#livingmeatloaf

[externalmemorycomic]

*knock knock*

Hello! Reverse trick or treat! I love your costume, so cool, great cape! Here, have a treat from my treat tote:

A cat pumpkin!

Thank you so much, they're wonderful!

[corduroyserpent]

Ficlet request: Coldhands!!

Perhaps a holiday, if you want more direction. But any ficlet is good!

i'm so sorry i literally wrote this a month ago and simply forgot to post it! anyway this is like…holiday adjacent? mainly bc i think zhuzhi-lang's b-day should be a holiday. oh and this is canon to the rest of the series hehe <3

“My birthday?” Zhuzhi-lang glances up from Tianlang-jun’s latest attempt at storytelling—a poetic epic that mainly focuses on dual cultivation between those of the same sex—to give Wen Ning a curious look. “I don’t know when it is.”  “Oh…” Wen Ning’s expression doesn’t shift, hindered by the stiffness of his dead skin, but Zhuzhi-lang has gotten used to reading the slight changes. There’s an unmistakable tinge of dismay.  Wen Ning’s own birthday recently passed and even though he no longer ages physically, there were no small amount of well wishes sent his way. Zhuzhi-lang had spent quite a bit of time procuring a gift for him too. The fine set of deep black robes, embroidered with a delicate golden pattern along the edges, seem to have been received well. Wen Ning is currently worrying at the trailing sleeves of that very gift, after all. “Is A-Ning asking because he wants to celebrate it?”  “Yes!” Wen Ning blurts. “But if you, well if you…” His hoarse voice trails off. “If you don’t remember when…” “I remember,” Zhuzhi-lang lies. Warmth spreads throughout his chest. How pleasant it is, to have someone who cares enough to celebrate a day he doesn’t even recall.  What’s the harm in indulging such a person? Wen Ning perks up. “You…you do?”  “Of course. It’s just been so long since I’ve celebrated that I momentarily forgot. Do forgive me.” It isn’t difficult to come up with a date. His first thought is the day that Tianlang-jun gifted him a man’s form but, shamefully, he had been too preoccupied with his new body to take note of the date. But he remembers exactly when Tianlang-jun gave him a name.  Yes, that date should do nicely.  He tells Wen Ning. “It’s soon,” Wen Ning says, surprised. His unblinking eyes are trained on a spot near Zhuzhi-lang’s shoulder as he processes the information.  Zhuzhi-lang quietly organizes the disordered pages splayed on the low table before him. It can take time for Wen Ning’s thoughts to escape through his mouth, and Zhuzhi-lang does not like to make him feel watched during such moments.  “You said,” Wen Ning begins slowly, “that it has been a while since the last time you celebrated your birthday?” “Yes. Many years.” “Do you not…enjoy it?” Zhuzhi-lang tilts his head. “Maybe I don’t.” He reaches up to tug on Wen Ning’s sleeve, smiling when a cold hand catches his fingers before he can pull away. “Perhaps A-Ning will manage to change my mind.”

[hools]

Hello! I enjoy your art, especially the piece you did of Big Challenges. Do you have an inprnt or other shop where we can buy your art? Thanks for your time

hey thank you sm!!! (+: i have an inprnt here but i havent updated it in a while (if u or anyone want any specific pieces up there lmk!). im not sure how putting sanrio stuff up on sites like inprnt will go so for that one im giving permission to print it out urself and stick it somewhere if you want!

i also remember someone asking if i could upload an untextured version because that messed up some of the printing so here's one below the cut [-:

[portraitoftheoddity]

Haha, okay, so, if you're walking on fairly flat, even terrain and just have a big old stick you found in the woods so you can enjoy the satisfying thunk it makes hitting the ground with each step while you're putting out big Gandalf vibes...

... then yeah, that would be an aesthetic thing.

BUT!

If you're on rough, steep terrain, a walking stick to help balance yourself can be actually quite helpful, as you've basically just turned yourself into a nice and stable tripod.

In fact, a lot of hikers, myself included, use trekking poles:

I started using a pair of these last summer and honestly, they were a game-changer for my shitty shitty fat-girl-knees.

Trekking poles are a lightweight, adjustable, modern alternative to the walking stick; they not only help with balance, but also help you take strain off your legs by letting you put some of your weight on your arms as you push off; sort of like using an elliptical at the gym instead of just the stair climber. You can steady yourself with them and push down on them as you ascend steep parts of the trail, and use them to keep from wiping out on your way down and reduce the impact on your joints when you have to hop down off a big rock. (And if you fall and hurt your ankle, I can say from personal experience, they help a LOT in steadying you as you limp back down to the parking lot, especially when getting through water crossings.)

