#probably only 200 pages left?

[sarahhudgins]

I'm spending the evening curled up with a spooky book (Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig). Will I stay up late to finish these last 200-ish pages? Probably. Will I be made at myself in the morning for not going to bed at a reasonable hour? Most definitely.

#200 pages to go has become my only 100 pages left #I always do this to myself #Happy Halloween to me #probably won't be eating apples for a while #haunted apple book #chuck wendig #black river orchard #booklr #bookworm #reader problems

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

A Phil update! For those who were asking.

I mentioned before that Phil works for a call centre. I'm pretty sure I've also made it clear by now that Phil's spectacular weirdness, coupled with his hatred of capitalism, means he's been mentally checked out of that job for a while now. His main focus has been his degree for the past year anyway. The only reason he's stayed is because Phil has a history of destructive impulsivity that he's been actively working on, so he didn't want to just walk out.

So there we are, scene set. Last week, he phones my husband.

"A weird thing happened in work," he tells Steff. "My manager called me into the office for a chat, but... I think it was weird? I'm pretty sure it was weird."

"Tell me what happened, Phil," says Steff.

***

Here's the story:

Phil goes into the office, and the manager fixes him with a Kind Smile.

"Phil," the Manager says hesitantly. "Do you... like working here?"

"...um," says Phil, distantly aware after Many Conversations with Exasperated Friends that the correct answer to your boss is 'yes', but physically incapable of lying. "Well. I. Um."

"Because," the manager says awkwardly. "Look, you - it's okay."

"Is it?" Phil asks vaguely.

"It's okay," the manager repeats. "I know you don't like working here. This isn't what you want to do. You don't want to stay."

"No," Phil agrees, relieved they are on the same page.

"Listen," the manager says, in an agony of awkwardness. "Look, Phil... you're such a nice guy. Just... I'll write you the best reference. But you can just... go, if you want. You can... go back to your desk and log out and just... leave."

"...okay," says Phil. And he leaves.

***

So he tells this story to Steff, who is, obviously, BAFFLED.

"Okay," says Steff. "Right. Phil. Phil what the fuck did you do."

"Nothing!" Phil protests. "I didn't do anything!"

"Okay," Steff says again, changing tack. "Phil. What have you done recently that a capitalist would disapprove of?"

"Oh," says Phil. "It's probably because I gave that old woman £200 of company money."

"...go on," Steff says wearily.

***

Here's the story:

This sweet old woman rings and says her phone was down for a couple of days. She's calling to complain, because it meant she couldn't contact her relatives, and she felt lonely.

"I'm so sorry," says Phil. "Do you want some money?"

("First question," says Steff. "Were you supposed to give any money at all for that?"

"...no," says Phil.)

So this old woman is like "Uh... yes please? Okay?"

"Alright!" says Phil cheerfully. "Let's see how much I can give you."

("Second question," says Steff. "Were you allowed to give out £200 to anyone?"

"Oh, no," says Phil. "They made it really difficult, actually, it took ages.")

"Ah," Phil tells this old lady. "I can only give you £50. Let's try that."

"I... thank you," says this old lady, already in the grip of the Heady Bewilderment that descends on everyone who speaks to Phil for a bit. "That's very generous."

"It's gone through!" says Phil happily. "There we are. I wonder if it'll let me do it again?"

"Um," says the old lady, who is starting to sense that she's dealing with a maverick doing something he shouldn't.

("Third question," says Steff. "Did she ask for more at any point?"

"Um... no," says Phil.)

"It worked!" Phil says brightly. "Do you want me to do it again? I think it'll let me."

"...okay," this old lady says, strangled. "Thank you."

"No problem," says Phil helpfully. "It's done it, I think. Shall we do one more?"

"Yes please," says this old woman, who is now convinced she's either called the wrong number or is speaking to an amenable faerie one mustn't refuse.

Phil tries again. It goes through.

...

"Do you think," Steff asks, "that this might have been a fireable offence?"

"I suppose?" Phil says dubiously. "The company has loads of money though, I don't see why."

"...no, of course you don't," Steff agrees.

"Anyway," Phil says. "I think I left on a good note. But that might have been weird, too."

"What did you do," Steff sighs.

"Well, I packed up my desk," says Phil. "And then this guy turned up who was supposed to give me some training. And I told him that I was leaving so it wasn't necessary, and then he said that he had to give the training-"

"You did the training, didn't you," says Steff.

"I did the training," says Phil.

#vote for phil #long post

[beekeeperspicnic]

What I've been getting up to without my computer

Since I don't have any game updates at the moment I thought I'd give you a look at my very analogue Sherlock Holmes related project!

As you probably know, the Sherlock Holmes stories were mostly originally published in the Strand Magazine which came out as floppy monthly magazines with hardback collections every six months.

A while ago I spotted a really beaten up copy of the July to December 1893 book on eBay for £8. This book can sometimes go for £200 in good condition because it's the one with...

I immediately decided to make repairing it a Project!

You can see here that the text block has totally come away from the boards.

Along the spine I was really excited to see something a little familiar being used to give some structural support! My initial thought was that this had to be a slice of a cover of one of the floppy Strand magazines.

But when I got it loose and studied it, although the paper and ink colour is the same, it doesn't actually follow the layout format of the Strand covers. It's lots of little ads, and they run off the bottom like this is part of a larger document.

Scrap of paper on left, a Strand Magazine on the right:

So yeah, that's still a bit of a mystery, but it's cool to see this scrap of paper the printers had lying around. I had to remove it, but I'm going to keep it safe.

I did some gentle cleaning of the cover using a putty eraser, just gently pressing and rolling, never rubbing. It picked up a little of the grime.

The cover had got some paint splotches on at some point in the past, and I tried to gently remove these. Part of me wishes I'd left them as I think I was starting to effect the blue colour in the area.

(Original on the right, my attempt at cleaning on the left!)

I also reinforced some of the parts of the bookcloth around the spine that were very worn with Japanese tissue, which is very thin but very, very difficult to tear.

Now here's a fun part, with some help from my cat Miss Malkin!

The spine of the book had a few problems.

The fabric which wraps around it and helps attach it to the cover/boards which is called scrim (or mull, I've seen it called both!) had totally decayed and turned into gross dust, I knew I'd need to replace it.

Although the sewn binding was sound, I could tell that the glue wasn't doing its job anymore. It was old 'animal glue' that had turned hard and brittle. I knew I'd need to replace it with something else, like PVA.

I needed to get that glue off, so I tried out a trick I saw online. I made a paste/gel out of methycellulose, which is a substance that gets used as a thickener in lots of food products. Of course I keep mine in a fancy little jar:

The gel softens the old glue without getting it dangerously damp, allowing you to gently scrape it away. I have a really satisfying video of me doing it, but Tumblr only lets you upload one video per post, boo.

Look at all this gnarly gunk!

But look at how good the text block looks with its new scrim and glue!

I got the black paper from Shepherd's in London which is a specialist Art & Conservation Paper shop (they have a book bindery too but it's closed at the weekends.) Buying it was so fun, I got to look through lots of samples and pick something which matched the original paper.

I then had to get it home half way across the country on public transport. Yaaaaay.

I was trying to think what I was going to use to replace the Strand Magazine page on the spine. In the end I decided to leave a little note, for some future person who might take the binding apart someday!

So, here it is!

I have to admit that this whole project has been a real challenge, emotionally more than anything! It's required me to be brave about messing with an old book, and to acknowledge that even where I've made mistakes, at least it's better off then it was when It arrived at my house.

#strand magazine #book restoration #bookbinding #old books #vintage books #history

[napakmahal]

“ Did all this happen because I left?”

Pause girlies because this is actually kinda serious. I just got out of a depressive episode and just really wanted to give the depression girlies a lil treat. Remember: you need other people in your life when you have depression. Make friends not resources. I love y’all (angst)

How can something be so painful yet so numb at the same time? The human brain is one of the most complex systems in the universe, aside from the universe itself. How it can feel so many polar opposite things simoultaniouly, and in that creating an entire civil war within itself. How could the brain, the thing meant to be in charge with your care and wellbeing one day just decide to decrease its own activity and make you miserable? It was the worlds greatest betrayal.

You’d been lying in your bed for the past week, and you might have gotten up twice a day. Once to use the bathroom and the other to get some food and bring it right back to your bed. Everyone said it wasn’t a big deal because you were young and you were probably just in a bad mood because of your hormones. Hormones were evil enough to suction blood from your reproductive organs (usually) once a month, they couldn’t possibly be cruel enough for this.

On your overheated and whirling computer was an endless loop of lousy reality T.V shows you’d watched over and over. There’s been therapists that have said that in these times of depressive episodes, you should revert back to adding some life and movement back into your brain. Which meant doing things like crossword puzzles, working out, math games, and reading 200+ page books. All things that you could totally do and things you liked to do. But not right now. Now all you wanted was junk food and shitty TLC shows. Not some slow burn, or some huge mystery TV show that required you to remember tiny details from the beginning of the season. Reality TV was entertaining, effortless, and on loop but you’d be lying if you said everytime you heard the freaky eaters intro a little more of your brain died.

That’s the funny thing about depression. Because even though you can feel yourself slipping and drowning in total misery, there’s nothing anyone can do to save you. So you get stuck in this endless loop of self detructive behavior hoping that the pain you experience on the outside is enough to kill the thing on the inside.

You were clinically depressed, and nothing nobody did was ever going to change that. But these episodes weren’t always like this. For a while, episodes were bearable. Your ‘friend’ made them better.

You’d known Hiro for a while, meeting him on the downtown bus during sunset on a spring saturday. You thought he was cool, he thought you were pretty. But the whole girlfriend-boyfriend thing seemed uncomfortable and the labels meade things weird.

Granted you were each others first kiss. The two of you had tried to convince each other it was just because you got asked out to your eighth grade formal and you wanted to be prepared. It also didn’t help much that the more you described the dude that asked you out, the more Hiro wished he hadn’t skipped all those grades.

You never told anyone about that. Sure you could say it was a one time thing but it was hard to use that as a defense when you’d made out with him because you were bored under the dock near the beach during the summer carnival, and when you were just playing video games in his room, and when you were sitting on the steps of the museum of Japanese artifacts while sharing a soda, and the time you two were at the skatepark after it closed and you two were making out- only except that time he’d taken off his jacket.

Sure you were both fifteen but you watched people make out in the hallways at school everyday. Kissing didn’t seem like this massive thing. Hiro grew up isolated from the true highschool experience, he didn’t know. All he knew was that making out with you was cool and pretending he only did it because he was bored (and not because he would swear on his teen hormones that he loved you) was even cooler.

His aunt and brother had liked to tease you for it, but that’s all it was: teasing. The two of you would never live down the torment you’d likey face if they found out about your “I’m bored, let’s make out” sessions.

