#so more

[nightly-ruse]

I HATE honey but a chunk of honeycomb right now sounds so good

[radama-zard]

Dungeons & Drabbles - 2022

Day 8 - Truculent

--------------------

Ashton/FCG

Anger.

It wasn't like the emotion was entirely foreign to Fresh Cut Grass. He understood it well enough. When injustices happened, when one insulted you or something you liked, when you were hurt by others… anger was the result.

Well, at least it was for most people.

Ashton certainly seemed in tune with it!

The barbarian was basically fuelled by rage, breathed it as easy as most did air. It came easy to them, and FCG had to admit, they were a tad jealous.

To be so in tune with one’s inner aggression, it sounded delightfully freeing! He desperately wished to have his inner strength, the power to scream in the faces of those who wronged them. To wheel right up to Jiana Hexum and call her… her… well, as might say, a ‘dumb bitch’.

Not that THEY would ever say that! They couldn't even honestly think it.

Dear god was it frustrating.

“You right there, Letters?”

FCG’s head snapped up, finding Ashton mere inches away from him. Funny how someone so tall and heavy could sneak up on them like that! Or could be so sneaky in general. It was something they envied as well.

“Sorry Ashton! Seems I’m a little lost in my head today,” FCG replied with a weak laugh, earning a slight quirk of a frown in turn. Had he worried them?

“What's eating at you? There somebody I gotta punch? ‘Cause you know I’ll fuck anybody up REAL bad that's upset ya.”

There it was again, that truculent spirit of Ashton’s.

Always eager and quick to fight, a shining beacon of aggressive defiance.

He really ought to have their picture painted and placed in every dictionary right next to the word.

To have even a fraction of that burning, that passionate spirit…

“I know you would, and I'm real grateful for your kindness. It means a whole lot to me that you're willing to fight for me. But, well, this… You can't fight this. Unless you want to punch me in the head?” FCG paused, cocking his head to the side. “Maybe don't though, please. You're real strong, and this body is pretty old. I think you’d do a lotta damage and I don't wanna make Milo have to fix me up agai-”

“Fuckin’ woah there,” Ashton leant down, now eye level with him. A jade hand dropped down on his shoulder, the simple weight of it relaxing in and of itself. With it being Ashton’s, that calming effect was doubled. His touch was always so gentle with FCG, like they were precious and soft and… and alive as any other flesh and blood person.

If they had a heart it may have skipped a beat.

“Sorry…"

“No sorries, Letters. Just don't want you working your ass into a panic. I got you, okay?”

“I don't have an ass.”

“Haha. Hilarious.”

Ashton rolled his eyes, yet even with that he was unable to keep the affection they felt for the little automaton from glimmering bright.

“I… I guess I was just thinking about anger, and how hard it is for me to really reach it. You know, when I'm all normal like. Maybe if I could express it as wonderfully as you do, I wouldn't snap anymore!”

“Huh.”

A beat of silence passed, and FCG wondered if he should apologize once more.

“Maybe I could teach you to let loose. To release the beast and fuck shit up.”

“Really? You wouldn't mind? I don't know how good at it I’d be and I'd hate to frustrate yo-”

“Shut up, Grass. Quit acting like you're a fucking burden! You're… fuck, you're gonna make me say it, aren't you?” Ashton groaned, the sound only growing louder as FCG stared on in confusion. “Fine!! You're my best friend, okay? You mean more to me than anyone in this gods forsaken world! So quit shit-talking yourself so we can go beat on some trees.”

If Fresh Cut Grass could smile, they’d be positively beaming right now.

“That was so kind of you to say, Ashton!” they chirped, oblivious to the way Ashton’s face started to heat up. “You’re my best friend too! You’ve been my favorite person since the day I met ya!”

“Yeah yeah, no need to get so mushy now…” Ashton muttered, in what FCG might have thought was embarrassment. “You're makin’ this sound like some kinda cheesy ass love confession.”

“But I do love you?”

Oh. They hadn't known that Ashton's face could go so dark! That was a lot of blood rushing to one place… how concerning.

“Fuck, Letters, you can't just say shit like that!”

“Why not? It's true! I love you very much. Is…” FCG quietened, his voice now almost meak in nature. “Is it because of what I am? Is it wrong for someone like me to love someone like you? Someone more… more alive?”

That made sense. No one would want to be loved by someone like themself. Someone so cold and rigid and impossible to-

Before that thought could even be finished, Fresh Cut Grass found themselves pulled tight into Ashton’s embrace, and with it they found their insecurities crushed.

