#is this where the indoctrination starts?

[squarebracket-trickster]

Sorry guys, rant incoming. I considered deleting this but I put too much effort in.

"girlboss" "girl dinner" "girl math" "boy math" "gen z are making fun of us for wearing x" "here's how to dress like gen z:" "girlies" "girl's night" "boy's night" "me and the boys" "90s kid"

"I don't feel like an adult" "I'm 34 and I can tell you, I still don't feel like an adult either." "My parents seemed like real adults when they were my age." "I still feel like a teenager."

Maybe you'd feel more like an adult if you started calling yourself one. Maybe you'd feel more like an adult if you stopped trying to dress like a teenager. Maybe you should move your bed out from the wall and get a wallet. Maybe find a calendar app that works for you.

You are an adult. Even if you live with your parents. Even if you do part-time shift work at minimum wage. Even if you haven't graduated college. Even if you are single. These are adult things to do. Because you are doing them. And you are an adult. Start treating yourself like an adult. Fake it 'till you make it if you have to.

In other, writing-related, news:

That trend on TikTok of 20-40 something women authors (and writers yet to be published) promoting their books like,

"Omg! I can't believe I've sold X number of copies!! I never thought I would!" "Ahhhh imagine publishing your book and all your dreams come true and now you get to meet famous authors and work with big names in the industry!!" "Would you read a book where [proceeds to list a bunch of oversaturated tropes that tell me nothing about the actual plot]?"

It reeks of infantilization. If you didn't believe anyone would want to read your book, why should I? You made it on the NYT bestseller list! Stop acting like a mega-fan who got to meet a celebrity. You are their peer! "Would you read a book--" What if I wouldn't? Why does it matter to you what I think of your book? And for the love of god stop hiding behind tropes you know are already popular. "Here is my book: This is what it is about." Have some goddamn confidence.

It is fine to mention in passing "this idea was really far-fetched so I didn't know if it would appeal" or "I was struggling with self-esteem when I wrote this". It's fine to fan a little bit. It's fine to discuss the tropes in your book. But why are you building your brand as an author off of your inferiority complex? You are using your poor self-esteem as a marketing tactic to seem "humble" and "relatable" but it's coming across as unprofessional and desperate for reassurance. You are an adult. You are competent. The more you act like it the more you will believe it.

And of course, I haven't seen a man promote his book this way...

On another note, do any of the 20-40 something women writers who do "write with me" videos on TikTok actually enjoy writing or are they just doing it for the aesthetic?

They all have gorgeous minimalism writing spaces full of white and pink and a macbook beneath a window. Their makeup is done and they are conventionally pretty to start with. But their entire video is just them talking about how little progress they made, how many pages they deleted, how often they got distracted, how frustrated they are. And like, yeah. We all have those days. But what about the good lines you can't wait to share? The days when the words just flow? The cool stuff you learned while researching? Why don't you ever make videos about that?

Is this some other attempt to seem "relatable" by only talking about the "bad" side of writing? Because again, it's coming across as lacking confidence at best and, at worst, that you don't actually know how to write. And that is not the brand you want as an author.

Again, its always women. Why must women market their self-esteem issues in order to sell their art? Why must we be perpetually awestruck children (girlies, book girls) in over our heads?

[linksysuniverse]

Severance S1E08 "What's for Dinner?" × Severance S2E09 "The After Hours"

(Please let this mean something) (Milchick crash out + betrayal of Lumon soon, please)

[goldenjuniper]

head in hands. oh i’m in pain.

i’m so normal about how nemesis knows that melinoë’s situation is cruel and unfair and is upset by it. she’s frustrated that melinoë doesn’t even question her circumstances and her lashing out is how she expresses her discontempt with the situation. oh she’s so. oh. clutching my chest

[evermoredeluxe]

also, was that dr mauer we see when gemma and outie mark go to the fertility clinic for the first time? gemma literally says that she got the chikhai bardo cards due to a mailing list at the clinic, too

[mutsukiwi]

