#even if it is just a heart emoji

[sayakae-ao3]

Today out of curiosity I checked my statistics and it turns out one of my fanfics has over 900 hundred subscribers and similar number of bookmarks (I think half of them is private which is fine) but on the last posted chapter I think only 5 people commented.

And sure, not all of those people who subscribed/bookmarked need to comment or leave a kudos, but I've been lowkey discouraged recently by how little engagement I had recently. I don't want to be entitled, and I write mostly to myself but I share my works for others, too. And I will continue writing for those wonderful readers who do comment but, I don't know, I just feel bad.

Once a reader wrote me a poem in their comment and I still remember it fondly. Another time a different reader made fanart to my fic. Those are wonderful moments that I will be cherished and which motivate me to keep going.

I don't read a lot, I prefer to write, but I started making sure that I comment on the stories I read or at least give kudos if I'm too drained for the day. It really isn't a lot and not every author responds to my comments but I just feel better knowing that I showed appreciation to the person who created a story that I loved.

Idk, fanfic writers are people like everyone else. Is it entitled of them to want to be assured that the work they pour into their stories is cherished and appreciated? I don't think so.

If you read the fic, leave the kudos. Leave a comment too, if possible. Just do it. It takes a few seconds of your time and it means the world to the writer.

Sincerely, me who just got told that my writing feels like watching a blockbuster movie. I don't care if they were sincere or not, I'll be thinking about that comment for the rest of my life and every time I feel bad about my art, I'll remember that someone once liked it.

[keferon]

Getting Lost

(part 1...maybe?)

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He gets lost. He dives into the ocean of color and sound that is his mind. Here there is no crowd, no little hands tapping on the windows for his attention, no loudspeakers announcing what humans called a "show" or monitors giving him orders to do somersaults to entertain the audience. Here there was only him and infinity.

Nothing was limited, in this space that belongs only to him, he is free. Then he thinks, he sees the world, thinks back to the past. He sees the water again, not the one in his pool, but the one that tastes like salt, the one that is never still, the one that like him does not stop, the one that forever holds the memory of his childhood. It is over there that his cradle is, over there that the world begins, because here it is not the world, because here is limited, here his body fits between four walls, immersed in filtered water and rocked by the sound of the pump hidden behind the concrete.

So in this small part of infinity, he opens a new door and loses himself in his own universe. He tells himself that if he thinks hard enough, if he gets lost far away, the sound of the pump will become that of the whales, that if he continues to dive, the tiles at the bottom of his prison will start to move like the algae of yesteryear... To stop being bored, to drown his sorrow and forget the heaviness of his fins, he gets lost.

In his world of noise and lights, nothing was and everything was at the same time, human languages were refined and distorted into familiar clicks and songs that made him think that maybe home wasn't so far away.....

And then he was taken out again, infinity moved away through an invisible harness that was once very real and left only the cage.

The day had just begun, and an uncomfortable feeling crept into him. The atmosphere was heavy, waiting for something, the humans seemed more excited than usual and they posted on the windows of his pool: "Jazz the orca will be absent today but will return soon with brand new tricks!".

Absent? Absent why? Did they want to make him undergo medical examinations? Make him learn new pirouettes so that the entries increase? No matter the plan of the humans, it made his mind disturbed and troubled. He could not get lost, not return to his world where time no longer counts. No, here he was waiting, he was spinning, he knew that his part of infinity would change for maybe the best, but more likely for the worst.

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-🦇🐧

(First time doing something like this hope you like it!)

"He knew that his part of infinity would change for maybe the best, but more likely for the worst."

[constehlla]

this is more of a last minute silly for free day than anything else, but recently I have been enamored with everyone during Freight where poor Rusty is desperately trying to get his bickering ducks in a row. and they are not having it <3

[nebuladreamz]

A little different than last year's, but here we are again. To say that this past year hasn't been absolutely wild would be a lie, cause HOLY SHIT MAN

This year's birthday is. A little different for me, but you already have the silly comic to show that so I won't make like a broken record oops

But, despite the changes and hills that life's decided I should climb or throw at, it hasn't changed the fact that I'm so genuinely fucking thankful to the people that I've known since joining this fandom. I'm not even kidding when I say that being here has actually changed my life for the better. I know I said something similar last year, but this time, hoo boy it sure turned up the AMP and test how far I could go.

