#let alone share

[shingekinomyfeelings]

tw for body issues, body dysmorphic disorder, and mental health struggles. no I will not tag it.

A recent conversation on Reddit has me thinking a lot about my struggles with body dysmorphic disorder over the bulk of my life, and if (or how) it ever really goes away.

Of course society's beauty standards are unfair and unhealthy and frankly impossible for most people. We all know that. Of course no one needs to strive to meet those bonkers standards, and it's stupid to pretend that beauty = super model and that anything less than super model = ugly. Of course even people who aren't aesthetically pleasant to look at still have human value and worth.

And yes, reframing the way you see yourself and others can change your feelings about yourself over time, in good ways and bad.

Yeah. I know that.

But I've also come to realize that the trend in recent years of 'positivity culture' saying that you have to pretend you think you're beautiful even if you don't, or else you're failing in some way, is incredibly unfair and unhelpful, too.

"Don't talk about the body dysmorphia or you're just letting it win" isn't realistic or helpful, any more than similar sentiments are for any mental health struggle.

If you've felt the waves of anxiety and nausea when you see yourself in photos, it's not a moral failing or a sign of your weakness or lack of resilience, and neither is making progress in your struggle but not fully 'overcoming' it. It's a shitty battle I wish no one had to go through, but I'd like to see it be more acceptable to talk frankly about without it being made into a matter of shallowness or vanity or that infuriating, condescending accusation of 'wallowing in self pity.'

Putting someone down for struggling with BDD just compounds the problem, and keeping your struggles a secret in the name of 'positivity' is painful in ways it's hard to put into words.

There's also a massive difference between 'I wish I looked perfect!' and 'I wish I didn't feel so deeply ugly.'

Is it okay for me to admit that I'm not fully past it, and that sometimes it still makes my stomach twist up, and that I might never be fully past it, without being seen as a negative person? Can I admit that I've seriously considered cosmetic surgery without being seen as letting the pain 'win?' Can I say I wish I could look at myself and genuinely think 'beautiful' or 'sexy' without being seen as self absorbed, shallow, or vain? What good am I doing myself by pretending those things aren't true when they are? Can I just admit it it still really fucking hurts now and then?

We're so pro mental health, as long as we don't have to hear about it in ways we can't personally relate to, or ways that make us uncomfortable.

[the-barefoot-hatter]

pediatricians are hard to find.

you aren't broken and other important things a triangle needs to hear

[canisalbus]

I love your art so much. There is something so distinctive about how tender and warm you draw Vasco and Machete and I love it all it just makes my heart melt. I love the dynamic of the catholic queer identity you have for them it's so distinctive and you do it so well. Keep up the amazing work, you are honestly one of my favorite if not my favorite artist you bring me so much comfort with your work.

.

[mirensiart]

The newest pain sharing update is literally just the post about that 6 week old kitten trying his best to take care of a couple 2 week old kittens

Its them

YEEEES, THAT'S THEM !!!!!! OMG

I personally headcanon hyrule to be 16 almost 17, four to be 15 and wind 13 almost 14, so they're all babies lmao

A kitten looking after two kittens being chased by a mountain lion lol

[aueua]

!

[roboyomo]

i can't even remember the last time i've held you in my arms like this.

[randomalistic]

Not my dad passively commenting on how some media “looks stupid” or “this was super lame” as I was growing up and how it had unintentionally made me exceedingly self conscious to explore things I was interested in out of fear they were “bad” 😏 being a queer neurogidervent child was so cool and definitely not agonizing in 1 million microscopic ways

[ivysos2001]

I still can’t believe marvel had Steve tell Natasha he could only really see himself with someone with ‘shared life experience’ (5 seconds after they literally kissed) and then had the two of them practically glued together for literal years (in this movie and in every other movie after it), only to not even seem to consider them as a potential couple/love story

[spow-ed]

*Coughing that only gets more aggressive over time*

[starryc]

hair the color of dead leaves

(progress pics under cut)

this was inspired by a line from a jpn fic i read that described gentaro's hair as "the color of dead leaves." unfortunately i can't find the fic anymore so it might've been taken down ToT but it's stuck with me ever since i first read it because gentaro is "phantom," so i love to describe him as such in my writing… pale as a phantom, cold as a corpse, hair the color of dead leaves. he's more dead than he is alive

so yeah i waited the whole year for the leaves outside to start turning brown 😭 but i also used some leaves from the plants at home >w<

i'm very happy to have finally finished this, especially since i've had it on my mind for a long time now!! 😊

[s1lv3rp4w3dc4t]

shout out object shows with canon queer ships. I'm talking on screen kiss or even just verbal confirmation. all things considered it's a bit strange you don't really see them that much when you think about how gay everyone here is. I love you ii but c2bc did what you didn't and I think that's actually really nice.

[inquisimail]

harding's path of kinship armor embroidery

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 240

You know what I think could be a really interesting premise?

Liminal-as-fuck Batfamily (and maybe all of Gotham itself) who aren't part of the Justice League. Like I am saying full on cryptid batfam who terrorize the criminals of Gotham and aren't well known outside of the city besides rumours.

And now throw in the Phantom team, either via Sam or Ellie or otherwise bringing the anti-ecto acts to their attention. I'm saying feral ghostly children barely being held back by Alfred from destroying the GIW buildings with their bare hands. Yes, that includes Bruce and Kate.

[sapphorror]

Zim, Dib, Gaz, and Tak are actually all horribly vindictive spiteful people to more or less equal degrees, but the interesting thing is that Zim and Gaz both exact vengeance in very specific, premeditated ways, which are often wildly out of proportion but once they feel like they've evened the score they will pretty much immediately forget about whatever pissed them off in the first place—whereas Dib and Tak are both ostensibly above being ruled by petty grudges, but very obviously boiling over with a constant resentment that sends them pouncing like rabid dogs at even the slightest opportunity or excuse to make the object of their ire suffer (and if they're both working towards their own self-serving end game that just HAPPENS to involve every terrible thing imaginable befalling their enemies, well... that'll just be a happy by-product of their personal success).

I don't I have any point to make here, I just like it when these freaks are all an overwhelming danger to society (and each other)

[crescenthistory]

sorry but what are you even doing on tumblr if you're married??? this site is for depressed teenagers and emo people in their 20s and 30s who never stopped being depressed teenagers. get your happiness OFF of my dash omg we don't want the soft found family mushyness we want angst and creators we can actually relate to

LMAOOOOOOOO this is by far the dumbest, most brain-dead fucking take i have ever seen in my life. kindly fuck off!

[summertimemusician]

Linktober 2024, Day 1, Mirror (Self)

Alright here we go again.

Technically a sneak peak of a bigger thing to come in the future that I'm repurposing, and the result of my final playthrough and readthrough before EoW dropped being Four Swords Adventures and that made me sad about Shadow Link again.

Note that this is for the Four Swords Adventures iteration of Shadow Link that might evolve into an LU Shadow, not Dark Link in either LOZ or LU, I have other plans for him.

This one shot was brought to you by Scars by The Crane Wives, Ribs by The Crane Wives, Ruin by The Amazing Devil and Two Minutes by The Amazing Devil because the author's playlist decided to be incredibly cheeky when they blacked out to write this like an ancient seers being cursed with visions and then called mad and hearing they've been put up for execution.

As always the nature of the relationship can be romantic or platonic, mostly due to the author's time constraints and further plans.

Anyway enjoy the reading!

It was cold.

The sort of cold after a wildfire, when everything's turned back to ash, the sort that left burned your vision white after the flames licked through your veins and left an ache in your bones. He shuddered, coughed black onto the stone floor, shaking with a muffled whimper.

It never got any easier, being dragged from the Dark World and into the Realm of Light, the goddesses' world itself revolting against an intruder, wanting the wound torn asunder into their oh so precious realm cauterized. To purge the intrusion and smite it where it stands.

