#I'm very tired now though

[jedi-bird]

Our power went out for just over an hour. It's now back on (I have fans again!) and seems to plan to stay on, so I'm charging my phone while I can just in case. Still no internet but that's fine for now; we'll worry about that tomorrow if it's still not on. I'm assuming from the number of emergency vehicles that past my street that someone hit a power pole again, in which case I hope they're okay.

[lunarharp]

What led to this (orufrey comic, cw an uncomfortable/creepy scene)

[kirby-the-gorb]

[solradguy]

Is there a canonical reason why Sol was dripped out in the middle of the Holy War during his greasy trash man era?

Do you think Kliff gave him an allowance and one day and he went into town then came back Riot branded head to toe? Do you think Riot sponsored the Holy War?

I like to imagine Kliff put him in charge of the month’s funds for food and Sol spent it all on his designed Riot Holy Order Uniform. Then Kliff said “Haha Sol you have spent all of our money we will now starve” and then it was a really awkward month that made Sol decide to leave the Order

Post-Begin to post-Crusades Sol basically doesn't have any lore so you can just say whatever and it has just as high odds of maybe being true some day tbh lol

Sol was a bounty hunter before joining the Holy Order though. Probably he rolled up with fat stacks of cash, they showed him the uniform and he was like "fuck OFF I only wear red," and then had his boys over at Riot make him a custom tailored Holy Order uniform with its stupid fingerless-not-fingerless gloves with steel fingernails with RIOT stamped on them

but then Sol didn't have any money left over and ate all the Holy Order's food and Kliff said they will now starve anyway

[averlym]

ghostwriter (their grandma would tell them she'd lose half her soul)

[expelliarmus]

[nu-carniviva]

Hi there - re: your stance on proshipping, doesn't Nu Carnival have elements in it that could be considered problematic? Aster fits pretty neatly into the 1000-year-old loli/shota trope, and consent in intimacy/H-scenes is sometimes rather dubious. Are these somehow not problematic things? And if they are problematic, doesn't continuing to play the game while acknowledging that basically constitute taking a proship stance toward it?

Alright. I'm not targeting this specifically at anon, but I am really sick and tired of Aster being called shota bait so I thought I'd put that to rest with a little anatomy lesson. Bit of a lengthy post ahead

I'm going to be using this image as a reference, since it lists all the measurements needed in making an anatomically accurate adult male. While the origin of the image is a little old, the measurements are still used today so I believe it can still be applied:

These are all those measurements applied to Aster. Specifically, his default sprite:

Woah. Seems like a lot, right? Let's go step by step, then. Or rather, list item by list item. Click on each image to see them in full. It's also important to note right off the bat that each line is EXACTLY THE SAME LENGTH, and each line is THE SIZE OF ASTER'S HEAD

"An adult stands 7 to 8 heads tall" - Color coding each line to make things easier to see, if we count all those lines up from the top of his head (hat not included) to the bottom of his feet, we have 7 lines. 7 heads. Anatomically correct for an adult male

"The width of a man's chest (under the arms) is equal to the width of his hips" - Aster is standing at an angle so I can't give 100% exact measurements in this particular part, but he's close enough to be forward-facing that it's safe to assume his measurements line up. Even if they're not exactly the same, the difference in length between his chest and his hips are not apparent enough to say that his proportions are childlike rather than adultlike

"The crease at the inside of the elbow will be near the waistline" - Seems to check out here too!

"The distance from the elbow to the finger tips is 2 heads" - Since Aster's hand is at an angle, I added a third little line to connect his finger tips to the tip of the other white line (which, bringing this up again, is the same length as his head.) Using a ruler to keep the lines perfectly straight, I was able to successfully connect the lines together, checking off this box as well

"The length of the head, the length of the inner forearm, and the length of the foot are equal" - These seem to match up as well, though his foot might be a liiiiiittle bit smaller

"The distance from the heel to the knee is 2 times the length of the foot (2 heads)" - If you look back at the reference image I'm using, "heel to knee" refers to the heel of the foot to the very beginning of the knee — meaning at the very very bottom. My measurements seem to match up to that as well... And that checks off all the boxes on the list

Conclusion:

Aster is proportionally correct for an adult male. He is just short. Short men exist.

On top of that, children are typically drawn with chubby, rounded features. Aside from his thighs and hips, Aster's design uses a lot of sharp lines to accentuate his features — such as a sharp jawline and sharp, slender fingers

One might argue that his voice is high pitched, so he must still be shota bait... But men can have high pitched voices too. Anyone can. Men are more likely to have deep voices, yes, but it's not a guarantee that all men will have deep voices

One also might argue that Aster is childish but... Is he really? Sure, he acts cutesy, but that's to get attention from people (especially Eiden.) That's really the only childish personality trait about him. Other than that, Aster is a natural leader. He's demanding, he's business-minded, and he's sly. Aster has no issue taking charge and giving instructions. After all, he's been the owner of the mansion ever since Huey left AND he's the owner of several businesses all throughout Klein. He spends most of his time working and doing business-related tasks. Hell, one of the things he complains about is how much work he has each day, but he knows it has to get done

"But he likes cute things!!!" You can be an adult and like cute things

Honestly, I see no reason why anyone would genuinely believe he's shota bait other than he's short, likes pink, and likes cute things. Those are all traits that can be seen in an adult. Traits that don't take away the fact that someone looks and acts like an adult

This isn't targeted at anon but tbh... People who insist Aster is shota bait are weird bro. Why are you so determined to say this is a sexualized child?

