#touch of cruelty

[sheltiechicago]

Meet Bára Prášilová, The Mastermind Behind Absurd Humor In Photography

Czech photographer Bára Prášilová has carved out a unique niche for herself with a distinctive style that blends absurdist humor, striking beauty, playfulness, and a touch of cruelty, all underpinned by her relentless pursuit of perfection.

[zhoras-bitch]

TW animal death/cruelty.

This is a sensitive subject and I hope nobody takes it the wrong way, but I have to say that Lada's reaction to killing animals is very modern city girl coded. I’m sorry, but they live in a tiny secluded village where they grow and cook all of their food themselves from scratch. And Lada in particular is from a family of shepherds. Even if they mostly keep the sheep for wool and milk, they’d still have to control the livestock population and mercy kill the weak and sick animals. I'm not saying it is easy or fun for anyone, not should it be, but it is unavoidable, and any farmer, including Lada herself, would know that.

[lliquidllyrium]

Brainstorming a post canon story where Lucanis is adjusting to life as the first Talon under Caterina’s watchful eye and juggling that with his and Rook’s relationship. Thinking Caterina will be a hardass as usual and criticizing most things Rook does (works with a De Riva but might be even more fitting with a Rook unfamiliar with the politics of the Crows) while Rook is trying Very Hard to earn her approval for Lu’s sake because despite his tense relationship with his grandmother she is important to him.

Culminates in Caterina speaking with Rook alone one night and out of nowhere Caterina swipes their cheek with her cane, leaving a very precise but shallow cut. She tells Rook that had it been an attack from an assassin truly meaning to take their life they would already be dead, and that being the lover of the First Talon requires someone vigilant and able to care for themselves.

Lu returns to their room that night (stressed as he normally is these days) and Rook tries to keep that side of their face angled away from him but Spite catches the scent of dried blood and tips him off. He’s worried and furious of course, but Rook is reluctant to tell him who did it and when they finally do Lu goes to storm out and confront Caterina. Rook stops him and asks if it’s him or Spite and Lu is a little taken aback and hurt that Rook assumes that because it is Caterina who did this he would somehow be less willing to react. He swears that Rook is family, and if Illario is not exempt from consequences for harming family Caterina is at least going to get an earful. Rook apologizes for assuming he wouldn’t stand up for them against his grandmother, and for treating Spite as a rabid animal with no self control. Cue sweet moment with hugs from both arms and wings.

Lu takes a moment to clean the wound up gently, also collecting his thoughts and calming himself down. Rook realizes somewhere in the middle of this that the clever old hag had meant for this all along. Harm Rook superficially after weeks of building tension -> get Lucanis mad enough to confront her in a blind rage -> pontificate on lessons about allowing judgment to be blinded when it comes to Rook. It was a test to see if he would charge in blindly to defend their honor or if he would take a moment to think and plan. He had almost failed, and would have if not for Rook.

He isn’t thrilled that it makes some sort of sense, but she is a 70-something year old assassin who was First Talon until recently so she obviously knows her shit. He approaches her later and insists that both he and Rook had heard her loud and clear, but any further lessons or advice for him will be delivered via verbal communication and counsel. Caterina agrees, looking as proud as a stoic old bat can. She may not be happy with the tone that he takes but something can be said about the fact that he is willing to take it with her after all this time.

She explains that it is crucial that if he as First Talon is to take a lover he must accept that he will not always be able to protect them from the dangers this life entails. They must be able to defend themselves against all threats, but even more important is that if something should happen to them, Lucanis will keep a level head. His enemies will expect him to be blinded by grief and rage, sloppy and prone to leaving himself unguarded. A true First Talon will keep his head about him and make his enemies suffer. A true First Talon will honor a loved one’s memory with the blood of their enemies, not by falling on a sword in their name.

[tls123]

thinking about yoo joonghyuk and how he is not meant to give up, not ever. but then! what do you do when the person who created you strolls in and says actually, this one time you'll have to give up. not right away, sure, but you will have to give up.

