#Why is it so cold x.x

[n33k5]

Here is a round up of what I have made in January 2023 it's not everything just most of it.

Starting off with my finished infinity scarf for the Alt Knots January 2023 Mood Snood crochet along (CAL)

Here are my January Spider Stitch squares for the year long Alt Knots Mystery Blanket CAL for 2023

Here is a velvet blanket I've been working on with some yarn from my stash I'm using a Granny Spike Stitch.

Some more wearables in the form of a hooded shrug I've started and some very sparkly shorts I still need to finish.

Here is a scarf I made as a gift using Cat Stitch motif and a hairpin lace roses in yellow orange variegated cotton thread which is a one of many I'll be gifting during Valentine's Day.

And finally my gremlin ass in the finished infinity scarf/snood pretending not to be cold.

[flynncorvus]

New Species Maybe-

(Under the Cut is some Details)

This might be a Species, this might be just a story. Who knows, I'll encourage making OCs of your own either way (Read under the cut if you do want to make something) >:3

Just a Q's I think I should answer:

• What is the gold for? - Probably going to be blood, or maybe these cats have magic that'll do something with? - Might also be toe bean colour, undecided

Some (Looks) Details I can come up with Now:

• ’Mask’ is darker colour than Pelt ~The mask looks like it has a strap, but it's built into them ~It's techy! A tech mask >:3 • Pelt is almost always a dark colour ~There are certain cases where their fur is light, but I haven't figured that out yet x.x • The Marking on their chest matches their pupil ~Yes, pupils can be different shapes!!! ~Mine is like a plus sign without the middle bit :3 • The same Neon is applied to certain areas ~The neon is the colour they 'glow' in, and they also have the same 'colour' for the other details. (Ie; purple glow, purple pelt) ~I might change so they can be duotone or smth later     -Eyes+Eyebrow+Whiskers     -Tail     -Inside Ears     -Fade on Paws     -Fade on tail     -Antennae     -Symbol on Chest • Whiskers should be normal whisker rules for cats ~As in they help with determining where cats can fit in spaces n stuff ~They do regrow if they are chopped/cut! • No Mouths! They all talk with speakers or electronic connection ~Speakers might be in the mask or maybe the ears, I don't know yet ~This Species needs to do a connection on BOTH ENDS to have 'telepathy' together. It's like a constant video call, and one can 'block' the other as well. • Tail is around the same as body length, no matter the species they are based on ~Tail is pretty much always tapered, thicker at the base and pointy at the end ~The end of the tail, the fur, also glows! The entire cat is like a night light >.< ~The cat can be based on pretty much any species in real life! It doesn't really matter, it's just so we can get a large variety of body shapes, fur types, etc. • Antennae are any length and any ‘fur’ amount ~ANY length. They can be so long that they reach the floor, or so short that only some fur shows. They do have to be there though. ~The fur can be around the entire thing, at the very end, at the base, I don't care! Have fun with the fur (Until I change something) :3

Some (Lore) Details I can come up with Now:

• Meet Your Maker ~Yes, they were made by humans from the past (Humans are called The Others) ~These 'cats' don't worship The Others per say, they just have a high respect for such a species; especially since they made them. ~The Others disappeared mysteriously (I don't know how yet) • Setting/Time Era? ~Taking inspo from Final Fantasy (My dad is playing it), the time period will probably be something 'Future Past' ? ~These cats can live pretty much ANYWHERE ~Although they will need 'modifications' to their design based on where they live (IE; ocean, wider tail or rainforest more prehensile tail) ~This cat here probably lives somewhere in one of the Abandoned sectors, I'm thinking a city or a village somewhere with normal-ish weather (Basically the base setting x.x) • Why Were they Made? ~Uhhh The Others were screwing with AI ~And what better to put revolutionary no-human-required AI in, than a cat! (Who already acts like they're better than us) ~The Others are epic for choosing cats B) • Can they Die? ~Yes! They can die! ~I'm sure that they can die by bleeding out or by having all three of their antenne cut (the ones on the top of their head and their tail) ~The antenne cut cannot be solved so far. Once cut, death is certain ~Viruses are like colds and stuff to them, while not common, they do happen

[antonpyon]

I caught a cold x.x so my brains were like mashed potatoes yesterday

But today I'm feeling better :>

That's why I bring small comic about the day Beatrice fell in love 🥰

(Someone *cough*Clopton*cough* placed several charmed mistletoe around castle. So you can't leave without a kiss)

[bihansthot]

So after some consideration I’m probably not going to multi ship, I honestly don’t know but Bi-Han and Syzoth seem like a bad duo. Bi-Han is so cold and Syzoth is a tiny lil lizard who needs to be nice and warm and sunny. So, it seems like a hard dynamic to balance but by that logic my anemic ass is hard to balance with a cryomancer so I still really don’t know. I do know that I am going to relentlessly to reblog cute Syzoth fanart and of course Tomas and as always Bi-Han. My tumblr app is so bad lately and hardly showing me any posts it’ll let me scroll through my moots for a bit and then it just dead ends into ads or an unable to authorize error X.x The Mortal Kombat tag skips around a lot too, it’s frustrating, hopefully I’m not missing anything 😭 I’m also feeling really frustrated with writing, I feel like I don’t know what to write lately. I still want to write Hallvard and Tomas but I might be a greedy little dino and write a nonsensical threesome between the reader Bi-Han and Syzoth 😳 @bitomas-week @den-kunn do we have dates or prompts for Bi-Tomas week yet? I still want to write for them I just don’t know what yet. Basically I have a lot of smut I want to write I just need a basic premise for them lol I also need the motivation to do it, I want to write but I feel like I’m dealing with writers block right now. Like the ideas just aren’t there just the pairings. I guess I can just write pwps? It’s not like I’m known for my compelling storylines lol Gaoooo I don’t know my brain is a mess from no sleep I guess? I had a friend over since my partner is out of town and I don’t alone well and we had a few drinks and a silly night but Denny was so excited he was over he wouldn’t let me sleep at all. So, maybe that’s why my brain is so scrambled or it’s from sexy lizard man *sigh* Ok I’ll stop rambling now hopefully everyone is having and ice day

[awesomespiritcat21]

Sorry I took so long I was waiting on the poll to finish! And it seems like broken Shards/Glass won so that's what the AU is gonna be called. Now again I must warn yall I don't usually write anything and I'm not very good at doing so. So there will probably not be much of that going on. However I will try and get through sketches and drawings if that's something you want?

Here are a few to start out with.

》---------------------¤•°☆°▪︎¤--------------------《

》---------------------¤•°☆°▪︎¤--------------------《

I'd imagine that while he's still giant he survives the fall pretty decently but not without being stabbed by a crap ton of shards from the star pieces. I'd also like to think that since it stabs him directly that maybe he gains something from it? Like powers or something? Idk. And to keep reading interesting I'm gonna color the text because it's hard for me to read too. If it helps those who have problems focusing on boring stuff like large texts then why not :)

》---------------------¤•°☆°▪︎¤--------------------《

Many things raced through Jack's head as he fell with the shards of the star. He could've sworn his plan would work with the help of those horrible tasting magical treats he carefully packed away. Sadly to his disadvantage he couldn't grab his bag in time to shrink himself. When the star retracted a majority of the shards and himself fell even faster and harder onto the ground of the star-shaped pit. With a loud and rumbling THUD-squelsh.. Jack had landed on on his right shoulder directly on a smaller piece of the fractured star which had pushed into his chest as he settled harshly onto the cold untouched ground. Holding in a scream of agony he managed to push himself upwards only to have a much larger, skinnier piece of the star lodge itself directly into his other shoulder. A rush of adrenaline hit Jack with the most powerful high as he released a yell so loud it could wake even the heaviest of sleepers amongst the giants. His eyes dilated so quickly that he nearly went blind. His stomach churned with uneasiness. Mixed with his sudden quick blindess; that sat horribly with Jack. The horrifyingly strong smell of iron from his blood caught his nose just in time for him to regain eyesight, only to see the shard in his shoulder. Luckily his coat had blocked it just enough from fully cutting off his whole arm, but he would be in trouble if he doesn't do something about it soon. Just then a small vile of a pinkish-red substance rolled out of his bag nearby. Beckoning him to pick it up as it taunted him to have a taste. He hadn't remembered packing that at all, but then again what harm could it do now? He was already down more than six feet in the ground and bleeding out all over himself from the hatred of the star's magical shards plunging into his oversized anatomy. Jack, weakened, scooted himself torwards the vile just enough to grab it with his pointer finger and thumb. He scooted back to where he was originally sitting. The cover of the dimmed shards lodged above him in the wall could provide cover for the dangerous starry glitter that fell with the intent to damage from the twinkling sky. Daring to harm those who got in its way. So why not find out before he fades from exhaustion?

