#again I am not an expert

[glompcat]

And the thing is that unlike what happened with Clinton (where Clinton got the popular vote but still lost), Trump got the popular vote this time, because this country is deeply racist on top of all that. And if it's the idiots who didn't vote claiming no Americans want Trump then well they would've shown up on election day and voted for Harris instead of throwing tantrums that were as good as voting for Trump themselves.

Honestly there are endless ways to understand the results and spin them to support whatever micro analysis conclusion you want. I am saying this as a disclaimer here because I am no expert, just a person with a keyboard and an internet connection you should take no more seriously than any other random person on the internet.

I have no qualifications or expertise - two things that actually do matter.

That said, I do think it matters that Harris got more votes than Clinton in 2016.

She got fewer votes than Biden in 2020, of course, and fewer than Trump got in 2024 obs (Trump also had fewer votes in 2024 than he had in 2020) but Harris in 2024 still got more than Clinton in 2016 (because 2016 was a low turnout election).

The votes Harris lost from Biden's win, the significant number which lost her the popular vote (not the razor-thin margin in the swing states that lost the electoral vote), were primarily in Blue states like New York, Massachusetts and California. Which of course means the entire popular vote narrative at play is hinging on people who felt "safe" not to vote.

The more that popular vote win is used to justify Trump's nonsense (despite being one of the tightest popular vote margins in history) - things like picking the fucking authors of Project 2025 for his cabinet being justified for that reason - the more it becomes clear that the behavior of people who just couldn't bring themselves to fill in a tiny scantron bubble asking if they want to live under fascism Y/N had a direct impact on ramping up the shitstorm to come.

[kandidandi]

What’s it like being autistic?

sorry if this is weird or sounds rude-

I’m just curious ‘^^

this isnt rude at all, tho one autistic person is never the same as another, its a spectrum so everyones experience is different. (i will talk about my experience. bad + half bad half good and good yknow (p.s. i am not an expert on the tism don't quote me))

its good and bad, sometimes i love having autism and sometimes i wish i didnt have it.

i hate having it because i cant go into shopping centres without panicking or breaking down because of all the noises and sensations. i got bullied for literal years in a row for being the weird kid and i didnt know why until i found out i was autistic. i dont like being spoken to in a condescending way like im five years old once someone learns about my autism either hgh

sounds and noises are way louder and lights are brighter. i wear sunglasses and carry earplugs for when its especially bad. when im in a crowded environment like the city i have a hard time calming myself down and sometimes meltdown because of all the sensations going on (not all autistic people hate the city).

bright lights and noises aren't just annoying, they physically hurt aswell (dont ask me how)

i love matching my clothes together! like if i have a blue shirt i'll have blue socks :D but but but if i cant find a combination i like i'll panic because nothing seems right. i really like some textures one day but might hate them the next, for example i really love the feeling of foam beads but sometimes they feel so bad i'll throw up.

im semi-verbal, sometimes i can talk and talk and talk but then sometimes im super quiet and its hard for me to say anything, for this i have hand signals i use with my family and friends to communicate what i want to say! other autistics may also use cards or AAC (Augmentative and alternative communication (basically just speaking with a phone or tablet).

i love having it because i feel things more intensely and see the world differently. i stim almost constantly because it feels nice and makes me happy. i love listening to my favourite music because i connect with it a lot, not because of the lyrics but just cuz makes me extremely happy idk its hard to explain. i love having echolalia, when i pay for soemthing the machine makes a beep and i always always say beep in response awawa and sometimes the cashier will beep aswell!!! i love when im so happy i need to full body stim to regulate myself its great i love it. i love being easily entertained! slap some blocks infront of me and i'll have a blast for hours!! i also really like puzzles and jigsaws because of this awawa (i also really like solitare and minesweeper)i also also love having random sayings i use like "awawawa"! i actually do say these things irl aswell as a vocal stim hehehe

[mask131]

Hello, I hope you are doing well. Apologies if this is a bit of a dumb question, or is otherwise one you've already touched on elsewhere, but based on your experience would you happen to have any insights regarding how matters of economic/social class might influence the mythology, folklore, and other storytelling traditions people groups engage with? I understand if this is a tough question to answer, it is admittedly very broad.

Not at all a dumb question! No question is dumb!

... Well to be fair some questions are dumb, but this isn't one.

Indeed it is very, VERY broad, especially since every mythology and folkore has a different context and tone and history to it.

Economy and social class... I can't actually talk much about this topic - because I am not an expert on either economics or sociology. But I will try to answer with a few things I know... And given I have been very active on my fairytale blog recently I think I can tie that to something also relevant to fairytales (which as in truth another form of folklore, somehow).

If I had something to say it would be: the idea that mythology and folklore are just "stories told by the common folk, that spread orally among the low class, that is part of everyday's culture" has to be treated VERY CAREFULLY. It is not an unfounded assumption. Folklore does spread and exist through oral traditions, as the stories are told by grandpas to granchilds, by nurses to children, from villages to villages. Lots of mythologies of the world do survive on oral culture, traditional storytelling, and "belong to the people".

But to assume mythology always was a sort of free-entity wandering around, that is transmitted exclusively orally, and that media adaptations cannot truly change or touch is probably a bit foolish - especially in the Western world.

I'll take two examples: Greek mythology and fairytales.

Given how widespread and common Greek mythology is nowadays, people tend to believe they are just stories that exist on their own, and were kept to us by storytelling, and that they existed as they are of all time... But a lot of people do not realize that Greek mythology isn't some sort of petrified oral culture or a defined set of pop culture references: Greek mythology is a literary mythology. And this is true for a lot of the mythologies of Antiquity - they are "literary mythologies" because we did not kept any of the actual "oral myths". It is not like when colonizers started to study and record the mythologies of the First Nations, or when Europeans tried to understand the myths of the first inhabitants of Australia - these were "live captures" of a mythology still in an oral, active, "folkloric" form. But Greek mythology, and in fact all other Antiquity European mythologies (Roman, Norse, Irish, Finnish...), we only know through literary works - and exclusively through them. The tales of Greek mythology were lifted, recreated and taken out of poems, of epics, of history and geography treaties. Aka works of a somehow "high" culture, works of literature, works of scholars. Taken from these literary works, the myths were then extracted and reconstucted to live just on their own, free from their original literary frame - but because of that people somehow think that these myths came to us directly from the Greek people to us without any in-between carrier or reshaper. But that's not the truth.

Heck, modern day Western Europe's perception of Greek- mythology is on top of that influenced by another "high class" intermediary: art. From the Renaissance to modern day, for centuries, Greek mythology in France (for example) was mostly spread through sculpture, opera, paintings - it was the domain of the arts, and these pieces of art importantly shaped and redefined how Greek mythology is perceived (it notably worked heavily the confusion between Roman and Greek myths). And these pieces of art were "elitist", as in accessible mostly to those that had the social status, the wealth and the and the culture.

And this is something very important to remember when dealing with European mythologies: up to a recent time, they were transmitted and carried by those that had the culture, the education, the means. Which wasn't everybody. A relevant case would be the Celtic mythology of the Isles - like Irish mythology. The only texts we got of it were from the Middle-Ages, and being texts they could have only be done by clerks. But who were clerks? Christian monks, men of the Church. And because of that, the texts of Irish myths were changed (this is why the People of Dana went from gods to just "very strong magical warriors"). Irish mythology could only survive because it was written down - but it could only survive in a modified, "diminished" form because the ones who held the culture, the education and the means of spreading stories were Christians.

