#this got so much longer than I planned

[songofwizardry]

It's speak your language day! I have some fun facts on Kiswahili! Translation under the cut.

Leo hapa Tumblr ni siku ya kuongea lugha yako ya kwanza (inaitwa speak your language day)! Kuisherehekea siku hii, nilitaka ku shiriki nanyinyi nyote semi chache za Kiswahili. Kiswahili ina utajiri nyingi ya mapokeo ya mdomo, na kuna desturi na historia ndefu ya kusimulia mahadithi, kutega vitendawili, n.k.

Kwa mfano, ukitaka kusimulia hadithi, unaanza hivyo:

Msimulizi: Hadithi hadithi!

Hadhira: Hadithi njoo, uongo njoo, utamu kolea!

Msimulizi: Zamani za kale...

Hadithi zinazosimuliwa mara kwa mara ni hadithi za wanyama wa porini: sungura mjanja, mfalme simba, fisi, na kadhalika; hadithi kama hizi zinapatikana katika nchi nyingi za Kiafrika.

Vitendawili ni semi zinazotegwa, na watu wanatakiwa wazifumbulie. Watu wanaoongea Kiswahili kawaida wanajua vitendawili vingi, kwasababu tunazifunza katika shule ya msingi—mi mwenyewe nakumbuka nilipokuwa katika darasa la saba, kabla ya mtihani ya taifa, nilikaa ninakariri vitendawili kama arobaini! Vitendawili vinachekesha na vinachemsha bongo, kwa mfano:

"Askari wangu ni mpole lakini adui wanamhara." (Jibu: paka)

"Tajiri wa rangi." (Jibu: kinyonga)

"Numba yango ina nuguzo mmoja." (Jibu: uyoga)

"Mzungu katoka ulaya no mkono kiunoni." (Jibu: kikombe)

Kwa ukweli mi mwenyewe nimeaanza kusahau vitendawili vingine—lakini zinapatikana ukiGoogle siku hizi!

Kiswahili ni lugha yenye historia, desturi, na vipengele vingi vya kuvutia—siwezi kuziandika zote hapa, lakini kwa mfano, muda ya Kiswahili ("swahili time"), ngeli za nomino, historia ya uandikishi wa Kiswahili (kuanza na harufi za Kiarabu), na ilivyotengenezwa 'lingua franca' katika Tanzania, na lugha ya taifa baada ya uhuru. Natumaini mtafunza kidogo kuhusu lugha ya Kiswahili leo—usiache baada ya kujua 'Hakuna Matata' tu!

(Kama nimokesea sarufi, samahani sana! Siku hizi siandiki kwa Kiswahili kwa kawaida.)

(Translated from Kiswahili/Swahili, with some extra notes)

Today, here on tumblr, is Speak Your Language Day! To celebrate this day, I wanted to share with you a few short sayings in Kiswahili. Kiswahili has a rich variety of oral traditions, and there is a long history and tradition of narrating stories orally, posing vitendawili (common riddles), etc.

For example, it is traditional when one is narrating a story to start like this:

Narrator: A story, a story!

Audience: Story, come! Fiction, come! Make it sweet!

Narrator: Once upon a time...

The common tales that are narrated are folk tales involving wild animals: common characters of the cunning hare (sungura mjanja), the king lion, the hyena—folk tales of similar nature can be found in many African countries.

Vitendawili are short sayings that are posed, and people need to solve/figure them out. People who speak Kiswahili will know many of these, because we learn them in primary school—I remember when I was in Grade 7, before my national exams (standardised tests taken at the end of primary school), I sat and memorised about forty different vitendawili! Vitendawili can both make one laugh, and be mind-bogglers (literal translation: they boil the brain), for example:

"My soldier is so gentle, but the enemies are scared of them."

"The one wealthy in colours."

"My house has only one pillar."

"The white man has come from England with his hand on his waist."

Answers to the vitendawili are at the bottom.

In all honestly I have forgotten a lot of the vitendawili—but these days you can Google and find lists of them easily!

Kiswahili is a language with a rich history, and many fascinating features—I couldn't write them all here, but for example, Swahili time, our many noun classes, the history of writing Kiswahili (there are early Kiswahili writings using the Arabic script), and the way it originated as a lingua franca and how it became the national language and a uniting factor in Tanzania after independence. I hope you'll look up the history of or a little bit of Kiswahili today—it's much more than just the phrase 'Hakuna Matata'!