Speaking of, your mom didn’t really know you and Hiro were like that. She was only partly sure you liked him and you only thought that because one day after she caught you being particularly smiley that night after having him over to stream a new song she came into your room, played with your hair and said: “So you and Hiro are friends? That’s nice, he’s seems nice. Just, make sure he doesn’t make it worse.”

That was also kind of a silly depression thing: People and their influence could make it worse for you, others, and even themselves. Bad influence already makes bad people, but bad influence on people with depression tends to make them miserable, desperate, and self loathing.

But contrary to what your mom had said, Hiro didn’t make it worse. He made it better and she would soon figure that out after you’d tried texting him multiple times despite knowing he was at an expo outside the city. And he’d respond as fast as he could with the best messages, but when he’d go dead silent for almost ten hours each day it just dampened your mood. You’d kept reminding yourself not to be selfish, that your lack of ability to be happy shouldn’t stop people from living their lives. But from the hours of 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. you were left with no friend and a fat headache.

——————————————————————————

The intro to a show you couldn’t remember the name of played for the tenth time that day, drying out your eyes and causing an endless headache. You were surprised you hadn’t at least gotten a stomach ache from all the Tylenol you’d been taking. Someone knocked at your closed bedroom door before gently opening it.

“Y/n,” Your mom squinted through the darkness of your closed blinds and at the glowing computer screen. “There’s someone here to see you.”

With your back faced to her you couldn’t say anything other than a low, “Oh.”

She left for a bit as you continued to lay there, helpless almost dead. Thinking about death is something everyone does up to a certain extent. Questions like: How will I die? What comes next? Are ghosts real? All normal.

But when you and people like you thought about death it wasn’t like when other people thought about death.

Suddenly, your door creaked open and you didn’t even have the energy to look back but you just knew. Hiro had looked around at your depression room and sighed. He hadn’t even been around you for more than thirty seconds and he already wanted to cry. This was bad- so bad. The boy gently crept up to your bed and sat down. You felt the dent of his body in your mattress and still didn’t move.

“How are you?” His voice was quiet.

You responded barely above a whisper, “Fine.”

“When’s the last time you left this room?”

You didn’t even reply. At that moment, breathing was too much work. Having to think about the air going through your lungs and exhaling it out was a chore.

Hiro leaned over your body and shut the laptop closed before moving it off your head and placing his body in it’s spot. You two were now face to face, laying on your bed like the lovers of valdaro. It was bad this time and everyone knew it. Guilt had been eating him alive since he read the shift in your texts. How could he enjoy himself at this expo while you were there suffering?

“Did all of this happen because I wasn’t here?” He whispered.

You grabbed onto his hand. “No. I’ve always been like this.”

“Do you promise?”

“I swear it.”

“But it’s never been this bad before. If I was here then-”

“You couldn’t have done anything.” You cut him off. “Hiro I’ve been like this all my life. And you shouldn’t feel obligated to hold yourself back because I’m not normal.”

Once while playing around at the park at midnight you told Hiro that a therapist you had said these episodes will wax and wane. In the good there will be bad and in the bad there will be good. But there would never be moment where it would just be good. You’d be this way for the rest of your life, sad, in pain, and left with a feeling of mania and worthlessness. And there was nothing he could do about it.

“Do-” Hiro’s voice started to shake and a tear from my eye scurred across his face. “Do I at least make it any better?’

The thought of making it better by being there would in turn make him feel a little less guilty about not being able to be with you all the time.

For the first time in a week, you gave him a weak smile. No teeth, just lips. Before you leaned forward and gave him a prolonged kiss. In return, he brushed your hair from your face and started petting your head.

“Yes,” You whispered. “You do.”

#baymax #big hero 6 #big hero six #hiro hamada #tadashi hamada #bh6 x reader #disney #fanfic #hiro hamada x reader #napakmahal

[baldursgat3]

Part 2 of my Enemies to Lovers. 3.1k words this time. Once again. Got away from me. This chapter literally doesn't even contain Astarion physically it's all just Karlach. I just love her I'm sorry but I said slow burn and I fuckin meant it

Part 1

“You mean Astarion?” She looked sadder now, glancing back towards the camp outside your tent. “He's not a monster any more than you are. Being a vampire doesn't just make you a monster.” “Luring countless people to their deaths does, though.” You could see the way it hurt her when you spoke about him that way, but it was true. He'd probably just won her over with his fancy words and pretty lies. “And you're all letting him tag around and play hero! As though he deserves any of it!” Your voice was rising in volume, you could hear it. You couldn't stop it though. It was hard not to let your emotions control you after everything. But you could see the sadness in her eyes at your words and that hurt.

At some point, the comfort and warmth of Karlach’s body as she carried you close to her chest wound up putting you to sleep. You'd tried to stay awake, hoping to scope out how your city had changed but you barely made it out of the palace before her warmth consumed you completely. It had just been so long since you'd felt comfortable and safe like this.

Safe? No you didn't feel safe. Not exactly. Well maybe a little? No! No not at all, you weren't safe with these people. They were all friends of Astarion's, they couldn't be trusted. How foolish was your exhausted mind that you allowed that vile man to convince you to be taken away again? Just because his warm, soft, beautiful- just because his friend said a few nice words?

Your mind tried to reconcile your conflicted thoughts as you slowly woke up. You were in some kind of tent. Nothing fancy, just some blankets and a bedroll, but it was far softer than the floor of your cell. It seemed to be daylight out, though it could've been absolutely any time. All you knew was that it was night when you left Cazador's palace.

Was this their game? How cruel. You were trapped in this little tent. There was only one exit and it led directly to your death. You were stuck in there, at least until nightfall.

You sat for a while, fuming about your new brand of captivity before your eyes fell on a small stack of books near the head of your bedroll. Books? Did you even remember how to read?

You hated the way your fingers trembled as you picked up one of the books. You still hadn't eaten anything, you didn't really feel like holding it, so you sat cross legged and rested it in your lap.

It had been so long since you'd held a book. You had always loved reading, it was the reason your old friends had pressured you into trying to go out more. You spent too much time reading. Well, reading never got you kidnapped and locked away for 200 years.

They weren't books you would've picked, but they were acceptable. Two of them were cheesy romance novels that you read sometimes and only in secret. The one in your lap was some adventure fiction about a dragon slayer or something. Not your cup of tea, but it was well written. And it wasn't like you had anything else to do.

Besides, the more you lost yourself in the book, the more the anger and fear of the day began to fade. It was easy to get lost in a world of grand heroics. You'd finished nearly 100 pages by the time you were interrupted.

The tent flap swung open abruptly - you'd been too engrossed in your book to hear anyone approach. Though it was largely blocked by the figure standing in front of it, several rays of sunlight struck your skin as you hissed and recoiled. You heard a soft “Oh shit!” before the flap closed and the sun was kept at bay once more.

You had never been burnt by the sun before. You hadn't seen daylight since before you were taken away from the world. It had only touched your skin for a moment and you could feel exactly where it had, like an awful sunburn. But still, your heart ached for the light. It was so close and completely out of your reach.

Karlach sat in front of you in your tent, an apologetic look in her eyes. “Sorry, I… kinda forgot you can't be in the sun.”

You were so torn. If it was anyone else you could've been nasty to her without a second thought. But she seemed so much kinder than anyone else you'd spoken to. The part of you that ached relentlessly for companionship, to not be lonely anymore, it begged you to ignore the other part of your mind that didn't trust anyone that was even remotely close to Astarion. You couldn't trust her.

But you still couldn't be mean to her. So you just sighed, throwing her a quizzical look, rather than a bitchy one. “Don't you live with a vampire right now?”

“Oh, well yeah… but…” She seemed hesitant to continue, though you only looked at her, blankly, leaving her no real choice. “Well he doesn't… okay so this is complicated.”

Over the next several minutes she laid out exactly what had been happening, the mind flayers, the cult, the tadpoles. Cazador had just been a pitstop on their world saving mission. It was difficult to imagine someone like Astarion trying to save the world. Karlach? She was hero material. Not that slimy little twink.

More importantly than anything, though, she very cautiously told you that the parasite they shared gave Astarion protection from the sun. Of course it did. He got everything, didn't he? Wasn't he lucky? You only stared longingly at the glow that came from outside your tent, and he was free to frolic about it in however he wished.

She must've seen the anger that flooded your face, as she reached out to try to comfort you. You didn't stop her as she placed a hand on your shoulder. “I'm sorry… For what happened to you. With him. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything from me, but I am sorry.”

“Why does he get to be in the sun? Why does he get to kill Cazador?” You were angry and tired and still so very very hungry. “He ruined my life. He ruined so many people's lives. He deserves to rot in the ground.”

“I… I don't think this is a conversation we should be having. You deserve to talk to him about this. I think you deserve to talk to each other, actually.” Her words were soft. As much as you never wanted to look at him again, she was right. This wasn't her issue, you wouldn't get the answers you needed from her.

You took a deep breath, trying to collect yourself and reign in your anger. When you spoke again, your voice was much calmer, more even and less distressed. “So, then… why did you come here?”

“Oh!” Her eyes lit up and you suddenly realized how much warmer it was in your tent with her in it. “I came to offer you a snack.” She grinned, holding out her hand out to you with a closed fist.

You simply stared at her, looking between her face and her hand, mostly confused why she was taking so long to open her hand and actually give you something. “Um…”

“Sorry, did you not want it?” She pulled her hand back, just a bit. A confused, sad look crossed her face as she looked back at you.

“No, no!” It was the first time you ever managed any kind of excitement as you shook your head. “I do, I just… what are you… giving me?”

“A… drink…?” She seemed just as confused as you were. “Do you not drink blood, like Astarion? I'm sorry, I guess I just assumed-”

“You'd let me bite you?” Your heart lept into your throat. You'd never had anything but a couple rats in your miserable life as a vampire. Even then, that was so long ago and they had been given to you only as such wonderful gifts.

Karlach chuckled, a warm, comforting sound. “If you want to. But I will pull you off if you don't stop yourself and I super promise I'm stronger than you.” She grinned at you and you felt your lips twitch upwards in response. It was the closest thing to a smile you'd managed in over a century. How odd.

You very gently took her hand in both of yours, staring at her as though you were waiting for her to jerk away at any moment. She didn't though, she just smiled back at you. “Might be a little warmer than you're used to.”

Used to. She thought you were used to drinking blood of any kind. It was still a strange concept to you but… if she was offering, it must not be an issue for you to worry about. Not morally anyway.

Ever so gently you sunk your fangs into one of her veins, piercing her warm skin as her blood dripped onto your tongue. It was definitely warm. Almost hot like coffee. It was… sweet though. Not like coffee. Like hot chocolate. A perfect cup of hot chocolate after too long spent outdoors in the cold.

It didn't really occur to you to think about how strange it was to compare someone else's blood to a children's drink, you were too consumed by your hunger. She was delicious, far different than any of the rats you'd eaten. You could feel her warmth as it seemed to radiate through your body.

