#experimenting w colors here….. it might look a bit janky

[doomingthenarrative]

nightmares

[southern--downpour]

i'd be really curious about your thoughts on 14 if you wanna

14. How has your art changed over the years?

oooooooh boy time to pull out some ancient art (this might be long. i am long winded sometimes and have been drawing since i was like 7)

tl;dr ive gotten a LOT farther in the past two years than i ever thought i couldve and im very happy about it also i post a bunch of old art under the cut

up until literally last year i was 100% self taught (not counting high school art classes bc those did nothing) so i feel like the quality of my art has SKYROCKETED in since like 2021 lmao

this is all from like.... middle school i think? used to draw on either a sketchbook w/ colored pencils + fineliners or on a janky nextbook that hated my guts

eventually got an intuos and an ACTUAL laptop that ALSO hated my guts in high school and then covid hit and i did not stop drawing the entire fucking time lmao so i feel like there was a big jump here

(if you recognize that first one i am so sorry i wll not be finishing that project) this is ALSO right when i got obsessed with DSMP and OH FUCKING GOD did that effect my art! i started drawing backgrounds and comics all the fucking time and while i will gladly tell you it was the worst fandom ive been in for my mental health i also was able to churn out stuff like every damn day so pros and cons yk (also got another tablet upgrade huion kamvas 13 my beloved)

eventually said fuck that around the time i graduated and started college and finally got in person classes! but i was in the art department building more often than my own dorm!! i had multiple days where i spent almost 12 hours straight in there!! i went a bit crazy!!! but it was worth it bc look at this

(that first one is i think 11 x 17 and done in colored pencils. it won first place in my college art gallery's drawing category but it cost me my sanity and three weeks of my time) but anyways the solid year i spent grinding out drawing assignments definitely payed off bc im more happy w/ my art than i have been in years

def couldve gotten here on my own i think but in person art classes were so good they might cost my sanity but being in a room 24/7 w/ a great teacher and really really skilled classmates definitely has been the height of my college experience so far (my teacher from last year fucking left though and im genuinely still sad about)

[writethehousedown]

The start of all things that are left to do (Jankie) - Mar

A/N: Jackie had been surprised when Janice approached her at the end of their creative writing class, all smiles and boundless energy. Janice was a pretty girl, and Jackie, at twenty-two, had yet to learn how to talk to pretty girls without stumbling over her words.

Jackie was already nervous to begin with, so perhaps arriving thirty-six minutes early and drinking two large cappuccinos before Janice even met her at the café hadn’t been the smartest choice. Now she was nervous, trembling a little, and had thirty six minutes left to think about everything that could go wrong once Janice sat in front of her to work on their project. Jackie could choke on her words the second she saw her, or draw a blank on any story plots and be useless as a partner. Then Janice would think that she was a fraud, and maybe she was a fraud and her parents were right and she should have gone to law school like they wanted, oh God… That was, if Janice even got to the cafe. Maybe she’d decided she didn’t want Jackie as her partner, after all.

Jackie had been surprised when Janice approached her at the end of their creative writing class, all smiles and boundless energy. They hadn’t had a real conversation before that; just some small talk here and there, whenever Jackie felt brave enough to hold eye contact with the girl instead of avoiding all interaction by sitting as far away from her as possible. Janice was a pretty girl, and Jackie, at twenty-two, had yet to learn how to talk to pretty girls without stumbling over her words. And she so wanted to talk to this one. So, when Janice asked her if she wanted to work on the assigned short story together, Jackie forced herself to say yes, to Janice’s obvious delight. And now there she sat, trying to rein in a caffeine rush and starting and scratching out sentence after sentence.

“The air in the windowless room was cold and stale-” No. Pointless.

“A girl walked alone at night-” That’s the name of a movie.

“The rain came down on the-” No, no, no.

Jackie dropped her pen on the table and buried her face in her hands. She looked at the wall clock. Twenty five minutes left. She puffed her cheeks and huffed while looking toward the counter. Screw it, she thought. Might as well make it three coffees.

    At four minutes past three p.m., Janice bounced into the café, in lilac dance shorts and a matching sports bra that showed through the open side of her white tank top. She waved at Jackie and went up to the counter. Jackie used that time to clear the table and straighten her clothes and her posture and her thoughts.

Janice came back holding a reusable cup with a straw in one hand and a paper bag of scones in the other. She sat next to Jackie and left the bag open on the table. An offering. Jackie took a scone and smiled at her.

