whatever, he takes extra care to show love to it. Because he knows that maybe Edwin doesn't want to talk about it, but it's probably not something he enjoys having and it's probably something he's insecure about.

And he wants Edwin to feel loved! All of him! So loved! So Charles kisses the spot, traces it with his fingers. And one day Edwin's like "Charles, why do you continuously show favoritism to my right shoulder blade?"

And Charles is like, "Are you gonna tell me that the left one's jealous? That's brills" as a joke.

But Edwin is like, genuinely confused, and Charles has to tell him about the mark.

Edwin is visibly EXTREMELY unhappy that this mark is there. He is embarrassed that a) he did not know about the mark, and b) Charles saw the mark. He also feels really violated because it like, marks him as Hell's. And he wants to be his own, and of course Charles's, but mostly he wants to be his own. And now he has this reminder of the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to him, and it's stuck as part of him, and there's no way to get it off.

But every day, Charles kisses it. And he traces it over with letters that spell words of love, and he touches it with gentle hands, and he kisses it. And after years, decades, after literally forever, he forgot that the mark was not completely traced over by Charles

I'm going to write this as a fic btw

[melefim]

I know it's unfair vilification and stuff but it's also a lot of fun to see old media and stuff where people were SO scared of big animals like lions, sharks, crocodiles and wolves were fully expected to just come and eat you the moment you stepped into their territory. In older media we also made that assumption about gorillas and in still older we thought it'd be whales. But some animals that will actually fuck you up got left behind. Boars will kill you and eat you. They're way more likely to do so than any of those other things actually. Hippos, obviously, got off like bandits always being depicted as cute and dopey. And then there's the squids. Not giant kraken size squids. The eight foot squids that hunt in packs and will fuck you up if you fall in the water at night. I can't BELIEVE people slept on that. It's like all they cared about were the huge deep sea ones we never see. The medium size wolf pack squids were right there.

[melefim]

TUMBLR POSTS I'VE TAGGED AS EDWIN PAYNE [Charles' version.]

[melefim]

Btw if anyone needs it for art references or just some nightmare fuel the VFX artist who created the baby doll head spider is on insta and has several posts of well lit multi angle views of this fucking thing

(EDIT he's the creature designer and not the animator/rigger, so some of these are more concepts that would've undergone tweaks by the animators)

[melefim]

Dead Boy Detectives is up for Favorite TV Show of 2024!

Voting for the finals runs until 8:00pm EST on Wednesday December 11th, and you can vote once per day per device. Make sure your vote goes through- there’s an ‘answer this so we know you’re not a robot’ question you have to answer before your vote is counted!

The top 10 in each category will make their favorite of the year list, so remember to vote every day to keep our dead boys in the lead!

We’re up against a couple big fandoms in our category, so make sure you’re voting every day and sharing the link so others can vote too!

(If you’re using an adblocker, you may need to turn it off for the polls to appear)

[melefim]

this video has been going around for a while but the English subtitles didn't match the energy of the spoken French at all. i had to fix it.

reblog to spread this version

[melefim]

Dead Boy Detectives is up for Favorite TV Show of 2024!

Voting for the finals runs until 8:00pm EST on Wednesday December 11th, and you can vote once per day per device. Make sure your vote goes through- there’s an ‘answer this so we know you’re not a robot’ question you have to answer before your vote is counted!

The top 10 in each category will make their favorite of the year list, so remember to vote every day to keep our dead boys in the lead!

We’re up against a couple big fandoms in our category, so make sure you’re voting every day and sharing the link so others can vote too!

(If you’re using an adblocker, you may need to turn it off for the polls to appear)

[melefim]

Advertising peaked at the Discovery channel “Boom de Yada” commercials

[melefim]

I hate "it's not trying to be accurate!" arguments for historical fiction or historically-inspired fantasy clothing choices that just. don't make sense logistically

why is that girl in Br*dgerton tightlacing her stays? what is she reducing- her upper ribcage? not only can you not tightlace in those (hand-bound eyelets can't usually take that strain, in my experience), but there's no reason to because your waistline is under your boobs. and unlike most of the series, they actually commit to the empire waistline for the court presentation gowns. small waists don't matter when NOBODY IS SEEING YOUR WAIST

why no chemise, in so many productions? fantasy/lack of concern for accuracy can't make things not chafe. chafing is not a matter of accuracy; it's a physical reality. did a wizard give everybody in the kingdom Anti-Chafing Spells?

just because you don't WANT a linen underlayer beneath a medieval tunic doesn't mean sweat won't get to outer garments and damage them- or make them need laundering, which weakens the fibers -at a time when all clothing is handmade, custom-fitted, and created from hand-woven fabrics and thus a HUGE investment

you're not just throwing accuracy to the winds as a design choice; you're ignoring How Textiles And Bodies And the Realities of Your Technology Level's Fabric and Laundering Capabilities Work

[melefim]

Things I didn't know I needed to know