1863rd round the author comes in and talks to him directly and makes him the husk of a man we find a few days away from The End, the one whose only desire seems to be to just get there (the last step of han sooyoung's plan) and die.

she is the only one who can make him give up like that, if not for the single point of failure she wove into his very being — the very reason he cannot ever truly give up

kim dokja shows up, changes the trajectories of both of their lives for fucking ever, and in general fucks everything up so spectacularly yoo joonghyuk can do nothing else but split himself in two

because he wants to live.

[carlyraejepsans]

fridging more often than not has the opposite effect on me because I'm too mad about the women in the story being done dirty to care about the supposed emotional impact of their deaths. but man. when time travel (PLLF) hits it hits.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

given that seems to be the new popular take in the fandom at large since totk got out: let the record show that I'll gladly let myself get repeatedly manipulated by the wind waker speech and be foolishly moved by its implications over rejecting space for humanity and vulnerability in the monstrous and the dispossessed, and then feeling weirdly smug about severing that fleeting attempt at connection and deem it obviously insincere

[silver-dragonborn]

The way I became absolutely enraged when Aemon dared to put his disgusting hands on Helaena and dragged her like a fucking dog on a leash.

[aftout]

mah bugs....... she got a rework.......

[nomsfaultau]

Never Love an Anchor || The Crane Wives

For the fic Fault.

[rxttenfish]

while aaravi remains firmly within "yeah miranda has a difficult personality and isn't very easy to get along with + has many rough edges which are slowly being worked on but still going to be an issue" after having been very much so within the camp that miranda is a Vexing Bitch upon first contact/getting to know her, she DOES go from "miranda is unpredictable and dangerous as a merfolk and large macropredator and her emotions are inscrutable and random" to "merfolk aren't very hard to understand or predict and it's very easy to stay on the safe side if you keep basic rules in mind and don't freak out the second something unexpected happens"

[lunaetis]

[ i've said it before and i'll say it again, i love writing my muses in love. ]

[sheltiechicago]

Meet Bára Prášilová, The Mastermind Behind Absurd Humor In Photography

Czech photographer Bára Prášilová has carved out a unique niche for herself with a distinctive style that blends absurdist humor, striking beauty, playfulness, and a touch of cruelty, all underpinned by her relentless pursuit of perfection.

[wickershells]

Leonard Cohen, “Letter” from Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956)

[akkivee]

More Kuko ramblings because adhd, but i was driving and listening to Closer, which made me think about HitoJaku, and then Hitoyas slightly retconned backstory, and then chapter 4 of the dhbat manga, and then about Kuko and Sawamura parallels. But something we haven't seen touched on in a while is Kuko's latent anger issues, violence streak, and the sadism both of those issues inspire.

you actually beat me to talking about this thought myself lmao i’ve been planning on a creepy kuukou ‘month’ for october where i just draw kuukou with his darker aspects when i can and his viciousness was part of the plans lmao. like i still don’t how much of sougyaran bam💥 i should be taking literally or anything at all lmao, but like combined with sawamura’s story and the rocky vibes sougyaran bam 💥 has, i was going to put it out there that maaaaaaybe kuukou might be implying a body count in his chorus

and like i still can’t get over the shock on kuukou’s face when the bully tried to kill himself and kuukou intending to take the full blame for it all in that very chapter like idk??? i feel like there is a sort of violence that shaped him and he’s been fighting against with varying degrees of success lol, but especially in those early chapters where he’s still wearing that dragon sukajan

but it’d be great if that was the underlying issue in the upcoming drama track!!!! 🙏🙏🙏

[eldritchqueerture]

"He's a man that not while ago I would've found pathetic and weak. Now I see him as wise and sensible."

HOW ABOUT YOU JUST STAB ME. JUST FUCKING KILL ME IT'LL HURT LESS

[express-archives]

thinking about esfir.....