#just not in character

[starboundfae]

The smell…

                   …of the ocean…

It feels like I am aimlessly floating inside myself.

The sound…

                    …of the waves…

My movement is sluggish, even within my own subconscious. Reaching the waking world feels so close, yet so far.

The feel…

                …of the sand…

The more I push towards consciousness, the harder it feels to do so, as if something is resisting-- and yet, after a minute, I surface with such suddenness that it almost surprises me. Blinding light greets me when I attempt to open my eyes, and it takes a few moments of playing peek-a-boo with the waking world before I am able to keep my eyes open.

The sky… is a beautiful shade of cloudless blue. I reach up towards it, and flinch. Memories drift back to me in fragments, of red and gray and the endless, striking blue of the sky, blocked only by my own hand reaching for something… something…

I can't remember what.

I can't remember much else, either. Assuming the worst-- always the worst, rather than get my hopes up-- I push myself upward, until I am seated, making room for sand and water to join the sky in my immediate field of vision, and begin to test that my body is functioning properly. Better to distract myself than to overthink, since overthinking means wondering how long it's been, which means wondering if--

Enough. I lift my hands and begin to pat myself down, checking that everything was in the right place.

Head. It's attached, certainly, which is always a good start. Both sets of eyes are out, which usually isn't a problem, but probably means that either my mimicry is stunted for the moment, or… whatever fauna is here isn't really human enough for it to be a concern.

Arms. Two of them, fully attached and functional. The nail polish Styx had done before the attack was still intact, surprisingly. I don't typically like nail polish but… I leave it. Perhaps as a sort of reassurance and hope that she's okay, perhaps because I'm too lazy to remove it.

Torso. No wounds, at least. I seem to be wearing light, comfortable, cream colored clothes-- a slightly-too-long t-shirt and shorts. Different from my usual clothing, which is typically what I reform with, no matter the state of it. My staff is still on my hip, which is good, as well as a strange sort of mask. My bag, however, is nowhere in sight. 

Legs. Humanoid, fully attached and functioning. I don't seem to have any footwear, so it's a good thing the sand covering the area is rather fine and not very hot. 

Tail, wings? Missing, it seems. Not great for my balance, but I assume the main population is human enough not to have them, perhaps? 

Conclusion? I reformed fine, which is always good, even if my somewhat fragmented memories hint at a particularly violent death this time. The local population-- which I have so far seen none of, unsurprisingly, considering that I seem to be on an isolated beach-- must be human enough that extra limbs are unusual, but not little oddities such as my bonus eyes. My clothes are quite different, so perhaps they mostly dress the same, and I simply reformed differently to compensate? The mask also seems to be important, if it came on its own, rather than as something I had before, like the lantern-staff.

A mostly humanoid species that dressed mostly the same and wore masks. I don't think, in all of my planet-hopping experiences, that I've met a species with this strange sort of uniform.

This is bound to be an interesting trip...

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We're live! Feel free to ask questions. This is the first page! Next > // Tag for scrolling through!

#my art #ask blog #Trickventure: Sky Edition #the first story is Sky:COTL themed! #since its my latest interest! #if no questions get sent in I'll take a suggestion and continue myself #I hope you guys like the story! #oh and before i forget #character interactions wont start until after/near the end of Isle #unless there's an ask I feel fits better than the current planned plot #you can totally ask Trick stuff though! #just not in character #if that makes sense? #now if you'll excuse me #i have a shitpost to make #Trick.png #Trick.txt

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

#yeehaw #1k #5k #10k #posts that got cursed. blasted. im making these tag updates after... 19 hours? #also i have been told it should say speech loss bc nonverbal specifically refers to the permanent state. did not know that! #unfortunately i fear it is so far past containment that even if i edited it now it would do very little. but noted for future reference #edit 2: nvm enough ppl have come to rb it from me directly that i changed the wording a bit. hopefully this makes sense #also. in case anyone is curious. though i doubt anyone who is commenting these things will check the original tags #1) my friend did not do this on purpose in any way. it was not intended to distract me or to hit on me. im a lesbian hes a gay man. cmon now #he felt very bad about it afterwards. i thought it was hilarious but it was very embarrassed and apologetic #2) “why didn't he use 🫵🏼?” didn't exist yet. “why didn't he use 🆗?” dunno! we'd been using a lot of hand emojis. 👌🏼 is an ok sign #like it makes sense. it was just a silly mixup. also No i did not invent 👉🏼👌🏼 as a gesture meaning sex. do you live under a rock #3) nonspeaking episodes are a recurring thing in my life and have been since i was born. this is not a quirky one-time thing #it is a pervasive issue that is very frustrating to both myself and the people i am trying to communicate with. in which trying to speak is #extremely distressing and causes very genuine anguish. this post is not me making light of it it's just a funny thing that happened once #it's no different than if i post about a funny thing that happened in conjunction w a physical disability. it's just me talking abt my life #i don't mind character tags tho. those can be entertaining. i don't know what any of you are talking about #Except the ppl who have said this is pego/ryu or wang/xian. those people i understand and respect #if you use it as a writing prompt that's fine but send it to me. i want to see it #aaaand i think that's it. everyday im tempted to turn off rbs on it. it hasn't even been a week

