#okay NOW tumblr seems to be cooperating

[needlxd]

« ...even as a criminal, i feel this is... a bit much. » cruel, even― a spectacle of murder & mystery seems odd to her. but... well, games are meant to be won, right?

[dekariosclan]

As a fellow galemancer i had to share that when your doing the spell scene with gale, when the narrator says the weave is making your one, i couldnt help but notice that he slowly blinks at you like a cat, since tara is technically part cat im sure they blink slow for affection so im not sure but Gale as a cat person slow blinking at you feels so cute, just some food for thought adore you blog as well have a great day

OP, you are absolutely brilliant. However, it seems somehow tumblr autocorrected ‘tressym’ to ‘cat’ in your ask, because as Gale and Tara would both insist, she is definitely NOT a cat, absolutely not, not even a smidge, she’s proudly 100% tressym and we would never want to insult her or get on her bad side by insinuating otherwise! Obviously that was a mistake on tumblrs end! nothing more!!

(…okay OP I think we are in the clear, that should smooth things over with Tara, just wanted to cover all our bases there 😂)

You raise a really interesting point—Gale, having been partially raised by a tressym, could absolutely have picked up a few tressym qualities and mannerisms! So let’s talk about that:

slightly 18+ / suggestive under the cut!

First off, to your point, Gale does the tressym slow blink to show affection. As if Gale’s soft cow eyes weren’t appealing enough, those slow, soft, affectionate blinks?? How could you resist:

Gale loves to touch you, hold your hand, have his hands on you, and of course massage you…except that his massages, while lovely, seem to be less ‘ease your muscle stress by applying firm pressure’ and more ‘making biscuits on your back.’ When you ask where he learned his technique, he says he’s self-taught and proudly adds ‘Tara approves of my form.’ (Doesn’t matter, you love it regardless.)

Gale longingly mentions his tower’s ‘crackling hearth’ several times throughout the game, and just like Tara, it’s one of his favorite places to be—ESPECIALLY if he’s curled up next to it with you. Now, whether you’re on his lap or he’s on yours? That’s entirely up to you. Though Tara might object if her favorite spot—Gale’s lap—is too frequently occupied >:(

Gale occasionally adds in a soft, loving head bump during a makeout session—gently, of course! (This one is canon IMHO as he does this during his ‘Grateful’ kiss variant seen here)

Speaking of making out, when Gale’s engine really gets revved he’ll move from those yearning moans to a low, steady rumble of desire from deep in his chest. A purr of arousal if you will—but one that can turn into a growl as he hungrily claws at your clothes, if your laces/buttons are not cooperating with his need for immediate removal.

It’s canon that Gale hates vegetables, full stop. After all, what self-respecting tressym craves broccoli? He’d much prefer to share a meal of quipperfish, pigeon, or beholder meat with Tara. A proper carnivorous meal, and preferably one that comes with some sort of cream-based delicacy for dessert. Also…are those peas on his plate? Carrots?! Instantly incinerated.

And finally, Tressyms are fastidious about their cleanliness—Tara herself can be seen diligently cleaning her paws during the epilogue—so of course Gale follows suit. He’s very vocal about being disgusted by the bloodbath you can get while in the mindflayer colony in Act 2, and he loathes being in the sewers of Baldur’s Gate. Gale prefers to be clean and preened at all times, not only for his own sense of pride, but also so he can be as presentable as possible for you. (As he himself put it, ‘A gentleman is only as handsome as his least-groomed locus.’). Now when it comes to your cleanliness, though, Gale would never criticize you for your, ah…sweaty, glistening muscles after a fight, OR your particular musk arising from said sweatiness and dirt. In fact he rather likes it, because the only thing better than being clean is the process of getting clean, which he will happily help you with! Perhaps a long, hot, luxurious bath, your naked bodies intertwined as he runs his hands and mouth a bar of soap over every inch of you. Or, perhaps, if bathwater is not available, he could go full tressym and simply lick you clean himself clean you up in a different manner! Who knows?? The possibilities are endless, and he does have a practiced tongue. 😉

— — —

Thank you again for this lovely ask OP! I hope I painted an accurate picture of just how similar our beloved Gale is to a cat TRESSYM !!

As always if anyone has any additional points, please feel free to add them! 🐈🪽💜

[missdawnandherdusk]

The Defendant

The Case

Summary: You get assigned a case as the last step in your path to become a public defender. What happens when those anonymous names and numbers become people of your past?

A/n: Hi my loves! I am so glad that you guys are excited for this--because I am. They're so angsty and I love them. Anyway, enjoy a little bit more~

(p.s. i cleaned up my taglist to the best of what tumblr would let me so if you want to be added let me know!)

The case of Draco Malfoy. 

The Draco Malfoy. 

Slytherin protégée. 

And a giant pain in my ass all throughout school.

And now here I was with his court case on my kitchen table after I thought I would never have to see his name again. Last I heard he left with his family and was in Paris. But this case was something the Prophet didn’t have their hands on. No one knew Draco was on trial for murder.

Draco wasn’t in Azkaban like I had thought. He was wandless and living at his family’s manor under house arrest. I had half a thought to take the trip out to the manor. Surely, I could contact someone who knew where it was. 

I sent a few owls out. Whether I could work this case or not was still a mystery to me, but if I showed up empty handed on Tuesday, I’d be screwed either way. I had to work this case like I didn’t know. Like it didn’t matter. Like everything was fine.

Hermione answered me first. She had more questions than I did but she knew the laws better than me: there was a possibility that I could legally work this case. She also had the address for the manor. Wiltshire. It wasn’t far from my little town. It wouldn’t make a hard trip. 

If Draco wanted to see me was another matter entirely. My heart sank in my chest. If he didn’t cooperate I could lose everything. And Draco wasn’t the cooperative type. 

Somewhere fate had to be laughing at me. 

I dreaded 4pm on Tuesday.

But I knocked on the office door anyway.

“Come in,” 

I took a deep breath, my anxiety caught in my throat. I didn’t know what would come of this meeting. There was still a chance that I couldn’t work on this case because I was a witness in it, but if this was the only way to pass my exams then I didn’t know what else I could do. 

“Dr. Dresden, there seems to be a problem with this case,” I said, taking a seat. 

“I’m aware.” 

“It’s not what you think,” My palms began to sweat. “Professor I can’t work this case.” 

“So you wish to fail.” 

“No! No! Please, no,” I shook my head. “I can’t work on this case because I know who this case is about.” 

“And that makes you incapable?” 

“What? No,” I struggled for words but Dr. Dresden pressed on. 

“Miss Y/l/n you are aware of my rules. If you do not work this case to closing, you will fail and you will not become a public defender. Now, I’m sorry that you know these people, but did you think this job did not entail defending people you once knew?” 

“No sir,” My face became solemn. “Sir I have a witness statement in this case.” 

“I am aware.” 

“But you gave me this case.” 

“Miss Y/l/n if you are going to waste my time stating the obvious, perhaps I should fail you now.” 

“No, please.” I begged. So this is how we were doing this. I squared my shoulders and pressed on. “Okay. I’ve contacted the other witnesses and have set up a few interviews and I also have the address for Malfoy Manor. I’ll visit next week.” 

“I see. And what do you make of the case?”

“There’s got to be something missing. If Malfoy says he killed Dumbledore but his wand doesn’t there has to be something else going on,” I said flipping through my notes. “There are also a few witnesses who say they don’t believe Malfoy is capable of murder.” 

“And what do you make of that?”

“I don’t know yet. I need to talk to Malfoy.” 

“Then it seems like we’re finished for today. I will see you next week,”

“Yes professor. Thank you,” I bowed my head and left his office, now making solid plans. 

I was going to acquit Draco Malfoy. 

Or figure out if he really was capable of murder. 

The next day I was on the manor steps wondering if this was worth it. I had went over it a thousand times: not the a first appearance, then plea day, then pre-trial conference notes. No no, there had to have been a million different ways that I phrased saying hello to him; explaining what I was doing; begging for him to help me; and maybe a few where I moved across the world and never looked at him or this stupid case again. Those ones were a little fun to imagine. 

It was chilly in Wiltshire and a mist hung in the air around the magnificent house. It was as if the air and house itself were hiding secrets that not even a stray sunbeam could find. 

The door opened and though it had been years since I had since him, Draco Malfoy stood in front of me, his gaze just as pensive and guarded. I opened my mouth to introduce myself but he beat me to it. 

“Y/n?” 

“You know my name?” In every single conversation I had dreamed of, not one of them did I ever imagine him knowing my name. 

“We sat next to each other in potions for four years.” He said plainly. “What are you doing here?” He tilted his head, an amused smirk on his lips. 

I inhaled sharply. “I was assigned your case. I’m your new defense attorney.” 

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah okay, no really, why are you here?” He didn’t believe me. 

“I’m telling you the truth, I was assigned your case.” I pulled the official letter from my bag. “From Dr. Dresden himself,” 

“So you’re the one he chose,” Draco said, plucking the letter from my hands. 

“What?” 

“He told me he had a promising student who might be able to acquit me—or finally put me out of my misery.” Draco shrugged and handed the letter back to me. 

“Oh.” I didn’t know I was personally chosen for this case. It made me wonder how many strings were pulled for this and if fate really was laughing somewhere. 

“Well, I’m sorry to waste your time, but I’m not interested in closing the case,” He shrugged. 

See, now that I did expect. 

“I need to close this case.” I said firmly. 

“I’m sorry, but no,” 

“You don’t get a choice,” My defiance ran deep. “I am closing this case.” 

“It’s my case!” 

“No.” I said calmly. “It’s my case. And it will be closed. Whether or not you walk free is up to you.” 

Draco scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. 

“What is this? Some kind of power play?” He asked. 

“This is my job. This is what I was given. And this is what I’m going to do.” I reached in my bag and pulled out a spare copy of the case notes and handed it to him. “I’ll be back on Friday. 8 o’clock.” 

“I can’t do Friday.” 

I gritted my teeth. “Oh, yeah, because you have so many places to be.” 

