#i say this a lot but idc

[thevirgodoll]

A Rant on Friendships.

You know… ever since I learned that being ignored or ostracized caused the same amount of pain in the brain as physical pain, it all clicked. I was never too emotional or overreacting to getting left behind by people I would’ve done everything for. I was grieving a loss. I was grieving having love exploding inside of me with no release.

As someone who prioritizes conflict resolution, I can’t fathom a life where extreme avoidance is the default. While I go through periods of isolation, I go out of my way to affirm everyone and make them feel safe. I can’t possibly understand doing otherwise. Maybe, it’s not something for me to understand.

If it was a romantic partner treating them this way, they’d throw a fit. Love them one day, hate them the next. And that’s the problem… we have normalized that behavior and called it a boundary. That’s not the definition of setting a boundary. Stonewalling is literally emotional abuse. A boundary involves reciprocal behavior, not punishment.

There’s such a selfish, lackadaisical approach everyone has with each other in friendships. These types of people are the first to complain about lacking friends, but don’t want to do the work to upkeep them.

Because I go through hell in my life by being disabled, I find it to be no excuse at this point. I find some way to stay afloat for everyone else, even when I’m drowning. I say these friendship sentiments often, but it’s getting to the point to where I don’t even want to try anymore. I am tired. I’m done overextending myself or waiting for things to change or for someone to recognize my story and just…be present.

The horrors are immeasurable, but we must endure. Therapy has taught me to prioritize vulnerability… so when I display that, and don’t get it back, I’ve learned to just understand I can’t have someone like that in my space. In my healing process, it’s become apparent that I have to see actions for what they are. I can’t control everything. I have to value myself even when someone else devalues me. It’s not personal, it’s misdirection… it’s projection.

When someone is blinded by their own cynicism and insecurities, it’s easy to maintain bias and mindset fallacies. It's easy to be committed to a narrative that doesn't exist. It's easy to perceive what you want to. But like I always say, perception is truly not reality. Knowing that is the only way to tear down your ego enough to navigate friendships and relationships when it comes to conflict resolution.

Recognizing patterns is a huge key to self development and growth, not just creating a self care routine or wearing a face mask or making a Pinterest board. Accountability is the step to mindfulness. Wisdom comes in admitting you don’t know what you don’t know.

And that requires a skill set that so many people are unwilling to have and refine. Admitting you’re the problem means facing yourself. People would rather turn their back than look in the mirror.

I do not wish to entertain dynamics where I don’t feel the love, where I feel like I’m taking up too much space, where I have to chase someone to even get half of what I’d give them.

Some people don’t have the capacity to be what I need them to be, and I have to learn to be okay with that. And even still, I have the upmost respect and deep love anyway.

I can vouch for my own character. I don’t need anyone to validate it for me. If someone wants to go choose rocks when they have a Diamond in front of them, then so be it. That’s their L to take. Not mine.

All love. Grateful for what is in alignment.

[abstractfrog]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Mr Sherlock Holmes! Here's a litttleee celebratory comic from me

[jkvjimin]

seven days a week; jungkook's birthday countdown ↳ tue: a concert close to my heart

[yooboobies]

i think about them a lot...:') [cr. 0613data]

[bunnyboy-juice]

NO MORE ASSOCIATING THINGS WITH FEMMES ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE PINK!HYPERFEM FEMMES ARE GREAT AND I LOVE YOU CAMPY FEMMES WHO EMBODY PINK BUT ALSO JESUS CHRIST CAN YOU GUYS NOT GO MORE THAN ONE DAY W/O TRYING TO SHOEHORN FEMMES INTO BEING ONLY PINK UWU BABIES. I AM FEMME AS IN GRASS AS IN DIRT AS IN TREE BARK AS IN WEEDS SPROUTING THROUGH THE SIDEWALK CEMENT. FEMME AS IN GENDER NONCONFORMITY AS IN FUCK YOU MY FEMININITY IS WHAT *I* SAY IT IS. FEMME AS IN DEPTH AND DARKNESS AND WARMTH AND TERROR. FEMME AS IN CAVES. FEMME AS IN LIGHTNING. FEMME AS IN AN AMALGAMATION OF TRAITS THAT I HAVE DECIDED ARE FEMININE REGARDLESS OF WHAT SOCIETY SAYS. FUCK IS IT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!???

