"WE SAVED EACH OTHER"

🔹 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.

My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!

“Luxury Cars”

Follow @linzi-yay

Our brians died trying to translate that non sexual sexual poem of Yi and Xi… ENJOY!

demon SQH with human cultivator MBJ

— (1) SQH:"ahaha mister cultivator I assure you this isn't really necessary... I promise I won't run away—" MBJ:"shut up."

(2) demon SQH design sketch

(3) jackopose challenge on twitter

(4) bratty demon SQH + SQQ

Dragon AU Moshang

—

MBJ is lowkey Dying in this heat but what wouldn't he do for his love who said he wanted to go to the beach.

Like I've seen people say "stolitz is abusive!" And some people's responses boil down to "no its not!" When the reality is...both and neither.

Not gonna name names, but someone tried to make the argument that even though Stolas is higher up in the hierarchy, the relationship can't be unbalanced because Blitz is the dom. Look, im not trying to call anybody out here, so don't go digging around and try to find them and bully them (it's a cartoon guys, it's not worth cyberbullying anyone over).

Firstly, just because someone's dominant/the top in bed doesn't mean they can't be abused. Society expects women to be submissive in bed, and women can be just as abusive as men can. But because women are seen as "weaker" and "submissive," a lot of people think it's impossible for a grown man to be abused by a woman. And in same sex couples, the effeminate one is usually seen as weaker and the bottom. This stereotype obviously isn't true. Doesn't matter the sex, gender, masculine, feminine, top or bottom. Anybody can be abusive.

With that out of the way, let's get on to the real meet of the issue: the power imbalance between Blitz and Stolas.

Regardless of his bedroom position, Stolas (whether he knows it or not) has all the power in the relationship. For the record, I HIGHLY doubt he's aware of this, i'll get into that later. Not only is he wealthier and higher up on the social hierarchy, but as we saw in the latest episode Stolas is EXTREMELY powerful.

Blitz, on the other hand, is a lot smaller than Stolas. He might be physically stronger than Stolas, but that's mostly because of his job. It doesn't matter if he's physically stronger or not anyway, because Stolas has magic and Blitz doesn't.

None of the Imps have magic powers, that includes Blitz (yes, i know he used the book in the pilot, that doesn't count because it was a pilot and they didn't have all the lore figured out yet). If any of the imps were able to use magic - even if it was as basic as Loona's magic is - they would have used it already. How many sticky situations have they been in that would have benefited from magic? Probably a lot.

Not to mention that it's Stolas' book that I.M.P. is using. The only reason Blitz has it is because he managed to work out a deal with Stolas to use the book in exchange for sex. Not...exactly the basis for a healthy relationship, but i wouldn't necessarily call it abusive.

Here's the thing: their relationship COULD become a better, healthier one, but those two need to communicate properly for that to happen.

Right now, neither of them know the other's intentions in the relationship. In Blitz' eyes, Stolas thinks of him as a plaything. Whether Blitz loves Stolas or not, and regardless of Blitz's own insecurities and issues, he kind of has a right to be hesitant about starting a relationship with Stolas.

For all Blitz knows, Stolas just thinks of him as the "one good imp" - your know, in a manner similar to how one would might refer to a black person as "one of the good ones." Where the person thinks they're being progressive and accepting but in reality is just being racist and condescending. Blitz has no idea if Stolas actually thinks of him as a person - as an equal - or just a toy.

Blitz also doesn't know if Stolas is going to turn on him. In his mind, Stolas could quickly do a 180, declare Blitz as his slave, and there'd be jack shit anyone could do about it. Blitz has no reason to trust Stolas at all. Stolas is a prince in HELL, a place where you're hard pressed to find anyone trustworthy. Sure, Stolas hasn't laid a hand on Blitz so far, but that could easily change.

Now before you go off on me for being mean to Stolas, I should clarify: I don't think Stolas has any ill intent towards Blitz at all. The problem is that Blitz doesn't know what Stolas's intentions are. He can't read his mind.

For Stolas, i do have to do a bit of guesswork in regards to his thoughts and intentions. But I have a strong hunch that Stolas truly loves Blitz (or at least is infatuated with him), and doesn't want to harm or enslave him at all. However, he hasn't conveyed his intentions clearly to Blitz. Stolas does have a hard time explaining his true thoughts and feelings though, as shown in episode 2. He will need to improve his communication skills if his relationship with Blitz is going to go anywhere.

