#one of my dream snakes

[sandelion]

guys... she's here!!

meet... Champagne ! '22 0.1 Hypo Paradox Albino (Pearl Paradox) Eryx colubrinus

for all of you who guessed a sand boa was coming--congrats! (i don't think anyone guessed other in the poll lol)

[lavendoodles]

a fanart i've been wanting to finish for a literal month.

she is complete. it really has been a full month. I started this on the night of November 30th and finished it like 10 minutes ago on December 30th.

(The marvelous design belongs to @bigfatbreak !!!! Thank you for dropping this masterpiece omg)

I'm not gonna lie, this is the first reason I wanted to open a blog in the first place.

(if you want to read my rambles and see a closeup of the drawing, i'll put everything under the cut!)

A few months ago, a friend introduced me to the absolute jewel that is Bigfatbreak's Miraculous Ladybug AU, and I was hooked from the very beginning. I mean, you have all the stakes, all the drama, all the edginess that the original show could only dream of having, and the art is so pretty!!! The color palettes used for each chapter are always so pleasing to the eye, and the "halos" are a beautiful addition to the characters and the visuals when important moments happen.

I knew that I would make some study doodles for myself at some point, but as soon as that chapter dropped and we got to see Marinette as the snake Miraculous holder... I dropped everything and RAN to my tablet. Her design is STUNNING and I couldn't express my admiration in any other way, I HAD to draw her.

For some reason, I wanted to go for something big with needles and a tarot card as an inspiration. So I spent maybe the next three days working on it, but uuuuh that wasn't it. I also wanted to include snakes and some tulle fabric for the background, without realising how hard these two elements were to draw, especially the fabric (it's torture. I'm very open to tips or resources if you've got something). Then I felt like I couldn't get the tarot format to work. Then the rendering sucked. And I still couldn't make the background work. I gave up for a month. <3

And I suppose that it's in those moments of creative emptiness and lack of motivation, that everything suddenly clicks as if it was obvious from the get go.

Let's just go for a simple, eye-catching background with very soft rendering and a mysterious glow emanating from twelve sewing needles turning counter-clockwise. I know this piece is still full of potential, but I wanted to finish it before 2024 and before my mind had a chance to make me give up.

I find my mind to be incredibly insulting when it happens. But uh, considering that I haven't done anything solid in a month, I still take it as a small victory. Small victory is classy snake speedrunner seamstress. You go, Marinette.

[cupcakeshakesnake]

You hid in the darkness and found comfort in the monsters there

[the-mighty-python]

She's the favourite right now but it can't be helped shes Everything 🧡

[victorian-nymph]

Terrible shirts I saw and john carpenters slut trilogy kurt russell characters

[caccry]

screw you *star warses ur metal gear*

(individuals under cut)

[bleue-flora]

It never ceases to amaze me about how many different dehumanizing labels Dream is cast in. The tyrant, the green boy, the bad guy, the wrong’un, the villain, a psycho, psychopath (which tbh are already rather kinda extreme for his supposed crimes especially at the beginning when they started). But then they go further, calling him a snake thing, pure evil, a monster [clip], a freaking ghoul [clip], even to the point of calling him Lucifer in the finale - The Biblical incarnate of evil [clip].

And what’s really interesting is the inconsistency in which Dream reacts - because on one hand he should stand up for himself, but on the other maybe he should just lean into it and maybe they’ll leave him alone. Maybe the fear and label can be his defense instead of their offense. And that gives him control over it, turns him from the victim to the victor.

In the disc confrontation, Tommy calls him pure evil and asks “how do you sleep at night”, to which he responds “just fine” [clip] {oddly, directly contradicting his comment to Techno about no sleeping btw lol…}. Later, he talks about building the prison with a “little bit of evil” but then counters Tommy’s accusation of calling him evil again with “evil is in the eye of the beholder” and “you’re evil to me” [clip].

