#so sorry for taking ages to answer

[harmonia-university]

(@ask-sarah-and-co) sparkle @ mitzi

“Hi!” The shiny eevee grins and shakes Mitzi’s paw (whether she wants to or not). She notices the everyone bracelet, “So, you don’t want to evolve? That’s ok, I don’t either. Have you considered trying that gigantamax soup so you don’t have to wear that bracelet?” She shrugs, “I did.”

Followed by an awkward silence, Mitzi begins to feel guilty for yelling in the poor other Eevee's face. "Look...sorry. My family keeps gratin' on that and now that random people are doing it too...it's frustratin' as it is. Guess I should come clean."

Mitzi pulls down the sleeve of her right arm, revealing a bracelet with a small, white stone embedded in it - an Everstone!

"It's a tough choice you know? You're an Eevee too, you gotta understand, right? Must've taken you a while to decide that you're gonna stay an Eevee forever..."

[ @saywha413 / @ask-sarah-and-co ]

[undeadoracle]

Would love to hear your thoughts on Emmrich being autistic if you don’t mind sharing? I hadn’t really considered it myself but I’m curious

Sure! to be fair, emmrich being older means he’s had a lot of time to grow into himself, develop confidence, and cultivate his personality traits in ways that work for him in his environment. But here’s a few things that stuck out to me as rather neurodivergent of him:

-he’s typically very tidy and organized. we see that he keeps inventory of what he brings to the lighthouse, and does not like things messy, even though he as a LOT of stuff; Sylvia Feketekuty herself described him as “fastidious.” he gets upset about assan coming into his space, getting into things and making messes, he doesn’t want taash to use his bone tools, says he’s glad he doesn’t share an office with neve because she leaves paperwork everywhere, etc.

-deliberately precise use of language that he considers a point of pride. He tells rook, “I always choose my words carefully,” and we see that to be true in the way he speaks to others, as well. Autistic folks often use language very meticulously because they want to be specific, and to avoid being misunderstood.

-he sometimes (perhaps even often) gets distracted at inappropriate times by things that are relevant to his interests and has to be guided back on track by rook/other members of the party.

- he’s is an extremely polite & courteous person, of course, but that’s not the same as being socially intuitive. In fact, autistic people often gravitate to being extremely polite because social conventions are rules that can be followed in order to ensure a Correct Social Interaction; they don’t require interpreting nuanced cues or reading between the lines. Emmrich often does not immediately pick up on the other companions teasing/poking fun at him; it takes a few exchanges back and forth for him to catch on, if he does at all. It’s not because he’s dumb or naive, he obviously isn’t, he just is inclined to take people at face value in a way that’s common for folks on the spectrum. See also: him getting tricked by the guy selling fake charms in tevinter. Even when he gets revenge for that, it’s less about being embarrassed on his own behalf and more a righteous indignation that someone would lie about something like that, it’s dangerous don’t you know!

- in the same vein, he’s totally bewildered and caught off guard by the flirting (at first), and wants to confirm it’s intentional and serious on rook’s part by communicating very clearly about it. Which is a good and mature thing, of course, but it’s also him clarifying that he’s interpreting rook’s overtures correctly.

- he simply cannot stop himself from constantly infodumping about necromancy and botany, his most dearly held interests. He will happily spend all day with these subjects, then talk about them some more, then read about them some more before bed. He never seems to get tired of absorbing more of them or talking about them. Most people, no matter how passionate about their work, don’t have that level of commitment in their off time. Even the fact that he wants to become a lich, which very few members of the mourn watch are willing to do, is indicative of how deeply he’s entrenched his life in necromancy. And when talking with someone who doesn’t care about either of those things, or actively dislikes them, he tends to flounder and cut the conversation short.

- furthermore, he doesn’t really know how to set people at ease with necromancy; he thinks if he just talks more and more about what he finds beautiful and valuable about it, eventually people will “get it,” even if they’re clearly uncomfortable. See especially: his conflicts with taash, some of his conversations with lucanis, etc. you could chalk this up to cultural differences, but I think most people in his position would approach the subject with a little more discretion when dealing with foreigners who definitely have different perspectives on the subject.

- he and bellara (who is deliberately neurodivergent coded) get along very harmoniously. he has no trouble keeping up with her, and they’re very much able to tap into each other’s wavelengths. Conversely, taash (also neurodivergent coded) has all the opposite traits: very unemotive, struggles to articulate themself aloud, special interests he doesn’t care about, etc., and they get on each others’ nerves without even trying. He can’t figure taash out because he can’t read between the lines of their behavior, but when it's finally made clear to him that taash is afraid of his necromancy he immediately switches gears, because he’s no longer trying to guess what he's done to offend them.

