#it really feels so serene

[mienar]

stillness in these waking hours

instagram | shop | commission info

[airoarts]

My weird clowder of cats

(catstarion is based heavily on pangur of @pangur-and-grim fame. i dont know if this counts as pangur fanart)

[Image description: a painting of the origin characters of Baldur's Gate 3 as cats. The first image is the full picture and the second image is a close-up. Gale is a brown tabby-and-white cat, curled up and resting with his front legs stretched out in front of him. Shadowheart is a black and silver tabby cat, kneading biscuits on Gale's flank. Lae'zel is a bengal cat, leaning over Gale and staring at Shadowheart. Wyll is a black cat with significant rusting on his chest, back, and tail, lying neatly in a loaf-like position between Gale and Astarion. Astarion is an albino oriental shorthair curled around Wyll and resting his chin and front paw on Gale's rear. Karlach is a big red tabby who is leaning with her front paws on Astarion. End ID]

[moeblob]

So there was going to be a lot more but consider this a part 1? For OC Lore Drops.

(none of this was drawn today but because it was storming earlier and I got some rest, I feel like I really want to knock out commission work and do not have time to draw something to post today without messing that rhythm up.)

Also a little bit more: Simeon is a romance novel writer and his hobby is people-watching. His ability to sense the supernatural entities is so exciting to the hellhound who just adores /trying/ to get the jump on him but always ends up 'sniffed out' before she can.

[skitskatdacat63]

FINALLY I HAVE PORTRAITS OF ALL THREE OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME

First of all, please imagine their dynamic as: weird sex thing(Rüß/Noir) and their third(Seren.) More complicated than that obviously but, I think that's the funniest way to describe it. Though there's some basic info here if you're curious. Eclipse is here in spirit(I like the last portrait I drew of her too much to attempt another for now.)

Note about their characters that I thought was too long for the tags. Seeing them together reminds me of how pleased I am about how organically they formed as a group. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I feel like when you want to give your OCs relationships(friends, family, enemies, lovers, etc), the characters formed from that desire have a hard time evolving out of that role. For a while, or unfortunately forever, they're just: [character's] friend, [character's] brother, etc, rather than their own "person."

However, these guys, their dynamic formed almost completely naturally. Seren is a really old character, she's from before I even started building the foundation of my OC AU; she was actually from my first attempt to create some sort of world(which has been changed a lot to integrate into my main AU now.) Noir was created after the period where I made a lot of my foundational OCs, but she was basically created just to fill the "big bad wolf" role to compliment a red riding hood type character. Rüß was created after the AU had been officially established, and I thought, hey wouldn't it be kinda cool if she was friends with these other two random OCs? And then they became really important characters with lore which soooooo many things hinge upon LOL

But yeah, to have all these established characters, already with personalities, histories and preexisting connections of their own to come together so naturally?? It's just really neat to me still how it all worked out. Funny though how I spent so many years trying to create all these characters, to fill these relationship spaces, only for my most important characters to come together as a unit randomly, and to add to that, my most important ship to swoop in and form completely on a whim (<- the way Eclipoir formed is equally as organic, and almost more impressive to me.)(I don't want this to come off as "Oh look how smart I am," more that it baffles even me the creator how randomly these characters came together after, like I said, so much time spent trying to manually build up relationships.)

[asukiess]

let’s play dead with mama <3

[waywardwizzard]

Just finished this ->

Screaming, crying, throwing up over how good it is. It tore out my heart while giving me so many bittersweet feelings. And the art is just *chef's kiss*

[fancycolours]

Here's a bit of "Beginnings" that I captured on video. 💖 🎥 Lexie Lamm (July 16th, 2024.)

[llamalore]

ciudad enamorada - day 2

[fragmentedblade]

I called it, Ruan Mei is deranged and shady as hell

[mitchmotch]

day 12 of (30 min) monday sketches w @revalito! look at serene boy

[moeblob]

OC OTP. Just a prince (Ego, the ginger) and his wonderful energy alien fiance (Serenity) who he doesn't know is an energy alien. Ego also doesn't know that the future marriage is never going to happen and he's been lied to his whole life.

