#human nothlit au adventures

[c-rowlesdraws]

Your andalites are so delightful! Have you ever tried drawing their speedster cousin, the garatron? (or any of the other aliens that show up in the books?)

I’ve never drawn the garatron! Probably because the book it’s from is bad and I keep forgetting it exists. I have drawn a Hork-Bajir before though! Look, there she is:

I also drew a Taxxon in this ask reply about Cassie and Aftran hypothetically in morph together! I’ve also drawn Yeerks now and then... but Andalites have pretty consistently been my favorite aliens from the series to draw.

[c-rowlesblogs]

In the human nothlit AU, has Aftran ever asked Cassie to morph Yeerk and infest her for a little while just because she misses having that kind of mind-to-mind connection?

I don’t actually know that she would! Maybe she’d ask Cassie to Yeerk her if it was part of a mission they were on together, but I feel like she’d feel kind of skeeved out at the thought of being infested, even by someone she trusts. She knows better than most exactly how complete the Yeerk’s control of the host can be, and how easily the Yeerk can read the host’s every intimate detail and memory.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

AU where Aftran stayed with Karen, and both are involved with YPM?

I have this AU for Aftran playing a bigger role in the series with a young adult host, and I strongly recommend @c-rowlesdraws‘s Aftran AU about the adventures of Aftran as a human nothlit.

That said, I think Aftran joining the Yeerk Peace Movement and Aftran keeping Karen as a host are mutually exclusive goals.  Karen’s a young child (7 or 8 years old), one who was kidnapped away from her father and enslaved by the yeerks.  Aftran says that Karen is terrified and desperately wants to go home.  Continuing to hold her and forcefully control her body would be anathema to the YPM, because that’s everything they stand against.  Even if Karen did declare herself voluntary, involving her in a violent revolution with a high risk for death would be sketchy at best.

I could see an AU where Aftran manages to talk herself into keeping Karen as a host.  I could see one where Aftran actively works as a go-between for the Animorphs and the YPM.  I just don’t think that those can ever be the same AU, because the YPM is an inherently ethical organization.

[featherquillpen]

My top fics of 2017

I’m restricting myself to one fic per fandom so this list doesn’t get too long. I’m publishing this before Yuletide so that I can do a separate post for Yuletide recs.

The Adventure Zone

Tales From the Adventure Zone: A Day in Neverwinter by FilmFreak94 (Gen, 18k words)

I’ve read a lot of Adventure Zone fic this year, and none of them nail the character voices as well as this one. You can hear the McElroys in your mind narrating every sentence of this hilarious fic.

Animorphs

Tell Me I’m Okay by LilacSolanum (Cassie/Aftran, 20k words)

This fic was written for me and it’s soooooooo good. What if Aftran became a human nothlit instead of a whale?

Babylon 5

The Sayonese Affair by shell_and_bone (Londo/G’kar, 30k words)

Set in an AU where Londo does not succumb to the prophecy, this fic is a mix of political intrigue, smoldering kink, and the uniquely twisted romance that is Londo/G’kar.

Friends at the Table

Programming and its Roots by patster223 (Gen, 2k words)

Mako is sad. AuDy tries, in their weird robot way, to help. A lot of fics get Mako’s voice, but few can capture AuDy quite like this fic did.

Harry Potter

The Boys of Crowhill by tb_ll57 (Gen, 230k words)

An epic AU where the Dursleys gave Harry up to an orphanage as a child, and Remus became a teacher at the orphanage to look after him. In a fandom full of intriguing canon divergences, this is one of my all time favorites.

Leverage

Audience: 822,000 and Homeland Security by WerewolvesAreReal (Gen, 3k words)

Hardison tries to make a YouTube channel for his Dragon Age streams, and Eliot and Parker interfere. This fic is so well-characterized and so funny I guarantee you’ll laugh out loud.

Rivers of London

a fairytale ending by Sixthlight (Peter/Nightingale, Peter/Beverly, 9k words)

Abigail accidentally curses Peter and Nightingale so they can’t separate from each other. I love the handcuffed-together trope, and it was every bit as hilarious as I hoped it would be applied to Peter and Nightingale. 

[c-rowlesdraws]

update-- important milestone:

[c-rowlesdraws]

I love Aftran's dorky Spaceman Spiff-ey dracon beam. Your version of it is spot-on. Feels exactly like the kind of thing alien space slugs would all carry around.

