#i just enjoy writing

[silverhyenaart]

Okay, so first here's a sketch of one of the scenes from Into the Shadows on the left. Neo teaches Sally how to use her Bow... failing to take the ragdoll's rather unique anatomy into consideration. On the right... I just seriously ship those two love birds! Jack and Sally are the ultimate undead power couple and you cannot change my mind.

* * *

Sally winced at that statement. How could the Ambassador be so casual about that? Frog's Breath had a strong odor, strong enough to cover the scent of Deadly Nightshade! She couldn't imagine how miserable getting a direct face-full of it would be.

"I didn't mean to startle you, Neo," Sally confessed, emerging from her hiding place, "I just, well I found it fascinating. What you were doing, I mean."

"Oh? Do you like archery as well?"

Neo returned to her stance, taking another arrow out of the quiver at her side. With practiced ease, she drew it back and fired, adding another to the growing collection piercing her target.

"I've never tried it," Sally admitted, stroking the stitches on her wrists.

"Would you like to?" Questioned Neo, offering her bow to Sally, "You've shown me so much of your realm, Sally. Allow me the honor of showing you something of mine. I could teach you how."

Immediately, Sally's already large eyes widened a little. She'd never really held a weapon before. Well, save for a knife, but that was only while she was cooking. Okay, and the Dragon's Claw, but she'd hoped that would only be used to scare a potential threat away. (And perhaps it made a nice gardening tool as well.)

Tentatively, the ragdoll's dainty hand hovered over the elegant weapon. Up close, she could see that the bow string was held in place by two dragon heads carved into either end of the bow. When she picked it up, it was much lighter than she'd been anticipating.

"Heart Seeker is crafted from the wood of the Dragonblood Trees, which only grow in the Crimson Woods. Where I'm from," Neo explained, as she showed her friend how to hold the bow, "it's very light, extremely durable, easy to enchant, and will not burn."

"Sounds like it must be special to you, Neo," Sally mentioned, watching Neo demonstrate a stance.

The Konderi angled her body to the side, firmly planting her feet in the ground, "If this bow could tell stories..." she sighed, wistfully, "are you ready?"

She drew an arrow from her quiver, handing it to the ragdoll. The tip of the projectile was incredibly sharp; potentially deadly in the right hands. The steel of the arrowhead had the same, ethereal shimmer as the blade at her side. Carefully, Sally knocked the arrow, running her small hand over the fletching.

"Then I just pull it back?"

"Hold onto the arrow with these two fingers," instructed Neo, as she gently guided Sally's fingers into the correct positioning, "when you draw back, you'll feel it in your arm and shoulder."

Upon drawing back to fire, Sally could already feel the strain against her stitches pulling. Her arm began to shake a little, unused to such a sensation.

"Don't tense up, allow your body to relax," Neo stated, moving Sally's elbow up, "now, let it loose."

With a whistle, the arrow went flying through the air; right past the target and landing somewhere in the brambles. Sally had a look of alarm on her features as she lowered the bow. However, Neo took it all in good stride.

"Go ahead and take a mulligan," she said, waving her hand and conjuring the arrow safely in her fingers, "Sally, you've got to learn to relax. It's okay if you're not good at it right away. This is your first time. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"Sorry about that, I... Well ummm..."

Sally pulled back her next arrow, still unsteady.

"Just breathe. Don't even think about the arrow. Breathe in... breathe out. Relax your body. Think of the bow as merely an extension of yourself," Neo whispered, calmly, "now, release."

The ragdoll let Neo's words sink in; Jack often told her the same thing. (Well, perhaps not in those exact words, but close enough.) She let herself relax, a smile curling up on her stitched ruby lips as she released the arrow.

This time, the projectile pierced through the pumpkin. Far away from the group Neo had made previously, but at least she actually struck the target.

"I hit it this time!" Sally exclaimed, turning to her teacher with a wide, excited smile.

"See?" Neo questioned, looking up to the ragdoll as her tail wagged, "I knew you had it in you this whole time. Here," she handed Sally a third arrow, "try aiming where you did last time. We'll work on moving any groups later."

This time, Sally was much less hesitant as she knocked the arrow and drew it back. However, before she could release on her own accord, there was a loud 'snap' and 'riiiiiiiip' as the stitches holding the ragdoll's arm to her body abruptly tore, violently severing the limb. The force of the bow string sent the severed limb flying across the pumpkin patch while the arrow was lost to the nine winds. Sally let out a surprised gasp while Neo's skin suddenly went extremely pale beneath her chocolate colored fur.

"Oh by the Gods, Sally!" Neo yelped, rushing to the much taller woman's side.

The Konderi was fully prepared to go into full field medic mode, her paw-like hand glowing with celestial blue energy. But something was oddly missing. There were no screams of agony, she hadn't collapsed from shock... come to think of it, there was no blood. Wait-no blood?!

"I-I'm okay, Neo. It's just a bit... startling," explained the blue ragdoll, as she stifled an embarrassed laugh, "it doesn't even hurt."

Still no blood, instead, dried autumn leaves fluttered and spilled from the... (wound?!)-while Sally's severed limb dragged itself along the ground, seeking it's mistress.