European mythologies are literary in nature - as in, the myths and legends we know today all come from literary works. And writers were not anybody back then - they were special people, and so we could say that European mythology is somehow "elitist". It wasn't a "people things", it wasn't a true "folklore" like it is today. In fact, when you think about it, even back then mythology asn't just the prerogative of "everybody" - myths and legends were passed down by bards and skald, which were special people, treated with respect, with a specific training... Not everybody could be a bard, and telling myths was an artistic and social prerogative. Mythology was always quite "elitist" - unlike religion, which was the widespread thing. Mind you, mythology does become "folkloric" when you work on its reconstruction because , in front of collapsing ancient civilizations and the wave of Christianization of Europe, a lot of research can re-create and resurrect legends, myths and gods by looking into folklore proper - which often is a leftover or mutation of mythology. In folktales we find Christianized myths, in superstitions we find rites that lost their legends. (Even though not all rites have legends, and religion is different from myth - but you get what I mean, there are leftovers of mythology in what is called "folklore").

In fact, this is why we know barely anything about Gaul mythology. The Gallic mythology is lost to us because they never wrote it down, they were not a literary people, merely oral. The result was that all the legends and myths of the Gauls are gone. All we have left are images, sculptures, rumored rites, and list of names. . A puzzle with missing pieces, illustrations without the book. Hopefully some European mythologies without a "mythological literature" survived better (notably in Eastern Europe), but these are exceptions, and even then they survived in an incomplete form full of questions and interpretations.

And the second thing I want to talk about is fairytales - which I extensively cover n my secondary blog, @adarkrainbow but which hold very similar misconceptions... But my computer is bugging the hell out so I'll have to cut this post short. I will continue my answer in a reblog...

[adoptsomecookies]

A little while ago I came across a Croissant Cookie wondering the streets alone, I asked her if she had somewhere to stay, she said no, so I offered for her to come and stay with me which she accepted! But lately I've noticed that she's been having a lot less sleep, feeling unmotivated to do the things she loves and more persistant in helping me do stuff that I'm prefectly capable of doing, do you have any suggestions on what's going on? (i'm a new anon, you can call me Sage Anon if you wish)

* I would not really say this is the symptoms of a Croissant Cookie with the type specific disease that they can be potentially baked with. I think, I am not a psychiatrist so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I think this Croissant Cookie may just have a bit of an depression issue combined with some need to prove herself as being useful.

*Again, take this with a grain of salt, I am not an expert in this department. All I can suggest is potentially therapy and some talks on what could be bothering her if she is willing to discuss that with you.

* Best of luck to you, Sage Anon, and hopefully your companions psyche can be properly analyzed in due time. Feel free to send me updates.

(Check tags)

[kaplooie]

You mean free VPN's sell your data

Paid for VPNs definitely have the capability to sell your data. Idk if they do or not, but if you decide to install a VPN, every action you make on the internet is now through the vpn company’s server, and that data is now all in one place in the company’s hands. Whether or not you decide to use a VPN should depend on whether you trust a VPN company with your data. It’s perfectly valid to trust a company with your data, especially because of how sued a VPN company would be if they got caught doing anything suspect.

VPN companies are still companies, which means they have to act within the law, which can have loose interpretations. NordVPN released a statement about this a while ago, where they said they could give someone’s activity in the event of a law enforcement request.

I personally don’t think I’ll use one unless I somehow build it myself but that’s just me. Also please know that I’m not an expert on this, i took one class in network security in undergrad and my professor said she wouldn’t trust a commercial VPN and after learning about how they work I agree with her.

Here’s a paper reviewing various VPNs from the google play store. There’s a section that separates free and premium VPNs and tries to find 3rd party trackers. while premium VPNs have fewer trackers on average, they can definitely still have trackers.

