#like it would be at home in moominland

[flowerbloom-arts]

Reconciling the age difference of the books but also the plots from the comics for an adaptation is such an interesting thing to think about when pertaining to Mymble Jr and Snorkmaiden's friendship.

I love the immediate solidarity they form when discussing, ahem, "liking to be carried off", but when you factor in the rough ages of their characters in the books it gets interesting.

Moominpappa says he doesn't remember his age in MP's Memoirs, but if he flip back to Exploits of MP he says that at the time of writing he's 39 years old and turning 40 in August of that year. If Moominpappa had to actively run away from the Foundling Home instead of just aging out of it, that would make him under 18 when he joined the Oshun Oxtra.

When we meet Mymble Jr in Memoirs, she seems marginally younger than even Moominpappa but has developed a want to gain independence from her family, which... Probably places her as younger than MP but not by too much, I personally picked 6 or 7 years younger but I dunno I haven't concretely decided on that.

And then there's Snorkmaiden who is decidedly a child in Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll along with the rest of her friends, whether she's prepubescent or a tween is hard to say but she is a child.

I imagine in my personal book x comic timeline the adaptation of Moomin's Desert Island would take place after Finn Family but before MP gets sick and decides to write his Memoirs, serving as a true introduction to Mymble Jr as the Moominparents' peppy old friend who got rescued from drowning and dragged into their island adventure.

Mymble Jr and Snorkmaiden always have this cute solidarity/friendship between them and I think adding such an age difference would add another layer to their dynamic, that their similarities would stem from Snorkmaiden following Mymble as the only person who really gets her in this deeply fundamental way. And while they're both absolute messes of people they greatly support eachother in their wacky romantic endeavors and get into silly tiffs in which it's Snorkmaiden doesn't realistically have a moral chance but it's all in good fun, because Mymble taught her that romance is supposed to be plain fun and games, just as Mymble learned from her mother.

#moomins #moominvalley #art #moomin snorkmaiden #the snorkmaiden #snorkmaiden #the mymbles daughter #moomin mymble #the mymble's daughter #mymble jr #hodgepodge and mudslide #moomin comics #I've been thinking about Snorkmaiden n Fuzzy n the characters around them alot bc of my fic so yeah

[mycherrycola]

I got tagged by @kusurrone (it's my first tag game :D)

real name: OwO

Gender: girl!

Best friend: he is not on tumblr

If my life was a tv show: it would be Twin Peaks if the show revolved around the character Harold Smith

How do I feel: so so sleepy!!

Last song: I took a nap to some Ghost album so it must've been Respite on the Spitalfields

Favourite colour: sometimes it's pink sometimes purple!

Last movie: I think it was My Lucky Stars (1985)... It has a cute young Jackie Chan in it. 10/10 Hong Kong comedy in my opinion

Last tv show: I have to admit. It was definitely Supernatural (I like to binge it when I do commissions ok sue me)

Sweet, spicy, or savoury? I want to say savory but I can't think of a single savory food that I like atm

Relationship status: standing at the top of the lighthouse wistfully gazing out across the sea, hoping that the next wave to crest the horizon will be the one to bring him home

Last thing I Googled: "j c leyendecker women'

Current obsession: Ghost. It's the band Ghost. I'm so sorry

Looking forward to: I haven't planned that far ahead

Currently reading: Crime and Punishment (husband has a stack of Russian lit and I never got to read them in high school so I'm catching up)

Song stuck in head: Lucky Star by Nessa Barrett (definitely wasn't triggered by typing out My Lucky Stars (1985))

Favourite food: controversial take but I will always go for a McDonald's cheeseburger. American cheese is hellspawn and I'm addicted to it.

Dream trip: We're talking about going to Greece and Italy but I would love to visit Finland (for Moominland park and no other reason actually)

I'm tagging @lady-gothique @keevan @disabled-sapphic @theotherdeer and @piaart (no pressure! I just picked from my mutuals >.< ୨❤︎୧)

#reblogs denied #tag games #the artist's files

[cozypeachtea]

Ooo no i would actually be very interested to hear ur thoughts on their species and such! I think it would be so interesting:0

ahhhh thank you! i have so many moomin thoughts to share but they unfortunately bounce around in my brain and i don’t organize them well. therefore! here is a list of my thoughts in regards to moomins and surrounding species:

- do moomins have opposable thumbs? my friend asked me this two years ago and i still think about it. i would assume so since they hold things the same way we do but that leads me to wonder:

- how long have moomins walked on just their legs? sure, they crawl from time to time, but so do we. it seems most of their surrounding species are in the same boat as them, but their ancestors (the little ones in moominland midwinter) crawl around.

- how many moomins are there? this ask was in response to a post i made asking people’s thoughts on the possibility of snorks/moomins/hemulens being different evolutions of the same original ancestor. inter-species relationships seem to be very common in the moomin world and it just makes me wonder how many moomins are out there? we really only know of the moomin family (including aunt jane, moominmamma’s grandmother etc.).

- how long do moomins live? if the ancestor is still out and about and the sample size of moomins we know are so young, how long do they have? i think a common consensus of moomin fans is that moomins do live a long time, which would make sense to me, considering it wouldn’t make sense via evolution for a species to change to die earlier. (@meadowlarker mentioned one time that she thought moomins just grow and grow until they turn into mountains and i’ve always thought about it because it’s so beautiful!)

- are snorks meant to migrate? when we meet snorkmaiden and snork they are travelling like snufkin is. if they are distantly related to moomins, who hibernate, then they probably don’t like winters. are they supposed to migrate??? i need to know!!!!

- are moomins meant to travel?? it’s a reoccurring plot point that moominpappa, and occasionally moominmamma need to leave their home for some adventure. for such settling down centric creatures it’s an interesting idea! moomin also has this curiosity in the world that i think would benefit from travel. maybe one year he joins snufkin i don’t know

- how much of a mumrik is snufkin? joxter, being our one example, is lazy and constantly on the move. despite snufkin leaving every winter, spring to fall is a long time to be in one place (even if you’re in love). we know snufkin is half mymble and i wonder if this makes settling down for periods of time bearable.

- do moomins get thicker fur in the winter? this is more of a hypothetical question because they must! and wouldn’t it be so cute!

i think that’s all for now! i think tove would tell me to just stop taking it all so seriously. but please! if anyone has thoughts i want to know them all. i also didn’t take science past second year of high school so if i’m completely misunderstanding basic evolutionary concepts please let me know!

#also if i missed any moomin lore lemme know #thank you for the ask! #moomin #fio speaks

[caliginouscreature]

If you may have a fictotype, how do you tell your “noemata” apart from strongly-held headcanons or projecting?

Psychological nonhumanity is a hot topic for all kinds of debates and discussions, and understandably so.  There’s tons of room for variation, and infinite possible reasons and presentations for it from copinglinking to fictherianthropy.  But with non/alterhumanity of any origin, lack of “memories” is a known struggle with those wondering whether or not they may “count” (and is something I intend to dedicate a separate post to talking about later).  This is where a new community term, “noema” (pronounced “no-ee-muh”), was introduced to possibly fill in an area of ambiguity left in the wake of such worries.  It’s a term left rather vague on purpose, making it useful for describing many kinds of feelings.

It is often described as feeling like “just knowing” something about your ’type, whether it’s something about their body, past, home, opinions... could be anything!  But, in some circumstances, how can you tell the difference between true noemata, and fan theories one has dwelled upon so long and hard that they just “feel right”?  Can you trick yourself into thinking you “just know” something by forgetting how long you’ve actually thought about it?  Is “feeling right” all it can take to count?

In this thinking-out-loud post, I’d like to point at the character of Snufkin from the Moomins franchise-- a character who seems like a great example to use due both to how I myself find him relatable, and how I’ve seen other Moomins fans receive and interpret him through fan content.

Isn’t he spiffy!

There is no other fandom I’ve yet been in where so many of the fans (at least in the english-speaking one, that I myself was in) had never actually interacted with the bulk of the source material.  Sure, some watched the ’90s anime on youtube, but large quantities of fans never touched the books or comics (even those that have official english versions, pirated or not), or sometimes even only got their material through fanart and fanfic.  A quantifiable amount of english-language Moomins fanworks from around 2019 are going off of nothing but what “feels right”.

Now, this isn’t just me looking for an excuse to whine about the shallowness of the Moomins fandom, or me trying to invalidate people who don’t really interact with the sources of their ’types.  But in my opinion, it’s a comparison I can’t help but make.  How far can you basically just go off of vibes?  How do you know what counts?

