#this is the childhood magical girl anime edition

[2d-reality]

Little Things (The Prince of Demons)

characters: Diavolo, GN!MC navigation: Diavolo | Barbatos | Simeon | Solomon | Luke | Thirteen content/warnings: little things you do, out of love. dateables edition! fluff. could be read as platonic but why would u word count: 862 notes: Alas, Dia is the only one I have finished as of now on account of how my work/life balance has been absolutely wacked recently. I'll get around to the rest eventually, I promise! I have bits and pieces here and there but the dateables don't flow as easy as the boys. Mephis will likely not be included bc I'm not even vaguely familiar with his character, and because we are both horse girls and he is my bitter rival on principle. I stared at this piece a lot but did I edit it? no

Diavolo was a lonely man. He knew a lonely childhood, tucked away in the Demon King’s palace with only the grounds staff as company. He attended lessons alone as he grew up learning what it would take to shoulder his father’s throne once he came of age. When the reigning monarch fell into his dreamless slumber, Diavolo had effectively lost yet another lifeline to anything resembling a normal existence-- a parent. As a young man (or, rather, the demon equivalent of a young man), surrounded by nobility of all kinds vying for his attention, he knew they only saw Diavolo, the Crown Prince. Even the brothers, who were the closest to being considered his friends, played along with his antics out of duty. No doubt Lucifer drilled it into them to be accommodating. 

Sometimes he felt as though he was cursed-- paying for his original sin by bearing his existence, at the end of the day, alone. 

That was, at least, until you came along. You, so small and fierce and human. You, who upon meeting him at the beginning of your tenure as an exchange student, held his gaze squarely and didn’t back down, even when he could practically smell your fear.

You, who for whatever reason, be it ignorance or sheer, unmitigated gall or something else entirely, didn’t for a moment treat him any differently than any other demon you met. Once you were comfortable living among magical beings, it was as if the floodgates opened. Despite horrified reactions from Lucifer and gentle chiding from Barbatos, you told him when his jokes were stupid (even if you still laughed), slapped his arm companionably when greeting him, and called him by a myriad of silly nicknames. 

Your friendship is the most precious thing Diavolo has ever received in his long life. You aren’t one of his subjects, born to defer to him whether you wanted to or not. You aren’t an angel, who gave him a cautious respect for the good of your realms’ relations. You didn’t even know he existed before you came to the Devildom. You chose not to see the heir to the throne, and instead saw Diavolo-- a gentle giant with more love in his heart than he was born to carry. Diavolo, who would go to the ends of all three realms for those he cared for. Diavolo, who was loud and boisterous and always wanted to be involved. Diavolo, who liked cigar cookies and video games and could be a bit of a goofball. 

He cherishes every aspect of your relationship. He loves when you send him blurry photos of various pairs of objects or animals you see when out and about, with the caption "us fr <3”. He loves getting links to dumb memes in the middle of the night, followed by laughing emojis or “this u??” You poke fun at him, bite back with quips when he makes jokes at your expense, and play silly little pranks on him. His favorite is when you gesture to something on his coat, only to flick the tip of his nose when he looks down to investigate. He’d long since caught on to that ruse, among others, but your bright smile and chirping laughter when you teased him for falling for it yet again are too precious to him to not play along.

He even appreciates the times that you turn down his invitations to spend the weekend at the palace with him, citing exhaustion from the brothers’ antics or pressing schoolwork from RAD. You’re not automatically agreeing simply because you have no choice-- you spend your limited, precious time on him because you want to. More often than not you made up for declining by showing up entirely unannounced some time later, cloaked beneath a spell to shield you from Barbatos’ sixth sense for his Lord getting up to shenanigans, beckoning him to sneak out with you to suck on thick milkshakes in some cramped corner booth and giggle conspiratorially like a couple of misbehaving teenagers. 

When he’s around you, Diavolo feels like he can breathe. He doesn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances. You aren’t looking for political sway, or funding, or an elevated social status. For the first time in his life, he can set aside his heavy burden and feel... normal. He can ruffle your hair, and only half-heartedly hold you back from practically climbing him to dig your knuckles into his scalp and return the favor. He can laugh when you swat at his hand as he reaches across your plate to steal a few of your fries. He wears the friendship bracelet you braided for him at all times. He considered charming it to never fade or fray, but when it finally falls apart from wear, your mock exasperation when you tell him you’ll make him another makes him feel so real. 

Diavolo was a lonely man. But now, he has a friend. A genuine, honest-to-goodness friend. You have matching contact photos, and inside jokes. You don’t call him my lord when he comes up in conversation; it’s always my friend. Now, thanks to you, he isn’t lonely anymore.

[natsukishinomiyaswife]

Reunion at Milne Woods

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ A Tea Party to Remember ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

A Twisted Wonderland Fanmade event, inspired by Winnie the Pooh ♡ (featuring my Twisted Wonderland OC, Erica Berger ♡)

Artwork by my dear friend Kris (@skriblee-ksk) ♡ Thank you so much! ♡♡♡

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Event Summary ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Rook receives a letter from his childhood friend, Erica, who's currently back home on break. The letter contains an invitation to a tea party, with parts of it resembling something a child would make. Inviting some of his classmates to join him (and cryptically telling them to "bring a friend"), they arrive at Acre Valley, a small town know for it's gardens.

While looking at the farmer's market, they run into Erica's father, Alexander Berger, at his flower stand. (Please note: Erica is adopted, and her father is human) He's happy to see Rook again, greeting everyone and making small talk. After seeing the sights and doing some shopping, Rook directs everyone to head into the woods, leading them to a small cottage.

Turns out Erica didn't live in Acre Valley, but the woods surrounding it, known as Milne Woods. They find her there, along with the other guests attending the tea party. Except... they're stuffed animals!? But they're moving and speaking (non-verbally)... What's going on!?

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ About Erica ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Erica is a 18 year old sheep beastman, attending an all girl's school in the Queendom of Roses. She is shy, and usually keeps to herself.

Her unique magic allows her to make inanimate objects sentient, but for a few hours at a time. Her magic only works if the owner has an emotional connection with said object, and "believes they're real". She primarily uses her magic on stuffed animals, and considers them "asleep" when her magic wears off.

Out of all of her stuffed friends, her best friend is Tigger, taking him wherever she goes.

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Erica and Rook ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Erica and Rook are childhood friends, with his family coming to Milne Woods every summer for vacation. Their relationship is purely platonic, and they write letters to each other to keep in touch.

Rook has a bloodhound stuffed animal named Cooper that Erica was watching for him, who he would take "hunting" with him as a kid.

Now that they're third years, Erica worries about the future of their friendship, each of them busy and unable to spend time together like they used to. While visiting home, she invites Rook to stop by for a tea party, wishing to experience old times again.

Rook, knowing that she was lonely (even if she doesn't say it), decides to bring along some of his classmates (in the hopes that she can meet new people, and make new friends ♡)

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Yuu and Grim ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Since this is meant to replicate an in game event, Yuu and Erica become friends during the tea party, with Erica giving Yuu a drawing the stuffed animals did of them and Grim before they leave.

The stuffed animals believe that Grim is a stuffed animal too, and treat him like one of their own (much to his displeasure).

