#I do the same when she gets goat cheese

[yvernal]

[One Good Thing - Saturday 7th]

Today I tried a new funky herbal tea.

It was a happy incident more than a planned even to be honest. Mom left the house for some time because she needed to go see Dad, get a crate of vegetables at the farm and do some grocery shopping at the bigger mall.

Before she left, I asked if she could get me a box of my favorite herbal tea to the store she planned to go, since the one closest to where we leave don't have it. I mentioned it as she was leaving, asking her literally : "Can you please get me a box of my tea ? The blue box one, with chamomile ?"

And the thing is, the brand we use to get for our teas and infusion have some very colorful boxes with pretty design and I kind of forgot to take that into account when saying "the blue box one". The first one is the one I usually drink, an orange-flavored rooibos with cinnamon and chamomile :

The second one is the one my mother got, which is a chamomile, lemon balm and lavender herbal tea. And the packaging indeed seems bluer than my usual one, so understandable mistake.

It led to some very funny moments, though, because Mom hates lavender with the passion of a thousand burning suns. So, when I get her to smell the tea bag, she delivered an "it smell like toilet water" (because the old toilet deodorizer I used was a lavender one) with the flattest tone known to mankind and such a disgusted face, it was hilarious.

Well, this funky little herbal tea isn't that bad, even if I wouldn't have tried it, if not for this accidental purchase. It's better with sugar though, but almost everything is better with sugar when you have child's taste buds like I do.

[mollywog]

If the Fates Allow

“Katniss?”

She frowns into her wine glass. She’d snuck off to linger at the edge of the party for a breather and to pounce on the next tray of hors d'oeuvres to exit the kitchen. She sighs before pivoting towards the voice, but its owner is the last person she expects.

“Katniss Everdeen? I thought that was you!”

“Peeta?”

“Hey!” He looks relieved that she remembers him. “I can’t believe you’re here; what are the odds? How are you doing?”

She and Peeta Mellark had gone to school together, back in the day, but that was eight years and 200 miles ago. They’d never really spoken, but she’d always harbored a little crush on him and seeing him now, she remembers why. She’s in a bit of a daze as she dumbly answers and asks the usual questions.

“This is wild! I was actually just thinking about you.”

“No way,” she says automatically. Sure, Twelve was small, and yeah, they were in the same class, but he’d always been in the middle of it, surrounded by friends while she’d been on the fringe, just trying to make it through. She’s sort of surprised he even remembers her, let alone thought of her unprompted.

“Way. They were just playing ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and I was remembering that time you sang it in the sixth grade talent show.”

She laughs, “did I?” The memory of the terror and thrill of singing on the ‘big stage’ in the high school auditorium and the gingham dress and braids she'd worn in homage to Judy Garland come rushing back. “I guess you’re right.”

“I think about it every time I hear it.”

An exaggeration, she’s sure; You couldn’t get through the holidays without hearing the song at least three dozen times, “I barely remember that. You have an incredible memory.”

“Only for the important stuff,” he says, looking bashful. He shakes his head before continuing, “anyways; what brings you here tonight? Do you work for Capital Advertising too?”

“Oh, no, not me. My roommate, Johanna… From HR? I came as her plus one.”

Peeta frowns, shaking his head.

“She promised free food and booze.” Johanna was not one for leaving work at work and Katniss had assumed she’d met half her coworkers by now, but she’d underestimated the size of this holiday client party. It was much more formal and self important than she’d expected. She was pretty sure she’d heard someone say the Governor was here.

“But I think she really invited me to make her ex jealous.” Katniss adds, scanning the room for any sign of her roommate or the terrifying woman who’d occupied their apartment before her.

She should have suspected something when Johanna picked out this clingy scooped back dress for her and insisted on the nails and lashes.

“I wouldn’t want to be them tonight.”

She snorts, “yeah me either, I wouldn’t want to be in Johanna’s crosshairs.”

He gives her an amused smile and she realizes that might not have been what he meant. She takes a sip to hide her blush, “um, but what about you?”

“Nah, I just work in the art department, I’m not here to make anyone jealous; Though you’re looking pretty covetous of my plate right now.”

She winces; caught, “Johanna oversold the food.” She couldn’t get the waitstaff’s attention and by the time she did, their trays were empty. At least the alcohol was stationary; much easier to access. That’s why she was three glasses of wine in on an empty stomach. “I’m so hungry,” she says, stealing another longing glance at his plate.

He extends it towards her, “have at it.”

The alcohol has made her bold, and she takes a stalk of celery from his plate.

“Katniss, that’s not food, that’s a garnish.”

He hands her a goat cheese and apple tartlet. She pops the whole thing in her mouth, and her knees go weak. She suppresses a moan, closing her eyes and tipping her head back in approval.

“Better?”

She covers her mouth as she finishes chewing, “who do I have to kill to get more?”

“Easy there. I think we can manage this without bloodshed.” She watches him scan the room, making a quick assessment. “Here, start with this and go sit down. I’ll be right back.”

She doesn’t argue, taking the offering to a love seat on the corner. She really hopes Peeta’s successful if only for his own sake, since she’s neglected to save him even a scrap. He returns shortly after with a substantial bounty. She could weep, “how?”

He grins, “I told them you tripped in the hall and twisted your ankle. They’ll be bending over backwards to keep you from filing a suit now.”

“You didn’t!”

“Nah, I didn’t need to.” She raises a brow in question and Peeta gestures towards a waiter who looks like he still should have a curfew. “The man has eyes, Katniss.”

She looks away, biting back a smile, “well thank you. So where should we start?”