[skitskatdacat63]

My four main characters' dynamics if you were ever wondering 🥰

Little character bios + without text below the cut :)

Preface: There's 9 different planets in my AU, and each of them has different kinds of humanoids(ex. Neptune has bird-people, Mercury has dragon-people, Pluto has cat-people, Neptune has mammal-people, etc.) Most of my ocs are from Neptune or Pluto, cause I like them best haha. Each planet has their own forms of hierarchies/discrimination, so that's important to consider with character dynamics. So for example on Neptune, people who are pure-breds(so basically wild animals in their "original" form. Wolves, tigers, deer, etc, too many to name) are considered more noble. Whereas there are ubiquitous "dogs," traditionally the servants of Neptune's god, who are seen as typically being servile and lesser. But then if you were to travel to a different planet, you would be SO lost about these kinds of dynamics. I talked a lot more about my two main ships in these posts, Eclipoir here and Rünoir here !!

My main four OCs seen here are the DHE and Eclipse. The DHE are a friend group/unit, who met through being scouted for the god of Neptune's espionage/black ops unit. They are comprised of:

Anastassia "Rüß" Petrov - (the main leader of the operation, very tough but intelligent. She was scouted from Siberia and grew up very poor. She is a womanizer, loves money, and she was originally very standoffish but is now extremely charasmatic, and seems to know everybody. However she is a dog, but the complete opposite of what a dog is expected to be. Which is why she was scouted to be the leader in the first place!! She was originally more undercover, but now kinda functions as the handler to Noir's attack dog. She preferred to work alone before, but came to appreciate the team dynamic.)

Noir Mono-Loup -(Nepo baby!!! She is a wolf, and is from a very rich, influential family, so she's a pedigree pedigree. She is genuinely very strong and can be analytical, but struggles to manage herself and her bloodthirsty and possessive compulsions, AND she is very prone to craving submission. So even tho societally, she's seen as higher/more noble than Rüß, Noir is perfectly happy to be her subordinate and follow orders. However, while Rüß brings out the submissive side in her, Eclipse on the other hand brings out the possessive, territorial side.)

Seren Baumstark - (The brains of the group I guess, though they're all pretty smart, in different ways. She's not from Neptune, she's from Pluto! So she doesn't really factor in to the whole weird purebred-dog dynamic the other two have going on, which is for the better because she's very peaceful and there's no expectations. Very meek compared to the other two, but chosen because of her intelligence and cooperation skills. Has her own shit going on aside from the main plot, that's more involved with the gods. The main plot with the other three mainly is fucked in its own way, but Seren is lowkey going through that Spongebob hallway meme honestly, but its kinda impossible to quickly explain.)

"Eclipse" - (from a very famous/influential family from Pluto/Neptune. However she has been disowned, as she was seen as ruining the family image with her instability....and because her mother is a terrible person who couldn't accept that her child wouldn't be the heir of the family. She has a very codependent relationship with Noir, however they were separated for many years because Noir is technically the reason she was ultimately disowned, though she's pretty grateful for that. She's an assassin, who Noir is trying to track down, not knowing its Eclipse.)

I have like three seperate time periods I jump between, so it's a bit confusing I think. The first would be when it was just Noir and Rüß, since Seren came in later. Noir was very annoying and puppylike, and Rüß at that point was super cold. Rünoir(Rüß x Noir) are FwB with a very dom/sub relationship/dynamic. The second would be when Seren is now with them, and when Noir first meets Eclipse(she saved her from being kidnapped, and that's where their codependency began.) And the third would be when Eclipoir(Eclipse x Noir) are finally fully reunited, and not at odds anymore, and the DHE are now in different roles, but still best friends.

[thawthebeez]

ah yes, home at last... ON TONIGHT'S SPECIAL: What The Hell Is Tumblr User Thawthebeez Going Crazy Insane About Today?

The winning point Karasuno scored against Inarizaki.

Let's discuss this real fast, because this is once again another VERY IMPORTANT MOMENT that is overshadowed because "omg kagehina touched hands for like 2 frames."

