#neither of them know theyre from different adaptations

[dangalakmayhem]

I redraw

[donnabenevientosimpingzone]

Alright, your poll made me curious! What are your new headcanons about Donna dating each of the newly mutated Dimitrescu sisters? (And, if you’re comfortable with answering it ofc, do you have any spicy headcanons too?)

Ooooooh okay okay ok ok ok- firstly I would like to preface by saying the newly designed sisters behave differently. Before I idealized them a little more than usual and they basically don’t act much different then normal, but this is the Cadou we’re talking about. As the captions say- the Cadou during the mutation heightens each sister’s respective sense so they do act more beastly and ravenous than usual.

Bela

- Becomes the most uncontrollable when mutated, if she doesn’t get it her way then there is no way, her anxiety reigns supreme

- Constantly by Donna’s side and needs physical reassurance; wraps her tail around her, a wing, wing across the thigh, anything

- Seems to constantly be in a state of fight or flight, girl will roar at a bee that buzzes just slightly too loud for her comfort, which means Donna has to be mindful of what may/may not set her off

- Donna has to let her repetitively check things, kinda like how your dog may sniff you a few times when you come home to make sure it’s you

- Often times if Bela is mutated, so is Donna. Spider Donna does a lot to comfort Bela, and neither of them quite know why yet

- As much of an anxious lil punk Bela is mutated, Donna finds it adorable. They’ve found their own groove with things, and while Bela is the one comforting Donna’s anxieties unmutated- she can return the favour here

- The progress of unmutating is like waking up after a night of drinking for Bela- she remembers bits and pieces but not everything- and ends up feeling awful about how she acts when mutated

- Theyre working on it together

Cassandra

- Cassandra is already a pretty hypocritical person, she’s the middle child, of course she’s going to act all whiny when she gets attention she wants

- But in her mutated form her mixed signals get even worse

- She’ll rub up against Donna practically begging to be pet, and then the moment Donna lifts her hand to do so- Cass hisses and runs away

- It definitely was a huge hurdle for the two of them to work over, but they’ve found ways

- Their love language is subtle. They may make eye contact from across the room, Donna may put out an extra plate even if Cassandra doesn’t join for dinner, Cassandra may take a nap on Donna’s bed when she isn’t there and leave it a mess to show Donna she did.

- Her mutated form does make a good mount though. On the lucky days, Donna gets to join her for hunts.

- Can spiral into uncontrollable rage if not careful, but somehow Cassandra always recognizes Donna and refuses to hurt her

Daniela

- the most conscious of the sisters when mutated, and therefore doesn’t act too differently

- The only real difference is just how eager she is to please

- Donna has to be pretty mindful with what she asks of Daniela while she’s mutated, because Dani is going to take it all literally and bend her back to make her request a reality- even if Donna says it jokingly

- They’ve come up with “safe words” so Daniela knows when NOT to basically start world war just to get Donna a lollipop

- Cuddles. All the cuddles. If Donna is also mutated, Daniela will hold onto her like a baby bat.

- Kisses are harder with Daniela due to how contorted her mouth has become, which makes her upset, so they learned to compromise by bumping heads like cats

- Tail wagger

As for the spicy headcannons- I will admit that I have thought of a few. These will be written more generally.

- they have prehensile feet, since their arms became wings- they adapt the bird strategy of making their muscular legs makeshift arms and hands

- Although they don’t have as fine of control, they tend to wrap them around the hips and legs, and use them to pin

- The tail is a very useful tool ya know.

- They have some control over the tentacles but definitely not entire control

- I have NOT thought about them as receivers so all of these are them as tops

Bela

- her split face is optimal for oral, and it tends to be her preferred anyways

- Tries to hold her beloved with her wings but it depends if it’s successful

- She has the longest tongue of the mutated sisters. Do with that what you will.

Cassandra

- she’ll use her pharyngeal jaws to keep her lover in place, she’s surprisingly gentle with them if she wants to

- Her wings are more used as tools to give her power, especially when she’s dry humping

- Really good with her tail. Do with that what you will.

Daniela

- has the best control of her talons, the bat-like wing giving her a thumb gives her the ability to finger her lover

- she has the largest wingspan of the sisters so they tend to just shield her and her lover like an extra curtain- she wants the meal all to herself after all

- She does have a tongue but it’s mostly pulled away due to all her teeth, when it does come out though- it has a grasping end. Do with that what you will.

[aprillikesthings]

I am still a little obsessed with this

I had an idea for a Catradora fic like a year ago and ugggh I'd need to rewatch the whole show to do it any justice and I dunno if I have the patience

Anyway have some barely-edited info-dumping I did last March in a tiny discord server for a completely different cartoon ship*:

The other night when I couldn't sleep it occurred to me that there could/should be a very realistic fic out there of catra and adora, after the events of the last season, having a very passionate but over-dramatic relationship for a couple of years, then breaking up and getting back together multiple times before one or both of them decides Actually, we have to break up, for real, we are slowly killing each other over this; and one of them moves away and they both get therapy of some kind and both try dating other people but it just isn't working out (I can absolutely see Adora in a relationship that's perfectly fine and healthy but also boring as fuck, and her just thinking: huh, I guess normal people are supposed to feel like this? but it just feels like it's missing something, but the thing it's missing might just be a lot of arguing and crying and make-up sex, so like, I should just. stop missing that. probably. And Catra ending up in a bunch of short-term things where all of them end with either the other person going dude you are in love with someone else and I can tell or her feeling guilty and breaking it off bc the other person is obviously more into her than vice-versa)

And anyway after like ten years or something they see each other but one or both is still dating someone else and it's like ha ha our younger days were SOMETHING ELSE weren't they, oh did you get therapy oh good me too, I'm glad you're doing well, nice to bump into you :) but they're both internally screaming because yeah those feelings are Still There, fuck fuck fuck

The current partner of whichever of them dumps them bc "you're still in love with your ex" but neither of them say why the dump happened and the dumped one doesn't say anything to the other, which means they hear about it through the grapevine, and their heart goes YOOOOO and their brain goes "I thought we were actually done with this and being Good about it fuck fuck fuck" and theyre both :) still normal to each other :) all the time :)

PINING I love pining hhh lol

But yeah there's, I dunno. A party? with a lot of people? maybe they each have one (1) drink, not even enough to impair them, and the next thing you know they're making out in a closet or something somewhere, and then one or both of them is crying hysterically, and after a lot of talking they're like, I want to try again. But as actual adults who've had time to grow up and have a lot of therapy. So they do, and it's good, and all their friends are like Oh thank god you two are both the stupidest motherfuckers on earth.

Halfway through the first post I realized I am half re-writing one of my fave Sherlock fics but putting it on top of She-Ra characters and adapting it to spop's plot but it'S JUST A GOOD STORy and honestly how it would actually happen

Because they were SO YOUNG in the show and neither of them had ever seen a healthy relationship modeled, ever, by anyone; and they're both heavily traumatized on top of it. And love isn't always be enough to deal with all of that. It's just not.

Me: this would make a good romance novel if we could file off the serial numbers

Also me: it's only interesting to me because it's THESE CHARACTERS like how the fuck would you include the backstory lolol

My dumb brain is like, "look I know spop ended three years ago and also, this is obviously the kind of story that AN ACTUAL ADULT writes, generally speaking; so nobody would read it, but what if you spent a year writing this"

But also half the plot feels like it's lifted from The Speed of Objects in Motion by holyfant (linked above) which is still, easily, one of my top-two Sherlock fics of all time, bc it's just so painfully realistic--they do end up together again at the end, but there's a lot off off-again/on-again and arguing and then a few years they're not together in the meantime

Anyway, re: spop: Fate and destiny are great but real happily ever afters would be so hard with everything that lead up to the end of the series

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

>:( at myself for being like "oh it would take a year to write this" bc if I had actually done it I would be done by now pfffffft

(*Amedot)

[kiruyeen]

transcript: NOVINIANS what are they!?

