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iwitch-plus · 5 months

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Online grimoire/journal, page No. 1 (probably more than that but its been years. Let's call it page one).

Getting to know my tarot deck/reintroducing myself to the community.

(In this post I write briefly about not feeling like I'm in tune with my practice, or myself at all, and then I get into my interview with my "new" tarot deck. If you just want to see the interview, keep scrolling until you see "The Interview". I think a more journal-style grimoire is the direction my posts might go. I don't see a lot of people talking about their shortcomings in this community, or maybe I just don't follow the right people who do. I used to be super active in this community, 1k followers who actually kind of cared and interacted with me on tumblr and discord. I did online readings, made posts about spells I've done, things like that. Well this isn't going to be like that. This is for me. If you feel as though you're lacking/want to get back into your practice, I feel the same. You can come with me on this journey and follow, or you can just read this and go about your day, or you can scroll right past it without giving it a thought, anything you choose to do is ok! I might share personal things on this blog. Not super personal, they will all be related to witchcraft, but instead of giving other's advice I'm going to be writing down my practices, tarot card readings, and everything else as a reference for myself. If that type of journey interests you, I implore you to give a follow and come along. Maybe if I know people are interested in that style of blog, it might motivate me to do it more lol. Thanks.)

I don't really read tarot...In fact I don't even think I can call myself a practicing witch. I've been on and off for just a little under a decade. Sounds like a long time when I say it like that, and I know so many things but I'm also still beginning my journey. CONSTANTLY beginning the same journey over and over again, it feels like.

Anyways, I got a new tarot deck probably two or three years ago...I actually got 3 new decks at the same time, and I've really only sort of used one. I've felt bad about it for a while. They just sit there collecting dust. For some reason, I was feeling drawn to this deck in particular and decided to go ahead and try my hand at getting to know the deck. Needless to say, it was a very insightful "interview" if you can even call it that. I wrote small passages in my notebook, but I wanted to type here to get my thoughts out. This might be long, you don't have to read it, I'm sort of more doing it for me...as a journal entry type thing I guess, but also as a reference to my interview with the deck so I have a more detailed version of it than just what's in my notebook. I just didn't want to use up more notebook that I needed to.

Before The Interview

Deck: The Antique Anatomy Tarot Deck

Why I bought it: I was intrigued by the name and the art style. It's beige which I like, and I love bones and antique type things so I figured hey why not.

Why I was drawn to it today: Recently I've been thinking about things I can do to help better myself. Growth wise. It's more about me and less about coming back into my practice. I have a couple decks that I thought about but none of them seemed right. Until, DUH! Antique Anatomy. It's literally focusing on the self, and not just the outer self but LITERALLY the inner self as well. That seemed helpful.

I started by cleansing it with incense smoke. I didn't do anything in particular, just held it over an incense stick that was already burning and talked to it a little.

Then, I looked at the cards. Actually looked at them. Took mental note of the colors being used, what bones were on which card, what the labels on the elixir cards said, what flowers were used in the art (if I was able to identify them by eye), how many of each flower/certain things were on the cards. I looked at EVERYTHING.

And Now, The Good Stuff. (there are 6 questions, in each one I'll include the card pulled, the zodiac sign/element related to it, numbers such as the number of the card or how many of a specific thing were on the card, and colors used on the card. I'll include key words that relate to all of those things, and then lastly I'll include my interpretation for each one.)

The Interview

Please Introduce Yourself.

Death: Scorpio - 3 - 4 - 6 - Red - Black

Key words: Stability, fairness, solution, growth, regeneration, passion, love, power, pain, necessary, emotional.

My interpretation: When I flipped the card, I literally said "how did I know it was going to be death?". I was thinking it to myself as a joke, but then I flipped it and BOOM. Death. That's alright, though. Also I find it interesting the deck showed me a Scorpio card as an introduction. I'm a Virgo, and I love/hate Scorpios. They have taught me so much, some have damaged me, some have loved me endlessly, and currently I'm in a relationship with a Scorpio. Very prevalent sign in my life. I think by introducing itself with this card, it's telling me that it is an emotional and powerful deck. It sees itself as necessary, powerful, un-biased, but at the same time also very passionate, loving, and may even acknowledge that it might sometimes tell me things I don't want to hear. It also seems to be good at helping people explore their shadow, which is interesting because that's actually something I've been doing recently, witchcraft aside.

2. What are your strengths?

7 of Rods: Fire - 5 - 7 - Yellow - Orange

Key words: Evaluation, patience, conflict, perspective, determined, optimistic, growth, success, does not give up in the face of adversity, experienced warrior.

My interpretation: By showing me the 7 of rods in response to what the deck's strengths are, I think it's telling me that it's main strengths are focused around personal growth, which I guess makes sense. It's telling me that no matter how hard it gets, or how often or little I use it, it has the patience and determination to still help me through whatever I may need guidance on. That's very kind, thank you deck. It's also telling me that it knows and has seen a lot, which I don't doubt at all. By just sitting on my shelves, it has seen me through heartache, love, sickness, new jobs, new homes, depression, happiness, tears I've cried and why I've cried them, it has seen every part of me. It has perspective that maybe I don't, and it's optimistic that we can work together to better myself.

3. What are your limitations?

Strength: Leo - 6 - 8 - Red

Key words: Control, artistic expression, ego, anger, passion, values, understanding, calm demeanor, quiet resolve, understanding.

My interpretation: Okay this one was really interesting and sort of seems like the deck pulled a "my biggest weakness is that I'm too passionate about my work!" on me, but let's see if I can make some sense out of it. By showing me Strength in response to what the deck's limitations are, I believe it's trying to tell me that it does find itself a little big-headed or mainstream in a sense. Just looking at the key word "artistic expression" makes me think it's telling me to try to look further than just the colors and numbers on the cards, because maybe what the artist is trying to express isn't precisely going to align with what I need to hear, but the deck can't express that? Some other limitations it may be trying to express is that it's not going to be quiet about things. Besides maybe sometimes having to dig past the art for guidance, it's not going to sugarcoat or hold my hand. As much as it will support and have patience for me, that doesn't mean it's going to baby me. I appreciate that.

4. What can I learn from you?

Page of Coins: Earth - 6 - Blue - Purple

Key words: Fairness, values, orderly, determined, calm, peace, grief, sadness, prophecy, dreams, high power, studious, diligent, introvert, misses out on lighthearted aspects of life, buckle down, study, money, creativity.

My interpretation: I think by showing me the page of coins in response to what I can learn from the deck, it's telling me that I can learn how to be more in tune with myself, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It's telling me that I can learn to dig into myself (and perhaps my shadow?) to find out more about myself. It's telling me it can show me how to interpret my dreams better, it can help me stay more focused, and potentially even help me connect with a something higher than myself again. All of this seems essential for my own personal growth, and if I can learn that from this deck then I would love to work more with it.

5. What is the best way to work with you?

2 of Coins: Earth - 2 - Yellow - Purple

Key words: Balance, duality, opposing forces, orderly, determined, optimism, growth, prophecy, dreams, higher power, harmony, over-indulgence, stagnant, creative solutions.

My interpretation: By showing me the 2 of coins in response to the best way to work with the deck, I think it's telling me a couple ways, both deck and user focused. One thing it's telling me is that it might work better with a higher power also helping? I don't exactly have one I guess...I love Aphrodite and have had altars for her in the past, and still consider her my patron Goddess but it's been so long. I'd have to rekindle that relationship and I don't know if I'm ready for that right now. It also seems to be telling me that it can work better by helping interpret my dreams, too? I've never considered using a tarot deck as a dream interpreter, but I do get prophetic dreams in a sense and I take my dreams very seriously, so maybe that's something to consider. I think it's also telling me that the best way to work with it is to stop over indulging myself in things that aren't good for my mental or physical health, which makes sense. How can one effectively get guidance when they aren't in the right state of mind or physical well-being? All in all, I think that the most important thing it's trying to tell me is that no matter what I may or may not do, we can work well together if I stay optimistic and determined to grow. If I ever stop having the motivation to better myself, then it doesn't think it can do much for me.

6. What is the outcome of our relationship?

Knight of Elixirs: Water - 4 - Purple

Key words: Stability, foundation, nurturing, caring, mystery, prophecy, dreams, high power, luxury, expansion, growth, loving, appreciate beautiful things, affectionate disposition, finding ideal partner.

My interpretation: By showing me this card in response to the outcome of our relationship, I think it's telling me that I'll be able to have a little bit more routine and stability in my everyday life. I think it's also telling me I'll be able to connect with my subconscious mind more, as well as my softer emotions such as nurturing, caring, and loving. It can help me appreciate smaller things in life instead of always looking at the bigger picture. By "finding the ideal partner" I think the deck means that it can help me find things in everyday life that will help with my personal growth. Ideal things to interact with and love besides literally the people and animals I love.

Very insightful. If you got through this whole thing, thanks for reading. I'm going to post a bit more frequently and hopefully that will actually help me gain the motivation to do this stuff more than just once every 6 months. I think it's essential for my personal growth, and for some reason I'm really obsessed with that right now but I lack the time and motivation. I don't actually lack time, but things are hard when you wake up late and you feel like every day is sleep, work, maybe eat, sleep, repeat. Here's to hoping this is the beginning of a new chapter for me.

