#event reflection

[astearisms]

fionna and cake drawings before and after watching the episodes so far. it’s nostalgic and somehow cathartic and poignant and relatable and—it just started

[buffaluff]

[stars-obsession-pit]

Danny awoke with a start from an old, familiar nightmare. He lay there for several long moments, trying and failing to calm his heavy breaths. He was in his bedroom in Amity Park. He was safe. The warm blood coating his hands was just a memory.

It still felt far too real.

Stumbling out of bed, he began to make his way towards the bathroom. Washing his hands would help the sensation dissipate sooner.

As he walked through the darkened house, he reflexively lightened his footsteps to be near-silent. He didn’t actually need to sneak here, but old habits die hard. Only once the bathroom door was closed behind him did he flick on any of the lights.

Green eyes met his from across the small room.

Danny stumbled back with a yelp, crashing into the wall behind him. Then, finally, his mind caught up with him.

It was just the mirror. The green was only a brief illusion from the light reflecting off his eyes—a phenomenon that has occasionally occurred ever since the portal incident. Damian isn’t there.

Danny is safe.

[elderwisp]

Alright! I wanted to address something!

I made this post a few days ago that I'm certain ruffled a few feathers! But the thing is, this sentiment isn't new. Throughout my years of being on simblr (and real life!), there is always a hard shove of speaking up or remaining silent.

I should start off by saying that making a "bold" (it isn't very bold of me) statement on my blog isn't done for brownie points or engagement. Especially when it is known that speaking up about politics leads to mass unfollowing. If I genuinely cared about my "engagement" I would absolutely shut the hell up. It is absolutely the most isolating thing I could do. Especially in a society that minimizes efforts to being SJW-y or performative. (Which is a conversation in it's own but I digress.)

The thing is, people oftentimes forget there are many levels to activism. There are people that cannot leave their homes due to disability or even safety reasons, and so their online presence does matter. Without people who post from the internet I wouldn't have learned the detail in which Palestine suffers, where/how to protest, a bill that passed in the senate that is meant for voter suppression, and more! Wild!

There are people who have no online presence yet stay involved through their communities. Valid. There are people who post stats online. Also valid. And then there are people who will do absolutely nothing and look for validation in that. That is the intended audience for statements like mine and many others. Because all it took was one post about how gfm's from Palestine are scams for traction to slow down. So when I say something like that, I mean it. Hell, I even took something from my own post because that was the point. I've seen what reblogging gfm's for fellow simblrs can do. I've seen what passing around info about some wcif or a game bug can do. I might as well apply it to vital information as well!

So I leave you guys with a few references:

Why your silence is no longer a currency you can afford

A therapist explains why unplugging does more harm than good (although it is good to take breaks! remember context)

How history does not remember the people who stayed neutral

Remember, a reblog is free. You don't even gotta say anything! Sharing information is free. You still have a voice and you might as well use it. Especially when censorship seems to be all the rage.

(also if you can please email or call your representatives about the SAVE act because damn it's gonna suppress a lot of disabled, trans and/or married people holy shit)

[journal-from-the-heart]

i think, for trauma survivors, especially those who were emotionally abused, invalidated, or gaslit, it is really important not to underestimate the significance of speaking bluntly about what happened to you. Forcing yourself not to beat around the bush, not to downplay what you went through with your words. say what happened, without any caveats, without any “but it could’ve been worse”, “but i might just be being overdramatic”, “but it wasn’t really THAT bad,” and so forth. sit with the discomfort until you can begin to let yourself realize that it WAS that bad, you WERENT being overdramatic, and even if it could’ve been worse you still didn’t deserve it. It’s almost like a form of reclamation, taking back your memories, taking back your life, even the difficult or gross parts, and refusing to let anyone change the narrative or tell you how you should feel anymore, even yourself. and it hurts and it’s scary and it feels weird and awkward and sometimes you want to convince yourself you’re lying, but i think sitting in those weird feelings and letting yourself admit that you really did go through trauma puts the power back in your hands to process things and be compassionate to yourself while you heal

[deadmothsketches]

Just talking with an old friend.

[youareinlove]

suburban legends is crazy because she spends an entire album talking about how she knows this relationship is doomed, how every time they go crashing down they come back, how it's going one place and one place alone, how this is an inherent tragedy and they both know it. she spends 19 tracks explaining it to us, detailing the way it was inevitably going to end a million times before it happens, and then in suburban legends it finally DOES. he doesn't knock anymore, her life is ruined, she always knew it. but the ending is so short and you get zero closure despite this being the resolution to the entire album's story because neither did she. suburban legends says "maybe spending so long knowing something is going to end and romanticizing the fact that this is all going to come crashing down from the beginning doesn't actually give you the ability to romanticize it when it does"

[knightofleo]

"Do Not Bite" by Kat Swenski

[jon-sedai]

The way we discuss prophecy in fandom is genuinely fascinating. GRRM spends so much time showing how different characters have different interpretations of the same thing based on their own cultural contexts. He says that prophecy is tricky to navigate through multiple characters, showing that even the most careful practitioner can get almost everything wrong and fall victim to their own fallacies (see Mel). So tell me why the main takeaway for large parts of this fandom is “prophecy stupid, it doesn’t matter”. My brothers and sisters in R’hllor, GRRM didn’t invent multiple characters (three of whom are main POVs!!) who can see the future for this to be the conclusion. This is a FANTASY series. Please I’m begging, let us be serious 🥲