(My apologies if I've made any grammar mistakes—these days I don't often write in Kiswahili. Also, because I intentionally wanted to write this in Kiswahili first, and then translate it, and I'm not practiced at translation, the English sounds clunky/weird—my apologies, but hey, it's SpYLD, I gotta prioritise the non-English text.)

Answers to the vitendawili:

A cat

A chameleon

A mushroom

A teacup

Some links:

Langfocus' Swahili video, which is a really good primer

The online Kiswahili dictionary I use most

For Kiswahili news, BBC Swahili (both online and you can listen to the radio) is pretty good. There's also many, many Kiswahili language news sites you can find, eg Mwananchi.

And of course, music!

Bongo flava is a genre of Tanzanian music (that originated in Dar es Salaam! Bongoland!)—it's a vibrant genre, it's closely linked to hip-hop and Afrobeats; I have a soft spot for the Bongo Flava of the 00s, so here's Usineseme by Ali Kiba (2009)

Sauti Sol are super well known these days, with good reason! They're awesome! They sing in both Kiswahili and English, but my favourite song of theirs is Nairobi

And in a departure from my usual brand, some patriotic music—this is a remix of the traditional patriotic song Tanzania Tanzania, recorded to encourage people to vote in the 2015 elections. I like it because it's a fun video that captures a lot of different parts of Dar es Salaam.

[givehimthemedicine]

Mirkwood / Kerley / Hawkins Lab

just some Hawkins mapping that mostly just makes me sad for how screwed Max is geographically

Mirkwood, aka Cornwallis and Kerley, is where Will went missing.

It's also where they found El.

Kerley is also where "Dale and Henry" went missing, some randos who I assume are among the six people Brenner tells Joyce have been taken by the demogorgon.

Know what else is on Kerley?

Max and Eddie's trailer park.

I also while gathering screenshots for this post realized that the spot where Nancy made Barb park her car is literally right outside Dustin's house. Am I the last one to this party or??

Will doesn't get taken until he rides a little farther, so I don't know if this street is Kerley or just near.

Barb said the place Nancy made her pull over was three blocks away from Steve's house. So this tells us that Dustin lives 3 blocks from Steve, for what it's worth. It also tells us that the pollywog showing up in Dustin's trash can of all places was maybe a proximity thing as well.

Mirkwood borders Hawkins Lab. We knew all the upside down stuff originated from the lab, because that's where the gate was. Hopper said all the dead crop stuff was affecting a 3 mile radius around the lab.

But the gate was closed and the lab destroyed at the end of season 2. Why does proximity to the lab/Kerley/Mirkwood still continue to be an issue?

Chrissy got Vecna'd at the trailer park, which is off Kerley.

Fred wandered off from the trailer park onto a nearby road, which I can only assume is Kerley, and got Vecna'd, opening a gate literally in the middle of the road.

Here's Hopper's map from 2 where the white square in the middle is Hawkins Lab. Recognize anything else? 💙

*snap* that's Lover's Lake!

where Patrick got Vecna'd. So we know that's less than 3 miles from the lab.

So that must mean Max got Vecna'd near there, too? Ah but he tried to kill her in multiple locations. Which one?

The place he first tried to kill her was at Roane Hill Cemetery, where Billy is buried

near the Creel house, where he actually did kill her. So they both work!

Max was able to wander into the Creel house hellscape in mid-trance from the cemetery, although that could be abstract and not an indication that they are literally that close together in reality.

The Creel house is super close to the trailer park. The teens in the upside down rode to the trailer park and peeped the house like one second before they arrived. Max almost could've seen it from her window.

Poor Max literally lives in a dimensional portal trailer park between a cemetery and a demon murder house. If she had gone to visit El in California, would she still be alive?

So most of the Hawkins locations we know are in Roane County, including the lab, the quarry, the cemetery, the trailer park, the Creel house, and all the party's houses. And Pennhurst is far away from East Hawkins, in fact, in a whole different county.

I need a map of this town.

So like... where physically was Vecna during seasons 1-3? Did he come out of that first gate along with the demogorgon? And are we sure all that early stuff was only about proximity to the lab and not to the Creel House?

