#cursed art block and whatnot

[gh0st-arts]

Barn owl cat :)

[wolfythewitch]

I would like to mention that I'm right now primarily a Greek mythology fanart blog haha, I am religious, but this isn't a religious blog if that makes sense? If you're new here, I mainly draw Odyssey or Iliad art! I'll occasionally draw Jesus or bible related art cause I think they're cool, but it's not gonna be frequent haha. I also won't really be answering asks pertaining to how to be christian? In a way? How I go about stuff, the art and writing and whatnot, is just kind of how I process through my own personal spirituality. I also curse a lot lmao. If you want to block the religious talk, I usually tag them with #wolfy religious tedtalks! Otherwise, welcome, I hope you like Odysseus because you're gonna be seeing him a lot haha

[chibishortdeath]

Fuck it, Simon Belmont, because why not you basically themed your blog after him

You don’t have any specific numbers, so I’m just answering every question >:3c mwahahaha—

1. “Why do you like this character”:

A lot of reasons!!! First off, most of his games are super fun and some of my favorite platformers just in general. I replay CV1, Simon’s Quest, and SCV4 most often cause they’re a real joy to play! I also absolutely LOVE Simon’s story, I’ve considered making comics about it if I could ever get out of recent art block whoops, even though I’ve seen many people say he doesn’t have one (´TωT｀). His designs are really cool, he’s got great music in his games, there’s just a lot to love and I’ll explain more in detail in other questions.

2. “Favorite canon thing?”

I really like the concept that he looks up to Christopher as this legendary hero and then ends up considered the same kind of legendary hero by Juste and others after him. It’s pretty ironic, kinda bittersweet, especially after being hated for so long. Castlevania loves its cycles like that. Also just Simon’s Quest in general, I love that game.

3. “Least favorite canon thing?”

Ooo that’s very hard. There’s kinda a lot of things about him that aren’t explained or confirmed, especially personality wise, but I kinda like that in a way cause it leaves room for interpretation and whatnot. Idk hmmm. I’m gonna go with Grimoire of Souls in general. I had some hopes for it, but it ended up being kinda lame. A lot of the characterization was weird and don’t even start me on things like the Cursed Whip theory being in there 💀. So I just choose to ignore it and not consider it canon.

4. “If you could put this character in another media, what would it be?”

I have thought about drawing him as if he was a character in other series for ages lol. I’ve already drawn him as a Pokémon trainer, I’ve thought about drawing Castlevania and Soul Eater crossovers before, and I tried drawing him in the style of Resident Evil 1 but could not get the art style down. Idk put him in Fortnite or something that’d be funny we already got Solid Snake so Konami has been in talks with them I guess X,,,,,,,,,,D

5. “What’s the first song that comes to mind when you think of them?”

Probably either Simon’s Theme (of course lol) or Bloody Tears, but I do wanna mention that I have a YouTube playlist of songs I wanna make Simon animations with eventually (alas animation is HARD).

6. “What’s something you have in common with the character?”

Mostly negative things unfortunately d(;w; ). Like self comparison, doubt in my own abilities, trouble making and keeping friends, etc etc. Although a lot of these are based on assumptions and interpretations, as a lot of him usually is. Simon does have a really similar hair color to me on the NES box art tho so that’s cool.

7. “What’s something the fandom does with this character that you like?”

There’s a lot of really nice art of him!!! Usually portraits, but sometimes there’s other doodles and whatnot too :3. Cool fan redesigns too! I also have seen a lot of neat headcanons, a lot of which I’ve adopted. I also appreciate the Captain N reunion stuff for the most part, it’s pretty wholesome.

8. “What’s something the fandom does with this character that you don’t like?”

I’ve seen a lot of comics, especially around when Smash Bros Ultimate came out, that were really… weird. I think all of them could kinda be boiled down to “old = bad” in the way that the artists probably just found out he was from the 1600s and then decided to make him the Boomer to Richter’s Gen Z for whatever reason (ya know despite Richter being from the 1700s but anyway). Simon would either be the jerk in the situation and/or the butt of the joke. I don’t think that Simon would have any issue with any of the female characters’ outfits let alone start harassing them for it. I saw some comics that made fun of him for not speaking very much in some genuinely disgusting ways too. Like making him not able to read or practically just the generic caveman stereotype. Especially in cases where the artist would depict other silent NES protagonists really nicely after making Simon out to be a complete idiot and asshole. There was also the trend of making him generally be all “oh no witchcraft!!!!!!!!!! What sin!!!!!!! The horror!!!!!!!!” about like anything and everything. I guess a lot of this comes from Smash Bros fans not usually being fans of Castlevania, but I’ve seen it in the Castlevania fandom too just less frequently. There’s also the “Simon has no story” thing oof. I’ve seen people tell people to skip his games or play fan games instead before :(

9. “Could you be roommates with this character?”

Realistically, no, my room is too small for another person :(. If that wasn’t an issue, then yeah probably :).

10. “Could you be best friends with this character?”

I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO—

11. “Would you date this character?”

No, he’s probably married, generally feels more like a bestie, and I’m aroace lol

12. “What headcanon do you have for this character?”

Too many oh my god. I think he probably makes things. That’s a very vague sentence lol, but think like armor, knives, general woodworking, all his necklaces and headbands and stuff, etc. He generally seems like he keeps to himself and lives mostly alone, so I can see him doing all that by himself. He keeps some bones and teeth of things he hunts most of the time. A lot of people have him as the most super Christian of the family, but I see him as like Christian but really not organized or strict about it, if that makes sense? I’ve seen someone else describe the Belmonts as like “Christopagan” before and yeah I think that fits. Idk why but I have consistently drawn him with his cross necklace in his mouth sometimes. I headcanon him as semiverbal (I think that’s the correct term for it, basically like inbetween speaking and nonspeaking). I like to think he’s like really average height for the 1600s cause he’s about as tall as other townspeople and skeletons and stuff. Which is funny cause that’d make him like 5’5-5’7 ish and that’s kinda short in modern day lol. And I guess that makes his 8bit sprite being used all the time make more sense XD. I have way more, I didn’t even get into Simon’s Quest related ones, but I don’t wanna make this too long aaaaaaaaaaaa

13. “What’s an emoticon that reminds you of the character or you think they’d use a lot?”

Ok this is funny cause I actually do have one for this and it’s got context. It’s the “:3”. So I was watching a bunch of people’s playthroughs one night cause I was bored and ran into a channel with a toooooon of speedruns of maps from Harmony of Despair. Whenever they’d get to a boss battle they’d use the typing feature just to go “hi” with a different cutesy emoticon every time, but when they got to Dracula they specifically went for the “hi :3” and then went “oh no :(“ when Dracula started attacking and now that’s the way I think he’d text I guess.

14. “Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character”

How does one properly explain how much this guy slays in one aesthetic term—

15. “What’s your favorite ship for this character?”

Oooooo, in canon probably like his wife (Selena) and/or the Mysterious Woman (who could be the same character depending on what theories you go by), but outside of that Simon Belmont x Getsu Fuma and I can’t even explain exactly why, but it’s pretty cute.

16. “What’s your least favorite ship for this character?”

Any BelmontXBelmont shipping ugh, it’s unfortunately really common on some places… also the whole Lucas or Pit or whatever other child character thing the smash bros fandom had ugh. I guess I also just don’t see the appeal of shipping any of the Belmonts with Dracula.

17. “What’s a ship you don’t hate but it’s not your favorite?”

I’ve also seen people ship him with Solid Snake, Palutena, or Bayonetta before. Ummm he doesn’t really have a lot of other characters he’s shipped with tbh. Idk I saw someone ship him with one of the priests from Simon’s Quest once.

18. “Relationship in canon you admire?”

Unfortunately he doesn’t really talk to people enough in game to form canon relationships 😔

19. “Relationship in canon you don’t like?”

I don’t even know if I can answer this one for the same reasons as the above 💀💀💀. I guess the townspeople hating the hell out of him, but I don’t hate that cause it’s kinda integral to the plot???? Yeah idk lol

20. “What character is the ideal best friend for this character?”

Simon and Shanoa would get along a lot I think. Sara too. Hmmmm… I think he and Alucard would probably also be good friends. Christopher too for many reasons. Simon just really needs friends my poor dude is out here in Dracula’s Castle and the Romanian countryside after being cursed alone like this poor guy :’(

21. “If you’re a fic writer, what’s your favorite thing to do when writing this character? What’s something you don’t like?”

I have not written much at all, however what small comics I have done I looooove to make sure to sprinkle in whatever symbols he has in the games into it. He has a lot of cool things ranging from like rose thorns to The Hanged Man card and a lot of them end up meaning things like martyrdom and whatnot idk I made a post about it a while ago :3. I also like specifically Simon’s Quest speculation stuff, like what if scenarios for the vague, left open spots of it. If it’s not something super angsty or lore heavy, it’s usually just wholesome character interactions or doodling him being comforted by Christopher or Trevor cause I was sad or something lol. As far as things I don’t like writing uh idk that’s hard, maybe just any kind of filler scenes cause I’m not very good at those oof. Dialogue is hard too 💀💀💀

22. “If you’re a fic reader, what’s something you like/don’t like to see in fics?”

I’ve mentioned a lot of things I don’t like seeing in uh question 8, but things I do like is when people really try to go full horror with him. I’ve seen some Simon’s Quest fics (sadly there’s very few :’3) that really try to get that same feeling of anxiousness and dread the game does and I love that honestly. It’s a really dark story in the series! I also saw one that went psychological horror with it with him kinda losing himself a little at night it’s just ough it’s cool :D! Simon is a horror protagonist! Make him afraid!!!

23. “Favorite picture of this character?”

Again, too many!!! X3

24. “What other character from another fandom reminds you of them?”

Not from fandoms I am in (yet, hopefully I’ll get into these), but Ragnvaldr from Fear and Hunger I’ve heard is just directly inspired by him and Alfred from Bloodborne also, to me, seems heavily inspired by him. The whole Vilebloods section seems very Castlevania inspired tbh. From other fandoms I’m in, that’s hard to say, there’s not really any I don’t think.

25. “What was your first impression of this character, is it the same as now?”

Well I got into Castlevania through Smash Bros and at first was completely indifferent about him, he was just kinda fun to play as. Then Richter got me to play SotN and actually get into the series more. I had no idea I had SotN on XBOX360 for a long time, but that made it pretty easy to start playing. And now I am absolutely hooked and Simon is my favorite character so uh yeah X3.

26. “Freebie!”

I guess I just say anything? Ok, I am currently half trying to cosplay Simon’s Simon’s Quest design rn! I have like everything but the armor, but I’ll have to wait a while to be able to get materials for it oof. But yeah :). Hopefully that works out. 

Ok yeah that’s pretty dang long wow, but yeah, thanks for the ask!!!! I am happy to rant about Simon anytime :3

[relicsongmel]

Introduction

Welcome! My name is Mel and this is my place to shout into the void about things I'm way too obsessed with. I'm in my 20s, female, pan(demi)romantic asexual and also autistic/ADHD as hell. I post about a variety of things but here are the fandoms you're most likely to see (in no particular order):

Pokemon/Pokeani

Ace Attorney

Bleach

Inuyasha

Animal Crossing

Stardew Valley

Love Nikki

Undertale

Other things to know about me:

Personal posts will be tagged as [#mel's musings].

I have two tags [#little songbird] and [#forest for the tree] for my OCs Sylvia and Denise, respectively. They're my two pseudo self-inserts reflecting different aspects of my personality that I can throw into whatever fictional universe I'm hyperfixating on in the moment for my own enjoyment. If you're curious I have overviews for each of them in this post—I'm somewhat selective about sharing plot details for the various AUs I have but if you have questions about the characters themselves I'm more than happy to answer them! I love my girls <3

In addition to the fandoms listed above I am also EXTREMELY autistic about music—I have a background in piano/classical singing and have been in choirs all my life since 4th grade. I have been bestowed with the blessed (and sometimes cursed) combination of absolute pitch as well as pitch-color synesthesia. The former is the ability to identify pitches without a reference note and the latter is a phenomenon where my brain associates certain musical keys with certain colors, temperatures and scenery among other things. It is a HUGE special interest of mine—ask me questions about it and I will literally love you until the end of time I'm serious. Even if it's as simple as sending me a song and asking what color it is or asking me for thoughts on video game OSTs because I have a LOT

A follow-up to the above point: I love all things music theory and analysis and whatnot but in my excitement I have a tendency to get a bit TOO technical sometimes. I will do my best to make things as accessible as possible in my personal posts or when answering questions directed towards me (unless you specify it's not needed) but if that's not your niche any posts of this nature will be tagged as [#music nerd shit].

BE WARY OF FOLLOWING IF:

You are weird about multishipping. I like many ships for many different reasons and there's a lot of overlap between characters (just as an example: for Ace Attorney I am primarily a Narumitsu/Wrightworth shipper but I also enjoy Krisnix, Feenris, Gumworth and Langworth and I will make posts about all of them). All ship posts are tagged as such but it's something to be mindful of

You dislike long tag ramblings. I tend to do that a lot, so if that's not something you can just Ignore than this blog may not be the place for you (side note: if my tags on a post ever don't make sense there's a decent chance I'm just having a conversation with one of my mutuals through tags because some of them Do That. Deal with it)

You are overly invested in pro/anti discourse. I have things that squick me out just like anyone else but if I see something I don't like I just block and move on. It is not my job to police the behavior of random strangers on the internet and I don't need any of you weirdos trying to convince me it is please for the love of god go outside

KEEP YOUR TERF/RADFEM BULLSHIT, EXCLUSIONISM OR BIGOTRY OF ANY KIND THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME. IF I SEE ANY OF THAT SHIT I WILL BLOCK ON SIGHT

If you follow me and need anything specific tagged (whether it be for spoilers or other reasons), shoot me a message and I'm more than happy to oblige.

My askbox is always open if you'd like to talk about anything at all whether it be fandom shit, music nerd shit or otherwise. If you'd prefer me to answer privately please specify as such when writing your ask.

I do not condone the use of generative AI or reuploading art without express permission from the original artist. If I accidentally reblog AI/stolen art please send me a message letting me know so I can delete it accordingly.

If we are mutuals and you'd like to get to know me more, feel free to message and ask for my Discord! I'm not a part of any servers at the moment because that sort of thing intimidates me, but I do enjoy talking to my friends there and you could be one of them. If you'd like. But you need to make that clear to me first so hmu if you're interested <3

And that's about it, really! Enjoy your time here and I hope something nice happens to you today <333

[horologiumparadoxica]

Hi, if you're seeing this then my main account, @paradoxiii, got shadowbanned again.

If you need to message me, you can send it here or to my art blog (@perseidipity), as well as on mastodon.art (@perseidipity) or discord (@paradoxiii).

Here's the link to my "Before You Follow" post on main

And a copy of the text from that post under the cut

Art Blog | OC Ramble Blog | Pokemon OC Blog

Carrd | Mastodon | Toyhou.se

Before You Follow

First and foremost, I am an adult. While I don’t reblog smut on main, I do reblog things that are “adult” humor/language (like sex jokes and cursing and whatnot), as well as artistic nudity. I’m not gonna check the age of every follower or block minors, y'all can curate your own shit.

I also like horror & will reblog gore, body horror, etc. I also don’t currently trigger tag anything, but if there’s any issues with that, feel free to shoot me an ask/DM & I’ll do my best to accommodate.

I post art under the username @perseidipity on here and Mastodon.art. I have accounts elsewhere too but I post the most on these.

If this blog goes down (gets deleted or something), @horologiumparadoxica is my backup.

[atempause-art]

to grow somewhat with my work if i ever want to do physical prints n whatnot i gotta have at least one (1) popular social media account because i am NOT giving normal real life people my cursed tumblr or toyhouse to look at the art i am also not willing to explain myself irl why am i drawing folk monsters smooching and pretty men in high heels

instagram refused to make me an account for 3 days due to unknown errors, then refused to log me on my phone until i completely reinstalled the wretched app and once i finally logged in for the first it fucking blocked my account which was about a minute old and couldnt possibly cause any trouble

i am going to bite someone

[paradoxiii]

Art Blog | OC Ramble Blog | Pokemon OC Blog | RPG OC Blog | Backup Blog

Carrd | Mastodon | Toyhou.se

Before You Follow

First and foremost, I am an adult. While I don't reblog smut on main, I do reblog things that are "adult" humor/language (like sex jokes and cursing and whatnot), as well as artistic nudity. I'm not gonna check the age of every follower or block minors, y'all can curate your own shit.

I also like horror & will reblog gore, body horror, etc. I also don't currently trigger tag anything, but if there's any issues with that, feel free to shoot me an ask/DM & I'll do my best to accommodate.

I post art under the username @perseidipity on here and Mastodon.art. I have accounts elsewhere too but I post the most on these.

If this blog goes down (gets deleted or something), @horologiumparadoxica is my backup.

[myaccountexistsiguess]

Profile description: drawing of an anthropomorphic bat with blue fur, wearing a green coat. The background is also green.

Banner description: a drawing of blue spirals.

I have largely moved off of Tumblr-

Cohost - https://cohost.org/IExistIGuess

Neocities - https://fishertriesthings.neocities.org/

Should probably make an introduction. You can call me Mylo (OC's name, not my real name). I'm transmasc, he/him, and I'm a therian, furry, aro, and questioning every aspect of my identity. Mylo is a Comoros Flying Fox, and I don't have any species in particular.

!IMPORTANT!

If you have a real-life profile pic, empty blog, and don't interact beforehand, you will be blocked/reported. This is to prevent bots.