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

#i often wonder about how many things would be considered classic or high art had they only received the marketing #how many short films that were made for class could have been the most powerful thing you'd ever seen? if you'd seen them? #“you know the greatest films of all time were never made” etc etc #but like. these works of art ARE being made. it's just enjoyed by a smaller audience with equal impact though #i think about this one furry i used to follow on insta who had the coolest worldbuilding ever. it's been years. #thought prompted by that sketch of nimona from ten years ago that was just for a character design #posted to the creator's tumblr and now it's nominated for best animated feature film at the oscars #and by the genuine emotional reaction a fan comic made me feel. how much work had gone into it. how beautiful it was to me. #idk what to tag this but i hope whoever needs to hear it does #writing #writer #fandom #fandom culture #artist

[rubyleaf]

Honestly? My main piece of advice for writing well-rounded characters is to make them a little bit lame. No real living person is 100% cool and suave 100% of the time. Everyone's a little awkward sometimes, or gets too excited about something goofy, or has a silly fear, or laughs about stupid things. Being a bit of a loser is an incurable part of the human condition. Utilize that in your writing.

#this is my beef with a lot of 'badass' characters and male romantic leads tbh #writeblr #writing #character writing #writing advice #characters #i'm just sayin'

[feefal]

Baked with love, doomed for compost :’(

#drawing #artists on tumblr #illustration #digital art #procreate #character design #mold tw #I got sad after drawing this wtf #he just wants to be sandwich….

[biboomerangboi]

More reasons why Zuko being the Firelord is objectively the funniest thing on earth:

HES SEVENTEEN

He hasn’t been civilised in 4 years, his entire teenage experience consists of living on a boat and sleeping rough. The most stable bed he has was probably in Ba Sing Se he probably will just nap anywhere.

He has customer service experience which means he probably uses his customer service voice on his minsters.

Additionally he probably just wanders into to kitchen to get his own snacks and tea because he forgets what servants do.

He probably has no idea why he can’t just chase after an assassin he used to hunt the avatar for Agnis sake why is the captain of the guard demanding he stay in his room he’ll find the guy first (he’s probably right)

Katara probably has a free pass on Eco terrorism because what’s he going to do challenge her, she’ll beat his ass.

If he saw a minster doing something shady he will either invite lady Beifong to detect their BS or commit B&E and look for evidence himself.

He somehow found a baby dragon and raises it.

He will be far to willing to give Kyoshi island anything they want cause he feels bad and Suki scares him.

He randomly insisted on giving some earth kingdom village 100 ostrich horses.

The Avatar will just show up call him Hotman and demand the go on adventures and the Firelord will just dip because he’s been confined to long and has the Zoomies.

He takes far to much advice from Sokka and will genuinely believe if someone doesn’t get Sokkas plans they must be an idiot because Sokka is 16.

Sokka and Zuko also get into a lot of teenage rebellion phases by accident.

Toph just walks in breaks a wall of his palace and demands a field trip that always involves the Firelord having to explain himself to the cops.

He somehow knows every dangerous teen in the world and they all come for tea uninvited.

He has broken into both the NWT and Ba Sing Se.

He has a really well documented facial scar and official portraits but still disappears to be Lee the tea guy like no one knows.

HES SEVENTEEN.

