#something-old-something-new

[axewchao]

Bro, we need more Dalex and Darkrai moments, like, YESTERDAY

In which the runaway god receives his very first gift.

~~~

"Kurai! I'm back!"

The excited voice and hurried footsteps made Darkrai turn his head away from the clouds he'd been watching for the last few hours. The little human, who called himself Dalex, was running up to him with an unusual glint in his eyes. A strange rattling could be heard, though the god couldn't tell how the boy was making such a sound.

Sitting up with a stretch, Darkrai acknowledged Dalex with a nod and leaned back against their 'special' tree. "So you are. How was 'camp' today, little human?"

"It was good! We learned about bug Pokémon today! The other kids were too scared to hold this really big Wurmple, but I wasn't!" Dalex puffed out his chest in pride, making his eldritch companion chuckle.

"Very brave of you, little human. Bugs are a common fear amongst mortals, from what I have gathered. Though, such a fear is not without reason."

"'Cause, uh..." Dalex kicked his foot as he tried to remember the camp counselor's words, "'Cause Wurmple knows Poison Sting, right?"

"That's one reason, yes."

Dalex hummed, then shrugged, "But that Wurmple wasn't scary! She was really nice! She let me pet her and walk around with her and even sat on my head for a while!" The boy giggled to himself and bounced in place, the rattling sound hitting Darkrai's ears once more.

Now the god's curiosity was piqued. "What was that?"

The boy stopped, the noise stopping along with him. He titlted his head, "Huh?"

"That sound. Were you collecting river rocks again, little human?" Mortals and their urge to collect shiny things... Darkrai doubted he would ever understand the appeal.

Dalex gasped, eyes widening. "Oh, right! I almost forgot!" The boy suddenly grinned, reaching into his pocket. "I have a surprise for you!"

Darkrai raised a brow. "A... surprise? What do you mean, little human?"

"I made you something! Hold out your hand!"

Darkrai blinked, unsure if he should humor the boy or not. Whatever it was, it rattled, was made by the child, and was most likely small enough to fit in his claws. He tried to create a mental list of what the 'surprise' could be, but said list was left empty.

...Well, if the little human made it, then surely it was harmless, right?

"...Alright, little human. Let's see this 'surprise.'" He held out a claw, which Dalex steadied with his free hand.

"Oh, and close your eyes real quick!"

What. "What."

"Please?" Dalex's eyes were pleading, with a small hint of nervousness. Was he afraid that Darkrai wouldn't like this 'surprise'...?

"...Alright." Darkrai sighed, closing his eyes.

He could hear the rattling once more, and felt a number of small, round objects wrap around his fingers. The things were pushed down to his wrist, briefly tugged upward as if testing for something, then let go.

What was...?

"Okay, open 'em!"

Beads.

A set of shiny, purple beads, strung together into a bracelet. The beads reminded him of gems, but the lack of any detectable essence made it clear to the god that they either lost their power long ago or, more likely, were fakes. 

Regardless of the answer, seeing them filled Darkrai's chest with... something. He wasn't sure what it was. He was so stunned by the feeling, he couldn't look away from them if he tried.

"You... You made this for me, little human...?"

Dalex nodded, "Uh-huh! The grownups taught us how to make 'em!"

"I see... And what purpose do these beads serve?"

The boy giggled, "It's a friendship bracelet, Kurai! I wanted to make you one 'cause you're my friend! I got the prettiest beads I could!"

Friend. The word left the god speechless.

It was an absurd thought, really. The child had no idea what Darkrai was truly capable of, the terror he could and would always wreak on mortals at their most vulnerable, whether he wanted to or not. It was this fact that made Darkrai insist that Dalex never take a nap in his presence, lest the innocent child suffer.

By every stretch of the imagination, Dalex shouldn't have taken such a liking to the god, let alone offer him a gift.

And yet... he did anyway.

Darkrai recalled the Wurmple Dalex mentioned a few minutes ago. Unlike with Darkrai, the boy knew that the bug could've poisoned him at any moment, yet was still the only one amongst the children willing to reach out to the creature. He found the experience enjoyable, even, which was saying something given that humans his age were often terrified of such things. They were often terrified of a lot of things.

If... If he knew what Darkrai truly was... would he still...?

"D'ya like it, Kurai?"

Kurai nearly jumped, but managed to gather himself at the last minute. He looked up from the bracelet to Dalex, hoping his lack of a mouth didn't keep the boy from seeing his smile.

"It's... lovely, little human. Thank you."

~~~

Key Item — Friendship Bracelet A bracelet made of shiny purple beads, symbolizing the friendship between you and your little human. It's the first gift you've ever received, and you vow to take care of it.

...Okay, I confess, from the moment I decided that Dal would mistakenly call Darkrai "Kurai," I knew, I knew that eventually I'd start calling the damn guy "Lord Kurai." Kinda like how the Nobles in Legends are called "Lord" or "Lady," basically.

