#that's just what the old folks are using these days

[aelfgiure]

From the moment I was coherent, I knew my family was different. Off, somehow, not normal. It was something in the way my parents looked at me when they thought I was distracted, the way they treated me like I didn't belong. Like I was an inconvenience.

My brother and sisters? So, so spoiled. Between mom's modeling and dad's business stuff, there was MONEY, and my siblings had it lavished on them. Toys, designer clothes - whatever they wanted. They were hugged, cosseted, taken on trips, given actual attention! They had a fabulous childhood.

Not like mine.

There was this undercurrent of resentment towards me that I never understood. I never had birthday parties, the folks were always "too busy", tossing some money my way so I could get a present. It never mattered what my grades were, I handed over the report cards to get signed and that was it. Unlike my siblings - they got pizza parties for not failing classes! but my damn near perfect marks were shrugged off. It was a lonely, confusing life, especially for a little kid.

My solace was in books. (Yep, I nerd.) If it was in print, I'd read it. That empty feeling inside me was soothed when I filled myself with words, stories, information, music. Yes, I taught myself how to read music, too, and how to build and play instruments. The early ones were crap, but I got better at it.

Anyways. I read everything, which led me to the 'occult/spiritual' section of the library and book stores. Right next to the fairy tales and legends, of course, so I read those too because why the heck not? It was ... it was educational. Upsetting. I wandered around the house and saw all the cold iron and silver on every window, every door. The weird herbs growing at every entrance. Keep in mind that I was TEN. Ten years old, trying to understand what was going on with my life, and suddenly figuring out that my parents were keeping something out. Of course, the next thing I did was check my clothes and, surprise surprise, everything had odd things sewn into the hems. Not only was something kept out, I was warded against being Taken.

So, I did what any angsty pre-adolescent would do, and plotted. Come hell or high water, I was going to find out what was going on. For the first time in my life, being ignored worked in my favor. Using the books and stories as a guide, I bought things, ingredients and materials, and worked quietly. Waiting for the night of the full moon.

I was as thorough as only an angry child could be. Opened doors, front and back. Walked around the house widdershins, sweeping away the protective ring of salt and runes. Did I mention I was naked? Yeah, I took a bath and washed myself with a bar of Ivory soap, getting rid of even the smallest trace of binding or charm. Since I didn't trust any of my clothes, or any in the house really, it made sense for me to go naked. To be sure.

The results were impressive. Also terrifying. Two powerful, ancient beings stormed into the house and dragged my parents out of bed, starting a three-way screaming match about contracts, oaths, stuff I didn't understand.

That was when I learned why I was conceived. It hurt, honestly. Learning that I was just a bargaining chip, chattel to be bartered or sold, broke my heart. They kept me warded to avoid issues, they said. They didn't know which being had the first claim on me, and neither one wanted to give up the wealth and beauty they bought with my life.

I was ten years old, and heartbroken, and oh so angry, and I interrupted with a suggestion. The witch and the faerie exchanged a look, before turning to my parents with the same smile on both their faces, one with extra teeth and mischief.

To this day, I have no idea what happened to them. I've lived with my dads for ten years now. Not full time anymore, university is a beeyotch and I live off campus, but every break, I go home.

My family is still kinda off, and different, but my dads love me. They're proud of me, they encourage me to be awesome, and we celebrate birthdays and holidays together. They keep saying that they have to make up for lost time, but knowing they were trying to find me, knowing they never gave up hope - well. They wanted a child to love, and i needed parents to love me. It all worked out in the end.

Your mother sold her firstborn to a witch in exchange for beauty and your father sold his firstborn to a fairy for wealth. Today you are born.

[aethersea]

still thinking about the trump voter I talked to the other day who was like "well the democrats have had four years to fix things," as proof that clearly they weren't doing that so they weren't worth voting for. and I just. do you think the democrats are our friends? do you think they're a bunch of saints? they're politicians! where did your cynicism go, man, the whole system is corrupt and dishonest and we've always known this. the difference is in degree. the difference is in what they do BESIDES and DESPITE the corruption.

god I just. idk I think this next complaint is old as dirt but people have GOT to stop thinking about politicians as friendly folks who are on your side. miss me with that. you can get that on a local level sometimes, but on a state or federal level, you will have a few radical outliers if you're lucky. a politician is not a buddy. a politician is a person who has power over your life, and a politician is a person doing a job, and it does not and has never fucking mattered if they're someone you could hang out and shoot the shit with! that is not part of their job! that is not the part of your life they have power over! they are not your friends!

the democrats have not fixed the country bc a) there are too many forces working against that, b) fixing a country is a convoluted goddamn problem and it'd take decades, not years, and c) they don't necessarily care all that much! they're just people doing a job! they care mostly about keeping their jobs!