"How... ummm... how do you, well...?" stammered Neo, as the blue glow around her hand faded.

Putting any words together in a coherent sentence suddenly became very difficult.

"Don't worry, I always come prepared."

Sally gave Neo a reassuring smile, then took a long, sharp needle from behind her ear and produced a spool of thread from her dress pocket.

"Well, I must say that even the great Jack Skellington might have some competition in the shock and awe department there," Neo commented, gathering as many of the loose leaves as she could.

In that moment, Sally felt herself swell with just a little bit of pride. She had actually... scared someone? Perhaps not intentionally. However the fact remained that she had. But, Sally never considered herself scary at all! Sometimes the ragdoll wasn't entirely certain that she fit in with the rest of the town. But here was Neo, giving her some much needed confidence.

Gently, the Konderi picked up the severed arm, taking great care to place the leaves back in place before holding the limb steady for Sally to stitch back into place. From the first moment Sally pierced her blue, cloth-like skin with the needle, Neo winced, pinning her ears against her skull.

"And that-!?"

"Doesn't hurt a bit," Sally reaffirmed, continuing to stitch herself back together.

Neo helped out where she could, mostly sewing the areas Sally always had trouble reaching on her own.

"Thanks, usually Jack would help me with those," the ragdoll paused, lowering her eyes and suddenly remembering the reason she had come to find the Konderi in the first place, "Neo, I-I am very sorry about what happened to you in town earlier. Jack and I have been trying to set those three on the right path, but..."

"They're still loyal to their old patron," Neo finished, "I've heard the hushed whispers in town. Plus, Jack let me in on a few things. They once served a terrible fiend. Yet neither you nor Jack have given up on them. I saw the way he looked at Lock, Shock, and Barrel as they fled. Like a disappointed father."

Mostly, Neo was upset about losing the broken mirror. That was a gift from the King of Halloween himself; at this time, it was probably smothered in sticky candy wrappers or carelessly tossed in some dark nameless corner. She dared not think of how the regal and respected dragon and sun sigil on her leather satchel was being desecrated this very moment.

"Jack's a good man, perhaps even too good of a man," Neo sighed, tightening the stitches on the back of Sally's arm, "and he's lucky to have you by his side, Sally."

At once, the ragdoll felt her cheeks warm from those words, turning a dark pink against the blue, "I've... always been there for Jack, through good times and bad," Sally let out a soft sigh, "and he for me. Did I ever tell you that Jack has actually... rescued me before?"

Neo's curiosity peaked, "No, you didn't. But that explains quite a bit. Although if I didn't know any better, I'd have guessed that you rescued him."

Perhaps Neo knew more than she let on. Or she overheard things in town. That or just a lucky guess!

"Well, I guess in a way, you're right. I mean, well... I did tell him about my vision but... he wasn't exactly listening to me."

At that little tidbit, Neo perked up, "I knew it!"

"Huh, knew-knew what, exactly?" Sally questioned, her eyes becoming wide.

"I could sense it within you, Sally. Your inner fire, as my people call it," Neo elaborated, "you're gifted with The Sight, aren't you?"

Sally gave a shy smile and nodded. That was one word for it, "I can't control what I see or when I see it, but it happens every now and again."

"Let me guess, you foresaw a disaster and nobody listened," Neo sighed, shaking her head with an amused smile, "that's usually how it goes."

The ragdoll nodded, "Jack's always been so kind, caring, and honorable. Selfless and intelligent. But... well, sometimes he's in need of guidance when he gets... carried away."

Sally smiled nervously, gritting her teeth a little as her mind flooded with some memories of the past. The "incident" as it was referred to by the townsfolk.

"You're there to bring Jack back to reality when his head is in the clouds," Neo commented, her tail swishing back and fourth as she handed the needle and thread back to Sally.

"Hmmm... literally, you might say," the ragdoll muttered quietly, watching the way Neo's ears flicked and twitched.

"What?" The Konderi asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Oh nothing! Y-you are absolutely right, Neo," Sally answered, much too quickly, "But a while back, he... ummmm... well, Jack lost his passion for Halloween. He'd put on a convincing skeleton grin and beared it for his people, but I could tell it was tearing him apart inside."

If Sally hadn't said anything, Neo never would have guessed as such. She'd caught no sign of deceit or melancholy; Jack was genuinely happy and excited to share his town and the holiday he reigned over with her.

"He was missing something in his life, or death, rather," Neo mentioned, before she smiled brightly, "and I take it that it took some trial and error before it pounded into that skull of his that what he was missing was right in front of him the whole dang time."

Vaguely, Neo wondered if those skeletal reindeer she'd seen at Dr. Finkelstein's tower laboratory had anything to do with this. However, she never brought it up.

Sally nodded, finishing up the last of her stitches, taking the very familiar knife out of her dress pocket to cut the thread.

"That's... ummm one way of putting it, Neo," she said, placing her hand over her chest while closing her eyes, "I wasn't sure at first, until... well, what I mean is..." Sally stumbled over words, unsure of how to put it, "for the longest time, I thought we were just friends. But it was a lot of the little things that stood out. Like how Jack remembers my favorite flowers, black roses and thistles, my favorite animal, cats, especially black ones."