》---------------------¤•°☆°▪︎¤--------------------《

Also if yall want me to keep doing this try to remind me? I'll forget if nobody tells me x.x

[sinecosinewheel]

7, 13 and 16 :3?

@rawrrawr0221

hiii :3c

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because of how the fandom acts about them?

i was really cold on gehrman for awhile, bloodborne was my first souls game and after The Line i was reluctant to talk to him at all lmao. then online 99% of the gehrman takes i saw were just people shitting on him or being. Fucking disgusting about miss doll so i kind of saw him as the posterchild for Fans I Hate. once i started doing more lore digging i learned to appreciate him more tho 🫶

honestly fans tend to make me like characters more rather than less lmao. i wouldn't care about gehrman or laurence that much at all if it weren't for seeing other people who were first 😤 it's fun seeing people who are passionate! gives me more insight into things i wouldn't bother caring about otherwise. ive definitely had characters i felt were overrated or mischaracterized that i hated seeing so much of, but i love soulsborne npcs too much.... i just tend to block takes i don't like x.x

oh shit wait jaskier from the witcher. i won't elaborate but him for sure

13. worst blorbofication

hrmmmm. when fans take a character like idk lautrec or fuckin. eygon from ds3 or something and act like everything they've ever done has been justified. not in a funny he's never done anything wrong and i love him :) kind of way, but in a misogyny kinda way

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

eh i don't really like super canon-divergent aus, like ones that are so far removed from the source material they basically aren't the same character anymore. what if nothing bad or interesting ever happened to morgott elden ring and he wasn't an omen and he didn't live in the sewer and he wasn't the veiled monarch of leyndell and he worked at a coffee shop? idk what if? that's just a totally different guy.

n bad characterization is too vague but i hate when they're boiled down to one personality trait (or just trait) and nothing else :/ souls games are fun bc all the characters are so deeply strange and it's really a shame when that's lost in favor of bland archetypes

[esculentevil]

Pan Flag Flower Crown! Because Evil’s Always Late to Celebrate x’D

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆💎Pillowfort🌲☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆

Seriously, tho: Happy Late Pride and First Harvest/August Eve, All! =D

As some of you know: I crochet in between writing fanfics and my original story; and I’m in and on-and-off-again relationship with cosplaying xD;;; where, currently, I’m thinking about dressing as Thranduil. I wanna crochet his crown (and his “dress” which, despite the insane amount of yarn it’s going to require, will probably be easier to figure out than his twisting crown of twigs... OTL) but...

Well, I thought why not try something a bit easier that’s in the same vein?

On the same vine? Sorry, I live on terrible puns.

Anyway.

Thus: Flower Crown! Admittedly (I think, at least), a perfectly acceptable crown for a Woodland King--perhaps, even, especially for these warmer months.

Anyway: I wanted to test out different yarns (acrylic v wool; I’ll try cotton later) with the flowers to see which came out better, which was easier to use, etc.

I think they all worked well (all because I actually used two different wools: worsted [pink] and roving [blue], if any of you are curious); tho, the wool--especially the roving one--got particularly heavy after washing (cold water and soap, of course) and took a while to dry out which had me worried for a bit because the whole thing kept sagging as I tried to wear it in between finishing and when I thought I was done with it (because I didn’t realize it/the band would S T R E T C H so much x.x with the waterlogged flowers; I panicked a bit there)

I learned a lot tho and I think I’ll be able to do Thranduil’s crown--eventually.

For now, tho, I do think this is something he’d also wear. Especially in summer--or his time of spring! Which, of course/again, I’m totally late for lmfao

Anyway; I’m curious: What do you All think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[coralsgrimes]

Sooo over the months I been typing these long ass coral life stories, very agitated may I add, but then the frustration wears off so I just been deleting the shite cuz why would anyone wanna read any of that.

Tho I have a fuck me story from today x.x

So imagine me just coral girlblogging making fun of Benny and then!!! A call! Sadly it was our lab technician and when he's calling it's gotta be real bad. But ye know there's this storm coming so maybe he just updating me about the department whatever they came up with??? Nooooo he did not xd

Lemme break it down for ye cuz like;

1. One of the cleaners walks by our cold room, feels that it's unusually warm around

2. No idea how long it took but the cleaner eventually tells the guard who comes by and is like oh it's fucking boiling

3. The guard calls our technician who comes by and decides the cold room is fucking broken

4. He calls me, while imma trying to girlblog, to come cuz it's a disaster

Sooo, I sent thousands of messages in our lab group chat asking who was the last one in the lab Saturday night and who's coming later today cuz I would appreciate the help. Still have no idea how long the cold room was boiling. Anyways it was me, the technician and later later later one other girl came by but she had her shite to do too so was not mucha help. We moved everything that was in there to freezers, cold rooms and fridges all over the building and in another fucking building cuz one thing about science - there's never enough space and so it happened that our cold room is the biggest in the building cuz we stock shit tons of media. And the problem is that the stuff there is big like bottles of reagents, media and I just made like a 200 fresh plates last week that might all be bin material at this point x.x so it was like impossible Tetris to put it all elsewhere lol and I had to make fucking lists of where each lil fucker went

Then I sent thousands of emails to PIs of the other lab groups in the building and everyone else in that circus to say yeee sorry to stuff yer fridge but our cold room is a sauna now soooo had no choice xd

And then, since cold room is a critical equipment, we called the service right, like to get to the shite and fix it they have to get on the roof cuz idk why but all the cold rooms in the building are like that apparently. So tonight/tomorrow it's stormy so no one is getting up that fucking roof, Tuesday maybe? Nope, they said MAYBE they can get someone to take a look on Friday....

Just so ye all know, the temperature in the cold room is supposed to be between 2 and 4 degrees. It was 26??? me think when I came, and then it was 39 when I was leaving xd it stinks and is so dirty I will probably have to deep clean it after it's fixed

And now, the storm is coming and I love rain on my roof windows but not the stormy about to kill me red weather alert rain and wind. Fun x.x

I do obviously blame Benny cuz the timing is absolutely not a coincidence lol I may make no sense but Imma so tired xd gotta come in late tomorrow as a treat and also after the worst alert is over xd if the power dies then I might even get tomorrow off cuz funny thing when there's no power they do have a generator back up, tho!! it can't power the whole building so if that happens they disconnect all equipment and all sockets and turn off the automatic lights and shite so that only freezers and fridges and incubators would take the power lol meaning no one on site. Let's pray actually 🙏 could use that lol

[2-cute-4-school]

𝙉𝘾𝙏 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 : 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢

 @proseeuhn~aaah its okay if it takes a while! i honestly dont mind! my requests was… how would the dreamies react to their friend/crush who is usually unintentionally quite distant and intimidating being with soft with them and grabbing their hand out of nowhere to just play with it? if that makes sense?? like the friend/crush gets all soft and grabs the dreamies hand and plays with it djskks thank you in advance! ~ Thank you so much for your request (๑>◡<๑) , it was such a fun and original idea, i really enjoyed coming up with scenarios for this (requests are still open btw)