In the finale, towards the end, Tommy talks about how he saw Dream as nothing but The villain but that isn’t true, and surprisingly Dream disagrees by saying “I am. I tortured you” [clip] {also contradicting what he says to Sam in Daedalus…}. Which is interesting. In the finale, he also makes statements like ‘we can’t because we’re soo evil’ and “we have done plenty of evil evil things” [clip] (which Punz actually counters with “not for no reason.”) But in instances when they call him a psycho and psychopath he has a different reaction saying “huh, I mean, I wouldn’t say that,” [clip] “I’m not a psycho. Everything I do is deliberate” [clip] and, in the finale, “you guys are psychos. You broke in and tried—and killed me in my own house—the prison.” [clip]

One of the keys here I think is the distinction of having reasons - he’s not evil for kicks, he has a reason and motive and logic behind it. Something, in the finale, he questions whether Tommy has, first because he broke in and killed him unfounded and then towards the end of the stream asking about why he constantly steals and griefs and stuff, “why are you trying to ruin everything all the time.” [clip] - What was your reason? Because that mattered to Dream, someone can do evil things but they have their reasons, it’s when they don’t that they are more so truly evil.

He may have done evil things, he may even be the villain, but in his mind he’s not a psycho or pure evil, or a monster because he has reasons, there is a reason he did the things he did, there is a reason he ended up here. Not that those make his deeds justified and less evil (like Sam and Quackity more so believe) but that just makes him a person, who sure does evil, but also feels, and has reasons, desires, and motivations…etc. Just like everyone else. He doesn’t even see Quackity, who confessed to being sadistic and spent months torturing him, as pure evil or even a psychopath instead saying sarcastically in Daedalus, “like Quackity ‘cause he’s full of feelings… He’s totally not a sociopath…” because that distinction between sociopath and psychopath in Dream’s mind is important. Quackity is a bad person but he isn’t the embodiment of evil, he’s just a person who did evil things.

During the first war, Wilbur calls him a little lizard snake thing, to which Dream responds “I’m powerful” [clip]. Which is strange and kinda sad to me that despite being called an actual animal(s), one more importantly often representing evil like Lucifer the snake, he doesn’t counteract it. Maybe because he’s tired of Wilbur calling him similar dehumanizing terms or tired of arguing with Wilbur in general, since everyone believes him anyways. Regardless, he instead rephrases Wilbur’s words - maybe I am a lizard or a snake but you better not step on me because I am venomous and powerful. Which aligns pretty well with his monologue [transcript] where he talks about “Do snakes just bite?” or is there a reason. Because maybe he can’t change Wilbur and Tommy’s metaphor and maybe he can’t change the label of evil despite his attempts because everyone believes them instead, but maybe he can try and use their own words to defend himself. Maybe then they’ll see him as an actual person. {or not…}

[catmeme]

i'm so fucking excited i'm picking up this handsome man next week

i've been wanting another snake for years and this one worked out so perfectly!!! he's 6-7 years old, way small for his age due to previous neglect, and apparently very sweet! his current name is Buddy but i might change it if i come up with a better one

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

Someone's rly gotta do a study on the CHOKEHOLD these 2 got on the trans bros likemeiddothisstudy

(2nd image via @laezels )

Literally have us in a death grip.

[genericpuff]

i played flute for 6 years from middle school until the end of high school

it means fuck all now because i haven't played a single tune in a decade LOL

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[vv-ispy]

on one hand I totally understand tropes are popular but on the other hand I think Amos is a lot more compelling as a middle aged woman trying to figure out her life after a loveless relationship than a mother figure ya know

[viric-dreams]

Death by Water is a recurring dream for Ockham, and dreams hit differently when you're a creature of Parabola. Nothing in the waking world feels anywhere near as real. How can it, without the myriad of subtle hues of each object brought out by the cosmogone sun? Where the wind feels visceral and crisp against bare skin, sensation no longer dulled through that filter of London haze. Dreams are bright. They are vivid.