You really didn't mean to lose yourself, you were just so hungry. Besides, you believed her when she said she was stronger than you. You only hoped she knew when you'd had too much because you were accidentally set to drink her completely dry

She might've been telling you to stop, you really couldn't hear anything over the fireworks going off in your head as you finally ate something. Or - someone maybe.

Still, you suddenly felt her palm against your forehead as she pushed your head away from her wrist. You barely had the strength to instinctively resist her. You were still starving.

“- make yourself sick, mate.” You heard her voice come into focus as you wiped your mouth. It took a moment, but you shook yourself out of your frenzy, glancing up at her with frightened eyes.

“Oh, I- I'm sorry.” You whispered. “I didn't… I really didn't mean to-”

“Hey, it's okay.” Her voice was bright as ever. “Might've been a lot but I doubt they'll need me to whack anything too big tomorrow.”

What was wrong with this woman? Why was she so kind? So happy? How could she smile so easily like this? It didn't seem like her trust even wavered in you at all, despite you barely even trying to resist your hunger. “Why are you doing this?”

Her eyes softened, though the smile always remained on her face. “There's a lot of shit in this world. We've both been through hell, we know what it's like. Why would I want to cause more of that? Especially when I can help, instead?”

You wanted to laugh at her, a part of you was almost angry that she acted like she knew what you'd been through. She was so kind though, you just couldn't find it in your undead heart to be mean to her. Still, you sighed and looked away. “I don't think you understand what it's like to go through hell.”

She laughed. She was laughing at you, why was she laughing? You straightened up, a bit startled and a little irritated that she would do that. She must've seen it on your face, too, because she held her hands up in defense as she stopped laughing.

“I'm sorry, that wasn't nice.” She still smiled. “It's just- it's not your fault but gods, you couldn't be more wrong. I mean I literally went through hell. A personal attack dog for Zariel for ten years. I know you've got time on me but, I mean… front lines of the Blood War? Maybe we call it a draw.”

You stared at her quizzically. There was no way this woman survived ten years in the hells and came out like this. She was so… friendly? “You can't be serious.”

“Dead serious.” She thumped her chest, a loud banging sound echoing out as though she was hitting steel. “Gave me this to remember them by. An infernal engine right where my heart should be.”

It made sense, she ran hotter than anyone you'd ever known. If she had fires from the hells roiling in her chest, that'd explain it. Still, it baffled you. Devils stole her heart from her and she still smiled at you and laughed and bantered.

Her smile softened just a bit, taking on a sadder undertone. “So trust me when I say I know what it's like to deserve better. I understand a lot more of what you're feeling than you might think. You're surrounded by good people, though.”

“I find that hard to believe.” You scoffed, pulling your knees in. Karlach was the exception, but you were positive every other person in this camp was just as vile as Astarion. “You've been harboring a monster with you this whole time, someone must've okayed that.”

“You mean Astarion?” She looked sadder now, glancing back towards the camp outside your tent. “He's not a monster any more than you are. Being a vampire doesn't just make you a monster.”

“Luring countless people to their deaths does, though.” You could see the way it hurt her when you spoke about him that way, but it was true. He'd probably just won her over with his fancy words and pretty lies. “And you're all letting him tag around and play hero! As though he deserves any of it!”

Your voice was rising in volume, you could hear it. You couldn't stop it though. It was hard not to let your emotions control you after everything. Especially now that you've actually got a bit of energy from feeding on Karlach. But you could see the sadness in her eyes at your words and that hurt.

“Astarion was a victim. Just like you were. It was just… in different ways.” She bit her lip, glancing down at her hands awkwardly. “This really isn't a conversation I should have with you. It's not my story to tell. All I can ask is that you give him a chance. Cazador controlled him too. He knows, more than anyone, the anger you feel.”

That was true. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Cazador had been using Astarion and his “siblings” for. It was hard to care how little say he might've had in the matter when your life was still over. It wasn't like you didn't blame Cazador but “Astarion still chose me.”

Your voice was soft now, tears welling up in your throat as you spoke. She wasn't hitting you with any new revelations. You had assumed Astarion had been manipulated or even controlled into fetching prey for Cazador. Various stories of him from your cellmates painted the picture of a man who didn't exactly want to be sacrificing strangers to an evil man but the point remained. He could've picked up any number of people. And he chose you.

Karlach didn't seem to know how to respond. You didn't know the woman too well but you got the feeling she wasn't speechless very often. Not that you minded when she was so friendly. Now though, you both just sat awkwardly in your tent, neither of you quite sure what to say.

Finally, after what was likely only about ten seconds that felt like a year, she spoke again, her voice quieter than you were used to. “He did.” There was no point in trying to make an excuse. There wasn't much sense in arguing. Obviously if he hadn't chosen you it would've been someone else, but what comfort would that be?

You had been miserable, starved and isolated for nearly two centuries. Stripped away from your family and friends, your home, every plan you ever had, everything. You were keenly aware it was selfish to wish such suffering on anyone else but, at a certain point, you stopped caring about your morality. You would've given anything for him to have chosen someone else.

It didn't feel good, when you first realized you felt that way. The recognition that your suffering had worn away at the very core of who you were. Thoughts and feelings you would've never imagined happening filled your mind. Violence and anger and bitterness. A deep, boiling hatred and a desperate longing for revenge. All emotions that you had never been terribly familiar with before all this, not really. Now they consumed you.

“I'm sorry.” Karlach's voice was gentle. Though her eyes displayed a kind of sadness, she still smiled. She still seemed so optimistic. You didn't understand. “Look, I'm not gonna make you do anything, but I think you should talk to Astarion. I'll be there too, if you want, so nobody kills anyone.”

You laughed. It was a short, somewhat bitter laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. “That seems smart.” You didn't want to talk to Astarion. He didn't deserve anything from you but… maybe Karlach did. She was the reason you were out of that shitty dungeon. Even if you were stuck in a tent, you hadn't realized how desperately you'd missed the fresh air. “Fine. I'll talk to him. But only if you're there too.”

Her eyes lit up and you could see her body move instinctively for a moment before she pulled it under control. She had nearly lunged out to hug you, before thinking twice about it. You would've let her. “Oh, awesome! Okay that's exciting. I promise, I think you'll feel better after this, I really do. I'll talk to him, maybe you can chat tonight. You know. When you can actually leave the tent without roasting.”

She smiled at you warmly. Clearly she had been banking on you agreeing to talk to Astarion, though you weren't sure why. Her excitement was contagious, though, and you found yourself smiling in spite of yourself. You wanted to hug her, you wished she'd gone for it and hugged you. It wasn't the sort of thing you felt you could go asking for yet though. So instead you just allowed the smile to remain on your face as you spoke. “Thank you. For- for being kind to me. Even though I'm… kind of a bitch.”

“Eh, you've got reason to be a bitch.” She gave your shoulder a playful shove. “Anyway, you need to rest. Finally had something to eat again after all this time, I'm sure you could use a nap.” She chuckled, rising from the ground in front of you.

She moved to the tent flap, carefully opening it this time to keep the sun's rays off your body. You couldn't help staring longingly at the beam of light on the floor, though. You glanced up as she spoke again, haloed now by the light from outside. “I'll go talk to him, you get some rest, yeah? Later!”

And with that she was gone. But still, you smiled. Her warmth still lingered. Besides, you knew she'd come back.

#astarion x reader #astarion #bg3 #astarion x oc #astarion x tav #im putting it in the tav tag even though its not technically tav #but its basically tav and thats the bigger tag so #this is actually secretly just karlach reader propaganda

[stateofcharles]

am I still not good enough? - CL16

pairing: Charles Leclerc x female!reader

word count: ~ 1,9k

warnings: body insecurities, self-loathing, past toxic relationship(s), hurt/comfort

summary: Your first public appearance as Charles Leclerc’s girlfriend only produces loads of nasty comments from the press, causing demons from your past to resurface. Your boyfriend then reminds you why he loves you.

a/n: title from Little Mix’s “Good Enough”, sorry for the sensitive topic but this song has been stuck in my mind lately and I had to write something about it. remember you are all beautiful, never let someone bring you down cause your body is perfect the way it is, you’re valid and you deserve to be loved for who you are <3

09:00

You woke up in the unfamiliar hotel room, Charles snoring next to you. Sunshine was entering through the curtains and hitting you on the face. You stretched your arms, carefully not to hit your boyfriend, and then picked the phone from the nightstand. You immediately noticed some messages from your cousin, but what impressed you the most were the countless notifications from all social media you had. 

After thinking for a while, you decided not to worry too much about them: the previous night you had participated with Charles to a movie premiere he had been invited to, making your first appearance as a couple in doing so. You had imagined the press would go insane: Charles Leclerc had been probably the most talked-about bachelor in the previous 3 years, and the fact that he was now committed was certainly some front-page news.

You also expected a lot of new followers along with many, many messages and comments from his fans, either congratulating you or insulting you for stealing their man. You knew that, you had discussed this situation multiple times with your therapist and you thought you were ready. You couldn’t imagine what you were about to discover. 

Having chosen to ignore social media, you opened your cousin’s texts and you immediately frowned at the sight of her cryptical words.

Y/N pls i beg you DON’T OPEN ANY SOCIAL TODAY

do it for yourself 

love you and call me asap <3

Curiosity was eating you alive. Your cousin for sure had the best intentions, but could she really expect you not to do anything? Especially after having told you such things? You were a mere human being in the end.

You decided to start from Twitter. Your homepage seemed normal, nothing unusual. You checked what was trending then. Charles’ name was #1, and right below was “Charles Leclerc girlfriend”. You clicked, still unaware of what was waiting for you.

The first tweet you saw was from TheSun but many similar ones from other gossip websites followed, clearly riding the wave. The words hit you at 200 mph: those weren’t just insults from some obsessed fans, that was much more, it was everything you had tried not to think about.

Charles Leclerc shows off his new girlfriend at movie premiere and never reduces the grip on her hips as they pose for photos on the red carpet: was he trying to reduce those gross love handles on her hips?

Your eyes immediately filled with tears: your biggest nightmare had come back.

When you had met the stylist who dressed you for the event, you had been left a bit startled by her choice: a baby blue three-piece suit, which exposed part of your abdomen. A shining silver pair of stilettos to complete the outfit.

It was truly mesmerising, but as soon as you tried it on you were filled with doubts since the trousers, being quite tight-fitting, emphasised a lot your waist area.

Your body had always been like that: healthy and fit, but with some fullness on your hips and thighs that you had never been able to burn and that had only increased with all the stress you had to bear in that last period. You would go to the gym every week, follow a precise workout and diet, but yet no major improvements had happened.

Everything had changed when you and Charles had started dating: ever since the first day he had never commented on your figure - unlike other ex-boyfriends, who apparently never failed to remember you how fat you were - and when you had finally opened up about your insecurities, he comforted you saying that you were perfect like that, you didn’t have to listen to what some bored and stupid people had to say about it and you swore him you would try. 