Mark Lee

so mark may be just a tiny huge bit scared of you sometimes

but that’s mostly because babie doesn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of you  🥺

cuz your rbf gives him THE chills sometimes

you’re the definition of a ‘bruh’ person but somehow that’s a huge charm in mark’s eyes he’s royally whipped been there done that

and the one(1) way mark can fully relax and be in his element is when he’s playing the guitar i’d die to see/hear him

and even after he’s done you’re just ✨ vibing ✨ together in silence

until you suddenly reach out and grasp his hand in yours and bring it close to your face

mark.exe has unexpectedly crashed (((( ;°Д°))))

“woah your fingertips are so calloused from playing”

mark needs a cooler PRONTO (⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾ Д ⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾)

he’s OVERHEATING FOR REAL and hyperaware of your warm breath fawning over his fingertips

and then you intertwine your hands and bring them into your lap as you brush your thumb against the exposed skin on his hand that you’re able to reach with a small smile on your lips (ﾟ ωﾟ//）

and mark is SHOOK with your casual display of affection and softness

he can’t help but stare at the soft curl of your lips, the light twinkle in your eyes, the fingers that grip his own so firmly yet so endearingly ♡‿♡

“you’re so beautiful” it just slips out 

0.0 pause, delete existence, rewind major PANIC

but to his immense surprise a faded hue of red paints your cheeks and ears (๑•́‧̫•̀๑)

“thanks, you’ll get there too eventually “ 

（ノT＿T)ノ ＾┻━┻  way to ruin a moment

but he does forgive you when he feels the index finger of your other hand trace a faint heart on the back of his hand (*>ω<*)

and mark would spend a lifetime playing his guitar if it meant he’d get to witness this unexpected but very welcomed side of you

Huang Renjun

renjun probably watches you like a hawk 

your distant demeanor sometimes baffles him poor baby

but he likes you too much to give up so easily whipped man ٩(♡ε♡ )۶

and he does everything he can to *subtly* hint about his tiny huge crush but without making you uncomfortable renjun best boi we been knew

but you don’t seem to get the gist AT ALL (>皿<)

and renjun is getting more and more concerned on your lack of affection towards him 

so babie gets lowkey sad (oꆤ︵ꆤo) not allowed in this household

until one blessed time you’re peeking over his shoulder as he inspects one of his unworldly amazing drawings

*GASP* “JUN THAT’S SO BEAUTIFUL”

you hurriedly take a seat beside him and grab one of his hands in yours as you gush over his artwork

“HOW EVEN, THIS IS JUST…JUST- I HAVE NO WORDS, MY JUN IS THE BEST ARTIST IN THIS filthy WORLD!!!11!!!1!” ლ(^o^ლ)

renjun’s brain and face is overheating

‘we…we’re holding ha-hands??!? and they called me best artist- wait ‘MY jun’??!?!!??!?!?’ （◎0◎）

and while he’s already shutting down, you decide enough isn’t enough and give  him THE FINAL BLOW

you run your fingers gently over the back of his right hand and you suddenly lean your head on his shoulder as your soft voice registers in his overworked brain

“your birthmark is so pretty, renjun, so unique” (♥ω♥*)

*please bring cold water, towels, a fan, the entire fridge, renjun is burning alive he hot that’s why* 

but renjun makes THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE and brings your intertwined hands up to lay a *smooch* on your hand  🥺

get a room pls 

Lee Jeno

the members once said they also found jeno intimidating and cold before getting to know him 

so he’s certain that you only need to open up a lil

that’s why no matter how distant and icy you  act towards him 

he never NEVER gives up

just shoots you one of his ^‿^ smiles and carries on

and unconsciously, you start to soften up around him

and there a very specific moment when he started to realize that

you were helping him cut up some fruits and as he was about to grab another apple, you grabbed his hand, intently inspecting it

jeno having a heated internal debate : ‘chill man, don’t give them a reason to catch you off guard’  (ó﹏ò｡)

“well i gotta admit lee jeno” 

“huh?” insert that cute confused sound he makes

“i’m really awestruck by you”

jeno puffing his chest internally : ‘well it’s damn time you noticed me senpai’ (๑˃̵��˂̵)و

“you’ve really got the ugliest tan i’ve ever seen”

‘ASDFKAWDKSAIKAKJW- *passes out* ‘ X.X

jeno just snatches his hand away and grumbles about fruits and bicycles

he’s sulky the entire day but not because you hurt his ego no 

and as much as you love teasing jeno, your growing soft spot for him is acting up and your melted heart just *mush*

so you kick renjun off the couch in order to sit beside jeno renjun tries to protest but you shoot him *that look* and he retreats with his tail between his legs ミ●﹏☉ミ

jeno tries to keep up his deeply hurt act dramatic much

until he feels shy fingers brushing his as if hesitating, before they curl around his firmly

‘ASDFKAWDKSAIKAKJW- *passes out* ‘ x2 because the softness in his heart is just too much for him

later on it becomes a habit neither of you complains

Lee Donghyuck

it’s the 4th time in the past 2 hours

and yes, donghyuck has been keeping count for scientific purposes obv

nvm, it’s the 5th time your hand brushed against his 

and hyuck is  ✨  ABOUT TO LOSE HIS MARBLES  ✨

the demons on his shoulders are arguing by now 

‘this is an attempt to subtly hold your hand dumbass’ (－‸ლ)

‘no it’s not, they would never touch anyone, remember when they threatened to chop chop that guy’s balls for touching them?’

‘it’s not the same thing, you’d let the opportunity if holding your crush’s hand pass by like this?’

‘sure go ahead, and then watch y/n dip it in acid’   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

donghyuck shuddered at the thought

what he doesn’t know is that sure, while sticking a random guy’s hand up his ass for touching you is a ‘been there done that’ for you

hyuck isn’t just a random guy

you’d choke on an asparagus before admitting it, but he has grown on you

sure, he’s still an annoying brat sometimes 

but he’s so much more than that, he understood you in ways other couldn’t, he was patient with you and did his best to comfort and show you he cares in his own way  (｡♡ˇд ˇ♡｡）

and you grew to care for him too

maybe a bit more than a friend should   ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“hey hyuck!! my hand is cold, warm it up for me”

you acted on impulse before you could chicken out and before hyuck could answer and slipped your hand in his

demon on left shoulder : ‘ha told ya pay up BEACH’

“you only love me for my warmth” said donghyuck totally not blushing and fangirling on the inside

“pffft i don’t love you, i like tolerate you and just shut up human radiator” said y/n totally not swinging their hands back and forward like kids in love 

Na Jaemin

this man= W H I P P E D

y/n makes an edible omlet? jaemin : this is real taste, 5 star michelin right here!!  stream gods menu cowards

y/n squishes hyuck like a bug for waking them up? jaemin : yes babe whoop go off cutie!!! (•̀o•́)ง

y/n breathes? jaemin : PERFECTION!!!11!!!1!!1!!

so you went from ‘(•ิ_•ิ)? what is this person saying??’

to ‘ (｡•́︿•̀｡)why isn’t he saying anything’ whenever he omits cheering you 

but in a subtle way

you can’t have him catching on

so one day you’re sitting at the kitchen table and he’s feeding you pieces of fruit you whine about being able to feed yourself but nana knows you’re secretly enjoying it

when you suddenly snatch his other hand and one of renjun’s pencils left around and you  🥺 him

unfair if you ask him, how is he supposed to say no so he doesn’t

and you start doodling on his hand o(^◇^)o

he tries to peek at what you’re doing but you squeal softly and move to cover your drawing 

“nana! wait until i’m done!!!’ (｀0´)

he *melts* at your cute reactions and resorts to watching your face expressions fondly as he occasionally prods your lips with fruit

“done!!!”

you move away to let him see the cute dolphin you drew on the back of his hand and he gushes about the cuteness of your drawing

but then you shyly start fiddling with his fingers as you explain

“you know how a dolphin helped poseidon find his love? this will make sure you’ll always find me” (๑•́‧̫•̀๑)

jaemin, softly smiling in understanding, curls his own fingers over yours and brings them up to his chest 

“you don’t have to worry about that”

Zhong Chenle

chenle doesn’t seem a very affectionate person either

so he’s not really worried about your lack of affection social distancing

what he is worried about is that you’re also distant on an emotional level

because what if he misreads you?

