#icy thoughts

[icycove]

The culture, especially the media, around relationships with others makes people feel like they aren't allowed to have deep relationships with other people who aren't inherently going to be seen or become romantic. unless you claim quite loudly that this other person is like family to you, people are going to read into your close relationships because it's all they are bombarded with and allowed to have.

Some people are terrified of being seen as gay for whatever personal reason they may have (whether or not they actually are) and are getting deprived of a vital support system that isn't based on one person you can be close with and then family. People will side-eye you or suggest it, and sometimes it can be confusing to recognize which it is you're actually feeling for someone. It makes romantic rejection seem more horrible because to some people, friendship is lesser and weaker, and just the designation for people they aren't interested in. It is devalued by constantly being overrun time and time again in media: two lifelong friends get together, or they get into a love triangle to be forgotten and belittled once the actual love interest is introduced.

A group of friends with girls and guys MUST have them getting together by the end or otherwise, it's not as powerful. Regardless of if they would naturally want to, and that's just speaking about characters, not real people with far more depth and feelings. They "deserve" each other romantically for it to be a satisfying good end for the audience's reinforced expectations at the end of nearly every movie, book, or show. And due to the lack of representation of all sorts of relationships, you'll have people shipping friends together. While there is nothing wrong with the basis of that (wanting to try "what ifs" or just trying to see how different things would be if X and Z end up together), it shows a clear problem with the lack of value in philia in general. Or the reality of queer people also being able to have platonic or queerplatonic relationships: it's just that due to the lack of previous representation for centuries, it feels like a slight to exclude that part of their identity. Do you know how you fix that? Having more than one queer person in your media and showing them get to have all types of relationships, romantic and platonic and all the nuanced varieties. Not by just having a token queer person. This is the token woman [who has to end up with the MC and has no personality outside of that] trope all over again.

Romance is a beautiful thing that can add to your story or just a fun-to-explore aspect, not that media these days will do anything but show you the establishment of it and then try to ruin it in a sequel/consequence episodes-- it's like writers rarely know how to write a healthy, untroubled established relationship in an interesting way, but that is a whole other issue.

All that to say Romance isn't the only type of valuable love, nor is it the objective "best" outcome. And people shouldn't have to be afraid to want to be close with their friends because of society's expectations and scrutiny. You deserve more support than just the push for nuclear families. You don't have to lose friends in the name of romance.

[icycove]

OH, I have an invaluable addition too!!

This guy has fantastic worldbuilding and story work videos! I highly recommend checking this one out for worldbuilding, because he points out some really good realism facts about worldbuilding that aren't how you usually would think about different civilizations and why their culture and placement are the way they are (because civilizations have immigration and lost customs, and they change).

Not all civilizations are on water: yes, including human ones! Though that can be a decent place to find the majority of them and start worldbuilding roughly, plenty live in deserts, and with fantasy or sci-fi water sources do not have to be limiting in any way. These are just examples that you can take into account when building a world to make it feel lived in). This video just opened my eyes a bit to going deeper into world lore with more along those lines, if that's something you're interested in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODY21Z9zNCw

all the tips I found for drawing a fantasy map are like :) “here’s a strategy to draw the land masses! here’s how to plot islands!” :) and that’s wonderful and I love them all but ??? how? do y'all decide where to put cities/mountains/forests/towns I have my map and my land but I’m throwing darts to decide where the Main Citadel where the Action Takes Place is

[fandombead]

I feel like watching The Good Place would fix several problems for the sides. It changes you

[taytei]

here's a little kaiju art dump as i try and figure out how to draw everyone

[hometwon]

[icycove]

Society is also heavily structured to try and force the nuclear family structure, with marriage benefits and I still stand by my theory that it’s pushed to keep the (working, reproducing) population up. Especially when it was a benefit to supply the military with more bodies to throw at usually greed-led resource conflicts.

But even now people get platonically married to friends or roommates just to get the benefits. Soldiers do it all the time because being married means you get a housing upgrade and don’t have to live in the barracks.

