#today's lesson

[lets-talk-story]

Today's Lesson: Admiration for a Butterfly

In the Last Unicorn, the Unicorn encounters a Butterfly the color of night. The Unicorn meets this Butterfly before she has any hint of where the other unicorns might be.

At first the Butterfly seems to speak nonsense. Then he seems to be talking in riddles. In reality; the Butterfly can only speak in stories, songs, and poetry he has heard before.

He has mashed together references in his attempt to let the Unicorn know that he understands her situation and is warning her of the dangers ahead.

Most of the sources the Butterfly uses have to do with wandering, loneliness, heartache, and death. But there's also references to stories of witches, vultures, knights, mad kings, bargains with devils, and a biblical bull with horns of a unicorn.

The Unicorn does not understand the Butterfly's words; but will feel them in her heart by the end.

Notes: I'm so amazed by the effort put into this little character; that over the next couple posts, I'll be sharing some of the poems the Butterfly references in the book. That way you can understand some of what the Butterfly was thinking of when talking to the Unicorn.

[alarrytale]

HI. I apologize in advance if I ask the same question to more bloggers, but, as a baby Larrie, I don't know many things and I don't have clear ideas. a veteran Larrie, here on Tumblr, thinks that H and L broke up at least a year and a half ago (this would also be demonstrated by the fact that Louis, completely drunk, fell and broke his arm) and that what is happening in these days is made possible precisely by the fact that they are no longer together. This statement struck me. what do you think?

Hi, anon!

Why does it matter so much to you what i think? What do you think? What do you think i think, considering i'm a larrie? Short answer is anyone who thinks they broke up or used to be broken up but got back together are wrong. It doesn’t matter if they're a veteran larrie or newbie.

I agree with this and this (except for the part of not knowing if they're together now, they are)

Also, Harry tweeted something other than show pics for the first time in forever when Louis broke his arm. And he tweeted a picture of a deer. It's the first pic that pops up on google when you search the phrase "oh deer", which is a pun. Fans were worried the tattoo would be lost. Louis said in an interview that they managed to save his deer tattoo. My guess is the Harry tweet was a response to L telling him they were going to try to save the tattoo. So the pic had double meaning, a comment on the accident and a comment on the tattoo.

[sodaaalime]

Blue day :')

[plungermusic]

12.1 “No man or woman can serve two masters.”

12.2 “For either they will hate the one and love the other, or they will cleave to the one and abandon the other.”

12.3 “Therefore, ye cannot serve both blues and americana”

12.4 At which Peter uttereth, “Lord, this cannot be so, for countless are they who walk both the blues path and the path of americana. Are they to be condemned merely for their versatility?”

12.5 Unto which He respondeth, “He (or yea, she, for this is not unknown) who traveleth both paths may indeed journey far, and journey well, but cannot truly scale the peaks of either.”

12.6 “For the ways of one are not the ways of the other, and mastery cometh only to those who dedicate themselves.”

12.7 “Much as it paineth me to disagree,” saith Peter, “yet verily there are those who have indeed ascended to the very heights of both those peaks.”

12.8 “Nay not only these but also scaled the summits of the rocky pinnacles.”

12.9 “Which have been deemed classic.”

12.10 “Sayeth who?” interupteth He.

12.11 “Sayeth them who bestow the accolades upon the righteous at the turn of every year.” 

12.12 (“Yea, and when I say every year it doth seem to be EVERY year despite the numberless multitudes from which they might select their exalted champions.”

12.13 “But then what knoweth I?”)

12.14 At which He waxed exceeding wrathful and turned over the tables of the merch sellers, saying:

12.15 “Look thou not on the baubles and gewgaws that shower from the hands of the ignorant, for they are bought with the gold of the ungodly.”

12.16 “Nor put your trust in the exalted praise of the world, for it is but the empty clanging adulation of brazen vessels that lack substance, and yea any semblance of musical savvy.”

12.17 And Peter looketh at Him and saith “Hath anyone ever told thee, thou canst verily be a total downer on occasion?”

12.18 “Ofttimes I swear I knoweth thee not…”

[thereadmind]

[selfhealingmoments]

[ryllen]

"I KNOW HIM BEST AFTER ALL!!!"

