#it was literally just meant to be a collection of picture and then the writing just sort of happened

[heritageposts]

What does life in North Korea look like outside of Pyongyang? 🇰🇵

Hey, I'm back again with a very scary "tankie" post that asks you to think of North Koreans as people, and to consider their country not as a cartoonish dystopia, but as a nation that, like any other place on earth, has culture, traditions, and history.

Below is a collection of pictures from various cities and places in North Korea, along with a brief dive into some of the historical events that informs life in the so-called "hermit kingdom."

Warning: very long post

Kaesong, the historic city

Beginning this post with Kaesong, one of the oldest cities in Korea. It's also one of the few major cities in the DPRK (i.e. "North Korea") that was not completely destroyed during the Korean war.

Every single city you'll see from this point on were victims of intense aerial bombardments from the U.S. and its allies, and had to be either partially or completely rebuilt after the war.

From 1951 to 1953, during what has now become known as the "forgotten war" in the West, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs over Korea — most of it in the North, and on civilian population centers. An additional 32,000 tons of napalm was also deployed, engulfing whole cities in fire and inflicting people with horrific burns:

For such a simple thing to make, napalm had horrific human consequences. A bit of liquid fire, a sort of jellied gasoline, napalm clung to human skin on contact and melted off the flesh. Witnesses to napalm's impact described eyelids so burned they could not be shut and flesh that looked like "swollen, raw meat." - PBS

Ever wondered why North Koreans seem to hate the U.S so much? Well...

Keep in mind that only a few years prior to this, the U.S. had, as the first and only country in the world, used the atomic bomb as a weapon of war. Consider, too, the proximity between Japan and Korea — both geographically and as an "Other" in the Western imagination.

As the war dragged on, and it became clear the U.S. and its allies would not "win" in any conventional sense, the fear that the U.S. would resort to nuclear weapons again loomed large, adding another frightening dimension to the war that can probably go a long way in explaining the DPRK's later obsession with acquiring their own nuclear bomb.

But even without the use of nuclear weapons, the indiscriminate attack on civilians, particularly from U.S. saturation bombings, was still horrific:

"The number of Korean dead, injured or missing by war’s end approached three million, ten percent of the overall population. The majority of those killed were in the North, which had half of the population of the South; although the DPRK does not have official figures, possibly twelve to fifteen percent of the population was killed in the war, a figure close to or surpassing the proportion of Soviet citizens killed in World War II" - Charles K. Armstrong

On top of the loss of life, there's also the material damage. By the end of the war, the U.S. Air Force had, by its own estimations, destroyed somewhere around 85% of all buildings in the DPRK, leaving most cities in complete ruin. There are even stories of U.S. bombers dropping their loads into the ocean because they couldn't find any visible targets to bomb.

What you'll see below of Kaesong, then, provides both a rare glimpse of what life in North Korea looked like before the war, and a reminder of what was destroyed.

Kaesong's main street, pictured below.

Due the stifling sanctions imposed on the DPRK—which has, in various forms and intensities, been in effect since the 1950s—car ownership is still low throughout the country, with most people getting around either by walking or biking, or by bus or train for longer distances.

Kaesong, which is regarded as an educational center, is also notable for its many Koryŏ-era monuments. A group of twelve such sites were granted UNESCO world heritage status in 2013.

Included is the Hyonjongnung Royal Tomb, a 14th-century mausoleum located just outside the city of Kaesong.

One of the statues guarding the tomb.

Before moving on the other cities, I also wanted to showcase one more of the DPRK's historical sites: Pohyonsa, a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple complex located in the Myohyang Mountains.

Like many of DPRK's historic sites, the temple complex suffered extensive damage during the Korean war, with the U.S. led bombings destroying over half of its 24 pre-war buildings.

The complex has since been restored and is in use today both as a residence for Buddhist monks, and as a historic site open to visitors.

Hamhung, the second largest city in the DPRK.

A coastal city located in the South Hamgyŏng Province. It has long served as a major industrial hub in the DPRK, and has one of the largest and busiest ports in the country.

Hamhung, like most of the coastal cities in the DPRK, was hit particularly hard during the war. Through relentless aerial bombardments, the US and its allies destroyed somewhere around 80-90% percent of all buildings, roads, and other infrastructure in the city.

Now, more than seventy years later, unexploded bombs, mortars and pieces of live ammunition are still being unearthed by the thousands in the area. As recently as 2016, one of North Korea's bomb squads—there's one in every province, faced with the same cleanup task—retrieved 370 unexploded mortar rounds... from an elementary school playground.

Experts in the DPRK estimate it will probably take over a hundred years to clean up all the unexploded ordnance—and that's just in and around Hamhung.

Hamhung's fertilizer plant, the biggest in North Korea.

When the war broke out, Hamhung was home to the largest nitrogen fertilizer plant in Asia. Since its product could be used in the creation of explosives, the existence of the plant is considered to have made Hamhung a target for U.S. aggression (though it's worth repeating that the U.S. carried out saturation bombings of most population centers in the country, irrespective of any so-called 'military value').

The plant was immediately rebuilt after the war, and—beyond its practical use—serves now as a monument of resistance to U.S. imperialism, and as a functional and symbolic site of self-reliance.

Chongjin, the third largest city in the DPRK.

Another coastal city and industrial hub. It underwent a massive development prior to the Korean war, housing around 300,000 people by the time the war broke out.

By 1953, the U.S. had destroyed most of Chongjin's industry, bombed its harbors, and killed one third of the population.

Wonsan, a rebuilt seaside city.

The city of Wonsan is a vital link between the DPRK's east and west coasts, and acts today as both a popular holiday destination for North Koreans, and as a central location for the country's growing tourism industry.

Considered a strategically important location during the war, Wonsan is notable for having endured one of the longest naval blockades in modern history, lasting a total of 861 days.

By the end of the war, the U.S. estimated that they had destroyed around 80% of the city.

Masikryong Ski Resort, located close to Wonsan. It opened to the public in 2014 and is the first, I believe, that was built with foreign tourists in mind.

Sariwon, another rebuilt city

One of the worst hit cities during the Korean War, with an estimated destruction level of 95%.

I've written about its Wikipedia page here before, which used to mockingly describe its 'folk customs street'—a project built to preserve old Korean traditions and customs—as an "inaccurate romanticized recreation of an ancient Korean street."

No mention, of course, of the destruction caused by the US-led aerial bombings, or any historical context at all that could possibly even hint at why the preservation of old traditions might be particularly important for the city.

Life outside of the towns and cities

In the rural parts of the DPRK, life primarily revolves around agriculture. As the sanctions they're under make it difficult to acquire fuel, farming in the DPRK relies heavily on manual labour, which again, to avoid food shortages, requires that a large portion of the labour force resides in the countryside.

Unlike what many may think, the reliance on manual labour in farming is a relatively "new" development. Up until the crisis of the 1990s, the DPRK was a highly industrialized nation, with a modernized agricultural system and a high urbanization rate. But, as the access to cheap fuel from the USSR and China disappeared, and the sanctions placed upon them by Western nations heavily restricted their ability to import fuel from other sources, having a fuel-dependent agricultural industry became a recipe for disaster, and required an immediate and brutal restructuring.

For a more detailed breakdown of what lead to the crisis in the 90s, and how it reshaped the DPRKs approach to agriculture, check out this article by Zhun Xu.

Some typical newly built rural housing, surrounded by farmland.

Tumblr only allows 20 pictures per post, but if you want to see more pictures of life outside Pyongyang, check out this imgur album.

[quixotical-lymbo]

Hey there! I love your writing and especially with Mk, and so I'm just here to drop by and ask you if I could have some Mk angst, preferably with a female!reader, but if you want, go with a gn!reader. I don't really mind which format, do whatever's easiest for you!

What I have in mind is where reader realizes that Mk is literally- in figuratively way- destroying himself with work, hero duties, and romance. Not wanting that, reader is trying to break up with the chaos incarnate to lessen his load.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I understand if you don't want to do this, just wanted to drop by!

Pairing: MK x fem!Reader Rating: SFW Summary: Being in a relationship with the world's hero isn't all sunshine and rainbows. There are many responsibilities that come with it. So, making a decision like this would help you two in the long run…right?  Warnings/Tags: Post s5 spoilers YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, angst, hurt/no comfort, and breakup. Word Count: 1300+ words 🍜 - I like the way you think anon...ur evil >:)/pos

"Can…can you repeat that for me? I don't think I heard you right." 

"I'm breaking up with you." 

"Ha..haha, hehe, you're funny! That was a good one, cutie! Really got me there," MK wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he glanced around the park you two were sitting in. "Now, what vendor are we gonna hit today? Y'know I think I wanna try that-" 

"MK." 

MK grimaced before turning his gaze onto you. You took in a deep breath before letting it out and with one hand stretched to rest on his arm.   

"Did I…did I do something wrong?" MK's voice trembled as he spoke, his own hand reaching up to land on top of yours. 

"Oh goodness, no-" You reassured as you took his hand in yours. "-nothing like that." 

 

"Then why?"

Exactly. Why were you ruining an almost picture perfect relationship for no apparent reason? And so out of the blue? I mean, your boyfriend just got back from his nth time saving-the-world expedition and that meant he had a lot more time to spend the peaceful days with you. So…why?

—🍜—-

You stirred the remaining noodles in your bowl, the lukewarm soup brought an unexplainable comfort to your cold palms. With a few glances toward the door, your unease grew as the seconds ticked by. 

"He's supposed tah be 'ere twenty minutes ago," Pigsy's voice grumbled from within the kitchen. "I got way too many orders for him to be messin' around wit my time-" 

"-I'M HERE, I'M HERE-...Oh! Pookie!?" MK's gaze landed on you as he staggered from the door he slammed open. You called out his name with the same amount of adoration as he walked up to your side and planted a wet kiss on your forehead. 

"I'll be right back after I finish up here," MK promised as his smile trembled from the strain of keeping it up. You merely raised a brow at the state of his messy hair, gloomy vibes, and overall…stressed look? 

"Oh, we don't have to do anything tonight if you're not up for it-" 

"-NO, ahem, no worries, my love, I'm A-okay! Just be ready for your feet to be swept when your prince charming comes back!" MK blew a few kisses and winked in your direction before collecting the orders from Pigsy and hightailing it out of the shop. You and Pigsy watched as MK almost tripped out of the door. 

"Is…he always like this…?" You glanced at your boyfriend's father. Pigsy sighed as he ran a hand down his face, his brow creased from a multitude of things causing him headaches; his son being a major contributor. 

"You don't know the half of it, kid." 

There were a few more instances where you felt like MK was speed-running for the entire duration you two were supposed to be spending time together. Whether it was on dates, hanging with Mei, or even just bumping into each other. Your interactions were sweet, short, and to the point. Sometimes, MK's love bombing was downright suffocating. One time you could barely get out of bed with how hard he hugged you during movie night. 

