#the great beasts

[little-mouse-gardens]

Character introduction: Wei Xiurong

after a couple weeks of planning and editing, I have finally fished the character intro for my character Wei Xiurong!

(None of the images in the mood-board belong to me, I used Makowka's picrew for the face claim while the images were found on Pinterest)

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   Wei Xiurong - 魏秀榮

          東方的大母老虎

 (The great tigress of the east)

Name:  Wei Xiurong 

Age:  5000+, (immortal) appears to be in her early thirties 

Sex/Gender: female, she/her 

Sexuality: biromantic + demisexual

Species: half demon (human/demon)

Voiceclaim: Elizabeth Maxwell 

Occupation: guards and protects a temple filled with powerful items/weapons to be made and used by the gods

Education: extensive. Over the thousands of years she has been alive she has gained extensive knowledge and adapted to the times. 

Eye color: reddish brown eyes 

Skin color: warm ivory 

Hair color: black with accents of dark brown when the sun illuminates it. She usually keeps her hair slicked back into a bun, but she will occasionally wear it down and curl it. 

Height: 5’5

Weight: 132lbs

Fitness level: very active. She never skips an early morning jog and always takes an hour or two out of her day to train and workout.

Tattoos: none

Scars/Birthmarks:

a few scars on her back and hands, a long scar that goes across her chest, and a long scar down her cheek that she hides with a bit of glamor. 

Though these are barely visible, if you get close enough, you can see what look to be tiger stripes going down her back and arms.

On the front of her right hand is a marking of a tiger roaring, which symbolizes her inner beast and the bloodline she comes from.

Other distinguishing features: 

her eyes have a bit of an amber tint to them if you look close enough. 

Disabilities: none 

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Fashion style:

 At first, she wore traditional Tang dynasty clothing, but her style also changed with the times. 

Most of her style in modern times consists of tweed vests, leather jackets, flats, knee high boots, cardigans, tights, turtlenecks, cheongsam, blouses, slightly flared trousers, sundresses, sun hats, loose t-shirts.

The main colors she wears are all shades of red, pinks, golds, oranges and yellows.

Through the centuries a lot of the same motifs remain in her clothing and accessories.  Specifically, tigers (or other big cats like lions and leopards), flowers like yellow lilies & cineraria, and symbols that represent family, kindness and strength.

Accessories:

Gemstone Earrings, in shades of red, gold and orange.

A jade bangle her husband gave to her as a wedding gift. (it is the most important item in the world to her)

A gold pendent given to her by her daughters as a birthday present.

Signature weapon(s): her main weapon is a pair of deer horn knives, and her secondary weapon is Jian, a double-edged sword that had once belonged to her grandmother on her father's side.

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  Weaknesses: threatening the safety of her family. If she knows the enemy is more powerful than her or she can’t readily protect her family, that is the easiest way to get her to stand down and surrender.

 Though it is extremely difficult, you can eventually exhaust her. It will take a while, but she will eventually need to rest.

Abilities : 

Immense strength/speed/agility/senses 

Immortality - gained immortality after she ate a few peaches of immortality and drank some heavenly wine as a reward for bringing a rampaging demon back to the gods to be imprisoned. As a result, she became ageless and yielded eternal youth. 

Shapeshifting - the ability to change into any creature she wants.

the only way you can really tell it is her is by looking at the color of the creature's eyes or the very subtle presence of stripes on its body. 

Claws - a set of claws she can retract/unretract at will. They are extremely sharp and have been known to cut through the toughest of metals. 

Spirit-walking - whenever she falls asleep, she can choose to separate her spirit from her body and transform it into the physical form of a large tiger. However, this differs from the inner beast since she can’t do this when she is awake, and this tiger is only slightly bigger than a normal sized tiger.

However, if you get hurt in this form, your body will also sustain the same injuries and vis versa. So, caution is key in this fragile state.

Pyrokinesis - the ability to manipulate fire. 

Clairvoyance - The Ability to Perceive Person, Object, Location, And Physical Events Through Extrasensory Perception.

Line of sight - Xiurong can see, hear, smell and sense things much better than the average person can.

if she closes her eyes, in any form she takes, she can follow the colorful outline/ trail of her target(s) and see/feel things that others normally cannot. 

Energy Blasts - the Ability to Expel Various Forms of Energy from The Body

Chi manipulation - manipulate the flow of latent energy that is present in the physical body.

