#and paved the way for lots of other anime

[novelmonger]

After all these years, I finally got around to watching Cowboy Bebop for the first time. My hot take:

Meh, Trigun was better.

[pi-slices]

10 Years, Every Day! - 240405

As of today, it has been exactly 10 years since I started creating and sharing a 3D animated GIF artwork every single day!

I originally began learning 3D and making GIFs after being inspired by many of the digital artists I had started to find on Tumblr back in 2013. When I decided to start making a GIF every day in April 2014, with very little prior art experience, I never could have imagined that I would still be here doing it 10 years later.

I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who has stuck around and supported my work in any way over the last decade. Likewise, I also have to thank everyone I've had the chance to work or collaborate with over the duration of this project! This has been a huge learning experience, and I am very proud of how far things have come.

To the best of my knowledge, I am the first artist to complete 10 years of daily GIFs, but I have to give major props to the other artists that I know of who paved the way and passed this milestone before me in their respective mediums: @songadaymann / @catswilleatyou / @beeple / @graebor / @rawandrendered

With that being said, after a lot of contemplation, I have decided that today will mark the completion of my daily GIF project. I have no plans to stop creating and sharing my art, but after 10 years of pushing to have an animation done every single day, it's time for a change of pace.

There are still so many things I want to learn, and now feels like the right time to give myself the room to explore and give it a try.

Thank you again for the support. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

- pi

[reasonsforhope]

"Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo has a lot to celebrate.

The park, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 31 of 2023, also shared an exciting conservation milestone: 2023 was the first year without any elephant poaching detected.

“We didn’t detect any elephants killed in the Park this year, a first for the Park since [we] began collecting data. This success comes after nearly a decade of concerted efforts to protect forest elephants from armed poaching in the Park,” Ben Evans, the Park’s management unit director, said in a press release.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park was developed by the government of Congo in 1993 to maintain biodiversity conservation in the region, and since 2014, has been cared for through a public-private partnership between Congo’s Ministry of Forest Economy and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Pictured: Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Photo courtesy of Scott Ramsay/Wildlife Conservation Society

Evans credits the ongoing collaboration with this milestone, as the MEF and WCS have helped address escalating threats to wildlife in the region. 

This specifically includes investments in the ranger force, which has increased training and self-defense capabilities, making the force more effective in upholding the law — and the rights of humans and animals.

“Thanks to the strengthening of our anti-poaching teams and new communication technologies, we have been able to reduce poaching considerably,” Max Mviri, a park warden for the Congolese government, said in a video for the Park’s anniversary. 

“Today, we have more than 90 eco-guards, all of whom have received extensive training and undergo refresher courses,” Mviri continued. “What makes a difference is that 90% of our eco-guards come from villages close to the Park. This gives them extra motivation, as they are protecting their forest.”

As other threats such as logging and road infrastructure development impact the area’s wildlife, the Park’s partnerships with local communities and Indigenous populations in the neighboring villages of Bomassa and Makao are increasingly vital.

“We’ve seen great changes, great progress. We’ve seen the abundance of elephants, large mammals in the village,” Gabriel Mobolambi, chief of Bomassa village, said in the same video. “And also on our side, we benefit from conservation.”

Coinciding with the Park’s anniversary is the roll-out of a tourism-focused website, aiming to generate 15% of its revenue from visitors, which contributes significantly to the local economy...

Nouabalé-Ndoki also recently became the world’s first certified Gorilla Friendly National Park, ensuring best practices are in place for all gorilla-related operations, from tourism to research.

But gorillas and elephants — of which there are over 2,000 and 3,000, respectively — aren’t the only species visitors can admire in the 4,334-square-kilometer protected area.

The Park is also home to large populations of mammals such as chimpanzees and bongos, as well as a diverse range of reptiles, birds, and insects. For the flora fans, Nouabalé-Ndoki also boasts a century-old mahogany tree, and a massive forest of large-diameter trees.

Beyond the beauty of the Park, these tourism opportunities pave the way for major developments for local communities.

“The Park has created long-term jobs, which are rare in the region, and has brought substantial benefits to neighboring communities. Tourism is also emerging as a promising avenue for economic growth,” Mobolambi, the chief of Bomassa village, said in a press release.

The Park and its partners also work to provide education, health centers, agricultural opportunities, and access to clean water, as well, helping to create a safe environment for the people who share the land with these protected animals. 

In fact, the Makao and Bomassa health centers receive up to 250 patients a month, and Nouabalé-Ndoki provides continuous access to primary education for nearly 300 students in neighboring villages. 

It is this intersectional approach that maintains a mutual respect between humans and wildlife and encourages the investment in conservation programs, which lead to successes like 2023’s poaching-free milestone...

Evans, of the Park’s management, added in the anniversary video: “Thanks to the trust that has been built up between all those involved in conservation, we know that Nouabalé-Ndoki will remain a crucial refuge for wildlife for the generations to come.”"

-via Good Good Good, February 15, 2024

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Aside from needing a new roof, and being a fixer upper, my first thought was that this 2002 home in Berkeley, West Virginia, is the perfect witches house, but it's also a very unique home. There are 3 levels, but the description says 0 bds. It's so open that there are spaces for beds, but not actual rooms. It does have 2ba. and 7.40 acres of land for $325K. The rural property is on the Virginia border so apparently commuting there to work would be easy.

At the entrance, 2 large tree trunks hold up the roof and the path is paved with colorful tiles. The 2 front tiles say "Welcome."

As soon as you walk in, you can see the open concept. The ceiling spreads out from the center fireplace and the floorboards are in a square pattern surrounding it.

The main floor can be set up in many different ways.

It's quite spacious.

There's also a bath and walk-in closet.

This is the second level. It goes around and is open in the middle.

It's pretty big up here- there's a piano in the corner on the right.

A large deck goes around the house on the 2nd level.

Behind the fireplace on the main floor are stairs to a lower level.

The kitchen is down on this level.

This area with the shelving would make a nice bedroom or den.

The area next to it also looks like it could potentially be a bedroom, also.

Lots of space down here.

There's also a bathroom and laundry.

There's storage.

The description says "bring all the animals." Looks like a couple of kennels there.

Over 7 acres can certainly be a farm and  are under the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.

There are 2 loafing sheds (a place for horses and other livestock to take shelter from harsh weather) that need repair.

There are also several fenced in areas.

Well, it's a large farm property with a most unusual farm house.

It certainly has character.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2822-Mauzy-Rd-Berkeley-Springs-WV-25411/2052987024_zpid/

[everythingelseisextra]

Everything Is Fine

Request: No Description: Tired of being stuck in the same life every day, you decide to face your anxiety and go into town. You spend hours going unnoticed, until someone, finally, speaks to you. Warnings: idk there's mentions of alcohol? also the reader has anxiety? Word Count: 1547 Author's Note: This will be a multi-chapter fic slow burn Tommy x horse trainer reader. I am absolutely begging people to read it. I'm putting a lot of myself into this and hopping people like it. I'm a little nervous to post it, to be honest. Please lmk whether I should continue or not.

It’s been weeks. You do your work, lifting bales of hay and dragging buckets of water to and from stalls. You exercise the horses and deal with the insanity that comes from off-the-track animals. You go until you’re dizzy and sweating and then finally take a break to breathe and drink and eat. And then you go home, and you sleep in your tiny bedroom, and eat breakfast in the gray light of dawn, and it’s fine. Everything is fine. And your whole life is just a constant cycle of fine. Trying to shake it from you feels like trying to swim to a shore you don’t know exists, while the sea expands around you, endless. There’s nothing wrong with it, you think. There’s nothing wrong with the act of treading water, unless you start to drown. But you can stay afloat. You can always stay afloat. And everything is fine. 

It’s been weeks since you moved here, and, for the first time, you decide to go into town. You take your time, body heavy, weighed down by the faint storm in your mind, and duck your head as the cab pulls up. You can’t afford a car. Silence fills the small interior as the driver moves off, heading towards the faint outline of the city on the horizon. The countryside looms, pale green hills cut through with brown and gray paths, and you’re small, insignificant, because there’s so much around you and so little inside you. Soon, the hills smooth into flat, paved sidewalks and roads, and the car wanders through the wreckage that is Small Heath, the closest town to your property. Around you, shouts and the murmur of other vehicles, flashes of dark-dressed people, children running amuck on the streets. 

“Where to?” The driver asks, their voice quiet. 

“Wherever’s closest and serves alcohol.” You place your hands in your lap, staring out the window at the black and gray around you, the shadows dancing across stone walls, the flicker of lamps as being lit as night draws close. 

The driver nods.

After a few minutes, you’re greeted with a dark exterior, matching the rest of the city. Nothing special, but you didn’t ask for anything special. You asked for alcohol. You pay the driver and step out of the car, looking up at the words The Garrison resplendent in gold above the entrance. Some light in this city of devils. You shake your head, questioning your own sanity in setting foot in a big city like this. You’re from the country. You’re made to live small days and dream small dreams, stay in the quiet outskirts. And, yet, here you are. 

