#For the love of...

[nulliustram-webfiction]

For the Love of... Alchemy Pt 1

(An aroace magician tries to find a type of magic in a world that's convinced its not possible.)

They moved to looking at other tracks of magic for Priscilla to try her hand at. For this, Rayyan put her down in front of a girl scribbling in a notebook.

“Priscilla, meet your cousin, Fariha.” He explained in a rush, “She was ranked first in the entry batch. If anyone knows magic, it’s her.”

“And she has ears, too.” Fariha snipped, still working on her notebook, before smiling at her nervously, “Hi, Priscilla. How’re you enjoying Makhdal?”

“It’s… good.”

“And you’re studying in Psy-Field?”

“Planning to. Any tracks you want to recommend?” Priscilla asked hopefully, “Anything without love, if you can manage that.”

Fariha frowned, “That’s… specific. And also impossible. I mean, without love?” She laughed incredulously, “Not exactly what magic stands for.”

“Well, what’re you doing now?” Fariha looked over her shoulder to take in the scribbled diagrams on Fariha’s notebook. It was a series of interlinked circles and symbols, arrows arcing over the pages, and smudge-marks covering it from all the edits made to the diagrams. Priscilla recognized it instantly as…

“An alchemical array!” She cried, “That’s awesome, girl!”

“Yeah. And not what you’re looking for.” Fariha told her firmly.

Priscilla snorted. That was ridiculous. She was new to the world of magic, it was true, but she understood alchemy. Chalk diagrams that you placed materials in and then activated with a touch to pull out a completely new material.

Alchemy was cold. Mathematical. All the weights, angles, and lengths had to be just right, no room for emotional input was needed.

“Why isn’t it?” Priscilla asked, “Sounds perfect to me.”

“Which just means you know nothing about alchemy.” Fariha told her bluntly, standing up with tightly held excitement, “You know a lot of people really don’t consider it to be a very taxing type of magic, but it’s really all mixed up in the culture that alchemy is surrounded by that paints it as unemotional and legalistic. But anyone who’s ever even gotten into the art knows that that just isn’t true! Passion goes into every single chalk figure—And I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“A little bit.” Priscilla agreed.

“Well, I care a lot about it.” Fariha continued, her eyes glistening in excitement, “Come on, new girl, I’m going to show you the wonders of alchemy! Maybe you’ll click with it.”

Priscilla really, really doubted that. But she fought down the nausea in her stomach and agreed.

(The previous segment of this is is For The Love Of... Dueling.) (Part 2 will be linked here once its out.)

[everyday-cutephoto]

[inkskinned]

hey... don't cry.... tesla recall for most cybertrucks, okay? >46,000 vehicles affected <3

[autoneurotic]

i’m going to burst into tears. such a hauntingly stupid and wonderful phrase to immortalize somewhere. LOOK AT PIttbert!

[jandjsalmon]

Fun Story to Share.

I got my (now 18-year-old) daughter into Ao3 back in 2021. I taught her she should always comment - even if the fic looks old or abandoned or whatever. She did.

Well - she got this email this morning:

The fic was written in 2014 and essentially abandoned.

Bethy read and reviewed in 2021 (and was actually the only person who had commented at all).

Today in 2025 - the final chapter was posted by the author and this was her reply to Bethy’s comment.

———

Never question whether a fic is too old to comment on.

[gammadoppler]

Alien pulling your sleeve to get your attention: and who is this Cunt you all serve

[two-bees-poetry]

so soft it hurts

[ak-nm]

[sugarsaltreading]

earlier this week Twitter user ppuccin0 tweeted about a fashion article that advised against tops with large floral patterns, saying the wearer was in danger of looking like a "ロマンティックおばさん," or a "romantic auntie." the tweet went viral with many agreeing that a "romantic auntie" sounded like a very nice thing to aspire to be, and some even posted illustrations or photos tagged with the trend

illustration by Toyota Yuu (author of Cherry Magic)

illustration by 141shkw/Sora Midori (author of Beautiful Curse)

photos by Takinami Yukari (author of Motokare Mania and Watashi-tachi wa Mutsuu Ren'ai ga Shitai or "We Want A Painless Romance")

illustration by m:m (mangaka of Matataki no End Roll)

illustration by ooinuai (mangaka of Onikui Kitan)

illustration by ma2 (mangaka of The Reason We Fall In Love)

BONUS:

[glowcowboy]

i am full of love and also fatigue

[candyskiez]

The fact that people don't think friendship is enough to justify characters doing insane acts of love for each other baffles me. Like have you never loved your friend so so much you want to live in their ribcage. Have you never been really weird about a friend. Have you never wanted to bite your friends parents or shove them down a staircase. Have you never wanted to be buried in the same grave as a friend. Have u never. How do u people live like this.

[delsincloud]

[crabussy]

let's form structures with mamas

[glumby]

I just really like the movie