#to wound my ego

[professorsta]

Eye contact and verbal vulnerability are stupid difficult while cutting the eye contact off after the heartfelt moment to actionably punctuate your sincerity by bowing seems a lot more agreeable to me personally would it be ridiculous for someone located in California to start bowing? Asking for uh- not for me, someone else, don't ask who

[leonardalphachurch]

temple’s active choice to be a villain is so interesting to me because. like. i’ve joked before “temple was literally right all he had to do was not be a serial killer about it” but that is, of course, the whole point of his character. he’s not just the villain who’s right but also kicks puppies, he’s CHOOSING to be the villain who’s right and delights in kicking puppies. i think he very easily could have gone the route of seeing himself as a hero? like “i don’t care if you don’t approve of my methods, i’m the good guy, i’m liberating people, i’m fighting against a corrupt system” because he kinda is that— and he does have some amount of self righteousness but. he is very explicitly, intentionally, deliberately the villain.

and like, yeah. of course. characters like temple are the villains. you’re disrupting the status quo? you’re fighting against the establishment? you want to dismantle the system??? no, it doesn’t matter how many good points you have. you’re evil. you’re the bad guy. you’ll always be the bad guy. and having temple be aware of this, be genre savvy enough to know that he’ll be seen as the villain and embrace it? it’s soooo. GOD. you could’ve really written something actually compelling there couldn’t you.

temple is the perfect character to analyze the concept of “villain who’s right but has to be evil about it so we can root against them and uphold the status quo” because he, diegetically, is that. he’s choosing to be that. he is purposefully invoking that archetype. but instead of deconstructing it they just played it straight. at the end of the day he is just the villain who’s right but also kicks puppies. and it’s sad! it’s sad it ended up like that. at least we have this.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

anyways, still deeply invested into my read of Ganondorf being an immense bully to children partially because, in a way, he rationalizes that putting children through the grinder is baaaasically kind of helping them to grow up faster, in a throwing you into the river to teach you how to swim kind of way, and if they can't handle the grinder, they were weak and it's on them and they can either suck it up and try harder, or get wrecked and die

and obviously that says absolutely nothing about how his own upbringing may have been handled, right twinrova, nor anything about how he may have buried a profound bitterness about the fact he was never really allowed a childhood of his own, and it's not fair others, especially hylians, get to spend their own carefree.

of course not.

[djevelbl]

LOOK AT THAT CANDY SHOP UNIFORM I WHIPPED OUT IN A WHIM !!!!

[ego-osbourne]

Please draw Miraak, Ego or Velehk in hot pink heels and some stupid pose its gonna be so funny swtg!

Okay sure

Unlike Ego and Velehk, Miraak is not very dexterous.

The pose refs were from some stock-adjacent photo series I grabbed from google

[eregar]

Raphael's character class potentially being bard is so fun. casting his tendency to use charm and illusion as not necessarily a devilish trait but instead as a bardic trait being used for devilish ends and suggesting that his cunning is possibly something that was learned rather than something that was innate. and it means he gets to be a bit of a loser <3

[feminiel]

Major big themes of my spiritual awakening process:

Emotional healing

Self-discovery

Journaling

Emotional freedom technique

Reading

Healing my ego

Finding who I am

Finding my place in the world

Finding my life's purpose

Working and healing my divine feminine energy: love, emotions, receptive nature, intuition, soul, healing mother wounds, self-nurturing, inner healer, sensitivity, values, creativity, abundance

Working and healing my divine masculine energy: ego, assertiveness, self-confidence, identity wounds, self-expression, healing father wounds

Balance

Transformation

Inner child healing

Shadow work

Light work

Energy

Self-beliefs

Spirituality and finding meanings

Astrology

Inner work

Manifestation

[liquidchocolatecake]

currently captive audience to a knock down drag out fight in my brain between desire to respect the wishes of the creator and not look for anyone redistributing the comic and god i fucking miss wonderlab i miss wonderlab so much you have no idea i want wonderlab back so bad

[transantisepticeye]

a lot of the time i end up way more pleased with the sketch than the linework, and though my linework has definitely been improving lately i think it still lacks a lot of the motion that i really like in my sketches

anyway. quickie of my favorite nasty lad

[pookiebearhelaena]

If there's one thing that many people are split on it's Blood and Cheese(and just about everything else bc herd-mentality is a plague nowadays🙄)

Some people say it's fair because "an eye for an eye, a son for a son". Some people think it was a political move. Some people think it was an attack on Helaena in specific and some people are just confused abt it.

