#these aren't to scale btw

[alsoanyways]

flock wing refs

[gay-ppl-real]

Outfit swap!

All the neighbours who usually wear trousers in skirts, and all the neighbours who usually wear skirts in trousers (or, well, dungarees and a jumpsuit...)

I had fun drawing these. Experimented with how I was colouring and shading a little!

Here's the full page and also a bonus dark version cuz I liked how it looked lmao

Eddie would still want to be professional in a skirt so he'd wear a pencil skirt even though they suck to run in because he's got to look the part!

Wally would think a flowy skirt was fun Frank would not.

[c-infinity-83]

How intimidating to me? about a 3 only because we don’t actively chit chat (so it’s just my social anxiety really, lol. Still love seeing you come across my dash!!)

UNDERSTANDABLE TBH!!! we'd rate you abt the same i think but that's bc we've been mutuals for like... ever DHDHDJDJFDJ

[juno-stuffs]

hmm pallas maybe

[thisbreadbird]

we are forgotten by the left because we are made invisible by the right

invisibility is not privilege, yall forgot the lesson you learned with bisexuals and asexuals

So many people who claim to care about trans issues will see conservative transphobes rave about "cutting off healthy breast tissue" and "girls mutilating themselves," rage or clown on male pregnancy, constantly share post-op photos of top surgery scars and phallo skin grafts to illicit outrage, transvestigate male celebrities to "prove he's secretly a woman"--and then turn around and declare that the Right forgets that trans men and mascs exist. I'm so tired of it.

[chow0w]

could you draw blaze its her b day today and also OMG i love your art

thanks so much sun! you and @thatoneabsolutegoober (working on your other asks btw, I'll reply to you directly when I finish snowfall or lynx!) wanted to see Blaze redesigned, and while I may have missed her birthday by a mile, I can still give you my take!

My Blaze redesign is set during the war of sandwing succession - I know Blaze hid just outside of the great ice wall where it wasn't too cold, but I still feel like she would have complained her way into getting a fluffy fur coat to wear for more warmth. I used some checker patterns and tan colors to mimic leather, while the fur itself has those little brown spots you always see (I think this is stoat fur, but a stoat isn't big enough to fit around Blaze's neck anyways so it doesn't matter.)

Most of Blaze's actual body is hidden under her massive jacket, but you might notice she has a plumper frame and smaller wings. I can't explain why, but I feel like it suits her a lot. Her scales don't have any unusual patterns, with most of the detail being concentrated at her wings - which have swirls near the top and a small flame-like impression near the base. I feel like it would be cool if all three sisters had fire/flame design elements given their names, but Blaze's should definitely be the least noticeable since she shows the least.. aggression. I've always interpreted 'blaze' as the beautiful way fire looks and linked it to Blaze's love of jewels.

On the topic of jewels, she doesn't wear any. Sorry Blaze, but you could only run away with so much and your icewing friends probably aren't very empathetic toward your hoarding hobby. I imagine Blaze can only get away with light jewelry/earrings during the war, since heavier items would slow her down and make her more vulnerable. I'm sure she argued about this with her icewing allies a lot.

--

Thank you guys so much for taking a look at my designs! This community is so awesome, and I always appreciate your support! Here's my list of characters that have already been requested:

Here's my current waitlist for designs: Sunny, Clearsight, Luna, Freedom, Bigtail, Cricket, Clay, Queen Thorn, Starflight, Darkstalker, Snowfall, Grandeur, Sky, Lynx, Burn, Blister Queen Oasis, Queen Wasp, Dusky, Sundew, Hazel, Whiteout, Squid, Bumblebee, Sky, Winter and Kinkajou!

And for new readers, here's who I've already designed! You can find these guys further up in my blog: Lady Jewel, Tsunami, Sunny, Blue, Moon, Typhoon, Albatross, Glory, Peril, and Turtle!

If you don't see your favorite on this list, I do have a req box! Later!! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

[marcilled]

the next episode of dungeon meshi (airs next thursday btw) is going to cause a category 5 yurricane. i can already sense it forming. a 9.0 on the dyketer scale too. we aren't ready

[cornfieldsrambles]

YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO INFODUMP PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT WIGGLY'S SIBLINGS???? THAT HE APPARENTLY HAS????

omg ok SO

Meet the Lords in Black. Charming, aren't they?

Yes, Wiggly does indeed have four brothers who all do different things, so I'll cover them one by one, in order of introduction (since we've already met each of them in Nightmare Time at least once). BTW Nightmare Time has a fuckton of lore in it that I won't go into here, so even though I am about to spoil significant parts of it for you, I do recommend watching it, it's really good and if there's enough interest they might make a third one!

