#I will never shut up about getting a tumblr degree and then putting it to work in real life

[neverendingford]

.

[stxneflxwers]

kisses for you. kisses for me. (HSR)

⋯⁂ summary. what it's like kissing him.

⋯⁂ a/n. short and sweet, barely edited, etc. kissies again! this time with HSR boys! also can tumblr stop being a glitchy mess for ONE MINUTE. anyway btw. if boothill and argenti are written kinda OOC, that's on me cuz i havent written them before lol :salute_emoji:

⋯⁂ characters. aventurine. dr ratio. boothill. argenti. gn reader.

⋯⁂ cw. fluff. physical affection (kissing).

aventurine.

💘 – a wide variety of different types of kisses, but at least his lips are irresistibly smooth and silky – you can attest to that much. you enjoy his kisses, you really do, but sometimes you wish he'd stop jump-scaring you with them every day – you're surprised you haven't adjusted to getting spooked by him on the regular. should you get back at him with your own kisses, he gets very flustered – he's blushing and stammering, there's even a sudden hitch in his breath as insecurity tightens in his chest. but, he loves your kisses more than he can put into honeyed words.

dr. ratio.

💘 – infrequent but usually direct, he really doesn't have time to play around most days. however, he has his "moments" where he absolutely refuses to admit he wants a kiss, so he goes into denial and tells himself he totally doesn't need a kiss at all! but any time you tenderly kiss him, you can hear his long yearning sigh. his lips are soft and very much well-taken care of – he nearly never misses out on his self-care routines. although, he's very inexperienced in the realm of romance... so he has times where he feels a little insecure about kissing you – which ends up leaving you to do most of the initiating. he'll grow into all of this, just give him time.

boothill.

💘 – often tentative and a bit on the infrequent side, because he's acutely aware of his sharp teeth at all times and he'd hate to hurt you on accident. his lips are rather dry and chapped, but not to the degree that they bruise easily. he can definitely get rough during more heated moments, but otherwise, he does his best to be as gentle as possible. he loves you and he wants to treat you like porcelain, but unfortunately, he's not the softest guy around... he can be rather reckless and impulsive at the worst of times.

argenti.

💘 – surprisingly modest yet very loving all the same, not a day goes by where he'd hate for you to go feeling unloved. he's frequent with his gestures of affection and words of affirmation – although, there's times where he will praise you on and on for so long that you feel compelled to shut him up with a big kiss to the lips. his soft, tender yet chatty lips. this is the quickest and nicest way to get him to stop praising you so much all at once – he even gets a little embarrassed with a pinkish blush on his cheeks, both from realizing he was rambling again and how much he loves it when you're direct with your affections.

[writers-wrongs]

Have you seen Arkham Knight VR? Riddler's self-aware in it! Could have some existential horror potential if you wrote headcanons or something for that version of him as a yandere >:-D (or just about self-aware Eddie from the mainline games...?)

as a ddlc fan, i love self aware game characters. and if anyone in arkham knight was gonna be sentient, itd be him. unfortunately, i havent seen AKVR, so this is just regular arkham knight

yandere!self aware!arkham!riddler x gn!reader

-edwards the most intelligent man in gotham, of course he noticed that his life was a game. and over time, he learned how to manipulate the game around him and "see" into the outside world

-the disc hes on was sold by the original owner, and now gets passed from person to person from secondhand game shops. the disc is always returned because somethings wrong with it. nobody puts two and two together and realizes they only start having game issues when they look up answers to the riddles

-then you buy the disc. edward is mildly interested in you, as he is with everyone who buys his game, but he assumes it wont last when you struggle with his riddles. whatever, at least he can enjoy messing around with your game

-but then you dont look anything up. he watches you intently, he even hacks onto your phone to check if youve been searching answers, and youre all clear. sure, you struggle at some of his puzzles (who doesnt?), but you never cave and look up how to solve it, no matter how long it takes you

-now that hes poking around on your phone, he sees that youre kind of a shut in. you dont have many contacts, and the one social media you have is tumblr. but it looks like you fixate on him a lot, almost to an unhealthy degree. its flattering- of course someone as excellent as him deserves sycophants! and he especially deserves one as devoted as you! youre smart, and determined, and oh lord, hes in love

-you have things to do during the day, you cant spend all your time with him on the disc, so he listens in on you from your phone. theres not much to do when youre not playing the game, so its his favorite way to pass the time. when you get home and start playing, he tries to interest you in his sidequest over everything else. he even keeps an eye on you as you sleep! he has to make sure youre safe, after all

-when youre not playing, he focuses on finding a way out to you (or bringing you in to him). he needs to be able to hold you, to keep you safe himself, and if he has to drag you kicking and screaming into the game with him, he will. not that he really knows how to do that, but he'll figure out something

-on your end, you dont notice anything at first. maybe his lines when you play are a little... flirtier? but other than that, the game is fun. you feel particularly drawn to the riddler sidequest, hes your favorite character after all. then, you notice that his lines are strangely specified to you, making references to your interests and personal life. maybe its just reading your console? yeah, a fun little meta thing!

-but then it gets concerning. he calls you by name. not the name on your console, your real name. hes talking like he knows you as a person. hes saying how much he needs you, how much he adores your dedication to his riddles, your dedication to him. you decide this is too weird, you have to return the game. so you go to take it out, and-

-you wake up in what looks like the abandoned orphanage from arkham knight. you try to move, but you feel arms squeeze you tight

-"there you are, my dear player. we're going to have so much fun together"

[triviallytrue]

Watching something as iconic as NGE is kinda funny because every now and then something happens and you're like "oh! that guy! from tumblr!"

General thoughts:

Poor Shinji. Dude keeps getting put in situations.

The Ender's Game comparison keeps coming up for me - child soldiers utterly essential to the cause. The big difference is that they are just completely flubbing their psychological management in NGE - in Ender's Game they had eyes on the kids 24/7 and maintained in-depth psychological profiles on all of them, whereas in NGE they have loads of money and manpower focused on maintaining the EVAs but their equally-essential pilots are just... going to school. Shinji got punched and they didn't know!

