#polaris touchstarved

[the-gentle-guiding-star]

Touchstarved LI’s and bandaging Polaris

Polaris has a bad habit of picking at his scales, ripping them off. It stems from his self-hatred and trauma. He does it without realizing it. The Touchstarved LI’s take notice and they each have their own way of helping him.

Vere:

-“You would ruin your own beauty because of some asshole making you feel bad? Your scales are exquisite, don’t ruin them”

-Brings Polaris to Kuras to be patched up. Eventually learns to do it himself partially as an excuse to get a little handsy

-Kisses the wounds after the bandages are on

Kuras:

-Carefully bandages the wounds, also puts salves on them to help him heal

-Very concerned about Polaris’ mental health, tries to help him find other things to occupy his hands

-“If you keep doing this, you’ll get an infection…”

Mhin:

-“Why are you doing that? Don’t do that.”

-Pretends they don’t care, but they do. They hold Polaris’ hand so he can’t pick. They also enjoy the hand holding but they’d never, ever admit it

-Starts carrying bandages with them to patch up the wounds at any given time. Pretends that the bandages are for themself

Ais:

-Ais doesn’t ask many questions. He doesn’t want to pry unless Polaris wants to open up.

-He notices though, and he frowns a bit when he first discovers this habit.

-Like Mhin, Ais starts keeping bandages on hand. He also has Princess accompany Polaris as much as possible and shove her head into his hands when he starts to pick at his scales

Leander:

-Leander is immediately taking action about this. He absolutely has to stop it from happening.

-“Please, Polaris, stop. For me? Do it for me!”

-He has a lot of questions, but backs off when Polaris gets defensive. Instead he tries to always be giving Polaris something to hold to occupy his hands. Very random things, such as a shot glass, a rock, a bottle of wine, a fork, and more!

[justanaspiringsomeone]

Noticed Features

@the-gentle-jade-river MC, Polaris and my unnamed MC, Keiki!

They seem to notice each other’s odd features so it’ll be a bit awkward…

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Did I show y’all the updated Polaris art that I commissioned @todayis-snowy to make? No?

Well, now I have! The boy is finally here! And now he is finally like…actually so perfect and I’m finally happy with his design!

He has no more giant face scar

I love him so, so much! I spend so much time staring at this because it’s wonderful! Everyone, go throw yourselves at Snowy’s feet because she is WONDERFUL (and don’t steal this because then I’ll cry)

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There’s a cool and cute kiss picrew I’ve been seeing so here it is with Polaris and Ais!!

This also functions as a little preview for talk of the overhaul I’m doing with Polaris’ design

(Why is Polaris crying?)

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I couldn’t decide so I did all three!! Have some hair down Polaris!! And also one with no scar because they didn’t have a scar option

(And pretend in the one that it’s a hanbok jacket he’s wearing because he’s Korean but there was no option for that either, lol)

Tags (sorry if you’ve been tagged already):

@hollana @toeridiaorbust @vereing

TOUCHSTARVED FANDOM PICREW GAME !

create your persona or mc then share & tag some friends! use any of these you want 1 - 2 - 3 🤍

have fun ! <3

[the-gentle-guiding-star]

Polaris

Flower: Water lily

Meaning:

-Rebirth

-Resilience

-Transendence

Beautiful and pure, the water lily blooms from the mud, bearing no stains from the filth. In Eridia, the flowers represent rebirth, and are given as gifts of new beginnings

To celebrate Polaris’ birthday, I made him a little bust with his flower! I want to put it on the template, but I don’t feel like fiddling around with it today….

Is it perfect? No. Will I redraw it as I get better at art? Obviously

Am I still insanely happy with this? Absolutely

[the-gentle-guiding-star]

I’m having ✨emotions✨ thinking about the ways Polaris can either heal or fester with each LI. These may change as more info on the characters comes out, but I’m excited about the potential (y’all can tell which characters I feel like I have a more solid understanding of through this lol)

Mhin, Healing: They help each other accept the monstrous aspects of themselves. How to love themselves not despite the monster but loving themselves wholly, monster and everything

Mhin, Festering: They both obsess over preserving their humanity, to the point that it’s lost to the obsession. They become more desperate and depraved and cling to each other in a desperate hope that the other will anchor them to humanity

Ais, Healing: Polaris comes to see the beauty in his draconic nature in part due to Ais’s love and understanding of all creatures. Ais is no longer under Ocudeus’ control. He isn’t lonely anymore, and he nurtures his more gentle side

