#shellcollector

[aporeticelenchus]

Hey, for the platonic prompts thing: Grantaire and Joly! I'm sorry that you're under the weather, hope you feel better soon.

Joly hadn’t expected to see Grantaire at the Musain that evening, and he told him as much.

“The feeling is mutual, my fine feathered friend,” said Grantaire. “I thought you were out wooing your Elanore. Alix?

“Eloise,” said Joly. He refused to be glum, not on such a nice night. “She left early. She said she had a sick mother she needed to be with.”

“She didn’t,” said Grantaire.

“I know,” said Joly. “But your insight and honesty are what make you such an excellent friend. That and your exquisite tact.”

Grantaire grunted, which was Grantaire-speak for “Thank you Joly, I love you too, even if I am a sullen bastard sometimes.” Joly prided himself on his interpretational abilities. Marius might be able to read English and German, but Joly would wager he couldn’t read the subtle shades of Grantaire. Truly, it was an art.

“And what about you?” asked Joly, sitting down to join Grantaire at his table. “No party full of charming ladies tonight? I must have passed half a dozen on my way here, and I wasn’t even looking.”

Grantaire waved a hand in a shooing motion. That was Grantaire for “I care very deeply about what’s going on and so I’m trying to pretend I don’t.”

“I had plans earlier with the lovely laundress Helen. She wanted to-” Grantaire waggled his eyebrows and made an obscene gesture “-but it turned out her equally beautiful sister was staying with her, and Helen just couldn’t leave her alone. So naturally I invited her along.”

“Naturally,” said Joly.

“It’s important to be a good host,” agreed Grantaire. “But then as we were on our way to my apartments, we encountered a runaway nun.”

“Of course,” said Joly. “Happens to me all the time.”

“This poor holy sister – or rather ex-sister – had just left orders, you see,” continued Grantaire. “And so despite being young and lovely, she’d never-” Grantaire made an even more obscene gesture than before, somehow. There were bits in the middle Joly couldn’t even follow. “So she was desperate to try it out now that she was free. Then she saw me, and of course she was smitten.”

“Understandable,” said Joly.

“Being a gentleman, I would have loved to help her. But alas, my bed is hardly large enough for one Grantaire, and I knew it would never fit a Helen, a sister, and a Sister besides. And it would have been cruel of me to turn down any of the ladies for another. So I bid them adieu, and begged them to entertain each other instead.” Grantaire spread his hands across the table in the universal gesture of a storyteller who has finished his tale. “I found my throat dry after the walk, and I was nearby. That is a true and proper accounting of my evening – you know I could never tell a lie.”

“I am sure you couldn’t,” agreed Joly. He started to pour himself a glass of whatever Grantaire had been drinking, then thought better of it. Grantaire liked to drink straight out of the bottle when he was in a mood. “I passed Enjolras on my way here, by the by. He said he’d be by soon.”

“Oh, did he?” said Grantaire. “Well that’s of no matter to me, unless he’d like to go deflower a nun for me. I wasn’t waiting here for any of you; it’s just near my rooms.”

Grantaire was right, thought Joly. He really couldn’t tell a lie.

[oceancoresunset]

How to get pretty/ complete shells:

a guide by a floridian sand gremlin

WEAR SUNSCREEN!!!

Start in the sand before the shoreline, there’s a lot of broken shells there, they’re can be really pretty shards in there (you can do this while waiting for the sunscreen to soak up) wear shoes or sandals if they hurt your feet too much.

if you like a shell, grab it. It doesn’t matter if it’s small or broken, or covered in barnacles and worn down with holes. There is no such thing as an “ugly shell” so go crazy!

After the sunscreen has soaked in, and if the water is clear enough, wade to about knee-thigh height and squint as best you can to see what’s at the bottom. The waves are just something you have to deal with, look for half buried objects and tread carefully (sting-ray shuffle if your a floridian). If you see something grab it. You can also put on goggles and stick your head in the water to find things.

Make sure you don’t stay in the same place twice, pick a direction and wade/walk through a bit. But don’t stay there.

