#It's as twice as long as it usually is

[lavrach]

Ludwig found himself in a situation that was certainly an uncomfortable one. He was invited and dragged there by pressure. Somehow he hoped avoiding it would be possible but he knew that there was no option other than going and bearing through multiple hours of torture.

Ludwig was at a family gathering. - After stepping outside and away from his family, Ludwig finds himself talking about his family issues with a total stranger, a guy in his mid twenties, who he never saw until now. He feels like he's spoken to an actual adult for the first time in his life. Now he's wondering if he'll ever see him again or if he was even real in the first place.

-

This chapter is a lot more Gilbert centered (he's my favourite so it was bound to happen) :D dw the next one will be right back on track with Ludwig!!

[fan-a-tink]

the case of the very long stairway as small gif moments because apparently I like pain. let's get into it

Charles' expression pre-flashback vs. post-flashback

and the literal last moment of his life

some adorable edwinisms

I've always been obsessed with the way Edwin runs around the corner in this shot

these two just break me. every time.

this next one is a moment I'd been wanting to turn into a gif for a while. Charles is about to say "hi" before Edwin pulls him down and covers his mouth, but in this moment he's just so purely happy to have found Edwin again and there's the hint of smile on his lips

one of the most gorgeous shots of the show

and finally, this one, so that it's not all gloomy

other episode gif sets: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 8

[awkwardbirdsdreaming]

Bird #49 - the kea (EN) [juvenile depicted]

This parrot is known for being one of the smartest (and probably most mischievous) birds in the world! Visitors to the South Island of New Zealand might find these birds chewing their car or hiking gear. I remember a security camera video of one sneaking into a restaurant at night and stealing a tub of butter. Kea are the only parrots to live in an alpine habitat, and the difficulty of finding food in the snowy, rocky landscape is probably why they like to investigate everything.

@thedancingwalrus-blog now I have :D They're super cool birds, though I've only ever seen them at zoos so far. ty for the ask!

[s-aint-elmo]

*twirling my hair* do you have some good yuri manga recs?

(lying on my stomach and kicking my feet) i'm SO glad you asked!

to preface this i'll be excluding better-known yuri or yuri that's recently gotten its flowers (whether thru virality or adaptations) (e.g. in love with the villainess, love bullet, bloom into you, etc. etc.) and will instead be recc'ing works i don't often encounter in the wild. some will be more well-known than others, but all of these i've enjoyed and would encourage others to check out! under the cut because. this got. so long. i heart yuri <3

multi-chapter

the princess of sylph (ongoing; self-publishing): plot-heavy fantasy yuri between a bereaved princess with the aura of a thousand sad hamsters and a persistent nun whose silliness conceals a deep well of trauma. gushed about it plenty here. i recommend starting with the serialized version, the proceeding to the twitter version + extras. cw: blood, violence, dismemberment (nothing too graphic, more standard monster-fighting fare).

i love amy (completed): school loner strikes an unlikely friendship with the girl known (and feared) for her violent tendencies and single-minded obsession with the school prince. cute but striking and skilled art with a surprisingly nuanced handling of trauma and neurodivergence. cw: attempted child murder, animal death (non-graphic). there are also depictions of standard yandere fare (kidnapping, torture basements) but they're always presented comedically.

i see you, aizawa-san! (ongoing): girl who steadfastly pretends not to see ghosts meets one she just can't seem to ignore: a deceased classmate and former j-pop idol, who has taken to haunting their classroom. ft. art that harkens back to classic shoujo and a supernatural mystery centred on the relationship between the two leads--that one of them can't seem to remember. cw: blood, body horror.

school zone girls (on hiatus): slice of life yuri comedy ft. a massive interconnected web of girls spanning at least three schools. it juggles gut-busting comedy with genuine heartfelt moments of character growth and connection and expresses it all through a solid, dynamic art style. the sprawling cast also makes for incredible outsider pov moments that lets us really appreciate how far some characters have gotten. this genuinely motivated me to revamp how i approached ensemble casts for my ocs.

brides of iberis (completed): wedding planner unenthusiastic about her engagement falls in love with a bride she's taken as a client. bittersweet but deeply loving; and so compassionate to each and every character, even the men the female leads have relationships with. cw: infidelity.

destroy it all and love me in hell! (ongoing): model student finds her miserable, tightly controlled life unraveling after being blackmailed by the class truant into indulging her ugliest impulses. toxic yuri extravaganza eleganza between two girls desperate for escape and the catharsis of fucking! shit! up!!! also hits that sweet sweet "love triangle as a conflict of ideals" beat. cw: blackmail, coercion, bullying, violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, adult/minor relationship.