Don't be surprised if I start doing that the next time we see him =w=

[planefood]

rules for thee and not for me

[communistkenobi]

I’m reading a paper that uses the term re-transition as opposed to detransition and it crystallised a lot of my problems with the term. detransition implies an ability to return to the “default” “normal” cisgender body that lurks within all of us, just waiting to be re-excavated after a period of intentional (deceitful) burial, and a turning “back” or away from the freakish mutilation and “deviance” of transgender transition to a more natural, more authentic body - a body that can never be transformed, only temporarily cloaked by medicine and social trickery on the part of trans people

[breesperez139]

Dc x Dp Prompt #6

“I’m a twin”, Damian said one night. He could feel the narrowed eyes of his family drilling holes on his back in disbelief. Not that he could blame them. Damian had never so much as implied being raised with a companion, much less a sibling.

“I had a brother”. Damian paused to recollect himself. He had not said his brother’s name out loud in over 8 years.

“His name was… Danyal”. Damian hated the way his voice wavered, but he could not help it. Danyal was everything to him, his other half. Their heart beat as one and when one heart stopped beating, the other one died with it. At least until his family put his heart on metaphorical life support without ever realizing.

“Where is he now?” His father asked, voice filled with knowing grief and a hint of betrayal. It had in fact been 6 years since Damian first showed up on his doorstep.

“Up there”. All eyes shifted towards the specific star he was pointing to. “Right before he died, he promised me he’d guide me from the stars. Unfortunately, the stars are not visible in Gotham, so my brother is unable to be of much help unless I leave the city.”

“Your brother is Polaris, the North Star?” Tim questioned warily, most likely in attempts to not offend him. Damian was aware of how stupid it sounded, but Danyal had promised, and his brother never broke his promises.

“Yes. Danyal is with the stars now, just as he always wanted”

[pitsazawr]

my oxygen

[inkskinned]

so one of the things that's so horrifying about birth control is that you have to, like, navigate this incredibly personal choice about your body and yet also face the epitome of misogyny. like, someone in the comments will say it wasn't that bad for me, and you'll be utterly silenced. like, everyone treats birth control like something that's super dirty. like, you have no fucking information or control over this thing because certain powerful people find it icky.

first it was the oral contraceptives. you went on those young, mostly for reasons unrelated to birth control - even your dermatologist suggested them to control your acne. the list of side effects was longer than your arm, and you just stared at it, horrified.

it made you so mentally ill, but you just heard that this was adulthood. that, yes, there are of course side effects, what did you expect. one day you looked up yasmin makes me depressed because surely this was far too intense, and you discovered that over 12,000 lawsuits had been successfully filed against the brand. it remains commonly prescribed on the open market. you switched brands a few times before oral contraceptives stopped being in any way effective. your doctor just, like, shrugged and said you could try a different brand again.

and the thing is that you're a feminist. you know from your own experience that birth control can be lifesaving, and that even when used for birth control - it is necessary healthcare. you have seen it save so many people from such bad situations, yourself included. it is critical that any person has access to birth control, and you would never suggest that we just get rid of all of it.

you were a little skeeved out by the implant (heard too many bad stories about it) and figured - okay, iud. it was some of the worst pain you've ever fucking experienced, and you did it with a small number of tylenol in your system (3), like you were getting your bikini line waxed instead of something practically sewn into your body.

and what's wild is that because sometimes it isn't a painful insertion process, it is vanishingly rare to find a doctor that will actually numb the area. while your doctor was talking to you about which brand to choose, you were thinking about the other ways you've been injured in your life. you thought about how you had a suspicious mole frozen off - something so small and easy - and how they'd numbed a huge area. you thought about when you broke your wrist and didn't actually notice, because you'd thought it was a sprain.

your understanding of pain is that how the human body responds to injury doesn't always relate to the actual pain tolerance of the person - it's more about how lucky that person is physically. maybe they broke it in a perfect way. maybe they happened to get hurt in a place without a lot of nerve endings. some people can handle a broken femur but crumble under a sore tooth. there's no true way to predict how "much" something actually hurts.

in no other situation would it be appropriate for doctors to ignore pain. just because someone can break their wrist and not feel it doesn't mean no one should receive pain meds for a broken wrist. it just means that particular person was lucky about it. it should not define treatment.

in the comments of videos about IUDs, literally thousands of people report agony. blinding, nauseating, soul-crushing agony. they say things like i had 2 kids and this was the worst thing i ever experienced or i literally have a tattoo on my ribs and it felt like a tickle. this thing almost killed me or would rather run into traffic than ever feel that again.

