#apologies about the formatting

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

pirates of the caribbean is great because ted elliott & terry rossio were like “we want to do a supernatural spin on the pirate genre” and disney was like “no you're gonna make ride propaganda for our theme parks” and jack davenport was like “the studio has tricked me, classically trained jack davenport, into being here, so i'm going to portray this token brit antagonist as the most nuanced character in the whole franchise” and orlando bloom was like “i'm in a sandals resorts commercial!”

#my SINCERE apologies to keira for leaving her out but i couldn't figure out how to fit her into the format #potc #top gun #<- og post format was about it

[soars22]

Alright, my lovely people. I’d like to give a little rundown of what a labor union is and what protections it provides for workers because I think that it’s context that’s important to the current situation. Please bear in mind that I am by no means an expert. I am drawing on my research and my own experience being in a union at a previous job to write this post. Please feel free to reblog with anything I’ve missed.

What is a union?

A union is a group of workers who have banded together in order to use their collective strength and voices to make a difference in their workplace. Many unions were formed due to dissatisfaction with exploitative or unsafe working conditions (look up Appalachian coal miners if you want to see an example).

What do unions do?

Unions are there to act on behalf of their workers; their entire purpose is to ensure that their members (and, often by extension, non-members) receive fair wages, proper breaks, safe working conditions, and many other benefits. They are made by and for workers.

What do unions NOT do?

Unions do NOT exist to break up companies. Unions are there to ensure that workers are treated fairly. Union leaders will first do everything in their power to obtain better working conditions by negotiating with the company on the behalf of the employees. Shutting down a business because of poor labor conditions will never be a union’s priority; they will ALWAYS be on the side of the labor force. The union may take the company to court and the company might later collapse as a result of that (whether because of court fees, public backlash, or other reasons) but the goal is to preserve the workers’ jobs while also making sure that the workers are treated fairly.

What does this mean for qsmp?

I don’t know. Do I think there are major problems? Yes, absolutely. Do I think that Quackity is working to address these problems? Again, yes. Do I-or anyone else for that matter-know what those solutions are or what they may look like? No, we do not!! I cannot see into the future; neither can Twitter. We need to have patience and understanding as we all wait to see what comes next.

I’ve seen a lot of doomposting here. I’ve seen a lot of anxiety and stress. If that’s where your mind is at, you might need to take a break from the internet for a bit; god knows I might. This situation isn’t going to be fixed by attacking the cc’s or the admins or anyone else who’s involved. That’s not our job; we’re only adding more negativity and stress to people who may already be at their limit.

Be kind. Be patient. Be a community. That’s what this server is all about, ultimately. It’s time to prove that. Hope this helps.

#qsmp #qsmp discourse #unions #I’m writing this on mobile so I apologize for the formatting or lack thereof #I didn’t mention union busting because that feels like it’s own post #and I’m definitely not qualified to talk about that #I just wanted to mention what I felt was relevant to the situation

[xx-completely-in-ur-car-xx-blog]

What good's an empty threat?

☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆

☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆

☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆

☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆

#mbav #mbav stuff #my babysitters a vampire #benny weir #my first gifset #apologies for quality and formatting #thinking about evil Benny again #and how regular Benny literally bluffs him out of killing him #and the split second after he does it #where he looks legitimately terrified #we were so robbed of his villain arc

[cuties-in-codices]

Where do you find these manuscripts? Is it like a website or do you find it randomly??

hey, thanks for the curiosity! lenghty answer below the cut :)

1)

medieval manuscripts are typically owned by libraries and showcased on the library's websites. so one thing i do is i randomly browse those digitized manuscript collections (like the collections of the bavarian state library or the bodleian libraries, to name just two), which everybody can do for free without any special access. some digital collections provide more useful tools than others (like search functions, filters, annotations on each manuscript). if they don't, the process of wading through numerous non-illustrated manuscripts before i find an illustrated one at all can be quite tedious.

