#[you do have the best offerings]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A procession of confessions.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[hinamie]

恵 ; "blessing"

12/22: consider this piece my love letter to a character who has become so near and dear to me and who has inspired so much of my artistic growth this past year <3 happy birthday megumi, your name becomes you ⊹ ࣪ ˖

[antirepurp]

been thinking more about portrayals of naivety and how often it gets viewed on a surface level and further translated into "the character is vulnerable, childish, and must be protected, they are incapable of harm." it's an obvious pet peeve of mine, all similar acts of reducing a character to a single, likely prominent trait is, but it strikes me more with naivety because it can add so much complexity to a character when combined with other traits

for sonic characters, shadow is naive. he's naive all the way from sa2 to shadow 05, way too trusting of others for his own good, and it's not until after 05 that he really begins to acknowledge that tendency and consciously work against it when necessary. it is not his most prominent trait but it's an important feature of him and plays a lot into who he is as a person, but in his case it gets brushed aside because he's also dangerously cool, and for whatever reason the council has deemed naivety to not mix with that particularly well. so instead we get a portrayal of him as someone much more mature than he actually is, at least in terms of fan interpretations. there's nothing inherently wrong with that of course, but it ends up grinding my gears

silver has the exact opposite problem to shadow, where his naivety gets highlighted and played up to the point it drowns out everything else about him. that kind of reading fails to take into account how brutal and reckless he has the capability of being, how many of the choices he makes in 06 stem from a feral desperation to make a change, save his world at any price. he's naive, too trusting for his own good, with a remarkably black and white view of the world, what's right and what's wrong, but to reduce him to a child for it is missing what makes him so interesting in the first place. silver doesn't have the mysterious coolness to him that shadow does, and perhaps for the sake of being a foil to him his naivety is played up to a point of ridicule at times. perhaps some of that could be brushed up to his world being in a relative state of peace after the timeline reset, allowing him to grow into a person who doesn't have to live in a state of survival mode every moment of his life. either way is flattens him in a way that i despise in all honesty

other media also has examples of this kind of stuff, which is what's actually gotten me to think about this in the first place. it is, to a degree, interesting to see which traits people deem worthy of highlighting in any given character admittedly, and gives me food to chew on and ask myself why the characterization feels so off. it may not be a feast, but it gives me ideas on what the feast that i crave so badly consists of

[axolotlclown]

We need to remember that Shubble stated that Wilbur would manipulate and gaslight friends and family. With this, we must be patient with streamers that were close to Wilbur. This was likely surprising and shocking for them. They may need time to come to terms with what has happened.

I have been vocal about how important it is for men to be critical about abusive behaviors. However, Wilbur had many close friends—some would even consider him family—and now they may feel they hardly knew him at all.

There is a deep stress felt by viewers. It is difficult to think we have given any amount of time or money to an abuser. Could you imagine a close friend right now? The pain and betrayal must sear. They need time to understand what has happened and come to terms with it. Many of them may not be live in the coming days (weeks even).

That being said, as time passes, criticism may be necessary. Complacency is not an option. Men that are willing to ignore abuse to protect an abuser are just as pathetic as the abusers themselves.

Let's give this situation time to breathe. I ask that we give patience and courtesy to those close to Wilbur at this time. But please do not forget that this happened. There may be a few streamers hoping to lay low and then drop a collab in a few months. Do not let them. This is too important.

[squeakadeeks]

its crazy to me how much art really does force you to make peace with embarrassment. i remember reading someone talking about this not too long ago and it really did make me realize that if you want to do just about anything with art, at some point you have to tangle with the beast that is making a complete fool out of yourself and being extremely embarrassing. you just got to take it, accept it, even love it, and roll on. its not a symptom to be cured !! it is the experience !! !!!

