after the huge amazing response I got from my ace!Jiang Cheng comic - all of the ace people saying how amazing it felt to be acknowledged, and all of the people who came to me saying that they hadn’t realised they were ace until they read the comic - I decided I wanted to make something for ace awareness week. it’s not quite as pretty or feelsy as the other comic, but there are so many people even within the LGBT+ community who just… genuinely do not understand asexuality, I figured even something basic would help :)
happy ace awareness week! please remember: everyone’s experience with sexuality is different! be kind and support each other!
Cindy’s in the market. She likes being in the market more than she’s willing to admit, because it gets her away from the house, and again… the house is all she has left of her parents, so it’s kind of guilty feeling good being away from the house, but the market’s hitting a little different today. After that night, after that taste of freedom, after that sobbing, agonizing realization that her home hasn’t been her home in so long, she likes the smell of the market air more. She’s contentedly swaying like kelp to accommodate the press of the crowd around her. She’s still humming the music she and the prince danced to, goddammit, and she’s running all the decidedly un-glamorous errands the stepfam aren’t willing to do. The stepfam doesn’t like how the soap maker’s hands are all fucked up from years of lye exposure, so Cindy gets the soap. The stepfam doesn’t like how the fishmonger smells, so Cindy gets the fish. The stepfam doesn’t like how the cheesemonger infodumps about goat social hierarchies and tyrosine crystals, so Cindy gets the cheese. The stepfam doesn’t like the tinkerer’s glass eye, so Cindy goes to the tinkerer whenever tinkering needs to be done. She’s always considered them all very pleasant people, oh but today they’re vibing even more. She is walking on air, this girl is still high on the afterglow of the ball. The cheesemonger is in the middle of a fascinating lecture on the impacts of goat diets on cheese fermentation rates when all of a sudden a loud bell rings.
“An announcement from the crown! An announcement from the crown!” The town crier is parading into the market square with a burly guard at one shoulder and a bookish valet clearly from the castle at the other.
The thrum of the market dies down with the ringing of the bell as the town crier hops on the border wall of the fountain, still ringing his bell.
“Hear ye, hear ye! In this, the year of our lord seventeen-or-eighteen-something-something, in our most proud nation of—” The town crier cough-sneezed hard into his elbow, “I bear a message from our most beloved king!”
Cinderella, along with literally everyone else in the market, perks up and moseys towards the crier.
Cindy’s in the market. She likes being in the market more than she’s willing to admit, because it gets her away from the house, and again… the house is all she has left of her parents, so it’s kind of guilty feeling good being away from the house, but the market’s hitting a little different today. After that night, after that taste of freedom, after that sobbing, agonizing realization that her home hasn’t been her home in so long, she likes the smell of the market air more. She’s contentedly swaying like kelp to accommodate the press of the crowd around her. She’s still humming the music she and the prince danced to, goddammit, and she’s running all the decidedly un-glamorous errands the stepfam aren’t willing to do. The stepfam doesn’t like how the soap maker’s hands are all fucked up from years of lye exposure, so Cindy gets the soap. The stepfam doesn’t like how the fishmonger smells, so Cindy gets the fish. The stepfam doesn’t like how the cheesemonger infodumps about goat social hierarchies and tyrosine crystals, so Cindy gets the cheese. The stepfam doesn’t like the tinkerer’s glass eye, so Cindy goes to the tinkerer whenever tinkering needs to be done. She’s always considered them all very pleasant people, oh but today they’re vibing even more. She is walking on air, this girl is still high on the afterglow of the ball. The cheesemonger is in the middle of a fascinating lecture on the impacts of goat diets on cheese fermentation rates when all of a sudden a loud bell rings.
“An announcement from the crown! An announcement from the crown!” The town crier is parading into the market square with a burly guard at one shoulder and a bookish valet clearly from the castle at the other.
The thrum of the market dies down with the ringing of the bell as the town crier hops on the border wall of the fountain, still ringing his bell.
“Hear ye, hear ye! In this, the year of our lord seventeen-or-eighteen-something-something, in our most proud nation of—” The town crier cough-sneezed hard into his elbow, “I bear a message from our most beloved king!”
Cinderella, along with literally everyone else in the market, perks up and moseys towards the crier.
