#shorter post

[luci4theminorannoyance]

Can I request Horangi, Velikan, Nikto and Gaz being friends with a gn sociopath reader who likes to stick around them to observe how "normal" people act?

a/n: sure!! I finished this one but I forgot to post it and it deleted all my progress :(. This could be read as friends or partners so/

horangi:

-genuinely didn’t notice till someone pointed out how you don’t truly interact with him, more so following him around like an experiment? Bu you were close to him so he ignored it

-doesn’t mind it, truly. Friendship is friendship and company is company, even if your a bit odd about it

-truly clueless when it comes to your motives. If you have any.

velikan:

-noticed the second you started copying his postures and acts, but didn’t think to bring it up

-he genuinely enjoyed your silent company even if it was built off of something other then care, so he didn’t talk of it and neither did you. Like I silent agreement

nitko:

-probably originally became friends with you for a similar reason, but I guess two of a feather flock together?

-you both kind of manage to understand each other in the slightest due to your shared natures, which is why you two make such a good team and close to each other

gaz:

-a bit confused and creeped out by your less then normal ways of thinking, but not enough to stop hanging out with you after noticing it

-got used to it after a while, dewing you as a bit different then others but close to him none the less

[blackpearlblast]

Brown University students are launching an indefinite hunger strike for Palestine

they are asking for their university to divest from companies profiting from the genocide in gaza and openly call for a ceasefire and will not eat until the university governing bodies hears and considers a divestment resolution. if you are not familiar with the physical toll a hunger strike takes on the body, it might be worth looking up to get a better sense of what a significant action these students are taking. the university's highest governing body is having their first meeting of 2024 on february 8-9th so let's rally around them to muster even more pressure on brown university.

brown university contact page: let's state our support for these students and let brown university know the world will be watching what happens next!

additional reading: coverage of this story in the university's student news paper - get to know some of the hunger strikers

[everyonesadoptivedad]

something something height difference something?

[iniro]

i'm still thinking abt their height diff.......[based off this post]

[nipuni]

More of these two 😇

[jgnico]

Is someone gonna talk about the use of signage in yesterday's episode? Do I have to be the one to talk about the use of signage in yesterday's episode?

I know we all saw the billboard beside Choso displaying the abilities of his technique in tandem with the narrator, but there were so many more great uses of the signs in the background to convey information.

The first sign (and also one of the first shots) that we see in the episode is a Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign overlaid by the sound of Yuuji running, followed by Yuuji's shadow itself taking up the position of the pedestrian on the sign. You can read this as the sign telling Yuuji not to proceed to where he's going or as an indication of how the upcoming fight will end for the viewer.

The next sign that we get is one telling us to Go Left, which doesn't really seem important, but I promise you, it is. We'll see a lot of arrows pointing left throughout the episode and every single one of them is pointing away from danger. Go Left to avoid danger, essentially.

These two signs are arguably the most important in the episode, but they aren't the coolest use of visual symbolism that we got, so lets keep going.

The third sign that we see focused on in the episode is a No Running sign that Yuuji passes that says "Do Not Rush. It Is Dangerous." Yuuji, of course, runs past it on his way toward the escalators that lead (for him) to Gojo and (for the viewer) to Choso.

Once he does get to the bottom of the escalators, Yuuji is attacked by Choso immediately and Choso's opening move (Convergence), once Yuuji moves his arms up and away from his face, slices up through the subway cieling and the road above to cut the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign that we saw at the beginning of the episode in half.

We also get out first big Left Arrow, placed immediately in the foreground of the shot and pointing toward the aforementioned sign that's been cut in half (this will be important later), but in a another view, it also points away from station itself. Again, go left to avoid danger.

Our next Left Arrow is on the ceiling between Yuuji, indicating that he should go away from Choso. Interestingly enough, it also points toward the bathrooms that Yuuji will go into later once his fight with Choso in the hallway becomes too dangerous.

That same arrow falls to the floor between them once Choso gets mad after Yuuji tells him about Eso and Kechizu crying, this time pointing directly away from Choso.

Another Left Arrow, this time in a more urgent red. We see this once Yuuji realizes that he's in serious danger, that he'll loose if he continues to fight Choso in the hallway. It's also pointing away from the bathrooms and toward the escalators from Yuuji's point of view beside the bathrooms, indicating that he needs to leave the area entirely.

The previous arrow pointing toward the bathrooms as a safe option has been destroyed and Yuuji has taken some serious damage by the time he moves toward them. The bathrooms are no longer safe. Yuuji needs to leave.

This is followed up by the only Right Arrows that we see focused on in the epsiode, but unlike the Left Arrows, they aren't used to convey how to get away from danger, but rather what is dangerous. Not only do these arrows all point toward Choso outside of the shot, they also have each of his techniques displayed below them.

