shadowedoracle

[shadowedoracle]

There are two wolves inside you.

One wants to write in first person, the other wants third.

There is also a random rooster demanding second person present tense.

We're not sure where the rooster came from and why it hasn't been eaten by the wolves yet.

[shadowedoracle]

[shadowedoracle]

An old comic I made in art school (14 years ago) about a papa and baby bear, as well as a neolithic human sacrifice

I'm calling it "Everybear knows"

[shadowedoracle]

there’s wip (active development) and wip (stuck in development hell) and wip (oh you’re not even getting funding for this one)

[shadowedoracle]

managed to find the exact teacups they used as a base in OUAT and painted them myself, I've never been more in LOVE ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

she's so perfect I'm low-key loosing my mind

[shadowedoracle]

I think that, when you are on hold, the hold music should not stop to tell you that you are on hold. The hold music should only stop when someone actually picks up your call. Vote me for president

[shadowedoracle]

Do you think it's like a rite of passage for every new generation of xmen to momentarily feel like it's kind of fucked up to be trying to kick the shit out of a senior citizen until magneto crumples someone into a cube like a trash compactor in front of them and they're just like Oh Ok

[shadowedoracle]

just some of the the changes in design for the Penguin Symbol on old Penguin Paperbacks 

[shadowedoracle]

Pushing Daisies (2007 - 2009)

[shadowedoracle]

are you still in the fandom you first joined tumblr for?

[shadowedoracle]

ONCE UPON A TIME 7.17, Chosen

[shadowedoracle]

Spin the wheel. That's who's trying to kill you.

Spin the wheel again. That's who's trying to protect you.

[shadowedoracle]

hi really sorry to bother you but i just want to let you know that you reblogged a post from another tumblr user

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me

[shadowedoracle]

ONCE UPON A TIME 7.20, Is This Henry Mills

[shadowedoracle]

A Valentine's for Mr. Gold

Summary: In a cursed Storybrooke the town Grinch Mr. Gold visits the Storybrooke Library on Valentine's Day.

Rating: G

A/N:

Happy Fluffapalooza! Or Skin Deep Day! Which ever term you prefer.

I am one of the most cynical people about Valentine's Day you'll ever meet. But apparently that didn't stop my brain from coming up with this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh also FYI, this is set one year before the events of S1. It's not really relevant. But just FYI.

[AO3]

***

If Mr. Gold had to say why he hated Valentine’s Day, he would have said there were three main reasons: 1. The rampant commercialism made even the mercenary business owner in him cringe; 2. It was the date his ex-wife had walked out on him and their five-year-old son two decades ago; and 3. It had been the date of the car crash that had taken his son from him and left him the crippled husk of a man he was today.

So he did not acknowledge that February 14th was any different from any other day. He did not sully his shop by making a holiday display or changing his hours (not that he did that for other holidays either) and he most certainly would not give discounts or loan forgiveness to those who had overspent their means to impress the object of their desires. In fact, he added a hefty fine to those who tried to use Valentine’s Day to justify any late payments on their loans. Everyone in the town knew he was -- as he’d heard Ruby Lucas once say (along with a load of expletives) -- ‘A Grinch’ but that didn’t stop a number of them every year thinking their sob story of a romance or broken heart would stop him fining them.

Normally on Valentine’s Day he’d head straight home, drink as many glasses of whiskey as he could stomach to drown thoughts of the shoebox in the attic with handmade valentines ‘To Papa’. But this year Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday which was library day. And nothing would come between him and library day. Not even Valentine’s Day.

Monday had been library day ever since Miss French had become the town librarian what felt like forever ago -- but could only have been several years at most. Mr. Gold didn’t need to go to the small town library for his reading needs. He had a very well-stocked library at home. But… Miss French was the only intelligent person in this town he could have a conversation with about books (or anything for that matter). She was shy, but very charming and he couldn’t resist going back week after week; letting her pick out new books for him to discover.

When he opened the library door he stopped dead. The library was covered in chains of red paper hearts draped from the ceilings. He strongly debated turning around and walking out but Miss French had already seen him and waved cheerfully at him so he moved reluctantly towards the large wooden Circulation Desk.

Miss French was dressed in a simple blue dress that brought out the color of her eyes and those eyes sparkled up at him as she grinned at him and she took his finished books from him. “Not a fan of the decorations, Mr. Gold?”

“No,” he said through gritted teeth -- although whether they were gritted so he wouldn’t comment on the decorations or her dress or her eyes he couldn’t say.