Stay close to the shore of the waves are especially large (California). Don’t risk our life for the sake of a shell.

(This doesn’t always work) but you can go deeper, just use goggles and stay low to the bottom like a sting-ray, dig around and pick up things you like (mostly shards, leave the crabs and fish alone)

Take breaks, if you find that your not finding anything good, go back and sit in the shade and drink water, if you live in a colder place, wrap yourself up for a bit. Make sure to reapply sunscreen and eat something too! Take stock of how many shells you have collected, and maybe even start identifying them!

Make sure to show people what you find! There’s so much validation in seeing your friends gawk at the shell you found.

Make sure to clean your shells!!! I made the mistake of just sticking them in jars when I got home WITHOUT CLEANING THEM, and they stink...so make sure you use water and bleach and clean those suckers good.

I hope this was helpful! These are some tips that just help me find good shells, and just today I found a completed (and connected) common cockle clam!

[theoldcoffeetragedy]

For the AU thing: Daemons!

wiokay, confession: I’ve never read His Dark Materials (it’s the books where this concept is from, right?), but I love the concept, so I’m going to say how each character’s daemon must be like? (thank you @just-french-me-up, @easybucky and @withinadream27 for the help!!)

also no restriction of where in the world these animals are from, because 1) it’s more fun this way, and 2) they probably get exposed to lots of different animals from all over the world just by meeting other people who’ve met other people, etc.

Would it be too easy to give Cosette a lark? Probably, but I will anyway. His name is Jules. Marius’ daemon is a really sweet but a little cranky Mandarin duck called Julie - coincidence, it was fate, etc.

Eponine has a wolverine called Olivier. He’s as fierce and fearless as he looks, but not quite as much as Eponine herself.

I really want to give Enjolras a really pretty, graceful and smart dog - maybe a Border Collie like this one? or maybe a long haired one. Her name is Anne-Elizabeth.

I can’t keep the image of Combeferre with an owl like the African batted owlet snoozing on his shoulder most of the day and helping him study at night. Her name is Charlotte, because what a cute name for an owl.

Bossuet with a really fluffy, warm and funny alpaga! Her name is Annetta and she’s super popular and sociable, bless.

Joly has a pretty and cute pipistrelle bat called Stella! She’s super sweet and a little fragile and he is so protective of her, like yeah. She doesn’t really like the city but he does her best to make her comfortable.

Musichetta has the fluffiest, but also grumpiest black cat named Marcel, ah.

Bahorel’s is a fierce Syrian brown bear (what else, I mean), with the pretty name of Pimprenelle! She definitely stands out in the city, where most people have smaller daemons. They both like that.

Grantaire’s is a Pallas’ cat. Her name is Isabelle. She hates everyone but is surprisingly affectionate.

Feuilly’s is a swift fox called Séverine, she sleeps a lot curled up in a blanket on his lap when he’s working ahhh and he’s super careful not to drop paint on her (not always successful).

Prouvaire definitely has a snake called Delphine - I can’t figure out what she is? there are so many snakes, oh dear - but she’s very pretty and colourful and, uh, dangerous looking, quite frankly, but she’s very smooth and shy. 

[pilferingapples]

I thought about it and it's possible the headcanon which is Nearest To My Heart is that Joly is super into homeopathy. The timing is right - the original homeopathic Organon was published in 1810 with revised and expanded editions coming out throughout the teens, twenties and thirties - so it's got that Cutting Edge Appeal, plus it's a whole crazy system linked to a plausible (but totally wrong) account of how medicine works. The more I read on the topic the more strongly I feel about this.

OH MY GOSHyes I am SO completely on board with this, Joly Loves Homeopathy is STILL one of my go-to headcanons even in a modern AU, and in canon era it must have seemed SO REASONABLE. So much more successful than bleeding and tincture of mercury! It must be the homeopathy!–and not that practically anything is better than bleeding and tincture of mercury. 

