#magical-gifts

[pretchatta]

I want you to know one of your fics have me close to tears in a toyota dealership

this might be one of the best compliments I've ever had??!

[alltoowsll]

omg happy birthday to you!!!’ Slay everyday love!!

THANK YOUUUU SM!!!😸😸🥹💖🫶

[retrogamingblog2]

Animal Crossing Wands made by ChompWorks

[astralibrary]

hi @marykedoesart, this is my gift to you for @natsume-ss' spring exchange!

you said you like tanuma/natsume and heartfelt, emotional themes so i went very symbolic with this, haha. i really love the idea of using imagery from the fish pond in tanuma's backyard to represent these two and their dynamic, so that became the concept i ran with. i'll explain my whole thought process below, but in the meantime i hope you like it! 💖

pls bear with me here bc this is going to be very long and wordy lol

so there's a definite theme of separate worlds here; while the environments are both pretty abstract, the idea was that tanuma is sitting in his house looking out towards his backyard where the pond is, representing the "real world," whereas natsume is in a more fantastical underwater setting, representing the world of youkai. also there's the implication that he's sitting at the bottom of the pond, aka completely immersed in that other world, while tanuma can only perceive hints of it in the reflected light & shadow on the wall.

tanuma's side is lit by the glow of the setting sun, and natsume's by an otherworldly blue light. also, there's their clothes: tanuma is in his regular school uniform while natsume is in a yukata, something that pretty much all humanoid youkai wear.

next, their poses; they're both sitting exactly the same way as a reflection of each other but natsume has his head bowed while tanuma is looking up; this is meant to represent their different approaches to their relationship. natsume is definitely more closed off, both as a defense mechanism and because he wants to protect tanuma & keep him away from the dangers of youkai. tanuma, though, is open and contemplative, maybe even hopeful; he wants to be let in and he wants to help, even if it is dangerous.

the lighting reinforces these conflicting attitudes, with tanuma's side being brighter and warmer while natsume's is darker and colder, representing this sort of "optimism vs pessimism" dynamic.

so now, the fish. the bridge between their different worlds, basically. on natsume's side it's a real fish while on tanuma's it's a shadow cast on the wall, which is obviously the original conceit of the scene in the source material: natsume can literally see the fish, while tanuma can only see its shadow. still, even if it manifests differently, it still exists to both of them, so it's a connection between them concerning youkai.

so they're both in their separate worlds, but because of this connection they affect each other, maybe in small ways at first; as the fish crosses over the barrier it leaves little effects, little disturbances behind. on natsume's side, bubbles drift up towards the surface, little pockets of air like little lifelines showing the way, and on tanuma's side little droplets fall and create ripples in the reflected water, these small things that grow and grow outward until they're not so small anymore. little feelings that bubble up and ripple out, hoping to reach the other in their own way.

the fish brings these feelings across the barrier, endlessly looping around them as they endlessly call out to each other, trying to navigate this relationship they have; it's possible to bridge the gap between them as long as they look and listen and learn to embrace the things that make them different just as much as those that bring them together.

and that's about it! my goal was to make a symbolic piece about their struggle to understand each other but with a hopeful note, so hopefully that comes across! i hope my explanation at least sort of made sense and wasn't too confusing! (to be completely transparent i only had about half of that in mind while i was drawing it, the rest sort of came together as i was writing this. neat!)

and finally, here's a still frame in the original higher resolution so you can see it a bit nicer! 💖

[mlpoutofcontext]

[mary-kasexual]

alas, motivation granted me more ponies as was promised yesterday. A joyous occasion this is indeed

[carouselunique]

At the Gala! With the Princess!

Is where I’m going to be!

We will talk all about magic and what I’ve learned and seen!

It is going to be so special, as she takes time just for me!

—

Minuette hasn’t been the personal protege of Princess Celestia for very long so the Grand Galloping Gala being a perfect night where she can show Princess Celestia all that she learned over the season after being sent to Ponyville has extra stakes for her.

She wants to prove to the Princess that she has earned the honor she was given.

[basiatlu]

I saw it was @lqtraintracks ‘s birthday and I had to just shower my joy that you exist on this chaotic space rock. Happy Birthday!!!✨

Here’s a drawn scene from one of the 1st fics I read of yours ( click here if you wanna read it, too! Warning for 2300 words of steamy goodness if that’s not your thing I suppose).