Thinking about mutsuki’s childhood, he probably never got many chances to play any video games. After being taken in by the ccg I doubt he would’ve been exposed to any and even if he did it would be in relation to strategic planning/ work ect. But I think he would really, really enjoy them. Like. “How the hell did I go my entire life without these” Saiko is obviously the one who introduces him to it after she asks him if he has any favourite video games and he responds with “oh yeah no I haven’t actually really played any” and she responds how you’d expect. There’s a shared console in the plateau and we’ve seen Saiko play super smash brothers I think he would absolutely main link but also play as sheik sometimes to because #transgender he’d love the Zelda series and get major gender envy from link ofc. He’d love side scrollers and try at strategy games to varying success (he’d be interested in them but they’d probably feel too much like the work he did at the academy) if we’re going by cannon he’d avoid games that have blood in them but I just know he’d rock at fps games. Someone get that boy a copy of halo. Green child soldier meets green child soldier the crossover we’ve been waiting for. Also Minecraft can you imagine how chaotic a shared server for the quinx would be. Haise would get involved and be absolutely clueless and everyone would try to drag urie in and he would just maybe play just so they stop bugging him and he’d enjoy it but he never says it and even gets invested in it a bit but then someone (shirazu) ends up stealing something from his chest and all hell breaks lose. He’d then build one of those ridiculous maximum security bases and never let anyone else in except maybe mutsuki or haise

[ceiling-karasu]

Squirrel and Hedgehog Shipping Polls

I’m heading out to the Caribbean this weekend for a family vacation, so this poly ship should make for a warm discussion from the suggestions and prompts in the tags.

The captured Field Mouse from episode two, and his hedgehog Guards.

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

ardent pro israel us nationalists are actually the most pathetic people to walk this earth. like wow you’ve tied your self-worth and are batting so hard for a government that if you were on fire would first make you cough up ten bucks to buy free water and then pay twenty so they can dump it on you. but oh yeah red white and blue forever uh

[fratalian-dinosaour]

the most fun thing about being under the trans umbrella is the name changes . whenever i make posts about me i would use "stories with asher" but now my names emmett . its actually so much fun bc i can see how long ive been on here . i dont remember the last time ive used the name asher but i still kept using it as my tag . no clue why but i kept it there . my first name was eren, then it was 2020 and i went down the noun for name rabbithole and it was fern, then i went to asher, then i started going by em in school (closest to b.n.) now im emmett because my friend grace started calling me emmett for fun and it sticked ! sometimes ill see friends who havent seen me in years and they'll call me asher and its HILARIOUS because its like a war flashback. i was crazy emo when i went by asher and now im fun and colorfull and silly and a major nerd! also i was obsessed with the lego movie as a kid and LOVED Emmet (first fixation) so . basically my life has made a full circle ! yay

beware of the yapping in the tags :3

[total-drama-brainrot]

Hello hello ophe 👋😇

I’m doing somewhat ok these days how about you? I hope you are getting better 😇

Anyways I got a crack idea and it sounds kinda stupid but hear me out

Bank robbery or crime gang au

You get Alejandro who is the one in charge

Noah the brains

Justin the distraction for the police and just the attractive distraction

Tyler is the “athletic” one really he’s also part of distraction the other one they shove in the vents

Wayne (don’t ask no one knows why he is even here) is the getaway driver

Cody the hacker and the one they shove into the vents

Trent is the second getaway driver is Wayne is knocked out and he’s also helps Cody when he is shoved in the vents (Trent tells where Cody need to go when Cody is in the vents)

Owen is also part of the distraction team and somehow supplies the group with firearms of all things?

Harold is the main hacker

Duncan is I guess the Jack of all trades?

Anyways yeah I don’t know why I thought of this….

-Ass Stars anon

Hello hello, A.S. Anon! 👋😄

I'm slowly getting better by means of an excessive amount of decongestants and painkillers! 💊

Total Drama Bank Heist AU sounds like a fun little crack idea, I'm on board.

If I could suggest something, I'd like to offer both Noah and Harold as the groups' 'Guy(s) In The Chair', with Noah using his canonical hacking abilities to scout out their chosen heist area using it's security cameras and/or downloading the bank's blueprints digitally (pretty sure he did something similar to this in Dramarama?) and Harold utilizing some of his various Mad Skills to plan the group's course of action and probably man their comms. I say this because Noah can't stand Harold, so making them work together as the groups' off-site organizers would/could be hindered by the two of them bickering instead of actually working. (Also because I can't imagine a world in which Noah would willingly do something as physically straining as robbing a bank. Mission intelligence, however, is right up his alley; he and Harold absolutely fight over who gets to be called 'Q'.)

