#oh but who am i kidding dragons are always awesome

[sufficientlylargen]

It always gets me that the name "Gandalf" literally just means "Wand-Elf" or "Stick-Elf". I'm imagining old Gondorians just being like:

Librarian: I saw that weird guy at the library again today.

Guard 1: What weird guy?

Librarian: The old guy with the beard? Kinda elfy-looking, apart from the beard?

Guard 1: Oh, with the big-ass stick?

Librarian: Yeah, looked like he was carrying an entire tree branch.

Guard 2: Yeah, that's the Stick Elf.

Guard 1: Hell yeah, I fuckin' love the Stick Elf.

Librarian: The "Stick Elf"?

Guard 2: He comes by every few years, usually after some weird book or other.

Librarian: Oh. Yeah, he wanted a treatise on goblin breeding habits.

Guard 2: Like, how they have sex? We have books on that?

Librarian: Yeah, turns out we do. I was as surprised as you are.

Guard 1: What'd the Stick Elf need a fuckin' goblin-fuckin' book for?

Librarian: I didn't ask. So you just call him "Stick Elf"?

Guard 2: I mean, he looks kinda elfy and he always has that stick, so, like, yeah.

Guard 1: Dude also has some fuckin' dope pipeweed.

Guard 2: Oh yeah, his pipeweed is awesome.

Librarian: How long has he been coming here?

Guard 2: Oh, for decades. He's, like, super old.

Guard 1: More like fuckin' centuries. Dude's old as balls.

Guard 2: Wait, really?

Guard 1: Yeah, my gran-gran used to talk about him. She loved his pipeweed too.

Librarian: So he's… an immortal pipeweed dealer?

Guard 2: I think he's just, like, a connoisseur. He doesn't sell it or anything. He just always has some really top-notch pipeweed on him.

Archivist: Oh, are we talking about Stick Elf?

Guard 1: Hell yeah we are!

Librarian: You know about the Stick Elf, too?

Archivist: Oh, totally. Stick-Elf's a super chill dude. Gave me some awesome pipeweed when I was maybe 12, and tee-bee-aitch I think I'm still a little buzzed from it.

Guard 1: What'd I tell ya, fuckin' dope pipeweed!

Archivist: Also he's really old.

Guard 1: Old as balls.

Librarian: Yeah, so Éodan and Jenniforomir were telling me.

Archivist: My grandpa used to tell me stories - he said one time he saw Stick Elf enter a smoke-ring contest.

Guard 1: Ooh, I'll bet he kicked fuckin' ass.

Archivist: Apparently the guy made an entire warship out of smoke and it flew around shooting down the other rings.

Librarian: And how much of this "fuckin' dope" pipeweed had your grandfather had by this point?

Guard 1: No no, that's totally plausible. Dude's got weird elf powers and shit for sure.

Archivist: He brought fireworks for the king's birthday one year, too.

Guard 1: Oh fuck, I forgot about those! Fuckin' incredible fireworks! Dragons and knights and glowy trees and shit! I was fuckin' 6 years old or something, they totally blew my mind. Hey Éodan, did you see that shit?

Guard 2: No, I think that's before I lived in Gondor.

Guard 1: Wait, you're not from here?

Guard 2: Oh, no, I grew up in Rohan. We moved here when I was, like, thirteen because my uncle Éojeff said he could get my dad a sweet job. And also that there were houses that didn't smell like horseshit.

Guard 1: Oh shit, are you related to Éojeff and Éosteve who run that æbleskiver stand on Norndîl St?

Guard 2: Yeah, they're my uncles!

Guard 1: Shit, they cook a fuckin' great æbleskiver!

Librarian: Ok, hold up a sec, "Stick Elf" can't possibly be his real name.

Guard 1: Why not?

Librarian: What? You think his parents named him in the hopes that he would carry around a fucking tree when he got older?

Guard 2: Maybe they gave him the tree when he was born!

Archivist: I don't think a baby could carry that stick.

Guard 1: You ever seen a baby hanging onto something? They're hella strong.

Archivist: It's not a strength thing, their hands are tiny. That staff is enormous!

Guard 1: My halberd's bigger 'n I am, I can hold it just fine.

Archivist: You're not a baby.

Librarian: Also why would elf parents name their kid "stick ELF"?! Presumably they know that their kid's going to be an elf!

Archivist: Is he actually an elf? I didn't think they grew beards.

Guard 1: How'd he get old as balls if he's not an elf?

Guard 2: His ears aren't that pointy. Maybe he's just a really old guy? Like, a Numémoriam or something?

Guard 1: Did you just say "Numémoriam"?

Guard 2: Nûnenorman? Munimõrbitan? Y'know, those guys like the king that can get super old.

Guard 1: You mean the fuckin' Númenóreans?

Guard 2: Yeah, the Númenóreums.

Archivist: Even the Númenóreans don't live THAT long.

Guard 1: Plus he carries that fuckin' stick around.

Guard 2: Wait, what does the stick have to do with it?

Guard 1: That's an elf thing. Y'know, trees and shit? Very elfy.

Librarian: Ok, look, but his parents naming him "Stick Elf" would be weird whether or not he's an elf. In fact, it's even weirder if he's not - what human names their kid "elf"?

Archivist: Huh. Yeah, you're right, he probably does have another name.

Guard 2: Yeah, I guess so.

Librarian: He's been coming here for decades and nobody's ever asked his real name?

Archivist: I dunno what to tell you, he's Stick Elf. Even his library card just says 'Stick Elf'.

Guard 1: Fuck yeah, the Stick Elf!

Guard 2: Maybe we could, like, ask him his name sometime?

Guard 1: Hey, look, Elrond's over there. He's old as balls too, maybe he knows?

Guard 2: Oh, we shouldn't interru-

Guard 1: HEY ELROND, YOU'RE OLD AS BALLS, RIGHT? WHAT'S THAT OLD ELF WITH THE STICK'S NAME?

Elrond (coming over): Do you mean an old man cloaked all in grey and blue, leaning on a rough-cut staff, who came to the great library this day?

Guard 1: Yeah, the Stick-Elf!

Guard 2: (Sorry to bother you, sir...)

Librarian: He's got to have a real name besides 'the Stick Elf', right?

Elrond: Indeed, for no elf is he. You speak of the wizard Olórin, wisest of the Maiar, older even than Eä itself. Many are his names in many countries: Tharkûn among the Dwarves; Incánus to the south; Mithrandir he is called among my people, the Grey Pilgrim.

Librarian: Oh.

Elrond: And here in the North he is called Stick-Elf.

Librarian: Oh.

Guard 1: Fuck yeah!

[semisolidmind]

How does the Modern Reincarnation AU work in the Twice as Bad AU? Especially with MK and everything? I know it would probably be completely unlikely that Peaches would get the opportunity to die with her two monkey hubbies always around her, but what if her dying happened on the journey? Like her death was something that happened while the monkey demons were restrained and couldn't do anything about it, causing them to wait the couple hundred years until she pops up again?

(Also, I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for your creativity and art! You're awesome. Hope you have a great day! 💙)

oh man oh boy (also thank you skye, you're making my day :))

(so both monkeys have wrist and ankle cuffs in this au, and the cuffs work like a less harmful version of the circlets. anytime reader says a certain command, they throw the demon wearing them to the ground. i imagine that the moment reader dies, the cuffs fall off.)

it's utterly silent when they hit the ground.

the boys are distraught. they're inconsolable. theyre angry. whatever demon caused reader's death will be torn apart peice by peice, tortured until death. and then...

...nothing. the monkey demons shut down beyond an occasional terse word. they're still technically bound to the journey by the circlets and the bodhisattva's command, and so they continue on. they only speak to their companions when necessary. macaque spends most of his time in the shadows, and wukong walks behind the group. they take out their sadness and rage on the myriad demons that get in their way. the journey concludes with wukong and macaque denying their enlightenment and going home to flower fruit mountain.

their conquests become especially brutal for the next couple hundred years.

–––

centuries later, mk comes into the world. wukong finds him wandering the mountain, and adopts him as his own. macaque is an uncle figure to the boy, helping in his training and teaching a different worldview. mk grows up knowing very little about humans beyond what his monkey family tells him. regardless, he's curious and wants to know more.

the two elder monkey demons are jaded, and their resentment for the celestial realm and humanity has only grown. though, they'll both slip into wistfulnesss occasionally, telling mk about reader and what she was like. he heard plenty of stories about her growing up, and he always finds himself wishing he could have met her. it's the only time mk will hear his caretakers speak positively about a human.

when mk asks to go into the city, wukong refuses. he doesn't want his son around any mortals, and were it not for his "infinite mercy," that wretched city would be dust by now. it's only when macaque agrees to go with mk that wukong relents. macaque, who's somewhat more knowledgeable about modern humans than his brother, tells mk what he knows about how the mortal world works. mk doesn't get the chance to make his friends until later in this au, when he's allowed to make short solo excursions into the city to buy groceries.

he's taking too long on a run when it happens.

mk has encountered mei, and thinking the dragon heir was trying to start a fight (given the monkey demons' history with dragons), mk battles her. while the two have their brawl that eventually ends in tentative friendship, macaque waits at a rendezvous point.

when mk doesn't show after twenty minutes, macaque lets out a long-suffering sigh and sets out across the roof tops and alleyways to search for him. the kid, for all his strengths, has never been good at time management. after a while, macaque is able to track him to a little noodle shop in the downtown area.

the dark-furred simian watches from a nearby rooftop as mk and...a disguised dragon? girl? go inside the shop. macaque melds into the shadows, following them in through the half-shuttered doorway. the shop isn't anything to write home about; simple decor, simple noodles, a suspiciously familiar pig demon manning the kitchen, a woman managing the register—

macaque stops cold.

it only takes a second for macaque to get a read on the woman's soul. and upon closer inspection, she looks familiar too.

heartbreakingly familiar. same hair, same eyes... same smile, aimed at mk as she welcomes him. this woman—she's their reader, reincarnated. she has to be. mk makes a joke, something about monkeying around, and the girl laughs; the same joyful sound he remembers from all those centuries ago. it's the same. she's the same.

a shadowy tear makes its way down his incorporeal face. she's here. alive.

he has to tell wukong.

