#if you read all this: thank you honestly

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for an incredible 500 days of love and support. I offer you: answers to questions that no one has asked.

(As always, more can be found in the tags <3)

[yasmeensh]

Zelda 2 Link my beloved

[polin-erospsyche]

This post was inspired by a comment from an anon in my ask box. They mentioned that if the Queen hadn’t interrupted Polin's wedding, they could have had a beautiful wedding night (if you’re the anon and you’re reading this, hi! And also, I know this isn't everything, but I'll touch on the rest. Small disclaimer: this got long and I’m sorry).

I agree, that could have happened. But honestly, I'm really glad it didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see it, but I don’t think it would have been good for them. The intimate scenes we did get tell an overarching story and serve a purpose in the narrative. We’ve been told that these intimate moments are a way for them to communicate, so let’s unpack that.

The first intimate scene is about them discovering each other in a new, intimate way, moving from friendship (which had already started to happen in the carriage) to a lover relationship. This moment is crucial for Penelope's story and character development. From this, she grows in confidence and self-awareness. She expresses this to Colin multiple times, such as when she says, “with the confidence you’ve helped me find this year,” and later, “You’ve taught me to hold my own. You have shown me I’m capable of pleasure beyond imagination.”

From that intimate scene onward, Penelope starts to come into her own power and that includes her sexual power. Colin shows her a level of love and care beyond what she ever thought possible, breaking down the belief system she built around herself. She was ready to sacrifice her dreams of being loved and held for financial stability, a mindset ingrained by Portia. Colin helps her see that this doesn’t have to be the case, chipping away at her long-held beliefs.

Let’s now move to the scene in the alleyway, which links back to anon’s comment. Anon suggests that this is the moment they start repairing their relationship post LW reveal. That following this scene they were in a good enough place to enjoy their wedding night if the Queen hadn’t crashed the party. Yes. And no. 

And oh my god how I’ve longed to discuss this scene but I never quite knew how to approach it. At this point in the show, the narrative is like a tightly wound ball of yarn with so many threads to pull at. So, let’s attempt to pull at them. 

First of all, they’ve entered a whole new playing field. And they’ve entered this playing field while being “the oldest of friends really” so they have ammunition against each other. Pen has hurt Colin by lying (hiding the truth from him time and time again) about her identity. She has let him go on and on about his despise of Lady Whistledown. About his dreams of being an author. These were things he told her in intimacy. Those were things he told his best friend and the person he fell in love with. Not the woman who hides behind her column and has done so much wrong to his family and loved ones. 

There is a separation between the two. For Colin, in that alleyway, there is still just Pen his best friend, Penelope the woman he loves and on the other side of that there is Lady Whistledown, the woman he vowed to destroy. He expresses that when he says “so then you do not need Lady Whistledown anymore”. What he fails to realise at this point, and he cannot be blamed for that, is that Lady Whistledown is an integral part of who Penelope Featherington is as a person. That her alter ego is not just a mask she wears but a crucial aspect of her identity, giving her a sense of power and agency in a world that often limits her as a woman. Something that Pen has slowly come to terms with when she says that she no longer needs to hide behind this alter ego but that does not mean there is no value in it, something that she also explains to him after the Queen has crashed their wedding breakfast. 

Now I say that he cannot be blamed for his refusal of recognizing that they are one and the same because he is still holding onto his misbelief, which is that to be loved and to have a value he must protect what he loves and be useful. Part of that is saving and avenging the people he loves from Whistledown. He has given his word to Eloise, to Marina indirectly, to himself and I’m thinking to Pen silently after what she’s written about herself. He finds himself, due to his misbelief, between a rock and a hard place: “the person he vowed to destroy is, in fact, the person he vowed to protect, and there is no separation between the two” (not me directly quoting myself lol). To this you add all the shame over his writing and his envy of her success and you have a recipe for disaster. 

So essentially, in that alleyway you have Pen who is already well along her character arc and Colin who is still gripping onto his original, unchanged self. This represents a power imbalance. What I love throughout this season, and I might write something about this one day, is that Pen and Colin are never quite on the same level both literally and figuratively. There is always one ahead of the other. This, in the long run, is another recipe for disaster because they are never quite equal. That is UNTIL that butterfly ball when they’ve gone through their character arc respectively. That is the moment they fully come together. They become a unit. They are no longer fighting against each other but with each other and for each other. 

But to arrive to this moment they need to do it separately. They need to be able to work on themselves before they can fully be able to work on their marriage. Genevieve says it well “there is no such thing as true love without first embracing your true self”. For Penelope that is becoming Penelope Bridgerton, an amalgam of the best parts of Whistledown and Penelope Featherington. For Colin that is deconstructing his hero complex and fully believing that he is enough just by being exactly who he is. And that has not happened in that alleyway. Truthfully the surface has barely been scraped in that scene because she essentially shuts down his demons for an instant by saying that she loves him. However, the issues remain. 

So yes, we can speculate all we want. If the Queen had not interrupted their wedding, they might have had a wedding night and they might have had a talk about everything afterward. However, the lack of acceptance of their true selves would have driven them up a wall at the next problem, which was how to handle Cressida.

And I think that is why Polin season is actually so beautiful. It is not just about Polin. It is about marriage and how hard it can get, and how you have to work on yourself to fit around the person you love without sacrificing yourself in the process. It is about choosing each other every day, through the ugly as well as the beautiful, through the hard parts as well as the easy ones. It’s choosing to have faith that you’ll work and figure it out without an assurance that it actually will, but if the love is there, then it just might. That is the story they chose to tell through Penelope and Colin.

First gif made by my bestie @polinsated 💕

[sskk-manifesto]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me

[uncanny-tranny]

I jokingly thought before that reading Junie B. Jones as a kid turned me into a feminist, but unironically, it kind of did.

I honestly think it comes down to the fact that Junie B. was not only allowed to be "weird," but her character arc never concluded like other girl characters would. In other media featuring "weird girls," the girl always ended her arc tamed - by force or convince, she would be prettied up, she would smile and be polite, and she would never speak out of turn. She would be perfect then, and would shed her veneer of individuality with the freedom that is conformity. As a kid, I noticed that girls weren't permitted to be "weird" like boys were. So when I read Junie B. Jones, I loved that she was frankly just fucking weird. She said things out of turn, she was rambunctious and imaginative and she was a realistic portrayal of a little girl. I loved reading those books because the narrative taught her lessons without punishing her for being weird, if that makes sense. So often, narratives punished weird girls for the crime of being a socially unacceptable girl, not for any true wrongdoing like lying.

Anyway, I just think it's interesting, because I watched and read a ton of books and shows and movies featuring girls and women, but none of them truly empathized with (or even tried to empathize with) weird girls on their own merits and capabilities and terms, or embraced the idea of a "socially inept/unacceptable" girl without punishing her in some way for her supposed ineptitude.

[jackslocket]

I GUESS THAT'S HOW ITS DONE!

[blueggrass]

i know theres not much of a fandom here for the will of the many but ,,,.., i just finished it and.,,,,, im in shambles. life is moving around me and I'm still in shock. I have things to do but i cant even think. what,, am i supposed to do. just go on? pretend im okay with this till the next one comes out??? I FEEL LIKE A ZOMBE. I FEEL LIKE NOTHING MATERS. ALL I FEEL IS-

i dont think ive ever been hit by a book hangover as much as this like wtf even was that /pos HELLO??? CAN ANYONE HEAR ME??? LKSJFLSKJBFLKSJBFLKSBFK:BSF:KBSF:KJBHSF:KJ

[imerian]

Aaaaand i decided to post more of my f1 crafts here so here landoscar edition (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Onse again photo without doodles under cut and some rambling in tags

[ao3screenshotss]

[thisnerdetteoverthere-blog]

Remember watching all these pjo animatics and amvs’ and fanart -music videos - especially those by viria to How far we‘ve come and Demons and Come on ? Remember the character theme-song-videos on YouTube with a very slide-show-ish animation of fanart in the background?

They‘ll always have a special place in my heart, but now they get to share it with the Gifs, and compilations and music videos made with scenes from the tv show and i‘m so happy i could cry (especially at this sally & percy video)

[hailsatanacab]

Your Favourite Author's Favourite Fic

in no way is this me sneakily trying to get fic recs out of people, but here's my new tag game!

Rules! When tagged, reblog with the fic you've written that you love the most

Not the fic with the most kudos, or the most comments, or the most hits, but the fic that you're the most proud of. I'm talking about the story that kept you up at night, the one that you still think about, the one that you wish more people would read

So, it's time to show off! I strongly encourage - in fact, I demand - that you give yourself some compliments, a well-deserved pat on the back, and tell us all the reasons why it's your favourite!

Then tag five people and make them go through it, too 🥰🩷

I'll tag @wolfjackle, @tourettesdog, @gilbirda, @die-erlkonigin6083, and @thewritingowl to get us started, please and thank you!!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Game night results (from this poll)

Character selection inspired from extraterezi's post!

[goldencuffs]

Did u write Damen not loving Laurent on purpose in All My Words? 😭 Loved your writing but woah didn’t expect for Damen to be seen as only an infatuation for Damen which breaks my heart for Laurent cuz that poor boy had no support from anyone not even from Auguste 💔

naurrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

damen loves laurent 10000%!!!!!! i just felt it was out of character for him to say it back. this is going to be a long ask bc i'm passionate about this!!

every single one of damen's relationships - sexual, platonic or otherwise - are still very emotionally closed off. he's a messed up, emotionally unintelligent dude.

damen doesn't even say i love you to isander, someone he genuinely, truly loves!!!

and i kind of hinted at it with jokaste/damen but damen goes on and on and on about how much he loves her but we have no indication he ever said this to her. she even calls him emotionally unintelligent before she leaves.

so like damen FEELS things for sure, but he doesn't say it.

when laurent asks "don't you love me too?" i didn't intend it for damen not to love laurent. the way i saw it in my head, damen was just genuinely shocked laurent said it so easily, that laurent felt those feelings at all. it's laurent who misinterprets his silence.

i always saw laurent as someone who knew about damen's feelings (he even alludes to this later on). it's why laurent was more heartbroken bc for laurent, his feelings for damen trumped everything, while damen was able to push them aside to make way for everything else in his life.

that was why damen's book was so important - it said everything about damen's feelings. the plot, the fact that the main character chose the path that gets him his true love, despite it ruining everything else, and ofc the dedication. it's why laurent comes back.

[natelia-aldelliz]

Cue Gaz and Price's horrified faces, that I sketched but didn't have the energy to actually draw (also, Ghost in the first panel is angry about Gaz calling Soap 'Johnny', how dare he)

Gaz : Oh my god bruv what did you do to your hair?? Ya know some strands are supposed to be the same length, right?

Price : Leave the poor man alone, he's already been ravaged by a vampire *snorts*

Gaz : True, lmao gotta chill there, Soap, but really though, how are ya cutting your hair, with kitchen scissors? Oh my god don't tell me you're using your knife

Ghost :

Gaz : You're using your knife, aren't you

Ghost : I mean, it's very sharp, it's basically a razor

(disclaimer that Gaz's opinions about Soap's hairstyle are not shared by the artist, i actually adore his little mohawk)

[vacantgodling]

✨preferences should not be standards for writing advice✨

[caycanteven]

Hey hey, it’s. cay~! Wanted to give a quick update, especially for those waiting to hear from me with commission updates! Feel free to check it out under the cut below. Following this is a TLDR!

TLDR: I have suffered an art block and I needed to step away to handle my lifestyle and IRL priorities like a good lil’ adult! In doing so, commissions, content, and activity have been slow. Please know I have taken the time to take care of myself, and that has always been a priority! I’ve also have been reading again, and it has been an amazing escape and stress reliever with art being unavailable to me. I’m taking the steps to return at my own pace, and I’m very appreciative of you guys and my supporters who have been patient for me as well!!

Firstly, for my ever so patient clients…

I have not forgotten about you guys! For those who haven’t heard back from me in a hot second, please forgive my disappearance! I had to take an unexpected pause and am deeply sorry for the inconvenience! I should have been quick to be forward on such a delay but it was a difficult time and things got away from me—even Art. I found myself in a creative block and all I have been doing is work IRL.

I couldn’t find it in myself to produce a piece for even myself without the care it deserves, and you guys know how much I care to provide the best—and am super critical of it even then.

Due to the delay, I’ll offer optional benefits and/or discounts as an apology, to give back for the inconvenience my absence has caused! I’ve gotten back into the flow a bit more and feel like I can draw circle, so I’ll be reaching out tomorrow afternoon to follow up with you guys and start/finish the remainder of the queue!

For my blog dwellers…

I’m still very excited to continue sharing my work and my husbones here, no doubt! Even more so, I keep seeing all the beautiful art and the FAE universe has me by the metaphorical balls. God I love it, it’s amazing. Even more so because I have a piece I plan to show in due time based on it!!

I’ve also been looking forward to showing off a new skeleboy coming from the Dustfell Universe. I won’t show his design but I will say his name is Spruce. Feel free to give your thoughts on him or what you think he may be like, because I wanna see how close someone gets hehehe.

Either way I definitely plan to start posting again as soon as I am in the swing of it again, and just need to have that time to relax and recover from the art block. Reading has been amazing as a form of therapy to my brain and has been an escape from the crazy life I had to endure lately, as why I haven’t been around much either. Though I have done good for myself, I miss you guys greatly, and can’t wait to share what I’ve been trying to work on for so long teehee.