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disappointed with the lack of horn jewelry in this show

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The baby so far 🐉 still got a few bits to add but Im quite happy with it so far

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Something about the way Viren is seeing the best side of Claudia (her wrist without the snake bracelet - which she lost, regardless, back in 4x03) with her entirely dark hair, meanwhile the decidedly more dark magic-y side (the hair and bracelet) is what the audience is seeing. Even when Viren is recognizing the worst of what he's turned into (himself) he still first and foremost sees his "little girl".

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some old tdp art

i drew rayla with short hair because i headcanon them as non-binary (all pronouns). also they better outgrow callum bc all her parents are tall af and callum's hair kinda makes him look taller but he's not.

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doodles

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“And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky.

For I have been patient.”

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and scam them out of robux

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—Tamara Panici, from I Do Not Want To Say This Country is Not My Home

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would anyone want to know more about my tdp au/rewrite

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doodle dump (concepts for my tdp au)

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159.

Claudia's old life sounds like a dream. Terry hears most of it from her and some of it from her father, even if he is a bit stilted about reminiscing. He hears about the castle, and the grounds, and her father's office where she used to practise her magic; about someone called K'ppar who was like a grandfather to her, and someone else called Perran, who seemed perpetually tired of her antics; about her old friends, now her enemies, Soren and Callum and Ezran. Once, with the help of a little cider, she'd started talking about her mother, and Terry had noticed the way Viren had grown sullen and purposefully silent while she spoke.

"Everyone leaves," she'd said, curling into his arms, sad, drunk, her speech slow and a little slurred. "Why do they do that? What's so wrong with me that they all go?"

"Not me," says Terry quietly. "I promise. Never me." And he means it. He knows the feeling after all: to be the one left behind, the one that no one seems to understand. And when she crawls out of the ocean, bleeding and distraught, half mad with pain and grief and anger, he promises her again: "I'm here. I'm with you. I won't leave you too."

He drags her up the beach and binds the stump of her leg with vines to staunch the bleeding. He gathers poppy milk for the pain and purpurea mushrooms to ward off infection. He tries to find her father, but he's gone too, and Terry hates that he's glad she's feverish and half alive, because it means she doesn't know yet that all of it was for nothing. And he sits with her. He holds her hand. He whispers promises she can't hear: "I'm here. I'll always be here. I won't leave you too."

Then days and days and days later, she wakes. Her lips are chapped. Her face is pale. Her voice is as coarse as the sand against their skin. "Where's my dad?"

Terry breathes out. "Rest," he says, pointedly avoiding the question. "You're body's been through a lot. You need your strength."

But Claudia pushes herself onto her elbows anyway and glances around the beach, at the mattress of leaves he'd made for her, at the stump of her leg, still covered in purpurea paste. "Terry, where is he?"

Terry looks away. "I... I don't know."

She stares. "What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know? He was with you!"

"Claudia..." Terry swallows and rests a hand against hers. "Claudia, that was days ago. He—I dunno, he went sort of mad after you went into the ocean. He was talking to himself, about Puff, and then he—he left."

"What?"

Terry shuts his eyes. "I haven't seen him since. I'm sorry."

A pause stretches between them. The waves crash against the shore. Claudia stares, her face slack with her refusal to believe it, her mouth open and caught on a breath going in.

"We need to find him," she says at last.

"You can't, Claudia, you're hurt—"

"I don't care," she snaps. "We need to find him, he has to be okay—"

"Claudia, you can't! Look at your leg! He could be anywhere by now, and that's even if he's—" Terry cuts himself off and stares at the sand, his throat tight. "It's been days. The thirty day limit was—I don't even know if—" He blinks. He swallows. He shuts his eyes tight.

Claudia says nothing. Terry can't bring himself to look at her because he knows that he's failed. That she's failed. And Viren...

"So he's gone," she says shortly.

"I don't know for sure."

"It's been days," she says hollowly. "You said so. And that means he's gone. Like the rest of them."

Terry says nothing for a moment. He touches her hand. She flinches away.

"Claudia..."

"What did I expect?" she says, scoffing mirthlessly into the air. "I'm never going to be good enough for anyone, am I? That's why they all keep leaving."