Once the bathroom fight is over and Yuuji is on death's door, we get a zoomed out shot of his body framed by (two) people cut in half. This sign is shown right before Sukuna makes his only appearance in the episode, where we hear the sound of electricity flickering.

We heard this exact sound earlier from the Left Arrow telling Yuuji to get away from Choso at the beginning of the fight, but I like to interpret it as an audio indicator of Yuuji's life and/or control of Sukuna flickering in and out, becoming weaker.

Side Note: In the previous shot of Yuuji that we get before this one, we see a blade of light cutting Yuuji in half, the same way Convergence cut the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign in half earlier in the episode. This will come into play later in the post, but keep it in mind.

The next time we see these bisected bathroom signs is when Mimiko and Nanako approach Yuuji to awaken Sukuna. Two people framing Yuuji/Sukuna that have been cut, while those same signs are whole in the hallway to the left. Go left to avoid danger applies to the girls here as well.

Our next important set of signs are actually the same sign, a large green arrow in the foreground that points away from where Yuuji's body is. While Choso stumbles away from it (away from Yuuji/Sukuna) the girls walk toward it.

This is also the first Left Arrow that we see point toward Choso, unlike the one pointing away from him at the beginning of his and Yuuji's fight. Choso, at this moment and onward, is no longer a source of danger to Yuuji or to us, the viewer.

And finally, the final shot of the entire episode, our old friend, the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign. Yuuji has lost to Choso, the girls have found him to awaken Sukuna, and we get a focus shot of the Pedestrian that previously represented Yuuji cut in half and covered in blood.

I mentioned earlier that we get another shot of Yuuji cut in half by a ray of light in the bathroom.

Here is that shot, and the way that I interpret it is as a reminder that Yuuji shares his body. Yuuji's control of his body has been cut off in the same way that the Pedestrian representing Yuuji has had part of it cut away. What's left is the part that Yuuji can't control, the Pedestrian covered in blood.

Additionally, repeated use of a sign showing pedestrians cut in half and bloody can also represent the civilians in Shibuya, especially now that Yuuji no longer has control of his body.

[wiw3]

Help, I Was Frozen for Too Long

I’ve been marinating. I’m a soaked, fatty little steak, laying drenched in a bag far too small to contain me. Like ten pounds of shit in a five pound sack, I feel. My body hates me, and is staying sick for far longer than it should, with lingering symptoms that have been murdering my creativity. 

I’m going to start with a little chitchat since we haven’t really talked in a while. How’ve you been? The kids are okay? Good, good. Murder anyone influential, lately? Me neither.

I started a job with flaws, but far less flaws than my previous one. I’ve just made my first official rent payment and I’m going to be living on my own, hopefully within a week. I want to break that down because it’s been a source of some stress for me. Everything starts bubbling to the surface when you’re about to move out of your parents’ house, because for some reason, you all collectively agree that this is the last time any of you could ever say things to each other.

There’s an unspoken, mutual agreement on both the night of leaving the nest, and prom night, that you will fight with your parents. As a rite of passage, it’s meant to feel wholly unique to you, and like any good rite, it’s grating to experience, and usually in Latin.

But I’m avoiding this fighting, I’m abstaining. I’ve never fought my parents and now isn’t a time to start. Things are fragile, and I’m grateful that they’re even supportive in the first place, because God knows they’ll never understand my writing. Irony this thick doesn’t make it to the parts of the country where my parents grew up.

I keep panicking that I’m not getting enough done, then I wind up getting sick, panicking further to a point where I’ve been sick with a 24-hour bug for 96 hours and counting. If I’m healthy, my superpower of choice has and will always be mind-control, but if I’m ever sick, my choice immediately shifts to be the cure to whatever gross thing is wrong with me that’s making me sniffly, sneezy, and an asshole.

It’s good stress, but it’s still stress. It’s stress knowing that I’m taking good care of myself, finally, but inversely, that the good care I’m giving myself is all I’m likely to get out of life. I need to lower my standards for humanity, I expect everyone to be too good at their jobs, and though I’d never yell at them, it’s frustrating to be forgotten.

My goal is to quietly disappear from life, only sending the obligatory messages that confirm that I’m not dead. Those messages may be coming in the form of slightly-shorter posts for a while, (Obviously if I stumble into a rantworthy topic that just eats at me, I may or may not make an exception) as I work on my stress-management and try to work a routine together. Au revoir!

[happyheidi]

Practical Magic (1999) edit of this post

[frownyalfred]

I love the “Bruce is strong enough to pick up post-Lazarus Jason through sheer will and training” trope obviously, but picture:

Jason and Bruce being so heavy/muscular/fucking big, that they’re the only ones who can pick the other up.