what if you misunderstand him because of the lack of communication?

what if he isn’t there for you the one time you need him?

this baby just wants you to know he cares (◕⌓◕;)

but at the same time he doesn’t want to act in a different way around you read as doesn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of his crush

also you’re quite close

as friends for now (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

and as he does with all his close friends : he brings you to his home in china!!!!

and this boi has the surprise of his life when you obviously make an effort to open up to his family ໒( ͡ᵔ ▾ ͡ᵔ )७

you smile and chat a lot with his mom and chenle also gets to talk a lot with you since he has to translate so who’s the real winner here

and you know that variety show(?) where chenle dances with his grandpa in the park? you go there too (∗´꒳`)

and while you’re both waiting on the side…

you!!!!grab!!!!his!!!!HAND!!!! and pull him towards the dance floor!!

chenle : Σ(゜ロ゜;) then looks at you being all : o(^◇^) and chenle turns to : (●♡∀♡)  whipped culture everyone

he barely even breathes until you settle for a comfortable dance pattern, one of your hands on his shoulder, one of his laying gingerly on your waist respectfully cuz he is a manners man 

but most importantly : hands clasped together at the side!!!!!!

and these minutes in which you just dance together without a worry, chenle gets to live his long forgotten childhood dreams 🥺  you know how in cinderella it’s the dance that starts everything? yeah that

chenle marks this date in his calendar and makes it a national day 

Park Jisung

lyin’ is a sin so we don’t do that in dis household

jisung is highly intimidated by you (⌣_⌣”)

as in he likes likes you but he doesn’t dare act on his feelings in any way

so renjun and haechan took it upon themselves to play cupid a horrible decision really

and it seems that their attempts at dr. love only ended up in disasters

locked you together in a rollercoaster together? jisung threw up on both your laps (✦థ ｪ థ)ﾉ

ice skating together? jisung stumbled into you, knocking you over so you left the ring with a bruised chin and sore knees and jisung : (シ_ _)シ

arcade hangout? your competitive self almost made jisung cry you not only ignored him but also kicked his ass in every. single. game

so no one had any expectations when they arranged a horror movie night and invited you to sit beside jisung ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

you were awfully quiet since the start of the movie which wasn’t necessarily unusual but ya know 

but the atmosphere was getting tenser and tenser and you just knew some kind of jumpscare was coming

and survival comes first!!!! so you clutch onto the nearest thing

jisung’s hand ding dong correct!!!!

and you also bury your face in his shoulder subtly (っ⇀⑃↼)っ

you, shitting your pants : not a word to the others

jisung, also shitting his pants : not one

but uh even though jisung is awkward and everything, he isn’t complaining!!

he finds comfort in your death grip and you’re also his crush so DOUBLE WIN!!!  !(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

ofc the others notice but they don’t say a word because ✨ you’re cute ✨ so they leave the teasing for later thought you escaped? not a chance beach

and to make it all even more embarrassingly cute, you fall asleep like that

and you wake up the next morning tucked in jisung’s side with a sore neck, clammy hands and 200 notifs on your phone with pictures of you and jisung sleeping from every  possible angle (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

and with a soon-to-be boyfriend too

[mylife-whatisit]

38 Weeks pregnant and while this whole ride has been a struggle, I literally feel like I am falling apart and definitely not ok. At least with the puking stage I could crawl into bed and cover myself with the covers and just feel sick but safe - but third trimester, ready to pop at a moments notice?

No no no.

Laying down these days needs a strategy - did I take the tums to battle indigestion? Can't lay on my left side - I'll for sure get indigestion. Laying on my back? Upsets Filbert - now he's kicking me - but he's big now so the kicks aren't little flutters anymore - and while they don't hurt per se , they are VERY uncomfortably startling when he kicks in the right place.

Finally get comfortable? Nope. Gotta pee out a shot-glass worth of urine for the 50th time today. Great. But getting up to go do that is an Olympic event of rolling over and pulling myself up because my abdominal muscles are not very useful these days.

Thirsty constantly - but drink too much water and then lay down? Indigestion. X.X Not to mention it just refuels the 4000 trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Then the weird restless leg syndrome. Hip discomfort (I already had a bad hip, now it's widening or getting loser or whatever? Just chop it off god who needs it.)

And if it's not the indigestion, it's the frigging GAS - I think I've been non-stop burping since 4:00. Weirdly, eating a slice of pizza and drinking a can of pop helped make it less severe.

Oh sweet - a contraction. But not like, a useful one, just a test of the good ol' contraction muscles or whatever. And then it upsets Filbert and he gets back to kicking. Thanks uterus and friends. I hate u.

I don't even have a baby yet and I can't sleep at all. Maybe like an hour and a half chunk if I'm lucky, before I need to use the bathroom, rotate from the bed to the couch to the floor to the couch to the bed, crack at 4am and go "I NEED A BOWL OF CEREAL RIGHT NOW" because I tried to hold off on food before bed to combat the indigestion.

And then can we just discuss the frigging hormones from yesterday and earlier today? Just crying because of discomfort and frustration, and boredom and whatever else - literally, sitting at work entering new users into the computer and just staving off tears of weirdness for no reason. Luckily a Black Eyed Peas song came on and weirdly made things feel better for a bit.

But Dalton is so sweet and nice and helpful and he's a good listener. I don't know how so many women do this alone or with horrible partners. I could not. But I also don't even know how I'm going to get through the next two weeks feeling like my uterus is going to fall out on no sleep and a thirst that feels like I've been licking a brick of salt throughout my trek of the Sahara desert. Maybe Filbert will just fall-out a little early and save me a week. Please.

But I still haven't packed the hospital bag or put batteries in any of his swings or toys, and my house needs to get vacuumed first; but if we can just make it to the weekend then those things can get done. And then we'll be 4 days closer to the end of this and the beginning of new fun like leaky boobs and baby poops and omg why did I do this to myself.

EDIT: I forgot about the HOT HANDS. Trying to sleep? NOPE - hands are ON FIRE - gotta get downstairs and find a cold can of pop to grip to try and make it better. Or run them under cold water? That works better. But also, UNBEARABLE. I hope that goes away after all this too.

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to OPTIGAMI!!

I have never been so nervous and scream so much during an episode of this show before. And if you know me, that's saying something. Gabriel and Nathalie are getting seriously scary. Their plans are getting much more convoluted and are getting closer and closer to actually succeeding. And because of this, Alya's involvement is a lot more important now because there's no way Chat Noir and Ladybug would have managed it without her. Let's be real, the reason they chose Nino as their target was because Gabriel's still bitter about Adrien and Nino being friends after Bubbler. Awww all the Kwami's are so cute, wanting to go along. Trixx being like, oh well I have an owner so I can go! And Marinette being adamantly against it. It was at this moment I knew, Alya's getting that Miraculous permanently. But I didn't know if it'd be in this episode or not, so I didn't get too excited yet. But Trixx and Alya's bond is something I really like and want to see more of. Nino and Alya's little high-five/handshake is so cute I can't help but smile every time. x3