Terry frowns at that. "I'm still here. I haven't left you. I won't."

"So you say," she snorts. "Who do you think you're kidding, Terry?"

"I'm not kidding! I mean it! How could I—"

Claudia shakes her head. "I'm not an idiot," whe mutters. "It's only ever a matter of time. Then you'll go too. I know it."

Terry blames it on the fever and the delirium, so he gives her more poppy milk and and re-dresses her stump with fresh leaves and purpurea. He does his best for her. He keeps his promise at the forefront of his mind. He stays for as long as he can—

But she's right, in the end. Terry leaves when she lets Aaravos work through her, because he believed in her, but all she wants now is chaos, and revenge on the people who used to be her friends. She hurts people. She hurts him. She hurts herself.

She laughs as he goes, hysterical, mad, tears spilling over her cheeks. "I told you," she says. "Everyone leaves."

Now Terry knows why.

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thinking about Terry and idk it actually kind of makes sense that Earthblood elves in particular would be like... not receptive, per se, but possibly the least unreceptive to dark magic of the elves??? or at least the most susceptible to reasoning that attempts to justify it

All of the other primal sources are very abstract in their nature, much more energy or concept than tangible reality, and also extremely constant: the sun and moon don't need anything to be able shine, the wind doesn't need anything to be able to blow, the tides will go in and out no matter what. That energy just exists, it doesn't come from somewhere and it doesn't really go anywhere. The part of the Earth primal that relates to living plants and creatures is the only primal source that relies on a cycle of consumption—you can't have herbivorous animals without plants that they eat, and then you can't have carnivores without herbivores that they eat, and if you're out of animals you're going to have some challenges with your plants growing because their waste and remains aren't around to return nutrients to the soil. The concept of consuming something, even something living, to strengthen yourself is not going to be as anathema to Earthblood elves as it is to others. Literally a part of their core nature, what they are born understanding, is tied to things eating other things. There's not gonna be any "eating the flesh of animals is a disgusting abomination on a similar level to dark magic" bullshit, there.

Now, there are definitely still things about dark magic that would be a problem: humans, and dark mages in particular, are not exactly discriminating in what Xadian creatures they consider to have sentience or personhood. Additionally, I think there's a strong case to be made that dark magic inherently disrupts the harmony of the cyclic or interdependent nature of life and consumption, in that the magic that is consumed is not eventually returned to the primals, but is corrupted and lingers as unusable waste or poison. However, that might be something that requires a fairly advanced understanding of how dark magic actually functions, which an elf would be unlikely to have (aside from maybe powerful mages). Actually, it's not really even 100% clear whether human dark mages understand that aspect of it.

The other thing with Earthblood elves in particular is that they are the most diverse of the primal elf types, probably because the Earth primal source is so broad, and they become very in tune and adapted to their environment. The Earth primal and arcanum are associated with things like stubbornness and endurance, as well as resilience. From there it's pretty clear, I think, why Terry likes and even admires Claudia: she's a human, deep in Xadia (a place she does not naturally belong, and is very different from the home she's used to), and with her dark magic has adapted so well to that environment! She doesn't let anything stop her in pursuing her goals, she just finds a solution—one that frequently has to involve understanding and working with what is naturally available around her.

The conceptual pattern of behavior for dark magic—harvesting something from your environment, consuming it, and using what it gives you to survive—is very similar to things Earthblood elves understand and even value. We also see where it breaks down for Terry: when Claudia uses dark magic or even just behaves viciously purely for emotional satisfaction (taunting Rayla with the coins, or unnecessarily fighting and then almost killing the dragon that was following them) and not because it supports her survival or goals.

so yeah basically for an elf to be chilling with a dark mage in the way that Terry does (i.e. not for business purposes) I think it does make the most sense for them to be an Earthblood elf (like Terry)

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going back to my roots when I used to be an artist who did portraits

season 2 will has my heart <33

edit: process is available on my instagram :3

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I lost control somewhere in the middle

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saw someone draw him with a ponytail so here he is with a ponytail + glasses

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Here is a silly little idea that took me too long

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i’m sad we didn’t get to see more tidebound elves so i made one myself