The following weeks were a whirlwind of craziness that you were, unfortunately, caught up in. Watching your boyfriend hop in a truck and run away from a confrontation between a celestial and…was that the monkey king? 

Whoever that was, you were already sprinting back home to avoid getting yourself in harm's way.

That was the last time you saw MK for a while until two weeks or so later. By the time MK and co had returned, you had already decided what you were going to do moving forward. The answer was clear as day in your mind and made the most sense. After all, MK didn't need anything else added onto his plate of responsibilities and he certainly didn't need you. 

Sadly, your heart was still (and still is) conflicted. 

—🍜—-

Your gaze wandered away from him and MK hated how he couldn't see your face. He disliked it as much as the anticipation eating away at him, making his hands sweat way more than he was comfortable with. You struggled to properly find the words and when that failed you, the only thing you could muster was a few choppy sentences that probably didn't make much sense. 

 

"I just think it's for the best," Your voice wavered as the irritating sting in your eyes meant the waterworks weren't far behind. MK didn't seem like he could hold his back for long as he cleared his throat and nodded along with what you said. 

"Right, right, uh-...then," MK stood up from the bench and offered his hand to you. "Can I at least walk you home? It's getting late and I…" don't want to say goodbye.

A smile broke out on your face as you sniffed, happily placing your hand in his and the two of you began trekking back to your home. The stillness that surrounded you both was…oddly cathartic, cozy, and made you feel lighter than air. That heavy weight that had been sitting on your chest was finally lifted. In its place there was a giant abyss left where your heart would be. You ignored this seeping feeling of dread, at least you managed to lighten your—MK's load. 

The sight of your neighborhood caused MK to squeeze your hand from time to time with each step taken, corner rounded, and familiar sights leading to the end of the both of you. 

MK wished in the back of his mind for you to say something, to let him know that this was all an elaborate prank, a joke that you would surely confess the punchline as soon as he led you to the door of your home. 

None of that happened.

Instead, MK was standing in front of your door with you standing before him. The dim light from the nearby lamp post illuminated your skin beautifully under the moonlight.

"Thank you for walking me back..I'll..um." 

"It's no worries, I.." 

The two young adults awkwardly glanced elsewhere as the uneasiness from earlier lingered. You shook your head and opened your arms, "Hug?" 

MK looked up from where he kicked at the floor and grinned, "Hug." 

One step and the two of you were wrapped in each other's confining, warm embrace.

"I'm gonna miss you," MK admitted through choked tears that escaped him. 

"I'll be here if you need me, but we need this…you need this," You rubbed a comforting hand on MK's back, frowning at the sight of his shoulders shuddering and the sound of his feeble sniffles. After a few more seconds, MK was the first to pull out of the hug. His face was damp with tears and what appeared to be snot, the corners of his eyes already looked puffy as he quickly wiped at his face. 

"..." You wanted nothing more than to comfort him further, but you had to draw a line somewhere if this was going to work. You turned to unlock your door and stepped inside, peeking out to wish the noodle boy one final goodnight. MK simply waved as the door closed, your face disappearing from sight but it was the only thing he could see in his mind. 

No one else was there to witness MK on autopilot. The dark-haired male shuffled out of your neighborhood and somehow ended up halfway up the stairs to his apartment. MK stepped inside his room, yet he couldn't even make it to his bed before he completely crashed on the carpet. Fat blobs of water spilt from his eyes, his frown opening to release the storm of emotions that have been festering the whole interaction. 

Only after his tears dried and the sun began peaking over the horizon did MK manage to fall asleep. 

🍜 - I do not give permission for anyone to translate, copy, republish, or plagiarize any of my written works. I provide no permission for any of my literary works to be used in artificial intelligence. sparkle banner(s) by @adornedwithlight !!

[nadianova]

How much time do you spend planning some of your visual novels? At least going by some of them being jam submissions, it feels like you go from pre-production to a finished build very quickly, and it's amazing how you can manage that while still having an awesome story and so many assets.

Also, what is like, the process of planning a story out for you, if there's any vague or concrete similarities that you've noticed?

i think the important context here is that if i get bored/have nothing to do i jhust immediately get really suicidal its like ridiculous how bad it gets(ITS FINE DONT WORRY ABOUT IT IVE HAD 5 YEARS OF THERAPY). so i hate being bored and want to occupy my time wit something fun whatever that is. if i have a project to focus on but especially if I'm working for a game jam i have a deadline and i just decide to myself okay i will release a game now.

because ive made a decent amount of games i roughly have an idea on my capabilities, i can estimate how long it takes for me to write a story so and so long and how long it takes for me to draw stuff i need and how long it takes for me to throw stuff in renpy. these are estimates like as in I'm not accurate with it but still enough that i generally know where to start cutting ideas since the most important part is just having something to submit. i also know to plan around my brain wanting to slam my head into a wall an my hands suddenly giving up on being able to draw.

i think thats the beauty of game jams it forces you to just go for it and release something. releasing a 'bad' game is better than no game at all. experience only comes over time and i think just going for it is the best approach there is. like its literally 2 weeks 1 month whatever of your life. if you have the time and motivation go for it. make it work or fuck it up it wont matter in the grand scheme of things

im not sure what is the motivation behind the question but i do want to point out that this is just my method (if you can even call it a method) and the only way to figure out what works for you is to just try until you find something that actually works for you

idk not everyone will find it doable/fun to plan around spending two weeks gamedev 10 hours a day just cause i wanted to fit in 100 cgs for a jam game but apparently i can do that when i cheat my stupid adhd brain into hyperfocus with adhd meds

READMORE BECAUSE I CANT STOP RAMBLING

as for planning tho i think ideas on their own are worthless and its always about execution in the end. a great idea or a meh idea are the same for me but i do still enjoy the planning process so i keep notes

like i see a great tumblr post or i see some art or visual novel has some scene that inspires me: i save that shit for myself

having a big collection of random floating ideas like that helps me easily pick from especially during a jam type duration. right now i have like 4-5 half-baked project skeletons, some are literally like 3 pictures and some like naomida are a hundred hours worth of me writing world building about how the toilets work in a city with no plumbing cause its -30celcius(i love bringing this up)=

i dont normally plan that much, i tend to just wing it. like for malmaid i seriously just had some rough ideas and just went along as i wrote

same thing for dddeviance i had a handful of scenes that i really wanted to make and knew what kind of start and end it was meant to have and just figured out how to fill the in between. a lot of plot points changed vastly like halfway through i realised my devil + angel combination was stupid and i should just go for fallen angel + angel.

i think there really is no simple answer tho (as evident from the long as hell post) i don't really have a 'process' because every single game has been worked on has come with different type of planning since I'm always trying new stuff to try and distract me from boredom. like I've been using obsidian for naomida while previously I've just used a empty discord serve as my notes app for malmaid and dddeviance

and tbh with naomida I'm running to a new problem where I'm definitely planning too much. like I'm spending too much time fidgeting with details in chapter 4 even when i haven't finished writing chapter 1 just cause its so easy to get in the loop of "oh ill just change this one line" and boom 20 mins spent playing with my notes that didn't really progress my game since by the time i reach this point the whole scene might have shifted to something else

.

but if i had to squeeze an answer itd be something like everything related to my art or writing or games is just like "oooooo that seems fun i should remember this for later" and then i just string 10-100 of those into a story

i tend to write my stories in a format of

character A does this and that

this happens here

puppy play ryona piss orgasm

new day and then this happens here

sad thing happens

more piss orgasm

the end

and just like start filling in more details and working on my story in a nonlinear fashion until i feel like i have a strong enough skeleton that i can start writing my scenes. i hop around a lot, often preferring to write the fun scenes first like ero stuff or the ones I'm the most interested in and then the rest is just filling the blanks and stringing the cool scenes together

[annwrites]

—long black road

and, baby, when you think of me, i hope it ruins rock 'n' roll. — 80srockstar!billy x reader ; ✩ : · ✿

x dividers

The crowd shooshes and you smooth the skirt of your dress, ensuring your legs are perfectly crossed as you clasp your hands over your knees, looking to David Letterman with a smile, while he looks at the camera.

"Alright, folks. We have a really special one for you tonight. I have here with me the author of the New York Times bestseller, 'In the Back of the Bus: My Year with Billy and The Hard Grove', Y/N."

The camera zooms in on the cover of the book—the boys standing along the side of their tour bus, holding you up on your side, Billy staring down at you with a soft smile, while the others are laughing and smiling amongst themselves.

He turns to you and grins, shaking his head, setting the novel down. "I'll be honest, I'm only about halfway through the book myself, and if there's one thing I've learned on this show, it's that truth is stranger than fiction, and this autobiography only further proves it."

You laugh lightly. "I worried, while writing it, that I'd get accused of lying, because I even said to myself at times 'did we really do that? I mean, did Billy? Surely no one is going to buy this. Literally or figuratively'."

He clasps his hands atop his desk, growing serious.

"I have a plethora of questions. But my first one—and I'm sure this will be the easiest one," he says with obvious sarcasm. "Do you regret any of it?"

You're quiet for a moment, thinking, while the crowd remains silent. Waiting.

You open your mouth to reply.

Billy glances to you, watching as you lean back against a stack of black boxes, meant for stage equipment, looking anywhere but at him.

He smirks. So you're either shy, or just like to be chased. He's done it before—played into the fantasy of the lonely girl who wants to be noticed by the rockstar, instead of the other way around.

If the night ends with your legs spread for him in his penthouse suite, he'll write the whole damn romance novel on your clit with his tongue.

His eyes trail from your tight little velvet bell-bottoms that hug your thighs, to the curve of your round hips, then your hourglass waist, finally licking his lips as he eyes-up your breasts, hiding beneath your glittering crop-top.

"You want an autograph, sweetheart?" He asks, taking another from a waiting fan who's practically bouncing up and down from excitement at being in his mere presence.

He hardly notices her.

Instead, his eyes are trained squarely on you.

"No, thank you," you reply quietly, only glancing to him, then back away, waiting for Carmen.

"What, you don't like my music? Don't tell me you're an Air Supply girl," he says with a smirk, coming over to you.

"I didn't say that," you state plainly, finally looking at him.

He leans in toward you, pressing his palm against one of the boxes.

"You're not sayin' much of anything. Come all this way and you didn't even enjoy the show? I gotta make it up to you somehow, sugar," he says with a charming wink and a wide grin, showing off his perfect teeth.

You merely stare back at him, unimpressed, hoping Carmen wraps up collecting the other band member's signatures, and quickly.

He shrugs, tucking a loose strand behind your ear. "Quiet. That's alright. I like that in a woman."

He then glances down to your chest, then back into your eyes. "Out of pictures, but I can sign somethin' else, if that's more your speed."