[sergle]

yall are about to piss me off by not having any PASSING basic knowledge of the way the u.s. military manipulates its recruits into joining by typing up one of your uninformed, unresearched, unempathetic, individualistic, unbelievably annoying posts about how 100% of the people in the military ended up there because they just Love America So Damn Much! they're extremely mature and informed at time of recruitment, they can totally leave anytime they want, they totally had tons of other avenues in life they could've taken, there was no rush at all to get income as fast as possible, and everyone in the military also totally is part of the combat divisions and personally enjoys being IN the military very much, big believers of violence. everyone in the military is shooting guns all day, that's how that works. they LOVE BLOODSHED. also I love the "amewicans haha" twang to this type of shit because you're actually TOTALLY stealing our Thing, which is turning systemic issues into Individual Issues. Instead of talking about the powers that be, it's so Personal Choice up in here. It's, "well you shouldn't have done it then. I totally wouldn't because I know better." you don't wanna talk about the military industrial complex as a whole, and you don't want to talk about recruiters, you just want to pin the blame on Specific Individual People one-by-one, as if they're responsible for the system that they're being ground up in. someone was in the military? bad person, no matter what. it's easier to believe that, I guess, than to acknowledge that Normal People (with high school educations) are manipulated and incentivized into joining a system that is Bad. at like age 18. but yeah no that 18 year old should have just been smarter lol haha anyway here are some screenshots for no particular reason

side note this reply of someone going "umm just get loans and go into a high paying field it's easy XD" as a direct response to someone trying to explain how most americans joining the military are being funneled in that direction out of a need for money.

and another person who Decided that americans join the military just CLENCHING their teeth thinking of other people, and not thinking completely selfishly about their own selves and their own income/housing/healthcare.

[dollypopup]

If Debling isn't good enough for Fran, as the Queen herself says, because he's boring and has nothing to really offer save a title

If what Debling can offer isn't good enough for Edwina, IE: a life of security without love like what Anthony was willing to provide for her

If what Debling represents, an absent figure in a household who does not invite his wife into his plans and interests isn't a good outcome for Portia, who preaches about marrying for security and then ends up scrounging for it, regardless

Why does fandom insist that Penelope has to settle for him? That he'd be a 'better option'? Why is it that she's the one who should have hopped on the first guy with a vague interest in her and tepid emotions when Colin is right there and actually desires her? Why are other women in the series allowed to prioritize love and dream of happy endings regardless of the consequences and outcomes but Penelope should be content with being the warden of a big house as her husband fucks off without her? Why is it that all these characters deserve romances and caring but Penelope should have accepted a title and an estate and being alone?

As if Colin can't provide her security. As if Colin doesn't show interest in her and listen to her. As if he's not from a good family and will also elevate her standing in society through their marriage. As if Penelope has ever been the kind of woman to go title hunting. As if Penelope finds any kind of solace in being alone. As if Penelope isn't actively looking for connection.

Peeps who think Debling is in any way a good fit for her hate Colin, but y'all clearly hate Penelope more, because what are you even talking about? Debling opened the door after getting permission to ask to marry her and didn't even smile. Colin throws open the carriage door and does the stride of pride to show her off to his family with a grin on his face. Debling dumps her with the first SNIFF he gets of her having interest in someone else. Colin runs off after her to beg her to give him a chance and not to marry the other dude. Debling wants to leave her alone in a big house as he goes on adventures. Colin cannot go traveling without writing to her and sharing the world with her.

Penelope deserves the best just as the other women of this series do. Penelope deserves to be loved in every way- with acts of service (the balloon scene, setting up a ballroom in Bridgerton House so they can flirt), with quality time (all their lessons), with touch (carriage, dances, kisses aplenty), with words of affirmation (you are Penelope Featherington, never forget that, you are clever and warm, you do not need lessons), with gifts (a ring on her finger, a house she can make a home with him together). With big gestures like running off after her and small moments like looking for her in every room.