novinians are the dominant species of the planet Novi-3, the third closest planet to the novi sun. they are notable for their amphibious nature and thick tails for storing fat. most of their planet is hot and full of water and they have evolved to fit those standards. they are intelligent and have a strong sense of community and love

more info and design guide under the cut (to have images)

regional variants: Novinians have a lot of regional variants (or races), the 2 noteable of them are tidal and furred. tidals have microscopic scales on them similar to a shark and therefore lack hair. they typically spend most of their time inside of water and feed on marine life. furred have longer scales, that look feel and behave like fur. they spend most of their time out of water so the fur is needed to protect them from the hot sun. they typically feed on fungal fruit. they do not have much difference other than that, tidals can wear wigs if they would like to. these are not subspecies, do not call them that. theyre regional variants similar to human races and calling any of them subspecies is very bigoted for them

the world they live in: Novi is a large star with a total of 10 planets in it's system. Novi-3 used to be the 4th closest to the star, though the closest planet eventually evaporated due to the heat of the star way before humans documented the Novi system. Novi has a total of 3 moons, with the biggest one about 20/1 of it's size. due to this not only is the tide very strong, but also nights are bright due to Novi's light reflecting directly off the moon back onto Novi-3. when humans first visited Novi-3, for a possible place to inhabit after Earth's demise, despite it having the perfect athmosphere for life, they concluded that the planet was uninhabitable long-term, and abandoned the planet. however what they didnt know was they introduced a fungal species that happened to thrive very well on this planet. it became good sustenance for other micro organsims as well, and allowed them to evolve over time. millions and maybe billions of years later Novi-3 became a planet full of a variety of life. 80% of Novi-3 is water, and due to the planet's strong tides and lack of high altitudes every land animal on it has adapted to be semi-aquatic, if not amphibious. though they're not amphibious in our traditional skin-breathing frogs sense, rather they kept their gills as they developed lungs. so they have 3 throat pipes instead of the 2 on humans! most of the 'flora' -and every 'flora' on land- on Novi-3 is actually fungi, thought to be evolved from the very fungus that was introduced. they often fruit before flowering, the flowers essentially being open spore bombs. usually the fruits are the ripest a week before they flower

designing a novinian: Novinians can either be scientific and accurate to the lore, or fantasy-like and magical. neither of these are 'illegal', as long as you don't use illegal traits.

permanent features: at least 1 pair of feelers/antennae on top of their head in any length big eyes, small snout, no visible nose or ears. no paw pads  fatty, aquatic tails  somewhat anthro posture fish-like gills anywhere on their body in any amount. scientific optional features:  flaps on top and side of head mimicking ears and/or cheek fur. non-scaled tails any length tails (NEEDS TO BE FATTY) thin clothing, accessories coral, moss, seaweed or barnacle-like things growing on body ask! illegal: horns replacing antennae (normal horns r okay) fully functional wings (for flight) quadropedality war tools (hunting is ok) visible/mammal-like ears

these are open species, anyone can make them! please @ me if you make one though, Id love to see them!

everything is copypasted from here, same creator tho

[chisatowo]

Sometimes I think I've exaggerated how flirtatious Moca is in my head but then I read its dialogue and remember oh right it really does just constantly flirt with everyone around it (especially Ran) huh

[rosesastrology]

Do you have any tips on improving your mental health?

As always, the standard answer I give you is therapy and/or coaching. But as for my personal experience, I have a few things. Even so, know everyone is different!

Work on identifying the emotion that's bothering you most. Emotions are like plugs to your motivation to do anything, the brain tries to be efficient. It doesn't necessarily try to do what's good for you. Note that 'dumb' is not an emotion! No, neither is 'stupid'! Work from core emotions: Shame, guilt, anger, sadness, grief, shock, joy, etc. You can still keep those other words in mind, but yeh

Notice if your mind tells you particular things about yourself or you act in ways that insinuate certain things about you. As in, "I can always be better" is sometimes just "I'm not good enough" wrapped in sugar. Now notice that the concept of "good enough" has been taught to you, and there is no real "enough", etc. You can work from these sentences and it's really weird, and will take time before you notice it. All these emotions come from a time and place when they were adaptable and needed. And sometimes your core issue is also your driving point. I've met so many successful people who are successful because they hate themselves and can't afford to take a break, because they always feel like failures or like theyre behind the curve. The reason it stays is because it drives them to be better in the material world, to demonstrate their worth, to prove their mind wrong over and over. It's a game that can't be won. Even so, it's adaptive, and in a way it helps them.

When did you start feeling [that way]? When were you taught to feel [that way]? When was doing that toxic thing helpful for you? How does it help you? Who taught you it? Are there memories coupled to it?

If you notice you have repressed emotions, it's healthy to process those in a manner where you still try to hold compassion towards yourself. Meditation also helps (in my experience) with loosening up those emotional knots. Don't try to process all your traumas or emotions at once, give yourself time and space between it. Emotional processing is very tiring.

Even when you notice you have an issue, or notice what you're doing is bad, know that it probably won't change overnight. All you have to do at first, is notice it. Notice what emotion is driving your actions, what memory. And then you can be like "This is 6 y/o me who is trying to protect me, because I was told I was never good enough by my parents at that time." And u can even comfort yourself like "Bro, I know you're looking out for me but we're safe now and you're here. I'm proud of you." Idk, talking to myself in 2nd person feels less cringy to me than 1st person. Also, that example was random and not personal/disclaimer dhkdkd. If you can't be nice to yourself, you can be neutral! "No 6-year-old deserves to feel ashamed of themselves."

When you learn to be nicer and more compassionate towards yourself, eventually you cultivate a nice voice. Sometimes that nice voice will try to fight the mean voice. Don't fall into this, be a spectator. Notice it's happening, and then be nice to both—they're both looking out for you. No, unfortunately killing your demons or trying to smack them with a bat doesn't actually work.. just makes 'em more hurt💀.

I've said this multiple times, but interviews by healthygamergg have made such a difference in my mental health. Especially when I first found them. You can find them on Twitch and YouTube❤️

This is just general things that came to my mind.. Also, watch this if you're even thinking of attempting any of this.

This is just what's helped me personally, and maybe it'll help some of y'all too~

[tema-makes-art-sometimes]

This isn't exactly the hc au thing, but thoughts on if gercanmano were in an isekai? i think that could be pretty interesting

Ive been thinking about this all week Anon.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, as I don’t actually have that many issekai AU’s (shocker, I know).

Ludwig is the prince of a kingdom (I call it the star kingdom rn cause idk what to name it yet), who after a very severe illness, remembers his previous life in the modern world as a workaholic who dreamed of taking a vacation to the coast and opening up a bakery, only to have died from a car accident after not paying attention because he was sick from overworking himself.

As Ludwig struggles to recover from his illness and re-adapt himself to the world he’s been living in, he stumbles into a weird romance triangle he wasn’t prepared for! While him and Matteo, the head gardener, hit it off really well, it’s later revealed to him that he’s been betrothed to another prince this whole time!

Ludwig has no idea what to do, but Elijah and Matteo make it clear neither of them are going to back off. Thus shenanigans ensue of them trying to woo Ludwig as Ludwig finds himself and gives his past life closure in his own ways.

Also if youre wondering, yes Eli and Matteo are going to have a rivals to friends to lovers arc where they come into their own complex feelings about Ludwig but also finding out theyre not so different and maybe they can work other things out. I have an idea of a classic ‘fake relationship’ trope with the three of them later on, but I haven’t for sure decided on it, so we’ll see what happens. But dont worry CanMano is still happenin’

I might draw for this more I have other characters and plots I wanna do-- XD

catch me actually making a fucking graphic novel for this lol

Characters I Have So Far:

Germany - Crowned Prince of Sky Kingdom I haven't named yet. Prussia - King of Sky Kingdom, Germany's Dad Hungary - Royal Advisor to Prussia (Might be having a secret relationship with the King, and might be the next Queen, it's unknown) Turkey - Head Chef in the Castle Germany lives in. He and Hungary have bets over who’s gonna end up with Germany. Romano - The Head Gardener and Stable Keeper of the Castle, later becomes Germany' Head Advisor (Secretly a runaway Prince from the Mountains Kingdom) Canada - Germany's Arranged Betrothed from the Sea Kingdom that I haven't named yet. Rome - Romano's Dad (King of the Moutians Kingdom I haven't named yet) Veneciano - Romano's Brother (Crowned Prince of the Mountains Kingdom)

I’ll probably have england and france as canadas parents slash king and queen of the sea kingdom- but at the same time I kind of want to mix it up? maybe its france can and his mom is someone else, and england is part of a rival kingdom to theirs? Ill keep tinkering with it.

[robotnuts]

i stayed up for 26 hours and wrote some ideas for an rvb season here it is. it’s a s14 they stay on chorus au

-epsilon is recursed and all the fragments are split but theyre shoved back into an orb because i ! miss orbsilon. so it’s basically all the fragments copiloting the orb body with the orb glowing the color of whoever is speaking. ep2ilon is his own dude who is heavily influenced by the fact that all of the fragments were put in caboose’s head immediately after the charon battle because he was the only person with a head empty enough to Handle It so he still has the caboosification which is so important to orbsilon, but he also doesnt view himself as the old epsilon with amnesia but like the steven universe to original epsilon’s rose quartz

-caboose goes through his teen angst phase because epsilon doesnt remember who he is and wont go by church anymore and he backtalks wash like a teenager saying i hate you dad!! while wash is scandalized 

-wash in general is just desperately trying to make the blues and the reevbs in general... not morally better people, because he doesn’t know how to do that himself, but more competent and functional adults who don’t have a youtube channel where they review how different metal spoons blow up in the microwave. 

