#part 11 of 16

[andnowanowl]

Since "Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation" is suspiciously not available in the US in the form of an e-book, I purchased a physical copy and wanted to share it here for anyone else also unable to get access.

WAFA AL-UDAINI

NGO worker, 26

Born in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza

Interviewed in Gaza City, Gaza

When we first meet, Wafa tells us that her goal is to correct the stereotypical images permeating western media about Palestinian people. Standing in her small office in a dingy building in the middle of Gaza City, this seems like a daunting task, but it's one she is clearly passionate about. She is a small, poised woman with boundless energy wearing a white niqab that covers her head and face. Working with a group of other young men and women, she puts together videos to send to universities around the world featuring ordinary Gazans explaining their hopes and dreams.

She also runs a Facebook page, does regular interviews with the media, and has a wide network of friends around the world. She speaks simply but powerfully in English. When asked about the water quality, she bursts into laughter and asks if we've tried to wash our hair with it yet. Wafa manages to retain her sense of humor, despite Gaza's many deprivations.

Movement of people and goods between Israel and Gaza has been restricted since at least the First Intifada. However, Gaza in the 1990s maintained strong economic and administrative ties to both Israel and the West Bank. Thousands of workers passed through the Erez border crossing from northern Gaza into Israel every day. Travel between Gaza and the West Bank was possible for many Palestinians, even if a bit of a bureaucratic hassle. All of that changed in 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada. Israel began closing the borders to Gaza in what it claims was a response to rocket attacks and suicide bombings. It also destroyed Gaza's only airport. In 2001, Israel began the construction of a massive barrier wall around the entire Gaza Strip and set up a military buffer zone around the perimeter of Gaza, which now takes up 14 percent of Gaza's land area (and which expanded to roughly 44 percent of Gaza's land area during Israel's July 2014 invasion). Israel also significantly restricted movement between the strip and the West Bank for most Palestinians. The border closures devastated the Gazan economy.

In 2005, toward the end of the Second Intifada, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military from Gaza and evacuated all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, effectively handing administrative and security control to the Palestinian Authority while opening up some of the closed border crossings to Gaza. However, after the political party Hamas won full control of Gaza in 2007, Israel again closed the borders and imposed a blockade of goods into Gaza by land, air, and sea.

For Gazans such as Wafa Al-Udaini, the border closings would have made life nearly impossible if not for smuggler's tunnels that allowed goods to pass from Egypt into Gaza. Though seen as a military threat by Israel (a means of weapons smuggling to Hamas), the network of over 1,200 tunnels also provided Gazans with food, construction material, medicine, and occasional luxury goods that wouldn't otherwise be available to them.

A LOT OF KIDS SKIPPED SCHOOL TO DEMONSTRATE OR THROW ROCKS

I was born in a hospital in Gaza City in 1988. I'm from a big family - I have five brothers and six sisters. I'm the youngest. The town I grew up in is called Deir Al-Balah. It's right in the middle of the Gaza Strip, about a half-hour drive south of Gaza City.¹

I grew up used to seeing soldiers in the streets while I played. They'd always be chasing someone who'd thrown stones. Especially by the start of the Second Intifada around 2000, there were so many soldiers around all the time.² I remember Israeli soldiers came into our home once to arrest two of my brothers. One brother was seventeen at the time, and the other was just thirteen. They banged on the door until my mother opened it, and then the soldiers hit her on their way in to get my brothers. I was so scared. The soldiers claimed my brothers were throwing stones, but really they might have arrested my brothers just for looking at them funny. That happened a lot. I cried and cried after they left, it was so frightening.

