#//be proud of me for this length

[lilyxjohnson]

WITH: @kyewinslcw LOCATION: some road

Driving her cruiser back into the city, she caught sight of a man whose car presumably broke down at the side of the road. And by virtue of her profession, she figured her civic duty counseled in favor of stopping to help him out. Pulling her car up in front of his, she turned towards the blonde man who somehow looked like he belonged more so in a place like L.A. than a city like Wilmington. “Need some help? Or a ride into town?” She didn’t know too much about cars, but Lily figured whatever the issue, they’d find a solution assuming he needed the assistance.

[idle-compy]

@yasammyweek (late) day 3 - prom

full outfits under the cut

[rivkae-winters]

You Will Rot

I adore this entire scene and their entire exchange and there are plenty of other posts out there on it but I’ve never come across the points I wanted to make hence why I'm writing this. Specifically on the implications of exactly what rots since that latched into my brain and would not let me go.

As always: this is only my interpretation of canon, there is no one true analysis to take as gospel. In fact please interact with your thoughts if you have any! I enjoy talking to other people about this sort of thing, fandom is all about discussion after all!

My stance on this line is one of nuance. I tend to think Sephiroth chose the worst words he could think of without fully considering the full implications.  He said the thing he knew that would hurt Genesis the most after the entire conversation beforehand.

What does it mean to be told to rot? Or even so told you will rot. 

In the FF7 universe, most explicitly displayed in CC, bodies dissolve. Corpses, both monster and human, are depicted as dissolving to return to the Lifestream. This is re-confirmed in the remake. 

Rot is not a term for humans, it’s not a cultural concept the same way it is for us in the real world. To decay and decompose are not processes that sentient beings undergo.

Rot is something for objects- things that live but aren’t alive enough or connected enough quote-un-quote to return to the Lifestream in the same dramatic manner. Rot is for things like food and flowers and things that are below the level of humans or animals or anything with general sentience. 

Sephiroth is telling Genesis here, he is not just a monster: he is insignificant. He is telling Genesis that he is not enough of a sentient being to return to the Lifestream and he’ll continue falling apart in real time just like a piece of fruit left forgotten and rotting on the kitchen counter. He is telling Genesis that at the end of the day he’s already dead in every way that matters and is no longer a person. Sephiroth is telling Genesis that he will have no mercy given to him at the end of the day: he will rot and waste like an object lacking sentience and then he will be left there.

Sephiroth is digging into Genesis’s own deepest insecurities here. Genesis fears not just being irrelevant but being rendered a non-entity, to be kept or out of control. Genesis has defined his entire life as a journey to be someone to be enough to be someone worthy of love and praise and being seen. Objects aren’t people, and Genesis is an object to Sephiroth with that statement. 

The only person who could help him no longer considers him a person- nor a thing with sentience. 

Obviously this is all over analyzing Sephiroth’s dialogue. This line was said with calculation, yes, but it was also somewhat reflexive. Sephiroth is under a lot of stress in this scene and Genesis has been slinging everything he never wanted to be told at him in a single conversation. Genesis then has the audacity to try to act as if he did something good. While Sephiroth’s world is collapsing around him and his other defected friend acts like he did him a favor. Sephiroth is angry, who wouldn’t be angry. Sephiroth thought the world of Genesis prior to his defection, he thought the world of both of them and those illusions have been crashing down around him.

So he uses Genesis’s own grief over his former friend’s tattered life that manifests as self deprecation and self dehumanization against him. He confirms the de-humanizing rhetoric that Genesis has been attaching to his own existence. Sephiroth in his pain and anger pushes past the fears that Genesis has been externalizing to what he knows Genesis is truly afraid of. 

If Genesis considers himself a monster than by the standards of the person Sephiroth thought he knew he is already living out his worst fears. He is nothing, he is nothing without his mind. If Genesis wants to be what he once considered a non-entity: wants to wallow in the rot and non-personhood so much then he can. 

Sephiroth turns his back on, in his mind, the moving corpse of the long dead Genesis Rhapsodos and walks away. 

You will Rot You are Nothing

There is also something to be said here for the Kanji used in the original!

I’m not touching on this as much as I would have liked to but it would be criminal if I didn’t at least pull out a Kanji dictionary.

I pulled Sephiroth’s line from here; warning the website is not in English at all but easy enough to navigate via context/knowledge of story events and the characters' Japanese names. 

Sephiroth’s line is: 朽ち果てろ kuchihatero

This is translated in the official English release as “You will rot” and in a pre-US release fan translation from May of 2007 roughly the same way as “Go decay”

朽  Decay; Rot; Remain in Seclusion

果  Fruit; Reward; carry out; achieve; complete; end; finish; succeed

[1][2] [3 specifically for 朽][4 specifically for 果]

Thanks for reading!

[cozylittleartblog]

random note about king on that animation, i got really lucky with how simple his animation was and how clean my sketches were to begin with that i was able to do very minimal cleanup on what i had sketched (and add back. his horn. it's supposed to take place just after echoes of the past, Oops) and call it done that way instead of having to redraw the entire thing like i had to on his dad

first sketch > line cleanup > nearly final animation (i'd added slight eye movements last-second but otherwise that's the final)

[manchesterau]

harry and his dangly earring on the x factor uk in 2013

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Parentalbond Horror

*grinning* I am baaaaaaaack!! @spotaus get over here :D

So. I had the difficult choice on which drabble i wanted to write so For now I settled on this one because I haven't had the chance to write a drabble with Horror's pov since a while and that is a crime.

First Drabble here Prev Drabble here Next Drabble here

As always we go in unbeta'ed and unedited.

*-----------------*

Horror checks the windows again before turning back to the couch and seeing Nightmare just staring at him.

Horror tils his skull "sleep will be easier if you actually lay down...." And he looks pointedly at the couch.

Nightmare gains that stubborn glint in his sockets again as he huffs "I am fine. Not tired at all." he looks at the pile of bags in the corner of the room wishfully.

Horror has to keep his chuckling inside as he answers "Shame then that it is bedtime for young skeletons." And adult skeletons. Horror glances at the other three. All KO on the other couch, all still dressed in their normal clothes and none of them actually finished their meals.

Horror will have to pack up the leftovers. Make sure nothing goes to waste. But he will let them sleep for now and just make them eat a big breakfast. But all three had been running themselves ragged lately. Especially after the last encounter they had had with the Stars.

It meant they have been making more jumps and teleports and not going out as much to collect things to make it easier for them.

Horror walks over to them and puts one of the blankets in this apartment over them, he doesn't bother to try and pull them away from one another. The four of them always had the habit of sleeping in a pile and that habit only got worse once they started searching for Nightmare and reclaimed him.

Horror checks Ngihtmare's plate and smiles "You finished it all today." No wonder he is grumpier and more active than usual.

Nightmare pulls a face and crosses his arms. Horror walks over and nudges him at his shoudler "Sleep time." and he waits.

Nightmare grumbles more as he pushes the blankets and pillows around. Horror just crosses his arms as he waits. Nightmare huffs but lays his skull down on the pillow and glares at him.

Horror knows he is grinning but he is proud to say he doesn't actually snort or laugh at the grumpy face Nightmare is pulling. instead he moves closer slowly, the first week of watching Nightmare flinch at every movement and sound had been horrible, and puts the blanket over him as well.

Nightmare doesnt complain about it. Most likely becuase he just saw Horror do the same for the other three.

Horror nods and sits by him "Time to sleep." it is his turn to keep watch and he plans on taking ti seriously.

Nightmare huffs but just turns his face further into the pillow. Tiny body starting to relax with the simple comforts.

Horror tries to not be obvious as he keeps an eye on Nightmare.

Horror knows of course what is going on and he is trying to not give in. At least one of them should not give into the adopting.

Horror can admit he had been surprised that Dust was the first one to actually soul adopt Nightmare. Especially after only a week. It had been so fast and the transition between the before and after state had been so smoothly that Horror had honestly thought that Dust had done it on purpose and planned.

It would have made sense. Dust had been the one to find the book first and been the one to actually manage to get Nightmare back to them.

Only for it to become obvious that Dust had no idea what he had just done.

Soul adoption is a rather normal thing for monsters to do. Though in most universes they rarely happened as monsters don't tend to abandon children.

But well, Horror's AU had been one with starvation and a lot of fighting. People lost their lives in multiple ways. That meant quite a few orphans.

Soul adoption happened when an adult monster willingly took the role as caretaker for a younger monster who doesn't have a caretaker. There are a few more factors obviously but Horror doesn't know all of them of the top of his skull, especially not now with that hole in it.

What it comes down to? Nightmare is an orphan and has no one he could go to that could take care of them, and all of them know this. Dust found out first and surprisingly his soul was open enough to the idea to accept Nightmare as... well... his.

There are more hurdles in this situation of course. The fact that they Nightmare they knew was an adult, which is what Horror thinks is tripping up Cross. But Dust had been very quick with accepting that Nightmare is now a child and so immediantly treated him as one.

