#art is amazing but who cares of symbolism this days

[psychedelic-ink]

𝐀𝐬 𝐈𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐬 - 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐈𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐝

pairing: pre outbreak!joel miller x f!reader, one sided tommy miller x f!reader

series summary: After your grandfather’s passing, you find yourself moving into his home in Texas. You meet the Millers; Tommy, his older brother Joel and his daughter Sarah. With time, you and Tommy become close friends and Sarah visits you often. But Joel…Joel keeps his distance. The reason for this is due to one crucial fact you don’t know but he does; Tommy has a crush on you. Which means you’re off limits no matter what. But as your own feelings for Joel grow, things start to get more and more complicated.

word count: 2.6k

chapter summary: you decide to host a New Year's party and when Joel shows up soaked to the bone thanks to the rain, you lead him to the bathroom to dry him up.

warnings: piv, secret relationship, dirty talk, joel getting really creative with the shower head

a/n: let's just consider this little fic an alternative version of the question "what if the outbreak didn't happen plus tommy still doesn't know about you and joel" Normally he would learn before outbreak day no matter if the outbreak happens or not but I wanted to keep the sneaking around bit for this one soooo

I would also like to thank everyone who has been following the story! Every comment is precious to me and I appreciate it more than you realize. I'm so happy people are still enjoying it, I have big plans for this series and I will be finishing it spring time. I hope the new year brings you all peace and happiness, happy new year everyone!

**divider by the talented @saradika-graphics xx

Rain washes away everything. It washes away the dirt of the street, rejuvenates the drying trees, makes the grass greener. In Austin rain truly is a blessing. Every living thing hungers for it. To you, it symbolizes the new beginnings and the losses. You half listen to the chatter between Olivia and Tommy as you peek out the window, smooth drops cascading down the surface. For some, the rain wasn’t an ideal weather to have during New Year’s, but to you, it only made the atmosphere cozier. 

The crowded party buzzes around you, people laughing, dancing, and sharing stories. You can't help but notice familiar faces from the community seamlessly mingling with Tommy and Olivia's friends, since you were still relatively new you didn’t know many people other than neighbors and asked them to invite people. The room echoes with the joy of New Year's Eve.

It’s been a painful yet surprising year, to say the least. The loss of your grandfather, the unexpected move, the journey to find yourself. . . all of it had been a bit much, a bit daunting. However, as your mind drifts off to the new room in the old house you realize that some things are truly different. You have people who care about you now. You have the Miller’s, Olivia, your art. All in all, it had also been an amazing year. 

The thought makes guilt gnaw at your insides. Tommy still doesn’t know about you and Joel, you were supposed to tell him. . .Joel was supposed to tell him but alas neither of you found the courage to come clean. The past couple of months had been so blissful with him. Neither of you wanted to give that up. 

The faint smell of cinnamon reaches your nose and you find yourself smiling even though you’re only slightly worried. 

Joel’s late. 

“He’s fine,” you hear Tommy whine, turning around you see him rolling his eyes. “He’s a big boy, sweetheart. He’ll be okay in a little bit of rain.” 

Big boy, indeed. 

“Where is he anyway?” Olivia asks, stuffing her mouth full of crackers. 

“He went to drop off Sarah—and there’s plenty of food, you’re not off to war you know. You can eat one at a time.” 

Olivia slapped Tommy’s shoulder and took a seat next to him, “Bit weird she’s not gonna be here with us.” 

“Sarah’s been beggin’ Joel for months. Finally, he caved when she pulled the ‘you know how hard it’s been for me to make friends’ card. Poor man didn’t stand a chance.” 

“So,” you continue, sitting across from them. “They spent Christmas together, just the two of them. That was Joel’s deal. And she’s doing her own laundry for two months.” 

“Damn, I hope the party is worth it.” Olivia gives you a mischievous grin, her eyes lighting up as they meet your gaze. "You know," she starts, leaning in slightly, "I have this friend, Jake. . .” 

You cut her off, "I'm good, Liv. I'm not looking for anything right now."

"Oh, come on! He's sweet, handsome, and he's got a great sense of humor. You two would hit it off."

Your gaze quickly shifts between Tommy and Olivia. His expression tightens ever so slightly, and you catch the subtle change. Olivia, oblivious, or at least choosing to be, continues.

"Just imagine it. A romantic date, a nice dinner, maybe a movie... He’ll treat you right and if he doesn’t I’ll break his arms."

"Liv, really, I appreciate it, but I'm not ready for that kind of thing. Besides, I'm pretty content with how things are right now."

Olivia narrows her eyes. "It’s been a year, you’re ready for one date. Trust me." Then, much to your horror, she turns to Tommy and gestures to you. “Back me up Tommy, isn’t she ready?” 

Tommy clears his throat, looking uncomfortable as ever. He parts his lips and worry knots itself deep in your stomach. 

Luckily, you’re saved by a slightly drunk woman you don’t recognize and let out a break of relief. She situates herself next to Tommy, throwing a hand over his broad shoulder, she pulls him close and whispers something in his ear, fingers playfılly dancing over the fabric of his shirt. Olivia rolls her eyes but honestly, you’re happy and grateful for the distraction. 

You’re saved a second time when the door opens, the sudden sound of rain drawing your attention. You smile instinctively upon seeing Joel, which is a bit rude you figure, because he looks miserable. His leather jacket is dripping, hair sticking to his forehead. Just how hard was it pouring outside? Must’ve picked up when you, Olivia, and Tommy were chatting along. 

Joel, with dropped shoulders and head, spots Tommy first and then you. He makes his way, the defeated walk making him look like a teenager. Tommy bursts out laughing when he sees his older brother, the sound deepens the furrow between Joel’s brows. 

“You look like shit!” Tommy says and you notice Olivia desperately trying to hide her laughter behind her palm. 

“It’s rainin’ cats and dogs you jackass.” Your eyes move up gradually up his body. The rain had darkened the color of his shirt, the flimsy fabric sticking to the planes of his chest. Heat rises to your cheeks. “Is there anythin’ I can burrow sweet tea? Maybe somethin’ that August left behind?” 

“What?” you clear your throat, blinking, you meet his gaze. His knowing smile is enough to set fire between your legs. “Sorry didn’t quite catch that.” 

“Shirt,” he says, lips curling. “Unless you want me drippin’ all over your couch, somethin’ dry would be nice.” He raises a brow when you continue to stare at him, dazed. “Maybe your brother left behind somethin’?” 

Oh god, he’s spelling every word slow and careful meaning he definitely knows you’ve been ogling him. You get up quickly, ignoring the proximity between your bodies, you’d expected him to take a step back but he was as still as stone. You’re like an open book, hopefully, the pretty lady perched next to Tommy is enough to distract him. 

“Yeah, sure,” you answer, breathing a bit heavily. You don’t need to say anything else as you begin to part the crowd, leading him upstairs to the bathroom. You can feel him right behind you, the heat radiating off of him warming your back. 

Finally reaching the bathroom, you push him inside and quickly close the door, leaning against it, you let out a breath. 

However, you don’t get to breathe in when you feel a pair of lips against your own. You shudder as his soaked chest presses against yours, hands cupping your waist, Joel guides your hips towards him. He’s hard as a rock. He swallows the soft voices climbing up your throat and grinds roughly against you. 

“Fuck, honey,” he rasps, dragging his lips to your cheek. “You really know how to get a man goin’.” 

“I didn’t even do anything.” 

“You starin’ at me like you’re about to devour me ain’t nothin’.” he nips at your neck, your body burning at the sharpness. “I’ve missed you too.” 

“Don’t remember saying that,” you tease and thread your finger through the wet locks. “You’re cold.”

“You should warm me up then.” 

You slip your hands under his shirt, not missing the way he shudders against you. He brings his lips back up, only an inch away, but refuses to close the distance. You keep stroking him. Warm palms moving up and down against cold and damp skin. Joel’s forehead drops onto yours. 

“You do realize there’s a party going on outside right? A part that includes your brother, who we are keeping us a secret from.” 

“For someone worried about the crowd you’re doin’ a whole lot to tempt me, darlin’.” he kisses your jaw. “You look beautiful by the way.” 

You’re happy to hear that because he was the only reason why you decided to wear a low-cut shimmering silver dress. You had also opted to wear an almost sheer pair of black stockings underneath, giving your legs a lovely glow.  

“Why thank you, kind sir.” 

“I love it when you call me sir,” he groans and presses harder against you. Your eyes flutter closed but despite it, you can feel his gaze taking in the bathroom. “You fancied up the place quite a bit.” 

A hoarse laughter escapes your throat, “You should thank the crowd downstairs for the fancy towels and the smell of vanilla.” 

“You know. . . now that I’m thinkin’ about it it ain’t fair I’m the only one wet.” 

“Believe me, Joel, I am soaking wet.” 

“That’s not what I meant sunshine,” he gives you a lopsided smile before tugging you towards the tub. “Come’re.”

You wordlessly follow him into the porcelain, your curiosity piqued. His fingertips trace up your waist and find the hidden zipper, slowly, he tugs it down, the sound of it inaudible from the beating of your heart. The dress pools under your knees and your gaze is fixed on him as you step out of the soft fabric. While you’re taking in the sight of his hair curling on his forehead, he takes in the sight of the soft contours of your body. He presses a soft kiss against your stomach, a shudder crawls up your spine. 

