#and as such it was a definite learning process! i could definitely draw him better now i think but this one turned out okay for now

[kindledrose]

goofy hermit doodles!! because uhh why not!!

[vetyr]

hi, i ireally love your work and i don't know if you've answered this before but, what kinds of studies do you do or how did you learn color theory? i wanna get better at rendering and anatomy but im having trouble TT TT

Hi! Long answer alert. Once a chatterbox, always a chatterbox.

When I started actively learning how to draw about 10 1/2 years ago, I exclusively did graphite studies in sketchbooks. Here's a few examples—I mostly stuck to doing line drawings to drill basic shapes/contours and proportions into my brain. The more rendered sketches helped me practice edge control & basic values, and they were REALLY good for learning the actual 3D structure behind what I was drawing.

I'd use reference images that I grabbed from fitness forums, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and some NSFW places, but you could find adequate ref material from figure drawing sites like Line of Action. LoA has refs for people (you can filter by clothed/unclothed, age, & gender), animals, expressions, hands/feet, and a few other useful things as well. Love them.

Learning how to render digitally was a similar story; it helped a lot that I had a pretty strong foundation for value/anatomy going in. I basically didn't touch color at all for ~2 years (except for a few attempts at bad digital or acrylic paint studies), which may not have been the best idea. I learned color from a lot of trial and error, honestly, and I'm pretty sure this process involved a lot of imitation—there were a number of digital/traditional painters whose styles I really wanted to emulate (notably their edge control, color choices, value distributions, and shape design), so I kiiind of did a mixture of that + my own experimentation.

For example, I really found Benjamin Björklund's style appealing, especially his softened/lost edges & vibrant pops of saturated color, so here's a study I did from some photograph that I'm *pretty* sure was painted with him in mind.

Learning how to detail was definitely a slow process, and like all the aforementioned things (anatomy/color/edge control/values/etc.) I'm still figuring it out. Focusing on edge control first (that is, deciding on where to place hard/soft edges for emphasizing/de-emphasizing certain areas of the image) is super useful, because you can honestly fool a viewer into thinking there's more detail in a piece than there actually is if you're very economical about where you place your hard edges.

The most important part, to me, is probably just doing this stuff over and over again. You're likely not going to see improvement in a few weeks or even a few months, so don't fret about not getting the exact results you want and just keep studying + making art. I like to think about learning art as a process where you *need* to fail and make crappy art/studies—there's literally no way around it—so you might as well fail right now. See, by making bad art you're actually moving forward—isn't that a fun prospect!!

It's useful to have a folder with art you admire, especially if you can dissect the pieces and understand why you like them so much. You can study those aspects (like, you can redraw or repaint that person's work) and break down whether this is art that you just like to look at, or if it's the kind of art that you want to *make.* There's a LOT of art out there that I love looking at, probably tens of thousands of styles/mediums, but there's a very narrow range that I want to make myself.

I've mentioned it in some ask reply in the past, but I really do think looking at other artist's work is such a cheat code for improving your own skills—the other artist does the work to filter reality/ideas for you, and this sort of allows you to contact the subject matter more directly. I can think of so many examples where an artist I admired exaggerated, like, the way sunlight rested on a face and created that orange fringe around its edge, or the greys/dull blues in a wheat field, or the bright indigo in a cast shadow, or the red along the outside of a person's eye, and it just clicked for me that this was a very available & observable aspect of reality, which had up until that point gone completely unnoticed! If you're really perceptive about the art you look at, it's shocking how much it can teach you about how to see the world (in this particular case I mean this literally, in that the art I looked at fully changed the way I visually processed the world, but of course it has had a strong effect on my worldviews/relationships/beliefs).

Thanks so much for sending in a question (& for reading, if you got this far)! I read every single ask I receive, including the kind words & compliments, which I genuinely always appreciate. Best of luck with learning, my friend :)

[princessbrunette]

john b was big. you knew it, he definitely knew it.

that never stopped you from trying to please him though. you were an inexperienced thing when the two of you first met, john b still thinking back on the first time you’d asked to go down on him. it was an affair of shy licks, doe eyes, the constant question of “am i doing it right?” followed by the demure command of “please show me how.” the whole idea was ditched pretty quickly, the lover boy hating the idea of putting any kind of uncomfortable strain on you.

you knew your way around the sack a little better now, could take his dick inside you like a champ even though the stretch was still prevalent and it left you bulging each and every time. however, sucking him off still often proved more difficult — your throat apparently just not cut out for it. you were frustrated, because john b was so good at eating pussy, it didn’t seem fair to not return the treatment to the same level of ability.

he can sense this frustration as your brow creases into a frown, dribbling furiously down his aching red tip until your mouth was drawing blanks, trying to lubricate him enough to help the process. he’s smiling softly at you like you were picking flowers or something totally innocent, a distant loved up look in his eye as he cups your face, coarse thumb stroking repeatedly across your cheek and temple to soothe you.

you try him again, taking him into your mouth and beginning to jerk off what you couldn’t reach. you bob your head and he hums, low and raspy in his chest. “good job, pup.” he praises, and something about it makes you stir. your boyfriend genuinely meant it — you were doing a good job, seeing you work to please him made him feel amazing as did your slick mouth and skilled hands… but you wanted to do better than that.

taking a deep breath through your nostrils, you clench one wet fist in your lap as you force yourself down on his length as far as you can handle. “e—easy… baby.” his brows jump higher as he sits up just a little, hands hovering over your head as you hold yourself down. you gag, hard and come back up — sucking in a loud shaky breath. “hey, okay, just go easy sweetheart. remember?” he comforts and you push his hands away, going back down and forcing him into your throat before you’d even fully recovered.

he winces, because yeah — the way your throat tightens around him with each wet gag does feel good. although, he was far too focused on your wellbeing to fully immerse himself. he says your name once, almost in warning before you feel bile rising and you pull off him quickly, aggressively coughing and spluttering. your throat, nostrils and eyes burn and you burst into tears — mad at yourself. he drops everything to scoot forward quickly, going to comfort you. your instinct is to shove away his hands in a slight panic.

“—no—” you gag.

“heyheyheyhey — nonono, sweetheart. breathe with me, yeah? in… and out… just like that puppy c’mon, show me those breathing techniques. remember the ones we did when you got upset? in… good girl…” he finishes silently with an exhale for you to copy and you try, but you’re still sniffling and choking.

“i’m terrible. i’m terrible at this.” you mewl and he shakes his head, cradling you where you kneel.

“who told you that, hm? my sweet girl just pushed herself too hard. thaaaats okay. we live and we learn, don’t we?” he hums in that low timbre that comforts you and you feel yourself calm slightly, your boyfriend swiping away at your tears, snot and saliva. “you don’t need to do all that, pup. you make me feel plenty good. it’s not worth… hurting yourself.” his forehead creases as he stressed this information to you, cupping your cheeks to get you to look at him, ensuring you understood.

you swallow, and make a screwed up face of discomfort at the ache in your throat from practically lodging him down there, possibly bruising your inside. your hand reaches up to touch your neck and his eyes follow.

“is that hurting?” he mutters in questioning and you nod, feeling a little bad for making such a fuss.

“wow, i really should have stopped you sooner. poor girl, huh.” he sighs, gently moving your hand aside to softly massage your throat with his fingers before bringing his lips to your forehead. “yeah i’m sorry the size of me is so…unmanageable… it’s uh— definitely not ideal.” he awkwardly apologises.

“s’not your fault, john b.” you whisper, hating that he blames himself.

“yeah, i know but… yeah.” he dismisses, tucking himself away to pull you up onto his lap. he knows you’ll wanna continue on with having your fun together soon, but for now he needed you to be grounded and feel safe.

[idyllic-affections]

general friendship headcanons (sumeru).

summary. what is it like being friends with some of sumeru's citizens?

trigger & content warnings. brief & hypothetical mentions of people being creepy towards you.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. fluff. alhaitham & reader, collei & reader, cyno & reader, kaveh & reader, nahida & reader, nilou & reader, wanderer & reader, tighnari & reader. 0.9k words. no pronouns for reader.

author's notes. just a lil filler post while i continue working on requests <3 should i make this into a series? i think i will HSKDHDLD sometimes i need things to post in between requests, especially when i get a wave of longer requests.

alhaitham is the kind of friend you can just... sit in the silence with. it's not uncomfortable silence whatsoever—it's, on the contrary, rather comforting and calming. he'll let you sit right up against him if you so please as he reads a book of his. you want to take a nap on him? go for it, he doesn't mind. i like to think that alhaitham finds the weight and pressure to be soothing (neurodivergent alhaitham my beloved...). you want to read your own book? that's fine. maybe you're doing something else—crocheting, knitting, drawing, writing... he really doesn't mind. whatever it is you choose to do, you're welcome to curl up against his side while you do it.

collei is another one you can sit in comforting silence with. she finds it nice just to spend time with her friend! if either of you aren't really interested in doing anything in particular, or if one or both of you aren't feeling great mentally or physically, she's totally cool with sitting in the calm quiet and cloud-gazing together. if you do want to do something, however, she's up for that too! she would also take you on patrol with her, i think, even if you need special accommodations. she'll figure it out. if you want to go with her, she'll find a way c: she's also the kind of friend that would enjoy trading easy & convenient recipes with you.

cyno is definitely the card game friend. you will learn to play tcg. you have no choice. it is your fate. /lh but i also like to think he's a considerably protective friend! he's the one to ask all the questions if you let him know you're planning on going out. he wants to know all the details. are you going with someone? yes? who is it? where are you planning on going? he literally just wants you to be safe, so sometimes it might come off as overbearing or infantilizing, but he really doesn't mean it that way! he genuinely just wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to you that he could have prevented.

kaveh is the kind of friend you could stay up until atrocious hours of the night talking to. also 100% the gossip friend. he'll sit there doing your hair, makeup, nails, or skincare routine—regardless of your gender, whatever you're comfortable with! kaveh genuinely doesn't care as long as you're happy and content—and tell you all of the terrible awful drama he overhears. he's also somewhat protective, but not to cyno's level. he'll inquire about your plans and will then tell you to be safe and have fun! he would feel really bad if something happened, though. really bad. will definitely, 100%, without a doubt tell off any creeps bothering you. he can pretend to be your brother or your boyfriend, whatever you need. he'll do it.

