#i am so so dubious

[lurkingshan]

School 2013 is still so powerful. It’s so rare that dramas let protagonists actually make such serious life altering mistakes that they can never make up for. There’s no excuse and no justification and no way to ever really make amends. Nam Soon just did an awful thing and he has to live with that forever.

[obsob]

oooooooooough i love you i love you i love you!!!! hand in loving hand !!!!!!

[chiropteracupola]

c. 1540 CE: a young man from Chalco, and his dragon.

[f-imaginings]

Some Book of Bill musings about the theraprism below the cut.

Bill getting sectioned by the Axolotl (and time baby?) is wild to me.

What sort of therapy would be effective on an unwilling participant with such extreme issues with authority?

Do they enforce medication schedules, is there mandatory CBT or DBT sessions to make him feel bad about his decisions (and is guilt ever an effective method when dealing with someone with Bills issues) or do they do Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Can you use EMDR to process traumatic memories if the patient only has one eye (probably) or would they utilise tapping or electric pulses to trigger bilateral brain movement.

I know they do art therapy and have unhelpful patronising motivational posters on the wall, but who decides by what metric these "offenders" reach reform by?

And who decides their reincarnation fate, is there any oversight there to make these reincarnation decisions client led or is it just one more thing the offenders have to accept they have no control over. They are already dressed like prisoners and subjected to solitary confinement (which can be a passive form of torture in some cases).

Do they address the root traumas effectively given the owners of the theraprism seem to be all powerful (but not powerful enough to eradicate the systemic problems that cause the initial traumas) or do they victim blame and reinforce narcissistic injury through this process.

Are you cured when you stop fighting? When you give up and conform?

How is the theraprism a just solution and who controls it behind the scenes?

Are you free when you admit guilt (Bill already described himself as a monster) or when you take accountability?

Is accountability helpful at all when the Theraprism only seems to release patients to be completely reincarnated to a new form and life? How are you meant to make up for your failings in this life if you're just continually punished for it until you reach reincarnation stage and then continue to be punished in the next life (by only getting reincarnated as bugs or lower life forms if the butterfly is anything to go by). Everyone just trusts that the Axolotl is the good guy, same with Time Baby, but by what virtue are they in charge (when they seem just as mysterious, ambiguous and overpowered as Bill sometimes) and what have they done to prove they are worthy of this huge responsibility?

I have so many questions about the actual efficacy of the theraprism past a funny punchline for the Book of Bill.

[jaxi-the-dragonborn]

I have another round of adopts for everyone! This ones aren't free, unfortunately :(

BUT you can pay ANY amount to my ko-fi :D

if you pay more than 50$ you will get a fullbody included :) i already have fullbodies sketched out for most of the designs here. I would really appreciate it if these got adopted, i really need to fix my car for work and the car problems are getting worse

so to recap: any price = headshot 15$ = headshot and customized wing design 50$= headshot and customized full body :D

adopt status and design notes under the cut

Tarnished gold SkyWing (could have some other tribes mixed in here): Available

Pinto SandWing: Available

SeaWing/Icewing: Available

Sunset Skywing: Available

Spiky Silkwing: Available

Starry RainWing(?): Taken by @number1elfenthusiast

Glory but on dark mode (it was on accident): Available

Lynx point SeaWing(?): Available

MudWing/Hivewing(?????): taken by @miss-grey

Wolf IceWing: Available

Zebra-ish SandWing: Available

Yellowjacket HiveWing/NightWing: Available

Frosty MudWing: Available

MudWing/HiveWing(???? could be siblings with #9): Available

IceWing/SeaWing: Taken by @fivetrench

Barn Owl IceWing (other side of face is scarred): taken by @miss-grey

Sunrise IceWing: Available

Smol Turquoisey NightWing: Available

LORGE Grandparent NightWing: Available

i've always loved the look of tarnished gold, tried drawing that out on a skywing. OH in my head the sizes that they are on the page reflect like how big they actually are so that nightwing is HUGE. so is that seawing/icewing. the two pure icewings on here came from me experimenting how much variety one dragon species can have and they are two sides of the spectrum

EDIT: forgot to mention pls send an ask before adopting so I can keep track of everyone

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Holy shit if you dont want to see owl videos simply change your url

let me ask you something, anon.