Marinette's freak-out about getting in the elevator. Luka's got a soft look on his face. Kagami's like "why are you like this" Max's just confused at what's going on AND THEN THERE'S ADRIEN WITH THE SOFTEST LOOK When you realize that Marinette adoringly (and appeared like she wishes she could have that, too) watching Alya and Nino do their little high-five/handshake is what saved everything in the end.....😬Cutting it really close. I thought Alec got trapped by Hawk Moth and that that's why he didn't show up. Who knew he was playing video games in a bathroom stall instead of doing his job lol. Lesson learned, I hope. xD I'm just surprised Hawk Moth's in the bathroom instead of his lair. He could do the same thing from home. 😂 I'm not a fan of Audrey, but that was really cold. The exchange between Marinette and Alya during an akuma attack is what I've been waiting for since Gang of Secrets. Adrien being wonderful and protecting Chloe, which could've messed up everything had Kagami not saved him. It's so sweet that despite what happened between them, she still risks herself to save him. "Plagg-" Marinette comes bursting into the elevator, looking in her bag "Tikk..iii!" OOF So I screamed, a lot. And laughed hysterically 😂 All Marinette had to do was run in facing the other way and she'd see Plagg and it'd be all over. All that had to happen was for her to run in a second or two later. All that had to happen was she noticed Adrien a second or two too late. But Adrien heard her say "Tikk...iii" in an attempt to cover herself. Remember, he's always had suspicion of Marinette being Ladybug and came to the conclusion easily enough. Kwamibuster did divert his attention away from it a bit, but Chat Blanc took place after and he didn't hesitate to think otherwise. Aww poor Zoe :c She's part of the "Chloe's used me as a human shield" club. (((Everything after this point, I had to completely redo because tumblr decided to suck and wouldn't allow me to post my message due to an "error" (which has never happened to me before), then wouldn't let me save it as a draft. Then when I went to copy it all, somehow everything got eaten and it wouldn't allow me to undo to bring it back 😭 Goodbye an hour and a half of my time. And another hour and a half redoing it all. So if I happen to leave anything big out, I'm so sorry. My luck has just been extremely awful lately.))) You can take the Miraculous away from the kid, but you can't take the Miraculous out of the kid. Max and Luka showing their hero sides while not suited up is so nice. Loving the Oblivio parallel! Marinette says softly, "I'm sure Chat Noir will save us." While I know she's Ladybug and knows Ladybug won't show up to save them, he doesn't know that. Her response of Chat Noir will come save them, shows that she has confidence in him. Even if Adrien knows Chat Noir won't show up, that's such a sweet thing for her to say and I hope he noticed that. Marinette: "I'M STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR" Alya: "Ohhh? With

Adrien?" Marinette: how did she know? "Yeeeeees!" Alya: oh wait this is really bad Adrien: "I'm stuck in the elevator with Marinette!" Nino: "How cool! Adrien and Marinette are stuck together in the elevator!" Alya: "Haha yeah so cool and not problematic at all!" I love this entire scene. Alya teasing Marinette but then being like oh shoot this is seriously bad. Nino being totally oblivious to it all and thinking that it's good news to get their friends closer. And Adrien's just like, I'm not going to ask for help, I'm just informing my friend I'm stuck in an elevator with my just a friend. xDD And that kiss on the cheek from Alya was adooorable! Emergency phone for the Kwami's is such a good idea. But yeah, if they all screamed "Hello?!" in my ear, I'd be chucking my phone across the room too. Adrien's like, "who's that? That sounded like a lot of people.: "I called the fire department." OK. Yes, because you tell the fire department not to fly but to ride a horse to come rescue you when you're in a skyscraper. And repeat it again "Understood, firefighters? Ride in on a horse." Adrien's over in the corner like what the heck? You also, to firefighters, totally yell, "No, no, not prehistory!" and then sheepishly grin at the person you're with. Totally not sus and makes absolutely perfect sense! And then here's the part that has me going ??? Adrien saw Optigami's eyes on the wall, immediately alerts her to that and shushes her. Now, they're hiding from an akuma, but the thing sees them. There's no hiding from it regardless of what's said. So why be quiet? And yet, he's shushing her which convinces her to hang up. Had she continued trying to talk to them, Nathalie might've caught on to there being something up. Adrien's in Chat Noir mode here, as if what she's saying could expose their identities to Hawk Moth. That intense look he gives her after the fact too really shows that, he's not messing around. They also were both just about to tell the other their identities, them being extremely close to each other to do so. They came so close! So what's going on here, exactly? Adrien's come to the conclusion Ladybug is Marinette before. In Chat Blanc, after Kwamibuster showed him supposedly that LB and Marinette are different people, he didn't hesitate to think that Ladybug was Marinette. I don't think he's ever let that possibility go. And the events in the elevator where she started calling for Tikki, and her nonsensical comments over the phone that'd be something Ladybug does, may really have him leaning in that direction. Also, so very sus again that once Optigami went away, they both were like "Oh it was nothing" "I was only wondering what that strange eye thing was." Yeah, that's why you guys sounded nervous like you had something important to say and got in each other's faces! :D It's also interesting, because whenever Marinette and Adrien are in a situation together, Adrien almost always is the one that takes hold of the situation and is more aware of his surroundings over Marinette. xD This man over here just eagerly eliminating children. x.x Like a lot of things in this show, if Alya had just answered that phone call from Nino, events may have played out completely differently! o.o There goes the Eiffel Tower again xD It never not gets blown up, knocked over, or teleported. LOL it's so funny to me, and also such a yikes moment, that while Alya rushed over to Marinette's, got the Miraculous, teleported back, found "Nino" and gave him the Miraculous, then teleported into the elevator, Ladybug and Chat Noir's civilian selves are just trapped in that elevator, awkwardly, and all alone. Likely deep in thought feeling guilty they're powerless to do anything without exposing their identities. xD But at least they're both brooding over the same thing and probably couldn't care less if the other one talks or not, nor noticing enough that the other's really quiet. XD And the way they both reacted to the portal being opened in the elevator. Cautious, but then Adrien puts his hand on Marinette's back and kind of has

her in a position where he can pull her back to him and protect her. Which is a very different kind of protection than he's offered to others, Chloe earlier in this episode being a very good example. Just a friend? Yeeaah. The fact that in every single episode that has Marinette and Adrien interact this season, there's something there, and it's just a matter of time before it's addressed. A bit sad that we didn't get actual Carapace in this episode, but I'm hoping we get him in later eps! MAJOR OOOF A train with people in it underwater, a skyscraper with probably a lot of people in it burning in a volcano, cars, what looks to be the building they were filming the music video in Frightningale, and the Arc de Triomphe on the moon. Yeah I'm seeing where things are going now with this. I'm going to write a post addressing some of these things a bit later. Ladybug in a ponytail is the prettiest hairstyle imo. Chat Noir rushes in, sees Ladybug, Carapace, and Rena Rouge all together, first wondering how they all got in "Hello, Chat Noir" there went any of his thoughts he may have had about it lol... and feels disappointed. "Sorry! I would have got you, if I knew your secret identity." Whoa hold up. Ladybug, so forwardly talking about knowing his secret identity? o.O I smell foreshadowing. "As I always say, m'lady. To know me means to love me." "Then I'll think about it." as she smirks and giggles. Guys. She's being serious. 😍😍😍 I admit, I wish we could know what she was going to talk to Chat Noir about after everything, since she thought the situation was taken care of and asked him to wait there for her. She obviously had something she wanted to talk with him about. And thank you Marinette's observation skills for knowing that's not the real Nino! But poor Alya, so horrified like that... I bet she's thinking both "What have I done? I just gave a Miraculous away to Hawk Moth essentially." and "How is it that I couldn't recognize that wasn't my boyfriend?" On the latter, Chat Noir's made that error several times as well. Hawk Moth just really sucks to do that kind of thing to these kids. Real Nino's here to comfort Alya. Doesn't even have to say a word, just gives her a hug. I absolutely adore this. They're so perfect together. ;-; "It (Lucky Charm) always shows me the right way, but this time I was shortly led astray." "Hmm." Hmm? What the heck does that mean? More foreshadowing?? What's going to happen next omg. Yes, Marinette needs someone out there who can replace her if something happens. And I know so many people are like, oh no, that should be Chat! But just think about it. Today, Chat Noir and Ladybug were trapped in an elevator in a situation where they were powerless. They came extremely close to needing to transform with Hawk Moth watching. Had Hawk Moth not been Adrien's dad and let him be, they would've transformed and fought, no doubt. A lot of things could happen, and Ladybug and Chat Noir are always in the thick of things. We've seen one or both of them become unavailable many times. It's good that someone else is their safety net. You may see Alya as just Ladybug's but she's also Chat's too. I screamed and cheered so loud when Alya got her Miraculous to hold onto! I've wanted this for sooo long now! ;-; Okay ew, the way the music went from happy and sweet to creepy when Gabriel and Nathalie were on screen. 😬 Watch: Gabriel, in his plot to try to get to know more about Alya, will have Adrien through a party or have some friends get together at his house which will likely include Nino and Marinette as well, and have him use his own son to try to get what he wants without Adrien suspecting a thing, even thinking his father's giving him more freedom and more of a normal life. How sick. x.x This was a seriously good episode! I'm very excited to see how this all plays out, because things are getting seriously intense in many different ways! Honestly, my original write up of this post was much better but I lost it all. Which makes me very sad and disappointed, but it can't be undone. :c So

hopefully this was enjoyable anyway! I'll be writing a few posts that are more in-depth about some of the events that happened in recent episodes, including Chloe's character and situation, Adrien's feelings for Marinette, Adrien/Chat's situation with Ladybug, etc that are too specific and detailed to write in a thoughts and reactions post, so be on the look out for those! c:

[yumearashi]

Writing ask meme

  1. How many works do you have on AO3?

171

  2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

781,874   O_o

  3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

25 - 5 most recent are Zombieland Saga, Raven Cycle, The Mummy (1999), Good Omens, The Umbrella Academy - top 5 (by # of works) are Assassin's Creed, Haven, original, Fushigi Yuugi, Matantei Loki Ragnarok

   4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Uninterested (Maturity) (Assassin’s Creed)  After learning about Leonardo's sexual history, Ezio offers to show him the difference between sex and lovemaking.                        

         A Lifetime Ago (Assassin’s Creed)   Leonardo finds something unexpected in the pages of the Codex.                                            

         Distracted (Assassin’s Creed)   Leonardo can get very absorbed in his work.  Ezio's mischievous side gets the better of him.                                        

         From the Mouths of Babes (Assassin’s Creed)   Ezio and Leonardo try to explain to Ezio's young niece why they're not married.                                                  

Interruptions (Assassin’s Creed)   Ezio and Leonardo are just trying to enjoy some private time together.  It's harder than they thought.

   5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

*me reading this question* should be easy, I prefer happy endings *me looking through my works* ....oh A Brother’s Duty (Assassin’s Creed)   When Federico Auditore's little brother was born, their father had explained to him what it meant to be an older brother.

  6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most of them

   7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Avenging with Portals (MCU, Portal) Tony Stark finds something left behind by one of his dad's old buddies.

   8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

More than just tab A in slot B

  9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Every single one, if I can, and I will ramble about the fic given half a chance.

  10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Probably at some point

  11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seem to vaguely recall it happening somewhere along the line

  12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

possibly?

  13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Absolutely, I love co-writing!

  14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Good lord, just one?�� I could never.

  15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Haven werewolf ‘verse

   16. What are your writing strengths?

???  short fic, I guess?

  17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes x.x

  18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It flows best when the author speaks the language

  19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Fushigi Yuugi XD

   20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Oooooh, tough one, but I’d have to go with By Moonlight Cold and Clear - I really need to post the original version of that so people who aren’t into Haven can enjoy it.

Tagging whoever feels like it

[vampiricsheep]

have c, e, and h from the abc asks for whoever you feel like chatting about! :D @kerra-and-company

hiiiii bestie sorry for letting this ferment I got overwhelmed with finals x.x but thank you, really!! (ALSO sorry for sending you like 50)

leeeet's go with Merlin because I never talk about him for some reason. what a shame

this is long so it goes under a cut~

C: Comfort

1. how do they sit in a chair?

Stiffly, with a straight back and legs slightly apart. He tries so hard to look normal that it unintentionally manages to call attention to the effort.

2. in what position do they sleep?

When he's camping he tends to be curled up tight, but when a bed is available he sprawls out like a starfish.

3. what is their ideal comfort day? A clear morning on a cold day, with a stew on the fire, a hot drink nearby, and nowhere to be.

4. what is their major comfort food? why? A hearty venison stew. It's the first recipe he ever learned, and the pride of getting it right never fades.

5. who is the best at comforting them when down?

His nightmare hound Gin, believe it or not. They're two of a kind. Second best is his boyfriend, Ceren <3

E: External Personality 1. does the way they do things portray their internal personality? I think so! He's very aloof and secretive, but he stands out too much for it to go unnoticed that he's hiding something. As for what that something is, that takes a little more deduction.

2. do they do things that conform to the norm? There isn't a strict norm he adheres to, but he also doesn't seek attention through rebellion. He spends a lot of his time removed from large social hubs.

3. do they follow trends or do their own thing? He definitely does his own thing, and is happy that way. Trends are for people who not only want to but can fit in, and he feels he'll never be both.

4. are they up-to-date on the internet fads? (In the human AU) absolutely not. He doesn't get enough cell reception when he's on a trip, and I feel like social media intimidates him.

5. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it

out on their own?

He tries very hard not to portray a personality, but that just makes one out of the very effort. Behind all the evasiveness, he's a kind-hearted guy, but he's very guarded and it takes quite a bit to get him to open up.

H: Heat 1. do they rather a hot or cold room? Oh cold, definitely. He wears so many layers that what would be comfortable room temperature for most has him sweltering.

2. do they prefer summer or winter? Winter, definitely. He loves a bright, crisp morning with old snow that glitters like crushed glass.

3. do they like the snow? As long as it isn't the slush variety, very much yes!

4. do they have a favorite summer activity? I think he enjoys swimming when he can find a quiet spot to do so unbothered. Other than that - birdwatching!

5. do they have a favorite winter activity? I think he just likes to sit with a warm drink or cup of broth and vibe tbh. He doesn't have the balance for skiing and sledding!

[kyidyl]

Kyidyl Does Archaeology - Part 6

(yep, the rest of the parts of this are all under the KyidylCL tag, in case you happen across just this one.)

Rocks and...other stuff

Ok so here we are...we’ve arrived at my least favorite thing.  Lithics.  I’ll be honest with you guys, my disinterest in lithics means that I don’t have a lot to add here.  But...I’ll do what I can.  

So, first off, we’ve found *thousands* of lithics on this site.  It is by far the most common thing we have.  We’ve found broken tools, used up tools, intact points, fire cracked rock, like...the whole nine.  One of the things you can learn from lithics is how far people were going to get their rock.  For example, we have a lot of jasper in our lithics, so we know they were going up onto the nearby mountain because that’s where the nearest jasper deposits are.  I *absolutely* am not the right person to go into a detailed account here, but I do know that they were going pretty far away to get their supplies - even over to the other side of the mountains.  Or at least they were trading with people in closer proximity to those places.  

I think what’s amazing to me is the degree to which they work quartz and quartzite.  Here’s one of the points we found: 

I’m pretty sure, if I’m remembering the things the Rock Guy told me correctly, that point is made of quartzite.  Quartz and quartzite are very hard (7/7.5 on the Mohs scale aka the rock hardness scale.), so working them is difficult.  I don’t know how to do it, but I know it must have taken either an impressive amount of brute force or an impressive amount of energy.  Either way, it’s neat.  Hell I found a piece of quartz the last time I was in the field (which I don’t have, or I’d show you.) that literally looked like it was cut like a gemstone.  It’s more likely it came out of a geode but still, they did cool shit with quartz.  Some of what we’ve found has been almost as clear as glass.  

I’m aware that the style a point is made in (and everything that is, well, pointy...is a point.  It includes spear tips, arrow heads, etc.) is indicative of the age of a site, but I don’t know enough here to go into it and we’ve already covered age in the pottery and digging post (it’s late woodland - early contact, c. 1300s - 1700s), so I’m just gonna show you some cool pictures.  

First point that we found...

Same hole, another point.  Probably both are arrowheads given the size.  The one I’m holding up in the picture up there was probably a spear, not an arrowhead.  Arrowheads are actually really small.  