Peeta grins. “Do you like plums?”

~~~

“There she is!”

They’d moved on from the food and gravitated towards the wall of windows to look out over the town where they’d begun exchanging stories of their adventures in the city when her roommate’s voice startles them.

Johanna snakes an arm around her waist, resting her head on Katniss’s shoulder. “Mellark! Are you moving in on my date?” She tugs her in closer.

Katniss rolls her eyes, elbowing her friend in the side.

“Jo,” Peeta says in greeting. His eyebrows shoot up, “ohh, Jo, Johanna. I lied, I do know your roommate. She’s just Jo in the company directory and for some reason,” Peeta says with a sparkle in his eye, “I thought it was short for Josie.”

Johanna cackles, throwing her head back and grasping hold of his arm for support.

Katniss frowns. Obviously there’s some kind of joke here that she’s on the outside of. She stays quiet as Peeta and Johanna converse, brushing off Peeta’s attempts to draw her into their conversation with monosyllabic responses. She was having a nice time up until Johanna’s arrival.

“I still can’t believe we ran into you here,” he says to her after announcing his intentions to head out. She suddenly feels very silly for letting Johanna’s antics get to her. “Maybe I’ll see you around?…”

“If the fates allow,” she says; their own little joke that Johanna’s on the outside of.

She's not expecting the momentarily falter in Peeta’s smile, “Well, I should get going. Good to see you both.”

She deflates as he walks away, her eyes following him as he goes.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

She spins back towards her roommate, “What?”

“He’s into you. Or at least he was before…” she waved her hand, “whatever that was.”

Her heart does a little flip. Shit.

“Listen, you look hot tonight, but with your personality, I would not be playing hard-to-get,” Johanna continues, unaware of her friend's distress. “Let’s get out of here, I’m starving.”

[mi-i-zori]

A Tiny World - 2

CoD - 141 x Snail (OC/Fem!Reader)

SYNOPSIS : Stardew Valley time with Snail, Gaz and Price.

Warnings : None. But please read the Author’s Note below.

Author’s Note : Snail is an OC that can be read as a Fem!Reader - I do my best no to describe her too much, but may sometimes say that she’s small (height) and has long hair.

I do not give anyone permission to re-publish and/or translate my work, be it here or on any other platform, including AI.

OC Masterlist

Main Masterlist

A Little Snail Under the Rain - Masterlist

Aside from Animal Crossing, Snail really likes playing Stardew Valley.

Actually, scratch that. She loves it.

She bought the guide to make sure her farm is as efficient as possible. She planned it all thoroughly, from the kind she chose at the very beginning, to the animals and crops she wanted the have, where she would put them, and so on.

She’s got a part of her land fully dedicated to mystic trees associated with mushroom logs, because it wouldn’t be her farm if she didn’t make a gargantuan amount of profit based on them mushies.

The chickens, ducks and dinosaurs are all on one side of the road situated at the bottom of her farm, while the cows, goats and pigs are on the other side. All the tools she needs to make cheese, mayonnaise and dried resources are placed right next to each other, not far from the ponds. All the products she makes are close to a selling box, so she can sell everything right after collecting it.

She’s working really hard to offer tons of void mayonnaise to Kroby so she can ask them to be her roommate. For now, she’s got a cat named Mochi that’s always sleeping on her bed and proudly wears a green top hat she got on St Patrick’ Day.

Believe it or not, Price loves to watch her play. The whole setting of the game reminds him of the time he used to spend at his grandparent’s farm in the English countryside, all those years ago. He remembers helping them with all kind of crops and animals, and running across their land and the nearby village with other children his age. Good, simpler times.

He also has to admit that the way she organises her findings in the museum by colours is extremely satisfying to watch. And seeing her get all excited when she finally finds something new to add to her collection is also pretty endearing.

She also got Gaz to play too !

They help each other out with their farm - they’ve become pros at it, at this point. Both their greenhouses are filled to the brim with ancient fruits, which immediately go into an army of kegs to be brewed into wine. They make plans on how to deals with the upcoming seasons together.

They also switch consoles to help each other with the tasks they like the least. Snail isn’t really fond of going into the mines - she’d rather enjoy the rainy days and go fish and forage all around the game. Kyle, however, enjoys doing challenges into the mine more that running around trying to look for resources. So they efficiently help each other to level up and fill the chests on their farms with everything they need, sprawled on top of each other on their beds in a comfortable silence.

They rule over every single event in the game.

And they absolutely love gossiping about the characters - to the point that other soldiers on base think they’re actually saying mad shit about real people.

They don’t bother correcting them. Their confused faces as they realise they’ve been talking about marrying or divorcing three people in the same week make it all worth it.

It gets a good chuckle out of the team.

[desertdollranch]

Making Cheese with Josefina

Today Josefina learned how to make cheese! She's finally old enough to do the task with guidance from her older sisters. And she's here with me to teach everyone else how to do the same, following the directions contained in Josefina's Cookbook, which will be shared at the end of this post.

The Montoya rancho keeps a small herd of goats specifically to use for their milk. They use it in cooking and for drinking, and they preserve it by making cheese, which can be stored and used through the winter or other times when the female goats aren't lactating.

Cheese making is an ancient art, developed thousands of years ago. It was brought to North America by Europeans. It's done a bit differently now than it was in Josefina's time, and lucky for us, the necessary ingredients are easy to find.

The Montoya sisters take turns milking the goats. Then the milk is brought to the kitchen, where it is heated with a bit of cultured milk left over from the previous batch of cheese.

After the rennet is added, the milk is allowed to sit, until the curds (the solid bits of fat and protein) separate from the whey (the liquid).

Rennet is an enzyme that coagulates milk. In Josefina's time, it was obtained from the stomach lining of a young goat. When goats were butchered for meat, the stomachs were carefully cleaned and dried so the rennet could be used for making cheese.

Today, you can buy vegetable-sourced rennet that does not come from animals.

Then the curds are scooped into a straining cloth, and Josefina squeezes all the whey out of the curds until they're dry.

The cheese is pressed into small molds. Some of it is left to age and develop a richer flavor, and the rest is wrapped up and brought out to the fields for the laborers to eat with lunch.

Josefina always brings a bit of cheese when she and her sisters head into the hills to pick piñón nuts. She's carrying her lunch in a bag woven with wool produced by the sheep that live at the Montoya rancho. I made that as well as her little water canteen.

Recipe and directions are below the cut.

Before I get to the recipe (bear with me, this won't be long), I do want to verify that Josefina's Cookbook is legit and the cheese making method actually works. I first made it in 2006, and loved it so much that I moved on to more elaborate recipes and learned how to make mozzarella, feta, and a few other kinds of cheese! It's a lot of fun and very rewarding to master the art. So if you try this and enjoy it, you absolutely can turn this skill into a hobby of making cheese.

Thanks for reading my life story. Now on to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablets of Junket rennet (buy this online if you can't find it at a grocery store)

2 teaspoons water

1/2 gallon goat's milk (not ultra-pasteurized)

3 tablespoons plain yogurt with live cultures (not low-fat or nonfat)

1/2 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS

Put the rennet tablets in the small bowl and crush them with the back of the small spoon. Add the water, stir to dissolve, and set aside.

Pour the milk into the large saucepan. Add the yogurt and salt, and stir to mix completely.

Clip the thermometer to the edge of the sauce- pan. The tip of the thermometer should not touch the bottom or sides of the saucepan.

Turn on the burner to medium-high to heat the milk mixture to about 90°, or "wrist warm"- warm, but still cool enough so you can stir it with your finger.

Turn off the heat and move the pan from the burner to a warm spot in your kitchen. Remove the thermometer and gently stir in the dissolved rennet and water.

Let the saucepan stand undisturbed for at least 1 hour so it can "set," or form a thick, stiff curd. This may take several hours longer if the room is cool.

As the milk sets, line the colander with 2 layers of dampened cheesecloth. Place the lined colander in the baking pan.

When the milk has turned into a custard-like curd, use the knife to cut the curd into 2-inch chunks. Use the slotted spoon to gently move the pieces into the colander to drain.

Let the cheese stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours so the whey can drain. Do not stir it, but from time to time tilt the colander or sieve and adjust the cheesecloth to help drain the whey. As the pan fills with whey, pour it out so the cheese is not standing in the whey.

When all the whey has drained, the cheese can be gently molded with your hands into a ball.

Serve the cheese immediately, or store it in the refrigerator for up to a week.

[duchess-of-oldtown]

House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 1 Thoughts

Just clarifying, these are my own thoughts, you don't like them, don't bother telling me so. Also, I'm not a book purist, I like adaptions taking putting their own spin on things - if it makes sense to do so. So, here were my thoughts. Obvs, this post is dark and full of spoilers.

I loved the opening, the whole callback to the White Walkers which cements the true arc of ASOIAF (and feels a fuck you to s8)

THEY CALLED VHAGAR THAT HOARY OLD BITCH, ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOK QUOTES

Rhaenys ate, she fucking ate, that's it girl you remind Daemon of your daughter and his place (you know that Daemon loved that shit)

And Daemon? The whole mother vs the Queen speech? What do you think YOUR mother would have done? Alyssa Targaryen would have done exactly the same if it were you torn apart and you goddamn know it.

Yes, Corlys mourning Luke. Everyone mourning Luke 😭😭😭

Alyn of Hull, slay.

Am I the only one who kinda thinks that the Hightower Sigil looks a little clip-arty? It's just not it 😬

I really wish they made the scorpions look better. I just always thought that the weapons would be more advanced because they actually know dragons.

Aegon and Helaena, you can sort of see that Aegon does care about her but he just doesn't know what to do with her.

Alicent ALICENT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. GET THAT MAN AWAY FROM THERE

Also Criston? Giving head? Yeah, I'd think the sharks are real before I believed that.

Where was the build up to... That?

I actually fucking shuddered. SHUDDERED.

Tyland don't fucking annoy that little boy.

Terms? You killed her little boy and you sent terms?

Yes, Aegon you humiliate that Lannister bitch.

Why is Jaehaerys so sweet? 😭😭😭😭

Dalton Greyjoy mention!!

Mine are Bigger - Actual Aegon II energy

Why is Aemond sitting there like 🥺🥺🥺? You fucked up my guy.

Emma is heartbreaking.

Syrax never grew? Why she so tiny?

Arrax was so beautiful.

The actual stab of grief I got watching Rhaenyra on the beach. That was her baby. That was her little boy.

Aegon the Magnamious?

Aegon being nice on the throne? Being kind to the shepherd?

Your goats? No, sheep even better. 🙂 Aegon, I am meant to hate you.

Otto get fucked, Aegon was doing his best.

Hugh? Hugh Hammer? Girl,get the fuck out of here, asking for money and shit.

I can see a lot of ppl going to whine about them humanising Aegon but it's necessary? Complex characters and our relationships with them is GRRM's greatest skill.

Larys get away from that boy.

This is a green heavy episode. I know why but still, give us some Joffrey maybe? Some House Baratheon shitting themselves? The Great Houses getting the news and going oh fuck?

Daemon is lowkey right, Mysaria did help place Aegon on the throne but she is also right, he's only that angry with her because nobody else around.

Matt's acting is top tier because you can really see the grief, the anger and the insecurity when he's snarking.

Rhaenyra's return. Her silence, it's fucking gold.

Jace and Rhaenyra 😭😭😭😭 His lil voice. 😭😭😭

Where was Jeyne Arryn? Why no Jeyne??

The funeral 😭 lil Joffrey is too lil. Jace holding him *raptor screams*

Alicent, the fit ate but what good are prayers? Go smack that son of yours.

Somebody hug Rhaenyra. Right now. Rhaenys? Elinda? Baela? Rhaena? Hold that woman.

The CRIME HOODIE is back.

I still hate the gold cloaks' cloaks. They look like piss rags. Does nobody on the staff know what gold is? Look at Sunfyre.

The actual book quotes 🙂🙂🙂🙂

The War of Quills and Ravens, yes, yes

Aemond don't sit with Ser Incelot, he hast done thy mother

Y'know what, Aemond is a lil right, he's getting the blame for starting the war but Alicent and Otto literally laid the foundations?

Why is Criston standing for Otto? He's not a member of the royal family.

Aemond, sitting in that chair is very Daemon of you

Otto, showing off his slutty lil wrist, your pour yourself a lil drinky girl

Blood and Cheese have a lil dog with them. Please don't let anything happen to the dog.

There's something always so eerie about all those tunnels under the Red Keep. It absolutely terrifies me.

