#animals deserve so much more than the lot we tend to give them

[mmmairon]

oh dear, I'm so sorry to hear that abt your heifer :(( juliet sounds so sweet and I hope you're doing all right,,, AND IM SERIOUSLY SO MAD AT WHOEVER SHOT THE OTHER COW WHO DARED TO DO THAT

also don't apologise for talking about your cows! I did ask how they were doing, and that includes both good and bad happenings after all ( ´∀｀) I'm just glad that they're doing better this week hehe <33

—milkmaid diluc anon (I am not used to this title at all but it is very iconiqué HAHA)

yeah, miss Juliet was my little ray of sunshine :’) here’s my last picture i have of her. but now she has eternity to graze in flowering meadows <3

as for the other cow, i was definitely furious for about 3 days straight and then cried a little bit. but the good news is that she will be completely fine, the gun was likely only a .22

cows are much, much hardier than to be taken down by that. but i’ll be keeping my eye on her for the next few weeks.

[sleepytoycollection]

Barbie Dream Besties "Brooklyn": A review

Barbie Dream Besties is a newly released doll line by Mattel, and is a spin off of their main Barbie line. Looks wise, they seem to be a spiritual successor to My Scene, Ever After high, and the more recent Barbie Extra/Barbie Extra Minis. Also trying desperately to compete with LOL and Rainbow High.

They are $20 USD each retail.

I was interested in these for three reasons: 1) I liked Ever After High and My Scene. 2) They have much more quality outfits than I tend to see from modern Barbie. 3) @queenofsquids enjoyment of them made me hopeful I'd like them too.

So do I? Let's find out.

I choose the character Brooklyn as I like her face up the best.

Her packaging is the standard plastic clam shell that seems to be all over the doll aisle anymore. I can't say I love it. I miss the cardboard boxes, so much easier to open and so much less plastic.

This box isn't super great aesthetically either. There's a lot going on in the service of nothing.

Which is a shame, because I do really like the actual character art on the box. It's super cute and matches the dolls really well. It would pop even better if the rest of the box was a smidge simpler. Sometimes less is more.

The back of the box.

We get more of this delightful artwork, showing of the full set of characters available at the moment.

We also get a short character bio for Brooklyn. She wants to be a choreographer, loves making dance routines, video editing, and creative writing. Despite her favorite color being listed as pink, she has no pink in her outfit and only one pink accessory.

Here is the box without the cover. This is what I meant when I said the box design was doing a lot for nothing. Over packaging isn't just a problem with Mattel dolls of course, MGA is arguably worse, but it's still frustrating.

Brooklyn herself is very pretty though. I tried very hard to pick one without a wonky face, but the way she's posed makes it very hard to tell.

I think one of her eyes is slightly bigger than the other. It's not enough to bother me at least. That said, so many of these were VERY wonky at the store. I would not buy these online unless you can see the specific doll you're getting. The QC is all over the place.

Here are all the accessories she comes with.

I do appreciate that all her accessories tie into her interests and character. That said, these are hit and miss.

The purse is nice, and does open.

The dog is okay, but I don't really care for these types of doll pets. It looks more like an in-universe toy than what's supposed to be an animal.

I initially liked that the phone and case were separate, until I tried to put the phone in the case and it didn't fit. It will not go in there. If I force it in, it just pops right back out.

It's a shame because I liked the 80's Barbie logo case, but without the phone in it, it looks weird when the doll is holding it.

At least the phone fits into the ring light stand.

May I also say some of these accessories feel really flimsy? The phone and Ipad are VERY thin plastic.

The boom box in hollow and unpainted.

I wish instead of having seven mid accessories we could've had two or three really good ones. Or nixed all of them and given her a stand. The doll herself is nice enough to deserve a stand I think.

Let's look at Brooklyn. She's pretty darn cute. She stands at the standard 11", and has saran hair with tinsel.

Her outfit isn't my favorite though. Mattel stop giving your dolls ugly fur sleeved varsity jackets challenge. This could've been so cute as just a regular varsity jacket.

Despite being ugly, the jacket is made pretty well. Though a button was already falling off mine. That poor QC strikes again.

Though I suppose it's moot as I doubt I'll ever put this jacket back on her ever again.

Now that she's free of that ugly thing, you can see how nice the rest of her outfit is. I didn't realize how much I missed dolls getting to wear neutrals until I saw her plain denim skirt and white tank top.

It's simple, but she's dressed like a real person. Plus, I can easily pair these pieces with a lot of other outfits. Doll wardrobes need pieces like this for mixing and matching.

Body wise she's a bit smaller than Barbie, and her feet are a little bit larger. This body reminds me a lot of the current bodies for the Disney Princess line now that Mattel has it back, though those have larger feet. If I can find the one I have, I'll do a body comparison to those later.

Her sculpt in three views. The Ever After High comparisons are very apt, though the screening itself is more reminiscent of My Scene mixed with a little bit of G3 Monster High.

For comparison, here's an actual EAH doll next to her. Brooklyn's head is just a smidge larger, but balanced out better with larger eyes, thicker brows, and bigger lips.

After this, I got Brooklyn redressed with just a few changes...

I replaced her jacket with this vintage Barbie and the Rockers one, added a necklace, and hey! Now she gets to wear her favorite color.

Final thoughts?

It's a good doll, but the quality control issues, on top of the same BS Mattel throws on all of it's dolls anymore, is dragging it down.

The fact you have to look through every single one of the shelf to make sure you're not getting a crappy one is exhausting. Plus, kids don't do that. They're going to get home with their new doll and then realize as they open it something's wrong. Kids don't deserve that.

The accessories are mostly cheap and not special enough to justify their existence. The purse, phone with case, and ring light would've been enough if they were made a bit better.

The outfit is well made, and a huge improvement over what I see in the main Barbie line, even if I don't like all the design choices, but again, that's if you get one without QC issues.

The doll herself is super cute though, and screw it, I like the tinsel. Fight me.

Overall I really love this doll, I just wish picking one out wasn't a hassle. Hell, I even bought a second one already.

I got inspired enough I wanted to repaint one, so I purposely bought this wonky Renee because she had the worst face up out of everyone at the store.

So I think there's definitely potential here. If this line continues, I hope they can improve the way G3 Monster High has improved from it's first wave.

I hope this can be the start of Mattel revitalizing it's Barbie line as well. It needs it. See ya next time.

[musicalmoritz]

what are your thoughts on hananene?

I’m so glad you asked this!! Some people assume I hate HanaNene because I ship Nene with Aoi and I don’t post about it as much as Aoi//Aoi, but that could not be further from the truth. When I first watched the anime I absolutely adored HanaNene, they were my favorite ship for a hot second there (though I was saving that spot for Mitsuba and Kou, and it was also Sakura and Natsuhiko for like a day. I never expected it to be the plant lesbians lol)

My love for HanaNene tends to be more mild when I’m not actively reading about them. I have never and will never dislike them, but I don’t think about them as consistently as some of the other ships (though I think of them more than some others). Then I read a scene of them in the manga and I’m abruptly reminded of why they’re one of my favorite TBHK ships. This also applies to when I’m rewatching either of the animes or when I get in the rare mood to read fan fiction for them

The thing that initially stole my heart was how weird they are. Their whole relationship is odd, it’s like if Aladdin got with the Genie. The first chapter doesn’t have anything romantic between them up until the very end and if you didn’t know they were love interests, you’d assume he was meant to be her goofy sidekick. And then we start the gag of him flirting with her while she’s very adamant about him being Not Her Type. But her relationship with him is still so different from everybody else, she’s usually so self-centered but with Hanako she notices things about him and makes efforts to make him feel better (ex: deciding to be his friend in the mokke chapter). Sure, there are still things she misses about him, Teru had to be the one to tell her he was unhappy in the new timeline. But she’s significantly better at looking out for Hanako than she is with everybody else, because he’s so important to her. She gives him time to open up about his past because she knows he’s not ready for it, she wants to be the one to confess to him because he deserves to feel loved. With heterosexual relationships I’m mainly focused on what the woman is feeling/experiencing and HanaNene is such an interesting ship for Nene! It gives her a lot of important development and stands out from her other crushes and ships. She had cheesy romantic fantasies about him but she doesn’t act like a blushing fangirl, it’s real love and we get to see a more mature side of her when they’re together

I have so many favorite moments for them so I’m gonna list them all now because I’ve been waiting for an excuse to do so. The end of the Picture Perfect arc where Nene asked Hanako if he wanted to trap her and he said “of course not, how could you even think that?” The Confession Tree chapter as a whole, it’s my favorite early chapter by far. When Hanako told Nene she’s cute when she’s smiling. When he tucked her into bed at Sumire’s house. I don’t remember when this was but when Nene made some big statement on the roof and then she was like “as a friend ofc.” When she kissed him on the cheek duh that was so cute. That convo they had in the classroom during the Picture Perfect arc. Their first kiss but that’s like a given everybody loves that scene. Wow. HanaNene.

