Much like Welcome to Nightvale, I feel like a lot of people have forgotten just how big and influential Yuri on Ice was. It fully broke into the mainstream. It was everywhere. Evgenia Medvedeva, the top female figure skater in 2016 and 2017, had YOI plushies thrown to her on the ice and wore a Victuuri tshirt to an interview. Japanese pair skaters Miu Suzaki and Ryuichi Kihara skated to the YOI theme at the fucking Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics. The Olympics. Canadian ice dancer Joseph Johnson did the ‘J.J. Style’ hand symbol in the kiss and cry. Johnny Weir made me cry by talking about how he wished the homophobic world of figure skating he experienced could have been more like the kinder world of Yuri on Ice.
There were cameos and references to it everywhere. Everyone was talking about it. People who had never watched anime were watching it. It was so big it crashed Crunchyroll and Tumblr. Twice. And all that for what was at its core, a queer love story that helped pave the way for more queer stories to come.
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can’t talk about it
[ID: Black and white comic of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. The comic starts with the sounds "thud, thud, click". Vash, mid-action of peeling an apple, turns to the sound, noticing who it was that entered, and says, "Oh, Wolfwood, you're back." He resumes back to his apple in the next panel as he speaks, "Where'd you go? You snuck out of bed quickly this morning..." Wolfwood's hand then enters the panel, hovering over Vash's cheek and Vash looks up as Wolfwood asks, "Can I?" Vash responds, "Not going to talk about it?" while using a hand to gently hold Wolfwood's hovering hand and presses a kiss to his inner palm.
Vash then gets up fully, setting down the knife down on the table and the apple onto a plate, He leans into Wolfwood as Wolfwood explains, "Had to meet someone. Nothing interesting to talk about." Vash kisses Wolfwood's left cheek and a hand moves to cup his other cheek while muttering, "You're being vague." Wolfwood says neutrally, "If yer really that curious, keep askin'. We can talk about that instead of doing this." Vash leans back and responds, "Let's talk after, since... You look so tired."
The panel pans to a close up of Wolfwood's downcast eyes, bags heavy underneath his eyes. He doesn't allow Vash to sit in that moment for long though, then saying, "Yer not helping, Spikey. Being all slow with it... I could fall asleep right now." He moves his hand to start unclasping Vash's coat, starting from his collar. Vash with red cheeks, responds briskly, "Oh, shut up. I'm worried about you. I can't be worried?"
The final shot shows Wolfwood's back to the viewer while Vash's softened expression can be seen as he holds gently onto the side of Wolfwood's face and a hand firm on his waist. Wolfwood responds, "I'm fine, seriously," pausing for a moment before continuing, "Is it okay to still..?" Vash responds, "Yeah, it's okay."
The next image is a shot from later that night after the previous comic. Vash and Wolfwood are now in bed, half naked. Wolfwood's buries his face into Vash's chest, his arms wrapped around him, while Vash is petting at his hair. Vash reminds him, "Hey. You said we'd talk about it." Wolfwood pauses for a moment before piping up, "In the morning? I'm sleepy." Vash says, "Okay..."
The next two pages start from the morning after. Wolfwood is already fully awake, pulling on his outer jacket as he says to Vash, whos' still bundled in his blankets, "Breakfast is on the table. Make sure to eat it. I'm going to grab some things in town and then we're leavin'. Got it?" Vash says, "Mh." Wolfwood responds, "Good. See ya in a bit." The dialogue starts to shift into Vash's inner thoughts now, as he gets up and eats toast, thinking, "Wait. Weren't we supposed to... talk about it?" The next shot then shows him fully up, meeting Wolfwood in town. He carries a half worried expression with him while Wolfwood slides on his glasses for him. A quick panel shows Wolfwood's tired expression from the night before and quickly juxtaposes with Wolfwood in front of him who's smiling gently, the shades covering his eye bags. Wolfwood asks him, "Still not awake yet?" Vash pauses, his thoughts stirring, thinking, "Oh. I guess I was getting ahead of myself... thinking you owe me that kind of honesty." He smiles at Wolfwood and responds, "I'm awake!" His thoughts continue, "Maybe one day, you'd trust me enough to share your burdens."