look, there are probably a lot of politicians who do care deeply about helping people. there are also lots of politicians who don't give a fuck, but do a great job pretending they care deeply about helping people because they know that's how they'll get votes. I fundamentally do not care which one of these two people is in power so long as they pass and enforce laws that help people. yeah it'd be nice to have the first person, but so long as shit gets done we'll call it a win.

because there's a third, way more common type of politician, who not only doesn't give a fuck, but knows how to get ahead without actually following through on a single campaign promise. that politician is saying all the right things, just like the other two, but they don't pass a single helpful law and instead will pass a bunch of, like, food safety deregulations in exchange for cash from large companies that don't want to worry about health inspectors.

you know what keeps us safe from that? it's when 'doing some useful things for society sometimes' is a good way for a politician to keep their job. otherwise we will end up with no politicians who do useful things for society, out of sheer natural selection.

I'm just venting at this point but god. since when do we believe politicians are good people. obama was a godsend for this country and this world, he achieved so much good, and also he never so much as shut down guantanamo bay. the bar is in hell. the bar is in hell, and every single politician running for office will tell you otherwise, and we have got to stop listening to that and look at what they do. and keep demanding they do better, instead of replacing them with people who will do worse just because at least it's a brand new grifter.

[good-to-drive]

George would have been such a menace if he'd been able to text... texting Tom Petty at 3 am to tell him he's beautiful and leaving Paul on read for days straight

[front-facing-pokemon]

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: March 27

"Long Time Gone" by The Chicks

[dexterno-artz]

Sigh

what could have been

I should probably put the unlisted video link here so I don't keep torturing myself and reminding myself what could have been from having the video in my watch later

RIP budget - hopefully one day we'll get the canon continuation again://

[b4kuch1n]

1/ this bout of comms almost done and 2. spawndate in 3 days so I have! been fixin up some stuff for the itch store. that'll go live on the 29th! right now there Is a pack of the lineart stuff I did last year for folks who found that agreeable, still free to grab! for practicing coloring, or if you wanna mess around with colors when ur not feelin like doing lineart, or if you wanna try to figure out colors in a drastically different style than what you usually go for. or if u just wanna look at it that's cool too. small announcement that is all see u in a few

[radioisntdead]

I am SUFFERING AND SOON Y'ALL WILL BE TOO, I AM COOKING SOMETHING [Oc and hazbin which reminds me I'm gonna rewatch it tonight]

[aeolianblues]

pop stars aren't born in the 70s anymore like they used to be. These days they're born in a year uncomfortably close to my own which makes me clutch my chest and cry out

[maintitle]

I might just be dumb, and I don't pretend to be anywhere near even passable at understanding what constitutes good and bad game design, but I'm finding more and more when folks say a game's design is 'outdated' what they actually mean is that it doesn't adhere to the most popular games of it's time.

[lorenzosmicropp]

Pov: ur staring at me after you told me The Valentino Rossi liked your spaghetti so much that he personally took you out for drinks and a meal

[cruelprincae]

"this whole area used to be a forest with 600 year old conifers that kissed the sky. but humans, replaced it with concrete and iron that burns fairy folk. imagine sticking your face into a tailpipe and sucking air all day, that is what this place is for us. And when the factory was not useful anymore, humans just left its cancer here to sit and rot and continue to poison us."

[wundrousarts]

What is your favourite thing about nevermoor (series)?

Omg this is suuuuuch a hard question for me to answer!!! I love basically every aspect of the series, from the characters and their dynamics, to the settings, to the story...... idk if I can truly give One Singular Answer to this because I love it all! There's something truly special with the series that really makes it resonate with me and has kept me glued to it for almost 5 years and will keep me into it for many more.

IF I had to choose One Thing to answer this....... I would probably say the lore of the series and the magic and the way that the worldbuilding relates to those and fleshes out the world, giving it a history that makes Nevermoor (the city and the series) feel full of so much depth. You really get a sense that things, both big and small, happened in the past that affect the present day, and that things in the present day will have an effect on the future. It makes it fascinating to think about how the world was Pre-Massacre, and how things have changed in the last 100 years since then, and why things were the way they were and are the way they are now! I love thinking about Wundersmiths and their role in society and their rise and eventual downfall!!! Ahhhh!!!!! There's just so much I could say.

I just love everything about the worldbuilding and the lore and in-world history Jess has created. You can tell as you read that literally every aspect of the world has so much thought behind it that probably only exists inside Jess's head, but it oozes through the pages anyways and makes the world seem so full of life. I swear once she mentioned possibly releasing some sort of “rule book” / notebook companion book sort thing that explains a lot of behind the scenes lore and how the world and everything works, why stuff is the way it is, etc. after the series and I hope that happens because I can't stop thinking about it.

