#they don't have vocals lmao

[kailjoi]

This is late.

[aplusod]

happy birthday oliver!

[flecks-of-stardust]

[image description: a half page of pencil drawings of grubs, also known as the Zelseqi Neotenic Beetle. The top left shows a juvenile grub looking up at an adult grub. The juvenile grub has six body segments in addition to its round head. It has three pairs of limbs, two of which are braced against the floor. The last pair is raised off the floor. The adult grub has, as stated by the notes next to it, two pairs of wings, with the larger forewings being a result of two wings fusing into one; the forewings have a divot along the edge of the wing. It has four body segments and two short but functional antennae growing out of its head. A note pointing to its legs notes that they have more developed digits, and are able to grasp things. Both grubs are lightly shaded in a way that gives them a striated look, and the adult grub is noticeably darker than the juvenile; another note between the two mentions that they are darker after metamorphosis (shortened to 'metamorph'). There are spiracles near the base of each segment on both grubs, though the juvenile grub does not have a spiracle on its last body segment.

In the top right is another juvenile grub. It has raised itself to balance only on its hindmost limbs, and its middle pair of limbs are stretched out to either side at a soft angle. It is looking slightly off to the left. The belly of the grub is much lighter than its back. As it is larger than the other juvenile grub, its mouthparts are more easily identifiable. On top is a soft, rounded, w shaped labrum, and underneath are its mandibles, clicked together. Somewhat visible below the mandibles is the labium. Around each mandible is a maxillary palp, which is a short, stalked structure that curves gently around the mandibles and ends in a rounded nub. Only the left labial palp is visible, and the maxillae are not identifiable. There is a small heart doodled next to its face.

Below this is a threat posturing juvenile grub; the threat posturing is indicated to be a type of bluffing. The drawing intersects slightly with the paw of the previous grub. It is turned to one side, displaying most of its body, and is standing low to the ground. Its tail is twitching as a warning, and its mandibles are spread wide, revealing the labium. The paws on this grub are more clearly drawn and labeled: the first pair has three jointed claws, the innermost pair, which are noted to be partially opposable, pointing inward like thumbs; the second pair has two jointed claws; and the third pair has two non-jointed claws that are much longer than those on the other paws. More clearly shown on this grub are the small hairs that grow all over its body, particularly at the edge of where each body segment meets the belly.

The bottom left shows the wing shape and venation of the forewing and hindwing. The forewing is roughly three times as broad and almost twice as long as the hindwing is. Along the outside edge of the forewing is a divot, marked as the fuse point. There are six thick, dark veins running the length of the forewing, and from left to right, they are labeled MP1, CuA1, CuA2, AA2, AAP2, and AP2; all numbers are subscripts. A note pointing to CuA1 mentions that there are some vestigial hamuli that run along the vein's dorsal side. The veins on the hindwing are not labeled, but there is another note pointing to the leading edge of the hindwing that indicates the presence of hamuli to hold the wings together. More annotations pointing to the wing joints note that the forewing has a divot in the node, while the hindwing does not. Below the wings are two extra notes that say the wings do not fold, and that the hindwing is tucked under the forewing at rest.

The bottom right drawing is the dorsal view of an adult grub at rest. The mouthparts protrude from the front of the head, but most of the mandibles and parts of the palps are hidden underneath the labrum. The antennae are swept back slightly. The wings are folded parallel to the grub's body, and the hindwings are not visible underneath the forewings; a note next to the grub reinforces this. Below the grub is another note that says that wing overlap is dependent on grub preference, and there is a 50/50 split on this. The limbs of the grub are not visible. end image description]

one of my more ambitious projects for this au so far tbfh

i present to you, a massive chunk of worldbuilding for dreamless: making the grubs an actual Thing TM instead of whatever the fuck goes on with them in canon. some of this is extrapolated from what they do in canon, but a good chunk is me taking a thing from canon and running the hell away with it. as you do, yknow.

their ‘official’ name is the Zelseqi Neotenic Beetle (Zelseqi because their natural range is mostly in upper Zelseq, which is Unn’s domain, and Neotenic because. they’re neotenic.), but really everyone calls them grubs. they’re this strange beetle species that never quite evolved to be bipedal like most other beetles, but they’re also not ‘non-sapient’ like most hexapedal(?) beetles. they’re mainly herbivorous, often foraging in the leafier parts of Zelseq for roots and leaves and the occasional fruit if they’re lucky, but they’re also detritivores to an extent. they’re fairly shy in the wild, seeing as they’re neotenic; the adult forms have a slightly tougher exoskeleton, but their exocuticles are still not nearly as rigid as most beetles’ are. they prefer hiding and running away from potential predators, and do not generally approach other things.

they also don’t often threat posture, since they’re not very good at fighting either, but for smaller predators/threats where they feel cornered, they will do so in hopes of deterring the predator. it works a fair amount of the time, and they then run away once the threat turns away from them, but when it doesn’t, they screech. they’re capable of producing really shrill vocalizations that almost always throw their attackers off long enough for them to run away and/or burrow into the ground. if that still doesn’t work, then they’ll likely start fighting, but this is unlikely and doesn’t usually end well for the grub. their mandibles still do hurt though.

they’re shy around other creatures, but with other grubs they’re fairly social, often forming small colonies of less than 10 grubs where they share a burrow or burrow system. they don’t generally exhibit much parental care, since even the smallest of larvae are able to scoot outside and nibble on the nearby moss, but social behaviors like grooming aren’t uncommon.

most importantly though is that hallownest has domesticated grubs, and many of them work as service animals for the bugs of hallownest. their high sociability makes them great companions, and they’re also very intelligent and can understand a lot of speech. they’re most often trained to be medical alert grubs, so stuff like warning for panic attacks or an oncoming seizure, but many can also be trained to fetch things for their handlers, and some can be trained to be seeing eye grubs. it really depends on what the handler needs, but there’s generally something for them, and if not, it’s not too difficult for them to establish a new training category.

domesticated grubs are also generally louder than wild grubs as a result of the domestication, but this is mostly true of pet grubs, who do not have constraints on when they can shriek. in public, a grub call is most likely a distress alert for their handler. they’re not sturdy enough to do much intervention work, so if something happens to their handlers and no one is around, grubs will scream to attract the attention of bugs nearby. domesticated grubs are also much more likely to threat posture than their wild counterparts, though this is generally either a service grub protecting its handler from someone who is crossing their boundaries, or a pet grub who simply does not like what it has been presented with.

as a side effect of their domestication, grubs are generally more susceptible to desiccation, and are worse at staying warm than their wild counterparts, especially since hallownest, particularly the City, is typically cooler than Zelseq. care on this front isn’t difficult but does need to be regular, especially keeping the grubs from getting too dried out. as for ensuring that they stay warm, there are a lot of grub sweaters available in the markets, but actually getting it to stay on the grub is another story.

idk explaining my worldbuilding in this post has been kind of clumsy but i think the gist of it got across. basically,, i love the it. i made them better than canon <3

[forehead-enthusiast]

I want to see how many of y'all have taste so: rb this with the kpop group you think is the most COMPLETE. Not necessarily your ult group, but a group that you think is objectively strong/well above average in vocals, rapping, AND dancing. For me it'd be dreamcatcher and a.c.e

[softpine]

"That's not the right piece, Dad." "Yes it is! #5a, it says so right here." "We're not on #5 yet! Where's #4e?" "How come Ratatouille over there isn't pulling his weight?" "His name is Remy, and he only knows how to help me cook." "But this is food! Technically..."

[zimathan]

it’s a stimmy kinda day!

oh boy this took a bit of time to finish up but!! -slaps it at y’all- if you can count all the stim-related-things i added in here, you get a cookie.

[flintbian]

what music did u find?? :D

Why hello, anon! Sorry I'm a bit late responding to this, but I've been busy and every free time I've had I've been wanting to listen to music. I actually get why ppl do it now. (I know that sounds weird so there's a little backstory under the cut below if you want to know more.) Backstory is under the cut but here's the bands I've been listening to! Long story short it turns out I'm a metalhead. Apparently there's tons of genres of metal too and I've fallen in love with quite a few! 😁

I've got general heavy metal on the list, nu metal, power metal, symphonic metal, gothic metal, alt metal, and a couple hard rock bands sprinkled in. (I got another ask about this so for specific song recs go look at the ask I answered above this one 😊)

Amaranthe, Disturbed, Halestorm, Avenged Sevenfold, Five Fingered Death Punch (5FDP), Beast In Black, Within Temptation, Black Veil Brides, Bullet for My Valentine, Bad Wolves, Breaking Benjamin, Egypt Central, In This Moment, Pain, Shinedown, Three Days Grace, My Darkest Days.

That's just a few days exploration. In the tags I'm going to write a little musical analysis bc I know metal can be hard to get into but the usual qualms ppl have with it don't apply to a lot in these genres. For specific song recs see above!

Okay so basically my nerve disease makes it painful to listen to music. It's aggravating, so I never really had any motive to listen to it. What's more up till now I'd really not found any music I liked enough for it to be worth the pain. I did however know I liked my dad's music more than anything else, and he's a metalhead. This is going to sound so fucking stupid but I never explored much more metal bc I didn't 100% like what he listened to and I blindly assumed all metal was like that, forgetting that all bands have different sound, and guess what, there's apparently other genre's of metal! My dad listen's pretty exclusively to Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Black Sabbath and...I don't really like them. They are older and more traditional metal.

I lacked incentive to explore much bc it wasn't worth the pain, and with that in mind it makes sense it took me so long to find any music I actually liked bc I could hardly explore. I do however have a friend on here who loves music, and the way they talk about it inspired me and gave me motivation to try more so I could understand, and well last weekend I had been flaring for weeks so I got high, got bored, and decided to organize my Spotify and somehow I ended up going on a music bender for two days and turns out I'm a right metalhead, my dad just listens to traditional metal. I liked my dad's music better than other music, but it still wasn't giving enough. It wasn't going hard enough. Oddly enough the music I find both physically soothing and /fun/ to listen to is heavy heavy metal. The more extreme the better. My dad's music wasn't going hard enough for me lmao.

And it's weird I talked to my PT like "how does it make sense the music genre everyone else largely finds aggravating is fucking soothing for me?" And just like how ppl with ADD can find opposite things to "normal" soothing it's the same for me, my system is just callibrated differently. If I found most music aggravating you likely would not then play screamo but it works lmao, AND I have so much fun! Like I actually understand what ppl mean, I got up and danced, and some of the songs made me happy stim 🥺 I found my new favorite band (Amaranthe), and I listened to the song Viral like 25 times in two days (I actually injured myself from head banging too hard for the tenth time in one day 😂)

So yeah at first I didn't answer for days bc I was Lost In The Sauce for two days straight and then I was busy. I was having too much fun exploring more bands there wasn't time to answer 😅 But yay, headbangers for the win 😈🤟

[mothicalspoken]

I see an example of someone of someone struggling to speak and having rapid repetitive movements and a lightbulb goes off in my brain

[flame-shadow]

when i mentioned i haven't been feeling very artsy, that's accurate. but i have been trying to get back into gesture drawings - quick, timed sketches. nothing worth showing of course, but at least im not stagnant!

[no-cheetoman]

Aight let's talk about Prom Queen

Blaine was just a douche this entire episode. No other way to say it. Kurt was so considerate when it came to Blaine's past, giving him the real option to say no to the prom and just have a nice movie night with Kurt instead. But Blaine agreed to go

Ok, so far so good, Kurt's gonna have a nice Prom! Or so I thought. The douchebaggery starts before the Prom even begins. Apparently Blaine (who according to his stans is so traumatized by his own prom?? Press x to doubt) already secured himself a solo performance at his boyfriend's junior prom.

Questionable, but that's Glee for ya. The real issue starts with how he reacts to Kurt's Prom outfit

That condescending look, so full of "Oh here we go again", is just gross.

Look at how supportive Finn was for comparison

The lack of Blaine's support quickly makes Kurt go from happy, excited and proud to hurt and disappointed

(love how Finn glares at Blaine here 💖✨)

Why is this not ok? Why is Blaine allowed to make a spectacle of himself performing on stage, but Kurt isn't allowed to wear a kilt?

Talking about performing: what was Kurt supposed to do while Blaine was hopping around on stage? Just sit around and watch?

Then it was time to announce Prom Royalty, and we're treated to this.

Kurt looks (absolutely gorgeous in this lighting) terrified and frozen in shock. Wtf is that look on Blaine's face??

To be fair, it might just be due to Darren's subbar acting skills, but this is not the look you give your boyfriend who's just been pronounced Prom Queen in front of his entire school. Blaine doesn't look concerned in the slightest here, this looks more like a condescending "I told you so" than anything.

Kurt runs off devasted. He's scared, he's hurt, he's having a full on breakdown in that hallway. And all he gets from Blaine is this

"will you at least sit down?"

He sits there and the only thing he does is look bored and mildly annoyed. It's not until Kurt has already decided on his own to go back in there and show them they can't touch him that Blaine gets up and gives him a hand

I guess this would be cute, but given the context it seems more like Blaine's taking credit for the help Kurt just gave himself

The dance is cute and all (and Kurt looks stunning) but it's the same thing as above. It's weird to me that now out of all times Blaine decides to swoop in like some sort of knight in shining hair gel. Kurt didn't need help, because he already helped himself. But by swooping in at the last second Blaine makes it seem like he's the one who helped Kurt, the one who saved him.

[pro-bee]

*

[bisexual-horror-fan]

Wait you’re blacklisted?

THATS WHY I CANT EVER SEARCH YOU

YES!

I have been blacklisted since like forever? Like less than a month of me being on here.

This is why reblogs are so important to me, people literally cannot find my stuff in the search function so reblogs, reccs and word of mouth are the only way my stuff get's attention. It is also why I am SO totally thankful of people who do those things and who leave sweet comments and asks, they mean the world to me!

I try to make up for it by keeping my masterlist updated and attaching almost everything I can to it but yeah shit is hard out here for a poor smut writer.

[plant-dad-sulu]

what song should i learn on the trombone

[hwiyoungies]

literally had no expectation for mnet and yet they still manage to disappoint

[essektheylyss]

Writing Jester and thinking about how impossible it is to properly capture her intonation patterns on paper.

The most recent example I can think of is “We have to kill it, Fjord, we have to kill it”—even with italics for emphasis it’s just impossible to convey how she’s talking, because she also changes intonation partway through! So even if she emphasizes “have” in both clauses, italicizing that does not do justice how much more emphatic the second is.

All I’m saying is that any Jester on paper is by necessity a bit of a facsimile and it pains me.

[doctapuella]

FINE FINE

Smash or pass Derek Davis (the blonde hoe in the lighter blue denim)

OKAY first of all i'm gonna need a full backstory on this gentleman because SMASH. with the cuffed sleeves? that Look on his face? the little earring and the necklaces? yes. excuse me, i have research to do....