The final image shows Wolfwood pulling at Vash's cheek and Vash complains, "Owwwww why..." Wolfwood quickly says, "You were thinking something stupid, right? It's all over yer face." Vash mutters, "Nooo, I wasn't..." END ID]
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today was not a good day, and I can tell that it was not a good day because I could not sing along to music in the car, and that seems ridiculous, but singing loudly and badly to throwback songs is my go-to method for cheering myself up, and it works every time. I could be in tears, and I’ll turn on a song, and start singing, and I’m fine by the time it ends, but today I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t smile, and I couldn’t sing, and when I tried, I almost cried, and I haven’t felt this sad in a long time.
my day started with picking up my dad at 5:30 a.m. he disappeared for hours, and i told him not to come back because this was the third time, and he texted me at 5:30 a.m., and for some god forsaken reason, even though my phone was dead, i spontaneously woke up with an urge to check my computer, and there he was begging me to come pick him up from downtown. and i did. on just a few hours of sleep, i climbed into my car, still shaking, and i found him sitting on the sidewalk next to the train tracks on an empty street, and he made a joke when he got in, and tried to make up some excuse, and i told him i cried myself to sleep, and he looked away, and he said, ‘i’m sorry, chelsea,’ and that broke me. that absolutely shredded me, and i might never recover, because it’s not really his fault, right? he’s a crack addict. he’s been an addict for more than 20 years, and he had cash, and he was next to his dealer, and how could i expect anything less? i know on some level he doesn’t want to hurt me, he cares, he doen’t set out intending to lie, to steal and pawn shit that was precious and irreplaceable, to disappoint my son, to tangle me in this web. i know it hurts his feelings. i see it in his face, his eyes are fucking sad, and his face is so drawn down, and i feel guilty for making him feel bad, for telling the truth. i feel so guilty i regret ever saying it. but this is why i avoided him for almost ten years, this is why i said no every time he needed something, because it might not be his fault, but it isn’t mine either, and i’m tired of being swallowed by these addictions i do not possess because of an empty i can’t seem to get rid of. and on top of that, everyone in my life has just seemed unnecessarily cruel, unwilling to help me out, unwilling to even let me vent when I feel like i must self-combust. i need to go back to work, but no one will babysit for me, or even help me get my kid to and from school, and the only people offering me help are toxic and abusive and people i so desperately want to be rid of, and i feel so goddamn alone. and i’m having health anxiety, and i had two doctors appointments today where i got properly violated, and it’ll still probably be months of referrals before I get answers, and I feel like an awful mom for wasting years of my sons life working and leaving him with a shitty excuse of a father and for subjecting him to our arguments, our toxicity, and it eats away at me, remembering these things, knowing that i’ve subjected him to this trauma he’ll never erase form his dna, i spiral into a panic attack, vomiting, in hysterics, every time i let the thought cross my mind because i was a good mom, and i never yelled, and i put him first, always, and these last two years, i’ve been shit because i’m so fucking traumatized, i can’t reglate my own goddamn nervous system, and he’s seen it all. my panic attacks, my outbursts, our fights, me being assaulted, holes punched in walls, and dents put in cars, and it’s terrified him. and it’s my fault. it’s my fault because I didn’t find a way to end it, and I keep telling myself it’s because I couldn’t afford it, it’s because I didn’t have help, and a part of me will always wonder what it would have been like to have a family who cared enough to help me escape, but still. people do it. every day people do it, and i couldn’t find a way to, and that’s on me. i’ll never forget. and i’ll never forgive myself. and somedays i think i’ll never be happy becaue of it. he’s the sweetest fucking kid, and he loves us both, and he’s still so goddamn good, but he deserved better than this. and i will give him better than this, and it’s never too late to do better, but.it will always be too late to undo what we’ve done and I really don’t know how to live with that. I hate myself for it, and I’ll accept this lonely, miserable life because I feel like I deserve it. and it’s just all piling up. my health & anxiety. my financial instability. the lack of support. the drug addicts. the guilt. so much fucking guilt. the fact that I don’t have one goddamn friend, and everyone wants me to give them so fucking much when I have nothing left. Everyone needs something, always, everything, but no one wants to give me anything in return. I’m tired. I’m sad, and I’m tired, and I’m doing my best.
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So I started playing Lotr Online, the MMO game of Lord of the Rings, and it's been fun so far. Started off as an elf, and was popped into the middle of a dramatic fight I had zero context for. Bad guy stabs me with an evil sword, and screen goes black. I wake up, and my buddies are happy to see me awake. Sorry everyone, didn't mean to scare you. Hey btw, Elrond, how long was I conked out for?
