#tag for that little excerpt!!

[axellis]

The drama of romance was always one of Shadow Milk's favorites. Even before the corruption. He could remember the old plays he would watch from way back when. The Tragedy of Rose Cream and Apricot Clafoutis was one of his personal favorites. A classic of a knight going to find her princess- only for the twisted reveal that the princess had been the villain all along! Not many were fans of it at the time, but Shadow Milk had been forever intrigued by it.

[the-meme-monarch]

something i see a lot in books is like. capitalizing a word where it really doesn’t need to be? like for an example in Who Censored Roger Rabbit they spell toons as Toons. and i understand it’s probably supposed to make it clear that this is a deliberate Word For Something That The Author Kinda Made Up but like. to me it stands out too much. humans are just humans. a cat would still be a cat and a dog a dog. but toons are Toons. idk i think it just feels unnatural and unnecessary. if toons are natural to the world here why do you need to capitalize the T

[were-wolverine]

fic idea i will probably write at some point:

when toph goes after zuko after his terrible introduction (hello, zuko here) he still startles and burns her feet but instead of running away he immediately rushes over and starts fussing over her, picking her up and treating her burns

he lays her down on his bedroll and gets his first aid supplies. he’s kind of an expert at dealing with burns. aside from the obvious, he was often burned during his childhood while training to fight with bending. it was why he was so fond of the dao swords, something he was much better at

he doesn’t realize he’s been talking aloud until the girl (does he know her name yet??) pointedly coughs after he trails off. he shakes the thoughts away and warns her the balm he is about to apply will sting at first.

he surprised when she fists a hand in his shirt, hissing in pain as the medicine does its job. he wraps it and moves onto her other foot, repeating the process. once he’s done, she looks in his direction quizzically

“it’s… numb,” she says, surprised. zuko smiles and explains

“it numbs the pain and heals the burn simultaneously. you should feel better in the morning after a good nights sleep, but you should still reapply it so it stays that way, okay?” he asks. she nods and then seems to debate asking something, before speaking

DISCLAIMER i know nothing about medicinal herbs/balms so this is 100% made up

“the others tried to describe you to me when i asked… pretty much all i got was ‘ponytail jerk with a shaved head and a burn on his face’ and obviously that’s not really a great description…” she trails off. zuko laughs softly

“if it makes you feel better, the ponytail is long gone. my hair is long enough to mostly cover the burn, too…” he replies

she nods thoughtfully before hesitantly lifting her hand towards his face, stopping a few inches away.

“um… you can say no, of course. but if it’s okay, can i touch your face? it’s how i see people,” she explains quietly. zuko flinches back slightly before thinking about it. her hands are so… small. and she hasn’t hurt him (yet).

the last person who touched his face was Uncle, helping zuko apply the burn salve after a bad day (the scar tended to hurt more if he was upset or angry… which was often). he had been so careful, it made zuko feel cherished.

he lets out a breath and agrees

the grin he receives is probably worth his discomfort

he closes his eyes and feels her small hands trace his face. she hums to herself as she maps it out in her head. zuko can feel calluses, likely from her earthbending, and laughs when she runs a hand through his hair, whispering “just checking”

they both quiet once she’s explored his entire face aside from the scar. she seems hesitant, so zuko nods slightly, reassuring her.

he cant really feel the hand tracing his burn. that area has been numb since his father…

he’s used to it. her hand on the other side of his face, keeping his head steady, is grounding and he releases some of the tension that had built in his shoulders when she traced the edge of the scar

she lets out a tiny gasp, and zuko can feel hair being pulled back from his ear- or what’s left of it. the burn had reached the appendage and a bit of his scalp. luckily his long hair was able to easily cover it. thinking back on his days wearing the symbol of the banished, having the entire thing exposed, makes him feel sick.

she finally drops her hands and when zuko opens his eyes (when had he gotten teary?) she’s sitting back across from him.

they sit in thoughtful silence for a while before toph snaps her fingers in recognition

“oh yeah, are your eyes really gold?” she asks

zuko finds it odd that the group had even noticed his eye color, but confirms her question

“cool,” she grins and zuko can’t help but smile back. she eventually scoots over on the bed roll and demands zuko sit next to her (and who is he to say no?)

they spend the next couple of hours talking. zuko finds out toph also comes from high society, and they bond over the stupid rules they were forced to learn and such.

toph doesn’t ask how he got the scar, but she does ask about it.