My seventeen-year-old brother was studying for his tawjihi exams at the time, and after he was sent home after being detained for a couple of months, he was too frustrated to continue studying.³ My younger brother was released right away, but he stopped going to school. During the Second Intifada, a lot of kids skipped school to demonstrate in the streets or throw rocks. But I stayed in school and continued to high school during the Second Intifada. Then suddenly, in 2005, Israeli soldiers left Gaza.⁴ For the first time we didn't see the soldiers in the streets, only Gazans. But at the same time, Israel was sealing the borders, so it was hard for people to go to work. Then Hamas got elected, and a lot of aid into Gaza was cut off.⁵

Not long after that, I passed my tawjihi exams and got accepted into Al-Aqsa University in Gaza City. I began studying education at Al-Aqsa around 2006, and then after my first year of school, the blockade started. The first thing I remember was the blackouts. Suddenly, we only had power a few hours a day at most. And there was no propane gas to cook with anymore, so we had to hoard it. Really basic things-formula and diapers, for instance-weren't available, at least at first. But then so much of what we needed started coming through the tunnels. Before long you could get just about anything you wanted-European chocolate, designer clothes, anything.

EVERYWHERE I LOOKED I SAW SMOKE

I was nineteen and still a student during the air strikes in 2008 and 2009. The first day of the strikes, December 27, 2008, was quite memorable. I left the university early because I only had one lecture that day. Just before I reached my house, I heard many explosions. I said to myself, Oh my God, what's happening? There's so much smoke, and I can't see. I ran home and went upstairs to see what was going on from our roof, and everywhere I looked I saw smoke, but I didn't know exactly what was happening-there was no electricity so I couldn't find out what was going on from the TV. I tried to call out to my brothers and my sisters, but they were out of the house and nobody replied.

I was so worried. My neighbors said that Israeli fighter jets had targeted a place in Khan Younis, but some other neighbors said that they targeted a place in Gaza City, and then some others said, no, it was in the south.⁶ Everyone had a different idea about what was going on. I thought, Oh my God, who should I believe? When I looked up, the sky was full of airplanes and helicopters. The first day, the fighter jets bombed hundreds of places, including mosques. They must have targeted every mosque in the Gaza Strip. Our house is close to a mosque, and some of our neighbors were so afraid, because the Israelis could have attacked the mosque at any time and destroyed our building in the process. So our neighbors wanted to go to another, safer place. But we told them there was no safe place in the Gaza Strip. Wherever you went, you would find danger there. The jets ended up bombing the mosque and our house shook violently during the explosion, but nobody was hurt. Only the windows of our building were damaged.

It's a funny story, actually. Okay, it's not funny, but our relatives lived near the border with Israel, and they came to live with us near the coast where it was a little safer. But unfortunately, the night they came to our house, the Israelis targeted the mosque. They were so scared! Our relatives left our house saying, "Oh my God! No place is safe to live! We'd rather die in our own house than die in yours!"

I remember the drones showing up. They buzzed through the skies, and the sound they made was like they were whispering, "I'm going to attack you, I'm going to target your house, your family, your friends." But now we're used to the sound of drones. The last war, in 2012 was more difficult, actually, because in 2008, to some extent, the Israeli army was coming into Gaza. But in 2012, it was just planes. They hit many places, not just police stations and mosques, but houses—really everything in the Gaza Strip.

By 2012, I had graduated and become a teacher. I was a substitute, and would fill in where I was needed. When I was a teacher, I had a very smart student, and I loved her so much. She was an excellent student. She was in the first grade when I taught her. But just about five months after the air strikes in 2012, I met her again, and I was shocked when I saw her. She had lost her mind, and she was walking down the street as if she didn't know anybody. I went to her and asked, "Do you remember me? I was at your school. Do you remember?" The girl looked at me and laughed. She didn't remember anything. I spoke with her mom and she told me the girl's uncle was killed in front of her eyes. The Israelis bombed the place where he was sitting. He was a civilian, not involved in the resistance at all. He was just sitting in front of his house. And, unfortunately, they also traumatized this girl. And really, I was so shocked and so sad when I saw her.