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artthemasquerade · 25 days

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Archangel Michael

I thought I'd finally draw Archangel Michael who first appeared in the Devilman Lady manga, not much was shown about Michael aside from him being a willing lackey to God and manipulating events from behind the scenes and being the twin brother of Satan. But I thought it'd be fun to make my own version of Archangel Michael in how he relates to my Devilman fic (Love before its too late) since he will show up in the later chapters. Instead of the full golden armor he wore at the end of the DML manga, I thought I'd give the classic blue and red outfit Archangel Michael tends to have in the old paintings, since I felt like it showed his closer connection to humanity in my verse. Also in my verse Michael's and Satan's hair used to be longer and wavier like how Satan's hair was in Crybaby since it kind of reminds me of a Lion's mane, since in Gnosticism how the Demi Urge in has a Lion's head https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion-faced_deity.jpg and Go Nagai was clearly inspired by Gnosticism when he made DML (maybe even as early as Devilman or VJ but that's another topic for another day lol) But in my verse when Lucifer turned against his father's orders to destroy the demons, he was captured and punished horribly and Michael cut off his wavy locks since he was jealous of how often his father would go on and on about his twin's beauty. For a brief time Michael became his father's new favorite until in the big battle that ended with the angels withdrawing and the demons winning, Satan got his revenge on Michael by cutting off his hair and scarring his twin's neck with his own flaming sword. Michael was blamed for the failed battle by God and was greatly humbled by the experience, vowing that the next time he fought Lucifer he would not be so cocky next time... that's all I'll say about Michael for now lol, there is more going on with him and you might be able to guess it if you listen to this playlist I made for Michael too cause again the brainrot was really strong XD

Btw if you like what you see and want a commission drop me a direct message on tumblr, instagram, a note on deviantart or artistree https://artistree.io/missn11

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andypantsx3 · 11 months

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This is going to sound weird, but do you have any tips on how to gain traction as a fanfic writer? I've been trying for years and I get next to no interaction on my writing. I know I shouldn't care because I should be writing for myself, but it's still frustrating to see other writers get thousands of notes, and reblogs and asks praising their fics and I get maybe 20 likes. I've been looking into discord fandom groups but a lot of them don't allow people over 30, and I don't do well with busy groups anyway. I try to be active on my blog, and interact with other people and make myself approachable, but I'm getting so incredibly tired of talking to an empty space. Sorry, I think I ended up venting instead >_<

WARNING: DISCOURSE AHEAD

Omg hello my love!! First of all, I'm so sorry you feel this way! I have so many conflicting thoughts on this, let me try to get them in order for you!!

I guess, let me first start with some tips that I think actually answer your question, and then I'll just monologue about the ways I've been thinking about fandom recently, and you can skip that part if you wanna!

Part 1: Actual Thoughts on Your Question (lol)

I am possibly not in the best position to ask about this because I mostly happened to be in the right place at the right time, publishing my fics in the early part of the pandemic when people were more actively engaging in the fandom. But in my experience, outside of discord groups, other good ways to meet people and get your work out there are joining zines & collabs.

I'm not completely up-to-date with what the accounts are now that track these things, but there are several tumblrs and twitter accounts like BNHA Zines that exist to retweet & publicize zine posts. Look for zines that are in the interest check & application stages!! You can apply during the application phase and the good thing is that most zines will ask for an application piece and will judge you on your work rather than your follower count!!

Collabs are usually even easier because many of them are just open to whoever wants to join! I've only participated in server collabs but I've seen several posts cross my dash that are open to anyone. I'd probably monitor the collaboration and x reader tags on tumblr and join in on anything that looks fun!!

Another thing that I've noticed people do a lot is self-reblog their fics a couple times just to maximize their circulation. I've seen a lot of moots trying to make sure they hit good hours for different time zones and different days of the week to ensure their followers are at least aware that they've posted something if they don't have notifs on (I don't have notifs on so I'm grateful for these because otherwise I miss a lot!!). Even I have srb'd a time or two if I'm particularly proud of something lol.

And I think, if I also wanted to be a shark about things, I would try to get in on the ground floor of a fandom in its early stages!! For example, the second season of JJK is coming out soon and it's sure to bring a wave of new readers to the JJK fandom, especially for the characters like Gojo and Getou who look like they're gonna be the main focus of the season.

I think if you wanted to be extra sharp about things, you might time a fic release with some of the first couple episodes of a new season where you can be sure more people than usual will be poking around in the tags!! And if your fic is published during the early stages of a fandom, it's going to have more eyes on it overall than a fic published towards the conclusion of the series.

Anyway this is what I could think of. I hope this advice is practical and useful!! Now onto me blathering.

Part 2: Resisting Influencer Culture in Fandom Spaces

This part might be kind of controversial. I want to first acknowledge how easy it is for me to think and say these sorts of things when I'm already more than pleased with the amount of engagement I get. And I want to recognize that it is so, so deeply human to want recognition, community, and support for the things that we write.

I think it is so completely natural that you want interaction on your writing. All of us totally do, otherwise we wouldn't be publishing it publicly. If our work was truly, singularly for us and us alone, we'd keep it in the drafts lol. We put it out there hoping for praise and appreciation and connection, and in my opinion there is no shame in that.

So, admission time: I also definitely compare myself to other writers, and I have several times thought about transitioning more towards the type of content that drives higher note counts on tumblr: smuttier one-shots usually under 10k! I can see a huge difference in terms of just my own work on how my one-shots typically do in comparison to chaptered fics. And I definitely see how fast smutty imagines shoot up there in terms of note count.

But I was listening to a podcast episode recently on trying to sort of transition away from a metrics-focused approach to fandom. In the podcast, they talk about how in trying to legitimize fanfic as a literary mechanism, we've also sort of accidentally subjected it to our capitalist-influencer-mindset, where we see fic as more legitimate the more kudos it gets or the more followers it nets you, because in traditional influencer spaces, those followers are potential capital.

I'm definitely not saying you or I see people as potential revenue streams, but I think probably neither of us are immune to the culture at large, and we both probably carry some of internalized sense of our own value based on metrics, reach, and influence. And that sucks!!!!

Fandom, of all things, is supposed to be a specifically anti-capitalist space. We can't make money off of fanfic or fanart (legally, anyway lol), and we're all not the owners of the franchises either so none of our takes are necessarily more "valid" or weightier than others!! We're all supposed to just be trading stories around a campfire with no thought to their literary merit or monetary value. We're just supposed to enjoy the stories.

So, I don't know what the right answer is about how to try to resist the influences of our capitalist culture at large; I'm hoping someone smarter than me will tell me. But I do know that in fanfic, the value of your story can absolutely never be determined by how much engagement you get. Because fandom is not about metrics, and there is no inherent value in metrics. There is only the fun you had creating the story, and the depth of the connection you made with someone over it--even if that's just one other person.

And so I personally am at least trying to resist the lure of transitioning to smutty one-shots even though I think a lot of people would like that. Because what I like doing is writing my little 30k multi-chaps; those are my fave kinds of stories to tell, I'm not letting my metrics tell me what I should be writing.

I hope, at the very least, you know that your worth and the value of your story is not defined by how many other people have read it. And if you ever wanna chat more about this let me know, I'm still figuring this all out myself and could use friends to explore it with!!

#ask andie #tw: discourse

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chen-chen-chen-again-chen · 1 year

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Hi, hello, hola, and happy Stab Caesar Day! Tumblr ate my original draft because, um, I guess its hunger is horrible and insatiable? But here I am for take two. Thank you to @artsyunderstudy, @larkral, and @forabeatofadrum, who tagged me today and who continue to craft delightful things.

Updates on My Good Egg (Good morning, good night, good morning): My plan of posting Chapter 4 today ain't gonna happen. I updated the author's notes, but the next posting date is TBD. I need to focus on my health right now, and then I'll be travelling for a bit (March 24-April 7). But hey, if you've been meaning to read this one, now's a great time to catch up? 🤣

In the meanwhile, I'll share a snippet featuring several of my OCs, Baz's queer, chaotic uni friends. Behind the cut for mild spice. 🌶️

Bunce goes off with Simon so that she can pump the American bartender for information, and as soon as they’re out of earshot, Emma leans forward, her eyes glittering. “Well?”

“Well what.”

“I told Liu and Ramesh you got kidnapped,” Emma says, waving her hand dismissively, “and of course we’re all very worried and hope you’re doing okay and acclimating to regular life again, but have. You. Ridden. That.”

Baz regrets downing a few rats before they left for the pub, because it means he has enough blood in him to blush. “We’ve been figuring out this kidnapping situation,” he says coolly. “It hasn’t left much time for carnal pursuits.”

“Baz,” Liu says, aghast. “Why haven’t you fucked that nice himbo? He’s clearly gagging for it - he couldn’t stop staring at your arse in those jeans.”

“Is he a himbo?” Ramesh says. He pulls out a pen and starts to doodle a triple Venn diagram on a napkin. “He seemed like more of a twunk to me. And he’s got a great bear belly.”

