#which i should start using more cause it's great art and also it often helps to guide my thoughts on certain subjects

[maranull]

also I took a pic of my "set-up" before I started with Z'Gok but I forgor to share

it's peak chill vibes to me

[fasolabean]

warninggg this is a long one ,,,

(Okay so I started writing this uhhh vent before more posts on the n//fts appeared later so plz keep that in mind hah)

So I haven’t been too active on here for the past month – a bit personal start, but I’ve moved to a different country whooo!!!! (its terrifying) (my brains been involved in fandom stuff as usual but physically I wasn’t lmao).

But I wanted to talk ab the n//ft (censoring bc idk ab bots here) thing bc while some people on here provided some great context and threads, most of the talk has happened on twitter. So like. Since it was first confirmed what the raffle thing was I was veryyyy disappointed, especially bc K has made fun of this very thing on stage previously. And like yea, the nature of what hes doing is different than the n//ft crypt0 scams, since the cost of the paywalled content is set and not fluid and the raffle thing was free to enter, and I know there have been threads about the website not being the worst on twitter (link) (edit: now here on tumblr too). But still man. Both of these could’ve been done on either an independent website or through stuff like youtube members or patreon. Or hell, even just on the merch store? Like buy a promo code that buys you access to the material?

Also like I get that this was probably a contract that would be rly hard if not impossible to terminate. STILL though, I wish we just got an even short thing like “hi sorry I wasn’t aware this is gonna be a one time thing we’re not doing it again”. I don’t mind extra content being paywalled personally, I know some people do, but I just really wish it wasn’t don’t with that technology. And yes, I also now know it’s a safer way to handle shit like that but I just cant see this excuse being used for commercial use? Like maybe I can see why I could be made to use it for like idk an important document, but a raffle ticket? Nah

I also, ugh. Felt weird about mikke in the team since the winter. This whole thing seems to be – at least to a large extent – either done or influenced by him, judging by even the fact that the europass thingy webpage has oy photomikke marked (no im not buying it but i did look around curiosity was stronger). Also the previous thing that had made me go hmmm about käärijä as a brand was the bnb, which now seems to be ran entirely by mikke and his wife. Like stick to your photos man? That being said tho, Jere IS an adult and he IS the face of this brand. If he doesn’t think hes qualified to make business decisions all by himself (which I get, this shit is hard), nothing is stopping him really from getting a professional to help him with those things. And if there IS something stopping him then hey man I think you should go to the press with that lol. From any interviews ive seen or read, you can feel he feels this responsibility to keep his friends and family that initially helped him afloat. But I wish he understood that not letting people who in the end are not professional about business and PR and having them stick to their own thing does not have to mean cutting them off.

But now I just wanna share a thought that to some might seem like me defending him – which, in case you didn’t get I am very much not lmao. The thing is, im really glad the fandom is able to call him out on a shitty thing – like a bad baaad business decision. You can like somebody’s art, hell you can even like the public person they are, while not agreeing with everything what they do. What annoys me though, is that apart of the kä fandom, he is also often talked about (usually negatively) in the wider esc fandom. Over the past week I’ve seen multiple threads on twitter from people that rarely ever mention him about this. That would’ve been like, not that much of a deal (though sometimes it really got… engagement bait-y) but the amount of bodyshaming and shaming of his fans that comes up with every valid criticism is making me wanna pull my hair out.

Especially cause he’s neither the first finnish esc-related artist to do that (Robin and Cyan Kicks are mentioned on the kollekt website) nor is he the first esc artist of his influence to do it either. Last year Loreen and Alessandra have released n//fts last year, and Loreen did a very similar raffle a couple months ago. Now I wanna be very clear: I don’t want this to be like. Cancelling these people, that would be so hypocritical of me. I also don’t want this to be like a fandom war like oh youre mad he did xyz?? Well THIS and THIS person did THAT!!1! I’m just merely annoyed that these people doing essentially the same thing went with no echo at all, but now I’ve seen us (the fandom) be literally called the r slur and the most vile things being said about jere and, for some reason, his appearance???

Idk man. I really try to  make it clear im not trying to excuse his decisions and I think being angry and/or disappointed at him is absolutely understandable. Im just angry that every single time he fucks up, every single time he makes a mistake, my timeline is filled with a wave of people rejoicing in it. I know he’s a controversial figure, he’s been one since day one, but I just wish he’s gotten the same amount of shit his peers do for the same actions? And this happens every time, and each time im like “well ig I can see why hes so bad when it comes to criticism”. Because imagine doing a thing that your peers have done with no/minimal criticism and then the moment you try it out you get people calling your fans slurs and commenting how stupid you are. Like ngl id also think any criticism was hate lmao.

Again I wanna be very VERY clear im very critical ab what he chose to do. I wish he took some responsibility – and hope he maybe does, at some point in the future. This year has been a whole lot of bad business decisions for the käärijä brand in my eyes, and I hope he can actually see where its gone wrong and do something about it, both for his and our sake. I am also happy to see fellow fans who are able to call out their fave. But man I am TIRED of him just getting all the shit (from people who very visibly fans are not)?? And now I have the proof that it is comparably more than other people and not just my bias towards him because wdym there’s been at least 4 esc artists, 2 of which more famous than him, and 2 umk artists doing exactly the same thing with almost no echo??

TLDR (thishasover1kwordsfuckshit); I wish he did better, simply. I kinda cling to some hope that maybe hey finally this time he will see that criticism can be constructive. I think this is still a level of fucking up that you can like, come back from. Pity it’s connected to the eurotour since kinda souring my excitement ab my first concert in a new country a bit :(

[blue-slxt]

Our Song Cord: Can't Help Falling

(Chapter 2)

🔞Minors Do Not Interact🔞

A/N: I know I said it was gonna be up this morning, but I got caught up with other shit lol. So here it is. Things start to heat up a little in this chapter. I have a soft spot for virgin characters. I think I just really identify with all the curiosity and nerves that come with discovering all this stuff lol. This is also one of the longest chapters I've ever written for anything. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! Every chapter title is a song reference so if you know the song, you get a cookie. I really really appreciate feedback so comments and reblogs are heavily encouraged. All characters are aged up.

Series Masterlist

Previous Part | Next Part

Pairing: Neteyam x Fem!Omatikaya!Reader

Warnings: Friends to Lovers, Cheating? (depends on how you look at it), Fingering, Oral (M receiving), Heat Cycle, Masturbation (briefly), I think that's all.

Word Count: 5.7k

Summary: You and Neteyam have mastered the basics and feel like it's time to move on to the next step.

For the next week or so, you and Neteyam continue with your “training” sessions. You never really go farther than what you’ve already done. You know, just to make sure you both really have it down. On more than a couple occasions, you had to explain away little purple marks that Neteyam would leave littered around your jaw, neck, and chest after getting carried away.

“Just got a little too rough while we were sparring.” You’d laugh it off when questioned.

“Neteyam, you need to learn how to pull some of your punches, skxawng!” Kiri would chide him.

Once you both feel like you have a real handle on what you’re doing, Neteyam tells you how he’s finally going to put all his practice to good use. He’s finally going to try making out with Layao. You send him off with an encouraging smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes and a sinking feeling in your gut, but still words of reassurance all the same. It was almost as if you were nervous for him. But there was no reason to be nervous. He was good, really good. Neteyam had mastered the art of making you breathless with just a kiss in a matter of no time. He really was a prodigy. He was going to completely sweep her off her feet, no question about it. But maybe, that was the reason for the nerves.

Still, his excitement as he recounted his eventful night with her was contagious.

“You should have seen me! I did it just like how we practiced. And she looked almost as pretty as you do when we were done.”

He may not have caught it, but you certainly did. Your brain can’t help but hyper-fixate on the use of the word ‘almost’, but you tuck that away into the background to mull over later. For now, you were listening to your best friend eagerly tell you all about his conquest while pushing away the growing nausea in your gut.

“That’s great, Teyam. I told you, you’re a natural.” You say offering him a genuine smile.

“Well, it’s not like I can take all the credit.” He says nudging your shoulder with his. A sheepish smile crosses your lips. “So, I was thinking that we should move on to more advanced stuff since we seem to have the basics down now, don’t you think?” he suggests.

It causes you to pause momentarily thinking about the more “advanced” interactions the two of you could have with each other. “O-oh, yea. Definitely. It’s like you read my mind.” You try to play it off as if your mind isn’t screaming at you right now.

“Great, then I will see you tonight.” His charming smile is almost too gorgeous to look at right now. There’s no way anyone could convince you that Neteyam wasn’t one of Eywa’s favorites.

…

“Alright, so what are we trying tonight?” you ask leaning your back against a nearby tree. Neteyam’s hands clenched and relaxed at his sides which he often did when he was nervous about something. Your own anxiety feeds off of his as your eyes watch him carefully and he tries to build up the courage to say his idea out loud.

“Well…we already have everything sorted out up top…” his hands quickly gesture to your chest and his eyes fall to look at the ground instead of your face. “S-so, I thought it might be time to move…you know…lower” his voice is basically a whisper by the time he finishes his sentence. Your legs instinctively squeeze together and you suddenly feel extremely vulnerable just even thinking about his hands down there. Neteyam seems to notice your slight change in posture. “We don’t have to, though, if you don’t feel ready to try that yet.” The words tumble out of his mouth so fast you would think it was all one long word.

“No no no, it’s fine. I’m just maybe a little nervous.” You admit letting your gaze follow his to the ground. Your ears fall to your head hoping the ground would swallow you to save you from this incredibly vulnerable feeling brewing in your chest. Neteyam takes a few steps towards where you were still perched against the tree until he was close enough to hold your face and make you look back up at him. His face was close enough for you to catch the faint reflection of your tanhì in his gorgeous honey-colored eyes.

“I’ll be gentle.”

You’re not sure if it’s the low tone of his voice dancing around your ears, the way his thumb stroked your cheek, or just the sheer proximity, but something had your body buzzing all over like a million bees.

“I know you will, Teyam. Just…kiss me first? To help ease me into it.” It’s incredibly embarrassing to ask for it, but right now, your want far outweighed your embarrassment.

His hand stays planted against your cheek when he leans in and kisses you. His body presses into yours and his other hand familiarly lands on your hip. You let your mind get lost in the moment. So lost that you don’t even feel when your own arms drape around his neck and hold him close to you. It’s as if your body is moving on its’ own carrying out your deepest desires without you needing to tell it what to do. Your legs part allowing his body to slot right into place. The throbbing between your thighs is growing by the second.

You take hold of his hand on your hip and move it lower to the waistband of your loincloth. Neteyam breaks the kiss to look down at his hand and then back at your face. You give the tiniest nod of your head to encourage him to continue and his fingers trail under your loincloth and come into direct contact with your core. His ears and eyebrows both shoot up feeling you for the first time.

“It’s so warm and slippery.” He says experimentally dragging his fingers through your folds.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be” you try to ignore the shakiness of your voice as it leaves your throat. “The most important part is the clit.” His fingers go still against you while he looks at you listening intently.

“It’s a small little nub near the top. It’s really sensitive and you’re going to want to really get familiar with it.” You explain feeling your face get hot.

He pulls his fingers forward until he reaches the little bud that makes you squeak when he presses against it. “That’s it.” A small smile crosses his lips momentarily before he speaks again.

“So, now what do I do?” “Well, everybody likes something different, but you usually can’t go wrong with just rubbing little circles into it.” You could really only speak from your own experience of nights that you had done this to yourself.

“Like this?” his finger harshly pushes against your clit and it makes you jump.

“A little softer. Not so much pressure, okay? It’s a really sensitive spot so you don’t want to do it too hard.”

He nods his head processing your advice. He lightens his touch and tentatively rubs circles around and around on your clit. Fuck, he was perfect at this already. After that one quick adjustment, his pressure and speed were nothing short of flawless. “Mmf…haah th-that’s good. Just like that…” your knees buckle under you and if it weren’t for the tree you were pressed against, you probably would’ve been on the ground already. Your head falls back to the tree and your eyes close silently praying that you could live in this moment that you’ve dreamt about countless times forever. Small mewls and moans pass your lips under his touch.

Neteyam is trying desperately to ignore the way his own dick is throbbing in his loincloth listening to the sounds you’re making. He does his best to ensure that he’s putting forth his best effort to make you feel good. And fuck, was he making you feel good. The pleasure overtakes any sense of logic that you may have been holding onto.

“M-more…”

Neteyam looks at you with eyelids already starting to hood his eyes.

“I…I want to feel you inside…” your cheeks burn saying it out loud, but it feels as if you might be devoured whole by your desire if you don’t feel him where your need is the strongest.

“Are you sure? I mean, you’re okay with—”

“Mhm…please, Teyam…”

His ears twitch in your direction at your sensual pleas and his dick twitches begging to be the one that fills you. He cautiously moves his fingers between your folds that were now dripping down his knuckles. When he reaches your entrance, he lightly probes at you with one of his fingers making you clench around nothing until he finally pushes inside. His jaw drops open feeling the way your walls suck his finger right in and envelope him in a feeling of slippery warmth.

It feels like your breathing stutters in your throat as his finger stretches you. His finger was so much bigger than your own and you’ve never been more aware of that fact than right now as he unintentionally pressed the pad of his finger against the spongey part of your walls.

“Mm!” you do your best to muffle your sounds

“Is this okay?” his voice conveys his concern, but his eyes hold only a lusty haze while they jump around from your eyes to your lips and chest and between your thighs that sat spread for him.

“Y-yea…now, just angle your finger towards the front and move in and out slowly.”

“Like this?” he slowly pulls his finger out just to the top knuckle and then sinks back in at just the angle you need.

“Ahh…yea, right there” You don’t mean for it to sounds as enticing as it comes out, but Neteyam can feel his self-restraint slipping away. He can’t stop himself from attaching his lips to their favorite spot on your neck and nipping little bites into your soft skin. His finger never stops thrusting up into you and your legs are starting to feel like jelly beneath you.

Your arms hold tight around his neck to help keep you upright. It’s almost automatic the way your leg hikes up around his waist to give his hand even more access to you.

“Nete~…” you call out completely not meaning to. You’ve never called him that name. The only people who called him that were girls in the clan hoping to catch his attention with their sweet voices and swishing tails. He always said it was embarrassing, but in this moment, hearing it roll off your lips, it makes him groan against your skin.

“Say it again…need…need to hear you…” his voice is breathy and his words broken between his heavy breathing that fans your jaw line as he continues kissing everywhere he can reach.

You weren’t expecting that kind of response, but you comply regardless.

“Nete…oh, Great Mother, I’m going to cum!” your body tightens its hold on him pressing his body right up against you hoping it’ll anchor you to this plane of existence. This was nothing like doing it to yourself and now you wonder how you’ve managed to go this long without the touch of another person. And you think that you never want to be without this feeling ever again.

His cheek is pressed right up against your own and his free hand gropes at your breast. It takes the last thread of his sanity to not scent you right now as he feels your impending climax threatening to strangle his finger right off his hand.

“Haah…go ahead, let me feel it.” His voice is right next to your ear sending shivers down your spine. Almost on command, the knot in your body snaps and you cum with trembling legs and a small, almost silent scream from your mouth. Your nails leave deep purple indents on his skin from where you’re holding onto him and even Neteyam lets out a small moan feeling your walls convulse around him as you ride out your high. His hands go still against you when you come down and he pulls his face back to look at you.

Looking up at Neteyam right now, you can’t seem to bring your brain to recognize him as your best friend that you’ve known since before you could remember, but instead, you see a gorgeous man hovering just inches away from your face who’s gazing down at you like he wants to give you the world and you want to let him.

Neither of you say a word when he carefully slides his finger out of you and holds his hand up to examine how his skin glistens in the moonlight covered in your slick that’s still trickling down his hand.

Neteyam isn’t sure what kind of compulsion came over him that moment, but with no hesitation, he brings his finger to his lips and licks it clean before you can find the words to protest. Your ears pin to your head but you feel physically unable to look away from him. He moans lowly at the taste of you on his finger.

“You taste sweet.”

Somehow, you are equal parts mortified and turned on. Your eyes want to fall to the ground, but they get distracted at the tenting of his loincloth. You let one of your hands fall from his shoulder to palm him through the fabric. He sucks in a sharp breath at the contact.

“You don’t have to do that.”

You look up at his face, “I want to.”

It takes a second for the implications of your words to really settle in your mind.

“I-I mean, I need to learn how to do this too, you know…” A lie. Truth was, you were so desperate to have him right now, you thought you might actually go insane. But of course, you’d never be able to tell that to him, you can barely even tell it to yourself.

There’s only a thick silence as Neteyam resigns himself to you and lets you undo the knot holding his loincloth around his hips. The fabric falls to the ground and…oh, fuck, Neteyam really was Eywa’s favorite. It’s not like you really knew what was considered average, but you had a general idea from the talk amongst the other girls in the clan. And Neteyam was far above average. Just something else to make him even more perfect.

You sink to your knees in front of him and Neteyam is simultaneously thankful for the dark so that you can’t see the flush of his cheeks, but he also curses it as it prevents him from seeing you clearly the way he really wants to right now.

“S-so, do I just…grab it?” you finally pull your eyes back up to his face waiting for him to guide you in what to do.

“Um, well, first, you should spit in your hand.” His voice is low, clearly embarrassed about explaining this kind of thing. You cock an eyebrow at him feeling skeptical about what he’s asking you to do. “It helps your hand slide smoother.”

You know that Neteyam would never intentionally lead you astray, so you do ask he says and let a long stream of saliva fall into your palm. His big hand holds your wrist and guides your hand to wrap around his length. It’s firm just like the muscles in his arms and it’s heavy in your hand.

“Just slowly move your hand like this…” his hand gently moves yours back and forth along him. After a couple of experimental strokes, he removes his hand and lets you continue on your own. It feels so…indecent, but also strangely thrilling.

“Is this good?”

“Mm…yea, you can do it a little tighter.” He says trying to keep his voice from wavering. You add some more pressure to your hold while still keeping your rhythm and Neteyam lets out a shaky breath. You’ve been watching his face the whole time, but when he makes eye contact with you, your chest squeezes feeling overwhelmed. So, you choose to focus on your hand instead. Watching the repetitive stroke of your hand and how his tip disappears into your palm only to poke back through feels like falling into a trance. A trance so deep that it removes any and all semblance of sanity you may have still had. Your mouth starts to salivate and drool down your chin which you wipe away with the back of your free hand.

It’s not enough. You need more. You want to give him more. It’s almost as if you’re watching yourself, but you can’t do anything to stop when you gently take him into your mouth. He’s so big, it’s a wonder how it would ever fit inside of your pussy. But fuck, if you didn’t want to make it fit.

“Haah…w-wait…” Neteyam’s voice is shaky and breathless being completely caught off guard by the all-encompassing warmth that now wrapped around him. He almost wants to tell you not to push yourself and that you don’t have to go this far tonight. Almost. But when his eyes find yours looking up at him big and glazed over with over half of his dick in your mouth, he is absolutely powerless to stop you.

You’re not entirely sure what to do besides just moving your head up and down. You try to incorporate your tongue by licking and dragging here and there. From what you can tell from his face and the sounds he’s making, the tip feels the best especially when you drag your tongue from the underside of it to the slit.

“A-ah fuck”

His hips are twitching and his muscles tense and relax while you work on him. Your desire to make him feel good drives you to try and fit more of him in your mouth. His tip pokes and prods at the back of your throat and it’s so thick, you can’t hold it there for more than a second or two before you need to pull back for air. But the way that it makes his chin drop to his chest and his eyes squeeze shut while he moans out praises for you makes it worth it.

“Hng…just like that”

He looks like he’s close and you were determined to get him there. You push him to the back of your throat again and his dick twitches inside of your mouth.

“Ah, I’m going to cum!” his eyes shoot open to watch you while you coax his release out of him.

You pop your mouth off of him and pump him with your fist right in front of your face.

“Wait, y-your face…” he starts, but you couldn’t care less.

“It’s okay. Just let go, Nete.” That’s all it took and he was done for. His release comes out in hot, thick ropes of white that spill over your hand and shoot onto your mouth and chin. His head falls back as he cums with a loud groan and a force that damn near knocks him off of his feet.

When he’s done, you release your hold on him and just stare in awe at the remnants of him on your hand. He looks down at you trying to find his breath and sees how you let your tongue swipe across your bottom lip to taste him.

It takes every ounce of focus he just regained to not get hard again from watching you.

“Hmm…tastes like utumauti. It’s nice.” you say letting the flavor dance around your tongue.

Neteyam quickly pulls his loincloth back on and pulls a piece of cloth from a satchel on his side.

“Here, let me help wipe you off.” He says kneeling in front of you.

“You know you don’t have to do that, Teyam.” You subconsciously revert to your regular nickname for him.

“I know, but it only feels right.” He says already grabbing your hand and swiping away the mess. This man was too sweet for his own good. Your heart can’t help but ache a bit at watching it go to waste, but you bite your tongue and settle for the ghost of the flavor still in your mouth. When he’s done with your hand, he reaches out to your face and starts wiping it off too. His eyes stay focused on the areas where he’s wiping, but your eyes are admiring his features in the soft glow of the moonlight. Neteyam has always been good looking, but he’s more than just handsome. He’s beautiful. He’s the kind of pretty that hurts to look at for too long. The kind that makes your heart flutter and ache with a burning need. And the kind that makes you greedily want to keep him all to yourself.

And then it clicks. When he notices you staring and his eyes meet yours, the pieces fit together. You love this man. You have always loved him. All these years, what you thought was just admiration for his work ethic, humming his song cord to yourself when you went about your day, the way your heart thundered when he would wrap you in one of his legendary hugs, all of it…was love.

And you wouldn’t come to know this until much later, but Neteyam realized the same exact thing in that same moment.

He’s the first to break the eye contact clearing his throat. “I think that’s all of it.”

“Thanks.” There’s a long moment of silence while the weight of everything sits on both of your chests. “Um, I think that’s good for tonight. Good work. I’m sure you’ll do great with Layao.” Her name brings a sharp sting to your chest, but you do your best to push the feeling away.

“Right. Right. Thanks. Um, you did good too. Were you planning on putting all your practice to use any time soon?”

You truly hadn’t actually thought about that part. Neteyam already had an intended mate that he was practicing for. But what about you? You didn’t have any solid prospects since everyone in the clan always thought you and Neteyam would end up together. You had never seriously considered what this would actually mean for you in terms of finding a mate.

“O-oh yea. There’s somebody I have in mind.” Another lie.

Neteyam presses his lips into a line nodding at you. “Well, he’s lucky.” He doesn’t bother to press you about who this mystery man is because he knows that if he finds out who it is, he wouldn’t be able to look at him without forever feeling the bitter pang of jealousy.

“We should probably start heading back.” You suggest finally standing to your feet. “I’ll head back first.”

“Right. See you later.” He says unable to pry his eyes away from the sway of your hips on your retreating figure.

…

“Let me guess, more training?” Kiri says gesturing to the small purple marks left from your previous night.

You laugh a little trying not to give away the flashsbacks playing through your mind. “You know it.” “I swear, for someone so even tempered, Neteyam really needs to learn how to hold back more.” She says grinding some herbs together.

“It’s fine. It’s not his fault. I kinda spur him on, I guess.”

“Well, you’d better start fighting back harder. He hardly ever has a mark on him.” She says finally walking over to you with a small sack of various herbs and placing it in your hands.

“I’ll make a note of that” you say giggling a bit. “Thanks for these.” “You know, I don’t know why you won’t just find a guy to help you through your heat. It would be much better and more effective than any of these herbs. Especially since they’ll start to be less effective over time.” She says kind of rolling her eyes at you.

“Yeah, yeah, so you’ve mentioned before. I don’t know. I just haven’t found the right guy that does it for me yet.” You shrug your shoulders and try to control the blush trying to creep into your face and stand to leave.

“Oh, wait before you go” a less familiar voice calls out to you. It’s Layao walking over to you with a giddy smile. “What kind of things does Neteyam like? I want to make him something, but I can’t decide what he’d like best. I figured since you know him better than anyone, I should ask you for your opinion.”

She was right, you did know him better than anyone. Even better than anyone would ever know.

“Oh, well, he likes yovo fruit and arm bands. You can’t really go wrong with those.” The tightening of your chest is nearly strangling the breath right out of you. You can’t, and won’t, stand in the way of what was already decided.

“Yovo and arm bands. Got it. Thank you.” She says before walking back over to her corner of the healing tent.

It’s a harsh reminder of the fact that you stupidly realized far too late that you loved the man you couldn’t have. You dismiss the thoughts with a quick shake of your head and start on the path home.

You have to prepare. Your heat will be here soon and you needed to ensure that you have enough food and water and supplies to get you through. Cycle after cycle you would writhe in agony on the floor of your home for days on end. From what you’ve heard, having a partner makes your heat pass much quicker. And it’s not like it was uncommon for young Na’vi to explore sex with many partners before mating, but that just wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t want it to just be whatever willing participant you could stumble upon.

Looking around your home right now, you’re realizing that you may not have enough utumauti. It’s your favorite during your cycles and even though you have a hefty amount, knowing how quickly you can go through those, you felt like it would be best to air on the side of caution and get more.

On your way out into the forest, you bump into Aykxo.

“Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn’t see you down there.” He jokes. Even for a Na’vi, Aykxo was tall. Tall enough to see clear over your head without trying. He probably actually didn’t see you.

You readjust your top and reassure him that it’s fine.

“You’re Neteyam’s friend, right?” he asks.

Your eyes squint at him a bit in confusion, but also suspicion. “Yeah, I am. Why?”

“Are you…just his friend?” You don’t miss the way his eyes quickly scan your body up and down. Okay, so that’s where this was going.

“Yup. We are just friends.” It makes you cringe to say out loud. It’s not technically a lie. It was true that, officially, you and Neteyam were only best friends and as far as anybody else knew, that’s all you were. But in truth, you were something more to each other, no matter how hard either of you may try to justify the turn in your relationship with the ‘training’ excuse.

“Good to know. Then, you wouldn’t mind maybe meeting me later after eclipse?” His hand trails down the side of your arm to your hand where he takes hold of it. He certainly is bold. The act is enough to give you chills, but not in the same way that you’re used to.

You can feel a pair of eyes burning holes into you and when you find the source of the searing gaze, it’s none other than your ‘just friend’, Neteyam standing near the opening of the healing tent with Layao and Kiri. Layao has her arms wrapped securely around Neteyam’s arm while her head rests on his shoulder and she talks with Kiri. Neteyam is clearly uninterested in whatever they were talking about and was much more curious about your conversation.

You finally turn back to Aykxo, “Yeah, sounds nice.”

He smiles and kisses your hand before continuing in the direction he was originally headed. You decided you need to at least try to give other guys a chance. And Aykxo was handsome and a good hunter and all. After all, this is what you’ve been preparing for, isn’t it?

…

“So, I saw you talking with Aykxo earlier.” Neteyam starts to inquire. He decided soon after the encounter to join you on your hunt for more utumauti.

“Yeah, I guess he wants to meet later tonight after eclipse. I told him I’d come, but I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous about it.” You do your best to sound at least casual instead of disinterested. If you would have turned to look at Neteyam, you would’ve noticed how his gaze grew shifty.

“Were you planning to try…?” his words trail off implying what he wants to say without actually saying it.

“I don’t know. I haven’t really decided yet.”

“You know he’s going to fall in love with you if you do, right?” He keeps picking fruit, but you whip around to look at him with slightly wider eyes.

“How do you figure?” You ask cocking your head at him.

“I mean if you do what you did before, no man in his right mind could not fall in love with you.”

Your heart skips a beat. And then another. Your mouth gets stuck open waiting to find words to form around. Clearly, the insinuation of his statement hits you far before it hits him since he just continues gathering until he notices your silence and turns to see your stunned expression.

“I-I mean, you know, not trying to say—just, what I mean is…you were just really good is what I was trying to say.” His words are jumbled and stuttering and his face is a deep purple while he tries to avoid eye contact with you right now. You can’t help the grin that slides across your face watching this adorably goofy man lose his composure.

“What about you? You and Layao definitely looked very cozy today”, you taunt. “You might not even have to do anything more to get her to be head over heels for you.”

He chuckles lowly to himself, “You may be right. Still, I want to make sure that I’m prepared for anything.”

“Of course.”

“Anyways, do you really think this many utumauti is reasonable? Your heat is only 3 days, you have enough to last an average family for a week!” he exaggerates, but he does this every time you’re gathering supplies for your heat.

“You know it’s my favorite. It’s basically the only thing I eat for those 3 whole days. I need a lot of it.”

“If you say so, but this still seems excessive if you ask me. There’s no way anyone can eat this much in just 3 days.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Teyam. You know me better than that.” You tsk at him waving your finger.

…

It feels like your nerves are going to eat you alive walking with Aykxo through the forest tonight. Neteyam had sent you off with an encouraging smile and the reminder to “blow him away”. You rolled your eyes at his stupid joke, but it did help in somewhat easing the tension that had made a home in your gut.

Your hand feels clammy letting Aykxo lead you through the night. Or maybe that’s just in your mind. But your whole body feels off kilter with the anticipation. Soon, you both reach a small clearing and you let out a small yelp when he suddenly pulls you into his arms and holds you against his chest.

“O-oh, uh…” you start, but Aykxo is clearly uninterested in talking as he starts to attack your neck with kisses and licks and nips. He groans against your skin letting his hands roam up and down your body.

Even though your mind is completely taken aback, your body erupts in goosebumps all over and you feel hot. You don’t want this, but why is your body behaving like it does? When you try to turn your head away from him, your balance feels shaky, at best. That’s when it hits you, your heat is here. It shouldn’t be here already. You should have another few days. But it seems to have other plans for you.

Home. You need to get home right this instant. You place your hands against Aykxo’s chest and gently push him back off of you. When he looks at you, he’s clearly confused about why you stopped him.

“I’m sorry, I just…I thought we were just going to talk. Um, I think I need to go.” You say fighting your body’s urge to submit to the nearest living being. If you were on day 2 or 3, you might be desperate enough to give in, but his pheromones are slightly off-putting to your nose. They’re not the worst, but not enough to make you want him this close to you right now.

“But I thought—” he says, but you don’t let him finish. You don’t have the time to listen to the rest of his sentence.

“I’m so sorry. I really just need to go.” You say already backing out of his hold and turning to run back home. Of course, you feel bad leaving him there high and dry and clearly giving him the wrong impression, but that’s something to worry about later when you can actually control your mind and body. For now, your main focus is hiding away at home and riding out these next 3 excruciating days.

You sprint home as fast as your feet will carry you and a blink of relief hits you when it finally comes into view. You break through the opening and fall onto your sleep mat trying to catch your breath. The itch is starting to creep in much stronger than is usual for your first day. Your body is calling out for relief. You let your fingers crawl under your loincloth and between your legs to hopefully find some comfort. When your fingers slip between your wet folds, it makes your ears twitch with curiosity when the name that slips past your lips is ‘Neteyam’…

Taglist: @soleilmoon @netemoon @fifia-writes @strangersav11

@eywascall @neteyamsluvts @heart-an0n @iman-lu @xylianasblog @theunfortunateplace @hyejusdiary @savvysscandles @randxmthxughts @tiredmamaissy @yeosxxx @atwow69 @bellstwd @iseeyouuu @simp4ff @universal-s1ut @mynameisjuno @teyamsatan @uaze123 @nelissecrectplace  @angrypomeranianwifey @perfectxserendipity @yumimak @rainbowturdz @rhiannonhippiegirl @sullymenrhot @hiddensnow1 @rainymoonsheep @ivysully @badbussylol @afro-hispwriter @fandom-geek17 @teyamsmate @iameatingmyhair

(Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist. If your tag isn't working, please check your settings.)

[daystarvoyage]

I often see fans demonize some characters like Belos,The Blights, Camila, into far worse versions of themselves like fans portraying Camila as abusive since she wants Luz go to Reality Check Camp to correct her behavior and certain people interpret that of her sending her to a conversation therapy camp or the Blights while they are bad parents for sure they are sometimes depicted as physically abusive or homophobic despite that sort of thing not existing in the boiling isles and Finally Belos gets made into a bigot who is sexist,racist, homophobic because he a white Christian male despite not making any insults for Luz being a woman or POC while his stance of sexual orientation or gender identity is unknown the fact he didn’t insult Luz for being a woman or POC is remarkable progressive for a Man who is born in the 1600’s also He FICTIONAL and we already have enough of those people in real life what do you think?

I do say this, people need to start separating the art from the artist and fantasy from reality,

this type of writing and fictional perspective, a lot of viewers and fans sit through, its been done throughout animation, Even in real life affecting how we see our adult figures.

hope i say this, the best way i can cause the show did the adults and supporting characters dirty with its ill pacing in storytelling and character exposure

The Fans Of their favorite media love to exaggerate disliked characters (be it villains or unpopular ones) cause of how there perceived physically or in writing in the creator's eyes. We get this at the start of the first episode introducing Camila (whos a great mother who I relate to cause, I also was on the spectrum being raised by a single mom) I feel I look at her as a character who carries a burden with her being a single mother) yet relatable cause she does her best to take care of her daughter on earth cause she to is a single mother protecting her daughter from the harsh reality cause its not all huckydorey (like the ending of the show),when she wants luz to conform. the way fans see luz assomeone needing protecting, might villanize camila firsthand(DEMONIZING ADULT MOMENT BY FANDOM) as a cheerful person luz is, fans forget that she's also impressionable, impulsive, don't think far on consequneces and needy, might gloss over the fact she needs proper mannerisms (to get by in the world at times), cause shes young & fits the viewers mold of perception, that no one should be punished cause of sexuality, it might show she doesn't need help. Let's be clear the fans are gonna gloss the fact shes a troublemaker who brings harmful items to school WHICH fans should be concerned, i mean neurodivergent character doesn't mean good personality,

2. The blight situation I swear they did Odalia dirty with this GRRR & how talented and amazing Rachel MacFarlane is (Her VA voicing hayley from American Dad.)

She also over exaggerated for being ( DEMONIZED BY FANDOM cause SHE's an ADULT) to being just an abusive mother, but however others will see it is a character who was a dark and humorous character at least & she has great writing tools to be & alador was just a plot device to make amity look good even the twins, & get rid of odalia even though her had his hand in amity's abuse, which I feel no one in the blight fam is not innocent (neither was amity, also which the twins didn't get fleshed out more & used as plot device for lumity, Which fans at times gloss over. Fans will over-exaggerate that Odalia was physically abusive to the kids but NEVER WAS! cause that's a negative perception on the fandom that (We have a adult hater situation nowadays of how this new age of Gen Z & alpha kids are raised,

i also wrote a post on the matter btw

The Belos Treatment (we al know how the creator treated him, such good potential DOwn the Drain.)

Bruh or GiIIIRRRRLL, I commend the Belos fans for being on their own ship supporting and adding more to his BG in fanfic & art

Belos was an intriguing villain who rivaled not only Frollo, the horned king, & Prof. Screweyes. This man also has a perception amongst the fans who followed the creator's way of how he was written (basically the new Chloe bourgeois treatment from miraculous.) He was only a character who was hell-bent on piping witches out and saving his humankind NOT BEING Racist Homophobic, or BIgoted, However, Chloe made racist & prejudiced remarks To Marinette in the cooking episode,(BUT BELOS DIDNT!) So he's an equal villain Who is all about equal rights means equal fights (falls under the neutral evil cause of how he was depicted into a person of tragedy upbringing to now a one-sided character (getting tired of how creators write villains in a one-sided manner.) oh and some people need proper knowledge of the 1600s cause belos was born in that era and I heard someone saying he was born in 1700s which I feel the show does suffer from anachronisms.

And don't get me started of how the fans go about Darius cause that has angry black man written all over it, along Manny being ONLY relevant in Luz's dire moment not being explored more,

hope i put down a lot of tea & crumpets for everyone hope you also can look at my video essay on my YouTube.

hope you enjoy comment and subscribe for more.

[qpenpals]

First of all, support Shubble and support all victims (which is a statement that while said a lot, seems not be followed as frequently, however i hope those who read this abide by it)

Second, I don’t support wilbur soot/william gold, and I don’t think that anyone should after this.

Third, while this situation is not about me, i have feelings and opinions about it that i would like to share, but even if you don’t read anymore,

Please watch shelby’s vod, and maybe try checking her content out, because while i don’t frequently watch her, i enjoy her streams and maybe you will too! her new hardcore series sounds great :)

This is quite long, but honestly this is kind of just for me to collect my thoughts, however if you read to the end thank you<3 im touched :)

ALSO ABUSE TRIGGER WARNING

Alright, so I have loved wilbur soot’s content for a very long time, 4 years or so. I watched the streams and listened to his music from the start. His content is entwined with many of my fond memories.

Earlier today, I had a breakdown over this whole situation, because, as I’ve been quite busy with school, my job, and other assorted things in my life, I found out about this morning. I had woken from a nightmare about my previous abuser. Who i will be talking about a lot more of as they really impacted my views on this situation.

However this nightmare had left me in a fragile mood, my girlfriend was still sleeping and i didn’t want to wake her, so to comfort myself i went to read one of my bookmarked fanfictions, this fanfiction, while i dont remember the title is one that i’ve found comforting for a very long time, so much so that when im stressed my partner has it saved to send to me so i can calm down.

It was a fanfiction about quackity and tubbo, wilbur soot was mentioned maybe 5 times, and the author had deleted it.

This caused me to try and find out why, so i went to their page and they had posted a temporary fic explaining what had been going on.

My first reaction had been disbelief, I then went to research everything. It was a lot to process.

I watched shelby’s vod. Before this i had mainly been disconnected from what i had seen, taking it it but not with any of my own feelings or thoughts really, just processing.

Shelby’s situation hits really hard for me because a lot of it mirrors my own abusive relationship of a few years ago. The wording Wilbur used against her, sounds like what my old partner would use against me. His actions, such as her having to clean and taking care of food, and amenities, were things i had to experience.

Abuse TW:

My old partner would physically abuse me through biting as well, he would claim that he just liked knowing i was his, and yet, like shubble, if i ever used our safe word, which happened so fucking often, he either wouldn’t listen, bite down harder on my neck, or fucking smile at me before letting go.

This got to the point that multiple times he had drawn blood from my neck, that i still have scars from today. And as i watch Shubble talk about her story which is ever so close to mine, I wonder that if I had watched this before, maybe i wouldn’t have stayed in that relationship.

I proceeded to stay in this relationship for 2 years before i realized how much harm he was doing to me, because i truly believed he loved me, because of all the lovebombing he would do.

End of Abuse TW:

And yet i felt pain aside from sympathy or memories, when learning of this, as the content Wilbur had put out had actually helped me out of this relationship, his music was pretty much all i listened to the months of healing after i got out and it helped, the art is good, and yet the author is one i cannot respect nor support in anyway now that i am aware.

i’d suggest watching this tiktok by @lasmanburg that really explains my thoughts and feelings on this

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL1tb5Wg/

Right back to the content. I don’t believe that we should throw it all away, i don’t think that people should be deleting their art, fanfiction, or anything based on Wilbur. Because in the end it’s all art that we have created and interpreted and though the man who inspired it is horrible, all that has been made does not reflect his actions, but instead love and creativity from vast multifaceted community.

One can continue their writing and work because they are the ones creating it, not him, and besides most interpretations of him stray quite far from the source anyways

I think that one can continue to engage in his content as long as one does not directly support him, such as pirating his music, but personally at least right now listening to his music which brought me so much comfort-makes me feel sick. So think i’ll be taking a step back.

I don’t really know how to end this, i just needed to get my thoughts out honestly. I have therapy in an hour. I hope all of you who’ve made it to the end have a wonderful day and drink some water. I wish shelby well, and i’m glad she has been able to share this situation. And with that, I must now leave :)

[likesunsetorange]

Need her to drunkenly over tip by a huge margin again and for Eren to witness 😭

He tries to argue with her in the car but her head hurts and she’s certain she’s better at math than him even if she is drunk!

LOL maybe bc im bored and taking a break from writing and i miss writing them cute bc i love them so much and its depressing writing them hate each other lol so here’s a little mini drabble!! also tried to combine some of the hc’s we’ve made that i happened to remember!!

(this is when they’re on good terms finally btw)

For all intents and purposes, Mikasa, albeit surprisingly, can handle her liquor.

How exactly? Eren’s not really sure, it’s something that still confuses him, especially when he’s certain she doesn’t weigh more than 140 lbs, he can’t quite comprehend where all the alcohol she drinks goes to. He’s sure it has something to do with her previous partying trysts, developing a tolerance over time. But from what Eren’s seen, some way, somehow, unless she’s purposeful in her drinking, she can normally make it out of a night unscathed, ending up mostly coherent at the end of the night.

So it’s because of this, Eren can’t seem to understand why tonight of all nights, she’s drunk beyond her means off two beers and a shot, as if it’s her first time drinking.

It’s Mikasa’s decision in the first place why the end up at the bar. After a day of running around, Mikasa wanting nothing more than to go to some new exhibit and an art gallery in Chelsea, in which she spends the entirety of their time their explaining every little detail of every art piece to Eren (which Eren finds himself enjoying more than he would like to admit), she insists on stopping at a few places he would like, feeling bad she drags him around to do her bidding; and then it’s only customary they get something to eat, knowing the two of them would be too lazy to cook once they got back.

But Mikasa, instead of ordering much to eat, orders a round of shots which they take together, and two beers (to Eren’s great surprise), and somehow ends up drunk. Her face flushed pink and her words beginning to slur, the customary signs of a Drunk Mikasa. She even starts scooting closer to him, whispering little jokes into his ear.

“Eren,” she whispers, trying to hold back giggles. “What do you call a sad strawberry?”

Eren raises a brow, wondering where this could possibly be going. “I don’t know, tell me.”

“A blue berry,” her words almost inaudible between laughs.

He can’t help but laugh a bit, because he can admit, it’s a little funny. He finds he likes this laid back version of her, when she’s seemingly more relaxed, not worrying about the things that he knows plague her mind—the side of her hates to see, plagued by her familial issues that cause more of a strain on her heart than she likes to admit. But on days like today, her steps are a little lighter, her smile a little brighter, and it’s hard to not be infected by her joyous mood.

“You’re ridiculous,” he says, shaking his head, but his mouth is upturned, clearly amused and endeared.

“I’m actually berry funny,” she counters in between laughs as she lightly sways side to side, almost causing her to fall out of the barstool before Eren steadies her.

After this, he can see how drunk she is, and flags the bartender over, ordering her something to eat, knowing they should probably get going soon before she gets any drunker.

He watches her as she sits at the bar beside him, picking at the fries he forced in front of her just a few minutes prior. She props her head up on her hand, face visibly flushed crimson, sporting this dopey smile on her face that Eren can’t help but find endearing—she’s so fucking cute.

“Eren,” she says turning to face him, “can we go now?” Her voice is sweet, the tone she uses every so often, the one that always gets him, it lacks the snappy tone she normally uses, even now that they’re on good terms.

“Mikasa, you need to eat something, you’re drunk,” he protests.

“I can be drunk at home; I’m tired,” she whines, her face almost forming into a pout—such a brat.

He almost succumbs to her wishes, much like he always does, knowing she does somewhat have a point. After a day full of running around—much like they always do—even he wants nothing more to go back to the apartment, shower, and go to sleep. But he would rather not deal with her being in a mood in the morning because she’s hungover.

“Just hurry and eat your fries and we can go.”

Though, Eren fails to realize that Mikasa, albeit drunk, is still Mikasa and does as she pleases. He watches as she waves the bartender over, her motions a little wobbly, and motions for the check. They’re one of three groups of people in the whole dive bar, so the bartender is back within a under a minute’s time, check in hand, Mikasa already having taken her card out ready to pay. He takes her card, handing her back her receipt for her to sign for it.

Eren sighs, knowing he isn’t going to win this battle, and watches as she signs, before she hands him the receipt.

“Here, hand this to him so we can go,” she says, her usual snappy tone back.

Eren reads over the receipt eyeing the original price and then the final price with tip, seeing Mikasa tipped him well over 100%.

“Mikasa, why did you tip him so much?”

“What do you mean, I tipped him 20%,” her voice confused. She stands up from her seat not wanting to continue the conversation, before grabbing Eren’s hand almost a bit forcefully, and pulling him from the stool. “C’mom, Hannes is here let’s go.”

Eren leaves the receipt on the counter, knowing there’s not much of anyone in the bar to grab it anyways, before allowing Mikasa to tug him along outside. He sees the usual SUV, and holds the door open so Mikasa can hop inside, and slides in behind her, opting to sit in the back with her.

“So do you usually drunkenly overtip people?” Eren finally asks once the car starts moving, Mikasa leaning her head against the seat with her eyes closed.

“What are you talking about, I tipped him correctly. I know how to do math Eren, I’m a Columbia graduate, thank you very much.”

“Mikasa, you tipped him $100 on a $55 tab.”

Mikasa opens her eyes to look at him, her face shocked. “You’re giving me a headache, stop talking,” she huffs before leaning against him, clearly wanting to end the conversation. Eren doesn’t mind her touch, almost leaning into it, clearly receptive of her (rare) physical affections.

“It’s this damn bow you wear all the time,” he jokes, tugging lightly at today’s pink ribbon.

“Well take it out then,” she says, not bothering to open her eyes.

He does as instructed, pulling on one of the strings, and taking off her hair tie, watching as her hair comes loose. “Thank you,” she mumbles. Her face visibly softens, almost as if his joke was half right, the tension instantly leaving her face once her hair is down.

“You know, there’s worse things you could be doing drunk, you’re just a generous tipper, who would’ve thought,” he jokes.

“Fuck off, I’m a nice person, okay.”

“Yes, Mikasa, you are,” he teases. “Now go to sleep, I’ll wake you up when we’re home.”

[copperbora]

Introduction

Here be mine list of information sources that I often use for arguing with people who genocidally hate wolves (and other wildlife,) based on misinformation, anti-wolf propaganda like 'Smoke a Pack a Day!' (yes, wolf haters literally say inflammatory hogwash like this,) and centuries of uneducated fear based upon the very few times in history (actual accounts forgotten) that (likely largely habituated) wolves have been less than friendly to humans. (And I was going to include a picture of one of these 'smoke a pack a day' things but urgh... honestly they make me want to vomit.)

🐾Please note that I will be constantly adding to this list and updating it as I find new ammunition - er, sources, with which to argue with/informationally support my ongoing work on my science-based graphic novel, Knife Edge. (Which production is a bit slow on at the moment because I am spending most of my time outside.)

⚠️Important to note: wolf scientists can be a bit hard to talk to at times due to the fact that some of them have literally received death threats from wolf haters and people in the livestock industries who erronously believe based upon hearsay (i.e. no actual science,) that wolves are a threat to their top dollar. That's why the typically great podcast Ologies had trouble finding a wolf scientist for its lupinology episode - because people who hate wolves tend to hate people who say that they need to stop killing wolves because how dare they be wrong. (I'm still peeved about how bad that lupinology episode was by the way; it didn't even mention trophic cascades. Sigh. (That's why I haven't linked it here, and why I hope that Alie Ward will redo it someday, or that the podcast Science Versus will do a wolf episode instead someday.)

I myself am not a wolf scientist, (although this was my dream as a little girl which I gave up on due to painful dyscalcula,) but I am striving to be as expert about lupinology as much as a non-scientist can be, especially so that I can do wolves proper justice in my story Knife Edge as well as other future wolf advocacy projects that are percolating in my deranged little mind. My stunningly crappy brain for math may have prevented me from studying to become an actual wildlife biologist studying wolves in the field but it isn't going to stop me from helping wolves with my art by attempting to educate and dispel misinformation about them. I can do my best to be a science communicator and do wolf outreach through my work. Hopefully I won't get lynched for it.

Please feel free to use the following links should you decide that you need them. This post is linked in my pinned post so that it can be more easily found especially by me.

Why I Advocate for Wolves

- Because it's the right thing to do: wolves are sentient, highly social beings who live in closely knit family groups much like our own human families complete with parents who impart generational knowledge - such as tactically how to specifically hunt particular prey (for example: elk) - upon their offspring who either go off eventually to start their own families or stay put in their natal pack with their parents, helping to raise their younger siblings. No animal has been more horrifically scapegoated over the centuries of our coexistence than the wolf, which some people are still trying to eradicate even though no science supports this.

- Because I dream of a world where predators are protected, where all killing of them is banned, because they are simply too important to our planet to destroy. They are deeply critical to rewilding our planet and helping our own species survive, because where wolves are, wetlands and forests thrive, helping cure drought, prevent wildfires, facilitate natural carbon capture through the bettering of these ecosystems, and clean the water that we humans also drink, all by preventing cervid species like deer from overgrazing and destroying baby trees. Wolves cause trophic cascades which promote the survival of hundreds of other species from charismatic scavengers like bald eagles and red foxes to the freshwater trout that anglers love to catch whose health is aided by the beavers which are able to create expansive water meadows whenever deer are prevented by predators like wolves from eating all of the beavers' food.

- Because unshockingly, killing wolves greatly damages their genetic diversity, hindering their ability to survive as a species. (I can't believe that there are actually people surprised by this.)

- Because before we ruined everything, the presence of wolves and lack of human interference meant that pre-colonial biodiversity was unimagineably greater than what we see today and I for one would like to see this amazing biodiversity explode again within my lifetime.

- Because wolves and humans have a lot in common; they too mourn their dead and exhibit joy at the introduction of new babies to their families. Recognizing this isn't anthropomorphism; we too are animals, afterall.

"We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be – the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.” - Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf.

🐺Wolf Specific Citations

- Wolves as scapegoats for human evil.

- No statistical support for wolf 'control' (culling) and maternal penning as methods for helping endangered caribou in British Columbia. (Actually, erase the word culling - what they really mean is wolf genocide.)

- The plight of wolves in America (features an absolute textwall of citations!)

- New document suggests British Columbia is using Judas Wolves for aerial wolf cull.

- Account of use of Judas Wolves in British Columbia

- BC Wolf Cull: documents reveal cruel methods of killing wolves. (You can bet your butt that I am furious at my province for this.)

- Wolves do not require human 'help' to control their numbers.

- Wolves are extremely important for environmental health as they cause trophic cascades.

- A wolf, abruptly noticing a human, runs away in fear. (Example of typical human/wolf interaction.)

- Are wolves dangerous to humans? (Spoiler alert: they're statistically not.)

- Killing wolves is unnecessary: wolves naturally limit their own numbers.

- Wolves are not a significant threat to livestock. What is a genuine threat to livestock generally? Free roaming dogs (in fact, farmers in Scotland are allowed to outright shoot dogs who they notice bothering their animals,) dystocia (birthing complications,) and inclement weather - issues which could be aleviated at least a little if ranchers would just use some range riders - aka, cowboys.

- US government data shows that wolves have a negligible effect on livestock losses.

- Killing wolves actually leads to more livestock losses, not less.

- Alberta Rancher Using Non-Lethal Predator Control (hasn't 'had' to shoot a wolf in years.)

- Livestock Guardian Dogs Reduce Losses by 11-100% (utilized correctly they are extremely effective!)

- Livestock Guardian Dogs Reduce Predation (according to Texas A&M University.)

- Please note that the wolf ranking terms 'alpha/beta/omega' have been debunked and are no longer in reputable scientific use. I wrote a thing about it here. Wolf packs are families, not militant groups of marauding monsters.

- All about why we don't use the wolf ranking terms alpha/beta/omega anymore which is why I depict Larch's natal pack in Knife Edge without these terms.

Recommended Books & Films About Wolves

- The Homeward Wolf by Kevin Van Tighem (a great account of wolf behaviour including detailing how wolves have generational knowledge and typically only hunt what their elders have taught them to except in rare circumstances such as in the case of a melanistic male in the Canadian Rockies who started hunting mountain goats instead of the elk that he had been raised on.)

- The Last Wolf by Jim Crumley (goes over the extirpation of the wolf from Scotland and over the misinformation surrounding wolves in great detail; an inspiring read.)

- In the Shadow of a Rainbow by Robert Franklin Leslie (a novel telling the story of a remarkable friendship between a man and a wild wolf which also gives evidence to lupine pre-genocide culture.)

- Island of the Sea Wolves published and streamed by Netflix, which gives an interesting account of a wolf family that has two breeding females in it, who amazingly help each other raise their pups!

- The International Wolf Centre's wonderfully long list of wolf books and media. (Doesn't include everything though.)

Other Wildlife Citations (Mostly About Cougars, Honestly.)

As a wildlife advocate you have to pick your battles so most of my focus is on predators, particularly wolves, cougars, coyotes, and sharks with a small measure of focus on spotted hyenas. I do also have a soft spot for beavers, however, as they are personally sacred to me and also extremely important to the environment, being an unusual keystone species that is a herbivore rather than a predator. Generally predators are the most influential animals in a habitat but beavers - and bison - are novel exceptions. (And actually, squirrels are too. Every animal is an important facet however without natural predators ecosystems crumble. Humans are not a replacement; compared to predators like wolves humans typically do an outlandishly terrible job of positively influencing the ecosystem.)

- The importance of predators (many more useful citations!)

- Why We NEED Predators (ScienceNews)

- Unmasking the myth of wildlife 'management.' (Yet more citations.)

- USDA's war on wildlife (again super well cited!)

- Cougars are NOT a threat to public safety (and more facts about these adorable large dog-sized purr machines.)

- Cougars also cause trophic cascades (in fact many predators do this.)

- Cougars are actually extremely social.

- Cougars are TERRIFIED of human chatter!

- Cougars are the bigfoot of cats. (Also as they are technically 'small' cats - and they honestly are very small compared to actual pantherine big cats like tigers and lions - we need to stop calling them big cats.)

- Want to solve wildfires and drought? Leave it to BEAVERS!

- How beavers restore wetland in deserts.

- Coyotes under siege and misunderstood.

- Why killing coyotes doesn't work.

- Starving bear mercifully euthanized; autopsy reveals plastic impaction in its intestines.

- Disease precautions for hunters.

- The ecological effects of livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) on target and non-target wildlife.

- Impact of clear-cut logging on forests.

- Ojibwe Spirit Horse - here before colonization? Plausible, yes considering horse remains found in the arctic.

- Is shark repellent a real thing? (Yes it is, and it's being developed in modern times to save sharks from humans.)

- To underline how very little top predators want to hurt us much less eat us, watch this video to see a tiger shark (one of the most infamous species of shark,) happily cuddle with her human researcher friend and recognize him after not seeing him for years!

Other Wildlife Books & Films

- Lethal Control, produced by Predator Defense (an organization which does an amazing job of thoroughly listing their information sources) and is a film about M-44 cyanide bombs which kill wildlife and pets alike.

- American Coyote by Dan Flores (be warned, some of the information in regards to wolves is incorrect but it is still an extremely interesting and illuminating account of the coyote, Canis latrans.)

- California Mountain Lions: The Legends of California by One Health Institute (ecology of cougars and why they are threatened.)

- The consequences of sport hunting - hundreds of cougar kittens die by orphaning every year. (Hunting predators is NOT sustainable!)

Favourite Information Sources & Organizations to Support

- Predator Defense

- International Wolf Centre

- Wolf Conservation Centre

- The Fur-Bearers

- Raincoast Conservation Foundation

- Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre

- MountainLion.org

My Silly(?) Pet Peeves About Wolves

- How many Etsy stores flatout copy that silhouette of Kiba from Wolf's Rain howling with the moon behind him in their designs. Damnit, learn how to draw!!

- The whole moon association with wolves - no, they do not howl at the moon, they howl because it's fun, to communicate where they are/where prey is, to mourn, to locate family members, to express hunt victory (or alternatively "Come and get it!") Wolves probably do not give a damn about the moon.

- When people call baby wolves 'cubs' instead of 'pups' or 'puppies.' No. Wolves are a species of wild dog and baby dogs are puppies, therefore baby wolves are also puppies. Grr. 'Cub' to me implies a baby bear, or, heaven forbid, a pantherine kitten like a baby lion or tiger. Maybe hyenas too.

- Wolf haters, and how ludicrous it is that they've made something so simple so political. Wolves, like human uteruses, should not be political.

- Trophy hunters.

- How every wolf story is extremely fantastical instead of based upon any science.

- How no company ever makes accurately patterned wolf plushies. Even fellow artists mess this up and it's kinda heartbreaking for me; most notably giving wolf plushies a white tail tip instead of a black one. Wolves are not foxes: white tail tips are extremely rare wolf markings! Most of the time the 'white' tail tip is just the result of a black wolf going silver as they age.

- How cartoon wolves rarely look at all like real wolves.

- The fact that their common name is 'grey' wolf when at least in North America they commonly come in black too. I propose 'timber' wolf as a much more accurate name, as they are usually found in forests.

My Silly(?) Pet Peeves About Other Wildlife

- Trophy hunters. Please find a different way to prove that you have disposable income and that you are manly.

- When people call cougars/pumas 'mountain lions' because cougars are only very distantly related to real lions - they're on opposite sides of Felidae. Their closest relatives are jaguarundi, followed by cheetahs. Lions belong to Panthera along with tigers and leopards while cougars belong to the genus Puma. Additionally, cougars and puma are indigenous names while mountain lion is colonial. (Pumas are found in South America, cougars live in North America; same species but different subspecies due to differing habitats and prey.) 'Cougar' is derived from an indigenous Tupi (Brazil) word, çuçuarana.

- When people misuse the word 'cougar' to describe women. Ugh. Stop.

- The name 'black bear' because black bears come in a whole rainbow of colours including white (spirit/kermode,) glacier (it's like blue roan for bears,) cinnamon, blonde and chocolate.

[noakun]

Hi :) Your art is very cool, specially the colors

I was wondering if you could write some headcanons about Team Rocket Elite Trio, they're pretty underrated

Thanks ^^

Hello!! Thank you so much for the ask, I'll be more than glad to write something for them :> In terms of general headcanons:

Ken

Ken could best be described as a responsible and caring older brother figure to everyone in Team Rocket, even though he can be aggressive and strict from time to time in order to maintain discipline and keep missions in motion.

Despite his size and looks, he's respectful, considerate and really pleasant to talk to.

Can be kind when handling others' mistakes, unless he's faced with an uncooperative individual or is under a lot of pressure (which is more often than not exerted by Lt. Surge).

Speaking of Lt. Surge, as merciless and evil as the man is, one of Ken's biggest wishes is to receive his validation for being a good member of the team (and trying his best!). That, unfortunately, rarely happens.

Alongside Al and Harry, he deems Team Rocket his family, a community he belongs in, one he should protect and support in any way possible, no matter what he has to do in order to achieve that goal.

Desperately searching for a father figure after the early loss of his own.

Jokingly started calling Giovanni "dad" when talking to Al and Harry. (It's barely a joke anymore. Also, the nickname is now used by the other two as well.)

Really likes Pokémon!

His everyday outfit consists of a flannel, cargo pants and comfortable footwear. He has a LOT of flannels.

Coffee addict.

Al

Al is short. Short-tempered as well, actually. Nobody makes a big deal out of his height other than himself.

He's quick to speak his mind, and will make sure you know how irritated and disgruntled he is at the smallest of things that bother him, making him talk a lot.

On the flip side, he's honest about things he enjoys and admires about others too. If he likes what you're wearing or how you look on a particular day for example, he'll be the first to tell you and shower you with compliments and ideas on how to improve an aspect even further.

He rarely takes off his hat, and even when he does, he's simply fixing his hair before putting it back on. Very insecure about his appearance.

Rational and logical about other things and is a great problem solver, so people flock to him with questions and personal issues. He gets annoyed with it more often than not, but he'll help out regardless.

Has a bad habit of biting his nails, especially when he's been bottling up stress.

Surprisingly, he doesn't have a lot of close friends despite being social, so he sticks to Ken and Harry.

Has a thing for fashion and owns many pieces of clothing. A lot of them are hats and colorful shirts.

Likes playing cards and other luck based games.

Harry

Harry is the Popular™ one, and you'll most likely find him on some kind of party when he's off duty.

Made a group chat with Ken and Al so he could spam them with memes and hourly life updates. Al replies to everything individually and has a lot to say, while Ken keeps the messages short and brief ("lmao", "so true", etc.)

A big flirt, has had a lot of romantic partners in the past, but got heartbroken every single time (that doesn't stop him from pursuing The One™ in the future).

Agile and fast, has been training a lot, enhancing his stamina, and is able to outrun most of Team Rocket.

He's hyperfixated on Hatsune Miku and likes other anime-styled media. If you ask him about it, he won't shut up for hours. Owns a lot of (stolen) merch. His favorite Miku song is "World is Mine".

Self-confident. Doesn't think before he speaks and doesn't check messages for errors before sending them, leading to some hilarious typos that Ken and Al have been quoting for years. Unironically uses ":3" and variations.

He's the least likely of the three to physically hurt you. Can throw a verbal tantrum though and cause unnecessary drama.

Seemingly irresponsible, but when he puts his mind to something, he'll see it through.

Good at keeping promises.

But gossips a lot.

[miouroung]

posting this here because I need it for art fight and I don't have many followers on this blog so I don't feel like I'm spoiling the (beginning of the) plot for many people. it is only the beginning, though! you probably know most of it already

Myfanwy and Morgan are fraternal twins. They grew up in a lighthouse on a very small island, with a population of less than twenty-five people. When they were teens their neglectful and uninvolved parents won the lottery and bought a yacht, which they decided to tour the Dragon Isles on - without the twins. They went further and further away, into Matsyakanya territory, and got harder and harder to contact. The twins went to university in one of the country's main university towns (Porthclaer) (Morgan studied music, Myfanwy studied product design), supported by the money that their parents had left for them, but Morgan's harp mentor’s suicide caused him to plunge into depression and he went home. Living alone in the empty residential part of the lighthouse, he took night swims a lot and one night he just…didn't come back. Everyone assumed he drowned, either on purpose or by accident. Myfanwy is heartbroken. 

After stumbling through her year end exams, she returns to the island to stay with Osian and mourn. She seems to be suffering from brain fog and often appears confused and forgetful, but everyone puts it down to grief. In the autumn she returns to university, and takes to wearing mourning clothes, both as a mark that she has not forgotten Morgan and to keep people at arms length. Her confusion advances into small acts of magic and she realises she is becoming a witch. She can't tell anyone because if the authorities find out, they will force her to either get the surgery that destroys the part of the brain where the magic is building up (and causes brain damage) or emigrate. She tries to continue her life as normal but her magical madness becomes more troublesome as she keeps finding confusing scribbles and notes around her flat, on sheets and walls, in her own handwriting, but reading more like Morgan's notes when he was alive. This distresses her a great deal and she begins to suspect she is keeping Morgan's spirit from rest with her developing witch powers. She starts investigating magic on the internet, with the help of Neha, her matsyakanya internet friend. She also throws herself into a hobby, underwater archaeology, that makes her feel closer to Morgan (because they used to swim together a lot). 

One evening - past the time she should have wrapped up and gone home - she sees a shadowy figure watching her from the deepest part of the dig. Assuming it must be an animal, she knows she should stay away but instead swims nearer until she sees a woman who is halfway between morgwin and seal, and made entirely of carved bone…

[tinkerd]

The Kid Christmas Sketchbook Part 2

A second peek behind the scenes of my latest book 'Kid Christmas: Of The Claus Brothers Toy Shop'

A few days ago I shared the scruffy, sketchy beginnings of what would become my sixth author/illustrator book ‘Kid Christmas: Of The Claus Brothers Toy Shop (Out NOW)

Today we are going to look at the next stage in creating the book: The Terrifying Rough First Draft stage.

First Draft

It’s not really that terrifying to be honest, but there is always a bit of trepidation when I send this off to my editor. It’s the first real look at how the book is going to turn out. Its when I see if the excitement and enthusiasm I felt in the sketchy stages is actually going to pay off and the book does have potential to be as good as I felt it would be.

I probably (definitely) do over think these things- everything can still be changed at this stage after all, so yes it probably shouldn’t cause as much stress as it does- but its still a daunting moment.

For the first draft rough I take my sketches from my sketchbook and basically spruce them up so that they are more presentable. I do this stage mainly digitally, using my hand drawn paper sketches as a blueprint and drawing over them with my fancy Wacom tablet. At the same time I will hone the idea and story structure as this process goes on.

A lot of further big creative decisions are made here too. In fact that happens a lot during the whole process. Things will change, story ideas will develop and artwork will be tweaked all the way up to it being prepared to print.

The first step of that happens after I send through the First Draft Rough. My editor and art director will have a say on the drawings and offer input on what to change and how to move the story along. Sometimes this can be pretty brutal as being an arty type I am automatically a big old control freak. But I very quickly learnt that making books is a wholly collaborative process. Even though my name is on the cover all of my books have very much been a creative collaboration.

Anyway, I’m rambling a fair bit now, so why don’t we just have a look at some of the pages from the first draft rough :)

The Cover

Around about the same time as creating the First Draft I will start thinking about the cover. The publishers don’t usually want to see a cover sketch until the books rough internal pages are all ready to go to artwork. But the cover is always on my mind. For me seeing the cover- all be it in sketch form- helps to characterise the entire book. So I often think of the cover very early on.

Another thing that publishers will like to see is a number of different options for the cover. So I aim to sketch out 5 or 6 for them to choose. I definitely had my favourite of the sketches and assumed that they would also go for it. However, I was very surprised that they went for the final design. I love it, and I can now totally understand why it was chosen. But my favourite was actually the image right at the start of this newsletter- with Nicky and his uncles standing proud outside the Toy Shop. Nicky isn’t even in his Santa costume - I thought that we should keep that a big secret- which I now look back on as being a bit of a crazy decision on my part. Again, it shows how important the collaboration aspect is to making books. Having other insights and opinions are really vital.

Ok, here is a look at the cover sketches that I presented, including the design that we ended up using.

Phew….so there we are.

Hopefully you have had a little further insight into the sketching stages of ‘Kid Christmas’.

Thank you so much for reading these two- slightly rambley- recollections of how the idea developed (you can read Part 1 HERE)

Great Thanks also to everyone who has read the book. I’ve been absolutely chuffed to bits with the response that the book has had and it has made all the hard work and trials and tribulations (as fun as they all are) worth it.

Happy Christmas all. Ho Ho Ho.

David :)

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton is interviewed on media day [part 3], miami, florida, u.s. - may 4, 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "I wanna talk about the movie. What made you want to do a movie?" Lewis: "I've always been... I love movies. I love TV. I've always been really fascinated by the art of filmmaking, always wanted to try and understand and learn more about it. I've been also going through a period of time... I'm on the latter part of my career-but I still have plenty of time left-but I'm on that second part of it, and I've been trying to focus on finding other things that I love, that, when I stop here, I can move onto and it's gonna be totally fine. And so fashion is an area that I love. I love being in the fashion world. I started a production company and the first movie, which is pretty hardcore... 'Cause I don't know where you go from doing a Formula 1 movie with Brad Pitt, but that's... We've got an amazing team. Brad is obviously our lead character. We've got Damson Idris, we've got a great crew, and I'm able to be a part of... I'm learning so much from Joe and Jerry and Brad, through the whole writing process, and I'm able to play a real role. We're on calls going through the script every week, so it's fascinating, and I really do want to utilize... I want Apollo to be creating opportunities for some unheard voices out there. I really wanna make my job... I think my role within this film that we're doing is really making sure that it is diverse. More often than not you don't have a diverse crew in the background, from all the directors at the top, there's perhaps not... And also on-screen. I wanna make sure it represents Formula 1 as it should be in the future, 'cause we're working towards being a more diverse and inclusive sport. More women should be involved here. So in the movie you will see more women in the roles that they should be in. You will see people of color that are also involved in it, so it's gonna be great." Interviewer: "I can't wait to see it. Okay, the last question I have for you, which just stands on its own: In terms of every race weekend, describe for me the role that an engineer has on your performance, and why it's so important to have the best engineers in place for your team." Lewis: "Well, there's a lot of engineers. We have, I think... There's tons of engineers here. There's probably at least fifty here, then there's another fifty also back at the factory in the mission control room that are on live with us, watching what's happening here, helping us churn through the data. From a driver's perspective, I have two immediate engineers that are helping me navigate the settings of the car, setup-wise, all the electronic controls, and geez, yeah, it takes a huge collaboration for us to get this thing moving. It's not a car you can just get in and switch on. I've got almost a hundred different settings. There's over a thousand settings on my steering wheel. And then, setup-wise, there's over a thousand different things you can change, so there's a lot of preparation work, there's a lot of data to go through. We were in the simulator on Tuesday. There's no time for rest, really, and it's really about how we can get the car working in the perfect window, and that's a real road of discovery."

[chipped-chimera]

Thought I'd do a little bit of a personal update! I'm doing the reorganising thing which is still slow but really motivating - enough that I'm having good energy days where I'm getting more done! I should be able to start work on the new fish tank soon!

More commentary/thoughts/where I'm going creatively below the cut. (It might be a bit heavy, you've been warned - check tags for more info)

EDIT: Fixed Tumblr borking this, now looks like how this WAS SUPPOSED TO oof

So I'm in the process of redoing my entire office just to fit this fish thank (which has now been leak tested so we're good to go), as well as reorganising based on tips I picked up from this book for people with ADHD that I've found massively helpful. Honestly it's been great for helping me just THROW SHIT OUT because while I can have my moments of ruthless detachment and clear inventory my family is very much a 'use/reuse/reappropriate' kind of deal, which while great often gives me hesitation throwing stuff out primarily because of that pressure - especially when I'm stuck living with them. Now I know it's necessary to get everything to a state where it will STAY organised.

It's also let me take inventory of the stupid amount of traditional media art supplies which have been sitting there since high school in near pristine unused condition (we are talking a LOT of very useable acrylic paints here) and get them all organised. After chatting with my psychologist yesterday I've bought more/replacements for things I had to throw out (literally dry as a bone markers) as she literally said she 'very much encouraged' my idea of starting a visual art diary to help process emotions and stuff.

I know over the years my inspiration to do stuff has withered, usually because it's been hammered by bad moods (caused primarily by external forces I could not control on top of my already battered neurology). I know now because of shit in my past that has been largely unresolved, art has never been an outlet for emotions for me because I'm so afraid of taking up space. Despite emotions being a powerful source for art, I rarely draw on them both because I have spent so much time trying not to feel them or hiding them because unfortunately my history is one of a lot of rejection, right down to a very young age where my caregivers should have been way more on the ball. It's helped me acknowledge my way of expressing love and affection is kind of fucked - when I feel close to someone or like them a lot it has the opposite effect where I instinctively want to pull away from them because I'm scared I'm going to 'ruin it', like my life is tainted and by associating with them I'll drag them down somehow. I know it's silly but it's very hard to get past because it's automatic - that was the only way I was guarenteed to get affection, if I was the most borin, biddable, palatable child in existence who caused no problems, even if it meant enduring physical and emotional pain alone. I inherently find it hard to trust people being genuine about liking me as a person because I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop when they realise I'm too much hassle - which unfortunately was the circumstance my relationship ended around so yeah, that did not fucking help. Basically I go from being really comfortable around someone to masking intensely and yeah that is NOT GOOD. I also legit feel the reason I have alexytheimia is because I had to develop a buffer so early in my life just to survive as far as I have.

I'm hoping art journalling will help me process some of those thoughts and feelings and I still want to try and show them, just to show myself they DO have value, they are a valid part of the human experience and they should be allowed to take up space - I do not need to hide them away or cut pieces of myself out to become more 'palateable' to people. So yeah um, I guess there will be some vent art, I don't know if I'll post only to my art blog or here because it's more sketchy shit and I reserve the art blog for finished pieces now ... either way knowing me it's going to be highly metaphorical and symbolic so I don't know how 'triggering' it could be but either way I'll probably tag the absolute shit out of it just to make sure I don't adversely effect someone (yes I am aware of the irony in me saying that as it's basically me trying to 'not ruin' things again but even putting it out there at all is a big enough step - also tags are just basic decency).

So uh ... That's what I've been up to? Also why I've been kind of shit about WIP Wednesday tagging and responding to other tag games (which I am now once again remembering a bunch of that I STILL have sitting in my motifs cause I still wanna do them ; m ;) I think I tend to get something like reverse SAD this time of year, arguably for the same reasons SAD develops - it gets so damn hot that I have the curtains closed in my office (which has the biggest window in the house) all day to keep the heat out. So arguably I have just made 'tiny dark winter' for about two months because I ain't going outside when it's over 30C (aka the temp tomorrow. And the day after THAT. Fuck I hate summer). Just instead of dark and cold it's dark and sweaty - feeling clammy also being a sensory problem for me so all around BAD TIME until the season changes :/

Outside of all that I'm speculating writing a wlw romance in a western setting because I have had on off cowboy rot since forever and I should probably do something with that already. Currently speculative Native American love interest/secondary protagonist with a background that probably touches on maybe the boarding schools and then reconnection with culture. We've had similar stories with our indigenous population in Australia unfortunately (colonialism is a plague) so I can sort of have some understanding but I probably need to hit the books on that one. For any Americans/Canadians reading this if you know some good books, PLEASE send me your references, I really want to make sure I do this right. I reblogged a post a few days ago about how Native Americans are often dehumanised in westerns and they just become part of the landscape, and I really want to push against that. Also do some contrasting against how oppressive western colonial era culture was by comparison to native culture honestly because I feel that would be a really interesting dynamic. Idk when/if stuff with this project will start happening but we'll see.

If you read this far, thanks! It's pretty validating to know people care this much, since it's hard for me to believe people do care a lot of the time because of all the above bullshit. So just so you know, I love you guys 💖 and you get a bonus cat:

Tiny p.s. living with my parents now is very different from when I was a child, I know the people who caused me hurt are long, long gone. They are not the same people anymore - so I am okay! It's still frustrating but more for the reasons of wishing I had my own (bigger) space to live in and put all my stuff and just 'I am a 30 year old extremely supressed lesbian speed running puberty and this environment is not conducive to exploring that' if anything. While I'm out with my Mum I can't like ... talk about that shit lol. So yeah, frustrating but for entirely different reasons. Just clearing that up.

[arknights-imagines]

hi! uh, this may not be your usual request fare, but i'm new to arknights (i started maybe a week before ideal city began) and i'm wondering if you had any opinions you'd like to share on who i should use my two senior operator transfer permits on? totally okay if not! i just only really have a 3-star squad (because ideal city's banner was not kind to me) and i was hoping to see how i'd best get utility out of the two 5 stars i can get

Hello there anon sbsjs 🥰!! I do hope you're well~

Dw at all aaa, you're always v welcome to come by my inbox for other Arknights stuff 👍! Now about your ask sbsjs!!

Welcome to Arknights then, omg aaa 🥳!!!

I do hope you've been enjoying the game so far and that it's been treating you well 🥺💕! (Though aaa no, I'm sorry to hear that the 'Great Axe and Pen Nib' banner was not-so-good for you 😭😭, I'm sending you more luck for future banners sbhzs 🍀!)

Anywho, yes aaa, of course 👍✨!!! I can definitely share some advice on which Operators I think would be best to use your Senior Operator Transfer Permits on 🤔! I'd be happy to be of service asbsjs~

I had to double-check who was included in the selection pool included for the Senior Operator Transfer Permits, and I decided on five Operators that I think would be v v useful and helpful to your Squad 🤔! (Since you mentioned you're rather new to the game, I also hope it's okay that I explain a lil regarding why I choose my choices here abaja!)

Sbsjs firstly, I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention Executor 😶👉👈!!!

I most certainly bring Executor everywhere I go because he's my ultimate Arknights favourite sbsjs, however I also do so because he's a v v powerful Operator!

His damage output is super high!! During Operations, I find that he can easily manage being a solo damage dealer for me 👍! I often leave him to handle areas of Operation maps by himself (with a melee help to block the incoming enemies sbsjs), and he doesn't have lots of trouble at all!

His Talent also penetrates DEF which is super useful against lots and lots of enemies!

Placing him in an advantageous position is important when using him, but otherwise he doesn't require much to operate well 👍!!

Secondly, I want to suggest Ptilopsis sbsjs ✨!!

She's been one of my two main Medics since I first began playing 💕!

Mostly, she's super useful because of her Talent sgsush, it causes all of your Operators to regenerate their Skill Points quite a bit faster 🤔!! This is always v v helpful during Operations aaa

I don't believe there's another Operator who does this exactly as she does, so this ability of hers makes her v special and unique 🥺!

Also, her second Skill outputs a good amount of burst healing which can save you lots if you're in trouble sbsjs!!

Thirdly, I want to suggest Texas!

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I've realized she's barely left my Squad since she's joined me sbjzha 😮✨!! I've never needed to replace her, she's v special 💕!!

When equipped with her second Skill, she generate Deployment Points, stun, deal Arts Damage, and Crowd Control shsjshs 👍!!! She does lots just with this, on her own!

Her Talent also starts off Operations with an extra Deployment Point or two, which is always helpful even if it's only by a lil sbhzs!

Fourthly, I want to suggest Elysium!

I want to mention that Elysium does his job the best in a Squad with many Sniper Operators sbsjs 🤔 (which my Squad often has!) so if you prefer using other Operator Classes more, he may not be as useful!

With both his Skills, he generates Deployment Points v quickly and particularly when equipped with his second Skill, he supports the other Operators on the Operation map 👍!

His Talent helps Sniper Operators by lots, reducing their Deployment Cost and increasing their ASPD when his Skills are activated!

And fifthly, last I want to suggest Lappland!

When I was a newer Arknights player and was still in the earlier phases of the game, I took her with me everywhere lololsbsj!

She offers lots and can do different things sgshs 🤔 She doesn't need much help to do as she needs to either!

Her second Skill converts her damage into Arts Damage for its duration, which enables her to output lots and lots of v large damage amounts ✨!!

Her Talent also gives her the ability to Silence the enemies she attacks, which is super useful and puts the enemies at a v large disadvantage 👍!

That's all five I wanted to talk about absjsh ✨! I do hope my advice helps you aaa 💞!!!

This is of course simply my opinions 🤔Definitely please keep in mind what your preferences and needs are when making your decisions anon 👍!! And certainly remember to have fun 🥳~

My inbox is always open so please never be worried about sending in any asks sbsjs 🥺! It's always my honour to be able to help 💕~

Anon, tysm for your ask 🥰! I hope you'll stick around and please have a great day 🌸!!!

(A small update agshsh: I'm still v busy irl, sigh 😭...! However I'm trying my best to work on stuff for the blog and to answer my asks 👉👈! I should have some free time during the next few days, so I'll be getting to my asks, the most recent ones first!)

[fuzzyfoe]

sorry! I should have been more specific! I meant more could someone do something similar to your daily creature thing?

Uh, yeah? I didn't invent the concept of drawing something every single day. I've seen other blogs on here where people draw one monster every day, one wolf every day, one pokemon every day, etc.

I think that everyone should give something like this a try! Not only can it help you improve your art rapidly, but it can also help you overcome your feelings/habits of perfectionism when it comes to your art.

You start off by telling yourself that not every daily creature has to be good, they're just silly little doodles/exercises and it's not supposed to be a serious art project or a representation of your best. Keeping up your streak should be more important than making sure every creature is good. If you're tired and had a long day, you just make a very simple creature that you spend no more than two minutes on and call it a night. If the idea of having to make a creature at all on days like that is too daunting, you're not allowing yourself to be lazy enough! Once this really becomes part of your routine, this attitude starts to bleed into your other art as well and not just your daily creatures, and it can help you start making more of the art that you actually want to make.

Before, I would keep thinking "aaarrrgh this isn't good enough, it takes me so damn long to make a single drawing that's mediocre while it seems like everyone else is able to churn out much better art at a much quicker pace than i can" and I would think that to myself without realizing that it was my own sense of perfectionism and comparing myself to other artists that was causing me to take so long to make a single drawing, and it was this attitude that was actually causing me to lose motivation to draw which led to me not making as much art, which is something I would then beat myself up for.

Now, I'm a lot better at being able to pry my focus away from the little details once they start to overwhelm me so I can actually enjoy what I'm doing. When I keep drawing part of something over and over and I still can't make it look quite right, I'm now able to tell myself that I'm allowed to just leave that part of it looking sloppy and be done with that part of the drawing if I want to. This isn't going to be the last drawing I'm ever going to make, I'll always have a chance to draw it again and get it better the next time. With this new attitude, I started to get done with each drawing a lot faster and I was making art a lot more often than I used to, even when I exclude the daily creatures.

You start to learn that quantity is actually better than quality when it comes to making art, because as the quantity of your art increases the quality of your art will naturally increase anyway. When you focus too much on the quality of your art over the quantity of your art, you're just going to end up not making a lot of art and the quality won't even increase very drastically or in any meaningful way because, well... you're not making a lot of art. I know this sounds a lot like very basic advice that all new artists are told, but it wasn't until I started doing the daily creatures that this actually really began to click for me and become ingrained in me.

Also, doing something like this is a great way to end up with lots and lots of new OCs. When you're making a unique character/creature design every single day, you're inevitably going to have a couple that you become really attached to, and you're gonna decide that you wanna do more with those. Right now I have over 20 of what I call "ascended creatures", which are what were originally daily creatures that now have names and personalities and backstories.

[racecarcat]

u mentioned Idylla and Mallory in dms, could u tell me more about them? they seem rlly cool! how do they get along with characters in hsr?

AHHHH HI HII!! Nice to see u again!! Idylla and Mallory Kohara r both my hsr ocs that I hold onto dearly (and project onto lolll) 💛 I’d love to tell you more about them,

Idylla comes from a planet that was mysteriously burnt to ashes one day and only a handful of people (including her and her younger brother, Nero) were taken by the IPC to be rescued! She worked there for a long time before she realized that she developed a deep-rooted hatred for how she’s treated (long hours, hard labor, no overtime, etc.) and how she believes the IPC could’ve done more to save everyone that had ultimately ended up dead, such as her mother and dearest friend. So she works until she can support both her and her brother to leave and start her own company! I haven’t given it a definite name yet, but it’s more transportation-based and she helps build and maintain machinery that’s used to travel—she travels a lot to various planets to help others in need to at the very least get them out of a poor environment should they fall into the hands of the IPC. So she’s basically a really stoic businesswoman who really cares for other people. She also likes to paint, and has an art exhibition she does of her paintings that are based on a girl named Sadako, which is one of her presumably dead friends from when she was a kid (Sadako isn’t actually dead, however Idylla doesn’t know this).

As for Mallory Kohara (she’s one of the few w/ a last name), she’s a worker in Penacony! She goes around and takes polls and surveys as to how people feel in the Dreamscape, as well as what they can improve and work and she relays that back to her boss (which would be Sunday in this context). She’s incredibly cheery and essentially indebted to the family for giving her a job because she has no prior experience—Mallory in reality is extremely sickly and struggles to even stand up on her own. She spent a lot of her days caring for her younger sister, Keres Kohara (another oc hehe) when she was younger and caused her condition to degrade thoroughly to the point she’s very close to death (in a metaphorical and literal sense) and it was especially in vain as to her knowledge, she doesn’t even remember her sister (she had her memory erased).

As for they interact with other HSR characters,

Idylla is extremely stoic and finds it very hard to express herself in a normal social setting. Shes great and handling official business, but small talk is not something in her repertoire. She often lets her brother take care of the social aspects of the business. She’ll even go as far as to hide her appearance as to not be spoken too. She is good natured, though. If she manages to get comfortable with someone, she can be more easy-going, but you’ll always hear her speak a lot about logistics and fact.

Mallory has no direct correlation to Idylla, but that being said she is her exact opposite. Mallory is an extremely bright and happy person, she’s sort of puppy-like in the sense she’s eager and enjoys being around other people. She can get along with anybody it’s almost scary. Mallory doesn’t have anybody she considers especially close to her, but she does enjoy other coworkers (such as Sunday and Gallagher) company! She has the tendency to ramble about everyday things and it blends into her work a lot do the time.

Thank you for the ask! And sorry this is a little long, these two I’ve worked on forever, considering they have other ocs that are also attached to their stories. Thank u nonetheless 💛

[aquaaquila]

Nice ideas overall, though I do have few critics, but I respect your work and I don'tmean to diminish it but I have to speak out on some parts:

For starters, Hunter's fashion sense is not as terrible as this fan base's exaggerates and even MM's comics about him hving bad fashion sense is neither supported in canon nor a reliable source. Hunter may not be a fashion king but he's also not a fashion disaster. His only miss washim going out in a cosplay thinking it's fashion, but that's more of a confusion caused by the kids having very little idea what Earth is like to begin with as they didn't get out too often all on their own.

However a shopping/fashion makeover episode is great as it was part of the montage and it could even give some spotlight to Vee gaining new identity and Camila perhaps struggling financially being shown. Granted I have to disagree on them going to hair salon because literally only Hunter got himself a haircut that in fact was home-made, meanwhile: Gus literally didn't change his hair at all; Willow's hair just became longer but she sports the same braids; Luz just lets her hair grow out but they also may not be in the best-shape; Amity refuses to dye her hair as the color starts to fade and roots prominently start to show; Vee just shapeshifts her hair; Camilaliterally stops tending to her hair and lets them be natural by allowing them to both grey and curl as she threw away the straightening iron.

I'd like to mention that Hunter and Gus have more interests than Cosmic Frontier and making everything regarding them this one-note just isn't right. It's already quite bad that Lumity never gets a chance to bond over something else than Azura, so it would be nice if both Lumity and the bromance of Hunter and Gus also got a bit more. After all Gus didn't introduce Hunter to Cosmic Frontier until like 2 days before Hunter getting possessed, so while I acknowledge and respect that perhaps Gus here introduces Hunter sooner to the book series, I do want to point out that once again, Hunter and Gus's interests don't end on Cosmic Frontier.

If we're going to include Masha being suspicious, then we might as well acknowledge the potential hurt Masha would feel over the truth, as I have to admit, the fan base at times gives Masha too much grace when it comes to dealing with what Vee did, as while I don't think Masha and Vee would have some terrible falling out, I could imagine Masha getting upset a little over her friend on who they might have a crush on ultimately choosing to not share the truth with, leaving their relationship to decay due to insecurities.

Reminder that when Willow and Amity were little, they both attended swimming classes outdoors, so no witches aren't entirely afraid of water and it's just the sea and the rain that are boiling, and Hunter's debut was him emerging out of boiling water (Which he was aware that could boil him and others) just to look cool. I think we should give witches more grace on when it comes to dealing with water.

We did saw Hexsquad being in the cinema in the end credits of TtT and I assume it was a horror movie so it is a good idea, but I have to disagree with Hunter hugging to Willow when he's scared because of Belos. Like I'm sorry, I understand the need to feed the shippers but that's not Hunter's body language to grab onto someone when he's afraid.

As cool as robotics episode idea sound cool, I have to remind you that Luz would most likely not craft anything with glyphs norwould even have any chance to use it. At least not in such point in the story. I guess the robotics episode could help with building the portal instead.

And this also brings me to the point of arts and crafts episode premise: First: Hexsquad has no phones as I doubt Camila would buy them any when they focus all their energy on getting back home and would just have no use of them with sole exceptions of Luz and Vee; Second: they wouldn't be bored to begin with, they would be working their butts off trying to go back home. Like literally for all they know with each day they're away from the Isles, the least likely is the chance of them reuniting with thier parents and saving the world. They have no time to lose and all of them misses Boiling Isles, so they would not be just sitting around doing nothing. I suggest a premise in which the kids are frustrated that none of their attempts worked at getting anywhere near going back to the demon realm work so they decide to take a break to relax to make arts and crafts.

I'm sorry but the pride episode feels like a joke out of place. Like seriously hate the jab at Disney who once again is the only reason why we have The Owl House in the first place the closest way Dana intended it to be and how Disney approved of everything gay in it. While Disney's company makes questionable decisions, at some points the jabs just aren't even true, like Disney is not specifically homophobic corporation, they're just a corporation that cares more about money and is otherwise indifferent, which is not the same.

Halloween episode should proceed as it did canonically as this part of episode at Halloween fare was perfect as it is and it was based of Hexsquad to save the world in their halloween costumes.

Otherwise I don't really have much else to say, once again I like your ideas but decided to add some seasoning to them that aligns with the show, but that's just my opinions.

I have ideas about what owl house S3 filler episodes would be like, because yes, we were robbed and yes I am repeating it even though it’s been said by everyone else already.

A fashion episode. Since ROTMNT had a whole episode with the turtles dressing up, why don’t the TOH cast do that since we saw a clip of that. Considering that Hunter is notoriously bad with fashion and @moringmark made a comic with Amity being horrified by Hunter’s fashion tastes which makes sense for her, I think they would have a good opportunity to build their character dynamics. I think it would also have them going to the hair salon with their hair cuts and getting their hair done, and they would have had to go to a random Halloween store in town to find fake human ears to stick them on. Of course them falling off would be a lingering threat. Of course Vee was just browsing the whole time so she has inspiration for what she was going to shape-shift into.

Movie night. They would watch a variety of things such as the Azura movies, since Lux and Amity love them, and Cosmic Frontier. Then I have a feeling that Willow would be all over nature documentaries, in particular ones centred around plants. In an episode before the episode where Luz returned to the human realm but in mirrors and phones, Vee was sitting with Camilla watching a documentary so maybe she also like nature documentaries, although she prefers the animal aspect, therefore getting to bond with Willow a bit. Camilla cries a bit from the nature documentaries and feels sentimental over the Azura movies cus Amity and Luz seem to be enjoying it so much and it reminds her a bit of Luz’s dad. She also withholds the urge to spill a bunch of facts about Cosmic Frontier and just reminisces about it.

One or two school episodes to focus on Luz. Aka her bullies if she has them, I mean she’s a neurodivergent bisexual kid who’s obsessed with witchcraft and draws weird stuff (glyphs and stuff from the demon realm) and also reads he Azura books and makes fan fictions, it’s an unfortunate reality. (Plus she does taxidermy). So we see her relationships with the students and the teachers and maybe her having to struggle to pretend like she knows what stuff Vee did with Masha when Vee was pretending to be her. Hence Masha starting to be a bit suspicious considering that Vee seems to bond with her quickly and feels familiar to her. Another thing, if Luz ever gets sick (which will be talked about later) Vee will shapeshift into Luz so she can get a little bit of education and so that she can bring Luz some of her work and all so she can spend time with Masha, plus she volunteers to because she likes school.

An arcade episode. Hunter and Gus go to some space one since it reminds them of Cosmic Frontier and Camilla lingers around them cus again she’s a secret nerd. Luz and Amity go to a magic combat game where you can customise your character, hence Luz spends a long time on hers and Amity helps her decide. Willow ends up acing all the sports games so she gets some alone time so we can see what she’s like by herself. They also all play Mario kart and they customise accordingly. Plus there’s this enclosed space at the arcade in my city and balls fall from the ceiling of it and fill it up as in plastic ball pit balls, and you need to put them in holes. I think Hunter would be a bit clumsy and Willow would ace it. Then Amity would have barely contained rage till it comes out and Luz is mildly shocked considering she’s usually so calm and composed. Willow takes a picture with Gus of Amity and they show it to her later.

THE BEACH EPISODE. The boiling sea means the witches are scared of the water. Luz is apprehensive for a split second cus she’s been in the demon realm for a while. Hunger is more scared since he sank into the ground in hollow mind so he goes with Willow to see the plants nearby that grow there, e.g. palm trees. So the two scale up walls and trees to pick leaves and fruit for Gus to collect as specimens since he joins them for a bit. Later they play volleyball together. However, Willow then goes to swim and encourages Hunger to join in. Luz and Amity just jump off stuff together and splash around plus they have a conversation with Camilla. Vee and Gus then decide to do something together so Vee writes down in Gus’ notebook for a bit but Gus ends up showing her how to do shorthand. Vee also sees Masha and they do stuff together and swim together a bit since Vee plucks up the courage to ask her if she wants to since Masha came alone after her friends were too busy.

An indoor trampoline park episode. Again Hunter, Willow and Gus do tricks and stuff like in grudgby and the two mention Cosmic Frontier so that they both nerd out about it to Willlow. Luz and Amity do stuff and Amity twists her ankle and gets scooped up by Luz as a throwback. Vee invites Masha to join them so she does stuff with her, I have a feeling Masha would like DnD and they both roleplay that they’re in DND as they run about in an obstacle course and jump into the soft trampoline thing from that really tall ledge like they’re escaping something by jumping into a river after a heist or something. They’d also climb like they’re on a cliff on the climbing walls. And they’d use the Tarot cards (I think that’s the name) to decide what they’d do as predictions and stuff. I dunno.

Sick day episode. Since Luz had that in one episode in one the witches are gonna get the common flu along with Luz and her mum. The witches are convinced it’s dramatically bad and is like the boiling isles version and how crazy it made Luz (I’m not sure if that’s what happened with Luz). In this one Vee would shapeshift into Luz to be at school and bring back her work plus cus she likes school as mentioned before.

Luz and Amity getting a dinner date and I dunno stuff like that.

The zoo episode. There will be the giraffe gag as was showed in S3 and they’ll run around and gave fun. Since I have gotten the theory that Vee might like animal stuff I think that she might volunteer at the zoo and therefore gives them special access to the behind the scenes. Camilla is at work in this home so she can’t chaperone them, therefore they get into more shenanigans. Luz stays around the bird section with Hunter as she looks at the owls and Hunter looks excitedly as the birds that look a bit like Flap Jack. Hunter however, gets especially obsessed over the wolves, Luz also says the snake fact with them shedding their skin and Amity looks at the cats and enjoys a cat cafe at the zoo. Gus looks at the chameleons and takes notes before taking notes of the humans themselves. Willow goes to the insect exhibit and looks at the insects, and chiefly the plants. They also accidentally robbed a gift shop.

THE CINEMAAA. I know there’s already a movie night idea but ya know… they all watch an old movie that Luz’s grandparents on her dad’s side take them to watch. Cus I dunno they just visit and I wanna see them watch an old movie kinda like ‘Italian Job’, as an example. Or something with Charlie Chaplin but they probably wouldn’t be that old, those are just examples since we haven’t actually met them if they’re actually alive. There might be a horror movie alternatively and they all get spooked when there’s something that looks a bit like Belos, Hunter in particular shakes and ends up hugging Willow whilst everyone holds hands together (aka the whole group together). Or they watch a romance one and they jokingly tease Luz and Amity for being so cheesy I guess.

Robotics Club Episode. So here’s the context for why I randomly thought this up: I was sitting outside at break, a nice person in my friend group picked me up and yeeted me into robotics club with everyone else and now I’m there with zero experience or knowledge regarding coding. Now I need to reference @moringmark again, look this person just makes such good TOH content- I- I have to. Basically there was a comic with Luz making a vehicle with glyphs in the boiling isles so maybe she has a small amount of inspiration and experience with a robotics club in her town and it ends up being an activity she does with Amity since she is also quite techy due to her dad. Therefore, she can also get into thinking about combining human technology with abomination tech.

An arts and crafts day, everyone at the house is bored and are just scrolling on their phones so Camilla sets out arts and crafts stuff for them to do: Luz draws fanart and does some taxidermy; Gus makes a display and/or a poster/homemade fact book thing about human history and the stuff he’s learnt about the culture; Willow makes plant wreaths, daisy chains and plant sculptures as well as doing her best to paint some pots; this is where Hunter gets to work with a sewing machine and basically sews abominable outfits and a bunch of wolves onto said outfits; Amity creates a technological thing aka where there’s the whole thing with balls rolling down into different slides and triggering stuff but with abomination magic mixed in to help; and Vee makes a couple of character sheets and plot ideas for DND (look I’m gonna admit it, I wish I could figure out how to play it but I don’t know where to look so eh I have no idea).

A convention episode. Now, they’re all nerds, they should go to a comic con convention or something. They will do it and I’m making them do it. Luz and Amity will go to the very small area with one or two artists for the Azura book series where there’s a bunch of fellow fans dressed up as characters from the books showing off fanart and getting it signed. Gus and Hunter will go to Cosmic Frontier stuff and Willow will join with Luz and Amity. Vee does DND stuff with Masha and the rest of their friend group. Gus and Hunter find Camilla at a stall drawing commissions and selling merch for cosmic frontier which she was keeping hidden from them. (She hides various requests for NSFW). Due to the cosplayers, Hunter and Gus think about outfits for the future.

Pride March/Fayre Episode. This is how Luz gets her bi badge and how Camilla gets her LGBTQ+ support badge which was donating to a lgbtq+ charity. They all have fun, until Disney shows up as Belos and screams at them that they’re not the Disney brand.

A Halloween Episode. They showed us it but maybe if we got showed it with more time and then making their cosplays then that would be fun.

Vet Episode. Maybe it would be fun to see Camilla working at the vets but eh.

Cooking episode?