“It’s not really my thing either -- well, Valentine’s Day, that is -- it’s too superficial and too commercial for my liking,” she said as she scanned his books back, placing them on the trolley beside her. “But a holiday is a good excuse for a children’s craft project -- that’s where most of the decorations come from you know. Plus it means I can put up special quick-pick displays and I love putting those together.” She smiled as she paused for breath, after her somewhat gabbled speech (not that Mr. Gold minded that -- he was no conversational maestro either). She leaned forward towards him and said, conspiratorially, “Guess what I did this year?”

Despite himself he couldn’t help leaning forward in response. “What?”

“I took a copy of each Jane Austen novel and wrapped them in paper covered in hand-made Valentine’s wrapping paper. Then wrote descriptions such as ‘Mystery Enemies-to-Lovers Epic Romance’ on each of them to get people to check out something different.”

Mr. Gold laughed (Miss French was the only person capable of eliciting his real laugh). “So you’ve been tricking Storybrooke’s residents into improving their reading palates?”

“Well…” She blushed, Mr. Gold studiously ignored how it nicely it brought out the color of her lips, “When you put it like that I almost feel bad.”

Of course she did -- Isabelle French was goodness personified, whereas he was the opposite. That was the reason why, despite being tempted, he would never act on his attraction nor give any indication of it. There was no chance in the world his attentions would be welcome. If he said something, she’d reject him and then he’d have to stop going to the library and seeing and having these little chats with Isabelle French. He couldn’t -- wouldn’t -- do that. So instead he just quashed his feelings down and allowed these weekly interactions to be enough.

“You shouldn’t. Feel bad, I mean,” he said softly.

“That’s kind of you to say.”

He shrugged, schooling his face to give no indication of how her words affected him. “It’s just the truth.”

They stood there in silence for a few moments while Miss French bent to retrieve his new books ones from under her desk. “I hope you’ll like these,” she said. “They’re not quite your usual fare but I think you’ll like them based on what you’ve enjoyed previously.”

He looked at the books wrapped in newspaper -- at least she’d known better than to use Valentine’s wrapping paper. “Are you sure you’re not tricking me into reading Jane Austen?” She giggled. “No! Besides you’ve already read all her books and I’m pretty sure you own your own copies of them. I just thought surprise might be fun.” She blushed.

“I see.” He allowed his lips to curl up slightly. He couldn’t be annoyed at her. Not now, not ever. Besides, he trusted her taste. Her recommendations were always interesting, even when they took him outside his comfort zone. He stared at her wanting to stay there longer to open the package and see what she’d chosen for him but there was the sound of footsteps behind them and he became painfully aware they weren’t alone anymore. He didn’t want to be caught acting like a love-struck idiot with Miss French so he picked up the wrapped package with a nod and left the library.

He had meant to walk home directly from the library. But the temptation to find out what Miss French had chosen for him was too strong; so he let himself into the back of his stop and, after fumbling with the lights, tore open the package.

There were two books inside and something sticking out in between them. He didn’t even glance at the titles before pulling out a square envelope, ripping it open he stared down at the obviously handmade card with a wobbly drawing of a heart on the front. Opening the card up, he read:

Dear Mr. Gold,

Happy Valentines Day! I know you probably think it’s stupid and don’t celebrate but everyone ought to know there are people in this world who care about them.

Your friend,

Isabelle x

P.S. You don’t read much poetry but I like this collection poems about love-- it covers a lot of different eras with many different poets and many kinds of love. The novel is The Left-Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. You told me you’d never read much Sci-Fi/ Fantasy and this is a modern classic for a reason. Let me know what you think of these books next week.

P.P.S. The Card is an example one I made with the schoolchildren. Please excuse how poorly drawn it is.

Mr. Gold stared down at the card, and in particular the little ‘x’ after Miss French’s name. Maybe his feelings weren’t so one-sided after all. Should he go back and tell her how he felt? No. No. That was insane. He couldn’t risk that. Besides, she was probably just being kind. She’d used the words ‘care about’ not ‘love’ and she had probably meant it in a friendly way not a romantic way. He was not someone anyone -- but especially someone as perfect as Isabelle French -- could love. But perhaps it was enough to know that someone out there saw him and didn’t turn away in disgust, but rather cared.

As he locked up his shop again and headed for home he felt a lot lighter and reflected as he walked that perhaps, Valentines Day wasn’t so bad after all.

[shadowedoracle]

Maybe we never had a chance.

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[shadowedoracle]

Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.

If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.

Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.

I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.