#ok i'm caught up now

[sealrock]

02. horizon

no content warnings word count: 809 words

The picturesque Sharlayan horizon never failed to take his breath away. Against the green backdrop of the Orn Wild, the clouds of night that blanketed the sky just hours before started to break apart as the sun stretched its rays across the mountaintops, the muted multicolored sky becoming richer in color.

Hues of oranges, pinks, and reds mixed like paint on an artist's easel. The call of mourning doves announced the arrival of dawn… Not that the city of Sharlayan heeded it, seeing how the colony never sleeps. The buzz of activity could be felt even from his vantage point from the Makers' Quarter, researchers running this way and that, preoccupied with whatever kept them up for three nights straight. Hector couldn't judge too harshly, for he couldn't sleep either, the rush of excitement thrumming through his diminutive body.

Hector's father continued to lament the boy's career choice to become a gleaner. As soon as he turned sixteen, an adult in the eyes of Sharlayan law, Hector walked straight to the colony's Gleaner's Guild and signed up. While Hector could've continued his studies to work alongside his father as a scientist, he took his mother's advice and followed his heart. For most of his young life, Hector's otherwise mundane love for horticulture began with a visit to Saint Mocianne's Arboretum as a child. By the time he turned nine, he already had a miniature greenhouse from the comforts of his room, taking the time to study each individual plant and its growth patterns.

And so it was decided. Hector wanted to witness many more horizons, not from the Great Gubal Library stuffed to the brim with tomes, but from cities he only heard about in those tomes. The world is vast, filled with many perils and thrills, and gleaners were allowed to travel wherever their assignment took them. After a year of training, seventeen-year-old Hector Wormwood, son of Esta and Jolyon Wormwood, was ready to take the world by the horns.

When the bell rang out, its resonating chimes echoed across the morning air, Hector was quick to head for the Gleaner's Guild situated in the Collectors' Quarter, his dark green uniform free of wrinkles and stray lint. It was at the guild that he met his fellow inductees—most were older than him, and others came from average families. The Wormwoods were part of Sharlayan nobility, though nowhere near the irrefutable status of wealth and recognition that was the Leveilleur family. To see the family's only heir amongst the crowd of, for lack of better words, errand boys and girls raised an eyebrow or two.

Tucking his wavy ink hair behind his ear, Hector anxiously waited for his turn to receive his backpack, he practically quivered in place as the line grew shorter. Maybe he shouldn't have drank all that coffee in one sitting this morning, but he couldn't help but feel like he could bounce off the walls in pure jubilation.

"… Hector Wormw-"

"Present!"

The lady at the front desk, an older Hyuran woman, jolted upright from her slumped position in her chair, eyes wide as saucers at Hector's louder-than-normal voice. It was clear she wasn't a morning person, judging from her wrinkled frown upon spotting Hector's raised arm and beaming smile. Muffled snickering and giggles came from behind him. Hector offered a sheepish smile as an apology and shuffled forward. A few pieces of paper signed here and an oral declaration of obedience and secrecy on behalf of the Forum there, and Hector became an official gleaner.

Hecto's first assignment—acquire a species of live seedkin from the Sea of Clouds. While others may balk at the prospect of going so high up, Hector didn't think twice about it. In his training, Hector's superiors deemed him most suitable to handle the study, cultivation, and capture of flora. With the trip funded by the guild, Hector was filled with a blooming sense of wanderlust. He already said his goodbyes to his parents the night before, knowing they would be too swamped with work to give him a proper sendoff at the Cenotaph. Hector didn't mind, that was the family's routine since he was born, and his plants kept him company either way.

Hopping into the chocobo carriage with other gleaners, Hector looked over his backpack for all his essential items; the guild provided temporary packing equipment, the rest he'd have to procure on his own. The carriage jerked forward as the chocobos started their strut along the bricked path down. Instead of looking back at the colony, its massive size shrinking with each passing minute, Hector kept his eyes towards the sun, the sky brightening with a brilliant blue as the morning yawned past the mountains. Hector was off to start his journey to distant lands, and he never felt more excited in his young life until now.

[huidol]

happy valentines 👍 day

[thelilylav]

We only see each other at funerals

(On Jason, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, and their parallels/connections)

The Titan's Curse (Rick Riordan), @/anxiousmaya_, Right Now (Gracie Abrams), The Battle of the Labyrinth (Rick Riordan), Joan of Arc (Mary Gordon), The Lost Hero (Rick Riordan), Episodes Toward and Elegy for Halley's Comet (Lindsey Drager), Jason Grace (Riordan Wiki), The Gods Show Up (Michael Kinnucan), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), What the Living Do (Marie Howe), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), Planet of Love (Richard Siken), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), Tangerine (Nolune), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), I Bet On Losing Dogs (Mitski), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/abhorarchive (Twitter), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), Seventeen (MARINA), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/rollercoasterwords, The Tyrant's Tomb (Rick Riordan), @/the-overanalyst, Where Things Come Back (John Corey Whaley), Grit (Silas Denver Martin), Softcore (The Neighbourhood), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Frost (Mitski), @/moonbends, I'm Your Man (Mitski), Sun Bleached Flies (Ethel Cain), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Three (Sleeping At Last), My Art

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

We now have poster images for all the guys for the November exhibition art!