[dragonpro-809]

As the Trick-or-Treaters return home with buckets of candy, and the month of spooks and haunts comes to a close, the Retaenamiers return to the shadows of the woodlands, awaiting the next year where the entire month, humans celebrate spooks and scares with smiles and laughter.

While it's rather confusing to the Retaenamiers, they can't help but enjoy scaring the humans till they drop their buckets of candy at their feet...Or are mistaken as fellow humans in strange outfits going from door to door for treats by kids so pure of heart...Perhaps a day where they can blend in with the freights and enjoy the strange yet sweet treats humans make without them running away isn't too bad after all...

Till next year...The man eaters wish everyone a Happy Halloween.

...

I hope y'all have enjoyed all of these posts leading up to the drop of my new sona and blog! I hadn't exactly planned for the drop to be on Halloween, but a few things happened irl, and I figured why not have some fun with it!

And if you were curious...Yes, all these posts were a lead up to the reveal of my brand new sona AND my new blog!

To my OG follows who have known me as the strange purple and green wyvern on the internet, I will have a new face, but the same name. Dragonpro shall live on even if the sona herself has stepped down from the spotlight :>

Now...Without further ado...Everyone meet the man-eater themselves...

Okami Echosong!!

I am so happy to finally have a new sona that helps represent this new version of me. I've gotten older, and a lot has happened that has helped to shape me into who I am now, and while Pro may still be my personal sona forever and always, Okami here helps to represent the new, older me.

Going forward, mostly on this blog and occasional on my other blog, you will see a lot of posts featuring this (preferred) genderless goober, so just a heads up there!!

I just want to say thank you, everyone, for the unconditional love and support throughout the years and recently. Knowing people like the dumb, silly stuff I post here and there means the world to me, and I'm glad you all have given me the chance to show you what I can offer. So, thank you so much again, y'all are awesome <3

Thanks for sticking around for the grand reveal, and I hope to see you guys stick around for what all I have in store ^^

Know you are loved, blessed, and amazing. Always believe in yourself, never be too hard on yourself, and know I'm rooting for ya every step of the way.

Until next time,

Peace out for now my fellow dragons and humans <3

Oh, and Happy (Late) Halloween!!!

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 6

Previously on TGCF…

This is gonna be epic!!!

Cw: Past homicide

-That’s Yong’An in its heyday 

-Sparrows

-Fang Xin

-It’s Qianqiu’s assistant from Eps 1-2!

-Young Qianqiu is literally me in my Freshman year of High School during the first semester

-His butterfly shaped mask

-Writing the Laozi 10 times has the energy of making a kid stay in class and write a sentence over and over on the chalkboard till they’ve learned their lesson (Literally every Simpsons opening)

-He doubled it

-Imagine if Piandao talked to Sokka like that when beginning his sword training

-Man wonder who voices Young!Qianqiu?

-I mean the move could also get you hurt if you’re careless

-This is the Ancient Chinese version of the trolley problem, same analogy though

-I like to think this advice was taught to Zuko and Sokka when they were learning swordsmanship

-See, trolley problem esque

-Good advice to not intervene

-More dead bodies

-Oh no and that was his Dad

-That’s when the survivor’s guilt set in

-I can see why Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are perfect for each other, they both have a freaking high kill count

-Just like when Bruce Wayne lost his parents

-What did he say?

-He’s not a monster

-That was during his second ascenscion

-That’s gonna be a bad outcome

-“I wish to be stripped of my divinity” Literally every fangirl’s brain drifted to something else when he said that.  Just look at Kictor and Stitch

-Doesn’t seem like he earned it at all

-He just wants to get out of the drama

-If there was a modern AU, you know Shi Qingxuan would make an awesome and wealthy defense attorney

-There’s the Amongus quote

-Dang no answer

-There’s Prosecutor Pei Ming, that’s a good nickname.

-He made a solid point

-That’s the result of the Fang Xin trial with XL on house arrest and a restraining order from Taihua

-He made another enemy

-Aaaa pickle jar, better believe it Qingxuan

-How is she going to get air???

-That upset Qingxuan, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing

-The interior looks hollow in Xie Lian’s palace

-That’s coming out of Qingxuan’s pockets

-He deserves the apology hun

-He’s doing it, he’s doing the iconic old time Put your head between your arms against a flat surface like a Disney Princess!

-He still has the dice

-It’s snake eyes!

-Hi Mu Qing

-Stick it to Jun Wu, Mu Qing

-I know right, it did NOT seem like a healing spell at all

-Wonder if I can conceptualize a similar healing potion for TOH MTC…?

-You just had to ask him that didn’t you?

-Hi Feng Xin

-A guest who invited himself inside

-Welp he really was honest

-Seriously, Mu Qing you couldn’t have felt bad for his house arrest

-Xie Lian’s trying to mediate again

-Mu Qing’s response had bite to it

-One Punch!!!

-Fist Fight!  Fist Fight!

-“You’re a hypocrite, you’ve always looked down on me, but you’re not better than I am!!!”  Oh my gods, Lucien Dodge freaking delivered!!!

-“Enough…” Oh man, Xie Lian’s emotions

-The Junior Officials witnessing the Generals fisticuffs:

Feng Xin!  Feng Xin!  Feng Xin!

Mu Qing!  Mu Qing!  Mu Qing!

-“Did it really have to come to violence?” Yeah it pretty much did. - Iroh, dragon of the West, the Waterbending scroll

-Mu Qing: Fine I’ll break your face

Feng Xin: Not if I break yours first!  It’s too late to beg for mercy!  

That’s what I translated to the best of my skills during Xie Lian’s internal monologue

-He’s like a parent that’s disappointed with his two kids constantly at odd

-Don’t worry, hon what’s really gonna help them is Couples’ therapy, and I’d hate to be that therapist

-A dramatic sound effect!

-I can’t wait to write the Gaang’s reaction to the Wraith Butterflies

-That was a cool shield spell

-I love how the butterflies are easily dodging Xie Lian, but are charging toward Mu Qing and Feng Xin to scare the sh*t outta them

-He’s gonna hold one of the butterflies, he’s holding one of the butterflies, yeah too late man AND HE’S NUZZLING THE WINGTIPS WITH HIS NOSE Cue keyboard smash! WAE TESDHGFYFJ. RYGJ GUFTDRSSDFAEGRRESVGTGTRS DFGSTRWG EIEEEIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!! I always love this joke, no matter how old it’s gonna get in my reaction posts.

-Yeah he’s just going

-The real reason this episode took so long to air last year was that the animators had to get the waist snatch scene past censorship to spite their censor companies for not having Xie Lian fall into Hua Cheng’s lap in Eps 4-5.

-Xie Lian: Hello Again, Literally me: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! (This is the exact same noise Eleanor Shellstrop made when she was gifted a Shrimp Dispenser in The Good Place)

-They’re just backing up

-You two had one job!  Looking at you Feng Xin and Mu Qing!  I see ya

-He’s just tugging his sleeve as they’re walking

-Man, it’s like Hua Cheng took Little John’s advice from Robin Hood 1973 to “Climb the palace walls.  *Tosses out Gross Carrot* Sweep him off his feet, carry him off in style.” - Little John, Disney Robin Hood (1973) (Best Disney film hands down, freaking fight me if you dare)

-That must’ve hurt his ears

-Y’all had one job

-Feng Xin is just worried

-*Hua Cheng has entered the chat*  Like a goat!

-The subtle eye contact and expression he shared with Xie Lian!

-Some of the 33 gods he defeated are also in the chat

-That shook the veils

-Won’t that be pain in his mind?

-Looks like he saved you yeah

-A flashback from Ep 5!

-Touchstarved!  Touchstarved!  (Try prying this headcanon from my cold dead grip!)

-And here you’re about to see Howard Wang’s best performance in the series so far

-Best apology I’ve ever heard in media

-It healed that fast

-Petition to have James Cheek voice an iconic lead character in a Shakespeare play?

-Aw, they were actually both at fault for what happened

-You can actually feel Hua Cheng’s Shame

-E Ming: Noooo…. You hurt him!  I hurt him!  We hurt him! AAAHHH!  *sobs*

Season 2 has fed us once more!  I’m still busy with writing the Scrap Immortal and the Avatar.  For writing inspiration, I’ll be busy rewatching Avatar:  The Last Airbender

[newtrons]

fanfiction writers.

whenever i browse ao3 for any fic that those gods have created, i am aware that any and all fanfiction writers (other than myself) are a different breed of human. i have this here handy dandy list of things to expect when reading fanfiction. feel free to take a mental note. this might be a long one.

