#i'm willing to try any animal within reason!

[shiranuiamaterasu]

Pet Portraits - OPEN (freebies)

I really am in the mood to draw some different pets on my little scratch pads! I'd be doing them as freebies for anyone who is interested! I will probably just do them until my energy runs out haha, if you are interested feel free to contact me here or on my discord!

Some examples of the scratch pad portraits are: Here!

As for how fast I complete these, it will be slow likely on my end! Just something I want to do for fun and to kill some of my down time! :)

Willing to answer any questions you may have! Thank you!

[meanbossart]

Ask compilation: DU drow, Orin, Astarion, lore things and little fun facts.

Trying to make a dent in this dang inbox. As always, thank you so much everyone for your patience and curiosity! Sorry that it is straight up no longer possible for me to reply to everyone, but I will keep doing my best within reason. Enjoy!

Absolutely! I had a lot of requests for bottom Astarion on my patreon which is why I was kind of on a roll there for a minute.

Though, for the record - I am really not very invested in strict bedroom roles at all. Or clear and distinct dominant/submissive dynamics. So please don't overthink it whenever there's a switch, no pun intended.

You wanna know how often they smash? Man, I don't know, I guess fairly often considering their lifestyle post-game (very active, often on the road).

Assuming that everyone agrees that sex doesn't have to involve penetration, I'd say once every other day or less, really depends on the circumstances though. DU drow's libido is much higher than Astarion's, but he's not an animal and can hold off fine. Astarion is likely to be pickier in regards to location and how-recently-have-we-bathed status as well.

I keep meaning to draw him, but I have like... A million things I want to do 😂 so its rough!

BUT you will at least continue to see him in ANE! And I'm sure i'm bound to draw him again in the future.

[MORE UNDER THE CUT]

If you mean in his bhaalist "AU", where he has the red robe and the extra scars, I imagine he would have gotten it through killing Isobel.

I think as a changeling she probably has the ability to just... Transform her hair however she likes at will, right? And based on her attitude plus some lines we get from Sceleritas about her own former-butler, it sounds like she would be really opposed to being serviced in that way, to me at least.

I see her as pretty aggressively independent with the way she operates, which is another factor that sets her apart from DU drow, who really enjoyed lording over the other Bhaalists and making an errand boy out of Sceleritas, to the point where he practically depended on their help to function.

Neither! I wasn't willing to let anyone take either of my eyes in my first playthrough, LOL.

I have since always given the Volo eye to SOMEONE, usually Gale, but I don't consider that canonical. I don't think anyone was desperate enough to let mister frumpy-hat over there ice-pick their eyes out.

He did do them himself. It was a profoundly stupid display he got caught up in because of Gortash. Also, de-handment is kind of a theme in his life, at least inside his head.

I have a comic about it planned for the future ;)

What do you mean, that's canonical to the game and everything! He loves the cuck chair!

He is an angsty 29-year old in denial. Your interpretation is still perfectly accurate.

Hates the guy. Hates when Shadowheart Astarion people joke about him being the Drizzt of his generation. Hates the guy like literally any countercultural weirdo hates Taylor Swift or the Weeknd. If he saw him at the line in the grocery store DU drow would find a way to roll his eyes loudly just so he could notice being an asshole.

Stay tuned, I'm cooking 🧑‍🍳

If you're asking about game strats, badly, LOL. Pretty sure I died twice to her in my first run and it was a rough way of being thrown into "serious" DnD combat.

With the exception of a couple of encounters that just so happened to turn out SURPRISINGLY cinematic, I'm just realizing that I actually don't think too often about how most of the fights went in real-time! I imagine Autie Ethel's in particular wasn't one that DU drow went into of his own accord, probably rather at a companion's insistence. That's as deep as I've thought about that personally.

Now... Back to game strats. I personally try to get a surprise round on her however I can by sneaking and shooting an arrow or AOE in her general location, since she always stands on roughly the same spot while invisible. I have my companions spread about the arena so we can take her clones down as fast as possible, and as soon as I identify who the real Ethel is I just have the strongest martial characters wail on her until she begs to be let go. Hers is one of the few fights that is actually pretty dang easy at this point for me - and I SUCK at this game.

That would certainly take a while! But, Bhaalist DU drow does kind of have an end goal, actually.

That might also turn into a comic eventually, but it would a rough one.

He pretty swiftly disposed of her, DU drow doesn't like being talked down to, which Minthara very promptly does. Him (and I, by extension) had very limited exposure to her and she was just kind of a speck of dust in his story in particular. Though I have since grown to adore her character in my proceeding runs where I do recruit her!

I guess if he got an invitation and it wasn't particularly painful to arrive at the venue, sure! He would specially love to take Astarion to Gale's wedding ceremony and purposely upstage him at every at every opportunity, LOL.

Yes. He got pretty freaky with the pain-priest. This is gonna sound like a lie but I made him get naked for it without even knowing there was a buff to be gained (I didn't get it, unfortunately, I don't remember whether I failed a check or if I had camp clothes toggled on, so it didn't count as being truly nude). I wasn't taking the game very seriously and just doing dumb roleplay things to see what would happen, LOL.

And I consider that canonical. I think DU drow saw the opportunity to show off his physique And had a strange inkling that this was a practice he was... Somehow familiar with.

Imagine my joy when Astarion and Shadowheart start having a back-and-forth about my absurd display. That's when i knew those were my people, to be honest.

[followthebluebell]

hi! i wanted to ask about trying to adopt a second cat when your first one has been solo her whole life. mine was already an adult when i got her so since i was always home anyway i didn't try, but this might change so i want to get ahead of it. how do i tell when to stop trying if they don't get along? (i've read it can take months for cats to get used to each other) and what do i do if it doesn't work out? (do i try again with a different one? do i give her up to someone who has more time?)

Full disclosure: I've never had to introduce a fully grown adult cat into my home without knowing that my cat at home was already cat-friendly or at least cat-tolerant. My cats have always had other cats around, with the exception of Saia. I adopted Saia when she was about a year old, but I had the luxury of knowing, more or less, how she'd do around other cats.

There's something in dogs called the Rule of Threes and I find it holds fairly true for cats too. The general idea is that your new pet spends about three days settling into their new home (this can take MUCH longer for very nervous animals), three weeks to establish a routine, and three months to fully display their personality.

With this in mind, if a cat isn't integrated into the house and getting along with another cat within three months, there is something going on and it's time to try a different method.

While I'm disclosing stuff, I'll add that it took Yardstick and Saia about three months to get along. Saia got along fairly well with Kaylee pretty much immediately because Kaylee simply didn't want to do much with her besides give her the occasional groom and be groomed in return. Saia got along with my dog fairly quickly because my dog is extremely respectful of cats.

Yardstick was not. Yardstick was, at that point in his life, a little bastard. I hadn't started harness training him just yet so he was really super excited about this younger cat (a potential playmate! Finally someone who might want to wrestle with him!!) coming into his home. He'd come on WAY too hard and fast for Saia's comfort and didn't understand her cues to stop.

Which was weird because Yardstick was always pretty respectful of his older sisters (Skitten and Kaylee). But for some reason, it just didn't... translate very well to Saia. I still don't really understand why, honestly.

There were never any severe conflicts between the two. Like there was never any blood spilled.

So what ended up working for Saia and Yardstick was just giving Yardstick another outlet for his energy. Once that was established, he stopped hounding her all the time. Now they play together daily, both respecting each other's cues and desires.

This clearly wouldn't have worked if both cats weren't able and willing to work (for lack of a better phrase). They both were capable of living peacefully together. It wasn't like either cat was openly cat-fractious or cat-unfriendly. They just needed some time and technique to sort out what the problem was.

I think I'm meandering a bit here. To start with, I find the Jackson Galaxy method of cat introductions pretty sound, so that's a good place to start. That alone will give you a good idea on whether or not the cats will get along.

It's normal for cats to hiss at each other at first. A bit of puffing up is also normal.

Actual fights are not normal and you will recognize one pretty much immediately. A cat fight is VERY loud and pretty bloody. There will be fur flying and screaming. If you see that, I don't recommend just trying with another cat unless you're VERY certain that the other cat is the aggressor.