“I can’t do Friday.” He dug in harder. “Saturday. Noon.” 

Inhaling sharply I rolled my eyes.

“Fine. Saturday. Noon.” 

.

The Witness

.

masterlist

.

@coffee-addicti @msmcsmutt @ravn-87 @artemismohr18@whygz@crazywritingbug @bitemebro522 @zombiesnips-blog@savingdraco  @akari180 @slytherin-emerald @queenfeatherwings @fanficflaneuse @go-whovian-universe @spicyshenanigans @darling-im-not-okay-i-promise @katsukink @takemetothekingdom @strangerr-things @tmnt-queen@hxneybgb @belcvayelena @moviesbooksandfandoms   @cocochanelthepupper @ninacotte @braelynn-johnston    

@jiggllyy @darcypotter-blog  @thiccheerioss@lottie289 @beautiful-pegasus@tceedlmao @anonymous034 @bi-andready-tocry @dragonsandbread @the-queen-of-hell-things @alienmotel  @oh-itsnothing @sunflowerxsadnessw @fattycooter @fanficsigottaread @gweaslvy @strawberriesonsummer @gaysludge @ray-of-sunrise @artist-bby @shadowsingeraxolotl @quillsareforwriting @wollymalfoy @lilpieceoftoast @paper-cats @floweryjh @hufflautia @livize75 @annie-mcl @riathearora

[pilfappreciator]

ATTENTION TROLLS FANDOM!!

This is very important. Mostly to me but maybe you guys have been wondering this too idk but anyways:

How does troll reproduction work exactly?

Cuz I'm genuinely curious. I dont think anyone on the series production team has said anything and so far I've seen absolutely no one touch on this subject but as someone who's always had an interest in the habits of creatures (both fictional or otherwise), I kinda sorta maybe NEED to know this otherwise I'll never be able to sleep peacefully again

Full disclaimer that I'm specifically talking about the whole egg situation, I am NOT ASKING HOW THEY GET IT ON IF I WANTED THAT ANSWER I'D GO TO DEVIANT ART OR TWITTER OR WHATEVER LAWLESS PLATFORM GOD STEERS CLEAR OF. This discussion shall remain STRICTLY educational, thank you very much

But anywho. Let's dive in

So trolls come from eggs. This is basic knowledge. First instance of this phenomenon (as far as I know, I've only seen the movies) is from World Tour.

Egg pops out of Guy Diamond's hair, egg hatches and BOOM, (literal) baby. Now I understand that this whole sequence was probably just a gag and a way for DreamWorks to implement another (merchandisable) addition to the cast HOWEVER this sequence also raises a few questions

First off, as far as I know Guy Diamond has no partner (again: I haven't watched any of the spinoff shows). Either that or maybe the other troll was a sorta one-night-stand/no-longer-in-his-life kinda situation? Which is great either way cuz its shown he obviously cares for his son and we at Tumblr appreciate a loving single father no matter the circumstances, but if my former theory is correct than that would imply that trolls are capable of reproducing asexually. Like onions.

Now if that hypothesis is, as they call it, "cap" then that would mean that some sorta hanky panky has to go down before an egg comes into question. And if that's the case, does this mean that male trolls are traditionally the ones who carry the eggs?

But that can't be right, can it? Afterall, World Tour gave us yet ANOTHER egg scene later on in the movie

In Cooper's flashback, we clearly see Queen Essence being the one carrying the eggs meanwhile King Quincy is eggless. Now, as far as i see it, this could be explained either one of four ways:

1) Quincy was the one who actually produced the eggs and Essence is merely holding them for her husband (since her hair seems more fitting to be a makeshift nest compared to Quincy's)

2) Female trolls are the ones who produce the eggs. Guy Diamond is just a trans icon

3) Troll reproduction differs from genre to genre

4) There is a... *sighs* a/b/o type of dynamic among troll kind where certain trolls are capable of giving birth/siring children depending on a secondary gender

In regards to theory #3, this could also explain why Guy Diamond seems to reproduce and hatch an egg in such a short amount of time (like 5 seconds I'm pretty sure) as opposed to Queen Essence/King Quincy who's eggs presumably went a while longer before actually hatching.

Actually, speaking off eggs, are trolls the only species in their world that reproduce that way?

Because now that Band Together has officially been released, we now know for certain that it's possible for different species to crossbreed. Biggest example? Resident DILF Bruce and his giant muppet wife

(Credit to @captainunderkrupp )

When I saw these two... I swear...

And these two already have a shit ton of kids okay so like... either Brandi was the one giving birth or trollsona Daveed Digs was over here pumpin out eggs, which I mean-

DO YOU SEE HOW BIG THESE THINGS ARE COMPARED TO BRANCH AND POPPY?? Believe me I am PRAYING that Bruce gave himself some serious maternity/paternity leave because my guy is honestly a trooper

But yeah any thoughts? :))

[wubblesred]

Ghoulcy Week 2024 day 1 SFW

Hi everyone, this my first fanfic on Tumblr but i was so excited to join this ship week. I hope you will like it. The prompt was Cold Wasteland Nights. Sorry for the weird phrases or misspelling, English is not my first language. This will also be post in French.

Even though it's been a few days since the Ghoul and Lucy started travelling together, the woman knew nothing about the creature not even his name. Actually the man barely talks to her except to say when they were stopping or when it was Lucy's turn to keep watch etc. Besides the young woman herself didn't dare to say anything, she didn't know how to react with him. Oddly, she dreamed of a more social interaction with the man even if that seemed crazy when we think about their previous exchange however this man knew her father, the vaults' story and above all she was sure that a gentle heart was hiding beneath the steel shell of that ghoul.

Cooper Howard, on the other hand, was suprised by the little killer's behavior. Certainly due to the shock of the revelations about her father. Since the woman started following him she didn't talk just nodding and obeying when he said something. Strangely, the man was longing for the young brunette's squeaky voice. He already imagined screaming and telling her to shut it towards the many stories she could've told or the questions without answers she would've asked but none of it happened since Lucy kept her mouth closed. Perhaps it was up to him to take the first step towards her, after all they would be working together. These thoughts had the effect of an electroshock in the mind of the ghoul, was he really considering breaking this silent atmosphere to reopen the chatterbox that was the little killer. No it was better this way, he ended up thinking. All thoughts about the young woman went silent when the man realized that the night had fallen and decided to stop here to sleep. The atmosphere was heavy in their camp, Lucy was constantly fleeing the gaze of the ghoul and the latter found it surprisingly annoying. The two individuals found it increasingly difficult to ignore each other and to know how to feel about each other. On the young woman’s side, apprehension and rage gave way to admiration and attraction. Two things that horrified the brunette as much as they satisfied her, a single glance at the ghoul brought her comfort and she knew she was safe. After all, the man had rescued her a few times since they were traveling together. The latter, moreover, was not better off emotionally wise towards his little killer. Indeed, at the beginning she was only a thorn in his side, a means to achieve his ends but he needed to face it, the young woman occupied a large part of his thoughts since their meeting. Now he was always looking behind him, making sure she was still following him, that she was okay. In a matter of days, Lucy had slipped under his shell with her personality and beauty, despite his discontent with it, Cooper loved those feelings buried for so long that came back to the surface. The desire to hear her voice, to feel her warmth and this possessiveness that he felt, for the moment they were only two, as if she belonged to him alone. However, the two people were afraid of the way their feelings had changed in a few days and made the decision, without consulting each other, to try to hide deep within them the emotions that the other gave them.

Lucy couldn’t take it anymore from this almost constant silence in the camp, so she decided to break it after all the ghoul probably found her annoying already so a little more or less it changed nothing.

"Do you have a name?" The young woman hit her head mentally, of all the things to say it was that one that came out…

"Cooper… Cooper Howard." Lucy lifted her head up, her big brown eyes enlarged.

"Like the great actor?" Her smile was replaced by surprise when she met the gaze of the ghoul. "No! You are THE Cooper Howard. I’ve seen all your movies a hundred times, my brother used to mock me all the time because I had a huge crush on you… Uh… I’m gonna go to bed, so you take the first shift, okay? Great, good night.”

Her last sentence was spoken in one go as she lay down on the ground with her back to the man. She couldn’t believe she threw it all at him, he already thought she was a kid, with all this, it was going to be even worse. Frankly, sometimes she should really learn to shut up. It was really embarrasing since the man had said nothing and seemed to have no reaction.

Cooper was far from having no reaction, his little killer was really full of surprise. A dark corner of his mind laughed wondering if little Henry knew that his little princess had a crush on the man he had taken everything from, the man who was still alive and alone with his daughter. Knowing that also brought a kind of warmth into his heart. Hell, two hundred years of being shut out of all feelings except revenge and knowing where his daughter was, all of it sweeps because Lucy fucking MacLean tells him she had a crush on him, well the old him. It was useless to linger on this, it was better to forget it and pretend nothing happened the next day, the little one will be grateful of it, he was sure.

The ghoul ended up approaching the sleeping young woman later that night, it was going to be her turn to keep watch. However, when he reached her, he noticed that she was trembling and did not seem to have slept because of it. The man did not feel the pain of the cold being irradiated, this was one of the advantages to be like this, the constant heat. This unfortunately gave him an idea to help his peer. Swearing, he took off his cloak before lying next to her and wrapped his waist with his arm to squeeze her against him and finally lay his cloak upon them.

"What are you doing?" she wondered as her theeth chattered.

“I’m warming you up sweetheart, I don’t want you to freeze to death and I don’t think you do either.”

Lucy dared not say anything else, her senses were boiling and she hoped that the man did not see her red face or that he understood how much it had an effect on her. The crush was again very present in the heart of the young woman. She stiffened feeling his breath in the hollow of her ear but he just ordered her to fall asleep, order that she could not help following.

In the early morning, after a few shifts, it was Lucy’s last turn before they had to hit the road again. During the night, she had turned to face him, the heat of his body was still as intense and had repelled the cold wind that she felt the day before. She could not help but gently bring a hand on the man's face and draw its contours tenderly. Since last night’s revelation, she had passed each of her guards to observe his face, despite the ravages of radiation the brunette saw and recognized the features of Cooper Howard.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, sweetheart.” Groaned the man, grabbing the young woman’s wrist.