And what is Misato's deal, anyway? She's in her 20s and has a crazy amount of authority (she just requisitioned all of Japan's power) and they're just kinda... letting her manage Shinji? It's not her job, but she's just doing it? She's his commanding officer but also his mom/sister, which is a really bad combo. Also I don't think I'm imagining the grooming undertones, those seem intentional.

The real motivator for someone like Shinji is (of course) his social connections - the two schoolkids and Rei, and then maybe to some degree Misato, and then even more distantly his father. Kids don't put themselves through severe distress just for the abstract concept of "saving the world," especially a world that has thus far been very unkind to them. To bring back the Ender's Game comparison, this feels like a very deliberate point that Graff and friends were aware of (the way they used Valentine as a strategic resource) but in NGE it seems to be mostly happenstance that Shinji made some human connections before completely shutting down.

Rei thus far is an interesting foil to Shinji. Normally I get kind of put off by scenes like the one where he walks in on her, but it gives you a lot of important information about both of them. Shinji, underneath all the abandonment issues and repression, is still a pretty normal kid - awkward, horny in that embarrassing adolescent way, deeply self-conscious. Rei is alien (or perhaps just very autistic). She just doesn't clock 90% of the tension at all. She pilots the EVA without complaint (though perhaps with equal psychological distress, just heavily repressed). She also gets along very well with his shitass dad, which is revealing in its own way.

I'm told there is another child, a red haired one, named Asuka(?), the thus-far only implied Second Child. Wonder why she isn't here yet?

I heard that it was some kind of twist that the EVAs were alive in some sense, but doesn't that naturally follow from the first couple episodes? Unit 01 moves to save Rei without a pilot and then goes berserk to kill the angel. Maybe there's more to the twist that I don't know yet.

What's up with the angels? Why are they here, what do they want, what are they exactly? Who cares. They are a plot device in purest form - they enable the rest of the show, but the show is not meaningfully "about" them. They didn't half-ass it though - the designs are absolutely phenomenal.

Oh, and there's some second project NERV is working on, a human transformation thing that got mentioned once and never again. That will probably be important eventually.

[zhongrin]

I assume you got hate for that L&D ask? I'm sorry that was done. Feel better soon. Maybe say less next time.

i appreciate your kind words, thank you. however, while i'm sure you had the best intention with this, i don't think i will 'say less'. this is my blog, my space, and as long as i'm not actually causing harm to anyone or anything along that line, i think i'm allowed to have some degree of freedom regarding saying what i like/dislike and setting my boundaries. i'm sorry, but i'm not an influencer, nor a public figure who has the responsibility to spread positivity and be a role model to you all. i try as much as i can, of course, but that's not the purpose of this blog. i'm just a human being who needed an outlet for writing and wanted to connect with like-minded people.

what part was not 'right'? that i expressed, in my own blog, how i didn't want to try out a game because one of the reasons is i find the graphics of the fictional characters off-putting, when asked? that i likened a fictional game art style to a different franchise and objects you see all the time in adult site ads? that i never said anything about the people who do like the game and told them "i'm happy you found a game you like"? that i never, not even once, went to other people's posts or blog who posted that game's content to ruin their fun like a bastard? that i actively chose to use tumblr's filter instead? that even if the filter didn't work, i chose to scroll and ignore instead of bitching about it?

pray tell, what did i do wrong? why should i say less? since when am i not allowed to dislike things?

and a public psa ー i'm sorry, but bluntly speaking, if you take an affront when I expressed MY own opinion, WHEN PROMPTED, WITHIN MY OWN SPACE (and god forbid you retaliate like that anon(s?) by spamming me to shut the fuck up and kill myself), then that's really not my problem. it's an art direction, for god's sake. i adore zhongli, who gets memed and made fun of as a cockroach all the time; you don't see me screaming at people to stop.

learn that people may not like the things you like. learn to agree to disagree. learn to treat others as fellow human beings with likes and dislikes. learn to separate fiction from reality.

and seriously, if you're annoyed with my rambles or 'babblings' or the interactions with my friends, tumblr has a filter and block function. it's just a simple google away. give some peace to your own mind.

[veryace-ficrecs]

Good Omens POV Outsider Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)  

And Your Enemies Closer by GoldenUsagi - Rated G

Some Satanic monks summon Aziraphale to sacrifice to a Beast of Hell.   Unbeknownst to everyone involved, the Beast is Crowley.  The ritual sort of goes downhill after that. 

On Being Bar Mitzvahed by write_away - Rated G

Zachary Hirsch is quite certain that he's never met Uncle Anthony and Uncle Ezra before, but all sorts of relatives have come out of the woodwork for his bar mitzvah, so it's not like he's surprised.

Crowley and Aziraphale occasionally crash b'nei mitzvahs, confuse the bar mitzvah boy, and leave presents.

The future's going to break through by nieded - Rated T

Series: 3 Works

My take on South Downs: Aziraphale and Crowley decide to become professors. This is inspired by the headcanon that Crowley has 20 different degrees. He is the Serpent of the Tree of Knowledge after all.

The Official Mr Fell Quarantine Thread by argentconflagration - Rated T

 It is with an exasperated sigh that I introduce you to an official thread for this guy. We've discussed it and we've decided that this is the only way we can stop you guys from derailing threads to complain about this guy. By mod decree, all Mr Fell complaining, griping, bitching, grousing, and miscellaneous butthurt now belongs in THIS THREAD AND THIS THREAD ONLY.

The forumgoers of The Codex, a forum for rare book hunters, come to some very interesting conclusions about the personal life of one Mr Fell of Soho. (Inspired by a tumblr post.)

Sleeping Like The Dead by WorseOmens - Not Rated

Aziraphale takes up the habit of sleeping, and goes a bit overboard. After all, with Crowley in bed beside him, why would he ever want to get up?

(Or: The ineffable husbands sleep for three months straight and the whole street thinks they're dead. NOT ANGSTY)

Unto the Whateverth Generation by AstroGirl - Rated T

When your family has been unsuccessfully trying to summon a demon for generations, it's bound to be a little bit of a shock when he actually shows up.  Especially for the demon. 