You cross your arms then, irritation building. "That's really generous, but I'm not interested."

He can tell he's getting under your skin, and is enjoying every second of it.

He finally sighs, nodding. "Alright. I'll get off your case."

He shrugs.

"When you give me your number. Probably not every day you have the lead singer of a rock band that sold out Chicago Stadium asking for that, huh?" He asks with a cheeky grin and a raised brow.

You merely roll your eyes. But you know this is the only way to get him away from you: pretend to play along, and then he'll go. The game will be over.

He holds a magic marker toward you and you gently take it from him, twisting off the cap.

He then holds out his hand, palm face-up. Just an excuse to have you touch him, really.

Once you’ve finished jotting down the faux number, you hand the marker back to him with a pleasant smile.

And he sees right through it. He half-turns away from you, searching for your friend. Something starting with a ‘C’. And then he spots her. 

He places his thumb and forefinger between his lips and whistles, all eyes suddenly turning in his direction—a plethora of young women praying to God he’s wanting their attention, specifically.

But he hones-in only on Carmen. 

He jerks his head toward you. “You two live together in an apartment or somethin’?”

Giddy from the fact he’s even talking to her, she begins to nod excitedly. “Yes!”

“You got a landline, then, I assume. What’s the number?”

You begin rapidly shaking your head, staring with wide-eyes at her, but she’s too entranced by Billy to even acknowledge your presence as she spouts it off to him.

He turns back to you with a raised brow and a sarcastic shake of his head. “Looks like you gave me a bogus number, honey. Guess we need to turn that zero into a six.”

As he corrects the number on his hand, you merely glare at the back of Carmen’s head.

1980s rock band, billy & the hard grove, are at the top of the music charts, as well as the world.

billy—the lead singer & a guitarist—has everything he could ever ask for & never could've imagined he'd one day have when he left that podunk indiana town: drugs, women, money, & worldwide fame.

but not what he needs, even if he doesn't know it—is reluctant to admit to desiring it in fear of seeming weak, pathetic, or, much more: fucking it up like he does every other facet of his life in due time—someone who loves him.

along comes you, who he spots backstage after one of the band's shows in indianapolis. quietly standing off to the side, not requesting so much as an autograph from him as groupies & fans gather round.

so, he goes to you instead—refusing to leave you be until you give him your number—& for the first time in his life, he gradually comes to find that he's discovered something that he has no idea how to live without.

&, through billy, you discover a world you never knew existed. one full of passion, excitement, & maybe even love. one where you can step outside the box you've tried to desperately to shove yourself into for so many years.

until your heart is broken, & you finally remember why you'd kept it so carefully protected all your life.

&, in turn, billy loses not just his soulmate, but himself as he rapidly goes off the rails with no end in sight, until he, like all natural disasters, finally crashes & burns.

headcanons:

after madison square garden, billy has one of the guys take a picture of him & reader. he pulls her into his lap & she just smiles wide at the camera, while he presses a kiss to her cheek. one of her hands is gently gripping the fingers of the hand of his arm that's around her shoulder. it becomes one of billy's most prized possessions.

he honestly falls for her extremely fast. but he doesn't admit it. just tells her a lot how he really likes her & spending time with her. likes how she treats him & makes him feel.

he likes that she holds him accountable. no one else does & it makes him feel like no one gives a shit about him. like, sometimes he'll do stupid shit just in the hopes of someone telling him 'hey, man, maybe that's enough', but they don't. & he figures it's either bc they truly don't care, or bc they think he's that egotistical that the second he gets told no, he'll leave the band bc he wants to be able to run wild at all hours.

he, at first, wants to spoil her, bc he thinks that's how it works. with groupies, they only want him for sex, or their own five minutes, or for nice clothes or money, a night in a penthouse, etc. they don't see him. they see the guy he brings on stage & to magazine covers, etc. whereas she's not interested in any of that. she tells him that her friendship isn't transactional.

she eventually gets put on at least 1 of the band's tracks—per rod, their manager's, idea. he says it's missing something & it's when he looks at her sitting in a chair behind the sound board that he realizes: female vocals. she's really adamant that she not be on it—she'll ruin it, but he insists. & it's an instant billboard hit.

plotting *MASSIVE SPOILERS HEAD*:

billy is quickly entranced by reader, bc he comes to immediately realize that she wasn’t playing hard-to-get; she just wasn’t interested, which is even more of a chase & challenge for him.

calls her up pretty quickly. like two days later. carmen answers, though, & when she tries to hand the phone off to reader, she refuses to take it. carmen refuses to hang up, though, so reader does it for her.

just keeps blowing up their landline until she finally speaks to him.

after a couple of weeks of idle talking—her not showing any real interest—he breaks out the big guns. he offers to arrange to have her come see the band perform at madison square garden. he’ll pay her entire way there—cabs, airfare, lodgings, food, souvenirs, her front-row ticket, even an all-access backstage pass. she declines, which he’s not happy about. he then asks her as nicely as he can manage—especially with his explosive temper—if she will at least think about it. she agrees to do so & actually does…& changes her mind. he’s thrilled when she says yes. even if it’s not for him. it’s for her. to, for once in her life, do something impulsive. & at least she won’t have to pay for anything.

he puts her in first-class on the plane, gets her a private driver for when she arrives in ny, puts her in a very nice suite at the hotel—& anything she orders through room service is on him. shortly after she arrives, though, she receives a call on the phone in her room informing her there’s a car waiting downstairs for her. 

it takes her straight to the stadium & there’s an usher waiting for her at the gate to escort her backstage as the boys are doing soundcheck. billy just wanted an excuse to show off in front of her.

none of the band members seem too surprised by her presence—because this is something he’s done before & they know he’ll inevitably do again just to score pussy.

when they head back to the hotel, he has her ride with him & he asks her to come up to his suite. “just to check it out-—see what you think,” he says with a smirk. “you’re not getting me into bed.” “damn, at least buy me a drink first.”

nevertheless, she does. & he tries hitting on her further. “so, what’d’ya think?” “it’s impressive. & I thought my room was nice.” “can always stay here instead. even have a nice big california king. more than enough room for two.” she goes to leave with a roll of her eyes, but he stops her & gets serious for a minute, asking her to please stay. 

they talk for awhile & he actually bothers genuinely opening up to her, even a bit. 

she tells him how great she thinks it must be to have the privilege of doing what you love every day like he does. providing joy to millions. 

he asks what she’s passionate about. she enjoys writing, but says she can never finish any story that she starts. & that even if she thinks something she’s come up with one day is really good, by the next she may very-well see it as utter garbage.

he asks if she brought any of her material with her.

“my typewriter is at home, but I do carry a notebook.” “can I read some of it?” “no, I’m sorry. I just worry about…I don’t know. being judged or mocked, I guess.” “welcome to being an artist, baby.” “I’m not your baby.” he smirks. “sure would love it if you were, though.” she just rolls her eyes yet again.

after more talking, she tells him maybe she should head back to her room for the evening. it’s getting to be evening time now & she’d like to shower & order dinner. he offers for her to do so there—he’ll order her whatever she wants. she raises a brow at the offer to shower, so decides to in her own room. 

he gives her an extra key to his room to use once she’s done in hers.

& when she comes back, his room is empty, so she glances in the bathroom for a moment, only to find a vial of coke sitting on the counter. she’s not sure why she’s in disbelief at it, but she is. turns out he was on the balcony.

“you want some?” he asks, nodding toward it. she looks at him like he’s suddenly grown a second head. “of course I don’t. you…you shouldn’t be using it, either. do you have any idea what this will do to you in the long-run? to your life? your body?”

he doesn’t appreciate being preached at. he stalks toward her, smile now gone. “i didn’t pay your way here to listen to you lecture me, honey. so you can either sit your ass down & have a good time, or you can get the hell out.”

“i’ll do you one better. I’ll find my way back home. coming here was clearly a mistake. i don’t know why i thought you were capable of acting like a human being for five seconds. that’s what all you celebrities have in common: you sell your souls to the industry in exchange for fifteen minutes of fame. i just hope it was worth it.”

he watches her head toward the door & his true toxicity finally jumps out. “if you walk out that door i’ll use. i’ll snort myself fucking stupid. but if you stay…i won’t.”

utterly shocked, she turns back around. “i’m still practically a complete stranger to you & you’re willing to use your sobriety for the evening as a way to manipulate me into staying? unbelievable. i’m not one of your little groupies who will fall on her knees & beg for your forgiveness for hurting your precious feelings. i’m leaving.”

just as she turns to leave again he openly wallows in self-pity as he goes to sit on the foot of the bed, head in his hands. “i’m sorry. it’s just like me to fuck everything up. i make everyone leave. even since I was a kid. it’s what i’m best at.”

she knows what he’s doing, but bc she has a conscious she can’t just leave. “it’s called consequences, billy. see, just because you want someone to do something, doesn’t mean they have to. i know that not always getting what you want is probably an unfamiliar concept to you.”

he looks at her with puppy-dog eyes. “i wanted you to stay because i like how you make me feel. how you talk to me. like…like you see me. you see past all the glam rock bullshit. because you’re not falling all over yourself to get five seconds of my time. i’m…i’m sorry, okay? so you have to forgive me.”

she raises a brow, crossing her arms. “i’m sorry, i have to forgive you?”

“yeah, that’s how it works. i tell you i’m—” 

“forgiveness—as well as trust—are both things which are earned. & are only given when the opposite party feels you’re worthy of them. they don’t just get served to you on a silver platter because you said ‘you’re sorry’. that was maybe how it worked when you were like, three, or four, but not now.”

“can you please just stay?”

“no, billy, i’m tired. & hungry. so i’m going back to my room. i’ll…reassess in the morning. for what it’s worth, i hope you don’t use. but that choice is ultimately up to you.”

next morning she gets a breakfast platter delivered. “compliments of mister hargrove.”

fresh fruits, juice, milk, pastries, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, etc. as well as a stack of pancakes. & when she removes the lid to them? written in chocolate chips—surrounded by a heart of whipped topping—are the words 'i’m sorry’. 

She goes to throw them in the trash, but it’s so ridiculous that she can’t help but smile at it…& eat half of them.

& then there’s a knock at the door. & when she opens it, billy is standing on the other side, smug with himself that she’s still there. “mornin’, sunshine,” he says, barging in. then, “see you got my apology note.”

in regards to the music track she's featured on, she's extremely nervous once she's in the recording room. like, shaking & her breathing is unsteady. heart is pounding. billy himself struggles with anxiety (i'm going to make that a very big reason as to why he uses), so he takes her face between his hands as he stares into her eyes until her breathing has calmed.

he tells her to only look at him & the sheet music w/ the lyrics on it in front of her. they're the only two people there. ignore the people in the other room, ignore the band behind them. just look at him.