I'm sick of Debling. I'm sick of people who don't recognize that he had 0 emotion toward Penelope save for 'she'll do'. That he liked that she was honest and alone and didn't share his interests. That she would be content with the scraps he was willing to offer her. Not passion. Not sharing. Not cultivating a life together. Not love. Not anything except money and solitude. In what world would that ever have been enough? In what world is that best for her? I'm sick of people refusing to see that Penelope wants to be and should be and will be loved all because there's bitterness in their hearts. If you throw a dreamer into a pragmatic box, they wither. As Colin would have with Marina. As Penelope would have with Debling.

Penelope deserves the best. Penelope deserves Colin. Because Colin is the best for her, to her, with her.

If you can't see that, sucks to suck.

[notbecauseofvictories]

a wild moment at work today, when my boss (at the end of quite a long speech about why I should track my work better) essentially said, "but you're not getting any credit for your accomplishments!" and I realized I genuinely didn't care.

[lucaswarmhotchocolate]

Muggle college AU where Harry sneaks into tom’s dorm room (after making sure to drug tom’s water earlier ofc) and takes pictures of him while he sleeps and posts them online. because god fucking dammit, Tom riddle is the most annoying RA that could possibly exist, and he wants a little bit of light revenge.

Harry realizes that “light revenge” may have gotten out of hand around the same time he started stripping Tom, and suddenly he was balls deep in both Tom riddle and a felony. The gravity of the situation did nothing to prevent Harry from taking a video, even though it was just more evidence that could be used against Harry.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Do you like my art? Do you wish I would draw something specific? Great news!

~COMMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!~

If you are interested in commissioning me, please fill out the google form and I'll reach out to you as slots become available!

[Ko-fi - Google Form Link]

[bi-the-wei]

A rough sketch of Lan Wangji as he is in my magic AU story A Stay of Execution.

I'm like a 3rd of the way done writing the first full chapter of this story, but I do have the prologue up on my Ao3 already, as well as a several years old "scene dump" with various moments that I was kinda laying out for the story that may or may not make it into the actual fic. Let me know if anyone wants to see this cleaned up and colored? And I can give you the link to my Ao3 as well if you're interested.

[tenwhiteandalusians]

so no one was going to tell me if i got literally one episode further tenax drops that he’s the one who saved scorpus from his mom’s pimp AND that he’s intimately familiar with scorpus’ dick when he was younger. guys. guys.

[tricoufamily]

a current day nils and a 90s college student nils who's way too intense about his internship walk into a bar

[to-eat-laugh-love-in-peace]

So Vash does wave Meryl goodbye with a smile since he knows full well what he's soon going to find himself in, he might not have known the exact details that entailed, he still knew that he was likely was not going to get out of it unscathed at the very least but I also think that he does this because he notices Roberto's gotten injured by the time he makes it into the elevator with Meryl.

He might not have been able to see the nail sticking out or the blood that will soon seep into his shirt but he could have seen him clutching onto the side of his torso which already isn't a good sign since that's where a couple major organs are located, and knowing that he and Meryl had just run from a barrage of nails Elendira generated out of thin air right as he and Wolfwood got there, he could have put two and two together and figured out that Roberto hadn't managed to make it out unharmed like Meryl did.

He could have thought that they would be able to get it treated at a nearest hospital in the city in time, but he also could have thought that they wouldn't be able to get it treated in time or at all with the size of Elendira's nails and just where one of them had gotten lodged in

and that's part of the reason why his smile looked so forced in this scene because by the time he got to Meryl and Roberto it was already too late Roberto was going to die soon from blood loss and Meryl was going to be devastated when she finally turned around and found out. @tristampparty

[thegreatyin]

How did you manage to handle not one, but FOUR separate accounts in fl? I recently made the account for my HD little guy but having to do the tutorial again just seems miserable

there's... weirdly several answers to that question, actually??