-simmons gets tucker’s s16 arc where he goes mad with the power hes gotten from being a war hero but in a disctinctively simmons way where he doesnt like his description given in a newspaper that calls him lanky and describes him as like somehow an overgrown bird was given all the properties of a chihuahua being held at gunpoint so he doxxes the reporter, dylan, on twitter

-the mercs show up at one point because i miss the mercs. in this season anyone i want to bring back from the dead can come back because the philosophy is 100% whatever is funny to me and not thematic coherence with the rest of the show. i still think it would be a better sequel to chorus than shisno

-felix shows up trying to break up grocus because grif has become too friendly with locus and he’s Mad about it and so is Simmons because simmons is an awful freak with many flaws, which is the best part about his character. he like thinks grif is cheating because grif keeps talking about how great locus is but he doesn’t realize that’s because grif is imagining locus’ backstory as like, the ideal Hot Guy riding a motorcycle dean winchester archetype that he thought was the coolest someone could be. this is fueled by locus’ blatant autism which let him adapt to talking like an edgy batman villain for so long because the only person he was friends one ups him by being essentially an edgy joker motivational instagrammer who microdoses LSD to make himself more productive and read somewhere that “macrodosing” was the new hot trend, so he gets tricked into having a horrible trip. so felix is much worse and have allowed locus to put up this act for so long

-aforementioned unbearable narcissist teams up with simmons in order to bring down grif and locus because neither of them have a healthy or normal approach to relationships and think this is an acceptable reaction, and anyone who knows better is too busy doing other shit to notice. they mostly ineffectively try to sow discord between the two but it keeps failing due to both grif and locus’ ambivalence to their respective partner’s antics at this point, along with the fact that locus often just doesnt understand what the fuck felix is talking about. grif just thinks simmons is being neurotic as usual until they pull a tatami galaxy and send the both of them obviously fake letters from the other being rude and trying to get the two of them to fight, but it’s immediately seen through and grif is like, god DAMMIT simmons you’ve been off lately but this is so obvious i actually have to address your weird behavior instead of continuing to let it slide in favor of doing literally anything else

-the literally anything else is grif’s arc with sister where he has to learn that she’s grown up and doesn’t need to be protected from herself as much anymore because hes so used to being her Big Brother,  but also she has to learn that he wasnt just being annoying like mom and dad but he was protecting her from real shit that she had no idea about. this isnt funny i just want more grif siblings okay

-locus somehow manages to make himself a dependent of washington and place wash under community service arrest which wash, after being unable to remedy this, forces tucker and caboose to come along with to help Build character or something but it really ends with all of them bitching about how bored they are and pinching each other with the grabbers theyre supposed to be using to clean up litter in symphonia’s long abandoned shopping center so it can start being used again. as people move in bitters can achieve his all time intended character role: snarky store employee at the asexual tech repair store

-they keep matthews in a sealed box in to fix the laptops and make palomo hold everything wearing oven mitts

-the lieutenants were promoted to the same rank as the reevbs because the pelicans got to charons ship extremely quickly and the reevbs’ role in the battle was pretty much the same as the other soldiers in the end, the reevbs just got the cool gear out of it, so now the lieutenants are on the same leeel and want the bgc to admit that they suck and the fednews rule. palomo especially has gotten way too big for his britches and now thinks tucker is lame and hes the new hot shit in town. sarge was very angry about this but kimball isnt easily bullied like doyle was and he couldnt get a promotion above grif and simmons. it really eats away at him so he diverts effort into trying to get new recruits lower on the food chain to join the red army because hes getting empty nest syndrome.

-sarge is also upset that red and blue team both have equal representation by having one seat in the new chorus government, so he demands that chorus recognize a new robot faction run by lopez and FILSS to try to get another red team vote in chorus parliment. church has been tormented by emily grey since shes in charge of rebuilding the new goverment’s infastructure and she registered ep2ilon as 0 years old so he joins the movement. and since FILSS is always loyal to the director lopez actually gets outvoted by the blue team 2-1. sarge is devastated. 

-they tried to veto ep2ilon joining the robot union but hes the one in charge of doing calculations for like their supply runs and agriculturral seectors to make sure food doesnt run out (because it turns out that the sangheli were really into redbull, which is disgusting, and thats all they left behind in the temple of bountiful harvest) so he has enough leverage to protest the robophobia in the capital

-doc and donut take pity on how pathetic wash’s attempts to improve the blue team are so they try to get wash to come with them to their open-polyamorous morning routine and juice cleanse which is where you go like a spa or a massage to clear your mind once a week and do yoga and other homoerotic slash homeopathic related shenanigans. donut swears it’s not like, actually gay it’s just like a new high tech way that people who make startups and spend all of their time trying to emulate billionaire’s routines for maximum productivity do now according to a ted talk donut found, and is totally normal, he promises. doc is doing it just because he does all sorts of new age medicine or treatments and donut because he’s working really hard on his pyramid scheme idea startup that everyone keeps telling him is a pyramid scheme but he refuses to admit to. anyways wash says yes and when he gets there during their warm up stretches as he’s helping donut stretch his leg even higher in the air donut says “so... why did you shoot me in the chest wash!” and he instantly realizes this was a bad, bad idea.

-doc also takes carolina to a pottery class because he thought she needed a more active relaxation strategy and it ended with carolina being dragged out of the building by caboose and wash because she smashed clay in the instructor’s hair in a public meltdown. emily grey was the instructor and it was because she had keept making passive aggressively rude suggestions in an overly cheery voice and she just snapped. carolina is forced to go to court ordered therapy but the thing is emily is also the only licensed therapist on chorus because doctors registration paperwork hasnt been overhauled for the new government yet. there are other therapists still operating but none of them are “licensed” yet so wouldnt you know it, it seems like carolina is gonna be seeing emily every week from now on :)

-wash is still trying to strike the balance between blue team leader who barely keeps all of them from cutting their fingers off while cooking and overly regretful overcome with guilt for his past actions so he like, organizes everyones sock and underwear drawers by like size and color because he thinks this is like, a normal Good Deed to show appreciation on the level of doing everyones dishes in the sink instead of something extremely creepy that tucker tells him he needs to stop doing immediately

[regular-john-16278]

Thinking about rabbit imagery

So in the last 24 hours I've seen Donnie Darko with my pal, and I've seen a few episodes of the Untamed by myself (for the first time, nearly finished the series)

AAAANDDD I found it weirdly interesting that both have multiple references to rabbits and are somehow so different when talking about rabbits (stick with me ere, i could be talking utter shit or this could be mildly interesting)

The most notable rabbit in donnie darko is of course Frank, big scary blue lad

Now (spoiler alert) we find out that this of course is NOT a real rabbit, but in fact a very attractive time-traveling man dressed up in a bunny-suit for halloween

STICK WITH ME this lad breaks ALL rabbit stereotypes, the general one as Donnie says in class is that (n im paraphrasing) 'rabbits r great bc theyre cute and horny'. Aside from frank being attractive out of the suit (although i watched it w my bf once and he didnt like frank, the weirdo) its blatantly that IN the suit which is what makes him a rabbit, yh hes neither cute nor horny

SO theres another reference to rabbits in Donnie Darko as they read and watched Watership Down as a class. This was again interesting to me, as the rabbits in watership down are unlike normal rabbits, even their warren system being akin to a human government system. Their focus on leadership, home, humanity and adapting (amongst many other things) make for an interesting parallel with the main donnie darko rabbit, but still arent quite the cute and horny rabbit reference we all know and love.

RIGHT SOOOO H O W E V E R

in The Untamed there is a repeated reference to rabbits, I haven't finished it yet so idk if there are more aside from the one's im going to mention, but their approach to rabbits is very different. The use of rabbits in the series has become weirdly interesting to me after finding out that that in Chinese mythology, they are the symbol of queerness (rabbit God of homosexuality being Tu'er Shen)

There are repeated rabbit scenes and they end up kind of representing their relationship, from finding them in the Cloud Recess, Lan WangJi continuing to look after them even once Wei Wuxian has left, releasing a lantern with a drawing of a rabbit on it (and Lan WangJi looking very adoringly at it), BUYING a rabbit lantern together and drunk Lan WangJi admitting he loves rabbits...theyre a permanent feature.

SO rabbits in two very different things, somehow representing two very different things

despite this, both are FILLED with symbolism as to what the rabbits actually represent. In Donnie Darko, its a mixture of halloween costume hiding gunshot as well as watership down rabbits and their human qualities. In The Untamed, its underlying gay relationships that can't be explicitly shown and underlying homoeroticism etcetc, starkly different.