«Sorry…» Lucy wanted to bring her hand back but Cooper kept it well against his face. Even taking it to his mouth to kiss her necrotic index finger, his tongue passing over the crease of the scar he had caused.

"I didn’t say I didn’t like it, but are you sure that’s what you want? What about your boyfriend?"

"Maximus? I don’t think he’s the man for me."

"Oh that's sure my little killer. What would you say I help you forget him?"

"Okey Dokey" Sighed Lucy at the intensity of the words and the gaze of the man before her.

Maximus had had the effect of a puppy love in her brain and almost nothing in her body. Cooper, on the other hand, melted her and her body was ablaze under his gaze. It was a passionate torrent that flowed into her just by thinking of the ghoul, she was eager to see what he was going to reserve for her following their journey together. After packing up their rough little encampment, Cooper reached out to his little killer, a hand which she hastened to grab. The man took advantage of it to lure his sweetheart to him and kissed her as fully as he secretly desired since he's met her. The two companions had not expected such a turn of events but they were not displeased. They were even eager to see where this adventure would lead them.

[violetlunette]

Runaway_Chapter 3_Sebek's Part

Summary: Silver has run away. Who's at fault?

<-Previous Chapter

Master List

Ao3

Notes: *I had to split this as Tumblr no long takes long posts, I guess. *Twst spoilers for Chapter/Book 7

Thrump! Thump...

Crack! Crack! fizz…

Tip, tap...tip…

Bzz..zzzz...bzzz...

tip, tip, THUMP!

Bzz...bzzz...

Fizz... crack! ...sizz…

TAP! Tip...tap, tap--

“ARUGH!”

Sebek growled as he gripped his head, nearly ripping out his hair.

“Could everything just shut up?!” he yelled. As the lounge was empty, there was no response. Sebek felt that, as he was alone, there should only be silence, but there wasn’t.

There was the crackle of the flames from the fireplace, the buzzing of the lights from the chandelier—who knew Diasomnia used electricity?—the wind making all kinds of noises against the window, his footsteps, and more.

Every little sound seemed to bother him as if each one was armed with a knife and was stabbing at him, trying to annoy him.

Of course, he knew that the noise wasn’t the problem.

The problem was a silver-haired human, or the lack thereof.

Sebek’s face scrunched in frustration, his skin turning bright red.

‘I can’t believe all this is happening! I can’t…’

After Lilia ran out, Baul took Sebek and Prince Malleus to be checked over by the STYX medical personnel. As this was going on, Baul went to find Lilia to offer what assistance he could.

Once they were given the okay, the dragon and half-fae inquired about Silver and Lilia. There was no news on Silver, which sent a bolt of fright through Sebek.

It wasn’t like Silver not to be here when Malleus needed him. Something had to have been wrong.

However, those thoughts were put on hold when they learned that Lilia had been taken to the Queen, who wanted to learn about everything that transpired.

Once Malleus heard this, he was furious and teleported away in a blast of green flame.

Naturally, Sebek panicked and went to find him but was held back by the STYX officers, who were still looking him over. The process took a while and only moved along when Ortho showed up and logically pointed out that the tests would go faster if he cooperated.

Eventually, Lilia found him and assured Sebek that Malleus was fine. The prince was discussing personal matters with his grandmother.

Sebek was relieved. Then he asked about Silver.

At the mention of his son, Lilia’s face twisted with emotion. His hands shook, though he tried to hide it.

“W—well...Sil—Silver is...” Every word shook, and Sebek could see that he was trying to get his emotions handled. This caused Sebek to push harder.

“What did that idiot do now?!” he had demanded. “Did he get himself hurt?” Or worse? Had something gone wrong during their adventure and--

Lilia managed to assure him that Silver was alright—alive, at least.

However--

“Silver’s...gone.” With that, Sebek’s whole world started to break.

Gone.

Silver was gone.

Silver left them.

He ran away.

He abandoned them--!!

“DAMMIT!!” Sebek grabbed and tossed a nearby table with such strength that it flipped and rolled before breaking against a wall with a CRASH. As the parts fell to the floor in clicks and clatters, the teen choked back a sob.

“Dammit…!”

What was Silver thinking?! How could he abandon Lord Malleus? Master Lilia? Him? After everything they’ve been through--

A few tears squeezed out of clenched eyes, and Sebek cursed again.

“Dammit, Silver! You…” He lifted an arm and roughly wiped away his tears, scolding himself for crying.

Once he calmed himself, it wasn’t hard for Sebek to piece together what happened:

While in Lilia’s dream, Sebek and the others were faced with the Knight of the Dawn, the leader of the Silver Owls, and the one that would kill Malleus’ mother. When they saw his face, he looked just like the Silver, aside from the hair.

After the knight helped them escape, Silver was overcome with grief and nearly fell into despair. He would have, had the humans not attacked and nearly killed Lilia.

The need to protect Lilia and the egg holding their prince trumped all else. And so, Silver managed to pull himself together just enough to continue onward.

They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk after that. Especially after they were separated, as Sebek chose to help his grandfather while Silver stayed with Lilia.

Thinking back, it’s clear that Silver had some sort of tie to the Knight of the Dawn. Aside from the hair, they were basically reflections of one another. Adding to that, the ring the knight possessed was just like the one Lilia had given Silver.

‘Silver must have realized it too,’ Sebek mused to himself. ‘And obviously, that fool blames himself for what the Knight of the Dawn did.’ That idiot.

It wasn’t like Sebek didn’t understand. After all, Sebek saw the pain the knight had put Malleus, Lilia, and his grandfather through.

However, there was no need for Silver to carry that blame.

He shouldn’t carry the fault of his ancestors. Master Lilia didn’t blame him. That was obvious from the fact that the old general raised him to be strong. Stronger than Sebek.

There was no need for him to run away like this and disappear. Silver--

Sebek kicked an item across the floor.

“Dammit Silver!” His body quivered with emotion until his knees nearly gave out from under him.

Why didn’t he talk to him? Why didn’t that idiot ever talk to anyone?!

Why did Silver always have to keep it in? Didn’t he know the trouble he caused by doing so?

“And that’s why he never spoke up,” a wicked voice whispered in his mind. “Because, in a childish attempt to make yourself feel better, you talked down to him, insulted him, and told him he wasn’t enough.”

‘No, I…’ He never meant to. Alright, so he was jealous of Silver.

Even though Silver was a mere human and dozed off every fifteen minutes, he usually surpassed Sebek.

In combat, Sebek could count on one hand how many times he had won against Silver.

Then, when Malleus taught them magic for the first time, Silver caught on right away, while Sebek struggled for years before he managed to cast a single spell.

And Sebek had no doubt that Silver would be performing better academically if it weren’t for the latter's sleep spells.

So, Sebek made comments to make himself feel better, so what? Silver should have known that he didn’t mean them, right? It wasn’t his fault if Silver misunderstood.

“Look at you. Even now, you’re talking down about him.”

‘I’m not!’ he defended himself. ‘I—Silver’s the one who overreacted and caused problems for everyone! I’m just stating the facts.’

“Oh, you want facts? Here’s some facts for you,” his inner demon mocked. “Silver is the child of Lilia and Malleus’ enemy, who slew Princess Malenore, leading Lilia to mourn her death and Malleus to grow up without a mother.”

‘So--’

“And since the day you met, you always told Silver that he owed Lord Malleus and Master Lilia for raising him, despite the fact he was human,” The voice continued, sending a chill through him. “Well, how could he ever repay them for that, hm? There’s no way, is there?” Sebek shook his head so harshly that it was a wonder he didn’t dislocate his neck.

Shadows were created from the peridot fires of the crackling hearth. These shades seemed to surround Sebek in a circle, their shapes taking on the familiar shape of another teen. Though the had no expressions, Sebek felt they were judging him, blaming him just like the monster in his head.

The boy’s body began to tremble, his throat dry. He swallowed before parting his lips.

When he spoke, his words came out harsh and biting.

“That’s not—”

“Isn’t it? You always blamed and pressured Silver for things that weren’t his fault. Why wouldn’t he think the same this time around?” the voice asked him. “That’s why he ran. Because he knew you would blame him. He knew you would blame him for the sins of his father. For Lilia and Malleus’ pain. He knew that the price the two paid was too high and that he could never pay them back them. That’s why Silver’s gone.”

“No, that’s not true!” Sebek found himself yelling, tears streaming down his face unbidden. He had fallen to his knees, his fingers trying to dig into the stone.

“He’s gone. And it’s your fault.” With a last whisper, the voice left, leaving Sebek in silence.

The boy’s entire being shook, racked with tears.

“It’s not true,” he whispered, trying to rid himself of the guilt that threatened to push him into the ground.

He never meant...He never...!!

SLAM!

He pounded a fist into the floor so hard that the stone cracked. He growled.

“DAMMIT! This isn’t how it ends! I REFUSE to let it!” he declared to the empty room. It couldn’t.

This couldn’t be how years of living as each other’s rivals, best friends, and even brothers ended. A misunderstanding couldn’t ruin all that!

Right?

--

Next->

A/N: Well, you all tune in for pain, so here’s the pain.

Sebek Notes:

*Just for the record, I know Sebek doesn’t hold any malice in his comments and I know that Silver knows that as well. (Though I argue that he’s internalized some.) I'm also very much aware that Sebek talks Silver up just as often as he puts the other down. Sebek’s just blaming himself because he’s hurting and right now there’s no one for him to talk to.

[bonkwosher]

Hello everything is fine? are you still getting requests? if so, i'll do mine, can i ask alan grant for something? (there's so little about this man on Tumblr 🥺). It would be in the 3rd movie, where Alan's wife and him are having a lazy morning and then they're already in the mess of the movie, maybe Alan's sweetheart ends up getting hurt and he blames himself... Idk, do whatever comes to that brilliant mind of yours, sorry, too much information for you! Kisses

A/N: I am so madly in love with Alan Grant & am convinced he's heavily neurodivergent. I'm going to watch the third movie while I write this.

