#hope she was worth the wait!

[lesbianelsas]

alicent + (lack of) bodily autonomy

"This felt like a baptism. Stripping the outer layer, and that f-cking collar [laughs]. Her getting into the lake on her own is embryonic, in a way. It’s weirdly a coming-of-age moment for Alicent—the start of the rest of her life, what she’s about to do, and the woman she’s possibly about to become." (x)

[gingermintpepper]

I would love to hear you talk about Kassandra???

So, what can I say about Kassandra.

Well, firstly, I've been thinking about how I want to answer this question since I got it however many months ago and I figured I wanted to speak about my own interpretation of things rather than formal stuff - half because I don't want to cite anything since going through Iliad based papers brings me little joy and half because I figure I could treat it a bit more casually this way. So here's like, a very brief selection of thoughts I have about Kassandra, Saintess of Troy.

I view her tale as a microcosm of the wider tale of the Fall of Troy from Apollo's perspective. A human is given a choice and, of their own free-will, they make the most destructive decision ignorant of the way they're sealing their own fate and no matter how much their patron will want to save and help them, they will be unable to so much as lift a meaningful finger because the choice made is one that is sealed in Fate and powers far beyond any one god. The themes of doomed love are also shared; Kassandra loved Apollo just as Apollo loved her but she couldn't be what he wanted of her. She couldn't accept what it was he was offering, no matter how much power, honour and love he tried to tempt her with and in a lot of ways, I think of her devastating visions of doom and death(tm) as a physical parallel to the feelings Helen must be tormented with knowing that she will be cited as the reason of such mass death, destruction and violence. Likewise, I see Apollo's inability to save Kassandra up until the end as representative of his wider inability to save Troy. All his love and blessing were not enough, even though all she had to do was take his hand, it simply wasn't meant to be and so I imagine that must be a fresh hurt for him with each beloved mortal he loses during the campaign.

Kassandra is genuinely so interesting? Both as a character and as a narrative idea; she sits almost in the center of so many fascinating parallels and foils that it gets me so excited whenever she comes up in conversation! I've mentioned it briefly before but she forms a very neat triad with Iphigenia and Troilus which runs parallel to the three dominant male powers in Iliad - Agamemnon, Achilles and Apollo. They're what I somewhat refer to as the sacrifice trio, innocents who must ultimately be abandoned and stripped away for the sake of the desire of their sacrificer, in turn revealing something intrinsic about the nature of the man. For Iphigenia, she reveals that Agamemnon truly values his ambition over all, that his image and status as a leader is more meaningful to him than the love of his family (which, of course, dooms him in the end). Likewise, for Achilles, Troilus' sacrifice reveals that no matter the glamour or glory that crowns Achilles' head, his rage is ultimately his most powerful feeling and it burns bright and hot no matter the circumstance, opponent or arena. For Apollo, Kassandra's sacrifice (which is much more symbolic as he is a god and therefore need not actually physically kill her) reveals his position as the 'loser', one who will be scorned and reviled and lose all the things he loves no matter how closely he cherishes or adorns them. He can't protect the mortals he's blessed, he can't protect his children - he can't even save one woman. She also has that aforementioned triad with Helen and Andromache - the sequestered women; doomed to wait and pray but each, in their own ways working to save and support their own in the conflict. They're all haunted by the promise of what awaits them - Andromache's hopes and future lies with Hector and with her son yet she is the embodiment of a war-wife, solid and stoic in her support when Hector returns but suffering deeply knowing each fight could be his last. Helen, of course, carries with her both the suffering of the greek women and the hatred of their men - if Andromache fears death taking the breath from her beloved fighters then Helen bears the weight of death upon her shoulders, all grief and scorn is bore like a crown upon her head and she must bear it. It is her duty to bear it. Kassandra then becomes the suffering of the young women - they who are surrounding on all sides by throngs of death and do not know why it has come, they whose screams intermix with that of the dead upon them. There is no avatar for Kassandra to experience the war through, no reason for her to be stoic or strong or upright. She tears her hair, hysterical at the suffering that is poured into her mind day in and day out, wild and unrestrained where her elders must hold their grief and tame it. In this way, she gives voice to the voiceless, she screams for those who cannot and is reviled for it - a young woman surrounded by death yet ordered not to speak a word of its stench or horror. There's many more things I can talk about too such as the whole Kassandra as Apollo's living Palladium thing or the Kassandra-Electra-Clytemnestra trio or even Chryseis as a reflection of Kassandra and how the taking of a priest's daughter could be seen as tantamount to trying to steal away Kassandra (and how this eventually wraps back around to the actual incident of Kassandra being stolen away and ending up right back under Agamemnon's care just as Chryseis before her) but like, we would be here all day.