You enter, with some trepidation, and quietly make your way through wooden tables to take a seat at the bar, eyes on the grayed photos decorating the wall in front of you. You close your eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, and let your thoughts flow freely, trying not to judge yourself. The chatter of voices surrounds you, and the creak of chairs as weights shift, the clatter of glasses on tables. You’re dressed differently than everyone else in this bar. You hadn’t changed after work. Jodhpurs and a tight, tucked-in shirt, no overcoat. You release a tense breath and look up as the bartender approaches you. 

“Gin, I guess. Last Word, if you can do that.” You hate how shy you make yourself sound. You can face off a twelve-hundred pound animal with no fear, but become timid at any form of social interaction anywhere but your property. It makes you cringe. 

The bartender, a young blond woman, smiles faintly and nods at you. You go back to looking down at your hands in your lap, ears tuned to the noises around you. You catch phrases from conversations, little sayings, the chatter filtering in and out like a badly tuned radio. You receive your drink and sip slowly, waiting for the alcohol to find its way into your system and calm you, if only a little. The hair on the back of your neck raises; there are eyes on you.

As the night goes on, you find yourself in a cyclorama of constant movement, with you in the center. People come in and out. Shouting, standing on tables, making drunken toasts. Chairs get knocked over, thrown, laid on. The bartender calls to some of the men, smiling her little smile, and, at one point, sings a lilting tune that you faintly recognize but don’t know the words to. All the while, you’re still, silent, your own anchor in the blowing storm of the sea. 

No one sees you. No one cares. You finish your drink and sigh. Maybe part of you hoped someone would notice you, come over and speak to you. Maybe part of you wanted something more than fine. Maybe part of you thought you were some kind of special, some kind of chosen, the main character of your own story. Maybe part of you—

“Never seen you here before.” A voice next to you, low and gravelly, but soft enough that you don’t jump. 

You open your mouth to speak. The words are on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t seem to let them out. You shake your head, frustrated. The words are there. You can feel them burning on the inside of your throat; never been here before. You can’t speak them. You can’t even look at the man beside you. 

“Who are you?” His accent is different than yours, stronger. The softness starts to dissipate from his words and you grow tense, trying to breathe, trying to hold it together. 

Again, you try to speak, but can’t find the words. 

“I asked you: who are you?” He steps towards you. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch icy blue flicking over you, dark, high-quality clothing, and a cap held loosely in his hand on the bar, glinting in the golden light. That gets your attention, and you turn your head slightly, trying to get a good look without actually looking. Slim slivers of silver line the brim of the hat. 

“When I ask a question, I expect an answer.” Now there’s a threat in his voice and you pointedly look away. 

“I’m not from around here,” you say. You don’t want this man to know you. You don’t want a man who carries hidden weapons and threatens on the first meeting to know who you are. 

His head lifts slightly, so he’s looking down at you, and his mouth opens a bit, his tongue at the inner edge of his lips. Thinking. When he speaks, the threat is gone, the faint burn of his words completely erased. “You race horses?” 

You shake your head. 

“Why are you dressed for riding, then?” His arms cross, the cap on his left side. You track it silently, still not looking at him.

“I train them.”

“For racing.” He nods to himself, starting to look away from you, seeking his next target.

“No. After.”

He looks back, those piercing eyes back on you. Half of you wants to shrink into nothing, and the other part— well, the other part is fascinated with the idea of being someone else for the night, slipping into someone else’s skin and walking around, of being brave and social. His eyebrows raise slightly, a request for more information. 

You sigh, turn yourself in your seat, and face him. Brave. “I rehab horses that injure themselves on the track. Instead of shooting them, they give them to me.”

“Never heard of that.” You’re caught in his gaze, trapped there, and the most you can do is stare back. He sounds dismissive. 

“It’s real. You can come see it for yourself.” The words escape you before you ask them to, before you have time to think them through. Inviting a stranger to your property, where he could do anything he wanted to you in the middle of nowhere, where your screams would travel over the hills and reach no one. 

“Who are you?” He asks again. 

You shake your head. “I’m no one.” 

“Where are your stables?” 

You bite the insides of your cheeks for a moment. There’s no way of getting out of this. You already invited him. “A straight shot into the Northern countryside from Small Heath.”

He gives you a single nod. “Expect me tomorrow morning.”

You close your eyes, a faint burning sensation in the back of your throat. “Okay.”

You hear him start to walk away, heavy footsteps on the wooden ground, then, they stop, and your blood goes cold. 

“Thomas Shelby,” he says, and you open your eyes to find him looking over his shoulder at you. You get your first, non-panicked look at him. Small, well-muscled stature, with the posture of a man who doesn’t mind taking up space. Pitch black hair, shaved in the typical anti-lice style, with pale, porcelain skin and sharp cheekbones. And those eyes. Those eyes that look with such pointed intention, like every glance is a web of planning and strategy. 

“What?” So distracted by his appearance, you don’t catch his words. 

“My name. Thomas Shelby.” His head turns away from you, and his next phrase is faint. “Remember it.”

Part Two: Commit to the Bit

[monsters-conquer-the-world]

OOZEPUNK

WHAT IS OOZEPUNK?

Oozepunk is the term I'm coining for the microgenre of urban heroic sci-fi horror-fantasy that first exploded in the mid-80s with movies, shows, and comics like Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Toxic Avenger, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hellboy, Street Sharks, and others. Lots of natural crossover with Biopunk and Cyberpunk, aesthetically and philosophically.

Your childhood trauma didn't let you forget Roger Rabbit heavily featured colorful nightmare slime, did it?

A ragtag gang of weirdos (often horribly mutated--more on that soon) band together to save a city that doesn't understand them. Grimy sewers, abandoned buildings and graffiti'd brick walls are lit up by neon lights, streams of mysterious, glowing goo and/or the unearthly lights of futuristic particle weapons--ideally all of the above!

Beyond the "cracked concrete and gutters full of liquid plutonium" aesthetic, Oozepunk prankishly asks "What if catastrophic aberrations of science, particularly DUMPING TOXIC FUCKING WASTE STRAIGHT INTO THE ENVIRONMENT created fucked-up monsters... but they're HEROIC fucked-up monsters!" These catastrophic aberrations of science grant the heroes incredible powers, but COST them their place in human society. (Ghostbusters and Roger Rabbit eschew character mutation in favor of discovering that the undead and olde tymey cartoons are real [and exploitable!], respectively. 'Busters and 'Toon sympathizers alike are treated like insane idiots and/or frauds in their respective universes.)

Oozepunk heroes are challenged not only by strange supernatural beings, but by human society itself. The Ghostbusters battle with local politicians as much as they do the undead. In the recent (and delightful) TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, Splinter warns the Turtles of humans and their obsession with "milking" mutants for their blood--on top of the villainous mutants they're trying to thwart!

Crank up the creep factor in Oozepunk and you get awesome anti-establishment goo-horror like 1988's The Blob, The Stuff, Street Trash, and probably a bunch more. Toxic Avenger is a batshit crazy splatter-comedy (i.e. classic Troma)... and still garnered sequels, a kid's cartoon and toyline!

And there's a Shredder's Revenge-style Crusaders beat-em-up coming out next year??

This looks dope as shit

Ghostbusters and TMNT are the only current, "evergreen" (or radioactive green!) Oozepunk franchises I can think of off the top of my head, but Oozepunk elements are buried in almost all of the stories and settings I love the most. Heroic kaiju like King Kong, Godzilla and Gamera paved the way for our freaky friends, but so did comics characters like Fantastic Four's Ben "The Thing" Grimm, The Hulk and Swamp Thing. Hell, I think I blame SESAME STREET of all things for starting me down the Oozepunk path.

Surprise! I've loved screaming trash monsters with secret hearts of gold since I was a fucking baby, and they've ALWAYS been there for me!

But it's not just Oscar, Sesame Street as a whole is a proto-Oozepunk utopia, years before the big Ooze-splosion of the 80s. Muppets, monsters, talking animals and chill humans all live and work together to scrape by with a little dignity in a gritty-but-wholesome urban world!

Sesame Street, a decades-long reminder that educational childrens' programming can and SHOULD be cool as hell looking and loaded with all kinds of friendly mutant freakuloids.

OOZEPUNK! Whaddya think?

[generouskittentidalwave]

Watching the She-ra reboot after 5-6 years

Hey remember that show in 2018 that came out on Netflix during Tumblr's Twitter era and stirred up enough toxicity to turn you into Dave the Skeleton in the highschool science classroom?

Well BUCKLE IN for a RIDE cause I recently watched that show for the first time after avoiding it for YEARS, after seeing the fans and the haters be so devoted to either the fans praising it like a godsent deity or haters devoting their whole life to finding something wrong with every aspect of the show that it makes you wonder if they realized that they've become the Catra that they sought to destroy, I decided to avoid even touching the show and went about my life in other fandoms.

