#I think answers my vary per color?

[nomgeonmunchie]

[comicaurora]

Just saw the announcement about Heartwood Coven, and I'm super excited!

I know that when you're exploring a genre, either for the first time, or just the first time in a while, sometimes inspirations for new Trope Talks emerge, and as a fan of spaces adjacent to Magical Girl media (Kamen Rider, mostly, but Ultraman, Super Sentai/Power Rangers, and Garo also exist, just to scratch the surface), I honestly find it kind of difficult to think of any tropes in the space that don't just devolve into little trivia factoids, or a 'Yup, that sure is a thing they do!', despite being in the space for decades. But I also know you have a keener eye for media tropes than I personally do.

So, all that is to ask, are there any tropes in that space that have caught your attention recently? This isn't even specifically asking about a potential future video, just in general.

The ingredients for a Sentai/Magical Girl story are very distinctive, especially when compared to other superhero genres!

Comes As A Set! Everyone in a thematic team has acquired their powers the same way, and the powers are very minor variants off of each other - one character might have The Specialest Version where their powers are strongest and their heart is Most Pure, but everyone else will be running at the same power level with almost no specialization. This sounds obvious, but almost no other superhero team does this. Even the X-Men, whose powers are all Being Mutants, come across as a seriously varied menagerie with wildly disparate power levels. Everyone being The Same Thing In A Different Color is pretty unique to this space!

Monster Of The Week: Not the only genre this appears in, but one of the only spaces where it's straight-up down to a science. The big bad of a series like this will only make a real appearance in the grand season finale. Until then, the team will be fighting their lieutenants' minions at a rate of one per episode. The big bad doesn't even usually deign to make the minions themselves, since they're much too busy standing in their recycled animation evil lair. The minions will have unique gimmicks, but will share similar levels of thematic and structural closeness with one another that the heroes do - they'll all be kaiju, or walking evil spells, or disgruntled citizens gifted thematically inconvenient superpowers. Where are these minions coming from? Sometimes the answer is "they cook em up at home" and sometimes it's "they corrupt innocent people so the heroes have to go nonlethal." It doesn't make much difference in the execution, so it's mostly dealer's choice.

So Many Wonderful Toys! These heroes aren't afraid to accessorize, and the merchandising department also says we have to. When the formula needs mixing up, just give someone a new weapon or vehicle or mech or powerup macguffin. And unless you're only giving the upgrade to the Designated Specialest Pure Of Heart one, make sure to bring enough for the rest of the team, because this is a good way to bring in a round of powerups for everyone and give them some new stock animations to reuse every episode!

There's Only One Way To Win And It's Teamwork. My personal gripe with a lot of these stories is that, by nature of the formula, the characters usually end up becoming largely interchangeable in a fight, because nobody is allowed to win before they do the Big Finisher they always use. And if the Big Finisher is "the most specialest pure of heart character remembers their job and blasts them with the Friendship Laser" that means the rest of the gang is basically on minion-punching duty and repeating "no way! my attack had no effect?!" Every fight has to run through everyone's big canned moves, usually one at a time, and since none of them will do any appreciable damage then they'll combine their giant robots or wait for the leader to bust out the Friendship Cannon and the fight will be over. I think this one's genuinely kind of a weakness of the format; it's pretty rare for a single non-leader character to get a day in the limelight or end up having the exact ability the week's bad guy is allergic to. Nobody gets an individual chance to shine unless the writers intentionally break the formula to make it happen.

The Sixth Ranger! You thought your team of five color-coordinated thematically linked cool guys was complete, but surprise! There are more colors/planets/dinosaurs than just the starting five, and some powerfull badass with unknown morals and a frightening reputation has just turned up wearing your team's matching outfit! Because the team comp is so ironclad compared to other superhero formats, this is always very disruptive and kind of a big shakeup that could restructure the whole status quo, unlike in typical superhero teams where individual attendance is optional and it's not a dealbreaker whether or not Wolverine is in this week.

And Your Friend Steve: someone's will they/won't they significant other is constantly hanging around the fights, in or out of a secret identity of their own, and their main contribution is to get kidnapped by the big bad, brainwashed by the big bad, or kidnapped and then brainwashed by the big bad. Outside of their busy schedule their main narrative role is to reinforce the Secret Identity concept that would otherwise risk slipping out of relevance. It's easier to remember your identity is supposed to be secret when Your Friend Steve keeps turning up at fights.

Bumbling Minions, Serious Boss - this is just an observation on my end, but it's quite common for the villain's crew of lieutenants to be somewhat more comedic than the main Big Bad - whether they're just a couple wacky minions or the comedy comes from how flustered they get when they inevitably lose, comedy is derived from them experiencing the wrath of their evil boss after the good guys win. But all this levity drains away as the lieutenants get whittled down and the finale approaches, and even if the villain has seemed clownish in the safe confines of their lair, when they actually go on the warpath and become the main present threat, they stop being funny entirely. Or, failing that, they get usurped by a new, worse villain, and they become the cartoonish lieutenant to the new guy. Villain chains of command get complicated.

