#and I always find it hard to answer

[dawnsfragrance]

I regret to inform that I’ve been afflicted with the I can’t write about love unless it’s heartache syndrome

[barghest-land]

normannognathus :) colors were based on the brown pelican

[vaguely-concerned]

obsessed with the fact that if you choose the last purple option in lucanis' romance chat before going off to tearstone island ("they MOVED the MOON!!!" still in the running for the best delivery in the whole game btw it's so ineffably hilarious to me), it's rook who flinches away just a little bit (if still warmly <3) and tries to change the topic and lucanis who's steady even though he's clearly still so afraid. 'don't tempt fate'/'*the softest fucking voice you've ever heard in your entire life* I don't intend to'. pain and suffering

lucanis looking at rook and helplessly, with a wonder that verges on despair, saying 'what would I do without you?' is soooo. especially at that point in the relationship and with what's about to happen. and for whatever reason rook can't quite stay with the fact that they do mean that much to someone, that they are so reverently and so groundingly 'I want to know what your favourite food is so I can make it for you any time you want it' everyday loved, it's too much and they have to deflect from it or the fear of losing it. can say some very interesting things about them, too.

(there is also a Pattern in that in my estimation lucanis frequently responds better to inviting humour than to earnest shows of concern -- it seems to help him be more engaged/online to be offered that more neutral space to meet you in and uh 'build' the conversation around something funny together than to be confronted with compassion head-on because that clearly mostly deer-in-the-headlights him, as we also see with some of the early flirt options haha. contrast this especially with bellara, who repeatedly gets genuinely upset if you try to make light of some pressing and painful situation she's dealing with (girl I'm so sorry I'm so jestercore and I canot change this but I'll try :'( for you). I think the times lucanis reacts negatively to the purple options are much more about you siding with other (frequently more charismatic lol) people against him or throwing him under the bus interpersonally -- like seeming to go along with illario's charm offensives, or telling teia lucanis didn't want to come help out with caterina's funeral and he'd just sit alone and brood about it if you didn't force him (???!!! hello??? unprovoked and deeply unkind out of left field???? this option is so fucking MEAN and for what fhdaskjfa you're telling me there's no way for rook to be a bit of a dick in this game?)

when it's one on one conversation he consistently seems to find it quite comforting, though... which makes a lot of sense because in many ways it's how he interacts with illario, just shorn of the resentments and hidden daggers and things they Do Not Talk About but really should beneath the levity that makes it sharp. it's gone ugly between them, but I think the affectionate instinct beneath is real and goes back a long way before all of that festered -- it's a form of play he does with people he loves. and uh. not really caterina huh. notably.)

[navree]

Incorrect, the fact that Biden has dropped out and a candidate with history of supporting medicare for all and being more receptive to a ceasefire in the I/P conflict has made me go from "I cannot morally support the Democratic nominee" to "I am voting for the Democratic nominee despite the fact she isn't perfect in every respect." I'm really happy this played out. The Dems for the most part abandoned the old Obama platform and it feels like its possible an actual progressive agenda could come to pass in my lifetime.

Kamala 2024!

If you weren't going to vote Democratic in this election before Biden dropped out you're a dorkass loser who does not care about any of the issues you're yammering about here and also a fundamentally bad person, and I hope you get run over by a bus.

But you got one thing right in all of this gibberish, Kamala 2024.

[mamawasatesttube]

Between Tim and Kon who makes the first move?

honestly for me it varies! i slightly tend towards it being tim, but not always. but in a very specific way, i.e. it's a very gradual melt right on into a relationship, and tim is the one who goes hey. wait a minute. this feels like A Relationship.

at first, saying it'd be tim is probably surprising, since tim has a history of NOT making the first move across his comics - we don't actually see how he and ari get together, but steph chases after him and repeatedly states her interest in him before they ever get together; tim is the one who asks zoanne out, but only after she kisses him and then runs away. then tam once again is the one to ask him if he's interested in her (and, i mean, if you count lynx ii, she's always the one initiating things getting physical and making out with him, but they also literally never talk about it, so i don't entirely really count her as a serious tim love interest).

on the other hand, while kon of course has been a flirt since he was decanted from his tube, a lot of it was very performative and he's only actually ever been in three relationships, two of which were instances of abuse and grooming. given how introspective he gets after his resurrection, and how much less sure of himself he is in general, i tend to believe this is where he starts actually unpacking all his relationship trauma and internalized homophobia. i think actually accepting that he is gay and not actually interested in women is a very jarring thing for him, and accepting that he was groomed and abused is also very difficult, and it takes him a while.

because of that, i think he ends up a) confused about what romance actually feels like, and b) very tentative about dating for a while. he wants deep connection - he was genuinely in love with knockout, and he thought she loved him too; he thought tana would be part of his life forever, and his devotion to cassie was notable even before they actually dated. but deep connections are hard to make with people you don't know well, and by the time he's around 19-20 i think he's kind of struggling with the idea that he's not gonna get what he's looking for in casual relationships, but also the idea of being in Gay Love with one of his best friends is terrifying, because he's not good at identifying what being in love feels like, so he kinda talks himself out of it. "this is comfortable and easy so it must not be romance, this is just really good friendship, because romance feels like walking a tightrope. right? haha. right??" and all that.

