in this moment, i can breathe @goldenboughs - Tumblr Blog

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dog-teeth

margaret atwood / rumi / s. osborn

richardsikenpdf-archive-deactiv

scheherazade - richard siken

#warrior of light au #i'll make a better tag eventually

elegant-etienne

I won a fantasia in a twitter giveaway and got to make a change that I’ve been debating for a while. Etienne’s been on HRT for a year.

As a NB person I always felt a lot of pride in creating Etienne’s femme-androgynous looks. They’ve helped me embrace a lot of the feminine side of myself I’ve cut off in order to survive - at least that’s how I thought of it for a long time. It was easier to be angry at the idea of femininity than the idea that I’ve been victimized by a society that punishes the feminine.

I’ve been vacillating a lot between being delighted (cute emotes! girl clothes! a more suitable voice!) and my own mixed feelings about having ‘chosen a side’ for Etienne. I’m also a little sad that their face is one that’s a lot more common to see around on other players. For a long time I’ve felt I would have to ‘sacrifice’ something, and the way they were in the past was sacrificing some things (like not getting the more feminine cuts of clothes, having the masculine emotes, etc.) and this one is sacrificing being quite as strictly androgynous. But here’s where I’d have to say my desires for my character branch off a little from what they actually want.

Etienne being NB was a surprise for me from the beginning. I thought I was playing a very feminine and graceful man, but their androgyny - and others reaction to it - eventually tipped me off that they had very Not Cis feelings.

I’ve always been a bit ambivalent about my own identity, and therefore my characters as well. It’s hard for me to celebrate or acknowledge myself and I can feel awkward when people make a fuss over me even if it’s warranted. I know it sounds strange to phrase it that way but I’ve had a decade of expensive therapy to get me to the point where I can say at least sometimes I do things that are okay to be excited about.

So here’s some quick and pretty pictures with no editing, posted when everyone’s pretty silent online because they’re absorbed in the expac.

Honestly, yay. 💖

#friends #etienne clairemont #i LOVE eti sm

mischiefandmystics

Dear SE…

At the risk of discussing too much non-rp related things in a row… (I’ll get back to rp things soon, I promise)

In the future… You do not have to mention skin color differences between two clans of the same race, if you’re not going to show an actual difference of skin color between said two clans.

There is nothing “umber” or “dark skinned” about the render associated with the Rava.

The two clan renders are the same fair-skinned rabbit, but between a Winter and Summer tan and a bottle of hair dye. Please cut that out.

What the in-game, character creator options will be is irrelevant when talking about this. If I tell you, “here inside this box are my red apples and here inside this other box are my green apples” and outside of both boxes the apples are shades of green and yellow, that’s… not an accurate representation of your words, now is it?

Words Mean Things!

It is already annoying to have various people running around a shade deeper than a paper plate describing themselves as “dark skinned,” stop adding to that bullshit.

If you do not want to, or are incapable of showing genuinely dark-skinned character types as The Canon, then just stop making that particular distinction. It is so simple.

You do not have to mention skin color at all if all you’re going to do is… What you’ve been doing.

black-song5624

Probably taking all sorts of bait with this one but whatever lol.

They never label Rava as “dark skinned” only umber. Umber describes a wide variety of shades that fall under the “reddish brown, earthy toned” category. Looking at the specific color choice of the Rava skintone compared to Fran (The most common example of Viera no one has a problem with the skin color of) you can see it’s noticeably warmer and features a distinctly reddish hue, making the label of umber correct. Furthermore, compared to the Veena the skintones are quite far from each other.

You can see from this image, at the top right, I put a swatch with the skintone of each Viera. It’s pretty obvious the Rava has a more reddish brown tone than Fran, and is much more brown than the Veena. Umber is a fine term to describe it.

Viera also never passed the paper bag test before so I dunno why people are suddenly up in arms about them not being super dark. Sure, in some of the more cartoony art from tactics advance the viera were darker than this but that can just be attributed to the more simplistic coloring and style.

tiergan-vashir

At the risk of sounding like a pretentious former art-student, when you use the word “Umber” in front of an artist, we immediately think of one thing and that’s “Dark Brown”. This is because Umber is an extremely common pigment for paints. Sure there might be other special varieties of Umber out there that might be lighter than usual, but traditionally, Umber is one of your go-to darker browns if not one of the darkest browns on your palette.

Here’s Raw Umber and Burnt Umber respectively, which are two extremely common oil paints. They’re dark enough that I would actually use these paints instead of black, because pure black tends to flatten out a painting and suck life out of it if you don’t know what you’re doing where as umber is dark enough to be a substitute for black without the same “my painting looks kinda lifeless now” issue.

If we want to go literal dictionary definition:

I’m not saying all of this to be a pretentious asshole about color. I’m saying all of this, because @mischiefandmystics is right: Words have meaning.

They especially have meaning for people who actually live in bodies with skin that actually is “umber” in color. To you, I know this might be yet more grumbling from players who will never be satisfied with anything the devs do, but SE has never been all that great about representing folks of darker skintones. The vast majority of their promotional art features super pale folks. So when you FINALLY have a race that is listed as “umber” in skintone and the example character looks like she just barely has a summer-tan, it reminds folks of racism and colorism, which is something those folks have to deal with every single day, 24/7 by virtue of living in the bodies they are in. They have a right to be annoyed about something they deal with all the time, even if it’s something the rest of us never really have to think about.