I'm on cohost now- IExistIGuess

Tags I use:

mylo says stuff- my thoughts

mylo draws stuff- art

mylo asks stuff- polls

mylo repeats stuff- reblogs (no longer using this one)

tw sexual mention- tag I use out of caution- I use this for general crude jokes and whatnot out of caution

tw unreality/unreality- unreality

video- any sort of video, since sometimes it lags my computer.

snakes- pictures of snakes

undescribed- posts having images with no description (sometimes I forget to do this). Sometimes I add the desc later.

discourse- any kind of argument (I forget this one a lot)

As a warning I also forget to tag cussing , general cursed things, or add image descriptions sometimes. A lot of my older posts don't have trigger tags so scroll at your own risk (I haven't posted anything graphic but I just want to make this clear).

If there's something that I don't tag that should be, or if there's a better tag for something, just comment on this post or something.

[raitrolling]

some 12th perigee gifts which is early but i drafted this last night and im too impatient to save posting this till christmas LMAO -

nancor bought lonnen a large bouquet of flowers which he dried and preserved so that they can potentially last forever, and also a nice block of peruvian dark chocolate 

dismas bought aislin some manga that he figured out she was interested in by stalking her twitter, and bought maidel a couple new dating sim games :)

eichio put together some little gift boxes full of 12th perigee-themed candies and chocolate to give to viltau and the other full-time employees at the mansion, apparently forgetting gerrel’s aversion to overly sugary stuff. oops!

callan bought a two pop culture-themed cookbooks for gerrel, with the caveat that if he didn’t understand any of the references then they have to watch the movie or tv series together. he also maybe forgot to buy something for maidel because he was too busy trying to think of Another Perfect Present for his moirail, so she just gets some random cheap kris kringle shit from a dollar store rip. and izu gets signed photos of callan so that he knows who the real star is B)

ashe once again spent all of the holiday season panicking over what to buy cheran because What If He Buys Something Cheran Hates Because Hes Not Very Good At This Whole Boyfriend Thing and probably went overboard with buying gifts for him, oops. hopefully cheran doesn’t feel too overwhelmed with the combination of new hardcover books, some art supplies for his anatomical drawings, a nice new mug with some fancy tea, and a few extra cute cat-themed goodies that ashe couldn’t not buy. he also bought his employees some little 12th perigees stockings filled with chocolates as a little gift, which helios and rotavh probably didn’t want lets be real here lMAO

mikiel bought lyvere some professional-grade cooking utensils that he happened to be lacking. what do you mean you’re lacking this set of knives with highly-specific purposes that are vital to this one cuisine you mentioned wanting to try cooking once?? 

lucy put together a notebook full of recipes for anirus and painted the cover a nice seascape for some extra personal flair, and wrapped it up in a scarf made by the local tailor so they have something extra to wear whenever they’re out sailing in the middle of winter. he also made and painted a wooden box for thrixe so he has something nice to put his own art supplies in

viltau put together an entire fucking 12th perigee-themed escape room for kitaer to solve, which may or may not have involved a little bit of friendly kidnapping to actually get his kismesis into the room to begin with LMAO his employees also got paid time off over the 12th perigee-new sweeps eve break and he booked them activities like restaurant outings and movie tickets and whatnot to force them to actually take time off. youre not getting out of it that easily eichio and gerrel!!

glasya made candies for all their friends obviously, and themed both the candy and their packaging to suit each person’s tastes. ullane got some medical-themed candies in test tubes, thrixe got pink (patrick) starfish candy in this honestly cursed mug, and mikail got some candy cigarettes in appropriate packaging and some sea creature themed candies in a fish-shaped ceramic box. they genuinely considered putting mikail’s gift in a foxy grandpa hat so everyone thank god for giving them just enough common sense to think that’s not a good idea

vallis acquired some nice specimens for epsilo to study, namely a couple sea urchins that are native to vernrot and also happen to be good pets. he also got him some miscellaneous squid-themed paraphernalia because of course he did

[snekverse]

Quick Introduction!!

My names Snek!!! I'm over 18 and use he/they pronouns. I watched aphmau religiously as a kid and have recently gotten back into it, and thus have dedicated this blog to talking about her (older) content! I do have a rewrite in the works, but currently it is more conceptual and not actually written. You are more than welcome to ask about it at any time! You are also welcome to request art and headcanons, and I will do my best to give you quality content in a timely manner (but I make no promises I have poor work ethic lmao)

General ground rules for any of my blogs:

No hate!!! I want this to be a hate-free zone!!

I will do my best to tag majors triggers but if there's something that I miss/something specific you'd like me to tag lmk!!

Please do not mention r//pe, sa, or anything along those lines under any circumstances

Standard dni (ie no lgbtq+phobic, racist, fatphobic, etc)

Anyone who breaks these "rules" or generally just makes me uncomfy will be blocked.

This is not a nsfw blog but I can't promise that I'll never post nsfw; everything will be labeled/tagged, and once I have my tags organized I will share them here

For the most part though, I want this to be really fun and open to everyone on aphblr (and maybe even beyond)!!! I am always open to asks and submissions and whatnot so feel free to come chat!!

Quick sidenote/warning: I do curse frequently, so younger fans and anyone uncomfortable with that please be wary!

[yodawgiherd]

Too Close For Comfort pt.2

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Second part of the "annoying couple" AU hope that you'll enjoy it :)

Armin liked Eren. Armin liked Mikasa. Armin hated them together.

Was he overreacting? Hell no. Don’t believe him? Fine.

Let’s play a little scene then.

A movie was coming out, but not just any movie. It’s a movie from a series that both Eren and Armin used to watch religiously, a continuation of a long saga that had them on the edge of their seats. Armin was counting days until it comes out, and the second it hit the streaming platforms his heart doubled its beat rate. Then again, an event like this shouldn’t be experienced alone. He and Eren had watched every part of the saga up until now, and it would be rude not to make a little watch-together. So, Armin picked up a phone.

Eren was ecstatic same as Armin, immediately agreeing that he will come over in the evening. Sadly, he can’t go right now, because he is with Mikasa in the gym, and:

“You know that I can’t cut our training Ar, we need it for the fights.”

There it is again. Our training. We need it. It’s only Mikasa who does martial arts, not Eren, but apparently, they are no longer separate individuals. But fine, Armin was hyped for the movie and willing to wait a few hours.

Before you ask, no – it was not rude not to invite her too. Mikasa watched one of the movies with them, and her comment of: “Man, this is kinda dumb.”, almost made Armin explode. She, who still rewatches the Twilight saga from time to time, had the gall to call another movie stupid. Armin seethed, and it didn’t get better because the ultimate simp that Eren is, he only nodded and said: “Ye, it doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

Heresy.

Ok, all right, hopefully Mikasa will be exhausted from the gym and she will want to relax on her own, maybe go for a swim in the pool at Eren’s house. She loved that pool but Armin had his issues with it, ever since he caught the two of them having sex in it once. Call him a prude, but Armin had no intention of swimming in water tainted by little Erens, if you catch his drift. And sure, the pool had filtration and whatnot, but still…

Chasing that horrible memory out of his mind, Armin made the preparation. Popcorn, drinks, snacks, the couch in just the perfect distance from the TV. Everything must be the best because this movie will be the best.

Ah, there’s the door.

Yet when Armin opened, his heart fell to his stomach and the smile was hard to keep. Eren was there, looking excited as ever, but the goth visage next to him was also present.

“Sorry that it took us so long,”, Eren hugged him, “Miki was doing her make-up.”

She giggled and poked him in the ribs, he caught her hand to press a kiss to the knuckles, and Armin was once again feeling like a third wheel on a date. Despite all this, the blond was a little bit hopeful. Maybe Mikasa will keep silent for once and lets him borrow Eren for a few hours. Maybe everything can work out.

So, Armin smiled and nodded and ushered his welcome guest ( and his plus one) into the living room. They fell together on the couch in the most customary positions – Armin in one corner, Eren in the middle, and Mikasa in the other, her legs picked up and resting in her boyfriend’s lap. With a click, the movie began.

It was fine at the start. Mikasa cared not for the movie, but she was on her phone, probably browsing Twitter or Pinterest or something, looking for new outfit ideas. The movie was amazing too, and Eren’s eyes were glued to the screen, his gasps in sync with Armin’s. That bliss lasted for about an hour and a half, and Armin couldn’t be happier. But then….

With a sigh, Mikasa pocketed her phone, her eyes sliding towards the TV. Just like that, the alarms went off in Armin’s head, because Mikasa was bored and that is bad, bad news. In a faint attempt to prolong his happy time, he asked her if she could go and grab a few more drinks from the fridge, knowing that there are none. She smiled and agreed, coming back to announce what Armin already knew.

“You’re out, there are no more.”

“Oh but that’s a shame.”, Armin lied through his teeth, “Would you be so nice to go buy some?”

She smiled and said sure, only pausing to press a quick kiss to Eren’s cheek. He mumbled something like “I love you babe” and then she was gone, letting Armin blow out the breath he was holding.

