#thank you for coming to my ramble

[someawkwardnerd]

hi I went down a musical filled path recently

[that-angry-noldo]

tw torture (flashbacks)

"They let him go," Finrod snickered, trying to ignore the hysteria building in his chest. "I can't believe it. They just. They let him... go."

Finarfin said nothing. Galadriel grit her teeth, her fists turning white.

"He was granted pardon," Finarfin said, his usually calm voice echoing with something dark. "He refused to go to the Aman."

"And the bastards let him go," Artanis hissed.

Finrod took a sharp breath.

"They let him go," he whispered.

Scars ached with phantom pain. Finrod was trembling.

Wrists bound in chains, dark cell stinking of blood and gore-

Pain, whips landing on the back, knifes cutting the skin-

Hands in hair, yanking his head back from the bucket of water-

Eyes and flames, wolves and orcs, and pain, pain, pain, and fire, and smoke, and screams, and rattling of swords, and death, death death-

And they simply let him go.

[secondbeatsongs]

hey, don't cry

tumblr is the new pdf! ok?

[solarpunkani]

I made an iNaturalist group/project for Naturalists of Color!

Why? I don't know, I just thought it'd be fun! I know Projects, at least as far as I know, don't really have much of a Chatting Feature or anything along those lines, but I thought it might be nice to see IDs from other people on the site and feel a sense of community about it.

Maybe I'm being too soft about The Pictures of Creatures site, but so often I'm made to feel that being interested in gardening and nature to the extent that I am is Weird, too Nerdy, Too White, and this is all on top of the general safety concerns pushed onto exploring and admiring nature while Black (in my case). I thought a group like this would be a nice reminder that, hey, people of color can be avid naturalists too. Or just starting out, or just finding cool bugs and wanting to share! It's all welcome!

[yea-baiyi]

i keep thinking about the odyssey i am THINKING about wei wuxian as odysseus. you were dead. its been years since you’ve seen your family. the child you left behind is almost a man. you wear a face they don’t recognise, you sneak in through the back door. the dog gives your identity away. the world knows it’s you when you draw your weapon. the person you love recognises you by the original symbol of your love—a secret that no one else in the world knows about, still, because they kept it safe for all these years. you get the chance to go back and despite everything, you found home waiting for you; he kept your place and raised your son and he was still there waiting for you when you got back. tell me o muse, about a complicated man i am extremely not okay

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

me when the monkie kid fans are making up another release date again:

me when one of the editors post that they're "still cooking" in regards to the season:

trust nothing and nobody till you've seen real evidence with your own eyes folks

[ladycrimsonandblack]

So I’ve been trying to get into a new anime and had to force myself to go through the first three episodes because the protagonist did not sit well with me. Nothing bad about him, he’s just not the kind of intelligent bastard character I prefer.

And that got me thinking. I’ve been obsessed with Luffy for two years now. He’s my favorite One Piece character. He’s one of my favorite characters in all media, period. I adore him.

But, and I think we can all agree, he is very much not the sharpest crayon in the box.

Usually, I would hate this type of character. In fact, it was one of the reasons it took me so long to watch One Piece – I was one hundred percent sure Luffy would bore me. I saw the fandom joking around about his idiocy, and didn’t really look more into it before deciding that 900+ episodes is too long of an investment when I knew the main character is exactly the kind of protagonist I hate. The fact that I actually started One Piece was a total fluke, and I did it despite everything I saw and read about Luffy.

Here’s the thing. I still hate the stock shōnen characters. But I love Luffy, and I think that the main difference here is that Luffy is, before anything else, competent.

He is not a stupidly naive, bleeding-heart hero trying to see the best in everybody and having no actual connection to the real world. He does not bumble around, being tossed around by forces bigger than him and only resolving an impossible situation thanks to luck or being able to throw a bigger punch (though the punching bit does play a significant part). Luffy is always the instigator, the one in charge of the plot, the one driving the whole thing forward – the plot does not happen to Luffy, Luffy happens to the plot.