For those who have NO IDEA what the hell I'm talking about and care for a summary: Karasuno is at match point against Inarizaki, a powerhouse school that's favoured to win the Spring Tournament. Stakes are high and the tension in palpable. The ball is on Inarizaki's side, and they're about to send it over. Now, what attack do they choose? Well, it's none other than the Miya twins with their minus-tempo attack. You know, the same one that Kageyama and Hinata do.

This attack is fast. Like, very fast. It literally occurs within the blink of an eye. This isn't an attack that can break through blocks. Speed is its main weapon. It's also an attack that relies on trust. You know, a certain bond between the two players. Because of its speed, the setter and the spiker need to have absolute faith in one another.

All throughout the series we see Kageyama and Hinata figure this out. Hinata isn't a heavy hitter, but he is fast, making this kind of attack perfect for him. And it works for a good long while. It's faster than all the other fast attacks and can evade blocks pretty well. Until it doesn't. And that's when they regroup, developing this attack so Hinata can have some more freedom.

Essentially, Hinata and Kageyama learn that while this freak quick they do is strong, it's not invincible. It's fast, but not unstoppable.

Now what gets me is the fact that the only characters in the ENTIRE SERIES to pull off the minus-tempo attack are Hinata & Kageyama, and the Miya twins.

Just two guys, and twins.

Atsumu and Osamu have known each other their entire lives. That's sixteen years of bonding for you. Not to mention the fact that they're bounded by blood, too. Of course the chemistry they're going to have on the court is going to be insane. They literally have, like, twin-telepathy. Of course they can pull off an attack that happens within the blink of an eye. Of fucking course. The faith that's needed between the setter and spiker has been established since the dawn of time for them.

Kageyama and Hinata met for the first time in Junior High. Their third year of Junior High, by the way. They were also on separate teams, and they played a whopping 31 minute game against each other. They were reunited again at Karasuno, but were immediately at each other's throats. They saw the other as a rival (and they still do now, but it's more of a friendly rivalry as opposed to "I need to utterly destroy this guy"). They weren't even officially on the same team until after they pulled off their freak attack. At the point in which Karasuno plays against Inarizaki, Kageyama and Hinata have only been playing on the same team for less than a year.

The freak quick was developed in a single day. By this point, they don't even have faith in one another, just the point, the "I trust that the ball will come my way" and "I trust that he'll score," and even then, the trust Kageyama put into Hinata was iffy.

Allow me to state this again: the only people to have pulled off the minus-tempo quick attack in the entirety of the Haikyuu series are the Miya twins, and Kageyama and Hinata.

To put this into absolutely utterly batshit insane speak: HINATA AND KAGEYAMA HAVE A BOND AS STRONG AS BLOOD, DARE I SAY STRONGER, BECAUSE IN A SINGLE DAY THEY WERE ABLE TO PULL OFF THE SAME ATTACK THAT LITERAL BIOLOGICAL TWINS CAN. THE ATTACK IS BUILT ON TRUST, AND WHILE THEY MAY NOT HAVE PUT IT INTO EACH OTHER AT THE TIME, THEY WERE STILL WILLING TO GIVE FAITH TO ONE ANOTHER. WHY? SOULMATE SHIT, MAN, IDK.

Like, if we're going back to the first ever quick attack, we're dealing with a Hinata that has been told all his life that a guy like him playing volleyball is a waste, and we've got a Kageyama that's still coping with the events of Junior High. They have absolutely ZERO REASON to trust one another, even if it's just for the single point, but they do anyway because there's at least a subconscious voice- an instinct, maybe, knowing how much these two rely on instinct- that this one, for whatever fucking reason, is okay to trust.

And I think that Tsukishima sums it up perfectly when he mentions that only Hinata and Kageyama could have blocked that attack- that out of anyone, they were the only ones who truly understand that while the attack is strong- while the speed of it is an absolute weapon- it's not invincible.

(the fact that it was both of them, too- the fact that both of their hands were on the ball in that moment- the fact that after everything was said and done they still bickered about who scored that point because that's just who they are, and the fact that in the reality it was both of them who scored. ugh. they just. you get it. you understand)

[randomnameless]

A Minor dispute.

Put it behind you. Deal with it.

