#i know the background is kind of cluttered but we couldn't move it

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Gingerbread Hogwarts

Different angles below the cut

Two days, ten hours, six people, five separate grocery runs, a dozen batches of royal icing, three boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, much arguing, three different prototype designs, the Lego Hogwarts reference photo, lots of cardboard, dozens of boxes of graham crackers, one mystery pop tart, a step stool, and a bag of radioactive expired Pina Colada Hershey's Kisses.

Now we just have to transport it in a car and through some doors.

We'd better win this contest.

[kateknowsdramas]

What Sweet Home Season 1 got right:

found family banding together to survive

character journeys - both good and bad - we understood what they wanted and what they were fighting for

character deaths that meant something both for their journeys and the story

a study in what it means to be human

What Sweet Home Season 2 got wrong:

threw everything that made season 1 good out the window

barely any of the original cast is in this season

they destroyed Yi Kyung's character

Song Kang who? where? a part of the story what?

what is happening????

characters who have no introduction or backstories making for a cluttered mess of people we're supposed to be invested in

I care about Jin Young's character but just because he's a cutie and we know he's a good guy - no idea about what makes him tick or his background

character deaths of S1 cast that come out of nowhere and serve no real purpose

again...what is going on??? I think there's a plot somewhere buried in there but I couldn't tell you what it is

Eun Yu keeps running around like a crazy person to look for her brother which is...stupid honestly

I don't care about these people at. all.

episodes 6-8 got mildly better but were still an incoherent mess

So, yeah...a huge disappointment, honestly. I really enjoyed season one for everything it was. Season 2 is just ridiculously muddled and doesn't allow the audience to care at all about what's happening. By the end, I got where they were going story-wise but I just don't care about how monsters are created. At least, I think that's what the plot was? It's literally just random things going on that don't tie together or move any kind of story forward. It's just a super weird, jumbled disaster.

[terrorizings]

hey congrats on dentist graduation if thats happened yet!! i wasnt aware ur bro blog ended on 4/13 until just now, im possibly the most curious about how you made/found those backgrounds for the fake cams in his apartment. i know they were positively dogshit quality but they looked really convincing to me. loved your process for the gifs, everything felt incredibly “homestuck” in style!! it was a really faithful recreation.

as an aside i used to run a roleplay blog that wasnt super serious and a lot of the anons you got reminded me of that lol. i dunno if it was ever weird running the blog with so many people focusing on the dave part and not your actual work or character but yknow my condolences if it was. your commitment to puppet pornography has done a service for us all

I did graduate earlier this month, so thank u!! I put information under the cut.

The cams for his apartment were just pictures I gathered up from Google (Dave's is literally "dj bedroom") and used to piece together the apartment after I just like. Read thru the Dave parts where he's walking thru his apartment a lot. Mental image of the layout, and from there it was just picking pics that adequately encapsulated the looks of specific rooms. Most people don't actually keep their house is a state of disarray and hell tho, so I did cut the background out from puppets and piles of smuppets, etc, to make it all artificially more cluttered if I had to.

They're not GREAT photoshops by any definition, but with the amount of texture and grain added by the filters u kind of couldn't tell it looked like shit.

Anything that had to move in the cams like people were just literally like. "Man silhouette" grafted and manually moved via keyframes to give the illusion of life.

As for Dave, I think Dave is a part of Bro's narrative that's pretty integral, so it didn't bug me. Bro says literally 4 words in canon and then bites the curb. Running Bro Strider: The Experience without including the fact that The Experience is wrestling your child on a Texan rooftop feels like forsaking an important part of a character we ultimately know kind of very little about.

I do think it's like. Funny? The like double edged sword of asking a man who streams puppet snuff live from his house 24/7 as his child moves around it and also sometimes accidentally engages in it, to also do wellness checks on his kid and update his audience on his well-being. In asking for cameras of Dave to ensure his wellness, there's a lot of like. Further trauma, as bloodthirsty plushrump dot com/limp legs akimbo dot tumblr dot com fans gear more PRYING PLUSH PEEPERS his way.

I had fun. :3

[pastelwitchling]

Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just finished my reread of this in preparation for Chain of Thorns, and yep, ranking's still the same. I have so many complicated feelings about CC's works, and this was no different. So, without further ado, let's get into it.