WHEN THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY, MY MIND WOULD FEEL SO SLEEPY

Since 2007, we've suffered a lot from power cuts. We might get six or eight hours a day on good days. And power might be on in the morning or at night. Every week we get a new schedule, published in the papers and announced on TV or radio. Everything is affected by the power cuts. So it's hard to establish a daily routine.

We never had a generator at my family's house, because I have a lot of nieces and a lot of nephews, and we were so afraid that one of them would touch it and get burned. You know, you hear many stories of generators blowing up and whole families dying. So we preferred to live without electricity than to see our families injured. We wouldn't use candles either because they're dangerous. Instead, we had battery-operated lights that can be charged during the limited time that power is on. They're safer.

I lived in my parents' household until this past year. There were about twenty-five, twenty-six people in our household-mostly my brothers' families. All my sisters had married and moved out. During that time, when the power went out, we'd go to the upstairs of the house. I'd sit with my extended family, chatting and having fun. Sometimes if most of the family was out, I'd read books or write.

But when there was no electricity, my mind would feel so sleepy! This was always a major problem for me. I'd lose concentration for reading or studying for my exams, for example. When I was still a student, I'd have to prepare an assignment for our professor at the university, but I couldn't rely on an internet connection because power would go in and out, so maybe I wouldn't finish in time. Plus, many times the lights wouldn't last for more than two hours, so I had this tiny window to do all my studying. It was a lot of pressure.

As for housework, I couldn't use the washing machine much of the time. I couldn't even make tea with the electric kettle. And I really suffered from not being able to iron my clothes. After I graduated and started teaching, I'd be late to work many times because I was waiting for the electricity to come on to iron. Sometimes I'd go to my friend's house in another city where they had power that day, just to do some ironing.⁹ Since the blockade began, we've had a shortage of cooking gas too. Icannot make sweets or bake a cake. Every time I want to make one, I can't because I don't have any propane gas.

Then there are the water problems. The water is affected by the electricity. There is a water pump in town, so when there is no power, for sure there will be no water. Then the water is polluted. It's saltwater, not for human use.¹⁰ We buy water for drinking and cooking. The other water cannot be used for even animals. We only use it to wash our dishes, clean the house, and wash clothes. Even in the shower, the water ruins our hair. We wash our hair with the sweet water, but not all the time. We can't manage to have a shower with only sweet water. It's not free. So maybe for a wedding, we'll wash our hair well. We have to pay for everything, and a lot of people here in Gaza are unemployed. So they can't pay for the electricity, they can't pay for the gas or the water.

We depended on the tunnels to bring us our basic needs-our food, our clothes, our medicine, everything. When the tunnels were open, we'd go to the store and find all sorts of things. But Egypt and Israel have destroyed the tunnels now, so there's hardly anything in the stores.

MY WEDDING DRESS MIGHT HAVE BEEN BROUGHT THROUGH THE TUNNELS

This year, I got married. Planning for the wedding was a bit of a challenge! One thing I remember was visiting the market to buy my wedding dress. I asked the merchant if all the dresses had been made in Gaza, and he said that many had been sewn in Turkey or Egypt and brought through the tunnels. It's amazing to think of these beautiful dresses being carried fifty feet under the ground through dark, muddy tunnels.

My husband and I were married on March 24, 2014. The day of the wedding, we had to improvise a little. Normally families would prepare food themselves for a wedding in Gaza, but cooking gas was too hard to find. We had to hire a restaurant to cater the wedding for us, since restaurants had an easier time finding cooking fuel. Of course it was all very expensive. We rented a wedding hall, but nobody could afford to take a taxi to the wedding hall because gasoline is expensive, and cabs are nearly unaffordable. We had everyone coming from the neighborhood meet at the bus stop, and we all went to the wedding hall from there. Still, it was a beautiful wedding, and I was happy even in my wedding dress that might have been brought through the tunnels.

