#solstice 2021

[sorio99]

The winter solstice in the northern hemisphere today, arguably the day that should be the coldest of the year, and we’ve got a low of 58°F, 14°C. Very fun, very neat. We used to get snow down here, but I guess a “not skin meltingly hot” winter works just as well. Right? Totally normal and fine.

#climate change #global warming #climate crisis #winter #winter solstice #I included a line in my upcoming song about ‘falling snow’ #but it hasn’t actually snowed here since 2021 #and it hasn’t snowed without completely shutting down the state since 2017

[nikkidiary-orangecatty]

꧁༺ Nikki’s Diary ༻꧂

꧁༺ Nikki’s Diary ༻꧂

[ Winter Solstice 2021 ] ❄️☃️⛄️

I originally planned to draw one by one until spring, but I couldn't help drawing a lot

Then... just finish painting it in one go

In this way, I can harvest many plum blossoms in spring.

[ เหมายัน - ทักษิณายัน 2564 • 冬至 • Dōngzhì ] ❄️☃️⛄️

เดิมทีตั้งใจจะวาดทีละตัวจนถึงฤดูใบไม้ผลิ แต่ก็อดไม่ได้ที่จะวาดออกมามากมาย

ถ้าอย่างนั้น...มาระบายสีให้เสร็จในครั้งเดียวกัน

ด้วยวิธีนี้ ฉันสามารถเก็บเกี่ยวดอกบ๊วยได้มากมายในฤดูใบไม้ผลิ

[ 21.12.2021 ]

Source:

#Nikki’s Diary #Nikki’s Artwork #Nikki Wallpaper #Nikki Solar Term #Winter Solstice #Nikki’s Diary 2021 #Nikki’s Artwork 2021 #Nikki Wallpaper 2021 #Nikki Solar Term 2021 #Shining Nikki #Nikki ​3D #Nikki Up2U 4 #Nikki 4 #Orangecatty #Nikki Diary Thailand #12.2021

[haikuswithdani]

s.a.d. (dark days)

in mid-december, dark days upon us, we weep as we yearn for light.

#2021 #seasonal affective disorder #seasonal affective depression #sad poem #hopeful poem #winter solstice

[wishbow]

Knight of Night - pam wishbow - solstice 2021

#order of the empty cup #knight #wishbow #sword #night #illustration

[thelocaldamien]

not to be extremely out of left field for this blogs, uh, "style" if you can call it that, but i forgot how much smoking weed genuinely impacted my spiritual practice

#tw drugs #tw drug mention #tw weed #but uh seriously though when i was starting to explore my spirituality very seriously in 2020 i used to sit outside on the porch in june #and smoke and talk to thor #and i forgot how much that genuinely gave me a feeling of peace and security and kept me in a pretty regular spiritual practice with thor #especially in 2021 when my sister had a camper in the woods #it was such an important place of peace for me to be out in the forest alone and have the lightning and thunderstorms sort of like hover #around this time of year we always start getting these great thunderstorms that take all day to build up and brew #like you can almost feel nature changing around the solstice #which sorry if this sounds like stoner babble but i really do genuinely hate living in the city because i cant smoke outside anymore #but right now im sitting in my loft and smoking and a storm has been brewing all day long #and we have this great loft but we had to stop smoking in the apartment because the neighbors can smell it #which #i really shouldnt be doing this right now but god dammit dude lol #im in a very transitional phase with life at the moment so its really nice to sit by the open window and smell the storm coming #especially after watching it brew all day #and i just heard the first crack of thunder #im trying to be a courteous neighbor so we had to quit smoking at the beginning of april so i do kind of feel bad about doing this #lmao but right now im just doing what i used to do in the woods just in my city loft #i used to be able to smoke at my old apartment because all of our neighbors also smoked so i loved smoking in the city before #but now that we cant its been pretty hard #especially since this is how i used to sort of meditate with thor #id sit outside in the dark and put on some rock music on my phone speaker and just totally clear my mind #i want to move to the woods somewhere to be completely honest #but at the same time it is legal for me to smoke here and im not violating our lease and im blowing it straight out the window #anyway sorry for the rambling tags but yknow how it is lol #anyway im listening to tenacious d while typing this for context lmao #but im just gonna sit up here until it starts to rain and then go upstairs when i have to shut the window when the rain comes #and play animal crossing lmao