2)

there are databases which help to navigate the vast sea of manuscripts. the one i couldn't live without personally use the most is called KdIH (Katalog der deutschsprachigen illustrierten Handschriften des Mittelalters). it's a project which aims to list all illustrated medieval manuscripts written in german dialects. the KdIH provides descriptions of the contents of each manuscript (with a focus on the illustrations), and if there's a digital reproduction of a manuscript available anywhere, the KdIH usually links to it. the KdIH is an invaluable tool for me because of its focus on illustrated manuscripts, because of the informations it provides for each manuscript, and because of its useful search function (once you've gotten over the initial confusion of how to navigate the website). the downside is that it includes only german manuscripts, which is one of the main reasons for the over-representation of german manuscripts on my blog (sorry about that).

3)

another important database for german manuscripts in general (i.e. not just illustrated ones) is the handschriftencensus, which catalogues information regarding the entirety of german language manuscripts of the middle ages, and also links to the digital reproductions of each manuscript.

4)

then there are simply considerable snowball effects. if you do even just superficial research on any medieval topic at all (say, if you open the wikipedia article on alchemy), you will inevitably stumble upon mentions of specific illustrated manuscripts. the next step is to simply search for a digital copy of the manuscript in question (this part can sometimes be easier said than done, especially when you're coming from wikipedia). one thing to keep in mind is that a manuscript illustration seldom comes alone - so every hint to any illustration at all is a greatly valuable one (if you do what i do lol). there's always gonna be something interesting in any given illustrated manuscript. (sidenote: one very effective 'cheat code' would be to simply go through all manuscripts that other online hobbyist archivers of manuscript illustrations have gone through before - like @discardingimages on tumblr - but some kind of 'professional pride' detains me from doing so. that's just a kind of stubbornness though. like, i want to find my material more or less on my own, not just the images but also the manuscripts, and i apply arbitrary rules to my search as to what exactly that means.)

5)

whatever tool or strategy i use to find specific illustrated manuscripts-- in the end, one unavoidable step is to actually manually skim through the (digitized) manuscript. i usually have at least a quick look at every single illustrated page, and i download or screenshot everything that is interesting to me. this process can take up to an hour per manuscript.

---

in conclusion, i'd say that finding cool illuminated manuscripts is much simpler than i would have thought before i started this blog. there are so many of them out there and they're basically just 'hidden in plain side', it's really astounding. finding the manuscripts doesn't require special skills, just some basic experience with/knowledge of the tools available. the reason i'm able to post interesting images almost daily is just that i spend a lot of time doing all of this, going through manuscripts, curating this blog, etc. i find a lot of comfort in it, i learn a lot along the way, and i immensely enjoy people's engagement with my posts. so that's that :)

#if you ever have any specific questions about any of these tools or my strategies feel free to ask or dm me #i'd also be interested in recommendations of databases that are specific to other languages/regions that are neither german nor english #preferably with a focus on illuminated manuscripts #or useful databases that are just not very well known #ask #medieval art #medieval studies #btw @anon sorry for only getting around to answering your ask now #and re: your following message. first of all never apologize for your english skills. like ever #it's a daily struggle for me as well tbh. i never post anything without german/english dictionary tabs open lol #and i feel like i 'owe' it to the tumblr blogger format to write in smooth english #secondly your question wasn't dumb at all! i'm glad somebody asked :)

[syoddeye]

gaz and ghost thoughts. after soap’s death. unedited. +18 only. cw: kidnapping, stalking, violence.

price making gaz keep an eye on ghost after soap’s death. vague instructions to keep him out of trouble, but let him ‘indulge’.

gaz is there when ghost spots a young, drunk man with blue eyes and a cross necklace. the kid stirs shit up, his mouth writing a check his ass can’t cash.

gaz watches ghost follow the stranger and other men out of the bar and into the alley for a fight. doesn’t step in, doesn’t need to, since ghost lays them out effortlessly.

gaz keeps an eye out for witnesses when ghost lets the stranger approach, grinning and glad for the assist.

gaz catching the stranger’s limp body when ghost promptly knocks him out. helps load him into the car. drives them back to ghost and soap’s place. ignores the babbling, begging, and delirious man when ghost carries him down to the cellar.

gaz, who can’t believe it when he picks up the poor soul’s wallet, only to find his name is ‘john’, too.

and ghost, who isn’t surprised—not when he's followed the kid for weeks after seeing him at the market once. he continues shaving his new johnny’s hair into a mohawk.

ghost, asking gaz for a knife, because the hair isn’t enough to make john into johnny. needs his scars, too.

gaz, thinking he ought to tell price, but after a long look at the stranger’s blue eyes, orders a tattoo gun instead.