So, to everyone, both new and old; thank you for being here :D

@garbagechocolate @darkxsoulzyx @smoljeanius @bunmuffin @skizabaa

@tuzesdays @sleepykas @fernzwing @kandidandi @starsketchez

@just-a-drawing-bean @notdysfunk @ilsole @amberluvsbugs @cloudyvoid

@nomsthecat @alfinefalf @nosleepygay @theblog-with-thestuff

@cacaocheri

(Edit: ty kibbits for informing me of the. Fuck ass tagging system)

AND TAGGING OTHERS BECAUSE. POINTS. BONKS WITH HEAD. GETTING TO EITHER INTERACT OR TALK OR WHATEVER IS ALWAYS A DELIGHT

@ohno-the-sun @kibbits @ink-yy @saltyfryz @kaprisvn

@hierba-picante @sunny-sophies-garden @cookiiemancer @sneeblbop @justaduckarts

@pepethehumanz @crystalmagpie447 @woolysstuff @mocha-illustrates @duhsty1

@sanchensky @pillowspace @victarin @witherfide

[I DEFINITELY GOT SONAS WRONG AND THESE AREN'T ALL THE SILLY PEOPLE I KNOW BUT IM SITTING HERE AT 2:30 IN THE MORNING JUST KNOW YOU'RE THERE IN SPIRIT HANDING YOU ALL POPTARTS WAUGH]

[airenyah]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dunk Natachai B. (@dunknatachai)

not dunk posting a wedding proposal cake reel and then also making it explicitly gay via his emoji use in his insta story:

he did that specifically to mock me and my pain of not getting a fadelstyle wedding in the thk finale, i just know it 😭😭😭

[ace-of-amaryllis]

thoughts on the "say it scene" from hit indie game in stars and time?

oooooh you have no idea how much I love this scene hahahaha ehehehehhe hehehehehehenehehe rubs my hands together os so so so deviously

as the self proclaimed #1 king fan ever say it lives rent free in my brain just. constantly. it's SUCH A GOOD SCENE. the way it's written, how you can choose whether or not to say it and it has the same result but still feels differently, the way you're so caught up in the island and it's name and siffrin and the king that you don't realize COLOR just showed up in the MONOCHROME GAME until it's over......

ngl I think say it might be the most important or at least one of the most important scenes in isat. it doesn't just serve as a dramatic moment or character stuff or a pivotal point in the plot, it also ties the crumbs of the Island and the crumbs about the king that we've found throughout the House and kingquest and the game thus far all together. and it sets up that siffrin cares about the country too. if you say it, it's because he wants to remember as badly as the King does. and if you don't say it, they repeat that "it's gone, it's gone, it's gone!" and are agonized over it.

and in that moment, siffrin and the king aren't enemies. they're people from the same place, who lost their country, who miss their country, who have both ended up in vaugarde by chance, wanting and trying and dare I say wishing to remember what they had before.

[respectthepetty]

The poster child for

He ain't listening

Not one fucking word was heard

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Trying to explain Basic Shading 101 and honey boo boo is too busy memorizing the curve of your lips and the scent of your neck.

Men are so embarrassing.

[peachypine]

just realized all my other art for osoanzu is scribbly wips RIP have this quick and silly redraw in the meantime. (with @beejoco's oso!)

[gloriousmonsters]

ok listen. listen. hear me out. what if Angel was the one to propose the contract

like.... the intensification of heartbreak and guilt when Val tells him 'I own you, or have you forgotten that?' as Angel looks at his signature, the heart he drew next to it. the extra layer in 'what's the worst part of this hell? I can only blame myself'. and above all it plays well with my observation that their contract had to have been composed with some level of input from Angel, because... why on earth/in hell would Val have given him control of his life outside of the studio; and while Val invokes the contract to put Angel back in 'his place', Angel invokes it to remind Valentino that he can defy him. It's actually similar in composition to a kink contract/agreement--if I'm in this specific place, you hold all the power and call the shots; but outside of it, I don't give you that level of control. Angel can straight up tell Val to fuck off in front of a crowd and all Val can do is say he'll make Angel regret it next time he's in the studio (and isn't that an extremely dark variation of the classic kinky romance beat of 'sub misbehaves when they're in public and can get away with it, dom promises they'll pay for it later'?)

so like. all of that about the contract also works if Val proposed it, but I love headcanoning that their relationship was on the rocks around the time it was signed, and one of the factors was Vox coming onto the scene... and so now i'm just thinking about Angel in his peak era of both-sides-ing their relationship problems, knowing his 'commitment issues' (partly real, partly consisting of val's 'you know other men??' issues) are a major cause, furious and disconcerted at someone else drawing so much of Val's attention, wanting to make a stupid desperate Hail Mary pass to save their relationship but devoid of the usual options of 'have kid' or 'impulsively propose marriage' or 'move to a new house that's inevitably haunted' i watch too much horror, going for the option of '...hey do you want to make the kind of binding contract that is accessible to us?'

and surely it's not that stupid! he's only really giving Val a formal version of the power he gives him already, right? Val's his dom and his director and manager, and maybe there's... problems but it's mostly been great for Angel so far, so if having it on (magic eternally binding) paper would make Val happy and make him understand that Angel really wants him, wants them, the risk is toooootally worth it. just, best not to tell Cherri about it she'd definitely think it was insane.