[doberbutts]

Hi jaz! I know u dont post docking/cropping disc horse on ur blog so if ur ok with it i was hoping u'd be ok answering this privately. Im really really not looking for discourse i was just very curious on what your particular stance on docking/cropping was. There are like obviously advantages and disadvantages for both that I've seen on your blog (from various opinions) but I've only irl met dob owners who are VERY against docking and cropping. Sometimes i see like u reblogged a post of a puppy with docked bandaged ears and i was like "huh! Interesting!" So way less of like a trying to start a discourse thing and more of like. Do you prefer docked or not docked? Do u support docking for any specific reason or not, like i know it used to be so they wouldn't get grabbed or something like that. Sorry if this sounds weird or super blunt im autistic and really terrible at wording things gently,, i've just seen both sides talked about and was wondering like what u thought as a professional dog trainer who's opinion I trust. Its more about personal curiosity than any discourse attempt but also also if u aren't comfortable discussing it at all then no pressure!! Like i dont wanna make u discuss something ur like "damn this is gonna be triggering to talk about" i never want to do that to u.

Thank u for taking the time to read :)

I'm actually fine posting this one publicly, only because I've stated it several times before on this very blog:

I do not give a fuck what other people do with their dogs as long as it is legal within their country and the owner is doing their best to be compassionate and fair to their animals. That can be interpreted whatever way anyone wants it to be.

In other words, someone who makes the decision to have their dog's ears cropped under the care of a vet or who purchases a dog with already cropped ears? Who gives a shit. Not me. Someone who takes a pair of scissors to their dog's ears at home? That person is an asshole and I hate them.

Very few doberman breeders in this country will allow a puppy to go home without cropping the ears or docking the tail. I am not sure if that puppy's breeder counts among them, as I have very little interest in purchasing a dog from her and thus don't know much about that part of her program. The pedigrees are simply not what I feel holds the future of the breed in terms of efforts for longevity combined with working ability, so I simply look elsewhere.

It is worth mentioning that the two fully natural dogs I have had, with one still living, come from countries in which the practice is either banned or so heavily restricted it may as well be banned. If someone is serious about wanting a fully natural doberman, most people will need to import.

I know of less than 10 breeders within this country who would allow the same thing, and of them I think I would only purchase from maybe 2 of them, and *both* of those people would only sell a fully natural dog to me because they know who I am. Someone unknown to them is still getting a cropped and docked dog.

For my own dogs, I avoid all potentially painful procedures that are not medically necessary. This does include cropping and docking, both of which are surgeries and all surgeries do have at least some pain associated with them. However I also don't spay or neuter my dogs for the same reason. When it becomes medically necessary, I will consider surgery. Until then, I will not. Thankfully, I was able to find someone who was willing to play ball with that, and that is why I have had a couple natural dogs. My dobermans prior to that were not, because I was not able to find someone, because they simply didn't exist in this country and I was a poor college kid unable to import.

[mixelation]

I would enjoy hearing your rant about how a/b/o reproductive/mating systems drive you batty if you're willing! As someone who is not well studied in that subject omegaverse has still made me furrow my brow and wonder how society has not collapsed

i got this a while ago and debated answering, but i do like rambling and have time tonight. i will not go into specifics because i do not intentionally seek out omegaverse content; my experiences with it are from being in fandom and spec bio spaces where someone just starts talking about it, or every once in a while i read it by accident (i am not actually good about reading tags). i am aware that not everyone follows the same rules and i don't need anyone coming into my askbox to explain how their personal version doesn't do the following things i'm about to say. one reason i know more about omegaverse than i want to is the strange phenomenon of people thinking that a person can be "converted" if only they understood it more....! so: yes, i support any hypothetical fans on my blog writing and enjoying whatever version of omegaverse they want, but no, i do not want you explaining it to me.

anyway, i guess we should first talk about the biological definitions of sex and gender.

sex can be defined multiple ways by biologists depending on what they're trying to study. the one i use for animals & plants is the evolutionary definition, which is based on gametes-- basically, are you set up to make small gametes (male) or big gametes (female)? this is called anisogamy (two different sized gametes within a species) and it's shockingly universal in plants and animals, which is why it's my preferred definition. (although note that gametes size and morphology can vary a ton between species and even between individuals-- the only constant is that within a species, sperm are smaller than ova.) the resulting traits that go along with sex (physical traits, chromosomes, etc) are NOT universal, but i'll talk about some patterns.

note that there ARE isogamous organisms-- such as fungi or algae-- which do not have differently sized gametes. usually instead of sorting them by "sex," they're sorted by "mating type"

also important to know-- lots and lots of plants and animals make both types of gametes. the technical biological term for this is hermaphroditism, but if you're reading this for spec bio reasons i highly urge you NOT to use this term for humans/near-humans. that is because it's unfortunately also a pejorative/dehumanizing term for intersex people (and biologically inaccurate to them). i've seen people use "dualsex" but another scientific term would be "monoecious" (although i have never seen this used outside of plant scientists lmao). technically "bisexual" also works but you can imagine this could be confusing and someone who's never read an old scientific paper might yell at you

okay. so now we've defined sex. what is gender? i am by no means an expert in this, but most people will define it as some sort of social role. for some people it is very personal and definitions are individual. i am only including this paragraph because there was briefly a trend amongst biologists to define "animal gender" as social roles animals play when interacting with each other. i don't personally like this because it often ends up tying the concept of gender to genetics or underlying biological traits. i prefer the more historical term alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), which refers to when there's multiple strategies/phenotypes/"genders" within a single sex of a species. for example, side-blotched lizards have three different male phenotypes which all exhibit different behaviors with different advantages/disadvantages in terms of procreation.

so, biologically, omegaverse is a mating system where both sexes (that's male/female) experience ARTs (that's the alpha/omega/beta), and mating occurs in a disassortative way. Disassortative mating means that individuals are more likely to mate with (and are perhaps are more likely to successfully produce offspring with) other individuals that are "different" from them in some way. for example, white throated sparrows have two morphs per sex. both "tan" males and females invest energy into parental care, and "white" males and females invest energy into acquiring multiple mates, which white females even using brood parasitism (leaving eggs in a nest that's not hers). tan males mate with white females, and tan females mate with white males (i know there's been studies where two of the same mate with each other and the outcome is less good, but i forget what it is just now lol).

one puzzling part of the omegaverse is that by the definitions i see most often (where humans are born male/female and then develop "secondary dynamics" later), alpha males/omega males shouldn't be able to have children. Sperm do not have enough physical "stuff" to make a baby, even if you ignore genetic imprinting and other mechanisms that prevent people's own gametes from fusing. I don't like mpreg on the grounds that i just don't like stories about pregnancy in general, but I get confused when people go in depth about the biological set ups of their AU and then just don't go into what sex even is? Like, if it were just magic or completely handwaved, sure, fine. But why delve into biology and then get basic things wrong? Like, does your world just have mating types? Are some people dualsex? Are your males actually not males? If any of these things, why are the genital configurations they way they are? I will accept "because I think it's hot/fun/whatever" as an answer, but please be honest that that IS the answer. A lot of time people try harder and harder to explain biology and just get nonsensical. Which, again, that's fine for having fun, there's nothing wrong with it or enjoying reading it-- but it will bother me.

im sure someone is already opening their bookmarks to send me an example where one of my suggestions happens. don't do that. i know different people do different things and probably there's examples of at least a few of the above. i know this because people keep sending me things i don't want to see, and often times they're still wrong. don't be that guy

my biggest gripe re:biology in omegaverse, like many people, is with the bioessentialism in sex/ARTs/"gender" that omegaverse aus tend to hang on their invented mating system. like, obviously, the aspects where heats/ruts/whatever make people so horny they have to fuck or end up in extreme pain is already dubcon because it's basically just rebranded sex pollen, and it gets worse when writers choose to also include biological mechanisms where one individual can "force" or compel another one, especially when it occurs along sex-specific lines. and like, don't get me wrong-- i like some dubcon tropes. i do not have an issue with people enjoying what they enjoy in fictional scenarios. what bothers me is the shocking frequency with which i will run into people preaching their "moral omegaverse" and then they literally just describe slightly more complicated dubcon. this isn't just an omegaverse fan issue-- people do this with all sort of other tropes and AUs too-- but it is a pattern and it's annoying.

and! here's the thing that extra gets my goat. a reason why a lot of people (not everyone ofc) like sex pollen and other biology-compulsion based dubcon tropes is that the fact that it's "biology" feels like it should free the involved characters of responsibility for their actions. but this is not how human behavior works, and it's literally not how biology works. animals have coercive sex all the time, but evolution does not actually favor this. it is not evolutionarily advantageous to be at the whim of your alpha a male. female mate choice is incredibly important to evolution, and if coercive sex is happening, then something is simultaneously also evolving to re-establish mate choice. that's how you get things like weird shaped penises to match weird shaped vaginas, or females being able to selectively kick out sperm.

also the world is filled with interesting mating strategies and it makes me sad that people want to "explore" it and then just stick to made-up quasi-wolf dynamics. :( where are the anglerfish dynamics. the whiptail lizard dynamics. the dynamics based on whatever that frog is that can only mate with a different species of frog. why aren't so many people at least googling how seahorses work, and also why do so many people spend so long describing alt biology for how they're getting (insert man here) pregnant only to get the very definition of sex wrong. even if i were into omegaverse, i think i would leave the most unhinged mean comments............

