#week one: dash

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[searchingforserendipity25]

exorcising my list of unwritten conclave concepts from a few weeks ago i haven't written much since, in case the list is all there ends up coming out of it or anyone wants to welcome any of them into a good home:

cardinal lawrence and sister agnes won each other’s respect and trust during ratzinger’s papacy (liberals who leak church scandals to the justice system and the press stick together). everyone lowkey thinks they are having an affair. they are not, but they do keep sneaking into corners to gossip during the conclave. leaning fully into the reading of sister agnes as the late pope’s intelligence expert. incredibly jaded vatican spy. aldo is not jealous. benitez finds lawrence with the yellow canary eating from his hand and going back to his side after short flights, and has a number of franciscan emotions about it. the whole thing would ideally be about their friendship, different views and thoughts on power, what it looks like, what it ought to look like. responsibility, and doubt. also: how horrible it is the only non smokers in an european workplace.

(does this change anything materially? possibly the adeyemi and trembley situation is revealed much sooner with lawrence and sister agnes working together earlier and sharing intel, which in its turn makes him seem more competent and aggressive in taking down competitors, ergo more votes, ergo more influence? maybe bellini supports him more overtly earlier idk.) 

cardinal lawrence is dead. as a matter of fact, cardinal lawrence has been dead for a few days after the pope dies; unlike the pope, he keeps coming back to do his job. the curia covers up his death, because the dean of the college of cardinals is a ghost who apparently hated his job enough that is it his very literal purgatory is both hard to explain, and bad for the press. the fate of his unliving soul is very much at risk when steering the conclave, which is, uh, fun. cardinal tedesco's vape smoke now strongly smells of sulfur to him, which is probably not satanic in origin but then again might be. people keep voting on him and their belief in him corresponds directly to how much he can interact with the world, which is a very straightforward way to test one’s moral limits and otherwise a great torment. the one silver lining is that he can walk through walls and scoop out corrupt dealing easily, and no one can really tell he is dead. well, barely anyone. cardinal benítez and his ability to walk easily between the liminal spaces and certainties of the world is an outlier, and should not be counted.

dean lawrence keeps getting kidnapped, poisoned, blackmailed and otherwise threatened. this is an unfortunate if occasional part of being the vatican’s manager of two increasingly liberal and unorthodox papacies. it is considerably less fine and unfortunately far too normal for innocent xiv, who has a non-zero number of experiences with friends being kidnapped, poisoned, blackmailed and otherwise threatened. 

bellini/lawrence full on established relationship nonsense. as in, they have been together for thirty years and counting. conclave rewrite?? 

innocent xiv’s phone messages get leaked. innocent xiv’s phone messages consist of selfies with turtles sent to various friends and family, a good deal of memes in the santa marta groupchat, and daily jokes, complaints and affectionate messages to dean lawrence. the media has thoughts. aldo bellini, newly in charge of the papal media strategy, also has thoughts. and prayers.

a glimpse at all the people that Did vote for benítez from the start, and how much his work is or is not known outside the hermetic sphere of the vatican. he's kind of famous in religious activist circle probably! he has fans! he has a wide network of people he regularly approaches for information, resources, mutual aid and donations to his clinics and dioceses! he keeps dropping insane facts about horrifying personal experiences with unnerving serenity!

vincent benítez soft doms cardinal lawrence into taking a rest during the conclave. this incidents turns into a habit and gains new dimensions, as per the forthcoming changes in job status

pope john has an ongoing crisis of faith and also a gigantic imposter's syndrome. unrelatedly, pope john would really really really rather vincent benítez did not die in kabul and/or cause a diplomatic disaster. how convenient, then, that he is now a benevolent religious dictator who can arrange (read: wholesale invent) a number of postings and duties only benítez can accomplish. if anyone ask, this is a long-delayed move on part o the church to develop a deeper connection to on-the-ground aid organization. this can’t possibly last forever, though, can it? 

friar lawrence has shed all politics and chosen an abbey who keeps a vow of silence. friar lawrence is genuinely having a lovely time of things in his little abbey post canon. for like, uh, two months? friar lawrence keeps accidentally gaining more and more influence. manager-guy who cannot not manage. six months in he’s in charge of shelters and social associations. one year on, and he’d be archbishop again, if he were not aggressively trying to clamber down the church hierarchical rung. his friend, innocent xiv, who went from being a non-entity to one of the most famous men in the world, is sympathetic but also thinks this is very very funny. epistolary fic?? email epistolary? there is a little cat in a friar's habit and this is the most important part.

possibly related: cardinal lawrence comes back from his enforced sabbatical in a peaceful retreat freckled, healthier and smiling. people have thoughts on this, and emotions also. 

turtle pov of benitez/lawrence. literally: turtle pov. is the turtle an angel?? unclear if the turtle is an angel.

cardinal tedesco must die au.