In this story, Mikasa was portrayed as the villain, but that’s NOT how Armin felt about her. She was a great girl, an amazing friend, and overall one of the best people that he knew. It’s that her inseparableness from Eren was driving Armin up the wall. Successfully pulling them apart with his innocent request, the blond settled into the couch, intent on enjoying the rest of the movie with Eren.

Curse Mikasa and her perfect physique.

She was back in fifteen minutes, not the hour that Armin expected, apparently jogging the entire way there and back. With a thin sheet of sweat to prove it, that she ran with several kilograms in her backpack, Mikasa quickly washed her face and was seated on the couch again, not even pulling her phone out this time. And like that, Armin’s movie party began to crumble.

It started with light touches on Eren’s nape, her black nails gently scratching the sensitive skin there. He leaned into the touch, a stupid smile spread across his face, and Armin wanted to punch him for that. They exchanged a few whispers, a few giggles, and then she was climbing into Eren’s lap as it was her rightful place. Five minutes later, Eren couldn’t care less about the movie.

The sounds of their aggressive make-out session were invading Armin’s ears, no matter how hard he tried to block it out. The strange sucking sound, the way Mikasa craned her head back and giggled when Eren planted kisses on her pale neck, her long hair creating a midnight curtain behind her. Because they were seventeen and a pair of horny teenagers, it did not end there. Risking a quick peek to the right, Armin saw that one of Eren’s hands was on Mikasa’s ass, bunching her short skirt between his fingers. It rode up, revealing the naked skin covered by black panties and fishnets, and Armin was feeling sick.

Objectively speaking, it was a very aesthetically pleasing ass. Mikasa went hard on her leg days, and it showed, but it didn’t feel right to the blond. She was practically his sister, and he had no intention of ogling his sister’s ass, no matter how perfect it was. With Eren being his brother, more or less, it was like having his sister being groped by his brother while their tongues are cramming into each other’s throats and…

Wait no, that came out wrong. They were very far from Alabama.

Differently then – it was his best friend kissing his other best friend (female), being loud and obnoxious about it, and all Armin wanted was to watch the movie. In his corner, he prayed that this is it, that they won’t nudge the clothing aside and go at it right here because the way Mikasa’s hips ground into Eren’s suggested that it wasn’t that far off. Please no. God, please no.

They didn’t.

Another hour of suffering later, the movie was done. Eren left with a stupid smile, holding Mikasa’s hand and looking like he just received a beating. All the black smudges on his face could easily be mistaken for bruises. Armin, who had a faint feeling that his movie night was nothing but foreplay to them, put the movie to play again, intent on enjoying the second half without the embarrassing sounds coming from his couch.

There. Convinced? No? Okay then…

What pissed him off next was the evolution of Eren into the ultimate simp for Mikasa. At first, it was a joke only, something Jean would say to piss him off, but as years progressed the joke was slowly but surely easing into reality. Mikasa wasn’t any better, Annie claimed when they were complaining to each other over the phone, and Armin wondered if a woman could be called a simp too.

A few proofs, if you will:

Proof 1: Eren and Jean were playing videogames at his house. Jean was losing for once, so Eren kept teasing him, but its all in good spirit and the games were getting more and more competitive. But then, a phone rang.

“Hi, Mimi, what’s up?”

If there was a word Jean would like to erase from a dictionary, it would be Mimi.

The rest of the conversation was quick, and Eren hung up with a stupid smile on his face. That expression was known to all his friends because he wore it anytime when being around Mikasa.

“I have to go.”

The controller cluttered on the table, the door closed, and he was gone.

Proof 2: Mikasa never skipped her training, and Annie liked that about her. Yet today would end such tradition because in the middle of their sparring Eren walked into the gym. Mikasa’s concentration took a nosedive out of the window, Annie got pissed, and Eren offered that he will take his girlfriend out for ice cream. She changed in about a minute and was gone, forcing Annie to take her frustration out on the punching bag.

It didn’t survive her wrath.

Proof 3: This was supposed to be a scouting mission, Sasha and Connie took the two dorks to see how Niccolo, Sasha’s new favorite cook, was doing in the restaurant he worked in. The test was about food but it got ruined as soon as the appetizers came in. Because instead of eating and rating it, like normal humans, Mikasa and Eren began feeding each other tiny bites, interlacing the food with kisses, and overall just being the cringiest and most annoying couple that there is. Connie excused himself, saying that he needs to throw up, and Sasha followed, knowing that the lunch was ruined.

They grabbed a disappointing burger together, both agreeing that taking Eren and Mikasa to any social occasion is a waste of time.

Proof 4: This was a study session, a thing that they were doing together for a long, long time. Armin was smart, Mikasa was bright, and Eren was determined to catch up. Usually. Now, everything was different. Ever since they changed from kids to teenagers and eased into intimacy, they were insufferable. Even studying was impossible because while Mikasa was eyeing the textbook, at least in the start, Eren very successfully distracted her by putting his head on her shoulder and kissing her neck. Soon the book was forgotten, clattering on the ground, while they tumbled together on the bed, lost in each other. Recognizing the situation, Armin made a swift exit, closing the door just in time because a second later Mikasa’s black bra thumped into the wood.

Proof 5: Now they were all together, doing one of the things that Mikasa enjoyed. A dark magic séance, with an Ouija board between them, the goth taking the lead since she is the only one who knows anything about this stuff. Armin was bored because he is a man of science and not ghosts. Sasha was eating chips from under the table and Connie was doing his best to steal them unnoticed. Jean looked surprised that he’s even here, unsure what came over him to agree when Mikasa asked him to attend. And Eren? Eren was staring at her like she’s made of gold, hanging on every word she says.

Following her instructions, they put their hands on the triangle, waiting for the séance mistress to call out to the ghosts. She did so, muttering some spells under her breath too, and then it was the time to ask a question. Was it something funny? Was it something genuinely interesting?

Nope.

“Who does Eren like the most?”, was her query, and Armin could hear the collective groan that ran around the table.

Surprising exactly no one, the triangle starts moving, spelling out Mikasa’s name. Now if he’s being honest, Armin couldn’t see anyone actively doing it, but it must be her – she has enough strength in her fingertips to drag them all. A few more tugs later, her name was complete, and a huge grin spread on the goth’s black lips.

“I knew it!”, she giggled all excited over nothing, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend, who abandoned the board in favor of holding her against him.

It’s way too long to be a thank-you kiss, way too loud, and Jean couldn’t take it anymore. He was gone as the first person, but before Sasha could discreetly follow Mikasa broke away from Eren, eyeing everyone.

“So, what do we ask next?”

Enough? Enough.

Or no, there was one more thing that Armin despised. It’s Eren talking about his intimate life.

Growing up together, any sort of decency sense disappeared, and it certainly didn’t help that Eren wanted to boast, since he was boning the hottest girl in the whole town.

Armin heard it all. He heard about their first time, he heard about the first time Mikasa was on top. He heard about the different positions they tried. One day, he was dumb enough to ask why does Eren have bruises on his neck. What he got was a fifteen-minute presentation when Eren described just how tight Mikasa can squeeze with her thighs when he makes her come on his face.

Armin wanted to die every minute of that speech.

Look, he was happy for them, but he didn’t need to hear it. He didn’t need to know that Mikasa bought handcuffs and they are using them in the bedroom. He didn’t need to hear that Eren is planning to gift her a riding crop for Valentine’s, because they both adored the spice.

No, just no.

All these events, all these humiliating experiences culminated into a desperate meeting of everyone save for those two, where they thought about what to do.

“We have to make an intervention.”, Jean said, holding his head in his hands, “This is not normal.”

“They are dating for like what, nine years now?”, Sasha counted, “It wasn’t that bad before, what happened?”

“The sex.”, Armin deadpanned, having his sources, “It’s the sex.”

The only thing that Eren could talk about lately.

“They are not even two people anymore.”, Connie thought out loud, “It’s like they merged into a single entity. Eren and Mikasa became…. Mikeren?”

“I’m all for the merge idea, but your name sucks.”, Jean laughed “I have a better one – Erekasa.”

A few more ideas flew here and there, each dumber than the other until Armin got one.

“Eremika?”

“Yea that’s good.”

“Not bad.”

“I can see that…”

“Okay!”, Armin proclaimed, “So let’s plan this Eremika intervention. It’s cool that have each other, but not everyone gets the love of their life when 9 years old.”

“Hear hear.”, Jean agreed.

They planned everything. Set up a date, gathered, and waited until the two came home, ready and willing to unload their years of frustration on them.

But… they didn’t show up.

Later, Armin would find out that they didn’t come because Eremika was having an ice-cream date. With no mental capacity to do this again, because a small part of him felt like an asshole for even trying to set it up, the intervention squad fell apart.

It did get better, with time and space, because Eren and Mikasa grew a little bit older and a little bit wiser. It did nothing to diminish the flames of their passion, but they were no longer so obnoxious about it. And looking at them now, Armin could only wish that he would someday find love so beautiful as theirs.

