Some Appreciation FINALLY

And after a while you just stop. You stop watering your plants. You stop watching netflix. You stop reading. You stop replying to your friends as fast as you used to. You stop buying yourself nice things. You stop putting an effort into how you look. You stop taking care of yourself like you used to. You stop sleeping. You stop eating healthy foods. You stop petting your dog. You stop socializing.

You stop with everything. You find yourself sitting in your room for hours on end, without doing a single thing. Days feel like years. And you think you can’t do it for much longer.

The Pevensies are foreign when they return home.

The streets no longer know them. They do not seem to fit in their own bodies as they stroll the cobbles, Lucy’s hand tucked carefully into Peter’s, Edmund trailing watchfully behind Susan like a shadow. Their eyes are sharp, their smiles crooked, and those who see them cross to the opposite side of the road, afraid of the ancient gleam they see reflected back at them that does not belong in the eyes of a child.

Water murmurs to Lucy when she flits past, and lamplight follows her wherever she goes, even in broad daylight when the lamps are unlit. Their flames sputter into existence when she walks by, flickering at her in a way that seems to whisper I know you. Lucy looks at them with feral teeth and smiles, and vines twist from the cobbles at her feet. She laughs like a wild thing, eyes glowing, but a moment later she blinks and it is gone. Her feet hardly seem to touch the ground at all as she darts through the alleys.

The sky is clearer when Peter walks the streets, clouds vanishing like they were never there at all. His eyes are too much like a lion’s, struck through with gold and filled with a brooding fierceness, yet he laughs as he twirls Lucy around, and claps Edmund on the back as they share a stupid joke, and smiles with Susan when she tells him of the bow she plans to carve. He is all warmth and friendliness, but there is something about his eyes. There is something about all of their eyes.

The sun caresses Susan as she moves about, and she is graceful, too graceful, her hair seeming to be alive of its own accord as she steps lightly along the streets. Her skin is pale like ice, and sometimes her gaze appears almost silver as she stands by the river, gazing into its depths with a distant, siren-cold smile. She is gentle, but her fingers look a little too long sometimes. Her laugh is a little too unsettling.

Trees lean towards Edmund when he walks past, branches scraping his clothing, leaves showering around him. Books and journals and pages covered in notes perpetually fill his arms, spilling from his grasp but never quite falling. His voice is even-keeled, quiet, but there is something wild about it, something unhinged. He speaks of things none have ever heard before, dark hair falling into his eyes, mouth unsmiling and hands perfectly still, and for a moment he seems to be someone else, fangs beneath his lips, dirt on his tongue. He tilts his head just a little too far, sometimes.

The Pevensies are foreign when they return home. They do not fit their bodies. They do not fit the streets. People who encounter them cross to the other side of the road to avoid them, terrified of the oldness they see in the children’s faces. Such depth does not belong in the gaze of a child.

And yet four sets of eyes, ancient and deep and flickering like candlelight, stare out from the children’s faces, and their smiles are sharp, too sharp. Their laughter is a little too wild as they walk, the oldest and youngest hand-in-hand, the middle children trailing each other like shadows.

There is something about those children’s eyes.

There is something about those children.

@zutaraweek day 3: union

a little follow up to this comic i did last year. i really liked the idea of union in a political context and this was a very round about way of that. like, a little tongue in cheek with all the different kids from different nations just sort of talking and gossiping together. teens doing teen stuff despite their high profile roles in society, that type of thing.

initially this comic was a lot more ambitious but some complications happened in my life which made me have to chip away at a lot of it. such as having it in full color, with backgrounds. there's been a lot of thought put into the world of the chief kya au, though! particularly related to yue that is not featured at all asdfghjk.

the more i worked on it, the more i got worried zuko might be a little ooc. but i was a bit inspired by crystal catacombs and the softness he had there. whenever i try to write him in this au, he's just usually just happy to be around katara so i'm just going to let him do what he wants.

Anyway, a transcript along with brief image descriptions is beneath the cut under my obligatory art links as well as in the alt text of the art!

art only blog - insta - inprnt - redbubble

Page 1: Zuko and Katara are at a gathering for those invited to the peace accords which seems to be more packed then usual.

Katara: Wow, there’s a lot of people here Zuko: Yeah. There’s a lot of people this year. K: I don’t recognize anyone yet. Z: Oh! I can help you. Z: That’s Mai. Her father is an official. Z: She’s Suki. Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Z: And next to her is- K: Yue!

Page 2: Katara and Yue hug and the teens (Zuko, Yue, Katara, and Suki) all chat.