“Ladies,” Emma says, her hands fluttering in mock-distress, “please don’t objectify that sweet boy before Baz gets to objectify him. Baz will eat his fill of the man-meat and then give us a report.”

(Please put in the comments/tags if you think Simon Snow is a twunk, a himbo, or something else delightful. 🤣)

Hello tags and tagbacks: @whogaveyoupermission, @cutestkilla, @facewithoutheart, @captain-aralias, @fatalfangirl, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @whogaveyoupermission (THE EDGING CONTINUES), @raenestee, @ileadacharmedlife, @shrekgogurt, @hushed-chorus, @shemakesmeforget, @theimpossibledemon, @imagineacoolusername

More about the hiatus for My Good Egg:

(Warning for some hard stuff, Big Feelings, trauma recovery. Feel free to skip and just bask in Ides of March posts instead!)

Okay, so introspective life/writing blather here... I keep meaning to write a post, at some point, about some of the best practices that I follow when I am writing about material that is heavy, like in Baker boxer teacher grief or the Rosethorn girl universe.

A lot of stuff that works for me is probably self-evident: go slow, be gentle, ground yourself, talk to safe people, have a release valve, be able to walk away, offer yourself a lot of self-care and self-compassion, take care of the soft animal of your body. And don't feel like you have to put everything in - some of what you can write can just be for you, and it can be enough to have written it, and not include it in the finished product.

I honestly didn't expect Good morning, good night, good morning to get me where I live. It is, as I've always maintained, a dumb horny rom com (that somehow developed a plot and backstory and plot TWISTS and OCs but ANYWAY). But there was a line in Chapter 3 that kept rattling around in me:

“You were a kid,” Simon says, his voice low and angry. “You were just a kid.”

This is not the first time I've been triggered by own fic (and probably won't be the last, LOL!), but this one did me a doozy. I've had to take a few steps back, and just focus on recovering from trauma that's been reactivated in my body. It is wild what the body remembers, and how it holds onto pain.

(There is, at the same time, other stuff happening with my family with grief and estrangement and just a whole mischegoss of hard feelings, so that adds another element into the mix.)

To circle back round to My Good Egg: I'm putting it to the side for now while I tend to my health and just recovering from the past few weeks. It's funny - I don't think it's a particularly angsty story or one that does a super deep dive into trauma, but I need to take some pieces off my plate right now, and this fic is one of them.

I will always keep writing - the WIP game has been a delightful brain refresher, and I have a very fun Six Sentence Sunday post that I'm already excited to share. But for now, My Good Egg is gonna have a li'l nap. When I come back to it, I think I'll switch over to writing the second draft in its entirety, and then posting the chapters weekly, whenever that happens. I'm not putting a timeline on it right now.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk making your way through this personal essay, if you've gotten this far. I am continually blown away and delighted by everyone who engages with the fic, and I am so excited to serve you up some treats in the future.

To end on a lighter note, here is an exchange with my spouse, the inestimable EarlobeGreyTea who continues to offer thoughtful and nuanced feedback on this fic, Exhibit A:

EarlobeGreyTea: Did they fuck in this chapter?

Me: No Me: And they didn't fuck in the previous chapter Me: It's the EROTIC Grope Fest. It doesn't have to have explicit sex (yet) EarlobeGreyTea: Yeah, I guess it isn't the Sloppy Fuck Fest

Love you all. ❤️❤️❤️

#WIP Wednesday #My Good Egg #good morning good night good morning #life and writing #long boi #big mood #my fic tag

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help-i-need-a-cool-username · 1 year

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Its the end of the year! Which means its time to post the

Tags That Made Me Smile 2022

The following are a collective list of tags, author notes, and fic names that i saw on ao3 and tumblr that made me either laugh or smile. Ive separated them by fandom but a good amount arent actually fandom specific. Ive added the character names or fandom at the end like {name} to clarify who the tag is talking about

[2021's list]

Author Specific / Non-Specific

i saw canon; acknowledged it; And promply burned it in a dirty trash can thanks; Have this instead

Give me pain I need to feel something

this is self projection thank you coming to my ted talk

Whats that?? Overused tropes that everyone has seen before????? Pfffffffft. This fic is literally just a big mess of "how can I cater to myself and myself only"

you ever just look at your life and wonder how you got here; bc that's what this fic is for me

Don't underestimate me I DO NOT know how long this fan-fic will be

can you tell my target audience is myself

this is content specifically catered to me and no one else

these characters are my landlords and i pay them rent

P O L Y A M O R Y I S M Y P O L Y J A M O R Y

cheek kiss warning

kidnapping isn’t sexy don’t do it

i've never read the archie comics but that's not gonna stop me {archie sonic}

not me writing a whole fic for a ship only i care about; that like maybe two other people ship; rowing this boat is hard but someone has to do it {scourge x fleetway sonic}

ankles don't heal this fast but fuck it i do what i want

no beta we die like men; or rather we drown like the sad shipper with a pool noodle we are

I'm afraid of the Danimals mascot and you should be too

if you're getting flood warnings, don't worry. It's just MY TEARS!

me at every character: anxiety be upon ye

Me (Grabs canon and runs a marathon with it)

Quote: Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created (Spy Kids) {tmnt crossover}

Alternate Universe - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

contains dangerous amount of bed based snuggling

(kind of its a very short very homosexual fight scene); and then they kiss.

Hostage situation takes a romantic turn???? Not clickbait????

enemies to frenemies

Improper Use of Pool Noodles

stone cold stoicism meeting determined stupidity

Star Wars

Kanan Jarrus: The Daddening

platonic love is what healed his lonely existence {din djarin}

when in doubt: road trip with the besties {din, boba, fennec}

Soul Eater

found family at its finest {kid, liz, patty}

The Witcher

wife (platonic) {yennskier}

at first I was like haha geralt and Istredd should kiss as a joke…. but bro I don’t think it’s a joke anymore….

Sonic the Hedgehog

Movie!Super Sonic is made out of LOVE no one touch me

Sonics gay awakening I guess

sonic movie 2 made me make an ao3 account lol

Sonic was made to love people

Two Bros Chillin’ in an ER Five Feet Apart ‘cause they’re not gay {sonic x shadow}

the most dangerous thing is to love {shadow}

Trapped in a small box with just enough room to face some feelings {sonic x shadow}

the R in rivalry stand for romance {sonic x shadow}

The L in Rivalry Stands For 'Love' {sonic x shadow}

A Largely Platonic Cave

i love boom!shadow so naturally i made him even more insufferable

Sad-ow

Wachowskis holdin it down in the bg; Absolute champs

I love how Shadow is just so mindbogglingly utterly done with reality

Knuckles is a guardian of all things great and small

“Would you kiss a worm?" “If he was cute as fuck? Yeah.” {wade x stone}

"What is this made of, bendable titanium?!" "INCORRECT. IT IS MADE OF THE FRUSTRATIONS OF MOTHERS EVERYWHERE." {team dark}

featuring a scourge that trips far too much because it's my fic and I said so {scourge x fleetway sonic}

no thoughts just soft hedgehog moments

listen if im going to die at the hands of injured lancelot shit i might as well take advantage of it

Everyone has a crush on Lancelot and I'll die on this hill

fairy Lancelot Fairy Lancelot FAIRY LANCELOT!!!

TMNT

Slow Burn; mostly on april's end of things; casey and donnie are basically on fire right off the bat {tmnt 2012}

Rise!Donnie and 2012!Casey be out there committing arson together for their first date >.>

Please enjoy Casey, the fool, realizing his feelings for Donnie, another fool {tmnt 2012}

Draxum and Splinter are the turtles' dads (it's a reluctant partnership)

just two absolute powerhouses holding each other gently {raph x mona}

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you love, Dee. Goodnight.” {rottmnt}

Wondering what to do when the apocalypse happens? Easy: fly across the country and get Vegas-married. That's definetley an appropriate reaction that won't involve your complicated feelings towards your roommate at all {hypno x warren}

Look rise are weapons of war 12 were accidents and I play with that HARD in this fic

"GET IN THE TURTLE TANK BITCHES WE GOING TO FAMILY THERAPY" {rottmnt}

Donatello is now Dad-Atello {rottmnt}

The other [Casey] is out on a beach in Tahiti; It's what he deserves after surviving the Krang {rottmnt}

Leo is now actively being hunted for sport; (the only sport Donnie is good at) {rottmnt}

These turtles can fit so much trauma

2018 Karai lives because fuck Nick; Casey x Donnie x April are a healthy ship and also fuck nick again

I cant be the only one pissed by Leo's and Karais 'love interest plot'; Leonardo's weird feelings were simply gender envy...Yes that is canon now {tmnt 2012}

What happens when two "dudes" call each other 'girlfriend'; Transgender activities, that's what! {tmnt 2012}

splinter is twice divorced and never married {rottmnt}

Papatello / Dadatello {rottmnt}

draxum's gone from dadxum to grand-dadxum good for him

HOLY FUCKING SHIT YES YES YES YES; GRANDPA BARRY COMING IN CLUTCH

draxum just be like gramps still got it; and by 'it' i mean a complete lack of forethought for care when creating random children

Puts the Bi in Bitchless {rottmnt leo}

its because ninja turtles

feral mamatello {rottmnt}

Marvel

it's the anguish, the self flagellation, the audacity to love the man who annihilate ur nation and killed ur mother; your m o t h e r {black panther}

#hinacu #i cant believe my fav one is from TLG 🤣#star wars rebels #the mandalorian #soul eater #the witcher #sonic the hedgehog #sonic boom #sonic movie #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #rottmnt #black panther #can u tell i'll read just about anything?#expected some things to have really funny tags and they never made the list

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uselessbard1031 · 2 years

Text

UselessBard1031 101

A user on Ao3 just asked me what I'm like and I realized that after these few years a few of you might like to know as well. So, I replied there and I'll repost the response here.