*raise a glass*

To Eren and Mikasa!

“All right, this should be good.”

Looking over the paper, Armin frowned.

“Maybe too long though, I should…”

Re-reading what he wrote, the blond erased a few parts, shortening the text. After all, the speech should not be that long, he was not here as a star of the show.

A knock on the door interrupted him, and then there was a familiar brown-haired head peeking in.

“Hey Ar, you ready?”

Pocketing the paper, he nodded at his friend.

“I hope that I won’t let you down with the speech.”

“Please…”, Eren’s grin was still the same, even after all these years, “There’s a reason why I chose you to be my best man, you never disappoint.”

Following the groom, Armin soon arrived back in the hall where the reception was taking place. Eren slid back into his seat, automatically reaching out to intertwine his fingers with his now-wife, wearing that same stupid smile he always had. Armin remained standing, clearing his throat, and feeling everyone’s eyes on him. Well, here goes nothing.

“I liked Eren. I liked Mikasa. I hated them together…..”

The plane gently hummed all around them, carrying the newlyweds towards the location of their honeymoon. A private island, owned by Krista’s too-rich father, one he so generously borrowed them. Ignoring the empty seats, Mikasa was curled in Eren’s lap, head tucked under his chin, and neither of the two couldn’t be happier. Still, a single tiny thing was worming around in Eren’s mind.

“Mrs. Yeager?”, he got Mikasa’s attention, making her smile go even wider.

She loved when Eren called her that, although their full legal name was Ackerman-Yeager now. Equality was always an important part of their relationship.

“Can you believe that they had an intervention for us?”, Eren continued, “Were we really that obnoxious when dating?”

Mikasa thought about it for a moment. Thought about all the friends she stood up, all the events she left to be with him, all the times Armin had to witness their kisses. Knowing the answer, she giggled as she lied out loud.

“Nah.”

[lovemesomesurveys]

5,000 questions survey series–part forty-two

These surveys always take me so long to get through, hence why I took such a long break from them. The questions are just too much at times and some are just plain annoying. But, I’ll try and finish it eventually. A couple of you have been taking it lately, so I figured I’d start up again.

4001. How would you rate your sex drive? It’s been non-existent the past few years, honestly.  4002. You are sitting alone with a stack of videos and a vcr. Of the following which are you most likely to puut on (1 is most, 10 is least) I’m just gonna bold which one I’d likely watch out of all of ‘em...

The good the bad and the ugly, dracula, slc punk, twin peaks fire walk with me, jerry springer too hot for tv, singing in the rain, flash gordon, the matrix, blade runner, the muppet movie 4003. Are you more likley to get or send random instant messages? I receive nice messages more often than I receive random ones. I got a rude one recently; however, about how I’m still a 31 year old virgin. Does it affect their life? No. So, don’t worry about it. *eye roll* I do get a lot of random comments on my surveys from su*ar da**ies, though... super annoying. 4004. If you were writing an ad telling people to come to your town what would you say about it? I wouldn’t write such an ad. My town sucks. 4005. What part of your body can you not stand to get an itch on? One that’s hard to reach.

4006. How many people do you suppose have stolen that System of a Down album called 'steal this album'? I haven’t heard anything about that, I’m not even familiar with that album of theirs. I’m there were people who tried/did.  4007. Name a band you like: Linkin Park. What are/were this band's roots and influences? Zeppelin, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, Depeche Mode. 4008. would you rather have a poster of john lennon or a cute fuzzy black cat? Cute fuzzy black cat. 4009. make a public service announcement: Wear a mask! 4010. What makes you feel the need to escape? Just the need for a change of scenery and to help take my mind off things a bit for a little while. I’m sad I couldn’t go to the beach at all this summer because that’s my one place where I’m able to relax at all and just zone out. 4011. You and your signifigant other, crush, interest etc...who is the ernie and who is the bert? I don’t have any of those. 4012. When was the last time you did something and later asked yourself 'did I do the right thing?'? I hate when I forget if I took my medicine or not. I end up taking it, questioning and hoping that I didn’t already take it. I feel so robotic at times and like I’m just living life on autopilot, so things like that tend to happen. 4013. What do you find it hard to say goodbye to? I have a hard time getting rid of things because of my emotional attachment to them. 4014. What is your fantasy valentine's day like? I’ll admit it, it would be nice to experience a Valentine’s Day with someone and actually do something. It’s always been just another day for me. 4015. If you had to have a color for a name, what color would it be? Jade. 4016. Should preference be given to minority students during the college admission process? I think everyone should have the same opportunity.  4017. Sweet wine, fresh crisp appples, bagles with creme cheese and lox...what is the most incredibly luxurious food? I don’t know about those options, but if I were to think of luxurious foods I’d think of like expensive wine, cheeses, fresh fruits, and seafood like caviar and lobster and whatnot. I’m picky so I personally don’t care for fancy foods. 4018. Is there really anything to fear in communism? I don’t know enough about communism and socialism and all that to speak on it. 4019. Best sesame street character: Uhh, Big Bird. most annoying sesame street character: Elmo can be a little annoying sometimes. 4020. feast or famine? I don’t need to overindulge and have excess, I just would like to be able to have food.  4021. Write a poem right here in five minutes or less: Nah. 4022. Do you stay and help clean up after a party? I usually was one to leave early. 4023. Why was the teddy bear named after teddy roosevelt? His name was Theodore, Teddy for short, and apparently while out on a hunting trip he refused to kill a bear and someone dedicated a bear stuffed animal to him and called it Teddy’s Bear. Then it was just called a teddy bear and the rest was history. 4024. What are you the prince or princess of? Uhhh. 4025. Some people think that Christmas should be taken off of public school calanders because it is politically incorrect. What aould you say to this? I say no. It can still be winter break for those who don’t celebrate. 4026. Would you rather go to an excorcism or a step aerobics class? Uh, I think an aerobics class sounds a lot better than an exorcism. I wouldn’t be able to participate in a step aerobics class, though. I’d have to do something else. 4027. Do you believe in spells and curses? No. 4028. What tv show does your family watch together? There isn’t really one all 4 of us watch, but there’s several that 2 or 3 of us watch together. I guess Family Guy or American Dad could be one all 4 of us could watch, although I don’t really care for either one much. 4029. What's on your calander this year? Nothing. 4030. Is anything ruining your life? It has felt that way with my health issues. 4031. How was life meant to be lived? “We were meant to live for so much moreeee.” 🎶

4032. What is your usual breakfast? I rarely have breakfast, but I like breakfast foods like eggs and hash browns. And country gravy, yum. 4033. If you had kids, would you worry about what they did online? Of course.  4034. Will you be maxin and relaxin this weekend? Sure. If not, what are your weekened plans? 4035. Who has the most interesting story to tell: someone who used to fly to asia as a drug trader the ceo of Nike a nyc homeless person a preacher's wife