"can...can i hold your hand?"

he gives her a soft smile. "of course you can."

i do have a breakup scene planned in the future where she gets in an evening early—she's supposed to be in the next morning—& when she walks into billy's room, she finds him in bed with two girls. fucking one doggystyle, snorting cocaine off her back, while the other is pressed up against his side.

reader is heartbroken, but somehow...not entirely surprised. it was like she'd been waiting for something just like this to happen.

he sees her, freezes, then, "fuck".

he jumps off the bed, racing over to her before she can leave. just like that first night, as soon as she grips the door handle, he speaks. "if you leave i'll kill myself".

the girls gasp, looking at each other.

reader pauses.

"i'll do it. i'll throw myself off the goddamn balcony."

she turns back to him with a look of both disbelief & loathing.

"i'm a piece of fuckin' shit. so i'm not above threatening my own life to make you stay. i know you won't leave me."

she all but backs him into a wall, staring at him. he tries to turn his head this way & that. he can't even look her in the eyes.

& then she grabs his chin, forcing him to. a beat of silence. "no, you won't. you're pathetic. i shouldn't be surprised, though. you showed me who you were that first night, didn't you? what was it you said again when i tried to leave? 'i'll snort myself stupid'?"

her eyes trail down & back up, tears shimmering when she meets his own again, which are bloodshot. "clean yourself up."

she turns to leave.

"i love you."

she turns the handle. "you don't even understand the meaning of the word."

she glances back to the groupies. "good luck with him. you're going to need it."

with that, she walks out, slamming the door.

she hears him yell for the girls to "get the fuck out!"

he sinks down to the floor, pulling his knees to his chest as he starts to cry.

she heads toward the elevator.

it's taking forever. & just as it dings, the band's bass player comes back from getting ice, excited to see her. "hey! i thought your flight wasn't due in until tomorrow?"

"i'm leaving."

he blocks the open doors then. "wait, wait, wait. what—what happened? did he do something?"

"as if you don't know. you're just like him. all men are the same. you're all liars."

he swallows, filling with guilt. "i wanted to tell you. i just—how the fuck could i be the one to break your heart? hey, just, listen. he never fucking deserved you. from that first day he didn't. he doesn't give a shit about anybody but himself. doesn't see anything unless it's his own reflection in a mirror. & that's what he would've turned you into in time. but i see you. i see how beautiful you are. and kind. talented, smart. just...wonderful. and i—"

she crushes her lips to his.

he drops the ice.

"can we go to your room?"

unable to even speak, he just nods, fumbling with the key.

they sleep together.

cut to her sitting on the floor of the shower, pulled into herself as she thinks on what she just did with regret.

"you alright in there?"

"y—yeah. i'll be out in a minute!"

"you want me to join you?"

"i'm almost done!"

she gets out & he's right back at the door. "you want me to order room—"

she sits on the toilet lid, switching the blow dryer on just to be left alone.

once the band is at the recording studio the next morning (she remains at the hotel), one of the other members asks where you are. "wasn't she supposed to be in by now?"

billy freezes up again, having no idea wtf to even say.

then, "she's at the hotel sleeping."

billy turns toward the bassist, his eyes full of rage. "excuse me? but what the fuck did you just say?"

rod is in the other room watching. "oh shit."

bassist shrugs. "you never deserved her in the first place."

all hell breaks loose.

billy throws a music stand at him, which he dodges. then he grabs his bass guitar from its stand & slams it down on the floor, breaking it in two.

bassist lunges & they start fist-fighting right in the middle of the room.

billy initially gets the upper-hand, throwing repeated punches until the bassist gets on top of him & starts trying to choke him out, until rod pulls him off & demands they separate until they both cool off.

billy goes back to the hotel immediately. he needs to see for himself.

& he does. he pounds on the door.

you open it, wearing only a robe from the hotel.

"i just had to see it for myself. you're a fucking hypocrite."

you feel sick. "difference is, at least i did it once we were no longer together."

he sneers. "that is a comfort to no one but you." then, "what? you think he's better for you or something? you think he actually fucking sees you?"

"like you did?"

"yeah, i did. but with him?" he chuckles. "you're just—to him you're just going to be a perfect goddamn madonna. god-forbid you ever make a mistake. because the minute you do—"

"so what was i to you, billy? the whore?"

"no, you were just mine."

"not anymore."

tears are in his eyes. "fuck you."

"he already did," you say, slamming the door in his face.

in the future, things hit their climax when billy can't take it anymore. all of it. so he overdoses in bed, clutching that polaroid of the two of you.

one of the guys find him bc he's late for something or other.

you stand shaking in the doorway, watching as he'd loaded onto a stretcher, staring at that photo in his hand, crying. & you know who you really want. what you really want. have all along.

you go back to your room w/ the bassist & he says something unforgivable. "i hope he dies."

"what?"

"i mean it. we'd be better off. the whole goddamn world would. he's just a junkie waste of space anyway."

"you're a monster."

"i'm sorry, what?"

"i—i'm leaving. i need to go to him."

"you're going to him?" after everything he's done he still gets what he wants. are you fucking kidding me? no. you belong with me."

"i'm still in love with him! i never stopped being. this is over. i'm done."

so you go to billy at the hospital.

he tells you he wishes they'd just let him die.

you tell him how you feel.

and then he holds you in his hospital bed while you both lie together in silence.

[doll-elvis]

** warning drama ahead **

Regarding plagiarism and @lettersfromvenus:

I definitely did not envision this to be my first post back from the break that I’ve been on from posting but after my lengthy exchange with her last night I’d just like to clear the air and explain the situation from a different point of view as I believe lettersfromvenus has been dishonest to her audience

** but before I even get into all of that I would like to sincerely apologize if you have messaged me, replied to one of my posts or sent in an ask, I am going to start working on getting back to everyone as soon as possible- I cannot even explain how much I have missed being active on here and I’d like to give a huge thank you to all the elvis fans and blogs out there because y’all have been keeping my moral high 🫡

my immune system decided to quit a little over a week ago and what I thought was a normal cold/flu turned out to be pneumonia of all things. even though I lowkey almost died from it when I first got it as a kid, I don’t remember it being this exhausting?? I’ve been bedridden like a victorian child and have been reminiscing on all the times that I had an appetite and could stand up without losing my breath

literally me since last thursday

** as for the situation regarding lettersfromvenus **

a few days ago it was brought to my attention that some accusations were being made against her after I saw an ask that was sent to another Elvis blog on here. She was being accused, by the original author, of copying a fic (word for word) from wattpad (including the title and cover-art) and posting it on here as though it was her own work

here is that post from the og author ⬇️

I always try to be as neutral as possible but after reading posts from both @ladiilokii and lettersfromvenus, I ultimately decided that the latter was clearly in the wrong and that her explanations made no sense and did nothing but pivot the blame

and so I left this exact comment on ladiilokii’s post to show support ⬇️

** “at first I was going to give her the benefit of the doubt but her responses to your messages are just insane, I’m so sorry this happened!! I’ve unfollowed her and reported her post, I can’t believe she is refusing to take it down after being caught red-handed 🤧” **

“insane” was a harsh word to use but that is the only word that came to mind after reading lettersfromvenus’ responses to being called out

she claimed that she was sent prompts/scenarios by an anonymous person and that she then wrote the fic based on those prompts, which just magically happened to be the exact same, word for word, as ladiilokii’s og fic. not only is that impossible, but it also doesn’t account for the stolen cover-art as an anonymous person cannot send a photo through the inbox, their username would have to be public

letterfromvenus then admitted to the og auther (pictured below) that she got the cover-art directly from the original fic on wattpad

** “all I did was steal the title and the picture because it had fit so well with what I thought my fic”-lettersfromvenus ** im sorry but how do you “think”something is your fic? you either wrote it or you didn’t…

lettersfromvenus’ full direct message to ladiilokii ⬇️

these explanations made zero sense to me and the lack of accountability on her part is astounding- she basically said “your work was amazing, they meant for it to be copied” ?!?

Much like the og author, I don’t believe that lettersfromvenus was sent any prompts by an anonymous person. I think she found the original fic and posted it as her own work thinking nobody would know where she got it from as it was originally posted in a vast collection of one-shots

I can’t speak to experience of being a writer but I could imagine it would be incredibly disheartening to have someone else take the credit and reap the rewards of all the hard work, effort, and time that goes into writing a fic

and so that was my involvement in the situation. like I mentioned I did decide to unfollow her because I thought it was unfair/dishonest how lettersfromvenus was making ladiilokii out to be the aggressor even though she had every right to call out the person who was stealing her fic

but nonetheless I didn’t say anything to lettersfromvenus and I just hoped that she would learn from her mistakes and offer a more sincere apology and explanation in the future

flashforward some days later to yesterday, when around 5:40pm, I got sent an anonymous ask which had a link to a new post from lettersfromvenus. obviously there is no way to prove who sent in the ask but I had my suspicions that it was her as she directly addressed the og comment that I made on ladiilokii’s post, in her new post⬇️

(https://www.tumblr.com/lettersfromvenus/730026135806722048/okay-so-i-swore-right-down-to-not-waste-my-time-on?source=share)

in retrospect I shouldn’t have engaged but I just couldn’t believe that she was trying to twist the situation and make it seem like she was getting all this unwarranted hate when in reality this was started by her when she consciously decided to steal another person’s work, and then refused to accept any blame. I still stand by my reasonings to unfollow and report her for the stolen fic

and so I commented on lettersfromvenus’ new post (linked above) to clarify again why I decided to unfollow her, as she questioned why I did. I wanted to be as frank as possible and so I wished her the best, but I maintained that I wouldn’t support her work in the future and that I thought the og author deserved a better/more truthful explanation

unfortunately I was blocked by her after our back and forth so I can’t see all of my og comments but here are some of hers and mine that I was able to sc beforehand⬇️

may or may not have had a friend send me more sc of the convo after I was blocked ⬇️

“I did not plagiarize the fic” are you sure about that?

courtesy of @ladiilokii ⬇️ (lettersfromvenus is left, og author is right)

some other screenshots⬇️

“you’re literally blaming me for shit out of my control”- it wasn’t out of your control, you purposefully did what you did and instead of openly admitting to it, you’re pivoting the blame onto an “anonymous” sender (which she has still shown no proof of)

and even if someone did send you a complete fic in your inbox, you are still obligated to say that it is not your own original work if you post it, it is still plagiarizing even if the author is anonymous

** btw this was the caption of the fic she posted that she stole from ladiilokii- “Writing takes a lot of time, so please make sure to support us writers” writing does indeed take time… copying and pasting does not **

and please the irony of saying this fandom is toxic for calling you out for stealing another fan’s work- like ma’am take a look in the mirror before calling other people toxic 🤧

my patience is now non-existent regarding this person so I’m sorry if I’m crass but if her idea of “hard work” is copying and pasting a fic and stealing the title/cover-art, then yeah that deserves to be discredited, like what do you expect??