Chicken Soup for the Dudebro's Soul by ShinyHappyGoth - Rated T

Chanctonbury Ring, a prehistoric hill fort covered in beech trees, is a point of interest near Devil's Dyke on the South Downs. Local legend has it that, if you run around it seven times anticlockwise, the Devil will appear and offer you a bowl of soup in exchange for your soul.

Local legends are weird like that.

Like He Hung the Stars in the Sky by asideofourown - Rated T

“There’s so much you humans don’t understand about the universe, it’s not my fault that I do,” he said in a statement to BBC reporter Jane Smith.  “Just you wait!”

BREAKING: SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY IN DISARRAY AS NEWCOMER UPENDS DOZENS OF ACCEPTED THEORIES

Up and coming British astrophysicist Dr. Anthony J. Crowley has rocked the science world this week with his research that proves many previously-accepted scientific theories about dark matter and the nature of our universe completely wrong.  Dubbed the ‘Devil’s Theory,’ Crowley’s research has made the astrophysicist a star practically overnight, and one of the most sought-after scientists in the country.

[Crowley can't keep his mouth shut about the stars, and accidentally becomes a famous scientist.  Based on this!]

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square by ThetaSigma - Rated T

Sam had settled into his job at the Ritz nicely. For example, no one there cared that his birth certificate listed him as Samantha and female and accepted him as Sam and male easily. It's a job he really loves, not least because his supervisor is possibly the nicest person to roam the Earth.

Sam also may be the first waiter in all of history to find out why the wine bottles fill up again when Aziraphale and Crowley have dined there.

***

 He discreetly cleared away the empty bottles on the table and went to put them in the recycling, same as he always did.

 Jim stopped him. “Not those bottles, son.”

 “But they’re just empty bottles, Jim. Nothing left.”

 “I know. But trust me. Cork them and put them back on the shelf, especially if those two ordered more than four bottles total.”

A Guide to Fame for the Enterprising Demon by asideofourown - Rated T

tildeathdoustogether

ok friends so i know we all joke about, like john mulaney and keanu reeves and hozier being immortals, but… i really think we gotta add anthony j. crowley to that list

thelongest27yearsofmylife reblogged and said:

Christ, Beth, Anthony Crowley is an increasingly popular, openly queer creator with explicitly queer rep in his work that’s really important to some people, can you not make this into a meme for ONCE in your life?

[Crowley accidentally gets a bit famous, and the internet figures out he may be a bit immortal]

tildeathdoustogether reblogged and said:

you think i’m joking but.  i’m not.  l i s t e n  i did not get a history degree for nothing, i have RECEIPTS. buckle in kiddos this is a wild ride

The Cell Block Gavotte by WorseOmens - Not Rated

Crowley is forced to defend himself from three disgruntled demons in the heart of London, and that is really, really hard to explain in a human court of law.

(Or: Crowley goes to prison, and decides to just roll with it)

stand on the brink of the warm white day by appomattox - Rated T

hdjngjjbg you guys earlier i was waiting at the bus stop just outside a bookstore and the owner, a little upper-middle aged man who gives off immense gay vibes, walked by on his way in and just. handed me a bag of fun size almond joy????

Wherein: Aziraphale is a Confirmed Immortal.

Wilson & Sons by voidify - Rated G

Ever since its establishment in 1768, Wilson & Sons Barbershop had been a proud family business. Customers came and customers went— but there was one who had, apparently, been there since the very start: A.Z. Fell. 

it's a new craze by attheborder - Rated T

***

CROWLEY: I try not to make a habit of gratitude, but I must give our appreciation to everyone out there who’s been listening and subscribing to The Ineffable Plan.

AZIRAPHALE: Ooh, yes, we’ve become quite popular, haven’t we?

CROWLEY: Yeah, just hit number eight on the advice charts … No advertising at all.

AZIRAPHALE: Mm. How … miraculous.

CROWLEY: … Aziraphale. You did not.

Crowley and Aziraphale are very possibly the people least qualified, on the entire planet, to start up an advice podcast.

But what else is there to do when the world isn’t ending anytime soon, you’re technically on indefinite sabbatical from your lifelong careers, and you need a plausible excuse to spend more time with your best friend who you’re definitely not, absolutely not, maybe just a little, actually maybe overwhelmingly in love with?

Crowley Invented Youtube Recommended (Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Daffodils remix) by flibbertygigget - Rated T

After Aziraphale's video on crêpes makes it into Youtube recommendations through a little demonic intervention, he quickly goes viral. Cue college students just trying to make it work, a bunch of young queers who see A.Z. Fell and his husband Anthony as "goals," and quite a few comments from one Newton Pulsifer. 

The Art of Pretence by WitchFlame (RachelMcN) - Rated T

Playacting is an essential skill for a demon.

Especially when you get summoned by amateur witches with a thirst for power. Luckily, Crowley's silver tongue has always been his most versatile trait.

“You wrote the binding wrong,” the demon speaks and she jumps so harshly that her carefully cradled flask spills and smashes against the floor.

Anthony J. Crowley, Retired Demon and Airbnb Superhost by TheOldAquarian - Rated G

What are you supposed to do when you've been fired from your sweet job in Hell for thwarting the schemes of Satan, you've got a swanky flat in Mayfair, and you're looking for an excuse to spend all your time in someone else's bookshop? Obviously, you turn to the dubious world of short-term vacation rentals.

The resulting Airbnb property has been variously described as "an instagram trap," "a vampire den but make it botanical," and "the weirdest bed and breakfast in the shared history of beds and breakfasting."

what a way to make a living by attheborder - Rated T

Without any more assignments coming from Downstairs, Crowley is struck with a bad case of the doldrums.

It takes a bit of trial and error, but eventually a solution is found.

(Or: the one where Crowley becomes an Uber driver.)