[todayisafridaynight]

[actual-changeling]

no i am not done with the breakup scene yet. it haunts me during the day and it haunts my dreams, soon i will be able to replay it in my head on command. today's obsession: tell me you said no

firstly, i think it's important to point out just how deep the miscommunication runs here. aziraphale is excited, outright giddy about the news he is delivering, and he expects crowley to be just as happy about them.

after all, he thinks he is giving crowley what he has always wanted - they can go off together, he can be an angel again, which to zira equals being on the good side. the side of *light*. he remembers crowley's creation, remembers how in awe and happy he was with it, and thinks that is what he is offering.

aziraphale's expressions during this scene are probably gonna be their own post, but long story short he switches between excited and confused like a broken light switch, unable to decide which one to settle on.

crowley, well, crowley is angry. angry and confused and completely caught off guard because aziraphale is shaking the very foundation of what crowley currently thinks to be their relationship. the horror dawns on him pretty early, but he tries to fight it off, tries to convince himself that no, aziraphale wouldn't. he wouldn't agree to that, he KNOWS me. he knows i don't want to go back, he knows both sides are equally bad.

tell me you said no. tell me i wasn't wrong about you, about us. tell me i didn't misjudge our entire relationship. tell me the last millennia were worth something, anything.

tell me you said no.

if you rewatch the scene, you will notice that crowley never breaks eye contact, he stares aziraphale down the entire time. unless it was literally blink and you will miss it, i am pretty sure he does not even blink. not once. aziraphale on the other hand is looking everywhere but at him, his gaze flicks around just as much as his expression. crowley tries again, one last time. tells him you know they will both destroy this planet, humanity, us. it doesn't matter which side wins, the result will be the same. we KNOW that. we SAW that. we stopped it from happening.

aziraphale does not answer.

he does not have to. crowley can read him well enough to know exactly what he responded, and even if he couldn't - he knew from the beginning. he just cannot believe the answer. he still can't.

it's one of his fatal flaws, isn't it, believing in aziraphale and in them against every rule and threat the universe throws at them.

now to get to the part that breaks my heart.

crowley repeats himself again, not breaking eye contact while aziraphale tries to avoid his gaze.

tell me you said no.

he still hopes. after that entire conversation, he still hopes.

when the silence stays unbroken he steps towards him, asking one. last. time.

angel tell me you said no.

this. this frame. this is when the realization hits him full force, the truth he has been trying to talk and rationalize his way out of. he has been begging aziraphale to tell him that he did not betray him, them.

everything he has been fighting for the last six thousand years, all the thoughts telling him he is worth less than aziraphale because he fell, because he is a demon, evil, on the wrong side. everything he has been unlearning, accepting that he can be kind, he can be good. accepting that aziraphale cares about him, fuck, maybe even loves him.

crowley thought aziraphale is the one being that sees him, truly sees him, which is why he offers himself without his glasses - his last layer of protection.

he betrayed us. he has never been with me, we have never been on our side, not when he chooses heaven over the fragile, peaceful existence they have carved out for themselves. he took care of the bookshop, allowed zira to take his bentley, cleaned up and tidied and prepared it for his return, for the both of them. just to get all of it thrown into his face, to have it degraded as not good enough. to have HIMSELF degraded as not good enough.

and after all that. after that realization, the pain, the break in what he thought was their reality.

after aziraphale telling him that he plans on leaving earth and wants crowley to be someone he is.

crowley swallows his tears and he steps back, keeps his glasses off and continues with his confession anyway. his voice breaks several times throughout it, he is on the verge of crying. i will probably make a separate post about all that but once again, tldr he suppresses tears throughout his entire speech.

i want to spend eternity with you and he cannot say it because he knows he would break on eternity and start crying. somehow, crowley still hopes that maybe this will change his mind, this will make him realize that he needs to stay here, stay with me.

crowley hopes and hopes and hopes and aziraphale finally meets his gaze and all he responds is nothing lasts forever.

no, i don't suppose it does.

still, what is left but to keep hoping that maybe one day, they will be an us, even if it isn't forever. even if it's just one day, one kiss, one second of being held and kissed back.

crowley keeps hoping and that, to me, is the most painful part of it all.

[deoidesign]

I've been... Busy 👀

Trying to get all 4 arcs from season 1 into books!

(not available for sale, these are print proofs. I'm planning a Kickstarter early next year!)

[dootznbootz]

Odypen definitely and equivalently adore each other BUT I weirdly can't see them as the type to actually say "I Love you".

They still definitely vocalize their love for each other but it's more so in "My Joy", and "Extraordinary Woman", "Strange Woman/Man", etc. And very cheesy lines (both say some cheesy shit in the Odyssey, and he definitely does in the Iliad as well. "Joy like a drowning sailor seeing land" bit???)