“Turn around.” He orders, voice dropping to a whisper. 

“What about my stockings?” 

“I’ll take care of’em.” 

You brace your hand against the wall, sticking your ass out, you smile when you hear the hitch of his breath. His knuckles follow the curve of your spine and a second later you hear a loud rip. 

“Joel—“

“I’ll get you new ones.” You feel him reaching up and at the same time, he slides your panties to the side. He hums. “You are wet.”

“Told you so.”

You hear a soft click, you’re barely able to register the sound as he begins to dip between your folds and stroke. Somehow your brain whispers to you that he’s adjusting the pressure of the shower head. “What are you doing back there?” 

“Remember when you told me how much you enjoyed the different settings when I changed the pipes and the shower head?” You honestly didn’t. “Well, I haven’t, darlin’.” 

He turns on the water, away from you thankfully, but you still tense at how cold it is as it gathers at the bottoms of your feet. 

“I know baby, I know. It’ll get warmer soon.” 

And it does. Your body relaxes, the subtle warmth prompting the arch of your back. Joel gently pushes your legs apart, pushing the shower head between your legs directly onto your—

“Oh god—Joel, fuck—“

“Such a filthy mouth for such a good girl,” he says into your ear. “Bet you’ve done this before sweetheart.” 

You had, well. . . You tried. But it hadn’t felt as good at this. A single forceful stream of insistent water massages your clit. The arousal that pulses between your legs is washed away down your thighs. Without even realizing you start to hold your breath and embarrassingly enough you roll your hips. 

You need more. You need him. 

Your legs part wider, trembling as you try to tell him but instead of sentences needy whimpers echo from your throat. You feel his smile on the back of your neck, teeth scraping your warm skin every time your hips twitch. He starts moving the showerhead and your entire body goes numb. It’s so much but so little at the same time. 

“You’re being loud, sweetheart.” You shake your head, trying desperately to bite back the moans. “But maybe you like the idea of our friends hearing how needy you get for me.” 

You clench at the words, nails scraping against the smooth surface of the wall. 

“Please. . .” 

“Please what?” 

Damn him. 

“Fuck me,” you gasp out. “Fuck me please—I’m. . . I’m going insane.” As if to demonstrate your words, you grind down until the shower head spreads your folds, a groan reverberating in your throat as the water fills every inch. “Just fuck me, give me your cock.” 

“What if I say I want you to come like this?” 

You don’t even think as you answer, “I’ll cry.” 

He stills like the calm before the storm then bursts out laughing. Some logical part of your brain is urging you to shush him, remind him that people might hear but you can’t when he sounds so joyful. His deep voice full of life. 

“Fine, sweet tea, you win. Wouldn’t want you to cry durin’ New Year’s.” 

Joel turns off the water and you turn, facing him as he does. His eyes widen when you cup his cheeks, he’s so warm now, so soft from the steam. “Let’s head to my bedroom,” you mutter. “Auggie’s spare clothes are there anyway.” 

His hands softly land on your hips, thumbs moving over the waistband of your stockings. “You sure?” 

“I want to see you when you bury yourself into me.” 

That’s all he needs to hear before dragging you out of the bathroom. You both hurry, the sound of the party still lively downstairs. Luckily your bedroom is close to the bathroom so there isn’t much risk as you follow him out half naked, your sparkling dress in hand. 

As soon as you both enter the bedroom, his lips are on yours, pushing you towards the bed until the back of your knees hits the edge and you fall. He follows your dive, his weight pleasant on top of you. 

Feeling numb with want, you quickly tug his shirt off of him, and his hands fumble with his belt. Joel doesn’t even bother to take his pants off completely. He frees himself with one hand and pushes in without a word. You both moan, mouths inches apart from each other. Neither of you breaks away from the eye contact. It’s so intimate like this. Your cheeks burning at how naked you feel having him witness the parting of your lips, the flutter of your gaze. 

You feel so full, so complete. The slow drag of his cock making you see starts every time he presses forward, brushing against something devastating inside you with every move. Tears gather in your lashes and he kisses them away. Then he drags his lips down to your neck, sucking at nipping. Your breath catches in your throat, your back arching as you clench around him. He groans into your skin, thrusts becoming shallow and quick. 

“I’m not gonna last, honey,” he rasps. “Tell me where.” 

Just as he says that his hand slides between your bodies, finding your throbbing clit. He draws quick circles, your muscles constricting immediately. At the very last second Joel covers your mouth with his own, muffling your cry as you gush around him, insides twitching and pulsing. He swallows the sounds hungrily. “Where?” he growls against your lips. 

“On my pussy,” you gasp. “Want to feel you there.” 

He tugs at your bottom lip with his teeth before moving away, you spread your legs further, pushing yourself apart with two fingers. Your mouth waters at the sight of him. His hand wrapped tightly around his cock as he strokes himself. It doesn’t take him long to come undone. Your eyes roll when you feel it. The vicious spurt of his come, the way it drips. It feels like it lasts forever. He comes and comes and comes— painting you with his seed. 

When he’s done, he slips his softening cock back inside, pushing himself deeper into you. You both whimper in unison, and he nuzzles the crook of your neck.  You begin to play with the ends of his hair, nails scratching the back of his neck. 

“Happy New Year, Joel.” 

“Happy New Year, sweet tea.” 

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x fem!reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller smut #joel miller fanfic #tommy miller x reader #stay in bed new years special #tlou fanfic #the last of us fanfic

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods & Clergy: Selûne

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal #1 | Bhaal #2 | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

I should probably compile some lore on gods who aren't evil messes for a change... Then right back into the evil nonsense with Shar.

Worshippers & Clergy: All are equal and personal freedom and tolerance of other ways of life is very important. Also something-something motherhood. Now if you'll excuse me: "o, White Night Lady, guideth mine eye to wherever the hells mine keys that I had literally five seconds ago art?"

Silverstars: You can make an amazing amount of things out of moonlight, really.

Selûne: The Anti-Shar. She's kind of a spoonie.

-

"Let all on whom Selûne's light falls be welcome if they desire. As the silver moon waxes and wanes, so too does life. Trust in Selûne's radiance, and know that all love alive under her light shall know her blessing. Turn to the moon, and she will be your true guide. Promote acceptance and tolerance. See all other beings as equals. Aid fellow Selûnites as if they were your dearest friends." - Selûne's Dogma.

Selûne's worshippers come from all sorts: people who work the night shift, and other people seeking protection from Shar; travellers and navigators who will be navigating using the night sky; sailors; female mages; diviners and people hoping for a glimpse of the future; and lycanthropes who want to resist the influence of their curse. Selûne is also considered associated with femineity and is something of a mother goddess, and is worshipped by women, particularly mothers and couples trying to conceive.

In every day life one might call on her if they're lost, or to find misplaced objects and such - for example, where the hells have the house keys gone?

Female mages born under a full moon are considered to carry her blessing.

The moon waxes and wanes and may show itself in a vast array of colours and shapes; so is the moon goddess as inherently mercurial. Her faces are many and never the same, and so her follows are many and no two are the same.

There are only a few concrete rules of the faith. All people are equal and should be made welcome and treated with dignity. Shar's predations must be combated wherever you uncover them. One should always give healing freely to those who need it. The lonely and ostracised should be offered friendship and care.

The faith is extremely, proudly diverse, and Selûne places very few demands upon her followers in exchange for her blessings. There is no "right" way to worship the Moonmaiden, individuality and customisation in religious practices in encouraged.

-

Her clergy promotes acceptance of different ways of life and follows a lose hierarchy with emphasis on personal freedom.

The clergy have no uniform, save their holy symbol (a pair of eyes surrounded by seven stars, in silver), and they dress how they see fit. Moonstones are popular. When dressed for battle they can often be recognised by the iconic weapon known as the moon's hand - a footman's mace with a smooth head.

Even her temples follow no set structure, one may find a temple of the Night White Lady is a massive cathedral, a small roadside shrine, or a circle of standing stones on top of the village hill where her followers go to dance under the moonlight. "Anywhere the full moon shines is a place for [worshipping] Selûne."

Clergy are known collectively as Mooncloaks (informally) and Ladyservants (formally). A variety of titles exist within the church. The loose ranks of experience are as follows: those who are interested in joining but have not yet entered training are Postulants, Novices are referred to as the Called. Runrae (singular: Runra) are fully trained priests.

One of the Called becomes a Runra when they are assigned a simple task in the form of a low-level quest where they're expected to show that they have learnt the lessons of their faith. When successful, Selûne contacts them in their dreams via a vision, and they are a priest.

Ranks ascend into Alrunrae, Tenembrae, Sartembrae, Trintelrae, Aumrae, and finally the Calunalae.

A Calunala is an independent agent who maintains close personal ties with the goddess, essentially serving as her secret agents in the war against Shar.

Priests tend to wander Faerûn, making a living by offering their services as navigators (especially if you're traveling by night) and fortune tellers (there are no diviners more accurate than a Selûnite). There are no restrictions about whatever work they want to do to support themselves, and travelling mooncloaks can be found in part time jobs blacksmithing, weaving, farming, serving tables... They're also prepared to fight against Sharrans and lycanthropes, whenever and wherever they cause harm.

