Venom Trooper

twinkle twinkle otp

you will be the death of me

always keeping me up late

reading bout your stupid dates

twinkle twinkle otp

WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME BE

king n’jadaka

A Madagascar sunset moth. It is considered one of the most impressive and appealing-looking lepidopterans.

Thought this was important to post.

What to read after Throne of Glass

If you, like me, are still going through complete Sarah J Maas withdrawal, and can’t really stand to wait for her next books, check out the list below to tide you over! Each book has many of the things I adored about both ToG and ACOMAF: strong and interesting female characters, magic, deeply beautiful writing, love stories to cry about, and an all around sense of adventure. If you have any more recommendations to add, definitely let me know!

Black Jewels: Anne Bishop

I just finished this series, and I am still amazed by how masterfully Anne Bishop weaves her stories. Welcome to the Dark Kingdom, a matriarchal realm ruled by strong queens and the males that support and serve them (Rowan and Aedion anyone?). There is a prophecy fortelling the rise of a Queen with more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself, which gives us a wonderful story full of scheming, war, adventure, and a badass court I would kill to be a part of. Prepare your heart!

Graceling by Kristian Cashore

Graceling is the best series for all you folks who couldn’t get enough of badass assassin Celaena. Katsa is an assassin Celaena would be proud of, due to her rare ability as a Graceling. She is Graced with a killing power, and has spent her life as the king’s tool in doling out his reign of terror. In waltzes Po, Graced with fighting, and here to shake everything Katsa knows about her world. Cashore definitely gives us a twist Sarah would most certainly support!

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

This book aligns more with the romance and court mystique that Sarah presents so wonderfully in ToG and ACOMAF. Kestrel is the daughter of a general who helped the emperor conquer territory after territory. As she is faced with a choice, marry or join the military, Kestrel finds a friend in one of the slaves from the conquered people, and so begins one of the most interesting political schemes I have read in awhile! I haven’t finished the trilogy yet, because I am out of the country and can’t get my hands on the final book, but I would highly recommend it.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Cue another really cool empire written by an author who isn’t afraid to be inventive or go beyond the normal realms of fantasy. Vin is another Celaena-esque character, as the abandoned street child who turned thief who struggles to stay alive. When a mentor takes her under his wing, she discovers that her luck on the streets might be more than she could ever explain. Magic, mystery, and of course, a few court balls thrown in make for a wonderful mix. Warning: the last book made me cry. Like really cry. But in a good, I’m-still-mad-at-you-but-I-understand-and-respect-your-story-line type of way.

Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

Raisa is everything that I have ever wanted in a princess. She is intelligent, passionate, feisty, and super compassionate. So when a war arises between the clans and the wizards, you can bet she has goals to achieve and empires to shake up. Throw Han Alister into the mix, a street wise leader, and things get tricky and fireworks explode. One of my favorite love stories in a long time, because it isn’t a story about just romantic love, but also what the love of a princess for her country can do. 

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Yelena is set for execution for murder, but is given the choice to be the next food taster of the Commander of Ixia. As if the threat of having poison in her system wasn’t enough, she is also given a dose of Butterfly’s Dust, which she needs every day to stay alive, and can of course only get from the chief of security. Fighting for her life soon becomes more than just guessing the right poison, but also a game of magic, love, and all out war. Best kind of combo out there!

Legend by Marie Lu

This is the only book in the list to be set in a dystopian universe as opposed to a kingdom, but with a prodigy like June, no one can make any complaints. After a war tore the country apart, the Western United States is under the martial rule of the Republic, and June is their perfectly groomed soldier golden child. Day, on the other hand, is a slums boy who has become the Republic’s most wanted criminal. What happens when their paths cross is enough to make any country tremble, and to keep me hanging on to every word!

And finally:

Literally anything by Tamora Pierce!

Tamora Pierce has been my favorite author since I was a little girl. Each of her series is set in the same universe, based around the story of an interesting and kickass female character, from the first female warrior to a wild-mage. I first found these stories when my mother decided my sister and I didn’t have enough strong women in our literature and Tamora really rose to the occasion. Start with the first series, Song of the Lioness, and work your way from there! I have reread her books at least once every year since I was a little girl and they get better every time. I cannot recommend these books enough!

If you read or have read any of these books, feel free to shoot me a message; I am always ready to geek out over them. 

The Music Room

The Red Room used ballet prominently in their training both for its emphasis on discipline and as a cover. It was one of their most insidious tricks because the art itself is beautiful but the purpose they gave it was sinister.

As a child, Natasha didn’t see it as such, nor can she bring herself to as an adult. Ballet was so wonderful to her; they tried to teach the girls not to love anything, but she always loved ballet—the rhythm, the precision, the beauty, the art, the challenge… it was never easy, it was often painful and unforgiving, but it had such a markedly different flavour to the rest of the training that she couldn’t help forming a fondness for it.

Through the years, she has tried to peel away every last trace of the Red Room, tried to scrub out all the marks they left on her and tried to pry off all the pieces they melded onto her, but ballet is the one thing she purposely keeps.

Keep reading

Trans Peter Parker part one first draft:

In which, Peter comes out to Rhodey at the park

“Good luck Pete!” Ned waved goodbye to his friend as students filed out of school.

“Thanks Ned, I’ll need it.” Peter chuckled nervously, waving back at his friend. He put on his headphones and began descending the stairs that led to the parking lot. He scanned the area, looking for the usual black car to pick him up. When he found it, he spotted Rhodey leaning on the hood, lazily scrolling through his phone. Peter picked up his face as he crossed the parking lot to get to the car. “Hey Rhodes, Tony couldn’t make it today?”

“Oh hey kid. And I told you, you can call me Uncle Rhodey. But yeah, Tony had some business to take care of. He wanted me to tell you he’s sorry, and that he’s looking forward to seeing you at dinner.” He slipped his phone into his pocket and opened the passenger door.

“Oh okay, Uncle Rhodey, can we go to the park and get some frozen yogurt today? There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about..”  Peter said quietly, eyes fixed on the ground.

“Yeah sure kid, sounds good to me.” Rhodey frowned, concerned by the look on Peters face. He shut the door as Peter go into the car, as he walked around to the drivers side he couldn’t help but think of all the worst possible thing Peter could want to talk about.

Peter gazed out the window as they drove, trying to remain calm. He pulled out his Rubik’s cube and mindlessly fidgeted, sweat beads forming on his forehead.

Rhodey glanced over at him, his worry only deepening. He could tell how distressed Peter was, he just didn’t know what it was and it was starting to really scare him. He decided it was best to wait till Peter was ready to talk about, he didn’t want to press and make the situation worse.

The two walked over to their usual park bench, fro-yo in hand. As they sat down, Peter cleared his throat. “So um…there’s something I wanted to tell you..” Peter picked at his frozen yogurt with his spoon, his appetite gone, which was unusual, especially for him.

“Alright kid, whats up?” Rhodey asked, turning to face him. “Is..Is everything okay?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah! I’m fine, I didn’t mean to worry you I’m sorry.” Peter chuckled nervously, avoiding his gaze.

“It’s fine dude, just tell me what’s going on.” Rhodes set his yogurt next to him on the bench, giving Peter his full attention.

“S-So um…I d-don’t really feel like a girl…and I’m pretty sure I’m a b-boy..like I’m transgender? And I’d like it if you called me P-Peter instead of my birth name and called me male pronouns if that’s o-okay.”  Peter wrung his hands as he spoke.

Rhodey’s face softened as he let out a sigh of relief. “Holy shit kid, you really had me worried there. That’s all? It doesn’t matter to me what you identify as Peter, as long you’re happy and safe. Does Tony know? I’m guessing no.”

Peter shook his head, his breath becoming steady. “N-no he doesn’t, I was hoping to tell him today though. Could you help me? I’m planning on telling him at dinner but I’m really nervous about it.” He finally looked at Rhodey, his nerves calming down.

“Of course kid, Tony is super chill, don’t worry. It’ll be okay, I promise.” he smiled softly and put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “So how was school today Pete?”

Peter grinned, happy to hear his chosen name. “It was pretty good, I got an A on my math test!” he said, digging in to his yogurt.

“Nice! I’m so proud of you, son.” Rhodey said, messing up Peter’s hair. “And Tony will be even prouder I bet.”

writing east asian characters

as a half east asian person, asian representaion is important to me, and i’m sure it is to all the other asians out there. but incorrect representation is far worse than no representation at all, so here are a few guidelines and things to keep in mind when writing an asian character.  

things to keep in mind when naming:

please don’t make up names that “sound asian”. well known offender: cho chang from harry potter. hearing people mock me when i speak in my asian language by saying “ching chong chang” is bad enough, but making us asians read/hear about a character whose name is a constant reminder of that ignorance and racism really bothers me.

if the character was born in a different country, our first names aren’t always native to our language/country. we may or may not have a traditionally english name. a great example of this used correctly is ethan nakamura, from the percy jackson series.

coming up with a last name is not difficult - at all. just google “common (insert country/ethnicity) last names” and they’ll come up. use this for other ethnicities/races too!

this is really just common sense but don’t give a traditionally korean name to a japanese character, vietnamese name to a chinese character etc. (unless they are multiple ethnicities).

guidelines for physical descriptions:

please…don’t say they have slanted eyes. just don’t.

our skin isn’t yellow. we aren’t lemons. also, the asian race incorporates not just east asians but also filipinos and other much darker skinned people.

many east asians have straight, thick black hair. but again, even within the asian race we are diverse, so this isn’t always true.

of course, if your asian character is being faced with racism, you can have the racist character make fun of their eyes or skin. some asians make fun of themselves, but make sure you check w multiple asians to see if this joke is ok.

writing personalities, characteristics, quirks, etc.

east asians can have any personality, just like any black, white, or hispanic character. they can be mean, they can be nice. just make sure that if you only have one asian character, they aren’t shown as a villain. if you have multiple asians on both the “good” and “bad” sides, that’s perfectly ok.

stereotypes can definitely affect your character. be concious of them.

people’s personalities and quirks are shaped by their parents/how they were raised. an asian kid adopted by white parents is not going to act the same way or entirely fit in with other asians raised by asian parents. their cultures (or their parents cultures) will affect them.  

east asian cultures

asians can be racist to other asians. in the past, koreans and japanese do not get along, and that has really showed in the japanese side of my family. my mother is quick to stereotype koreans she sees, but she does have korean friends she gets along with. racism among asians exists, and it’s not always black and white. rasicm also exists against other races; i’ve heard of an asian daughter who wasn’t allowed by her parents to marry a black man.

asians can have friends of multiple races/ethnicities

not all asians know their respective languages. some only know a little, some are completely fluent.

east asians don’t know everything about other east asian cultures, and can still accidentally insult other cultures. each culture is very different, so do your research on each one.

universal east asian culture things: 1) no shoes in the house. 2) do well in school. 3) strict rules on cleanliness, going out, friendships, relationships, and curfew. 4) mothers always wear slippers for some reason. 5) attacking insolent children with said slippers.

religion is also varied. usually it’s either christianity or buddhism, although there are of course, exceptions. the native japanese religion is shinto.

taiwan was recently the first country to legalize gay marriage, which is good news, but that also means that many asian countries are against it or don’t fully support gayness. not all asians are like this! but it’s common for asian parents to be less understanding of this kind of stuff so keep that in mind if your asian character is going to be gay.

stereotypes and their affects

asians are smart. this one probably came around because many asian parents are very strict when it comes to their child’s education, but strictness doesn’t equal understanding a subject you just don’t get. this stereotype is usually detrimental to asians because people expect too much of them. if they do well, it’s expected and less people congratulate them. if they don’t, they’re shamed for it more.

asians are bad drivers. this one doesn’t affect asians as badly as the smart stereotype, but it’s still insulting.

asians all look alike. again, this one isn’t really that bad, just very annoying. yeah, some of us look similar, but a lot of us are very different. i was once compared to a guy who was fully vietnamese, whose skin must have been at least ten shades darker, with black hair and was on the chubby side. i’m japanese, half white, with brown hair, and definitely thinner than him. if i genuinely look like the person you’re comparing me to, it’s not a problem, but it’s definitely offensive when we’re very different types of asian. we are all different and unique, and it’s important that people respect that. 

it’s important to remember that not all of the things i said are always true - there are always exceptions. i’ve probably missed a lot of things. i also don’t pretend to know about every different kind of east asian. so if you have anything to add, feel free, and if you have any questions about how to portray an asian, ask someone of that ethnicity!

it’s okay if you didn’t realize that you belived in a stereotype or that you might have said something offensive once, as long as you learn from it and don’t do it again in the future. i hope non-east asians learned something from this post. good luck writing your asian characters! heck yea representation

side note: I’ve addressed this in other posts, but the example of cho chang as a bad name and is purely my opinion. many others may disagree, I just thought it was mildly ignorant and shouldn’t be used often. jkr in general is not a good author to model when it comes to representation of any kind. ty!

LGBT+ PRIDE (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ*

Why Japanese is EASY

A lot of people want to study Japanese but think it’s too hard and that they will never succeed. That is really a myth, though. Here is why Japanese is actually easy.

1. All verbs are regular, there are only 2 exceptions 

If you know French, this must sound like a dream to you. In other languages [like French] there seem to be more irregular verbs than regular ones. Not in Japanese, though. There are 3 groups of verbs, the first 2 being regular and very easy to conjugate. The third group consists of only 2 irregular verbs!

2. Easy pronunciation 

Japanese doesn’t have any exceptionally hard to pronounce letters. Unlike Arabic, German or Finnish, Japanese should be quite easy to pronounce for English speakers. Also, Japanese isn’t a tonal language like Thai or Chinese. 

3. No genders, plural or articles

Anyone who studies a romance language [and many other languages that have that] knows how frustrating it can be when you use the wrong article or verb ending. In Japanese, it doesn’t even exist, so nothing to worry!

4. Grammar is easy!

That’s true. It’s just completely different from English, but that doesn’t make it hard. After a while, it will feel completely normal. The best part about the grammar is that you can build a whole sentence with just one word. For example, if you wanted to ask somebody in English if they did their homework, you’d say ‘did you do your homework?’ Kind of long, isn’t it? In Japanese, you can ask by using only the verb ‘to do, can, be able to’ - like this: ‘done?’ Also, spoken, you can drop many words if you don’t really need them, especially particles! So if you’re not sure what particle to use, chances are you can just easily leave it altogether without the sentence losing its meaning. It’s easy to build sentences that seem to end in ‘…’, but that’s completely normal in Japanese and everyone will understand.

5. Tons of resources

Sadly, there are some languages people don’t really care about or not a lot of people want to study/ are interested in. Japanese is not one of those languages. There are hundreds of books about Kanji alone! And so many courses for every level. Also, it doesn’t matter what you’re interested in - anime, manga, books, movies, game show, video games, dramas, music - it’s all out there and super easy to find, so you definitely will find something you can listen to or read to practice your skills.

6. Kanji/the writing systems are hard?

No. They aren’t. It’s just a huge workload, it takes time and effort, but they are not hard.

At first, having to learn 3 writing systems will seem exhausting. But believe me, later, when you start reading, you will be so glad! You can detect if a text has a lot of foreign words at one glance if it has a lot of Katakana, for example, and you could say a lot more on twitter because of the syllabaries!

So actually, the 3 systems put together makes everything easier to read!

So please, just start studying and go at your own pace, and have fun studying every day ⭐︎