#you're so epic awesome I appreciate it

[lvcisx]

your art is SO EPIC AWESOME!!!

WTF thank you:-)

[lilacthebooklover]

GOLDMOTH82 APPRECIATION POST!!!

(because she deserves the world and i love her to bits <3333)

Moth is:

A PHENOMENAL writer. It's been an absolute joy to see her improve & continue over the years, and I always adore reading her work so so much!!

An ATRONOMICALLY amazing artist. That level of talent??? Insane. Mind-boggling. Absolutely astounding in the absolute best way possible <33

Absolutely STUNNING. I know she's never shared pics of herself on here (and understandably so!!) but believe me when I say she is drop-dead gorgeous.

A top tier best friend! She's so supportive & sweet, and I love being able to chat with her about our lives! She's interesting, she's funny, she's an absolute banger of a person

THE BEST. Indisputably at the top of the Best List, tied with only a select few others. If the world was ending, I'd want Moth to be on my survival team not only bc she kills everything she does (muehehe puns) but because she is such marvellous company and someone I'd be cool with dying alongside in the apocolypse :D

Thank you Goldie for being such a gem of a person <33 I'm so so happy we met!! Sending you lots & lots of hugs <3<3

REBLOG WITH YOUR AGREEMENTS AND ADDITIONS BC SHE IS SO SO WORTHY OF LOVEEEE

[downbadspanishlad]

WARNING: Some of the following content may be slightly triggering due to discussion of abuse and trauma. Please don't read further if reading about that stuff could possibly hurt you! You're valid!

Masculinity in Baldur's Gate 3:

As a trans guy who didn't have friendly male rolemodels growing up, the male companion characters in Baldur's Gate 3 mean so much to me.

While Astarion is clearly my favorite, I have a huge amount of love and appreciation for all the companion characters (male and female). But it's the several types of masculinity the male companion characters have that offer something for male and/or masculine folks like me to aspire to (in some way or another).

Disclaimer: I've unfortunately not had the time to interact much with Minsc, therefore I won't be including him in this post, but he seems like a lovely and cool dude overall, so please don't take his absence as a sign of me not liking him.

Astarion:

Astarion's interest in murder/violence and being mean at times are definitely not things to aspire to, but I do understand why he does what he does. His trauma is no excuse for his actions, but they do explain a lot (He also becomes much kinder as you progress through his story, revealing that he's actually a pretty kind hearted dude that puts up a rough exterior as a method of defense).

I really like Astarion for a lot of reasons. The first reason is the fact that he is a masculine character that is ALSO an explicitly queer, slightly effeminate man with trauma.

In terms of being "explicitly queer," I mean this clip from this video:

As someone who doesn't neatly fit into the stereotype of being a "MANLY man", let alone society's expectations of what it means to be a "real man," Astarion's effeminate nature is something I deeply appreciate. 

(Note: That's not me trying to insinuate that trans guys me aren't 'real men.' It's solely about commenting on how men who are trans, hell - even cis dudes who are gender non-conforming, are often told they're 'not real men').

Astarion's very theatrical in his demeanor, and it's one of the things I love most about him. He's hilarious, he's fun, and he's able to be the way he is without being shamed and emasculated for it. I grew up and currently live in an area where being as theatrical and fun as Astarion is something that can get you shamed or even physically hurt for not being "man enough" in that way. 

I've also often felt very insecure in my masculinity for being queer and possibly being "not masculine enough" for people. Don't get me wrong - being gay is epic (and gay people are epic), but it has absolutely nothing to do with a person's gender or how they express themselves. Toxic masculinity, however, is something that suggests otherwise, and I'd be lying if I said I'd never felt insecure in my masculinity because of my sexuality (I admit that it's something I'm still working on too). But that's exactly why I love the fact that Astarion lives in a world where he can be as flamboyant, expressive, and as queer as he wants while still being seen as masculine.

I also love that bi/pan erasure is (overall) not a thing regarding the ladies of the BG3 fandom. Astarion is especially popular amongst the girls and the gays, and I think that's EPIC! I really love that Astarion lives in a world where he doesn't have to worry about people saying that his sexuality isn't a real or valid thing. It's really awesome, and I love that the women of the BG3 fandom (straight and LGBT) are completely cool about it.

And I definitely don't want to equate my trauma with anything Astarion has been through (especially as someone who isn't a survivor of sexual violence or physical abuse), but I also really love Astarion as a character because I find a lot of comfort in how Astarion's trauma is dealt with in his story.

So long as you (the player) treat him with the respect and dignity he deserves, Astarion is never shamed or made to feel "less than" for his trauma. The story of his trauma is treated with proper respect and care, and I absolutely love that. 

He makes me feel less alone and weird for how my own experience with abuse has left me with inner demons that I've yet to overcome. Like him, I experience night terrors due to my trauma. It's a very scary thing to deal with. And as a man, it makes me feel very small, ashamed, and pathetic. But seeing Astarion go through it and not having that be something he's shamed for is something I deeply appreciate. I know he's fictional, but seeing a character as cool as him going through that too makes me feel less alone and weird for it.

Wyll:

Wyll is a close second favorite character of mine. He's just an awesome, epic, badass guy! He's the kind of man I aspire to be. He does everything he can to help others, he cares deeply about doing what's right, he's a huge nerd/dork, and he's got the biggest heart amongst the companion characters (which says a lot in my opinion since he's got Karlach and Halsin as stiff competition for that category). He's very cool and lovely, and I really hate seeing how underappreciated he is as a character.

I absolutely love the meme of people saying that Wyll was the only origin character to dust himself off and head back to doing what he was doing before getting kidnapped and infected by the mindflayers. This man is too selfless and rad to take a break from teaching the tiefling children in Emerald Grove.

I do want to give credit for this meme to this cool dude called Azeem (aka Black Purist).

As well as this post here on Tumblr.

Gale:

I'll admit, I didn’t really care for Gale at first. But the more I got to know him, the more I realized that this dude is (most certainly) on the spectrum. That's not a canon thing, but I absolutely believe that he is. It's not a bad thing either (and I say that as someone who is also autistic). Honestly, realizing that many of his traits are autistic recontextualized certain things about him and helped me like him way more.

I'm not happy to admit this, but I think I didn't like Gale much at first because he reminded me a lot of myself (due to his autistic characteristics). That's some internalized ableism that I need to work on lmao. Anyways, after doing some self-reflection and giving his character a proper chance, I realized that Gale is actually really cool.

I really appreciate how straightforward Gale is as a communicator. The dude puts everything out in the open, for better or worse. He has no ulterior motives and does his best to make his intentions very clear. Love him or hate him, Gale is a dude you're not afraid of (unless you're a bad guy or something).

I also appreciate how passionate the man is about the stuff he's dedicated his life to (magic, which is most certainly his special interest). Gale is also very kind and open-minded, a good example of this being what he has to say about Astarion's vampirism.

Overall, Gale is an excellent man, and I really appreciate the sort of masculinity that his character represents.

Halsin:

So long as you save him and the Emerald Grove, Halsin is totally chill with you from the first moment you meet him. He's very kind, upfront, and non-judgemental, which is pretty cool.

I also really appreciate how much he cares about consent. Halsin is polyamorous, and if he expresses romantic interest in the player character and the player character happens to already be in a relationship, he makes sure to not pursue anything without the expressed consent of both the player character and their partner. 

I know caring about consent is a bare minimum thing to do, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people irl who don't care about it, which is why I greatly appreciate how Halsin (and also BG3 as a game) treats consent as an essential, inherent part of romantic and sexual relationships. Very cool, indeed!! 😎💖🌟💫

[libbytwq]

hey can i be sappy for a moment, i feel like getting a thing off my chest (positive vent)

I love you all in the SMG4 Tumblr community so much. Y'all are absolutely epic and amazing and so creative and just. chill.

I've always been so nervous about joining set fandoms/fandom communities, cuz usually the community is huge and overwhelming, toxic, scary, crazy, and the idea of being in those communities and interacting with people in those communities and being in there not just to post a dingle fanart from it and dip, but to help be a big part of the community and whatnot sounded... overwhelming.

Then I slowly began getting super hyperfixated on SMG4, much more than I usually am, leading me to post more about it. Fanart, things I notice, goofy theories... more than just me saying a couple things i like about it, posting a fanart, then moving onto something else.

I started kinda just exploring the SMG4 tags and gradually, I began recognizing most of the people in this community more and more -- recognizing art styles, etc. I noticed how small a community it was.

And it was a mostly chill community. I wasn't really seeing much drama or questionable things, maybe some criticisms about the show or theories or whatever, but nobody was at each others throats. Plus, the fan OCs were super neat.

I had begun posting more and more SMG4 content, drawing fanart, their OCs, and the fact people were so just... chill and welcoming about it was so nice. It wasn't nearly as scary -- we are all just vibing here. Most of the artists you look up to will probably see your work, and give it attention too.

It feels super strange to be considered an SMG4 Tumblr artist, having people literally enjoying the things I make and making things for me when they make things for SMG4 fanartists... its honestly super surreal. But so so exciting and euphoric.

Cuz yall are so awesome!! Yall make my day so bright. Yall are the best.

I'll be honest, when I first was slowly being a part of the SMG4 community -- sometime right after summer vacation began -- I had been dealing with some petty but difficult irl person issues.

I don't want to get into it too much, but I had basically messed up in a pretty bad way (enough to make me feel bad the moment I did it, but not enough that we couldn't move on and mature from it), and the people involved were hurt worse than I thought they were, and instead of trying to talk it out they resorted lying about being my friends for months before school ended, and over summer break, tried to cancel one of my Scratch account and drag my followers there into drama that they had no business being in, for the simple reason being "you don't deserve all that fame".

Despite their attempt at trying to cancel me not really working out very well, it very much affected me negatively and made me very very scared about using Scratch again. I still post projects there sometimes, but i felt weird when i do it. I felt like those people were watching my every move, waiting to try and drag me down again. It felt so strange and scary to feel like the people I once cared so deeply about are breathing down my neck, waiting for me to make another wrong move and add it to their proof of why I'm an awful person.

It sucks ass.

The SMG4 community here on Tumblr, despite none of you knowing I was going through anything at all, you all helped a lot. Just existing.

Being a welcoming community that I feel safe to be silly and normal in.

I've never been the best at expressing appreciation, but let me just say:

I think of you all so highly and I never want you to change.

Keep making silly art. Or fanfics. Or AUs. Or OCs. Or whatever you like doing in this tiny close-knit fandom.

Keep doing everything you're doing to make this community mean so much to me.

❤️❤️❤️

...this sounds like im leaving the community,, IM NOT I just wanted to get it off my chest cuz ive been experiencing the emotions™ yknow, sorry that its not like my regular posts lol, im not gonna post like this much LMAOOO

TL;DR: yall are fuckin awesome please keep being awesome forever and ever ily bye

[genderqueerdykes]

as a young trans man and a butch, you've really helped me feel more comfortable and confident identifying how i do and you are so incredibly awesome, this isn't asking anything i just wanted to tell you you're epic

thank you so much for sending this i really appreciate it!

i am so glad to hear from other trans men who are butches! honestly being on this website has been great for that reason. it makes me happy when i hear things like this! i'm glad i could help you feel more comfortable! there are so many trans men who are or were butches and it's honestly awesome. it's a very wonderful intersection to fit into. you're epic too, thank you very much!

[clouds-of-wings]

Because Spotify doesn't really know that much about my listening habits and because I enjoyed writing this kind of post last year I'll once more make a post about my ACTUAL musical favourites this year. So here goes! Album time!

Grendels Sÿster: Abstieg in die Traumkammer (2024, heavy/folk metal) -- This was by far my favourite album of the year. It came out this August. First album by the band, and what a debut! The album has an English version too (which you can also find if you click the link), but I vastly prefer the German one. The lyrics are really excellent and they fit so, so well with the character of the German language. Musically I would say they sound like "early Týr with a female punk singer", the lyrics feature retellings and re-imaginings of various mythologies and mythological themes of the world, ranging from Norse to Greek to (on their EP) Hinduism or even Tolkien's Valar. They once called their genre NWONOEM (New Wave of Nerd-Oriented Epic Metal).

Other albums I liked, in no specific order:

Kornalyn: Intemporel III (2024, folk) -- Kornalyn has been at this for a few years. He's a French anarchist and folk musician who records modernized versions of traditional leftist & worker songs. He's versatile, he's talented, he's got spirit and a great voice. Worth checking out whether you're a comrade, a history enthusiast or a folk fan.

Alice Longyu Gao: Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn and Retire (2023, hyperpop) -- Okay, I'm versatile too. Or at least not so set in my ways that I can't appreciate different genres than I normally listen to. Alice's hyperpop songs have a chaotic artistic spirit that I find charming. In a way, some of her songs are pretty metal-ish too - they remind me a little of old SOAD songs. She's funny, she's innovative, she's a delight.

Stonefield: The Light of Lies (1990, prog rock) -- Some awesome prog rock from the 90s. The singer sounds like DIO. If you like the hammond organ, CLIK TEH LINK! If not, click it anyway, you may start to! When I tried to find out which year the album was from, I found their EP The Eyes of the Dawn (1989), which is also so fun.

Alvader: Hereniging (2024, folk metal) -- Hey you! Do you like Heidevolk? If you found this post through the folk metal tag I bet you do. In this case definitely listen to this band. It's made up of ex-members of Heidevolk and sounds a lot like the "original".

HammerFall: Avenge the Fallen (2024, power/heavy metal) -- What can I say about this one. It's HammerFall. It rules by default. It sounds like all their other albums. HammerFall are one of the few bands where that's a compliment.

molllust: In Deep Waters (2015, symphonic metal) -- There is no music I like better than symphonic metal that takes the "symphonic" part really, really seriously. molllust are one of the few bands that do. Between Janika Groß's gorgeous orchestrations and her operatic voice, this is one of the bands that give me hope for the genre. At first I actually found their older stuff too inaccessible, but after I listened to the newer and more straight-forward Mother Universe album a lot last year, In Deep Waters became a lot more approachable to me.

Wintersun: TIME II (2024, Extremely Delayed Technically Complete Symphonic Death Wish Metal) -- I still can't believe my eyes, or ears. Am I dreaming? Is this the real life? It's really out! And Nuclear Blast didn't even give it a digibook edition (I have the one of TIME I and thought I might have a matched set one day). Is this because their corporate overlords don't care about physical media or are they just so DONE with the album, and Jari in general, that they didn't make more of an effort out of spite?

Norrsinnt: Djupt inni skoga (2024, folk metal) -- Somewhere between heavy folk and very folky metal. A collection of songs the artist released individually over the past years, but the album only came out a short while ago. He fortunately seems to have decided against using an AI image as cover art in the end, so I don't feel bad listing this album here. Oh, there are albums that I found this year and liked musically which I'm not listing for this reason, definitely! I'm glad this one isn't among them, because I've known all these songs for years and I'm quite fond of them, and of the power and originality of the vision behind this project.

Nightwish: Yesterwynde (2024, symphonic metal) -- I didn't expect too much from this album, but ended up really liking it! My favourite parts are, of course, the orchestral passages. I like how Nightwish are still capable of evolution, new paths, instead of being stuck in the 2000s. And, after all, what could be a more fitting topic for music that's as larger than life as symphonic metal than just the totality of existence, the universe, the human equation, the meaning of it all?

Romuvos: Spirits (2024, folk) -- Pagan Folk, immersive, meditative, dark. I don't have much to say about this, other than that I have listened to it a lot this year.

KAMIJO: ??? (????, symphonic power metal) -- I usually only have albums on this list because I'm old-fashioned like that, but that's really unfair to Kamijo, who's my top artist of the year on Spotify and whose greatest songs are spread out across a multitude of single bonus tracks and short EPs. So I will link his song TEMPLE and say doumo arigato gozaimasu, vampire prince rockstar-san, nay, -sama!

---

I also continued my exploration of the world of opera. Since I think I'm beginning to know my taste, there were a lot of works I started and didn't finish, but some I liked very much. My favourite was L'elisir d'amore (1832), which I watched in two different versions and listened to all summer. It's a rather light-hearted one, but the music is nevertheless dramatic, it's fast, it's powerful and... somehow rich. And it's just pretty, I'm not immune to the charms of the easily lovable Italian opera, or of Rolando Villazon and his musical and comedic talent. I'd definitely recommend this recording even to people who have never watched an opera before.

I also really liked Eugene Onegin (1879, can't find the recording now) - much more tragic than the one above, few operas I've watched had a better plot, I read the novel it's based on afterwards - as well as a whimsical 1979 recording of L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643) and a gorgeous staging of Atys (1676, only French subs here, sry). Baroque opera is superior to the later stuff according to me. The beautiful music, the melancholic observations on life in the libretto, the way the operas always seem to reach for the divine, beyond the limits of mundane human existence - it strives for perfection, and my ears think it comes close.

And that's my musical breakdown of the year :)

[imasillygooose]

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:Haii!!✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Haii!! I'm Em :3

✰ I'm a minor (Not a literal child tho, lmao) So no NSFW please!

✰ I go by any pronouns, with a preference of they/she/he!!

✰ I'm from Scotland!!

✰ I'm pan and ace 🏳️‍🌈!!

✰ I'm autistic!!

✰ I also feel like it's worth noting that Em is my chosen name, not my birth one!!

✰ Asks are off for the time being, I'll turn them back on later :3

~ Putting a cut here because this is a long ass intro post ~

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:Special interests & Faves✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

(Bold & pink stars are main ones atm!! I won't post much about a lot of these btw, they're just things I really like!! 🦆🗣️)

StarKid!!

I love all StarKid shows, but the ones that I mainly hyperfixate on are:

✰ The Hatchetfield Series (Including both seasons of NMT)!!

✰ Starship!!

✰ Cinderella's Castle (I'm waiting for the YT release, so no spoilers please!!)

Musicals!!

✰ Heathers!!!

✰ Hamilton!

✰ Spies are Forever!!

✰ Epic: The Musical!!

TV shows!!

✰ Doctor Who / Torchwood!

✰ Buffy The Vampire Slayer!

✰ Gravity Falls!

✰ Arcane!

✰ Over The Garden Wall!

✰ Steven Universe!

✰ Misfits!

✰ Agatha All Along!

✰ Being Human (UK)!

Music!!

✰ Any & all StarKid music!

✰ James Marriott!

✰ Will Wood (And The Tapeworms)!

✰ Lemon Demon!

✰ Chappell Roan!

Content Creators!!

✰ Team StarKid!

✰ Dan and Phil!

✰ Tubbo!

✰ Smosh!

✰ ColeyDoesThings!

✰ Thomas Sanders!

Other Stuff!!

✰ Night in the woods!

✰ Undertale / Detlarune!

✰ Spiderman / Spiderverse!

✰ Mouthwashing!

✰ Heartstopper (books more than TV show)!

✰ Smosh Vs Zombies!

✰ Scream (1996)!

✰ The Magnus Archives!

Characters and people I think are really cool atm!!

✰ Jon Matteson!

✰ Viktor (Arcane)!

✰ Michael Shelley / Michael The Distortion!

✰ Tim Stoker! 🛶

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:Moots✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

I love all of my moots!! They're all super awesome!!

✰ You're always more than welcome to interact with me / message me!! I love hearing from all of you!!

✰ Please feel free to @ me whenever!!

✰ Asks are welcomed and appreciated!!

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:Other Info✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

✰ I post daily pictures of Jon Matteson!! (The tag is "Daily Jonmatt"!) [Currently taking a break]

✰ My ask tag is "Goose answers"!!

✰ My reblog tag is "Goose reblogs"!!

✰ My random posts are tagged "Goose rambles"!!

✰ I have a Hatchetfield oc rp blog!! It's @thathatchetfieldconspiracist if you're interested!! [Not currently active :(]

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:That's all!!✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

✰ I hope you have a great day!! ✰

[stinky-winky28]

Hehe, I have been summoned 😈😈

So I could not help but notice how lovely u drawn someone else's oc and I found myself roaming the "ask me anything" button so I would like to have the honor for you to draw my oc, Jonas and daphine (their a couple hehehe) completely alr if you don't wanna do this request

MUCH APPRECIATED 🙏🙏

I DON'T WANNA 😡😡😡

I freestyled the eye colors bc it's not mentioned

there's a stupid couple picture for you since they're A COUPLE 🤮🤮🤢🤢

My epic strat for being so awesome is procrastinating for like a day or so and then I stalk your account for about 15 minutes gathering every single piece of information that I can find about your ocs and then making the drawing

Also just a reminder that I'll put in place

IF YOU'RE GONNA DO AN ASK OF AN OC ESPECIALLY GNB PLEASE SAY THEIR EYE COLOR OR I'LL FREESTYLE IT ‼️‼️‼️

[sevensees7]

i need to yap about scylla and why it's the best song in all of epic the musical for a moment. i'm not knowledgable with music theory nor am i a lyricist, i know absolutely nothing about music other than 'it sounds good,' so sorry if i use the wrong music terms here!

not lyric related like the rest of this post, but can we just appreciate how the song tries to lull you into a sense of security with the light instrumental and vocals at the beginning, yet the synth adds a strange sense that something's not quite right? no? just me?

what's so awesome is that every. single. lyric. in this song is negative. not a single thing is positive.

SO STARTING FROM THE BEGINNING:

"the lair of scylla" we tend to associate lair with villain, aka a dangerous thing/place, so just from that word you know something is wrong.

"this is our only way home" implies that this path they must go through is dangerous, something bad is gonna happen

"you're quiet today" "not much to say" trying to be kind and bring up the mood -> immediately shot down. OR being passive aggressive -> mood is down from the start. depends on how you interpret it honestly.

"you hide a reason for shame" you're ashamed by your secret and the way eurylocus immediately says "i have a secret i can no longer keep" (which is also implied to be negative based on the increasingly desperate tone) proves that.

"you know that we are the same" you + implied monster = same, probably not great.

even if you hadn't listened to any other song, due to the 'drop' and "i am so sorry," you know that eurylocus opening the wind bag was a massive mistake in some way.

"leaving them feeling betrayed, breaking the bonds that you've made, there is no price we won't pay, we both know what it takes to survive" = you betrayed and deeply hurt those around you for your own survival, selfish motivations.

"forgive me" no response, again no positivity allowed, despite how much eury tries!

THEN, THEN THE FUCKING FULL SPEED AHEAD PART

in full speed ahead, it's hopeful and happy! "ithacas waiting, my kingdom is waiting, penelopes waiting for me so full speed ahead!" = i wanna see my people, and most importantly my loved ones, as soon as i can so row fast! everyone is desperate to get to ithaca and you can hear it in their voices, ody almost sounds like he's tearing up at the idea. the last big full speed ahead, it's all coordinated, all the crew members are harmonizing, they wanna get the island over and done with so they can get home and see their own loved ones too, just like ody!

but in scylla, at first they try to harmonize again like before, but they mess up, they've gone through so much that they're hearts just arent in it as much as they used to be. they're tired, they want to get home, it's just that now that wish seems so far away. they stumble and say "full speed ahead" over each other to show how uncoordinated they are, HOW DISTRUSTFUL THEY ARE OF NOT ONLY ODY BUT QUITE POSSIBLY THE OTHER CREW MEMBERS! cause who knows what they were thinking when eurylocus confessed he opened the bag! did they know he opened it and were upset the truth finally came to light by the man himself? were they unaware and thus surprised at the confession, adding even more chaos to their attempted harmony? both??

"deep down, we only care for ourselves" speaking to both ody and eury, we're all selfish inside. we care only for our survival at the end of the day. ody will do whatever it takes to get himself home, foreshadowing later events, while eurylocus was deeply selfish in wanting to know what was in the bag (and possibly hinting toward mutiny?)

"eurylocus, light up six torches" despite being said in a somewhat ominous tone, you can't really dechipher the intentions behind this order. it's mysterious with said with no emotion, like ody is already disassociating and running on autopilot. he's making himself as emotionless as possible as to not feel guilty of his actions. he needs to do this, he can't regret it for even a second, he can't second guess himself and wonder if this is the right option, he just needs to do it.

"deep down, we're lonely demons from hell" i don't think i really need to explain this. we're selfish, we're cruel, and we're lonely, especially the crew on the ship - they've been away from their families for a decade, trust in their captain is getting weaker, and they don't realize scylla is warning the crew of both her and odysseus' intentions. they haven't accepted themselves to be monsters, they're oblivious to her words, hence why they only sing "deep down." she is telling everyone that he's selfish and will betray them if it benefits him.

scylla and ody have accepted they're monsters, they're one in the same. he's gonna sacrifice six of his crew so he can get home, and she's gonna accept those sacrifices, both doing so for their own personal, selfish desire to survive.

"captain, something approaches" very...neutral, but based on everything so far, you know it can't be good. interesting note: something approaches, not someone approaches. you're never told what scylla looks like, all you know is that she doesn't appear human enough to warrant a someone. i adore the immediate contrast between her polite "hello" and the imposing instrumentals that follow, like something terrible, whatever just greeted us, is revealing itself. her voice isn't as human as it was previously, but she's still somewhat kind. perhaps she has some humanity still in her, but scylla, like odysseus, has let her monsterous side practically consume her. once more, they're the same - they don't want to do this, but will anyway. OR she's mocking them, saying "hello" as a way to show she's intelligent, a cunning monster just like ody is.

the fact that we're never given a hint as to what this monster looks like other than she's an intelligent and can growl is perfect horror, there's nothing more terrifying to a human than the unknown. "row for your lives!" two directions could be taken with this line: either ody is genuinely scared or simply pretending. either way, i think that in this moment, odysseus is trying to get the ship out of there so no more lives are taken then necessary. if it's the first option, he didn't know more about scylla other than a cost needed to be made so actually seeing her made him forget his goal and focus on the survival of him and his crew for a moment. if not, then this line may have also been him being selfish, you row for your lives so i can get home. fully up to interpretation! one more thing with this, i find it interesting how odysseus doesn't say full speed ahead? now this could absolutely be a stretch, but i think there's a reason he doesn't; he is so disconnected from his crew, so set on a selfish goal that him never saying "full speed ahead" (like that section tries to set up) is a betrayal in and of itself. his goals aren't aligned with the crews anymore - "i want to get home" vs "we want to get home." NOW WE GET TO SCYLLAS PART - credits to a comment i read in the song's comment section (written by thomasdeclerc18310) cause i would have never realized this if not for that. screenshot of that comment is below the cut! in her first verse, she's talking to the crew:

"drown in your sorrow and fears" they feel sorrow as their own captain willingly, unbeknownst to them, sacrifices them. they feel fear when being attacked by a nightmarish monster. "choke on your blood and your tears" exactly what it sounds like, they're crying from the betrayal as she kills them.

"bleed 'till you run out of years" they die, maybe even bleeding out on the ship or in her stomach as we aren't told what's happening. we can hear the screams of the crew, we know she's attacking, but the how is a complete mystery. "we must do what it takes to survive" scylla is selfish, she must do what it takes to survive. she's speaking for all monsters here, as well as her other heads (though if you know nothing about her, you wouldn't know this).

in the second verse? now she's talking to odysseus:

"give up your honor and faith" ody is officially letting go of his morals both as a king and a captain when he sacrifices them, he loses his personal honor and faith in himself, as does the crew. "live up your live as a wraith" ody will live the rest of his life crushed by guilt and regret. he will be a ghost of his former self when he returns to ithaca.

"die in the blood where you bathe" odysseus is portrayed to be bathing in the blood of all the dead men he's gotten killed. as well, she could be speaking to the dying crew and eurylocus, as the latter's actions got 557 men killed by poseidon. "we must do what it takes to survive" both odysseus and scylla.

then as the last man is murdered, the intrumentals relax. we think we're finally safe until we hear scylla one last time: "we are the same you and i." once more, she's repeating that she and odysseus are the same. and he agrees, he synchronizes with her, admitting he is a monster... but not completely, all he says is "i." despite his insistence that he is like her, he still can't quite say it. they're both monsters, but maybe ody hasn't accepted it as much as we're led to believe.

i am convinced that scylla is the PEAK of epic the musical, and nothing will ever come close. from the extremely thought out lyrics to the absolutely incredible instrumental, this song deserves it's own tier ngl. yes, other songs sound good and have clever lyrics and such, but scylla is just everything great about the musical shoved into one song. every lyric has a meaning, a double meaning in some cases. the intrumentals tell a story of their own, trying to lead you into a false sense of security. the vocal performances are some of the best in the musical. i adore this song, and hopefully this makes you appreciate it too :D

anyway, thanks for reading all my autistic yapping if you made it this far.

here's that original comment:

[crystalmagpie447]

i hopy yuo know your art brings me genuine joy I'm so fucking fr when I say I could look at it all day right now

I'm actually serious its NOT an overexertion I'm gonna eat you .giant sledgehammer >FUCK

just GHGHRHGRRHGR I lov all the colors and lineart ?? I'm gona eat you what th fuckkk . the boarders are soso cool. every one of your sketches is so yummay

all the expressions too .especially the sopping wet sad pathetic sona I love thoase HEHJHJE

genuinely cannot put into words

crystal appreciation day bc you're so epic and cool. do yuo evenknow ???? not only bc of yuor art you're so epic awesome amazing so niceys and funny YAY

keep being yuo foreva .MWA MWAMWA /p

soreu if that wasg a lot I think it needs to be said .heart emoji HJELP

BLWOSUP BLOWS UP BLOWSYOU UP

SNEEB GRABBING YOU SHAKINGYOUR YOURESONICE AND COOL AND AWRSOMR AND I LOVE YOURART

GWHSJEBRJDBE sopping wet sad pathetic sona made me snort☠️☠️☠️ she is tho sheis HEGEHSHSBS

OKHOLD BLASTING U WITH APPRECIATIONTOO CUZ YOURE SOAWESOMEDAUCE

ILOVE TALKING TO U AND SENDING REELS AND BEING ON CALL WITH U

ANDYOURART

GRGRRGAAUAHGRGRGRVRKFRHR

AUGG

THE WAY U DRAW

GOSHIDK HOW TO DESCRIBE IT BUTI CAN GENUINELYSTARE AT IT FOR HOURS

SHAKINGYOUR

GIVING U SOMANY FLOWERS

JUMPINGAROUND JUMPINGAROUN SNERB ILY/P UR SO AWESOMRDAUCE

[obsidianpen]

Hi op

I've not been feeling great about everything that's been happening lately so I'm gonna just tell you something about your writing that i enjoy immensely (even though i enjoy everything about it💋)

The way you write sex scenes is just so delicious no matter which fic it is

I often find sex scenes boring even if they are well written because you could literally change the name of the characters and put it in a different book for different characters and it would still work

But you don't write it that way... it's very clear you put a lot of thought into how the scene would go depending on the character you're writing

Just look at how different even Voldemort is in different fics

There's just so much of the characters personality put into it and that makes it feel much more intimate

You truly have a gift

Thank you for sharing it with us

Also I can't wait to see what you're cooking up for the next chapter in b&g... sounds like it's gonna be dangerous 👀

Also another thing

Have you listened to epic the musical?

It's a concept album and 35 out of 40 songs are out

It's a retelling of the odyssey from greek mythology and like two hours i think it's worth listening to if you have the time

😭😭 thank you anon!!! I appreciate this so much, I do spend a lot of time on smut scenes and think it’s so crucial to show character development in those moments because they’re important moments! I hate when sex is treated as this stand alone thing that can just be slipped over and that doesn’t impact the characters/story at all. Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with some PWP either, but in long slow burn stories I think it’s a real missed opportunity when it’s treated that way.

and no I haven’t but that sounds awesome, thanks!!

[wren-writes-things]

Hii wren <3

1, 8, 10, 28 for soft asks :3

Hey Pixel! How have you been?

1. What song makes you feel better?

Well music just calms me down in general, I’ve always just really enjoyed the piano and singing. So you can probably get me to listen to just about anything and I’ll probably be happy.

But let’s see… New Discovery by the Crane Wives and Meteor Shower by Cavetown both have a really nice imagery to them and I appreciate that. Also my roommate writes music and I always love hearing what she’s working on because I know she puts a lot of work into them.

Oh the BotW soundtrack. My absolute adoration for that game might provide a bias but I love it so much.

8. Tag someone (or multiple people) who make you feel good.

I had things to say and it got out of hand, this is not my fault. Also I realized partway through this that a surprisingly large percentage of my mutuals are trying to kill me with their fanfics. “Guys, you have to stop, I can only take so many emotions,” they say, as if they don’t choose which fanfics they read.

@liminal-lesbian | You’ve always left really supportive comments when I posted stuff about my AUs and you’re just a really nice person. It also makes up for the fact that your last fanfic inflicted permanent trauma on me. (Joking on that last part but seriously if you haven’t read her fanfics drop everything you’re doing and go read them now. You could be literally trying to save the world but this takes priority.)

@the-god-of-chaos-himself | You might have an evil alter ego trying to murder me as I type this, but you’re an awesome person to talk to and I enjoy our conversations. (Yes this does imply Dalex is trying to stab me and I’m just typing on my phone, I have ADHD what do you expect?)

@kiwibirb1 | I was so excited when we became mutuals the other day the other day, you’re just a very cool person and I’m always excited to see what new ideas you have.

@detentiontrack | So we do not talk much and I legitimately did not know you were aware of my existence, but you said I was nice the other day and it just made me really happy. Plus I just find your blog really interesting.

@sars-wulf | While you’re definitely trying to murder my emotional stability with your writing you are very cool. I really just enjoy talking to you.

@aspynnwoofs | You’re really exciting to have boop wars against, also you’re just a really nice person! We do not talk a ton (because I’m pretty sure we’re both bad at conversation initiation), but I really enjoy seeing you.

@meowlphibia | You’ve successfully become the most reasonable one in the adoptive family of Marcy Wu, but only because everyone else is completely unhinged. Congratulations on this award. Honestly though you’re just a really cool person to talk to.

@heart-wit-strength | The joy that I experience every time I notice you in my notifications is astounding. You’re just a really cool person with really interesting Amphibia takes and AUs. Also you gave me claws one time via polls and I wish to assure you that I have made the best use of them.

10. What's something you’re excited for?

Ooh! I have an example that isn't Amphibia related for once. Epic The Underworld Saga is coming out soon, which yes I am aware you know (because you're the one who cursed me with this interest, and I mean that positively) The music is just so well done and I’m really looking forward to it. The Art of Amphibia is coming out and I need it! Oh also Stardew Valley updated and I’m really looking forward to when the update is available on the switch.

28. hugs or hand-holding?

Hugs, they’re just really nice.

[overly-verbose]

*Crawls out of shadows*

Uhhh, hi.

I really like your fic. I'm not much of a socializer and tend to lurk more than anything. But I really wanted to share something, which is rare for me but this warranted it 100%.

Your fic has been in my brain since I read it and while I was out in the wild I heard a song that screamed SIkuna so much to me, that it left my brain just reeling from all the THOUGTS and VISIONS the song slammed on me. The song just felt so much like it was from SIkuna's POV I was just stunned, I had heard the song before but hearing it after reading your fic just kinda rewired my brain with the happy chemicals.

And as if that wasn't enough, not so long after I heard another song that this time seemed to come from the POVs of both SIkuna and the outside POVs of the others facing the Eldritch filter.

Both songs were from Imagine Dragons: The first was Demons and the second was Believer.

I was just going about my day and suddenly got attacked by pure awesomeness out of nowhere and is greatly in part thanks to your fic. So, I just wanted to share the songs so they could perhaps brighten your day as much as your fic lights up mine.

*sees you crawling out of the shadows*

Hi! :DDD

First of all, thank you kindly for saying all those wonderfully nice things about the fic!! No matter how many times I may hear something similar, I am absolutely overjoyed, truly 🤗🤗🤗🥺

I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the story!! :DDDD

The happy chemicals!!! Wooo yeah!!! :DDD

Second of all, woahh - you're absolutely right!!! It really, really fits!!! :DDD

By the holy macaroni, does it fit!!!

Poor SIkuna, he tries so hard to deny it but he really does have quite a bit of demons to grapple with under it all - and the last thing he'd want is for the kids to get hurt by them

(or rather, him; since the 'demons' in question are just part of him you know)

Aaaaa, this is so sadd 😭 (in a good way!! I've known the song for years but didn't even Think about it, thank you for bringing up the connection to me!! :DDD)

And Believer is also a very cool idea haha, poor everyone having to deal with SIkuna, huh? But someday, someday they'll realise that there's no need to be wary, or preparing for Something to go wrong! (At least not in terms of SIkuna haha :D)

Something I've also noticed fitting kinda nicely, in terms of SIkuna's self-sabotaging tendencies in terms of choosing to not show his affection and making himself look in a bad light on purpose sometimes (to protect everyone in terms of a possible-in-his-mind future in which he 'returns' to being just OGkuna and using that trust), is "Iodine" by Icon For Hire 🤔 (it's a very different Vibe though 😂)

Or, I've mentioned this before, but "Ruthlessness" from Epic: The Musical - in some ways lol, less about the rage itself but the likeliness to feel horribly wrathful and likely wanting revenge over someone *hurting the kids*, you know

(There's likely some more that fit as well but I can't recall them at the moment haha)

Thank you for the Ask haha, I definitely understand wanting to be a bit of a lurker (nothing wrong with it if you're not up for interaction haha), but I greatly appreciate you sharing your thoughts! :DDD

My day has certainly been brightnened!! :DDD

[specklx]

HI I WANNA SAY THAT YOU'RE SOSO COOL AND EPIC AND AWESOME AND TALENTED AND I REALLY APPRECIATE OUR MUTUAL-NESS AND IT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY EVERY TIME I SEE YOU ON MY NOTIFS AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO REALLY EXPRESS IT BUT I DO HAVE THIS IMAGE OF A PERSON HOLDING A FISH AND I HOPE IT MAKES YOU SMILE!!!

SOBREEEEEEE BELOVED DONT GET ME STARTED UR SO COOL DAWG IT ALWAYS MAKES MT DAY SEEING U POP UP IN MY NOTIFS wish I knew how to use tumblr so I can properly respond but I so freaking appreciate seeing u everytime I get so giddy when u notice little details too it makes me kick my feet around all excited ILYSMMMMMM and thank u for the man holding the fish it absolutely DID make me smile

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #120

I did so much stuff today!!!!

…Okay, well actually I did only like 3 things today. But these things were very BIG things! I will talk about two of them, and then touch vaguely upon the third!

I will start with this morning! Because J and I went up in the sky in the little airplane today! We went to an airport that had a diner! I got an EPIC BREAKFAST!!! There was steak and eggs and cheddar grits, and I also got a coffee, because I don't get coffee very often, so why not! I took some pictures for you…

This is what J got! It's some kind of breakfast bowl with salsa, avocados, beans, and scrambled eggs! There's also potatoes and bacon under the eggs! I wonder if you'd enjoy something like this. He let me have a few bites; it was really good!

Here is the coffee I got! And, of course I snapped the picture of it while the cream was still swirling around; it's more interesting that way:

Here are some cheddar grits:

Here's the steak and eggs I got; it came with caramelized onions, cornbread and butter, eggs with runny yolks, and a bit of hollandaise sauce! It also came with ketchup for some reason. But I only like it on burgers, so I didn't use it.

I asked for the steak to be as rare as allowed, and I was SUPER THRILLED about the fact that they prepared it in basically the same way I do at home - brown the outside, and leave the inside mostly raw:

It was so good!!! Oh my goodness!

While at the place, I also happened upon a little space with dandelions! I'm not really sure why, but people in my world seem to really hate dandelions. It makes absolutely no sense to me, because in addition to being extremely beneficial to nearby soil for a variety of reasons, every part of the plant is edible and nutritious. One of my favorite things to do, when I can find a safe source of them, is to turn the blooms into a sweet syrup that you can use on pancakes, on ice cream, or in tea! Maybe I'll get to do that this year. For now, I'll just show you the picture I took:

Isn't it pretty? I like them!

I also took a bunch of photos along the way from the airplane window! I'll show you the best ones!

…Hey, Sephiroth? I know you can fly and stuff, and that's pretty cool. But while you're up in the sky, dancing in the clouds, do you make it a point to notice and appreciate all the lovely scenery? If you don't, then maybe you can try it next time; practicing gratitude and appreciation is one of the best ways to exercise your hippocampus until it becomes strong!

On the way home, I saw 9 great big huge birds-of-prey; I think these ones were turkey vultures. I managed to actually catch a picture of one in flight for you! Here, it's not very big in the photo, but check out the back speck in the sky:

Oh!!! Also!!! I finally got around to making the stuffed cabbage casserole today! This recipe was given to me by an awesome person called @freelanceexorcist (thanks be to ye, fren!! 💖)! I ended up modifying it a bit, just to suit the needs of those in my house; Br cannot have gluten, so I used tomato puree in place of tomato soup, and J does not like big cabbage leaves, so I cut it into little slices, and bite-sized bits are easier for M to handle than meatballs, so I kinda just... shredded everything and mixed it all together. But I used mostly the same ingredients, even if the preparation differed just a little! I'll show you what I did…

You start with cabbage!

Here's how it looks on the inside when you cut it in half!! It's pretty cool!

...It's like Brussels sprouts, but WAY bigger!

The recipe calls for whole leaves, but I cut it into shreddy bits, like this:

The cabbage was sauteed in my bacon fat confit garlic:

I poured in a can of tomato puree from there, and I let it simmer on low heat for a couple of hours:

While that was happening, I cut up 2 pounds of kielbasa, and 2 onions:

Once the cabbage was done and set aside, I caramelized the onions in more bacon fat:

I added the onions to the cabbage, and then I put a big can of diced tomatoes, a pound of Bavarian sauerkraut, and the ground meat I cooked the other day into the wok, along with a cup of rice and a can full of some beef bone broth:

I let this sit on very low heat until the rice was done cooking. I used short grain rice; it looks like this:

...In between the long bits of cooking when there was nothing else I could do, I worked on something else that I'm absolutely not going to tell anyone about! It was good!

Once the cabbage and the rice were all done, I combined the two sets of things; this took some doing simply because there was SO MUCH FOOD, oh my goodness!! But this was the result!

So... it's cabbage, caramelized onions, sauerkraut, canned tomatoes, tomato puree, beef bone broth, rice, garlic, kielbasa, ground pork, and ground beef, all cooked up nicely and mixed together in a great big awesome dish!! And it is indeed awesome!! It was said that the leftovers are even better, because the flavors are given a chance to mingle; I can't wait to find out tomorrow!

...I wish you could have been here for all of this. I wish you could be here, generally. My house does occasionally have its challenges, for sure, but still, it is happy, wholesome, and safe. There's lots of fun and interesting stuff to do. My house is a good house. You could find healing and belonging here. You could find growth and change here. And you'd fit right in. You'd fit right in with my social circle, generally; ain't a single one of us fit the definition of "normal".

Sephiroth, c'mon. The darkness doesn't suit you. It never did. And it never will. So step away from people who wanna use and abuse you, and instead step towards the people who wanna help you to feel as though you're enough exactly as you are, without needing to do something useful or amazing first.

I'll be here waiting, so... as impossible as it is, pop by for a visit soon, okay? We'll make you good snacks - all the pasta you could want, or whatever else suits your fancy - whatever you like; if I don't know how to cook it, I can figure it out, easy peasy.

I'm gonna go do other things now, and I'm going to wish you were here as I do them. I love you, and I'll write again tomorrow. Please stay safe.

Your friend, Lumine

[rins-batcave]

@sotiredimbored appreciation cus like omg you're so amazing

idk why but i feel the need to aggressively appreciate you so:

you are so cool and amaizng and i love you so much and you're funny and very kind and very considerate and i like talkign to you so much and im so happy i know you because you're so sosososososososos awesome and awesome possum and very cool and like wow i get to be friends with you i think this is the sleep deprivation getting to me but yeah you're worth the world to me and i love you so much and you're so epic and great and slay