Rule 1: the ‘my house exploded, burned down and then exploded again’ rule.

Yes, it’s a bit of a meme. Those posts about fanfic writers suffering through the most absurd shit, and/or having the best moments of their lives, and then apologizing for being late. I myself realized this when I was writing and somehow managed to tear my nail from my toe, got sent to hospital because of my incredibly caring and also very anxious roommate, which lead to me discovering I had appendicitis and had surgery done. Here are some examples of better people than I am experiencing this:

This should be enough to tell you: these people are different to us mere mortals. So, I made this rule, which I have affectionately named, which states that when reading any fix, always expect the worst to happen to the author, because apparently the universe wants to stop them from writing peak.

Rule 2: Don’t be afraid to experiment.

I, myself, am obsessed with 5 fandoms: Danganronpa, Jujutsu Kaisen, Tomodachi Life(??? Is this even a fandom???), Persona and, last but not least, Dragon Ball (Sparking Zero is coming out soon and I’m ecstatic. I’ll try to avoid the brackets from now on because nobody likes reading these). So, obviously, if I were to be on AO3 at this second, I’d probably go for one of those.

And then, dear reader, I sorted by all fics from most hits to least.

Rule 2.5: It’s all fucking Harry Potter - Interlude

Yes, I just said don’t be afraid to experiment, but I’m stopping just to ask this:

Why is it all Harry Potter?

I kid you not, the top 3 fics, as of writing this, are all Harry Potter, sitewide. And then, beyond the top 3, there’s just more. And I get it - a lot of people like Harry Potter. I haven’t read it, I don’t particularly care for it, but a lot of people like it. I know this because I see it everywhere I go. I hear it everywhere I go. I walk down the street and I somehow hear Harry Potter in a conversation. I get home, look at AO3, Harry Potter. I log onto Twitter—

And as I get to this, I want to point out that I follow people that I have never seen mention Harry Potter. I follow people that have nothing to do with it. I follow Lythero. Fighting game youtuber with cute little bunnies who did the Silver Campaign recently. Great. I follow Opera GX, a web browser. Awesome. I follow OMOCAT, developer of OMORI, and I follow the OMORI account. Wonderful. This shows that I follow people who I enjoy seeing. I follow people I want on my feed, and yet they cannot give me the pleasure of limiting my feed to the accounts that I want on my feed.

—and there it is. Harry Potter. I promise you this does not motivate me to look it up.

And I hear your cries of ‘oh, newtrons! You silly fucking goose! Just exclude the fandom from your searches”, and I hear you. I do this. But I, the annoyance that I am, just feel a sense of rage when I see Harry Potter at all. It fills me with the urge to throw a cinderblock from my window. I apologize for my tangent.

Rule 2: Don’t be afraid to experiment - Continued.

And so, as I look through thousands upon thousands of Harry Potter fanfictions, I stumble upon a fanfiction for the series ‘Saiki K’. Awesome. Great. Synonyms. I click on it, knowing nothing about the original anime, and I read through a few chapters of a psychic guy having fun with his silly friends. And that is what motivates me to watch the entire anime, because it made me like the characters, and it doesn’t show up very often. So, please, if you see something you don’t see often, experiment. Read a BTS fanfiction if you want to go there. Read some OC work, because some of those are incredible. Feel free to dip your toes into the ‘every fandom and fanfiction ever’ kiddie pool. Have fun with it.

Rule 3: horny

Some people, unfortunately, are horny. Very much so, in fact. Obviously, I have nothing against NSFW, despite sounding more like a hypocrite by the second, but let me explain. I am like a toddler, in that I get incredibly upset with seeing something that I don’t like on some occasions. Yes, I am fine with NSFW, but I am only fine with NSFW until I cross the threshold of ‘okay, I’ve seen and read enough hardcore smut over lunch to the point where I can read it with a blank face. Maybe I should take a step back from the NSFW’. Then, when I cross that threshold and see NSFW, even if it isn’t the author’s intention, I still become filled with immeasurable pain at seeing anything NSFW. If you can avoid it, please, please don’t be a hypocrite and annoyance like me and prepare to see some NSFW. It makes you enjoy reading off of places like AO3 and Wattpad (i have never read off of watt pad but i hear it has many-a self-inserts).

ily, ty for reading.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

mackerel!!!!! good morninnnnnnnng :] sharing my coffee with u :3 anyway. free ticket for whatever worm thoughts ur having!!! 🎫🎫🎫 cell is a fucking rollercoaster so like, u know, whenever u have thoughts w any degree of organization lmao!! the fucking.... charlotte interlude where danny just sits and watches the rest of the undersiders (teenagers)(aisha throwing a bag of chips at grue's head)(grue killed burnscar a member of the slaughterhouse 9)(terrifying)(they're both in demon masks and grue is in black leather)(supervillains who he's been hearing taylor talk about like they're a certain doom for hours)(kids)(people she loves)(she was doing so much for infrastructure for the docks which was also danny's thing) hammer out their game plan means a lot 2 me.... anyway it's been a while since last bothering u abt worm ask!! so. holds microphone up to u. hehehe :3

dude u have literally the most perfect timing ever I JUST finished the lung interlude. lol. Definitely not thinking about it at all. the next arc is called Drone. awesome ! like the fuckign. other word for male bees which have no stinger and are not as useful to the hive as worker bees and cannot even feed themselves without assistance from workers. often used in media to describe a mindless . well. drone. part of a hivemind. awesome loving the implications of this. i need 2 take a fucking BREAK

ANYWAY. CELL. GOD. MAN. FUCK. DEFINITELY *NOT* THE DIRECTION I THOUGHT THAT ARC WAS GOING TO GO. youve pretty much said everything I could possibly say about the Charlotte interlude. I do in fact have a screenshot of the part where imp throws a bag of chips at grues head. and also when they first get there imp and regent immediately start rummaging around for snacks. and they take the bags of gummies that charlotte was planning to put in the kids school lunches the next day. and . fucking RACHEL walking in not with huge monster dogs but with a bunch of puppies on colorful leashes. willingly handing puppies to two basically strangers. willing to go into a room with a bunch of children who don't know how to behave correftly around dogs and letting them play with her puppies. I cant even fucking talk about Rachel and how she's changed since the beginning of the story without getting so overwhelmed with it all i love her so much. I love her SO much dude.

having conflicting emotions about weaver !!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love taylor so much you know this about me. i am very excited to see another side of the heroes and get more insight into the inner workings of both the ward system and also the prt in general (definitely not going to think about nhw) BUT ALSO . I LOVE THE UNDERSIDERS TOO MUCH. IM GONNA MISS THEM SO MUCH. AND!!!! and. I don't know how they feel about this decision yet. I mean they were pretty laid back during their visit but I also know how good they are (esp tattletale) at . not letting onto things . putting up a front to keep appearances. aaughhh.

I want to know what the fuck was in the drawer that dragon showed taylor that made her agree to all of this right away. was it the new mask????? that's my assumption rn. speaking of which as much as I want to squish defiant sometimes I VERY MUCH love his robot girlfriend. defiant can stay as long as I get to see his weird fucked up dynamic with dragon. but he's on thin ice.

I do also really like miss militia.......... she's frustrating as much as the others are sometimes but. I like her. she knows things are fucked and is willing to hear out the other side even if she doesn't always act on it. OH ALSO SPEAKING OF HEROES really excited that parian and fletchette are undersiders now :) I like them.

uhhhhh uh uh uh I made that big long post about self fulfilling prophecies regarding the whole apocalypse in two years thing ,, my thoughts on that have not changed and have in fact been REINFORCED by lungs interlude . he specifically was given a two year time limit. hmm i wonder FUCKING WHY. god. I need to talk to dinah i need a dinah interlude. I need to know what she thinks of all of this

[capitalpunishments]

So we talked Rooks, but I am curious - do you have any Wardens, Hawkes, or Inquisitors close to your heart as well?

OH BOY DO I <- sleeper agent code activation

(this got so long so ill put it below a readmore jfshdidb)

i have a couple wardens but my most notables are

1. ISANAMI SURANA

isanami is one of my oldest dragon age characters and probably my favorite. hes a circle mage elf gone rogue, a blood mage by trade and a spellsword by circumstance. he learned quickly that while staves are handy for casting… theyre not all that practical during a swarm of darkspawn. i really missed that in da2 and inquisition, that mage classes couldnt use warrior/rogue weapons, so isanamis always been special in that hes used a zweihander before it was “cool”… fun fact! he was a woman originally, before i lost intrest in DA and forgot ab him - when i rediscovered the old ref sheets for the character, i hit him with The Transgenderification Beam and now hes a twink… smh.

also heres isanami before his redesign -> after his redesign. these two pics were drawn about 5 years apart so thats why theres such a massive glow up LMFAO. one thing i wanted to keep was that red hair + pale skin/sunken in eyes + visible scarring!

