Be Running Up That Road // Be Running Up That Hill // Be Running Up That Building

Imagine being Nine.

Your spend your whole life being bullied and beaten just for being different. Years pass and no one comes to you rescue, you're on your own. You realize the only person you can count on is yourself.

Then out of nowhere this stranger shows up. He compliments the things others berated you for and speaks of adventures that never happened. But you listen to him anyway because you wish they did.

Against your better judgement you decide to help the stranger. He shows concern for your wellbeing, showers you with constant praise for no apparent reason. You don't know how to respond, deep down you knew he's confusing you for someone else, but you soon start to like it. You start to like him.

You find a way to finally leave that horrible place behind and start over, but for the first time in forever you don't want to be alone. You offer to share that paradise with the one person you trust, your only friend.

But he rejects you. He breaks your heart. You try going back to isolation but it's no paradise without him. Against your better judgement, you go back to help your friend, hopeful that he will change his mind. In the end, that costs you your freedom.

Time passes. He comes back to save you, just like you knew he would. Together you fix the prism, your head is so filled with hopes of a new future together than you fail to realize he has something else in mind.

So you once again offer him the chance to create a new world, just the two of you. A world where those adventures can be real and neither of you has to be alone anymore. Once again he rejects you. No matter what you do, all he wants is his old world, his old Tails.

He never once thought about what you wanted. never considered what was going to happen to you, because you were never real to him. You finally realize all those words of praise that had meant so much to you were meant for someone else. You were just too caught up on the euphoria of being loved to see it.

The one person you opened your heart to, never cared about the real you. You will never be enough for him because you're not his real brother, you're just Nine. Nothing will ever change that.

You realize the only person you can count on is yourself

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

I guess I was not the only one worried he would never grow up

Vegeta must be so happy Trunks didn't inherit his height

“Thank you, you have.” by Paranoia.

The artist released this comic under Creative Commons BY-2.5 which allows modification with credit and I release my translation under the same license.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Look buddy, i’m just trying to make it to Friday.

I had a person come up to the counter today, look at my badge and go, "You're not [insert stereotypical male name here].

Which, yeah, right, true, technically, I'm not, I had the wrong badge. I forgot mine at home, and I used my coworker's one. It was the only one available and it had "[male name], he/him".

(Side note, I so so so love that our badges have pronouns on them, it's so nice! Another side note, I go by they/them most of the time, but I don't mind he/she/ze or any other pronouns)

And, usually, gender is a concept I don't have the time or brain capacity to consider. It doesn't really matter for me personally, I know I appear feminine, and I don't have a problem with customers referring to me by she/her. I mean, sure, it's nice if they look at my badge, see "Cork, they/them" and refer to me by it, but honestly, the amount of fucks I give about random people using wrong pronouns is zero.

But this person at the counter just, I dunno. Looked like they wanted a fight. And the shop was empty, and I was bored, so I was like

You know what? Sure, let's do this. It's probably the only entertainment I'm gonna have today, might as well make it as confusing as possible. Because I love to watch the world burn, sue me.

So I go, "I actually am."

"But you don't look like [male name]!"

Been there, done that, "What do I look like, then?"

Stutter. "I don't know, but you're not [male name]!"

Okay, we're just repeating ourselves now, sure, "Then who am I?"

"NOT [male name]!!! Why are you wearing a badge that has a wrong name?!"

And it was at this moment that a brilliant thought crossed my mind. So I smile, cute and nice and pretty, and I go, "Because I stole it."

"You what?"

"I stole this name from the one who had it, and now he has no name and I get to have it. Now, can I have your name for this order?" And I extend a hand to them, like asking to put something in there, because I'm now committing to the bit. All while looking them in the eyes and keeping the smile.

They ended up leaving without ordering anything, but they also didn't speak to me after that, so that's a win, overall. And the manager laughed at that, so I'm not even in trouble.

The moral of the story? When in doubt, play by the fae rules.

I didn't even lie, technically speaking.

Audio processing issues plus living near the sea I think make me immune from cosmic horror cause sometimes the gulls sound slightly too much like women and I'm just walking to my bus like yeah yeah the all encompassing shrieks of human suffering coming from the sky we've all heard it. Do I have time to buy coffee before work.

dawgs

For when you just need to get rid of as many arrows as possible...

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.