nahida is the therapist friend, in a way. she doesn't completely understand human emotions and thought processes, but she is totally happy to listen to whatever you need to get off your chest! it helps her understand you and other people better, and it (hopefully) helps you feel better. her advice is a little difficult to understand, admittedly... she tries her best though! if you don't understand, feel free to tell her. she'll try to be clearer. it may or may not work, and she has a chance of making her point even more confusing, but she really does try.

nilou is the kind of friend who's happy to do activities with you. she's happy to do anything as long as it's with her friend! she'll take you out to the shopping (only for you two to inevitably return with a ridiculous amount of free gifts for nilou, namely from the grand bazaar vendors...) if you'd like, or she can get you guys tickets to some of her favorite performances! she'd also love to teach you her style of dance if you'd be willing to and are able to learn. if you're not able, though, that's okay! she really doesn't mind. i like to think she'd also be super supportive of you and all your pursuits.

the wanderer is, quite simply, the begrudging friend. he will NOT admit that he cares about you and will claim the exact opposite. he'll say that he absolutely does not care whatsoever (but will then, in the same sentence, berate someone for so much as glancing at you in a way he deems to be wrong). he's a bit emotionally inarticulate—and rightfully so—but he really does care. his ways of showing it are just a little odd and unconventional. he acts like every display of affection ever is such a terrible burden that should not have been put on his shoulders, but secretly really loves holding your hand or giving you a hug. also really likes being held. like. he would die before admitting that but he... he just needs to be held, you know?

tighnari is the kind of friend who tells you all sorts of things—he shares his knowledge so freely with you, it's sort of like a love language. he'll tell you all about the local flora, explaining what plants you could eat in the case of an emergency and what ones you should never even touch. also as his friend you are allowed to touch his ears and tail. imagine habitually fidgeting with them while tighnari doesn't even flinch because, as long as you're always careful and gentle, he trusts you enough for that kind of thing. i bet he is very soft. anyway, i can't explain it, but i just know his hugs are warm and comforting and protective. he definitely gives really good hugs.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[riverlikethelake]

May the dead walk again

Summary: Your foster fathers, Max and Norm present you with an avatar, an early birthday gift and it feels like the weight of the world has been simultaneously lifted and placed on your shoulders. After running into a Na'vi boy, you're taken to the Omaticaya and given the chance to become one of the people, your friend's older brother being the one to teach you.

Pairing: Neteyam x Avatar!reader

Word count: 7.5k

Warnings/notes: mentions of death, depression, angst, fluff, development of platonic/familial relationships, Spider tries, Protective!Norm, foster family in the lab, the beginning was written when i was sleep deprived, slowburn, slight enemies to lovers, Neteyam and reader are in denial

series master list | Would stardust fix us? Part one.

The Na’vi say that everyone is born twice, it’s a metaphor for young Na’vi going through their iknimaya and earning their place in the clan, but sometimes you wish it was more than that. You pray to Eywa, a god, a mother you’ve never known, and doubt will ever feel, that when you die you will get reborn. Maybe you’re manifesting an early demise, but you cannot bring yourself to care.  

You will die, everyone does, your death has just always been by your side, its weight enveloping you in a suffocating embrace, plaguing your life with its entire being.  

So, you pray to be reborn, into a body with legs that will carry you across the planet you were born on yet never get to see, with a heart that will beat steady as you run, with lungs that will breathe in the deadly air that you crave to feel blowing on your skin.  

You sit in one of the chairs, knees to your chest hunched over as you read one of Grace’s logs. You keep your eyes glued to the screen even as you hear the decompression chamber going off. You hear the chatter of your brother and friends as they enter the lab, you don’t have to turn around to know that the quick footsteps are Kiri running over to see her mother in the Amnio tank. 

Large hands rest on your shoulders from behind as Lo’ak leans over to look at the computer you’re reading on. “Watcha reading about this time?” he asks, amusement in his voice. You rest your head against his forearm.  

“Razor palm” you answer, you see him tilt his head in confusion out of the corner of your eye. “pxiut” you add.  He thinks for a moment before shaking his head “px-iu-t" he drawls, showing you the correct pronunciation.  

“pxiut” you state, correctly this time. He grins and pats your shoulder before pulling back and turning to lean on the desk. Spider walks up and glances at your screen, he leans in inspecting the image and shrugs. “My drawing was better” He grins. 

You roll your eyes and smile “Oh definitely, the detail you had?” you tease, dramatically doing a ‘chef’s kiss’ motion. Spider playfully smacks the side of your head and backs away, turning to walk to Kiri. You turn your attention back to the screen, reading about the plant.  

The world of Pandora always fascinated you, the plants and animals that resided on the planet captured your eye from a young age. You grew up staring out the windows of the biolab into the world beyond, once you learned to read, your birthday gifts were always wider access to all the files they had about pandora, from the process of its discovery to the day-to-day experiments Max runs.  

You never stepped foot outside the lab doors though, you barely even stepped outside your room. When you were younger, you’d pester Spider about what he saw, making him describe each plant and animal in detail. He’d oblige you, staying up late telling you stories of his adventures, he even started drawing plants he found. It was the closest you got to the world beyond, your obsession with anything and everything Pandora growing with each moment you could feel the presence of what laid beyond the walls. 

Lo’ak watches as you pay full attention to the screen in front of you, completely absorbed in your own world. He taps on the desk to get your attention. “So, the little hideaway is finally out of her room huh?” he teases, your eyes flutter to him before going back to the screen. “Don’t get used to it” you mumble. 

He chuckles, “I haven’t seen you in a few weeks, what's new?” he leans forward, keeping his eyes on you. You shrug “Not much, I looked over the test samples Norm collected, nothing you’d be interested in though” you explain, leaning back into the chair as you looked at him.  

Lo’ak scrunches his nose “It seems like that’s all you do now” you nod, he huffs “But you don’t even go outside, you’re so obsessed with the world, but you don’t even know what it looks like up close.” You give him a look before turning back to your computer. 

You’ve heard him complain about your lack of interest in seeing Pandora many times before, it confused him how your brother couldn’t stay in the forest long enough while you were rarely seen outside of your room. Truthfully, all you wanted was to see the forest, touch the grass and soil like your brother does, climb through trees and hear the sounds of nature. It was something you desperately wanted but never let yourself indulge in, knowing that once you got a taste, nothing would ever be enough, limited by your very being. 

But all you tell Lo’ak is you’d much rather research it than see it. He rolls his eyes and pushes off from the desk, you sigh in relief, assuming the barrage is over, but you yelp when Lo’ak grabs the back of the rolly chair and pulls you out and to the middle of the lab, spinning you so that you face Kiri and Spider. 

“Sister! You cannot possibly be ok with Y/n living her life like a-… what does dad call it?” He leans over the chair, braids falling in front of you as he faces you upside down “A hermit.” he states. You frown swatting at his braids, beads clicking together as they collide.  

“Lo’ak leave her alone” Kiri pushes at his head so he is no longer engulfing you, she places a hand on your shoulder for comfort. Lo’ak frowns “What? You have always been on my side about this”  

Kiri rolls her eyes “Yes, and I still am, but this is no longer about Y/n going outside, this is about your pride and ego.” She states, pulling your chair forward, out of his grasp “seeing who can get the other to falter” Kiri was always a firm believer that you needed to see Pandora, but she took a much more careful approach than Lo’ak, telling you about it’s beauty and encouraging you much like a mother coaxing her child into taking their first steps. 

You look up to Kiri who’s raising her eyebrows at Lo’ak, you hear Lo’ak grumble before she pulls back, satisfied with her victory. You look past her, making eye contact with Spider, you raise your brows, and he nods. He climbs off the tank Grace stays in and shoos Kiri and Lo’ak away, taking a hold of your chair and rolling you back to your desk. 

Your friends weren’t unaware of your condition, but you didn’t like the faces they made when they saw it affect you firsthand, how they’d walk on eggshells around you. So, Spider would always cover you, finding some way to get the attention off you or get you out of the room. 

“Just let Y/n do her thing, you’re gonna make her retreat back to her little hideout” he teases lamely, ruffling your hair. You stick your tongue out at him, but smile, placing your hand on his in a way to say thank you.  

The past few weeks, whenever you stood up or walked, you’d feel like you were going to faint and would need several minutes to recover and stabilize, hence your lack of presence whenever the Sully kids visited. Of course Spider would brush off their worry and tell this it you were just being moody, wanting to be alone, or getting in a fight. But you could only be gone so long without raising suspicion. 

You tune out your friends as they bicker, trying to read the rest of the report but your mind was flooded with thoughts. You glance to the corner of your screen, looking at the time. Norm and Max would be back at any moment, and they will throw a fit if they find you out of your bed. 

You think for a minute, weighing your options. Norm wasn’t subtle about his worry for you, nor was he good at hiding your condition from others. If he came back now, there’s no guarantee he’d get the memo to keep Lo’ak and Kiri out of the loop. If you got up now, you’d no doubt cause worry, they’re already suspicious about your disappearance the past few weeks. But, Lo’ak and Kiri don’t actually know much about humans, you could always blame your adverse reaction on dehydration or not eating anything. 

You thought for a moment before pushing away from the desk and standing up, you groan as you feel your head swirl, limbs suddenly feeling like jello. Within a second, Spider’s at your side, placing himself under your arm to support you. 

You throw your head back groaning, Kiri and Lo’ak are at your side asking questions, running their hands across your arm and forehead. “M’fine, just dehydrated” you mumble as Spider starts to lead you away.  

Kiri starts to fuss at you about taking care of yourself when you hear the decompression door opening. Before you can react, you hear Norm calling out your name. You groan at the loud noise, a lump forming in your throat. There goes your plan. 

Norm and Max rush over, Spider transfers you to them, Norm fully picking you up in his arms. “What are you doing outside of your room? You know how unstable you are right now” He fusses. You groan “M’fine Norm” Your head is throbbing, your eyes screw shut and your tongue feels heavy and numb in your mouth. 

“What do you mean unstable?” Lo’ak presses, stepping forward to inspect you. You open your eyes, frowning. “I’m fine Lo’ak, they’re just being dramatic” you swat at him, shaking your head. 

“Y/n you look like you’re going to pass out, I don’t think you’re fine” he retorts, raising his brows. You look to Max hoping he’d help your case, but he just shrugs “You need rest Y/n” he explains. You roll your eyes and shake your head, pushing at Norm’s chest to be let down. 

