#there was a lot more stuff i didnt have time to include but i hope you enjoy anyway

[orcelito]

With gay moon post approaching 600 notes (600 notes... 😥) I have had a few realizations

1: not everyone shares the same observations that I do. Which I say just bc I was IMMEDIATELY struck by the framing of Vash with the moon in that one panel the first time I saw it, but I've had a number of ppl mention they hadn't noticed it

Which leads into 2: the reason that post has so many notes is bc pointing out moments like that holds value to people. Plus I guess my commentary & conclusions? Plus acting as something for people to bounce their own ideas off of.

And then 3: there are probably more moments I could explore in such a way, & that could hold value to people

[bluecanvasshoe]

Runaway

Part two of Arthur Morgan & teen!reader

Warnings: BIGGGGG Rdr2 spoilers, mentions of racism, after the gang gets split up, big time jump, no beta reader, i tried to be historically accurate!!!, descriptions of a panic attack

Summary: It's been a few years since the gang split up. You don't know anyones whereabouts, nor do you know if they're alive or not. But in your new, mundane life, you find a lead to your past. (PS: the most of the story is snippets of the gang splitting.)

AN: sorry this took so long.......... stuff is happening in my life and i found this in my drafts while looking for a distraction. i also didnt know if this was good or not, and idk if u guys would like the big change in the story but i hope u guys like this!!!

word count: 1.9k

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

------

Beaver Hollow sucks. Everything sucks. Honestly, maybe this entire gang sucks.

Dutch sent you two out, acting as messengers for Eagle flies and his father. Neither of you agreed that what Dutch was doing would benefit their tribe, but Eagle Flies was determined. His courage, although strong, blinded him.

After you and Arthur had gone on that fishing trip not long ago, you’ve found yourself hanging around him more often; not that he minded. Naturally, you two started talking. You opened up about your past before the gang, and he told stories of his youth that hadn’t already been shared around the campfire.

However, this came with some downsides.

You and Arthur had an argument the other day. Well, you tried to have an argument, and Arthur listened.

You and Arthur went hunting this time. The sun was setting, and crickets emerged along with god-awful amounts of mosquitoes. After countless tries at Arthur���s bow and arrow you grew more and more frustrated. Turns out, it’s not as easy as pull and release. Because of the added factors of your now seemingly constant anger and the frustration of each failed attempt, you blew up at Arthur.

This included the usual, “people are worried; Dutch is insane; do something,” pleas coming from you, and Arthur’s “i know, kid; kid, I know; we’re trying our best; keep it down the camp’s gonna hear,” replies.

You went to bed that night fuming. ’We’re doing our best’? Come on! After all that’s happened, the best is far from the current situation of the gang. He’s just lying through his teeth, and for what? 

You can take the truth.

The path below you two crunched as gravel dug deeper into the earth, your horses occasionally huffing as they walked along the trail. Tall, top-heavy trees were scattered amongst pine, birds chirping and singing on sturdy branches. Wildflowers that sprouted in vibrant shades of orange and purple were scattered along the sides of the path, mingling with short grass that wasn’t entirely green, yellowing as the year grew old. 

Critters, mainly squirrels or chipmunks, ran across the beaten path. It gave both of you quite the scare as you rode along, not wishing to kill the poor creatures for no inherent reason. The air was chilly, but not cold. It wasn’t warm, but it was stuffy. From the ridge, you could see more trees separated by a shimmering lake in the distance, which was surrounded by… more trees.

“It’s been a weird few days,” Arthur spoke up, his voice gravelly, rough. He sounded hesitant and almost awkward, like he was trying to talk, but couldn’t find a good starter. 

You cleared your throat, “Yeah. Do you… is Dutch… Does this sorta thing happen often?” you asked vaguely, glancing at Arthur in your peripheral vision. 

“What do you mean?

“...This. Y’know the runnin’ east, and… people dyin’. It’s makin’ me worried, Arthur.” 

Arthur fell into a short, thoughtful silence, disrupted by a harsh cough to the side. He cleared his throat and looked forward again, reaching ahead to pat his horse on the neck. “This ain’t happened before. Lots of folks are worried, but… We’ll do what we can, kid, just try to stay strong.” He replied, using the same excuse he’d use for every other person at camp.

You hesitated. The gang had been doing what they could. They had for a long time, but it only seemed to kill people. Dutch lead the gang with determination, mowing down anyone standing between him and his unachievable goals. These decisions, however, came with sacrifices. Sacrifices that stood behind him, praised his actions and followed his lead like a lamb, because they wouldn’t be able to do such a thing if it weren’t for him. Sacrifices that never stood in his way. Sacrifices that were lucky to have a grave, to be spoken of afterwards.

What if you became one of them?

“But Dutch, he- he made these choices, and… I don’t… he’s not right in the mind,” You reasoned in the nicest way possible, praying that the man beside you wouldn’t be ticked off by your remark. Judging by his opinions on the gang’s recent affairs, though, you don’t think he will.

Arthur, again, was silent. You took this as an opportunity to continue.

“I’m scared, Arthur. I’m really scared.” God, that’s not how you wanted to sound. Saying those words sounded like a plea, like you were a child. But what you said was partly how you felt, and maybe honesty was what was needed at the moment. Anxiousness and anger bubbled under your skin, the seeds of upcoming dread sprouting from when they were sown at the Blackwater robbery. “It- this ain’t normal. This is bad, Arthur, there must be somethin’ we can do.”

“I know, trust me, and I wish there was,” Arthur sighed, adjusting his gambler hat. “I’d be lyin’ if I said I weren’t scared, too. You shouldn’t have to deal with this. It ain’t fair to you; you’re just a kid.” He finished, neither agreeing or disagreeing with your previous statements. “But I’m… look, we’re all doin’ our best.”

Now, you know that’s true. You’re not stupid; but really? I mean, the gang had been on the run for months. So many people have died, and now Arthur’s saying that’s the best that they could do? Bullshit. Frustration simmered in your chest, like an urge that needed to be quelled. It itched and burned, your jaw tensing as he spoke.

“I know, but that’s- we wouldn’t be here if we were doin’ our best, I mean, God, come on, so many folks are dead, and it ain’t gettin’ better-” “Kid, please-” “and people are worried! People have died, Arthur, and Dutch won’t give up. Please, Arthur, just listen-” “I am listenin’, but-” “nothin’s getting better, people are scared, and- and what’s wrong with you? You ain’t been actin’ like you usually do, people are worried-” “That’s enough. We’ve already discussed this,” Arthur interrupted, his voice serious and hardened. It cut through the sound of birds chirping, the sound blurring into the background as your stomach practically dropped. Arthur never spoke to you in that way, meaning you likely crossed a line; with the tensions and questions coming from the members of the gang, it’s not surprising he was a little fed up.

You took a deep breath, glancing at him before looking forward once again. “I just- Arthur, we’re worried. We wanna know what’s wrong.”

The two of you fell into silence once more. This time, though, the sound of birds, leaves, or wind didn’t fill it.

“Kid, look, this isn’t your business. You shouldn’t be the one worried about this stuff, this ain’t what you should be spendin’ your time on.”

“Arthur, please-” “No, and I ain’t gonna say it again.”

So that was that.

In the back of your mind, something screamed that you had to do something, anything. But Dutch was so on edge, and after Micah did who knows what with the dog, Cain? You’re a little scared to step out of line.

But when Molly was shot by Ms. Grimshaw, you screamed at her. Then, when everyone chose sides, you went with Arthur. 

Dutch stood at one side of the camp, shouting at Arthur with Micah by his side. With him stood Micah and Javier, though the latter was aiming his gun towards the hazy, darkening sky. You, despite the fact that the others told you to go, stood with Arthur, Sadie, John and Charles. Without a gun to aim at the others, you simply stayed to show who your loyalty lay with. 

And then the men came.

The law.

You ran, and you ran hard. But horses were no match for a scrawny teenager's legs, and you didn’t get far before a lawman tackled you down. 

At the moment, the only thing running through your head is that this has got to be a nightmare. No, this is a nightmare. Your vision almost seemed to darken, everything around you growing suffocatingly close. The lawman’s shouting drowned in the dark abyss of tree shadows and your cotton filled ears. Your heart beat out of your chest, and in the back of your mind, you knew that this was happening. That this isn’t a nightmare. 

They dragged you away kicking and screaming, away to the shit filled streets and swampy air of Saint Denis. You could’ve sworn you’d seen John before you were taken away from the gang’s campgrounds.

Now, your life lay in the biassed hands of the law, and not a mentally ill middle aged man and the snake in his ear. You thought that you would’ve been sent to the gallows without another thought, but despite being an ‘outlaw’, you never truly committed crimes. At least, no one saw you commit your crimes. Therefore, the law deemed you a kidnapped child in need of a ‘civil’ way of life.