“Fuck that! You're just as alive as I am, okay? Don't give me that bullshit. You're fucking incredible, Letters. I was just being a little bitch over all the affection and the… I haven't had someone say that in a long ass time. It just- It threw me off guard. You aren't wrong to love me. You just have shit taste.”

“... I don't have any taste. I can't taste anything.”

“You know what I meant, you little shit.”

FCG laughed weakly, clinging to the genasi with surprisingly shaky hands. Gosh, how had everything gotten so out of hand?

“So it's… it's okay then? For me to love you?”

Ashton dropped his head, lips coming to lay the sweetest of kisses right to their forehead.

“Fuck yeah. The feeling’s mutual, just so you know. Still think you have shit taste, but hey, who am I to judge?”

Mutual.

The same.

A feeling returned.

Perhaps it wasn't so bad to be lacking in rage when they could feel a joy, a love so pure, as strongly as this.

Ashton could keep the rage.

They’d champion love instead.

[canonkiller]

I just think everyone should take a moment to consider the question "what is your visual shorthand for cruelty?" and then follow it up with a critical "and who taught you that?"

specific examples include but are not limited to

why is an evil timeline character design disabled? (why do the heroes go through equally punishing battles and never lose an arm, a leg, an eye?)

why are the futuristic scifi terrorists uniformly darker skinned? (why are the heroes so much lighter?)

why is the greedy boss fat? (why are the heroes skinny?)

why is the criminal mastermind heavily scarred? (why is the brooding, traumatized hero unscathed?)

why is the predatory creep a bearded person in a dress and makeup? (why are none of the heroes trans women?)

who taught you that this is how things are?

how long do you plan on repeating it?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

[stimmingandstruggling]

more good news from tiktok: they’ve started blocking celebrities.

they’re calling it block party 2024. just blocking and ignoring countless celebrities who havent said shit about palestine. influencers, actors, anyone who went to the met gala, whatever, they’re getting blocked. and people keep talking about how cathartic it is, how good it feels, how they never realized they could DO that. there was some kind of subconscious law against blocking famous people, but it’s broken, and people are LOVING it. and it’s WORKING. a social media/digital advertising coordinator was talking about how ad companies are PANICKING, because they can’t accurately target anymore. so many big influencers, including fucking LIZZO started talking about palestine the MOMENT their follower counts started going down. and the best part? no one is forgiving them. lizzo posted a tiktok asking people to donate to palestinian families, and all the comments just said you’re a multimillionaire. put your money where your mouth is. blocked.

i feel like i’m witnessing the downfall of celebrity culture, right here right now. people are waking up.

[greykolla-art]

Yeah I think you’re in the right place, Al.

[nyancrimew]

[unsung-idiot]

don't show him modern technology; it won't end well

bonus under the cut:

[cloud-ya]

outcast of the village

[sanguinifex]

You gotta read and watch some old books and films that aren’t 100% modern politically correct. I’m not saying you should agree with everything in them but you need to learn where genres came from to understand what those genres are doing today and where media deconstructing old tropes is coming from.

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Kill the censor in your head.

[8pxl]

new notepad concept,,,, been a couple yrs since ive released one!~

[starridge]

also deciding to make stuff that 12 year old me would have wanted to draw

[wrenchwenches]

[anartificialsatellite]

The older I get the more I admire people who are earnestly, genuinely into whatever their thing is. I know it sounds like an annoying cliche but unless you're being cruel or hurtful there is really no need to be normal about things. The dude with the bad fake accent at the renaissance faire is having the time of his life. The people having photoshoots with their fashion dolls are loving it. The old lady with a yard unreasonably full of tacky ass lawn ornaments is having a blast, HOA be damned.

Don't waste your time being too cool to have fun, y'know?

[sadclowncentral]

cannot stop thinking about the french man who during dinner responded to a person asking "should we be naughty and get desert" by pulling a face and going "naughty? it is chocolate, it is not an, uh, threesome"

[redstonedust]

yknow AI art has ruined an entire genre of painting to me, i saw one of those smooth anime-realism pieces and immidiately thought ''ugh, AI art'' until i noticed it was posted by an established deviantart user 6 years ago. like ive never been a huge fan of that genre but it looks like a pretty difficult style to master and i feel bad for the artists who specialized in anime-realism only to have their entire market jacked by people typing keywords into midjourney.