Energy Conversion - the Ability to Absorb One Form of Energy and Convert It into Another Form of Energy

Roar - the ability to let out a destructive stream or a destructive wave of sonic energy that sounds similar to a tiger roaring and can destroy anything in front of the user unless they turn around. 

         The inner beast - by combining all her energy, she can turn herself into a colossal tiger that can cause catastrophic amounts of destruction.  It does have a secondary form which is stronger and larger than its usual form.

Attaining this secondary form is extremely dangerous and could risk being consumed by their beast completely.

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  Birth date: her exact date of birth is unknown. Her children, grandchildren and her children's spouses only know that she was born sometime in early february. So they just pick a random day in february.

Place of birth: a small village hidden in a valley in the mountains

Affiliations:

She is affiliated with both demons and immortals, but prefers to be among demons and humans rather than immortal beings and gods. 

She has a much closer bond with the demons she allied herself with and the humans she protected. She only has a few immortal beings she could or would ever consider to be her friends. 

Plus she personally thinks some of the immortals and gods are a bit snobbish and undeserving of their positions (though she never voiced it out loud)

Skeletons in the closet: 

Kept her youngest daughter, xifeng, birth a secret from her older daughters since there are demons out there who would find out about xifeng and would want to eat her for revenge. 

However, in the sequel little tiger, when xifeng discovered her abilities and sought out her family after mk discovered the staff, the secret was revealed anyway. 

!!Spoilers for lmk season 4!! Please scroll past if you don’t want spoilers!!

In the sequel to great beasts, little tiger, her daughter xifeng discovers that xiurong knew everything about mk being a stone monkey and she had also watched over him in the same form when she would be allowed to leave the celestial realm.

Personality traits:

-caring, open-minded, cunning, trustworthy, generous, loving, motherly, brave

-commanding, strong willed, good-natured, leaderly, dutiful, patient, merciful

-vicious + assertive + aggressive + vengeful (when she needs to be)  

Introvert/Extrovert: 

extrovert 

Intelligence + educational background : 

highly intelligent. 

  As a child she was tutored by her mother and grandmother and was given a complete and extensive education. Through the years she has adapted to the times and learned everything she could learn through studying and researching.

She has a vast source of knowledge to say the least after decades of being alive.

Self-esteem: she is fairly confident in herself and knows her own self worth. 

However,  There are some days she feels as if she hasn’t done enough for her family or feels like she should have done something to prevent her husband's death. 

Hobbies/Skills/talents

Archery

Cross stitching/embroidery 

Research/studying

Calligraphy

Martial arts

hiking/exploring 

tarot/fortune telling 

Gardening

pottery

Reading 

crafts/woodworking/metalworking 

Forethought 

Observation 

Knowledge of basic wilderness survival skills 

Balance

Immense combat skills - she has centuries of training and experience when it comes to martial arts and fighting in general. 

Immense physical attributes 

Astrological divination/reading people

leadership/strategic thinking/peacekeeping/negotiating 

Strong breath control 

Loves:

-Her family, spending time with her family, 

-Scented candles (mostly natural scents like pine needles or fruits)

-animals/wildlife/forests/mountains 

-training, martial arts

-mid-spring, early summer

- fishing & camping, traveling,

-sewing, embroidery, knitting,

-sitting in her garden and relaxing by the lakefront 

- reading

-solar eclipses, the sun, sunsets 

- cooking 

- colors/ red, orange, yellow, gold 

- movies/ comedy, adventure, horror

-book/ mystery, fantasy 

-animals/ tigers, lions, dogs, cats, monkeys, wolves, horses, ect.

-specific food+drinks/ traditional dishes, green tea, sweet tea/iced tea, lemonade, butterfly pea flower bubble tea, soy milk, mooncakes, egg tarts, peking duck, mangos & durian, steamed stuffed buns, glazed chocolate donuts, any kind of seafood

-holidays/social events/festivals/dragon boat festival, lunar new year, mid-autumn festival 

  Phobias/Fears:

Losing her family or being unable to protect them. After losing her husband and the incidents that come after her daughters are all grown up, this fear has become deeply ingrained into her and is her biggest weakness overall. 

 Venomous creatures. due to an incident she when her daughters were around fifteen.

Angered by: 

     Xiurong is a surprisingly patient person. It is really hard to piss her off. She can get angry, but it isn’t her true anger showing. 

     you really have to dig deep in order to find what really makes her go into ‘i will eviscerate you and paint my walls with your blood’ mode. 

 aka The kind of anger that's got you fearing for your very soul.