Do you think if someone’s url had “dog-videos” in it that would mean they enjoy being sent videos of dogs being beaten or getting hyperthermia in hot cars? Do you think they would take it as a genuine “hey I’m worried about whether this is ethical or not” when the video they send in is a dog getting pinned down by a lion?

People who like and work with animals generally don’t enjoy being sent videos of animal abuse for no reason. A little owl being licked by a house cat, aside from being a video I have rated numerous times over the years, is a bit hard for me to believe is a genuine question on ethics. I can only say so many times that feline saliva is toxic to birds and I can only say so many times that owls don’t like to be touched in most cases.

Any video with an owl interacting with a cat is unethical.

Any video with an owl in an obvious pet situation is unethical.

I cannot make that any clearer, if you don’t know anything about owls, may I recommend checking my “rated: cute” and “rated: not cute” tags. I have recommended tags set up on the search bar for this blog for a reason.

[cyanorhis]

that moment when u meet the disguised version of your culture's satan and u end up making him fall in love with you. absolutely hilarious.

you either make him regret his actions or you make him validate his actions. he will do the shit anyway so pick your poison. doomed divorce forever.

[whumpshaped]

ok but like... pets who believe theyre lesser and meant to be controlled... with people around them who believe the opposite... not realising that the ONLY reason theyre even allowed to have disagreements with the people around them is because theyre not seen as pets... like can you imagine? can you imagine if caretaker turned around and said "okay yes you are meant to listen to me and i can tell you what to do. and i'm telling you to quit yapping and accept that you're wrong and i'm right. you're not a pet." CAN YOU IMAGINE......

[swallowtail-ageha]

I think someone should study the fact that all of the moral issues people have with coleen hoover are just the modern day version of "this erotic literature will corrupt our pure women!"

[voparwave69]

Hey, so, PSA, just because you write a Long Rambling Post ™️ on Tumblr.com using emoji effects and formatting that is typical of ✨Left Leaning Spaces✨ DOES NOT,

I repeat, DOES NOT, MEAN THAT IT IS AUTOMATICALLY A TRUE AND VALUABLE STATEMENT. Yall need to realize this before you cause very real damage to all of your followers. Yall NEED to realize that those glass rose vases you see being sold at gas stations have a hidden feature behind those innocently beautiful petals: They are actually crack pipes! And something I also don't see discussed enough because this is the Piss On The Poor website is people discussing the fact that meth can also be smoked out of light bulbs. And I see even fewer people discussing the fact that you can easily find cigarette butts, even barely smoked cigarettes, around Walmart employee break areas which are completely accessible to the public! And if you are thirsty afterwards because your mouth is dry after sucking down 40 cigarette butts in a row, there are FREE WATER FOUNTAINS INSIDE, along with FREE POPCORN CHICKEN AND SODAS. Please, if you're going to reblog ANYTHING, reblog this. There are far too many people simply using light bulbs to light their ugly houses and using crack pipes as home decor, and still buying their own cigarettes when there is a wild and wonderful world of already amply tasted and caressed cigarette butts right on the ground beneath them.

[thistransient]

I have a heinous sunburn, my tailbone region is bruised and abraded, my stomach issues resolved after 800mg of anti-dysentery pills, I have a newfound and passionate appreciation for hot water and paved roads, and we finally made it back to the city today. This was probably one of the most unwise yet exhilarating things I've ever done in my life. Also I saw more yaks.

[minne-cerbinna]

I think quite often of the optional little dialogue tree that one can get about Yaevinn in TW2 with an imported save if one sides with Iorveth, and particularly of just how Iorveth describes Yaevinn

The dialogue prompt "I once knew another Scoia'tael - Yaevinn." will lead to the following exchange:

GERALT: I once met another Scoia'tael leader.