Ais, Festering: Polaris begins destroying himself out of self-hatred. Ais is completely lost to Ocudeus, and Polaris drinks from the SeaSpring hoping to join Ais again

Vere, Healing: Polaris learns not to fear his draconic nature. He learns how to control it, harness its power, and how to let loose without losing control. Vere is free from the Senobium, and gets to explore more of himself

Vere, Festering: Polaris destroys the Senobium in a fit of rage to free Vere. The two enable each other, going on a path of power seeking and destruction

Kuras, Healing: Kuras learns how to forgive himself, Polaris starts to explore more of himself and feels safe. He knows that he can’t hurt Kuras, and so he doesn’t fear losing control. He and Kuras work through their trauma together, supporting each other every step of the way

Kuras, Festering: Polaris dies, Kuras goes mad with grief

Leander, Healing: Polaris gets to experience intimacy in a way he never has, with his hands intertwined with Leander’s. Leander can drop his facade because Polaris won’t judge or leave him.

Leander, Festering: I honestly don’t know yet. Death is involved for sure. Maybe Leander finds out about Polaris’ draconic nature, and uses him as a source of magical ingredients. Sees him as a tool more than a person. Polaris is vulnerable, and easily manipulated into staying even though he’s not happy

[the-gentle-guiding-star]

Character bio for Polaris for Touchstarved!!!

Sprite by @/arc.xus on Instagram!!

Template by @redspringstudio

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Don’t mind me, just dropping a little diagram of how Polaris fluff/scale ratio is

It isn’t super shaggy on his belly, but his belly is in fact furry and fluffy

Anywhere that doesn’t have little scales drawn has fur on it essentially. And because fantasy doesn’t mean I need logic, there are scales under his fur. Probably. Maybe.

As per usual art by arc_xus on instagram

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Overall, Polaris feels his life is defined by loss. He lost his parents, his home, his first lover/closest friend

He’s terrified of letting people close to him. He’s afraid that opening up means he’ll lose someone again. He’s flighty and enigmatic, and sometimes he’s curt.

But he’s also gentle, loyal, and loving. The world he lives in has taken so much from him, so why should he owe anything to anyone? Why shouldn’t he get angry and selfish and destroy everything around him?

Why doesn’t he? He could have become a villain, a horrid person. But he doesn’t

He chooses to be kind still, even though he’s flighty and even though he’s mysterious, he can’t bring himself to be truly unkind. Because that means he’s become like the unforgiving, terrible world that’s hurt him. And he doesn’t want to let that cruelty win and pull another into the ranks of horrid people

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Polaris always tried to make it clear that he didn’t have romantic feelings towards Daniil. He was always very forthcoming about that, especially when Daniil started to flirt with him.

Polaris had also really valued his friendship with Daniil, and that got held over him and used to guilt him about not wanting any further relationship.

Daniil likes to say that Polaris lead him on

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This is something Polaris desperately needs to be told. Even before reclaiming his draconic nature

He’s been told he’s a monstrosity for so long, and told that it’s a bad thing

That he isn’t worthy of love

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Final outfit redesign for Polaris!! I finally found a ref I liked and used it.

I have learned that having too many refs for one outfit is Bad and Overwhelming for me. Oh, and I remembered to put my signature this time!!!

I smacked it with a watercolor splash brush just because I thought the texture would be cool

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Polaris reclaiming his draconic heritage is something that’s in the long run very good for him, and it’s something that makes him finally feel whole

But in the moment it’s devastating and horrible and it feels like the end of the world for him. He’s lived so long without knowing this part of himself, and not even knowing it exists that he feels like he’s losing his humanity by gaining his dragonhood

It doesn’t matter that dragons are revered in his home country. It doesn’t matter that dragons aren’t seen as “bad” or “evil” typically

What matters is that his world is completely and irreversibly changed, and that he’s a “monster” now. Everything feels so different to him, and for a long time he’s actually scared of his draconic nature and features

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Officially, I am changing Polaris’ Korean name.

He is now Cheong Han-Byul

Han-Byul means “big/bright star” so Polaris is kind of just the translation of that

I considered Bitgaram (bright river) but I think Han-Byul suits him more

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Ais and his tattoo that swirls over his skin and Polaris with his pearlescent scales that create swirled patterns on his skin

They’re so reminiscent of each other that way and it really feels like Touchstarved and Ais were made for Polaris