Things I loved:

- Cordelia, Lucie, Alastair, Effie, Magnus Bane (obviously), and the Merry Thieves.

- Will. By the gods, did he bring such light to this book.

- I love how much I ended up really admiring Grace this time around. I hated her in the first book, and was caught up in hating her that I felt little to nothing for her and her struggles in the second book, especially considering after everything she'd done to James and Cordelia. But I really found myself not only empathizing with her this time around, but also appreciating the person she had to become, and I actually really wish we had a whole book with her Christopher properly getting to spend time together.

- Matthew. Just. Matthew. Love him so much.

- The romantic intimate scenes were written so painfully well. I just love Cordelia and James together.

- About half the jokes, particularly at the end. More on that below.

- Most of the battle scene with Lilith and Belial at the end, and Leviathan at the Institute courtyard. I'll get into that as well.

- Ariadne Bridgestock. She deserved so much better.

Things I hated:

- All the theft, in my opinion, from Order of the Phoenix 😅 I wouldn't be so frustrated by it if anyone else was mentioning it, but nobody is. So. Yeah, James seeing the actions of a serial killer through his dreams as if he was the one doing it? Fearing he might've actually been the one doing it in the middle of the night by being possessed? Feeling this intense hatred that he couldn't explain? Getting splitting headaches afterwards that left him staggering, not being able to focus on where he was or who he was with? Deciding to spy on the actions of the killer through his dreams? Come on, Cassie.

- Oh my GODS the cluttered sentences. There has been ZERO improvement on that front since TMI. Things described in the same way a hundred times in the same sentence or passage. People shrugging "philosophically," things being described as "lightning," the amount of times we get the description of snowflakes against lantern lights and the sight of London covered in snow. The weather rarely changed, so I don't know why we had to start every chapter with descriptions about it.

- In my opinion, there are way too many descriptions of specific areas of London, and it, again, completely clutters up the paragraphs that I just found myself lost all the time. Unless you know the streets of early 1900's London very well, it's very easy for everything to get jumbled up together.

- The extremely detailed descriptions of people’s lips, or necks, or throats, or collarbones…. There were just so many, and they, again, just felt cluttered.

- Things were dramatic for no reason, just to move the plot along. In what possible universe would Will Herondale, of all people, tell James to keep something important hidden from his parabatai and wife? It makes absolute no sense for his character.

- The jokes at death sites? We can save the one-liners for another time, guys, it's okay.

- The fact that none of these siblings are ever written like real siblings. I don't feel the relationship between them at all. Again, where I appreciated Grace a bit more because her attachment is the only one that makes any kind of sense.

- Thomas being furious with Alastair and everybody treating him the way they did because of something he said back in their academy days? I get them wanting an apology, but he's clearly changed, and you guys are just being pricks, refusing to allow him (and yourselves!) to move on from his mistakes.

- Characters would talk about other characters as they knew them when they were kids like that was sufficient background information to get us to care about them. And I just didn't. I didn't care about Filomena because she "was full of life and loved art," I didn't care about Lilian Highsmith who "ruffled Thomas's hair when he was a kid." When you only show us a character for a scene or two before their death, we surprisingly don't care when they're gone. Even the attack at the Institute left no deaths! I've said this before and I'll say it again; when you don't show us how bad things could get during a battle, it doesn't leave any kind of impact. I actually forgot the attack on the Institute until this reread.

- Anna Lightwood. She was great when she was a cousin and a friend, but the way she treated Ariadne was just plain despicable. Anna is the very epitome of white woman privilege. I get her being hurt by Ariadne, but the fact that all of her friends "eye Ariadne suspiciously" when she comes near Anna, like she's some kind of monster for being AFRAID at FIFTEEN-or-something of being CAST OUT by her ADOPTED PARENTS? And never once, never for a second, does Anna ever show ANY awareness, acknowledgement, or so much as sympathy. Never considering that maybe, JUST MAYBE, she's the unfair one. And the way CC talks about Ariadne in interviews, that outside of fiction no one should give her a second chance, it just doesn't bode well for her, and I think she deserves so much better than someone who treats her as cruelly as Anna does.

