#my favorite is book v and iii is second

[randomkposts]

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.“ -Vincent Van Gogh

A FEH book iii based story.

---

When Alphonse died, he asked you to look after Sharena. And you have kept this promise to the end. Veronica fell to lies, the summoner to betrayal. Hel is dead now, but at the cost of everyone. Of everything. The world is dying around you, withered with no decay. Decay is a form of life, and this world has no life or death left in it. Just the endlessly stretching eternity of nothing. The mask is hot on your face, and you dare not take it off, for fear of what you might breathe unfiltered. 

The sky burns with the low red of fading fire. Your eyes have long grown adjusted to it, as you work in the near dark.

"This time..." Sharena starts, but doesn't finish. 

You squeeze her fingers. You know what she means. This time things will be different. This time you will intervene where the past you had failed to act. Not complete control, but enough. At the very least, this time you will not be the last man standing. 

She hugs you. Slowly you hug her back. Sharena is a gift. You would be in a worse place without her. Her optimism has kept you going in a world gone to hell. 

"This time we can be friends sooner." You tell her. She's crying, but responds that she would like that. 

It's not long before you are finished with the prep work. You hold each other close, masks off, your knife in her ribs, and hers in yours. 

Together you fall. 

You hold her as you both lay dying, while the ritual activates .

---

It works. Or it works well enough to be called a success.

It's not as if you wanted full control. You are in the background of the mind of your past self, as he concerns himself over issues you have long since forgotten about. But you do have a truce, and sometimes have control to set up for the future. 

You meet her sometimes. She looks at you oddly, but the friendship is still there. Your Sharena and her present self learn to cooperate. She has prep-work of her own to set. But it's nice to have her company again. You have missed her. 

Together you manage to put off the bad future into the far off future. Until they are older and wiser and capable of handling it better. But you know that you are both just buying time. 

She dies first, and something in you breaks a little at the news. You didn't want to be the last one standing.  You broke your promise to Alphonse, to protect her to the end. And a world without Sharena feels like a world with the moon. Hope is still there in the stars, but something fundamental is gone. 

It bleeds like a raw barely healed cut, and you try to avoid thinking about it. Your other self notices. 

"You loved her."

"Yes." 

"It was impossible, you know."

"It didn't matter. Sharena was a breath of fresh air in a stale hellscape. You don't know how much you need her until she's there, and remember life can be beautiful If you let it."

"I'll take your word on that."

"They are the main reason that life is worth staying alive for. Don't waste your moments away from them."

"Your reasons, maybe."

"The end will come no matter what you do. But when the time comes, do you want this to be your regret? " 

Bruno decides to try to help them become  friends. It doesn't go super well, given they both want his attention, but he's taking your advice, and that is satisfying. 

In this world, Bruno is not the last man left standing. Alphonse and Veronica are crying, and Bruno is scared, but you are there with him. You don't fear death again. 

"They will do better than we did." You tell him, as the blessing of silence washes over everything.

"You once said that life can be beautiful, if we let it." 

"I did."

"I can see that now."

"I'm glad."

You look up at Veronica and Alfonse crying over you. You have every faith they can create a better future then the one you left behind.

You die at peace, and amongst friends.

---

I wrote this a bit ago and thought I would clean it up and share. Bruno and Sharena (last survivors of their world), use a ritual that sends them back in time (or possibly to a diffrent world), where they work with themselves of the other reality to try to prevent their bad future.

(This new timeline leads to Lif and Thrasir)

[minimomoe]

How to Train your Demon

Pairing: trueform! Sukuna x Fem Reader

Summary: Life has all kinds of wins and losses. You don't know which category to put your new demon husband in though.

Tags: MDNI!, red string of fate trope, true form sukuna, librarian reader, soul mates, reincarnation, accidental summoning, love at first sight (but it's one-sided (until it's not)), Sukuna is demon, but he's v much in love, smut and stuff eventually i guess....

Part: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI.

Revisit rule: "Don't Show Fear"?

Your whole day soured at the notion of you not being able to get the book as soon as you had hoped. Your mind raced at the possibilities that would happen if it was gone for good, but you had to think of happy thoughts as patrons began to ask you if you were feeling alright on the job. You hadn’t expected your emotions to show so openly on your face. 

Uraume did not interfere with your work at all. If you had made a wincing sound loud enough for them to hear, their head would dart to your attention, silently asking if you needed their assistance. You would shake your head to assure them you were doing just fine, and then Uraume would stick their nose back in their book. They seemed to be earnestly reading, absorbing the information from one non fiction novel to the next in astonishing speed. You think they must have finished at least two books by the third hour of your shift. 

The only time you lost sight of Uraume was when Kento made a surprise comeback to the front desk. 

“Mr. Nanami? Don’t tell me you finished all those books already?” 

He gave you a weary smile. Yuuji was no longer on his hip, but instead holding his hand with an apologetic frown. 

“I left my favorite jacket here. We had to come back to get it,” Yuuji mumbled. 

“Oh that’s not a problem. I’m sure it’s in the kid section right where you left it. There hasn’t been that many people today,” you assured them. To make the boy feel better, you led him to the last place you saw him, holding out your own hand for him to take. That’s when Nanami saw your foot and tried to make you stay back. 

“Trust me, I want to move around. I’ve been stuck up there pretty much all day,” you waved Nanami off. 

Just as you expected, Yuuji’s beloved jacket was crumbled up on one of the colorful beanbags in the reading zone. He dropped your hand to dash towards it. Once Yuuji collected his belongings he ran back to you with a running hug that almost knocked you off of your feet. 

“Thank you!” He gushed. 

“Yuuji, be careful!” He peeled the young boy with the strength of two men off of your body. “I’m sorry about that. Are you sure you’re alright?” 

“Kento, I’m fine. Now go have fun at the beach for me,” you smiled. 

You waved them off for the second time. On your trip back to your desk is when you noticed that Uraume was nowhere to be found. They weren’t sitting at the desk that they have been reading at, or skimming through the shelves when you did a quick look around. 

As you plopped back to the front desk, Jess popped up from the office space behind you. 

“You wanna work back here for now? I’ll take the front. You’re moving around too much for my liking.”

She practically wheeled you to the back before you could agree, but you knew it would be better for you. 

“Have you seen that one person with white hair?”

“Not in a while. Why, you think they're sketchy?”

“No no, I was just curious.” The last thing you needed was attention on Uraume, because more attention on them would lead to Sukuna. Since they found their way to the library, you had no doubt that they would get home safely. 

Now in the back, or the Book Nursery as your library liked to call it, you scanned the stack of new novels that you have not seen before. 

“When did this delivery come in?” 

“I just picked it up from the donation box,” Jess explained. Your shoulders dropped at her words and she gave you a concerned look. “Do you want to go home? You don’t live too far. I can drop you off and have somebody cover me for twenty minutes while I come back.”

“I can’t make you do that,” you shook your head. You got comfortable in your chair and picked the first book in the stack. It was a children’s book that had the plastic covering torn to shreds and a few loose pages. All it needed was a little TLC and it would be as good as new. “I’m fine. Just a little tired. I’ll be okay back here.” 

“If you say so,” she said, unconvinced. “Holla if you need me.” 

Being away from the needs of the public was exactly what you needed. With quiet music playing in your headphones, you were in the groove of putting books back together until your shift was over. You had gotten through half of the stack and most of them were salvageable. When Jess rapped on the door to tell you that it was time to leave, your mood was noticeably lifted. 

Right before Jess dropped you off at your house, she gently held your hand. 

“If your new man does anything— and I mean anything— that breaks your heart…”

“You’ll be the first to know,” you promised. 

“Good. Call me if you need anything!” 

Once inside, you were greeted to the sounds sourcing from the kitchen and the living room. Your TV was on with a show that you didn’t recognize at first until you saw the familiar opening sequence of none other than Hannibal. You smirked at the screen, passing it to see what Sukuna could possibly up to in the kitchen, especially when you had listed that place as off limits. 

“My lord, you can no longer use that knife. She doesn’t like meat or residue from meat in her meals. We will have to wash them or retrieve new utensils,” Uruame softly reminded.

“Some meat would do her good,” Sukuna grumbled. Still, he grabbed a new knife like Uraume said and began to chop the vegetables in front of him. He squinted at the cookbook propped up at the corner of the countertop before giving up and telling Uraume to read it outloud. 

You could barely hold in your laugh. Both heads popped up to see you standing in the corner. 

“What are you doing?” You giggled. 

“Preparing dinner, ma’am,” Uraume bowed. “Welcome home.” 

“I’m glad that you made it back safely,” you said. Sukuna washed off his hands before greeting you with a bear hug with all four of his arms. 

“You’ve reduced me to be the one at home waiting at home for you to return.” 

“I think being a housewife suits you,” you squeezed out. His hold was tight, genuinely missing your presence and now he didn’t want to let you go. 

“I’ll leave that to Uraume for the time being. There is something we need to do.” 