I will say that I prefer their dynamic with Amane’s personality but I’m not one of the people who separates those ships entirely, I think people who do sort of miss the point of Hanako’s character. Amane is still a part of him, there are many scenes in present times when he acts like his old self. Sure, he’s changed over the years, but he can’t fully become a different person the way humans often do because he is forever that same 13 y/o boy. So if you were to ask me “HanaNene or Amanene,” I’d say both. I do prefer to call him Amane tho bcuz it’s such a pretty name. Amane. Amane. Amane. Pretend you can hear it, it’s gorgeous

Similar to how I will never slander Aoi and Akane for Aoi and Nene, I’ll never slander Hanako and Nene in favor of them either. I love all the canon ships so I’ll never be the type of fan to put them down in order to justify my fanon ones. I don’t need to do this because I have good reasons for liking fanon pairings, I can back them up without having to put down another ship. If you have to put down another ship in order to make yours look good, it’s probably not that great on its own

Also for headcanons. They are t4t and bi4bi to me, that’s just how it’s gotta be. Toilet-Bound Woke-Kun. Woke-Bound Hanako-Kun. Toilet-Woke Hanako-Kun. Much to ponder

[hwaseongies]

some solomon headcanons because I'm bored and I love this man so much

general solomon headcanons are mixed with solomon/mc stuff so enjoy

warnings: slight cussing, talking about alcohol, sfw, grammar mistakes, gender neutral mc/reader, you/yours pronouns used

he is a lactose intolerant. does he give a shit tho? not at all. honestly he tends to forget about it

his hands are cold most of the time

he always makes sure to give you a forehead kiss. as a good morning or goodbye mostly

he's autistic

blushes at sudden affection. like check and forehead kisses. caressing his hand with ur thumb. drawing circles on his skin. good morning/good night texts. reminders to eat/drink. or just tell him you like his name

yea we all know solomon cannot bring himself to look you in the eyes when he's flustered (surprise guest shows it really well). but if you want to fluster him more just force him to look at you. he'll become even more of a blushing mess

he laughs at the most dumb shit. especially at animals and little kids

when he's telling a joke he will laugh like 10 secs after saying it

tries to play it cool and pretend alcohol haven't affected him but he gets drunk easily. he's the type to either start talking about whatever comes to his mind or fall asleep and wake up sober

while we're talking about sleeping, he snores a little

his bones crack ALL the time. sometimes when the both of you are bored you are trying to find out who can crack most bones. or the strangest ones. and yea before meeting him you didn't know that cracking your ribs is even possible

he's ambidextrous

he dislikes reality shows or dating game shows like hotel paradise and love island. he just doesn't really get what's so fun about them

always asks for consent before initiating anything. like kissing, hugging or even holding hands. he wants you to always feel comfortable around him

he has so many freckles but they're only visible after he was exposed to sun

(basing on the recent vamp event) he would totally bite you as a sign of affection

has claustrophobia and needs at least one lamp on in the room

loves when you call him "sol" because it sounds like soul

he is a little old fashioned when it comes to relationships

he's the type to stop midway cooking and dance with you

feels the most loved when he's laying on your chest with your arms around him

he would call you all the pet names possible (unless you tell him you don't like a specific one)

but he likes calling you "darling" or "my love" the most

(except for "my adorable apprentice" ofc)

shows you off at any possible occasion, especially if the brothers are watching

he would pick up the weirdest things you said and would go along with it to the point where everyone else would be like what the fuck

loves spending time with you even if it's just sitting together in one room doing completely different things

rambles A LOT about spells, curses and books he's read

it's pretty much canon but he rambles about YOU to others. like how amazing and powerful you are or how progress you did as a sorcerer

his eyes sparkle when he's excited but he would be VERY embarrassed if you tell him that

even tho he acts really confident and smug he is pretty insecure at the beginning of your relationship

like yes, he knows that you love him and he's so happy that you chose him, he really does, but solomon has an annoying voice in his head telling him you deserve someone better than him

once he overcomes it tho, he would annoy the shit out of others. like he would keep reminding them that he is dating you, you choose him and you're all his (and he's all yours)

but he would cry if you proposed to him. and on your wedding day. tho he would try to keep himself composed in front of the others

tbh everything he wants is an established domestic

[exstasyplague]

UnPopular Jujutsu Kaisen Opinions (with arguments)

manga spoilers

☆ Yuji is the perfect MC

i've seen a lot of people trashing on him. some say gege writes him poorly and doesn't give him enough scenes, some say he's boring because he doesn't have any fancy cursed techniques. first of all, yuji has been aware of the jujutsu world for 6 months in manga; even less in anime. he doesn't have any OP cliche to him (looking at you Ichigo) and that makes him so much more enjoyable! when he loses he loses for good reasons and when he wins you can feel genuinely happy for him because you know he deserves it. he is a teenager and the shift in his mentalities embodies that perfectly; along with him we discover the cruelty and unfairness of the jujutsu world. at first, especially if you're a shonen watcher, you'd tend to believe he will shift to a high white knight borderline annoying mentality yet he doesn't, the jjk verse doesn't work like that. yuji is able to adapt. he has traits that you'd see in your real life friends: silliness, kindness, idiocy, love for jennifer lawrence etc but also traits that make him a perfect mc: empathy, resiliance, convinction, raw anger. + gege have him some of the HARDEST panels.

ㅡif it's just pain... Yuji Itadori won't ever stop

also. his last battle with mahito. hands down. best. panels.

mahito (another well structured villain) RUNNING for his life while yuji walks slowly behind him. if that doesn't show major improvement from the kid he was at the beginning idk what does. that's some MC shit right there man.

☆ Sukuna is not a fraud

the fraudkuna memes are funny. i admit. i'm sure mahoraga kisses him goodnight and tucks his blankey, however, sukuna is a fucking piece of shit, LOL (i mean it in the best way), my man literally became curse. people expect him to not use the weapons he has to his advantage as if he didn't want megumi from the beginning specifically for using his abilities. a good gun doesn't make you a military tier shooter. it's about the resources, it's about the experience, it's about the aim. "why doesn't he use his curse technique wah wah" — because he knows gojo is strong. unless he isn't absolutely sure he will strip him away from all his gimmicks, he has no reason to flaunt his true powers. sukuna wants to win. he wanted to kill gojo since the beginning of the series. i think the fight is balanced well, sukuna uses his resources and takes the consequences for being a tad too cautious. in the heian era when cursed energy had a purer, rawer output even domain expansions were simple in principles: you're in, i kill you. (line from the manga, btw) his CT is probably straightforward as well with a simple principle so having gojo use his infinity against it and figure out how to strip him naked would make him lose faster than todo called yuji his bestie.

☆ Gege doesn't hate women

because the unfortunate thing with nobara and yuki getting xd-d by kenjaku, a popular belief seems to be that gege is fond of trashing the women in his series. argument people have for that? "the only one in the spotlight is maki and she's female toji". first of all, if gege hated women he wouldn't write them as he does— each one of his lady characters is incredibly well structured and way beyond the love interest/ gotta be protected trope. mei mei, shoko, utahime, miwa and many others became non-existent, or what? even tengen is a woman. masashi kishimoto (the creator of naruto) is an author i'd say has 0 regards for women since the way most of his girl characters are built is literal dog shit. sakura is naruto's one sided love and a sasuke dickrider, hinata is a stalker that sharts when she sees naruto, karin is a sasuke dickrider, kurenai is asuma's chick and the only two women somewhat ok as a structure are tsunde and temari. (i am a big fan of the naruto series but i am spitting facts, also an avid sakura lover) plus there is a rumour that gege is a woman too and from the way sato sugu is written i'd agree anw

☆ Kenjaku is the best villain of the series

homie got railed by itadori's papi just for his plan, that's not even aizen level of plotting bro. he got drizzled in jizz and gave birth to yuji 💀

how good that d had to be for him to get impregnated....

ANYWAY jokes aside, he is very calculated and chill. he is not the strongest but his literal essence is to be a technique stealing leech and well, he's just that. with suguru, even in his villain arc you can empathize. sukuna is cool and straightforward: he wants to massacre people, kill gojo and then enjoy his life slashing random ass people who don't kneel is total submission.

kenjaku? bro, kenjaku has plans over plans and he executes all of them. even in geto's sexy body he still gets hated because there is genuinely nothing likeable about him. not because he's a poorly written character, he's written to be a piece of shit that makes you wanna break the screen when he gets a W and idk about y'all but even when he exorcised mahito i was like "aw hell nah bruh, get your hands off asap". may come as a shock, i know but we're like supposed to hate villains (not me being the biggest sukuna simp even in his crusty dusty OG form🤭) and well, nobody fucking roots for kenjaku. so gojo, go take your boyfriend's body or something fr.