IORVETH: Yaevinn. I knew him. He had beautiful dreams and desperately wanted me to share them. Asked the same of you, I heard.

GERALT: You know a lot about me.

IORVETH: I try to know as much as I can - about everyone.

They'll elaborate a little further in this dialogue about how they both agree with Yaevinn's reasons and the fact that Yaevinn "saw combat and killing as poetry" which Iorveth deems unrealistic because "war is prose, with no place for beauty" (how poetic).

But the interesting part to me is the statement that Yaevinn had "beautiful dreams" and how he was this grand idealist, because this seems to be in contradiction with Yaevinn's characterisation. In his novel appearance, he argues against Toruviel's idealism as he proposes shooting the unarmed messenger. In TW1, Geralt refers to him in his journal as being "disillusioned", as well as being "a cynic and a pragmatist", neither of which seem to hold with Iorveth's account. While this can be credited to the fact that it's possible that Iorveth's past-tense statement of "I knew him" means that he hasn't seen Yaevinn in some time rather than, or at least in addition to, the implied death. He has perhaps not seen him since the Second Northern War, where they were both in the Vrihedd brigade, and Yaevinn could have grown more cynical since the Scoia'tael were betrayed by Dol Blathanna, his earliest characterisation is that of the novel canon, and he does not present a particular idealism that would reflect the notion that he is a dreamer.

It can be taken as a choice of characterisation, because for all that Yaevinn is disillusioned, he does have his hopes and desires for the future and his plans at Vizima, just as Iorveth has his hopes for Saskia and Vergen. He has these dreams, even if he tenders them close to his chest and puts the practical aspects first before he allows himself to have this hope. And I think that is a really interesting interpretation, to have this juxtaposition, that he can be both disillusioned and a dreamer, and that he chose a scant few, Iorveth, and then Geralt, to share in those precious dreams.

The notion of Yaevinn having these "beautiful dreams" is also very pertinent to his TW1 characterisation, I think, because there are optional dialogues in which Yaevinn tells the accounts of how he once lived among humans and believed in assimilation, that the humans would accept the elves if given enough time, only to be persecuted and harassed at length until he finally accepted that there was no place for him there, that there could be no assimilation, only annihilation. And even though he knows it is a hopeless fight, he still proceeds onward. He knows his people are dying, and he knows that if they do not act quickly, they will be well and truly doomed to extinction, but he is still trying to fight. That is, in and of itself, an expression of a dream for a better future, even if he thinks it hopeless, or, as Iorveth criticises, unrealistic.

Serious character analysis aside, I think that the absolute funniest interpretation of this dialogue is that it is not to be taken literally about Yaevinn's idealism or lack thereof, but rather as a euphemism -- taking "beautiful dreams" as a euphemism for queer romantic interest; hence "he had beautiful dreams and desperately wanted me to share them" is something like "he likes men and asked me to be his lover", "I hear he asked the same of you" thenceforth meaning something like "were you also his lover/do you also like men" (and the response "you know a lot about me" therefore indicating that he is correct in his judgement). There's like a whole rebellion going on but Iorveth is just checking out his options, y'know.

[shootingstarpilot]

An Interlude on Melidaan

(Please check the tags for content warnings!)

Stitch is sitting with Helix when he gets the call.

Helix had woken up for just long enough to squint, recognize Stitch, mutter something about his head having been trampled by a herd of banthas, and pass out again- enough to reassure Stitch that the surgery had gone smoothly. He doesn't like it when any of them are out of commission, but it had been agreed that de-chipping the medics was a priority so they could facilitate removals of the rest of the 212th when they were underway again.

Helix had volunteered first, with an expression that forbade disagreement. Needle's in pre-op now, Stitch knows- he'd hugged him tight and had told him not to worry, and Stitch had nodded against his chest and had told him he was going to worry anyway because that's what you did for your brothers, and Needle's smile had gone all soft around the edges before he'd vanished down the hall.