Aegon and his buddies sitting on the throne gives off fuck boi vibes and the Strong joke was actually pretty funny.

That Viserys statue is not it.

Why is Blood so fucking massive?

Cheese, did you just fucking kick that dog? I will kill what you love you absolutely bastard.

Oh, those locks. The world building, oh the worldBuilding

The atmosphere is very well captured. The music is on point.

I love the detailing of the interiors of the Red Keep, it's so much better than the OG series.

Oh Helaena.

Helaena, my love. Why Helaena, why her.

Why didn't they just check themselves?

How the fuck did the writers make Blood and Cheese that lack lustre? How the actual fuck do you fumble that?

Alicent, my fucking eyes, MY FUCKING EYES

I'm giving this a 7.5/10. Everyone else was great but HOW DO YOU FUCK UP BLOOD AND CHEESE? HOW? HOW? I DEMAND A TRIAL BY COMBAT

Also I must say, the Biblically accurate Hand of the King chain in the trailer is very good.

[gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot]

Once upon a time in a tavern

@sofasoap @eenochian and @nrdmssgs are bleeding this out of me, so blame them (thank you)

Fantasy AU masterlist / First

In any other town, a tiefling, an elf and a goat sitting at an inn together maybe would have raised some eyebrows.

But in Tharbad, the population was so diverse that one could cross paths with a halfling, a genasi, or a lizardfolk, and not bat an eye.

Once, that very inn had been the foundation of a tiny village on the coast, at a crossroad of the three main roads in the continent that grew until it became a bustling commerce stronghold and one of the most important ports.

The local temples thrived with the crowds of travelers that spent the night while on route to some other place and donated great sums for their safe travels. Local commerce and artisan workshops thrived as well, because there was always someone needing something repaired or made from scratch.

Ruled by a council of nobles and rich merchants, the city was staunchly independent, denying loyalty to any of the Kingdoms around. Said Kingdoms didn’t want any of their rivals to own such a rich city, and thus, Tharbad lived comfortably in a precarious balance.

Loved by everyone, desired by all.

‘‘What do you have to do in this place to get served?’’ Calliara grumbled, leaning back in her chair, with Sebastian on her lap. She was still eyeing up and down the furry creature suspiciously as the kid slept peacefully. That very morning when they woke up in the hay cart, the kid that had been brown the previous day, now had big white splotches on its fur.

And to top it off, when she asked Ol’kha about it, the tiefling had shrugged and said she didn’t see any difference.

‘‘Just being patient’’ Ol’kha smiled, filling her smoking pipe parsimoniusly. ‘‘It’s slow at this hour, and surely the kitchen is busy’’

As if summoned, a bubbly redhead half-elf appeared from the kitchen with a full tray, gliding with grace among the tables, placing meals or drinks and avoiding the grabby hands of some of the patrons. A tall, burly man that seemed to have some orc blood in him stood guard next to the bar counter, eyeing everything, and promptly marched over there to knock some sense into some heads.

‘‘I’m so sorry, serah. Your order will be out shortly, messeres’’ The tavern maid apologized to the tables that were still waiting, and stopped right in front of the tiefling and the elf. ‘‘My ladies, I apologize for the delay, the cook had some problems in the kitchen and needed my help’’

‘‘It’s fine, no need to apologize for being busy’’ Ol’kha waved a hand to disperse the smoke from her pipe. ‘‘When you have time, I’ll have mead, thank you’’

‘‘Same’’ Calliara muttered, looking around while rubbing a finger absently between Sebastian’s little horns. The furry creature’s fluffy tail wiggled happily. ‘‘And something to eat’’

‘‘We have a delicious fowl stew that is almost done, cheese and bread today’’ The bubbly maid smiled widely, ignoring two men that were seated at a nearby table with empty plates and that were whistling at her. ‘‘I’ll bring your drinks shortly, and then your food. Will your little friend want anything?’’

Calliara looked at Ol’kha, raising an eyebrow, and the tiefling shrugged.

‘‘Just water’’

‘‘Right away! If you need to call me, my name is Florrie!’’ The maid practically pranced back to the kitchen.

Calliara leaned back in her chair again, studying the room methodically. Exits, where the stairs were, the windows, what tables were occupied and what tables were free. There was an empty table, big enough for several people, right next to the small stage where a willowy human with chesnut hair was quietly tuning her lute.

‘‘Cozy’’

Ol’kha snorted when she heard the pleased grunt coming from her new friend, and took another puff of her pipe, chuckling.

‘‘Not used to taverns?’’

Two tankards, full to the brim with delicious looking mead were placed on the table along with a bowl with water, and the busy maid disappeared once again.

‘‘Not used to not being gawked at’’ Calliara shrugged, with a sheepish smile, seemingly relaxed with the small kid curled on her lap. She grabbed one of the tankards and brought it to her lips, to taste the golden liquid.

‘‘Gawked at why? It’s not like there aren’t more elves around’’ The tiefling tilted her head in the direction of a noble elven woman, elegant and ethereal, sitting at a table close to the stage and that was now conversing with the minstrel. Next to her, a really tall elven man was trying very hard to look busy with a book, but the red ears betrayed him each time he tried not to look at the pretty human. ‘‘See? There are two there, the lady that owns the alchemy shop and…’’

Her trained eyes noticed something before her rational mind did, and she looked back at Calliara, only to find an understanding smile.

‘‘You noticed’’

Ol’kha frowned, looking at the elven folk again, and back to the one sitting next to her.

‘‘Your ears aren’t as long’’

‘‘But they look the part don’t they’’ Calliara sighed, still smiling. ‘‘Well, I promised I’d tell you at a decent inn. Guess this is as decent as we’ll get’’

The tiefling leaned forward until she rested her elbows on the table, and her chin on her hands, with the pipe in her mouth. The elf, or not so elf, rolled her eyes.

‘‘Well, you know, when a father and a mother love each other very much…’’

‘‘Calliara!’’ Ol’kha nudged her companion’s side repeteadly with the tip of her tail, and Calliara tried to push it away without moving the sleeping goat on her lap.

‘‘Ugh, alright, alright…’’ Sighing again, she left the tankard on the table. ‘‘I’m… mostly elf’’

‘‘What do you mean, mostly’’

‘‘I was raised by humans, up in the North, among the tribes, but my mother was… is a half elf. My grandmother was an elven healer that decided to settle with the tribes, and married my grandfather… Oh, you woke up, little rascal’’

Calliara lifted Sebastian from her lap and set him on the table so he could drink from the water bowl, trying to avoid the wiggling tail on her face. Ol’kha moved dutifully both of their tankards so the kid wouldn’t kick them off the table in his excitement.

‘‘Ok but that would make you a quarter elf… unless your father wasn’t from the tribes?’’

‘‘My father was another traveling elven healer that decided to stay for a couple of seasons. Seems some of them are really fond of saving the savages’’ The elf snorted, dragging her chair on the floor so she could escape the wiggling tail. ‘‘At the end of the first summer since he arrived, poof, there I was. So that makes me, hum… mostly elf. Three parts elf and one part human’’

‘‘And were you born an elf or a little cub?’’ Ol’kha chuckled, making her friend roll her eyes with a smile while they tasted their mead.

‘‘I didn’t change into a wolf until I was almost five, after I got so angry I couldn’t see straight. But don’t ask me why, I don’t remember’’ Calliara shrugged. ‘‘By then my parents had decided to leave the tribes as errand healers, following armies to battle or going to lands ravaged by disease and famine’’

‘‘And they left you with your grandparents?’’ The tiefling raised her eyebrows when her friend nodded, and huffed a muffled laugh. ‘‘A mostly elf living among humans… and your elven grandmother, I hope’’

‘‘She passed shortly after my mother left. I guess from a broken heart’’ Calliara left the empty tankard on the table, and passed Sebastian’s water bowl to Ol’kha when Florrie appeared with their meal. Two fragrant, steaming bowls with a delicious looking fowl stew, that smelled heavenly, especially after being on the road for so long.

‘‘I guess it wasn’t easy’’ The tiefling mentioned, tasting the stew and keeping Sebastian on her lap so he wouldn’t get his hooves inside the bowl.

‘‘I was born there, but I was an outsider. And the second my grandfather died, I was very kindly made aware that I was unwelcome to keep living among them’’

‘‘Bastards’’

‘‘I don’t blame them. I’m not human. I’m not elf. I didn’t owe the tribes any allegiance once my bloodkin had passed away. I can change at will into a wild animal, that I keep under control most of the time. I’m a wild card’’ Calliara shrugged, taking a moment to chew what she had in her mouth. Still gliding among the tables, serving drinks or collecting empty dishes, Florrie appeared from behind the counter to refill their tankards with more mead, before disappearing again with a bubbly laugh.

‘‘Ok, so the wolf thing…’’ Ol’kha made a vague gesture with her hand, pointing at her. ‘‘You said you started being able to change at five’’

‘‘Correct’’

‘‘So… is it a spell? … A curse?’’

‘‘No idea. It’s useful to travel big distances, and my senses are very sharp even when I’m not in wolf form. But if I change too fast, too many times, or for a long time, it gets harder and harder to change back’’ Calliara shrugged, focused on her food, which was almost finished by then while Ol’kha still had half of it. ‘‘My grandfather said my father could do it too, but I don’t remember it’’

‘‘So… what are you?’’ The tiefling smiled, scratching Sebastian’s belly to keep him happy, while the furry creature drooled on her shoulder, asleep again.

Calliara let out a genuine laugh, shaking her head.

‘‘Complicated’’

‘‘You don’t say’’ Ol’kha laughed as well. ‘‘I guess you told me yours, I’ll have to tell you mine’’

‘‘That’s be nice…’’ Calliara stopped talking seconds before the main door opened, looking in that direction. If it wasn’t impossible, Ol’kha would have sworn that her friend’s pointy ears had perked up. ‘‘Ol’kha, that is a…’’

‘‘That is a what?’’ The tiefling turned her head to look at the door too, and smiled. ‘‘Oh, yes. That’s a dragon’’

Calliara stared with wide eyes at the imposing frame of what seemed like a big, muscled man, with short unruly brown hair and muttonchops, enter the tavern as if it was his home. Once he trespassed the treshold, big, green, dragonlike wings stretched wide for a moment before folding again at his back, while a long, muscular tail with green scales moved sinously. He waved a big hand, more like a paw with his sharp, dark claws, at the barmaid and the man guarding the bar counter, before heading for the big empty table next to the stage,

Next to him, a young looking half elf, with beautiful dark skin and dark eyes that glimmered with intelligence and wisdom in spite of his young appearance. Those eyes lit up when looking in their direction, and he raised a hand, gesture that Ol’kha reciprocated with a smile. He was chatting with a human just as tall as him but slightly bulkier, with a long braided mohawk and mischievous blue eyes, and infectious smile. His features looked similar to those of the minstrel.

‘‘Ol’kha, that’s a dragon’’ Calliara’s voice was low, almost reverent. The wolf inside her was shaking, howling at her to flee.

‘‘Oh, yes, isn’t he majestic? That’s… Price, or that’s the name he uses. Nobody knows his real name, of course.’’ The tiefling smiled, admiring the dragon’s wings, whose scales glittered lightly with the light of the candles. ‘‘And the half elf with him is my friend Gaz’’

Calliara nodded slowly. It was well known that one’s birthname was the key to the ownership or your soul and will, especially in the case of sentient mytical beasts with the ability to speak like dragons or sphynxes, in the case of demons or in the case of magical users like wizards and sorcerers.

‘‘I don’t know who’s the human but I think that’s Freya’s brother…’’ Ol’kha continued explaining, and laughed when Calliara looked back at her quizzically. ‘‘The minstrel. Her name is Freya, she’s quite notorious here in Tharbad and along the coast.’’

The mostly-elf-but-not was about to say something else when the main door opened again, to reveal another man, who was so tall that he had to duck to cross the treshold. He seemed to be just a tad taller than Price was, but just as broad or more, or maybe it was just the impression his dark clothes gave. His face was covered with a skull mask, and his heavy steps echoed in the suddenly silent room while he headed for the same table as Price and the other two.

‘‘And that’s… I don’t know who that is’’

‘‘People call him Ghost’’ Florrie appeared from nowhere again, holding a tray full of empty tankars and bowls, still with her wide smile. ‘‘Nobody knows who he is or where he comes from. It is said that Price made a deal with a demon to keep him as his bodyguard’’

‘‘Why would a dragon need a bodyguard?’’ Calliara looked up at the maid, who shrugged without losing her smile.

‘‘I’ve heard tons of stories. That he is a construct. That he is a demon, shackled to Price’s will. That he is a deserter from another Kingdom’’ Sighing, Florrie shrugged once again. ‘‘All I know is that Price appeared with him on his back four years ago, and nursed him back from the death. Since then, he is his shadow’’

Calliara and Ol’kha looked at each other while the maid left for the kitchen, and then looked back again at the group while they shook hands with each other, sitting down. The dragon in human form roared with laughter at something that the human with the mohawk said, while Ol’kha’s friend seemed trying not to laugh as well.