☆ Yuta is.... mid

hear me out.

i don't hate him— not in the slightest. i hope he will actually have something going on with maki since apparently nobara is afk. i liked his entire rika situation but... bro.

yes, i will be going into the power system 😭I'M SORRY BUT like all he does is copy shit. wow. sure, he's a good copycat. i am not complaining about him being called so powerful and wtv but i don't find anything exciting about his battles and his personality is dead ass boring. do i get happy when he wins? yes. do i hope he'll come and save goatjo? yes. yes. yes. but people call him the real MC and all that shit... not even that— i... nothing in me likes him. my opinions are not absolute. his story is cool. i liked jjk 0 but the only thing that ruins his story is literally his lack of perosnality. and don't come at me for not grasping his depths or whatever. yuta is best fanfic y/n material because he can be turned into bashful stereotype really easily. "omg, best friend power, precious friends made me wanna live ❤️" very sweet HOWEVER very untouching for me. i only liked him when he made maki go all blushy because my girl deserves happiness.

☆ Toji actually cares about Megumi

is he the good father that would spoil his kid as a ray of sunshine?

no.

but he chose this. to forget about everything, to abandon his pride, to part himself away from the clan that rejected him and live his life on his own. megumi's mom made shit better for him and she died so his life became shit again. he thought that by entrusting megumi to the zenin clan he would actually be able to make something of himself since he had cursed energy.

also, people tend to forget just how conservative and judgemental the 3 big clans are, maki and mai have been shat on their whole life by the zenins, especially maki. toji went through the same shit if not worse. he wasn't always buff max version of himself, he wasn't born with anything. exactly because he gave up on all the things in his life he was able to reach that type of power and live with some purpose since he failed in everything else.

in the manga he has the option of coming back to life as long as he keeps killing sorcerers, which is his speciality, but he meets megumi, recognises him and kills himself in order to not hurt him. be fr. anciet sorcerers sold their booty holes to kenjaku to get a second chance at life.

ANYWAY. SADLY i can't post Toji memes since i reached my pic limits.

let me know what you think:) i may make a part 2. feel free to also ask for my opinions about anything in the verse, lol. if you wanna see my fics check my ao3, i promise i don't write in the same braindead way i type. <33

[stevesbestgirl]

Grumpy - Part 1/2

Joel Miller x Reader

2514 words

Warnings: Jackson era!Joel, mutual pining, infected attack (reader gets scraped up but mostly unharmed), gun use, implied character (animal) death (spoiler alert, its me), vague references to reader’s past trauma, alcohol consumption

A/N: I’ve just really wanted to try writing my hand at writing Joel. I want to do another part eventually, but I’m trying to stop hoarding things because they aren’t finished, so please be patient  ❤

"Would you leave that thing alone?" Joel gave a long suffering sigh as you knelt and held out a friendly hand to the grizzled-looking tabby cat. 

"He's not a thing." You shot Joel a glare in return before returning your attention to the skittish feline sniffing your fingers. It had taken months of leaving food and wearing gloves to get this close without a scratch, but now the cat shoved its weight against your hand, the deep rumble of purring starting up like an old engine. "No one else minds when I stop. It's just for a minute."

"One more minute we don't need to be outside." He was such a stubborn bastard. 

With another withering look at Joel, you stopped scratching and dug in your bag for the food you'd brought, setting it out and giving him a quick head pat as you stood, "Sorry sweet boy, I have to go. Take care of yourself, okay?"

The walk back to town was quiet until you felt like you had to defend yourself, "I just like knowing he has something to eat."

"Other animals could smell what you're bringing him-"

"Would you stop it?" It was more of a plea than anything. "I-" You swallowed the surprising lump in your throat; it was harder to talk about these things with Joel. "I know it's silly, when everyone has lost so much, but I miss my cat. And everyone deserves to have someone look after them."

Joel surprised you with a dry chuckle, making your heart flip, "Some of us are more the looking after type, darlin'."

You lowered your gaze to your feet in the snow, pretending to focus on your footing instead of answering. You knew that. That was why Joel always got you flustered. Hell, it felt like half the town must have figured out how you felt about him based on how often you tripped over your words after getting caught stealing glances. 

The rest of the walk back was spent in silence, as it often was with Joel. He left you at your door next to his own after asking if you'd be working the bar later that night. You were, and you promised to see him later before you disappeared inside. 

***

Shifts at the bar tended to pass quickly- a hell of a lot faster than patrol anyway. There was always work to be done around the settlement during the day, but unless you were on guard duty, most nights were spent at the Clay Pit drinking the homebrew Tommy and the other guys were so proud of. You'd still kill for a wine cooler, but it was better not to think about it too much. 

By the time you realized Joel hadn't come in, it was almost ten. Tommy had come in an hour or so ago. You knew Joel would be annoyed if he knew you were worrying about him- he always raised a fuss if you tried to look after him. But still, you hoped he was okay.

It was half past eleven when Joel finally climbed onto his usual stool and tipped his chin in a greeting. You couldn't help the smile that brightened your expression when you saw him. His mouth turned up at the corner in what you always assumed was Joel’s version of a polite smile.

You set his drink in front of him, "Late night?"

He grunted something that might have been a halfhearted laugh, "Game night with Ellie."

"Boggle again?" Ellie loved to brag about beating Joel.

"Nah, I'm teaching her poker."

"Got tired of losing, huh?"

"If I had it wouldn't matter. She's already shaping up to be a mean card player."

You smiled again, "She's a smart girl."

"That she is."

You bustled off to bus tables, leaving Joel to nurse his drink. You'd heard people- other women who thought he was handsome mostly, complain about how short Joel seemed, but you never minded. You weren't much for small talk either, although you were happier than Joel to oblige when someone wanted to chat. 

You did always wonder what he was thinking. It was no surprise Ellie could read his stony expressions, since she knew him better than anyone, except maybe Tommy. But to you, Joel was like a brick wall. 

You had thought he’d been flirting with you once- one of the bar patrons had stood up unexpectedly as you were walking by and you’d nearly gone down on your ass, if not for Joel’s palm on the small of your back. It was the soft grumble of, “Careful darlin’,  fall in my lap and I might not let you go,” only loud enough for you to hear, that had your breath catching and a tidal wave of flustered apologies tumbling from your mouth. 

But as quickly as it happened, it was over. When you’d offered to make dinner for him and Ellie as thanks- the closest you’d come to asking him out on a real date- he’d waved it away. And you’d decided then that trying to decipher Joel’s feelings for you would only end up leaving you disappointed. You wanted to think he was interested and you would likely find any evidence you could to support it. But more likely than anything, the man just wanted some peace with his kid. 

*

Deciding that Joel deserved his peace was one thing, but getting your silly crush to go away, that was another. And it seemed like as time went on, you were assigned more and more patrols with Joel until you were going out together at least once a week. But Joel hadn’t complained again about stopping to visit your feline friend.

“Why do you call him that?” Joel’s voice surprised you; usually he leaned broodily against a tree, silent while you visited. 

You looked over your shoulder at Joel, the cat still brushing against your shins, “Sweet boy?” Joel nodded, his gaze still on the trees, ever diligent in keeping watch. “Because he is.”

That pulled a dry chuckle from him, the sound startling the cat, “Didn’t you damn-near need stitches the first time you got near him?”

“He was scared,” you defended. “But now that he knows I’m safe, he’s a total love bug.” You shot him a teasing smile, “Kind of like you with Ellie.” You knew no one at the compound would believe it if you told them, but Joel’s cheeks seemed to darken, even beneath the several days-old scruff on his cheeks.

You didn’t call attention to it, digging in your bag for the food you’d brought. Once he was happily eating, you gave him a pat and said your goodbyes, prompting Joel to speak again as you started the rest of the walk home, his voice low, “You don’t wanna give him a real name, do you?”

You thought about lying; it was even harder to be vulnerable when Joel was asking for it- it threw you off guard. “Not particularly. Makes it harder if something does happen to him.”

“Why don’t you bring him in if you worry so much?”

You didn’t bother to suppress a soft sigh, you’d gone in circles about it, “I don’t know how he would do. If he would stay. How he would be around so many people. I don’t want him to be unhappy.”

Joel let it be after that, waiting silently each time you stopped after that. Until the day you stopped and made the chirping sound like usual and your friend didn’t come trotting out from the trees. Heart stuttering, you rolled your tongue again, a bit louder, but there was no sign of him. 

"Sweet boy?" You stepped a bit deeper into the woods and clicked your tongue again, waiting. Your heart was beating in your ears, breath getting stuck in your throat. 

You were waiting for a comment from Joel- an "I told you so," or an empty reassurance, but neither came. 

You tried to call out again, but your voice broke. You squeezed your eyes shut to stifle the tears trying to well up. 

"Darlin'-" You heard the scuff of a boot on dirt and then, "Shit- move!"

Even with your eyes closed, the shadow was still discernible; you stumbled out of the way just in time for a snarl and a swipe at your coat sleeve. There was a sharp bang, then two more in quick succession. You were mid-kick, ready to fight a follow up attack that never came; the zombie crumpled to the ground as you fell backwards, your palms scraping the dirt. 

After a beat of silence, you whispered, "Fuck." Then tears spilled over into your cheeks as you stared numbly at the corpse on the ground. 

Then Joel was grabbing your arms, his face blocking your view, "Are you alright?" The way he said it made you think it wasn't the first time he'd asked. 

"I'm fine." After a beat of deciding whether to accept that, Joel hauled you up by the forearms. You wiped your cheeks with the back of your hand, mindful of the scrapes on your palms; you needed to pull yourself together until you were home. Until Joel wasn't around to see you cry. 

But Joel refused to leave you at your door like usual, "Lemme help you get cleaned up." 

You didn't have it in you to argue. So you ended up sitting on the closed toilet lid while Joel knelt in front of you, your first aid kit open on the counter. You didn't flinch when he disinfected the scrapes, drawing a raised eyebrow, but no questions.

Once you were bandaged up, he rumbled low, brown eyes boring into yours, "You sure you're alright?" He was still holding your wrist.

You nodded numbly, "Just shaken up." You broke eye contact, "'M sorry."

He tapped his thumb on your chin, urging you to look at him, "What're you sorry for?"

"You were right. I shouldn't have stopped. I probably got him killed. Almost got myself killed, if not for you." Saying it aloud made the tears spring back up.

"None of that was your fault." The way Joel's expression softened would have melted your heart on a normal day. Today it made you feel like an idiot. 

"Thanks. But I think I need to be alone for a little bit." 

If you didn't know better, you'd think you caught him by surprise. But he recovered quickly, his thumb brushing over your wrist as he stood. You followed him to the door, “Thanks for the help, Joel.” 

He nodded, but he hesitated for a moment before he left, his fingers wrapped around the open door. He glanced at you again and practically grunted, “You’re welcome.” Then he stepped through the door and hastened off the patio. You had been kind of rude; you couldn’t blame him for being annoyed. You closed the door quickly; you would feel guilty for your rudeness later, but you needed to be sad in peace.

*

“Surprised you’re working tonight,” Tommy commented when he came into the bar at half past nine. 

You glanced at him in the middle of bussing the bar, “Better than sitting home. Joel told you?”

“Had me out practically ‘til dark looking for that cat.” He gave a chuckle to show he held no real contempt for his brother, but your throat felt a bit tight.

Finally you mustered, “That was nice of you both. I wouldn’t have expected you to find anything, but I appreciate it.”

Tommy glanced down at the bar, clearing his throat, “We, uh, actually did find something.” Somehow your heart sank even lower. “No body, but there was some fur- a few different colors not far from where that infected was.” 

You nodded, struggling to stay dry-eyed, “Thanks for telling me.” You tipped your chin at the room, “I should do a round.”

Tommy nodded and freed you to check on the other patrons; you made sure to keep yourself busy until you locked the door behind you. You’d been dreading the end of your shift. 

Even though it was the same as always, your empty house seemed to magnify the loss inside you. If you said it out loud, it would sound so silly to be so upset over a cat- one that wasn’t even really your pet. But it really felt like the nail in the coffin of loss; your parents, your boyfriend, your sister. You’d bourne it all without a fuss. Survival had taken priority. But Jackson had made you soft- made you feel safe. Now this one little thing without even a proper name felt like the straw to break the camel’s back. 

You took your blanket out to the swing on your front porch- Joel had helped you fix it- and wrapped yourself up. You huddled up to block your cheeks against the chilly air, but it was worth it for the view of the stars. The chilly night air in your lungs and the bright sparkle of the sky with tonight’s clear sky helped to clear your head.

“What are you doing out here so late?” Joel’s voice broke you from your stupor. You must have visibly jumped because he quickly added, his voice a bit softer, “Sorry darlin’, didn’t mean to spook ya.” He walked halfway up your front sidewalk and paused.

“That’s okay, I should probably go inside anyway.” 

You didn’t make any move to get up and Joel came closer, leaning against the rail post, “You’ll get sick sittin’ out here dressed like that.”

“The cold doesn’t actually make you sick, you know.” You surprised both of you by sounding more like your normal self. 

“You sound like Ellie.”

“Like I said before, she’s a smart girl.”

That pulled a curl from the corner of his mouth that looked suspiciously like a smile in the dim light. He wasn’t going to let you joke your way out of the conversation though. “You alright? Actually?”

You nodded, “I’m okay. Just needed some air.” There was a pause, then you added, “I appreciate that you went out to look for him. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I’m still hopin’ he’ll turn up.”

You glanced away, “It’s okay. Tommy told me about what you found.”

“That jackass. I asked him to wait until I was sure.”

“I’m sure enough,” you said. “It’s too dangerous to be out there looking for him.” You offered a sad smile, “You don’t have to take care of me because you feel bad. I’m alright.”

Giving a sardonic chuckle, Joel raised an eyebrow, “I don’t look after anyone because I feel bad for them.”

“And yet, you’re here, making sure I go inside and get warm before you go home.”

He shook his head, “And you’re still here, probably freezing.” He tromped up onto the porch and offered you a hand up. You reluctantly accepted and let him steer you to the front door. He tugged the blanket up more tightly around your shoulders, “Get some sleep, alright?”

You nodded, “Good night, Joel.”

[puzzleemerald]

Because Amaterasu and Sesshōmaru don't have much further art at the moment, I decided to share another couple who are most dear to my heart. YCH by the lovely Antodonatella on Instagram & DeviantArt.

Please don't reblog!

Keep in mind I will be talking about the FanFiction version of Ayumu in this post! The version of Ayumu I roleplay is her own separate deal! When her bio is done and put up on my Master Post, I won't only RP Ayumu interacting with exclusively Neji writers, lol.

Neji Hyūga is already a very recognizable character, being one of my very first crushes when I started really getting into anime as a thirteen to fourteen-year-old. In fact, he's the reason I later bought and read the manga... all hundred-heccin'-something volumes of it. Much like Sesshōmaru, it was his long hair, elegance, intellect, and stoic demeanor that won me over at first. It also amused me to watch him just be cool; he always felt like the definitive head of his team. Even if Lee wasn't to be sneezed at as a fighter, I saw more leadership qualities in Neji that Lee lacked. I also felt that he had the most interesting plight among the Konoha thirteen as someone from a branch in his clan where he was basically expected to serve and protect the head family deemed "above" him on the social-political totem pole the Hyūga were built on. Despite his innate talent rivaling the daughters of the clan's head at the time, he'd always be considered lesser because of his birth. In ways, he felt like more of an underdog to me than Naruto did—though that also has a lot to do with Naruto's characterization as the "optimistic headstrong protagonist" Kishimoto had going. (I kinda wish Kishi had leaned more into Naruto having some resentment towards the Leaf, but that's a post for another day)

So what'd teenage me do? Tailor an OC to be another half for him because GDI this man deserves happiness, not getting skewered like a redshirt on an overgrown splinter. If they had to have someone, ANYONE, sacrifice themself for Hinata... tbh, I wish it'd been someone on her team like Kiba or Shino, so we didn't have to basically do the thing he was "born to do" according to Clan tradition asfdhjrhyud—

Deep breaths. I'm calm. Suppress the fangirl rage.

So, as a result, I created Ayumu! Who was, by every definition, a Mary Sue at first!! (It was bad... oh god, was it bad...) But after I ditched her for a few years when I lost interest in Naruto, I returned to her when I turned seventeen and completely rehauled her. Leading to the designs she has now.

This is Ayumu's Part 1/Naruto Design. The Settei was done by a friend of mine on IG called Sento.OC, whom I commissioned.

Then, we have Ayumu's Part 2/Shippuden Design, also by Sento.

When designing an OC for Neji, I wanted to go more complimentary than contrary. It just didn't feel like it'd make sense for Neji to ever be romantically interested in someone with bombastic energy like Naruto or Lee—mans doesn't have the patience to live with that on a daily basis, LOL! So I thought, "Hey, Neji's a pretty traditional guy; why not give him a traditional woman?" and Ayumu ended up as a very grounded, calm, and analytical person. A bit more on the conservative side, similar to Neji. All the while having occasional bursts of warm, thoughtful moments where she lights up but doesn't explode. She's very, for lack of a better term off the top of my head, "normal" compared to Naruto's big personality, Sasuke's broodiness, Shikamaru's laziness, or Temari's ferocity. It's why I imagine her getting along very well with people like Tenten or Kakashi, too, who tend to be the metaphorical straight man to the more comedic characters around them. Characters like Gai and Lee and Naruto can only be funny, after all, if they're offset by some typically.

