Not crazy.

I was commissioned to do an update to Arabella Starling, a druid D&D character! She's a little more mature and has a new fall theme to match :D

I get stuck on this question now and then. I got stuck on it yesterday, sitting at Loki’s altar. There are many answers to this question, and a few of them make good sense to me; but a sensible explanation is not the same as a deeply felt truth, the kind of truth that lives and breathes inside of you, that changes the way you interact with the world.

Over the course of the day an answer began to unfold for me. The answer was another question, directed at me: why do you leave seeds out for the wild birds? What are you hoping to get from them in return? And the answer of course, is that I don’t want or expect anything in return. There is no reason or explanation I can give for why I want to see the wild birds outside my window. I just love them, entirely for their own sake, not because I want or need anything in particular from them.

Another question directed at me: why did you adopt a cat? The answer is simply that I had love to give, and cats tend to be enthusiastic recipients of love.

I concede that it is possible to have a transactional relationship with a deity, and that there is nothing wrong with such an exchange, but my close relationships are not about us “getting” anything from each other. I may give offerings to my deities, and my deities may share their blessings with me, but as Lewis Hyde writes, “It is the cardinal difference between gift and commodity exchange that a gift establishes a feeling-bond between two people.” My relationship with Loki is not a commodity exchange.

Sometimes they'll give you advice that feels too difficult to follow.

Sometimes the gods will challenge you to do better and be better.

It's not a personal attack. It's their desire to watch you grow and become happier and more fulfilled. They can see what you want and they know how to help you cut a path to it.

It isn't a test. It isn't a trick.

CENTAURWORLD • S01E01, "Hello Rainbow Road"

Fantasy Is A Metaphor For The Human Condition, a comic about magic, and art, and speculative fiction, and being sick, and how they all intersect. Originally laid out/pencilled November-December 2017, when I was in a very difficult place emotionally as I was relearning how to draw post-brain injury.

“Do you want to try this off of my plate?”

“It’s made of [ingredients], I think you’d like [x part]”

“If you want to see if you like [x food], this is pretty good representation of it”

“You won’t like this, it tastes like [description]. Do you want to try it for fun?”

“Do you remember trying/have you ever tried [x food]? This is like that, but [differences]”

“I think you’d like the taste of this, but the texture is iffy. It’s [description]”

Make sure there’s other food they can eat if they don’t like the new one

And most importantly, build trust with that person by listening to them, showing that you take their concerns into account, and being cool if the answer is no. No is always an option. This isn’t something you do once, it’s a pattern you have to stick to if you want to establish that you are a safe person when it comes to food stuff

anya in damian’s shoujo vision vs reality ✧･ﾟ: *