#i hope ive remembered this about right

[unforth]

@sharkfish are you sure you want to know? You're going to hate it.

Okay so last year, @/selpuku, who is an artist for several fandoms I'm in, posted this

on Twitter. They specified in a second comment that they meant primarily Moshang, which is a ship between Shang Qinghua, who is a book author who dies, wakes up in his own book as a baby, and then grows up to adulthood in the book, so who is at least 50 years old probably older, and Mobei Jun, who is a character in the book and a very powerful demon who Shang Qinghua spies for and, well, there's too much to explain succinctly but there's probably a 30 year age difference but Shang Qinghua doesn't realize at all that Mobei Jun is (in canon this is) interested and it takes a while for them to figure it out. The power dynamics are complicated; Shang Qinghua is older and basically created the entire book verse, but in-verse he's fairly weak and Mobei Jun could pretty easily crush him like a bug if he wanted to (but instead, as the pic says, Mobei Jun wants to rail him so bad).

Anyway, so far, so fandomy and normal for fandom.

But then.

Someone Quote-Retweeted it to scream about how "reverse grooming" was not a ship dynamic and it was disgusting and all the usual anti crowd jumped on board. I've got OP for the reverse grooming post and basically all the other involved people blocked so I can't find many receipts now (and finding anything older than a day on Twitter is nearly impossible anyway) but in the replies to the "reverse grooming" post a whole bunch of people went off agreeing and sharing all the examples from danmei especially that they felt reflected this supposed dynamic where a younger person somehow "grooms" an older one into a relationship. They especially went off on Hualian, which is the relationship between Hua Cheng (an 810 year old super powerful ghost) and Xie Lian (an 817 year old super powerful god). Because they met when Xie Lian was 17 and Hua Cheng was 10, they are a ripe target for the dumbest takes ever. Antis split between what's going on here, it's usually either "its pedophilia because Hua Cheng was only a kid when they met" (never mind that they get together literally 800 years later) or "Hua Cheng is an obsessive stalker and his behavior is abusive" (never mind that between about the time when they're 23/16 respectively and 817/810 respectively they literally don't see each other for 800 years). Their actual dynamic is more like fan/celebrity, where Hua Cheng is embarrassed everytime his fannish behavior (note: no not Finnish behavior, autocorrect, lmao) is revealed, and Xie Lian is always super chill about it, and they fall in love, and happy otp feels abound.

So yeah people antis decided that Hualian was the quintessential example of this so-called "reverse grooming" dynamic since Xie Lian was obviously not an abuser but they're positive in their vibes read that the relationship is toxic so therefore one of then MUST be the abuser which means Hua Cheng must be the abuser. and there's also initially an age difference and since antis only have like three insults to hurl at ships they don't like and "pedophilia" obviously didn't apply (since Hua Cheng is younger) and incest didn't apply (since there's zero way they could be related) and grooming didn't apply (since Xie Lian didn't have a hand in raising Hua Cheng, though there are absolutely antis who think the opposite, that Xie Lian is the abuser of the two and is a groomer etc) anyway the point is if none of those is the problem it's time to invent a new term for what happened and that's "reverse grooming" where the younger one "grooms" the older one into a relationship the older one wouldn't have wanted otherwise.

Even quite aside from how utterly unsupportable this is in canon, it's still absolutely batshit. Of course it's possible for younger partners to abuse older partners and even manipulate them into relationships but even considering that, "reverse grooming" is still a batshit way to refer to such a dynamic.

Anyway this exploded on danmei Twitter, and beyond that even, for about a week.

Now you know. You're welcome. And sorry.

[mechacringekitty]

shoutout to people who didn't always know actually. shoutout to those that didn't have dysphoria since childhood or know something was different about them or act different or be noticeably queer. i can't be the only one and i love you

i love you <3

[sea-buns]

Forgive me if I'm a bit nervous about Gorgug this season. It's just that the last Zac Oyama pc was Colin Provolone, who was arguably one of his greatest D20 performances, if not the greatest.