a HUGE part of it is due to the way FL is structured. the 10-minute action timer is a core part of the game on a fundamental level, and the fact that i can very easily run out of stuff to do on one character and thus have an excuse to quickly and easily swap to another is just... convenient? satisfying? i'm not entirely sure how to explain it. the fact that i can make progress even while i am fundamentally simultaneously Not Making Progress is like pure dopamine for my freak insane awful little brain. there's just something really pleasing about spending all of my actions pursuing The Goal Of The Day™ on one account before casually swapping to another and doing the same without feeling like i'm wasting time or acting to the first account's explicit detriment. the downtime helps! the recharge time helps! the structure really really works!!

i'm technically only actively playing three, maybe two accounts minimum. the only reason the fourth (the one that'll be my future BaL playthrough) currently exists at all is so i can get his earlygame completely out of the way now and not have to waste time running through it all later, when what i actually want to do is play the ambition i've made myself wait a full year to play. and also getting free goodies as seasonal stuff happens,, something something surprise tools to help us later. the only two accounts i'd say i'm really "actively playing" at the moment are caeru and lark- and of the two, lark takes the most priority, since his ambition is the one i'm currently pursuing in earnest. for a couple months now- despite being My Main FL Character- the scoundrel has actually been pretty inactive on a gameplay front outside of the occasional progression in TLC and discordance content. purely by virtue of having Very little left to do outside of Very long-term grinds and vanities. they're in their "now what?" "now you can start playing the game" era. they've graduated to previous protagonist background cameo in a sequel anime series. they're like the yin FLPC equivalent of red at the top of mount silver. they're Literally just vibing rn. i only keep posting about them regardless because i'm insane and i will never ever ever ever ever let that bat go. but yeah, big TLDR, outside of doing the bare minimum to keep making waves/notability up every week, i'm not actually spending that much time on accounts i'm not currently actively interested in playing. and that accounts for way more gaming spoons than you might think.

i have a virtually lifelong history of playing MMOs, especially and specifically world of warcraft. i was born in the endless grind for useless video game pixel vanities and/or bragging rights. molded by it. you all have merely adapted to doing the same piece of content a pointlessly excessive amount of times for literally no reason besides whimsy and folly. me? i've done my time. i've served my sentence. i've spent weeks doing the original burning crusade netherwing dailies. i've devoted days to running praetorium over and over and over again, back-to-back, nonstop, long before square enix cut it in half and made it NOT take at minimum an hour and a half per run. i've perfected my silverwastes + auric basin goldfarming strategies. i've (almost) crafted dragonwrath tarecgosa's rest. i've killed the sha of anger so many times its dying scream of agony is embedded into the very fabric of my being. ""only"" doing making your name content four times over? that is nothing to me. it means nothing to me. it is so infinitesimal i can do the persuasive seduction quests in my sleep. it's not a matter of handling misery, or having the capacity, or even sighing as i remember the brass embassy raid segment of the watchful questline seriously i don't know why i keep forgetting that exists or what even is my problem with it i just am so consistently mildly inconvenienced by it and its highly specific resource requirements and it is the worst thing ever. maybe i'm just so used to the scoundrel's near-infinite money and troves of disposable items that i've completely forgotten what being poor is like. despite having done that step 3 fucking times now. ahem. anyway. i have transcended the feeble mortal bindings of my resistant-to-grinding flesh and ascended to a higher plane of enlightenment, they may call me insane but they will be the ones left laughing when they see what that "insanity" has wrought, i've usurped them, i've usurped them all-

hacks and coughs and awkwardly clears my throat. i mean. uh. um. Ahem.

the empress' court artistry + tales of the university nerfs helped too.

[alistair-blackwood]

Bloodweave Fic Recs (01/05/24)

Check out my other fic recs here and here!

Congrats to Bloodweave nation for 1k fics on AO3, ya'll are truly hopped up on whatever's going on with those hungry weirdos and that's just beautiful

||

When You Wish Upon a Star by Greenegem (G, 800+ w || Tooth-Rotting Fluff) Just a man in love wishing upon the brightest star of his universe.