Not infrequently, a mooncloak will receive missions and holy duties - sometimes from higher ranking priests, and often from Selûne herself. Whenever she sets them a task, the Moonmaiden usually grants them temporary spells and abilities to aid them. With their siblings in the faith alway ready to aid them, and their goddess personally lending her aid, Selûne's clergy often give the optimistic opinion that "The Moon waxes and wanes, and fortunes of the holy folk of the Moon rise and fall - but the Moon is ever with us, sailing on no matter how dark the sky."

Selûnites traditionally charge very little for their services, save for a place to sleep for the night and a warm meal, and maybe any few coins you can afford to spare. They have a reputation for kindness, open-mindedness and generosity that makes their faith very popular.

Selûne personally encourages her clergy to be self-reliant, kind and humble, but also wants to see them live lives they're happy in.

As stated, Selûnite rituals are highly customised and tend to be unique to the priest in question. Generally they are performed in the open under the moonlight and involve dancing and meditating. Offerings of milk or wine are poured on Selûnite altars during the full and new moons. If the priest is in the godess' good graces then she will cause the libation to transform into moonfire - an "opalescent, glowing fluid with the consistency of custard." It's described as feeling silk-soft to the touch. The touch of the moonfire as it flows down the altar may enchant objects or bestow powers upon the things and beings it touches, as per the will of Selûne (it can also destroy undead). On ritual nights, her priests cast commune in order to socialise with their goddess and reaffirm their personal connection with her.

There are two holy days: the Mystery of the Night and the Conjuring of the Second Moon.

The Mystery of the Night is performed once a year by every priest (it has no set day, it occurs whenever the priest in question holds it). The priest lies before an altar of the Moonmaiden and slips into a trance. They fly upwards and spiral the moon, communing with Selûne via an exchange of visions. This ritual is extremely taxing, but the priest will quickly recover with rest.

The Conjuring of the Second Moon occurs once every four years during Shieldmeet, and is generally a day when the church goes to war with the church of Shar. To aid them, priests summon Shards to do their beings - celestials who take the form of blue-haired, winged warrior women who serve Selûne (equivalent to planetars in power). At the end of the day, one mortal priestess will leave with them to join their ranks.

Religious orders in service of the Moonmaiden include the Swords of the Lady (also known as "Lunatics" behind their back). They're a fanatical order of warriors dedicated to combating Shar and her worshippers.

The Oracles of the Moon are an organisation of female mages, specialising in divination, who dedicate themselves to Selûne's service.

The Order of the Sun Soul is a monastic order that worships Selûne and Lathander.

Specialty priests are known as Silverstars.

They can see in the dark perfectly for up to 30ft.

They can create blades made of moonlight, wieldable only by the silverstar that made it. The blade causes no visible damage to living beings, but it does sap their life force and disrupt magic, preventing mages from casting. The flesh of undead visibly melts away under its touch.

They can raise or lower the levels of bodies of water, akin to the effects of the tide.

They can fire small meteors (shooting stars) from their hands, in an effect much like fireballs. They explode on impact.

A Silverstar infected with lycanthropy has control over their transformations, and Selûne protects them from being damaged by silver.

They can also shape moonlight into a wall - the wall is intangible, but it illuminates its surroundings, dispelling magical darkness. It will cause harm to any with evil intent, and followers of Shar (or Umberlee), as well as any undead being that passes through it. Magical items on the person of an individual who passes through will glow red, drawing attention to them, and magical potions will explode.

Stairs and bridges can also be crafted from moonlight, which can reach up to 15ft in length. While standing on the bridge, individuals are protected from enchantments, life-draining effects and missiles. It's impossible to knock them off of the bridge.

Finally they can shape the light into a net that protects a specific area. The strands are visible only to the priests, the goddess and those under the spell's protection. Everything else - intruders, weapons and magic - that enters the area is forced back to its point of origin. Attacks will be rebounded.

-

Selûne is a Chaotic Good deity. Her realm is in the Gates of the Moon, on the plane of Ysgard.

She doesn't care about ritual and dogma or how observant of these practices her followers are, as long as they are able to support themselves, fulfilled in life and will offer kindness to others. The spirit of faith is more important to Our Lady of Silver than the scriptures of religion.

Sometimes she is taken by a joyful, energetic mood. Sometimes she is a quiet, caring and maternal figure, prone to poetic moods. Whichever mood she's in, she carries herself with an underlying sense of grief that seems millennia old. Selûne is slow to anger and prefers to avoid fights, but that changes rapidly when she comes into conflict with her sister, and there she displays a side to herself that is much more warlike. She also opposes Umberlee on behalf of sailors and others who live by the sea. When in conflict with her enemies Selûne is merciless.

Selûne was (apparently) born of the primordial essence of the universe, one half of the Two-Faced Goddess with her twin, Shar. Together they created the planetary bodies of the solar system, including the Earthmother, Chauntea.

When Chauntea begged for warmth to nurture life upon her, the Two-Faced goddess experienced conflicting desire for the first time. Selûne was willing to grant the Earthmother her wish, but for Shar, the very concept was a horrifying antithesis to her very being.

The argument between the two spawned the concepts (and gods) of destruction; such as war, disease and death/murder. Eventually, Selûne reached into the Elemental Plane of Fire and drew a portion of it into Realmspace, and fashioned it into the sun - a process that burned her.

Shar's rage doubled, and she began to snuff out every light she could find in the universe, causing Selûne to tear out a part of her own essence and fashion it into a weapon that she threw at Shar in defence of the newborn life of Realmspace. This portion of Selûne passed through Shar and formed itself into the Weave - the goddess Mystryl (who would one day be called Mystra). Mystryl sided with Selûne, and Shar was forced to concede defeat now that she was utterly outnumbered.

This battle has left Selûne permanently weakened, and her strength waxes and wanes much like the phases of the moon. The two sisters continue their argument - and Shar is boldest when her sister is at her weakest.

The Moonmaiden's avatar takes the form of a human woman, with various appearances, her age generally conforming to one of the maiden, mother, crone concepts. In one of her more matronly, middle-aged forms she enjoys walking the realms, and curiously has decided to open an inn in Waterdeep using this form, unbeknownst to many. Her apparent health depends on the state of the moon, while it wanes she appears sicker and closer to death. Regardless of its phase, she glows faintly with moonlight in the darkness.

Her lesser manifestations include dancing trails of little lights known as "moondust" or "moon motes." She manifests these to people who are lost at night, or traveling over dangerous ground that they can't perceive. She will also provide them for her faithful, when they require a light source to perform an important task but have no way to see.

Her messengers and servants include owls, weredragons and other lycanthropes and shapeshifters, and her Shards.

For a while, prior to the Time of Troubles, she worked under the goddess of love, Sune. She later went her own way and resumed operating as an independent deity, but maintains a close relationship with Sune and Lliira.

#for shadowheart and moon lesbian writing needs #shadowheart #selunite shadowheart #bg3 isobel #bg3 aylin #cleric tav

[nanowrimo]

30 Covers, 30 Days 2023: Day 3

Day 3 is here and it feels like things are just heating up. Today's feature is Code 51 by Jill Chapman, a Young Adult novel full of mystery. This novel cover was designed by the amazing returning artist, Cookie Redding!

(For those of you who don’t know, 30C30D stands for 30 Covers, 30 Days in which 17 Wrimos and 5 YWP Participants get the chance to win a professionally designed cover! The rest of the days are being filled by community features. We’ll be posting a cover a day throughout November, so make sure to check them out!)

Code 51

Jacqueline Kolby wants to get through her senior year in high school to get on with better things. She doesn't want attention in or out of class from anyone. Jac, as her friends call her, ignores headlines and surely doesn't want to be one. However, when an arsonist seems to target her family, staying in the background isn't possible anymore. Jac's dad gets burned in a barn fire after several of their corn fields are razed. Now she's had enough. The police and fire marshal don't have any suspects. Her mom is busy caring for her dad while her grandpa mourns the recent loss of her grandma. Jac and her two friends set out to solve the mystery before anyone else gets injured. Who would want to hurt her family? Why now?

About the Author

Jill resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-five years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher and loves Mexican food and watercolor painting. 

She has published a middle-grade mystery series titled The Bomb Squad. Code 51 will be her first venture into young adult mystery/suspense books.

Jill’s interest in books began in childhood when reading provided a wonderful outlet for her wild imagination. She loves to tell stories about her life experiences with humor mixed in to convey the sense of adventure she feels daily. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.  

About the Designer

Cookie Redding is an artist, designer and lecturer with the School of Visual Arts at the Pennsylvania State University and teaches courses in the Digital Art and DMD Programs. Her work encompasses the art and design world, with a focus on multiple media forms of expression.

Redding's influences are from a diverse array of disciplines spawning from the classics and antiquities, to history and tech. Her explorations integrate these elements into a study of symbols. The imagery she deals with within her work is a study from the beauty of words and by being within nature. Her explorations show how the literary world meets the natural work with color and texture. Check her out on Instagram and Facebook!

Cover Design Process:

This year. we gave designers the optional prompt to explain their design process for the cover! Here's Cookie's:

My process typically starts with some sketching, brainstorming and listmaking. Then I start to hone my composition concept while also searching for imagery that would be ideal for the cover. I went through around 8 iterations and then my concept adjusted a bit to include the grid--that's when everything fell into place! Thanks so much for letting me be a part of 30 Covers 30 Days again--it's the highlight of my design year!

#nanowrimo #nano #30c30d #30 covers 30 days #design #young adult #cookie redding #jill chapman

[centrally-unplanned]

Here is my Comiket haul, for those who may care!

Arranged on the apartment chabudai for maximum weeb vibes. I won't go through all of them, just note a few to showcase the diversity of things that were on offer. If there is one someone wants a deep dive on, let me know, happy to take photos!

First up, the centerfold star - A Bocchi/Shimo-Kitazawa Fan Celebration doujin in the shape of a vinyl record:

Its extremely adorable, these guys went all in. It comes in an album case with "tracks", the vinyl-shaped doujin has an A side and a B side with totally different content when flipped, and when you are reading it the text slowly rotates page by page as if you are "playing" the disc.

Some of it is the circle's thoughts on Bocchi, but more is about their love for the part of Tokyo that Bocchi takes place in, Shimo-Kitazawa, with sections on show-accurate locations and favourite cafes and stores. They even included a map with all of the spots they recommend you visit in the area!

This one is to me the most "magic of doujin": we all have favourite parts of our cities, and if we sat down could maybe make a map like this. But why would we do that? Who would care? The joint power of a locally-set anime & Comiket, however, makes that personal map into a piece of art people want to own. This piece is pure creativity & passion, and its very special for that - a symbol of doujinshi.

Also one of their members spoke fluent English and aggressively upsold foreigners at the event ^_^ Successfully so! Good job.

For something a little less high concept, this tiny artbook of Rin from Laid-Back Camp as Ghibli characters is adorable:

A smol kiki, too cute. And look at her as Nausicaa! Full blue and ready to kick ass.

Its like 5 pages and each page is a gem, great buy.

This next one is a genre of book I really love - the photography/anime composite book focusing on scene locations, starring our girl Haruhi Suzumiya:

I appreciate how much fun this one has with its concept, lots of cute drawings on the margins; and the photographs are not all Haruhi related, instead it is just the author's own journey put through a Haruhi lens. This book is another great example of how "transformative" these works are, breaking the bounds of their source material.

"Hey, its me!"

Okay, now for some extreme Ash-brand doujin - Flowers for Yamada-san, a history doujin about Hiroyoshi Yamada, also known by the name Koji Kawamoto, a manga & magazine editor who played an instrumental part of the lolicon boom of the 1980's:

He passed away this year, and so this doujin is a memorial to him, an accounting of his influence and role in early manga, a wider discussion of the lolicon boom in general, and its own creative work; sandwiched between essays are comic depictions of moments of his career done in a mimicry the classic loli/bishoujo early 80's style:

This will of course take some time to read - I am excited to dig into it. As I have mentioned before, I am toying with the idea of a deeper research project on the "lolicon boom"; its, for understandable reasons, extremely neglected in western discourse of the history of anime & manga. But that moral aversion doesn't change how instrumental this period was, so I think a lot of good work could be done documenting and explaining its place. This book was an amazing find to stumble upon, and the creators are extremely well-researched on this period.

Anyway this is probably long enough lol. I did find some ero-doujin as well of course, though very few - as I mentioned, Comiket was a warzone, and I did not 'prep' for that side of things. I laughed at the idea of people doing days of research to prep of their porn buying adventure - I was the fool, they the wise, you absolutely need to do that if that is your goal. It wasn't really mine but I respect it now for sure - and I actually found the Comiket experience sort of liberating on that front, I "get it" now in a way I didn't before.

This is of course a tiny sliver of the book buys from Japan - hopefully I can make a few posts about the rest soon.

#Ash Japan Adventures #Comiket

[secretsofdbz]

Oh hi there, it's been a minute!

Sooo NYCC panel happened, and Dragon Ball Magic/Daima is real!

Under the read more for the links, images, and some of my thoughts, analysis, etc...

First, the name: Daima 大魔 can be translated as big magic, large sorcery, big magic trick...And that 魔 symbol should look familiar to you guys, because it's the same MA from Piccolo DAIMAo, from MA Jr., from MAkkankosappo, from MAsenko, and from MAjin (magic people/population). It's the same word used for magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and hocus pocus style stuff. So... with or without demon connotation, just supernatural magic stuff :p

Then the continuity. When does this happen? There's no DBS refs at all in it, so there's speculation about it happening before DBS (but after the Buu saga since the Buu events are the origin of the story it seems). However... Kibito and Shin are defused. Did they defuse because of the wish? Or is it happening sometime after they get defused in DBS (different versions depending on manga or anime).

We don't know. I would say: we don't care. "Canon" is a lie. Official content (games, anime, manga, movies, tv specials, one shots, promo material, etc..) tend to steal from each other and reuse whatever is interesting for the following stories. Content is recycled and reused and readapted to fit whatever narrative of the current story beat (or arc/saga if we're generous) and that's it.

Oh btw you can watch it online, since Toei put it out!

Anyway let's get back to the plot:

Pretty sure these guys are Bibidi-Babidi related, and they hold a grudge against the gang because of the Buu situation (this is what they're watching).

They make a wish to make everyone young, and there's no transformations (!) so.. Goku has to use the PowerPole.

There's also a message from Toriyama himself, delivered by Iyoku:

Hello. I’m Akira Toriyama. I’m currently working on a new Dragon Ball. The Title is “Dragon Ball DAIMA”. Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small. In order to fix things, they’ll head off to a new world! It’s a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world. Since Goku has to make up for his petite size, he uses his Nyoibo to fight, something not seen in a long time. I came up with the story and settings, as well as a lot of the designs. I’m actually putting a lot more into this than usual! Things will unfold that close in on the mysteries of the Dragon Ball world. Hope you enjoy these different-from-usual battles that are cute and powerful!! — AKIRA TORIYAMA

He's far more involved in this than he ever was in DBS, sooooo.. !! Who knows. It's going to be similar to his modern style though, like Dragon Quest or SandLand.

Everyone's designs look amazing!

Look at Trunks and Goten! They will never age, they get CTRL-Z lol Same for Marron actually, she got back to being her Buu saga toddler self :o (note how Trunks is back at being purple, and not Blunks anymore...)

Anywaaaay!

The animation looks STUNNING. However! Goku's hair looks very stiff :(

Other than that, the series started production right when Dragon Quest Dai ended: that's what the animators are transitioning from.

And some new and old names!!

https://x.com/ag_sanda1/status/1712564193344311549?s=20

Nakatsuru at the character design and corrections, Aya Komaki and Yoshitaka Yashima in the direction roles. Art direction is Takahashi Kurahashi (big background artist, did Yo SonGoku a while ago), and some GOATED names for the animation: Chikashi Kubota, Naohiro Shintani, Yuya Takahashi, Takeo Ide, and Miyako Tsuji. Kubota is the guy who did the 2D section of the intro for DBSSH btw. Kubota My beloved.

Anime AJAY did a whole thread about the production info he has so go check it out.

Kid versions of everyone look super cute, but there was no Gohan on sight. It has to take place "after the Buu saga", but considering the designs, I do think this is kinda meant to be before Pan and Bra were born.

Also I smell Demon lore.

Much interest on my end because it looks amazing even if it's not the serious type of story I usually enjoy. But it looks so good!

Also yeah, DBS Broly and DBSSH is "let's reuse the OG Broly Trilogy", so this is let's reuse/repurpose GT?

Prolly.

#dragon ball daima #dragon ball #dragon ball news #dragon ball magic

[whoiwanttoday]

The SAG strike is upon us and thank god! I was worried for a while that writers would get no support and that would mean a hard road for them. This is tumblr so I am pretty sure I know what side of this most of you are on but if you are for some reason against these strikes I am here to tell you that you are wrong. I am pretty sure the biggest argument from the Blue Check Mark Crypto Bros will be something like, "I'd sure love to get paid to just make movies" or something that implies actors are spoiled and lazy. If that is your take first of all fuck you. No one is stopping you. Literally no one. Get in your car, go to Hollywood, try it if it seems like such an easy and sweet deal. But second of all, you aren't getting that money if they don't. Executives are. Why the fuck are you watching a movie and thinking, "I wish Reed Hastings was making more of this money". Its wild to me how badly people want to undervalue art and over value people who take up desk space. Also, though, actors don't always make that much. I had a teacher in College who would teach for 2 semesters than leave fro two semesters because he performed on Broadway. He was not a star, he was a regular working actor. He was also a wonderful teacher and really helped ignite a love of acting in me. Not the performing side but the intellectual part of me that loves to study things, I really started to appreciate the choices people made. But he taught to save up money so he could go do his main job, which didn't actually pay enough to live on. This is actually common of a lot of actors, it's just a normal middle class job. That's what the stars are fighting for, for them. This is a thing we should always commend. Matt Damon I see get shit sometimes but at the end of the day he is set for life, he doesn't need to cost himself money, he is to help those who need help. That's commendable. Finally, though, is the fact that these are some of the more powerful unions in the country. Right now the entire world is pushing back against labor. You have probably seen it in your job, despite the fact that retention is difficult, it's near impossible to fill some positions, and there are just more jobs than people, management is trying to reassert dominance by taking away privileges like work from home. They are doing this because their model is largely based on exploiting people. I have seen it in my past, jobs that swore we were a family and begged us to make sacrifices for the good of the company. We did. Then when things went bad they cut us adrift because we were not a family and they didn't care about us, they just were manipulating us to get extra, unpaid labor from us. I am sure you have seen this before. So if the biggest unions in the country can't get concessions we are all fucked. We need this strike as a symbol but also as a bellwether. The next few years will really matter. So I support the strike. Mainly, I support it because I consume a lot of movies and I want the artists who make them to be rewarded. It will cost the studios a ton of money but will cost me nothing, so I can't imagine not supporting it. There are literally over 100 years of movies to go back and watch if you get bored. Now is a great time. I suggest starting with Greta Gerwig's watchlist for Barbie. I have seen half the movies and they are great. Anyway, that's my way of saying I am posting Fan Bingbing who was at Paris Fashion week last week and looked amazing. See, we'll need to get used to this because no promos means no red carpets which means no new pictures for a while. But we have a lot of stuff in the background. I kept waiting for higher quality versions of these but this is what I have and you know what? She looks great. Today I want to fuck Fan Bingbing.

#Fan Bingbing #brunette #Actress #whoiwanttofucktoday

[bubblybumblebee1]

Cramp Twins headcanons! Mostly about my favorite blue/purple psycho

Wayne's not only the best dancer in town but also an amazing singer

You'll never see him do it though

After Wayne found Lucien's missing owl toy, he secretly cherishes his purple cat toy

The boys sleep with their twins toys, it makes them feel more connected

The boys don't know this but their parents know they do this when they check their rooms at night

The toys are often on their beds or dressers when not being used

It warms their parents hearts

Wayne actually has a full head of hair, but due to the art style, it looks like he doesn't

Wayne has a pet he keeps at Dirty Joe's

Lucien's very upset about this once he finds out

Dorothy can't do anything about it since it's not near the house

Ironically, Wayne's a far better eco person than Lucien is

Lucien obviously doesn't believe this, even when he's seen evidence of it

He refuses to believe that someone like his brother, who could care less about the environment, is far better at saving it than him!

It's more of a subconscious thing for Wayne

Due to Wendy and her weirdo friends' behavior, Wayne is turned off by girls entirely. Even Wendy's personal mechanic Joanne

He associates every girl who hangs around Wendy as bad news, so he'd rather stay away from them

It's why he was so desperate to get rid of his crush on Joanne

They do later become friends though

She still has a crush on him

The only females his age that he gets along with are Patsy, Mari, and Joanne

Besides their iconic sweater symbols, the boys' other symbols are a bear for Lucien and a cat for Wayne

Mrs. Cramp has made all of the boys' sweaters

She loves dressing them a like, so all their outfits have matches

On the days when they accidentally wear the same things, they immediately run back to change outfits

They won't be caught DEAD wearing the same thing if they can help it

Special occasions where their parents dress them up is the only time they'll reluctantly do it

Dorothy makes the twins' birthday cake every year

Lucien has only been a vegetarian for a short amount of time

Wayne is the 1st of the 2 to get an actual job, much to Lucien's disappointment

He becomes the mascot character for a sweet industry: he's a princess

He gets paid in money, and all he can eat sweets

Nobody knows it's him since he gets covered up in makeup and fun girly clothes that he wouldn't normally wear (think Jojo Siwa)

He is now a celebrity because of it, or at least this alter ego is

Wayne is a professional gaslighter

Wayne once tricked Lucien into believing that HE was the younger twin

It was funny at 1st but then got annoying

Lucien likes to bring in swamp animals and leave them for Wayne to find and scare him

Mostly frogs

Wayne has a deep fear of frogs

Lucien always gets in trouble for it but finds it totally worth it

Wayne is just as smart as Lucien, he just uses his in a different way

Lucien got most of the smarts while Wayne got most of the creativity

Tony and Wayne still talk to Randal

Few people are allowed to call Dorothy 'Dottie'

Mr. Winkle and Mr. Parson are cousins

Dirty Joe sees Wayne as a son

Dirty Joe loves kids, but due to his lifestyle, he can't really be around them

Losing his owl toy made Lucien into what he is today

Mrs. Cramp is why Wayne is the way he is

Wayne has a birthmark in the shape of a star on his inner thigh

While both boys' ears are pierced, Wayne has a couple more piercings than Lucien. His ears are pierced multiple times, his nose, his tongue and his belly button

When he's older, he'll get his nipples pierced

Marsha and Tandy are Dorothy's childhood friends

Marsha has 2 kids who are in high school

She got pregnant young

Tandy is secretly a lesbian who had a crush on Marsha's sister when she was younger

Marsha and Tandy are basically the boys, but adults with the way they act towards each other

These 2 will throw shade at any given moment

The soap people have a weird relationship with filth, they can't stand it but also crave it

It's their swamp heritage, though most don't know it

Dorothy's extreme OCD and obsession with cleaning comes from her overbearing and judgmental mother

Dorothy is a daddy's girl

Dorothy will occasionally call Lucien 'LuLu'

Joe tries to get his friends to be nicer to Wayne when they come around

They do like the kid. They're just kinda aggressive?

Both boys are in the LGBTQ community

Lucien is Bi as well as nonbinary, while Wayne is unidentified

Dorothy always wanted a daughter

Big Baby is their cousin from their fathers side

Big Baby is actually older than the boys by at least a year, she simply acts younger to get away with more

She acts a lot like Wayne

This is why she was sent to the Cramp's house the 1st time

Wayne still has the 2 dresses he got from Wendy, as well as the bows and shoes

Lucien still has his pagent gear

Wayne also still has the tiara Dirty Joe gave him

Wendy and her friends are complete perverts when it comes to Wayne. Her friends do it cause they think it's funny, Wendy does it because of her creepy obsession with Wayne

The boys are naturals when it comes to playing music

Wayne actually does know how to play the piano and harp

Most of their gifted talents come from their granddad

The gifted gene runs in his side of the family

Their granddad used to be a performer like Seth but in a different field

The Bad Seed was actually Horace's brother Herman

Twins run on Horace's side of the family

Herman was the Wayne to Horace's Lucien

Lucien's appearance comes from Horace side while Wayne's comes from Dorothy's side

Seth met his wife while performing at the circus

A good amount of my headcanons for the show

Might do more later

#headcanon #the cramp twins #cranp twins #lucien cramp #wayne cramp

[circusmothman]

“Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too. So I stayed in the darkness with you.”

---

“The way I see it, Atrax melds into Indrel, bleeds into him. He owes him everything which is why when I was flittering through old, albeit, very little notes on him, he really should’ve been dead. His endgame was self inflicted death. But I think that’s why the pendulum swung so heavy to the other side where he sees himself through Indrel’s eyes, and he sees their children through his own. He always sees him, and that alone is what he defines as life.”

If there is one thing I have a strong affinity for it is sad symbolic art, and I love to subject characters to it, especially when I’ve been immersed in feelings about them and their story. The last few days I’ve been listening to Atrax’s most haunting theme song on repeat while compiling his backstory into a single cohesive file, and needless to say it’s been getting to me hard. Especially in combination to the above words my friend once said about him. Atrax’s full story will likely never be posted here due to the themes and triggers in it as they fall heavily in the dark and mature spectrum of things. But in short he was a severely haunted and damaged individual whose life has been one crushing horror after another, mangling him into the vicious man Indrel met later on. A man who was willing to watch the world burn and be the match to strike that fire while taking everyone else down with him. He loved to hurt as much as he wanted to be hurt, trapped in his own trauma and void he could not escape, only numb through pain, drugs and alcohol. He was, by all accounts, a horrible man, but it all came from a terrible fate that befell an innocent child who never stood a chance.

But the fascinating thing about having someone new introduced to the story is that it can very well change its course forever, even save a life. I keep thinking about it, as a character I’ve grown to care for and love so much, if not for my Indrel, he would have been dead. But thanks to this one connection he got a second chance and is finally in a place where he’s loved, cherished and cared for the way he always should have been. The hauntings of his past sealed away, the destructive habits curbed, allowing him to finally be free of it and just live. Happily now and forever with his loving husband and their gaggle of kids, as well as the in-laws who would do anything for their new son.

So this artwork is symbolic of that, of how Indrel came into his life and became the spark of hope and love that saved him. Finding the last remnants of that little lost prince and pulling him out of his cage. I will probably always have a soft spot for such stories, these is just something deeply comforting about seeing someone with so much damage get their happy ever after, especially when they thought it impossible. It’s why these two and the amazing story they wrote will always have a special place in my heart.

#hollow knight #hollow knight oc #my oc #friend's oc #hk atrax #hk indrel #spoodermoffs #suicide mention #self harm mention #substance abuse

[medics-secret-shipfic-folder]

gosh!!!i recently stumbled across this blog and let me just say i couldn’t be happier that i did!! your art and fic are both so amazing (and you might of single handedly gotten me obsessed with cmedic, i absolutely LOVE how you characterize him istg), but i wish you luck in future fic and art endeavors! i managed to binge your fic and it has my heart absolutely gripping for more.

i can and will obsess and draw the 4 main boys forever now,

thank you :)))

(*also ps* - if you have anymore cute or sweet headcannons about these boys i would love to hear them)

Eyy! Happy to hear more people are finding my fanfic! Honestly, I started writing TBTF as a giant shitpost but I genuinely wasn't expecting it to get so much attention!