- The Bible references. This is a problem I have with all of her books. First thing Jace says in TMI is that they don't follow any particular religion, and yet ALL the characters and oaths EVER QUOTE is the Bible. I hate it. If they had said Shadowhunters follow Christianity from the get-go, I would have no right to complain. But they're so specific about NOT doing that, that when ALL they mention and quote is the Bible, it just feels very excluding and... kind of manipulative, I'm sorry.

- Controversial opinion: every time Jesse said "command me to dance with you/kiss you"; WHAT A LOAD. It just sounded silly, I'm sorry. Lucie could've just had the power to control him and chosen not to, but Jesse Blackthorn telling her not to use her powers without "a ghost's permission" and the way Lucie says she "shouldn't have" accidentally commanded ghosts to save Cordelia from drowning because it possibly could've been against their permission? Context matters, people. And in this case, the very nature of Lucie's power completely goes against the "moral lesson," and just served to show that, in my opinion, there was more care put into pandering and showing how tolerant she is than just focusing on character and having Lucie be a good person who chooses not to force Jesse into obedience. Instead she does it because he scolds her. It's stupid.

- The length. Big books are my favorite kind. But only when they have actual substance to them that moves the story along. Instead we get passages upon passages upon passages of history that comes out of nowhere and leads to nothing, as if just to prove she's thought of it even if it has no place in the story, there's NO demon hunting in this demon hunting story until almost 200 pages in and the next one doesn't happen until around 250 pages later (and what's crazy is that all the fighting scenes last about two to three pages and then they're over!), AND I've forgotten everything that happens a little after Cordelia and James move in together till about the fight with Belial. I honestly forgot James had even given Cordelia that globe necklace. This book could've easily been around 300 pages, and if not for the last 150 of them, I might've bumped down the rating.

Look. I ultimately LOVE CC's books. But I can have my critiques of them, and I see their faults so very clearly. There is stuff that just doesn't work for me, including outside factors that I feel like affected the story more than they should've. My favorite series of CC's is TMI, not just because of my favorite characters, but because it was written in a time when characters were allowed to have faults and there wasn't a constant attempt to not offend anybody. I gave this four stars, and it heartily deserves it. I just don't think the faults in a book should be dismissed either.

[dragon-kazansky]

Dangerous | Helmut Zemo

AU! Race car driver Zemo 😎

Gender neutral reader

Collage by @realremyd

[Masterlist]

[Previous chapter] - [Next chapter]

Part 5

It had been a week since you had seen Zemo. You hadn't seen your friend at all either. You had tried to contact her a couple of times, but after receiving no responses, you gave up. It still didn't sit right with you that she and Stark were a thing.

You were currently at work. You were on the afternoon shift today. You could handle the afternoon crowd easier than the morning crowd. It wasn't your usual shift, so your usual co-workers weren't here to banter with.

You were wiping down the counter when a customer approached. You wipe your hands on the towel over your shoulder and turn to take their order, only to stop.

"Zemo?"

He stands there smiling. He was wearing slacks with a button up shirt. He looked very smart, yet so laid back.

"Hello Y/N."

"What are you doing here?"

"Not happy to see me?" He grins.

"I am, it's just... I didn't expect to see you before the race."

He chuckles as he orders something to drink.

"I couldn't wait much longer. I wanted to see your world." He glances around the cafe. It was a nice place. Classy and clearly a good place for groups to hang out.

"Well this is it. I make drinks for people." You make him his drink and hand it over. He pays for it there.

"I like it. It suits you, but I think you'd fit into my world just fine."

You laugh, "not that I'd be of any use in your world. I can barely change a tyre."

That makes him chuckle.

"I'm sure there would be something for you."

You shake your head with a smile.

"Oh, it's your lucky day by the way. My boss happens to be a fan of yours, so I have next weekend off for the races."

"Ah, lucky me indeed." He looks very smug right now. You shake your head, grinning.

"Just this once. I can't take every weekend off."

"Well that's no good. I need you for all my races," he says, stating it like a fact.

"You don't need me. You just want me there for some reason."

Zemo leans on the bar and looks at you softly. He has a small soft smile on his face. You were right in every way.

"Yes, I do want you there."

"I don't see why."

"I like you," he says with ease, confidence oozing from him as he grins at you.

You laugh softly.

"You're so..."

"Handsome? Charming? Dashing?"

"So funny."

You both laugh softly.

"I should get back to work before my manager catches me chatting up the customers," you say, glancing over your shoulder.