For mountain hiking, I'm a big fan. I leave them at home though, if I'm gonna be on flatter terrain. They're a bit of an investment, so if you want to do a lot of hiking, they can be worth looking into, but they aren't essential gear. Some people prefer not to use them. But if your balance isn't great or your knees ache a lot, I recommend them.

[fishfingersandscarves]

*knock knock*

Hello there! Reverse trick or treat!! You look great, what a fun costume! Here's a treat from my treat bag:

A spoon with a scarf!

aw thank you

[ilgaksu]

For the ask game!

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

19. the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

(from these questions)

18. so, i don't really tend to keep deleted sentences or paragraphs, so instead i'll show one i considered deleting and didn't and discuss why i considered deleting it (and why, ultimately, i didn't).

so, here we go:

Last night, before the rain and the violin case, before the brown sugar and Wu Erbai’s beautiful house, and Xie Yuchen is laughing, leaning up against the balcony railing in the Xie estate, his hands over his face. 

“No,” he says, “No, I hate it. I can’t look at you when you say that and take you seriously.”  

“No,” Hei Xiazi replies, “You’re wrong. You’re wrong and biased. Other people love this. Other people find it sexy.” 

“Go find other people then.” Xie Yuchen pulls his hands away from his face, wipes his eyes. “If you want to be -” He hesitates around the word, and Hei Xiazi pauses, eyebrows raised, dying to hear Xie Yuchen say it. When Xie Yuchen does, he makes a face around the word: “ Sexy that badly.”  

The last of the sunset drenches him like ink, slides over the curve of his mouth like a secondary kiss, and Hei Xiazi wants him like a cold hand during fever. 

“See, you’re just going off your own prejudices,” is what he says instead.  

“Of course I am. Who calls it making love?” Xie Yuchen shudders. “Just say what it is.”   

“I had a whole routine,” Hei Xiazi says, “And I’ll have you know, young man, it worked like a charm. Eight times out of ten, across over half a century. You are an anomaly.” 

“A twenty percent failure rate isn’t sensible in business,” Xie Yuchen informs him, the little perfectionist. 

“What, you’ve never played for high risk, high reward?” 

“That’s a roundabout way,” Xie Yuchen replies, “of complimenting me. And it still doesn’t mean I’ll agree with you.” He looks at Hei Xiazi’s face and smirks. “You’re itching to prove yourself, aren’t you?” 

“Always.”

When Hei Xiazi approaches, Xie Yuchen keeps his face turned up towards him, and his whole stance is loose. On another man, it might look like happiness; or, even more terrifying, contentment, on account of how contentment can be far more stable. He looks at Hei Xiazi, and has never looked less like the head of a family, and never more like himself. The Jiumen is all gone from his expression, and what's left is this, which is a young man with a beautiful mouth, laughing up at Hei Xiazi with just his eyes. 

Hei Xiazi settles his hands on his waist, leans his thigh between Xie Yuchen’s legs, uses his weight to tip him back against the support pillar holding up the balcony’s roof. Then, he reaches up, brushes Xie Yuchen’s hair back behind his ear, a performative little gesture that frames it better when he leans in, voice pitched low, and says, “Let me make love to you.” 

There’s a startled beat, where Xie Yuchen inhales, his body tensing, and Hei Xiazi suspects victory. But then - 

Xie Yuchen starts laughing again, this time pressed up against Hei Xiazi and out loud. He puts his hand on the back of Hei Xiazi’s neck to brace himself and presses his face against Hei Xiazi’s chest and laughs and laughs and laughs. He looks up at Hei Xiazi’s expression, lets out a strangled noise, and shoves his face right back. 

“If it helps,” he says, in between gasps for air, “I bet you they loved that back in, what, 1932?” 

(from been trying to find my way back)

so! i considered deleting this because i fretted that xiao hua is too cute in this section. the reason i didn't delete it in the end was that this is a fic in 3rd person limited pov where xiao hua is not so much functioning as a protagonist but as a deuteragonist, and specifically a love interest. this isn't so much how xiao hua regularly is, but as he is sometimes around hei xiazi - and, most important, is hei xiazi sees him, i.e. a romantic partner. i felt like that justified keeping this section. i'm still not sure about my decision though. i think a harsher editor would've cut it.

19. i answered this one here, but another one is that i often use medical history museums as an opportunity to gather research for hei xiazi. when i visited a friend recently, i went to a surgeon's museum and took a lot of reference notes for european modes of medical education. i find these kind of places fascinating, especially as someone in a body regularly medicalised and pathologised - how much all that separates me from the specimen jars is time and place. i think that's relevant because that's a feeling i often try to imbue into hei xiazi as a character who is a disabled doctor and therefore occupying both of those spaces of medical authority and medical curio.