She had such a fond, dreamy look in her eyes as she poured her heart out. How Jack always knew how to make her laugh. His beautiful singing voice. Or how he'd always try to discover her favorite food by preparing many different dishes, even those of other worlds, despite Sally's insistence that she couldn't possibly pick just one to call her favorite. By now, Neo had forgotten about just what they had been doing prior. The Konderi was just content listening to her friend talk about the man she loves. As for Sally, well, she'd never really had another girl to talk too about such things. Most of the other women in town usually kept things curt and short with her, occasionally flashing Sally the stink eye for "daring" to steal the Pumpkin King's heart.

It was only then did the ragdoll remember the snacks she bought with her, offering the basket to Neo.

"If I may be so bold," Neo commented, with a sly smile while taking a bite of a chocolate covered scorpion, "the fact that Jack's a devilishly handsome blade can't hurt."

The ragdoll had to put a hand over her ruby lips to stifle a girlish laugh, but she quickly nodded in agreement.

"Oh, Jack is such a gentleman and romantic! He enjoys cooking for me, even after a long day at work. He'll even insist on cleaning up."

Neo perked up, her eyes widened in disbelief, "So this man has saved your life before, practically hands you the sun and stars on a silver platter, AND he does the dishes?!"

The Konderi took Sally's cloth hands in her own paw-like hands, squeezing gently while looking the ragdoll directly in the eyes, "NEVER let him get away! Dare I say that you hit-"

"The 'Jack'-pot?" Sally finished, with a giggle.

Neo laughed alongside her friend, her tail involuntarily swishing from side to side.

* * *

This is from chapter 4 of Into the Shadows. After being assaulted and robbed by Oogie's Boys, Neo lets off some steam and is found by Sally. What I loved about writing this scene was just... it doesn't seem like there's anyone she can really have girl-talk with.

I mean, I'd imagine that the witches can't really stand her, (their Jack fangirling days are kind of at an end after all and I have a feeling they'd resent Sally heavily for it.)

[erinlindsayy]

Carol is not a man. She doesn’t use he/him pronouns. Re read your work next time. It really put me off

I'm aware she's not a man, lol. Sorry for putting you off... I had started that fic for another character and guess I didn't edit well enough. I'm in grad school full time, and I work multiple internships and jobs so. Sorry. This is also just phrased in such a rude way--writers make mistakes, and I don't always have time to meticulously comb through every single line of work. Thank you for pointing it out, but still. You could've been a bit nicer.

[silverhyenaart]

Totally not biased or anything!

Reblog if you think fanfiction is a legitimate form of creative writing.

[in-class-daydreams]

Imagine ex-husband Gojo having a brutal rivalry with your son.

You'd promise your now eighteen year old, "Sen, your father and I didn't part on bad terms. It would be nice if the two of you could get along."

Sentaro would scoff, crossing his arms and leaning in the kitchen doorway. "Strongest sorcerer in the world and couldn't protect his wife?" You touch a hand to the large burn mark on your chest. Sen watches the movement and shakes his head. "Like I could ever get along with a guy like that."

~

Imagine your son is the splitting image of his father, save for how his hair grows in black, then fades to white when it grows past the roots.

"You have my pretty face, but I don't know where you got such a shit attitude." Sen would be face to face with his dad while he was on business at Tokyo Jujutsu High. Satoru would look him up and down. "I know for a fact that your mom never taught you that."

Sen's face would contort into a look of disgust. "Don't act like you know her."

"I know her in ways no one else ever could--"

Uncle Suguru would be forced to intervene before everyone got to find out what happens when two hollow purples collide.

~

Imagine Satoru still loves you - he never stopped, of course - and visits you at the house while your son is on a mission.

"You miss me, don't you, mama?" he'd murmur in your ear while he has you crowded up against the living room wall. "You have a little mini me running around, so I bet you think about me all the time, huh?"

He'd be right of course, but life was so hard for you and your son after the divorce that you're reluctant to start up anything again. You'd always love Satoru, but you hadn't seen enough of him to know if he'd changed since you were last together. That said, it's hard to remain rational when the love of your life presses his lips to yours.

You won't get enough time to consider, however, since your ex will have been ripped away from you and sent flying through the opposite wall. Your son, just as tall as his dad, will be standing protectively in front of you, fists clenched tight.

Sen wouldn't look at you when you gently touch his broad back in an attempt to calm him down.

"Don't get too close, mom," he'd say with gritted teeth. "The old man's about to learn he's not the strongest any more."

~

Click [here] for more of Sen being mean to his dad | Ask stuff about Sen and the fam [here]

[silverhyenaart]

Caw-CAW!!!!

Fanfic writers are like crows. If you give them treats (comments) they will bring you shiny things (fanfic)

[raylangivins]

i am Locked In.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Summoning Failed Successfully

Imagine a warehouse. Imagine a bunch of cultists in dark robes with all the candles, daggers, ancient books, and chanting. Now add Danny.

Only not as the summoned being, no. As a sacrifice.

