#perfectly balanced as all things should be

[exhaled-spirals]

« "Oh, I've always sucked at maths!"

I’m getting a little blasé. This must be at least the tenth time I’ve heard that remark today.

Yet this lady has been here at my stall for a good fifteen minutes, standing with a group of other passersby, listening attentively while I describe various geometrical curiosities. That’s how the conversation started.

"But what do you do for a living?" she asked me.

"I’m a mathematician."

"Oh, I've always sucked at maths myself!"

"Really? But you seemed to be interested in what I was just talking about."

"Yes… but that’s not really maths… that was understandable."

I hadn’t heard that one before. Is mathematics, by definition, a discipline that can’t be understood?

It’s the beginning of August, in [...] La Flotte-en-Ré, France. In [the] small summer market, I have a pop-up – there is henna tattooing and afro braids to my right, a mobile-phone accessory stall to my left, and a display of jewels and trinkets of all kinds opposite me. I’ve set up my maths stand in the middle of all this. Holidaymakers stroll peacefully by in the cool of the evening. I particularly like doing maths in unusual places. Where people aren’t expecting it. Where they are not on their guard…

"Can’t wait to tell my parents I did some maths during the holidays!" a high school kid says to me, after stopping by my stall on his way back from the beach.

I do have to catch them unawares. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. This is one of my favourite moments: observing the expression on the faces of people who thought that they had fallen out with maths for good at the instant when I tell them that they have just been doing maths for fifteen minutes. And my stall is always crowded! [...]

No matter how much this amuses me, on balance I find it upsetting. How has it come about that we need to hide from people the fact that they are doing maths before they can take some pleasure in it? Why is the word so frightening? One thing is certain: had I put up a sign above my table proclaiming ‘Mathematics’ as visibly as ‘Jewels and necklaces’, ‘Phones’ or ‘Tattooing’ on the stalls around me, I would not have had a quarter of the same success. People would not have stopped. Perhaps they would even have turned away and averted their gaze.

And yet, the curiosity is there. I observe this every day. Mathematics may scare people, but it also fascinates. Many, who don't like it, would like to like it—or at least to be able to peep at will into its murky mysteries. Many think it is inaccessible. But this is not true. It is perfectly possible to love music without being a musician, or to like to share a nice meal without being a great cook. Then why should you have to be a mathematician, or someone exceptionally clever, in order to be open to hearing about mathematics and to enjoy having your imagination tickled by algebra or geometry? It is not necessary to delve into the technical details in order to understand the great ideas and to be able to marvel at them. »

— Mickaël Launay, It All Adds Up: Humans and Mathematics From Prehistory to Modern Day

[ribbondee]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Pokémon Human Character Tournament: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN

[mylovesstuffs]

OT13 reaction to an older s/o

Request: Hi, Celeste! Just gotta say, it's been months of me following you, and I absolutely live for your content! 💜 I just came across your "Younger SO" for SVT, and I was wondering if you can do the opposite: SVT with an older SO? Thank you for considering!

A/N: Whether it’s a few months or a few years, these boys would absolutely thrive with a ‘noona’ s/o who has a little extra life experience + I think they're very cool with both younger and older s/o. Also, hi hi!! Tysm, I’m so happy you enjoy the content and stuck around this long.

Seungcheol: He is a leader with so many members to handle, so being with someone who’s just a bit older, gives him a sense of calm. Loves when you guide him through decisions or offer wisdom, but also gets adorably sulky when you tease him for being younger. “I’m still oppa in this house,” he’ll say while reaching for your hand in public.

Jeonghan: You being older? He’s using it. Teasing you? Constant. “You should take care of me~” He lives for the dynamic. Always playing it up, but deep down he respects the maturity and insight you bring to the relationship. Plus, he finds older s/o's incredibly attractive; something about the confidence and experience just does it for him.

Joshua: The “age is just a number” kind of guy [ahem, que that fancall]. He’d love having deeper, mature conversations and would appreciate the emotional intelligence you bring. He’s probably calling you “baby” just to balance the dynamic a bit, but when things get hard, your ability to stay grounded makes him love you even more.

