#i'm glad i pushed through with it here but art has been such a Struggle lately

[pekoeboo]

some simple arts of Agent 47 because I've been thinking a lot about the Hitman series again lately. still love this messed-up bald assassin, honestly lol. it was kinda fun to try and draw him again; it's been a while :'0

please do not remove caption or repost. also on deviantart

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Superman #19 - Speaking as someone who has huge gaps in their Legion knowledge, I loved Time Trapper's boast to Superman that the two of them are eternal and will wage war until the end of existence. And when he lowered his hood at the end and revealed himself as Doomsday I actually cackled. Of course, who else could endure until the end of time? And Doomsday's evolution ability actually works with how the Time Trapper (as I understand) has very vague powers and actually shifts (you might even say evolves) with how time changes. Alright Williamson, for the first time since I read DoS you've got me interested and excited for a Doomsday story. Doomsday talking about Superman's immortality harkens back to the Knight Terrors tie-in, if this is something Williamson has had on his mind for a while, optimistically he has something to say about it. Atomic Skull is confirmed to have reverted to being a bad guy, signaling what I expect to be an editorial push to undo the majority of the "redemptions" we've seen villains undergo recently. I bet Livewire reverts when "Superwoman" starts getting more attention and press than she does. Lex will presumably revert after getting his memories back to synergize with the movie. Mora on art is a beauty, this is probably the most enjoyable the book has been since Campbell stopped being the regular artist.

Absolute Wonder Woman #1 - Great first issue. Thompson proved she knows what the core of Wonder Woman is via that scene with baby Diana first scolding, then kissing, the baby dragon/demon after it tried to cook her. Sherman's art evokes this gothic atmosphere that suits a Wondy raised in hell perfectly. My favorite portion was the flashback to Circe raising Diana as her daughter. Seeing that spread of how their home evolved as Diana grew up hit hard for some reason, and I'm eager to uncover the mystery of what happened with the Amazons, why were they exiled, why was Diana spared, etc. However the modern day portion was weak. The Harbingers seem like generic evil monsters, at first I wondered if that was the Absolute Center given it was a floating island that spewed out dinos. We'll see what Thompson has planned for them, but they didn't immediately grab my interest the way the Party Animals over in Batman did. Credit to Thompson however, unlike Snyder she actually showed Diana struggle and did a better job of portraying this Wondy as a hero who is on the backfoot while Snyder had Batman blow through thugs as easily as his mainline counterpart.

Zatanna: BDTH #5 - I enjoyed it as an Elseworld take and thus wasn't too bothered by her dad being evil here. Tamaki's writing was solid albeit nothing exceptional, the real star was Javier Rodriguez. His art is what made this book fantastic! Would love to read a sequel that explored Zatanna with her daddy issues resolved up against a new threat. Glad to see Diana show up at the end to recruit Zee alongside the expected Batman cameo, anything that shows Zee and Di having a long history of friendship makes me happy.

Nightwing #119 - Was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly Watters shifted everything from the lighter tone of Taylor to his own darker style. Dick flooded Bludhaven with money in Taylor's run, which made it more attractive to criminals, which of course also brought in supercriminals. Watters has a good handle on Nightwing's voice, "anyhow time for jail" made me laugh. Jokes are there but he also writes Dick as serious and, when he needs to be, downright scary. Soy's art is great, he's long been a favorite of mine and I both his portrayal of Bludhaven as well as his designs for the villains.

Incredible Hulk #18 - My token Marvel book of the week! Earls' art is improving imo, and the section where Hulk tries to rip Banner out of himself was grotesque, man I love Klein's art. Hmmm, is the One Below All still protecting Hulk somehow? Or is this something else keeping Eldest from taking control of Hulk?

[stormblessed95]

Alone: FACE by Jimin

Can we talk about how heartbreakingly beautiful this song is? And sad? And fucking relatable in a way that aches so much?

Lyrics:

Trans from Jimins FACE live talking about Alone...

What he shared in a Hybe Interview about Alone here too

There was so much happening and changing for them during that vacation too. Jin was leaving, Jimin had emergency surgery and covid, they were planning their group hiatus. They were on a break, but still had so many things to do and sort through on their own and that had to be so challenging. Especially amid all the quarantine rules too. Honestly, this song encapsulates depression and the honest struggle it is, even when things in your life are in general, really good. That emptiness just sits with you always, even when you are in the moment, happy. Or when things are going well. And you know that deep down, you are still just pretending to be okay. And you don't know how to handle those feelings at all. For anyone else who recongizes that feeling, you aren't alone. Not really. For those who don't, I hope you never do. ❤️💜 I'm glad he has reassured us that he is actually doing better now and that he has worked through these feelings. I love him so much and love that he shared this with us too. In such a beautiful song.

And because I'm me. I'm back to relating it to book scenes. I brought up Kaladin last time for SMFPT2 lol and imma do it again! The way that this song fits just those all encompassing feelings of darkness and despair and where do I even go from here type feelings. Kaladin, who struggles so much with depression and PTSD and the mental health rep that is portrayed so well in this series and dealing with the after affects of so much war and fighting.... I think this song, fits this scene so well it hurts. And I like to think that how Adolin and Syl were there for Kal, the members were there for Jimin in similar ways. Ways that Jimin needed. In fact, I know they were. They love each other all so much and are always there to support each other no matter what.

Spoilers for Rhythm of War and Trigger warnings for thoughts of suicide below

"Because I miss the members too, and secretly wanting to be comforted" - Jimin

"Nobody pushed him, though he wished that one of them would. But these days, they had their own lives" - Kaladin

And me too sometimes. Let's be honest. Lol "only one way out" tears at my soul. Same with the way Jimin talks about just feeling the loneliness too.

And because I'm already here and sharing and indulging my book obsession. This artist on Twitter illustrated that above scene in the most perfect series of art on Twitter and I'm IN LOVE

Open the thread for the other 3 parts if you want. It's worth it if you do. And you made it this far in the post. This song (and this scene) break my heart. And I love the song, and Jimin and the fact that he gifted this song and this feeling to us, to share. To know we aren't actually... alone... in the way this feels sometimes.

Thanks for letting me mash my obsessions together again. ❤️

[monstroso]

still thinking about Daria

in some ways I'm glad I never watched Daria as a teenager. I don't know that at 16 I would have been able to take away from it the things about it that I like so much now as an adult. that said, in some ways I do feel like it would have done me some good.

a little over a week ago I had expressed to @djangodurango that I often feel uncomfortable giving feedback on art/writing to people I don't know well and who haven't explicitly asked for anything aside from an acknowledgement that I've seen it. This is because, I said, people often take my feedback to heart. Even an offhand (and not even necessarily negative) remark in the past has been enough to discourage people from continuing on their work and, I said, I was tired of wielding that kind of responsibility. So unless I have a glowing endorsement to dispense, I usually don't say anything at all.

Of course, bringing it up with her only made me think more about why that might be. Why *do* people take what I say so seriously? Why should the opinion of one person have so much weight? Why my opinion specifically? "I'm just saying stuff," I believe were my exact words. "There's no reason for people to feel like they need to cater to me. I'm just Some Guy!"

After ruminating on it for a while, the only conclusion I could come to was that my opinion must hold more weight than I'd initially thought. I came back to DJ with the results of my findings. "People must think highly of what I have to say. They must respect my opinion." It doesn't make any sense, but there it is. I can't control what people think of me, only my own actions. I decided I was right to have been careful with my feedback these past few years, even if I didn't understand people's reasoning.

And then we watched the last Daria movie, Is It College Yet?. It's really good, a nearly perfect ending to a show that concretely had something to say to its audience. I'm so glad I watched it. But the thing that really caught my attention was a scene right at the end.

For context, Daria's been trying to get Jane to apply to an art college, something Jane has written off because she got rejected from the lower-end state schools she applied to first. Daria's spent the entire movie trying to push Jane through her doubts, telling her over and over again that her work is *good* and fear of rejection shouldn't stop her from trying, even as Daria herself is struggling with the same problem in her own college application process as well as her conflicted feelings about her impending breakup with her boyfriend, Tom.

When the breakup inevitably happens, Tom asks if Daria ever had any warm feelings towards him at all. Daria, a little shocked, says that of course she did! That she liked being with him and that the experience was good and worth having, that Tom is smart and funny and kind and she thinks he's a great guy. The breakup is happening because they're not at a place in their lives where them dating makes sense anymore, not because she doesn't like Tom as a person. Tom, reassured, says that he's always respected Daria's opinion, to which Daria seems surprised. When she tells Jane this later, with a kind of 'can you believe it? He values *my* opinion?' attitude, Jane agrees. She says she respects Daria's opinion so much that she went ahead and applied to the art school even in the face of her own doubts and the cold shoulder from her older brother. And she got accepted!

And it was at this point that I went "Heeeey, wait a minute-" and DJ started laughing at me.

"Why is Daria learning this lesson I only just learned myself a few days ago, DJ?" I asked. "You're in this show, and you don't like it," she teased me back, using my own joke against me.

Anyway, I dont have anything else to add here really, just still thinking about it. Daria's good.

[archenemyintellegence]

(TW: Blood)

"Today" (21/3/2023)

。

Text: "Keep overcome the dark. Don't give it up today."

。

One time, I was praying for the divine to bring an end to my misery. A figure in a worn-out silver armor appeared in a the dark. Greyish green smoke came with him and surrounded his feet. His skeleton legs were not covered by the armor, and were wrapped with bandages. He had a silver dagger with him, which was covered with thick rotten blood.

I felt that he was the reaper. I thought it was the end of me, but he didn't approach me. "It's not yet time..." He said softly as he stood in front of me, motionless. There were lots of questions inside my mind, but he answered none of them. "It's not yet time..." He repeated.

Since then, everytime I wanted to end my life, or feel that the day is so horrible that I am going to die, the same vision appears in my mind, reminding me today is not the time.

。

I've learned that Viktor is an Aries on Arcane's Instagram and this makes me want to draw him in my birthday art. It was planned to be a drawing featuring me and Viktor, but I struggled to find time for a two people drawing. However, through the process, I've found that this is still a drawing of me and Viktor, as my energy is present here. This drawing is filled with personal stories and they're fused with Viktor here. It's not the same painting without my stories. So I can say that it's a drawing of me and Viktor together.

Unlike B&W drawing, which every bit of black and blank has an enormous amount of information in it, every stroke of colors is a tiny piece of my emotions, or a tiny fragment of a story. A stroke itself is too insignificant to tell a story, but with thousands of other strokes of colors, the fragments resonate with each other, and form a new story.

The vision I've mentioned above is one of the inspirations for this drawing, but there're more. First of all, this drawing is inspired by a dream I had which I saw Viktor. He was in the rib cage outfit I've drawn him in. I was insecure about that drawing, but he told me that he likes the outfit a lot in that dream. He was in the dark, with smoke surrounding his feet, and colored light shining through the smokes. I always wanted to draw him in the rib cage outfit again, but he was too beautiful in this dream for me to draw a casual drawing for him. So I left the idea in my head, and it reacted with more ideas as time moves on.