It’s like, fascinatingly easy to get your brain used to a certain headcanon.  Even some diehard Moomins fans-- ones who actually do go to the trouble of digging up and consuming obscure canon material-- could admit it’s easy to forget that Snufkin isn’t confirmed to be canonically transgender.  “Trans Snufkin” is an extremely popular headcanon in the english Moomins fandom, and most who hold it, myself sometimes included, would tell you it’s because it simply “feels right”.  It’s to the point that many consider it a vital part of how they write and read Snufkin!

Projecting onto a character you see a bit of yourself in is also pretty easy to do, by accident or otherwise.  Most Moomins fans I see doing this do it with Moomintroll, but it’s arguably even more obvious when it’s done with Snufkin.  I once saw a fic (which I won’t link, so as not to possibly get them teased), which the author admitted was written as a form of vent art, where Snufkin hated coffee... but if you read Comet in Moominland, where Snufkin is introduced, one of the very first things he ever says is asking for coffee, he likes it so much!  Something similar goes for fics that make Snufkin speak any swear words, a thing he is confirmed to dislike.  How much of this is active self-indulgence, and how much is due to it “feeling right” to the author?  I try and notice when I may be projecting on a character or not, because I find it to be useful in my work, but we can’t all be so self-aware (and who knows, I may be less self-aware than I think!).

Back to fictotypy... I am well aware that one’s ’type ID isn’t always going to be a 1:1 to how it is in canon.  To compare the phenomenon to fictives, I’ve met multiple manifestations of the same character across different systems, and none of them are identical (even if there are multiple fictives of the same character within one system!)!  If someone turns out to be a Snufkin, and they can’t force themself to like coffee, that doesn’t make them any less a Snufkin.  They may just be a Snufkin from an adaptation where his opinions on coffee are unclear, or a Snufkin from an AU!  ... or maybe they just hate coffee that much, hehe.

But how can a Snufkin-- or someone who may be of any character/species ID-- tell their possible noemata apart from some other similar non-noemata thing?  When I come to a “headcanon” or “interpretation” of something from fiction, it often feels like a process of going “Hey, it’d be cool or interesting if...” or “It could make sense that...” and then pondering and scanning canon material to possibly back it up so that it can sound legit enough to not ping as OOC to an onlooker (at least if I explain it, depending).  Ponder any of these long enough, and they can wind up “feeling right”, in a way, even if I took an active role in figuring out how they might work and know they may not be truly canon. Are my numerous theories and headcanons about the species that the Groke belongs to that have little-to-no canon backup the result of me being very autistic and having an immense passion for worldbuilding, or could their combination of how I relate to the Groke herself make them evidence of noemata for a possible ID?  When I get offended if Snufkin is written or treated a certain way in fanworks, is it just me being a stickler for canon compliance and feeling hurt when traits in him I relate to are demonized, or could it also be a sign I may be a Snufkin?  I’m already pleased that I look a bit like him in real life, but I’m not sure I feel if I am a Snufkin, as it’s not really as intense a desire as some of my other possible IDs... folks argue that such IDs need not be intense or constant and can be experienced casually, but how can I tell the difference?

When, as beings with human brains wired to delight in such pattern recognition and ascribing meanings to the like, can anyone tell the difference?  How do I tell my noemata apart from what may just be thoughts about my possible IDs that I like to have?  As someone who’s questioning several possible IDs and is uncertain about ’most all of them, it’s hard for me to know the differences that define this.

A fun little question to any artists with ’types from fiction, to close this post off with: When you write or draw fanart of the character or species you may ID with to post in public, do you base their interpretation off of what you feel are your noemata, or do you tend to lean more to what will be more definitely canon-compliant?  Why or why not?  If you do the latter, does it make you question your ““validity””?  Is making fanworks of your ID a pretty personal experience, or is it more of a separate thing you can do for fun?  Does it vary?

#noemata #moomin kin #fictionkin #fictionkind #fictionkith #fictionhearted #otherkind #synpath #tagging this w moomin kin b/c it's relevant tbh. maybe a serious Snufkinkin might see this #this post is obv very much more about psychological IDs. if you get Visions or your Soul just Knows then good for u #I'm so perplexed like would I ACTUALLY have a semi-prehensile tail or do I just think it'd be nice? also who doesn't want that lol #I'm full of ponderings like that. and ones even yet more niche and specific *shrugs!!*

[characteroulette]

Okay in a truly unhinged fashion I have made my s4 Moominvalley pitch because I am obsessed gremlin with IDEAS

placed under a read more because it's a lot

--

Comet in Moominland Arc

-Ep 1-5 are standard fare. Change from Autumn to Winter to spring. Always a hint of weird going ons, always a little background detail of the star w/a tail, but nothing in the foreground yet. (The charas notice, but they've got episode concerns to deal with.) Maybe like one episode dedicated to Little My trying to figure out what's up with Snork Maiden and Moomin, who haven't been as sappy lately, only to find out that the two are content in being just friends for now. (Still soul mates of course who love each other a lot, but not dating.) (Little My like SNUFF MAKE YOUR MOVE!! And Snuff like ??? What are you talking about??)

-Ep 6 transitions to Summer and we get some heavy rains. Not enough to flood, but enough to drive off Snuff. While Moomin + fam muse over storm, Muskrat starts philosophising on the nature of the star w/a tail. (Pappa mentions it's something one of his old friends would draw.) In the morning, the kids go down to the beach! (OH also, rains make Moomin remember when his family first arrived in Moominvalley. He and Sniff were scared, Mamma was desperately searching for Pappa, and their house had washed here from the flood. Also how Moomin First met Snuff by following the campfire trail to arrive at his site!)

-Ep 7 starts w/the world awash in ash. Everyone is freaking out that the world's lost its colour, but calms once the ash is revealed. It's weird, though. And Moomin decides someone ought to look into it. He writes a note for Snuff, who had yet to return, then gathers his crew (Sniff, Little My, + Snorkmaiden; Snork is busy examining the ash thing) and strikes out down the river to the observatory up in the Lonely Mountains. (Muskrat or Pappa mentions this.) They get into some peril, of course, but are rescued by a flute-player who calls himself the Joxter.

-Ep 8, Snuff returns only for Mamma to give him the note. He panics just a little, going straight after the crew. (Snork asks to join? Snuff lets him?) Cut back to Moomin and co. w/this new character. Moomin + Snork Maiden kinda getting Snufkin vibes off him, Little My disagrees whole-heartedly, Sniff just likes his carefree attitude. He notes that his forebodings told him of the danger the signs (star w/tail) brought with them + was looking for higher ground to escape it. Otherwise, he's been living in a fruit tree. (Sniff likes this.) The gang run into a Hemulin bug collector + Joxter pranks the man into releasing all his specimen (??), which is definitely a Snuff thing to do (Moomin decides, much against Snork Maiden + Sniff's opinions). Little My decides this Joxter's aight and the crew keep ascending them Mountains.

-Ep 9 starts w/the crew finding the den of garnets. Sniff is too entranced to walk away, so they all take a detour to look around. (Joxter laments the lack of use pretty gems have? Maybe? You can't eat 'em and they're too heavy to keep!) Right as they discover the lizard who's made this den its home, Snuff + Snork arrive for assistance! Everyone safely out of the den (though their supplies halved due to the backpack getting torn), introductions are made. Snuff doesn't really like Joxter, or that Moomin's grown fond of him (seemingly), but Joxter seems as nervous about Snuff.

-Ep 10, the crew have made it to the Observatory! Though none of the scientists are willing to give Moomin or Snork Maiden the time of day, they are willing to answer Snuff + Joxter's inquiry. That star, which has been growing more + more visible in the sky, is a comet. And it's hurtling straight for Moominvalley. Its impact is estimated for 4 days, 17 hrs, 23 mins, give or take 5 mins. The crew gotta sit with this knowledge a minute, terrified + upset, then Moomin breaks them out of it by saying they gotta warn the valley. They gotta get Mamma + Pappa to safety. Start the scramble down the mountain! In which they land in some peril by a flesh-eating plant! (Snork Maiden + Moomin both get caught, leading Snuff to work w/Joxter to free them. Snork also helps!)

-Ep 11, the world is growing noticeably redder. The water's drying up at a pretty steady and rapid rate. Meaning they can't get back home via that way. Before Snuff can chime in, Joxter professes to knowing a shortcut and leads them to the dried-up sea. Return of stilts! Moomin offers to carry Little My, which she refuses at first. (Snuff is trying not to freak out about this Joxter fellow.) They come across one particularly interesting shipwreck and look inside. Moomin + Snuff get caught by the octopus inside, unfortunately, trying to keep Sniff out of mischief again. This time, Snork Maiden + Little My to the rescue! Everyone glad to be safe, we continue on. (Little My offers to carry Moomin on her shoulders lol, but then accepts him carrying her.) We end at the shores of Moominvalley, just one day left until the comet strikes.