[deoidesign]

One of my first digital pieces (2010) versus one of my recent ones (2024)

We all start somewhere!

[chinese--satellite]

sebastian vettel: yeah, i'm sure you would have waved me past as well.

[m4rs-ex3]

the way that they have been through everything together and have the deepest connection two people can have, and yet they're still all flustered and sweet with each other. my heart

rayla's face. i. H E R. she is so goddamn excited i'm so happy for her

her watching him take her arm 😭 im gonna throw up. she doesn't even know what's coming

callum's face. i. H I M. he is so goddamn lovesick i can't deal

i can't believe he invented being in love

this is the face of a guy with Plans

if someone looked at me like this i would kiss them in half a heartbeat. clearly i'm not alone in this. at last she listens to me

the Stride

her starstruck little face. again the way she genuinely wasn't expecting anything and he could not have been more ready asdfasdf

i would describe the intricacies of how their lips part with accompanying frame-by-frame screenshots and how obsessed i am with it, but i think i'm already on some sort of watch list so i maybe just won't

his fucking sigh no one talk to me

HER GIGGLE. HER GIGGLE NO ONE. FUCKING. TALK TO ME. she is so ecstatic and relieved and he is so happy that she is so happy and i can't believe they invented love

oh this. when she's saying her ily and, so far, he's just been all cool and sure and bedroom eyes-y, and his eyes widen ever so slightly (ik i swear trust me) and then his eyebrows get that little upturn and despite everything, her telling him that she loves him (which she has already made rather clear) still gets to him.

HTHEY 😭 his arms tightening around her IDENTICALLY to their ambler kiss. his fuckin wide ass stance and her little legs together and she is just being absorbed by him like the marshmallow lady from scary stories to tell in the dark. but in a cute way. also who do i need to pay to just tell me where her hand is because there is not a single frame where you can see it and the curiosity is killing me

everything about this scene gives "couple that acts like every moment together is both their very first and their very last." they transcend time itself i am so serious

[carnirat]

Saw the sketch for this and the only version I found of it finished was like 2 pixels so I decided to finish it myself.

Some process photos below the cut ✨ (including just the line art if you wanna color it yourself)

If you wanna color the line art digitally, if you are able to, just set the image to multiply and make sure the color layers are below the line art layer <3 if you have questions feel free to ask in replies

-

Did I do a good job making it look official hehe I really tried

[coycowboykoi]

This sat in my drafts for a while now, but here's my own designs for teenage Zim and Dib!

[moogghost]

was gonna post something else but i had an. idea. a horrible idea. and unfortunately needed to make it. real

[calware]

i'm used to the "hal cannot be anything other than 13 and there is no room for nuance on this matter" argument but the other two statements are so confusing to me. what

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

hi! i saw on your shipping chart you had meenah and cronus as moirails and noted 'would have prevented all problems' and ive never really seen that take before. id love to hear your thoughts on that if you wanted to talk about them, your analysis in general is always amazing

Sure! I know this one's going to be controversial, but TBH I'm kind of fascinated by their dynamic. So please bear with me here and come into it with an open mind; I was also really surprised when I noticed what was going on.

Also, standard disclaimer that nobody has to agree with me or ship my ships, I literally don't care, HCs are valid, death of the author, etc. etc. This is just a canon discussion blog, and there's kind of a weird amount to read into in the canon between these two.

Okay, so, first of all, quick refresher on moirallegiance: it's not necessarily about being BFFs, it's very specifically about pacifying each other, keeping each other calm and stable, and preventing each other from causing harm to oneself or to others.

Ergo, the marker of moirallegiance rests not on "do these two get along as BFFs?" and instead on "do these two keep each other calm and/or mitigate each others' harm".

So with that out of the way, Cronus and Meenah. We know that Cronus has a redcrush on her, echoing Eridan's redcrush on Feferi, and that Meenah is not interested at all. Cronus shoots his shot with her, she's like ick, no & leaves, and that's that on that. Cronus then rounds on Mituna and says some unbelievably cruel and shitty stuff, but here's Point #1 - Meenah shows up again, and Cronus stops immediately, and then is noticeably calmer and friendlier to Mituna. Compare:

CRONUS: you are a brain damaged reject on a team full of rejects. a rejects reject. i vwould havwe culled you myself if that vword meant vwhat it should havwe on our planet.