- being empathetic towards nonhuman creatures is a very common experience for autistic folks, and he’s deeply empathetic towards spirits, moreso even than other members of the mourn watch. He says they were his companions growing up, despite having other humans around that he could’ve turned to for comfort and companionship after his parents’ deaths, and he displays a degree of understanding and compassion for them that is really only on par with like, solas, as far as other characters of the franchise go.

- Sylvia also described him as “a man of large emotions,” which is a big mood, pardon the pun, for neurodivergent folk.

- obviously being homesick in and of itself isn’t unique to autism, nor is not being well traveled, but he clearly misses his personal routines; he’s thinking about how he misses his old norms and schedule when rook asks him about homesickness, and later when rook talks with him about his youth he says the repetitive rituals of the mourn watch were exactly what he needed to heal from the loss of his parents. Spending their entire life in the mourn watch could feel confining or limiting to many people, but emmrich gets away for the first time in a long time and immediately misses it. You could also link this desire to have consistency to his conflict with harding about camping; the idea of getting to see fereldan is exciting to him in theory, but having to change his regular routine (leaving behind his books, dressing gown, shaving kit etc.) upsets him. It’s not about being spoiled—he grew up poor, after all—it’s about having to give up his regular habits.

[peteytheparrot]

how to make. comic

Step one after coming up with a really epic idea (aka daydreaming for hours on end) write it down and doodle it really shitily in your notes

Step two forget about it for months on end before making it (I have so many random comic ideas unfinished) (this is why you write it down before hand)

Step three finally get your ass up and make the sketch 💞💞 Step four spend way too much time making the panels because they HAVE to be perfect for some reason (or else I’ll freak tf out and die /j)

Step five and six make the lineart and coloring, and then add the speech bubbles, this is where you can tweak the wording and or change where the speech bubbles go (mostly done so it flows better)

(Don’t be afraid to cover up your art with speech bubbles if needed, ik it kind of sucks but reading ability is very important in comics, and having your speech bubbles all wonky WILL turn off readers, no matter how good your art is)

step seven make a REALLY lazy background because you do NOT want to do shit this time!! (Pretend they don’t have lighting on them I merged the layers 💖)

Step eight spend too long on rendering aka lighting and shading!! Step nine add more epic effects aka final touches!! This is always nice to do because it makes it look a lot prettier (like adding overlays, gradient maps, blurs, and noise… idk)

Andddd you’re done, I usually work on multiple comics at once because I CANNOT sit on one thing only!! Nuh uh!! Comics take fucking ages and will ALWAYS take ages so if you don’t have the patience for it I’m sorry bro 💔 you will not handle it 💔

Although! When I started making mini comics they took me like? 10+ hours but the more I did them they now take around 3 hours at the shortest. This one took 5 hours.

This is just how I make comics btw, most comics I see don’t go fucking crazy on the rendering/lighting/shading (usually on comics I see there is none tbh! And it works for them!) I’m just insane and like to make my comics look really pretty or else I’ll explode for some reason.

Also 😇 if you wanna see more comics of these guys go here for places you can read them at 😇

[moonshynecybin]

ok so. i’ve been thinking abt the same age au again (an all timer!! one of the best aus we’ve ever discussed i think. always on my mind and in my heart) and. marc visiting vale in tavullia for the first time. when and how does it happen. and does it include marc meeting baby luca….

also in the same vein, vale WOULD be visiting marc in cervera here, meeting the family, meeting alex! marc does not invite many riders to his home but ofc he invites vale.. do they share marc’s bed in the room he shares w alex question mark. maybe so.

WONDERFUL BEAUTIFUL ASK... hmmm... i think its more likely that marc visits vale first than vale visiting marc... like i could see vale wanting to pull a lil bit of a power game. inviting marc to HIS spot rather than getting mobbed by marc's entire extended extremely involved family etc. (side note: marc's huge close knit family vs the comparative adolescent turmoil of vale's. interesting to explore. does vale feel a lil weird about how thin he thinks his life is when marc is like HEY can i bring ALEX ? and call my MOM? and my GRANDPA? and he looks at his two too-young somewhat distant parents who have new kids/families... does he not want to be confronted with what it'll mean internally to put himself in that position around MARC? at MARC'S HOUSE? yeah hes doing his in italy. at least for the first time)