In general I’ve long thought of Joly as a booster (and practitioner) of New Exciting medical treatments that don’t rely on cutting, purging, etc, because those are super obviously not helping,  no matter what his teachers say, especially because he’s his own first patient for these things and has no great attraction to making himself physically miserable. All his Weird Science canon example are very non intrusive– moving furniture may not actually help, but it’s not gonna make things notably worse, either. 

Return Headcanon: cane or no, Joly’s actually quite a good dancer. He’s not always the most physically graceful guy, but a dance has set moves and everyone involved has the same general idea, and he does very well on the dance floor. 

...And then he sits down and is unfortunately likely to start talking about Exciting Ways Everyone Can Die of Illness , so really it’s a very good thing he’s a good dancer. (and that Romanticism has made Death Talk...kind of In.) 

[siristvantoth]

Would you like to tell the class about your opinions regarding poodles?

Poodles are good, solid, WORKING CLASS dogs which have, just like chihuahuas, been co-opted by the bourgeoisie into being some kind of a status symbol. 

For this reason I would like to declare that Enjolras (a good, solid working class printer who has for so long been Mistaken to be some kind of bourgeois student) is certainly a poodle in the Les Mis Dogs AU which takes place in my head at all times. 

Exhibit A

[arbutuswitch]

I was wondering - what do you do with the 'remnants' of rituals/spells when they're over? I constantly end up with ribbons, bits of paper, candle stubs etc. that I don't know how to handle. I pour some liquids into my garden, but that doesn't feel right for oils etc. Some things I can burn, but then I don't know what to do with the ash. I'd really appreciate advice on this point.

To me, a spell is not complete until these “remnants” are laid to rest, as it were. 

There are four main ways I dispose of spell items: burying them, burning them, leaving them in running water, or throwing them up into high tree branches. Which way I choose depends on the nature of the spell. Biodegradables like oils and ashes usually get buried. Paper gets burnt. If the spell requires cleansing or banishing, I’ll throw the remains into moving water.

[kdekany]

Rainbow Abalone (Haliotis iris) - Also called as Blackfoot Paua. - Largest abalone species - Found in New Zealand - Grows up to 20 cm - Commonly used for jewellery, arts and carvings - They feed on seaweed

[aporeticelenchus]

Let's have some DVD commentary for the Marius/Grantaire kiss fic, since I find that one strangely affecting.

I assume you mean the angry kiss prompt, not the fake dating AU?

OH MAN, I love Marius and Grantaire hanging out. Love it so much, despite it never occurring in canon. Marius is just such a prickly little beast, and Grantaire would have so much fun needling him. But Marius can also be snarky in turn, so I’m 110% sure he and Grantaire sit around judging each other’s life choices. Each one of them is thinking, “Wow, I may be a mess, but at least I’m not THIS LOSER OVER HERE. God can you believe how weird he is about his idol/crush.”

They’re also both people with fairly small friend sets, though in opposite ways. Marius has exactly two friends and a couple of acquaintances. Grantaire must have boatloads of acquaintances, given his listed habits and hobbies, but only eight real friends who make him happy. Neither of them accepts new friends as readily as Courfeyrac or Bossuet. And somehow their tiny friend circles overlap, leaving them…not quite friends, definitely not strangers, but an awkward in between thing.

Grantaire making fun of Marius is, of course, canon, so I feel justified in extrapolating from there.

“Marius’ love affairs!” exclaimed Grantaire. “I can imagine it. Marius is a fog, and he must have found a vapor. Marius is of the race of poets. He who says poet, says fool, madman, Tymbræus Apollo. Marius and his Marie, or his Marion, or his Maria, or his Mariette. They must make a queer pair of lovers. I know just what it is like. Ecstasies in which they forget to kiss. Pure on earth, but joined in heaven. They are souls possessed of senses. They lie among the stars.”   

Definite mocking there - a fog, fool, madman - but it comes across with a degree of affection as well. I mean, “They lie among the stars,” isn’t really a sick burn, it’s actually pretty sweet. Which is the Grantaire way - cover all affection with bluster and jokes.