He’s not the smartest. Often, he’s not the strongest even. But when something needs to be done, when someone needs to step up and resolve the problem, he knows what to do. And he does not hesitate to do it, often in the most surprising of ways. He is a very simple thinker, but that simple thinking lets him see a clear line from a problem to a solution, without taking any detours a more intelligent character might have taken. It’s not just about who punches the strongest. It’s about pulling the right emotional lever (Robin in Enies Lobby), or finding a hidden weakness (Crocodile), or even about concocting the most outrageous solution that would resolve the situation immediately (destroying the Baratie, anyone?)

Also, he might not be the cleverest person around, but his insane emotional intelligence ensures that he does not have to be. He has friends for that. He surrounds himself with people who are smart and strong and just as competent as he is. His nakama do what he cannot, and so even this personal drawback is eliminated.

Luffy is just straight-up competent, in every way and situation possible. He does what needs to be done, always and without hesitation. And he does it well.

In his own way, he is just as effective as my personal favorite intelligent bastard characters. He’s just so much simpler about it.

[imaginechb]

If I may go on about Luke Castellan for a moment... (and no, not in a simp kinda way but genuine book discourse this time)

SPOILERS FOR PJO AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS CLICK OFF NOW!!!

Something I realized the other day is that Luke himself was... never actually evil. Let me explain.

Everything Luke did was for the betterment of his life and the life of his peers. He wanted to make a better world for his kind (his kind being demigods everywhere), the goal was never some cartoonish supervillain plot of "taking over the world". He wanted to overthrow the gods so that no demigod would be ignored, neglected, abused and used ever again. That's why he did what he did.

Luke is all about the greater good. You could even make an argument for him being morally gray (meaning he doesn't care about "right" or "wrong", he only cares about his own interests and cause). He would murder the twelve year old kid he just met for the sake of bettering the entire world for good. Killing Percy would suck, yes, but in Luke's eyes, it has to be done. (Enter: the pit scorpion.)

Luke did many, many, bad and even evil things, yes. But a lot of that was under the guidance or even control of Kronos. Kronos, who was inherently evil. When we meet Luke in TLT, he's already under the influence of Kronos, and he's already scared to disobey, and he won't. Not just because he's scared, but because he truly believes in the cause he thinks he's fighting for, and because he trusted Kronos.

That's what all of this is really about. Luke put his trust in the wrong place. Kronos promised him what he wanted, yes, but was he ever going to actually give it to him? No. That's actually something I think the movies did pretty well was emphasize Kronos not actually caring about Luke or his cause, only caring about rising into power. Using him, just like the gods always had.

Luke was desperate and foolish, yes, but he himself was not evil. This is why he's able to kill himself and end the war with Kronos. He's able to regain that control and make that decision and be the hero, all because he himself is still good, despite it all. He can see what he did was wrong and does the only thing he can to fix it. He still wanted to do the right thing in the end.

Was Luke justified in his actions? Absolutely not. But was he justified in the way he felt, and what he wanted? Yes.

His whole life all he'd ever done was care for others. His mom, Thalia, Annabeth, the entirety of cabin 11, siblings or not. All of camp, really. And even though he was wrong about how he did it, him trying to overthrow the gods was for them, too. Was it a bit for himself and out of anger? Yeah, definitely. But he wanted a better life for the others, and that's why he pushed so hard for Annabeth and Thalia to join him. For his siblings and camp friends to join him.

He was misguided and put his trust in the wrong place out of desperation, but everything he did, the cause he fought for, was out of good intentions and maybe a bit of justified anger.

rant over have a nice day 😍

[justa-moth]

fish n chips to me is like,,,,, an enigma. not purely romantic, not purely platonic, not purely queer platonic, just,,,, ✨

literally no other way i can describe it jsgdjsgdjsvs

they have a relationship thats on such an ethereal level that it cannot be comprehended by the human mind. they simply exist together to spite everyone around them.

they change what they refer to each other as constantly. people become excessively more and more confused the more this goes on. one day its boyfriends, next its husbands, next its friends, next its co-captains, next its co-bastards. their relationship is a question to everyone including themselves.