    Basically anything that is a threat to her family, hurting her family, cruelty to the innocent, people who have complete disregard for life in general, being backstabbed after giving somebody a chance to redeem themselves. 

   These are the things that will get you killed.

Pet peeves: 

Once again, she is a very patient person, however she also has limits.

-people who can’t admit their wrong doings 

-men who would constantly speak over women

-People who say "no offense" as if it downplays anything insulting they say

-passive aggressive behavior.

-parents who are to lazy to watch their own children 

Bad habits:

Neglecting her own needs for the sake of others and hiding her pain from others so she doesn’t worry anyone. 

Desires/goals :

To see her family happy and thriving, to give them the freedom to make their own choices and to give them everything the world has to offer them 

Flaws:

Neglecting her own needs for the sake of her family, hiding her sadness for their fathers death from her kids so they don’t worry about her. 

Keeping things from them so they don’t have to worry about her at all. 

Favorite saying: 

To love at all is to love entirely

Regrets:

Keeping xinfeng’s birth a secret from her sisters 

Not visiting an old childhood friend after moving back to her village with her mother when her training was officially complete 

Spiriting mk away from flower fruit mountain 

Accomplishments:

Mastering her abilities and unlocking her inner beast 

gaining immortality from the gods for not just herself, but her daughters and descendants as well

Proving herself, through hard work and determination, worthy to sit among the seven demon kings

Marrying her husband zheng liu 

The birth of her daughters 

Killing the demon that murdered her father and her husband 

Securing a comfy position among the immortals

Motivations:

 Generally keeping her family safe and showing others that their family were and always will be a force to be reckoned with 

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  Partner(s)/Significant other(s):

Zheng Liu (husband, deceased) = a human man who had moved into the valley after being casted out by his family.

He was and will always be the love of her life. Her best friend and her partner in crime. A cheerful kind man who had a fondness for nature and was just a tad bit clumsy when it came to things like wielding a sword or archery. 

Xiurong loved him so much. No words could ever describe the love she held for him

Sadly, the day she found out she was pregnant, he was killed in cold blood by another demon. 

His death was absolutely devastating for her.

Even as the years went on, she never seemed to truly get over losing him. She learned to go on living and actually enjoy life and be happy, however there was that bit of sadness she hid deep within her.

Cai Zhaohui (fiancé + reincarnation of Liu, deceased) = 

(btw most of this info comes from the sequel i’m working on called little tiger)

xiurong met zhaohui when she was moving into a new apartment in a megapolis.

 He was funny, awkward, a little bit nervous, nerdy, and was just a genuinely nice guy to be around.

 At first they started off as friends for the first couple years. Just hanging out, inviting each other over to binge watch shows they liked if they felt lonely. Until she slowly started falling for him. 

(fun fact : she did reveal who she was to him and was shocked to find he was completely fine with her being a half demon. To the point he was even a bit excited)

She never thought she would feel that way for anyone else ever since Liu died and was a bit hesitant to try to return his feelings due to the fact that she felt guilty about moving on with someone else.

 However, she eventually realized that she really needed to move on with her life and started going out with him. 

 After three years of being a couple, they were engaged and a few months after that she found out she was pregnant.

(during her pregnancy they both found out he was the reincarnation of her husband. However it didn’t really change their relationship) 

  However, due to certain events, she is imprisoned, and her fiancé is left to raise their daughter by himself. He knew that she was watching over them and always reminded their daughter how much her mother loves her. 

 Lover(s): none 

Parents/Guardians:

Wei Meng (father, deceased) - though he died when she was only two weeks old, she still looks up to him and loves him. 

According to old scrolls he left for xiurong and stories from her mother and other demons that he was a very loving and courageous man who ultimately died so xiurong and her mother could live.

He came from a long bloodline of powerful demons known as the wei family, which were demons who could turn themselves into a colossal beast based on the animal marking they were born with. 

Pan Shuchun (mother, deceased) - Xiurong was extremely close to her mother. A hardworking and kind woman who refused to give up even in the darkest moments. 

Her mother taught her everything she knew and showed her that in order for her to rise, she must fall. She wanted Xiurong to have everything and always let Xiurong know that she was proud of her and loved her.

Her mother took over the position as leader of their village when xiurong was around a few months old and was a strong and capable leader for many years. All the while she tenderly and lovingly cared for xiurong, vowing that she would do anything and everything to give her the best life a child could have. 