#out and about in the sunshine so where does my brain go? #written very hastily on mobile #apologies for typos and formatting errors #zero intention on taking this further #free to a good home

[rabbit-harpist]

parting deferred

For perhaps the last time, Joui talks to Liz. pre-desconjuraçao, also posted to my ao3.

////////

Shamefully, his gaze passes over her at first. She’s only another old woman sitting in the back of the library, white head bowed over a study table. But the way she frowns at the mess of papers before her is all Liz.

Joui tries his best to assess her condition as he navigates the shelves. She’s alive. And unhurt, and perhaps even sober. He can breathe more easily now that he sees her. 

Someone unexpectedly exits a row in front of him—he startles, reaches for the weight at his hip, apologizes, heart racing—arrives.

Another moment of unfamiliarity. Joui could be looking at someone else’s grandmother reading the paper.

He shakes off the moment, and the uncertainty that suddenly rises in his chest.

“Liz-senpai?”

It takes a moment for his voice to register—she’s absorbed in whatever the papers are telling her. He can see the recognition in her face, the way the hand that holds the pen stops its motion. 

She covers her notes as she turns to him. He tries to suppress the sting. 

“Joui? What do you want?”

“You didn’t respond to the group chat,” he says, his tone more accusing than he means it to be.

“I muted it. It was distracting me.”

“We were worried. Liz, I went to your apartment and the landlord said it had been sold. And you weren’t answering calls or texts and—“

“How did you find me?” she asks.

Joui is thrown off. “Ce-Kaiser tracked your phone,” he says honestly.

Liz purses her lips. “I see.”

“We were worried,” Joui explains. (I was worried) “You disappeared—what if something had happened to you?”

“Well. As you can see, I’m fine. As fine as I can be. You can tell that to the others.”

Joui looks at the pile of papers—newspapers, dated recently. “Liz-senpai, what are you working on? Can I help?”

She slips her notebook into her bag, covering the table with the other hand. “Joui—I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. I can take care of myself.”

And she can—Joui knows Liz, and she’s strong—but how strong is she now? She’s smart—smart enough to get to the bottom of this, whatever it is, and put herself right back in danger.

He misses hearing her theorize, brow furrowed and eyes alight. He misses her laugh and her smile. He misses Liz herself—she’s right in front of him again, but she feels a thousand miles away. 

“Don’t disappear again,” he pleads. “We need you.” (I need you, he wants to say, but he’s terrified that it won’t be enough to keep her with him.) “The Order needs you.”

That makes Liz laugh—a bitter echo of his memories. “The Order doesn’t know what it’s doing.” She straightens the papers on the table. “Symptoms,” she says. “They’re treating symptoms, and the heart is rotten. We throw ourselves into a brick wall over and over until every one of us is dead and broken.”

Joui doesn’t know what to say. It’s a mirror of the thoughts that haunt him at night, laid over the memories that never fade. He doesn’t have words of hope—he has to be the strong one now, but he doesn’t know what to do.

Liz turns over the newspapers, arranging and rearranging them feverishly. Joui watches and he doesn’t know what to say and he doesn’t know what to do. 

He puts a hand on her shoulder, finally, clawing past the uncertainty that freezes him in place.

“Liz-senpai. Look at me, please.”

She meets his gaze, and whatever he’d tentatively planned to say next escapes his mind. Her eyes are older than the wrinkles on her face. The eyes of the monster of death flash into his mind—a thought he despises as soon as he has it.

“Liz-senpai?” he repeats.

“Get out, Joui,” she says, and she just looks tired now.

He isn’t hurt that she’s still putting herself in danger—he understands the itch to do something, anything. He’s hurt that she doesn’t want him beside her. Joui isn’t sure of many things these days, but he knows bone deep that they need to protect each other. If he loses Liz—and Arthur and Kaiser—every part of him that matters will have died.

“If you think I’d leave you, you don’t know me,” he snaps. 

Something flashes over Liz’s face. “I suppose I can’t make you do anything—it’s not like I’m your mother.”

Joui wishes she had hit him instead. He tries to say something else and can’t manage it.

He thinks she wants to say something else too. She pauses as she walks away, looks back—but she leaves anyway.