-

CRONUS: vwell, this is clearly absurd, but nyeh, vwhat the heck. CRONUS: mituna, i just cant take it anymore. i think my ghost is going to kill itself. MITUNA: WH0W4H L375 FUCK!!!!! CRONUS: vwait... CRONUS: really? MITUNA: N0 0Y0 P135H3 0FF 1ND107 FUGG1NG G4R484G3  #FUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0U CRONUS: oh.

So at the very least, SOMETHING conciliatory seems to be happening here, whether that's pale or ashen. But I'm going with pale, because it continues.

Their second conversation together is really interesting - not only has Cronus stopped redflirting with her, but he no longer even seems interested. Compare this to the section with Mituna above:

CRONUS: oh sure. no grub sauce on your hands! MEENAH: wow you did it MEENAH: ampora you totally changed my mind about you lets start makin out immediately  #not CRONUS: just admit it. you havwe it vwithin you to be just as harsh to our behelmeted buddy as i am, if not more

Like, he doesn't even ACKNOWLEDGE the "let's make out #not". Not even in an indignant "see, you keep playing with my collapsing and expanding bladder based vwascular system" kind of way. Literally just breezes right by it, which says to me that he isn't even really that into her concupiscently.

But more interesting are the actual contents of the conversation. Cronus is the only person on the entire team who's able to make Meenah have misgivings about how awesome the Condy is.

MEENAH: man MEENAH: a girls gotta have fuel for her pimp ride know what im sayin MEENAH: like MEENAH: i probably took care of him good MEENAH: you know how it is someones gotta take care of the guy anyways MEENAH: and... yeah #38(

This is the first and only time that Meenah even acknowledges that the Condy - herself at her worst - is kind of shitty. This is the first and only time she's ever expressed any emotion for the Condy other than fangirlish admiration or rage against Caluborn for enslaving her. For whatever reason, she actually listens to Cronus when Cronus takes her to task, and he's actually able to make her genuinely reflect on her worst tendencies.

But maybe more damning is the fact that in their first real conversation together for nearly an eon, she almost fixes him:

MEENAH: i heard a rumor you think youre a human now MEENAH: that true CRONUS: its a privwate matter. i dont see vwhy i should havwe to talk about it vwith you, and open myself up to more of your judgmental scorn. MEENAH: sounds like another desperate cry for attention imo

[...]

CRONUS: to be honest, she might be right. sometimes i think i might only be saying im a human to get attention. maybe i should givwe it up.

Cronus's fundamental emotional problem is a sense of purposelesness and ennui. Born into a caste of high privilege, with his identity overshadowed by said position, he's been handed an unpleasant cocktail of entitlement, lack of true emotional support or connection, and lack of a real, authentic personal identity - especially because the thing he DID seem to derive a sense of identity and purpose from - his little Harry Potter wizard backstory - was driven out of him. In other words, he's kind of a shitty rich kid that doesn't really know who he is outside of that, and his humankin stuff is an attempt to fill the wizard hole without addressing his real underlying issues. It's a Bad Thing for him to be doing, and something he should drop in order to start addressing his genuine insecurities, feelings of emptiness, and lack of identity or purpose. In other words, it's harm he's performing on himself, and a single conversation with Meenah being enough to make him reconsider it? Hmmmmmm.

In fact, I'm not the only one picking up on the pale vibes. The specific way that Kankri interrupts the two reads as incredibly pick-me in pale:

KANKRI: Listen, I was d9ing y9u a fav9r. Y9u d9n't need t9 6e dating any9ne wh9 can't appreciate y9u f9r wh9 y9u really are, 9r m9re imp9rtantly, which fantasy versi9n 9f y9urself y9u m9st str9ngly identify with.

[...]

I just wanted y9u t9 kn9w that I'm here f9r y9u, and am prepared t9 lecture t9 y9u extensively, I mean, listen t9 y9u extensively, a69ut y9ur ultra-imp9rtant pr96lem.