2. CILLIAN COUSLAND

pronounced KILL-ee-ann. cillian was my humble cousland who i was like ^^ ok you go through the horrors now. i made him conscript loghain, exile alistair, put himself on the throne with anora, AND he completed the dark ritual with morrigan himself so that he could kill the archdemon. he was like :) surely this is okay! im helping fereldan! dw about it! if i could tweak anything ab origins tho id probably make him conscript loghain and then put alistair on the throne tho… i feel like that couldve been an AWESOME worldstate. cillian originally was gonna be my goody two shoes guy but i started picking crazay choices for him and it just Snowballed From There.

as for hawkes…

1. MAIDA MARIAN HAWKE

maida my BELOVED. shes such an interesting character - shes red/purple on dialogue, which leads to this very brusque and aggressive nature that few get past. she and carver used to butt heads a lot as kids, but now she misses him more than anything </3 shes a rogue whos absolute ass at anything other than “cut you up like a kebab” and “punch you in the face” LMFAO. she doesnt respect nor care for the arishok past “youre a true fighter and thats commendable” and despite being a chantry die hard shes violently pro mage rights. its a weird conundrum and her/anders Get Into It often about how exactly to bring about revolution, pros and cons of violence, and what exactly it means to be pro-mage liberation. shes a very contradictory person and has her moments of contriteness but overall shes a massive sweetpea. also she looks just like her father and got her sister killed by meredith + carvers dead + leandra blames her for it all so shes just this bucket of angst most of the time

as for her design shes very warm toned, coppery and deep. i love that fuckass tony ponytail + bob haircut so that was what i based her entire face around

2. DANDELION “DANDY” HAWKE

ohhh dandy. dandy has always been on the backburner (sorry dandy) because its so hard to find inspiration for them. theyre like some sort of fae freak, bug eyed and Eerie. dandy is a mage and a bad one at that, willing to use ANY means necessary to come out on top. dandy killed anders, gave up isabella, and sent carver off to the grey wardens easy as pie - thats not to say that they dont regret it. dandys one of those characters where they dont mean to do bad things, they just dont want to die and hate being under pressure. theyre a part of my “bad timeline” which has cillian, dandy, yanna, and shea :)

and inquisitors…

1. VELARA LAVELLAN

NUMERO UNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY QUEEN OF QUEENS MY ANGEL OF ANGELSSSSS ahem. ok im normal. she romanced solas and i used to make CRAZY animatics of her on flipaclip as a kid. literally was obsessed with the SPOT THE WHITE ELF 🧝‍♀️ <- thats her for FOREVER. shes a mage and first to the keeper, her voice sounds kind of nasally but hoarse, and shes just very awkward and plain. her favorite companions are cole and dorian, and the iron bull in a close third, and i feel like that sums up her personality well! she fucking HATES cullen though - truly and fully hates that guy with all her heart. he said he was a circle templar and she immediately was like KILL YOURSELF NOW!!!!!!!

her design hasnt changed much over the years but one thing ive always given her is buck teeth + long brown hair + mythals vallaslin (which was an insane choice considering the Implications in veilguard)

2. YANNA TREVELYAN

ok need i say more than these pictures. these are old old old art but yanna was one of the first DA characters i ever made so its okay. she killed her brother to take his place at the Big Meet whatever its called where divine justinia gets Exploded. she went to romance cullen but broke it off when he started getting a little too “mages dont deserve human rights”. she hates darkspawn and deepstalkers equally. ger favorite colour is blue. her bff wouldve been alistair if he hadnt gotten stuck in kirkwall. she has a weird situationship with josephine and loghain (when he shows up). she punched solas. arguably shes one of my favorite ocs ever just for that last one. she fucking hates the chantry and everything it stands for and would rather disband the inquisition entirely rather than give it up to the chantry itself.

how about you? any wardens, hawkes, or inquisitors dear and near to you? :)

[alvivaarts]

oi i’m like two weeks late but 6 from the artist ask game??????

Ay no worries you're the first person who's asked anything from it! (insert confetti here).

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

Tbh I focus on a lot of theoretical biology for my mer stuff, for those I'd have to say either the 'ology' books and/or the Spiderwick Chronicles. I just love to break down the creatures in a practical or scientific way, but add into it like. More based in reality biology and anatomy and stuff.

Above are some of my favorite 'ology' books, and below are some of my favorite Spiderwick monsters! (Not to mention, the entirety of the SCP wiki. I live there some nights)

Oh yeah, and not to mention I also loved the How to Train Your Dragon and Neverland Fairies books as a kid.

Otherwise, I really enjoy werewolf movies. Like super really enjoy werewolf movies, my personal fav being An American Werewolf in London. I've found myself writing a lot of essays about the psychoanalysis of lycanthropy and werewolf transformation in film, as well as trying to subvert traditional lycanthropic themes in my academic art. But! I will always love werewolves. Here's a link to my favorite part of the movie, the transformation! (Warning for nudity (David Naughton's butt) and a lot of screaming and agony and some AWESOME practical effects. No CGI here!)

Second to last, I super love tarot symbolism such as seen in Dragon Age Inquisition. I used to run an Etsy (before I realized Etsy was stealing 2k a month from me) where I made custom handpainted tarot decks, my pride and joy being my Attack on Titan deck, though I had plans to expand to other fandoms including Critical Role, my own take on the Dragon Age tarot, SCP, etc. And a lot of others people requested.

Finally, I grew up non-denominational (and still am), so I find religious symbolism to be really prevalent, especially in my more recent works. Such as but not limited to sacrifice, lambs, the innocent, community, undeath, etc etc. Probably because of the severe lack of genuinely beautiful places to worship in my home country. Tbh, that's probably why I always end up playing an aasimar bard or monk in D&D.

I think those would be my subconscious inspirations, at least those that I could think of after sitting here for a bit. Other than that, I love dark fantasy and medieval style fantasy games like D&D, Dragon Age, and so forth. And media like the X-Men, Stranger Things, Lord of the Rings, Ghibli films, and a handful of anime that I find really fun! (FALIN ART INCOMING hOLY SHI-) Other than that I really aspire to reach the lever of artwork of Alphonse Mucha and traditional early renaissance artists like the classic greats. Aka the namesakes of the Ninja Turtles. I know I won't ever get there, but it's still very fun to try and emulate!

(Funnily enough I was never allowed to watch stuff like H2O, Winx Club, or much else along those veins) Sorry for the long ass answer, but this's been a fun exercise to figure out some stuff and to share!

Here's the Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game for anyone else who wants to join the fun!

[thesevenwondersofawitch]

Watching The Wheel Of Time, s2 ep8 (season finale)

I love how Moiraine and Lan shared one look and you could tell they've been around each other for so long that they both can silently communicate their feelings about Lanfear 😂

Lanfear is fabulous

The way Moiraine was like 'I can't open it that dude took my power from me'

Oh no I'm concerned what the role Moiraine and Lan will play👀

WHAT BANNER?

(Lanfear blows Moiraine and Lan through a gateway and they land in water) How refreshing

Lanfear: "Come with me."

Rand: "Do I have any choice?"

Lanfear: "You know who I am."

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HOPPER I'M GONNA RIOT!

Wait, I thought Lanfear and the evil dude didn't like each other?

Oh no the white hunters stormed the tower(White Tower?)

Oh they're storming the place that Egwene is being held

I do not think Elayne is straight

Oh my god, Rana cut Egwene's braid😭

Nyeverae babe, the power is corrupting you👀

Nyeverae's expression looks eerily like Rana's

Aww, Rand came to help Egwene

Mat, my boy, RESIST

Moiraine: "Do you really want it back after everything I have done to you?"

Lan: "I never asked to be released, nor will I." 🥺

My poor girl looks so broken I wanna hug her😭

"The only reason that I was able to say that you're not my equal is that I've known one thing to be true since the day we met... You have always been my better."😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Let me back in."

I love how we get to see their bond reforming🥺😭

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD (Perrin and his friends)

Damn, The way all those girls (including Egwene) are being forced to use their powers)😭

Oh, Egwene is getting BIG MAD

Renna: "Good girl!" Lady she's not a dog🤦‍♀️(I know that's how she views her in a way)

*singsong* RAND IS HERE TO SLAAAAAY!

Oh nurh my boy! Ingtar🥺

Lan: "You're faster than you used to be."

Moiraine: "Feels like I'm running without buckets on my back."🥺

I love Moiraine's outfit

Wait, six?! Oh my god, they're people aren't they?!! Is she planning to do that to the kids from Two Rivers👀

Awww, what a cute lil snake/lizard

Oh God, they're gonna gentle Rand aren't they

Mat the DIY king😂

Aw, poor Egwene will need so much therapy after this

NOOOOOO ELAYNE!

She BETTER NOT DIE!

Oooooo Renna can channel?! Ha! She can't hurt Egwene

Ooooooo Renna is dead😁 (poor Egwene though)

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! (the reprise, Rand x Egwene)

"How? Why?" Poor girl is traumatized

"I came to save you, but it looks like you didn't need it." She badass

NO RAND!

The way Ishameal is quoting the dude who gentled him👀 (was it Lews?) (It was)

Awe, it's a bro-mance (Perrin and the son of the main white guy)

HOPPER! NOOOOOOOOOO (I'M GONNA BE SICK)

Whoa! Hopper's spirit is jumping for leaves🥺 so I'm going with him being at peace (if this is true to the book, then I won't riot)

Mat has blown the horn!!!!

Slow mo 👀 shits about to get real isn't it👀

Mat is the only thing moving at normal speed?