“I can take care of myself” you state, embarrassed at the commotion your foster fathers were making. Norm grunts and starts walking out of the room, ignoring the questions your friends keep asking. He makes it to the back of the building before you notice everyone following you, Spider catching up and telling Max something you can’t make out. 

Before you know it, you’re being laid down on your bed and Max is making quick work of the medication and equipment kept by your bed. You sit up as Max wraps a blood pressure monitor around your arm, huffing as Norm places a hand on your forehead. He points Spider to the pack of water bottles they keep by your nightstand; he grabs one and hands it to Norm who quickly opens it and presses it to your lips. 

“Ok ok that’s enough” you announce, leaning back away from the bottle. “I know you think I'm helpless but I'm not, I'm almost 18, not a baby” you state, glaring at the scientist. “Well Y/n when you can’t even stay in bed long enough to recover, what else are we supposed to do?” He retorts. 

Your furrow your brows, rolling your eyes “I’ve been cooped up back here my entire life, I think one day outside of the room I haven’t left in three weeks is fine” you mumble, looking to Kiri and Lo’ak who are peeking in through your door. Norm follows your gaze, his expression softening when he lands on the Sully kids. He looks back to you as you avert your gaze, pursing your lips. 

Sighing, he turns and walks towards the Na’vi kids. “Y/n is fine, she got sick a few weeks ago and we didn’t know what it was so it was a hard recovery” he explains “But we have a better handle on it now, she just needs some water and rest and she’ll be ok” he watches as they glance to each other, worry spread across their face. 

They look to you before retreating, murmuring to each other. You bring your knees to your chest, burying your face into your arms. Spider crawls over you, sitting on your side, wrapping an arm around you.  

You take deep breaths, pinching your eyes shut. After a moment Max takes the monitor off you and his hand takes its place. “Get some rest Bug, it’s the fastest way to recover” he squeezes your arm before standing up, he places a quick kiss on the top of your head and walks out. 

Norm watches you for a second and sighs, ruffling your hair and walking out, closing the door behind him. You don’t lift your head even after they leave, so Spider rests his head on your shoulder.  

Even as a kid you felt uneasy about others knowing your condition, there was no way to completely hide it so you settled with avoiding the topic all together. You were sick, yeah, but that doesn’t mean you’re gonna die if they breathe on you too hard or say something too loud. Hell, not even Spider knows the full extent to your condition. It already controlled every aspect of your life, the least you wanted was to have some sense of a normal social life. 

After a moment you turn your head just enough to peak your eyes out to see Spider, he notices and makes eye contact, a soft expression passing over his face. “What did you see?” you mumble, barely audible. He chuckles, leaning back against your headrest.  

“Well Lo’ak decided to ride a Pa’li, it was the first time i saw their resting place and there were so many pitcher plants, Pa’liwll Kiri says” he explains, quietly you repeat the name, running through the catalogs in your head for a visual. “Oh and we saw an ‘angtsik from above…” he continues, describing what seemed to be a once in a lifetime adventure for you when for him, it was every other day. 

You listen as he laughs and gets sidetracked, making jabs at Lo’ak’s ability to ride a direhorse or shoot an arrow. You finally lifted your head to laugh when he told you about Tuk cursing in front of Neytiri, courtesy of Lo’ak not being able to keep his mouth shut. Spider took the chance to pinch your cheek, earning a slap on the hand.  

“Oh and Neteyam was pissed at Lo’ak when he saw a scar on Tuk’s cheek” Your ears perk at the name, curious about the boy you rarely heard about. You had never met Neteyam, he had never come to the lab. 

He was older than you but younger than Spider, and you had only ever heard offhand comments about him. Neteyam, the next Olo’eyktan and the golden child that outshined Lo’ak, the perfect soldier and a mighty warrior. He’s everything the first son of Toruk Makto should be, born with his life laid out before him. 

You saw Lo’ak’s envy of him, how he slowly lost his desire to be like his brother, evident in the change from admiration to resentment when he spoke of him throughout the years.  

You were once desperate to meet the brother your friends often spoke of, but as years passed and his presence stayed a ghost, you resigned yourself to only knowing him through word of mouth. When you were young, Lo’ak and Spider would talk about how cool he was, how fun and great he was with a bow.  

Now, all you hear is how busy he is, how he just does his father's bidding and has abandoned spending time with his siblings for training. You take their word for it, how could you not? You’ve never met the boy and you can see the toll their strained relationship with their brother has taken on Kiri and Lo’ak.  

But there's two sides to every story, you know that all too well. 

“What does he look like?” the words slip out before you can have a second thought. Your voice is barely above a whisper, you hope that your foster brother didn’t hear you, but it’s crushed when you hear him hum.  

“He looks like Lo’ak, but more like his mom. Ummm yknow yellow eyes and his hair is braided back, so it doesn’t hang down in his face like Lo’ak and Kiri.” He looks up to the ceiling, trying to recall the boy’s appearance as best he could considering it’s not something he actively takes note of. “he’s pretty tall, but then again all Na’vi are compared to us” he chuckles, nudging your side. 

“Oh, and Lo’ak looks a little more human than him, his nose is flatter, and he has three fingers” he states, leaning against you. “uuuum yeah, he’s really stoic though, he doesn’t talk much and when he does, he’s so serious” 

It makes sense, you think, being the Olo’eyktans first son and having a brother like Lo’ak, it wouldn’t be easy to be laid back. You tilt your head at the weak description your brother provides, he was never a great storyteller, even with years of experience, recounting every detail of his day by your bedside at night. 

His words are interrupted by a yawn that escapes from his mouth, he continues on with his sentence, but you pat his shoulder, his words trail off. “It’s late Spider, you should get to bed” you whisper, a reassuring smile gracing your lips. 

He searches your eyes for a moment, you haven’t had much time together lately and he always feels guilty about leaving you alone in the lab for too long. After a moment he nods, placing a chaste kiss on your forehead before leaping up and out of the room. 

- 

It’s been hours since the lab went quiet, the Sully kids long gone and your foster family asleep. Your eyes twitch, the lack of sleep weighing them down. You stare out the window, moonlight shining on your face. 

For all your life you stared out this window, the shining stars burning into your skin.  

You’ve memorized the stars, the patterns and the order, years of searing each star into your mind. You read about constellations when you were young, the ones visible from earth, it amazed you, the stories behind just a star. Every night you’d search the sky in hopes of finding a constellation, you found ones that were close but just not right. It upset you, you knew the story of Orion and Delphius like the back of your hand, you had drawn, and memorized Hercules and Perseus a thousand times so why could you not find them? 

It all came a head one night when you tried to leave the lab, convinced that the glass of your window and the limited view were the source of your inability to draw the lines in the stars above you. Max caught you as you were trying to reach for the handle to the decompression chamber, oxygen mask thrown on flimsily and still in your pjs.  

You whined about wanting to see the stars, insisting that the window was distorting them somehow, it took some prying, but he made the connection that you wanted to see constellations. You were upset to find out that those constellations aren’t visible from Pandora, but you were content, curious about what the skies of Pandora did hold. 

You started to make your own, disfigured shapes and hours mapping out the stars. Each one was a story, a life you created, a life you wanted. Norm and Max knew of your hobby, even wanting to hear the stories you came up with, but you refused. 

It was too personal.  

It was something for you and just you. 

You rest your head against the cold glass, eyes straining to the sky, avoiding the jungle that lay beyond the clearing. 

You hear the footsteps, the way he hesitates to intrude before opening the door. 

“Y/n...” His voice is modulated, quiet and clear. You don’t turn to look at him, keeping your eyes on the dots littering the sky. 

Carefully, he walks over, sitting on the edge of your bed, placing a hand on your shoulder. “I was going to wait till morning to tell you but since you’re still up...” You move your eyes, looking at your foster father without making an effort to move your body, as if you’d crumble and break at any movement. 

He holds your gaze, unsure of where you are. 

“I’d like to show you something” He states, coaxing you out of your trance. Max stands in your doorway, making his presence known when Norm’s advances seemed to make no progress. You look down, fiddling with your fingers before leaning to Norm.  

He takes your hand and helps you up. “It’s a surprise” Max quips in a sing song way as Norm places his hand over your eyes. Internally, you roll your eyes, your lips curling into a smile as you chuckle. You let the two lead you out of your room, you try to make sense of where you’re going but you get lost at just a few turns in. 

You want to scold the two men, accuse them of purposely going slow when they come to a sudden stop. 

you keep your eyes closed for a second, even after Norm takes his hands away from your face. “It’s a little early” Max breaks the silence “but we thought you’d like to put it to use sooner rather than later” Your confusion from his words quickly disappears as you open your eyes, your sight landing on an amnio tank. 

You gasp as you take in the sight. An avatar floats in the tank, jerking and fidgeting. The face on the avatar was you. Your body, your face, molded into that of a Na’vi. You try to speak but your tongue falls short, mind racing and tripping over words. 

“Happy early 18th birthday” they say in unison, amused by your shock. 

“How” is all you manage to get out. A soft chuckle leaves the two men's lips. “Well, it took a long time, our tech isn’t as good as it was before the RDA left” Norm explained, patting you on the back. 

“But we managed, your indifference to anything but your computer helped keep it a secret” Max added, chuckling. 

Slowly you creep towards the tank, eyebrows furrowing as you take in the figure. It was surreal to see yourself like… that. 

It’s you but it’s not, it’s a mindless avatar that you can take over, it will be you. You tilt your head as you circle the tank, taking in every last detail of the avatar. Max and Norm watch you patiently, expectant of the shock you’re feeling. 

“Why?” You look up to them, you hand resting on the cool tank. They both walk over, Max standing on the other side of the tank, looking down at the avatar. “Well, you’ve been obsessed with Pandora practically your whole life” he says. 

Norm stands next to you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “We also know how late you and Spider would stay up so he could tell you about the jungle and the Omaticaya” Max continues, Norm squeezing your shoulder. 

“We’ll get it ready tonight and tomorrow you can take it for a test drive huh?” Norms voice barely cuts through the tension in your head. You didn’t know what to say, yes or no? 

You’ve stared out your window your entire life, craving Pandora, reading and watching old logs over and over again to get a glimpse of what it might feel like. Now you’re presented with the opportunity, and you can’t bring yourself to say yes. 

You don’t trust yourself to not give up everything for the world that lies beyond the walls of your home. 