#rabbit writes #ordem paranormal #opd #elizabeth webber #joui jouki #i just reread this and gave myself emotional damage so it’s going here now #(if you saw the previous version of this post apologies. i decided to format it differently and tumblr wasn’t letting me edit) #also! going to say that liz /does/ think of joui as hers. but also she thinks she’s a failure and terribly unfit for his respect #and terrified that she really /doesn’t/ know him anymore after all the lost time. she knows she went too far but how can she fix this? #and she succeeded in pushing him away. but only to a distance. he’ll never truly abandon her. #how can she expect him to stay out of danger when she’s putting herself in it? #anyway. i care a lot about them.

[adriles]

im sorry to say, that by ignoring the plague of apollo, you have doomed the danaans to further misery. Farewell my bitch

#apollo #agamemnon #book 1 #update here cause new post and all! thank you to the anon who informed me about a slur in a prior post #i was not familiar with the term and def shouldve checked it out and changed it before turning the dril tweet around to fit everything here #the fact that it is a dril tweet itself though is….hm #anyways! apologies! the post has been edited #all this is reminding me again is that i should be making more posts and just following the format cause. this is not the first time #that ive encountered very offensive tweets #i havent done it in a hot bit though cause im fairly busy with work now. gonna start phasing the tweet based ones out again soon #also. please inform me if anyone at all finds anything on here that i should tag or edit in the future #i really dont want this to be a place of pain of any kind (other than war crimes) #and ive been running this since i was like…14 so there is likely bound to be smth that should be revisited

[madseance]

thou and I are too neurodivergent to woo peaceably

#much ado about nothing #fynn posts #fynn on shakespeare #apologies to nat-20s whose format I fully ripped off here

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

It's happening again. 

The one thing she'd hoped to prevent with her sacrifice, hoping to scrounge up enough time. The relics had all gone silent in past decade. Just as she had intended. She had been certain that she'd have enough time to find the relics, return the Light to its full power, enact her plan, and reunite with her family. 

How foolish. 

Her quest to obtain the Animus Bell was foolhardy at best. Taking a page out of Magnus's book. She knew it was a trap. The envelope appearing out of nowhere, dangling the relic over her head. It was a mistake going in. Now her joints hurt even more than they did when she was regularly running from the apocalypse and she has new nightmares to add to the rotation. Those technicolor freaks taunting her, telling her that someone in her memories, "That pudgy fellow in the blue jeans," personally handed them the relic, so doesn't this feel like he's the one punishing her and not them? 

She'd done her best to wave those thoughts away. Buckle down, redouble her search efforts. Get help creating a floating base she can actually bring people to without frying their brains or broadcasting all her sins. But even that wasn't enough. She needed help, real help. 

And she's getting it. But, even as the anticipation for their arrival makes it feel like she's got bees in her gut, she's haunted by the fact that the surface of the world is marred by another shiny, black pockmark. 

It's happening again. 

All the planning and merriment of the Midsummer Solstice, paired with the knowledge that now, thanks to the boys, she had three of the relics in her possession had put her at ease. Perhaps that was her biggest mistake, believing that somehow, someway, they'd be able to get the jump on the Hunger. But now they officially have a deadline.

Finding the Light in a year with all seven of them was hard enough most cycles. But after severing it in seven different ways, Lup gone, Davenport as good as gone, and Barry at odds with Lucretia, she has little confidence that they can  do it. Half capacity and the boys don't even know what they're looking for. They don't know why. 

Every single day she has to keep herself from fully inoculating them. It would make the process go so much faster. 

It would stop the process because they would hate her. 

It's happening again.

In the months before the redaction, everyone knew something was bothering her. She had reverted to her pre-mission self, holing up in her room for days on end, hardly talking to anyone. She took all her meals in her room,  let dishes pile up. Everyone figured that, like all of them, she was taking the destruction of this plane, their new plane, hard. And she was. And by the time Lup went missing, it was already too late for anyone to try to stop her even if they had figured it out. 

And she's isolating again. She can't hide it from anyone, but she does her best. If everyone is in training five and eight and ten hours a day, no one can notice she's hiding behind stacks and stacks of books in her office. Books that nobody on base could read anyway; the words would go swimming and she'd have to explain that. 

Just one more. 

