artslush

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Samantha Reid and the Curious Case of the Cursed Crarm

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!! 1.6 Update Beta Preview Spoilers !!

(aka, I Got Permission To Post This Early slkdjflkdsjf) (this has been sitting in my drafts since June 28 or so sdfsdfs)

The "S" in "Build 1.05S" stands for "Spine Fans Stay Winning"

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Something I've been meaning to revisit; a feasible way to give Sam a much more direct 'trial run' of what remaking feels like - without committing all the way - being to…yaknow, graciously gift him a meat-realm-compliant replacement arm.

Basically an alternate take of one of the minor-events of the now-defunct In Its Image AU. Putting this here because I have some ideas for doing more with it and establishing it as its own little sub-AU (at least in regards to drawing Sam with it more, if I remember).

Getting it installed and 'calibrated' still hurts A LOT, but having an arm is better than not having an arm, right??

There totally won't be side-effects.

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Putting this noncommittal thing from my

*cough*

other blog here. Since it's safe.

I haven't done much else lately because I've been... there rather than here.

I know several people already know about it, haha.

I don't know if I'm ready to link it directly; less that I'm embarrassed by it and more because I want to respect the boundaries of people who may be curious but really not ready for the intensity of my specific flavor of freaky (even though 95% it is not overly explicit), lmaooo.

Plus there may be people who really don't want to see it but might click anyway just for an excuse to be upset (because people on the internet really Do Be Like That), or anybody underage (my work is explicit-adjacent with one explicit ALT as of writing this, and I use that blog to engage with other explicit blogs).

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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

It's funny how the Suggestive Spine Pic is doing better numbers than I ever expected it to, which almost makes me wonder if I should legitimately consider advertising my Bsky 🔞 Freak Blog here (a few recognizable folks have already found it, LOL)...

On the other hand, I'm leery about it because the stuff there - while never getting explicitly NSFW (except for one ALT-text microfic) - escalates Very Quickly after that first pic, and in kink directions that may seem Offputtingly Strange (but if you've been paying attention are Entirely Telegraphed, hahahahaha......)

(Here's a hint; there's a reason I freaked out a little when the second comic I drew that got fandubbed . . . . . . . . got . . . . fandubbed . . . . . L M A O . . . .)

You know you're in for some Weird Shit when the PFP is

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Not really a question but maybe a question if in my ramblings I can think of something. Your art of Spine and Sam? From Look Outside? Honestly changed me on her character. I thought she was just a creepy monster and killed her. But, man, all the sweet art you’ve made, or the creepy things you’ve explored with them… it’s just!!! So good!!?!!??! It has changed my brain chemistry I love Spine now and I LOOOOVE your art of her immensely. You’re the GOAT for all that fantastic fanart and just. I’m sorry I’m rambling but yeah. I love you

*evilly tapping steepled fingers together * yeeeessssss more meat for the pilessss....

I mean... *cough*

Ok, all joking aside, THANK YOU so much! 😭

Honestly, it's funny how far this has come. When I originally posted screens of the full encounter after it was added, I was on the side of "ok that's not cool you can't just do/say that" and figured (at the time) it was justified to be filled with lead.

The fact that I eventually just saw the... interesting narrative that came with the idea (plus my own experiences) led me to start writing this weird loneliness narrative with Sam as the lonely one. It wasn't until Blue and Orange that I started to think about the ramifications of Spine being trapped where she is, and how she might very well also be lonely... She just had the misfortune of being physically and mentally mutilated beforehand so her ability to communicate it has been warped outside of human reason and emotion.

I find that fascinating.

That was before 1.5. Shortly before the beta dropped.

Then 1.5 beta happened and eventually released and SHATTERED what information we're given about Spine as a character, and really let that narrative blossom, and I love that more and more people are slowly realizing that... yeah, she's a creep, but she's a creep who's really really interesting to try and understand, and even pity (and maybe find kinda hot, if you're into that sort of thing; I see y'all in my tags, lmao I'm totally not one of you in a weird ace way).

Even Frankie understands what he's done, hahahaha.

I wouldn't say Spine is a 'popular' character, but the people who do realize they like her tend to REALLY like her. Once she gets her claws in your heart, she's hard to pry out. She's just so polarizing, which is really fun, and Frankie has said he really likes that about her (I can't get the stream moment he made a really funny remark about the different kinds of Spine opinions, because that segment of stream unfortunately got DMCA muted).

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I forgot about my boogie board until getting a new fridge unearthed it so have a 3-minute "attempt to draw them more on-model with the game from memory" doodle.

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I've been getting too distracted by new beta stuff that I completely forgot I wanted to draw this, since it was one of the highlights for me from the last beta.

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Drawing another picture (that I can't share just yet because of beta reasons) that has me asking myself some VERY important questions

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nothing here except you and it

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Just a little celebratory sheet of random 1.5 FUN TIMES

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Three Minutes

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This set (there's three pages; it's taking forever due to layout issues and general exhaustion due to all the pain I'm in from my shoulder/elbow/back/feet/etc.) more or less needs the red-line Spine layer for a majority of its composition, but lining Sam with the Spine layer fully disabled basically showing what others see/what he 'sees' (vs what he feels) really reflects why these interactions are so weird from a whole-picture standpoint, haha.

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help i has drawed an suggestive and don't have a priv for itttt

As for why Sam is mostly undressed, scenario rolling around in my head (inspired largely by @euclideggnog 's "Rest Inside" but in a different direction) is his apartment got too crowded that even at night there's too much activity/noise to sleep so he discreetly packs up and goes "next door."

He makes sure to tell Spine he's not ready to be remade yet but just needs a place to rest... but it's so hot and muggy in the meat hell, that after a while he removes layers until he's comfortable enough to sleep... but still can't.

So Spine offers to... well... 'help him relax', like she's done before for weeks, just in person. Nothing obscene, more of an overly handsy massage sort of deal. A little bit of joint and back popping and organ kneading. Yaknow, thinking that endearing herself to him gradually would make him more likely to accept being remade later. By the time anyone notices he's gone, he's already back and rested, due to the time shenanigans.

(Why am I still up)

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Does. Does Joel's dad count as "narrative significant?" (I'm probably late but it's worth a shot.)

I know I said I'd only do 5, plus I do consider Clint pretty significant, but the way I set these up in Ibis means I have a sixth space on the last canvas and I didn't get a lot of requests, so I'll throw this one in as a bonus since it fell next in line.

Plus I have a certain fondness for Clint, seeing as I go out of my way to keep as much of Joel's family alive as possible (my earliest save unfortunately had the bug where you had to kill Madison to recruit Joel...), which means getting harassed by this man in the hallway CONSTANTLY while just trying to Get Things Done.

Idk why I do it. I doubt we're getting MUCH more in the way of interactions out of him (he doesn't even respond to Joel's presence, and will attack him), but I guess there's that overly optimistic fanon that he could be helped in some way in the future.

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Could you please draw Gawker? I think they're pretty neat as a first mini-boss, I like their different phases

The wakeup call for timeloop Sams everywhere.

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I don't know if its too late, but what about Clyde? He's the only non-war cursed with a gun, that has to count for something.

How does one iterate on perfection, though?

(Apart from adding arms to the top half, ofc, since I imagine the reason they’re not on the sprite is due to sprite size limitations making that too cluttered)