Having Alejandro as the main group's de facto leader just feels right, and I don't think they'd need someone dedicated to being the 'Brains' with him around (though that title would go to Harold and Noah technically). He's quick witted enough to think up plans of action on the fly and devious enough to charm his way through a tough spot, all whilst being physically capable enough to fight his way through trouble- if anything I'd say Alejandro is the 'Jack of all Trades', thought 'The Leader' is probably a more appealing moniker to him.

Justin as 'The Eye Candy' also feels natural- it's his best (only) talent! He's been shown in canon to be a bit of a schmoozer, so complimenting/flirting his way through the banks' guards/employees and working as a distraction is perfect for him, especially since I doubt Justin would want to do any dirty work and risk damaging his 'perfect face/body'.

Duncan and Tyler would be 'The Brawn', with Duncan actually being an effective physical threat whilst Tyler is... Tyler...

Though Duncan could also be 'The Wildcard', since his loyalty isn't exactly assured at any given moment. Whilst I doubt he's ever rat the others out for his own assured freedom/safety, abandoning them at the scene while he makes his escape? That's a total Duncan Move (he learned it from Courtney in TDDDDI).

I honestly can't see Owen as a heister, unless he was somehow tricked/blackmailed into tagging along, but if he was he's be similar to Tyler- though his title would be something along the lines of 'The Beefcake'- just some extra muscle who's not particularly good at being extra muscle.

Cody would be the safe cracker. He's small and "quick on his feet" (his words), he's literally built for crawling through vents and cracking open safes! He's smart enough to be a code breaker, though he rarely shows it, and I also think it's a nice nod to his bomb diffusing fear- it's a similar course of action.

Trent as the getaway driver also just feels right. He's laid back enough to be contented to just sit and wait for the others to finish their heist, and his poker face is pretty good so one one really suspects him to be involved in the others' ongoings. He probably plays indie rock songs from the 80s as they speed away from the scenes of their crimes, and he absolutely owns a pair of mirrored shades that he only wears when it's Time To Go- he thinks they make him look cool (they don't, but no one has the heart to tell him).

I could see Cody as a secondary getaway driver as well, if Trent's unavailable, utilizing his baby face and unassuming demeanour to divert suspicion from himself. "No officer, I'm not a getaway driver. I'm just a baby, don't you see the learner's plate on my Vauxhall Corsa?" He has a terrible poker face though. If they were ever pulled over or caught he'd admit to everything without prompting.

I can't really think of a way of including Wayne, given the canonical age difference, unless said age difference is lessened in this AU. If he's, say, 16 whilst the rest of them are in their early 20s, I'd suggest that he's Owen's younger cousin who's tagging along because the group couldn't find a way to dissuade him from joining without him (either intentionally or inadvertently) tattling on their whole schtick. He's got no idea what's really happening- he's aware that they're heisting but Wayne doesn't have the, uh, cerebral constitution to connect "Bank Heist" to "Committing Actual Crimes"- but he's having a Great Time regardless! Alejandro has him on lookout duty (read: Wayne sits outside of the bank, oblivious to the legality of the situation) which Wayne takes very seriously... until he gets bored and hangs out with Trent/Cody in the car.

Now for extras!

Their main opposition is a specialised group of investigators who are assigned to their case- since they mark each heist with their group's name but have yet to be caught (They probably get Duncan to tag the side of their hit banks with a crudely drawn Bull Head or something in bright red spray paint). They're not cops, but they do work with them (ew) to try and finally catch the heisters.

Heather, alongside Courtney, Gwen, Leshawna, Lindsay, Beth and Sierra, work in this special ops. group; they're all specialised agents who are dispatched to the scenes of the heists to try and catch our boys in the act.

(I think Sierra would make a really good intelligence operator, given her canonical ability to run ~22+ blogs simultaneously and dig up private information on people. She'd direct the others towards whichever bank she finds Harold and Noah hacking into.)

They occasionally enlist the help of Izzy and Eva for the extra muscle, but the duo are too temperamental to be a full-time part of their operation.