Also YES! MORE PEOPLE LIKING CMEDIC! Out of all the characters I've written, Cmedic is arguably the one I've put the most effort into because...well, he HAS no character. He was seen in a single frame of the comic, so I HAD to make a personality for him from whole cloth if I wanted him to be a protagonist.

I genuinely love how he's coming along.

As for headcanons:

Medic is Jewish and carries around a Star of David his mother gave him. While not as religious as his family, he still holds onto it to remind him of where he came from.

Cmedic is Haitian America, but was born in Connecticut. While he's not a practitioner of Haitian Voudou, his father is. His father specifically worships the goddess Maman Bridgette, a loa of death and a protector of cemeteries. Cmedic learned a lot from his father and carries around a necklace bearing the symbol of Maman Bridgette as a reminder of his family and heritage.

In addition, Cmedic has a unique view of death because of his upbringing. Maman Bridgette is a reminder that death is not to be feared, but respected as the natural conclusion of life. Her purpose is to tend to the dead and remind the living to cherish their time on Earth and live each day to the fullest (This will be a MAJOR plotpoint later)

Cheavy was born and raised in Oregon. Cheavy had a very rough childhood with an abusive, hyper-religious father and siblings who constantly pinned bad behavior on him to avoid their father's ire. Cheavy has a very poor relationship to his family and cut off all ties with them sometime after joining BLU.

Despite this, Cheavy remains in contact with his mother, who was the only person in his childhood who actually cared about him. Cheavy learned how to bake and knit from her, but he could never pursue these hobbies because of his father's rigid idea of gender roles.

Heavy's father actually sought out the help of a certain mafia when he was rebelling against the Soviet government. This mafia apparently remains in contact with Heavy's family years after his father's death, but neither Heavy nor his sisters know about this. Heavy's mother kept the truth under tight wraps, but the truth will come out in a few chapters >:]

While Cheavy and Cmedic can both pinpoint the exact date when Cmedic disappeared from the team, neither of them can actually remember what happened that night. Apparently both of them have repressed the memory...

#anonymous #team fortress 2 #tf2 #take back the fortress

[hyunjinspark]

my phone ran out of battery in the middle of my ramble (sweaty reader who delayed her shower to finish the chapter) BUT IM HERE AGAIN TO TYPE IT OUT! (still… haven’t showered)

spoilers ahead WARNING! ❎ ❎

jade… how did you write this. how did you. are you a literature major? it seems like your writing gets better every time I come back to it. you have a otherworldly talent, is all I can say. you’re able to convey the emotions so clearly, so vividly, as if I’m living through this story myself.

firstly, can we talk about the parallels between hyun and y/n? “i love painting in the dark— the lights are too bright.” I had to put my phone down and contemplate my life decisions for a couple of minutes there. seriously. the parallels between them are INSANE i cant even

for me, this chapter highlighted the harsh truth behind both the art and the music industry (specifically: idol). it makes my heart ache knowing damn well that this might be a story where these situations are fiction, conjured up from your (fantastic, amazing, show-stopping) imagination, but this is someone else’s reality. idols barely having time to take a breather, the micromanagement, it just felt awfully real, scarily so. the fact that companies care more about capitalising off of hyun’s art—- it felt real. chan’s sacrifices, him barely sleeping? felt real. and so did mr kim jieong (would swear but… new year new me so this is as far as I will go) or should I say: MR SKUNK FACE PEDOPHILE DOUBLE DMMING UNLOYAL AUTHORITY ABUSER ok I’m done sorry. i know damn well that what happened to y/n is real. it happens, it definitely does. people in positions of power trying to use people’s desperation to their advantage and ABUSING it. it felt like i was the one living through that scene. i could feel his advances, i could see him in front of me, gripping my own jaw. amazing, amazing writing.

okay, secondly: THE SYMBOLISM THROUGH THE FLOWERS? god. the seasons and the flowers. hits every single time. the moment you mentioned flowers I knew where this was going. i knew where it was. i feel like the flowers represented both hyun & y/n. not necessarily their love for each other (no definitely not), but how the r/s between them became sour due to their… unfortunate circumstances. i think I’m wrong though! I’ll reread the chapter a couple more times and revisit by statement, but that is my first impression after reading ch18 for the first time!

THIRDLY, i love jeongin sm omg.

last but not least, here is my take on what will happen:

mr k- PEDOPHILE threatens hyun & y/n, hyun comes to warn y/n

i cant think of any rn I’m still in my shocked state (because this was so good)

personally, i think this is one of your best chapters by far. jade, words cannot explain HOW much i love your writing. thank you so, so much. happy early new year jade! much love from asia 🫶🏻

omg. im not a literature major but that’s SO sweet haha 😭 its good to hear that you think it gets better, i hope i improve each day.

yes ofc its not a hyunyn soulmate moment without the parallels. they’re so like each other 🤭 and yeah its sad that these things are so common and happen often in those industries, especially with people in positions of power. i obviously don’t know what goes on behind the scenes in the industry so most of it is my imagination, but i can believe some of the micromanagement might be too real :(

thank you for loving the flower symbolism ! i dedicated a lot of the chapter to it so im happy you liked and noticed it 🥺

thank you for thinking its my best chapter, wow ! i hope each one can be better than the previous.

#star lost with you

[what-if-nct]

hiiii oh my god what a day ok so today's reminder is one: Kun out-twerking all of wayv, who would have ever thought this day would come? look at my husband i love him. also related: Jessi almost taking Johnny's eye out and then twerking to camera is still the most hilarious thing to me. two: taemin's new song is out and holy fuck it's everything i wanted and more. first of all i love how androgynous everything was, that was one of the first things i noticed, and it has been something that taemin has vocally been leaning into but it's such a treat to see it executed this well. second the song the sensuality the imagery the hands the chasing the dogpiles the debauchery holy fuck who is doing it like him? the teaser gave me big conversion camp vibes, but the mv itself felt so far above sexuality as labels, and the way that taemin was portrayed as a corrupting/liberating force in equal measures was just so interesting to watch. also i always love seeing him in a crown. i can't wait to see the stage for this song, i think it might be my new favourite. also cannot wait to sit down and listen to the album, i just know it's gonna be a masterpiece

Hii, seriously I didn't expect Kun to out twerk ten but he did that. Also something about Jessi and Johnny joking around just makes so much sense to my brain like this should be happening. And it should happen more. Yes it exceeded any of my expectations. The song alone is absolutely phenomenal and beautiful but the music video was genuine and pure performance art at it's finest. Like I was absolutely blown away and I'm sure there's tons of symbolism layered within it when I look at it more. The choreography is one of my favorite forms of dance, expressionist dance mixed with modern dance and it was beautiful. It's definitely Taemin's signature style. I bet it's just as amazing live.

Also my friend reminded me of this moment.

And I think we moved on too quickly from this, like it just has strong summer with friends drinking slushies and watching boys run around in the sun and trying to get their attention vibes. Also Jungwoo looks so good, like his hair his outfit everything oh my god. And like I'm not one but I get the Jaehyun girlies, I get it I understand I love that for them.

Super random but kinda related to how boys can be shirtless in public but women cant but the other day I had ordered food and despite it saying leave at the door the delivery guy knocked. So I went to get it and forgot I can't go to the door just in my bra cause thats just how i walk around the house its normal for me and the delivery guy was like licking his lip while looking at me and kept me at the door a little too long he only spoke spanish but I was able to understand enough to respond till he gave me my order. And like pretty much it's my fault for not wearing clothes but I don't know it made me feel weird but I'm probably just thinking too much about it. Like I don't care about that kind of attention if I'm intentionally seeking it and I don't care if anyone looks that's none of my business but like to withhold my stuff while trying to keep me at the door felt weird I don't know I'm probably over thinking it.

[verxsyon]

i'm so glad my wage went up to $21/hr.

anyways, it’s not even a day and i still can’t get over the fact that hyv casually dropped all of the (possible) 5* playable characters in the third trailer of sumeru. you can’t do this to me -- 

tighnari: pulling. his design wasn’t my favorite since the official drip marketing and still isn’t, but he’s cute! not only is he a forest watcher, he’s also an amurta researcher, specializing in botany. it’s fitting that he’s dendro; that’s cool to know. 20 pulls away from 50/50 please come home.

al-haitham: pulling. you’re telling me that we’re meeting this man early into the chapter but he’s not gonna be released later on? he’s from the haravatat of the akademiya, which means he studies ancient runes? interesting... he’s hot and smart. his earpieces... he doesn’t have the dendro symbol on his ears.

dehya: pulling. her... just her. her design is one of my favorites. i want to be the ground she walks on so she can actually step on me and i’ll say thank you. idk why but she gives me that wholesome big sister energy like beidou, and i like beidou! she’s a mercenary of the emerites ohoho... good for my royal au.

nilou: skipping. i like her design; she’s very pretty! she has a pretty gameplay, but i'm not interested to pull for her. i wonder about her relevance to the story. instead of becoming a researcher like everyone else, she pursued art and dance. yes girl, follow your dreams. i think she’ll be great friends with yun jin.

nahida: skipping. she’s cute, but easy skip. one main factor is that i don’t play short female characters, so it’s a given that i don’t plan on pulling and/or play klee, qiqi, diona, sayu, and dori. hyv isn’t sly in hiding her identity by calling her mysterious *wink wonk*. what’s this girl up to hmmm...

cyno: pulling. cyno nation, we won. it’s been three years since the manga and he’s finally out of the basement. he looks amazing; had the best glow up hands down (he’s a general ugh sexy). he’s real. he’s not a figment of my imagination. woo, he’s electro. i need more electro characters to build.

bonus

collei: pulling. i feel like a proud mom omg. my daughter’s all grown up now and seems to be doing well! i mean, she’s a trainee under tighnari. ngl i didn’t think she would be playable but i’m so glad that she is. dottore, i don’t care if you’re hot. istg if you come after her, i’m coming after you.

scaramouche: considering. he intrigued me since 1.1. the man who reveals his evil plans, laughs evilly, then dips. however after reading some leaks about him that he might not be the element that everyone’s been anticipating for him to be, i’m not quite so sure. i have too many of these characters already.