[palaeosinensis]

To my general shock it seems I have not actually uploaded this piece to Tumblr before. Way back in 2021 things were...very dark and bad. I lost three family members and a companion their equal in about a year. Three of them in about four months. There was and still is a lot of baggage tangled up in there. I was painting my character Ama Tala (The mother of all wolves) thinking somber thoughts on the winter solstice. My grandmother died that night. It gives me a lot to think about every year. Last embers. Long cold nights. Sparks. New beginnings. Growing days. Happy Winter Solstice.

#solstice #winter solstice #december #december 21 #pagan #holiday #witch #palaeo #palaeosinensis #ama tala #wolf #wolves #mother of wolves #mother of all wolves #tala #wolf god #illustration #art #digital art #palaeo's characters #white wolf #night #winter #cold #snow #fire #dying embers #embers

[just--space]

A Year of Sunrises : Does the Sun always rise in the same direction? No. As the months change, the direction toward the rising Sun changes, too. The featured image shows the direction of sunrise every month during 2021 as seen from the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The camera in the image is always facing due east, with north toward the left and south toward the right. As shown in an accompanying video, the top image was taken in 2020 December, while the bottom image was captured in 2021 December, making 13 images in total. Although the Sun always rises in the east in general, it rises furthest to the south of east on the December solstice, and furthest north of east on the June solstice. In many countries, the December Solstice is considered an official change in season: for example the first day of winter in the North. Solar heating and stored energy in the Earth's surface and atmosphere are near their lowest during winter, making the winter season the coldest of the year. via NASA

#NASA #space #astronomy

[sjwallin]

Enjoy this lush, wintery piano piece, just in time for the solstice and holidays!

*Bronze Medal winner at the Global Music Awards!!*

Written during the 2020 holiday season, and performed by Lydia Wu. Electroacoustic soundscape added to accompany this piano solo in fall of 2021.

#winter song #winter solstice #piano solo #electroacoustic #passacaglia #women composers #neurodivergent composers #SoundCloud

[fatehbaz]

the very Sacred Oak Flat is in danger of becoming an open pit copper mine. turning a sacred site into a 1000-ft pit. Apache Leap, ancient petroglyphs, extremely important rituals since time began; these things are Oak Flat. the federal government is ignoring many legal protections as well, including 200 yr old treaty promising to protect the land forever, national park designation, and on the national register of historic places. this project is so, so evil. I want people to know about it. Please read, talk, care about it.

Nice, thank you. The impending destruction of Chi'chil Bildagoteel by the US government and one of the planet's most infamous mining companies.

Over the past 3 years, I’ve written here about defense of Oak Flat, also called Chi'chil Bildagoteel by Chiricahua Apache from San Carlos reservation. (A summary of the site’s importance and history. A summary of the legal challenges to the mine. A summary of Apache Stronghold and other Indigenous-led campaigns. A photo collection featuring Indigenous-led actions in February 2021.) But all of these posts predate the developments that have occurred from the beginning of 2022 until now (March 2023). And the legal case, the fate of the site, is about to be settled this very month.

Well, then, there’s Rio Tinto, the copper mining leviathan, despised across the planet, bane of Australia, so-called Rhodesia, Latin America, Papua, etc. They're the second-largest metals/mining company on the planet. For well over a century, open-pit copper mines have been infamous for the scale of their destruction and I like how you describe it: giant pits, gaping wounds. Oak Flat is destined to belong to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. Just before widespread news of Rio Tinto’s interest in Oak Flat, Rio Tinto had earned an especially-notorious reputation for destroying Indigenous/Aboriginal sites in Australia. A summary of the news about the “atrocity” at Juukan Gorge, when in May 2020, Rio Tinto destroyed an important sacred cultural site containing Indigenous shelters over 45,000 years old, and Rio Tinto leaders apparently had foreknowledge of the area’s cultural importance. Here’s a look at what is perhaps the oldest surviving human art on the planet, some petroglyphs and shelters up to 50,000 years old, being destroyed by the truly astonishing scale and diversity of destructive mining operations in Western Australia. And here’s a look at many other ancient and modern Indigenous sacred sites being destroyed by mining in that region.