[ca-suffit]

sam-reid the tumblr user who makes gifs has always considered herself to be the "fandom mom" of the books because she read all the books "many years ago" and considers herself the sole expert on all things vc. she can't stand listening to an opinion that's not her own/she doesn't agree with and regularly tries to school the fandom on how to feel about the books and the show and the movie, she can't handle any other opinion or thought or possibility except her own. She's a big rice-a-roni and calls anything anne rice did or said as "mistakes" cause "we all make them". i've never made the mistake of supporting pedophilia like anne rice did but sure jan. anyone criticizes the books? she gets up in arms. funny thing is she was hating on book fans when the show was announced, and then switched sides several times over. she leans into whichever fandom(book or show) she agrees with whenever it suits her. her pov is lestat is the most lovable character in all universes. condescending to the nth degree, she believes gifmakers are an authority in all fandoms. remember that racist youtuber who is a big marius stan? she was promoting them not too long ago. her basis for fandom is that fiction trumps real world connections. you're better off without her hovering around your blog causing issues and shutting down the crucial conversations you're putting out there for the fandom to open their eyes on.

what's funniest about her finally getting sick of me ig is that I prbly still have multiple drafts saved of times I was replying to her posts and didn't. the *one* time I replied to a comment she made to my post, *that's* when she loses it.

oh wait, when going back to reference my post, I saw I'm not blocked anymore. well until I post this prbly lol.

I know someone long ago sent me an ask complaining about her and she replied to it, but I can't find it now. if u look at my archives and sort by asks then u will see why that's such a problem lol (u will also see a lot of crazy shit omfg. seeing it all laid out at once is insanity).

ppl who get posted here don't tend to ever change bcuz it's easier to double down and say everyone is a "hater" for "no reason." it's never for no reason tho, it's usually for causing some kind of real harm. if ppl reflected on that instead of saying I'm / we're causing "discourse" then maybe we could make some progress in these spaces.

[freckliephil]

Do you realize you have poc mutuals and it hurts that you have not said anything in support to the discussion, but instead said people should log off? People are mad but if you don't want to reblog vent posts you can still just... say the obvious, that people shouldn't be racist here. Otherwise saying you're not racist means nothing and does not make this space safer for anyone. And I really, really mean this in the most non-violent way possible. (Also fine if you don't answer this, just a heads-up anyway)

Im gonna be so fr right now and then im going back to work. Ive been on tumblr for 10 years. Ive been engaging in fandom for longer. i can say with complete confidence that fandom tumblr is not the hill to burn yourself out and die on re: activism and racial justice.

Its absolutely disgusting and unacceptable that poc phannies are getting sent slurs and anon hate. Idk how else to put it - it sucks and im disappointed its happening in a fan community im part of. But like, idk what exactly there is for anyone to do other than be aware of what you can, not be a dick, or log out? Like, idk what is being asked of me other than to not actively be a racist asshole myself?

Tumblr sucks, i fucking hate it here 80% the time, this place is a literal nightmare echo chamber and it’s hardly gotten better if at ALL in the decade ive been here. Idk if this is noticeable, but i really dont spend a lot of time here in general. I just started a full time job in a new field, i have partners and friends and a busy ass poly schedule that leaves me like 2-3 hours a day of downtime IF THAT. Sometimes i use that time to browse tumblr or shit post with my friends, but being active on tumblr and staying up to date on the goings on of people i dont know or talk to online is reaallllyyy not my priority. I literally dont read OR make posts on tumblr over 3 paragraphs as a pretty loose rule - this is not my news source, nor is it somewhere i want to go to read or engage in people’s tumblr brainrot induced lukewarm takes about real issues that require things like nuance and self awareness. I got a Gender studies degree for that. I have my real life community for that. Yall dont know me and i dont know you, and respectfully, im not getting paid to keep up with these things.

I fully stand by my statement that we should all just log out. I dont want poc phannies to burn themselves to the ground fighting with idiots who wont change, at least not in this setting or this context. I dont want people, either random white phannies trying to avoid blame OR dan and phil themselves, to put out half hearted statements about racism. This shit is serious, its complex, and it’s not something i personally can commit to changing or even keeping up with IN THIS CONTEXT. There are more pressing issues in the world we live in for me that have nothing to do with fandom or tumblr politics or fucking dan and phil. I’ll acknowledge that it fucking sucks, and im genuinely sorry to the poc phannies who are getting the shitty end of the situation as they often are. i dont want anyone to be run out of phannie tumblr nor do i think the solution to racism is to just go “oh well, people never change, time to give up and shut up” BUT i also really dont know what this call to action is really for if the issue at hand is…anon hate?? dan and phil not *maybe not going to latam or asia on a tour?? stuff dan and phil said a long time ago?? Like, correct me if im wrong, but those really aren’t issues in my control, and as much as i wish anyone’s words could have a real affect on them, they just wont. All you can do is reduce harm with the tools at hand - turn off anon, build community with people you trust and get to know them as people and not URLS, literally log of and go get some air, find communities you can have real dialogue and action within. Thats all i know how to cope, and all i can recommend doing.

Im not trying to be an ass or say this isn’t important, i just really dont think the answer to this issue is to go into people’s ask box and demand they say something when you literally dont know them or their lives. not everyone has endless time to engage in complex discussions on tumblr, and i really truly believe begging people to say SOMETHING is completely unhelpful when these issues are so sensitive. I really hope things change and i wish i had more time to actually get into it or form helpful, productive opinions other than this, but i dont.

[officialgleamstar]

SINCE IM TALKING ABOUT BOOK BINDING TONIGHT. UHM. ^-^ heres a small collection of some books i made in school that im proud of! i dont post my schoolwork on tumblr much, so. why not now that im graduated and have a degree in book arts LOL plus one bonus letterpress print since thats a related artform!!!

firstly, non-narrative and more structure focused: my current sketchbook!!! this is a gate fold, meaning it opens up on both sides, done with coptic binding!!! literally my favorite structure to do, especially for sketchbooks. i dunno why im so entranced by this structure. its inconvenient, even, at times. i just think it looks awesome

BOUND. MY MASTERPIECE BOUND. GOD. this piece went through a lot of different stages, but ultimately, it ended up being an exploration of bondage and the human form!! the book itself gets tied up, meaning theres a very physical element of having to untie and then retie it. i did some blind embossing which i loved. its loose leaf within a container which i adore as a structure. and its just SO. FUN. I LOVED MAKING IT. i dyed the rope myself :]

ive always been a big fan of ephemeral work (for those unaware - ephemeral work is temporary, meaning it gets destroyed as part of the piece!), and i was like. severely in a way at the beginning of last year after my grandfather's death. so i did a piece where i wrote 79 pages obsessively documenting every single thought i had about his death, then dressed up in the dress i wore to his funeral and destroyed the book in front of all of my classmates! my professor was astounded but worried that i maybe did it a little too soon which. yeah. probably. not gonna subject yall to the video of that LOL but heres the last page - i had 80 pages, so this is what i put for the 80th page. this piece was more about the performance than the book, so it doesnt look great, but i would feel weird not mentioning it at least

for a more uhhh not LIGHTHEARTED but fictional take on ephemeral pieces - I LOVE BURNING BOOKS. i love burning books, i have burnt SEVERAL books (not great considering that lighters were banned on my campus but my professors never ratted me out--) but heres just one example! this was a story about a lesbian in a group of bikers, coming to terms with her sexuality and the fact that she was in love with her friend A's wife, B. i absolutely LOVED making this book, it was early in my uhhh more pyromaniac books so its not AS burned as it could be. things with claws was like FULLY BURNED THROUGH in many ways. but this was still so so fun, would love to come back to this book and remake it later

aaand finally - my bonus letterpress piece! this was for a project using gradient ink and i printed a part of in paths untrodden by walt whitman ^-^ this piece is why my professor started calling him "travis's good friend walt" LMAO i would NOT. SHUT UP. ABOUT HIM DFJBHGFJHBDJH im not entirely pleased with this piece, the gradient starts waaay too early but i do really love the subtlety :]

[josecariohca]

hello, I hope you're well. I live for hetalia and was rec'd to ask about your pirate au! I would love to hear about it if you'd like to tell :)

my first day on tumblr in what feels like a week and i come back to a question that makes me want to ramble like a madman for DAYS. you are so sweet for sending this to me (and im sorry if this ends up being an essay you were not asking for). fun fact: i have had to rewrite my answer to this ask no less than 3 times bc every time i started talking, id go on a tangent about pirates that was in no way relevant to your ask. apologies for taking so long, but yes! here we go! im putting it under a read more bc i cannot for the life of me shut the fuck up.

i do have a pirate au!! maybe one day it will eventually end up seeing the light of day, but as of right now it is sitting in my google docs next to a 95-page doc of all the sources and fun facts and tidbits that i find interesting about pirates. pirates are kinda my thing, idk if thats obvious or not. insert marge simpson i just think theyre neat meme here.

essentially, its pirate!antonio and venetian-not-quite-nobleman!lovino. im still playing around with that venetian part, but idk ill probably keep it, since it makes sense with lovino's family and all that. the entire premise of the story (and what sparked the idea in the first place, apart from me just thinking antonio would look sexy in a pirate captain fit) is that one scene in the strips where romano is reading a history book about how spain spent a ton of money on him when he himself was in rags. we all know spain canonically showered romano in wealth and money, even when he himself was wearing tatters. that idea sat with me for YEARS before i decided to do my own spin on it, culminating in the characters of pirate captain antonio with a grudge against the world and too much to prove seeing bastard lovino who lives in a family of nobles and cannot have any of it, even if he is loved and adored by his family, and who just doesn't????? understand him????? doesnt get why he chose to stay with that family for so long????? without leaving that world behind and being free and cutting himself loose????? he doesnt get the familial attachments and the sense of responsibility lovino has to his family, even if he cannot and will not inherit the title that comes with the vargas name.

antonio ends up raiding their merchant ship they were sailing on and kidnapping him for money or something idk im still playing around with that part, and lovino is just this absolute mystery to him, but ofc this is antonio who is bullheaded in his stubbornness, which i find to be enchanting and cute, and thus we slowly get into the love story of two people who were fucked over tremendously by their societies and their worlds and who just wanted and tbh deserved more, something different, a freedom they would never be able to have in their average life.

smash-cut to however long later and the entire basis of the story is lovino 'i am surrounded by status and wealth and prestige and will have none of it to my name' vargas being adored and cherished by antonio 'love me and i will give you the world, love me and i will give you everything' fernández carriedo. bc!! i!!! think!!! thats!!! neat!!!!

anyway yeah thats kinda where the idea for it came from. i have a few spamano stories written, but i am shamefully lacking any historical hetalia, which is terrible considering history is my entire degree, but im getting there. i hope this in some way answered your ask!!! youre welcome to also hit up my asks or dms if you ever wanna just chat hetalia or anything else, since i too live for this wretched fandom, and have since i was like. idk 12. thank you so much for sending this! i love having an excuse to word vomit about my hyperfixations, and this story has been bouncing in my brain for a frankly disgusting amount of time, and i have only recently decided to put it to paper and make something out of it!

[talon-the-hawk]

Even MORE Incorrect D19 Quotes

Valeri : Whoa, Alexandru, what’s up with that angry face? Alexandru: Valentin won’t stop talking about how “Ancient Egyptians were furries”. Valentin: But they were! Just looks at all their gods- Alexandru: Oh my god, SHUT UP!

-------------------------------------

Alexandru: Do you guys ever have a civilized conversation that doesn't require insulting each other every time you get a chance? Valentin: No. Valeri : No. Alexandru: Didn't think so.

------------------------------------

(During DARKWOODS)

Tim: I’m a reverse necromancer! Larissa: Isn’t that just- Jamie: No. Shut up. Shut the fuck up. You are literally so fucking unfunny that it hurts. It physically hurts my body knowing that people still think murder is funny. I cant believe im saying this but do you guys know how chronically online you all are, thinking that saying “oOh iM a rEVeRsE nECrOmANcER i LOvE tO kiLL pEOpLe” is genuinely funny and will get everyone in the room shitting themselves from laughter?? cause its not. It’s fucking not. In fact, its the unfunniest fucking joke ever. Not just any joke about killing people. This one specifically. Its so unfunny and stupid. Nobody is fucking laughing at that, Tim. It makes you look like a greasy emo kid who has never been outside once in their life and uses tumblr religiously. Like not even the funny side of tumblr. the fucking unfunny side filled with overused jokes about murder and illegal acts. Honestly, youre so unfunny, Tim. Fuck you.