Jun: I don't think he actually doesn’t notice the age gap. You’re older? Oh. Cool. Jun is too much of a vibes/personality-first person to really care. He’s charmed by your poise, but also still drags you into pillow fights. If anyone points it out, he’ll just blink and say, “So?” Because to him, your soul feels like it matches his.

Hoshi: He jokes that you’re “the boss” in the relationship, but he adores it. He’s all about affectionate teasing, spontaneous affection, and showing off for you. He also really wants to impress you and is always a little extra excited when you praise or encourage him. You bring out the more grounded side of him without dulling his sparkle.

Wonwoo: He’s so so soft for someone who brings emotional clarity and maturity into his life. He’s not the type to care about age gaps at all, but he’ll note how soothing it is to be with someone who has a stable energy. Will 100% ask for book recommendations and sit with you in peaceful silence like it’s love language gold.

Woozi: You being older makes him feel a little relieved, he doesn’t have to over-explain his workaholic tendencies or emotional blocks. He values how self-aware you are, and he absorbs your perspectives like a sponge. Plus, he finds the way you handle conflict so hot. If anyone comments on the age thing, he gives them the death glare.

Dokyeom: He’s all giggles and heart eyes, older s/o or not, but he definitely benefits from your emotional maturity. When he gets overwhelmed, you know how to help him reset. He’ll call you “Noona~” in the most singsong way, but still treat you with total love, babying and respect.

Mingyu: Will still insist he can carry all the groceries himself. He’s a bit extra about wanting to prove himself, especially if you’re accomplished or confident. Loves it when you guide him but also wants to be the one taking care of you. Over time, he realizes you don’t need “taking care of,” and starts just enjoying how easy it is to be himself around you.

Minghao: Old soul meets old soul 😌😂 He goes the best with someone older anyway. He’s all about mutual growth, and an older s/o is often more emotionally steady, which suits him perfectly. He appreciates the lack of drama and the introspective conversations you bring. He’d never flaunt the age gap, but he would brag about you non-stop.

Seungkwan: At first, he might be shy or overthink things, wondering if he’s “enough” for you. But once he’s reassured, he’s in. Loves having someone who can match his emotions but handle them a bit more maturely. You make him feel secure and loved, which is everything he really needs.

Vernon: To Vernon, age doesn’t equal power; energy does. If you match his energy and give him space to be himself, he’s head over heels. He’ll appreciate that you’ve probably figured yourself out more, and he finds your confidence very attractive. Bonus: he never forgets your coffee order or how you take your ramen.

Dino: He loves older s/o's but can get a little flustered about proving he’s mature enough. You’re a source of motivation for him, so he wants to meet your standards and show you he’s grown. Will occasionally pout if you “Noona” him, but secretly loves it. Your stability + his ambition = power couple.

[emeritusemeritus]

Ooo longtime no talk!! If it’s okay, can I please request a Fred x fem!muggle!reader where they are married and she’s pregnant with a little girl, and Fred is such a loving and protective Husband and future father (it honestly makes her cry because she loves him sm and he’s so sweet) and they go to the Burrow to stay for the weekend with the whole family. Everyone is all doting on her, Molly loving taking care of her, everyone using magic to help her, and she bursts into tears right as Fred walks in the room (he’d so be like “why is my sweet wife crying??”) and it’s because she’s (alongside the pregnancy hormones) feeling kinda self conscious about being the only muggle in the family and worries she’s not enough🥺

Hi love!! So nice to hear from you again, I hope you’ve been well?! As always it would be my pleasure, I hope you enjoy! 🖤

Warnings: PregnantWife!Reader, mentions of pregnancy and brief sickness, feelings of inadequacy, tears, hormones. Pregnancy hormones are no joke. Sweet Fred.

Word Count: 1.9k

Song for writing: No Surprises by Radiohead.

Just The Muggle [Fred Weasley]

Logically, you knew that you were just feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, but that didn't stop you from breaking down in tears the minute you finally got a moment alone.

You couldn't fault a single thing that had happened that day, nor could you fault a single member of the family congregated downstairs but for some reason you still felt overwhelmingly sad. You were one of the lucky ones, a woman that had married into a wonderful family that were warm, welcoming and accepting. A large family, much larger than your own, all with their own distinctive personalities that slotted in perfectly to create a mosaic of life and laughter in the Weasley family.