No, this isn't related to devoted fans and their discourse lol (even if i had to take a jab at them with the title lol)

Ike: I have to ask, Sephiran. What are you after? What’s this all about? Sephiran: Why do you wish to know? You would achieve nothing by learning my reasons. You would help no one. I lost faith in lesser beings, and desire an end to them. That’s all. Ike: So why did you save me on that day? Sephiran: May I ask you a favor, Ike? Tell me how you feel about it now. Can you bear recalling those horrific memories? Ike: Yes… I’m fine, now. But I suppose at the time I wouldn’t have been able to take it. Sephiran: All beings endure tragedies for as long as they continue to live. It has always been the case that suffering is unavoidable. And this grim reality plays out over and over, in every country, under every ruler… As long as there are beings who feel, they will feel pain. Ike: So what? We should all just give in and die? Put it behind you. Deal with it. Sephiran: Do not make light of this… Ike: I’m not. Sephiran, I’m extremely grateful that you once helped me through a terrible time. But we have to accept that occasionally we all have to deal with hard times. I’ve had pain, I’ve had suffering, and I have gotten up and moved on. I don’t try to forget what happened that day. I just accept it… And neither that or anything else will ever stop me. Sephiran: You are a strong man, Ike, son of Gawain. But not everyone is as strong as you…

This scene is unlocked if you've seen Ike's FB.

Of course, Ike here doesn't know the fuck he is talking about, as he later expresses by wondering why Sephiran is suddenly called Lehran (maybe if the game left Miccy/Yune talk to him before the start of the map, instead of letting him do all the convo it would have been different?).

So, in a way, it isn't as callous as Ike telling Lehran to put the genocide of his people "behind him" or to "deal with it", because he doesn't know what Sephiran is talking about.

But in a way, I have the feeling if Claude or Petra told Dedue to "put the massacre of his family" behind him or to "deal with it", Claude or Petra would have received a certain amount of shit, even if, when they would have said those, they wouldn't have known what the fuck Dedue went through.

Anyways, Ike later learns what, or who, Sephiran is, and talks to him. Maybe he will apologise for his callous words, spoken when he didn't realise what he was talking about ?

Ike: Sephiran... I mean, Lehran... Lehran: I can't apologize enough. I was so terribly mistaken, and now there's nothing I can do to help. Ike: Don't worry. Lehran: What? Ike: Wanting to do something that matters is enough. Sometimes, how you feel is more important than how you act. Lehran: Ike I... there's no one that I think more highly of... Ike: No time for compliments. We still have work to do here. Lehran: Yes... yes we do.

Lehran apologises for having wanted to destroy the world (and drops Altina in a trashcan because Ike is now the person he thinks the most highly of!) - and in the general scale of things, yes, Sephiran has much to apologise for, so he better start pulling his weight and try to make up for having tried to kill everyone.

But the "your people were genocided? No biggie, deal with it!" is completely ignored - or it is, again, another example of Ike talking shit and the game convoluting himself to make sure he never faces any consequences, even if, in this situation, the consequence would just have been an apology, like the one he gave to, iirc, Mordecai and Lethe after calling him subhumans but not realising calling someone "subhuman" was insulting.

Sure, the line he gives after the fight against Sephiran still holds value :

Ike: If death is what you really want, then I’m not going to let it happen on my watch. I don’t care what you’ve gone through. I don’t care how much you’ve suffered. What you’ve done is unforgivable.

It's not because you suffered, or went through the worst humankind can offer, that you can inflict the same on people!

When Lords like Marth, Seliph, Leif, Roy, Eirika, even Elincia try to understand people and what led them to act as they did - without ever giving excuses or wondering if they could walk with their respective antagonists - Ike here refuses to understand, and only condemns.

Is it because Ike isn't a Lord, so he isn't concerned with some general "making sure this situation never happens again"?

But then, he is the one to say those :

“But, even the dumbest creatures will love their family, their friends and… even love others. They will all have things that they can’t afford to lose.” “We know that we’ve messed up. We’ll do our best to avoid more war and to make peace our highest priority. Ashera, just give us one more chance. All we ask is for one more chance.” “You were like a mother to all of life– Your children still require a mother like you. When you watch over us, we don’t always do things that make you happy and sometimes we even disappoint you. Still, I think we would like you to continue watching over us. How about it?” “We all need to work hard to accept each other. As long as we don’t try and run away from our mistakes, then I’m sure we’ll be able to see each other again one day.”