Here’s another weird rock: 

It’s weird because that one in the upper right has that groove in it and is kinda squished.  to me it looks like a tile, which would be really anachronistic to this particular site, and our Rock Guy assures me this is a natural thing, but these rocks have something on them I’ve been finding on a lot of the lithics: a red residue.  You can see it pretty clearly on the top surface on the center rock, but it’s in the grooves on the right one too.  These rocks didn’t come out of the pit with the red dirt, so it’s not like...red dirt from burning.  To me it looks like ocre, but this is one of those areas where my knowledge base just comes up short and I need to wait for someone who knows more to look at them.  But lets just say that I have this experience often where I’ll say something like “this looks like ocre” and people will be like “nooo, that doesn’t make sense” and then they’ll spend some time with the artefact and be like “hey look at this it looks like ocre” and I’m over here like....yes....I know....I told you that weeks ago...perhaps if I’d found a way to say it in a male voice we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  x.x Aaaaannnnnyway.  

Another kind of rock we have are fire-cracked rocks.  Back in the day they used to heat rocks in the fire and then put them in pots to boil the water.  They often reuse them, and after a few uses the constant “hot rock plunged into cold water” thing causes them to crack.  It’s *extremely* common to find this all over the world.  I saw it at the site I worked in England, too, when we were digging the Roman stuff.  And it’s always kind of confused me because even though water boils basically instantly when you add the very hot rock, it would likely take longer for the rock to heat up than it would to just, y’know, boil the water, so why use the rocks? Then it occurred to me: because the rocks were just casually tossed into fires that weren’t being used for cooking.  So you toss a few into the fire you’re using for warmth or for smoking or whatever in the morning and by the time dinner rolls around you just grab some rocks that’ve been in the fire all day and you toss them into a pot of water.  Multitasking ftw! I would find some pics for you but I’m NGL guys, they just look like stones that’ve been cracked in half.  People weren’t all that picky about the type or anything like that.  

So yeah, that’s rocks, now who wants to see some weird shit? You, obviously, YOU want to see some weird shit.  

Weird Shit

First up, because I STILL haven’t figured out why this is like this, we have this bone: 

Ok honestly I’m only like 93% sure it’s a small piece of bone, but like...it’s definitely natural.  It’s been burned for awhile but the weird part here is that IT’S GREEN. Now that’s not in and of itself weird - this is what happens to bone when there’s some metal nearby.  It often leaves behind green staining on bones.  But there was no metal in the ground here, and this thing was pretty deep.  Below the civil war trench stuff.  So I have no idea why it’s green like this.  

This...thing.  No idea what it is.  Roughly a quarter inch long, metallic...looks like slag but, again, came out of a hole that was really too deep for us to be finding iron in (in this case, iron is a modern contaminant or something you’d only find in the top - IE, later - layers.). Meteorite, maybe? We’ve found some other weird stuff like this too but it was from much higher layers.  

The back and front of a piece of bone that is too small for me to make a determination as to whether or not it’s human without like...a microscope.  I don’t have one.  I mean it probably *isn’t* human, but the color is right, soooo...IDK I just thought it was weird.  

This is another small, weird, brown thing.  BUT! it’s a different kind of small, weird brown thing than the other one.  The other one passes the magnet test and fails to leave a streak when wet.  This one fails the magnet test but left a brown streak on my skin when wet (no...I didn’t lick this one).  So I’m pretty sure it’s a coprolite, but I’ve never handled them before so I’m not entirely certain.  It looks like one to me, though (coprolite is very old poop.  Poop is important bc it informs on diet and stuff.  There have been literal fights and thefts in the archaeological community over coprolites.). This came out of one of the test pits and we haven’t dug over there yet so IDK.  

This next bit is less weird and more cool.  

This is a very small, very burned piece of bone but it’s cool for two reasons.  One, see that long light-color diagonal mark in the lower right area of the top surface? That’s either a butchery mark or more tooth marks.  I learn towards butchery becaaaaause....see how flat this is? That only happens when it’s been cut by people.  Bones don’t break clean and flat like that, the crack or they splinter.  When they crack they do it vertically because that is with the grain of the bone.  This is horizontal, or across the grain.  They have to be cut to look so flat.  Here’s another example from the test pits: 

See? Perfectly flat across the grain.  This one has also been cut and burned.  The white color of the two bones means they’ve been burned for a long time at a high temperature.  All of the collagen - the soft stuff - gets burned off when you do it for long enough and at a high enough temperature and the minerals are left behind.  Both of these images are macro images on bones that are smaller than an inch.  

Ok, one more weird thing: 

This is actually the back and front of a rock.  It’s flat on both sides like pottery, but it tasted like a rock and it has no temper so...rock.  But in that top image it has some kind of dark residue on it that almost looks like rust or paint, and the opposite side has small marks that look like cut marks or tool marks.  I’m not sure what kind of rock it was, but it also had a dry, sandy texture to it.  IDK it was just weird.  The marks could just be damage over time to the rock (what we call taphonomic damage.), but the residue is pretty strange.  

Anyway, that about wraps it up.  I think that what I’m gonna do is start going through the uncleaned material I have downstairs (I got sidetracked by covid and the holidays. :P) and start posting what I found or anything out of the ordinary, if you guys want anyway.  Thanks for sticking around through this long series of posts about the site I work at, and I hope you enjoyed it.  As always, if you have any questions my askbox is open.  :) 

[earths-roots-grow-up]

HC on how Prussia’s past shaped his fatal flaw that ended him

There’s TL’DR at the end btw :D just a long ramble about Gil’s psychology

I was thinking about young Prussia again and how specific circumstances of his birth and early life influenced his personality and life goals. And how those led directly to his downfall. I already mentioned a lot of such events:

how being born without land and having to fight for every square meter was something that influenced him from the beginning, bc he had this feeling of being treated by faith (God?) unfairly and that, because he had to fight for things others were given naturally, he was superior to them and his achievements meant more. He was special. It also shaped his belief that natural talents are worth a lot less than hard work and discipline.

how losing the Teutonic Wars to Poland and becoming a duchy under Poland was an incredibly humiliating event that installed this deep refusal of ever being in such a position again (of being powerless) and wild determination to instead always be the one who holds all the cards;

how, during his process of taking over blatic Prūsa's lands and extinguishing his culture, Teutonic Order ended up killing the personification. As in, really killing him. And how this act was something that shapes Gilbert' relations to others, as he was still a young, new representation, and he did something that, in the Nation's world, is one of the most terrifying things one can do.  Which kinda set up the stage for him and how others viewed him (in simple terms... not great reputation, kinda the black sheep of Europe) and it turned into this self-fulfilling prophecy.

I was lately thinking about this some more and I can see another huge way his personality was shaped as a young personification. It had to do with killing Prūsa - how this event was one of the critical moments for his evolution, right next to being born landless and losing the Teutonic Wars.

To put is simply:

He saw he did something terrible and he needed to live with that. He kept attacking bc he was just young, focused on himself and lacked perspective to understand the consequences, and when they came in the form of permadeath of another Nation, he was not mentally prepared for it. In order to be able to do deal, he had to somehow explain it to himself, make the act of killing Prūsa excusable, even resonable and just. And he did: he created a whole set of excuses, mostly revolving around how "he needs to take care of the number one". So any act is excusable because he has to take care of himself, fight for his own agenda. I think he was quite selfish even before, due to the ‘I’m special’ mentality mentioned at the beginning, that's why he felt so entitled in the first place, but this event cemented him in this self-centered, callous world view that was no longer just a generic character flaw, but evolved into a fatal flaw .

If it didn't, he would have to deal with the horrific act of murdering another nation and force himself through very painful self-analysis and self-actualization that would probably make him into a better person, sure, but it’s a challenging psychological process that requires effort and some amount of self awareness. He was simply not mature enough for such a thing, he was a KID. So he evolved a coping mechanism - he dived into preexisting imperfections of his character and developed a whole worldview that was pretty self-absorbed (and really? tons of people choose shallow coping mechanisms to deal with stuff instead of doing a deep dive into their own psyche and really hashing it out honestly).

