#so feel free to continue ignoring it

[allylikethecat]

January OTP Prompts

Whoa, this might have been the hardest one for me to write so far. I'm not sure what the problem was but I lacked all inspiration and motivation. BUT I was able to push myself to power through... and we have... something.

8. Diamond ring

Matty felt like his lungs were trying to climb out of his throat, drowning him on dry land as his heart beat so hard in his chest he was sure that each thudding squeeze was visible beneath his thin skin, his rib cage rattling. He blinked at George, his eyes wide and terrified as his mind whirled, trying desperately to make sense of the scene before him.

They were on a break in the tour, and Matty had announced the night before he planned on spending the next day rotting away in bed. He would be getting up to use the restroom and that was it, content to spend the day reading and writing and most importantly sleeping. His back hurt and his knee hurt and he didn’t intend to make any kind of movements he didn’t need to. He was to become one with his mattress.

George had laughed and kissed his forehead when he climbed out of bed that morning, and promised that he would return with breakfast. Matty hadn’t expected George to bring him tea in one of the good cups, hadn’t expected his toast to be on an actual plate instead of wrapped in a paper towel, balanced on a tray he hadn’t even realized they owned, a flower from their garden in a bud vase they had been sent by Amazon on accident.

But that wasn’t what had caught Matty’s eye. In the middle of the tray sat a robin’s egg blue ring box, an infinity band of diamonds nestled amongst the velvet. Matty felt like he was going to throw up as he forced himself to meet George’s eyes, his hand reaching out on his own accord to pick up the box, holding it up to his face, rubbing his fingers along the Tiffany & Co. embossed on the lid, afraid to touch the ring, the diamond ring in case it wasn’t what he was thinking, in case this was some kind of sick joke. 

“George,” he said, his voice cracking, overcome with emotion as George stood over him grinning, before dropping down to one knee. Matty’s stomach lurched, this was really happening. 

“So,” said George, his own voice trembling, “I know that you know that we’re in this together, forever and that we don’t need a shiny rock or a piece of paper, to tell us that. But Matty, you’re my partner, my other half, my soulmate, and even if we don’t need it, I want that piece of paper that says we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.” 

George swallowed hard and Matty realized he was crying, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“And, you’ve always been a bit of a diva, so I figured, if I was getting a piece of paper, that said you were stuck with me forever, it only seemed fair that you got the shiny rock.” George took a deep breath, as if he thought there was some chance that Matty would say no, “So, will you marry me?” 

Day: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

I just got to reading a translation of "The wooing of Emer" online. Why is no-one (especially the online encyclopedias) talking about the fact Emer is fomorian?

why aren't the online encyclopaedias talking about it: bc they are not that useful for medieval irish literature most of the time, tbh, being heavily simplified and reliant on secondary sources that are often themselves not particularly reliable (although there have been efforts to improve some pages inc. wikipedia pages). loads of fun details missing from them, always

why isn't anyone else talking about it: eh. probably two main reasons

there's a lot of it around. cú chulainn's got a fomorian grandma (on lug's side) and no one ever really talks about that either. it's not that big a deal. i'm sure he's not the only one; can't throw a rock around here without hitting someone with a fomorian uncle or something. there's a lot more overlap / interaction between them and the tuatha dé danann than a simple oppositional binary would suggest, and family trees get fucky in general. being related to the fomoire doesn't automatically = being fomorian yourself bc belonging and kin-groups and stuff are a bit more complicated than that

i'm pretty sure it's only mentioned in tochmarc emire and only in passing and not directly in relation to emer herself, so it's easily overlooked even if you're dealing with that text and a lot of people will be dealing with other texts. it's also only in the later, longer redaction of the text and not in the earliest one, although so are a lot of things. if the authors thought it was important as part of her heritage -- whether they saw it as a good or a bad thing -- they would bring it up more often, but TE seems to be the only one that bothers to give background information about forgall's family tree, so mostly it looks like they think it's not that relevant. (although as it is not a particular focus of mine, it's entirely possible it comes up somewhere else and i just haven't noticed)

e.g. you might expect it to come up in fled bricrenn but it doesn't

sidenote: why the fuck henderson translations "ben ind fir as dech" as "wife of the best wight" i have no idea. it's just "fer"! it's just man! why are you trying to make cú chulainn sound even weirder than usual! it's a mystery to me. other than the fact it's from 1899 and people did whatever they wanted at that point tbh