Yuu also introduces Malleus by nickname to Erica, causing her to believe that was actually his name and addressing him as such (he never corrects her either)

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Canon Characters ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

If this was a real in game event, these are the characters that would be included (along with their card rarities!):

Rook (Tea Party Attendee, SSR)

Trey (Tea Party Attendee, SR)

Jack (Tea Party Attendee, SR)

Malleus (Tea Party Attendee, R)

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Event Rules ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

No NSFW please! ♡

Anyone can participate! Feel free to include your OC, your Yuusona, a canon character, etc ♡

You can participate by writing fics, making art, creating edits, etc

NO NPC HATE/BASHING please! Erica is my main OC, and means a lot to me, so any entries involving hate towards her will be rejected. Sorry!

Please use the tag #milne woods and credit/tag me in the post (I would love to see what you make!! ♡)

This event has no deadline! So feel free to join at any time ♡

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Outfits ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Since it's a tea party, it is semi-formal (so no casual clothes).

Summer or spring dresses, longer flowing gowns, slacks with a button down and blazer. Pastel colors, floral patterns, lace. These are just some ideas, but feel free to go cottagecore instead (if you'd prefer that!)

All tea party attendees must have a stuffed friend with them, whether it be one they brought or one they met at the party (Tigger cannot be chosen, since he is with Erica)

There will be games, food, and so much more at the tea party! I hope you're able to attend ♡

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Event Background ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Here is the event background! Feel free to use this when making cards ♡

Please note: this background was made using an image I edited, the image source is here ♡

━━━⊱✿⊰━━━ Tea Party Attendees ━━━⊱✿⊰━━━

Tsuki - @readsrandomstuff67

Resse Kingbit - @kickasscentral

Iris Valor - @cheerleaderman

✿ ━━━━⊱✿⊰━━━━━━⊱✿━━⊱✿⊰━━━ ✿

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾! ♡

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Some personal headcanons of the Twisted Wonderland beta Designs:

Heartslabyul:

Beta-Riddle:

As mentioned, I get the vibe he's a bit bratty and too arrogant or spoiled, wither it's his birth or how his dorm treats him I dunno

Gives me sassy vibes

He gives me vibes of SIX's song "Get Down"

I have zero idea but the idea of shipping him and Beta Azul is cute

Like picture Fizz as Beta Riddle and Ozzy as Beta Azul doing normal morning schedules, cuddling and joking, and if Beta Riddle got hurt Beta Azul would be a worry wert/true mafia boss if the mafia vibes are canon (I also see him originally a lot more like Ursula)

Video editing by me btw

Everyone in his dorm loves him in different ways as I lowkey see our Riddle being kind of more based off Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland with his main core of why he's focus is cause he wants to be loved

Beta Ace:

More or less the same but the vibe I get from him is more a performer like a Disney employee.

You know how in that past I said this song was playing while writing the post? Well I can see him doing this whole thing of the scene during an assembly for shits and giggles

sorry i reference this movie twice, it's a good movie-

He's the one who will most likely be the next dorm leader after Beta Riddle

Beta Deuce:

Dere-dere

Super serious

Would be offended with our Deuce lol

Most likely look good when his hair is down

Beta Trey:

More or less the same as now's canon

I get the vibe he's like the Twst's universe's version of the Queen's knave

Beta Cater:

Again, more or less the same as canon Cater

I get the vibe he was Riddle's childhood bestie than Trey

Savanaclaw:

Beta Leona:

Though this SUPER BLURRY pic I get the vibe he's way more arrogant than what we got now

Has way more Scar's sass we were blessed with in the movie

Why do I get the vibe he and the Beta Savanaclaw were in a open relationship???

Beta Ruggie:

That one annoying kid who anime moans in the back of the classroom

The itty bitty bean

Probably more eager to follow Leona than the actual duo in canon

Beta Jack:

GIVES ME DIFFERENT VIBES THAN HIS TSUNDERE SELD WE HAVE NOW

Will pick up people without warning or question

Drinks those weird smoothy drinks from the grocery stores with kale and garlic and shit for athletic stuff

Octavinelle:

Beta Azul:

More or less the same just more Ursula???

Openly calls the Tweels his "poopsies"

Spends way too much money on stupid shit he doesn't need or want

Has way more people in his dept

Sings a lot in his lounge or casino or whatever, most this song

Beta Jade and Floyd:

The same person but one's left and the other's right

Silently but scary

Think my Ray twins OCs

Scarabia:

Beta Kalim:

Most like Aladdin

Maybe him and Jamil didn't know each other before NRC and rivaled until Kalim lied about being a prince and wins Dorm Head

Has the best parkcore skills

Sweet bean deep down

Has a weakness to shiny things

Beta Jamil:

Maybe was actually Dorm Leader instead of Kalim???

Was more sassy as Jafar

Has a Iago type of henchmen somewhere

Totally has sexual frustrations to Kalim like "Stupid sexy Kalim and his stupid handsome face-"

Pomfiore:

Beta Vil:

SUPER ARRAGANT

Looks like he'd say schedule as "sheddjual"

Also gives me SIX's Get Down vibes

Will throw his wine glass at you if you offend him somehow

Too glued to the mirror

Beta Rook:

Based off the Magic Mirror in my opinion

Somehow even more arrant than Vil

Will be very toxic if he wants to be

A lot like Gretchen Weiners from Mean Girls towards Vil

Beta Epel:

Either a girl or crossdresser

A literal tease who starts romance drama but flirting and crying after like "He's picking on me and being weird"

I kind of think this one would have a lip gloss that is addictive to those who taste it from her kiss

Ignyhide:

Beta Idia:

I was informed by @bestmannequin2018 and @porcelain-animatronic kindly in my original post, it seems this is Beta Idia and he's the youngest of the whole cast who skipped many grades cause of his big smart brain

I feel like he's more cocky than our Idia

Has super bad anger issues

Diamonia:

Beta Malleus:

Sexy sexy cocky arrant man

Very childish especially when he loses

Gets really petty real fast

Is very scary when mad

Looks scary but everyone in his dorm knows he's a cry baby

Beta Lilia:

Super childish

Is literally more daddy than our Lilia somehow

I think he was meant to be the raven in Maleficent

Beta Silver/Beta Sebek:

I only do them together cause I really can't tell who's who

Very different than they are now

I think Silver is thorns

Sebek is still thunder

I would be shocked if they are all cis and straight

[raayllum]

Remembered that you like exploring religious themes in TDP, and I just had a thought:

I was trying to figure out what it was about the connection between Callum's two arcanums that was giving me weird déjà vu vibes, and then I remembered that, in the biblical creation story, the sky and the sea were created on the same day-- the second day. And not only that, but all of the animals of the air and ocean (birds, fish, etc) were also created on the same day-- the fifth day.