since I was blocked I can’t see my comment anymore but I mentioned how she admitted to stealing the cover-art and that she should have given credit for that, and she then replied that her stealing was essentially justified because the author who made the cover-art didn’t credit the photographer that took the photos of Elvis ⬇️

she also went on to say that everyone who writes the word “Elvis” is plagiarizing Gladys because she created Elvis- I hope she stretched before she made that reach

we only went back and forth for like 15 minutes but my head still hurts from it. she was just impossible to reason with, she had zero accountability, and at times I felt like I was speaking to an actual toddler… she even told me to go back to elementary school to get common sense 💀

me engaging with her on that post proved to be futile, but I can’t say that I fully regret it because this clearly shows her lack of a moral code as a writer (thou shall not plagiarize)

I hate for this to be my first post back and I do know that I am contributing to the drama (for better or for worse) by making this lengthy ass post but that whole exchange with her truly shocked me and I just couldn’t keep quiet about it, especially when she has gone to her followers and made herself out to be the victim, and made others out to be the aggressors… my brain cannot compute the fact that she is trying to garner sympathy from this

** however, I by no means, wish for any hate sent to her about this. some of my comments and rebuttals have been snippy & I definitely lost patience in all of this but I don’t know how old this person is, she could be 12 for all I know, and I think we have probably all been guilty of doing dumb things on the internet. From my understanding she did end up deleting the fic at the og authors request **

I made this post in hopes that it provides some clarity to the situation and in hopes that I could show the conversation with as much transparency as possible as since I’m blocked I’m slightly worried that she is making me out to seem like I instigated this when I only directly spoke to her once I saw that her post mentioned my comment

to me this situation wasn’t even really about who was involved, it was about the principle of it because no matter who the person is, plagiarism is wrong on all of counts. if someone plagiarized lettersfromvenus’ original work in the future, I would still speak to her defense because no one deserves to have that happen to them

if there is anything you would like to do, please show some love and support to @ladiilokii , the original author of “Welcome to Detroit, Baby” <3

anyways- I cannot wait to get back to my original schedule of posting, I’ve been on a break for only 11 days but my god it has felt like an eternity 😭

[the-slumberparty]

Resource Post: Writing Prompts

Often times, I like to use prompts both as a way to inspire new ideas and to get old ideas going again. What I like about them is that you don't have to use them literally. You can bend them to fit whatever inspo your looking to spark. I also enjoy the variety that you can find, from starters to dialogue to situational or single world prompts, I find that I can usually find what I need to get myself going.

Below is a collection of links from Tumblr and outside Tumblr that we hope can be useful in your personal writing and in the upcoming slumber party event. Also, feel free to add any links/pages you have bookmarked or use for reference in a reblog!

Happy writing and we'll see you February 5th for the first slumber party event!

Tumblr Prompt Blogs:

Creative Writing Prompts - a collection of prompts but a creator who periodically takes requests for ideas. Please support the creator of these prompts if possible.

FYOTP Prompts - prompts meant for OTP/ships

So Prompt - dialogue prompts for quick inspo.

Writing-prompt-s - creative prompts for AUs and more plot-based ideas

Promptsforyourwhumpfic - just as it says, these prompts are meant for whump/torture fics. Ideas are submitted by followers as well as by the blog creator.

Love me a good prompt - an assortment of prompts ranging from word association, to questions and what-ifs, character prompts, dialogue, and more.

Whumpster Dumpster - another whump blog with ideas for dark writers.

Prompts for the Struggling Author - daily prompts to strike new ideas.

AU Ideas - ideas for creating and writing AUs

Writing Prompts from around the Web:

Writing Prompts: 60 Ideas You Can Use Today - a list of prompts to get you started.

500 Writing Prompts to Help Beat Writer’s Block - a lot of prompts for many different genres.

Once Upon a Picture - visual inspiration with questions to guide creativity.

365 Creative Writing Prompts - A year’s worth of writing prompts to guide a daily habit.

66 Horror Writing Prompts That Are Freaky As Hell - Want to try horror? This article includes explanations of common horror tropes and twists along with prompts.

108 Romance Writing Prompts & Love Story Ideas - Feeling romantic? These ideas include romantic and erotic ideas to start off.

80 Story Prompts From Top Thriller Writers - Want a thrill? Use these prompts along and some inspo from thriller writers to write an exciting story.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Kate Beaton's "Ducks"

It’s been more than a decade since I began thrilling to Kate Beaton’s spectacular, hilarious snark-history webcomic “Hark! A Vagrant,” pioneering work that mixed deceptively simple lines, superb facial expressions, and devastating historical humor:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/03/23/hark-a-vagrant-the-book/

Beaton developed Hark! into a more explicit political allegory, managing the near-impossible trick of being trenchant and topical while still being explosively funny. Her second Hark! collection, Step Aside, Pops, remains essential reading, if only for her brilliant “straw feminists”:

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/09/15/step-aside-pops-a-new-hark-a-vagrant-collection-that-delights-and-dazzles/

Beaton is nothing if not versatile. In 2015, she published The Princess and the Pony, a picture book that I read to my own daughter — and which inspired me to write my own first picture book, Poesy the Monster-Slayer:

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/08/07/the-princess-and-the-pony-from-kate-hark-a-vagrant-beaton/

Beaton, then, has a long history of crossing genres in her graphic novels, so the fact that she published a memoir in graphic novel form is no surprise. But that memoir, Ducks: Two Years In the Oil Sands, still marks a departure for her, trading explosive laughs for subtle, keen observations about labor, climate and gender:

https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/ducks/

In 2005, Beaton was a newly minted art-school grad facing a crushing load of student debt, a debt she would never be able to manage in the crumbling, post-boom economy of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Like so many Maritimers, she left the home that meant everything for her to travel to Alberta, where the tar sands oil boom promised unmatched riches for anyone willing to take them.

Beaton’s memoir describes the following four years, as she works her way into a series of oil industry jobs in isolated company towns where men outnumber women 50:1 and where whole communities marinate in a literally toxic brew of carcinogens, misogyny, economic desperation and environmental degradation.

The story that follows is — naturally — wrenching, but it is also subtle and ambivalent. Beaton finds camaraderie with — and empathy for — the people she works alongside, even amidst unimaginable, grinding workplace harassment that manifests in both obvious and glancing ways.

Early reviews of Ducks rightly praised it for this subtlety and ambivalence. This is a book that makes no easy characterizations, and while it has villains — a content warning, the book depicts multiple sexual assaults — it carefully apportions blame in the mix of individual failings and a brutal system.

This is as true for the environmental tale as it is for the labor story: the tar sands are the world’s filthiest oil, an energy source that is only viable when oil prices peak, because extracting and refining that oil is so energy-intensive. The slow, implacable, irreversible impact that burning Canadian oil has on our shared planet is diffuse and takes place over long timescales, making it hard to measure and attribute.

But the impact of the tar sands on the bodies and minds of the workers in the oil patch, on the First Nations whose land is stolen and despoiled in service to oil, and on the politics of Canada are far more immediate. Beaton paints all this in with the subtlest of brushstrokes, a thousand delicate cuts that leave the reader bleeding in sympathy by the time the tale is told.

Beaton’s memoir is a political and social triumph, a subtle knife that cuts at our carefully cultivated blind-spots about industry, labor, energy, gender, and the climate. But it’s also — and not incidentally — a narrative and artistic triumph.

In other words, Beaton’s not just telling an important story, she’s also telling a fantastically engrossing story — a page-turner, filled with human drama, delicious tension, likable and complex characters, all the elements of a first-rate tale.

Likewise, Beaton’s art is perfectly on point. Hark!’s secret weapon was always Beaton’s gift for drawing deceptively simple human faces whose facial expressions were indescribably, superbly perfect, conveying irreducible mixtures of emotion and sentiment. If anything, Ducks does this even better. I think you could remix this book so that it’s just a series of facial expressions and you’d still convey all the major emotional beats of the story.

Graphic memoirs have emerged as a potent and important genre in this century. And women have led that genre, starting with books like Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006):

https://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-fun-home/

But also the increasingly autobiographical work of Lynda Barry, culminating in her 2008 One! Hundred! Demons!:

https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/one-hundred-demons/

(which should really be read alongside her masterwork on creativity, 2019’s Making Comics):

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/05/lynda-barrys-making-comics-is-one-of-the-best-most-practical-books-ever-written-about-creativity/

In 2014, we got Cece Bell’s wonderful El Deafo:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/11/25/el-deafo-moving-fresh-ya-comic-book-memoir-about-growing-up-deaf/

Which was part of the lineage that includes the work of Lucy Knisley, especially later volumes like 2020’s Stepping Stones:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/09/enhanced-rock-weathering/#knisley

Along with Jen Wang’s 2019 Stargazing:

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/09/25/stargazing-jen-wangs-semi-autobiographical-graphic-novel-for-young-readers-is-a-complex-tale-of-identity-talent-and-loyalty/

2019 was actually a bumper-crop year for stupendous graphic memoirs by women, rounded out by Ebony Flowers’s Hot Comb:

https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/hot-comb/

And don’t forget 2017’s dazzling My Favorite Thing is Monsters, by Emil Ferris:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/06/20/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters-a-haunting-diary-of-a-young-girl-as-a-dazzling-graphic-novel/

This rapidly expanding, enthralling canon is one of the most exciting literary trends of this century, and Ducks stands with the best of it.

[Image ID: The cover of the Drawn & Quarterly edition of Kate Beaton's 'Ducks.']

[cheesecakeislazy]

Jane The Killer Headcanons

Sorry this took ages- she isn’t one of my favorites so I had to brainstorm a lot 🙏🏻

1. Jane doesn’t actually have white skin, she wears a mask nearly identical to Masky’s

2. The rest of Jane is covered in horrific burn marks- Jeff literally burnt her alive

3. Due to Slender magic (Sue me) Janes mask moves according to the expression she needs to make

4. Jane doesn’t have hair, it’s a wig she takes extremely good care of

5. Jane is 26

6. Jane is 5’7

7. Jane has a sensitive body for the most part, but her hands are to the extreme- due to this, she always wears shoulder length black gloves

8. Jane doesn’t actually feel insecure about her body, it’s why she’s so comfortable with wearing her black dress (plus it actually makes her feel good about herself)

9. She wears pantyhose. That’s the headcanon. I dunno just gives me the vibes that she unironically loves wearing them.

10. Jane doesn’t wear heels- she isn’t a masochist! ….she wears black flats instead :D

11. For the most part- Jane is pretty nice to everyone, she just fuckin hates Jeff

12. Jane and Sally kind of hate EACHOTHER due to the sibling bond between Sally and Jeff

13. Jane and Nina are frenemies, Nina understands Jane but still views Jeff kinda like a brother

14. Jane only wants to kill Jeff, nobody else

15. Jane does work for SlenderMan- let me explain…

16. Jane hates Jeff, and learned that he worked for a Watcher. To the point where Jeff had a contract with him, which meant that Jeff was essentially immortal. Jane decided that she would work for Slenderman as well, but she told Slenderman that she would never kill another person. Slender understood that Jane only wanted this job to kill Jeff, but he needed more sane people around him anyways. So he gave Jane the job of messenger. She has access to files, reports, mail, and documents. Not all proxies/pastas live in the mansion, so her job is to move around and deliver these messages. There are other messengers, but Jane is the main one as she is most dedicated to her job.

