#I hoard pictures and sometimes actually use them

[causeimanartist]

Is the shirt about Gotham? His kids? The Justice League? His back? Who could say

[blues824]

Malleus Draconia and #4

You requested: Gift Giving

Malleus Draconia

When you invited him to Ramshackle, he was beyond excited. You told him to dress comfortably, but we all know that he dressed up in fancy dress pants and a white button-up shirt, black belt to top it off as well as dress shoes adorning his feet. It was his version of ‘comfortable’, because he’s not in his full leather dorm uniform.

You, in contrast, were in sweatpants and a black t-shirt. It was one of his undershirts, actually, and it was quite large on you. However, you being drowned in his cologne was something he definitely could get used to, especially since you would sometimes sniff at the collar to get a whiff of his trademark scent. It made his draconic instincts go wild.

Anyway, you both sat in the living room of the dilapidated dormitory, Grim sleeping in your bedroom. You had made an agreement with the cat-monster, sliding him 4 whole cans of fancy tuna in exchange for no interruptions with your date with Malleus, and he shook your hand, said “pleasure doing business with you”, and went upstairs.

The lights were turned down low, instead being replaced by the lights strung on the tree and all throughout the room. The atmosphere was intimate, and you sat between Malleus’s legs, leaning your back into his chest.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his arms wrapped around your shoulders. His skin was cold, but the close proximity made warmth bloom in your heart. He was placing feather-light kisses upon your collarbone, not marking you, but not close to letting you go either.

“Malleus, I got you a present, but you’re going to have to let me go so I can get it,” You whispered, turning your head to the side so that you could move your eyes to catch a glimpse of his emerald green eyes.

“And what if I never want to let you go, darling?” He whispered back, pulling away from the crook in your neck.

“You won’t ever have to. However, I do want to give you something, and I do need to get up and get it,” A smile and a laugh made their way to your lips as his arms tightened their hold on you, and you brought your hands up to them, while placing a kiss on his lips, albeit at an awkward angle. Then, he let you go.

Quickly, you scrambled over to the coffee table, reaching over to grab the gift box and crawling back to your safe space: the dragon prince currently sitting on the floor of your living room.

As you leaned back into him, you held the box in your hands for him to reach around you and open it, and he smiled when he saw that it was a framed picture of you both. It was a silhouette picture of him bridal-carrying you, and he remembers that day:

You both were on a walk as the sun was setting, and you quickly stopped and said that you wanted to take a picture. When discussing what pose you should do, he proposed the idea of picking you up into his arms. You agreed, and you set the timer, and you jumped into his arms.

It was a memory that would seem insignificant to most, but to you both, it was a treasure that could never be replaced.

“I believe I have something for you as well, Child of Man. It will be okay if you refuse it at first, as I know it’s still fairly early in our courtship, but I wanted you to know how much you mean to me,” With that preface, he used his magic to whip out a small green box. He held it for you to take, and you carefully opened it to reveal an emerald.

It was almost glowing, and it had you entranced.

“This is the heart of my hoard… or it was until you came into my life. The heart of a dragon’s hoard is its most precious treasure. Accepting it means you become my mate. I know that you are still young in your years, but I want you to have it eventually, if not right now. I want to see you wearing it around your neck so that I and everyone else knows you are my mate.”

Tears were brimming up in your eyes as you gently lifted the gem out of the foam, and you turned fully so that you could face the man that you loved with all your heart.

You placed it back in the box before nodding your head ‘yes’ and going in for a kiss, him meeting you halfway.

This was just the beginning of something wonderful, and you both could feel it.

[cressthebest]

What do you think jegulily's house is like as adults, and whats the most important part of it to each of them?

i think about this too much to he healthy.

• okay! first of all, the bedrooms.

there are two bedrooms, one is the master bedroom with all their stuff in there. all three share this room and they have a huge closet. (mostly for reg and lily’s purposes).

however, there’s a second, smaller bedroom as well that lily will often sleep in. i headcanon her as plus sized and i think she’d get overheated at night some times and just prefer to sleep alone. she loves reg and james so much, but for night comforts, she sometimes needs space.

james is cuddly af, and reg is so fucking clingy, and lily sometimes just needs to breathe so that extra bedroom is most often used by lily. (though any of them could ever use it if they needed space)

• this house is all about maximalism and it drives regulus crazy. james just likes to collect his little trinkets and lily hoards items she thinks could have future sentimental value (cause she regrets not having enough reminders of petunia)

• they also have huge thick curtains, some rooms it’s dark red and other rooms it’s dark green. slytherin vs gryffindor war :/

• lily loves big plush couches and surfaces. tons of soft places to sit

• the garden is regulus’ favorite place. it’s quiet, and he couldn’t often go outside while living in grimmauld place. he’s really good at gardening. he’ll often kinda hide in the plants and bushes so no one bothers him and he’ll snuggle up with a book.

• the kitchen is james’ favorite place and he loves to cook. love has always been food to him. and lily and reg cannot cook for the life of themselves. lily just isn’t good at it, and house elves always made food for regulus

• lily actually likes the stairs. kinda odd, but it’s her favorite part of the house. she’s always wanted a staircase (that doesn’t move). and lining the wall of the staircase is tons of printed photographs of everyone she loves. james took most of the pictures, and lily absolutely loves them all.

• they all gather around the fireplace and regulus reads out loud to them once a week for a date night when they’re all home. sometimes they read chapters, other times, reg reads his favorite poetry to them, other times they read short fiction.