So, you were taken to what they called the “orphan trains”. An ominous thing that you were not thrilled for. They were trains that’d take orphaned kids from big cities to the lonely midwest, a place you were so unfortunately familiar with.

-----

It had been years.

Years of helping the woman you were supposed to find maternal collect eggs, of tilling crops, of scrubbing dishes with rowdy, annoying kids you were meant to call your siblings. Of birthdays past without the gang; and now, you were almost an adult.

But one day, your foster dad left his newspaper on the dining table, a mistake he would regret later. The newspaper said something that, after months of mundane and domestic boredom, piqued your interest.

Morning light streamed through the lacy curtains of the kitchen’s windows, the wood of the house creaking under the pressure of the wind. 

Your foster dad, David, was reading the daily news, an ankle on his knee as he went about his morning routine while you were sitting at the dining table quietly. Your foster mother, Anne, was washing dishes from breakfast when one of the boys you’d been living with barged through the door of the house.

The woman startled, dropping a dish into the water. “Jeremy!” Anne scolded, looking at the boy.

“I think one of the horses is having a baby!” he shouted, two of the other kids following him and saying things along the lines of ‘hurry up, come on!’ at the man and woman. David shot up from his seat and Anne dropped what she was doing, telling you amongst the chaos to finish up the dishes as she left the house.

You stood from your seat, watching everyone rush out with slight annoyance. When the door shut, you pushed out your chair, the wood making a screeching sound as it slid across the hardwood floors. Standing up, you walked over the creaky wood to David’s newspaper that sat on the dining table. 

It was full of boring deals and uninteresting stories, but one stuck out. It was about an underground fighting ring, which wouldn’t have caught your eye if it weren’t for the witness statements.

One in particular said some very distasteful things about a man of mixed race, but the summary was that he was Indigenous and African-American.

Indigenous and African-American.

You only know one man who is of those two ethnicities. Granted, you don’t know many people; but still, Indigenous, African American, and an outlaw? Come on.

The second after you read that passage, you made a plan. You’d leave at the dead of night, as soon as possible. Maybe it’s not solid, nor is it well thought through, but there’s no time for that. That night, you pack your things as light as possible.

And then, you finally start your journey back to Saint Denis.

[shigayokagayama]

mob warriors au redesigns and such, some i barely changed and others i pretty much started from scratch lol

full canvas and explanations under the cut, theres a bunch of other characters and stuff i didnt manage to fit or didnt have the energy to draw that ill probably get around to in the coming future

so by virtue of mob psycho kind of acting as a parody of a shonen in a lot of its characters and usage of tropes i felt like it was fitting that a warriors au sort of act as a parody of warriors.

basically, pretty much every major character is either a house cat of some sort, but they all see clan cats as these sort of cool aspirational things so they give themselves warrior names and know of general clan concepts (though, since the nearby clan left a long time ago due to twoleg construction on their territory, these concepts have sort of become distorted over time. istg i came up with this before warriorclan me and erin hunter just have some odd psychic link)

saltsplash (reigen) is a declawed kittypet who loves the taste of freshkill, so he has taken on the persona of a former medicine cat who came from far away on some sort of spiritual quest to help the cats in this area (in reality his owners just moved here) in order to get cats to catch prey for him in exchange for advice. flockpaw (mob) comes to him for advice, since he can see spirits and keeps getting dreams from starclan, and saltsplash agrees to take him as an apprentice

there is a pretty significant ghost problem in the area, the destruction of the moonstone equivalent (this isnt the setting of og warriors because i find switching what region/biome theyre in to be kind of part of the fun to making warriors aus so this is still japan. cats can now encounter monkeys.) has left a lot of souls trapped in the physical plane and unable to pass on. dimple (still going back and forth on his name) is one of these cats, he was a clan cat but so long ago that he's forgotten his original life and only remembers the goal of "bring back the clans with yourself as leader", which he initially tries to posses random cats to do before meeting flockpaw and settling on him as a good potential clan leader

the actual clans, meanwhile, have gone way downhill since they moved away. their numbers were dwindling pretty badly when hawkstar (toichiro) took over his clan, renamed it clawclan, conquered the other clans in the area and marked all his dissenters with scars, and has forged forward with the goal of reconquering their old territory in the twolegplace in the hopes that it will bring the clans back to their glory days. a lot of the more sensible cats, including his mate, have left the clan, so he's resorted to recruiting outsiders as well as kidnapping young cats with warrior potential in order to fill out their numbers

other stuff i dont want to write entire paragraphs for

-teru was someones outdoor cat but his owners moved :( he named himself starpaw and everyone who knows shit about the clans tries to tell him hes not allowed to do that but are too scared to argue further with him about it because he gets really pissed when you point it out

-the telepathy clubs goal is to meet lions, which everyone thinks arent real

-the awakening lab is mitsuura (curlystar maybe?)'s attempt to start his own clan

-the student council is a gang of young kittypets who have tasked themselves with enforcing "the warrior code" among the delinquents (rivals gangs of young alley cats). all the older cats see this as a game theyre playing and dont take it seriously

-flashpaw (mezato) was part of dimple's initial play to brainwash a bunch of cats into reforming a clan and worshiping "starclan" (him) and those group of cats have shifted to seeing flockpaw as starclans prophet, so she's trying to convince HIM to start a new clan

-rainshade (serizawa) was initially a kittypet who always hid in his cat carrier out of his fear of his starclan given powers, hawkstar found him on one of his recruiting missions because his mother was worried for him and was asking around for someone with experience with starclan

-mogami (crowflight maybe? maggotsomething?) was an actual former warrior who went to twolegplace to get help for his sick mother after starclan said there was nothing that could be done for her. kittypets offered to get her help in exchange for him helping them with spirit problems and got their owners to bring her to the cutter (vet) and when they did the vets put her down so he started killing cats about it seeing them all as selfish thugs beyond redemption before his own death and transformation into a vengeful spirit

-minori (still thinking of a name bc i dont have her design down) is someones very haughty purebred show cat who gets hella possessed.

-didnt anyone ever teach you feeding downed fledglings was bad manners?

-SunClan (the rising sun union) are a gang of random housecats, some of whom have actual StarClan connections and others are just opportunistic liars, who use extremely predatory means to help cats with their ghost problems (asking for a specific share of a cat's meals permanently rather than saltsplash's ask of like. one fresh songbird)

thats all the stuff i can think of off the top of my head but if you ask questions i can probably answer them bc ive been thinking about this since like. march 2022.

[purrplpng]

What is your opinion on Beast x Ancient?

sighhh deep down i knew someday ill have to answer this question😞

i dont really like participating in ship discourses and it turned out a little longer than i thought, so im placing it undercut for those who are interested enough to read what i think

the answer is that its not for me. at least not in a romantic way. at least not for now. i was never really a fan of ships with complicated/toxic dynamics or hero x villain or rivals at all. for example, i never liked billford or tomtord or even sonadow and stuff like that. not that theyre entirely bad, its just not for me and gives me discomfort, because i was in toxic relationships myself and i just can't help but associate them with my personal experience. this includes beast x ancient and even some of the beast x beast too with the way i portay beasts characters in my mind, but its not about them

honestly, i am not really into shipping in general as i cant really understand or process the concept of shipping in my mind as a whole, if it makes sense. like i personally never truly understood the exact point of it nor felt the urge to ship. but i do understand that shipping plays a huge role in every fandom and its just how it is, people having fun, even if i am somewhere far away from all this. ofc i drew a couple of 'shipey' things out of pure joke or to play with some dynamics for fun (ex. my shadowbill animation and buttervelvet post), but never went any further than that. doesnt mean that i dont ship anything at all, trust me, i actually love some ships, but its not like HUGE for me and is very rare, it's just very difficult to explain exactly

dont get me wrong, id LIE if i said that i dont like to see beasts and ancients interact with each other. id lie if i said i dont enjoy the possibility of many interesting scenarios between them and an idea of slow redemption arcs either. all these parallels and tragic doomed soulmates stuff is SICK AF, i like their dynamics and contrasts between the characters. their bond is like a foundation of life itself; their virtues cannot exist without each other, no matter how much they like it or not and theyre complete opposites, but at the same time theres NO ONE whos is more similar to them than they are to each other. all of them are the only perfect match to confront each other and its such a peak cinema i wish more people didnt sleep on, because theres SO much you can do with it💔

unfortunately, i saw a lot of people romantize/fetishize very weird things iykwim... ive seen some HORRENDOUS bad terrible uncomfortable stuff i wish i didnt, that i clearly dont support and dont interact with :( it even made me block some of the tags. and while im still here, i want to remind that i have pr0ship in my dni, so if youre a pr0shipper reading this, please, unfollow/block me, because ive seen some interacting with my posts before😞

and just to add, of course i know that most of beast x ancient shippers dont do that, because some of my online AND irl friends i knew for YEARS and i sure know they wouldnt hurt a fly in their life and dont approve of such things at all either, liked beast x ancient, but i still prefer not to engage with it anyway just in case. lets just say i am extremely neutral/apathetic to everything unless its something bad and harmful

thank you for listening to my little yap session, i hope any of it made sense, i am not really much of a public talker honestly and interacting with any fandoms and people in it usually gives me some kind of anxiety and mixed feelings, because im struggling with comprehending peoples attention. its been like that for years and ongoing even now, but im really trying to open up a little as a person and not just a rando who usually drops their drawings once in a while and disappears until the next time lol

