#closes thread

[artbyblastweave]

That one gag panel of a criminal wearing a vest made of babies to prevent a superhero from attacking him is a great turing test for redditors and tumblrites alike as to whether they have the ability to understand when a comic book writer is attempting to marry the absurd and the serious

[torpublishinggroup]

Celebrate Pride with Tor Publishing Group!

Rakesfall by @adamantine

They met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. Later, in a demon-haunted wood, an act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey through the ages. As they reincarnate ever deeper into the future, a truth emerges: Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell.

Running Close to the Wind by @ariaste

In this queer pirate fantasy, Avra Helvaçi has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world. To avoid capture, he flees to the open sea, where only his on-again, off-again ex aka pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār can help him survive, profit, and become a legend.

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Something evil is buried deep in the desert. It wants your body and wears your skin. Welcome to Camp Resolution, a queer conversion center where everyone leaves a different person. In 1995, seven queer teens were abandoned here by their parents, but survived. Sixteen years later, they’re scarred and broken, but back to face an evil that threatens the world. 

Kinning by Nisi Shawl

In this alternate history where barkcloth airships soar and former colonies claim freedom from imperialist tyrants, the identity of the island of Everfair still wavers. Victorious in the wake of the Great War, a new threat looms. Can Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope for anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces within and without? 

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by @rebeccathornewrites

Can one of the Queen’s private guard and the most powerful mage in existence leave their lives behind to settle down in their new bookshop that serves tea? This cozy fantasy is steeped in sapphic romance and nestled on the edge of dragon country. 

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

Once there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power and connected by a single city: London. After a desperate attempt to prevent corruption and ruin in the four Londons, there are only three. Now the worlds are going to collide anew—brought to a dangerous precipice by the discoveries of three remarkable magicians.

Now available in paperback!

The Archive Undying by @emcandon

This is a story about misplaced faith, complicated love, so much self-loathing, and yeah—giant robots. Plugged into his AI god when its apocalyptic corruption renders him unfortunately immortal, sad gay disaster Sunai takes a die-again-or-die-trying approach to things. Unending life’s tough when intimacy is somehow scarier even than either of the warring police states set on turning you into a weapon or the rogue undead mecha-fragment of your old god that wants to eat you. 

Now available in paperback!

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

A dazzling historical mystery that dives into the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, emerging in the gay bars of the city. It’s a whirlpool of missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos in 1952 San Francisco. 

Now available in paperback!

Celebrate Pride with more titles from Tor Publishing Group here!

[babymorte]

ignore who ignores you. learn to unlove people. don't beg for replies and attention, if someone is ignoring you just maintain the distance and treat them as they treat you

[ryllen]

appearance wise, at least

[ladybeug]

I drew the same comic twice because I didn't think the first one was funny enough. I don't know if the second comic is funnier though??

Here's both of them

Side by side because i couldn't decide which one to put first - knowing the punchline changes the experience?? pick your adventure. read either one first.

which ones funnier i honestly can't tell

[sefynarose]

oh he’s too cute when he’s pouting 🥺

[inkskinned]

it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.

yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.

it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.

how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.

chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?

how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.

"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.

i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.

[thearcherbrothersx]

Closed starter for @aftermiiidniiight / Muse: Declan Archer

He'd agreed to come by and pick her up this evening. He'd had a late meeting and she was out with friends not too far from his office, so naturally it made sense for his driver to swing by her venue on the way back to his place rather than have her make her way there later.

Declan left his driver with the car outside and made his way inside the club she'd told him she'd be at, his features maintaining the visual of ice; cool and calm. This despite the fact that his eyes visibly began searching the area for her as soon as he stepped inside. He looked entirely out of place, perfectly trimmed and kempt, dressed in a tailored Armani suit, a Rolex around his wrist. The sheer value of the man's attire probably surpassed the average occupant's yearly income. And yet he didn't seem bothered by the smell, the noise or fact that one person or other was intermittently bumping into him as he made his way through the crowds.

In fact, his expression didn't change until he finally spotted the gorgeous redhead on the dancefloor surrounded by several appropriately aged males, and at that point it was only for his lips to thin and brows to shift slightly higher on his forehead before his features settled back into that same indifferent mien. He watched her for a few seconds, considering the many different actions he could take, as well as the possible outcomes of those actions, before he turned around to leave.

[necrostar]

How unbelievably embarrassing. Him, the great Bakura, the master of stealth, the clear know-it-all of everything... got locked out his own house again. This time, however, with his lockpicking set still inside. He'd forgotten it when he left that morning.

And now, with nowhere else to go, he was at his doorstep like a stray. What a nightmare. It was one thing if he was here for... literally anything else. It's another when you need something.

Without a word, face tinged red, he knocked with the side of his fist.

"Atem! It's me, open the door!" He barked, stepping back with his arms crossed. He looked impatient, annoyed, and most importantly: like a wet cat. It poured rain the entire way over. Even the sky wanted to point and laugh at him.