Y'all maybe this is a hot take but scorned woman Kassandra is like, the most boring interpretation of her ever. She has so much life and passion in her, so much joy, so much despair, so much love - making her jaded and cynical towards both her fate and her god is such a slap in the face to me of what her character could and generally does seem to stand for. Kassandra never stopped loving Apollo - likewise, Apollo (at least to me) never abandoned her. All in Troy suffer heavy, cursed fates - Kassandra is one of the few who at least had some awareness of how hers would turn out. I like that she's a fighter. I like that she screams and cries and spits and is expressive and ugly in her torment and grief when so many of the women around her cannot afford to be. I like that she said no and despite how much she suffered for it, she never begged for her yolk to be taken from her because she knew that the choice she made was the right one for her. She's raw, she's vivid, she's human and more than anything, that's what I love so much about her.

[petrichorium]

pluvi begging you to expand on gojo not wanting what happened to his mother to happen to you 🙏

warnings: it’s all a dream so nothing is real aside from the flashback stuff but pregnancy as horror, (sewing) needles, implied gore/eye trauma, implied child harm, gojo is messed up yo!!! and its bc of his mama!!!

he dreams about her.

it’s an odd thing, really. gojo isn’t much of a dreamer—not much of a sleeper, all things considered, but it’s difficult not to give in when you drag him to bed and curl up in his arms. the soft rise and fall of your chest, the steady thump of your heart, the sound of your breath; it soothes him into slumber.

and he dreams about her. she was always young. he’s older now than she ever got to be. frail, thin; borderline skeletal, robes hanging from her body like webbing. she sits in a chair facing a window, swathed in moonlight, the silver of her embroidery needle glinting with each stab. her face is veiled. her stomach is swollen with child.

she doesn’t turn to him, but she beckons without noise. his feet take him easily to her, and he kneels at her side as she sets aside the embroidery hoop to let him place his head on her knees.

her hand is cold as it threads through his hair. it’s gentle, at first. then harsher a moment later. she grips firm, tugs him up by those electric white threads, stares down at him through all that elaborate lace.

he imagines she’s weeping beneath it. his mother never wept before him, but she was pretty in the aftermath, eyes puffy and pink and shining. they were a cold kind of loving when they regarded him. she must have been beautiful once, elegant and lithe and willowy, cruel like the heartless sea and sharp like a brilliant diamond, but whatever was there is long gone. he thinks all sons must empty their mothers, bleed them dry from within, because his was always a shell.

she trails her hand down the side of his face, and he turns into the palm and closes his eyes, and she is silent as she sets down her embroidery to lift her veil. she is silent and hollow and eidolic as her fingers brush down his jaw and tilt his head up to look at her.

but it’s your face that he sees when he opens his eyes.

it’s your hand against his cheek, your eyes pink and puffy and pretty, your stomach bulging by his own doing. it’s your fingers that pluck up the needle, still attached to a thread of brilliant cerulean, and raise it to his eye.

his mother never was able to pierce him with that needle. she stopped herself, each and every time, dropping it and tugging him close in shame. she never doted, never was kind, but she never did manage to harm him.

you do. he lets you. it’s only fair. whatever thing is in your stomach can’t be human—whether god or demon what does it matter, at the end of the day—and didn’t he put it in you himself? if his mother never got the satisfaction of spilling his blood, shouldn’t you?

but he wakes just as the tip pierces his iris, and you hold him in your lap, eyes wide with concern and not puffy from weeping, and you hold no child within you. your hands thread through his hair and they’re warm, your lips plush when you bend to press a kiss to his brow.

he turns inward to press his face into your (empty, blissfully vacant) abdomen. the wetness he leaves there, falling from his so very coveted eyes, is colorless.

he thinks it ought to be brilliant crimson.