Honestly, what Callum's arcanums remind me the most of is the myth of Icarus. *puts myth hat on cause this has been my favourite myth since childhood*

(Full edits here & here)

Specifically, Icarus is given wings, soars to new heights / too close to the sun, and then plummets to his death in the ocean. Now, the Book 2 novelization references the myth of Icarus quite clearly in its prologue, harkening to a past in-universe myth that a young girl defies by flying successfully, and clearly meant to invoke Callum unlocking the sky arcanum later in S2. Wings and flight and freedom and all that - unlimited potential

As someone who's always loved the myth of Icarus, it always fascinated me that in public consciousness, we only remember how Icarus did fail, and the fall itself, rather than how he could've fell and where he ultimately ended up. He was told not to fly too close to the sun or the ocean, and to pick the middle rode (moderation) in order to make it safely home. It's a cautionary tale about how we shouldn't fly too high or too low, but given that humans tend to be more self destructive with grandiosity and the fact it's the one that had actual consequences, I suppose it's unsurprising that the "Icarus flew too close to the sun" is what gets remembered universally.

I expected a sort of Icarus arc for Callum regarding magic the second he got his wings, tbh. Like... you just don't give a character who's already sometimes too persistent/curious/fixated for his own good and give him wings unless you want to invoke some of that imagery, and given that arc 2 (s4-s6) had to ultimately be a tragedy, it made sense to me that Callum would, well, Fall before rising again stronger than ever before. A broader arc that could parallel Ezran taking the throne, abdicating, and then becoming king again, or Soren's own restoration arc, if you will, within S3 or S1-S3 itself

AKA I was very hyped for the fact the season was called Ocean and that S4 had perfectly set up the pieces for Callum to have his first 'Fall' arc (cause S6 has to be worse, y'know? For 11th hour reasons). The fact that Callum goes from highest highs through magic & out of his love for Rayla (3x09 with wings) to current lowest lows through the same methods and same reasons (5x08) that's symbolized by unlocking the Ocean arcanum? Chef's fucking kiss, lemme tell you. Bonus edit here

That said, I don't think any of this was necessarily intentionally that specific, nor the even more specific parallel I'm about to lay out, but it tickled me pink so I'm including it

Callum flies too close to the sun with magic (specifically dark magic) in 2x07 and it comes back to haunt him. He flies too close to the sun in going to the Sunfire library in 5x04 and staying there past the time he should because he wants to help Rayla. Then he unlocks his freedom (literally) and connects to the Ocean arcanum, but this won't necessarily save him, ultimately, either.

But yeah. Sun and sky and ocean. Rise and flight and fall. We love a little Icarus boy

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

Another long one for the vaxleth childhood friend au.

Edit the stuff animals that were made. Keyleth was given a horse, Honey has to make an appearance and we can't trust Vox Machina with horses.

Vax learned to sow and cross stitch from his mom. Vex never was as good. He learned wood work with the Ashari. He made toys for their children when they started trying.

Vax's kids were born early, beating Vesper.

The Taven Queen is very fond of the twins. None of her champions had kids before.

Both twins can seem to understand the ravens.

Vax's daughter became a follower of the Raven Queen, so she could try to be closer to her dad.

Vax sends gifts with his raven. His 2 favorite are Knick and Knack.

Their daughter acts the most like Vax.

Their daughter spoke 1st, it was papa and she was look at the large raven that visits everyday. ( I heard splitopinions on if this is Vax, I think it is or at least a form of him)

Orym adores the twins. Will and him allow them to follow them around. He considers them his siblings.

Gilmore visits Keyleth at least once a month for tea. The twins call him uncle and he gives them magic items for their birthday. Keyleth got upset when he gave her daughter a necklace that allowed her to become invisible for her 9th birthday.

Simon was given to the twins when they turned 10.

Keyleth has had hyper fixations on animals and plants. Common in girls with autism.

These hcs could honestly work in so many of my aus!

[kerubimcrepin]

Episode 20 - My Friend Bashi (Part 2)

He's been fishing since childhood. Friends, I cannot do this blog anymore. It's too cute.

This is the face of the boy who is very happy about his position in the temple and serving God Ecaflip personally.

I never mentioned it before, since it's always very hard to see, but even as a child Kerubim already has one very prominent and big scar. Perhaps the result of whatever killed the entire Crepin family? Some other incident, like a fight at the temple? Either way, very interesting.

Well, Bashi, Kerubim shouldn't tell you this either, but the Ecaflip temple is his dad's too.

He's so trusting it's killing me. (Edit from the future: Bashi saying he has a scale and can't walk suggests a lot about Joris's future, as a person who, too, can grow scales. Imagine having to be like "my socks are uncomfortable today. Because of the scales.".. Yeah I am insane.)

The lie he tells to Bashi is a direct response to the lie Bashi himself told, and perhaps an attempt to stay peers.

I mean, he doesn't have parents AND he doesn't have magic. What if Bashi thinks he's too lame to be friends with?

Here are the flash frames. They got their butts whooped.

Yesss Ecaflip, shame your 5-9 year old for getting beaten up and robbed! Threaten to kill him too while you're at it! Girl slayyy :))))

Maybe Oropo was right. Maybe we should kill and dethrone the gods.

One may observe, that while Kerubim never explicitly condemns Ecaflip, he tries his best to be the opposite type of parent than him. He tries his best to raise Joris's self-esteem to insane levels, and, due to the insane power imbalance he felt in his relationship with Ecaflip, he treats Joris not as a lesser and a child, but as a fellow peer.

I think he's scared of being a bad father, and I think he's scared of being like Ecaflip. Not that he would ever say that out loud. Because Ecaflip is a God, and can, realistically, come and smite him.

There are parts of his childhood he internalized, and never examined: he implicitly expects and encourages Joris to help and serve him and his emotional needs, as an assistant and confidante, despite treating him as a peer.

It's not a necessarily harmful thing. Neither is Kerubim treating Joris like a peer. Being trusted with the house from a very young age helps develop very necessary skills for adulthood. Being treated like a person with opinions is very important for children. I think overall, in terms of the way he treats Joris, Kerubim is as good of a father as he can be.

But sometimes, it feels like he saw some of the things that were wrong with his childhood and decided to swing in the completely opposite fucking direction, and in the process, crashed into a fucking wall.

Anyway, if this happened to Joris, he would go outside and beat those kids himself or something. (But, only gently. He wouldn't hit a child.)

The face of a boy who is very happy about his position in the temple and serving God Ecaflip personally.

There are many distinct japanese cultural influences in Krosmoz, due to the inspiration that Ankama takes from anime and manga.

However,

Most often, ecaflips and pig people specifically are shown to be, at least in some way, "fantasy japanese". In the same way that pandawa are "fantasy chinese".

Does this little analysis mean anything? Probably not. Is it still interesting and useful? Yeah. Because I can use it to prove that J-Pop should, logically, exist in Krosmoz, AND that Joris Jurgen probably listens to it.

("guy who has a 40-song long Joris Jurgen character playlist" voice) Yes, while I don't think "character playlists" should have songs the characters would listen to, but instead songs that suit their stories and personalities, I do think Joris would love Inabakumori and Tadanoco—— [I am forcefully sedated and sat down to watch the rest of the episode]

Despite what Bashi tells himself, he still treasures their bond.

This too, will become a reoccurring theme with people (Atcham Crepin) who (Atcham Crepin) fucking (Atcham Crepin) hate Kerubim Crepin.

Way to break my heart, show!