Ghost sat down with his back to the wall, able to look at everything and control where everyone was, and calmly took his skull mask off to place it on the table. Dark brown eyes swept all over the room, until they stopped at the table where a pretty tiefling with dark hair and elegant horns was sitting next to an elf with hair so fair that it looked almost white under the light of the candles.

‘‘Oh’’ Calliara muttered, and Ol’kha looked at her.

‘‘What?’’

The elf seemingly didn’t hear her, while she stared right back at Price’s shadow. Ghost’s scarred face seemeed to soften for a second, or maybe it was just an illusion thanks to the candles, and he looked away. Calliara averted her gaze too, and grabbed her tankard to pretend she wasn’t flustered.

‘‘Are you… blushing?’’

‘‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’’

Ol’kha laughed incredulously, and was about to tease her friend further when the main door opened for the third time.

This time, two men crossed the treshold, talking among themselves while they walked towards the big table by the stage too.

A tall, muscular man with a skintone that suggested there was drow blood in him. In what amounth, it wasn’t clear.

And a big, enormous, burly half orc with a wide smile that showed his lower tusks, golden chains dangling from his neck and over his open shirt, and that greeted Price with a thunderous laugh and a slap on the back that would have thrown to the floor a weaker man.

The men at the table shuffled their chairs to make space for the newcomers, except Ghost, who didn’t move an inch from where he was, listening to something that Gaz was telling him.

The half orc looked around the room as he sat down beside Price, without losing the dashing smile, and that smile widened when his dark eyes fell on the tiefling.

Ol’kha sank in her chair, and Calliara looked at her, surprised.

‘‘Crap’’

[localwhoore]

can you write a fic where the logan sergeant defenders are all drivers and noelle gets into a fist fight with logan?

DRIVERS ????

WARNING QND DISCLAIMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

consented racism and unconsented ageism against noelle obviously under the cut

and also my opinions dont cancel me over this stupid shit tjanks 😁😁

red bull

goatifi

-> 2x wdc, clutched up AD21 and took the checkered flag 10 times (scoring an extra 250 points) and won the championship instead of max or lewis and caused outrage. also scored a redbull seat

max verstappen

-> DUDUDUDU MAX VERSTAPPEN DUDUDUDU MAAX VERSTAPPEN no seriously he won the championship by lap 1 😞

ferrari

fernando alonso

-> future 3x wdc, promising 43 yrold rookie future of f1 who is unfortunately unable to escape the torturous clutches of ferrari (finally wins a wdc for them too)

charles leclerc

-> is chained up and shackled at the bottom of ferrari HQ and fed cold soup and stale bread twice a week and cannot be released unless its race weekend. (inspired by the james vowles c.ai bot i got bored and talked to who had alex albon, who he called alaobono, in a cage for biting williams guests. also he crawled on all fours and threw chairs and printers)

mercedes

liyah amelia grace habibi afzal @foreveralbon

-> when f1 eventually brought sepang back onto the calendar, liyah was fighting for P1 a few laps in when her engineer mentioned sightseeing at KL’s twins towers (the petronas towers). this was a mistake as upon hearing those words, liyah was immediately inhabited by the spirit and earthly energies of her late uncle: muhammad hazam “ارهابي” omar afzal, who passed down his loving lifelong legacy to her via muscle memory and pure instinct aka going back to her roots. anyways, she flung her car towards a corner with banking and projectile launched herself at 346km/h over 60km distance between her and her goal over the span of a shocking 10 minutes and 24 seconds!!! liyah escaped the incident with little injury, but the same cannot be said for those inside the towers (towers as in plural because george russell flew past her into the 2nd tower shortly after). media had an absolute fucking field day

george russell

-> misses half his races to film ads for tommy hilfiger and marriot bonvoy. toto gets pissed and kicks him out of their sleepover party which makes george severely depressed but its ok cz he gets married to carmen in his fav hotel marriot w a british royalty themed wedding (hes dressed as princess diana)

mclaren

lando norris

-> 4x wdc, paid goatifi to take out max and asked oscar to pull a kmag in saudi and decimated a 1-2 at silver stone hip hip hooray also he got fucked into the monaco hairpin barriers and was injured permanently unable to grow a pedostache

oscar piastri

-> 999x wdc, boy oh boy where do i even begin. the loml, oscar piastri. you truly are my sunshine. my only sunshine. you make me happy when skies are gray. you’ll never know dearrrrr how much i looove youuu please dont takee my sunshine awaaaaayyyyyyyy pookie wookie aookie bookie cookie dookie eookue fookie gookie hookie iookie jookie kookie lookie mookie nookie oookie pookie quookie rookie sookie tookie uookie vookue wookue xookie yookie zookie

alphatauri

yuki tsunoda

-> 50x wdc. my goat 🐐 he beat daniel 23-1 and is a fucking LEGENDDDDDD MY GOAT TRRRRRAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOINTS AND YUKAMPIONSHIP LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOO 🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶

liam lawson

-> he finally let his hair grow out so he doesnt look like a lesbian anymore cutie patootie finally got a seat 😜😜

aston martin

avis cloostefek @aviscarrentals

-> actively trying to seduce lawrence stroll for that bank cz shes kinda broke idk the f1 life pays her less rhan she thought???? regularly breaks into the VIP area and eats all rhe food in catering because shes pasty pale white and has no cuisine culture except crackers and unseasoned boiled chicken and a side of cheese soggy french fries

lance stroll

-> justice for lance guys his dad is being seduced by a pasty white woman with very bad very severe chronic culture-less behavioural tendencies 😞

alpine..

lea @vroomvroomcircuit

-> im sorry but someone had to be in the alpine and i picked u🥰 much love!! anyways one fine typical tuesday lea remembered that her teammate is french and her deeprooted german moustache man awakened and unleashed havoc upon the french demanding her right to the land of the baguettes and croissant to be reclaimed for the return of glory for the motherlandYAA deutschland 🇩🇪 NEIN DA FÜHRER SAUSAGE 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

pierre gasly

-> french ☹️

haas

althea noelle. @disneyprincemuke

-> 10x destructors championship. an antique and prehistoric primordial being in the form of a petite pinoy creature. it has devoted to the art of racing since the dawn of time. since day was night, night was day as the two parallels of each other blurred in a flourish and spectacle of a draped veil over the vast expanse known as the horizon, since the stars aligned side by side in the darkest of hours. she raced upon the lands of pangea, upon the tallest of mountains now reduced to stones and rubble that crumble under footsteps and blow with the breeze. throughout millennia, throughout the countless frigid winters and blistering summers as she watched empires rise and fell, civilisation bloom and prosper, tyrants dictate and rebels overthrow, dynasties rule and eras whirl past like the wind, akin to momentary blips as centuries compile into memories viewed back upon within seconds. the only divinity to harbour ancient knowledge lost to time and space, lost through endless bloodshed of war as humanity tore itself apart , screaming aggressive rage and agony from the inside as flesh ripped flesh as the steady drill of what could be known as time mercilessly marched on, and waited for none. the little beam of consciousness this dingus fostered within burnt bright bold as passion strove on as fuel for her little stature (shocking). also she has yet to score a point in f1 cz she keeps twinning logan sargeant and crashing out on the 1st lap. her nickname is turn one thea 💀💀💀

TLDR; noelle is old and hasnt scored in f1

kevin magnussen

-> https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFGTu8tL/

stake kick balls sauber

zhou goatyu

-> 中国是第一！！周冠宇我爱你啊！！！请让祖国骄傲我们都支持你。周冠宇周冠宇！加油加油加油拿多分🗣️🗣️🗣️🥶🥶🥶

mclgf (now ur saubergf idk) @mclarengf

-> all hands on deck for the pitstops!!!! toby and newplayer are incharge of the tires and aria is ur race engineer turned reserve driver and tobys a development driver idfk bro 😭😭

williams

alex albon

-> james vowles character ai bot

logan sargeant

-> Oh Say, can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly, yeah, streaming? And the rockets' red glare The bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave also twinning noelle loves crashing

safety car driver

me (i cant drive)

[nedjsmlfavs]

So Derision Broke Me…

Derision (Miraculous S5E14) made some choices that fundamentally broke Marinette’s character for me to the point where I’m having trouble motivating myself to keep writing for this fandom. I figured I’d write down my thoughts and see if that helped me get into a headspace where I can ignore this episode like I do any other writing choices I’m not fond of. If anyone has some words of wisdom, I'd love to hear them.

In Derision, we learn that Marinette has some serious trauma surrounding love. When she was 13, she confessed her love to Kim and was rewarded with a box full of spiders. This “prank” understandably left her traumatized and shaken to her core. In response to that trauma, she vowed to never confess her love to another boy. Not unless she knew everything about him.

This “prank” and several others are revealed to be the fault of Chloé. As for why she’s doing this, well, we’re never given a reason why Marinette is the target. However, we are told the motivation for Chloé’s actions. Rose blames them on the fact that Chloé was abandoned by her mother. Mylène responds to this observation by pointing out that she was also abandoned by her mother, but that didn’t turn her into a bully! Which is a fair point. People react differently to trauma and trauma doesn’t justify bad behavior or undo the effects of those bad behaviors. At the most, trauma explains why the behavior is happening. A lesson that Miraculous has given us before.

In the character Félix’s titular episode, Félix shows up and starts treating Adrien poorly. This leads to this exchange between Adrien and Plagg:

Plagg: What's up with that cousin of yours? First, he searches through your things, and then, the most unforgivable thing of all, he squashes my hunk of goat's cheese under your pillow! I'd been maturing that baby for two weeks! Do you realize? Two whole weeks! Adrien: Listen, Plagg. Félix lost his dad not so long ago, he's probably not himself. Plagg: I'm sorry, but there's just no excuse! You never touch my cheese, and yet, you just lost your mother not so long ago, right?

And, once again, this is a fair observation! The fact that Félix’s father died does not justify Felix trying to ruin Adrien’s life. All it does is explain his motivation. 

Trauma does not excuse hurting others. When trauma has negative effects on us, it’s up to us to work through those feelings either on our own or, ideally, with the help of loved ones and therapists. We are never justified in lashing out at innocents who had nothing to do with our trauma.

This brings us to the topic of Marinette. 

The fact that Marinette has trauma around romance does not justify her treatment of Adrien. Breaking into his home, trying to sabotage his relationship with Kagami, and all of her other obsessive behaviors are not okay just because she was traumatized by Kim. If Chloe and Felix are not excused by their trauma, then neither is she.

So why am I only bothered by this now?

Because, before this episode, Marinette’s behavior was very clearly a joke. It was, in my opinion, a bad joke, but it was a joke and, when it comes to writing, jokes have to be looked at differently than things that are played straight.

Miraculous relies heavily on absurdist humor. That’s why you’ve got an episode where Adrien and his teenage friends throw an unchaperoned party attended by a bunch of random adults. A thing that would be horrifying and upsetting in reality, but is fine in the show because it’s clearly played as being ridiculous and over the top. I mean, just look at this scene. Anyone taking this seriously has clearly lost the plot.

Marinette’s obsession fell under the same category. Something that would be very wrong in reality, but was obviously being played up for laughs. I was always under the impression that, without the absurdist humor, she’d be significantly toned down and that’s why I just sort of tolerated it in the show. Not my idea of a good joke, but clearly a joke so meh. I can overlook it while watching the show and, when writing her, I can be true to her character while not including this level of obsession because I don’t write crack fic.

Derision changed that. It took 4.5 seasons of questionable jokes and tried to justify them. And that? That is a terrible idea. Because there is no justification for Marinette’s behavior just like there is no justification for Chloe’s behavior in the exact same episode. What they’re doing is wrong and, at best, their trauma explains their behavior. It does not justify it.

Plus, hey, remember how Derision said Kim was a terrible person for laughing at Marinette’s trauma? Isn’t that the exact same thing that we’ve all unknowingly been doing for 4.5 seasons? Kinda makes it hard to rewatch old episodes where her crush was played for laughs, doesn’t it? I hope you’ve never laughed over Marinette’s behavior because, if you have, you’ve been making fun of her trauma and so have the writers.

And that sums up why this episode really bothers me. I either have to ignore a character’s trauma or I have to accept that her trauma has apparently made her unhinged and address it. Because if her behavior is not a bad joke, then the salters are right and Marinette is a total creep. I’m trying my hardest to choose option one, but I’m struggling.