[woso-dreamzzz]

Big Adventures Thoughts

So, my fics were pretty short tonight because I was stuck on a coach for six hours and couldn't write much but I do have some random Big Adventures thoughts that may or may not make it into fics at some point but I'm just going to share them all with you now 😊

I've mentioned it very briefly in an ask before but when Princesse was very young she spoke Swedish with a slight Danish accent and Magda hated it. It faded after she started living with Magda but it's always funny to Pernille whenever anyone brings it up

It's not been used a lot but moster Frido is a big part of Princesse's life. This is coming in a fic soon but after the doctors and Magda and Pernille, she's actually the next person to hold Princesse and she's the one that brings her girl-swan and girl-moose when she's a baby. Princesse adores her in the way all young girls idolise their older, female relatives and Frido's definitely the one she turns to when she's older and doesn't want to talk to her mums about certain things

Magda feels a bit inadequate sometimes (particularly early on) when she finds out just how easy Pernille and Princesse work together on things and it's a pretty steep learning curve for her but she adapts pretty quickly

Every shirt Princesse gets when she's younger, she wears to bed the night she gets it. Some shirts (like Leah's) she hoards for weeks before letting them get washed and framed if she thinks they're special enough

Princesse is deathly allergic to kiwi, banana and avocado but only slightly allergic to latex

Sometimes on the bus to away games, Princesse curls up on Jessie's lap and naps with her. Pernille has a whole photo album of pictures of Jessie and Princesse napping

The gloves that Zećira gives Princesse after the match against the USA, Princesse keeps. It becomes a bit of a superstition but before every match, she puts them on and then takes them off to put on her own gloves because she wants Zećira's good luck from that game to rub off on her

Princesse is absolutely a prodigy at keeping. Magda and Pernille debate sometimes whether there must be some kind of keeper dna in the donor they chose (because it certainly didn't come from Magda's) or whether or not it was the near hero worship Princesse has for Zećira that made her want to prove herself

Princesse's schooling ends up being a bit all over the place. She only starts school when they all move back to Germany and she only really goes in a few times a week because Magda and Pernille's schedules can be erratic sometimes and it's a bit easier to home-school her (and because of the slight separation anxiety Magda develops but will forever deny). When Magda and Pernille retire and they end up in Sweden, Princesse's time is taken up by academy training and then when she hits fifteen, professional training so she ends up taking online school

I think I've mentioned this as well but Princesse never lets in a penalty her entire career and it makes other players all the more nervous during penalty shootouts at major tournaments because she continually blocks them. It becomes kind of a thing that commentators at matches talk about in the 'is this the day someone finally scores a penalty against her' kind of way

Like Magda did, Princesse gives away her World Cup medals but this time to Magda and Pernille rather than a child of her own

Almost all of Princesse's World Cup jerseys get given away to players from her childhood (if and when she defeats their teams) while the others go to Magda and Pernille

For club football, Princesse has her first name on her back but for every international match, it's her last name

Princesse feels awkward getting praise sometimes from people that aren't her mothers which is something that carries into adulthood so, at award shows and such things, she always brings them with her because it makes her feel less awkward

Speaking of award shows, Princesse is presented with awards by both Mary Earps when she grows up along with Alexia and Aitana

[a-dragons-journal]

Territory, and What it Is to Be a Dragon

That last essay I reblogged got me thinking about what being dragon really means to me, what the core of it is, so here I am writing.

(Obviously my experiences of draconity and what it means to be a dragon are not going to be universal. When I say "dragon" in this post, I mean specifically my species of dragon; I just don't know what we call ourselves in our own tongue, so I only have dragon to call it.)

Disclaimer aside:

What is it to be a dragon?

Dragon is many things, many small things that come together to form a larger picture. Or at least, that's how dragon-in-human-skin is.

Flight, for one. Flight is the first thing I remember wanting so badly that it hurt all the way down to the core of my bones. What is there to say about it? It's home, it's life; a grounded dragon is a dead dragon. Flight is hard work, yes, but the sky is where we are safest, where the only thing that can touch us is another dragon, and it's difficult for even them to approach unnoticed. Hunting from above is the safest and most effective way to do it. Patrolling the territory is easiest when one doesn't have to contend with any obstacles but the currents of the wind.

I have to concur with Rook (@/words-of-wolf) in that aforementioned essay; the violence in me does not come from the hunt, it comes from the territory. Dragons are viciously territorial creatures, more often than not willing to die for our claim, our lair, our hoard. But the hunt... the hunt is swift, and lethal, and does not strike dragonbrain as particularly violent. A hunt isn't a fight. I don't know whether dragon!me thought of my prey as beings capable of fear and pain; we were sort of sapient (enough so to have names, at least), but only sort of.

Territory, though. Territory is core to being dragon, for me. A dragon needs to claim things and places as mine, and it will, whether or not that claim is appropriate. Much like a parrot, if it doesn't have an appropriate outlet, it will make an inappropriate one (and sometimes it will do so even if it is given an appropriate outlet - despite having an actual territory my brain likes to claim any room I spend a significant amount of time in as mine, even if it's technically shared space, and I've almost lashed out at a coworker for the crime of turning the fan off in my room when it was just as much his room as mine). There is a certain amount of possessiveness to a dragon that is inescapable.

My mother often questions why dragons hoard gold. I can talk about courting behaviors, I can talk about how it theoretically proves you're able to protect something precious to a mate, but in the end, the answer is simply because we must. Hoard is core to us, as much as allogrooming is to a primate or hunting is to a cat. My hoard serves no purpose now; I have no other dragons to court even if I wanted to. But still I am driven to hoard nonetheless, just as a cat is driven to hunt no matter whether it's actually hungry or not. Dragonbrain only sort of cares about why territory and hoard are important, how they feed and protect and offer mating opportunities. It just knows that they are important, and that it will fight to the death to defend them - why only sort of matters.

This is, I think, a lot of where my draconic pride comes from. Draconic pride is something we talk about in draconic spaces with some regularity; whatever the kind of dragon, there's more often than not some amount of pride and vanity associated with being a dragon, any kind of dragon. It's instinctive for many of us. It's probably culturally learned for all of us. But there is also a sense of natural pride that comes with this is mine, none can take it from me, I think. Pride, too, is core to draconity, in all its flawed glory, but it is integrally tied with these things, and perhaps that's why it's so core to draconity. (Perhaps that's why it's so common as well - I've rarely met a dragon who isn't some degree of territorial.)

[mrghostrat]

hi hiiiii! I’ve been enjoying your streamer au so so so much and now I absolutely must check out your other works, but I digress! For totally not fan art related reasons: have you ever put thought into how either of them prefer to dress? Like what fabrics they like? masc, femme, neutral? Loose, tight? Etc. etc.

