#i do not like the word journey for this

[lenskij]

Don't need to sit in front of the mirror to feel like I'm already practicing in front of one. I used to wear my hair like that when I was this model's age :')

This is from the 3rd Suzuki book :) Rumors have it that the first decade of cello playing is the hardest one, but I'm already 1/10 through it 💪

[egosdelirium]

On Losing James Potter

And on feeling his absence like an amputated limb - By Sirius Black.

("Stag", by Edwin Henry Landseer)

Nowadays, one single thought of James is a death sentence. Every stray memory of the way his glasses used to sit a little crookedly on his tanned face, every deconstructed image of his toothy smile feels like what Sirius thinks being shot through the head must be like.

At the slightest mention of his name, Sirius' brain starts to stutter, stumble, trip.

It shakes around his cranium aimlessly, trying to regain a semblance of balance after taking the hit. The sound echoes in his eardrums with a murderous roar and it defeans anything around him.

Once, a fleeting thought of James would've brought Sirius comfort on the darkest of nights.

Now, it's mutilation.

Since Sirius watched James die,

(No, he was already DEAD, you were late!)

his eyes have not registered any other image. In fact, neither Lily's corpse nor Harry's desperate crying frown come back to haunt him during day and night alike, because Sirius simply didn't see them.

It's just James

On the wooden pavement

With his brown eyes wide open,

And a pool of drying blood around him that sticks underneath Black boots,

And a hole underneath his sternum that was once leaking but not anymore,

And no glasses on his face.

There are no glasses on his face, no glasses... where are the glasses?

... And a pair of round spectacles with a shattered lense a couple of feet away from him.

Sirius had picked them up with shaking fingers and gently placed them on his unusally pale face.

For the first time, those damned glasses had seemed to sit straight on James' nose, maybe because of how his head leaned limply to the side.

Sirius had then kneeled in front of him, in death just like he would've in life, and gently placed James' head on his own lap.

He'd caressed his cold skin once, twice, before the tears had come to blur his sight.

Sirius had sobbed, retched, gasped for breath, and choked on it when he couldn’t get any air inside his lungs. Screamed into the blood-soaked pavement.

Sirius had dried the teardrops that had fallen on James' face - most beloved face - with the backs of his hands, as the palms were too dirty and bloodied.

He'd tried to fix the glasses again, then tucked a couple of stray locks of hair behind his ears.

Sirius had placed a trembling kiss on James' forehead, and that had been it.

Afterward, he hasn't been able to see anything at all.

[lunarharp]

pretty & cute witch men

[bogkeep]

[now entering: the OPINION ZONE]

the way i feel about Booktok(tm), as a phenomenon, or maybe more as a weird miasma that is seeping through every bookstore i enter, is that we don't see eye to eye. i'm sure it's got a lot more variation and diversity than whatever weird takes bubble up to the surface for my tiktok-less self to stumble upon - mostly i just feel like my motivation for reading books is different than theirs. there is the occasional overlap in the Books I Enjoy / Big On Booktok venn diagram (which makes me feel very weird about those books but that's for me to sort out), but i cannot personally Trust a booktok recommendation, if that makes sense. either way, it's none of my business what other people like to read, and i think me and booktok can peacefully coexist in each our own spheres. (if all of this is completely incomprehensible to you i salute you and envy your peace of mind.)

anyway, a very fascinating discussion that keeps showing up recently is the phenomenon where popular booktok influencers admit to skipping paragraphs that are too long, or only reading the dialogue of a book, or performing shock at a printed book containing Too Many Words Per Page. what fascinates me is not so much that it is happening (though it DOES fascinate me), but how much people reacting to this struggle to explain exactly Why it's so aggravating.

like, i feel like the obvious takeaway is that these people are monetizing their alleged joy of reading, and then... don't? even like to read? that the consumerist aesthetic of Being A Reader is more profitable on a video platform than doing the due diligence of reviewing books properly? that the content machine marches on and if you're too slow you'll fall behind??

INSTEAD the discussion seems to center around the good old "oohh nooo people read BAD BOOKS instead of GOOD BOOKS and IT'S IMPORTANT TO CHALLENGE YOUR BRAINNN or else the MEDIA LITERACY....." and i'm sorry but i think this has been a moral panic for as long as we've had literature. media literacy has never had a golden age that i'm aware of. there's always been trashy romances that authors pump out on the monthly for easy consumption. capitalism is gonna value profit over quality for as long as it's in charge. people who read for fun are gonna read what they're gonna read, and they're gonna read it in the way they enjoy reading. i agree that reading Good Books is deeply fulfilling! but that is my personal and subjective experience that not everyone is going to share.