Sacred Land Film Project put together some informational graphics:

Anyway, a basic summary.

Originally, this mine was kinda known as, like, “the John McCain Land-Grab Deal” because Senator McCain sold out the state of Arizona and Indigenous people by basically promising a formal transfer of land and the creation of what would become a major mining site at Oak Flat. Mining in the Oak Flat area was technically prohibited decades earlier by an Eisenhower presidential/executive order, but in December 2014, McCain sneaked a hidden last-minute rider onto a must-pass defense spending bill.

In May 2020, Rio Tinto gets caught destroying those sites at Juukan Gorge.

So, in October 2020, Indigenous activists discovered that the supposed date of the land transfer finalization had been quietly and suddenly moved up like a full year, meaning that the site might have become a mine beginning in December 2020 or January 2021.

At this point, the Oak Flat mine was becoming known as, like, “Trump’s Rushed/Hurried Mining Deal,” since the Trump presidential administration seemed to want to quickly act on the mine before any potential presidential transfer of power might occur in January 2021, “just in case” they lost the November 2020 election.

So this is when Apache Stronghold and other Native advocates really started finally getting national recognition in headlines. They organized a Day of Action and statewide events around the Solstice in 2020, and by January 2021, they had forced the case into court.

In the January 2021 case of Apache Stronghold v. United States, an Arizona judge ruled against Native advocates, but advocates got the case heard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. While the case was being argued, in February 2021, Apache Stronghold also participated in a newsworthy relay from Oak Flat to the courthouse in Phoenix, when Native advocates held a candlelight vigil.

But in March 2021, the US Forest Service announced that it was temporarily withdrawing its environmental impact assessments for the land transfer, putting the mine on hold.

In October 2021, the three judges on the appeals court ruled against Apache Stronghold again.

Over a year later, in November 2022, the court then announced something unusual: The court was willing to rehear the case en blanc (before a panel of all 11 judges).

And now, “Biden’s attorneys” will be arguing against Apache Stronghold and for the land transfer.

Throughout this entire process, Apache Stronghold has consistently been vocal, active, and dedicated to stopping it.

Here are some headlines from the past couple of years:

And from March 2023, this headline, one more time, for impact:

So, beginning on 21 March 2023, the case is being heard, again, for what is presumably the final time, with US government attorneys arguing that the land will belong to the mining companies by summer 2023.

[eregyrn-falls-art]

Here's my 2023 Art Year in Review!

Oof. Yeah, not a great year for output. As you can tell by my having to put in some photos I took for May and October, since I didn't have any drawn art for those months. What I used for January and Sept. is definitely fudging things (in a "hmm close enough" way.)

So, here's the damage: 15 pieces total (all but one full background and color); 54 individuals.

BUT.

I'm not going to be super hard on myself, because this year is when I organized a big fan project that I'd been wanting to see get done for years and years -- the "Trouble" multi-artist lyric comic. (Art here, video version here by the amazing @stariousfalls.) As I've said before, absolutely awesome seeing 72 people step up wanting to do a big GF fan project in 2024! I was truly blown away by what a spectacular job everyone did.

And while I'm noting some of the stuff I can feel good about, I was happy to finish the Stan Twins meet the Jersey Devil comic that I'd also been meaning to finish for years.

So, not a great year personally, but some things to feel satisfied about.

Saying it here: my new year's resolution is just to DRAW SOMETHING in every month. Even just one thing!

Links below the cut.

2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

(For this year's images, I am in the process of updating the original posts with image descriptions in the image ALT text. I should have all of them done by the end of tomorrow, January 4th.)