[hanafubukki]

Malleus Draconia versus Ortho Shroud

It seems some people are surprised at Malleus’ actions? That he destroyed the robot dogs and almost destroyed Ortho.

But I would like to point out that Malleus has always been like this; very protective of his loved ones.

For example: In Lilia’s PE vignette, he nearly took Rook’s head off because he thought Rook was trying to hurt Lilia.

Then we come to book 7, chapter 7 update.

Yes, he destroyed the dogs and almost Ortho but remember Malleus is protective of his loved ones.

Malleus OBed because he wants his loved ones happy and Ortho is a threat to that, so of course he’s going to destroy any threats to them and Ortho basically labeled himself as such.

Now I want to bring up a point that I don’t see many talk about?

Malleus understood Ortho’s explanation about how Ortho woke up and how he was able to penetrate the barrier.

Ortho described himself as immortal basically because he can transfer his data to any body, which Malleus understood as transferring vessels.

This is when Malleus finally took the steps to destroy Ortho. Not because he wanted to kill him, but because he knew that Ortho would still live and transfer himself to another body.

Did Ortho feel fear? Yes because Orth doesn’t like lightning and that’s one of Malleus’ powers but think about it.

Feeling fear is an emotion no one wants to repeat. Malleus acknowledged that Ortho might be feeling fear

With Malleus knowing that Ortho can feel such things, Malleus told Ortho he would end him swiftly because in a way that is an act of kindess isn’t it? To end it quickly rather than prolonging the fear.

But at the same time he knows that Ortho will live and remember this emotion, and that’s what Malleus wants, so Ortho would be too scared to try again.

Malleus is protective of his loved ones and he always has been.

While his actions might seem as if he’s out of control, he isn’t. He understood in his own way what Ortho explained to him before making his move.

He didn’t attack because he’s raging but made a more calculative move on his end to stop Ortho, one that he would make repeatedly if need be, since he knows that Ortho can transfer bodies.

[a-study-in-dante]

August 11th (13th) 2024 | Started reading The Lord of the Rings in English! I read it first in French something like... 15 years ago now ? 😅😂

Decided to keep track of some themes because putting tabs helps me stay focused on the reading somehow, let's see how my copy ends up looking!

[lichenbug]

..can you tell Cadance is my favorite princess??

[heybiji]

dandelion casually dropping traumatic information while insisting that instead of killing the problem wizard they simply burn his tongue

[bleatbrew]

✨Magical Cat Boy Time!! ✨ This cutie belongs to @/PajamaMcHam on twt btw

[chronicowboy]

devastated myself with thoughts of arthur, gwen and merlin raising a little girl as heir to the throne. you know gwen would be so excited when she met her, and she'd be such a good mother i literally can't think about it too much or i'll die but she'd teach her how to be kind and compassionate but never ever take anyone's shit. and arthur. well arthur's scared at first because he doesn't really get girls (or that's what he hides behind when actually he's just terrified he doesn't know how to be a father) like morgana could swordfight but she was still what he considered "girly", so what does that mean? but he loves her desperately, she's his pride and joy, so of course he gets the blacksmith to make her a little sword for her tiny hands and starts teaching her how to fight. maybe it ends in silly games half the time because she's just a kid and arthur never really got to be one but it's fun and it's perfect and it's happy. merlin watches from the sidelines fond and proud and so full of love he can barely breathe with it. when she gets a little older arthur starts letting her train with the knights so she can learn different fighting styles and they all let her win when she starts looking tired and they die very dramatic deaths just to make her giggle. and merlin. merlin would quite literally make mountains fall to make that little girl happy. he performs every trick she asks and takes her to meet aithusa at least once a week and maybe even teaches her a spell or two. and arthur watches this from the sidelines so fond and proud and full of love that he aches and he wonders how he ever thought this was evil - how he ever thought merlin wasn't this man who would conjure butterflies with the snap of his fingers just to see a little girl smile. and do you see it? how the power throuple of camelot becomes The parenting unit of all time?

[pastacrylic]

THEYRE 30 YEARS OLD AND A LESBIAN I THINK. WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON THIS PERSON. WHO ARE THEY.

[mlpoutofcontext]