The second inspiration is "10 of swords" in tarot, which is my favourite card. My love towards this card grows as I spend more time on tarot. It's a perfect card with a more perfect message. "The dawn is coming, and when the sun rises, all suffering you've been through will become nothing but a show. So, feel 10 swords pierce into your body for one last time. Enjoy the experience while you can." I also believe that this card is very suitable for Viktor, as he let his suffering inspires him to be more passionate in pursuing his goals. There's a saying that people sees thing when they're near their end... I wonder what is Viktor seeing. What motivates and inspires him to continue pushing even when everything is crumbling? It may be the sun, which the person on the 10 of swords card is able to see, as he was laying down on the ground.

There're more minor inspirations but here is the last one that I will share with you. It's the song "Today" remixed by mind.in.a.box. This song fuels me to keep going on, reminding me there is strength inside me to do so. It's also a perfect song for Viktor in my opinion, as well as the perfect song for this drawing. That's why I named this drawing "Today", and put some lyrics on the drawing.

I'm so glad that I didn't give up, so I can create this beautiful drawing, and have an amazing drawing to appreciate. Happy birthday to myself. Let's fight for another year.

。

Here're some alternative versions of the drawing.

Here's the speed paint.

And here's the song.

[teenagedirt]

Kissing in cars(3)

Chapter3-time will heal

Vic x female reader

*the next day*

*the next day* I walk out of my room, to look for Vic. I told him how I really feel last night. He loves me too. I'm so glad. I couldn't have handled it he had left me. I walk into the living room, no Vic. I check the kitchen, his room, hell I even check the bathroom. Still I can't find him. Immediately my mind goes to the theory that he has changed his mind and left me. Then something catches my eye. A small piece of paper with his handwriting."Oh fuck, "I whisper to myself thinking it was some kind of I'm sorry or worst case scenario a suicide note. Considering we have both struggled mentally. I pick it up and read it. "Hey sorry if I worry you I'm out with Jaime right now I should be back around one pm" I sigh in relief."God, that fucking scared me". I walk away from the small table next to the couch and into the kitchen, to check the time. " twelve thirty-five" I sigh and grab a poptart and go back to my room. I get my sketchbook out and continue adding details to the concept art I made yesterday.

I hear the door open and close and Vic yell "I'm home". I laugh softly and get up to greet him. I walk out of my room,

" hey what were you doing with Jaime" I ask without looking up from my book. I now look up from my book when I realise how hard he is breathing. He is all sweaty,but it's really hot. As my mind starts to wonder I stare at him my face growing red by the second.

"I....went...on..a,run" he says finally catching his breath.

"Ohhh,that makes sense" I say walking towards him to hug him. It's not awkward we do it everyday. "Wait im all sweaty and gross" he says backing up. I stop in my tracks and look him in the eyes

"I really don't care" he laughs and hugs me. God damn this feels like heaven,his hugs are always the best thing I can ask for but this one feels different. It may be the way he smells, even with him sweaty as fuck I swear this man still smells and looks sexy. I pull back and smile at him.

"I'm gonna go shower" he says smirking at me. I smirk back and he walks to the bathroom and closes the door. I walk back to my room and just start drawing,I zone out for a bit and I see that I've drawn myself in one of vic's shirts. I like the drawing so I keep it but I just hope he never finds it.Just as I close my book he pokes his head into the door

"hey I'm done in the bathroom."

"Hey come here for a sec" I say for two reasons,when I gell asleep on him that was the best sleep of my life and want to cuddle again. The second one being I need to ask him about what he said yesterday

"Okay" he says with a small smile on his face. I smile just seeing the look on the look on his face. He stands in front of me so i pat a spot next to me. He sits down and I clear my throat.

"I don't mean to push you or anything but yesterday, you said you are scared you would disappoint me.why?" He takes a deep breath and rubs his face. With all the breakups I've been through,I'm scared I'll get hurt again, hell I'm scared I'll hurt you." He shakes his head and I sit there shocked.

"Vic,you know you could never hurt me" I say gently touching his arm

"I know but I'm still scared " I nodded nod my head thinking of what to say next.

"Time will heal this wound,and I will wait however long it takes to heal it,I will wait an eternity if I have too,I love you too much to give up" he smiles at me with tears in his eyes."Thank you so much Y/N for everything" he sniffles before hugging me. I melt into his arms we stay like this for a while until the tears have left his eyes and he is no longer sad. He moves his hand and when he does It knocks my sketchbook off my bed. When it hits the ground it opens to my latest drawing. Me in his shirt.

[nel-world]

hindi scenes

INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

Anita and Nick are sitting at a table, discussing the musical script. Anita looks slightly frustrated, tapping her pen against her notebook.

ANITA I’m really struggling with this dialogue. It just doesn’t feel authentic.

A WAITRESS, mid-30s, friendly, approaches their table.

WAITRESS Hi there! Can I get you anything?

NICK I’ll have a latte, please. Anita?

ANITA Just a black coffee, thanks.

The waitress nods and walks away. Anita sighs, staring at her notes.

NICK Maybe we need a break. Clear our heads. Have you ever thought about incorporating another language into your script?

ANITA Actually, that’s not a bad idea. It could add a unique touch. But I don’t know how to write in another language.

Nick smirks and leans in.

NICK Let me handle that. I learned some Hindi from a friend. How about a scene where the character is trying to impress someone with their language skills?

ANITA I like it. Go ahead.

NICK Alright, here goes.

Nick clears his throat and begins speaking in Hindi.

NICK (in Hindi) मेरा नाम निक है। मैं इस परियोजना पर आपके साथ काम करने ��े लिए बहुत खुश हूँ। आप मेरे लिए प्रेरणा स्रोत हैं। (My name is Nick. I am very happy to be working with you on this project. You are an inspiration to me.)

Anita’s eyes widen in surprise.

ANITA That’s perfect! Let’s add it to the script.

NICK Glad you like it. Let’s keep going.

INT. THEATER - REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY

Anita and Nick are rehearsing a scene from the musical. Anita is playing the lead character, and Nick is playing a supporting role.

ANITA (in character) I’m lost in the silence, searching for words to say...

NICK (in character, in Hindi) मैं तुम्हें शब्दों से अधिक प्यार करता हूँ। मेरा दिल हर दिन तुम्हारे लिए धड़कता है। (I love you more than words can express. My heart beats for you every day.)

Anita, still in character, looks taken aback.

ANITA (in character) I didn’t know you spoke Hindi.

NICK (in character) There’s a lot you don’t know about me.

They pause, breaking character, and laugh.

ANITA That was amazing, Nick. This will definitely add a unique touch to the musical.

NICK I’m glad you think so. Let’s keep this momentum going.

INT. NICK'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Nick is on the phone with his mother, speaking in Hindi. He paces around his living room, glancing at the musical script on his coffee table.

NICK (in Hindi) माँ, मैं एक नाटक में काम कर रहा हूँ और मुझे आपकी मदद की जरूरत है। क्या आप मुझे कुछ प्रेरणा दे सकती हैं? (Mom, I'm working on a play, and I need your help. Can you give me some inspiration?)

His MOTHER'S voice is heard through the phone, warm and comforting.

MOTHER (in Hindi) बिल्कुल, बेटा। जब भी आपको मुश्किल लगे, बस अपने दिल की सुनो। याद रखो, सच्ची कला वही है जो दिल से निकलती है। (Of course, son. Whenever you find it difficult, just listen to your heart. Remember, true art is that which comes from the heart.)

Nick smiles, feeling reassured.

NICK (in Hindi) धन्यवाद, माँ। आपकी सलाह हमेशा मेरे काम आती है। (Thank you, Mom. Your advice always helps me.)

INT. ANITA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Anita sits alone, working on her script. She receives a call from Nick. She answers, trying to sound upbeat.

ANITA Hey.

NICK (on phone) Hey. I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to help. The solo show has been taking over everything.

ANITA I understand. Just wish you could continue working on the musical.

NICK (on phone) I know. I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’ll be there next week for sure.

ANITA Okay. Looking forward to it.

INT. DANCE STUDIO - DAY

Anita leads a dance class, counting out beats as her STUDENTS follow along. Though skilled, she seems distracted, glancing at her phone. One of her STUDENTS, JESSICA, 20s, outgoing, notices Anita's wandering focus.

JESSICA Everything okay, Anita? You seem... elsewhere today.

Anita forces a reassuring smile, pocketing her phone.

ANITA Just some stuff on my mind, but I'm good. Let's take it from the top!

As class resumes, Anita tries to push whatever's distracting her aside. But we sense she's holding something back.

INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

Nick is waiting at a table, looking through the musical script. Anita enters, spotting him and waving.

ANITA Hey, Nick!

NICK Hey, Anita. Ready to dive into Act 2?

ANITA Definitely. I was thinking about that Hindi dialogue you added. It’s really working well.

NICK I’m glad you think so. Let’s see if we can incorporate more moments like that.

ANITA Sounds good. I’ve been practicing some Hindi too. Want to hear?

NICK Of course!

Anita takes a deep breath and speaks in Hindi.

ANITA (in Hindi) मैं इस नाटक के लिए बहुत उत्साहित हूँ। यह हमारे लिए एक बड़ी सफलता हो सकती है। (I am very excited for this play. This could be a big success for us.)

Nick claps, impressed.

NICK That was great, Anita! Your pronunciation is spot on.

ANITA Thanks! I’ve been practicing. Now, let’s get to work.

[iunctura-arch]

@ancicntforged:

lilia, what can i really say? I can't remember when the fuck we've met, but I do remember that you've been a constant presence on the dash I always like to see. despite struggles, you always have a good outlook in live and your art is fantastic as well, which is why I always look forward to commissioning you when i can in terms of muses, hwoa nelly you have a lot of them, but my favorite among them definitely are melanie and sasha. sasha is a bias, because i'm a dragon ball nerd, but mel is fantastic too. from her story, to the fc and the many conenctions she has, i love it all. you've put it all together in an unique and enticing manner i hope that 2024 will be a good year for you both IRL and on tumblr

Joy mah Boi! Always glad to see you on the dash too, even if it's silly nonsense like Ruby blowing up the moon on a semi-normal basis or whatever threads you're doing with others! I think we met a few years ago? Honestly, until a certain point, you were always... idk, intimidating to me. WEIRD, I KNOW!!! But given my past of being abused by online rpers (twice. for years. Get rid of one, here comes another that same year a few months apart!), I feel intimidated by everyone but I'm slowly starting to ease up on that thanks to the fact that everyone's been so kind and accommodating. Like, none of y'all pressure me to fill in plot holes, expect me to go by what you want alone and not actually contribute anything besides your own damn plotline (basically making me write half of your fanfiction), ect...