(Also you might notice they're all in doll form in this picture. This is how we knew them up until NPMD introduced us to what I call their Tumblr sexyman forms. Which are rad as hell by the way.)

So you already know Wiggly. That little green fucker, Wiggog Y'Wrath, the Capitalist Cthulu who does uwu-speak and starts a cult by invading people's minds. This will become a bit of a reoccurring theme with these guys. He's also the only one to successfully start an apocalypse, and the only one to have attempted to birth himself into our reality. (Or is he? We'll get to that...) He does seem to have some kind of dominion over the other LiB, as whenever all five of them show up there's always emphasis placed on him, like in NPMD where he does most of the talking while his siblings occasionally butt in.

Now for Bliklotep. Blinky seems to have slightly lower-scale ambitions than Wiggly, but don't let that fool you. Eyeball Boi is still incredibly dangerous. He runs an amusement park, WatcherWorld, deep within the Hatchetfield Witchwood. But it's not for the amusement of the patrons. Oh no. It's for Blinky's own amusement. Once you step inside, every insecurity, every shred of potential conflict will be ripped to the forefront, turning people against each other to the point of trying to kill each other until he's fully infected their minds. It's implied that, if not all, but a significant chunk of the workers at WatcherWorld were once patrons before having their minds taken over by Blinky. He's also implied to be the thing in Trail To Oregon that Jack Bauer sees during his venom-induced hallucination, as Blinky is referred to as "The Watcher With 1,000 Eyes", which is exactly what JB says he sees? Making Blinky the only LiB to induce a Starkid crossover. My headcanon is that the Dikrats founded Hatchetfield. But regardless.

Next up on the roster is Tinky. T'noy Karaxis, the Time Bastard. You may be wondering about that one line in NPMD where he recognised Pete as a Spankoffski, and said he "could have the whole set in his toybox". Has Tinky gone after Pete's relatives?

Well. Um. You know Ted, right? Yeah, his name is Spankoffski. He's Pete's big brother. We actually got the surname reveal before the brother reveal, lol. And that's not the only reveal we got about Ted. Our boy Teddy Bear has this whole entire tragic backstory and it turns out he gets fucked over in literally every timeline! Isn't that fun?

So, to summarise an entire episode: Tinky makes travel fuckery happen, Ted wants to go back in time to fix his life, accidentally goes back to before the time machine was created and gets stuck in the past, literally. Tinky is watching and laughing at the whole thing, then shows up to blow Ted's brain to smithereens with his weird little magic box, the Bastard's Box, where he stores all the people he toys with. Anyway Ted eventually catches up with the present by aging, except now no one knows who he is, he's... actually I won't spoil that. But once he dies he ends up eternally trapped and tortured in the Bastard's Box. Yaaay.

Fast forward to Nightmare Time 2 and we get introduced to Nibbly, in possibly the most unexpected way imaginable. He's revealed to have been behind a whole episode literally right at the end of said episode, and even though it was kind of foreshadowed, it hits you like a freight train in the best way. Remember when I said Wiggly was the only one who tried to birth himself into reality? That was kind of a lie. Nibblenephim can sort of do that anyway. Every year, he can possess a bunch of carcasses and create a living form to walk the earth for one night. He also has a cult of followers who provide him with the carcasses, as well as a sacrifice to feed on. There's a little more to it, specifically with how the sacrifice is chosen, but again, I'm trying to spoil as little as possible. Go watch Nightmare Time. Nibbly also seems to have a "pig" motif, and his theme song, The Nibbly Ditty, is a banger, easily my favourite of the three LiB theme songs we've heard so far.

And finally, we are introduced to Pokotho, in the very last episode of NMT2.

Except no. We were formally introduced to Pokey there, yes, but we've seen his apocalypse already. Long before NPMD, before Nightmare Time, even before Black Friday.

Yeah, remember me saying that Wiggly was the only one to successfully start an apocalypse? That was also a lie! Pokey already did that, and he did it without ever showing his masked face. Remember The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals? The blue spores that came down in a meteor and turned everyone into singing zombies? That was Pokey's doing! That's his blue spores! That's his apocalypse!

This also provides an explanation for why blowing up the meteor didn't work. Emma and Hidgens were right about the hivemind thing, but wrong about the location of the central brain. It wasn't the meteor - the meteor was just the vessel which carried the spores to Earth. The central brain was sitting safely up in the Black and White, laughing as Paul blew himself to smithereens. The central brain was Pokey, the Singular Voice, the most uncompromising of his brothers. The one who hates every voice that is not his own, hence the hivemind and making all of his zombies speak in HIS voice.