Side Note:

You mentioned that there are moments of dubious consent in some h scenes, and I agree. Especially with Edmond and Karu who are typical tsunderes, sometimes their scenes start off a little iffy. I am in no way saying that those moments are totally fine, but it is important to note that every single one of those scenes quickly escalates to them expressing their pleasure both physically AND verbally. They start the scenes aroused and okay with the idea of sex, but their tsundere nature can makes the consent come off as dubious — I get that. Though I don't recall ever seeing a scene were consent is explicitly ignored or consent is forced. Eiden is a very patient and understanding man, and he's shown that he will stop if his partner truly doesn't like what he's doing. So while the consent can be dubious at times, I wouldn't say it's entirely problematic

[bumblingbabooshka]

Janeway in 'Nothing Human' vs Tuvok in 'Resolutions' There's something here I know there is I can almost wrap my teeth around it.

[keeps-ache]

they're like shiny knickknacks to me

[batfossil-fr]

it’s been a while since I’ve done much art. here’s a fun little headshot for creosote on FR of their dragon Viatryx!

[elv-arts]

Redraw time! Nearly a decade between these.

The first one is the first art I posted on the internet, as soon as my parents let me make a deviantart account. I was thirteen and used to draw this kind of thing a lot.

The second I drew last night at 2am because I wanted to make 13yr old me happy and also i got possessed by the sleepy art demon.

[ID: Image 1 - a coloured pencil drawing of an "anime style" girl taking a selfie with takanuva from bionicle. The girl has pale freckled skin, long brown hair in a low ponytail, and a slim green vest top. One arm holds up the camera, and the girl and takanuva each have one arm around the other's back. They're smiling with their eyes closed and the background is a sunny view of the sea and a beach with a sand castle. There's some sun glare in the corner of the picture, wispy clouds, and the sea has sparkles on it.

Image 2 - a digital drawing of a person taking a selfie with takanuva. The person has pale freckled skin, an underbite, long brown hair with growing out buzzed sides tied in a ponytail, and a black tshirt with the sleeves cut off. They have chipped black nails, an ear cuff and a couple bracelets including a rainbow one. They are grinning and are making a peace sign. Takanuva's eyes are making a happy expression and he is also making a peace sign (or perhaps failed bunny ears) behind the person. The background is a blue sky with wispy clouds and a beach. End ID]

My art has changed a lot, and I've grown so much, but some things have certainly stayed the same lol

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

Yeah... I remember seeing the architectural design majors at my uni having this breakdown each semester...

[chiropteracupola]

sometimes you start to wonder what the historical record for the guys you made up looks like in the fictional world where they existed. and then you make some fake documents about it.

[moth and compass is a collaboration with @natdrinkstea!!!]

[coquelicoq]

you guys would not believe the multitudes i contain. on the one hand i found myself thinking today "pachelbel's canon fucks. like, severely." on the other hand my 17yo cousin thinks i am "really cool" (he doesn't know about my pachelbel's canon opinions). i tried to go up the down escalator at the airport and didn't realize for SEVERAL steps, then tripped on my suitcase at the bottom and exclaimed "LORD ALMIGHTY!" in the middle of a large crowd of people who had watched this happen. a guy at the airport today saw me writing a crossword and came over to talk to my mom about it because apparently he had been on a flight with us a few days ago and saw me doing the same thing (he asked her if i was "coding". on graph paper, bro??). i wore a long, full-skirted floral dress to a wedding and did a little photo shoot of me manspreading and looking disaffected under a neon sign reading "let's party" and my entire family is obsessed with it. i brought a card and a pen to the wedding and made all of my relatives (including the bride lol) sign it for my grandmother who was unable to attend, but i was also super rude to my mom and had to apologize a few hours later after i had calmed down. a baby puked on me and it made my day. my sister said i have "really good taste in music" (she also doesn't know about my pachelbel's canon opinions) but also i am apparently the person who introduced her to janelle monáe, so point to me. the 17yo who thinks i'm cool seemed reluctant to stop talking to me at the wedding because he was afraid we would not see each other again to which i should have been like "dude do we not have telephones? and the internet?? and are we not both members of this family that gets together every few years???" but instead i was like "i know your address! i'll send you a card!" (he wants to be a dentist so i'm now congratulating myself for having saved every "i got my teeth cleaned!" sticker i was ever given as a child, because now i can send them to him and give him all of my very important anthropomorphized tooth clip art opinions.) walt whitman whomst.

[isfjmel-phleg]

🌋

[emometalhead]

I write something like this every year. In all honesty it's hard for me to talk about Chester. I think about him every single day. It's now been six years without him, and it still doesn't feel real that he's gone. I still don't know how to cope with it. I still can't think about him for too long without crying.

Chester has been such an important figure in my life for as long as I can remember. I was raised on Linkin Park. They will forever be one of my favorite bands even if some songs are too painful to listen to now. My own mental health journey has been difficult. I'd be lying if I claimed to be doing totally fine, but I live each day trying to honor Chester's memory and make him proud. He's a big part of the reason I am who I am, and he's a big part of the reason that I'm still here today.

If you see this, please give someone you love a hug. Tell them you care about them. Cherish the moments you have with the people that matter. Listen to your favorite artist and keep them in your mind for a while. Do something nice for yourself. We all owe it to ourselves to allow some kindness in our lives. In words that Chester once sang, "when life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind".