#as in a link and not just a straight up post

[nanavn]

[ID: second post by @petrichara has a photo and a cartoon; third post by @ink-the-artist has a MRI scan and four screenshots of text from the link; fourth post by @illuminatedpopcorn has a screenshot of tags.

In the second post, the photo is of a mother holding her small child up in an embrace, both seen from the side and looking at Van Gogh's painting 'Madame Roulin and Her Baby' which depicts a seated woman with a baby standing on her lap. The mother in the painting is in three-quarters profile whereas the baby is looking straight at the viewer. The child in the photograph is looking intently at the painting.

'I’m not sure how to look at art' by Lynda Barry is a four-panel cartoon. It's a line drawing and shows a humanoid, larger figure in a dress and a smaller, potato-shaped companion - presumably a mother(-figure) and a small child - looking at a painting on the wall. It depicts a seated figure, tenderly embracing a smaller one on its lap - they appear content and happy.

The few details of the background indicates that the cartoon's setting is a museum or possibly a gallery.

In the first panel, the mother holds her arms in front, crossed at the wrists - perhaps not exactly anxious, but not relaxed either. She is looking at the painting and says: "Im not sure how to look at art."

The child is also studying the painting and says: "Whats sposta happen?" [What is supposed to happen, asked by someone not fully mastering the language - like a child might]

In the second panel, the two are looking at each other. The mother is holding up her arms in front of her chest and, in three speach bubbles, says: "Something big. A revelation. Suddenly you just understand."

The child's mouth is open, as if taking this in.

In the third panel, they both look at the painting. The mother's arms are crossed in front again and she says: "Not sure how to make it happen."

The child now stands between the mother and the art, and says: "How bout lift me up so I can see better?"

The fourth panel has the mother holding up the child in her embrace, mirroring the painting as they look at it intently.

The small child again has its mouth open, and they both seem to feel a connection - like they "just understand."

In the third post, the MRI scan is of an adult person and a small child in profile from the shoulders up and facing eash other. The mother is kissing the baby on his forehead, her lips tenderly touching her child. The four screenshots of text are from the linked article, which also describes the image:

A mother and her child are curled up together inside the tube of a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner in April 2015. The scanner bangs and beeps, shudders and screeches. The baby is finally sleeping, pressed firmly against his mother’s chest, and so is still enough for the MRI to see inside his head. A single MR image, like this one, takes several minutes to capture. Moving just a millimeter leaves a blur on the screen. The mother and baby must hold their pose, as if for a daguerreotype.

While they lie there, the scanner builds up a picture of what’s inside their skulls. Often MR images are made for physicians, to find a tumor or a blocked blood vessel. Scientists also make the images, to study brain function and development. In my lab, at MIT, we use MRI to watch blood flow through the brains of children; we read them stories and observe how their brain activity changes in reaction to the plot. By doing so, we’re investigating how children think about other people’s thoughts.

This particular MR image, though, was not made for diagnostic purposes, nor even really for science. No one, to my knowledge, had ever made an MR image of a mother and child. We made this one because we wanted to see it.

To some people, this image was a disturbing reminder of the fragility of human beings. Others were drawn to the way that the two figures, with their clothes and hair and faces invisible, became universal, and could be any human mother and child, at any time or place in history. Still others were simply captivated by how the baby’s brain is different from his mother’s; it’s smaller, smoother and darker—literally, because there’s less white matter.

Here is a depiction of one of the hardest problems in neuroscience: How will changes in that specific little organ accomplish the unfolding of a whole human mind?

As for me, I saw a very old image made new. The Mother and Child is a powerful symbol of love and innocence, beauty and fertility. Although these maternal values, and the women who embody them, may be venerated, they are usually viewed in opposition to other values: inquiry and intellect, progress and power. But I am a neuroscientist, and I worked to create this image; and I am also the mother in it, curled up inside the tube with my infant son.

The fourth post's screenshot of tags from the previous post:

#it’s not exactly the same as what the post describes but I think it’s the same in spirit #it’s just so… #there’s an edited version of that image that’s been spread claiming it shows chemical reactions in the brain from the kiss #like parts of the brain are edited to look like they’ve lit up as they release oxytocin #made me pissed tf off on Rebecca saxes behalf lmao #thats so much less interesting and beautiful than ‘we made this one because we wanted to see it’

End ID]

Tags from https://www.tumblr.com/ink-the-artist/776580876213649408/why-i-captured-this-mri-of-a-mother-and-child

saw a tiktok of a mother taking her very tiny daughter to an art museum and she’s just walking around going “whoooa” “woooaah” to everything but then they got to a marble statue of a nude woman lying on her back and the girl points and goes “mommy🫵” and i just immediately welled up with tears and all the comments are just laughing about it and of course it’s funny but how are you not insanely moved by the way art connects everyone on earth from a centuries-old sculptor to a toddler in 2023

[its-a-me-mango]

Oh hey... it's been a while Telly...

Everypony, this is URGEN, and I need your help, I have a sad TV that needs cheering up, can you help me? You guys think you can help me? Pretty please?

THIS IS A FUN LIL OC/SONA DRAWING/WRITING/WHATEVER EVENT THINGY AND YOU'RE INVITED TO TAKE PART!!!

INFO BELOW THE READ MORE!

Hi welcome to below the read more, nice down here innit.

THIS IS NOT AN EVENT WHERE YOU SUGGEST THINGS TO ME, THIS IS FOR YOU TO DO, I WILL BE IGNORING ANY ASKS RELATED TO REQUESTS FOR ME TO DRAW!

Anyway so as I said, you're invited to have your sona, your OC, your AU or heck even one of the SMG4 crew help cheer up Telly! You can do this in anyway you like, wethers it's taking them out somewhere nice like a park or city, to playing games with them, or just hanging out with them! You're in charge of picking out something fun for your character of choise and Telly to do together! They love doing anything as long as its with friends so you're welcome to do pretty much anything!

You can also make this in an medium you'd like, be it art, comics, writing, or anything else you can think of, there is no strict medium this has to be done in so go wild and most importantly have fun!

For the sake of keeping things clear in the SMG4 tag, you can use #SMG4CheerUp as the tag for this event, you are obviously free to @ me but if not, I will check the above tag instead.

Before I go any further, just want to make this clear:

THERE IS NO PRIZE! THERE IS NO DEADLINE! THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!

THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION

Just saying this as I don't want people expecting anything from me in return for this, nor do I want people putting themselves down or comparing themselves to others, I want people to have fun for the sake of having fun.

I'm obviously not super stricks on rules as this is for fun but I do have a few requests:

No just straight up brining Mr Puzzles back, that kinda defeats the point. You're more than welcome to use your AU or OC version of Mr Puzzles for this, but no actual Mr Puzzles, let him rot in prison for a bit please.

I know I said you're welcome to do pretty much anything but please keep your work age appropriate! Telly is meant to be no older than 10 at max so nothing too outrageous please! I don't mind a bit of angst or anything like that but you know, be nice to the kid alright, I will kill you otherwise /j

Also for this please don't use their teen/adult design, this is focused on them as a kid so please keep them as one, no aging up to do anything not age appropriate please.

Please keep in mind that Telly is mute and cannot talk! They can write/type to talk (as they don't know sign language yet) and they can make static noises, but no actual speaking for them!

TELLY USES THEY/THEM PRONOUNS AND NOTHING ELSE, PLEASE JUST REFER TO THEM AS A CHILD/KID

That's all I could think of lol, will add more if I think of anything else.

TELLYS REF IS HERE FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT (it is also linked on my pinned post at all times) I'm not overly strict on design so feel free to add your own lil details to them, I think it's fun! :3

My media asks are off for now, as I'd rather people make their own posts, it's what Tumblr's for and I wouldn't want anyone's amazing work to sit and rot in my inbox! I will be reblogging everything I promise.

You're welcome to ask me any questions but my response will likely be either "yes" or "if it's fun for you go for it!"

There is no deadline as stated, but I'll say this is open for at least a month-ish, or at least until Mr Puzzles comes back or something lol (watch that be, this week! wow how short lived /j)

ANYWAY WITH ALL THAT OUT THE WAY, GO FORTH AND ONCE AGAIN, HAVE FUN ABOVE ALL ELSE!!! :3

[for-a-longlongtime]

Hey Anon, I saw your message this morning! 💜

You pointed out "Yall need to be careful of bi erasure" and linked to a post someone made about me. I appreciate the heads up! To be honest, I’m not concerned about people suggesting that I’m doing bi erasure. Whether it’s regarding Pedro characters in canon, head canons, or bisexuality in any other way. But hey, everybody can have their opinion about things, including what they think about me.

I dont talk much about myself here, but my tumblr bio has said from day 1 that I’m a bi woman. My master list mentions most of my fic “is queer (m/m, bi4bi, m/m/f, non-binary and trans characters)”. Folks who have read my fic know I've written pairings where every character is explicitly bi ( Frankie x f!reader x Santi; Peña x Rockford x OFC; Ezra x f!reader x Benny Miller, and WIPs with Joel and Marcus M, Frankie x f!reader x OFC and Maximus x Acacius x Lucilla).

Can bisexual people still do bi erasure? Sure!

Do I worry whether straight folks or other random folks online think I'm involved in bi erasure? Nahhh.

Anyway, I did make some posts the other day based on anons submitted to me about issues re: queer representation in this fandom. Let me just direct you to the several posts I made on that day, which started in response to a question about Renaldo:

"Was Renaldo Gay in the SNL sketch?? I've seen a lot of blogs saying he wasn't?". TL;DR version of my response: the ending of the song states "word to the wise, if you've got wives, hide them from the three bros!" suggesting that Renaldo, Domingo, and Santiago all hook up with women/wives. Considering Renaldo hooked up with Matthew, that probably makes him bisexual (and not the fact that he had Sophie, aka Sabrina's character, dancing up on him) - or queer, or someone who doesn't like to label himself. However, while 'hide your wives' works linguistically as a great punch line to wrap up the song, it does not refer to Renaldo's affair with Matthew (now that is bi erasure, if you wanna be exact), so I did point out that 'hide your spouses' would've been more accurate - but understandably, that's not as catchy. I'm currently writing a Renaldo x Matthew one shot, and I said my headcanon has Renaldo as gay - but that's my interpretation/hc/fic.

Someone wrote to me: Some blogs in the fandom is hellbent on taking away any attention away from anything mlm based with his characters anyway so it wouldn't matter in Renaldo was gay - someone would find a loophole to make him like women. TL;DR I agreed, because there are people who definitely do that. It became part of a longer thread of reblogs with some other folks in which we talked about how Pedro's mlm (men loving men) characters, such as Oberyn, Dieter and Silva in particular, either tend to be canonized primarily as bisexual by people but in fic are almost always paired with women (f!reader or OFCs). Which is fine, but people are definitely interested in seeing more m/m representation for those characters. Someone also brought up that when Pedro characters are paired with non-binary reader inserts or OC, it tends to be mostly afab!nb (or afab!trans characters), and that they were surprised that there weren't more amab!nb characters - that's a great point too.

I made a post with an anon message that pointed out "MLM includes bi, pan and queer men. They might like women. (And/or other genders, but they still like men)". Very correct!

Finally, there was an excellent long message from an anon saying "We need more representation of bi people in same-gender relationships represented" and that even in threesomes or throuples (fic) that include two men, there should ideally be more mlm representation. Once again, I fully agree. Everybody should write whatever they want, but I do often see threesomes that are listed as Pedro Character 1 x reader x Pedro Character 2, but in the fic it's more like reader having sex with two straight men at the same time while they're trying to not cross swords, rather than mlm being represented. THIS IS DEFINITELY CHANGING THOUGH: it's wonderful to see a big increase of mlm characters in threesomes/throuple fics over the past year!

So here is my main issue with a lot of people who are raging about 'bi erasure', and why I've made several posts about queerness within this fandom (not just recently, but from the start). Of course bisexual people exist (hello, it me, for one). Pull up some statistics if you want: there are a lot more folks who identify as bisexual than there are folks who identify as gay or lesbian. I'm an older millenial, so if you wanna talk about bi erasure: the measure in which it happens today is nothing compared to the bi erasure and deeply engrained homophobia we experienced in our teens and twenties from society at large. However:

🏳‍🌈 In your rush to point out bisexuals exist, you're shutting down a much broader dialogue with people within the LGBTQIA+ community. 🏳‍🌈

Because have you noticed how gay men, nonbinary/genderqueer fans, amab!trans or amab!nonbinary FANS (not fic characters; I'm talking actual people) are extremely underrepresented in this fandom? In addition to in fic? And that these fans won't have their fiction or actual posts shared all that much? Or that when they carefully speak up, e.g. about being happy to see Pedro portray Silva as a gay character, they're immediately rebuffed and called biphobic or that they're trying to erasure bisexuality?

Yeah. That part.

It's messed up.

Nobody is even making demands. Nobody is even saying "what writers are doing is wrong". They're just saying, "This is a bummer". And some of us are pointing out that mlm Pedro characters in m/m pairings are hard to come by, which is too bad because it's not only us queers who read m/m Pedro character pairings - there are lots of straight fans out there who have indicated they like reading that, too.

Are you gonna call that bi erasure? Or marginalization of women? Or anything really except for what it actually is? Fans are just saying "yknow, I wish there were more fans/fic characters/bodies in fic represented in this fandom that look and feel more like me". People seem to have finally understood that in varying degrees when this applies to body type or racial/cultural background (which took many white people a lot longer to fully grasp; BIPOC folks have been saying this for such a long time already) - it's about diversity and wanting to feel included. But when gay or transfolks say this about mlm, a whole bunch of y'all are crying bi erasure?

In short (and I can't believe I need to even fuckin' say this):

The Pedro fandom or its fic does NOT belong exclusively to women.

It does not belong to cis folks, to straight people, or any other particular group of people.

Aren't we all just trying to be a community? Then stop acting like people reading Silva or Renaldo (or any other character) as gay are erasing bisexuality - that's not the case or the damn point.

And anon-- my critique truly isn't directed at you, I'm not dragging you in any way. You took the effort to bring something to my attention, plus you clearly care about people, and I appreciate that a lot. But there are tons of people who don't dare to speak up about this in public settings, so I can't help but take this opportunity to not only clarify what I said earlier -- but also to address the bigger problem at large. Read or write all the gossip blogs you want, by all means, but maybe also consider using that time to actually connect with people.

[linksfunroadtrip]

Link's Fun Commentary - Prologue!

+ sailor design commentary. link's fun extra

Twilight Field, War of Eras...

Sailor starting in Hyrule Warriors and being dropped immediately into Shepherd's era is actually the second pitch for the beginning of the comic, the very First pitch being the first two pages of chapter 1.

More than anything we just wanted to get it done, but we didn't really know what we were doing . We cobbled together a custom font and got right to it. My Fun Facts: All the grass is the same image reused over and over except for when it isn't . Literally all of the smoke was just repeated/moved around. We didn't even really know how to use gradients effectively...

... Which can be seen in these next two panels. LOL.

The work split on this batch set a precedent for sure. @islandlobster took up lining and flat colors, and had the Hard Job of harmonizing our styles, processes, and experiments. Do you see a lot of small, long-form comics with grainy, textured line-art? Maybe no? Well we found out why.

These panels also feature the Only Two Triforces we remembered to draw !!! Oh My God!!!

As much as we struggled, things moved pretty quick from the get-go. Since the prologue is only a handful of pages we didn't really run into the issues we would with chapter 1, especially regarding our complete and utter lack of script. This went straight from thumbnailing to the final result!! (NOT A SUSTAINABLE WAY TO DO A GROUP PROJECT...!)

I wanted to mention though that when I wrote the line above, I wasn't sure if this was how you would spell it for like . a Soldier Troop or a Performance Troupe. Which I just looked up now and found out I Absolutely got them mixed up. so umm. Sorry. Sailor is not in the circus yet.

Cia was just defeated in the main campaign! I felt like such a smart cookie for this one.

She doesn't even know she wont be going home yet‼️ laughing and pointing ‼️

It was an Early idea that Sailor would conveniently miss the time portal transporting the field (with her in it!) back to its era. This was supposed to be a reoccurring bit, but we didn't commit to it too hard going forward, so who's to say if that'll be realized.

The pirate charm plays a big role in the prologue. A little funny because we were absolutely sick to death of drawing it by the end, as well as the fact that it is there in lieu of her red-gem necklace that we forgot to draw. it is Welcome and Unfortunate that it doesn't work anymore, especially because having the chance to name drop like this was very indulgent.

The era of twilight ! Including the locations and times was in the original sketches, but when we found out that our inexperience with backgrounds wasn't lending itself to establishing Where we were, it came in handy. We Agonized over placing the castle and argued* for like a week about how forested the area should be. Luckily we use noclip now, so things have improved as we've moved into chapter 2 :]

Either way, hopefully it wasn't too confusing, and as we introduce new characters the picture will be clearer. We've talked a little bit about returning to the prologue to spiff it up a bit, but we feel we aren't far enough into the comic to make it worthwhile.

and now over to Pea with the weather:

my name is pea islandlobster and you can't tell that it's me because we are writing on the same post but trust okay 🤞 I am here to talk about SAILOR!!!

Sailor has been my baby brainchild before LFRT was even a blip in our minds eye (my proof) and it has been a beautiful indulgence for me to both put her in AND have her be the first Link we meet. YAY!

I have two designs for her, for which I have helpfully made a diagram just for you..! Labeled and everything..!

A: pheww my big one that I have been sitting on forever. Sailor's necklace was constructed over the course of her adventure, initially only having her red gem (given to her by King Daphnes, from his own crown). Four pearls were later added, parting gifts from Oshus and the three spirits. Also intended to mirror the three Goddess pearls from Wind Waker..! and an extra yellow one i guess. triforce? idk

B: Sailor's chipped tooth is a funny one that I will have to make a small comic about at some point. It's not even anything from her adventure. A couple years before WW, Aryll was pretty upset about losing her first tooth, and in typical Link fashion she thought the best way of comforting her was to ALSO lose a tooth. Grandma was not happy.

C: Most Links have a triforce mark, and each one we are giving a reason towards ^.^ Sailor's mark is entirely scar tissue, specifically it is hypertrophic. She held her triforce for only a few days and got it (maybe quite literally) ripped from her by Ganondorf, so take that as you will. Tetra and her are matching yayyy..!

D: Giving her hero outfit it's own section so I can tuck it out of the way lol. A modified version of her original hero outfit, courtesy of shipmate Nudge (guy in the top left). She was a little upset over having to alter Grandma's hard work, but she preserved it where she could. Like her seashell belt! ^_^

E: SIDEBURNS! Not present in the prologue because it has been a recent development but I figured it was worth bringing up. During WoE, as she grows her hair, her sideburns resemble little lobster claws. Cute! In LFRT as grown out as it is, I thought making them swirly as a reference to pretty much every cloud/wind effect used in WW lol.

From a combination of outgrowing stuff and missing home, Sailor was christened with Lobster Shirt 2.0 as we know and love today. Who made it for her? I dunnooo..... let's sit and think about this one.

Phewww. This was a long one - and no doubt the next will be longer - but this is all for now! Feel free to send any questions you might have ^.^ Thank you for all the support! Chapter 2 part 2 soon!

[hedawanheda]

Hi! Don't know if you've seen the little 10 years of clexa kisses thread going on? Writers posting their favorite kisses from their own works

I would love to see your favorite kisses that you've written! Or any new ones yoi may have 👀

OOOH I LOVE THIS!!

First kisses are always my favorite to write, so apologies that most of these are first kisses lol

answer under cut! one for each story where they already kissed (sorry, ‘no body no crime’ and ‘hold my crown (while i go down),’ you’ll get your moments!). Link to the stories in title

8. The Babysitter

mutual pining/high school crush au that was so fun to write!

“Hey, Lexa?”

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Can you- what?” Lexa was taken aback. She had to make sure she heard that correctly.

“Can I kiss you?” Clarke asks again, calmly. “You don’t have to say yes,”

“I…” Lexa falters, at a loss for words. She couldn’t think straight, not with the way Clarke was looking at her with those eyes and that lip bite. God, Lexa wanted to bite it herself.

Clarke suddenly looks embarrassed, sitting up on the bed. “Um. Sorry. I don’t know why I asked that. That was weird. Forget-“

“You can,” Lexa blurts out, Clarke’s mouth still open mid sentence. “Kiss me, I mean. If you still want to. Thank you for asking, by the way. Consent is always a good thing-“

“And you call me the dork,” Clarke grins as she pushes forward, wrapping her arms around Lexa’s neck and brings her in for a kiss.

7. More Than That

friends to lovers!! secret mutual pining!! ugh love it

“I love you,” she whispered quietly. She searched Lexa’s face for any reaction, to which she found none. She felt her heart crack. “I’m sorry. I ruined it. Please forget that I said anything. Better yet, forget that you’ve ever known me. Just throw your entire memory aw-“

Clarke shut up because Lexa decided to kiss her. It wasn’t like the ones when others were around, no. This one was slower, and softer. Lexa’s lips moved with a purpose, gently pressing against Clarke’s as if she was going to break her. She pulled away moments later, gazing into Clarke’s eyes.

“You just kissed me,” Clarke said blankley. “Why did you do that?

Lexa grinned, biting her lip. “Because I’ve loved you since we were thirteen, you dope”

6. The Lighthouse

the little mermaid first kiss to get your voice back. sucker for this

She decided to take the leap. Her head moved down swiftly, connecting her lips to Clarke’s.

Her body tingled with warmth, Clarke’s lips soft against her own. She felt hands on the back of her neck, pulling her closer. Lexa’s brain felt like it was exploding. Clarke pulled back, before tilting her head and going back in. This felt right. Lexa’s gay brain turned into a pile of mush.

“Finally,”

Lexa agreed, smiling as she kissed Clarke again, and again, and again. It took a minute for her to register that that word was spoken out loud.

Lexa pulled back. Surely she imagined that, right? She looked at Clarke, whose lips were kiss-swollen and hair mussled. Clarke smiled at her widely and nodded, signalling that Lexa did not imagine that.

“Hi,” Clarke said, clear as a bell. Lexa’s mouth dropped open in pure shock. “I love you,”

5. you belong with me

my taylor swift au where Lexa professed her love to clarke on Jimmy Fallon so Clarke flies to new york to see her immediately after and they kiss in the rain

Clarke was overcome with emotion. Every one of Lexa’s songs were about her and her love for her. Clarke couldn’t help the huge smile that appeared on her face before she closed the distance between her and Lexa to meet the girl in a heated kiss. She kissed Lexa with all the passion she could muster, wanting to show the girl how much she meant to her and how touched she was from last night’s interview. Clarke swiped her tongue across Lexa’s bottom lip, asking for entrance which she was soon granted, Lexa’s tongue shyly meeting hers. They kissed in the middle of the New York rainstorm, and to Clarke, it was perfect.

4. for the love of the gods

this one’s good cause lexa is supposed to be a celibate priestess and patron goddess clarke’s like NOT ON MY WATCH

Lexa felt a hand at the back of her neck and then the next thing she knew the stranger attached her lips to Lexa, surprising the priestess in more ways than one.

You need to stop this Lexa thought to herself, trying not to think of the softness and sweetness of the girl’s lips. You made a vow, this isn’t right

“You’re overthinking this,” the girl murmured against Lexa’s lips. “Stop. Just for once, don’t think,”

You didn’t have to tell Lexa twice.

She kissed back like it was her last time (because it might be) and she felt the girl grin, satisfied that Lexa decided to give in. The girl swiped her tongue across Lexa’s bottom lip, asking for entrance that was soon granted by the brunette The girl’s hands threaded through Lexa’s hair, messing up the intricate braids that adored her hair, but Lexa didn’t care. She never knew kissing could feel this good.

3. So High School

I love this one cause Clarke thinks the kisses mean they’re best friends🤣 come on girl

“Well, Ontari is a second-year senior who probably takes steroids, and you’re just a scrawny sophomore,” Clarke smirks jokingly as she hooks her fingers in the collar of Lexa’s shirt. “Don’t worry, babe. You’ll hit puberty someday,”

She leans forward to kiss Lexa, the brunette’s eyes fluttering closed when she feels Clarke’s lips meet hers. God, kissing Clarke had to be her favorite thing in the whole world.

“You’re your own harshest critic,” Clarke whispers as she pulls away, letting go of her hold on Lexa’s shirt collar and clasping the girl’s hands in her own. “Let me be your biggest cheerleader,”

2. secret recipe

first kiss for the helpless gay chef and idiot bisexual heiress

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Clarke continues when there’s a lack of response from Lexa. It doesn’t have to, but I want it to. I want it to mean everything.

“Clarke…” Lexa’s heart is pounding so hard she fears it may burst out of her chest. “Are you sure?”

More sure than anything.

“Yes,” Clarke answers instead, surging forward to connect their mouths in a soft kiss.

Clarke feels her heart exploding the moment their lips touched, and she melts into the kiss. Kissing Lexa felt different than kissing anyone else, but in the best way possible. It felt right. Like Clarke finally unlocked the secret to happiness, and it was kissing Lexa Woods.

1. royally screwed

as if anyone is surprised 😂 not their first kiss but the first one with ~feelings~

“It comes from a Norse myth,” Lexa tells her wife, her palms suddenly becoming sweaty. “You see, the son of Odin and Frigg, Baldur, started to have dreams of his death, so Frigg made all of the things on earth promise to not hurt her son. He was now said to be invincible, so the other gods took joy in throwing things at him.” Lexa was staring up at the mistletoe, avoiding Clarke’s eyes. “The mischief god, Loki, was jealous of how popular Baldur was, so he searched far and wide for something that could kill Baldur. He found out Frigg forgot a simple but deadly plant: mistletoe,”

“So he fashioned a spear with the mistletoe and convinced a blind god to throw it at Balder. Once the spear hit him, he died. Heartbroken, Frigg now made it a rule that mistletoe would be used for love, and that whenever someone encounters it they show an act of love; that’s why we kiss underneath it,” Lexa took this chance to look at Clarke, who was listening intently. Her bright blue eyes were staring at Lexa in wonder, causing the brunette to realize what her wife might think she implied.

“But um,” Lexa stumbled over her words. “That’s just a superstition. An old wives tale. It doesn’t mean we have to-“

“Lexa?” Clarke interrupted softly, a bemused look on her face. “Are you going to kiss me?”

Lexa felt her mouth go dry. Her eyes widened as she but her bottom lip nervously. “Am I allowed to?”

Clarke smirked as her eyes twinkled. “Come here,” she said, cupping Lexa’s face as she stepped closer and pressed her lips to her wife’s.

This kiss felt different.

It wasn’t at all like the two passionless ones they shared on their wedding day, it was soft. Innocent. A confirmation of the feelings that both of them had. Clarke felt her already flushed cheeks burn and her stomach swoop as Lexa’s plush lips moved lightly against hers, the feeling setting her on fire.

It wasn’t their first kiss, but it should have been.

[shsl-box-worshipper]

Merry christmas, Kaula! @princess-kaulise

I was your gifter. New to the fandom but still fucking love giving gifts! Hope you enjoy it! I made it based off of most of your notes, with a little dash of found family for good measure

[raycatzdraws]

Wolfie and Four friendship appreciation doodles! They're shared secrets besties! I hope Four's distrust of the shadow crystal doesn't drive anything between them. Wild found his way into this compilation with a force. It seems I can't draw Wolfie and not include him too!

[i-am-not-a-who-i-am-a-what]

so about the header that proceeded today's statement:

Viability as agent: Low

Viability as subject: None

Viability as catalyst: Medium

i didn't know what to think of this part of the entry at first, but the longer the statement went on... was the institute in this universe trying to manufacture avatars?

the dice can't do anything without someone to use them, they can't be an "agent" by themselves, but might be capable of manipulation, so in that aspect their viability is "low."

the dice could be a "subject" in the sense that they could use further studying, but the statement itself was a very thorough investigation of their workings, so in that aspect their viability is "none."

the dice seem to influence their holder to roll them, or at least find more victims to roll them, and could therefore be described as a "catalyst" for someone's becoming. but, as seen in the statement, their owner can give the dice to someone else (albeit not without consequences), so in that aspect their viability is only "medium."

so what about the line following all this, what does "Recommend referral to Catalytics for Enrichment applicability assessment" mean? if we go by this interpretation, i'd say it could mean the institute wanted to find a way to make the dice even more potent as an artifact, maybe even remove that pesky ability for their owner to reject them.

imho all of this this brings a whole new level of context to the events of episode seven, of unknown violent agents going after an influx of objects that seemed straight out of artifact storage. was that the nature of the titular "magnus protocol" first mentioned in episode four, the one that involved the starkwall group? containing or destroying potential artifacts before the institute could get their hands on them?

it also makes their "gifted kids program," and sam's link to it as one of the kids being studied, all the more horrifying to think about. was it not just avatars in general they were after, but child avatars specifically? no wonder gertrude got so defensive over the possibility of sam and celia dragging gerry back into the institute's business last episode, we all picked up on her clearly knowing more than she's letting on but now we might know the shape of that information a bit better.

and one final bit of food for thought... this statement had a lot of familiar themes, didn't it? free will or the illusion of it, gambling and not-so-random chance, the statement giver being done in by one final hit from what feels like a bit of an addition... all hallmarks of a certain mother of puppets. doesn't it seem fitting that "chester" would use this kind of statement to warn sam about what harm pursuing the magnus institute could bring to him, considering the one his voice might draw from? and doesn't it seem so painfully ironic that his warning seems to have only driven sam further into that web?

[nakanotamu]

I think if you repost pictures of hot girls from elsewhere on the internet and don't at *least* like absolute absolute ultimate barest minimum tag and caption who they are you should get immediately banned from the whole internet forever

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

Guys oh my god.

So this image showcases the notable bits of symbolism associated with each character. most of these bits have, in some way, been featured within the MVs even in minor ways. Which is why my eyes widened significantly when I saw Mahiru associated with what looks to be, a praying mantis

I'm sure you're aware of what a lot of female praying mantis do to their partners during or after they have sex with them.

(x) Mahiru's Trial 3 MV is just gonna be this

[rupeenotruby]

Adventures in Research: What do you mean "Bowl of Hearts"???

It starts simply; I was checking out the Heart Container page on the Zelda wiki (as anyone does) where I saw it "also known as Bowl of Hearts (TAoL)." Known as Bowl of Hearts? TAoL?? Uh no, it isn't??? I have read that manual quite a few times and I think I'd remember if it was called "Bowl of Hearts" as it is such a strange phrase. But I always have lots to learn so I put my pride aside and start to get to the bottom of this claim. Because hey, if this is true it's one more piece of AoL trivia I get to feel superior about knowing.

Link to the Zelda Wiki page

Naturally the first thing I do is that I look for the source of this particular claim. It comes from the Zelda Encyclopedia! Okay alright that means I have a lead. So, I hop on Google only to find that the only places I can find it is Internet Archive and Internet Archive is currently down due to some kind of cyber-attack. :| Fantastic. I guess I have to wait. To quell my interest, I double check the game where unlike in TLoZ, TAoL does not have an intro scroll with the names of the items. Additionally, I checked a text dump (link to that) of the game where it is only referred to as a "Heart." No bowls there. The manual is exactly as I remember it to be calling it "Heart Container" like normal.

(Zelda 2: Adventure of Link English Manual pg. 45)

I also see if I can find another source like a strategy guide which, yes it is still called "Heart Container."

(Nintendo Power January/February 1989 pg. 20)

So I put it aside until I get the wonderful news that Internet Archive is back and running!!! Yay! I rush over and check the Heart Container entry to find that yes, it does in fact say that TAoL calls Heart Containers "Bowl of Hearts."

(Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia pg. 127)

And so the Wiki did source it properly.... But my sources are also correct, no? So what's the deal? Why is this the first time I've heard of this phrase?

And thus I decide to go to the source: The Japanese Encyclopedia. Unfortunately, I could not find the Japanese version of the encyclopedia anywhere so I do the next best thing. I grab Google translate and start looking through the Japanese manual. Some things to note first:

I DON'T KNOW JAPANESE!

At all! And Google Translate is notoriously very finnicky when it comes to Japanese. So, I'm relying a lot on pattern recognition. (Also, apologies in advance if I mess up any of the Japanese here. Again, I don't know Japanese, and I am using Google translate.)