Arthur was quiet but sweet, always pottering about or tinkering, inquisitive with his questions and always an active listener who had the best intentions. Molly was the ideal warm matriarch who seemed to never stop, always helping her family in some way or another. She was wickedly quick with her wit and almost omniscient, an inviting character that you wished to never see the bad side of. Percy and Bill were quiet in comparison to the other children whilst Charlie was the sensitive one, a little more relaxed in his approach to life. Audrey was shy and quiet but very nice and Fleur was charming yet fierce, which you loved about her. Ron was a grumbler, usually a little moody though his sweetness shone through, usually counteracted by Hermione who balanced out Ron perfectly. Ginny was the one you were perhaps the most fond of except George, her fearless determination was to be studied. Harry was nice too, though sometimes a little quiet around the larger group.

You loved George like your own brother, a virtue considering he was so often by Fred's side that any rift would have been detrimental to all the relationships involved. He was funny and kind, a little gentler than Fred but you loved him all the same.

Fred, your husband, was your perfect man. His sparkling eyes, freckled cheeks and fiery hair, not to mention his towering height and wide shoulders that could make your mouth water. He was the funniest person you'd ever met and you adored his mischievous side, though you had heard he'd mellowed in recent years.

All of them were perfect in their own ways, and then there was you. The muggle.

Getting married to Fred Weasley had been the best decision you had ever made. Sure you had your regular spats just like any other couple, a few crossed words and little digs every now and then but there was never a day that you weren't happy. You'd never doubted your love for him or your futures together, feeling with assured certainty that Fred was your end game. You'd live a life with Fred that couldn't be matched, filled with fun and laughter. You'd grow old together and cause havoc right up until your last breath, exactly the way life should be.  

It had been a shock finding out that the man you'd met had been a wizard, a very, very big shock. You'd assumed he was joking at first, knowing he was a natural prankster that had told you that he owned a joke shop with his brother. But it wasn't a joke and was very much real. Your world had opened up that day and though you had to live under the veil of secrecy, it was an incredible life to lead. At first it had been wondrous if not a little overwhelming, suddenly the idea that anything was possible and learning about everything that was so foreign to you. Sure some of your friends had married out of their culture and you'd watched as they blended their lives together and created a melting pot of language and culture at home. But this had always felt different, bigger somehow- special.

But you couldn't deny that surrounded by so many witches and wizards with incredible talents you would never be able to replicate, you felt completely inadequate to be in their lives.

Especially now you were pregnant.

Molly had been your biggest support, offering and insisting to help out wherever she could. They didn't have much in the way of money but that didn't stop her and Arthur from helping in ways that you hadn't even considered at first. Molly had taken it upon herself to knit your unborn daughter an entire wardrobe, specifically saving her last reel of golden thread to embroider her initial onto the clothes once her name had been chosen.

It was the little things you noticed the most, like always making sure you had somewhere comfy to sit, your cushion plumped for you, your random craving foods already stored in. Seeing Molly in this way made you realise just how alike her and Fred were in that way, the little acts of service showing their love when it didn't need to be verbalised. She'd given you tonics that were tried and tested in the family to help with your sickness when regular muggle medication couldn't help.

The magic was a big help of course. On the days when the pregnancy exhaustion set in and you could hardly make it through the day without a nap, Molly would be round straight away without question to help out. She never overstepped your boundaries, never pushed you and never overstayed her welcome. With a flick of her wrist, your house would be immediately tidied, with the pots in the sink beginning to wash themselves and an array of other magical help.

There was one undeniable question that had bothered you almost from the moment you found out you were pregnant. Would the baby be magical too?

Fred had told you about purebloods, half bloods and muggleborns a few times, mostly at the beginning of you finding out about the wizarding world. You'd met Hermione of course, a muggle born witch who was apparently brilliant, her childhood being based in the non-magic world not hindering her abilities at all. But you also remembered Fred mentioning something called 'squibs', which you believed to be people born to magical parents, one or both, without magical abilities.

Ironically, only after you were pregnant did you ever consider the fact that you might give birth to a child with no magical abilities despite your entire life having been without the knowledge of magic up until meeting Fred. Once your mind got ahold of this thought, it became consumed by it, your mind spiralling from your insecurities.