(Yes I added my girlies as a rival group. It's Gender Wars Time. S1E14 all over again but this time there's less gross food and more LITERAL CRIME‼‼)

[bookwyrminspiration]

I want so so badly to infodump and talk about a chorus of dragons to someone but I genuinely have no idea where I'd even fucking start (slight spoilers ahead as I muse. Though I haven’t finished book 5). do I start with book 1?? do i follow the order and be like okay so there's this guy. he's 16 and being sold into slavery, the bastard son of one of the 12 royal houses (he only just found that out) raised in a brothel. he's a thief and plays the harp real good. or do I jump the gun and introduce the worldbuilding like. and ALSO! 14000 years ago the universe died (not really I'm badly summarizing). and reincarnation is real so this 16 year old is ALSO the reincarnation of a man-made dark god of annihilation. but he doesn't know that yet. he's also got internalized homophobia. and a brother who's actually his nephew. and back to the slave thing he got bought by a cult of death worshippers. one of them is really important he's the son of death and also one of my favoritest guys in the whole world he loves to fuck. and ALSO there's this other guy, she's (she's a she/her female man) from Horse Country, and she was possessed by a demon for a while as a kid but is ALSO the reincarnation of these other important guys who freed the soul of the first guy from being trapped in that annihilation god...who he also is. AND there's these wizard scholars AND this poor overwhelmed morally conflicted healer and this undead vampire duchess and that nephew/brother and his wife (they r mlm wlw solidarity married for appearances) and this one character who unintentionally pretty much became a goddess and this mimic who is over 5000 people at once and there's these 8 guardian's who aren't gods but pretty much are and everyone's fighting and this wizard dragon is causing a whole lot of problems with his ego and--like?? i have nowhere NEAR scratched the surface of ANYTHING that happens I've probably just confused you

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

When I get out, I refuse to sabotage anything anymore. It’s fucking stressful. Instead I will go to the beach on the weekends, in my little mask and wetsuit and look for cool rocks, with a little piña colada on the shore waiting for me. I will not engage in anti-preaching because I will be too busy RELAXING and HAVING FUN to care if people join cults.

[alpine-sitte]

Maybe this needs to be said? People, please do yourself a favor and stop subconsciously treating paganism as "Christianity Lite". Seriously.

[musclesandhammering]

I don’t know how I’ve been meta-ing about the Odinson family for years and never picked up on this, but wow.

You know this fits with my very specific headcanon about their childhoods though.

I think from the time they were born, Odin was super paranoid about Thor- his offspring, his actual biological heir- turning out like Hela, and sort of just saw Loki as this extra kid he picked up at the seven eleven on the way home one day so he wasn’t too worried about him. And so he hyper focused on Thor when they were children- trying so hard to groom him into this honourable asgardian patriot instead of a murderous conquerer- and pretty much just ignored Loki altogether.

But then, when the two of them entered their teens, Thor was arrogant and enjoyed fighting too much, but was otherwise exactly what Odin wanted him to be. But at the same time, Odin suddenly realised how powerful Loki was growing up to be and how underhanded he was and how much rage he was hiding and mentally went “Oh fucking shit.. I worried about the wrong one.” And because Loki was already so old, he figured it was too late to try to shape him into something better, so instead he crucified Loki for every mistake he made, was constantly suspicious of him at every turn, made it clear that he didn’t trust him and thought he was going to turn out to be a villain… and for years Loki had to exist knowing his father saw him as an enemy. And he tried to prove him wrong, but Odin is a stubborn jackass so it never worked. And so the rest of the story goes..

I just love the concept of Odin’s own paranoia being the thing that lead to everyone’s downfall.

so is nobody gonna talk about how Mjolnir used to be Hela’s?!! i can’t believe i didn’t even notice this during the mural scene until my second viewing. like, she didn’t catch the hammer because she is more powerful than Thor (being Odin’s firstborn and all), she caught it because it was her hammer.

i need to go back and watch the first Thor film bc i think Odin said something along the lines of “the hammer is a tool to build and not just a weapon to destroy”, which is why he FLIPPED OUT when Thor went on that little destruction bender against the Frost Giants and HOLY MOLY Thor and Odin’s headbutting matches in the first film mean so much more now than just father and son disagreements about leading Asgard!!!

and then there’s Heimdall’s line during Thor’s vision in Age Of Ultron “You’re a destroyer, Odinson. See where your power leads.“ Destroyer = a family trait.

Meanwhile, we’re all over here worried about Loki doing evil things, but it was never about Loki.