“I’m not 18 yet” you blurt out, coming up with any reason to refuse the gift. “Close enough” Norm shrugs. Max sends you a short smile “We’re sorry about freaking out earlier, you’ve been doing everything we said to recover, and it wasn’t fair to blow up on you like that” 

You stare at him silently, hands itching. God, you have everything you’ve ever wanted right here at your fingertips, you’ve been obedient your entire life, content with what you have. 

But now you have the chance to live. 

- 

Before Max can even finish his sentence, you’re throwing on the old avatar clothes they dug out and bounding out the door. The examination was grueling, the excitement and anxiety about to burst out your veins. 

You feel the sun on your skin, and you close your eyes, basking in the light. Your breath hitches as you feel a cool breeze graze your skin. Fresh air fills your lungs, crisp and energizing.  

“Now Y/n be care-“ Norm starts to warn you, but without a second thought you’re running through the field, jumping over railing and fallen logs. You can’t help the exhilaration that pumps through your blood, purging your mind of any previous anxiety or hesitation.  

As you land you stumble, tripping over yourself. your heals dig into the ground and you throw your arms out to balance yourself, a second tics by and a laugh escapes your lips. You throw your head up and stare into the sky. Your lips hurt from how hard you’re smiling. 

You look down at your feet digging into the ground, wiggling your toes into the soil. You whip your head around, smiling widely at Norm watching you from the door. You’re outside. Actually outside. Within seconds you're laughing, spinning around in an attempt to take in everything at once.  

It was the same field and forest you had watched everyday, but it’s so different up close, so real. It doesn't take long for you to grow dizzy and fall flat on your butt, tripping over your own feet and loosing balance. It’s without a doubt embarrassing, later you’ll thank Eywa that only Norm and Max were watching you, but you can’t bring yourself to care as your sink your fingers into the ground below you, threading your fingers through thin patches of grass. 

You bite your lip, giggling like a child with a lollipop as your swipe your hand across the ground, committing the course feeling of the dried up dirt to memory, how it sticks to your palms and how the path your hand took bears a faint mark. 

You cant imagine how stupid you look to Norm as he walks up to you, you’re literally playing in dirt, but the look on both your faces show no proof that either of you care. He ruffles your hair, reminding you of how messy and unkept it is, before he hands you a choker-mic and earpiece. “It’s just the first day so I don’t want you going far, you know how badly that could have gone for Jake” his comment draws a giggle from you, knowing the story of the great Toruk Makto from the perspective of the science guys by heart.  

“Check in every hour and keep an eye on your surroundings” He drones on with the safety speech he drilled into Spider as a kid, you listened but your attention is taken by the forest that lies just meters ahead of you, the edge just a glimpse of the world beyond.  

It’s captivating, every movement and sound draws your attention. It’s so much bigger than you ever could have imagined, the towering trees pushing a subtle sense of dread in your stomach. You could get lost, lose track of time, fall in love, so easily.  

You’re hypnotized by the sway of the leaves, the quiet movements and way the air shifts.  

Can you do this? 

You’re pulled out of your trance when he nudges your shoulder, you blink hard and look to him. “Were you even-? Whatever” he sighs “Just please don’t-” he hands you a knife “Don’t die, you’ll come back to your real body and it wont hurt you but it’s not a fun experience…” you take the knife, observing it. 

It’s a common hunting knife, the netting wrapped around the handle is worn, basic weaving patterns. You look up to him, tilting your head. He smiles and nods to the forest “Be safe kid, I want you home before eclipse.”  

You push yourself up and you take a moment to take in your sudden height difference. A smirk slips onto your lips and he rolls his eyes, biting your lip you turn to the forest. anxiously, you step forward, one foot in front of the other. 

Before you can think, your feet are speeding up, pushing you forward into the jungle you stared at for 17 years. You break through the edge and you’re surrounded by trees and green, the forest envelopes you, the earthy smell sinking into your skin.  

You slow down once you’re several meters past the edge, taking in everything around you. The leaves far above you sway in the wind, tiny critters crawl around on the trees and fallen over logs. The sound hypnotizes you, each noise and bustle piercing your ears. The forest envelopes you, every part of your being melting into the air, begging to become one.  

You’re smiling so hard, your lips feel like they’re going to split, the ache in your cheeks forgotten before you can even bring yourself to notice. 

You’re in the forest. 

You take a moment to breathe in the air, the damp smell of wood and moss, soil and plants sprawling across the floor and trees. Vines wrap around branches, hanging down, some of the flowers move as if they were breathing, the sway of the grass in sync. Chirps and clicks echo, your head swiveling trying to find the source.  

Your legs are moving unconsciously, your body in a trance. The feel of the ground beneath you is entrancing, the tickle of the grass on the bottoms of your feet, its disorienting how soft the soil is compared to the hard floors of your home. Except it didn’t feel like home anymore, it never did, this is what feels right. 

The smoothness of the giant leaves you run your hand over, the flowers sprouting from vines and plants, leaves of plants grazing your legs, it all leaves you breathless. Names run through your head as you observe the plants, their names popping into your head, the properties and uses. Its surreal to see them up close, in real life.  

I should take samples... You think to yourself but pack the idea to the back of your mind, another day perhaps.  

The forest is enchanting, taking all of your attention, you forget Norm’s advice and just wander through the green aimlessly. You don’t even realize how far you’ve gone, how long it’s been, the pair of eyes that's been trailing you for at least a mile.  

Neteyam doesn't understand you… you’re na’vi but wearing human clothes? Obviously, you must be an Avatar, but he’s met all the Avatar’s left on Pandora during the meeting with his father, and you’re careless, like a toddler who just learned to walk. Uncaring of where you are, where you’re going, clueless of your surroundings.  

He considered you could be a Skyperson, the ones who returned, but his father and the scientists doubted that the RDA would fund an Avatar program after their last mission. You’re also defenseless, wearing old clothes and no gun, no soldier, no sign that you’re here maliciously. You’re not a threat. He still keeps his bow ready despite his certainty that you’re harmless, in case you make an unsavory move or a different threat makes an appearance. 

He tilts his head as he watches you, you’re smiling and immersing yourself in the forest. The way you take it all in reminds him of his sister, but this is different. His sister has a natural connection, the forest being her home, you’re engulfed by it, if he hadn’t been keeping such an intent eye on you then you would have disappeared right before him.  

Something about the way you walked, the delicate placing of your feet, the careful posture you kept to be able to turn and see all of the forest at any moment, he couldn’t just let you wander off. It’s his job as future Olo’eyktan to be vigilant and mindful, your presence, even innocuous, wasn’t something that could be acquitted.  

So he followed you, tilting his ears to make sense of your whispers to yourself. He knows English, his entire family is fluent in it, but he still frowns when he recognizes you’re speaking it. He and his siblings will use it occasionally, but he often avoids it due to the distaste he feels about it, the association it has with skypeople leaving a bad taste in his mouth. 

He doesn’t contemn skypeople as much as his mother or other members of the clan, but he never goes out of his way to speak or associate with them.  

With a soft giggle, his entire attention locks onto your face. Your hand comes up to rest your fingers In front of your mouth as you smile at the bugs fluttering around a twirling plant after you tapped it.  

Yeah… like a toddler… 

He purses his lips to hold back the sigh that tries to escape his lips, how much longer must he watch you? The decision it up to him but he doesn’t know how to approach the situation. 

He tilts his head, shifting his weight on his feet. He’s about to leave, deciding you’re not going to cause a problem, when an atokirina’ floats in front of his. It bobs through the air, seemingly aimlessly, before slowly descending towards you. His eyes follow it intently heeding Eywa’s mind. 

The spirit drifts around you, catching your attention once it bobs around your head. You can’t help the smile that tugs at your lips when you notice the spirit, you take your hand off the tree it was resting on and cup it with your other, biting your lip as the atokirina’ floats down into the cusp of your hands. 

It tickles at your palm and fingertips, your smile grows wider, such a being coming to you and making contact brings you endless joy, even if you don’t know the full significance of it. Slowly you bend down to rest on your knees, keeping a slow pace to avoid disturbing the being. Once you're sat, you shift to rest on the side of your thigh, humming as you bring the spirit closer and observe it.  

He watches you for a moment, considering you before shifting to get down from his hiding spot. You gasp when he drops down from a branch from a tree opposite of you, you had the sense that you weren’t alone, but you attributed that to the bustling forest.  

Your eyes are locked onto the Na’vi boy several feet infront of you, mouth agape and body frozen. There’s a heavy silence between you, observing eachother, unsure of what to say. You decide to say something, he hasn’t killed you yet so thats a good sign, but he beats you too it. 

“Who are you.” He states, hs voice gruff and thick. You open your mouth, words jumbled in your throat before you blurt out “Y/n” his eyes are biting, pinning you to your spot. 

He doesn’t say anything, observing every part of you. “I’m from the labs, um with the science guys” you offer, he tilts his head, furrowing his brows. You panic, realizing that you could very well be taken as a RDA sky person “The ones who fought with you, loyal to the Na’vi” you add abruptly, hoping to withdraw any possible suspicions or misgivings.  

His expression remains unchanging, it makes you nervous, unsure of what to do or say. Before you can try and add anything, “Come” is all he says, nodding his head in the direction he turns to walk in. Realizing the woodsprite is long gone, having floated away during the interaction, you scramble up to follow him.  

He’s quick, knowing of where to go, experienced in the trek of the forest. You clamber after him, trying to keep up with his pace while avoiding any obstacles. Your efforts are unsuccessful, your foot tripping over a vine like branch that caught on your foot.  

You hiss at the sting of your palms that caught you, pushing yourself up on your elbows. You start to get up when the boy is in front of you, grabbing your hands and inspecting them. His expression is unreadable, but the way his eyes soften when he sees the minimal damage done to you makes a smile pull at your lips.  

He looks up to you, repositioning his hands to be holding onto your wrists, he stands up, pulling you up with him. “Must i carry you?” He asks lamely, annoyed at your unwieldy coordination. Quickly you shake your head, heat rising to your cheeks from embarrassment. He nods and turns to continue his path, his hand loosely holding onto your wrist as you both continue foreward.  

You don’t know how long you walk for, letting the boys hold on you guide you as you study the forest you pass by. Before you know it, his pace is slowing and you peak over his figure to see the village. A pit grows in your stomach, you fiddle with your hands, wringing your fingers as you walk through the village, eyes following your every movement.  

You really don’t want to be here, no doubt much farther than what Norm and Max would have approved, but there wasn’t much you could do. You didn’t want to protest or run, overly aware of how easily the boy could overpower and kill you, but there was also the curiousity of the forest guiding you. 

The Na’vi know the forest better than you ever could, you’d no doubt be safer with a stranger than on your own, it’s a chance to see and explore the forest without worry of getting lost or running into danger. And now being in the village? It’s unexpected, but you can’t deny the ecitment that swirls with the anxiety in your chest. 

He walks up to a particular tent, you notice its larger than the others, not by much though. Na’vi start to surround you, curious about you and the boy, the whispers and eyes on you causing you to bite your lip nervously. The boy calls out to the tent, after a moment the flaps open and out walks a tall man adorned in intricate jewelry spreading across his shoulders and chest, a tall woman and an older woman stalking out after him.  

Their eyes fall on the boy, then you, the woman’s eyes narrow, tilting her chin up. The man just seems confused, looking to the boy for an explanation. They start speaking in the language, you understand some of it, but you’re not fluent. You pick up “Eywa’s sign” “Harmless” “daughter of the sky men” ect. You can interpret what they’re talking about, but you can’t understand specifically what is being said. 

The woman narrows her eyes, studying you. You resist squirming under her gaze until the man turns to you and speaks “So, you’re Y/n, Spider’s sister, right?” his English is clean, almost as if you were talking to one of the guys in the biolab and you mind makes the connection. 

This is Jake Sully 

Your eyes widen at the realization, but you keep yourself composed. Carefully you nod “Yes sir, they gave me this Avatar as an early birthday gift and I decided to look around the forest” you explain, you bite the inside of your cheek “I’ve never seen it before” you whisper weakly, averting your gaze to the floor.  

The woman, who you assume is Neytiri circles you, surveying your appearance and self. She stops next to you, brushing her fingertips against your loose hair. “You have never been outside of that tawtute vessel?” she muses, curiously watching your facial response.  

Your eyes dart to her, biting your lip you start to nod but the attention is drawn away when a familiar voice calls out. “Y/n?!” to your side, Spider, Lo’ak, and Kiri stand startled. Spider’s mouth twists into a grin before stepping foreward, he looks you up and down “So it was viable huh?” he asks amused, you tilt your head in confusion, you're about to say something before he continues “and they gave it to you early? And they didn’t even tell me” He feigns hurt, his amusement growing by the second. 

“Wait Spider you knew about this?” Lo’ak asks, stepping foreword and grabbing him by the shoulder, pointing at you. Your brother shrugs, explaining that it was an idea they told him about a few years ago but never confirmed. Kiri steps foreword, a smile growing on her lips. 

Her hands graze your cheeks as she observes every part of your face and body “This is amazing Y/n!” her eyes lock with yours “this is amazing” her smile bleeds into yours, a shy grin forming as she takes your hands in hers and laughs.  

“Yeah now you can actually hang out with us” Lo’ak roughly places his hand on your head, the height difference not as drastic as before but still there. You shyly tilt your head, biting your lip at the excitement of your friends and brother. 

The buzz seems to die when their eyes are drawn to the figure that steps closer behind you, out of your peripheral you see the older woman, the Tsahik, stare at them, communicating through their eyes before they take their hands off you and back up a few steps. A lump forms in your throat as you turn to fully face the towering woman. Her gaze is unwavering, strong, it makes you want to say something, anything. 

“What is your purpose, girl?” She questions, the weight of her words pulling down on your every limb. What does she mean? It’s such an intense yet vague question, her firm expression not giving any help to your attempts to decipher what’s the right thing to say.  

To live. 

You’re out of the lab, face to face with someone other than a person you’ve known literally your entire life. You’re not confined to those walls anymore, you can breathe the air, walk and run without concern, see and live among what you’ve been learning about your entire life, yearning for it. 

It wasn’t your intention when you stepped into the forest, and you’re sure it was Max and Norms either, but the opportunity is right in front of you. This is your choice, completely and entirely your choice. 

“To learn the ways of the forest” you say carefully “the ways of the people” you bite your lip as she slowly looks you up and down. She finally meets your eyes and you straighten your back, keeping her gaze locked with yours. You can’t explain the relief that washes over your chest when her eyes twitch, the slightest softness creeping into her expression. 

She glances to the boy then to Jake and Neytiri, again silently communicating with their eyes. After a moment she turns back to you. “I trust my grandson’s judgement” She states, your mind goes blank for a moment before she continues “both my grandchildren and the Great Mother see something in you, it would be foolish to reject you.” She turns to Jake and Neytiri again, looking to the people surrounding you all now. 

“She will be taught the ways of the people” She announces firmly, she locks eyes with Jake, then glances down to the boy who brought you here. Jake breathes in before stepping forward, placing a hand on the boys shoulder. “My son is to be Olo’eyktan, he must be able to lead and help the people” He looks to the boy, his son “It will be his job to guide her, a great way to gain experience and prove himself”  

Whispers move through the crowd, the way the boys lips purse makes your tail flick against your ankles unconsciously. You lock eyes with him, you want to curl into yourself at the way he looks at you. The intensity of his gaze hitches at your breath, reviving the weight pulling the strings of anxiety in your chest. You feel a pair of hands on your shoulders and a voice speaks right next to your ears. 

“You and Neteyam stuck together huh?” Lo’aks voice is riddled with amusement “This ought to be good” he cackles, your brother nudging your arm as he makes similar comments.  

The boy stands in front of you, eyes fixed on you, you swear you see the hardness of his gaze waver. 

Neteyam… he’s more than you ever thought he would be 

[strwberri-milk]

Hi there! ^^ Can I request Zhongli/Kaeya/Dainsleif (separately) x artist reader headcanons? I’m not sure if it was once requested, if so just ignore it

Also if it’s too much characters just pick two

Zhongli is appreciative of basically anything. He loves to learn, and also loves to give his knowledge to people. One thing he hasn't done for a while is draw or paint. He's just never really had the time to explore the field, but he does love watching people paint or trying to figure out what the image is trying to convey.

He happened to come into your studio one day, planning to drop something off for you. You'd never really invited him in as you never found a reason to and he never pried into this part of your life. He felt that you'd let him in when you were ready.

When he knocks on the door you quickly run over to let him in, smiling brightly despite the paint that stained your face. He comes inside, trailing after you as he drops off the supplies he noticed you forgot in the morning. You thank him with a kiss on the cheek and get yourself set up again with the supplies you were missing.

He finds a seat you leave for models when you require one, curiously glancing around at your works. When you ask him what he's looking at he starts to point at specific ones and ask you questions about your process and inspiration. You find yourself talking incredibly animatedly about your process, not even noticing the enamoured look in his eyes as you talk at him. He's making mental notes to see if it'll help him plan out future gifts to buy you.

Dainsleif travels a lot, so he definitely sees very many scenic landscapes. With the creation of Kameras he was able to record them and bring them back to you to see, something you really appreciated. You don't think you'll ever be able to see the sights he does, so being given the photos whenever he returns is something you always look forward to.

He's known that you create for a living, almost wishing that he could settle down and do something so human. Spending his days creating might be something he could find himself enjoying, but he's got a responsibility to maintain.

One day, you take out a sketchbook that looks a little bigger than he would expect it to. It was almost the size of you and before he can ask you what's in it you start flipping through the pages, showing him some of drawings you did of the photos he gave you. Each of them has something he distinctly doesn't remember photographing, focusing more on them as each drawing continues to host them.

Finally, he realises that it's the two of you. Every iteration he's holding you, and the two of you are just enjoying each other's company. He gets a slight pang in his chest at the thought that you miss him so much you resort to drawing him, but he also can't help admiring the way you draw him. The way you see him is so sweet, Dainsleif melting a little.

He loves your works a lot, and asked if he could have some smaller prints to carry around. They help remind him that there's someone waiting for him to come home, folding the sheets of canvas carefully to avoid their ruin during fights or perilous conditions.

Kaeya is a little annoying but in the most endearing way. He loves seeing you draw, or looking at the finished products if you don't like having someone watch your creation process. He does get a little antsy if he can't watch, but he's very good at giving you your space and being ready to wait for the final product.

He's your biggest fan, proudly displaying your drawings around his office. Whenever people ask him who made them he always directs them to you, recommending that if they've ever wanted to get some artwork done you're genuinely one of the best people to consult.

Your confidence is really bolstered thanks to his constant praise and support, feeling better to experiment or create things you normally wouldn't. It leads to your portfolio diversifying wildly and you loved it all. Of course you still had your favourite way to paint but that doesn't mean you didn't like the experimentation part of it.

Sometimes, you like to ask Kaeya to model for you. He's great at doing so, totally working his angles and giving you looks that make your heart melt. It can be a little distracting at times but it's all worth it whenever you see the soft look he gets in his eyes when you show him the finished product.

He loves seeing himself through your eyes. You always draw him in such an ethereal manner, almost unrecognisable to him at times but he knows that it's him because whenever you draw him your pieces always take on a different quality. He can feel the love you have for him, and he won't admit it but he keeps every single rough draft you give him of him. They all remind him that you love him, and when he's having a really bad day just a glance at them can make it all better.

[randomnumbers751650]

I finally have time to talk about Lone Trail. I will be focusing on its depiction of science, technology and its progress. Will get a bit political, but funnily enough less than I imagined.

The thing that called my attention most in Lone Trail were the discussions on the nature of scientific progress. This is a theme that’s dear to me and the stuff I research about. It’s easy to think of scientific progress like an inevitable march forward, like an escalator. After all, we are much richer than we were before, right? Go to OurWorldInData dot org to play around with economic statistics in time – make sure to check the World GDP chart, from year 0 to 2000 and see it taking off like a rocket from year 1700.

What kind of Uncle Ted fan or neoluddite would go against that? Haha…hah…

Truth is that, although its effects are there, it’s not a clear if this is the little, neat process techbros want us to believe. It’s new and produces more, therefore it’s good, right? I could be writing this as a new wave of AI-generated NFTs pollute my algorithm.

That’s what makes the storytelling in Arknights so effective: it mashes together fantasy and sci-fi to really tell stories on the role of beliefs, technology, science and religion. The Rhine Lab saga is definitely an exploration of technology, with focus on the equivalent of the United States. During the period before the First World War, 1870-1913 (which is the one that Arknights draws most from), the world underwent through the so-called Second Industrial Revolution and I’ve read economic historians considering it the most innovative period in human history. I mean, obviously, there is an absolute number of inventions in our current age, but in relative terms 1870-1913 experienced a much larger number relative to the previous one.