First stop is the TAoL Japanese Manual where it is referred to as ハートのうつわ.

(Zelda 2: Adventure of Link Japanese Manual pg. 48)

I stick that in Google Translate and seem to find the problem.

ハートの means "heart."

うつわ means "vessel, container or bowl." So maybe this can be translated as both "Heart Container" and "Bowl of Hearts" and it just depends on the context! As I lack all cultural and linguistic context I do the next best thing: check other manuals and see how they spelled it. The key here is that TAoL has been singled out for whatever reason. If the other manuals match this spelling something went wrong somewhere else.

I find the OoT Manual where it has... the same spelling?

(OoT Japanese Manual pg. 28)

And to double check I look at the OoA Manul and again:

(OoA Japanese Manual pg. 42)

Same spelling! So why was TAoL singled out? What a mystery...

I still can't find the Japanese Encyclopedia, so I keep looking. I look in the game to find that it is also referred to simply as "Heart" in the Japanese version (Underlined in pink).

(Youtube: "リンクの冒険 (FDS) 全クリア (ノーデス)" Time: 1:06:43)

I check a Japanese Strategy guide!

(The Adventure of Link Winning Guide pg. 17)

Its all the same(ish)! Where did this seemingly unique part of TAoL come from???

And I finally find it! I find a youtuber who has access to the Japanese Encyclopedia and I ask them to show the Heart Container entry.

(Youtube: "LoZ lore because you asked 1" Time: 0:10)

Note: It is hard to see but TLoZ is "ゼルダの伝説" while TAoL is "リンクの冒険" above with the in-game pictures.

And AH HA! You see that? That last portion that should refer to TAoL but is instead referring to the ORIGINAL LEGEND OF ZELDA???

It says that in TLoZ Heart containers are also referred to as "Heart Shaped Water Bottle" (ハートの水筒). And this is true as in the game they are referred to as "Container Heart" with the (イノチ ノ ウツワ) spelling while in the Manual they are referred to as "Heart Shaped Water Bottles" with the (ハートの水筒とハート) spelling.

(Youtube: "Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy - FDS - No Commentary Playthrough" Time: 0:48)

(The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda Japanese Game Manual pg. 21)

So it was a mistranslation all along! Or so I hope... Because at the end of the day, why was it translated like this? What happened along the way to end up attributing the "Bowl of Hearts" translation to TAoL when I cannot find a primary source that refers to it as such. I believe the reason they did not translate the Japanese Encyclopedia entry directly to English is that it is not referred to as a "Heart Shaped Water Bottle" in the English translation. Then why single out TAoL? Is it because no one would doubt it or think to double check? Or is there some primary source out there that does refer to it as a "Bowl of Hearts"? I just can't know for sure. Ultimately, this doesn't matter that much, at the very most it's just annoying that it gets referred to as this in the wiki when there doesn't seem to be a primary source to back this claim. Oh well.

For now, I sign off! And wish you on your merry way. Thank you for reading or at least scrolling to the bottom.

Sources:

Zelda Wiki Hart Container entry: https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/Heart_Container

TAoL Text Dump: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/563487-zelda-ii-the-adventure-of-link/faqs/20234

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link English Manual: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAASE.pdf

Nintendo Power January/February 1989: https://shedevr.org.ru/zelda64rus/media/Zelda2_(Nintendo_Power_004)_(1989)_Jan-Feb.pdf

Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia: https://archive.org/details/TheLegendOfZeldaEncyclopedia/page/n119/mode/2up

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link Japanese Manual: https://archive.org/details/booklet_aol_jp/page/n47/mode/2up

OoT Japanese Manual: https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/images/a/aa/Ocarina-of-Time-Japan-Instruction-Manual-Page-28-29.jpg

OoA Japanese Manual: https://archive.org/details/zelda-oracle-of-ages-j-cart-and-manual-ozidual/Zelda%20Oracle%20of%20Ages%20-%20Manual%2007%2009.jpg

リンクの冒険 (FDS) 全クリア (ノーデス): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBsZTae_TTo&t=4003s

The Adventure of Link Winning Guide: https://archive.org/details/zines_zelda_famimaga_1987_aol_guide_600dpi/page/16/mode/2up

LoZ lore because you asked 1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gF3KRcwD3pU

Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy - FDS - No Commentary Playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-aYJyHgCy0

The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda Japanese Game Manual: https://archive.org/details/booklet_loz_jp/page/n19/mode/2up

[undertale-fic-librarby]

Delightful Distraction

A genderswapped FluffyNight drabble to celebrate reaching 300 followers! This was briefly looked over & written in two sittings! Happy reading!

Ccino hums quietly to the music that's playing in the otherwise quiet café & picks up the dirty dishes of the table that had just left, leaving the building free of customers for the time being.

Carrying the plates carefully with both hands, she walks into the back where the kitchen is & deposits the dirty dishes into the sink, already filled with plates from earlier in the day.

Ccino debates with herself for a moment before grabbing a pair of dish washing gloves from nearby & slipping them on. She might as well take advantage of the lack of customers & get a head start on washing up.

Scrubbing away at a dirty cup, Ccino's unaware of a presence approaching her from behind until there are suddenly arms wrapped around her waist, causing her to jump & tighten her grip on the mug in her hand in surprise.

Looking over her shoulder, Ccino glares at the grinning face behind her, huffing in annoyance. "Was that really necessary?" Nightmare lets out a quiet chuckle as she tightens her hold around Ccino, resting her head on the other's shoulder.