[hajihiko]

It runs in the family

[starry-bi-sky]

this just in: danny fenton is just as much of a mask as Brucie Wayne? - another danyal al ghul au

Turns out, being placed in a civilian family who have no knowledge of your background is actually detrimental to the health and development of a child assassin due to lack of proper support! Surrounded by strangers in a foreign city, Danyal Al Ghul does as assassins do best. He hides. Espionage is one of many teachings one learns in the League, and it only takes half a day for Danyal to construct a new persona to hide behind: Daniel Fenton.

By the time dinner rolls around, Danyal al Ghul is safely and securely tucked behind the face of Danny Fenton; brand new adoptive child of the Fenton family who came from overseas. A shy, quiet little boy with a thick accent and curly hair, with brown skin and blue eyes, and an avid interest in the stars. The best fictions are always cobbled together in a little bit of truth, it's some of the only truth he ever lets through. He apologizes in a meek voice for his behavior early, he didn't mean to be rude, and he watches the three of them eat it up with coos.

Lies roll like silk against his lips, he struggles to meet their eyes and offers them his weakest, shyest smile. It's too easy. It's easy to go from there.

Danny Fenton, adoptive son, shy and awkward and unconfident but friendly. Who struggles in his classes and isn't the brightest, but tries his hardest. He makes bad jokes and has a quick tongue and a sarcastic mouth. He wants to be an astronaut. He's got the best aim in school, and is a terrifying dodgeball player. He's one of the least athletic kids in his grade.

It's like playing two truths and a lie, but there's only one truth, and the rest are lies. It's easy to pretend when he knows it's insincere.

Danyal Al Ghul, grandson to the Demon Head. Deadly, trained assassin. Has spilled blood, has had blood spilt from. Environmentalist, animal activist. He loves the stars. He owns a calligraphy set. A sharp tongue, an even sharper blade. He's clever, quick-witted, he would be top of his grade if he tried harder. He purposely doesn't.

He misses his family. He misses his mother, and he misses his brother. Mother visits a few times a year, so few times that he can count it on both hands. He cherishes every visit, as brief as they are. It helps remind him who he is.

Sam and Tucker are Danny's best friends. They've never met Danyal, but Danyal's met them.

It becomes routine to become Danny Fenton. As familiar and as easy as pulling on a shirt in the morning. Danyal wakes up and is always first to the bathroom in the mornings; stares at himself in the mirror until he can finally see Danny staring back at him. At night, he locks his door and sheds the mask.

Dying throws a wrench in his mask; splits a crack straight through the porcelain. He's able to smooth it over with sandpaper and liquid gold, but it's a little hard keeping his ghost form under wraps. It instinctively wants to shift to show his true self. Danyal can't have that, he's spent four years as Danny Fenton, he'll spend another four as him as well. Even if the feeling of the hazmat suit in his ghost form feels restrictive, like a too-small shirt suctioned to his skin that needs to be peeled off.

He'll live. Er-- well, you know what he means. It's frustrating however, trying to keep his Danny Fenton mask up even as Phantom - fighting in the air is something he needs to get used to, and the sudden propping of powers throws him off. But he is nothing if not adaptive, and he hates that he needs to slow his own skills down in order to keep pretenses up in front of Sam and Tucker.

The first time Danyal summons a sword when he's alone, is one of the few times Danyal gets to grin instead of Danny. He's fighting Skulker, and from an invisible hilt he draws a katana from thin air. It startles them both. Skulker takes a step back at the smile that spreads across his face.

They're both silent as Danyal examines his new sword.

"Do you know what people like me do to people like you, poacher?" Danyal finally asks him, the accent he began to hide a few months in slipping through. He drops all pretense, dragging the flat end of the blade slow and appreciatively against his palm. It's a good make, and when he cuts it through the air, it slices through like butter. He looks up at Skulker with a smile; "are you ready to find out?"

When Sam and Tucker ask about why Skulker seems so skittish around Danny now, Danny shrugs at them and says with a playful smile; "I don't know, I guess I kicked his butt too hard after our last fight." and he watches as Sam rolls her eyes exasperatedly, and Tucker snickers with his own joke.

By the time he reunites with Damian before their 15th birthday, Danyal is buried beneath so many layers of Danny Fenton that his brother will need a shovel to dig him out. He's not sure what he'll find.

[lets-talk-story]

Today’s Lesson: Burying the Lede

‘Burying the lede’ is an idiom that means: to begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts. The phrase can be used to imply someone doesn’t know how to build up a story, or it can be used to accuse someone of trying to down play important information.