The magical girl equivalent of the shonen anime Super Saiyan transformations is Pretty Dresses. The escalating ornate-ness of a magical girl's Pretty Dress corresponds one-to-one to the Bigness and Glowiness of a Super Saiyan's hair and reflects the reality-warping power contained within. Sailor Moon in a lacey bridal gown with gauzey diaphenous wings and a tiara is the kind of threat Goku would save in his contacts as "new sparring partner"

[pisspope]

urgent question with several followups: do you think zeke inherited grisha's eyesight (does he really need glasses); do you think ksaver or grisha's glasses were prescription or just reading; do you think any of them have astigmatism to the point they shouldn't drive at night or would struggle in the club. i mainly mean zeke, thank you your holiness

AAAH sorry i didnt see it was urgent !!!!!!!!! answering right away !!!

Yes, and also no. Lemme explain. Yes, Zeke inherits a LOT from Grisha, much more than he'd ever feel comfortable with. Eye color, hair texture, eyesight, general pretentiousness... BUT! The Beast Titan's healing cures all ills. In my Twisted Mind®, the inheritance of the Beast cures Zeke's eyesight before it degrades to the level of needing glasses. also his foreskin grows back

Grisha's glasses are prescription, he's near sighted as all hell. Ksaver's are reading glasses, or, more specifically, magnifying lenses that he uses to look at small things during experiments. In my mind, the little raised metal pieces (see image) are so he can lift the glasses up without touching the frames and getting hazardous chemicals close to eyes. Like, they function as both glasses and protective eyewear. So his eyesight isn't bad, per se, he's a Shifter, too, after all. But he's also a nutty professor who forgets to take his scientist glasses off when he goes home lol

As for the astigmatism, I'm assuming we're verging into modern AU territory here which... from a cat to a kat,,, it really varies by AU to me. Honestly, since I feel like canon Zeke has 20/20 vision because of the Beast and is only wearing the glasses to feel close to Ksaver, I always translate that to his vision being just fine in modern AUs as well. It all goes back to that classic Zeke Yeager Pretention to me: he wears glasses because they make him looks "Smart" and "Bespoke". Don't get it twisted, I LOVE Zeke with bad eyesight, I love Eren or Pieck having to pick him up from work because he has night blindness. BUT! The idea of him not needing glasses and just putting on airs wins out to me.

But also the idea of Zeke, old man at age 29, unable to handle the club because of the strobing lights is eating me ALIVE thats so cute i -

thank u for the questions it feels so good to get That Man thoughts off my chest

[inevitablestars]

hi hello i’m about to wash my hair so im gonna ask you about the black cousins and their hair care routines!! who uses the most product!! who spends the most time styling it!! who has naturally good hair!! who has to work for it!! <3

hi kat! okay so u don't think i've ever properly thought about this but i do have thoughts

clarification that this is subject to change based on the universe but this is what i've got at the moment

so all of these things vary and have different like rankings of most to least so you're getting a very nuanced answer

who cares the most about their hair: (this is going to be controversial)

1. narcissa - she really cares especially given that she is the outlier of the family with blond hair and that is very special to her and also sometimes an insecurity though most of the time she loves it. she's the one that prefers to leave the house with her hair done and will even do it on days that she's not going anywhere

2. regulus - he takes pride in it in a not shallow way. he wants to look out together to distract from the fact that he is not always put together. reg is really good at putting on a face and a front and his hair plays into that

3. bellatrix - her hair is wild but she loves it. it's one of her favorite features so she cares a lot about it, though not as much as the two above as she will more likely go out without it looking as nice and be okay with that or not care

4. sirius - controversial take but to me it is accurate. sirius doesn't actually care all that much about looks. that being said, stunning flawless, etc etc, but sirius doesn't care. it's not a priority to do their hair they will easily go without doing it because they still look good

5. andromeda - somewhat here by default but also andy is more simple in this regard. looks aren't the most important thing to her so she doesn't care all that much about her hair per say. all of this being said all of them do but andy just ends up last

most product:

1. narcissa, again she has the color upkeep so she uses quite a bit of

2. bellatrix, those curls need it and she cares about them so on good days of taking care of her hair, quite a bit of product

3. andromeda, again any of the curlyness of her hair requires a bit of product but she goes with a fairly simple routine given that

4. sirius, not as much as the girls, but sirius slaps some products in and they do their job and nicely tame their hair

5. regulus, he fusses with it a lot but with minimal product because again he wants to seem put together and seem effortless so if he can use minimal product he will

most time/effort (combining this bit):

1. regulus. it's the longest part of him getting ready because he has some soft curls that he tries to get to sit perfectly around his face everyday. it's all an act for him to seem effortless and near perfect so he puts in the work

2. narcissa, same as up top! she cares so she puts in the work

3. tying bellatrix and sirius here because for both of them it depends. some days sirius puts time into it but a majority of the time it comes easy and they don't have to do anything and they only put the time in when they care to. bellatrix is similar though everyday there's some effort but not much and the days that there's a lot of effort it's a lot

5. andromeda. listen she keeps coming in at the bottom but she really just like is easy when it comes to her hair. most likely to throw it in braids and call it a day when she doesn't want to deal with it (sirius does this too) and the times she does put extra time in are fewer and farther between

this got rambly.... i have a lot of thoughts about them but you knew that. thanks for indulging me <3

[mitsurichan3s-art-corner]

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[minipisi-is-dumb]

hai, sorry to bother, but what exactly is giftedness? i dont think i trust google on it and id rather hear about it from someone who's gifted. is it like being a genius or something?