so anyways. i think its somewhat like irl where its ostensibly this causal invitation to come train that is actually a like. somewhat horny attempt to scope out the competition while also being a very genuine desire to simply hang out. rosquez contain multitudes. and vale honestly spends a lot of time with teen marc hanging off the back of his bike that his dad bought him that he initially hated until it got cool (it is cool now and marc REALLY likes it. expected to be bored bc he doesnt like road biking but vale is doing his typical cop-skirting joyful mildly illegal and highly unsafe speeding shenanigans on these windy tavullian backroads that goody two-shoes marc LOVES). it does NOT go without a hitch because they both feel weird about whoever 'wins' their training sessions AND this is maybe the first time vale introduces marc to uccio (speaking of power games have you ever been introduced by a new friend to their BEST friend and it is very clear that they dont like you. and you both maybe wanna fuck the initial friend. its very that its HUGELY covertly bitchy) BUT marc also gets to hang out in vale's rad 90s teen bedroom with the bugs bunny plush and maybe make out with him a little in an extremely fraught manner

[mohntilyet]

DATV Spoilers Just in Case!) I’ve seen a head canon floating around that when solas puts a mage!Rook in the regret prison, it tranquilizes them. What do you think Viago’s reaction to this happening to a Crow!Rook would be?

i think there's a small terrible part of viago that instinctively thinks it was a bad investment/solution to send rook off with varric, since he's lost one of his best assassins. and then of course he hates that this is his first reaction because rook is more than that to him, but he's been conditioned by their lives to worry about his power and the mission first. and then i think he throws himself into trying to prove that he is a better man than that by finding a cure, without being obvious about it, even if his worry actually makes him messier and obvious. a similar outward reaction to what i've seen people headcanon about how he feels when he gets the news that rook is stuck in the fade trap in general (anger, determination, frustration, etc)

the idea of viago as a man who clings to "i rose to this rank for a reason, above the other crows. i'm a killer but with my poisons, i'm cleaner. i'm royalty. i'm better." is so beautiful to me. who he wants by his side/publically allies with is made more interesting to me for that reason. rook and teia make a very short list, so for him to lose either of them (especially to a fate worse than death. like i know there's a cure but i'm not sure if that's common knowledge and it has rammys bro) will inevitably cause a crash out the likes of which thedas may have never seen before <3

[flickering-nightfall]

getting a little destroyed by classes and other things at the moment, so i'm not posting as much. but here are some itties i drew on my notes to keep myself sane :)

[majorshatterandhare]

[Answer options in order are:

1. Yes, guitar, mandolin

2. Yes, piano/keyboard

3. Yes, violin, viola, cello, bass (inc. electric bass)

4. Yes, percussion

5. Yes, a woodwind

6. Yes, a brass instrument

7. Yes, multiple

8. Yes, something not mentioned here

9. No, I do not currently play an instrument but I sing

10. No, I do not currently play an instrument and I do not sing.

End Options]

Please specify in the comments or tags!

I’m sorry there aren’t more options, I only had 10 spaces or I would’ve included more. I tried to go with the most common and obviously with groups!

What counts for singing is up to you. I think most people sing some amount, but you can decide if yours counts or not. The reason for this is because you can teach yourself an instrument, so not requiring lessons or anything for either instruments or singing.

If you want to learn an instrument, especially if you don’t currently play any, I would love to know if you shared!

Please reblog! I wanna know how many of us play instuments ourselves and what that distribution is.

If you don’t listen to the Mechanisms don’t respond to this poll! I’m sure your answer is very interesting, but it will skew the results!

[ivomartins]

I see many people consider Dmitry a redflag LI but to me he's a morally grey character: he finds a strange girl amidst the rift and assigns her a place in the squad instead of, you know, just taking Lane hostage when she's made it clear she's pursuing her own goals and only compels to the squad's decisions because she has to.

I understand why the interrogation episode is icky for many people but for me the devil is in details: Dmitry stops the interrogation because he doesn't want to hurt Lane further, and the whole situation can be seen as a necessary evil from the squad's pov, given Lane's actions. And at the same time, Lane doesn't deserve that shit either: she's all alone in a trust-no-one situation, and now she sees very clearly that the squad is not her friends.

To me that's what moral greyness is: different interpretations of the situation, when you can see motivation of both parties without whitewashing them.

Dmitry's conversation about turning your weakness into your strength adds another facet to his character, just like the stolen babushka gift 😭. I love the way Alexandra shows that he actually cares about Lane through him wanting to give her a chocolate bar or helping her with the work and sacrificing his sleep.

And the soulmatism of their branch is so well done. It's not "your mc is promised to this LI although you'd rather have her killed him in a cold blood" but "yes the situation we found themselves in is fucked up and bleak but at least we have each other because in another universe we'd pass each other by without looking back"

And I love how you can see Dmitry lashing out in the latest episodes, with more and more people in the squad dying, because he's responsible for their lives, he's the leader. And you, as a player, can choose Lane's reaction to his behaviour.

But the thing that truly made me sympathize with him is him telling Lane "It would be sad to lose my humanity while hunting for monsters and become one in other people's eyes. I hope I haven't cross that line yet?.."

That's how you write morally grey characters! 🙌

P.S. His latest CG fucks

i'm shook tbh that some people consider dmitry a red flag LI 😭 like yeah. the interrogation scene was iffy and lane didn't deserve that. but the world has literally gone to shit and this is a man who's been forced by circumstances to blur the lines of his morality for the greater good and the safety of the people around him ??? when we take that and the post-apocalyptic survival-of-the-fittest setting into consideration, plus the fact that lane was sus from day 1 and didn't really make any effort to prove herself trustworthy, the interrogation makes perfect sense

and like you said the morally grey nature to dmitry is the most interesting thing about him especially when it ties into the development of his bond with lane like !!!! with cain there's affinity in their position as outcasts and the apathetic nature they share, suspended above everything, untouched by what otherwise jars everyone else in the squad

but with dmitry their affinity lies in dmitry having a different nature to lane and still being drawn to her despite that, still accepting her to the point where she points a fucking gun at his head and he doesn't even flinch 😭 and doesn't even hold it against her later on like ??? there's so much devotion and unconditional acceptance to it and for me personally as someone who's on the whisper path it's definitely giving "the hero loving the monster and cherishing their blood-soaked hands" kinda dynamic

like it's "human" organic soulmatism like you called it, to balance out the otherworldly ambiguous soulmatism with cain. ugh i can't enough of it

i also love how he's been lashing out too and that not even lane has been exempt from that because he's just under that much pressure. i just adore how every single character has been written with their own role to play in the story, completely independent from lane, and they all get to develop just as much as she does as the story goes on 🥹

(and yes his cgs have been superior, even to cain, since day 1. i will die on that hill)

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

oughhhhhhhhh i’m reading the knight!sugu fic again……………………………. maybe . i’ve already hit my peak

[ruushes]

17 and 25 for the worldstate meme with your mahariel? :D

17. what were they like as a child?

oh you know he was a weird little kid lmao. between being orphaned, perpetually sick, and of a shy/nervous demeanor he was kind of considered the ‘baby’ of his age cohort despite being one of the older kids (and in fact was the last of them to reach adulthood due to several failed attempts at getting his vallaslin). not *disliked* by any means but sort of a wet blanket, the kind of kid an adult would be like ‘you should take ailill with you to go play!’ and you as another kid would kind of groan bc he is definitely going to cry and want to go home. bc of all this sort of sheltered in a way that was wholly well-intentioned but also just kind of gave everyone low expectations of him, compounded w/ the assumption he would be a mage only for that never to manifest, leaving him despite everyone’s best efforts feeling like a bit of a disappointment

25. what did they plan for their life to look like before the events of the game happened?

he avoided thinking about it, he doesn't like change and in the back of his mind wanted to believe everything would stay the same forever, tho this was starting to be threatened by an upcoming arlathven and others his age getting excited abt potentially meeting someone/starting families/transferring clans none of which interested him at all

i think if origins hadn't happened he would've moped around that arlathven and resented his friends a bit for moving on w their lives but maybe at the next one he'd meet someone or otherwise start branching out in his 30s after taking a while to get more comfortable w himself

[chalkeater]

ur art is crunchy /pos !!! how do you have the confidence to use stuff that isnt pencil and cant rlly be erased if mistakes are made?

make more mistakes

ACTUAL ANSWER BELOW because it got too long. oops lol

anyway. i wrote “DO IT ON PURPOSE” because when it comes to doing a whole drawing with ONLY a pen- you gotta force your brain get creative- at least practice. in other words- work with what you have. it’s basically like solving a problem every few seconds-

because sometimes my hand eye coordination glitches for a split second. or maybe my hand shook or maybe the line is actually shit looking. but instead of scrapping the thing entirely i gotta to try and make it work. ok so if my line looks like crap here maybe i can make it a Part of the drawing by making everything look messier. OR maybe i can even just. hide it!! by coloring a thicker line along it too!!

you can actually HIDE a LOT of mistakes with a pen without erasing anything. and sometimes the mistakes are part of the art- like when i see the most beautiful art online and i see an uncolored pixel. what matters is your final output not the things you cant change now or mean nothing in the big picture

honestly going from sketch to lines and rendering with a pen is about weight control (like with a pencil- sketching yk) and not beating yourself up. in order to gain the “confidence” you gotta absolutely ANNIHILATE the need for 200% perfection. because theres beauty in a mess.

anyway so. when you get the basic stuff down like “in order to to make less mistakes with pen stuff- make sure youre used to what youre drawing already!!!” or “draw/doodle stupid shit with your pen and make it (pen) a PART of you and not some scary beast (pen)

i think it all stems down to forgiving yourself and just having fun. having fun is always my motto. if you ever go “oh no i made a mistake!!!” imagine me yelling “WHO CAAARRESSS!!!!!!!! (#love #positive)” in your EAR

[linterteatime]

sorry if someone already asked, but which brush do you use to draw?