(and when, much later, she learns about the contract and berates him for being an idiot and not telling her when Val brought it up, maybe don't correct her assumption. just keep it to yourself and feel even worse.)

[rileyclaw]

Spiderverse style portrait study awooo

[temmixx]

I cropped these on my phone lying in bed with a cat on my chest. Ignore the stinky quality

Harpoon. Cuddlefish. Marinehugs also. Theyre my all time favorite dandys world ship and ALSO one of my all time favorite ships

Oh. Cant forget some Loose Lips

The song by Blixemi! A redraw of the single cover (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I LOVE BLIXEMI GO LISTNE TO HER SONGS IF YOU LIKE WARRIOR CATS LLEASE)

The gays

And some forshadowing

[mikansei]

assorted 🦚 HCs i'm probably never going to do anything with and am thus releasing into the wild:

🩵 aventurine's hair is only wavy when it's humid - but coming from a desert planet, basically any humidity above 0% counts as such, so in effect it's now permanently wavy. (on sigonia it only showed when it rained, which was such an infrequent blessing that it was seen as good luck - which, at this point, is just another facet of that grand cosmic joke at his expense. permanently lucky, right?)

🩵 he doesn't hide his brand scar because it makes people visibly uncomfortable to see it, and he's never been a non-confrontational person. sure, he'll twist himself into all kinds of more palatable shapes in order to play a role or fulfill expectations - but there are some things he doesn't want people to be able to ignore. (if you want to look at me, you have to look at what the world did to me. you don't get to look away.)

🩵 he doesn't make it common knowledge that he never learned to swim; he'll happily sip mai tais under the shade of a beach umbrella, but no one's ever seen him get in the water. (ratio swims like a fish, but the "wet shirtless ratio" factor overrides any jealousy he might feel over this.)

🩵 he has mixed feelings about rain until he has to be In The Rain, at which point he becomes the world's saddest wettest cat about it. and yes, some of it's about evoking bad memories - but the sensation of cold wet clothes clinging to him is also just physically uncomfortable.

also this doesn't really fit here but i don't want to make a separate post lmao, the ingame descriptions of the avgins and the halovians are making me slightly insane

halovians:

A revered race esteemed for their enchanting voices and captivating appearance, widely adored throughout the universe. They seem born into the love and admiration of other species and peoples. Halovians are blessed with shrewdness and few can peer past their mysterious and elegant smiles.

avgins:

The Avgins are blessed with attractive facial features, beautiful eyes, and an innate wealth of emotional intelligence, all of which effortlessly endear themselves to any strangers. However, these inborn talents are the exact reason they draw jealousy and ire from others.

the descriptions are so incredibly similar and yet their reception is polar opposite!! i feel a very normal amount of emotion about this

[lumi-cherries]

do you have any rei boob hcs... i like to think she has stretch marks from them growing kind of quickly (projecting) i like to think she was flat chested at first but then they seemed to grow overnight LOL

STRETCH MARKS.......................................... HOLY SHIT. ANON. YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO GOOD this will officially be my hc as well thank u

[iknowwhereyousnoozeatnight]

this one's for all the yuri enjoyers out there — nsft under cut

meronia event prompt(s): scar

[thegreatyin]

okay. so.

cards on the table: ive had a huge question about a major part of SMEN for quite some time now and all the research ive done whilst trying to solve said question has been pretty much futile.

so.

i'm asking it to tumblr dot com instead.

major spoilers for seeking mr eaten's name, as mentioned. yes i'm asking this for exactly the reason you think i'm asking this.

what is st gawain's,,, Deal? like, what does it look like? how does it function? is it a dullahan situation or do we just go full body horror with it? exactly how literal (and visible) is "you chop off your head and get hollowed out to become a candle"?

i've seen the text. i know what the storylet says. ive just always struggled to picture, like,,,, what it looks like from the outside. whether or not you're essentially just a wax recreation of yourself. if you even still breathe and sleep after That Whole Thing. if you even bleed anymore.

i know these are all questions i can come up with answers for myself. and i can and will and that is a threat. but also i'm open to decapitation-themed suggestions.

[suntails]

two left to draw and it’s done. the series will have taken over two months but it’ll be DONE. sleepy silver sweep <3