#how to climb tree

[livefromthedas]

Felt like we needed one for our boy/beloved hot mess.

[scliffe]

I love the ending for the new anime season very much—it’s sweet and beautiful; and also terribly fitting for the Green Witch Arc.

Ciel’s mental state is constantly represented by the clothes he’s wearing; during his mental escape in GWA, he was wearing these clothes—the debut costume—pristine clean and unadulterated right before he was ripped out of them and defiled. Staying in these clothes forever means denying what he went through—time forever frozen in that moment before he fell from grace—it means denying his past and what has happened to him.

When he wears these; he turns almost childlike and cowardly, clinging to “his brother”, crying and sulking in bed, being terrified of adults, and hating Sebastian—the proof of his sin. But of course he’s unable to remain in escapism forever—and he gets jolted into the cold reality of being in that cage.

In the ending song; he starts the dance in the same clothes he was wearing the night of the ritual—the height of his misery and the night he lost everything he had left. These are the same clothes he is mentally stuck in whenever he gets a PTSD attack—torn, filthy, and miserable; these clothes brought with them the ghosts of his past.

Even the loving family he used to have only serves to make his current situation even more wretched in comparison. He looks at the ghosts of his parents, Madam Red, and Joker, and he slumps down in misery. For a moment he’s lost and adrift in the middle of nothing; missing his anchor. But then he gets up and grabs Sebastian’s hand.

Sebastian pulls him into motion. Ciel still wears these miserable clothes, but he no longer seems lost or haunted by the ghosts of his past. These are the very last clothes he was wearing before he decided to become the Earl of Phantomhive. Whoever our Ciel used to be—the child that he was before he chose to kill himself and took up the name of Ciel Phantomhive—was then “buried” forever in these clothes.

This quiet moment where only the two of them are dancing with wisps of blue represents that moment of transformation—the last moments our Ciel exists as his past self before he dies and the Earl of Phantomhive was reborn. Sebastian holds him as he looks up for the last time and peacefully, with no resistance, closes his eyes.

The frame expands and then we see him dancing with the servants—in the same order that they were found: Finnian, Mei, and Bard. The lighting is warm and luxurious, the servants clap and cheer him on, and he’s wearing gorgeous, expensive clothes—as he always wears when he’s with Sebastian—as the Earl of Phantomhive. This is possibly the cutest footage I’ve ever seen in my life.

And finally; Sebastian holds him up (or more like he climbs Sebastian; which also speaks a lot of their relationship) as he reaches up and grabs the star. This is the role Sebastian has always held in Ciel’s heart—he is his support, his closest, most intimate companion, and perhaps the tool (literally being treated like a ladder) for Ciel to reach his goal; while Ciel also trusts Sebastian not to drop him or let him down.

I don’t think I’ll ever shut up about how Sebastian is the one who pulled Ciel out of that hell—it is my Roman Empire and I will write 999 posts about it. I love how; although Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship may be morally questionable; at the end of the day, Sebastian is still the one who allows Ciel to grow into who he is—to rise and grasp the star with his own hand.

This ending is terribly bittersweet as we watches Ciel’s journey—both his pain, his determination, and the companions he gains and achievement he grasps—as he dances through the waltz.

[aziraphalalala]

I am not entirely certain what will happen once the actors & writers strike ends, but I'm pretty sure Michael Sheen will break the sound barrier with how fast he will go feral on the internets about how Aziraphale wants to eat Crowley's ox rib

[boredgrace23]

Into the TF2verse

I wanted to do more, but it's very late for me and me eepy. Scout's pretty much the main character at this point, and, while I don't remember who said this, the TF2 fandom is just the Undertale fandom that hasn't discovered the multiverse. I full-heartedly agree.

"Lil Pootis" belongs to @quazies "Emesis Blue" belongs to Fortress Films "It Came With The Rain" belongs to @fivedollarfred "how to climb a tree" belongs to Tipsy duck "Going Through The Motions" belongs to @aussie-bookworm "Anomaly Diversion" belongs to @oblique-lane "Kith And Kin" belongs to me :]

I only did doodles for now. Eventually I'll make individual art for these creators.

[aylinaliens]

kingdon season 6 episode 13

[artuurle]

Okay chat you earned gay little monkeys art for dealing with my horrors.

[sleepy-edits]

[x-ourrayofsunshine-x]

okay so….Ray and the DD Spider shirt….

[miwtual]

EWAN MITCHELL as AEMOND TARGARYEN HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022—) 2x08, “The Queen Who Never Was”

[mamawasatesttube]

Between Tim and Kon who makes the first move?

honestly for me it varies! i slightly tend towards it being tim, but not always. but in a very specific way, i.e. it's a very gradual melt right on into a relationship, and tim is the one who goes hey. wait a minute. this feels like A Relationship.

at first, saying it'd be tim is probably surprising, since tim has a history of NOT making the first move across his comics - we don't actually see how he and ari get together, but steph chases after him and repeatedly states her interest in him before they ever get together; tim is the one who asks zoanne out, but only after she kisses him and then runs away. then tam once again is the one to ask him if he's interested in her (and, i mean, if you count lynx ii, she's always the one initiating things getting physical and making out with him, but they also literally never talk about it, so i don't entirely really count her as a serious tim love interest).

on the other hand, while kon of course has been a flirt since he was decanted from his tube, a lot of it was very performative and he's only actually ever been in three relationships, two of which were instances of abuse and grooming. given how introspective he gets after his resurrection, and how much less sure of himself he is in general, i tend to believe this is where he starts actually unpacking all his relationship trauma and internalized homophobia. i think actually accepting that he is gay and not actually interested in women is a very jarring thing for him, and accepting that he was groomed and abused is also very difficult, and it takes him a while.

because of that, i think he ends up a) confused about what romance actually feels like, and b) very tentative about dating for a while. he wants deep connection - he was genuinely in love with knockout, and he thought she loved him too; he thought tana would be part of his life forever, and his devotion to cassie was notable even before they actually dated. but deep connections are hard to make with people you don't know well, and by the time he's around 19-20 i think he's kind of struggling with the idea that he's not gonna get what he's looking for in casual relationships, but also the idea of being in Gay Love with one of his best friends is terrifying, because he's not good at identifying what being in love feels like, so he kinda talks himself out of it. "this is comfortable and easy so it must not be romance, this is just really good friendship, because romance feels like walking a tightrope. right? haha. right??" and all that.

and then moreover, i think tim really sits on the fact that he's bisexual for a long time. not because he's trying to hide it, but because he's just so intensely private about things that bother him, and he's got some jack drake shaped Internalized Issues in his head to work through about what it means to be transmasc and to like men (i.e. a voice that sounds suspiciously like a conservative dad putting in one single ounce of effort re: understanding queer relationships is in the back of his head going "but you'd be the girl in the relationship if you dated a man, right?" and tim has to take several deep breaths and figure out how to unpack that before he's ready to even think about admitting out loud that he's interested in guys too, even to himself, let alone to anyone else).

so for a hot second kon's just out there going "i like men but it doesn't matter because i'm never going to fall in love with someone that really truly wants me and loves me as deeply as i'd love them, and i'd be miserable about that except that i'm just pretty satisfied being bffs with tim :) i feel at ease when he's around and he makes me laugh and i just like being near him and watching him work on gadgets or listening to him ramble about cars or letting him sleep on my shoulder. i know it's not romantic because i feel so safe and comfortable, but i'm happy with it, whatever it is. and if i think he's hot, well, that's just because he is hot. everyone knows that!" guy who pretty much is already tim's boyfriend but he hasn't noticed that yet because they're both kind of stupid and also insanely devoted to each other in the same way, so they both go "yeah this seems normal for us" and kon really doesn't question it that hard.

meanwhile tim is the guy to whom labels and boxes matter a lot more, so he's the one who sits back one day and goes, wait. oh my god. i'm in love with kon. and then he has to steeple his index fingers and interlace the others and press his hands to his face in deep, deep thought. he's in love with kon, and realizing that makes a lot about his life suddenly make a lot of sense, because seriously - a hundred clone attempts, changing robin to be red and black, making out with cassie because he missed kon so much - okay, okay, yeah, he sees it now, okay, so maybe he's been in love with kon for years at this point and never actually realized it, that's fine, this is fine, he's FINE, he's NOT freaking out or overthinking--

anyways. after freaking out and overthinking and brooding on a rooftop for four to seven business days (not all at once, of course, but he gets his hours in), he finally goes to kon and jabs his finger into his chest and goes "Hey. Are we dating?"

and kon stares at him for a second with a loading circle spinning over his head. claps his hand over his mouth. inhales sharply like a dying fish. claps his other hand over the first hand. starts floating a few inches off the ground in pure agitation.

"Oh my god, Tim," he says, his eyes as wide as dinner plates and his voice an octave higher than usual. "Are we dating?!"

"I think so," Tim says, and narrows his eyes. "I mean, if we're not, maybe we should be. Pizza and a movie tonight?"

and kon clearly goes through A Whole Process in his head (working through the "wait, dating is comfy and chill and happy and easy?!" crisis in real time), but ultimately goes "okay!!! yeah!! okay!!! let's do that!!! wow!!!!" because, hey. he would love to hold hands with tim while watching the sunset and eating hipster san francisco pizza.

and that's how they end up sitting on the floor by the coffee table in the titans tower common room, eating pizza, and poring over a calendar + their text message history to try and figure out when, exactly, their anniversary is. ("okay, so when we went on that picnic in april, was that a date?" "i think so. alright, so it has to be before april, but after valentine's, because you made a joke about being single here, see? so we're looking at somewhere in march. "okay, but we did do 'palentine's' together, so does that really count??" "fuck, you're right, that totally was a date too. uh...")

[twistmusings]

Eternity Float Event

CW: Spoilers below the cut but I thought I'd share some of my favorite details about the Eternity Float Event and mini character analysis because it's exceedingly cute? 😭

First, it's so sweet to me that the first person Jade picks to come with him is Azul? Azul refuses because if he does go Mrs. Leech will spoil him with food so he refuses (my boy still definitely struggles with food policing himself) but that's actually very sweet. Georgina herself is, notably sad about Azul not being there (even more so than being sad that Floyd didn't show up? Which is hilarious because it means she probably expected Floyd might lose interest but she's actually sad Azul didn't come to see her. She definitely adores Azul and sees him as part of her family too.) Plus Azul being flustered that Mrs.Leech gets along so well with his mom and grandmother is very funny.

Jade guilt trips no less than five people into going with him by manipulating the hell out of them. It's extremely funny because being in the Fandom when it was first released in the U.S., most people at the time assumed the most dangerous twin was Floyd because of his mood-swings. Your honor, I would like to petition the court to consider that Floyd is, in fact, just a morally grey little guy. Or like, very big guy, but you get the point. He seems to be the least likely of the three to actively do something sadistic or swindle you.

Azul pawning Jade off onto Yuu and being relieved that he successfully distracted Jade from harassing him into going. As it turns out, even he sometimes needs someone to come collect that freak of a man.

Jade has dreamed of being in a wedding, not as the groom but as a part of a tradition to try and tip over the newly weds gondola and admits he's been dreaming about it since he was young. The way he phrases the statement tells us a lot about Jade's motivation for wanting to do this because he notes something to the effect of "people cheer loudly when the Moray manages to tip the boat over fully". Jade is, once again, being kind of a brat and despite his claims that he doesn't like to be the center of attention, he really wants to be the center of attention actually.

Less about Jade specifically, but it is worth noting that this ceremony is specifically for when a human marries a merfolk and the couple remains on land (if I am translating correctly), meaning that it seems to indicate that there really aren't weddings in this form in the Coral Sea.

Of course, we get to see Jade's mother, Georgina, and the first impression of everyone in the group is how tall she is. She is noted to be a) taller than Jade, b) twice as tall as Riddle, and c) her sprite is taller than Malleus with his horns. I don't personally take the comment about being twice as tall as Riddle as 100% fact, but that would mean she could be as tall as 320 cm (around 10 feet). If I go based on sprite measurements, however, I would guess she's a few inches taller than the highest measurement of Malleus' horns. Considering Malleus with his horns clocks in at around 202 cm or 6'6", and measuring their sprite heights, I would guess she's close to 213 cm or 7' tall.

Just want to add, while that might mean Jade and Floyd are still likely to get taller, it could also mean that her husband is simply *much shorter* than her and the twins take after his height. Either of these are possible, considering we don't know exactly how Merfolk biology compares to human biology and how far into life they keep growing.

Speaking of fish and growing, one set of lines that stood out to me is when Jade mentions that he gave his mother Floyd's nicknames for inspiration for their outfits. Riddle is visibly a bit upset by this, and admits he doesn't like the comparison to goldfish because they are "small and red". Georgina apologizes for Floyd being rude (though she laughs as well) and tells Riddle "when released from captivity, goldfish can grow very large". Riddle seems to be excited by this, however Jade laughs. I believe Jade assumes Riddle is excited by the prospect of getting taller. Given Riddle's backstory however... and this is complete conjecture, it seems like Riddle may be correlating it to being under his mother's control and is excited that he may "grow" when he's free.

[amezsu]

⛅️🌤️☀️

Wonderful days~

[cherryinterlude]

he looks tough like the scuff on a pair of old leather boots, like the blue-collar, red-dirt attitude, like a .38 made out of brass... he looks like he works with his hands and smells like marlboro reds...

[sparebutton]

Frozen friends going apple picking🍎

[fatedroses]

An unconventional way of keeping watch.

[stubz]

Darn spider monkey

"Tag! Your it!"

"...can we play something else?" huffs Tuk, her tail swishing back and forth in boredom.

"You don't like tag?" asks Marl scurrying back to their large blue friend.

"I do but we always play it! How about a new game?" The na'vi smiles as she sets her little friend on her shoulder.

"Hmmm...I can't think of anything."

"...neither can I."