Ayumu is also a close-range fire-style specialist with a Kekkei Genkai related to it, so her style compliments Neji's pretty well imo. They can be in a shoulder-to-shoulder or back-to-back situation and cover one another while knowing the other is nearby and safely under their wing. Both characters have some insecurity and neglect issues but for very different reasons. However, this means they relate to one another over their feelings and traumas, and neither really feels a need to "fix" the other. It's what makes them last, in my opinion. They just quietly comfort each other (also slap whoever tries to put the other down, lol), and that's it. ...They did kinda try to scratch each other's eyes out at first, but that'll be its own post! Once they get over their big hurdle and understand each other, they end up just being a pair of supportive friends to lovers 90% of the time. The other 10% is them getting fucked with by the plot around them because Neji barely gets any screen time in Shippudennnnnnn! ;-;

[gremlintooth]

AHHHGH DUDE, IVE FINALLY FOUND YOU ON HERE, YESSSS BRO, YOUR WRITING IS PHENOMENAL, (I'd say I'm the biggest lagwafis enthusiast on the internet, as soon as i read lagwafis, I bought the CD, the collectors edition pill pack white shirt, I have so so so many quotes on my Craig Tucker Shrine from the fic, and if you wanted to know, I've currently managed to read lagwafis 388 times, people believe I know it by heart, get it? "I know you by heart, Tweek" and the agonizing fact I quote lagwafis every day whenever I see a brink of reference infront of me, like let's say yesterday, I was in a store- and I saw a tub of chai latte and I was so close to screaming lagwafis reference inside of the store, I'm also cooking up some fan art (specifically from coming home) so I'll totally tag you when it's out) AHHH I'M GONNA WRITE SO MUCH ON HERE IT MIGHT GO TO THE LIMIT, okay so first, let's talk about the fanfic itself, there are SO many tiny details in this fic that have either made me laugh or cry in agony, which is a good thing, also, the characterization is TOP TIER, a lot of fanfictions tend to fall slightly short on the background characters outside of the pairing that tends to be the main focus. This was a great change, especially in Craig's group and Stan especially, everyone felt so real and totally had obvious quirks from the fandom itself that I LOVED SO MUCH, your writing evokes so much emotion that I somehow managed to feel exactly how everyone felt in a chapter relevant to them.

Let's talk about the character description choices, the way you described Tweek in almost every chapter made my heart ache in the best way possible, you made him sound like a fallen angel, the definition of ethereal, also the fact you decided on giving him that mouth scar with backstory to it is TOP TIER, I have a similar scar on my lip and whenever I see it in the mirror I think of Tweek from this fanfic, let's move on to Craig, the way you wrote his internal monologue and the way his emotions played out made me absolutely soul crushed, this entire fic left a deep pit in my heart, especially how Craig was described, Craig was written so realistically that it actually felt like he was real. He purposely blocked off his emotions to prevent himself from being seen as vulnerable, he struggled with keeping his “I don’t give a shit” personality until it all just exploded and the part that he was so vulnerable with was exposed to the entire school.

Also I see that the lagwafis anniversary is coming up soon!! I usually celebrate it every year when I get the chance to, by doing lagwafis related things and shit, this fanfic deserves way more than just kudos and comments and hits, this fic deserves the damn world and beyond, I even had literal dreams of this fic being one day announced to be an animated movie, and if it ever did I would cry and vomit in the best way ever possible, my life would be so complete if we became moots on here, also, I'm not sure if you have TikTok, but that's where I'm most known to being the lagwafis enthusiast on there, i make a lot of lagwafis related videos, my username is spacecadetcraigz, if you ever see this at some point, just know im so grateful you took your time to read through this.

I literally wish you the best life for now on

Yours truly,

Spacecadetcraig

388 times????? That’s true dedication my friend, you must read it like twice a week? Incredible, I’m so glad you enjoy something I wrote this much. I’m also so glad you love the album by Spiritualised too, it’s such a special album and there’s something so perfect about the title track that I’ve never been able to shake.

I didn’t even realise the anniversary was coming up, thanks for reminding me! It’s so weird to think I started writing that story six years ago. At that time I’d been catching up with South Park and when I first saw the Tweek X Craig episode it was my new favourite thing from the first minute in.

An animated movie would be amazing, Matt and Trey give us the rights pls, free of charge if possible (they’d so try for another billion dollar deal ahahahah)

I’m going to check you out on tiktok and if you do make fanart please tag me! I’d love to see!

[hopefull-mindset]

I’m eating up all of your Komaeda and Hinata analyses, they’re just so clear and detailed! This might just be my bias, but I’m wondering about your perspective on komahina gradually (hopefully) healing together. I feel like the majority of the fandom mostly focuses on how Hinata would help Komaeda, probably because it seems the more obvious and Komaeda’s worldview is the more obviously skewed. But I feel like Komaeda also has the potential to, at least to an extent, help Hinata heal from his experiences. I don’t doubt that Hinata learned something from the simulation, but he also has a flawed perception of talent and a very low self worth, and I bet it wouldn’t go away overnight. Of course, this comes with the assumption that they would get along again post SDR2, which could be another thing to analyze for sure. Let me know what you think!

Ah I’m flustered again with your kind words! Thank you, I try my best to make sure my point is well explained with backed up reasoning since I tend to suffer intellectually when people don’t do that themselves. Especially when it’s a claim that has no backing but everyone takes at face value *grumble* *grumble*. It doesn’t have to be confirmed canon to be a creditable analysis, a good analyzer doesn’t need to rely on the creator’s every word, but it also can’t just contradict canon itself (unless, if you’re dr3, you contradict canon already and so it’s expected to discard it as creditable). Death of the author doesn’t work like that and it just comes off arrogant, you’re supposed to be working with canon Jesus Christ. Unless it’s a very specific situation where the creator is just garbage at handling their own work, I don’t think anyone deserves that right.

Oops sorry I went off into a tangent. I’m getting a little pissed at what people think is an analysis at all.

Now, with them healing post-game… you’re gonna have to stick with me because this is a lot to speak about. We all want them to be happy together as fellow Komahina shippers do haha, so it’s not you alone that has this bias, but it’s not going to be as quick and easy as the anime shows it to be.

To start, it’s sweet that people do think Hajime can help Komaeda because he can, but they’re going in the wrong direction with this. Hajime is not his nurse, therapist, or at his personal beck and call. Everyone on the island is healing, not just Komaeda. They’re both adults and he doesn’t need to nanny him. Komaeda most likely is going to need more attention medically considering his already poor health and the severed hand of Junko, but mentally? Everyone is pretty much going through some version of mental instability.

Now that’s out of the way, you’re right. People do focus on how Hajime can help him over how Komaeda can help him because it’s more obvious to us. We’re all (hopefully) aware that Hajime had the most positive/impactful influence out of anyone in the cast because of his way of somehow worming into Komaeda’s heart due to their “special bond” and put on a different, more personal level compared to the ultimates. The fact that Hajime proves against what he’s believed in just by being Hajime also works in the favor that Hajime would be the most helpful for him to grow closer with.

I’m glad you brought it up because Komaeda would definitely be as much help to Hajime. A lot of fans have a bad habit of thinking Hajime is much more stable than the rest of the cast and has solutions to everything, when Hajime is also growing with them. Komaeda is deceptively perceptive in how he interacts with Hajime in game. It feels rude when he does target his thoughts toward Hajime and gives his own insight on Hajime’s own person, but he’s never wrong about him when you look back at what’s being said.

When he went on that tangent after finding out what was in Hajime’s file in chapter 4, it was uncalled for to dump that all onto a person at once, but none of what he said about Hajime was wrong. All of it that he said about Hajime admiring hopes peak and what Hajime thought he could be by attending, none of it was objectively wrong. To defend Komaeda in this instance though, he wasn’t being mean on purpose, he was spelling out his own thoughts after being hit with the worst news ever.

However, even in the FTEs when he brings up how similar they are and him being a “miserable bystander” like himself, Hajime always rejects him and by proxy rejects himself. He rejects the part of himself that’s clearly seen in Komaeda at every instance because it’s inconvenient to recognize. Now though, he needs to recognize this if he’s going to accept himself and do what he promised to do outside of the simulation.

To reject Komaeda is to reject himself, that’s why I think it’d benefit both of them to heal with each other and in my wishful thinking, become closer. Another tidbit, as unnerving as Komaeda can be, Komaeda’s uplifting words do clearly make Hajime feel better, especially in chapter 1, and is hurt when he’s the target of distrust or ridicule by Komaeda even after their relationship becomes rocky (oh Hajime, he doesn’t mean it like that). Komaeda is not in the greatest position to help anyone, but these two points would partly help Hajime the most.

To get anywhere near that type of intimacy to let another person get that close to your whole being, especially in their situation, it’s uh. I’m already wincing imagining it play out. Again, It’s glossed over how much work it’s going to take in general for them to heal as a group, but god a relationship like theirs? The only thing I can say is yikes!

Contrary to popular opinion (or unpopular considering what side of the fandom you’re on), it’s not Hajime that’s going to put the most obstacles and barriers between them, it’s Komaeda. Hajime is already on the path of self-reflection and growth, so while for him it’s going to be nerve wracking to try and connect with again, it’s not going to be impossible for him. He already went out of his way to try and understand Komaeda when he’s able to in-game, even after all that Komaeda had did considering his attitude towards listening to his final words when you interact with his cottage after trial 5. It doesn’t make his feelings any less complicated or any less harder for him to confront Komaeda, but he’s going to be more willing in comparison. Komaeda’s side of this is where the real mess starts.

Geez, where do I begin? For one, he’s not gonna be typical Komaeda the way the anime tricks you he’d be. I don’t think he’d be angry at anyone in particular after waking up and finding out everyone is alive. He never was angry at them in the first place, he just stopped idolizing them and did what he thought was right due to his anger at what they decided to become. Questionable I know, but that’s how Komaeda is. Instead, I think Komaeda would just be more lost than he already was, more so after finding out what happened after he “died” and their decision to move forward.