If any of you ever have questions about me or my stories dm me, comment! :) I really love hearing from you <3

***

"Hello!

I will start off by saying I do recognize your user name. It's still so crazy to me that I have readers who have followed me that long.

As for your query, I'm not sure what you'd like to know, so I suppose I'll just offer up a UselessBard 101, lol.

I am in my 20s, I have blue eyes and blonde curly hair; I'm 5'5 and 125ish pounds with tattoos all down my arms and an extra special top secret tattoo only very special ladies and actors sharing a changing room with me get to see ;) (my Tumblr pfp is pretty much me lol). I was going to do a face reveal during livestreaming but, as I've mentioned in some author notes, I'm starting a Cruise Ship job this month so I won't be able to do so, unfortunately. (But never say never!)

As for hobbies, I write, act (currently I work as a scare actor at a haunted house), bake, crochet, sew, do martial arts (Marcaida Kali, Krav Maga, Haitian Grappling, Mhuy Tai, Boxing, Ju Jitsu, Judo, Taekwondo, Kendo, and bits of others), I do yoga everyday along with meditation, and I love love love to read (currently reading Later by Stephen King and the Pali Canon).

My favorite color is red, specifically Crayola Crayon red, like, the color that comes out of the crayon labeled simply red. My favorite food is a garbage plate (though I'm a vegetarian and Rochester Meat Hot Sauce is a must on any plate so I just cry instead of indulging lol). My favorite book is a tie between both books in the Parker and Pentecost series by Steven Spotswood (Stephen?) (Lillian Pentecost is another one of my fictional crushes because omgodddddd that woman <3) My favorite film is Bullet Train (yes that modern one; I just love it sm and relate to Ladybug on another level).

I've been writing since, well, forever. There was this thing at my elementary school called the 'friendship pole'. It was just an old tetherball pole they had taken the ball off of when parents decided tetherball was 'too dangerous' of a game for us kids. The concept being that if you were a friendless little child, you would go sit by the pole and someone would ask you to play. Well, I'd go there every recess and sit and wait and watch other kids get asked to play and never me. It was tricky then to get a swing or slide without being 'in' with whatever group had claimed them that day. So I started bringing a notebook. That's the first time I can really remember writing for fun. By the end of fifth grade I was finsihing my first 'novel' (I have no idea if it actually met the wordcount for a novel, it was just however long a composition notebook was).

The story was called 'BroadFire' and was about a girl from a horse farm who befriended a wild horse. she had named the thing BroadFire, hence the name. Anyway, I don't remember much other than that he father didn't approve for some reason -- I think he thought it was dangerous because it was wild -- so he sought to kill it. In the original ending he did kill Broadfire, but I know my mom yelled at me for that so I think I ended up changing it, though I can't recall what to. That proves then that my original ending was definitely the best, or at least the most memorable.

I guess that's me then. Um, other labels are Buddhist, Lesbian, German/Irish American. Not really sure what more to say, so I hope I've helped you know me a bit better. <3 :)"

#about me #meet the author #fanfiction #ao3 #uselessbard1031 #x reader #procrastinator ik #funfacts #biography I guess #ask me #Add me on League of Legends: SkittleNoir

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kpg-1126 · 1 year

Note

Weird Questions for Writers: 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 15 (for now)

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

So, to the extent that I have a writing ritual, it's cursed because between job and family obligations, I arguably don't have time to be doing this. The closest thing to a ritual I have, lately, though, is I get up very early and sometimes spend that time drinking coffee (errrrr a mocha, which is dessert, let’s just call it what it is) and writing, and I spend my commute (to work and home again via public transit) often writing on my phone. Sometimes instead I just scroll through Tumblr because I pretend the two things are equally important (they are inasmuch as I find them fun and it's my *me* time).

(I will expand on this soon in another answer.)

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

I have been doomed to answer this by daring to ask someone else this exact question because I thought it would be difficult to answer. #karma

So there's probably a better one out there, but because I've read so much 19th century English literature, it might be "indeed." (It's like the "oh" of the past.) Very versatile, very understated, plays a key role in basically every Jane Austen love story resolution. I also overuse it when texting. I've managed to only use it once in nearly 100k words of my current WIP, which means I'm being disciplined about how it isn't something any of the characters would say.

There are probably others. If anything good comes up, I'll just make a random post about it.

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

I think one of my deepest joys is that I can think to myself "wouldn't it be great if there were a scene or a whole story like _____," and if I put in enough effort, that scene or story can exist, and I can enjoy it almost as much as if I didn't write it. I mean, that doesn't happen every time, but when it does come together and the scene or whatever exists just as I would like it to, I feel joy.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

So I kinda answered this in the last set of answers but I also kinda didn't. I will answer that I almost always want to write love stories (even in the midst of some other complex plot, the love story (or stories) is my reason for writing nearly anything), so that would count as "easy" subject matter. I pair people up. I'm a shipper. Could you tell?

Difficult? I still am not sure how to answer this - everything is kinda fair game in the service of my little shipper heart. I guess what would be difficult would be writing a story with no romantic entanglements or even underlying questions about whether the main characters were secretly in love. Could I do it? Maybe. But I'd probably think I was succeeding and if you read it you'd be like "so they were actually in love, right?"....damnit.

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I am not against lending books to people, but I do keep track of them. I once let a friend in college borrow a copy of Pride and Prejudice (one of three that I had, so it wasn’t very generous of me........), and it came back with dog bite marks, so I was a little bit peeved about that (lol it was a cheap, worn-out paperback version with no frills or notes or anything, but it had sentimental value because it was the copy I stayed up until 3 am finishing when I read it the first time). Ultimately, though, I still have that copy and the bite marks are part of its charm.

And in a related story, I have a copy of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies that I borrowed from someone and never finished and still have not returned, almost in protest because, given how creative someone *could* have been in making such a book, that book is absolute trash combined with plagiarism and that dude / publisher made a lot of money on that. (I'm saying this as someone who has read literally hundreds of Pride and Prejudice variations and sequels...it's my guilty pleasure--I don’t read romance novels, I read the same romance novel over and over).

But I should really return that book.

My mom borrows books from me all the time, but I don't track those as closely because I know I can get them back at any time, and even if she forgets they are mine, she'll offer them to me when she's done.

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

I only wrote in the margins of books when I took lit classes. Otherwise I transcribe things from books into notebooks and comment there OR I get Kindle versions and highlight them if I need to annotate. I don't dog ear pages to mark my place but I'm rough on books--I kinda like it when they get that well-worn quality. I love used books for that reason, since they often come that way. Other people's notes, however, are interesting if it's a book I've already read, but distracting if it's a first reading (also goes for footnotes/endnotes, because I have a hard time ignoring words...I always read the comments).

I don't read in the bath--it sounds nice in theory but is not as comfortable or relaxing as it should be (I find). Give me a comfy couch for reading over a bath any day.

I do not judge others for any of these things. You're reading, which is a point in your favor. And books are meant to be used for enjoyment, not kept pristine.

#more weird answers to the weird questions #you threatened more @allegroandoldlace . . . how dare 😆

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reitziluz · 1 year

Note

You could put the relevant flowers into the end notes of each chapter instead? It's your choice of course, but i recently read a six year old fic that required the translation of fantasy language words which were put in a tumblr post (similar to how you're planning). The problem was that the readmore somehow broke over the years and the fic writer had vanished at some point, so the translations were lost. That's just my experience though, you do you!

for a short list of meanings, or something as essential as fantasy vocab that's essential for understanding the fic, yeah, that's the obvious choice.

but you can look up flower language(s) (i referenced whatever comes up when you google "[flower] flower meaning]" and also some japanese sites) up on your own, and i would also want to write little commentaries or anecdotes about the plants in question. which would mean several paragraphs of text in the end notes. and, even though i wouldn't consider the flower info spoilers, some people do. being non-essential, making the notes unwieldy long, and counting as spoilers for some is why i've already put the rewrite commentaries in the comments instead of the end notes.

you could argue that there's nothing wrong in putting things like that in the end notes, and honestly, i agree! i just want to use the "more notes at the end of the work" link that appears in the notes on the top to provide people the chance to choose to view or ignore extra content warnings for chapters. and putting aaaaall this other info in the end notes might make people who need the warnings hesitate to access them.

but as i thought about this, i realized an obvious solution. duh, i already have the commentary in the comments! i can put the chapter's flower info in as a reply to that!

though idk, it also makes reading comments maybe a bit more daunting than necessary, if there's just a wall of text at the start...