and then moreover, i think tim really sits on the fact that he's bisexual for a long time. not because he's trying to hide it, but because he's just so intensely private about things that bother him, and he's got some jack drake shaped Internalized Issues in his head to work through about what it means to be transmasc and to like men (i.e. a voice that sounds suspiciously like a conservative dad putting in one single ounce of effort re: understanding queer relationships is in the back of his head going "but you'd be the girl in the relationship if you dated a man, right?" and tim has to take several deep breaths and figure out how to unpack that before he's ready to even think about admitting out loud that he's interested in guys too, even to himself, let alone to anyone else).

so for a hot second kon's just out there going "i like men but it doesn't matter because i'm never going to fall in love with someone that really truly wants me and loves me as deeply as i'd love them, and i'd be miserable about that except that i'm just pretty satisfied being bffs with tim :) i feel at ease when he's around and he makes me laugh and i just like being near him and watching him work on gadgets or listening to him ramble about cars or letting him sleep on my shoulder. i know it's not romantic because i feel so safe and comfortable, but i'm happy with it, whatever it is. and if i think he's hot, well, that's just because he is hot. everyone knows that!" guy who pretty much is already tim's boyfriend but he hasn't noticed that yet because they're both kind of stupid and also insanely devoted to each other in the same way, so they both go "yeah this seems normal for us" and kon really doesn't question it that hard.

meanwhile tim is the guy to whom labels and boxes matter a lot more, so he's the one who sits back one day and goes, wait. oh my god. i'm in love with kon. and then he has to steeple his index fingers and interlace the others and press his hands to his face in deep, deep thought. he's in love with kon, and realizing that makes a lot about his life suddenly make a lot of sense, because seriously - a hundred clone attempts, changing robin to be red and black, making out with cassie because he missed kon so much - okay, okay, yeah, he sees it now, okay, so maybe he's been in love with kon for years at this point and never actually realized it, that's fine, this is fine, he's FINE, he's NOT freaking out or overthinking--

anyways. after freaking out and overthinking and brooding on a rooftop for four to seven business days (not all at once, of course, but he gets his hours in), he finally goes to kon and jabs his finger into his chest and goes "Hey. Are we dating?"

and kon stares at him for a second with a loading circle spinning over his head. claps his hand over his mouth. inhales sharply like a dying fish. claps his other hand over the first hand. starts floating a few inches off the ground in pure agitation.

"Oh my god, Tim," he says, his eyes as wide as dinner plates and his voice an octave higher than usual. "Are we dating?!"

"I think so," Tim says, and narrows his eyes. "I mean, if we're not, maybe we should be. Pizza and a movie tonight?"

and kon clearly goes through A Whole Process in his head (working through the "wait, dating is comfy and chill and happy and easy?!" crisis in real time), but ultimately goes "okay!!! yeah!! okay!!! let's do that!!! wow!!!!" because, hey. he would love to hold hands with tim while watching the sunset and eating hipster san francisco pizza.

and that's how they end up sitting on the floor by the coffee table in the titans tower common room, eating pizza, and poring over a calendar + their text message history to try and figure out when, exactly, their anniversary is. ("okay, so when we went on that picnic in april, was that a date?" "i think so. alright, so it has to be before april, but after valentine's, because you made a joke about being single here, see? so we're looking at somewhere in march. "okay, but we did do 'palentine's' together, so does that really count??" "fuck, you're right, that totally was a date too. uh...")

[dukeofthomas]

Do you see my vision

[simandy]

I think i am strong enough now to become wcif friendly..... at least i hope so

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Trying to remain supportive about my friend's writing while also trying to convince her to stop using Chat GPT as an editor is actually physically impossible.

[ilovedthestars]

one thing ive been thinking is that it would be cool to see characters in fiction who are both attracted to each other romantically and they choose to stay friends, strictly platonic. NOT because they're traumatized or afraid that the relationship wouldn't work out. they just really love being friends and prefer being friends over any other options. [there's no real reason for sending you this jdhjfhg i just wasn't feeling like posting it so i thought. i will put this in stars' inbox]

(this ask is like two weeks old. oops.)

i totally agree!! I have def seen people talk about like, one person having unrequited romantic feelings but being okay with staying friends bc they still value their friendship. but idk if i've seen anyone talk about this kind of thing!! and i would absolutely love to see it. so often romance is treated as an Upgrade of friendship, and i love the idea of two people deciding. no actually. the relationship we have right now is great and we don't need to change it. romance is on the table but friendship is the better option for us. idk i agree that sounds cool!!

[phanrenaissance]

tell me what the video Basically, I’m Gay means to you?

daniel howell why did you send this ask to every phannie tumblr account you could find .

