Sergey Korolev

Not pictured: me, yanking the steering wheel to screech into a parking lot so I could take a pic of this while my sisters and I absolutely lost it upon seeing this truck

“I’ve managed to resist my cannibalistic instincts and refrain from devouring my wife, but I don’t know how much more I can take. Perhaps looking at my neighbor’s beautiful, blossoming tree will ground me…”

just remembered shows used to have 20-25 eps per season

Taking up Japanese as a side project for myself has reminded me of something.

So like a long time ago I had a professor that I absolutely adored. She happened to be Japanese American. She grew up speaking Japanese at home but never really spent a lot of time in Japan. She mostly spoke with other Japanese Americans and read books.

So one day early in her teaching career there’s an exchange student from Japan who’s having a hard time understanding a concept so she explained it to him in Japanese and then he looked absolutely rattled. Like in shock. Pale.

This is how she learned that the way she speaks Japanese makes her sound like a gang member.

Japanese doesn’t exactly have cuss words in the same way as English does but imagine that the nicest professor you’ve ever had pulls your paper over and says “Okay listen here you little piece of shit I’m gonna fucking explain this to you. Violently.”

Redo of an old Inquisition Companion character/outfit sheet for Zach and bunch of Inquisition-time doodles I owed to my edgy vint son since 2018.

All you need to know is that he's not really beating those "evil-tevinter-blood-mage" allegations when called out but he's slapping that band-aid over your wound so effectively you almost feel invicible when he's in your party to make up for it. (other decriptions and yapping in alt text as always.)

Also featuring babysitting moment with children of @featherfangart's Ulric Cousland (Kieran&Tristan).

AO3 will be down for about 15 hours starting at 08:00 UTC on January 21 (what time is that for me?) while we make some improvements to searching bookmarks and series, including:

Please follow our status page for updates.

Starting 24 hours from now, AO3 will be down for about 15 hours.

DATV x ACNH — The Lighthouse

I recreated the Lighthouse from Dragon Age The Veilguard in Animal Crossing New Horizons new Hotel from the 3.0 update♥

✦ The Meditation Chamber | Rook's room

✦ The Dining Hall & Pantry | Lucanis' room

✦ The Conservatory | Lace's room

✦ The Workshop | Bellara's room

✦ The Study | Neve's room

✦ The Guesthouse | Davrin's room

✦ The Storage Room | Taash's room

✦ The Laboratory | Emmrich's room

Which one is your favourite?

Of course, none of these are 100% accurate, but I tried to capture the most accuracy and general vibe with the items available in Animal Crossing and the limitations of this game ♥ It was fun!

happy make a terrible comic day!!! i haven't stopped thinking about this post since i saw it. in 2018 a common merganser was spotted with 76 (SEVENTY SIX!!!) chicks!! that's SOOOO many baby. so much success.

Heres a picture btw

Emmrich 🖤

ALT

Flora of Thedas Master List

Master list of all the flora in Thedas, mentioned or seen.

Additional notes on certain items will be listed at the bottom, for items marked with asterisks, see the key below for a brief explanation and the Game assets and Additional Notes and Trivia section at the bottom. Sources are listed at the very end and this time linked.

For other lists here are posts for: Real Plants in Thedas

Dame Patricia Routledge (17 February 1929 – 3 October 2025)

One month before her 95th birthday, Patricia Routledge wrote something that still gently echoes:

“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude….

My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found….

At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.

At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.

At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.

At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.

Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.

I’m writing this to tell you something simple:

Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.**

Let these years ahead be your *treasure years*.

You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.

You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.

With love and gentleness”

Patricia Routledge died today 3rd October 2025

Rest In Peace

How to Fix Underwriting

1. Slow down at emotionally important moments.

Big emotions need space to land. If a scene feels rushed, pause the plot briefly to show how the moment affects the character.

2. Add reactions, not explanations.

Instead of explaining what a character feels, show it through physical responses, hesitation, or small actions that reveal emotion naturally.

3. Ground every scene in the senses.

If a scene feels thin, add one or two sensory details—sound, texture, smell, or temperature—to make the moment feel lived-in.

4. Let thoughts interrupt action.

A line of internal thought can deepen a scene without slowing it too much. Thoughts show stakes, fear, longing, or conflict beneath the action.

5. Expand consequences, not events.

You don’t need more things to happen—you need to show what matters. Focus on how events change relationships, decisions, or self-perception.

6. Strengthen setting where emotion peaks.

The environment should echo or contrast the emotion of the scene. Setting is not decoration—it’s emotional reinforcement.

7. Add specific details instead of general ones.

Underwriting often relies on vague language. Swap “they argued” for one sharp line of dialogue or a specific breaking point.

8. Let dialogue breathe.

Short dialogue exchanges without pauses can feel flat. Add beats—silence, gestures, interruptions—to give the conversation weight.

9. Show transitions between scenes.

If scenes jump too quickly, readers feel disoriented. A brief transition helps establish time, mood, and emotional continuity.

10. Clarify stakes early in the scene.

If readers don’t know what can be lost, scenes feel empty. Make sure the character wants something specific and fears losing it.

11. Use the “what are they feeling right now?” check.

After each major beat, ask what emotion is dominant in that moment. If it’s missing on the page, the scene is likely underwritten.

12. Expand scenes that feel “too clean.”

If a scene resolves too neatly or quickly, it probably needs more tension. Messy emotions and unresolved feelings add depth.

posting your fic on AO3 like

Do you smash?

Or do you bone?

Elephants eat 300+ pounds of foliage a day so they’re almost always moving and grazing in their waking hours but they will stop if another elephant cannot walk. They’re known to try to pick up the fallen elephant and stand and wait for them to remain enough strength to rise and walk if the elephant is injured or ill. Some Asian elephants reportedly guide injured wild elephants back to humans for help. I can’t help but think about adage attributed to Margaret Mead, first sign of civilization is a healed human femur. We know Neanderthals cared for the individuals in their community because there are archeological finds of Neanderthals with disabilities and healed major injuries that would have required the group assisting the individual to eat and drink during their recovery, instead of seeing the injured or disabled Neanderthal as a waste of resources, they valued them as an individual and were willing to put work into their recovery and survival. Elephants seem to view members of their species in the same way but due to their anatomy and cognition, they have a harder time rendering medical aid themselves, though they want to help.

Veilguard fun fact:

I cleared up inaudible dialogue between Varric and Solas back in 2024 in this post, but only now noticed if you go in close enough with the cam, their models actually have full lipsync animation during dialogue that is never even meant to be seen :)