[tired-hellowl]

here' a comprehensive list as to every problem I have with the current *unecessary characters known as 'Glitz and Glam'

Do they expand the story/worldbuilding in any meaningful way? Do they explore a new hidden dynamic/past conjunction with a differing character and is that explored meaningfully? What was the point of having them animated when Mammon can portray the same level of humiliation/degrading/on stage lack of positive reinforcements. 😐

I'm so sorry but I view these characters as necessary garbage that caused some animators arthritis via too many patterns, not enough screen time to have meat and potatoes worth of dialogue, or really any pretense within the story whatsoever and yes this extends towards every female character on screen but let's not worry about that !!! Even if they are IMPLIED to be from the ring of envy-a color or ring we haven't seen nor meaningfully conveyed to the audience that it even is possible to go in/exists- it isn't conveyed to the audience well enough besides the visual implication of colors???? Instead of having shitty b-plots that go nowhere via Stolas and Blitz goofing off in seeing stars, Moxxie and Millie getting C-plots for no reason, or loona getting a rabies shot- all of that time could have been exploring hell, going to different rings, focusing on other characters besides the main 5, literally I would prefer a quiet episode like BoJack Horsemans 'Fish out of Water'where we can actually see the personalities of the main characters be appreciated and shown to us but that's never gonna happen :/

What I've been worried about is not even the on screen racism/out of touch 'rap/hip-hop parody' leaves a terrible taste in my mouth, if that isn't enough then the sexualization/implication of an incest type dynamic and nothing else besides fetish bait with these characters constantly grabbing one another and not really acting like siblings moreso someone who has never had siblings attempting to write sibling banter and failing terribly :/

Why do you have a problem with 'Klown Bitch' it's so catchy! Uhm, no??? I feel bad for anyone who attempts to defend helluva/hazbin as good modern musicals let me grit my teeth in silence as to the glorification over white people dominating black culture

HERES A HISTORY OF FEMALE HIPHOP ARTISTS: X

Pictured above is very old concept art about twin characters and its the same hairshape viv kept to transfer over to glitz/glam- despite clearly being over designed and way too much going on Alá vivzie style. It just goes to show she recycles even from herself and not every design is always new hot and fresh :/ AND SPEAKING OF CONCEPT ART-

Also also don't forget salems' concept designs thst got passed even though they loon toony, loony, clown enough, and definitely majorly way easier to have animated besides the mess that is the current design meta ???

Love how you can clearly see the silhouettes being so easily identifiable comparably towards the actual amalgamated mess that is their current limbs attempting to hold onto their toothpick body for their head.

All this screams to me is viv using the artists thst try to come onto helluva and they try their best with what their given, viv only picks the best bits SHE thinks is worth her time rather then thinking about the audience or animating anything else besides overglorified white people rap 🤔

Also the episode literally presents its full internalized misogyny/racism within this episode because vivzie herself literally admitted to typing into script with a full chest that

'Women just ain't funny'

. . .

why present misogyny within the series if you as a creator aren't willing to tackle the subject matter? Why write about it or present it as if you're smart over including the joke in your script when it isn't even funny because it just further pushes women out of the entertainment/comedy business which mind you IS ALREADY VERY WELL MALE DOMINATED SO PUTTING OTHER WOMEN DOWN TO PUT YOURSELF UP ISNT HELPING YOUR CASE VIV???

So then what was the point of adding female clowns if all you were going to do with them was make fun of them out of their expense and then profit off of the fact that they are incest coded????????????

?????????Are we watching the same fucking series????????

[narsh-poptarts]

⁕ HIIIIII WINTER COMMISSIONS!!!!!! ⁕

As mentioned above, I will only be accepting payment through Kofi or Paypal, and payment must be made upfront. Once I receive payment, only then will I begin work on your commission. I will be sure to ask you lots of questions beforehand and during the process to ensure that both of us are happy with the outcome!!

If you have any questions or are interested, please shoot me a DM!!! I will not be able to start working on commissions until 12/29/2023, but you are more than welcome to shoot me a DM regardless!!!

Commissions will only be open until late January, as I have to start up school again!!!

Thank you so much!! Reblogs are much appreciated!!!

Some additional information/disclaimers/rules under the cut!!!

General Commission Rules:

Please tell me what you want BEFORE you pay me! That way I can properly calculate pricing!!

No refunds!

I have the right to refuse any commission for any reason!! Please respect this. It is likely nothing against you personally, just my own personal preferences for what I'm willing and able to draw.

Both the time I take and the price I charge will vary due to complexity, but I will do my best to inform you of any changes or delays!!

Life stuff happens. As mentioned in the above point, I will do my best to inform you of any delays that occur

Artwork is for personal use only. Do not resell or make profit off of my work without my permission. Additionally, my artwork is strictly forbidden from being used for Artificial Image (AI) Generation or anything similar.

Light blood/gore is okay!! If you're worried that something might be too heavy, don't be afraid to ask!!

I will do light nudity! LIGHT. Pretty much chest only and very little uncovered female presenting breasts. However, I will allow for censored and/or covered up nudity. I must express tho: No NSFW/suggestive, please and thank you. I just don't feel comfy drawing it. Please use what art I have already posted as reference for what I'm willing to draw (my drawing of my dnd character, Jack, is a perfect example).

Some of my rules are bendable and/or negotiable! Please just ask!!

I will default to using my grainy brush, so if you don't want that, say something!

If you don't care about the specifics of what I draw and just simply want me to draw your blorbo, I'm okay with that!! I might ask for the kind of vibe you're looking for tho

I will not be doing comic commissions, but I will do single scene commissions

Specific Commission Content Information:

I do accept furry comms!! Please be aware that I don't typically draw furry art so I am pretty inexperienced in that field. Regardless! I really want to try anyways and do my best, so I appreciate your patience with me!!

Additionally with furry comms: I will only do anthro/humanoid!! I'm not all that confident in my abilities to draw animals in the way I want to, but maybe someday in the future!

Yes I will draw your DnD character!! You must already have a visual reference for them, or at the very least, an assembly of reference images that I can use! I will not be designing your DnD character from scratch. It takes way too long for me to do something like that and I wish to respect both my time and effort and also yours.

I will draw most all DnD races. Please be aware the more animalistic races are not entirely within my expertise, but I will do my best!!

This goes for general OCs as well!! You must have an adequate visual reference of your OC for me or else I can't help you.

I don't want to draw irl people, but if you have someone specific or traits from someone specific that you want me to use as a reference for a character, I'm fine with that.

Yes I will draw fanart of any sort!! That includes fanart with all your headcanons!! (with ample reference) Just lemme know B)

The line between complex and simple background, at the end of the day, is up to my ruling, but for a general guideline: - No background: colors and/or gradients only, simple shapes and designs. No linework. - Simple background: concrete but not overly detailed. Does not especially matter where elements are coming from (if applicable). Ornate borders. - Complex background: detailed with heavy thought put into their design. Detailed linework. I will be doing a 70/30 rule. 70% character, 30% background. If i have to break out the perspective tool, it's complex. Refer to the examples for a general idea!!

Commission Process Rundown:

You go into my DMs and you say something like "hello! I would like to commission you for x, y, z!"

