Land Of Stories And Hourglasses

Supervisor: Worker 72094. You failed to meet your quota for 3 weeks in a row now.

Worker 72094: I can explain!

Supervisor: You're clearly burned out. I heard you moved recently. Take a mandatory two weeks paid vacation to readjust and report to me then.

Worker 11335: Is it because I badmouthed the company during lunch?

Shadowy Board Member: That is correct. We are very displeased, Worker 11335...

Worker 100100: What's with the mask?

Of course. All Hopeless Inc. employees are due-paying members of Mindless Drones United.

ᥫ᭡ ' ω . )꒱Please keep hope alive!

✨The Pride Deck 2025 character illustrations by @Kyri45 !✨P.2

EVERYBODY knows (or should) that you DO. NOT. STOP. in Vidor, Texas. 

It’s best to just run out of gas elsewhere. Whatever you do, black folks, DO NOT STOP IN VIDOR, TEXAS. 

There’s a good chance you’ll get lynched or just come up missing - and I’m not joking.

also do NOT stop in Harrison, Arkansas!!!! (relatively close to OK and MI) a nazi town with a BIG KKK organization.

https://sundown.tougaloo.edu/sundowntowns.php

This website has a clickable map where you can see suspected and confirmed sundown towns by state, as well as information about whether these attitudes are historical or current.

reblog for the link

Here’s a summary of some the ideas in the different branches, each linked to read more:

Beast stays a kid and Maurice makes him toys and fixes stuff all over the castle (via @fairy-anon-godmother)

Maurice makes Beast adaptive technology (via @disappearinging)

Maurice teaches Beast how to make things when all he’s done before is break things (via @unknownflux)

Maurice and Beast set up a workshop (via @cryoverkiltmilk)

Maurice takes Belle’s place as the initial prisoner (via @earnestslumberjack)

Beast lets Maurice go and he comes back with Belle in tow to love him together (via @taotrooper)

Beast is gay and Belle breaks the spell with platonic love (via @xanovertonbooks)

Belle is aroace and marries Beast without romantic love (via @mademoiselleseraph)

Belle loves Beast but it doesn’t change him back, only Maurice’s love does (via @balsa-margarita)

Pinocchio is also Maurice’s son who needs redemption (via @she-bags-sea-hags)

Prince becomes a big bro to Belle and helps the village (via @hikarisakurariver)

Beast embarrasses Gaston to help Belle (via @akijiibay)

And yes, some versions of a Maurice-as-Beast’s-father-figure story have already been written, but we subscribe to the two cakes philosophy here at BatB Week headquarters, so here are some existing ficlets to further inspire you:

Beast lets Maurice stay to get well, then Belle joins them too (via @writlargefic)

Maurice chooses to stay to help Beast (via @tinydooms)

Beast won’t let Belle take Maurice’s place (via @lumiereswig)

Belle meets Prince Adam after Maurice has spent the winter with him (via @anathematic)

Maurice and Beast have a heart-to-heart convo (via @gwyndal)

Beast is transformed while protecting Maurice and Belle from the mob (via @homelesswritingtidbits)

If you adapt one of these ideas into your own story, be kind and credit the person who originally posted the concept you’re building upon.

this is my new favorite genre of images

When I was 19, I made a large oil painting of the nerd I would eventually marry. I poured all my attention and care into this painting. It's the only art I have from back then that still holds up as a work I'm proud of today.

I entered it into a judged show at the local art center. It got an honorable mention. I went to see the show with my beloved model. One of the judges came up to talk to me, and highlighted that all the judges really liked the painting. It would have placed, except, you see, the feet were incorrect. They were too wide and short, and if I just studied a bit more anatomy-

I called over my future wife, and asked her to take off her shoe. Being already very used to humoring me, she did. The judge looked at her very short, very wide little foot. Exactly as I'd lovingly rendered it. I would never edit her appearance in any way.

The judge looked me in the eye, and to his credit, he really looked like he meant it when he said "Oh I'm so sorry."

Anyways the moral of the story is that all of those anatomy books that teach you proportions are either showing you averages, or a very specific idea of an idealized body. Actual bodies are much more varied than that.

For those calling for justice, the same painting won a contest at my college (my university professor had met my model), and the university bought it from me and hung it up there for over a decade, square little feet and all. Then, the library underwent renovations and a librarian I am thankful for forever went through heroic measures to track me down again even though I'd gotten married and changed my name, and offered it back to me. And now it hangs in our house even though my wife doesn't ordinarily want to look at paintings of herself and I don't normally want to look at paintings I made. We both have a soft spot for this one.

NEVER GIVE UP even though most people see their ships on this piece because the characters faces arent visible, this artwork sent SO MANY people looking for who the characters were, reading my comics, sending me asks, and falling in love with Sully and Caro just like me. It's been an amazing ride. DO IT! Post your ocs!