Zac always does great with every pc he plays, but Colin was something else. He came out swinging with actions and words that were teeming with unspoken emotional baggage. The way Colin's presence affected the other pcs; there was this level of depth that I don't think I've seen in any of his other characters. It was understated and quiet in that signature "just a guy" way that he tends to be, while still captivating everyone instantly with just how raw it was.

Not to say we haven't seen emotional depth in Gorgug. It's just that, compared to the other Bad Kids, Gorgug's journey and progression as a character has been very... impersonal? Like, yes, he found his birth parents, and he found friends who appreciate him, and he faced his insecurities about his intelligence, and he navigated relationship troubles, and his trial through the claustrophobic bug-tunnels was a horrifically-uncanny parallel to how he's spent his entire life trying to make himself as small as possible.

But how much of that has actually changed him from the Gorgug we started with? I would agree that he's definitely happier with his life, given all the loving and supportive people that have been added to it when it used to be just him and his parents. And he's certainly grown into himself and become more self-assured in his abilities, even if he's still, and always will be, our anxious little guy. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've always liked how Gorgug was a representation of all the little things. The subtle acts and kindnesses that don't seem like much to most, but to some are everything.

We don't need another Bad Kid living in fear that their mouth could be shit-in at any moment. We've already got one-too-many.

All that being said, I just feel like Gorgug's personal story beats are much easier to sweep under the rug than everyone else's. He has the same soft and understated quality that Colin held, but they lack that extra oomph that pushed Colin over the edge from being just another guy in a series of dudes, to a character that the vast majority of us could not get out of our heads. He took someone who was anxious and softspoken, who ultimately never wanted to be violent— someone who is remarkably similar to Gorgug in many ways— and maintained that demeanor and core in Colin's character while still hitting us in the feels with character development at max velocity at every turn.

I think Zac gets better and better at this with every season that goes by. With each new character, there is always something that leaves me stunned in awe. And it's been, what, three? Four years since we last saw Gorgug?

I'm just,,, I'm cautiously optimistic but also going into a bit of a worry about what violence this man may inflict upon us

[licollisa]

And this includes artists who made their AUs centered around a sans or papyrus.

[good-beanswrites]

hi! may i request some mikoto + amane (platonic obvs) … anything? they are very dear to me 😭

Yes!!! Thank you so much for the request -- they really are such a good pair ;-; (The thing is, I had so many nice scenes in mind about how they parallel each other, but they wouldn't know or reveal that about each other so I kept restarting...) Anyway, here's something right after Mikoto's first trial/verdict!

Mikoto could pick up on someone’s bad mood from a mile away, though the skill was unnecessary when the other party very clearly and calmly informed him, “I’m in a bad mood.”

After refusing his offer, Amane turned back to a thick textbook she’d been taking notes on. Didn’t kids usually complain that school was already a prison? She must have wanted the full experience. He'd worked nonstop at his studies as well, but this was a new level. Amane often reminded him of his little sister, though she always took the extra step like this. His sister would have jumped at this opportunity to play a few rounds of their favorite card game.

“It’ll be fun!”

He flashed a smile, but it had no effect on her severe expression. “I know you’re just trying to comfort me about our verdicts. I refuse to be pitied.”

“Comfort and pity are two very different things. But anyway, it wasn’t either of those things.” He gave an easy shrug “To be honest, I’m just a little bored. It’s weird not having any work to do during the day.” 

Mikoto couldn’t remember the last time in his life he’d had so many hours to himself. A lot of the others were fun to play games with. A few of the sportier prisoners helped him stay active. He enjoyed smoking breaks with the other men. Still, he was left to his own devices for the majority of his time. It was maddening. He’d recently requested some more art supplies, having used up the last batch, but they had yet to come in. Now with the verdict announcement, he wasn’t sure they’d ever arrive.

“That is your own problem. I already have something to do.” Her eyes lingered on the cards for the briefest of moments before returning to the book. “I told you, I’m not in the mood for it.”

Regardless of her hostility, he took a seat beside her. He leaned his arms out on the table. “We don’t have to play the same game.” The last time they'd played as a big group, several prisoners pulling the tables together to fit everyone. Amane had kept very quiet, eyes darting around at the cards as she tried to keep up with the rules. Not many of the others noticed the frustration clear in her face. Mikoto wasn’t the type to let her win out of pity, though he had begun to mutter the rules and strategies to himself a bit more as the night went on… 

“Is there a game you liked to play at home?”