“Thanks, Janice.”

“Oh, please, Janice was my father. I’m Jan.”

Jackie laughed a little at the dumb joke and Jan looked very pleased with that.

“Alright. Jan. What did you get yourself?” asked Jackie, trying to make some conversation before they got to work.

Jan shook her cup a little. “Watermelon frappuccino.”

Jackie’s disgust must have shown on her face, because Jan smiled until her eyes crinkled and said “Don’t judge me, it’s good,” then bit her metal straw.

Jackie’s eyes flickered down to the girl’s mouth, but she blinked and quickly looked up. The mischief in Jan’s face told Jackie she hadn’t been quick enough.

“Do you wanna get started?” asked Jackie, scooting closer to the table and putting her hair up in a bun, just to give her hands something to do.

Jan nodded and rummaged through the backpack she’d left on the floor, taking out a lavender, leather bound journal and a handful of glitter pens tied together with a rubber band. Jackie looked at the colorful stationary and thought it matched the image of Jan that was slowly forming in her mind.

They both opened their journals side by side and dived in.

“So. Do you have a plot in mind?” asked Jan, while she wrote “Short story (w/ Jackie)” in bold letters at the top of the page.

“No, unfortunately,” said Jackie, and quickly added “I’ve been trying, though. I think I’m off my game today, sorry.”

Jan smiled at her and lightly bumped her hand. “Don’t worry, gorg, we’ll figure it out together. We have eight days.”

“No, for sure. I know.” Jan seemed satisfied with her response and turned back to her notes.

Jackie knew she could have left it at that. But the monologue that had been rattling around her head all day wanted to make its way out through her mouth, and before she could stop it, she was dropping all her inner turmoil on a girl that barely knew her name.

“It’s just, in those eight days I have to fit this six thousand word story and two big projects I haven’t even started. Plus I promised I would help my cousins with their college applications because my mother said I’d be neglecting my family if I didn’t. And I need our story to go well because it’s the first project of the year and if our professor doesn’t like me now, he won’t have me as his TA next year and I need some teaching experience just in case playwriting doesn’t pan out and I have to find a new source of income.”

The rant cut there, leaving Jackie out of breath and incredibly embarrassed. She chanced a side look at her partner to gauge her reaction and found the girl frowning, taken aback.

“Jacks…” Jan started, pity evident in her voice.

Oh, here we go. Jackie knew better than to lose her composure in front of girls like this, who never understood. She was always ready to smile and nod at the tips on how to control her anxiety from people who didn’t have a clue. Jan opened her mouth and Jackie braced herself for whatever tired suggestion would come out. Probably yoga, if her outfit was any indication.

“Let’s make a work plan.”

What?

If Jan noticed her shock, she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she barreled through like a woman on a mission, writing everything down as she went.

“Six thousand words in eight days, minus two days for editing and as a buffer, just in case. That’s less than eight hundred words daily. We can’t meet up everyday, but we can work on the same Google doc and try to align our schedules to have virtual meetings. We’ll take the next half hour to sketch out the whole plot and we can discuss character types as we go. What do you think?“ she finished, finally looking up at Jackie.

Jackie stared back, unable to answer.

“Jacks?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah, that sounds reasonable. Perfect, really.”

Jan preened under the compliment and added more comments on the margins of her journal.

"You really have it together,” said Jackie, still in a trance.

Jan looked sideways at her, clearly pleased with herself.

“My college grades average out to a nine so far. I don’t plan on changing that. Do you?”

“No, of course not. Let’s start.” Jackie grabbed her own journal and searched the table for the pen she’d been using, coming up empty. She noticed Jan staring at her and turned to face her.

“What?”

Jan smiled a little and leaned in. “You, um…” she trailed off and reached her hand towards Jackie’s face, pushing stray hair away from her cheek as she reached behind her head. Jackie couldn’t move, couldn’t look away from Jan’s eyes. She felt a tug in her hair and Jan pulled her hand back, holding Jackie’s missing pen.

“You were looking for this?” she whispered.

Jackie moved to grab her pen and grazed Jan’s hand in the process.

“Thank you,” she whispered back. It felt important to keep her voice low. “You’re so pretty up close.” Or maybe she should’ve not talked.

Jan’s eyes widened, but her smile didn’t falter. “Am I?”

“And from afar. You’re just pretty.” Jackie straightened up in her chair and shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

Jan sat up and picked up her drink, swirling the straw in the almost empty cup.

“I think you’re gorgeous,” she shot back, glancing sideways at Jackie. “I’ve wanted to talk to you all month, but you always run out of class as soon as it’s over.”

“Oh, that,” said Jackie, chuckling a little. “Yeah, I’m always late to something. And, if I’m being honest, I was avoiding you.”

Jan dropped her smile for the first time that afternoon. Jackie noticed and rushed to correct herself.

“No, not like that! I just get nervous around you and I always say the wrong thing when I’m nervous. Just now is a good example.”

That seemed to appease Jan, but not enough for her to drop the subject. Instead, her eyes showed that same gleam from before, and Jackie realized she wouldn’t leave this conversation unscathed.

“Why do I make you nervous, Jackie?” asked Jan, the image of innocence as she leaned back on her chair and sucked on the straw.

Jackie didn’t buy it for a second.

“You know why, Janice.”

Jan did a happy little wiggle on her seat and left the cup on the table. “I know, I just wanted to hear you say it.” Jackie just laughed. Her nerves had turned into giddiness and it wasn’t just the caffeine anymore. She felt light, she felt brave enough.

“Alright, I’ll say it: I like you. You’re cute and bright and I get stupidly happy when I see you in class.” But Jan knew that already.

“You’re adorable. Maybe once we turn in this story, and you finish your two projects and send your cousins to college, you can sweet talk me some more over dinner.”

“Well, who could say no to that?”

They both stared at each other, beaming, until Jan turned to the table with purpose and asked: “So, story now?”

“Story now.”

[flippinoptimist]

> Vel : Meet a nerdlord

Today at 2:45 AM

deputyheadmistress Alright, someone talking to you on my behalf about a lack of privacy got to me a bit. But I'm not upset with you for how the internet behaves.

flippinoptimist thats lurky, theyre a little closer to omniscient than is average for most beings, and like kind of giving advice, and they mean well i think they meant it mostly to make me stop chargin around in like, manic mode, though, even if stuff relatin to you was the causal start of the chain sorry you got dragged into it miss granger, and that i wasn't doin the tact thing

deputyheadmistress I didn't mean them, I meant the thread about different faux book titles. But a close to omniscient being is, I suppose, something I'll also have to get used to. I'm at least a bit used to manic teens, though it's not the best way to get shocking information.

flippinoptimist i think my earth age would technically start with a two, but thats sorta recent after you spend enough time around here you get used to the like, multiverse

deputyheadmistress Can we, perhaps, stop talking about the multiverse for a few moments? And talk about something a bit more grounding, like your particular brand of magic. I'm very curious.

flippinoptimist sure its sorta a fusion of everything ive run across, since the inherent stuff that my ~destiny~ tried to put on me isnt the same kind of stuff as the place where im learnin the inherent is more of a "woo, heres a big abstract concept, you are an incarnation / channeler of a shard of it, neato"

deputyheadmistress That sounds like a lot to dig into, but alright.

flippinoptimist the school part is about how you can structure thought and energy flow into symbols and runes and things i'm focusin on artificing ..and the inherent part has given me a knack for illusions i cant figure out how to actually cast spells but im good at making things!

deputyheadmistress Oh! I was very good at ancient runes during my time at Hogwarts, and while I haven't managed to do much with it since graduation, other than an enchanted bag, I'd be really curious to see what similarities there might be. I wonder if you can cast spells. Logic seems like it'd point to yes, but if you're from somewhere else...

flippinoptimist id be curious about them!  i know the words to a few spells but ive never seen  them and do naut have a wand of the kind you are thinking of the wands i know about / make each have a specific spell in them, and are locked to create a specific effect that triggers when a gesture or word or w/e happens

deputyheadmistress That's terribly inefficient.

flippinoptimist sure, its Terrible

deputyheadmistress ... Is that referencing those historical people of note who end up being so infamous people associate them with the word 'Terrible' as well?

flippinoptimist naut much different than having a necklace that makes you invisible though yes! it also enables a billion terrible puns

deputyheadmistress I was curious. It's a bit strange to add it yourself, don't you think?

flippinoptimist (ba dum tsh)

deputyheadmistress Oh.

flippinoptimist it is

deputyheadmistress Well, that explains that, doesn't it?

flippinoptimist but my species has this thing, where on adulthood we each replace our kid name with an adult Title

deputyheadmistress Oh, it's a cultural thing.

