#the last night of the world

[saintreinettewrites]

Find the Word

tagged by @darthenra (thanks!)

rules: find a drabble/poem/blurb of your manuscript or other material containing the word or word form given to you! good luck <3

my words were: spirit, journey, sleep, mirror

spirit/journey (from an untitled collab)

Bianca stood up, taking Rin’s outstretched hand to help her up and steady her. “He may have a bit of a point there,” she admitted, leaning down a bit to wrap an arm around Rin’s slender shoulders. The Auri girl was so small, and while she may have been sick, Bianca knew that her spirit was anything but fragile. “Still, I have faith that we can make that journey, just like we’re making this one.” She guided Rin over to the sofa and gently eased her down onto it, taking care not to jostle her too much.

sleep (from The Last Night of the World)

“Ah, Estinien,” he murmured, setting down the paper he had been holding. “Could you not sleep? I can have another blanket sent up to you if you’re too cold.” Estinien rolled his eyes.

mirror (from Beneath the Light of an Azure Moon)

Estinien dressed himself absentmindedly, changing out of his nightclothes and into a simple tunic and breeches. He gave himself a cursory glance in the mirror, briefly combing his fingers through his long white hair before pulling it back into a messy ponytail. If the old man wouldn’t even fix his own hair, he reasoned, there wasn’t much point to making himself particularly presentable. Giving himself one last glare in the mirror, he exited the room.

tagging:

@rexxles @steamboat-baby @notalazysod @axl-ul @sincerelyada @ashley-woods @kaiusvnoir @radiowrites

your words are: moon, river, bright

[saintreinette]

Find the Word

tagged by @toribookworm22 (thanks!)

rules: find a drabble/poem/blurb of your manuscript or other material containing the word or word form given to you! good luck <3

my words were: blue, sock, place, hide, fear

blue (from The Last Night of the World)

Absentmindedly, he descended the stairs into the main chamber, pulling his robe more tightly around him. It was a deep shade of blue, like the midnight sky on one of Ishgard’s clearer nights. Aymeric had gifted it to him despite his protestations, and while he would never admit it aloud, the robe was quite warm.

sock (from The Last Night of the World)

Estinien paced the barracks, his normally armor-clad feet now covered by a pair of thick socks and nothing more. Alberic had invited him home countless times, and with each request Estinien felt his heart clench even tighter in his chest. He refused every time, convincing himself that he preferred to be alone.

place (from The Last Night of the World)

He did not have that much personal space in the barracks, either; just a bunk and a dresser like the other dragoons. He had spent a long time away from this place, but they had left his things the way that he liked them -- untouched by the hands of others.

hide (from The Last Night of the World)

"This is serious, you know,” the white-haired Elezen said, peering down into the other’s eyes. Aymeric nodded slowly, though he couldn’t hide his smile. “It’s just that… If tonight were the last night of the world, who would you want to spend it with?”

fear (from This Is Always the Way Home)

He had felt other presences in his head before -- felt them take over his body and leave him defenseless against their sheer force of will. Lahabrea had instilled a quiet fear within him, one which he had decided to speak little of, even to his closest friends. A fear of losing himself. A fear of being taken over.

tagging: @sword-and-lance @lynxden @sonictheonlyhedgehog (only if y'all want to, ofc!)

your words are: star, sand, dark

[k33pdr3am1ng]

“Lex is not coming for dinner either”, Hope replied in a strange voice. “He’s left for the city a minute ago.”

Falcon suppressed a groan. Yeah, that was so typical for Lex! She felt like kicking his ass again. Couldn’t he have waited at least for the morning?

“Hope, I’m sorry …”

Hawk interrupted. “Does he know where to go? Did he take anything?” he wanted to know.

“He said he knows. I mean, we saw it from the hill – it’s pretty much going straight ahead all the time. And yes, he packed food and water. He said he needed to go now.”

“Well, we didn’t say anything to him to make him leave!” Falcon felt the need to defend herself due to Hope’s reproachful tone of voice.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Hope shrugged. “He’s gone.”

“He’ll be back”, Hawk promised her. “You know that.”

“What I know is, I need to be alone for a while now. And I’m not really hungry.”

“You know he wanted to do this for a while now. Sooner or later, he would have gone to the city. We couldn’t have stopped it if we’d tried!”

“I’m not mad at you, Falcon.” Hope sighed. “I’m not even mad at Lex. I guess it’s in his nature. I knew he would never be happy here, and I was right. He’s a city kid. And once he’s back in the city, he’ll settle right in there and there’ll be no need for him to come back here. Except maybe the fresh meat.” She wasn’t looking at Hawk and Falcon now but into the fireplace, watching the flames. “I’m mad at myself for reacting this way. And for caring too much. But … I’ll get over it. Someday. Somehow. Just not right now. And that’s …”

“Hope, everything will be alright.”

She completely ignored that. “And that’s why I’m not in the mood for dinner tonight. I need some time alone right now. And tomorrow, well, I’ll do my best not to worry too much.”

“If you need anything …”

“Yes. I need to be left alone. Please.”

With that, Hope turned around and left the cabin again, leaving both Hawk and Falcon staring after her.

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From beyond the horde...

Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man

This 1951 collection of short stories from the mind of Ray Bradbury is a wonderful introduction to science fiction reading that gives bite-size (at least five pages and at most seventeen pages in the Bantam Books Grand Master Edition that I was reading) stories that are perfect for those that want a bit of a dark foray into some classic literature.