(the parenthetical explaining the meaning of "Manach" is also editorial and not in the Irish; the meaning "tricky" may be more suitable bc it might have something to do with clessa, but that's getting into my friend emmet's in-progress research so i won't delve deeper there)

also, tethra, who is supposedly forgall's uncle in TE and who is described in the text as a "king of the fomoire" is a bit of a weird one iirc and there's potentially more going on with him than that phrasing suggests, although i can't remember the details and that's getting into cath maige tuired territory, at which point you're better off asking @margridarnauds bc it's not a topic i know a huge amount about

finally i'll be honest another factor is probably that there hasn't been a huge amount written about emer as a character. there's been a lot written about texts that she's in and her function there, but less on her just like, as a person (bc medieval celtic studies is a very small field, there are a lot of texts and characters, and there hasn't been that much written about anyone really). so lots of things don't get talked about. doesn't mean they're not worth talking about. just means nobody's got around to it yet.

[magic-number-3]

furthering the My Lady Jane agenda

[essenceofarda]

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[ruvviks]

two weeks ago the rome edit u made at some point just appeared in my head for unknown reason and i was like "ough i hope casey gets his laptop soon maybe we'll hear more about it" NCNNCNCNCN

HEHE now that i have my laptop again and have sorted out my files (mostly) i finally have more to say about the universe >:^)

obscura is a project i'm working on together with @mojaves because we're insane and do everything together all the fucking time sorry about that. it takes place in a universe in which concepts like angels and demons exist, but as otherworldly beings rather than their religious counterparts :]

the world order consists of the three evils and the forces of good, though they've been labeled as such within the earthly realm because they don't really know the concepts of "good" and "evil" as we know it. they're also very much not good or evil but. well. humans love labeling things as good or evil. but looking at their actual portfolios you will notice they all have the same level of self-interest and care very little about humankind as a whole

the three evils are the brothers lucifer, behemoth, and leviathan, and the forces of good are known as the otherworldy entities we call angels. the brothers all rule over a domain, and angels fill in the gaps and spaces between these domains, to maintain the balance in the world. that is mainly what "forces of good" refers to; they do what needs to be done to keep the world from crumbling, but the domains they rule over can be anything and their methods are by no means pure

lucifer's domain consists of death, the veil, otherworldly corruption, and shadows. he rules over that what we cannot perceive directly, but know is there. lucifer leads an army of demons, who prey on humanity's weaknesses and desires to strike deals and/or gain access to the earthly realm. at the core, lucifer rules over desire

lucifer's influence is seen in life and death, ghosts, demons, hauntings, and possessions. he manifests in eclipses, red nights, and wildfires

lucifer's demons can be summoned to make deals with. alternatively, lower ranked demons lurk in the shadows on the earthly realm waiting for a chance to take control of a vessel or a host

behemoth's domain consists of pestilence, the lithosphere, and the geosphere. he rules over the earthly realm, the tangible. behemoth manifests in the eyes of the beast, takes root in that what can be corrupted, and corrupts until he consumes until only bones remain. at the core, behemoth rules over consumption

behemoth's influence is seen in disease, cannibalism, and night terrors. he manifests in traveling night hounds, and the final stages of transformation of a victim of noxbane

behemoth's night hounds travel the night sky, a bad omen for anyone who spots them. the fungus noxbane brings forth a terrible disease holding the same name, which can affect any living organism to the point of corruption and consumption

leviathan's domain consists of war, famine, the ocean, arctic regions, and outer space. he rules over the vastness of the universe, and all concepts too large for humanity to fully comprehend. leviathan lays dormant in outer space, but awakens within souls lost in the open, or lost within themselves. at the core, leviathan rules over oblivion

leviathan's influence is seen in warfare, power imbalance, space sickness, and eldritch madness. he manifests in extraterrestrial storms, and hallucinations caused by leviathan's madness

leviathan's visions and glimpses of the empty earth haunt the ones lost at sea, in space, or in war or madness. he spawns tangible visages through an individual's own paranoia, and collects the minds of those who let themselves be persuaded by the promise of answers

obviously people living in this universe do not know about all of this lore, but there are plenty of them who have either been exposed to any of these concepts or have dedicated their lives to trying to unravel the truth. it's set in the second half of the 20th century with an earthly realm that is similar to ours but with adjusted levels of technology and (priorities in) travel, and follows several separate but intertwined storylines to show some interesting cases of the influences of the three evils :] below a list of the current characters we have for the universe!