Cue Bruce getting called in anytime Jason’s down and they need to move him. Or Jason getting pointed puppy eyes from Alfred until he sighs and picks Bruce up and carries him to bed after he passes out on the couch.

[dinemunyu]

bYEE i spent way too long on this

I don't own any of the assets used in rebuilding the town and the ui—nah, that's the great work of ConcernedApe. I just merely made two extra buildings to look similar enough to the other buildings in town.

Why stardew though??? idk i couldn't sleep one night and instead detailed out the steps on how I would do this with unity and aseprite because of course I'm still thinking about trigun 24/7; only this time I've recently started playing stardew.

wanted to add Nai, Livio and the rest of the cast but i wanna work on keychains next sooooo

Nai works in the library where books are less likely to offend him. Livio helps around the orphanage. Vash likes to garden and to visit the bakery next door in his free time. Kinda want Zazie to be an absolute menace of a niece that got sent there under their care.

[mothcpu]

sleepy

[zephyrchama]

Vampire MC part II - with Mammon heads up - this one's a bit angsty and there are descriptions of pain

(intro/masterlist can be found here)

Mammon was having a rough time.

He was put in charge of you from the very beginning. You were his responsibility, his human to watch over. He blew it.

Nobody had been allowed near the castle to see you since the incident. Mammon got his ass severely handed to him by Barbatos every single time he tried visit. So for the last month, the second-born spent his time either locked up alone or out at the casino. Though, no amount of winning hands and jackpots could ease the knot of guilt tangled in his gut. He hardly ate and hardly slept. The Avatar of Greed wanted to see you.

Yet when you finally came home, he couldn’t bring himself to knock at your door. What could he say? Pretend like he didn’t royally mess up by letting you out of his sight?

Despite all you'd been through, you had to be the one to reach out. You tapped on his bedroom door with a hesitant "Mammon? Can I see you?"

There was a thud. He might have fallen out of bed in haste. No sooner had the door swung open than you were in Mammon’s arms. He tugged you into a tight embrace, nuzzling his face into your hair. “Man, I am so sorry.”

He feared letting go, he wouldn’t let you disappear again. It was sweet and welcoming and you felt his heart racing. That's the demon you knew.

Mammon clung to you so tightly. He dug his fingers into your sides in a fervent attempt to be closer, but there was something more. A hot sensation. As if boiling water was seeping through your shirt and dripping down your skin.

You hesitated, wondering if it was all in your head. “Wait… Mammon, that hurts.”

“Deal with it.” A whole month of loneliness, all his regret and despair, was packed into this hug. It was an important moment to him.

As the seconds ticked by, the pain grew. It couldn’t have been your imagination. It was searing hot, like a poker fresh off the flames. You pushed back, squirming in pain and confusion, desperate to suddenly escape his grasp.

“Let me go.” You began to panic. “Let me go, Mammon. Now.” You struggled to get away. Right before resorting to the pact, Mammon dejectedly released you, slowly loosening his hold. He gazed at you, pitifully upset.

“What…? Didn’t you want to see me?” His voice quivered.

You sucked in a sharp breath and winced, too preoccupied with rubbing the pain away to listen. It wasn’t getting any better, but at least now it wasn’t getting any worse. It just throbbed.

To investigate, you rolled up a section of your shirt. Around your waist where Mammon had gripped the tightest were deep red rashes. Such spots had not been there before. You didn’t want to touch them. You were starting to feel lightheaded and thirsty and didn’t want to make the situation worse.

“The hell!? I didn’t do that!” Mammon scrambled to your side, uncertain. Afraid to touch you again. “…did I?”

He wanted to do something, anything, to heal you and make you feel better, but what did he even do? He fixated on his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. Were they the issue? They were well-kept, as usual. His nails were trimmed neatly. His skin was flawless. He hadn’t been cursed as far as he could tell, nor had you, aside from the whole vampirism thing.

He stared intensely. Maybe it was one of his new rings. That morning he hadn’t even paid attention to what he put on, anything had been fine so long as it was attention-grabbing and gaudy enough to make him feel influential. A cheap distraction. Mammon flipped his hands, trying to figure out what was wrong. His face contorted into a loathsome scowl as he realized the error of his ways.

With a barrage of swears, he angrily yanked off every last ring.

“Damn it! Can’t believe I did this!” Some of the weaker stones and bands crumbled to dust in his clenched fist. The rest broke when Mammon pelted them at the wall at full force, leaving dent marks in the paint. He patted himself down, frantically emptying his pockets and ripping off a necklace.

You didn’t like seeing Mammon so agitated. It scared you. “What? What’s wrong?” The demons were terrifying when they got angry.

“Silver.” He practically spat the word out, and suddenly it all made sense. Surely Lucifer warned all of his brothers about this as part of your homecoming preparations. Whether they properly listened or not was another story.