Ahh, thank you so much! You sent this ask in ages ago, I’m so sorry! I don’t have any more drawings of dracon beams for you, but I do have this drawing of Aftran eating Spaghetti-Os out of the can.

[c-rowlesdraws]

I’m back on my bullshit*, a.k.a. Aftran 942′s human nothlit AU adventures. I’ve been thinking about what she might look like if she made a Frolis morph from The Teenz instead of some strangers, so here are some sketches of an alternate look! Fresh new morph, same old slug girl.

*(just kidding I never left)

1) in a morphing outfit borrowed from Cassie

2) and in clothes I’ve drawn her in before, because she still has the same fashion sense

I feel like her lack of morphing experience/training would leave her unable to make a perfectly balanced mix like Ax did, but she’d subconsciously want to look mostly like Cassie, anyway.

[c-rowlesdraws]

just a teen girl and an alien, chilling in a cluttered studio apartment, talking about feelings.

(a scene from my Aftran-goes-human AU. How different would the series have been if the kids had kept all of their allies closer? Who Knows, but I can sure spend too much time drawing art about it.)

[c-rowlesdraws]

I love your Aftran AU! Aftran is my #1 favorite character in in the entire Animorphs series and getting to see more of her is always a joy!

aw, oh man, thank you so much! I’m so glad you like my AU. Aftran is a really interesting and fun character, and I wish she’d had more screentime (page... time?) in the series.

Here’s a sketch I did a while ago but never posted-- I feel like she’d be fascinated by stuff like having her very own set of teeth.

~Just Little Nothlit Things~.

[c-rowlesdraws]

Aftran completely slugging out after a mentally exhausting hangout, recharging her batteries by laying in the sunlight, in the bathtub, like some kind of makeshift yeerk pool.

She does like baths! But getting as close as possible to that authentic Yeerk Pool experience means taking baths in the dark.

having human senses rules and all, but sometimes it’s too much of a good thing. Turning off all the lights and lying down mostly underwater with her eyes closed is her way of chilling out and recuperating after a long day. 

She’ll stay in the water until she gets bored or it gets too cold, which can take a while… but actual human bathing ritual elements like soap and shampoo still might not happen every time.

[c-rowlesdraws]

tried to distract myself from the approaching emotional devastation of the Morph Club podcast pre-finale and sketched some more AU stuff yesterday...

What’s an undercover alien spy to do when one of her so-called “allies” refuses to meet with her on principle? Bribe him, of course. Fortunately, one thing that Aftran and Ax can agree on is that Earth food is excellent. If only he just wasn’t so embarrassing to take out in public....

[c-rowlesdraws]

OH NO AFTRAN'S WEARING A BUTTERFLY NECKLACE I FUCKING CANNOT

☆.｡.:* Symbolism! .｡.:*☆

[c-rowlesdraws]

I absolutely adore her t shirt. Quality morph joke.

lol thank you! It’s a real shirt that I’ve seen people wear in real life! It’s a fun in-joke for her, and also the extent of the effort she’d be willing to put into a “costume” anyway.

Part of the fun of drawing Aftran is putting her in new t-shirts. She’s got a pretty good collection by now.

[c-rowlesdraws]

Your Aftran is so cute and I adore her.

aw, thank you, anon!

[c-rowlesdraws]

i've been going thru your aftran comics, and i think she should totes get a daybed, which is actually meant to be a couch AND a bed!

I’m glad you like the comics! They’ve been fun to draw, and I’ve only made so many because you people, for some reason, like this very niche AU and keep sending in asks that make good prompts. Thank you so much.

You’re right– a daybed would be much better. It holds a real mattress, for one thing. Maybe one day, she’ll see the light and save up enough money to buy one… hopefully before she winds up destroying her back.

Look forward to my new upcoming exciting zine: “Alien Brain Slug Goes To IKEA”.

[c-rowlesdraws]

Aftran 942′s AU adventures as a human nothlit and reluctant ally to a group of stupid teens* continue.

(*and one teen she’d throw herself in front of a dracon beam for, but she’d never admit that out loud)

pic 1 - assorted sketches

pic 2 - Aftran derailing a team meeting to deliberately antagonize Ax, because even though she’s on the good guys’ side now, she’s still kind of an awful person.