rome solomon is an astronomer and professor at the obscurus academy in crescent hill, washington. he is one of the brightest minds of his generation with several books to his name, and he is famous for his empty earth theory which he has so far spent his entire life trying to prove. the reason for this is that his sister, a world famous astronaut, went missing (not died; went missing) in outer space on a very important mission when rome was still young; the empty earth theory would prove that she and her crew are still out there, and looking for a way to get back into their own dimension

judah solomon is rome's older sister and was the world's youngest and brightest astronaut. she was only 24 when she and her crew went missing in outer space, and her current whereabouts remain unknown to this day, 18 years later

clyde morris (belongs to mojaves) is a repair technician who works at the obscurus academy and he is rome's best friend. since computers are still pretty rare but insanely powerful devices in this universe, it is very special that morris owns his own computer; and even more special that an angel has found its home within, and sometimes communicates with him

clarence rojas is a psychic operating in the south of the united states. she lost her vision in an encounter with an angel, the warning she received so powerful it robbed her of her eyesight; and in return, the angel granted her with her psychic powers, which she uses to assist people in dealing with ghost infestations, and sometimes even demonic cases

eleanor constantine (belongs to mojaves) is a preacher and demonologist active in the south and on the east coast of the united states, traveling around by train with her brother victor to help people in need. the spark of community she holds within is powerful enough to gift her near-psychic abilities and a strong intuition, which is essential in her line of work

victor constantine (belongs to mojaves) travels around with his sister as her assistant, operating all cameras and other technology needed for their investigations into demonic cases, and for exorcisms. where his sister found her voice speaking to the crowds to build a community, victor lost his own ability to speak, and he prefers to remain in the background letting his sister deal with public affairs

lazarus reeves is another world famous demonologist operating in saint-dominic, louisiana, who is trying to uphold the legacy of his late wife, who he used to hunt down demons with. without his wife's higher position in society to protect him, he is not as loved among the public as she was, coming from a family with a bad history; but he has not given up on what he does best, knowing that there are still folks out there who need his help

eve lynch is a nun and herbalist residing in a convent near saint-dominic. she is doing research into the fungus known as noxbane and its effects on living organisms, and through her research she is exposed to behemoth's domain and the terrible disease the fungus brings, which leads to an outbreak of ghouls within the walls of the convent

anatoly dorokhin is a cosmonaut sent into orbit around the moon with his crew to investigate a series of strange sightings on the moon's surface. something terrible happened on their ship, and anatoly ends up as only survivor of his own crew with what remains of the rescue crew in the obscurus academy to figure out what truly happened up there

quincy jackson (belongs to mojaves) is an astronaut who on his way back to earth ended up losing most of his crew in an emergency rescue mission, and ends up in the obscurus academy with anatoly dorokhin and two other survivors of quincy's own crew; however, the two others are alive but unresponsive, not reacting to any triggers from the outside world and seemingly trapped within their own mind. quincy and anatoly grow close over time while anatoly pushes everyone else away, and quincy soon seems to be the only one who can figure out what truly happened when they were in outer space

mary schlachter is a surgeon in the south of the united states, famous for his exceptionally precise work and portfolio of rather unusual cases. when clarence rojas' daughter grendel is born inside out, mary is the one to put her back together in the way she is meant to be, but the procedure leaves a mark on him that soon enough attracts the attention of otherworldly beings

[revvethasmythh]

I do really enjoy the continuing intimacy between Caleb and Veth at this stage in their lives. Despite how far apart they live (Nicodranas vs Rexxentrum) they appear to see each other decently often, often enough that Veth doesn't think much of it when he shows up outside her house (and that he, uh, knows to look for the scoutmaster scarf out her window). It's unclear if Caleb spends very much time in Nicodranas with her family, though I kind of doubt it considering he doesn't seem to see Yeza much at all, but Veth takes Luc up to Rexxentrum to have Caleb tutor him in magic and (even though it was a throwaway line, I know) maybe spends enough time there herself to keep some spare clothes at his place. For a pair who arguably always had the closest/most intimate relationship in the campaign, it's really enjoyable to see that continue to be a through line.

[age-of-moonknight]

House of M: Avengers (Vol. 1/2007), #5.