They can do it. She can save everyone this time.

It's happening again.

She's not too proud to admit just how angry she was when she was out voted. Just because she wasn't dripping with PhDs somehow meant that her knowledge on science wasn't as valuable. The whole ship was at each other's throats for a while after that. 

That's the thing with scientists, they always think they know best. That's what got them all in this mess. Made Lup vanish. Turned Barry against her. Got Maureen Miller killed. Turned Lucas Miller into a death fugitive. If, perhaps, any one of them had listened to her, they could all be fine. But no, nobody wanted to listen to Lucretia so now the apocalypse is on their doorstep once more. 

It finally happened.

If Lucretia is being honest, she never dreamed they'd actually be able to stop the Hunger for good. By the time next Midsummer rolls around, everyone is fairly scattered. But, by some divine act, they all reconvene. 

Perhaps calling Merle personally inviting everyone to his new home is hardly a divine act. It's tenuous. Taako can barely be in the same room as her. Barry doesn't look at her. Lup looks scared of her, but graciously tries to hide it. Davenport radiates disappointment still. Magnus and Merle do their best to lighten the atmosphere. Everyone is tense as the eclipse passes overhead. They all wait for a horrible cacophony and billions of crawling eyes.

None come. The eclipse passes and each one of them exhale a century long breath. 

There's a first time for everything. Lucretia hopes that extends to forgiveness.

#reese writes #taz balance #Lucretia #the adventure zone balance #balance #apologies for any wonkyness with the formatting im posting from my phone dnfnsjnd #this is something just to clear out some covwebs because im in a relisten and i was just thinking about that midsummer solstice for luce

[father-bests]

you think he justifies it in his mind what hes doing is right but deep down he knows hes a piece of shit and thats why he immediately assumed he was in hell (yknow other than wendell and wild being the ones to greet him immediately upon revival)

#not me thinking too deeply about characters with like 5 minutes of screentime #father bests #wendell and wild #wendell and wild spoilers #wendell & wild #also i know this meme format is being used mostly incorrectly but i do not care #also its literally 4 am and im so fucking tired if this is incoherent i apologize #beloved mutuals or anyone reading the tags please send me your father bests hc #together we can give him depth

[leeknewthat]

Btw what did you mean by Nezaah's twitter?

This.

While we're on this topic allow me to add a compilation of Shit that Nazeeh Posts on Twitter.com™ because he's a whole mood.

He really is the guy of all time.

#i had deleted twt for finals but i just had to log back in because i'll never miss a chance to promote my Nazeeh Tarsha Supremacy agenda #but jokes apart he really is an amazing voice actor with an impressive vocal range #i highly recommend watching classroom of the elite in eng dub and listening to miyabi nagumo's lines #i could honestly go on and on about voice actors because i get super nerdy about this topic haha #tumblr is gonna butcher the image formatting fs i apologize #alhaitham #alhaitham va #nazeeh tarsha #voice actors #genshin voice actors #genshin vas #cyno #kaveh #khoi dao #tighnari #genshin impact

[paimonial-rage]

I have a character analysis ask! :) (Although, it's not from the list you shared.) What would it take for Albedo to get really angry? Like a huge outburst? I have some ideas but I'm curious about your insights. - @mimi-cee-genshin

[Character Analysis Ask Meme]

This is a really interesting ask and I’ve been thinking about it ever since you sent it. There are three answers I have for you, but two are copouts and the last doesn’t satisfy the requirements.

The first two scenarios deal with the same thing: you scare him in some way. This can be achieved two different ways: Klee facing imminent danger that he can’t immediately mitigate and, if he cares about you, doing the same to yourself. Nothing scares a calculated person more than a sudden situation they have no control over. What this accomplishes is putting him into a state of panic. And, should everything be alright in the end, you can rightfully expect him to snap in fury before pulling you in for a hug.

However, the reason why I consider this a copout is that I think this kind of scenario would get most people to react in this way. And while he would be angry and have an outburst, I don’t really consider this scenario “anger.” It’s more panic, you know?

So that being said, I don’t really think it’s exactly possible to get Albedo angry to the point of having an outburst, at least in the typical sense. Albedo is not a burning fury kind of person. He is cold fury. When he gets truly mad, his emotions shut down and he turns into a heartless machine. Think of Scar killing Mufasa, except without the smile and glee. He’d look down at you with ice-cold eyes as he ever so casually pushes you back to lose your grip.