Odin wasn’t concerned about Thor being too immature to lead, he was terrified Thor was headed down the same path of destruction and conquest as his first child, so he banished Thor to Midgard and placed a child-security-lock on the hammer to prevent a potential Hela 2.0 and i need to lay down now 0__0

Odin is still a shit parent for not coming clean about all of this. being straightforward and honest coulda saved a lot of hassle…fuckin odin >:C

[gerbfukc]

Unholy crap, I've also had "Sakura reborn as Azula" fic ideas, but mine appeal more for the angsty or crack potential. Yours on the other hand is genuinely freaking the coolest!! Sakurazula learning to heal with fire here and it flickering green was gorge! Her connection to control was fantastic and so cool to see! (Also, new to Tumblr, so not sure if it's weird to make a comment years later, hope it's chill)

(Also also, how do you imagine Sakurazula to look like? Hairstyle wise? The color of her fire? Her bond with Mai and Ty Lee? Do you think anyone reminds her of Tsunade or Ino?? Would she somehow rebuild her Seal???)

A scene from my Burning Cherry Blossom fic idea

My interest in Naruto fanfics has recently been rekindled (specifically ones focusing on Sakura because those at least generally write women better than the actual anime or manga ever did), and it gave me the vague idea for this Naruto/ATLA crossover, where Sakura is reborn as Azula. I don't know if I'll ever turn this into an actual fic, or if I'll just occasionally post a scene here that came to me, but I wanted to get this out there at least, so I hope you enjoy (or not, I can't tell you what to do).

The first step to learning basic medical ninjutsu is practicing on an animal. In Konoha, the Mystical Palm technique was trained on fish, keeping it alive out of water before ever getting to try it on another person. After all, the technique required very precise chakra control: too much or too little and you risk unbalancing a patient’s chakra system and sending them into a coma.

Sakura’s greatest strength had always been her chakra control though. As Tsunade’s apprentice she further honed that to an art, until not a drop of chakra was wasted or used without her say-so. She could direct it to fix damaged organ tissue, or to crumble a boulder with a flick of her finger.

Chi was… not quite the same as chakra, but there were similarities, in her experience. Her control was not quite what it was Before, but it was still more than advanced for a prodigious 8 year old, close to her level when she started training under Tsunade.

At first she worried that chi was too different, that it couldn’t be used to heal like chakra could. But last week her new- her dad (she had to stop thinking of her parents as ‘new’, she didn’t want to slip up and give them questions she didn’t want to answer) told her about the waterbending healers of the Northern Water Tribe, who healed their warriors from wounds that would have been lethal during the First Siege of Agna Qel’A. This healing ability is what ultimately forced the uneasy stalemate between the Fire Nation and the Northern Water Tribe for the past 80 years, Ozai said, because losing men where the enemy did not was never a winning tactic.

Which was fascinating, and her inner medic felt vague vindication at the acknowledgment of her profession’s importance after so many people had looked down on it Before, but what interested her more was the proof that chi could be used to heal. She could be a medic again! She could be an invaluable aid to the war effort that way! She just had to figure out how…

Which led her to her current situation. She was sitting next to the pond in the Palace Gardens, stroking the shell of the turtleduck in her lap while examining its left leg. She’d noticed it had been injured when she walked behind Zuzu and her mom through the garden earlier that morning, and she wanted to try to heal it with chi.

Slowly, holding her hand behind the animal so it wouldn’t be spooked by the flames, she closed her eyes and focused on her chi, sending it down her arm and to the palm of her hand. Before releasing it, she cooled it down from the blazing inferno it was normally to a soothing warmth.

She opened her eyes as she let the first flames appear over her palm and felt that same warmth radiate from her hand, flickers of green colouring the flames. Moving her hand to the turtleduck’s injured leg, she watched with bated breath as it slowly started healing. It wasn’t burning, it wasn’t trying to get away, she was actually doing this-

“AZULA! What on Earth do you think you’re doing!?”

She yelped, shocked by the sudden yell of her mom, and felt her control slip and then the turtleduck was screeching and flailing and the smell of burnt flesh and feathers filled her nose and-

A hand forcefully pulled her up, painfully digging into her arm. She looked up to see Ursa, her mom, looking at her with disgust so strong it knocked the breath from her lungs, a hollow feeling burying itself in her chest.

‘Mom! I was just trying to-”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Ursa interrupted, “What kind of monster burns defenseless animals like that?”