-Ep 12, pandemonium. The Valley folk are in hysterics over the red world of the comet. Moomin rushes home w/crew to find Mamma + Pappa. Unfortunately, tornado strikes at that time + the crew end up getting caught + saved by Mymble and the hot air balloon. Moomin laments that it's a terrible birthday gift, this comet, while Mymble and Joxter are more than shocked to see one another again. (Little My like is THIS my dad?? And both like nope!) Due to some tiff, Moomin ends up getting knocked overboard + plummeting to the forest below. Snuff + co are uhhh pretty upset by this! (Little My calls him bro oop) Thankfully, Moomin's okie, just a bit bunged up. But now he's even more despair and cries for his Mamma and Pappa. Who find him! Surprisingly! Mamma reassures him that even grown adults will need help from their parents from time to time and Pappa asks after the adventure, but no time for that. They've got a comet to take cover from.

-Ep 13, finale! Mymble and Joxter flew off together to escape comet. The rest of the crew comes to help Moomin family move their things to that cave on the beach. (Hang curtains on the outside and use the rest of Snuff's sun oil! Yeah.) Though a bit disorganised at first, they all come together as a team in the end! Although once everything's settled, sniff bolts out because he forgot something! And Moomin + Snuff chase after him. Now is Not the time,but Snuff ends up asking after Joxter any way. Moomin answers distractedly, more focused on finding Sniff, until he notices Snuff just being real upset + they have to pause for that talk. (Meanwhile, Mamma can't find Moomin's b-day cake. Looks like the Muskrat sat on it whoop.) Let Snuff be the jealous one for once is all I'm saying. Moomin reassures Snuff that they're best friends, that nothing could change the way he feel inside, then Snuff blurts out that he wants something more than just friendship. (Let Moomin show off his growth is all I'm asking pls.) Moomin approaches cautiously and Snuff is in panic 'oh shit I have to say this now' mode. Snuff admits tha the loves Moomin, he's always loved him, but it scares him. Such a big, selfish desire isn't right after all. It isn't freeing at all. Moomin steps in and bumps his snoot to Snuff's, saying that love doesn't have to be selfish. Take it from a Moomin who's had to learn the hard way! Sniff finds them (w/Toffle the plush bby) and the gang quickly head back to take shelter.

"It's frightening, of course. It might be something so big that you're sure it would change the whole world. And maybe it will. But if you keep your paw in mine and we weather this together, then it will pass. And though we are changed forevermore, we'll still have each other. From there, we'll just have to take things as they come, step by step."

-Comet descends, but only grazes the surface. Soon enough, daylight breaks into the morning and the sky is blue once more. Everyone piles out and sees the sea returning in big, choppy waves + celebration! Singing, dancing, and hollering gallore! Snuff + Moomin dance together, paw in paw, a sort of excited anticipation about them. They have survived, and they're going to make the most of it as they can.

-End!

(Listen,it either ends this way or w/Winter arriving + Snuff gifting his harmonica to Moomin before leaving on his travels. That shit SLAPPED the 90s anime knew what it was doing!!)

#Moominvalley 2019 #Moominvalley #Momo writes stuff #S4 pitch #Comet in Moominland #Listen I just love Comet in Moominland a lot #Gotta make a big event outta it #Can only make canon gays in finales am I right #Anyway yeah this was my morning lol #Joxter neither confirmed nor denied #As it should be in this series lol

[cottonthumb]

Earlier this morning I was thinking about children’s TV shows and caught myself wondering what Milo must’ve liked when he was little.

The Moomins immediately came to mind. It’s charming, magical, but there’s a gentleness to it that feels like home. He had a copy of Comet in Moominland when he was little, but an unfortunate accident would have many of the pages eaten by a hungry little Wooloo. Milo was inconsolable for days.

He also ended up watching the Pokémon equivalent of the movie Watership Down once, though that left him with a slight fear for Bunearys, Bunnelby, and other rabbit like Pokémon that lasted until he was about twelve.

So... what sort of media (books, show, etc) did your muses enjoy when they were kids? 

#musings #just a little thought u0u

[inatelescopelens]

london 6th december

As today’s weather promised to be the best we were likely to see in the foreseeable future, we decided to take a trip up to Camden Town to visit the market, somewhere in London I had not been before. The walk from the station, though, offered a familiar view of touristic gimmicks and souvenir shops reminiscent of a seaside town, delightfully tacky. This theme continued across the waters of the canal in the market itself, awash with all the usual mass-produced trinkets. Every now and then the pattern was broken by a shopfront of genuine independence—vinyl and CDs, vintage clothes, original designs. It was the structure itself, with its narrow walkways and kitschy atmosphere, which gave it charm. It was only just around midday but the market was heaving.

There was a reason I wanted to come to Camden, however, and it was not just to see all the same tat and oddities I remember from the Queen Vic Market at home transposed to brick backyards by the Lock. For years I have imagined visiting one particular shop located here—the Moomin shop, tucked away in one of the quieter laneways where the cobblestone was clean and the crowd had yet to spread. I was surprised it was so quiet, when in my mind this had been the market’s prime destination. The Tove Jansson-themed store boasted Moomin everything—Moomin toys, Moomin crockery, Moomin chocolate, Moomin clothes, of course Moomin books. If I lived in London and could visit this shop every week, I think my home would quickly become overrun with Moomins. As it was I settled for a Moomin plate and matching spoon and fork, and a beautiful hardcover copy of Jansson’s Moominland Midwinter, to remember this dark and cold time of year I bought it in by. 

For lunch the market offered an international array of street dishes, its food courts steadily becoming the busiest spots as the day wore on and people began to get hungry. I already knew where I meant to go—I made a carefully pre-researched selection of falafels, served with hummus and salad and pickles and tahini and shared with Mum. The falafels themselves were crispy with a moist and flavoursome chickpea middle, as good as any I have tried elsewhere. For only nine pound fifty in total, it was good value for money.

In the early afternoon we walked from Camden Market along the canal, past barges and repurposed industrial sites, all the way to King’s Cross, a very bleak but beautiful area that seemed to me a kind of fantasy steampunk setting so detached from the rest of the city. A school of design and great towers of apartments and offices have taken root amongst the skeletons of the desolate workman’s world which used to exist there; it was peaceful but contrived. It was around now we managed to catch a few proper glimpses of the sun since it was a clear day. Already halfway to the horizon, it coloured the autumn-leaf trees.

From King’s Cross we took the Victoria Line back to Oxford Circus, where we were flung headfirst into another form of vivacious tourist shopping. Oxford St, as well as the halls of Liberty and Selfridges, was suffocating in Christmas. The wooden archways of Liberty’s highest level were covered in string lights which illuminated the decoration collection, while Selfridges offered a more unique take with its tree made up of bright green designer clothes. In the Selfridges foodhall we purchased a small wedge of black truffle cheddar and a box of crisp sourdough crackers and added them to our spoils of the day.

Homewards-bound we waited in the cold by Marble Arch for a while longer than perhaps necessary for a bus home, but we had the front two seats on the second level of the double-decker, so it was worth it. As we drove along Hyde Park, in the heart of which we spotted the gleaming big top and thrill rides of the Christmas fairground, became a dark wall silhouetted on our right side, and the streets were in shadow by the time we made it to Notting Hill Gate. We ate ready-made pastas in the evening and went to bed quietly—maybe the strain of travel was catching up a little, I didn’t have many words except for the ones I had energy to write. But I was happy that I had finally been able to visit the Moomin shop. It had been on my mind for a long time.

[jojo-reader-hell]

Dude, can I request something for Rohan’s innocent, small, kind, little sister dating josuke? Could be Headcanons or an imagine. Be it when he finds out or jusg in general. But it’s totally fine if you don’t want to or can’t do this request too. Thanks

This. This right here. This is what made me love Josuke.

I didn’t know if you meant that Josuke found out who she was, or if Rohan did, so I just wrote it as Josuke finding out. (Also isn’t this gif the cutest? Imagine he’s there with you drinking coffee at the cafe 🥰)

“Hey Miss! You forgot your Moomin!”

You’d never let him live it down, not even years later down the line when you’d be expecting your firstborn together in college. The image was burned in your mind of your meeting: Josuke in all his Elvis pomp glory, running after you in the train station, holding hands with a fluffy and fat white hippo toy, waving it around like a dork. Little did you know you’d look back on this day as him being your knight in shining armor, or more like knight with fluffy Moomin. Often you would tease him about his childlike exuberance, meanwhile he didn’t let you live down the high pitched noise you made when you saw him holding your plush toy, nor did he let you forget your delightful cry of “Moomee!” when he finally gave it back to you.

“Thank you! Thank you for bringing back my Moomee!” You cried, “I didn’t know I dropped him.”

“Heh, no big deal! I thought he was too cute to be left behind, and it’s easy to see he belonged to you.”