[mikichko]

Questions about books! Tagged by @fulltacs 💕

1. the last book I read

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

2. a book I recommend

Into Thin Air by Jon Krauker It's the story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster told by one of the survivors. A great showcase of what the commercialization of a perilous trek can lead to. Also a great showcase of the exploitation of "developing" countries for the entertainment of rich foreigners.

3. a book I couldn’t put down

Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood Apologies but this book literally had me by the throat!!! Like it was the first time I felt represented by a main character even though the focus was a frail white woman. Resonated with me emotionally :) Also who doesn't love a tall hot love interest

4. a book I’ve read twice or more

Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld Read this for the first time when I was 15 and nearly ten years later it's still solid! I'm so happy we're getting the anime for it next year :)

5. a book on my tbr

Babel by RF Kuang I've tried to start this book like three times but I need to dedicate a proper week to this book. Just to thoroughly enjoy it!

6. a book I’ve put down

Spells For Forgetting by Adrienne Young Could not get into this book for the life of me! Maybe it was just slow?

8. a favorite book from childhood

Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter Still have to go and finish this series up :')

9. a book I would give to a friend

Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld It's that good!

10. a fiction book I own

A Vast Pointless Gyration Of Radioactive Rocks And Gas In Which You Happen To Occur edited by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert This book was sold as a complement to Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and I absolutely love it! Takes a look at multiverse theory and all! Which is why I put it in the fiction part (still not proven :P)

11. a nonfiction book I own

Don't Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart by Elvia Alvarado, translated by Medea Benjamin Very excited to read this one because it's the history of a campesina activist from my native Honduras. One of the most dangerous places to be an activist.

12. what I am currently reading

The Life Changing Magic of Tyding Up by Marie Kondo and The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

13. what I am planning on reading next

Not sure honestly!! My time is eaten up by fics so much! I just wish I could plug them into my goodreads 😭

14. my shelfie

she doubles as a bookcase and a hobby shelf :’)

no pressure tags (feel free to do fics instead :P): @buttdumplin @pricesugarwife @pricegouge @femalefemur @stellewriites @kyletogaz @stuffireadandenjoy @gemmahale

[dipplin-daycare]

Blog Info...

Hello and welcome to our age(d)re + pet(d)re blog. Take a good look and feel free get comfortable 'cause we're all about comfy things! Though this blog is still new we're looking forward to posting original content and interacting with the community. One day we might even open requests, who knows... And, of course, feel free to shoot us an ask! Our ask box is always open

Tagging System...

#🍎-❝by leaf❞🍃 ...for leaf's posts #🍎-❝by blu❞🌧️ ... for blu' posts #🍎-❝by rosa❞🌸 ... for rosa's posts #🍎-❝text❞💬 ... for text based posts #🍎-❝edits❞📸 ... for icons and edits #🍎-❝boards❞✏️ ... for agere moodboards #🍎-❝reblogs❞🔁 ... for reblogs

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Kink or NSFW accounts, ageplay and variants, pedo/zoos + supporters, any kind of bigot (incl. TERFs and transmeds), discourse and/or politic centric blogs, anti-recovery (incl. pro-ana pro-sh), anti-agere/petre, anti-therian !Interacting includes linking and reblogging posts!

.... about us under the cut!

About us...

Starting with the basics... We're three brazilian young adults and we all love pokemon We're also a T4T polycule and been together for around a year at this point(and we're not looking for romantic relationships here), we all have some background with the agere community and agree that we prefer to not be a part of any specific community and just treat regression as an individual thing (non-community)

I'm Leaf! I'm 21 and go by they/them. I'm a caregiver and care for both my partners whom I love very much <3. That aside, I'm a leafeon therian and sometimes I pet regress to a fox or cat Even though I'm not an age regressor I still deal with a fair amount of anxiety, OCD, dissociation and I'm neurodivergent Currently majoring pedadogy and I dream of working as a educator or school counselor, I have a fair amount of knowledge on sociology and neuropsychology as well. I'm also a pokemon fanatic, shiny hunter, and I love everything nintendo (Splatoon and Kirby are my other favorite franchises), roguelike and metroidvania games and TTRPGs. I enjoy collecting stuff and I'm very fond of lizards (snakes included!) My favorite pokemon is leafeon (and hydrapple) and I'd be a grass type trainer/gym leader

I'm Rosabella, Rosa for short! I'm 20 and my pronouns are she/they/fae I'm a flip, that is, sometimes I'm my partner Blu's caregiver and sometimes my other partner Leaf is my caregiver! My little age is around 4-8, I started regressing recently and so far I love the idea of getting to live the ideal childhood I've never had. I'm a puppy regressor too, a pomski to be more specific I'm a DID system and switch between using we/us and I/me, I'm also autistic+ADHD and HoH. Because of that I'm very invested in disabled and Deaf/HoH rights activism I love pokémon (duh) Scarlet/Violet have been my favorite games so far! I also like Animal Crossing, nostalgic toys, The Owl House, Amphibia, Adventure Time, OTGW, and similar cartoons. And I love anything magical girls!! My favorite pokémon is the hatenna evolution line and I'd be a psychic type gym leader!

I'm Blu, I'm 20 years old and go by he/they and occasionally it/its I'm a regressor and my two primaries act as my caregivers. My regressed age fluctuates from a little toddler to an edgy teen. I also heavily relate to birds, am a bird regressor and a swablu therian(that's where my name came from lol) I have OSDD1a, though I strictly refer to myself as singular person (I/me), I'm also autistic and physically disabled Majoring geography and specializing in meteorology, loooove storm spotting and retro videogames (my partners might disagree on that but I think the best pokemon games are the early ones + spin offs). Be sure that I know and have played the most obscure nintendo and sonic spin-offs My favorite pokemon is obviously swablu/altaria (murkrow is a close second) and I'd be a flying type trainer. That's it.

dipplin sprite by RetroNC

[cepheusgalaxy]

lil' thing taken from my google docs brainstorming document (section 5--im separating the brainstorm off topics, it gets easier to check and decide--"quick recap")

[Transcripted from google docs]

Original concept: Meine was originally a project I had to be made on the Gacha Life mini-movie medium.

The only defined parts were: A. Meine was a boy with powers that had been exploited by his dad in the past because of his ability of identifying magic rocks; B. His mother took back his guard when she found out and he’s been living with her since; C. He met Kyouka because his mother got called to help in a project since it is of her area of work; D. Kyouka had an unconventional childhood as a test subject because of her great power; E. For her better development as a teen she got transferred to an actual school, to which Meine also was as his mother thought they’d do good friends since Meine was so shy; F. Meine would turn himself to his father in exchange for letting his friends safe eventually; G. Meine’s parents were divorced and his father was a rich guy and when he was 5 to 12 years old his dad had his guard which was taken from his under abuse reports; H. Everybody in this world would have weird body parts to signal they have powers; I. Kyouka chose her own name, had albinism and had a great childhood provided to her and was an eccentric and fun girl.

Four characters had defined designs back then (made using Gacha Club): Meine, his mother, Kyouka and someone who worked as a social assistant-kind of to her. Kyouka’s design was lost but in the brief frame sequel that would originally start the story, were featured Meine's original design as well as a headshot of the secondary character and his mom’s designs.