Yes this ended up being me talking shit, but idk i just found it interesting how rabbits can mean and represent two very different things, and can stick with people in very different ways.

yeah.

[wickedsingularity]

Avalanche [one-shot]

Fandom: MCU Pairings/characters: Bucky Barnes x reader (but not really), Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, mention of Wanda Maximoff Words: 3757 Warnings: Lime, repressed emotions, accidental exhibitionism

Note: Something @iguess-theyre-mymess​ gave me an idea for when I was doing NaNoWriMo last year, but that whole thing went to hell. There something not right here, with the characterizations. We've discussed it, but then I forgot all about it, and now I'm just... fuck it. There's some smut here, people will ignore characterization as long as there's smut. Sue me.

Summary: She wasn't supposed to be on this mission with Bucky, but plans had changed, then plans had gone wrong and now they had missed their flight window. Sexual tension rise to the surface while they wait in the safe house, and when an avalanche makes them stuck, repressed feelings rise up too.

It wasn't clear what was louder, the roaring wind outside or the heaving breaths of the two bodies that had just pulled apart with a groan and laid next to each other. Neither of the two noticed the wind however, completely lost in the bliss as they were.

"That was..." she started. It had been good. Very, very good. But not a chance in hell she was going to say those words. She did not want to give him the satisfaction, not after the way he behaved during this mission.

"Yeah." Bucky concurred.

They lay in awkward silence for a couple of minutes to catch their breaths, until she rolled to her side, her back to him. "Well, goodnight."

Bucky made a sound of annoyance, and swiftly turned his back to her too and pounded his fist into his pillow unnecessarily hard to fluff it up. Despite the vibe of annoyance that hung in the sex-smelling air, both fell asleep within minutes.

After finishing a mission deep in Lapland, the two of them had been forced to take refuge in a safe house to rest up. Steve was supposed to have gone with Bucky, but something had come up and she had had to replace the captain. To say she was unhappy about it was an understatement, especially because she was supposed to have gone on a simple recon mission to the much warmer and prettier Puerto Rico, but that mission had gone to Wanda instead. So now she had spent two days in the coldest, snowiest place on Earth with a Bucky Barnes that had been more pig-headed than usual.

The moment they had closed the door to the cabin behind them, they had been at each other's throats. He had insisted that the plan wouldn't work and they should take a different approach and she had claimed that his suggestion would take too long and be too big of a risk. He had made the final decision without her and while it turned out that it had been the only way to make the mission a success, it had taken a lot longer and been a hell of a lot riskier, almost too risky. Which is why they had had to wander for far too long in the cold snow to find this safe house because they had missed their flight window, and now had to spend the night there to rest up before heading back out to do the cleanup and fly back. The screaming in each other's face what the other did wrong only served to have the sexual tension that had been building between them for months snap and break.

Clothes were scattered all around leading to the bed, a lamp and side table had been knocked over, a painting had fallen off the wall, and there was a dent in the headboard from Bucky's metal arm.

Silence filled the house as they slept, their shouting and moans and groans replaced with deep, calm breathing. Outside, the wind was gathering strength, snowflakes frantically dancing in the porchlight. When they fell asleep, the snow was halfway up under the windows, and by dawn it had reached the window sill, the wind packing it tight against the house.

It was still fairly early in the morning when rumbling sounded in the distance. An ominous rumble that quickly grew louder and louder. Bucky was the first to wake from it. He was only disoriented for two seconds before he cursed and leapt off the bed and over to the window. This woke her up and she too scrambled towards the window as the rumbling was almost deafening. Her first thought upon seeing all the snow was that she would crawl her way out of the cabin even if she froze her hands off rather than stay here with that pig-headed super-soldier. But then the roof creaked and the rumbling was right upon them, both looking up and almost shielding themselves as if the roof was about to cave in. And then everything was dark as the moonlight disappeared and the power went, taking with it the light in the bathroom. There was complete silence.

"Well shit," Bucky said, quite fittingly.

She looked over at him and not having had much light to desensitize her eyes, she saw that he was very much naked still, as was she. She was over by the bed in one leap and grabbed the sheets to wrap around herself, leaving Bucky with only a pillow to hide his front.

"I am going to go in there," she nodded her head towards the bathroom, "and by the time I'm out, you better be decent and have found something to light up this place so we can see what we're doing when we try to get someone to help us out of here."

Bucky didn't dare to do anything but nod at her sharp voice and watch as she clumsily fished her phone out of a pocket on the suit on the floor and turned on its flashlight while holding onto the sheets at the same time. When she slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it, he tossed the pillow onto the bed and went to hunt down his own clothes and then see if there were any candles or flashlights lying around.

A little while later, she appeared in the kitchen fully dressed with the top of her Kevlar suit hanging around her hips, black thermal undershirt untucked. Bucky was about to pour freshly brewed coffee into two mugs while wearing his headlamp, but the room was bathed in light and the items they had knocked over in their hurry to get naked the previous night had been put back into place.

"I found the backup generator," he explained, pushing one of the coffee mugs towards her on the counter and then turned off the headlamp and pulled it off. "Good morning."

It was properly morning now too, a sliver of sunlight snuck through the half an inch of the kitchen window that was not covered by snow.

"Good morning, Barnes." She grabbed the offered mug and sniffed it before taking a sip.

"I also found some jerky in the pantry." He pointed to an open bag on the counter. "Nothing fresh, but it's something."

"It will have to do." She reached into the bag and grabbed a few strips. "Have you tried to call Hill?"

"I have," Bucky said. "But the signal is too low to get a call through. I have tried throughout the entire cabin except in the bathroom."

"Satphone?" she asked above the rim of the steaming mug.

"Battery is dead. I was going to fix the charger after I had made coffee."

"The charger isn't working? And why is the battery dead? I thought you charged it yesterday."

"I did charge it yesterday. But there is something wrong with the charger, and it didn't reach a hundred percent and has drained quickly in the cold."

"Okay, you fix that, and I'll try to get through on my phone."

Bucky gave her a look that told her he wasn't surprised that she had to double-check the phone reception before he grabbed his coffee and a handful of jerky and sat down on the couch by the small coffee table. She watched him rummage through the bag next to him, pulling out the satphone's charger and started to wiggle the cord where it was connected to the adapter.

She shook her head in exasperation as she reached for the phone in her back pocket, but stopped, one hand resting on the coffee mug on the counter, the other holding her phone, not able to look away from the super-soldier working. Despite how much she disagreed with his plan the other day and the words she had shouted at him the previous night, despite her need to double-check his findings this morning, even though he infuriated her, she did respect him. For what he'd gone through and how he'd moved on from it. For how he took advantage of what he had been through and used it today. For how smart and quick and capable he was and how he clearly knew how to fix a satphone charger. Still, he was too handsome for his own good and so goddamn good in bed she could still feel him between her legs, and she did not like that.

Glaring at the back of his head, she unlocked her phone. There was indeed no reception, so she grabbed one piece of jerky to chew on while she walked around trying to fill some bars in the top corner icon.

It didn't take her long to have reached every corner of the cabin without having found any signal. She had even tried opening the front door. Thankfully, or maybe not, the snow was packed so hard it didn't fall in on her, but it did nothing to help her phone connect to a cell tower.

"I think the snowstorm might have taken out the nearest towers," she said and slammed the door shut.

"Doesn't matter, because I've got the satphone charging," Bucky said distractedly. "It's searching for a satellite right now."

"Oh good." She walked over and looked down over the back of the couch to the phone in his hands. "We need someone to dig us out, or heaven knows how long we'll be stuck in here."

"Aaaand there's our GPS position, and I'm sending it to F.R.I.D.A.Y. and..." He was typing something real fast, and again she was impressed with his way around modern technology with the speed he was typing. "And she's sending someone to get us out right now. I said it was urgent."

"Good."

"Now we wait."

An awkward silence filled the cabin. The prospect of waiting for possibly hours, had the tension growing. It wasn't exactly a vacation cabin, there was no TV, no books, no games, nothing to pass the time. And since there was no cell reception, there was no streaming or even reading the news either.

She went back to the counter to finish off her coffee, thankful for that keeping her busy for a while, it was still hot enough she could only sip at it. Then she decided to head back into the bedroom to disassemble and reassemble her weapons. But before she got halfway across the floor, Bucky apparently couldn't take the silence anymore.

"About last night," he started.

She stopped short and pulled a face. "Please don't, Barnes."

"Please don't what?"

"Just... Don't."

He stood up and faced her, but she didn't look at him. "Want me to pretend it didn't happen?"

She crossed her arms across her chest defensively and opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't make herself say yes.

"Despite what my behaviour last night says about me, I don't just sleep around for the fun of it. I don't just... Not without... It's been just..." Bucky seemed to be struggling to find the words now. She glanced over at him and saw that he was blushing furiously before sitting down again.

"I don't think that," she found herself reassuring him.

"Good. Because I don't."

Silence filled the cabin again, and she was suddenly hearing the words Bucky hadn't said. She uncrossed her arms and rested her hands on her weapons belt. "I don't either."

Bucky turned around and met her eyes. They stared at each other for what felt like ages, almost daring the other to actually say out loud the words they both realised was true.

"Doll..." Bucky stood up and she took a step backwards, shaking her head slightly. Hurt flashed across his face. "Are you afraid of me? Did I do something wrong? Is that why you're always so angry when I'm around?" She shook her head again and Bucky took a step towards her. She didn't back up this time.

"I'm... I don't know." She screwed her eyes shut, crossing her arms again. From the moment Steve introduced him to the team she had been attracted to him, he had that tall, dark, handsome going for him. But there had been something in his eyes that drew her in more than anything. A flash of softness or kindness or... something, every now and then. Such a contrast to the strength and fearlessness and deadliness he showed when he sparred with Steve or was on a mission. He'd been through so much, but instead of letting it destroy him, he used everything that had made him a deadly assassin and turned it into this force of good.

"Doll... I didn't know?"

She snapped her eyes open, confusion written all over her face. The softness was back in his eyes and she cocked her head, looking at him. "What?"

"I didn't know you felt that way about me."

"I said that out loud?"

"You did... But why..." He took another step closer.

Embarrassment burned her skin, but there was no taking it back. Might as well dive into it. "Why have I behaved like I feel the opposite?"

Bucky nodded.

"Good question." She paused for a moment, chewed the inside of her lip, looking him straight in the eye. "I wasn't planning on falling for anyone. Didn't want to. At least not someone I work so closely with. It's a recipe for disaster in our line of work. And I knew from the start that I would fall for you, you ticked every box. So, I tried hard not to." She sighed. "I failed."

"You've fallen for me?"

She shrugged, but nodded and bit her lip again. "I failed at not falling for you and in my attempt to stay professional and keep my distance, I made you think I hated you."

"I never thought you hated me," Bucky said hurriedly, shaking his head. "Disliked, yes. Hated, no. But I haven't exactly been on my best behaviour either."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a lot of luggage. Most people don't exactly see past my... well, past. But Steve did without question. And then Sam followed. And then everyone else. But it seemed like you didn't. So I closed myself down with you. I think maybe I was a little scared of the same things as you." Bucky took a step closer and if he reached out, he could touch her now. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

For a moment, they stared at each other, the air between them thick with emotion. And then, at the same time, they closed the distance. Arms went around the other, lips crashed, bodies pressed against each other. It was just as explosive as the night before, if not more. There was nothing in them holding back anymore. Last night had been almost business-like, just a reaction to different opinions and days and days of hard work and ages of repressed emotions reaching the end of the tether.

She ran her hands through Bucky's hair, revelling in the moan he made as her nails scraped lightly at his scalp. He needed to wash his hair, but she didn't care. She was no better, and he obviously didn't mind days of mission sticking to her skin as he kissed a trail down her chin to her neck. She threw her head back, giving him access and he tasted every inch of skin not covered by her thermal shirt. He kept tugging it down.

"Don't tear it," she said breathlessly, tugging lightly at his hair to warn him.

"Then get it off," he murmured against her skin.

Very reluctantly, she disentangled herself from him, already missing the warmth he radiated and the feel of him against her. Not helped by the whine he made from the loss of her in his arms and his almost stumble after her. She reached down and swiftly pulled the shirt off her head, dropping it to the floor. She took a few steps backwards, towards the bedroom, and nodded towards him. Bucky caught her meaning and tore off his own shirt.

Slowly moving towards and into the bedroom, clothes were shed, leaving a trail, but no furniture was destroyed this time. She had only her sensible black mission bra and underwear left when Bucky slowed down and stared as if hypnotized as she unclasped the bra behind her, let the straps fall from her shoulders, her arms keeping it in place. Then, it fell to the ground. Sure, he had seen her naked the previous night, but Bucky hadn't allowed himself to look then. He did now, etching every curve and line and scar and freckle into memory as he walked slowly towards her.

She tried to not feel self-conscious and managed for a few seconds, but then she felt heat bloom inside her and she looked down at her feet, arms folding across her chest. The way he was behaving and the way he was looking at her was so different from what she was used to, it was making all kinds of feelings bubble up inside her. Bucky shook his head and closed the distance.

She looked up at him.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he said and weaved his fingers through her hair and ghosted his lips to hers before pulling back just enough to whisper against her lips. "I could stare at you forever, doll." Her arms immediately went up around his shoulders and she pressed her lips to his. He closed the space between them, let her feel how much he enjoyed the view of her. She moaned against him, pressing her hips against his and pulled him back towards the bed, teeth clashing, until she bumped her legs against the edge of it and lost her balance. Bucky tried to steady her with his arms around her waist, but she toppled backwards pulling him with her. He managed to brace himself so he didn't knock the wind out of her, and rolled to the side, chuckling.

"Sorry," she said.

But he just shook his head and went for her lips again. He just couldn't keep off her, now that he knew what kissing her properly was like, knew that she felt for him the same way he felt for her. Knew that both their hostility had been just a protective wall they had put up.

In a tangle of arms and legs, they scrambled up the bed. Bucky hovered above her, kissing down her neck, until she spread her legs, laid them around his waist and pulled him down. She gasped at just how hard he was already and how warm everything suddenly became, and began grinding against him. Bucky faltered a little, closing his eyes. Even if it had been less than twenty-four hours since they'd had sex, it didn't feel the same at all. He was sure he was going to come in seconds if she didn't stop already, and no matter how good that would feel right now, he did not want that embarrassment hanging over his head.

"You gotta stop doing that, sweetheart," he whispered against her shoulder. She halted immediately, pulling away slightly, but before she could even ask, he raised his head to look down at her. "You're going to make me come."

Heat flashed across her face, but she pushed her hips up, moving slowly against him. "Get my less than sexy practical underwear off then, so we can do it right."

Bucky's eyes flashed with hunger as he nearly ripped it off and made quick work of his own. "I'll do you right."

Steve and Natasha sat warm and snug in the Quinjet, surveying the very white landscape. A few pine trees were the only colour breaking up the blinding white. That and the suit they had borrowed from Tony to melt the snow around the cabin their friends were stuck in.

"I'm so glad we don't have to dig them out," Natasha commented.

"Yeah," Steve agreed. "It has been a real big avalanche."

"We would have been shovelling for days..."

The repulsors were doing a quick job of it, melting everything to water and then steam. They didn't want to flood the cabin. It almost looked like the cabin was on fire.

But a few minutes later, the suit lowered its arms and turned around to face the Quinjet, awaiting orders.

Steve pressed his earpiece. "You can come back in, thank you."

"I'll never get over how you speak to them like they're sentient." Natasha grinned at him, before hitting the button to open the hatch and let the suit in.

"They're just a brain cell away, and they do behave eerily lifelike." He stood up and pulled on a pair of gloves and donned the shield.

"What do you need that for?"

"I'm surprised they're not out already. They must have noticed the snow melting away. So... Just in case."

She considered him and then activated her Bites.

They jumped out of the Quinjet and approached the cabin a bit cautiously and then stopped by the front door. Steve cocked his head to try to listen.

"It's quiet inside."

"I'd expect them to be at each other's throats by now, having been cooped up together for so long." Natasha got the door unlocked and glanced at Steve. He grabbed the shield and held it in front of him, then nodded. Natasha wrenched the door open and Steve jumped in front and took one large step over the threshold, taking in the room.

Nothing. No one.

He stepped further in, Natasha following. "Where the hell are they?"

They both surveyed the room, taking in every detail. A strange noise came from behind the only other door in the cabin and Natasha nodded towards it. Again, Steve held the shield up and Natasha wrenched the door open. Steve then jumped into the opening, stood frozen for one single second, shouted "MY EYES" and scrambled away with his eyes screwed shut.

"What the hell?" someone said from inside.

Natasha poked her head past the door and looked inside, and what she saw made a huge grin spread across her lips.

On the bed, were two obviously naked people who had just scrambled apart, Bucky frantically trying to pull a blanket up to cover them. Skin glistening, bushy hair, puffy lips, there was no doubt to what Natasha and Steve had just interrupted.

"Guess it wasn't such a hurry after all," Natasha said, trying hard not to laugh. "Get dressed." And she closed the door, laughing.

[grxceblqckthxrn]

hi @chocolatecarstairs came up with these post-CHOG questions and i really want to answer them because im sad that im finished reading it :((

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

what was your favorite part, 1 or 2?

Honestly I loved both parts, but I’d say I loved part two just a little bit more for the time that James wasn’t under the curse anymore and LOVED Cordelia

which scene in the book was your favorite?