flippinoptimist yeah, and i chose a human one

deputyheadmistress Alright. I read a little bit on that.

flippinoptimist because humans are neat and i like them

deputyheadmistress Oh! Well, I'm glad you like humans, then.

flippinoptimist and i respect a lot of the cultural things i see in most of the human places i have found

deputyheadmistress Good, I was about to ask that.

flippinoptimist also everything that comes out of japan is amazing

deputyheadmistress I don't know how I could let you use a wand from here, but I want to try.

flippinoptimist id love to try if you can think of a way! i am pretty good at establishing first contact with new universes, and i could get you alien tech and magic to check out if you wanted for various definitions of alien

deputyheadmistress ... Alien tech won't work so well on Hogwart's grounds. I had to heavily modify this computer so it'd function here.

flippinoptimist i am curious about how

flippinoptimist alllsooo....  ill have to find a copy of the magic version of getting around from place to place

deputyheadmistress Oh! I wrote a whole thesis on how to make magic more compatable with muggle text over the summer, let me...

flippinoptimist but i know where to find it!  couple of steps and itll work out okay

deputyheadmistress I'll send it to you later. It's a bit lengthy, and I have to type it up here. Alright, I'll hold.

flippinoptimist okay i hate to say this because i am definitely interested in exchangin data and showin things, but it feels rude not to remind you before we get much further that a step of getting this to work is probably going to involve me (random internet stranger) havin to figure out what your coordinates are, so i can write them in the format needed for the circley part i can get you the circle rune pattern either way, but if you want a way to actually use it, id need to basically track your IP but, like, fancy and involving you running a thing on a computer let me know if you want to do that part, but heres the circle diagram

flippinoptimist -- flippinoptimist began sending file : transportationcircle.pdf --

deputyheadmistress I have been warned about random internet strangers.... I may have to work on protection wards for a moment, for the sake of safety.

flippinoptimist sure thing i highly advise not using that w/o fillin in coordinates the way it says, and also not without knowin your home coordinates if you step through that thing, the only way back is to know how to write your home address, you know?

deputyheadmistress Alright

flippinoptimist to find home coordinates, install one a these chat programs, and send me a private message, i can use a couple a tools to trace the connection from there and get your code

deputyheadmistress This is certainly the sort of decision I want to be making at five in the morning. Alright, I've got everything set up. What is life without adventure, and the chance to make the headmistress mad at me.

flippinoptimist lol the decision will still be here at not five in the morning, but you wont be able to blame it on the time then shit i should give you the programs shouldnt i -- Discord, Trollian! --

deputyheadmistress Thank you.

flippinoptimist i have a set of coords i can give you that are explicitely for being a neutral place to meet people, but the sky isnt done yet so its janky lookin but!  the building is finished

deputyheadmistress I've chosen a fairly neutral place for the moment, don't worry.

flippinoptimist ok!

deputyheadmistress > Message him on Discord. This will be absolutely fine. Totally.

flippinoptimist > He messages her back!  About two minutes later, he gives her the number version of her coordinates, which she can use to get back home from anywhere.  He also gives her the coordinates to the convenience store, which he mentions is "a pocket dimension under construction"

deputyheadmistress > She'll... Write that down and probably not do anything with it for a while. > If he tries to look at her coordinates directly, it will really really not work, as if his machine were glitching, but he can probably go a few miles out for a nice view of a scottish country side.

flippinoptimist > Neat!  He ..does poke that far, but then sets his machine to go back to looking somewhere else.  The coordinates are saved, but he promises to himself to not use them. if somebody gives you coordinates, you can go places, or people w/ yours can send you stuff or come visit

deputyheadmistress Alright. This is going to take a bit of getting used to, but if you want to come over you can.

flippinoptimist > ..man, he was supposed to be in time out, but lately he'd been doing so well ..until today.. and he'd been leaning into choosing the Chaotic choices more and more often... > What good was putting yourself in time out if you didn't stick to it?

flippinoptimist crazy o clock in the mornin probably aint the best time for first impressions, though its temptin as hell.  i could send across some small magic gunk and weird alien snacks as a proof of concept, and meet you like, tomorrow or another day soon?

deputyheadmistress That sounds good! I'll send you some magic things too, then.

flippinoptimist sweet!  we can compare notes

deputyheadmistress > Time to gather some of George's jokes and some magical candy.