Anyway in NMT2 he's happily collecting musical zombies by taking on a human form and infiltrating a fighting ring of superpowered children until he has enough to kickstart another apocalypse. (Don't question it, we're almost done). He also calls himself Otho, not Pokey, making him the only LiB to have two different abbreviations of his name. Hannah is also there (remember her? Lex's little sister?) and she is like incredibly important to this whole thing, she has a super powerful mind, but that's a whole other thing.

But I did mention Hannah for a reason. Because you said "Wiggly's SIBLINGS". And while the Lords in Black are always referred to as brothers, they do have one more sibling. A sister. A Queen in White. And her name is Webby.

Yep, Hannah's imaginary friend isn't imaginary, who could have guessed? She's benevolent, always trying her best to combat her brothers' antics, but given that there's one of her and five of them, this is a bit of an uphill battle. Webby doesn't have a full name that we know of, nor does she have a doll. We don't know much about her. And she may not be all-powerful - but then again, neither are her brothers.

Infodump concluded. Hope this helps, it was very fun to write.

[studentofetherium]

claiming AI art is theft takes the database and training issue and blows them up to be the entire debate, which is just a terrible way of talking about this issue. it elevates non-solutions like the filters that supposedly ruin datasets (not how that works btw) as "praxis" and demands that all AI art be decried

the actual issue with AI art will never be in subculture or fandom, because those communities have their social contracts which will keep AI art from becoming pervasive— simply said, if you don't AI art, you're not going to promote it, so it's not going to become something significant in your circle, especially when others agree with your stance

the issue is on a corporate scale. grifters are already using AI image generation for scams, but there's always going to be grifters and scams. the kind of person being most hurt by AI image generation are corporate artists. the kind of people AI art will put out of works aren't artists working for commission on twitter, it's artists working on commission for news websites, or the people who make the backgrounds for press releases, or incidental images that people don't really think about. there's a whole lot of "art" that people don't think about, and that's what is most vulnerable because it's considered the most disposable

[centrally-unplanned]

The trick on the whole "Israel banning UNRWA" thing is that most militaries - like say the US in Afghanistan for example - directly provision aid. American soldiers would often be handing out food packages themselves, and even if they weren't the aid organizations would be directly contracting with the US government and the Department of Defense. You have a group in the military and the government that is like, okay, how do we feed people, let's hit those targets.

So if Congress decided to ban the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in 2006 from operating in the country or whatever, that bill would say like "we hand over its mission to USAID, which has been allocated $2.1 billion dollars in FY-2005 to do X Y Z". It would probably be a dumb move that would create unnecessary friction and cost lives for political bullshit, but that is also life, people dying for political bullshit is a universal constant. It would probably be pretty small bore in the scale of things, like switching over contractors.

That isn't how Israel does things. I might be wrong about this, Israel is deliberately opaque about these things and I just gave this the ol' half hour of googling, I am open to being contradicted here. But my current understanding of net spending by the government of Israel itself on aid to Gaza is...$0. They do not provide aid. They permit aid from other organizations, funded by other countries, to be provided! But they don't take responsibility for the provision; meeting targets, outcomes, etc, none of that is their job. (I am sure it isn't literally zero btw, but I think you get my point)

It is really telling that when you look up pro-Israel statements by say AIPAC on aid, their headlines are:

Israel Facilitates Humanitarian Aid to Gaza as Hamas Continues to Attack

And they criticize the UN because the UN trucks aren't being delivered:

The United Nations and other international agencies are largely responsible for the existing delays in aid deliveries into Gaza. The U.N. has not been able to distribute aid at the rate that Israel is processing it, causing back-ups at the border crossings after Israeli inspections are completed. On March 3, the U.N. received 234 trucks in Gaza but only distributed 131 trucks of aid to civilians in the enclave.

If this was the US military, and the UN was getting aid trucks and failing to send them, we would send more of our own trucks? That we have? Because aid is part of the military operation. But Israel doesn't do that - because it doesn't have any trucks. Because aid isn't part of the military operation.

Which is why the bill banning UNRWA that is being passed does not mention aid provision to Gaza:

The international community has raised alarm over the legislation, which was passed without a plan in place for a humanitarian agency to replace UNRWA.

Again going off news sources here, link for the actual bill is currently down, if I am wrong will correct here, but I think it all tracks. So in the article above, you get statements from the government when people ask about aid, they reply, oh yeah these other aid organizations will fill the gap.