Now that the tunnels are closed and nothing can get through Egypt, things are getting harder. Nobody has any money, and basic necessities like food are more expensive than ever. There is so much that needs to change in Gaza, but if I could change just one thing, I'd fix the poverty that's making life so difficult for so many Gazans.

Wafa and her family were especially hard hit by the bombing assault on Gaza that began July 8. They had no water for days at a time, and their access to electricity dwindled. Wafa was unable to use internet or even charge her cell phone, making it impossible to talk with her to get a full update. When she had electricity, she posted brief messages on Facebook and Twitter assuring her followers she was still alive. On July 8, she posted that the Israeli air force sent a warning to the twenty-five family members living in her father-in-law's house (seventeen of whom were children), telling them to leave their home. The family was able to leave before the house was destroyed. On July 25, Wafa wrote, "(Two weeks ago) they bombed my father in law's house, and today Israeli planes bombed my house, our only shelter, for no reason, and no evidence, just to (make) us kneel, but we'll never ever leave our country for them. Pray for us."

---

Footnotes

¹ Deir Al-Balah is a city of about 55,000 people located nine miles south of Gaza City. The vast majority of residents in Deir Al-Balah are refugees who settled in the city after the war in 1948. The city is known for its date palms, and it has a history that stretches back to fortifications used by pharaohs in the fourteenth century BCE.

² The Second Intifada was also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. It was the first major conflict between Israel and Palestine following the Oslo accords, and it lasted from 2000 to 2005.

³ An exit exam for high school.

⁴ Israel unilaterally decided to disengage from Gaza in 2004, and the plan went into effect in the late summer of 2005. Under Israel's plan, twenty-one settlements in the Gaza Strip would be evacuated, and the settlers compensated. The Israeli military would leave Gaza completely and leave the entire strip to the administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority.

⁵ After Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, parliamentary elections were held in 2006, and Hamas won the majority of the seats.

⁶ Al-Aqsa University is one of a half dozen or so colleges and universities in Gaza. It serves around 6,000 graduates.

⁷ Economic sanctions began in 2006 after the election of Hamas, but the full blockade wasn't imposed until a year later, after bloody fighting between Hamas and Fatah in June 2007 drove Fatah out of Gaza.

�� Khan Younis is a major city in Gaza located about twenty miles south of Gaza City. It has a population of around 250,000.

⁹ The electricity outages rotate throughout the Gaza Strip, so different cities lose power at different times of the day.

¹⁰ Up to 95 percent of Gaza's water is not fresh. Aside from salt, most of Gaza's water also contains organic and inorganic toxins. Most drinking water is purchased in tanks in Gaza's markets. Salt water is frequently used for showering and cleaning.

[averageclawcodeenjoyer]

Thinking thoughts again guys.

Thinking about Ganke (42)

More SPECIFICALLY thinking about Ganke as Doc Oct. Or at least, a variant.

I MEAN COME ON!!! TRYING TO GET ACROSS DIMENSIONS?? STUDYING THAT SHIT? That may be more of a 1610 Miles thing but I like to think that both Ganke"s are REALLY interested in it too. Or at least 42 is.

I feel like with the way their world is too, 42 Ganke is more likely to get a position at Alchemax. At the very LEAST for their science and tech and ease of access to stuff for his own projects.

But like. Come on. Look at him.

I just wanted to show that picture...

Assuming we know nothing(or little) about this Ganke's parents, is it too daring to think that, perhamps, his mother is Doc Oct? Or father, if we're being different. Just A PARENT in general?

And maybe I just like projecting onto them, but also maybe like... do you see what I'm getting at. Her ass probably hates kids. And isn't easily impressed. So imagine having a kid you probably don't even want (for science? Maybe.... more angst potential..) and he grows up absolutely DESPERATE to please you and get told that you're proud of him and that he's enough. And then he gets to an age where he no longer has to rely on you (or other people, her ass did nothing to raise him), and he starts thinking for himself, and since you're all bad and evil and stuff you realize something.