[inkskinned]

the thing is there's like, a point of oversaturation for everything, and it's why so many things get dropped after a few minutes. and we act like millennials or gen z kids "have short attention spans" but... that's not quite it. it's more like - we did like it. you just ruined it.

capitalism sees product A having moderate success, and then everything has to come out with their "own version" of product A (which is often exactly the same). and they dump extreme amounts of money and environmental waste into each horrible simulacrum they trot out each season.

now it's not just tiktokkers making videos; it's that instagram and even fucking tumblr both think you want live feeds and video-first programming. and it helps them, because videos are easier to sneak native ads into. the books coming out all have to have 78 buzzwords in them for SEO, or otherwise they don't get published. they are making a live-action remake of moana. i haven't googled it, but there's probably another marvel or starwars something coming out, no matter when you're reading this post.

and we are like "hi, this clone of project A completely misses the point of the original. it is soulless and colorless and miserable." and the company nods and says "yes totally. here is a different clone, but special." and we look at clone 2 and we say "nope, this one is still flat and bad, y'all" and they're like "no, totally, we hear you," and then they make another clone but this time it's, like, a joyless prequel. and by the time they've successfully rolled out "clone 89", the market is incredibly oversaturated, and the consumer is blamed because the company isn't turning a profit.

and like - take even something digital like the tumblr "live streaming" function i just mentioned. that has to take up server space and some amount of carbon footprint; just so this brokenass blue hellsite can roll out a feature that literally none of its userbase actually wants. the thing that's the kicker here: even something that doesn't have a physical production plant still impacts the environment.

and it all just feels like it's rolling out of control because like, you watch companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into a remake of a remake of something nobody wants anymore and you're like, not able to afford eggs anymore. and you tell the company that really what you want is a good story about survival and they say "okay so you mean a YA white protagonist has some kind of 'spicy' love triangle" and you're like - hey man i think you're misunderstanding the point of storytelling but they've already printed 76 versions of "city of blood and magic" and "queen of diamond rule" and spent literally millions of dollars on the movie "Candy Crush Killer: Coming to Eat You".

it's like being stuck in a room with a clown that keeps telling the same joke over and over but it's worse every time. and that would be fine but he keeps fucking charging you 6.99. and you keep being like "no, i know it made me laugh the first time, but that's because it was different and new" and the clown is just aggressively sitting there saying "well! plenty of people like my jokes! the reason you're bored of this is because maybe there's something wrong with you!"

[feroluce]

I have finally finished 2.4 and oh my GOD watching Dan Heng be so protective of his friends nearly killed me, MY HEART.

And yes, the cutscene where he pushes the trailblazer out of the way and even cushions their fall with his own body, but I mean even before that! When he was already trying to protect them and March 7th from Feixiao and Lingsha!!

Because if you watch the dango trio throughout the main quest, you'll notice that they often position themselves in the same way, which is a detail that makes me super happy that Hoyo thought to include- when the three of them aren't evenly spaced, March 7th and the trailblazer tend to gravitate towards each other and stand very close together, frequently side-by-side. And by comparison, Dan Heng usually stands slightly away, and often even slightly behind them, where he can pull on their leashes to wrangle them keep an eye on them.

This is probably a habit learned through experience, since March 7th said during Belobog she is the "queen of unannounced disappearances" fjdksajfkldjsak

And of course at least a little bit of it is just done for like, aesthetic purposes. It's a video game. Things have to look nice for the player. The trailblazer and Dan Heng are the same height, March 7th is a bit shorter, and Yanqing is even smaller. It makes sense to have the trailblazer and Dan Heng stand on the ends, with March 7th and Yanqing in the middle, it just looks nicer and more balanced that way. But still! Even when they're accommodating for Yanqing in this quest, they still all arrange themselves the same way, almost every time!

But this changes after Dan Heng and Yanqing become suspicious of the visitors from the Yaoqing.

The dango trio still stand around relaxed and in their usual manner when they go to the artisanship delve and meet Skott,

but Dan Heng takes notice of Lingsha when she arrives, and he and Yanqing mentioned her specifically when discussing their worries.