Why lede, not lead? It seems to be a modern romanticization of the past. Some articles will claim some variation of “lede was used because they used lead type” or “lede was the slang for the hottest story” or “lead was the word for the space”.    They type of metal most commonly used for printing was linotype lead/alloy.  The name of the metal came from linotype, a popular type of printing for most of the 1900s. It was comprised of 4% tin, 12% antimony, and 84% lead; as anything completely lead was too soft.    Researchers have found evidence that show that the spelling ‘lead’ was commonly used for a story’s lead before the 1970s, and that lede only started being used after the linotype alloy was no longer being used.    As for the type of space ‘lead’ was used for, it wasn’t specified, so I looked up the two kinds; the kind between sentences and the kind between words. I found that printers did use the term leading to refer to the distance between the lines in a paragraph or page of plain matter. This was pronounced ledding, and rhymes with wedding. Thus it sounds more like the metal, but from what I can tell it is mostly used in combination with ing. I don’t think it’s too much to believe that context clues kept confusion between these words to a minimum.

Bear in mind, none of this is a condemnation of the use of lede. I’m sharing all this because I like learning about the history of our language. “Burying the lede” had the benefit of learning about a idiom as well as and otherwise unused spelling.

For those interested in the space between words: linotypes used spacebands.

[monster-mash-m]

Fairy boyfriend.

Cw: yandere, nsfw, a bit delulu, fairies are scary

Fairy boyfriend who’s no bigger than your index finger. Ofc he’s gonna sprinkle some weird shit on your head as you sleep. Ever since he’s been visiting you in your sleep you’ve had great sleep, no bed head ever.

Fairy boyfriend who is fascinated by you

Fair boyfriend who gets frustrated that he can’t fuck you properly.

Fairy boyfriend who fucks his fist as he looks at your barely covered body as you sleep

Fairy boyfriend who pleads the fairy princess to let him shrink you down and take you as his spouse

The fairies have a few… unconventional views on romance so she was like ‘yeah perfectly normal healthy relationship here, go ahead and shrink them down with some more of this dusty shit’

Fairy boyfriend who sprinkles shit over your head again, in your sleep, finally being able to hold you in his arms and flying you away to his kingdom.

Fairy boyfriend who doesn’t understand why you’re freaking out, why you’re asking who he is and where you are.

Delusional fairy who explains that you’re lovers and he’s taken you to a paradise compared to your old human life.

Fairy boyfriend(?) who’s loving and doting as he keeps you as his now bite size human spouse.

Fairy boyfriend who’s such a gentleman and waits for you to let him take you to pound town

Fairy boyfriend who coos at you sweetly as he pounds into you with desperate vigor, saying he’s waited so long for his cock to stretch you out properly.

Fairy boyfriend who marries you and treats you like a fragile doll.

Fairy boyfriend who dotes on you and loves on you so much

What a sweet lil fella

[veilkeeper]

there's something interesting about emmrich's hangout being so... structured and composed. everyone else's hangout is under the guise of some sort of errand, yes, but they're very casual and free-form. whereas with emmrich, he's taking you on this tour of the memorial gardens in the necropolis. and it is a tour—when he shows you the undead tableaux, it feels like he's reading off a script with the way he describes it to rook, tour guide style. and later, when he opens up to rook, it is always him initiating with the distinct feeling of something being said on purpose, like he had prepared to discuss it.

the flirt at the end gives a romance-flavoured explanation: that he was specifically trying to impress rook, that this is an attempt to endear himself to them. and in a lot of ways, it does look like that: he takes rook to one of the most beautiful, peaceful places he knows, opens up to them about his past, and then he has tea set up at the end of it, like a good host. (he is also rather caught off guard when you flirt with him here, and it could be interpreted as him being embarrassed at being caught out, or trying to walk it back so he doesn't offend).

however.... i don't really think that was his intention? this is probably coloured by the fact that i feel like, comparatively, emmrich has had very few one on one interactions with rook to this point and he breezes by the only flirt before this, but i don't think he walked into the memorial gardens with any intention to charm or otherwise woo rook, here. i think his intention was to get them alone and get an honest read on how they felt about him. specifically, about his work as a necromancer.