I’m sorry to bombard you with so much for my first ask sudhfhucjsjdhvydjj

Just…curious. For, again, unfanart related reasons 👀

hiii thank you! i was going to say i haven't thought about this much, but i just realised that would be a lie, and i've totally caught myself off guard with it.

i like them best when they're as close to the source material as possible, (especially when the AU is really far from canon, it makes me hold even tighter to certain canon references to anchor it) and i like to blend book and tv.

to me, that makes crowley a combo of hotshot lawyer x aging rockstar, which means wearing sharp suits and slacks as often as drainpipes and chelsea boots. since crowley gives us so much variation to work with, i like referencing the show for all his clothing, even if i mix n match the pieces. (i do love how slouchy streetwear crowley looks, but i don't actually think it's very in character for him, so in my fics i keep him dressed sharply. jumpers and cardigans can still be sharp imo, depending what they're paired with and how slim the cut)

aziraphale, on the other hand. i didn't realise i had an opinion about this until i started typing. aziraphale is a camp and indulgent fucker, who hoards his victorian clothing because he loves it. he's canonically passionate about clothes. so i think the human au version of that means he'd have a lot of variation, even tho we don't see that in the show.

to anchor it to canon, i still picture him with the same ensemble of slacks or corduroys + button up + waistcoat + jacket. sometimes i'll add or remove pieces, like just a button shirt with no waistcoat, with or without a bowtie, and give him different cuts of jacket. my book!aziraphale exception to this is giving him lots of cardigans and jumpers. crowley's would be sleek like the turtleneck, but aziraphale wouldn't be afraid to look frumpy for the sake of cosiness or comfort.

his variation comes from colours and patterns, even though his overall style is very unanimous. he'd have dozens of diff bowties, tartan and argyle and paisley and check and plain alike. everything is light, but he's not beholden to cream and white: i think he'd enjoy the colour from all kinds of soft pastels.

sorry this is so long but i wanted to share my reasoning along with everything! <3

[sickgraymeat]

I think that, for a lot of her life, Bonnie is very much unaware that the world is not a fun game. (EDIT: more accurate phrasing might be “that a fun game is not the world.”) I think she puts a lot of unconscious and semi-conscious effort into avoiding reality for her own safety and sanity, but I don’t think she actually tries to use others as pawns. She’s very isolated emotionally speaking (as in she is around a lot of people but rarely makes deep connections with them) and struggles with empathy. She makes things a certain way, it keeps her and her loved ones (okay mostly Neddy) safe, so she sees no reason to change it, even if/when she’s unhappy. This bitch was born with a certain amount of understanding of the living world and how to interact with it, and for a long time, she had no reason to doubt that that was all there was to it. She was a child (emotionally and socially and experientially) who thought she was a grownup simply because she was smart and capable of keeping herself and her brother alive and him content. While Marceline’s emotional growth was stunted at a hugely volatile stage, Bonnie’s was nipped in the bud— in the root, really.

When the loneliness of being a child with adult priorities started to weigh on her, she used a picture of a happy family and the ruins of their home as her entire blueprint for interpersonal relationships. These people are grownups, so they will take care of me. That’s how it works because I read that somewhere.

Can you imagine the shock she must have felt when she first met Finn and Jake? Jake lets his baby brother play with swords and go on dangerous quests, sometimes even on his own?? Can you imagine, then, what Jake must have told her? Finn is a scrappy kid who will play outside in this fucked up world no matter what we do. He’s safer with the ability to defend himself than he would be if he never faced danger. He’s not much like Neddy. Not all people who fill the same roles are much like each other (still a relatively unfamiliar concept to her). Finn loves fairytale stories and grandeur and helping people— he’s like Bonnie. So yes, she will play knight and princess with him, because it keeps them both safe, and because it’s fun! It’s her chance to be kind of like a kid, and there are even some threats (IK) that are easy to delegate because they won’t hurt Finn the way they hurt her! But she’ll also protect him, even if it’s just by allowing him to train and sending him on missions she knows he can handle. Even if her protection hurts him and/or other people.

You’re fighting the knight, you’re seeking the dragon’s hoard, you’re trying to vanquish the demon. You don’t stand a fucking chance with the princess watching you, because unlike them, she’s not worried about being consistent or happy or good. She doesn’t even know what good is.

[moocfitab]

[ Dramatically bust's through the wall kool aid man style ]

GHAAE ( + Wolf) HEADCANONS :D

( for both Fable and MerSMP cuz I am having massive brainrot )

Fable:

- When Rae and Aax were younger, they would always without fail have some sort of picnic in their cave, this had led to Caspian, Rae, Aax and Fenris to have a makeshift picnic at random moments,

- Caspian has become a master at braiding his boyfriends (and boyfriend in law's) hairs, he'll sometimes do it automatically whenever one of the sits in front of him, he doesn't even realize he's doing it until they ask him about it.

- Fenris likes to draw stars on Rae whenever he can, Rae will be happily sleeping next to him and Fenris will just pull out a pen and draw the prettiest stars you've ever seen just- on this man's arm, Caspian and Aax have also been drawn upon on a few occasions but not *nearly" as much as Rae.

-Rae and Fenris can easily preen wings, Caspian *can* but he's not as good as them at it, Aax has no genuine clue what he's doing.

- If true crime existed in Fable, Aax and Caspian would be watchings, commenting and taking notes on any video they could get their hands on.

( TW for slight mention of child abuse )

- Whenever Aax thinks about the memory of Fable hitting Rae, he'll go to Rae and kiss where Fable hit him. He loves it whenever Aax does this.

Mer:

-Raylan will have constant dreams of old places he and his family used to go to, He can *almost* picture what their home looked like, He's tried to draw it from memory but it never looks right.

-Krit walked Raylan down the isle on his wedding day

- Mer! Caspian and Aax (Percy??) Still have Rayland ring on, Caspian has tied both his rings around his neck in fear of losing them, while Aax keeps them on his finger.