January: Fiddleford as Disney Mirrorverse Kermit

February: GF Finale 7th Anniversary

March: Not What He Seems 8th Anniversary

April: DTIYS: Mystery Farm AU Stan and Jackie

May: (a photo I took of a sunset that I didn't even post, lol)

June: The Pines family and Paul Bunyan Day

July: My Portal Ford page for the "Trouble" lyric comic

August: A pinch-hit Stan page for the "Trouble" lyric comic (collab with @stephreynaart)

September: My polaroid for the "Trouble" lyric comic

October: Sunset photo from LBI in October

November: Fiddleford Friday - father and son fishing

December: The Pines family around a Winter Solstice campfire

Template by @mossygator

#art year in review 2023 #my art #gravity falls #id in alt #image ids added in alt of original posts

[nikethestatue]

The way I would drop SJM if gwynriel happens. I wont hate on her or anything. I will keep reading her book if elucien happens depending on how elain character is develop. We all due respect Gwyn is a lovely character in my opinion but the fact that all those elriel hints were just to mislead us just so gwynriel could happen makes me kinda sick. I love elriel a lot but honestly at this point i am not 100% sure that elriel will happen the whole glow in the chest thing is really tricky especially if it was use in the bryce/hunt bc on HOFAS. I will still support my ship but I won’t go to hard on it cause honestly I just don’t want to get disappointed. Something that this new release has show us is that one thing is what we want and another is what she as the writer wants🤷🏼‍♀️very few theories have come true and I just think at the end of the day we really know nothing about what’s going on in Sarah s head

Same. Definitely same.

But Gwynriel won't happen. There was a n interview/Live that SJM did at the height of Gwynriel mania in 2021. She was kind of prodded and pushed to answer a Gwynriel question which she didnt but she DID say that not every interaction should be interpreted as 'romantic'. She was clear about that--that even if a reader wants to read it as such, they aren't. Obviously, it was in response to the question about Gwynriel. She didn't outright negate it, but she dropped a pretty heavy hint.

That, clearly, cannot apply to Elriel, since SJM herself wrote a very romantic interlude between the two of them. Theirs ARE romantic gestures and interactions and should be taken as such.

Gwynriel was never coded as romantic. Everything about it--and I've said it always--is mentor/mentee conded, with vague overlay of barely there friendship. Gwyn wants to impress Azriel with her achievements. Azriel challenges her and the others and wants them to push harder. That's it. Nothing about their interactions is even vaguely romantic, not even flirtatious. Also, we KNOW from Azriel's own POV that the entire time he was involved in training of the priestesses, including Gwyn, he was completely CONSUMED by Elain.

No one seems to address that. The timelines are concurrent. Gwyn is cutting the ribbon, Azriel watches her attempts, he trains the priestesses, he does whatever he does with all of that--all the while, he only thinks of Elain. He doesn't look at Gwyn's cut ribbon on his nightstand. He looks at the headache powder. He doesn't avoid training, because he can't be near Gwyn since he wants her so much. He avoids dinners and meetings at the River House, because he wants Elain so much.

Has anything changed after we got the Solstice POV? No. We learn from another SJM interview that Az and Rhys tried to borderline kill each other, because Az was so angry with him. We know that after things sparked in his chest, the next day, he was even more aloof than usual during training and barely spoke to Nesta. Has anything changed, narratively, in his approach to Gwyn after Solstice? Nope. Still the same.

I know it's hard to not hear all the noise and the mad confidence of some readers, but Gwynriel won't be happening. It's not me saying that. It's SJM.

#elriel #pro elriel

[ruiniel]

Re your or if bounds explicit post- what about alucard having to drink reader's blood out of necessity and discovering his bite has an aphrodisiac effect? So he goes from starving-near-feral to having to sate other needs 🥴

Love your work, and hope you're having a wonderful day! 💙

Another classic... Since it's the winter solstice, tried to add your prompt into something thematic. Two parts.