Zhu Ning (grandmother, deceased) - Xiurong was close to her grandmother as well, but not as close as she was to her mother. Her grandmother was tough as nails and an excellent leader to their village. 

though she always had trouble properly expressing it, she truly loved her daughter and granddaughter with every fiber of her being. 

Her fondest memories of her grandmother would be all the stories she would tell her before she would go to bed. Stories of gods and demons that would play out in her mind's eye as she drifted off to sleep at the sound of her grandmother's calming voice.

Children:

Triplets =  Wei Chuntao (alive) + Wei Rong (alive) + Wei qiaolian (alive) - she is very close with her three daughters. They are the most precious people in the world to her and she was willing to do anything to make them happy and keep them safe. No words can truly describe how much she loves her kids.

She wanted them to have the freedom to make their own choices and experience all that life has to offer them, even if it meant dealing with the sadness of letting them go. 

 Due to certain events that happen in the sequel, xiurong is unable to visit her daughters and can only watch over them from her celestial prison. When she was allowed to leave her prison, she would visit each of her daughters in the form of a creature.

She would do whatever it took to be there for her daughters.

Wei Xifeng (alive, born in the sequel, little tiger) = once again, her kids are the most precious things in the world to her. So, she loved her youngest from the moment her tiny hand grasped her finger.

Unfortunately, two months after giving birth to her, due to certain events that happen, Xiurong is forced to watch her little one grows up from afar. Only able to leave her celestial prison in the form of a creature for short periods of time to spend time with her.           

  She watches over her continuously. Doing whatever she can do to be there for her daughter. To show her that she loves her and that she is always there watching over her and supporting her.

Grandparents:

Zhu Ning (grandmother, deceased)

Pan gen (grandfather, deceased) = never got to meet her grandfather and she is glad she didn’t. 

According to those who knew him and met him, her grandfather was an extremely selfish and volatile man. He was extremely abusive to her mother and grandmother and was just a terrible leader in general since he refused to help fix any of the problems plaguing the village.

In order to keep them safe and to end his cruelty towards the villagers and their family, her grandmother murdered him. The village turned a blind eye to it and were more than ready to accept Zhu Ning as the new leader. 

Grandchildren:

Oooh boy…. folks this woman has A LOT of grandchildren. 

 i’m going to go in order from oldest to youngest and list their parents after. 

In total xiurong has seventeen grandkids!

Sun Tian - (Chuntao + sun wukong)

Sun Lihua Ruolan - (Chuntao + sun wukong)

Wei Baozhai - (Qiaolian + spider queen)

Sun Yunru - (Chuntao + sun wukong) 

Wei Chen + Wei Xiaohu - (Rong + macaque) 

Sun Qingshan - (Chuntao + sun wukong )

Wei Shanyuan - (rong + macaque) 

Wei Qiqiang - (Qiaolian + spider queen)

Wei Xingjuan - (Qiaolian + spider queen)

Sun Luohu + Sun jidu - (chuntao + sun wukong)

Sun Wenqian jiayi - (chuntao + sun wukong)

Sun yubei xing - (chuntao + sun wukong)

Wei liu (nicknamed savage) + Wei ju (nicknamed rumble) - (rong + macaque) 

Wei Bai he - (rong + macaque)

 She also has two great grandchildren. 

 1. Wei Chen Xue - (Wei Xiaohu)

 2. Sun Junjie - (Sun tian) 

        Xiurong adores her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She knows each one of their likes, dislikes and little quirks by memory and She was actually there to witness most of her grandchildren's births, all except for bai he.

 She was imprisoned way before bai he was born. however, when she was able to leave her prison, she would always pay visits to her granddaughter. 

In-laws 

She is on pretty good terms with each of her children's spouses. Treating them with the same amount of care, concern and kindness that she gives her own daughters. 

They are her family, and she cares about them. 

However, she would not be afraid to snap their necks if they hurt her daughters.

Sun wukong (son in law, alive) 

Six eared Macaque (son in law, alive) 

Spider queen (daughter in law, alive??) 

 Pets: 

  A demon cat she lovingly named Heng (still alive)   

Best friends/friends :

- Baigujing   …weird? Seems this one is hard to recall? Wonder why?

-the demon bull family, including the demon bull king 

- the other demon kings (the azure lion, the golden winged eagle, the yellow toothed elephant, flood dragon king, the macaque king, marmoset king)

-Erlang Shen, Nezha, chang'e, the dragon kings (Ao Guang, Ao run, Ao qin, Ao shun). These are the only immortal beings she is on truly good terms with. 

Xiurong generally gets along with everyone, but these people are the only ones she has close friendships with.

