#i loved the fact that the thing got the actual leader of the camp and almost got away...then fumbled by accident lol

[arolesbianism]

Thinks oh so hard abt the spiraling upwards clan founders, especially the birchclan founders. Silly lil kitties who's pasts are drenched in blood with the primary regret of not drawing it sooner

#rat rambles #oc posting #warriors posting #spiraling upwards #long story short they had a shitty awful terrible leader who sucked absolutely ass and they tore him to shreds #I mean that literally they pinned him onto the mountain side and slashed and mauled the shit out of him so hard that his lives evaporated #and several of the cats involved in that scene are sill alive and major parts of the story and I love them #oh also the cat that pinned him through a stab through the throat was his own daughter btw everyone hated his ass so much #and for good reason get his ass #alas in the main story I dont rly get to go too deep into how he harmed everyone involved mostly just three main ones #aka bristlestar because shes murtlepaw's ghost mom dawncrackle because hes also haunting murtle and gullspot because shes bristle's kit #so basically all the flashbacks we get involve those three in some form or another #honeystar was also there and involved but Im not currently planning on having her rly talk abt that #most of her more modern angst is the fact that she was forced into leadership against her will #and shes been alive long enough that shes been leading birchclan far longer than she ever lived in her old clan #but she did go through a lot of shit before birchclan was founded and it definitely shaped her a lot #she used to be a very determined and high spirited lil kitty cat who tried to be optimistic #but her family began to slowly be picked off one by one by both the old leader and the one whod later get evicerated #some of the older cats around her hoped it make her back down from her revelutionary ideas but she noticed that and it backfired on them #instead of being worn down to submission she became absolutely Furious and began to lash out more and become more demanding #it got to the point that she really only had two friends in the entire clan and one of them was her aunt whod later also die after coming #out abt having witnessed the leader killing his own kits #that was the final fucking straw for her and she was fully on board when bristle and dawn started looking for cats to join their rebellion #she did get rly frustrated with them as they waited patiently for the right moment but her remaining bestie kept her from going apeshit #so once the big fight finally broke out she was more than eager to join the hoard of cats chasing the bastard upwards #now unlike some of the other cats involved this legitimately actually made her feel a lot better for a while #for the first time in ages she finally felt like she could be optimistic abt smth again and was excited abt the idea of leaving this place #she had lost so much in this damn place since she was an apprentice and just wanted to finally be able to rest easy #but once they got to their new territory and set up camp things went south real fast as a flood fucked everything up #and after losing the only cat she had left in her life and losing her tail and being made deputy on top of that she deteriorated quickly

[its-not-a-pen]

[餘智傳] The 2nd Century Warlord (Part 2)

based on the story by @romanceyourdemons

Read part 1

ninth day as a second century warlord i try to tactfully ask my fake liege lord if he sent the assassin to kill my loser liege lord and it turns out the idea of using assassins never occurred to him, but now that i’ve suggested it he’s really into it. in order to save my loser liege lord i volunteer to be the one to kill him

tenth day as a second century warlord on my way back to my loser liege lord’s city i realize i won’t be able to collect my men from my fake liege lord until i bring back my loser liege lord’s head. this would have been a great thing to think of before i got myself in this situation. i go back to my loser liege lord and ask him to rescue my men, and he tells me that if he could sack my fake liege lord’s camp he already would have. that doesn’t change the fact that my men are still trapped. they’re prisoners, even. i go back to my room to sulk

eleventh day as a second century warlord i find a little caged pigeon in the rafters of my loser liege lord’s room and deduce it belonged to the assassin. without asking permission or telling my loser liege lord goodbye i let the pigeon loose and follow it north. don’t ask what i was doing in my loser liege lord’s room. it’s not important

twelfth day as a second century warlord i disguise myself as a wizard and enter the camp of the coalition leader the pigeon led me to. in the middle of my little sleight of hand performance i make eye contact with the coalition leader’s second-in-command. IT’S THE WIZARD THAT STOLE MY LOSER LIEGE LORD’S WIFE. after the banquet i corner the fake wizard and ask him what the fuck is going on and he just says “wouldn’t you like to know” and leaves. i don’t know what to say to that so i just let him go

thirteenth day as a second century warlord i’m honestly so sick of not knowing what’s going on, so i adjust my wizard costume to passably disguise myself as a woman and break into the women’s area of the camp, where sure enough my loser liege lord’s wife is. i ask her what she’s doing here and she tells me the fake wizard overheard her singing a poem she overheard on the street, not knowing it contains the coalition leader’s formation’s weaknesses. the fake wizard kidnapped her and assigned an assassin to kill her husband before they figured out the poem’s significance. she shares the first couplet with me but i’m discovered and thrown out before she can share any more. she doesn’t need to. through a bizarre coincidence of homophones, it’s the poop version of my misinformation nursery rhyme

fourteenth day as a second century warlord i go back to my loser liege lord and tell him everything, urging him to join with my fake liege lord to attack the coalition leader according to the weaknesses in the nursery rhyme. he tells me frankly that he doesn’t trust me anymore. i ask him to execute me if that’s really true, because i can’t bear to live if i can’t protect him and i can’t protect my men. he agrees to attack the coalition leader

fifteenth day as a second century warlord. due to the information in the nursery rhyme, and thanks to my loser liege lord reminding me of the weather conditions multiple times while planning our battle strategy, our alliance carries the day. my loser liege lord gets his wife back. my men tell me that our fake liege lord actually treated them really well and they’d like to stay with him if i don’t mind. i do mind, now that neither the men i love nor the man i love have any use for me, but i don’t tell them that

sixteenth day as a second century warlord i’m preparing to leave to i don’t know where, maybe to try to become a wizard for real, when my loser liege lord stops me and asks me where i’m going. he says he had hoped i would continue to work as his advisor. i was unaware i was his advisor in the first place. i agree, and he tells me he’s truly honored to have me in his service at last. he has known i am a rare and talented man with a strategic intelligence far above his ever since the day he witnessed me tying branches to my horses’ tails in six inches of mud, and could not for the life of him figure out why

The end.

Thanks for reading! Notes under the cut

CORRECTION#1: the warlord's courtesy name was incorrectly written as Yú zhī 餘知 [plentiful knowledge]. my dumbass did not realise zhī 知 [to know] is a GOD DAMN VERB. It should be zhì 智 [wisdom].

CORRECTION#2: the clothes from part one are from the WRONG DYNASTY!!! BY 1200 YEARS!!!! it's meant to be HAN not MING.

#9 Misreading the standards: Loser Liege's name is Yue, so I decided to go with Lè/Yuè 樂 [optimistic/music]. I made the Chad Liege's name Cháo 巢 [nest] which is pronounced identically to Cáo 曹, the infamous IRL warlord. Just like his IRL counterpart, he is the affable, lawful-evil boss who is kind to his employees. I went ALL OUT designing Lord Chad Chao's outfit. He's got so much drip the yangtze river is about to break its banks. Now THAT'S a main character!

#10 Wardrobe Malfunction: the soldiers are now wearing clothes from the correct dynasty. i even gave them grass sandals! I really wanted to show how utterly outclassed they are, this is the difference between a peasant militia and a professional army. (They're in the exact same poses as part 1, except more terrified).

#11 mountain-water art: man i love doing traditional style backgrounds, the white space is very pleasing. Does it make sense to camp your coalition out in the mountains? No. Is it cool? Hella.

#12 you're a wizard, hairy: my favourite detail is the pigeon from day 11 sitting on the warlord's hat. I had to cut SO MUCH from this scene because there wasn't room. There was going to be musicians, jesters and strongmen. (Based of funerary figures)

I wanted to make it clear that the Coalition Liege is the richest guy of all, but he is all style and no substance. He's got an army of dancing girls and drunk officers. You get the feeling that his Chief Strategist aka Fake Wizard aka Zhuge Liang Knockoff, disproves.