-Raylan has written letters to his family in hopes that the wind will bring it to them, He hadn't heard anything back yet- but he's hopeful, he put what he remembers, what he doesn't remember, what happened and his cords in it, folded it into a paper air plane and let the wind guide it out of his hands, he then quietly whispered a prayer that it finds them and that they don't hate his guts.

- Raylan hasn't been sleeping well, not only because he's mapping out the stars, but also because his bed feels too empty. The only times he's gotten actual good sleep is when Bucket laid in his chest and purred.

-More often than not, whenever Raylan is laying in bed, trying to sleep- He'll hear Caspian singing.. sometimes he'll even sing along- just to feel closer to him,

-Mer! Aax and Caspian have been absolutely worried sick about when Raylan is, They've been to so many tavern with a picture of him and Krit, asking the bartenders if they had seen either of them, Solaris and Jamie have been hoarding coral in the hopes that Raylan and Krit will just- magically appear so they can give it to them.

- Krits been awake more often, and has been trying to help Raylan remember anything about his husbands, it's worked to some degree- but he still can't remember Mer! Aax's name.

Dontcha just love it when you suddenly begin to brainrot over fiction gay men? I sure do :D

/pos

[srslyscary]

┊┊. WHAT’S IN HER BAG !

⟿ HER BAG

> MARC JACOBS TOTE BAG . bought this back in 2021, still in very good shape and she keeps a lot of her essentials (or various hoarded items) in this bag.

“this.. is my tote bag. I thought it was really nice and at the time I don’t think I saw any other colors in this bag that I liked. it’s a really spacious bag so it fits most of my stuff in it.”

⟿ PERFUME

> PURPLE OUD EAU DE PARFUM . It has a very nice smell, this is the perfume she uses everyday.

“this is my favorite scent.. it’s like a lavender scent. it’s called ‘purple oud’, my all time first pick.”

⟿ HEADPHONES

> SILVER AND PINK EARMUFF HEADPHONES . to rae, this pair of headphones is more convenient to her. they’re easier to relax with than airpods.

“these are my headphones. I don’t really enjoy having airpods or earbuds in my ear, so I use headphones with cushion earmuffs. this pair is great quality.”

⟿ WALLET

> KATE SPADE WALLET . keeps all her cards and cash in here, never goes anywhere without her wallet.

“this is a really pretty color. it’s a kate spade brand. I just keep all my money in here.”

⟿ PLUSHIE

> CHINCHILLA PLUSHIE . this was a gift from san when the members and rae got to spend her first birthday together.

“this is a gift.. from san. I named it ‘sana’, similar to when I call san, ‘san-ah’. this was something I got for the first birthday I spent with the boys. I never felt happier to receive a gift in my entire life.”

⟿ LIP ESSENTIAL

> LIP BALM . her lips get dry at times so she constantly keeps this lip balm in her bag to put in on wherever she goes. even at concerts she has this lip balm somewhere on her person so that she may put it on.

“my lips get dry sometimes.. so this is just lip balm I use whenever I need it.”

⟿ HAIR ESSENTIALS

> HAIR BANDS, CLAW CLIP, AND HAIR BRUSH . these items are for when she needs to keep her hair tidy.

“I really only use these on my days off since I get my hair done by the nice stylists. and even then I’m trying to do my own hair so that the stylists won’t always have to. make their jobs easier you know?”

⟿ PHOTO FILM

> FILM OF THE MEMBERS . never goes anywhere without this film. this constantly reminds her of how much this family means to her.

“I love love LOVE this photo. I never go anywhere without it. someone actually took this picture of them while I was in the restroom and I was so so sad I couldn’t get in the picture. the boys ended up letting me keep it though. thanks to them I have something to look at in my time of need.”

[ghostwise]

having fun with the character interactions, maps, and environments + 'gift' spoilers and one veilguard tip!

Dock Town feels so much like Kirkwall it's making me emotional. I can picture Renata walking through environments like this so clearly... I should make her in the CC and take screenshots sometime :')

I wish I knew how to record gameplay! Or make gifs. Alas. I'll post more screenshots later.

The maps are fun, the layering system actually gives us lots to navigate through. My tip if you're starting the game is to upgrade shops as quickly as you can! You do this by selling valuable items to them. This is also why so many merchants carry 'junk' items without any apparent purpose; you should be hoarding these as much as possible while exploring, to sell them back to each area's main shopkeeper. This will strengthen that faction and lead you to shop upgrades, which is when you can start getting more quests, and find some companion gifts. I've found gifts for Bellara and Neve so far.

I wish the gift system involved cutscenes though... that was disappointing for sure.

[thorraborinn]

In Norse beliefs, what does the snake symbolise? (Not Jormungand)

I can see why someone would think there would be a straightforward answer to this, but there really isn't. With how often snakes and dragons and stuff are depicted in Norse art they probably conveyed some kind of meaning that was understandable to others at the time, but we can only make guesses. Snakes occur in the literature a lot, but usually the meaning of their appearance is "there was a snake there." While they do seem to sometimes indicate other meanings as well, it isn't consistent through the literature and you have to examine how it's being done in context each time.

Old Icelandic literature mostly only talks about venomous snakes, so there is a constant underlying assumption that if a snake is mentioned, it's dangerous. Swedish folk tradition (it seems also Norwegian, but less well-attested as far as I can tell) also has strongly positive associations with non-venomous snakes, but I'll cover literary depictions in Old Icelandic first and briefly describe folk tradition at the end.

The most archetypal snake isn't Jörmungandr, but Fáfnir. Jörmungandr is usually just Jörmungandr and nothing else; Fáfnir is much more likely to be invoked when there's, like, a regular snake, or some gold, or something else that isn't actually Fáfnir. To be clear, we don't know that he was always pictured as a "snake" and not a "dragon" or something else. The word ormr means everything from an earthworm up to the dragon that killed Beowulf (Old English wyrm). There are other words they could use to specify (höggormr 'adder; poisonous snake,' snákr 'snake'; naðra 'adder, viper') but the latter two are used mostly in poetry, and since Norse literature rarely talks about non-poisonous snakes, there's little need to distinguish ormr from höggormr in this context. Fáfnir is symbolically polyvalent -- he can just as easily be made to stand for greed (for the Rheingold) as for knowledge/wisdom (extracted from him by Sigurðr in Fáfnismál; and eating his heart gives Sigurðr further knowledge, specifically the ability to understand the speech of birds).