hiii thanks for asking about it!!! and sure lemme tell ya

it's a bit lengthy sorry

ill briefly explain the symptoms and then other extra stuff, thanks so much for asking, not a lot of people know about it :)

giftedness is a form of neurodivergent condition/neurodivergency or however you call it, that is characterized by asynchronous development between intelectual and "chronological" growth

an easy way to explain it (even if the theory is disproven so it's just as example) is how people see mental ages

you might be chronologically 15, but intellectually, your needs are those of a 19 y/o and emotionally your regulation is that of a 13 y/o. that's what asynchrony means essentially

the current "official" way to diagnose people is through iq tests, they're not always specific and is usually in a margin of error, but if it's a legit test and not one of those online, is used to measure the amount of connections your brain has. of course the results may vary if you have more than one neurodivergency or you have a mental illness. it's always important to discuss it with your doctor!

the more connections u have per braincell → the faster processing you got. the amount of connections is measured by iq number

the criteria for being diagnosed is simply getting 130 or more in the iq test, there's different types of depth to giftedness as a condition, just like there're different symptoms and levels of depth for autism, but that's the beauty of it isn't it

and contrary to what you might think, fast processing can be very difficult, it feels like your brain goes faster than you all the time you are asked a question, say, in a test, and you just know the answer! that's it, you can't explain it even to yourself. your brain "skips" steps to get to a conclusion since we don't have a linear way of thinking, or you make connections at the moment that somehow end up making sense all the time and you don't even realize it. it's overwhelming

other important symptoms are similar to other nds like autism or adhd like being able to hyperfocus, stimming or sensory sensitivity, but there are some different ones like latent inhibition deficit

latent inhibition deficit (you can google it for better understanding) it's basically not being able to prioritize the information you recieve

have you ever found yourself in a restaurant or a crowded space, and even if there's a lot of talking and music, eventually you "forget about it" and stop paying attention to it since it's not important? That's latent inhibition!!! your brain can filter information, wether is sensory or cognitive and ignore whatever it doesn't see as important

my brain can't, I am always listening to the music, the people talking in the room, small changes in smell, sound or how too many colors confuse me and give me migraine, my brain cannot "filter" importance in it, so it pays attention to everything and sees it all as important since it perceives it as one whole thing

connecting most of the stuff around you or "seeing the big picture" always is very normal, feeling like everything is happening at the same time simultaneously and you can't just pick and choose is the best way I can describe it

we also have overexcitabilities!!! that is a bit long to explain but you can google it

here's a very useful explanation that also mentions giftedness, since the term was created from studying our behavior

here's my favorite talk about the topic, I watched it years after being diagnosed and it explains it very well, the woman giving the talk is gifted herself and works in gifted education programs too!

she also has a talk about overexcitabilities!!

I really like this image because it is a quick way to see some basic symptoms, is not the be all of it but you can get a general idea compared to autism and adhd, since there's more info about them around

Alright we done w that

the BIGGEST misconception about giftedness is that it is just good grades, it's a complex condition just like any other! adhd is not "just getting distracted", autism is not "just being socially awkward" and giftedness is not "just being a genius"

I cannot stress enough how grades have nothing to do with giftedness , in fact, most gifted people end up dropping school or college since it never fits fully fits our educational needs

giftedness and academic achievement are not inherent to one another, you can be neurotypical and have good and bad grades too, it doesn't matter really . it could be a clue for some, where good grades might lead a parent to take the test, but the results are not there just because of grades or high achievement rate

now we need to talk kinda quickly abt ableism and how the concept of iq was originally created to stigmatize non-white races, women and neurodivergent conditions

the first people to coin the term for iq were (shocker) rich white men who liked the idea of being smarter than everyone else

however, the arbitrary measurement used to discriminate towards people on the bases of iq started to change it's perspective

we know NOW that there's a lot more than "just genius" and is a complex condition people like me live without, but the subconscious idea of high iq being something that makes you ""superior "" is still around due to it's origins and lack of common knowledge. the stigma about telling other people you're gifted is huge, people change the way they percieve you, they change the way they treat you, or at best you seem like an egocentric superb who thinks they're better than everyone

it's sorta how being a narcissist is used as an insult or to demonize the actual condition instead of people actually understanding what it is to have npd? kinda that. if you call yourself gifted you're basically doomed to be the egocentric one

and languages outside of english don't make it better.

for Spanish (my native language) even though we have one of the best resources imo for giftedness (the book "¿Demasiado Inteligente para ser feliz?") we also have the term "superdotado" that translated roughly means "super gifted". not doing much for the "we're literally people and not inhumane geniuses" part

but UGHHHH I kinda think that's most of my base info for u, I am SO happy you're interested, I have a little giftedness tag you can look at, and there's also gifted-centered blogs around this site

thanks for reading!!!

[autumnalwalker]

Hello hello, and happy Muse Monday! For the Archivist, what's one autumn tradition that you miss from your home world?

(Answering below in character as per the rules of Muse Monday...)

Autumn... it would be that time of year now, wouldn't it, with the equinox not long past. Or would it be spring? Hard to say with this place only having two real seasons to speak of, dry and rainy. And the Village is just barely south of the equator, so I suppose that technically offsets the seasonal cycle as well.