The closest warmth

Fandom: Castlevania series (2017-2021)

Pairing: Alucard x Reader

Rating: M/🔞

Count: 2.3k

Tags & Warnings: aftermath of violence, injury, developing relationship, mutual pining, a pinch of winter solstice magic, unresolved emotional tension, He's just So, Second Person POV, hurt/comfort, blood kink, angst, denial, vampirism, eventual smut, a lot of smut, in part II that's all it is really

Also on AO3

I.

His face is gaunt and his eyes are restless as he looks at you standing in the doorway.  

He’s never been much of a liar, you think, the crumbling facade he tries to keep in place as obvious proof.  

“Please leave.”

You’re still there, a hand on your chest, covering the hot spiral of life within. 

“But you’re hurt.”

“I’m… well aware of that,” Adrian mutters, fumbling with medical supplies, scattering them in the process.

It is useless, since the bounty hunter's blade was coated in an alchemical blend that hinders his fast-healing abilities. You stare at the trickled trail of blood following in his wake, your breath trembling in your lungs. 

He’s long shrugged off his coat, and his gloves lie somewhere on the desk. There is a blooming pattern of blood on his white shirt, right below his ribs. You approach even as he falls into a chair, a needle between his teeth as he undoes his garment, concentrating on cleaning the gash; biting down a hiss.

“Let me,” you say, and when he’d usually scoff and decline, his lashes now tremble as he raises his face to look at you, his hand pressed over the compress to the wound. “Please?”

You kneel beside him without waiting for a reply, “You’ll mend,” you slowly peel away the soaked cloth, rising and finding a bowl to throw it in.

“I… know, I…” your eyes meet as you urge him to change position, and great is your surprise when, for once, Adrian complies with your ask. His face is ashen, and sweat beads on his forehead where silver-gold strands kiss the skin. 

The surgical area provides more items, and swiftly you go and return, bearing other vials and bottles.

He’s taught you some of this, mostly to help yourself—you now wonder at the irony, but commend his foresight. “You needn’t… I can—” Adrian tries, interrupted by a gasp as you apply more pressure to staunch the bleeding. 

“I know you can.” Where is this implausible calm coming from? It seems the lessons haven’t been useless. “But this is faster, isn’t it?” He hasn’t wasted his time on you and a part of you is proud enough to think about it, but not petty enough to bring it up now.

You stare back at him and catch the exhaustion in his eyes, taking root in his composure: he’s turned to sit on the table at your behest, leaning back on his arms. You both escaped with your lives, and the gratitude you feel is only surpassed by the heaviness in your chest because the truth is: it hurts to see his pain. 

But he’s a brave one, the scar crossing his torso a reminder you cannot unsee. The smell of raw flesh and his panting breaths washing over you is more distracting than you’d thought. 

It’s a silent sign of trust, you know, him being here, allowing you to touch him, allowing you to help. Great strides have been made before, despite the wall he still keeps between himself and anyone else with a heart. 

When it’s over and you unwind, the signs of depletion show themselves—he knows it too. His eyes say more than he’s capable of conveying. I’m sorry I’m weak. I’m sorry I needed you. 

And then you’re helping him to his chamber, slowly crawling by the walls in silence, his form stooped and movement sluggish, lacking the speed or elegance you’re used to. 

When he falls into bed, his eyes close, features smoothed by relief. 

Wiping your forehead with your sleeve, you can’t help but feel the same. You sit on the opposite edge of the bed for a moment to catch your breath, to let the reality of this settle. The room is dimly lit, the soft glow of the bedside lamp casting a gentle shadow on the walls. Silence hangs in the air, broken only by the faint hum of the wind. The scent of disinfectant lingers, as does the sight of his raw flesh. “I’ll come by to check on you.”

There comes no answer, and when you look his way, Adrian has already fallen unconscious. 

A shivering ray spills light over your eyes. Groggily, senses return, as does the need to stretch and move. You find yourself in a strange place. It’s not until your eyes meet Adrian’s, that you remember where you last were—and still are. You’ve fallen asleep right across from him, in his bed, something that any other time might have caused a rush of heat and an urgent need to disappear. 

