becausethecat

[becausethecat]

The thing about the fall of the Roman Empire is that nobody fully agrees on when it fell so I choose to take the most hilarious position which is that it never fell actually and we’re all still living in it.

[becausethecat]

“Ariel sold her voice for legs just because of a guy“

Meanwhile Ariel with legs;

Ariel already loved the human world long before meeting Eric (you don’t get a collection like hers overnight) and when she finally got a chance to explore it, she took it.

Ursula made it more about Eric than Ariel ever did.

[becausethecat]

[becausethecat]

Sir put me down [oc] 🦇

[becausethecat]

Today’s Exhibit of the Day? It’s one of the largest amethyst geodes in the world! At about 13 ft (4 m) tall and 9,000 lbs (4,082 kg), this giant weighs about as much as three compact cars. It was born when molten magma poured from the Earth’s crust some 135 million years ago. While its dazzling purple crystals might catch your eye, this geode would have originally been composed of colorless quartz—its distinctive amethyst color deriving from millenia of natural radiation, heat, and trace contaminants.

You can spot this geode, and other sparkly specimens, in the Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals!

Photo: D. Finnin/ © AMNH

[becausethecat]

Just learned this absolutely delightful bit of etymology:

During the 15th century, the English had an endearing practice of granting common human names to the birds that lived among them. Virtually every bird in that era had a name, and most of them, like Will Wagtail and Philip Sparrow have been long forgotten. Polly Parrot has stuck around, and Tom Tit and Jenny Wren, personable companions of the English countryside, are names still sometimes found in children’s rhymes. Other human names, however, have been incorporated so durably into the common names that still grace birds as to almost entirely obscure their origin. The Magpie, a loquacious black and white bird with a penchant for snatching shiny objects, once bore the simple name “pie,” probably coming from its Roman name, “pica.” The English named these birds Margaret, which was then abbreviated to Maggie, and finally left at Mag Pie. The vocal, crow-like bird called Jackdaw was also once just a “daw” named “Jack.”  The English also gave their ubiquitous and beloved orange-bellied, orb-shaped, wren-sized bird a human name. The first recorded Anglo-Saxon name for the Eurasian Robin was ruddoc, meaning “little red one.” By the medieval period, its name evolved to redbreast (the more accurate term orange only entered the English language when the fruit of the same name reached Great Britain in the 16th century). The English chose the satisfyingly alliterative name Robert for the redbreast, which they then changed to the popular Tudor nickname Robin. Soon enough, the name Robin Redbreast became so identified with the bird that Redbreast was dropped because it seemed so redundant. 

[becausethecat]

Thinking abt daughter reader (neglected or not, as you please 💕) wearing a fake pearl necklace and having it accidentally torn with the beads falling off... right in front of Bruce :) Bonus reader looking just like Martha Wayne, double bonus if it happens at night when reader is walking down an alleyway after watching a movie, triple bonus if the necklace breaks when reader is being confronted by a mugger, and quadruple bonus (shoutout to Dick Grayson 🙌) reader actually being super chill abt it. Like oh sure here's a hundred bucks oops oh no the fake pearl necklace I bought for flapper aesthetic just broke how embarrassing, oh hello there Mr Batman you look kinda unwell, everything okay?

Gotham, midnight. Rain slicked the pavement, catching neon like oil spills. The kind of night that smelled like trouble.

You weren’t scared.

You’d just seen a re-run of Chicago at one of the art house cinemas, vintage ticket stub still peeking out of your thrifted clutch. The pearls around your neck were cheap—ten bucks off Etsy, “Great Gatsby costume piece” in the description—but they glowed white against your skin like they were real. And maybe, for a little while, that made you feel real too.

The alley was a shortcut. Classic mistake. You weren’t stupid, just tired. Gotham could feel it. The kind of city that always knew when you dropped your guard.

“Hey.”

You turned.

The man was lanky, twitchy. Bad teeth. Knife in hand, eyes jittery with something chemical. “Wallet. Now.”

You blinked. Then sighed, pulling out a crisp hundred-dollar bill from your clutch and holding it out.

“Here.”

He stared. “The hell is this?”

“A hundred,” you said. “I don’t carry a wallet. Too bulky. You can buy three pizzas, get high, maybe even tip someone.”

The mugger hesitated. Then lunged for your bag anyway—fumbling, pulling, his fingers catching on your necklace.

Snap.

Pearls scattered like gunfire on the wet cement. They bounced and rolled, luminous little ghosts vanishing into storm drains.