There is nothing more that Sukuna loves doing than picking you up so that he can move faster, and that’s exactly what he did to walk you to the living room and placed you on the couch. You looked at him bewilderedly as he unstrapped. When you swung your foot off the couch to stand up limply, he gave you an unimpressed glare. 

“Don’t look at me like that, you didn’t explain anything! What are you gonna do?”

“I am going to heal you if you can stop moving around,” Sukuna growled. He grabbed your wrist, attempting to have you fall into his lap but you stumbled back. 

“Heal me? How? Why?” The rapid fire questions thinned Sukuna’s patience. He held out one of his hands for you to take but you were stubborn in your stillness. 

“You and your questions. How? Why?” He repeated mockingly. He slowly rose from the bed, taking slow, predatory steps towards you until there was no more space for you. You bumped into a wall and couldn’t hide from his gaze. “Do you think I am incapable?”

“N-no.”

“Do you think I have ill intentions?”

“I don’t think so?” You squeaked.

“Then settle down. Concern yourself with matters you can control.” 

You were practically plastered on the wall when Sukuna sank down to one knee, taking it upon himself to remove your boot to look at your toe himself. He muttered something that you couldn’t make out, a language that you have yet to learn, and the dull pain in your toe you felt since you broke it disappeared. You gasped squatting down to look at your foot and saw that the bruising around it had faded away. You poked at your toe, expecting to wince at the touch but was greeted with… nothing. 

Sukuna watched you carefully as you inspected your body. You flexed your muscles, wiggled it, stomped on it with hawk eye attention. 

“It’s really healed,” you muttered to yourself. “How did you do that?” You demanded. 

“It’s a simple spell for a minor injury locked away in the book that I’m bound to. It was easy enough to learn,” Sukuna said. 

“You learned it just now? From the book? You never had to use it on yourself?” “The need was not there before. I never got hurt in battle.” 

You concluded that Uraume was at the library on multiple orders, one being to watch for you, but once they were sure you were alright, Uraume must have grabbed the journal when you were no longer watching. Sukuna scooped you up in his arms despite your new ability to walk on your own to take you to your room. Before he could sit you down on your bed, you tighten your arms around his neck, signaling that you didn’t want to be placed down just yet. He looked at you expectantly, waiting for you to say something. 

You placed a soft kiss on his cheek, taking him by surprise. 

“Thank you,” you muttered. “I’m sure I would’ve gotten better all on my own, but this was very kind of you.” 

While his face remained unchanged, Sukuna’s ears turned scarlet. You shifted uncomfortably in his arms, unsure if you had done the right thing. Usually Sukuna was pretty expressive even if he wasn’t saying anything. This time, all you got was a deep stare into your soul that left nothing to hide. 

“I told you that I wouldn’t have to beg for your kiss,” he smirked. 

Heat rushed to your face. “I’ll never give you another one!”

“Never? Why lie to yourself?” He crooned in your ear, making your embarrassment rise. You pushed away his face only to get your finger caught in his mouth. It sent a shock right down to the apex of your thighs, leading you to hiss loudly. Sukuna knew exactly the effect he had on you, and his teeth grazed across your finger length. 

“Eating me because of a kiss is a bit much, no?” You nervously laughed. 

You had no idea how Sukuna could devour you if you allowed him. You slowly took your hand out of his mouth, opting to tenderly cup the side of his face. You could hear your heart pounding, the blood rushing in your veins as your face drifted closer to his. Sukuna’s parted lips waited for yours, allowing you to take the lead. When you finally tasted his mouth you sighed in relief. The attraction between you and Sukuna has always been palatable, even if you willingly chose to ignore it, but now there was no denying it. He stirred something deep within your stomach that you could no longer ignore. You wanted to be dragged down deeper, to have his hands all over your body. 

Sukuna gently lowered you into your bedding, his mouth still locked on yours. His tongue pushed yours with assertion. Everything he did was meaningful, and all you felt was possession. There was barely enough space for him to fit between your legs but still you tried. You were clawing at his back to place his whole weight on your body when you heard soft rapping at the door. You barely had enough self control to actually check who it was. With one eye open you saw your poor cat trying to leave the room before you got freaky with a demon. 

“Sukuna– wait–” 

You had to deal with him biting and sucking your neck, almost dragging you back down in bed with him but you will was stronger. 

“I’m not going anywhere, give me a second!” 

Sukuna held himself over your body. Two hands planted at your head, the other two creeping up your shirt. 

“Cleo cannot be in here if we’re about to do anything. Let me take our child out.” You held his face in your hands and shook him gently. Your words finally reached his brain and he rolled over, petulantly crossing his arms over his chest while staring at the ceiling. 

You petted Cleo’s ears while apologizing to her. 

“Sorry honey. I almost let you see something R-rated,” you chuckled. At the front of your open door stood Uraume waiting patiently who made you jump back. They bowed as an apology, still speaking with their head down. 

“Your dinner is ready to be served.”

“Leave us, Uraume," Sukuna ordered from behind. 

“Yes, my L–”

“No, we’ll eat now,” you stepped in. Cleo ran down the hall for her own meal with loud meows after purring around Uraume’s feet. You could feel Sukuna’s growing scowls from behind boring into your head. 

“As you wish,” Uraume bowed again. 

You turned to a very annoyed demon who rolled his eyes when you pecked another kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t look so down. I gave you another kiss despite my words earlier. That’s gotta count for something.”

Sukuna narrowed his eyes on you. “Eat well. Once you are fed, I will not let you go.” 

Thanks for reading loves!! lemme know what ya think xx

Part: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI.

M.list || Twitter || Ao3

[withasideofshakespeare]

Part 1: Graphs for Tumblr's Favorite Shakespeare Play

In celebration of getting 69 (nice) responses on my Google Form (see below if you'd like to add your opinion), I will be sharing the first round of graphs!

Comedies: Much Ado is in the lead!

Much Ado is the clear winner so far with 53% of the vote (that's 35 votes!) Coming in second place is Twelfth Night with 14 votes; for bronze, we've got Midsummer with 8 votes.

The "robber's" pick for best commentary is... "It's like a drag show but with plot." (Twelfth Night) Tragedies: Hamlet is winning!

Hamlet has a nearly Much Ado-sized lead with 34 votes! Coming in second is Macbeth with 18 votes (including mine)! Third place goes to another one of the four "great tragedies", Othello, with 5 votes.

Best commentary: "I could write an entire book on why I love hamlet. In fact I am writing a book on why I love hamlet." (Hamlet)

Histories: Richard III has a narrow lead!

Richard III is winning with 14 votes, just one more than Richard II with 13! Henry V (and the St. Crispin's Day speech in all its glory) is catching up with 9 votes.

Best commentary: "i saw a version of it where they brough a 10 foot penis on stage. they rolled henry out on a giant golden toilet, wanking, it was amazing," (Henry VIII) (I feel like I need more info on that one...)

Second best commentary goes to the multiple responses that say something along the lines of "Hotspur is gay"

Romances: The Tempest takes the lead!

The Tempest is winning by a large margin with 29 votes! The Winter's Tale takes more than a quarter of the remaining votes with 16 and Cymbeline takes a distant third place with just 4 votes.

Best commentary: "most unfortunate genre"

OVERALL FAVORITE PLAY: Hamlet

Best commentary (the duality of man): "I have no regrets." and "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry"

Rather than an image description, I'll list off the data here: FIRST PLACE: Hamlet: 18 votes SECOND PLACE: Much Ado About Nothing: 13 votes THIRD PLACE: Macbeth: 9 votes More under the cut (and some bonus content!)

7 people decided to forgo their $100 reward rather than choose a favorite Twelfth Night: 6 votes Midsummer Night's Dream and Othello: 2 votes each The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 3 Henry VI, Richard III, Winter's Tale, and the Tempest: 1 vote each Bonus: Tumblr's LEAST favorite plays (no votes in any category): Comedies: -Measure for Measure -All's Well That Ends Well -Troilus and Cressida -Taming of the Shrew Tragedies: -Timon of Athens Histories: -1 Henry VI -2 Henry VI

[travllingbunny]

Hi! I love your posts and insights about the Wars of the Roses. Do you think you could talk a bit about Richard Duke of York? What do you think his character/life was like? Also re his and his sons appearance??

Hi! I'm sorry for taking so long to answer your ask, but I just couldn't find the time before. (I happen to currently have more free time than usual, due to particular circumstances.)

Thank you for asking about Richard, Duke of York, because I think he is a very interesting historical figure who gets usually overshadowed by his sons. If one day someone decides to make a new TV show or movie about the Wars of the Roses that doesn't just skip over the 1460s and start when Richard Duke of York is already dead, his life would make quite a compelling story.

As for historical books about him, I recommend Matthew Lewis' Richard, Duke of York: King by Right.(2016), which is a very detailed (but still very interesting, to me at least) account of his life. I read it a few years ago so I don't remember all the details, only the main points and overall impression I got from it.