This whole entire time, the past thirteen long, dreadful years of your life, you haven't been using your full potential.

You have a pawn right at your fingertips.

A young mind full of turmoil and the overwhelming need to please you.

Someone who can be easily molded.

Manipulated.

Shaped.

Formed.

You have a tool.

Just sitting on the couch right in front of you. An entire person of just wasted potential. One who was sat on his ass for his entire life and done nothing (in her opinion)

And if you're all evil and bad, what are you gonna do with that information?

You're going to use it.

"Hey son I know I haven't really talked to you since your birthday three years ago but how would you like an opportunity to get close to the very grand and very loving mother that I suddenly am?"

He's going to say yes. That's like giving a mouse a cookie.

The chance to be with his mom some more? To finally get the chance to prove to her that he is worth loving? The answer might as well be a flashing neon green sign. Capital letters. Y-E-S. Because why wouldn't he

So she starts training him, in small ways at first, going easy on him since he's still just a boy, really, but gradually working him up with harder and harder tasks and missions until he's finally earned himself a pair of his own robotic octopus arms (that he had to engineer and build himself)

And FINALLY for ONCE in his fucking LIFE he is making his mom PROUD OF HIM. He finally gets the love, the praise, the appreciation he's craved ever since he was a toddler.

Ooh, and he's doing such a good job hacking into top secret shit and files and such a good job stealing and doing his mother's dirty work and-- what's this?

There's this new kid on the block.

Apparently, the old Prowler's retired. His alliance fell through. And the new Prowler? His loyalty has completely flipped. Motives, too.

Instead of aiding them in raids and taking out enemies, he's now actively ATTACKING them and foiling their missions.

Instead of being a villain like the rest of them, he's suddenly trying to get RID of the villains?

The fuck is this guy's problem.

Who does he think he IS suddenly poking his nose into shit he DOESNT belong in?? SCREWING UP GANKE'S CHANCE WITH HIS MOM!!! The chance he's been waiting SIXTEEN YEARS FOR! Oh, he's pissed.

He overhears hears his mom talking at a meeting about a plan to try and lure and trap this kid to get him off their asses (he's a master at sneaking and eavesdropping at this point.. even just to hear his mother's voice and think up ways he can make her like him) and he decided that this is his moment. His calling. His purpose.

That very night, he decides to make the Prowler (junior, as they're calling him) his very own personal mortal enemy.

But little does he know

The guy he's constantly trying to kill every night?

His roommate.

Yeah, The Prowler Junior(™️) is his high school roommate and (soon to be) certified best friend.

Blah blah blah they fight all the time oh but now they're chill and- I just blinked why are you guys kissing and holy hell your mother found out and tells you that you don't deserve your last name and will never live up to your potential (which, she claims she knew this, which is why she gave him his father's last name and not her own. Lee.) and you're fighting with Miles again and yet oh God now you've been disowned and have to go to him for help Oh No That's Bad What.

:3

Do you see the appeal. I need to draw him. And make more of this AU. What should I call it? I'll be thinking.. also open to suggestions I'm Bad at naming stuff......

OKAY BYE

[omenestnomen]

Zendaya at the Challengers / Dune Part Two double feature for SAG in LA on 2024/11/16.

[jakeperalta]

oh my god liam payne died?????

[bugmistake]

sometimes its so crazy to realize that there's actually a lot of things i like. that i thought i didn't like because i was a depressed teenager. i love being outside! i love swimming! i love talking to people! even strangers sometimes! i love getting dressed in fun outfits and doing makeup! i love reading and going to art museums! i just thought i was doomed forever to a life of complete and total apathy and void! and now look at me! still a little shaky but i'm doing it!!!!!

[poorlydrawingjojos]

day 7

woe. iggy drawn from memory be upon ye. also woah. its been a week.

[xxxemilyg1996]

Happy dead dad day!

