#so here is something~

[celestialspark]

Peaceful Days

One of the bonus snippets I've been writing for my original story Pages and Petals - the peaceful childhood days of a certain boy~

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"He's still alive."

"Tsk. So he survived. Yet again."

"They're so lucky for no reason."

The disdainful voices woke Ji Hui from his sleep. As he heard them curse and mock, he pulled his thin blanket over his head as if it could block them out.

Of course, it did not help. It had never helped.

"How old is he now? Six?"

"Well, the luckiest lived until nine, so it's not unusual."

The boy pressed his lips onto each other. He knew he would not live for long, but it wasn't a reason for him to hear about it every time he recovered from a fit.

Right.

Ji Hui opened his eyes and touched his chest. It didn't hurt anymore. His lungs were not on fire anymore each time he took a breath.

A relieved sigh came over the boy's lips.

He felt weak and his body was sore, but as they had said, he had survived yet again.

His bed and blanket hustled as he sat up. He did it quickly to scare the spirits away. It didn't quite work but at least he startled them to silence.

The quick movement made the boy's head spin, but at least it was silent for a moment.

When he got his bearings again, he let his gaze wander through the little cabin that his mother and he called their home.

As he suspected, his mother was not there. Else, the spirits wouldn't be so loud. But his mother had left behind something on the table next to the bed.

A bowl and a candy. Seeing the sweet alone already made Ji Hui make a face. It meant there was medicine in the bowl.

He reached out and carefully lifted the lid from the bowl. As he could still see steam rising from the medicine, it meant that his mother hadn't left too long ago.

Ji Hui stared at it. He closed the lid again. Only to be met by a disapproving look of one of the male spirits. "Drink it," the man demanded, gentle but firm.

Once again, the boy made a face, but he took the bowl with both of his hands.

His ice cold fingers were almost burned by the heat. Despite it being summer, Ji Hui was almost constantly cold.

Blowing the medicine, he tried his best to prolong the time he needed to take it. But as more and more spirits joined to watch him, Ji Hui just screwed up his eyes and drained the medicine in quick big gulps.

"Ew!"

He put out his tongue the moment he finished. He felt like the medicine was getting more and more bitter every time.

One of the smaller spirits, even younger than him, waddled over and tried to push the candy to him.

Ji Hui smiled at the child. Although it couldn't truly touch anything, it still tried to help him. While he plopped the candy into his mouth, he reached out and motioned as if he was stroking the child's head. It was the least he could do.

Seeing that he was awake and well, most of the spirits soon lost interest and left him alone, so that it became peaceful around him.

Rolling the candy over his tongue, Ji Hui looked out of the window.

Only a few small clouds passed over the sky. The sun was shining brightly and as it slowly crept over the horizon, it also began to shine through the window and warmed Ji Hui's body.

This back window of their cabin had a good view down the slight slope to the vast fields with crops. From afar, he could see some children play. He had never seen them up close but his mother had said they were about his age. They were running on the paths between the fields, dragging kites behind them.

Ji Hui knew he could never join them with his weak body, but he always wished he could. if the wind was just right, he could hear their laughter carried up to his cabin.

Looking a bit further, Ji Hui could spot his mother. With a basket on her back, she was harvesting some of the vegetables.

For helping out with the fields, the village had allowed his mother to take some crops for themselves, too. That meant she would be back with a bunch of vegetables soon.

Tearing his gaze from the window, Ji Hui slid down from the bed and slipped into his sandals.

They were going to need to wash the vegetables, so they needed water. Ji Hui could help with that.

He walked over to the kitchen corner and looked at their utensils. Why was his mother keeping the big bowl for water so high up? It was above the fireplace. The shelf there held a bunch of buckets and other bowls and the one he needed was the last one.

With an annoyed sigh, the boy looked around and chose his chair to push towards the fireplace. It wasn't more than a low stool but stepping on it made him at least a little bit taller.

Only a little bit, though, because he had to stretch to reach for the shelf.

The moment the tip of his fingers reached for the rim of the bowl, everything came tumbling down.

When Ji Hui opened his eyes again, he was lying on the ground of the cabin with all the buckets and bowls around him. He blinked right into one of the spirit’s faces who backed away with a disappointed click.

“He still lives.”

A collective sigh was heard around him. There were more disappointed than relieved sounds around him.

“Ji Hui!”

His mother’s voice dispersed all spirits’ voices. The woman came running. Throwing the vegetable basket to the side, she helped her son sit up while she frantically patted him. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

His mother’s calloused hands were gentle to him. Ji Hui turned slightly to fall into her chest, his arms clinging to her in a hug.

“I’m alright,” he muttered into her clothes. “I’m sorry.”

He could literally feel his mother’s tension passing as she now just gently patted his head. “You should have stayed in bed if you’re not feeling well yet.”

“I’m feeling fine!” Ji Hui immediately exclaimed. He pulled back to look into his mother’s face. “I’m okay! I just wanted to help!”

His face made his mother stop. Only now did she take her surroundings in. At least nothing seemed to be broken. Just slightly damaged, but not broken. With a sigh, she looked back to her son: “I have told you not to try to hold something that is too heavy for you.”

Ji Hui began to pout. “It’s not too heavy!”

“No?” The woman laughed. She booped the boy’s nose as he was pouting. “Then why did everything fall down?” With ease, she lifted her son and put him back on his feet. “Now come. If you want to help, you can separate the leaves from the stems.”

As his mother said so, Ji Hui sat down at the table as she brought him the basket that she had carelessly thrown to the side. “Thank you for your help, my little man.” She placed a kiss on the top of Ji Hui’s head. “But I will be the one getting water.”