My main impression is that, although he is often portrayed by pro-Lancaster writers as power-hungry, this is far from the truth. It seems unlikely that he ever wanted to challenge Henry VI and put himself forward as king, before the last year of his life - and this controversial act makes perfect sense when you look at the circumstances and the things that had happened to him and his family just before that. Besides, while Richard was for a long time - before Edward of Lancaster was born - Henry VI's heir, it seems more likely that he was hoping that his son would one day succeed Henry, rather than himself, since Henry was younger than him and in good physical health. Rather than the result of some evil overreaching lust for power, it seems to me that his conflict with the Lancaster/Beaufort faction was a result of the years of frustration over his treatment. As the conflict grew, staking his claim to the throne throne may have been an act of desperation (since, at that point, this must have seemed like the only way to protect himself and his family), but maybe he was also just really done with everything, and with Henry VI and unwilling to support him as King. Considering the context, I don't really think even pro-Henry VI people could really blame him.

But first I think we'd have to go back to the beginnings. I think that Richard's childhood and, most of all, what happened to his father, is what framed his whole life. Richard's mother, Anne Mortimer (great-granddaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the second of the sons of king Edward III who survived childhood), died soon after giving birth to him, aged only 22. His father, Richard, Earl of Cambridge (himself the grandson of Edward III through his 4th surviving son Edmund, the Duke of York), was executed - when Richard wasn't even 4 years old - for his involvement in the Southampton Plot to depose Henry V in favor of his brother-in-law, Edmund Mortimer (but since Edmund had no children, really in favor of his own son Richard, who would be his heir).

After all, the Lancasters, i.e., Henry V's father Henry IV , himself the son of Edward III's third son John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, had deposed Richard II, skipping over the line of the elder son Lionel, so it could have been reasonably argued that the Mortimers's claim to the throne was stronger (sure, it was through the female line - but so was the English royals' claim to the throne of France - France had installed the Salic Law to bar the female lines from the throne of France - really to bar the English kings from it, but England did not). But Henry V was a crowned and annointed king, so trying to depose him would have been treason... (Even though he was only on the throne because his father had deposed, imprisoned and starved to death another annointed king. To quote one of my favorite TV shows, "Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder". But it's crucial whether you won or lost.)

Just a couple of months later, his uncle Edward, his father's elder brother, was killed without children, Richard became the heir to his lands and titles and became the Duke of York at the age of 4. Ten years later, after the death of his maternal uncle Edmund, he also became heir to the Mortimer estates.

So, young Richard grew up as an orphan but also one of the technically most powerful and richest people in England, and heir not just to titles and lands but also the claims to the throne from not just the 4th but also the 2nd son of Edward III (the latter being the senior line of succession after the deposition and death of Richard II) to rival the Lancaster dynasty. And at the same time, he lived in the shadow of the fact that his father had died as a traitor and rebel against the crown for pressing that same claim.

If I were to speculate about Richard's personality and how his upbringing shaped it, I think he was a person who tried hard to do everything right, to fulfil his duties in every way and be beyond reproach, exactly because he had so much responsibility and probably so much to prove. Something that really strikes me about Richard is that he seemed almost too perfect: competent, respected nobleman popular with the people, in a stable marriage, not known to have any mistresses or sexual transgressions, had seven children who survived childhood including four sons...What the contrast to Henry VI, a nice and pious man but notoriously disinterested in ruling (long before he started showing signs of mental ilness and became catatonic), prone to relying on favorites such as his extremely incompetent cousin Edmund Beaufort. and also, for a long time, unable to conceive a child with his wife Margaret of Anjou (and possibly uninterested in trying), before finally siring Edward.

And this is exactly why Richard must have come across as such a threat in the eyes of Queen Margaret, Edmund Beaufort and other people around Henry VI. How could they not be wary of his powerful man, Henry's cousin and heir, who had all the qualities you'd want in a king, which Henry lacked? However, if he was really power hungry and eager to replace Henry as king, he certainly didn't show that for many years. I think he must have been especially eager to prove his loyalty with the "son of the traitor" thing hanging over his head since he was a child. But he was nevertheless constantly under suspicion and distrusted by the Queen and her faction. I remember reading the details of his career, which come across as Richard constantly having to prove himself while being denied positions or sent away - his appointment in Ireland was really meant a virtual exile, to get him away from court (but it resulted in him and by extension the York dynasty gaining long-term popularity and stronghold in Ireland). (One of the common myths is that Richard was warlike and that this got him in conflict with the supposedly more peaceful faction - in fact, if I remember correctly, it was Edmund Beaufort who acted belligerent in France but made a mess of things, which Richard then had to clean up.)

It all must have been really frustrating to Richard - he was doing everything right, but it was never enough, and he had to prove his loyalty over and over. Maybe the Queen and the Lancastrians really created a self-fulfilling prophecy. Theoretically, I suppose Richard could have been binding his time and playing some really long con to depose Henry, but that seems unlikely looking at the details.

Instead, I think the most likely reason for his decision to start claiming the throne for himself in 1460 is that the conflict had become too harsh and the situation too desperate after he had been proclaimed a traitor to the crown and had to flee to Ireland. The attainder meant he was to be killed if he set foot in England again, and his family was disinherited. He had to successfully invade (ironically, he was in a similar situation that the future Henry IV before he deposed Richard II) and then either make himself Lord Protector again or even Henry's heir, or to proclaim himself the true king.

But I think the earlier loss at the castle of Ludlow, when the Yorkist troops were reluctant to fight the Lancastrian army when Henry VI himself was at its head (a puppet or not, ineffectual or disinterested, the annointed king was seen in an almost religious light and had enormous symbolic authority), and then the brutal sack of the castle, where Richard's wife Cecily Neville, his daughter Margaret and his two youngest children George and Richard (who was only 7) at the very least had to witness awful scenes of rape and pillage, by that same army with Henry as its nominal head... this may have been the straw that broke the camel's back and made Richard decide he was done with Henry VI. (Whether or not he had earlier really respected Henry or just respected his position as King.) And I really can't blame him.

I wonder how he felt when he finally made that decision, which would lead to his death less than a year later - followed by his eldest son's successful campaign and decisive victory over the Lancasters? Was it sheer desperation and survival, was he angry, did he decide he deserved the crown after all and was going to take it, did he feel any pride and relief that his decision would also basically mean an annoncement that his father was not really a traitor? I don't know, but I'm surprised there aren't more novels, movies and TV shows with him as the protagonist, delving into those questions.

Now, as for Richard's appearance and those of his sons.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of direct evidence of what he looked like (and the drawing that, for whatever reason, you'll find most often as a supposed portrait of him on Google definitely isn't reliable), but there are some indirect ones: Richard III was said to particularly look like his father. The phrase about Richard III looking like his father in face and figure has been often interpreted to mean that Richard, Duke of York was short, because Richard was a bit on the shorter side. However, there's no indication whatsoever that York was short, and we know that Richard III was shorter than he would've otherwise been due to his scoliosis (but still quite taller than some other men such as Niklas von Popplau, the German knight who was his guest and described him later). And to put things into context - Richard III was being praised for his similarity to his father and the mention of his figure seems more likely to be a reference to the late Edward IV becoming notoriously overweight in his 30s (while Richard was slim and lean), so I think it simply meant that their father Richard Duke of York was slim and in good shape when he was killed at the age of 49.

This miniature portrait of Richard Duke of York from the Talbot Shrewsbury book (around 1445, when he was 33/34, around the same age Richard III was when he died) shows a blond man with a strong chin - similar to that seen in the portraits of his sons Edward and Richard, an acquiline nose similar to Richard, and full lips (the one detail that doesn't match Richard that well and in fact seems more similar to Edward, going by their portraits).

There are a lot of myths about what the brothers looked like that were mostly created by historical fiction - including that Edward and George were tall and strong while Richard was small (in fact, I don't think we have any contemporary evidence of what George looked like), or that Edward or maybe George too were blond while Richard was dark (both Edward and Richard seemed to have medium brown hair) or that Edward and Richard looked nothing alike. I actually think there is quite a resemblance between the two brothers mostly in chin and face shape, which probably would've been obvious before Edward had gained weight and his face shape got much fuller.

[lattexalmond]

5 Songs Tag - QL Shows Edition

tagged by @morkofday. Thank you for tagging me in another game. I feel so special ☺️

When you get this, list 5 songs from the Asian QL media that you actually listen to.

🎶They do not have to be custom-made for the series. 🎶Non-western tracks only. Let's support Asian music and languages! 🎶Feel free to tag anyone who may be interested in participating. 🎶Add #5qls tag to your post for others to find the new favourites!

These will most likely be from Thai shows. I don’t know how to pick just 5 😭

I. Coming of age (ไม่ปล่อยมือ) Ost from I Promised You the Moon by Bilkin and PP Krit

This will always be my favorite song. It is one of my ringtones and I use it as an alarm. I just love the way Pp and Bilkin sang this. It’s so so good 😍 IPYTM is better than ITSAY. I said what I said.