Azula recoiled. That actually hurt. She knew she wasn’t the easiest kid, considering the whole reincarnation business, and it probably looked worse than it was, but for her mother to call her a monster? For this?

“I didn’t mean to burn it, it was an accident-”

Slap. “Don’t. Lie to me,” Ursa hissed. “Now go to your room and think about what you’ve done. I will be discussing this with your father.”

—-

Sullenly, Azula walked through the hallways to her room, nursing her cheek. The analytical medic part of her brain took note: ‘civilian, untrained, stronger than expected but not aimed to do permanent harm. Expected swelling, limited bruising, one day recovery max.’ The part of her brain that was truly the 8 years old she was in this body was still trying to grasp that her mother had hit her. The only time her parents Before hit her were during training, and that was just to help her get better, to make her stronger, not... this.

As she sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, she clenched her hands, brow furrowed. She’d grown lax in her time here. She’d taken her control for granted, and forgot that it required work to get there. She’d almost had it, but the technique working made her overconfident and lose track of her surroundings. Clearly, almost wasn’t good enough. Today had shown her she couldn’t afford to lose control like that. So she would practice, and make sure nothing could disturb her, no shock could make her control slip like today.

From today on, Azula vowed to herself, her control would be perfect. She would have to be perfect. Anything less was unacceptable.

[hedgehog-moss]

My chickens have not been lucky this winter—the youngest one, Louise Michel, despite her revolutionary name, was eaten by a fox earlier this year. At least this new year was off to an auspicious start for this fox and her family. It made me think about Fantastic Mr Fox and how this book indoctrinates small children into directing their empathy towards the beleaguered fox family, while the hen characters are complete non-people—they are even called stupid at one point, even though they are just sitting in their coop, doing their chicken job!

Anyway. Dru survived the fox attack unscathed and non-traumatised, which made me respect her even more than I already did. Drusilla is quite old by now, and she has survived everything—the fox attack that killed her first coopmate, Cordélia; several air strikes by birds of prey; Pandolf trying to scare her to serve his own dog interests... Even though she has long stopped laying eggs, she is a precious asset to my chicken coop: I am going to get new baby hens in the spring and I need Dru to teach them her strategies to win the Darwinian struggle for existence. As an elderly hen, her job is no longer to provide eggs, but wisdom.

And then I heard Dru cry out one afternoon, as if she had been attacked by something.

I felt confused as I ran out to rescue her—I'd seen her just five minutes before when I went out to distribute hay, she was near the pasture gate hanging out with the llamas, donkey, and dog. There's no way a fox would attack a chicken surrounded by such a security detail. I quickly found her, sitting just outside the pasture, in her normal brooding position, she didn't seem hurt—but Pandolf ran towards her as well, and she didn't move out of his way. That was very unusual. Pandolf runs at things and people like a fluffy corrida bull, happy to knock you over with the force of his love (there's a reason the French equivalent of "like a bull in a china shop" is "like a dog in a bowling game"), and Dru always makes sure to jump out of his way, boosting herself with her wings if necessary.

I wondered if she had a broken wing, but when I started examining her she made a very eloquent "urghh go away" gesture at me with both of her wings, so she could move them. Her legs didn't seem injured either, but she refused to get up. I ended up carrying her back to her coop so she could sit in peace and process her feelings, but she wasn't feeling better the next morning. She clucked at me amicably when I visited her but she didn't go outside all day, so I had to leave food and water outside her room like a bemused parent trying to accommodate an angsty teenager.

Since I hadn't been able to detect any injuries and she was eating normally, I thought she might be depressed. Maybe it had taken her some time to understand that she had lost her friend and was all alone in her coop, and then the realisation had hit her, and her normal chicken activities suddenly felt meaningless. That didn't really explain the sharp cry I'd heard the day before, though.

(I hadn't noticed until I took a closer look at the above photo that there is a dirty stain on the wall of the laying box! Embarrassing. But to my defence, chickens are not very clean creatures and keeping their coop clean is a Sisyphean task. I guess I always focus on cleaning the parts where the hens sit and walk, and hadn't leaned over to look at the inside wall. I've now cleaned it up with a brush—but I almost regret doing so, because a friend gave the stain a beautiful and mystical interpretation:

I waited a couple of days to see if Dru's agoraphobia got better, but on Day 3 of her refusing to leave her coop, I decided to take her to the vet.