I could see "I adore you" but even then, that's probably during very specific moments but the actual "I love you"??? I just typed it just now for fic shit and... It weirdly just didn't feel right and I don't know why. 😅

Idk maybe it's kind of because I see them as over the top in ways, they love wordplay and riddles and I think they'd almost think "...That's not good enough >:( " about it??? I don't know???😂

[bagog]

If you're still taking the reverse trope prompts, may I have too hot to cuddle for (m)Shenko? Absolutely happy to have Shaun featuring as well if the muse strikes but absolutely not required!

Sounds like fun! Lemme see what I can do:

++

The air inside the Citadel apartment was crisp--frigid, even. Kaidan padded around the kitchen barefoot, wearing one of Shepard's too-small-for-him shirts and a pair of sweatpants, once in a while rubbing his arms to try to smooth out the gooseflesh there.

Shepard and he had planned on a staycation in their apartment while Kaidan was off from his duties, and so the fridge was well stocked. This wasn't exactly how they'd imagined it going, however.

"Alright Shepard," Kaidan called, walking up the stairs with several food items in his arms. "I've got marjan fruit, grape leaves, rye toast, and corn porridge. Any of that sound good?"

Shepard lay in their bed, looking bedraggled. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and a fine sheen of sweat made him look... sticky. The Ifter-Manatoit fever was not a good look on him.

Despite his husband listing off some of his favorite foods, Shepard stared blankly up at Kaidan, shaking his head. His throat dry, he rasped, "Sorry, I just don't think I'm hungry."

"Okay," Kaidan smiled, but there was a watchful caution in his eyes. "Well, I'll keep it all up here, just in case you decide you want something."

"I just..." Shepard cleared his throat, swallowing dryly, "Just want to sit with you, if that's alright."

Kaidan nodded warmly and set the food next to the bed. He fetched his book from the bedside table and slid into bed next to Shepard. His husband scooched over and laid his head on Kaidan's chest, hooking one leg over Kaidan's and holding him tight. Kaidan kept one arm behind Shepard's back, softly stroking up and down his spine, while he held is book in the other hand.

Shepard was asleep--or as good as asleep--in minutes: soft breath against Kaidan's chest. Kaidan could normally pass several hours like a sieve with the right book, but today he found his mind wandering.

It was like there was a radiator wrapped around him, cuddling up to one side. It wasn't till sweat dripped from his hair onto his shirt that Kaidan realized how much of Shepard's excess heat he'd been absorbing. He sweltered for another thirty minutes before gently shaking Shepard awake.

"Hmuh?"

"You're still burning up, Shepard," Kaidan placed his sweaty palm against Shepard's sweaty forehead as if to confirm. But when Shepard pulled away, the imprint of his body was left as a wet patch running down Kaidan's side, his sweats and t-shirt soaked. "I imagine its gotta be uncomfortable cuddling up like this."

"I already feel awful," Shepard declared, pitifully, "Worth feeling a little more awful to be... I mean... You are not awful. You are good. You are a good. You're worth it, you know?"

"Shepard, you're delirious," Kaidan intoned, but there was a bit of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "I have an idea, I'll be right back, okay?"

Once he moved away from the bed, the air conditioning of the apartment once again had him shivering as he made his way into the master bathroom.

A few moments later, he came back and shook Shepard awake once more. "Here, come with me. Shoulda had this idea two days ago."

Shepard stumbled out of bed, Kaidan supporting him under a shoulder like the old soldier needed a patch up. In the bathroom, Shepard stared down into the hot tub with a questioning look.

"Do... I smell that bad?" Shepard rasped.

"Ha!" Kaidan exclaimed. "No comment. But no, let me help you in."

"Too hot," Shepard shook his head. "No hot tub. Please?"

"It's alright, it's not hot. Just... temperate. Not quite cold, but definitely not hot. Lean on me, there you go." Shepard stepped into the water with Kaidan help and sank into the water. The sound of relief that came out of his mouth as he sat and let the water lap up and over his shoulders was pure relief.

Kaidan quickly peeled off his own sweaty clothes and tossed them in the hamper before carefully stepping into the cool water.

"Now we can still hang out and be comfortable," Kaidan said, but he couldn't keep the shiver out of his voice as he took his seat next to Shepard and put an am around his husband's shoulders.

"You... cold?" Shepard said, dreamily. "Nooooo. Here." He wrapped his arms around Kaidan beneath the water and laid his--admittedly still damp head--on Kaidan's shoulder. Between the heat radiating off Shepard and the coolness of the water, Kaidan stopped shivering and stopped sweating. Shepard snoozed against his shoulder, and Kaidan let his head fall back against the tile.