We talk over what you want, what you're looking for, how many characters, color or just lined, if you want shading, style, etc.

You give me a reference image if applicable.

I approve or deny the commission details and total up the price of your commission.

You confirm or deny the price and add or subtract any details to your order.

Upon your confirmation, I give you the link to my kofi or send you a paypal invoice (I would prefer kofi since it is easier and friendlier).

Once payment goes through, I start work on your commission at my next convenience!

I will send you a screenshot of the general sketch. You may change pose or any other detail at this stage. After your confirmation, I continue work.

I then send you a screenshot of the lines nearly finished. You may change minor details at this stage. If I made a mistake in design or otherwise, please let me know and I will be more than happy to fix it. If lines is all you asked for, then I will screenshot one last time once it's done, you confirm any last tweaks, and then I will send you the final image file!! I will ask if you want it to be a transparent image/blank background/specific color background/etc.

If that's the end of your commission details then yay!! If not, the process repeats for the colors and/or shading stages.

I will ask if you mind if I post the artwork! If you don't want me to post it, I won't.

Thank you for commissioning me!!

[pigeon-behavior]

Very curious to hear what's wrong with Palomancy. I've adopted 2 parrots from their sister organization, and aside from being a little too strict in their adoption screening process I haven't heard much criticism about them.

(if this is an annoying ask please feel free to ignore & delete)

No no, not annoying. It's not exactly easy to find this information, so I'm not surprised when people don't know it.

Palomacy is in bed with PETA. You know, the rabid ARA organization known for stealing loved family pets from back yards and front porches (sometimes in a 10 minute stretch the owner was gone) and euthanizing them while refusing to return them. PETA believes no one should own pets, that no one should eat meat, that no one should ride horses or work dogs in the jobs they are bred for. They're willing to lie to get you to align with their beliefs. They're willing to compare animal rights to the Holocaust.

In this article from Palomacy in 2022, you can see them outright quote PETA. https://www.pigeonrescue.org/2022/05/31/a-pigeon-tale/

This is not something an organization should be doing lightly. If you have any clue what PETA is talking about, your goal should be never going within a hundred miles of them. But the reason I found out about this connection in the first place was during some digging some years back, during which I found the head of Palomacy (I don't know if she still is) exchanging tweets on Twitter with a representative of PETA.

Again, these people are so despicable. I would never willingly talk to them in public. Just being near them is like... tainting.

Beyond the PETA connection, Palomacy has a few other issues. They won't return found racers, last I heard. They have been known to descend like a cloud of murderous locusts on anyone who has a differing opinion than them. Their care and behavior advice is truly not great. Their housing advice is probably the only thing I don't feel the need to nitpick for them. The rest is either better designed for parrots, or wildly inappropriate behavior to try on an animal in general, like struggle-cuddling.

I think that they have their place. I wouldn't disappear Palomacy from the face of the earth if I had the chance (unlike PETA). But I know they hate many things they shouldn't (like ethical companion breeders - to them every breeder is pure evil) - and that they are giving out a lot of advice that is harmful.

And I don't want to be associated with them lol

[kawaoneechan]

Why I don't like Unity

There's three reasons, basically, besides my personal inability to get any custom character assets into Unity, Unreal, or Godot.

Let me tell you below the readmore.

Reason #1: it managed to fucking bluescreen my system just trying to start.

How do you fuck that up? I download an installer and run it. This gives me a launcher. From there, I'm supposed to install the actual product I wanted to begin with. That's bad enough, to be honest. But then the fucking launcher managed to break so badly, I had my first BSOD in several months. With all I do to my poor laptops, I so very rarely got crashes like that it honestly threw me the fuck off.

If the launcher is gonna play like that, forget about installing the actual product.

Reason #2: CPU pegging up the ass.

On my previous laptop, attempting to run basically any Unity-based game would peg the CPU, all cores, until the poor thing ran so hot within mere minutes, it'd commit preventative sudoku. Maybe if I was lucky, I'd get a chance to set all the things to "lowest", and that might let me, I dunno, play long enough to get through the goddamn tutorial?

And I'm not even talking about state-of-the-art 3D games, but simple 2D games with low-resolution pixel art. Why would those run a dual-core at 200% until it fucking kills itself? Makes no sense.

Now, Phil Fortier of Icefall Games is an acquaintance of mine via SCI shenanigans, and when he released Snow Spirit (soon to be rereleased as part of Chronicles of Cascadia), I lamented to him about how his use of Unity would mean I couldn't run any of his stuff. So Phil looked into it and found a Big Fucking Thing to optimize. This basically makes Phil's SCI games the only things made in Unity that I can personally trust won't Do That.

Reason #3: About those 2D games...

I'm gonna dip into my Twitter archives for a bit and repost some stuff for this part.

*wavy flashback effect*

This is Angel Jump, a simple little arcade jumping game that's available on itch.io:

It's delightfully low resolution and has like four seconds of audio all added up. Can't be more than a few MB, depending on which sane development framework they used, right?

33 MB, actually. Because Unity. Let's see how it breaks down:

Unity main exe: 623 KB

Main game assets file: 1.19 MB together

A folder full of support DLLs like terrain and cloth: 7.17 MB, 90% or more of them never called because this is a 2D pixel-art game.

Unity's default resources: 3.41 MB. Mind that of these, only the splash logo is actually used because Angel Jump was made in the free edition.

Mono embedded runtime: 2.61 MB, and each game gets its own copy, much like how Electron apps each have their own copies of Chromium.

And another 17 MB for the Unity Player.

All in all, 33 MB of files for a game like that. Why? Because Unity is a bloated crapsack, I'd conclude from a cursory study like that. Let's compare that to some other games.

This is Elevator Girl, which is not on itch.io.

It has a lot of different animations and three fairly long background music tracks. It's only one file, 18.7 MB. I'm willing to bet most of that is the BGM, but I can't confirm it because it's just the one file.

And just for some historical perspective, the entire Crystal Caves trilogy is 1.31 MB, including some chaff. Commander Keen 4 on its own is 740 KB. Now, Keen and Elevator Girl both have OPL soundtracks, but the latter's is probably streamed.

Noxico is only 1.25 MB to download as a .7z file. Its only optimization that I myself actively apply is that I crunch the PNG files. The rest is text, and since the game uses a .zip file by another name as a game data source... yeah. That's a cheap win.

Now, back to Angel Jump. I went through the game's own resources to see what size it could conceivably have if it was not made in Unity. 54 textures, ten of them actually used. Tiny font stored in a weird way, possibly for distance field trickery which has no business in a 2D pixel game if you ask me. 921 KB of WAV files, high-quality bleepity-bloops, two of them jingles. 4.22 KB of PNG files, crunched like Noxico, for all but the creator's logo and the font. 973 KB for a copy of SDL, and I'd estimate at worst two MB for the main EXE.

The entire Angel Jump game could be no more than 4 MB and a half-dozen files, It's actually 33.2 MB, 92 files.

There's a more general computer programming issue that this reliance on Unity for even the simplest, smallest games seems to spring from: the bigger and better the computers get, the more lazy the developers get. Only have like four MHz, 640 KB of RAM and, what, 720 KB of diskette space, and no guarantee of an HDD? Better make the most of it, developers! But now the pressure's off and there's no more reason to exert any effort into keeping small games actually small.

*sigh*

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Kraegrat

Allow me to start with a disclaimer: I woke up sick this morning, so if it seems like I'm doing a worse job than usual stringing words together, let's all agree to blame fatigue & cold medicine.

Now, on to our beast for the week. The entry people are working from can be found here:

This is kind of an interesting one: not only is there no physical description, but the entry consists entirely of describing a single behavior that has at best a tenuous connection to reality. Nevertheless, a number of people indicated that they recognized it, because this is one of those "bestiary fun facts" that tends to stick in folks' heads.

As usual, we're going to go through the depictions in roughly chronological order -- let me know if I missed yours. This week, for some reason, my original post doesn't appear under the #Kraegrat tag, so who even knows what's going on there and I'm fully willing to believe yours is hidden for some kind of absurd Tumblr reason. (Maybe it got flagged under the "don't go nuts don't show nuts" policy -- I kind of suspect that's what happened with the entry post.)