II. Unable (สิ่งเดียวที่ไม่ยอม) ost from Be My Favorite by Gawin Caskey

This song just idk what it was. I loved it from the second I heard the teaser. I am obsessed with it. I love Gawin’s voice and I love how lovey dovey and painful the song is. It’s both. Both is good.

III. Closer (ไม่ไกลหัวใจ) Ost. Cupid's Last Wish by Mix Sahaphap and Earth Pirapat

This is a tricky one because I actually did not enjoy Cupid’s Last Wish nearly as much as I wanted to. This song is super catchy though and I really enjoy listening to it. Plus Earthmix are special to me lol

IV. Just Being Friendly (เพื่อนเล่น ไม่เล่นเพื่อน) by Tilly Birds

I don’t even remember how I found this song, but I was listening to it so much and then Nunew covered it on Cutiepie and I was like 😍😍😍 Then we got it again in My School President. It’s such a cute song. I love it so much.

V. REDO (ย้อนเวลา) Ost. Be My Favorite by Krist Perawat

Everything about this show has been amazing. I love the music. I love the characters. I love the way they are telling the story. This song is so upbeat and catchy. I love it.

Bonus: Our Way from Sky in Your Heart by Mek Jirakit, Have I Found Vice Versa ost by Sea Tawinan, 1000 Stars Ost by Earth Pirapat(not Gun Napat) Tomorrow by Ford Arun from Moonlight Chicken, My Side from Not Me by Off Jumpol and Gun Attapphan, and finally My Luck A Boss and a Babe ost by Book Kasidet

Tagging: @forcebook @forever-in-phapundao @gunsatthaphan @wanderlust-in-my-soul @machikeita @mrsandypants @mantrisanu @pharawee @taeminie @boun-prem @oswlld

[thevagabondexpress]

Elliott and Juniper for the charcter ask?

elliot carstairs

i. sexuality headcanon: there's no way we can prove he's not a monster-f*ker. ii. otp: fucking therapy. a trip to scotland. chicken noodle soup. tentacle yaoi. something healthy. iii. brotp: believe it or not, i think he'd get along pretty okay with fields from my genderbent-tlh. she's been a soldier on and off a lot through the years. she grew up in weird-ass circumstances (if different weird-ass circumstances from elliott's). i think she'd get where he's coming from, and she'd understand the war wounds both visible and invisible that he carries, and i could see them hanging out together sometime once he gets out of his weird angsty "i am young and nobody else has ever felt my pain" phase. assuming fields is still around. she was born in the late 19th century. so. iv. notp: well in mare marginis he's playing boytoy to the mavka queen which. no. being the creator of this character, just no. v. first headcanon to pop into my head: he's really, really into cars. old cars, classics, sports cars. he saw the rockford files a few too many times as a kid with his mom and he's wanted to drive around bel air at high speeds in a bronze firebird ever since. he's saving up to get himself something fancy and in the meantime he practices drifting in empty parking lots and attends a lot of classics shows. vi. favorite line from this character: i don't have enough written about him yet to give one, alas. vii. one way i relate: i also like to go to old car shows and i have also seen rockford one too many times (and when you read this boy will it show, it's the only thing i know about LA at all) viii. thing that gives me second-hand embarrassment: some of the. uh. things that he will do for juniper over the course of these books. my man. calm down. ix. definitely a problematic character.

juniper blackthorn

i. she's definitely demiromantic, demisexual. she's interested in one person and one person only and always has been. ii. believe it or not, yes, actually, elliot. it might be a really fucked up toxic dynamic but i can't see her being that comfortable or that vulnerable with anybody else. this woman is tense as a spring and fragile as glass, if he's the person who can get her to sit down and relax and cry the tears she needs to cry then so be it. iii. mara. it's a shame i'm pitting them against each other honestly they'd be powerhouse friends. iv. also mara. they'd be powerhouse friends but they should under no circumstances be a ship. also, mara's like sixteen, so. v. she has these little fingerless glovelets that she's always wearing all the time. she won't take them off, not even in 30+ degree celsius weather. she only takes them off to paint and she paints in latex gloves. her hands are always covered. vi. ahh, i want to give it but i can't because you might piece together the spoilers surrounding it so. sorry :( vii. when she gets upset, especially if she's crying, she doesn't know how to calm down. she can't figure it out. those circuits just aren't there. she has to get someone else to walk her through the steps or she'll just wind herself tighter and tighter. viii. just. everything about her mare marginis self. that bitch is over the top. she needs a rest from the melodramatics. ix. also definitely problematic

[kkoraki]

Top five moments on GtN

I. ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 Chapter 28 stay winning　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

  II. This Fourth House classic... iconic... source of my TLT series tag...

Jeannemary seemed uncomforted and unconvinced. So [Gideon] added, “Hey, look at it this way: you were down here just the other night, so if that’s the sticking point, you’re already totally boned.”

“You don’t talk like - how I thought you might talk,” said Isaac.

After this moment this chapter is by far the scariest fucking chapter in the book and SO well written. I was terrified peeping through my fingers the first time I read it and nothing had even happened yet. By the time the bone construct showed up I was a wreck. Yes book, scare me

  III. OK remember when Jeannemary and Isaac find the bone ash in the incinerator and they come to get Gideon and Coronabeth for help except fuckin... Naberius, Marta and Colum all decide to come along too? Most underrated and random scene ever. Hilarious. So much going on under the surface. Sparks deep joy.

The necromancer teen was saying listlessly, “I can tell fresh human cremains. Can’t you, Princess?”

Corona hesitated. The Second butted in: “What if they were burning bones? One of the servants may have fallen apart.”

“Someone could... just go ask,” rumbled Colum the Eighth, shocking Gideon with an inherently sensible suggestion.

Look at this! So much just happened in these 4 sentences and it was also hilarious?? wtf? and the whole scene goes on like this. Most underrated scene. I demand 100k more words of cavaliers hanging out

  IV. The GORGEOUS Chapter 7 opening:

From space, the House of the First shone like fire on water. Wreathed in the white smoke of its atmosphere, blue like the heart of a gas-ignited flame, it burned the eye. It was absolutely lousy with water, smothering it all in the bluest of blue conflagrations. Visible even up here were the floating chains of squares and rectangles and oblongs, smudging the blue with grey and green, brown and black: the tumbled-down cities and temples of a House both long dead and unkillable.

aka when upon first read I realized this book was not in fact about lesbian necromancers in space but rather lesbian necromancers on POST APOCALYPTIC EARTH and went “wtf wtf wtf” and bought in instantly (early onset symptom of nona stanning)

(also this is an ask meme not meta but I just saw this for the first time while typing it out... more chains imagery? like that? clever)

  V. Chapter 23! It’s the chapter with Marta vs. Cam in it but that only contributes to it being my favorite moment insofar as it’s a well-done fight scene. The whole thing is a fantastic ensemble chapter with everyone clowning around and acting like a weirdo. It’s very cleanly written too, the dialogue and the character interactions are how GtN got me. Fave.

[rantsandsparkles]

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

Honorable mentions that didn’t make my list in no particular order : Killers of the Flower Moon (if it actually comes about this year. how many years have we been saying this is coming out?!), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Napoleon, John Wick 4,  and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. And now to my top 10! 

10) Barbie

A lot of people are losing their shit over Barbie. I didn’t really care until I saw the photos of Ryan Gosling as Ken. I’m not the biggest fan of Greta Gerwig, I mostly enjoyed Little Women (although I am still BAFFLED at her decision to make it seem like Jo decided to be with Laurie and then got rejected like umm what ?!) , wasn’t too crazy about Lady Bird. And I won’t get into her non-performance in White Noise lol, but  she is a competent director so I’m intrigued. I think Blake Lively would have made a better “Barbie” but Margot Robbie is always delightful so I’m looking forward to this one.

9)  Creed III

I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies, but for some reason I watched the first two Creeds, and I liked them both. Jonathan Majors looks isancely ripped in this trailer and yes i’m shallow enough to let that be enough to get my butt in the seat lol.  But more seriously, this is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut and I’m very excited to see his directing chops.

8) Wonka

I am still scratching my head over who at Warner Brothers decided to cast Timothlee Chalamet as a Wonka, and make by default a Wonka that fucks. But here we are. When I heard about this casting news a couple years ago I literally said ‘wtf’ out loud, but when I saw the pictures I was sold. He has that mischevious Wonka smirk down pat. I am a little nervous about this after hearing the reaction to the footage that played at CinemaCon , and I’m like one of the few people on earth that didn’t love the Paddington movies, so the Paul King element isn’t comforting to me. But I’m excited to see Timmy in a musical. And the goddess Olivia Colman gushed about his performance, so I have faith.  Although if the rumors are true that it was between him and Tom Holland , and Timmy isn’t good in this I will be so upset.