Aside from the clear benefits of sharing perks from each other’s jobs and income pooling, it just seems so nice to just be around people you enjoy spending time with and getting to see them more often just by coexisting. We have been lacking that familial and platonic community factor for several generations. Humans aren’t adapted to this and it’s trying to be forced on us.

Capitalism also benefits from forcing as many divisions as possible, because more households (often with only 1-3 people) means more separate charges they can get out of individuals.

A lot goes to waste because so much is bought in bulk and expired before it can be used by a small group. Even something as simple as a loaf of bread or gallon of milk goes to waste. But with more people, less has to be bought in the first place.

On another smaller note, more people are using resources that would have the same use anyway, such as an AC running all day or a light in a room, or TV or even something like the use of just a car or two, cutting back on those emissions however minutely.

There’s a lot of small and big benefits to this, some I haven’t even thought of, but surely also mental and physical health related. And I’m tired of media trying to make me second guess and think it’s weird to want that so much.

it seems so strange to me that the only people it is socially acceptable to live with (once you reach a certain stage in life) are sexual partners? like why can’t i live with my best friend? why can’t i raise a child with them? why do i need to have sex with someone in order to live with them? why do we put certain relationships on a pedestal? why don’t we value non-sexual relationships enough? why do life partners always have to be sexual partners?

[beabubb]

we found out from recent citizen letters that theres a garden in DEMA with yellow flowers and i got the most devastating revelation

[amphibianaday]

I'm eating a popsicle so

POPSICLE AMPHIBIAN!! :0 (please)

day 1413

[helpmebowlofrice]

scaled and icy reminds me of cosmic brownies, cotton candy, sugar cookies, strawberry mochi, childhood cartoons that got you through a hard time, colorful sweaters, fun earrings, and feeling forced to live a life you don't want to live, yet you spread good vibes anyway. maybe even some watercolor, concerts, and isolation.

[iceclew]

"Why the hell, can't I save you once for a change?!"

You can't tell me Hans didn't look back at least once on his journey to Maleschau and be in agony. No matter if you're a Hansry shipper or not, I feel like he must be horrified by the thought of his friend's/friends' fate in Trosky.

I feel like we get a lot of hints for that in the following gameplay as well. You can talk about his travel and time at Maleschau with him (and I will succesfully ignore the fact, he says he sat on a cart while traveling, ok - I had that drawn out already, give me this for god's sake) But more so, when you leave Maleschau together and pass the burnt down village, and Hans is shocked and frustrated by what noblemen do for power. I love this so much about him, he perfectly knows what it is expected from a noblemen, but never experienced what that means for other people around him. As for Henry, I like to headcanon that this was the moment he started gaslighting himself to be of no use as a nobleman and worse - not even as friend, since he isn't able to help and save him even once. And that thought is haunting him day and night until he finally snaps at Suchdol later on.

-----------

DOES HE LOOK LIKE HANS?!

NOT AT ALL!

DID I GO MAD WORKING OUT THIS IDEA?!

OMG, A 100%, YES!!

Another perfect example how, no idea, no matter how great, won't get you anywhere if you don't have a receipt on how to get through with it.. I changed my style with these pages SO MUCH. Redid things, decided midway on trying on going semi-realistic, only to get have everthing quite done and to look at it and be like....well fuck, i don't like it... it's just...flat.. At this point I am just exhausted, and I need to force myself to stop changing things..because I DO LIKE IT.. I NEED TO FORCEFULLY REMEMBER MYSELF THAT I DO, cause all I see is the flaws and mistakes, but not the general idea I got out there, even if it was cut short in comparison to my initial idea, even if its not realistic in the end, even if Hans doesn't look like him and his hair is one single mess right there.. I imagine this is what differs from people that get to study art, you have a better idea of your receipt and the steps you need to take, and when to take them. I for myself stumble a lot, going back and forth, making a mess of my files and layers.. But then again.. I feel like I brought out on "paper" what I wanted to. And that's enough for me right now...

Song recommendation for this one was hard... and I'll go with a weird one :D I dunno I like the choire-like parts of the song.