... but then again, i have a whole unutilized fic just for spoofs and extras of shit-all! so i guess i could move all this there? i mean, i could then also attach the art i'm doing to each chapter's bonus materials!

(again, i could also attach them to each chapter, but i personally prefer reading my fics and seeing my illustrations separately. switching from reading to seeing an illustration can throw me off from a good reading hyperfocus, haha! plus in the bonus work, there'd be more space for image ids and stuff, if i finally were to figure out how to do them...)

lots to think about! thank you for letting me know that the readmores have been broken relativelt recently. i think i'll probably end up doing a hybrid thing, like both having separate listing posts on tumblr, and putting them on ao3 in some form!

if i remember/can be arsed ofc, lol

#yea fic talk #igotasked #once again i regret typing this directly in the mobile browser version #if the text is wonky it's because tumblr likes to freak out when used like this #but yea im warming up to the idea to actually doing a comment reel type of sibling work for shit-all #maybe i'll still do first comment commentary too #maybe use it to ask feedback re: should something be warned for etc #or just to hold links to the tumblr post versions of things?#we'll see!#i'll probably delete the old bonus work and start a new one tho

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abyssal-debonair · 1 year

Text

I posted 6,371 times in 2022

That's 3,652 more posts than 2021!

215 posts created (3%)

6,156 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@a-polite-melody

@skytlake

@violets-are-trans

@salbeitraeume

@taran-wanderer

I tagged 6,362 of my posts in 2022

#lol - 2,036 posts

#other people’s art - 1,318 posts

#queer - 1,090 posts

#sky: children of the light - 909 posts

#trans - 539 posts

#other people's art - 397 posts

#humans - 347 posts

#wow - 311 posts

#psa - 255 posts

#cute - 240 posts

Longest Tag: 90 characters

#happens with my writing projects i'll almost finish a story then won't touch it for months

My Top Posts in 2022:

Deciphering the new murals be like

109 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

What is voidpunk?

voidpunk is an aesthetics subculture that rejects human identity and embraces being nonhuman. popped up from marginalized groups who are often dehumanized as an excuse to mistreat them – trans & nonbinary folk, arospecs, acespecs, neurodivergent & disabled people, and people of color are often the ones welcoming voidpunk but that's not an exclusive list.

as a result of our marginalization from society, people in voidpunk may feel disconnected from their humanity. I liken that voidpunk asks "so what if we're not human? That's not a reason to mistreat us." they challenge the normative social elements regarded as "innately human."

voidpunk embraces aesthetic elements that are not considered human. sometimes it manifests as looking entirely alien, though humanoid shapes are still common, albeit with deviations.

I love it. I've had this sense that I wasn't human, at least didn't feel human among humans, since I was little. I distinctly remember wondering in first grade whether I was an alien wrapped in human skin and dropped off on Earth. I just felt and still do sometimes feel detached from others, like a distance between people irl I just couldn't relate to. I am much of a social pariah. finding voidpunk and the community that came with it made me feel valid in my feelings and, in part, excuse to go wild with creative liberties.

142 notes - Posted June 6, 2022

I want to talk about current events, but I don’t want to be doomerist about it. I want my blog to be an escape, but I don’t want to ignore things that are very relevant to my wellbeing.

Back when I was religious and when I thought I was a girl, I was told by my church that God wanted me to have “beautiful black babies.” It terrified me then as much as it does now. Realizing I’m not a woman and that I’m sex-repulsed asexual does not absolve me from that possibility. In fact, that paints a target on my back for those who still want me to have “beautiful black babies.”

I knew the risks I was taking in regards to my healthcare when I changed my gender marker to an M. Now with blokes declaring abortion and reproductive autonomy a “women’s rights” issue out of ignorance and malice, I am second guessing myself. I think of my friends who are and are not seen by such cisnormative language. I fear for them. I fear for myself.

I hate those who willingly erase my gender, my queerness, my disabilities, and my race in all this. They think they are acting in their best interests. Instead, they are pulling everyone back.

I hope and I believe things will turn out for the better with enough people rallying against all this bullshit. I see it. Yet I understand progress is slow. I fear for what may happen in the time in between.

216 notes - Posted May 4, 2022

Have a

264 notes - Posted July 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

snapped a shot of Megabird during the transition from blue to gold

655 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #wtf tumblr

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katedoesfics · 1 year

Note

Kate, as you know i love you stories! i read in your Bio that you have been published, i would really love to read them also, how do i find them? feel free to contact me by email

I honestly stared at this message for a good 5 minutes just speechless. To whoever you are - I have no idea when this was actually sent and I so apologize if there was a delay in answering this!! Clearly I have not been active on Tumblr and don't get a lot of messages 😅 But I was excited to see this one so thank you! It means so much to me that you enjoy my silly writing and actually took the time to send me a message ♥ And if you ever see this - tell me who you are! An AO3 follower I'm guessing? 👀

Anyway, to answer your actual question! Yes, I am published! Over the years, I've had poems published in various magazines. My novel Calliope was available on Amazon until Amazon took it down for some reason - I never knew the details. The publishing company that it was published under ended up closing, it was a small press, so I'm thinking maybe that had something to do with it. I ended up putting it on Lulu and selling copies in my area, and recently I listed it myself on Amazon again. That being said, I've been working on trying to rewrite it since the novel is honestly like, 10 years old and my writing has changed drastically since then. I cringe reading it and I know it's worth rewriting and eventually getting the whole series out there. So, I set up a Patreon for people to follow my rewrite progress where I'm going to try my hardest to post a chapter a week. Though, I might need to change that up and post monthly instead as I am currently working on a publishing deal with Mythrill for a serialized version of my other work in progress novel, The Zodiac Chronicles. I don't have a link to share to that yet, but once I do, I will definitely post it!

I have a few other projects in the works and I'm still trying to figure out a way to best communicate with people. AO3 obviously doesn't really let you do that unless you write notes in your chapters and though I can put things on my profile, they do NOT like when you post things like Patreon links. Hence why I thought I could use Tumblr as a way to blog / keep followers up to date. But that never really took off hence why I haven't logged in in forever xD

I did recently set up a mailchimp account thinking maybe I could try the newsletter route, so if anyone is actually interested in getting maybe a monthly update from me, you can sign up for that here: http://eepurl.com/idp7mL

Otherwise, I do actively keep my website up to date with all my projects, so you can always take a look at that to find all my links! kaylynx.carrd.co

And if you'd rather just check out Calliope on Amazon, here ya go!

What the heck, I'll share all the things. I'm also on Fictionate. They recently released their own version of Patreon (it feels more limited then Patreon at the moment, so I might stick with Patreon, but you're always welcome to check me out there.) The Fictionate tiers are slightly lower than what I offer on Patreon since it's more limited. But you can find my rewrite of Calliope on there, too, as well as some other things.

And if you'd rather go the Patreon route, that's here :)

I am slowly rebranding myself to Kaylynx, so that's mostly how you'll see me from now on!

Anyway! This was a very long answer to a question that probably no one will you read. Can you tell I'm desperate to talk to people? LMAO! I don't see an email, so I apologize that I do not reply via email, but please feel free to message me any time! I clearly LOVE to get messages and talk to people lol <3

#a wild ask appeared #shooketh #hi everyone #im alive #ish

0 notes

apolloendymion · 4 years

Text

not to brag but I've made some moderately popular posts

#and then there's the ace post that has 70k notes and counting lol #most of my popular posts are like 5-15k and are usually fandom joke edits #but then i said 'ace people are just ok and fine i think' and that's i guess the post I'll be known for #which sucks cause I'm not even aspec. can't my takes on like bnha lore or something be my legacy #instead of my input on a community I'm not a part of #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#i used to get a lot of messages from ppl saying like 'thank u for that post i feel so valid'#which was nice of them but god it was so overwhelming to get everyone's coming out journey in my inbox #i do Not want to be tumblr famous like I'm glad y'all liked my take #I'm glad i could help some people #but i wish i could've just like anonymously beamed that take into everyone's minds instead of having it tied to my account #and to my identity

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jengarie · 3 years

Text

#showyourprocess !

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you, @rinielle for tagging me! She chose the piece above (original post), and oh boy this one was a whole ass rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately, I hadn't turned on the timelapse feature for this but I'll try to go through each part of the process as best as I can!

The photos I'm gonna upload are gonna be a mix of screenshots and literal photos of my screen, because I'm taking some of them from my updates to friends, since a lot of the steps got lost in my painting process.

But before that, let me tag some other amazing creators!

@dragonji: this gif art!

@candicewright: this yibo painting!

@wendashanren: this gifset!

@mylastbraincql: this gif!

I haven't been able to keep track of who's been tagged so apologies if you've already done this! Also, no pressure to do it at all if you would rather not! <3

Planning

Sometimes, I get an idea first and find reference photos to go with that idea. But for this one, I sought out a reference photo first, and built an idea on top of it!