Okay so! I use the good ol' default airbrush on paint tool sai 2! (the one on the left)! It's what I always use and have always used and maybe I should try using other brushes tbh but the airbrush has my soul help-

(On the right) I have been using the rainbow brush on firealpaca a lot for highlights and funky stuff lately, very good.

I also add noise and chromatic aberration on a lot of my drawings lately too so that's that ✌

[discocactusblogs]

🕯️

[frobby]

boy son and girl daughter are the only characters who matter in kaiju no.8

[ashey-did-owt-wrong]

Thoughts?

Verily verily mixed feelings on these little toothpick skewer thingies

First like its great because like its literally a stick..that you put food on. Or like those burger keep straight things idk i dont have burgers often. They are so useful and good for environment

They are also made of balsa which is supposed to mean that they are tasteless and have a tight grain to avoid a rough texture (i took tech for gcse amd regret it. More in 1 second). But still sets off the tism because the texture just goes XCXXZXXZCCXZXXZ BAD

I these give me bad ememoreies of me doing my 50% of my gcse nea(non exam ASSessment) (haha im so funny) and i couldnt find a ruler to sketch the product design and used 5 of these tsped together. I was so far behind with my nea i hated it so muchhwas awful

Eh well erm err they. Are. Like they exist idk. They ar euseful sometimes.but also i personaly am like.no go away.

[jeanmoreaux]

Hi, I love your taste in literature so I'm turning to you with a request (I hope I'm not bothering you, if so please ignore this). I've been trying to get more into poetry (quite successfully) because I see so many great poems here on tumblr but usually when I try to read more from the authors whose poems I liked, I am disappointed. Do you have any recommendations for poetry collections that are good all the way through? Where you don't feel like you were cheated into reading them by one beautiful quote?

you are absolutely not bothering me at all. it's cool that our taste in literature seems to overlap (feel free to share recs with me anytime!) i think with poetry collections of one individual you won’t find one that hits all the way through all the time with every line. there will be some poems that resonate more with you than others, even when all are great examples of the craft. here on tumblr, we're almost too used to consuming poems in small, juicy bites that highlight some of the punchier lines, not just in a collection but within a single poem. but the build up to these disembodied quotes can be so satisfying as well and often enhance the meaning and power behind them. and also, with poetry more so than prose, a lot of the enjoyment comes from sitting with a poem and thinking about what it means to you personally, what you see or hear in it. so i just want to have that out there before i talk about some collections i have enjoyed in the last couple of years. (here is my poetry shelf on goodreads if you want to see more.)

when it comes to collections by one poet, i found that i usually prefer the ones that have some narrative thread woven throughout to connect the separate parts. i think "war of the foxes" by richard siken does a great job of establishing themes, motifs, and symbols that tie the poems together and has them in dialogue with each other. the collection (to me) is all about the creative process, the (un)importance of art, the influence of art on the creator and the audience as well as the discussions that happen in between the space between them.

i also really enjoyed both of ocean vuong's most recent collections. the latest, "time is a mother", deals with the grief of losing his mother, while "night sky with exit wounds" is mostly about the immigrant experience, identity (particularly how 'otherness' in the form of ethnicity, race, and queerness play into it), familial relationships, coming of age, etc.

eye level by jenny xie and don't call us dead by danez smith are two other collections i really enjoyed. the first is a very observant look at the worlds without and within us (think of it as eye level but also capital i level, if you know what i mean). the latter deals with themes of blackness in america, race, queerness (including the author's aids diagnosis), etc.

if you're interested in reading novels that are written in verse, i can recommend the poet x by elizabeth acevedo (made me very emotional) and autobiography of red by anne carson (is super weird, but my brand of weird).

with none of these works—or poets for that matter—i ever felt like they delivered less than good writing.

another option could be to spring for a curated collection that includes selected poems from different collections (or even different poets). i don't have a lot of experience with either kind, but i recently bought mary oliver's devotions and penguin's poems for love, so we'll see how i'll like those. ((there is also some unread ada limon and wendy cope on my shelf that i want to get to this year!))