A little silver ring could hurt you that much?

“Oh.” You fell down onto Mammon’s couch, dumbfounded that such a common thing was now so dangerous. You probably couldn’t wear some of the jewelry the brothers had gifted you anymore. You laid your head back. The ceiling lights were so bright and dizzying.

"Hey." Mammon knelt on the floor, hands on his knees, eyes level with yours. Close, but not touching. "Tell me what I gotta do to make this right."

"Right now?" You mulled over what would make you feel better, what could distract from the silver burns and make you feel normal again. "I just want you."

Mammon gently scooped you up with one arm supporting your back and the other hooked under your knees. "I've been waitin' so long to hear that."

His grasp was much more tender and he leaned you against his chest while awkwardly stepping up onto the couch, then turned around to sit and lowered you onto his criss-crossed legs.

You slowly draped your arms around his shoulders, listening to the beat of his heart. Mammon smelled amazing, and not just from whatever scent he chose to wear that day. It drew you to him. You tempted yourself with a closed-mouth kiss to his collar, slowly inhaling the pleasant aroma. This intimacy might be dangerous. You exhaled, keeping your lips locked against his skin as they parted just a sliver.

You felt too shy to glance up and meet his eyes. They were so fond of you, so full of relief and love, even though in that exact moment all you could think of was pushing him down and taking a nice meaty bite.

“Y’know… A lot of people’ve tried real hard to get even a single drop of my blood over the years. A lot of ‘em. For lots of reasons.” He reclined back into the couch cushions, leaning you on top of him with his arms gingerly wrapped around your ribs. Mammon put himself in quite the vulnerable position, neck within easy reach. “I always turned ‘em all down. But this... it’s a small price to pay if I get to hold you like this.”

[dontfindmeimscared]

Prologue 0.2

start / prev / next!

[abyssalzones]

is that a sense of impending doom, or just the summer pollen? probably just the pollen.

anyway, i don't plan on posting full chapters like this too often but take this as a reminder to go check out Ad Astra Per Aspera on its neocities page, where it updates every Friday! In case you’re into comics about things that already exist.

[brother-emperors]

DO NOT BE AFRAID

this is combining Ovid's Heroides and the Excidium Troie because I can't stop thinking of Hermes telling him not to be afraid. what the fuck!! Ares is wearing the crown that Paris gave him.

I have. thoughts. about Paris. he's almost got this Troilos parallel in my mind, that the event that defines him in detail exists in a lost narrative that we don't have (the Cypria), but everyone else knew. the event that defines Troilos is his death (murdered, butchered by Achilles, the violence of which haunts everything after. Achilles, child killer, you can't escape that!), and the event that defines Paris is the Judgement. what's a lost text but a kind of grave!!

idk I don't think that Paris before the Judgement would recognize himself after bc when you become god touched, it rearranges your guts. you become transformed in the worst way possible! how could you recognize yourself! but I also think that all the Parises after the Judgement would recognize each other because that event is so locked into the trauma of war and the scar it leaves on the land, it's like a scar on the narrative too. it exists like this forever, over and over again, so you exist like that forever too. Troy collects grief and despairs.

Troy as trauma: Reflections on intergenerational transmission and the locus of trauma, Andromache Karanika

and Paris is like. a miserable little god/corpse-puppet or something, like a match for the gods to throw onto gasoline.

The Excidium Troie + Ovid's Heroides:

Excidium Troie, trans. Muhammad Syarif Fadhlurrahman

Ovid, Heroides 16 (trans. Harold Isbell)

a collection of things regarding Paris that made me go 😬 but under a cut bc this is getting. very long.

The Divine Twins in Early Greek Poetry, Corolla Torontonensis

Iliad 24 and the Judgement of Paris, C.J. Mackie

Elegy and Epic and the Recognition of Paris: Ovid "Heroides" 16, Elizabeth Forbis Mazurek

Ennian Influence in "Heroides" 16 and 17, Howard Jacobson

Paris/Alexandros in the "Iliad", I. J. F. de Jong

[why-does-this-happen-to-me]

I like the song Sugar in my coffee because coffee is something that I haven't tried, but I have the feeling that I wouldn't like it, but also because it feels like a story about asexuality in a way. Like, the guy doesn't like coffee, but meets a "coffee guy" that calls them a child because they says that they are more of a hot chocolate guy themselves. The coffee guy drives the other to his coffee warehouse because surely his coffee will make them change their taste. Before they drinks it the singer is like: Yes, this is it, I'll be able to relate to other people about this and talk about it. They hate it. I don't think I have to explain what my brain understood in this song. (I know that he goes by they/he, but in the song the other is referred only as he, so I only used they to make sure it was easy to undertand who I was talking about every time).

I thought about searching the song in google before posting this and this is the third thing that shows up:

So yes, I was right.