i think the reason i feel weird about the insistence that you Must, at least occasionally, Challenge Yourself while reading is that... i'm exhausted in my brain. too exhausted to challenge myself for fun. maybe it's a burnout thing. i really really get looking at a paragraph and finding it simply too much to absorb right now. my main method of getting through books these days is in audio format, even if i would personally prefer to read them visually (they'd stick to my brain better, i would see how names are spelled, sudden POV switches between paragraphs would be less confusing). but reading a book in text form is taking me weeks at best - unless it's a special kind of book that i can't help but devour immediately, sleep schedule be damned (which is another toll to pay). some books are just too complex and need too much focus for me to enjoy right now, so i keep having to goldilock my way to what feels Just Right. some books, i'm sure i'll get back to later. some i've made my peace with never picking up despite the fact that they feel Obligatory (my apologies to lord of the rings. i've Tried and i just can't do it). so like i GET IT. sometimes reading is too much.

what i Wish the discussion was more about, was instead finding ways to read that's enjoyable for you. there is literature and screen plays that are Only Dialogue. there's graphic novels. there's audiobooks and e-readers that let you change the font sizes. there's lots and lots and lots of fanfiction that's literally just banter and smut. there's no shame in reading what you enjoy! there's no shame in spending months on the same book! but i suppose it's not as ~Aesthetic~ as purchasing 10 editions of the same book series on amazon dot hell!!!!

[lanternlightss]

okay .. take two !!!

+ bonus doodles

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

“Sing, let your heart soar! Sing forever!

Sad and so happy! Feelings flow over

Now our world is full of all kinds of colors

Closing my eyes, I still can see the stars…”

Overmorrow -FIN-

[start from the beginning]

[link for better image quality]

[link to fun supplementary info for the fic]

[buy me a ko-fi 🍓]

[seaweedoverlord]

The Monk and the Monkey

''What are you?'' The monk asks the animal- no, the creature before him. It stands on its hind legs without any trouble nor struggle. It does not hunch, it does not move. He watches it warily, and his eyes struggle to maintain eye contact, and not to stare at the way he has been carried away from. Where the carcass of the enormous tiger that stands fallen, in a pool of blood and the heavy smell of the metallic blood that he no longer can see or smell. 

But to get distracted in the human’s case, would be a mistake if not the being was quite happy yet best not to risk it. 

One second, it stares and the next, it stands before him with a bright grin and a tilted head. He startles, dropping his staff as it opens its dangerous jaw to answer his question.

''I am many things,'' It starts speaking, and the Monk thinks it can see the silhouette of a monster behind, watching, in smokes and another thing, another thing that smiles, amused while the human starts to sweat, his palms getting colder and colder.

‘’A wicked demon,’’ It states, grinning with a mouth far too wide, and a grin far too sharp, while the monk gulps with tense shoulders.

‘’A celestial being,’’ It states, as it smiles with gratitude, and a smile full of joy, and the monk relaxes, without being aware, for its genuine smile resembles that of a child a bit too much, tricking him into a false sense of security. 

A false sense of security it is,

For a shark may be content, but it still has a mouth full of sharp teeth and a hunger for blood when you cut open your heart and lay it bare. 

‘’But moreover, I am human.’’ It says, shrugging and standing back while the monk stares. He continues to stare as it stares up at him, with its tail lazily swaying behind it. He is well aware that he should probably try to find a way to leave, instead of interacting with it, but he blurts out without thinking before his mind can catch up with him.

‘’H-human? Y-you don’t look human!’’ He exclaims, and rightfully so as well, for the being standing before him is a tad bit too hairy, with hands instead of feet and of course, not to mention, the tail it has! 

‘’...’’ It stares at him in silence, and it looks up and down while he nervously shuffles. 

‘’Your close minded view, as much as it amazes me, is also disappointing.’’ It finally states after an awkward amount of silence and the monk can only drape his bamboo hat over his face, halfway to avoid eye contact since it unnerves him and says nothing to refute its claims more so because he is too meek to argue with a creature who can topple over a demon four times its size.

‘’Tell me what is a god, and what is a demon?’’ It asks, and the monk has no answer which seems to frustrate the creature before him as it invades his personal space once again, forcing him to stare right into its bloody eyes with the moon in them.

The monk stutters as it sighs, snapping its fingers and the human sees magic come to life before his eyes.

‘’A god represents the ‘kind’ side of humanity, while a demon represents the ‘foul’,’’ It says with a crescent smile but a condescending tone, and the monk steps back as his eyes jump back and forth between the mirrored version of the creature.

‘’Here’s a riddle for you,’’ It doesn't look at him as it becomes one, but he thinks it might see inside him anyway.

‘’If I am both, then what am I?’’ 