yuri is forbidden for the yuri otaku (completed): passionate himejoshi enrolls in an all-girls private school to observe class s yuri in action, but never to engage in it herself--at least, until a misunderstanding wins her the resident gyaru's heart. a surprisingly poignant exploration of being queer in a repressive society and experiencing your queerness through the safety of unobtainable fantasy.

the superstar idol crushes on me today too (ongoing): failed idol-slash-middling radio personality finds an unwanted superfan in the country's biggest superstar. explores the merit of pursuing your artistic passions in the face of repeated failure, and what makes an emotional anchor in the fraught seas of showbiz. they are also just so so funny. what if i emphatically declare you my rival in show business but you've been in love with me since you saw me in a cooking show as a child actor and you take any excuse to spend time with me and have my attention with blinding enthusiasm

normality and monsters (ongoing): outcast weirdo witnesses the class idol devour their homeroom teacher in one bite and begs to be trained in the art of appearing normal. the art is snappy and charismatic, the monster design is properly grotesque, and the friendship of convenience between the two leads teeters between overcoming the monster's nature and just being a prelude to the monster acquiring a new meatsuit. cw: blood, gore, death, body horror.

a monster wants to eat me (ongoing): suicidal girl meets carnivore mermaid who promises to eat her if she develops a desire to live. it's been a while since i read this one, but the monster designs are once again sick as fuck and the drama of being cared for by a creature that finds you tantalizing is sooo juicy. cw: suicidal ideation, blood, gore, violence, body horror.

liar satsuki can see death (completed): high schooler who can see corpses before the death occurs strives to save as many lives as possible despite being branded a liar by the entire student body. this and ryouko's other manga, a walk to death, are pretty banging declarations on the value of living ironically (or maybe aptly) wrapped in so much death. blanket cw for blood, gore and death bc i tell you every mini-arc somebody dies in a fun new way and we'd be here all day if we listed them out.

anthology:

i'm the villainess but i'm being captured by the heroine?!: an anthology featuring heroines of otome games swerving hard and sweeping the villainess off her feet. i am such a sucker for villainess yuri. mean women forever. my favourite chapters are vol. 1 ch.1 and vol. 2 chs. 1 and 4.

honourable mentions:

my idol sits the next desk over! (completed): loner idol otaku ends up deskmates with her oshi and between jealous sabotage from a rival stan and the herculean task of acting normal around your fave, lands herself in the first and closest friend group of her life. one girl does explicitly have romantic feelings for another girl, but i bumped it down here because it isn't explored to the extent it could have been. it felt like it was setting up a slow burn only to end abruptly. do not recommend if you want a love story, do recommend if you want lonely people forging deep and enduring bonds of friendship.

the one within the villainess (ongoing): the villainess of an otome game reawakens for her condemnation and sets off on a path of vengeance for the sake of the beloved transmigrator who's occupied her body for years. it's ostensibly het, but to hear the way that the villainess speaks of her transmigrator, the first person to love her wholeheartedly and wish for her happiness and so inadvertently prevent her from becoming the hollow bitter woman she originally grew into...... like. that is yuri. like what if i knew your life in its entirety and loved you for it and i found myself in the position to give you the happiness i always wished for you to have. what if we wrote fix-it fic for each other on the fabric of the universe. what if we never even had a conversation but we knew each other the best and loved each other most. and we were both girls. do you understand why i'm insane about them. cw: blood, gore, violence.

[weaponizedmoth]

"Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a vampire in love with a human. Better integration than I could possibly have dreamed."

(just some Sundown The Vampire in Retreat fanart. More details and B&W vers. under the cut, etc).

:)

[skyfullofpods]

Happy audio fiction Sunday! It's October! The busiest time of year for my blog, as Halloween approaches and fiction podcasters everywhere celebrate scary season!

[hauntingjasper]

Blind as a bat

[khaotunq]

A Scene for a Scene: Kieta Hatsukoi Episode 1 (2021, Japan) ♥ My Love Mix-Up! Episode 1 (2024, Thailand)

[silverislander]

day 9: rivalry

vi steps back, trying not to pant too hard and wiping her forehead with her forearm. the scoreboard lights up with her name, and she turns to grin at caitlyn.

"how's that for excellent?" she wiggles her eyebrows.

caitlyn is still staring, blush a little too strong for someone who had just been standing there watching vi box for the last couple minutes. vi is finding out today just how much she likes that look on her.