Shepard needed rest. Shepard needed to cool off. And Shepard needed Kaidan. Kaidan smiled to himself that--at least this once--he was able to give Shepard exactly what he needed.

[omegalomania]

So Much (For) Stardust 10 Day Countdown Challenge ↳ March 20th: Heartbreak Feels So Good

[allylikethecat]

Chapters: 5/6 Fandom: The 1975 (Band) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: George Daniel/Matthew Healy Characters: George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Original Child Character(s) Additional Tags: Christmas, Meeting the Parents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort Series: Part 4 of The Infection 'Verse Summary:

“Yeah,” said Matty, pulling his hand away from George’s to run it through his hair. If there was one thing he was good at, it was doubling down, even if usually that just made it worse.

“Christmas, what are your plans for Christmas?” Matty swallowed hard, feeling very small all of a sudden and like he was baring a piece of his soul, “because I would very much like to spend it together.”

“Oh,” said George and Matty wanted to die right then and there.

.

AKA The Christmas Fic™️

[crowcryptid]

Stuck at a red light and I could count 16 cranes all making new condos and apartments. Maybe a few of them are offices but they looked like apartments.

Filled me with a new sense of dread

[aro-aizawa]

I think Mirabel & Izuku would be besties tbh. This is prompted by anything but I thought you might agree

mirabel from encanto? oh ye i can get behind that ahah

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[hippolotamus]

Good Vibes Tuesday

Thank you @mostlyinthemorning for this perfect idea

I'm in the mood for some positivity this morning, so let's share something that makes you happy about fandom*. It can be anything you like-a person or blog you appreciate, a post that made you laugh, a fic you liked, anything that puts good vibes into the world.

*fandom can be whatever you want it to be

Tagged by darling wife @lizzie-bennetdarcy @rmd-writes @stereopticons @jesuisici33 💕

What makes me happy about fandom is that it is so much more than "just fandom." Certainly it is a place to yell and scream with other unhinged like minded people.

It is also a safe haven to reread a comfort fic on a bad day. A place to learn new skills and grow your creativity. It's finding a particularly hilarious, heartbreaking or mind-blowing creation and shoving it at all your fandom besties. Fandom is a way to torture your poor blorbos (again) as a way to process grief, fear, anxiety, sadness and any other number of scary (and amazing!) emotions.

Not adding anything new here, but it is Fandom Friends. Encouraging messages when you need that final push to finish something. Hi, I had this crazy stupid idea today and wrote it while I should have been working. Will you beta it for me? Exchanging birthday and holiday cards. I'm sorry yesterday sucked. Hopefully today is better. Tag games! Have a safe trip and let me know when you get there. The absolute amazement that I may not know your real name or where you're from, but I know that your favorite color is royal blue, you adore bats, love to crochet, wanted to run a seal sanctuary when you grew up, love soup as much as life itself, or nerd out on spreadsheets. What a time to be alive, besties.

Tagging @shortsighted-owl @alyxmastershipper @alysiswriting @vanillahigh00 @blackandwhiteandrose @elvensorceress @mysteriouslyyounggalaxy @littlebitofdiaz @spotsandsocks @walnuts-and-berries @apothecarose

[ofdarklands]

years since last ear scratch: 99+

(previous)

[actual-changeling]

ellie learns how to draw, and, if she might say so herself, gets pretty damn good at it, especially faces. it helps her ground herself to see happy memories physically stare back at her from her sketch book, her walls, the fridge, and wherever else joel puts up her drawings. he loves all of them, even the very first ones that aren't much more than vaguely human scribbles.

the first year in jackson is a pain, and she spends most of it holed up in their house, drawing, painting (she has no idea where joel gets all the paint from and he refuses to tell her), and once they make it through their first winter together, she feels comfortable enough to show them to other people, too. mostly tommy and maria, and in a weak moment she even gifts them a drawing she made of them and their baby.

she's over at their house a lot, it's a lot more lived in and settled than theirs but they're working on it, and notices some actual pictures, the kind you take with a camera, decorating the living room. it's obvious that they're prized possessions, framed and front and center on the walls. a handful of them show maria and what must have been her family before the outbreak, others are newer. jackson does have some cameras saved for special events, and there are two pictures of them on their wedding day, and even one from a few days after the baby was born.

