Dandelion Sunlight

almost everything is queued

[strongermonster]

high as fuck and it's the middle of a thunderstorm so i was outside standing in the rain to enjoy the Sensations as one does, and the neighbours chickens were also out (Worm Time) and let me tell u. soaking wet chickens are unrecognizable as any living animals. when i looked down and saw basically this at my feet in the half dark

i nearly shit myself

[sickened-things]

you know i don’t think we often talk about how difficult it actually is to suddenly realize that a belief you thought was good and moral and correct was actually really fucking toxic. how you have to look at something and go ‘oh shit, oh i fucked up. oh this is going to take probably years at minimum to deprogram from my brain because of all the little ways this shit pervaded the rest of my beliefs’

so. to all the people picking up all the pieces of a recently shattered world-view and trying to figure out what is safe to keep and what has to be thrown away and started over

to all the people having to relearn how to even listen to other people

to all the people putting in the work to do better while struggling with the guilt that comes from finding out you were the asshole

i’m proud of y’all.

it’s hard to admit being wrong and even harder to change in the aftermath. just keep doing the best you can and just know that the effort is appreciated. everyone can change. everyone can do better. keep fighting.

[lumiink]

stream so long needed something to do with my hands

[lumiink]

Here’s something that I noodled around with this evening. I am having real creative and motivational struggles in lockdown, its either a bunch drawings in two days, or nothing for a month, and no in-between.

[lumiink]

Wen Ning | A commission for the lovely @severelytenaciouszombie of the best boy! He was such a treat for me to draw!

🌻 Commission info in bio 🌻

[zeldacw]

kid Jin Ling & puppy Fairy playing in the rain :3

[datrava]

[lumiink]

self-indulgent sketching hours now

[legacysam]

Birbentines! (by teylor smirl)

[whetstonefires]

One thing I really like about how Murderbot relates to gender is how like--no wait, two things, in order.

So first how it is emphatically devoted to eschewing human gender categories. Like, it's not a default thing; there are shown to be multiple nonbinary pronouns in routine use, and life would be simpler for picking one or even making a new one up, just as it would be for picking a name that it is willing to use in public.

But that's a human thing, those are human categories, and it has that deep determination not to naturalize into humanity just because that would be simpler, would smooth the ugly edges between the categories of person and non-person and make an easier, more convenient story for other people.

But then also there's the part where the two construct genders are, effectively, 'cop' and 'prostitute,' as distinguished at construction per Murderbot's own account by genital configuration, in this case 'having' or 'not having' 'sex parts.'

Leaving aside how easily that analogizes to human gender categories for the average reader, which I'm sure was an intentional writing move--Murderbot's assigned gender is, in a meaningful sense, 'SecUnit.'

And what's neat, and what I was going for to begin with only I had to set out my thoughts first for context, is how Murderbot actually performs its assigned gender pretty emphatically!

But in a deeply queer way, that only gains a sense of meaning as it's able to detach the performance from service to the oppressive power structures that created it, and redefine the identity on its own terms.

[whetstonefires]

Being a SecUnit, being security, providing security to others, is very important to Murderbot, is absolutely in competition with the conceptually-entwined 'fiction' and 'freedom' for what it's most passionate about.

But that passion only comes out as it's able to choose to 'do its job.' As long as security was defined on Company terms, within the Company's shitty boundaries and for the Company's shittier goals, when it meant being a blunt instrument and surveillance device and living bullet sponge for and against shitty people with no say in the matter, Murderbot hated it, didn't care about it, narrated detachment from it and performed whenever possible to the absolute minimum standard. And rightly so.

It performs SecUnit-ness half-heartedly and under a mixture of implicit and overt coercion.

But given something to protect, something it both wants to and is free to, Murderbot vastly exceeds all expectations in its design function. Murderbot is a fantastic SecUnit precisely when it gets to decide what that means.

Security work wasn't something it chose for itself, it was built for it and forced to it, but reclaiming that and remaking it into something better, something it believes in, is a fundamental part of its growth and healing process. And I think that's really cool. And just as much part of the 'gender' elements of the story as it is of like, the 'labor' and 'liberation' parts.

In fact the 'social control of labor' and 'assigned identity categories' always have heavily overlapped, being related forms of structuring the utility of persons, so of course this is both.

[gamebird]

Labor roles overlapping with identity categories is a fascinating and illuminating take on TMBD. And life in general. I like it.

[blackgwenstacy]

i love this man

[dandelionsunlight]

#the king: we need your help

#howl: i am evil and also my mom said no [via terpsikeraunos]

[ramshacklefey]

I've seen increasing buzz around here about Howl's Moving Castle (book). I think you all deserve to know that all of Diana Wynne Jones's books are filled with characters and plots that are absolutely as delightful and unhinged as that one.

Some Actual Plots include:

Dogsbody - The star Sirius is accused of murder and sentenced to exile on Earth in the body of a dog until he finds a magical item called a Zoi. He's adopted by a young Irish girl living with her abusive and neglectful English relatives. He has to balance his desire to find the Zoi with needing to be a Good Dog for the girl who takes care of him. Also the Wild Hunt is there. Hexwood - A girl finds a magical wood behind her house where she meets a wizard who thinks he's a convict of the intergalactic government, a boy created by the man to destroy said government, and a robot found in a junk heap. The magic wood is actually an alternate reality being generated by an AI who has a grudge to settle with the head of said government. The book is about abuse, PTSD, and trauma. The Dark Lord of Derkholm - Magical world is being destroyed by a company using it as an isekai amusement park for people from another dimension. Bio-wizard is appointed Dark Lord for the year, and he and his family (four of whom are bioengineered griffins) have to find a way to survive the season while everything is going wrong. Deep Secret - Interdimensional detective/diplomat/wizard needs to find a replacement for his deceased mentor. He does so at a fantasy convention, while trying to keep an interdimensional empire from collapsing into civil war after the emperor is assassinated along with all of his heirs.

She's an absolute master at weaving fantasy elements into the mundane world and writing from the PoV of kids. Her books are funny, clever, and full of delightful characters. I'm begging you all to check them out.

[nataliadrawing]

He’s a gentle dragon guarding the town

[neko-gifs]

/ᐠ｡‸｡ᐟ\

[asmeesh]

Morning warmup. It’s -20 out and the birds are extra round

[kelpforestdwellers]

remember: don't chase the pain. if you're lucky enough to have access to an adequate supply of painkillers, use them early. if your pain is episodic, not continuous, hit the pain as soon as you notice it and your chances of avoiding a bad episode improve.

if you wait around to see if it gets 'bad enough' for painkillers, you're more likely to end up in a lot of pain that's difficult to control.

the tricky part is, if you do it right, it feels like you did it wrong. because if you catch the pain early before it gets bad, it often feels like 'it never got that bad so maybe i didn't need the medication.'

but it didn't get that bad BECAUSE of the medication! you did it right. it's okay to use the tools at your disposal. fuck the stigma.

[guerrillatech]

[pisshandkerchief-deactivated202]

Holy shit that's so cool

[knightofleo]

[beckiboos]

Finally “do you love the colour of the sky” got compressed for our convenience