Zuko’s hanbok is a ‘gonryongpo(곤룡포, dragon robe), which is a robe worn by the king and the heir to the throne. The gold patterns on his chest and shoulders are called hyoongbae(흉배). The king’s has a dragon with five claws on each foot, and the crown prince’s has a dragon with four claws instead. Zuko has the king’s in this drawing.
Note: the red of the robes and the gold dragon pattern are historically accurate, but I changed the color of the clothes’ lining, belt/pumdae(품대), and shoes to fit fire nation colors better.
it’s late and I’m still in a bit of a post-book-trance so this is probably rambling but it’s just incredible how no two people will ever tell the same story even given the same subject matter.
When I started writing Runaways, I was afraid that the plot was too predictable, too obvious, too elementary. I’d been writing Storge so long with all it’s complicated plots, and even though fantasy stories about civil war and rebellion are kind of overdone, it’s so inextricably tied to Laoche and my world and my characters that I’ve never been able to find another book that matches it’s vibes. But there’s dozens and dozens of books about fae and changelings out there, and the premise of Runaways always just felt so obviousto me. There was no other way this story could be told.
I picked up a middle grade book the other day in the library called The Last Changeling, which took place in the lands of seelie and unseelie. I was afraid that I’d read it, only to find that my idea was already done. It wasn’t even remotely close. It was such a relief and such a fun, almost goofy, story that took place fully in the faerie world and followed a hostage prince and midwife’s apprentice. Even though it lit up all the same keywords in the synopsis, it was a startlingly different concept.
I picked up a YA book the other day in the library called House of Hollow, which follows three strange sisters trying to protect each other from the supernatural. I was afraid that I’d read it, only to find that my idea was already done. It wasn’t even remotely close. It was such a relief, and such a compelling, dark, intense story that took place bordering two worlds completely unlike mine. Even though it lit up all the same keywords in the synopsis, it was a startlingly different concept.
I had an absolute blast reading both stories - drawing the similarities and feeling slightly smug about coming up with an idea good enough to be published; drawing the differences and feeling slightly smug about coming up with something so original and intrinsically mine that it can also be published. These books will not push each other off the shelves, they will play to different strengths of the genre, different tastes for different readers. A thread of a common trope, but three distinctly colored threads weaving together to create a fascinating tapestry of storytelling.
In that way, aren’t these books kind of like sisters too?
So, there are many Gil-galad origin theories I find compelling, but here’s one reason I like him as a child of Maedhros and Fingon:
This makes Elrond his half-brother.*
Just. The dramatic irony of the longest-reigning High King of the Noldor in Middle Earth. Having. A younger half-brother. Who he’s apparently at least on pretty good terms with and quite possibly very close to.
This ties in wonderfully with other people’s headcanon that I’ve seen, that Gil-galad tried to push the crown onto Elrond because no-one really wanted to be king by the second age.
Consider the possibilities.
Gil-galad, at some point: Feanor was LUCKY; myhalf-brother is refusingto take the crown, it’s veryaggravating.
Gil-galad, meeting his ancestors in Mandos: *is asked about his successes* *annoyed voice* Well, you see, I fostered a good relationship with my younger half-brother *glares at one grandfather* and took other people with me to fight the evil ainu *glares at other grandfather*
*assuming that Elrond sees Maedhros as a father figure, which I do
I was not prepared for the Watermelon Sugar video.
Sure, I know what the song is about, but, you know, the video couldn’t actually be just about that, could it?
And sure, I was a little worried when I say the teaser, and even more worried when I read the message on his website, saying “Kiwi Walked So Watermelon Sugar Could Run”.
And sure, when the video started with the message “This video is dedicated to touching”, I was even more worried.
Let’s just say I was absolutely not prepared.
I lost it 15 seconds in, when Harry was sensually caressing a slice of watermelon.
And then I still had 2 minutes and 53 seconds left to go.
This video broke me.
I’m not surprised, totally not. If I would have guessed what the video for this song would be, Harry eating watermelon while surrounded by beautiful women, with a lot of sensual looks, and, you know, Satisfied™ looks, would have pretty much been my guess.
I just didn’t think that that video would actually happen.