Writer: Christos N. Gage; Penciler: Mike Perkins; Inker: Andrew Hennessy; Colorist: Raul Trevino; Letterer: Rus Wooton

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

one thing abt being disabled/chronically ill that some people don’t get is that sometimes body maintenance that ensures you have the absolute minimum amount of function can also be something that takes away a lot of control and autonomy. you can argue till the cows come home that making those decisions to try and help yourself (or realistically to try to make sure things aren’t worse than they already are) is something that exhibits control and autonomy and stuff, but they can be so limiting in practice because they’re things that take up so much time but have to be done to do anything else

[threadmonster]

Do you ever think about how if a person got into a series/fandom after peak popularity they totally missed out? Not in a bad way, I just think getting to experience and participate in the explosion of a fandom is a totally fun and insane thing that might only happen to a person once. It's not just "a fandom" it's when the fandom of a series you totally love and resonate with happens.

[breakbreadwithme]

because im a repression professional, i know im currently in a Bad Spot & have done some stupid shit in the last 36 hours but also im just blogging away & making things & doing chores & feeling absolutely Nothing while im doing it

[allylikethecat]

January OTP Prompts

Today was such a busy, stressful day, that I felt so drained by the time I sat down to write this. BUT I did it and that's what matters. Thank you again for following along on this little journey with me. We're in the home stretch ❤️

19. Surprise hug

George swallowed hard, anxiety burning in his chest as he looked around at the mess surrounding him. He took a shaky breath. It was going to be okay, he tried to tell himself, even as his skin felt like it was crawling, an itch moving under the epidermis. He squeezed his eyes shut, maybe he would feel better if he didn’t look at it? He shook his head, his eyes snapping open once again, not looking at it was even worse, in his mind the disaster that was the kitchen took on a life of its own, growing and evolving and becoming even worse. He didn’t even know where to start, it wasn’t his mess, it wasn’t his responsibility but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to exist in the house, knowing that Matty had left the space in such a disarray. A flash of anger sparked in his stomach. Matty knew how he felt about things being a mess, and yet he left the kitchen in a sorry state anyway. 

He picked up the dirty mixing bowl that was left on the counter and brought it over to the sink. He wouldn’t do the dishes, he decided. He would just compile all of them in the sink for Matty to finish when he reappeared from wherever he had disappeared off to. Maybe he would be less bothered with all of the dishes in one place. He could then wipe the flour and what looked like melted chocolate off the counter, and throw the egg shells away, and also sweep. George wasn’t sure what the hell Matty had been making, or why he was even trying to cook in the first place, but he had made a mess.

George flinched, feeling a pair of arms wrap around his waist in a surprise hug, pulling him from his rapidly spiraling thoughts. 

“Hey,” said Matty, pressing his face against George’s back, his words muffled by the fabric of his tee shirt. “I’m going to clean this up, go sit down.” 

“I got it,” said George, still holding the mixing bowl but doing nothing to dislodge Matty from his person, instead letting himself sink into the comfort of the embrace. He could feel Matty’s chest rising and falling against his back, as he breathed, the comforting sensation making him smile despite himself. He both hated and loved that Matty’s simple presence was enough to keep his dark thoughts at bay. It scared him that one person held so much power. He also hated that Matty was standing behind him, telling him he was going to clean up his mess and George was still offering to clean it up. 

“No,” said Matty, tightening his grip on George’s middle, throwing his weight around to shift George away from the counter, still holding the mixing bowl. “I made the mess, I’ll clean it up, go sit down, I have a surprise for you anyway.” 

George sighed, disappointed as Matty stopped hugging him, but letting him take the mixing bowl. Matty sat it in the sink, while George sat down at the kitchen table, pointedly not letting himself look at the still messy counter. 

“I made a cake,” Matty said sheepishly, presenting George with a lopsided slick of chocolate cake. Matty had cut into it too soon, while it was still warm, meaning the frosting was down the side and the cake had lost its shape. 

“Fuck,” said George, surprised by the tears burning in his eyes. “I love you.” 

Matty blushed. 

Day: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

[crockerpot]

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[sga-owns-my-soul]

lol my mom just texted me merry christmas and asked how i've been and i'm about to fucking break down completely on public transit bc of it!!!!

[mothbaaalls]

there should really be like. a peer support network for people who work/volunteer in animal rescue and care. because good god it's needed

[isfjmel-phleg]

"

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Guess who feels guilty for not editing in a long while now that I've mentioned it in another post? 😶

Guess who's editing right now? 😅