First off, Blood and Cheese was not actually personal for the Blacks in the way Lucerys' murder was for Aemond. Aemond killed Lucerys because he was psychotic and wanted revenge for his eye. If Blood and Cheese were personal, it would attack Aemond, not Aegon and Helaena.

Now, with this established you may think it was a political move, but it wasn't. If it was, it was incredibly stupid. Some people think Daemon had Aegon's son killed to get rid of his heir, but Daemon likely didn't specify which son he wanted dead. Not to mention that Aegon had more than one son and therefore more than one heir. Daemon didn't ask for the murder of both of Aegon's heirs.

Then, people say that it's revenge for the feast/banquet thingy Aegon held for his brother after he killed Lucerys, but there is nothing that implies this in the books.

I think that Blood and Cheese simply happened to push Aegon and Helaena's characters in the direction GRRM wanted.

The murder of Jaehaerys incapacitated Helaena and one of the Green dragons. Helaena was one of the least developed characters from either faction. For her character, that was the only purpose of B&C. To essentially sideline her.

As for Aegon, B&C was the first personal blow he received from the Blacks. Before the murder of his son, the war and the succession wasn't anything he had any real interest in. To him, he was crowned by his family for x, y, & z reasons. Rhaenyra was dangerous, she was gonna kill them all, etc. He didn't have any actual conviction. Then, his oldest son is dead at the hands of Rhaenyra's faction. He won't let the war end with an agreement. He needs to win and it'll have to end with blood.

Luke's death was similar to this with the exception that his murder was personal and since Rhaenyra was afraid of kinslaying, it served mostly to break her and push her into a full war that she needed to win one way or another. Another difference is that the war was personal for Rhaenyra from the very beginning since she was Viserys' lawful heir and had therefore been usurped by the Greens.

TLDR: B&C was a plot device to push the characters in the direction GRRM wanted.

[lupismaris]

Sometimes self care is having a very stern talking to with the wounded scared parts of yourself that don't want to do the hard and difficult things and reminding them that nothing will get better if the hard and difficult things aren't even attempted

And then as a reward you promise to buy those wounded parts of yourself an entirely hot pink/pastel pink practice set if they agree to do the work required, as a little treat

[donewiththisshitplsstop]

[crystalsenergy]

the danger of (focusing only on) the Mind

in difficult moments

The mind has a tendency towards defense,

and with defense, being connected to this mechanism, in moments when we face some kind of threat, fear, or difficulty, the mind focuses on seeing the negative.

Since it feels that it is important to protect itself from everything, it soon understands that you must be on the defensive.

This is why pessimism tends to arise.

For in moments when something negative appears to deal with, the mind immediately wants to take us to defense.

It's as if the negative situation is, for the mind, a confirmation that everything is negative and that only evil exists. Hence the pessimism.

However, because it is an exaggerated state of defense, the mind falls into the traps of sadness, melancholy, aversion to opening up to others, generating anguish and melancholy.

Focusing on the heart, intuition, and feelings can save us from this. <3

For instead of insecurity, we will find some internal support and assistance. Instead of the inner voice saying that nothing is reliable, by relying on your heart and yourself, you can feel confidence in yourself.

It is important to remember that the more these things happen, the more the human mind deals with crystallized thoughts of pessimism, closing off from the world, defense, anger, and the need for isolation, precisely because it believes that life is only this.

Remember: you are not your state; states come and go, especially intense states that demonstrate phases of your life!

You are more than that. You are stronger than your own mind!

After all, it is only a part of you.

And the mind, lies!

[hel-phoenyx]

Domhildr is from @soupedepates, Oli from @thal-ent, Meili from @azeler and Kaizarz from @corneille-but-not-the-author

"Holy shit, how did you get that many scars ???"

I sigh. We're changing after a day of training, and I got off my shirt because anyway, every single person here saw me half-naked at some point. For either training, silly games or simply going in my room when I was changing reasons.

Well actually this is the first time I don't try to hide myself. I've never been that much of a prude, for the Coast's standards, but I still don't like being laid bare for too long. I guess it's legit Oli looks surprised I am covered in traces of ancient battles.

I still smile, a bit sarcastic.

"Well, the usual way, I suppose."

"Yeah, but nah, you're like, one of the most resistant fighters I know. Some look really painful and probably took a long time to heal, but aside from the day you lost your hand I didn't even see you flinch !"

"It was that day, was it ?" interjected Domhildr, curiosity on her tiny face.

My eyes darken. Domi, you know enough about me to understand that if it was really that day, I wouldn't talk about it.

So, I guess this time you are very lucky.