[fangswbenefits]

I headcanon Astarion being obsessed with tiddies. He just loves exposing them to his gaze and touch and how they move when he's trusting hard into you.... makes him even harder

[canisalbus]

I had a scrap piece of paper and drew the little freakish dog 👍 I have been silently enjoying your art for like a couple months now? I found it randomly on uploaded Pinterest and was like “oh huh that’s rad” and yeah he’s such a lovely sad little beast

.

[doodleodds]

Happy Valentines, Akira. Happy Valentines, Asshole.

If you can’t read what Akechi’s secondary inner-dialogue says cause I obscured it too much behind his regular dialogue, here’s a transcription in panel order: Hello, you fucking- Ah- Hello, Akira! Fuck off, why should I tell you- Just a soda- there’s a new flavor.

I don’t want your shitty gift. Oh- haha! You’re so sweet.

I hope I choke. They’re lovely, thank you.

Like hell. Likewise. There’s no way it’s just a coincidence. Still though, it’s a funny coincidence.

[kassandrasowl]

I just come from a MXTX fanfic bender, so bear with me:

Fanfic where Wei Wuxian is a descendent of Hua Cheng (like his nephew x times removed). And Hua Cheng goes to the Burial Mounds after Wei Wuxian saved the Wen Clan but before the whole mess with the Jin Clan happens to investigate who this guy is so many cultivators are recently complaining about in their prayers. And then he meets Wei Wuxian and is like "Gege... can we please keep him?"

Because of course he recognizes his and Xie Lians own suffering in him. And he's also a clever ghost king and knows when someone is related to him.

And Wei Wuxian is like super bemused by this all of that but accepts it because yay, finally someone is on his side?

And then the thing on the bridge with the Jin clan happens, but Hua Cheng is with him because he hasn't trusted that invitation in the first place. And he's absolutely livid. Heads roll... literally. Xie Lian is a bit exasperated and like "Aaah San Lang, I don't think you actually need to remove their heads.. excuse you what did you just say about my nephew in law? Aaah, well... forget what I just said San Lang, keep going!"

Fast forward to Lan Zhan being vaguely confused how to proceed. Hua Cheng being an absolute mother hen and Xie Lian fondly watching all of that while quietly making sure Wei Wuxian is alright and will be in good hands.

[allastoredeer]

your drawing guides are SO helpful. Thanks for making them! I was wondering, how did you get to good at breaking down and figuring out what forms/shapes to use?

Thank you! I'm so glad they've been useful!

Well, something I've learned is that you can basically draw anything, and I mean anything, with just a handful of specific shapes, which are cylinders, spheres, squares, rectangles, and cones/triangles.

These are your building blocks to drawing anything and everything, it's just a matter of breaking whatever it is you want to draw down to these shapes.

For example, here's a picture of my doggo.

Let's break him down.

It's all about ignoring the details, colors, textures etc... and simplifying your subject into its most basic form. And once you do that, it's easier to sketch them out using these shapes as building blocks to construct them. Once you have the basic shape, pose, or expression sketched out, you carve away what you don't need and add detail, clothing, hair, facial expressions etc..

We'll use Lucifer as another example, as I can go back to his character sheet.

You can even break down their clothes if you want, like Lucifer's hat:

You give the shapes curves and depth to show direction and action, don't feel like you have to keep them frigidly in their pristine, straight-lined shapes. Be loose with it.

So far, with deconstructing Hazbin characters, I've found that most of their shapes are triangles and cylinders (of various sizes and widths). They also tend to be very curved and fluid, which is fun.

In the end it kind of just takes practice and training your brain to strip away all the fancy details, cut the character 's body into the basic sections we know of (face, neck, chest, torso, pelvis, arms, legs, feet), simplify those into their most bare-bones shapes, and pay attention to how those those shapes connect together.

Hope this helped, or shed some light on my process XD

[ace-and-sleepdeprived]

fucking love the fact that a select few people got so fed up with how much sexual content of miguel there was that they just went "okay you know what?? he doesn't feel that kind of attraction. he doesn't NEED that kind of attraction. we're taking his sexual attraction and throwing it in the trash so you can grow to LOVE and CARE for him as an actual PERSON and not as a weird sexual fantasy come true."

[ferahntics]

Nana's 1st birthday...