#sorry if this is a bit of a downer

[mollyjames]

The funny thing is I dont really read the Magic story. I hear about it second hand from other more invested players, often with a "huh, that's neat." I dont have any particular attachment to the Magic characters. I certainly dont care about the sanctity of any professed "Magic IP". But for some reason the UB announcement still felt bad, and it took me a few days to figure out why.

It's because to me, the cards are the story. Everything else is supplementary. It's in the art, the flavor text, and the mechanics. It's the kami being represented by enchantment creatures in Kamigawa. It's the fact that Repel Calamity destroys every Calamity Beast in Bloomburrow. It's the Guilds and the Khans and the Shards. It's the fact you can drain your opponent's life total with vampires or overwhelm them with rats or put every card from their library into their graveyard to win. Story and gameplay are not separate in Magic, and that's a big part of what made it so special to me. I care about these things because the game made me care. But now the game wants to be about something else, about other stories I already know and have heard before. It's not just a betrayal- it's boring. I'm not learning something new, I'm experiencing something old. Of course Wolverine has Regenerate. I'm already over it.

[taigarrryen]

Abandoned Voices, slowly falling asleep in the dark

It's been a year and a half since he passed and a year since I made this drawing. The sketch was made the day we found out, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it until several months later

I still miss him. I have a feeling I always will

[mspaintpetfinder]

the amount of reptiles i see on petfinder being in, not great conditions makes me very upset i think

i can mostly tell with beardies given i take care of one myself. the lack of knowledge on these animals for the general public is just astonishing to me and i hope these guys all find good homes,,,

remember to feed your reptiles the right diet and make sure they have enough calcium and light and such please

make sure they have a big enough cage and the right vitamins

[virtues-end]

I was looking at the art you posted and wow you're such a talented artist ! do you have more art of the ros or like a blog where you post your art ? I'd love to follow you 💛

Thank you. :-) I don't have an art blog or anything, just a personal one I sometimes post sketches to, and I upload all of my VE-related art stuff to the patreon as well, of course.

I kinda have a love/hate relationship with my art though, and unfortunately I haven't been able to ditch the bad habit of deleting my art from my blog whenever I feel crappy about it. I'll try and see if I can post more art in the future, but I've mostly been writing lately so I haven't had the time/energy to focus much on drawing.

[jzargo]

i always knew it was a longshot for my dreams of romanced fenris showing up to throttle solas if hawke was left in the fade but. damn. 😔 that really was a decision that was just thrown into inquisition for shock value huh. like there's no repercussions at all for that. good to know.

[cupiidzbow]

im doing something different for commissions this coming time

[outeremissary]

🧣(scarf), 🎈 (balloon) and 🥩 (steak) for ocs of your choice?

Thank you for the ask and in a BIG way for the patience :') I tried to keep this to characters from stuff I was reeeelatively sure was familiar, but I confess the last question really made me want to talk about my Dark Urge from Gate 3, so I hope that's okay ^^;; If not, the first two are all Pathfinder, promise!

(this has been placed under a cut due to length)

[prompt list]

🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

Carmen finds a lot of comfort in her mount, June. June has been with her for around five years by the time of Kenabres and she feels a strong connection to the mare. June has certainly had a more constant presence in her life than many people. She finds June's presence soothing- it's good to have a familiar creature around as an anchor. The predictability (to her) of June's temperament and the steady routine of her care make for a series of daily rituals that give her life structure and certainty even as she moves between places marked by strife and upheaval. And she's always loved animals. It's nice to just… have one around. Someone to spend quiet time with who's less complicated than a human. She always tries to carve out that time, whether it's to ride her or groom her or just to sit nearby and read through something while June quietly grazes on her lead. It keeps Carmen grounded, makes her feel sane.

Lately, though, there's a different ritual that lends a similar- perhaps sharper- clarity of mind. Her quarters in Drezen were appointed with a full length mirror when she settled into them (excessive for her needs- something smaller to check her face and pull back her hair would have been enough), and more and more she finds herself spending time contemplating it, letting herself be drawn into its depths. Other reflective surface capture her eye as well, but most have mere echoes of the depth she sees in the mirror in her room. She's never been one for vanity, but something about it helps her focus. Empties out the stress. Drains away all those pesky feelings and small, buzzing thoughts. She's not looking at anything in particular in it. She sees herself. There's nothing special about the mirror or what's in it, that empty eyed thing. It just helps her concentrate, that's all.

