#don't have any time or energy to draw anything new for pride sorry

[nosetoons]

Hi.

So, as you may or may not have realized, I haven't really posted all that much this month aside from that one trade I did. And I have a reason for that: I am working on this year's Pride Month project...or I was.

You see, things started ok...kinda late but ok...but then I sidetracked, began delaying when I was gonna do the next character and what not and so forth. Part of it was because I was lazy and got too focused on scrolling on my phone, and just recently it's because a lot is going on at my job it's been draining me.

Holy fuck, I have never wanted to leave my job so bad, but I don't have a vehicle or a license...just a permit. Almost every customer treats me like garbage, and some even tried to get me in trouble and accuse me of being rude to them all because I couldn't sell them cigarettes without an ID. My manager, being the manager, has to get onto me for bad behavior, and it just tips me over the edge. She was not the same person I first met when I transferred to a different dollar store. In fact, she has been making rules up just so her relationship with the entire town can stay stable...such as changing their prices to march exactly what the customers want, which is something we are not allowed to do, but any objection will get us in trouble.

But here's another thing about her, wait for it...SHE DOES DRUGS!!! :D No really, she will actually leave me in the store all alone during her break (which again, is not anything she is supposed to do) just to get stoned or get a quick shot of dope. But it's funny because she bragged about putting away that kind of stuff and being sober, but of course that turned out to be a crock of shit. Because a few days ago, the cops came into the store while I was working and searched the entire store, including her office, because she ended up getting a warramt for her arrest thanks to one of her relatives who is in prison fessing up over her doing drugs, and the next day, another cop delivered the news to me that she, along with her boyfriend, was in jail, and that she will appear in court sometime this week.

So yeah, no wonder the manager has been acting way over her head here lately. She was a crackhead. Ha...and the assitant manager was gone for the weekend. So that only left the 3 of us to run the whole store. The whole thing set me off, and I decided I wasn't going to do anything when I got home. The manager's boss is supposed to come over this week to decide whether or not she is going to stay, and it's very likely she will not.

So aside from delaying and a shitty job, another thing is that when I do draw, I have been getting drained very quickly. This is because I have more big characters than I do small characters. Some I haven't even drawn in forever or some with lots of details. I ended up saving 2 drawings for another time.

So that being said, I don't see myself finishing it, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to this but life got the best of me. I wish I didn't have so tired all the time, I wish I didn't have a shitty job, I wish my manager wasn't a drug user, and more importantly, I wish I drawing characters didn't take every bit of energy I have out of me.

I'm sorry folks. After I get done typing this, I'm gonna do like a quick doodle to post so I'll have something for Art Summary this year. And then at some point. I'll post what I did finish for the project. This was...a really rough experience and I hope I can resume to normal posting again.

P.S. Fuck typing on the phone with fat fingers my god

-Wage

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Do you accept requests for Merasmus? If you do, can I get some fluffy domestic Merasmus headcanons? If you don't take requests for him that's okay too❤️❤️

Of course I do! Merasmus is one of my favorite characters! Let’s see...domestic...

Buying the cottage:

Merasmus is prone to depression, especially during times of meticulous, unchanging routine.

So, of course, he looks to get away for a while.

He finds a beautiful villa, but it’s suddenly closed for repairs the day before he leaves.

Not wanting waste his vacation, he decides to just pick a random cottage near the same town.

He arrives, and, unsurprisingly, finds it a mess - cobwebs, dust, and several rat traps that still have decaying bodies of mice.

Merasmus decides that this simply won’t do.

He puts down his suitcase on the table - the least dirty surface - and begins writing a shopping list with his owl feather quill (owl for business, bluebird for personal, cardinal for love and poems)

He sends his shopping list and a few gold coins to the nearest shop via hawk.

The hawk is soon back with the supplies, as well as a wide-eyed, silver-haired young man.

“I’m sorry, sir, I just had to see this for myself! I needed to know the face to this beautiful bird!”

Merasmus is taken aback, but still keeps his manners.

“Well, you have seen it. Merasmus hopes you are not too disappointed.”

“Oh no, of course not! In fact, I’m even more intrigued.”

The man’s name ends up being Flint, and he’s the grocer of the village.

He says if Merasmus needs anything, to send the hawk with a list.

Merasmus just brushes him off and keeps cleaning

Renovations:

Merasmus notices that there’s more wrong than just dust - a lot of utilities are broken, the wood is decaying, and half of the windows are broken.

Luckily, when you have magic, you can simply will tools to do what you need.

After getting some supplies - and a good luck note from Flint - Merasmus begins renovation.

He repairs the windows, which are the easiest, and then starts on the bedroom. Imagine a dungeon, but cozier.

Now, the thing about magic is that even if you’re not physically lifting a finger, it takes a lot of energy.

Merasmus keeps the tools working for about a week, all day and all night. He figures that a simple animation spell won’t do much harm if left working.

By the time next Monday rolls around, the house is refurbished and the spell is retracted, but Merasmus can barely get out of bed. His sleep is not restful, and every movement is a Herculean task.

However, Merasmus is not one for what he calls “laziness.” He still needs to paint the outside of the house.

He tried to animate a few paint brushes, but ends up passing out from exhaustion.

