#I've wanted to do this one for a while

[raspberriesandstrawberries]

Lady Ysabella Theer

Based on the portrait of Bianca Maria Sforza, by Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis

[hansoeii]

crowley

[swampybogg]

[cup-o-stars]

These three!! (You might have to click for quality)

I ended up really liking Usopp's coloring and regretably spent more time on these than the first batch. They were fun though!

🤡🐠🌸

[inkskinned]

there are a lot of posts out there that are positive and healthy coping mechanisms for handling the holidays. this is not one of them :)

i think there's like. going to be times in your life you will be stuck in a social situation that you cannot escape from gracefully. i do not know why the internet doesn't believe these times exist. it's not always just that your physical safety is at risk - sometimes it's legit like "i just don't currently have the energy or time to put in the effort of responding to this." sometimes it's a coworker you hate so much. sometimes it's just like, fine, you know? like you know you can handle your aunt when she's cheerily horrible, but if you actually set a boundary around her, it's going to be weeks of fallout with your father.

i don't know why people think the answer is always just "cut them out!" or "don't let them get away with that!" because ... the real world is tricky and complicated. i think kind of a lot of us have an internal "radiation poisoning" meter for certain people. like - i'm talking about the ones who are absolutely giving you gradual ick damage. like, you can handle them, but you'll be exhausted.

and yes. you absolutely should listen to your therapist and the good posts about handling others and set good boundaries and take care of yourself. prioritize peace.

HOWEVER :) ...... since im often in a situation with a Gradual Sense of Ick person i cannot just "cut out" of my life (without losing someone else precious to me) - i have sort of developed the most. maladaptive form of mischief possible. because like, if i'm going to have to listen to this shit again, i like to have a little bit of private fun with it.

now! again, i am physically safe, just mentally drained by this man. you should only do this with people you are not in danger with. which leads me to my suggestions for when your Unfortunate Acquaintance shows up and says oh everyone pay attention to me.

my favorite word is "maybe!" said as brightly and happily as possible. whenever the Horrible Person starts in on a topic you do not want to go further with, particularly if they make a claim that you know to be inaccurate, do not respond to it. you and i have both tried to actually argue with this person, and it hasn't gone well, because this person just wants the drama of an argument. however, "maybe!" gives them literally nothing to go on. it is incredibly disarming. they are used to people having some response. they know they can't prove what they're saying, and maybe! treats them like the child they are. it dismisses them in the politest way possible.

i like to say maybe! and then, in their stunned silence, immediately change the subject. this is because i have adhd and i will have something unrelated to talk about, but if you can't think of topics fast enough, i recommend just pointing to something and saying, "isn't that lovely?" because fuck you let's bring in some positivity.

by the way. that second trick - of pointing to something and stating an opinion about it? - that just works on its own, like, 70% of the time. i picked it up from teaching preschoolers. it's an intentional "redirect". it stops children crying and it also stops grown adults from finishing their explanation on why women belong in kitchens. dual wielding!

keep it silly for yourself. i absolutely do not care if people think i'm fucking stupid (it's more fun if they do) and as a result i will purposefully misunderstand things just to see how long it takes them to realize i've completely removed them from the subject at hand. when they say "women aren't funny" i get to be like. "which women." "all women." "all women in america?" "no in the world." "like the mole people? the people in the world?" "what? no. like, alive." "oh are we not counting the mole people?" "what the fuck are you talking about." "you don't believe in the mole people?"

similarly, i play a personal game called "one up me." my Evil Acquaintance literally knows this game exists (my family & friends caught onto it and now also play it) and it always fucking gets him. i don't know why. you have to be willing to be a little free-spirited on this one, though. the trick is that when they make one of those horrible little bigoted or annoying comments they are always making, you need to go one unit weirder. not more intense, mind you - just more weird. "you don't look good in that dress." "yeah, actually, my other dress was covered in squid ink due to a mishap at the soup store." "you shouldn't wear such revealing clothes." "wait, what? oh shit. sorry, your son tears off strips when no one is looking and eats them. i swear it was longer before we left the building."

the point of "one up me" is to completely upend this person's narrative. we both know this person likes setting up situations where you cannot "win" and then they really like telling other people how badly you handled it. in a usual situation, if you respond "please don't say something that rude", you're a bitch. but if you let it happen, you're letting yourself be debased. they are not usually expecting door number three: unflappably odd. because what are they going to say when they're telling everyone how badly you behaved? "she said my son eats her dresses" ".... okay?"

if you can, form an allyship with someone whomst you can tagteam with. where they can pick up on your weird "soup store" story and run with it.

the following phrase is amazing and can be deployed for any situation: "oh, be nice :) it's the holidays!" i do not know why this works as often as it does. i'll say it for the most random shit. i think this is bc most of the time these people know they're being impolite, they just like to fight.

godbless. when in doubt, remember that you could always start stealing their pens.

the whole point of this is - if you can't escape. maybe see how long you can just be. like. a horrible little menace.

[demaparbat-hp]

Zutara makes a statement.