#13 Hua Mulan: RIP the Warlord's beautiful beard ;n; He's wearing one of the dancing girl's outfits and I like to think the ladies helped him do his makeup too. I wanted to add a little character moment for the Wife and Warlord. They're holding hands which is not strictly proper, but I wanted to show the intensity of the emotions.

#14 the supplicant: I really like the framing here, I wanted both faces to be visible so we can see what they're thinking.

#15 enemy of my enemy: the Warlord is finally in command and flying his standard Huáng 黃 [yellow]. He is wearing a wu guan with two pheasant feathers, for a high ranking military official.

#16 the romantic subplot: the Warlord and his Loser are tenderly holding hands while the Wife and Noble Steed looks on with approval. I wanted the handholding to be slightly awkward and kinda spontaneous, like they were both aiming for a manly, platonic hand-clasp but veered wildly off-course into homoeroticism. In the background, an oblivious Lord Chad is showing off the little wooden horse one of his new soldiers gave him (that guy's been carving it since part 1, it's high time we acknowledged his hard work).

Want to learn more about the (mostly) true story that inspired this post? Check out Romance of the Three Kingdoms! TV show, the book and the movie Red Cliff,

#second century warlord #han dynasty #romance of the three kingdoms #history #thanks for reading guys i had a blast drawing this

[honey-milk-depresso]

Its my first time requesting something so sorry if this doesnt make sense;;

Can i ask for some Jade or Rook with a curious reader who tends to wander off or get distracted easily due to it?

I love ur writings and general energy!!! Thank you! 💝

How about both?? >:33

TWST A curious s/o who gets distracted and wanders off easily

Jade Leech

My oh my were you hard to look out for during the Vargas Camp.

Everything was practically something that made you curious to the point you skipped from one place to another.

“Jade, what type of mushroom is that?” “Ah, well s/o, that’s a Honey Fungus, which is actually pathogenic and- s/o?” Jade trailed off, noticing you were out of sight as he explained about the mushroom’s facts. The eel would find you standing in another area, looking up high at a tree in awe.

“Jade what species of trees is that?” That would continue on and on, even while doing the tasks assigned by Vargas which the eel will admit that you are indeed quite troublesome to look after…

…but that makes it all the more fun. Fufu~ you’re quite a tough one looking after, aren’t you? He loves that you love to discover things, and he loves that spark of curiosity you always give! It’s just that sometimes you just get too carried away and… wander off from his sight. That in itself is a little tiring but never ceases to amuse the Octavinelle vice dorm leader.

Would it be hard to imagine Jade wearing a harnest that has a rope tightly attached to a harness that you’re wearing so that you wouldn’t stray off from him? No? Good-

Jade wore that only during the camp (and maybe when he also invited you to his Mountain Climbing Club activities). Other times when you walk to class together, he holds your hand and walks you to class so that you wouldn’t get distracted along the way and stray off from the path to your classroom (which he was surprised and amused by the fact that you have before), or on a date would sit close to the aquarium to satisfy your curiosity, he would hold your hand to get your attention.

“So, may I ask how was your day…” once again, he catches you staring at the fishes swimming aimlessly in the tank. He gently squeezes your palm as you snapped out of your daze and looked at him. “H-huh? Oh, sorry about that,” you replied sheepishly.

Jade chuckles, shaking his head as he flashes you a soft, teasing smile. “Fufufu~ what shall I do with you?~” <3

Rook Hunt

Ah! You’re a curious mon cheri, how delightful! Rook finds this trait of yours attractive, unlike most people who finds it rather troublesome.

In fact, he humours that curiosity of yours and follows you around. Rook has basically become your tour guide around NRC and the wild, he knows a lot so it isn’t surprising he has most of the answers to your question.

However, there’s a teensy tiny issue that he finds this habit of getting easily distracted a bit of a hassle: you’ll be oblivious to the dangers and hazards around you.

One time during the Vargas Camp you were distracted (once again) and wandered to a forested area with Rook trailing behind.

Before you knew it, you almost got hit by a tree if not for Rook swiftly pulling you back by the shoulders, pulling you so that your back touched his chest. “Mon cheri, be careful! You almost hit your face into a tree!” That was when Rook knew you would need a little bit more supervision.

Rook made sure to always be by your side (sometimes in peculiar ways-), making sure you’re guided in your path of walking while being your tour guide and making sure you don’t wander off far away from campus.

The vice dorm of Pomefiore makes sure to hold your hand, pulling you away or snapping you back to reality when he feels is too dangerous to wander into.

Even so, Rook loves that you’re always curious. Just make sure to be careful even if he keeps close tabs on you.

“Mon cheri, please be careful while exploring! If not, I will explore with you!” <3

Reblogs help! ^^

#jade leech x reader #rook hunt x reader #twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #jade leech #rook hunt #twst headcanon #twst x reader headcanon #twisted wonderland headcanon #twst fluff #twisted wonderland fluff #twst x reader fluff #x reader #fluff #headcanon #x reader fluff #x reader headcanons #self insert #twst jade #twst rook

[cult-of-the-eye]

👀

Fandom mix up

Which avatars do you think the pjo characters would be? Which gods would the tma characters be the children/kin of?

JSHSHAJJANANAKAKAK HERE WE GO

Eye, web, lonely, dark, extinction, buried, slaughter, flesh, spiral, hunt, stranger, end, vast, corruption

Percy Jackson

His whole thing is excess loyalty right? And then you got dark Percy from house of Hades (hoh) and everything so we've definitely got a lot to go on

Hmm this one's a bit difficult cause he doesn't fit neatly into any of them I think

My first thought was the vast cause of the ocean and like by the end of hoo, he is so powerful that its almost unfathomable like the ocean and the vast, to the point where even he only just understands the extent of his power, like what happened in hoh

The excess loyalty could fit into that as well cause loyalty is something he hedges all his bets on, it's the one sort of indefinitely huge thing that rules his way of looking at things - like the ocean

But I'm not sure, if anyone has any better ideas please say so

Annabeth Chase

Girl's hubristic

I guess my first thought would be the web cause obviously she's strategic, she makes plans, she manipulates

But she is terrified of spiders so that wouldn't quite work

I'm not sure where hubris would fit in

I guess it could be the eye, cause with it you're desperate to gain all the knowledge, witness and understand EVERYTHING and therefore would be threatened if that ever failed - if you didnt know everything or if someone didn't believe in your all-knowingness

Which is also a huge part of her character - being underestimated because of the way she looks and speaks and how she both uses that to her advantage and hates the way it happens

I think that works quite well and I think unfortunately she'd be a fantastic Archivist

Grover

Is wonderful and I love him but I guess he'd be the extinction

Listen his whole thing about getting demigods safely to camp? How he's there when they think their world is about to end? When their world literally ends if he doesn't get them there safely? How he has to go through this over and over again, experiencing mini extinction level events every single year

And then you've got the whole pan thinks humans are destroying the world thing and how maybe he'd destroy humans to keep the world safe (I can't really remember that storyline and may have just imagined it so I'm not sure where it would fit exactly lol)

Jason

Jason's the stranger I think

He doesn't know who he is when he's first introduced, he has to spend a couple books remembering who he is and then he struggles with his identity as a son of Jupiter, praetor, leader etc

I think he's been forced to play a role that wasn't him and the essence of the stranger is just that - being forced to reckon with someone who you might've recognised once but certainly don't anymore

Piper

She is immediately web

Her whole thing is manipulation with her charmspeak, forcing people to do her bidding

A huge part of the web is loss of free will and that's exactly her thing - creating a situation in which a person has no choice but to act the way she wants them to

Nico

Boy oh boy

I want to say the end but now I think about it maybe the lonely

He had his sister ripped away from him, the only other person who's experienced the same insane things that he has, he's always seen himself as the lone wolf, different from the rest, the only gay one, the unrequited crush on Percy and how he admitted it to someone who didn't understand, the fact that he was trapped in the underworld alone for so long in that vase or whatever

I feel like at some point he accepted his life of solitude and the fact that no one would miss him or even try to understand or choose him first which definitely encapsulates the lonely