Yanqing worrying so much about Jing Yuan got me right in the heart, he's such a good boy WEH

And when the four of them go out to the alchemy delve to meet Lingsha for tea, the pattern breaks. Suddenly Dan Heng is standing right up front, and even walks in and enters the scene before March 7th and the trailblazer to get to Lingsha before them. He stays a step in front of them the whole time, too.

And then when Dan Heng and the trailblazer have to go be interrogated by Feixiao! The same deal! Dan Heng walks in ahead of them and stays in front of them! Noticeably so! Enough that even Feixiao takes note and voices it!

Dan Heng is so so fiercely protective of his companions, and I love it, I adore hyper vigilance in the wake of trauma like this, I'm so excited to see what else he does in 2.5, I hope we either get to see him get fucked up or the trailblazer gets fucked up in his place, I wanna see them run through the meat grinder!!!

[xoxoemynn]

For OFMD Tumblr friends who want a S3 and are scared of Twitter

First, no judgment from me. I very much get it. I resisted Twitter for a long time, and even though I'm now a bit more comfortable on it, it's still not my Fandom Home. There are a TON of valid reasons not to be on Twitter, but if you REALLY want to keep OFMD visible right now and help its chances of returning for a third season, Twitter is the best place to do it. Like it or not, Twitter is still the best social media platform for raising awareness and for instant news updates.

Tumblr posts don't make headlines. Topics that have been trending on Twitter do. And if we want this show to come back, we need to make OFMD impossible to ignore.

By now you've probably seen just how close we came to a S3, and if you're like me, you are RAGING and donning your battle jacket. But I get it can be intimidating to get on Twitter for the first time, so I thought I'd address some common anxieties I see. I'll put below a cut because this got a bit long, but I promise it's a quick read.

I don't know what to say! Where do I even start? That's okay! You don't have to create your own tweets (although it's great if you do). Amplifying other people's posts is also important. Go ahead and like/retweet/reply to other people's posts. This may also help you get an idea of what you may like to say in your own tweets.

Hashtags...yes? Yes! Although don't use too many or you may get flagged as a bot. The biggest one that seems to be emerging is #SaveOFMD. Other popular ones are #RenewAsACrew, #RenewOurFlagMeansDeath, and of course, #OFMD and #OurFlagMeansDeath.

Should I just be tagging all the streaming services? Per @renewasacrew, no. It's counterproductive. You'll want to tag one streamer at a time and be specific. Below is an example of a tweet I made the other day -- use specific reasons why that that particular streamer may benefit from picking up OFMD.

I'm scared. People are mean. Yeah, people are mean. But I will say the vibes over at OFMD Twitter are currently the best I've ever seen them. People seem to have united for the greater good and are being overwhelmingly positive and just trying to do whatever we can to save the show. (That said, again, I already had a pretty curated feed, and was very liberal with blocking users/terms I didn't want to see, but I've been able to spend so much more time in the For You tab than I ever have without being jump scared by something.)

But I don't know anyone there! Wouldn't I just be shouting into the void? Not if you use the hashtags! Fans are being really good about following those and engaging with the tweets. Plus, [Stede voice], I'm your friend. I'm xoxoemynn over there as well, I'll follow you back and engage with any of your posts that I see. Plus, what's been REALLY lovely to see is that SO many lurkers have come out of lurkerdom to support the efforts, and they are being welcomed with open arms, so you will not be alone. Again, I am telling you, vibes? Best I've ever seen them.

I can't get sucked into another social media platform, I don't have the time. The beauty here is you don't need to spend a lot of time. I've been on Twitter more in the past week than I have in the entire year I've had an account, and I'm still only on for maybe an hour total the entire day? I open the app, I check a couple accounts, I engage with a handful of posts, and I close the app. It takes all of five minutes. It's an extremely small lift that can have a very big impact.

My bet is on Zaslav expecting us to be upset, and that there may be a day or two of outrage, but then we'd move on. I'm sure right now he's trying to convince everyone that this is a fluke, and that it'll blow over soon. Don't let him win. Keep OFMD in the news. Be loud (but polite) and make Max and other streamers take note of what a passionate, loyal fan base this show has. Make their stocks continue to drop. Make it clear this is NOT just a fluke, it is NOT business as usual. It's a BIG fuck up with lasting consequences.

Twitter, for all its sins, is the best place to do this.

Now let's get our damned show back.

[songofwizardry]

ok I'm not an expert but I'm not seeing much specific info going around here, and there's a lotta Palestine solidarity protests in the UK this weekend, so here is some (including UK-specific) protest info and resources (mostly pulled whole-cloth from Twitter)

policing is heavy at Palestine protests generally

Hamas is a proscribed org under UK law. that means "inviting support" for them or "wearing clothing or displaying articles" that implies you are a supporter is a criminal offence (if you're interested, here's the full list of criminal offences from gov.uk). Palestinian flags etc are ok*, but do not have something that could be mistaken for Hamas imagery. don't go out there looking for convictions pls.

*in spite of what Suella Braverman has implied, the London Muslim Community Forum has just confirmed that the Palestinian flag is not a proscribed flag and is not banned (apologies for quoting the "we advise the met police" group but I thought it was important to have that info explicitly)

don't talk to cops. that includes the police liasion officers in blue bibs.

particularly if you're concerned about your face ending up on social media etc, but also just good practice in general (both in terms of COVID and protest safety)—mask up. cover up tattoos etc.

have bustcards or contact details for protest legal support on you. Green and Black Cross can be contacted on 07946 541 511. write the number on your arm etc.

if you witness an arrest: check if there's a legal observer nearby and if so call them over; if not: if the arrestee doesn't have a bustcard, give them one, find out where they're being taken, and contact eg GBC or a protest support line

if you have the time and can help out, there will likely be arrestee support required after—GBC tend to post callouts on Twitter for this

other links

for particularly children and young people and their families being referred to PREVENT for pro-Palestine statements, contact PREVENTWatch and maybe also Palestine in School (newer initiative I think, I don't have an excessive amount of detail on them just FYI)

Liberty, Migrants Organise and Black Protest Legal Support have bustcards in different languages, including Arabic and Somali (also Liberty's website has lotsa useful info, including advice for disabled protesters, protesting and immigration status, and what to do if you're kettled)

GBC's thread on what to do if you see an arrest is useful, as are all their resources generally

if I've missed anything or made a mistake, lmk—as I said, I am very much not an expert. if you know people who are protesting, pass them the legal support line numbers; if you're attending, stay safe and be vigilant; and ofc carry water.

[ducktracy]

Crayon Shin-chan: Great Adventure in Henderland (1996)

Directed by Mitsuru Hongo Written by Mitsuru Hongo and Keiichi Hara Storyboards by Mitsuru Hongo, Keiichi Hara and Masaaki Yuasa

[acid-ixx]

If you don’t mind me asking, what does your planning process look like for your chapters and what do you write first?? I’m trying to write my own Ybatfam fic rn but I just don’t know what to add to my chapters and really just how to start them.

I love your work, your really the one who inspired me to try writing my own🩵🩵🩵

hii anon !! i'm glad u asked this, though i am no way an expert in writing, i've been doing so for years now and i've learned quite a lot from it. thanks for asking this and i hope this is comprehensive enough 😭

so when it comes to planning for a chapter, or just a one-shot, i always write out what i want to establish within it. ask yourself; what does the chapter center around? would it be the relationships with characters, or the emotions you want to portray, is it angsty or just hurt/comfort? in planning, i write the general gist of what will happen through the entire thing (read: planned fanfics) before i move on to outlining.

and here, outlining helps like a god. i like to separate a chapter into multiple parts, and combine them altogether in the end. so when it comes to outlines, i just write out what i want to write and not the actual dialogue or actions in it (example: in this scene, jason tries to talk it out with you, you fight back and force him to let you out. in the next part, you're of the apartment and near to breaking down, you don't notice two sets of eyes watching over you).