He is sitting down, tied to a chair, in the middle of the summoning circle, looking as bored and deadpan as he can possibly be. The cultists are chanting, and he frowns, listening to their chants for a moment.

"Hey, is that Latin?" He questions, but to no avail, "You know you're not actually using those words correctly, right?"

"Keep quiet, child!" One of the cultists snaps. Danny leans back in his chair and shrugs.

"I'm just saying, you ain't summoning shit with wrong grammar," he huffs, seemingly absolutely nonchalant about the whole thing. Oracle, who is watching the whole ordeal through the surveillance cameras, raises her eyebrows. Red Robin and Robin are already en route to the building the cultists chose for their extracurricular activities, but now she almost wants to watch this a bit longer.

Gothamites are pretty used to all kinds of shitshows, but this boy is from out of town. She checked him through facial recognition. Daniel Fenton, a transfer student from Amity Park, Illinois.

A few more cultists stop chanting and turn to Danny.

"Do you know Latin?" One of them asks, and the boy makes a half-nod, making a thoughtful face.

"Not fluently, but, like, it's a dead language, I felt kinda obligated to learn it. Just for the meme, you know?" He chuckles.

The cultists, judging by their confused silence, don't know. Barbara doesn't know what he's talking about, either. But she is almost curious now, so she taps Robin's and RR's comm lines:

"RR, Robin, when you arrive, don't jump into the scene," she asks.

"Understood," Tim answers immediately, but Damian, of course, demands explanations:

"Is there an obstacle?"

"Not really," Barbara humms, "The sacrifice is in the process of de-escalating the situation."

She can almost hear the questioning silence over the comm, but, thankfully, no one argues. Meanwhile, one of the cultists pipes up, voice full of doubt:

"So, you can... like, proofread our incantation?"

"Yeah, sure," Danny nods, apparently fine with being sacrificed, "Who you're trying to summon anyway?"

"Satan," that same cultist answers, and Danny laughs approvingly.

"Classic," he nods and smiles, "I'll give you this. The circle is mostly alright, so you don't need an incantation to summon the fucker, I have him on speed dial." And with that, he leans forward, screaming towards the floor: "Ey, Satan!"

Barbara must say the act was actually convincing, but he went a little overboard with it now. She reaches to tell both Robins to get in, but suddenly, a loud, booming voice reverberates through the building.

"The fuck do you want, kid?"

Cultists fall to their knees - it doesn't seem like an act of worship, more like their knees bucking. The whole circle dimly lights up in red, smoke raising from it.

"Do you see this shit, Oracle?" Red Robin questions, and she mhm's at him, not sure what else to say. If this is still an act or a trick, she must say it's a very good one. Although somehow she suspects it's not a trick. She's seen enough magic in her life to tell the difference.

"Do you want to come to Earth, be gay and do crimes?" Danny asks, almost mockingly.

"Fuck off."

The red light flickers and disappears, and Danny looks back up to cultists, grinning cheerfully.

"Welp, looks like he doesn't wanna," the kid concludes and stands up from his chair. Barbara hadn't seen when or how he got out of his bindings.

The cultists just watch him walk out of the circle in bewilderment.

"Pursue?" Robin's voice comes over the comms, and Barbara thinks for a moment.

"I get a feeling like that's a bad idea," Tim mutters over his line.

Barbara agrees.

[heritageposts]

What does life in North Korea look like outside of Pyongyang? 🇰🇵

Hey, I'm back again with a very scary "tankie" post that asks you to think of North Koreans as people, and to consider their country not as a cartoonish dystopia, but as a nation that, like any other place on earth, has culture, traditions, and history.

Below is a collection of pictures from various cities and places in North Korea, along with a brief dive into some of the historical events that informs life in the so-called "hermit kingdom."

Warning: very long post

Kaesong, the historic city

Beginning this post with Kaesong, one of the oldest cities in Korea. It's also one of the few major cities in the DPRK (i.e. "North Korea") that was not completely destroyed during the Korean war.

Every single city you'll see from this point on were victims of intense aerial bombardments from the U.S. and its allies, and had to be either partially or completely rebuilt after the war.

From 1951 to 1953, during what has now become known as the "forgotten war" in the West, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs over Korea — most of it in the North, and on civilian population centers. An additional 32,000 tons of napalm was also deployed, engulfing whole cities in fire and inflicting people with horrific burns:

For such a simple thing to make, napalm had horrific human consequences. A bit of liquid fire, a sort of jellied gasoline, napalm clung to human skin on contact and melted off the flesh. Witnesses to napalm's impact described eyelids so burned they could not be shut and flesh that looked like "swollen, raw meat." - PBS

Ever wondered why North Koreans seem to hate the U.S so much? Well...

Keep in mind that only a few years prior to this, the U.S. had, as the first and only country in the world, used the atomic bomb as a weapon of war. Consider, too, the proximity between Japan and Korea — both geographically and as an "Other" in the Western imagination.

As the war dragged on, and it became clear the U.S. and its allies would not "win" in any conventional sense, the fear that the U.S. would resort to nuclear weapons again loomed large, adding another frightening dimension to the war that can probably go a long way in explaining the DPRK's later obsession with acquiring their own nuclear bomb.