The escalator narrative constructs scientific achievements as work of daring people (mostly men, but there were women like Marie Cuire), that combined science and technology to help mankind, like Prometheus giving mankind fire from the gods (in fact, one of these books is even named “Prometheus Unbound”); more than often they have to fight against the establishment. Remember Ignaz von Semmelweis? He just wanted doctors to wash their hands. Even I learned this standard narrative in the university. But that’s not the entire story.

The positivistic paradigm – of a science free of value judgements, made with the power of math – has actually helped build this escalator narrative. In reality, some scientists and scholars are horrible people. Later, I learned that Semmelweis, as much as he campaigned for the right thing, was a very arrogant person, who abused everyone around him, to the point few people went to his funeral.

Narratives focusing on one single hero are easy to sell and the ones building them are always on the lookout. Remember how ten years ago, a lot of people tried to push the narrative Elon Musk was going to create a new industrial revolution? Nowadays he’s just an arrogant loser who keeps dragging on his midlife crisis. The 1880s also had similar people like that, such as Thomas Edison.

Kristen Wright is definitely better than them both, because she is actually an engineering genius. But she’s also just like them, in the sense of unethical experiments, collusion with the military-industrial complex and being an overall superficially charismatic, but rotten to the core person. And she’s surrounded by a lot of people like Parvis and Ferdinand.

Breaking this line of reason, I have to say how much I hate Nietzsche’s ubermensch and master-slave morality, I hate Great Men theory, I hate Ayn Rand; these people are sheep who think themselves wolves. And before you say that Nietzsche didn’t consider himself an ubermensch, well, neither did Parvis and his reasoning was the same. For every person fancying themselves ubermensch, there’s a lot of those whom he’d call untermensch to clean up their messes. You have no idea of how times I stumbled upon people (especially libertarians) that advocate lower barriers to regulations that were written in blood, so that progress can happen quicker. Creative destruction works, as long as some people get “creative” and others clean the “destruction”. Deaths and injuries? Acceptable, just give them a pension (but fight tooth and nail in the court to not do it beyond the barest of the bare minimum, because it’ll lower the shareholder profit in 0.01%). Increase in inequality? Nobody will care in a few years, it’ll make everything cheaper anyway (look up Baumol’s cost disease to see how wrong that statement is, without being incorrect). I’m not exaggerating, sometimes the people saying that don’t even bother lacing it in politically correct language.

Because Lone Trail showed it “worked” – Kristen Wright broke off the ceiling over Terra and that will have consequences (especially with Endfield coming closer). The data from her experiments will advance science, the sight of a broken ceiling will inspire artists and prompt politicians to act. Was it worth it? Well, it will depend on who you ask (like, Ifrit or Rosmontis would have strong feelings), but it’s just there now. Serious history isn’t kind on this question as well – many technologies have a lot of transgressions, both legal and ethical, in their supply chain (both the American and Soviet space program come to my mind – guess who helped them); the difference between an entrepreneur and a criminal are contextual, because both are finding new opportunities of profit and both interlock frequently.

In the end, anyone can put an equation that has its uses, not mattering if it’s a good person or not. But that is no excuse to find good ethical practices. Silence saw everything with her own eyes and I’m really glad she’s leading the initiative for a more ethical science in Columbia – especially because people who are willing to break moral rules tend also to be willing to break research rules (this is why the “research” made in concentration camps is actually useless, it didn’t respect experimental rules). So I’m really glad for the Arknights writers for understanding these nuances and communicating them to the audience through one of the best stories of the game.

[blues824]

Do you also do Pokémon? Pokémon crossover? Because I got a request that involves the obey me boys react to mc who’s a trainer from the Pokémonverse who got summoned to Devildom with their Pokémon in tow. Mc could be a 10 year old kid if you want, because I kinda want to see the brothers react when this 10 year old human child tells them the story of how they ending up toe to toe with a terrorist group from their region with their Pokémon and saved the world in the process.

Everyone, join me in our national anthem. POKEMON! GOTTA CATCH THEM ALL!!!

This is platonic, obviously

Also, check out @reiketsunomizunomegami and their art. Beautiful, truly.

Lucifer

He knew Diavolo wanted exchange students from both realms, but he didn’t expect an angel and a human who looked like they were just learning their ABC’s. This is where he draws the line. How can a 10 year old human academically keep up with demons who have been around for many millennia?

The short answer is: you can’t. It’s quite literally impossible, okay? So they set up different courses that are more simple so that you can get a better grasp on the lessons. After all, if you’re going to be staying here, you need to understand magic. 

Lucifer most definitely takes you in as a younger sibling. It’s not his first rodeo, after all. Plus, he’s intrigued as to why the system chose you out of every other human besides Solomon. Because you’re 10 and don’t know much about what should probably be kept a secret, you tell him all about your home in Pallet Town.

When y’all first met, he noticed the red and white spheres you kept on your person. He also noticed that there was one particular familiar that followed you around. He asked you about it and told him that it was your Pokémon and the spheres held other Pokémon that you use in battle. 

He’s intrigued because this seems like it’s straight out of a show for kids. He has to explain that there are no Pokémon in the Devildom, but you don’t care. Lucifer’s glad that you can defend yourself to some degree. You then tell him about the run-ins you’ve had with Team Rocket and he is immediately concerned. Grown ass adults are stealing the Pokémon of literal children?? May God forgive them, because he won’t.

Mammon

I’ve seen the headcanons where this guy is a sucker for kids, so I’m putting this into play. Older brother Mammon, I choose you! He sees you overwhelmed and gets down to your level to try and calm you down.

He will be the one to give you a tour around RAD and introduce you to his brothers. Most of the time, he has you on his shoulders so that it’s a bit of a better experience for you. He knows that the little things matter in situations like this.

Mammon takes his role as your protector very seriously. He will gladly throw hands with his own brothers if they mess with you. It’s amusing to you because he will always act so tough when in reality he’s a huge softie.

On one of your shopping trips (he most definitely spoils you), he notices your satchel and asks you about it. You pull out one of the Pokeballs and throw it, shouting Shedinja, I choose you! He let out an audible yelp when he saw a cicada looking animal come out of the ball. It was your weakest Pokémon, so you chose that one.

You explain more about your home region and how Pokémon are the norm just like demons are here. Pokémon are used in battle so that the Trainer can move up through the ranks. You also told him about Team Rocket and how they try to steal rare and powerful Pokémon, like your dear friend’s Pikachu. 

Leviathan

At first, he wants nothing to do with you. Children are loud and irritating, so he tries to steer clear. That is until Lucifer forces him to interact with you. Then he realizes that your situation is a lot like the anime in his favorite genre: isekai.

He feels bad that you are a literal 10 year old child in Hell. Not just that, but there really isn’t an elementary course at RAD. Did Diavolo do any calculations right when he was selecting the exchange students?

Eventually, Leviathan warms up to you. Whenever you come to his room to hangout or for him to babysit you, he has snacks and juice for you. You both have a blast just playing some kid-friendly games while listening to some anime intros.

During one of these babysitting adventures, he asks you about the spheres you keep checking up on. He’s seen something similar in a children’s anime, but he just wanted to make sure. You happily explained what Pokémon are and how they are utilized in battle. He was surprised about the battle part because these fights could potentially be life-threatening with the abilities of the Pokémon.

You go on and give an example of such a battle, more specifically the ones where you were going against Team Rocket. He definitely felt anger bubble up when you told him about how they tried to steal you and your friend Ash’s Pokémon on many different occasions. He was very mad, now. How could grown adults have the audacity to steal Pokémon?!

Satan

Found you quite intriguing, and amusing because it’s not everyday that you see a 10 year old human in the Devildom. He already has so many plans to prank Lucifer, and you are gonna be the bait in the situation… with your consent obviously.

He does feel genuinely sorry because you are a 10 year old human in hell. You had a pure soul as well, so that made things way worse. On his worst days he feels the temptation, so he can’t imagine how scared you must be.

He will always invite you into his room to read. If you need it, he’ll even read you a bedtime story to help you sleep. It’s adorable and flattering that you trust him at your most vulnerable state. It makes him realize that he is so much more than just Wrath. 

He does notice the spheres you keep in your room. He’s asked you about them a few times, but the one time you give him an actual answer you tell him that they are your Pokémon. He just stands there until you go more in depth. You tell him about the battles you constantly go through just to become the Champion of all the regions and he is astonished.

You also go further and tell him about Team Rocket and how they constantly go after you and your friend Ash whenever you’re on your way to another Gym Trainer. Satan was unbelievably angry that you had to go through something like that at such a young age. How dare they try and hurt you?! They will be personally answering to Lord Diavolo as well as the Avatars of Sin.

Asmodeus

Oh, you’re so adorable to him~ He will absolutely try to steal you away from the idiotic brother that Mammon is because you don’t need to be influenced by him. Instead, come hang out with big brother Asmo!

He would gladly listen to any issues you need to rant to him about because he knows all about bottling up emotions and how it takes a toll. It’s better not to start that habit. He will have tissues on hand as he wipes away your tears.

He would absolutely love dressing you up! The first part of feeling good is looking good, or at least that’s how he lives his life. He would give you trendy outfits (that you are comfortable with) and he would definitely take you out shopping.

At one point, a demon child was taunting you for being human and being weak, so you brought out your Pokémon. You had a full on battle with this kid and one. Asmo knows he shouldn’t be condoning this behavior, but damn did he feel proud. But wait, you never told him about your Pokémon.

You tell him how you managed to befriend each and everyone one that was in the pokeballs you had and how you teamed up with Ash Ketchum to help each other get stronger. While going off on a tangent, you let out your stories with Team Rocket and Asmo is very close to dialing up God and telling Him that His creation malfunctioned again.

Beelzebub

He most definitely loves you like a younger sibling. I feel like he would be great with kids, and we can see that with how he treats Luke. You both share an unbreakable bond and it’s only been 5 minutes since you appeared.

He’s always happy to see you in the stands whenever he has a game. Sure, there are a bunch of other people and maybe a few cheerleaders, but it doesn’t stop him from always looking for you and the bright smile you always have when cheering him on.

He’s the type to always bring you to the kitchen to get some snacks and jokingly ask you to keep it a secret between just the two of you. He would also wipe some whipped cream on your nose to get you to laugh.

It was during one of these midnight kitchen raids where you told him about your life back in the Human Realm. You showed him one of the Pokeballs that you keep with you in case you were attacked and told him the story of befriending it and having it join your team.

He asks you if you’ve ever had to use your Pokémon in battle and you nod your head, telling him about Team Rocket. You’ve never seen such an angry face, but as you go on about all the crap they put you through, his face gets angrier and angrier. He wants so bad to go to the Human Realm and beat those guys to a pulp, but he knows that it would cause you a lot of stress if he did. You are his first priority.

Belphegor

Even though he is portrayed as mean and murderous, he still has a heart. You are a child, and so were they at one point. He’d act indifferent towards you. He doesn’t hate you, but that doesn’t mean you’re his favorite person in the whole world.

He has never seen a child so down to nap, though. Half the time when you’re not at school, you’re asleep. Now you’re speaking his language, Y/N! He will make sure that you don’t get cold by covering you with a blanket.

He does warm up to you and will eventually ask if you want to use his pillow sometimes. This is a very high honor, Y/N. Don’t mess this up, because he’s letting you use his most prized and valued possession.

During one of these napping sessions, he can feel you moving around a lot. He uses his power to see your dream and he sees you with a bunch of animal-looking things going against a lady with pink hair, a guy with purple hair, and a talking cat.

He wakes you up and asks about it. You explain that it was a nightmare of one of your many battles against Team Rocket because they stumbled across you and your friend. They saw how powerful your friend’s Pikachu was and decided to attack the both of you. As you went on, Belphie pulled you close and slowly lulled you back to sleep using his powers. He told Lucifer about it (which means he’s very serious), and went right back to the spot next to you to watch over you in case you had another nightmare.

[irlplasticlamb]

HI HI HI your art has been a great inspiration for me!!!!! I wanted to know, since youre really great at making people look like people in your artstyle, how do you enhance their features/what do you normally look for to enhance their features in a way that works into your art style?? sending ya much love :D

hello hello thank you SO SO MUCH!

i went over a similar question (here) so feel free to take a look at this post :) the features i usually look for to make a person more recognisable are: eye shape, NOSES (as y’all probably realised by now i LOVE drawing noses), eyebrows, lip shape and general face shape :) and the thing is as i keep drawing the same character over and over again i will usually learn what to stylise and what to exaggerate and shit!!

for example this is roman roy from succession my number one boy (sorry kendall :() :

and this is all most of drawings of him (i can only add 10 visuals from a mobile why tumblr why) in chronological order :) :

it’s not in any ways perfect, i could still definitely work on my accuracy skills (and i do i do i promise!) but you can notice the same elements on all the drawings: deep set eyes, bump on the nose, blocky eyebrows!

don’t be afraid to add a lil something something from yourself as well, for example roman’s upper lip is smaller than the lower but as i kept drawing him, i started making the upper one bigger. it’s a small change that fits my style better (i usually draw upper lips bigger!) but the character is still (more or less) recognisable :) i also made his nose bigger — again something i do with all my characters really LOL

anyways idk what i’m talking about my art process is a mess but i hope this was SOMEWHAT helpful

[trianglesimpfordpines]

ok so like 2 people said they wanted to see the "ford is the most realistic genius" post and that's all the encouragement i need. i'm probably gonna sound pretty full-of-myself on this post but that's just how it be like sometimes.

a lot of the time, "intelligence" is assumed to mean "knows more things." fictional characters who are supposed to be geniuses typically just...miraculously Know information they have no real way of acquiring, anticipate events that cannot reasonably anticipated, or every other character just suddenly gets stupid when the genius character is around so that the "genius" character just doing the logical thing comes off as particularly smart.

so you have a character who supposedly has a really high iq, but in practice they may as well be psychic.

as someone who actually has an iq of 147 (bear with me, because this isn't a flexing post), being "really intelligent" does not mean Just Knowing Things. what it means is that someone who's "smart" (in the traditional sense) can process more information, draw more conclusions, and do so faster than most people. it also usually means being really good at rationalizing things. so if you're someone who's well-adjusted and well-informed, that can definitely look like knowing all the right answers...but if you're someone who's not well-adjusted or well-informed, it can, if anything, make you even wronger. you get better at rationalizing your mistakes and digging yourself in deeper. and heaven help you if you have paranoid tendencies, because it's that much harder to convince someone they're being irrational when they're on a whole 'nother level of finding information to back up their irrationality.

ford is a genius. he learns incredibly fast and thoroughly. but he's also constrained by the information he has available to him, and by his own biases and past trauma and people issues.

that one writing advice post that made the rounds saying that a character's biggest flaw is usually their biggest strength in the wrong situation is very true of people who are very intelligent. it's why, for example, you'll sometimes see doctors, academics, experts buy into conspiracy theories. it's not because they're stupid; it's because they're smart enough to recontextualize all their knowledge to support their biases and beliefs.

and so many people do not understand this because they still think of "intelligence" as "knowing & being right about everything." so you get people arguing that ford isn't really a genius, because he was wrong and he made mistakes. but in my opinion, the mistakes he makes make perfect sense because he's a genius. that kind of recklessness is exactly what you get when you combine abnormally high iq with ford's myriad of personal issues. you get someone who's great at rationalizing, great at taking in information, and great at finding surprisingly well-thought-out reasons why their paranoia and antisocial tendencies are totally just the rational response.

think of it this way; the smartest people alive in the medieval era believed in the miasma theory. they weren't too stupid to understand what bacteria and viruses are; they just didn't have the tools needed to observe them. so they came up with a theory based on the information they did know, wrote essays and papers about it, made medical practices based on it...and it was completely incorrect, because genius without correct information leads to spectacular and very well-thought-out mistakes.

anyway, all this to say, as someone who could nominally be considered a "genius" but has been hella wrong about a lot of things in my life, i think ford is an incredibly realistic take on what most "geniuses" are really like. impressive in the right situations, not so much in the wrong ones, and very much not magical beings capable of mysteriously knowing all the correct information because they're Just That Smart. and very much not immune to emotional and personal issues getting in the way.

thanks for coming to my "i-just-slept-for-20-hours-and-my-brain-is-a-bit-scrambled-right-now" ted talk

[count-lucios-bitch]

Julian, Muriel, Portia and Asra each with an Mc who’s an artist, (this could mean painting, drawing, whatever you like) thank you !

this ask is 2 years old but I wasn't active two years ago so i'm gonna answer it now 💃

Julian

Constantly asks them to draw him

not in the annoying way that strangers do

more of an encouraging "i love your work and want to see more" type of way

definitely tries to steal supplies for them

they need new paint brushes? he conveniently found some just laying around at the market

he always ends up returning them when told to

and he's been slowly getting better about actually purchasing items rather than swiping them.

Muriel

"You want to... draw me?"

"I guess.. I don't really know how to pose for stuff like that"

big softie just wants to make mc happy

He doesn't really show it but he's always so excited to see the finished product of any art

very respectful of the whole process, tries to avoid looking when it's not done unless given explicit permission

Makes them paint by hand

Like grinds up natural things like rocks and clay and flowers and makes them into paints

Portia

Wants you to teach her to paint

very excited about all of it

she literally grinned and bounced around when she first learned mc was an artist

immediately bought expensive easels and canvases and paints that she definitely could not afford

she later had to return most of it, though she kept the easel

tried to make paint brushes out of her cat's shed fur and failed miserably

actually is a really good artist once she learned how to do it

uses art as a way to spend quality time with mc

Asra

I feel like he would get them into charcoal art

like they'd mention enjoying drawing and he'd immediately pull out some packed charcoal sticks and heavy paper like "Ive been waiting for this moment"

probably taught them how to draw tbh

or at least helped them figure it out

does not care about any messes that they make

he can clean it up with magic, why would it matter?

has only sat to be drawn once

claims he doesn't like posing because it doesn't feel natural

"if you want to draw me you'll just have to catch me in my element"

hope y'all enjoy! (first official headcanon post since i came back)

[maple-apples]

i started playing dredge on Nov27 and finished yesterday Dec3. I also got the new DLC before did the final quest and did all of that. i love catching fish i love Dredge, I think I ended up with almost 28 hours played over the past 6 days

A pattern in some of the games i enjoy the most:

1wholesome at the surface, ie gameplay, with some darker undertones

2collecting creatures to fill out a compendium/encyclopedia of sorts

3somewhat “simple” graphics, clean or stylized may be a better word, when the visuals are too complex it makes it harder for me to process

My favorite games I feel this pattern(major spoilers btw)

Bugsnax, Subnautica, even Breathe of the Wild, and now Dredge

in Bugsnax you collect bugsnax to fill out your bugapedia, The surface gameplay being catching bugsnax, solving puzzles, exploring, giving your new friends bugsnax they want and being able to make funny looking characters with them, you also get your won hut to upgrade and decorate with trinkets from your friends. The darker undertone is you learn these snax are actually parasites, and the more you have fed your friends, the more vulnerable they are in the last battle to being overcome by bugsnax- your friends are troubled you have the option to help resolve their inner (and outer) conflicts but it is an option, and they can die without ever confronting their shortcomings.

In Subnautica you collect data on creatures by scanning them, sometimes while being actively attacked. On the surface/gameplay, you catch fish and explore the ocean/planet collecting resources to build your base and you can do some decorating, hatch eggs in an aquarium. The darker undertone is of course you crash landed, all your crewmates are dead, the rescue ship tried to save you and got shot down and died, youre infected with a bacteria and can not leave until you are cured, you discover this is actually a planet that has really suffered from this bacteria, the leviathan that could cure it is much too old and her eggs struggle to hatch.

In BoTW: i will admit, it fits a little less on multiple accounts but i can still fit it here so its staying- the compendium does not play as center stage as the other games, however you can still find and take pictures of all the creatures in the game. the surface gameplay is solving puzzles, helping strangers and old friends, taking in beautiful scenery. its dark undertone is ofc calamity ganon, not exaactly an undertone more of a looming overtone that you can ignore but its close enough.