My more platonic recommendation would be

[realreadysetrose]

In insane news, my JUICE cosplay is bbno$ approved

[zuliuli]

Soooo :)

Here's my concept design for a kind of cover image for the next chapter of the story-

"An Icy Ode to Eternity"

[heirofshadowsingers]

Azriel in every book:

‘“If you are going to pick a fight with him, do it after breakfast.” That voice– like shadows given form, dark and smooth and… cold.’ [ACOMAF]

‘I took Azriel's hand, and his rough fingers squeezed mine. His skin as cold as his face.’ [ACOMAF]

‘Az's cold eyes met mine.’ [ACOMAF]

‘Azriel's cold face yielded nothing.’ [ACOMAF]

‘From the fury rippling from Cassian, the cold rage seeping from Azriel…’ [ACOWAR]

‘Azriel’s mask of cold didn't so much as waver at the rejection.’ [ACOWAR]

'As Azriel turned his face toward me— The frozen rage there rooted me to the spot.' [ACOWAR]

‘My voice as cold as Azriel's face’ [ACOWAR]

‘Azriel just pinned that icy, all-seeing stare on Keir.‘ [ACOWAR]

‘Not calm— but filled with icy rage. The sort I sometimes glimpsed in Azriel's eyes.’ [ACOWAR]

‘I could've sworn hurt flickered in Azriel's eyes, but he only shrugged, his face again a mask of cool indifference.’ [ACOWAR]

‘Azriel only watched them with that icy indifference.’ [ACOWAR]

‘But it was nothing compared to the wrath on Cassian's face-- or the icy rage on Azriel's...' [ACOWAR]

‘Azriel's face was stone-cold’ [ACOWAR]

‘Azriel watched her with that cool quiet, keeping utterly still.’ [ACOSF]

‘Azriel answered, eyes full of ice and death as he stared down Devlon.’ [ACOSF]

‘Azriel stiffened. Let his cold rage rise to the surface, the rage he only ever let Rhysand see, because he knew his brother could match it.’ [ACOSF; bonus]

‘Azriel donned the frozen mask he'd perfected in his father's dungeon.’ [ACOSF; bonus]

‘Azriel's hazel eyes held nothing but cool wariness.’ [HOFAS]

‘Bryce held Azriel's gaze, meeting his ice with her own’ [HOFAS]

‘The male who had found her. Who’d carried the black dagger that had reacted to the Starsword. His hazel eyes held nothing but cold, predatory alertness.’ [HOFAS]

‘His face was a mask of cold determination’ [HOFAS]

‘By the time Azriel realized there was nothing there, she had already crossed the ward line. Cold fury tightened his features,’ [HOFAS]

And Gwyn just:

"Aren't you cold?" His breath clouded in front of him. Gwyn shrugged. "Once you get moving you stop noticing it."

Charming irreverence indeed!

Idk, there is just something about it... something to think about...

[nefja]

You give me your dog to babysit - I put it to work. Simple as that.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

the Klavier-Edgeworth parallels of I Don't Care How You Feel, the Truth Is the Only Thing That Matters™ are very interesting, but the Klavier-Phoenix parallels of nothing bad has ever affected me in my life idk what you're talking about that didn't mean anything I'm not talking about it I'm not thinking about it I'm not acknowledging it they may not be dead but they're dead to me and that's how I like it I'm never looking at them again because they're dead they're gone they're a ghost and this is a perfectly healthy way to live look at me I'm thriving I'm thriving I'm thriving are also very interesting, do you get what I'm saying.

[enchantedbat]

We, as a society, moved far too fast on from the Mega Trix form. I personally think they didn't need the Gloomix for it but they never attempted to fuse as whole trio.

Like Darcy just found some ancient spell and Griffin said "no", so she knew they had to try it out. She would practice with Stormy first and then fusion and it's awesome. Then Icy joins. Or the other way around.

"Why didn't they use it against the Winx?" - It could be highly unstable. However, when they find out the Winx can do perfect convergence spells, they for sure worked on it. Or it's like a final ace up their sleeve. They used it against Dakar and just imagine Valtor's face, when he gives them the Disenchantix and they fuse!

Their little Fusionix or Mergix. Amalgix´? Amalgamatix?

Bonus if they have to do a little dancey dance like in Steven Universe.