so it's either true that every single person who reports severe pain is exaggerating. or it's true that it's far more likely you will experience pain, rather than "just a pinch." and yet - there's nothing fucking been done about it. it kind of feels like a shrug is layered on top of everything - since technically it's elective, isn't it kind of your fault for agreeing to select it? stop being fearmongering. stop being defensive.

you fucking needed yours. you are almost weirdly protective of it. yours was so important for your physical and mental health. it helped you off hormonal birth control and even started helping some of your symptoms. it still fucking hurt for no fucking reason.

once while recovering from surgery, they offered you like 15 days of vicodin. you only took 2 of them. you've been offered oxy for tonsillitis. you turned down opioids while recovering from your wisdom tooth extraction. everything else has the option. you fucking drove yourself home after it, shocked and quietly weeping, feeling like something very bad had just happened. the nurse that held your hand during the experience looked down at you, tears in her eyes, and said - i know. this is cruelty in action.

and it's fucked up because the conversation is never just "hey, so the way we are doing this is fucking barbaric and doctors should be required to offer serious pain meds" - it's usually something around the lines of "well, it didn't kill you, did it?"

you just found out that removing that little bitch will hurt just as bad. a little pinch like how oral contraceptives have "some" serious symptoms. like your life and pain are expendable or not really important. like maybe we are all hysterical about it?

hysteria comes from the latin word for uterus, which is great!

you stand here at a crossroads. like - this thing is so important. did they really have to make it so fucking dangerous. and why is it that if you make a complaint, you're told - i didn't even want you to have this in the first place. we're told be careful what you wish for. we're told that it's our fault for wanting something so illict; we could simply choose not to need medication. that maybe if we don't like the scraps, we should get ready to starve.

we have been saying for so long - "i'm not asking you to remove the option, i'm asking you to reconsider the risk." this entire time we hear: well, this is what you wanted, isn't it?

[hinamie]

u should think of tiny megu. To keep the stress at bay. You should draw him actually. Ooooo you wanna draw tiny megu getting the love he deserves so bad /j

he's with his 2 best friends

[squid-ice]

—

[fictionadventurer]

I love libraries.

I'm browsing the WWI shelves (as you do) and notice a very old book about the war. I glance at the first pages that talk about how one day the war will be over and we'll look at this place and not see any signs of the battlefield.

Then it hits me. And I check the publishing date.

This book was printed before the war's end. Not written. Printed. The physical object was created in 1918, while the war in question was raging and the end was as yet uncertain.

Now I'm standing on the other side of the apocalypse, with this physical link to that era in my hands. I'm living proof that the war did end and life did go on and we can all look at the end of the world as a long-ago memory.

Reading old books is cool enough, connecting our minds and hearts through the ideas of people who lived long ago, but there's something extra profound about holding a copy of the book that comes from the time that it was written. It's a physical link between the past and the present connecting me to those long-ago people. A piece of the past come into the future that gives me the chance to almost take the hand of some long-ago reader, to hold something they could have held, connecting not just mentally but physically to their era, a moment of connection across more than a century.

Excuse me while I go weep.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 3: Enveloping Feelings.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4 (soon))

[kyssimmee]

Softies is a farcical space-adventure about Kay, the last human kid in the galaxy, and Arizona, the alien space-waste collector who finds her adrift after the sudden and unceremonious explosion of the planet Earth. It's about aliens, alienation, doing chores, and breaking stuff.

I've been posting it as a webcomic since 2015, and you can buy the first volume of the comic as a graphic novel! It's split up into episodic chapters that take the characters to different planets, with different aliens and different forms of bureaucracy.

It would mean a lot to me if you gave it a read, left some comments on the site, left a review for the physical book on Amazon if you've got it, stuff like that!

Ok that's my pitch byeeeeeeeeee

Website / RSS / Discord / Patreon / Bookshop / Amazon

[salamispots]

heard it was year of the dragon : 0 also been trying to learn clip studio more

[nights-at-crystarium]

✧✦✧ "Fragments" - episode 48 ✧✦✧

First he offers sandwiches, now free therapy! This's a great deal, Vivi, take it, TAKE IT.

New reader? episode list on tumblr | webtoon Read 4 more episodes: patreon | kofi

[sunshine-zenith]

Maybe it’s because I just spent the last four days watching my sister’s toddlers while mildly sleep deprived, but I gotta say Peri has PEAK “childfree young adult who was the youngest person in their family naively volunteers to watch recalcitrant child assuming they’d automatically be The Cool Adult Relative only to realize they have no idea how to balance being indulgent with being responsible and gets overwhelmed within five minutes” energy

10/10 I have never felt so seen by a cartoon before

[tinderbox210]

Noa and Mae + bonding

From Mae taking something important representing the bond between apes and eagles/clan from Noa, to Noa freely giving something important that's representing the bond between apes and humans to Mae.

[itsghostlost]

I’m considering this as something for Fake Peppino Friday, he’s right there so it counts