What if your daughter was born without magical abilities and was treated like an outsider for rest of her life? With a family like Fred's it would hardly be possible to hide the wizarding world from her, especially considering Fred's job. Their family was known for being pureblood, how could you have come and ruined that? Or what if your daughter was magical and grew to be embarrassed by a mother who couldn't perform the simplest of spells? What if she loved her dad more than you because he had special abilities that made him fun that you couldn't even dream of and you just became the boring muggle mum she tried to hide away? You couldn't fathom the hurt it would cause either way and yet your mind couldn't help but wander to these dark thoughts.

"Sweetheart, what is it?" You heard from the doorway, alerting you to Fred's presence. Apparently you'd been too consumed by your thoughts and your tears to realise he had entered. You were sat in his childhood bedroom, whether it was Fred or George's bed you didn't know, with tears still stream in down your face.

Fred immediately jumped into action, as he always did when he saw your tears. He closed the door behind him and took a seat on the bed beside you, reaching his arm around your shoulders to pull you into his body.

"What's made my sweet girl cry? If it's Ron he's dead." You can't help but let out a chuckle through the tears at his words, knowing he'd jump at the chance to mess with his younger brother even at hive age.

"No, it's no-one," you say, trying to reassure him whilst also trying to calm yourself down.

"Is it too much for you? We can go home, mum will understand."

"No, well yes but no," you say quietly, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings by leaving when they had been nothing but accommodating for you. He stays quiet now, sensing that you would open up to him and you pause, trying to find the right words and hope that all your thoughts don't tumble out of you all together.

"I'm not magic," you say quietly, wiping your slightly puffy eyes on your sleeve as you fight to hold back more tears.

"Debatable but go on," he interjects, using your little inside of joke of you seducing him being magic to try and cheer you up. You simply nudge him gently, telling him to shut up.

"What if our daughter is magic and she's embarrassed by me?" You sniffle, averting your gaze from his as more tears threaten to spill from the weight of your words.

"Baby, there is nothing about you that could make our daughter be embarrassed. Maybe your singing could be improved but really that's-."

"Fred I'm serious," you say, annoyance spilling into your voice as you lose your temper with his attempts to joke. "What if she hates me because I can't do all the amazing things you can do? I can't magic up twinkling lights or make things walk up walls. You have this incredible ability that I'll never have, I'm just going to be her boring mum that holds her back, the reason she can never be a pure blood."

"First of all, how dare you talk about my wife like that, and secondly, there's not a way on this earth that could ever be true. You aren't magic no, but she'll have enough of that from us, imagine all the incredible things you can teach her that I never knew about. The things you've shown me, taught me, the movies and the music and everything else in between. She'll have the best of both worlds."

His words actually do work to make you feel better. You hadn't thought of it like that, that your role in all of this could be her little sanctuary away from the wizarding world.

"And what if she's a squib? What if she has no magic?" You say, heart breaking at the thought that your precious baby could ever be seen as an outcast. Your tears start anew, your shoulders involuntarily moving up and down with the force of your tears. Fred's hand reaches out to cup your chin, his fingers hooked underneath so he can gently raise your point of vision towards him.

"Then we will figure it out, but regardless she will be the most loved little squib anyone has ever known. She'll still have the best of both worlds and she'll be a tiny version of her mummy, exactly like I've always wanted."

[chickycherrycola]

Last First Sentence Game!

Thank youuuuu for the tag @lynyangell 🙏🏻 I'm gonna bend the rules slightly and include the first sentences of some as yet unposted fics just to be spicy 😜 and also cause none of my Royai/FMA works are on ao3 yet and I want to include them!

1. "She isn't strong enough to resist tonight."

~from a royai wip titled "nightcap" (angsty smut)

2. "There are some things in this world he doesn't need his eyes to see."

~royai week wip for the Rural prompt, titled "sunlight" (blind post-canon Roy my beloved)

3. "The Colonel is drunk again."

~untitled royai wip, but the working doc title is "Roy Gets Drunk and Cries Over His Lieutenant" (🤣)

4. "It's the worst kind of torture."

~royai week wip for the Anathema prompt, titled "tryst" (forbidden office sex, anyone?)