Autumn... what was it like again? No, that's too dramatic a wording. I haven't forgotten, it's just that I have to concentrate on it. It's a period defined by transition. Spring is the beginning of warmth. Summer is a middle and heat. Winter is a cold ending. But autumn? Autumn is the space between. A winding down and a handing off. A stop to take a breath. Seasons are cycles and all of them are in perpetual transition to the next, but none of the others embody it so fully.

But that doesn't say what it was like, now does it? It varied with climate, of course, but most archetypically it was defined by the changing of the leaves on trees. For many species in many places their leaves would, for a few months, change from green to a vibrant spectrum of reds, oranges, and browns. Warm colors set alight in contrast to the falling temperature. And along the way the leaves would begin to fall in preparation for the cold and dark of winter, lending the season it's other name. Fall. It was my favorite season, I think. I have this impression of being from someplace too warm to get much of the classical look of autumn in the trees, but being surrounded by the imagery all the same. It was the perfect time of year for me to be outside, with the overbearing heat of summer finally gone but the biting chill of winter not yet arrived. For all that it's the season of life winding down, I do believe it was the season in which I felt most alive. One would think that spring should have been similar, but something about it just wasn't the same. And once again I am reminded that my body must have changed when I came here to tolerate this endless summer so well.

Autumn... what were its holidays again? Those are always so hard for me to recall. Strangely, it seems that the only ones I can remember the names of were the ones I know I didn't celebrate. There were four in that season I observed though. Or maybe it was two holidays and two days with personal significance. At any rate, I can only remember anything about two holidays in that part of the year. One was, if I recall, much like the solstice celebrations here. A time specifically meant above all else as being for gathering with family and loved ones, culminating in the sharing of a meal.

The other one though, it tugs on my memory more than any other now that I turn my mind in its direction. I suspect it was my favorite, not only of the season, but of the year. How do I describe it in a way that anyone in the Village could understand? It was just such a strange one, lacking the ties that most other holidays had to religion or patriotism. Then again, how would I even describe patriotism to people from a world consisting of exactly one Village? Suffice to say, it had unusual cultural roots compared to most others. And as for what it was even celebrating there was a fascinating duality to it. On the one hand, it was a holiday about confronting and embracing fear, horror, darkness, and death. On the other hand it was a time of playful whimsy that turned the darkness into something fun. Alluring. Familiar even. Whether one leaned more to one side or the other or found a way to blend them was entirely a matter of individual preference. It was a time for those who didn't fit in or harbored love for things other found unsettling to embrace that about themselves. And on the day itself the tradition was to don a costume and be something, or someone else for a night, whether that be a monster, a character from a story, another profession, or a walking joke. Or for some, it was a chance to doff the figurative mask they had to where for the rest of the year and have a moment to be themselves for once. In many places, houses would be decorated for the holiday with symbols and figures of horror made whimsical and costumed children would go from door to do as the houses' residents handed out sweets. Something like the equinox festival here, except with everyone dressed as a shade all at once.

If autumn is a season of transition and liminality, of things changing from one form to another and nothing being as it was seems or will be, then that holiday may have been the purest concentration of that.

Autumn... once upon a time it meant so much more to me than a change in average ambient air temperature. More than just another step in the natural cycle and its cultural associations. It was dear to me... I think. I find myself thinking of how when I first arrived here I cried tears of joy at not recognizing myself in the mirror and didn't know why. I still don't, not entirely, but now I wonder if my love for that holiday was for a similar reason. Perhaps it is for the best that I can't recall it viscerally enough to miss as acutely as I otherwise might in this world of endless summer.

[gyroshrike]

10, 24, 33, 47, 51 and 69 for the 100 homestuck thing! ❤

10. Ever drank Faygo?

I have! I often buy it when I see it when I'm out and about. I have a favorite flavor, but I forgot what it was xD I know it was orange colored.

24. Least favorite guardian?

Don't dislike any per se, even Bro, because villains and bad people can be interesting characters and I like how that affects Dave's character arc and motivations. (Plus I love me some heartwarming Good!Bro AU's) I guess Alpha Rose is my least favorite? There is absolutely nothing I dislike about her, I've just connected with her emotionally the least. (But I also love the dynamic between Alpha Rose and Alpha Dave.)

33. Favorite pale ship?

Already answered this one!

47. Patron troll? Are you happy with them?

Soooo I always thought that your patron troll was your star sign, but I later learned it's not. Different sources tell me different things, but I always get either Karkat, Aradia, or Tavros. All of which are Very Good.

51. One ship you didn’t like at first, but like now?

Oh, literally like... so many. Too many. Most of them I didn't dislike, I just never thought to like them. Reeeally enjoying flushed NepJade and pitch EquiTav, and pitch FefKat.

There's a whole bunch of others that I didn't appreciate my first time reading hs. I wasn't much of a multishipper back then, so I only dabbled in This Is the Ship I Want To Be Canon type ship rather than enjoying the potential for AU situations or isolated dynamics and stuff. Or even 'I just want them to bang' type ships. Opening my mind more and actually really thinking about other quadrants has helped too.

JohnSol, GamJane, Solrezi, Equifef. And definitely more.

Flushed JaneRoxy? It's not that I didn't like it, it just never spoke to me? But now I think it's hella cute. Pale Cronkri, I suppose. Still not super into them being flushed, but I can enjoy it.

69. Classpects you’ve identified with before?

So, originally I took the Land of Celebration and Bells test and got Maid of Blood back in high school. Close to ten years later I took it again and got Monk of Space. The closest canon class to Monk was Slyph and my 'blood' ranking was only a few points lower than 'space,' so I decided to go with blood since it still ranked high and I'd been blood before. So since then I've been saying Slyph of Blood.

BUT a friend made me reconsider possibly going back to Maid.

And I feel like this was a really good point and it's been on my mind ever since.

100. One popular HS opinion you agree with?

Nooks and bulges! No biological differences between genders. Gender only varies by external expression. Some have fat deposits on their chests and some have less, but it's not dictated by anything related to sex/gender.

(Sorry, I threw this into my drafts months ago and just got around to finishing them now.)

[rockheadcd]

Would you be willing to do rp icon commissions? As in draw icons for someone to use? How many would you be open to make in that case?

HMMMMM i need to update my comm sheet like. bad bad ( like. it's from 2019. i would charge way more now ). but i think the answer kinda just boils down to there's better options.

i don't really have a style that lends itself to psds, so there's that to consider... ( fae can't even use my sketches i have seen them try q_q ) and then i would genuinely end up treating each base as an individual bust. that would be... probably at a minimum 20 per base, or god forbid you wanted full color because that could end up being closer to 40-50 per base. that wouldn't account for individual expressions, which would also vary! ( like the complexity difference between changing a mouth versus one extreme emotion to another. i wouldn't want to make someone pay the same price for a minor difference versus a major one! )

( but paloma just draw one body and change the face! ) i could do that with some expressions but if there's no life to the body the face is out of place! q_q i could opt, potentially, to do headshots, but that still requires some variety in poses and my headshots are just busts anyway! how i would prefer to approach it would be to treat poses as individual pieces and then squeeze out as many icons as i can ( i think i would average between 3 - 5 unique-ish crops based off of how i crop screencaps, maybe more if i'm lucky? ). :despair: i'm overcomplicating the process but i assure you that you would be broke over like a measly 20 icons and whatever else you can milk out of the full size canvas!!

[fox-steward]

Would you feel comfortable answering a couple of questions about beard removal? I’m about to start the process and I’m super anxious

oh definitely!

some preliminary info: i had laser hair removal, about 8-12 sessions over the course of 1.5 years. i can’t quite remember how many at this point. i still have some light hair on my chin/neck which i shave about every 1-2 weeks, but it’s only really visible up close after about 1-2 weeks, and even then it’s sparse. which is a long way to say i think the laser treatments were successful, but if i wanted to be 100% hairless on my face i’d need to do more sessions, and even then it may not be possible. cost was about $50 per session, but i had a 1/2 off coupon that they accidentally kept applying to my account at subsequent visits so price may vary. laser sessions take about 15-20min each. the lasering itself IS painful but not too bad, though i have a high threshold for pain so YMMV. you need to be able to avoid direct sunlight for a day or two(?) after otherwise discoloration is possible, but i did not experience any. laser hair removal is most appropriate for people with lighter skin color/complexion and darker hair color, because it works by using a laser (duh) to heat up the hair, which travels down into the follicle and essentially burns the follicle, damaging it and ideally preventing it from regrowing. you know how black clothing heats up faster than light clothing in the sun? same principal here—the darker pigmentation of a dark hair against light skin allows the laser to heat the hair and target the hair/follicle without doing the same level of damage to the surrounding skin. at least that’s how it was explained to me. the reason you need multiple sessions is because our hair follicles have cycles, during which only a fraction of our total hair follicles is in a “grow” stage, the others are “dormant” aka not currently growing a hair. because the laser works on the pigmentation of the hair, when you have a session, any follicle not in a growth stage will not be targeted by the laser and thus will not be damaged, free to grow a hair whenever it reaches the growth stage. so you have to keep going back to kill ‘em all.

that’s all the stuff i can think of off the top of my head but you’re welcome to ask anything you want about facial hair removal.

[adzowski]

Hi! I really admire how you color your digital art and was wondering if you could share a bit about your process. How do you typically approach coloring, and how many layers do you usually use for things like base colors, shading, and highlights? I’m trying to figure out how to do this myself and would love any tips or advice you might have!

Ah, how nice, my first ask!!~ Hello, and thank you so much :) I wish I had a standardized process to share, but what I do changes every time I do it, which is why I think I have such an inconsistent style (or many styles, however you'd rather think of it.) On my instagram (link here) I'll often post stages with the final artwork, so you can check those out and see if it helps, if you want! I am actually colorblind, so my coloring process varies a lot depending on how challenging the colors are for me in that individual artwork! I wouldn't say it's strong or anything, but it definitely affects my coloring approach. So, to actually answer your question as best as I can: for drawings, I usually make a sketch layer, then if I must, a lineart layer (I avoid doing lineart because it strains my wrist a lot and doesn't feel very organic, so often I'll just try to sketch cleanly and use that as the lineart!). For coloring, I usually separate background (if applicable), characters, and foreground (if applicable) into their own folders, and I apply each color in its own layer (skin, hair, clothes, etc), and once all the base colors for each folder are adjusted as best as I can (again, colorblindness), I merge them to one layer per folder! Then I'll add a layer for shadows or lights, then merge. I always try not to have too many layers at once! For paintings, I usually keep it all in one layer! Or at most separate the background from the main thing. I'll often not sketch, and if I do, I may paint in the same layer as the sketch, or paint under the sketch and delete it after. I often find myself adding a layer, making a small change, and immediately merging it down, then doing it again, if I'm too scared of changing something too noticeable. I hope this actually answered your question, and sorry for the very long-winded answer!! Find a process that works for YOU, though, just try out a bunch of stuff and see which feels better and yields the best results. It's okay not to have a process, or not to follow standards. At least I think so :)

