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"The desert's a pretty lifeless place during the day.... *Sigh* but you can't beat the view of the stars at night......"

Sethos, Voice-Over: Good Evening

Close-ups, user tags and rambling below the cut, Image ID in Alt Text.

*clears throat* Ahem.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BELOVED BALL OF SUNSHINE, MY BIRTHDAY TWIN, MY FOREVER MAIN, THE ONE, THE ONLY... SETHOOOOOOSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Ignore that it's basically the end of the 31st alright shhhh I've been BUSY ok, it's here and that's what matters!!

I'll admit, this wasn't *quite* what I'd intended to post today--I instead had a page of sketches ready to be finished that would've been scenes of Sethos and my Traveller Radia spending their whole shared birthday together, doing things like styling each other's hair (as mentioned in his Birthday line), chasing down Top Squirrel because he stole a new bowtie intended for Big Ears (yes I'm talking about his Claw Convoy pets, because no, I'm still not over them), gifting Sethos himself a pair of new braid decorations (you can see them here in the drawing! They have Trishiraite stones in them!!!!), and playing several rounds of TCG! But, alas, real life got in the way, and I realized a couple days ago that I wasn't going to be able to finish a whole page of drawings in time 😔😔 so I switched gears and instead spent every spare second of free time for the past two days pose testing, refining, sketching, inking, coloring, and detailing this drawing--and not even gonna lie.

IT WAS SO WORTH IT GUYS I'M ACTUALLY STUPIDLY PROUD OF HOW THIS TURNED OUT!!!

(And would you believe I only JUST saw his official birthday art about an hour ago?? 😂😂 Me and the official artist are sharing a braincell, clearly!)

Anywho, I could ramble on and on and on about Sethos and how much I love him (and NGL I might just make a personal post doing just that, like. Tomorrow), I've got things to do (using up all my resources to finally finish level 90ing Sethos before the day ends, getting to bed, etc etc), so I'm just gonna tag my fellow Sethos Enjoyers™, add in the Close Ups, and head out!

Tagging: @luvuomi @sunjinjo @hormigadeagua @licapitano

Close ups:

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"...passed down like Folk Songs, the Love lasts so... Long..."

-Taylor Swift, seven

Or,

There are ghosts in the Temple of Silence.

There are ghosts in the Temple of Silence, and you know this, because you've seen them, ever since you can remember.

You also know that no one else can see them; you know this, because you used to mention them to your elders, only to be scolded for lying and telling tales.

You stopped mentioning them pretty quickly, after that.

But that doesn't mean they aren't real.

They're real, because you can hear little feet running through the Temple halls, echoing off the stone walls, even though you're one of the youngest people still around.

They're real, because you can hear peals of laughter, bright and cheerful, even though no one really laughs here, not anymore.

They're real, because you catch glimpses of them out of the corner of your eye, a child with braids chasing another with snow-white hair.

And you know they're ghosts, because you've never seen a child with all white hair before.

"Sethos? Are you listening to me?"

You startle, quickly turning back to Bamoun from where you were staring off down the hall, the ghosts already long gone. "Huh? Oh, sorry, Grandfather; just... Thought I saw something, is all. I'm listening now, you were talking about remodeling the room of Gurabad texts, right?"

Bamoun nods in acceptance, already turning to continue your walk through the halls, but as you fall into step beside him, you can't help but think--

That, for a split second, you saw grief in his eyes.

And you wonder if, maybe, he can see the ghosts too.

"Master Cyno, can you braid my hair?"

You stare, perplexed; you've watched over Collei as a favor to Tighnari a handful of times now, but this is the first time she's ever requested anything of you.

But, she's looking up at you with big, hopeful eyes (that Tighnari will swear up and down she definitely didn't learn from him), and you can't bring yourself to deny such an earnest request.

"I've never braided hair before, but I suppose I could try."

And soon enough you find yourself, hairbrush and ties in hand, staring down at a bob of short green hair, somewhat at a loss on where to start.

So you start brushing, the one task you know well. And as one hand brushes, the other comes up to card through the forest colored strands, absentmindedly separating some out, just behind her left temple.

Soon you're separating and weaving, a small braid slowly coming to life without even realizing it. It's a little uneven, the sections not quite divided right, but it's far better than most first attempts.

And when you're most of the way through with that one, your other hand starts pulling together a matching braid on the right, until, eventually, you're staring down at two braids, wrapping across the crown of Collei's head, criss-crossing in the center, and continuing just a little further down on either side until they're tied off. They bounce as Collei moves.

Silently, you hand her a mirror. "Wow, Master Cyno! You're a natural! I'm gonna go show 'Nari!"

You watch her run towards the door, a blur of green, her violet eyes flashing as she turns back to wave at you--

--and yet, for a split second, you see someone else in her place, brown curls dipped in white bouncing, a pair of green, green eyes shining with mirth--

--but then, the moment ends, and all you see is Collei, bounding out the door.

And you're left staring down at your hands, and yet, not really seeing them at all.

She said you were a "natural", and you-- you desperately want to believe that.

And yet.