"Don't take Meenah's advice about your problems! Take mine instead, I care about you sooo much more than she does!" lol. I have a whole essay on how Kankri and Cronus are actually super toxic for each other, in an interesting foil to Karkat and Eridan, which I'll link here in a bit (I'm on mobile RN and it's hard enough C/Ping my sources).

In any case, Kankri slides in at exactly the moment where Meenah's about to fix Cronus, and proceeds to make Cronus worse. The details are in the Cronus and Kankri essay, but TL;DR it's kind of implied that Kankri is the one who talked Cronus out of the wizard stuff in the first place, which pretty much disqualifies the two's relationship from pale, given how harmful that was. This whole thing is pretty reminiscent of Gamzee coming between Karkat and Eridan when Eridan is trying to comfort Karkat about Sollux dying, because it's implied Gamzee has a palecrush on the guy. That might be subjective, though.

What isn't subjective is the fact that Meenah unironically defends Cronus's wizard beliefs when Aranea starts shitting on them.

ARANEA: Whatever the case, it was pro8a8ly for the 8est, since pretty much everyone who had half a think pan thought [Cronus's wizard beliefs were] all a 8unch of ridiculous nonsense. MEENAH: serket why do you got to hate on other peoples religions MEENAH: dont you kno they just as much a load of crackpotty bunk as all your spiritual bullfuck ARANEA: 8ut I........ ARANEA: Yes, I guess I was out of line.

She doesn't do this for anybody else. Not long after, it turns out she's absolutely joking about defending Kurloz:

MEENAH: wow serket MEENAH: just wow so rude MEENAH: poor clown ARANEA: Don't give me that! I seem to remem8er you having more than a few unkind words for him 8ehind his 8ack. MEENAH: yeah im messin witchu he sux

And even proceeds to shit on HIS spiritual bullfuck:

MEENAH: )(ONK ARANEA: Honk honk! ::::) MEENAH: lol im glad we can both agree that clowny fuckin soda cult is the dumbest shit ever

So... weird, huh? Seems like she gives Cronus special treatment for some reason.

That's it for the diegetic stuff to go over, which, yes, means that there's a bit of non-diegetic stuff to discuss. It's not much, but here's Hussie's commentary from the Act 5 Act 2 book, on Mindfang's journal entries about Dualscar leading up to the 3x showdown (emphasis mine):

In the end, even though violets are the ruling class, she doesn't care much about them either. All she cares about is keeping her stranglehold on power with this complex, staggered, oppression-based sort of pyramid scheme. Note how it says the Condesce doesn't even know who Dualscar is. That's how insignificant he is, ultimately. Similarly, all Eridan was to Feferi after a while was a tiresome pest. The way that situation played out could also be seen as long-delayed karmic backlash for Dualscar's irrelevance to her, at least from a very Amporan point of view.

Now, while the specific context here is about how, from the point of view of a shitty entitled guy, Eridan killing Feferi is kind of a retribution for the Condy not giving a shit about Dualscar, all of Hussie's commentary is meant to be interrogated just as much as the base text, and it just makes me wonder. The dancestors very much treat their Alternian counterparts as alternate versions of themselves, consistent throughout their interactions, meaning we ought to consider Duascar and the Condesce to be versions of Cronus and Meenah.

If it is, in fact, the case that Cronus and Meenah would've made for excellent, harm-reducing moirails for each other, then murderstuck being a karmic backlash for their ultimate irrelevance to each other takes on a much greater implication - one that traces back to Cronus's classpect.

Bards start off massive karmic chain reactions, resulting in improbable victory or abject defeat, sometimes both; Hope is an aspect whose main application is making fake things real.

So I'm not saying that Cronus believing that an evil wizard attacked him when he was younger but was inadvertently sealed away and that Cronus was therefore karmically destined to defeat this wizard, but then having his beliefs shattered halfway through, led to him karmically contributing to the eventual creation of LE via his Hope abilities "inviting destruction" by making only the first half of his fake prophecy true, but - oh, no, wait, I am saying that. Man, that really sucks for everybody. If only Cronus had a friend who was, for whatever reason, willing to stick up for his dumbass wizard faith.

If only.

[spitblaze]

gnc and butch women (cis AND trans) and transmascs are punished for performing masculinity past certain thresholds of arbitrary attractiveness because people that cishet society categorizes or clocks as 'women' are not supposed to perform masculinity. hope this helps 👍

[matchalovertrait]

Lewis Mack! 🥳 When Dulce was 12 years old, she was in an episode of Diced Junior, a competitive cooking show for young aspiring chefs. Lewis was a fellow competitor. Let's see what he's been up to since the last time we've seen him.

Transcript:

Lewis: Do my eyes deceive me or is Dulce Alegría really at my front step right now?

Dulce: [Laughs] Lewis! It’s so good to see you again after so long.

Lewis: Ooohh, we’re speaking English today?

Dulce: I’m practicing it! I might be moving here with my boyfriend. I don’t know, we’ll see where the wind takes us.

Lewis: Sounds exciting!

Dulce: Anyway. Caruso, Lewis. Lewis, Caruso.

Lewis: Very nice to meet you. I see that Dulce posts you all the time.

Caruso: Nice to meet you too.

Lewis: Quite a strong handshake there, big fella.

Caruso: Ah, sorry. I don’t recognize my own strength sometimes.

Caruso: I should get going now. I don’t want to be late, you know?

Dulce: Oh, definitely!

Dulce: I’ll see you later, then. Good luck.

Caruso: Thanks.

[dicaxasinus]

imagine younger morgott and mohg growing up in the sewers. theyre big enough to use the weapons their dad left for them, but he hasnt come back to see them in a long time. they dont really know whats going on in leyndell, except MAYBE the ceiling shakes sometimes and dragon shrieking happens a LOT. the sewers absolutely suck major balls: the other omens arent exactly their allies, they never know when an omenkiller might show up, and theres part of the sewers where crazy people shoot fire out of their faces. they just avoid that place as much as possible.

and then one day, one of them hears something down a tunnel. an omen spotting something and going on the offensive before its opponent can. but instead of the sounds of combat, theres a squeak of surprise and an incantation's chime. lavender light appears from the same direction, followed by a girls whisper echoing, "youre probably grumpy because youre tired. a nice nap should help. sweet dreams!"

a little girl with long lavender hair walks through the sewers with all the comfort she might through a flower filled meadow, perfectly at home with all the grime and muck, and a smile on her face as she hums to herself. she shouldnt be so at ease in such a dangerous place, but she tries to talk to every omen she sees, only to perform that same lavender incantation each time shes attacked. against all odds, the omens lay down their weapons in sleep - and a peaceful sleep at that. the girl wishes each and every one sweet dreams before she resumes her stroll.

morgott has ample time to observe her strangeness before confronting her, not with violence but with a stern warning and a demand to know her identity. the girl seems awestruck by his intact horns, and his willingness to talk brings a brilliant smile - the kind rarely seen in the sewers - to her face. she introduces herself as trina, and she heard that there were people living down here. she just wanted to meet them, and see if she could help them. and so far, its seemed like everyone could use a good nights sleep.

theres no mention of miquella, nor his desire to learn his mothers secrets hidden away from the erdtrees radiance. his schemes are still percolating, and trina is only meant to gather information. but that wont stop her from talking to the omens, rats, and even the frenzied merchants hiding away in the depths. theres room in her heart for everyone, especially the royal omen twins who she unquestioningly accepts as her brothers. let them think that she is just another child of marika, an individual separate from miquella. in the sewer - in the muck and grime - she can be an individual, loved for *herself* and not for miquellas charms. she can love her brothers as they are, not for what miquella can take from them.

someday, trina will vanish like godfrey did, leaving the frenzied merchants with her song. mohg is caught off-guard by miquella, believing for a moment that he is the sister he loved so dearly. her influence made it all the easier for miquella to steal his heart. morgott does not know trinas nature, and doesnt realize the hand she had in miquellas treachery. she is just another person to abandon him, and perhaps the golden order as well.

and someday trina will return to the muck and grime, her love cast away by her other half. she will be at home there, among the putresence, as long as it takes for miquellas scheme to be thwarted.