This was the frame sequence (edited on Ibis Paint X to achieve wanted result):

[]

[]

Final notes: The only named characters back then were Meine and Kyouka.

Final notes: Kyouka was named after a mystery anime I saw back then, named Hyouka. I took liberties with the title, if I remember well. I also remember quitting that anime at episode 6 or so, actually.

Final notes: The story had no name back then (it still doesn’t lol)

Final notes: Meine was named after a movie I saw back then: Meine Frau, ihre Schwiegereltern und ich. I took the “meine” part (which I knew on that time to be german for “mine”, but I hadn’t noticed it was the feminine possessive pronoun. The plan was to have a fictional equivalent of German in this world and Meine’s father would have named him that out of possessive desire) from there.

[End of the transciption.]

i wanted to note everything down so i could like, keep a record. i love keeping record of the process my things go through (like megan's design pipeline which i have yet to draw)

[steele-soulmate]

Tattooed Wings, CHAPTER 593, Peter Steele & OFC, Soulmate AU

SUMMARY: Mary Claire Bradley meets her soulmate- literally- the famous Peter Steele of metal group Type O Negative. But will obstacles including trauma, stalkers, and toxic family members get in the way of their life?

WARNING: mentions of child rape (nothing graphic) PTSD, milk kink, soft smut, grinding, assault, fingering, hand jobs, blow jobs, 69, P in V sex, blood, noncon rape, violence, death, vandalism, graffiti, attempted kidnapping, break-ins, wild animal attacks, terrorist attack (sabotage) consensual impregnation, bareback, impregnation kink, creampies, terrorist attacks (shootings) hit and run pedestrian accident, precipitous labor, neonatal death, abandoned baby, child intoxication, death of a minor character, injured baby, kidnapped child

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS:

Welp, I started writing another Peter Steele FanFiction. Let me know down before in a comment if you want me to start posting it!

WORDS: 1210

I giggled as I kept an eye on little girl and the babies just having fun bopping all over the Chuck E Cheese. I couldn’t help but notice Christopher refusing to interact with any of the kids, instead moving away from his mom whenever she would try to talk to him.

“Hey, can I try?” I asked her, nudging her elbow. “Mom to mom, sometimes kids need someone else to talk to.”

“Yeah, would you please?”

I smiled at her before taking a seat next to Christopher, my mommy senses telling me that the pack of Ratajczyk children were safe and off having fun.

“Hihi, your name is Christopher, isn’t it?” I hummed gently, giving him the choice to interact with me or not.

“Yes.”

I smiled at his quiet meep, taking the chance to ask him about his book, a tattered edition of one of the Magic Treehouse books.

A quiet spark appeared in his eyes before he began to excitedly chatter my ear off about Shakespearean history and the Tudor dynasty.

“Have you ever been to a renaissance faire?” he asked me, wonder and amazement crossing over his face when I informed him that I worked as a player for two of the biggest faires on the east coast. “Wow, that’s so cool!”

“Do you know who Jaques Ze Whipper is?” I asked him, taking out my cell phone

“Are you ready, kids?” James yelled as he beat out a tempo using his trusty whips.

“AYE AYE CAPTAIN!”

“I can’t hear you!”

“AYE AYE CAPTAIN!”

“Oooooooooooooh…

Who draws on a mustache and acts like a clown?”

“Jaques Ze Whipper!”

“If you ever see him you won’t ever frown!”

“Jaques Ze Whipper!”

“Is French whipping something that you want to see?”

“Jaques Ze Whipper!”

“Then come on everyone and sing with me!”

“Jaques Ze Whipper!

Jaques Ze Whipper!

Jaques Ze Whipper!

Jaques Ze Whipper!

Jaques Ze Whipper!”

My friend since childhood finished up the song by miming playing a little horn.

“That’s Vanessa’s Papa Bear,” he pointed out.

“I know he is, but he also goes by Jaques Ze Whipper at faires and other such events,” I shrugged.

“Wowiee…” He broke off and peered around me, catching sight of Peter on his knee, allowing little girl access to kiss the sleeping triplet’s foreheads. “That’s Vanessa’s Papa Pete.”

“He is, yes,” I confirmed. “He is the best daddy in the world to the kids.” And he is also the best daddy to me, my mind told me, but I batted that away with a light blush tinging my befreckled cheeks.

“Can he be my daddy?” Christopher wondered. “My daddy went to heaven.”

My heart broke into clear pieces as his whole story was revealed to me. His father had died, leaving behind a wife and a son. I collected Cristopher as he leaned deeply into me, welcoming my arm to wrap around him.

“He had been living in the hospital, and one day, mommy told me that we wouldn’t be visiting him anymore,” he frowned, picking at his jeans.

Poor baby, I frowned, looking up as Christopher’s mother reapproached us, having nipped off to pay a visit to the bathroom to powder her nose.

“I haven’t seen Christopher this calm in a hot minute!” she said before picking up on the somber mood between the both of us. “He told you about his dad?” I could only nod- no child out there should lose a parent so suddenly. “What would you do?”

“Be honest- what else could I do?” I shrugged, reaching up to wipe at my leaking eyes. “When Baby Violet Marie passed, Peter had some of her ashes made into bracelets for the kids to wear. The both of us also welcome the kids to come to us and talk about their emotions, and we also heavily encourage them to follow their interests- dance and theater for Elizabeth, color guard and Chinese for Katie and the babies are coming into their own- Baby Tommy is keenly interested in ballet and cooking though.”

“Oh,” she hummed, and I realized that Christopher had fallen asleep leaning up against me, his itty bitty fingers entangled in my loose curls. “I follow you on Instagram, I really wish I was more like you, but I work as a nurse for mentally disabled kids, so at the end of the day when I get home from my job, I just want to crash in bed. But first, I have Christopher to take care of- homework, dinner, tucking him into bed…”

“Don’t you have any upcoming days off?” I asked her, my heart only cracking all the more at her head shake as a “No” answer.

“Not since before Henry died.” She rushed to explain herself. “It is sadly extremely expensive to live today, especially in New York. I am working to save for the both of us to move back to my hometown in Minnesota. My parents still live there and the schools are nice. Christopher will only prosper there.”

“Ah,” I hummed, understanding her reasoning. “May I offer you some advice?”

“Sure, go ahead,” she answered as Baby Tommy appeared in the doorway to the party room, worry written clear as day over his chubby face.

“Wait a little bit if you can before announcing that you’re moving due to your husband’s death,” I advised her, looking up as little girl began to race towards me. “Moving so soon after his passing might lead to him rebelling against you in more ways than you might like.”

“Mommy,” he wept. “A man pushed kicked liddle gurl and took Baby Noah!”

“What?” I gasped, looking up as Peter and Elizabeth herded the kids back over to me. “Oh no!”

TAGLISTS ARE OPEN/ ASK BOX IS OPEN/ REQUESTS ARE OPEN/ PLOT BUNNIES ARE WELCOMED

If you liked this, then please consider buying me a coffee HERE It only costs $3!!!