Like I'm finally healing but at what cost.

MY ART IS LEVELLING UP THIS YEAR!! That I can tell you for sure. I'm going to be doing so much art this year it'll be uncanny. Creative burnout who? (yes I'm dealing with burnout atm but pushing through it!) I HOPE THAT I CAN GIVE YOU A WORTHWHILE COMMISSION IN THE FUTUREEEE

I think it's about 100 or so now, not counting the ones I haven't brought to Tumblr and keep to Discord/the fact I can probably RP anyone as long as I've seen the series. If I did that, I'd have well over 200 and then some!!! I love Sasha, really. She's neat to RP as. A very well-mannered Destruction God who just likes food because her predecessor gave her a good reason to! Oh god, Melanie has come so far from just being an "alternate version" of Rani (who was the original Melanie before I changed her name, fun fact!) because I was knee-deep in Symphogear. I love how, with @stalwartembers' and my partner's help, she basically became the Melanie we all know and love today. The best version of herself. And it all started as a "what if she got Gungnir instead of Hibiki" thought.

It's not going too great right now (but then again it's the end of the first month and a lot has changed due to death in the household, which is why I did a doodle donation stream and will probably be asking for help going forward), but I hope it gets better. Can only go up from here, right?

I hope this year gives you the best times of your life.

[anewbeginningagain]

Hey it's the professors anon again, happy to see you back, we missed your analysis. I'm glad you enjoyed my take, although reading it back now I can see how much I didn't cover. So basically, what I feel MIDA are doing is they're trying to reverse-engineer IAM's success, but that's working backwards. IAM found themselves through a slow process of trial and error, and it seems to me that MIDA are trying to skip over all that and get directly to the success part. The identities of the coaches there emerged organically over time, they slotted into the fuzzy niches they occupy now based on their natural inclinations, and they kept adding people based on need (Hip-hop season? Enter Sam. Latin? Enter Ginnette, etc.). On the flip side of that you have Meryl and Charlie, who succeeded basically by being good students, prim and proper, and striving to be as diplomatic and inoffensive as possible, and now Charlie is trying to transition this approach into his coaching career. However, as with his skating career, the problem is that he's being compared and contrasted with someone like Scott, who's much more raw and vulnerable and hasn't been afraid to show his full personality, flaws and all, and that's very endearing, he's very earnest. So now we have MIDA programs that are kinda paint by numbers, by the book, playing it safe. It's okay for a new coaching team to have growing pains and I think we all would've excused it, had politics not been pushing them so hard so fast. If we're being honest, IAMO spiritually did kick MIDA's ass at the US Nats, even though if you just looked at the placements, you wouldn't think it. You can't create magic if you don't take risks. Sure, CPom's first programs with IAMO weren't ideal, but they took a risk and figured out what worked and what didn't, and they've now been able to pivot into a completely different direction with them and nail it. Now, I understand G/P were kind of a late (and probably unexpected) addition to MIDA and they had to scramble to get them ready for the season, but I'd rather they'd done something crazy that ultimately didn't pan out than go as bland as they have. Tbh, if they weren't riding the wave from last year, they could've gotten buried, and the problem is that we've seen what they can do and we know it's MIDA that isn't up to snuff, not them. And MIDA in turn seem to be more concerned about not looking incompetent, which is again missing the point. There is a way to be both emotionally invested in your students' success while still being professional, and we're seeing that from IAM as a whole. At the end of the day, it's probably not Chanith's fault, because ultimately Scott can call up a bunch of people if he's struggling with something and they'll show up for him, and I'm not sure MIDA have that. I can imagine that if Charlie were to call up Marina or Igor, they'd low-key be like "of course you don't know what you're doing, I made you" (okay, maybe not that harsh, but ykwim). All this is to say that there's a deep philosophical difference here they need to interrogate if they want to do right by their students, because this business-y approach ain't it and it'll cost them in the long run. It has to be about the individuality of the teams they have, not about Chanith being "perfect" all the time (we can all imagine who instilled this in them). There's no such thing in art, and frankly, I'm not interested in watching it if it does exist, because it's not what being human is about. It's like they're ChatGPT trying to produce ice dance programs. MIDA are making this way more difficult for themselves than it needs to be by applying an academic approach to things that are irreducible in that way. They just need to be unafraid to show their true selves and their authentic POV by enabling their skaters to do the same. Unless they don't have it, which... If so, what are they doing here, exactly? To be clear, I don't think they're bad people or anything like that, they're just... Missing the point of why we're all here in the first place.

Anon you get A+ for incorporating ChatGPT into your ask LOL, I did not expect to see my two worlds collide. Again I agree with your thesis, I think it will be very interesting to see what will happen with MIDA in years to come, I think that I.AM, as you said, got the time to develop naturally, I.AM Ontario were similar to MIDA in being thrown into the deep end right from the start, but they had both the support from I.AM and Scott and his open personality.

G/P(2) are a fascinating story to me because while I always assumed they will go to MIDA at some point, the rumor is they had programs made up for them with WISA and that Carolina even enrolled to Uni near WISA, so their split was likely not planned (or amicable) and I do think they really fell on MIDA out of the blue. I do agree they got the most vanilla programs imaginable, and that if they were not riding the wave of success they had last season their season would have seen much different.

[prsk-krow]

actually didn't expect you too respond to my stupidity haha \(ᐛ )/

I'm the anon that apoligized for not reading the rules (༎ຶ ᵕ ༎ຶ)

But anyways, to keep things short and simple. I would like to request a (Mafuyu x Reader) and a (Ena x Reader). In which the Reader is academically gifted but has parents that doesn't pay attention to them. Whenever anyone's around (or at school) the Reader forces out a cheerful persona, but whenever they come home, Reader just turns stoic and goes to their room since no one else inside the house is even going to bother to ask how their day was going.

I don't know if this is enough but I wanted to keep it short and simple so: ( ᴗ_ᴗ̩̩ )

{Pretending emotionless reader with Mafuyu/Ena}

That's better! Honestly, this is just for me to be able to write better and come up with clearer ideas! So thanks for the re-writing! Caw.

Mafuyu Asahina

It was no secret to N25 that hiding one's true colors from Mafuyu was practically impossible. So even as she herself was with a mask on at the school, she could see the many others that were lying and exaggerating... Not that she cared.

However, she was immediately curious when she learnt that there was a new student joining the council... And when the came up and introduced themselves, Mafuyu could see clearly a mask on them, very similar to hers and her tailor friend... Almost like a mix between the two.

As the first meeting between them finished, she called you to stay for a bit, wanting to ask some questions to see how sturdy your act was, before sharing some closing thoughts!

"Aha, I see! You were definitely right for this rose! It's refreshing, really, because we've been missing one spot for a while now! I'm glad that you accepted and decided to come here! I'll be looking forward to your presence every day here... Well, as much as you'd be interested. I can tell you aren't, but if you do, we could have another chat. A true chat, so to speak. I would know, since we're more similar than you think!

Before you could respond, she was already leaving through the door. You returned to your room, paranoid about what she meant by those words. Was she threatening you with your secret? Were they empty threads? Did she even know of your true secret? It was hard to tune out, and those thoughts kept popping up, no matter how hard you tried to distract yourself from them! And especially that last part... Was she really someone you could trust?

You had to answer all of these questions, so of course you attended the next meeting, and of course you stayed behind, asking Mafuyu to do the same! And then... The look she gave you as she turned around was far too familiar. One that you'd seen in the mirror so many times, in fact. Needless to say, you were surprised that you weren't alone in this struggle!

You went back to your seat, your mask crumbling. Yet no matter how safe and understood you felt now, it was hard to fully reveal yourself to her. She could tell that it wasn't really the true you speaking back to her, but you weren't bothering to hide the fact that there was indeed a true you, voicing your opinions and thoughts behind the fake tones and manners of speech!

You gave her your number, interested in keeping up this strange new 'friendship' active before leaving. As for Mafuyu, she was thinking about your situation. Had you gotten so used to keeping up your mask that you struggled to take it off...? Perhaps you and her friend weren't so different... She would be a fool to throw away this chance to get to know you.

Ena Shinonome

Ena wasn't really the most analyzing one when it came to people, and especially compared to Mizuki and Mafuyu... It was definitely another story when it came to art, but sadly, it didn't carry over. That's why she didn't see through your pretending as well as some of her group-mates may have! She just found your cheeriness a bit... Odd. She knew better, though, thanks to a certain someone, that perhaps it was best to not push it too far at first... Trust was first, after all!

She simply stayed by your side, asking you about your day whenever you were leaving classes, calling you whenever she finished hers to chat a little... She made sure that you were aware that you weren't just another student in her eyes!

You were already used to tuning out the voices around you in class, and the cold silence back home, so having someone asking you almost every day to chat felt off... At first, it was exhausting to keep up the mask. However, as the days passed you sort of started to long for these conversations...

It was a very strange feeling, to be awaiting a certain person to chat with... However, the way she so casually mentioned that she was jealous of your dedication to studies one day caught your off guard! Not only was she looking to chat with you everyday, but she also appreciated the effort you put into high school?? You quickly made a pretext, before running back home and into your room!

You were careless, and the mask was about to fall off right in front of her! You calmed down inside your room, and pulled out your cellphone to continue the conversation from before, now that you were feeling a bit more composed. You didn't want to appear as too rude, after all...

"Heyyy!! You can't just run off like that! You scared me, you know?? *Sigh*... I just told you what I really feel, what's wrong with that? If we're gonna be friends, then it's only right to share what we truly think, right? After all, what's a friendship built with lies and deception? One that's bound to crumble, I'd say. I'm sure you can understand now, and I hope you come to apologize properly at night!"

A friendship built on deception... Perhaps you were being a bit too harsh on her. She clearly wanted to know more and more about you, and she was being surprisingly nice and patient the entire time you've been chatting! Perhaps it was ok to show off at least a little...

When you came to greet her after she left her school, your cheerful demeanor was a bit less bright than before... Your voice was less cheery, but still had some energy to it... Ena could tell that you were willing to show her a new side, just not completely yet, and she was happy to see that she was getting somewhere! If she has managed to take off half of your mask, then that was reason enough to keep it up!

It was a little unnerving to see that familiar face with unfamiliar voice and words, but she'd grow used to it, like she had with other people! And as for you, it was nice to not have to force your act to the fullest all the time. If you were gonna keep this up every day, it would be best to not exhaust yourself fully each time... Besides, it was nice to be able to share some snark that was hidden from everyone. It certainly surprised Ena, that's for sure!

Sorry this took longer than usual! It was a bit harder than I expected to come up with something solid for a while... Caw.

[twopoppies]

The potential stunt line is so interesting to me bc, as you and your followers have said—it’s not happy, lol. Even if the line itself were more rose-colored, the entire song is about how he’s not doing great but he’s pushing through. Even though things aren’t the way they were before, it’s STILL just the two of them. Which is the same goddamn topic he has been singing about for like 7 years. Girlfriends have come and gone but he’s still singing to this same person.

It really makes me think you might be right in assuming he is speaking to himself. This long term relationship he addresses in so many of his songs might be HIM and his other side. I think it’s really profound and I like that insight so much, thank you Gina. I am an artist and, while I do paint with my husband as inspiration for things, rarely are my topics so solely about him, him, him. So to me if Harry’s art is more of a reflection of himself, rather than always an on-the-nose homage to someone we very clearly know he adores… well, I think he will certainly find more longevity in his creative process, at least. I appreciate you (and others) for pointing that out because I do not have a deep understanding of the internal struggle gender can bring, so thank you and I’m excited to listen to this album with wider eyes.

Thank you for this, sweetheart. I'm only taking cues from what others have said, and am reading into his art. But I'm glad it resonates with you. And I love your point about how his art being more about himself gives him more longevity. As much as "larry" is often our focus here, I don't see why it would be Harry's primary focus in his art. It's definitely an aspect, but his own personal growth and refection seems very important to him.

[some-messed-up-writing-for-you]

"A drunk villain topping a sober yet submissive hero?🙏"

Request #9

Warning: nsfw.

A fun little idea! This is also the last request from my old blog's inbox, which I'm glad about because my current inbox is already filling with new requests. (Keep 'em coming tho! I love your ideas!💖)

I also gotta say, I've been on fire recently! I've been writing so much I got drafts saved and ready to be posted! Hopefully, I don't jinx myself here lmao.

Anyways, enjoy! ^^

~~~~

Hero weaved through the crowd of criminals, wine glass in hand, as they kept an eye out for their target. They have been sent out on a mission by Organization. They were to find Villain, capture them, and at last bring them to justice.

The hero was currently at a ball being held by Supervillain. Their disguise consisted of state-of-the-art technology forming a hologram over their entire body, making them look like Other Villain, with whom Villain is on good terms. Combined with a voice changer, they would no doubt fool the villain and catch them off guard.

Hero's plan was pretty basic. They were going to find Villain, drag them off somewhere away from the party, pin them down, and cuff them.

"Simple, but effective." - they thought to themself. The hero's only issue now was that they still had no idea where the hell Villain was-

"Well, hello~." - a voice slurred from behind Hero, and before they could even turn around, an arm hooked around their shoulders, and Villain's ugly mug was right in their face.

Getting into character, the hero responded, "Ah, Villain! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Mmm, sure has. Hey, how's about we... make up for lost time, eh?" - the villain asked, leaning even closer to the disguised hero's face, running a finger down their jawline suggestively. The smell of alcohol wafting off them made Hero's eyes sting, but they played along nonetheless, "Well... I don't see why not~."

"Oh, this is perfect." - Hero thought. They have been preparing for this for weeks. They had to catch Other Villain a few weeks back, just so that they could pull this off. And out of all possible outcomes, this was the best and most convenient one.

"But perhaps let's go somewhere more... private." - the hero suggested, dragging Villain along down a nearby hallway. The other did not resist, letting 'Other Villain' pull them into a random bedroom as they drunkenly giggled to themself.

Hero locked the door behind them, and before Villain could react, they grabbed their arms and pinned them down on the side of the bed, turning off their disguise.

Villain looked surprised, then confused, and then something seemed to click in their head.

"Oh, my. Hero, if you wanted to have some fun that badly, you could have just asked~."

It was the wrong thing that clicked. Hero's face heated up at the other's words. They found themself at a loss. And in their surprise failed to realize that their hold on the villain had loosened.

Villain, drunk out of their mind, somehow noticed their slack hold, and before the hero knew it, their positions had switched. The villain was on top of them, pinning their arms above their head and grinning down at them, their bodies pressed against each other.

And as their crotches brushed, Hero's face turned beet red. They couldn't stop a shudder from running through them as the villain whispered in their ear, "So, how about it, Hero~? Wanna play~?"

The hero tried to stutter out an answer but found that they couldn't. They looked for a possible way out, and to their surprise, noticed that Villain's grip wasn't as strong as it could be. They have been pinned down by the other plenty of times in the past during their fights, so they knew that they could easily escape right now.

...

But did they want to?

Hero could feel their blood rushing down to their sex as the villain rubbed against them. They knew they shouldn't be letting this happen, but... Villain just looked so hot like this. And their touch was making the hero want more.

"F-Fine, let's play." - the villain only giggled in reply and locked their lips together, kissing hard and with need. The feeling distracting the hero's senses. They inhaled sharply as the other's grip suddenly increased. Have- Have they been pretending to be weakened?!

Hero could not escape anymore, and honestly...

...they didn't mind in the slightest.

As their kiss continued, Villain dragged the hero to the middle of the bed. Releasing their wrists, they ran their hands down Hero's chest and then began unbuttoning their shirt. In their drunken state, however, they struggled and tore the shirt open out of annoyance.

Hero whined a bit at the sight of the loose buttons flying and decided to ruin the other's shirt the same way. They went to grab the fabric and tear it off the other, only to have their hands pinned at their sides.

A "Tsk, tsk." sounded in their ear as Villain scolded them, "You don't get to touch me unless I say so." - the sudden chiding caught the hero off guard, and they couldn't stop the pit that grew in their stomach from the villain assuming control.

"Understand~?" - Villain asked, their lips brushing against the shell of Hero's ear, eliciting a small gasp from them. A wave of pleasure shot through them as the other nibbled on their earlobe.

"Y-Yes." - the hero managed to mutter out, somehow already breathless. Barely anything has happened yet, so why were they freaking out so much?! Why did- Why did it feel so... good to be below Villain like this?

Was it just the danger of letting their nemesis have control over them? The adrenaline of being at their mercy?

The excitement of being so close together?

"Good~." - the villain purred above them, running their hands across every bit of Hero's torso, dragging their nails down the other's back, arching it and making a shiver travel down their spine.

The hero had to bite back a moan as the other ground against them once more. They wanted to pull the rest of Villain's clothes off but knew that they couldn't, that they weren't allowed to.

That powerlessness only served to turn them on further. Hero clawed at the plush bedsheets below them, bunching up the fine material between their fingers. The villain chuckled at the sight, leaving a trail of kisses down the other's neck. Going down their chest, they bit the hero occasionally, bruising their flesh and making them whine needly.

Villain went even lower, tugging down the hero's pants, but only slightly, not enough to reveal their sensitive genitalia. They left even more kisses on them, licking their skin, making Hero inhale shakily and wonder what the villain's tongue would feel like just a little bit lower.

That pondering only worsened as Villain forced their legs apart and mouthed them through their pants, teasing the hero, who this time couldn't help the moan that slipped past their lips.

Hero tried to grab the other's head on instinct. They wanted to keep them there, for that sweet feeling to continue but stopped themself halfway, remembering how the villain forbade them from touching them. They grasped at the bedsheets once again, knuckles hurting from their hard grip.

"Good hero~." - Villain praised, making the hero blush even more, as they turned their head to the side, trying to hide and smush it into the pillows. Their face, however, was back on full display within seconds as the villain suddenly pulled their pants down further and took Hero into their mouth.

The hero couldn't stop the curse that left them alongside Villain's name, which they began to moan louder the more the villain licked and sucked at their privates. The feeling of the other's teeth teasingly dragging down them made Hero's back arch again, and the threat of Villain being able to bite down on them made their insides twist.

They whimpered as the villain suddenly pulled away from them, only to swallow the lump that had formed in their throat as the criminal stripped themself of their remaining clothing, revealing themself to the hero lying below them.

"Like what you see~?" - Villain asked, giggling. The alcohol in their system still making them giddy. Hero could only stare at them, impossibly red in the face as they answered, breathless, "Yes."

The villain leaned forward, once more looming over the other, and the hero whined at the sight, pleading, "V-Villain, please can I touch you? Please, I- I want to touch you, please."

"Aww, begging already?" - the villain teased, taking hold of Hero's hips and positioning themself against them. The hero went to beg more, but only a mixture of a moan and a whine left them as Villain slid into them without warning.

The villain's pace was slow and surprisingly steady, considering how drunk they were. Hero held onto the bedsheets like their life depended on it. They wanted to touch the other so, so badly.

Villain leaned down and caught their lips in a light kiss, running their hands up the hero's sides, making them squirm. A gasp left Hero as the villain hit them in the right spot. The other grinned and pushed against it, again and again, thrusting in quickly and roughly, but slowly pulling out and then repeating the cycle until the hero was begging them again.

"F-Fuck! Villain, please!" - Hero yelled across the room, their mind so clouded with lust that they have forgotten all the enemies that surrounded them, all the villains and criminals alike partying just a short distance away. So many people, which wouldn't hesitate to kill them on sight.

Villain merely grinned. They could feel their orgasm coming closer and decided that they have messed around for long enough, "Hero~..."

Said hero focused on them, as best as they could anyway, and exhaled weakly as the villain's words registered in their clouded brain.

"You may touch me~."

Hero wasted no time hooking their limbs around the other. They moaned as their lips crushed together, as Villain began to pound into them without mercy.

The feeling of their skin against each other, the sheer amount of intimacy, and physical contact quickly drove the hero over the edge. And as they yelled out the villain's name, they too felt their blissful finish wash over them.

As the two began to gasp for air, slowly coming down from their high, Villain slid off of Hero, whose eyes were closed as they tried to steady their breathing.

The hero's eyes snapped open, however, at the feeling of power suppressing cuffs locking around their wrists.

"W-Wait, what is-" - they tried but were interrupted as the door suddenly burst open, and Supervillain's henchmen flooded the room, followed by their boss.

"Are you quite done yet?" - the supervillain asked Villain, an impatient look on their face that only made the villain giggle, adding to Supervillain's annoyance.

"Yeaaah, I guess I am." - the villain responded, ignoring the shocked hero beside them as they got up from the bed and approached the supervillain.

"Unless you wanna have some fun too~?" - they asked, leaning against the other criminal, still very much but-ass naked.

Supervillain only pushed them off and growled out, "Ugh, don't touch me. You smell like heroism and righteousness. Disgusting."

"Aww, but then... don't you wanna make me smell like chaos and evilness, again~?" - Villain playfully pushed, stretching their body in a teasing manner.

The supervillain only grumbled under their breath, "Oh, you stupid fucking..." before turning to their henchmen and barking out some orders at them.

The henchmen grabbed Hero and left the room. Supervillain relocked the door behind them and proceeded to drag Villain back towards the bed.

[terubakudan]

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi - Book Review and Impressions

(light reflection) Perfect :D Hoping Tumblr doesn't flag me for this xD

Ok, I'm going to start this off with 'this is probably the first and only book review I'm going to do' xD Because I rarely do read books now, and just as rarely buy them. Also, I would have preferred to buy the English version but alas they only had the Chinese version in stock ^^"

Stumbling upon this on the Internet, I was immediately compelled to buy this, as if I knew I would love it and that Nagata's story would resonate with me.

【Short Version】 I can't recommend this book enough, it doesn't matter what sexuality you are or from what culture are you. Nagata makes sure to tell an honest and 'naked' (without embellishments) portrait of her own personal experiences. How she herself is a college drop-out (having only graduated from high school), pushed herself to live/work while struggling with depression and eating disorders, not being sure of what she wants and feeling that she doesn't 'deserve' things, realizing her own sexuality in that she likes girls, and just not feeling 'good enough'...all through her cutesy and unassuming art style.

I will say again though, cutesy art style aside, the book deals with some very heavy topics. Nagata is very honest and doesn't shy away from the gritty details, and I admire her all the more for doing so. Many yaoi and yuri comics often portray an unrealistic and fetishistic view of the LGBTQ+ community whereas Nagata's story is much more grounded and sincere. This is not an easy read, but it's not an overly depressive one either. Nagata literally struggled for years with her mental health, but ultimately found light on the other side. Not mainly through the help of others, but through her own choice to forgive and love herself.

5/5⭐ Definitely recommend and would read again. And if I could, I'd give Nagata a big hug and a heartfelt 'thank you' for sharing her story.

【Long Version】 While it's written primarily from an Asian (particularly Japanese) perspective, Nagata's experiences are ones that should resonate with anyone who has been through the same or similar things, regardless of one's personal background. And I myself, while being fortunate enough to not have gone through eating disorders or self harm, am no exception.

I grew up in an Asian (Taiwanese/Chinese Filipino) household, while my parents weren't Tiger Parents (no offense but fuck Amy Chua for thinking that's a proper way of raising your children), they still had certain expectations on their children: to find a good husband/wife, have a good education, have a 'stable' career, etc. And while I love my parents very much, I'd be lying if I said there weren't any times where I felt they were smothering me, there weren't any times where they kept on nagging and bugging me for very trivial details. My biggest pet peeve: guilt-tripping me just for wanting to spend time alone.

"For me, my parents' opinion of me is absolute." (NOTE: While I won't be providing exact translations of the excerpts I used here, I'll do my best to summarize the gist of them.)

At the same time, I cared very much about their opinion of me. I made it a point to do well in school, to do things according to their wishes, and just like Nagata, I didn't know what I wanted. This even extended to caring about others' opinion of me, more than my own. In my freshman year of college, I 'went along' with being friends with someone, who while was nice to me, turned out to be a manipulative bitch skilled in passive-aggressiveness xD Being half-Taiwanese/half-Filipino, it was hard to fit in since people always treated me differently, it didn't occur to me I could be choosy with friends, I thought as long as they were 'nice' to me, that would do.

Asian culture is largely a collective one, where we define ourselves by our relationships with others, compared with Western culture (primarily America, I'll be using America as a reference point) where individualism is absolute, where you define yourself as you like. In Asia, it's also normal for children to still live in the same house as their parents well into adulthood, compared with Americans who are expected to move out the house once they finish high school or start college, and they're quite literally 'on their own', having to pay their own tuition, rent, etc. Where I live (Taiwan), it's normal for adults to continue relying on their parents financially well until college. Nagata for instance, while saying her parents really make her feel so pressured, is grateful that she still had a home to stay in (and she's 28!).

If you ask me though, neither a collectivist culture or an individualist culture is absolutely good nor bad. Each have their own pros and cons, and both Asian culture and Western culture could learn a thing or two from each other.

After going through quite a few job applications, one of the interviewers tells her "Ganbatte!" (You can do it!) after Nagata tells her what she really wants is to be a manga artist.

And sometimes that's all we need really, a small gesture or kind remark can do wonders. Even if there's no base or reason for it, it's something worth believing in.

I often have doubts if I'm doing what I really want, if I chose the right major for college, if I'm doing the right thing, if I'm 'good enough'. I didn't grow up with much self-esteem as a kid, and often derived my value from others. But even at my lowest times, a 'you're doing ok' was very reassuring to me, be it from family, strangers, or people I care about. Sometimes that's exactly what we need, it may be small but it could be the difference between continuing to wallow in depression or re-evaluating and choosing to be better to oneself.

I find it's really important to know, that however alone you may feel sometimes, there are other people out there going through the exact same thing. It's something universal, and while a lot of things are really unfair in life, each person has their own lot or burden to deal with. I have a Taiwanese friend who, while being more financially well-off than me, has terrible parents. And I mean parents who are quite so literally toxic, unsupportive of her, and would outright say the worst things to their own daughter.

How depression and anxiety can feel sometimes, we can literally feel like it's impossible to breathe and be in a state of disconnection from the world.

"The sounds that invaded my ears occupied my empty brain, making me unable to think at all."

If you only did what your parents asked you to do, wouldn't days like those be very painful? In the end, only you can understand what you really want.

Nagata's art style is one I would describe as simple, cute, and effective. I personally think had her story been drawn in a more serious style, it would have been even harder to read, much less finish. It's also a choice that has artistic appeal to me, serious subject matter juxtaposed with a 'kawaii' art style.

Nagata also depicts very well her mental state and thoughts throughout her struggle and journey to self-actualization. Depression is a really tough thing to deal with, and sometimes we don't even realize that we have it or if we do, refuse to acknowledge it. In Asian cultures especially, mental health has always been something of a taboo subject and there is a very heavy social stigma associated with it. Nagata herself even said that her parents seemingly refused to acknowledge that their daughter's mental health was in a state of distress. In Japan, there is a concept called gaman (我慢), which is described as 'enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity', and while it is portrayed as an ideal virtue that inspires perseverance, it can be a source of heavy pressure for others. Gaman also means that you are expected to suppress whatever emotion or negative feelings you have, often for the sake of others and no matter how tough the situation becomes for you. And while I agree that through gaman you can become more selfless for others, it shouldn't have to come at the expense of your own well-being.

I was quite fortunate to have grown up in a more liberal Asian household, but even when it came to mental health, our family also adopted the same kind of attitude towards it, by carrying on as if nothing was wrong, or just not talking about it. And to be honest, there were numerous times I wished we had been more open about what was bothering ourselves at that time. Talking and being open about your feelings is not a 'weakness' but something incredibly brave to do, and it's my wish for that to slowly become more acceptable in Asian cultures, which I know is kind of a stretch, but it doesn't hurt to hope.

Nagata makes the decision to clean herself up, by taking a bath everyday, habitually exercising, and no longer wearing worn-out clothes.

Depression especially can be a bitch. It deprives you even of your physiological needs, like your need for food. Nagata had to struggle with that on top of eating disorders for a long ten years. She ate so little and even felt that she didn't 'deserve' to eat, and at one point, anorexia became hyperphagia, and she would feel so guilty for eating almost expired/expired food. Things that would otherwise be simple to do also end up becoming difficult/impossible to do, like taking care of your personal hygiene, getting up from bed, doing simple tasks etc.

Thankfully, after Nagata realizes that she never truly 'valued herself', she starts to turn over a new leaf. Even just starting with cleaning herself up, she takes this as a form of 'valuing oneself' and her mood starts to improve, which her family also points out. In the end, taking care of yourself is not a selfish thing to do, it can even make you a better person who is there for others.

Nagata meets up with the female escort she hired, as a means to experience human sexuality, which she had always repressed her curiosity for and treated as a taboo subject. (NOTE: And I'm glad that she met a really nice girl for her first time too!)

Sex and sexuality is also a subject that I feel is hard to talk about sometimes, which I think also owes itself to most Asian cultures being relatively conservative about it. I myself have only recently identified as bisexual, which I attribute to internalized homophobia, not wanting to admit I was into girls too. And to be honest, 'coming out' is something I'm still uncomfortable about, because I don't want to risk my relationship with my family and it's still something I would choose to be selective about with colleagues and friends. I'm grateful though that as crazy the Internet can be sometimes, it can be quite accepting and tolerant towards things that we wouldn't otherwise discuss with even the closest people in our circle. Nagata's memoir ended up capturing the hearts of many readers ever since she first published it on Pixiv.

Exploring your sexuality doesn't have to be scary, it should be something exciting and liberating. Nagata decided to take matters into her own hands, and while the days leading up to the encounter made her really nervous and she even considered not going through with it at all, she willed herself to continue, because she wanted to do this for herself, it would be pointless if she gave up after coming so far in her decision to value herself.

And it's these series of actions that she decided to do that ultimately led to her life turning out for the better, it gave her the courage to do what she always wanted: to be a manga artist, which lead to the publishing of this autobiographical memoir, something she wanted to create that would 'make people want to buy this book' and from her own preference for reading stories that 'speak of secrets people wouldn't want to tell others'.

Nagata mentions what she calls 'honey': something that varies from person to person. It could be your reason for living, that thing that drives/pushes you, or even your sense of belonging. It may not be something permanent, but you can always find yourself a new one. (she mentions the last time she had her 'honey' was during her high school days, and while she has grown apart from the friends she made, she has found her new 'honey' in the form of being a full-time manga artist.)

Nagata stumbles and trips a lot on her way to being a better version of herself, but who doesn't? She admits to things not necessarily being smooth, but at least she's doing better than before. And it's that decision to at least try that counts. We don't have to be perfect, we're all human after all.

TL;DR My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness is a honest, down-to-earth, and ultimately hopeful memoir about the struggles of mental health and learning about one's sexuality. It's an amazing book, and very much worth the buy.

A big thank you if you read through all of this too. I know it's a mess and writing isn't exactly my strong point, but hopefully I've convinced some people out there to give this book a read! Please feel free to share your thoughts and I'd appreciate it very much too if you reblog/like this post.

[sweetescapeartist]

DBS COLORING BOOK CHAPTER 74 REVIEW

*spoilers* I liked this chapter in isolation.

*spoilery spoilers* I dislike this chapter when comparing it to other chapters.

Here's the battle Vegeta fans have been waiting for...! (Glad I lowered my greatly expectations)

First, let's talk about use of panels real quick. When there is action, Toyo has done better and uses about 6 panels max to convey the fight. But when there is dialogue, he uses too many panels. Like 7 to 9 panels on one page. That is too much for dialogue. And he has pointless reaction shots often.

It begins with the axolotl inspired Sugarians leaving their fishbowl homes through cleaning-tube roadways. I like their aquarium-like city and their buildings.

And here we are on page 2 with the Toyotaro dialogue. 😒 How can I tell? Compare it to Dragon Ball and you can easily tell the difference between Toriyama's dialogue & Toyotaro's dialogue. (Toriyama has been more focused with working on the DBS movies. I highly doubt he contributes as much to the manga as some fans believe.)

Vegeta sounds like Mr. Satan when calling fusion and cloning "tricks" lol. And no, I doubt Vegeta's Forced Spirit Fission would work on Granolah. Granolah split himself in 2 with a technique. It is still all Granolah & he hasn't absorbed anyone. Forced Spirit Fission is useless here.

Granolah sure is chatty again after he kept saying how he really really wants to kill these Saiyans. Vegeta tells him he parted ways with Freeza and he is an enemy now, as to which Granolah laughs. Granolah thinks Vegeta is betraying Freeza to spare his own life. This just let's us know what kind of person Granolah is...

Granolah is a nonsensical idiot who doesn't know how to reason well & doesn't listen to truth because he assumes he is already right. I don't like ppl like him who refuse to grow mentally. I went from liking Granolah, to not caring about his bland personality, to disliking him. 😑

Oatmeel's input is pointless because he doesn't sway Granolah into believing the Saiyans may not be lying. He quickly gives up and becomes quiet. Vegeta informs Granolah that he was a child when Planet Cereal's ppl were killed and wasn't part of the attack. But he doesn't care and Paragus wants revenge against the royal family... I mean, Baby wants revenge on all Saiya... Granolah wants to kill all Saiyans.

Then we get Vegeta saying he will kill Granolah after barely talking to the guy who was willing to talk. I guess Vegeta just wants to fight and test his power instead of trying to redeem himself like earlier chapters implied and fans theorized. Throw that out the window.

He turns SSB Evolution & Hakai's large rocks around Granolah. But Granolah appears behind him and shows Vegeta true hakai. He elevates a big chunk of the ground & blows it up then the force pushes Vegeta to him and Granolah strikes him. Cool way to use the environment in battle.

Also, Granolah knows Hakai. He shows it off by using his own more powerful Hakai & suggests Vegeta's training with Beerus is lacking.

There is some cool looking art. Their fight moves from forest to river to lake. Interesting environment s for DB. Reminds me of the Cooler movie and the fights on Namek a bit.

This entire time, Vegeta is on the defensive and has to run. But, I find pages 16-21 silly.

Why is Vegeta swimming when he can fly through the water?! Swimming is slower & Granolah is firing fast ki blasts at him!

YOU: "But, Vegeta is swimming so Granolah can't detect his ki."

Granolah can see him! His right eye is supposed to see blood flow and stuff. He nearly hits him multiple times. And lets not forget he was sniping them long distance and his Goku in the neck and almost took him out. Why does Granolah need aim assist now? I'll tell ya why. To make Vegeta look more impressive than Goku by making Goku look like a poor fighter. And this was a Goku who was using Ultra Instinct and still got messed up by Granolah while Vegeta is just using SSB Evolution. Character sabotage... 😒

Back to my complaints about Vegeta swimming. The swimmin' would work in OG Dragon Ball but not here. It would work on Namek with Freeza who can't sense ki, but not here with Granolah who can sense ki (& maybe even god ki) & his eye can percieve all kinds of movements of the body.

And why does Vegeta momentarily pop up out the water then go hide back into it? Don't say its 'cause he needs to catch his breath. He aparently did training holding his breath while on the Heeter's ship, so he should be fine holding his breath. It was for a short period of time anyways. It just doesn't fit and is unnecessary in multiple ways.

Vegeta Hakai's Granolah's big blast to escape it and it blows him out of the water. Interesting kinda... Until you realize that Vegeta's training that we were shown was lame. He just Hakai'd logs & rocks! It should've shown him trying to Hakai ki blasts from Beerus. Make his training look cool darn it!

Chapter 70 Established that Hakai has changed. It no longer is just erasing things from existence in different ways. It has to have a *boom* explosion to it. So when Beerus Hakai'd Zamasu in chapter 19, there should've been an explosion instead of turning him into sand? So, now whenever the Hakai is used, there will always be an explosion...? I don't like how Toyo is quick to change what he set up just for his convenience...

Granolah brags about himself then Vegeta brags about himself-...! That's why I dislike Granolah! He's just like Vegeta! Maybe if I stop thinking of Granolah as a "good guy" then he will be cooler? I did like evil Vegeta as an evil character. We were supposed to hate him. So, if I imagine Granolah as an evil Vegeta... It worked! Granolah's unappealing attitude works perfectly if you view him as an evil enemy! (Still kinda preachy tho)

VEGETA: "But I'm still going to win."

Vegeta fans rejoice! Your prayers have been answered by the great Zalama! Vegeta announced victory...! Wait... I've seen this before... Yo... Vegeta fans, prepare for Vegeta to be defeated just in case. He has a record of announcing victory then ultimately losing. Don't get your hopes up too high.

Lol Granolah disses Vegeta's ego 👌. But Granolah is unknowingly talking about himself too XD. Dummies. Vegeta mocks him by calling him "Mr. Strongest" & Granolah has nothing to day. Granolah can dish it out but can't take it.

Goku wakes up and sees Vegeta fighting Granolah. Who cares? How are you gonna be caught off gaurd in a form that reacts on its own? Go back to sleep. I'm not mad at you, Goku. I'm just disappointed.

Vegeta fires a barrage of ki at Granolah and Granolah Hakai's them. Then Vegeta fools Ganolah into destroying an ancient city of the Cerelians.

VEGETA: "I can tell, you know... That you only recently acquired this absurd strength."

GRANOLAH: "How? How can you tell?"

VEGETA: "Thank you for confirming."

There's the Granolah we know. Quick to give out valuable info. Also, this is to make Vegeta appear "smarter" & a "better fighter" than Goku. Realistically, a master martial artist like Goku would be first to notice that Granolah recently acquired this kind of power. But, Goku is being dumbed down for Vegeta's sake.

VEGETA: "Need I repeat myself...? You may be stronger but... there's no gaurantee that I'll lose to you!" *attempts to break Granolah's leg*

So says the guy who always loses unless the opponent is weaker than him. But, he even lost to weaker opponents on Earth before, so....

Vegeta fans calm down, calm down. This is basic Vegeta dribble. Let's be real. When has Vegeta ever defeated an opponent that was stronger than himself? Never. When has Vegeta become stronger than his opponent and defeat them because they're weaker than him now? Always. Does Vegeta ever win when he is too cocky? Nope. This is to hype y'all up. Don't be mad if he loses. Y'all know this routine. The arc ain't even over so the chances of him winning are low.

Now let's examine Vegeta's fight in comparison to Goku's fight.

Goku goes through all his forms & uses Ultra Instinct in base, SSJ, SSG, SSB, & then goes silver haired UI when fighting Granolah. Then, he loses in every form. Vegeta goes straight to Blue Evolution and only seriously gets hurt once.

Goku keeps getting hit despite having a technique that is all about evasion. Vegeta gets hit far less & doesn't have Ultra Instinct.

Goku was struggling to fight a clone that was half the power of Granolah. Vegeta fights Granolah at his full power and struggles less.

Goku complains about his training and how he is struggling using his technique. Vegeta who had less time with Hakai training isn't complaining about struggling with Hakai.

Goku far surpassed Vegeta in the Moro arc, yet they are crippling Goku to let Vegeta catch up & make him look better. Vegeta has literally gotten a handout that he didnt have to work hard for in order to catch up with Goku... This chapter is fine when isolated and you aren't thinking about any other previous chapter. But, it is a convoluted mess when you look back at the previous chapters, the piss poor storytelling, & Vegeta's poor Hakai training that leads up to this chapter.

Where'd that "heroic" Vegeta and that "redemption" stuff go? Its as if Toyotaro decided he should stop tying to make Vegeta the hero & main character instead of Goku being the main. (Thank God.)

But... Vegeta says that he loves fights that are unpredictable?? That I disagree completely with. Vegeta wants fights to go in his favor through all of DBZ and will throw a fit when it doesn't.

In RoF: it was going in his favor so he loved it.

Destroyer Tournament arc: he didn't like that things didn't go his way in the end.

Future Trunks arc: he was upset when losing to Black, but loved it when he thought he was going to win.

ToP: angry when everyone else surpassed him, happy when he gained an upperhand, upset when he lost the upperhand.

Moro arc: Vegeta is upset that Moro is stronger but even more upset that Goku is stronger than him. When he is stronger than Moro he is loving it. Then when he loses the advantage, he is upset.

Vegeta doesn't love unpredictable fights, Goku does! Vegeta loves predictable fights in his favor.

Granolah asks how many lives were sacrificed for Vegeta's carnage. Vegeta doesn't answer. Why? Because its best to ignore the fact that he has killed billions of ppl so that Vegeta fans can ignore his bad actions (Yet many say that Vegeta has developed so much without acknowledging his terrible past). Can't have Vegeta looking like a bad guy in this chapter, right?

Oh boy! Page 37 is more "Vegeta hype!" He doesn't care about strongest or second strongest ('cause he has never been 1st place) & he basically explains Dragon Ball to us.

Roshi already taught Goku & Krillin that there will always be somebody stronger, so they need to keep reaching higher and higher.

If Vegeta is stronger than he was a few minutes ago, would that mean the same for Goku when he was fighting? Why did he perform so poorly? I wonder... 🤔

Granolah jabs Vegeta in the stomach, but Vegeta manages to slow it down (how come Goku using Ultra Instinct couldn't do that?). And cool. Blood. Anime has better writing and cool character development/moments. The manga has blood... Well, I guess blood is cooler to some ppl.

Vegeta is looking like Goku in the ToP before he attained UI. He has his head down & all. Vegeta just isn't talking about hownl much he sucks. Why does Goku keep insulting himself? N-nevermind. This is about Vegeta who keeps complimenting himself.

Why did Granolah become scared of Vegeta suddenly? Wouldn't he just see him as a mad dog and use his amazing power to put Vegeta down before he can do anything? He hates them so much, but keeps letting them live.

Uh oh... Vegeta doesn't like protecting and saving? BuT I tHoUgHt hE wAs a hErO! Where is his development going?? Ya mean the real development he had in the anime or the pseudo development in the manga?

But even after saying all that... I prefer manga Vegeta to be like this instead of a wannabe hero. Wannabe hero doesn't fit. This feels like Vegeta is in character again. I like this. I was just criticizing how Vegeta was written in past chapters in comparison to this one. A more chill Vegeta who loves battles? This is what I've wanted from DBS manga Vegeta for a long time!

Oh snap! Vegeta's transforming? I wonder what it will look like (thanks for the warning from the leaks 👍). Oil... Why are you even in this chapter? We don't care about you right now & you're boring without Maki. Goku says it ain't "any old god ki."

I wonder how Goku never knew about this new form if he and Vegeta trained on Beerus Planet together. Ya think he would've sensed and saw it & even wanted to fight against it.

So is this new form a spur of the moment thing? So Vegeta has a new form that he never trained... And he asks if Granolah has been training his new power on page 34... Sounds hypocritical of Vegeta, or he is being thrown a bone to make him look capable. Is Vegeta gonna pull a Golden Freeza by not training this new form? Or maybe a UI Goku at the ToP and lose the form?

Page 43, Granolah shoots tiny ki blasts at Vegeta's tower of flaming ki and he is surprised it did nothing. Why not try again but this time use that one big blast instead. No? Gonna let the guy of the race you hate finish transforming? Just gonna be scared and shocked to make Vegeta look impressive? Ok.

Pages 41, 44, & 45

Oh! Here it is! The new form...! Aaaand I still don't like it. Also, he healed up like Goku did last chapter too. Odd. Why does transforming heal them now? Didn't before.

No build up to make the form more cool, it's just

"Here, Vegeta. Goku has one more form than you do & he has mastered UI, so we can't let you fall too far behind. So I just pulled this crap transformation fresh outa my butt and gave it to you."

Another undeserved handout. Can you please make Vegeta earn a new form in the manga? PLEASE?!

Vegeta looks like he is in his own UI Omen form (like how Vegeta fans begged for Vegeta to get for the longest time). Dark hair with sone lighter coloured higlights, light coloured pupils, new aura. But this is what I see...

SSJ3ROSÉ of DESTRUCTION INSTINCT OMEN (or just "SSJ-ChexMix" for short)

Looks like in the end, Vegeta needed to resort to his own Ultra Instinct equivalent!

Oh no... I criticized Vegeta's bad writing too much! I bet some Vegeta fans are gonna automatically assume that I hate him because I want him to be written better without plotholes! 😱

IN CONCLUSION:

This chapter is good when isolated on its own. But, this chapter is filled with inconsistencies when you look back at previous chapters. Overall, it's... a mixed bag that I barely like. It's just so retarded that Goku had to be dragged through the mud just for Vegeta to look better. That is insulting to Vegeta and it either shows how much he sucks or or how weak the writing for Vegeta is. But we got what we got...

Wanna know how to make Vegeta look good without making Goku look pathetic? Goku never uses MUI! Goku defeats Granolah's clone with SSB. Then, Granolah merges back with his clone & catches SSB Goku by surprise and knocks him out.

Then, the reason why Vegeta seems to be doing better is because Vegeta is using SSBE, unlike SSB Goku who was caught off guard. Why make the MUI form & Goku both look like trash just to give Vegeta his own Ultra (Destructive) Intinct? Is Vegeta really that trash?! 😓😴

I don't wanna see the Heeters anymore. My hype for them died, but maybe a later chapter can make me like them more. Idk.

Where is my homie, Moniato?! 🐌 (BEST CHARACTER OF THE ARC SO FAR!)

Oh yeah...I was supposed to complain about not seeing Freeza again like I do every chapter... Who cares at this point? If Granolah is stronger than Goku & Vegeta, what can Freeza do? Hide for 3 yrs and let Granolah die?

What are my predictions for next chapter? More Vegeta wanking of course. More gloating & looking down on Granolah too. A battle of overinflated egos. Bad dialogue and decent to good art. I'll probably find it mostly boring but I may be surprised (that could be a good or bad thing). Vegeta will appear to be winning before...

Vegeta gets defeated & certain Vegeta fans will rage & be annoying. Those ones will complain about how Vegeta always gets the short end of the deal (that's what he gets for being shorter than Bulma & 12 cm taller than Krillin). This one should happen imo based off of Goku's performance.

Vegeta's fight will get interrupted before the battle ends so that Vegeta fans don't get angry. Make Vegeta fans feel that Vegeta could've won and keep them grasping on to hope. (How manipulative.) This one is most likely to happen to "satisfy" all fans.

Vegeta will win and Vegeta fans will rejoice & some will be very annoying. Despite the fact that he had terrible training, was handed a new form just to stay relevant, and Goku had to underperform & UI had to be nerfed just to make Vegeta look good. This one may happen just to appease Vegeta fans. (That is the worst outcome imo.) If Vegeta gets "a win/a W" against a main villain, make sure his training looks impressive and he has some sort of connection to the main bad guy. That way the victory feels well deserved.

If the final enemy is Freeza, then Vegeta defeating Granolah isn't "a win" against a major villain. Granolah will just be a bump in the road. He's already set up to not be a "bad guy." In the end, the main bad guy will be either Freeza, Gas, 7-3, or someone. Vegeta fans shouldn't care if Vegeta wins or loses against Granolah. He isn't the "final boss."

[lovee-infected]

I'm about to start my own (twst) writing blog and I'm going around writers that I follow for some advice q*q could you give me any wisdom on what I should do when starting a writing blog? thank you!! I love your works and you're one of the writers that inspire me

Aa thank you baby I'm so happy to hear that I inspire you!! First off, good luck with the new writing blog! I'm glad that more authors are joining the fandom and wish you all the best with your works! 💞💖💞 Other than trying to keep your blog organized by creating a proper masterlist, choosing a suitable aesthetic, having a set of rules and making sure to tag all of the warnings and necessary mentions (gender of reader, n/sfw or trigger warning), I tried to come up with some useful advises that might help!

1) Keep up the great confidence!

First and the most important thing about a writing blog, is to be confident and strong. Look, you shouldn't be afraid of posting your works and sharing with the redt of the fandom, even as they're not as perfect as you want them to be. The more you write, the more you learn! And you'd grow to be better and better as you continue to share your works! Not even the greatest authors had been any perfect on their first days!

2) If you're accepting requests, try to set a limit

Being overwhelmed with asks is never pleasant, if you just open your inbox to face 500 requests you'd be to be terrified and confused and even lose your passion to work on any of them because of the stress and not knowing where to begin from. Try to set a limit based on your personal limits, how many requests do you think you can have at the time without stressing out because of how much they are? 10? 20? 50? 100? 200? Doesn't matter! If you feel like you're fine with huge numbers like 200 and 150, it's totally fine! If not, remember that setting a character limit would not only reduce the possible chance of stressing out and overwhelming anxiety but it'll also help you manage your inbox better and easier! You can start taking requests again just as soon as your inbox in cleared!

3) Try to treat yourself every once in a while!

Working on requests can be tiring and sometimes, boring. It's great if you enjoy working on requests no matter what they are but remember to write for your own pleasure every once in a while too!

Even if you have like 100 requests laying in your inbox, feel free to write self indulgent fics or something that you'd like to write even if it's super odd an irrelevant to your normal writings! Remember that you deserve to read something you enjoy just as much as the others do, so don't forget to bless yourself with that beautiful writing of yours ;) Remember that it's your blog, you are free to do everything that makes you happy or anything that you simply enjoy doing ^^

4) Remember that no matter what, toxicity always exists and it's not your fault

Look toxicity is very common to be found social medias, especially platforms like tumblr in which anonymous function exists. Even celebrities and world-famous artists might get attacked over pretty silly stuff every once in a while so it's something usual to happen! I wish you never receive any potentially harmful or rude asks or messages but if you ever do, best would be to block or simply ignore them! People in this platform can be ridiculous sometimes lol, there are people who DM creators just to spam hate and block the creator whom they spammed after wards lol, so don't even bother t waste your time with such people!

If anyone comes to your inbox/DMs/comments to say something harsh or leave a sharp critique, best would be to ignore them. Even if you like to answer or respond to reply to them tey to be chill and not take them seriously. Remember, even if they didn't like your content they could've just scrolled down without bothering to read your work, so if they had the guts to come and spam you with nonsense just because they didn't like your work, it's their fault! They didn't have to read, and it doesn't even matter if they liked your work or not! It's their problem and all, so remember not to let these kind of people get to you at all!

5) Take it easy with writing

Don't push yourself too hard, remember that not everything you write is supposed to be *perfect. This is even more serious when it comes to requests, thousands of unexpected ideas might pop up in your inbox and it makes it quite confusing to choose what to write or do!

First off, don't be any shy or anxious about rejecting the requests which don't follow your rules or come when you aren't accepting requests. Those who violate your rules aren't worthy of your time and work!

Secondly, keep this is mind that you aren't expected to be able to write everything! Sometimes the requests are hard to write, the idea seems odd or hard to understand, or sometimes you just don't feel comfortable or don't want to write it all, which is okay!

You always have the right to take/drop whichever of your requests and you don't owe anyone anything for this, it's your own blog, your work, and your content. Don't ever force yourself to write something which you don't like to write!

6) Your health is always the top priority

Remember that no matter how popular you are, how many followers you have, how many requests are left in your inbox or how much people are wishing to get more of your content, you're free to stop writing and put this wrong at a temporarily (or even permanent) hiatus.

Sometimes you just don't feel like writing, then don't write. If you feel like you're being too busy with work/family/school and anything please don't force yourself to write! Remember that your real life matters always come first!

Also, you might even need a break from writing without necessarily being really busy or sad, sometimes you just need to take a break from everything, and it's totally fine to do! Take as much time as you need and stay healthy during your breaks. It'd be even better if you don't even think of any new ideas/Aus while you're taking a break from writing so you can fully set your mind off stuff! Doesn't even matter if followers/readers are going to appreciate this or not, it's not about them, it's about you. Remember that your good readers/follwers who understand that authors are normal humans and not writing machines would surely understand if you need to take a break too!

7)Keep yourself motivated!

There might be days when you can and have the time to write, but something's holding you back. You feel like procrastinating over and over at some point lose the motivation to write. First off, that's a really normal matter to see as many of us have to struggle with laziness sometimes lol, but there are some useful tips to keep yourself Motamedi and hyped while you're planning to write! A bit of challenge would not only make it a lot more fun, but is also a good way to keep yourself motivated and inspired!

First, try prompt lists! They've always got plenty of useful ideas and inspirational quotes to use and are absolutely amazing to give you new ideas for a writing!

Second, try to challenge yourself by simple stuff like setting yourself word limits, trying to see how much you can write in an hour, use some suggested words in your stories (ex: Banana, train, knife, turkey) as a small challenge! You can also try small events (like milestone or holiday events) to celebrate on your blog with stuff like: Prompt list requests, CYOAs, character interaction and other new stuff that gives you a better motivation tp write instead of just having to work on the same, usual writing requests over and over.

Also, I suggest putting an specific hour for writing/ checking on your blog in your daily schedule as this is also a way of avoiding procrastination, instead of writing 10 requests a day and not writing anything for two weeks, try to set an schedule like writing 1-2 writings everyday! Remember to put your real life activities in the schedule too so you won't have to go through any trouble to find a balance between your real life and running a writing blog!

8) Remember the crediting/copyrights

I'm just adding this here because I can see quite a few of writers using uncredited art for their stories and it's been much and less of an issue lately ^^;

First off, the arts/headers used in your writing. Make sure not to use any uncredited card or anyone else's edit without their permission, otherwise it's nothing different from stealing the work from the original artst!

If you're going to leave a link to the artist, make sure to check on them and check if they allow reposts with credit or not. If they don't, don't use their art. If they do, make sure to give them a proper credit with a link to them! (:

Editors too on the other hand spend a very long time making their edits and and aesthetics, so not copying their work is just as important as not stealing art from the artsits!

Pinterest is filled with uncredited art and if there's a pinterest art who is not linked to the original artist, putting the empty pinterest pin link would be useless and steal counted as stealing art.

9) Stick with your own writing style!

Writing style is like signature, everyone's got their very own and unique writing style. From the way you portray characters to what elements you use as the story develops, you're totally different from each and every of other authors in this fandom!

You may sometimes wonder if your writing style is any good at all while you look at other creators writings and feel the difference, and I gotta say: It doesn't even matter what others are doing! All that is important, is you.

Don't try to change your style to become close another writer's style, your own style is great as it already is! Even if you aren't yet that experienced with writing and feel like your writing could be better, remember that your writing skills will indeed improve as you continue to write and read newer and newer stuff, so don't worry about it!

Each and every writing style has got its own beauty, not everyone may totally enjoy your style at first but and as you continue to write, you'd get to learn what makes people enjoy your writing even more or how you can attract new readers with your writings, your style will change for the better as you write!

Though it's totally fine if you feel like there are writers who inspire and motivate you, remember that you won't have to be them in order to improve! You don't need to be just like them to be great! Even if you do have some issues like being a non-native speaker which can make it quite hard for you to write, you'd automatically learn and have most of your errors fixed as the time passes. I made LOTS of mistakes in my first writings but I hardly ever make any mistakes now because I'm used to it! Though it was a bit late I finally recognized my mistakes and corrected them! And I'd continue to correct more of my mistakes as I continue to write!

10) It's very good to have different writer mutuals

This one is rather optional, just a small recommendation! Though there are many writers who might recommend this as a rather important factor for running a writing blog, I'd say that this isn't necessary as there are still well-known tumblr authors and even twst authors who gained attention to themselves on their own and not with the help and support of any mutuals or writer friends, so it isn't impossible to be successful even without having any mutuals!

The thing with having mutuals is that it makes everything easier. A totally new twst blog can gain around 100 followers on its first without even posting anything more than a writing and a list of rules only because of being supported and boosted by well-known blogs while a for normal blog without any support or boosting, it may take up to 2-3 weeks or even an entire month to gain that 100!

Also, getting to talk with different authors (especially those who are more experienced than you) is motivational and heartwarming, you can feel like you have a team to belong to. You can discuss different writing ideas/issues/blog chores with them and see what they may think. You can even have their support with new ideas if you feel stuck/unmotivated while writing a piece!

I didn't have any mutuals on my first days either and I admit that this made things a bit hard, but it didn't hold me back from continuing to write! Yet I admit that it's surely very useful to have a couple of writer friends around you whom you can share your ideas with! Mutuals support each other, reblog each other's works and give each other a better chance of having their works read by more users, which is quite amazing and helpful!

11) Go for it and don't give up!

Remember that no one, not even the greatest writing blogs have been perfect on their first days. They weren't well-known back then either! And they wouldn't have been any successful today without being hard-working and strong. Leaving up to the previous 10 rules is the hardest part of having a blog, and it's all about not giving up!

Do not try to judge your writing and talents based on the amount of notes your posts get or how many followers you have, because these aren't ever going to show your true worth and talents! But I assure you, if you continue to write even through your hard days, your unmotivated days and your sad days no matter how hard it's supposed to be, everything will change. The more you write, the higher the chance of having new people find and read your works would be! Keeping up the hard work and believing in yourself is the key to achieving anything you may wish for, even having a successful writing blog!

As you continue to write, you'll get more readers, more notes on your posts, more followers and more people who enjoy your content!

Hope that these are helpful, wish you all the greatest and good luck with your writing blog!!💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞

[nvvermore]

My Heart Had No Warning At All

Ophélie’s first masquerade is a daunting event [featuring @vissenta-senadz’s Lukas]

words: 1.5k

cw: none

accompaniment

—

No matter how many times she steps foot into the palace, Ophélie is always amazed.

Once upon a time, she’d sworn the opera house was the fanciest place she’d ever been to, or would ever be. But the opera house was put to shame by the grandiose of the palace on a normal day, and especially so today, now that it’s lavishly decorated for the masquerade tonight. If she weren’t so distracted by the shimmering silvers and golds, she’d probably be annoyed by such splendor.

It’s been months now since Amaryllis sought her out to perform at the masquerade. A truly unexpected offer, one that she’s still waiting to end up being an elaborate prank. But every few weeks Amaryllis would arrange for a rehearsal, making sure the compositions they were trusting her with were up to their—and surely the attendees of the masquerade— satisfaction. Surprisingly enough, Ophélie never seemed to disappoint the court musician. At least, not yet anyway. There was still tonight.

It’s quite early— too early with how late she was up tossing and turning last night— but the halls are already bustling with all sorts of staff and servants, rushing around to make sure everything is perfect. She feels even more exhausted just looking at them, and a little guilty, like she’s somehow gotten out of doing the hard work.

Ophélie wanders the halls, taking a longer way to the rehearsal room, wishing she could just push all this back just a little more. Logically, she knows she’ll be fine— thankfully, somehow, there’s not an ounce of stage fright in her— but such an atmosphere has a way of grating on her nerves.

Eventually, she turns the corner to a smaller, but completely empty hallway. Large windows frame the hall on either side, and the early morning sunlight streams through, illuminating the architecture and decor in the most beautiful way. Ophélie can't help but get lost in the sight, turning slowly as she walks along with her head raised to the ceiling. There's art up there, of all places, and she's never noticed it before now. She wonders how inconvenient it must have been to get it up there, and—

“Woah there!”

Suddenly, she’s crashing into something— someone— from behind. Strong hands fly to her shoulders to steady her, and she doesn’t even stop to breath before she's spinning around and apologizing.

“I am so sorry!” Ophélie looks up, and then up some more, because the man she's run into is quite tall. When she finally manages to make eye contact, she notices the blue of his eyes and the freckles dusting his cheeks and completely forgets what she planned to say next. “I um, forgot to watch where I was going.” It’s at least the truth, and she isn’t sure what to expect as a response, but it certainly isn’t laughter. Her face is warm, from a combination of embarrassment and his hands that are still on her skin. Curse the palace for making her so high strung.

“Forgot, huh?” he laughs, and quickly pulls his hands away, as if he’d forgotten. “I think I did the same thing. Been a long night.”

“Has it?” she feels compelled to ask. Though it's really none of her business and she has somewhere she needs to be. But he has such a warm smile, and she has time to linger for a moment or two.

“I work in the kitchens.” He gestures to the chef’s coat slung over his arm. “Busy week.”

“That's an understatement.”

He raises a brow. “You work here? Can't say I’ve seen you around before.”

“Oh, not really. I'm just a performer for tonight, that’s all,” she explains.

“‘That’s all’?” He laughs again, and this time it's not embarrassment that makes her feel hot. “And what do you perform?”

“I sing.” Ophélie pulls her eyes away from him so that she can get a glimpse at the grand clock across the hall. She can’t quite make out the exact time from here, but she can see the outline of the legs enough to realize she wandered for a lot longer than she originally thought. She’s been late for rehearsal for a while now. “Fuck,” she whispers to herself. “Speaking of, I really must be going.”

She slips past him, completely forgetting all of her manners, so frazzled by her tardiness, by the palace, by his handsome face.

“I'll see you from the crowd then,” he calls after her.

She turns, walking backwards again. “Perhaps I'll see you from the stage.”

- - -

The masquerade is overwhelming. And, all this time Amaryllis never really explained just how grand the stage Ophélie would be singing on was. The main stage, at the head of the main ballroom, where there's more people in the crowd than the opera could ever possibly fit. And to top everything off, she had to follow up Amaryllis’s performance. They certainly made sure Ophélie looked up to the task, from the shimmering pink gown they gifted her to the flowers they wove into her curls.

But she did it, perfectly. Honestly, she would be quite proud of herself, if it weren’t for all the anxiety she’d been repressing all day resurfacing. She’d like nothing more than to just go home right about now, but she’s already supposed to stay here, in a fancy guest suite, and surely Amaryllis will be around soon to congratulate her and introduce her to more fancy industry contacts.

So instead of making a run for it as soon as she’s off the stage, Ophélie takes a deep breath, and politely deals with the gathering of guests that await her with congratulations. There are several requests for a dance with her too, and she probably shouldn’t turn them down, but if her future in the arts hinges on pleasing rich socialites that badly, then she doesn’t really want one. She makes a beeline for the bar, deciding that one drink won’t hurt— she’s earned it after tonight and needs it if she’s going to stay any longer.

“So, ‘just a performer’, huh?” a familiar voice calls out from behind her. Ophélie expects one of the men who crowded her earlier, and wonders when Amaryllis will be here to rescue her. But when she turns around and glances upwards, she’s met with the same blue eyes from this morning, this time from behind a mask. She feels relieved that it’s him, even if she doesn’t actually know him any more than anyone else

“It’s you,” she smiles.

“It’s me.” He matches her smile, and for a moment neither of them make a move. She isn’t normally so, well, odd— at least she’d like to think so— but she’s still just a little suffocated by the ballroom, still coming down from the rush of the stage. He’s the one who makes the first move. “Would you like to dance?”

“Oh, I’m not a very good dancer,” she says, but it’s half-hearted compared to how she used it as an excuse earlier.

“You can’t possibly be worse than me.”

“Is that a challenge?” Ophélie laughs, and then considers it for only a moment. “I’d love to dance.” She holds out her gloved hand for him to take, and when he does she isn’t expecting him to kiss the back of it before pulling her in. His hand on her back is placed far higher than she’d like it to be, and her hand settles on his bicep. The hand in hers is warm, even through the silk of her glove, and she wishes the fabric weren’t in the way.

On the outskirts of the dance floor he leads her into a simple box step, and Ophélie finds she’s not struggling to keep up like she typically does. She always knows the steps, but doing them is often a whole different challenge.

It occurs to her that they’d never actually introduced themselves. “So, do I get to know your name?”

“Only if I get to know yours.”

“Ophélie.”

“Ophélie,” he says, soft and low, and oh she’d really like to hear him say it again. “I’m Lukas.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Lukas.”

“It was wonderful to hear you sing.” His is the first complement she’s gotten tonight that she actually believes.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“Liked it? Your voice is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.” And that’s the first complement in a long time that’s managed to get her blushing.

“You’re just trying to flatter me.”

Lukas flashes her a smile. “Is it working?”

“Yes.”

Lukas spins her then, and when he brings her back in the hand at her back is now on her skin, thanks to the low cut of her gown.

“You know, I would have never pegged you as a diva. You certainly don’t act like one.”

“I try not to. At least, not around here anyway.”

“So you’ve got some of that diva attitude in you?”

“You’ll just have to find that out for yourself.”