#that's been my hardest one yet

[anime-scarves]

It’s time to learn how to bake bread. I’ve wanted to for awhile and I definitely missed the memo during lockdown lol. But now is a good a time as any. 

[coriander-candlesticks]

I'm sick so I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, but I've been thinking about the nature of myths recently as I've been exploring hellenic polytheism.

For context: I'm ex-Mormon. I was raised in the church and, because of that, was taught biblical literalism but in, like, a more subtle way than most? I was raised believing that Adam & Eve and Noah's Ark, etc., were literally true, but that the story of Job specifically was not; I also always knew evolution and the Big Bang to be correct, despite there being a verse in the Doctrine & Covenants (a Mormon-specific religious book) where God apparently told Joseph Smith that the world is 6,000 years old- a passage I didn't know existed until my senior year of high school. I didn't realize I had believed in biblical literalism until I'd left the church, actually.

Now that I'm aware of it, it's a mindset I'm actively trying to combat while I explore Hellenic polytheism. It's definitely been a task to separate the nature of the Gods from their myths, as brutal as they often are. And it's something I've noticed within the community, too, which I think is interesting. It makes sense: Christianity, at least, has had a chokehold on much of the world for a long time, and so many of us have experienced literalism as our first interaction with any sort of holy text (though, of course, Greek myths as a whole aren't that) alongside our first experience with divinity as a wrathful God whose flaws are waved away, or ignored, or twisted into positive attributes. This also means that I'm trying to re-approach several deities with an open mind (Zeus, Hera, and Ares in particular, but many of them to some extent) while also trying to un-condition myself. I was already in the process of doing this, of course, but trying to figure out how to interact with a completely different pantheon has made that especially clear.

It extends to things like prayer and offerings, too. Prayers were very formulaic growing up, even though most of the time there wasn't a strict script to follow. There was always something you ask as part of the prayer, even if it's just 'please help me do better tomorrow' (alongside giving thanks, of course), so trying to craft a prayer without adding *everything* I'm used to including in makes it feel incomplete and, therefore, disrespectful. And daily prayer is something I'm resistant to because of prior experiences with it. I don't want to offend any of the gods by asking for something or asking for too much, especially so early on, and there's always a promised offering the few times I *have* asked. Add worries about exact obedience on top of that and it's proving to be a difficult thing to untangle. And I know that the gods are difficult to offend, figuring out how to do this takes trial & error and that's okay, it'll get better the more I do it, etc., etc.; this is more an issue with my own overthinking than anything else (hooray for ✨ mental health issues ✨). I'm not really asking for advice here, necessarily, just thinking out loud because I'm not comfortable talking to people in meat space about it yet.

[bernadettavonaegir]

managed to get all of the possible responses to the Treasure Hunt reports that you can make and submit at the Naranja/Uva Academy website! Upon being shared to twitter/X, a randomly selected character will respond to your report, many of the characters bidding you a fun and safe journey to Kitakami. It seems like the opportunity to make your report will last 'til the 17th.

(very shoddily translated on google translate english versions are below the cut!)

[princesssarcastia]

ALRIGHT NERDS it's reveal time. here's the fic i wrote for the rare pair exchange, the very first fic exchange i've ever participated in. it is the second-longest thing i've ever written and published for fandom, which is crazy.

Fandom: Mission: Impossible

Word count: 14,491

Pairing: Ilsa Faust/Ethan Hunt/William Brandt

SUMMARY:

Ilsa "dies" and has to find a place to lay low, outside of the narrative. There, she finds Will. He's spent years trying to make a home there, unsuccessfully—until now. Meanwhile, with the ever-watchful eyes of the Entity trained on him, Ethan pines desperately, wordlessly, so hard he might as well put down roots and call himself an evergreen.

Written for the lovely and prolific @brendaonao3; i DID geek out a little when i got the assignment, ngl. big fan of your top gun stuff!

[topicaltropic]

oops! all wips

[melloneah]

2 days till my final exam rant in tags sorry i gotta let it spill somewhere 😭

[pliablehead]

in the same vague vein of my alex ask: Top Five* Jeremy Pritchard Moments

*that come to you right now in the moment, as per. we operate on a loose definition of "top" here (dont)

hi here’s what ive got for you

summer six live at isle of wight festival 2013. literally the stupid jeremy interview ever (bonus very good michael-ass michael)

attempting to review the namaste nepal menu (extended version). rice… is… A personal area

the first time I saw him performing Syrups live on the ENSWBL tour (washington dc). i wish I’d had the forethought/wherewithal to film it because the second time i went (philadelphia) just did NOT hit quite as hard, i feel like there were definitely elements of the venue itself (lighting cues in the space, the sound mix, etc) that put the DC incarnation truly on some other level, he was like fucking superhuman. kill meeeee

zipping up yannis’s jeans for him at the 2019 mercury awards like are you fucking fr.

that post you made of him smiling at jon you know the fucking one. just. the whole entire situation that is That. kill me x ∞

[sonknuxadow]

vector the crocodile in the semi hero ending of shadow the hedgehog (2005)

[the-acid-pear]

Coincidentally "ohh doggy!" Is the same thing that comes to mind spotting you out in the wild of my dashboard

Don't have any fucking doggy reaction pics only kitty cat and horsey so have this crude edit. Wags my tail at this ^_^ correct reaction too. If you catch me around you gotta do a Tommy Wiseau and hit me with the oh hi doggy!. It's the morally correct choice.

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: January 18

"Settle Down" by The 1975

[rozahline]

Oh it’s youuuuu I watch TV with

[baalzebufo]

made an ill-advised decision and broke my promise by buying more minis before id finished painting all my gloomspite boyz... oops. look. i needed a Little Treat and a break from painting gobbos all day...

anyway. sylvaneth time. I REALLY want to get the blades when they come out so i figured i should grab some kuroth hunters beforehand to get a little practice in. these models are gorgeous and ive gotten attached to the sylvs lore as ive poked around with it- i love how theyre protectors of nature in more of a 'parasitic wasp' way than a 'delicate forest dryad' way. the bug-based nastiness they can inflict is very appealing to me :p

still not sure what colour scheme to pick, theres so many good potential options... white birch, pink blossom, autumnal, charred, wintery... im spoiled for choice on these boys honestly

[redstarfish-art]

Which Jason is best?

All drawn by me. This is what it looks like when an artist does not have an established art style. XDDD

[universalsatan]

sometimes i forget how distinctly american my mother is, and how we are generally a product of our surroundings

[tristiloquent]

sometimes it's hard to remember that people do care about me and that I don't exist in the margins of everyone's perception. but then one small action reminds me that I exist to them and that I am appreciated and I have to hold back tears

[wallabywannabe]

It has been a rough month for 100% physical reasons. I often blame a lot of physical symptoms on my mental health and I think it's often valid, but a sinus infection is not one of those things. I really really want my head to stop hurting.