thirdwifeofriversong

[thirdwifeofriversong]

really one of the main reasons I love Memory is seeing Illyan destroyed. Deconstructed. What remains of the imposing head of the Imperial Security when we remove from him what made him imposing and infallible? the answer is: try again, bitch.

[thirdwifeofriversong]

Zutara Week 2024- Day 1 Crest

Finally I can participate again!! Hopefully I can draw something daily..hahahha

This year prompt kinda abstract tho, but I tried my best! XD

What I had in mind when reading 'crest' actually was the crescent moon......and then 'house crest' from medieval knighthood..

And thus, drawing Zuko using the metal armory hehehe

I thought I can finished it quickly, but apparently I need almost 4 hours to finished it.... hopefully you all love it as much as I do~

Happy Zutara Week All~~~

@zutaraweek

ps. I am considering to sell the higher resolution of this art in my Patreon, (for wallpaper etc), if some of you interested ...but maybe gonna update it later. Also, please support me with Ko-fi (link 📌 at my profile) if you love my arts~~ hehe thx! xD

🚫 do not edit, use, reupload my artworks! Thx!!

[thirdwifeofriversong]

“We’re not something wriggling with too many legs that you found in your sleeping bag. The proper tone of voice is Mercenaries!—with a glad cry.”

[thirdwifeofriversong]

i’ve lived with rabbits and have a very strong image of “rabbit intensely crunching on something (usually hay) while staring into your very soul” and it’s made this part of Absolution so much more visceral

can't get the crab-crunching rabbits from absolution out of my head

[thirdwifeofriversong]

"I'd have mistrusted my memory chip before I mistrusted you."

"God save me from another such victory."

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

[thirdwifeofriversong]

The science dept in Authority: Hey guys, remember that time that somebody thought it was a great idea to dump 2000 rabbits into Area X?… Man, that didn’t go well… Anyway, John, here’s a tiktok edit of the footage we have. Welcome to the Southern Reach!

Control: ……

Me: …So what really happened with those rabbits, Jeff?

Jeff Vandermeer: Okay, I want you to imagine the most disturbing scenario you can think of.

Me: Got it.

Jeff: Aww that’s cute…. Anyway, here’s the most disturbing scenario I could think of… I added a couple little things— an alligator, some flamethrowers, and a mysterious figure with knives coming out of an ever-opening, screaming mouth. Enjoy! *hands me Absolution*

[thirdwifeofriversong]

Is it a tower ? Is it a tunnel ? Up or down, the path only lead forward, toward enlightenment. 🍀🧬

Clic on the first picture to see full resolution

[thirdwifeofriversong]

you know, reading the southern reach series has always taken a lot out of me. i absolutely love it, and it means so much to me, but it’s taken me a couple years between each book to prepare mentally and emotionally for reading more. especially as someone with DPDR. but…. for some… UnKnOwN reason, these books have been so comforting to me this last week. i finished Acceptance a few hours ago, and onto Absolution I go. May rewatch the adaptation too. Sending love to you all

this sucks so bad i need to (remembers suicide jokes only make my mental health worse) join an expedition into Area X

[thirdwifeofriversong]

Harra was silent for long enough for Lem to pass around the stone jug one last time, in the dim moonlight and shadows. Then she said, "You go on. You just go on. There's nothing more to it, and there's no trick to make it easier. You just go on."

"What do you find on the other side? When you go on?"

She shrugged. "Your life again. What else?"

"Is that a promise?"

She picked up a pebble, fingered it, and tossed it into the water. The moon-lines bloomed and danced. "It's an inevitability. No trick. No choice. You just go on.

Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold

[thirdwifeofriversong]

I made more Vorkosigan memes

[thirdwifeofriversong]

couldn’t he just say whore

[thirdwifeofriversong]

I LOVE THOSCHEI SO MUCH SOMEONE PLS GIVE AO3 FIC RECS

[thirdwifeofriversong]

There’s a subplot in Gentlemen Jole and the Red Queen about Mikos ghem Soren, the bumbling  young cultural attaché at the Cetagandan Embassy on Sergyar. He has trouble adjusting both to Barrayaran social norms and Sergyaran wildlife. His attempts to act like a proper serious Cetagandan ghem come off as both snobbery and blatant overcompensation. In the course of his attempts to get a date with young servicewoman Kaya Vorinnis, and later to set up a Cetagandan cultural outreach project, he is prone to comical mishaps. He optimistically sets up a Cetagandan art booth at a major fair, which eventually gets attacked by drunken xenophobes, (and that possibly contributes to the accidental firestorm that levels the rest of the fair.) In the aftermath, he is so scared of getting blamed for the chaos, reprimanded, fired and sent home (to his family of plumbers – some ghem have fallen on hard times), that he asks Cordelia for asylum on Sergyar. Cordelia grants it, provided he’s willing to work as a plumber.