You smiled at the insinuation, noticing that he was also pointing to the charm of a funny little man in green on your backpack. As naturally as love can progress, the next thing you knew was that he was following you to your destination, gushing about the show and the books. Moominland Midwinter, which you later found out was his favorite book, launched the both of you into an hours long discussion of a mutual dream to live in a bath house by the sea. You took your conversation to a local sweet shop. It was nice to chat Moomins over an ice cream sundae. Especially when you’d never actually been asked out on an impromptu date by a cute boy before. Even better was the fact that every time you said something nice, he reached out to pet your hand with a smile.

You found out a lot of things about Josuke that day. It was all things no other girl would ever have the privilege of knowing. His favorite character was Too Ticky, and he confided in you that the character he related to the most was Ninny.

“Sometimes I feel like disappearing.” His voice dropped to a low hum, his nimble fingers rubbing the back of your hand as he walked you home. “So many things happen at once, often the majority of them are bad, and I don’t know how else to stop it. I feel like maybe if I could disappear like she could, it would be easier. I just wouldn’t want anyone to find me, so the bell around the neck is out.”

“But remember... All she needed was a little kindness to help her face the bad times.” You smiled, stopping just a short ways from your street. “And I think that’s what you need too.”

Josuke was just so enamored, his heart beating a mile a minute as you kissed his hand and told him if it ever got depressing that he could call on you. That is if he ever wanted to talk about more than just Moomins and the like. It was like a dream, you slipping your telephone number in his hand, him asking if he could please lean down to hug you goodbye, and especially the quick peck he had to sneak on your cheek before you took off for your house.

The day would have been almost perfect. Almost, he says, and this always makes you upset when he says it was almost perfect, because no sooner did he turn around to ride Cloud Nine all the long way back home, tiny Koichi’s gaping fish face assaulted his line of vision.

“B-b-b-bRUH?!?! D-DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT WAS THAT YOU JUST KISSED GOODBYE?!” Koichi squealed.

“Huh?!”

Yep. It was an almost perfect day, because that was the day he decided that the surname Kishibe just wouldn’t suit you at all. Higashikata was far better.

#jojo’s bizzare adventure #josuke higashitaka #josuke higashikata x reader #jojo josuke #jjba diamond is unbreakable #jojo’s bizarre adventure diamond is unbreakable #jjba diu #diamond is unbreakable #tales from moominvalley #look rohan this is my new boyfriend #rohan kishibe #Moomins

[jancmalandra]

Moominpapa Steps Up

On going home in style

When he awoke Thursday morning, Moominpapa decided to do his best not to worry about Friday, which was when Moominmama, Snork Maiden, and Little My were hopefully returning. Thanks to him guiding everyone's efforts all week, Moominhouse was spotless, Moominmama's vegetable garden was in superb shape and everyone was well fed. He had laid out the plan for the welcome home party on Friday, and everyone was ready to spring into action once the three women returned. He really had done all he could. He also knew that Moominmama would forgive him. Their love had withstood every test that time and chance had thrown at them, and this time it would be no different.

He announced a day off from chores at breakfast. He encouraged Moomintroll, Snufkin, Tayberry, and Moomin to focus on preparing a welcome for the three women when they arrived on Friday.

"Nothing too big or showy is necessary," he said, "I'm going to give Moominmama a bouquet of flowers from her flower garden, so please don't do that. You must try to think of some small way that you can show them how much you love them."

That evening, Moominpapa, Moomintroll, Snufkin and the children gathered in the parlor after dinner as usual to hear the last part of Moominpapa's story of his adventures just before he met Moominmama. This time they had milk and Moomintroll's chocolate chip cookies as they enjoyed the story.

"By my fourth year in New York City, I had become truly handy at leading the Hemulen Police and the other city gang members astray so that the Mumriks' operations could go on unimpeded. In my own mind at the time, I thought I had become a truly notorious figure in the underworld. The truth was I was more of a colorful nuisance both to the police and the crime lords. The important thing was that I was a truly valued member of the Mumrik gang. Aunt Jane continued her relentless pursuit of me, but she was no longer any match for me due to the knowledge of the city streets I had gained. I thought that I was truly at the peak of my adventuring career, but by the end of April of that year, I was being overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and being out of place."

"Frederick had become my closest friend in the city. We would meet in secret regularly so that I could update him on my life in the rougher parts of town. He really enjoyed the way that I told my stories. He often encouraged me to become a writer, and I decided to take his advice. I knew that it would be impossible for me to do that in New York City. I needed much more peaceful and serene surroundings. I also knew that I needed to confide my feelings to him and get his advice."

" 'You're homesick, my dear boy!', said Frederick, 'You need to return to your colony in Moominland as soon as possible! Now, I won't hear of you setting out in your homemade sailboat! You deserve a truly grand trip home, and I know just the way to do it!' "

"Moomin's Finest Clothing promoted itself to the world's richest beasts by providing entertainment of a sort on grand luxury cruises on the finest ocean liners. Aunt Jane would send her top fashion designer along with their latest seasonal fashion line and a squadron of models to wear it on the biggest cruises headed for Europe each season. The next cruise was set to happen in early June. Frederick's plan was to have me take the place of the fashion designer and direct the daily fashion shows that would be taking place on board the ship. He spent all of May drilling me in the art of fashion and teaching me how to wear high fashion clothing."

"The designer was a Moomin named Francois, and a more unbearably pretentious and snobbish person would be hard to imagine (at this, Snufkin and Moomintroll both smiled knowingly at each other and suppressed giggling fits, remembering their encounter with Rudolpho in Calais during their first trip South together). I really hate to admit this, but I could have passed for his identical twin brother! Frederick made me Francois' assistant during May as he prepared for the cruise as part of my training. I learned Francois' mannerisms and way of speaking as I learned everything I could about how fashion shows were run, so that everyone involved would believe that I was him when I took his place."

"The real test of my acting abilities came somewhat unexpectedly when Aunt Jane made a surprise inspection of the fashion show on the Monday of the week before we were to board the cruise ship. I was guiding the models' walking routine down the runway and testing the lights and the sound system at the same time. Aunt Jane seemed to appear from out of nowhere right behind me, and it took all of my self-control not to jump out of my skin in fright when she began interrogating me!"

" 'So, will you be ready in time for the cruise, Francois?', Aunt Jane asked pointedly, with her usual severely judgemental and suspicious look on her face."

" 'But of course we will, madame!', I said, imitating Francois' phony French accent and elaborate hand gestures perfectly. Suddenly, I caught sight of Francois heading towards Aunt Jane at top speed and an absolutely fiendish plan formed in my head."

" 'Here is the assistant that your husband so kindly made available to me!', I said, indicating Francois, 'I still don't know his name, but he has proven invaluable to me! You should really thank him for how fast we got everything ready! As an added bonus, he's awfully good looking. It's like looking into a mirror!' "

"Aunt Jane's eyes narrowed as she looked closely at Francois. She turned to look at me, and then back at Francois, and then her face turned red with fury. She had come to exactly the conclusion that I had hoped she would."

" 'Moomin!', she bellowed at Francois at the top of her lungs, 'I can guess what you're trying to get away with here, young man, but I have caught up to you at last and stopped you just in time! How dare you try to ruin my fashion show, and get out of the country on my payroll into the bargain! You're coming home with me immediately! Don't try to get away!' "

"She immediately went to grab Francois' arm. But, he had clearly seen that he was in a great deal of peril from her and that there would be no reasoning with her. He pulled his arm away and made a desperate run for the nearest exit with Aunt Jane in hot pursuit. That would be the last that I would see of Aunt Jane until she tracked me down to Moominvalley many, many years later in an attempt to put me in charge of her fortune."

"Frederick saw me off on the day the cruise ship departed New York City. I had packed up all my treasured belongings from my two years at sea with the Hattifatteners and my time in New York City. I left my handmade sailboat where I had hidden it in the hope that some future adventurer would find it. It was a very emotional moment for both of us. Just like Hodgkins and Colonel Higgins before him, he had become a real father to me. We hardly dared to say anything other than goodbye to each other for fear that one or the other of us would change our minds. But, we both knew that I really belonged back in Moominland, so we hugged each other for the last time and I went aboard the ship."

"The cruise was another wonderful experience for me. I got to show off my acting abilities every day in front of an eager audience. I ate exquisite food and slept in a luxurious state room every night. I won Moomin's Finest Clothing a number of new wealthy clients. The company of models and stage hands and I became good friends. When we finally made port at the Autarch's estate, they helped me leave the ship in disguise. After that, it was a short trip back to my colony and Moominhouse. The ghost and the other residents of the colony had all missed me terribly and the Autarch himself saw my return as an opportunity to throw another grand party in his Garden Of Surprises. Well, you all know the rest of the story. It wasn't long after that that I rescued Mama from the sea during that fateful storm and building a family with her became the greatest adventure of my life."