PETER STEELE TAGLIST

@rock-a-noodle

@ch3rry-c01a

[intheticklecloset]

Short anime recs — lesbians edition!! And my best attempt at summarizing them in ten words

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady — Perfectionist duke’s daughter publicly dumped, courted by magicless problem-child princess (fantasy/action/romance, also called magirevo or tentenkakumei if you don’t wanna type all that out lolol)

I’m in Love with the Villainess — Girl isekaied as otome game protagonist only wants spoiled villainess (romantic comedy, very silly)

Asagao to Kase-san/Kase-san and Morning Glories — She was a gardener. She did sports. What more can I say? (OVA, drama/romance/intimate. Sorry that wasn’t ten words but I had to get the /ref in there)

Whisper Me a Love Song — Girl accidentally confesses to guitarist/vocalist she admires. (music/romance. The anime adaptation is still ongoing!!)

(Not technically romance but) Koisuru Asteroid/Asteroid in Love — Girl promises to name a star after childhood acquaintance she mistakes for a boy (Slice of life, super nerdy if you like astronomy or geology!! Um… it’s ten words if you don’t count the articles/prepositions)

(If something crazy happens in any of these that I don’t know about don’t come for me /jjjj)

Ahhh all of these look so cute and fun! I've heard of Kase-san and Morning Glories and really wanted to watch/read it but I can't find it anywhere - and it doesn't appear to be on Crunchyroll atm unless I totally missed something. 😞

I also couldn't find Whisper Me a Love Song on CR - but all the other ones I did and added to my list! I'm super grateful they're all shorter too. I have so many really long anime on my watchlist it intimidate me bc I feel like I'll NEVER get to them all. 😅

Thank you for the recs!! 💖

[cl0wnsh4rk]

hello tumblr.. my name is Maverix..this is my intro

upon first glance i may look like a new user to your so called platform, but I’ve truthfully, whilst never a full fledged tumby lr, have been scampering around the back alleys of this dumpster behind the local canes since about circa 2014. I’ve decided to take this bullet to my brain and invest my time into magical girl transforming into my deepest childhood wants, for i have succumb to my deepest autismal desires ,

my interests consist but are not limited to the following:

My characters, my scrimblos, my silly billys, they are my truest art form and i have so much passion in my heart for them that i truly hope to vomit all out across the bedroom rug that is this website

Garfield

Drawfee i heart drawfee

Animal crossing

Filmcow seriously Filmcow oh my god i love Jason Steele so much

Clowns/Jesters of the fun and comical variety

…..a thick smog fills the air and my tone becomes a hushed whisper.. homestuck..

Music (mostly artists that are all probably..really bad people.. whoops)

Saying “I’m just a girl” when i am in fact not just a girl

The 2008 limited edition halloween build a bear pumpkin cat

Making shitty ‘comics’ (#mostly about myself #follow the insta @cl0wnsh4rk)

Roblox myths that nobody cares about anymore because most of those men ended up being pedophiles (gross)

Splatoon (i heart awful weapons shout out N-Zap 89 users)

my artistic endeavors (stay tuned to see) may look as if a 5 year old came back from a long day of kindergarten and is just trying to hash it out on the screen, but to me it is my fun escape from my part time job as americas favorite business student and trying not to crash my car into the goodwill

I hope you welcome me to this fair world with open arms, and if you don’t, well, I’m coming in anyways

[nextgensquad]

who do you ship lorcan and lysander with?

excellent question bestie! gonna say mine and everyone else can edit in if they see fit:

pearl: personally i've long been a molly/lorcan and lucy/lysander truther but in recent years that's changed to molly/teddy and lily/lorcan and in my current universe it's like... the twins run a magical creature sanctuary together, lorcan is the quiet one and lysander is the wanderer who picks up friends for the two of them bc lorcan prefers animals over people; lily is two years younger than them and she runs away from hogwarts in her seventh year due to (plot reasons) and rocks up to the scamander sanctuary and ends up chilling with them hiding from her family and lorcan is very wary of her bc lily is Loud and he does not like loud people but she has a quiet side too and she turns out to be surprisingly gifted w/ animals (she's a photographer and gets really into taking photos of the animals and surprisingly gets them to give her really good shots) so he ends up liking her after all. he's v different from every other boy she's ever liked but it works better for her. and lucy/lysander are both wanderers and runners, lucy is very angry due to (family trauma) while lysander is more chill about it, and she doesn't stick with people or places very often and he has his home base as the sanctuary but he drifts a lot because he likes to travel and sometimes they meet up and it's a thing that's not really a thing but eventually turns into more of a thing. she has snotty pureblood grandparents on her other side and they are absolutely horrified when she rocks up to family functions w/ a zookeeper boyfriend.

becca's additions: back in the days when i came up with the main core of my headcanons (c. 2010), i was still doing my best to fit it to the info jkr had given us, so when she said that luna's twins were considerably younger than the other canon kids, i just took that and rolled with it. so lorcan and lysander in my next gen universe are a good seven years younger than lily and hugo, and five years younger than the youngest weasley cousin (lucy).

all that to say that i ship them with ocs, and in each case it's with childhood friends, which wasn't really planned but it's how it worked out. lysander is my gryffindor twin, and, like pearl's version, he's a magical creatures guy like his parents, but more along the lines of his however-many-times great-grandpa, in that he constantly has animals spilling out of his pockets. the girl he ends up with is a slytherin, whom lysander ends up befriending quite early in his hogwarts career, partly due to her also having a certain affinity with particular animals. she's very ~plot important~ for my big next gen wip series, so i don't want to say too much. lorcan is a poet, a dreamer, and an astronomer, and comes out as non-binary in their teens. they end up with their two best friends from school days, a pair of oddballs called tamara and milo, and they're all equally in love with each other.

the twins and all their respective partners end up starting an alternative magical community/refuge hidden deep in the countryside, a safe haven for waifs and strays of any species, where people grow food and make art and live semi-communally. by summer 2047, inhabitants include all characters above, plus jess lupin and her girlfriend, four under-fives, a very pregnant werewolf hiding from a scandal, and a dragon called rocco who thinks lysander's her mother.

[televinita]

This is a GIANT sale, probably even besting the Big One from April. Very reasonable prices: $2 for most books, $1 for CDs and teen/juvenile or mass market paperbacks, 50 cents for the really skinny ones. Some older books individually priced higher but very fairly for their condition and scarcity, and they always have a nice selection of them. This is a community fundraiser sale so they lease out space wherever they can find it, and this year it filled half a vacant warehouse. The sale also runs every day for two weeks straight, but due to its distance and various commitments I didn't get to go until day 11.

And still, there was TONS (albeit not a lot in the way of books less than 10 years old). I would actually like to have gone back, because I ended up only being able to spend 3 hours there and it was NOT enough time to thoroughly rake the place over or make sure I had made the very wisest purchases, but alas, more Commitments and a dash of weather got me. >:(

As for what I actually got -- oh shoot, I keep moving them around; I already see I missed photographing at least one -- a few of the children's books above are replacement copies of beloved titles in nicer condition than the beat-up ones I have, but most of these are new to me and I'm very excited. The level of general interest increases as you get farther, I promise.

======

1. Happily After All - Laura C. Stevens: replacement copy. I didn't read this until adulthood, but it's from my era and I LOVED it and I know I would have loved it had I come across it as a kid, too.