The silence scratches on, as tiny crickets pass, and the forest quiets down as if to listen to his answer. 

It's a lot of pressure, he thinks when he sees it watching him like a hawk, like the rest of the world that holds its breath.

The human thinks as he lowers his head and thinks. He eventually comes to an answer as opens his mouth as the being before him stares at him nonchalantly, yet with a slightly wagging tail, clearly full of expectations about his answer.

‘’A monkey?’’

The monk, obviously, plays it safe for he feels like this is a trap.

The monkey’s nose scrunches up, and his eyes squint. 

‘’Hmph,’’ It- He almost sneers at the human. His eyebrow twitch, irritated, and his tail thumps the ground once, twice and stops still. The monk, for a second, thinks he almost might see a pout.

‘’Typical mortals.’’

He says with distaste and the Monk, Tang Sanzang,can only stare at the tiny murder monkey and think: 

What are the chances that if I beg, he’ll leave me alone?’

But the monk can only weep for it will be a long fourteen years.

[matchbet-allofthetime]

Sobbing in bed because I'm writing a Ulysses fic and I'm caught between him killing the Courier because they are willfully giving up all the people they love and all the good they've done in the Mojave and he wanted them dead and gone-

And him just telling them they don't belong in the Divide with him. Not them, not their soft heart.

"You need to go home," Ulysses would say.

The courier would just laugh.

"Go home, Courier," they mumble. "Your signs. I have them all marked on my Pip-Boy. I don't even know why, but I mark all of the ones I find."

They traverse the Divide KNOWING Ulysses will kill them.

They take off their armour and keep only their finest, best combat knife and a gun on them with enough ammo to get them to Ulysses and to give him a third bullet to put in their skull alongside the two from Benny.

They offer him their knife, their gun, and the option for him to kill them with his bare hands.

Willingly. Selflessly. Painfully.

"I could never hate you, Ulysses. Not for this, never for this. I will never be mad at you for this."

And he's caught.

They're a godsend to this place, so much good they've done.

Does he kill them? Or does he bridge the Divide?

Maybe they go home. Maybe he kills them.

And maybe, after everyone back home knows they're okay... Maybe they do belong here, in the Divide, with Ulysses.

[tippenfunkaport]

something something, visited by three spirits that push you to reinvent yourself

and meanwhile, the three mother-type figures in Adora's life were all key to her to figuring out what she really wanted and who she wanted to be but literally...

Light Hope "died" trying to right a wrong from the PAST

Queen Angella died trying to preserve Adora's PRESENT

and Shadow Weaver died to give Adora a chance at a FUTURE

[sagechan]

Kageyama comes back from Italy and the first thing he says to Hinata when they step onto the court is "in te c'è già un'aria di frociaggine" and Hinata thinks he's saying "I love you" and he just goes "aw you too"

[chimerafeathers]

there's an essay jumbled up in my brain about dunmeshi's beginning and how clever and deceptive it is as a sleight-of-hand trick that distracts the audience from the depth and scope of the worldbuilding and foreshadowing that's being set up the entire time by dangling zany characters and wacky dishes and biology fun facts in front of us, and how that serves to catch invested viewers off guard when those elements come to the forefront, but also how it works against it with other viewers wanting "more" and not seeing it because the plot bait isn't laid out up front

how people getting frustrated with the characters "not taking things seriously" is mirrored and refuted in the confrontation between Laios and Shuro. how the characters' attitudes aren't just a result of shallow low-stakes "comedy rules" where nothing matters, but are an extension of their personalities (Laios's nonstandard expression of emotions being offputting even to people he knows) and the world and social environment (adventurers being desensitized to death and injury because resurrection magic is commonplace). the way the party refers to "saving Falin" instead of "retrieving Falin's corpse," indicating that they still see her with full personhood, and how that phrasing leads to some readers/viewers believing that Falin is alive in the dragon's stomach, conscious of being slowly digested while the party carelessly fucks around "wasting time." how the weird tonal dissonance makes sense in-universe and yet is deliberately challenged more and more the deeper the party goes

all the character building and pieces of lore slowly weaving together the shape of the larger world, laying the groundwork for the major themes that will surface later. so much is right there in the "low-stakes" early episodes if you know what you're looking for (or pass the perception checks).

it can be so satisfying to see new viewers/readers pick up on the clues even in the earliest "simple" episodes, or notice new things and make connections yourself....and it can also be frustrating to see people dismiss oddities and dissonance as shallow or bad writing because they don't expect a "cooking anime" to have depth like that. why try to question and understand and peel back the layers when you don't expect there to be any layers?

why can't laios take things seriously for once?

[too-young-to-fall-in-love]

Turned Night Into Day

summary:

There's no reason why Illya should want to talk to him. Really, there isn't. So why's he showing up at his hotel room with a bottle of Scotch and something like an apology on his lips? Or, most of Amor Magnus Doctor Est chapter 8 in Napoleon's POV!! <3

notes:

inspired by Amor Magnus Doctor Est by @cha-melodius

tags:

POV Napoleon Solo, Napoleon solo has no self confidence, insecure Napoleon solo, Reunions, the happy ending to just like me, Mild Sexual Content, inspired by another fic, Napoleon Solo Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Professors

excerpt:

“I’m sorry,” Illya whispers, the words ringing like a gunshot in the otherwise dead quiet of the room. Of all the things Napoleon was expecting, it was definitely not that. “I heard what you and Gaby were talking about,” and “Did you really get Victoria fired to try and win me back?” seemed the most obvious. He’s only able to stare at Illya as the words rattle around in his head. In the silence of the room it seems that Illya might want to take it back. He finds himself hoping he will, because while there’s nothing he wants more than Illya, he’s only good for being left behind. He hopes equally as much that he won’t, because even in the face of reality he still wants him more than he’s ever wanted anything else. “What for?” he asks, head tilted to the side, brow furrowed. Illya huffs out a sound that could be a laugh, but it’s too harsh, too bitter to be classified as such. It’s so sudden that Napoleon actually flinches from it. “Everything,” he answers, like it’s obvious. Like he’d done anything wrong. Leaving him may have been the best decision Illya’s ever made. He can’t imagine how that could be wrong. “For blaming you when it wasn’t really your fault. For shutting you out. For not—” Illya’s voice catches in his throat, and he takes another swallow of liquor. Napoleon shuts his eyes against Illya’s next words, “for not being there for you when I should have been.” A feeble sense of hope takes root in his heart, growing until it threatens to choke him.

read more on ao3

[dakotac0le]

i love dakota cole such a stupid fucking amount hes so important to me

[viatrix-glow]

new di x warrior cats

name explanations and more info below :3

basic stuff

-each agency is a clan, not each unit. 14-15 clans would be silly and then we would have some clans with 5 cats and some with 2.

-starpro -> lightclan. i couldn’t call them “starclan” for obvious reasons. light is somewhat synonymous with star, so i’m going with that.

-cospro -> nightclan. i don’t think the cats in warriors know the word “cosmic”, but cosmic implies cosmos implies night sky, so we’re going with night

-rhyth lin -> rippleclan. ripple is sort of a synonym to rhythm….? this one was hard

-new di -> fortuneclan. this one is a stretch but neither “new” or “dimension” have synonyms that really fit a clan name. fortune is something that relates to multiple characters in new di though

-starclan still sort of exists, but the cats do not believe in them the way they do in warriors. they are more of a nursery tale than anything, and select cats (ex: tatsumi) believe in them, but it is not written into their code. medicine cats can still interpret signs, but they do not necessarily think of them as coming from starclan.

-medicine cat forbidden romance is not a thing here

-intermingling of clans is ok and common

-there’s like. other cats in their clans besides just the enstars cast i assume

cat names/why i chose them

fortuneclan:

knights

-tsukasa -> scarletstar (scarletblossom) . he is the leader of fortuneclan because he is one of the new di reps for the summits. both scarlet and blossom were chosen bc of his last name (scarlet is a red color… kinda similar to cherry…. and blossom for the cherry blossom).

-leo -> lionheart. ok this one is kind of cheating because lionheart is already an existing warrior, but…come on….

-izumi -> silverspring. sora describes his color as silver, and spring is in his first name

-ritsu -> frostmoon. his first name means cold moon according to the wiki so i just rehashed it

-naru -> goldenroar. since she doesn’t like her first name i didn’t want to use “storm”, and her last name can be read as “thunder” but that’s a little too close to storm? so golden for her hair and roar for her last name

switch

-natsume -> sageeye. a sage is similar to a wizard, and eye is in his first name . also the “dovesong” mentioned is wataru :)

-tsumugi -> bluewing. he is a bluebird. warrior cats probably wouldn’t straight up call a cat “bluebird” so i put wing there instead. deputy cause he’s the vp

-sora -> skyspring . sora means sky. spring is in his last name. i could have used “stream” instead to differentiate him from sena but i think spring is cuter

mam/df

-madara -> tawnystripe . tawny bc it’s like kind of close to calico if you squint. stripe(s) is in his last name

[ishikawayukis]

welcome back kang younghyun 💕

[eliotquillon]

fuck it we ball i’m gonna plan the meth time loop fic . worse comes to worst and it never gets done i can just post the outline on here for anyone who’s interested in seeing where i wanted it to go