EVERY scene that had Matthew and James being wholesome parabatai in it!!! my favourite chapter in this book was Blue Ruin, the one after Grace takes the bracelet back from James  (aside from the whispering room ofc).

what scene (or scenes) made you cry the most?

ok ngl i didnt spend much of this book crying, but the only scene that actually made me tear up was when james was dying and matthew could feel it and jesse (WHO I FUCKING LOVED MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD) gave him his last breath :(((((

what scenes were unsatisfactory?

there were not enough Christopher scenes (but to be fair, even if the entire book was just Christopher it still wouldnt be enough for me)

but fr, i cant think of any off the top of my head but i’ll edit this if i do later

what made you laugh the most?

matthew!! james!! thomas!! christopher!! also some of the things Jesse said

what bored you?

this wasn’t boring, but the whole charles/alastair plot line didn’t have me very invested. I did love the alastair/ cordelia scenes tho, so it was just charles that was the problem

also no offense to james bc he was my first actual fictional crush after reading TMH/NBS but like whenever he talked about being in grace i would literally zone out lol the bracelet curse makes him so boring but whenever he isnt in the curse/ is with someone who is NOT grace i just!! love him!!

what disappointed you?

cassie honestly had me kinda shipping matthew/cordelia for a solid FIVE SECONDS there when he stepped in to dance with her after james left her standing there, but that was one of the only scenes that made me feel like they had natural chemistry (along with the scene where he drops her off at her house). I felt like the during the rest of their interactions in the book, cordelia was kind of uncomfortable, which made me really sad because even tho she has every right to feel that way, i felt bad for matthew. I kind of want him to fall for someone else completely and for it to be reciprocated. also, i just really want for matthew and cordelia to become good friends because i feel like they could have such great natural chemistry if matthew didnt love her.

what is the top thing you wish had been done differently?

see above.

what things did you predict that came true?

JAMES BURNING DOWN BLACKTHORN MANOR I FUCKING SAID HE WOULD DO IT TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO IF YALL WANT ME TO LINK THE THEORY LMK

what are some things that were really unexpected?

ok there’s quite a few things here so bear w me babes:

- James genuinely loving cordelia from the start. I wasn’t expecting him to naturally feel nothing for grace at all, so i was expecting a slow burn jordelia, but finding out that he actually loves her makes me so happy but the end where cordelia thinks he was just pretending breaks my heart :(((

-matthew liking cordelia lol definitely was not expecting another parabatai love triangle but i hope it doesnt last. i do think it adds to the plot and i love it, it just hurts to see matthew so emo :(((

-I was expecting to like cordelia as a character, but i ended up LOVING her so fucking much???? she’s so three dimensional to me, and it’s interesting to see how her personality adapts around different characters as people adapt around different social circles irl

-liking jesse as much as i did

-ok so james’ entire character was a surprise to me. it’s so fascinating to see how the bracelet actually affected his personality.If you recall him in The Midnight Heir from TBC. he’s like an entirely different person. i still loved him in TMH but i went into CHOG thinking that if he was gonna be like that the entire time i’d probably get over him really quickly. i was pleasantly surprised by how much i ended up loving him even more tho

-i didn’t expect oliver hayward to die and im going to stay emo about it

- Christopher is so much more clear headed than he was made out to be prior?? like there were so many scenes where he was fully there and when he defended anna to alastair i just kfdsnfkld i love him

are there characters that you didn’t like before that you like now?

yikes umm... Alastair, maybe? he’s somewhat okay to me now, I dont dislike him as much as I used to. ooh and Hypatia Vex. the only scene i remember liking her in QOAAD was when she helped out kit, ty and dru (me, going a whole TSC post without somehow mentioning kit? not possible)

are there characters that you liked before that you don’t like now?

I started CHOG ready to give Grace the benefit of the doubt, and I was surprised by how timid and shy she seemed at the start, but it was interesting to see how it was all an act and how she doesn’t have an actual personality yet. one could argue that she actually does love james, but i doubt it at this point. i dont hate her yet, even tho she IS fucking up james’ life, but she’s on thin fucking ice.

who was your favorite new character?

does new character mean completely new or just never been in a novella new? because for the first, it would be Cordelia (i LOVE her sm!!) and other wise it would be james, matthew and co. also!!! jesse!!

what places in the book would you like to visit?

that hell dimension sounds pretty lit ngl

did you like the ending?

ok so. we KNOW that jordelia is gonna be endgame. cassandra clare always takes the hardest path to get there, but when has she not delivered? it’s just a matter of waiting. so, yes, i did like the ending in sense of the plot because it was a great twist, but i also feel really bad for all of them even tho ik they’re eventually gonna be together :(((

what did you think of the epilogue?

i wasnt surprised, since we alr know that Tatiana is shady asf, but i just really wanna know how she partnered up with a GREATER demon like lol wtf. again, im really happy in terms of plot with this

what are your thoughts on the engagement?

i feel so. fucking bad. for cordelia. and james too, even tho he’s under the bracelet’s curse so he doesnt even KNOW he’s being manipulated. but i love how even through the curse, james still loves cordelia in his own way.

what did you want to see that didn’t happen?

matthew getting therapy periodt

umm honestly i just want more “merry thieves” content like i just love. all of them.

what do you wish had been resolved that wasn’t?

i really want matthew to tell james or cordelia what happened because i just need him to be loved and supported lol i want to give him a hug. 

what is your favorite pairing as of now?

jordelia!!! and lucie and jesse are kind cute rn, and i like them if theyre gonna be pining after eachother but i feel like if they actually get together i wont like the relationship as much.

which characters would you like to see more of in the next book?

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER 

ANNA!!! i lovED reading about her she’s so badass

matthew!! jesse!! also i wanna see more of those bitchy girls lol just so we can see anna or cordelia tell them to stfu

what is one character whose death you would undo if you could?

ok i know that jesse is still very much a conscious character despite being dead but like,,, i want him to be the way he was before and also i want him to come back to life

and barbara!! she seemed so sweet 

which characters got bad/unsatisfactory endings?

ummm barbara? i cant really say much on this yet bc its still only the first book and when has the first book ever ended up with anyone being happy.

oh but also can we sign a petition to make cassie let matthew actually survive the series because my heart aches just at the THOUGHT of eventually having to read a scene where he dies

which characters got what they deserved?

literally. none of them yet. :(

who should have died but didn’t?

Tatiana lol also lowkey charles but i also feel pity him to an extent 

what plotline are you most excited to see in the next book?

okay the entire jesse plot has me hooked because i LOVE his character. also i love the bracelet plot but its making me MAD because i just want james to be happy but

what is one scene that you wish hadn’t happened, but you know was unavoidable?

THE ONE WHERE GRACE PUTS THE BRACELET BACK ON JAMES. i mean obv there was no way he was completely done with grace, but i literally got so sad at that part like why HIM of all people smfh let him be happy

which pairing do you like the least?

alastair x charles, grace x james, lucie x matthew bc neither of them actually like either imo lol

what are some theories you have for chain of iron?

- not necessarily for COI but i think matthew is gonna get exiled and turned into made into a mundane

- the bracelet will break (?)

- jesse will come back to life (like actual life) at the end of the book

-grace is gonna do something to help the main characters, making it hard for us to hate her.

what characters do you think should have gotten more plot time?

lol are yall gonna hate me if i say christopher again (also anna)

anyways this was really fun!!!!! PLEASE ASK ME STUFF ABOUT MY OPINIONS AND STUFF OR JUST SAY ANYTHING ABT THE BOOK BC IM DESPERATE TO TALK TO PPL ABOUT IT

[roughentumble]

ive said it before, and i'll say it again: in my opinion they both have that feature, but also neither of them really have it. its a warped desire, that comes from not really knowing what theyre asking for. we're TOLD that's a defining feature of sams, but it kind of falls away as he comes to understand himself, and it's always DEAN that is shown to truly, deeply want it, and its always dean that advocates for it when he and sam talk about it.

like, sure, the show is Very Long and different writers have different ideas, so character traits tend to get juggled back and forth affectionately from episode to episode, and there are exceptions to the rule, but from what i remember, after sam gave up on going back to stanford, he really didnt look back that often. he CAN live a normal life(at least, better than dean can), he's good enough at adapting, but he doesnt STRIVE for it, or lose sleep at night yearning. dean's always been the one who Wants A Normal Life For His Baby Brother(and secretly also himself, even if he doesnt know how to do it or want it), the one who fumbles it when he gets it in his hands