[peliginspeaks]

Thinking about the concept of self-teratomancy again. On the one hand, the agency of self-modification. On the other, the inherent implications of that being labeled teratomancy instead of Shapeling Arts: that there are hidden histories to be unlocked, that you as a creature are fragmented or ill-suited to your purpose, that to break and make yourself anew might be required. The cruelty and mercy of the knife instead of a slow and warping moulding. The fact that to change yourself requires first to know it, on a level deep and stark enough to leave the salt of your ancestors' blood on your tongue.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Honestly even if for the next arc stakes don't seem that high enough, I think it can still be good? I mean after this one maybe we will get to see a good look on the development of everyone. I mean, a murder mystery? The ADA is a detective agency, and other characters get involved because we'll after this arc I think Japan in general is gonna be on a bit more havoc, especially Yokohoma, or maybe they need help

I don't think it needs very high stakes, it just needs to be interesting. If I'm not wrong it is the last one (<-not sure), so it would be a good way to like wrap it all up, a good murder mystery showing off how everyone grew from the first season, and if it isn't the last one well still. I'll take anything over this arc, please can the characters at least have a 5 minute break for the love of god

In theory, I wholeheartedly agree: I will find a low stakes arc to be just as enjoyable as a high stakes arc, probably more. It's just that it feels a bit counterintuitive: one generally expects arcs to have increasingly high stakes, and for it not to be a crescendo is just a little odd. I think the final arc should have the highest stakes of them all, that's what feels like the natural narrative flow. But right now I don't want to think about bsd ever ending pfffttt.

[deoidesign]

Can you make a tutorial on how you world build and make ocs? I can't seem to make any people in my brain, but then when I try to come up with environments jobs, beliefs and little details to slowly come up with someone, I think: well I don't really know how people have influenced the world- it's a weird loop

To be honest, I don't think I can! Writing is an extremely personal process. The way I write is directly related to how I process things, what I find important in stories, years of my own analysis of my and other's writing, etc... The way you write will be unique to you, as well. But I can explain how I personally think of it.

The short answer:

Write. Write anything and everything, it's a tool to explore your ideas. Analyze your own writing, and write more. Then, as you discover which ideas you want to develop, write more to explore them more. You won't know what you want otherwise!

The long answer:

I think this kind of loop is common. It's easy to feel like everything needs to be done "at once," because our job as writers is to make elements logically fit with each other for our readers. But as you've discovered, developing multiple elements simultaneously isn't really possible, or at least is extremely difficult.

Personally, when I think of writing, I break it into three major elements; characters, world, and plot. As much as possible every scene explores one or more of these, and as much as possible these three things tie back into what I personally consider most important: theme.

Everything I do is in service of the themes I want to present. Without them my events feel aimless. It can take a while to discover them, but they're the core of my work. You will have to discover what you feel is the core of yours. Analyzing other media helps with this too.

Concepts in your brain exist in a state of infinite potential. But when you start writing you have to start making choices, which removes potential as you move forward... But you have to move forward anyways. If there's ideas you want to explore later, you can always explore them later.

What this ends up meaning, to answer your question, is that I don't think of my characters as "people in my brain" or my worlds as something people have influenced... Not at their core, at least. They are tools that I use to represent specific ideas. Obviously they're also my blorbos, but mostly they're serving a specific narrative purpose.

So above all else... Write. Write, and discover what you're writing about, and then start over and write with that in mind. Keep doing this. But you have to write!

[3416]

can't stop thinking about how o'dog said mitch was auston's superpower and whipped out the technical fact that mitch is a right handed shot, which just makes it extra easy for him to pass right into auston's wheelhouse when he has the puck.... their play styles and strengths complement each others... it's so clear when both of them are out there they're always looking for each other and making themselves open for each other, and it's so funny to me that people have tried to say that they don't work well together longterm bc they're predictable and the league will catch on... meanwhile they're pulling off the same sorts of goals they were the second they were allowed to play together back in 19-20....... just.............. it never gets old.

[irlplasticlamb]

If I may ask, do you have a favorite illustration that you've made (and why is it your fav)?

i hope you forgive me but i have a few favourites!! i can’t choose just one I’M SORRY it’s not that i think i’m the greatest artist to ever love (i’m definitely not haha) but i like these for different reasons :)!

i really like this one when it comes to composition! i just feel like this piece idk flows very nicely and everything fits well to create a cohesive whole!

this one’s so so simple but i like how i included small details (con’s suit being too tight, ken’s being too big, the stars around logan’s “golden children” and tears by the “weak dogs”) to convey the intricacies of the roy family!

i’m just SO proud of how alys turned it this piece — character design is one of my interests and i’m definitely not the best at it but i enjoy it SO MUCH! i just love the outfit i created for her and idk i think she looks pretty cool :)

i used not to work in black and white at all and i just think this piece is SO strong when it comes to the contrast between the whites and the blacks! :)

[starcurtain]

oh thank GODS because so many of the ideas you put out have my fingers itching. currently trying to blow the dust off my brain like it's a nintendo 64 game cartridge, stay tuned

Very tuned.