Of course much later he still had to deal with this fatal flaw, which ironically ended up leading to his downfall. If he did not have it, he would not be so obsessed with gaining power in Europe, and one way of gaining power was creating (and ruling!) the German Empire - and it was Germany who ended up making him irrelevant and then loosing his status as a nation completely. Is this tragic irony or what? His biggest fear of being powerless comes true due to events he himself set in motion, fueled by this fatal flaw in the form of trying to have all the power by any means necessary. Which IMO makes his character growth even more powerful, when at the end of Cold War he deices to open up the country and accepts the possibility of death and loosing all the power he managed to keep.

But going back to the subject: he needed to weed out pity and softness from himself to be able to get over this at such a young, tender age and keep his self-esteem intact. So he did and the effect was the creation of a very determined, self-confident but also quite narcissistic and ruthless person that we know as the Kingdom of Prussia.

TL;DR Prussia's fatal flaw is that he desires power and control above all else, including his relations to others, family and intimacy. This did not came out of nowhere:

He was born landless but still kept hearing he's a soldier of God and Important, it did not compute, so he evolved a strong entitlement that came from comparing himself to others (with land), and it fueled his conquest/ambitions.

Killing Prusa made him dive into and cement a selfish/callous nature bc he had to somehow explain to himself why he did something so horrendous in the Nation World. It made invest more into the idea that Power Is Worth It.

Losing the Teutonic Wars and his independence was a strong his that made him realize how awful it is to really LOSE, how scary and humiliating it is, and it became a powerful incentive to desire power even more, now fueled not just by entitlement/pride, but fear.

--

Sorry for having the whole thing in so many posts, I swear it’s supposed to create some kind of coherent profile x.x I just suck at  being coherent and it's a work in progress :D i just want to keep fleshing him out and adding new motivations to make him more realistic and complex, hope it's working, or is it an overkill?

[pilferingapples]

Brick Club, 1.4 entire (retro)

Cosette's story often has such a fairy-tale feel, and it starts with this  section (what should I be calling these chunks of text? the X.X sections as a whole, not the X.X.X ones? Volumes?) .

And yet I'm not at all sure why I get that feeling quite so strongly, in terms of narrative technique.  The initial namelessness of the cast, with Two Mothers echoing the way people in fairy tales are Mothers and Millers and Eldest Daughters?  But if Fantine is presented as if she was s stranger to us again, it's not different than what happens with JVJ, and his story never feels this way.  The  Three Sisters made by Cosette, Eponine , and Azelma maybe? That's a very fairy-tale motif indeed.   Something about the way the inn itself is described..?

Augh, I absolutely cannot put my finger on it.   Still,  something about this passage feels as ominous and certain and doomed  as if the inn was a gingerbread cottage and Fantine was vowing to keep silent for seven years while making shirts out of nettles.

Notes on Various Things under the cut:

-  love that the inn sign is really badly made. I've seen several attempts at it in various adaptations and they're always a disaster and it's excellent, I want a collection.

-  the cart is covered with "the same ugly yellow mud sometimes used to decorate cathedrals".  The cart that is A Metaphor for outdated social institutions.  I see you, Hugo. 

- I will FIGHT Hugo about peasant/working class women's clothing in this era, this outfit would be super charming!  But it's definitely more about utility and practical wear than Fantine's old outfits.   There are roughly a billion dissertations to be written about the way that things working class people do and use are , through history, treated as inherently ugly/undesirable, regardless of how much art and beauty might actually have gone into it; I feel like the classism kinda speaks for itself on that.  And then,since Hugo's already drawn a huge Romantic Aesthetic defining line between the Useful and the Beautiful  in this book, I think  I can fairly just quote Gautier's explanation of the issue -- "Nothing is really beautiful but that which cannot be made use of; everything that is useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and the needs of man are vile and disgusting, like his poor, weak nature" -- and leave this for now.  I suspect it will come up again. 

- Fantine has been "marked by irony" --that is, scarred by her time with Tholomyes.  I do like the way  this new line on her face sounds almost like a dueling scar. Fantine's a fighter in her own way!

- ...Tholomyes is gonna make it to at least 1828, meaning he'll outlive everyone we love in this story except Cosette and Marius.    And he'll do it while being  "always a man of pleasure"--I feel like there's an implicit suggestion that Cosette has a lot of half-siblings in the world, all of them with a story as important as hers, if only people would take them seriously. 

- ...as a Somewhat Taller Than Average woman myself, I am rather delighted by Hugo's obvious terror of women who are Not Tiny.   ( And I realize I'm probably Reaching to think that Mme T might have been much happier and more well-adjusted if she weren't trying to cram her giant self into a tiny box of Ideal Femininity?  Maybe she'd have been much more ok if she'd  been able to go into showbiz and get famous as  a weightlifter or something. )

But I do think there's a real sort of sadness to her introductory chapters.  She had an ideal dream for her own life , and it wasn't even a particularly ambitious one--just a love story, really-- and it's fallen through as much as anyone else's hoped-for Ideal in the novel. She's still trying to hang onto it at this point, but we're already given a glimpse of the future  when she'll not only have given up on that ideal, but come to despise herself for it.  This is no way absolves her of her cruelty towards others, but I think she's a more complex villain (and she is  a villain) than she's sometimes treated as. 

- Fantine does try to lie about having been married, here! ...but she also comes right out and tells people she's making a financial Deal with exactly how much money she has, and how much she's able to give over, before it's all settled.  It's  painful how ill-prepared she is to deal with this kind of economic manipulation (and I think "prepared" is really relevant; she's had no one more naturally skilled or experienced to teach her how to handle these things, and business negotiations, which this is, are incredibly complicated) . 

Seeing how much money Mme T gets for Cosette's fine clothes makes me strongly suspect that Fantine was severely underpaid for pawning her own fancy things--unless, and I guess this is possible, her "putting all her finery" on Cosette  is meant to be literal, and Cosette's current clothes are directly made of Fantine's old fancy outfits. 

- Fantine tries to lie about having been married , and the neighbors *see* her crying as she leaves Cosette, and Cosette must have been well dressed and all for that first months or so...but still, everyone believes the Thenardiers when they start telling the town that Cosette is an abandoned, illegitimate child.  They believe it because Cosette looks the part, and Cosette looks the part because the Thenardiers force her into it.  In so many ways, Fantine is never in control of  the narrative about her child, and What People Say about them does indeed matter more than anything she does--no amount of effort, no show of love, can save her and Cosette when everyone else  has decided they're socially damned. 

...but on the less thematic and more practical side,how on earth are the Thenardiers learning about her marital status? Seriously, was this freely avaialable info?  This  issue is something that comes up several times in the novel and I really have no idea what access to people's family records was like? 

- we get our first negative association with a cat , hm 

- ...workers have "generous impulses", huh?  (also I am not at all sure if the corresponding Bourgeois Respectability is meant to be entirely a good thing, but I'm not sure it's NOT , like I would be with Some Writers? Agh) 

- The Thenardiers' animal souls are : 

French: écrevisses 

Hapgood: crab-like FMA: crabs Rose: crayfish  Donougher: lobsters

Google Translate agrees with Rose, but I wonder if this isn't one of those words that was colloquially used to mean a general category of creatures in its day --Things Like a Crayfish/lobster/crab-- and has come to mean something very specific now?

-  ..y'know, what really kills me about Cosette in this every time is how everyone , *everyone*  in this town really either believes she deserves her abuse, or thinks it's BETTER than she deserves.  This is not happening in secret, behind closed doors, in a private house; it's at the public inn and very blatant. Everyone knows she's out in the cold , first up every morning, starving and beaten, in a home where the other kids somehow have more than enough (because their parents steal it from Cosette, directly).  And not one person in this discount Omelas even thinks it's bad , much less intervenes. It's a point in the Thenardiers'  favor, socially.   This isn't just the gamins of Paris being brushed aside,this is a whole town actively citing horrible child abuse as the Moral and Good Option that elevates the people doing it.  

And in this, I suppose, Cosette shares a history with Valjean-- they're  both put through absolutely horrific abuse , which is not just societally ignored, or accepted with jaded apathy ,  but openly lauded as morally correct.   I hate Montfermeil so much-- but Montfermeil is not really different from Arras, or Digne, or any other place where people think that abuse of the "deserving" is a Good Thing.