He already keeps to himself, but I think he’d do it more so. I’m not sure he’d know what to say to any of them anymore besides his honest thoughts, which never goes well. He could go back to praising their talents, but for what? Their potential Hope when they’ve already plagued the world with the despair using their talents? What a joke. Again, he can’t easily just let go of what’s essentially his lifeline so that behavior would probably be reserved for people like Naegi or Kirigiri.

Eventually him and Hajime are gonna talk and it’s not going to be pretty. Im sure you can imagine it. This isn’t me saying they don’t have that potential to reconnect because if you remember correctly, he quite literally only apologizes to Hajime in his final message and to his own confusion, says he still cares for him even after what he found out. It’ll just take way longer than just a couple months. It’s not going to be as smooth as it could be, but they’ll try.

Other than that, the only thing to really address is the can of worms that is romantic possibilities. He’s able to truly call him a friend when grown close enough to each other and does show visible improvement in this closeness in stuff like utdp/DrS or Island Mode, but that was already hard enough as it is for Komaeda. I’m not gonna deny that Komahina is “one-sided” in all technical meaning, but not in the way it’s usually used by others. It being one sided means nothing toward Hajime’s general feelings for Komaeda. He still cares about Komaeda regardless of other feelings, but one-sided shouldn’t mean that their relationship stays stagnant?? People use it as if it’s a gatcha to Komahina shippers, which is hilarious.

I don’t like using one sided to describe their relationship as it now has this connotation that Hajime is never going to love him back, and pretty much is an oversimplification of what’s actually preventing him from gaining feelings as well. One-sided is too jarring for me to place on their too complicated mess of a relationship. Kaimaki is one-sided in that I can’t see Kaito responding to her feelings the same way, but somehow they’re suddenly more possible because it’s heterosexual. Too stupid.

Romance should not be important in the healing stage and would probably make things more messy, putting too much importance in romance devalues their relationship to only their ship. Komahina antis are much more guilty of this than the shippers, but it’s a problem I’ve seen with both. If you were to really ask me if Hajime would ever love Komaeda the way Komaeda loves him, then that’s really up to how close Komaeda lets him understand and empathize with him. That’s the only real obstacle here and not one people address well enough.

Hajime could definitely love him otherwise if given the opportunity, but it would destroy Komaeda to let him in that close for him to disappear from his life because of his luck. Issues are complex. Anyway, I hope I answered satisfactory! I could’ve said more, but I’d like to hold those thoughts for another post and I would like to stay on topic believe it or not.

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

Hiiii, I saw the match ups and i had to participate 🩷

(my first tav was technically based off of me heavily, so i hope that’s okay? and i wanted to give this photo for some help bcuz i love them sm)

So, Jae is afab but uses they/them pronouns, a high elf druid that loves chaos - in healthy amounts - and they’re tattoos represent smudging their eyes when hunting, the dye in their hair comes from their sibling who loved messing with colors. They tend to be pretty neutral when it comes to making decisions, however they help anyone for a bit of coin, if they can cough it up. Their scars are from the animals they tried handling before they were ready :’)

They love swimming, telling stories by the campfire, and listening to their partner read to them since it helps them sleep. They have sleep terrors/visions that usually keep them up, so hearing their lover helps a lot. Quality time and physical touch is their love language, but they can get overwhelmed by too much heat, so they usually just hold hands or hold the others’ pinky. they tend to stare into space just lost in thought with everything going on

(i hope this was okay !!! and thank you in advance !! 🩷)

A/N: Ahhhh, your Tav is so pretty! And it’s totally okay! I basically did the same thing with my Tav- she’s me, but like with powers lol. 

For you, @a-jynx I think Jae’s best matchup would be Halsin! 

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ Halsin doesn't have preferences when it comes to gender or appearance. He’s very in tune with his feelings and when he falls, he falls pretty hard. He can’t help it. 

As a fellow elf druid, Halsin is immediately drawn to Jae. They appear cunning and mischievous, which draws him in all the further. Halsin may prefer to keep the peace, but that doesn’t mean he isn't up for a little more, shall we say adventure, every now and then. Jae’s desire for chaos keeps him on his toes- in a good way. He may occasionally frown upon Jae’s moral compass being so dependent on the coin, and he’ll voice his displeasure should the situation arise. But for the most part, Halsin is also neutral and can be swayed not by coin, but by the exchanging of favors. He’s more of an ‘I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine’, guy, so he usually goes along with Jae wherever they lead.

And Halsin finds Jae’s tattoos gorgeous. They’re primal, yet natural, and it just hits that sweet spot for him. He also admires Jae’s hair color, as he, himself is rather apprehensive about coloring his. He thinks it’s rather brave of Jae to proudly showcase their personality. Jae’s scars are also a point of admiration for Halsin, as it shows Jae’s learned to give creatures, and by extension, nature itself, the respect it deserves. 

Halsin loves spending quality time with Jae out in nature- be it swimming or hanging out by the campfire. And he loves reading to Jae. He’s an avid collector of books- his camp is practically overflowing with them and he’ll never pass up an opportunity to share them. 

And physical touch is most definitely one of his love languages. He makes it very clear throughout the game just how much he wants to touch the player- to love them in that way. However, Halsin is also very much aware of his size. If his body heat is too much for Jae, he’ll happily back off and be very happy with just holding Jae’s pinky. Whenever Jae has night terrors or disturbing visions, he’s right there, ready to lend Jae his soothing voice or warm hand. 

Jae is such a source of light in Halsin’s troubled life. He would love nothing more than to stay at Jae’s side and support them, in whatever way they need. 

[rabbitcruiser]

World Snake Day

If you have a pet snake, show them a little extra love and pampering. Help end the stigma around snakes, and see what you can do to help endangered species.

Snakes have gotten something of a bad rap over the past few thousand years. What with that one snake tricking that nice lady into eating an apple way back when, thus condemning the entire human race to mortality, snakes have been mistrusted if not flat-out feared.

And while it is understandable that people may fear an animal that can easily kill them, we think these fascinating, diverse creatures that range from several inches to 30 feet long, and from friendly and docile to aggressive and deadly, deserve for people to find out more about them.

Learn about World Snake Day

World Snake Day is an important day when it comes to increasing awareness about the different species of snake all around the world. Snakes tend to have a negative connotation. A lot of people are scared of snakes, and of course, we can definitely understand the reasons why! No one likes the thought of being gobbled up by a snake, do they? Plus, when someone is two-faced or a bad person, they are often referred to as snakes. However, snakes are great creatures and they are so important to the world that we live in.

Did you know that there are more than 3,5000 species of a snake around the world? Because of this, it is not going to be a challenge for you to find a snake that fascinates you and interests you that you may not have heard of before, even if you are someone who is interested in snakes and you have a pet snake of your own! So, this is one of the good reasons why to research snakes and learn more about them on this date. After all, there is so much that you can learn!

Of the 3,500 species of a snake around the world, there are only around 600 that are venomous. This is less than 25 percent of snakes! There are only 200 species of snake that pose a considerable risk to human life as well. Therefore, snakes are nowhere near as worrying or scary as we think they are. Of course, this does not mean that you should go up and start petting any snake that you come across! However, it is definitely something to think about. Perhaps we give these animals a much harder time than they deserve?

History of World Snake Day

The snake is one of the oldest mythological characters and has been revered by civilizations the world over. There are about 3,458 species of snakes known so far, ranging from the semi-frozen tundra of northern Canada to the steamy jungles of the equator and most of the world’s oceans. Snakes are highly effective predators and play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature in each of these realms. Snakes are also fascinating in that they have a prehistoric lineage, thus giving us a glimpse back to a prehistoric time when the earth was ruled by reptiles—many people have no idea that modern reptiles are literally the living, breathing cousins of dinosaurs.

The species that seem to fascinate people the most are the King Cobra, the largest venomous snake in the world most people have seen in movies being coaxed out of a basket by a snake charmer; the Rattlesnake, that has forced countless people to suck its poison out of the bite before it’s too late; and the Reticulated Python, the world’s longest snake that kills its prey by strangling it.

World Snake Day was created to help people learn more about these animals and how much they contribute to the world as we know it.

How to celebrate World Snake Day

Have you ever thought about having a pet snake? Snakes may not be the right pet for everyone, but if you have it in you to take on the challenge it is to own and care for a pet snake, World Snake Day may be the time to make that decision. If not, however, you can take advantage of this day to learn some more about these incredible animals. Here are some interesting facts to help you do that:

Where do snakes live?

Snakes are found in every continent except Antarctica in the sea, forests, deserts, prairies, and even your backyard or garage.

What do snakes eat?

Snakes consume many different animals including insects small rodents and frogs. Snakes eat their prey whole because their lower jaw can separate from the upper jaw. Very large snakes can even eat small deer, pigs, monkeys, and even primates.

How do snakes behave?

Snakes rely on the environment to regulate their body temperature. They spend as long in the warm sun as they need to in order to get warm, and when they become too warm, they find shade to cool off. They are generally not aggressive unless they are hunting or feel like they need to defend themselves. They shed their skin three to six times a year.

How do they defend themselves?

Snakes use a variety of techniques defend themselves, including camouflage, biting and envenoming those they feel are threatening them. Sometimes they simply curl up in a tight ball to hopefully avoid being seen.

Why are some snakes endangered?

Fortunately, snakes are not widely hunted, but their numbers are still declining due to deforestation and climate change causing the deterioration of their habitats and a declining amount of available prey.

As mentioned earlier, there are many different species of snakes, and so you can spend some time learning about them and their various qualities and features. For example, the Barbados thread snake is the smallest snake in the world. This serpent is actually smaller than a nightcrawler, coming in at only approximately four inches. In terms of the heaviest snake, this honor goes to the green anaconda. The reticulated python is the longest snake in the world. If you spend some time doing a bit of reading, we are sure that you will be fascinated with the results.

You could also spend some time watching films that are based on snakes. There are a lot of different films whereby snakes play a big role. This includes Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Snakes on a Plane, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Of course, the most famous snake film is Anaconda. There are a lot of great deaths that have occurred in cinema at the hand of snakes, but this is definitely the greatest. If you have not seen this film before, now is the perfect time for you to watch it!

Source

[canmom]

L’Aventur de Canmom à Annecy - Jeudi 1: Art College 1994

Woke up super late today - turns out you can’t run on 5 hours sleep a night, who knew. Rip to another chance to see Mars Express lmao

The silver lining is that I can write more about Stuff Wot I Did At Annecy.

First thing on Thursday, I joined my friend to watch Art College 1994 dir. Jian Liu. This donghua was pretty different from most donghua I’ve seen, which have tended towards mythology and fantasy - it’s a very grounded slice of life about a handful of students at (can you guess) an art college in 1994.

The main characters are two painter boys and two musician girls, and the film consists of a lot of long conversations - a lot about art, modernity and the influence of western art movements vs traditions, conceptual art, what the purpose of art is, how and where to try to get renown, etc., but also what to do with their lives, whether to leave China, relationships, etc etc. And while the film doesn’t put a lot of weight on historical context, we do see the effects of China opening up in the post-Deng period: characters will covet Japanese sound systems, visitors come from America and Taiwan, and the young students are fascinated by Western modernist art movements, which they see as progress.

It’s very naturalistic: characters will ask questions and not answer them, and we will see carefully depicted everyday activities, eating, washing, sleeping etc. In this it reminded me a lot of the films of Richard Linklater (AN120), such as Waking Life.

Before the film, the director came on stage to say that this film was his way of showing respect to this generation. So perhaps there is an element of nostalgia. But mostly I got the feeling that the students in the 90s in China were much the same as students of every generation.

The animation style was interesting. The character designs are so realist and consistently drawn that I wonder if rotoscoping was involved, but the movement does not feel like roto at all, so perhaps rather than roto it’s just heavy photo reference? Or maybe the animators are just that good at drawing lol. The drawing count is very low (not surprising with all the detail), but the motion we see is in general very carefully observed and naturalistic - there’s rarely anything really flashy but it’s very consistent. It’s a film that could easily have been done in live action, but given the theme about art, it’s interesting to present these characters as constructed drawings.

The backgrounds deserve special praise. They must be heavily photoreferenced, but they’re insanely detailed line drawings with mostly flat colours, which gives a very strong effect. I don’t know if they had some kind of digital posterisation shortcut but it honestly looks too good for that; it makes the cuts to nature and the sense of place extremely strong. The amount of effort to make them must have been extraordinary. The music too, while sparse, is very effective when it’s deployed. Overall the film really captures a feeling, of a moment of undetermined possibility.

The film ends on an ambiguous note, but after-credits text tells you what became of all of the characters, which felt like a bit of a misstep. Nevertheless... the pacing is slow and it’s definitely one I think you need to be in the right mood to see, but overall I enjoyed this film. I’m definitely curious to check out Jian Liu’s previous films. And it’s exciting to see donghua branching out from mythological films - don’t get me wrong I love the mythological films but I would love to see donghua become as diverse as anime.

[mycatlifestyleofficial]

10 Ways to Keep Your Cat Healthy, According the vet

Make your feline friend happy with these vet-approved strategies.

Keeping your feline friend healthy and happy starts with a few simple steps—some of which can be integrated into your cat's environment right away.

To help your cat live their best feline life, Los Angeles veterinarian Jeff Werber (who has eight cats himself) offers helpful advice to pet parents. "It's crucial to get off on the right foot with cat care, " he says. "Good daily habits are where it starts." These tips can help you provide the love and care your cat deserves.

1. Brush Your Cat Every Day

Daily brushing or combing can help reduce the number of hairballs that develop in the digestive tract and help prevent mats and tangles, especially in long-haired cats. Cats spend a lot of time grooming themselves, and pet parents may not know that they can actually help their cats by removing loose hair through regular brushing.l

Werber says that the key to getting a cat to cooperate with brushing is to teach your cat to associate it with happy events. "Maybe you always brush before a meal," he says. "Then your cat will associate it with something delicious."

2. Don’t Feed Your Cat Too Much Dry Food

Unlike dogs, cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they rely on meat as the foundation of their diets. The main meal of the day should always be meat, says Werber. He cautions that exclusively feeding dry food diets to cats may cause them to consume too many carbohydrates, which can be unhealthy in large amounts. "We see cats developing type 2 diabetes and growing obese from too much dry food," Werber explains.

If you have both dogs and cats, you can't feed them the same. Dog food is not good for cats, nor can a cat metabolize carbs the way a dog can. Consider feeding wet food as a part, if not all, of your cat's diet.

3. Pay Attention to Your Cat's Thirst

Domestic cats evolved from desert-dwelling felines, so cats don't naturally drink as much water as dogs. Ideally, cats should get most of their water from food. A meal that a cat might eat in the wild—such as a mouse—is about 70% water. Canned food contains about 78% water, but dry food only has 5% to 10% water on average.

It's important to give your cat access to fresh water at all times no matter their diet, but you may notice your cat drinking more when they primarily eat dry food. Seniors, nursing cats, and cats with chronic health conditions are more prone to dehydration than others, so watch them carefully for signs such as sunken eyes, lethargy, and panting.

4. Provide a Sufficient Number of Litter Boxes

As far as potty places go, Werber says a good rule of thumb is to have one litter box per kitty, plus an additional one. So if you have three cats, you should set up four boxes, and you'll want to think carefully about where those boxes go. Humans tend to want the boxes tucked away in a hidden spot like a basement or dark corner, but some cats are uncomfortable in these areas. Werber says to think about a cat's natural instincts. "The animal is in a vulnerable position when performing those functions," he says. "They want to be able to see around them." For the same reason, your pet may not be willing to use a box with a cover or one that's been cleverly hidden in furniture.

5. Don’t Assume You Know Why a Cat Is Peeing Outside the Box

Little frustrates a cat parent more than when kitty skips the box and pees somewhere else in the house—especially when it's your couch or bed. Why would a cat do this? "There can be a lot of reasons," says Werber, "and you want to rule out illness first." Bring your cat to the vet to check for a urinary tract infection or other illness that could explain this new behavior. Once health concerns are ruled out, make sure that litter boxes meet your cat's preferences. Experiment with different types of litter to find out if there is one type your pet prefers.

Be scrupulous about keeping the box clean: scoop once or twice a day (more for multiple cats). Try changing the location of the litter box to somewhere quieter (away from noisy appliances) or easier for your cat to access.

6. Train Your Cat to Use a Scratching Post

Don't want your new sofa ripped to shreds? Teach your cat to use a scratching post so they won't end up clawing your furniture. The mistake many owners make, says Werber, is not knowing that they have to give the scratching post some appeal. "Put it in the center of the room to start," he explains. If you place it in a corner far from the social action in the household, it's easy for your cat to ignore it. Sprinkle the scratcher with catnip when you first bring it home, the vet advises. Once you have gotten your pet into the habit of using it, you can gradually move it to a less-trafficked spot and skip the catnip if desired.

7. Spay or Neuter Your Cat

There's nothing more beneficial to your cat's long-term wellness than getting them spayed or neutered, Werber says. "Female cats are very uncomfortable when they go into heat," he adds. Spaying and neutering can help keep your cat safe, too. Because unaltered male cats often fight, they risk transmitting diseases through bites and scratches. The situation is not much better for female cats, either. Female cats can become pregnant as early as four months old, and mating and queening multiple litters of kittens can be very stressful. And because there are so many unwanted cats in shelters waiting for their forever homes, it's better to not add to the population.

8. Travel Safely With Your Pet

Even if your cat wants to, don't let them travel unrestrained in a car. It's distracting to the driver and, in the case of an accident, a cat can become a dangerous projectile. Get a comfortable travel carrier for car rides, and teach your cat to use it without fear.

Werber also warns to "never, ever leave your cat alone in a parked car." Even in cooler temperatures, and even with the windows cracked, a car quickly becomes uncomfortable for an animal (or human, for that matter). It takes mere minutes for a cat to perish in a warm car. Leave your cat at home if you do not plan to bring them inside with you.

9. Choose a Cat-Friendly Vet

Many veterinary practices see multiple species, including canines. This can be scary for a cat who has to sit in a waiting room surrounded by dogs. "Look for a vet who has separate waiting areas for cats and dogs," says Werber. While that's ideal, not all practices have the space for this. If your favorite vet doesn't have two waiting rooms, ask to be called into the exam room quickly, Werber advises. You can also look for cat-only veterinarians in your area (yes, they exist!) so your kitty won't get bombarded with the sights, sounds, and smells of dogs, birds, and other critters.

10. Let Them Show Off!

When a cat loves you, they like to prove it, sometimes by offering you the results of a successful hunt. Werber suggests accepting the gifts with grace (even when it's gross—say, a decapitated mouse). Your cat may also show you love by head bunting, purring, or kneading you with their paws. Sit back and soak up the affection.

[jitterbugjive]

Oh-- God, that's wild. And a lot more complicated than I thought. D: I do remember her publicly calling you out years ago, I can't remember what for (maybe it was vaguing, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't about any of this.) Felt more like a personal spat where she was offended/her feelings were hurt. ): I do hope she gets the help she needs, and you still come out of this okay. None of that relates to who you are now as a content creator.

It was about a few things, like the Derpy Blog incident, and claiming that I taught her to act like a sociopath because a long time ago she came to me asking about her lack of emotional empathy and need to manipulate others and in my naivete I suggested perhaps sociopathy could explain it. Because even I myself at the time was dealing with similar feelings and thought I might have been a sociopath because of it. This was before therapy and dealing with my trauma and realizing it wasn't sociopathy, but in fact dissociation. And when I did suggest it, I tried my best to give her tools to practice empathy and kindness, but she blames me for all the wrong and harm she's done to people because to her, my suggesting she had sociopathy was permission for her to act like a sociopath.

I struggled with the guilt of this for a while but my therapist told me no one can 'teach' someone to become a sociopath, that's not how that works. She chose to act that way on her own because she took something I said and ran with it, and I didn't give her enough tools to counter those thoughts but that's not my fault because I didn't intend for things to happen the way they did. I really tried to provide advice that would help her function more like a proper, kind person, but she ignored that advice. I'm not blaming her either by the way, she was a kid, kids are dumb, they tend to latch on to dumb things and take them way out of context. She was at that age where kids like to be edgy so I'm sure the idea of being a sociopath was cool to her.

She also called me out on something I told her when I was in a psychotic state, which was me saying I based Slate off of her. That wasn't true either, and I tried to explain it to her that in that state I believed everyone's characters HAD to be based on someone real, no exception, and I felt the need to tell her Slate was based on her because he had just a couple of things in common with her and therefor "they were connected" and I "subconciously" used Slate as an experiment to better understand her.

Again, I explained this to her, I told her that I was not in my right mind, and I told her the three characters Slate was actually based on from the anime Monster. But she apparently chose to believe I was lying and that I HAD to have based slate on her because of how similar they were.

I have a screencap of a convo here where she admits that she had a habit of taking anything wrong she did and blaming it on me, and the last convo I had with her was about a friend she manipulated and targetted because she thought he was too nice and naive and needed to learn a lesson about life.

I never meant to make her feel like she was a bad person, I just wanted to know why she did it, why she hurt someone that badly and pitted people against him.

She ghosted me after this convo, and a few months later deleted my Bedeviled Derpy blog with a long post of accusations against me.

THEN after that did a callout twitter with one of her buddies.

It's just

I have been too scared to defend myself because I don't want to look like one of THOSE people, but I'm so tired of people looking at just one side of the story and not understanding all the stuff that's being left out or twisted to sound worse than it actually is.

I want the best for her, I do, but I don't think I deserved this much backlash. If she'd just talked to me we could have come to an understanding, I feel. But that's not how she does things. She'd sooner ghost then lash out than actually discuss things. She'd rather tear people apart to get back at them than come to an understanding. Maybe she's different now, but I doubt she'll ever let go of the fact that I'm her scapegoat for everything that was ever wrong with her.

[arrancxr]

how would you have improved/changed the writing for hallibel and the other female arrancar? i feel like she is so cool but gets next to nothing in the anime and reduced to OMG BOOBS in fandom

A big problem I have with how female characters are handled in the series is that they fall into a handful of distinct types, and don't deviate much from that. These include "morally stable voice of reason among a bunch of shitty men", "aggressive tsundere whose violence is treated like a joke", and the more antagonist-specific one, "angry bitch with sex appeal".

Bleach's female characters, in general, tend to not get much depth, and the Arrancar REALLY have the short end of the stick in that department. Thus, the most significant thing I'd change (which I do in my own writing already) is giving their personalities more complexity— and for that matter, moral nuance. Characters like Halibel and Nelliel deserve to be more than the nice Hollows, and ones like Loly and Cirucci deserve to be more than "mean bitches".

On a similar note, taking them seriously. The fact that Starrk is the sole First Espada and somehow wound up with 95% of the power between him and Lilynette is a CRIME. The fact that the last we see of Halibel is with her chained up, half-naked, and in Quincy prison is just as bad. Bleach's female characters rarely get serious fights that are as intense, brutal, and high-stakes as the male characters' battles, and that's another major thing I'd change. Give them serious, significant, epic fights, and give them more victories. The whole Lilynette vs Ukitake battle is a clear example of a female character's fight being written off as a joke, and I would NOT keep that.

Then, of course, is the designs. When it comes to female characters, Kubo draws impossibly massive, gravity-defying tits on stick-thin bodies, women who look like preteens, and not a lot else. I despise Halibel's release form design, and everything about Lilynette's outfit feels made to infantilize and sexualize her. I don't mind female characters having sex appeal, but when EVERY woman is half-naked while the men stay fully clothed, there's a problem.

I'd like to see more muscular female designs— and I mean muscular the way Yammy is. More masculine designs too, and with outfits that do more than show off their bodies for the audience. Less unnaturally massive boobs, and more variety in heights, builds, and facial features. Just... I'd like to see the same diversity in the female characters' designs that the male characters have.

I'm stopping here for now because this has turned into enough of a rant. It would be easier for me to give more specific details character by character, so if you want my re-write opinions on anyone in particular, feel free to ask! o3o

[antisatiric]

1, 7, and 20 for the choosing violence meme!

1- the character everyone gets wrong.

oh boy. i could go a lot of different directions with this, but i think i'm going to have to stick with saying twain even though that's kind of a cop-out answer just because of my own personal grievances. i don't particularly want to seem like i'm someone sitting on a high horse and declaring everyone else who's ever written twain was wrong, but i think because of the way a lot of the non-japanese (and some of the japanese authors introduced later into the plot) authors have been handled in bsd that there's a general idea among people who create twain content to handle his character in... certain, superfluous ways that do a great disservice to the ideas the author he was based on loved to tackle.

obviously basing a portrayal only off of what we seen in bungou stray dogs i can generally see where the wider fandom GETS "guy who makes dirty jokes and loves sex all the time" from and granted most of the written content for him IS just porn without plot, but i think that interpretation to him is doing a great disservice to a character who was already snubbed by the writing anyway. i've definitely told this to you before, meechi, so sorry for giving you an answer you've heard from me like a thousand times but i jump at the chance to say this.

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

actually, it was dazai.

going into bsd i was really neutral about him because i'm not generally the sort of person who gravitates towards major characters at first, and nobody in the little fandom circle i'd integrated myself into liked him very much. then when i started to get further into the fandom and seeing how much of the content was focused around him either at the expense of or just in the foreground of content for other characters, i gradually started to get a little more upset, especially considering how generally shallow the fandom discussions surrounding him tended to be. like, he started to PISS ME OFF (all caps) every time i saw him because of things like that---i was in a bad position though, since most of the reason for his constant prevalence was also the merch and marketing around the manga and anime, which also tended to prioritize him...

haha, but i've actually started liking dazai as a character more recently. i think i gave him a lot of undeserved grief---well, HE deserves grief, but he's much more well-written and just overall a better character than my desperate-for-content-of-minor-characters brain was willing to give him credit for. i credit @longerhuman as a large part of the reason why i'm able to enjoy dazai more as a character now---quin does a fantastic job in terms of characterization and analysis and is altogether THE dazai writer i have ever written with on this webbed site.

20- part of canon you found tedious or boring.

um, we'll answer this about bungou stray dogs as well. all of the arc that's just ended recently. all of it. i'm so serious---i got into bsd when i was fourteen, and this arc had just started. i'm twenty now. this arc has been going on for six years. i literally stopped actively keeping up with new chapter releases because i was so fucking tired of this arc. i'm sorry. it was a nightmare and i'm glad it's over even if it did introduce my second favorite bsd character (suehiro tetcho <3333).

i love being a hater. / accepting.