Moomintroll, Snufkin, Tayberry, and Moomin all applauded Moominpapa's story. Then, they each hugged him in turn and reassured him individually that everything would be all right on Friday and that they would all be there to support him. Everyone went to bed, and they were all able to sleep soundly.

To Be Continued

#moomin #snufkin #moomintroll #moominvalley #moominpapa #moomin oc #aunt jane #moomin fanfiction

[fields-of-ink]

[Image Description: a black and white banner with the line #FFF53 Come Back written in the middle in white letters. End Image Description.]

Once again, thanks to the wonderful peeps at @flashfictionfridayofficial​ for this!

I thought hard about what to write for this prompt. It offered so many possibilities! In the end, I thought about this quote:

"It's always like this in their adventures. To save and be saved. I wish somebody would write a story sometime about the people who warm up the heroes afterwards".

- Moominland Midwinter

And I was like “hey, why not!”

Title: Letters from Home

Warnings: none?

"Hey, mom?"

"Yes, my dear?"

The girl stood in front of the open door, clutching her wooden staff in her hands, biting her lips.

"I... I don't want you to worry."

"Oh, my dear. You don't have to. I know you are more than capable."

"I will send letters! I will send many of them! So you won't ever have to worry."

"I will look forward to them, my dear."

The woman put the pot of basil on the window porch, sighing at the memories of her daughter. A rustle of wind made her look up at the trees moving outside. It was a sunny spring day, the grass moving in unison like a huge green sea, calming her nerves.

It had been months since she had received one of her daughter's letters.

Hello mom,

I am fine. Sorun and I have met the Spirit of the Sky. What an arrogant being! Just because I sliiiiightly touched one of the temple's vases, he didn't want to speak to me. Sorun glowered at me for the whole day and Lufur wouldn't stop pestering me until I said I was sorry.

I had to clean the temple. Each and every tile. But I am fine. And the Spirit seemed happy so he granted us his favors.

But there's still much to do! But don't worry, I'm doing my best.

Love you mom, I hope I can hug you soon enough.

Your Zephyr

She had read the last letter so many times now, that she didn't even need to hold it in her hands to remember the words.

She looked at the trees, remembering her daughter climbing that very same trunk when she was younger and falling down in the process.

Sometimes, living in that house was painful. Over there, next to her, the cloth ribbon hanging on the wall made by 10-years old Zephyr as a surprise for her birthday. In the hallway, the photos of the family plastered in many places, her daughter's smile brighter than any other.

And, of course, her room. It was usually locked, but she had to clean it once in a while, and those were the most difficult days. It had been left untouched for the three years she had been away, and she didn't have the courage to touch anything more than necessary.

Zephyr hated it when people touched her things without her consent, she could swear she could hear her screams when she touched her radio.

The whistle of the boiler made her focus on reality once more. When she sat down on the table, a fuming tea cup in her hands, she focused on the warmth before thinking about her daughter again.

I wonder if she drank any tea, recently.

A low rumble made her turn again towards the window. The red head of a dragon was looking at her, a puff of smoke coming out of her nostrils. The woman smiled: "Oh, Carteina. How are you doing?"

"I heard your anxiety from miles away", the dragon smiled, as much as she could imitate that human mannerism. "Zephyr is fine, I am sure of that."

"Oh, I know that. It's just that... you know how it feels, sometimes."

"Come. Let us ride the clouds together, like the old times. It will help you keep your mind off from these things."

"Right. Let me finish this tea first. It'd be a waste if it got cold."

As she was climbing her dragon's back and steading herself so she wouldn't fall down, an energetic bolt shot through her body, making her think of her past. When she'd ride Carteina every day, flying with her above the clouds, during her exam. Not too different from how Zephyr was riding Lufur right now, she presumed.

My dear Zephyr,

I received your letter. I am happy to know that the Spirit of the Sky granted you and Sorun his favors. I know his personality isn't the best, but I can assure you he will be a stalwart ally in your journey.

Do not make haste, my dear. The exam is perilous and you must never let your guard down. I’d prefer to wait another year if it meant hugging you again.

Don't worry, my dear. I'll be waiting for you to come back. Carteina is distant like always, but I know she wants to see you come back too.

Many hugs,

Your mom.

#fff53 #flash fiction friday #flashfictionfriday #come back #my works #english #prose #fantasy #writing #writersnest #zephyr isn't dead ofc she's just too busy obtaining favors from the spirits #mosas stories

[flowerbloom-arts]

Hey, sorry if I'm repetitive but what do you think happened to the humans in the Moomin universe.

Absolutely do not worry about asking too many questions, I love answering them!!!

Humans in Moominland is a very interesting subject... In that they're a LOT less of a presence than even I thought they were.

Alot of people (including me) thought that when, in Moomins and the Great Flood, Moominmamma was talking about Moomins living behind huge stoves before the invention of central heating she was talking about humans' stoves.

But no.

She never uses the word human, she says people.

(...) In those days they lived together with the house-trolls in people’s houses, mostly behind their tall stoves. “Some of us still live there now, I’m sure,” said Moominmamma. “But only where people still have stoves, I mean. We’re not happy with central heating.”

“Did the people know we were there?” asked Moomintroll.

(...)

“[A Hattifattener is] a kind of little troll-creature,” explained Moominmamma. “They’re mostly invisible. Sometimes they can be found under people’s floors, and you can hear them pattering about in there when it’s quiet in the evenings. (...)

And it's not like "people" was used as a specific term in Moomins and the Great Flood, either, because we have instances like these;

“Thank you so awfully much,” said Moominmamma. “You must have invited quite a lot of people up here for sea-pudding, I should think.”

“Oh yes,” said the boy. “People from every corner of the world. Snufkins, Sea-ghosts, Little Creeps and Big Folk, Snorks and Hemulens. And the odd angler fish, too.”

(...)

The armchair bobbed slowly along towards a hill where a lot of people were running about, pulling their belongings out of the water.

(...)

“Well, well,” said the marabou stork, who was beginning to feel touched. “I think I had better put you down on dry land and try to rescue a few more before the sun goes down. It’s very pleasant, rescuing people.” And then he took them back to the shore while they all talked at the same time about all the dreadful things they had been through. All along the shore people had lit fires at which they were warming themselves and cooking food, for most had lost their homes.

So it could be that Moominmamma was just talking about living behind regular creatures' oversized stoves, like how the Moomin ancestor did in Moominland Midwinter, which is honestly a very silly image. And it's not like it'd be impossible - the Hemulen and the Marabou stork in Great Flood are absolutely massive compared to our main characters.

Marabou storks tend to be about 5 feet tall so relatively speaking, if we assume this stork is still the same size as he would be irl, then our main characters would be relatively mouse-sized.

However. Tove didn't seem to have committed to this concept, and more or less just retconned it out of canon. Since the cats in Moomins and the Great Flood are seemingly regular-sized relative to the Hemulen's chair;

But in the 1968 revision of Comet in Moominland including future adaptations of the story, Sniff's cat is regular-sized, and so are the cats that appear in the Moomin comic strip, like the one in Moominmamma's Maid.

(sorry for using a screenshot from the 90s movie adaptation, I couldn't find a book illustration since I don't have a PDF of the revised book, much less an illustration of Sniff and his cat next to eachother, if that exists. If anyone has a way to read the revision in English pleeease give it to me)

But that's just Moomins and the Great Flood, which practically functions as a "pilot episode" for the whole franchise; it set up the concepts but is not representative of the rest of the franchise and has alot of things that get retconned but not entirely removed for the rest of the series, it wasn't even translated into/published in English until 2012. What about the rest of the franchise?

Well, the only instance of the word "human" being used in the books is in Moominpappa at Sea, while Moominpappa talked about how stone-faced the Fisherman/Lighthouse Keeper has been for the whole book;

‘There’s something wrong with you that I can’t make out,’ Moominpappa said to himself. ‘You’re not a human being at all. You’re more like a plant or a shadow, just as if you’d never been born.’

Which implies either of two things; the LHK is human or human-adjacent, or human is a normal adjective in the world of Moomin aswell.

And the only instance of the word "human" in the comic strip (there could be another instance I'm forgetting, however I'm not talking about Lars' comics because I am kind of prioritizing Tove's intentions here) is in a conversation between Snorkmaiden and Mymble Jr in Moomin Winter Follies;

Which... Kind of implies Mr. Brisk is human, I think? It's hard to imagine but there it is, the one instance of the word human in the comics.

And that's like... The only thing we really have within the original medium of Moomin.

But Tove had also worked on other things first-hand, and one of them had actual human characters.