Though in that moment it was almost impossible for you to be faithful to that promise. You were really trying not to dwell on some shitty article written by pathetic people, but the doubts you had almost completely buried were surfacing, again. 

You didn’t want to cry but it seemed your mind didn’t agree with you.

You started having flashbacks of all the slurs your exes had thrown at you and of all the times they had humiliated you, even in front of your own friends and family. You covered your ears with your palms but the voices in your head were louder and louder.

Look at you, oh my god aren’t you ashamed?

Such a horrible body, thank god we have the light down when we are in bed.

What’s this fat? What are you, a pig?

I bet I could bring you to the butchery, they’d know what to do with you.

You should be grateful I haven’t broken up with you yet.

I can’t believe your beautiful face belongs to this shitty body.

You already go to the gym? Well, PUT. MORE. EFFORT. 

You didn’t realise you were crying and screaming non-stop until you saw Charles awake beside you, his face showing pure concern. Though you couldn’t stop, those insults were playing in your head over and over again. At some point you were exhausted and you screamed at the top of your lungs, “SHUT UP!” 

Charles immediately lifted up, just in time to catch you as you threw yourself in his arms, your sobs only louder, more and more uncontrolled. 

He held you closer trying to calm you down, but every effort he made seemed useless, so he just decided to wait. He couldn’t figure out what was going on: he had been woken up by your crying, but when he opened his eyes he realised the situation in front of him was much worse than he had thought. 

Then he saw your phone, Twitter still opened on it and he caught a glimpse of what you were reading. That was when realisation hit him. 

It was the first time he witnessed you crying because of this, but it wasn’t the first time he had to deal with you during a panic situation.

He carefully moved you on his lap, placed your head on his bare chest so that you could hear his heartbeat and then he lay down again but hugging you tight and bringing you down with him. 

It took a while, but your sobs eventually died down. You sniffled and then looked at Charles for the first time that morning. When you saw his worried face you felt almost guilty, but the boy quickly started leaving short kisses all over your face and you couldn’t help but giggle at the tickling sensation.

He then looked proud of himself, for being the person who had managed to make you laugh after such an unpleasant crying spell.

You could read in his eyes that he wanted to ask you what had just happened, but at the same time you could see that he didn’t want to be rude or - even worse - make you cry again. 

You sat up, he followed you immediately. You sighed heavily and started speaking, your voice shaky, “I’m sorry for what you’ve just witnessed but-” you threw a glare at the suit, on a coat hanger visible through the opened closet door, “I really loved yesterday, and my suit, and you were fantastic, but-” you tried to calm yourself down, not wanting to have another crisis and Charles noticed it, so he started rubbing small circles over the top of your hand.

“They made me hate myself, my horrible body and my stupid suit and I know I don’t have to give them the attention they’re seeking but it’s stronger than me.” You let some silent tears fall from your eyes.

Charles promptly wiped them away, “Do you want to tell me what they said, ange?”, his voice a bare whisper.

Reluctantly, you nodded, knowing that you somehow had to say those words out loud in order to move on. “They pointed out that… you know that yesterday you always kept your hands around my waist and hips on the red carpet? Well they said you were trying to-” you lowered your voice, ashamed of what you were going to say, “reduce my gross love handles.”

You had done it. You had said it, there was no going back. 

Charles’ expression was startled. You could sense he was going to get angry and you feared you couldn’t control him. 

Instead he took a deep breath and then left a long kiss on your scalp.

“You know they’re just a bunch of idiots, right? You know I love your body and I adore your love handles, there’s nothing gross or wrong with them, they’re part of you and of your unique beauty and I would never change them or ask you to do so.”

You knew it, though your insecurities didn’t leave you. “But there are so many beautiful girls out there with perfect bodies and then there’s… me. I have nothing special, I don’t even know why you still put up with me and you haven’t cheated on me yet with one of them. I’m not worthy, of you, of your love and affection.”

“Stop hurting yourself Y/N, you are worthy, you are enough. I know it’s difficult for you, but you have to believe me. There’s no one I’d want to be with more than you. I asked you to be my girlfriend and not some model, and that’s because I love you. Do you remember when we met for the first time? Your brother’s birthday party?”

You nodded, other tears menacing to come out at hearing your boyfriend’s words.

“Well,” he continued, “I loved you from the very first moment. I loved everything about you, from the way you scrunch your nose when you laugh, to the sparkle in your eyes when you see a puppy. From your beautiful hair when you collect them in that messy bun, to how you stretch in the morning when you’re still half-asleep. And I venerate your love handles,” he lowered his face to whisper in your ear, “I love holding them when we’re making love and I love leaving my fingerprints on them.”

You set those tears free, unable to control yourself. Charles hugged you again and you whispered to him ‘Je t’aime’ over and over again, while he answered every time ‘Je t’aime encore plus’.

After what felt like an eternity you untangled the hug and took a look at the alarm clock on your nightstand. 11:20.

“When do we have to leave?” You asked him. Deep down you were afraid to leave the small bubble you had just built in that hotel room, but you knew you had a flight to attend.

“Our flight is scheduled for 3pm, but it’s my private jet, I can ask them to delay it if you need to.” His loving gaze was straight in your eyes, but you realised you couldn’t ask him to do it.

“It’s fine Char, I just need some minutes to pull myself together, then we can go to have lunch in that restaurant you told me and lastly we head to the airport.”

“Are you certain? If I tell my pilots we had a mishap they’ll understand, especially if I pay them extra.” Sweet boy, he was always so caring.

“No babe, I’m fine and I have to come back to reality.” Your tone was determined this time.

“Are you sure you can face it? I understand if you need more time.” His face was still concerned, but you were ready.

“Just hold my hand Charles, and then I’ll be able to rule the world.”

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc one shot #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc fanfiction #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc drabble #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc angst #f1 #f1 fandom #f1 imagine #f1 one shot #f1 x reader #f1 fanfiction #formula 1 #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 one shot #formula 1 drivers #formula 1 fandom #beh writes

[angesaurus]

I finished Things We Left Behind and I really really really enjoyed this trilogy. I am a sucker for a happy ending and to have everything tied up with a bow. It ended PERFECTLY. I LIVE for epilogues 😂 I am still reading Iron Flame I have like 200 pages left.

We watched the marvels movie last night so the kids went to bed late and Cecilia slept until like 7 which is amazing for her 😂 Gavin was up closer to 6:30 but I’ll take it. I have been sleeping AMAZING lately. I finally found the trifecta 😂 my weighted blanket, my oral device that keeps my mouth shut/stops my tongue from rolling back into my throat, and my weighted eye mask to make the room pitch black. I probably look like a freak but omg. I’m sleeping so hard!!

As a 36.5 year old I am seriously channeling my energy into being as comfortable as possible. I’ve pretty much officially given up alcohol. I am prioritizing rest and sleep, I am reading books I want to read, and making sure work isn’t stressing me out during non work hours. I bought a walking pad so I’ve been using that and it’s the only time I let myself watch tv pretty much.

We did end up booking Disney and I’m so excited! We learned so much when we went last year just the 4 of us and I feel like we are more prepared. The kids are excited too and all Gavin wants to do is experience a ride malfunction/breakdown and be escorted off a ride 😂😂 oh and meet Pluto since we didn’t last time.

Today Cecilia has tumbling and Gavin has soccer practice. I have no plans except to clean and read. I really want a shamrock shake so I might make sure that happens. Happy Saturday !!!’

[lutiaslayton]

Random update on the transcription of the Eternal Diva novel, aka probably the one that most people don't even care about that much to begin with

(though you should, I haven't translated it yet but I spotted a few words here and there that caught my attention such as Luke mentioning Misthallery multiple times. Also there is in the introduction a novel-exclusive scene with Janice in it, just fyi.)

To those who didn't know, most of my free time as of lately has been put into the transcription/translation website I have dedicated to the Japan-exclusive Layton content that we never got to see, and more specifically I have been transcribing the Eternal Diva novel. Because yes, now you know, Eternal Diva was adapted into a novel and none of us non-Japanese fans got to read it. And boy this novel is going to drive me insane because I have been working on it for literal weeks by now.

In terms of progress, I have reached the part of the story in which Puzzle 004 is about to start, aka right after the end of the "Layton McGuffinned a helicopter that thinks it's a grasshopper" part. I have transcribed up to page 119 (+ the ending is already transcribed and translated because past me felt like it), and there are now 74 blank pages left for me to fill. And then the translation will come, too. I am totally looking forward to it. Can you feel the enthusiasm in my exciting punctuation.

This is the shortest novel of the list (200 pages if I count the blank ones), and this is the only novel that has furigana everywhere (aka the only one of the four I can actually read somewhat properly). Yippeeeee

Anyway if you want to take a look even though only the beginning and the end are translated for the time being:

You can take a looksie right here!

The reason why I'm going through the entire transcription first and that the full translation will only come afterwards is because, at least in my opinion if I were to view this as a reader instead of as the person uploading the content, this means that you guys get to know the story faster than if I progressed through both the transcription and translation at the same time.

After all, let's see it like this: sure, you can't read Japanese, and for the most part, neither can I. But since it's been transcribed, it means that you can easily copy-paste the Japanese text into DeepL, or Google Translate, or any translator of your choice. Sure, it's more work for you and if you are of the lazy kind you will still have to wait the same amount of time regardless (not saying it in a derogatory way), but at least it gives the choice for the ones who want the whole story to get it somewhat faster.

I don't speak Japanese, and I am not translating things as I go, so I have only a vague understanding of what is going on in the novel (and obviously, the fact that I know the plot of the movie is a huge help). But I can already tell you this much:

We get the lyrics for the ending's song, obviously. This is part of what has been translated so far.

The whole novel is not divided into chapters, but rather into smaller scenes/sections (however you want to call it). Some are narrated by Luke, some others are narrated by Janice (and/or Melina, I guess it depends on the context). Just like the three main novels you may be slightly more familiar with, the narration is in first person.

Since the only narrators who showed up so far are Luke and Janice/Melina, I don't think the scenes from Emmy's POV will be included (aka the one in which she questions Nina's parents, the one in which she is with Schrader, and the one in which she finds and rescues Grosky in the middle of the ocean). Perhaps they are going to appear later in the novel, but I highly doubt it for a number of reasons (number of pages in each section, and titles of said sections).

The novel starts with an exclusive scene under the POV of Janice. It takes place three years after the case, and she is just finished singing for the last rehearsal before the opera she will play in the day after — it is The Eternal Kingdom, which she has not sung in three years, and the next day will be the second time ever this opera will be sung in a theatre with a public. Of course, no eternal life game planned this time. Janice also gets a letter of encouragement from Whistler, which is pretty sweet.

