#this hits a little to close to home…

[orangesavannah]

ArtFight2025 attack for MrSpeckles

[bagel-bird-ainsor]

devotion

Anyway yeah I wasn’t expecting Capochin’ s storyline to tug at my heartstrings so much but hoo boy howdy. I finished GGG recently and have been gripped with the desire to Draw So Much for it.

[inkedinserendipity]

one of the reasons i think that the murderbot diaries’ emotional moments hit so hard is because of a scarcity effect that the author has set up really, really well.

because, like—murderbot, as a character, is an answer to the question how do you “show and not tell” emotional moments from the lens of a character who point-blank will not acknowledge any affection directed their way. or, instead of overtly stating that characters are friends (“tell”), how do you demonstrate it with text (“show”)? well, most authors go ham on characters smiling at each other, laughing, joking, expressing reciprocal loyalty.

murderbot does none of those things. murderbot probably never smiled before preservation, and definitely didn’t laugh. (this is only partially an exaggeration.) telling jokes? hell yeah, MB’s funny as fuck. to other people? hell no. that would require conversations and it’d rather die, thanks.

add that to the fact that murderbot treats any expressions of affection toward it—internal and external—like being bit by a snake.

so you have this character + writing style that bars most conventional ways of establishing relationships between characters. you also have this character who is basically incapable of feeling any sort of reciprocated, positive emotion toward itself. so what do you do?

you work around your character. murderbot will never pick up on affectionate body language. it hates hugs. every sentence it hears passes through about fifteen different filters of self-loathing. so you make your relationships clear, and when you hit, you hit hard.

you summarize snapshots of characters panicking about the main character getting hurt. you drop your character’s performance reliability (and their walls) and have them banter. you have your character walk in on the tail end of conversations that expose concern for it.

and then you do things so overt that even your shit-self-esteem character can’t talk its way out of. you have its friend tell it directly that it can’t lose it too. you have its friends accommodate it and understand it without it directly expressing a single need. you have its friends stand up for it in conversation when it is too tired to do so. and then, when you really want to hit, you have your character pretend to be physically compromised rather than have to feel one (1) positive emotion toward itself.

positive emotions toward itself can’t really pass through murderbot’s walls. so you have to establish relationships by beating your main character over the head with them. and it can’t be all the time—because that’s not how relationships and emotional recovery, yknow, works—but it can be sometimes, and it can be very powerful, and that is why i think murderbot diaries in particular is very, very effective.

[o1iveangel]

Queen Clytemnestra of Mycenae as the “Death” tarot card

upright meaning: destruction, finality, transformation, sudden change

reversed meaning: resistance, repeating negative patterns, attachment to the past

line art under the cut

[technically-human]

The hug!!

This one was once again commissioned by our dear @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are and we actually talked about this scene quite a lot. Charles is still going through it, and he doesn't even feel like he should be getting the hugs he needs. Poor boy.

[imaginative-joy]

I can’t believe it took me this long to draw a “You’re not my REAL dad” joke with Kata and Cal. Is it terrible? Yes. But did I laugh when I thought of it? Also yes.

(I still felt a little bad, so I added Force ghost Bode there to sort of ease the hurt 😅)

[inafieldofstarflowers]

i can’t stop thinking about how mcr released the black parade in 2006 and aftg is set in 2006 because i think aaron minyard had a borderline religious experience listening to that album

[dumplingsjinson]

List of “presenting: an overthinker” prompts

“Do they actually like me?” 

Mind racing with a million thoughts about the possibility of things, and being scared they’ll actually happen, even if they are irrational as all hell. 

“So I… You know what, don’t worry about it.” “Are you sure? Because when you say that, that makes me worry more.” 

“I don’t know if I can do this.” 

“Do I even deserve any of this?” 

The constant need for reassurance, and even that isn’t enough to keep your thoughts at bay. 

Feeling the need to apologise for something you didn’t even do wrong.

Sitting in your anxiety and muddled up thoughts for hours when you don’t get a reply from that one person in a timely manner; wondering if you’ve fucked it all up with whatever you’ve said.

Reaching out to them multiple times and making your spiral worse when they stay silent on you.

It gets to the point where your overthinking feeds into your already growing anxiety, overwhelming you and eventually drawing tears out of you.

It gets so bad to the point where your chest feels tight, you feel numb and the world around you eventually becomes a monotonous blur because you’re too focused on this one thing you’re overthinking about. 

The rational subconscious of yours tries to drag you back to the side where things are okay and it’s really not that bad because it really isn’t that bad, but that small, irrational part of you takes ahold of you and continues to anchor you down.

You try to redirect your thoughts and it works for a bit… But then you eventually come back around to those thoughts. Sometimes, redirecting doesn’t work so you end up drowning in your own head.

Wondering if you’re being annoying by reaching out, even though you’ve been holding yourself back quite a lot, knowing you’re not being too much at all. Far from it, in fact. 

There are days when you so desperately wish you can escape your brain. Crawl out of your own skin, be someone who isn’t… Whatever the fuck this is. 

“I don’t want to be too much. I don’t want to need constant reassurance. It’s as suffocating for you as it is for me, maybe even more so, because I’m living in my own head, constantly. And it’s not something I can fucking just get out of overnight.” 