Well years have passed and like a Hallmark movie time abruptly went on and the drama soon faded, the tides have settled, the war has ended, and neither side remains the same. The fans have grown up, matured and enjoy the show as it is and the haters have lost all that sweet sustenance back in 2019 and have went the ways of the DoDo. With everything finally settled, I joined in on the rush of new fans recently that started rewatching the series and wanted to display my thoughts as well as a first time watcher ^^

I went in well aware of all the criticisms in mind, and having seen the original She-ra, and I just gotta say that my worrisome thoughts on watching it was completely washed away from the start of the show. I was worried of Adora being that one marysue character that is from the bad guys side but is actually a good a guy with the personality of white bread and with flaws of just being "a little bit QuiRkY" but she completely shooed away those fears. She is a well balanced character with a unique and well done backstory, her character breaking away from the steriotypical chosen ones and her having flaws that don't take away her being a good person but instead have their own charm and relatability that makes her very fun and down to earth. She is so golden retriever coded and I love it. What I like most though is that she wasn't "random main character comes in to lead everyone to victory out of nowhere" , instead of making her the unsaid leader, they made her the main character who is the muscle of the group and part of the heart and has to learn overtime and understand their ways instead of making her the leader. It makes way for her to pave and earn her way as being the main character instead of it being given by default by making her the leader and I love that break away. And that break away also helps to counter the fears I heard about the white savior trope by making Adora the way she was and making Glimmer and Glimmer's mom the queen the actual leaders of the rebellion that they helped start.

Love the best friends squad, I love Glimmer's growth and her bond with Adora, I like how she went downhill and built herself back up again as a person as it was very realistic with her being so young and having to replace her mom as queen. Bow is my spirit animal, period, but I really want to know more about his huge family. I imagine that because they are all historians they must go to the academy or similar academies that Bow was meant to go to and I can see why they wouldn't question him not being there as 12 siblings is A LOT to keep track of. Swiftwind is great but he shall always be known as Horsie and the queen's sacrifice hurts everytime I see it, I love how she owned up to her own flaws. Shadowweaver messed up being a mother figure 3 times, she needs parenting classes fr, 'nough said. I love all the princesses but Mermista is my personal favorite. Also why is aunt cast named Castaspella, I can't even say it without dying of laughter 💀🖐️

Now I know some of you are sitting at your computer with 5 monsters in hand and sweat anxiously dripping from your forehead as you dramatically hover over the keys just WAITING to write a five page essay response if I even dare to utter the name Catra and her relationship with Adora. So, I'ma give you my opinion.

Honestly, their romance was the end goal since the beginning and the story made that clear and honestly I like Catra's growth as a character from her knowing she has anger issues and actively working on it to better herself, helping to save others and helping to save Adora in the end. Her realizing that pushing others away to protect herself only harms her and everyone around her in the end and her realistically taking it slow and steady to better herself as a person for herself and for Adora is something a really like. Yes their relationship was hella toxic, especially in the middle (but I do like how Adora recognized that and punched Catra when they were in the portal). The build up was great, the middle ground of her doubling down was great, and I think her growth at the end was great and that the two are happy and not in a toxic relationship with eachother anymore at the end. I think what truly makes it odd is although the redemption was great the time constraints made it so they couldn't flesh it out to help answer and address the past actions that were caused by her, they did so great with her slowly becoming better and better, and so it wouldn't have come off as bad as it did if they had just a bit more time to address everything with that instead of being forced to dive right into it which definitely left a- well- less than good impression to it's audience. But they tried their best with what they could do and honestly for a show as surprisingly dark as this I'm just glad they aren't in a toxic relationship anymore and are happy in the end and that Catra got redeemed. It definitely wasn't trying to romanize abuse, however it came off as such due to constraints and them rushing the ending which gave plenty of ammo to people who already hated the show to have a reason to hate it more. In my opinion if you don't like it that's valid, if you do like it that's valid, me personally I'm not a romance person so I couldn't care enough either way.

Now to address some things I know some people are waiting for, but in speed run fashion. Mara's She-ra design was the fault of the designers not agreeing on what they wanted her to look like, I was expecting her to have brown flowing hair not blonde, I get the stripping of individuality message they tried to go with, it just needed better designers and better execution but that's as deep as it goes. It's not that they are racist, they are more along the lines of "you need a more organized team cause her design changes every five seconds like wtf" kind of situation. I'm glad they didn't automatically forgive Hordak or accept him but I'm glad he was changed enough to not be a killer that's mass murdering people anymore and as long no one is dying by his hands anymore and people don't automatically forgive him then that's fine by me, whatever keeps others from dying a horrible unnecessary death.

Overall, in conclusion, love the show, great depth, great characters, love the humor and amazing magical girl transformations, awesome rep, stronk princess punching things, would most definitely recommend, especially now with all the wave of chaos it's initial release sucked in now evaporated. (Seriously there are full tags and blogs deticated to hating a show about glowing princesses fighting aliens, it's okay to not like a show but come on people there is more to life than that 💀) Enjoy it, have fun, and I hope you have a great day/night! ^^

[satansapostle6]

The Crush | Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson is a cool, simple guy who is also the famous son of Poseidon who helped save the world. But, talking to the pretty girl in his English class still seems impossible.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter One

Chapter Two: Study Date

The English project was coming along slowly. Percy would often get sidetracked bickering with Clarisse, so Chloé usually ended up having to contain her rage toward Clarisse and facilitate like a single mother with two children. That day, after Clarisse had stormed out of class and left Percy and Chloé to deal, the two of them looked to each other awkwardly.

“We still have a lot to do,” Chloé said, slowly looking at her laptop to realize just how behind schedule they were.

“Yeah,” Percy nodded in agreement, sighing exhaustedly.

“My place?” she questioned.

Percy stopped for a moment, having to recalibrate as he took a moment to think about what she had actually meant.

“To finish up,” Chloé added. “If we just cram for a couple hours, we could probably get close to finishing.”

Aggressively shutting off the large part of his brain that was still a twelve year-old boy, Percy shook off his thoughts, trying to communicate like a normal person. She looked at him strangely, waiting for an answer.

“Uh, yeah,” he nodded quickly, “Sure.”

“Okay,” she agreed as he followed her out of the classroom.

He silently left the college campus with her, as she made her way onto the neatly paved roads of New Rome to where she lived. Percy had assumed that, like many of the other adult-aged demigods who attended college, she lived in one of the barrack-style apartments built after the camp was added onto to suit more demigods.

He quietly trailed behind Chloé, following her home to her condo not too far from the school campus.

“Here,” she said softly, pulling a small ring of keys from her pocket as she unlocked the door for him.

“Thanks,” Percy said graciously, walking in after her.

As soon he stepped over the threshold, he felt the energy change. It wasn’t necessarily in a bad way, but Percy had a difficult time placing the thoughts and feelings he experienced as he entered Chloé’s sanctuary. Although the place looked relatively normal and didn’t seem sinister at all, he felt almost as if his stomach had dropped when she closed the door behind him.

He didn’t feel trapped, but he felt intensely aware. There was a darker ambience to the room. All of the windows were covered with dark curtains that seemed black with a bluish hue, and the only lights in use didn’t light up more than half the room.

Percy made his way to her living room, nearly jumping as a small, dark animal jumped in front of him along the top of the couch. He breathed softly, calming himself as he realized it was just a black cat.

“Don’t mind Jet. He’s friendly,” Chloé assured him, setting her bag down on a leather armchair. “Once he gets to know you, anyway.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Percy nodded, slowly stroking along the cat’s soft black fur as it sat down on the couch.

It didn’t seem particularly thrilled that he was in its space, disregarding him with narrowed eyes the way it would a fly as he continued petting it in long, repetitive strokes, trying to earn its favor.

“Jet. That’s a cool name,” Percy remarked as he tried to bond with the animal.

Chloé just shook her head, disappearing upstairs as Percy was left to sit alone on the couch, with the cat jumping down into the arm rest to watch him.

“Hey, buddy,” Percy cooed, trying to earn the cat’s trust. “You’re a cute little guy, aren’t you?”

Somehow, he felt the cat was unamused as he continued to look forward while he pet him. Looking around the room, Percy began to think more and more that Chloé was the most mysterious human being he had ever met. Her house wasn’t exactly decorated like a witch’s house, but it wasn’t far off.

There were intricate, beautifully woven tapestries that hung on the walls, depicting dark but beautiful scenes like a pale moon shining on the ocean in the dark of night. There were dark-colored, jagged rocks displayed on the tables that looked as though they had been pulled from the depths of Hades, or somewhere equally sinister. There were dead flower arrangements mostly consisting of thin, prickly branches still sitting in vases.

“Cats like fish, right?” Percy wondered aloud, thinking that his father was the god of the sea. “If you want, I could put in a good word for you with my dad. But you’ll have to be nice to me, though.”

The cat looked up at him for a moment, seemingly a look of consideration in his yellow cat eyes before he looked towards the stairs at who Percy had assumed was his owner, continuing to allow Percy to pet him. Percy turned, looking for Chloé as someone else ended up coming down the stairs.

He saw a tall brown-haired girl, who completely ignored him as she disappeared into the kitchen. A family member or a roommate, Percy figured. He waited patiently for Chloé, who came back downstairs, looking toward the kitchen as she heard the sounds of the other girl cooking.

“Oh. That’s my sister, Max,” Chloé informed him, walking toward the record played on a stand between her small couches.

He nodded, watching as she looked through her extensive collection of records, putting on what he recognized to be some sort of indie rock, something more soft and agreeable.

“Who’s older?” Percy asked curiously.

“I am,” she responded coolly.

Chloé finally sat down beside him, pulling out her laptop and other materials from her black school bag with the nice silver buckle on it, looking over to him once she was settled in.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” she asked.

Percy had forgotten that people typically asked their guests this question.

“Uh, maybe a water?”

Chloé looked at him as he suddenly realized how on the nose the response was, before nodding and disappearing into the kitchen. He pointedly looked back at Jet, the sleek black cat, with a pointed expression on his face.

“Is she always like this?” he remarked.

The cat naturally said nothing as he continued giving it the attention it seemed to want, as something else small came running down the stairs, the sound of a tiny, twinkling bell filling the air, somewhat startling to Percy. He saw a little grey cat jumping from the floor up onto the couch, settling into his lap as it nuzzled him with its entire body.

Percy chuckled at the little Siamese cat, petting its head affectionately.

“Hey there,” he murmured, entertaining the playful animal. “Hi.”

“That’s Ash. She’s my sister’s,” Chloé said, handing him a full glass of water. “Sorry. I forgot to ask if you wanted ice,” she sat down beside him.

“No, it’s cool, this is perfect,” he promised, “Thank you.”

She nodded as she opened up her laptop. Percy reached into his backpack, pulling out his as he watched her for what to do, feeling that she was better at being a college student and an adult than he was. Even after defeating monsters and Titans as a demigod, Percy still felt awkward around his crush.

He and Chloé spent the next couple of hours or so working on the parts of the project Clarisse had been too fussy about, leaving only the parts she would have to work on herself. Throughout the whole thing, Chloé only had to explain a couple of things to him, which he felt decidedly proud about.

Percy only realized the time once they had finally finished working. As Chloé sighed and shut her laptop, he looked around the room anxiously, making a point of it as he stretched both of his arms out behind her, yawning as he tried to find a way to fill the silence between them.

He sat there beside her as she finally looked back to him, not saying anything yet. She only looked at him with no discernible expression on her face, as if taking him in for the first time.

“You, uh, have a really nice place here,” Percy Jackson remarked, looking around her and her sister’s shared condo.

“Thanks,” Chloé said as she turned to face him.

Percy waited nervously for her to speak, wondering if she was about to kick him out. He checked his phone; it was 5:16, and she was sure to have been annoyed at him by now.

“It’s five,” she pointed out eventually, not having anything else to say.

Percy frantically looked between all of her various features, trying to deduce the hidden meaning behind her words she had assumed he’d pick up on.

“Max is gonna be home in a few minutes,” she added. “You wanna stay for dinner?”

Percy’s eyes lit up anxiously as he realized what she was asking him. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Chloé nodded. “My sister made mac and cheese.”

This was more than enough for Percy to decide.

“Yeah. That sounds awesome,” he agreed, mouth watering at the mention of mac and cheese.

“You wanna come help me set the table and stuff?” she invited him.

“Yeah! Sure!”

Percy followed as Chloé led him into the kitchen, where the oven was already in use.

“Can you heat up the chicken?” she asked. “I’ll do the broccoli.”

“Sure,” he offered, seeing the pot sitting on the counter by the stove.

He looked between the pot and the stove, figuring Chloé had most likely meant for him to put it back on the burner and heat it up.

“This is a lot of food,” Percy realized as he heated up the large pot of chicken.

“Well, we have to make enough for all of us,” she pointed out.

“‘All of us’? Who else is coming?” he wondered.

“Our other siblings,” Chloé replied.

As if on cue, Percy heard the front door open as multiple sets of footsteps sounded.

“Chloé! We’re home!” Max yelled. “Go wash your hands! It’s dinner time!”

Percy panicked as he automatically went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.

“Not you,” she rolled her eyes, “You’re cooking.”

Chloé pulled the mac and cheese from the oven, making sure the stove was off as she moved everything to the dinner table as he helped set the five places she’d put out plates for. Max, Chloé’s sister, sat at her place next to Chloé by the head of the table.

“Max, this is Percy. Percy, this is Max,” she said formally.

“Hey,” Percy waved in a friendly manner.

“Hey,” Max said coolly.

Suddenly, two children came running to the table, taking their seats as Percy looked to them in surprise.

“Guys, this is Percy,” Chloé announced in an authoritative voice.

“Hi, Percy,” a boy and girl chorused before they dug in, with Max occasionally helping them scoop.

As she helped put food on their plates, the two children stared at Percy blankly.

“What are your names?” he asked with a smile.

“I’m Laney,” the girl told him.

“My name’s Hunter,” the boy responded.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Percy said warmly. “How old are you?”

“I’m six,” Hunter told him excitedly. “My birthday was Sunday.”

“Well, happy late birthday,” Percy smiled. “How old are you, Laney?”

“Eleven,” she said promptly.

“Are you both Half-Bloods?”

“Yeah,” Laney nodded.

“They’re both going to school until they’re ready for the full camp,” Chloé explained.

“Are you all Nox kids?” Percy asked them.

“No,” Max said quickly. “Chloé’s Nox, I’m Mars, Laney’s Venus, and Hunter’s Hephaestus.”

“Is that even possible?” he wondered.

“Apparently,” Max shrugged. “Our dad’s a slut.”

Percy looked over at the kids in shock, slowly seeing that they were used to the way their older sisters talked and knew better than to repeat any of it in front of them.

“Do you guys take care of them?” Percy asked Chloé and Max, not seeing any parents around.

“Yeah,” Max nodded, not talking much at all as she ate.

“Why?” he looked to Chloé.

“Our dad ran out,” she explained bluntly.

“Oh,” Percy said softly, frowning.

“It’s fine,” she consoled him as she put food on her plate, “We’re better off without him. Trust me.”

“Why, uh… Why’d he leave?” he asked thoughtfully.

“He’s an alcoholic. I don’t even think it’s that he left, he honestly probably forgot how to find his way back,” Chloé scoffed.

Percy was thrown by the way she spoke about things even in front of the kids. He sat through the dinner with a different appreciation for Chloé and her sister, not that he hadn’t appreciated Chloé before. He watched as she and her sister spent the evening talking to the kids about their days at school and the after school program.

He couldn’t help but smile at the way Chloé handled the kids, speaking a little more pleasantly to them and taking the time to make sure they all finished their homework. Percy watched her as she sent them upstairs to wash up before bed, admiring her responsibility.

“You wanna go for a walk?” Chloé asked as she finished up.

“Hmm?” Percy perked up, not expecting her to say anything to him.

“For a smoke,” she stated.

“Yeah! Sure,” he accepted excitedly, standing up.

Chloé nodded and grabbed her jacket, leading him out the door. Percy dutifully trailed behind her, lips pursed together as he waited for her speak as she lit up a cigarette.

“You want one?” she asked, offering him the open pack.

“Uh…” Percy was lost as he tried to come up with an answer.

He knew he didn’t smoke, of course, but he also couldn’t come up with a great reason as to why. He didn’t smoke, but he’d also never smoked a cigarette before.

“Yeah! Sure,” he smiled, hesitantly pulling a cigarette from the pack.

He took it and just held it in his hand as she handed him her lighter, which he took, holding both in each hand in confusion.

“Uh,” Chloé stared.

Percy looked at her awkwardly, still holding the cigarette.

“Here,” she said, taking the cigarette out of his hand.

He made a sound as she stuck the cigarette into his mouth, chuckling as she lit it for him, hand shielding it from the wind. Percy silently nodded his thanks as she pulled away, lighting her own cigarette.

“You’ve never had a cigarette before, have you?” she figured.

Percy looked down in defeat. “No, I haven’t,” he confessed. “But I’ve done everything else before,” he tried to save it.

“Everything?” Chloé raised an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean,” he groaned.

“You’re more of a drinker, huh?” she deduced.

“I get high too,” he shrugged awkwardly.

“And you can’t light a cigarette?” she questioned in confusion.

“Hey, I, like, never do the lighting!” Percy protested. “I always have people do the rolling and the lighting for me! Because I don’t know how,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I can roll one for you,” she offered softly.

“What, right now?” he looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah. Sure,” she agreed. “We can split some in my room.”

Percy nearly fainted at those words.