Óðinn transforms into a snake in the process of stealing/reclaiming the mead of poetry. It doesn't seem a stretch to say that Norse people might have associated serpents with knowledge not normally accessible to humans, and which might be risky to acquire, such as that also associated in the myths with waking the dead in order to question them. But I'm not seeing enough that we can dispense with the "might" in that sentence.

Elsewhere in Norse literature, such as the rune poems, kennings refer to gold as "bed" or "path" of "a serpent." It can be hard to tell whether there was a widespread understanding of snakes resting on gold (maybe referring to them being subterranean?) or whether they're using poetic language to invoke Fáfnir and/or gold-hoarding lindworms (such as the one slain by Ragnarr loðbrók, whence his name loðbrók, taken from the shaggy pants he wore to protect him from the serpent's bite). Either way, because Nordic poetic language allows interchange between members of a category, any snake you see in the woods can be referred to through reference to Fenrir, and they other way around, so that serpents and gold are always connected in poetic language.

The presence of ormar can indicate decay; it can be hard to tell whether the authors in these cases are talking about snakes or worms, or maybe it's both. They frequently appear in this context together with frogs, lizards, and maggots. They're used in this way in Ólafs saga helga to imply a relationship between paganism and darkness/infestation when an idol is broken and found to be full of vermin. It might be relevant that the serpent was used as a symbol of the devil in medieval Christianity; in this way we can compare it to Ögmundar þáttr dytts in which an idol of Freyr is smashed and onlookers see an actual demon leave it. The Ólafs saga helga example is probably the most straightforward use of a snake to symbolize something else that I found.

In Völsunga saga, Guttormr (etymologically, his name probably isn't gutt-ormr '(something)-serpent,' but since the etymology was likely opaque to Norse-speakers they may have thought it was; Ormr is a not-uncommon male personal name) is fed snake and wolf meat, seemingly to make him acquire attributes of snakes and wolves in order to prepare him to murder Sigurðr. In Völsunga saga, Gunnarr is executed by snake pit. After living for 300 years, Örvar-Oddr is finally killed by a snake (fulfilling a prophecy). So we can easily propose an association of snakes with death, characterizations of snakes based on their deadly bite; though we can't quite call any of this symbolic because you can't ever write the actual snake out of the meaning of its own appearance.

Trolls have poisonous snakes as the reigns for their horses (which are wolves). Snakes are the "[fish] of the [land]" (where [fish] and [land] can be substituted by any specific example of a fish or land-based geographical feature, e.g. "cod of the mountain" or "herring of the field." There is a sword in Egils saga called naðr 'adder' and skaldic language refers to swords as things like 'snake of battle.'

Probably not very relevant, because it's a single isolated attestation referring to a single, specific snake, in a translated saint's saga, but in Barlaams saga ok Jósafats (the Old Icelandic translation of the Christianized version of the story of the Buddha), someone is compared to "that serpent which is called asp" because (according to the saga) they close their ears rather than listen to something they don't want to hear. i.e., the person doesn't listen to or heed things that they don't personally like.

The story of the Red and White dragons symbolizing the Welsh and the Saxons that appears in British history was known to Norse-speakers and is part of Merlínuspá.

You would think that there would be some textual discussion of serpents used in art given its frequency, but I have found only one example, in Þiðreks saga of Bern, where a highly decorative horse saddle is described as having been made with elephant bone and inscribed with an image of a naðra ('adder'). It's disappointing how little contemporary discussion of art there is in general.

We should probably mention Níðhöggr. He's described with both the words dreki 'dragon' and naðr 'adder' in Völuspá; this demonstrates the semantic bleed between words in Old Norse that isn't replicated by the words we're using in English. Apparently he can fly, so we'd more likely call him a dragon than a snake. But since dragons and snakes don't have a hard contrast in ON, we can still learn about snakes from observing this dragon. But we've already established most of the important stuff -- he's (mostly) subterranean, he's probably poisonous, he strikes (höggva), he is indicative of decay.

I am almost undoubtedly missing something important or interesting. I don't have a way to research this other than to put whatever words for 'snake' I can think of into the Dictionary of Old Norse Prose and skim the results. To save time I mostly skipped over translations of Biblical material but that might be a mistake, but seeing as I am not trying to do a whole research project on this, that's the best you're getting from me.

It's worth mentioning that Scandinavia is not exactly known for being full of poisonous snakes. They do have the European adder, and maybe there were more species during the Medieval warm period, I don't know. But a lot of the serpents mentioned in Norse mythology are geographically located far away. Völsunga saga where a lot of serpent-based lore comes from takes place in a sort of general "far away" southern Europe (traditionally, around Worms, Germany). Iceland doesn't have any snakes, so their danger may have been exaggerated in the minds of authors and audience of the texts we're looking at.

From medieval times into modern times, and definitely extending back before our earliest evidence for it, snakes had a very different characterization in Sweden. Non-poisonous snakes (especially grass snakes) were cared for, given offerings of milk, and treated like members of the family. They are called tomtormar ('tomte-snakes'?), husormar ('house-snakes'), or gårdsormar ('yard/farmstead-snakes') and the tradition seems to overlap heavily with recognition of the tomte or nisse. They brought good luck, and killing the house snake would bring grave misfortune. As far as I know, the first attestation of this is as early as St. Birgitta's account of the peoples of the Swedish countryside from the 1300's. Interpretations of this seem to vary widely, with some people arguing that it's a remnant of a pre-Christian snake cult and others arguing that the Christians who documented it exaggerated the practice and especially its religious connotations. Extremely similar practices are observed all around the Baltic; in Of Gods and Men, Algirdas Greimas wrote a bit about what he himself called the "snake cult" in Lithuania with its major holiday on January 25, which corresponds to old Midwinter (more or less the same way it does on an Icelandic calendar, where Midwinter can fall on any day from Jan 19 to 25). You can read more about tomtormar on Swedish Wikipedia; if you use Google Translate be aware that it has trouble with some folklore words like "tomten" (might translate to "Santa Claus") so keep an eye on the left side of the screen as well.