^^^They all would. 4036. What do you have a bad feeling about? The future regarding this virus. 4037. Do you have a lot to say? No. 4038. If a smallpox vaccine was offered to you, would you take it? Wasn’t that one of the ones given as a baby or child? I should mention I live in the US. 4039. Would you ever work at a kissing booth? No. how about a dunking booth? No. 4040. There is a woman who paints by stripping naked, rolling around in paint and then pressing her body against the canvas. What do you think of her art? I’ve never seen it, but hey do your thing. 4041. Have you ever bought something you saw on tv? Yeah, I mean that’s what commercials are intended to do. However, I’ve never called the number for a product advertisement to order something that way. Like those as seen on TV products. There have been some of those products sold in actual stores, though, that I’ve got like the Snuggie and that Finishing Touch Flawless Razor. 4042. Name a relative:  that relative dies unexpectedly. On the same day 9/11 happens. You can either bring back your relative or bring back 1/2 the people who dies on 9/11. What do you do? I don’t like these type of questions. 4043. Have you gone mental? I’ve definitely felt like that. 4044. What do you think of jews for jesus? You word this like it’s the name of a group or something. Okay, so I Googled it and see that it’s an organization.  4045. Has anyone ever tried to 'save' you? Yes. 4046. Quick! picture santa clause in your head... ...Okay. Was he black or white when you pictured him? White. That’s just how I’ve often seen him portrayed. 4047. Would you ever buy a black santa clause? Sure. Santa isn’t real, you can make him look any way you want. 4048. or take your kids to vist a black santa clause? Yeah? why or why not? Santa is Santa.  4049. What do you smell like? I just smell my clothes laundry detergent scent. 4050. What kind of soup do you eat? I’m a ramen girl all the way. 4051. What have you heard about the next Harry Potter book? Will you pre-order it? I know this is old, but I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books. 4052. Would you rather go out or stay in? I’m a hermit crab.  4053. What's your favorite song to hear on halloween? I like the classics like Monster Mash. Oh, and the Halloween movie theme music for spooky vibes. 4054. What song makes you feel all tingly like you want to laugh and scream and cry? Uhh I don’t feel that way about any song. 4055. If you were starting a website that was not about you, what Would it be about? Nah. 4056. Do you ever take the long way just for fun? I don’t drive. 4057. '..and god said let there be ____and there I was.' Fill in the blank, as if if you were talking about yourself. ‘...and God said let there be Stephanie and there I was.’ 4058. What do you think of when you hear the word 'mill'? A million.  4059. What do you think of when you hear the name: weird al? Parodies. bob dylan? Music. michael jackson? Moon dance. henry rollins? billy idol? White wedding. gary numan? will smith? Fresh Prince of Bel Air. paul mcartney? Black Bird. alice cooper? Rock and roll. J Lo? Jenny from the Block. 4060. What is one social disater you have had? It was really embarrassing getting sick in front of everyone at my party 7 years ago aka the last time I drank alcohol. I just threw up on myself in front of everyone and sat there and my friend had to help clean me up. What really messes me up is that I don’t remember drinking that much, so I don’t know how I got so drunk. 4061. Can you moonwalk? No. 4062. If a presidential candidate went on late night tv, picked up a guitar and rocked out on it and could really play, would that influence you to like/respect them more? I’d probably be like wow that’s cool, but no I wouldn’t let that influence my vote. Them being able to play an instrument doesn’t say shit about their policies or whether they’d make a good fit for the job. 4064. If it was possible for people to instantly change from one sex to another, would everyone be straight in the end? Uhh just cause they could switch their gender it doesn’t change their brain/sexual preference.  Would you change your sex? No. 4065. Finish the sentance: nobody broke your heart, if you're alone... I don’t know. 4066. Would you rather have a best friend OR a boyfriend/girlfriend on a Friday night? I’d rather stay at home and do my own thing, ha. 4067. Would a woman rather be complimented about her intelligence OR her looks? Depends on the individual.  4068. Do you tend to think of the right thing to say after the moment is gone? Always. Super annoying. 4069. Would you rather a potential mate have nice hair OR nice legs? Nice hair out of the two. 4070. Okay,…. nice hair OR a nice rack/bulge? I don’t look for a “nice bulge” when I look at guys. 4071. What is one thing you thought you would enjoy, but actually didn’t? Hmm. I’m blanking at the moment. 4072. Be in the spotlight OR in the shadows? In the shadows. 4073. What is your favorite part of the newspaper? I haven’t read a newspaper in several years. When I was a kid I loved the comics, though. 4074. What in your life has been an “acquired taste” for you? Alcohol. I never really cared for it, honestly. I drank because my friends were and felt like that’s what people in their early 20s liked to do. And because it was fun sometimes, though I more often just felt like crap. It’s been 7 years since I last drank and I truly haven’t missed it. 4075. Do you find sunlight makes you happier? No. 4076. If you could conquer one fear, it would be...? I’d take care of some health related things. 4077. What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen someone do or heard anyone has done? There’s been a lot of things. 4078. How do you feel about the fact that J-Lo earns 37 million dollars a year? Is that actually true? This survey is also like a decade or so old. Do you buy anything that contributes to her salary? I haven’t bought any JLO related in several years. Is J Lo the ultimate ideal of what a woman should be? To some people. 4079. What is unforgettable beauty? I don’t know. 4080. Worst fashion mistake EVER: I don’t know or care. 4081. What is your advice to someone on their first date? Ha, I’m definitely not one to ask for dating advice. 4082. Is there a musical performer more ridiculous than Avril Lavigne (I don't think there is)? I didn’t think she was ridiculous.  4083. What is the best: daytime talk show? Dr. Phil. late night talk show? I don’t watch any anymore. 4084. Are you afraid of total freedom? What would that mean? 4085. Do you live in an invisible prison? I feel that way with my mind and health. 4086. Who do you feel distant from, that you used to be close to? I’m not close to anyone anymore outside of my immediate family.  4087. Rate the following song lyrics (1 = you like it the most, 9 = you like it the least). Nah, I really hate the rating questions. Maybe you shouldn't care/throw away those dreams/& dare Eden lets me in/I find the seeds of love/And climb upon the highwire/I kiss and tell all my fears I know the pressure is on/In a race for the life of endless love/If it seems to much/Remember/All these things are endless I see the wind, oh I see the trees/Everything is clear in my heart/I see the clouds, oh I see the sky/Everything is clear in our world Inflatable doll/Lover ungrateful/I blew up your body/But you blew my mind Well I jumped into the river/too many times to make it home/I'm out here on my own/drifting all alone/and if it doesn't show/ give it time/to read between the lines The very thought of you makes/My heart sing/Like an April breeze/On the wings of spring/And you appear in all your splendor/My one and only love now I've had lots of girls/most of them from other worlds/but lookin through the galaxey/the valley girls are the ones for me I'm the dandy highwayman so sick of easy fashion/the clumsy boots, peek-a-boo roots that people think so dashing/so what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?/it's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making 4088. Can you name any of the nine bands/songs above? I didn’t even read any of the lyrics. 4089. What would your reaction be if a total stranger called to say s/he loved you and told you that you were to pass the message on to others in a telephone call you make yourself? Uh, I wouldn’t answer a call from a total stranger first of all and even if I actually did, I would be like wtf and hang up.  4090. Would you like to take a journey to jupiter? No. I have no desire to take any trip to outer space. 4091. Can you crack nuts in your bare hands? I’ve never tried, but I’m going to assume that I couldn’t.  4092. Do you take walks at night? No. Or ever. 4093. Beavis and Butthead or daria? Neither. 4094. Cow or chicken? Chicken. 4095. Do you think you will visit China in this life? I don’t see that happening, but who knows.  4096. Are you having a happy day? No. 4097. When was or will be your 'golden birthday' (when your age is the same as your birthdate, like turning 17 on the 17th)? My golden birthday was 3 years ago. 4098. Enlighten everyone with something profound: Nah. 4099. When has the third time been the charm for you? Hmm. 4100. What is kinda sick, but fun? Uhhh.

[dahl-my-life]

11/11/11 Tag game! <3

I was tagged by @dreamstormdragon

(Sorry it took a bit. Tumblr didn’t want to play fairly.)

Rules: Answer 11 Questions, Ask Eleven Questions, Tag Eleven People!

1. Have you ever based a story on a dream you’ve had?

In a way, yes. Circlet of Shadows is based around a nightmare I’ve had for quite a while. It sparked around the same time I started working on Awakening. I would like to explain Circlet of Shadows but I think it’s best if I kept it a secret for now.

2. What do you do, when you hit a wall with a story?

If I’m with family, I’ll curl up next to my mum and just recharge. Normally when I hit a wall it’s because I’m mentally drained so I try to step back and focus on myself. Other times I will jump to other projects, bounce ideas around with Landy or Lyssa, or I’ll work on art for friends/for the story I’m stuck on.

3. What kind of characters do you like to write best?

I like writing characters that place the needs of others before their own. Who struggle to stay true to their morals and those who have to fight. Kinda hard to explain...

4. What do you read, to get inspired?

Throne of Glass, Tiger’s Curse, A Court of Thorns and Roses, but it tends to depend on my mood and what books I have on hand. I always keep Elemental Archer and Don’t Make Deals With Demons in my school bag.

5. Do you listen to songs/any sounds while writing or do you need utter silence?

I don’t do silence well. At all. So while I write I’ll have a let’s play from Markiplier, Stumpt, or Jacksepticeye, one of my many music playlists, or a soundscape that has some form of fire in it.

6. What is your favorite author?

Sarah J Maas, Colleen Houck, Aileen and Storm! They are my top four.

7. There’s a zombie apocalypse and the CDC issues that the only way to kill the zombies, is to hit them with your least favorite book. What book, do you use to kill some zombies?

Animal Farm. That book caused one too many panic attacks when I had to read it for high school.

8. What do you think is going to be the next big “monster trend” in modern day literature? We’ve had Vampires, werewolves and zombies, what do you think is next?

Would Sirens count? I love them a lot and would love to see them more.

9. Which wip of yours is the favorite child? If you only have one WIP, which character is the favorite child?

Don’t make me choose which wip is my favorite! xD Though Nakeya is my little girl. I always love writing scenes with her since she can be a bit of a shot in the dark. She’s complex and yet simple once you step back and stop trying to understand her. Plus I get to write the interactions between Nakeya, Valia, and Karima since they all share Nakeya’s body at the moment.

10. What kind of things do you like to use to get in the writing mood?

I tend to make a blanket den, light a few candles, and make a bunch of iced vanilla bean macaron tea before I can properly write.

11. Outline or no outline?

Before From the Shadows, I didn’t outline stories and I can see how that caused so many issues with Awakening. From the Shadows has the chapters outlined so if I trail off from the original plan, Landy can catch it. I also timeline key events that happen before, during, and after the story.