Rivals:

The demon bull family

The azure lion, the golden winged eagle, the yellow toothed elephant 

Generally, most demons who want to try and test her. 

Enemies:

 only those who seek to hurt or have hurt her family or friends. Other than She doesn’t really have any specific enemies.

Mentors/Teachers: 

Master Guo Xiang - a river demon who trained her father, his mother, and his mother's father etc. She considered him to be a father figure and trained with him for years until she had a firm grasp on her abilities and was now ready to return and take her mother's place as leader. 

Public perception of them:

Perceptions differed among groups. Everyone had their opinions of her, but there was no doubt she made an impact.

Among demons she was both feared and revered. Many demons thought of her as the epitome of success. something they wanted to try and be.

Someone they looked to ally themselves with because of her generosity and her willingness to look out for her allies' best interests. 

However, she was also a target. There were, and still are many that have and want to challenge her. Defeating her would boost their status and their power among demons and no one wants to miss an opportunity to take down the great tigress and her children. 

Among gods and immortals, it was a mix of respect and fear of the devastating destruction she could cause. 

Respect because of her hard work and ability to guard the powerful objects in her care. She did her job well and made it a note to always show proper respect to those in power (even if she internally thought some of them didn’t deserve it)

And fear because of the amount of damage she and her children could cause if she ever used her inner beast again.  

The entire reason the gods and immortals gave her such a comfy position (not with the highest ranks but not close to the lower ranks) was because they had seen what her inner beast was capable of. She could topple them if they set her off.

Most of them were fucking terrified of what she and her children were capable of and were not thrilled at the prospect of angering such a powerful creature. 

So they saw it better to get her on their side than to be in her way

Among humans she was fairly well received.

Sure, there were a few who saw her as a vicious demon, but most saw her as a guardian and another heroic figure. 

She was dedicated to protecting and helping humans. 

Most continue to honor her and tell stories about her acts of goodwill and the battles she had fought to keep people safe. 

In the sequel little tiger, Xifeng actually visits the town that was located inside of her mother's valley and attends a small festival that was made in honor of her mother. 

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Thats pretty much it! I'm currently working on Chuntao's right now and hopefully that should also be out soon!

[sharkshenanigans2]

literally!!

[emotinalsupportturtle]

neil gaiman and RTD are absolute legends for being the showrunners of 2 mainstream shows funded by large production companies in the year 2023, and proceeding to make the most queer positive episodes ever seen by man

meanwhile david tennant is just vibrating with joy because he gets more opportunities to wear his one-thousand-and-twenty-four pride pins

[grabyoursaintsandpray]

X-Men '97

Season 1 Episode 3: Fire made flesh

[frozenwolftemplar]

Seeing how 'Wish' is supposed to be a celebration of a century of Disney that's chock full of homages and nods to their past films, no matter what happens in the film, there's really only one suitable end for King Magnifico:

(source Buzzfeed)

I'm just saying....

It's a tradition!

[salty-an-disco]

The princesses and the colors I headcanon them with

[weirdlookindog]

William Blake - The Great Red Dragon and Beast from the Sea

[artist-ellen]

Wanna guess what super ambitious, totally useless, low research project my burnt out brain decided I finally wanted to start?

I’ve toyed with the idea of revisiting my historically inspired redesigns with proper backgrounds for a while now, but the task has always felt mountainous. Too bad you will never get anywhere if you don’t start climbing anyway, so here we are. Just in case you’re new around here I have done a whole bunch of historical, modern, fantastical, etc. sort of fashion illustrations or “redesigns”. This look is based on mid 1700s fashion for men and women however the off the shoulder roses and hair styling is only inspired by instead of accurate-accurate.

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram.com/ellenartistic or tiktok: @ellenartistic

[little-mouse-gardens]

Fictober day 1 "i chose you"

Fictober day 1 

Fanfiction

fandom - monkie kid

Oc x canon (macaque)  

@fictober-event prompt - “I chose you” 

“I chose you”

    a pang of sadness shot through rongs heart again as the fond memories and emotions those words carried with them came crashing down on her like a wave.

 Memories of her happier days when she was wild. When she was completely carefree. When all she had to worry about was her daily tasks as a guard and what shenanigans her sisters and friends were gonna drag her into. 

before everything had changed. 