17. Jane’s main plan is to get on Slenders good side. She hopes that she will either become a watcher, convince a watcher (Slender) to kill Jeff, or convince Slender to break his contract with Jeff so that Jane can kill Jeff.

18. Due to Jane being under a Watching-Contract, Jeff cannot kill her. While he finds her antics stupid and adorable, it’s also extremely annoying to him

19. Jane is a lesbian (single in my AU tho)

20. Jane knows that Jeff is inside the closet. Jane honestly thinks Jeff is gay, not Bi.

21. Jane dislikes Liu, due to the fact that Liu has made attempts to rekindle the brotherly bond with Jeff

22. However, Jane and Sully get along because of their mutual murderous hatred for Jeff

23. Jane doesn’t have fuckin fingernails :(

24. Jane has multiple copies of her mask in case it gets destroyed

25. Jane has wigs other than her main one, but she doesn’t wear them very often because the others are idiots and can’t recognize her

26. Jane prefers to listen to instrumentals or more orchestral music

27. Jane always has a knife on her for self-defense. And to stab Jeff.

28. Every single day that passes, a Jeff gets stabbed by a Jane. (It doesn’t hurt him- he’s just fed up with getting his own blood on himself)

29. Jane and EJ both enjoy reading poetry and classical novels

30. Jane loves to spend her time reading, especially old classic romance or mystery novels. She thinks that the newer stuff is “too predictable and raunchy”

31. Jane writes poetry (I feel like I accidentally made her goth..)

32. Jane honestly dislikes using the internet, she prefers reading physical book copies, she prefers taking Polaroid pictures, she prefers writing her poetry with a pen and paper, etc.

33. Jane has a small collection of VHS tapes when she was a kid, they are her prized possession

34. Jane and Clockwork are very good friends (gay? Probably tbh)

35. Most of Jane’s poetry is about sadness, grief, love and revenge

36. Jane is usually very stone faced, but when she sees baby animals, especially puppies, she gets extremely giddy

37. Jane loves to be on time, she loves making to-do lists and schedules

38. Jane has OCD, while yes this means her room and schedule tends to be absolutely perfect- a change in schedule, even a minor one, can bring her massive break downs

39. Jane is always worried about the worst case scenario, due to this, she is always prepared

40. Jane likes to watch TV, she has streaming services to watch stuff like uhhhh (fuck what’s a show she would like..) Bridgerton?

41. Jane honestly kind of looks up to the works of Edgar Allen Poe

42. Jane has a itty bitty lesbian crush on Clockwork

43. Jane and Masky get along very well, and both hate Toby’s chaos

44. Despite the prim and proper life Jane tries to have, she enjoys being a little reckless

45. Jane actually really likes a lot of rock bands and would love to go to a concert, she just hides this fact because she’s a little embarrassed

46. Jane knows how to ride a motorcycle, only Clockwork and Masky (and.. Slender) know about this

47. Jane hangs up her poems on the walls, her love poems are hung in a heart shape around her dream catcher above her bed

48. Jane has a dream catcher- it was a random superstition she decided to do as a last ditch effort to stop the nightmares of.. “the incident”, ever since she put up the dream catcher- she hasn’t had a nightmare about it since

49. Jane collects crystals that are meant to bring health, love, and good luck. Ever since the dream catchers, she became a bit more ethereal and open

50. Jane buys incense and scented candles 24/7, if she’s in her room- there is the scent of incense burning or “Starlit Beach”

51. Jane’s room actually looks like a goth girls room, it’s smaller; Her bed has a grey and black checkered patterned blanket with dark grey pillows, across from her bed is a small TV with cute stickers on the side, above her bed is the dream catcher and poems, her walls are all black, her bed is pushed up against the wall that has a window, the window is always covered by curtains which are black with white stars, she has a skull-shaped rug on her floor, she has a small writing desk with a mini lamp, the desk is organized neatly with small doodles and poems stuck to the wall, on the other side of the room is a large bookshelf filled with old classics

52. Jane prefers the simple life, and while the mansion is loud and chaotic- a part of her hopes that she can’t kill Jeff, so that she has an excuse to call this place home

53. Jane is a little scared of commitment due to the fact that she’s certain that as soon as she kills Jeff, she will runaway from the woods

54. Jane only has a few close friends because she’s afraid to make connections

55. Jane really does love the color black, and also loves the color red

[mountingpulisic]

REMEDY

a/n : i literally broke my own heart when writing this.

warnings : mention of death of a parent

i remember all of the things that I thought I wanted to be

so desperate to find a way out of my world and finally breathe

right before my eyes, I saw that my heart, it came to life

this ain't easy, it's not meant to be

every story has its scars

you had a contrasting outlook on life growing up.

you had been asked a million times what you wanted to be and you had always responded the same, you just wanted to be happy. 

if your nine year old self could see you now, she'd be disappointed nonetheless. 

she’d ask you exactly when did you lose your sparkle?

she’d ask you why you are desperate for a way out of your world?

you’d tell her how you just wanted to breathe, to wake up and not feel as if the entire weight of the world was on your shoulders. 

you had recently relocated, moving back home to take care of your dad who had fallen ill after a stroke. with your mother no longer in the picture, having died a week before your fourteenth birthday with no siblings, it left you next of kin to look after him. 

you just wish things would’ve been different. 

taking care of your dad meant leaving everything you knew behind. 

your job, your friends, your independence. 

you didn’t mean to sound selfish, he sacrificed everything for you while growing up. so why couldn’t you do the same? 

tucked away in a booth at the back of an old diner you used to come often as a teenager, knees to your chest as you stared out of the window, you didn’t feel the soft gaze of the stranger with the chocolate brown eyes.

having stopped by to grab a quick bite to eat with mason, christian was infatuated with you upon first glance. he didn’t know what exactly had drawn him to you, had it been how small you looked wrapped up in your jumper? or how your shoulders slumped forward as if you had everything weighing down on you? 

christian didn’t know your story but he was sure you had your own scars, brushing off mason’s question of if he wanted to split a serving of the fish and chips, christian made his way towards you.

But when the pain cuts you deep

And when the night keeps you from sleeping

Just look and you will see

That I will be your remedy

When the world seems so cruel

And your heart makes you feel like a fool

I promise you will see

That I will be, I will be your remedy

you had found him on the bathroom floor, hanging on by a thread, suffering yet another stroke. 

your dad’s health wasn’t getting any better, it was declining rapidly and you were having a hard time swallowing the pill that you were about to lose him, the only remaining relative you had left. 

to say it cut deep when the doctor came in asking you if you wanted to keep him on life support, would be a lie. It has cut to a surface you didn’t even know existed in your body. 

christian had come running when he had gotten your call about your dad. he had only met him briefly, answering the door when christian came to collect you for your first date. you had stood behind him pleading with him not to embarrass you by playing the role of the tough dad. 

when he arrived in the hospital room, his heart sank at the sight of you. you had your hand tightly wrapped around your father’s, stroking the back of his, softly singing a song your dad had dedicated to you when growing up. 

“promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.” christian could hear the pain in your voice as you sang, voice cracking as a few tears fell from your eyes and down onto your father’s hand. 

feeling paralyzed in the moment, christian didn’t know the right way to comfort you. he had never been put in this situation before, never having to console a loved one during a tough moment like the one unfolding infront of him. 

“ben told me that the hospital’s ice cream isn’t bad, we could go get a cup if you want?” christian shyly asked you, hand rubbing the back of his neck as he shot you apologetic eyes.  

looking up from where your father laid, you couldn’t help but to admire the boy before you. you could tell he was trying his absolute best to comfort you, even though it was in a weird way of asking if you wanted to go try the hospital’s ice cream. 

“ you think they have strawberry?” 

No river is too wide or too deep for me to swim to you

Come whenever, I'll be the shelter that won't let the rain come through

Your love, it is my truth

And I will always love you

Love you, oh

your friend had always stated how sitting in the first row at a funeral felt different, and at the moment you didn’t understand what she meant by that. 

however, now you did. 

all the guests in attendance had expressed their condolences about the loss of your father, telling you how good of man he was. 

you already knew what a great guy your dad was, you didn’t need to be told multiple times by people you hadn’t seen since your mother’s own funeral. nonetheless, you still gave them an appreciated smile and thanked them for attending. 

when the service ended, you found yourself stuck to your seat, staring at the lifeless figure in the coffin. a slight breeze was felt as someone had taken a seat next you, engulfing their hand in yours. 

christian had been by your side through this whole process, speaking to the doctors when you couldn’t find the words, calling everyone to thank them for the flowers, holding your hand as you said your last goodbyes to your childhood hero, he was there through it all. 

“I wish i could’ve at least made him proud before he left.” you whispered, admiring your father’s features as you sat grounded in your seat. you always walked around with a sense of guilt in your heart, feeling as if you didn’t live up to your father’s expectations. you had gone away for uni when he had begged you to stay close, you had broken up with the guy he had begged you to marry, it was as if everything your dad loved, you found a way to rebel against it. 

“he was proud of you, y/n.” christian whispered back just as softly. “he was so proud to call you his daughter.”

“yeah?” you asked, looking at him teary eyed, a noticeable shakiness to your voice.

christian nodded his head as he pulled you closer to him. he knew there was no amount of words or gestures that could fill the empty hole in your heart caused by the passing of your dad. 

“thank you christian, for being here." before he could respond you placed a delicate kiss to his cheek, "you know i love you?"

your lips ghosted over his neck as you whispered your confession, christian had already spoken the words to you before, telling you not to obligated to say it back, wanting you to say it when you truly meant it as well.

you had felt as if the universe sent you the remedy in the form of christian as an apology for the hurt it has and continued to put you through, and you mentally thanked it.

When the pain cuts you deep

And when the night keeps you from sleeping

Just look and you will see

That I will be your remedy

When the world seems so cruel

And your heart makes you feel like a fool

I promise you will see

That I will be, I will be your remedy, oh

[thestarfishinjootsoffice]

Can i request Hannibal with a reader (platonic or romantic I don’t mind) who hunts and kills dangerous SCP’s and would sometimes come back home injured?

If you’re unfamiliar with SCP’s feel free to ignore this request but basically SCP’s are weird monster creatures 😅

The audacity I have at how when an asker request I'm guessing head cannons (?) and instead I write a scenario along with it 💀 I'm also using NBC hannibal because I don't know nothing about OG.