[fangpunk]

Hello, this is a little strange but I saw that you have synesthesia so I wanted to know

Could you tell me if this is synesthesia?

I had heard about synesthesia and I was like:

"Oh I have that, I think"

So I realized that my synesthesia is a little different, it's not as intense, but depending on the situation, sometimes it's strong, but there are days when I feel almost nothing, it's like it's something fluid, but I also question whether This is the influence of my hyperfantasy or my autism symptoms

Like I can't see a color and then I hear the sound of that color

I know you can't give me a diagnosis but I want to know if it's possible that I have synesthesia so I could talk to a professional

synesthetic experiences dont really come & go day-per-day, per say, but the distinctiveness or strength can fluctuate, & some that have synesthesia say that certain triggers can enhance or diminish their synesthetic perceptions. mostly its a constant phenomenon, but how often & how intense synesthetic experiences can be vary amongst people & could also be influenced by outside factors, like stress or tiredness. i'd try to see a specialist, as they can provide better answers than i!

[yellowedbytheblue]

Love Letter - April 3rd.

Hey, I’m supposed to write and publish this on April 3rd but sadly, I was too drained that day so, here, on April 7th but let's make it April 3rd. Why? Don’t know if you notice or bot but April 3rd is the day when we started to talk — our talk in WhatsApp, if I may specify. And that day, I have no idea that the talk can be maintained for a year — more than a year.

Here, I wrote this monthly-letter while suddenly thinking about the letter you gave on my birthday.

Do you think I can bottle your love like a clam bottle the ocean? Is it too far-fetched to dream dreams of you and me gazing into eternity? Could we walk across the colorful meadows across the expanse of this beautiful earth? Should we find the end of this world and sit together in silence gazing at the star-studded infinity?

Maybe we can do all of those things and maybe those are just silly little dreams. Maybe these fancies are more suited to younglings in love, not weary folks like us. But maybe, just maybe dreaming and believing in them will get us to a blooming love.

It baffles me how easy it is to fall in love. No, I don’t always mean romantic love per se. Just “love”. There are so many different kinds of love and what an honor to be able to experience some ways of it, if not all. Are all loves equal? I don’t think I know the answer to that. It might also vary from person to person. A lot of you reside in the safest crevices of my heart and soul. It doesn’t matter to me that if you think you're lacking of things or this and that or those and these — you just have my love. No questions asked.

I choose the people I love carefully and when I do you have all of my love. It’s so difficult to explain to someone outside of this space how many beautiful feelings I have been able to form. It is magical to me how people carve their place in my life. It is a joy to experience this.

I have found such fierce, loving, caring people that my heart is constantly overflowing with adoration. I say this genuinely. Recently I was made aware of how much you are actually care for me and I was overwhelmed. Who would’ve thought that support from you would really bring tears to my eyes, but that did happen.

I am but human, and I am of course flawed. I will make mistakes and I am open to learning. I always will be. No one knows everything. I say this because people tend to think that I should be infallible. I am not. Please never think of me in such terms.

That went on a slightly different tangent but came back to the point — “love”.

I love you,

As the sun kisses the winter morn away — as the warm coffee consecrates cold lips — as the forlorn grey skies heavy with rain — as the scorched earth receives showers — as the cold burrows itself into your skin — as the flowers bloom every spring.

I love you, it’s so good to meet someone who makes me look at my day feeling it’s livable and my heart livelier.

[charubblogs]

reaserch log two

date: -redated-

scientist conducting testing: -redated-

reaserch subject dubbed "sweet pea". agent watched popeye prior to comeing into work and thought the light green coloration on the cheek protrustions plus the mild demoneor was cleaver. attempts to change nickname unsuccessful. will try again.

subject one stayed awake for exactly a full week, either sitting perfectly still, consumeing large quantites of candy or playing various childrens game downloaded on the computer. when they finally fell asleep, subject two rose nearly immeditly afterwards and screaming for exactly one hour before falling calm and requesting someone to speak with.

attitude of subject is nearly a complete reversal of subject one. subject is highly personable, complient with commands within their own reasoning and seems to hold a mostly pacifistic attitude, only evadeing agents attempting to move her towards a newly made questioning area. vary willing to hand over information.

subject shows human level intellagence, and shows the same motor skills and technological capabilites as subject one.

communication attempts went smoothly, subject answered questions promptly and only asked a few questions in return in regards to the scope of their captivity. communication transcript will be tagged to the end of the paper.