-

Chapter Three

[ovaruling]

no one asked, but here’s my detailed bird seed update since this blog has become not only a record keeper of my fitness but also my bird friends:

adjusting my budget severely for the elaborate bird feeding i’ve got going on. to recap, i feed about 200+ wild birds per day, mostly doves, grackles, blue jays, cardinals, catbirds, warblers, mockingbirds, and woodpeckers. sometimes i get a rare painted bunting! the number may possibly be more, my counting when they swarm is not reliable.

when i first started feeding, the birds were all terribly thin—the development in my neighborhood has been devastating to the general health of the bird population, as well as the sweltering heat of recent years. growing up, i remember it being a common sight to see birds milling about on the ground, scavenging for food. you almost never see it anymore, bc there IS no more ground. if its not paved, then it’s all tightly mowed grass with no chance for food to even have a chance to be there. based on the cityscape, my guess is that they have had to fly further and further distances in search of somewhere to forage. which, in this climate, must be utterly sapping them. they haven’t moved away, they still nest right here bc there are still thankfully lots of sheltering trees. but they are having to go further and further for food—not good.

the adjustment is worth it. i did find one store online that sells very cheap whole corn kernels by the pound, which the squirrels and jays love.

there is a female squirrel who is very obviously and very definitely nursing some babies. i am trying to keep supporting her bc she unfortunately picked a very bad place to give birth (landscapers and horses and vehicles nearby tear through almost daily on the other side of my hedge).

i don’t want her to have to go far, especially with the heat getting more intense, and so i’ve been making sure she has corn cobs every day at the base of her tree. but those get expensive, so i’m excited to have found whole corn kernels so cheap.

also found one decent price for halved peanuts which all the birds are absolutely obsessed with.

and the rest i’m still reliant on Tractor Supply for. i’d love to stop giving their murderous animal agriculture supporting asses money, but i’d need to find a better priced Fruit and Nut seed than they offer, and i haven’t yet.

as for seed cakes for the woodpeckers—which, the vegetable gelatin ones i buy are the most expensive per unit that i’m spending on rn, bc there is absolutely no way i’m going to conscience animal gelatin—my experiment in making them myself is ongoing. i used too little agar agar powder in my last batch (and also didn’t get it boiling enough) so it just ended up being a sticky crumbly treat that i put on the ground for the scavengers.

i’ll try again this week bc i’d really love to keep supporting my native red-bellies, especially as it gets hotter and hotter into the summer and the birds get more exhausted at a much faster rate.

[cursedvibes]

I know you like tenken, takaken and sukume but what are some other relationships or dynamics do you like in jjk and why? Could be romantic, platonic, familial, antagonistic or just plain toxic and fucked up, anything.

Thanks for the interesting ask! These are my favourites at the moment.

Mahito & Yuuji

I think it's the best antagonistic relationship Yuuji has in the entire manga. I like them both as a ship and platonically for what we get in canon. Although considering the scene in the anime where Mahito tries to murder kiss Yuuji, you could say it's one-sidedly canon.

I miss Mahito a lot lately and come to only appreciate him more and more with time. He was very good at building up a sense of dread and he has a viciousness to him that's lacking in the current Shinjuku fight for me.

He mirrors Yuuji without literally being related to him (so far, who knows what else Gege will reveal to be in Yuuji's gene cocktail). Yuuji learns something from him, reflects upon himself, his actions, who he wants to be and why he fights. They are both still figuring each other and themselves out. Both of them grow during their fights and become more dangerous, desperate and feral any time they meet. I love how Mahito is not only able to break Yuuji, but also to break him. Yuuji's hatred for Sukuna is smouldering, while for Mahito it is a raging fire. Yuuji has nothing to learn from Sukuna and no interest to engage with him anymore, while for Mahito it was raw and personal and resulted in Yuuji embracing the disgusting and ruthless side of himself that makes him so cold against Sukuna.

It's been great to see how even now Mahito still influences Yuuji. He was the first one who really taught him about the soul and what it can be capable of. Any time the soul is brought up, Yuuji's first thought is how Mahito was able to manipulate and contort it. He is able to hurt Sukuna so much because of what he learned from Mahito. As much as I miss Mahito and his personality, it wouldn't make sense to bring him back now, so I'm glad to see his continued impact on Yuuji this way. Overall, what I like about the two is how "juvenile" their conflict is. Cruelty of a child and innocence of a child clashing and both of them improving, growing and maturing through it. I also think it's very fitting that Yuuji never got to exorcise Mahito because the message is that Mahito represents a different side of him and he shouldn't ignore or destroy that side, he has to embrace it to be able to stomach what lies ahead.

Maki & Mai

If done right, I'm always a sucker for twin relationships, especially the codependency in it. I wouldn't say Maki & Mai are my favourite example of them or the best written one, but I still like them for what they are, particularly everything in Perfect Preparation and the Sakurajima colony. It could've been better and more consistently set up, but the payoff is still emotional and impactful and that's what I like them for.

Both of them need each other, wanted to help each other in their own way, but they never saw eye-to-eye or managed to communicate properly until after Mai's death. They were holding each other back through more than just the jujutsu consequences of being born a twin. Mai wanted Maki to give up and live with her at the bottom and Maki thought she had to shoulder all responsibility and could only go on and pave a way for them alone. Even after the have "become one" in a jujutsu sense and Maki unlocked her Heavenly Restriction, they don't immediately work together and have to learn how to communicate with each other and lift each other up, make up for what the other can't do. And through understanding Mai better and learning to hold her and fight together with her, she also begins to understand herself better.

I wish we got a more in-depth look at them, their past and relationship while both were alive before the Perfect Preparation arc. I hope Maki's arc will have a satisfying end and she will find something meaningful to do with her life.

Hakari & Uraume

Every time the leaks come out, I'm hoping for at least a glimpse at these two. There's been setup for some really interesting exploration of the themes of humanity and strength here. They are also just such a funny duo and it gets more and more hilarious the more chapters pass by and we don't see them. While Sukuna plays whac-a-mole with the main group, Hakari and Uraume have been "fighting" for 20 chapters now without seemingly getting anywhere except gossiping about what happens over at the main source of action. Wouldn't be surprised if we skip back to them to see them eating ice cream while watching the others get beaten up.

On a more serious note, I really hope the little speech Uraume gave in ch 245 gets picked up again and explored upon because it was the most interesting commentary we got so far on the source of sorcerers power, what it means to be human when you are so strong and also Uraume's background. Uraume's view of humanity and strength seems to slightly differ from Sukuna's and they also seem to reflect upon it more. They say forming relationships and fear of losing said relationships is what makes you weak and yet they have no problem following Sukuna and worrying about him. They are even open to forming bonds with others like Kenjaku or even Hakari. Hakari is actually the person we have seen them be most relaxed and friendly with so far. With Sukuna there is always a remaining formality and Kenjaku annoys them, but with Hakari they chat like a normal person. They make fun of him, but it's very colloquial. It seems like they actually came to see him as a true equal. There is no binding vow or old history binding them together, they simply want to keep Hakari from interfering with the fight and through that they got to engage with him without any pretence.

I just wish we actually got to see how their relationship developed over that now pretty significant amount of time and to see more of Uraume's worldview and maybe Hakari's too. He broke away from Jujutsu Tech and was left to build up his own independent existence together with Kirara. Very similar to Uraume and Sukuna. Now if we could only explore that connection between them more. On page. Not off-screen. I would've taken that any time over the pointless intervention from Geto's cult members or Kusakabe sacrificing himself.

Kusakabe & Yaga

I think this is Kusakabe's most interesting relationship and what actually gives him some depth beyond Exposition Guy. It's also where we see Yaga's more overtly caring side beyond his interactions with Panda. Unfortunately, it gets overlooked a lot, in part because Gege doesn't linger much on it beyond one or two chapters and Kusakabe's last words before getting cut down. There is literally nothing about this ship in fandom spaces. Probably because for some reason people think Yaga isn't hot enough (he's the literal definition of a dilf what more do you want?)...

Chapter 147 is interesting because it shows us the closest relationships and most hidden secrets both Kusakabe and Yaga have. We learn that Yaga not only makes autonomous puppets, but he actually has a whole Hundred Acre Wood-type of retreat full of the souls of dead people, children in particular. They aren't weapons like Panda, they don't fight, they are just allowed to live there. Protected by Tengen interestingly enough. She probably just doesn't care what he does or thinks it mildly interesting/quirky. This is also where we find out that Kusakabe has a sister (Usami?), who has been severely traumatized to the point of being catatonic and lost her son, Kusakabe's nephew. Despite the taboo, both Kusakabe and Yaga are willing to raise the dead not only to help her, but also to give Kusakabe something of his family back. It's the most vulnerable moment we've gotten of him and it speaks of their deep bond that Yaga was willing to do this. Doubt he would do this for just any jujutsu teacher (who doesn't even work for him). Creating that kind of cursed corpse isn't easy after all. But nothing strengthens a bond like necromancy. Kusakabe's last words about Yaga in ch 254 are also interesting. He fights for Yaga, knowing he wouldn't force him to do this, but reflecting on how they used to be able to fight together. They must have known each other for a long time. Kusakabe tells himself multiple times to not linger on the dead, but any time he does, it's because of Yaga.

A very interesting relationship with much potential that goes underexplored. I would've much preferred for his relationship with Yaga to be highlighted more in his fight against Sukuna than that out of place "interview" where people who barely know Kusakabe explain his character to us. If they could bring Gojo and Nanami back from the dead, they could've shown Yaga too. If you really want me to believe that Kusakabe is a kind person, show me more of how he acts around the people he actually cares about, i.e. Yaga and Miwa. He's a very different person around them, particularly Yaga and that's when he allows himself to be vulnerable.

So yeah, I think they explored each other's bodies to help each other through their grief.

[ecargmura]

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 10 Review - The Strongest Mage

You were expecting a big battle between Frieren and Aura? Please, this isn’t a battle shounen manga. Besides, I think what the writer did for this buildup wasn’t to show off how much stronger Frieren is compared to Aura, but the fact that Frieren hates demons so much that the writer even incorporates that hatred into not focusing on Aura only towards the end. Imagine hating demons so much that the one standing in front of Frieren is such a pissant that she’d rather think back on her memories with Flamme and Himmel than focus on the current battle in general. That’s a total disrespect to Aura from Frieren and I wouldn’t have her behave any other way.