[theleakypen]

Qingchengxian or Zhao Zhuliu prequel story WZL for the WIP ask game! Both sound very intriguing

qingchengxian preview here!

as for the Zhao Zhuliu prequel story, I've been working on it since November 2020 and it is getting incrementally closer to complete! it's the story of WZL in the days before he gets that name -- from his creation of the core melting technique to his friendship with Yu Ziyuan and the woman who will eventually be Madam Jin.

When they reached the Long River, they flew across on their swords. Touching down on the southern bank, Yu Ziyuan looked to the west. "My intended lives upriver from here," she said.  Zhao Zhuliu startled and looked at her sharply. Until that moment, she had given no indication of any attachments. He looked closely at her face. He had now seen her in many moods, far from the sharp hauteur that was her armor, but this one seemed new. A little frustrated, a little wistful. There was a divot between her brows, like the one she sometimes got when they were sparring and he was winning. "When will you marry?" he asked. He didn't know how it worked for gentry. "When he agrees," Yu Ziyuan said, and Zhao Zhuliu had no idea how to respond to that. She looked round at him, then, and her face smoothed into its customary lines. "Let's go. We should get to Jingzhou Town before too long."

[leonardcohenofficial]

M*A*S*H questions!

16 . you can pick one of the write off characters to stay on the show and develop , the others’ roles don’t change . who are you picking ?

22 . a klinger outfit you’d want to “ borrow “ ( and probably never give back ) ?

i answered sixteen already but! another character i wish we'd gotten to see more of is love of my (and margaret's) life helen whitfield! i love the depth and intimacy of her relationship with margaret—it's admittedly hurried given we only see her for about ten minutes total, but the weight of their connection is evident onscreen. similar to steve newsome, i would have loved to see helen's arc take place over a full season where we get to learn more about her, her struggles with her alcoholism, her relationship not only with margaret but with the other characters (in the episode they give her some good banter with BJ and i headcanon that they were good friends during her time at the 4077th; would also love to see more of her with klinger as he's the one who reports his concern about her drinking alone), etc.

this klinger outfit is one i would wear at least once a week if i had all the pieces—there are so many iconic outfits that truly only jamie farr has the energy to pull off with such panache but this one is absolutely one of my faves of all time

[westiec]

Trick or treat!

🧛<vampire costume

(x)

Happy Halloween!

[accessible-tumbling]

that username is fabulous wow

[night-dark-woods]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion ask game: bugs

BUGS. incredibly broad field and i love all of them they are so neat, but a fun fact is that wasps recognize faces! so here are some pictures of the wasps i shared my breakfast sandwich with the other day. they were very polite until their third trip back and then they kept flying all around me and not by the sandwich i was holding out at arms length, which is about my limit of wasps unpredictably close to me without feeling mildly panicked, so they lost sandwich privileges and i went inside.

ID. two photos of a hand holding a half-eaten breakfast sandwich. in the first there is one wasp on the sausage patty, in the second there are two, one on either side of the sandwich. End ID.

[nessiopeia]

You know I will actually

[corduroyserpent]

"Talk to Me About the WIP I’m Currently Writing" game!

6. Does this chapter/fic have any twists that you’re proud of?

unfortunately the only wip i'm working on right now that has any sort of twist is my big bang 😭 and i can't say anything about that!!

let's just imagine i tried to tell you and a big truck drove past drowning out my words

[WIP ASKS]

[cloverandcrossbones]

Laios Touden Period Cramps moodboard

[image ID: a 3x3 moodboard of alternating Dungeon Meshi manga panels and Delicious in Dungeon anime screenshots of Laios suffering from cramps and stomach pain, arranged in sequential order to show how his pain progresses. Laios is a blond tallman (human) in grey plate armor. In some images, there is a closeup of his face with a pained expression or crying, while the rest show him doubled over on the ground. In two manga panels, Laios says, "My stomach. Urrgh..." Narrative text from the other panels read, "Laios tried to say something... But overwhelming stomach pain and nausea wiped all thoughts from his mind. For an entire night, it felt like his stomach was being carved open from the inside." End ID.]

[schnellertod]

death won't do us apart

buy print here

[mushroomjar]

27 for the Spotify wrapped (if you've done that one, pick your favorite number)

I already did 27 (God-ish by PinocchioP), so I'm gonna tell you 48

48: Ni Soku Ho Kou - DECO*27 feat. Hatsune Miku

Ask game