[beddybites]

Do yiu have any tips on like how to attract more attention 😭 it's been a good while and it's a huge struggle of keeping motivation and not so amazing art so it's hard to sure my characters and their stories bc one thing a can say in confidence is I am a good writer I'd like to think, people tell me I have and oddly good but cryptic way of writing that keeps people enthralled, but my biggest struggle is getting them interested in the first place 😭

hi there!! i admittedly dont really know much about the world of writing and how to gain more attention there, but i can try to give tips and see what applies & sticks!

start off short & simple and build it up over time

if you start off with something big and complicated there will be more pressure to keep things big and complicated. theres nothing wrong with short and simple and mixing it up here & there (ie with art: if you only post full pieces with extravagant rendering people will keep expecting it. mix it up a bit. i try posting a variety of sketches and doodles and more detailed things— sometimes some things do better than others and thats ok!

it is 100% okay to repost/reblog your own work

if you ever see me spamming my blog with the same posts, its so i have it back on peoples feeds and on my main profile and its easier for people to find. its also likely that some ppl missed the post, and reblogging/reposting gives them the opportunity to see it!!

something something “its cringe and egotistical” WRONG!!!!!!!!!! its completely normal for creators to repost their content and it may help a lot!!

short & sweet descriptons

when you post, avoid giant paragraphs of text, especially if you’re including art in the post. people will be distracted and will see a giant post and just scroll past it

speaking of descriptions, try using trendy words and notable names

its kinda like hashtagging. if you look at my posts you’ll typically see how i will drop people’s full names + include the word “art” or “doodle” … this is because it will more likely show up on someones feed if said person looks up the same words.

ie: googling “muichiro tokito art” -> insert my post popping up because it has “muichiro tokito art” written out in the description

i admittedly have trouble providing tips as someone who doesnt rlly understand how i got noticed to begin with haha. something something imposter syndrome or whatever they call it these days… so im not really sure if anything above helps, but this is stuff i typically try to keep in mind when i post with the intent of trying to get people to see it

more importantly—

i know this is cheesy and this is easier said than done (i have this habit too a lot of the time) but numbers does not equal ur worth or talent. i know it isnt motivating and it can be so heartbreaking): but even if ur stuff doesnt get a lot of notoriety please know it doesnt define your value . this may sound like gibberish as it is 5 am as im posting this but truly… never give up on ur work!!! i promise u someone out there loves it

im more well known for my deaging & fluff content and to this day im rlly shocked it blew up the way it did. i really made it for myself. i came up with a whole alias and didnt plan on posting it anywhere bc i was so scared ppl would hate it and harass me or nobody would gaf. but eventually i was just like Man. if this thing helps me then maybe it can help someone out there too. and it helped provide ppl some joy & wonder and whimsy & made them feel seen and truly thats all i could ever want…

its difficult and its hard but i promise u… be patient and kind to yourself. it can definitely be hard sharing things around and getting that exposure you need but there are ways for sure. some journeys are faster than others and thats ok!

again sorry if this is all gibberish its super late ): but i hope this could help in some way shape or form

[catscidr]

I think we have all seen the "Argenti thinks the Reader is Idrila" stuff on here. But what if the reader actually is Idrila? So I wanted to request Argenti/Idrila!Reader (gn or afab reader) headcanons or a oneshot where Idrila, who has taken on a mortal identity after [Insert tragic event here], and meets Argenti. They develop feelings for each other, Argenti finds out she is Idrila, they end up dating. (Maybe or maybe not in that specific order) I thought maybe after protecting her followers from Nanook she disappeared to ensure Nanook doesn't target them anymore? That part isn't as important so feel free to add whatever backstory you think fits^^ Thank you in advance, I really like your writing!

NONNIE omg im booting up star rail rn to stare at him lovingly. also i changed the scenario a smidge so reader is her own person while also being idrila? if that makes sense......?? yeah. also bc otherwise id be writing ten thousand words n i didnt want ur ask to grow dusty in my inbox d(;∀;d) but tysm for the prompt i couldn’t stop thinking about it ueue. also hey gang peep me trying to make my blog look more coherent n nicer looking. am i doin it ⸝⸝⸝⸝⸝⸝ cw: a smidge of amnesia and soulmate trope (it’s not that bad, trust), fluff, love at first sight (does that even count in this scenario....), argenti and reader are dancing around the topic a lot bc argenti is a gentleman and doesn’t want to pressure her to talk. blurbs to set up the plot + a fic after them hehe. not proofread, writer’s block is killing me  includes: fem reader (he refers to reader as "my lady"), argenti, natasha, luocha is kinda there wc: 2,3k

-ˋˏ You’d go to Natasha’s clinic at least once every other day because you always had the worst migraines. To the point where you almost got beat up by a Flamespawn one time when you were clearing out calyxes (thankfully there was a Silvermane guard patrolling the area, otherwise you would’ve been charred). The doctor always says the same thing; “Stop looking for fights so often”, “Let your body rest”, “I can’t prescribe you antibiotics”, and your favorite, “Stop slamming my door open I can’t do anything about your headaches”. She was a good friend, but whenever she repeated how she couldn’t be of any help to your predicament, you’d wish you could just take that glass vial hanging from her outfit and chuck it far, far away out of spite. 

-ˋˏ Obviously it wasn’t her fault- she'd done everything she could. Natasha even had you undergo the Underworld’s equivalent of an MRI scan because of how frequently you would visit her, insisting that something was wrong. The symptoms consisted of forgetting important things too often, feeling a foreign buzz in your limbs and brain, having a sudden burst of elemental energy come out of your attacks and a myriad of benign but annoying, irritating signs that something was up with you. 

-ˋˏ It became more of a chore than anything to leave your room. Some days you felt fine, but then when you’d go out again and beat up wave after wave of enemies in Caverns of Corrosion you would keel over, clutching your head while vague images of what could only be described as a fever dream ran through your mind. 

-ˋˏ You decided to leave the Underworld for some time- considering your absence like some sort of “vacation”. You heard of a wandering doctor (and merchant, apparently) by the name of Luocha and, from the people that crossed paths with him, it seemed like he was extraordinary at his job. A trek to the Xianzhou Luofu would be a long one, but after weighing your options you thought you’d give it a try (it was worth it if it meant you’d stop waking up at ungodly hours, holding your head in your hands while hoping, praying that the pain stops.) 

-ˋˏ You (somehow) made your way to the Xianzhou Luofu from Jarilo-VI. As competent as you were however, being stranded on a foreign planet with no map nor local to guide you was... a challenge. In retrospect, maybe you should’ve gotten in contact with that Luocha doctor and had him come to Belobog instead of you going to him since, well, he was a traveling merchant. Going from planet to planet is what he does (you assume). 

✧✧✧ 

If you had read up more on general information about the Luofu you would have been aware of how many enemies were roaming around the docking area. But you didn’t. So, unbeknownst to you, a rogue mara-struck soldier was on your tail, trying to sneak up to you to snag the goods you hid in your bag (which were basically just different types of painkillers and sustenance that bodes well on an upset stomach. He doesn’t know that though.) 

Your head was throbbing; ever since you set foot on the planet, your physical health had slowly dropped down to levels you wouldn’t be enduring if it wasn’t for the promise of a competent doctor once you get to the main city. Painkillers weren’t working, your feet hurt and to make matters worse, you felt the familiar lack of something in your head. It was so bad to the point where you had to have a tangible mark somewhere to remind you that you did, in fact, just take something for your headache and if you took two more painkillers, your body wouldn’t agree with your decision. It was a struggle even remembering what you did five minutes ago, no way were you going to be in top shape, beating up every enemy crossing your way. 

Clouds began covering the bright sun, casting shadows over the desolate, geometric area. You huff, irritated that, from the looks of it, you won’t be able to find a cozy place to set up camp. Though sleeping on a ground made of primarily iron and steel was considerably less nerve-wracking than sleeping on the mushy, cold, dirty ground of Jarilo-VI. So, with a pout aimed at no one in particular, you find some place that you deemed decent enough to set your humble tent. It wasn’t often that adventurers slept outside of safe zones, however with your condition you couldn’t afford to miss out on some rest and possibly get even more lost than you already are. 

You set your heavy backpack down, rolling your shoulders to soothe the ache in your muscles from carrying something so bulky. As you ruffle through your belongings, you open a bottled soda and take a swift gulp, sighing contentedly at the pleasant taste on your tongue. Now that you were sat and could rest your bones (until you started setting up your tent, at least), your ears were able to pick up on some not-so-distant footsteps. 

There’s no time for you to react; the mara-struck soldier that had been following you lunges at you, aiming for your bag. Your eyes widen and you open your mouth to yell, but before any sound can leave your mouth, a long, red and gold spear pierces the ground between you and the rabid man, making you yelp in surprise. You scurry as far back as you can in your current state; however, the soldier doesn’t have time to take advantage of your weakened stature. The owner of the spear lodges himself before your shaking figure and the mara-struck, yanking his spear out of the ground with impressive elegance, and summons an array of thorny vines to catch your assailant. 

It takes little to no effort for the seasoned fighter to take down the mara-struck as he swings his weapon, swiftly knocking the blunt end on the soldier’s plexus, knocking the wind out of him. A strangled scream leaves his throat as he scampers away, leaving your belongings safe with you and the strange red-haired man. He lowers his spear, careful to keep the sharp edge far from you, and turns around to face you properly. His brows raise a smidge for a split second before he composes himself and bows before you, the action short and curt.  

“It would have been a shame to lose a beauty such as yourself,” he says smoothly, straightening his back to look down at you with a warm smile. He stretches his hand out, a polite offer to help you stand up, as he continues speaking. “My name is Argenti, I belong to the Knights of Beauty. What might you be doing so far away from civilization, dear...?” he trails off, waiting for you to introduce yourself. 

You were in a state of shock, your mind still processing what had happened in such a short amount of time, that you failed to notice the lack of pain at the back of your head. As you meekly tell him your name, you hold onto his hand to help yourself up- as soon as his armored glove comes in contact with your hand something flashes in your mind; too quick to allow you to think about it too much, or to recognize what you saw for a millisecond. 

“So far away from civilization... do you know how to get to the city?” you ask as you feel a glimmer of hope spark in you. His words were refreshing, probably the best thing someone has ever said to you in the past month. He nods, reaching into his pocket to fish out a blue handkerchief embroidered with a delicate gold trim. Argenti hands it over to you and you gratefully take it, blotting the sweat and... dust off of your face. 

“I have made my way around the Luofu for long enough to show someone the way,” he says kindly. “Besides, even if I didn’t, I would still offer to accompany you through your trek. It is my duty as a Knight of Beauty, for I must uphold chivalry and distinguished manners, in the name of the Goddess guiding me.” His words resonate within you, making you beam, nodding in understanding. 

Your reaction doesn’t go unnoticed by the knight. As you hand his handkerchief back, he smiles at you and gestures to your bag. “What brings you so far from your homeworld, my lady?” Argenti asks gently, though a glimmer of doubt swirls in his sparkling, verdant eyes. The question makes you pause, a memory flashing in your mind too suddenly for you to know what it meant. Although, from what you could tell, you knew you could trust him with what troubled you somehow. 

“Ah, it’s a long story,” you start sheepishly, “I’ve been having these incredibly painful migraines recently. And sometimes I feel like my memory is fading too quickly for what would be considered normal,” you say, trailing off slightly at the end. “I’m looking for a healer, a doctor by the name of Luocha...?” 

Somehow, the doctor was currently the least of your worries. You’d never felt so refreshed before, at least not that you could remember; simply being in Argenti’s presence seemed to be enough to make your aches disappear like a starskiff smoothly gliding through a cloudless sky. 

“I’ve seen the man only a handful of times,” Argenti mutters aloud, pulling you out of your thoughts. “I can do my best to guide you to him, but if I may... you don’t seem to be injured?” the knight says, his voice trailing off into a questioning tone despite the observation. You shake your head, wondering how you should explain your predicament to the man. 

“Like I said, it’s a long story,” you say again, shrugging sheepishly. You wondered if you should even go into the nitty gritty- he could always just be making small talk to help you get comfortable or something. Sensing your unease, he changes the spotlight to him instead. 

“There’s no need to delve into details if you wish to keep them secret,” he says with a kind smile, bending down to take ahold of your hand- gently pressing a chaste kiss on the back of your hand. Red flushes your ears immediately, words caught in your throat at the sight of his hair cascading over his shoulders, a beautiful contrast from the gold and silver armor glittering in what was left of the sunlight. 

“As for myself, like I mentioned earlier, I am a Knight of Beauty. I’m on a quest to find my dear Goddess Idrila once more, for I need to pay my respects to them after they saved me from a particularly grim fate.” His words echoed in your mind, your brows knitting together as you felt what could only be described as a cold bucket of water being dunked on your head. “I-Idrila?” you parrot, your voice coming out as a choked noise. Argenti perks up, the hand that had been softly holding onto yours now holding it with a firmer grip, his other hand joining it. 

“Yes, Idrila. Have you ever heard of them? Or...” he trails off, looking deep into your eyes expectantly, almost as if he knew something you didn’t. His eyes seemed to suck you in, bringing a comfortable wave of warmth over you, making you yearn for something. 

“I...” you begin, your gaze falling down to look at your feet. As you thought long and hard about what you wanted to say, what you tried to remember, you slowly look over to his spear, lying flat on the ground- long forgotten since the fight earlier. As if a lightbulb went off above your head, you perk up just as he did, and look at him, beaming. The words were caught in your throat; there was so much you wanted to say, to declare, to do in this moment of clarity, but with how fast your mind was running to catch you up on the current events of your life it was a struggle. 

“Argenti,” you murmur, the name rolling off your tongue smoothly, as you realized seeing the traveling merchant was no longer required. Though the road might have been arduous, and you may have almost lost your mind in the process, being with Argenti suddenly made everything make sense. That’s why your migraines mysteriously disappeared as soon as you were in the knight’s presence, that’s why you had gaps in your memory, that’s why you were freakishly powerful... at convenient times.  

Everything clicked into place. 

The both of you share a pregnant pause, eyes locked together as the world seemed to come to a stop around you. If it were possible, you’re sure there would be delicate, silky rose petals floating around your figures, suspended in the air. You glance down at his lips, and for the first time, make a decision with a clear head. 

His lips felt smooth against yours, the faint taste of vanilla mixed with roses transferring to your own lips. The kiss almost felt like it could be the result of a symbiotic relationship; now that you had Argenti, or at least had him by your side once again, you didn’t think you’d be able to continue on without him. 

[lunarle-old]

my friend and i literally inform each other the SECOND one of us notices you released a new hgh chapter 😭 you’re doing AMAZING btw!! i love this sm

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, I LOVE THE BACKSTORY YOU CAME UP WITH KOKICHI AND DICE!!! it always makes me so so happy ^^ will you ever show who is who specifically? because we have vauge descriptions, but i’ve only caught onto two or three 💔

the last part of the chapter was interesting 2 me though, since it was shuichi’s pov, but he was thinking about “white, white, white” so how long was he in the white room to think about that??? (＞人＜;)

♪ヽ(´▽｀)/🤍🤍

Here's a chart! sorry if you can't read it my handwriting is that of a 5th graders

four chose his name cus like. the four card assignment things. club spades hearts and whatever the other one is i forgot ;w; that's my reasoning behind his name though. Ace got that name because i like him. jester is doing one of the Kokichi Poses so i went wirh gut feeling. i dont have an explanation for the others and i know Nothing about chess aside from that one google search i did for m5 so :') ... sorry d.i.c.e

kokichi's name would be "king" btw. i love these little rapscallians. i sure hope nothing bad happens to them

also! I realize I didnt explain that well in the chapter and I apologize. Shuichi didnt spend any time in the white room. In fact, the room he was in was very dark. The only light was on the stage. Sorry if I didn't make that clear, but it was hard to explain background details when even the character i was writing through didn't know where he was ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

this is a layout of the room i made in 2 minutes on my phone. That little circle on stage is the prop thing that was holding him up. Think of it like a craft room :p just a place to create stuff. which entails nothing good considering it's the cruel one's room @_@;....

anyways Shuichi really only spent like.. three hours in there. A lot more, if you count the time he spent asleep. I originally had him set up like that because I wanted to blast him with the Gender Dysphoria beam by putting him in a more. this outfit.

but i decided against it for the Kokichi confusion mix-up and the minor identity loss. the whole reason i added the trans shuichi tag, the point of propping him up like that and i. didnt do it. Q_Q i literally call the cruel one "doll whumper" in my notes Because they TREAT PEOPLE like DOLLS. TOYS!! That's the WHOLE POINT of their character and i didn't do it. :"> i still like the design though it came from an rp i do with a friend and he let me include it in HGH if i wanted but. y'know.

what was i talking about Oh yeah ok so. he didn't spend any time in Kokichi's white room. But he still did Kokichi's signature triple-word repitition. Why?

Well for one it's mostly just. a narrative thing. drawing parallels or whatever. But also, Shuichi is making an active effort to Not think about what happened to him. He's focusing on what's happening to Kokichi. I tend to have a specific way of writing Shuichi in situations like this, and if we learned anything from Love Letter... You might be able to guess.

I dont want to say too much on the matter since I'm still writing it and dont want to make any false promises, but from the way it's going right now? Oh Boy.

anyways that was an unnecessarily long rambly response from lunarleonardo thank you for your time. goodnight

[liquidstar]

SEASON 3 TRAILER DROPPED HERES MY THOUGHTS (LN spoilers)

BROTHER AND SISTER OF ALL TIME THEYRE SO CUTE <3 love seeing how their relationship has progressed from beako literally throwing him out a window for stuff like this to her happily playing along its so so so so so cute. genuinely just one of the cutest and sweetest dynamics in the series

hi ram roswaal and fred :) this is probably all we're going to really see of you guys this arc lol

JOSHUA REAL!!!!! but not for long (also otto in the bg foreshadowing all the drinking hes about to do this arc. hes so stressed. poor emilia is trying her best)

julius looks so babyfaced here? they really emphasized his long eyelashes just like subaru has been on about every time he mentions him. they better include the scene where he checks him out, like, if they dont animate subaru looking dead at this mans ass im going to riot

i LOVE this shot of ana. you can really tell shes up to some corrupt capitalist bullshit as we speak. love her for that. wish i had this pic when i made that one money game anastasia video

the red dress actually does look really good on crusch like it compliments the green hair really well but also the crusch we know would not walk around in such a thing so its like. damn looks like the "memories are an important part of identity" story thinks memories are an important part of identity. who knew.

ALSO LOVE FELTS NEW LOOK SO MUCH! the only complaint is i felt (felt lol) like the red brought out her eyes more but the blue also looks cool. three primary colors all being used looks nice too

whatever who cares about all that THE CUNT!!!!!!! THE CUNT IS HERE!!! I CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL THE DRAMA SHE CAUSES TO BE ANIMATED FOR REAL

no fucking way... did they actually...

THEY DID! THEY CENSORED THAT HORRIBLE FUCKING DESIGN OH MY GOD. SHES WEARING SHORTS AND JUST A CROPPED SHIRT. AND CHAPS I GUESS? BUT ALSO A LITTLE SKIRT CAPE SO NO ASS SHOTS... THIS WILL MAKE WATCHING THE SEASON SO MUCH MORE TOLERABLE. i mean not perfect but STILL.

photos taken seconds before disaster lmfao. i still love how chin thinks subaru is a freak and weirdo for being so buddy buddy with him after he and his buddies mugged him. twice. (even more times from subarus perspective. hell he stabbed subaru once) genuinely cant wait to see more of this dynamic its so stupid.

THE FUCKING CUNT!!!!!! also the apples lol

oh you poor thing. you have no idea what next level family drama bullshit awaits. good luck. get ready to kill grandma AGIAN lol

:'( emilia still misses her terrible cat dad and its kinda sad when you know were not getting a resolution on that here either. they both look so sad :(

i cannot wait for garf mommy issues round fucking 2.

THIS CRAZY BITCH!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS CRAZY BITCH ANIMATED. I CANT WAIT TO SEE HOW THEYRE PORTRAY HER MANNERISMS. ESP W HOW WILD PETELGEUSE WAS ANIMATED IN S1. REAL LOONY TOONS BULLSHIT. AND HER POWERS ARE ALSO SOOOOOO MUCH COOLER I CANT WAIT

NO MORE DRESSES FOR CRUSCH YAY

he fucking bit it. yeah i guess thats what dogs do tho.

YOU. DIVORCE MAN. KILL YOURSELF. SLASH SERIOUS.

the empathy powers will have a glowing eye effect. very cool but i hope they dont show it too much in the first scene bc like in the LN i think its cooler if you dont know why everything is so... Wrong.

i dont rly have anything to say i just think ferris looks cool covered in blood. imagine being healed here like doctor catgirl will see you now

emilia be nice. that crazy bitch might be your mom. just like how the previous crazy bitch was in fact your dad.

THEY CHANGED UP CAPELLA'S DESIGN TOO honestly tho her being sexualized makes sense w a lot of the themes (the way its intentionally meant to be perverse and gross in a way explicitly stated) so i didnt mind as much and she still IS here but. this is still an improvement imo just a better outfit looks cooler. bug.

NAUR I DONT WANNA WAIT... OCTOBER.... AUGH

[eskiinox]

Hi! I really really love your art it’s so pretty and distinct and wonderful!!!

Your ‘Be nice to me’ animatic is really delightful and I’ve watched it a bunch of times! I love how all the frames have a little bit of movement to them and the colours are so nice

I was wondering how you could share how you go about making your animatics (process, programs, etc).

Thanks :DD

THANK YOU LIZARD THAT MEANS THE WORLD <333 im so so so happy that people like that animatic :D and OF COURSE1!!!!!!

so I start by getting obssessed with a song and then making a little storyboard. I have a bunch of these that never get turned into an Actual Animatics but theyre always fun and help just get the idea out of my Head. Ignore the terrible quality of the photo but I managed to find one of the ones for be nice to me! COULD NOT TELL YOU WHAT ANY OF IT MEANS NOW!!!!! giggling my storyboards are just blobs and also this photo is awful i can barely see it BUT I COULD READ IT AT THE TIME SO THATS ALL THAT MATTERS!!!

usually I have a bit more of a plan but for be nice to me i seem to remember lots of the parts got shuffled around. mostly because I wanted to include as many characters as possible. (even if most of it is just mort and family because they're very dear to me )

ANYWAY!!! so I animate bigger things in krita, which (although it does crash somtimes) is easy to use and has nice brushes. I used to use it for all my art :D i also use flipaclip for animations which i dont want to put much detail into beacuse its fun to do higher fps stuff on there. I TRIED USING PROCREATE DREAMS ONCE BUT IT DOENST HAVE A LASSO TOOL???? which is really painful so I gave up. I dont do much editing, but sometimes i use capcut to fix audio or do small camera movements. All of these are free! apart from procreate dreams. i hateyou procreate dreams.

A thing i like doing, is to make multiple lineart frames of a still shot and alternate them every few frames which makes it look more Alive and helps transition into movement nicely :D I didnt really bother to do that in the hfth one though because it was so fast paced. ANOTHER THING TO FAKE MORE MOVEMENT is to use the transform tool to have a frame thats slightly stretched or squished after quick movements which makes them look more bouncy.

COLOUR WISE for long animatics I have a bg colour and a couple of Bright colours that stand out for important details. i think in be nice to me that was mostly red and green. nik and marolmar.... if its just lineart I also sometimes draw background details in a lower opacity or different colour so it looks less cluttered

AND THEN once I've finished sometimes I also throw a texture over the top of everything to make it look more interesting... usually a paper texture i like using those :D

NO IDEA HOW MUCH OF THIS MADE SENSE BUT I ENJOYED RAMBLING!!!!!!!! i hope it answered your question :D

[theallianceofcelestials]

lucky u I’m not in class right now therefor I can type at u

oh don’t worry, Arcade will make it very clear quite quickly the pup doesn’t have special needs or in distress. That includes growling, biting, clawing, purposeful slapping, or purposefully making the fam uncomfortable by pulling their other 6 arms out in the really fucked up way they usually do. Plus, as much as they are a child, their species is naturally really intelligent even as pups, Arcade would eventually find a way around Eclipse’s code and chillax next to him on the couch normally

Squid is actually what they ate most often, other than snailfish (Yes, snailfish can be pets while others can be dinner) so don’t worry, they are completely okay with squid aslong as it’s relatively soft or chopped up!

Thats gonna be hell of a time to learn, but when they do, Arcade will be the happiest thing in that room. A bunch of curling up and eeping under the blanket. also, Arcade needs no pillows, it’s actually better for their still developing fins to have direct weight on them so they don’t develop to be too weak to be as agile as adult Arcade is.

Flare is going to hate it when Arcade likes him the most because the lack of facial expressions, because a lot of the human facial expressions are not used or signs of dislike. Most positive emotions are expressed through patterns or calls. So, Arcade will be confused less often by Flare and flock to him more.

Fish will eventually get tired of the constant affection, and will get snappy, but until then anything is fine.

Turning them into a pancake would be quite hard, they will instinctively slide away then start viciously attacking whatever foot dare nearly step on them. Shame on the foot.

The fam will also learn quite a lot about Arcade for whenever this wears off, cause the bab don’t know that Adult them hates sharing information about their past incase it’s used against them

the bab will be very confused on why the fam is so surprised to find out they have siblings, since it was never directly said to this SEA fam that Arcade had a pod. For all this fam knows, Arcade could be an unnaturally formed siren (aka sm who drowned in a storm and reformed as a siren, and some sirens can form like this, Arcade Didnt though) that just never found a pod and missed having a family. Since thats how they are portrayed in legends, and all the foundation knows is that they exist and are quite a big danger. Now they just have to be confused until something reminds the bab of a diseased siren they saw and eventually communicates something along the lines of: “is that like the disease (untranslatable parental figure word) told us is going around?” From there I bet they can connect the dots, especially because adult Arcade has been shown to be really susceptible to sickness.

Once they are not pup anymore and realize they told the fam some stuff abt their pod, Arcade will likely either lock themselves in a dark room and not talk to the fam until the two week mark and they need to go back to the deep sea, or the dive into the sea and don’t show their face for atleast a month until one of their deep sea friends bullies them into going back up to atleast to know if the fam uses this information badly

a yes, a giant fish with anxiety, how deliteful

Sunray, how u be?

But he's still a kid, whether they're acting like that or nah. Eclipse knows that's a kid, has seen how an adult is supposed to look like. So it's really just a mess for those two, but he'll probably recognise what the baby is trying to do. So he may try to chill around more, and be uncomfortable, but that's fine. He just hopes this is temporary

By the pillows I meant put extra pillows on top of the weighted blanket to have more weight! It's the poor man's way to make something heavy without that being uncomfortable xd And also, the image of tiny fish being under a blanket which has pillows on top of it is rather adorable

Solar Flare is trying to run meanwhile Arcade is just like "Cool! A normal person! :D"

Killcode would just be staring at this tiny thing trying to maul his foot with such confusion it's unreal. He's just staring, trying to figure out what to do. I believe in baby Arcade tho, you can murder the evil evil feet little critter!

They clash so bad on this. Like the SEA fam is so focused on building strong bonds through touch, as well as other things, that they probably wouldn't really realise without Eclipse what's the problem of Arcade. And then it's just a rather sucky specie difference, because the deep sea siren isn't used to so much touch and doesn't like it, and the celestial SCPs need those. That's gonna be a fun thing to work around

The Arcade lore is safe with them. They're not going to do anything with it, especially because they might realise it wasn't exactly a conscious decision on Arcade's part, seeing as he's a baby right now. So they'd understand why they run away, thinking they're embarrassed, only to get progressively more worried as time goes on and there's no sighting of them. That'd not be fun for them

Hi Rey! :D

I'm fine, bullying Moongleam to do that Hollow Knight stream by telling her the baby (a pumpkin themed plushie we decided shall be Jack) will be sad and cry :) it is working :)

And also curiously staring at her new mermay fic idea, while it also inspired me to think of (another) mermay fic. I have several unfinished work in progresses, don't need a new one, and yet.

Here it is. Already rotting my brain. (:

So doing fine and dandy! :D

How is You, Rey?? ≽^•⩊•^≼

[souryogurt64]

where do you shop? i love your fits sm

In my pinned post I am wearing a top from etsy layered over a tank top from amazon, a skirt from romwe, a belt from amazon, doc martens, various jewelry mostly secondhand except for the big cross necklace. which i cut the cross off a dress from dolls kill and put it on a big chain.

to be honest, i spend a lot of time looking at inspo on tiktok or paying attention in movies/tv and thinking about how i can recreate it with things i already own or what specific pieces i need for an aesthetic i want that are suited to my style, and then i try to find or create the perfect item primarily using google lens/keywords and online secondhand retailers. i also have been focusing on reducing my closet a lot so i can concentrate on the items that are how i want to dress instead of feeling overwhelmed and wearing the same mcr sweatshirt and jeans every day for months.

like for example, if i see a tiktok of a girl in a red maxi skirt and tank top with a bunch of necklaces that looks great. i dont run out and buy red stuff from her TikTok shop because i hate wearing red. i also dont like how my arms look in tank tops. so ill think about what maxi skirts, jewelry, and tops i already own in colors/shapes i like that can emulate a similar vibe to her.

or like for example i recently saw a whimsigoth aesthetic TikTok that included a bunch of butterfly watches, and i was immediately obsessed, so i spent a long time looking using keywords and didnt find any i liked. but through using Google Lens on ones similar to what I wanted, I ended up finding a watch face i liked but with a big ugly mens metal band on a more obscure vintage site called Grailed. so i bought a plain black leather band on amazon and had a local watch shop replace the band, its perfect, and ive worn it every day since.

hope that helps!!

[my-castles-crumbling]

Anon Advice Asks - March 28

extra friend anon (new...ish), A very confused anon, 20 times anon, family dynamics anon (tw: death), germany/france anon (new)

Extra Friend Anon

Extra friend anon (not new but it’s whatever, i’m not usually anonymous in your asks anymore,, he/they)

So like, i’m an extra friend in a friend group, i got introduced by this one girl…

Well, i feel attracted to one of those friends, and I’m not sure how he feels about me, and i can’t say it’s mutual because i’m afraid that would be a bit delusional.

But i do understand that it might be the same for him, and that he just has his own stuff to deal with. How do i confess that i don’t want it to just be physical attraction but that i really want more than that? My last relationship ended because i cared so much about romance while my ex gf seemed to only be physically attracted to me. Which physical attraction is a part of a relationship to me as well, but i am more of a romantic type of person at heart…

Anyway how do i confess that i don’t want this to just be another friends with benefits type of situation? I really care about the friend group a lot. It feels like we shouldn’t be together but i really do want to be with him. I’m not even sure if he likes guys or not and even then I don’t know if he would have those same feelings for me.

Hi!

I think the best thing to do is to be straightforward. Because the thing is, even if he doesn't want the same, it's much better to know that NOW, at the beginning, then halfway through the relationship. Like you implied, if you don't know for sure, it can fuck with the friend group and also it's just not want you want and could be hurtful. It's much better to risk that small amount of hurt now than a whole lot of hurt later.

_________

A very confused anon

You asked me to tell you what i think, so here’s a check in:

fist and foremost: your answer helped me alot, and i reaaaaally appreciate you for everything you do!! Your response made me feel a little more comfortable with just being, ya know? But at the same time i know my feels arent “normal” so i kinda wanna know what i can call myself, even if its not a set sexuality (which it probably wont be)

Also, i started going through the resource you have in your intro post for aro/ace labels. Aaaaand i cant find one. I haven’t read through the full thing, but i’ve been thinking and theres been some discoveries.

Do you know if the aro spectrum also includes liking people differently than normal or is it just lack of romantic attraction in various levels?

— a very confused anon (aVCa) —

I think the thing you need to remember is that feeling aren't normal or abnormal. They just...are. Who's to say that your feelings are any less normal than anyone else's?

Can you explain what you mean by differently than normal? I guess in my head, romantic and sexual attraction is just a spectrum, it's not a 'normal' or 'not normal.'

Also, here's a website with some definitions about ace/aro identities!

___________

20 times anon

20 times anon here

hi, cas, how are you today?

i have a little update about the situation. me and three of my other friends decided to tell her mom about everything. we are all afraid she’s going to be upset with us, but her mom reassured that she wouldn’t say it was us whole told. we just all want her to get better and hope that she gets the help she needs.

when i had a chat with her (the best friend) about it the day prior, she told me she didnt want to get better. it concerned me, and that’s why i decided to tell an adult. thank you so so much for the advice because i really needed it.

Hi!

I think you made the right call here and it sounds like her mom is a decent person- like she won't just get mad, she'll try to help. Remember, even if your friend gets mad, you did what you did out of love and concern, and you made the right decision <3

_______________

Family Dynamics anon (tw death)

I am so, so sorry to hear about your grandma. Deaths that are more shocking like that can be so hard. Remember to be gentle to yourself and give yourself time to grieve. Whatever you're feeling, it's valid, and I'm here if you want to tell me about her or how you're feeling <3

________

Germany/France anon

Hi hon <3 I know you said i didn't have to reply but I just wanted to let you know that I'm here whenever you need to vent. I don't know if it makes you feel better or worse, but, living in the US, I completely understand how you're feeling. It's scary and difficult, but we'll make it through somehow <3

Sending so much love

[tothechaos]

HELLOO i really love your art, it's so good and thought-provoking. very kind on the eyes. i was wondering if you had any thoughts / meaning in mind when u painted 3,090 Degrees Fahrenheit. why 3090 specifically? was it supposed to represent anything? :3 id also love to hear thought process / ideas behind any other pieces too!

hope this isn't a bother or a weird ask, i love overanalyzing art pieces and hearing what artists were thinking when they made their pieces compared to how we interpret them. it's super fun!!

not a bother or a weird ask at all! ive talked some about the meaning behind the work here so ill talk a bit more about my process this time around.

so the room in the photo is in fact my bedroom. in order to get a reference for the lighting i used a big salt lamp and some small battery powered string lights, took two picture where one had the lights on my bed, the other had them on the floor, then stitched the photos together. a bit tedious but definitely gave me some cool lighting!

ok im gonna include some progress photos but be warned they have absolutely awful glare on them. the tragedies of an oil painter

the first step to this was technically to paint the entire 30"x48" canvas black but thats boring so heres the sketch in white charcoal. for paintings, i typically do my "sketch" with paints; i add a color ground with a lot of solvent (especially gamsol) then add in some basic values. heres an example from my thesis!

after that is painting the darkest values. painting dark to light in oils is best practice, helps prevent the colors from getting muddy. also! mix your blacks! gives em more variety and depth. its also much easier to control the color temperature that way. i know that there are a couple combos that work but burnt umber and ultramarine is my favorite. occasionally i add a smidge of black paint of out the tube if i need it a bit darker but frankly i dont do that as much anymore

painting all the little stuff on my walls was a lot of fun, made the space feel more realistic

the last thing that i did on the first day was to add a thin layer of colors where the flames would be, so i wasnt painting up from Just Black. the rest of the painting could stand that because 1. everything besides the flames are comparatively much darker 2. the flames have more impasto than the rest of the image and i didnt want to use Even More Paint, i used quite a bit of red, orange, and yellow as it was lol

aside from painting the flames, i also added some (light) detailing to the rug, fixed up the nightstand because it was a touch wonky, and pushed a couple shadows and highlights a bit further.

frankly this was a pretty standard process for me. less paint texture and variety than i typically like to have, but i wanted the texture of the flames to sit further forward in the image plane so i left the rest comparatively smoother :] i like sharing my process and ive been considering posting more process stuff on my portfolio blog. i have also 👀 been floating around the idea of a patreon.........

[qoldenskies]

okay...genuine question before I take my energy drinks and finish my work somehow WITHOUT my Grammarly subscription...

is there anything you would like to see in a cc fic? Like, something that would work no matter what someone would be writing? A scene, a dialogue, an action, like, literally anything.

I know you like to just see people's interpretations and headcanons, and that your easy to please, but idk. I just want to be able to add something, no matter what that is, that you yourself would want to see. (One would might say a little print). It is in the perspective of Donnie. I miiiight change perspectives, but it'll prob be once or twice. I have no idea how long or short it's gonna be. I still haven't landed on the intro, just the ending... but still, I want it to be a love letter to you. A very formal, yet personal love letter that may or may not make you smile or cry or throw up or whatever bodily action it might get out of you-

(I SWEAR if I put all this time and thought into this and ao3 ends up crashing on me or not letting me upload it or somehow not gifting it to you I will RIP MY SKIN OFF)

God knows it's gonna take me like 45 minutes to figure out how to tag on ao3...honest to god that's probably the biggest thing I'm gonna screw up. This is quite literally the only thing I will have ever posted, lol. Anyway, love ya, and I hope you like whatever I end up making. It's prob gonna be pretty out of character, but I've tried to get to understand your thought process and have read most of your breakdowns of his character, so hopefully I get something right :]

HRNGNGHHHH wow this is a lot of pressure!! i do have some ideas for what i would want to see but they're mostly scenes that didnt get put in cc (that i dont plan on ever writing) due to them being redundant or already vaguely explained-- that being the immediate aftermath of CL (it haunts me dawg, both raph or splinter's povs there would be awful and heartbreaking) and the day leo was gone to go ineffectively throw hands with kitsune, because that includes the whole "you have one month left" news broken to donnie, who was Not doing well and calling for leo the whole time, and draxum was watching all of this happen/being filled in more thoroughly about what happened (honestly potential to write from his pov? i originally planned on including draxum more thoroughly in cw after chapter 13 but it never came to pass .... but if anything i could see all of this putting him in the reluctant father figure position more than ever, especially with donnie ngl). i couldnt really twist either of these in a way that felt worth writing them so i leave them up to interpretation! but that's more premise-related stuff and im not sure if you have more fleshed out ideas for what you want to go with. also theyre both coda premises lolol

otherwise its :') youre so sweet!! its hard to fathom that ive done anything to deserve a love letter like that. i am in fact very easy to please i suppose ,,, i find joy in the fact that every style and interpretation of my work is different, and i adore when people put their own spin on my concepts and mold it to make it something their own!! its why i reread cc fics so much. go at your own pace and dont worry about making it perfect, the fact that you want to do something like this at all already means the world to me!

[ganondoodle]

so i sort of half accidentally did the end of totk on monday, i had over 130 hours and slightly over 50% of the game done and did the second to last fight with 3 hearts left and no way to heal but fairies after i gave up multiple times thinking the game might be trying to force me to fight a certain way xD

so im still playing it and am aiming for the 100% but i dont think theres gonna be much more to discover story wise the game is really fun and has a lot of detail and love put into it that you can really see, the music is fantastic as well, some of the characters get more love which is great but the story is … well disappointing but not surprising, especially in its treatment of ganondorf, who still feels incredibly flat as a character, which was to be expected but also … you cant fault people (including me) for faintly hoping theyd do something more interesting tho i will say the end fight is really well done and i cant think of a way to top that in terms of epicness xD

anyway, some unfiltered thoughts and opinions in no particular order (keep in mind i know its viddy game logic uwu but still some things can really destroy the immersion; and also i like to think too hard about the stuff i care about so take this with a grain of salt, i never expected the story to be world changing but i want to remind you that i am criticizing it bc i love this franchise)

--what the hell happened to all the sheikah tech?? botws story gets mentioned a few times but never is it mentioned what happened to all the tons of tech lying around everywhere? if they dismantled the towers for purah to build her new ones around i guess thats fine, but all the srhines? the titans ??? THE SHRINE OF LIFE??? its all gone, esepcially the shrine of life irks me bc the cave is still there and its still called by its bame but its nothing but a cave in a vague shape of how the buidling was it absolutely drives me crazy bc its so dumb?? even if it all stopped working for some reason why would you dismantled it all and even then where did the material go?? why would you dismanlted an neitre building like that anyway?? if you want to have a cave there just have it be half collapsed, if all sheikah tech has gotten useless just leave it there but overgrown?? and why is all of purahs tech still working then? zelda doesnt seem to care about it anymore either even tho shes been so obsessed with it for so long? the titans how would you even MOVE them?? you CANNOT tell me that all this tech that survived tens of thousands of years just went poof within a few years; and sometimes it even feels .. insulting? like you know how much robelo cared for cherry and now shes tiny and just serves as a way to buy fotos for your collection? the fact that the shrine of life is fully gone but the cave is vaguely shaped like its interior and where the bed used to be is a healing pool of water too? like idk if im just insane but it feels like 'haha lol remember what used to be here? get it? the water heals you like the bed in the shrine of life and lol there was the stairs HAHA remember? its gone now for no reason.lmao.' to be clear i like having some mysteries and all but that is just …. so weird? when i discovered the shrine of life i was so taken aback i didnt know what to do, it really broke my immersion, by alot even, it just makes it feel even more like all sheikah tech was replaced by much cooler (tm) sonau tech

--what happend to the sonau people? we only know that rauru and mineru are the last two remaining ones back then but … what made them die out like that? this is by far not as important to me as the issue with the sheikah tech but still feels like a point that could have been mentioned

--as much as i like the open world and how free you are to do things your own way but, regardign the dragon tears i think they should have been locked more behind story progression, i got all of them rather early on and it made it a lil frustrating to play through the other story parts bc you know the truth but you cant tell anyone and everyone around you is acting like a dumbass running after fake zelda while the real one is floating around above you, and i know thats partly my fault for getting them all so early but it still felt like some could have been more well hidden or locked or something since theres no hint to when it would fit to do which one; i expecpted impa to travel to each one but it seemed like she appeared on only a few here and there- additionally i fully expected her to be more important, that she would have an actual involment trying to help zelda undragonfy but that turned out to be very wrong lmao

--why are the enemies in the underground mining sonanium? ganondorf didnt seem itnerested at all in any of their tech, only in the mystery stones (only one too, he didnt seem to want any more of them either) they dont use it for anything? at least the ones on the surface collected stuff they could eat or use for fighting?

--did mineru really build herself a robot body just to fight ganondorf for a bit and then leave? as the last of the sonau, even tho long dead too, why wouldnt she tell their history and knowledge or something and instead if just helping a lil in the fight and then go poof (i half expected purah to be a surprise sage since the spirit one would have fit her i think)

--the zelda being the white dragon plot point lost alot of weight to me when it was just .. resolved like that in the end, i know she spent thousands of years like that and all but it seemed like a much heavier decision that later on felt a little less flat after fidning mineru even tho i felt like i didnt care at all at first bc of the way i found out ,and i half expected there to be an extra mission to try and find her soul again since that apparently gets lost when you do the whole dragon thing, but in the end that wasnt a problem at all, two ghosts and link (somehow naked again) blasting her with some magic(tm) and boom shes back and well and fine woohoo it was a non problem after all i didnt expect her to stay dragon since that would mean the end of the legend of zelda basically, but still it took away alot of the weight of her decision to me? like i get undragonfying her before the end would be difficult since you can get material off of her but still i hoped for something other than boom it resolved itself and i thoguht and worried about it for nothing honestly a post game or even another title where the main focus wouldnt be desstroying yet anyother one note evilest guy of them all and isntead the goal is to bring zeldas soul back and undragon her or something would have been a cool idea tbh tho i know its unrealistic

--did ganondorf think turning himself into a dragon would end the world somehow? did he mean the lil evil goo clouds he spit at you in the last fight to end the world? and how come that he was vunerable to fight? none of the other dragons could be hurt and for an 'immortal' dragon he sure went down fast also how did the stone get back on his forehead? you need to eat it to dragonfy yourself and zelda doesnt have her stone out either (i know viddy games logic but still) (on another note, gan shoving half his arm in his own mouth felt really cursed to watch)

--into WHAT exactly wanted gan to reshape the world into?? only destroying it is such a non reason if you want to rule it? theres nothing left to rule if you kill everything in it?? he just gonna play cards with some bokblins or what -i really wanted to fight ganondorf on the surface, not in his lil miasma incubation cave again :(

--so …. why he evil? are we really doing the and WHOOP suddendnly theres the eviliest guy of the world and he hates your guts for some reason thing again? no tension with the gerudo that seemed to follow him in the lil cutscene we see and the ones that went on raurus side? no actual origin? does he have ANYONE to talk to normally or did he just surround himself by monsters all the time or abadon everyone that once followed him once he got his power up?? you can make any design or fight as good as it can possibly be but in the end its still gonna feel hollow if the character has no character besides evil even the fake zelda wasnt actually him and just a lil puppet made of miasma so even him fucking with people is a little less interesting when he was actually just marinading in his lil goop cave, and the lil hand wink he gives you at phase two can only do so much lmao

--ganondorf is cool and all, but tbh he feels more like the evil miasma goop guy than anything else --why are the old sonau ruins in hyrule so different from the rest? like we know now that they arent actually a civilization from the sky alone but were even in the underground too, and all of their ruins have that blocky white style to it, the supposedly sonau ruins in phirone for example, albeit they share the dragon theme the style on the outside is very much different? and the ancient ruins from the other races dont match it either --are the sheikah descendants of the mixing of sonau and hylians? the white hair and third eye theme would fit to the only alive sonaus we see having white hair (fur?), the literal third eye and their affinity to techonology similar to the sheikah, and zelda having both light and time powers would make sense if its yet another descendant thing, but that would mean zelda was at least part sheikah .. (ngl white haired zelda might look pretty neat actually) but also … it didnt seem like sonia and rauru have been together all that long and no mention or even hint to them having children … which given that both of them die would be an important thing to mention no?

--why cant you do anything with the dongos but feed them????????? i wanna ride them :(

--where is kashiwa????????????????? they talk about him like hes a lost legend

--putting in all the amiibo stuff is cool and annoying at the same time, i spent 5 hours fighting my way throguh the underground to follow treasure maps and found 3 nigh identcal link hats from past games in a row, then two other parts of similar, then two aiimbo weapons and then jsut yesterday another one from a bigger quest that i expected more of; getting the armor sets of past games is cool if you want them but if i did i would have just gotten the amiibos back in botw, my inevntory already feels super bloated with all the new and old armor sets and now the amiibo stuff as well even tho i have like .. half of it all atm (and dont go and argue 'oh so complaining about more content for free???' yes. yes i am.)

--whats with this game and making link almost naked? rauru saving you from death? naked. (annoying) survival shrines? naked. weird teleport to alternate ghost dimension to blast zelda with magic power tm to solve all problems? naked.

--(added in edit) im glad dorephan didnt die!! i fully expected him to have died offscreen or something to make way for everyones favorite fish

--(added in edit) so are definitely other lands besides hyrule if yona came from there, also lol

--the story feels, espeically once you see the last cutscene, very …. uncomfortable to me if dare to think about it more than just taking everythign as its said to you, like … the oh so perfect descednants of the gods(what) marry a normal hylian lady and sourround themselves with perfetly obedient faceless servants of the other races so the perfect and good kingdom tm is born and oh suddendly theres an evil brown man (makign him grey doesnt change the implications, if anything, it makes it worse bc they wont even stand for it and instead are trying to hide it behind uuuuh no no its fine hes blue actally kinda way) from the desert that attacks the perfect good kingdom and king, then he swears alliance to them only to betray and murder da queen right away to get his hands on a super power the perfect and good king held and would have never never used it in a bad way nono and now they need to defend it by all means and at the end woohoo zelda has now again the perfect kingdom with no opposition except the yiga who are (as much as i love them) mostly played for laughs or .. well, evil(tm) as epic and cool the dragon fight was, zelda being the slim tiny white/gold/blue dragon and ganondorf being the evil spiky big black and red dragon and them literally being called white/black dragon feels like wow they arent even trying to hide the black and white storytelling huh (i know its a design trope to the bad be black(color) and the good anything else and spiky vs round and soft blah blah but that doesnt make it any better .. maybe even worse? idk)

the way nintendy was keeping stuff a secret and hinting around so much made me feel like it would finally be a little more nuanced and then it turned out to be even flatter than before and all that secrecy(?) was only to keep dragon zelda plotpoint a secret, something that was resolved no problem in the end anyway (i didnt need zelda to stay dragon but .. it all just lost so much weight the way it was done at the end)

-- (added in edit) master koga is the best character and no one can beat him, the most joy i felt was seeing him again and i am not joking, i wish i could talk to him normally tho without him being able to see through my yiga disguise :( im so glad he didnt die tho bc if he actually went to gan he would 100% be dead within seconds

--(added in edit2) i forgot to mention but was just reminded that link getting his arm back felt super weird too, so really everything that meant major changes got reversed basically ... coool ...back to status quo i guess, couldnt he if he wasnt missing it at least have it be discolored somehow? or scarred? any reminder? zelda too even, could she also have some sort of scar or similar due to her transformation ??

--(added in edit2) so where did the mystery stones even come from? gans and zeldas are gone after dragonfying i guess so ...what?

so in summary, im not eloquent enough to properly analyse all the problematic/questionable stuff and put it into the right words, but these are my random thoughts just spilled out, theres gonna be things i missed, forgot, or gonna think about later, maybe ill add it maybe not

again take it with a grain of salt, the game is still one of the most fun games i have ever played, my problems with it lie majorly in the story, its still very much worth playing!

[thelastofcait]

this purely meant for me to put my thoughts out about the tiktok ban in writing. i’m not expecting anyone to care/read this but nevertheless!

i am genuinely so devastated about the tiktok ban; for more reasons than just not having silly little videos to waste my time on. tiktok has become such an integral part of my life since i downloaded it in 2017, when it wasn’t even tiktok yet. a lot of my personality and values came from it, as it exposed me to things and people i never would’ve thought about on my own. i live in a small, rural country town in ohio, people here aren’t always exactly super open-minded and supportive of people different than them, and tiktok gave me a place and introduced me to people who made me feel less alone. i could enjoy the things i loved without the fear of judgement.

i was in a really dark place in 2022-2023, and while some of the content i consumed might’ve worsened my mental state, it also played a HUGE part in my recovery. i was able to see the world through so many perspectives and learn and understand so many people’s morals and beliefs. i saw things that i never knew existed, things that made me want to really live so i could see them one day. i saw people like me, gay people, autistic people, mentally ill people, and so many others living lives i didn’t think were possible for someone in my position. i got motivation from people who didnt know who i was or even that i existed. while there’s was a lot of hateful stuff on there, there was also an overwhelming amount of real care and compassion that you don’t see very often in real life.

i’ve practically documented my whole life on tiktok since i was 8 years old. and yeah, maybe that isn’t great, but those videos are some of the only ways i have to remember whole years of my life. without the app, im going to lose memory of entire parts of my life that i can’t remember on my own.

this isnt even mentioning how so many people (including myself) use tiktok as a way to know what’s going on around the world. conflicts and victories from nations on the other side of the globe that don’t get covered fairly (if at all) on the news. it gives people the ability to spread the word and take action on and against issues that need to be talked about, but are censored or ignored otherwise. tiktok is overall just such a massive bank of knowledge and information that has been used for amazing things for years, and now we might not have that anymore.

i don’t know which direction America is going, but it doesn’t look like it’s forward. i’m terrified for the next four years. i’m terrified for my friends, myself, and my future. i have hope, but it gets harder and harder everyday when i repeatedly see things like this happening.