Throughout the flashbacks, Frieden’s hatred for demons has been revealed; demons killed the elf village she was living in and she managed to kill the demon general Basalt in retaliation. She was the only survivor and could’ve died if Flamme hadn’t shown up. Flamme decided to take Frieren as her apprentice because they share similarities from hating demons to loving magic. The most memorable lesson Frieren recalled from her tutelage with Flamme had been suppressing her mana in order to trick demons. Her time with Flamme has been finding ways to use magic in order to destroy any demon that stands in her way. At first, Frieren had found it pointless, but now, she uses it to her advantage centuries later when she meets Aura, a demon who’s ability requires her to use large quantities of mana. I honestly loved how Frieren clapped back at Aura’s long live by telling her that she’s a mage who has lived much longer than she did.

Flamme is such a good teacher. She chose her apprentice well. I think the fact that she chose an elf to continue her legacy was a smart decision. She taught Frieren everything and the latter has all the time in the world to retain the magic and then later gets her own apprentice in Fern. I really like Flamme’s personality. She’s like Frieren’s adopted mom, but there was still a bit of a border between them. Her mindset was also a strong, lasting factor in Frieren. She didn’t mind becoming a disgrace of mages if it means to destroy every last demon in the world. I think the sweetest part of the interaction between master and apprentice was that Flamme was the one who taught Frieren the flower field magic that she later incorporates during her travels with the hero’s party and later with Fern back in Episode 2. The chance encounter with Flamme paved the way for Frieren to meet Himmel who says the same thing she once said to her master when she first met her.

Some aspects I like about this episode was seeing the demons animated. Like, in the beginning, Lugner’s eyes wandered around a lot, which is something I quite liked seeing because he was rather emotionless and composed throughout most of his screen time. Seeing Aura becoming panicked when the scales tipped over to Frieren’s favor. When Frieren commanded Aura to kill herself, the detail of the sword cutting Aura’s hair before she did the thing was really good. While I do love amazing animation, little details like these are nice to see too!

I feel like this is now the end of this arc. I do wonder where Frieren and the others will go now. I’m seriously invested in their adventure towards Aureole. What will they get themselves into going forth? What are your thoughts about this episode and the end of this arc?

[running-with-the-feels]

Headcanons for the Separation Au(One where Kuai was the only one taken to the Lin Kuei as a child) idk I am not good at naming Au’s

Bi-Han Headcanons

- Bi-Han goes to his families grave every birthday for every member of his family and every holiday, no matter the weather nor what is happening in his own life, he goes and leaves different things like food, flowers, and small trinkets. It’s one of the most well kept graves.

- He held on close to the belief that Kuai Liang was alive, somewhere, and tried for years to find out more about the Lin Kuei but to no avail.

- He kept as much stuff he could of his families personal items from jewelry, toys, etc. He still has Kuai Liang’s old stuffed animal on his night stand that he refuses to part with.

- His cyromancey was dormant for a long time, due to his truama he repressed a lot of his own memories and emotions of the more painful portions of his life. It didn’t unlock fully until his late teens when he had a mental breakdown to a fuck ton of stress in his personal life. He covered his bed room in ice.

- He trained in Martial Arts, it’s something to focus his anger on, as he has gotten older he has mellowed out and found more healthy outlets, but he is still a skilled fighter, compared to Kuai Liang, he doesn’t have the aim to kill mindset obviously, he’s comparable to Mk9 Johnny cage, likes to fight but never thought nor ever had the want to seriously injury someone.

- Speaking of Johnny, they essentially are childhood friends, after moving in with his mothers close friend(she was the god mother), he grew closer to the local kid his age named Johnathan Carton. They went to the same dojo together and even the same university.

- Bi-Han was planning to stay behind in their hometown, but Johnny who got a gig in Hollywood pushed him to do move to go with him to California.

- Bi-Han and Johnny did go, but took different paths, Johnny on his way to become a rising martial arts actor, while Bi-Han opened a bakery, not wanted to have a overly complicated time there as he paved his own way.

- They had vastly different schedules and barley saw each other. But still set up a time each month to spar with each other on the insistence of Johnny( “You have real skills and talent! Don’t get rusty”)

- Only took the job as a fighter choreographer as a favor to Johnny(also not because he has a crush on his old friend not at all) and he only did it as a side gig when he wasn’t busy.

- There were nights were their got super drunk and high together, we’re Bi-Han and Johnny’s feelings all spilled out and they ended up hooking up. Since then their relationship has been in a strange place. They’re not together but they’re not in a simple friendship anymore.

- Both pine after each other but have a lot of their own issues about getting into a relationship so it takes a long time.

- Johnny is only the second person to know of Bi-Hans cyromancy. It was a weird conversation and it took Johnnt awhile to let it sink in.

- Bi-Han went with Johnny when the actor was invited for the tournament. He thought it was a stupid idea to go(he thought it was a cult thing) but he wanst going to let his friend go alone.

- It’s during Johnny’s fight when he spots a familiar symbol of the Lin Kuei, the same people that killed his family and stole his baby brother from him.

ooooooo love this

Johnny will sometimes come with Bi-Han to the grave, and after they move to hollywood and. Johnny starts making money, he pays for the flight out and back every year so that Bi-Han can keep that connection to his family

Bi-Han is convinced that he would feel it if Kuai Liang was dead. Meanwhile, Kuai Liang has vague memories of a family and a life before the Lin Kuei that he has learned not to talk about, but clings to. They both hum their mother's lullaby in order to sleep

Bi-Han ended up with a very eclectic and androgynous style bc he'd wear as much of the jewelry he saved from the house after they died as possible, even getting his ears pierced just to wear his sister's earrings

After the breakdown, Bi-Han started practicing with his cryomancy again, but struggles to control it for longer than a minute

Has several trophies from martial arts competitions and did join a fight club when he was younger. Johnny was the one to pull him out of that and convince him it was a bad idea

Johnny was the only person who didn't treat Bi-Han like he was broken or pitiable, which led to Bi-han feeling comfortable around him and protective of him. Bi-Han has beaten up several bullies on Johnny's behalf

Bi-Han and Johnny actually had a really big fight about Bi-han wanting to stay, leading to Bi-han realizing that he doesn't like it when he can't talk to or be around Johnny, so he followed (also he's pining)

Bi-Han always used to back with his mother (who had owned a bakery herself) and so opened the bakery in her honor. He named it Mama Ru's

They usually use the bakery basement if they can't book a room anywhere else to spar. This has lead to many nights where they have ended up hooking up.

Funnily enough, Bi-Han ends up as a highly sought after fight choreographer, but won't take any job unless Johnny asks, which leads to Johnny getting more action roles

The drunken pining hookups have them both really confused, bc they both like each other and want to move forward, but they're also terrified of trying for something and having it break down. They end up in a situationship and it hurts them both for a while, especially when Johnny brings Bi-Han as his date to a premier of a movie they both worked on but spends the whole night flirting with other people.

Actually getting together required the intervention of no less than 4 other people

The first person to know about his cryomancer (outside of his family) was Angela, Lian's (the older sister) girlfriend who survived the attack by the Lin Kuei and still keeps in touch with Bi-Han and Johnny. She has actually worked as an sfx artist on some of Johnny's movies

Bi-Han is a protector at heart and has played bodyguard more than once so despite Johnny's protests, Bi-Han isn't letting him go to the tournament alone

Bi_han interrogates Cyrax after almost killing Sektor in Kombat about where Kuai Liang is, learning that Kuai Liang is here at the tournament

Bc Kuai Liang is Sub-Zero from the start in this au, Bi-Han sees him fighting Scorpion and intervenes, throwing himself over his brother's prone body and basically begging for his life. The situation is too similar to what he saw his wife do in the vision Quan Chi showed him, so Scorpion backs off

Kuai Liang, delirious from his wounds, smiles up at Bi-Han and just says "I knew you were real" before passing out.

Now we just gotta figure out where Sareena fits into this so I can get my bireencage fix

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

Last summer I took advantage of my break from teaching by enjoying long, daily walks around my neighborhood. I indulged my mind and body in the blueness, stillness, and leafiness that is North Carolina in June and July. It’s truly astounding how many leaves a willow oak can cram into one tiny piece of sky.

On my walks, the yard of one house stuck out. It was unlike any yard I’ve seen around my city or in any of the other cities in the United States, Canada, and Australia where I’ve lived. It is a forest yard. Nearly a dozen large trees are interspersed amid a dense stand of saplings and shrubs. That summer, leaf litter covered the ground. The top of the house was only visible if I craned my neck to see down the paved driveway, itself narrowing and crumbling as roots, lichens, and fungi worked their inexorable magic.

Depending on your perspective, the house with the forest yard could be seen either as an eyesore — and the scariest place to trick-or-treat — or, as in my case, the most splendid place imaginable.