7) Oppenheimer 

This cast list is insane, and the fact that he allegedly got to set of an actual nuke is absurd and suck a yep Christopher Nolan still a jackass thing to do lol.  Don’t know much about the plot, and haven’t read the book, but looking forward to this one for sure. 

Its also fun that this movie is coming out same day as Barbie. That is going to be a wild double feature day 

6) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

James Gunn’s first Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite of the MCU movies. The second one , was uh , definitely not. I’m hoping that the trilogy ends on a high note and this one captures more of the charm from the first. Even if its bad, I know at least it will have a killer soundtrack. 

5) The Super Mario Bros. Movie 

I know the internet hates Chris Pratt , but I still like him. I think if he was truly a trash person then his co-stars wouldn’t speak of him so highly, and I’ll take the word of people that actually know someone over the opinion of the internet any day. But with that being said , I think it is almost INSANE that he was cast as Mario. Like it makes me laugh every time I think about it. I think its hilarious that multiple studio execs agreed , “yep, he’s our Mario.” I have no idea what this movie is going to be about and I don’t care, just going in with zero exception

4) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant Man’s Scott Lang is one of my favorite of the marvel characters and I really enjoyed Jonathan Majors’ Kang in Loki. I’m excited to see what’ll happen in this one and hopefully it’ll have better muliverse content than DS Multiverse of Madness. I have to admit however that the trailers have been disappointing in terms of visuals - I’m not paticialry looking forward to an entire movie essentially filmed in the volume.

3) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

The fact that this movie’s title is Mission colon  Impossible dash Dead Reckoning Part One is ridiulous , and I hope the movie is just as ridiculous lol Tom Cruise is a freak of nature , and seeing this clip in Imax last month got me hyped. And anything with Rebecca Ferguson? Absolutely. 

2) Challengers 

Zendaya as a milf in a love triangle with Josh O’Connor and Mike Fiast? Ummmm Sign me the fuck up.  I will admit though I am nervous about this movie though because I didn’t love the script that was posted online, and although I know he’s widely known and respected as a great auteur filmmaker , I can’t say that I’ve ever really loved any of the Luca Guadagnino’s films that I’ve seen. I’m hoping that Zendaya gets to play this as a femme fatale kind of sex bomb character, and that it cements her as a movie star that can open a big movie. 

1) Dune Part 2 

I have truly have no idea why, but I have become almost obsessed with Dune over the past year. I watched it when it came out in 2021 and I thought it was fine , but I didn’t have an urge to revisit it. Then all of a sudden I got an urge to to watch Dune and after seeing it again I got really into the story. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Denis has planned for the second part of this adaptation, particialuar how he’s going to handle the trippy spice /water of life stuff, how they’re going to do Alia, ect. And everything the cast had crew has said about part 2 , that its bigger more cinematic etc has me so excited. And it seems like ever day we are getting another 🤯 cast announcment. I’m counting down the days for this one - November can’t get hear soon enough :) 

[arxival]

| 권미영: future glory eden miyeong kwon

abstract

♞ wait till you hear about this next nominee: KWON MI-YEONG. they’re a FOURTH year BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE student and FORMER IMO PARTICIPANT — impressed yet? rumor has it they’re hoping to be an EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF R&D AT THE SH GROUP, but personally, i think they should aim a little higher — something like the king’s club, for one. now, that suits them a little more, don’t you think? guess we’ll just have to see if they’ve got the talent for it in our upcoming recruitment round. ⸻ ♔

i. introduction

hiya, coco (dm for dc) here with eden kwon miyeong. there's a run down of her below but you can also see her profile and bio for a faster view. if you'd like me to pop my ims please like this post and i'll be right there

ii. background

miyeong is a chronic sufferer of eldest daughter syndrome, resting bitch face, and delusions of being a self made entrepeneur

there is some merit to that, being the sidelined child by simple virtue of being born a woman, despite being the eldest and most gifted, capable, experienced (not to mention determined) of her siblings

her dad (with the support of her mom's political pedigree) operates a tech empire in the world of enterprise and consumer saas, as well as search engines and cloud

her parents wanted a boy and made no secret of it: the moment the oldest of her younger brothers was born, she was shipped off to boarding school in america: out of sight, out of mind

never was she gifted any support, so she very much has the delusions of believing herself to be entirely self made, private feeder boarding school educated and all

stuffTM happens and she's forcibly pushed back into the family... only to guide her (utterly hopeless) brother into what she sees as her rightful inheritance

iii. model architecture

she's deeply proud, mildly delusional and hella hardworking

pulls no punches, if she wants something she will do everything in her power to get it and admires others who share that similar drive

nice but not kind, sees people as a means to an end

heavily holds her grudges but is quite generous to her benefactors

easily jealous of other's perceived ease of success

iv. training

with her family being in no way reliable, miyeong sees the king's club as a way to carve her own path as her support network to use

between her academics and extracurricular sports, she's perpetually occupied, but if anything, it's that she has not enough time that makes her a force to be reckoned with: scarily efficient and sparing no second thoughts on anything that stands in her way

with that in mind, she disdains anyone she sees as just coasting off

money she can earn, health she can work, but time she cannot buy

"fuck off", "I don't have time for this shit" are her signature phrases

v. results

after graduating, miyeong went straight into industry and into the history books as one of a landmark ai research paper's authors

she later formed an ai startup with one of her co-authors, two years after their exit she sold the company to the sh group and was parachuted in as the director for ai research, their youngest one yet

since then, she's been a rising star within the group and is a seen as a favorite heir by analysts, the head of research position all but secured within the next year

not just in korea, she's at the forefront of her field in the world, her work already eroding the kwon empire's steady position

vi. conclusion

someone she learns to begrudgingly respect

someone she consistently disdains and thus demeans

"someday you will be begging for my help" antagonistic dynamics

uneasy work relationships of mutual, dislike-fulled, benefit

she's a math god, your muse is not, what could go wrong w tutoring (spoiler alert: lots and lots of frustrated tears)

[catofadifferentcolor]

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

...he thought to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and fight there on foot till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man should be left in the West to remember the last King of the Mark.

I first read The Hobbit in sixth grade. It had long been one of my mother's favorites, and the fact she delayed so long in giving it to me to read was almost certainly so I could appreciate it fully the first time I read it.

I read The Lord of the Rings a year later, but there was some sort of delay between when I finished The Two Towers and when I started The Return of the King - a family trip that was so chaotic that even I couldn't read find time to read - and so my overriding memory of RotK beyond wow was frak, where did the palintir come from?

That being said, Part V remains one of my favorite parts of LotR - though I know I've said that a lot by this stage in the game. If Book III is graven on my heart, this one is probably on the ribs which surround it. I bawl like a baby every time I get to the Battle of Pelennor fields - Theoden's death! Eoweyn and Merry against the Witch King! Eomer's reaction when he finds them dead! Eomer's speech when he sees the black ships on the river!

I often say Faramir is my favorite, but frak if Eomer isn't a very close second. To say nothing of the growth of Merry and Pippin! And Aragorn's final acceptance of his mantle - although one of the few things I think the movies do better is show this journey rather than have Narsil reforged at the beginning and Aragorn announcing to all and sundry in Rohan who he is before the bitter end.

Part VI is... well, who doesn't cry at the Crack of Doom? And maybe there are a few too many endings, but there are many heroes and many tales, and each person's part finishes at different times. I do adore Faramir and Eowyn finding each other... and both loathe and love that Legolas and Gimli are always mentioned together, because they were able to shine fully in Part III and their role feels much reduced in RotK and I love them dearly.

Also, the first time I read The Return of the King I didn't appreciate fully "The Scouring of the Shire" - indeed, it felt a bit like the narrative was ramping up unnecessarily again - but with age comes wisdom, or at least the ability to see narrative echoes in the pity of Bilbo for Gollum and the pity of Frodo for Saruman - and Wormtongue. The Rangers went to aid Gondor, and for that the Shire suffered, and all things can fall to darkness - but so too can be they be healed.

And frak, being the terrible nerd I am, I even love the appendices. ("Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf." !!!!!)

But now that I have reached the end - having read all of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in four days - what can I say? What is left to say about something that is so perfect though it follows almost no convention? It is too long, too dependent on a history only hinted at, has too many characters with too many names and too many passages untranslated or unexplained - and yet that is the very reason it succeeds. It was not written to meet a deadline or a publisher's standard. It does not spoon-feed the audience. It is rich and deep and the tip of a glorious iceberg.

But at the heart of it is a simple premise: hope always prevails. It may seem dark, and your own life and people may fall to darkness and despair, but while there is hope all things are possible. And more than magic rings or Dark Lords or hidden kings that is a story which resounds.

Tolkien knew what he was doing. If I could have even a sliver of his talent, I would never need anything else.

[legendtraineremily]

What your favorite Star Wars Lightsaber form may say about you. (By Legend Trainer Emily)

Form I (1) Shii-Cho- The basic form. Now you may expect me to call y’all basic but I’m won’t. No, if you specialize in this you either have a weird thing for Master Kit Fisto (🤨) or you appreciate the strength in simplicity.