That being Mumintrollet (1969, nice), a live-action show primarily known for the body horror of the Moomins removing their heads to reveal human heads inside. But with that obviously inapplicable facet of the show aside, we have this guy, the main antagonist, the King;

This guy is an explicitly canon human (can't be 100% sure since the show hasn't been transcribed or translated from its original swedish but I'm close to sure), and he's about the same size as the Moomins (probably because of the nature of the show, kinda like the whole head thing and Little My's normal human size in the show, but ehhh)

And that's, like, it for the canonicity of humans in Moomin, everything else is questionable or vague or a bit bewildering.

Like, is King Jones from Moominpappa's Memoirs a human? Why is he so big? What's going on here???

But that's all up to speculation, even the examples of the instances of the word human I've shown doesn't totally prove the existence of humans as we know them in this world. Alot of the characters look human but aren't, and others aren't stated to be not human, there are some oversized things like Muddler's tin that don't get explained, but who knows, really.

In short, I don't think anything has exactly happened to humans. They're either living among Moominland's society like fellow creatures (heck, maybe even some of the characters we know are human) or they're like... Rare or extinct or didn't even truly exist in the first place.

It's one big "who knows?".

#moomins #moominvalley #the moomins #moomin #fb answers #moomin books #moomin comics #moomin analysis #long post

[unnursvanablog]

All the books I read in 2020 / part 2.

The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker: ☆☆☆☆☆

Loved how these myths and legends were used within this story. It is a beautiful tale of immigration and friendship and how Wecker conveyed that was just beautiful. The text did drag its feet in some places, but this story is also so character driven; their experience with the world, and their longings, so I understand that slow pace. Everything about it felt really sincere and it truly is a book that leaves you with something. I have never read anything like this before and I felt like it bridges the gap between historical history and fantasy well.

Naturally Tan - Tan France: ☆☆☆

I listened to this book in one sitting as I drove from the capital area and all the way home to the countryside. And I really enjoyed it because I really like Tan France and he narrated the audiobook himself. The text, the chapters and therefor the book itself goes a bit all over the place and it feels a bit vapid at times. It was about everything and nothing, really.

The Silence of Bones - June Hur: ☆☆☆

I am not so much for these types of mystery novels, so it was not something that drew me forward, but I did find the atmosphere that Hur created within the story and the historical elements really great and made the story quite enjoyable. I felt like learning a little more about certain parts of Korean history that I did not know before, and I really enjoyed that.

In the Labyrinth of Drakes - Marie Brennan: ☆☆☆

The world that Brennan has created continues to wow me. It is complex and it’s so much fun to travel around it. I love getting to know these characters at different stages of their lives and it just makes you like them even more. The story often runs into the same problem for me and that is that I find the first parts of the story so exciting, it is an adventure, but then it loses me a little towards the end.

The Will to Battle - Ada Palmer: ☆☆

After the amazing storyline of the second book, this book really lacked any excitement within the plot to propel you further and instead we got a lot of philosophical lessons and musings. In the previous books I felt like Palmer managed to strike a balance between those things, but not here. So little was going on. This story is deep, beautifully written, and complex and all that, but the text is often so long and dense, and my dyslexia just wants to skip these walls of texts that often just feel like statements about something philosophical but not real conversations or reflections from the characters.

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep - H.G. Parry: ☆☆☆☆

I was hoping for a 'grown up version' of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, and although that was not quite what I got, I really enjoyed this. I thought the world was well thought out, and the idea of the readers interpretation of the characters and even literary criticism can affect how they would appear in our world was a cool concept. In some places I felt that the story was a bit stunted or towards the end I was starting to predict where it was going, and there was a lot of misunderstanding between the characters so the story could continue, which got on my nerves. But for the majority of the time, it was a really fun read.

Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer: ☆

You can judge me for this. I judge myself too. It was strange to fall back into the Twilight world after completely falling out of it after reading the last Twilight book. But out of sheer curiosity, I decided to give this one a try. But wow… this was not fun and added almost nothing to the original story and Edward is just so damn boring and having to spend time in his mind was just kind of a torment.

The Absolute Sandman, vol 1 & 2 - Neil Gaiman: ☆☆, ☆

I was going to listen to the whole thing via the new and shiny audible version of the Sandman comics, but I could sit through more than the first two volumes. I could not tolerate the violence against the female and queer characters. Oh my god! You do not have to go that far to make your story edgy, or create a complex, dark world. Nothing that happened seemed to move me or make me want to keep listening to this story. It does not really seem to revolve around anything. Or maybe I am just too annoyed to pay attention to the story. Fortunately, Gaiman seems to have improved as a writer since.

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman: ☆☆☆☆

Listened to this and although contemporary YA is is usually not something that hooks me or interest me in any way, Oseman manages to make the story so genuine and down to earth despite all the teenage drama, and the character felt so real that it just draws you in. The daily problems of teenagers often seem too dramatic or unreal to me in books like this, but that was not here. The text is not to flowery, but not too simple either. The story just as a really good pace going on. Everything just flowed together.

Wicked Fox - Kat Cho: ☆☆☆

The story did sound like a kdrama to me and I was hoping it would be that. Just fun and cute and fluffy with some loveable characters and sprinkle of myths and legends. It was fun, it didn't go into too much depth with most things within the story. It kinda brushes over a lot of things. For me the book started of well, but then towards the middle of the book things start to happen to fast and there was not enough time spent on bulding things up, so in the end the story kinda went nowhere for me. The little bits of the Gumiho legend, at least how the legend was presented in this book, inbetween the chapters was my favorite bit.

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien: ☆☆☆☆

You can tell that worldbuilding and just spending time making things up for this magical world that he crated was one of the things Tolkien enjoyed the most when it came to writing. The stories about Middle Earth, even the backstories, are so rich and lushus. I do struggle with the writing style, it does feel a bit dry to me at times, and it does feel like short stories set in the world of Middle Earth and not at tightly knit story which isn't always my cup of tea so it did take me a while to get into it.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix: ☆☆☆

The story really throws you straight into the action and you just have to find your bearings as best as you can while the story goes on. It was really fast paced and the story never really stops for too long to give you a breather. It was light and funny, a little weird and the character were whimsical, which I enjoyed. Sometimes I felt like I was in a Doctor Who episode, except with magic and not aliens. I just wish it would have let the story breath a little more for me to really enjoy the world that Nix had crafted and such things.

A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik: ☆☆

I do not know what happened here, but wow, this was so not Novik at her best. Neither the characters or the worldbuilding that I am used to getting from Novik was in this book and for the most part there wasn't a whole lot going on in this books. I can deal with a slow burning book and really just enjoy a good fantasy world but there was very little interesting things here to explore. I can deal with a unlikeable main character, but this one didn't grow at all during the book, she just kept on reminding us why she was cranky all the time and how much she delighted in it. There was a whole lot of telling about this magical school and the diverse world outside of it, but very little showing so it all seems rather empty and after a while I just started to skim over the text. And there was really no story there that kept me going and I could not see the purpose for anything that happened.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab: ☆☆☆☆☆

Oh, wow. The feeling that this book created inside me and the sincerity within the text just grabbed me and would not let me go. I made me feel a lot of things, and I love when a books do that. There are so many emotions behind it and you can really feel them. The atmosphere that Schwab creates in the story is great and it hooks you in, but it is the character and their stories that make you stay. I don't usually enjoy timejumps, but Schwab did them so well and they do explain the story and the motivations for each of the characters really well, although it get's a bit repetitive at times, especially towards the end.

The Moomins: The Exploits of Moominpappa, Moominsummer Madness, Moominland Midwinter - Tove Jansson: ☆☆☆☆

I love the Moomins, but there's just something so cozy about these stories and characters. They are part of my childhood, they are so light, whimiscal and funny, yet have depth to them, which is a balance that is difficult to achieve in my opinion. My journey through this book took me almost a year, as I only occasionally picked it up to enjoy the text and my stay in this small, strange world that Jansson created. I was savoring it.

Shine - Jessica Jung: ☆☆☆

SNSD, the band that Jesscia Jung was in, is my favorite kpop band since I started listening to kpop more than 10 years ago and their music is one of the main reasons why I got into kpop to begin with. So of course I was intrigued! The story here is something that I think could be inspired Jessica experiences within the kpop industry, or that thought never left me as I read it even if there were lot of unbelievable things going on within these pages. But it's definitely overdramatized at times. But how she talks about gender discrimination between female singers and male singer, from other people in the business and from the fans and the expectations that people have towards these singers and such. That felt really authentic to me. For all the glamor and the dazzle of the kpop world within this book the plot and the characters are a bit dull, and some of the more unbelievable events (like all of those trips and secret cafes) often pulled me out of the story. And I did not find the clichéd YA romance fun to read at all.