To get him into this state, though, I think it would take work. One possible scenario would be betraying him and then having everything go wrong. Not a cold calculated betrayal (he’d sense your untrustworthiness), but maybe one from fear? For example, he treated you as a friend, but upon getting threatened by the Abyss, you betray Mondstadt in fear of your life, and then whoops, people get hurt and/or killed. In that case, you both betrayed his kindness and ultimately disappointed him. He was wrong about you. You are no better than the dirt beneath his feet.

#genshin impact #albedo #this took way less time than the other asks because it’s not formatted but sorry i try to do things in order orz #but yeah i imagine for albedo the best way to get a ‘strong’ reaction out of him is the ‘disappointment’ sort of betrayal #‘i thought i’d see worth in you but i was wrong’ #but this would be the antithesis of a ‘strong’ reaction because what he’d feel is more akin to nothing at all #you do not have the right to his emotions anymore #you don’t deserve it #that being said i can see him being lowkey passive aggressive with such people if he’s forced into contact with them you know? #esp if he’s alone with them and they try to apologize #let me reiterate tho this ‘disappointment’ betrayal wouldn’t be for tiny things #it’d be for situations like i outlined in the post #a ‘betrayal’ that has very tangible consequences esp if it hurt people he cares about #my writing #the reason why a normal betrayal wouldn’t produce the same results is because he’d already be aware f the real possibility #albedo is the observant sort after all #that being said he’d also be aware of the very likely possibility of someone ‘disappointment’ betraying him #but he’d put his trust in them anyway if he saw worth in them #and that’s what makes it even worse if a betrayal #despite knowing the risks albedo consciously decided to trust them….. and was repaid with disappointment

[tenfoldrage]

@musesreunite liked this

After all these years, if there's one thing the Doctor knows after so much time alone, it's the sensation they get when there is another Time Lord... well, anywhere. The feeling hits them like a punch to the chest, the hair on the back of their neck prickling and goosebumps raising all over their skin. Now, the Doctor is meant to be taking it easy now. It is their job to work on themself so that they can finally heal and keep on keeping on. But this feeling they've gotten rocks them to their core, and they cannot possibly ignore it.

Besides, it's not like they actually have to leave Earth to chase after it, this time. No, whoever this is seems to be nearby, which only emboldens them further to investigate. Weariness stirs within their stomach, a frown curving their lips downwards as they run into town to find the source of this sensation. The Doctor approactes a bookstore they'd never been to before, brow furrowing as they survey the signage above the window and then proceed to peer inside.

Upon entering the shop the Doctor can instantly taste the twang of Time Lord energy in the air, that which can only be caused by a chameleon circuit. Memories flash behind their eyes but they try to blink them away, distracting themself by calling out into the back:

"Is there anyone here? There's this... book, yeah, this book that I've been looking for everywhere," they click their teeth together as they lean against the counter. They know for certain that if there truly is another Gallifreyan here, they will know that the Doctor is one, too. But if they don't at least try to keep a low profile, Donna will have their head.

"It's called..... Moby Dick."

#/ in character #/ verse: fourteen #[ hello hello! excited to see where this goes haha ] #[ also apologies for the length and don't worry about formatting too much ] #musesreunite

[lemonduckisnowawake]

What if I theologized hanahaki? What then? Like if hanahaki was a symbol of unrequited love that desperately wants to be requited? Because God so loves us enough to want to be with us but also loves us enough to hold back lest His holiness turn us to ash because the flowers have become so embedded in us. So what if the flowers are a sign of our own rejection of God and the desperate craving we all have deep inside for Him...but also our way of melding with something that needs to go and thus being unable to be saved from it because we made it us in a sense? Like...

...

There’s a new wave of people who claim to be without the Flower Rot, also known as Hanahaki and Hua Bing.

These people claim that, without surgery, they have managed to completely remove the Rot. When asked what had caused this, one woman who wished to remain anonymous told the reporters, “It was…God, I guess. But He was also a man. He just…said that because the Rot’s too rooted in us, even if we wanted God we’d just burn with the flowers. But the only way’s to have His love take it away. So He said He’d take Rot and fade because He was a man, then come back because He’s God, and give us love to remove the Rot because He’s both.”