Form II (2) Makashi- Two (ha) things: you love watching fencing in the Olympics and played that game exclusively in Wii Sports Resort or you watched Episode II Count Dooku and thought “Oh he slays!” (Then watched Tales of the Jedi and went “Oh no, he slays!”)

Form III (3) Soresu- Oh, here it is. The most “but Master Kenobi made it cool,” basic-a, white girl choice. You’re so self-conscious, insecure, and defensive you’ve made Form III a defining character trait. Please see a therapist, hon.

Form IV (4) Ataru- Gremlin Energy TM. And I’m not being racist to Yoda, this is you and you’re a gremlin. You don’t have neurodivergence, neurodivergence has you.

Form V (5) Shien- Don’t take my criticisms too seriously, but please find a more diverse array of coping strategies for your emotions. If you do and this is still your favorite…don’t hurt me please! 🥺 You’re great, I love you! 😅

Form VI (6) Niman- You know, if you pushed your glasses up any further while saying “erm, ackshully…” you’ll eventually find that your big brain energy is just a hollow reminder that you don’t have any close friends. Get some and then we can talk about Form 6 like adults.

Form VII (7) Juyo- This form is liked by two types of people: unbearable Sith apologists who constantly forget that THOSE ARE THE EVIL PEOPLE! and people with the “oh I can fix them” mentality towards the saddest of fandoms. (This is me, I’m the second one.)

Bonus round! (Y’all are super nerds)

Djem-so -Form 5 but with “rule of cool” energy.

Vapaad- Mace Windu stans. Honestly get it girl, but please admit that Disney bringing him back from the dead would be horribly disappointing and unoriginal.

Jar-kai- You can get it! Like who wouldn’t want more lightsaber? Cook, hon, cook! (Also Ahsoka stans; I see you)

Strong, Fast, and Medium Style- You’re one of two people: a special form of a-hole who likely makes advocating for Disney to re-canonize the old EU their entire personality. Shut-up, read The New Jedi Order books again, and please let other people enjoy Star Wars in peace. The second person is a classic Star Wars enjoyer. You long for the days when Star Wars games were more consistently good and not a crap shoot. I too, love my JK:JO and Jedi Academy.

[leezlelatch]

Copia x Female Reader: Sick Day

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI

Fall finally descends on the Ministry. Torrential rains have already plucked away the lovely reds and oranges which had lined the well-trod pathways through the courtyards and gardens hidden within the church's walls, much to the chagrin of the Siblings of Sin who spent the uncharacteristically warm weather sprawled beneath fluttering leaves.

Now, the cold weather set in, bundling everyone into cloaks and scarves. Fireplaces roar pleasantly in nearly every corner of the building, central heating not quite up to date within the charming, yet antiquated abbey. Even Papa's sermons have taken a yuletide turn, urging his flock to find warmth in the joys of giving and receiving over the winter months. Clothing optional.

However, with weather changes inevitably comes illness.

You open your eyes with a groan, swallowing thickly several times and taking stock of the burning in your throat. Reaching out a hand haphazardly, you fumble around for your bottle of water, leaning on your elbow as you chug the drink, your expression souring as you realize that yes, it is a sore throat. '

"You don't look well," your roommate chimes from her side of the room, glancing at you through the mirror she stands at as she adjusts her outfit for the day.

Habits are...optional. You have one, and wear it for mass, or various other Ministry dealings where necessary, but the entire point of your religion is freedom of expression. The Ministry may have many Catholic similarities, intentionally so, but they aren't quite so austere as Frankie's institution.

"I don't feel well," you respond, laying your head heavily on the pillow, feeling a cough tickle at the back of your throat that you try desperately to stifle, and fail.

"You've been coughing a little the last few days, did you take anything to help?"

"No, but I should have known better," you sigh. "My consequences."

Your roommate walks over to her bedside table, grabbing her phone. Her side of the room is an entire juxtaposition to yours, very neutral, minimalist. Yours is cluttered with Ghost posters, vinyl, books, and other odds and ends you find very important to keep. Let someone take your 90s troll doll from your cold, dead hands.

"I've got to go, but...feel better?" Your roommate says, making her way to the door. You wave at her without saying anything. Your relationship is friendly without the important aspect of an actual relationship. You sleep in the same room. It doesn't go much beyond that.

Lying in abject misery for several seconds, your eyes suddenly widen as you grip your phone, staring at the time on the screen. You're supposed to meet with the Cardinal today after novitiate classes. Ever since you've begun to spend time with him in the illustrious presence of the rat Portobello, you and Cardinal Copia have become quite close, and are growing ever closer. He is sweet, not merely in his personality, but his actions. He remembers things about you - a favorite drink, snack, film, something silly you mention off hand, and will often show up to your little meetings with a treat or a happy thought about your special interests that absolutely tickle you pink.

Copia likes to make puns, often leaving you in a fit of giggles from the absurd and sometimes vulgar things that come out of that man's mouth. And yet, everytime you laugh, that same look of wonderment passes over his features, as if he cannot possibly believe that you find his jokes funny. You often want to hug him in those moments, but physical touch begins and ends with an occasional touch of his gloved hand against yours or with the gentle way he enjoys escorting you around the abbey - his hand at the small of your back, ensuring no obstacles impede your steps.

Today, you offered to help him with a little organization work in his office. Copia has a computer, he can use it, and he has a phone, which he can also use despite texting as if he's never seen one, but when it comes to the more intricate workings of a Ministry attempting to hurtle into the 21st century, he has his difficulties.

"It's a generational thing," you had attempted to explain one evening. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

Copia had merely ducked his head, "Must I be so much older than you, cara mia?"

You had sat back, surprised and distressed by the mournful way he spoke, as if his age had any bearing on how you saw him. As if his age hindered the fluttering in your chest every single time he looked at you. You spent the rest of that evening trying to pull him out of his melancholy, to reassure him that his age merely allowed him to know and share with you a great many things you didn't, that you didn't mind your age gap at all. He had chuckled at that. But you knew he didn't believe you, or at least, didn't believe himself.

Hastily finding his name in your phone, Copia picks up on the second ring, his tone jovial as he greets you by name, the lilting way his accent wraps around the letters making you smile despite the unpleasant sting in your throat.

"I did not see you at breakfast," he continues happily. "I was surprised not to see a piccolo topo at the donut table, so I picked you up a few before they were all gone."

You thrill at the little nickname he gives you, knowing your penchant for sweets, and you sigh at his thoughtfulness that, unfortunately, transforms into a cough.

You can almost see Copia stop wherever he is walking, "Are you well?"

"Copia, I'm so sorry," you say, your voice rough. "I think I have a cold. I woke up feeling terrible."

"Oh no, do not apologize, cara," he clicks his tongue, a string of Italian escaping his lips. "I should have addressed that little cough of yours."

You almost laugh, "That's entirely my fault. I should have known it would turn into something."

"Have you taken anything?"

"I don't have any medicine here," you say, glancing around the room as if something would appear. You cough again, wincing, "My throat is pretty raw."

"Tesoro," Copia breathes into the phone. You're nearly alarmed with how upset he sounds, the endearment new as well. "You need to take something."

"I'll try to go down to see Matron, I just really don't want to get up right now."

"...are you alone?"

"Yes?" You furrow your brow at his anxious tone.

Copia breathes out slowly, "Your Cardinal will bring you something."

Click! The call ends. You pull the phone away from your face and stare at it incredulously, all at once surprised, panicked that he'll see you in this state, and completely, all consumingly flustered by "Your Cardinal." Jumping out of bed, you sway, your head fit to explode from a headache, and attempt to make yourself and your room presentable. What does he mean he's bringing you something!? You can hardly imagine Cardinal Copia in your small dormitory room as if you haven't been in his rooms a few times already.

"That's different," you mutter to yourself, throwing a discarded shirt previously on the floor in the hamper. It really wasn't any different, but you're sick, you aren't going to admit to shit.

Your urgency is unneeded as the dreaded knock on your door does not occur until nearly 30 minutes later. You slowly open the door, the squeak of the old wood perfect for your current mental state. Copia stands just beyond, dressed in his black cassock, a paper bag in one hand, thermas peaking out, and Portobello's small cage in the other.

"Hello, cara," Copia says in that small voice that is simultaneously high-pitched and deep in his throat. He shifts on his feet, lips parted slightly as he gazes at you, eyes trailing over your features as if he's analyzing you for visible injuries.

"Copia," you sigh his name, voice weak. "You brought our baby!"

Your enthusiasm sends you into another coughing fit, and you hastily back away and cover your mouth, your throat positively punishing you for it. You glance up at him sheepishly after, whispering a quiet apology. Copia looks around in a panic for a moment before finding a place to carefully lay Portobello's cage down, placing the bag near it.

Copia holds his hands up, index fingers pointed up as he shakes his head, "No, no! No apologizing, cara, huh? You are sick. And you should be in bed," he gestures to your bed as if he's waving you off. "Go on, or you will not get to see our child."