It’s not that Marinette is the only character with questionable behavior. Adrien as Chat Noir is often written as overly persistent and obnoxious when it comes to his crush. It’s not great behavior, but it’s not a consistent characterization nor is it a major flaw. I can fix it with a quick character arc about boundaries or ignore it and (in my head) say that arc happened off screen because I have no doubt that this sort of common teenage issue could be overcome with relative ease. Because when Chat Noir is put in a situation where he could clearly violate Ladybug’s boundaries? He doesn’t. He is, ultimately, respectful. He just needs to be told that respect is more than listening to the explicit “no”.

Deep-seated trauma that leads to stalking? That’s not a minor flaw. It’s a major issue that reveals the need for psychological intervention. I’m not gonna give that to a teenager and fix it with the power of friendship and communication. Nor will I give the stalker her prize. I’m gonna keep him safe because, if Marinette has this level of romance-based trauma, then she is not mentally well enough to be a relationship with someone.

You see, I’ve had people with obsessive crushes who violated my boundaries. A loved one of mine had to get the police involved because of someone’s crush on them. Stalking and obsessive behavior is not a joke. It’s traumatizing, but even though I have that trauma, Miraculous never bothered me because of how the stalking was played as a joke.

Joke's over, though. As of Derision, we are supposed to take Marinette's behavior at face value.

So, yeah. I don’t know where I go from here. It’s been a week and I just have no desire to ever touch Marinette again. If anyone has some words of advice, I’d love to hear them. And I’m sorry, but it may be a while before anything of mine updates.

[margaret-the-duck]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟIntro post*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

"Writers aren't exactly people... they're a whole bunch of people trying to be one person" - F. Scott Fitzgerald

hello I'm Maggie :)

basic infos: she/her, scorpio, minor, bi and ace, jayce neutral, goblin/hobbit core, wanna be writer, chaotic, has far too many projects at the same time, anxious mess, always confused, lost in fantasy worlds, gets really emotional when a long fanfiction updates the last chapter, tea enjoyer, member of the moss cult, wants new friends but is too socially awkward :,), can't hold a conversation (sorryyy), english isn't my default language so my phrasing might be weird

bands and artists I like: queen, ABBA, david bowie, red hot chili pepper, conan gray, nirvana, bon jovi, hozier, cavetown, slipknot, soad, movie music in general and anything from arcane

"Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be you" - Freddie Mercury

Food I like: Strawberries, Cereals <3, any dessert, pasta and pizza, chicken nuggets, ananas (but not on pizza), cheese, chocolate, croquettes, anything with chicken

things that make me happy: my friends/family/girlfriend, music, my fandoms, my OTPs, raccoons, cats, my comfort characters, crocheting, creative things in general, braids, the netherlands, acorns, flowers, books, greek mythology, hugs, rainbows, character inspired playlists, owls, goats, frogs, lotr ambience playlists, walking through a forest (especially in spring and autumn)

my fandoms: lord of the rings, the hobbit, percy jackson, marauders, gravity falls, mcu/marvel, night at the museum, star wars, carry on, good omens, Sherlock, arcane

"I've never been so wrong in all my life" - Thorin Oakenshield

currently reading: uhhh not much lately

comfort books: percy jackson, the song of achilles, carry on

"Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible. It just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed." - Piper McLean

comfort movies and series: the greatest showman, lord of the rings, the hobbit, anything from marvel but especially the guardians of the galaxy and ant man, night at the museum, gravity falls, monk, sherlock (I'd say arcane but arcane and comfort? Ehhh)

"There's some good in this world Mr Frodo, and it's worth living for" - Samwise Gamgee

languages I speak (more or less) : luxemburgish, german, french, english, currently learning spanish

things I do when I'm not just starring at my bedroom wall: baking for my friends, crocheting, designing clothes based on fictional characters, daydreaming about writing, wasting my time on pinterest and ao3, writing, reading, thinking of fake scenarios, listening to music, writing bad poetry,

"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind the process" - Vincent van Gogh

[ramenhue88]

Something about cheese 🧀

I love the designs of witches in Madoka Magica. Gekidan Inu Curry, the designer for the witches, is a GOAT. Witches all have that paper vibe going on with them. So, let's list all the witches that appeared in the anime so that you can see what I mean by, "Paper Vibe™" (Also note I'm going by the wiki) + Gertrud

+ H.N Elly (Kirsten)

(Side note for Elly is that we actually see her 2 different forms [Should I call it forms? Idk]. The picture above is when Sayaka killed her and the other one is when she's inside the television. Also, the picture above only shows up for about a second.)

+ Gisela

+ Elsa Maria (Poor her, got murdered by Sayaka)

+ Oktavia von Seckendorff (Seyiku.....)

+ Izabel

+ And of course, Walpurgis!

But wait a minute.... I feel like I'm forgetting someone.... OH RIGHT! + Charlotte!!

[Steppy steppy Homu] See those images? Now those are the #PaperVibes™ I'm looking for! Well except for Walpurgis who has 3D cog wheels instead of a paper vibe™. All witches look like this paper vibe™ but for the one I almost forgot; Charlotte, why is she the only exception to this rule? She's entirely animated like everyone else in the series. No other witch is drawn like this. She's the only exception when it comes to this rule. Well, the only NORMAL witch that is exempt from this rule. Ultimate Madoka's "witch" also doesn't follow the paper vibe™.

It's more drawn than paper bashed. And that's ok since Madoka is the most powerful magical girl thus making this one, the most powerful witch. So of course, it's gonna break the rules, same with Walpurgis. It's also drawn with its difference having 3D rendered cog wheels.

So why does a normal witch get the animated treatment? By Goddess Madoka, EVEN HOMURA has the paper bashed witch.

(Thank God Homura got the paper bashed witch treatment, I am gonna throw hands if she didn't. Look how beautiful that is...)

So why in Goddess Madoka's name does Bebe get the animated treatment, when we consider her, a normal witch? We can chalk this up to the animation team just wanting Bebe to stand out from the rest (Because she's the witch for the #IconicSceneAlert) and nothing more. Buuuuut... That's boring. So let me try to reason out why Bebe looks different from every other witch.

[Let me yoink this witch]

Ok, so about Bebe.... Well, what about her? We have nothing to go on if we're only talking about the main series. We don't know anything about her apart from her personality and design. Her wish? Nothing. Her past? Nothing. So how do we talk about someone who doesn't have anything? Well, we go to another universe silly! Magia!~ Record!~ (Cue the SONG)

Not that universe but another another one!

There we go. MAGIA~! RECORD~! (NOW cue the SONG) The game one.

In Magia Record they expanded much more on Nagisa, giving her an event titled: Nagisa's Wish! (If you want to watch it)

(Me and Nagisa have the same reaction after finding out the event is literally named Nagisa's Wish)

So, let's go back to her witch appearance for a moment. In Magia Record you fight her and EVEN in this game, they decide to make Charlotte look "normal".

Most, if not all, witches still look papery even in the game. I say most and not all because of the NA shutdown and I have no idea of anything past Arc 1 Magia Record (I'm still finding free time to catch up to Arc 2). Doppels and Rumours ALSO follow the papery rule.

There is one exception to Bebe's appearance and that is Nagisa's doppel.

[Now that's the papery vibe™ I'm looking for!]

So why does Bebe have a different art style than ALL of the other witches? Let's go to her MGS in Magia Record (Metal Gear Solid!? No, Magical Girl Story)

So, in her MGS we see that she's being followed by a Pink Kyubey which we can safely assume is Goddess Madoka. Why can we assume that? First, her transformation (when you get her in the gacha). It starts with the symbol of the law of cycles.

Second, it's literally Goddess Madoka pulling for her in her transformation.

[Go get that 5-star girl]

She's also putting make-up on Nagisa and making her look human.

Well not literally making her look human. You can read this as Goddess Madoka, preparing her to blend in because you know. She's half magical girl half witch already at this point. So of course, you gotta blend her in. So, we've made it clear that the Pink Kyubey is Goddess Madoka, watching Nagisa from afar. How important is Nagisa that THE Goddess Madoka, THE concept would get you to do work for her instead of another magical girl. Well firstly, she can't choose any of the 5, because Goddess Madoka is essentially killing the Magia Record version of them by putting another version in their body. Nagisa is the closest choice for Goddess Madoka because.... Because.....

[LMAOOOOO I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. SAME MAMI, SAME. Look I get that Bebe is the closest to them because she killed Mami?? I mean you could say that to Gertrud, Esla Maria, Gisella. Every other witch could have fit the Bebe position. But I'm not complaining that they used Nagisa btw.]

But this does bring up the fact that Nagisa is special in one way or another.

Ehemm... Back to the topic at hand.

So why does Bebe have a different art style than all the other witches. One theory I have is that Charlotte, the witch, has more control over their witch body compared to other magical girls. Like she's more accepting of what happened to her compared to other magical girls. She succumbed to despair, just like any other magical girl. But unlike the others, she chose to bathe in despair. Enjoy it.

[From Magia Record - Nagisa's Wish]

Other magical girls wallowed and grieved in despair. Not Nagisa no. She accepted this despair because there was nothing more she can do, there was nowhere for her to go anymore. She lost everything. So, when she became a witch, she was more in tune with it. She was more welcoming of her faith than other magical girls. (Ehem Homura, ehem...) Can you blame her though?

If everything in your life went wrong and then suddenly for a moment. Everything went your way. Would you not want to stay in that moment forever?

In her witch labyrinth she could eat all the cheese she wants.

For her, cheese was equivalent to her mother's love.

I mean, her mother loved cheese.

She on the other hand, didn't. After becoming a witch, she began to see cheese as a symbol of her mother. She loved chasing cheese; she loved eating cheese.

For her, chasing cheese began to symbolize her wanting to get her mother's love. That is why she's so obsessed with it. All she wanted was to go home with her mother.

Her life was a tragedy and she saved herself from it. By ending her tragedy of a life, she began a new and better life.

She could eat all the cheese she wants.

She could have all the snacks she wants.

She could choose from the varieties of cheese in the room!

This is the HapPiEst she has ever been!

Why would she deny herself this happiness?

The princess has finally found a place where she can happy! The End

Bonus!! So, while I was looking for a screenshot for the end of my post. I saw this happy Nagisa. And I thought to myself... "Wait a minutos, why is she happy? Shouldn't she have memories of everything that happened?" Well, for a fact she does. I mean, Sayaka remembers everything, she just forgot because Homura made her forget. Homura didn't do it to Nagisa. So, it's safe to assume she does remember. So, she's happy because Homura won? Not exactly. In rebellion the scene with Sayaka and Kyoko where she interrupted them, she said.

So, if we go by what she said. We can assume she doesn't care about the Rebellion event. She's just happy that she gets to exist again. Back in 2015, the Madoka concept trailer.

The happiness Nagisa wants is not in Heaven. It doesn't exist there. So, when Homura to dragged Madoka down, she destroyed Madoka's "Heaven" where Nagisa lives. She now lives in reality again. Where she can eat cheese again and experience all the things she never got to experience. So, for her, what Homura did is something that actually goes for her favor. We love a selfish cheese loving character.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #338

Fwhoof. Today was a mega busy day. If I didn't have a habit of starting at the beginning, I wouldn't know what to talk about first.

Well, firstly, I decided to shower. I was cold, and I wanted to chill in a warm, quiet, dimly-lit place, and also I wanted to smell like my shampoo (it's chamomile and rose scented; I wonder if you'd like it). So I put on the night light and just... let myself be warm and relaxed for a while. And then I was struck by the way the light was hitting the water droplets on the shower curtain, so I took a picture...

I cut up ingredients to make gyros after that! Gyros, as a concept, come from a place in my world called Greece. They have a special kind of climate that is well-suited to growing all kinds of tasty stuff! Their cuisine makes lots of use of things like lemons and herbs and garlic and olives and cucumbers and sheep and goat cheeses, and... ohh... it's just so, so, so good...! 🤤

So... I started with a cucumber!

...You'll also notice a very curious Momma, who wants to examine the cucumber! She kept meowing at me, hahaha! By all means, do say hello!

Anyway, so you gotta cut up the cucumbers into little dicey bits. That's hard for me to do, since I've got the dyspraxia going on. But I have a little system I like to use. We start by cutting the cucumber in half along its length...

...The little seeds in there are kinda cool-looking, aren't they...?

So from there, you cut the halves into quarters, and the quarters into slices, and the slices into strips, and the strips into little tiny cubes, like this:

...And in the end, you're left with this:

Next, I peeled and cut an onion! I cut it using roughly the same method! One thing I will say is that when cutting onions, keeping the roots on helps the onion to avoid coming apart while you're cutting it!

...When I cut the onions like this, it leaves very little waste behind! These roots, along with the skins and the top, can go into my broth bag and be stuck in the freezer until I collect enough bones to make broth once more...!

Anyhoot! Next up is the tomatoes...

We can use the same method to cut these ones up! We just have to be a little careful with tomatoes, though, because they're very juicy and slippery, and they go squish easily:

And here's our nice bowl of cut veggies!

...Sephiroth... you know...? I think you could be really good at cooking. Like. I bet you could cut up all this stuff really fast. I bet you could even do it almost as quickly and efficiently as my father does...!! 🤩🤩🤩

...I kinda miss working in the kitchen with him sometimes. He would put on his music, and he has such a spontaneous, whimsical, and carefree attitude when it comes to making food (I wonder if you can see these lovely things within me, too...). But... ya know... these things... they don't erase all the other stuff. Like the fact that he refuses to take accountability for how his choices impacted my brother and I. He does not try to learn new mental and emotional skills, and so if I go near him, he's just gonna keep hurting me and denying that anything bad ever happened, ya know? And it sucks.

Well. Anyway. So here's what it looked like after I mixed it all up:

...So yummy!!!

Okay, so the next bit is to get out the tzatziki and the feta from the refrigerator:

...Tzatziki is a kind of sauce made of yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, and various herbs! Normally, I make my own tzatziki, but it's kind of labor intensive, and... I just didn't have the time and energy for all that. I'll show you how to make it some other time, though, so don't you worry about that! In the meantime, this kind looks like this:

As for the cheese, I get this imported kind instead of the usual kinds that are available, because this kind is made of sheep's milk, and the other kinds are made of cow's milk. And both kinds of milk are good to use, but I like the flavor of sheep's milk a little better! This kind comes in brine...

When we take it out, it looks like this...

...And we can cut it up into tiny cubes, exactly like how we did to the veggies:

I put it back into the container afterwards!!

From here, I put a pita into a bowl and then put some of the leftover lamb on it! Then I stuck it in the microwave to make it all nice and warm!

After it's all nice and warm, we put on all our cold toppings:

Delicious, no?

...Want a bite...?

I went to the house of my friends BB and N after that! We decided on a weekly “Get Stuff Done Day”, because both BB and N struggle significantly with their executive function, so... stuff doesn't get done. Poor object permanence, associated with autism, ADHD, and C-PTSD, can make people forget to call to make appointments and forget about household tasks that need doing. I'm there as a combination of body double, quasi-therapist, and relationship mediator.

So today, I was pleased to discover that BB had gone out and gotten a bunch of the stuff I had asked her to go out and get. And as a result, I was able to finish cleaning the toilets properly; they're practically sparkly now, and it should be easier for BB and N them to maintain the cleanliness of them on their own. Besides that, I helped them find a place to set up their toaster oven. I helped them work through some conflicts, helped them air grievances, and proposed solutions for said grievances. Then we came up with a to-do list for them to get done by the time I come by next week. After that, I started breaking down all the empty cardboard boxes in their garage, and putting them in the recycle bin where they belong. There are still quite a few more left to break down, but I'm confident that I'll be able to get it done next time I go!

J picked me up about 2 and a half hours later. He and I went to this “Speed Friending” event at a nearby library, and... basically, it's a bunch of nerds (I am proudly a nerd!) who pair up in a cyclical pattern and talk to each other for 4 minutes.

...I discovered that I am SPECTACULARLY bad at this, hahahaha!!! I've always been terrible not only at initiating conversations, but also at trying to decide which things I can say about myself that will actually be relevant to the other person. Sometimes, due to the object permanence issues I carry (thanks to the AuDHD plus C-PTSD), if I get nervous, I forget I even HAVE traits and interests to talk about!

It's really very funny! And thankfully, this group of folks seemed really forgiving. I eventually established a comfortable rhythm. I even came away from it with several phone numbers of people who potentially wanna keep hanging out! So that's pretty cool! And I found a really cool sticker while I was there, too!! Check it out!!

...It looks almost like the trees I weave, doesn't it? Because it's in roughly 3 sections...

On the way home, J informed me that he finished all of the pumpkin brownies while I was out - ate them all right up! And that makes sense; they really were some epic fucking brownies. I'll have to make more. J has requested a version of them that contains walnuts next time. If I'm not feeling like hot garbage, I might try to do that tomorrow. Admittedly, my muscles already ache a little from the scrubbing I did earlier; some of the stains really were very stubborn. And the ribs are a little pissed at the number of boxes I broke down with the box cutter. But we'll see. I'll take some ibuprofen before bed and hope that it helps!

If I do feel well enough to make more pumpkin brownies tomorrow, of course I will still have plenty of pumpkin puree leftover in the can that I'm not quite sure what I'll do with.

...Hey, Sephiroth...? What should I try making next, with the pumpkin puree...? I have the skills to make anything you want, so... would you tell me what you'd like me to try...?

…

...Well. It's getting pretty late. And I'm pretty tired, actually. I think I'm gonna try to go to bed sooner rather than later.

Hey. Do you see all the stuff I'm doing? Do you see all of the good I can do, despite how I was born and raised? Are you looking at all the ways I can be accepted by the people around me, even though I, myself, am anything but “normal”? Do you see all the ways I can build a wholesome, relaxing, nourishing, delicious time for myself, even though my life from before was very scary and sad?

...Sephiroth. You can have all these same things. And... you can have them even more quickly and effectively than I can. Because you've got a super smart and awesome brain, with a disciplined and flexible mind, and a body that actually works the way it's supposed to. You can learn the new mental and emotional skills needed to build this kind of life. You have the dexterity to cook yourself wholesome and amazing recipes. You are brave and adaptable and quick at learning. If I can build a normal life from the ashes of before... then you can do it. You can do all that, and then some. Someone like you, I'm sure, could even build houses, or grow a sprawling garden, or learn how to cook some of the best dishes known to your senses.

Sephiroth... when it comes to the dreams you had as a boy, there is nothing you cannot do. So please... Please try to have faith that you deserve it. Please try to believe that you can have nice things, that you can have safe and healthy connections with people who love you, and that you can build a wholesome and wonderful life for yourself.

Sephiroth. You can do it. I believe in you. And I will always believe in you, no matter what. So try really hard, okay? And if you need help, I'm right here. I'm just a message or a song or a shout or a stretch of the hand away. Always.

I love you, and I want you to come home, no matter what state you're in; if you're feeling tattered or torn or dented or scratched or bruised, it doesn't matter. We still want you to come home. We still want you for you. Okay? So please stay safe out there so that when this is all over, you can begin to heal alongside people who love you. We'll always be waiting, just for you.

I'll write again soon.

Your friend, Lumine

[trulybetty]

birthdays, besties & bravos

Pairing: Poppy x Dieter, Ava x Dieter & Bryony x Dieter Warnings: mentions of alcohol consumption Word Count: 1,591 Happy Birthday Heidi (@wildemaven)! We really hope you don't mind, but Lellen (@gnpwdrnwhiskey) and I took Poppy out for some birthday celebrations in honour of your special day, upon the insistence of Ava & Bryony! We hope you enjoy it! xx

A/N: you don't have to know how everyone is if you would like to read on, but you can learn about Poppy, Ava & Bryony in the following: - Sweet Creature by @wildemaven - Conversations with a Movie Star by @gnpwdrnwhiskey - Chiffon by @trulybetty

“Was that a baby goat you just herded out your back door?” Ava asked, her arms crossed on the back of the sofa where she was kneeling, having watched Bryony shoo the animal out of her back door.

Bryony huffed as she brushed her hands off on her jeans, “Don’t ask.”

“Dieter?” Ava asked still.

“Dieter.” Bryony muttered as she picked up a serving tray of margaritas and an array of cheese and crackers. “Is that my shirt?” She asked Ava as she rounded the kitchen island to the expansive living area cornered by plush sofas.

Ava plucked a glass from Bryony as she passed, turning around to plop herself back down onto the sofa, “Yep,” she replied with a responding pop, “I mean, you have a stylist as a best friend, only fair you share the spoils.”

Bryony rolled her eyes playfully, “I suppose, it does look good on you.”

Ava smiled, pleased at the compliment, “I was thinking just the same.”

Bryony continued across the living room, stopping only to place the tray down on the coffee table and scowl at the fact the damn hippo coffee table had been switched out on her again. However there were more pressing matters to attend to than her husband's interior decor tastes.

“Here you go love,” Bryony handed a margarita glass to Poppy who was sitting crossed legged on the armchair that matched the sofa Ava was now stretched across, margarita glass in hand as she reached for the charcuterie board.

Poppy looked up from her phone, “Thanks,” she responded despondently as she took the drink.

Bryony and Ava shared a look across the room, “Still haven’t heard from him?” Bryony asked.

Poppy sighed, tucking the phone at her side, “No, nothing.” 

“Fuck him,” Ava decreed and Bryony shot her a look that said tone it down. “What?” she asked, giving Bryony a confused look.

Taking a seat on the love seat, Bryony brought her drink to her lips, tucking her feet under her. “I’m sure he has a good reason why he hasn’t messaged you.”

“It’s her birthday.” Ava deadpanned, ignoring the second shooting glare Bryony was sending her.

Bryony glanced at her watch, “Look, Cricket came by earlier,” she said referring to one of her best friends and Hollywood stylist, “and she left me some bougie outfits for us to pick through. Though,” she shot a look at Ava, “she says all the pieces have to be returned this time.”

“Pft, I appreciate it more than any snobby rich bitch would have.”

Bryony rolled her eyes, “Anyway, we’ve got an hour until the car comes to pick us up,” she gave Poppy a soft smile, “why don’t we go and get ready for a night of celebrating our darling Poppy and using Dieter’s credit card to open a tab?” she ended with a wink at Poppy who couldn’t help but smile in response.

“Okay,” Poppy agreed before she downed her margarita.

“Woo! That’s the spirit!” Ava applauded, her drink in the air in a one sided toast to Poppy’s change in demeanour. “I saw a super sexy dress that you’ll look to die for in, come on!”

Bryony stood to follow the two women up the stairs to her bedroom, “How much did you go through up there Ava?”

It was over an hour later when they finally got into the waiting car. Situated in the back seats of the luxury Lincoln, Poppy sat in the middle tugged at the dress she was wearing.

“Do you think this is too short?” she asked.

Bryony, head down texting furiously, didn't stop to look up, “First of all, stop tugging it, that’s how the sequins fall off. Second, you look stunning,” the emphasis of the word had her accent coming out thicker than usual.

Ava snorted, “I’ll never get over that accent.” 

Bryony ignored her, “You’re going to be fighting off the attention this evening.”

“Yeah, Dieter doesn’t know what he’s missing.” Ava scoffed, “Oo, actually, selfie!”

Ava extended her arm, holding her phone high to capture all three of them in a frame, everyone leaning in for the shot. Poppy forced a smile as the phone’s camera snapped a series of photos.

“Perfect!” Ava declared as she reviewed the photo, “There we go, maybe now he’ll see what he’s missing out on,” Ava said, scrolling through the pictures and picking one to post on her Instagram story.

Poppy’s phone chimed, breaking the silence that had settled in the car, “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” she cursed as she scrolled through the message.

“What’s wrong?” Bryony asked.

“There’s been a burst pipe at the gallery.” Poppy’s eyes widened as the reality of the situation kicked in. “Oh my God. The artwork! Do we have enough insurance to cover any damages?” she said, speaking more to herself than the other two women.

“Don’t worry,” Bryony reassured, instructing the driver to make a detour. “We’ll stop by, check the situation. This is why insurance was created, you can assess the damage. Then we’ll carry on with our plans.”

“I can’t believe this is happening, today of all days,” Poppy groaned, pressing her palm against her forehead.

“Shouldn't there be someone you pay to deal with this? Your Dieter is loaded, isn't he?” Ava asked, “I thought it was only Bryony’s Dieter who spent money on random shit like farm animals.”

Bryony furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes, a common occurrence with Ava, “First they’re adopted not purchased and second… yeah I got nothing, we have two hippo tables now.”