Pairing(s): Alan Grant x GN!Reader

Contains: Reader gets injured, DINOSAURS, being Alan's partner (marriage), death, a lot of movie content due to the request

You & Alan had just gotten home from another one of his speeches. He was drained, all they wanted to hear about was Jurassic Park. You pulled him into the bedroom & fell asleep in his arms. He was definitely not complaining, you kept him sane. That morning was slow. He finally had a break from speeches & was able to get back to his digs. Digs made him happy so you too were happy. He didn't have a nightmare, he just peacefully slept. The fact that Alan woke up long before you & stayed in bed, not even getting ready to go amazed you. Don't get me wrong, he loved you to death, but he was also so desperately in love with his dig. You enjoyed breakfast together & spent the morning cuddling on the couch while Alan read. Finally, around noon, he left for the dig site.

You were surprised that night when Alan brought you to dinner with himself, Billy, & two strangers. They seemed like rich snobs just looking for a new thrill. Either way, the dinner was nice. That is, until the couple brought up bringing Alan back to the island.

You put your hand on Alan's lap & spoke sternly, "I'm sorry but you have the wrong man, Alan will not be going back to the island."

Alan held your hand & agreed with you, but when the man pulled out a checkbook offering to write any number... Alan was convinced. His dig was in desperate need of funding & with this he could have it forever. The only way you would let him go was if you came with him. It sparked an argument that night but in the end, he let you come along.

That all felt like yesterday, but it was far from that. Alan felt a wave of guilt hit when they said they would land the plane. He thought you would be safe, he had to ensure that they didn't land. Needless to say, that plot failed when Cooper knocked him out cold. You rushed to his aid, he was okay, just unconscious. When they landed the plane you directed Billy to stay with your husband while you encouraged the Kirbys to come back inside. It went from Spinosaurus to T-Rex in a matter of seconds. The plane was totaled & two men had already died. You were now, more than ever, amazed that your husband had made it through Jurassic Park.

You ended up together inside what seemed to be a research lab. Snacks in hand, courtesy of Billy breaking the vending machine, you were now exploring.

"Is this how you make dinosaurs?" Ms. Kirby asked softly.

"No, this is how you play god," Alan's signature pessimism shone through, not that you could blame him in your situation.

Screams drew everyone's attention to Ms. Kirby, a raptor among the group. Alan grabbed your hand & led you down a hallway, everyone else following in tow. Billy & Ms. Kirby ran into one cage while the rest climbed into the other. The former two managed to trap the raptor & everyone ran outside.

"Oh my god, it's calling for help," Alan noted, making chills run down your spine.

Alan directed the group into a herd of parasaurolophuses. Billy dropped his camera bag, only for it to be picked up by Alan.

"Into the trees!"

You managed to climb into a tree with the Kirbys, hearing Udesky yell out in pain. The raptors must've got him. Silence hung over you for a moment.

"Mr. Kirby!" Billy yelled out.

"Billy?!"

You could see Billy in an adjacent tree, "Is Alan with you?"

"Oh god," you spoke softly.

Alan was gone & you had no idea where he was. You froze & spaced out as the Kirbys tried to help Udesky. The raptors had created a trap, almost killing Ms. Kirby. You tried to help Ms. Kirby & slipped, getting scratched up by one of the raptors. Billy pulled you up while Mr. Kirby helped his ex-wife.

"Oh god, Y/N. Are you okay?" Billy quickly got behind you to check your back.

You winced as Billy moved your shirt, three long claw marks dragged down your lower back. You were lucky they had their eyes on Ms. Kirby & 'grazed' you. Billy grabbed some bandages from his pack & dressed your wound.

"Alright, is that better?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, thank you."

You & Billy decided to call around for Alan while the Kirbys stayed in a tree & talked. When it got too dark to see five feet in front of you, Billy placed a hand on your shoulder.

"We need to rest, Y/N," he didn't let his voice go over a whisper.

"No, Alan is out there alone!" You did quite the opposite.

"I know he is, he survived Jurassic Park. You think he won't make it through this?"

"I'm staying here till he gets back."

"No, Y/N. It's not safe down here. Let's go back in the tree, we'll keep searching in the morning. I promise."

"But-"

"Alan would kill me if I let you get in any more danger, or worse. Please spare my life, Y/N," Billy tried to bring a little levity.

A small smile formed, hell, you'd kill to hear Alan say anything. Even if it had to be him yelling at Billy. You agreed & followed Billy up into the tree.

It was the next morning, Billy was leading the group through the trees. You stopped at a river to drink some water. Billy pulled the Kirbys aside to talk outside of your earshot. After a moment, Billy called for you to follow again. The forest was thick & the only sound that floated amongst you was the leaves hitting everyone's body as they brushed past.

A distant yelling caught the group's attention, "Mom! Dad!"

Mr. & Ms. Kirby ran off towards the yelling, causing the rest of the group to follow, "Eric!"

You arrived at a fence & saw a boy running with Alan. The Kirbys dramatically hugged their son while you did the same with Alan.

"I thought you were dead!" You cried, Alan's touch forcing a wave of pent-up tears out at last.

"Don't worry, hon. So did I, but we're together now."

"Boy am I glad to see you," Billy spoke as you pulled away from your husband, "Hey, you got my bag."

"Yeah... Lucky strap," Alan smirked before stepping back.

"Want me to carry it?"

"'Have to find a gap here," Alan seemed to miss Billy's question, or maybe he wanted to have extra luck on his side.

The three of you looked around for a second, finally hearing the Kirbys.

"How did you find us?" Mr. Kirby asked.

"The phone, that stupid jingle from the store! I heard it!"

"My phone?"

"Yeah, your satellite phone!"

Ms. Kirby seemed confused, "Where is it?"

"I don't have it!"

"Well, when did you use it last?"

"Oh! Uh... On the plane! I got a call on the plane."

Mr. Kirby paused, causing Ms. Kirby to get scared, "What? What?!"

"I lent it to Nash, he must've had it when he-"

Mr. Kirby looked past his son with fear in his eyes, causing everyone to join him. The spinosaurus was staring hungrily at Alan & Eric, the phone ringing from deep within its stomach.

Alan's whisper made your stomach drop, "Run!"

The two ran off to their left & the group followed on the other side of the fence. Alan followed Eric through a hole in the fence & narrowly escaped a headbutt from the spinosaurus. Once you were a decent amount away from your prehistoric assailant, everyone paused to catch a breath. It only lasted a matter of seconds before the spinosaurus backed up, then lunged through the fence, chasing you all down again. The group found a short-term sanctuary in a building not far from the fence, Alan & Mr. Kirby closing & locking the door.

You fell into Alan's arms, surprised that the chase had you so winded. Alan's hands slid down your back & you jumped, crying out in pain. Alan froze thinking he hurt you somehow & began to apologize. You cupped his face in your hands.

"No, it's okay. It's just-" You paused & looked up at Billy, "I got hurt."

"What? Where? How? Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have brought you to this fucking island," Alan cursed himself as Ms. Kirby covered Eric's ears.

"When the raptors chased us to the trees I was good, well, until they got Udensky. He was hurt & Ms. Kirby went to try to help she fell. I tried to help & slipped, catching myself on the branch & they may have..." your voice fell to a murmur, "Scratched down my back."

"What?" Alan looked up at Ms. Kirby then back to you.

"I got hurt but I'm fine, don't worry. It can wait till we get off this island."

"Y/N, let me see."

You sighed & turned around bringing your hands behind your head to grab the hem of your shirt. You pulled it up slowly, trying to not irritate the wound. The bandages were a little bloody but the wounds seemed to have closed. Alan's voice caught in his throat. He wanted to say a million things at once. 'I'm so sorry for taking you here,' 'it should have been me,' 'Fuck you Ms. Kirby,' 'Billy how the hell did you let this happen,' etc. Alan stepped forward & pulled your shirt down over your wound, bringing you back to face him. He hugged you tightly, avoiding the wounds, & let his head rest on yours.

"I love you," he mumbled into your hair.

"I love you too, darling. Do you mind if I sit down, I'm a bit tired."

Alan pulled away, "Yeah, be careful."

He decided to look out the window to see if there was another way out of this building. His eyes kept finding their way back to you despite his new mission.

"Alan d'you wanna give me the bag back?" Billy more insisted than asked.

Alan clearly thought it was just a question, "It's okay Billy, I got it."

"Please give me the bag," Billy insisted, causing Alan to turn around, "It's not safe."

Alan opened the bag slowly to reveal two raptor eggs. You looked up at Billy & swallowed thickly.

"Raptor eggs. Did you steal raptor eggs?" Alan asked, the dumbfounded look almost immediately being replaced by a smirk, "Now it all makes sense."

"I swear- if I'd known that you were going to end up with them-" Billy paused, "I took them on an impulse, they'd be worth a fortune, I thought they'd be enough to fund the dig site for another ten more years... Look you have to believe me this was a stupid decision but I did it with the best intentions."

As Billy talked, the gears only turned faster in Alan's head, "With the best intentions. Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions," Alan paused & looked at you, "I left my partner with a bumbling idiot. If you didn't grab those eggs they'd be fine!"

"Alan, I couldn't have known-"

Alan gritted his teeth, "Billy, as far as I'm concerned, you're just as bad as the people that built this place."

Well, you surely jinxed it. Alan did end up yelling at Billy. Alan walked to the window & held the eggs out, he paused. Alan turned to look at the group before bringing the eggs back inside.

"What are you doing, those things are after us because of those," Mr. Kirby began.

"Those things know we have the eggs. If I drop them in the river, they'll still be after us."

"What if they catch us with them?"

"What if they catch us without 'em?" Alan asked, always a flare for the dramatic, "There's a boat at the bottom, down river, we can try to make it to the coast at least."

Alan grabbed your hand & took you to the front of the group with him, you'd be considered 'lucky' if you managed to escape his gaze ever again. He led you down a rusty, metal spiral staircase, hellbent on getting you out of there alive.