Reyna

The hunt I guess

She's constantly hunting for something more - like validation as the praetor, from Jason, revenge from her tragic backstory, she's constantly striving to be better and work harder

plus she actually joins the hunters of Artemis so that works itself out

Hazel

Im gonna say maybe the corruption

Cause her whole deal with hecate and her getting to grips with the daughter of death god is giving there is something deeply intrinsically wrong with me but I will embrace it and feed it and join the wondrous thrumming in my veins kinda vibes, like finding a family and comfort in the wrongness and both feeding it and feeding off of it

Frank

Gonna be honest with you, can't really remember his character

In my defence I read these books years ago

Oh wait he's the son of Ares who has the wood that he needs to keep safe cause if it burns down then he dies right

Ok well that's giving the end - once that flame touches the wood he's gone, he's living in fear of the one event that will end him, the end that could slowly creep up on him or be a sudden death

Leo

Hot stuff

Oh yeah this has got to be the desolation/extinction right

With his whole burning down his mum's factory and then going from orphanage to orphanage or something

Like I feel like he's constantly ending things just so he can be the one to leave first so he doesn't get abandoned, he's got his barrier up and he's never pulling it down

I'm not sure about this one actually maybe I just thought FIRE and therefore desolation

Anyway you guys can fight me in the tags or whatever I'm tired and want to sleep

#thanks for the ask!! #answered asks #tma #the magnus archives #smirkes 14 #the fears #pjo #hoo #the eye #the web #the end #the desolation #the extinction #the hunt #the corruption #the vast #the archivist #the stranger #the lonely #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #jason grace #piper mclean #leo valdez #reyna avila ramirez arellano #frank zhang #hazel levesque #nico di angelo

[valeriefauxnom]

One thing I always loved about taking things at face value instead of thinking of the more logical, meta reason why this is the case is that it leads to situations like this:

How do we get here?

The answer is art. Well, that, and trying to fit in multiple characters into a single frame coupled with Ranzal being too short to allow the rest of them normal-er heights.

It all starts at this early dragalia life comic, and this panel specifically:

So, apparently somebody (whether the artist actually asked anyone else or just winged it, I don't know!) decided Ranzal was 6'1. Fair, a pretty tall height for such a big dude, right? Well, it's not tall enough when we then put this in mind with pretty much every art with him in the picture and can't be explained by perspective (ie, everyone is likely on a relatively flat surface)

(Yes I know Euden's kneeling in that one but still, don't think standing is going to help him much in this case! He's still got more in common with Daikokuten the Mouse Dragon in that picture than any human or sylvan...)

And yes, these are some of the more egregious examples, but just the fact there's more than one makes this so funny trying to re-contextualize everyone else's height around Ranzal when we look at art like this. Because, as the very first image suggests, Euden is at best 5'1 in some of these arts if Ranzal is 6'1. And since Dragalia seemed to go with a vague 'comparison heights' to keep in line that Euden is taller than Zethia, but not Luca, etc, means quite a few people are absolutely tiny with the only fact that they're shorter than Euden as evidence needed.

Now, of course you can easily ruin this by logical, unfun recognition that Euden is also one of the most egregious size-shifters in Dragalia over the years (which by itself might make for some funny headcanons that he doesn't know/can't remember his own height and just guesstimates if there's some sort of conscious mental influence in trying to return to human form after shifting...Like if he's feeling on top the world, powerful when he's shifting back everyone is suddenly wondering why he looks so much taller, etc), as evidenced by even just these dragalia life panels:

(This would put him at about 5'9/152 cm)

...Whereas this likely only cracks 4' something or another. You get the picture: heights aren't exactly stable in comics or art. And I get it, it'd be a pain to try and keep everything consistent 24/7 over so many comics and artworks.

But oh, is it funny to imagine that everyone in Grastea is falling into one of two camps: huge-normal and very small. There is almost no in-between. You are either 6'+ or you are 4'8. Like...

A party approaches, two taller figures and three small ones. One of them looks like a the leader of this group, a bulky frame and commanding, harsh presence that signals not to play games with him. Surely that's the most dangerous member of the party, right? He looks like he eats whole horses for breakfast and it all turns straight into muscle.

...And then the one 5'1 kid randomly multiplies in size several times over and is now a huge freakin' dragon and setting you on fire/sending a tidal wave at you/kicking up a tornado/electrifying you/breathing poison/etc...

Appearances....can be deceiving?

So yeah, there we have the hilarious and unintentional effects by that one damning comic so long ago provides, if you so choose to take it at face value instead of introducing silly things like facts and logic and an understanding of the difficulties of being an artist!

Bonus round (ie, edit)

Also, judging by this exact one (1) piece of art, Emile very well is taller than Phares. Emile looks like he's hunching over somewhat and is still about even with Phares:

So yeah. Figured I should share that Emile might be way taller than I thought, at least.

#dragalia lost #dragalia

[asterouslyaesthetic]

do you think the gym leaders+steven all text norman to let him know how his kid is doing

because norman is the only one with a kid among the gym leaders. wattson's got a niece but she lives outside of hoenn and drake from the elite four has grandkids but like he's not a gym leader

and it's just a way to bond with norman since he clearly loves his family and the only time he gets soft is thinking of them

like roxanne gets beaten by a lvl15 mudkip and nothing else, and when she asks why, the kid is like, "actually, i want to be a water type only trainer so that i can also be a gym leader"

she lets wallace know in the group chat that he has competition

steven casually drops the fact that his kid beat up a few team magma grunts and his dad is apparently very fond of norman's kid now to one of the others and it spreads like wildfire

brawly says that his kid's been camping out for like the past three days, trying to fish for a tentacool, and then they show up to battle with like 20 potions and their tentacool as their ace

wallace pipes in briefly to tell norman that he and his wife should turn on a specific channel and watch it together.

afterwards, norman jokes that his kid really is gunning for wallace's spot and thanks him for letting him see their kid branching out. wallace starts commenting more on them because lisia tells him a lot and he's kind of happy his niece has a good friend she can hang out with

wattson happily tells him about he caught them giving pointers to wally and how they gave their marshtomp bulldoze specifically for this match and won by the skin of their teeth

and also how they nearly got into a fight with the guy who gives advice because he was like "you can't fight with water types in an electric gym!"

flannery is oddly quiet when they come to town and that is because they end up befriending each other because they WANT to be a gym leader but they know they have to live up to their dad while flannery's already trying to live up to the sort of reputation one should have

all she says is "it's a secret"

norman shares a picture of him, his wife, and their kid at a restaurant he found specifically because they like that sort of food. in it, tentacool has evolved and they now corphish and surskit and a togepi

the togepi belongs to his wife now but he mentions that it makes for a great excuse for his kid to come home more often

steven says something about how they're very passionate and when prompted to speak more about the topic, he says they nearly fought with kecleon because it was preventing them from going into the gym

winona is grateful that they asked the kecleon to go away. she's the one who has the least amount of conversation with them but she does note them trying to convince gyarados to fly, then begrudgingly resigning themselves to being a land and water dweller

(steven has to laugh at that when wallace tells him.