Poppy’s phone buzzed again; it was a message from Dieter, finally. ‘Just saw the picture Ava posted. Poppy, you look incredible, love you.’ Poppy's heart sank.

“Well, would you look at that,” Ava said, peering over Poppy’s shoulder at the message. “He’s alive after all.”

It didn’t take long for the trio to arrive at the gallery, Bryony instructed the driver to go grab a coffee and she’d call them back when they were ready. Climbing out the three took in the front of the building, the lights were all out. 

“That’s strange,” Poppy remarked as she fumbled in her purse for her keys.

“What’s that?” Bryony asked as she tapped away at her phone.

“Diem was the one who sent the text, but it doesn’t look like anyone is here.” She said as she put the keys in the lock.

Ava, who had her hands cupped to the side of her face peering into glass windows of the gallery, confirmed Poppy’s observation, “Yeah, I’m not seeing anyone.”

Bryony grabbed Ava by the elbow and spoke through gritted teeth, “Maybe it’s out the back, did you think about that?”

Ava’s eyes widened, “Y-yeah, totally probably out the back.”

Poppy, too distracted now with the lock, swung the door open and stepped into the dark of the gallery’s main entrance.

“Hello, Diem?” she called out, cursing as she tugged on her dress and several sequins fell to the floor, “I know, I know Bry.” she said, expecting a scolding from the older woman but when she was met with silence she was confused, “Bryony?” she got no response, “Ava?” silence still. 

Groping in the dark she reached the wall for where she knew where the light switches for the main room were. It took several stabs in the dark until she found the switches, the lights stuttered before they lit up fully, “That’s bet–”

Poppy didn’t get a chance to finish.

“SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

The room was full of friends and family, all beaming smiles as they raised glasses in toast to Poppy.

Dumbfounded, Poppy didn’t notice as Dieter stepped away from the crowd, a bouquet of soft blush poppies in his hand.

“Happy birthday Poppy.” he murmured into her ear, as she noticed the sea of poppies that filled the space that didn’t hold family and friends.

“Dieter, you planned this?”

“Hm hm,” he nipped at her ear as his free hand trailed down from her waist to the hem of her dress, “This is new.”

She caught her breath as his fingers toyed with the hem, his fingers brushing her bare thigh, “Bryony let me borrow it.”

His fingers moved higher, “I think I might be writing her a cheque, because this dress is not going back.”

“Dieter,” Poppy hissed as she pushed his hand back down from under her dress.

He laughed, “Later Pops.”

Placing the bouquet into her hands, Dieter took her face in his hands and leaned in closer, his deep brown eyes captivating hers. His lips were mere inches away from hers and with the same lightness that his fingers had touched her dress he brushed his lips against hers and kissed her. His hands moved slowly to the back of her neck, as if they were meant to be there forever, sending tingles down Poppy’s spine.

He was the one person who could make her forget everything else in the world. Dieter pulled away after a few moments leaving Poppy feeling breathless and wanting more.

“I thought you forgot.” she breathed out, her eyes still closed.

He brushed a thumb over her lips, “How could I forget Pops?” 

“You had me fooled.”

“It would have ruined the surprise, I’m sorry.” He leaned down to kiss her lips again.

She smiled, her eyes now open and looking at his, “It’s okay, you can make it up to me.”

“I can? How's that?” he asked, his head cocked to the side, a coy boyish smile on his face.

“Oh, I can think of a few things.”

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

Romanian siblings posting

So, I think the current Romania character in Hetalia is very Transilvania. He lives in Sibiu, he has beef with Hungary and we never see him (from my memory) interacting with Turkey or Russia pre-USSR. So, Transilvania he is.

So that leaves the other 2 big parts of Romania up for nerds like me to write for. Wallachia and Moldova/Moldavia (they're Țara Românească or Valahia and Moldova in Romanian so I might switch between those names.)

Wallachia, Moldavia and Transilvania are all siblings, the children between Dacia and the Roman Empire. They barely got to see their parents because they were all too young to remember them.

The three got seperated soon after, Transilvania getting kidnapped by Hungary, Wallachia constantly bickering with Turkey and Russia breathing down Moldavia's neck.

So, here are the character introductions for my little ocs of them. I actually have a lot more toughts on Wallachia than Moldavia so this is more of a Wallachia post

~Wallachia~

She's the youngest of the siblings (around 19 years old in human years).

She just wants to be left the fuck alone to plant her veggies and take care of her goats

She loves impaling things, crushing potatoes, steak, poking Turkey in the ass with her pitchfork

She has a pet goat called Esus because it's gramaticly correct

She adores cheese and anything with lactose. She refuses to believe lactose intolerance is a thing.

She can speak a shit lot of languages: Romanian, Turkish, French, English, German and Italian. In that order.

Her and Serbia have matching tatoos and they both dyed a bit of their hair blue just because

Wallachia keeps begging Serbia to join the EU because she wants to hang out in the back of the class and get drunk on medical alcohol like in the good ol' days

Serbia and Wallachia are childhood friends. Serbia actually thought Wallachia a few words in serbian and slavic (including the word for love)

Back when Turkey was the Ottoman Empire, he would constantly try to invade Wallachia

He did succeed but only a bit

They fought a lot and Wallachia was one of the brattier territories

She really did enjoy seeing the turks impaled at her border

All and all, Turkey was the closest thing Wallachia had to a father, so, inspite of their previous conflicts, Wallachia still talks with Turkey

At some point Turkey let Greece in charge of Wallachia

They got along quite well, especially since Greece would pay her to get naked

Wallachia and Greece still keep in contact and they send eachother cringe christmas and easter gifts... usually socks or cards

Once Wallachia and Moldavia joined forces together, banboozling the West by electing the same president, they played rock paper scissors and Wallachia won.

She once beat the shit out of Bulgaria, to the point that some western powers had to stop her from doing it

Never leave Wallachia in a room with Hungary. That bitch will be dead in an instant

Wallachia loves her siblings a lot but she's also a firm believer in consensual bullying

She did basicly every college under the sun at England's place before he threw her out. Now she's staying in Italy with Felicio

Her and Romania constantly try to see which one is better: Cluj Napoca or Bucharest

It's Iasi, guys, come on

~Moldavia~

She's the middle child at about 20 years old in human terms

She's the scapegoat of the family

Moldova is her kid and she's a very proud mom

She makes the best alcohol in the family

She was a lot closer to Wallachia than to Romania

She's the only one of the three that still constantly goes to church

She created the ice bucket challange and she's amused by how people were using it

She's the best storyteller of them all. She just has a very sweet and homey voice.

She's dating Ukraine and they're in a loving relationship together.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

One of my favorite things about KATAOW is Wolf’s character development. It’s so subtle and gradual that on my first viewing of it, I didn’t really notice it until the end of each season.

I feel like Season 1 could be used as a masterclass for this kind of character development. Even though there are major changes in the way she lives, they don’t change her immediately. At the start of the show, Wolf’s life fundamentally changes by living with another person, but she is basically the same as how she was before for about the first 4 episodes. However, during this time, she disagrees with Kipo on just about everything, but the way they resolve conflict slowly gets better and better, going from physically fighting over eating/keeping Mandu in “Burrow Girl” to Wolf willingly going along with Kipo’s plans in “Cactus Town” and even risking her life to do so again in “The Astronomers in Turtlenecks.” But even after that, they don’t start working seamlessly together. Wolf still is the person who she was before she met Kipo, putting herself and her security above everything else. But in “Tad Mullholland,” we see that this now is beginning to encompass her long-neglected social needs, which then comes into conflict with her physical safety in “Mute-Eat-Mute World” where we see her instinctively prioritizing her physical safety above all else.

But by the end of Season 1 and the start of Season 2, we see that Wolf’s concerns over physical safety, have grown to encompass the safety of Kipo and the others as well. This is a very subtle and important change which turns her rugged survivalist mentality into a more fiercely protective one, as showcased in “The Goat Cheese Prophecy” and “To Catch a Deathstalker,” where Wolf is more than willing to charge headfirst into danger to protect Kipo. But then, in “Benson and the Beast,” when Kipo is able to transform whenever she needs to, Wolf suddenly is not in charge of protecting Kipo and the others, which takes that stress off of Wolf and makes room for her to trust Kipo and actively participate in her plans for redeeming Scarlemange in “Sympathy for the Mandrill” and “All That Glitters.” This building trust eventually culminates in “Heroes on Fire” where Wolf has no weapon to fight with and she actually asks Dave for help, which was a small thing but made me pause the episode to appreciate how far Wolf had come.

In Season 3, Wolf gets a new weapon to replace Stalky, which I choose to take as an indication of how Wolf changes in this season. Her new rope dart not only compensates for all the disadvantages she had when fighting Emelia (reach, contests of brute strength, etc.) but also has non combative uses as well (ie restraining people and climbing). However, one of the biggest differences is the fact that it is often out of sight and not always in her hand. This both symbolically and literally shows that Wolf drawing her weapon to fight is a choice now that Kipo can turn full Mega and all of these properties of her new weapon are shown in “A Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing” where she makes the conscious choice to stop fighting Margot and helping her instead. When she chooses to do this, she does it because of how being around Kipo has influenced her and made her more willing to make peace with people instead of fighting them. Unfortunately Wolf does not, in my opinion, get enough screen time in Season 3, but we do see little instances where she chooses to do things the Kipo way such as getting the other HMUFA members to set traps for the invading humans instead of waging an all out war in “It’s a Trap” and stopping Kipo from sinking Emelia’s ship in “Requiem for a Dave.” She even agrees to do Prahm Kipo’s way as a genuine party instead of using it to kill Emelia, which was particularly cool to see because it took her some time to overcome her desire to protect Kipo and actually let her take this risk, but not only because she knows that Kipo can defend herself if worse comes to worst, but because she understands that it’s the right thing to do. She not only comes around to supporting Kipo, but gets Scarlemange to do so too and even prevents him from mind controlling people again, not because Kipo said so, but because she understands that it’s morally wrong. Everything then culminates for Wolf’s development in the show when she takes off her wolf skin and symbolically letting go of her old worldview for good in the name of peace and cooperation and then stops fighting Greta in “Age of the Wonderbeasts” to convince her to break free from Emelia and her manipulation.

And I think that this is a beautiful ending for Wolf’s arc. Not everything was wrapped up neatly for her, but she’s gotten to a point now where she can heal and move forward from her past to find an identity for herself within a community, and while we don’t know who she will eventually become, I think it really works because it shows us that we don’t need to know where we want to end up as people, but that just being around the right people will, by it’s very nature, change us and that this type of growth is possible for anyone. And I think KATAOW nails this in the subtlety of Wolf’s growth and that it just emerges because she spent so much time with Kipo.

Anyways. This was a lot longer of a post than I intended to write, so if you’ve made it this far, thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[twsthc]

scarabia angst headcanons 🌞💔

⚠️ warnings: food anxiety, self destructive behavior, possible OCD triggers, kalim

last updated: july 30, 2023

KALIM AL-ASIM 🦦

has C-PTSD from the constant threat of death

mostly gets nightmares, flashbacks, anxious, etc of when he was poisoned and kidnapped or when jamil was poisoned "for" him

has coughed up blood, has seen jamil cough up blood

really tries to hide how much it still gets him so he doesnt worry anyone

super light sleeper. a cockroach tap the wall and his eyes would fly open

has food anxiety

needs someone to test the food before he does, or he needs to know jamil prepared it or he wont eat it

after his first time getting poisoned he wouldnt eat jamils cooking either

after jamil's OB, he stopped cooking and contacting kalim and things really spiraled out of control

stopped eating/drinking anything until he was forced to

was literally bmi 0.001 until a teacher had to step in and force some goat cheese down his throat

parents would pay for material items for their kids but not therapy

i think kalim might have done some crazy shit to make his parents notice him out of the quintillion other kids they have

also he was raised by servants instead of his own mother

because of all this Mental Illness (specifically C-PTSD) he does get panic attacks, as one with anxiety disorders does