Wait, what does he remember?!

This is so cool

The heroes of the horn? Mat was one of them?! I have chills

AWESOME!

Wait, Uno?! Unexpected and so cool

Bro-mance is over (Alexa play When The Party's Over)

I ship Egwene and Elayne hard

Noooooooo! Rand has been unpaled🥺👀

Hell yeah

"You cannot face down one of the chosen, child." Egwene said

"I will let a thousand innocent people die if there's even a chance that he will live." Hardcore (get you a person like Moiraine)

Lan has Moiraine's back always 🥺

Moiraine doing her slow raise up as she's waving has me thinking things 👀😳🫣

Perrin is a great friend

"Who are you?"

"Elayne." Pls don't make them love interests

Oh, Moiraine is so gloriously powerful I love her

SHE BROKE THE SHIELD ON RAND!

Ishameal is dead (and he saw nothing. Nothing at all).

I'm guessing the ships being set ablaze is the banner Lanfear was saying

Oh, they mean literally make a banner of fire😂

Whoa

Damn, Moiraine really gave them a dragon😂

As the heroes

Lanfear has plans uh oh👀

Oh no, there's a new player 👀 Moghedien

Oh, the stone stuff is the other powerful dudes

Ishameal let all of them out! 👀👀

Poor Lanfear 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Well shit, it's over. What am I supposed to do until we get another season?!😭 I was really hoping we'd see more of Siuan and Moiraine and the aftermath of Siuan getting injured 🥺

[slavicviking]

Fashionably late as always but I am so excited to reveal my BB project that I’ll be working with @hullomoon​!!

A mix of fluff, angst and learning and growing 😌

Excerpt below for anyone interested!

The Ents are full-on raging chaos on Isengard, merciless and daunting, strong currents of water pushing through the city walls when the chair next to Eddie clears its throat.

“Do you work here?”

Eddie tugs a faded receipt from Scoops Ahoy to mark the page and sets the book on the table by his side. The chair is, in fact, not a chair at all, but a kid with a mop of curly hair that a yellow-green baseball cap is trying and failing to contain – camp nowhere-something? He gives Eddie a poignant raise of his eyebrow which, in his personal opinion, is quite courageous for a little shrimp like him and Eddie would be annoyed if there wasn’t a slight urgency and tension in the line of the boy’s shoulders.

“Yeah, what do you need, kid?”

“I need an English-Russian dictionary,” the child informs him before pausing. “Or a Russian-English one? With grammar.”

It will be an easy job, Steve said, at least Eddie doesn’t have to sling ice-cream to snotty nine-year olds all day long. And it has been, for the most part, with the senior residents of Hawkins and the populous young families being the dominant parties in his clientele – groups that would rather vert through the books themselves than interact with one Eddie Munson. Sentiment very much reciprocated on that one, no doubts about it. This kid, though, looks to be much more interesting. 

“I’d have to check?” Eddie slides from his chair to move towards the right aisle, the kid stubbornly trailing behind him. “What do you need it for, anyway? Can’t have changed the foreign language courses in middle school that much since I went there.”

Hawkins Middle School teaching their young and impressionable students Russian sounds appropriately laughable and though he expects at least a shadow of an amused smile on the kid’s face, or an annoyed uptick of the lips, there’s nothing but slightly wide eyes and teeth worrying his lower lip.

“Uh, it’s for-“ The kid looks anywhere but at Eddie, eyes sliding over various self-help books they’re passing. “Just something for a fantasy game.”

“Oh yeah? You play Dnd maybe?” That seems to be the right thing to say because curly-hair relaxes and grins excitedly for the first time, revealing two front teeth missing. The cap on his hair wobbles unsteadily when the kid bounces forward.

“You know Dungeons and Dragons?”

“Do I-? I’m the Dungeon Master, kiddo,” Eddie tells him with a wink as they enter the foreign language aisle. He wonders if the unusual request is somehow connected to a campaign the kid is playing and, if so, that did indeed piques his interest. Unusual but intriguing. Write that down, Munson.

“That’s awesome!” The kid’s wide eyes shine bright with mirth and wonder before he shoves his hand out for Eddie to shake. “I’m Dustin, Dustin Henderson.”

“Well, Dustin Henderson, it’s an honor to meet you,” Eddie bows and presents the book to the kid who grabs it enthusiastically. “If there is anything else Eddie the Bard can help you with, speak now,” straightens up and shoves a finger in Dustin’s face. “or forever hold your peace.”

A rushed giggle follows before Dustin sombers up, fingers trailing over the front page of the behemoth of a book in his hands.

“Actually,” he starts, clamps his mouth shut. Shifts his weight. Nods to himself. It’s a fascinating exchange with oneself, Eddie thinks. “are you any good with languages?”

He can’t help but snort because the kid is hopeless but slowly warming his place in Eddie’s otherwise stone-cold heart (Steve doesn’t count, Steve is…Steve, and he’ll leave it at that).

“Me? No. Terrible. Horrendous,” Eddie shakes his head solemnly and Dustin visibly deflates. “-but! Do not fret, young one, I know someone who is.”

 -&-

Steve is late but, to his defense, the mall parking lot is slumped with cars and it takes him over ten minutes before a spot opens up. The walk of shame from his beemer to Scoops Ahoy is no better, aisles between the shops filled with sweaty people stopping to stare at the sailor costume. By the time he gets to the food court, he has his excuse speech ready to launch the moment Robin opens her big mouth because he knows she will. What he find insted is Eddie, clad in his usual ugly green vest from the bookstore, manning the fort.

“Eddie?”

“Steve!” he exclaims, almost dropping the steadily melting triple-scoop cone in his hand. The mother at the cash register does not look happy about it, her narrowed eyes follow the trickle of Rasberry Ripple that lands on his wrist. “Ah, shit, sorry, ma’am. Here you go.”

“You don’t work here,” Steve states and quickly apologizes to the woman as he pushes Eddie out of the way.

“Acute observation, sweetheart,” he grins in return and pushes an ice cream scooper into Steve’s chest. “I believe this is yours.”

“What.”

The window doors leading into the staff room slam open and Robin peers out, eyes filled with mirth when they settle on Steve.

“You’re late, dingus. Again.”

“I know, sorry,” Steve sighs, the carefully curated speech evaporating from his mind now that he’s here. He does get a tiny ounce of satisfaction making Robin yelp when he pushes at her elbow to throw his bag into the backroom. That is when he spots some curly-haired kid at the table, veering through ten different pieces of paper with hastily written notes. “Who is this?”

Robin’s face contorts into a smirk immediately.

“This is-“

“-classified information-!” the kid jumps in, arms flying up frantically. He eyes Steve for a prolonged moment – narrows his eyes – before slowly, as if not to startle him, starts gathering up the loose sheets of paper off the table. Rolling his eyes - he makes sure it’s extra poignant (bitchy, Eddie would call it) -  Steve veers inside. He finds his and Robin’s wonderful scoreboard – now all but a memory - marked with angular symbols he feels he’s seen before but can’t place where. 

“What is- Eddie, is that your fantasy language again?”

“-honestly I’m offended, Harrington, it’s called Quenya and you know this-“

“You know I’m not good with these names, man.”

Robin pipes in with “Actually, that’s Cyrillic-“

“Now that is definitely made up-“

“Oh my God,” moans the kid, which Steve finds very rude considering no one asked. Especially since everyone present is so hell-bent on explaining exactly nothing.

“We’re decoding a secret Russian message,” Robin tells him out of the blue and Steve can’t even begin to comprehend what that can possibly mean because the kid shrieks like an honest-to-God Chewbacca. 

“This is top-secret information! You can’t just reveal it to, to whoever!” the kid shouts-whispers, clutching the mountain of paper sheets to his chest. Robin snorts, unbothered.

“It’s Ste-ve,” she rolls her eyes as though it’s supposed to explain anything at all. Which it doesn’t, clearly, not by the way the kid slams his forehead on the table with a clearly overdone sigh.

It’s going to be a long shift, Steve muses. 

[casketfortwo]

Curing my reading slump, reviewing book that I read.

(February 2025; First Half Edition)

It's already the second month of the year and I haven't got my payment since January. It's been two months and I'm going from broke to very broke and broken (srs). But even so, I still bought some books and read things that helped me with my reading slumps. Some is good some is meh, but it's still the first half of the second month and I've got a whole year to try.

MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILER!

#1 Babel (R.F. Kuang)

I've been reviewing Babel before, so I wouldn't do it again. But long story short, this is such a great book. The ending might felt like a big why, but if you think about it more, there is honestly no other ending that is better for them than that. It's pretty realistic even though it's not as magical as any other fantasy book. (Tho, the magical part of the book is also interesting and I love how nerdy it is). Overall, I give it a 5/5 ⭐!

#2 The Tea Dragon Festival (Kay O'Neill)

Lately I like to read heartwarming graphic novels because the book that I read is very... Very... Very painful. It's heavy. So, I tried to read as many graphic novel as I can. This is one of them, the one that my dearest already read.

Pretty as always. This is one heartwarming graphic novels like the first one! If tea dragon society only talked about the tea dragon, tea dragon festival got a real dragon that's been asleep for eighty years. It's cute because I think it goes back on time; Hese and Erik are there and young. It's a nice book and very cozy for me. Even so, I think the first one still hit me more than this one. So, I prolly give it a 4.5/5 ⭐!