Unless I missed it and it somehow happens in the part I did not yet translate, the intro of the movie in which Luke and Layton solve the case where Don Paolo decided to mess with the bells of Big Ben is not at all mentioned in the novel. Luke in the novel doesn't give the introduction-narration speech that he does in the movie, we jump straight into the scene in which he is shown in Layton's office pretending to be pointing at culprits (and we get a fun little scene showing what led up to him doing it). Go read it, it is translated, and I do not want to spoil for you the opportunity to read Luke being a dork all over again.

We switch to the flashback telling the actual events, and this is the part that has no translation yet. I won't give many details as a result since I don't know the things for sure myself, but as I said earlier, I saw a few words that I recognised here and there: notably, Luke mentions Misthallery on at least two occasions. If memory serves, one of them is when Grosky shows up to "arrest" the puppet, and I think Luke went on a small tangent to give a small summary of the events of Last Specter (aka how he met Grosky), and also mentions Descole (though he does not give his name, since I'm pretty sure that he didn't hear the words "My name is Jean Descole" at the time, and only learned that precisely upon meeting him again in ED). On another time he mentions it, from what I vaguely understood he may be making a reference to Naiya, Janice/Melina's friend who can be found in Misthallery and who is also a singer (she's the NPC who is meant to represent the singer of Paxmaveiti, just like Yuming is meant to represent the singer of Mysterious Flower in Miracle Mask). Pretty inconsequential, but it's always fun to have continuity nods and references to the actual plot of other stories.

Finally, back to three years later, we get an epilogue narrated by Luke which is the exact same scene as the movie: Layton and Luke are listening to Janice's opera, and at some point Janice shows up to say hi. Luke also mentions what happened to the rest of the participants after the case throughout those three years; most are just what we see from the credits, but the novel still gives a few more details in some cases:

By the time of the original trilogy, Amelia is studying abroad at a foreign university, and she recently sent a letter to Layton and Luke, saying that she is grateful even after three years.

Luke is friends with Nina, who comes by at Gressenheller every now and then, and he even considers her a rival of sorts due to Nina having a good memory and studying well. (also what the heck Luke why are you talking about getting to college and how you're worried that she may be admitted to college before you do, you're THIRTEEN)

Celia Raidley and Pierre Starbuck got married "just the other day" (yes, the ship is now officially confirmed beyond just the one image from the movie credits) and the tabloids are going wild over it.

Luke is reading Annie Dretche's latest mystery novel, and he can't put it down. Annie apparently told him that she has been writing faster so that Bargland (the guy who said he did not have much time left due to an illness) can read them at the hospital. Seems like "six months" turned into three years after all, good for him!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you enjoyed the rambling. I hope this will reach some fans of the movie who would be excited to get a few more details!

#professor layton #professor layton and the eternal diva #eternal diva #lutiasgithub #professor layton transcript #eternal diva novel

[kinokoshoujoart]

cora’s bad time hell simulation steps or how to play “sprite station for girl” “harvest moon ds cute” the wrong way

(all ways are wrong this game is Accursed)

ok so here’s what my disorganized “guide” to myself for harvest moon ds for girl (aka indecipherable notes i wrote to myself as i played and revised as i tested various things and restarted due to mistakes) looks like. at some point when i become a real gamer i will write a legible guide meant for eyes to look at but uhhh this is how i play this accursed game personally

i’m not sure if anything i wrote will make any sense since i wrote it as notes to myself so probably definitely use fogu and fc2 jonason wiki (may not work but some pages should be archived) instead

ALSO if you’ve never played or barely played the game it won’t make sense at all! hmds was my first harvest moon so i am used to various horrors!

my play style is probably not fun in general HOWEVER if you are a grinding hell goblin like me then it’s GREAT!!!! if not you may still find it amusing that the game gives you permission to play like this

(it’s a great background task game while doing like productive stuff but otherwise playing this way would probably be unbearable)

(image limit)

anyway after that the days go a lot faster, you’ll get the island on summer 1, so on spring 30 i put all my money into million G tickets and sell 200 of em, do the 5x money thing, and save the rest. so when thomas comes the next day to sell you the 900 million G island you can just sell 180 tickets and do the 5x money thing again with like ~600 million G tickets left over. it takes up inventory but you’ll get the shelf in a few days. basically you just need to remember to order from the TV shopping every saturday and place orders with gotz and gray whenever they finish stuff.

random tips

after unlocking the fuckass hot spring sprites (the ones that require you to spend a total of 700 1 hour sessions in the hot springs) i usually grind grazing points— if you put your animals outside for 5 hours you get a “Love Point”, but if you interact with them after they earn that LP then the timer switches over and you can get another LP after 5 more hours. if you wear the time ring the whole time it’s 2.5 hours. i’m not very good at explaining this but basically if you’re super efficient you can get way more animal LP than you realistically should, which is great because the touch glove petting minigame is Bad!!!!

i usually wait on getting the rest of the purple sprites (the ones that require you to hire the purple team and ask for healing) until i’m totally done with the indigo team, cuz i wanna get HG’s purple heart event asap, but you can switch the order if you want

by summer y1 you’ll basically have a feel for everything. aside from Skye, Leia, HG and WP everyone can be married early-mid autumn if you want

if you want to Gay (in the japanese version only) keira is the quickest to marry. leia is the quickest to max affection but it’s impossible to get leia year 1 because the bottle you need to fish up can only be caught in spring. you have to wait until at least year 5 for WP and iirc year 6 for HG.

#i’m really sorry i can’t make this more organized #if i literally ever have time i’ll just make a video guide instead of pasting this because it’s easier to explain with visuals…. #i can’t Write in an organized way i can only Visual Medium #i have a very complicated relationship with corobuckle station for girl #it scratches my brain #(derogatory) #(positive) #i have no idea how many hours of HMDS i’ve played in my life but it’s definitely the game i’ve played the most of all time #i’ll just paraphrase something i read on a japanese wiki for hmds/koroste a long time ago: #’i once again feel that the effort required for the completion of the task is unreasonable’ #god i really hope ds gets a remake so all of the titles you can get in the mailbox become steam achievements #bokumono #if people find out there are achievements that take at minimum real life decades to complete with basically no reward #gamers will lose their minds and society will collapse #‘trying to accomplish it is like trying to collect a sparrow’s tears #so at some point it may be inevitable that you have to give up trying’ #i really think the devs saw the ds could handle higher values than gba and went insane without considering balance at all #currently i’m trying to record as many cutscenes as i can in the jp version since y’know. english translation is very awkward #i am also trying to see if the pastor carter/cardi marriage option exists in the english version of cute #i will update so stay tuned for that if you want sex on the phone with pastor cardi b. i guess

[hecateisalesbian]

i was just wondering how grimwalkers worked exactly? I've been around the fandom enough to know that Hunter is one, but is it like a clone type situation? and yes, you do get the title of "official toh person" in my mind!!

Loving how you ask like the one thing I put the least amount of research into 😭

In this shot we can see a recipe or “cookbook” of grimwalkers which can give us a lot of clues.

A galderstone (heart and power)

palistrom wood (keratin)

stonesleeper lungs

selkidomous scales

bones of ORTET

of course there’s little scribbles of words that are also probably important scattered around the page but this is the decipherable part.

The galderstone itself had a whole episode (Through the Looking Glass Ruins if I remember correctly) in which we saw how its power could be used. The Galderstone (in my theory) channels the power from all the other magical items enough to make them work in harmony and create a functioning clone but not enough (either from the weakness of the galderstone or the fact that those items alone don’t possess the same magic as a bile sac) to give a grimwalkers it’s own magic (hence artificial staff for Hunter before he met Flap).

Palistrom Wood has many episodes showing how it’s used and its importance. On the cookbook it’s listed for Keratin. Keratin is what’s makes your hair, nails, and skin. (“Keratin is a protein that helps form hair, nails and your skin's outer layer (epidermis). It helps support your skin, heal wounds and keep your nails and hair healthy. ”) So palistrom wood is like the outer workings of a grimwalker. Giving it a more human/witchy like look instead of a weird jumble of magic ingredients. We’ve seen that palistrom wood functions in magical ways (see string bean) so I wouldn’t be surprised if perhaps it was also the muscle of a grimwalker. What makes it move.

Stonesleeper lungs don’t seem to have any specific use listed. However, in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, we know that the Stonesleeper found in the Titans Skull had been hibernating for a (very) long time. I think the Stonesleeper lungs are what allows grimwalkers to grow in the dirt for years before being used (see For the Future goopy Belos trying to possess a remaining clone which rises from a dirt bed). Selkidomous scales also don’t have a use listed. Selkidomous’s however had two facts revealed about them in Separate Tides. Their puke (?) is extremely rare and high valued, and that they can swim in the boiling sea (most likely one of the only animals able to do so). I doubt the selkidomous’s gold puke would have much use to making a clone, especially considering how the value of it could’ve gone up or down since Belos began creating grimwalkers like 300 ish years ago (also I doubt Belos wrote that cookbook himself so I wouldn’t be surprised if making grimwalkers is a practice hundreds or thousands of years old). So I think their scales are used as a protection of some sort. After all, if they can survive the boiling sea they can survive multiple things on land. I think these might’ve doubled in use for a sort or keratin like usage.

Finally, Bones of ORTET. The word ortet is written in a strange way compared to the rest of the text. But a quick search on the Google Web says this:

So, essentially, “the original of the clone”. What does a human body have a lot of that doesn’t decay quickly? Bones. Over 200 of them. Over two hundred possibilities of grimwalkers over hundreds of years. I’m sure the boiling isles/Belos made lots of discoveries about bones and the true potential of them when making grimwalkers that we don’t know that would make a very easy cloning process but I think these bones would be combined with other bones or perhaps had the DNA/marrow (idk I’m not a doctor I’m using words I’ve seen in greys anatomy for this) sucked (?) out of it and combined with other listed ingredients to make a “test tube baby” from which it could be planted in the ground like a seed and left to grow for years. I don’t know how long or how Belos would explain for the lack of memory in Caleb Clones time in the dirt, but in For the Future the Caleb Clone that rises and then decays looks about the same age as Hunter. Darius also says he knew Hunters predecessor (Darius is 40 ish). So I doubt grimwalkers grow in the dirt any longer than 15 years, and gaps in memory I’m sure are replaced with fake ones by Belos or said to be amnesia from a childhood trauma.

I would dive into the graphic on the left page of the cookbook buts it’s too blurry and vague for me to truly make out a good theory.

There are most likely more ingredients than just those few but I think those are the most important ones. Also, when Flapjack gives his life for hunters (😭), Hunter gains the natural magic ability of regular palistrom wood, much like Belos used the magic from palismen to keep his false magic working and also to keep him from turning into goo. Palistrom woods is definitely a powerful source of magic, if not the most powerful source of magic, second to maybe a Titan.