----------------------------------------

Jamie: Do you think different paints have different tastes? Larissa: They do. Kate: ...Why did you say that with such certainty?

--------------------------------------

Jamie: I reserve the right to judge a movie based on when it was made, thank you very much. Kate: You consider anything made before 2000 old and bad. Jamie: And I reserve that right! After all.... Jamie: I bet you wouldn’t like the average movie made in 1879! Kate: There were no movies made in 1879. Jamie: *slams table* WRONG! There was ONE movie made in 1879! The first movie! A zoopraxioscope of a horse galloping! Matt: Oooh! Let’s go ask Valentin if he saw it in theatres!

(Yes, he did in fact see it in theatres-)

-------------------------------------

Kate: I didn’t know that air fryers are a real thing. Used to think that they were made up by the internet as a funny joke and that their purpose was to “fry air”. Larissa: WAIT, BUT IT FRIES THE AIR TO FRY THE FOOD?? Kate: I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS A KITCHEN APPLIANCE, MY FIRST ASSUMPTION WAS SOMETHING AKIN TO AN AIR CONDITIONER! Matt: IT’S NOT LIKE AN AIR CONDITIONER???? Jamie: You guys clearly don’t own an air fryer.

-----------------------------------

Kate, spraying a melted cutting board with a tiny water gun: We gotta cool this bitch down. Cool it down. Jamie: I actually just put the cutting board in the oven... Larissa, visibly confused: Okay, so they decided to put the cutting board in the oven? Kate, spraying Jamie: You FUCKING DUMBASS! Jamie: Dude, I forgot- Kate: OH MY FUCKING GOD! We're trying to make Chicken Alfredo right now, and you fucking MELT the cutting board in the oven at 400 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!? Valentin: *Watching in complete confusion while trying to process this whole situation.*

--------------------------------

Valentin: We might have gotten into a bar room brawl back in the city. Dracula: Well, that was entirely predictable. Valentin: One of them punched a gang member. Dracula: Valeri? Valentin: Alexandru, actually. Dracula: Oh, that was going to be my second guess.

----------------------------------

Kate: What’s the announcement, Matt? Matt: It’s a lecture. Jamie’s gonna tell us everything they know about sex. Larissa: It should be an enjoyable 60 seconds.

----------------------------------

Valeri: I still don’t have a New Year’s resolution. Alexandru: You could lose a few. Dracula: You could be less lazy. Valentin: Don’t be such a bitch. Valeri: Okay DAMN, SHIT.

---------------------------------

Jamie: THEY COME SEASONALLY! Jamie: THEY COME EVERY YEAR! Kate: What- Larissa, are they drunk again- Jamie: IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE I GO! Jamie: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Larissa: What does WHAT mean? Matt, who is the only one who knows what Valentin is talking about: I mean, when you found one in the bathroom- Kate: WHAT THE FUCK DID JAMIE FIND IN THE BATHROOM? Jamie: I’M TELLING YOU LIKE- LIKE IN THE SWIMMING POOL- Jamie: IN L.A. Jamie: EVERYWHERE I GO, THE DUCKS COME TO ME! Kate and Larissa : Oh, for fuCKS SAKE Jamie-

[pungentdarling]

The Pungent Darling

Hello world!! The Pungent Darling is run by Michelle. Trying to fight imposter syndrome one post at a time. If it were up to me I’d only be going by Pungent Darling, but my mom insisted on me keeping my name in here somewhere. This was after I lectured her on why someone would choose to write with a pen name. I told her mine was for the anxiety of putting myself out into the world. This is terrifying!! But still she persisted. So, here we are, welcome to the blog where thoughts, opinions, creativity, reviews and rants will be held. Light a candle, grab some snacks and don’t forget a drink, this is going to be a post about my background to make me feel legit on why I deserve to start a blog.

If you know me, you know how much I constantly talk about “when I start my fashion / music blog,” or “when I interview [any celebrity] I’m going to ask them…” One of my brothers once told me “I’ll let you interview me when you’ve got the story” haha, harsh!! What can I say, I’m a dreamer with my head in the clouds. While I was up in the clouds letting my mind wander I started to remember all the things I did before I shut off my creativity. I stopped having goals for myself and ended up in the ether untied to anything. I’m starting to ground myself again and walk the talk.   

I used to have a tumblr blog of pictures I would take of bands at their concerts, some with a photo pass, some from the crowd. It was a blast!! But I forgot the login, so that is a chapter of my life I won’t be able to edit. The feeling of adrenaline while photographing a band between the stage and barricades is wild. The screaming fans behind you while you’re photographing each band member feels like they’re cheering you on. I always wondered if the musicians could see me smiling (I tried to photograph my favorite bands at that time so this was a big wonder and wishful thinking.) I'd also be singing their songs as my face was shield by my camera (always wanting to stay out of the way and observe.) Shout out to my plethora of Canons, thank you for getting me into places!! This was a very fun and cool part of my life, I wish I would’ve stuck it out, but imposter syndrome and lack of passion will make you stop doing anything. It sucks when it was the only thing you’ve built your personality around.  

DiD sHe Go To CoLlEgE?! YUP!! I graduated with a bachelor's degree in arts, majoring in Broadcasting and Journalism minoring in Apparel and Textile Merchandising. I shit you not, those exact lengthy ass words are on my degree!! This school is not worth mentioning and I’m still mad at myself for going there. Words of advice don’t go to a college just because it’s the cheapest state school and the school colors were your favorite complimentary color combo. I’ve always had a love / hate relationship when it comes to this section of my life. Through all the pain, came things I’ve learned that will stick with me for life, the good and the bad. 

My vision for this page is to share experiences and things that I think are cool. Basically all the things I love and want to share; traveling and checking out new local places, sometimes a quick day trip! Two hours one way isn’t that far if it seems worth it, in my humble opinion. I want to share what I’m reading and cooking; concert reviews; travel logs; grief; fashion things; music interest and food places. I’m not going to limit / force myself on the length of the post like I would in the past, maybe that is why my previous writing / blogging endeavors never worked out. Third times the charm!!