But there's one big elephant in the room Stolas is gonna have to address first: he NEEDS to recognize and check his privilege. Not only is Stolas completely oblivious to Blitz's struggles as someone at the literal bottom of hell's hierarchy, but he's also oblivious to his own prejudice. Stolas might THINK he respects the lower classes, but he really doesn't. He doesn't see the other imps as equals. He hasn't had many interactions with imps besides Blitz, but the few he's had are usually condescending or dismissive, whether intentionally or not.

I know this is going to be a bit of a tangent, but I promise it's related: the power imbalance in Stolas and Blitz' relationship reminds me if the power imbalance between Rose and Greg from Steven Universe.

For those who haven't seen SU, i'll explain a bit about the characters: Rose is more or less an alien princess with VERY strong magical powers. Over the thousands of years she's existed she's been treated by both humans and her own kind like an untouchable goddess. She has had many relationships with humans before Greg, but none of them were really serious.

Greg, at the time he met Rose, was an average 22 year old who ran away from home with dreams of being a rock star, no plan, and a van. He met Rose when she was the only person who showed up at one of his concerts. They only talked for a few minutes, but he essentially dropped everything - his dreams, his career, everything - to be with a woman he just met.

Some important details in their interactions are in how Rose speaks to Greg. She refers to "playing" with him, and calls him "awfully cute" in a manner one might call a persistent dog. In fact, i think the lyrics in the songs she sings to Greg are very telling:

"Human man, you are so much fun

I hadn't planned, on finding you

Quite this entertaining

I like your band, and I like your song

I like the way, human beings play

I like playing along"

Endearing, but condescending. These aren't terms you would use to refer to an equal. This isn't how someone talks to an equal.

An unspecified amount of time later, Greg and Rose are still together, but Greg wants to make this a serious relationship. He does this fanciful gesture to woo her, which does work, but when he tries to have a serious talk about their relationship, the first thing Rose does is laugh at him. He hesitantly asks if she respects him, and she LAUGHS to his face. He literally had to demand that she talk to him like a real person for her to stop laughing. She more or less admits that she was just kind of "playing along" with the whole relationship thing. So the two have a talk. A REAL talk. And i'm including it because it shows so much with so few words:

G: "I barely know you."

R: "That's a good thing."

G: "We really rushed into this."

R: "Everything on Earth seems fast to me."

G: "Have you...loved other humans?"

R: "Have you?"

G: "Yes."

R: "Yes."

G: "Have you ever been...in love with a human?"

R: "How would I know?"

G: "It's torture."

R: "Greg..."

G: "R-rose?"

R: "Is this torture?"

G: "The worst."

R: "I'm so sorry."

G: "What? No! Don't be!"

R: "What? Why not? Agh, I'm so confused!"

G: "Me too!"

R: "I - this is good. We have one thing in common."

THIS is the kind of conversation Stolas and Blitz need to have in order to have a healthy relationship. Stolas is a lot like Rose: powerful, but ignorant and naive. Blitz doesn't really have much in common with Greg, but they're both in similar positions: in a relationship with a being on a whole other level than them, unsure if said being is taking the relationship seriously or even sees them as an equal. They've both staked everything they have on this relationship working (even if in different ways).

My point is: Blitz and Stolas' relationship is a LOT more nuanced than "healthy" or "abusive." There's a major power imbalance that needs to be addressed. They need to sit down and have a serious talk about their relationship. They both need to grow as people and learn to trust and respect each other.

(1) Shang Beehua got stranded but luckily a stranger offered him some sugar water

(2) Mothbei Jun can't find his bee friend but luckily a kind stranger lend him a hand

old xian special “#狼人杀x19天# Everyone has been waiting for a long time, the Werewolf Killing×19 days crossover is online today! !” 

- English translation

previous 361 - 360 - 359 - 358 - 357 - 356 - 355 - 354 - 353 - 352

forever by your side | forever waiting

19 days - old xian ch.356 - English translation

previous 355 - 354 - 353 - 352

“‘Gilgamesh, save me, save me!’ I cried. But you didn’t save me. You were afraid and you didn’t come.”

“You who have walked beside me, steadfast through so many dangers, remember me, never forget what I have endured.”

“But I cannot see you, you have not come to fight off this danger. Yet weren’t we to remain forever inseparable, you and I?”

“Beloved, wait, don’t leave me. Dearest of men, don’t die, don’t let them take you from me.”

“I will mourn as long as I breathe, I will sob for him like a woman who has lost her only child.”

“For six days I would not let him be buried, thinking, ‘If my grief is violent enough, perhaps he will come back to life again.’“

“I will cross the vast ocean if I can. If not, I will roam the wilderness in my grief.”