he never says why but when he comes back from his travels, he has a swanna for them)

the twins hear about the kid being in town but the first time they meet is at the department store while they're arguing with a kid about the last slakoth plush. they pull the "my dad is a gym leader" card and when that fails, they end up resorting to a pokemon battle

everyone floods the chat with questions after the team magma/team aqua incident. norman shuts down the gym for a bit to be there for his kid and also do gym leader stuff and the only time the kid shows up on tv is a few days later when they're trying to get to the gym and a reporter stops them

they very confidently say they can be champion, but only if they can make it past through the reporter because they need their eighth badge

norman is SO proud

for wallace, he mentions how the first thing they say after beating him is asking him where he got his milotic from. they're actually extremely mad that they couldn't find any feebas and they didn't actually want to battle him without one but they also just want to head onto victory road

this actually jogs a memory of norman's, where he remembers that he took the family to petalburg before he moved to show them littleroot and just spend time with them while they're still in johto

and on one of the screens is wallace and milotic, and after that, the three of them decide to take some time to watch one of his contests on tv, which spurs a family tradition and the declaration that they will also have a milotic

he promised to get a feebas for them, but they turned him down so he kinda regrets not pushing it a bit more

so he like talks to his kid and they basically confirm his suspicions

milotic = happy memories so my own milotic = more happy memories and since i want to be a gym leader like my old man = water types only

it's all very wholesome

norman can't stay away from petalburg much longer and his kid doesn't want him to watch the matches because they're afraid of an ungraceful showing, but they do promise to send a photo with steven after the match and verbal confirmation from the latter that they won

also norman's kid just looks up to their dad so much, like the coolest person ever, and once they become champion, they go to him for advice on pokemon—it's a running joke in the family that it should be the other way around since they're the youngest champion in hoenn

as for the feebas, someone from the weather institute finds out that they want one so they call norman to tell his kid this secret for a guaranteed feebas

the next beauty master rank has people making the spiderman meme because wallace also enters with a milotic. he wins the battle, but they win the day because their parents come to watch them and they spend the entire day together

#pokemon #pokemon oras #trainer may #trainer brendan #gym leader norman #gym leader wallace #hoenn gym leaders #champion steven #i just want good dad!norman stuff #like how pokemas or the anime portrays him #instead of like pokespe #i just want secretly doting dad norman who's so damn proud of his kid for becoming the champion #he'll never brag about it to anyone but his wife who is equal parts bemused and tired #but you can bet he has like newspaper clippings and photos of them in his office #he's usually good about not launching into technical discussions but sometimes he does #and since his kid is dating the professor's kid they can actually keep up with it

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 46 Review - Terastal Debut

What I like most about this episode is that so much is given out and it’s explained so thoroughly. Instead of having the kids go on a Treasure Hunt like in the game, Liko, Roy and Dot enroll in Naranja Academy’s Terastal Course. It turns out that the school allows students from all over the world to enroll in the course to learn more about Terastal as permitted by Director Clavell and Chairwoman Geeta.

Dendra gives an explanation of how the course works. To study Terastal, students must defeat Gym Leaders according to their aptitude. There’s also a condition as students can only have two chances to challenge a Gym Leader and if they acknowledge their skills, they pass. Also, students cannot terastalize outside of battles not revolving around the Terastal Course; this means that regular trainer battles do not permit Terastalizing. Liko gets paired up with Katy, Roy gets paired up with Brassius and Dot gets paired up with Iono. The kids get camping equipment as they have to camp out for the course. Dot is definitely not amused that she has to touch grass for a while now.

There are so many characters introduced here that it’s insane. Alex and Lucca, Liko’s parents, return and are actually seen together. It’s sweet that she has loving parents. Given that Lucca is a teacher, she doesn’t seem to work at Naranja Academy and probably works elsewhere. That’s an interesting detail. Then we have Clavell who wears the Scarlet version of his outfit. Then there’s the Pokemon League members with Geeta and the Elite Four showing up. It’s crazy how they all just show up at the school like it’s normal business to patrol the school or something. There’s also the debut of Penny who has no lines. I guess she’s forced to work for the League in this iteration, but it’ll be cool if Team Star gets implemented into the story. Jacq and Dendra make their debuts as teachers. They still teach their respective subjects of Biology and Battle Studies. Dendra is the one who explains the course to the kids while Jacq tells them that he wants reports from them as they are still students at the end of the day. Nemona makes her reappearance with a newly evolved Pawmot. In her first appearance, her Pawmo was the butt of a recurring joke where it got sprayed by Brassius’s Doliv’s oil twice. Here, Nemona is now the butt of the recurring joke as her desire to battle Roy gets interrupted by staff and the school bell.

The biggest surprise in terms of character returns is Ann who has transferred to Naranja Academy to partake in the Terestal Course with her newly evolved Dewott. The battle between her and Liko was really well-animated. Liko and Ann were very strategic and used various tactics to one-up each other. My favorite part of the battle was when Dewott used Aerial Ace and its fists glowed up and tried to punch Floragato. I hope Ann battles more in this arc because it’d be a waste to not let her battle when she’s very capable.

Another surprise is the Explorers coming in to partake in the course too. Sidian and Coral arrive late, and use very terrible pseudonyms in order to pass as students. Fortunately, they were able to get in because Chalce is disguised as a teacher and was able to hack them into the database. The Explorers are doing this because they were tasked to keep an eye on Liko. There were two things I liked about the Explorers segment. The first is Coral laughing her head off when Sidian introduces them as Onigiri and Sandwich, which she then accepts. The second is the fact that Liko, Roy and Dot recognize them and isn’t suffering from face blindness that Ash and his friend suffered through for 25 years when it came to Team Rocket’s disguises.

Last but not least, the Rising Volt Tacklers are doing their own thing right now. Orla is in charge of the Brave Olivine repairs. Mollie and Ludlow are caring for Pokemon. Murdock is working at what seems to be Patisserie Soapberry as his outfit looks similar to Katy’s. Friede is going to research the Six Heroes as he has the Ancient Pokeballs and Lucius’s belt in his possession as Liko goes to take the Terastal Course. It’ll be cool to see what the other RVTs will be doing in future episodes.

As a whole, the entire episode was a very good introduction to the third chapter. The pacing was great in terms of squeezing in everything that was needed. The new opening and ending songs were great too! I think it’s amazing how they managed to get IVE, a K-POP girl group, to sing in Japanese for Horizons. Since K-POP is rather popular in Japan and they have been using KPOP groups for different anime openings for various animes, it was about time that Pokemon would do the same. It shows that this arc will be one to remember with the new changes! It does feel like the quality has stepped up here. I’m honestly hyped up for what’s to come. What about you?

#anipoke #Pokemon horizons #liko #floragato #roy #fuecoco #dot #quaxly #friede #anne #dewott #geeta #director clavel #rika #poppy #larry #hassel #penny #nemona #pawmot #dendra #jacq #sidian #coral #agate #terapagos #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura

[faithfromanewperspective]

I feel like there are two almost opposite takes on the sermon on the mount in Christian influenced progressive spaces: one in which it’s used as proof of the hypocrisy of their oppressors, and another where it’s used as a form of oppression to police thoughts and perpetrate a purity culture that leaves no aspect of your life alone.

and to that I have to say: if you’re using the sermon on the mount as anything but a ‘hey stop being so self righteous that you think you’re above other people morally and you get to judge them and base your social standing on it’ you’re being extremely unrealistic about the capability of any human to live a life of kindness and respect for others. if you had someone imply that following all the principles of the sermon on the mount is possible, achievable and something to aim for, I’m sorry. Do yourself a favour and don’t listen to anything that person says; in fact turn the sermon on the mount back on them to see their hypocrisy, and realise, none of this has any power over you.

the sermon on the mount was given early in the gospels before Jesus spends 10+ chapters telling the religious leaders of the time not to be so up themselves and think they’ve got it right and have the right to exclude others from a closeness to God because of it. and constantly showing them up by displaying the love people they thought of as sinners and outcasts could have for God. it was given to the Jews in AD 30, at which point if you were listening to it you were likely in one of two camps*: 1) someone who knew you’d fucked up and was constantly reminded of that in society and oh it was liberating to hear that you’re no worse than those people who think they’re better than everyone else or 2) someone who based their entire identity around Not Fucking Up and Being Godly and would probably built their rules around what is possible for me is good and I do random extreme things to please God like washing my hands 10000 times but I bend the rules about helping the poor to the bare minimum because I can’t deal with the idea that I might not be The Best and is in power so everyone else has to be judged against their rules—who Jesus is trying to be like ‘actually your rules are dumb look at all the stuff you missed, you don’t actually care about the heart of what pleasing God is about’