Years? I was in pained coma for years?? I guess that's elves for you, huh
Oh damn, the era changed while I was asleep? What a timing, haha
Year three thousand and- wait. The era changed while I was asleep. And it is now the year three thousand and eighteen of this era.
...
I was in a coma for at least three thousand and then some years??
Elves, man.
Elves.
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Whenever Numenor experienced a plague or outbreak, Elrond came, without fail, to treat the sick and offer the people of the island comfort. He did it for many reasons– to honor the legacy of Elros and his descendants, because he sometimes considered the Numenorians more his people than either elves or men, because he was a healer who believed deeply that all life had value.
Of course, treating mortal plagues is a hazardous business– especially for a part-human medic who is just as susceptible to the disease as his patients.
Elrond, never one to be dissuaded from trying to save lives, tries to find a way to protect himself from the infection while being able to treat his patients. No one in Middle-Earth knows exactly how mortal diseases spread, but it's clear that it spreads from the healthy to the ill– through bad air, coughing, infected blood, or some other means. So, Elrond has to find a way to not make contact with or breathe the same air as his patients. While treating them.
Eventually, he settles on a set of robes that leaves no inch of his skin uncovered, along with heavy, opaque veils and a mask of his own design for his face. The mask– full of athelas flowers to purify the air– is fashioned in the shape of a bird as an homage to Melian, who was said to have healing powers. He made the main piece mask with his own hands, carved it from dragon bone– sturdy, and thought to have protective powers against against diseases and curses. The eyes are made of dark tinted glass that glows faintly– a gift from Celebrimbor.
In all fairness, Elrond did not realize how creepy the bone white mask and fully-black outfit was, especially given his general aura of strangeness ad birdlike mannerisms. He had bigger concerns at the time. That said, his outfit, which kept him from getting sick even during the worst of the outbreak, was soon adopted by many of the Numenorian healers. Over time, the story of the plague doctor shifted became part of Numenor's legend– that healers dressed in such strange outfits to frighten disease away. In that way, the odd, birdlike appearance of the plague doctors soon became a comfort to the Numenorians, rather than a fright.
As gifts for helping with various outbreaks over the years, Elrond also got several plague doctor masks that were decorated, more for style than for purpose. He wears them at fancy elvish events sometimes, just to mess with everyone. And whenever he heads off to Numenor, he always makes sure to bring his full plague-doctor regalia, just so the people there will know he's always there to protect them from any lurking plagues.
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ooo fantasy au Poppy oooo there's so much empty space on this, it's killing me
rambles:
why is there lace? why does she have a neck corset? because she's Gorgeous and I'm the Artist Here. i will always inflict my personal tastes on everyone I draw. pretty bird <3
it's really difficult to put clothes on a bird... stream helped out a bunch with the colors & the leg gear! I imagine that the leather is durable, which is probably the only thing that gets her to traverse less Forgiving terrain. Thornbushes and itchy tallgrass can't hurt her! she's got "boots"! How Does She Secure Them, i hear no one ask. that's what neighbors are for, isn't it? and a skilled beak once she gets the swing of it.
her shawl remains largely the same due to my lack of imagination! i put a lil feather clasp instead of the shawl being tied together to give it a more fantasy-oriented look. i think i succeeded? i like to think so! i imagine that the clasp gives Poppy some stress, though. It's sharp! Ish. it's sharp by her standards!
Poppy's enchanted glasses allow her to "see" injuries and illness, both caused by magical & normal means. this is very helpful in her role as healer, but also extremely stressful - just because she can see issues doesn't mean she automatically knows what they are! to her, a papercut may be misinterpreted by the beginnings of a fatal infection! i like to think that she got tired of needing to hold the glasses in place over her beak and asked if there was a charm to keep them steady. and they confidently had their resident wizard spell them on - oops! the spell was a little too strong! they're now magically superglued on! yeah, those are never coming off.
she also has a magic bag that i imagine was a gift from her family when she left the nest! she'd never directly use it herself - what if she falls in? what if something nasty managed to crawl inside? - but the Neighborhood uses it as collective storage. it can hold a lot! supplies, books, tents, gold, even Julie when she's determined enough!
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