[aimer-arts]

I'm sorry I haven't really commented on your art or anything before, I've been shy and it's something I'm trying to get better at lol

I wanted to say I've been following you for years and you were one of my biggest inspirations for starting to post my own art on here, which is something that's changed my life. You were one of the first PMD blogs I stumbled across and it's been such a joy all this time. Your teams are all so cute and once I have time I really have to draw fanart of them

Your artstyle is so adorable and soft and warm and I don't think I can put into words how much I love it. It makes me smile every time I see it. Your art is so wonderful and it's genuinely brightened my life! I hope you have a great day! 💚💚💚💚💚

AAAAAAA GOSH THIS IS SO SWEET... thank you so much for sending in this ask, it made me smile so much :")

I absolutely adore your art and pmd characters too!! Here's some gift art of Venus as a way of saying thank you 💚💚💚

[paintbrushinacoffeecup]

once again, @unpeeled-human's art is keeping me together

Mel is @dashcon-two's, the original comic by unpeeled linked here!

[hydrachea]

I've been thinking about it for a while, but the Mihoyo games fandoms are... Really less than courteous when it comes to spoilers.

I'm a loyal consumer of leaks myself, but I swear the fandom at large acts like everyone is - and not just is, but apparently should be.

There's been fanart in the HSR fandom regarding a certain character and a certain boss' relationship for weeks when not even the 3.1 main mission has touched upon it - because it comes from leaks regarding the future of the story. With the change in Genshin drip marketing schedule, it's quite literally impossible to find out who the new characters are officially because they're leaked at least a week prior and fanart (of course, untagged) starts flooding social media. There were also edits of the new 5.4 CGs everywhere as soon as the preload hit the servers, spoiling essentially everyone who wanted to wait for the version to, you know, actually be out.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but it makes for a very poor fandom experience when everyone acts like you're expected to follow leaks or you're the one responsible for getting things spoiled for you. It costs absolutely nothing to tag your leak-inspired or preload-datamined stuff as spoilers.

[sergeantjessi]

tea party doug with the red glasses. you agree.

(I hired an etiquette coach to fix DougDoug, EthanNestor, Pointcrow and CarolineKwan)

[your-local-depressed-fangirl]

Day 1 of @willsolaceweek !!!

The infirmary was quiet for the first time in years. Not a sound was heard but the not so gentle sound of Will Solace’s head thumping against the head medic desk where paperwork was always filled out as long as Will could recall. First by Lee Fletcher then by Micheal Yew. 

In truth when Micheal was head he hadn’t known a thing about healing in comparison to Lee — or even Will — but he wouldn’t let a twelve year old take over the infirmary, saying it was too much responsibility. But he did let Will help out, Micheal would let Will sit on one of his legs as he struggled to fill out reports on injured and dead campers as Will fiddled with his hands, pointed out errors, and corrected them.

But now It was Will at that desk, not Lee, not Micheal, Will. A thirteen year old in charge of the infirmary. Will was capable, yes, but it was still ridiculous and Will still struggled.

The actual work wasn’t Will’s problem, especially now that the infirmary was clear and there was only the occasional sprained ankle or camper seeking out an ice pack for a training induced bruise.

It was the silence.

The silence got to him.

It was louder than any of Micheal’s old arrows whizzing through the air. It was louder than any song Lee had ever belted around the campfire for the kids he’d take suggestions from. It was louder than any supersonic whistle Will could ever let out. It was louder then any of the late night giggles that used to fill the air of the Apollo cabin.

It ate Will up. Devoured him. Ripped him apart limb from limb.

Thud, Thud, Thud.

Will’s head went, numb to the pain — the physical pain at least.

It felt like yesterday everything was fine. 

Will could lay his head down and rest his tired eyes and open them to Lee tucking him into his bed with his glowing star stickers on the ceiling of his bunk — green and a pain because they always found a way to fall on him in the middle of the night.

Will never realized how loud the Apollo cabin — the place he had spent most of his life — was until it was empty.

Empty being relative. It wasn’t that their existence had been completely erased from the cabin — no that would be too kind of the fates. There were little pieces of them laying everywhere that Will saw particularly when he was trying not to see them.

Those little pieces of them — of Will’s family — haunted his head as he sat at the desk where the head of the infirmary always sat — a seat belonging to dead people. So many dead demigods. Not one of them being Will Solace.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Went Will’s head as hard as he can slam it. Because somehow despite him logically knowing it was hurting him, it was soothing.

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Will welcomed the distraction like he welcomed all the responsibility of running both his cabin and the infirmary to fill his head so he couldn’t think about anything else — so he couldn’t think of his siblings. His siblings, what would they all say?

Oh right, they are all dead.

Even in a fit of despair, even as he let himself feel — because his distraction ploy was having only minimal effect — for the first time since the battle, Will was methodical, banging his head to the famous drum beat “habanera” in halftime, counting the number of times his vision blackened around the edges, and the amount of times it faded completely.

Will’s head throbbed and screamed in pain, his neck ached strongly from swinging his head up and down with every muscle exerting themselves at full capacity, and his back hunched over just so letting gravity fall down hard on every last vertebrae.

But Will didn’t stop, couldn’t stop if he wanted to, until his head actually slumped against the desk unwilling to listen to the urge to thump, thump, thump his head to the strong gloss-ily finished oak desk.

Will’s temples rested on the desk as his eyes pointed at the floor — which swam in and out of view.

Thump, thump, thump went the blood pumping through his head even though the motion had stopped.

Soon — or maybe a while later, who knows Will couldn’t perceive time quite right at the moment — the foul taste of bile came rising up Will’s throat and lingering in the back of his mouth, tingling his soft palette, before spilling out of his mouth and onto the floor along with his last meal — almost fully digested because it was who knows how long ago — before he could stop it.

It was horrid.

Will hated throwing up with a passion. The smell made his stomach flip — not in a good way. The taste made him feel filthy — made him want to rip his tongue out if only for the taste of blood to overpower the bile. The feeling made him almost find the strength to start banging his head again. The sound made him squeamish despite all the grave injuries he’d treated in his time. The sight filled him with dread knowing he didn’t have a older sibling to take care of him and had to clean the biohazard up himself.

Bit after bit the biohazard that was Will’s vomit was diluted with tears. Drip, drop, drip, drop only stopping once Will’s head screamed in agony and made him.

The ever so slight ticking of the clock matched Will’s heart beat pounding through the cavity of his cranium. 

Will turned his head to look at the clock which read: “11:53”. Much too late.

Chiron had told him he was to skip the night shift and be back in his cabin by 10 pm so Will hopped up to his feet to grab a rag and clean his mess quickly. Will’s body felt light and distant feeling like he was possessing his own body, his head felt odd, his peripheral vision went black, and what remained of his vision went blurry.

Will let himself fall against the wall and slide to the ground before managing to grab his rag, head feeling awfully funny — actually just plain awful.

“Okay Will, this lesson is very important!” Lee had emphasized the time he taught Will about concussions. “The symptoms of a concussion are nau—, head—s, pain and —bing at — colli— si—t, so—ti—s fain—, vom— some—, —sitiv— to —und — light, ring— in — ears, trou— with mem—, —igue, —on—ion, less —din—tion th— usu—, —d poor bal—.” Will struggled to remember what exactly he said. Was that a symptom?

Didn’t matter Will had to clean up his freshly formed biohazard and go to sleep.

Through bleary tilting vision Will managed to grab a rag from one of the lower cabinets — at his eye level since he was on the floor — and began to crawl with it to the mess.

But oh how his eyes lids drooped and how comfortable the tile floor of the infirmary looked. 

Will’s shoulder muscles trembled before giving out, depositing him face first onto the ground.

He had time to close his eyes a little — recoup his strength — before finishing. Yes.

Will was awoken the next morning at nine AM to 4 bloody area kids who’d gotten into a fight and needed stitches. Lovely way to start the day isn’t it?

[END FIC]

My notes:

The symptoms of a concussion are: nausea, headaches, pain and throbbing at the collision sight, sometimes fainting, vomiting sometimes, sensitivity to sound and light, ringing in the ears, trouble with memory, fatigue, confusion, less coordination then usual, and poor balance. 

Please don’t ever intentionally give yourself a concussion like Will did! If you manage to get one for any reason please call a doctor. If that’s not possible for your situation then here’s some practical advice that’s helped me when I had a concussion: 

try to stay off of screens people with concussions usually have light sensitivity and blue light is the worst offender,

drink plenty of water just like any ailment,

get plenty of rest to let your brain heal itself,

make sure you’re on top of your nutrition so your body has the energy to heal yourself as fast as possible,

ice packs can help with the headaches,

eye masks and ear plugs help with light and sound sensitivity,

take it easy,

and try to avoid thinks that involve complex thought because just existing with a concussion is strenuous enough.

If you enjoyed, please like, comment, reblog and/or vote for this fic in the Will Solace Week polls and have a marvelous day!

[inhuman-obey-me]

what do you think happens when a human gives a demon their soul in exchange for a pact?? would it give that demon all the wisdom? powers of the human??

From what we've seen in the game, honestly it basically mostly comes down to like...wanting human souls because demons find them shiny and attractive. And tasty? Also tasty.

However, it seems that's basically the extent of it, in terms of what demons get from human souls themselves.

(spoilers for Nightbringer below the cut)

When it comes to potentially receiving things like wisdom and power from humans, you have to remember that demons (and angels, for that matter) don't actually really...think quite so highly of humans?

Compared to demons and angels, humans are essentially considered weak beings to be guided or influenced by one side or the other -- a point that has been especially emphasized in Nightbringer.

Let's use Solomon as an example -- a human that has both power and wisdom. In fact, he has been outright known as the names "Solomon the Wise" and the "Witty Sorcerer" in OM canon, and he is the most powerful sorcerer ever to exist, in terms of power as a human. And even for all that, that's only barely enough to make Lucifer have to actually put a little bit of effort into warding him off. Lucifer has made clear more than once that, if he actually cared more, Solomon would absolutely be no match for him.

Now, to be fair, Solomon does have 72 pacts -- but none of those pacts have actually been confirmed in-game to be for his soul. We know that Asmo was just sort of drunkenly manipulated into making a pact, and Barbatos mentions in the "Tea Time With You" Devilgram that his pact with Solomon is actually about atonement. Which, by the way, is a super juicy tidbit for them to have dropped in a Devilgram and we desperately want to know more about that?? When he makes a pact with Asmo a second time in Nightbringer, that also involves no promises of his soul. And, more generally, Solomon argues in NB Lesson 17 that most pact-making usually involves having to manipulate or outsmart demons -- though, we also know from Thirteen that his soul is amazingly shiny, and that's why she also wants it.

Now, that's Solomon, who is a special case in terms of both power and wisdom. And rather than coveting those things from him, the demons of the cast treat him more like either a nuisance or a threat. Meanwhile, power is actually the reason Solomon makes the pacts -- because the pacts give him power, not the other way around.

Then consider that the average human is not Solomon, but more like MC was at the very beginning of OM -- no magic, no power, not known for any special wisdom or anything. They, and their souls, are not typically meaningfully powerful or wise to demons, who themselves are way more powerful and cleverer than anything they could get from a human. So, as with the screenshot from Lucifer earlier, it would seem it really just comes to being like a shiny gem, something demons want to collect -- either to simply own their soul for eternity or to consume it as a delicacy.

There is a way that demons can get a taste of power from humans in a pact, though, and that is when the human draws it out of them while under a pact. This is what MC did with Asmodeus when Solomon lent them his power back in OG Lesson 8, which was so fascinating to Asmo that he actually freely decided to make the pact with MC, just so he'd have more opportunities in the future to experience that power again.

Rather than being power that the demon receives as part of a human's soul, that seems to be a two-way street, since Solomon also references having Barbatos lend him his power in NB Lesson 1 in order to go back in time to where MC was sent. But in terms of power from humans? It's while they have the pact with the human alive that it matters.

tl;dr -- Demons want to collect human souls because they're shiny and tasty. Humans want pacts for power.

[spoopy-cactus]

so hows everyones tuesday going?

[ottisbuns]

I think my favorite type of post is mutuals using tumblr as a diary, or overall just sending nonsensical thoughts related to things I have no further context of onto my dash.

Like you're so right bestie it IS unfair that you have to wake up and go to work. treatless. and you don't even have a tail you can wag. There is no justice in this world. Good night. Good morning. We are both alive, we are both living lives! Isn't that fun!

[gwydionsart]

Sanji Week 2025

Day 6: Emotions

Didn't come out quite as I wanted it to but was still fun.

[yoosung-ah]

RFA profiles reworked: Zen

[crazycoven]

is this too sappy for them? who cares

doodles for zosantober, prompt: promises

[slutdge]

queer infighters are so god damn lame man and when you really just see them as the pathetic people they are rather than taking offense to the dumb shit they say, it becomes a lot easier to just move on from it when they target your identity and not get as broken up about it bc i promise you 90% of the queer infighting is contained to terminally online spaces, and if you do encounter it irl, rest assured that is the rare occasion that said terminally online person went outside and other queers will step up to defend you. they need to interact with some queers irl and get a job and maybe theyll calm down. get any sort of hobby thats not scrolling tumblr and tiktok all day every day with the curtains shut.

[jovialcloudqueenisnotonfire]

my heart goes out to the poor BL drama writers out there in thailand right now, working overtime to write sequels where the lead couples are legally married now

[renegadeem]

Cid Loving Week - Day 7 - Meteor

It is done!

Many thanks to @cid-loving-hours for organizing the week, I had a blast making all of these!

It was my first time joining an event like this, and it was so fun! I was kind of nervous at first and struggled a bit to get started, but once the gears finally shifted I really went ham on it.

I hope these were as fun to see as they were to make ^_^

Don’t forget to appreciate Cid Highwind everyday!