[kiwibirdlafayette]

wherever I go, there you are.

a little syndisparklez freewrite oneshot, takes place in the earlier half of Isles/where I've watched up to and a follows this drawing

enjoy :] Havent written fic in a while, but i needed a change of pace from arting for a little

(edited 11/17/24 for fun)

“I just want you to be happy.”

The waves lapped up against the shore of the lighthouse atop Tom’s island, a soft and steady rhythm alike to the delicate tap of drumsticks against cymbals. Contrary to what they had thought would happen, the god’s arrivals had brought with them an almost uncharacteristic silence about the land- the kind of one that might force people to face truths and emotions that had long been left unaddressed since they had arrived on the island.

Tom looked up to the soft oranges, pinks and blues of the setting sun, running his hand through his dark amber blonde hair. He had burnt it to that color from its typical blue before coming into the past- a practice reminiscent of the way it had been when Dianite was around and would use it as a cruel indication of the power he held over him, or perhaps a punishment meant to remind him of a state which he had not been in since he was human.

A state where, according to all he had known until recently, he had not been anyone.

Tom bit his lip. “What do you mean by that?"

Tom turned to the man sitting up on the rock beside the staircase he sat on. He stared out to sea with tired and worn dull purple eyes he had gotten lost in more times than he could count, running a hand through scraggly black hair that always felt soft between his fingertips, wearing a velvet red coat no longer imbued with its blood magic sigils that he loved to run his hands across to feel its power, to pull off and-

Tom stopped himself. It was all too easy sometimes.

Jordan sighed, turning his gaze down to the weathered stone. “I want you to be happy with where you are I mean, its pretty simple. There’s not much else to it."

Happiness.

The last day they spoke before Tom had left back to Astrakheins, for them to take a break from each other, Tom had said he wasn’t happy where he was. And Jordan had agreed.

And so he was certain they left all they had behind.

After falling through the void, they had, to Tom’s initial surmise, landed back in their first realm. A familiar place, carrying a nostalgia that both welcomed you with open arms, but exposed scars of battles fought long ago.

Back to the first place he had called home post-revival, back to the land of finding his friendships, back to the world where had left behind the corpse of the god that had saved him in the first place.

To Jordan it was home, but to Tom it was just a cruel reminder of what had been. His heart was his home, he carried that with him. He had tried so long to be the Dianite the realm needed him to be. But he knew it wasn’t where he belonged. It wasn't a place he could settle down for good

And maybe it just wasn’t the right time.

Tom fiddled with the epaulets on his shoulders. “But I am.. Now! Like, I get to hang with you and Kyle, and sure the Dianite here’s not perfect, but-”

Jordan scoffed watching Tom count off things on his fingers. "C’mon man, you and I both know that's not what I’m talking about.”

“It’s not?”

For the first time in this particular conversation, Jordan looked up and stared Tom down dead in the eyes. While the outward expression spoke of an irritation over him not getting what he was trying to imply, there was a violent yearning behind it, something so familiar of what Jordan had always been like towards him. Possessing a kind of reaching, grasping for any semblance of the connection he was seeking ever since he had come to the island. Yet at the same time, still avoiding closeness the best he could, hiding his truest desire behind a state of pretending to be absolutely annoyed and perturbed by the zombie’s presence.

And Tom used to have believed that they through for good until he had come to recognize that, even way before Jordan had come over to his house in the dead of night to confess in a sleep deprived stupor that he had missing Tom all this time. That he was tired of dancing around what had been, and what he so desperately wants back, but feels like can’t because it isn’t what Tom wants.

Selfish, was the word he had used. Him wanting to be with, to have Tom, was selfish of him.

Unfortunately, Tom hadn’t gotten a chance to clarify himself. Maybe now was meant to be his chance.

He watched Jordan continue to fidget with the collar of his shirt, and run his hand around his neck, just like he had the first time Capsize had suggested they had a thing for each other. Nothing like a habit you can’t quit, clearly.