 “No. There was no time for games in the house.” 

“All work and no play… hah… I know what that’s like.” He slumped his cheek onto his arm, lazily shuffling the cards around. He felt bad for bothering the girl if she truly was upset. He thought it was the bad experience that made her reject him, he hadn’t realized there were also family issues attached. Usually he could read people well; maybe he was losing his touch. He seemed to be losing touch with a lot of things, these days.

He readied a game of solitaire. 

“Mikoto?” Amane kept her face turned away. “There was… one game.”

“Yeah?” Mikoto shuffled the cards back together. He slid them over to her. “You should teach me!” 

She didn’t touch them. “You probably already know it.”

“Nah, I only know a few games. I’m better with tarot cards, though those aren’t really the gaming type. Come on, what is it?”

She told him the name of the game, insisting it wouldn’t be worth playing. She kept her attention on the textbook, but her eyes weren’t reading any of it. 

“Ahh, I’ve heard of that one! We start with four cards, right?” He started dealing them out.

“No, five –” she pointed to the deck, urging him to add two more. 

“Right, right.” He laughed lightly. “And the goal is to get pairs, and put them in a pile, uhh, here.”

Amane shook her head. She shifted her body slightly towards him. “You must be thinking of a different game. There’s actually three piles for pairs. One here, one here, and when it’s your opponent’s turn…” 

Her eyes gleamed as she explained the rules. She pointed to various cards, telling him exact moves and point values. “And to win, you need to –” Her expression shifted. “You… you already knew all this.”

“Of course not!” He put on his most convincing smile. 

She deflated. “You’re not a very good liar.”

“Tch, tell that to the warden.”

His shoulders sagged along with her. If Amane could see right through him, why was the rest of Milgram still coming up with stories about what he did and didn’t do? “Well, I might already know the rules, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played. You can still give me a hand. Plus, if you really are in such a bad mood, it’ll be good to take a break from your studies. You should always take a break when things get too overwhelming, yeah?”

She gave him a withering stare.

“Eh? What’s that face for?”

“Alright, let’s play. You can go first.”

“I mean it, what was that look? Aw, come on…”

[crescentfool]

beaming everyone on the dashh with good brain day vibes!!! i hope that you all can remember to extend self-compassion to yourself whenever you're feeling down about something 💙

[smokeys-house]

Tagged by @carrionfourth & @wholemleko (thanks for tagging me yall 💖)

I don't have a way to track this bc I don't have like. Splortify or what have u so I'm just kinda guessing! Forgot to say this is "Most replayed songs recently"

1. Bad Wine and Lemon Cake - The Jane Austen Argument

2. You Say I'm in Love - Bane's World

3. Built to Roam - Shakey Graves (actually I've been listening to like 2 of their albums on repeat for a bit but putting them all here would b cheating)

4. Current Joys - Warm Jets (the entire live at Kilby Court concert recording actually bc I like them live better than their studio versions)

5. When Your Mind's Made Up - Glen Hansard + Marketa Irglova

6. Donovan - Colors

7. Billie Holiday - I'll Be Seeing You

8. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

9. Unconditional- The Bravery

10. Daylight/Nightlight - Aesop Rock (counting them as one song bc that's how it's meant to be listened to)

Oh and also all last week was day shifts so I had the school all to myself and didn't bring my watch to play music off my phone hands free so I was just. Singing shanties really loud bc those r the things I remember the lyrics to without music playing 😭

Tagging @pink-nubes @wowa-bublord @rye-in-a-coat and whoever'd like to join in!