As with much of what I've talked about here, this isn't an example of symbolism. It certainly creates a potential for it, but we're still missing that important link between a body of associations or meanings and them being invoked through a symbolic usage of a snake. The snakes here don't symbolize good fortune any more than your mail carrier symbolizes the mail.

So to summarize, we have few instances of snakes that are both clearly symbolic and interperable, but we do have an idea of what Norse people thought about snakes. They lay on gold, and so are a potent symbol for greed -- Fáfnir has enough personal history for us to characterize him individually by his personal greed. They have access to the underground and probably to knowledge not accessible to humans; but they are also fierce, deadly creatures and it could be dangerous to gain that knowledge; yet there are some that are not dangerous and still have access to the world outside the human sphere. It might also have been considered possible to take on aspects of a venomous snake's nature the same way that a human could acquire traits of wolves, bears, boars, etc. Meanwhile, Christian symbolic usage of snakes was already well-developed by the time it came to Scandinavia; they represented demonic forces and this symbolism was well-positioned to induct heathenry into it and to frame it as also demonic. I'm sure there's more, but that's what I've got for now.

[scepterno]

hi its me again ..

sorry to bother, just wanted to ask if you have any tips on how to start off a fic.. i have an idea ive been sitting on for ages and i have so much planned but i just... can't start it!! how did you start an insulting indifference...

oh man.... im so ass at giving advice.... but thank you for asking anyways! let's see.... this got long so im placing a read more

the way i write is very based on improvisation. i either go into a fic with a very very broad idea of what i want to accomplish, and let the story take me wherever it wants. if i think of something randomly that i want to write, then i go to the bottom of my word document and pound out about two to three sentences IN the moment or scene, just to set the tone. i typically end up hoarding about 3 or so pages of disconnected story moments or character dialogue. by doing this, i can also foreshadow events or make parallels that span across several chapters in the story.

work OUT OF ORDER!!! its fun!!! it keeps it exciting!!! there was one fic i wrote where the last chapter was the first ever thing i wrote for it, and so i had a better picture in my mind about how the entire thing would GENERALLY play out. i like to leave the details in the moment, which is where the improv aspect comes in. if you let yourself ride the tide of the story, you wont have to force it in certain directions as much. sometimes you have to correct its course, but mostly youre there to cruise along with the story thats coming to life!

think of it like... a bunch of big dots. and these dots are all connecting by lines. like a big web. everything in the dots are BIG STORY BEATS, and the lines are the exposition between them. the lines don't have to be straight, either. they can have loops, or wiggles, or tiny tiny dots of their own. it may not be as exciting as the HUGE dots, but its still necessary. then again, maybe it isnt! dont feel like writing a scene? skip it! trust in your readers' abilities to make inferences based on all the other context clues you give them in the text.

as you can see, i suck at giving advice HAHA. my brain is.... not very good at sorting the chaos into something tangible for others to understand.

if you have an idea, just run with it! write for the sake of writing SOMETHING. anything is a good starting point. ANYTHING. you can always go back and edit it later. write what you DONT want to write so you can get to the stuff you DO want to write.

)--)o

i would also recommend never deleting stuff youve written. if you write a scene that you end up hating, cut and paste it into a separate document just for safe keeping. it might come in handy down the line, even if you never actually USE it. you might be able to look back on it and REALIZE what does and doesnt work about it, which will improve your tone and general skills for OTHER stuff you're going to write in the future.

and one of my favorite things to do in a story when im stuck is STEP OUT OF MY BOX. especially if youre writing from a single character POV. we've been following the story of a single person, but every single other character they interact with has been going through a fanfic of their own. what is happening to them? what are they saying? being told? experiencing? what would cause them to change their mind about something suddenly? or act irrationally? the best part about writing for humans is that they're flawed. all of them. so we can write them making mistakes and doing stupid things. it helps push the plot along. it creates conflict, WHICH IS INTERESTING. we love conflict.

find something you want to write about in a fic, then expand the world around it. when i started an insulting indifference, my goal was to write about Alejandro's trauma, Noah's mental health, and have them experiencing healing by mending their relationship with not only each other, but the world and people around them. and then it grew from there!!!!!!!!!

ok im done

i talked WAAAY too much about utter nonsense. i hope at least 5% of this was helpful to you. LOL!! thank you again for the ask!!!!

[tritonposting]

hi!! I was wondering if u could answer a posic question? if that’s okay. im trying to understand exactly what it is and if I am. can someone be posic if they think that objects are not alive since no heart brain etc and by society are not seen as alive. but still gets an attachment and worries about them feeling uncomfortable as if they are alive. cuddling (romantic?) and kissing them. sometimes wanting to take care of them in a pet/platonic/familial way? does that still count as sentience even if when u think about it u think they aren’t alive but u somewhat treat them that way?Also having a hoarding issue and see everything as sentimental and feel bad for them when they’re thrown out.. wanting to keep them safe. how do u know if objects are just a comfort/interest or if it’s a posic or objectum thing? Can objectum be a platonic thing? what are some common posic and objectum experiences that people might not realize are posic and objectum? thank u.

I think worrying about them as if they're alive counts as being POSIC! I was like that when I was younger, getting worried sick about my stuffed animals despite rarely getting any direct "sentience indicators" (like responses to thoughts, feeling like they wanted/needed something, etc).

The hoarding issue/sentimental attachment resonates too, and that is also a big indicator of being POSIC (also maybe something to work through with a therapist, if it's a serious issue!).

Being objectum can totally be a platonic thing, too! Any kind of attraction you can possibly feel toward humans, you can potentially feel toward objects, and objectum labels are specifically for denoting those types of attraction/relationships! I have platonic relationships with some, romantic relationships with others, queerplatonic relationships with a few, and plenty of friendships of varying significance!