At this point, I should probably mention that I’m an urban ecologist and that the forest yard makes my heart flutter at the possibility and hope of nature in cities.

I looked at aerial images for the area, and they revealed that the trees around that home, which haven’t been actively “managed,” are about 50 years old. Over that time the forest yard has accumulated a bewildering array of species and ecological interactions. Its tulip poplars, walnuts, cedars, redbuds, pines, and willow oaks have soaked up the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide and turned it into much-needed habitat for wildlife: butterflies, bees, and other insects; lizards, snakes, and turtles; frogs and toads; birds; and mammals. It’s home to a multitude of soil invertebrates and fungi that keep the business side of an ecosystem — aka decomposition — going. All the species that share this shady third-of-an-acre lot are intertwined in a complex tangle of relationships that keeps them fed and feeding on one another, interdependent to varying degrees for their life and livelihood.

And all of this exists amidst a matrix of roads, single-family and multiplex housing, commercial plazas, light industry, and high rises that make up a medium-sized city in the Southeast. The forest yard is a little island of nature in a nearly lifeless sea of concrete, asphalt and lawn.

But, to my inexhaustible surprise, that sea of concrete, asphalt, and lawn is not as empty as we tend to assume. Very far from it. Places of dense human habitation are also where many species reside, including some that are threatened. A recent analysis of the birds and plants that occur in 147 cities across the globe revealed that the sampled cities were home to 2,041 bird species — about one-fifth of Earth’s total avian diversity — and 14,240 plant species. These include 36 bird and 65 plant species threatened with global extinction.

To get a better idea of just how much of the urban biodiversity iceberg lies below the surface of our awareness, consider this: Last year participants in the City Nature Challenge made nearly 1.9 million observations in 480 cities, with the residents of the La Paz metropolitan area in Bolivia recording the high score of 5,320 species.

Add to this the estimate that we share our homes and yards with an average of 9,000 species of fungi and bacteria and you’ll begin to suspect, as I do, that cities are in fact incredibly biodiverse. And it’s not just the all-too-rare forest yard: Scientific evidence shows that the more people you find in a place, the more types of birds, mammals, and plants you’ll find there too.

So why don’t we see it that way? Why do we perceive our urban centers as unworthy and undeserving of our conservation efforts and attention?

[akkivee]

there was an interview with the bat seiyuu in this magazine and i finally sat down to read it (almost two months after its release *wheezes*) and here were the highlights!!!!

it’s basically the whole thing so buckle in lol

upon being asked how they felt about bat’s anime debut, all three of them revealed they were certain they would have had a last episode cameo LOL

sakakihara-san even gave us what he thought the dialogue would be lmao so there was a lot of disappointment when they were told only rei was making a s1 appearance

needless to say, they are very happy bat’s now in rhyme anima lol

they were asked how their impressions of the characters has shifted over the years!!!

hayama-san responded when he first played kuukou, he got the sense he was a massive brat lol but that bad attitude of his stemmed from his understanding of the world. kuukou’s mellowed as the story progressed and had him experience more, eg establishing his teacher-pupil relationship with jyushi, and now understands how to navigate others weaknesses with tolerance and warmth

he’s still childish and still has a high perception of the world and that clash is where kuukou’s energy stems from. he’s at a crossroads between youth and maturity so to say

hayama recalls recording for kuukou’s first radio where he was a lot more mature, and then moving to chaser from the past, the track where he invades fragrance, and how hard it was adjusting mentalities LOL

harmonious cooperation really drove home for hayama-san that kuukou was the sun tho!!!!

that strength and energy that opens and paves the way is how sakakihara-san and takeuchi-san can tell he’s the leader

on that note, hayama-san mentions he’s never seen kuukou’s weaknesses. compared to jyushi and hitoya, we know next to nothing about kuukou’s past besides that he reached a point higher in his asceticism than his father and hopes to see everything leading up to it someday

for sakakihara-san, he was told jyushi was a crybaby and assumed he was a weak person. but once he learned about jyushi’s past, he realised that even tho he does cry, he’s still able to assert his feelings and doesn’t back down from anything, so jyushi actually has a very strong heart

jyushi sings in moonlight shadow, ‘i bask in the spotlight’s growing brilliance, in seizing a mic, anyone can become a hero’ and with that lyric, sakakihara-san understood jyushi may have a very tragic past but there’s a very strong flame burning inside him and he’s able to illuminate others with that light

bat’s come a long way and sakakihara-san finds comfort that jyushi’s around people who can laugh and joke around with him and will continue to strengthen his heart with them

takeuchi-san says jyushi is blessed to have so many good people around him, including his band members, which triggers sakakihara-san to start thanking the both of them, esp after takeuchi-san mentions it was hitoya who introduced kuukou and jyushi to each other lmao

and speaking of hitoya!!!! takeuchi-san felt he’s been mature since the beginning and thinks it’s cool that he talks to kuukou and jyushi like they’re equals. but he likes to compete against them sometimes so he’s got a very childish side to him lol

lately, hitoya’s dark and sordid past, his childhood hobbies, have been targeted as a joke and takeuchi-san is absolutely amused by it lmao

hayama-san brings up ‘amaguni the magic king’ and ‘amaguni moon’ from arb and takeuchi feels hitoya’s being bullied a bit lol but it adds to his charm!!!!

when it comes to dubbing the anime versus the drama tracks, all three of them are cognisant of pacing

in the drama tracks, for example, when jyushi is in vkei mode, sakakihara-san is allowed to take his time to croon out his flowery words but in the anime he does have to fit everything he says in a set amount of time

now that he has pictures and movements to match, sakakihara-san was trying to make those words flow with what jyushi does, rather than what he imagines jyushi does by nature of the drama tracks, while maintaining the vibe of what jyushi’s saying. there was some trial and error involved trying to get it right

it’s the same for takeuchi-san and he appreciates getting to see hitoya’s hand movements as he does his two thing bit lol

they were then asked if there was any directorial direction that stood out to them and they didn’t really receive any!!! takeuchi-san commented there were more cases where staff consulted them about their characters

the interviewer said it’s probably because the characters are embedded into them by this point but hayama-san laughingly thinks they still have a long way to go before they can say that lol

he says this but follows up with, it does make him happy that when he’s reading something and questions if this is something kuukou would do; it means he has a good understanding of kuukou as a character

they start talking about episode three!!!! the episode exists as ‘the strawberry episode’ in hayama-san’s head LOL

hayama-san is happy to see kuukou interacting with the locals (and loves that the old ladies call him ‘kuu-chan’ lol) and takeuchi-san comments it’s neat that they all spoke with nagoya accents!!! bat doesn’t really speak with the nagoya accent and it’s also very rare for anime to have characters that do, so that makes him happy as someone who grew up in aichi prefecture

sakakihara-san liked how so many of bat’s charms and elements were condensed into one episode!!! with jyushi, tho he was being picked on by the antagonists, he liked how the episode highlighted the trials jyushi’s gone thru to make him strong enough to lend a helping hand to belial

hayama-san comments that ever since the battle between bat and mtr, he thinks bat’s appeal is that, just as we witnessed with jyushi and belial, they take your hand and pull you up when you’re at your lowest to give you the strength to stand up on your own

whether it’s the hand that’s offered or the hand that receives it, they are joined and will walk as equals and as friends. bad ass temple guides others by building relationships with them, hayama-san said

the interviewer was particularly charmed by hitoya telling jyushi ‘friends you make when you’re young stick with you whole your life’ and so was takeuchi-san. he feels hitoya mentioned this because of his relationship with jakurai, with all its turbulence they’ve still come back to together

the interviewer then brought up ichiro and kuukou’s past as naughty busters!! hayama-san said kuukou’s relationship with ichiro is something that’s been forged stronger than what he has with jyushi and hitoya so there’s a lot of trust kuukou places in ichiro. takeuchi-san said they have the kind of vibe where because they’re former teammates, they can understand each other without saying anything and hayama-san agrees

hayama-san feels mcd and nb have a similar connection and when the four of them got together, ichiro and kuukou kinda had their own little bubble. the interviewer thought ichiro and kuukou’s conversation, where kuukou asked why didn’t ichiro call him and ichiro’s asking if he really needed to (and ofc he didn’t) had that atmosphere and that conversation honestly made hayama-san swoon with how smooth and natural it was lol

when asked about their thoughts about sanity, the insert rap, hayama-san initially felt it was similar to rip but that opinion changed after listening to the demo. sanity, to him, felt similar to a division all stars song where he doesn’t sing in kuukou’s style in order to bring out the harmony of the song. sakakihara-san also takes in account to how much of jyushi’s vkei style he should put in songs like division all stars songs

takeuchi-san also found himself considering the harmony in sanity and didn’t go hard on the volume for his parts as he would with other songs

takeuchi-san feels like sanity has a very strong kuukou influence and after hayama-san listened to the whole thing, he felt excited thinking about how to maintain bat’s individualities when performing it live

next up was next stage!! all the artists who wrote for each individual team has done so in past songs and moroha’s afro, who gave us kaigen, returned for next stage. hayama-san was very happy to work with him again

the part in jyushi’s verse, where he goes ‘guided by the sky, protected by the heavens’ and onwards was a bit of a struggle for sakakihara-san to portray jyushi’s feelings like he wanted to. he kept asking for retries to get the vibe he wanted

hayama-san felt the same since kuukou’s thanks in the song isn’t something kuukou really does. kuukou’s not one to be shy or embarrassed so he did multiple takes in order to portray the warmth afro intended when writing those lyrics

takeuchi-san comments that with an artist like afro, it’s really hard to come in after listening to his demo and making his style of music work with their characters. hayama-san followed that with it’s because afro’s music is one that pierces the heart of the listener, himself included, so he’s immediately at the ready to do what he needs to in order to preserve that whilst playing kuukou, hence the multiple takes

and now rise from dead!!! it’s a song with a lot momentum, very fitting for rhyme anima!!!! that momentum is what made the song fun for takeuchi-san

sakakihara-san enjoyed getting to sing for his verses and hayama-san felt like nagoya’s part could be summed up as, kuukou bringing the breakneck speed, jyushi’s like a dance and hitoya wraps it up with a crash

the interviewer then commented it felt like the three of them got along with each other very well. but had their impressions of each other changed over the years??

hayama-san doesn’t think so but takeuchi-san Has Words About That (and hayama-san and sakakihara-san start laughing LOL)

they’ve gotten less shy around him and hayama-san teasingly tells him that’s because he’s spoiled them rotten by letting them get away with everything, with sakakihara-san chiming in, ‘papa!!💜’

naturally he wasn’t as comfortable with them when they first met, they were strangers, but as they hung out together more, he felt he could let go of walls and manners around them. this makes sakakihara-san giggle💜

hayama-san takes the time to apologise to takeuchi-san, he feels like he’s been taking it too far lately and takeuchi-san calls him a liar LOL

the interviewer asks them what they think their appeal is as performers and hayama-san and takeuchi-san both went, ‘destructive power probably????’

takeuchi-san thinks they’re like, A Lot, whenever they perform together lmao

hayama-san, from day one, has set out to destroy the atmosphere the og divisions set lmao in a breaking barriers way. takeuchi-san honestly feels like he will every time he takes stage and sakakihara-san feels the same way watching the both of them lol

takeuchi-san feels like there may be a sense of friendly rivalry between the three of them as they all try to find ways to shatter glass ceilings with every live and each of them trying to take that momentum higher

hayama-san agrees and says one way they can do that is to bring a gold sachihoko on stage like the way mtr brings palm trees out for papillon

takeuchi-san tells the interviewer hayama-san has been asking for this for a while lol

sakakihara-san also relays to the interviewer that he’s been trying to manifest this for them by speaking it into existence lmao

the interviewer laughs at them and asks about 8th live stories. sakakihara-san starts giggling and upon takeuchi-san asking why, he brings up the shinkansen pic story and hayama-san and takeuchi-san missing their cues. he is very determined to never let them live it down lmao

the interviewer finally asked for their final words!!!

takeuchi-san comments the rhyme anima story seems to be pushed along by those being controlled against their will. it’s been handled lightheartedly but will the story take a darker turn?? tune in!!!!

sakakihara-san commented tho the episodes as of now are solo division focused, there will be a time when viewers can watch and enjoy the chemical reactions that happen once the divisions start to mingle. please enjoy the story impacts all of the characters!!!

hayama-san says finally nagoya and osaka are in the anime. do look forward to seeing all 18 people come together, what conversations they’ll have, what kind of atmosphere it creates and how the characteristics of each person stands out. kuukou and ichiro have more conversations, so if you enjoy naughty busters, please look forward to it!!!

[tired-biscuit]

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: odontophilia (teeth fetish), oral fixation. biting, lots of kissing, mentions of oral sex (f!receiving), very self-indulgent stuff. // 18+ mdni, fem!reader

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 0.8k

masterlist

Thinking about Kiba, well, his teeth, specifically.

Besides his keen sense of smell, they are Kiba's pride and joy - his teeth. Are a part of him that makes him visually unique, when compared to other cute boys you know. Are something he tends to show off, which can be expected if you take his rather complacent personality into account.

To be honest, it's all fair and justified. Being blessed with a pretty set like that, who wouldn't grin as wide as he does whenever he doesn't feel like wearing his signature scowl? Who wouldn't show them off a little? He can't even be blamed for it.

And as for you, well, you also love Kiba's teeth. Perhaps even more than he does.

His mouth moves constantly after all, always doing something - anything, tugging at your attention. You just can't help but love how his pearly whites light up his entire face when his smile becomes almost too big for it, and two adorable dimples form in his cheeks as a result.

Love how he has a tendency to drag his tongue along the front of them whenever he's thinking really hard - which is rare, but surprisingly possible if he actually tries. Love how he uses them to chew on those hard candies he likes so much with zero effort whatsoever, making his entire mouth taste like strawberries and tinting it bright red just like the fruit, too.

And besides all of that, you also love how his teeth sometimes click against your own whenever he pulls you in for a hasty kiss. Love how they make a thrill surge through your center whenever your own tongue traces the pointy ends of the fangs he's always been so proud of, and your kisses turn way more feverish because of it.

Love how your body grows hot as he sinks them into your bottom lip every once in a while; sometimes even drawing blood if he gets too eager and impatient during the long make out sessions you make him have with you. All of that.

And you swear that they grow even bigger whenever you play with him and test his already thin line of patience during those sessions; kissing him and grinding against him as you sit on his lap, turning him absolutely insatiable.

His canines start glistening with drool, flashing you their sharpness each time he pulls back to part his lips and take a deep breath. And they look so fucking appealing; those wretched fangs of his. They draw you right in, make you force him to open his mouth a fraction wider, so that you can slip your tongue inside and just lick them whilst your hands caress his face to keep him still; fingers tangling into his thick chestnut hair to try and turn him docile for a change.

And he groans as you do it - as you lick his teeth. He groans, and curses, and bucks his hips into yours like an animal, especially when your lips purse slightly and you start to suck on his incisor. As you turn so messy, multiple thin strings of saliva connecting your panting mouths that you simply refuse to allow to part. As you glide your tongue over and over across the damn fang; until you're so delirious that you cut yourself against it and the taste of iron pools into his mouth and drives him completely insane.

He flips you both around then, because enough is fucking enough, and pins you against the mattress in a matter of seconds. He uses his weight to keep you still, starts covering you in bite marks and lewd hickeys that only stop paving their prominent paths down your body when he feels the need to scold you for fucking around by whispering the dirtiest of things only he could come up with into your ear.

And then his head winds up between your legs, your hands fisting his hair again, and you're squirming on top of the bed; crying because it hurts whenever he bites and nips at the sensitive flesh of your inner thighs, but it hurts so good.

He eases the ache by licking it and blowing cool air onto it, repeating the same painful process over and over again, until you promise that you won't drive him up the wall like that ever again, that you just can't help it, that his teeth are just too pretty.

And when your waterline is burning because of the constant tears, and your mouth is running on never-ending apologies and compliments, legs shaking from the occasional languid swipe of tongue he gives to your sticky little cunt that's so needy you might just burst, he laughs.

"Are you gonna cum for me if I give you a big smile, pretty?" he says, sinking two of his thick fingers inside you; stretching your tiny, drenched hole. "Mm? Are ya gonna spill if I grin just for you?"

You're nodding frantically, your hands pressed against your tits as you're trying to calm down your sobbing and quick-paced breaths.

And the moment he obliges, finally gifting you the grin; you're done for.

[ballwizard]

i just love flora so much as a character like. she's a sheltered weirdgirl who spent her entire childhood in a town where she was one of MAYBE five actual living residents at a time. and then she gets adopted by an equally weird professor and finally gets the chance to explore more and experience the world and she's SO excited to be involved ever, even when it's dangerous. she loves to experiment with weird food and always wants to prove that she can be useful.... in my beautiful mind she would get really into hobby engineering both pre- and post- curious village, with her interest in it peaking afterwards... (unwound future spoilers under cut but more analysis and ideas)

i think post-unwound future she would take up an apprenticeship under don paolo tbh. she gets to learn about his engineering prowess and gizmos and he gets an extra set of hands and a lab assistant.. they get into wacky shenanigans of course, and help layton out when he's in trouble :-) i think she would have so much fun with it. I also think hanging around paul would help her figure out what SHE wants to do; so much of her actions revolve around being helpful to others that she rarely gets to do things for herself, and so taking time to pursue a hobby she enjoys is super beneficial for her. paul encourages her to work on her own and pave her own way, but is still there for her to lean on, or get help from, or springboard ideas off of. they hold a little "press conference" for whoever among the Layton team is in town and show off all the gizmos they've built recently (Paul's idea, to help her with her confidence) and consistently I think Layton is both impressed and a little bewildered. Mad inventor flora rights. I KNOW she's building some weird shit. Maybe in particular shed focus on automatons.... Though it might be a little on the nose lol. maybe shed focus on animals.. i think it'd be cute if she had a little robot bird partner... i have a lot of ideas i wanna doodle out but that was my ramblesesh for 2day.

TLDR: FLORA DESERVES TO GET TO BE HER OWN PERSON AND PURSUE HER PASSIONS 💥💥💥