“I need to end this for my own good.” 

Drowning in your own never-ending spiral of negative thoughts. 

“Do you even care? Do you still love me? Does any of this even…”

“I’m sorry that/I hate that my brain is wired this way.” 

Join my Discord server: Steaming Dumplings Nation

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ed is absolutely panicking in 2x7 bc he’s seeing stede having the time of his life being a famous pirate and he’s genuinely happy for stede but also he wants out of this life and he’s afraid stede will choose piracy over him and so he’s leaving first before stede can leave him again, all of which is bc deep down ed still thinks he’s unlovable and he’s scared to get hurt by stede again and he’s handling everything very badly

all that being said

the fact that ed has already decided that he can’t choose piracy for stede’s sake is so important to me

piracy was slowly killing ed long before stede entered the picture. and now that ed’s decided that he wants warmth and food and orgasms and he wants to live he’s not going to force himself to do a job that makes him fucking miserable. he still might not think he’s worth love and not worth choosing, but he’s at least moved past thinking he deserves to die. he’s past making himself so miserable that he wants to die. ed still has a lot of work to do but he’s making good progress and i’m proud of him.

[mx-misty-eyed]

“cant change what you’ve done start fresh next semester”

[sunshinereani]

Lukey: I never agreed with Project Outworld in the first place, so I'm glad that people are going back. But also, I'm aware of the inevitability of that, so why resist? Why try and convince anyone? Why feel sad?

Aimsey: Is that what you want to do? Try and convince everyone to stay?

Lukey: No, I don't want that. They have homes and purposes elsewhere.

Aimsey: I don't want a rational answer, I want you to be honest. What do you want? Stop rationalising your feelings.

Lukey: It's all I can do. Do I want them to go? Well, no. If I had to choose, I wouldn't wish for them to leave, of course not. But you're choosing between two evils! It's a rock and a hard place and it's- there's no choice in the matter so why resist? Why waste time being upset. Why waste the energy? Just accept and move on, rinse and repeat.

[phantombegruvia]

That longform genuinely made me tear up.. what the FUCK

[ducktracy]

smorgasbord of Peanuts comics i really like that i somehow never posted before

[jonghoyah]

Jongho Not Okay Music Video

[captainstressed]

y'know instead of making up reasons to hate tommy kinard or more para socially lou ferrigno jr, just admit that your buddie obsession has gone a little too far and the lines are too blurred for you to have normal feelings about fictional characters without tearing actual real people down about it

[seiwas]

omg sel for iwa day, what about steadiness? also i particularly like how reassured iwa makes me feel! like even if i'm having not-so-nice thoughts about myself he'll pull me out of it, and i'll be there for him when he feels unsure!

birdie hello!! sorry this is so late, but thank you for celebrating iwa day with me!! 🥺 i think steadiness is such a fitting word for hajime 🥺 it embodies him completely!!

steadiness

today isn't different from any other day of the week; you go to work, come back home, and settle things around the house. at some point of the night, while hajime is taking over the kitchen, you do your best to dedicate whatever time you can to finish some coursework.

but the accumulation of everything lately has just been too much―a visit from your soon-to-be in-laws, uncertainties regarding your career path, and just the overall adjustment of moving into a new city during this new phase of life. it's a lot, and though today may be just like another regular day of the week, you find yourself overcompensating.

"hajime, we have to deep clean the kitchen," you mumble walking past him, carrying the pile of laundry you'd just gotten from the dryer. "and the food," your eyes widen as your eyes rush to the fridge, "we need to get rid of all the bad stuff and stock up."

you barely give hajime a moment to respond when you're already listing off the next thing, "i took the week off so we can spend time with your parents. i was thinking we could bring them out on tuesday and treat your mom for her birthday on thursday, there's this healthy place a few blocks away that just opened the other week. i can make a reservation if you're up for it."

hajime watches you move across the apartment, somehow managing to fold laundry while tidying up the space. you'd just gotten home thirty minutes ago, and as far as he knows, you have a half-finished essay open on your desktop due in a few days (along with many other tabs for wedding planning, furniture stores, insurance plans, and investment advice).

as far as hajime's concerned, something must be up for you to be acting this way.

"babe," he interrupts your mumbling of the mental checklist you've seemingly created.

"what?" you pause, eyebrows scrunched and a frown forming on your face. you certainly don't mean to sound like that, hajime knows. you've just been carrying too much.

he gives you a small smile, gracious as he continues scrubbing the pans in the sink, "leave it to me."

there are a thousand chores lined up to prepare for the arrival of his parents, and even more things to discuss when it comes to wedding and furniture decisions. hajime knows you've taken all of this to heart―that you've taken it upon yourself, just like with everything you do, to bear the responsibility of delivering nothing short of the best. hajime knows your insecurities, knows you feel the need to take on that responsibility because it's the only way you can make up for things out of your control; how you think you can prove that you're worthy of him being yours.

on most days―actually, all days―hajime finds that all he wants is for you to feel rest.

"but―" you start.

"i got it," he smiles at you reassuringly, firmly, "promise."

and while he knows it'll be hard for you to relinquish all control over all the plans you've conjured, when he sees your shoulders drop just that tiny bit, he thinks that loving you is what he was made for.