#book reviews #book review

[joyfuladorable]

A very messy and spoiler-filled list of things I love about the Moomins:

Overall franchise things:

Beautiful bean boy Moomin, carpenter extraordinaire

Best Mama Moominmamma, always prepared, always loving

Precious child Ninny

Gremlin Little My, confident and capable of anything

Moomin and Snufkin’s relationship (which is wonderful as a romantic ship or a strong platonic one for my starved aspec ass)

Snufkin’s hat when it’s decorated with flowers

Shipping Too-Ticky and the Mymble’s daughter even though they barely interact in canon is a big wlw mood

The Muskrat’s existential nonsense

Moominpappa just straight up has a gun

Moomin always wanting to share his discoveries with Snufkin first

Comet in Moominland has everyone packing up nearly the entirety of Moominhouse and taking everything to the cave

Snufkin reluctantly taking care of 24 children he rescues from a park

Moominvalley (2019)

The opening theme

Very blatant Moomin/Snufkin

Scottish Too-Ticky

“Was I your best friend?” “Yes… apart from Snufkin.”

Snufkin in boots too big

The ice skating bit

Little My using a Hattifattener as a battery

Snufkin: “The forest belongs to us all!” *turns and smacks right into a sign on a fence*

The Books:

Little My being small enough to be put into pockets (and she prefers it, too)

Everyone lives in Moominhouse and has their own room

Moomin and Snufkin share a room!!!

Thingumy and Bob’s lecret sanguage

The forgetful Silk Monkey

As soon as Moominpappa finished telling the tale of his youth, all of his old friends show up at his doorstep, so Snufkin and Sniff, who were sad about not knowing their parents,  get to meet them!!

The Joxter being immediately infatuated with the Mymble

The Booble being aggressive about hanging out and having tea

All Hemulens wear dresses

“Well, strike me pink!”

Color changing Snorks

The Moomin household being very aware that weird stuff happens to them all the time

Snufkin and Moomin having nightly escapades

Having to read the words “mouth organ”

Moomin wishing an entire party table to be sent to Snufkin

The Hobgoblin being able to see the King’s Ruby from the moon (and I don’t think it was Earth’s moon because the planet in the background had rings)

Moomin putting gold ribbons on his ears to celebrate the sun finally peeking out during winter

The Mymble’s daughter and Little My hibernating in a cardboard box

Too-Ticky’s hat can turn inside out.  Red for Winter.  Blue for Spring.

Moomin’s winter loneliness is a Big Mood

Snufkin getting VERY flustered whenever he thinks about Moomin during his journeys

Little My torments a lying child who runs away from home (also she has a granny??? the fuck??)

All the existentialist stories in Tales from Moominvalley

Moominpappa’s midlife crisis

Moominmamma painting the walls like Moominvalley because she was homesick

Moomin’s friendship with the Groke

The Moomins (90s Eng Dub and my personal favorite):

Round boy Moomin’s introduction in the prequel film

Snufkin’s voice actor “Come on everyone! Let’s go do some CRIME!!”

ALL OF THE MUSIC (I now have a strong urge to learn how to play the harmonica)

Both Moomin and Snorkmaiden end up being fortune tellers at some point

The way Moomin says “Snufkin” (SnufKIIIINNN!!!)

Me, genuinely believing that the Mymble’s daughter’s name was Mumble

Moomin getting sick and then pining for Snufkin to come home (and it being explicitly stated that he’s pining)

Snorkmaiden nearly going to drag Snufkin back home so Moomin can get better

Alicia the Witch(‘s apprentice)

How cool the animation is whenever the Witch is on screen

Whenever Snufkin plays the harmonica and everyone else just chills out under a tree to listen

Too-Ticky’s voice is really good in this one, too!!

The little chuckles that Moominpappa does when he’s talking

Little My’s worry when they were awake during the winter that she would remain awake all by herself if Moomin went back into hibernation

Moomin carved a boat all by himself?? (I wish it had been used more)

I love when they dance (especially Little My)

The sound effects

That one time the cheerful music just cuts when Little My stops, turns, and goes to sneakily follow her friends

Moominmamma going on an adventure with Snufkin

Daredevil Little My (she sailed her ice sled right past the Lady of Cold and flew on a kite because she could. I love her)

Mrs. Fillyjonk’s kids peeling away from their mom’s side one by one to sneak off and play with Moomin and co.

Little My asking Snufkin to date her, lol (either the dub messed this up or they’re not siblings in this canon) and him being very not into it

Snork’s relentless work on his flying machine (which I don’t know if he ever finishes someone tell me please)

Snufkin’s music being a cure-all to lifting curses and calming beasts

That moment in the first episode where Snufkin’s returns and plays his harmonica on the bridge and Moomin climbs down his ladder and races to meet him, calling his name, and then stopping right next to him, not speaking anymore, to just listen and enjoy his best friend’s company.  Perfection.

Moominmamma turning Moomin back to normal with a hug when he accidentally transforms himself with the Hobgoblin’s hat

Moomin being the one to wish Snorkmaiden’s eyes back to normal

Characters like the Groke and the Booble using their actions to speak instead of words

Whenever Moomin tumbles from the veranda roof after climbing down his rope ladder

Mr. Hemulen going all in for his new hobby and basically becoming a botanist overnight

Seeing baby Moominpappa

Seeing BABY MOOMIN!!! (he plays with a kendama)

The entirety of The Chair episode

Whenever the entire neighborhood helps out to do stuff

The Narrator’s voice

The soft yellow highlights in Snorkmaiden’s hair

#moomin #y'all wanna hear about something I love a lot and only just got into like this year?? #I hope I get to find a complete collection of the comics one day #I'm gonna cosplay as Snufkin at some point and carry a big ol Moomintroll plush

[silvakristiina]

Questionnaire Tag Time

@technicallyswagpizza tagged me <3

Rules: Always post the rules. Tag 11 new people you’d like to know better

1. Dogs or Cats? Dogs. Before having to live with two cats I thought this question was insane, but now I know why it’s asked. In two days and 21 hours I’ll be going to see a puppy :>

2. YouTube celebrities or normal celebrities? Just nope.

3. If you could live in anywhere where would that be? Hmm, somewhere in my imagination...  Back at home, but in a lovely old farmhouse surrounded with massive old forests, pure streams and a lake and fields of gold. No idiots insight.

4. Disney or DreamWorks? Maybe last century Disney, but only movies without any number behind them.

5. Favorite childhood TV show? Moomins! Pikku Kakkonen with shows like Pelle Hermanni in it, and Ivan Ivano-Vano’s animations, etc.

6. The movie you’re looking forward to most in 2020? Um, what? I guess they make movies in 2020 too...

7. Favorite book you read in 2019? I think I read both LOTR and Hobbit earlier this year, so maybe them.

8. Marvel or DC? Nope, don’t care about Marvel and don’t know what DC is.

9. If you choose Marvel favorite member of the X-Men? If you choose DC favorite Justice League member? Who are they?

10. Night or Day? Both, and dawn and dusk too.

11. Favorite Pokémon? Iik, Psyduck and Jigglypuff

12. Top 5 bands: Hmm, the only band I have been a some sort of fan was My Chemical Romance... I also like many of the Scandinavian Music Group’s songs and Leevi and the Leavings. I have listened to Seminaarimäen mieslaulajat and surprisingly Gospel Covertajat. But I care much less about bands and artists than the music they make/perform. I’m not picky, I just don’t wanna listen to shite :D

13. Top 10 books: Can’t possibly rank or even name just ten... Some that come to mind are the mentioned LOTR and Hobbit, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and maybe some books that continued, Kaari Utrio’s Vendela (I cried three times so much I had to put the book away to protect it), Jonathan Haidt’s Happiness hypothesis or whatever it’s in English, Mauri Kunnas’ books, Sven Nordqvist’s Pettson och Findus, Väinö Linna’s Sotaromaani/Tuntematon sotilas (=The Unknown Soldier), many Astrid Lindgren’s books, Tove Janssons Moomin books...

14. Top 4 movies: Same as above. Tonari no Totoro and Muumipeikko ja pyrstötähti (Comet in Moominland) are some all time favourites.

15. America or Europe? Europe

16. Tumblr or Twitter? Simblr

17. Pro choice or Pro life? I haven’t heard about Pro choice, but that must be the opposite of Pro life, that I connect with nutheads, so I guess I say Pro choice. Luckily we don’t really have to think about this at all in Finland, until the world turns around.

18. Favourite YouTuber: Don’t follow any and hardly know anyone, and care even less. Before the word was invented I used to watch Wasabi Productions videos. There’s a few miniature artist who’s videos I watch, but I can’t even remember their name.