You nearly scramble to your bed and flop down, hearing him chuckle behind you as he bends down to rummage through the bag he brought.

"How did you know which bed was mine?" You can't help but ask.

Copia merely tilts his head up at you and raises a brow, "I know you." He leans back down, letting out a hum, "Also I very much doubt your roommate would have a poster of me."

You feel your stomach drop out from under you as you turn with a deadpan expression to stare at the tour poster on your wall.

"Would you like me to sign it?" Copia snickers, standing back up.

"Don't perceive me," you groan. "I am ill."

You lay back and pull the covers over your face, blushing furiously at the Cardinal's soft laughter. He is entirely pleased, warmth spreading through his chest to combat the worry he feels over your sickness. You like his music. Copia is suddenly struck with a feeling of accomplishment and pride that he had yet to feel since taking over the Ghost Project. The standards set by the Papas is intimidating at best, the expectations often debilitating, but knowing you keep his image? Oh, amata mia.

You suddenly feel something heavy on your stomach and peak over the edge of your blanket to see Portobello sniffing at the covers, little noises escaping him as he explores. Copia pulls your desk chair very close to your bedside, using your end table as a makeshift work space as he places several water bottles, medicine, and thermas on the surface.

You snuggle Portobello close to your chest, gently stroking his head as you continue to blush up at the Cardinal who appears very focused on his task. You watch as he carefully extracts the medicine from the packet, opening a bottle of water before turning to you with a tut and a soft smile as he takes in the sight of you and Portobello.

"Come now, 'Bello, your mother must take her medicine," he murmurs, carefully exchanging the rat for your medicine and water.

You once, accidentally, heard Copia refer to himself as "Daddy" to his little charges, and to his immense mortification, you were delighted and ran like hell with it. Portobello was both your baby, so...

Taking your medicine, you glance curiously at the thermas, "What's in there?"

Copia blushes, "It is, uh, soup. Soup for you. Chicken noodle. It is good when you are sick, no?"

Placing Portobello back on your chest, who promptly began to snooze, Copia unscrews the cap and carefully deposits the steaming soup into it, pulling out a spoon from his bag. You take it gratefully, your fingers brushing the Cardinal's, his index finger reaching out to linger against the back of your hand before pulling away.

You take a sip, sighing happily. It tastes so good, and you'll take the burning against your throat for this anyday.

"Where did you get it?"

"I...made it."

You look up at Copia, spoon halfway to your lips. He isn't looking at you, rather at the wall, his fingers drumming quickly against his thigh.

"Copia," you smile. "Thank you for taking care of me."

He looks at you then, urgently, leaning forward, his brow furrowing as he places an inquisitive hand on your arm. You nod, and his grip tightens.

"I will always care for you," he whispers. He looks so vulnerable in this moment, his eyes shining with some unsaid emotion. You are both on a precipice, hands clasped, ready to fall. The only question is, will someone step first? Or will you fall together?

"I don't want to infect you," you giggle softly, freeing a hand to gently place yours over his.

With a twinkle in his eye, Copia flips his hand so it is firmly grasping yours. He is here, with you, the rat that set you both on this path sleeping between you, and that is bliss.

"It is a chance I am willing to take," he smiles. "Now eat your soup."

[caramelcuppaccino]

day 3 & 4 of my reading challenge! (because i forgot to post yesterday eheh)

3. share five books on your TBR list.

i. aristo and dante dive into the waters of the world by benjamin alire sáenz

ii. i, circe by madeline miller

iii. the mercies by kiran millwood hargrave

iv. it ends with us by colleen hoover

v. the witch's heart by genevieve gornichec

i'm really looking forward to read the first one!!

4. what is your favorite genre and trope to read?

fantasy, romance, women's fiction, classics (they are mostly english and russian literature in turkey), short stories. my favorite trope is ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS. the god of tropes. then i like childhood friends to lovers. found family. soulmates. second chance (like learning to love and trust again). sunshine x grumpy / cat x golden retriever. and probably many more i can't think of right now eheh.

🎧 red planet by little mix (it's what art sounds like if you ask me)

[digital999placebo]

what are your favorite movies? 😼🫵

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE….. right so I used 2 b somewhat of a movie buff so im gonna give u my top 10 movies that I think YOU should watch:

1. Das Boot /english title: The Boat (full version from 1981, no 2018 pussy bullshit) dir. Wolfgang Petersen it is the movie ever. I have the book in german and english and i have like 4 posters for it, it is that good

2. Farewell my Concubine (1993) dir. Chen Kaige Das Boot n this have shared number 1 spot. There’s all kinds of child abuse in the first hour of the film, so look that up if that’s anything ur uncomfortable with, but this movie is so beautiful i think everyone needs to see it. It was the first movie I saw with Leslie Cheung and he’s amazing <3<3<3<3<3

3. The Lighthouse (2019) dir. Robert Eggers

4. I Kina spiser de hunde /english title: In China They Eat Dogs (1999) dir. Lasse Spang Olsen One of the funniest movies out there. About a shy banker whose girlfriend breaks up with him and takes all his furniture, and the next day his bank gets robbed, but he manages to stop it. Later the robber’s girlfriend comes to his apartment and beats him, claiming that she and her bf were gonna use that money to adopt since she can’t get pregnant. The banker decides to contact his half-criminal brother to rob a cargo so that the girlfriend can get the money.

5. “Pusher” trilogy (Pusher, Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands, Pusher III: I’m the Angel of Death) (1996) dir. Nicolas Winding Refn you knew this was gonna b up here. Personally I love the second one the most bc it’s interlaced with this heavy melancholia.

6. La Haine (1995) dir. Mathieu Kassovitz

7. The Florida Project (2017) dir. Sean Baker From the genius behind “Tangerine”. top 10 movies that always makes me cry

8. Dom Kallar Oss Mods /english title: “They call us Misfits” trilogy (They Call Us Misfits, A Respectable Life, The Social Heritage) (1968, 1979, 1993) dir. Stefan Jarl Fuck Boyhood. Jarl made a documentary in three parts, the first one filmed in the late 60s, following two boys living in Stockholm, the last documentary even follows the boys’ sons as they’re growing up in a world that is completely distant from their fathers’. It’s perfect, it’s a cult classic, I can’t explain how beautiful it is, depicting how fast n how much society n culture in Sweden changed during the 70/80s, before n after r like 2 seperate worlds. also its just sad man.........

9. 15: The Movie (2003) dir. Royston Tan It’s a black comedy that’s v well executed. I haven’t watched it in years, but I still remember scenes vivdly like the main characters’ chant and a gangster boss sending two guys on a mission to find the best building in Singapore to committ suicide from. 

10. Les Amants du Pont-Neuf /english title: The Lovers on a Bridge (1991) dir. Leos Carax Juliette Binoche is one of the leads, that should be all you need, she is a fantastic actress. 

EXTRA. Christiane F. (also known as Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo) (again 1981 is the year, not the remake, i havent seen the remake yet so i cant say if its good/bad) dir. Uli Edel This movie made me romanticise drugs n move to Berlin on my own at 16 so yeah. 

[cactusnymph]

Prompt fill #2 for @dimension20alphabet:

Books

I.

 Adaine finds the first book two weeks after Aelwyn moves into her room. At first she is confused because Adaine knows her books and the one she finds lying on top of her pillow has a blue cover with silver rimming that she’s never seen before. As she steps closer and takes it into her hand she wonders if Aelwyn forgot it here.

 The title reads “Divinatory Practices Across The World”.

 It certainly doesn’t seem like a book Aelwyn would be interested in so Adaine sits down on her bed, opens the book and flips through the pages. She finds it interesting to read about divination magic in other nations, especially because she insists on being the oracle to all people.

 When Aelwyn comes back she finds Adaine still reading on her bed.

 “Is this yours?”, Adaine asks as Aelwyn takes off her jacket and kicks her shoes into the corner behind the door. Aelwyn’s eyes dart over to her.

 “No”, she says before she starts rummaging through her closet.

 Adaine considers asking more questions, but the book is too interesting to stop reading. She files her questions away for later and opens the book again.

 II.

 The second book is tucked into her schoolbag one morning as she’s about to stuff an apple between the heavy books. Adaine immediately recognizes that it’s not one of the books she needs for school and furrows her brows as she carefully takes it out to look at it.

 It’s a beautiful leatherbound book with an intricately design cover that shows a lush, green forest with fairies dancing around a campfire. The title is printed in golden letters.

 “Rebel Fairies – A Modern Retelling Of Elven Fairy Tales”

 While Adaine would never say that her mother was good at parenting she took some time to tell her daughters various elven fairy tales from the “homeland” and Adaine remembers vividly how little she liked most of them.

 “Morning, Adaine”, Jawbone says as he enters the kitchen in his cardigan, holding a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a book about Polyamory for beginners in the other hand. For a split second Adaine wonders why Jawbone would need that, since he doesn’t strike her as much of a beginner, but then thinks that maybe the book is for Sandralynn.