@kitxkatrp

[avoidcrowdraws]

Soft

[dailypokemoncrochet]

When I'm crocheting, Saturn my cat likes to rest her head in the crook of my arm. A lot of the time she will end up just resting or wiggling on my arm while the strings of yarn I'm working with slide above her. She sometimes watches them very intently, but she knows not to bite or paw at them and seems to understand that these are MY strings and not hers to play with.

One of her favorite ways to play is I have a very long string that I throw past her and drag it slowly back to me while she watches it go by. Occasionally she will bite at and smack it when the end gets close to her. Eventually she will start actively chasing the string, but for a long time she will just want to watch it slide past her. She meows and gets in my face when I stop, but as soon as I resume the throwing/dragging string, she goes back to her spot to loaf and watch.

So now I wonder if she thinks of string-watching as an activity we both enjoy and that me crocheting is my version of playing by myself.

[saltpepperbeard]

oh, don’t mind me, just thinking about-

-how stede tends to sleep on his back, which i’m pretty sure is just the biggest open invitation for ed to sleep cuddled up on his chest, snuggled impossibly close

[runes-menagerie]

Plotted starter with @mxchineherald

Sky was resting with Viktor within the Arcane, it was exhausting helping to bring back the mind of Vander from within the beast Warwick. She needed to recharge, they both did. Which was why she and Viktor were resting within the Arcane rather than sleeping side by side with her using her body as she often did.

It was peaceful and relaxing. She wouldn't call it sleep but it was restful even with her keeping an eye on the commune. Everything was as calm as could be expected with the Noxians on their doorstep along with Singed. The scientist made her wary and she was glad that Viktor had resisted the temptation and sent the man away.

Then there was a disturbance. She lifted her head and turned her attention to it but didn't leave Viktor's embrace. She didn't have as strong of a connection with the Healed of the commune as Viktor did but it seemed that someone in need of help had arrived. They were being guided here for Healing.

She frowned at that and debated leaving for a moment to use her body to direct the newcomer to a place of rest for the moment since Viktor needed rest. She weighed her opens for too long it seemed since the person was already entering.

Her eyes widened as she recognized the feel of the person. Jayce. He was here and given his reaction to them speaking through Salo, she couldn't be sure what Jayce had planned. Especially since he was continuing to approach the spot where Viktor hovered in meditation. She tried to alert Viktor before reaching for her body just in case.

[kindahoping4forever]

Via the boy photo book

[utilitycaster]

Ok re: the post about there not being queerphobia in Exandria, this also obviously applies to Candela Obscura, and this makes Leo's character extremely funny because Taliesin (actual queer person living in our real world) absolutely drew from the "confirmed bachelor" archetype in creating a gay man living modestly but not without style off a small trust fund (not a confirmed bachelor, perhaps but there's some Prior Walter vibes here for sure). However, often this sort of character is a disappointment to his wealthy family because he's gay, and that's not why Leo is a disappointment; he is just unemployed by choice and a massive bitch.

[tapestryundone]

quiet is right handed and always holds the blade in his right hand as a result. he is tied to the narrative that the narrator constructed through the blade and no matter what happens in any runthrough the knife will always end up in his hand at least once no matter what he does or what he truly wants

the princess is always chained by her right hand. no matter what, she is always bound to the cabin and the narrative that the narrator constructs. tsm is represented through countless arms and yet the princes is always placed in a basement with her right hand shackled

both quiet and the princess are trapped in the construct, parallel to one another. the knife is to the long quiet as the chain is to the shifting mound

in the prisoner chapter, if quiet becomes chained then he must lose the knife. there is no purpose to overlapping ones shackles, he just trades one for another

anytime that the princes recieves the knife, she becomes free of her chain. there is no purpose to overlapping ones shackles, she just trades one for another

the knife and shackles are equivalent, and both must be shed in some way for the shifting mound and the long quiet, or the princess and quiet/hero

at the heart of the shifting mound, the princess will always be free. the shifting mound is free to choose anything she wants. shes waiting for you to choose. the apotheosis establishes that she could destroy the construct if she so chose, but if the long quiet doesnt break free with her, destroying the construct will destroy him, too. she is free of her shackle but she has a choice between leaving with the long quiet or killing him- mirroring that the long quiet has a choice between leaving with the shifting mound or killing her. only that the shifting mound made her choice, and that is that no matter what happens, she will not destroy the long quiet

at the heart of the shifting mound, quiet has the choice to take the knife and give into the narrators script- to abide by it or return to its beginning and reread the story all over again- or to abandon his own shackles and free himself from the story the narrator wove

effectively, the chain and the blade must be abadoned in some way for the two to be free. with or without reaching the heart of the shifting mound, neither can be free until the remnants of the construct are abandoned, until their unique tether to the construct is left behind

and if the two are a palindrome, then the letter in the center is the cabin- a structure that exists for both of them and is a construction of the narrator that they both influence differently but in equal amounts. they both have been built around it and feom it, very literally, and the chain and blade are both offshoots of it that the narrator uses to control them