2. Babysitters Club Super Special #2: Summer Vacation: look i wasn't GOING to collect these but this one looks practically brand new so maybe I can have one more rep as a treat (maybe even relinquish that other one in Bad Shape from the last sale)

3. Animal inn #7: The Pet Makeover - Virginia Vail: this series I AM collecting and I am THRILLED to have one that is both in great condition and that I'm not sure I've read.

4. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens: I told you I was going to replace my ugly copy someday, and the bonded-leather-with-gilt-edges Barnes & Noble edition is one of the prettier ones I know about.

5. A Horse For Mandy - Lurlene McDaniel: look, it's very short & silly but it was kind of a literary bucket goal to read her very first book (originally pubbed 1981), featuring horses instead of sicklit, having already grabbed another early one, Where's The Horse For Me?

6. A Horse For X.Y.Z. - Louise Moeri: another replacement of a childhood fave. My copy isn't bad but old paperbacks are such poor quality in general that I figured I might as well own the nicest available.

7. Silver - Thomas C. Hinkle: not in great shape, but by an author whose 1920s & 30s animal stories I am always looking to read more of. I'm excited to have a Comet Books edition because they have the coolest color graphics on the back (you can see an example on Goodreads here), and honestly condition isn't bad for a pulp paperback pushing 75 years of age.

8. Mayday! ... Mayday! - Hilary Milton: a random grabbed-to-read survival adventure, two teens seeking help after the plane they're on crashes into a forested mountainside. Probable read-and-release, unless the small size tricks me into keeping it along with my 200 other mass markets.

9. Touch The Moon - Marion Dane Bauer: maybe my favorite by her, a girl who longs for a horse is disappointed to only receive a china one...but at night he temporarily transforms into a real horse. Who can talk. Magical adventure time!

10. Summer of the Wolves - Polly Carlson Voiles: replacement copy of one of the all-time best middle grade novels I've ever read as an adult.

11. Lucky Lady - Susan Saunders: replacement copy of a short horse book for preteens that I nevertheless read and loved in high school. I wanted it so bad that I've literally kept a crappy paperback copy with teen marks and a torn cover from a Little Free Library...until now!

12. Cliques, Hicks & Ugly Sticks - K.D. McCrite: guess who is SO THRILLED to have found the 2nd book in this middle grade quartet (not available at local library) only two months after reading the first one and falling in utter love!

13. Almena's Dogs - Regina Woody: one of the few uncommon books in the Grosset & Dunlap "Famous Dog Stories," I've never seen it before. Probably was unpopular because I'm pretty sure it's the ONLY one that features a girl, let alone a Black one. A Goodreads friend read this recently so I was really excited to find my own copy! From 1954 originally, so it seems ahead of its time. Already read half of it and I'm so in love. I am also now interested in a bunch more Regina Woody books, having never heard of her before, but damn. They are scarce.

14. All Dogs Go to Heaven - Beth Brown: I was literally two steps away from joining the checkout line when I spotted a box of old books under a table I hadn't looked at before. This was the third one down. Since I was out of time, I just SEIZED without even enough time to open the cover and make sure it was actually dog stories -- but it definitely is and I could not be more thrilled.

(P.S. This is illustrated by a Mr. Carl Cobbledick. They simply do not make names like that anymore.)

15-16. A Separate Peace + Peace Breaks Out - John Knowles: the exact editions I've checked out of the library, too, lol (though I hate the latter because the back cover is just a giant jump-scare of the author's face. i pray this horrid 80s trend never returns). I think I mentioned before that I was idly thinking of reading them this year; I ended up not doing so but Mom did, so might try again this fall.

17. The Stillmeadow Road - Gladys Taber: the very first book I ever read from her, which would eventually kick off a deep appreciation for her work! one of several books featuring musings & anecdotes on a quiet life as a writer in the countryside, residing in a late 17th century (American) farmhouse, with plenty of pets.

18.Ranch of Dreams - Cleveland Amory: I've been idly meaning to read this one for a while. Don't know if I'll keep it 'cause it's a BIG hardcover, but his Cat Who Came For Christmas trilogy was one of the first pet memoirs I read waaay back in the day, and he just did incredible things with his money (i.e. set up an animal sanctuary. this book was published in 1997, a year before he passed, but the sanctuary still exists!).

19. If Wishes Were Horses: The Education of a Veterinarian - Loretta Gage, D.V.M., w/ [her sister the writer] Nancy Gage: vet memoirs were also some of the earliest adult nonfiction I read, starting in middle school -- I literally read every single one the library had. I don't read them nearly as much anymore, but I'm still interested, especially older ones like this (released 1993) by women when they were still fighting to be taken seriously in the profession, especially in large animal practice. We're talking 1970s and even 80s here.

20. Wild Voice of the North: The Chronicle of an Eskimo Dog - Sally Carrighar: this book is in rouuuuuugh shape, but I simply could not resist him face.

And for the final wrap-up of random books... (also featuring: the one I forgot)

21. Martha's Vineyard: Isle if Dreams - Susan Branch: I FINALLY FOUND THE FINAL BOOK IN THE MEMOIR TRILOGY!!!!!! Actually found them all in a 7-month period, come to think of it, which is wild because I have been keeping an eye out for 8 years (I do actually still need a replacement copy of the last one w/ a dust jacket, but at least I could read it if I wanted to). Reminders of how pretty they are inside, the closest you will ever get to finding a real journal:

moving on...

22. Inside Dunder Mifflin: I don't love the illustration style but I do love that it was published after the series ended, so it is able to address everything up to and including the finale. It's just such a fun novelty item I don't even really know how to describe it yet, may not keep forever, but sure fun to have now!

23. How Far You've Come - Morgan Harper Nichols: I gather she's some sort of influencer; have not heard of her or this book but I am a SUCKER for a smaller-than-average hardcover-with-no-dust-jacket gift book full of text interspersed with pretty drawings and poems.

24. [CD] Skye Dyer - Letting Go (2014): Dunno who she is, picked solely on the basis of "young and pretty white woman on cover = good enough odds I'll like it to gamble $1". I've only played through it once, but this time my instincts appear to be on point.

And the silliest find of all...

25. Dawson's Creek: The Official Postcard Book: mostly because it's in like-new condition and I simply know, I KNOW, that this kind of nostalgic novelty item cannot easily be had for $1 anywhere else.

I still haven't even ever seen an episode of the show. This would be a greater find if I could sell things online, TBH, because the true value is I'm pretty sure I could flip this for at least $10; the binding is so tight that I can't really see all the postcards well without dismantling it, and if I do that I kill some of the value, which I'm not ready to do.

Nevertheless I'm having fun looking at what I can see of all the senior-portrait-style photos; Katie Holmes in particular is simply stunning.

=====

And there we go! Biggest bummer was that despite this sale being a RESPLENDENT repository of 70s-90s teen & children's paperbacks, not a single Lynn Hall book to be found. Where did all of her books GO, goddamn. Also kind of surprised not to see any Marguerite Henry, not even the heavily reprinted paperbacks (most of which are still in print).