Images below the cut, because (1) aforementioned nuts, though i'm pretty sure this is within Tumblr guidelines, and (2) i really should be doing a cut for all of these but i keep forgetting.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) has gone all in on the pathos, making the Kraegrat small, fuzzy, and sad. They describe it as "beleaguered and persecuted" and "a poor guy" which honestly I think is pretty fair for anyone in a situation where you're constantly being hunted for your testicles. They also cite "tanuki inspo" for obvious testicle-related reasons, and yeah, I see it. Very good Sad Gentle Beast here.

@embervoices (link to post here) has done a few different species of Kraegrat, all of which have kind of a lemur look. (They also provided their own alt text, which I really appreciate, thank you.) The linked post has an explanation of design decisions, and also references that Anansi story about tiger balls. (I googled it just now, and all the results reference American Gods -- did Neil Gaiman make that one up?) Anyway, excellent whimsical lemur thing, love the depiction of it throwing the testicles.

@mayhaps-magical (link to post here) notes their "appropriate medieval disregard for standardized spelling" and explains that they reinterpreted it as "Kragen-rat". My German is almost nonexistent, so I had to do a quick check...

... okay, yeah, I see how that comes into play. I also like the idea of playing around a bit with the spelling and etymology, because gods know the medieval authors did the same with no regard for accuracy. (The vastly-encyclopedic, frequently-inaccurate work that has led Isidore of Seville to be put forth as a potential Patron Saint of the Internet is ostensibly a book of etymologies.) Anyway, I like this guy here. It kind of looks like one of those big dogs that are always kind of shy and nervous around new people, which I think fits with the description as "gentle". Also like that it apparently has both claws and I think thumbs for the throwing of testicles.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) acknowledges that they're pretty sure they know what this animal is supposed to be, but they're trying to put it out of their heads. I think they've done a very good job of that: this is a pretty naturalistic drawing of a ground-dwelling mammal that doesn't quite look like any real animals, including the one that this entry was based on. The post linked above contains a description of the design decisions behind this critter, which I of course recommend checking out.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has, as usual, done a beautifully stylized rendition of this one. She cites the famous unicorn tapestries as inspiration, and I can absolutely see it. I think it's an interesting artistic choice to focus on the hunter rather than the beast in this drawing, but one that absolutely makes sense: the entry doesn't tell us anything about the Kraegrat except how it interacts with hunters. Enjoy your bounty of severed testicles, Sir Hunter... and, um, keep an eye on your dog if you want to make sure you still have all of them when you get home. I think it's contemplating something there. The linked post contains a brief description of design decisions, and also this line, which I enjoyed:

I'd also like to state for the record that when I started this challenge, I was not expecting to draw a field of severed testicles, but here we are. It was more fun than I expected.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has again taken an unusual direction with this one. They describe their interpretation as:

Medicinal plant-like lizard that loses its tail when scared off.

Considering this and the drawing, I think I can see the path of creative interpretation. The animal as presented in the bestiary entry is obviously ridiculous: a mammal that self-castrates to save its life is not an evolutionary success. So what could it be other than that? Well, lizards detach their tails to escape predators; what if there was a lizard with nodules on its tail that medieval people interpreted as testicles?

I can't swear that that is rautavaara's thought process, of course, but it makes sense to me as an interpretation of the material provided, and if that is what they're going for, I think it's quite clever. Also, as usual, the art style here is excellent.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) explains that her design process consisted of blending together various animal features and then giving it sparkly magic balls, because that's all the entry really provides. Which, fair. Also I appreciate the taste in choosing what I think is "tapir + deer" as the animals to blend here. Those tusks kind of remind me of musk deer, which is actually pretty appropriate, as we'll see later. The facial expression plus the sparkly balls strike me as very funny, I have to say. Good beast.

@karthara (link to post here) was apparently also skeptical about the idea of a self-castrating animal, and if you check out the linked post, you'll see a brief explanation of how they resolved that as well as some other thoughts on design decisions. The gist is that the Kraegrat has decoy testicles, which I love as an interpretation. Fantastic. No further notes.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has done another ink drawing that is, frankly, delightful. Love the Kraegrat escaping into the Nonspecific Medieval Trees. Love, love, love the hunter getting smacked in the face with a set of thrown testicles while his dog watches. The above linked post also provides an explanation of design decisions which I think is worth reading, go check that out.

@treesurface (link to post here) has drawn us a rat-kangaroo thing (not to be confused with a kangaroo rat) calmly displaying its lack of testicles. Looks fairly good-natured about the situation, really. They provide a brief discussion of their design decisions in the linked post, and also express a desire for more "weird scary beasts" in the future -- so I checked, and while I can't really define what is or isn't a weird scary beast, I think we should get at least one qualifying entry in January.

@pomrania (link to post here) has made the understandable decision that they aren't going to draw animal genitalia today. Fair enough. I also think this is a pretty good depiction of a Mammal that is clearly not any animal we're familiar with -- I'm impressed by how many of the drawings we're getting for this are Plausible Yet Unfamiliar Beasts. Anyway, pomrania provides early sketches and an explanation of design decisions in the linked post. They also express relief that this is not "Yet Another Bird", and I regret to inform you all that there is a small cluster of Bird entries coming our way.

Anyhow, let's take a look at the Aberdeen Bestiary depiction for this one.

I have to say I find this illustration very funny. That bizarre pose where it's wrapped around a tree is good, but what really makes it is the hunters. Look at those two. Spear Guy looks like his eyes are about to bug out of his head, while Axe Guy seems like he's going "hey, is that normal? should we be doing something about that?"

Anyway, as some of you guessed (and as I'm sure more of you picked up from that very accurate Aberdeen illustration above), this is a Beaver.

Yeah, the whole testicle thing is probably a misunderstanding of the castor sacs that beavers use to scent-mark their territory. Castoreum is still used today, mostly in the perfume industry I think, but apparently the medievals had some kind of medicinal use in mind. So the people who surmised that this isn't actually talking about testicles but rather some other anatomical feature that looks like testicles were correct. I have no idea where the idea came from that the beaver would rip them off voluntarily, though.

So! There's this week's bestiaryposting. I will now Retreat to My Chamber and Lay As One Dead (scroll Tumblr in bed until I fall asleep).

[aangarchy]

I feel like i need to reiterate what my opinion on the southern raiders as an episode is bc my previous posts about it are like 3 years old at this point, so here goes. I want to preface this by saying all of this is in fact my opinion and not me trying to state facts. I'm not going to argue who's right or wrong. I'm not going to debate it either. If your opinion is different: great! You're a human being that can also think for themselves!

In my opinion, the southern raiders is not a good episode. The only reason it exists, is because Katara needed to stop hating Zuko and start trusting him, and thus Zuko would be officially and fully part of the gaang. There's a reason they didn't give Toph a life changing field trip episode. It wasn't necessary in the narrative because Toph already pretty much trusted Zuko. Sokka and Aang had their respective Zuko trips, and Suki rode along in Sokka's episode. Katara was the only one left and for some reason this is what they came up with, and they crammed it in right before a filler episode so they could start of the finale.

I particularly dislike Zuko's behavior in this episode. I'm not saying it's out of character. I just feel like at this point in the story he should know better. First he doesn't understand why Katara is still angry at him. Then he gets to the conclusion that Katara has connected her anger towards her mother's murderer to him, which isn't false, but Katara is still justified in her anger because Zuko has also been very shitty towards her. Then once he has the information he needs from Sokka (who didn't ask to get involved and just wanted to have a fun night with his girlfriend and now had to recall one of his most traumatic memories) he just drops it onto Katara, first cornering her by waiting outside her tent to make sure he's the first thing she sees. He also tells her he "knows who did it." Only he doesn't actually know does he? He just knows it's the leader of the southern raiders, but he doesn't know where to find him yet, but he does know where they can find out so it's okay. They only need to ninja sneak into a highly guarded tower and get a the map. No biggie. Then they march over to Aang and tell him they "need to borrow Appa". They don't even ask him nicely, they just say "we need him". Aang is rightfully sceptical.

Now i know Appa is their only mode of transportation in this episode bc the airship is with Hakoda. But can i remind everyone that Appa is more than just a vehicle? He's a living breathing animal and also Aang's pet. And Aang has already lost him once. They're planning on taking Appa straight into the danger zone without Aang or any armor. And they don't even ask permission! They were planning to sneak out with him at night without Aang's knowledge too! What if Appa got hurt? What if they get captured along with Appa?