*there would be people there who felt shame for other things like being childless was a big one for women and unfortunately this is hard to neatly put in a category as this would be likely perceived as ‘I fucked up and God is punishing me’ but these people actually did nothing wrong explicitly and we really do need to talk about how the things we consider ‘sin’ don’t really apply to oppressed people groups at least not in the same way

and so if we take it into our lives today with any other message than ‘destigmatise sin and don’t ever expect yourself to do everything perfectly and so as a result you can be kind to someone you see sinning as you are to yourself’ (which when applied with the rest of the gospels is actually you don’t have to worry about fucking up and not being perfect Right Now or Ever because God knows how you work and Jesus took care of it in case you need any more proof he wants you to forgive yourself for whatever you feel ashamed for, instead focus on to the best of your ability showing this same attitude to the people around you especially if they don’t believe they’re worthy of that), if you do anything else with this passage than use it to call out those who think they are morally superior and comfort those who feel shamed and outcast, you are going to hurt people. It’s a powerful passage! And unfortunately it’s been used to isolate people with intrusive thoughts or anyone who gets horny or people with trauma backgrounds who can’t just ‘forgive’ and maybe don’t think they’ll be free while their abuser is alive. Unfortunately people it’s meant to call out have not been called out by it and people it’s meant to comfort have been called out instead.

and I know yeah, we all have our own takes on it. but I’m sorry, if you truly think it’s possible to follow all its rules to the EXTREME way it paints it you take it literally you are so naive and please go check your privilege and stfu. and idk how else there is to take it?? symbolically? even if you do that you know it’s calling out the oppressors right? because of their religious hypocrisy?? I hope that’s obvious because we have a lot of religious hypocrites going around trying to shame people for their intrusive thoughts and trauma and mental illnesses and sexuality while trying to pretend ??? they aren’t in the same boat I guess?? and there’s no sweeter and also often more effective thing to do sometimes than turn their own standards against them. you are allowed to do that if someone is hurting someone else btw!!! and if you don’t think people are getting hurt by it. also please check your privilege

#sermon on the mount #sotm #christianity #punk christianity #progressive christianity

[a-single-white-crow]

What got me into witchcraft?

I usually respond to this question with a simple "I'm not sure" but right now, at 4am I suddenly remembered.

I got into witchcraft to survive.

When I turned 12 I had clinical depression. I'd always been sadder than most kids but it only became truly clinical at 12.

I don't remember much of those years. And memories suddenly appear as they do now. But either way.

I remember being so desperate to just have my mind be quiet. I was willing for anything. And that's when I randomly found those meditation YouTube videos. I had nothing to lose it was this or drastic measures. So I started trying it out. I'd sit and burn things (with fire safety in mind thankfully) as I focused on the video and blessedly I noticed that it actually helped. My brain for at least 20 minutes wasn't rotting away within my skull. It was quiet, still, I didn't feel like I was falling apart, I didn't feel rage practically boiling to the surface. I was completely calm.

So I kept doing it. On very bad days I wouldn't even bother. Just burning scrap after scrap and watching the smoke. I preferred burning incense along with any little bit of things. Seeing how quickly the fire developed items helped me in some way. Perhaps it was a physical representation of how my rage made me feel. Consuming all in its path. But all I knew was that it was a way to release my anger.

On better days, I'd light only a single stick of incense and play my videos listening to the stupid music and sometimes if listen to a few guided ones (I tend to avoid these now). I'd meditate each day after school. It was all I had that kept the dreams away. And slowly I began to feel more whole. By the time I got into high-school I was going better. I was still sad. I couldn't be bothered to out on clothes wearing pajamas and slippers to school. But I was going to school. I was having good days. And I had strength.

I used to go to these camps. Weird camp outs for the ladies of my church (I got my first girlfriend that way ha!).

While I was there one year one of the leaders in charge of a different group of women, asked to hug me saying "I sense you have many angels with you."

This was nuts. Angels was nonsensical and I didn't do physical touch. I politely declined and tried to move on.

But I couldn't. Because it kept happening. People kept claiming I had strong protective entities and others just wanted to be near me for a bit.

When I spoke to my father about it, he told me he always had that happening, and it was a normal experience.

But nobody else had this. Just me and my father.

So I started doing research. I wanted to know why people kept claiming I had angels especially with the fact that I wasn't sure I believed in angels (still don't. At least not like Angels Angels)

I'm not certain how I figured it out. That part is still lost in the static of my memories. But I do know exactly who is with me.

My ancestors.

My strongest being my grandfather.

I have no doubt it's him. I've been able to send him to protect others, and his love is such a strong feeling.

The others I'm unsure of the specifics.

But after I learned of my ancestors fully, I wanted to learn of to communicate. How to show my appreciation. And I found Tarot first and witchcraft in general second.

Though I had been studying witchcraft long before I just never realized that's what it was exactly and I didn't want to call myself a witch being a man and all.

It took a bit before I took on the title. But without it I surely wouldn't be here now.

#long post #witchblr #witchcraft #witch community #male witch #trans witch #witch #baby witches #divination #witch story #ancestor work #spiritualjourney #spirit work

[vixstarria]

Write your Tav (other characters' POV edition)

So I was going to do something similar to this write your Tav headcanon post by @spacebarbarianweird (hello!), but decided to postpone it until after I've actually finished the game. (Guilty of still being on Act 2 here, although much has been spoiled)

Still, I wanted to do something to flesh her out a bit, and ended up doing something entirely different, being short blurbs from the other characters' perspectives, to varying degrees of insight and self-interest, as though given sometime before the end of the game.

If anyone else wants to do this - I'd love to read it. My stuff under the cut.

Shadowheart 

Our good luck charm. I could never tell how old she is. Not just because she’s a half-elf – oftentimes she would act like an adolescent with a devil-may-care attitude, but then you would sense a profound world-weariness from her, that made you question the span and depth of her experiences... She’s gotten us out of the most perilous situations just by knowing which buttons to push, no matter whether with humans, goblins or any other assortment of abominations. Could it be just intuition? I’ve overheard her discussing books with Gale and Astarion that she had no business even knowing about. One thing is for certain: she’s no pampered court bard. I get the sense she’s been running from something. I wonder what. 

Gale 

She is the rainbow at the end of a bout of rain. A renewal of hope. Vibrant. Comforting. Refreshing. Delightful. ...Unreachable. Maybe if not for that blasted vampire... Although she’s certainly not the sort of woman I’ve ever envisaged my life with. Nor the type I would like to bring to meet my mother. Nor would she fare well within the collegiate circle. ...Come to think of it, she probably would not want the kind of life I could offer her, either. And yet being near her makes my heart sing... 

Lae’zel 

Weak. But courageous. Whelps like her do survive through sheer determination sometimes. She is lucky that Astarion took it upon himself to watch her back from day one. We all are. She is an inspirational leader. She has taught me that there are more ways out than ‘through’. To ‘think outside the box’, as the istik say. She has, truth be told, shown me the box, and rubbed my face in the fact I was in it. I am grateful and honoured to have met her.  

Wyll 

Oh she’s a good egg. Shame she never sang for us in camp. Too intimate, she said. What’s that all about? I suppose some things are more easily done before strangers... At least she played. I do hope we’ll write the story of our adventures together one day. Ballads, books... It all deserves a place in recorded history, written by her, with my assistance of course. Someone has to make sure the account is accurate. Wouldn’t want her to diminish or overinflate anyone’s role.  

Karlach 

My sister! I love her! I’m sorry I got us banned from that tavern, but I’m not one to walk away from a challenge, and ale had to be chugged, and tables had to be flipped. But she’s my best bud for all things debauchery. Skinny boy fangs, too. Him and his wine. Wait, was that wine in his goblet? Can vampires even drink wine? ...What the fuck was in the goblet and where did it come from?! I remember he was drunk... Actually, no, that was another time. SHE was drunk, and then he had her blood, yes. And then I eventually had to throw them both over my shoulders and haul them out of the tavern, because they had the bright idea to start a pickpocketing competition. And I say if you’re going to steal – steal responsibly, NOT while you’re hammered. Gods I’ll miss them both.  