You stared down at them, unimpressed. “Aw, man. I just bought that. Now I can’t pretend I’m Daisy Buchanan anymore.”

The mugger growled, “Are you serious?”

“I’m trying to be.”

“HEY!”

The voice hit like thunder—deep, familiar, jagged with fury.

From the shadows above, a shape descended. Not just a shape—a myth.

Batman.

Cape snapping behind him, boots hitting ground like judgment day. The mugger didn’t even get to scream before he was disarmed and flat on his back, out cold with a single blow.

You folded your arms. “Wow. He wasn’t even that good.”

Batman turned to you. Stopped.

And stared.

It wasn’t the pearls. It wasn’t the alley. It wasn’t even the crime.

It was you.

You looked like a ghost—Martha’s ghost.

Same eyes. Same bone structure. Same pearls—except, no, they were plastic, shattered, lost in puddles. But it didn’t matter. For one split second, Bruce Wayne was back in that alley. The one he never left.

And you—calm, perfectly dry despite the rain, blinking at him like he was the ghost—tilted your head.

“Uh… are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He didn’t speak.

“Wait,” you frowned. “...Mr. Wayne?”

That made him flinch.

“Yeah,” you said, half-laughing. “Kinda obvious. I mean, the jawline. The brooding. All that justice.” You knelt to pick up one of the fake pearls. “You okay? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

His throat worked, words caught there.

“I—You shouldn’t have been walking alone,” he finally said, voice rough like gravel. “Gotham’s not safe.”

You pocketed the pearl. “Tell me about it. I got mugged for the first time and lost my aesthetic in the same five seconds.”

A pause.

Then you smiled, too brightly for this haunted city. “Hey. Wanna walk me home? If you’re not too busy glowering.”

Batman—Bruce—nodded, slowly, still pale.

You didn’t see the way his fingers curled slightly when he looked at your hand.

You didn’t see the way his eyes followed each broken pearl like a funeral procession.

But you noticed the silence.

“…Do I remind you of someone?” you asked softly, as you walked together out of the alley.

He didn’t answer.

Didn’t need to.

The rain kept falling. But he stayed by your side the whole way home.

And when he finally disappeared into the dark, you whispered behind him, “Take care of yourself, Batman.”

Later, in the Batcave…

Dick: “Bruce? You okay? You look like death warmed over.”

Bruce: “…She looked just like her.”

Dick: half-joking “Martha?”

Bruce: silence

Dick: “…You’re not serious—wait. Wait. Was she wearing pearls?!”

Bruce: hollowly “They broke.”

Dick: “Oh my god.”

Alfred, from across the cave: “Not again.”

[becausethecat]

he thought he could find the star there now he's imprisoned for his crimes

[becausethecat]

oh yeah have i ever told yall of the academic war i have been an unwilling soilder in for the past two years

[becausethecat]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but

YOU DO NOT NEED TO START A NEW HOBBY!

STEP AWAY FROM THE TEXTILES!

YOU DON'T NEED MORE YARN!

THAT FABRIC IS NOT CALLING TO YOU! LEAVE IT ALONE!

[becausethecat]

Annnnnnnd here is the last one of inktober 2024, from the last day of october! I am so glad I finally am done posting these. This took so much longer than I had intended…

This one was very pleasing to draw and I was happy to end on the vacation house, because the vacation changed so so much! This book wasn’t anything like I expected. It was so much MORE and I can’t even put it into words.

Chapter 2

THE NEXT MORNING THE winds took them around the north cape of Lesuia island. As they rounded a large rocky outcropping, it became clear to Cliopher that Bertie had chosen this route on purpose, for the lagoon on the other side of the reefs from them was perhaps the most beautiful Cliopher had ever seen. Making it even more perfect, there was a splendid little building on the beach, exquisitely designed and situated.

“What is that?” Cliopher asked.

“The old duke of Ikiano’s summer house,” Bertie replied. “No one lives there now, though I hear the current owner rents it out.”

Cliopher looked at the building as long as he could see it. Thoughts were forming inchoately in his mind. He did not want to make his lord unhappy—that was the pure truth. But he did not like to see his lord unhappy, either, and here, far away from the pomp and splendour of the Palace, he could look back on his recent interactions with his Radiancy and wonder ... well, things that he could not say aloud.

…He sifted through thoughts of his relationship with his Radiancy, but he kept circling back to the idea that his lord took no vacations, never fully relaxed from his duties. They were not always onerous, those duties, but they were ever-present.

[becausethecat]

This is the second to last one I’m going to share—from October 30–and one I So So enjoyed making because the Moon’s Country is such an interesting idea. I could see I had made a lot of progress through all my art and I felt a lot more confident when I made this one.

Chapter 80

"[In my dream] We came to the Moon's country, and we found you in company with the Moon. She was gloating, exultant that you had come to her, that you were now hers. We-Domina Black, the blond man, and I, and the others who were there—we said you were not there of your own will, that she had enchanted you somehow, that you belonged with us…..”

….."The Moon was annoyed with us. Domina Black and the blond man were very insistent that she release you, and at last she said that if you chose to come, she would not stop you. Domina Black pushed the Moon until she swore by the River of Stars to release you if you asked."

“…You were there, reclining on a divan like a Central eating couch, but you were not present in the room with us, as if you were drugged or enchanted or asleep and dreaming. The blond man went up to you and he called your name—”

[becausethecat]

Sometimes for Inktober last year my sister chose what I drew. A lot of the time I would draw whatever I opened to but on the 28th my sister gave me the task of drawing the earliest possible thing in the book and so it was this page. I enjoyed this spread a LOT. it was fun to find some references and to figure out what to do with the beach and the poses of Iki and Ani.

[becausethecat]

This was October 27. This one was mostly scribble and I added some flats digitally bc there was just some things my pens couldn’t do and I wanted to see if I could push the scribbles into something more. I had a lot of trouble with this one, and I didn’t really want to do art, but I’d never managed to do a whole inktober before so I scribbled this and I had fun, and that was what was important that day.

Chapter 64

“….There was this cheese shop in a place called Zangora Square, not too far from the Palace, which prided itself on having the most kinds. It was all set out like a jewellery store. Dramatic lighting, a quiet hush, very attentive and polite staff, that sort of thing. They used to import cheese from Alinor, plus all the kinds made around Astandalas the Golden itself.”

[becausethecat]

This is from the 26th, and it was an absolutely ridiculous take on two separate scenes in HOTE. There’s a remark somewhere about Rufus not knowing how octopi behave, and another remark about fingers in pies and I just kinda combined them because once I thought about it it was inevitable.

And thus, this was born and it’s now another favorite because it is absolutely ridiculous. I love how it turned out, though I did do slight edits before posting.

Chapter 37

…Kiri’s department was such that its members quickly ceased to be strangers to each other. The work was hard and the hours long, and they were dealing with the highest matters of government. “We have our fingers in every pie,” Kiri was saying the first afternoon he came to spend with them.

Chapter 50

Yesterday the Prince of Amboloyo called me an octopus sucking the government dry.

[becausethecat]

I WILL finish posting this series eventually!! I got stalled bc of a concussion... anyways more importantly! This one is one of my favorites, and is my favorite on the side of the detail work i did, while still allowing for it to be stylized. It's from october 25, and I worked with a few different photo references. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out, and it was one of my best hands-holding-hands I've done in several years.

Chapter 61 “...Give me your hands.” The order was snapped out, Bertie all authority, and Cliopher found his hands loosening on the rope until his fingers ached with how hard he had been gripping. “Good. Good,” Bertie said, sliding his big warm hands into Cliopher’s so he could no longer feel the rope. “Now, Kip, I want you to step with me.” “Don’t let go,” he said urgently as Bertie stepped back, feeling all the space between them yawn open into vertigo. “Bertie!” “Right foot!” “Bertie, I can’t!” “You must!” “Bertie!” “Close your eyes, Kip, and trust me.” Cliopher had always responded well to direct orders from those he greatly respected. He closed his eyes.

[becausethecat]

October 24 And we are back, walking through my inktober art! When I drew this one, I wanted to attempt depth in the room, and a desire to make it fill lived-in, but was most eager to get His Radiancy to have a lively expression. In this scene, he comes to see Cliopher unexpectedly and makes Cliopher spill his papers while writing a letter. Cliopher is known for having beat-up comfortable furniture, so I had fun trying to make the couch/chair look old and I gave him some fun pillows!

Chapter 29 Cliopher, feeling the pressure of much older manners than the palace etiquette learned so hard, said, “My lord, will you sit?” His Radiancy smiled brilliantly at him and chose the couch, which was another battered old bear of a piece of furniture but very comfortable. Conju poured out some sort of sparkling wine into superb fluted glasses, and his Radiancy made a toast to all the new aspirants...