#I've been working on it for a while hehe...

[autisticblitz]

Valentine's couple charms available in my shop now! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Please make sure to read the description for shipping info!

Pre-order ends on the Feb 28th and I'm expecting to get them shipped out in March or April <3

Autisticblitz.bigcartel.com

[reksink]

A Lounge of Lizards

[mangoassassin]

not related to my inktober idea at all but!!! inspired by a twitter post :'''D

[cherrirui-official]

Sorry I've been gone for pretty much all month, the ancient ones awakened from their slumber and only I could defeat them. Anyways Happy Pride! Yippee!!

[vargaslovinghours]

And never let you go ♥

Bonus without the overspill lighting:

[sysig]

Enecomimi Banzaiiii (Patreon)

[emily-e-draws]

Catventurers Meowlphabet 01: Alchemist + Abyssinian✨

[fpdaily]

day 7 - caffeinated

[becameundone]

WHERE: the house of judgement WHEN: late february, early evening (around 4-5pm) WHO: anyone! ( @anchoragestarters ) CAP: 3/4

Tomo had come to try and scope the place out but, for all his efforts, he couldn't glean anything more specific from the building's exterior than its general spooky vibe. He'd been here before but only for the raves in the basement (and he'd been off his face for most of those so the memories were a little hazy and unhelpful). Although he'd been hoping to breeze past the House of Judgements and naturally come upon the answers he'd been looking for without having to get into anything tricky or complicated, it was becoming increasingly clear he'd have to step inside and get a better look. Truth be told, Tomo had wanted to ignore the bag that had showed up at his door in November. He'd even run off back to LA over December and spent half of January gallivanting about NYC but the note's final words still loomed over him, eating away at his peace of mind; WTVR U DO, DON’T RUN OUT OF TIME.

He'd been stood in the dimly-lit foyer, leant back against the wall and swinging the parrot keyring that had accompanied the note around in circles, the ring itself being spun around his finger, until somebody new finally came in through the entrance. Whether they were an employee in plain clothes, coming to start their shift, or just a regular customer, Tomo had no clue but he didn't feel like being picky either. "Hey, you got a minute?" he said, pushing himself off the wall with one hand, and sliding in front of his would be interviewee. If nothing else, years in the spotlight had taught him how to command attention. "You haven't heard of any...uh, hat men...have you?" He enunciated the name like the words were foreign to him. "I know how that sounds but I got this weird note saying and...okay, look, I'm not gonna go into but honestly? I'm just trying to make sure I'm not being pranked by some goth theatre kids."

[mintjeru]

i've also been making a little something to commemorate my c6r1 xiao, and i'm so happy to finally share it!! it's a genshin x yoasobi mv themed around lantern rite. hope you enjoy ✨

[knightofleo]

[reksink]

He's Waiting for His Son

[somethingfishysgoingon]

Brother, I am supposed to be writing essays and making a short film but, no, I am too busy thinking about a fictional character named Hermie the Unworthy

[fox-stuck]

I'm sooo interested in Riker's comments at the end of Schisms (6x05) re: the invasive and violent operations being proof that this group of aliens was, and he says this in a harsh and resentful tone - "more than curious." Because whoa, what a line to end this episode on!!! Obviously completely fair but also what a pointed reflection on contemporary scientific practices and mindset?

Human methods of scientific study (although I recognize we are several centuries behind tng) have been are brutal and cruel. Even if we ignore (which is a bold choice) the dehumanization we weaponize to perform procedures, testing, and experiments that are eugenic in nature on actual human beings, we are also horrid to creatures and things we do not view as having a worthwhile life or consciousness.

Like... scientific studies are notoriously cruel to jellyfish. Which I know may be a weird hill to die on but I will die on it. (sidenote: it's not actually a weird hill because we should treat every thing better regardless of internal structures and consciousness.) A short and simplified jellyfish brief, if you don't know, when jellyfish die their bodies age backwards and sink to the seafloor; growing into a polyp which will sprout numerous more jellies. This earned them a bit of a reputation for being immortal even though that's not really what's happening. In reality when they endure an intense enough amount of trauma to disrupt their body or its functions they regress, sink, and start the life cycle anew. As a result the methods by which we study jellyfish are violent.

“Scientists who study the regeneration of the immortal jellyfish know this well, and have developed a roster of abuses to “induce rejuvenation,” as one study calls it. One standard method of traumatizing the jellyfish is to place the creature in a solution of cesium chloride, a colorless salt. An alternative, called the needle treatment, asks you to pierce the gooey umbrella with a stainless-steel needle. Some scientists drag the needle through the creature’s body in a scribble, removing the needle as burst cells coagulate like cumulus. Others stab repeatedly, up to fifty times per jellyfish. You can also heat shock the jellyfish, raising the temperature of the surrounding water to nearly 100 degrees. Or you can simply starve it. If you do not give the jellyfish more than it can handle, it will not begin to regrow. If there is not enough cesium chloride in the petri dish, if there are not enough needles or there is too little heat, the jellyfish will remain adult, alive. So you have to ensure there is enough stress, enough trauma." (chapter: Us Everlasting, How Far The Light Reaches, Sabrina Imbler, 2022)

Our methods of research almost always emphasize getting information as quickly as possible; explaining away our egregious violations of autonomy as necessary. Something about that has always felt really cruel to me and its part of the reason I pivoted from the specific career in biology I had wanted. I know it's "just a jellyfish" but it's also not? They are an important part of an ecosystem and landscape that we have chosen to define as a nuisance. Targets of aggression and anger in the wild fishermen often choose to destroy their bodies unknowingly creating hundreds if not thousands more. Our violent actions against them manifest worse conditions for ourselves and the ocean's ecosystem - it's a nauseating cycle.

I often end up thinking about jellyfish when I watch Star Trek: TNG. So many of the people flying through space "to explore strange new worlds" get so hung up on a being's experiences of consciousness if they don't explicitly mirror their own. I cannot get over everything that happens in Schism being such an interesting thought experiment on autonomy? Like the same episode where Data reads "Ode to Spot" and everyone sort of fails to recognize the beauty in his poetry, is also the episode where the crew is being kidnapped for experiments and reflecting on it, is also the same episode where Dr. Crusher (in a rare case!) doesn't do the extra tests right away and sends Riker home with hot milk before bed as a treatment, is also the episode where in the end Riker has resentment for being experimented on and the loss of a life... I just don't even know if they meant there to be this much thought about autonomy to be honest.

None of this is an in-universe criticism about the crew because I think having these kind of hiccups and topics in character development are interesting! I just think it's almost comical when the era a science-fiction show is written in rips through it's world building so hard it just sort of stares at you. Which is a great method of reflecting on our current times but it also a little funny in a show universe that claims to have moved past inequality when it's like, "ah yes but do you experience your emotions and consciousness like I, a human federation officer, no? then how do you know you even have them?!"

[al-mayriti]

btw after four years i finally finished all data from my iberian-inspired fakemon region. if you even care

[kyunsies]

hi friends i hope everyone has had a great weekend :)