Astarion  

My little dove. When I asked you why you let me bite you that night – you're not that naive and trusting after all – you said: “I had nothing to lose by agreeing to feed the strange sexy vampire – I couldn’t care less whether I lived or died anyway”. The joke fell flat. I asked whether you still felt that way. About life and death. “Not anymore,” you said, and took my hand.  

You are, perhaps, the only person worse than me at expressing their real feelings. Or at admitting them to your own self. It’s deplorable for a bard, darling. Even Lae’zel can get straight to the point, when she must. But I see you through the masks you wear. Just as you see me.  

Tav 

None of these fuckers know I’m the real princess of House Nightstar, married to a tarrasque named Johnathan.  

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #write your tav #bg3 tav #my tav #baldur's gate oc #writing

[separatist-apologist]

I know that this isn't the primary focus of your blog, but i'd like to hear your opinion about something: do you think that we'll ever see Feyre actually act as a political leader in the series? It bothers me to no end that, despite being one of the most powerful women in the series and it's main protagonist, most, if not all, of Feyre's power it's a extension of Rhysand's, as well as her relationships - basically all of them, except for her sisters and Lucien, to a extent. Don't get me wrong, i'm glad that the character had her happy ending after so much suffering, but the narrative constantly remind us of the fact that Feyre is a High Lady, the only one so far, and yet we rarely actually see her act like it on page - she will fight to defend her little safe haven of Velaris, but what about the rest of Night Court, that is also her responsability? I would much prefeer if Feyre's subplot in ACOSF was about her actually trying to change things for the beter for the women in the Illyrian camps, or to make things right in the Hewn City, instead of the pregnancy plot. I would love to see Feyre becoming a politician, a diplomat, someone who actually tried to be a good ruler, but it seems to me that despite her power and pretty titles, "High Lady" is just another word for "Rhysand's trophy wife".

Where are my Lucien VanSssssssnake anons?

Look. I get it. We all have our anti-faves, that bitch eating crackers that we can't stand.

But please point out where A N Y of the other High Lords are doing anything political? I literally am B E G G I N G people to get off Feyre's asshole and stop holding her to a standard they do not hold any other character in the novels to. Feyre has been High Lady for five minutes in a book that is deeply NOT political to the point that every good analysis I've seen about Prythian's political system is a head canon. Tamlin is High Lord in book 1 but does exactly jack shit and in book 2 he's staring at paperwork and riding off to the border when it suits him which is the opposite of a good political leader given the target it paints on his back and how if he died, it throws his whole court into turmoil.

Additionally, Tarquin/Helion/Rhys are also not doing a lot of ruling on page. Rhys and Tamlin are tied for literally Most Fake court set up ever given Tamlin's court is made up of Lucien, who seemingly does idk EVERYTHING? and one priestess who plans parties.

And Rhys's court is all his best friends who, conveniently, are soldiers and not diplomats. He's got Lucien who is doing?????

Like, I guess I'm asking people to leave me alone about this. You want realism and a fleshed out plot in a series that is now 5 books deep and has NEVER had it. Cassian, the literal GENERAL of the Night Court, was reassigned to play COURTIER and everyone was like, makes total sense when it's absolutely BONKERS bananas. "Don't you want more?" Rhys asks of the man who commands his armies, and Cassian drops EVERYTHING to do it. And there are 0 political ramifications.

It seems to me that ya'll just have a problem that Rhys made Feyre his equal and want to rail about it, which whatever. But this is not the series for that sort of shit, and I don't care if you don't think it's realistic when there are dumber things in these books no one takes issue with.

Like ten inch dicks that are coated in orgasm magic like jfc.

#sjm is setting up illyria for something she'll solve in 8 seconds #she literally does not care about politics at all #its like #a background forethought #but im tired of people coming in my ask box trying to get me to talk shit about feyre or nesta because they only want realism #when it comes to the women in the series

[petrichorium]

Pluvi i’d love to hear about readers four other husbands!! Rip yanqing he’s so confused

WELL SINCE U ASKED

husband #1 — the guard in the drabble! as I said in the tags he’s reader’s childhood friend. Swore himself to her Long before they got married lmfaooooo and part of that oath actually means that he can’t talk to anyone except her and her husbands 🫣 He’s the most physically intimidating of all the husbands, genuinely massive man lmfaooooo but honestly fairly reserved, frankly shy but it comes across as stoic more than anything. Wicked smart and very devoted to reader (obvi) so he’s def kinda her main confidant but she’s v close w all of them

husband #2 — was a political marriage!!! Offered himself in exchange for the continued support of reader’s people. She accepted and they genuinely intended for it to be platonic but he ends up falling for her eventually. He’s actually kinda nerdy LMFAOOOO a historian turned military strategist on his homeworld, now retired from said military and working part-time as a professor at a university on reader’s planet

husband #3 — an admiral; old military family type, kinda a stick in the mud. But he was actually very persistent in pursuing the reader and won her over eventually even tho they rlly butted heads at first (came from a v patriarchal homeworld so it was inevitable tbh). Was kinda arrogant and assumed she was into him and then realized he was kinda into the dismissive thing…….. this one was a VERY slow burn she left and came back to his planet many times before he finally literally begged her to give him the time of day

husband #4 — the problem child…… a rebellion leader on his homeworld who did NOT get along with reader or her three husbands when they first met despite the fact that they were allies. And then all four of them got stuck on a remote moon for a year annnnnnnd the rest is history. Definitely a spitfire, v much a street dog type of guy, and very charismatic. The only one who had a partner before reader; another rebel who died in the battle before reader showed up. He’s still a little hung up on it but happy to have something to dedicate himself to that doesn’t make him think of them

All of them rlly like Jing Yuan LMFAOOOOO and as I say in the tags she’s only married to #1 when she meets him so she marries the other three during this “once every few years I make a trip to the luofu and try to convince the general to marry me” stage pfft. But he actually met #1 before her!!! Jy saved him from an enemy camp and he’s been a lil infatuated ever since 🫣 reader thinks it’s the cutest thing. Jy is also the first person she introduces a new husband to which he always says isn’t necessary but she’s just like :) I mean I gotta make sure ur compatible :) like introducing a new cat yk JDNDKDN

While their home is on her planet w her they’re often offworld doing their own thing!!! #2 is usually off on his own on mostly educational trips, #3 and #4 bicker a lot bc of personality differences (and the difference in their upbringing—they’re from different worlds but remind each other of respective opposing bodies) but honestly spend much of their time together. They’re kinda traveling adventurers and tbh I imagine Jing Yuan just kinda slotting in with them mostly bc he says in canon that when he retires he’d like to travel around 🥺 but also playing diplomat w reader a lot bc they r v much two of a kind jdnfkenr #1 is always with her bc of his position but they all travel together a lot too esp when it’s beneficial politically to portray themselves as a solidified unit

Anyway there u go ty for asking 😌

#ask.🌧 #kodzue-ken

[blimbo-buddy]

It's not even the clan likes Strangepaw. He's my religious trauma boy who fears Starclan and the clans make Rock Dove out to be a messiah despite him being not.

Strangepaw lives on the far away side of Windclan camp. He lives under a beech tree in a series of tunnels and dens that can actually house the entire clan in case of an emergency. Realizing now Strangepaw lives in Watership Down

The clan leader allows Strangepaw to live away from the campsite and sends a few warriors to check on him. He's taken some what of a sentry duty.

He wasn't deemed a bad omen but he was ostracized by the other cats of the clan due to his unorthodox appearance and due to the constant "Windclan lives under the stars and Starclan watches us", as a result Strangepaw got major anxiety. His parents love him because he's their special boy. To them, strange means good.

He mostly stays underground digging tunnels.

Strange's one of the best diggers in the clan and takes pride in that fact despite it all. He's like the opposite of Tallpaw now that I think about it. Strangepaw was given the tunneler duties and most tunnels are done by him and him alone.

The clan leader views Strangepaw as imperfect. They want the clan to be perfect, to be the best.