But even without the use of nuclear weapons, the indiscriminate attack on civilians, particularly from U.S. saturation bombings, was still horrific:

"The number of Korean dead, injured or missing by war’s end approached three million, ten percent of the overall population. The majority of those killed were in the North, which had half of the population of the South; although the DPRK does not have official figures, possibly twelve to fifteen percent of the population was killed in the war, a figure close to or surpassing the proportion of Soviet citizens killed in World War II" - Charles K. Armstrong

On top of the loss of life, there's also the material damage. By the end of the war, the U.S. Air Force had, by its own estimations, destroyed somewhere around 85% of all buildings in the DPRK, leaving most cities in complete ruin. There are even stories of U.S. bombers dropping their loads into the ocean because they couldn't find any visible targets to bomb.

What you'll see below of Kaesong, then, provides both a rare glimpse of what life in North Korea looked like before the war, and a reminder of what was destroyed.

Kaesong's main street, pictured below.

Due the stifling sanctions imposed on the DPRK—which has, in various forms and intensities, been in effect since the 1950s—car ownership is still low throughout the country, with most people getting around either by walking or biking, or by bus or train for longer distances.

Kaesong, which is regarded as an educational center, is also notable for its many Koryŏ-era monuments. A group of twelve such sites were granted UNESCO world heritage status in 2013.

Included is the Hyonjongnung Royal Tomb, a 14th-century mausoleum located just outside the city of Kaesong.

One of the statues guarding the tomb.

Before moving on the other cities, I also wanted to showcase one more of the DPRK's historical sites: Pohyonsa, a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple complex located in the Myohyang Mountains.

Like many of DPRK's historic sites, the temple complex suffered extensive damage during the Korean war, with the U.S. led bombings destroying over half of its 24 pre-war buildings.

The complex has since been restored and is in use today both as a residence for Buddhist monks, and as a historic site open to visitors.

Hamhung, the second largest city in the DPRK.

A coastal city located in the South Hamgyŏng Province. It has long served as a major industrial hub in the DPRK, and has one of the largest and busiest ports in the country.

Hamhung, like most of the coastal cities in the DPRK, was hit particularly hard during the war. Through relentless aerial bombardments, the US and its allies destroyed somewhere around 80-90% percent of all buildings, roads, and other infrastructure in the city.

Now, more than seventy years later, unexploded bombs, mortars and pieces of live ammunition are still being unearthed by the thousands in the area. As recently as 2016, one of North Korea's bomb squads—there's one in every province, faced with the same cleanup task—retrieved 370 unexploded mortar rounds... from an elementary school playground.

Experts in the DPRK estimate it will probably take over a hundred years to clean up all the unexploded ordnance—and that's just in and around Hamhung.

Hamhung's fertilizer plant, the biggest in North Korea.

When the war broke out, Hamhung was home to the largest nitrogen fertilizer plant in Asia. Since its product could be used in the creation of explosives, the existence of the plant is considered to have made Hamhung a target for U.S. aggression (though it's worth repeating that the U.S. carried out saturation bombings of most population centers in the country, irrespective of any so-called 'military value').

The plant was immediately rebuilt after the war, and—beyond its practical use—serves now as a monument of resistance to U.S. imperialism, and as a functional and symbolic site of self-reliance.

Chongjin, the third largest city in the DPRK.

Another coastal city and industrial hub. It underwent a massive development prior to the Korean war, housing around 300,000 people by the time the war broke out.

By 1953, the U.S. had destroyed most of Chongjin's industry, bombed its harbors, and killed one third of the population.

Wonsan, a rebuilt seaside city.

The city of Wonsan is a vital link between the DPRK's east and west coasts, and acts today as both a popular holiday destination for North Koreans, and as a central location for the country's growing tourism industry.

Considered a strategically important location during the war, Wonsan is notable for having endured one of the longest naval blockades in modern history, lasting a total of 861 days.

By the end of the war, the U.S. estimated that they had destroyed around 80% of the city.

Masikryong Ski Resort, located close to Wonsan. It opened to the public in 2014 and is the first, I believe, that was built with foreign tourists in mind.

Sariwon, another rebuilt city

One of the worst hit cities during the Korean War, with an estimated destruction level of 95%.

I've written about its Wikipedia page here before, which used to mockingly describe its 'folk customs street'—a project built to preserve old Korean traditions and customs—as an "inaccurate romanticized recreation of an ancient Korean street."

No mention, of course, of the destruction caused by the US-led aerial bombings, or any historical context at all that could possibly even hint at why the preservation of old traditions might be particularly important for the city.

Life outside of the towns and cities

In the rural parts of the DPRK, life primarily revolves around agriculture. As the sanctions they're under make it difficult to acquire fuel, farming in the DPRK relies heavily on manual labour, which again, to avoid food shortages, requires that a large portion of the labour force resides in the countryside.

Unlike what many may think, the reliance on manual labour in farming is a relatively "new" development. Up until the crisis of the 1990s, the DPRK was a highly industrialized nation, with a modernized agricultural system and a high urbanization rate. But, as the access to cheap fuel from the USSR and China disappeared, and the sanctions placed upon them by Western nations heavily restricted their ability to import fuel from other sources, having a fuel-dependent agricultural industry became a recipe for disaster, and required an immediate and brutal restructuring.