You never did end up being able to escape his gaze. Everyone made it out & Alan forgave Billy... it took a lot of convincing from you. You picked up the job of getting sponsors for the dig & were actually really good at it. You kept the dig up & running & Alan got to see you more. It was perfect, the one good thing you got out of that stupid trip to Isla Sorna. It would be safe to say he blames himself for ever getting separated from you on the island. You've picked up giving Alan little shoulder squeezes as you walk around the dig or sitting & reading while he's hard at work. Alan didn't have enough words in the world to describe how you amazing you made him feel.

A/N: I'm obsessed with Alan Grant & made this in one sitting. Please, anyone, request more for him &/Or Ian Malcolm. I beg of you.

[deafblindshorty]

So, I started rewatching both Glee and White Collar

I remember there was an influx of fanfictions and Tumblr posts of White Collar/Glee crossovers where Cooper Anderson (Blaine's brother) is Neal Caffrey.

I figured out how this could work.

So, Neal's parents got divorced when Neal was 3 years old and they went into WitSec. Later, Neal's mother Pam Caffrey-Bennet remarried a man whose last name is Anderson in Ohio. They had a son together, Blaine. Funny story, Blaine's mom seems like an unattentive alcoholic which is also how NEAL'S mom seems from what we know of her! That's why there's an age difference between the Anderbros.

Now, I know Gina Gershon is only 15 years older than Matt Bomer, and James was a cop, so he was no older than 25 when he was arrested, so he was around 22 when he had Neal with Pam who was 19 at the youngest (when she had Neal).

Neal was born in 1977, Blaine in 1995 (that is an 18-year age difference between the two!

....Actually, maybe that wouldn't work, after all. Another problem is the flashbacks when Blaine and Cooper were younger. Cooper was 14 and Blaine was 4. But then again, Blaine can be a bit of an unreliable narrator sometimes. Neal was 22, already living in New York, and working for Adler by then. Maybe it was Blaine's cousin who really is 10 years older than him and he's misremembering (which is why Cooper doesn't remember).

So, Neal worked with the FBI for 3 years (per season 6). So, if he started working there in 2009, he faked his death in 2012, which tracks with "Big Brother" in Glee season 3! Instead of going straight to Paris, Neal went to Ohio to check up on his brother before leaving for good. Okay, so Neal could still be hypercritical and unsupportive to Blaine, but he only acts that way so Blaine won't become too attached to him to keep him safe from his enemies. Kind of like a "break his heart to save him"/"cruel to be kind" thing. He did a few commercials that were filmed in New York City (He would tell Peter it's a way for him to make some cash) and pretended to have an acting career to keep up appearances.

After leaving Lima, Neal pretended to have been rejected and suffered a breakdown from too many rejections and quit his career and left for Europe to find himself. He still kept in touch with Blaine, though, but all the while, keeping his distance.

Also, a little side note, they should have cast Oscar Isaac as Cooper. He looks more similar to Blaine than Bomer does (Plus, he's not a bad singer)! Bomer was probably cast because A) He's gay and B) Because of White Collar, but still!

[strawberryblondebutch]

what are your top 10 ships? in order? 👀

Ten? TEN?!

Christ. Okay. There's gonna be some rarepairs and some crackships on here and I'm not going to apologize.

Cheryl Blossom/Veronica Lodge (Riverdale) - Sorry not sorry putting this number one. I've been on this train for over half a decade. I feel like I have a red string board about how the narrative implicitly connects them but the writers are cowards. Justice for Camila Mendes, who spent seven seasons trying to kiss women and the writers kept putting her back in straight relationships.

Dinah Lance/Zatanna Zatara (DC Comics) - This is explicitly the comics canon, because I don't think they've really interacted in any other forms. Admittedly this one has less to do with the ship and more the fact that Zatanna is my pathetic bisexual wet cat and no one at DC seems interested in examining her trauma through anything besides her relationships with men.

Sam Carpenter/Kirby Reed (Scream) - God. The wasted potential here. The Scream franchise has never written a protagonist that wouldn't be better as a lesbian. The shared trauma. The height difference. Can they both get some goddamn rest.

Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler (Stranger Things) - This one has dropped to four because of my umbrage with the fandom in general, which I know I don't need to explain to you. But besides Natalia and Maya having so much chemistry, Robin being the only one who consistently listens to Nancy and vice versa is so important to me.

Yelena Belova/Kate Bishop (Marvel Cinematic Universe) - Once again, specifically in the MCU. Again, Hailee and Florence have such amazing chemistry, and their relationship is the natural successor to Clint and Nat. I can't wait to see how the MCU wastes their potential!

Hazel/PJ (Bottoms) - RIP to everyone who loves Josie and Isabel, but you can't give me a local dirtbag and a cringefail butch and not expect me to smoosh their faces together like Barbie dolls.

Kate Bishop/America Chavez (Marvel Comics) - The MCU already decided they didn't want this one by aging America down and Kate up, but this was the ship that originally got me onto Tumblr. They're still kicking ass and taking names forever in my heart.

Betty Cooper/Donna Sweett (Riverdale) - I just think she (bitchy prep school brunette with big eyes) is pretty neat, ok?

Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell (A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones) - They hate to see one girlboss winning, much less two. In a different world, they are Cheronica in a different font. Stop booing me, I'm right.

Laura Kinney/Marc Spector (Marvel Comics) - Are they an M/F ship? Sure are! Have they ever interacted in canon? I don't think so! But this one I can explain - when I did Marvel PBP, my Moon Knight ended up romancing X-23 and now I desperately need them to interact. Their dates mostly involved patching each other up and talking about their trauma.

[crazy56u]

Computer's finally up and running again, so now I get to spend half an hour translating my notes into what might wind up being two text posts due to Tumblr's character limit that I only just now learned was a thing!

In case you forgot, last week, Ziggy got outed as the antagonist, and Ben got knifed.

And already, we're on the Plane Ride from Hell.

Bold move talking about Evil Ziggy while inside the fucking Project.

The leap is going to rely on Google. Ben is fucked.

Not liking that ominous shot of Ian...

Fuck this Grenadine Fucker.

Ben, slap this child already.

Calling it now: Grandma Zelda dies on this flight.

I've never been in an upper floor plane before, but this First Class cabin checks out.

Hey, Ben, maybe don't remind Addison how you almost died last week?

If the handlink is on a "separate system", then Ziggy ain't offline...

Plot Twist: DB Cooper caused the plane crash somehow...

The fucking elevator music...

"Ben, stop being fucking snippy with my, we got a plane crash to stop."

"I hope you choke." If Addison just jinxed the pilot...

Yeah, fuck you, pilot, Ben has Future Google!

Plot twist: Ben has to land the plane.

"What do I do?" "Get back to work! (leaves)"

Oh God, not him again.

I hope Cory dies.

Yeah, I get the Surgeon General exists in the 1970s, but unfortunately, Joe Camel still has his stranglehold on America.

"Why didn't you ask [Leslie] for help?" "Well, I got knifed."

Who the fuck names their kid "Jim Gently"?

Reddit as a plot point, dear God.

AND HE'S CHOKING, GOOD ONE ADDISON

Double murder? Definitely DB Cooper.

Like I always say: Coffee is poison.

I love how Addison is getting pissed over Ben refusing to make friends.

I will laugh if it turns out Holly is innocent.

Calling it: Cory is the hijacker.

Pills and burbon, he knows how to party.

Ian is going to go rogue at this rate.

"It's not just about Ziggy-" Correct, it's about averting a plane crash, chop chop.

Ben, punch Cory already.

Ah, Cory has no friends, and he finally has a purpose!

...okay, that made me laugh. Get fucked, everyone, Ben was in the right for not trusting Leslie!

Well, things has turned slightly...

So, Cory technically caused this.

Maybe they crashed the plane to kill Cory?

Ben has to "Air Force One" this shit.

Holly, now's not the time to be mad at Ben.

How is this working?

"I hope for the best for your granddaughter, ma'am. (stands) SHE HAS HEALTH ISSUES!"

SPLASH!

"Here, have a gun."

"It's all because of me, isn't it?" Yes.

Oh, fuck, Cory was meant to be the Ben analogue this week.

And Bootleg Abe Vigoda to the rescue!

RIOT!

How did Abe Vigoda's clone not die from that?

Ben is becoming Walter White.

"Ben, fucking make friends already!"

You can tell Addison will never live down her misjuding Leslie as being a friend...

Ben's phoning this in, I see. (ba dum tish)

Night night!

"Cory, you can land this, right?" They are fucked.

"We got five minutes until this plane crashes!" Bet.

Cory, tick tock, choke down that fear of fucking up for once in your fucking life!

BTW, two minutes passed by my estimate.

And Ian finally gets to talk to Ben in the Imaging Chamber!

Ah, Ian patched the Imaging Chamber software, quick and easy handwave.

"Look, I know we have to land this plane, but let's rant about lore!"

DO YOU GET THE MORAL YET?!

My guess is that we aren't being shown Cory fix shit because he's violently crying all the while.

About as clean of a land as when the Foo Fighters did. 5/5

And right on cue, Sleepy Joe wakes up.

And Ben dips once more into the blue.

Lois gets to meet Nixon, oh dear God...

Way to kill the mood, Addison.

Oh, goody, we once again are flying blind.

And Ben is in... the future?

...wait, why is-

"Snowing in LA." ""Nuclear winter..."

...

...did Ziggy fucking nuke the Project?!

[Alrighty then, Addison got shot, that was my theory about why Ben had to save her, so, well, check that box off...]

Okay, next week is going to go hog-fucking-wild it seems. NBC, I know you already renewed the show, but announce Season 3 already.

[draintheblood]

Hey!! I’m so sorry about the insomnia thing. I struggled BAD with this for about a year (not continuously thank goodness). It was onset insomnia where I wouldn’t fall asleep until 6-7am. I was exhausted, scared, and desperate.

I’ll relay what ended up helping me. First it’s important to know that my insomnia was a product of extreme anxiety about sleep and exhaustion itself, so all the tips out there about “sleep hygiene” and having a bedtime routine or evening meditation , etc actually made my insomnia worse, because it caused me to obsess too much over the mere concept of sleep and make too big a fuss over the whole process - what should be a natural, easy process when you’re feeling tired, right? Ha, wrong. Brain said no we’re staying awake EXTRA long now.

I relied instead more on distraction, and on reframing the importance I was putting on sleep. All the advice says “stay off your phone!” to get better sleep, but for me having my phone accessible in bed was a godsend to distract me when I would lie down and feel the anxiety and spiraling thought patterns kick up. I’d browse tumblr, or pinterest, read fanfic, and watch ASMR videos - anything that could help keep my mind occupied and not focused on the duality of feeling both exhausted and hyper-awake. This was big for managing it in the moment. Reading a book was also a great thing to do although sometimes hard because it would require turning on the light or sitting up in bed, which frequently felt like too much.

There’s lots of research out there that yells about the “danger” of not getting enough sleep. This definitely contributed to my anxiety. Our bodies are adaptable and resilient. Getting in touch with that deep trust and knowledge is difficult ( esp when the body doesn’t seem to be *cooperating*) but ultimately can make the experience less acutely frightening. Also! There’s research emerging that says that a) we NEED less sleep than we think and b) we often sleep more than we estimate and c) even if you’re lying in bed quietly but awake all night, you’re still getting some valuable rest-induced benefits! That last one was a massive positive discovery and helped me accept my body and mind in the moment and release the intensity of my need for control over how they were both behaving.

Other things that definitely helped over time (not immediately in most cases - it’s okay if it takes a few days or weeks, remember that): magnesium glycinate supplements and magnesium topical lotion/spray before bed, l-theanine throughout the day and evening, phosphatidylserine before bed, getting unfiltered bright morning sunlight each day, using a white noise machine and eye mask. I also found sleep-specific edibles to be really helpful, although I know you mentioned those didn’t work so well for you. It’s highly variable based on formula. I used Kiva brand and that might not be available in your area. They helped take the edge off at night so I couldn’t even get anxious in the first place which is why they worked - so anything similar for you would be a good starting point idea (not alcohol tho - that one screws with your ability to sleep).

Last major thing that helped me was another mindset based shift: I thought about all the days I survived already on slim-to-none sleep, all the things I accomplished and the moments of enjoyment I still was able to have despite the lack of rest and underlying exhaustion. And I reminded myself that I was still capable of living life even without lots of sleep (helps to really think about the times you’ve deliberately chosen to skip out on sleep for really special or fun reasons too! Those count! Those are evidence you can get through it!). Trust your body WILL get the rest it needs, sooner or later. It wants to keep you alive and it’s very VERY good at it in most circumstances, I promise. The brain will catch up to that :) this last tip was super super important, because the sleep anxiety was trying to tell me that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my life at all ever again if I didn’t sleep. But it was wrong, and I sloooowly started to see that it was lying.

Now I rarely go more than a night at a time missing sleep, and it mainly happens when I get stressed about waking up earlier than usual, or an important event. And I understand where the anxiety comes from so I can gently head it off before I spiral into a true insomnia episode. And even if I do have a bad night - I know I’ll get through the next day, and sleep is coming for me soon. Just know that you can and will recover. I hope hearing my story and ideas helps you even a little bit!!

hi, thank you so so much for sending this. you have no idea how much it means. this hits me really hard because it sound so much exactly like what im going through. its so frustrating and annoying especially to me because im a bit of a perfectionist and control freak and when i cant get my brain and body to cooperate with what i want it makes me so angry and it just adds to the anxiousness. what u said about the sleep hygiene also makes so much sense. i always get so frustrated because its one of the first things i do, and even when the conditions are perfect and i still dont sleep i get so mad that i have to jump through all these hoops that the average person doesnt even have to think about and its still not helping. im also a bit of a pessimist when it comes to behavioral thinking patterns.. like for example i would never be a person who was likely to be able to be hypnotized because my brain just shuts down any suggestions or changes because its so rational that like if i try to change my mindset or do some self hypnosis or whatver another part of my brain quickly takes over and is like "of course this wont work on you because your just trying to trick yourself and this is what you REALLY think". but at the same time i have no control at all over my anxiety or thoughts and it just creates this situation thats such a paradox that it feels like theres no way out. its a vicious cycle where the more i cant sleep the more it takes up more and more of my energy and time. i really appreciate the way you worded this. its gonna take some time to make any of these changes, but i'll definitely try. it feels like my whole life revolves around sleeping and failing to do so (and i hate failing, which just makes everything worse) that if i could just reframe it so that it wasnt such an important, dominating part of my mind i think that would be extremely helpful. thank you so much again for taking the time to message me. its even just inspiring to hear someone in a situation so similar to myself was able to recover and make these changes. ♥️♥️♥️ i hope u have a great holiday season !

[smiletimeisrunningout]

4 / 5 / 17 for the munday meme!

@rhogeminid I love you and I'm so sorry that I ended up writing such long answers

Favourite thing about roleplaying?

The cooperative part of it in which we both surprise each other, and not just with each other's muses but with our own doing whatever the hell they want. For example us deciding to have an angsty NO I CAN'T BE WITH YOU thread and then your muses say exactly the right word that makes Emma go 'actually I'm changing my mind' which makes me go WHAT? and then yours says something that makes yours go DID YOU SEE, DID YOU READ, WHAT HAPPENS NOW and then Emma says something stupidly romantic and we are both all OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING EVERYBODY CALM DOWN

That part. The part where we left the characters follow their personalities instead of the planned plots and surprise each other, or answer memes in a way that the other person wasn't expecting and hit each other in the feels... and then come yelling at one another? I can't find that in writing fanfiction, though of course people yelling in the comments come close, but it's just... not the same. I can't surprise myself as much and it's more solitary to me than roleplaying is. Having the other person respond whether ic or ooc with some yelling is my favorite thing ever because we are having fun together!

Least favourite thing about roleplaying?

Don't open this box I'm such a salty person.

There are so many things I'm needlessly fight-y about that it's hard to pick the least favorite lol I'd say that I don't like when people don't read rules/about pages, because the roleplay community talks a lot about how we are all a bit anxious/insecure etc to explain why we don't talk much anymore (and btw I am too, but I also know that for anxious people not responding much is one way to reject the other person, so I push through and then give up if the other person never tries to initiate or sounds legit pissed off that I'm writing to them) and yet it's okay to not read rules and forcing a person to have to do the more embarrassing thing of saying, for example, 'I don't want to roleplay with that muse' (to a multimuse) or 'I don't want to ship that because he's mean to her/doesn't even seem to like her' or 'I'm sorry I'm not into that fandom anymore'. Like, I feel way more anxiety and annoyance at having to re-say things I wrote down EXACTLY TO AVOID THAT, because we are all very much socialized to just go along with it, than I do at pushing myself to ignore the thought that I'm annoying the other person if I go to plot with them so that we can actually write. If you aren't 'in the mood' to read long pages don't follow a blog with long rules. A game is only fun when you don't make the other players uncomfortable. And non mutuals trying to rp fall into this category too! Also because if I roleplay with one X character doesn't mean I'll roleplay with all portrayals of X character, or that I want to roleplay with all the muses that the person writing X character has, or with every similar character to X, so just... read rules, people!

Least favourite trope?

Now let's be clear, we are just talking about what's fun to me, there is no moral judgment here because it's just a matter of 'I like coffee you like tea', but the trope where the man 'finally' shuts up the woman who has a loud personality or is fighty or whatever to return to the status quo of her letting him take the lead because he's really good at kissing her or more, and it's clear that she's just yapping but has no real power in the relationship, instead of it being a 'we cooperate and like each other'? I'm trying to stay on the safe side of tumblr right now but... the concept that you can have male characters be stubborn and loud or fun and if they soften up for love it's so cool meanwhile with a woman this trope becomes putting her in her place because ultimately the man must be in charge? Nope. No. I'm not writing any of my female muses as secretly just wanting a man to take the lead, or as being their mindless cheerleaders who just cry if the man does something bad or beg him to change, but have no decisional power. And you have no idea of how many times in the past I've found myself writing other female muses who were way angrier/figthy and the male muse's intention was to in the end prove they were stronger so they'd stop being like that, or expect Emma who is all sunshiney to be just a supporting character. So I guess my least favorite trope is 'one member of the couple is just a supporting character to the other instead of an equal and specifically the woman if strong must learn that she's never going to be the one making the calls'.

I see it a lot LESS around tumblr now though, which is a relief (been here since 2012). It's why I'm so strict with who I interact with and who I ship with even if it's hard to tell nowadays, but I'm not picking any trope that will result in Emma being muted, like her when she's dumb or leave her.

[xxthought-thiefxx]

Corrupted! AU - A New Friend

1 ➟ 2 (coming soon)

Notes: okay I kinda posted this before but the format kept glitching so here we go again new post entirely (formatting on tumblr is hell I’ve learned).

In the spirit of writing more post— (during?) ao3 crisis, have an AU I came up with a while ago. Think Dvalin’s corruption but make it everyone and Celestia is the source (or to those who know what this means: Underfell vibes but genshin). Lumine is the traveler but she’s not named in this part. Also the spacing is weird in the beginning cause tumblr will. fuckimg. delete/duplicate the first paragraph if it isn’t idfk why so whatever, fingers crossed it doesn’t change more stuff after posting this.

w. 702

CW: a lil’ bit of unreality ig?

Summary: Separated from her twin and weaker than ever before, the traveler awakes to a world she knows nothing about. Luckily, a new friend arrives just in time to give her a hand!

((((((((d̷̻̫̻̊̊͛̕ö̷͉͕͙͖̮́n̶̖͔͒̂̈’̵͍̀̑̀͐͗͝t̸̢̲̬̃̾̍̃̆ ̴̭̔̏͐͊̾ĝ̶̛̦̀̾ê̸̻̻̆̃t̸̻͘ ̸͍̬̯̬͇̖̂̉̔t̸͖̏o̸̢̮̩̪̔ö̷̳̳̣̱́͠ ̷̢̨̢̲̯̈͂̾̄ç̴̀͗l̵̗̗̠͉͈̟͗̋̔͑͊̚o̴̩͋͋š̶͕̼͖̾̌̂̕͝ȅ̵̥͖͒͂ ̵̼̣̹̦̂̕̚͜͝͠͝i̴̹͙͔̜̗̐́̄t̵̡̲̖̋̽̒͆̚͝ ̸̟͎̜̒̀̏̈́͑l̷̲͌̄ȉ̴̛̠̘͌̃ȩ̶̬̥́̅̒̚͠s̶̛̜̗͈̖͂͌̒͘͝ ̷̲̭̙̙͌̃̊͊́Į̸̛̬̻͔̊̑T̵̢̧͔͍͇̎̆ ̷̩̭̫͒͋̈́̾L̷̙̣̿́̀I̸͓̹̠͔͇͕̿͑͂̈́E̸̻͚̼̳̗͉͑̃͛͊̃́S̵̰͉̺̅))))))))

There was almost no difference before the traveler woke and after. The sky was just as black as the back of her eyelids had been; the air just as quiet as her own unconsciousness. It was only as she shifted that she realised she was laying down, atop hot sand and jagged shells. Carefully, the traveler pushed herself up, finally noting the ocean before her, lit up only by the moon’s sickly rays. Waves gently lapped at the shore in front of her, but they made no noise.

“Hi there!”

The squeaky voice thundered through the dead silence. On instinct, the traveler reached for a sword that was no longer there and rolled to her feet—

—only to immediately stumble. She was weakened. Now that she was paying attention, she realised she was operating at but a fraction of her usual power.

What the hell did that god do?

She blinked, focusing on the fact she was no longer alone. Before her was a type of being she had never seen before. It could’ve almost passed for a person, maybe a child, but it seemed too... inhuman.

Had she been anyone else, the traveler would’ve thought it cute. But with the worlds she had seen, the experience she had gained, she knew better. The creature’s innocent grin had teeth too sharp. Its bright-eyed stare was unfathomably deep. A quick blink confirmed that her Sight still remained, an ability she frequently discarded in favour of her more impressive powers. Ironically, or perhaps fittingly, it seemed to be one of the only few she could access.

The Sight acted different in each world she encountered; for every new world she was forced to learn the new meaning assigned to each colour (another reason for its underuse— her brother was the patient one, not her). But in all the places she had been; with all the things she had seen, the traveler had never come across one colour.

Black. Not a dark grey, or an inky blue, but the most infinite of blacks she had ever witnessed. Tendrils of darkness wrapped around the flying creature, slithering over its face and spilling from its mouth, viscous as strings seemed to float through the air towards her—

She blinked again. Gone. The flying creature hovered before her. The traveler assumed she hadn’t been staring for long, and she had certainly forced her face into cooperation lest she give away her horror, but she also couldn’t know if the creature would behave appropriately if she had lost too much time.

Either way, still grinning, it swayed closer to her face.

“Paimon’s name is Paimon!” it chirped. She didn’t dare use her Sight again, not wanting to know how much of that void was making contact with her. “Who are you?”

She hesitated. She wasn’t a fool; some names had power, and some beings had power over names— there were too many reasons to withhold that information.

“I’m…” she paused, carefully choosing her next words, “I’m a traveler—”

“You’re new to Teyvat?” The creature rocketed backwards, barely letting her finish. Its expression of shock was comical and scandalised and... everything but surprised.

She considered how it had only spoke once she was visibly awake; how it had not been in her line of sight beforehand, when surely to be approached that quickly it must have been already moving over to her prone form; how the creature had never mentioned her unconsciousness despite the beach’s flatness allowing one to see all the way to the other end. She considered the convenient timing of this creature once she had awoken, confused and lost and presumably, however incorrect the presumption was, scared.

“Oh! Oh! Paimon has an idea— Paimon could be your guide!” It twirled around for added effect, splaying its palms and shaking them.

The traveler couldn’t trust this creature. She could see its frightening aura, sense its attempts of deception and was unnerved by its false innocence.

But... the traveler was also in completely unknown territory. She was virtually powerless, uncertain of what to do next and— without her brother —alone.

The traveler had never been alone.

In the end, that was all it took for her to say yes.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS, RESOURCES AND STUDIES, EARLY JULY 2023

As expected when I posted the recent Etsy and SEO news update in June, I didn't get much time during my road trip to work on the other portion. So here it is, covering ecommerce sites, social media, content marketing and lots of other things small and microbusinesses might need to know.

I've also updated my Tumblr theme to make it easier to read and more accessible overall. Please let me know what you think!

Finally, the next update will be out in a few weeks, and will contain everything together in one post again. If you don't want to wait for it, follow me on Twitter or on LinkedIn for more timely news.

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

You can now pay for a verified Meta account, and unlike Twitter, they actually verify your ID. 

Speaking of Twitter, Meta’s copycat app Threads took off rapidly, hitting over 100 million signups in the first week. 

If you have a Facebook or Instagram Shop, note that many countries will need to use Meta’s checkout as of April 24 2023.  While the US is one of those countries, the following places will not have to change anything at this moment: “Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, U.K. and Ukraine”.

Wonder how Facebook ranks posts these days? Search Engine Land covered the topic for you. 

Meta is pulling all news content in Canada after a new law passed that makes platforms pay media sources for their content. Google followed. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn recently changed its algorithm, and is giving more weight to people you follow, and to “knowledge and advice”.

Make sure you are using LinkedIn content analytics to see how your posts are performing. The company released some tips on how to get more views and interaction on your ads and posts. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is introducing Amazon ads that lead directly to Amazon so browsers can buy there. This is expected to take a few years to fully roll out. 

The Shuffles feature is particularly popular with Generation Z women. 

Reddit

Yes, you can use Reddit to promote your business, but it is tricky. “It’s perfectly fine to be a Redditor with a website; it’s not okay to be a website with a Reddit account.”

TikTok

TikTok is selling its own products through the app, called “Trendy Beat", although this is only happening in the UK so far. The items seemed to be based on trending videos. 

TIkTok is the latest to test searching by image, in its Shop feature. 

Twitter

The Twitter algorithm now promotes Elon Musk’s tweets above all others. Yes, really. 

YouTube

YouTube ended Stories on June 26, but plans on doing more with Shorts in the future. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS (minus social media)

General

Handmade alternative marketplace Artisans Cooperative has settled on its organisational structure now that they are moving forward with incorporating the co-op, and enrolling new members. Check their blog for all announcements on their plans. 

A new California initiative involves both ecommerce and brick and mortar businesses to help track down stolen items. Each site agrees to “assign staff and tools—dedicate webpage, online portal, or point of contact—to address concerns of theft that come in from retails or law enforcement, and to monitor listings “to affirmatively prevent and detect” organized crime.”

50% of online shopping trips start at Amazon, amazingly enough. Google comes in second. After peaking last year, TikTok’s share of product searches has dropped. 

Many merchants are reconsidering their return policies, and even free shipping. 

Amazon

Some Amazon sellers had huge issues with verifying their information to comply with the INFORM Act. The deadline for completing verification was July 7, after which Amazon will place a hold on all payments. 

Amazon will now charge US buyers for returns to UPS stores. 

Many backpacks made for adults were removed from Amazon automatically, and sellers were told they needed to show proof the packs had met children’s safety standards. 

BigCommerce

BigCommerce has followed Shopify in raising fees for the same amount, although existing users didn’t see the increase until June 1. As with Shopify, site owners can keep their current rate by opting for the annual package. 

eBay

If you are worried about eBay showing your home address to prospective buyers (due to the INFORM Act), you can apply for an exception. 

Ebay international shipping is available to US-based stores now, but there are a lot of complaints. Other recent eBay announcements and plans are discussed here in coverage of the summer Seller Update. 

Sales on eBay continue to drop, as do buyers. Here’s coverage of the 4th quarter report written for sellers, and the 1st quarter 2023.

eBay is now offering Canadian collectible sellers a new “Expedited Lite” Canada Post rate that costs as little as $5.85 to send 200 grams from Toronto to Yellowknife. Tracking and $100 insurance are included. [Attention other platforms - Canadians need these cheap rates!]

Poshmark

Poshmark now operates in the United Kingdom. 

Poshmark joined the vast majority of large ecommerce sites in the past year by laying off employees, although the reported numbers were just 2% of the workforce. 

Shopify 

After making big moves to enter the fulfillment market, Shopify sold off the logistics network to Flexport, which it will continue to work with, as well as owning 13% of Flexport’s stock. 

Shopify is resisting a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) request for 6 years of tax records for 121,000 stores. Note that the CRA must get a judge to approve such a request, which they filed for in April 2023. 

Shopify managed to beat the market estimates for the 4th quarter 2022, but predicts growth will continue to slow

There are ways to make your Shopify site more accessible for various disabilities; for some larger merchants, this is a legal requirement.

All Other Marketplaces

Bonanza is trying to improve its shipping label options, with the first step being decreasing the cost of USPS labels. It also now has a synced eBay importer, and is expanding its loan program to more sellers. 

Michael's has finally opened its maker supply online marketplace to third-party sellers. While this initial group of merchants was invited, the company is now accepting applications from experienced ecommerce merchants. Fees are a flat 15% commission, so no monthly subscriptions, listing fees or even payment processing fees (apparently). There is also a Shipstation integration. This could be a good channel for high-volume supply sellers who make/design their own products, especially if they work in a niche Michael’s doesn’t already service. Note that their makers website that would compete directly with Etsy is now taking a waitlist. 

Kohl’s opened a third-party marketplace, which includes their loyalty program benefits for buyers. 

All Other Website Builders

Squarespace bought Google Domains, but Google is still a domain registrar, and this should not affect your Google rankings. 

Payment Processing

Apple is very late to the buy-now-pay-later game, introducing Apple Pay Later for some users. 