Neat fact about Strangepaw. He spends so much time underground he learned to recognize cats just by how they walk instead of smell. I mean he still knows everyone by smell but he recognized footsteps.

Many apprentices are either weirded out by Strange, intrigued, or bully him and/or not acknowledge his existence.

Another neat trivia fact: Strange is genderless to me. I default to he and him out of habit but all things considered he responds to any pronouns.

Sometimes Windcult leader would force his clan to stare at the sky and moon.

For unending hours and Strangepaw whenever he looks at the nightsky feels all the anxiety as if his entire existence is being judged.

Even the other clan leaders think the new leader is a bit much.

All these Starclan practices.

Watching the stars and moon? Doing these weird praying things

Warrior Cats want to be Christian coded?

I'LL GIVE THEM CHRISTIAN CODED

Anyways Moral Orel is my inspiration-

Love the show!

Highly recommend it!

Gotta love religious trauma/fear from the main character. Also oooh, neat stuff going on with Rock Dove. It actually makes sense for StrangePaw to live under a tree and a series of tunnels, I'd imagine the sun constantly beating down on Windclan territory isn't very friendly to his skin, so Sentry Duty probably doesn't bother him too much (Unless it does, then oh boy)

Also I like that he's a Tunneler of Windclan! I imagine his paws having no fur also causes him to get more cuts on them so he needs frequent check ups through out his digging shift of the day.

I really like what you got going on with StrangePaw! He's a neat little dude with plenty of religious trauma, maybe a hint of catholic guilt? Anyways, now I can't stop thinking about Orel Puppington's voice coming out of StrangePaw

#blimbo rambles #ask #wc

[neopronouns-in-action]

Neopronouns in Action #056: Thrown for a Loop

Neopronouns: cat/cats/catself which follow the same rules as

Replace it with cat

Replace its with cats

Replace itself with catself

EX:

"It is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as it gets a fence set up around its yard so the puppy can go outside without it having to walk it. Its uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting it use, since it lost its. It's going to buy toys and train the puppy itself."

Becomes:

"Cat is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as cat gets a fence set up around cats yard so the puppy can go outside without cat having to walk it. Cats uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he's letting cat use, since cat lost cats. Cat's going to buy toys and train the puppy catself."

= = =

A very long, drawn out sigh, followed by the thud of something heavy hitting wood, and a sharply spit out swear word from the desk on the far side of the room, the one cat had been trying to avoid looking at, was cat's warning that cat'd said something wrong.

Instructor Kohen, who was interviewing cat, lowered the clipboard she'd been writing on and swiveled her chair around to look at the person who'd sighed while cat sat there in tense silent, trying to figure out what cat'd said that cat shouldn't have.

All cat'd done was mention cats parents farm, over near Walldin. Instructor Kohen had asked cat where cat'd grown up. So cat'd told them about the farm, and how cat was here hoping to be able to send money back home to support cats parents and ten younger siblings, because cats mom was pregnant again and they needed all the help they could get...

Now, cat watched Instructor Kohen turn and raise an eyebrow at the person at the other desk, the person cat was too afraid to look at.

“You alright, Xr. Bree?” He asked, using an honorific cat had never heard before arriving at the work camp. “Exiir”, pronounced like “ex, ear” was a title used by the leader of the Mutual Aid Initiative, or MAI, in place of Mr. or Ms. It was nonbinary, so used Xr. instead, and called itself an othran instead of a man or woman. Cat wondered if being nonbinary was the same thing as being genderfucked, but didn't want to ask, since cat didn't want to look at Xr. Bree.

Instructor Kohen was bigender, and was both a man and a woman at the same time, so her pronouns alternated between he/him and she/her.

Cat was still too nervous to actually look over at Xr. Bree, but cat did hear it when it said, with another sigh, “I just remembered something I forgot to do.”

And then there was the sound of wheels squeaking on the wooden floor, and suddenly the voice was getting closer, accompanied by footsteps and the rhythmic click of metal. And to cats shock and horror, cat realized that it was being directly addressed, when Xr. Bree said:

“Would you mind showing me around your family's farm, Cat? I'd love to meet your parents and see what I can do to help out around the place. I've got a green thumb, and a few dozen passionfruit vines waiting to be transplanted, the kind with the white flowers--Lauri's favorite.”

The shock of actually being spoken to by the most important person in the country, along with the fact that it somehow knew cats mother's name, made cat turn to look, despite cats better judgment.

And immediately, cat regretted it as the shifting, kaleidoscopic-like effect surrounding the othran immediately sent a spike of pain into cats head behind cats eyes, forcing them shut instinctively almost immediately, not even giving cat any time to actually process what cat was seeing. The world seemed to spin, and cat was glad cat was already sitting down, or cat'd probably have fallen over.

“Hey, woah, are you okay?” That was Xr. Bree again, with Instructor Kohen's almost identical exclamation a moment later.

Keeping cats eyes firmly shut, cat lifted a hand to cats head to try and stop it from spinning.

“Are you okay?” Instructor Kohen asked, and cat felt a steadying hand on cats shoulder. “When was the last time you had anything to drink?”

Cat knew cat wasn't dehydrated, cat always made sure to have clean water cat drank throughought the day, along with whatever fruit was in season, but cat temporarily couldn't speak, what should have been the darkness behind cats eyes instead filled with flashing ropes of colors. Red, blue, green, yellow, white, spinning and stretching off out of view, like an afterimage of what cat'd seen when cat looked at Xr. Bree.

Cat turned cats head away from where cat knew Xr. Bree was standing, and, instantly, the lights vanished, letting cat breathe a sigh of relief as the dizziness began to lessen noticeably.

Cat cleared cats throat, and thought maybe cat would be able to speak now if cat tried. But what was cat supposed to say?

How do you tell someone, let alone tell the most important, powerful person in the country, that you couldn't look at it without seeing ribbons of light even when your eyes were closed? It was ridiculous to even think.

But cat was going to have to say something. Xr. Bree wanted to see cats parent's farm. There was no way cat would be able to make the week's journey there without looking at Xr. Bree.

The question was, how in the world was cat going to explain this?

#long post #short story #writing prompts #short stories #pronouns #neopronouns #cat/cats #cat/catself #cat/cats/catself #catcatspronouns #nounself pronouns in action #nounself pronouns #neopronouns in action #neopronoun short story #neopronoun writing prompts #neopronoun short stories #IYKYK lol.

[leovaldezdefender]

BEGGING YOU TO EXPAND UPON FRANKS IDEAL CHARACTER ARC

OK OK umm a short note first though: i don't really like subscribing to the characterization of frank as a sunshiney sweet fluffy teddy bear so if he seems a little out of character in this then... yeah i'm aware lol. some of this is going to be a little self-indulgent

anyway i like to think of frank as... someone who represses his feelings a lot. he has a lot of pent up rage inside him and i think it's not a stretch to say that he's kind of naturally the kind of person who gets angry easily, but he pushes it all down because he hates those feelings. his mother, someone who loved him and whom he loved, was killed by violence and war when he was young; he internalized that and started to hate any idea of it; might have become hyperfocused on the ideology. and i don't think his hatred of it and his upset at being mars' son can just be attributed to him 'being a good person'. the other demigods don't seem to mind the concept as much as he does.

but like, he is naturally a violent person. not just as a result of mars and ares but he's literally just like that (that was his characterization in son of neptune, too, which is before his father started talking in his head). and i think it would have been nice to see that come into conflict more with his personality and who he wants to be. it came up a bit at the end of the chapter where he killed the katobleps, but it was never discussed again, which kind of bums me out. especially with his stated dedication to duty, i think it would be cool to explore.

a classic story idea to expand on this would be to put him in a situation that forces him to use violence - not just against monsters, which he seems to be generally fine with doing, but a human. maybe even a friend or a cohort. or on a bigger scale (which is harder to do as it might require a new book or even a SERIES, but hey) have him encounter more and more moral dilemmas in his time as praetor that'll push him to see war as the only option. it'd call into question who he thinks he is and what he thinks he's better than! idk i think it'd be cool for his character.