sometimes, if i'm ever stuck i just write in the middle or the end because it helps me establish a flow and the build up.

also, setting the settings, changing the atmospheres, adding parallelism, and using figures of speech (simile, metaphors, personifications, etc. (e.g. conner knows you're perfect, with just how the flowers at the manor sings for your presence or how the beams of sunlight always directs itself at you)) are really helpful for when my writing feels dry or doesn't feel as compelling. it's not always required but it helps adding flowery (but not-so much) words or relating characters into objects with symbolisms to give readers an even deeper insight of who the characters is and why they are like that.

writing for the actual chapter, even starting it is always going to be the hard part. it's like starting an essay, but i suggest treating it like an essay— what do you want to focus on? always remember that the start of a chapter helps set up the mood and pacing of the story, so whether it'd be action packed or something lighthearted, reflect it upon the flow of your words too.

start with an interesting hook, whether it'd be rhetorical questions or digging deep into a character's personality and diving into specifics about it, have key points and expound upon it; and always take note of the atmosphere of how your entire story should be, show it through actions, reactions, gestures and dialogues.

otherwise, i've not much to say but take your time and don't pressure yourself with trying to achieve perfection. i'm pretty much someone who likes to write out my ideas before the actual planning so most of the time i wing most of what i want to write (loving family, unpalatable desire is a product of it) and hope to god that whatever outcome will be decent.

and thank you so much anon for finding me as an inspiration 🥹 it's unbelievable, the amount of support i mean— and if you ever do wish to post your own fic and feel doubtful of it still, you can always also chat me through my chatbox here in tumblr since it's pretty much open for anyone.

[cryptidfuckery]

I don't want to become a tree.

I have a fascination with death. Not how it happens, not what happens after. I have a fascination with how death is handled by the ones left living.

I talked at length about it in the Egyptian gallery with you, surrounded by bodies misplaced. "Most of history we learn through the way we treat our dead." Which is true, I think, for the most part.

We have written and oral history. We have the skeletons of buildings and cultures left behind for us to interpret. But before that, before the corpses of civilizations we're still able to uncover, we have our own.

The oldest body ever found is argued to be 230,000 years old. Hundreds of millennia, a culture so lost to time and decay we can't hope to uncover significant artifacts.

Our bodies become the artifact. The way we were buried, where, with what, with who. Was there care put into our final resting spot? Was there effort put into the ends of our lives?

Most often, there was. Our bodies tell our descendants our status. Our injuries. Our community. Our loves.

Perhaps they'll debate. Perhaps they'll misinterpret. But millennia later, your body might tell someone how we lived. How we loved. What we cared about at our core. What we thought would help us after death. What we thought we'd want to continue our comfort. What the living needed to let us pass on from their lives.

You tell me you still think about what I said.

Many people talk about becoming a tree when they pass. It is a beautiful notion, one I've considered. A natural, living reminder of a life lived. A place for their loved ones to share a connection with. In a way, the continuation of a life; albeit in a different form.

But I don't want to become a tree. I'd rather become a forest.

Maybe it's a notion toward the state of our world. The lack of top soil is one of the prevalent factors of our declining environment. The way we've stripped it of the nutrients of decay.

There are ways to decompose naturally. In the ground with nothing but a natural shroud is the oldest and easiest way. A new, human composting method has been created for an urban option when the easiest is unavailable. An alternative to cremating. One that can give back to the earth.

My body might not be one that tells the story of my time alive on this planet. My body might tell a joke, or rest peacefully, or ideally decay away. My DNA will dissolve into nitrogen and an assortment of other elements. I will become no different or better than the dirt that lies around me. What was me will become something else entirely.

I'd rather become the top soil. I'd rather become the forest.

[ishgard]

#wolqotd! Was there ever a specific moment where the story touched on a topic your character is intimately familiar with or even an expert on? Did they grit their teeth and stay silent, or did you headcanon an entirely different take on the situation?