"Put your foot in for grounders!" shouts one of their teachers in a nearby clearing.

"...grounders?"

"Grounders."

.

"So for those who don't know what grounders is, like Tuk and Marl, it's basically tag but the person who is it closes their eyes when on the...well not on the ground since we don't have a playground here." Explains Max.

"If the person who is it isn't on the ground and shouts grounders then whoever is on the ground is it. Now, if you're climbing high you can keep your eyes open until in a safe spot. But if your peeking to cheat then you have to go back onto the ground, that's called broken dishes."

"Why is called broken dishes?"

"...I have no idea. Anywho! If your tagged but really don't wanna be it then me or Kim will be it instead. Right Kim?"

"I prefer to be the hunter rather then the hunted."

"Got it? Okay! Game starts in 5...4..."

The younglings scattered. Some went straight for higher ground so as to have the advantage of sight while others focused on putting as much distance between them and the human male. Tuk and Marl obviously went for the high ground.

Being as it they were on her home planet, Tuk had a clear advantage in growing up in these very forests, she knew all the best ways to climb and scale these massive trees. Marl while being very small was still a ursa, creatures that typically spend the first 3 years of their life in the treetops. The two friends easily made it up 15 feet of the ground in two bounding leaps.

"This'll be so easy."

"Right? We just have to stay up here and we'll never be caught!"

..

"...this is kinda boring now." huffs Tuk. For 10 minutes they've stayed in the same spot watching their teachers chase the other younglings.

they haven't been ignored but were too far off the ground to be reached. The trunk was too smooth and the branches were too high for the humans. After multiple attempts by Max he gave up and focused on the other younglings.

"I find it entertaining! Go Pollix! GO! He's right behind you!" Marl cheered as the tighalax weaved through trees trying to lose the human. With a burst of speed he dropped down onto all fours and ran under a tunnel of roots.

"Yeah! Too bad mister Max!" the human ran even faster but this time to the right, away from the root tunnel. Tuk raised her brow as she watched him run up to a nearby tree and quickly begin climbing up.

"...Pollix get out of there! He's gonna-!"

"GROUNDERS! Got ya Pollix!"

"Darn it!" growled the cub from tunnel.

"Okay I guess it is entertaining." Tuk smiled.

...

By the 20 minute mark more than half the younglings were tired and sitting in the shade with Max. Tuk and Marl still in their spot. Kim and a few others on the ground running around.

"...wanna change spots?"

"Sure, how about that sunny spot over there?"

"Looks good."

"...wait. They're planning something."

"Who?"

"Kim and Piper." Marl pointed and true enough the adult was whispering something to the child while occasionally glancing towards them...while leaving just the smallest bit of space between them. When the girl smiled and nodded Kim grinned as well and together sprinted towards the tree they were on.

But rather than try and climb it as they had thought they would do, Kim turned and squatted against the tree.

Knee, shoulder, then waiting for Kim to stand, and finally using the adults palms as the final step Piper jumped and grabbed the lowest vine.

Piper was now it.

Piper was now scaling the tree like a prolemuris. The human youngling turned and swung her body in ways that the older humans couldn't and thus helped her go higher and higher.

"...We should start climbing."

"Way ahead of you!"

....

Together the humans managed to tag Tuk as she was a larger target than Marl.

With Kim's help Piper could reach the lowest vine or branch and from there she was set. granted she was not as fast as them but she had knocked down vines for others to climb so as to tag Tuk and Marl, the only two haven't been it yet!

A tragedy that must be corrected!!

The trees were no longer safe for the na'vi or ursa nor were the ground as that was the adult's domain.

While Tuk was bigger than the adult and therefore could outpace her she hadn't realized how committed human adults are to games. Even if it was children's game.

Deliberately Kim would go after Marl, the slower of the two, and make a show of almost catching them. Tuk, not wanting her friend to be it would always try to reach Marl first and carry them away. An abrupt stop would be Tuk's only warning before the human turned towards her and lunged.

If that didn't work then she would use the smallest youngling's affections to her advantage. Thrice she had ordered Anwred and Tarlak to hug her legs thus slowing her down.

"...I'm done..."

"Me too..."

"You guys did good, miss Kim hardly ever uses Piper in grounders." smiles Pollix.

"How does she do that? I mean, Spider, my human friend, can do that too but he grew up doing that. So how does Piper do it?"

"Apparently she has other teachers that taught her how to that and is just one of those humans whose better at climbing than others."

"Yeah! She used to climb miss Kim and mister Max all the time! Right onto their shoulders!" chirped Xw.

"She's a little spider monkey alright." said Kim walking over with said spider monkey clinging onto her back smiling rather proudly.

"...darn spider monkey." muttered Marl while Tuk laughed.