Merasmus wakes up in his own bed and with Flint in the doorway.

“It seems you bit off a little more than you could chew.”

Merasmus gets up, feeling a little better since he actually slept.

“How did you...where...?”

“Your hawk flew to my shop without a list and wouldn’t stop squawking until I followed them. I could scarcely believe it was the same house, you’ve done so much...no wonder you’re tired!”

Flint offered his services, and Merasmus wasn’t in a position to refuse. The shopkeeper ended up painting his entire house in the span of a few days.

When Merasmus felt better, he offered to pay Flint for his services, but he refused.

“Call it a friend doing a friend a favor!”

The garden:

Once the house was completed, Merasmus felt a little empty.

He didn’t feel like being stared at, so he mostly just walked around the house, making sure everything was in check.

One day, a packet of seeds came through his mail slot.

It had a note from Flint attached to it.

“I have heard that the more you tend to your plants, the more you tend to your soul. That may or may not be true, but I know one thing: your soul needs some tending to. Why don’t you give it a try?”

Merasmus lasted about a day being stubborn. However, his boredom was much stronger than his pride.

He planted the seeds in his backyard, though he wasn’t exactly sure what they grew.

Within minutes, they began to poke out of the soil.

Just around then, Flint came by.

“Ah, aren’t they beautiful? Even when they haven’t any blooms, they just...glisten, don’t they?”

Merasmus was a bit surprised.

“They’re growing rather fast.”

“Oh, it’s just all the good, nutritious soil they’re in! Put any seed in some good soil and they’ll be off to the races.”

Somehow, Merasmus wasn’t convinced.

The plants continued to grow until, one morning, they bloomed into beautiful rainbow flowers. They shimmered in the light, making little rainbows in the air as the morning dew fell off of them.

Even as he just stood there looking at them, Merasmus felt his heart swell.

Flint swung by yet again, as if on cue.

“Aren’t they gorgeous? Oh, they’ve been my favorite flowers ever since I was a kid. My mother proposed to my father with one of those flowers.”

Merasmus couldn’t help but agree on their stunning beauty.

He now waters them every day with a green watering can. When he was recovering from his exhaustion, it gave him something to look forward to every day.

The reveal:

Merasmus was trying to bake his own bread when he heard his door slam.

He peeked around the corner to see Flint absolutely fuming - cursing, stomping his feet, yelling at an imaginary foe.

Merasmus was shocked...but not because of Flint’s change in humor.

A small, thick storm cloud - a literal cloud - hung over Flint’s head, crackling with small bouts of lightning.

Flint turned around suddenly, almost bumping right into Merasmus. He cried out, sputtering for an explanation.

“Oh...I...was so angry I thought...I had walked into my house. Deepest apologies, Mu.”

Merasmus blinked, then started to laugh. Flint’s cloud began to form again with new vigor before he bit it back.

“And what exactly is so funny?!”

“Merasmus should have known! Silver hair, odd plants, glowing features...you’re a wizard as well!”

“‘As well?’ You mean...”

“Merasmus doesn’t wear a skull on his head for decoration!”

Flint seems both relieved and embarrassed.

He explained that his father had died a few years ago, and his mother’s health was declining - his mother was a Storm-Sweller, and they live considerably shorter lives than wizards - so he moved here and started a shop.

When his mother died, he didn’t have it in him to leave.

The reason he was so angry was because it was Mother’s Day a few days ago, and someone had let their child trample and break everything on his mother’s ofrenda (a Spanish/Mexican shrine or offering to those that have passed; it is usually only made during Dia De Los Muertos, but wizards of Spanish descent tend to set them up more frequently due to how much they value and how many connections they have with the spirit world).

Flint tried to get him to stop, but the mother got in his face and said that the whole thing was a tripping hazard anyway, and that her little boy was doing him a favor.

He had to bite his tongue, but anger was rumbling within him for the rest of the day.

When he could finally release all his fury, he hadn’t realized he was in Merasmus’s house.

Merasmus brushed off Flint’s apology and said he had every right to feel angry.

“If Merasmus was there, he would have cursed them to eternal damnation!”

Merasmus offered a piece of lumpy dough, which Flint gratefully pounded and squeezed until his storm cloud subsided.

“Would you like me to show you how to actually make bread?”

“Please.”

A stronger bond:

Merasmus and Flint became best friends over the following weeks.

Flint taught Merasmus how to garden, cook, and do other pleasant activities, and Merasmus gave the wizarding experience the man never had.

Merasmus became more and more cheerful, and did not think of his vacation time drawing short.

But, finally, it was time to leave.

Every time Merasmus tried to pack, it was all he could do to not burst into tears.

Finally, he made up his mind.

“Flint. Before Merasmus came here, he was miserable. His life was only filled with boring, soul-sucking tasks. Merasmus’s house reflects that. He cannot return there without my heart breaking. But there is so much to be found here...more than Merasmus could find in any magical realm. Merasmus must, for his health, stay here.”

Merasmus still lives there to this day, but occasionally goes on business excursions to find lost relics. Once Flint learns enough spells, he will accompany him.

Ooooh, I want this to be a common thing. That’s my problem - I make characters that are meant fit one story and I like them so much I want to keep them.