"yes, i- um. excellent is a good word for it."

vi laughs, which makes caitlyn laugh, too, and they're both standing a little too close together, both a little breathless. forget the scoreboard, this is all the reward vi needs.

just being here feels like the real victory. it had taken weeks for caitlyn to earn the whole gang's trust enough to be invited to the arcade, plus nearly a month to convince grayson to let her leave the bar at all while she talked with vander. vi's been planning almost that entire time, making sure the arcade is actually kind of clean (mylo had made fun of her all the way), bribing powder to fix the machines, practicing on the bag to make sure she didn't make a fool of herself when she finally got to show off to caitlyn; it's gonna be perfect.

even better: she's finally engineered her and her girlfriend of one week some time away from their guardians, and they hadn't suspected a thing. the fact that this could be called their first real date makes vi simultaneously terrified, proud and excited, although she'd never admit it. the fact that she thinks she's finally going to get to kiss caitlyn tonight, prissy topside parents and overprotective bartenders aside, feels just the same.

and then powder asked to tag along and threw a wrench right in her perfect plans.

vi's not really sure why she asked to come. powder had made no secret of her disdain for caitlyn, and vi thought she'd made it pretty clear what kind of outing this was going to be. whatever the reason, powder had piped up to add that she wanted to come to the arcade too. mylo had been all too happy to push off his "babysitting" responsibilities, vander had been a bit too pleased that vi wasn't heading off alone, and that was that: it wasn't going to be caitlyn and vi, it was caitlyn and vi and powder.

whatever. vi loves her sister- she wouldn't have been able to say no to her anyways.

"you guys aren't going to kiss, are you?"

vi grits her teeth and reminds herself of just how much she loves her sister.

"did you win, pow?"

the original plan had involved getting caitlyn to shoot for her first, coming up with some kind of witty compliment, then going for the boxing machine because she knows she looks cool when she fights. after that, presumably, the universe would conspire to make things work out, vi would ask to kiss her goodnight before chivalrously walking her back, caitlyn would say of course, vi in that pretty voice of hers and boom, fireworks, dramatic music, they kiss and everything is great. because it's vi's life and something has to go wrong, though, the second she'd very suavely mentioned that caitlyn would be so good at the shooting game, powder had begun an aggressive campaign to hog it for the foreseeable future.

"i didn't." she's lying- vi saw the board light up, first place, same as always. "can i try again? i think i'll get it next time, so-"

"maybe we can let caitlyn try for a round?" vi tries her best to not sound like she's pleading.

"but-"

"please?"

"it's okay, vi." caitlyn smiles, and- whoa, okay, she's holding vi's hand. is her hand sweaty? her hand is definitely so sweaty. she kind of wants to die. "if powder doesn't want me taking anyone's place on the board, i completely understand."

vi's brain still isn't fully back. "but- powder's the only one on the board?"

caitlyn just shrugs and begins to gently tug her away, still smiling. powder, though, looks shocked, and then makes a face that always worries vi: she looks determined.

"you can use it."

"thank you," vi mutters in relief.

"only if you and i go head to head, though."

there's the catch.

"sorry?" caitlyn turns back to face her again, the smile gone from her face.

"i want to play against you. you're really good, right?" powder grabs one of the pistols and almost slaps it into caitlyn's free hand. "i'd love some real competition."

"powder-"

"you're on."

vi looks to caitlyn. her mouth is set the same way it is when she argues with grayson to let her stay in the bar for another hour, her head high.

whatever. the night's already gone down the tubes, and she'll still get to see caitlyn shoot. might as well let powder have some fun, too.

powder, who is not really giving off i am having fun vibes, grins with maybe a little too much teeth, starts the machine and raises her gun. next to her, caitlyn takes aim, her hands steady and eyes sharp.

it's practically a neon blur to vi. she's not sure she's ever seen the targets move this fast, let alone this many shots being fired off at once. she tries her best to keep an eye on the score, and it's close all the way up through.

she'd be lying if she said her attention wasn't too focused on her girl, though. caitlyn is in her element, calm as anything, aiming and firing and reloading like it's as easy as breathing, like there's nobody else in the room. a strand of her hair has come untucked from her ponytail, and vi wants to brush it back for her.

the bell rings, though, and the moment is over. vi checks the point total- twenty-five in the difference, someone had missed a single target- at the exact same time the bell rings.

CAIT lights up the first-place spot.

now it's vi's turn to make the same face caitlyn had earlier: jaw dropped, flushed, openly staring. "cupcake, that was..."

caitlyn blows off the muzzle of the gun and sets it down on the counter. she turns to vi, fucking winks- vi thinks yeah, she's definitely going to die tonight- and then turns to powder, holding out her hand.

"good game," she says.

powder glares, and it takes a second too long, but she does shake caitlyn's hand, and only a little too hard, too. vi is proud.

and then she says, "good game, cupcake," with the biggest, smuggest shit-eating smile. vi lunges for her with the fullest intent of dragging her out of the room and putting her in time-out, but she's too fast, and she races away into some corner or side room on her own, cackling the whole way.

vi just closes her eyes and sighs. "i am so sorry-"

caitlyn's lips are on hers before she can even finish.

fuck it, maybe tonight is perfect after all.