After that, I roughly sketch out the base pose. Usually, this looks very messy, but it doesn't really matter as long as I understand which part goes where!

The idea for the background didn't really come until the creation process because I don't think I really planned this to be a full piece.

Creation

Sketching

Honestly, from this point on, it's more of trial and error.

So, I redid the the initial base pose—made it cleaner and a little bit more detailed. See: the added definition in their arm muscles, the rearrangement of Wei Wuxian's legs, and Lan Wangji's hand on Wei Wuxian's back. If you look at the second photo, I also changed the pose a bit midway—I tend to edit as I go sometimes when I change my mind. (For this, I thought, given the Lan arm strength, it would be better to make Lan Wangji look more at ease carrying Wei Wuxian. This gets covered by the robes anyway though, so it didn't matter much in the end.)

I also started adding details to the base! I usually start with the face and then the hair! I usually go for the clothes next, but I dreaded the robes in this piece so I guess that's why I ended up with a basic idea of what I wanted for the background instead LOL I also figured out how I want the final crop to look like, so I blocked out all the other areas with an extra layer!

Okay, onto the part that killed me like ten times: the robes. There are a lot of interactions between their robes here given their pose, and not to mention they also have layers upon layers on each of them! So, to maintain my sanity and to keep track of which part is which, I color coded them into the most colorful sketch I've ever made.

Another reason why I filled in each layer of robe with a solid block of color, is so that all the lines underneath gets covered. Without all of the colors, the actual outline actually looks like the one on the right. What a nightmare!

I also ignored the crop again for this part, because it's always better to draw past your borders, in case you decide to rotate or tilt or whatever your piece later on. I didn't do the feet anymore though, because that I was sure wouldn't show in the final piece anymore.

After that, I did the sketch one more time and then started adding the base colors. (I didn't have a screenshot of just the base colors, and the final CSP file is a nightmare so I copy pasted the layers into a new canvas to show you guys :') )

By the way, I drew their robes flowing this way, because I wanted it to frame the lower arch of the moon behind them for the composition. It was a little frustrating that I couldn't get Lan Wangji's robes a little higher because of Wei Wuxian's legs but I later filled in the empty space with his forehead ribbon anyway, so it all worked out in the end!

Painting

Because apparently, I was a masochist back then, I merged the base colors all into one layer and started adding shadows to the robes. (These days, I add shadows first and then, merge. It's much easier this way.)

And then, I started painting! Again, I did the face first and then the hair, before finally the robes. This was my first time painting side profiles and honestly it was quite a pain to figure out LOL but !!! I think I did a good job and I'm proud of how it turned out. I again used reference photos for this one but I can't link any because they were just several random Pinterest photos that I didn't save.

Another thing to note is that I use the mesh transform tool a lot, especially on faces. That's largely why Lan Wangji's face looks so different in the latter two!

And then I went with the robes. Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't like how I planned to do Lan Wangji's sleeves and the flowy part of Wei Wuxian's robes and I... decided, with much dread, to do them over. So I sketched on top of the painted layers and redid the robes, again.

It was at this point that I decided to take a break from this piece because it was honestly very draining! I think it took about three weeks before I decided to open the file again and continue it.

When I did, I just finished painting the rest of the robes and their hands. The blue details on Lan Wangji's outer robes were painted on a separate layer that I put on Multiply. I probably did more adjustments to the face and hair and stuff, because my painting process is honestly a mess :')

Final Adjustments

I added some correction layers on certain areas to fix some of the colors. See: Lan Wangji's sleeve becoming much brighter and paler; Wei Wuxian's legs having less contrast. And then I merged all of the layers (excluding the background) and added a bit of blur. See: Wei Wuxian's ponytail; the entire lower part; the flowing forehead ribbon. My reasoning for this is so that most of the detail (and therefore the flow of the eye) goes to their faces and expressions!

And then, I put a blue Overlay layer on low opacity to make Wangxian blend better with the background, added a bit of shadow on the inside and the lower sections and added the glowing details for the added flair. I initially wanted sparkles and/or stars but they didn't turn out as well as this did. I also upped the contrast by a little for the entire piece!

Aaaand, that's it! In truth, I did a bit more color adjustments to the whole piece, but I was a dummy who forgot to turn them back on before posting so ... oh well.

Posting

Before posting, I upload it either on my spare private Twitter account or on a drafted Tumblr post so I can check the colors on my phone. This is because the colors on different devices can look very different, and I would at the very least want all my pieces to look nice on both of my devices!

And then, once I deem it satisfactory, I just try to think of a caption and post! Some artists wait for a certain time where most of their followers are active, but I didn't have a lot of MDZS followers at this point so it didn't really matter to me.

It still doesn't really; I haven't actually been able to figure out when my MDZS followers are awake even now.

#showyourprocess #mine #whew this was so long oops #but this piece took like #maybe 1.5 weeks sans the break i had to take #so !!#LOL #tag game

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tuiyla · 2 years

Note

santana for the character ask game :)

Our girl!

favorite thing about them

Gosh how do I choose one haha. I think ultimately it's her heart and how she does try to be there for the people she loves even when she doesn't know how to best do that. Hers is a constant battle against fear of vulnerability but a need for connection and it's very special when she makes it work.

least favorite thing about them

This won't be a big surprise, her cruelty. I think it makes her a compelling character because she has an internal reason to it but as I keep highlighting time and time again that doesn't excuse her behaviour. And when she doubles down she can really hurt people, even or especially those close to her. I think her brand of cruelty also comes from reading people well which means she knows exactly how to hurt them. Ouch.

favorite line

I'll never, ever, ever get over "I used to count the number of times you'd smile at me and I'd die on days that you didn't", god the pining of it all. But also shoutout to her speech to Rachel in 5x18 and her character-defining quote in 6x08 about being a strong Latina woman.

brOTP

How could I possibly choose just one lol. Is this the day I'm forced to choose between Sancedes and Pezberry? Erm how about I say both of those and go with a dark horse third option and say Marley and Santana have a special place in my heart.

OTP

Brittana, until infinity

nOTP

I could get behind just about any woman x Santana ship so this one has to be absolutely any guy x Santana ship, which as I understand is something people actually ship? Wow. Among those the ultimate nOTP has to be "Sebtana', not only because they're both gay but the general vibes. A negative shoutout to Finntana as well because wow, that's a choice.

random headcanon

I'd say her being a closet nerd but isn't that just canon haha. Well it's subtle enough so it can be up for debate I guess. But in my eyes Santana is a nerd who doesn't want to admit she is one so she denies every passionate nerdy debate with Sam and dismisses it every time someone wonders exactly how come she can make so many obscure references. I'm not saying she's the type of fangirl of nerdy media we associate with tumblr for example but she will watch so many things in her free time and she will debate her favourite female characters with gatekeeping lowkey/highkey sexist nerds. Sam cheers her on.

unpopular opinion

I thought about this one for a while because I'm not an unpopular opinion kinda lad but I have three that come to mind, though how unpopular they actually are... I guess I mostly mean that these are things I've seen a lot on reddit and they annoy me because I disagree lol.

Popular fanon that she'll be a lawyer: really? Schue mentions it like once and it's in a totally misguided attempt to project a ~proper~ career onto her, which she rejects. Nah, I don't vibe with it.

On a related note, people taking everything she says at face value: I guess that's why show don't tell is dying because Santana can lie through her teeth when she puts her walls up and act the opposite, but people will still believe the shit she says instead of the shit she does. Example, Santana calling herself heartless and immune to other people's feelings. Sure, hon.

Again on a related note, I do not wish to discuss her character with people who don't believe she at least tries to be better and insist she's just a bitch, or even in the Brittana dynamic that she's the grump who only ever loved Brittany. I really dislike that popular narrative of Santana hating everyone else cause no, she canonically does not.

song i associate with them

Well Glee's a musical so I won't ever not think of Santana when any of her covers come on the radio, but especially Girl On Fire because I'll die on the hill of that being her character-defining solo. Also on the podium are Landslide and If I Die Young :(

favorite picture of them

One?! Lmao that's what I think of every question. She has so many iconic looks but I'll go with this picture because Emotional™

#thank you!#santinacedes #ask meme #santana asks #glee asks #not that i shipshame people but actually yes if you ship a lesbian with men

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ceryanie · 4 years

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I guess I'll need to express this. I'm sorry, but I don't see nothing wrong with people believing Pidge is a Tomboy. They have their reasons.

Um... Hello. It's been a long time since VLD ended, and I'm like two years late, that's for sure and I'm conscious of it.

However, I guess I needed to express something since I didn't see anyone having the same opinion or talking about this the same way I do. I didn't have many people in this topic to agree with, I guess there are some, but I don't blame them if they didn't want to share that here.

I want to say this before I start. The first: Maybe this is going to be a very long post, I don't know how much I'm going to write or how long it takes, so, sorry if it takes a lot of time to read. Second: Maybe I'm going to reply to some points or arguments that I've heard and I feel the need to answer them; however, I'm going to be as respectful and kind as possible, because my main purpose is not ofending anyone or their feelings. Third: please, don't feel harassed, attacked or offended. This post is not made to attack personally someone. It's made basically in order to express my opinions, you have the right to answer to it, I support freedom of expression, and as much as that means your can even insult me, I also have the rights to read your notes and answer to them properly.