How can you do you "best" to avoid more wars, if you don't even understand why the current one started, or don't care about the reasons that led the fucker who started this current war to, well, start it?

How can we talk about acceptance if we don't "care" about what the others live through?

So, on top of writing a check his ass can't cash - since he will leave Tellius and not be there to "avoid wars" or make sure people "accept each other" after promising the goddesses "we" will exactly do that - Ike's words here are empty.

-> In a nutshell, Ike reveals with those battle quotes and conversations that he is not ruler/leader material - but we knew that since RD's start since we followed Miccy and Elincia - and more importantly isn't the kind of person asking "why" things happen, they just happen but somehow everything will work out when it will happen again - because the why, or the cause, wasn't identified - and I think it's a perfectly fitting answer for the Tellius Saga and the larger Branded "issue" : we will never know why it happens, it just happens.

(can we say the epilogue, with Ashunera returning, is an ultimate "fuck you" to Ike's empty promises at the end of this chapter, since it starts with another war happening in the background?)

---

Back to that nonsense of a battle convo, I find it really interesting how Ike is basically thanking Sephiran for having wiped his memory when he was a child, to help him "deal" with the fact he witnessed his father stab his mother, because at that time (when he was a kid), he wouldn't have been able to deal with it.

But then, Ike tells Sephiran to "deal with" the tragedies he witnessed and lived through...

After thanking him for sparing him the "deal with it" step- he now asks Sephiran to take - when he was a child.

WTF?

Ike explains how he is thankful, but he ultimately had to "got up" and "move on" from the pain, and accept it. And that's precisely the point, Ike managed to take on that pain, "get up and move on" thanks to Sephiran's own meddling and help - else, by his own admission, he wouldn't have been able to "take it".

But now, he asks Sephiran to take his pain, without any magic amnesia to help, and deal with it?

And while I hate the idea of trauma olympics, grown-up Ike (even in POR) can now deal with the fact his dad killed his mother thanks to Lehran's magic amnesia - but he tells Lehran to deal with and get over - 1) the genocide of his tribe, 2) assassination of his great (etc) granddaughter because she had his blood, 3) the loss of his powers for a crap reason and the knowledge that laguz are bound to "die" if they mingle too much with beorcs as he personally witnessed it, 4) severe depression after realising he is not a laguz anymore but not even a beorc since beorcs will use pitchforks at him even if they regarded him 10 seconds before as sage, and the rest of Tellius' general fuckery? - without magic amnesia or plot hax?

Reyson was very close to pull something similar in FE9 when he tried to erase people in the Forest using "ancient magic", but abandoned the idea when Leanne was found - if PoR!Ike learnt that, would he have told Reyson to "get over" the heron genocide and Naesala's betrayal?

Of course not, because I'm pretty sure Ike knows, before meeting Reyson and even picking Leanne, what happened in Serenes.

And in RD, when he says those words, he doesn't know (but he later will!) that Sephiran is a heron.

Tl;Dr :

Supreme Leader's "minor dispute" is frowned upon by everyone, even if she might genuinely not know about what Nemesis did that made Rhea so enraged, in a doylist reading, Supreme Leader is a character who ignores a genocide to push her own specist agenda.

Doylist reading of that RD scene is, Ike telling Sephiran to man up and deal/get over the genocide of his people - but unlike Supreme Leader, when he comes to learn the truth of Sephiran's despair, he dgaf.

Thankfully, this scene is only triggered if Sephiran survives, so Ike can later explain his behaviour : he doesn't care what kind of suffering Sephiran endured, since nothing justifies what he was trying to do (kill everyone).

Even if the thing he should care, but doesn't want to, is, for part, a genocide.

[selfcontainedunivcrse]

control baby is much like RC and cion if it wasn't like that at all

[kopw]

omega vs assassin: will ospreay interviewed / historic x-over / laura mulvey, visual pleasure and narrative cinema