[badly-drawn-bbu]

Idea: Billie purposely singing Christmas songs with very different lyrics from the original.

BDBBU Holiday Spectacular 2023 PT. 12!

prev // next

[sweetandglovelyart]

I decided to try designing a Metadede child and a Taransusie child, this is Meta Knight and Dedede’s daughter Cintia and Taranza and Susie’s daughter Clover. Before anyone asks how they exist, my lore for them is that both of them are clones, but instead of being cloned from one person they’re cloned from a combination of two people. I have more backstory about them and explanations for their names under the cut.

I wanted to give Cintia a moon-themed name (because of the moon theme in the final battle against Meta Knight and Dedede in Kirby Fighters 2), and I also wanted her to have a Spanish name because of Meta Knight’s accent in the anime. However, I didn’t want to call her Luna since she’s a princess and I didn’t want anyone to confuse her with the My Little Pony character Princess Luna. Cintia is the Spanish version of Cynthia, which means moon/is related to the moon goddess Artemis, so I called her that instead of Luna. The little gold and black design on her crown is supposed to be a crescent moon to further convey the moon theme. I feel like Meta Knight would call her by her full name most of the time but he might call her “mija” (“my daughter” in Spanish) or “pingüinita” (“little penguin” in Spanish) as a little affectionate nickname lmao, Dedede and most of the other characters would just call her Cindee.

For Clover, I wanted to give her a floral/plant themed name since she’s the princess of Floralia (in my AU of things Taranza becomes the king of Floralia after the events of Triple Deluxe, so that makes Clover a princess). Four leaf clovers are also symbols of good luck, and each leaf of a four leaf clover represents luck, faith, hope, and love, so I thought that it would be a nice meaningful name for her. Her full name is Clover Maxine Haltmann, she has Susie’s last name since Taranza doesn’t have one and her middle name is Maxine in honor of her grandfather Max.

Clover is the first one to be cloned, when Taranza and Susie are engaged and are preparing for their wedding. They go visit another planet to establish diplomatic relations between Floralia and the aliens on that planet, and after they mention that they’re getting married soon the aliens ask them if they’re planning to have kids. Taranza and Susie explain that they can’t have kids the usual way since they’re different species and that wouldn’t work, but the aliens are experts at cloning and have technology that allows them to clone children for couples who are different species. The aliens clone Clover as a wedding gift for Taranza and Susie, not realizing that the two of them saying that they couldn’t have kids didn’t necessarily mean that they wanted to have kids lmao… it all works out though, Taranza and Susie didn’t expect to get Clover but they’re still happy to have her and they return to Popstar with her. After seeing Clover, Dedede and Meta Knight decide that they want to have a kid, so they go visit the aliens and ask them to clone one for them, and that’s where Cindee comes from. I drew Cindee and Clover as little kids here so I could give them some outfits and convey their personalities a bit, but I’ll have to draw them again as babies.

[omppupiiras]

holy erika the angel ❤️❤️❤️

[illiana-mystery]

Chapter 4 is finally up! Sorry for the very long delay. 😅 In this chapter, Norman and Foxy have a heart to heart and realize that they had similar childhoods... Specifically dealing with abusive fathers. This happens over the dinner that he, Rosie, Otto, and Bernard set up and prepared for them in the previous chapter. 