Too bad for them (and for him), his master didn't particularly care about what the world wanted. Didn't particularly care that he hadn't grow accustomed to the pain or the cold, he had to stand up. There was work to be done.

(Shadow gritted his teeth, willed himself not to think about the prophecy of a golden haired princess- because whether he liked it or not, it was prophecy. As those with divinity running through their veins are wont to spill from their throats so carelessly- of violet eyes and a smile a third moonlight and hands holding a hammer.

It always hurt more, after one of the heroes liberated one of the maidens, or the jewels, the pain lingering for days afterwards and carving a home in his metaphorical bones. But just this once he'd take the cold bite of the Four Swords over the pain in the hole in his chest that Vio's betrayal had left, something that felt so much worse than every other time before.

Just this once he wished that maybe, just maybe, the hurt would be too much to bear, that he wouldn't wake up again-

Why? Why does it hurt so much but he's still here? He already knew the Light was uncompromising and unforgiving, but he thought them at least above curses.)

His ears twitched as soft, almost silent footsteps came up to his side. Someone crouching by his fallen form, setting a cautious hand over his own that Shadow couldn't help but draw away from with a hiss, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the world again, to your face, carefully blank as you guided him to lean against your side, a silver choker with a crimson gem winked mockingly at him, the shade closing his eyes and going boneless against your side.

Shadow was so, so tired.

He heard you quietly sigh, plucking his cap from his head and running your fingers through dark amethyst, smoke and mist made hair. "I told you so."

"Shut up." He grumbled, nuzzling further into the crook of your neck. One clawed hand curling against your free wrist, digging into the skin. Absentmindedly noting there were new scratches just above the metal.

It was routine by now, the warmth of your existence against his own a welcome balm, not quite of the Realm of Light where it's unpleasant, not too close to the Dark World where he felt like melting back into the embrace of the darkness, only to howl in agony at being dragged out.

Memories not quite his own bled into his mind all the time. How you'd shape ice into flowers for the princess in winter with nary a though, of blinking and from one second to the next you'd have whatever sword he had hostage if you though it was time for a break with a smile brighter than the sun.

His master had changed that though. It took months for you to stop trying to claw the collar out and to stop trying to fight Vaati.

(Funny how holding a mage's dragon as a bargaining chip is just as effective as kidnapping a ruler.)

Your gaze flicked to the polished obsidian of the Dark Mirror, to the gold, ornate frame. "The offer is still open, you know. Let me take the suffering from you."

"No." He scowled, leaning back to glare into your eyes, a hint of fangs poking out from a maw struggling to keep the shape of a human jaw, "You helped him. Helped them." Shadow spat, there is that hurt again.

You shrugged, a movement that's just slightly awkward as you flinch, "That I did." You confirmed simply, it almost made Shadow see red as he leaned away, knocking your hand from his head in the process, but if there's anything him and the heroes shared, was a lack of a desire to hurt you. It was a little grating to be honest, "Vio even offered to take me with him, to be honest."

"Then why didn't you leave?" He demanded.

Why did you stick around?

Your eyes shuttered, a hint of conflict in your pursed lips. Before you found your words, they come out softly, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you why. You'll just have to find out yourself."

You tug your wrist from his grasp, and Shadow lets you go.

(Stubbornly pushing down on memories and emotions that arearen'tarenotanymore quite his.)

You stand and turn away, pushing the curtains away from your sight, you turn your tired eyes to Shadow with an emotion he can't put a name to. "Just keep it in mind that there's more than one way to end this. Nothing is truly inevitable."

Shadow watches you go. 'There's nothing that can be done. He tells himself, hand hesitating above the Dark Mirror, briefly, it curls into a fist. The hero's original self stares back at him.

'… Does he really believe that?'

He shakes his head, and focuses on willing the Dark Mirror to show him his counterpart.

His chest still hurts.