Stitch has a very long list of things you do for your brothers, and the list grows longer by the day.

And right behind worrying for your brothers is going to them when they need you.

"Needle?"

He knocks once, twice, three times before a steady voice tells him to come in.

He does.

Needle is sitting on the edge of the gurney, pale-faced, hands clutching the blanket under him so tightly his knuckles are turning white. Another person- Stitch had seen her at Jess's side, but had missed her name- is standing a safe distance away, head tilted back, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Stitch blinks. "What happened?"

Needle laughs, hoarse and hurting. "Nothing yet," he mutters. "I- can't. Apparently."

He shifts. "Sorry about your nose, Rittan."

The surgeon- Rittan- is olive-skinned and square-jawed and has a knot of scar tissue sealing shut the socket where her left eye should be. She wrinkles her nose assessingly, drops her hand, and waves Needle's apology off as she settles into her chair.

Stitch likes her immediately.

"Don't be," she says easily. "I've had worse. I once called a total evac when Bretta tossed me an apple and I saw a grenade. We've all got our own twitches."

It takes Stitch a moment to make the connection.

To realize why he's here.

And then he looks again at Needle's pale face and thinks-

Oh.

Needle glances up.

"I- can't," he bursts out. "I thought I could, but I- can't. I can't have- I can't-"

He stops. His shoulders sag.

"I can't," he repeats helplessly. "I can't. I want it out. I can't."

"But you know-"

"Yeah."

"And that it could-"

"I know."

"Or even-"

"Stitch."

Stitch's mouth snaps shut. Needle winces.

"I... know," he says slowly. "I do. I want it out. I want it out. I want it out."

He stops. Presses his hands hard against his eyes.

"I was this close to lying to both of you," he says eventually. "Tell her I'd get it done on the ship. Tell you I'd gotten it done here. And just-"

He shrugs. Helpless. Hurting.

"It could wipe you away," Stitch says desperately, and regrets it immediately when Needle's whole body jerks.

"So maybe I'll just sit here until the end of fucking time, then," Needle snaps, "because I can't let it stay in my brain but I can't let anyone else's fingers in there either! Not-"

He stops.

Stitch's whole chest hurts.

Not again.

"Sorry," Needle says hoarsely. "Sorry. I- hell. Rittan suggested calling someone, but- you can go. I'll figure it out. You can-"

Stitch has stopped listening.

A slow plan is bubbling to life in the back of his mind.

"Needle," he interrupts, "you trust me, right?"

"I- what? Of course-"

"And you want it out?"

Needle curls inwards, hugging himself.

"I don't want it to happen again, Stitch," he whispers, and Stitch nods.

Needle trusts him. Needle wants it out.

He can't let it be taken out.

But he wants it out.

Okay.

"I am going to get you something to drink," he says decisively. "Because hydration is important. While I think. You'll stay here?"

He's met with a wan smile. "Cross my heart."

Stitch hesitates.

(But Needle does this all the time. And it's- nice.)

After a beat, he cups Needle's face in his hands, leans down, and carefully presses a kiss to his forehead.

Needle's eyes are very wide, when he looks down.

"Did I do that right?" Stitch asks, suddenly feeling unaccountably nervous.

Needle's smile looks more like Needle, this time. "Perfect."

Oh.

That's-

That's good.

Right.

The plan.

He returns with a cup of grape juice.

(Needle trusts him.)

He hands it to Needle.

(Needle trusts him.)

Needle drinks, without a second's hesitation.

(Needle trusts him.)

Stitch catches both him and the cup.

"Pretty strong grape juice," Rittan observes.

She's- watching him.

Stitch meets her gaze. "Propofol," he says quietly. "Grape juice so he won't associate it with water later. I'll be your second."

Another item on the list of things you do for your brothers:

The things they can't.