[welcometogrouchland]

ANOTHER SKETCH DUMP! Featuring more of me playing with lineless art. Batman reborn era trio (dick, damian and steph) I miss you...when will you return from war. Also featuring Steph designs bc I've seen ppl dissatisfied w/ her current look, some good mom Talia, and Jason Todd poetry club. Duke is confused not that Jason would start a poetry club but that he'd have such mid poetry opinions. (ID in Alt)

[morningstarwrites]

two old men who don't know how do the heart gesture

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for an incredible 500 days of love and support. I offer you: answers to questions that no one has asked.

(As always, more can be found in the tags <3)

[tachvintlogic]

Humans are Weird: Offloading tasks to Bacteria

Alien A: So your waste has bacteria in it.

Human: Yes.

Alien A: Inherently.

Human: Yes.

Alien A: Why?

Human: Because I have bacteria in my gut.

Alien A: And you're not sick?

Human: No, they're supposed to be there. They help digest tough materials we can't break down ourselves.

Alien A: You don't just do that yourself?

Human: No, we just let them do it for us. Most vertebrates on Earth have them, or at least I don't know if any don't. They already know how to digest that stuff, so why not let them help out?

Alien A: But what if they make you sick?

Human: It's fine as long as they're not somewhere they're not supposed to be. Do you not have helpful organisms living in you?

Alien A: No! That's weird.

Alien B: What's weird?

Alien A: Offloading digestion to bacteria.

Human: No it's not. They're perfectly suited for it.

Alien B: And for getting rid of bad bacteria.

Human: You have them too?

Alien B: Yeah, but not for digestion. To guard against parasites. They're the parasites of parasites.

Human: They kinda help with invaders in the gut, but that's mostly the immune system's job. Do you have an immune system? Besides the bacteria.

Alien B: No, not really.

Alien A: What!?

Human: Really? So if you don't have anything to reign them in?

Alien B: They govern themselves. It works alright.

Human: But if they stop doing their job right, you're fucked.

Alien B: And if your immune system stops doing its job, you're fucked.

Human: Touché.

Alien C: ...I'm confused.

Alien B: By what?

Alien C: These bacteria. You're talking about them like they're separate from you.

Human: Well, yeah they are separate from me.

Alien C: But they're living things that live in your body.

Alien B: I don't get what's confusing.

Alien A: Because they're parasites you haven't realized are parasites.

Alien C: No. It's... how are you distinguishing between yourself and these bacteria? How do you define yourself in a way that excludes them?

Human: They come from outside?

Alien B: Wait, you're not born with yours?

Human: No, we just kind of pick them up as we go along.

Alien B: Oh, my species doesn't do that. That would be far too risky.

Human: Yeah, you'd probably need a lot more control over what your bacteria ecosystem looks like.

Alien C: But how are they separate from you you?

Human: Well, all the cells that make up me all originate from a single stem cell with the instructions to make me—you guys use DNA right?

Alien B: We use nucleotides but different ones.

Alien A: My translator is telling me that you code your instructions in a way that is exclusive to certain single-celled organisms on my planet.

Alien C: I use DNA.

Humans: Okay, good. So my cells have my DNA and the bacteria ecosystem is all different species of bacteria with their own DNA and lineages that aren't affiliated with my origin cell, so they're separate from me.

Alien B: Yeah, that's basically how it is.

Alien C: So, you don't start as a collection of cells, all with their own DNA and DNA lineages that specialize into different systems with different jobs?

Human: Wait, so you're a colony of a bunch of organisms that become your organ systems?

Alien C: By your definition of "organism," yes.

Alien A: Okay, but can we all agree that the fact human waste needs to be sterilized is weird?

Human: No.

Alien B: Yes.

Alien C: Actually... My equivalent to a stomach reproduces on its own in addition to reproducing with the rest of me, so you will need to sterilize the spores in my poop.

Human: Woah, that's so cool!

Alien A: I'm just going to sterilize everyone's waste just in case.

[uncanny-tranny]

Social transition being seen (by some) as this super easy thing that isn't as hard as real transitioning (medical) is bullshit. Be critical of the idea that there are some trans people who just "have it easy" because they are trans or because they are trans in ways you may not be.

Social transition is just as difficult, hard, and rewarding as medical transition. Maybe it is not as hard for some, sure, but that is not the same as thinking that social transition is inherently easier or lesser. If you're socially transitioning, your voice still matters.

[snarkspawn]

some KoD/Spirealm sketches

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[iraprince]

if u like listening to music while u work but find urself getting distracted fiddling with queueing stuff/finding The Perfect Playlist/etc my recent hack has been just throwing on youtube videos of dj sets

book club radio is a good channel to start w bc they usually have the overall Vibe of the set in the title (i.e. "dreamy pop mix", "energetic techno mix" etc) so u can pick the general tempo or w/e u want but then it just kind of blends into the bg and u can set it + forget it

any time i put my own playlists on i'm just too familiar w what could be coming up and i end up wasting so much time skipping/scrolling 2 look for specific songs and stuff. dj sets are like putting a post-op doggy cone on me. it;'s out of my hands

[joshdonnas]

Are we out of the woods yet? Are we in the clear yet? Good.

t.s.

[crystallizsch]

this was kalim's idea