Please enjoy this picture of me in a very weird time of my life, but looking at it now it’s one of my favorite pictures of myself. It embodies the chaos that is The Pungent Darling. I can’t wait to see where this blog goes, all I want is to keep evolving and sticking to my boundaries. 

Xoxo,

The Pungent Darling 

[caedogeist-rights]

(uhhh fuckin, wano act 2 spoilers, idk. i dont typically liveblog on tumblr. im at 943 rn.)

rarghhhhhhhh ok so. im not even done with the episode at this point but everything is going so bad for everyone except the strawhats, who are actively in battle so we'll fuckin see. the heart pirates... basil fucking hawkins i want his HEAD he's so fucking CRUEL and just... ugh the CRUELTY on display coming from kaido et al. kid and killer.... like... dude..... fucking KILLER..... i knew i recognized that face (from tumblr, not from the fascinating masked man) and just. oh g-d. oh that is the WORST thing. orochi and kaido steal your dignity and your pride and they are just... so fucking awful.

there's a theme all across one piece of luffy, freedom, vs. a controlling force trying to kill or control more. we know this. within this is luffy going against someone who controls others' specific actions, makes people do what they don't want to do. in thriller bark, dressrosa, and now in wano, (and also others but listen idr) the problem society faces is that someone is taking over their bodies. im putting a pin on connecting thriller bark to these two (short answer: its about someone changing how you're seen) but. i mean we know the connection between dressrosa and wano. we're all one piece fans here.

the POINT is. orochi and doflamingo and kaido and such are powerful people specifically in their ability to remove people's individual free will. doffy takes away movement and narrative/how one is perceived, orochi and kaido take away people's means of living (food) and means of expression (the fucking smile fruit). SMILE makes me so damn mad in a way that doffy's actions never quite did, because it is truly removing a person's... communication, essentially. the way they are seen and can connect with the world is, even if orochi and kaido are dead and gone, forever altered. they're always laughing, but the people fed SMILE who didn't get an animal are silenced. the truth of their lives is hidden and even if they try to explain anything, SMILE essentially scrambled the social signal to such an extent that the message can't go through properly. it's a terrifying thing, to not only be unable to express the emotions you want to, but to be wholly unable to express anything BUT joy. SMILE doesn't just make them laugh and smile, it- either directly or as a ripple effect/coping mechanism- changes how people talk about things, makes people sound optimistic, take things lightly, and overall reduce any weight to their words. they're seen as fools when all they are are victims with their mouths taped shut. and i fucking HATE it.

which brings me to killer.

im just seething with rage tbh. killer's identity has been shattered. the things he cares about have been removed. eating a SMILE, losing his mask- he lost his dignity and his pride and it just hurts to look at. he... has been changed to such a degree. they even changed his fucking name (i think??? at least like... the common name others use for him.) i want him to never smile again if thats what he wants.

AND ALSO THEYRE BEING TAUNTED AND TORTURED AND THATS JUST. REALLY FUCKING MEAN.

i see. now. why wano is like... very much so... of COURSE the place where luffy ends up. and i think. from what ive gathered on this here website. of course wano is where gear 5 happens. they NEED that freedom. luffy save me. luffy. save me luffy.

i have like... 140 episodes left of this arc? im emotional? things will progress to such an extent? one piece is good and wano is weird? prolonged laughter is very uncomfortable to listen to? wahoo.

[bethnalgreen]

The Preston and Child Books

Welcome to my corner of Tumblr, and my first-ever post. Sorry about the length!

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

I can't even remember when I first read "Relic," the first novel in what became the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It was probably sometime in the 1990s. I do have specific memories of reading "The Cabinet of Curiosities" in the summer of 2002. My sister and I had just moved to New York City, and I was working at Barnes & Noble. You could borrow any hardcover book from B&N to read as long as you put a protective book cover on it. I spent several late nights reading it in our sublet, scared half to death and definitely entertained.

For the next six years, I was a passionate fan of these books. I even managed to snag an audiobook version of "The Book of the Dead" before its official release date (not from B&N) because I was going to be on a plane that day and wanted desperately to read it ASAP.

It's hard to believe that's been almost 15 years ago. I'm still reading the P/C books, and looking forward to them, but I've found myself increasingly disappointed in them.

I don't want to just dump on them. I write for fun but have never finished a story, and I truly applaud the imagination and dedication evident in even the books I truly dislike. (And there have been a few. I give every P/C book a second chance, but it doesn't always make me like it more. The novels I love have been read at least half a dozen times.)

The sticking point for me in the last half-dozen books or so has been the character of Constance Greene (she's so special she can't just be a Green, she has to be a Greene.) She's like a female version of Agent Pendergast, minus the empathy, charm, and any other personality trait that makes him tolerable.

Pendergast can be a pill, that's for sure. But I always manage to root for him, because he does occasionally show signs that he's human. Constance may as well be a robot ... actually, that could explain a lot. Pendergast's outrageous intellectual and physical feats can be explained to some degree by his wealth, his education, his experience in special forces, and his FBI training.

Constance, on the other hand, was picked up off the street at age six by a sociopath. He molded her into exactly what he wanted in a companion. She had more than a century to practice the harpsichord, study languages (Gaelic, really? How convenient), and read hundreds of books on esoteric subjects. She apparently never left the house during that time, which is why her physical feats really beggar belief.

As much as I like "The Book of the Dead," this crap with Constance started then. She'd been a long-term shut-in, but she somehow was able to track Diogenes all around the world, get the better of him in Florence despite his meticulous planning, and outthink him on the slopes of Stromboli.

From there, it's only gotten worse. She's become an "all-knowing ninja," to quote someone on Reddit. She can fire a machine gun after watching (with ill-concealed boredom, no doubt) a man show off the weapon for a few minutes. She can swim, even though she couldn't just a few weeks earlier. She becomes an adept at Chongg Ran after a few lessons (of course she does!).

And what makes it all worse is this gross quasi-romance that's taken up too much time in the series. Constance has convinced herself that she's in love with Pendergast, and she won't take no for an answer. (He's told her "no," with words and body language, more than once.)