NBC Hannibal with reader who hunts for SCPs

When you first revealed this to him he was quite baffled at how such things could exist. (I mean they basically break the law of physics)

He constantly worries about your health and he's also terrified of these monsters and what they could do.

Panics everytime you're not home on time and panics even more when you come home injured.

Little scenario:

It was 9:45 PM, he was pacing around the room nervous. You usually came home at eight, seven if you're lucky.

He was blasting your phone with texts and calls but you didn't pick up or read any of them. He sat down in his chair to collect himself. he was really anxious and he felt his eyes burning then he glanced at the clock.

9:51 PM.

Shit shit shit. When are you coming home?

Before the bad thoughts could seep in the door slammed open, revealing you holding your arm which had been terribly skinned and you were covered in blood and he noticed some open wounds.

He'd never seen you in such a state before. He rushed to you holding your cold, bloody, limping body and rushes you to the bathroom. You were heavily breathing and wincing at the alcohol stinging your injuries so badly. He wanted to hurry so bad but also wanted to take time fixing your wounds, and what felt like hours he was finally done. He sat next to you holding your body as he kisses your forehead so lovingly.

"You are going to have a week off."

You were about to say something when he looked at your arm and said

"Actually, make that a month."

You just sat there next to him knowing he meant what he said and no matter how much you beg he's not going to change his mind.

End of scenario.

He lowkey hates your job because of how much danger it brings you.

Would make or ask you not to go frequently but he doesn't really have to since new SCP's only appear every red moon. totally not a 3008 reference. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

You may or may not have shown him a picture of a really freaky and weird SCP you found once and he hated it. Like it's been on his mind for weeks at how such a thing could actually exist.

He happily assist and patches you up and make sure to feed you protein and all the nutrients you need for hunting and listens to all the problems you might be having, best boyfriend/husband.

He worries but also has hopes and faith in you because you boss queen/king/royal and you slay, quite literally.

_____________________________________________

Imma end this short because I can't think of anything else and my arm hurts so bad

[legendofzoodles]

The Chain in an Escape Room

Crackpot modern AU version of this post. 

Time helped set this up as a team-building exercise and starts regretting it seconds after the door shuts behind them. He knows most of the solutions and tries to hint at them as a passive observer but lord help him no one listens. Or if they do it’s in the complete opposite way he meant. Trying to keep things together is outside his range of skills, so whatever happens, happens. 

Warriors bragged that a friend of his did it and it was super easy, but doesn’t end up contributing much. In fact he’s the opposite of helpful. He would call the friend who’s completed it for ‘hints’, but would end up having them tell him everything and use that knowledge to mess with the team. Adding red herrings and false clues, drawing attention away from the real solutions and more importantly, wasting time. Don’t worry, the rest eventually catch on and end him, if Time doesn’t put a stop to it first.   

Twilight would be the theorist. He doesn’t actually try anything or do anything practical, he’ll just throw ideas out there based off the most irrelevant stuff and look for a deeper meaning in everything he sees. “Is that painting of a cat playing with string a clue?” “This shelf is missing a ledge could that mean something?” “That mirror has a crack in it...maybe...”

Sky, bless him, will leave helpful notes for the next group of people. He’ll have post-it notes out and ready (just because), so whenever the chain finally makes a breakthrough he’ll jot it down and leave it somewhere not to obvious. He’d also write down little compliments and motivating things like: “You can do it!” and “Almost there!” though it would get confusing when they inevitably backtrack:

Legend: [picking up a post-it note] Guys I found clue!

Note: You look nice today! :)

Legend: [scrunching it up] Dammit Sky!

Legend, will hoard anything and everything he thinks ‘might’ be useful. That random chess piece, that picture frame, maybe those marbles, all vital items. The others will help him break stuff without him even needing to ask. So long as they’re not damaging anything too expensive, Time will allow it. 

Wild will take pictures, selfies and videos of everyone suffering. He wouldn’t help since Time won’t let him cheat or break themselves out, so he’ll just enjoy himself by documenting the chaos for everyone to look back on and cringe. Or maybe he’ll live-stream the whole thing to his 10 followers.

Four will constantly remind people of the time. If they’re taking too long on a puzzle he’ll be literally counting down the seconds insisting they think faster. He won’t take any kind of goofing around because that’s wasting valuable time. When they do eventually figure something out he’ll be the one to lament how easy it was and how it shouldn’t have taken them that long.

Hyrule, the oddball, will try to get into the mind of the creators. Start psychoanalysing them from the word ‘go’, and try to figure out the thought process that went behind the puzzles. He’ll look at suspiciously places objects and clues and think, “That has Time written all over it” or “Yeah I can see him doing that”. When that predictably fails, because he’s terrible at it, he’ll ask Time roundabout questions to try and see into his mind. That doesn’t work either. 

Wind, when he isn’t co-hosting Wild’s livestream, helping Warriors mess with the chain or collecting items for Legend’s hoard, like the tiny gremlin he is, will be opening the nearest window and screaming for help into the street. 