As for common experiences, here are a few that I went through before realizing that there was an actual label for all this:

Wondering if it's normal to find an object quite that pretty

Thinking thoughts directed toward the object

Picking up on instincts that tell you an object wants to be in a certain place, near a certain thing, held a certain way, etc (regardless of how it's meant to be used- I know objects that want to fulfill their intended duties more than anything, and others that are more rebellious)

Being more attached to certain objects than what would be considered "normal" (I remember getting a double-sided crayon and was so excited about this particular crayon that I pictured us living out the rest of our lives together, I was only like 9 but that still should have been an indicator that my relationships with/feelings toward objects don't really reflect the societal norm XD)

Remember that you can be attracted to objects without believing they are sentient, and you can have all sorts of relationships with objects without them being romantic/sexual in nature! POSIC and objectum can both encompass a lot of things, but you know yourself best, so at the end of the day, only you can assign yourself whatever combination of these labels best fits you.

I hope this helped, and that it wasn't too disjointed! I still think of myself as relatively new to this community, so I'll be tagging this for visibility, and encourage more experienced POSIC and objectum folks to make any additions they think would be helpful :3

[awellboiledicicle]

First person to try drilling down on what Fido's deal is would be Gale, between adventuring and actually sleeping. He's limited to whatever books they can scrounge initially [as Fido is hoarding them to learn about the world they're now stuck in], but by the time they get to Baldur's Gate he's going to have some very specific queries outside of the whole Crown research thing.

First person to go "Maybe this is a warlock thing" is, naturally, Wyll. Because Fido is going to eldritch blast something in a panic and he's going to go "now hold on". Also because I imagine Mizora would think it was hilarious another warlock is making noise about his deal. They make some barbed comment to her, the magic flaring a bit, and she tuts at Wyll for consorting with 'that mean old octopus' behind her back like this. Leaves before explaining anything.

Astarion 100% believes they're lying about not knowing they're bound up with some apparently tentacled monster when it comes out. like. just thematically it feels like a thing one should know about. He's just saying that if HE had made a deal to get MAGIC INVULNERABILITY POWERS, then HE would have remembered that. They throw a handful of grass at him and he rolls his eyes.

Lae'zel still occasionally thwacks them with a random sword to see if their protection is still working. This is, she insists, a function of their friendship that she would bother doing a check at all. Deep down she just really appreciates their willingness to listen and learn from her, as well as their absolute unwillingness to take any shit from her. Thus the checking.

Shadowheart still thinks they're a little crazy, for different reasons. Initially it was because they insisted they had no idea elves were real, followed by being from 'earth', followed by their panic response being to yell insults at the enemy to make their brain explode. The warlock thing feels like they might have been lying about it--a skill they seem unnervingly good at in spite of their general honest streak--but honestly? Given how they keep tripping into being good to others, she wouldn't doubt them having been just given the ring by some sorcerer or something.

Halsin feels conflicted about Fido expressly because they have a very... dim view of nature being allowed to take its course. With people. They get along largely after Fido gets fed up and goes "you're ungodly old so you can handle sitting down and leveling with me here. I need you to understand that, where i come from, if someone looks at someone like me and says 'nature should take its course' that means 'i want you to not exist'. It means 'you are unnatural'. We're not having the same conversation when we talk about nature, here. I like the birds doing bird things and fish swimming and whatever. But sometimes nature is cruel and I am living proof that sometimes nature would destroy people and things that should exist." Basically they get along on principal but have initial complications bc Fido spent a lot of time as a chronically in pain child being told survival of the fittest wouldn't allow for them. As a queer kid being told they were unnatural. So on. So they don't actually have beef with him so much as a kneejerk reaction for a little plus the initial GODDAMNIT response when he can't help. His take on the warlock thing is largely being curious as to how that happens without ones knowledge.

Karlach meanwhile is just pissed that she can't hi-five them without it still hurting. Like their skin doesn't melt but they can still feel the sensation of heat and pressure, so it isn't pleasant. She also wants to know how one ends up in a warlock pact without knowing it because that feels like a pitfall to avoid.

Not pictured is the GOO checking in occasionally like it's reading the sunday paper like "oh they had a conversation about the nature of gods with Gale. Cute. Aww they're having cognitive dissonance about the nature of sentience after using speak with animals. Popped a man's head like a cherry. Shame, they could have interrogated that one."

[wolfiemcwolferson]

i wrote u a message some time ago abt it but it seems that it was not delivered or something like that (might be my own fault cause I ~may or may not~ have had 3 glasses of wine before so absolutely no fuckin idea if I actually sent it or just wrote it and went to sleep)

ANYWAYS….

I have written u before telling how I ABSOLUTELY ADORE the way you write piarles (ultimate otp), and then the last fantasy fest fic…. I MEAN…. I’ve read it 4 or 5 times already and I absolutely love omfg how can u write something like thisssssss. I think by the time the winter e can he fic comes I’ll probably have memorized if, and then I’ll just memorize the winter exchange fic also because I KNOW it will be perfection as always.

(whenever u can, please feed me with your piarles fics, thoughts, 5 sentences prompts. I take everything u want to give)

Hi friend!

Your message from a few weeks ago did send, but sometimes I'm so overwhelmed with the nice things people are saying that I hoard them up like little nuggets and re-read them at 3 AM when my brain is telling me to delete everything in my current google doc and start over.

BUT, I appreciate your kind words so so much it's unbelievable that other people love my little brain drabbles as much as I love coming up with them.

I have a little one that I have had in my notes app forever and ever that isn't full fic worthy, but would make an interesting little ficlet so here you go:

Piarles AU- based off the song Cherry by Harry Styles, but with a Happy Ending

Charles makes a burner Instagram account - which is really really stupid considering he did it when he was drunk with Carlos and the username is absolutely something Pierre would recognize, but...maybe he'll see it and feel guilty. Maybe one day he'll be checking to see if someone has watched one of his dumb stories on Instagram and he'll see it and he'll know. Charles is still waiting. Maybe he'll feel guilty then.