Somewhere, in the back of your mind, somewhere within the emptiness that exists where you know, with absolute certainty, that your memories from before you were seven* years old should be...

...a cold feeling of knowing starts to grow.

Talent had nothing to do with it--your hands have braided hair before. Many times, in fact; enough to make it muscle memory, almost as easy as breathing--

--and you have no idea how you know that.

(And your hair's always been white... Hasn't it?)

*we don't have any canon ages for how old Sethos and Cyno are now, nor what age they were when the Ba Fragments were implanted and Cyrus left with Cyno, other than the photos of young Cyno from Cyrus, where he could be any age between 5-10ish. The number 7 was chosen for thematic parallels with the song

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A Brief Moment of Peace

Or,

EVERYBODY SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT IS BEDDY-BYE TIME!! THEY ARE EEPY!!! QUIIIIEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!

(Image ID in Alt Text)

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...And when you speak, angels sing from above; everyday words seem to turn into Love Songs...

La Vie en Rose, orig. French by Edith Piaf, English lyrics by Mack David

Close ups and the reference picture used for one of these drawings can be found under the cut! No Image ID this time though because I'mma level with y'all this has been sitting in my drafts for over a year waiting for me to write out the alt text and it's just. It's not happening. Brain go brrrr whenever I think about it. If someone wants to ID this PLEASE be my guest.

The Reference:

The Close Ups:

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*ahem*

MORE SETHOS!!

Mostly just practice at getting his face + hair right and trying, mostly, to draw his clothes (complicated scarf my beloathed 😤), but also featuring Sethos+Rain, my ultimate OTP! (He canonically goes umbrella-less in the rain cause it never rains in the desert, so you KNOW the first time he got caught in the rain in the jungle he was jumping and dancing around like a little kid with the biggest grin on his face 😁🥰)

(Image ID in Alt Text)

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*rolls up after months of inactivity, hot chocolate in hand*

Woe.

Sethos be upon ye

(Image ID in Alt)

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Beca putting the "B" in "Bicon", everyone

Is this. is this anything

Bonus: Live Jesse and Chloe Reactions⬇️

(alternate angles under the cut, Image ID in Alt Text)

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Got inspired to redraw this post but with the OT3:

(Because if sober!Chloe is affectionate, drunk!Chloe is a Force of Nature™ 😂)

Close ups under the cut, Image ID in Alt Text!

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BEHOLD! THE GRAND FINALE!

(Yes it's vaguely Jeca coded don't @ me I couldn't help it. At least I reigned it in and left all the others ship-free, cause believe it or not I DO have some self control.)

Do you and your beloved need matching Valentine's? Well look no further cause here's the perfect pair! (Tag yourself I'm Jesse 😂.)

And that concludes this year's edition of:

Shitty! MS! Paint! Valentines!!!!!!

(stay tuned for next year when I hopefully have Amy and Cynthia Rose drawn finally 😅)

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Don't think I forgot about my favorite Bella Duo: Ashley and Jessica! They come with a tag that says "Do NOT separate them", so they get their own special Double Feature Valentine!

And here's the blank version for all your Doub-Bella Feature needs:

(image IDs in Alt Text as always)

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We're a day late, but whatever, here's the Treble Captain himself: Jesse! I took some inspiration from a few of his performance poses for this, and I gotta say, he might be my favorite of the bunch 😁.

A blank version for all your Juice Pouches and Rocky-punning needs:

(Image IDs in Alt Text as always)

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What would a good set of MS Paint Valentines be without some truly 🔥spicy🔥 innuendos amiright?? Luckily, Stacie and Donald have you covered for all your spicy needs!

Blank versions (so you can make the obvious "dick in a box" joke that I refrained from):

(Image IDs in Alt Text)

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The OG Bellas have some Valentine's Day messages for y'all! It's Chloe and Aubrey's turn to shine 😁

Blank versions as needed:

(Image IDs in Alt Text)

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MS Paint Valentines round 2: Benji and Emily Edition! Benji whipped out a bouquet of flowers out of thin air just for you!

Blank versions for all your custom Valentine editing needs:

(Image IDs in Alt Text as always!)

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WE'RE BRINGING BACK SHITTY MS PAINT VALENTINES Y'ALL I'M MAKING IT A THING!

So have some Beca Effin' Mitchell herself with some Valentine's messages for y'all!

And here're blank versions if you have your own aca-innuendos to share!

(Image IDs in Alt Text as always!)

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Here's your bi-annual reminder that I started life as a pony artist as a teenager, aka it's Current-Hyperfixation-but-as-Ponies time!

(Gen 4/MLP:FiM style, not Gen 5, if that wasn't clear)

Also I need y'all to appreciate those names cause they took me for-fucking-EVER to come up with lemme tell ya, do you know how hard it is to come up with a pair of music-related nouns/adjectives that both fit the character AND sound like their actual name??? It's hard!!!

Anyways. Pitch Perfect but they're ponies. You're welcome.

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"Take my hand... Take my whole life too; for I can't help, Falling in Love with You....."

-(Can't Help) Falling in Love, Pentatonix cover version

Bonus: