#be able to appreciate it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mikuyuuss · 5 months

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“You'll see my face in every place

But you can't catch me now”

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beescake · 4 months

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im a sollux kinnie and ur art is great. like a delicious meal. 1 million courses. my compliments to the chef.

AOGHHH TYSM I REALLY APPRECIATE IT

in gratitude i present a little guy doing setup for the first time 🐝

#FR MEANS A LOT TO ME THANKYOU 🥲🙏 the chef analogy is so sweet too i love it #apologies i take a while to answer asks.. generating ideas #ask #anon #homestuck #sollux captor #2023 #vioart #now im curious to know #question for sollux appreciators at any point in time -#was there any specific moment that made u connect w him most?#like for me it was when he became relieved and happy after the voices stopped #as someone plagued by 24/7 internal monologue. being "free from the voices” sounded absolutely euphoric to me LMAO #watching him talk abt finally being able to think clearly and hear his own thoughts...... gOD. MY BIGGEST ENVY OF HOMESTUCK.

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dekariosclan · 4 months

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Imagine Gale as a talented and impressive young man, able to compose the Weave at will, skilled in a way that few can match, and favored by the Goddess of Magic herself. Imagine that because of these accomplishments, he’s caught the eye of a few up-and-coming magic adepts, and he falls in love with one of them—his first real love. Gale isn’t one to toss the ‘L’ word around lightly, so when he tells them he loves them, he means it; he gives himself over to them completely.

And in return, they love him for his potential. For his status. For the magic he can command. They love the wizard they see on the surface, but not the man underneath. They are attracted to his power, but not to him.

So of course the relationship fails, after the thrill of his magic wears off. But because Gale is a resilient young man and he’s caught the eye of so many, he soon falls in love with another.

And then it happens again. And again.

And each time Gale’s heart is ravaged, his ambition to become a better wizard grows, because he’s being shown time and time again that his magic ability is all that matters.

So much so that, by the time Mystra decides to elevate him from Favored to Chosen to Lover, he welcomes her with eager, desperate arms. Because if all his worth is in his magic, and that’s all he has to offer, and that’s all anyone wants from him, who better to love him than the Goddess of Magic herself?

Except…there’s a nagging voice in the back of his head that whispers she doesn’t really love him. There’s anxiety in his heart as time passes, and he reaches both the limit of what his talents can do and what Mystra will allow him to do. And most troubling of all: a growing panic that, just like his other lovers, she will soon grow tired of him and discard him if he can’t improve his magic any further.

He tries pouting, and pleading, and begging her to let him take more power, to let him be more for her, but she refuses. Smiles patronizingly. Tells him to be patient. But Gale can’t be patient when his power is tied so closely to his self-worth; he can’t be patient when doing so in the past has only ever lead to heartache.

So he does what he believes will be a Grand Romantic Gesture, one that will finally put him on equal footing with the woman he loves. Instead, it turns out to be a folly that dooms him and destroys his talents. And just as he’d always feared, Mystra tosses him aside the moment his magical gifts are gone—because what’s left of him holds no value for her.

————

Imagine Gale in his tower, alone, afraid, the ever-hungry orb in his chest, with only his tressym there to help him. No other friends to speak of. His colleagues forced to keep away for their own safety. His magical talents utterly stripped down, so that even when he does try and distract himself with illusions, he’s bitterly reminded of what he used to be capable of. Waking every morning wondering if it will be his last, ending every day full of loneliness and disappointment.

…and then he meets Tav.

At the lowest point in his life, at his most vulnerable, when he knows he’s going to be considered a burden, he meets this stranger and their group. So he does what he can to be useful—assigning himself to be camp cook, offering up his (now meager) magic skills, turning the charm up to 11—as he desperately hopes this will somehow work out. He’s pleasantly surprised when, after providing only minor details of his condition, Tav agrees to help him. He’s even more surprised when they actually follow through.

Imagine how Gale feels as Tav treats him kindly. As he grows to trust Tav, and then grows to like them. Imagine his surprise as he opens up and shows them more and more of himself, and they don’t turn him away.

But then his condition worsens. And he has to reveal everything: the foolish mistakes he’s made, and how dangerous he is as a result. He clings to Tav’s hand as he shows them his folly. He’s at their mercy now, and he knows this might be the last time he’ll ever feel the touch of another being, if they decide—and Gods, why wouldn’t they decide?—to cast him out.

…but they don’t. They don’t. Instead, they tell him to stay.

Imagine the relief Gale feels. The gratitude. And perhaps…just a hint of something more. Something that he dare not name, but that flares to life every time he thinks of how warm their hand was in his. Something that feels dangerously close to jealousy, when he’s had too much to drink and sees Tav smiling at another…

But he knows these are all foolish thoughts, because he has nothing to offer Tav. They are wonderful just as they are, but he…he is an empty shell of a man, a discarded husk of a wizard, and while they might tolerate him, he could never believe they might actually want him.

And besides, he still thinks of Mystra. He still longs for Mystra. She who cast him out, but to whom he still feels tethered. Sometimes he needs to cocoon himself in the weave, just to try and calm his fears and bring some joy back to his life, because magic is his life. And sometimes he just needs to see her face, even though that hurts as much as it heals.

One night he’s lost in thought, having conjured Mysta’s image after settling down at camp. Thinking that even if she hadn’t ‘loved’ him—certainly not in the way he’d loved her—she’d given him enough otherwise, hadn’t she? She’d amused him and been amused by him, they’d shared countless pleasures, why hadn’t he been satisfied with that?

Gale is so lost in thought he doesn’t realize Tav has come up behind him. Until they ask a question, startling him out of his trance. He’s a bit shaken, so he tries to turn the conversation from Mystra to the weave itself. And then a wonderful idea occurs to him, something that he’d been toying with already: what if they were to conjure the weave together?

He can show Tav how important magic is to him, let them experience what he does, perhaps even impress them a bit. But most importantly, share a moment with them. As friends would do…

He’s elated when Tav agrees. He leads them through the steps effortlessly, and they’re a surprisingly good student, following his instructions correctly (if a bit clumsily). He’s as excited as they are—perhaps even more so!—when they succeed in channeling the weave.

It’s such a pleasant, familiar feeling for him, like coming home to his tower in Waterdeep. Even as the weave connects him with Tav and makes them one, he’s easily able to hide his innermost thoughts, because he’s done it so many times before.

…but he’s forgotten that Tav has not.

————

Imagine Gale knowing every romantic partner he ever had only wanted him because of how he could raise their status, or how he could amuse them, or how he could command magic for them. And, each time, he was happy to oblige them, even desperate to oblige them, because if that was the price of their love, then he was sure it would be worth it.

But it still all came to nothing.

Now imagine Gale connected in an intimate way with someone he likes very, very much—while being what he considers his lowest, most worthless, and most humbled self. As far from the powerful, impressive wizard he once was as he could ever be. And suddenly a vision enters his mind from the lovely creature standing next to him. Only, to his complete and utter shock, it isn’t one where he is providing them with a service, or wowing them with his magical ability, or granting them some kind of power from one of the spells he commands.

Instead, when he sees their desire laid bare before him, it’s a vision of kissing him. Of holding his hand. The two most basic forms of affection and physical connection. The two things that he would still be able to offer them even if every last ounce of his remaining magical abilities were stripped from him. The two things he could share with them even if he was no longer Gale of Waterdeep, and just plain old Gale Dekarios instead.

Imagine the embarrassment and trepidation he feels at first, because surely he is mistaken?…and then the elation when he realizes that he is not. So much elation that his concentration is broken, the weave dissipating as he forgets about channeling it, as he forgets about Mystra. Because all that matters to him now is the image before him—the most pleasant and welcome image he’s seen in a very, very long time.

Imagine how that would feel…and how besotted, enamored and completely devoted he’d be to Tav afterwards. To know that someone finally—finally—just wants him.

Just imagine.

#Please enjoy this huge dissertation about Gale #(which was unintentional)#I originally wanted to talk briefly—BRIEFLY—about why the weave scene is so important to him #And then I….kept writing lol #Please also note that while this focuses on successfully channeling the weave I also LOVE the talk you have with him if you ‘failed’ it!#The same themes apply there because when you tell Gale you still think about being alone together he replies that he hopes to embrace you #It’s all about Gale finally finding someone who appreciates him just as he is and being able to connect with them #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3 #gale x tav #bg3

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harboretum · 26 days

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It's only polite

#ttgtpmb #april fools #boop #harboretum comics #my art blog is a sideblog though so it doesn't show up as from this account lol #thank you for boops though. I feel appreciated #also I keep getting errors so I haven't been able to send all of them back..........

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mobius-m-mobius · 12 days

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Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston at the FYC Emmys 'Loki' panel, April 13, 2024

#owen wilson #tom hiddleston #lokiedit #mcuedit #marveledit #loki #ft. owen's nonstop fidgeting and tom's heart eyes aka two of their best qualities lol #anyway y'all i'm never getting over how much he loves mobius #and how it means everything that FINALLY after all this time he's been able to expand on a character like he's always dreamed of #i mean. 'when you felt that you kind of contributed something' says the person who improvised every valuable moment of his characterization #and constantly works to make sure everyone shines equally #couldn't be more proud or glad he got to work with someone like tom who shares such an appreciation and journey of storytelling <33 #marvel #owenwilsonedit #dianagifs

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eleonkraken · 4 months

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Other than it being bad, the ending of superantural has also fucked up my relationship to destiel fic because the only thing I wanna read now is widower era dean with cas coming back from the empty years after he died

There's just something so captivating about the idea of dean only figuring out cas was the love of his life and already functionally his partner after he dies and taking up a widower role in a new community with people who never knew any different.

and cas coming back only to realize that dean's whole perception of reality has shifted in the time he's been gone

I could chew on this premise forever

#and yes i still read destiel fic #i started watching spn in 2012 or something in order to be able to read and appreciate the fic #and the fic is still the thing i most appreciate #i also really love the 'if spn were as queer as it should have been' type fanons #supernatural #destiel #spn

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shatterdome-underscore · 9 months

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The four players on dndads each fall perfectly into the four ways of playing dnd

Matt: uses the mechanics to play pretend real hard in a way that is most beneficial to the group

Beth: is perfectly in tune with her character and makes very good, compelling character choices that are sometimes v upsetting

Will: is trying so hard to kiss his friends in fiction will someone please just give this guy a break

Freddie: playing 4-D chess with himself in a way that makes me cackle at his shenanigans

#dndads #dungeons and daddies #dndads spoilers #matt arnold #beth may #will campos #freddie wong #freddie finally figuring out how to play a ranger right before Anthony offers to let them respec is v funny to me #but the moment he figured out how to get a +15 to stealth i knew. hes not gonna change #this is an appreciation post for all of them #and let me just say theyre all able to move between these archtypes and stuff and theyre all so good at their characters

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runawaycarouselhorse · 9 months

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So many works are like "this magical world is ONLY FOR CHILDREN, if you grow up, you lose your sense of whimsy and wonder BY NECESSITY and are FOREVER BARRED THIS WORLD OF WONDER. If you missed your chance as a child, TOUGH LUCK. A bitterly hopeless and dark view of adulthood."

Pokemon is like, you didn't get your chance to go on a Pokemon journey because you were raising your siblings for five years because both of your parents were deadbeats? One finally saw the error of his ways and came back! You can start now!

You're an old man who never went on a journey? You can start now!! Go out there with your flower-loving, skipping Treecko. You and your kid can both start your journeys with your little Starter Pokemon together, sure, why not?

You DID enjoy Pokemon as a child and have now grown-up, still loving them? You're a Gym Leader, or Elite, or even the Champion!

#Pokemon #PokeAni #Treecko #Brock #agere #this blog isn't an agere one I just think regressors would appreciate it #one of many reasons I don't think I'd ever be able to watch Digimon is it perpetuating this (but apparently it wasn't as bad in S1-2?)#still........ everything I learned about Oikawa sounds depressing as heck if I saw that instead as a kid who believed she was an adult at 1 #I likely would have ended up Worse.#caps *#Stephanie #Stephanie's father #Mudkip #Mizugorou #Kimori

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carthonasi · 4 days

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what do you know about my mother? she was like you. she was kind. and loving.

#rose x moldaver #rose maclean #lee moldaver #fallout #fallout edit #fallout on prime #fallout tv #fallout spoilers #fallout tv spoilers #i haven't been able to stop thinking about them since i watched the finale #the implications of what they were has altered my brainwaves i fear #ok so i've tried posting this like twice now and i hope the gifs look passable now #tumblr is dedicated to compressing the fuck out of these and making them look bad i swear #the raw files look good on my desktop i swear #also i appreciate the rainbow in the third gif but god did it make it hard to color properly #anyway tragic post apocalyptic yuri my beloved #my gifs

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 8 months

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best friendisms

bonus <3

#do you think they have heart-shaped bff locket necklaces #barnaby has a picture of wally in his. wally's has a picture of an apple #no one told him he was supposed to put a pic of barnaby in it </3 tragic </3 #now if you all will excuse me im gonna go eat tylenol cereal and also shove my head through the wall #they make me Unwell <3 #Supremely Unwell <3 #theyre!!! theyre besties!!! they are best friends!!! holy shit!!!#sniffling sobbing wailing crawling on the ceiling etc etc #what a time to be alive... to be able to Appreciate them....#big guy & his lil buddy.... OUAAWOOOOOOOOOOO AGHHHHH OUGHHHHHHHH #i think about barnaby and wally. i take minecraft damage #my healthbar has been dangerously low lately <3 #scribble garnish #welcome home #barnaby b beagle #wally darling #welcome home puppet show #sobbing vfx. glass breaking vfx. car crash vfx. banshee wailing vfx-#if anything happens to them i will #Enjoy It Greatly!!!#i will! it would hurt So Fucking Much but id have a great time!#anyway drawing this took ten years off my life. at first i scribbled barnaby's paw Backwards #so i had to completely change half of it #and just. sigh. i Was gonna color it but it took more energy than i thought it would #and really! who has the Energy these days!!! certainly not me!#there are still Mistakes but yk.... whatever... its fine perfection is an impossible achievement anyway <3

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too-fond-to-be-fearful · 4 months

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Been thinking recently about the goings-on with Duolingo & AI, and I do want to throw my two cents in, actually.

There are ways in which computers can help us with languages, certainly. They absolutely should not be the be-all and end-all, and particularly for any sort of professional work I am wholly in favour of actually employing qualified translators & interpreters, because there's a lot of important nuances to language and translation (e.g. context, ambiguity, implied meaning, authorial intent, target audience, etc.) that a computer generally does not handle well. But translation software has made casual communication across language barriers accessible to the average person, and that's something that is incredibly valuable to have, I think.

Duolingo, however, is not translation software. Duolingo's purpose is to teach languages. And I do not think you can be effectively taught a language by something that does not understand it itself; or rather, that does not go about comprehending and producing language in the way that a person would.

Whilst a language model might be able to use probability & statistics to put together an output that is grammatically correct and contextually appropriate, it lacks an understanding of why, beyond "statistically speaking, this element is likely to come next". There is no communicative intent behind the output it produces; its only goal is mimicking the input it has been trained on. And whilst that can produce some very natural-seeming output, it does not capture the reality of language use in the real world.

Because language is not just a set of probabilities - there are an infinite array of other factors at play. And we do not set out only to mimic what we have seen or heard; we intend to communicate with the wider world, using the tools we have available, and that might require deviating from the realm of the expected.

Often, the most probable output is not actually what you're likely to encounter in practice. Ungrammatical or contextually inappropriate utterances can be used for dramatic or humorous effect, for example; or nonstandard linguistic styles may be used to indicate one's relationship to the community those styles are associated with. Social and cultural context might be needed to understand a reference, or a linguistic feature might seem extraneous or confusing when removed from its original environment.

To put it briefly, even without knowing exactly how the human brain processes and produces language (which we certainly don't), it's readily apparent that boiling it down to a statistical model is entirely misrepresentative of the reality of language.

And thus a statistical model is unlikely to be able to comprehend and assist with many of the difficulties of learning a language.

A statistical model might identify that a learner misuses some vocabulary more often than others; what it may not notice is that the vocabulary in question are similar in form, or in their meaning in translation. It might register that you consistently struggle with a particular grammar form; but not identify that the root cause of the struggle is that a comparable grammatical structure in your native language is either radically different or nonexistent. It might note that you have trouble recalling a common saying, but not that you lack the cultural background needed to understand why it has that meaning. And so it can identify points of weakness; but it is incapable of addressing them effectively, because it does not understand how people think.

This is all without considering the consequences of only having a singular source of very formal, very rigid input to learn from, unable to account for linguistic variation due to social factors. Without considering the errors still apparent in the output of most language models, and the biases they are prone to reproducing. Without considering the source of their data, and the ethical considerations regarding where and how such a substantial sample was collected.

I understand that Duolingo wants to introduce more interactivity and adaptability to their courses (and, I suspect, to improve their bottom line). But I genuinely think that going about it in this way is more likely to hinder than to help, and wrongfully prioritises the convenience of AI over the quality and expertise that their existing translators and course designers bring.

#alright getting off my soapbox now #apologies if this is not particularly coherent - i was very much working through my thoughts as I was writing #but yeah tl;dr i am not huge on LLMs especially for language education and am deeply disappointed by the way things are trending #anyways if anyone knows any learning tools that are similarly structured i'd appreciate the recommendation #being able to easily do a little bit of study on a regular basis helped me a lot and i've yet to find anything similar #duolingo #language #language learning

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whatevahwhatevah · 3 months

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