if you've rotated different people through the party with him, and if you've paid attention to the conversations he's had with others in the lighthouse, it becomes abundantly clear basically immediately that everyone has opinions on necromancy, and they largely fall into the territory of distrusting, put off, or even outright disgusted by it. a lot of emmrich's early banter with several party members is him going about the pretty exhausting ordeal of defending his magic, the mourn watch, his fields of study, manfred's existence, etc. and because of the lack of one on one time with rook, i'd be surprised if he felt like he'd really had an opportunity to get a read on what his new colleague actually thinks about it all.

so i think he is trying to impress rook, just... not like that. i think he's trying to prove that the necropolis is beautiful, that it's laden in history and rituals that mean something. that the mourn watch is good (the sort of order that would take in an orphan, and give him purpose and structure), and that even necromancers can fear death. i think he's trying to prove that he's a person, under all the misconceptions about his work that seem to go around the lighthouse when he isn't looking.

and i think that's why he looks so taken aback and genuinely surprised when rook flirts with him at the end—because it really wasn't his intention, but he recovers fast enough to pivot with grace. i don't think he's uninterested, i just think he wasn't sure rook could be.

[plungermusic]

“Our reading today is from the Book of Plunger…

Chapters twenty-two and twenty-three.”

22.1 And it came to pass in that time that He called unto him a crowd saying, “The meek shall inherit the charts.”

22.2 “And the nations of the earth shall bow down before thee and worship thee, if that ye but render unto me twenty five shekels each.”

22.3 “Which shall be thy entry into the kingdom of popularity hereafter.”

22.4 And they cried unto Him “Though what shall this profit us in this world, before we enter unto the long-promised land of milk and alcohol?”

22.5 And He spake thus, “Ye shall receive a 15% discount on the tablets of stone delivered from atop the mount of Smut Bleaters (direct debit only, mind you, Ts&Cs apply)”

22.6 “Oooooh”, sayeth the multitude. “And with the residue shalt there be five baskets over to distribute among the needy and destitute?”

22.7 “For is it not our duty to help the poor traveller along the way that they might reach their destination be it even distant as Memphis? Which we assume is in Egypt and nowhere else?”

22.8 Unto which he answered, “For this thy loving father hath instituted the Crowdfunder, that they that crave to give of alms to the unfortunate wayfarer may do so from their own pocket.”

22.9 “For is it not written that I am not made of money?”

23.1 “Well,” respondeth the multitude, “sayeth thou that, but verily we thy followers number more than the grains of sand upon the beach, or at the very least one thousand, surely?”

23.2 “And though it be that the word of Team Bustlers is a light unto the ignorant it striketh us that it cannot be worth a whole 25,000 shekels?” 

23.3 “Particularly as it lighteth only upon every second month.”

23.4 “Tempt me not ingrates and malcontents,” thundered He, “for is it not written that the winnowing of the wheat from the chaff that we might send the finest unto the courts of the great in Europe, yea and beyond even, falls upon us?”

23.5 “Which costeth the earth?”

23.6 “And also the rituals of the anointing of the most righteous of the foregoing year which cheap are not, let me say unto thee.”

23.7 “Yet unto both these shall ye also receive reduced entry, on top of thy much-desired copies of the scriptures of Mrs Steel-Tuba. Which cometh now not in toilet paper-size sheets as was of yore.”

23.8 And yet the multitude were unconvinced. 

23.9 “Hmm, but shall the heavens fall and the earth open if neither event were held? In years gone by the Elders of the Temple conducted the winnowing of the chaff in secret conclave, which requireth no money.”

23.10 “Yet resulteth in much the same wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

23.11 “And the rituals of the annointing of the most righteous of the twelve month just past merely excite the wrath of many who are not chosen."

23.12 "Yea, more so when so many of the righteous are drawn from among those who chooseth who the righteous are…”

23.13 And He was great with wrath. And the earth shook and the heavens trembled, “Enough!”

23.14 “Or I shall smite thee all with plagues of boils and baldness.”

[saradiation]

HAPPY 413! 🎂

[worldwidewandress]

the audience doesn't come to see you. they come to see themselves

— julienne moore

[pjs-everyday]

closeups of our cheeky thief: lost and found, finders keepers— if ya leave it behind, it’s hers! (she’ll give it back to ya… eventually 😉) 🩷

cheeky thief comic: part 1 // closeups // bakugo's shirt // part 2