[chair002]

Decadence by J.C. Leyendecker (but it's qCellbit and qRoier)

[wemefication]

TZUYU ♡ TALK THAT TALK ♡ 220826

[madebysimblr]

A few days later

A metallic thunk and someone yelling FUCK down the corridor.

Otis: [???] Matty? You alright, dude?

Matty wordlessly hands him a piece of paper.

Otis: Oh, so it's your kid. Huh.

Matty: I don't know how she did it.

Otis: Uh. Yeah. You seemed pretty certain that it couldn't be yours, I figured you had gotten a vasectomy? Sometimes those fail, I guess?

Matty: Shit that's a good idea... No I hadn't.

Otis: …. Then how were you so sure?

Matty: Well, we barely ever have sex. If we do it's never vaginally- oh FUCK.

Otis: …. What?

Matty: Goddamnit. There was one time. Our stupid anniversary. I remembered it early enough in the day. Got her something from our connections at Liberty's. Got home early. I know she had been waiting for me to forget so she could spend another week bitching at me, but she was so surprised I remembered she was... I don't know. Nice? We had the house to ourselves, had dinner, watched a movie, and…. Damnit.

Otis: Right.

Matty: I thought I would finally be free of her, she ruin-

Otis: Dude, I can't listen to you complain about her anymore.

Matty: What!?

Otis: Look, I know. She did a really shitty thing in trapping you. We all agree on that. But man, it's been 3 years of this shit. From what you just described, it sounds like when you put in the effort things aren't so bad. Maybe she's miserable all the time because she can tell that you fucking hate her.

Matty: I....

Otis: Go to counseling. Sort your shit out, both on your own and with each other. Or for the peace of mind of everyone, just divorce her. Either way though, you do need to get some professional help.

Matty: Hey!

Otis: It's just the truth, dude. You're so wrapped up in wishing how your life could have gone, that you don't appreciate anything you have. You never looked twice at Summer until you couldn't have her anymore. You're in love with the idea of her, and the life you could have had. You have got to move on.

Matty: [sighs very heavily] You have a point.

Otis: I want you to be happy, dude. Don't drag everyone down with you, ok? I just stopped by to say congrats really. I'm gonna visit Sorella-

Matty: HA! And you say I need to move on.

Otis: [rolls eyes] I moved on from her a long time ago. You wouldn't know, because you never ask- but I date. Sorella is still my friend and she's got family in the hospital. So I'm going to go check in on my friend. Figure your shit out. And maybe go check on your wife.

-

Matty sighs again.

[buttery-chaos]

!!! new chapter up erybody !!! superrr excited about this one !

[covenofthearticulate]

Words: 10k Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Armand/Lestat de Lioncourt Characters: Armand, Lestat de Lioncourt Additional Tags: Armand's Unethical Dentistry, canon-compliant smut, Medical Kink, Blood Sharing Summary:

“Stay still.” Armand snaps the second Lestat’s claws begin to scratch at the vinyl arm rests. Does it hurt?

No. Yes. No. I don’t know. Lestat’s thoughts are scrambling as his breath becomes quicker, in and out of his nose like a panting dog.

“Does it hurt, or is it just sensitive, Lestat?” Armand asks the question out loud, and only then does Lestat realize he cannot hear him over the rasping, labored breaths heaving from his chest.

I do not like to repeat myself. Does it hurt, or is it just sensitive?

It’s sensitive! He throws the words into Armand’s mind like a high-pitched whine.

“Alright.” Armand nods. “Tell me when it hurts, then.”

[READ ON AO3]

[ravinoforre]

Wings

[safyresky]

"work wife"???? But not actual wife??

LOL no not actual wife! Both the work wife and I have actual husbands instead 🤭🤭 And my husband is JUST as crazy as I am and WILL do farther daytrips like the absolute insane mans he is! Which is one of the MANY reasons I married him--his weirdness matches my weirdness 💖💖💖💖💖

As a fun fact, the craziest day trip/road trip we have done: we went to IKEA about two ish hours away. Came home, realized upon unloading new bedframe that he had misplaced his wallet somewhere. So what did we do?

WELL IKEA was closed but you bet your ass we got BACK in the car and drove BACK to the pit stop (an hour?? ish?? away??) that VERY night and checked the trash there and asked the people inside (who were sups friendly! They checked the tapes for us and everything!) if they'd seen it. They hadn't! So, we drove BACK home and the next day, after work, we yeeted ourselves into the car and drove BACK to ikea to see if they had it

AND THEY DID!

He was so relieved and then we had IKEA hot dogs for dinner, his treat bc he had his wallet again 🤭🤭🤭 (they are pretty good but costco ones I think deffs are better!)

BUT YEAH. My actual spouse is just as unhinged as I am and I love him about it 😍😍😍😍😍😍