The farmer who was sitting next to Dru and me in the waiting room seemed very puzzled about my decision to bring a chicken past her prime and no longer laying eggs to the vet for a diagnosis. At first he assumed that I hoped to have her diagnosed as Safe To Eat.

I told him about how this hen is very good at surviving, and I want her to pass on her knowledge to future generations.

Dru looked cranky at the vet, maybe because there was a poster on the wall that said "What's for dinner tonight?" and she took it personally.

Fun chicken fact: the rounder a hen is, the angrier. She may look like an adorable cream puff, but she is a ball of rage:

The vet noticed that her leg was a bit swollen, and said it could be an infection, or maybe some heavy animal had stepped on her foot. He gave me antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and then I had fun trying to make my cranky chicken take her meds every day. Do you think getting a cat to take a pill is difficult? Try it with an animal who evolved from raptors.

Here are screenshots from a video (which my wifi refused to load)—Dru wasn't having a good time, but trust me, neither was I. It was a daily struggle. On the other hand, I discovered that she loves cherry tomatoes! I had a cherry tomato plant in my greenhouse that was only here to keep the aquaponic system going in the winter, I wasn't eating the fruit as they were bitter February tomatoes, and for some reason it didn't occur to me to offer them to my chicken until I was walking around the greenhouse looking for some insect to reward her for taking her medicine. The daily tomato treat delighted her a lot more than some boring insect :)

Well, we are reaching the end of this adventure—Dru will get new coopmates soon (and hopefully start teaching them her secrets immediately) and the vet visit was very worth it 😊 She still has trouble going down the ladder of her coop so I go get her every morning and carry her near my house, but she is walking and, more importantly, scratching around for food again! Here's a little video:

Oh, no, wait, we aren't done—I must ask everyone to take part in the Trial of Pirlouit.

The vet did say it looked as if some heavy animal had stepped on Dru's foot... Considering the llamas are very delicate walkers, and Pandolf is a reckless brute but isn't heavy enough to break a chicken's leg, this makes Pirlouit the main suspect.

[stychu-stych]

More Narinder crumbs, please -- you feed us so well!!

Specifically, do you have any headcanons regarding his attitude after being indoctrinated? Everyone here has their own little versions of him, and your post-battle comic peaked my interest :))

Was he chill or overwhelmed by his new life? Did he try to get revenge immediately, or has he accepted his fate? Did it take him long to find his place in the cult? How's the mortal needs (eating, sleeping, etc) been treating him? And what did the Lamb do during all this?

Lots of questions, I just think your stuff's really cool <3 thank you for the lovely masterpieces that you share with us!

Oh dear, I have a whole list about their relationship and how fucked up they are jdbdhd. But today - about the Narinder's indoctrination (TW the description might me unpleasant for some people):

So, I like to think, that Narinder was chained like literally, through his body. And like the rest of the bishops, he wouldn't be able to fully heal his injuries, because with his every move the wounds opened again, made him weaker and weaker through the centuries.

Narinder wasn't really indoctrinated but more like resurrected (<--the context) and the ritual didn't go like the Lamb planned. The bishops aren't fully healed after joining the cult and something similar happened to Narinder. His body was still (basically) destroyed, his arms were still wounded, the same way with chest and back but the internal organs were in the worst condition. First few days was like a nightmare for him - his new mortal body couldn't handle the pain and injuries. He didn't know where he is and what's going on. Lamb didn't know what they should feel about all of this, they were torn between hating Narinder with all their heart (because of all "give me the crown back" and taking their life) and still being pathologically devoted to him deeply in their soul. They were furious with him, but in the same time they didn't want to leave Nari's side.

Narinder had stomach pains after every meal for a very long time (he needed to drink a digest herbal tea), even after his wounds were healed, he didn't sleep well too. After some time, he got better, but was still dependent on Lamb and their care. He couldn't even think about revenge, he just accepted his new situation although he did not take it that well. And the Lamb wasn't helping at all - they were teasing him constantly, sometimes even just starting arguments with Narinder (but that's material for another post because it's directly about their relationship and there's a lot to unpack)

This ask is almost one month old""" it took me some time to answer this, I'm sorry 🙏 and thank you for your ask, I'm so happy when someone wants to know more about my headcanons