“can you hear at all in this ear? and are you able to see with this eye?”

he allows her these questions because she’s one of the only people who can understand what it’s like

“not very well, but enough to get by. as for my eye… it’s mostly blurry and i can’t open it past a squint. honestly, everyone was surprised it hadn’t lost all function,” he explains

she studies him thoughtfully before replying

“is that why you have two swords?”

zuko blinks. he hadn’t ever actually thought of it like that, since he was already using them before getting banished. but it makes sense. he shrugs

“maybe subconsciously?” he says, and she laughs at his uncertainty. he can’t help but smile at the sound

[coffeebanana]

Chapter 12: how to "stay peachy" when your ex is giving out mixed signals

“Five more minutes,” Ladybug grumbled, face scrunching up in displeasure at whoever was trying to shake her awake. They were pretty warm, though. So she decided to forgive them—at least enough to curl into their side, sighing as a soft chuckle tickled her forehead. Was she still dreaming? “Come on…” said her cuddly alarm clock. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

Read the rest on Ao3!!

[zs-starwars]

Look before the War Within starts and Anduin gets to work on his Shadowlands gotten trauma and development I need to dunk on him (affectionate) for a quick second okay?

So in Before the Storm he has this line:

"Her [Sylavnas's] eyes narrowed. Anduin knew she understood the lesson of this day's tragic events. She was not universally loved among her people. He was. She ruled with an iron fist. He ruled with compassion. (pg347)"

Which comparatively sure, fair. Sylvanas has just put a hard, murderous, stop to Calia's first attempt at girlbossing and killed about half the desolate council. Before the Storm is what it needed to be for BfA and beyond.

But I would like to point out that earlier in the book we have this:

"Anduin had been informed that negative sentiment was not limited to his advisors. Guards and Shaw's people had reported that there was muttering in some of the taverns and on the streets. The guards had been instructed to interrupt such conversations if they verged on sedition or grew violent. (pg 248)"

Baby boy that is not universally beloved and ruling with compassion. Lol. Lmao even.

I've scrawled all in my copy with little notes and I have a messy word document with rewrite ideas for this 6 (!) year old book. I am excited to see what we have going on under Silithus. In the end WoW is a video game that needs to keep selling and making new storylines.

[shoshiwrites]

WIP — WHEN THE WAR CAME (Toye/WarCo OC)

Jo studied their uniforms, the bars and patches, wondering what would happen if she guessed wrong. Maybe it would get more of a story than this holiday talk. She sat back in her chair a little, straightened her shoulders. "You boys Air Force?" Instant scoffs. Bingo. "Airborne, sweetheart." She remembered a few clippings in the papers back stateside, The Clarion included. 'Chute troops. The Marines had them too, didn't they? So did the Germans. A new type of warfare. She'd been intrigued in the same way the other reporters all seemed to have been, marveling at what seemed like insanity. Shuddering at the thought of doing it herself. And then one of the stories had mentioned, almost offhandedly, the salary increase compared to the rest of the branches. And it had all made sense to Jo. Well. Most of it. Oh," she said, purposefully eyeing the gleaming sets of jump wings on their jackets. "Of course."

Story tag | OC tag

[lunarharp]

uh.. just a doodly collection LOL

[brother-emperors]

Hi. I want to read Camus' Caligula. Which translation have you read (if you read it in translation)? I would search under tags but my tumblr is currently acting up. If you've read more, which one would you recommend, or what did you like about each one?

I've read camus' caligula in french and a couple of translations in english, the only one I like is Stuart Gilbert's translation, the other ones aren't even worth talking about tbh

I'm incredibly obsessed with phrasing of 'this ghoul-haunted wilderness of mine,' 10/10

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

Writing Share

tagged by: @kaylinalexanderbooks

tagging: Open Tag and soft tagging @sleepyowlwrites | @tragicbackstoryenjoyer | @avrablake | @lynnedwardswrites | @marishwritesstuff | @writing-is-a-martial-art | @surroundedbypearls | @motswriting

rules: share some writing of yours :)

Cassrica angst be upon ye :3 Well written miscommunication due to trauma... i eat that shit up every time

Cassandra tried to think through everything she’d done up to this point since running into Erica with that map. She’d made sure that the ship moved at night, didn’t follow a distinct pattern, and took routes that Gar Face Gabe couldn’t follow in his ship. So how did he- Her heart sank. No, no, that couldn’t be it, she wouldn’t- Swallowing and forcing her hands to stop shaking, she signed, keeping her motions deliberate and hard. “Where is Erica?” Felicity blinked, then signed firmly. “It couldn’t have been Erica. She wouldn’t.” “Where is she?” Felicity raised her hands to sign, but hesitated. “I... I don’t know.” Cassandra closed her eyes, forcing back salty tears that burned in the corners of her eyes. She shoved past Felicity, over to the rest of her crew.