"Oh? Do you flirt with others then?"

"Only the good looking ones," you stick your tongue out at him. He winks and takes a seat at a table near by. Though there is literally plenty for him to do, he chooses to watch you work instead.

This was you in your element. Life passing more slowly, more safely.

There was serenity in this life style. Something he couldn't provide through his. He couldn't guarantee anything, as much as he would like to pretend.

There was always that risk.

Risks such greater than anything you could ever face here. He looked down at his half empty cup of coffee. Maybe he shouldn't ever ask you.

You bid goodbye to your customer, and looked over at Zemo. You smiled at him. He smiled back. He finished his coffee and got up from his table.

"That was lovely, though I do have a particular fondness for tea."

You chuckle.

"We serve tea too."

He smiles.

"When do you finish?" He asks.

You look up at the clock on the wall.

"Two more hours. Why don't you go look around the town or something."

"I think I will. I'll pick you up later, no arguing," he winks at you and makes his exit. You smile as you clear his table.

Zemo walks through the town you live in. It's nice, pretty. Again, it suits you perfectly.

Looking around, he almost feels homesick. There was nothing left of the place he once called home. He shakes those thoughts from his mind.

Something catches his attention up ahead. A limo. It stands out vastly against the rest of the cars on the street. Far too sleek, shiny, and expensive for anyone around here.

It irks him that he has a bad feeling about it.

From up the road, he watches as the man he dreaded steps out. Tony Stark put on his shades before holding his hand out for someone. A pretty young lady climbs out of the limo.

Something about her strikes Zemo as familiar. He can't pinpoint from where though.

Zemo watches as Stark closes the limo door and takes the young lady into boutique behind them.

What was Tony Stark doing here?

Zemo had made the trip for you. He had his excuse to be here instead of down at the track. Tony, however, didn't.

Zemo headed over to where he was stood across the street, though he couldn't quite see through the store window display.

He had to make himself scarce before Stark came out again. He didn't want Tony seeing him. As he walked away, he didn't let go of the thought that he had seen that girl before.

Zemo was back at the cafe at the end of your shift like he said he would be. The car he was driving was another one from his collection. He opened the door for you and climbed in once you were safely in his car.

As he drove to your address, which he flirted with you for, his mood changed to something a little more serious. Concerned, you had to ask him what happened in those 2 hours he was alone.

"Are you alright?"

He glances at you.

"Yes, why?"

"You're clutching the steering wheel rather tightly and your jaw is locked again. What's on your mind?"

"I saw Stark here in town."

You swallow awkwardly.

"Did he see you?"

"No. I saw him. He was with someone." He glances at you as you shift in your seat. Now it was turn to be concerned. "What is it?"

"That's my friend. Remember when she called me at the airstrip? She told me she was going to meet me at the train station and tell me something big. Well, when we got out, Tony Stark was there with a limousine. Apparently the news was she is daring him. They had met that night after the first race, he had asked her out and she agreed."

You couldn't look at him.

Zemo, keeping an eye on the road, reached over and placed his hand on your knee. Your eyes flickered to his hand. His touch was warm and comforting.

"She won't talk to me now. When we got to my place, I had asked her about it. She got defensive and shut me off."

His thumb rubs circles on your leg.

"You don't think this is some kind of stunt do you?" You ask, looking up at him.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past him. It's not the first time he's done something big for publicity."

You want to ask, but something else comes to mind.

"They haven't made it public yet."

"I assume he'll make his move at the next race. Cameras everywhere there." He glances at you.

That makes sense.

"Are you bothered about it?" You ask, looking at him from the corner of your eye.

"No. What Stark does for publicity is his problem. The question, does it bother you?"

"Yes," you state honestly, "because I can't tell if it's real, or if she's being carried away by the fantasy of dating her favourite pro racer. I looked into racing as much as I possibly could before that second race. I tried to get some background on the racers, you included, but Stark seems to thrive on being in the spotlight. He wins over and over again, he trots around the globe to meet people and race his cars. He is always making headlines somewhere."

Zemo gave a nod. He was aware. It was because he kept seeing Stark pop up everywhere that he became a pro racer himself.

"You're worried about your friend. That is understandable."

"I'm worried for her if it's not real."