Oh and she also meets Rosie, Otto, and Bernard in this chapter. 😁

Stay tuned for Chapter 5 where Norman and Foxy finally have their first time together. It's gonna be both intimate and fluffy. ☺️😏😉 

Taglist: @ghnaim24​​, @imwithyoutiltheendofthelinebucky​​, @iobsessoverfictionalmen​​, @emily-ella-nightshade89​​, @goodoldcharley​​, @writingkitten​​​, @dreamlikedesires​​

[trashycosmos]

Hu5h

[endersdead]

the eepy sleeper

[florida3exclamationpoints]

[draconscious]

TRANQUIL LIGHT.

(DRAGON CYCLE DIARY | STONE FANGS  → SHATTERED HEIGHTS  → CALM WATERS  → TRANQUIL LIGHT → ?)

An untroubled mind Dwells in perfect harmony With a peaceful heart.

Aside from the waves slapping against ancient rock--a primordial, natural heartbeat--the Dragon's Den rests in shadowy silence, its wyrms slumbering deeply beneath the oily-black waters. Torches and lanterns throughout the sacred expanse have all been extinguished for the evening, except for one.

The lantern illuminating the dragon shrine flickers resolutely amidst the murk, maintaining its timeless watch over the Clan's sanctum. Wicked mountain winds scream from outside, but this insulated space has long maintained its warmth even in the harshest Blackthorn winters. (Tiny hot springs dot the cavern lake's isolated perimeter, little pools that steam and bubble and contribute to the Den's mystical atmosphere...)

Clair lets out a groan of relief as she sinks into one of these springs, the water almost burning her shivering shoulders. The temperature is intense, but--right now--it's just what she needs. A torch flickers beside the natural basin, revealing a sopping-wet cape and snow-caked boots...

Mountain patrol was hard today. The range ate them all alive, a maelstrom of ice and gusting snow and tragedy. Dratini are so helpless. They don't know any better. Those who do not hibernate simply freeze, or slither into forgotten traps...

Clair feels every ache, even as the tension and knots drain from her overtaxed shoulders. The prideful Gym Leader trains all year for this moment--the ultimate test of Blackthorn's dragon stewardship--but it's never easy. She is so tired. Always tired these days, but pushing onward. She has to.

This winter has been brutal, blinding conditions making travel almost impossible. Clair has withdrawn into herself, prior plans withering on a frostbitten vine. She hasn't spoken to non-tamer folk in months, and their collective attitude--it weighs and grates on her. So much arguing. So much arrogance.

She'd yelled at Mike and Paolo today, up on the mountain. A simple disagreement turned into something more feral, and Clair felt the familiar snap of dragon's rage within her psyche. Suddenly, she was screaming herself hoarse against the bitter winds, and two of her strongest Gym Trainers wasted little time abandoning the patrol in a huff. She spit after them, primal and ferocious. Good riddance. Never needed you. Not strong enough to keep up.

Clair curses under her breath. Fran is going to give her such an earful tomorrow...

The spring bubbles away, the Den is near-silent, and Clair can feel herself healing within this rare moment of solace. Within this slice of time, she doesn't hear any bickering voices, doesn't feel the weight of a Dratini wriggling in her arms, doesn't have to bear the Blackthorn wind cutting into her features...

The heiress has never felt more at peace. She has also never felt more lonely. Another double-edged sword, bestowed upon those who dare to stand tall against the untamable storm...

Winter shrieks outside, and in a few hours, the Den will once again be at the mercy of its temperamental inhabitants.

In this fleeting moment of tranquility, Clair will take what she can get.

[sophfandoms53]

Having this caption in an episode that finally gives us some depth about Millie is so funny

[electric-plants]

ughhhhhh chevreuse on a banner i didn’t plan to pull on killing and biting and killing

[hauntingblue]

Jaya time

I love these moments of nearly cosmic horror when they encounter inexplicable things (at first) they are so intriguing

Is strawhat here?! *Megan thee stallion saying AAH ���*

This cover just goes hard... Get it chopper

[an-assortment-of-forks]

I'm in too much pain to eat food and I hate! doctors! fuck you!!!!!!!

[crocordile]

Extremely belated commission for @isabelpsaroslunnen, her wonderful characters Loraya, Arceptra, Giva and the dragon Xyzith, from her wonderful (yet unnamed) original story <3 <3