 “Good morning”, she answers and holds up the book. “Do you know who put this in my bag?”

 “Huh? No. I’ve never seen that before”, Jawbone says sits down at the kitchen table. Adaine hesitates for a second, then she stuffs the book back into her bag and grabs her apple.

 “Have a good day at school, kiddo”, Jawbone calls after her.

 III.

 Adaine finds out why Jawbone had a book about Polyamory for beginners the same day she finds the third book in her closet. This one is quite thin, bound in white and with a caged dove on the cover.

 It seems to be a collection of poems titled “From The Ashes” by an author she’s never heard of before. While flipping through the pages she finds the dedication in the front.

 “For all the children who grew up unloved”

 Adaine stuffs the book back into the closet and slams the door shut, her eyes stinging.

 When she walks down the stairs she meets Ragh in front of his room, looking sheepish and with a familiar book under his arm while he’s talking to Gorgug.

 “Adaine! You ok? You look a little pale, dude”, Ragh says and clasps his giant hand on Adaine’s back which makes her cough a little. Gorgug looks a little like a deer in headlights as he scratches the back of his neck.

 “I’m fine”, Adaine says and looks from Gorgug to Ragh and back again. “Do any of you happen to know who’s giving me books?”

 “I’m not really allowed to read”, Gorgug says.

 “That’s not true. Ayda just says you shouldn’t read about magic, bro”, Ragh says fondly and Adaine looks pointedly down at the book under his arm that spells Polyamory for beginners in big, red letters.

 “So, none of you know anything?”, she asks again. Gorgug’s face turns darkgreen when he notices that Adaine has seen the book.

 “I didn’t put books anywhere”, Ragh says and holds up his hand in a promising gesture.

 Adaine sighs.

 “Ok. I’m happy for you guys, by the way”, she says as she turns around to walk further downstairs.

 Later that evening, while Aelwyn is taking a shower, Adaine opens the closet again and grabs the little book of poems, hides it under her pillow and reads it all on one night under her blanket with a little globule of light floating above the pages.

 IV.

 Usually Adaine has a very particular filing system for her books.

 She makes an exception for the books she keeps finding all over the place, all curated perfectly to her tastes—sometimes without her knowing about it before she opens them.

 Adaine makes room for the mysteriously appearing books on the top of one of her shelves and puts them all there in their order of appearence. After the first three, she found one made up completely of pictures of various colorful frogs, a graphic novel about a librarian with a secret identity who goes out to punch villains at night, a translation of a diary kept by one of the former elven oracles, a children’s book explaining trauma and a science fiction novel about the ragtag crew of a spaceship building a found family on their travels.

 She reads all of them with care and marks the parts and pages that she likes the most with colorful post-its. It feels like the whole house has entered this book-conspiracy against her.

 “Hey Adaine, I found this on your part of the shelf in the bathroom.”

 “Oh, by the way, kiddo, this was in the mail for you today.”

 “Dude, there was another one on your favorite armchair.”

 Suspiciously, none of them ask questions about these books. Which leads Adaine to believe that they’re all in on it.

 When Aelwyn walks in one Sunday morning to find Adaine standing in front of her shelf, looking at all her newly collected books with a smile she crosses her arms in front of her chest and looks at Adaine thoughtfully.

 “Read anything interesting lately?”, she asks.

 V.

 “So. When are you going to admit that you’re the one sneaking all these books into my stuff?”

 Aelwyn looks up. She’s painting her nails black with great care.

 “What are you talking about?”, she asks with a raise of her left eyebrow. Adaine crosses her arms over her chest.

 “No one knows me this well, you know? There’s really no one else who could have picked all of these”, Adaine says and watches Aelwyn carefully.

 She’s still very guarded and too good at masking her feelings. It has gotten better during the last months but Aelwyn remains behind her walls most of the time.

 At Adaine’s words, there is a flicker of something on her sister’s face and she puts the nail polish down.

 “Are you accusing me of being secretly nice to you? Why ever would I hide doing nice things for you, Adaine?”

 Adaine sighs.

 “Because you have a hard time dealing with feelings. Maybe you were afraid I was going to hug you. Or say something mushy”, Adaine says with a good amount of sarcasm, a language she knows Aelwyn is comfortable with.

 Aelwyn snorts and raises her freshly painted nails to blow on them.

 “Fine. I gave you some books. So what?”

 Adaine smiles and pulls her knees up to her chest to hug them.

 “You have surprisingly good taste in books for someone who’s so pretentious most of the time”, Adaine says. She knows that this is the kind of talk that Aelwyn can accept easily.

 “Oh, well, I am ever so thankful for your approval, Adaine. Maybe next time I’ll give you something really pretentious to read, see if you’re able to grasp it.”

 Adaine snorts and shakes her head but she can’t help but smile. Maybe she should give Aelwyn a book back. Maybe she could show Aelwyn the passages she marked. Maybe this can be a language for them, for now, when everything else is too difficult still.

 “I’m looking forward to it.”

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (9/29/2021)?

Anonymous asked: This week's comics?

Inferno #1: So Hickman's making his last story before he leaves the X-Books because the plan no longer has space for him about hubristic scheming overseers with grand visions being righteously overthrown by the younger rabble, huh? You can't fault the man for self-awareness.

S.W.O.R.D. #8: With these last two issues, yeah, I think I'm finally starting to get what the hubub's been about all these years with Storm.

The Marvels #5: Fine, again I'm just getting this for dad.

I Am Not Starfire: My store finally got it! Even though it's pretty much the Very Solid YA I expected, mostly knowing of it via that weird moment it was a minor flashpoint makes it weird that that's 'all' it is.

Justice League #68: Fair's fair: nothing in the solicit for this issue was technically a lie. What we got however was either a bizarrely extended gag - which is definitely possible - or a winking self-admission on Bendis's part that he won't be doing anything new or interesting with the book. So sorry Ram V, I'm liking the Justice League Dark backup but not enough to keep up with this any longer.

Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #4: 5 perfectly nice stories here; not much else to say.

Superman '78 #2: Definitely enjoyed this more than the first issue, giving Torres more room to flex and blending in a nice little touch of Bronze Age Superman sensibilities.

Action Comics #1035: Hilarious this doesn't make even a cursory effort to line up with how Authority or Son of Kal-El portray what goes down here, but this is a really really good issue so I'm more than willing to let that slide. Damn though, I know I was pretty much the only one who liked Superman of Metropolis alright but I guess that was a fluke with Lewis, because these Tales of Metropolis backups continue to stink.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #3: And Taylor flip-flops back onto his better side. The showcase second page for Timms isn't nearly as neat as it wants to be - there's no flow to speak of when that'd do so much to put it over - but it's still a very nice book to look at and this sells a gaggle of Big Moments incredibly well.

Batman/Superman #22: This however is exactly as neat as it wants to be. Yang better be getting the assignment of his goddamn life to be leaving this behind.

Legends of the Dark Knight #5: Mostly uninterested in this incarnation of the book, but knew I'd pick up the Brandon Thomas issue and I was far from disappointed.

Batman: Reptilian #4: What a gross, mean-spirited, distasteful, thoroughly enjoyable read this continues to be. And almost doubled over cackling when Ennis did the most Ennis possible thing and made clear the entire impetus for the project was (rot13) ernqvat gur jvxv ragevrf sbe 'Ongzna Ebthrf Tnyyrel' naq nfxvat uvzfrys "bxnl, juvpu bs gurfr shpxref pna V gvr ng yrnfg n YVGGYR ovg vagb Ivrganz". And this is probably Sharp's best showcase issue yet, with how much he manages to show off in what's in theory 22 pages of almost pure conversation.

Echolands #2: JH Williams III continues to produce, this is all that matters, for this book and arguably culture as a whole.

Crossover #8: This is getting gratingly barely-tolerable, as opposed to the deranged joyride of balls out offensive nerd-glurge it came roaring out of the gate as.

The Good Asian #5: I'll have to sit down with the book once it's done given how much this recontextualizes; another fine issue.

Adventureman #5: The text piece at the back makes something of a case for why this wasn't the last issue of the first trade and before the hiatus, but for god's sake, it so clearly should have been. Still a ton of fun though.

The Department of Truth #13: And on the exact opposite end of 'what if all those old stories were true(ish)', of course this is still as good as it gets.

DIE #20: I don't know how one could discuss this without discussing the entire series and everything surrounding it - which I may well do, though not on this blog I don't think, something more expansive - but I don't think there's ever been a book before* where I was able to say with certainty, long before the last issue dropped, "I'm going to get the coffee table edition of this too". Almost surely my favorite work from Gillen even among others seemingly so much more tailor-made to my interests, Hans needs to be chained to a desk and kept on an IV drip and trained on that Uberman sleep schedule so as to never stop producing sequential art, and possibly my favorite book of the last several years with all said and done.

(*Aside from Multiversity, though that's an Absolute edition - finally happening! - rather than coffee table.)