[that-was-anticlimactic]

okay listen so yosano needs an extra hand when rearranging some stuff in her apt and asks kenji for help. while there, she finds a skirt that doesn't fit her anymore and asks kenji if he wants to see if it fits. it doesn't (she gives it to naomi), but it was kenji's first time wearing a skirt and he absolutely loves the way the skirt swishes and the spins! oh my god the SPIN!!!

so later in the week, he asks kunikida if they can go to the store to get him a skirt or a dress because he wants to feel the swish again. kunikida agrees, and kenji tries some stuff on, and then he finds a yellow, short-sleeved sundress that goes to his ankles. “kunikida-san! look how it swirls!" he says, then spins for kunikida.

kenji takes it off and is about to put it in the cart when he suddenly hesitates. it's not that he's embarrassed or anything, but would it be weird if he starts wearing typically feminine clothing? he doesn't to make anyone uncomfortable.

kunikida, ofc, says that no one will get upset, and if they do, he'll punch them. kenji laughs and thinks it's a joke but. no. he's serious. kenji then asks if kunikida will wear a skirt or a dress with him to work the next monday. he Really doesn't want to bc dazai is just going to laugh at him and make fun of him the whole time, but he says yes bc it's kenji and he doesn't want kenji to give up on something that makes him happy bc he's nervous about offending people!

so he lets kenji pick a skirt out for him. he ends up getting an ankle-length dark blue skirt that shimmers a bit in the sunlight or if he spins.

it isn't his favorite thing, but he gets why kenji likes the twirl (it is kind of fun).

then, work! kunikida walks in behind kenji (who runs into the office and yells for kyouka to show her the spin) and ranpo takes one look at kunikida and calls for dazai bc he "needs to see this".

and kunikida gets pissed bc great now dazai's going to make fun of him and he'll be miserable all day bc dazai will go all day. but dazai walks in, all casual and nonchalant, and he starts to make a joke but cuts himself off when he sees kunikida.

and suddenly he's having yet another romantic crisis. bc god does kunikida look good in blue and wow he really wants kunikida to twirl so he can see kunikida spin with the skirt flowing around him

and that's how kenji both discovered he likes gender non-conforming clothes and indirectly got kunikidazai together (and, if he could be slick about it, dazai would take a picture of kunikida to send to chuuya)

[cleverreports]

We report: of this day filled with clouds from morning to evening, we had no sunset expectations. Through the east-facing window, however, we noticed distant fields dazzled in red light. We scrambled out, wound up at a deserted parking lot, minutes before streetlamps turned on.

[chunkysoup22]

have you gone to an art college or done any kind of schooling? i really love your art and i'd love to know how you've furthered your craft

Nopeee would’ve loved to go to school for animation or concept art or something but unfortunately illustrative art is a horrible career field and costs 1 jillion dollars. I’m doing a graphic design degree at a public college and hoping to find some stability in that field.

I feel as though I progress very slowly unfortunately.. I could attribute that to lack of formal art schooling but at the same time everything I’ve learned has been on my own, all it takes really is time and determination.

I’m still doing my best to learn and get better but the fundamentals of illustration and design will take you very very far. It’s very hard to work abstractly without a basis of reality to work with. Ignoring fundamentals kept me at a plateau for a very very long time.

However that’s easier said than done, as much as it can help sitting down and studying muscles and skeletons FUCKING SUCKSSS! You should still do that but I found it much easier and rewarding to apply that study to how master artists draw bodies. Looking at the bumps and bends of a human face is one thing but seeing how someone angles them, which parts they exaggerate and what results that produces, helps immensely. Sorry I can’t offer much more than that but yeah, you gotta observe everything always 👁️

Also I can’t stress this enough, you have to draw more than just what you think is aesthetically pleasing or comes easy. You will learn a lot more tediously recreating an old man’s wrinkles than drawing the same smooth-faced people over and over again