[toyalove]

TOYA WL2 MAJOR SPOILERS

my post-reading reflection... good morning its 8am

i'm really, really so hurt by the fact that, everyone in toya's life... from his mother, to his father (although he was really angry), to his new classmates, to even his friends at kamikou: they all love and care about toya. well, because he is toya and that's all that matters

but the fact he already disappointed the people he loved the most. he was too scared to see their faces, whether they'd still love him or not. he was too scared to have to go through that, again and again, even if he knows that the people who love him dearly will forgive him. so he instead chose to shut himself away, cutting off music completely. if it was associated as the thing that caused disappointment, then it would be just easier to give up. he ends up running away from reconciling those feelings too.

its a cycle that is of insurmountable difficulty to break free from... yet it is so easy to be chained by the cycle, constantly afraid of the people around him, falling deeper.

no matter... how happy those memories were. he was just, too scared.

i'm really glad that, in the real timeline, toya finds out that akito insists on performing with him. akito insists that toya isn't the half hearted person he thinks he is. that toya crazily loves music.

i'm really glad that, in the real timeline, toya regains his confidence and faces his feelings and fears to his father. he reconnects with the classical music he loves so much. he is understood by his family. that he knows he is loved despite the mistakes.

[kingcrow01]

DC/Marvel Pool Noodle Party 2024

Week 5 | Mercs & Murder Husbands

Marc Spector & Harley Quinn, 0 fics!

@dc-marvel-crossovers

Here’s the outline of the event for those interested. TLDR, This event celebrates relationship tags that have less than 30 works on ao3, both platonic and romantic. The rarest of rarepairs!

Inspired by Harley harassing interacting with Marc and Damian in chapter 20 of in labyrinths of reflections by @blackkatmagic, specifically these lines:

“Fuck the hell off,” he growls, and gets a hand on her face as she tries to kiss his mask. She’s wearing a lot of lipstick, and he'd rather not run around the rest of the night with a black lip-print on his face. 

and

Harley blinks at him, big eyes and blond pigtails and smeared makeup that makes her look like a raccoon with a hangover, and then laughs. 

Ho-ly-shit, I cannot begin to express how happy I am with this piece! Initially I was having a hard time with MK’s suit, to the point that I was contemplating just dropping the whole project. (I hate drawing superhero suits, why do I keep on doing this to myself) Like always, all it came down to was retaking my ref and utilizing that handy-dandy line of action, and I finished it pretty easily after that.

Damian was a last minute add-on, and I wanted to draw him on Marc’s right side and a head taller (kids are bigger than you think!) but I ran out of room on the page. I ran into the same problem with Harley’s mallet; I wanted it to be bigger, but with the angle it had to sit at to rest against her thigh, I kept it on the smaller side. 

This piece has made it very clear how limiting my sketchbooks’ size is. For example, I have an idea for another week in this event, but it literally wouldn't fit in this sketchbook so I’m not going to make it. Digital art 1: traditional, 0.

I tried out a new lining style as well, and I’m never going back. Before, I was making every line the same width, but it’s SO much more impactful with alternating line thickness! I attached the lined final sketch below. Do you see how much of a difference it makes?? (Written early May, so I've been using this style since.)

Details:

I think it’s silly that Harley’s boots are covered in blood, but not her actual weapon lol

Harley is as tall as she is because she’s standing on her toes in platform boots

The tattoo on Harley’s midsection is of ivy leaves (though, it’s not poison ivy) as a sort of homage to Ivy. Not that she’s dead or anything. They’re just. Lovers. So, tattoo.

I got to put NO WORK into shading the black parts of MK’s suit, and that was FABULOUS

I wanted to give her colored shoe laces, because I love small details like that. I would love to give characters any color of laces, but some of them seem to have negative meanings, especially on Doc Martens, so I went the safe route and gave her purple laces, which represents gay pride. Yes, I know she’s bisexual, but I felt like I didn’t have many options.

[sinacul]

𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑗𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠

[philosophybits]

No events are ever so unlucky that clever people cannot draw some advantage from them; nor are any so lucky that imprudent people cannot turn them to their own detriment.

François de La Rochefoucauld, Moral Reflections

[orange-sora]

MXTX really looked at Mom™ and thought, "Ahh yes, the perfect dead plot device".

SVSSS

~Luo Binghe's tragic dead birth mom

~Luo Binghe's sick and kind dead adoptive mom

MDZS

~Wei Wuxian's dead birth mom

~Jiang Cheng's abusive dead mom

~Wei Wuxian's killed because of him dead motherly figure (Yanli)

~Jin Ling's killed by his uncle dead mom

~Lan Zhan's trapped and sick dead mom

~Meng Yao's belittled prostitute dead mom

TGCF

~Xie Lian's poor cook suicidal dead mom

~Cuo Cuo's ghost mom

~Hua Cheng's evil beauty of foreign ethnicity dead mom (that inspired his character design apparently)

(And all the other impactful moms I don't remember at this moment)

[humanfox030]

Hoid emojis I made for my Cosmere server

[slutforpringles]