#zuko is the funniest the circumstances just happen character ever #firelord zuko #zuko #atla #avatar the legend of aang #avatar the last airbender #zee rambles #zukka #zuko meta

[yourartur]

Humans only have one ending. Ideas live forever ✨💧💖

Ig arthurshahverdyanart

#barbie #barbie the movie #barbie the album #barbie 2023 #margot robbie #barbie art #barbie fan art #margot robbie art #ryan gosling #ken #just ken #greta gerwig #character art #art #fanart #drawing #illustration #sketch #artwork #digital painting #movie poster #digital illustration #portrait #digital portrait #artist

[clay-pidgeon]

“we need more evil female characters” you guys cant even handle a traumatized teenage girl making a mistake

#this is about a lot of characters #so im not gonna tag them #also someones DEFINITELY made this post before #i just #whats wrong with you guys #krill chirps #my stuff #neways you are encouraged to blorbo tag this

[tearlessrain]

please help me- i used to be pretty smart but i’m having so much trouble grasping the concept of diegetic vs non-diegetic bdsm!

gfkjldghfd okay first of all I'm sorry for the confusion, if you're not finding anything on the phrase it's because I made it up and absolutely nobody but me ever uses it, but I haven't found a better way to express what I'm trying to say so I keep using it. but now you've given me an excuse to ramble on about some shit that is only relevant to me and my deeply inefficient way of talking and by god I'm going to take it.

SO. the way diegetic and non-diegetic are normally used is to talk about music and sound design in movies/tv shows. in case you aren't familiar with that concept, here's a rundown:

diegetic sound is sound that happens within the world of the movie/show and can be acknowledged by the characters, like a song playing on the stereo during a driving scene, or sung on stage in Phantom of the Opera. it's also most other sounds that happen in a movie, like the sounds of traffic in a city scene, or a thunderclap, or a marching band passing by. or one of the three stock horse sounds they use in every movie with a horse in it even though horses don't really vocalize much in real life, but that's beside the point, the horse is supposed to be actually making that noise within the movie's world and the characters can hear it whinnying.

non-diegetic sound is any sound that doesn't exist in the world of the movie/show and can't be perceived by the characters. this includes things like laugh tracks and most soundtrack music. when Duel of Fates plays in Star Wars during the lightsaber fight for dramatic effect, that's non-diegetic. it exists to the audience, but the characters don't know their fight is being backed by sick ass music and, sadly, can't hear it.

the lines can get blurry between the two, you've probably seen the film trope where the clearly non-diegetic music in the title sequence fades out to the same music, now diegetic and playing from the character's car stereo. and then there are things like Phantom of the Opera as mentioned above, where the soundtrack is also part of the plot, but Phantom of the Opera does also have segments of non-diegetic music: the Phantom probably does not have an entire orchestra and some guy with an electric guitar hiding down in his sewer just waiting for someone to break into song, but both of those show up in the songs they sing down there.

now, on to how I apply this to bdsm in fiction.

if I'm referring to diegetic bdsm what I mean is that the bdsm is acknowledged for what it is in-world. the characters themselves are roleplaying whatever scenarios their scenes involve and are operating with knowledge of real life rules/safety practices. if there's cnc depicted, it will be apparent at some point, usually right away, that both characters actually are fully consenting and it's all just a planned scene, and you'll often see on-screen negotiation and aftercare, and elements of the story may involve the kink community wherever the characters are. Love and Leashes is a great example of this, 50 Shades and Bonding are terrible examples of this, but they all feature characters that know they're doing bdsm and are intentional about it.

if I'm talking about non-diegetic bdsm, I'm referring to a story that portrays certain kinks without the direct acknowledgement that the characters are doing bdsm. this would be something like Captive Prince, or Phantom of the Opera again, or the vast majority of bodice ripper type stories where an innocent woman is kidnapped by a pirate king or something and totally doesn't want to be ravished but then it turns out he's so cool and sexy and good at ravishing that she decides she's into it and becomes his pirate consort or whatever it is that happens at the end of those books. the characters don't know they're playing out a cnc or D/s fantasy, and in-universe it's often straight up noncon or dubcon rather than cnc at all. the thing about entirely non-diegetic bdsm is that it's almost always Problematic™ in some way if you're not willing to meet the story where it's at, but as long as you're not judging it by the standards of diegetic bdsm, it's just providing the reader the same thing that a partner in a scene would: the illusion of whatever risk or taboo floats your boat, sometimes to extremes that can't be replicated in real life due to safety, practicality, physics, the law, vampires not being real, etc. it's consensual by default because it's already pretend; the characters are vehicles for the story and not actually people who can be hurt, and the reader chose to pick up the book and is aware that nothing in it is real, so it's all good.

this difference is where people tend to get hung up in the discourse, from what I've observed. which is why I started using this phrasing, because I think it's very crucial to be able to differentiate which one you're talking about if you try to have a conversation with someone about the portrayal of bdsm in media. it would also, frankly, be useful for tagging, because sometimes when you're in the mood for non-diegetic bodice ripper shit you'd call the police over in real life, it can get really annoying to read paragraphs of negotiation and check-ins that break the illusion of the scene and so on, and the opposite can be jarring too.

it's very possible to blur these together the same way Phantom of the Opera blurs its diegetic and non-diegetic music as well. this leaves you even more open to being misunderstood by people reading in bad faith, but it can also be really fun to play with. @not-poignant writes fantastic fanfic, novels, and original serials on ao3 that pull this off really well, if you're okay with some dark shit in your fiction I would highly recommend their work. some of it does get really fucking dark in places though, just like. be advised. read the tags and all that.

but yeah, spontaneous writer plug aside, that's what I mean.

#I found their original stuff while I was researching various waterhorses and their folklore for no reason #because one of the characters in their original work happens to be an each uisge #and then it turned out it ALSO included a lot of figures from welsh folklore in general #so yknow if you happen to have my incredibly specific hyperfixations you'll love it but even if you don't it's great #I didn't mean to bring up phantom of the opera so much it just happens to be very relevant to a lot of my talking points #I haven't actually seen it in years

[saveskum]

The lovely shapes and colors of our companion's eyes.

#bg3 astarion #bg3 shadowheart #bg3 gale #bg3 karlach #bg3 #my gifs #getting these fuckers not to wriggle was hell but it was also worth it #the attention to detail on these faces are insane #you can pick our character traits just by looking at wrinkles or spots #luv it

[aleatoryw]

getting blazed as fuck in public, thinking "boy I sure hope no one knows how high I am right now", and then having the jumpscare of your life when duolingo gives you this notification

#for context it says ''how high your streak is!'' but it crops at just the right point in the text and i misread it every time 💀 #duolingo #unironically though i really like the characters in the duolingo stories i think they're fun

[areyouscaredyet]

im not particularly religious but i think it’s very cute that Trans Day of Visibility and Easter are on the same day this year :)

its no question that something like this could be triggering or upsetting to a number of queer ppl given the current sociopolitical climate, so i want everyone to remember that u are loved! Regardless of what u or others believe, there are ppl who will love and support you always. Give yourself patience and treat yourself with care!!!

happy and peaceful TDOV everyone!! And Easter to those who celebrate :D

#sorry for treating Jesus like an anime character #trans day of visibility #tdov #easter #Jesus is actually very fun to draw #I have no idea how to tag this because what do I even say #lgbtqia #religion #Jesus #christianity #christian imagery #sorry for all the tags I just wanna make sure ppl can filter this if they don’t wanna see it lol #i drawd this

[canisalbus]

Today's tumblr experience.

#own art #own characters #CanisAlbus #boop #the boopening #art #artists on tumblr #Machete #Vasco #I've been trying to return as many boops as I can but if I don't get to you I'm sorry it's a little overwhelming and it's getting late #I just thought it was funny how the cat paw colors almost match theirs (+ my umbreon sona's)

[dunmeshistash]

Dungeon Meshi - Orcs

#Dungeon Meshi #Daydream Hour #Orcs #Leed #Zon #Character Design #Fantasy Character Design #Fantasy Design #I just love orcs in dungeon meshi they're very unique lil boar people

[lackadaisycal-art]

I'm getting so sick of major female characters in historical media being incredibly feisty, outspoken and public defenders of women's rights with little to no realistic repercussions. Yes it feels like pandering, yes it's unrealistic and takes me out of the story, yes the dialogue almost always rings false - but beyond all that I think it does such a disservice to the women who lived during those periods. I'm not embarrassed of the women in history who didn't use every chance they had to Stick It To The Man. I'm not ashamed of women who were resigned to or enjoyed their lot in life. They weren't letting the side down by not having and representing modern gender ideals. It says a lot about how you view average ordinary women if the idea of one of your main characters behaving like one makes them seem lame and uninteresting to you.

#feminism #media criticism #this doesn't apply to media with large casts of female characters where one or the other is uncommonly outspoken or ahead of her time #and it is dealt with realistically in the setting #im not saying women in the past couldnt be wild and headtsrong and revolutionary #i just think treating it as an essential whenever a female love interest gets added to a historical story about some man is wearing

[sunshinem0ths]

club meshis

#that one post that was like kabru and laios r in their 20s they should have been at the club !! got me thinking #i have explanations for all of these btw #also was gonna add some minor characters but i didnt have strong opinions abt all of them so i just left them out #dunmeshi #delicous in dungeon #dungeon meshi #marcille donato #senshi #falin touden #laios touden #izutsumi #shuro #kabru of utaya #mithrun of kerensil #namari #chilchuk tims #thistle