Then you ask the aid organizations themselves and they go, no, we won't fill the gap! We don't have the resources to do that! Which is logical when you realize Israel isn't funding those orgs. They don't know or care about their funding status. Hopefully someone else will figure that out - aid is someone else's problem. Those government remarks are just off the cuff, they aren't a plan.

Which I want to loop back around to the casus belli for the ban - UNRWA having ties to Hamas. That, to me, is one of those "uh duh, and?" things - Hamas is the government of Gaza. UNRWA runs schools there? And medical clinics? You think they do that...without contact with the government? This is just silly, the UN Mission in Afghanistan obviously had connections to the US Government! Government officials, working in both, par for the course.

But, and this is far more important, it is irrelevant. I completely agree that UNRWA has many people who are sympathetic to Hamas in it, because obviously they do. You want to ban it, dumb but okay. You propose a bill outlining the $2 billion dollars and the 5 partnered aid organizations and the 400 IDF trucks that will deliver aid to replace their work, sure. Whatever man, do your small bore politics bullshit.

That is not what they are doing.

Now, Israel has in fact allowed a bunch of aid in Gaza, I don't doubt that like USAID and the non-profit community and the governments of the UK and Japan and so on are gonna pivot funding to a bunch of organizations that will do herculean work stepping up operations and interfacing with the IDF checkpoint system and get aid in. Maybe they will do such a bang-up job that the cost in suffering won't be that high. Israel did give 3 months after all, they aren't the literal worst they could be.

But I do think at a certain point, the line between indifference and malice just ceases to matter. The UNRWA bill isn't some breaking point or big policy shift - it is just a highly revealing moment in the Israeli approach, why the war there has gone the way that it has. And it is, as the kids say, not a good look.

(h/t @loving-n0t-heyting as this was initially a reblog of their post, but they mentioned getting drama in the notes so I split it off; sorry to deny you the precious +1 internet point)

[anti-transphobia]

Gotta be honest the amount of people here saying this has to be about the Dream SMP is extremely concerning, and if it is, I'm more concerned about the rpf disguised as normal fandom content

AITA for 'outing' someone for writing inc*st?

I (20F) am in a moderately large fandom that got popular during the pandemic. Most of the fic for this fandom is gen and platonic pairings, which is a rarity and fantastic. One of the most popular creators in the fandom puts out a ton of gen fics that I really loved. Unfortunately, I learned after that they write fics on a different account, and not just any fics, but inc*st. I'm not talking about found family. These characters are literal brothers in canon. I can't believe anyone would ship them together, much less this person. I unfollowed them and now, whenever I see anyone talking about how much they love this creator, I inform them about the alt account and their ships. Ignorance may be bliss, but I felt awful when I found out and realized I'd been supporting them for so long and I don't want anyone else to feel that way. But someone replied to one of my comments calling me the asshole, telling me I was outing the creator, and to mind my own business. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[dalliancekay]

Aziraphale and Manipulation

I want to address a couple of things re: manipulation

Aziraphale is naïve and gullible and easily fooled

Aziraphale is a manipulative asshole who doesn't take no for an answer

Metatron

Points 1 and 2

Funny how both of these seem to be true at the same time for people who dislike Aziraphale or think that Crowley should never be challenged or disagreed with or teased, even though in canon, he literally says or acts in ways that prove he absolutely loves his unpredictable spouse who makes him laugh and react and act in unexpected ways.

Which also points to the strange discrepancy in how fanon Crowley is incredibly powerful, having had created the entire Universe AND brought a human back to life (neither of which is true btw) and also weak cos he gives in to his partner against his will (I know this is not how manipulation of that kind works, but I also don't think people who accuse A/C of this unhealthy dynamic understand our couple so it's just a stupid comparison because Aziraphale knows exactly when to back down from teasing his love, much like he did with the car colour to calm Crowley's agitation).

I am not going to address these points at any length anyway, because I think they are, frankly stupid. I am just pointing out that people who make Aziraphale a villain can make him a villain in any way they wish, even if the points are on opposite scales and both untrue.

And just so you know, Crowley would hate you for this. Crowley adores the angel because Aziraphale is constantly challenging him, surprising him and bringing his best self out. Because Aziraphale is silly and kind and believes in the best of everyone and thinks being good is a superpower.

Point 3

I feel like my manipulative and your manipulative might be different manipulatives in the fandom. Especially when it comes to Final 15.

For me, Metatron being manipulative means him not saying things straight, not saying what he really means, because such things as he wants and plans are not really 'good' good, if you see what I mean. And we can't have that for Heaven. After all, we aren't killing Job's kids... we are just ... not stopping Hell from killing them - Gabriel learned from the best. When Metatron decided on running circles around Aziraphale and has carefully chosen his words ("Now if you wanted to work with him again, that might be considered irregular..."), he made sure Aziraphale understood that the 'offer' was actually a way out of something far worse that Metatron was not going to stoop down to name (or perhaps he did but we didn't see it).

And Aziraphale understood and his heart broke and he started to feel truly terrified (we saw it in real time - just compare the above gif with the below one when Furfur too, threatened Crowley

And then poor Aziraphale tried to go on and explain all this to Crowley while not knowing how and suspecting he will be closely monitored while doing so.

Now. Anyone who thinks Aziraphale would want to make Crowley an angel to make him HAPPIER has completely misunderstood both Aziraphale and imo, Good Omens too.

Crowley was happy when we met him before time in S2 because he was innocent and fully himself (3/4 goofy, 1/4 part self-centred). This is not something Aziraphale could achieve (even if wanted to - but why would he?) by making him an angel again. And he's definitely not stupid to think this would happen. It might have happened if they took Crowley's memories perhaps. And he'd be back to his young self. Like Gabriel/Jim. And if you think Aziraphale would agree (or like!) that, you are insane.

This:

is a threat. Letting Aziraphale know that him going to Heaven (and Crowley agreeing to one more drastic change on top of going there) is the only way they could perhaps work together again. Staying, was never an option. And I don't actually care if that's something that can be done and/or whether Metatron would have followed through if Crowley by some miracle had said yes.

Because Metatron clearly expected Crowley will say no (I also suspect he had good reasons to expect this, perhaps some that Aziraphale doesn't know of), and I bet Aziraphale knew in his heart of hearts that Crowley would never agree either. Perhaps he didn't even want him to agree. He wouldn't want Crowley to be unhappy. But then, he was going to end up unhappy anyway, was he not? They both were. There was no other way. So if Aziraphale allowed himself a bit of hope that they could be together still, who are we to blame and judge him for it? (No, don't answer that.) He must have thought this is forever. That they are parting forever.

But for some people, it seems to me, Metatron being manipulative means that Metatron pulled on some of Aziraphale's 'strings' and blinded him to make him come to Heaven against reason/common sense/better options/forever and ever with his love.

Whether it's his trust that Heaven can be made good - Aziraphale is many things, but he is not vain, he could not possibly think he can fix Heaven by himself like some incarnation of Melon Tusk. Try? Perhaps. With Crowley? Maybe. But in current situation? He did not believe that.

or perhaps Aziraphale missed Heaven? Missed being part of the Plan? Missed God? Wanted to get back on it? Like the poor little lost sheep he is? Please. The angel pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder when Crowley was happily switching on stars in his Nebula, talking of suggestion boxes. Aziraphale knew Heaven was far from perfect or benevolent or merciful or even understanding, long before Crowley.

So no, Aziraphale wasn't led like some puppet on a string, fed a few lies, gotten a few bits of praise and forgotten everything he ever thought or knew. Do you think Aziraphale is so stupid he didn't see Metatron wanted him to come to Heaven without making a fuss? He didn't need to see (what Crowley saw in Heaven) to understand he was being made to come quietly. And perhaps Aziraphale understood too, that coming without cuffs and with his memories intact will give him whatever little leverage he can get.

Metatron also knew giving the wayward angel in front of him any spare moment could end up in disaster, because that exact thing happened before.

What was Aziraphale supposed to do if Metatron didn't take a no (a several of them in fact) for an answer? Metatron is the Voice of God, apparently the highest being after God. Was Aziraphale to ignore Metatron? Go back to the bookshop and lock the door?

What would have happened? Metatron would throw his arms up and go - oh well, I guess I'll leave them to their Armageddon averting, huge miracle making partnership where they can easily fool and blind both Heaven and Hell combined with barely any effort. No reason I should worry.

But he should worry.

Because Aziraphale fooled Hell easily once

And he can do it with Heaven too

And he will.

[bialbovi]

I might not be your friendly neighbourhood blog today but I do not have the privilege to just ignore what's being done to the country that made me who I am. Without Ukraine there would be no me, there would be no fanarts from me, no original art, I wouldn't BE. I cannot look away. And Ukraine has support. Ukraine is being supported. But NOT ENOUGH to stop the invasion right now. God, I wish.

rUSSIANS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Ukrainians NEED YOUR SUPPORT, rUSSIANS STEAL AND KILL UKRAINIAN CHILDREN, rUSSIANS MURDER UKRAINIANS DAILY, rUSSIANS EXECUTE UKRAINIAN PRISONERS OF WAR, rUSSIANS BOMB HOSPITALS AND MATERNITY WARDS, rUSSIA ALWAYS LIES, rUSSIANS MURDER AND TORTURE UKRAINIANS ON OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, rUSSIANS RAPE UKRAINIAN WOMEN, MEN, CHILDREN, AND ANIMALS, rUSSIA DELIBERATELY ERASES UKRAINIAN IDENTITY, rUSSIANS STEAL UKRAINIAN CULTURE, rUSSIANS LEVEL CITIES TO THE GROUND AND DESTROY NOT ONLY LIVELIHOODS BUT NATURE, rUSSIANS HAVE COMMITTED A FLOODING ECOCIDE, rUSSIANS TERRORIZE AND ATTEMPT TO EXHAUST UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WITH AS MANY AIR RAID ALERTS DAILY AS POSSIBLE, rUSSIANS AIM TO VIOLATE AS MANY CONVENTIONS, RULES, AND TREATIES AS POSSIBLE, rUSSIA IS IMPOSSIBLE TO NEGOTIATE WITH, rUSSIANS WILL NOT STOP AT UKRAINE IF WE DO NOT GET OUR FUCKING SHIT TOGETHER AND HELP UKRAINE NOW. rUSSIA . COMMITS . GENOCIDE

I am asking you to share Ukrainian links and btw, while we are here, to prioritize Ukrainian queer people because I have seen people defend a gay russian soldier before, while russians murder many queer Ukrainians every single day

LGBT Battalion

Come Back Alive

Prytula Foundation

Starenki (elderly support)

Everybody Can (more elderly and hospitals support, disabled children)

UAnimals

Hospitallers

World Central Kitchen (the only international org that has proved itself ❤️‍🩹)

Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone opening my blog that I am in fact Ukrainian and not only do I have Ukrainian roots but I also lived 17 years of my life there, my family moved at the end of 2020, so I dodged a deadly russian roulette, unlike all of my Ukrainian friends who have to endure daily drone air raids and bombs. I used to live in Kyiv, so I wasn't anywhere close to the frontlines when the war actually started in 2014, and in 2022 it exploded into a full-scale invasion. However, there was a change in the way everything felt, because the war was constantly on TV, the military topic was practically everywhere, there were consequences to it, children that were forced to relocate came to our school even, I think one of them was a classmate of mine.

The Revolution of Dignity did happen in my city, my parents were afraid for my wellbeing, I went to school. You never realize how historical the event is until it has passed and you have grown up.

My russian friends at the time never understood me. They argued with me about Holodomor (of course they would), they told me that I'M wrong in the way I ask them to not use certain words or pronounciations, when in actuality it's THEIR language that was ALWAYS historically threatening to erase Ukrainian. My russian friends never understood why I don't want to come to russia, they never understood why I'm so worried about some random "fightings in the east", even though I didn't understand the full picture back then, everything felt off. I was dumbfounded. I was too kind back then, though. I thought "wow aren't you at least worried about YOUR people if not MINE?". Before the full-scale invasion the person I considered to be my best friend from russia told me not to worry about the sheer amount of russian vehicles and weapons on the fucking border because they're doing their routine training or WHATEVER. Then my russian friend couldn't understand why I was suddenly angry that she was not going to even do anything. She told me I was too emotional during the first week of the invasion. Then I suddenly realized that everything made sense - we were so different. Yes she may be a civilian but her being in the war machine that is russian federation means her funds also go to bomb my people. I just couldn't keep talking to my russian friends. They always cracked up on any of the crucial questions that form your worldview, either about Crimea, about Holodomor, about culture or language, about Donetsk and Luhansk. Even if they were "good" or "your average russian" I understood that they would associate themselves with the country anyways, we would start arguing, and I do not owe them explanations or attempting to rid their brains of propaganda! They have full internet access, but they choose to believe what they believe and their so-called riots were not enough! Because if they would none of this would keep happening! but now we live in two different worlds and that's just how it was supposed to happen. The separation was destined in a way because russians have tried so many times to influence Ukraine, to change the language, assimilate people. It just keeps repeating.

Ukrainians were always too kind to russians, I was too kind, and now I'm broken because it was not my fault that I tried to reason with these people. It's not my fault that I want to scream at them to do at least something so that it could have an impact. I am not going to beg on my knees in front of the people being cogs in the war machine, and I'm shocked if you still prioritize civilian russians over Ukrainian civilians. russian citizens keep living their lives because they have just gotten used to it IN WHAT WORLD IS IT NORMAL. Someone they know probably launches missiles from THEIR city right into some Ukrainian neighbourhood that sets ablaze and the family can just be buried alive under the rubble with no warning prior, if the missile was faster than the air raid alert.

FUCKING GOD.

I wish the world understood. They must feel the consequences of the 11 year war (even though our history of enduring russian bloody actions go waaaay back), of all these invasions their country has waged, not only in Ukraine, but Sakartvelo (Georgia), Chechnya, the terror in Syria, OTHER COUNTRIES. I AM FUCKING TIRED! I'M TIRED OF RANDOM INTERNET USERS TRYING TO TELL UKRAINIANS THAT THEY SHOULDN'T BE ANGRY AT rUSSIANS AND THAT UKRAINIANS SHOULD BE MORE EMPATHETIC! SORRY WE HAVE SO MUCH ON OUR FUCKING PLATE BUT rUSSIANS SHOULD JUST DEAL WITH THEIR STUFF IN THEIR OWN WAY WITHOUT US. WE WANT THEM TO LEAVE US ALONE. WE WERE FORCED to be in one internet space with them we KNOW HOW THEY ARE 10 TIMES BETTER THAN ANY OF YOU WILL BECAUSE we felt their thinking firsthand, in chats, in videocalls, online, in person.

I'm tired of internet users telling Ukrainians how to react, what to do, to be KINDER. WE DID THAT FUCKING ALREADY IT DIDN'T WORK AS YOU CAN SEE. I'll take a look at how each and every one of you will try and survive an existential war and then I'm going to police your every move. KINDNESS DOESN'T UNDO THE MASS GRAVES AND DOESN'T UNDO THE TORTURE, IT DOESN'T FREE UKRAINIAN PRISONERS AND DOESN'T BRING CHILDREN HOME. KINDNESS DOESN'T UNDO THE RAPE TRAUMA AND DOESN'T BRING YOU YOUR TORN LIMB BACK. KINDNESS DOESN'T BRING YOUR MURDERED CHILD BACK TO LIFE, NOR FRIENDS, NOR SPOUSES, NOR LOVED ONES. TEACHERS, BROTHERS, FAMILY MEMBERS, ACQUAINTANCES. So many lives just. BRUTALLY CUT OFF. THEY'RE ALL DEAD.

And nothing will bring many Ukrainians back to life again. But you can help us prevent further attacks, Ukraine needs weapons because it is impossible to fight a murderer with kind words

Make of it what you desire

The consequences below minimum you are going to suffer as a russian account from my presence on tumblr is getting blocked by me because I am not making my content for you and I do not wish to educate you because it is not my responsibility

If this post harmed you then I'm not sorry to bother your thinking filled to the brim with imperialism, my words are NOTHING compared to what your people are doing TO MINE. Get out of my blog, do not interact with me, make an effort so that your people stop killing mine. BARE MINIMUM.

I do not believe in good russians because whether you believe in it or not they all contribute to the invasion willingly and unwillingly and they MUST do something with their fucking country it's in THEIR HANDS. They must feel the consequences from all the pain they are dealing to other people worldwide, even though I do not expect them to change anything. They are living behind a big black wall in my mind and I want to not think of them. I wish people understood how much it means when Ukrainian artists are being prioritized instead of russian artists, because the second ones will likely be FINE. OH DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM. Donating to both is USELESS because one cancels out the other. Part of that money will eventually end up going to russia's murderous actions against Ukrainians. Sometimes I feel like you forget that day to day russians BOMB UKRAINIANS. THEY SEND HUGE SHAHED DRONES. AND FAST MISSILES.

(NOT) sorry for being political

[genderqueerdykes]

I don’t feel like a human… but I don’t know what else I’d be either? Any advice? Thanks!! Love ur blog btw <33

i can give some general non/alterhuman questioning advice!

are there any species of animals, aliens, fictional species or characters, machines, objects, plants/flora, vampires, or mythological creatures you've found yourself feeling drawn toward in a way that isn't attraction, but rather feels like a very deep personal connection?

take it slow and examine why it is you don't feel human. maybe you don't like the body you're in. maybe you don't understand how humans think and feel. maybe you feel like you belong in another time, place, or setting. maybe you feel as though you're not from this planet. maybe you feel as though you belong in nature. maybe you feel you've lived another person's life before.

are there any body parts you're specifically dysphoric about having or not having? have you ever felt like you should have a tail, paws, ears, claws, scales, wings, horns, fangs, a muzzle, different eyes, different legs, should be walking on all fours, and so on? have you ever found yourself really wishing you could change certain features of your body that aren't necessarily related to gender?

do you feel any particularly strong connections to nature, space, fictional or mythological settings? if so, why do you feel connected and how does that relate to you?

do you have any animalistic or nonhuman gestures that you find yourself frequently making? perhaps you like to walk on all fours, perhaps you like to bark, meow, growl, hiss, moo, oink, snort, whinny, or make other nonhuman sounds. maybe you like to pretend l like you're wandering around behaving like a nonhuman animal. maybe you eat food in a certain way that reminds you of how an animal or other creature eats.

do you feel as though you have spiritual connections to any other species or fictional individuals but don't know how to explain it? instead of appropriating spirit animals if you are not indigenous, you may be otherkin, therian, nonhuman, or alterhuman instead

do you find yourself gravitating towards videos, books, shows, movies, or other media about a specific type of animal, creature, or person?

do you find yourself collecting items or making art about specific species, creatures, and so on? do you find you have a lot of items or collect a lot of art of a specific animal, creature, or fictional character? do you find that you're instantly drawn to specific nonhuman animals when you're out in the world? do you notice certain animals more than others? do you find yourself wanting to interact with specific animals more than others?

you can also take the time to learn more about animals, nature, fictional settings, space, the ocean, or whatever else it is you'd like to look into for your possible identity! just learning about nonhuman creatures and animals can be very fun, and may expose you to new species and creatures you've never heard of before. sometimes it takes process of elimination before one figures it out

some people suggest meditation in order to figure it out, but this will vary from person to person. not every person benefits from meditation, and not every meditation session is going to help you understand that part of yourself. it can be a very affective tool, but i'm gonna say this one, people's mileage varies wildly. you can also make assumptions about something you've uncovered during a meditation session and make an incorrect call by something that showed up just briefly in your mind while meditating

this is not a comprehensive list by any means, but i hope it helps somewhat! feel free to ask any specific questions you may have about being nonhuman or alterhuman! i'm always happy to talk about this! take care for now, good luck sorting things out!

[valtsv]

What you find compelling about VAL is easy for me to intuit; I'm curious about what you find compelling about Shrue with regards to pairing them? I love them both as characters; I just remain perpetually confused as to pairings. Your writing is great btw; just interested to hear you talk about Shrue.

first off i need to confess that i shot myself in the foot a bit by using fandom shipping terminology to come up with the "VALshrue" portmanteau, because i don't have any desire to ship them in the typical romantic sense (or even sexual tbh, but that's an essay for another ask or post). in the best case scenarios where they aren't abusing each other and making each other worse it's still extremely aromantic - in fact any amatonormativity tends to contribute to the (unavoidable) toxic elements and make them more miserable and that is by design.

anyway! the anathema formerly known as adjudicator temerik shrue. my silly rabbit. i don't often talk about them in as much depth as VAL (which is truly a failure on my part) but i do absolutely adore their horrible ass just as much and want goodbad things for them. the easy answer to why i find them compelling is that a weaselly, hypocritical alcoholic public servant complicit in some of the worst abuses and exploitations the societal values they uphold are built on, contending with an impending inevitable divorce that will seal the nail in the coffin on their profound loneliness by drowning their regrets in more liquid shame, and denying their hand in their own and others' misfortunes at every turn - until their back hits the wall and there's nowhere left to run - is just such a fun character for me to play with. what if harry du bois was even more of a pathetic loser and a massive (but extremely funny) cunt about it too.

the slightly more thematically coherent answer is that i absolutely love a character whose hell is self-made and who can never balance the scales of that suffering, or their complicity in it, and has to understand that in order to ever develop as a person. the potential there is an absolute goldmine to me. how can you stand to live with yourself? why should you? why shouldn't you? and as much as i think their canon ending is beautifully written, i love to explore what might have happened if they didn't get an exit, and still didn't get what they wanted. if they had to put their money where their mouth is and try to build a better world, despite being cynically convinced that it probably isn't possible and that most people, them included, don't deserve to see it. honestly a huge part of the appeal of VALshrue to me is that not only are they absolutely awful people who've sacrificed everything that might have made their lives worthwhile to a heartless, insatiable cycle of violence that will never love them back, who less "redeem" themselves than succeed in recognising that the harm they've done has no justification and no meaning beyond feeding the same system that will eat them without remorse in turn when its use for them runs out - which is far more interesting and important to me than pure fantastical heroism - but they're immensely pathetic and selfish and self-sabotaging in very ugly, human ways about it. and that's SO much fun to play with as a fan creator.

also personally i think that they have a bit of a repressed sadistic streak that, while very much the result of the way they're constantly degraded and manipulated by everyone around them, is still incredibly destructive and maladaptive and extremely fun to unleash by poking them with sticks until they snap about it. and even more fun when VAL is the one poking them, intentionally or unintentionally ^_^