My questions:

1.  Do you have a ritual that has to happen before you can write?

2. Do you wait until you are finished writing before naming the wip or do you name before writing?

3. What is your favorite part of creating ocs?

4. Who are your favorite authors?

5. How do you get the inspiration for your wip(s)?

6. If you could change one thing in any of your wip, what would it be and why?

7. What do you like writing more: fluff or angst? (sorry if I spelt that wrong)

8. Last story that made you cry?

9. Explain your current wip in five words or less.

10. Favorite drink to have while writing?

11. What do you do when you happen upon writer’s block?

Normally I’d tag people but since I’m not sure who’s been tagged and whatnot...I’ll uh leave it to whoever would like to do this

[horologiumparadoxica]

Hi I'm Kay & I made this alternate account because my main account, @paradoxiii, keeps getting shadowbanned & was even terminated (but was reinstated like an hour later after I filled out the account recovery form & also called Tumblr out on twitter).

Here's a copy of my "Before You Follow" from my main blog:

Art Blog | OC Ramble Blog | Pokemon OC Blog

Carrd | Mastodon | Toyhou.se

Before You Follow

First and foremost, I am an adult. While I don’t reblog smut on main, I do reblog things that are “adult” humor/language (like sex jokes and cursing and whatnot), as well as artistic nudity. I’m not gonna check the age of every follower or block minors, y'all can curate your own shit.

I also like horror & will reblog gore, body horror, etc. I also don’t currently trigger tag anything, but if there’s any issues with that, feel free to shoot me an ask/DM & I’ll do my best to accommodate.

I post art under the username @perseidipity on here and Mastodon.art. I have accounts elsewhere too but I post the most on these.

If this blog goes down (gets deleted or something), @horologiumparadoxica is my backup.

[kenmaiii]

stop being jealous and bitter!

Now i know you cant outright just throw away your jealousy in the art community. You see a really cool popular artist or just someone with absolutely amzing art and you think “wow holy shit their art is so good i wish that was me and that i could do that....” I understand that spite can be a good thing sometimes; it can be what motivates you to improve and do well, especially if the artist is well... not the best person in terms of personality. Great, that’s even more motivation to do well right!? 

But when does all the comparing go too far?

----------------------------------------long post incoming------------------------------------------

Now i’ve had people very close to me do this. I’ve been told that im ‘popular’ which im honestly not seriously. They could probably be reading this right now, but this has been bothering me for awhile so i must get this out there. Let’s step into a certain mindset for a moment:-

You hate your artwork. You hate your current skills. Sure there are artists you like. But then there are ‘THOSE’ ones. You have very specific artists you follow just because theyre so good and popular they make you feel bitter and you still check up on them regularly to fuel that bitterness. You know good and well that they make you bitter and angry and peeved but you just keep going back.

Step back for a moment and think.... why on earth am i fucking doing this???? Comparing and feeling bitter about another persons skill or popularity and letting yourself stay sad and bitter isn’t good for ANYTHING, art aside. It’s good to want to feel validated at the work you spent time on but it WILL get tiring if you keep complaining that ‘your art is bad’, ‘your art isnt good’, ‘its shit’ or ‘garbage’. Your brain is just internalizing that and hindering your work and future improvement. It’s most importantly WASTING YOUR own time, YOU the creator. And not to sound snobby here, i really truly dont intend for that, but some of you know good and well that you keep belitting you work because you only just want people to compliment your art when youre only doing the bare minimum to improve! I can only tell you as a friend or an on-looker that i love your art so many times (as much i really do love it and hope for your improvement) if you continuously decide to still turn around and say you hate your work and tell me im wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why reach for compliments then! Why continuously turn them down?

And i’m not saying you cant ever not like your art (cause it happens) or decline a compliment, but to do it every single time....it leaves a bad image for your work. You either start to believe it, or the person complimenting you will get put off from your negativity!  

It makes people feel bad, especially if theyre also artist AND also your friends. You can’t keep saying you prefer their work and still put down your own. It makes your artist friend uncomfortable. They might not know how to respond when you keep doing it. And im sure they wouldnt want you to keep making yourself feel bad. Personally, i wish all my art friends success and improvement, and i want them to love and feel proud of their work more than the times they hate it. We really need to uplift each other as artists.

Thanks.

What you think and say is what you become and if youre always negative and comparing youre gonna tear down both the person you admire and yourself. Ie, if youre constantly thinking ‘ill never be as good as this person’,’no ones ever gonna like my work’, ‘i cant color as well as they do’ or saying that your work is only ever garbage... newsflash asshole! your mind absorbs that negativity and makes you believe it! u fool!!!!! Because brains are stupid and can be your worst enemy at times! 

Sometimes you just need to stOP looking at certain peoples work completely if it gets you that bitter or angry or sad. Unfollow them! Block them! Delete their name from your search history if you have to! Stop hurting yourself and forget about them, it’s like trying to think about an ex thats moved on. Pointless.

Negative emotions such as sadness and anger are our brains direct ways at trying to reach out to ourselves.

You: seeing cool art Your mind: remembering you dont have some of those skills or popularity + comparing = sadness/ anger/ bitterness at not being able to be at that lvl withtin the same timeframe or less

Your brain is trying to tell you to fix this! But you know you might not have the tools to gain that much popularity or become so good at anatomy, coloring , compositions or backgrounds overnight, so the only solution for your brain is to self-sabotage.

It’s just the same as suddenly feeling sad for no reason. It’s your mind trying to work out a problem you never resolved. Maybe your friends haven’t replied in awhile and you feel ignored. Or you subconsciously remembered a bad experience without really realizing. You’ll get sad. Your mind is is saying ‘Hey asshole im sad. I know it might be out of your control but I’ll stay sad about this one thing until you resolve it somehow. ’ (whether it be blindly distracting yourself on purpose or fully wallowing in the feelings)

So we realized youre feeling intensely about this persons work vs your own...then what exactly happened there? The answer is pretty simple. Some kind of information processing happened in your brain. The result of this processing made the your mind conclude that one of your existing problems (art in this case) can never be solved; whether conscious or unconscious, and this explains why your mood might change all of a sudden without any kind of warning signs (in relation to what you saw). 

Inspired VS Jealousy When youre inspired youre working against yourself in a GOOD way. You’re feeling motivated to make something great! Youre feeling motivated to make something better than the last piece!! And honestly thats wonderful!!!  That is a lot nicer than being in art-block, comparison negativity hell.

YOU are the only one responsible for where you are as an artist. That goes towards every artist of every skill level! There’s always someone better than you and there’s always someone worse than you. People get better at art in different intervals depending on how much they take in or put into practicing. Some people just get some concepts and fundamentals a lot easier and quicker than others but that doesn’t mean they naturally had that ability from birth. They put in the work just as you should be doing instead of feeling so intensely negative! But when you’re jealous and negative all the time, that’s when it starts to go downhill. :/

Jealously is a very human emotion at its core. And im not saying its super easy to deal with and just suddenly get over, but there are things you can do to slowly help yourself do it at least a little less.

Here’s the best things you CAN do instead:- - Write down some of the things you find yourself feeling bitter over about, especially when you look at another artists work? Ask yourself why these specific things? If it’s something you yourself can work on in your own pieces then maybe uh do that?  - Find the time to practice your work. - Practice even more. - If it’s your style that you arent happy with think of the artstyles you like and set aside time to mimic the way that artist might draw something (hence adding that to YOUR style). Take a sketchbook page or two and just draw entirely in those styles. - Practice. I can’t stress this enough. I know artists say this a lot and it can kind of just be thrown around carelessly, but if you keep putting this off and saying you don’t want to practice or talking about how time is going by when you should be practicing things.... and STILL refuse to practice then???? I cant help you sorry. Time waits for no one, so sometimes you need to grab time by the horns and kick its ass for awhile. Put in that effort! - Please use references. Even better if you use it nearly EVERYTIME you draw something, especially yknow...if its a pose, body part or background that you know you have no idea how to properly express! Find a stock image or a variety of websites to use! Save poses that you like from online magazines, other artists and photographs you see anywhere online. I like to look at online magazines from other countries or photographers, and there are tons of places like pinterest or instagram and whatnot. - Stop comparing and being bitter. Ii cant say this enough it gets me so ticked off, but my stubborn taurus self refuses to fully go off until it all piles up and this post is the result lol. If you know you can’t let go hating on a certain artist (for no good reason) then dont hate-follow them! Don’t check up on their work constantly! Don’t even talk about them!!!!!!! Try to get them out of your head for goodness sakes. Majority of the time they dont even know who YOU are so why are you worried about what they’re up to. - STOP SHITTING ON YOUR OWN WORK. - STOP IT RIGHT NOW. - AS THE ARTIST SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO SAY ‘’hey, my work isn’t exactly where i want it to be at this point in time and it may never be but i can appreciate that i’ve gotten better at a lot of things and im better than where i was a few years/ a year/ a month ago/ even weeks ago.” - ”I’m proud of this piece and can’t wait to get even better.” - Art is a struggle that takes time, effort and a lot of work. There’s always going to be someone better than you and there’s always going to be someone worse than you. You can only strive to get to the level that would make you happiest, otherwise you will get irritated with it and feel absolutely miserable about everything you produce. - PUT IN THE WORK TO GET YOUR ART OUT THERE. Social media has been both a curse and a blessing to artists all around. It’s made it easier for us to share our work around and opened paths for making money online and at home and connecting with other artists, but competition grows everyday as more people post their work in the same market. (ie another reason why it can be hard to get your commissions out there) Also as artists we want that dopamine rush you get from people liking your stuff, i get that its gucci. -But if you aren’t tagging your works well, posting somewhat consistently, not really bothering to talk to people in certain art communities (even people in your fandom because hey potential friends and even partners on future projects), not adding your works to groups (a big problem i see with people on places like deviantart mostly), joining and sharing them in art group chats/aminos/discords, joining events to get yourself out there (such as zines/big bangs/gift exchanges etc), giving tips and advice or even little helpful tutorials to people then how do you expect to be noticed? How.  If youre not doing at least TWO of these things then hoW can you complain about not getting attention. :(

