#one thousand gifts

[evenaturtleduck]

“I know there is poor and hideous suffering, and I’ve seen the hungry and the guns that go war. I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for early light dappled through leaves and the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives. Why would the world need more anger, more outrage? How does it save the world to reject unabashed joy when it is joy that saves us? Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn’t rescue the suffering. The converse does. The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world. When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows. How can this not be the best thing for the world? For us? The clouds open when we mouth thanks.”

one thousand gifts by Ann Voskamp

[drac0line1nn1t]

Part 1 | Part 2

[inkskinned]

it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.

yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.

it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.

how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.

chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?

how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.

"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.

i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

Everyone pray I've just asked my mom to let me captain Thanksgiving cooking so she doesn't have to do anything

[dearmyloveleys]

love and hatred each fill half the heart.

大梦归离 (Fangs of Fortune) 2024

(3/?)

[hrokkall]

How fancy! I'm sure this is someone's beloved purposed organism.

Thank you to those responsible.

[starflungwaddledee]

*caassssuuuaallly slides into your inbox* hey. hi hello 😎

im here for those sweet ol song asks, wanna share any you have for Starstruck and J??

do i have any, well i-- *drops a half dozen mean girlboss tracks all over the place* oh uhhh--

something in the way you're looking through my eyes don't know if i'm gonna make it out alive teeth - five seconds of summer

[infamous-if]

I figured out what I wanted to do as a thanks for 1k followers!

As you guys know, there is a variety of bands that make an appearance in the game. Many, actually, which means there are many band members competing in BOTB. As a thank you for the support (very overwhelming, did not expect this) I will be choosing three people to make an NPC of a band member in one of the bands: The Painkillers.

If you are picked:

You will create a member from scratch. Name, appearance, gender identity, pronouns, clothes they wear, and their personality (with some restrictions for story purposes.)

They will be featured in the game and interact with MC (and the ROs) and be a recurring band.

Just remember: Once you give me this character, I can do what I want with them. They are no longer yours, they're ours. If they become a villain or a terrible person or if your MC ends up hating them, do not kill me! I have author privilege aha. With that said, I won't promise any certain amount of on-page screen time. They will definitely be featured (of course) but do not kill me again x2 if they're not in it as much as you like. This is just for fun, yk!

All you have to do is reblog/like this and you'll be entered and I will put it in a system and choose the three that comes up. That's all. I hope you guys feel this is a worthy gift <3

THIS CLOSES: MONDAY THE 13TH

[kirkwallsquad]

top five varric insanity moments go

holy shit where to even begin

#5

pretending that his crossbow has a deep dramatic dark backstory when it‘s literally just. his ex made it and it‘s named after her and criminals want her to make more like it and also he’s legally not allowed to see her

#4

saying This to sebastian (this might be the Most Insane but i couldn‘t rank it higher bcs i refuse to applaud varric‘s homophobia/transphobia moment for even a second)

#3

comparing blackwall to sebastian and treating him similarly to how he he does sebastian - he does this multiple times, but i specifically want to point out this comment he makes:

which specifically references THIS INSANE CONVERSATION

IT‘S BEEN LIKE HALF A DECADE VARRIC HOW ARE YOU STILL THINKING ABT THIS REGULARLY

#2

saying This about solas

VARRIC???!??!!!!???

#1

everything abt his relationship with sebastian, from sebastian being 100% dtf and varric hating him for it to all the antagonism. but number one HAS to be when varric says THIS to sebastian COMPLETELY FUCKING UNPROMPTED

VARRIC BE NORMAL ABOUT SEBASTIAN CHALLENGE

[owlf45]

tagged by @pocketramblr

OH I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE

@rose-blooms-red @figurativepieceoftrash @achairwithapandaonit @queenangst and uhm uhm anyone else who wants to be @ ed bc im not sure who in our circle has already been tagged

[krokaxe]

Combing around the archives and I found this Fallout throwback from 2022.

I've put her intro under the cut for anybody who'd like a little read on Gillespie's vibes. The fic has since been deleted from Ao3 but archives really are a wonder.

A creature waits at the base of the memorial.  From a distance Lars had assumed it to be a horse, equine at any rate, but the place its soft nose should be is hard and set. Its reptilian nostrils italic slits above a set of long, scissor sharp jaws. Its dark, scaly hide would be better described as mottled, but it is as alive and real as Gus. It stares at Lars in near perfect stillness as he slides out of the saddle. Hairless, all ridged scales and crested feathers, it's a colour closer to an inkblot than anything else he could compare it to. There is an elongated, cadaverous quality to the beast that has it look voracious even at rest— its three-toed, draconic feet has Lars linger for a beat too long. It might be horse-like in proportion, but his comparisons fall short when he spots its reptilian tail.