Your unlikely patient looks at you, a lost expression on his face.

“I slept where I lay, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” And he leaves it at that.

“How are you feeling?”

He shakes his head, and you slide off the bed, going around it. “Fever,” you say as you check. He’s burning, and that sends a spiral of worry down your gut. 

You leave quietly, only to reappear with water, kitchen scraps, and willow bark extract discovered in the laboratory. You’re slightly out of breath, but Adrian makes it easy—he’s silent throughout, barely a groan of pain as you check on the wound, met with visible signs of infection.

“Damn this,” the words escape as your self-assurance crumbles, but you attempt to clean the area as well as you can. 

A hand is placed over yours. “Leave it.”

It rankles how he disregards not only himself but you as well. As if he’s the only one who cares if he lives or dies.

“Truly?” you ask, and the rush of everything comes through the one word, but you don’t look at him as you finish your task. “Do you remember anything at all to help?”

Adrian looks at the ceiling with glassy eyes. “No.”

You rise, desperate to prove him wrong. Your gaze is drawn to the outside, where blankets of snow engulf the world, falling and falling. There is something. There must be.

“Adrian. Adrian, look!” You all but trip in your rush to his side, thrusting a manuscript in his line of sight. “I told you there’s something. Here.”

Still fevered, he throws one apathetic glance at the page, then averts his gaze with a sigh.

There’s a strange irregularity within, as though your heart has failed its rhythm. “You knew.” The manuscript lands on the bed. “You knew, and you said nothing?! Adrian, this will mend you.” You kneel by the side of the bed. 

“No,” he murmurs. “I’ve never done that before.”

Impotent ire. “That’s not a reason to disregard a good chance.”

He looks your way then, with a wretchedness that bares him to you, spirit and fears and all.

“Nothing will happen. It’s… think of it as a medical procedure.”

Adrian shakes his head, brow knitting in pain. “Enough… No.”

Your fists are shaking on the sheets. “Do you want to die that badly?”

Silence. 

“Do you really… not care about anything?” If your voice is frantic, bordering on hysterical, you’re past caring.

Adrian swallows, tired eyes staring at the ceiling. “I don’t… want to harm you.”

Gently, you cup his cheek; he leans into the touch, and desperate affection makes your eyes sting. “I’m not afraid.”

His dry lips part as you slowly rise, but no words come out, nothing to prevent you from crawling up onto the cold bed. “I want you to heal, so you can be your own insufferable self again, all right?” 

Adrian minds not the barb, but frissons wrack his body all the stronger. 

Desperate, you undo the fastenings at your neck, baring skin with methodical care and shaking fingers even as his gaze flies to the soft fluttering beneath. Now you know what would help, but knowing something is not the same as having the courage to offer it. 

The closest warmth to take, to regain balance…

He watches your collected demeanor with a clenched jaw, lying there as helpless as you’ve never seen him. “Adrian.”

He presses his eyes closed, but you feel the weak slide of his fingers between your shoulder-blades when you prop a palm by his head. “You’re shaking,” he says.

“No more than you.” You steal a glance outside, to the hypnotic dance of falling snow, feeling cold fingers gliding to cup your head—but then. “No, I’m… I’m sorry. This is not fair, you’re vulnerable and… I shouldn’t be doing this, I didn’t mean to force this on you…” you slowly take to righting yourself, a ray of reason hissing in your heart like a hot iron bar.

“... Wait …” 

The word, spoken so weakly, has a power on its own—your eyes fly open, meeting his. His skin is ashen, the amber of his eyes dulled, a visible shade, a wraith in the lengthening twilight. “Adrian…” you murmur, tirade ceasing, body mellowing on the thought you don’t voice: I can’t lose you now, in this way. 

And even as the thought dies, your body follows the slow heed of his touch, lower: your clothes feel like shackles over skin even as his grip turns rigid, as your breath washes over his cheek when your face is pressed to the sheets.

“Thank you,” he says, a wisp spoken as his cold nose presses to your skin. 