Stitch is largely silent, as Rittan narrates every step.

Watching.

He can feel his heartbeat in his throat.

At one point:

"There's a lot of scarring," Rittan observes. "More than I'd have expected."

"Yes," Stitch says, and does not elaborate.

Needle is moved to recovery.

Stitch settles down next to him.

He doesn't know how much time passes before Needle's breathing shifts into something shallower. Faster.

Stitch knows panic when he sees it, and pokes him. "Needle."

"Mmph."

"Needle," Stitch repeats, and pokes him again.

"...'ch?"

"Yes. What's my favorite terrasaur?"

A moment of stillness. He sees Needle's eyes flicker beneath his eyelids, hears his breathing hitch-

"Needle. Needle. What's my favorite terrasaur?"

Needle's hands flex, curling into the sheet-

"'s a trick question," he manages. "Y'got two."

"What're the two, then?"

"...Blue. 'N tall."

"See?" Stitch whispers, smiling when Needle's eyes crack open and focus on him. "Still you. Still my Needle."

Needle's brow furrows, puzzled. "You..."

Stitch sits on his hands to stop himself from tapping.

"Stitch...?"

"Propofol in the grape juice," he whispers. "You couldn't. So I did."

A beat. A slow nod.

"Are you angry?"

A slow smile spreads across Needle's face.

"Good medic," he sighs, closing his eyes again, and Stitch carefully leans forward and rests his head on Needle's chest.

Feeling him breathe.

"I learned from the best," he whispers, and Needle's free hand reaches upwards and settles in his hair.

It'll be his turn in a bit, he knows. But Rittan will come and find him.

He's got time.

Needle's asleep by the time Stitch senses someone at the door.

He shifts as much as he can without disturbing Needle and looks up, expecting Rittan-

"Hey," Helix says quietly. He's leaning against the doorframe, eyes bright. "Everything go okay?"

Stitch nods.

There's a lump in his throat.

Helix pushes himself up and makes his way over, his gaze flickering towards the monitors. He stops at Needle's side, brushes his hair back-

Then he leans down and drops a kiss on his forehead.

Quick and swift as anything.

He keeps one hand there when he turns to Stitch.

"Rittan asked me to call you," he says quietly. "You want company?"

Stitch shakes his head. "You have to stay here. With Needle. Okay?"

A faintly puzzled smile flickers across Helix's face as he settles into the other chair. "Okay, Stitch. Second bed in here's free, too- I'll make sure it stays that way for you."

"Thanks, Helix," Stitch says. He gathers himself, stands, makes his way towards the door-

Then he pauses. "Did Needle get that from you?"

Helix glances up. "Get what?"

"The forehead kisses. He's good at those."

Helix snorts a laugh. "Doubt it. I think he was kind before he got here."

Stitch nods.

He thinks so, too.

[waitineedaname]

I love cooking so much

[okayto]

I'm in a reference class right now and I just get so irrationally angry about the requirements.

Like, obviously, the purpose of the class is to make sure all the theoretically-future (or sometimes current) librarians know how to actually look things up AND verify sources AND in a wide variety of subjects and topics. Yes, good, valuable, important.

BUT I hate it so much. I hate questions that sound like they came from an alien whose best human impression comes from old chatbots: "Who is Zora Neale Hurston? What is she known for? Does Sparkle Library have any of her books?" why are you asking the first two questions if you clearly know them enough to ask the third "What's this geologic feature I saw in town? What's its history? Where is it?" can I point you to Google Maps please "What is the meaning of the word fandom?" why am I required to find you four verified resources on a dictionary definition "Can you help me find articles about this topic" yes but our professor hasn't actually given us examples of how they'd 'verify' articles so IDK if this will work even though it's literally exactly how I'd do this in my actual library job where I provide reference services to college students.

[camellia-thea]

And these——the dreams—writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their step.

Edgar Allen Poe, the Masque of the Red Death

lighting study from episode two of the fall of the house of usher