Jordan’s nervousness came through in the strained tone of his voice as he spoke undeniably what it was he was again dancing around this whole time. “I want you to be happy.. with me, ok? It’s like I've said before, it’s selfish because I don’t know if you can be.”

“Jordan-” Tom stood, climbing up the side of the rock to put himself right next to Jordan, who swung his legs around as if he was ready to jump off the weathered stones that made up the base of the lighthouse, and run away from an answer he might not like.

Tom wouldn’t let him. He reached out to grab the captain’s hand, who swatted it away.

“You deserve someone who can make you feel unconditionally loved, Tom.” He curled his hand into a loose fist. “Especially after all you’ve.. maybe we've been through and.. I don’t know if I can be that for you anymore."

If Tom hadn’t known any better he’d think Jordan had found someone else and this was his last attempt at making their temporary separation a permanent one. But the desperation in his voice was so strong to Tom it was almost like he was waiting for him to just kiss him again right then and there.

Jordan paused to look at Tom before turning his back to him. “I know there’s so much more out there for you, but I don’t want to accept it, or heck, even think about it.” His voice becomes more strained as he looks back over his shoulder. “I want to keep fighting for you, to be the light that brings you to a place that makes you, safe, and feel like you’re home.”

Tom watched as Jordan’s gaze rose past him to take in the sight of the completed lighthouse to the light at the precipice, the part he had owned after Tom had begged him to build it for him.

He had the light, Tom had the house.

Much to Tom’s surprise, when he tried to reach for Jordan, this time he didn’t lean away. He let the zombie rest his hand softly on his shoulder, almost leaning into the touch.

Jordan shifted himself back around to face Tom more, and spoke under his breath as if he was scared of what he had wanted to admit. “Thing is, I so desperately wish I still was. I know I’ve changed and so have you, but-,” His hand floated up from his neck to his other shoulder to gently take Tom’s hand. “I don’t want to just leave what we had all behind because of that… like hell, you mean more to me than you’ll ever know. And I don’t know if you’ll ever get it.”

“No man, I don’t think you get it.” Tom floated their hands down and squeezed it gently as it hovered in the space between them just above the rock. No matter how many times it had fallen apart or tore at the seams they always seemed to fit perfectly together. Aside from the soft song of the sea breeze, and the mechanical clink of the rotating light of the house coming to life in the fading sun as evening arrived, there was a silence that if the gods had listened closely, they could hear perhaps a reawakened spark, a newfound life in the forces of chaos and balance within their champions that had been long since ignored.

“Y’know if you weren’t always so damn dramatic, and just given me the chance to yknow, answer you that night I could’ve fucking told you.” Tom met Jordan’s eyes with a soft smile. “There’s nothing else I need to feel loved or whatever."

He drifts closer to Jordan, who allows the closeness in with an openess he hasn’t seen from the captain in a while. “I get we’ve changed, but here’s the thing. I’ve done a lot of thinking right?”

He feels his voice start to falter slightly when Jordan raises a doubtful eyebrow, yet doesn’t entirely cut him off. His eyes meet Tom’s again, but this time, the sharp of annoyance has all but fallen into the sea below them, replaced with a sense of reassurance, and an invitation to go on. Tom sighs. “And while I was gone I realized something.”

He began tracing cautious circles on the back of Jordan’s hand with his fingers. “There’s no one else who gets me like you do. Makes me laugh, makes me feel at home.” With his other hand, he reaches up to brush a lock of hair behind Jordan’s ear as he watches him blush a deep red. “Who I care about more than man I think you could ever know.”

“Awe dude-“ Jordan chuckles, Tom reveling in the sweetness that overwhelms his face.

It was a rare vulnerability, and for the first time in a while, Jordan doesn’t try to fight it.

Tom cups Jordan’s face in his hand, and he feels the captain sink into the touch. “I mean this in all seriousness when I say this. You want me to be happy, and I am.” He feels his own face begin to warm up as well. “And as long as you stay with me, I’m sure I’ll keep feeling that way.”