"No, most of them are from before. Either accidents with my powers, or just classic raids back when I was fifteen. Also, it's normal I recover quickly, Oli. I also have the spell from the royal lineage, might I remind you."

Not like I enjoy boasting about that, but I prefer giving the real explanation rather than let them believe I was some kind of superhuman when I had both my hands.

I see Meili's eyes focus on me right when I say the words "royal lineage". He may look like he's uncaring, but I know he's interested. Kraken nobility always keep an eye on adversaries. I know, since I was born from kings and high nobility alike.

I don't blame him. Paranoïa is a common thing in my life, why wouldn't it inhabit his.

Meili and Oli nod silently, but Domhildr pouts a little.

"Still, those look painful as shit. Especially the big one next to your liver. How did you get it ?"

Oh, this one. In another time, I would have looked upon the memory fondly, but it was before all of this happened. Still, I guess it's nothing wrong to talk about it, at least, how I got it.

"This one ? That was my first raid with Kaizarz. I blame my fighting technique."

All of them look at me with interested eyes, encouraging me to carry on, but I do not utter a single other word.

I only remember.

There were several ships leaving for the gulf, in a zone where Inkan marine was spotted on our kingdom's waters. I was the one who brought the intel to the crown, but they gave me the alarm, so I was allowed to bring them with me. I was supposed to command the ship, since I was the highest nobleborn on it, but when we sailed, I let the commands to the real captain.

We quickly encountered the enemy, engaged the fight. They were surprised to find us here, especially with the king, that was at this time the prince but leading like a true commander. Soon we ended up fighting on the same boat.

We were searching for the Inkan admiral. I have to admit, I'm not the one who killed it. Kaizarz was. But I stopped the second in command from a sneak attack that wouldn't have done much damage anyway, and no other ship could come to assistance thanks to their manoeuver to cut their path.

He was fighting next to me and Kaizarz and at that point I thought maybe just maybe I could link my two worlds together. Future proved me wrong, and it was a feeble hope anyway. But it was one of the only times I was truly happy.

That man fought fierce, and hard. Soon I only saw one way to stop him. My favorite technique, letting the enemy believe they won.

He striked one of my vital points. I felt the blood flowing from the wound, I heard Kaizarz shout my name, I saw his smile. Then the smile of my foe, persuaded he just killed the stupid teen leaving him so big of an opening.

His smile was still big when his head fell on the ground, eyes wide open in absolute surprise.

He thought me unable to move quickly that wounded but here I was, catching his wrist to stop him from pulling his sword out, and using that opportunity to swing Dainsleif. He was properly decapitated in an instant, and his last vision was my victorious smile.

Afterwards, the fight was a formality.

I hadn't finished healing when Kaizarz took out the admiral. He ran towards me almost immediatly, face twitching with worry, but I just pulled out the sword and smiled at him. The wound was already closing for I was of royal lineage, after all.

I remember him laughing right behind me.

"That's Tyr for you, always being so reckless in battle. The day he stop bringing his foes to wound him so he can reach an opening is the day the Kraken Coast is finally free."

I shrugged, still looking at Kaizarz. Seemingly less worried than earlier, but I could still see a shadow in his eyes.

"That was a good fight. But by War I thought he was gonna kill you."

I heard a whisper, of which I guessed the nature, but my concentration was on Kaizarz, and Kaizarz only.

"Bah, the one that can kill me is not born yet. Or it's gonna be you, and I sure hope you wouldn't want me dead..."

... would you ?

He smiled.

"I would never. Ever."

"Good, then you don't have to worry about me dying anytime soon."

"Alright, stop boasting, you dumb fuck, he said with a hearty laugh. We got to bring the ships back to the castle. His Majesty certainly will have a generous reward for us, yes ?"

"With today's catch ? Absolutely !"

And that was it.

I blink, not realising I spent a long time silent. Oli, Meili and Domhildr are still looking at me, still waiting for more. They're all way too patient with me.

Well, except Domhildr, that just poked the scar.

"That's all ? No story ?"

"Heh, you can always ask Kaizarz. I'm sure he remembers."

Why wouldn't he ?

That day, both him and I thought it could only get better.

[alpydk]

This is probably the most self indulged thing I've done to date... Hanging this up near my computer...

[ego-osbourne]

Random Ego bc I have been trying to draw something new for the past three days and it was NOT happening until now

Ego with their SITW look. The short hair might be permanent but is prob only temporary. The mustache IS permanent, at least for a majority of the story. The legs, too, are permanent, as I think they’re fun and why not. Additionally I’m working with some scar and tattoo ideas :]

Boxless version - it’s nothing special really I just can’t show it here

God they look like an 80s dad when they hit their thirties