Yue: Katara! K: I missed you! Y: I’m so happy to see you! have never spoken more than hellos was just trying to chat with Yue awkward turtle duck Z: So you do know someone. K: We’ve known each other since we were kids. Lu Ten: Prince Zuko?

Page 3: Lu Ten appears, Yue and Suki gossip, and Katara's a bit sad as Zuko leaves with Lu Ten to handle business elsewhere.

Z: Lu Ten? L: Sorry to interrupt, but can I steal you? Z: Is it important? L: Unfortunately. L: They seem nice. I’m happy you’re making friends.

Page 4: The girls gossip and Mai overhears.

Y: I didn’t know you knew Zuko. Suki: Yeah. Do you know anything about the scar? K: I don’t really know him. We just met. What do you guys know? Mai: No one actually knows. M: About the scar. They kept it quiet.

Page 5: There's a small flashback to Zuko at 14 after receiving his scar, the girls continue to talk, and there's a final panel of Ozai, alluding to a family secret.

M: He just went away for a while. And then he came back and there it was. M: That’s all anyone knows. Except Zuko. K: That’s awful. There has to be more. M: Well…people have some suspicions.

mom said it’s MY turn to lay gently in the cold dark earth

hebdhfvwg

romantic bruce banner headcanons

he loves it when you just sit there & play with his hair. especially if he has his head in your lap, and he can lay there with his eyes closed and relax into your touch.

at first he is hesitant about kissing you — his heart rate starts to spike and he’s worried about the other guy making an appearance. but some soft touches from you keep him grounded, even when things start to get steamy.

he remembers every little thing you tell him & comes up with the most thoughtful gifts based on that. sometimes they are handmade and you can tell he spent weeks on them. he just likes seeing you light up.

he is very tactile. he loves just having a hand on your back, or having your fingers laced together. your presence calms him.

after fights and missions, he knows he can just come and cuddle you. he likes it when you sing to him and rub his back. he doesn’t even bother with his headphones anymore because he would rather hear your voice.

if things start to get heated in an argument, he has to lock himself in a room and talk to you through the door. the last thing he wants to do is hurt you.

he does the rubbing his thumb against the back of your hand thing.

he isn’t great at expressing how he feels with words. at least not out loud. so he writes it down and leaves you little notes around the tower/compound.

he would defend you to the ends of the earth. he doesn’t have a particularly possessive side, but he gets protective if people talk down to you.

he loves you harder than you’ve ever been loved before.

Little pony princesses 💗

i want 50 avengers tower fanfics of the thunderbolts on my desk by morning do you hear me

Reblog, click the picture, and prepare for battle.

nobody asked for this post BUT has anybody talked about the beautiful metaphor of all the call and response choreography in the Wicked movie??? how the dancing shows the influence that characters have over each other. cuz im about to.

okay okay look at this. everybody at shiz copies Galinda during "what is this feeling"

okay standard expected yeah but THEN we get to "dancing through life" (AKA everybody's horny for Jonathan Bailey) and Fiyero has to "corrupt his fellow classmates"

WATCH them follow along! watch them LEARN the dance as his influence spreads over them. BUT not just them! because for the first time in her life, Galinda is NOT the center of attention. she's nor in command of the crowd and she JOINS IT. SHE JOINS THE CROWD.

now of course she eventually finds her way to the center, she finds a place of influence in the dance because that's who she is. When Glinda isn't in control, she joins the influence to take control of it.

but you know who isn't dancing? you know who's the one person refusing that call? of course you do you watched the movie too.

and yes. I know, those of us that are familiar with musical theater probably already saw all of this. but shhhh this is fun to talk about anyways. AND we're getting to the fun part. that's right... it's the

🧊🐟✨️ozdust ballroom✨️🐠🧊

now THIS is what's special about the call and response aspect of the choreography. THIS is the part that makes all of us cry whether or not we consciously realize it.

because whereas Glinda is able to FIND her place of control in the influence, Elphaba doesn't have that ability. she's NEVER had that. she can't join a crowd because she's different and she sticks out no matter what.

Elphaba has to do her own thing. She always has to go it alone. that's why this dance is so strange and so beautiful!! because it's so uniquely her! and THATS why the call and response motif of the choreography makes this moment so sad. because it's not just Elphie not caring what anyone thinks.

it's a desperate call for anyone, ANYONE to respond to her.

And Galinda sees her. FINALLY, a response. finally, Elphaba has broken through that wall. for the first time in her life, she's reached out a hand, and someone else took it.

and i just think that's beautiful. 🥺

i definitely have more to say about this but for now I will end it here anyways thanks for coming to my OZTEDtalk.