Shipping

There is a UPS strike looming; the union contract expires August 1. This could not only affect businesses who ship products via UPS, but also those of us who order supplies etc. 

Also note that the port workers in British Columbia are on strike as of July 1. “Analysts have said a strike could have a significant impact on worldwide shipping and the Canadian economy. According to the Maritime Employers Association's website, its members contribute $2.7 billion to the national GDP and handled roughly 16 per cent of Canada's total traded goods worth $180 billion in 2020.”

Chinese ecommerce businesses could lose their US tariff exemption, which allows companies in China to ship to the US cheaply. The bill is not yet law. 

USPS raised stamp prices and combined several services into the new USPS Ground Advantage plan, as of July 9.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Is your small business making some common content marketing mistakes? 5 frequent errors and their solutions. 

Email welcome pages are a good way to increase sales from your list. “Imagine a shopper subscribes and is sent immediately to a page that, first, shares the discount code and, second, includes a short (30-second) welcome video that explains how to apply the code — without having to check email.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (NOT SOCIAL MEDIA OR ECOMMERCE SITES)

Advertising through “retail media” (such as Amazon) will probably be greater than television ad revenue by 2028. “Retailers from Amazon, Walmart and Target to grocers such as Carrefour, Ahold Delhaize, Tesco and Sainsbury's are working aggressively to attract big advertisers to their websites” which could constitute more than 15% of all advertising spend by 2028.

Google’s Merchant Center will be getting easier to use next year, with the introduction of Merchant Center Next. Looks like complicated product feeds will be a thing of the past. 

Google Ads users are encouraged to import the conversion info from Google Analytics 4, to potentially improve ad performance. 

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Many sites are incorrectly reporting visits as direct when they actually come from sources such as social media; here’s a study showing how that can break down. 

Google’s latest instructions for migrating from Google’s Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 even includes videos. If you don’t like Google’s explanation, here is another good tutorial [video and transcript] And here is a detailed outline of how to track organic search traffic in GA4, and how to set up site search.  Don’t worry if you haven’t migrated your account yet - although it will not collect new data starting some time after July 1, 2023, Google will transition the account to GA4 for you, and will also let you download your old Universal Analytics data for the next year. If you didn’t update to GA4 yourself, you are in the majority of website owners. 

Once you do start with GA4, make sure to connect with the Search Console and activate reports. There are also some reports you cannot get with GA4, but this article explains what you can come close to replicating from the old version. 

You can now move all of your Google Search Console data into Google’s BigQuery, which is great for really large sites. If you struggle to digest the info provided by Google Search Console, then you might be interested in a few integrations to make things easier. Some are even free! 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

How to answer common buyer questions to make purchasing easier (and more likely!)

Generation Z (born from 1997 to 2012) uses social media differently than other age groups, and that affects how you can market to them. Check out the different values and behaviours they have as a group. 

Many sole proprietorships struggle with how to deal with demanding customers. Maybe you should fire them instead? [Twitter thread] Example: “Bad Clients are “un-leveragable”. You cannot

Learn from them

Use them as references

Earn a good margin to fuel your biz

Factor the intangibles when calculating your ROI. Not everything that counts can be counted.”

Consumers are always changing how they shop and buy; here’s some data from the end of last year, explaining that buying through social media is slowly growing, among other points. Also, “42% of consumers have chosen a product based on it being made by a small business in the last three months, up 8% from May 2022.” Hubspot also released more data on the social media angle of the research, giving reasons why some buyers are still hesitant. 

US ecommerce sales were up 3% in the first 3 months of 2023. The total was $272.6 billion.

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Need new icons for your website? Here are 20 free sets. 

And here are some free web design tools, although you should note many use AI. 

[lovebird17]

I posted 10,274 times in 2022

That's 2,686 more posts than 2021!

8 posts created (0%)

10,266 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@i-am-an-adult-i-swear

@birdburrito

@silverjirachi

@myliobatiste

I tagged 162 of my posts in 2022

#adhd - 7 posts

#like wtf - 3 posts

#add - 3 posts

#the netherlands - 3 posts

#excellent sponsored post op - 3 posts

#neurodivergent - 3 posts

#ah yes - 2 posts

#no - 2 posts

#ofmd - 2 posts

#like real people do - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#incidentally my mum and i finally got along once she divorced my dad and i started living with her full time in my late teens

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I am loving this function of being able to see all the tags people have added to posts. Prev tags? Sure, lemme check the notes.

5 notes - Posted February 7, 2022

#4

A post here reminded me of how much I love Hannah Gadsby.

[Angry white men] are like the canaries in the mine, aren't they? If they're having a tough time, the rest of us are goners.

9 notes - Posted January 19, 2022

#3

Me: oh, lovely, they're doing a fun thing with English lit, nice! Unfortunately I don't have time for it, I would have loved to partake. I have never actually read Dracula. I really should do that at some point.

Also me: finds the Dracula book I bought for my 19th century lit course and suddenly remembers the essay I wrote on the feminisation of Johnathan Harker.

Ah, yes, thank you, brain

40 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#2

@xiaq my book arrived!!! I was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to find it here in the Netherlands, but my favourite bookstore came through and was able to order it for me 😁😁

Can't wait to read it and see how it's changed!

47 notes - Posted September 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So for all you people with executive dysfunction, specifically you ADHD folk, there's a trick I've been using for a while now to get out of it that I call the Lift-A-Finger™ (except, y'know, not actually TM, because in this economy???)

But what, Birdy, is the Lift-A-Finger™? I hear you ask. Well! You remember those times when you sat down and you tried to do something? You had a whole list of plans, you knew which order they had to go in, but your executive dysfunction simply made it impossible to actually do it? If you are anything like me, you might be suffering from this right now, as you are reading this.

And while your body refuses to cooperate, your mind is screaming bloody murder and demanding you lift a finger once in your goddamn life, you (insert one of the many things people have said about you which were wrong that you have since internalised)!!!

So, instead of doing any of the tasks that seem so incredibly insurmountable and impossible, instead I want you to take a moment, do as your brain demands and literally lift a finger.

That's it. You stop your doomscrolling, your binge watching, your game replays for a second, and you consciously lift a finger.

This is not an impossible task, it is not even a hard task, or a long task, or a boring one. It literally takes a second and then you can continue what you're doing. Except. Now you've done A Thing. You get to cross off one of your to-dos (of which you probably have many) and this makes it so much easier to get up to do another thing.

It is also an incredibly effective tool at recognising your mental state. I have had moments where lifting a finger took me minutes. Actually acknowledging that yes, tasks are hard, made it easier for me to relax my load a bit and do the few things I could do. But I've also had moments where I thought of it, did it immediately and nothing changed. That's okay, too. I just had to grab a different tool to get up and do what I needed to do.

TL;DR executive dysfunction? Stop for a second and literally lift a finger with Lift-A-Finger™!

272 notes - Posted October 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tigresslanzhu]

Tumblr Exclusive Sing story

Buster Moon was very proud of his new investment. He decided that the best way to connect with his cast and crew would be to take pictures. The camera he bought had all of the flashiest features that rivaled even the built in cameras now put into the latest cell phones.

That didn’t stop him from feeling a little concerned. The main reason for this emotion was Artica Kennedy the Fourth. She was a very pretty white tigress, but she didn’t seem to see it that way. Her face was a little round, she had stubby knees and her belly… it would definitely stick out sometimes, especially in the costumes Buster wanted her to wear in his shows. Because of this, Artica much rather preferred candid photos as opposed to having to stare into the camera. She looked more presentable that way.

“Well, not this time,” Buster thought, “I want Artica to see herself as she is. A the most beautiful person on Earth!”

Buster found Artica sitting in the break room reading about a sea witch.

“Smile, Artica!”Buster encouraged, aiming the camera lens at the story consultant.

“Eeeep! Mr. Moon, what are you doing?” Artica froze.

“I got a new camera! I’ve been taking picture of everyone and now it’s your turn! Show me those pretty teeth!”

“I can’t!” Artica blushed madly, “There’s nothing to take a picture of. I’m a mess from cleaning and your camera will only add a few pounds more!”

“No, it won’t! I’ve notice that Johnny has been gaining weight, but it didn’t show in his pictures. Just give me a grin.”

“You’re only embarrassing yourself, Mr. Moon. What if everyone says they look fat when you show them their pictures? The only difference would be that I really am fat!”

“No, you are not!” Rosita came forward, “Don’t you ever speak that way about Artica! Size doesn’t matter! You are a very beautiful young lady! And not just because of how you look, but because of your kindness. People tend to judge character more than appearances.”

“I suppose…” Artica nodded, “But I really hate taking pictures…”

“Just encourage him, Artica,” Rosita whispered in Artica’s ear, making it twitch, “Mr. Moon’s really proud of his new camera. You’d want to show it around to others too if you got something school idol related that you’re happy to have. It’ll get him off your back quicker too!”

“Fine, Mr. Moon…” Artica pulled off a forced smile, “Chizuu!”

“No, no, Artica! That’s not a happy cheese!” Buster frowned, “That’s an ‘I-don’t-want-to deal-with-this’ cheese!”

Nooshy’s ears picked the phrase up from across the room and appeared by Buster’s side.

“Ooh! Where? I love that brand of cheese!”

Artica laughed while Rosita shook her head.

“NOOSHY, NOT NOW! There’s no such brand as I Don’t Want To Deal With This cheese and you know it! Why do you have to interrupt me when I’m trying to get people to cooperate? How would you feel if I wanted cheese while you were teaching your dance lessons?”

Artica doubled down in laughter at Buster’s childish whining. She loved seeing her boss behave like a baby.

“Mr. Moon, you may want to take her picture now! I managed to get her to smile naturally!” Nooshy smirked.

“No fair, Nooshihihihihihihi!” Artica chuckled.

“Life isn’t fair!” Rosita said, “At least we’ve got you to smile!”

“Okay, okay! You guys win!”

Artica gave the camera a genuine smile as Buster snapped her gorgeous face and body. It would take her a while to love herself, but this was a good start.