Findings from communication attempts:

race is known as "charubs", or at the vary least that is how it sounds within the languge spoken.

biology seems to indicate that the species are socially parasitic, allowing them to intagrate within any sufficently advanced culture with minimal effort until they can reach a secondary and tertiary molting phase.

trade is not needed for subject.

subject has shown human levels of empathy not found in its counterpart.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

-redacted-: Could you please state your name for the records?

subject: Kratanor stunok, Should I assume you are unable to give yours?

-redacted-: correct. do you have any memories of the agents that were attacked prior to your awakening?

subject: oh god, are they ok?! please let them know im so sorry! i tried to remain awake so I could leave a cell phone at what I assumed was the pick up site so I could coordinate a more peaceful pickup...

-redacted-: you knew it was a trap?

subject: well yes, it was kind of obvious, that and the anonymous humans helped point it out to me.

-redacted-: I see, we do have a few questions about you in particuler. it was vary shocking to see that you seem to have duel per-

Subject: I am a seperate person.

-redacted-: my apologies, it was strange to see two people inhabiting the same body.

subject: I would guess it would be... its a little werid seeing someone sleep for 8 hours, it looks vary peaceful! it felt a little bit strange to watch frank sleep, i throught he was ignoreing me at first.

-redacted-: how long did you watch him?

subject: 8 hours, I was trying to hand him a sandwhich and I didnt want him to think i would just show him I made a sandwhich and leave with it.

-redacted-: how... Considerate...

-redacted-: well lets just run through a few questions, we are vary eager to learn more about your kind, are their more of you nearby? is this a first communcation attempt?

subject: oh! no, I belive we would classify as refugees, we have no state of origin and we are escapeing from distress in hopes of finding asylum.

-redacted-: distress? is something endangering you...?

subject: Yes, our mother.

-redacted-: I see... another charub then?

Subject: No, we were adopted.

-redacted-: ah...

-redacted-: could you give a quick definition of brother and mother real quick? I need to make sure we are on the same page.

subject: of course, for humans its a feminine presenting member of the species that takes on a guardian posistion towards a youth, a brother is a masculine presenting member of the species that claim either blood or emotional bonds. would these be good working terms moveing forward?

-redacted-: I belive so. you said that you were adopted, yet you are also a refuge. that leads me to belive, given you came here alo-

subject: with my brother, i did not come alone.

-redacted-: apologies, since you came here with family, that leads me to belive you are perhaps running from your mother?

subject: that wouldnt be the whole truth. we had fears that the alchimiter unit provided to use would no longer function in the comeing years, we were also under the suspecion that while the moon was safe, we would not be able to survive there long term based on the current rations. calculating our glucose and protien intake, the food provided was slowly weakening us, enough for a small charub to grow, not enough for a charub our age to presist.

-redacted-: well I would like to assure you that the "rations" here are sufficent. we can provide a large amount of suger and protien sources as long as we recive the same level of compliance, you have demonstrated today.

subject: that leads me to my next question, are we being kept here as prisoners?

-redacted-: that would be an inaccurate discription.

subject: we are kept here under threat of violance, our movements are monitered and our ability to communicate are considered both privlages and something to be monitred carefully. I belive that this working term is suitable going forward, its up to you to put a word to it.

-redacted-: im sorry that you feel that way. we are keeping you here for both the general populations safety and your own personal safety, i belive we should not consider this imprisonment but an honoring of your claim for asylum.

subject: huh...

-redacted-: is there something wrong?

subject: no, I relized that I liked talking to people. I didnt know that I liked that before.

End of transcript.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[mephicchi]

((I can agree with your taste in twinks men. I have an evil warlock I want to rail gently caress Astarion with, provided I can remain ic and play a bastard for more than 2 minutes without chickening out and playing nice instead. Now that you mention it I don't think I've had a chance to play a full spellcaster either.

Blows kiss. Folds into the void.))

Delightful barkeep.

You need not be concerned, your knights are not involved in my deliveries. In fact, they have been increasingly more difficult to slip by. No doubt this is your doing. But I'll simply have to be more creative in my endeavours. I must commend you on the tight ship you run, and how organised your office. But could use a little more light. I'll leave this candle lit to let you know when I pass through.

The address is a simple drop off point. You won't find any home or business at that address. How efficient the moogle delivery system is, hm?

But enough about me. Tell me about yourself? What kind of music you listen to? I thought I heard some through the walls but it was too far to make out. You have a favourite colour? Beast? Plant? A preferred drink perhaps? Your friends must mean a lot to you. Very noble of a knight to put his friends before himself. What about enemies? You must have some.

All the best wishes,

Your humble patron.

// I see we both have great taste, I actually wanted to play a Warlock for real for some time now, everytime I played one in the ttrpg, the Campaigns took an end because of out of game reasons, but I'll see what class I choose. For the race though, although I have a love for all kinds of Elves, Tiefling are my favorite DnD race by far, I suppose it is the little queer edgelord in my head taking control, so if I choose to play a custom character and not one of the origin characters in my first playthrough, it will definitely be a Tiefling. If I may say, you are cool. // Greetings to my peculiar pen pal, sneaking past my guards and into my office without permission is not something many people would admit to, yet I have a feeling you bare no ill intent, so I shall allow it, but not encourage it, therefore my knights shall continue their frequent patrols, though I cannot keep this up for long, they have other duties to attend to. You must joke with your mention of an organized office, I know my strenghts and keeping my office clean and organized is certainly not one of them, keeping it dim lit is both a personal preference and a way of hiding how truly horrendously organized it is.