The dream always starts the same way--with Ockham plunged into the sea, the blistering heat and deafening drone of chaos and cannon fire suddenly doused into a dark, frigid silence. The cold hits like a slap, echoing in the blackness. Every time, it plays out the same way, with Ockham willing, begging hishertheir body not to flinch from that icy shock, not to give into instinct and open hishertheir mouth in a yell and let out that precious air--that air critical to getting back to the surface, and not to let the saltwater that stings the inside of Ockham's nostrils in any deeper.

And every time, Ockham loses.

The yelp draws forth, unbidden, spilling bubbles into the phthalo-stained darkness. They're gone before Ockham's stinging eyes can even track their direction. Ockham's lungs burn. There's something bright in the darkness. Hishertheir chest spasms, trying to force a breath where there is none to be had. Something so bright, so full of life. Ockham's limbs are iron, hardly able to move against the mass of the water. The moment to strike. The desperate motion to draw anything into hishertheir lungs, even that foul, icy water, is blocked by the mass of the serpent slithering its way down Ockham's throat. With each passing second, feeling more alive, more real. Ockham's pulse pounds like war drums in hishertheir head, sparks of colour douse Ockham's vision. Hishertheir world takes on colour, life, sensation. Ockham's world becomes black. Ockham's world becomes bright.

Ockham wakes up.

[beastsovrevelation]

I had another Good Omens fanfiction dream this morning.

Basically, Crowley was due to give birth. You might ask, Pestilence, what's with you and Crowley being pregnant?.. The answer is, I don't know, and neither does my therapist.

So, Crowley's due to give birth, he's scared and in pain. Beelzebub shows up, along with a few other demons (I guess I'll look through the Key of Solomon, I remember a few have to do with healing). She told him they'll support him. I have a feeling, the dream adhered to my idea that Crowley and Beelzebub are siblings (in spite Beelzebub looking like she does in S2, so Indian).

Crowley had to change to his snake form, because while his human form was male (so he couldn't give birth without surgery, which was too dangerous), his snake form was female. The demons put him in a whelping box (genius idea). Crowley gave birth to either 4 or 6 baby snakes (apparently, they're called snakelets). It was a live birth, which, fun fact, some snakes do give (i think boa constrictors, and snake Crowley kind of looks like one, aside from the colouring). The baby snakes then morphed to human form. I don't think Crowley nearly died, but he lost a lot of blood, and got extremely exhausted. No, it probably wasn't realistic to how snakes actually give birth.

(They were far larger, though)

Oh, and at some point, Aziraphale found out, but someone (possibly Beelzebub) forbade him from coming, because an angel's presence would distress the babies, and they wouldn't take human form. They could also die.

No, I don't think Aziraphale was the "father". The babies were demons, while, according to my headcanons, when an angel procreates with a demon, the baby's an angel, as it's the original form (though, they do retain some demonic features). Maybe, Crowley mated with an actual snake, or something... It would be very Greek and Norse god of him, but what the Heaven, dude... I guess, Beelzebub could act as the litter's she-father, once the two had reconciled. Which, is a word I use for maternal figures who, traditionally, would be considered more paternal. You know, kind of emotionally detached, more provider than carer, often absent, that sort of deal.

This is incoherent, but I only remember fragments. I guess, I will put it down in my notes for the future. I already did. (I'm kind of tempted to write the birth scene, I like writing birth scenes, they're brutal).

Don't you just have a love/hate relationship with when you are already swamped with WIPs, but the Fanfiction Gods send you another vision?..

Also, don't you just hate it when you give birth to a litter of snakelets, with the help of your coworkers, and your estranged sister.

What the Hell do you even name that many damn whelps...

[princess-nico]

first official week done and i can't lie, i know it's not always gonna be easy breezy but i'm really gonna love it here. now to figure out why my title is "administrative assistant" but everyone keeps calling me the assistant manager.

[basingstokemercury]

Mum saw a black whipsnake today (first time in the wild)

She didn't get a photo unfortunately and I wasn't there but they're such beautiful animals

It was just hanging around by the highway at midday for some reason