It hisses, dropping its lower jaw as much as it can against the secondary strap keeping its mouth shut. Lars catches sight of a dark tongue and row upon row of needle thin teeth, thus a hefty step away from what looks like a demon attempting to poorly impersonate a horse. It has only indents instead of ears and a feathered, spined crest where a mane ought to be— the feathers on its head and puff in warning as it jerks against its tethering rope. All that black leather does nothing to have Lars believe it's truly domesticated but, edging forwards, he gingerly offers his knuckles in an attempt to settle its nerves. Gus wickers as he sets his ears back against his head. Lars mutters in reply, “I know.” The beast snaps its teeth at his hand until he opts to tentatively offer out a piece of jerky from Gus’ saddle pack. It cranes its neck forward to sniff, nostrils flaring, then peels back its mouth to gingerly snap it away with its teeth. That does the trick. Whipping its head back to open its cavernous mouth, it devours the jerky without any real need to chew, then looks at Lars expectantly. Turning its head to stare at him with one of its high cut, yellow eyes, it cocks its jaw and clacks its teeth impatiently. Lars feeds it the rest of his travel portion. Some habits die hard. Getting close enough to run his hand over the arch of its neck, Lars squints at the silver plate on the animal’s bridle strap. “Gillespie,” he murmurs out loud. The creature lacks any visible ear flaps, but he figures they would perk them up at the sound of its name. It might be an abhorrent thing, perhaps the same creed as Deathclaws or Nightstalkers in terms of spliced horror, but it is loved regardless. It chitters a soft ticking breath through its teeth, feathered neck shuddering as Lars runs his hand over its scales. “Somebody loves you,” he murmurs. Gillespie inhales the smell of jerky from his fingers, then tries to bite at his flannel sleeve in a greedy request for more. Gus snorts, jealous. “Be mindful of her tongue.” The voice has Lars freeze. It's measured, calculated, maybe even cold. “She may take fancy with your fingers."

[emthimofnight]

*Bonk*

OMG?????? THANK YOU SO MUCH WHAT 😭💞💞💞💞💞 I LOVE these stupid rainbow checkmarks, but I could never bring myself to buy any, I had no idea you could gift them to others!! You honor me, I will wear them on my name always 🥰

[northwest-by-a-train]

When Russia went to war with Ukraine, there were dozens of takes on here about how Europe & America had "snubbed" Russia. Despite Germany shooting themselves in the foot by hooking their economy to Russian oil & gas, despite the high prestige Russian culture still enjoys among the western bourgeoisie, despite the "appease & profit" attitudes of European political, business & education leaders. Despite all that and more, you could find people saying Russia was constantly mistreated, humiliated and belittled by the western world, and was left with nothing but bad choices. I saw people on here argue that the EU should've made Russia a member in the 90s, that western powers should've done everything to preserve its social safety net, and encouraged friendship initiatives with its neighbors. The war in Ukraine was regrettable, yes, and many were against it. But ultimately, the onus of it fell on foreign powers essentially being filthy russophobes.

Now, American libs use the same logic to promote Kamala Harris. "You have to vote for us, or we'll genocide Palestine even harder. We don't want the guy who will genocide harder than this one to be in power. We want to have the one that keeps genocide at around the same level, and who could maybe be amenable to lower that level." And if you say that's irrational or disgusting or predatory blackmail, they turn around and say "Well, if you don't appease our empire, and you don't give us the appropriate level of respect and approval, and treat us as a reliable and trustworthy partner, of course this country will turn around and char the earth. Of course we will commit genocide, and ethnic cleansing, and bomb civilian buildings 24/7. Of course if we don't win on every trade deal and don't get to live better lives than the rest of the world and we don't get to racially segregate our country and export that segregation, we will cause a series of mounting international crises drawing us ever closer to nuclear war. Of course. That's obvious. Everyone is supposed to know that. Now get to appeasing us, and making us comfortable, and making us loved and beautiful. Or else you leave us with no choice."

And now the onus of this genocide is on Palestinians not being nice enough and Lebanon and Yemen not being nice enough and on the third world not being nice enough and college kids not being nice enough and on the international community not being nice enough and on Israel not being respectful enough of its western protectors and people on here will yell at you that you're not being nice enough to Kamala and that it's making things worse for everyone everywhere on earth and that the correct way for this crisis to be solved is people being nice to Kamala, which in turn will make Israel nicer and more respectful towards Kamala, which in turn will make the middle East nicer and more respectful towards Kamala, which in turn will make us all nicer and more respectful towards Kamala and solve all problems for all time.

So the only way out of this is to play nice 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 and nothing bad will ever happen again 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 and if everyone plays nice you'll eventually stop seeing the mangled corpses of children 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

[grimark]

thinking about whale falls again. nothing in particular i just wish i could be there.

[dirtysenner]

Here’s a hot take: Wings of Fire Flames of Hope was dogshit.

@annabannnananana back me up on this

[birgittesilverbae]

Team Ava Already Came Back Wrong