“Now let the gate of sorrow be closed behind me, let it be sealed shut with tar and pitch.”

by definition, fanfiction a) relies on a centralized body of work (a source or canon) and b) is understood and intended as fiction on the part of both the author and the audience. for greek audiences, the line between history and mythology was largely nonexistent. when a text is a part of a people’s religious lives and practices, it’s not fiction to them, and calling a religious tradition fanfiction is more than a little reductive and ugly. fanfiction is written by fans of a particular fiction. it is simply mind-boggling to describe practitioners of a religion as “fans” or to assert that the relationship between ancient greeks and their religion is comparable in any way to the relationship between a modern-day fan and a piece of media.

2) If you think that just because a religion is “so serious” to some people who actively practice it that the religion is only a religion, you do not understand religion. Most people make their religion their way of life. And when religion is your way of life, you have two choices: you become part of it, or it becomes part of you. If you become part of it, you begin to transform it because it is impossible for a human mind to touch a thing and not change it. If it becomes a part of you, then everything you do reflects your religion, making you in and of yourself the transformative work. In short, you either nail the 95 Theses to the door, or you write the Book of Mormon, both of which are fan works of the original “Cult of Cross-people”.

3) There is not NOW a centralized canon. These stories are literally thousands of years old. Do you know for sure and can you demonstrate or prove that no collected work existed? The Torah or Bible of Greek Mythology? The Baghvad Gita of it? It is literally impossible to prove that something DIDN’T happen. I can prove things that did: usually they leave evidence. But things that didn’t? I’m sunk and so are you. What you have is a lot of very similar stories, which can be accounted for if they are all made up by different people OR if they are remembered differently after the original collection is lost.

4) EVERY FICTION IS FAN FICTION. Don’t bother arguing, I’m right and if you think about it, you’ll get that. There’s no way to know which creation myth came first, the one about the Apple or the one about the Banana. They both had the Serpent in them. Did they come from the same traveling storyteller? Or were they fan variants based on two different people hearing the one about the Quince from the “original canon”?

5) Stories without fans don’t survive. Period. A story dies when it isn’t told, when it isn’t loved, when it isn’t transformed. Effectively? “Canon” dies. Fan fic is forever.

Based on the post by @19daysquotesorsomething

Warning: Spoiler

Just some things I find beautiful and sad about TXJ and how the author made him atone for his sins.

1. Mo Ran loved Chu WanNing almost immediately and Chu WanNing reminded him of his mother whom he couldn’t protect. So he went out of his way to protect his shizun as if he was making up for the past. He was Chu WanNing’s disciple for only a couple of months when he sacrificed himself to be the host of the Flower of Everlasting Hatred.

2. Mo Ran’s sacrifice became an agonizing irony when he became Taxian-jun and repeatedly hurt Chu WanNing in all ways he could hurt a person. The realization that he had hurt the person he loved the most is just one of the many ways the author made Mo Ran atone for his sins.

3. His love for Chu WanNing was pushed down to the unconscious. Even him could not understand his actions - the marriage, the possessiveness, the outbursts of anger and the jealousy. He was slowly losing his mind as his love for Chu WanNing fought its way onto the surface and with the hatred the Flower was feeding on.

4. He wasn’t stupid. He was in grief of a love he couldn’t even remember. After Chu WanNing died, Taxian-jun went insane but not because of the Flower. He had lost everything. Chu WanNing was the fire of his life. Without the light, he wandered in darkness and committed suicide. But his suffering continued when Hua BiNan brought him back as an animated corpse with just enough awareness to be in pain. The eight years he spent completely alone was torment even for a walking dead. Death. Death was not even an option anymore. He yearned for something his mind couldn’t comprehend.

5. Decades of being sucked dry by the flower couldn’t erase his longing for Chu WanNing. Decades. 15. 40. Alive. Dead. His heart remained the same. Beating or not. But when he finally reached Chu WanNing, he found his lover in love with someone else - another version of him but radiated goodness and heroism while he was only a corpse drenched in the blood of the innocent. Mo Ran 2.0 was what he could have become, was the future he sacrificed to protect Chu WanNing.

6. The first thing he did when he broke free from Hua BiNan’s control was rushing to save Chu WanNing from the Great Flood. He did it this time, he saved his beloved in time this time. It’s okay if the person Chu WanNing loved was not him, he would always choose to save his lover.

7. The second thing was sacrificing his life to save the remaining survivors. This is the love so stubborn that no dark arts can erase - the love for Chu WanNing and the love for other people as well despite everything he went through. This is Mo Ran’s true nature despite the novel keeps telling us the otherwise.