He glances at you. It's as he is sitting there, hand on your knee, glancing at you as he listens to you, that the thought returns to him. Helmut Zemo is not a man who plays around with people's feelings. If this was you two, there would be no other way than for him to be honest and true to you.

As a man who had lost everything in the past, he would never do that to you.

He takes his hand back as reaches your destination. Your apartment building was a nice little thing. You were up on the 3rd floor.

"Do you want to come in?"

He smiles.

"Yes, I do."

You chuckle. You both get out and you lead him up to your apartment. You smile nicely at your neighbours as you pass them, hoping they don't question the handsome man trailing behind you. No one seemed to recognise him, so that worked in your favour.

You let him into your apartment first.

"It's not much, but it's home."

The apartment wasn't huge, but spacious enough for one person. It was decorated nicely, every little thing a reflection of you. There was a bit of clutter here and there, but it was clear you looked after your space.

"I like it."

"Can't imagine the kind of place you live in. Bet it's a lot nicer than this." You head into the kitchen to make him some tea.

"Perhaps a little bigger, it's no castle."

You chuckle softly and set out two cups.

Zemo glances around at the photos on display. You don't have a lot, but he's curious to see what they are.

"Can I ask you something?" He asks, not looking away from a photo of you and your friend.

"Of course."

"When you were researching the racers, what did you find on me?"

You let the kettle boil as you look at his back.

"Not much, I'll be honest. I didn't want to ask about it, but there was something, if you'll let me."

He halts his movements and wonders what you found. It couldn't be, could it?

"What is it?"

"You're from Sokovia, right?"

He relaxes. Zemo turns slowly and smiles, but there isn't much emotion behind it.

"Yes. I was."

You nibble at your lip softly.

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for," he says, walking over to you.

"Still, I remember hearing about it on the news. It was everywhere for a while. I can't imagine losing my home country."

Zemo reaches over and takes your hand in his. You wouldn't vocalise the fact you realised he was being a lot more physical today. You enjoyed the feel of his touch.

"Thank you for your kindness, but you don't need to worry. I am happy where I am now."

You smile at one another. The kettles clicks off, you reluctantly let go of his hands, missing their warmth. You turn around to see to the tea.

"There really wasn't much else about you online. You're a mystery to me, Zemo."

He smiles.

"Makes me all the more interesting, yes?"

You laugh softly.

"I suppose it does."

You hand him one of the cups and you both go sit down. You face one another on the sofa, enjoying the tea you had made. You watched the way he closed his eyes and took a sip.

"This is very good."

"What can I say? I'm a professional," you joke.

"I believe you."

"So, the race." You smile, sitting up and leaning forward a little. Zemo laughed. It was sweet how excited you were about it, considering you hadn't had an interest before... well, before him.

"I can I take you to the race myself?" He asks, reading your face for a response.

"Take me? Isnt6that going to be a hassle? Going there, coming back, and then going back again?"

"I'll do it for you," he grins mischievously.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" He asks.

"Flirting with me."

"Of course I am. You haven't told me to stop," he tells you.

You smile shyly at him. That was true.

"You should focus on your car, I'll be there. I promise."

He shakes his head subtly.

"Too late, I've made up my mind. I'll be here to pick you up the day before. You can stay with me over the weekend. Sound like a plan?"

You look at him, trying to see if this was just him teasing you, but you don't see anything like that. If anything, those beautiful brown eyes of his are almost pleading for you to agree.

"Alright."

His smile is so full of joy, your heart feels like it could burst. He looked so handsome smiling like that.

"Then I best be on my way. I have some thing to plan before the weekend." Zemo put his empty cup down and got up. You did the same and showed him to the door.

You see him out, but before he leaves your apartment completely, he leaves you with a kiss on the cheek. He doesn't say anything as he walks away.

You're left a smiling blushing mess.

@ajeff855 @moonstuffsteve @sky-writes-stuff @lieutenantn @lostghostgirl94 @friday18eo @yaskna @my-blood-is-maple-syrup @gingerwriter97 @lunamooney2406 @wilder-fangirl @nectav @whovianayesha @thesuitkovian @cathrin2405 @deathtothepatriarchy @belle82devart @dxrksxul06 @killeromanoff @alex-the-nb @latenightartist-author @hb8301 @goddessofmischief03 @xxidontwikeitxx @themeanestlittlewitch @scuttle-buttle