he uses pain to ground himself in stressful moments (mostly his nails)

digs them into his palms or thighs, whatever hes closer to

or he scratches himself until he refocuses

got especially bad after jamils ob. imagine the person who kept u safe and basically raising u coming out and saying he secretly hated u

me personally i would kms

probably cries himself to sleep

type of fellow to be super happy one moment then hear a sad/soft song then become svicidal (me when im having a great day then hear any song by Lamp)

JAMIL VIPER 🐍

fully believe jamil has NPD

after growing up in an environment where he was put behind everyone else, his brain desperately needed to be put first

its really hard to find good symptoms of this disorder without seeing bullshit like "10 signs your partner is a narcissist" omfg

some ACTUAL symptoms of a narcassistic disorder (for jamil):

he has poor coping skills, often projects his anger onto others, has trouble maintaining relationships, often requires praise or he might feel obsolete/depressed

too good at hiding his feelings even in shitty situations

has boiling anger issues but is able to keep them repressed (at his own cost)

after his OB, he distanced himself from kalim to process

after 2-ish weeks, they talked it out and set some boundaries

the first week jamil didnt force-wake kalim up, kalim was consistently late to all her earlier classes and struggled a shit ton with work loads

she couldnt even pick out her own outfits without jamil going "that ones fine, now hurry up" every few seconds

had to establish that kalim needed to learn how to live without jamils coddling

kalim agreed ofc but still felt a little lonely without her usual schedule

also has anxiety from being poisoned, and still has lingering memories of being so worried when kalim was kidnapped

i also think jamil has OCD :3

"if i dont do ABC then kalim with XYZ"

has other impulses (flicking lights on and off, needing to feel "even" on both sides)

i hope someone w ocd reads this and understands wtf im talking about

when someone steps on your foot so you have to step on the other one or youll throw up because you dont feel the same amount of pain on both sides

[thedreamworldlibrary]

Two Birds Chap. 2- Separated in Sadness

Trigger Warning!! There’s only a few, but it’s still a warning!! Bullying and slight transphobia. 

Here is the next chapter for you all! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying this Au so far.

I was going to get this next chapter out sooner, but a few things delayed me from doing so.

First was the newest short for WTDW and I had to think if this should be a time-skip chapter or not. Then I came up with a Pokémon WTDW AU (as well as a few more AU’s and stories for this series) and wanted to work on that specific AU before working on Two Birds again. Be advised I work on tons of fanfictions and my brain wants to focus on one before working on the other. Finally, after the newest episode came out and boy that episode gave me ideas for ALL my WTDW fanfics~ I did have ideas for this Au before the episode since this is an Au after all and I’m excited!

Last but not least for those new to the fanfic. I know Wiatt is trans, but to play it safe I’m using his he/him pronouns at an early age.

Also BIG thanks to @gigilefache for being my beta reader!!

Enjoy!

It was Sunday night, and that specific night was the final night before Wiatt and Sara headed back to school. Owen decided to celebrate that night by cooking the two’s favorite dinner; spaghetti and meatballs.

Once the food was done and laid out on the table, Owen yelled for his friends. “Wiatt! Sara! Dinner is ready!” 

Owen sat down and waited for his kids to come running down the stairs and quickly eat their dinner, but something was off.

“Wiatt! Sara! I made your favorites!” Owen yelled again.

He then heard footsteps, but they seemed quieter than the loud running footsteps he’s been used to. When the twins came down, they were upset, not saying a word as they sat down to eat.

“Alright, what’s wrong you two?” Owen asked. “Did you guys argue again? Or did you lose a level on that kart racing game?”

Wiatt and Sara glanced at each other before they topped their spaghetti with some cheese and extra meatballs before eating in silence.

Owen sighed and started to think of what else could have upset his twins. “Alright, I’m gonna guess. Is it about school tomorrow?” He asked.

Wiatt and Sara nodded yes as the two started to eat their food.

“I see,” Owen said. He knew why the twins were upset, and despite them being okay about it, the thought of the first day of school being the next day the harsh reality hit the twins hard. “Look this was bound to happen, you guys can’t be in the same classes every year.”

This made the twins feel worse.

Owen was starting to run out of ideas to cheer his kids up. He had to think of something, quickly. “M-Maybe it won’t be so bad. Besides, you'll have time before class, recess during lunch, and lunch time to spend time together.”

Wiatt and Sara looked at each other, feeling a little better, “I guess you're right.” Wiatt replied.

Owen gave a smile, “see!” He exclaimed. “If it makes you feel better, how about on Friday I’ll treat you two for ice cream.”

“Alright! I’ll give it a try.” Sara replied, smiling knowing ice cream was mentioned.

“Same.” Wiatt replied.

“Great. Now eat your dinner, and maybe if you finish it, there’s two slices of cake I bought for dessert you two could have” Owen reminded them as he ate a bite of his dinner.

The twins gasped and smiled before going ahead and eating their spaghetti. Once they finished their dinner, Owen took the plates and as promised gave them each a slice of cake for dessert.

A little later, everyone went to sleep, tucked in and completely full. However, a few hours into the night, Wiatt was awoken by someone shaking him.

“Wiatt.” Sara whispered.

Wiatt groaned and saw his sister awake and holding her little goat plush. He looked at the time to see it was 11:20 pm. “Sara, it’s the middle of the night, what do you want?” He asked.

“I can’t sleep. Could I sleep with you?” She asked.

Wiatt sighed and moved over a bit so his sister could have room. She gave a small smile and got into bed with her brother.

“Thanks.” Sara said.

“No problem.” Wiatt replied.

Sara got herself comfortable and turned to her brother, “are you scared?” She asked.

“Of going to school?” Wiatt asked back.

“Y-Yeah.”

Wiatt sighed, and turned to give his sister a hug. “I’m scared too, but remember you have me to talk to if anything happens.” He reassured her.

Sara sighed, “okay.”

Wiatt smiled and pushed a strand of hair from his sister’s face. “Now, get some sleep.” He said, closing his eyes and drifting off.

“Okay. Night, Wiatt.” Sara whispered before closing her eyes and hugging her goat plush tight.

“Night, sis.” Wiatt replied as the twins fell asleep.

The following morning, Owen dropped off the twins at school, who just stared at the building in its looming presence. “I wish you two luck on your first day, you’ll be fine I promise.” He said before driving off.

Wiatt sighed and held his backpack tight, “well, let’s get this over with then.” Wiatt said.

“Okay.” Sara replied as she followed behind her brother.

As the two made their way to the 2nd grade line up area and saw their classroom numbers were next to each other. “See it might not be so bad, I’m right next door.” Wiatt said, putting his arm around his sister.

Sara sighed, “I guess.” She replied.

Wiatt ruffled her hair a bit as they both put their stuff down and ran to the school playground to play. It cleared Sara and Wiatt’s mind for a bit and once the bell rang they were ready to go inside their respective classes. Before they left, Sara hugged her brother before following the rest of her classmates inside of her classroom.

Once inside, things remained calm, however, Sara had a feeling that something was going to go wrong. She decided to shake it off and focus, it was the first day after all…

What’s the worst that could happen?

Behind Sara, sat three kids who glared at her from behind. “Isn’t that the girl who’s dad runs that local arcade?” A blonde-haired kid, named Jo asked.

The other kid, a boy, named Maddy, looked over and nodded. “It sure is.” He exclaimed.

The three friends smirked and the other young boy threw a paper ball at Sara’s head. She was confused and turned around and the kids pretended they didn’t throw the paper at her. Sara sighed and shrugged it off as she grabbed her stuff from her backpack.

Seconds later another piece of a rolled up paper ball hit Sara again. She was getting annoyed and glared at the trio. “What’s so funny? Huh!?” Sara asked.

It wasn’t till one of the taller boys, Geoff, stood up that Sara silenced herself. . Sara squeaked and went quiet before going back to her seat.

“Man, she’s such a wuss.” Jo whispered.

“For being related to the arcade man, she’s pathetic.” Geoff replied, as they laughed.

Sara sighed and decided to ignore them. They were being jerks, she’s seen those kinds of kids at the arcade, and all she had to do was ignore them and not let them get to her. Even if she felt like crying…

With it being the first day of school, it was more of introducing the kids to what they will be learning throughout the year, rather than actually learning. However, despite the supposed-to-be welcoming environment, Sara's new bullies persisted. They continued to throw things, as well passed a note around that had bad language about Sara, which made the other kids snicker. Once the note went to her, Sara’s eyes widened seeing all the comments her peers wrote about her.

Sara’s pathetic.

Sara’s a weirdo!

Sara’s a loser.

Sara held back tears, but her sniffle was heard, which made the kids snicker.

“She’s gonna cry.” Maddy whispered.

“So she is a baby.” Jo added.

Sara put her head down, she glanced at her teacher who passed by the bullies, but said nothing about how they were acting. This crushed her a bit, and she wished lunch time would start so she could be with her brother and get away from her classmates.

By lunch, all the kids were playing on the playground, but not Sara who sat underneath a big tree with her knees up to her face.

“Sara?”

Sara looked up to see it was her brother, who looked worried at her.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“No.” Sara replied.

Wiatt sat next to his sister and put his arm around her. “What happened?”

Before Sara could respond an empty water bottle came flying and hit Sara in the head. She let out a shriek and while it didn’t hurt her, it did scare her. Wiatt was horrified and turned to see that the trio of bullies standing where the bottle was thrown.

“They happened.” Sara cried.

Wiatt glared and growled as he marched over to the bullies. “Hey! Knock it off!” He yelled. The bullies stared at Wiatt with a smirk. “Leave my little sister alone!”

“Huh, didn’t know the wuss had a brother.” Geoff commented.

Maddy scoffed, “he doesn’t look like a boy. He looks like a gir-'' the boy was cut off when Wiatt shoved him to the ground.

“Don’t you DARE call me a girl!” Wiatt shouted.

Jo shoved Wiatt on the ground back and pinned him down.

“Wiatt!” Sara yelled, as she runned towards her brother. However, before she could pull the blonde haired kid off her brother, Geoff grabbed Sara by her overalls and pinned her down as well.

Sara shivered as tears started to fall from her eyes. She let out a sob as she saw Jo punch Wiatt in the face. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw that she was going to suffer the same fate as well.

Just as the taller boy was about to hit Sara, the bell rang and the bullies got off the Nicholson Twins. “You two are lucky the bell rang!” Geoff shouted.

“Next time you mess with us, we’ll do so much worse to your wuss of a sister!” Jo threatened before the three walked back to class.

Wiatt glared, “jerks!” He spat, getting up and checking on his glasses to see if they were cracked. He turned to Sara who got up and was crying. Wiatt frowned and slowly went to his sister and pulled her into a hug.

“I don’t like school anymore.” Sara cried. “I want to go home!”

Wiatt frowned and rubbed his sister’s back as she cried. He didn’t care if both of them would get in trouble for coming back late, his sister needed comfort right now.

When school ended for the day, Owen waited in his car for his kids. He saw most of the kids walking out the school, but not his own. He was worried his kids got in trouble on their first day of school. Just as he was about to leave the car he saw Wiatt and Sara come out of the building, but something felt off about them.

Wiatt and Sara saw their dad’s car and went over to it, opened the door and sat in the backseat not saying a word or even looking up at their father.

“Are you two okay?” Owen asked.

“No.” Sara replied. “Some kids hate me.” 

Owen’s eyes widened until he looked at his son. He let out a gasp seeing a bruise had formed on his cheek. “Wiatt don’t tell me you got into a fight again.”

“I had to! They threw an empty bottle at Sara and they called me…” Wiatt shouted, forming tears in his eyes.

Owen frowned, “Wiatt I told you no fighting. Even if it’s just to protect your sister, or even to correct people.” He reminded his son.

“I know! But they deserve it!” 

“Wiatt Rowan Carlos Nicholson enough!” Owen shouted.

Wiatt shut his mouth as his father dropped his full name. Sara flinched as well.  “Sorry.” He said, quietly. “I just don’t like how Sara was treated today.”

Owen sighed calming down. “I understand you care for your sister, and I’m sorry for raising my voice.” He said.

It went quiet in the car, as everyone needed to calm down after what happened. Sara was the one to break the silence, “c-can we go home now?” She asked.

“Y-Yeah. Let’s go home.” Owen replied as he started the car and drove back home. The car ride was silent, no one said a word or asked if music should be played. It was going to be a long school year for the entire family.

~~~~~

Incase anyone doesn’t know who is who (my headcanons only)

Geoff is Gruff

Jo is Nightlight

And Maddy is Lorenzo

I only kept Maddy from my original fanfic called Sara, but I re-named the bullies since now we got more lore about the spirits representing the defunct animatronics.