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

Balthazar has been to more parties than he cares to count, and at one point in his life it was an almost nightly part of his lifestyle. He prefers to show up with friends (it helps that friends are how he normally got in), and he's good at matching the mood of any given gathering. He likes to talk with people, to get a feel for the room by adding himself to conversations and learning the people in them. He always has something to say about the topic at hand- even if he's never heard of it before- and has a talent for coming off clever even when he's clueless. He's the friend of a friend for gossip, the devil's advocate in a debate, the charming stranger with a touch of scandalous worldliness at an upper class ball. Big gatherings are a great chance to make connections, so keeping social is essential- as is entertaining whoever invited him with his company.

He enjoys drinking socially, and he's usually drinking at parties- depending on the gathering, sometimes a lot, and sometimes enough to reach the edge of his normal control. It feels fun and wild sometimes, and people seem to love it. And when it wasn't drinks that were the focus of the party, well, he wasn't afraid of experimenting. It's all fun when everyone's doing it. And the extra energy is welcome late at night. He's also fond of partaking in games when available and is probably very familiar with Absalom's most popular dice games and card games- though he's not fond of playing with his own money. Dancing is something he enjoys as well (and central to a lot of parties and events he's been at!). There's a delight to passing between partners and knowing them that way, to playing the game of leading and following. He's a fairly good dancer despite not having any formal training; it's just years of experience at work. A lot of the time his party experience was also one that involved hookups (if whoever brought him wasn't already expecting his company). It's just another kind of social fun when you're out meeting people.

I guess you could call him a party animal: he was never one to hang back and disappear, and he knew how to command attention when he wanted it (and how to keep moving with it even when he didn't). There aren't a lot of gatherings in the River Kingdoms where it's really possible or desirable to run wild though, especially with his new status. Most of his recent attendances have run towards the more restrained edge of things, although every so often there will be a small gathering of friends that recaptures a bit of that old spirit. And of course there was Rushlight, but he tries not to think about Rushlight.

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

(CW FOR DISCUSSIONS OF SELF HARM ON THIS ONE)

Kasander has long had trouble with self-harm. Being raised in a tightly controlled environment without reliable emotional support where they generally weren't allowed privacy, freedom of movement, or possessions of their own, they had few outlets for distress that didn't feel markedly dangerous. Making that distress into something physical made it easier to cope with, easier to hide. It was a quick, reliable release that let them go back to "normal" quickly. It's also something they aren't always aware of doing until after the fact- the feeling of distress is also dangerous, and so is thinking about how to handle it. It falls to someone else inside to process when it becomes intense. This is something so deeply ingrained that it can be hard for them to gauge their distress levels, because on some level it always feels like a foreign emotion and it doesn't feel "right" to concentrate on and work through. This behavior was never monitored or discouraged by any caretakers who were aware of it besides some light shaming. It was disgraceful to direct that violence towards themself instead of outwards at others, but so long as they were containing it, keeping it out of the public eye, and not allowing it to affect their performance, what did it matter? On a related note, most of their scars are from before the age of twelve- there's a long gap between that and twenty-seven where any new scars they developed were the result of self-harm.

Recently they've been developing some other ways of coping with overwhelming emotion that feed less into a cycle of shame and secrecy. They've begun to learn the lyre and to sing- they don't consider themself an especially gifted performer, but it's something to focus on and do with their hands. There's a meditative edge that music has for them, especially alone. It's good for settling and centering. Makes them feel like they can put something good into the world. They're also developing a better sense of themself internally. They try to journal to keep track of their thoughts and feelings, and it lets them interact with the parts of themself they normally struggle to access. It creates cohesion (and this time without the interference Asperia experienced when they used to dictate their journal entries to their butler). Knowing the others inside also lets them sometimes find feelings more easily- to stop and look inside and ask "where does this come from? whose feeling is this? how big is it?" It's hard to break down the barriers that cause those things to slip away and make it difficult to access the others, but it's getting better. And the sense of being able to communicate clearly and immediately with Asperia or the others makes it feel easier to control a situation.