I know that the point of this character (and also of the ambassador’s beanpole of a teenage son) is to show a bumbling, harmless Cetagandan, in order to underline that peace has arrived. While some hostile feeling remains, and the power of Cetaganda will always pose a threat, peace has arrived, and will stay for some time. There’s a running joke about people suspecting that ghem Soren has malicious intent, and his actions turning out to be harmless, if silly. His letter isn’t a threat, it’s an invitation to a date. He’s not dating Kaya to spy on the military base, he really just wants to hang out. His art project, although it involves complex chemical scents and tastes, is not a bioweapon, just an art project. Barrayarans are understandably paranoid, but every time, Mikos turns out to be harmless and silly.

Which is why I’m like 95% sure this B-plot is about an incredibly competent spy successfully embedding himself into Sergyaran society, and possibly into the Vicereine’s life. His orders were to make an ass of himself then defect, so he did.

I’m not going to write it, but I would gladly read a fic about him ten years down the line. He’s gone native, or seems to have: Barrayarans mistrusted him at first, but then he started talking about his Barrayaran grandmother, and seemed so eager to learn all about Barrayaran ways, people slowly warmed to him. He’s working as a plumber, or better yet, being a stay-at-home dad to Major Kaya Vorinnis’s kids. He’s a capable handyman and a good friend to most military families in Gridgrad, he’s up-to-date on all the newest rumours, well aware of who is patrolling what wormhole and how often, who is building a new military installation and where. He regularly reports home still. And then something happens to test his loyalty – maybe some Sergyaran scientists happen to find a creepy venomous space fish that would let them catch up to Cetaganda in the bioweapons arms race. Will he report, and risk re-escalating the war, or will he keep quiet?

[thirdwifeofriversong]

Baghra’s “He is eternal, and you never stood a chance” gives me chills me every time

what’s one of your favorite shadow and bone/grishaverse quotes that doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves?

(not the main ones, aka not “fine, make me your villain”)

[thirdwifeofriversong]

what’s one of your favorite shadow and bone/grishaverse quotes that doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves?

(not the main ones, aka not “fine, make me your villain”)

[thirdwifeofriversong]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think literally all of them suck in this situation, most of all Mor and Azriel, but I have the most grace for Feyre here. A rare ACOTAR rant from me below if you want to read/avoid lol:

Mor - The fact that Mor would rather sleep with someone she has no attraction to than talk with him and shut it down. For 500 YEARS?! The fuck? Even if she didn’t feel comfortable sharing her sexuality, she could give him a firm no and explain how she values him as a friend but is not interested in a romantic relationship with him, ever, and please stop quietly expecting it to happen. Rather than these weird manipulative games. It’s immature and hurtful.

Az - He’s entitled to have a crush, sure, but in 500 years, he never actually addressed it directly, made his intentions clear, sought a definite response, and moved forward. 500 YEARS of pining after someone is not cute, and especially pining after someone who clearly doesn’t treat you well as a potential (in his head) romantic partner. She gives hints but never actually shuts him down, and he either doesn’t have enough self respect to look for a partner who does express a healthy interest in him or he’s too toxic to take no (or implied no) for an answer. Probably both. I don’t feel sympathy for him in this situation.

Cassian - Ah, Cassian. Well-meaning but also toxic. Was it nice of him to stop sleeping with Mor when he realized that Azriel had feelings? Sure. Is it actually a caring move for him to act as a barrier and plaything between the two of them, helping this situation drag out for an absurd amount of time? Hell no. He could have set boundaries that he wasn’t getting in the middle of whatever was going on and told them to sort it out on their own. Sheesh.

Rhys and Amren - They’re not directly involved in the drama, but you know what? They have been friends with these people for fucking centuries, and that’s enough time to give them some tough love and tell them to sort it the fuck out. I would be EXHAUSTED being friends with Mor/Azriel(/Cassian) through all this and can’t imagine not saying anything.

Feyre - Finally, Feyre. Is her advice bad? Yes. Absolutely. But she’s 20 and only just joined this friend group/found family that has existed and been having ~dynamics~ for literal centuries. While I would probably give Mor some serious tough love in private, I would also be nervous to insert myself into all that mess, too. She’s trying to show love for her main female friend (and she probably doesn’t want to harm her friendship when it’s already rocky), but she’s not thinking in the long term. And they are literally in the middle of a war. Not a great response from Feyre, but also arguably the least egregious of anyone in this situation.

What do you think?

(also for the record i think we can all agree that this was terrible writing of a queer storyline)

This book is making me so angry! First, they owe Tamlin so much apologies from all the shit Feyre pulled in the Spring Court before she left. And now I find out Mor has been stringing Azriel along for 500 years???? That poor man. MOR, WHEN I SEE YOU!!!!!! 😡😡😡👊🏼

[thirdwifeofriversong]

I sure hope so because DAMN.

also: “Ensign Dubauer, I’m sorry.”

y’all please pray for me i just finished cryoburn