Then when Aang points out how this plan sounds insane (bc it fucking is), Katara immediately tells Aang he doesn't understand. What's weird about this is Aang is actually one of the few people there that DOES. Aang is a victim of genocide just like Katara. Within a few days he went from wandering the airtemples with the other kids and playing pai cho with Gyatso to learning his entire civilization and culture has been dead for a century. He was faced with his mentor and father figure's skeleton, and with the knowledge that whomever did it has been dead for a long time. He points this out to Katara, and Zuko dismisses him saying this is what Katara needs.

It's funny how Zuko's entire motivation for this plan in the first place is for Katara to stop hating him. It's entirely selfish, and he's essentially using Katara's grief for his benefit. But all of a sudden when they get stopped by Aang and asked to explain themselves Zuko believes this is what Katara needs. Now i am willing to believe that Zuko genuinely thinks this will help Katara at this point, as it seems like he's living a bit through her. After all he too lost his mother (although he recently discovered she is alive) and boy wouldn't he like to hurt Ozai for being responsible for his mother's disappearance. But this doesn't take away that this plan started with selfish motivations.

Aang rightfully points out that this isn't about closure but about revenge, and tries to explain to both of them the airnomad philosophy around revenge. Zuko, still wanting to go ahead with his plan bc he wants Katara to stop hating him, dismisses this and calls it "airtemple preschool". I'll rephrase that: a direct descendant of the nation that eradicated the entire airnomad population dismisses and insults the teachings of said eradicated culture. And it's played of as a joke? Because it's a funny phrase i suppose? Hardy har the oppressor is making fun of the beliefs and culture of the oppressed! And as if this isn't enough, he decides to drive this home even further by calling Aang a "guru goodie goodie" when Aang asked Katara not to choose revenge. Again we're supposed to find this funny, and sure as a kid the line on its own is funny. But growing up and realizing the context around it, it very quickly becomes not funny and actually kind of infuriating, because again the reason Zuko is trying so hard to dismiss Aang is that he wants this plan to succeed so Katara will stop throwing insults his way. Katara is also very mean towards Sokka this episode, claiming he didn't love their mother the way she did. Poor Sokka really got put trough the ringer this episode.

I also again want to point out how dangerous this plan is. The first field trip with Aang was different. They were visiting ruins for the benefit of Aang learning firebending (a skill he needs to face Ozai), so this trip was very necessary. Sokka's trip was "selfish" for other reasons than Katara. He felt like he failed his dad by letting him get captured, and so he wants to prove himself by getting him out. At least we can applaud Sokka and Zuko for not endangering Appa into enemy territory this time around, and for going into the trip with good intentions (aka saving Dad and later up saving Suki). But the consequences of Sokka's trip show up almost immediately because Azula was able to track them down and bomb the place. The southern raiders trip could have very well had the same exact consequences. They could get captured, they could die, they could get tracked and lead the fire nation to the location of the Avatar (who they now know is alive and is once again their biggest threat), Appa could get hurt. All of this to murder a man and they don't end up doing it. (Just to be clear i'm not mad that Katara didn't kill Yon Rah, i'm actually really happy with that choice and how it foreshadows Aang choosing not to kill Ozai. I'm mad at the fact that they did this dangerous plan with bad intentions and didn't even complete it.)

Now by the end, i'm not saying Aang was completely in the right this episode. He told Katara to forgive this man when he knows damn well she would never. I'm not saying she couldn't. She just wouldn't. But he was right in saying that Katara needed to face this man and come to a non-violent closure. He was also correct in the assumption that Katara needed to forgive. He only wanted Katara to aim this forgiveness at the wrong person. Katara did forgive at the end. She forgave Zuko (who still didn't really deserve it in my opinion because we never even see him apologize to Katara personally for what he did to her?) Zuko even admits at the end that Aang was right in saying violence wasn't the answer. Aang's methods were just a bit off this episode, because there was no way Katara was going to listen to him.

To round this off: this episode could have been done differently. The only thing that really needed to happen for the plot, was for Katara to forgive Zuko and for Zuko to ask Aang how he was going to apply his pacifist upbringing into defeating the firelord. Everything else wasn't narratively necessary, and brought up some very questionable scenes. You could argue that we needed to find out what happened to Katara's mother, but honestly we kind of already knew. She died at the hands of the fire nation. We didn't really need to have it laid out, so it wasn't necessary for the story.

Anyway, that's it. Like i said above, i don't really want to debate this. If you disagree with it you can make your own post about it, i'd rather not get into arguments in the reblogs or comments.

[lilflowerpot]

Hey do u have any more headcanons about lotors generals that your willing to share?

My original post on this topic is quite comprehensive so I'm not sure how much else of significance I have to add, but I suppose there are a few small things?

Ezor is the most tactile of the bunch (which is saying something, given that the galra are very physically affectionate as a general rule) and she often drapes herself over the others with little regard for the importance and/or delicacy of what they are doing at any given time. Narti was the most touch-averse of the group, for reasons I am yet to disclose.

Kova has obvious favourites in the group: Narti & Lotor for cuddles, and Zethrid for play fighting. Ezor takes Kova's general ambivalence to her existence terribly personally, having tried (and failed) for decaphoebs to ingratiate herself to their feline mascot, while Acxa and Kova have an unspoken understating that to encroach on the other's space is akin to a declaration of war.

Acxa has an exceptional poker face in all things EXCEPT the lowest of stakes. Gun to her head? Cool as a cucumber. Friendly game of cards? She becomes the most predictable member of the group by far.

Zethrid offered her blade to Ezor within their first phoeb of acquaintance. Ezor took and returned it somewhat flippantly, with complete disregard for the sincerity with which Zethrid would proceed to court her, only to fall head over heels for her big buff girlfriend embarrassingly quickly. They are disgustingly happy together.

Lotor, Acxa, & Ezor often play with/braid each other's hair: if you're thinking "Ezor doesn't actually have hair" you would be correct, but she used to before she shed her skin for the first time, and misses it dearly.

Zethrid has the greatest weakness for cute things—the smaller the better—and is absolutely the friend who will try to pet any and every little animal the group come across (often at the detriment to her own safety, as many alien fauna are not receptive to large unknown galra attempting to manhandle them).

[khaire-traveler]

hey, so im kinda new here but i was just scrolling and saw a post you made in like december of last year (im really late i know, im sorry) saying that the gods aren't going to harm you and won't toy with you, and um, i really mean no disrespect at all with this, this is a genuine question, and i in no way mean to bash you bc i love the greek gods too, but like don't the greek myths show the exact opposite of that? like zeus and poseidon legit flooding the whole ass earth just to get rid of humans? and so many different occasions where the gods smite humans bc of a tiny offense? or actually just toying with mortals because they find it funny? and just basically doing really questionable things to humans all the time? i love them and all, but isn't it a bit of a stretch to say that they wouldn't harm humans when they literally did for all of humanity's existance per the myths?

Hello, Nonny, thanks for the question! I appreciate that you were trying to be respectful. 🧡

Firstly, I would like to say that I made that post last year. My thoughts and opinions have shifted over time, and that post was mostly made with the intention of comforting those who needed it (including myself, at the time). Posts like that don't offer enough context to express what a person actually believes/practices. I still would like to believe that gods don't just fuck with people or harm them in really shitty ways, but this is due to personal experience, as are most things within this type of religion. It's very heavily based on each individual's experiences with the gods. I have never met two people with the same exact practice or even interpretation of the gods; something is always a little bit different, even if it's a very small difference.

Secondly, these are myths that you're referencing. Even in ancient times, they were not interpreted literally all the time. This isn't really the type of religion that I would suggest people interpret myths literally, and I don't mean that in a rude way. It simply doesn't make sense to me to do that, especially when the culture of the ancient Greeks was so vastly different from the modern day. In fact, many of the major "issues" people have with Greek myths can be explained by a difference in culture and ways of thinking. If you choose to interpret myths literally, go for it, but I personally find the gods to be VERY different from the myths people told of them.