"No, but it was funny." She mumbles softly in response to the question, pressing a soft kiss against Ccino's neck in apology. "Will you ever find it in yourself to forgive me?"

Ccino rolls her eyelights & sighs with a shake of her skull, unable to keep the smile off of her face as she turns back to face the sink. "I don't know, what will you do to make it up to me?"

Nightmare hums as she thinks, grin softening into a smile as she tries to come up with a satisfying reply. "I could always make dinner for us tonight?"

Ccino stands straight & pulls away from Nightmare's hold slightly to look at her, a look of panic on her face as she frantically tries to backtrack. "N-No, it's fine! No further apology needed, I'm good!"

Nightmare huffs with a pout, reluctantly pulling away & taking a step back from the other. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Ccino pauses to take off the gloves she's wearing before turning to face Nightmare fully. "Honey, you know I love you," she takes the other's hands into hers, squeezing them softly as she meets Nightmare's gaze & continues speaking, "but your cooking could use some work."

Nightmare frowns as if she's upset, but shrugs after a moment as a smile forms on her face again. "Yeah, that's fair." She squeezes Ccino's hands in return, leaning in & pressing a chaste kiss against the other's teeth.

Ccino hums as she goes to kiss Nightmare again, unsatisfied with how short the last one was, only to jump at the sound of the bell hanging in front of the door ringing & signaling the presence of a customer.

She pulls away in a panic, adjusting her apron with a light blush on her face as she walks away from Nightmare & back out to the actual café area, calling out to the customer. "Just a moment!"

Nightmare watches as Ccino walks away with a pout, tentacles drooping in disappointment as she hears her begin to take the customer's order. She had hoped to have Ccino's attention for longer, but that clearly wasn't going to happen.

Nightmare looks over at the dirty dishes that she had distracted Ccino from, sighing & grabbing the gloves that the other had been using. She may as well help her darling out a little since she had distracted her.

[faaun]

do you believe that pretty privilege exists?

yes ! there's been a lot of research on this !

each word is a different article :) always do ur own research; some are just lit reviews, some not controlled/randomised, i haven't read them all (mostly skimmed abstracts), but the general consensus is yes ! here are some things i gathered (again, i skimmed, always fact-check things urself!!)

1) children perceived by teachers as more beautiful get better results in school

2) more attractive people have more occupational and economic success

3) less attractive rape victims are held more responsible for their assault (?? can we start society over . please) . bias stronger for male observers than female observers .

4) thinner women (well, lower waist to hip ratio) were more likely to be believed about being assaulted

5) the bystander effect was likely to impact people witnessing the harassment/assault of more conventionally feminine women

6) in some cases, attractiveness bias is shown to be reversed in same-sex individuals in a professional setting, in some cases, the opposite is true . either way, the combination of attractiveness and sex seems to have an impact

7) people are more likely to make eye contact with physically attractive faces . effect stronger for women's faces than men's.

8) even university students show employability bias for more attractive students (it's not necessarily a matter of education)

9) attractive political candidates are viewed more favourably by voters than non-attractive candidates

10) adults believed infants 48 hour old, 3 month old and 9 month old infants they viewed as more beautiful were more likeable, smart, "better babies," and conversely "low attractiveness" babies were seen as causing more problems

again, look at everything critically ! i haven't fully read all of these !! lmk if u need links for anything specifically :)

[weaponsdrawn]

"Flippy. I'm sorry for trying to kill you, and for killing the neighbors along the way, when you tried to keep me grounded. It wasn't right. I know I haven't done a good job of keeping you safe, and we're trying to live peaceful lives. ...Flippy? What are you doing?"

The screenshots I referenced, and full page are under the cut!

also HI yes this is a series im going to be trying to do where I do like redraws of creepypasta/retakes/just general scary internet things but like with my blorbos or whatever. i initially got the idea when fliqpy's icon in like the flipped out mod reminded me of the iconic max and ruby 004 eyes thing, and then that spiraled into a whole "hey what if flippy just gave up and tried to off himself into dormancy and it fucked up fliq" type of idea/concept. esp bc i am a huge fan of the idea of fliq undergoing some kind of "Fucked Up Evil Protector Experiences Remorse" YES I consider it to be a system, and YES I think a lot about the whole "seeing everyone as an enemy soldier" thing. like personally I hc he existed pre-war as a protector, and like ok i know double whammy has them fight but I feel like he does gen want flippy to well. BE ok/he cares about that little goober. its just The War absolutely decimated the system in multiple ways and thats how we get like ZERO communication between them, fliq seemingly only fronting/acting on trauma responses ALONE and doing shit like brute forcing fronting whenever theres any sort of trauma/ptsd related trigger, and flippy just trying rlly hard to live a normal life. shit like the dipping fries in blood like its ketchup thing i just chalk it up to htf being a funny goofy series bc i find it funny when absurd shit like that happens . wow this turned into a huge rant that i honestly rushed bc i wanna get lunch anyhow

[tea-cat-arts]

I'm willing to at least hear out most of the "xyz plot point is heavily tied to abc cultural context" brands of posts but the "wwx isn't meant to be read as morally gray" and "the western fandom made up Sizhui being wangxian's son" brands of post make me feel like my cultural ignorance is being used to gaslight me

[waywardsalt]

While Ganondorf is busy as king of the Gerudo and Linebeck is often out at sea, they hardly manage to find time to spend together- but with the right timing and allowances, find time for a bit of desert exploration.

-

ganonbeck fic complete!!

here's a new link to chapter 1, and chapter 2 is finally up as well.

FanFiction.net version: X