So yes, a Grimwalker is essentially a clone made from the DNA of something/someone and with other magical ingredients. Though it’s definitely not a perfect cloning device, seeing the multiple variations Belos’s grimwalkers had and Belos saying “you look the most like him.” Anyways that’s my take hope it helps! If you have more questions I will be happy to answer :D

#Long post whoops #toh #the owl house #asks #hunter #toh hunter #grimwalker #caleb wittebane #phillip wittebane #belos

[pettyrevenge-base]

Ex lies during divorce to have me jailed and instead he is left with remorse.

Came across this sub today and thought I have the perfect story to add.  

I was getting divorced in the early 90s. My ex was pissed that I was divorcing him. I owned the house prior to the marriage so he moved out, but he broke back in and tore up all kinds of things tore up my jewelry, my clothes he cut holes in all of them, etc. I couldn’t prove it but of course it was him.  

When we went to divorce court, he gave the judge a two page list of things that he supposedly brought to the house with him prior to marriage, that I “refused to return”. My attorney showed me the list and it was stuff that he never owned in the first place. He totally wanted me thrown in jail for contempt of court. My alternative ways to pay like $2000 and I wasn’t about to do that.

I am opted for jail, but my friends kept telling me just to pay it. I refused. Two days before I was to appear in court a girlfriend of mine asked if she could see the list. Sure!! She noted that things he said were there didn’t give much if any of of a description. For example he says there’s a gun, he didn’t say what kind of gun. He said there was a computer and he didn’t say what kind of computer and so on.  

Her point was that if I went around and bought everything on the list, it would probably cost me about 200 bucks and that was worth staying out of jail. I agreed knowing it would also be worth him being livid that his plan didn’t work!  

So I made a game of it. I went around to pawn shops and resale stores, and I told whoever was in charge there that I was on a scavenger hunt, and I briefly explained what was going on. They all loved the idea and helped me get through my list rather quickly. Here are some lovely examples of what was boxed up for him:  

Gun - an old rusty cap gun Screwdriver set - same old and rusty Clothing - goodwill horrid stuff Bust/Statue - made one myself from clay Knives - old and rusty Camping gear - an old pan, matches and a tiny tarp. And one of my favorites that I remember was, he said he had a monopoly game. So I sent him a goodwill find without any of the pieces, just the board.  

I wish I could remember everything that we got. It was so much fun and when we got home, we had to videotape boxing them all up and going through the items one by one. My attorney told the judge that I had found at the attic and I just hadn’t seen it before. So sorry!!  

The judge told my attorney to simply drop the box off at his attorneys office, and that the divorce was final.  

My only regret is not being able to see his face when he opened up that box of garbage! And there was nothing he could say because he made the stuff up in the first place!!  

It’s been 30 years and I still get joy thinking about it!

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

#pettyrevenge #lol #omg

[chrisevansdaughter]

Hi this is my first time sending a request, so idk what I am doing. But I love your page, your stuff is really good!

Can you write something with Chris Evans x daughter!reader, where the reader breaks something from Chris (maybe injure themselves, but don’t tell Chris) and they keep saying sorry and maybe start crying. And Chris tells them its alright and he can just buy it again. (and finds out reader is injured)

Just ignore this if you don’t like it :)

“It’s really okay”

—————

Pairing: Chris x adopted! Daughter

—————

Warnings: brief mentions of food issues, mentions of injury, blood, cuts, panic attack and just Chris being the best dad ever 🥹

Hey! Thank you so much for this request and it’s so kind of you to say this! I hope you like it, I loved writing it <3

——————

Being Chris’ daughter was the best thing you could ask for, the day he adopted you was unmistakably the best day of your life.

It was also his.

See he always wanted a daughter who was just amazing, but just as crazy as he was. So it was a perfect match like your social worker had said when you both hit it off when you first met although you were timid which was expected.

But nevertheless you were inseparable.

————

Today, Dad was working early this morning so it was just me and Dodger in the house until about 11am so I woke up and padded my way down the stairs to go find dodger lounging in a sun patch streaming the massive windows through from the garden.

After giving Dodger cuddles lounging on the sofa, I decided Chris probably wouldn’t be very happy if he came home and I hadn’t eaten anything considering it was like almost 9am but hey he knew that I didn’t exactly have the best relationship with food but I was working on it.

That being said I walked into the kitchen dodger in tow expecting a treat which he got, i just made some cereal with choccy milk on the side in a sox mug from Disney that dad got as an exclusive gift for the lightyear movie. He loved that cup so I knew I had to be careful with it because I didn’t want to break it and make him angry.

Unfortunately the cup did break.

It was all a blur all y/n remembers was the cut on her arm, the blood and the shards of the porcelain on the floor splattered with chocolate milk. The main priority was to get dodger out the room so he didn’t get hurt, she didn’t care that she’d cut herself it was let’s just say something she’d experienced a bit more than you should.

She cleaned everything up like nothing happened, the blood, the milk and her cereal were thrown out and cleaned she didn’t want it anymore. Her stomach was in knots over what her dad would say when he found out. Panic swirled in her body, her heart was beating what felt like 200 bpm. All she could do was clean up her cut and cocoon herself in chris’ bed for comfort where she cried herself to sleep.

————

Chris’ pov

I was on set early this morning for a reshoot of ghosted, so I left y/n and dodger alone at home which isn’t the first time but I always made sure that she was really okay with being alone if not Scott would be more than happy to come over just so she had someone in the house with her.

Walking in to the house calling out to both dodger and y/n there was no answer which was strange considering there was stuff in the sink from her eating breakfast, so I walked up the stairs walking to her door knocking on it.

“Bubba it’s me are you in there?” I asked louder than usual just in case she had headphones in.

Opening the door I saw no y/n but her bed wasn’t made so I know she was up but not sure where she was, checking her bathroom, the office, her reading nook.

She was no where.

The only place I couldn’t check was my room, god why didn’t I do that in the first place I thought.

Walking in I saw a cocoon of blankets and my duvet with a head just popping out the top at the many pillows on the bed, walking over sitting on the edge of the bed gently rubbing her back to wake y/n up noticing her tear stained face confused with what was going on all I did was lay with her on my chest and cuddle her trying to get her to tell me what happened.

——————

“Sweetheart, tell me what happened. Why we’re you crying?” I said whispering so she knows I’m calm.

“I- um I’m sorry dad I didn’t mean to. She mumbled panicked for the reason I didn’t know why

“Baby what are you sorry for?” I replied confused by her reaction

“Sorry sorry I’m sorry dad I promise I didn’t mean to” she said crying wincing when I tried to move her arm so she could snuggle in to my chest.

Concerned by why she winced when I moved her arm I said “Sweetheart, what happened?” growing more anxious that she was really badly hurt not wanting to tell me.

Letting her take her time to explain what happened and why she is so panicked.

“Dad I’m so sorry, I was - she sighed, I was making breakfast this morning and i - i wanted chocolate milk and I basically used your sox cup, then I don’t know how I accidentally smashed it and cut my arm and I feel really bad because that’s your special cup from the movie. I’m so so so so sorry dad” y/n replied way too fast with no breaths in between.

“Honey, it’s okay it can be replaced. That doesn’t matter right now what matters is that your okay. Now could I look at your arm please bubba?” I said reassuring y/n it’s really okay.

“Okay I guess you could, I’m still really sorry dad” y/n mumbled tears still ever present on her face, wiping them with the pads of my thumbs we sat there and cuddled.

—————

After the cuddles we had dad checked my arm helped me clean it up and then made dinner and still had been reassuring me that it was okay because accidents happen. So we had a movie night and takeout.

The usual movie being Cars 2 (which I’ve actually just finished watching) and the other usual takeout of chose for me which was nuggets, Mac and cheese and broccoli whilst dad had lasagna and dodger was waiting for someone to give him a bite.

I really knew in this moment being Chris’ daughter although we had a rough start which was to be expected being hoe daughter was the best thing I could ask for.

Because now it’s really okay.

—————

I hope you enjoy guys :)

#chrisevansdaughter #chris evans #chris evans daughter #chris evans x reader #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x teen!reader #chris evans x daughter!reader #chrisevans x adopted!daughter #chris evans x reader fluff #fluff #anon <3 #anon request #requsts are open #dad!chris evans

[runabout-river]

Gojo vs Sukuna Round 1 - Battle Analysis

(Chapters 223-230, eight parts)

This is going to be an analysis and overview of the first part of this decisive battle. Some points are going to be assumptions made by me with the current information available. If you have questions or corrections, leave a comment or ask me directly.

Part 1 - Beginning

First attack: Gojo - 200% Hollow Purple (made with the help of other sorcerers). Sukuna on defence due to misjudgment of the attack, has to heal both of his arms.

Uraume has been missing since then.

Part 2 - Hand to Hand

Possibly the Mahoraga hand sign hidden in the gutter between the last panel of the first page and the first panel of the second page; alternatively, Sukuna has performed the hand sign earlier or at an unseen moment later. However, Mahoraga's wheel will be summoned before the Domain Battles start but as long as Sukuna's isn't the medium of the wheel, Mahoraga will not gain any adaptations.

Hand to Hand combat starts with cursed energy amplified hits and kicks. Gojo uses Blue and Red to pull and repel and has infinity activated. Sukuna uses Domain Amplification (DA) and Dismantle.

Domain Amplification creates an empty space around the user (a domain without a technique imbued in it) which lets cursed techniques (CT) flow inside which leads to their neutralization. Effective against Gojo's ultimate defense.

Part 3 - First Domain Fight

A Domain Clash happens when the domains' barriers, the shells, clash with each other. The user with the more refined Domain Expansion (DE) wins. Sukuna's open barrier domain doesn't have a shell so Gojo's and Sukuna's domains overlap with each other instead of clashing and because they're evenly matched, no one dominates.

Sukuna's open Domain expands past the shell of Gojo's which makes it a target of Sukuna's sure-hit attack on the weaker outside. Inside Gojo's Domain the sure-hit attacks cancel each other out everywhere they overlap but they don't overlap in 100% of the space!

Gojo is immune to Unlimited Void's (UV) effect, so his sure-hit covers the entirety of his domain but Sukuna's sure-hit doesn't. Sukuna willingly left the space he occupies inside the domain free of his own sure-hit. During the cancellation of the sure-hit commands, UV is not cancelled 100% and hits Sukuna every time he doesn't use DA.

(Ugly drawing by me)

The way he shoulders those sure-hit attacks is by (as I understood it) dislodging his soul partly from Megumi's body. Normally, this would lead to Megumi taking over (if he still can after being submerged in evil) but because Megumi is hit by UV, Megumi's mind shuts down leaving Sukuna still in control.

However, by dislodging his soul from Megumi's body, Sukuna loses the ability to use his own CT (he needs a body for that) except the one already imbued in the domain. He probably doesn't use the other shikigami as well because he can't summon them without being in complete control of Megumi.

Important Note: this is the explanation that I have come up with. Sukuna only talks about using the 10 Shadows Technique to shoulder the adaptation onto Megumi. As of right now (chapter 230) we have no further explanation on what that means or how it works.

First Domain Battle, Winner: Sukuna (Malevolent Shrine (MS) still stands)

Gojo is hit by MS's sure-hit.

Part 4

Due to Gojo's CE reinforcement, Cleave only makes a moderate amount of damage but the damage still has to be healed. Gojo uses Reverse Cursed Technique (RCT) to create positive energy while he suffers from Cursed Technique Burn-out which prevents him from teleporting to safety.

Sukuna's sure-hit continuous Cleave attacks don't overpower Gojo's RCT

Gojo uses Simple Domain (weaker version of DA but uses more space) to cancel MS's sure-hit. Gojo uses both CE and Positive Energy at the same time.

CT Burnt-out can't be healed by RCT. It's an engine that runs too hot but there is nothing repair. To activate his technique earlier, Gojo destroys the part of the brain where Innate Techniques are created, then he heals that part again to start with a new CT.

Gojo uses Cursed Technique Reversal Red successfully on Sukuna.

Part 5

Gojo eggs Sukuna on to expand his domain to the maximum. At the same time, Gojo expands his own domain again with the conditions of the interior and exterior exchanged.

The sure-hit of MS inside UV'S range is turned off with a binding vow that increases the potency of the sure-hit outside. MS's maximum reach is also made smaller to increase the effect of the sure-hit active outside UV's shell. Sukuna bypasses UV's sure-hit by touching Gojo and destroys Gojo's domain from the outside again.

Second Domain Battle, Winner: Sukuna (MS still stands)

Gojo is attacked by sure-hit Cleave again but he uses Falling Blossom Emotion (FBE), a secret anti-domain technique first used by Naobito, to repel Sukuna's attacks making them extremely shallow.

Gojo activates his Domain a third time but this one becomes extremely large before turning tiny. By decreasing the size of his domain's shell to such a degree, Gojo increases the potency of his sure-hit.

Part 6

Sukuna is shrinking MS's effective reach to increase the output of his CT because UV's outer shell is still stronger. Sukuna attacks Gojo's domain from the outside until it breaks, this takes 3 minutes. In that time however, the fight inside the domain continues and in the same 3 minutes, Gojo injures Sukuna so heavily (crushing his heart) that Sukuna can't maintain MS.

Third Domain Battle, Winner: Tie (No domain stands)

The hand to hand part of the battle continues. Gojo wonders why Sukuna hasn't used any techniques like the 10 Shadow Technique (10ST) (or his fire arrow) while inside the domain battle to attack him or to destroy the weak interior of UV's shell.

The reason for that is, again, Sukuna not being in complete synchronicity with Megumi's body, making him unable to use his own techniques or those of Megumi. (Theory)

Meanwhile Mahoraga's wheel is using Megumi's soul as its medium to adapt to Gojo's techniques. This has only worked on UV because that was the only technique that reached Megumi. As long as the wheel isn't on Sukuna, attacks that reach him don't adapt Mahoraga.

Important question about this kind of use: is "the bottom of the abyss" where Megumi's soul is right now, more than just a metaphorical representation of Megumi's plight? It seems that it's a physical location, or enough of one at least, for the wheel to be used like that. Maybe it's both.

But if the wheel can get inside, then, theoretically, Megumi('s soul) can get out in the same manner. Through the shadows probably.

Part 7

Sukuna and Gojo clash in another domain battle with the same conditions as the last one. Sukuna is confirmed to use the same "destroy and heal your brain" method as Gojo to recover his CTs. The battle ends again in 3 minutes.

Fourth Domain Battle, Winner: Tie (No domain stands)

Another domain battles starts. Because Sukuna had to heal himself first, his domain expands 0.01 seconds later than Gojo's. Sukuna is hit by UV before he can detach himself from Megumi's body, making him just a tiny bit weaker than before. With this weakness, Gojo manages to collapse Sukuna's Domain after 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

Sukuna has not detached himself from Megumi in time to avoid being hit by UV and he suffers its effect for 10 seconds BUT he still detaches himself while under UV to finish the summon of Mahoraga who had already adapted to UV through Megumi as a medium. Mahoraga destroys Gojo's Domain before Gojo can kill it.

Fifth Domain Battle, Winner: Gojo (Gojo's domain gets later destroyed by Mahoraga)

Part 8 - The End of the Domains

On the second panel of the second page, Sukuna heals his brain. Gojo thinks that Megumi only "shouldered the adaptation" and wasn't effected by UV. I don't know if that is correct. One could argue that a soul alone can't be that affected by UV like an actual brain. We'll see if this part gets another explanation in future chapters.

Gojo points out that only Mahoraga has adapted to UV and Sukuna is still vulnerable to it and he prepares to expand another domain. This fails because Gojo overused his brain-destroying method of recovering his burnt-out techniques.

Sukuna wants to close the barrier of his next domain to prevent Gojo from running away. He also summons Mahoraga's wheel onto his body to make Mahoraga adapt to infinity while he fights Gojo.

Sukuna expands his Domain but it gets destroyed immediately. Sukuna was under UV for less than 10 seconds and healed his brain afterwards but the damage he received was so great that his DE destroyed itself with additional damage to his brain.

Hand to Hand combat resumes with the narrator saying that Round 2 has started.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #sukuna #ryomen sukuna #satoru gojo #fushiguro megumi #meta

[134340am]

hello yuna!! for your event, may i ask for #6 + househusband!atsumu pretty please 😋 congrats again!!!

househusband!miya atsumu x gn!reader, 1.2k, sfw warning: reader consumes unnamed painkillers part of my 200 frens celebration!

6. "don’t worry, i’ll drive you. let’s go.”

at 12.04 p.m., you’re hitting send on an important email you’ve read five times over. then you’re staring at the little grey bar at the bottom of the page, checking and double-checking to make sure the email made it out of your outbox. the harsh fan of the air-conditioner stings your dry eyes.

at 12.05 p.m., you’re clicking through the rest of the emails in your inbox. your morning meeting had only lasted a short two hours, and in that time, your inbox had already started to pile up. an unapologetic INBOX: 28 blinks up at you. you sigh, suddenly exhausted, and rub your hand over your eyes sleepily.

at 12.06 p.m., you’re pulling your hand away from your eyes to stare in disbelief at a very excited, very jumpy miya atsumu beaming down at you.

“ya forgot yer lunch at home, silly goose!” he chirps, and you could barely mumble a greeting in return before your husband was tugging on the panda-patterned handkerchief your bento boxes were wrapped in.

“‘tsumu, i— not that i’m not happy to see you, but how did you get in here?” you finally ask, brain foggy from a lack of sleep. were you hallucinating? did you seriously miss your husband so much that you were imagining his presence?

a pair of chopsticks clumsily pushed into your hands tells you otherwise, and you were snapped out of your reverie by the sound of atsumu’s amused laugh. “they buzzed me in. told ‘em i had to get yer lunch to ya as soon as i can, or ya’d get hangry. and no one wants to see ya hangry.”

you crack a smile at that—your first real smile of the day, not counting the one you gave atsumu when he dropped you off at work this morning. “thank you, ‘tsumu. you’re right, i am kinda hungry. i didn’t even realise i forgot my lunchbox.” 

atsumu, already digging in, smiles back at you through a mouthful of rice. “‘m just glad i made it before the angry part of hangry got to ya. what would ya ever do without me, baby?”

“probably wither away in front of my computer,” you shrug. you carefully remove the sea creature-themed food picks atsumu stuck in your cherry tomatoes, setting them aside. “lunch-wise, i was thinking of grabbing something quick from the convenience store.” 

a loud gasp sounds out from across the table.

“no can do, baby. i promised i wouldn’t let ya eat another microwaveable chicken skewer when we got married.”

“but i like microwaveable chicken skewers! they have a new flavour now, some kinda herb and garlic thing, and i've been wanting to try it.”

“i’ll make ya some next time, if ya insist.” 

you pout, knowing better than to fight atsumu on anything when he’s already made up his mind. besides, you trust that anything he makes will definitely be better than whatever microwaveable version you can get. however… 

“fine, but i still want to stop by the store later.” you insist. “my head is killing me. i’ll just get some painkillers real quick to tide me through my report due tomorrow.”

you watch as atsumu stops chewing immediately, eyebrows and lips dipped into a concerned frown. 

“ya poor baby. didn’t sleep well?” your husband asks, reaching over your desk to pat your hair. you find yourself leaning into his warm touch. “i drove here. i’ll bring ya there.”

“you don’t have to, love. it’s just an eight-minute walk,” you mumble. “besides, you woke up early to cook today. you should go home and take a nap.”

“it’s an eight-minute walk but a two-minute drive. ya think i’d rather sleep than look at my beautiful baby? not a chance.” atsumu lays down his chopsticks, all done with his share of the meal now, and rounds the table over to you. 

you stare down at your lunch, suddenly shy. you were left with a slice of tamagoyaki, lightly salted with soy sauce and browned on one side, the way you like it. to the left of your egg roll was a mouthful of freshly cooked rice atsumu prepared in the morning—you knew this because you woke up to the sweet, fragrant smell that filled your apartment today. 

your husband laid a comforting hand on the back of your neck, rubbing delicately at the skin there. “don’t feel bad, baby. it’s my job. so don’t worry, i’ll drive you. let’s go.”

your trip to the store took almost no time at all: one minute and 50 seconds, to be exact, and you know this because you were staring at your wristwatch the entire time. the pounding headache you had seemed to activate some sort of car sickness in you, because you were wobbly on your feet when you exited the car. 

the discomfort you felt, in addition to there being not much time left on your lunch break—a fact you made clear to your husband—meant there wasn’t time for the pair of you to shop slowly. 

if you weren’t so sick, you would’ve been keeling over with laughter at the sight before you. all business now, atsumu struts into the store with the same urgency an oba-san might have during thursday egg sales, and sweeps up a tiny basket that he hangs in the crook of his arm—looking no less like a seasoned shopper on a mission.

“we don't need a basket, ‘tsumu. i just need a box of painkillers.” on the other hand, you were a lot less enthusiastic about shopping, the cool white fluorescent lights of the store adding to the painful weight in the back of your skull.

“‘m just grabbin’ a few things. hang in there baby, i’ll only be a minute,” he reassures you, and you watch through heavy eyes as your husband sweeps a myriad of snacks, fruit, and juice off the shelves.

within minutes (after atsumu’s quick sprint to the cashier while you watched on, dazed), you were ushered back into the car. you wash your painkillers down with a big gulp of juice before dozing off into a dreamless sleep, the last thing you recall being atsumu’s soft humming.

when you stirred awake, you were met with a familiar view: the homely stretch of shops in your neighbourhood—your favourite crepe stand, a small hypermart selling organic local produce, a bicycle repair shop—swings into view.

“‘tsumu,” you mumble, vision blurry from sleep. “are you bringing me back to the office?”

“nope,” he replies and turns a corner. “we’re going home. ya need rest, love.”

“but i have work to do!” you protest half-heartedly. your eyes stay trained longingly on the little crepe stand, watching the seller, a kind oji-san, tip sprinkles over an ice cream crepe. 

“ya can start on that after you take a nap. with me!”

still sleepy, you sink deeper into your plush leather seat and sigh. “‘tsumu, you did not just kidnap me from my workplace.” 

“wasn’t a kidnappin’ if ya came along willingly.”

“i thought we were just going to the store!” you whine, punching his arm. 

the corner of atsumu’s lips curl into a teasing smile. “fine then, i’ll make a u-turn up ahead—”

“don’t you dare, miya atsumu!” 

“i’m joking, baby. let’s getcha home.” he chuckles, a soft, boyish sound that automatically had you breaking into a smile that mirrored his. “whaddya think of chicken skewers for dinner?”

“...chicken skewers? you’ll make some?”

“of course!” your husband tosses you a reassuring grin. “herb and garlic, right?”

a/n: apologies for the wait, sweet ann! i love love love househusband!atsumu so i took my time with this :*) thank you for requesting him, and for always leaving great feedback on my writing <3 i appreciate you lots!

(masterlist) (series masterlist)

#miya atsumu x reader #atsumu x reader #atsumu x y/n #atsumu x you #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #atsumu fluff #haikyuu #miya atsumu #atsumu #haikyuu imagines #yuna's 200 frens celebration #yuna writes

[david-talks-sw]

Sparse thoughts from reading the AOTC screenplay.

So, one more thing I noticed popping up throughout the Attack of the Clones script drafted in 07/04/2000 (downloadable here). Again, note that this wasn't the final version of the script.

The theme of "Duty" in Episode II

We see it throughout the whole story. We obviously see it in the thematic "love or duty" conflict that's at the heart of Anakin and Padmé's romance.

Padmé has her responsibilities as a Senator, Anakin has his commitments to the Jedi Order and his duty to the mission. For them to try to be together and still try to fulfill their respective duties... it's bound to fail.

As Lucas puts it:

"[The Clone War lineup scene] is contrasted with the idyllic situation on Naboo, where Anakin and Padmé are getting married… in what will be a doomed relationship… which they have already stated earlier on is not gonna work. But they do love each other. They're truly in love with each other. It's the issue of true love over duty. It's really the Romeo and Juliet aspect of it, of a doomed relationship, in more ways than one really. She married the wrong guy. This marriage will end up with the birth of their children, which go on into the next trilogy." - Attack of the Clones, Commentary Track 2, 2002

But then there's this:

Yoda promises the Jedi will do their duty. A duty dictated by the Senate.

The subtext in this whole scene is basically the Jedi telling Palpatine and the Senate that, if asked, they will fight because they're duty-bound to do so... but they shouldn't. They don't have the numbers, the intention or the experience to fight a war, so the Senate should seriously consider a diplomatic solution.

Like, "we will die for you if you ask us... but please don't just throw our lives away."

And in this earlier version of the script, Palpatine sends the Jedi to Geonosis before he even has the emergency powers, during Scene 114 on Page 81.

The Jedi reluctantly acquiesce (again, it's their duty).

Mace is like "maybe let's wait, we don't know for sure that the Trade Federation is conspiring with the Separatists" but Palpatine and the others shut that shit down.

Takeaway #1:

You know who does argue in the Jedi's stead? Bail Organa. Like, this guy's an ally of the Jedi from day one.

Takeaway #2:

Even by Page 81 out of 113 total pages, Windu is still holding out hope that this is all some big misunderstanding. There's no way a former Jedi like Dooku, who was wise, powerful and overall exemplar, could've fallen so low, right?

Like, the Jedi don't just have a duty towards the Republic... they have one to serve the Force. You can quit the first, but not the second. And for him to conspire with the Trade Federation and prepare an inter-galactic civil war... that's just unthinkable.

Which leads me to this other thing:

Dooku's betrayal

In Scene 40, we read that in the history of the whole Jedi Order (1,000 generations!) that only TWENTY JEDI left the Order.

74 pages later, in Scene 155, we read that there's about twenty Jedi left in the Geonosis Arena... out of 200!

There were 10 times more Jedi who died on Geonosis on Dooku's orders, than there were Jedi who just straight-up left the Order in 25,000 years.

Dooku's betrayal hits the Jedi hard.

(The concept of Lost Twenty was later retconned so that it designated the twenty Jedi *Masters who left, fyi).

"Ms. Amidala has presented Threepio with clothes!"

Final fun fact! In this draft, C-3PO is "naked" like he was in The Phantom Menace. George played with the idea that Padmé was the one who installs the bronze plates on C-3PO!

(if there's a * in the margins on the right, btw, it means that's where a correction was done)

And Threepio hugs her!

And Owen calls Shmi "Mom"! My heart...!

This was probably removed later on because it leads directly to Anakin arriving with Shmi's dead body in tow, and it would've been too much of an emotional flip-flop, for lack of a better term ^^'

Either that or putting the animatronic naked C-3PO would've hurt the budget.

UPDATE: At Star Wars Celebration 2022, Anthony Daniels spoke about this change! They actually shot everything with Anthony Daniels playing incomplete Threepio (instead of using an animatronic like in TPM, it was actually him playing it) and then George changed his mind and they reshot all the parts with him in the bronze plating. Talk about hurting the budget ^^'

#george lucas #star wars #attack of the clones #long post #bail organa #mace windu #yoda #padmé #anakin skywalker #c3po #meta #sw meta #bts tidbits

[clairelsonao3]

Writer Q&A Tag Game

Thank you to @winterandwords for tagging me in this one! I love Q&As, I don't care what the questions are!

1. What motivates you to write?

The pursuit of fame and fortune.

Just kidding. No, in all honesty, there was a time when I was obsessed with writing for the market. I still want to make money with my fiction someday, I'm not gonna lie. But actually, it's always been about telling stories that I know no one else will tell and that need to be told. If I'm that invested in a story, nothing will stop me from finishing it.

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

This is the last section of the opening chapter of The Adored. And it's going to get changed, so don't get too attached. But the gist of it has stayed through all drafts:

CW: Mention of teen females (consensually?) groping a teen male:

Hell, before this year, he’d never left the state of Minnesota. He and Afton didn’t eat pie on a boat on their first date, either. They didn’t even have a first date. But he’s let the world believe it, along with a million other lies that look pretty under pastel filters and amazing in 200 characters or less. Lies that dance center stage, that come alive under the lights. The lies are Afton’s truth. Thayer’s truth. Social media’s truth.

But they aren’t ours. Micah's and my truth is different. It’s underground, rotting in basements and prison cells, and all the dark places he still prays never to have to go back to. It’s about the night I saw Afton with a man in a dark Jaguar that turns Micah pale when he sees it, about the chains that still choke his heart and soul. It’s the jagged puzzle whose pieces he relied on me to put together, then told me never to reveal — the whats, but not the whys.

It’s why we’re really quitting.

But there’s one last truth. It’s what he’s trusting me to find. Me, the gawky giraffe in borrowed Balenciaga, with a bass she can barely play. The blurry face in the background. The tacked-on name at the bottom of the story. Bandmate Isley Nash.

I want to ask him, why me?

But before I can, it’s over. He throws himself backward off the stage. His body arches through space like a supernova. This is the moment they’ve been waiting for. They caress him, groping his hair, his legs, his junk. His eyes close. He’s lost. He’s theirs. For them, there’s only tonight.

And unless I find that truth, tonight is all there will ever be. 

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

Micah (see above) is a reluctant teen rock star, a defiant rebel, a deadpan snarker, a (probable) murder victim, and my OG sad boi, so I'm always going to go with him.

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

Editing. Drafting is trying to make something out of nothing, which is torture. Editing, meanwhile, is sculpting something you create (which is almost always terrible to start off with) into something good, which is fun and fulfilling. I will vomit unreadable, ungrammatical crap onto the page just so there's something there to edit when I go back. For me, that's where 99% of the real work of writing gets done.

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Dialogue! I think my dialogue is often funny and entertaining. Can I say that? I'm saying that.

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

Getting tagged to fill out Q&As like this and ramble about myself ad nauseum! No, seriously, the community I've found on Tumblr has amazingly changed my life in the best way -- and I've really only been here a few months! Here, I've found talented writers, engaged readers, and all-around wonderful human beings, who do not only NOT judge me for my bizarre tastes, but in many cases actually share them. Finding a community like that is rare enough in the internet hellscape where we often find ourselves, let alone IRL, and I will be grateful for it always.

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I've reluctantly come around to Grammarly, even though I snobbishly thought I didn't need it. Oh, and chatGPT. No, I'm kidding. I have tried it out, though. (Haven't we all?)

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

CW for discussing slavery in a clinical, dispassionate way (IDK, might be a trigger for some).

I've long thought you can't really understand or write about slavery without understanding the basic economics behind it, whether historically or in a fictional context. In most fiction with institutionalized slavery, it's either completely controlled by a dystopian government or by one single, massive company. To me, neither seemed realistic, and I think this is where this world differs from other related ones. In the world of GSNBTR, slavery is like any other sector under capitalism: it's multiple businesses of various sizes and with different niches competing against each other for customers, while being regulated (relatively lightly) by the government (as lobbied for by special interests, of course). And that also means thinking hard about the kinds of roles slaves would be likely to fill in a modern society built on that system, where they come from (likely many different places), who would own, trade, and manage them (whether government, corporations, or individuals) and how they would be likely to be used -- ie., it's not just domestic servants and sex workers, in fact, those are likely the minority of slaves. The majority are fast-food workers, landscapers, cleaners, dishwashers, farmworkers, general laborers, etc. etc. I suspect some are also used in the entertainment industry in some capacity (i.e. some actors/musicians/athletes are literally owned by movie studies/record companies/sports leagues), but I haven't really puzzled this out in detail. This stuff isn't necessarily fun to think about, but it's a must in a story like this, and I definitely did spend a lot of time thinking about it.

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Are you writing what you really want to write? Always write what you want, not what you think you should. And if you can't write just for yourself, write for just one person. The rest of your audience will come naturally.

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

I have to of course start with the talented writers whose work was so amazing it drew me in and got me to stay: @little-peril-stories @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

And then, to my astonishment, they reached out to support me and my own work, at times in ways far beyond anything I ever could have imagined. 💕

And then! On various levels, I've been lucky enough to know and interact with @i-can-even-burn-salad @whither-wander-whump @rickie-the-storyteller @mysticstarlightduck @painful-pooch @tabswrites @burntcoffeewhump, and @winterandwords!

And there are so many more great folks that I'm only just starting to discover, such as the following I'll gently tag (as well as OPEN TAG for anyone I mentioned above -- since you're already here, after all -- and anyone else reading this! 😂)

@romanceandshenanigans @digital-chance

#tag game #q&a #my writing #writeblr #wip: the adored #gsnbtr