You have to remember as well that it's not as if these myths were written by the gods themselves or something; some old ass white men were probably the ones writing that stuff down, and they lived in a culture where men had all the rights and privileges (this is all to say that many myths treat women like shit for a reason: the culture viewed women as being worth less than literal animals).

The Greek myths are not scripture. I feel that basing one's views of the gods solely on myths is extremely limiting and, in my experience, inaccurate. Zeus has treated me very kindly, even helping me escape from the worst abuser I've ever faced; Poseidon has been very respectful, gently approaching me and randomly just popping up for assistance throughout my life; Apollo has been a light in the darkness for me during many times of need, always willing to guide me when I've lost my way. The gods can be depicted in myths one way but act in an entirely different way in reality.

That said, however, the gods are complex beings, similarly to humans. They are capable of feeling any emotion - sadness, happiness, anger, disgust, etc. Of course they're bound to get upset at humans from time to time, but I don't believe they would act maliciously towards someone randomly or for a super petty reason. They can be kind, loving, and sweet, but being multifaceted, they can also be cruel, spiteful, and angry. I would argue that rarely does a worshipper experience the more "unpleasant" side of the gods, but it does happen, I'm sure. I just believe that the gods will not go out of their way to just "mess with people", if that makes sense. For example, I don't believe Aphrodite would ruin someone's life for making a one-off comment about how their partner is "as/more beautiful as/than Aphrodite". Like, why would she care? Especially if that person doesn't even worship her, why does it matter what that person says? It's just some random person, and she has much better things to do than spend her time ruining their life for a compliment to their lover. The gods simply have better things to do and/or are more mature than that. They're thousands upon thousands of years old; I'm sure they know how to handle someone who called them a mean name or said something "hubristic" in a respectful and disciplined way, especially if that person isn't a worshipper/doesn't believe in their existence.

Of course, there are people who would disagree with me, and that's perfectly fine. There is no right or wrong belief when it comes to these things. The beauty of this religion is that you're free to think whatever you want. If you want to believe that Hermes is the god of Monster Energy™, you're absolutely free to do so! If you want to believe that saying someone is as beautiful as Aphrodite is insanely disrespectful and not ok, then you're free to think that as well. There's nothing wrong with believing whatever feels right to you, but just remember that at the end of the day, religion should be a generally positive experience for you. It should make you feel good in some way, be that happiness or fulfillment or even comfort. Religion shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable, unhappy, and unsafe constantly. There are times where religion - especially this one imo - will test your limits or push boundaries, but it shouldn't make you feel like shit all the time.

Ok, anyway, I apologize for going into a tangent lol. I hope this gave a sufficient answer to your question. Believe whatever you feel is right, Nonny. I may believe that the gods are kind (although they certainly can behave otherwise, being multifaceted), but you're welcome to believe the opposite. There is no one single way to interpret the gods; it's different for everyone. The only recommendation/advice I have for you is to base your views of the gods on personal experience rather than myths. Myths are just that: myths. They are meant to teach lessons or explain the nature of the world. Sometimes they're even just meant to show examples of a god's wrath/why you should respect the gods. Point being here that they aren't usually meant to be taken literally, and I personally would not recommend doing so, but it's entirely your choice.

I hope this helped and gave you a good answer! Take care, and have an awesome day/night. 🧡☺️

[mdhwrites]

Have you seen the new HSR short, Rondo Across Countless Kapas? Got any thoughts? 👀

From an animation and sapphic perspective? HOLY FUCK! Absolutely gorgeous and I think what it's doing with Acheron is really interesting, even if it's essentially purely through visual storytelling. You could have the sound off and get everything interesting about the short.

Turn the sound on and you get the part I have a problem with: I'm kind of done with the Memokeeper. Not Black Swan, just the memokeeper element of her. I'll get into it soon but for those who haven't seen it, enjoy one of the best dances I've ever seen.

So what is my issue with the dialogue? Well, it's that Penacony has this problem of people getting into kind of grand speeches on a subject, even potentially mundane ones. Aventurine is always going on about power dynamics and hinting at his plan (this leads to the fucking god awful self quoting of like two paragraphs from himself at the end of 2.0), Sparkle is constantly using these big speeches to belittle people or mock them and Black Swan...

Black Swan is talking about memories. I'm not even against these monologues or the like but Black Swan has been in a LOT of marketing materials at this point and they ALL use her memokeeper element and very little of her fortunetelling element, usually only using the latter to emphasize the former in some way. It's just gotten very repetitive to me. Worse yet is that owning Black Swan AMPLIFIED this problem because it's more kind of mysterious, kind of not talk of dreams and the universe and memories and past that a lot of the rest of the big dialogue from her is. I want her to stop being so dramatic and be more personable, at least for a little while.

This isn't even me calling Black Swan a bad character. There is genuinely more to her with how playful she can be or how she is the best manipulator on Penacony so far because she can figuratively be two faced, something Sparkle needs literal shapeshifting powers for and Aventurine can't do to save his life, which the same goes for Himeko. She also sells the best though that she's genuinely a good person who just is willing to get her hands dirty but it is up to interpretation (honestly kind of frustratingly so. I don't like that I can't actually say a ton about each Penacony character so far due to their attempts at duplicity meaning fuck you on concrete characterization besides your flavor of manipulator. No, backstory does not count as characterization either.)

Edit: This could definitely also just be a me thing at this point. I rewatched it and not a lot of it is spent on talking about the past or memories. Black Swan is still playing up the mysteries of Penacony, something that I'm also getting a bit tired of, but she doesn't actually have many lines on memories themselves. It's just somehow kind of stuck in my brain for some reason this element of her being over represented and so it's what my brain ended up focusing on.

Let's end this on a positive though. Star Rail is normally not good at mysteries but the fact that Acheron genuinely seems disconnected from her Emanator state, when she draws the blade, is deeply interesting to me. It even fits within my theory, that we'll find out the truth on soon, that Acheron is an Emanator of Nihility. Speaking of, hi VERY explicitly to Ix within the violence montage. There is no way of getting around the fact that one of those sketches was of them front and center.

And from a dramatic standpoint, I love the presentation. The fact that bringing them up while clearly trying to get extra information out of Acheron, to have her mind have to go there so Black Swan could more easily grab the memories she might lie about, only for her to get fucked up like she does is INCREDIBLE. The fact that Acheron is so sincere in her confusion afterwards only adds to the horror of it all.

I... Am mixed on her knowing who they were. I frankly would love it if because the statement is the Annihilation Gang, not the Everflame Manor, that when she goes "Oh, right, those guys..." She's actually talking about the dumbasses from this destruction cult, since Duke Inferno isn't the only part of it, that got Aha's help to try to kill Ix. It'd be a way for them to have their cake and eat it too that I think fits better than the girl with eternal memory issues to suddenly actually remember killing them all.

Overall, I do like the animated short. If I were to just think of it in a vacuum, I even like Black Swan's dramatic narration. It's a good flourish to the action, explains what's going on well enough and her calm narration provides great contrast from when EVERYTHING gets fucked. My hangups are entirely a weird thing that's just kind of getting to me about Penacony and I'm not entirely sure if I expect it to get better or worse come 2.1.

I just know that thanks to my tax return (I did not spend all of it on Star Rail, don't worry) and knowing the top up refresh was happening, I did spend a good amount and am guaranteed to get Acheron, even if it takes 160 pulls like it took for Black Swan..., and I am looking forward to playing with her.

Just with tempered expectations.

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And final note for those maybe hoping for it: I haven't been inspired by this short to write AcheSwan. I frankly wish I knew why I didn't get inspired by Star Rail more for my writing.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[princeescaluswords]

I wanted to make a little thing about Teen Wolf teen as the Mystery Inc. Gang and my first thought was to make Scott Scooby because wolf - dog hehe (and I'd be using Stiles, Kira, Lydia and Allison so no other werewolves) and then I realised there are maybe some Implications(TM) to having the only Latino character depicted as a dog and I decided against it.

Anyway, I wish fanfic authors were capable of putting that much thought into their stories where Scott is written out or turned into a villain for no good reason

There are indeed implications, and that's something that fanfiction writers have to come to terms with: there are always implications.

One of the worst aspects of fandom is that content creators try to exert absolute control how their work is received after it is made public. They have this in common with every artist who ever lived, so it's understandable, but it's also unachievable. The only answer I have found is to work as hard as I can to understand these implications and accommodate them into your work.

I'm not speaking from a position of moral purity. Earlier this year, I wrote a story that I thought was an exploration of Mason Hewitt's role in the Teen Wolf movie, and someone whose opinion I trust argued that I botched the implications of what I wrote in terms of racism. Things like that are going to happen, regardless of intent, and the best thing content creators can do is not only be aware of how their work will exist within a greater cultural context but be open to criticism about it. I am always willing to grapple with implications I didn't foresee, including accepting the responsibility to defend my own writing. (Including this post!)

So let's talk about your idea. Why is it precarious to emphasize the animal-like aspects of a Latino character, even if he is a werewolf? This.

History cannot be erased, and it should not be ignored.

In the history of the United States, Latinos, among other disadvantaged groups, have been likened to animals in order to impose a social order that insists that they have to submit to white control. It's not arguable whether this has happened or not. When you write a story that emphasizes the animal-like traits of a Latino character (or any similar disadvantaged group), you must grapple with the historical and cultural context.

And the Teen Wolf fandom has not only failed to do that repeatedly, they've often doubled down on the implications. Think about how many times that Scott has been portrayed in fanfiction as having issues with self-control, more than any other beta, which serves as a condemnation for his refusal to submit to a white male character (either Derek or Stiles or even Peter). This requires a change to the original story, because the writers choose to ignore that other betas have problems with self-control as the adjust to the shift, and they choose to ignore multiple instances of Scott having significant self-control, such as Magic Bullet (1x04), Heart Monitor (1x06), Shapeshifted (2x02), and Party Guessed (2x09).

Think about how many times Scott has been given animalistic traits in fanfiction that he doesn't have in the show, especially traits which serve to emphasize his inferiority, and these traits are not shared by the other werewolves? He is a voracious eater! He can't cook, or clean, or take care of himself! He is oblivious to the sophisticated emotional and social states of his white peers. He's obsessed with sexual gratification and constantly indulges in sexual behavior in public. He's an indifferent student at best, frequently requiring assistance in even basic subjects. None of these are supported even remotely by the show. As an aside, many of these are also part of the same stereotypes given to Latinos: sexually voracious, passionately aggressive, lazy, uneducated, and ruled by appetite.

Now, a possible counterargument is that the show itself sometimes emphasized the animalistic traits that Scott gained through his transformation into a werewolf. The wolf run in Seasons 1 and 2. Sticking his head out the window to get Lydia's scent in Omega (2x01). Sleeping at the foot of his mother's bed to protect her in Currents (3x07). The dog bowl scene in Lunatic (1x08).

There is an important difference. In the show the white werewolves have scenes like that as well, such as the dog whistle Deaton uses on Derek in Fury (2x10) and the fact that Isaac, too, is sleeping at the foot of the bed. But the most important part is that these instances aren't used to position Scott or anyone else as inferior because they have the traits of an animal. They're not used to impose a racially-influenced social order. Even the scene in Lunatic (which, as a caveat, I personally do not like at all) is more about Stiles than about Scott being animal-like, demonstrating that Stiles's standard tactics of good-natured bullying and cruel sarcasm are no longer appropriate for his relationship with Scott, which Stiles must confront.

So my point is, if you want to create content for a Mystery Inc. AU, I don't think that there's any reason you absolutely cannot do it, but I feel you would have to pay very close attention to HOW you create that content. Are you ignoring the historical and cultural context of your work? Are you ignoring power dynamics inherent in your choices? What's the message you're sending by your changes? While I don't see the need or even the applicability of this AU, I'm relatively confident that it could be done, as long as you don't use your intent as a shield for the finished product. Intention does not guarantee freedom from offense, a concept that fandom has had trouble with again and again.

[narsh-poptarts]

Hello!!!! I'm opening summer commissions!! For right now I will only have 4 slots open, but this may change week to week as I generally discover how best to do this for myself!! This is a first come first serve basis and I will do my best to communicate accordingly!!

As mentioned, I'm only accepting payment through Kofi and/or paypal, and payment must be made in full upfront. Once I receive payment, only then will I begin work on your commission. I will be sure to ask you lots of questions about what you want so that both of us are fully in the know before you pay :D!!!

If you have any questions or are interested, please shoot me a DM!!

Thank you so much!!! Reblogs are appreciated!! :DD

Some additional information/disclaimers under the cut: (warning, long)

General Commission Rules:

Please tell me what you want BEFORE you pay me! That way I can properly calculate pricing!!

No refunds!

I have the right to refuse any commission for any reason!! Please respect this. It is likely nothing against you personally, just my own personal preferences for what I'm willing and able to draw.

Expect at most a week long turnaround! Both the time I take and the price I charge will vary due to complexity, but I will do my best to inform you of any changes or delays!!

Life stuff happens. As mentioned in the above point, I will do my best to inform you of any delays that occur

Artwork is for personal use only. Do not resell or make profit off of my work without my permission. Additionally, my artwork is strictly forbidden from being used for Artificial Image Generation or anything similar.

I forgot to put it but light blood/gore is okay!! If you're worried that something might be too heavy, don't be afraid to ask!!

I will do light nudity! LIGHT. Pretty much chest only and very little uncovered female presenting breasts. However, I will allow for censored and/or covered up nudity. I must express tho: No NSFW/suggestive, please and thank you. I just don't feel comfy drawing it. Please use what art I have already posted as reference for what I'm willing to draw (my drawing of my dnd character, Jack, is a perfect example).

Some of my rules are bendable and/or negotiable! Please just ask!!

I will default to using my grainy brush, so if you don't want that, say something!

If you don't care about the specifics of what I draw and just simply want me to draw your blorbo, I'm okay with that!! I might ask for the kind of vibe you're looking for tho

I will not be doing comic commissions, but I will do single scene commissions

Specific Commission Content Information:

I do accept furry comms!! Please be aware that I don't typically draw furry art so I am pretty inexperienced in that field. Regardless! I really want to try anyways and do my best, so I appreciate your patience with me as I learn!!

Additionally with furry comms: I will only do anthro/humanoid!! I'm not all that confident in my abilities to draw animals in the way I want to, but maybe someday in the future!

Yes I will draw your DnD character!! You must already have a visual reference for them, or at the very least, an assembly of reference images that I can use! I will not be designing your DnD character from scratch on description alone. It takes way too long for me to do something like that and I wish to respect both my time and effort and also yours.

I will draw most all DnD races. Please be aware the more animalistic races are not entirely within my expertise, but I will do my best!!

This goes for general OCs as well!! You must have an adequate visual reference of your OC for me or else I can't help you.

I don't want to draw irl people, but if you have someone specific or traits from someone specific that you want me to use as a reference for a character, I'm fine with that.

Yes I will draw fanart of any sort!! That includes fanart with all your headcanons!! You want me to draw an As Close To Canon As Possible LoZ Link? I will do that! You want me to draw a 10 billion scars everywhere, transfem, nonverbal signing, Actually She Lost A Leg Too And Now Has A Prosthetic, shaved head Link LoZ? I will do that too! (with ample reference) Just lemme know B)

Commission Process Rundown:

You go into my DMs and you say something like "hello! I would like to commission you for x, y, z!"

We talk over what you want, what you're looking for, how many characters, color or just lined, if you want shading, style, etc.

You give me a reference image if applicable.

I approve or deny the commission details and total up the price of your commission.

You confirm or deny the price and add or subtract any details to your order.

Upon your confirmation, I give you the link to my kofi or send you a paypal invoice (I would prefer kofi since it is easier and friendlier).

Once payment goes through, I start work on your commission at my next convenience!

I will send you a screenshot of the general sketch. You may change pose or any other detail at this stage. After your confirmation, I continue work.

I then send you a screenshot of the lines nearly finished. You may change minor details at this stage. If I made a mistake in design or otherwise, please let me know and I will be more than happy to fix it. If lines is all you asked for, then I will screenshot one last time once it's done, you confirm any last tweaks, and then I will send you the final image file!! I will ask if you want it to be a transparent image/blank background/specific color background/etc.

If that's the end of your commission details then yay!! If not, the process repeats for the colors and/or shading stages.

I will ask if you mind if I post the artwork! If you don't want me to post it, I won't.

Thank you for commissioning me!!