And before someone brings up “But SE is a Japanese company and the Japanese just don’t know any better uwu.”:

SE is a big company that makes enough profit to hire researchers and marketers. If they want to market to a global audience, they have to cater to global tastes. Every big company does this. SE has already done this before by allowing gay marriage via Eternal Bonding ceremonies even though gay marriage is illegal in Japan, because they know Western audiences would find it distasteful.

There’s dark-skinned folks in Japan and in Asia in general.

#discourse #viera

moonlifter-archive

Aedwen Morning & Hairstyles

Before Ala Mhigo’s fall / Pre-Calamity (x2) / ARR, HW, SB (x2) / Pre-SHB (x2)

Aedwen changes her hair like she changes her clothes, but these are the main styles she would have used/worn throughout the ages.

#i LOVE her #aedwen morning #screenshots

afaerytalelife

Visit Original Link

The Flower Garden | Howl’s Moving Castle | Joe Hisaishi

#tunes #i love everything from howls moving castle for sal..........

monethes

#vylbrand dreaming

craigthesaurusillusts-deactivat

A bunch of finished commissions from my previous batch! :D

#OH SHIT THATS GEHRIR #lookin good #gehr'ir ett

“By the Twelve—!”

SAY HELLO TO BELATED APRIL FOOLS SALIH ORBEN. Has he been cursed? Blessed? Is this all just a bad dream? WHO KNOWS, but for the next fortnight (and perhaps longer), Salih has scales.

(note - this is not actually IC and just a fun little ‘what if’ for him!)

Thank you so much to @tiergan-vashir for enabling my belated April Fools shenanigans ;w;

#e'salih goldenbough #technically #screenshots #IDK I THINK HE MAKES A GOOD XAELA

assorted-aesthetics

constellations by the oh hellos

#sal feelings #quotes #hey i found a good new sal song yall.........

juliamstarr

Instagram // Prints

#vylbrand dreaming #inspiration

sputniksea

https://instagram.com/p/Bfn4cFAhp6f/

#duds #inspiration #sal likes the big poofy sleeves

Pros & Cons of Dating E’salih

Good

Incredibly sweet and willing to go the extra mile to ensure you’re happy. The kind of person who would get in the car and drive across town at midnight to the only 24/7 corner store that sells gelato because you said you were craving it, and knows ice cream is no substitute.

Very affectionate, in private and in public once he knows you’re comfortable with it. Holding hands, stolen kisses, gentle playful jostling accompanying a joke.

Prefers to bottom, but will service top if his partner wants it. Pretty pliable in the bedroom and open to experimentation (with discussion), but not a pillow princess.

Takes an active interest in the things you like and, even if he doesn’t grow to love them himself, will still let you talk his ear off about it.

More than happy to accompany you on adventures, and will be very pleased if you’re willing to come with him on his.

A huge dork. Can and will do dumb things to make you laugh.

A good cook. Expect homemade meals and baked goods often, and if you let him know what you like best he’ll learn to make it for you whenever you ask.

Bad

His anxiety can lend itself to being somewhat clingy. He’s not going to go full attached at the hip, but would not do well in a serious long distance relationship.

Has some relationship trust issues. Not the type to go through your phone when you’re not around, but prefers to know, generally, where you’ve been/if it’s an open relationship, if you sleep with/date others he hasn’t met and may withdraw from you if you don’t comply (not in a “you can’t do this” way, just wants to know if it happens). This fades as partners prove trustworthiness, but at first it can be a bit of a strain.

Drools in his sleep. Combine this with sleep cuddling and you may wake up with your hair or face or chest damp. He’s very sorry. It won’t stop him doing it.

Still a bit clueless to a lot of the world outside of Vylbrand and Gridania’s borders, though he’s learning; in the worst, a naive sort-of-rich kid, but thankfully lacking the prejudice and inability to empathize that can come with that.

May keep quiet about things he doesn’t like/that bother him so as not to bother you, but is an open book about his emotions so it’s easy to tell when something’s amiss in his mind. It’s a task in and of itself to get him to tell you what’s wrong.

YMMV

Prefers communicative, open polyamory. He gets crushes at the drop of a hat.

Incorrigible sleep cuddler. As in, you’re not going to wake up in bed with him without him being curled around you like a too-big cat. It can get stifling if his bed partner(s) aren’t prepared.

Will not ask for it, but loves to be doted on. If you’re a giver, he’s here to receive all that love and affection you’re offering and it’ll make him the happiest man on earth. Conversely, would not do so well in a relationship without an especially affectionate partner.

TAGGED BY: @elegant-etienne thank you for the tag!

TAGGING: I don’t know who has already been tagged so I’m gonna hold off. Steal this and @ me if you do it!

#character memes

moonlifter-archive

nothing can extinguish my anger. and nothing can restore my faith.

#me before this photoset: yeah the msq gear is alright i guess #me after this photoset: im GAY for this SET #screenshots #aedwen morning

boohwanj-deactivated20240316-de

2019-03-24

#vylbrand dreaming #inspiration

moonlifter-archive

. rp roster

thought i’d compile my most active rp characters into one, to make things easier! feel free to inquire about any of them, if you think you’d maybe like to rp! we can brainstorm and plot stuff out from there! i will update this masterpost as their availability for rp changes.