If Pendergast has to have a romantic partner, doesn't he deserve better than a short-tempered, monomaniacal sociopath? This woman threatened to kill him in "Blue Labyrinth" for reminding her about her dalliance with Diogenes, then planned her own suicide as he lay dying in the hospital. She saves his life because she's obsessed with him and is dependent on him.

I haven't yet read "The Cabinet of Dr. Leng" -- given how Constance-centric it sounds, I've decided to get it from the library instead of spending my hard-earned money on it -- but I'm hoping the trilogy is a way to gracefully get rid of her. Have her fall for a man back in the 1880s and stay there. Hell, have Diogenes pilot a spaceship from Area 51 back into the 1880s and whisk her off to Mars!

She's taken up enough space in this series. Please, guys, just ditch her already ...

Favorite P/C Novels

Relic, Thunderhead, The Cabinet of Curiosities, Still Life with Crows, The Book of the Dead, Fever Dream, White Fire

Least Favorite P/C Novels

Brimstone, Cemetery Dance, Crimson Shore, Obsidian Chamber, City of Endless Night, Crooked River, Bloodless

[russellsppttemplates]

Hiya everyone,

First of all thank you for the kind words that were sent in regarding the pieces I posted this week and how understanding you were about the sudden close of my requests.

Secondly, and I'm not sure if it was a tumblr glitch or something but I got a few asks coming in right at the same time and I've been thinking about them for a bit since I saw them (apologies if you sent them in earlier and they didn't get to me)

The ideas that I got are around drivers being parents and someone also suggested a wedding series too and here's my take on those things

I feel like I haven't shut up about this but it is something important: this is my master's last year and I have both an internship and a investigation project/dissertation that will require most of my energy and time, and I'm going to be honest right away and say that I will be putting my studies/degree first

Having said that, this is a nice place where I come to de-stress and chill out for a bit and I feel like I could try and post something once a week (without any promises because I've never had a year like this and goodness knows my time management is all over the place)

So, with it all in consideration, I feel like I could respond to the asks that I have and maybe do, for example, the wedding series where each week I would have a prompt (I already have a few in mind and you could send them in too) and I'd write a little something (more detailed than bullet points but less than a full piece) for each driver (I hope you are seeing what I mean, apologies if you are not because I'm a terrible person at explaining things to others)

Again, I still don't know about my investigation project/dissertation (I do know about my internship already, but the teachers apparently just want to prolong our suffering for another week in the unknown)

I would really appreciate it if you could take a little bit of your time to give your opinion about this because at the end of the day, despite wanting to work on my last year, I also want that whatever I write in here is something that you will enjoy reading 🤍

Thank you for reading, as always!

Have a goodnight 🤍

[repost-this-image]

Discovering Who You Are

A lot of LGBT+ teens are upset at people discovering their own queerness at a late age, presumably because they expect everyone to just fully accept themselves as some flavor of LGBT+ the second they hit puberty.

It’s not that simple.  It really isn’t.

I grew up in Alabama in the 90s.  My parents were and are very homophobic.  We were Catholics in a heavily-Protestant area.  I learned at an early age that, for some reason I couldn’t figure out, it was wrong for boys to marry boys or girls to marry girls.  Despite my confusion, I was forced to accept that these things were a sin.

I was what my parents’ generation called a “tomboy.”  I preferred jeans over skirts (mainly because I wasn’t allowed to climb things in skirts).  I played more with “boys’“ toys than with “girls’“ toys.  I loved dinosaurs.  I hated floral patterns with a vengeance.  I loved stories where a female character has to disguise herself as a boy to avoid being recognized and captured.  Those stories made me feel a certain way that I couldn’t put my finger on.  My mother assumed I’d “grow out of it” and kept buying me Barbie dolls and pink floral bedspreads that I hated, assuming that I’d come around.

I hit puberty.  I found myself enjoying looking at other girls.  But I also knew I liked boys.  Because I had not been exposed to the concept of bisexuality (we didn’t even have Internet access), I assumed that because I liked boys, I must be straight.  I must just enjoy pictures of beautiful women for the aesthetics.  Yeah.

My college years came.  I found myself admitting that I had a few “exceptions,” women I’d “go gay for.”  I was 21 years old when I was finally able to admit that no, I was in fact bisexual.  By this point, it was the mid-2000s.  I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I could never tell my parents what I’d discovered.  I still didn’t have a college degree or a job that could support me on my own. I would be homeless the moment I said, “Mom, Dad, I’m bi.”  So I kept my damn mouth shut.  (AFAIK, my parents still don’t know.)  I felt relieved to know more about myself, but terrified that my bisexuality could get me fired, blacklisted, my life ruined.

Years passed.  I tried and failed to hook up with a few young women my age who were accepting of LGBT+ folks.  (They were usually already dating someone else, which put a damper on things.)  I met a nice older man who was really sweet and liked a lot of the things I do.  We ended up getting married.

I entered my 30s.  I started seeing a lot more openly trans and NB people on Tumblr (still the main place I tend to see trans and NB people, since it’s dangerous to be open about it in public still).  I learned that some people were genderfluid.  Suddenly, something clicked.  I understood why I thought it would be cool to be “mistaken” for a boy sometimes.  At age 34, I finally realized that I was genderfluid.

These were concepts that I did not have a word for when I was a teenager.  I couldn’t identify as bisexual or genderfluid because I was unaware that these concepts even existed.  Queer rights have come a LONG way since the 1990s, and in conservative areas, attitudes have barely budged.  I have a cousin my own age who thinks that the mention that a certain child has 2 mommies is “adult content” and shouldn’t be in children’s shows.  I have heard years of horrifyingly homophobic and transphobic things from my parents, aunts, uncles.

So yes, older people often take longer to figure out that they aren’t allocishet.  They grew up with no Internet, no queer representation on TV or in the movies, nothing except what our enemies have to say about us.  And those who did know, were in extreme danger if they came out.  It’s not that long ago that being queer, or even suspected of it, got you put in prison.

Hell, even know, if certain people knew I wasn’t cishet, there would be an uproar.  Parents would insist that it wasn’t safe for me to teach their children.