   A shaky sigh escaped her as she gazed back up at the moon, soothingly rubbing the backs of the two little baby red and black furred demon monkeys that were currently wrapped to chest. 

   their tails wrapped around both her arms like a lifeline as she rocked back and forth on a porch swing that overlooked the family’s garden 

Eyes glancing over at the time on her phone every once in a while, as she Patiently waited for her husband to return back with wine, baby formula and the egg tarts + plum cakes she ordered ahead for their wedding anniversary. 

  The sounds of cars driving in the distant city, crickets chirping, nocturnal creatures moving around in the distant forest accompanied with her children's purring and cooing noises, and the cool night breeze caressing her skin. 

All was enough to put her at peace again. enough to keep her mind off of the few depressing implications that their anniversary would also bring up and focus more on celebrating.

  Specifically, at least 2320 years of marriage and the love they shared, their first two children who were now fully grown and the two twins she had recently. all of which are healthy, alive and unharmed, the fact they don’t have to worry much about getting old and…. other things…. but those things didn't need to be brought up

  After all the shit they had been through over the thousands of years they have been together, those were pretty huge accomplishments for the both of them. 

  And they were gonna celebrate even if her sisters couldn’t make it. 

  The subtle sounds of a portal opening behind her and the sudden distinct scent of plum scented cologne and freshly baked egg tarts brought a smile to rong’s face.

 “I’m back pretty girl~”

   Rong chuckled at the nickname.  Her cheeks dusting a rosy pink as she turned away from the garden to face her husband standing in the doorway. 

   The handsome monkey demon was leaning against one of the screen doors, love in his golden gaze and his signature charming smile on his face as he looked over at her and the babies. 

  His silky black fur was still a bit ruffled from sleep and he was no longer dressed in the normal outfit he always wore out in public but in a Loose lavender sweater and a pair matching fuzzy pants she bought him as a gift last new years.

   It was meant to be a bit of a joke gift, she had actually made him a new weapon to practice with at the dojo, but she just had to see the look on his face when he opened the box and saw the cutest puppy and monkey patterned pants sitting inside. 

   However, Rong was quite surprised to start seeing him wear them around the house and even when she asked him why he didn’t just wear a different pair of pants when she had to sew a tear in them, he basically told her that they were the most comfortable pants he had. 

  Which was code for ‘i can’t really find a way to express it but i love this gift you've gotten me and i will cherish it forever no matter how cutesy it is’ 

  But That was macaque for you, a powerful cunning and charming demon who was secretly a big softie that managed to make his way into her heart centuries ago

 “Glad your back love” she replied, getting up from the swing to kiss her husband’s cheek “did ya get everything?”

“Yes i did” he purred, his long black tail snaking around her waist “and i gotta say babe, you have excellent taste”

  Rong gave him a smug grin, sitting contents of the bag down on the dining room table before turning back around and reaching a hand out to pet behind his ears.

“you're damn right i do” she quipped, her heart melting at her husband's purrs “you tend to pick up a few things when you spent centuries with such a clever and handsome husband like mine” 

  macaque felt his face and ears heat up at her compliment. His purring intensified as he leaned his forehead against hers. allowing the glamor he wore to fade away, revealing his blind left eye that he normally covered up. 

  Yeah. to others it was kind of stupid that he would practically melt away at a complement his wife would give him every day. But macaque couldn't help it. 

He was just incredibly thankful and happy to have her in his life.

“You flatter me babe” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear “i’m not that handsome”

“Oh hush, you are handsome mihou!” she insisted, pausing when she felt xiaobo and luli squirming around in their wrap “they’re probably ready for bed. Both of them tried to stay up waiting for you to get back home”

“Guess they missed their Baba, didn't they?” macaque cooed, carefully taking the two little demon monkeys into his arms “or they just missed their walking heat source so much they couldn’t fall back asleep without it” he commented sarcastically, the two babies squeak immediately turning into soft purrs and coos as they cuddled up into their father's sweater. 

   Rong chuckled at his comment, leaning against the kitchen table as she looked at them. Taking in the sight of macaque holding the twins with nothing but love and gentleness on his face like a love drunk fool. 

 The same she gave him years ago when she first started to really feel something stronger than friendship for the six eared demon. 

“Rong, whatcha starin at?” 

“Oh it's nothing” she replied, going back to setting a few of the egg tarts and plum cakes on a plate for them to enjoy.

"Could you put them in their crib for me? I’ll set up the stuff outside for us” 

“No problem love” he purred, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before making his way down the hallway “i'll be right back, don’t start opening anything without me” 

Rong just smiled and rolled her eyes. “don't worry, I won't peek” she replied sarcastically, taking the plate of pastries and the two glasses filled with plum flavored wine outside. 

  After putting the twins in their crib, the couple just sat on the swing and celebrated. 

Their laughter echoing in the night air as they retold and relived memories. Leaning on each other's shoulders as they Ate egg tarts and plum cakes and laughed about the mildly chaotic wedding, they had centuries ago and the ridiculously chaotic week they had after until they were both in tears from laughing so hard.

Then they opened gifts from their older children who had stopped by and visited them earlier in the day to congratulate them on their anniversary.

   Their daughter yuan sent her mother and father two red envelopes with 100 dollars each inside alongside two magical little stuffed dolls of them that had that character shuang xi embroidered in red thread onto the chest of them. Which would bring them happiness and luck. 

   While their son Bolin sent his mother and father two red envelopes of money and he sent them each a magical item he made himself in his workshop. Rong received a beautiful set of broadswords that could return to her when she called for them and macaque received a beautiful red scarf that according to their son's note, would strengthen his powers and slowly heal his wounds when he was wearing it. 

gifts the couple loved and vowed to repay their kids for.

now, the the pair were opening the gifts they got for one another. Gifts that they hid from one another, weeks leading up to their anniversary 

“Alright, now that's settled, let's open the gifts we got for one another '' rong sighed, the couple exchanging two boxes between one another. both boxes being small, similar in size to a jewelry box, and wrapped in beautiful red wrapping paper. 

 Macaque held the box up to his ears, his tail flicking with curiosity as he shook the box gently to make sure he didn’t possibly break the gift inside. Whatever was inside it like metal clinking together. Maybe a necklace or a ring? Some sort of bracelet possibly? A talisman?

 Macaque couldn’t tell exactly, but when looked back over at rong he couldn't help but blush at the excited look she had on her face. Her lavender tinted eyes filled with excitement that made his heart skip beats. Though you could say every time he looked at her at all made his heart skip a few beats. 

  He just loved her that much. She is lover, his friend, his partner in crime,his best critic and the only person he allowed himself to be vulnerable around. 

Even if wasn’t entirely vulnerable, for reasons she knew all too well, she bore with him for centuries and always knew when to check him when it was needed.

All of that managed to make him feel like he was falling in love again every time he saw her face. 

 The face of the beautiful and clever badass warrior with silky black hair that smelled of roses who was hellbent on becoming his friend.

before one thing led to another, and she agreed on the battlefield that she would be his wife. And he couldn’t have been more thankful for it.  

“Hey handsome, don't just stare at me and open your gift” rong teased, watching with anticipation as he opened the box.

rong couldn't help but feel her heartbeat speed up when his expression.

shifting from curiosity to shock when he pulled out a small jade necklace with a little charm of a monkey and a dog wrapped around one another dangling from it. 

“No way” he muttered, nostalgia washing over him as he realized what he was holding  in his hands “is this-”

“The necklace I gave you when we won the huge fight against that demon that tried to take over huaguo shan?” she interrupted, scooting closer to him “yes”

He was too stunned to speak. Eyes still fixated on the necklace in his hands. 

“After..” rong sighed, watching her lover's brows with anger at even the mention of the memory before she continued “the incident...you were so devastated when you couldnt find it…and i didn’t like seeing you so torn up about it..so i every time you went out on a mission, i would go looking for it the inner demon markets just to see if anyone had picked it up”

Gently taking the necklace from his hands, she quickly wrapped it around his neck and clipped the back. Making a few necessary adjustments as she continued to explain how she got her husband's favorite necklace back

“But I had to put looking for it on pause when the twins were born. So, I called on an old friend of mine and she just happened to have it waiting for us in her workshop. She found it a few years earlier in the mountains. She even cleaned it up for you-”

Rong paused when she felt his arms wrap around her. Pulling her close to his chest and burying his face in her hair. 

“Thank you” he murmured “thank you so much for this”

 Rong could already feel tears welling up in her eyes. overwhelmed when she heard the pure softness in his voice and the fact she managed to bring something that brought him and her so many fond memories back.

“Your welcome love” rong murmured, hugging him back and burying her face into his chest for a few moments longer “i’m glad to see you wearing it again”

“I’m glad to have it around my neck again” macaque replied, pulling away scoot rong’s gift closer to her “now you have to open mine” 

   Rong raised brown at the insistence in his voice. Unwrapping the box slowly as she gazed over at his smiling face every couple of seconds to see his reaction.

“Is that new scarf you saw me eyeing?”she inquired

“Nope”

“The new bones to blood book that i saw last week?”

“Not even close”

“Alright i’m gonna guess it's a-” rong paused when she saw the contents at the bottom of the box.

 Her expression shifted between shock, nostiliaga and happiness, Tears welling up in her eyes as she pulled out an all too familiar jade bangle. 

A delicate piece of jewelry that had been completely shattered centuries ago during the incident that made her completely lose trust in what was once their close friend, but also strained her relationship with her sister.

What made this bracelet so special was the words and memory behind it.

Through blurred eyes, the characters carved into the bracelet read ‘ wǒ xuǎn zé le nǐ’ across the bracelet and translated to I chose you

  The exact words macaque had said to her when he had proposed to her during a fight against the demon on the battlefield. After the demon had been killed this was their symbol of unity. Their official symbol of their marriage. He had put on her wrist and basically poured his heart out to her about how much he appreciated her and loved her.

 He claimed that between her and all powerful weapons the demon they killed might have had, he chose her and would choose her every time.

because her being alive was the most important thing to him at the end of the day and that he was going to follow her into any battle or struggle so long as she would have him. 

“You love it?’ macaque asked, wrapping his arms around Rong and rubbing her back as she sobbed into his shirt

“Of course I love it goddammit!” she laughed, wiping her eyes and lifting her head up to press kisses all over his face as they held one another “you know how much it killed me when our bracelet broke! I couldn't even stand wearing jade for years after it had been destroyed!”

  Macaque just smiled fondly at her. His heart swelling with pride and joy as she gushed over the bracelet. Just happy to see Rong so overjoyed to have the simple jade bangle back on her wrist again. Reaffirming her love for him and reaffirming how strong their bond was. 

after calming down from the joyful moment, Rong leaned her head on his shoulder. taking his hand in hers. Looking up at him with half lidded tear-filled eyes.

“Love you mac” Rong murmured, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. 

Macaque let out a low purr. His tail instinctively wrapping around her wrist and his hand cupping the back of her head as he melted into her soft lips. 

“Love you more rong” he replied, pulling rong closer to him. Rong letting out a content sigh, the two of them just staring down at the bracelet and the words inscribed on it. Content and thankful they had one another. 

Repeating the phrase in their heads as they glanced at one another 

‘I chose you’ 

[deanpinterester]

so do we think:

1) the gloreth vs beast battle never happened. it was only ever just baby gloreth and baby nimona in that one fire-filled moment. but the event got twisted and shifted into a grand mythology so the kingdom can justify their way of life

2) the battle did happen, years and years after that initial encounter, when gloreth is an adult. she fights the person used to be her childhood friend. she does not hesitate to run her sword through nimona's heart

[stheresya]

no asoiaf character has ever been more doomed than Lady the direwolf. with most characters you can always rationalize their fate with "oh if they had done this instead of that then things might have been different they would still be alive the war wouldn't have happened etc etc". but with Lady there is just no plausible scenario in which she doesn't end up dead by the end of agot :(

[antigonesghosts]

What I loved about Cinderella's Castle is it is so entirely about Ella. We know starkid can handle a show with tons and tons of characters but I found it quite refreshing for it to be so wholly her story? I think it was a lovely choice for this show and man Bryce did such a perfect job of it, she is truly such a star

[bespectacledbun]

a note about the Beasts and Bromance event: Chev and Licht's story specifically takes place right after Bloodstained Rose Day, which is 10 years prior to the Act 1 prologue. although they're using the adult sprites for their dialogues, the actual ages of the princes in this story are:

Jin – 22 years old Chevalier – 20 years old Clavis – 19 years old Leon – 18 years old Yves – 15 years old Licht and Nokto – 14 years old

Edit: as @lucyw260 pointed out, Yves is currently 15 in this event, not 16. That was a typo on my part^^

[blendereels]

I'm going to try to make my own designs for all the creatures in asoue/atwq. Here's my interpretation of The Great Unknown :)

design notes ↓

[salmonpiffy]

Optimus “just want to go home” Prime

[felassan]

before the Gameplay Reveal of Dragon Age: The Veilguard went live the other day, the stream had a countdown on a purple background. there was cool music playing in the background of this. there is a rewatch link for the gameplay video, but it doesn't include the song. Ghil Dirthalen recorded it though, so if you would like to re-listen to it, you can do so here at [this link]. there is also a link in the description of the video to a download of the audio file there.

maybe this is the music that plays over the 'Start Menu'? :)