[dreamaze]

BEASTMODE / Shoot Out / Underwater / DRAMARAMA / Alligator / ZONE / 대동단결 / Rush Hour / Got me in chains / Mercy / Find You / The Dreaming / AND / FREEDOM / LOVE / Gambler (LeeMujin Service solo ver.)

⟡ Back after too long with the second entry in this little audio compilation series for my not-so-secret fifth beloved of Monsta X, the one and only Jooheon. Where do I even begin? I should provide some context for my general music tastes, which do not include a keen interest in rapping. It takes someone special to sink their hooks in me in that arena — and Jooheon is unequivocally someone special. He is an immensely skilled and versatile composer, writer, producer, rapper, and singer. I do not say this lightly: he is in a tier of musicians that fully lives, breathes, and embodies music. You can hear and feel the intention behind his musical decisions in every single note and syllable. His abilities as a rapper and singer clearly feed into and support one another, from breath support to tone control. He has, in my humble opinion, some of the greatest diction in the business. His performances are explosive and captivating, whether he is barreling through a rap verse with both speed and clarity (대동단결), building to a literal roar of emotion (too many to list here), or drawing you to the edge of your seat, air leaving your own lungs, as he deliberately ends a phrase with no breath left to give (Mercy). I respect him so much as a musician — as a creator and performer always challenging himself to reach new heights. I realize this compilation is heavily skewed toward my favorites (and the arbitrary limit I'm giving myself is only 1 true solo song per comp), but I hope it captures the intensity of his range as both a rapper and singer.

Other compilations: Minhyuk | Kihyun

[isfjmel-phleg]

Tagged by @brown-little-robin to share the last sentence from my WIP. Thank you! Shockingly, I actually have one of these!

There are a lot of placeholders since I wrote this in an excited haze on my phone at one-something in the morning last week and was trying to keep up momentum instead of getting bogged down in crafting clever wording on the spot, so it's very much a first draft, but you get the idea. This is from a potential revised version of the opening of Book 3 and is from Tamett's POV.

He had racked his brain to the [very end] and turned up not a single thing that could warrant His Majesty King Odren, Emperor of [places], Sovereign of [other thing], the Father of the Fatherland himself, wanting to personally chew out a twelve-year-old nobody from Noriber.

[scribble-dee-vee]

Find the Word Tag Game

Tagged by @somethingclevermahogony – thank you!!

Words: hair, drop, wrath, shudder

Hair

I spend SO much time writing hair descriptions! Here's one from the chapter I just wrote:

She wore silvery-blue, which caught the light reflecting from the dance floor. Her hair glistened, too, as she turned her head to track a pair of dancers down below. Her inky black tresses formed a precious and elaborate pile of braids, secured with sapphire pins. Such adornments seemed trivial, compared to the gemstones that hung about her neck. Violet-blue beauties, a necklace of jewels like a vine of ripe grapes.

Cecelia is prettyyyy

Also would u believe me if I told you that this paragraph has some sneaky plot-vital information hidden in it 👀

Drop

The bar had grown more crowded since she’d come; that meant more eavesdroppers, but also more noise. Rumors spread between Rosenreel’s flowers like weeds.

Is this cheating?? Maybe lol

Wrath

Charles pressed my face into his chest. He’d grown half a foot since the winter. I wriggled and swore, but he didn’t relent. I settled in his grip, wrathful and relieved, supported by familiar, gentle arms.

Annoying sibling hug!! This is unfortunately the BEST that Charles and Cecelia ever get along in this book, RIP

Shudder

I'm including the whole exchange for context bc lol

“You’ll wear blue, of course.” Dale had removed every piece of clothing from his wardrobe. He appraised them all in his shirtsleeves and suspenders, picking over each item like a persnickety art collector. “It’s traditional. And a light blue, I mean, not your usual mournful stuff.” “Yes, mother.” I glanced up at him from my bed, where I’d been attempting to read a novel for the past hour. “What are you doing, anyway? If you have to wear blue-“ “It can’t be a summer blue.” A waistcoat sailed over my head, hit the wall, and crumpled to the floor. “It can’t be outdated. It can’t be anything I’ve worn for the past two years, at least.” “Why not?” “You clearly don’t understand the gravity of a ball. It’s not just a party, Starkley. People will come in from Rosenreel for this.” “Ah.” I leaned back on my headboard. “We must shudder at the prospect of judgement.”