This, to Time’s horror, actually works and a random pedestrian hears the boy and calls the fire brigade thinking they were actually trapped in the building. 

~~~

Thanks for reading!

Masterlist 

Headcanons: Parkour team, Honorary Gorons, How each member of the chain laughs, Flora is Feral, Is Malon Real?

AU Ideas: Midsommar AU, Hyrule centric idea

Short Stories: Smoke Signal (LU Wild x reader), Ancient Masonry (Sky and Wild), Blunt Crown (Wild and Flora)

[amazing-spiderling]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

HECK. Ummmm okay okay... I'll do my best.

Surface Tension

I'm taking this opportunity to highlight a fic that I wrote for an anthology I put together with a team of *very* talented writers and artists, Metal Gear Solid: Lost Years. I had wanted to tell a story about Hal's isolation and vulnerability in his youth, the aspects of his past that made him an easy target for predatory behavior- and even though this story isn't particularly long, I think it's the one I spent the longest working on (in a words per day sense). Writing this story made me dead sure that Kojima was referencing the movie "The Graduate" when it came to the Emmerichs, and I tried to channel that sort of listlessness into this story. Because it was for a zine, I don't think it got many hits or comments, so I'm putting it here now.

The Man in the Mask

My own little "hit in the face by Apollo's red playground ball" of a fic- I actually wrote this Spideypool AU to deal with my frustrations regarding the handling of asylum seekers at the border- but the pandemic aspects of the story ended up hitting very close to home for everyone just a few years later. Fun! This is one of those stories I thought of as a "weird one that nobody read" but when I looked at my actual hit counter, I saw it had proven more popular than I realized, so that's good for me? It's a bit of a bottle episode that is more about Wade and Peter than Deadpool and Spider-Man and has a more sedate tone for most of it, but I'm partial to the way the story unfolds.

Pictures of You

Another Metal Gear story, this was for the Otasune Zine "Let the World Be". I got to team up with the incredible Harshai who did the illustrations for this story in the zine. It's a collection of moments during Dave and Hal's Philanthropy days, each one with an accompanying photograph. It's a pretty soft one, but one that comes to mind a lot, especially when I'm in the car and staring out the window at the landscape, thinking about these two on the open road. It also comes to mind every time I see a ridiculous food challenge posted on a restaurant wall. I need to see about getting permission to share the art in the posted fic, because I think it really adds something, especially the last image which was a polaroid of Sunny besting Hal's time eating the enourmous burger.

Five Years Later

Yeah, it's a WIP. What are you gonna do about it? Back from hiatus, it's the second installment of a "mostly MCU compliant" Spideypool "met as childhood friends" AU that my friend @343enderspark and I have been working on for years. In this portion of the story, Wade is dealing with life in a world without Peter (oh, and half the population, I guess) and slowly starting his journey of training and eventually becoming the person he was meant to be. (And the Defenders show up because I literally could not resist.) I got to try my hand at writing a lot of different characters in this fic, so it's been fun to flex those muscles. We had a long break between the first and second chapter, but we're back on track and CH 3 is drafted and waiting on edits, so that should be out soon. :3

Home's Around the Corner (It's a Long Way There)

More WIPs? Yeah. More AU's? Double yeah, because this one is more or less an AU or an AU. XD This is a new project I'm working on with @blissful-thinker that's Earth-65 but a step to the left, where Matt wasn't adopted by the Hand, but ended up staying with the Chaste, and returns to New York City years later only to find out he doesn't really have a place in his old home anymore. (Or does he?) This one has been a lot of fun and allows me to write one of my favorite things- tired DA Nelson, and also too-big-for-her-britches Gwen, haha. It may be niche, but it's *my* niche.

[toomuchracket]

no cause like imagine-

you and charli do a photoshoot (for a magazine like NME or even just for yourself for funzies, if she isn’t famous like a model or a singer or something) like properly dolled up, looking really gorgeous. i’m seeing like lana del rey, angel vibes, innocent, all white lace and pearls and red lipstick. they tell the boyfriends to bring phone chargers or something to the shoot venue, not telling them they are getting pictures then they walk in and their jaws hit the floor.

ugh actually heavenly.

so you mean... my dream aesthetic????

in the birthday partyverse, matty's girly is a writer, so it's plausible that she and charli are collaborating on a cross-form project (maybe, speaking of lana del rey, they're writing a short film featuring charli's music like lana did with tropico) that warrants a magazine interview and photoshoot. if not, maybe they've actually both, as culturally recognised hot girls, been asked to be brand ambassadors for savage x fenty or some other celeb clothing line/collection and because they're so close and comfortable with each other they're doing a shoot together for it. either way, it's proper high glamour, but soft and sweet - lace and pearls and diamonds, glowing skin and long eyelashes with red or pinky-nude lips, hair in soft waves, long nails, high heels, clothes all fairly skimpy and white or off-white or the palest pink... just so dreamy! and maybe this is one of your first shoots, by far the most glam, and it's charli who takes it upon herself to get the boyfriends in to see what's happening - you guys were meant to be meeting for dinner after it anyway, so she just gets george to pick matty up on the way and convinces them to come in slightly earlier than the finish time under the guise of needing a charger, like you said. and obviously george is like "holy fucking shit" when he sees charli (as i hope he reacts to her every day of his life), but he's seen her be so glam before, whereas matty has NEVER seen you look like that. not that he doesn't find you beautiful all the time, but there's a confidence radiating from you in front of the camera that makes his knees go weak, and he literally stands there in a total trance looking at you, seriously debating whether or not to propose marriage to you then and there, until charli pinches his arm and knocks him out of it. and then you come over all happy to see him and go "i quite like this look, what about you?" and matty just kind of wordlessly gestures to the outfit and goes "do you... do you get to keep that?" and you smirk and go "well, it's custom-made, so yeah" and he honestly has to sit down immediately lol <3

[mashriqiyyah]

"Throw it all in the trash"...said my mum as I stood in the midst of our living room holding a carton full of stuff I had taken out of our storecases of books, stationary and gifts received over the time.

This happens almost every 6 months when I deep cleanse the home and try to declutter. Whenever the new stuff out-spaces the old, I collect it and put it in a carton and then no one sees it ever again except me. I did that again this time, and when my mum asked me to throw it, I....simply couldn't. Like always. I kept it aside for a while and then sneakily took it to my closet, and secured it there.

This is me. I've always found it impossible to let go of stuff that has memories attached to it. Like a post card my middle school best friend made for my birthday with our pictures on it, like the funny song lyrics we used to write on chits during classes and laugh our hearts out on the last bench in highschool. Like the poems and sweet comments my classmates have written for me in my diary and slambooks.. like the first ring I bought for myself, Like the tulip sketches my nephews have made for me, like the first "painting" my niece made when she was just 15 months old (which is just a brush ran across a page in haphazard manner lol)

I keep it so close to me that whenever I get to open my closet, I know I have treasure hidden in it, that can take me back to the time whenever I had felt over the world. When I know, everything was perfect. Even for a day or an brief hour. But harm is when I do it with words spoken to me. Smiles given to me. I cannot throw them away from my mind either no matter how much my mind is occupied with other things. Like when one of my colleagues had literally lifted me up and didn't separate me from her embrace for a long time because she missed me during a week's leave. How my students and I would go around the campus for no apparent reason but just so we could goof around the places in the name of work. Like, when an elderly woman had smiled at me n kept her hand on my head because I helped her with something as simple as lifting her bag while we were coming down from a bus. Like, when someone had said "come back?" After I was absent for so many weeks...

Like when someone said "Forever, In Sha Allah" when I asked them if they can tolerate me.

Even if I know those words mean nothing now, but in that moment, they meant the world. And it pains me that I cannot go back in that moment and things stay as it is. I choose to live a lifetime in that one moment. Because I know, one day, everything has to be dumped into a carton and everyone will call it trash. But for me, it'll always matter. Because I suck at letting go. So, I have made a room inside the deepest chamber of my heart, just like my closet. Where all the words spoken to me, that I hold dear sparkle like glittering butterflies. But in a dungeon. Soon they'll die. And I have no choice except to make a grave out of it...that I'll avoid visiting often. But, whenever I'll need an escape...I know I'll find myself sitting near that grave, touching it ever so tenderly...because...I suck at letting go.

~ mashriqiyyah

25th June 2023

[irismfrost]

July 30 - Monkey Mountain, Art

This morning was a free day, so a few of us went to climb monkey mountain, which as the name suggests, had so many monkeys!! They were so cute and we saw a lot of mom- baby pairs. They were looking at me like they didn't want me to record them but I couldn't help myself. If I got too close, they definitely would have attacked me. The hike was definitely more of a challenge than we were expecting, and we were a little lost a couple times but were able to find our way with the maps and the nice people on the trail. At one point, these two ladies started leading us to the top and they took our picture. It was also super muddy and the hike up was honestly a hit dangerous - I felt like I was rock climbing. The walk down was much easier and had nicer steps instead of literal terrain. I'm so glad I ate breakfast and they even had a water fountain at the top which was awesome. It was definitely a tough experience but one that I'm glad I partook in. I am going to be so sore tomorrow, but it's all worth it for the gainzz💪.

Our first stop on our itinerary was the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. There was an interesting collection here. Not all of it was up my alley, but I appreciated the diverse perspectives. I thought the building was arguably cooler than the art.

Our last stop was the Alien Art Center. This center, built in 1967, used to be a military hostel and transit station for the National Army soldiers to Kinmen to the Matsu Front Line. It was abandoned after the Cold War ended in the 90s and was converted into a contemporary art museum in 2016. The theme of this museum was perspective. The artists here explored different ways to see the world through different shapes, color, mediums, and physical perspectives. I feel like I've actually seen some of Getulio Alviani's (main artists at this museum) art before, or at least art from that movement/time period. I like the different ways you can look at one piece. One piece looks like a circle and a square depending on how you look at it. Some pieces use light and shadow to enhance it. Most of his work looks different depending on where you're looking at it from. And the pieces with mirror elements force you to look at yourself, usually in pieces.

The hike took so much out of me and I am totally museumed-out. As I am writing this, I am laying down in the hotel bed. We may get pizza later today for dinner. I think most of us have hit the point in the trip where we are craving some American classics.

Reflection

The beauty of art is subjective as is the definition of it. Art museums are meant to widen the perspectives of their viewers by showcasing art that you may not otherwise see. However, in my opinion, there are a few qualifiers that make art great. Art that makes you think, art that evokes emotion, and art that has technical elements (contrast, line, shape, etc). I also think that understanding the context of the art adds meaning and importance to it. Maybe it represents something bigger than itself. Maybe its purpose is only visible when paired with the entire collection.

One thing I liked about the second museum was that there were so many descriptions and paragraphs you could read that provided context. In the first one, the art only had the name, medium, and date. They were handing out audio tours, so maybe I would've gotten the context I was looking for if I took advantage of that. But I should have the freedom to browse the pieces I find interesting instead of filtering through the same artworks in the same direction as everyone else. Art doesn't need to be viewed in a linear and complete manner - and audio guides usually direct you in a specific direction. You also usually have a choice to listen to specific pieces but then you have to wait for someone else to read to you. I would personally just rather learn about it at my own pace. However, I think audio guides make sense in certain contexts. For example, when we visited the Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence, it had an audio guide, but it's a small house and there's really only one way to go. It is history and tells a linear story, so it makes more sense to me.

[starry-lemonaid]

Hiiiii so this ended up so so much longer than I meant it to and I didn’t even write most of them 😭 Sorry im physically unwell about your au lol. Some are definitely only your au specific others are really any teenager au :>>>>>

Team Bolas would carry around a tamagotchi and pass it off every so often. Rn Carre has it >:3

Since you have it canonized that Pac and Mike are neighbors in this, and in canon they were in an orphanage: Adopted and fostercare pac and Mike. (Pac eventually adopted by his foster dad and mom — who happens to be pals with Cellbit’s mom — and Mike still in foster care, but more in a permanent sense)

Like. Have you seen Alexa and Katie? That’s how I picture the two of them with being neighbors. 

Team Bolas will go to roller skating rinks with the sluttiest and most fabulous outfits known to man

I don’t know the status of Skeppy in this story but he’s the kid that everyone on the team (soulfire) knows about without ever having actually met him because of Bbh

Like in canon, Carre almost never talks in the gc (despite being present a ton of the time), but when he does it’s a fucking *hit* (aka he’s amazing) (aka holding out for a Carre mention in either fic /j /lh /t)

One time all of Bolas’ spirit days for their respective schools lined up and they all collaborated to wear gas masks. They do this for Halloween too. 

(I’m a scare actor) Team Bolas goes to Haunted Attractions together every Autumn and each of them are little babies about it in different ways (I have ideas about what types of customers they’d be for the scare actors omg)  

In the Bolas Minecraft server they have builds that relate to Jrwi and Ordem Paranormal (like Cellbit’s castle in canon) (I have no idea how that’d work with Bagi) 

BBQ’s with Foolish and his big family just. Are chaos incarnate 

Slime and Baghera once got really really into karaoke at a hotel and got a noise complaint 

Somewhere in his lore: Child actor slime who used to work with Niki (as well as a buncha other people). The two of them got extremely screwed over by the company — Showfall. (Like, them exploiting Slime’s hypermobility to the point where it genuinely hurts him, or scaring Niki with gunshots just because she’d sit there and take it so’s not to ruin her “nice” cover with skating) (genloss)

I’m still not quite over BAGI AND MIKE being the two to see Cellbit and PAC first after their fight. The two people who care the most about them being the ones to see each other bloody and sobbing and Jesus Christ. Not really a headcanon but. Omg. Trauma? 

TW PARANOIA: Cellbit gets really really bad psychosis and paranoia sometimes that his friends have learned to help him down out of (you’ve written him so so ocd. It’s lovely — not for him, but for us) 

Bpd q!cellbit 🤝 Bipolar q!Pac (in your au) (someday I’ll go into depth about this. That day it’s over for the rest of y’all)

Adore that Tazercraft prankwarring each other is canon in at least one of your series’ fics. I don’t know how their mind link would translate in this buttttttt I think it fits them very well

I also think they’d have a little collection of crap they’ve stolen from different rinks they’ve traveled to 

The seven of bolas have matching friendship bracelets 

(Sorry most of these are just Tazercraft and Bolas. I’m so insanely unwell about them in your au) 

i’m literally right about to go to bed so i apologize if this isn’t coherent but i love all of these so much!

-in thr chat fic Bolas actually has smth like that! it’s name is iris (like their creature from purgatory) and you’re correct in the fact rn carre has it in the irl fic! :D

-that’s how i imagine it to be in the chat fic au! idk how it translates into irl one but in my mind it’s a similar situation!!

-you’re so right for this actually i will be drawing this

-skeppy lore! he’s a hockey skater at the soul fire rink :) i might make a one shot about him and bad soon :)

-THERES A CARRE MENTION IN THE NEXT TO CHAPTERS I SWEAR (/lh)

-i see your head cannon and raise you: they made their own gas masks one year out of monster cans because Phil raised the point if “our actual ones risk breaking if we wear them to school” (i made my own bolas mask out of monster cans lmaooo)

-(that’s so cool omg?) the way i would read the hell outta that- (i’m such baby when it comes to those things so i’ve never actually gone but i’ve always wanted to participate in it)

-BOLAS MINECRAFT SERVER!!! IRONICALLY THATS CANNON!!!!

-Foolish and Phil’s families at fourth of july BBQs? the fireworks are crazy

-lmao i almost put that in the 10th chapter and then didn’t 😭

-I FORGOT ABOUT GENLOSS LORE OMG *notes that down to use later*

:P no regerts (i had to tone it down when i was writing it )

i feel like the fact i’ve written him ocd when i wrote him similar to me says smth…(my psychiatrist said i have ocd tendencies lmaoooo)

im so intrigued about this because i didn’t realize they lined up with that- ngl they’re just me if i got to go feral a little more when i was 11

you know those online friends that you message like every sing,e thing about your day to? like you liveblog your life to them? that’s how pac and mike are! :D

its cannon to the irl!!! if not stated otherwise all oneshots are irl universe (i’ll say what chapter it correlates to if it’s a chat fic one) and they absolutely have stolen things- especially cuz for a while people would bring tradables to comp so the two of them absolutely stole each others trandeables when they were younger

THEY DO!!!! they have multiple!!! rn they all have hand made beaded ones that say “BOLAS” on ‘‘em!

(you’re so right tho i love them and i didn’t even write abiut them that much