For a more detailed breakdown of what lead to the crisis in the 90s, and how it reshaped the DPRKs approach to agriculture, check out this article by Zhun Xu.

Some typical newly built rural housing, surrounded by farmland.

Tumblr only allows 20 pictures per post, but if you want to see more pictures of life outside Pyongyang, check out this imgur album.

[silverhyenaart]

This... Seriously, THIS!!

want your favorite author to update but don’t want to be too pushy in their comment section?

here’s 5 things you can do to encourage them:

Reblog their fic link on tumblr (bonus if it’s with tags)

Bookmark the fic with a note about what you’re excited about/love in the fic

Recommend the fic to your friends or local discord channel

Draw art or create other media for the fic (as indicated by the author’s comfort level)

Leave them a comment when re-reading about the parts of the chapter/story that stood out to you the second time

[kentopedia]

nanami kento, who hates dating, and didn’t do much of it in his early twenties. but now, he’s almost thirty, watching all the people he works with settle down, have kids, and he thinks he wants that. so he might as well try.

so satoru sets him up on a few dates — friends of friends, he calls them. and at the end of every one of the dinners, kento goes home empty, exhausted, because he knows what they want is not the same.

still; he thinks maybe he’s being a little self-destructive, maybe too picky, maybe he just got so used to being alone. with satoru’s insistence, he gives all the women another call, invites them over to his apartment.

the first time was a disaster… kento had barely set the dinner on the table before his cat had hissed at her, scratched her down the arm in a thin gash. and though it did draw blood, it was hardly enough to warrant that reaction.

he didn’t even try to stop her as she picked up her bag and left, huffing like she’d been morally offend. kento, though, could only smile to himself in amusement.

because maybe kento was a poor judge of character, a man who was secretly hoping nothing would pan out — but his cat could certainly tell the good from the bad.

it became a little game to him, after that. seeing if anyone could win his pet over, and if they could, perhaps they were the one. his darling animal was a fickle thing anyway. a bit too defensive, quick to bite anything threatening after years on the streets.

naturally, no one came back twice.

he was close to giving up, accepting his solitude because he was tired of empty conversations over dinner. but then, he ventured out over the weekend to a new coffee shop, during hours he normally didn’t spend out of his home, and met you.

though you only talked for a moment, kento felt like maybe he’d known you in a past life. a part of him thought maybe it was strange, the way he kept coming back to talk to you, catching you at the end of your shift to see if you wanted to grab a coffee sometime.

by the second date, kento started to think you could turn out to be his best friend.

by the third date, kento wondered if soulmates were real.

on the fourth date, almost two months later, an appropriate time to get to know someone when you were as reserved as kento, he invited you over for dinner. it was, perhaps, the final confirmation he needed to let himself be with you.

he let you through the door, smiling softly as you told him about the book you were reading, and hung his coat on the rack. a moment later, you stopped, distracted, hands covering your mouth in a gasp.

“kento! she’s the cutest cat i’ve ever seen, you didn’t even show me pictures!” you exclaim, and, a few feet away, crouched down. “look at her pretty eyes…”

“careful,” kento said, “she’s not very—“

but the cat approached your outstretched hand, sniffed once, before letting you scratch her under her chin, purring loud enough for kento to hear across the room.

“shes such a sweetheart, you told me she was mean!” you smiled, making a cooing noise as you threaded your fingers through her fur. “kento’s a liar, isn’t he… you’re so precious.”

a few moments later, she snapped her jaw at you in a biting motion, and you only laughed, withdrawing your hand. “alright, i get it, i won’t bother you anymore.”

though she still brushed against your legs, just as she did kento’s, and seemed to communicate some sort of message to him.

“do you want any help cooking?” you ask, tucking your hair behind your ears. “i’m a disaster in the kitchen, but—“

“sure,” kento said, his chest tightening as he blinked back at you, only in his apartment for minutes and already looking as at home there. he wondered if it was possible to fall in love so quickly. “but only if you want to.”

[composeregg]

edit (10/23/2024) now that the poll is over: Original version, with 10 questions, from April 2023 here

And, given that the original is from April 2023, that means I can very easily say:

No, this was not an ISAT reference!

Just because I use parentheses and 2nd person pov and love the same concepts of what a time loop can do to a person doesn't mean it's ISAT

(Yes, I like ISAT, the original poll is why I was recommended the game! But if you look at the original, you can see all the origins of the options to choose from, including what spurred me on with the moss option from the replies)

If I were going to make something for ISAT, I would never be so vague, you can simply look at my ao3 for proof of that

[zephyrchama]

Water Wrinkles

Seven demon brothers sat solemnly in a circle around you. You did your best to ignore them. It wasn't often that you got to spend time at the human world villa, and you were intent on soaking up as much sun as you could before returning to the Devildom.

You reclined your beach chair back, crossing your arms under your still-wet hair. It was a gorgeous day. Perfect for being at the pool.

Leviathan let out a muffled sob. As the demon with the highest affinity for water, he blamed himself.

"Let us take you to a hospital," Satan insisted for the tenth time.

"They're going to laugh us out of the ER," you nonchalantly repeated.

Satan lowered his eyes and muttered, "I couldn't find any traces of a curse in the water... So how...?"

Asmodeus had his head in his hands, unresponsive. Sometimes his fingers curled around the ends of his hair. You briefly glanced over to make sure he didn't pull his hair out - that would be grounds for a real emergency.

"I can't bear to watch. Lucifer, do somethin'," Mammon whined. He was fidgeting all over the place and winced whenever he looked at your feet.

The oldest glared at you. You knew it was out of concern, but his fears were unfounded. Even Lucifer refused to listen to reason when he thought you were in danger.

"Actually, yeah. Lucifer, can you pass me a towel?" you asked. It was embarrassing having seven shirtless demons intensely staring at you. If they wouldn't let you go back in the water, maybe covering up would make you feel less self-conscious.

Lucifer didn't move. It was Beelzebub who plucked a spare towel off his younger twin and handed it to you with a shaking arm. He looked like a wet puppy, having been the one who first discovered your "condition" and swept you out of the pool.

Belphegor hadn't gone in the water that day. He only hogged the plush towels because of how comfortable they were and, following Beelzebub's lead, dumped them all onto your chair. Now he sat, wide awake. He was anxiously squeezing a loose chunk of concrete but at some point, without realizing, it got crushed to powder in his hand.

You had more than enough towels now.

"In half an hour you're going to forget this all even happened," you said to reassure the worry warts.

"In half an hour, you might be gone!" Mammon snapped back.

"You're going to be a wrinkled mess of skin and bones," Asmodeus weeped quietly.

Leviathan pressed his hands over his ears. Though, with nothing to cover his eyes he was forced to look at your wrinkled hands again. Based on the noises he was making, you'd think someone was torturing him.

"As I've said!" you reiterated. "All humans get wrinkly in water. Look, now that I'm drying off it's going back to normal."

Beelzebub grabbed your ankle, raising it for the brothers to observe at eye level. "I don't see a difference."

You didn't expect the sudden manhandling and slunk several inches down the lounge chair while the demons stared at your foot. Kicking and twisting your leg was futile. You modestly crossed your free leg.

"I think it's getting worse," Satan said.

"We need to take action," Lucifer decided.

Asmodeus was actively quivering now. Belphegor and Leviathan had crept behind you and started picking at your wrinkly fingers. You tried to swat them away to no avail.

"Give me 25 minutes! Literally! Probably even less, this will go away on its own! I just need to dry off."

"We need a solution now," Mammon asserted. The cogs in his brain were turning. "We need fire."

You tried to sit up, to jump up and stop Mammon before he burned the whole villa down in an attempt to dry you off, but Beelzebub had not let go and you stumbled. You grazed your knee on the concrete and winced.

A second round of panic overcame the demon brothers. Beelzebub let go, Lucifer picked you up, and Belphegor wrapped your knee with every available towel he could lay his hands on. Asmodeus and Leviathan were crying on each other's shoulders. Mammon came running back, oblivious to the second disaster that just occurred, with a flaming stick in his hand that Satan tried to keep at bay. If you got burnt on top of everything else, they'd probably go insane and destroy the human world.

In the midst of the chaos you caught a glimpse of your hand. It was practically dry. You couldn't even see the wrinkles anymore. You angrily wiggled in Lucifer's grasp as various hands fussed over you.

"Stay!!" you shouted over the clamor.

The brothers went tumbling to the ground, save for Lucifer who fought to stay rooted in place. You could finally hear yourself think again. There was primarily one thought on your mind.

"I just want to go swimming."

[milf-murdock]

Simon muttering "what have you done to me?" when he realizes he’s in love with you.

Maybe it's the first time he catches himself draping a blanket over your form after you accidentally fall asleep on his lap.

Maybe it’s the first time he finds himself hurrying home after a mission because he just can’t wait to see your face.

Or maybe it’s the first time he catches himself eyeing a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the shops. “Ten fucking quid for flowers? Are they mental?” He sets them down with a huff and walks away to finish his shopping…only to begrudgingly grab them anyways on his way to the till.

He knows they will make you smile—that bright beautiful smile you seem to reserve just for him.

And as he sets the soft pink bundle on the checkout counter he can’t help but mutter aloud, “what have you done to me?”

[defire]

Tropes that always give me whumperflies

Content: noncon nudity, manhandling, injuries, beating, fear, defiant/stoic whumpee

Throwing whumpee onto their knees before the enemy leader and holding them there by the back of the neck

Whumpee half-curled into a fetal position as they're being relentlessly kicked

Whumpee forced to strip. And doing so flushing and getting ashamed.

Whumpee shuddering and shaking from exhaustion caused by screaming, resisting, and fear

Wiping blood off hastily, grabbing injuries, making faces as they try not to cry

Ripping their pants down or shirt up so roughly it jerks whumpee's body

The broken sob that's kind of the end of a cry they barely managed to hold in

Whumpee feeling stupid, humiliated, even though anyone would, in their position

Sweating, swallowing, and keeping their face under control, trembling as they are inspected

Being twisted by the wrist, spun around, and slammed face-first into a wall or desk

Compromising positions like whumper sitting on their butt, in a non-sexual, violent way that just emphasizes the desperate physical struggle.