#3 The Tea Dragon Tapestry (Kay O'Neill)

Another one of the series. I was reading this while also reading Babel, so I apologize for the lack of review because honestly, I'm still thinking about Robin, Rami, and Victoire. Oh, God.

Anyway, this graphic novel helped me to soothen my mood, calmed me down. I mean, it's a heartwarming novel so yeah. Why am I getting sidetracked— I mean. Let me rewrite it again.

Tea Dragon Tapestry talked about everyone from the first and second book, but mostly the first one—about Minette and Greta. Minette got lost, hard to accept the difference between her life, not knowing if she's enough and complete. Meanwhile Greta wanna make Ginger (her tea dragon) to warmed up to her and she's doing that while trying to become an apprentice of a good blacksmith—who is a bull—Kleitos.

Minette fought her own battle, only telling Hese when she can't hold it anymore, then Hese told her to go to Erik who is the same as her. She really is a sweet kid, she understand that even if she needed to live a new life, she can adapt because she's whole already. In the other hand, Greta tried so hard to make Ginger who just lost their owner to warmed up to her. But the grief is never ending and Ginger can't help but to still get drown on those sorrow. Greta was really sad, but she didn't let it stop her. So, she decided to make a bowl who might touch Ginger's heart and soul. That bowl is what she shows to Kleitos to be his apprentice. Fortunately, Kleitos accepted her. He thought that Greta would be an amazing blacksmith in no time. She might lack of skills for now, but she can make something that touches someone's soul and that's the greatest of them all.

I love a good heartwarming stories. This is even better than the first one, I think. The connectiom between everyone and how everything come together is what's makes this great. A solid 5/5 ⭐ from me!

#4 The Devotion of Suspect X (Keigo Higashino)

I'm slowly taking my step towards each of Keigo's book. This is the third book from Keigo that I read. Beside Namiya, I think this is the other book that I really wanna read and I read it already now. I can tell you that this is awesome.

As always, Keigo Higashino delivered such a really nice mystery with a little twist. In all honesty, I know where it is going, but I'm surprised by the ending and how it really ended. It's exciting and thrilling for me, but also saddening at some part. Between this and Newcomer, I think this is better (maybe I'm just a nerd who love how they explain the math) and require more brain power. The cried at the end is painful and I can't ever imagine how he felt after seeing the women he sacrificed for. It's a good story and I'm reading it in one sitting. I was so immersed to it, not only the classic whodunit but whydunit. I gave it a 5/5 ⭐ because I love Keigo's work!

#5 Petualangan Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)

This is one of the book that I got when I get Babel. Same as Animal Farm, I think it's also not for me. I don't know whether the translated one is too wonky and weird, or because it's only part of Don Quixote so it's weird, or because it's just not my cup of tea.

Don Quixote is actually a really nice guy. But somehow, he got obsessed with book of war and all those knights in shining armor. Dude went crazily obsessed, he went from RP ing for himself to literally being a knight in front of everybody (which makes him looks and sounds crazy). But even so, he's still very humble and kind to others.

Overall, Don Quixote is not a bad person, he's just crazy about war. I thin it's also criticizing something, I just don't know which era. Since it's really weird for me, I give it a 2/5 ⭐.

(P.s.: I don't even have the picture of only Don Quixote since I don't think it's worth the read.)

#6 Leonardo Da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood (Sigmund Freud)

So, I borrowed the book from a friend of mine. She's nice enough to let me borrow some of her books (I borrowed three, this is one of them since I read it at her home).

I think it's decent, it's the first non-fiction book that I read in 2025. It's about Da Vinci's childhood, of course, but it took me by surprised when the psychoanalysis behind it is about his sexuality. About how he felt like he saw a bird when he was still a baby. They said it's not impossible, but hard to believe because the human brain hasn't really developed when we were a baby, an infant (maybe except if we are a genius—Da Vinci is a genius—that have a photomemory—which Da Vinci doesn't have it). So they said, it's possible that Da Vinci is making that up.

Basically, this book talked about how sexuality affect children and how it shaped them. It's surprising for me, I thought it's about his genius painting or when he start painting. But overall, it's decent. It's easy to read (too many footnote, but I guess that's because it's non-fiction) and systematical which is good. 3.5/5 ⭐

#7 The Ballad of Never After (Stephanie Garber)

GOD. This is frustrating. This book is more frustrating than the first one. WHAT IS THIS BOOK. I finished it today after three days of not reading (I can't read while having a big headache and coughs every minute). I'm glad I just read like 32 pages of it before I get sick. So, when I read it, I can read it from the beginning and hell I did.

My God, why is everything so fucking painful for me. LOOK. I know I always said Evangeline is so fucking dumb but in this book? She dumb DUMB. I can't even fathom how dumb she is to think and act that way. Oh my God, I was frustrated reading it. Good kind of frustration but STILL.

The thing is, once it said "The End", I was really. I'm. I. I needed so much time to proceed. I have goosebumps, shivers through my back, and I AM SICK. I'm still sick and I read THIS? But I did anyway.

I don't have to recap the whole book, I can recap it by saying; OH MY GOD. That's all, that's it. But I need to give you two of my fav lines (I might or might not cried hard).

Oh, damn. Oh, damn. OH, DAMN. AND THAT'S THREE OH DAMNS. OH DAMN.

So, overall, it's painful(ly good). I love the flow even if it's making me grr, I wanna bite Eva's brain. Tho, some parts in the middle is boring for me, but it's all good. I enjoyed it so much. I enjoy the pain, I enjoy the warmth, I enjoy everything. Obvious 5/5 ⭐!

So, that's the summary of my first half of February, ended in 14th of February. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. I'm tired of turning the grief I have into denial, I turned it into love and the love I have is mostly for you. By reading, by reviewing, it reminded me of you and it felt like I (kinda) channel it to you—just so you knew. And I hope you always know.

Again, Happy Valentine's Day. You are loved, you are love, always worth for it, made for it.

And I love you.

[bilboyagathechickenfootedhobbit]

Humble brag time

I am so fucking lucky to have the amazing kid I have. I know a lot of it is the hard work my husband and I have put in to parenting since Day One, but also, he’s just…..cool. And so smart. Like, he’s six years old, the youngest kid in his first grade class by a long shot, and yesterday he was doing multiplication in his head. I think the one we gave him was like, 9x12 and he sat for a second and then goes “…..108? Yeah, 108.” For context, this is what the math learning target for the rest of his class is:

Like???? His classmates are still grouping numbers together to learn how to write 17, and this morning he was complaining because he’s tired of multiplication and wants to start learning fractions and decimals. So our breakfast looked like this, as I showed him that division is just multiplication in reverse and all the different ways you can write one quarter:

I had to message his teacher and be like “can you maybe give him some different math than the rest of the class? He’s already done with multiplication” and fortunately she’s an awesome teacher and lets the more advanced students work ahead of the rest of the class, so she promised to get him some second grade math worksheets.

I’m just so amazed sometimes by him. The other night my husband was like “How does it feel to be raising a kid that only inherited the best qualities of either of us and none of the bad ones?” And honestly? It’s fun. I see how I probably was before the world beat me down, and I want to do whatever I can to keep fostering the way he is. It helps me get back in touch with the whimsy I felt as a kid, and it helps me realize there is a place for softness and silliness in the world. Watching his hunger for learning reminds me that it’s a privilege to have access to education and that maybe I should remember that and stop being so stubborn when I’m trying to self-teach myself something and maybe just ask for help from someone who knows wtf they’re doing.

He loves school so much that when we’re on break, he makes us bike to his school and he’ll stand at the gate just staring at his campus. I love seeing his exuberance, I love seeing how proud he is when he learns new things. I love his motivation and drive and his commitment to things and his consideration for others. This past weekend we were out shopping for records and he got to choose between three different ones: Taylor Swift (whom he adores), Imagine Dragons (another fav), and the og Lion King soundtrack that his cousin loves. He kept going back to the Lion King because he knew his cousin would love it and want to listen to it whenever he came over. He was torn, and eventually decided on his beloved T. Swift, but the fact that he agonized for so long and was willing to give up his purchase for someone else’s enjoyment…..I just fucking love the little dude so much.

I don’t know….I don’t brag about him a lot because a lot of the mom friends I have struggle with getting their kids to go to school, to want to learn, to behave reasonably well, to consider others, and I don’t want to be the asshole mom who’s like “oh *I* don’t have to deal with ANY of THAT. MY little angel is PERFECT, have you tried not sucking at being a mom?” I mean, I would never say that but I feel like any bragging comes off that way, you know? It just always feels like rubbing my good fortune in others faces and that’s just rude. But sometimes I need to let it out because I just am bursting with pride for him.

Not to say he can’t be a little turd sometimes, but even when he is, it’s completely understandable; he’s six. He may act like a mature adult most of the time but he is SIX, and every now and then a six year old has to record fart sounds on their drum kit and then play it on repeat for an hour, cackling like a loon and shouting “POOOOOP!!”

[3llatricks]

“Elllllaaaaaaaa!” 

Ella was suddenly burdened by the weight of one of her friends. She turned around and smiled at the girl who had thrown herself onto Ella’s back. 

“Alex! What’s up?”