19. Favourite author? Check the question number 13.

20. Tea or coffee? Cola Zero.

21. OTP? I don’t understand the question. Out of toilet paper? No.

22. Do you play an instrument/sing? Heheheheeee... I sing all the time, especially in the shower and while cooking, and my neighbors must hate me. I have had lessons in playing violin as a kid and teen, but I hate practicing and I don’t want anyone to hear it. I have a terrible stage fright. But I can play He’s a Pirate and some Irish tunes. I also play the tin whistle a little. I stay in tune, but my boyfriend hates me casually singing, because I keep changing the key. I don’t hear a thing :D

I can’t possibly be on track who’s been tagged already, but @anitmb, @teekapoa and @gifappel-gloudi haven’t posted this at least very recently, and anyone who would like to be tagged by me but I’m too stupid to understand that.

#nonsims

[shhbean]

snufkin

heres a snufkin character study/big ole headcanon. i wrote this before i stumbled upon comet in moominland and realized ALL of it was incorrect kjhgjkfhkjfdh anyway i had more planned for this but i got tired but i think i stopped at an okay spot

pls enjoy

Snufkin was known as many things, a wander-heart, a vagabond, an old soul, a wise soul. A recreational anarchist. A traveller. A derelict (to fewer, snootier people). And more frequently these days...a lost boy. Snufkin was the product of a Joxter with a little too much tomcat in him, and Mymble who had too many children to make time for them. They loved him, for the little time that they knew him. But just as Mymbles run round all day and party all night, Joxters roam on and on until any roots laid down become tiny and vague thorns in sides.

Snufkin left home much earlier than lost boys normally do. He had his teachings from his parents, his mother managed to impart on him the value of connection– no matter flippant, and the value of making one’s own entertainment. His father left him with a wanderer’s heart, a healthy distaste for authority, a head full of stories, and his sense of style. The forest taught him everything else.

And so, Snufkin set out. A little too young, a little more green than your average vagabond, but he was out. And Snufkin loved the world, wide and wild. He was a child of the woods with a heart that belonged at sea. The forest a new, hasher parent. His sore feet and makeshift tent a more uncertain home, but the boy wouldn’t have it any other way.

You see when you cross a Mymble and a Joxter you get a calculating, adventurous, wild thing. A perfect, wandering woodland child. But you would be surprised to know that all woodland children are creatures of habit, whether they’d like to admit it or not. Snufkin was no exception. It is common knowledge that no one can ever truly abandon their nature, but a woodland child was just as stubborn, if not more, as a dragon when it came to their way of living.

Snufkin could not have been a day over fifteen when he first arrived to Moominvalley. The rolling hills cut off by a serene river, meadows as far as the eye can see, a clear blue sky that stretched on for miles– all nestled in the warm embrace of the forest. The valley was full of funny-odd creatures, running about, dancing and singing. The funniest and oddest of them were the Moomins. Strange little trolls, though always kind and accommodating by nature. Snufkin could recall a story from his father from long ago, a tale of a travelling and drinking companion. An loud, boisterous moomintroll with the oddest sense of fashion– always sporting a top hat. And so Snufkin travelled through Moominvalley until he stumbled upon a small bridge over the river, just over a mile or two from the strangest house Snufkin had ever seen, that seemed to call out to him somehow. And although every part of his brain screamed at him to leave these strangers alone and remain reclusive, his heart grabbed control of his feet and walked him right up to that porch, knocking on the door twice.

Snufkin years later would attribute lady fate herself to Moominpappa answering the door, as the man was known to hole himself up in the study or read in his chair, leaving the welcoming of newcomers to his wife. But there, Moominpappa stood, hat and all, eyeing the lost boy in front of him. The encounter was a little awkward at first.

“Joxter! My good man, finally come to visit your old friend! Well you don’t look a day over–” Moominpappa froze, and for the first time in a long time, put his past adventures behind him. “Ah. You are not the Joxter.”

“Afraid not,” Snufkin replied calmly, he had been used to being mistaken for his father by now. “Though, to be fair, I share half of what makes him what he is.”

Moominpappa’s eyes lit up in realization, followed quickly by pure, genuine elation. “Well, I’ll say! The old boy never wrote to me about a child. Though, to be fair, he never wrote to me at all. Well, come here dear boy, you’re practically family!”

The older troll then wrapped Snufkin in a hug, and although Snufkin wasn’t very fond of hugging, especially from strangers, he thought it best not to fight this one. When Moominpappa had just about thoroughly squeezed the life out of him, he let go slightly, holding on to the boy’s arms and giving him one last final look over.

“You certainly have your father’s looks...and his fashion sense. But there’s something else there, something untamable, yet completely grounded.”

Snufkin’s brow furrowed. “Well...my mother was a Mymble if that’s what you mean.”

“No, no,” replied Moominpappa with a wave of his hand. “The Mymble in you is as clear as day. No there’s something else...not just Mymble or Joxter. Tell me boy, what is your name?”

“Snufkin.”

“Snufkin, really? Did the Mymble name you, then? Alright well...you are not just Mymble or Joxter, you are something more wonderful and unique. You are snufkin.”

Before Snufkin could ask what Moominpappa could possibly mean by that, a smaller lighter voice broke through the conversation.

“Papa? Who’s at the door?”

Just then, a smaller and younger Moomintroll appeared in the doorway. Moomins are quite possibly the softest and roundest creatures on earth, but this one may have been absolute softest and roundest. He had no hint of edge to him, all fluff, round shapes, and bright blue eyes. He came up right to Snufkin’s height, and he had a small, welcoming smile. Snufkin was marveled.

“Ah! Moomintroll!” Moominpappa yelled, breaking whatever sort of moment Snufkin was having admiring the younger troll “This is Snufkin, he is the son of an old traveling companion of mine. Snufkin, this is Moomintroll, he should be just about your age now that I think about you.”

Moomintroll smiled wider and stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Snufkin said slowly, shaking it softly.

“You should come in! Mamma is making tea and jam, you would love her fresh jam. You must be exhausted from all that traveling.”

Moominpappa nodded. “Splendid idea, Moomintroll. Yes do come in dear Snufkin, and tell us the tales of your travels. My son and I do love a good adventure story now and again.”

Snufkin struggled for a moment. He wasn’t even sure why approached this house in the first place, other than a strange tug he felt in his heart. And now, here he is in front of his father’s old travelling companion, being told he is not Mymble nor Joxter but Snufkin, whatever that means. Greeted by another moomintroll of the most captivating appearance, one that is kind and appears to be his age– though he’s not entirely sure what to make of that information. And they are prodding him with tea and jams of all things. The wild heart in him wanted to turn and run away, far away from Moominvalley, back into the uncertain wood.

But the curious young boy in him, fascinated by his place in the world and intrigued by the kindness of the trolls before him nodded sagely and stepped forward into the home.

#moomin #snufkin #a fic #idk what else to tag bc this blog is not a tag blog its more of a screaming to a crowd of no one

[froggggggggggg]

moomin :•] !!!

AIGHT MOOMIN PART 2

so like watching the tove jansson documentary made me love the moominverse (into the moominverse….) even MORE learning abt the author and how she created so much. and knowing about what influenced her writing (tofslan and vifslan, and too ticky and snufkin… and the events that influenced comet in moominland) was super cool. like the comics look super good (can’t wait to consume all moomin content) and im even gonna read her books. that part in the documentary where it pointed out the squirrel little my said was probably dead. and there was a footnote that said to check a certain page if u feel sad and it shows the squirrel jumping around moomin…. omg :,) ) whoever is reading this if u havent already… watch the documentary. the doc also talked abt the last book and the moomins arent home and they dont come back that HURT me but i understand why she did that.

ok now onto more 1990 stuff since that’s all i really kno abt so far.

moomintroll: what a funny name. he’s a lad! he’s simply a lad. he likes to go on adventures and play w his friends. :-) also that ep w the magic hat was :,((((( like okay WOW

i like how in the show, they arent all white, but the moomins/snorks each r different colors

snufkin: he’s also a lad (who smokes) and he and moomintroll love each very much. like the doc pointed out, he’s someone everyone wants to be friends w. i love that ep where he gave the daces (?) away so he would stay in moominvalley longer

little my: Oh She Is Simply Gremlin. and apparently like 30 yrs old???huh??? i feel like in the 1990, moomin floren (snorkmaiden..idk which to refer to her as) sniff little my r supposed to be kids (maybe the ppl in charge interpreted jansson’s comics that way or made a creative choice. idk)?? and idk abt snufkin. anyways she says what comes to mind and bites ppl

moominpapa and moominmama are great. and i like how in the reboot, moominmama is given more of. i dont want to say personality but they more emphasized that she wasnt simply just a housewife. like her snarky comments r great in the reboot.

also i take back what i said about sniff being my least favorite bc i forgot about mr hemulen (that’s his species name???? does he have a name-). every time i see that bitch on the screen im : | oh so they have to deal with him now? felt that ever since that ep where they went to the island and he didnt want to return the barometer

#bartzellas #asks #ask games