#— txt 💭 #genshin impact #tighnari #al-haitham #dehya #nilou #nahida #cyno #collei #scaramouche #bank account? bankrupt #primos? shaking #credit card? no credit #hotel? trivago #was gonna include my opinion on dori #but i don't feel anything strong towards her #other than she's an easy skip for me #given that she's a short female #but i'll say i like her color palette #ok moving on #the dumpster fire on the characters made me worried about this arc #but the theories about it as well as the recent trailers #got me really excited #hoping it'll be way better than the main inazuma arc #not that inazuma was terrible #it definitely fell short compared to mond and liyue #looking forward to its history #and how the concept of dreams are played out

[quotesfrommyreading]

Deer have been on human minds and in human lives for eons. Between 120,000 and 108,000 years ago, Homo erectus relied on deer for food on the island of Java. A Neanderthal living in what is now Germany carved chevron shapes into a deer bone 51,000 years ago. Between 33,000 and 30,000 years ago, Paleolithic people painted on the walls of Chauvet Cave in what is now France. Among the animals they left for us to ponder are red deer, reindeer, and Megaloceros—the largest deer to have ever lived.

Deer have appeared in the art and mythology of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Celts, Hindus, and Chinese, for whom deer represent longevity and prosperity. They are prominently represented in medieval European heraldry, mythology, and culture. The deer is a sacred symbol of the Maya world and its image appears throughout their culture. Maya mythology holds that it was a stag, using his hoof, who formed the sexual organs of the moon. The Maya sacrificed deer to their gods and used deerskin to record the pre-Columbian Maya codices. To this day, many Maya people have the surname Ceh, which means “deer” in the Mayan language.

Across cultures and time, people have revered deer as symbols of spiritual authority. A deer’s antlers, resembling a crown, extend beyond its head and body, connecting it to the heavens. Those same antlers drop off and regrow each year, making them symbols of regeneration. In Christian iconography, the stag serves as a symbol for Christ, conveying piety, devotion, and God’s care for his children. Deer star in countless folk tales and fables. In 1942, Walt Disney Studios released the animated film Bambi, which has helped shape North American perceptions of deer ever since. Through it all, human hunters have prized deer for their meat.

Deer are special. We are not talking about a plague of locusts, rats, or venomous snakes—we’re talking about deer. And whenever the words deer and problem come together, many people have big feelings.

Both Indigenous knowledge and Western science have long recognized that deer can have big impacts wherever their predators are few, causing a trophic cascade—the ecological term for changes throughout a food web. Aldo Leopold, the first professor of game management in the United States, famously observed a century ago how overabundant deer on Arizona’s Kaibab Plateau degraded the habitat to the extent that their population collapsed. “I now suspect,” he wrote in his seminal A Sand County Almanac, “that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as many decades.”

Tara Martin has been studying the effects of overabundant deer for more than 15 years. Because some islands in the Salish Sea have deer and some don’t, they provide a natural experimental setup to measure deer’s effect on the environment. Martin has found that palatable plant species cover, richness, and diversity are 92 percent lower where deer are common and 52 percent lower where deer are scarce (less than 0.08 per hectare) compared with areas with no deer at all. On some islands, native black-tailed deer and exotic fallow deer occur at densities of over 20 per square kilometer. The resulting loss of understory means the loss of habitat for numerous bird species, which rely on the first 1.5 meters above the forest floor for cover, nesting sites, and food such as flowers and seeds.

“There are over 300 species in this ecosystem that are being negatively impacted by overbrowsing,” Martin says. “Many of those are plants, but it also includes bumblebees and songbirds, and our amazing alligator lizard and sharptailed snake species that are at risk of [local] extinction.”

  —  Giving Bambi the Boot

#brian payton #giving bambi the boot #history #prehistory #animals #zoology #early humans #christianity #environmentalism #ecology #wildlife conservation #extinction #paleolithic period #germany #france #china #mesoamerica #maya #usa #native americans #chauvet cave #deer #red deer #reindeer #megaloceros #homo erectus #neanderthals

[waterhorseyblues-ao3]

WHB’s Ever-Growing List of Comic Recommendations

I am SICK and TIRED of people saying they’re not into comics!!! You could be!!! You just read a Captain America comic one time and realised it kinda sucked!!!! It probably did!!!!!! There’s other comics!!!!!!!!!

In fact I am intentionally NOT going to include DC or Marvel in this list because there’s so fuckin many of them dude. That’s gonna be a different list entirely.

Anyway I’m gonna break this up into segments as best I can and hope I remember all the amazing works I’ve read over the years. This is also only a light sprinkling of things I’ve read that I think are good starting points. If you ejoyed something and want more like it, or are more interested in one type of comic than another, I’ll happily give you more options.

If you’d like any info about how/where to read these comics just DM me and I’ll happily answer any questions.

Western Industry-Published Comics:

Tank Girl - I fucking love Tank Girl. I have a HUGE collection of Tank Girl comics. 1, 2 and 3 have NOT aged well, but Tank Girl was very much a symbol of counter-culture and was used as an icon for protests against Section 28 and the Thatcher regime. Crass, violent, scruffy and extremely punk. The upside is, you can pick just ONE TG title and read only that. She’s been passed around a few different publication companies and been handled by a variety of writers, so the themes and values of the comics are quite broad. My personal favourite is Visions of Booga.

The Ballad of Halo Jones (cancelled) - oh my GODD this COMIC. A 2000 AD genstone. The tragedy of Halo Jones is that the comics got cancelled due to a dispute with her creators and the company. Alan Moore at his absolute finest, creating the most elaborate sci-fi world with really great characters. Every day I morn that only 3 of 9 volumes were ever made.

Saga (ongoing) - o, um, you’re NOT reading Saga? cringe... Jokes aside, Saga published by Image Comics is fantastic. This immense space fantasy follows an inter-species family escaping the war that separates their people. The art is great, the characters are wonderful, the world building is fantastic, it’s so, so immersive. Sex, drugs, and violence abound. An epic space-opera for adult readers. Dude, c’mon, just read it smh

The Pride - This started small and indie but was picked up by Dark Horse. Joe Glass’ response to the lack of representation in Marvel and DC comics. A superhero series where all the characters are out-and-proud queer and fight against queerphobia and oppression, with very blunt explorations of hate crime, AIDS, and inter-community issues. Loveable characters and great art.

Scott Pilgrim VS The World - YEAH I’LL DO IT, I’LL REC SCOTT PILGRIM. I genuinely loved these comics as a teenager, they felt so cool and funny and fresh and dynamic. They were everything I wanted my life to be. Ultimate geeky dorky comic.

Jem and the Holograms - you remember that cartoon? well the comics go hard. VERY cool rock sci-fi, great new takes on the characters, queer as hell, very fun. definitely aimed at bringing more Jem content to fans who have grown up and want something a little more intense.

Persepolis - I’ve only just started reading this. It’s a memoir of the cultural shift in Iran and it’s very real and down-to-earth. Incidentally this is a Banned Book, so obviously that is why I recommend you read it. Incidentally quite a few comics about politics and identity have been banned around the world, so I suggest finding a list of them and reading through all of them as soon as you can.

World of Warcraft: Deathknight - not gonna dress this one up. it’s the manga about Koltira and Thassarian. I legit think the WoW lore comics and books are good. I want these two to kiss.

.

Japanese Manga:

Death Note - oh my god. dude. just read it. or watch it. i don’t care. this is a cultural ICON. this blew my MIND. the character tensions and dynamics, the long-term planning and payoff, the plot twists, the characters, it’s amazing.

Full Metal Alchemist - this should go without saying. i don’t think either anime really successfully adapted the manga. a very in-depth war-time fantasy with brilliant characters, so many plotlines and complex socio-political issues, a huge cast of different types of characters. It has the RANGE.

Uzumaki - I generally recommend Junji Itou’s work anyway, and tend to prefer his shorter stuff, but this particular horror series is so iconic and has some incredible artwork and imagery that just stays with you forever. Personally not a huge fan of the ending but it is very his style.

Shaman King - this aged both very badly and very well, somehow. the mix of traditional shaman practices from around the world, as well as the use of mythology and folk tales to pad out this urban fantasy, is very engaging and interesting. The characters are all from very different walks of life and it’s so easy to get attached to them. the anime adaptions didn’t quite capture the sheer intensity of this story and while it very much is a shonen, it has so much else going for it that really makes it such a unique gem of a series.