Killer took a bit longer but quickly fell into step as well. Calling Nightmare tiny boss and going from his right-hand-man to his babysitter, Killer's words not Horror's.

Horror is however a bit surprised that Killer also soul adopted Nightmare. In theory it shouldn't have happened as Nightmare at this time already had Dust as his caretaker and so technically didn't need one anymore.

Seems like Killer's soul didn't agree with that.

Horror can't say a lot about it though, seeing as he can feel it happening with himself as well. And he has no doubt that Cross is very close to giving into his own instincts and feelings concerning this as well.

The whole thing with their last interaction with the Stars is a very big give away. Even if Cross felt very embarresed by his own reaction.

At least Nightmare is no truly convinced that they won't harm him and will help him. Horror is happy they managed to get there and with it having only been a month since they took him with them. Horror can say they did a good job.

Nightmare has falled asleep.

Horror move slowly and silently and puts two fingers to the the side of his small belly and feels.

Horror may not have a lot of magic himself but his AU was left him with a very useful skill. Wiht how little food there was available and how little magic there was there came issues. One of the issues was that after a while the magic monsters had wasn't strong enough anymore to digest the food that the mosnters did manage to eat. meaning that even if the monster ate food they would not get any energy or new magic from it.

Meaing that even if they ate they would continue to starve.

Wiht how difficult it had been for Nightmare at first to eat or even remember to eat Horror had worried something simular may have happened. That being in the goop form had caused his own magic to grow too weak to be able to function fully.

But all Horror feels is the soft and quiet purr of NIghtmare's magic working hard to use the offered food to rebuild the babybones' small reserves.

Horror sighs a sigh or relieve and just watches Nightmare for a moment. Nightmare, having noticed the pressure on him, makes an unhappy sound and his socket flutters open to give him a sour look.

Horror chuckles as he whispers "I apologise." Horror is unsure how clear his answer is as Horror himself is purring like a loud law mower at this point.

Nightmare blinks at him, still looking like the tiniest little grumpy skeleton this multiverse has ever known, before closing his sockets again and turning on his side. surprisingly not away from the touch and light hold.

Horror watches the other. It is strange. They are all different yet Nightmare still has them all completely under his control. Yet it is in a completely different way and Ngihtmare now doesn't even seem to realise it.

Horror leans on the couch and watches their tiny charge just sleep. Horror had managed to keep the need to complete an adoption at bay by reminding himself that Nightmare already had a caretaker- well two and a half now, Horror is sure that all Cross still needs to complete the soul adoption is a tiny nudge. Horror thinks that Cross is jsut thinking too much about it and doubting his own instincts and feelings.

But that still leaves Horror, and what he wants to do. He figured that it would be better to at least keep one of them unbiased in this nature, just in case that Nightmare suddenly turns into an adult again. But the longer this went on the less likely it seemed to Horror.

Not to forget. Horror doesn't even think Nightmare wants to be an adult again. Not now that he is a child but doens't have to vigilent every moment of every day.

Does he technically already have caretakers? Yes. Does Horror still want to count himself as one? Yes.

So. He just picks for himself.

Horror moves slowly and quietly as he picks Nightmare up. Nightmare grumbles in his sleep at being moved but calms when his magic recognises Horror.

Horror gets comfortable on the couch and lays Nightmare on his sternum. He can still feel the tiny soul beat and pulse fast even through two shirts.

Horror pulls the blanket back over Nightmare and waits.

It doesn't take long as Horror can feel the slight pull on his magic and energy. Hardly noticable and Horror doubts that if he wasn't so paranoid about his own levels he would have noticed.

It is something tiny monsters do. To help stabalise and sharp their own magic they try to take tiny bits of their parents, or caretakers in this case, to help guide them. It all happens naturally.

Horror just holds the tiny babybones closer and feesl Ngihtmare's soul slowly start to match Horror's own soulbeat and he feels all the calmer.

Now it is pretty much done. Horror will have to probably deal with this decision one day but for now he is happy. Their tiny babybones is comfortable and everyone is resting. Tomorrow they will have to worry about getting supplies and where they can go and eventually where they will sleep that night.

But right now? Right now he doesn't have to worry about that. and all he ahs to worry about is that their babybones is comfortable and healing.

*-----------------*

First Drabble here Prev Drabble here Next Drabble here

[fisheito]

this is what i was cookin up while on nu:vacation [avoiding event spoilers] my dream.....my hopes....... EVERYONE PUT ON THE PRINCESS GOWN🗡

[aria0fgold]

Seared like a songbird flying to the sun

A belated birthday gift for @misty-wisp ! Tried to combine references for both Swan Lake and Cendrillon >:3 (Linked the English cover I took the lyrics from for the title!)

[foggyfanfic]

Themes vs Realism

Saw an old debate about how isolated the Encanto is and it got me thinking about my own headcanons.

I watched the movie, saw the windows and wine glasses and thought “Oh! They must have trade, glass requires a specific sort of sand and while glass blowers would be relatively common, the odds they had somebody who knows how to make glass frit are pretty low”. And I can back up that argument with research and facts, buying glass is getting more expensive because we’re running low on sand with the right chemical composition, glass frit production would be more likely to happen in towns near silica rich beaches, where as Alma’s hometown looked like it was in the middle of the forest. Nowadays, not every country in the world has the right sand, when I worked with glass blowers they imported their frit from I think a family in Sweden(?) that are like one of the last few people making frit. So glass is actually a very big deal! I digress. Basically, realistically, the fact that they have glass means that they must have some trade.

But that’s completely irrelevant to the movie, isn’t it?

The movie is all about healing from generational trauma, Encanto being completely isolated is better for the movie’s themes. It’s like how we all love the deleted scene where Bruno argues with Alma and says “I wish I was dead” but the writers cut that scene because it gives Bruno confronting Alma on Mirabel’s behalf an extra bit of punch if he was never willing to do so before. Realistically, a deeply unhappy, almost forty adult who is as blunt as Bruno would have had that argument with Alma; thematically, Mirabel’s mysterious Tío couldn’t muster up the courage/passion to confront the movie’s antagonist until he was doing it for love. Realistically, it is actually necessary for Pepa to control her emotions because she can create hurricanes and that sorta disaster could wipe out the village; thematically, Pepa needs to be allowed to let her feelings flow through her without anyone snapping at her about it. Realistically they must have trade; thematically, they must be completely isolated.

There isn’t really a good way for canon to bridge this gap as far as I can tell, in story telling themes usually take precedence over realism, especially in a fantasy setting. But for a lot of people (like me) the funnest thing to do when writing fanfic is throw in a dash of realism and see what comes out of it. Obviously, the way you want to reconcile this is absolutely up to you. I personally care more about the movie sticking to themes than I do it being realistic or conforming to my background knowledge, I’m fully expecting to have most of my head canons disproven when they release more material. That said, for the sake of fic, I think asking questions like “Where are they getting the raw materials to build that” is a great launching pad.

I don’t know how to word my conclusion. That year I spent working with glass blowers is going to butt heads with my suspension of disbelief for the rest of my life? Realism is great for fanfic but not so much in short stories like movies? My head canons will never be canon and it’s better that way?

[delightfuldevin]

I was gonna post the gifs of all the weapons but,, the gifs are kinda ugly,, jdbvjhfdjhs

[wangxianficrecs]

Proud Author of a New Work

~*~

hello!! doodlebutt on ao3 here, I think I sent a message a few months ago about my figure skating au. the series (first fic, sequel, plus seven extras) is now fully complete on ao3 at 137k! the series is very close to my heart, I put a lot of myself into the writing of it and it actually helped me get back to figure skating myself, so I'd love to share it here! @wei--wuxian

take my hand, will you share this with me

by doodlebutt

E, Series, 137k, Wangxian (background relationships: Chengqing, Xuanli, Xiyao)

Summary part one: The thing is, well, it's just that – It's just that actually, Wei Ying might be a little bit in love. He's known it for a while. Since – well, if he really stops to think about it, if he's honest with himself in the way his teenage self had no idea how to be, since approximately two minutes and forty seconds into their first competition together on the junior circuit at fourteen years old. It took him a while to figure it out. And by then, well – by then he knew Lan Zhan wasn't interested. Lan Zhan isn't interested in that with anyone, and least of all Wei Ying. Wei Ying is a competitive figure skater at the peak of his career. So is Lan Zhan. This is the season where everything changes.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[rowenabean]

It is becoming abundantly clear that I am in fact finding the process of selling my house stressful

[necromeowncy]

Fantasies: a Visual Novel

Pairing: WoL x G'raha Tia

Rating: Explicit 🔞

Summary: G'raha Tia and the Warrior of Light discuss their most indulgent fantasies of each other. Visual novel complete with dialog! 175 edited screenshots with dialog.

Link to read:

Inspired by a prompt from my friend @nights-at-crystarium about what Aedric's and G'raha's fantasies would be. Enjoy!

[albino-parakeet]

Bellwether meeting a Bellbird. (Warning possibly loud‼️)

I just had to do something else with Karasuma and the White Bellbird.

What the text says cause it goes kind of fast.

Karasuma: I get the crow cause of my name

But how is this similar to me in any way?

Takayama: Very loud.

[stcries]

@royalreef wrote:

There were, of course, weird days in Gravity Falls.

But there were also days when a pink crocodile-fish-newt-thing walked up to the counter as though she didn't have a concern in the world.

As it was, Miranda was behaving herself nicely. Her hands were kept tucked to her chest in a way that suggested being calm, relaxed, while still holding proper posture of a princess and all that was demanded of her. She kept her head high, her fins relaxed back so that they only-just danced their tips over the scales on her neck. It framed her crown nicely, sitting ever-present on top of her head, its three pearls each the size of a fist, strange damascus-patterned gold wrapping around them and stretching up into odd serrated tines. Gold which continued as a theme down her body — gold piercings along her arm-fins, gold bangles around her wrist, gold necklaces wrapped around her neck, gold detailing on clothes that were equally as fine as the metal worked for their buttons and clasps.

There was absolutely no indication from her that she found this strange, nor atypical, nor that it was odd for something like her to be standing there like she belonged. If anything, she was possessed of the complete and utter calm of someone who knew exactly where she was, and what she was doing, and that absolutely none of this was worthy of note.

It was not odd for someone to be something that looked like a crocodile melded with a fish, balanced upwards on stubby back legs that could only hold her horizontally, which was less notable due to the way her considerable length still put her at an upsettingly familiar height. It was not strange that she had to move her tail, tall and shaped like a paddle, with a smaller upper fluke forking off the top, out of the way of the door, because that was just polite and she knew her manners. It was certainly nothing to be alarmed at that her head was long and thick, solidly made to absorb impacts, that there were slit-pupiled eyes within it set against a too-blue backdrop, that beneath her lips there were flashes of teeth that flickered at some ancient human instinct to run.

And, even if it was, Miranda would not have known nor reacted to any of this, because she was possessed of the total conviction that she was exactly where she belonged, which happened to be wherever she wanted to go.

"You are Stan Pines, yes?" Her voice is deep, not as a human's, but in the depth of whalesong or of a tiger's growl, thrumming in her chest and luting at the ends like an attempted song. "I was interested in purchasing a tour — this is my first time visiting around here, and it was recommended to me that I should come here to get a grasp upon the area. Are you still accepting new visitors for the day?"

OH SWEET MOTHER OF- this certainly wasn't how he was expecting his day to start off. sure, living within gravity falls was bound to ensure that every single day had a little bit of chaos sprinkled in, but this? i doubt anybody could have been prepared for that. working in the mystery shack for the past thirty years, stanley had seen his fair share of mystical and outrageous creatures, heck, some of them he even walked by on the daily thanks to them being on display. monstrous heads mounted upon the walls, body parts inside jars, just about anything you could think of. but to have a living breathing creature stare you down like it was just another day of the week? i don't think anybody could be prepared for that.

in truth, stan hadn't even noticed her enter at first, being too busy counting another handful of cash he'd managed to haggle of yet another unsuspecting customer. flicking through the dollar bills, the ring of the door's bell was the only thing that alerted him to her presence, not even lifting his head at first. "welcome to the mystery shack, how can i-" he started, but was all too quickly halted as the older man took in her appearance. old weary heart was just about to leap out of his chest, standing there behind the counter frozen like a statue. was it here to eat him!? no please, he was old and wrinkly, he wouldn't taste good at all!

but he quickly snaps back to reality upon hearing the beast speak, unable to hide the audible 'huh?' that escapes past his lips. "yeah, that's me." wait, so he wasn't about to end up on this thing's platter? phew, that took an immense weight off his shoulders, but stanley would be damned if he let his guard down completely just yet.

"a tour, YOU of all ... things want a tour?" he wasn't about to object just yet, but did this creature even have the money to pay for such services? would their currency even be the same as humans? then again, with how much gold jewelry adorned their body, perhaps he shouldn't jump to such conclusions just yet.

"i mean, hey if you've got the cash, then sure, i'll do whatever 'ya want! just so long as i don't end up between those teeth of yours." surely soos and the others could keep the shack busy whilst he deals with this.

[serabellyms]

i hate that feeling when i'm writing w/ a new mutual or a mutual that I haven't written with much and don't know what's too long of a reply that's gonna scare them off

so ig this is my way of saying to the dash: if you're not intimidated by long replies sometimes PLEASE let me know directly bc this vibe literally results in me deleting and rewriting replies to people multiple times when the first few were probably just fine to send and i'm instead overthinking how much content i'm putting in it when that particular mutual would've just gone with the flow--