A silly comparison: I don't really know how to explain it to those unfamiliar with the 2000s guide books, but the worldbuilding of Nevermoor kinda reminds me of the worldbuilding of Uglydolls (no relation to the terrible 2019 movie) and I think maybe that’s partially why I love it so much lmao. Everything was so wacky and weird yet somehow it made sense. I remember reading the books and looking at the spreads of the city or the pictures of the weird vehicles and thinking about where I'd like to go and what I'd do if I lived in that universe LOL. It just felt full of life and for some reason reading Nevermoor reminds me of reading those as a kid.

Also: I've said this before (but maybe not on here?) that I credit a big part of why I'm SO into Nevermoor to the fact that I discovered it like a month or so before Adventure Time ended. I was a HUGE fan of the show (always will be!) and was really into analyzing it and theorizing about it and knew so much about it. I read Nevermoor independent of that, but I think the fact that Wundersmith releasing like a month or two after Adventure Time ended and it being the first new interest I had had in awhile just made my brain "transfer over" as I like to say. The energy I bring to overanalyzing and theorizing about Nevermoor stuff comes directly from how I was when Adventure Time was still airing.

Fun fact: My media overanalyzing led to me correctly guessing how Adventure Time would end, and I am eager to try and do the same with Nevermoor as the series continues.

[ooc-miqojak]

Early One Morning

((This folksong gave me the feels!)) It was the gentle strumming of guitar that had lured her closer to this particular wagon, at this particular market, on this particular morning - and if she'd been at the helm of her ship, then the dulcet lilt of the singer's voice may as well have been that of the fabled sirens, for the power which it held over her.

The cadence of the song, the lilt of the woman's Thalassian... it felt like home.

"Through yonder grove, by the spring that is running There you and I have so merrily played,"

What was shocking was how few people there were nearby to hear the singer's tale of a maiden's sorrowful lament.

"Kissing and courting and gently sporting Oh, my innocent heart you've betrayed - "

She sat slightly curled over her guitar - long, dark hair in a quick, messy morning braid that hung over her shoulder, bouncing as her fingers plucked at the timeworn guitar's strings... and her gaze lifted, pinning the blonde's, now.

"How could you slight so a pretty girl who loves you - A pretty girl who loves you so dearly and warm? Though love's folly is surely but a fancy, Still it should prove to me sweeter than your scorn."

What was warm was her face, as the befreckled traveler's eyes and voice alike pinned Lily in place - as though she knew she'd struck a chord... and perhaps one just as familiar as those she now strummed.

"Soon you will meet with another pretty maiden - Some pretty maiden, you'll court her for a while, Thus ever ranging, turning and changing Always seeking for a girl that is new."

Cheeks wet with tears she hadn't realized she'd shed, the singer wielding her voice - and guitar - had the good grace, at least, to duck her head as the young woman before her wiped stiffly at her face, at the realization that the sun was only just settling into the sky, and she'd already cried in front of a complete stranger.

"Thus sang the maiden, her sorrows bewailing Thus sang the poor maid in the valley below "Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me, How could you use, a poor maiden so?"

The singer's voice seemed to linger lightly in the crisp morning air - alongside Lily's own lessons as hard-won and sorely learned as the storied maiden's; how could something make her both homesick, and heartsick? Homesick for a ship and a crew that didn't exist, and all the more brokenhearted for the loss thereof.

The pouch of coins that the young noblewoman had brought for a different errand were, instead, left at the hand of the dark-haired beauty who'd begun her day with a song.

[squirmmm]

received possibly the most polite solicitation of my life today... ummmm content warning for description of transphobic sexual harassment but! when someone opens with "i hope i can ask without offending you" it's an immediate "yup. this is a 'what are you' conversation" to me, but turns out the guy was cruising and not a chaser. like ok sure, fundamentally what's the difference? i am a little over vilifying everyone who sees trans people and wants to bang them. but STILL normally that kind of interest from random strangers on the street goes into 'you should be grateful some people are into tr*nnies" reaaaal quick once i am not receptive. but this was some guy pretty far on in years, with a mobility aid *full* of daily necessities at the buy nothing event i run cleanup on, and at first my other friend was helping him find pants that fit him. and later he addresses me with that "hope i can ask without offending you.... Are you bisexual?" and pressed me when i said something vague about 'just knowing i'm different from the majority' (0% interested in detailing my experiences for strangers. i keep it honest but insubstantial). and i was ready for it to turn into him being a jerk but he actually said "i think i'm kind of like that too." n after a little clarification/sharing i started to drift back to the cleanup and said to let me know if there was anything i could help him with n he said "maybe there is but you're working" and im like. oh, well, is it something quick? and he said: "don't tell me THAT went over your head." and honestly he was kind of sweet the whole time! and YES he was absolutely angling for a handjob in the park restroom that always smells like piss and YES i was absolutely not into it but. it was very different from how i am used to randos clocking me and trying to hook up and while i wasn't flattered i was oddly moved

[sludgeguzzler]

i really love all these aesthetic things ab going back to the late 2000s and early 2010s bc it makes me think about all the good stuff i did as a kid