Black Butler (ongoing) - oh my god PLEASE read Black Butler. don’t bother with the anime. ignore that. you THINK this is gonna be a fanservicey series about fancy boys and demons but it’s NOT. it’s about TRAUMA and CORRUPTION and SECRET SOCETIES and PLOTS and it is getting better and better and better with each chapter. the artwork is gorgeous and the characters went from archetypes to really complex and fleshed out with individual backstories and I love them all dearly. this series has made me cry.

Saint Young Men (ongoing) - Jesus and Buddha are roommates in modern-day Japan. It’s a very fun and easy slice-of-life that takes a teasing but respectful angle on the two faiths and is just so wholesome. Was a big meme a few years ago.

The Way of the House Husband (ongoing) - you’ve seen this manga about. an ex-Yakuza becomes a house-husband to a working wife who loves magical girl anime. Slice-of-life with some of the most intense artwork and hilarious dynamics.

Skull Faced Book Seller Honda-San - a non-fiction account of a bookseller and the various customers they encounter. Very funny and truthful and easy to read.

The Two Of Them Are Pretty Much Like This (ongoing) - Slice-of-life lesbian romance with an age gap. The two must carefully balance their professional and private life, and navigate where they can and can’t be open about their relationship.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō  /  Quiet Country Café - scifi future post-environmental-apocalypse slice-of-life about an android who runs a café and the various people she meets and the strange world around her. Perfect for fans of Ghibli films.

.

Independent Comics

Emily Is Burning - Honestly I rec most of Steph Seed’s work, her limited use of dialogue and impressionistic-style artwork lends itself so well to the weird horror stories she creates

NPC Tea (ongoing) - urban fantasy story about D&D type characters who run a tea shop, but must also deal with a dangerous power that threatens to destroy everything.

The Miracles - from the same creator as The Pride, this is another superhero story that focuses more on alternate universes, coming of ages, secrets and deception.

.

WebToons and Web Comics:

Homestuck - fuck you. yeah im recommending Homestuck. it’s GOOD okay? it’s innovative and complex and deep and hilarious and weird and imaginative and it’s everything. there’s a BUNCH of lets-reads online to make it easier for you and loads of dubs and helpful guides to navigate it. It’s fucking good okay. shut up.

Ava’s Demon (ongoing) - gorgeous art, really cool space fantasy, loveable chaacters, animated sequences, I could go on. It’s a slow, slow update because of the sheer quality of the artwork that goes into it.

Lackadaisy (ongoing) - another absolute banger of artwork and detail. set in probation era about an underground bar, the goofy and eccentric characters get in violent fights, tangle with the law, and get up to be questionable and extremely illegal hijinks to keep their bar going as the business starts to wane. Updates are on hold while the creators work on an ACTUAL ANIMATED MOVIE for it.

Heartstopper (ongoing)- YEAH IM GAY. WHAT OF IT. I LOVE this gushy, mushy, sweet little comic about theseschool boys in love!!! This is a webcomic but has been officially published into paper books. The show is lovely and captures it well but the series is much further on than the show is. I genuinely hope it’s making life of queer teens easier!!! Because god damn it was bad when I was growing up!!!!

Mage and the Demon Queen (ongoing) - beautiful WebToon set in an RPG style fantasy world where a young mage falls in love with the enemy of her people, Demon Queen Velverosa. Adventure romance with a lot more happening than it first lets on.

Carciphona - Very elaborate and stunning fantasy series about magic, war, uprisings and mysterious backstories. Engaging character dynamics and intrigue throughout. The spin-off slice-of-life romance series Amongst Us is also worth a read.

Ruby Quest - you are not ready for this. Using the characters of Animal Crossing and an incredibly simplistic artstyle, this sci-fi horror used reader-input choices to navigate the world and storyline. A mix of rpg-style reading, animated panels and single-panel storytelling create immense amounts of tension and clever use of detail in the right places adds to the horror element. It’s spiritual successor, Nan Quest, is also very recommended.

#comic #manga #webcomic #webtoon #recommend #rec list #theres so many more i havent listed lmao #not to mention the length of my to-read list

[paperboatillustrations]

Trying to get into the groove of posting here on Tumblr.

Here’s something I finished the other day. Originally I’d planned on working on another piece but I was mentally exhausted and it didn’t happen. Instead I let myself get lost in the process. I did really good not getting caught up on tiny details while also allowing myself to just slow down and work on one small area at a time. The hours passed and before I knew it my husband was home from work and the sun had set. Lol.

I’m in the process of *vague hand gestures while I search for words* my art style is going through a somewhat drastic change. Pandemic left me super sick so I’ve gone from focusing on the hustle to focusing on self care and my art is a huge part of who I am and what I need to be happy. So, as I am changing my art is too.

This piece is in part inspired by something I really liked in a previous work I was playing around with (I’ll post that in a bit) and also the style of some of Feefal’s works… @feefal (ope, I just discovered how the at symbol works here) that my sister introduced me to some while back. Seriously go check out their stuff it’s amazing,

I’m really loving playing with things like transparency and opacity right now and constantly trying to understand how colors work which is why I’m mostly sticking to dark canvases right now. Plus my eyes like it. All hail dark mode!

I didn’t really have anything in particular in mind when I was working on this, it was more me following the art and seeing where I ended up. I admit edibles were totally involved… But as I went I got a particular feel so I’m calling this one Inner Child. This is the first draft and I think it’s plenty good and finished all on its own but I want to explore the concept more so I’m going to duplicate and remake this a little clearer and with further exploration.

#pbi #wip #babble #concept art #art thoughts #dinosaur #stegasaurus #pink #feefal #ramblings #procreate #digital doodle #digital art

[lesbicosmos]

heartstopper episode 4 thoughts

-the little smile on nicks face when he notices charlie's in his pyjamas and then the panic when charlie sees him staring, this mf is in love

-charlie fixing his hair in the mirror like "oh shit the guy i kissed yesterday just showed up outside my house in the rain and i look like i just got out of bed, which i did"

-charlie you complete dumbass stop rambling for two seconds and you'll realise how dumb (affectionate) u are

-that hug is so important to both of them, like charlie understands now why nick ran away and that he does like him, he's just confused and charlie just wants to be there for him and nick's just so happy charlie's understanding and is there for him and that smile charlie gives him just says "it's okay i understand" i love them. so much.

-and then the way nick makes sure charlie knows that the reason he wants it to be a secret is because he's still figuring out who he is and not because he's ashamed, and he just wants charlie to know he doesn't want to be like ben all over again and charlie knows because it's nick and he's so much nicer than ben and has already been so much better than ben ever was and ughhh fuck ben hope

-THE YELLOW AND BLUE SYMBOLISM WITH THE UMBRELLA AND NICK WEARING BLUE AND CHARLIE WEARING YELLOW AND THE WAY THE UMBRELLAS ALIGNED WITH THEIR COLOURS AS THEY KISS BUT THEN WHEN CHARLIE RUNS AWAY THE UMBRELLA TURNS SLIGHTLY SO MORE OF THE YELLOWS ON HIS SIDE NOW AND THE HEART ANIMATIONS ARE YELLOW AND BLUE TOO AND OH MY GOD THE DETAIL IN THIS SHOW

-the way they smile at each other in form the next day. that's it.

-"i missed you" it's been four hours nicholas you are actually smitten with this boy

-can we just appreciate how amazing an actor kit connor is though. the expression on his face when charlie mentions ben keeping them a secret in the art room. he's so scared of being like ben to charlie and though he knows deep down that he's different he can't help feeling scared and ashamed that he's just being exactly the same and he just wants charlie to be happy and you can just see all the thoughts through that one facial expression and god i love this cast

-"lots of gay people are good at sports charlie" the tone of the coach's voice and the line is so funny after you've read volume 3 and know she's a lesbian and has a wife

-"congratulations?" "we thank you for your service." that was iconic, tara, darcy, i actually love both of you

-isaac knows. this bitch reads too many books not to, he knows the signs 😌

-tao i love you but that was just unnecessary nick literally asked if u were okay and just wanted the ball back 😭

-darcy's gay intuition is on point, also i need charlie and tara/darcy being mlm/wlw solidarity besties in s2

-it's lowkey annoying how many people say darcy's pan bc of the umbrella she has at the rugby match being pink blue and yellow when she literally says like twice that she's a lesbian... like yeah there's colour symbolism but it's also obvious when it's just an umbrella 😭

-"you've got some mud on your face, though" nick, you've all just been pushed around on a wet rugby pitch, you're all covered in mud. you're covered in more mud than charlie. we all know this was just you flirting.

-i'm not even mad at nick for saying yes to imogen here, i'd have probably done exactly the same thing in his situation, like he's under so much pressure from everyone else being around and he doesn't wanna make everyone confused or embarrass her because he's just such a nice person and cares about other people's feelings above his own and andbshdhdbsb nick nelson i love you with my whole heart.

#this episode is one of my favs #theyre all my favs tbf #im really enthusiastic about the yellow and blue thing #if u cant already tell #might do a whole post on it at some point #about why theyre such good colours for their characters #anyway onto episode 5 #heartstopper #heartstopper liveblog #heartstopper netflix #nick and charlie #tara and darcy