An arm is wound around your waist, his other hand in your hair; your heart beats against him—now you hear it, slow as dripping honey but it’s there. 

Your eyes press shut against all thoughts of turning away, though this is the very last trial you thought you’d ever be in: of cold fangs grazing skin and your defenses. 

Pain. You might have wailed, or perhaps not, but shadows creep upon the walls as the awful sensation shoots through your being, akin to a burning cut; you are still against him, paralyzed. The ache subsides as swiftly as it burst, and you find yourself listening: to the nervous, imperceptible tautness of muscles beneath, cording around you. A soft groan pressed into your neck, the subtle bob of his throat with each swallow.

The world raging outside is shut away, your perception narrowed to the coil of heat at your center, brimming like a freshly kindled fire. His arm winds around you tighter, the fingers at the nape of your neck trace up and down, feeling every nook in your spine before gliding up again.

Your voice has long left you though your mouth opens to—speak, but all it yields are incoherent sounds, and a wildness ripens inside as you feel the strength returning to his limbs, now winding around you, holding you impossibly tight. It feels… good; exquisite. You murmur or moan, you’ve stopped caring, dropped all inhibitions like old garments no longer suited. You’d want more, or was that him? Your mind melds with something indefinable, as weaved as your bodies have become. You realize this late as a delirious warm lick traces your skin, slowly lapping with a tenderness that quickens your breaths, now that you’ve come to hear them again.

Reality seeps into your mindless wandering, sensations and all, and you perceive what is: at some point, he’s dragged you atop him; his arm is painfully tight across your form, fingers digging into the soft flesh of your rear. You find it difficult to breathe, rising and falling with his chest, so overwhelmingly afire you could fall apart here and now; something hardens against your abdomen, and the slightest of movements elicits a gasp. 

“...Adrian?” You try moving your hips, while a remote part of you thinks it not a good idea in the slightest—but you haven’t a care in the world to show for it. You try again; there’s no answer but a delicious, hot twitch against your abdomen, and a sigh. “Are you…”

He nods against you, his fingers slackening in your hair as you move your head, and dizziness takes hold. The room is spinning, so you focus on him. You ask him, wordlessly, was it enough, did it work? 

The soft stains on his lips should make you uneasy—perhaps? But all you want, all you desperately want is to kiss them off, to taste the bright red. 

And Adrian stares at you with bright copper irises, with drunkenness you've never seen on his features since you've known him. You can’t place it, but it speaks of something you also feel: more. 

Your hand reaches, slowly, to feel along his ribs, gingerly following the bandaged area as you hold his gaze: there’s nothing but hot skin where a grievous wound had been moments ago, and the purest relief has you crashing all over again, the blood leaping in your veins. You let yourself fall slack against him, hands catching in his hair, forehead pressed to his collarbone. “I was so worried… damn it, you’re so stubborn, so-so stubborn…”

It’s the realization of what you’ve done and what you’re doing now that hits like a bucket of ice-cold water. Somewhere between hunger and mortification, you’re trapped in a pitiful balancing act, and you rise so suddenly that your head spins anew. 

“Careful,” Adrian speaks, appearing to regain himself, slower than you to awaken from his trance. His touch weaves off you like silk as you suddenly rise, untangling yourself from him and falling to the side.

You stare, feeling the loss: he looks so alive, visibly better in health, golden in the weak candlelight as he watches you with that same vulnerability from before—and saying nothing.

Outside, night has fallen early, and offhandedly you remember it’s supposed to be one of the longer ones. A blizzard has begun to wail, rising harshly in your ears. Everything reaches deeper, sounds seem to burrow higher and lower than before, and colors vibrate like tiny heartbeats. “I’ll… I have to go. I’m glad, glad-you’re-better.” 

Adrian calls your name once but does not attempt to stop you even as you struggle out of bed, nearly falling over while setting yourself free from the sheets and rushing off on wobbling legs. You make it to the door, towards a pathetic escape.

Something aches and feels as out of place as you do. Leaning against the frigid walls you smother it or try, but the fire burns low in your abdomen, trailing behind you like blood loss as you walk away. 