one of my most frequently dreamed-about story ideas for him is one in which the demigods who were deemed as 'weak' and eaten by lupa are actually alive and want to destroy camp jupiter. but it wouldn't just be an attack like all other hoo villains, there'd be actual political processes going on, civil meetings and stuff like that. frank is loyal and wants to protect his camp, but on the other hand, the demigods are... kind of right. plus his seeming aversion to war and violence would make him feel massively conflicted over the whole thing! how is he supposed to deal with this big threat without initiating violence, something he always saw as terrible? imo it would be a cool path to take because it both expands on frank's character and also acknowledge the faults with camp jupiter - the fact that it's literally a child military, for one. also the leader of the rebelling demigods is a milf in my mind so that might be why i like the idea so much, who knows

yeah so uh. wow this is long huh! im so sorry i got carried away! to sum it up, i just think it'd be nice for frank's anger issues to come into conflict with his very obvious dislike for violence and his morals. 'son of war who loathes himself' as a character goes crazy but in the story there was none of that crazy and i feel sad about it :(

tl;dr frank's arc is fine, but it'd be cooler with more blood

#frank zhang #heroes of olympus #hoo #riordanverse #percy jackson #pjo #son of neptune #so sorry for the rambling uhgkfh #franks character is wonky because sometimes he'll express how much he hates war but sometimes hes like completely okay with it #so i just think itd be fun to have a lil conflict about that #a little man vs self scuffle if you know what i mean #ask #thanks for the ask :]

[reneesbooks]

WIP Intro: Hurts, Doesn't It?

I figured it was about time I introduced the novel I'm working on for Camp Nano :)

Will's a florist, not an expert on politics, but he knows a few things: the Executive runs things from the Capitol, which was rebuilt after the Second Civil War, and eventually his son will be the Executive. He never thought about it much; he was focused on going to NYU for botany and horticulture and the Olympics for archery. But now? Now, he's in prison for smuggling forged art (which he didn't do) and all his cellmates want to talk about it how the government is horrible and the Resistance (terrorists) are actually the good guys.

Enter Kat Barrick--the girl who got Will put in prison in the first place. When she breaks him out and offers her help getting him home, he is reasonably skeptical. Despite her secrets, she is trying to help him. He'll give her a chance to get him home. But as he learns more about her world and the truth behind his history books, he begins to wonder if home is still within reach.

my baby my novel that i've been writing for years my beloved. here are the main characters (picrew used):

Will Moore: He's a florist from Jersey who did NOT sign up for any of this. that's okay, though. he's figuring it out. His favorite hobbies are archery and talking to people about flowers. He will find a way to mention the fact that he's a florist in any conversation. wants to go to the olympics but already won the himbolympics

Kat Barrick: she's an art forger who ran away from home at seventeen and supports her family by selling her paintings on the black market. yes she throws knives no you don't get to know where she learned to. not here to fuck around, just trying to get through the day. she WILL stab you if you get in her way though

Peyton Barrick: Kat's older brother and perpetually exhausted mother hen. Great public speaker but prefers to be cooking most of the time. Definitely going to trick you into being a vegetarian because he is and knows his way around a spice rack enough to convince you that you are eating pork, not eggplant. why is he a vegetarian? none of your fucking business.

Scarlett Carter: battle-worn leader of the Resistance and antique revolver enthusiast. yes it's very funny that she has a gigantic scar across her face and her name is Scarlett. mention it again and she'll show you one of those revolvers up close. these new kids are giving her grey hairs.

Hayden Stone: Scarlett's husband and the brains of the Resistance. NOT a morning person, will greet you with a shotgun if you wake him up. loves his daughter and is very sad that she decided to be a spy when he's just trying to keep her safe. thinks Will's puns are shitty and has a bet going on how long it'll take Kat to kill him.

My goal for Camp Nano has been to write 25,000 words and as of 4/11 I'm about halfway there :D

Posts tagged for this novel can be found here. A few highlights so far:

Kat and Will getting drunk and watching the news

15-question character interview of Kat and Will

Kat and Will having an Emotional Talk

Will taking a serious risk

The following excerpt is the opening scene, where Will meets Kat in his shop for the first time. let me know if you're interested in being added to the taglist for this wip! <3

I nudged the unconscious man with the bristles of the broom. “Are you dead?”

A small groan escaped. “She left me…”

“Jesus, you’re a sad drunk,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Dude, you have to make like a tree and leave.”

He mumbled something that sounded like an insult and turned over, face-down on the floor. I nudged him again with the broom, then smacked him when he didn’t move. He lurched up into a sitting position, swearing vaguely in my direction, and nearly knocked over a potted plant on a stand.

“I’m calling the cops if you don’t leave,” I said, moving towards the counter. “Whatever your deal is, it’s none of my business, but you gotta do it somewhere else.”

He grumbled and groaned but another smack with the broom had him up and stumbling out of the store. I rearranged the vases and potted plants that he’d disturbed and swept up the fallen leaves and petals.

The bell over the door rang and I turned to greet the customer. “Welcome to Lydia’s Fine Flowers, how can I help you?”

The young woman smiled, running her fingers over the head of one of the flowers near the door. “Just looking, thank you,” she said. “Who’s Lydia?”

“My mom,” I said, retreating behind the counter. “She grows all these flowers herself. Best florist in Jersey.”

“Not that you’d ever brag,” the young woman said with a smirk.

“That would be utterly unbe-leaf-able,” I replied, setting the broom back in its spot. “Bragging is very unbecoming.”

“Plant puns must be part of the job,” she said.

“The fun part.”

“Hmm.” She turned to look at the refrigerated arrangements. I went back to the shop computer, squinting at the inventory numbers. We would need to sell the summer arrangements soon, with fall coming up. I bit my lip. My mom would be on her own in a few months. I’d been helping out in the shop for as long as I could remember, and now I was off to college. How would she fare without me?

I turned around, shaking off the worry. My mom would be fine. I spotted the young woman frowning at a bouquet and walked over.

She jumped a little when I got close, her hand going to her waist. She relaxed when she saw it was me. I grinned at her. “Forget me not.”

She blinked. “What?”

I gestured at the display. “Forget-me-nots. I can check the pricing if you’d like.”

She sighed, her hand dropping away from her waist. “No, thanks. I was just thinking about a picture I saw once. I recognized the flowers from that.”

“I see. Let me know if you have any questions,” I said, returning to the counter. I picked up my book from behind the register and flipped through the pages until I found the spot I had left off at.

Olympic Committee Requirements

My fingers itched, imagining myself at the Olympic tryouts the next summer. I would win gold, I was sure of it. I'd already won state and regional archery competitions, gone to nationals, and beaten more experienced archers who were twice my age. I was more than cut out for it.

I was going to make it.

The crinkle of tissue paper jolted me out of the book. “Will?”

I glanced up at the young woman, startled. She smiled at me, her eyes flicking down to my nametag. I grinned back. “I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here. You don’t have a nametag.”

“How much for these?” she asked, gesturing at the bouquet of lilies she’d set on the counter.

“Fifteen.” I punched it into the register. “Cash or card?”

“Cash.” She set the money down on the counter and fiddled with the lilies as I made change.

“Are those a gift for someone or just for you?” I wrapped them up in paper and added a packet of plant food.

“They’re for my little sister.” Her lips twitched. “They’re her favorite.”

“That’s sweet.” I handed her the change. “I never did get your name.”

“Hmm.” She turned, curling brown hair swinging over her shoulder. I caught the faint whiff of mint before the bell chimed and she was gone. I stared after her for a second before returning to my book.

I had bigger things to worry about.

if you want to get into the mood, this wip does have a playlist

#wip intro #writeblr community #writers on tumblr #writeblr #original fiction #hdi? #angry knife child #token florist #prince of parsnips #country girls make trouble #no dad jokes allowed #rb original #Spotify #camp nano april 2023 #camp nanowrimo