she doesn't think much of it until their second summer in jackson when she notices the way joel stares at the baby pictures and realizes that all he has to remember sarah by is the broken watch on his wrist. the only tangible memory and it's one of pain and death.

ellie mulls over it a lot, it keeps her up at night and while joel picks up on it, he doesn't press the issue when she refuses to talk about it, though she assures him she's fine.

it takes her another two weeks after her realization to catch tommy alone one afternoon with joel safely away on patrol, oddly nervous and unsure how to phrase what she wants to ask. eventually she manages to explain her idea and the positively soft, distantly heartbroken look he gives her makes her breath catch in her throat.

do you think he would be okay with it?

i think he would love it, sweetheart.

they sit together for hours in his kitchen, ellie is determined to make it look exactly right and urges tommy to not hold back his criticism if something isn't accurate, and by the end, they have missed dinner and her wrist hurts like hell, fingers stained with pencil lead and color, but her chest is brimming with a warm sense of accomplishment.

tommy gives her a frame and she wraps it as well as she knows how to. he insists that she gives it to him alone, but ellie draws him into an uncharacteristically tight hug before she leaves and hides her smile in his chest when he presses a hesitant kiss to her hair. family, she realizes, is pretty damn great.

the waiting is the hardest part. she puts her gift on the coffee table and paces the living room for at least half an hour while she waits for joel to return from his patrol, switching between chewing her lips and biting her nails. by the time he finally walks through the door, she has almost convinced herself to abandon the whole thing and just pretend it never happened, but then joel's there, gaze immediately softening when he sees her, and suddenly she can't wait to give it to him. it's a pretty big frame and the best paper she owns, rivaling some of her larger paintings on actual canvas, and joel has to sit down to open it without running the risk of accidentally dropping it.

i hope you like it.

the quiet tremor in her voice makes him stop halfway through unwrapping it, but she just gestures for him to continue, rocking on her feet.

tommy helped.

when the last of the paper falls away and joel sees her work for the very first time, they both hold their breath at once, even the summer breeze stilling, air brimming with something neither of them have the words for.

joel is looking at a vibrant water color painting of sarah, face at a soft angle as she wonders at a small purple butterfly resting on her finger, hand raised in front of her, eyes and smile shining brighter than the sun, hair a shimmering cloud of brown and gold. a frozen moment in time, sarah forever fourteen, capturing the love ellie feels pouring out of joel whenever he talks about her, a wave of affection and distilled joy that makes her miss a person she has never known.

i thought you might want a happy memory of her to look at, too.

ellie points at his watch, broken glass fracturing the light falling in, hand shaking.

i hope it's okay that i- if you don't want it-

joel's arms are around her before she can finish, cutting off her stuttered attempts, frame safe on the table as he hugs her so tightly her feet lift off the floor and she clings to his neck, relief bringing air back to her lungs. he holds her with his face buried in her hair, and ellie only notices he is crying when she can feel a few stray tears run down her neck. when he sets her down again, eyes glassy even after he dries his cheeks, her knees buckle under his gaze. they're both bad with feelings, bad with words, love shown through touch and gestures, through don't forget to eat, i'll stay with you until you fall asleep, fresh cups of coffee left on his nightstand before she leaves for school, hands searching for each other in the crowd again and again and again, never letting go.

love brought to life by a painting of the daughter that taught him how to be a father, made by the one that helped him find his way back to the light.

thank you, ellie.

they both know it means i love you, too, sarah immortalized on their living room wall where the morning sun illuminates her face with every sunrise.

more rambles in the tags

[deoidesign]

please take as much time as you need to rest and recover. burn out is so hard and takes so much to heal from. your art and your supporters will still be here when you get back :) take care <3

Thank you very much

Unfortunately, my situation doesn't really allow me to take the time I need. I've got a ~two month hiatus scheduled for my midseason, but much like my first hiatus I'll most likely be working double time during it...

It's unfortunate because I could really really use a bigger break!

Having the time and flexibility to work on other projects really fires me up and keeps me going, and being able to take a guilt free day off for family and friends is necessary to my mental health, and I've been having to turn people down lately...

This is a very kind message, and I'm sorry to vent in response! But I just feel transparency about the pressure I'm under is necessary and important. I'd love to take the time I really need, but due to deadlines and that pesky "needing money to live" I can't.

But, once the series is over I intend to take a pretty big break before I start whatever I'm doing next! I've got so many short stories and projects planned that I want so badly to get to, I can't wait to really get to truly dive in to them!