#talk about rent free

[thisfairytalegonebad]

I've been working on my 100 Ways to say I Love You fic project for over 4 years now - I'm super proud of sticking with it so long, but at the same time it makes me wonder if I'm ever gonna finish it at that rate... It took me 4 years to get to chapter 25 (of 100, unsurprisingly) and if I keep the pace up I'll be done in 2035 and no one will even give a shit about ffxv anymore lmfao

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[lilislegacy]

i feel like we gloss over the first few pages of SoN FAR too much. i mean, take percy’s name out and i would think it’s all about hercules. the book opens by dropping banger after banger regarding percy’s recent escapades, as if this is some epic greek myth.

like how did rick just casually slip in that percy strangled a sea monster with his bare hands (no biggie) and we as the readers were just like “sounds right, anyway—”

[rosecoloredtarot]

Personally I've never been a fan of the "magic is a beast that needs to be tamed" metaphor. Magic is more like the ocean: powerful, terrifying, capable of unbridled force. But at the same time, it is gentle, warm, the lifeblood of millions of people. The folk who know the ocean know you cannot harness it's force, you must work within or around it, lest it destroy you. Similarly, magic is great and terrible and gentle and kind, all at once. And those who work with it need to work WITH it, not reign over it. Because the primordial forces have no rules about biting the hand that feeds you.

[1960z]

the attempt to try to make the ace attorney games as self contained as they can is really funny because I mean the doylist reason for edgeworth never referring to phoenix by name in aai is that they didn’t want constant name drops to phoenix wright to feel confusing or invasive to players who are playing it as their first ace attorney game.

but from a watsonian perspective it just makes edgeworth look completely insane. “ah yes that man who had such a profound impact on me and I have a deep unwavering respect for who I shall NOT name under any circumstances.”

[itsscottiesstark]

Can we pleeeease please please talk about Crowley taking off his glasses before his confession because-

Okay we know he mostly uses them to hide his eyes from humans and avoid uncomfortable situations but we also know he uses them as armor- in case you forgot:

And I can't help but cry at his stressed but hopeful little yank he did the second before he started speaking because he wanted to be brave and honest and wanted no barriers between them and okay bye I'm gonna go cry in the bathroom peace out homies 😭

[valdeswan]

Cale says he is a bad person, a selfish, stone cold bastard because he spent at least 10 years believing the words he heard on his team funeral and after it.

And he had nobody to say the opposite, nobody who knew him, who cared about him. To prove them wrong, to insist that they are the actual bastards without heart for saying that to a mourning person.

He was alone, terrified of getting close to people again, and thinking that the deaths of his family was all his fault. Of course he thinks he is a bad person.

For him, people that don't protect their family are trash, so he is the worst human being that ever put a foot on the planet.

[kittyisaddicted]

Spoiler free Deadpool & Wolverine

[mobius-m-mobius]

Loki + searching for Mobius moments after disaster

[paracosmicessence]

draw the boys witnessing the horrors

Aka murder sonic for #characterdevelopment<3

Actually forget allat I want more of the child forgot his name but he's little baby destroyer of worlds

this reminds me of an old storyboard i made for my primal fears au (tma/sonic au) bc the horrors™️

more importantly though here’s some doodles of spark or whatever her name is!!

[the-ominous-owl]

She is my scar.

[justanintrovertedweirdo]

"Gangle's too shy to speak up."

We're winning with this episode abstragedy shippers!!!

[moeblob]

A lil guy !

[elkaseltzer]

a sketch for @morningstarwrites again because i simply cannot get their fic out of my mind SOS

[theoldkyokodied]

most recent tomgregs ft. one mini comic of a convo i had with @urban-barbarian about tomshiv running away together, new zealand sheepfarmer style (they are as bad at it as you'd expect) making them a bad selfmade wine and ugly ill-fitting sweaters that tom knits couple, and of course greg shows up to mooch off of them. So he gets a sweater too :) The dialogue i used in the pics is written by them, Kath is just incredible in getting their voices right <333

[mayasdeluca]

STUPID WIFE 3x01 Valentina and Luiza