 Of course you dont have to do ALL of this. Im just saying ...if you arent out there advertising how will more people know about you? This leads to you thinking no one likes your art (skill level excluded because even my cringiest old art would have a few comments or encouragements to see my future improvement, and i still want to hide when people like/comment/reblog said old art to this very day). 

I understand mainly OC artists feel this way that no ones gonna like their characters, or it just doesnt get reblogged enough in general but thats understandable too. No one is ‘selling out’ if they only do fanart. No one is ‘snobby or scared to get themselves out there’ if theyre really enthusiastic about their stories and worlds. Otherwise we wouldnt have fandoms int he first place, theyre all someones work. And hell, good for you if you draw both. It really is just a matter of how you put yourself out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’ll take some time but there IS always someone out there that likes your stuff. And sometimes you just have to be content with making work for yourself, work that makes you happy. The online art world is tough especially when youre small but once you fall into the depths of bitterness its hard to rewire your mind...

This is how yall should be looking at your/others work majority of the time: You: seeing cool art  Your mind: omg thats beautiful! i wish i could draw and paint like that. i should practice more , try out some poses and anatomy or implement what they do into my work. i wanna make a cool ass piece like this too i feel so pumped to draw and work!! 

And that’s that! Do yourself a favor and be happier you bastards! Its tiring being negative and sad all the time and i want tf out of it. Its so very tiring and annoying to be sad and bitter as shit!!!!! My goD

I can’t really think of anything else to add to this and the text may appear angry sometimes as i was very heated when i wrote this but tried to tone it down a lot hfkds. Im not some ‘art guru goddess with supreme skill uwuw’ but advice is advice! It’s always up to the person listening to take it or not.

I’m gonna end this with one of my favorite art quotes of all time from t h e Arin Hanson himself. Because it really is true. 

Get yourself out there, practice towards a level that makes you content and try to have more fun with loving your work.

It’s taken me a long while to post this, as i’ve been feeling this way for...at least a couple months??? but i finally put it all out there i just needed to do this lol.  Sorry if i mightve repeated info sometimes here and there?

This post is just as much of a call out to my own actions but more so @ those of you that specifically do this! 

[ibangtanthings]

Just some stuff I’d like to point out

1) MAMA

Umm yeah the MAMAs have always been rigged. Even when awards were given out last year (or the year bigbang performed, is forget), it was quite obvious that the chosen winners were those who happened to be there the day of the event.

Not to mention that most of the artists left before it ended. It was a mess and schedule conflicts do happen but this is the MAMAs so why would agencies pull artists out?

The fact is the MAMAs were dying out. Mnet would do anything to keep viewers, including feed the BTS/EXO fanwar.

They’re doing the same thing again, and even tho I’m an ARMY, it’s fact that EXO has a bigger fandom. Point blank.

So yes, MNET can take out votes unfairly and whatnot but even with an all fair system ARMY has to work super hard to match EXO’s numbers.

Now, EXO is great, I’m down for EXO’s music and they are legends in the kpop music industry but that brings me to my next point.

2) Why MAMAs is just for show

Let’s be objective here, song of the year can go to either BTS or EXO fair and square. (DNA or Power). They both broke records and whatnot, who cares if it’s not your fav, one will win and one will lose. It’s a win well deserved, even if you don’t like one song or the other.

Now, Artist of the Year. Being as objective as I can, it’s clear the BTS should win because they’ve gotten a lot of new recognition globally, and that includes Korea. Not only that, they’ve broken YouTube records and Music Chart records globally as well. EXO broke records in Korea just as expected and that’s great but in terms of achievements, overall that goes to BTS. BUT I do recognize the fact that I’m more informed on BTS’ achievements throughout the year than EXO’s. So this is of course debatable, if we take into consideration that this is an ASIAN nations related competition. Which it’s not because fans from all over the world can vote.

Video of the year? Uhm if we’re just talking EXO vs BTS, Power vs Spring Day, then obviously it’s Spring Day. Power isn’t video of the year, plain and simple and if you think so then you’re just disregarding the hard work and effort directors have put into other EXO videos from previous years, and the directors of some other music videos nominated this year.

Now I’m not saying EXO doesn’t deserve a Daesang and I’m not saying they should leave room for BTS to win one, I’m saying, if these awards were really judged for art, instead of fan votes, then it would be a more humbling award ceremony, a bit more respectable. BUT mnet likes to torture fans and up the voting weight, however, I remember feeling like voting didn’t matter anyways in the previous years because they added categories/awards, specifically just to get the groups that were present to go on stage and recieve something.

Mnet is just trying to rile fans up by this voting “cleanse”, that’s the whole point of fan votes. All the artists know that, but it’s the Daesangs that really count right?

Correct me if I’m wrong but Album of the Year? Where is it?

Anyways, on to point three.

3) Kids man....

Mnet is succeeding big time. You have young fans, or immature fans getting all riled up, fanwars are gaining traction and we have keyboard warriors EVERYWHERE.

I’m 21, I still feel like a baby okay, but it makes me feel really fucking old when I see ARMY’s replying to haters/trolls with the same immature responses.

Don’t tell people to die.

Don’t curse out people on twitter or instagram.

Don’t call out other fandoms.

Don’t bombard celebs with hate.

Don’t reblog/repost/retweet rumors or expose posts.

Don’t reblog videos of the members during hard times, (like Jimin’s recent incident). In fact, don’t even mention posts about these kinds of videos or pics.

Don’t start a fucking hashtag that brings attention to things that don’t need any fucking attention.

If someone says something that get you riled up enough to send them hate back, you’re immature as fuck and you need to check yourself.

There’s something called ignore, and there’s something called block. Use them.

If you don’t let something bother you, and you don’t call attention to it, and you don’t respond to it, chances are IT WILL BECOME IRRELEVANT.

All these celebs that mention BTS or the members and what not, if they say something stupid, WHY ARE U RETWEETING, CALLING THEM OUT or SPAMMING WITH HATE? Ignore it and the post won’t ever make it to their ears or eyes. Plain and simple!!

But no, butthurt ARMYs make a huge deal out of it and then what?! Everyone knows about it, stupid kids make death threats, the fandom gets more hate, etc.

If you’re the type of person that has to respond to someone talking shit, get over yourself and grow up. Just because someone says something stupid, you really don’t have to respond.

And I saw this because there’s A LOT of people who need to realize this.

Is it an age thing? I don’t think so.

Jeff Benjamin got hate for something his colleagues said, for not defending BTS. Are u fucking kidding me? Yes, his colleagues said stupid stuff, but he doesn’t have to filter what they say, and he doesn’t have to defend BTS. He’s made his opinion about them very clear, his colleagues made their opinion clear in that broadcast but that’s all it was, an opinion.

Friends and family have said worse things about BTS than what those women said, people call idols gay all the time in a derogatory sense. Call them out. Call out the racists, not the people giving their fucking opinion. When did everyone get so pissy about someone sharing an opinion?

We have trump as a fucking president, what these women said was not that serious to go throw hate on Jeff Benjamin and the number of people in the entertainment industry getting hate from ARMY is ridiculous.

Focus on the positive. Stop focusing on the negative. Stop trying to defend BTS from haters & people who just want to exploit them. BTS is now at a level in which their actions and music and talent will speak for themselves.

They have a good team behind them and we are a reflection of that. Next time you see something stupid on twitter or Instagram to Facebook, or wherever, I urge you not to respond with hate.

I urge you not to respond at all. Focus on BTS and what you can do as an ARMY to spread positivity.

MAMA can suck it.

I hope ARMY and EXO-L realize that if they collaborated together it would be the bop of the millennium.

4) AMA’s

Can’t wait for BTS to show them how it’s done.

Even if it wasn’t BTS on that stage, even if it was EXO or GOT7 or SEVENTEEN, even if itwas just a new rookie group. I’d be so happy.