Right, so we’ve established that I’m super into Marius + Grantaire. On to the actual details of the fic.

Grantaire is seeking affection and play in the only way he’s any good at (see above). My thought was that he had an ambitious moment of pledging to do stuff earlier and stressed himself out with the thought of responsibility.  Now he’s avoiding it and wants someone reliable and easy and low stakes to play with. Marius fits all that - he’s easy to read, always acts the same (or so Grantaire thinks), and Grantaire doesn’t care that much whether Marius likes him. Perfect. Grantaire is going to go bug him.

He’s also genuinely curious about Marius’ love life because a) he loves gossip and b) he is (not-so) secretly a huge sap who loves a good love story. “Haha love is terrible,” says Grantaire, “but omg tell me everything about it. So I can judge its terribleness. (Is she cute???)”

But Marius is in a Mood because he’s Marius and Grantaire is excellent at pushing his irritation buttons. He knows Grantaire has a big crush on Enjolras because it’s obvious enough that even he has to notice it. Dude is not subtle. (And he knows about homosexuality because he has read a lot of books while translating, thankyouverymuch.)

Marius is also a massive escalator of situations. Like, he is “Well that escalated quickly” personified. Marius either completely fails to react to a situation or EXPLODES YOUR HOUSE STALKS YOUR FAMILY AND DECLARES WAR. There is no in between. So Grantaire teases him about Cosette and he decides to make out with him in front of the dude he loves. Marius. Dude. Chill.

Enjolras is just here because Grantaire promised to do a thing earlier and he came in to check on the revolutioning progress.

He is not impressed with the degree of revolutioning going on.

[oceancoresunset]

I haven’t found any cool shells at all recently :(

[tazscripts]

What happened to the FATT transcripts blog? Were any episodes transcribed? I'm trying to find a way for my audio processing issues pals to access at least a couple of episodes specifically to get a feel for the Dungeon World mechanic.

I’m gonna answer this publicly cuz i dont think i talked about it when i deleted the blog

I talked to austin walker and he has plans to hire a professional to transcribe the podcast. He doesn't feel comfy having his fans do unpaid transcription work for him. He was super nice about it and understands the need for transcriptions!

Thanks for your interest, though!

<3 Devon

[theoldcoffeetragedy]

shellcollector replied to your post “if i’m totally honestly with myself, the only hogwarts sorting…”

My Ravenclaw R reasons are mostly sad. His points of failure seem like Ravenclaw ones - he wants a framework/worldview FIRST, before he’s prepared to Have Faith, not understanding that it’s the faith part that MAKES it all make sense and hang together. He builds up more and more knowledge without making the leap that would draw it all together. And he’s terrified of failure, to the point where he’ll self-sabotage massively.  He’s not a functional Ravenclaw like Combeferre, Feuilly or Prouvaire. But I think what he wants most, albeit not on a conscious level at ALL, is clarity, the sense of things fitting together. And lacking that, he spins the wheels in a Ravenclaw way, acquiring skills he doesn’t have a use for and knowledge that just makes his speeches longer and more opaque. I feel like Gryffindor R is basically an impossible disaster and only conceivable if he insisted on being in the same house as Enjolras, aka that story I wrote once; Hufflepuff would have been good for him, really good, he'd probably have been happier but also wouldn't have been the Grantaire we know. Slytherin? I think he's too incapable of truly motivated reasoning.  Slytherin Poster Boy Marius can convince himself that Napoleon was great by sheer force of will and family loyalty. Everything he learns is in service to that. Again, I think this would have been good for R in a perverse way? He could have made a good if weird lieutenant if his devotion to E had been able to shape his basic sense of reality. But at the core of him he wants the truth to be what everything follows from.  That said, I'm conscious that I have a distinct Ravenclaw Amis leaning in terms of headcanons. I can pretty much argue for Ravenclaw Anyone apart from Enjolras, Bahorel and Courfeyrac. This may be my own projection showing. Definitely my sense of Grantaire's Point's Of Failure is shaped by tendencies of my own which can be Problems. As are many many many of my Grantaire headcanons if we're honest here. Anyway I'm sorry for leaving you like 19 million excessively long comments. They are possibly unwelcome and I should probably stop doing this to people apart from the people I know appreciate it and don't find it annoying, but take it from me that it is a gesture of affection. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced of Ravenclaw Grantaire, to be quite honest - though I totally see how your reasoning makes sense! :D Though I don’t see Grantaire relying so much on finding a vision of the world as support and strenght from the people in that world. Like, I think it would make him unhappy - he wouldn’t get the support he needs, I think, nor the camaraderie - but then again, it totally depends on how you see sorting. And characters. :p Grantaire is haaard. I actually project a fair bit of my own issues on him too, which probably shows in my own headcanons for him as well. :p