[chungmyungenthusiast]

Banter

Notes I Pure fluff maybe + chung myung content ?!?! woah.. keep in mind that this is not edited and checked :3

Chung Myung will never let you live this down. No way. Especially when he, quite literally, had you pinned down. "Give up yet?" He asks, his tone teasing as he looks down at you with that shit-eating grin he knows you have a hate-love relationship with. God, you want to wipe that grin off his face so bad. "Love," You start, your tone seemingly pleading as you look up at him. The one and only Mount Hua's Divine Dragon, Chung Myung, swore he could explode at any given moment. And while that normally is a threat to the other disciples, it means something else now. Slowly but surely, you lean closer to him. You then pout, "Please.." A kiss, then you turn the tables on him. For a split second, he was caught off-guard with that kiss; you didn't waste any time switching your positions. How cute he looks when he's under you. "I'll kiss you, okay? So please, keep your voice down."

Notes II Chung Myung deserves all of the kisses and hugs in the world.

[tblsomedoodles]

Donnie doesn't quite get the concept of Cool yet, but he will get there. : )

The boys are competing in an archeological did. Mikey found a rock while Leo has found a bat. ( i hear leos get to find bats lol). (AM Papa Raph is too busy trying to get his Leon's bat to realize MIF Leo has one too.)

anyways! @tmntseparatedaucompetition polls have begun! you can vote on Mikey's Imaginary Friends poll HERE!!

[drbtinglecannon]

Why haven't I seen anyone talk about Izutsumi being added to the opening and ending credits??

[ratcandy]

NET-CASTING SPIDER CAUGHT TODAY ‼💥

[pochapal]

1 million years academia torture dimension

[kashilascorner]

Oh ok. I get now why a lot of people didn't vibe with the ending.

All and all: excellent manga, overall very good final act, too rushed final 2-3 chapters but weak and honestly mediocre epilogue, which makes the high of the ending kind of leave a bitter taste. I think Noda had a good steed and suddenly he had to finish and had to rush all. So the ending in the sense of the final arc was good but the ending proper (final couple chapters) + epilogue......... Not so much

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

i'm kind of amazed how most of the stardew marriage candidates just want you to be their manic pixie dream whatever by agreeing with everything they like and plying them with compliments or praise or whatever (which is fine but a bit. Much) but for shane his romance is just you being there for him while he figures his own shit out... dunno why i never wanted to romance him before he's so good

[desperatepleasures]

who wants to gimme some manga recs 👀

[cake-chad]

Best bastard in all of avantris?

Oh my god, this is such a tough question!!

Since I've essentially barely touched (or not at all yet) the other campaigns, I'm basing this entirely off of Once Upon A Witchlight. I like all of the characters for many different reasons, but one thing I love about all of them, is how quick witted they are. Like more than 5 minutes without someone at the table laughing? Unheard of. These people know how to make each other laugh and I love them for that, and in turn it makes for such enjoyable characters, like I can't think of any one thing about any of these characters that I actively dislike at the moment.

That said, I'm pretty torn between my favourite being Gideon or Torbek 😅 Gideon because the hijinks he winds up in (often to only partial fault of his own), plus I'm a sucker for big bearded characters with a sick ass fighting style, and of course Mace's charm that shows through Gideon (that LAUGH). Also those chains??? Honestly didn't even know about them for a few episodes, cause they weren't really referenced until his performance at the big top and I hadn't really thought about them when I saw the official character art, but I'm absolutely OBSESSED with his backstory and how he uses them to fight now.

and then Torbek cause he's such a sad, traumatized little guy that I want to wrap in a blanket, every time they start to talk about what he went through and he just wants to shut down and not think about it? Protect this guy at all costs. Plus Andy is a smart guy playing a dumb character and it makes for some absolutely hilarious instances, and I absolutely adore his character voice, his manner of speaking and inflection is so great.

[oakfern]

why does consuming content destroy me. i am so bad at this. why can't i just read books and play video games like a normal person

[moonlit-orchid]

When your friend needs you to be there to comfort them, but you have no energy for serious conversations and so you're stuck wondering if youre being a selfish asshole or if youre justified in not wanting to be the one to sort their problems out

[jugheqd]

i've been too hot to handle mobile gaming again (sorry) and i just got so mad i rage quit