“Because I’m the happiest here with you.”

[mart-singer]

I have been told several times that my preparatory drawings are interesting. But they are small and I don't want to part with them: they are part of my archives. I always wanted to redo them larger but how can I convey the messy and dirty spirit of the drawing without making a hyperrealistic and soulless copy. Here is an attempt with the help of monotype and colored pencils. Since for monotype, you have to draw upside down so that it prints right side up, I didn't always understand the numbers I was printing. It produces weird things, sometimes incomprehensible but it keeps the spirit of the original. Monotype and colors pencils on paper, 16,1 x 11,7 inches / 24 x 29,7 cm

[mybrainproblems]

.

[fisherfurbearer]

Hey! I hope you don't mind the message - I just wanted to say, your tags made me cry. I'm so happy that our makin silly lil creatures over here could mean something to you all these years later. You absolutely can do what you want, and make a living at it, and more people need to hear that. Everyone in our lives told us we couldn't - we were just too stubborn to listen. I sincerely thank you, I'm going to look at these tags anytime I feel discouraged, and I hope we can make you a monster one day. <3

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I didn't see this originally and finally checked my inbox and saw this.

Now I'm feeling teary eyed ... I genuinely think it was artists like you both, Melissa Curphy (@missmonstermel), and Allison Theus (@crispyfishsticks) who showed me at a young age you CAN make awesome monsters and be wonderfully successful and HAPPY doing so.

I'm not joking at all when I say I found your DeviantArt over 10 years ago and it stuck with me ever since. I've kept up with Homemade Horrors since then on multiple platforms. It was always a dream of mine to have a custom monster made by you both, and now that I have an actual career position (transgender healthcare, which still doesn't feel real! That this is happening and it's Real!!) I may be able to afford that someday. ❤️

For reference this is the post and tags and if you like the looks of this gorgeous creature you should DEFINITELY give them a follow!!!!! Homemade Horrors are AMAZING and everything Worms and Bones make together is always so full of love and creativity.

[awarenessaslove]

Brian Delatorre

[dancedance-resolution]

in my standing up to my boss era!

[hotchs-bitch]

Honestly I’m glad y’all are enjoying fluffy feb but lemme tell you,,, almost everything after day 13 is my favourite thing I’ve ever written

[manns-cape]

doing a show at this ~diversity theatre~ spectacle has been good for me because it let me speak with a french-senegalese performer/director/choreographer who i had my eye on for about a year prior. it was amazing having an excuse to see her working process for a few months. i really look forward to helping her career.

on the other hand, lmfao at some of the implications i've seen, working at this theatre, that racism as a thin-- conventionally attractive-- asian woman is like. an impossible barrier to get over. ... i beg to differ .... the difference of opinion between myself and the other performers in this show-- who are asian women who only consort with and work with other asians-- is a very large bridge to gap

every single actress in this show, besides myself, was born and raised in korea or china. they are all on-board with the shit-show "anti-zionist" riots against fucking saba-nur cheema, who is an asian muslim, and her husband, meron mendel-- an israeli-german jew. both cheema and mendel literally just wanted to facilitate discussion and *mendel himself is a huge advocate for palestine*

i asked whether they've listened to cheema-- like she's an asian muslim herself. and they all got VERY AGGRO that cheema isn't "actually" asian

and refused to explain why, lmfao (.... cheema is brown)

[roanofarc]

chappell roan & gerard way stage outfit parallels

chappell looks:

vmas, sept 11 2024 / hinterland, august 4 2024 / bonnaroo, june 16 2024 / hangout fest, may 18 2024 / coachella, april 12 2024

gerard looks:

corona capital mexico, nov 18 2022 / london, nov 2005 / detroit, sept 13 2022 / los angeles, oct 11 2022 (but first worn in nashville, aug 23 2022) / sydney, march 19-20 2023

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