But the Susan Branch book -- which I forgot to actually look for, and just happened to spot by chance on my way out of the biggest room for the last time -- and the vintage animal books were definitely worth the trip.

[bzedan]

Storytelling Collective does a yearly challenge for flash fic, with prompts and a nice community format. After completing 2022's run, I picked my ten favourites and collected them in a nice little volume you can pick up at Itch.io. As I'm (finally) editing the collection of my Flash Fiction February faves for 2023 I figured that I should share one or two from last year's bunch.

Belief

“Okay then, well, what do you see when you look at me?”

Sissy rested her chin on her fist and looked at Ribbon. Looked at her friend. The realization that Ribbon was her friend was startling and precious and she set it aside to examine later.

“You look like how naga were in the illustrations from my childhood world folktales book. Only, more real.”

“Yes, but how exactly?” Ribbon’s soft lisping voice had a lilt of amused curiosity.

“Well, you are mostly snake—and a very pretty one, thick bands of brown scales with skinnier stripes of ivory between them.” Sissy waved at the great length of Ribbon, coiled comfortably before her. “Then your head is a human head, only instead of long straight hair like in the illustrations you have a mane of feathers that go down your back a little bit.”

“Okay!” Ribbon’s coils tightened and released in a movement that Sissy had learned to interpret as ‘excited.’ “If you could identify what kind of snake my body was, what would it be?”

“Easy, California Kingsnake.” Sissy smiled. “Your face is even like a human version of theirs, a cute little oval.”

“Do you know a lot of snake breeds on sight?” Something in Ribbon’s dark eyes made Sissy think it was a trick question but she answered truthfully.

“Absolutely not. I only know California Kingsnakes because my daughter’s sixth-grade class had one and we ended up taking care of it over holidays since no other families would. I learned everything you could about kingsnakes.”

Ribbon coiled and uncoiled, then settled herself down so her face was even with Sissy’s. This close, and with the association in her mind, Ribbon really did look like a snake-become-girl, her snub nose and light and dark patches of skin mimicking a kingsnake’s blunt digging head. Sissy remembered her daughter at fifteen trying to explain furries and sparkledogs and was considering explaining the concept to Ribbon when the naga interrupted her train of thought.

“Just a few more questions. What colour are my feathers and what do they remind you of?”

“They’re jewel-toned, but like gems, not clothing colours. Red and blue and green, like in pictures of Quetzalcoatl.” Sissy sped quickly through the last word, knowing she was pronouncing the Nahuatl sloppily.

“And what is that?”

Sissy felt silly explaining a mythic creature to another mythic creature. “A feathered serpent. He’s a deity in Aztec culture but also the Quetzalcoatl is a type of creature in stories, not quite a dragon, I guess.”

“Okay, so.” More of Ribbon’s body moved under her so she sat primly upright, like a teacher who had reached an important part of a lesson. “To you, I look like: the general shape of a creature in a favourite childhood book, mixed with an animal you are fond of and a magical being you know about.”

“Yes?” Sissy felt confused. “You look like what a naga would look like if it were real—because you are real.”

“I look like what you think a naga would look like if it were real.”

“Wait—”

“Your mind shaped me into something you could recognize, Sissy. I look like what I do, to you, because that’s how you believe I should look.”

Sissy shook her head. “But you’d exist if I wasn’t here.”

“Yes, but not in this form. One of you called it the ‘observer effect,’ which was very tidy.”

“But what if two people were looking at you at the same time?”

“Oh, Sissy.” Ribbon moved to curl up closer to her, resting her head against Sissy’s. “No matter who is looking at me, I remain me.”

Ribbon’s sun-warmed body radiated heat against Sissy’s back. “Well, that’s good, it seems like it would be confusing otherwise.”

Ribbon laughed. “Very. Anyway, I think your perception of me is one of the best ones I’ve heard. You see me as pretty.”

“That’s because you are pretty.”

“Exactly.”

Crossposted to my blog

[byneddiedingo]

The Magic Flute (Ingmar Bergman, 1975)

Cast: Josef Köstlinger, Irma Urrila, Håkan Hagegård, Ulrik Cold, Birgit Nordin, Ragnar Ulfung, Britt-Marie Aruhn, Kirsten Vaupel, Birgitta Smiding, Erik Sædén. Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman, based on an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder translated by Alf Henrikson. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Produ. tion design: Henny Noremark. Film editing: Siv Lundgren. Costume design: Karin Erskine, Henny Noremark. For me, Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute is a kind of linguistic palimpsest, with the English subtitles* superimposed on the Swedish translation of the German original. Not that I know Swedish,  but I've picked up enough of the sound of the language from watching movies that I can recognize a word or two. And I do know the German libretto fairly well from following along on recordings, so that when a singer begins a familiar aria, I hear the German in my mind's ear along with the Swedish being sung and then refracted through the words on screen. You'd think this would be distracting, but it isn't -- in fact, it only helps me appreciate the care Bergman took in making the film. Opera is not designed for the movies: It has moments of tightly choreographed action after which people stand still to sing, and you want more out of a movie than starts and stops. But what Bergman does so brilliantly is to supply close-ups and cuts that give the film an energy, often following the rhythms of Mozart's music. We don't get close-ups in the opera house -- thank god, because singing opera does unfortunate things to the singers' faces -- but Bergman has wisely chosen good-looking singers and had them speak-sing along with a previously recorded version, so there's little facial distortion. The Magic Flute is a problematic opera: Emanuel Schikaneder's libretto is a mess that never quite resolves the relationship between Sarastro, the Queen of the Night, and Pamina. Bergman solves this by creating one: In his version, Pamina (Irma Urrila) is the daughter of Sarastro (Ulrik Cold) and the Queen (Birgit Nordin), and he has abducted the girl because he doesn't trust his ex to raise her right. There's no justification for this in Schikaneder's text, and even Bergman hasn't quite resolved the problem of why Sarastro lets Pamina be guarded by Monastatos (Ragnar Ulfung), whose chief aim seems to be to sleep with the young woman. Nor has Bergman solved the misogyny and racism of Schikaneder's libretto. Women come in for a good deal of disapproval in the opera, and Bergman hasn't eliminated that. Monastatos is tormented by the fact that he's black -- a Moor -- although he is given a kind of Shylockian moment of self-justification, and even Papageno (Håkan Hagegård), who is the pragmatic, commonsense type, reflects that there are black birds, so why not black people. (I'm not entirely sure that line of Papageno's even makes it into the Bergman film.) Most productions today gloss over these antique prejudices as best they can, however, turning The Magic Flute into a kind of fairy tale for the kids, with colorful sets and cute forest animals dancing to Tamino's flute. Bergman is no exception in this regard: The film is set in the theater, and he opens with a close-up of a lovely young girl** with a kind of Mona Lisa smile, and follows her eye line as she gazes at the images painted on the curtain, then scans the other faces in the audience, old and young and of various ethnicities. The film, which like his other childhood-centered classic, Fanny and Alexander (1982), was made originally for television,  is certainly one of Bergman's warmest. *I don't know who did the English version, but it's a very good singing translation, not just a literal prose version of the original. **She has been identified as Helene Friberg, who had bit parts in other Bergman films.