[mousehole5000]

reading tgcf chapters 72 - 88 end of book 2. body horror kind of in this one. if you know you know and i did include an excerpt of it

i didnt take any notes from 72-76 but uhhhh shit has hit the fan

fuuuuuuck. but he couldnt get there fast enough and then THAT happened to that family FUCK :(

xie lian has indeed been greatly sheltered and this is a painful if inevitable moment. very curious about where he goes from here :(

:pensive: the universe has its own rhythm. perhaps it does but im wondering if this is part of it orrrrrrr

wait theres a girl. shes pretty. feng xin is impressed by her this is a first. is she going to be important? is it too much to ask for? to see a girl do things?

xie lian and the king... i sad. but the anger is real from both sides regardless of their arguments. i sad

ahhh flashbacks to religious studies. read a whole essay about contagion magic vs similarity magic. pretty sure it was by one of those early anthropologists who were ummm racist but this is definitely a thing that people do

damn so xie lian’s first experience of killing anyone was during the revolt and he killed thousands. wow. “mere ants” like those crushed for him by servants. hoooo boy

:pleading: hes so good and im so sad for him to painfully learn that just being good isn’t enough

awwwww. </3

ohhh wait i think the epub version doesnt spoiler out the authors notes awwww i was enjoying the mystery but okay. not sure if i would have guessed this without tbh theres a lot of kids (2) running around with bandages in this book. but i guess the saber thing isnt likely to be anything else. also ohhhhhhhhh hong hong-er... little reddie... ah i see now :(

land of the tender; body of gold hard pressed against desire. hmmmm. im. hmmm. remember that scene with the prostitute in ghost city and how i was glad it ended quickly? i miss those days. i mean murderous desires/lustful desires okay sure thats something fine but. hmm not so sure how i feel about the rest of this. and the hair thing has significance according to the notes. i mean. hmm. moving on for now. ive seen spoilers for more about hualian’s relationship but im gonna wait to comment on it until i know everything

i would actually be curious to see feng xin and mu qing interact without xie lian when theyre still having to work together i wonder if they are more chill or less chill bc clearly feng xin cares a lot about xie lian and im wondering what theyre like with each other without him around. to be fair tho since theyre his generals im not sure if theres much room for that

human face disease time. oh boy. things really are only getting worse. im also suspecting that this disease was intentionally brought into the city to hasten its downfall but we shall see

saving this for the illustration of the differences between feng xin and mu qing. not sure what it says about me but im finding mu qing relatable that is 100% what i would do but i feel much more fond of feng xin. interesting

thank you for being a beacon of amusement in these trying times. distract your bickering friends by forcing them to play improv games. also the differences between fx and mq continue to interest me

awfully convenient there guoshi. i have to say that its looking more and more like the bad shit thats happening in xianle was actually not to do with xie lian. the fact that the yong’an rebels were being supplied? whatever the fuck is going on with lang ying.... i could be wrong but thats what im thinking im wondering how much of this was already laid out or at the very least poised to happen before xie lian intervened

here it comes this is the unsettling body horror bit

BRUHHHHHHHH. HORRIFIC. IM SORRY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN ADAPTATION FOR THE CHILLS IT WOULD GIVE ME.

hmmm after this its mu qing who is like “hey ummm you kinda just chopped that guy’s leg off when he hadn’t actually asked you to. kinda fucked up also could definitely turn on you” makes sense that it was mu qing who said that he’s clearly very smart and bc of his background he’s more likely to think of things from a different perspective than xie lian and feng xin. he’s been scornful of commoners before but he definitely understands them more so than the other two

just when i thought this couldnt get more horrific. no rest for anyone what an awful fate

saving this as a note on mu qing as a character and his attitude towards xie lian. what xie lian says here about the curse is interesting. the faces/souls vs the ones they are infecting. its awful for both of them and neither are the only truly at fault theyre being pit against each other

its telling that mu qing is the one who is telling xie lian that line about there not being a second cup of water. also BIG ARGUMENT im bookmarking this to come back to in the present day

looks like celestial palace is coming down and im bitterly remembering the fact that xie lian toppled his own statue earlier to let lang ying get away... who then presumably planted the curse.... sighs

the bits with xie lian’s parents made me tear up. this is, what the kids call, relatable.

hmmm dont think feng xin is always going to feel this way lmao

oohh that is a cool image

i.... sad. and so book 2 ends!!! im wondering when we find out exactly how the split between our trio went down. im sure its sad

politically im still not sure exactly what the message is trying to be i mean obviously theres corruption that completely throws the poor under the bus but so far its also been clear that xie lian actually cant do anything about it. but!!! also xie lian doesnt understand a lot about the world, he’s been sheltered and he’s a prince and he wants to save the world and i love him for that but he hasn’t seen what the reality of life is for a lot of people he’s looking at everything from the position of the nobility and even with all his kindness i dont think thats ever enough to bring about meaningful change. how can it? idk but we still got a LONG ways to go

[vapidsims]

Hello my friends! I know maybe a total of...5?

yea five sounds about right. A total of five people might actually read through this XD

I came up with a demon type!

I use “came up” loosely cause nothing is truly original anymore on the internet im sure there are simmilar concepts floating about.

Anyway this will be more of a lore post as opposed to a CC post, but The masks will be in my unreleased cc folder if you feel so inclined to make one of these guys! I would love that

Their name: The masked

Their story? While it spans quite a few centuries by now, it is not a very long one. The masked were originally created by a demon queen who, while ruling, also dabbled in sorcery. She was struggling with the spreading of her reach (the underworld has a lot of territory but also...a lot of royals assigned to those territories.) turf fights can get messy and she was no fan of mess. Also its not as if she was ~so greatly favored~ that her subjects would throw themselves at deaths heels for her. 

So she came up with an alternative. Why not...just make loyal subjects? Adopting and adapting the humans concept of automata she used her sorcery and alchemic knowledge to...craft a doll. It was empty and obedient, but not what she was going for. But a start nonetheless. 

continued below 

After some trial and error the first mask was made. She started with the face first, but not really a face. with the other dolls she’d made before she could not stand the look in their dead, beady eyes. so decided to forgo the idea of a face entirely.

And this time the thing she made had some spark in it. not only obeidient but grateful that she had created it. whilst also having whims of its own. these were the making of “real subjects”. so she made more.

 After this success some of the other demons in her lower courts noticed the “masked dolls” walking around, and requested their own from the queen. 

She, knowing they didnt know what they were dealing with. gave them all the ingredients to creating ones of their own. The fallout was hilarious to her but spelled disaster for the masks that resulted. Common demons previously assumed the masked to be dolls. Toys, things to be ordered about. They had no indication beforehand that they had their own minds. 

While the queens Masks were treated well and favored by their “mother” the masks created by her clueless subjects found themselves largely abandoned, if not in a few cases subject to outright cruelty. And some situations got messy, as the masked may be made, but they are not without their own powers. (it just manifest differently with them)

The forgotten masked would hear of the queen through the grapevine and when they gathered and got back to her they were unquestionably loyal. If not purely out of spite for the demons that made them, and were cruel to them. They never recognized her partial fault in the matter. (or they just refused to acknowledge it)

The queen still had not gotten around to conquering new territory yet as she was too..erm...unmotivated, to engage in conflict with other demons. so some of her loyal masks proposed taking a chunk of territory off the human world.

So topside the masks went! and considering their unique composisition they were much harder to get rid of than common demons. Not because their powerful or anything. Theyre just hardy. And humanity had yet to encounter them before this point. They were not just here for typical demonic hijinks such as cursing and haunting. they came to take the land.

The queen got her new territory and humanity forgot alllllll about that tiny corner of the world. They were basically like:  

Now. Less about their backstory and more about, what they are exactly?

The masked are not robots, despite being inspired by automata and the human concept as such.  they.are. DEMONS. underestimating them only works in their favor. 

that being said. they have no inherent devilish nature of their own. Many will adopt the evil or michievious nature of typical demons, some, however. Are rather nuetral. being content with the mundane. 

The mundane Masked seem to get along with human beings just fine,assuming that the human is not scared of them.

Physically, theyre humanoid. But theyre extremely durable. the core of their being is contained in their “face” on the occasion that a mask is defeated their body may disinegrate but the mask is left behind. At this point one of two things can happen, so its better you dont touch the mask at all:

1. you touch the mask. it...intrigues you. you put it on. your face burns. you dont have one anymore. Your vessel will make a nice new body. 

2. The masked are tight-knit. another will come to get it and revive it if they do not claim a new body. if left too long without one a mask can die.

their voices seem to emminate from their entie body. their words hang in the air as you try to figure out where its coming from. they dont seem to know either...some of the older masks seem to think its a mind thing...a theory disturbing to both parties.