When a man is hiking a walking tour of Wisconsin he comes across a man with a woolen shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck and all the way down to his wrists. When the woolen man takes off his shirt, the hiker sees mystical arcane tattoos that seem to show vivid scenes from the future. This collection follows what the man sees that night while he gazes at the tattoos all over the titular Illustrated Man's body.

Some personal highlights for me were the short stories "Kaleidoscope," which is a very interesting look at death and what the idea of impending death does to the human psyche; "The Highway," a short look at war and how it can affect all of us; and "The Last Night of the World," which is once again a sweet look at what happens when we all know the world is coming to an end that very night.

While this is not the darkest book in the world there are some looks into psychology, war, violence, and other topics that might be upsetting if you know these things upset you on a regular basis. There is also one use of a slur against Japanese people used in the last quarter of the book in the short story "Zero Hour."

All in all, this is an amazing collection of science-fiction short stories that leaves me wanting more of Ray Bradbury's writing that has certainly earned its spot on my bookshelf for many reads to come.

[swantranslations]

Miyazaki's Retirement Declarations (chronologically)

Translated from last week's NHK documentary on the production of The Boy and The Heron (more under cut). I saw people posting a screencap of this and I just couldn't contain myself. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON WAY LONGER THAN I IMAGINED LMFAO

This is from the NHK programme "Professional - Their Working Philosophy" (プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀) a few days ago (16/12/2023). The episode investigates the production process of The Boy and the Huron, and how the late Takahata Isao influenced the movie.

(It was confirmed within the documentary that Mahito = Miyazaki, Great Uncle = Takahata Isao, The Heron = Suzuki Toshio, Kiriko = Yasuda Michiyo)

The documentary is currently available on the NHK Streaming Service (Location Limited). If you have your own ways of watching and you know Japanese, I would definitely recommend the episode as it gives a lot of much-needed context to The Boy and The Heron. Personally, I haven't found a way to watch it yet, so all I know about the documentary are hearsay I saw on Japanese twitter.

Original screencap:

Also, at the very end of the episode, Miyazaki was shown working on a Naucicaa piece without any explanation, which led to many people speculating whether he could be working on a sequel for Naucicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

What do yall think? Do you think he's going to finally retire or release yet another animated film in a few years? I would love to see Naucicaa 2 but I also feel like he really needs to... yknow, chillax a bit and stuff. He deserves a long ass vacation.

[tomatoart]

coffee cheetos chicken

[kalofi]

kids together

[chalkrub]

svanhildr my beloved returns

[starfiresky]

I wanna show you the coolest thing ever:

My grandma made all of this from scratch and SURPRISED me with it!!!!!

The red is fabric is textured and the edges of the collar actually go up naturally. It doesn’t look real!!!

She even added Oblivion on the zipper pull because she knows that’s my favorite keyblade 🥺

To make things more incredible:

SHE PAINTED EVERY. SINGLE. SQAURE ON. And it looks and feels PRINTED.

I am never taking this thing off. I can never repay my Grandma. 😭😭😭 I have never in my entire life seen a more perfect replica of Roxas’s fit. Everywhere I had looked online they just didn’t look the best. This one looks real, like it was pulled out of the game, and it’s actually so comfortable (I can see why Roxas wears it every day in Twilight Town.) I didn’t use any filters on these photos, the colors are actually that perfect.

[hdra77]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! i speedran this while struggling not to fall asleep and explode from a headache!! got a little too silly last night

[caroline-draws-stuff]

The Gang Takes Off!

[xoxod3adcup1d]

[captainsalmonid]

thought about lewis realizing arthur's arm is gone for the first time

[k33pdr3am1ng]

“Hope felt useless and all that was left for her to do was laundry, cleaning up and dirty dishes. So I guess she tried to do something good by saving me from myself.” He shrugged. “Sometimes I think that’s been a waste of time, but Hope doesn’t seem to think so, so …”

“So she saved you and the two of you formed what? A bond? Friendship?”

“I hadn’t trusted anyone in a very long time. But I started to trust her.”

“Yeah. I guess she’s the kind of person who would stick by someone like you, no matter what.” He angrily turned to face her, but Falcon grinned at him. “I’d have kicked your ass a million times already. And you’d have deserved it every single time!”

For a moment, Lex looked ready to murder her again but when he realized that she was joking with him, the angry stare vanished from his face. Instead, there was something resembling amusement showing.

“Let’s see who’s kicking whom!”

“I can’t believe I’m actually having a conversation with you”, Falcon grinned. “Well, sort of, anyway. The day you’re going to leave for the city you’re probably going to hug me and tell me you’re going to miss me, huh?”

Lex rolled his eyes. “Now that would be the day”, he grumbled. “Just because we’ve had one conversation without attempting to kill each other it doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything.”

“Perish the thought!” Falcon exclaimed, rolling her eyes as well.

“Friends or not, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for your sister”, he promised her.

“Thank you, Lex. I appreciate it.”

And she meant it. This was one of the rare moments where Falcon actually understood where Hope’s devotion to Lex was coming from. He could be nice and caring if he wanted to, but most of the time he just chose not to. And that he was willing to ask around for her sister meant more to Falcon than Lex would ever know.

[carlsdraws]

(SAY IT)

[killjoy-prince]

House M.D. but it's when a character says the name of the episode