TBC

#alucard x reader #adrian tepes x reader #alucard castlevania x reader #castlevania x reader #x reader #adrian tepes x you #alucard smut #alucard x you #castlevania imagine #castlevania x you #sort of gave me some of what I wanted #ruiniel:fanfiction

[apod]

2023 June 21

Three Sun Paths Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace & Giuseppe De Donà

Explanation: Does the Sun follow the same path every day? No. The Sun's path changes during the year, tracing a longer route during the summer than the winter. Pictured here, the Sun's arc was captured from noon to sunset on three days, from highest in the sky to lowest: summer solstice, equinox, and winter solstice. The images were taken near Gatto Corvino Village in Sicily, Italy in 2020 and 2021. The path and time the Sun spends in the sky is more important in determining the season than how close the Earth is to the Sun. In fact, the Earth is closest to the Sun in January, during northern winter. Today is a solstice, so today the Sun is taking its longest path of the year across the sky in Earth's northern hemisphere, but the shortest path in the southern hemisphere.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230621.html

[zeldaelmo]

ZeldaElmo's masterlist 2024

An old promise forces Link into a betrothal with Zelda, the daughter of his father's friend and the center of Castle Town's rumors. At the end of the winter solstice ball, however, he makes his own, rushed promise to her. He soon discovers she might be worth holding it no matter the trouble that seems to follow them like a shadow.

Regency AU, E-rated, ongoing novel; Read The Promise

Link and Zelda visit Rito Village and Tulin can't help but pester Kass with questions about the two.

Kass PoV.

BotW, written for Loftwing Letter exchange, G-rated; Read Like a Starfragment in the Night

"Would you have chosen a different path?"

Zelda finds the answer that Link gives rather depressing, but sometimes life deals second chances when you expect it the last.

BotW; G-rated; Read To have a Choice

Still need more? Here are the other years!

Master list 2023

Master list 2022

Master list 2021

Master list 2020

3-sentences fics for a follower milestone

#zelink #zeldaelmo writes #legend of zelda #botw

[wishbow]

Defender of night - pam wishbow - From a series of images etched in brass charms in 2021 for the winter solstice from the Order of the Empty Cup

A loyal knight of night rests all year for the chance to vanquish the sun and let the children of night be free.

#order of the empty cup #hall of the empty cup #knight #skeleton drawing #knight of night

[fernthewhimsical]

15 days of Deity: Cernunnos

[Disclaimer: Most, if not all of this is UPG]

Putting multiple days together because it fits better. Day 11-15

Pieces of Art in which you see this deity.

So, so many. Let me get some of my favourites.

Music:

Antlered Crown and Standing Stone by Damh the Bard Noon of the Solstice by Damh the Bard Hymn to Herne by S.J. Tucker Pipes of Pan by Faun

Art:

Lord of the Wildwood by Wendy Andrew Tender of the Wilds by Autumn Skye Cernunnos, Salem Beiruti 2021 Eva Wilderman, Lord of the Hunt Greenman by Brigid Ashwood

Aesthetics you associate with this deity:

dark forests

wolves and deer

hunting

dark nature

chthonic

My own art of this deity

I have made a small clay figurine and a pegdoll, as well as a string of prayer beads. Some art in my art journal and prayers.

Your Relationship to this Deity/How do they Influence your Life?

Cernunnos has been one of the first deities I connected with. He is my rock when it comes to my spiritual and witchy path. Though the intensity of our connection and relationship waxes and wanes, he is and always has been a constant. They taught me to embrace liminality and helped figure out I was non binary. They guide me in my witchcraft and paganism. I think of them whenever I enter a wild place, or dance around a bonfire (or candle). I am devoted to him in many many different ways.

What do you wish to learn/Where do you want this relationship to go ?

I wish to connect in a deeper way again. I wish to learn from him directly and visit him through hedge-riding more often. I wish for him to be guide through the Otherworld and through magic.

#deity #cernunnos #15 days of deity #pagan #paganblr #hooded hunter #upg #gleaming grove