And lastly, they have people they can talk to. It's still hard as hell to trust that others are safe with their most intimate, vulnerable moments, but they're getting there slowly. It's helped to be able to identify who they can rely on to talk about what- for example, they care dearly about Astarion as a friend and trust him to understand or at least listen to some aspects of themselves without knee jerk judgment, but they also know that he can be flippant, insensitive, and intensely self-protective, and turning to him could still cuase them to spiral, even if it may not be as fast or deep as with some others. On the other hand, they trust Jaheira unconditionally, even if there are things that sometimes they feel too protective of or scared to externalize to share with her or days it's not possible to reach for aid. They know that she'll take them seriously if they confide in her, but that she won't panic and she'll always find a way to keep things light enough to handle. She has a keen enough eye for them to recognize when they struggle, but she also respects their space, gives them time, doesn't push. She's one of the few people it's possible to be open with about the fact that "Kasander" isn't always Kasander. She's someone that sometimes they're open with in retrospect about switching or the others are open with in the moment (and it helps that Jaheira isn't a stranger to a range of behaviors in her own children across all different ages- things like Asperia's willful antagonism don't throw her off). They're grateful constantly to have her in their life, and her presence has felt life-saving at a time when they needed that safety to heal. Being able to travel with her after the resolution of the Absolute crisis brings them a lot of joy and hope.

I guess since it also didn't wind up in the body it'll be awkwardly appended at the end... The mistake of focusing on the healthy/unhealthy dichotomy is that it made it so something important that was referenced a lot didnt have a clear place to go since it wasn't really in that binary ^^;; In a way everything that "Kasander" is has been an adaptation to the need to constantly cope with overwhelming circumstances. They have a dissociative condition, and existing in a way that made it possible to separate parts of themself out to make life manageable is how they've survived as long as they have. On some level, dissociation is always a part of how they process situations. Kasander also wasn't originally the host of their system- their original role was to give Asperia a way to resist his circumstances either by escaping them temporarily or defending himself against things that were "untouchable" somehow.

[crystallizsch]

If you receive this, you make somebody happy! Go on anon and send this to ten of your followers who make you happy or somebody you think needs cheering up. If you get one back, even better ♡♡♡

wagdhdjjs thank uuu anon 🥺 i needed this 🫶🫶💖💖💕💕

[slaingelo]

He/She pronouns Mask Because in his own(incorrect) words, "Why get misgendered when you can be both genders??"(I have doodles and her ref sheet on my other blog, The Auras of Light)

who's going to tell him about the people who intentionally use they/them to misgender people who explicitly do not use they/them :[ <-speaking from Lots and Lots of experience of constantly being misgendered by people who know I Do Not use they/them but still refuse to use he/she for me

[cindereleanor]

Ace Podcast Week Day 1 - Realisation/Acceptance

When I was trying to come up with ideas for anything I could make for this fan event, I really wanted to delve into Arkady's (from The Strange Case of Starship Iris) grey-asexuality. I have So Much to say about this character, and honestly am not sure how to go about expressing it all. I'm afraid I haven't had the time to properly write anything, so for today, here are just some (messy) fragments of a character study (like literally, this is really the brainstorming stage😅) exploring Arkady’s relationship with her asexuality, and her sharing that part of herself with Violet:

Shit. Here she was, lying with this beautiful, smart, and oh so kind woman – in every way a better person than she could have ever dared hope of being with – falling asleep in her arms. A moment too good to be true. Of course she was going to have to go and mess this all up horribly. * * * Arkady let out a bitter laugh. She was good with computers, she should be able to think logically. And hell, the logical thing to think was surely not that Violet wouldn't understand. Violet, who saw the best in people to a fault (something Arkady couldn't help but love about her). But wouldn't it be so perfectly ironic for this to be the one thing Violet couldn't accept. How cruel would it be for the universe to have worked in her favour for once, to taunt her with the chance of love, with this person who could somehow – god knows how – see past the parts of her that even she couldn’t. And then for it all to be snatched away because of something so stupid. As if her sexuality was so much harder to stomach than, well, everything else. * * * You expect her to put up with so much. You shut everyone out. You don't know how to communicate your feelings. You're a wreck. Your 'baggage' isn't a suitcase; it's the whole luggage cart. Why couldn't you just make one part of this easy? * * * Violet squeezed her hand, 'We don't ever have to do anything you don't want to, you know that right?' 'I was a soldier, Liu, you don't need to treat me with kid gloves. I know take care of myself,' 'But will you, Arkady?' * * * Arkady and Violet sat enjoying a rare moment of silence. And even more rarely, Arkady was letting herself bask in that enjoyment. No worrying how long this would last, no beating herself up over things she couldn't control, no guilt. In that moment, things were okay. Arkady even let herself believe that one day, things would be good.

[t-s-n]

i hate when stuff is such an obvious metaphor but. in real life

[mollyjames]

From a purely cynical perspective, I get it. Magic's original sets haven't been performing very well. If you look at this last year alone: Bloomburrow was a hit, but Outlaws and Murders were both poorly received, and while Duskmorne has its fans, it also has its detractors. 1.5/4 isn't a great hit rate for standard sets. And then on the other hand, you look at best selling set of all time Lord of the Rings and... something like this was probably inevitable.

To be honest, I dont think there's really much that can be done here. My preference would be for Wizards to stop printing so many Magic cards and refocus those resources back to making quality standard sets, but it's too late for that to have made any difference. It's also, admittedly, a bit gouache to be declaring this the death of Magic: The Gathering before the sets even come out (you never know, it might be fun!) but idk. It might not be the death of Magic the brand, but it's the death of... something, I think. I don't like it very much.

[brown-little-robin]

Top 5 Bible verses :)

oh boy....... um, I don't have a lot memorized :'( but here goes...! I'll try to think of ones that have been important to me. I'll look them up to make sure I get them right.

Hebrews 12: 1-2. Dad had us memorize it once and it still comforts me sometimes. Cloud of witnesses....

Revelation 7:12. What the angels will say. I have this one memorized solidly and it's been a mantra for me in the worst times.

Galatians 3:28: Neither male nor female in Christ. My one lone verse of defense for a long time. there is a lot of crying out to God in agony over gender roles in my past :')

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25: Finding joy in eating and drinking and labor; this kind of joy is from God. Please note that I do NOT take this verse apart from its context; the entire book of Ecclesiastes is important to me. Affirming the joy of labor and eating and drinking is particularly meaningful in the context of Ecclesiastes, and a concept that is very important to me.

ummmmm 5th verse 5th verse 5th verse

OH. ISAIAH 55:1-3. I MEMORIZED IT ONCE AND IT STILL DELIGHTS ME.

Actual verses below the cut, because I, miserable queen worm of not having Bible verses memorized, do not expect anyone else to have these verses memorized <3

Hebrews 12: 1-2: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Revelation 7:12: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Galatians 3:28: " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25: "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, (25) for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?"

Isaiah 55:1-3:

“Come, everyone who thirsts,     come to the waters; and he who has no money,     come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk     without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,     and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,     and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me;     hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,     my steadfast, sure love for David."

[rebornofstars]

instead of going to class this morning i bought a mango & ate it with the last of the yoghurt in my dim little room, sticky and sweet. i should be in class & i should have done the washing yesterday & i should be trying harder & i'm not good at a lot of things but i can do this. i can eat mangoes. there is sunlight inside every one

[manic-pixie-dick-girl]

In light of the Olympic boxing scandal I'd like to remind the half dozen cis people that follow me of something. If a cis person is being attacked with allegations that they are trans, the correct response is not "no they're cis you dumbass". That doesn't challenge their framing that it's ok to attack someone for being trans. The correct response is "there's nothing wrong with being trans".

So in this case, please stop saying "the Algerian lady isn't trans why are you being so weird". Please instead start saying "trans women are women and belong in women's sports". Because we are and we do.

[celadonlonghorn]

running my drawings through glaze to repost them on twitter and wondering if this shit is even worth it anymore