Because Charles misses him. Every single time his phone dings and he gets a dumb notification on that stupid burner account that Pierre has posted a story, dread fills him up. Is he finally going to post the probably boyfriend? Is he finally going to do more than soft launch him?

Soft launch - stupid stupid word that Lando had used to describe whatever Pierre was doing with that man. Posting pictures of two plates out at a fairly romantic dinner. An artsy shot of a flat that definitely didn't belong to Pierre. A balcony that leads out to a ridiculous view of a French vineyard.

Stupid French boys with stupid money and parents with rare art collections that steal soulmates and - it would hurt less if Pierre had looked miserable for at least a day. One single day of him looking miserable.

But, the day - the day - after he told Charles that Pierre 'needed time to figure out if he was doing the right thing', he was back to his normal self. Smiling in pictures. Hiking. Going out clubbing with Yuki.

Charles wanted to scream at him a little bit. How dare you doubt this? You know who I am just as I know who you are. I've known who you are since I met you. You are the person who knows me best. You are the person who helps me buy clothes so I do not wear one color. (Charles doesn't like to think too much about the fact that he has been broken of that habit completely and it is thanks to Pierre's years and years of work.)

Pierre didn't need to figure out if he was doing the right thing. Because the wrong thing was what he was doing now. (But it's hard for Charles to find fault in him. All Pierre has ever known is Charles and Pierre...well, Pierre thinks things to death.) ((But, what is there to think about when you and your best friend admit that the feelings you have for each other go well past platonic? What is there to think about?)) (((Charles is being a dick. There is plenty to think about. Pierre is so hesitant to give his heart away. That's fine. Charles will wait.)))

Yuki comes to see him when he's on this side of the city - bringing him absolutely zero scraps of Pierre, but plenty of gossip about their other friends - who Charles does miss, but all their conversations are stilted and odd. No one wants to bring it up. Charles doesn't know if he's thankful for it or he hates it. Probably a bit of both.

Charles is laying on the couch, thinking about calling Carlos to come over and drag him out of his flat so he doesn't have another night of...this, when his phone buzzes on the table. It's Instagram and he huffs before swiping it open and Instagram switches his account, pulling up Pierre's newest Instagram story.

It's a short video of footage from a train window. Going home.

Charles lets his phone drop to the floor, scrubbing his hands over his face a few times before he picks it back up and pulls up Carlos' contact. He can go out. He will go out and he'll - he'll dance with his friends and he will...not think about Pierre.

.

Post shower, Charles is arranging his hair in a way that says...well, something. Lando will rearrange it when he gets here so he's not sure why he's bothering, but his door is buzzing and he gives up. Going to swing it open and beg Lando to help him, please.

It's not Lando.

"I was hoping," Pierre says, eyes on the floor, hands in the pocket of his coat, voice small and scared, "that you still meant what you said at Halloween."

Charles is frozen in the spot. "That I love you?"

Pierre's eyes flick up to his, quick, and then immediately back down. Like he's afraid.

"I do. I still love you."

Pierre takes one step towards the door, eyes still on the floor. "I know now." He shrugs, voice smaller. "I am sorry, Charlito. I should have -"

Charles reaches for him. Tucks him into his arms. "You know now." He whispers, feeling Pierre cling to him. "You know now."

"I love you too." Pierre sobs into Charles' chest.

He came home.

[bougainvillea-and-saltwater]

20, 39 and 58 from the writers ask meme ☺️

Also hope you’re doing good 💙🌸

🖊️ask game🖊️

Aaaah, thank you so much for these, Blossom! Admittedly, I'm not on my best days, however, these asks did lighten my mood, and it was a joy answering them! 🥰💖

20: Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

Oh yes! As I was revising some chapters of TPATD a while ago, I noticed I used the word 'brim', quite frequently. I guess I like the expressions it can be combined with, e.g. "her eyes brim with tears" or "he fills the jug to the brim" or "the table is brimmed with hearty food". You get the picture! My fic is also brimmed (see what I did there?) with the hurt/comfort theme, which is my absolute favorite theme, and I believe that if I ever write for another fandom, hurt/comfort will be predominant in the respective story too. In almost every chapter, I do have a foreshadowing pattern for those who are willing to read behind the lines—this is also something I love catching in other stories! Hm, what else? Ah! I love descriptive prose in everything I write, and mostly when the descriptions make me feel what is being described, e.g. I like describing Jia when she's working with her alchemy or when she's cooking her food—I want to grab and munch whatever she's eating there...👀

39: Share a snippet from a WIP.

I updated my fic just two days ago (after 4 months of absence...🥲) so I haven't got any WIP to share yet, but! I'm going to put a snippet of the freshly baked chapter 19 instead:

I had never expected the Last Dragonborn to be a female, in all his dread not to be pinned down and discovered shred by shred by her luminous, sun-rivaled gaze, Miraak pretended to sound as scathing and condescending as he could during their first encounter in Apocrypha, when all he could think about was, she came to me at last, the favorite jill of Akatosh. I have read about you, in old-worn books hoarded in Seekers’ hands, piled in endless ever-shifting pillars, sometimes in the feminine shape of a human, others as an elusive firey-crimson specter of a dragon, and Oblivion has heard me humming tunes written and sang in your name. Indeed, your deeds are tremendous, strider of Sovngarde, deicide of Alduin.  But your soul’s sorrow is bigger. Miraak feels himself shrinking at his thoughts. Her very breath humbles him.

58: What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc).

Translating! I love this feeling when I know a part of my draft is finished in my native language, and now I have to translate it into English, build it, make it wholesome, perfect it, before proceeding on to the next. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't so much, not really. I've heard contrastive opinions on whether translating is really helpful or not, but it works for me. 😊 Another part of the writing process I enjoy is reading my lines out loud and acting them on the respective character's voice—actually, I have brainstormed major plot points and ideas while acting out my characters, and I guess this is my ultimate sign that I must become an actor one day. 😂