“Did you hear the news? Did you??”

“Come on, you know I don't pay attention to that stuff.”

Alex rolled her eyes as she began walking next to her friend. Alex and Ella had been friends since the beginning of high school three years ago. They both got along really fast, bonding over their love for stories and art. 

“Right. You’re lame and don't like to be informed.” Alex nodded solemnly. “Anyways! Apparently the Waynes-”

Alex kept droning on but Ella blocked it out. She didn't care for politics or anything similar. The Waynes were the topic of nearly everything so she blocked out what she could. Being rich didn't make you any better than anyone else. Being rich and adopting every kid with a traumatic backstory is worse. Being a rich orphan with a traumatic backstory while adopting every kid with a traumatic backstory… Well, let’s just say Ella had a strong opinion against Mister Bruce Wayne himself. 

Not that she hated the man, she just didn't think he needed to be the subject of every news article. It was always either about the Waynes, the Bats, or Lex Luther. All of which had too much attention on them. Why couldn't they talk about something important like global warming? What about the hybrid laws that are being passed? Ella would rather hear about a bank robbery than the Waynes.

Lost in her hatred towards the media, Ella missed Alex’s question.

“I’m sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you ask?”

Alex huffed out in annoyance.

“The Wayne Twins are coming to our school today to do some sort of presentation. They’re putting on a charity and they’re coming to raise money from kids their age. Don't you think that’s awesome?”

“I guess? I don't know, man. You know my stance on the Waynes.”

“Right. They’re a bunch of rich A-holes that don't care about us little people.” Alex rolled her eyes.

“None of those words have ever come out of my mouth.” Ella replied, amusement lacing her tone as she shoved her friend with her shoulder.

“Maybe not those words, but the meanings. You hate the Waynes, and I can't fathom why! How can you hate people who are good looking?!”

“I hate Ryan, and he’s hot.”

“Ryan’s the worst, you have reason to hate him.”

“But you agree he’s hot?”

“Shut up!” Alex pushed Ella back before she began dashing off towards their first period class. 

Ella chased after her, laughing as she tried to keep up with her friend. 

Unfortunately, she slipped on something and crashed into someone, knocking the person over and making them drop all of their papers.

“Oh my stars. I am so sorry, let me help you out with that.” Ella exclaimed, picking up papers and stacking them into a neat pile. 

Ella handed the papers to the person who was watching her with green, judging eyes. The first thing she noticed besides his eyes were the black wings mantled on his back along with a matching tail that came to a point with spikes coming off the edge. Dragon. Specifically a Spike Dragon. Extremely deadly if stabbed by the tail or horns. Although his horns were still fairly small and haven't begun to split and curve. Young, maybe the same age as Ella herself.

“Thank you…” he trailed off, waiting for her name.

“Ellatrix,” she responded with a smile. “Are you new here?”

The boy seemed shocked. 

“You do not know who I am?”

Ella fought to keep her smile from falling into a glare. Was she supposed to know who he was? She didn't know anyone that wasn't in her circle. How was she supposed to know someone she hadn't even seen before?

“I’m sorry, should I know who you are?”

The boy frowned but shook his head.

“It does not matter. Thank you for helping me pick up my mess, Ellatrix.”

“I’m the one who ran into you.”

“Still. I hope to see you around.”

Ella furrowed her brow as the boy walked off. Who was he? Was she supposed to know him? He did seem familiar, but then again, so did everyone at their school. 

The bell rang, making Ella jolt. She was late, oh for all the stars in the sky, Fae was going to kill her.

First

Previous

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[atomic-thomas]

(Fake ASMR Commission) Tomboy Giantess Flirts With You

------------------------------------------------------------

"Oooh, who's that down there? They look pretty cute. Hopefully they won't mind if I give them a bird's eye view~"

...

"Yoink! Heh heh~"

"Woah. Chill, little one. You're acting like I'm gonna bite your head off or something. I mean... I'll admit. You do look like a snack. Don't take that literally though. I may be... You know... Huge. But I'm not a monster. Not in a moral sense at least."

...

"See, that's the thing. Ever since monster people integrated into human society, everyone has been frustratingly cautious around giants specifically. Dragon-kin? That's fine. Slimes? No problem. Fairies? Oh, everyone loves fairies."

"But for some reason, giants are feared way too much. Even by other monster folk. Why do so many people assume that Big = Scary? It's like everyone forgot that giants are abiding by human laws. We're not gonna do anything bad."

...

"Ugh... Sorry. We just met & I'm already venting my problems to you like we've known each other for a decade. I should introduce myself before saying another word."

"My name is Colossa. And I'm a giantess who lives near the city."

...

"What's so funny? Is it my name?"

...

"Well yeah. We giants always get names befitting our massive size. I'm surprised we're able to keep finding ways to twist big adjectives into names."

"So anyway... What brings a cutie like you out here all by yourself?"

...

"Just a nature walk, huh? Well, if you're trying to appreciate the scenery then how about I put you on my head? Then you can see the world from my point of view."

...

"Oh come on! Don't be that way. Step out of your comfort zone. Live a little. Just hold onto my hair if you're afraid of falling off. Nothing bad is gonna happen."

...

"Nuh Uh! I insist. You're going on top of my head. Just relax. It'll be fun."

...

"Oh My God, you don't need to scream. Haha~ You're not in any danger. Just look at this view! I see the world like this all the time."

"Just hold on tight if you're really that afraid of falling. And even if you do, I'll provide you with a very soft landing. I assure you."

...

"That means whatever you want it to mean. Use your imagination."

"Anyway... This is awesome, right? I can hear you laughing up there. And just a moment ago, you were screaming."

...

"A fearful laugh. Yeah right. Just admit that you're enjoying this."

...

"See? I told you this would be fun. I bet there's plenty of humans out there who wish that a giant would do this for them. The dynamic of our drastically different sizes allows for a world of unique possibilities & fun ways for us to interact with each other."

...

"Oh, you wanna stay up there? That's fine by me."

"Wait a just a damn moment... I just thought of a great idea. How about I go for a walk while you stay on my head? You can pretend like I'm a giant mech that you're controlling. And we can just kinda... Talk about stuff, you know?"

...

"Yeah, that's what I thought. No one would turn down an opportunity like this. Enjoy the ride. And the view of course."

*giant footstep sounds start & go on for... a while. I'll let you know when I want it to stop. lol*

"So... Where are you from?"

...

"The city. Oooh, so we live close. That's convenient. I work in the city. Multiple jobs at that."

...

"Well, for starters... I'm an attraction at the amusement park."

...

"Yes, you heard that correctly. I am one of the attractions. There's a couple things I do. The first goes as follows."

"An attendant ties a bungee cord to one of my fingers. And then they tie that bungee cord to a human."

"After that, they climb onto the palm of my hand, I lift them up &..."

"I use them as a yo-yo!"

...

"Hahahaha! I'm kidding. If I really did that, then the human would be at risk of splatting into my hand on the rebound &... Well, we can't have that."

"What actually happens is the human simply jumping off my hand & letting the bungee cord do the rest."

...

"What if it breaks. What do you think? We have equipment to prevent accidents. Ever since I started this gig, there's never been an incident."

"The second thing I do at the amusement park is act as a swing ride. There's a couple ways I can do this."

"I can either attach a human to each of my fingers using bungee cords & swing them around that way. Or if there's less people, I can just clench them in my fists. Not too tightly of course. It's perfectly safe. Never had an issue."

...

"There are probably other things I could do at the amusement park if I wanted to, but I wanna talk about my other job. I'm a construction worker."

...

"Unsurprising, right? A giant working for construction. It makes all the sense in the world."

"Naturally, I do stuff like building, helping my co-workers with scaffolding & heavy lifting."

"But above all else... I LOVE when I'm put on demolition duty. It's so invigorating! Nothing beats the privilege of getting to break something! Tear it apart! It's great when I've had a bad day & just need to take out my anger on something."

...

"Oh relax. It's not like I have violent tendencies or anything. We all have our emotions. Still though... I suppose it's reasonable to feel uncomfortable in the presence of an angry giant even if they mean no harm. We're just so... Big. We gotta be careful around the smaller folk."

"Speaking of being careful... There's this one co-worker I know in particular. She's a Drider. And lemme tell ya... Driders really hate giant shoes. Must be a deep-rooted fear that bug folk have."

"One time, I didn't notice her below me & almost stepped on her. I felt terrible knowing what could've happened. It took her a few days to warm up to me again. Can't say I blame her. That must've been really scary for her."

...

"Yeah, being a giant isn't always as cool as it seems. There's some perks, sure. It's fun to tower over everything & be super strong. But I have to be so careful. Walking around in the city is a tricky endeavor."

"There's cars, people, infrastructure... One wrong move & something bad will probably happen. I gotta take it seriously. Can't just throw my weight around."

...

"You know you should never ask a girl's weight, right? Hehe~ Don't worry. It's fine. I understand your curiosity."

"I'm 150 feet tall & weigh over a thousand tons. So uh... Yeah. I carry a lot of responsibility within this body of mine."

...

"That's a great question. I'm not sure how I don't stress the streets' weight limit. Hmmm... You know what? Let's not think too much about that."

...

"Why'd I pick you up. Well..."