Boys be NICE to each other you're in LOVE 😭

I'm going to tag @jmhwritesstuff, @dreamingofstarslight, @hyba, @albatris, and @unfocused-overwriter, plus anyone else who wants to do it! My words for you are narrow, perfume, disappear, and slowly.

[xanadaus]

hey. asking about your cassandra!sophie au. elaborate. i’m curious

omg hold on i sent swan this monster of an ask lemme see if i saved it.

but a very very very abridge version is:

-Fitz stumbles across Fintan (who is effectively Apollo) and helps him insight a war by egging on Alvar to attack Greece.

-He's given the gift of prophecy from Fintan as a thank you and realizes what he's done. He's horrified, and accidentally runs into a girl on the beach. She's Athenian, and he mumbles that she has to warn them what's to come--that the sun god himself said so. Fintan is betrayed and curses him so that no one will believe him. But it's too late, the girl scrambles back to warn her king.

-He tries to talk his brother down but Alden exiles him bc he thinks he's jealous of the glory Alvar will have, defeating the Greeks and all that. So Fitz wanders around trying get anyone to stop the violence that will come and they all laugh at him.

-He returns to the beachy cove he found Fintan and is plagued by violence that he has caused. Except an injured soldier stumbles onto the shore and begs for his help. A Greek Soldier--the girl he'd warned. She remembers him, and tells him her name is Sophie.

-She says she's the greatest swordsman the Greeks have ever seen, and she will kill the Prince of Troy (Alvar.) Fitz knows this of course, and also sees that she will die soon after. He doesn't tell her though, even though he knows she'll believe him. He wants her not to have to know her fate.

So yeah pretty much Fitz has Cassandra's curse but Sophie's the only one who will believe him. Also Biana kills Sophie in revenge. If you even care.

[astromechs]

ok writing preview time because i finally managed to write some today (under cut because it alludes to being nsfw lol):

“Why?”

Of course, he’d been expecting that question, too, but it still tugs a faint smile on his mouth all the same as he’s brought back to the moment, as he reaches a hand for her face, brushing a lock of hair away from her forehead with a gentle thumb. “Because I asked it.”

She lifts both her brows, and though there’s a twitch of amusement in her face at the counter, she presses her lips together in a quiet hm — which are all signs that she’s putting serious thought into it. Contrary to many of the assessments in those files, Jyn actually takes her time with things, or at least the things she considers important; the fact that his feelings and his wants exist in that category for her, that she creates a place to both keep them safe and actually let them exist, is still nothing short of remarkable.

Isn’t it only right that he should take care of that, take care of her, in return?

Jyn takes her time with things, and there’d be few other people in the Alliance who’d recognize the softness in her voice now, as she asks, “What happens if I touch you?”

The faint smile that’d been on his mouth, as well as any last lingering traces of amusement, all fade away, into something both softer and more serious, a mirror of what she’s giving him. He leans in through the space that remains between them, and, just as softly, presses his lips to hers. “I’m not stopping you,” he murmurs then, pulling back. “It’s your choice.”

It’s always been her choice, whether to trust him or not. She could’ve easily left him for dead on the streets of Jedha instead of shielding him from more than one grenade in the struggle that had broken out, and she could’ve sold him out to Saw’s people and broken free. He’d known that then, too, before he’d ever really known her (he’d be a terrible intelligence operative, and a dangerously naive person in general, if he didn’t have a sense of things like that) — but now, it’s a reaffirmation that happens everyday. She chooses to trust him, and he chooses to trust her.

And there will be no restraints; they’d mutually agreed on that some time ago.

[kavehater]

HELPPPPPP (tags)

[shoshiwrites]

WIP — WHEN THE WAR CAME (Toye/Correspondent OC)

"Three letters to the editor asking for an update on your boys. And that's just what they published." Jo didn't know what stopped her more, three letters to the editor or Kay saying her boys. 

Story tag | OC tag