Grabbing them by the face to look at them and make snide observations about how scared they are

Slapping whumpee in the cheek

Small whumpees being thrown around and restrained physically by big whumpers

Grabbing their hair to slam them into the wall and whispering something in their ear that makes whumpee grimace

"turn around and face the wall."

Slapping a knife wound or gunshot injury and whumpee winces, cries and curls over the injury

A sarcastic remark dying on whumpee's lips as they see what whumper brought to beat them with

A stoic whumpee after a long time of taking a beating with only grunts of pain, groaning as a bone is broken, and as whumper raises their boot to kick again, whumpee hoarsely cries "wait wait, please! --please wait!"

[k0nstanta]

>MEOW

Play as a robot catgirl named K0tya who is trying to help her Master locate the missing lab rats (ignore the fact that said Master's forgetfulness is the reason they are missing in the first place).

Explore the research facility that you live in and find those missing critters before the morning shift starts, or your Master gets in trouble.

Contains swearing and suggestive language.

Made in RPG Maker 2003.

>>> DOWNLOAD HERE <<<

[sistertotheknowitall]

Masterpost

“But to the BatFam? That is just Some Guy. A random dude - if you will.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m missing my spleen.”

“Oh cool, yeah, missing organs suck. I’m missing a kidney and part of my liver. Oh! And my gallbladder but that was more of a necessary evil, it was like, poisoning me or something.” Danny was so focused on applying pressure to his wound (and maybe being a bit too light headed) that he didn’t notice how silent his friend had gotten. Like-wise the comms had gone equally quiet as Gotham’s vigilante family realized that they knew very little about this kid.

It was concerning how quickly they all started to see him as a friend considering it was them as vigilantes he interacted with the most. Tim was the only one who saw him frequently when out of the suit because he was a regular at Danny’s day job. (He worked as a barista in the coffee shop Tim favored.) The others saw him occasionally but more often than not it was just in passing. Steph, Duke, and Dick had to stop themselves from approaching him on the street.

It was odd, one day he had just moved to Gotham, seeming to appear out of nowhere, and then the next he was a constant presence in their lives. Usually armed and ready with a concerning or odd quip, it had started with him being another victim of the city’s petty criminals and had snowballed from there.

Now it wasn’t like the bats saw Danny everyday, but it was expected that he would cross paths with at least three of them before the end of the week. They ran into him more often than any other Gothamite, including the criminals and rouges they fought.

At first the constant meetings by “coincidence” was suspicious. If he wasn’t the one being saved from a mugging, kidnapping, or city wide villain assault, then he was near by and trying to help.

(“Trying to help” usually meant drawing attention to himself so the original victim could escape. Once it had meant Danny armed with a baseball bat against four grown men. Bruce and Dick have tried to talk to him about putting himself in harms way but the kid is surprisingly elusive when he wants to be. Yet, even when avoiding Batman and his eldest, Danny could be found on the patrol route of another family member.)

But honestly? The guy seemed just as exhausted as they were of seeing each other. By the twelfth time in a month, Danny had accused them of stalking him.

The background check Bruce and Tim had run came back clean and he never seemed to be involved in the various criminal activities. He was just there, a weirdly unlucky bystander. So as far as Dick and the others could see, Danny was a completely normal dude. He just said strange things and wasn’t intimidated by them, he actually made it a point to be unhelpful sometimes. When trying to learn his name he gave them the run around for two months. (“I know about stranger danger. I don’t care how often you say you’re the ‘good guys.’ I’m not falling for it.”)

On one memorable occasion Danny had disappeared for a week and a half. When they started to assume the worse, he popped back up behind the counter at work. Tim had relaxed significantly when he entered the shop to Danny organizing pastries in the display case. Once he’d placed his order, the young CEO asked Danny if he’d been on vacation. To which Danny had just sighed and told Tim “I wish, but no I was called to court to handle some affairs I couldn’t get out of.” (After a check to see if Danny had gotten charged with something and coming back empty, Tim had concluded that it was an odd way to say he had had jury duty.)

Thinking about it now, outside a stray comment or two, Danny didn’t talk about himself or his life. They knew he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents, “they were much more goal oriented than that joke of a kidnapper, but I think drugs do that to a person.” (It was still unclear if he meant his parents were kidnappers themselves or on drugs.) They knew he had an older sister who would “kill me again if she finds out I was in another bank robbery.” They also knew he was, possibly, depressed after last week’s comment of “is it considered murder if you’re already dead but, like, still alive?” (Damian had saved him from a drug ring but after another “baby ninja” comment the young Robin had threatened to give Danny back to his would-be murderers.)

Dick knew Danny was a weird guy who never wanted to elaborate on the things he said. (Jason was still confused on what he meant by “rotted milk soul.”) That didn’t mean the comments themselves didn’t say a lot about him. And tonight’s comment, accompanied by the prominent and jagged autopsy scars, said more than Danny was probably willing to share.

Part one