[spacedlexi]

Hiiii, your art is gongeous first off

Second, you have any tips for getting good at anatomy and proportion? I see your sketches from your wips and streams and the figures and poses look so spot on always

thank you!!!

the best way to get better at anatomy and proportion is to do some life studies. there are a lot of sites you can use that will give you (generally) good poses to work with. if its at all possible for you though i Definitely recommend taking a life drawing course. one of my favorite classes was the life drawing class i took where i was the Only actual student in the class and everyone else were people in their 60s+ just taking it for fun. my prof was incredible and would give us really great demonstrations and knowledge about skeletal and muscular structures. also the models we got in class were way more diverse than a lot of the models online sites use

life studies can be hard when you first start though. it really helps to understand sighting (which is where you use your pen/fingers to figure out angles and sizes and stuff). heres a more detailed explanation

i did some figure studies the other day and i left a lot of my sighting lines. i use them not only to figure out the angles of limbs but also to help me keep things in proportion. ALSO watch your negative spaces!! that will help you get forms/proportion right too

there are also a lot of "proportion rules" that can help you when just drawing bodies without a reference. A Lot of rules.... the face alone has So many..

when i draw figures without a reference (which is..most of the time..) i think in terms of tubes. really helps with foreshortening (so do contour lines). but i still operate under the guidelines i learned from life drawing in terms of proportions/muscle/bone structure. ive gotten to the point where i just eyeball it while sketching but if something looks wrong i just check my proportions. the more you do it the more second nature it becomes which helps you focus on learning new parts of anatomy. i usually draw these figures first then just draw clothes over them, which then helps with folds/draping and stuff like that

i hope this is understandable lol............ these are all just the vague rules i remember im sure theres so many more and i am still learning myself but i hope this helps you get started. trying to find good proportion sheets/tips online can be hard and just result in some really basic stuff like the 7/8 heads tall rule which is sometimes 7.5 and i just 😵 not helpful, especially since its not even always correct. i still basically use the same general rule but slightly modified (in red). in green are some proportion rules i know (plus a couple in red), and in blue is just a little more detail

again if you have the opportunity at all i Really recommend taking a life drawing class. you might be able to find some good videos on youtube or something too. ALSO look at yourself in the mirror a lot! like really analyze yourself, the length of your limbs, where your hands fall, how wide your shoulders are, stuff like that. just Look. whenever im stuck on a pose i always go and pose in a mirror for reference. in general im always just trying to learn from the world around me :)

[heffrondriving]

soooo. that new big time rush album huh

[seraphonfire]

i should probably get that checked

[milkweedman]

I want to apologise in case you already tried it. But I've seen many people with ehler danlos say that shapewear helps. Do you think it's something you could use?

Ive tried pretty much every otc method of keeping my joints in place including shapewear, with the execption of like 1 or 2 that has slightly too many steps for me to muscle thru the executive dysfunction and do (ring splints -_-). I dont actually know if there is a way to keep my joints from subluxating or dislocating with almost every movement but if there is its gonna have to be like. Complete imobilization except in the direction that said joints are actually supposed to move.

[solcarow]

.

[shepherdenjoyer]

what books would you guys recommend for someone who does have some basic knowledge of dog behavior and training but is interested in learning in more detail and depth? not too picky on specific topics im curious about everything lol, anything about body language/overall behavior/training/etc. goes

[wr0ngwarp]

over the past 3 days i have been playing Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania as beat and doing all the SMB1 challenge modes. beat im so sorry for rapturing you to monkey heaven. video games are scary

edit of first image i made after ACCIDENTALLY RESTARTING MASTER MODE several painful hours in under the cut (eyestrain warning):

As you can see i did not take it well

[greyeyedmonster-18]

(i just wanted to pass along a little thank you for everyone.

i am actually still baffled that a lot of yall are still here now that we're in month...idk 4 of no fics or barely fandom stuff? Really since July, I haven't posted much of anything and idk.

thanks for sticking around in hopes that I'll write other things again some day! we appreciate it!

we appreciate the continued comments on my fics

i see that NMTW is a breath away from 800 kudos which is fucking wild to me. a fic i thought no one would like, literally not a single soul would like.

ten reasons is making the rounds in a little fan fic book club?? which is ????i cannot.

even my moonchaser fics are getting some love; and the fic that shall not be named

so a thank you to all the folk who have gone back to re-read old fics and scroll through my blog and comment/reply/send an ask that says "wow this is still lovely!"

thank you <3)

[harvestmoth]

sorry for posting fire emblem. again