So, now that I made this visible, let's start.

I've seen arguments, I've seen opinions and I've seen personal identification. Being a person who has also seen lots and lots of opinions about the show in general, specific treatment of the characters, critical opinions about how and why the show went down, ships analysis and theories and... Like, more. Looking for a lot of information in this fandom like I never imagined I could be able to do because of all the polemic situation behind, I evidently found opinions which I have a very solid disagreement with. Opinions that I thought didn't had answers or nobody answered them, and sadly I guess this is one of these.

I don't have any single problem with people seen Pidge as a girly girl, inf fact, I don't blame any of them, any. It's not even their fault, they'll have their complaints and even myself have some of how this came out. So, please, If you want to keep seeing her this way without any problem, please, do it! Keep what you're doing! This is a fandom, that's what fandom's are for, for expressing ideas, theories, points if view, headcanons, whatever! I also don't have any problem with girly girls in the show, its completely fine that there are, I even love minor characters that just appear in comics, like Princess Malocoti, so... Yeah, and underrated comic female character is one of my favorites.

I don't think its bad being girly, I don't anything bad with it. I'm also a girl myself. They can be girly, cute and be even more than that! Not only that, but I don't have any problem with other Pidge's headcanons.

My personal complaint it's because of some people whose form of public expression shows the necessity of others seeing the things the same way they do. Saying “its Canon, true facts” while I guess they are (maybe not intentionally) omitting some details that also can be easily considered as Canon and can explain why people see Pidge this way. I felt the necessity of doing this because It wasn't said enough, maybe it's not the popular opinion. I found not discussions, not answers... And I think it needed to be said. You don't need to agree with me, in fact I don't have faith for people publicly say the same as me. So, feel free to express yourself in the notes and reblogs.

So, while I do understand where the arguments come from or why, I have some stuff that I think can answer them. After this first section, of course I have even more to say.

1. Pidge dressed like a boy to enter to the Garrison, being this the only alternative she had.

Sorry but... That's very accurate! That's true. But, what happened to it? Was that exactly the only option she had? No. In fact, dressing like a boy wasn't a necessity. As someone whose name I reserve the mention (its out of Tumblr) “There were already girls at the Garrison”.

She was not obligated to dress like a boy and the show already showed how women in the Garrison (and out) were appreciated and recognized as strong as men there. Ina Leifsdottir, Rizavi, Veronica, Sanda, Colleen... These women already showed having great qualities that make them deserving of their charges. And not to mention the girl students in the first chapter.

And more appart?! Allura, who was incredibly important for Voltron. Axca, Ezor, Zethrid, Romelle... I don't think women were treated so bad in the show that could make Pidge feel bad for herself in order to see herself “obligated” to dress like a boy just to have others respect and be in the same group as men. Instead of existing discrimination, the teamwork and the cooperation of both genders existed in the show. Not to mention that in this, women are the most intelligent, capable and strong characters.

I'm sure Pidge knew she was a girl, I don't find a way about how dressing like a boy is going to easily tell her otherwise. There are women in the Garrison already capable enough, so there wasn't a reason for Pidge feeling bad because she was a girl, the Garrison accepted girls since the first chapter.

Apart, as I mentioned before, it wasn't the only option she had. If Pidge dressed like a boy, was because she preferred it for some reason, (a reason, by the way, that wasn’t shown), if not, I guess that was a writing or animation mistake. She easily could've changed her identity, not exactly her gender. It would have been better in order to preserve her feminity if they wanted so. It didn't seem to me like she forcedly had to cut her hair and abandon her feminity if she was that worried for that or if that was so important for her. Yes, it sounds like an argument in favor of trans Pidge, and while I do not share the same pint of view as the pople who think she is, I guess this point is a good one, there’s not even a reason for Pidge to dress like a boy in first place.

I had a suggestion.

Instead of the flashbacks we received, I would have preferred an episode of Pidge using her intelligence and spy capacities to steal different girls clothes in a clothing store, trick the employees and making sure her mom didn't suspect anything; after, questioning her most important decision: Go to the Garrison to save her family, which was so important to her that didn't even mind cutting her hair. Also, It would've been good to explain why she preferred to dress like a boy instead of using other options.

I personally didn't like how this happened because of how simple and lacked of effort her change was. Apart from her hair and glasses, she looked exactly the same, as similar as the girl who already hacked a very confidential information at the Garrison. Since that moment, they should've been more suspicious about Pidge Gunderson, even if he was a boy. It only made this seem like the security at the Garrison was low and people was not able to have common sense (that or being really bad at watching or identifying faces). Not only that, but, is Iverson ignoring the fact that “Pidge Gunderson” has exactly the same voice as Katie Holt?! And he even didn’t suspect?! It just felt like... they needed something to explain why the character has the design she has and being a girl, and if it is, it... it just didn’t need it anyway. It would've been funny seeing Pidge getting in trouble in the previous suggestion or at least disguise as a boy, but deal with Iverson. He could have known it earlier and have the dynamic of trying to catch Pidge while she's in the space, for example. Being suspicious but trying to catch her slowly while she notices he knew who she really was and start to take action passive and cleverly. I don't know, anything that could let Pidge know she's not dealing with any person. That would have made more sense, letting know how new Pidge was at trying this kind of stuff because she never had to do something like this before. Intelligent move between Pidge and Iverson every time in the academy with daring, sassiness and blackmail on the way and end being who she was before again with no problem. Other options are still the blackmail or dressing as another different girl and make an effort to look completely unlike, which would make Iverson and the rest of the members, more to identify her than just cutting her hair and pretend that nobody will notice her. And they didn’t for a while! LOL WHAAAT?! I mean, I know is a show dedicated to a general audience and everything doesn’t need to be that complex, but reinforcing the reason of why her decisions were this way and make that more than just the paladins could notice her, could’ve made her change have sense and still being simple. Wait, now that I think about it a little more, it seems like the Paladins have a better eye than military forces at this point.

2. Pidge felt awful because she loved her long hair and cut it.

I can’t deny that Pidge didn’t even seemed comfortable taking a big and risky desition like this. This also brings my comprehension of people thinking that this is the only option she had. Because it seemed like that, and they have their reasons. She looked like she didn’t want to do this and it’s sad to not see why she taked this decision specifically.

I think, however, this argument is actually omitting other reasons completely justifyable to Pidge's feelings that are also according to her story and the flashbacks.

The situation implies even more than this point. It implies her identity. Along with how she dressed, it also includes every part of herselft, all she was, her whole life was going to change for who knew how long. Her life at school, her hobbies on Earth, and even her interactions with her mom which also were going to cease.

A teenager took the decision to go to an academy alone just to then travel to the space to find her family and not telling her mom anything about it. She also had the probability to die out there without finding anything.

Another reason to be worried like Pidge, it’s the fear of being recognized one way or another. If that happens, possibilities of finding Matt or her father could decrease due to the time they could’ve been out. They were supposed to be “missing”, how long could they survive if they were alive? If Iverson catches, it would’ve been more difficult for her to enter again, even if she could have. They were going to increase the security and make sure more than usual to prevent her from getting into the Garrison so easily. The more difficult it becomes to find her family, the more time it takes in order to succeed and find it alive.

It can be more okay to me if they mentioned.

Please, remember that Pidge also has more important objective behind and also has to do with this.

3. The comparison with Mulan.

I... I guess I understand how people felt bad because of how Pidge "left behind her feminity of her gender" just two enter to it, imaginating how hurt she had while cutting her hair. Also, the comparison is viable if we think about the disguise, which is the strongest connection I could find, however, some factors like the personal reasons and the ambientations were omitted again.

Other kinds of people can also see the purpose in both characters: «Articulate a new vision of the female hero, question and scoff at social conventions and interrogate, through the deconstruction of gender binarisms, the precepts by which we build and order our reality», or at least, it seems so. Both characters are shown like female role models in positions where men are usually placed.

However, the characters have specific differences one from another. Specially if we talk about the personal experiences they have.

For Mulan, it was a higher necesity, and It had to do with her gender, because of historical and cultural instances. A man of every family had to be recluted and her father had to go even though he was sick. It was a crucial obligation serving the army. Mulan was in disagreement and decided to serve in the military, but her only way she could do this is not only changing her identity, but also her gender, trying to keep herself undercover. It’s also important to point out the way she couldn’t fit with the norms of her gender at that time. If we take the point of Pidge being comfortable with who she was and avoid mentioning her current changes as time passed in the show, we could see a difference between them.

In other comparison, Pidge had to disguise herself in order to be unrecognizable; it wasn’t exactly a gender problem, because her main purpose was to hide her identity, and her ambientation, unlike Mulan, was stable enough to disguise as any person of any gender in order to enter to the Garrison. The main objective was remaining long enough to find Matt. In this case we see Pidge cutting her hair and using Matt’s glasses instead of using a more elaborated disguise that can succesfully pass undercover, which is less convincent, taking into consideration, aspects like her face and eyes, enough to make her look suspitious.