Diligently, Ji Hui nodded and began to separate the leaves from the stems as his mother had taught him, while she gathered up all the scattered bowls before she took the largest to walk out to the small river near their house.

No matter how menial the tasks were, as long as Ji Hui could help his mother, he was happy. She was already taking care of him so much, he wanted to repay whatever he could as long as he was able to.

Because he knew that he did not have much time. The constant whispering of the spirits told him so.

As his mother went away again, the voices around him started to chatter again. Some of them crept up and examined his work.

Some criticized him for doing a bad job despite his age. Others praised him for being so helpful to his mother and being a good child.

They were never of one opinion except for the fact that he wouldn’t be living long.

Ji Hui knew that and he was alright with that. The only reason for him to live was for his mother. He only wanted to make her happy as long as possible. If he ever had the chance, he would do everything for her to have a good life. But as they both had made peace with the fact that he only had limited days, they did everything to make the best of it.

Thus, Ji Hui was also able to tune out the spirits whispering because as long as his mother was by his side, they would be silent and let them live their best life.

[tawnysoup]

Finally now that the comic is fully public on comicfury, I get to share it with all of you here, too <3

If you enjoyed, please consider supporting by buying a PDF of the comic on itch.io: https://tawnysoup.itch.io/home-in-the-woods

[zytes]

this manatee looks like it’s in a skyrim loading screen

[emjaydoubleyou]

this post is fearmongering. the results of this study are concerning and should definitely be a matter of public discussion, but this is certainly not the conclusion the researchers came to.

the point of the study was to assess the risks of exposure to toxic metals- something one of the co-authors notes are “ubiquitous” fwiw- via menstrual products. Their research confirmed that these metals are indeed present in tampons, but no further conclusions are drawn. it is possible the metal entered into the cotton from the soil, which is a well-known phenomenon; cotton is so good at lifting heavy metals that it has actually been suggested as a part of the solution for revitalizing polluted ground.

the authors conclude with an acknowledgement that the study should be repeated- their sample size was 60 tampons- and a suggestion that further testing ought to be done to indicate whether or not these metals can even leech out of the tampon in the first place, let alone whether or not such leeching could occur at levels deleterious to human health.

there is, in fact, a body of research- too small, for sure, but much larger than this single study- indicating that long-term proper tampon use has no observable negative impact on health. i am grateful and thrilled that more research is being done and i hope that this study is the first of many on this line of questioning, but i am really frustrated at this post and the response it got.

obviously, if this study alters your approach to menstrual health, more power to you. consumers should be informed-risk-takers, and menstrual health is double-obviously a very personal choice. but it definitely wasn't the researchers concluding that you ought to “avoid using tampons at all cost," only this tumblr user did. the lead author of the paper, in fact, specifically says that she hopes people do NOT panic about the results.

(the notes of the post were disappointing. people affirming that they knew they were right to be suspicious of tampons all along, or even recommending alternatives that actually have very little to no research regarding the safety of long-term use, etc. it’s a different conversation, but categorical distrust of tampons is old-school misogyny. you certainly shouldn't wear them if you don’t want to, but there is nothing inherently scary or wrong about them, and people who prefer them are not being reckless or crass.)

((if you're really worried about exposure to heavy metals, you may want to turn a critical eye to fast fashion, as an aside))

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[planefood]

rules for thee and not for me

[ptr-sqloint]

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Happy 10th anniversary to FNAF!!

[pigswithwings]

above all else a trans woman is a person. above all else a trans women is a woman who goes to the same grocery store as you and buys fruits in the same grocery cart as you and goes home and eats her dinner the same as you. above all else a trans woman is a woman who dresses like you do and talks the same way you do. above all else a trans woman is a woman who wants to be cared about the same way you want to be cared about and a trans woman is a woman who makes friends the same way you make friends. above all else you should care about trans women because they are people. treat her as such.

[mynnthia]

was talking with a friend about how some of dunmeshi fаndom misunderstands kabru's initial feelings towards laios.

to sum up kabru's situation via a self-contained modernized metaphor:

kabru is like a guy who lost his entire family in a highly traumatic car accident. years later he joins a discord server and takes note of laios, another server member who seems interesting, so they start chatting. then laios reveals his special interest and favorite movie of all time is David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and invites kabru to go watch a demolition derby with him

[canisalbus]

✦ Freshly ordained ✦

[shepscapades]

Surely this will have no negative consequences whatsoever!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dog Meshi.

[greenbergsays]

I'm going to say something that will make sense to the Fandom Olds and will probably be slightly controversial to the younger crowds, but I'm going to say it anyways

TPTB becoming increasingly aware of fandom and fanfiction over the past two-ish decades and thus, the spawning of the expectation of your ship going canon has ruined fandom a little bit

I mean, fandom does a great job of ruining itself a lot of the time, but this idea that a ship isn't "real" or "valid" if it isn't canon

or the idea that one ship is superior to the other because one is canon and the other isn't?

it's absolutely bananas

I grew up in an era of fandom where characters didn't even have to be from the same media source to ship them. I mean, do you know how many BtVS/HP crossover fics I read back in the early 2000s???

That shit was never gonna be canon, but we had fun with it, anyways

Like. Yeah, a lot of fanon speculation is bullshit, but it always has been and always will be. You have hundreds and/or thousands of people riffing off each other, the observations and the meta will always be deeper than what TPTB intended, and that's okay! That's what makes it fun!

I just think more people would be a lot happier in their fandom experiences if they realized that fandom is supposed to be an escape instead of a crusade

[palarien]

sketched this out at jury duty actually