*giant footstep sounds stop now*

"God, why can't I find the words for this? It isn't that complicated. Um... Hold on. I'm gonna take you off my head now. I want you in my hands for this."

...

"You're really cute &... You know... Good looks usually get a person through the front door &..."

...

"Sigh... I wanna get to know you. I don't know why that was so hard for me to say. It's just... I work with humans all the time, but I've always wanted to establish a personal connection with one. I'm not saying we need to start a relationship if you don't want to. I feel that would come off too strongly. We just met. But I at least wanna go out on a date with you. Maybe we can be friends. Something more if you want."

"Ugh... I sound like such a bumbling mess right now. I wanna state my desires, but don't wanna overwhelm you. And I don't even really know if I'm looking for romance or just a friendship."

"I'm sorry. This is all probably frying your brain, isn't it?"

...

"You... You get it. Really? You understood all of that?"

...

"You'll go on a date with me. For real? Seriously?"

...

"That's so awesome! I could jump for joy right now!"

"Buuuuut I won't. I'd cause some pretty bad tremors if I did that. Don't wanna set off an earthquake because I got too excited."

...

"Yeah, let's discuss date ideas. I can think of a few ways in which a human & giant can mingle. We just need something fun that we can both agree on."

"I'm really looking forward to learning more about you, little one."

------------------------------------------------------------

THE END

[allsassnoclass]

eek i know i'm late but if you're still accepting asks for the writing ask game 2, 4, 17, 24, & 30? -💙

@igarbagecannoteven ALRIGHTY MEGS!!!!! i am always accepting asks especially for ask games let's go let's go let's go!!!!!!

this got long, so under the cut!

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to? there's a series that i really really want to write, but for some reason i can't quite put my finger on how to start it. i WILL write it at some point (hopefully this year!!!! i'm still hoping that the first part will come out in august!!!), but it's just been difficult getting that starting point.

4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them? oh DO I!!!!!!!!! so for fics I have a few, but Mason is probably my primary one right now. he's a little kid and he's cute and he likes soccer and is worried about how to make friends (but it's okay because there's this super friendly little redhead kid named oliver who decides they're friends immediately). his story is a single parent au i've been working on for a few years!

but!!!!! my main OC loves are from my original story ideas. Arima!!!!!!! is my absolute beloved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she has immense daddy issues and no living family (or so she thinks...). her best friend is some dude she rescued who immediately decides he needs to be her father figure. her other best friend is a super old priest. she's ace but also maybe kinda gay for this random girl named jo that appears. OR do you want me to talk about spencer and logan, my beloved sibling duo????????? logan can see ghosts. spencer is just trying to be a good older sister. they're both traumatized. or teddy the sweetheart vampire!!!! or patricia who plays the tuba!!!! or alvaro, the only actual normal human in their little gang!!!!! OR do you want to hear about wesley (photographer) and aiden (child) and jaycee (wacky mystery author) and pete (jaycee's handler) and gee (quite bookstore clerk) and megan (lawyer) and tara (gay) and ashely (also gay) and dana (awesome) all the people living in jack's apartment building?

arima and her gang kind of have a story, but the original plot that i had for her that i came up with in middle school was bad, so i think she's going to have a sci-fi story instead. good for her! arima is going to be the captain of a space ship even though she's 17 at best (she does not know her exact birthday), because she's just Like That. arima is my most beloved oc btw.

spencer, logan, and the supernatural crew have a kind of complicated ya supernatural adventure story. it has a lot to do with spencer and logan's mom, who we don't like, and a little to do with their dad, who we also don't like. both adults are, unfortunately, trying their best, they just really really suck in drastically different ways. thank goodness alvaro decides that spencer should be friends with him/teddy/patricia!

wesley and friends have a pretty basic, kind of slice-of-life story about found family.

17. Past or present tense? Why? present tense! and I actually can pinpoint the exact reason: when I was in 5th or 6th grade I went to this thing called the young author's conference, and one of the classes i took there had a guy who gave us his list of rules for writing engaging and interesting stories (highlights include "this is not a pen" and "slam the book"). one of them was "buzz the was" which was his way of saying avoid using passive voice. ("The dragon sat on a pile of gold" puts the readers closer to the story than "The dragon was sitting on a pile of gold.") so i use present tense so i don't use the word "was"! unfortunately now i just use passive voice in present tense, but it's something i'm working on!

24. Thoughts on flashbacks/flashforwards. i like them when they're used right! i definitely much prefer flashbacks to flashforwards, as i think flashbacks can be a great tool for adding context and i think that a lot of flash forwards are just like. 3 year in the future epilogues and those are fine but they're also very obviously just a vehicle to have an ending without having to put all that middle stuff.

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't. ooooooo ummmmm let's see. years ago I wrote a band au for the raven cycle, and i was going to do a sequel focusing on noah and the intersection of fame and mental health and privacy, but ran out of interest and motivation and now i think too many years have passed and it'd be weird to write and post it now. for 5sos stuff, maybe the malum quarantine fic? i only got 900 words into it, but lost interest and now i'm not sure i'd return to it just because there's so much to unpack with the pandemic and i'm super worried that it'd be insensitive, but if i address the whole ''thousands of people are dying every day" of it all then i know i'll turn it into a major component of the fic and the fic itself will end up being pretty angsty and heavy and deal a lot more with overwhelming fear and dread, which wasn't really the vibe i had in mind. it's also difficult because there wouldn't necessarily be a good resolution to the overwhelming fear and dread, given that we are still living through it to an extent and the comforting power of fall out boy's so much (for) stardust wouldn't be released into the world until 2023

thanks for asking :)

[stardust-in-my-mind-blog]

letter to mother in law

I'm writing this shit

in epic poetry

written in my own

fucking writing voice

calligraphy

and it would be

just your luck

if I got famous

just because

you bitches

slay me

like the knights

used to slay dragons

and you fucking know

those dragons were way

more awesome

than any

of those fucking knights

maybe not for humans

or civilizations

but just to take a moment

in collected and concentrated

awe

and imagine

those mythical creatures

in our lives

around our hearts

isn't that where you really

and secretly

and truly

dream?

Oh that's just me

talking about the things

that spin and dance around

in my brain

while all you can do

is listen to the garbage complaints

of the son you obviously

didn't raise to think for himself

just obey

and avoid the consequences

I don't play that way

always had to as a kid

I'll say whatever you need to

slip into whatever role

you think you're

manipulating me

into

see where you take this

wonder where it will go

then stop

change my mind

and do what I please.

It's my life.

I get to.

I am raising three young adhd children.

I say that because it matters.

It's a condition diagnosed by people who

spend years

learning about emotions

document the data

that has been collected

then studied by researchers

over years

with a motivation to

understand the behavior patterns

of humans who seem

to have an issue of extra energy

and a different way of

perceiving the world

and how you can make their lives

and your own life

raising them

more harmonious and enjoyable

for all of you

just by educating yourself a bit more

about how mental health works

it's like you think mental health

is a thing

and not an intentional

maintinannce

of not raging out

when everything and

everyone you care about

seems to see

is how you're failing to be

the kind of human

they want you to be

because you came here to be you

and they want a different version of you

but you're you and

you're me

and all our relationships

are mirrors where we

recognize parts of each other

and have to either

integrate it or

absorb it

or take it into your heart

without any kind of filter

because they are the ones

who teach you how to

write love on your heart

and some of them

choose to brand you with it

and tell you not to

scream when it burns

because that means you're

not tough

and only the strong

survive

some of them buy

brushes and ink

and write it in

permanent color

and the older hearts

get the love

lovingly tattooed on their heart

if they want to

and it's sharp

and it also burns

but not like the brand

and some hearts

carve the names

who branded them

off of themselves

with lightsabers

or talons

and find a way to

make the scar tissue

beautiful mess

a mural of

a journey tapestry

with a tragic beginning

but those were hard lessons

all of us end up learning

along the way

they just got it faster

I guess

because life is nature

and nature is here to

grow stuff

and see what kind of

wild things survive

so we survived

with the names

we love

on our hearts.

To me you are the woman

who taught Ben that

Meet Joe Black

is the right way

to think about love.

I know that he will

watch The Mask Of Zorro

by my side

with Theo

who was a cowboy

for Halloween

and Ben was a cowboy too.

You have a picture of

Fiona wearing

a pink cowboy hat

in your bathroom

and a pegasus on the shelf in there

with so much stuff about horses

I always felt a little at home.

It's okay that I changed your feelings

about me when I

lashed out

with the fourth draft

of hate poetry

raging at your husband

because he's critical as fuck

as a pattern of behavior

and it's annoying

I've mentioned this

politely in prose

hate poetry

is the second warning

I'm just making up

arbitrary rules here

but follow them

or else you get

my creative hobby

of making my

grievences

into poetry

and you can literally

sue me

because I'll never stop

advocating

for myself

in a way

that pleases me.

But only if you ignore my direct communication.

Or try to abuse me with your mean judgements and words.

Also, I respect reasonable boundaries.

I also like to approach conflict and not avoid it.

I also give you the option of having me not come to Ben's stuff at your house. I won't take it personal and I am completely fine staying home alone. I don't need to be a reason of conflict or something that keeps the family separated.

I know what it's like. I am separated from my two of my kids for some holidays. It is what it is.

You don't have to like me. I don't have to be part of things. I just don't want Theo to miss out.