Five Stars by Viela (T, 700+ w || Modern AU) “A more suspicious man might think you’re dating me for my Uber rating.”

cursed by aevallare (T, 1k+ w || Soulmates, Scars) When Gale Dekarios was born, there were whispers that he was cursed.

To Behold, To Be Held by illithiddies (T, 3k+ w || Established Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence) Astarion shuts his eyes as his vision suddenly becomes doubled by Gale’s, the image overlaid and blurred into his own until the two are almost indecipherable. But shutting his eyes only clarifies the vision he receives from Gale: Himself, shirtless and bloodied, standing before a kneeling and defeated Cazador.

Self-Preservation and Other Cheap Façades by bloodweaving (shipwreckblue) (T, 3k+ w || Sick Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Vomiting) During a bout of illness, Gale discovers that while Astarion may not have strong caretaking instincts, he does have experience.

To Hide it All Away by Greenegem (T, 5k+ w || Pre-Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm) Gale had been a series of puzzles Astarion couldn’t seem to solve from the start and he hated him for it. The first was a blight hidden behind a mouthwatering scent. The second, a hunger that sought to rival even his own. But it was the last one that most intrigued him. The perplexing choice of ornamentation on an otherwise clean slate.

In Due Time by illithiddies (M, 7k+ w WIP || Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Campaign Setting: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Angst With a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn) Within the heart of Waterdeep, the legend of the Undermountain and its many dangers looms larger than life. Adventurers come for miles to partake in the garish ritual of lowering themselves into the dungeon below to see what riches they can find. What monsters they can best. It’s hardly an unfamiliar setting for Astarion. The overabundance of cocksure heroes makes it a prime location to find marks to lure back to Cazador. He watches the newest adventuring party disappear into the well. Out of the inn. Out of Waterdeep. A vampire spawn would hardly be missed among that crowd, no?

taste, and be consumed by TheEarlGreyAlpha (E, 2k+ w || Blood Drinking, Mildly Dubious Consent, Somnophilia) It was true that Gale had warned him, said his blood tasted awful. But caution had no meaning to Astarion, the immortal cat killed by its own curiosity again and again and again. What was one more life, in the name of discovery?

Home for the Holidays by troutsoup (E, 3k+ w || Established Relationship, Inappropriate Use of Mage Hand Spell and Hold Person Spell, Soft Dom Gale) After his first time accompanying Gale to a reunion of the enormous and overwhelming Dekarios family, Astarion is rewarded. Sort of.

Perfect Bound by positivejam (E, 4k+ w || Blood Drinking, Mildly Dubious Consent, Frottage, Wizard Hubris But Sexy) “Trapped? Oh, but that can’t be it," Astarion says, mouth dropping open as if he’s just noticed the binds. “I seem to recall you saying you had everything quite in hand.”

divine favor by Sinister_Queer (E, 5k+ w || Vampire Ascendant Astarion, God of Ambition Gale, Manipulation, Unhealthy Relationships) A century and a half after his Ascension, only one person left remembers Astarion as he was before. A century and a half after his Ascension, only one person left remembers Gale Dekarios. (or: The Vampire Ascendant summons the God of Ambition for a favor.)

You Into Me by ZiGraves (E, 7k+ w || Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Use of Tadpole Powers, Masturbation) Gale can shape pockets of safety amongst his spells of destruction, yes. But he needs to know where his allies are to be able to protect them, and Astarion makes it his business not to be seen. A solution must be found.

En Prise by positivejam (E, 32k+ w WIP || Blood Drinking, Oral Fixation, D/s) It’s not often Astarion sees his own hunger reflected in another’s eyes. And so yearning for a look in the mirror, he can't help but stare. With two discerning appetites, a deal to keep each other fed is the one thing that ties him to the vexing little mage. But then the proverbial collar slips all too easily around Gale's throat, the lead feels right in Astarion's unchained hands, and both men think they've bested the other in a game neither should be playing. In any case. As the greats say in lanceboard: there is no shame in losing to a stronger foe.