flippinoptimist > He would send an invisibility ring, a few novelty disguises, a small opal that made anyone within line of sight experience a slightly sweet taste (in a well-shielded bag), and a variety of alternian mass-produced snackfoods labled in a clearly alien language.  Ones he thought might not creep out humans too bad.

deputyheadmistress > Bertie botts every flavor beans are a necessity, though she does make sure to include a carefully penned note about what flavors he may come across that are less pleasant. Chocolate frogs are included as well, of course. Things that turn skin different interesting colors, fireworks that make flame animals bound through the air.

flippinoptimist > He is going to admire the hell out of and carefully store these for later perusal.

deputyheadmistress > He also gets a somewhat large coinpurse that he can shove his whole arm in and still seem to not run out of room.

flippinoptimist okay this is a pretty neat bag stupid question and no i am not going ot try, what happens when you turn it inside out

deputyheadmistress You could turn it out for a really long time. I think it'd be annoying to stuff it back in though

flippinoptimist okay, what if i went for a swim in the ocean with it is there a limit?

deputyheadmistress Of course there's a limit. But it can hold a tent or two, several thin blankets, changes of clothing, general everyday use things, and of course money. Thin things work better, obviously. You could probably fit thick blankets, but it'd be way more annoying both to put them in and pull them out.

flippinoptimist that makes a lotta sense and is pretty interestin i have a tech way of carrying lots of stuff, but you mentioned tech was sad

deputyheadmistress Oh! I have a print version of the paper I was going to type up.

flippinoptimist ive got an amulet thats basically like a mr potato head that disguises you all the runework lines up so you can unclip parts and clip in different parts

deputyheadmistress > Send that along, also. There's moving pictures involved, with her pictured. Oh wow.

flippinoptimist modular!

deputyheadmistress I don't think describing it as 'Mr Potato Head' is reassuring, for a disguise, but a modular disguise is interesting.

flippinoptimist it only works when everything is seated in firmly and shut, but its also sort of like legos > He .. sends a modular disguise amulet over too, with a couple of bits and pieces it only does disguises for my species, but hey, maybe thatll be handy

deputyheadmistress Maybe.

flippinoptimist pro tip if you are ever going to go to a place with my species, ask them which color of person is best for you to be can of worms subject really

deputyheadmistress That sounds racist as hell.

flippinoptimist oh yeah

deputyheadmistress Joy.

flippinoptimist p much sometides people call the usual empress "fish hitler" most of the dudes i know are huge rebels

deputyheadmistress The magical world just recently got done with a war similar to Hitler's.

flippinoptimist but!  there are placeswhere things are fine its just good to check if a place is one of them first

deputyheadmistress So I'm a little sick of that.

flippinoptimist i hang out in like three different places where she got deposed differentamounts of time ago yeah thats aight

deputyheadmistress At least there's that.

flippinoptimist speaking of humans, its great how often its naut like that like, sometimes, but anyway people can be pretty cool when teyre given teh chance

deputyheadmistress I do like to believe in the inherent goodness of people, despite how much bad has happened.

flippinoptimist i think people can choose how theyre gonna be theresa lotta nice reasons to choose not to be a dick

deputyheadmistress I should hope you wouldn't need reasons, but yes there are reasons to be nice.

flippinoptimist sometimes bein mean is tempting, otherwise people wouldnt do it you get all wrapped up in somethin, dont see all of it, then suddenly you get a reality check an gotta go "hey is this where i wanna be" and then people ignore the question because they dont wanna think about it and then its sealed, theyre dicks and theyll stay that way

flippinoptimist till they look around again

deputyheadmistress I suppose.

flippinoptimist i spend a lotta time thinkin about it i was a jerk when i was younger, and i decided to be nice instead so i spend a lot of time talkin to dudes who are or were also jerks and we all get better! cause i can help them find the reasons they need to start

flippinoptimist also jerks are sometimes kinda hilarious, and theyre often pretty good at shit.  otherwise theyd have learned better when they ran into a problem they couldnt solve w/o help.

deputyheadmistress It's getting a bit late. I think I should probably turn in for the night, before all of the teenagers wake up and need scowling at.

flippinoptimist that is probably a thing i hope you have a good night miss granger it was nice meetin you

deputyheadmistress It was really interesting talking to you, Vel.

flippinoptimist i try for interestin

deputyheadmistress Do you really need to try?

flippinoptimist not really

deputyheadmistress Have a good night. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

flippinoptimist bye!