Her explanation aligns with similar ones from other witnesses with the Rot gone. They claim that the risk of fading with the removal of the flowers was taken by a man. But that His Godliness also signified that He could “grant His love” to permanently dispel the Rot.

As a refresher, it is quite unclear why the Rot suddenly began to manifest inside our lungs millennia ago. The most common legend is a tale of how humanity and God once lived in harmony in a garden. However, one day, man rejected God and told Him they could create a garden of their own. Though He offered a chance to repent from their rejection, having told them previously that such an endeavour would bring death upon them, they refused to acknowledge their wrong and were thus severed from His power and acceptance.

The proud declaration of humanity was not a nonsense claim, as they indeed found they could produce beautiful plant life for a garden.

However, that came with the cost of death, for these flowers grew inside them and were expelled through bloody coughs and sneezes.

Such is the duality of this universal Rot—a sign of divine rejection, some say, or a sign of our own ability to create beauty made more glorious through our own sacrifice, as others say. Of course, there are others who say this Rot is more complicated than simply a sign of our glory or a rejection from the divine, but those claims as much less popular.

In recent times, science has discovered that this Rot is simply a natural and inborn function of our body. “In fact, it’s inaccurate to call such a natural part of human experience a rot,” Doctor Kinuyo Yahagi of Hanahaki Research Association said, showing a bloodied purple iris of hers. “Yes, it is unpleasant but it is a fact of life, just like death and hunger and blood.” She then gave an animated explanation how there was a particular genetic wiring within our lungs linked to the brain’s rejection and affection chemicals. If the two are stirred in such a way, a pathway is made from the brain to the lungs triggering the genetic code and causing flowers to bloom.

“It can be removed by surgery,” a surgeon from the local medical center said. “However, studies have shown it is risky as it can affect your ability to love and process rejection, so it’s up to the patient to take the risk or not.”

Activists have cried that a difficulty in loving is not a sign of deteriorating humanity, and that those who choose the surgery are still acceptable.

“Hanahaki or not, we all still die, right?” a video of one academic debate records a professor speaking to one of the new Rot-less people.

The Rot-less person—a professor as well—nods thoughtfully. “Yes, but now, my death becomes a death without the disease signalling our separation from the divine, which is no true death at all.”

The ethics of removing the Flower Rot surgically still are debated, though much support for it has arisen in the past few decades. Research into these new rot-less people has also steadily increased, all done with the utmost legal and ethical restrictions to the volunteer’s rights.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of this and find a better way to remove the disease,” Dr. Yahagi’s co-worker who wished to remain anonymous said. “Natural or not, it is still unpleasant. Why continue with something that is now proven to not be inevitable?”

#i wrote this on my phone so excuse the typos #would have posted it on wordpress but it felt too short for that #sorry about the blatant symbolism and theologizing but I'm really not #long post #lemon duck quacks #for the words! #lemon duck tales #oh and i definitely used the inverted pyramid format for news for this #don't think i succeeded since it's been a while since i practiced that but hey #LOOK. I just firmly believe that anything can be christian if you're brave enough #and an unrequited love that blooms into beautiful flowers that kill you? #like sometimes brokenness isn't exactly ugly is it? #and sometimes sin looks so beautiful and tempting #but they kill you nevertheless because of want for something that you cannot have for being destroyed too #anyway apologies if this is very theologically inaccurate #I'm stil learning about the Bible and i really don't want to misinform anyone about the story of the Bible #so here is my disclaimer for it #anyway I've been obssessed with this trope ever since some discord people wrote fics using it

[alienaiver]

Summary: Even if the Seven Days of Mourning has passed, your grief will not let you rest. Your father, your kingdom's crown, has untimely left the earth. Now it's your job to go from Crown-in-Waiting to actual Crown of the Karasuno Kingdom. With the kingdom's grief and responsibility on your shoulders, it's your time to rule - all the while figuring out how an assassination on your beloved father succeeded. You're just grateful that you have your advisor - and biggest supporter - Sugawara Koushi, by your side to ground you.