and your comments are always 150% appreciated and you never have to apologize and to stop, I love it. <3

[pilferingapples]

Is it OK to send you more requests for Essentials notes? because they are delightful and good and I want ALL of them but will Confine Myself to a few if need be

It is TOTALLY okay!And also other people should make them! It’s very fun! :D 

[siristvantoth]

Elliot Tell Us Your Opinions About Romantic Friendships In The Novel Les Miserables By Victor Hugo

This sounds like it’s a high school essay prompt TBH <3

Romantic friendships are an important Theme of the novel “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo. Etc etc.

Actually like, I just get really emotional all the time when I think about Borel/Nerval and Hugo putting his Actual Real Live Romantic friends into his most famous novel in order to immortalize them within a “group which nearly became historic”.

But All of the Amis are all about this specific kind of friendship in different ways and it’s Really Really important.

With Enjolras specifically (I am definitely Not Projecting At All what are you talking about) it’s really important to me because, when I’m actually basing my characterization of him on just the book, this is like... This Is Ideal Love for him. Sexual relationships or a traditionally lowercase-romantic relationships do not really hold much appeal for him, I don’t think he understands What The Point Is when he’s a little bit in love with all of his friends (and they are all A Little Bit in love with him as well) and he can have these relationships that are, like, profoundly affecting and fulfilling for him without all of these Auxiliary Details that could make them a “distraction”. Like they’re the opposite of a distraction, they are the point, it’s ideal love made immanent, it’s universal love made personal. 

Just the way he thinks about his friends, the way he talks about Feuilly on the barricade (”I venerate you” and so on), the casual physical intimacy he has with Combeferre, these are all fairly standard-ish for Romantic friendships at the time, is my understanding, and this is exactly what Enjolras needs in a personal relationship. A way to express love and be loved for and by another person.

Also, in a non-les-mis digression, I Love you in this same way and you are a great friend, Romantic and otherwise, and I would like the entire world to know how fabulous and wonderful you are. And I really appreciate the fact that you make me a better person by caring about and believing in who I Am, and you inspire me very much even though you seem to think it’s ME inspiring YOU.

[lizardrosen]

shellcollector replied to your post “Twelfth Night, more like Bi Awakening”

Antonio, like all of Shakespeare's Antonios, is a tragigay

Correct.

Though in the production I saw this weekend, Sebastian ran straight into his arms for a Really Good Hug, so I think they get a happy ending for once!

[amelancholycharm]

shellcollector replied to your post “FRENCH ROMANTICS FANDOM FRIENDS!!! First, an apology for Dropping Out...”

Charm!!!! I have nothing useful to offer you because literally Everyone knows more than me about this and the only thing I can think about is the naked drug parties which I THINK is PROBABLY not what you're shooting for, but hey I'm gonna write this comment anyway just to say hello!!!

HA YES the school is progressive but maybe not THAT progressive - although I can certainly mention that detail ;) and YES HELLO I MISS YOU and hopefully will get my head above water soon.)

[kdekany]

Pink-mouthed Murex (Hexaplex erythrostomus). The species occurs on the west coast of Mexico from Baja California to Peru. Have a lovely weekend friends! 💖🐚