The differences are in the ways each character reach a reason to disguise and the resources that let them to it; the way they act over the circumstances. Maybe it’s something that you know, this point seems irrelevant if we talk about the common factor that makes people compare them, however, this is used not just to make a simple and compelling comparison, but as a strong argument in order to make people who desagree look like they don’t have any other option. They can’t see Pidge as a Tomboy even if the show already has some hints to it (and let’s not talk about her at the end of season 8 ). 4. Clothes and gestures

Some people bring the argument to the table that Pidge is girly because she wore a dress. I don’t know about you, but I guess there’s more muliebrity than just wearing a dress. Many of Pidge’s gestures seemed to be from neutral to male (of course, with some exceptions already seen to enfazise the fact that she’s a girl after all). If we consider the “gender roles” again, Pidge is not much of a character atached to them. In fact, after the flashbacks, going back to who she was didn’t even seem as important as it should be. The character never mention anything about it again, letting me know how low her interest was; her clothes changes aren’t so femenine and is focused of things men are usually interested while being a girl, not to mention the typical “smart anime boy gesture”, and the different tones of her voice and their variants sound noticely more agressive compared to characters like Ezor or Allura.

5. (And last one, I hope) Sexual orientation?

It’s been days and months since I started to write this post, so, I really wanted to cover some things and not post things like this in a while.

I’m not in favor of headcanons forcely being above the facts in the show. I don’t have any problem with people’s imagination or creating a personal sexual orientation to their favorite character, It can hapen and I guess I’ve done that myself; however, Pidges sexual orientation is not confirmed. This can go for both:

a) People who believe Pidge is lesbian/asexual/pansexual/bisexual...

b) People who believe Pidge is straight until otherwise is shown.

For both kinds of people, the character simply doesn’t have almost anything related to it confirmed, specially because the writers gave her character another focus. In this case, literaly every suspition is posible or imposible, depending of how good the writing is, because there’s no negativity or confirmation behind it. The character could be as lesbian, asexual or others, as completely straight. There’s no limitation in this section. It all depends of the ideas, the writing and execution you want to give it. I’ve been reading the nonconformity of the people in this subject. I think both sides have veru extreme solutions, even though there’s no actually a “truth” in there. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People always are going to have different perceptions and are allowed to create new ones and let their imagination go, and that’s one of the greatest thing in fandoms, however, things can go a little bit extreme when people become angry and not tolerate other persons opinion. That’s why I’m writing this. I’ve read some comments telling others what to think and how to think, or what kind of headcanons they should have, and even though English is not my first language, I guess there are some things that needed to be said. There are people like that in fandoms in general, but this thing about Pidge has called my atention long time ago.

#Voltron Legendary Opinion #Pidge #katie pidge holt #katie holt #Voltron legendary defender #voltron legendary disaster

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reneereadskingdomofash · 6 years

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1/8 I really wanted to ask you a question, anonymous because I don't have an account, and anons are off on your main blog so I'm asking on this one! There are no spoilers in this, I promise you. KoA is coming out very very soon, and that means I'll have to do a reread of Tower of Dawn, my favourite in the series. How should I read it? ToD is my favourite because I really love the new characters and worldbuilding. But the main reason is because of Chaol. This book meant a lot to me

its below a cut because its long...

2/8 because of his healing arc. I didn't even love Chaol that much before this book, though I never really thought he was that annoying. I did think his actions toward Aelin and Nesryn were crazy. But the thing I loved most about the book was the message to stop hating yourself for your mistakes, to forgive yourself, and get up when you fall. It was the Valg darkness that had injured him, wasn't it? And it was feeding off of his pain and regret.3/8He had to face all of it to finally be completely healed when Yrene realised that the Valg weren't just an enemy to fight against, they were something to be healed from. I think his insecurities and regrets, and his feeling that he was a failure, were also just like a parasite. That message that this darkness that doesn't let us go forward, that tells us we're not good enough, is like a parasite, and can literally and figuratively paralyse us, and we have to let go of it, really helped me.4/8 I think we all have those feelings in us sometimes, and they are the real enemy, just as much as the Valg are in this series. Tower of Dawn showed me how to fight them. When I first read the book, I was in a bad place and felt like I had failed everyone, and this book let me heal. Now I'm rereading this series and I'm back in a less-than-healthy place, and this year hasn't been that easy. But I've been thinking a lot about the characters—more specifically, Chaol.5/8 He became my favourite character in this book, but I've read so many reasons why I shouldn't like him, and many ways in which he's problematic. I don't condone all of his actions, but I never really read him as annoying. I can see where they're coming from, though. One of the most well-known metas on Chaol is the one about how ToD wasn't his redemption arc and he didn't really change, and mostly stayed the same idiot. I never really read the book to see him redeemed.6/8 I just liked the message of his healing. Heir of Fire is a very close second to ToD as my favourite, because of both Aelin and Manon's change of view. (Side note: Aelin went through so much in the series and triumphed, so it seemed a really crazy idea to put her in an iron coffin, and give her that feeling that she's failed everyone again. But I think it shows that the path to complete self-acceptance in anyone's journey is never linear. But I digress! Enough about my love for healing arcs.)7/8 The point is, there are many, many valid reasons to dislike Chaol, and so many of the things he's done—not just to Aelin and Nesryn, but throughout the whole series—are pretty stupid. But can't I like the good parts and learn from the bad parts, without condoning them? Are the people who like Chaol better at excusing problematic things or something? The reasons to hate him are all such good reasons, and I acknowledge them. I feel like I should probably start reading him that way too.8/8 I'm sorry for all the rambling in your asks, but my question is: should I do my reread looking for all the reasons why I shouldn't like him, or is it okay to read it my way? I acknowledge the wrong things he's done, but does it make me a bad person to like him anyway? Does liking problematic characters make me a bad person? Is it all right if I didn't read his character as that annoying? I feel very conflicted about this, and that's why I'm asking you.

Hey NONNIE!

I am so sorry I only just saw this as I came back to tumblr today! My asks are back open on my main btw - or they are supposed to be. :) So I’m first going to say that we all take in books, movies, stories differently.

Sure over time some are deemed to be "less than great" while others triumph and are called the best books of a generation. (and I disagree with a few of those lol).

I like to listen to a lot of different point of views in the tumblr world. But I have learned that people will see what they want to see.

Read Tower of Dawn how YOU want to read it.

If Chaol is your fav that’s valid. Even if Maeve was your favourite - that’s Valid too. We can like characters without condoning what they do. We can like stories while knowing that they might contain controversial topics. I loved Tower of Dawn when I first read it. And I Loved it the second time as I read it simultaneously with Empire of Storms.

I'm sure I’m going to go off on a tangent so I apologise if I do.

But its important to read for your own enjoyment. Decide what you think. Decide what you like or don’t like. Its fine. Then if you decide you want more ideas and perspectives then look for them. But don't beat yourself up if you don’t completely agree.

And if your mind changes after a second read - that’s fine too. Opening ourselves to more experiences and stories is what makes us more accepting as a whole - I believe.

So I'm going to focus on your questions before I go on a meta Tangent.

Should I do my reread looking for all the reasons why I shouldn't like him, or is it okay to read it my way? - READ It however you want hun

I acknowledge the wrong things he's done, but does it make me a bad person to like him anyway? NO You are not a bad person Example. My grandfather cheated on my grandmother with another person. He was still my grandad. I still had a relationship with him. I use this story a bit. He did some dumb shit but it never made him a bad person. He did some worse shit to some other people which def could make him a bad person, but he was still my grandad and I loved him. He lived his life and made mistakes and spent a lot of his life trying to atone. WE ARE HUMAN. And I think it actually says a lot about SJM's storytelling abilities to make such complex characters. The older I get - the more I seem to forgive people for some things and condemn them for others. When I was 15 I told my uncle he was going to die if he kept smoking - I was blunt and brutal and didn’t care. Now I wouldn’t say that - but I also wouldn't let my kids be around him while he smokes and I would say that to him instead. He can do what he wants - i’m not there to police his choices. So I guess perspectives change, or how we go about enacting change changes. Anyway You are not a bad person. I am not a bad person.

Does liking problematic characters make me a bad person? um short answer - NOI really like Lorcan. A lot of people don’t and that’s fine. But he's my problematic character I'm stuck on hahaha

it all right if I didn't read his character as that annoying? Yes because we all make friends with different sorts of people.My best friend is not going to be your best friend. We cant all be the same. Different backgrounds and morals, beliefs etc are going to mesh together and we form friendships. So you can have your best friend and not need everyone else to love them too - the world doesn’t work like that. So loving a book character that other people don’t love is fine too.

I feel the conflictedness- (I just made that word up its now a word) but honestly. Do what you enjoy. Do what you want to do. Don’t let it get you down. Remember Dorian and Chaol are BFF's so he's gotta be the right best friend for someone and maybe you are just more like Dorian than other people are - ;) right! hahaha.

Sorry I’m not sure when u sent this ask, hopefully its not been answered too late. :)

#tod #ask #nonnie #answered #Anon #renee answers

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