wordcount: 28.7k words

General tags: Royal Advisor AU, Fantasy AU, SFW, mild to medium angst, gender neutral reader, POC!friendly reader, bodytype!friendly reader, slow-burn, romance, no use of y/n, comfort, mutual pining, idiots to lovers, reader is royalty, mentions of loss and grief, minor character death (reader's father), these idiots are so tense and official around each other that it hurts, minor violence, surely it should be illegal to type out 'your majesty' as much as i have, i'm sorry if my little crime solving takes up space - i dont even like the crime and thriller genre 🤡, i cared too much abt world-building here, if anyone wanna know the economic history of this world (including the three recessions and inflation time periods) let me know! im insane!, vaguely described sword fighting and related wounds in the final chaper go to each chapter for more detailed tags and warnings

A/N: i have made a big effort into making this reader as gender neutral as possible so that men, women and nonbinary people can all insert themselves! therefor i refer to the ruler of the kingdom as 'the crown' instead of king/queen etc! clothes are not described in whether or not theyre pants/dresses but instead in fabric and colors. this has been my main goal as a nb person! ✨ i hope i succeeded! otherwise i dont have much else to say, but that i hope u enjoy this baby of mine! 🧡

Chapter 1: miles, 8.7k words

Chapter 2: inches, 7.9k words

Chapter 3: collision, 12k words

ao3 link

#haikyuu x reader #sugawara koushi x reader #hq x reader #gender neutral reader insert #sugawara x reader #haikyuu x you #ARE YALL READY?!!!! im not im so anxious (and excited) 👀 #nohr.writing #i am formatting the first chapter's post as we speak so that i can post it in a few hours !!!!!! #i gotta be honest w ya tho: ive been AutisticTM about this and have worked way too hard on details u might never see LKFJSKNFS #and i am insanely perfectionist WHILE this is my first fantasy so im SO PICKY ABT MY OWN WORK!!! but ive decided to still post #like theres. so much. that needs to line up when making an au huh!!! its wild and been SO fun #the star and the earth fic #IT GOT A NAME YALL #i came up with an insanely good one right before i fell asleep thatd match the chapter titles but when i woke up i only remembered the chap #ter titles LJFKSDJFKSFJSKDF #now im off to have lunch ilu<33333 #also @ luna i apologize that this notif might make you prematurely excited DNKSADNJKS theres only 2.5hours left tho!!!! <333

[nettleandthorne]

my contribution to Song Saturday!

“Would you think me a liar if I told you I was once something like her?” the Beast asks, sonorous voice soft in the darkness of the graves, and the Gravedigger starts in surprise at the gentle breaking of their shared silence. “Like Maria Crawford?” they ask. The Beast inclines his head, trailing pale fingertips over the name engraved upon a stone as they pass, moss freezing and crumbling to nothing at his touch, carving the letters anew. “Yes. I wore lace and silks and fine gems. Servants wove flowers into the river of my hair.” The Gravedigger stares at him; at his vast height and great hare-like head, dark fur and pale eyes and sharpened teeth. At the uncanny, undoubtable masculinity of the form he walks in. “And something changed you? Was it a curse?” “No," the Beast responds carefully. "I chose for myself to become this. I ached to be free of my skin. To be something…” “Monstrous?” “Something free.” The Beast turns, one ghost-white eye fixed upon the Gravedigger, one hand reaching out to guide them past a sunken, crooked headstone. “You feel that ache, do you not? The urge to tear yourself apart to find the truth of what you are. To remake yourself beyond the constraints you have always known.” The Gravedigger looks away, focusing on navigating the broken limb of that sunken headstone without taking the Beast’s cold hand. There’s something in his gaze that sees far too much of them, sometimes. As though those hallowed eyes look further than the surface of them, seeing down into the pieces of themselves they have always scrambled to hide. The feeling of wrongness in the body they wake in each day. The way they feel so much bigger than their own flesh, straining against the confines of bones too strong to snap beneath nothing but the force of sheer desire. The urge to tear yourself apart to find the truth of what you are.

No one has ever cut to the heart of it like that. No one else has ever seemed to even begin to understand.

birdy - strange birds

#this song is so important for this story #the feeling of strangeness being something that binds two people together #something that draws them to one another and lets them understand each other in a way no one else can #and yes this story is so much about being trans #is it obvious that i'm writing from experience #ms: song saturday #hands in the deep dark earth #apologies if this formatting is gross