I entertained the idea of it being a drop off point, for I myself have used such methods in the past, though it makes me wonder if your usual line of work requires such methods too, I somehow doubt you went through the effort to get a drop off point simply to write and receive letters from me.

Your quick-fire of questions shall be answered, but with a request, I would appreciate if you were to answer them too.

The music I listen to is quite varied, though I have a fond love for pieces played on the Violin, you might have heard some of it through the wall, whatever that might mean, for I pay a personal bard to come by while I work on paperwork every now and then. My favourite color is most definitely wine red, or bordeaux if you feel especially cultured, my favorite beast would most definitely be the Griffin, I would love to be able to tame and ride one someday, my favorite plant, or specifically flower in this case, would be the simple but efficient rose, thought the hyacinth is a close second since I wear one in my hair quite often, for the drink I will have to choose Hot Chocolate, I drink it quite often, though if we go for alcoholic beverages it has to be red wine.

For the question of my enemies, well, I wouldn't say I have any enemies per se, though perhaps there is people walking this world that think otherwise, but I do have rivals of sorts, in my many years of knighthood there has been quite a few fellow knights who claimed I did not deserve the praise I received, many of those knights have continued these claims up to today. With wishes of best luck that you do not get caught by my knights, Mephiston Godefroy

[omg-snakes]

Hi I just want to say I love your blog and your snakes are so freaking cute!! I also had a question if you have time to answer it. I really love reptiles and would like to get into reptile keeping (probably not for a year or so as I have one more semester of my bachelor's degree and then will probably be moving). I've been doing a lot of research in preparation for bringing one home in the future. However, I've been wondering, do people ever sell fertilized reptile hatching eggs for people to hatch? I don't think this is something I would do if any breeders offered it because I don't have much experience, but I do breed chickens and people do this all the time with chicken eggs, so I was wondering if it is something people do with reptiles too. I imagine shipping would be harder with reptile eggs than chicken eggs bc of how soft they are, but I was still curious and thought it might be worth asking!

Hi there!

Okay I LOVE this ask. I think about this sort of thing a lot and while it's definitely not a thing I often wish it could be.

The very short answer is that for most reptiles, selling a fertilized egg to hatch at home is not feasible. It's definitely not possible to ship fertilized reptile eggs with any hope of hatching them, but in a few rare cases you could possibly sell one in person, in an insulated container, and if the buyer went straight home and got it into an incubator it would probably be okay.

There are a few reasons why reputable reptile breeders don't do this.

Consider that chickens have a fast rate of maturity, relatively fast incubation, regular and predictable breeding cycle, and eggs can rest for a bit before they're incubated for hatching. All of this adds up to eggs that are relatively abundant, inexpensive, forgiving in terms of being jostled since the eggs are designed to be turned during incubation, a quick turnaround from purchase to enjoying your new pet, and within a year, if you hatched a hen, you'll be able to make more eggs. As a domesticated species bred for hardiness and responsiveness to human care, healthy chicks will start eating and displaying normal chickeny behaviors right away.

Corn snakes, for contrast, take up to 4 years to mature, they only breed once per year and lay a relatively small number of eggs per breeding season compared to an average chicken, their eggs take 65-ish days to incubate, and the embryos adhere to the top of the egg very soon after the eggs are laid so they can not be turned or the embryo will be smothered by their own yolk. Once hatched, a corn snake neonate will not eat until after their first shed and sometimes a bit after that! This can be a harrowing, delicate time in a baby snake's life and they need an experienced keeper to help them thrive.

Furthermore, chickens come in specialized breeds where corn snakes are an undomesticated species. Reptiles come in color morphs but they don't have defined breeds with expected size, color, temperament, health expectations, or fecundity the way chickens do.

So if you were to, say, buy buff orpington hatching eggs, you'd reliably hatch buff orpingtons, with orpington personalities and characteristics. If you bred two hypo corn snakes, you'd definitely get hypo corn snake babies but you might also get other color morphs depending on the genetics of the parents. Unless you know very well the specific genes, temperaments, sizes, and health histories of the parents you won't have any idea of what's going to hatch. And even with all that information, it's still quite variable!

Finally, corn snakes cost a lot more than most chicken breeds and the price of a snake is in part determined by the genes they carry. Two snakes in the same clutch might vary significantly in terms of color expression, so you could have a $50 snake and a $200 snake in the same clutch! Since every egg carries a risk of failing to hatch, sellers don't usually price their snakes until they're alive, eating, and thriving. If a seller were to price their eggs, knowing the genetics of the parents that produced said eggs, they'd either be taking a huge loss on the value of a potentially valuable snake or asking their buyer to incur a significant loss should an expensive egg fail. If a breeder were to go this route, they'd probably only offer eggs that they know are low-dollar-value or have low desirability, and then we have to ask why somebody is breeding snakes they don't think are desirable...

All said and done, it's probably a safer idea to contact a local breeder and ask them to tag an egg for you, allowing you the first right of refusal on whomever hatches. They'll insure that "your" egg stays safe and if for any reason it does fail, you won't have invested anything in it except hope.

I hope this helps explain and that I didn't crush anybody's dreams.