5. "Does it hurt?"

~untitled EdWin wip (surprise!), modern college AU in which Ed is trans cause that headcanon lives rent-free in my brain

6. "Today is the day the girl of his dreams marries his best friend."

~everything i wanted (Soul Eater - SoMa and unrequited MaStar)

7. "As it turns out, perhaps electing to move during the height of the desert summer wasn't one of her more brilliant ideas."

~Memory Lane (Soul Eater - MaStar)

8. "One more to go."

~Heaven on Hold (Soul Eater - SoMa. My resbang entry!)

9. "Even from half a world away, Maka Albarn’s father still manages to ruin her day."

~King of My Heart (Soul Eater - SoMa. One of my beloved, very slow to update longfics.)

10. “You’ll feel better once you have some food in you.”

~harmonize (Soul Eater - this is my ficlet/short one-shot collection for SoMa!)

Five wips, five posted fics. Perfectly balanced as all things should be. 🙏🏻

Tagging @silluuuu @worldismyne @blackbloodteeth @vautour-coccinelle-serpent @zombeikid @imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs @nyckie @dreaming-wavelength @not-so-scandalous if yall wanna play! No pressure though ☺️

[rookinthecrownest]

Stop 🛑 ✋

I need to know who in your ship only sleeps with one pillow and who needs a minimum of 4 carefully placed pillows or their body snaps in half/shatters

[mctwinkdom]

The fact they gave us both pov...

[agendratum]

the spirealm ep 33

[murfpersonalblog]

Exactly. And it gets even worse in Dubai, when Louis starts developing pica (specifically: geophagia & sapophagia)--he's not just eating animals anymore; he's eating human food, too. Louis is UNWELL.

(What's wild AF is that pica & geophagy has historically been most common in pregnant women and African American slaves--Rolin Jones, when I catch you, ISTG!)

Lou's eating human food "once a week, to maintain the thread." His MENTAL illness is abundantly clear. In Lou's head, he thinks eating something tantamount to paste/chalk/soap will help him stay human; not become a blood-drinking monster. But not even humans should be eating paste/chalk/soap, it has zero nutritional value, and can cause serious bodily harm, cuz it's indigestible crap. (I deeply suspect this would've led Louis to have to bulimia, too--cuz he's a effing vampire; how the heck is his body digesting ANY of this? Even vamps drinking alcohol makes no sense--I just assume they're all puking offscreen, WWDITS-style.)

There's no point to eating things that make you violently ill, other than as a form of misguided comfort/relief; mental illness making you think that self-harm is self-comfort--which is why alcoholism is also a mental illness (more on that in my Louis' Addiction post). Lou's Catholic Guilt thinks that self-denial & abstinence is a sign of self-control, discipline, higher moral fortitude. But in his determination to avoid VICE (gluttony/greed), he forgot that Temperance (balance/moderation) is a VIRTUE. (It's ironic AF that he's a Libra, all about balancing the scales ⚖️. He needs to be more like an Aquarius, the water bearer! 🫗) Louis told Claudia that he hates the taste of fish blood, and he obvs hates squirrel/rat/bird, too. Lou MIMICS vegetarianism, but he's really just starving: a form of torture; self-mortification; cuz it's self-hate, self-loathing. If he were human, he'd be slowly killing himself, but cuz he's a vampire he'll never die (starvation cannot kill vamps, contrary to what Armand claimed). He's miserable, hungry, bone tired.

Like, OP is right: Louis' vegetarianism, at face value, is perfectly fine. There's a strong moral reason why he's resorted to eating animals, rather than killing humans, which he said point blank that he doesn't wanna do anymore. (He hasn't mastered the Little Drink at all, actually, but I'll talk about Louis' (Blood) Addiction in a separate post.) At the end of the day, blood is blood--vampires CAN survive off of animals, Louis is RIGHT about that. Lestat's mother Gabrielle eats animals too (and we can assume Mekare also did). She lived off the earth, in the jungles, wrestling lions & tigers & bears; she was strong as an ox on her animal "diet."

In the books/film, LESTAT was the one who taught Louis how to hunt for rats & birds--but he also said vermin was for emergencies only, when there weren't any people to eat instead.

BUT! Just like Nashville said, Lou NEEDS the right nutritional balance. Even vegans/vegetarians need to supplement plant-based diets with vitamins & nutrients found only in animals--there's health risks for being deficient in B12, D3 etc. As a vamp, Lou needs MORE blood to get full--even in Dubai he eats several courses: AB Negative, the fox, Damek, even Armand, etc. (He's clearly not even drinking enough to heal the burns on his hand.) Lestat told Antoinette how Lou got hangry: "He gets that way when he's hungry." Vamps eating animals isn't inherently a bad thing: it's how LOUIS goes about his diet, esp. in NOLA, that's concerning. The animals he eats in NOLA are mostly vermin (rats, squirrels, birds, raccoons), too tiny to healthily sustain him, AND disgusting to boot--he himself says so.

This goes far beyond Lou simply being vegan/vegetarian. 😔

In Dubai he's gone several steps forward, cuz he has money & access to the Farm & blood banks & donors & stuff. But he's also gone several steps backwards by eating human food. I hope Louis stopped doing that crap after he kicked Armand out in 2x8, and realized that everything he thought he had lost was actually within him the entire time--he never lost his humanity. Lou's struggles to maintain a balance prove just how human Louis still is. A real monster would just judge Lou & shame him & humiliate him (Lestat & Santiago at the Trial, etc); they wouldn't even care, let alone try. I love Louis so much, he's got the right ideas; he just needs HELP executing his ideas in a healthy non-self-destructive way.

Louis the Vegetarian Vampire

Louis de Pointe du Lac's ethical vampirism is very special to me. Let's look at his journey to no- (human) kill blood-drinking!

Louis the human doesn't enjoy violence but is willing to threaten violence to preserve his reputation. Unsurprisingly, Louis the vampire is haunted by murdering people to live:

Louis feels like a failed vampire, but he's honest about his feelings:

When Louis adopts Claudia, he tries to impart his ethics and guide her vampire journey...

but he respects her eating choices:

(Shout out to my fellow vegans and vegetarians, who's had this conversation?)

While Lestat's feelings don't move him to change his eating habits 🤭, Claudia's feelings do:

But even with this compromise, Louis won't drink more human blood than he needs to (note Lestat channeling Armand here):

And in Paris, Louis balances his own ethics with Claudia's need for companionship:

At the trial, the TDV and audience try to shame him for his animal eating, but Claudia defends him (look at my man, fuck the TDV forreal):

After Claudia's death, Louis drank from drug-ridden humans to cope. Ultimately however, he mastered the 'little drink' and found a non-lethal (to humans) way of blood-drinking (and he wants the readers to know this...🤔)

To me, AMC!Louis is part of the pantheon of black vampires that refrain from killing humans (i.e., Blade, Gilda, Shori). He doesn't suffer from an eating disorder and he doesn't need to be fixed - he chooses to minimize his killing as much as possible to align with his moral code. I hope he continues to spread his murder-free message to new vampires in future seasons 🥰

[il-predestinato]

Things we love to see: Maxsplaining. 🥰

The top 3 debrief after Qualifying at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. 🎥: F1TV

[atissi]

forgot to post my actual artfight ocs. these two are from a project i lovingly dubbed "furry period piece yuri" because i wanted to write about gender androgyny in animals and muesli for sheep. on the left is ewenice (she/her) and on the right is calliope (she/he)

[peachdues]

would like to thank my husband for absolutely destroying the 🐱 earlier this afternoon and taking me to a fancy French restaurant as a treat

[paradivis]

solmare taketh away the demon smut from the wenches but prettybusy gaveth back

[manyrandomfandoms]

George Rexstrew has mastered the art of heart eyes. Half the time Edwin looks at Charles he’s just like 🥰

[quixotic-paladin]

Need a little poet to match my warrior freak.

[bucksbeagle]

Apropos of nothing been thinking about Buck warming his hand on Eddie's meat and also. Cockwarming for Eddie. Being so good for him all pink mouth stuffed full and staying still as much as he can kneeling between Eddie's legs while Eddie watches idk HGTV or something

yay this is a comfort to him also. also eddie is probably having a normal conversation w him like oh bud we need to get orange juice the next time we go to the store ill add that to the list