Socially. as aforementioned they are tight-knit. Most of them either know each other or know of eachother. if neither of those, the mask in question is either a newborn or extremely kept to themselves. In which case other masks (especially older ones, will make it their buisness to be NOSEY xD

Mundane masked have almost overly-bubbly or outgoing personalities that kindaaaa put off other masked. but hey still family.

family is weird, they can reproduce on their own but not with other masked. (meaning theyre shooting their shots with humans or demons) and the resulting child will more than likely not have a maskface. Or more commonly a mask wanting to start a family will find a partner or two and make a child using the formula. or take the issue to the red queen herself. shes always happy to make another.

Actual blood relation is extremely uncommon, and often- Aunts, uncles,cousins and the like are just “theyre closer to me than most”

Masked have also been known to extend this practice to very confused humans,vampires,aliens ect. who are like:

“since when am I your cousin”???

there a few types of masked:

there are the ones made by the red queens subjects back in the early days, they come in all kinds of colors because the formula was never perfect. these mask tend to acctually show age as they get older.

There are masked created by the red queen. they do not age or become ill, they come in shades of red or rarely (like literally only the master and the king) black. but they’ll get another post entirely.

Then there are the mask who have taken human bodies, however a rare occasion. they can originate from either of the first two types.

Anyway theres the lore.

link to my unreleased cc folder.

let it be known if you use the mask (skin detail) you need to really suck in the sims face to make it fit right. If that alone dosnt do it you may need to mess around with the jaw a bit. (a lot a bit) 

[mattelektras]

hello, i dont know if this is something you answered before, but i was wondering, how do you choose which fonts go together in your graphics? do you have a specific idea in mind, or do you go through a couple before you decide what looks best together? they always look really beautiful

i think i have but i cant find it and i probably do things differently now. also this went off on a tangent about typography but theyre in the same vein SO. 

i ABSOLUTELY flick through a few fonts before i pick one. i might have a vague idead that i want to use one bold and plain and one fancy but its 70% trial and error when it comes to actually physically putting them in the graphic

its about the VIBES

if what im editing has a more messy, artsy weathered vibe then i’ll choose a messy font. something handwritten or something that looks like paint maybe. example

for a more futuristic, minimalist vibe i’ll use something simple and non serif. example / example

you can use what comes to mind when you think of the subject matter too even if it isnt directly relevant. for example when i edit elektra i think greek > ancient greece > serif fonts

for spiderverse i think city > modern but with miles’ own art mixed in with it > both some bold no serif fonts and some more artistic, personalised fonts

for superman i think bright > bold > clear 

you can also adapt those ideas to HOW you want to edit something too. for example usually when i think about editing jason i think of a messier graffiti kind of look because jason >  a little bit scrappy and fighty > messy BUT one day i wanted to try a different flatter vibe for a graphic so i went flatter graphics > minimalist > sans serif > modernised 

neither nat or elektra have a particularly gothic vibe but i wanted to make one work so i used blackletter fonts

i think it helps to know the types of fonts that exist too so im gonna sound like a schoolteacher for a second here but stick with me 

serif - basic wings on certain letters, weight varies in different sections of the letter. used for a more old fashioned, professional, elegant look. can make something seem fancy even if it isnt 

sans serif - basic no frills letters, consistent weight for the entire letter. used to be readable and give a clean, modern, polished look

slab serif - again with the serif but like. BIGGER. can make a serif font seem more up to date and bolder. visually louder, makes stuff look important and can add more character than a basic serif

blackletter - gothic, old english kind of fonts. usually used for stuff that has Ye Olden in the title. capital letters usually have added embellishments and the characters in general will be very angular with a few decorative curves. i used to hate blackletter fonts because i could never make them work but i love em nowadays because they can give that kind of.... dark look to something. i see a blackletter font n i think big ol gothic mansions and the addams family which is indeed, a vibe

decorative - best for giving character imo. theyre unique and they can take parts from a lot of other font styles but also not conform to any. theyre heavily stylised and non traditional. letters can be backwards, smaller than others, some capitalised, some not. they make stuff playful and original. kind of personal too 

script - joined cursive mostly. can be handwritten or glyphs. im not a huge fan of glyphed cursive because it looks very old fashioned without that being a deliberate choice but they can work sometimes. its another style that can make something seem artsy, elegant, “”””femenine””””

that was all very boring. class is over. 

going off of the types of font though, mix it up!!! use the fanciest font you can find mixed in with a basic sans serif

some singular words will evoke a different, more important vibe than others, so to exaggerate that word and make it the focus of the graphic, use a more detailed, noticeable font for that and then something lower key for the rest of it. example / example

it can work the other way around too, with the simple font being the focus of the sentence and the script for example being the ‘add on’

the above is all something sizing can come into too

kerning is the space between each letter and i find that, particularly with sans serif fonts, changing the distance between each letter can change the whole font. so if something is like. OK but theres something missing, try kerning

the same goes for keeping all the letters on the same line vs having each as a different layer and moving them separately. this and this are both the same font but the second has each letter at a different level and a different size because i wanted it to look less formal and a bit more quirky and artsy, whereas in the first i wanted bold but plain  

something i always say and the one thing i took away from actually formally studying design is type it how you’d say it. do you enunciate one word of the sentence more than the others? is it a formal word or is it something fun? what part of the word or the sentence do you stress? whats the hierarchy of the information you're trying to convey? typography put literally is visual storytelling and its always helped me to think of it like that because im not actually someone who’s very creative or artistic so i like 2 think of it like. logically instead

[goldenbeebooks]

~The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris~

Rating: 4/5 stars

I know I probably shouldn’t start of a review like this but I’m going to do it anyway: this book is A Lot™ sometimes and I think that’s one reason some people like the movie better but I will elaborate on that more later on.

In ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ we follow FBI trainee Clarice Starling who is investigating the murders of Buffalo Bill while also interviewing the famous Hannibal Lecter.

Let’s start off with the writing style because it’s my favourite thing about this series. It’s not the same as in Red Dragon, but it’s also necessary that it isn’t because the characters are so vastly different from those in the last book. In Red Dragon, we have a clear focus on emotion and intuition, whereas in this one the characters are analytical and clear on what theyre seeing or looking for exactly. It’s important for the writing style to change because otherwise it simply wouldn’t work. Luckily, Thomas Harris manages to incorporate these aspects without letting the writing fall flat.

Now, I already talked about how the characters in this book act more logical than anything, but that’s actually just kind of true. Since we see most of the book through Starling’s eyes, we also get to see her character development in full bloom. In the beginning, she’s so clearly a student it’s almost frustrating to read about her recalling how everything works and assigning a definition or meaning to everything. She’s careful about doing everything right and acting based on the rules, pushing her emotions down. And then we see her slip. And it’s done so brilliantly because neither Starling nor the reader really notice her changing until that one specific line.                                                                      Then there’s Crawford who kind of redeemed himself here after the last book in my opinion. Even though he’s such a cool and reserved character we also get a glimpse of his more human/emotional side by learning about his love for his ill wife and seeing the relationship he builds with Starling.                                        And of course, Hannibal Lecter. His intelligence and calmness are probably the most defining traits of his and we can see the extent of that in the brutality he shows to those around him, both physically and psychologically. I’m not really sure what to say about him because we learn so much yet so little about his character that I’m not sure we learned anything at all.                                           I also want to mention Barney Matthews, the security guy who guarded Lecter while he was under Chiltons care because he’s such a minor character but he’s so talented and I like him so much and he deserves a nice life.

While the writing, the characters, and the overall story are things I enjoyed a lot about this book there are a two things in particular that bothered me.

The Pacing: there were some passages that felt so agonizingly slow and drawn out I had to stop reading for a few minutes/hours so I could muster up the energy to read through them. It wasn’t too terrible but for a book that’s actually quite good at building tension and keeping the reader invested it was a little disappointing. The Pacing was inevitably tied to...

Information Dumps: Especially when in the beginning and when the story starts to pick up the pace, there were some information dumps tied into it. Some of them were necessary, so we knew what was happening and why it was important to the story. However, there was at least one giant dump that was just... not necessary...at all (yes, I’m looking at you 10 page essay about a MOTH)

There’s one last thing I want to talk about and that’s the movie adaptation.         I really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it (especially to those who don’t really care for the book but still want to know what the story is about). Not only is an objectively good movie, but it also follows the book so closely that I can’t really complain about anything important to the story missing. The changes that were made are understandable and don’t alter the story at all.       I’d say the movie and the book are on the same level because they both have their perks and negatives. For example, if you only watch the movie you won’t be able to get to know the characters as much as you would by reading the book, the development just isn’t as prominent and they absolutely butchered Crawford by not giving him a storyline or an actual personality. Then again, the movie has a better pacing and atmosphere than the book and Hannibal is so much creepier, Anthony Hopkins did an amazing job playing him. (These are just my opinions please don’t come for me)                                                          If you have the time and interest I recommend you check out both versions of the story, you won’t regret it.