In Dredge you’re a fisherman and you catch fish and fill out the encyclopedia, you also can catch all the aberrations of the fish. on the surface, you catch fish and do sidequests for all sorts of people, theres a dog to rescue too! the music and the water sounds are so calming(during the day) and you can upgrade your boat and unlock all sorts of rods, nets, engines and crab pots. The dark undertones are partially unknown ie how did the aberrations come to be this way? what the fuck IS that in the “bad” ending? and partially known, our playable character seems to have experienced some memory loss, on purpose. hes separated himself into fisherman and collector (and also old fisherman iirc?) to bring back his dead wife using dark magic, the lighthouse keeper is the only one who knows him and she is very old compared to our character, presumably also kept alive by dark magic. Our character apparently also had major cognitive dissonance about himself and the collector, he tells the lighthouse keeper he has the book, and she says hes had it the whole time. throughout the entire game the character is plagued by perils of the sea and his own hallucinations, the line between them is often hard to draw clearly. It is definitely true the perils are made worse if we are also hallucinating.

[bboisawesome]

Probably lmk season 4 spoilers. I type things and rant without thinking so, just a fair warning.

We good?

Okay….

First things first…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

WHAT!?!?

I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN!!! HOW DO I BEGIN!?!?

I just wanna say, I might have missed certain contexts because I watched English sub on YouTube, and I was freaking out the whole time. So if there is something I miss or misunderstand that might be why.

I guess some simple thoughts is where I’ll start?

Official monkey MK design!! How are y’all feeling about that one!?!? My boi was glitching and I felt real bad for him!

I couldn’t really tell if they were trying to say he was also born from a stone, or if Monkey King somehow made him? Or…what? Or if it was purposely vague just so they could do the whole, “It doesn’t really matter who you are, you are who you choose to be thing.” I was slightly confused and freaking out.

Either way, I was screaming the whole time. I died when MK called Pigsy his dad, because yes! He is. And my boi Pigsy really had the gall to say he was more of a godfather!?!?!? MK says you’re a dad? You’re a dad!

Which also, MK kind of went ahead with calling Azure Lion Uncle, soooo…confirmed Wukong dad as well?

MK getting all the dad’s and uncles. Kind of jealous. Even if some of them are causing issues. Especially Azure. Not cool dude.

They really heightened the MK angst this season and AAAH!! I can’t handle it!

Seeing the crew with the old crews weapons and stuff was super cool too! I like how during the training scene they had qualities that their past lives or ancestors or whatever hadn’t learned or learned as quickly. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t also learn from the past. Mei is awesome, but I agree girl has to plan ahead more and stuff. I love her to death though.

Pigsy’s was nice to see. (Also soup bending from my man Pigsy.) He may be a bit tough on the outside, but he really does care for his friends and family, and I love that! Now he just needs to get super strong to help them out!

Calling Tang out was funny. My poor useless scholar shall be useless no more! Flex those brain and courage muscles boi! It was so cool to see more of Tang’s abilities!

And Sandy was perfect all along. I always knew it. 😌 I love how the dude kept sticking silver stars on him. 😂😂 His only flaw? Maybe being a little TOO nice. But, even Sandy knew that and can probably adjust accordingly. He had that character growth in season 2. 😂

Usually I like torturing characters I like, but seeing MK suffering and sad made me sad, and I just wanted someone to hug him. Which he got when reunited and getting his friends out of heaven! So I’ll take it! My boi was still glitching though. Someone gotta do something about that.

There was just so much, I can’t even think of it all or what I want to say or do, besides screaming. Plus I was a little confused in places because I am dumb and it is late. I am definitely gonna rewatch a couple times, and absolutely rewatch when the dub comes out! So maybe my thoughts will be in better order by then? Hopefully I’ll process it more by the time the special or finale comes out? Whichever it may be?

Until then, sorry for my insane ramblings. I just needed to process and yell some more.

I don’t even know how I’m gonna sleep or go to work tomorrow like a normal person! Especially after that cliffhanger!!! AAAAH!!

Definitely gonna look for something to draw too! I need to draw something! Okay, okay…I’m chill. I’m cool. See y’all later, and I hope you can process this new season well.

[dragonclaude]

How do you think Hifumi and Sakura would have interacted during their school life pre-despair? I honestly think they would have had a good friendship, with Hifumi showing Sakura a collection of martial-arts manga in an attempt to enlighten her about the 2-D world, and Sakura grabbing that pointy hair spike thing on Hifumi’s head to catch him off guard.

Considering these two interactions we’ve seen:

I’ll deduce that they weren't enemies atleast xD

They definitely wouldn't be close since these two characters are in WILDLY different worlds and can't relate on alot of things. Hifumi would usually be found in his room drawing and Sakura would be outside training which means they would only see each other in the dining hall or room classes. Atleast they can both relate on how passionate they are with their talent.

But another thing I want to point out is that when asked about her opinion of action comics, Sakura says this:

So if they ever get into a conversation about comics and says she doesn't like them, I believe Hifumi could express interest in learning how to portray Martial arts/fighting better in his doujins and Sakura would happily teach him what she knows to make it better. (Possibly not so subtly asking him to exercise more and eat healthier in the process) Maybe she could enjoy one (1) comic.

[hislittleraincloud]

I'm confused (but not at ALL hating on!) the concept of Wenovan. I guess I could say I'm confused how they work together and how their age gap isn't a strange thing to you (again, not trying to hate OR come off as passive aggressive!!)

I understand that you (I do think it was you) mentioned that it's similar to Cairo and Mr. Miller. I'm confused on how exactly Wenovan relates to Cairo and Miller though, when their situations are much, much different (a barely grown high schooler lusting after her English teacher and a freshly 16 year old and her sort of ex's dad who hated her dad and tries to stop her from butting into a close case).

Also age gap thing, like I said.

I really do hope that this doesn't come off as rude or passive aggressive or anything, I know the part comparing Miller's girl and Wenovan definitely sounds that way (even to me) but I pinky swear I really don't mean for it to. I'm just curious about your thought process with all of this, that's all.

To answer this means examining both Wednesday and Cairo as characters and how they relate to those around them. That means comparing both, and I've been meaning to do this since I learned of MG (through a fic wife and an anon).

Like I had written in shortform before when I ranked on Ortega for being a bit airheaded when she said she'd never read a character like Cairo before: Both Wednesday and Cairo are (supposed to be, there's evidence in both canon that they're not) gifted characters whose vocabularies allow them to write the stuff that they write as aspiring authors (I would actually say that Wednesday is the better writer). They both live in 'haunted mansions', they both love their solitude/find interests in books over ✨boys✨, and their one goal in life seems to be to harass the old men around them into spending time with them.

You don't have to see a direct parallel, because it becomes more direct in my portrayal of Wednesday, i.e. 'Afterburn Wednesday'. I was wholly unaware of Miller's Girl (well before it came out, and before I was sent the old script) when someone told me that it sounded like Afterburn Wednesday, and that was before I published Chapter 7.

Chapter 7 contains a flashback where Wednesday is trying to seduce her English professor. After she goes to him about her research paper/midterm. Because she asked if she could do it on a controversial book/author, and he was now telling her that it might not be appropriate.

🤦🏽‍♂️

It's about a type, not about all sixteen year old girls. Given how scarily similar my passage is to that of the premise of MG, ABW draws from the same archetype/the Precocious Girl trope (type).

I wouldn't be able to write this stuff about Enid Sinclair (though I tried to conceptualize it, and now that I look back on those notes, it just doesn't work well and would have to be a complete AU), or most of the other Nevermore girls that we know. It doesn't work like that. And the type that I read from the show is the same rare type that can be read from Cairo (Wednesday actually strikes me as slightly smarter than Cairo--she definitely would have a better shot at Yale than Cairo LOL--but we also have to consider the two different worlds). No, there was no literal romantic entanglement between Wenovan on the show, but there was an entanglement, starting with the little grin she gave him after he threatened to keep his eye on her all the way to the end when she warned him that his own son would turn on him too.

And that type who hates being around high school things and high school boys and types her novels on an old typewriter in 2022 and listens to records on a freaking gramophone* wouldn't think much of a man's age more than he is a man who can offer her intellectual stimulation (among other things 🫠). I hate to sound like Winnie Black's parrot, but hot slabs of man meat trump deli meat every single time. Pretty sure I recently reblogged someone's post about that.

Hope that helps.

*ETA: There are canon indications that Cairo also likes 'old'/vintage things too (she uses corded earbuds, listens to Celine Dion and the Gin Blossoms, watches old movies, is obsessed with a classic porn writer, etc.)

[redhairedgirl95]

Who do you think would be the guy(s) bestie(s) for each Winx and what would they bond over?

Winx + Specialists besties! Here we go!

Stella + Sky - After the switch and a lot of talking, I think they would mend their relation and bond over the difficulties of meeting the expectations that weigh on their shoulders as heirs to their realms' thrones. They'll save one another from embarrassing situations at royal events, sparing the other from having to deal with yet another exasperating suitor. It doesn't hurt that Sky is good at dancing and never crashes her feet.

Stella + Timmy - I've always thought these two could work really well as friends. Timmy would help her manage her social media, and Stella would give him relationship advice (mostly unsolicited).

Aisha + Brandon + Riven - All things sport! These three would definitely take part in every single competition they stumbled upon (especially Riven). I feel like Aisha and Riven would be extremely competitive, so Brandon is there to balance things and make sure everyone has fun. Also, they are all into surf, and with Aisha controlling water, every day at the beach becomes an excuse to ride the most impressive waves.

Bloom + Helia - Bloom draws (even though this plot point is lost early on in the series) and, given that Helia is extremely talented, she can learn from him. They challenge each other to try new subjects, new techniques. They put on an exhibition at some point, it's a huge success.

Musa + Helia - Yes, Musa loves head-banding to her favorite punk rock songs, but she also craves peace. I can imagine her playing her flute in the gardens while Helia paints. They would just keep each other company, quietly.

Flora + Riven - I've read more than one fic in which these two are considered good friends and I totally see it. Flora's kindness can balance Riven's outbursts. Riven has trust issues, so it would be a slow process getting to know each other and becoming friends, but, once he's sure he can trust her, they could spend time together with him talking to her about his feelings for Musa, his relation with the other Specialists; while she would listen and offer her own insights. Flora likes him because he's honest, which isn't always a good thing, but with Riven she can be sure he's telling her exactly what he thinks.

Tecna + Nabu - Tecna respects commitment and intelligence, and Nabu has both. He has studied hard to become a strong wizard, and he and Tecna could work together on how to better combine magic and technology.