#traditional cuz no tablet in classes

[theblackbirb]

Made an own design for Raikou cuz the balloon-tiddies just straight up kill me

Boudica's next

[rabble-dabble]

terrible experimental doodles with some new brush settings I found. max found his new favorite watercolour brush for the next two months!!!! yall are gonna get feeeeeeed

[fandomsandfears]

Got little raccoon disease and made a EAH Oc like the trash i am UwU

(Sorry fro bad quality, not sure how to photograph traditional art thats coloured :// Need a new tablet bad) (Also note the designs are subject to change, i have notes already to fix them)

Auric Hide, Son of DonkeySkin

Long and short  premise was a prince as the only heir to a princess legacy.

Still working on him but I chose  the story DonkeySkin for the legacy because i had an old unfinished EAH Oc from the same story and i got attached

Personality and backstory ramblings under the cut! (I got carried away)

His mum died of illness (As  the legacy would have it, albeit earlier than expected) without  giving a proper heir to her story. Leaving my boy Auric as the only child and sole heir to the DonkeySkin story. He takes a a lot of the typically Princessy classes and while he sometimes gets flack or odd looks a lot of the girls are quite polite.  He majorly a mystery though and people tend to not want to talk to him if they don’t have to. 

This is not anyone's fault as Auric has a Deerskin cloak to honor his mothers old donkey one. (Different variations of the story have the cloak made of different pelts, thought i’d play with that!) Auric’s cloak possesses similar magic to the one in his story, it makes those around him feel a repulse, they don’t wish  to interact with him typically, which works well fro Auric as hes usually quite nervous if you actually get talking to him. He okay with small talk and polite exchanges or business chatter but if you want anything to do with his personality he becomes a nervous wreck. Basically if he cant functionally prepare for it, he gets panicky.

If you try to get to know him (Somehow looking past the instinctive repulse of his cloak and actually chatting with him) he initially will try to push away, preferring not to be attached to anyone, or have anyone attached to him. He can be quite blunt and rude at times, especially in this  important era of knowing him. If he can force you away from him, or at the least to dislike him, before he gets attached then he will.

If you get passed this through insistence or insight then you see hes just a really tired, really nervous boy not prepared for his destiny and clearly having some sort of self esteem issues. He is objectively good looking, a trait from his mother. Without the cloak nearly everyone can find something they find appealing in him, (Almost in a magical sense, a blessing and a curse he’d think)  He knows this which makes him fear no one would like him for him if they see him. A part of him also wonders a little if he is actually, as vain as he think it is to think, good looking, or if there is a genuine magic that’s making him think that. He gets caught up in his head to much.

His cloak is a comfort fro him. That specific cloak, partially because of its magic. He will refuse to leave his dorm if it were to be misplaced (And the eventually be forced to classes in a hoodie cuz that’s the best replacement he has. He’d eventually lose it and run off. Hes  unhealthily dependent on the cloak for his own comfort and can be sent into a panic attack without it at times.)

His destiny makes him super anxious. He is not opposed to his feminine role  in his story- rather, his mum has already passed for this story (in his mind at least, its really uncertain whether the illness that took her was destiny or chance) and he wouldn't want to make her death fro nothing by not signing. But  he also knows that when he signs his father will lose what little sense he has left following his mothers dead. The fear Auric has really, is losing the only family he has left. A big reason he doesn't want to let anyone in that not necessary. His mothers death left him absolutely heartbroken, and a part of him just hasn't recovered from that loss. He knows hes gonna lose his dad, although in a much different sense, and he cant risk himself getting close  enough to lose anyone he doesn't need to.

A part of him also fears he will be rejected by the prince he would have if he were to sign, assuming the prince would of course expect a princess.

On a lighter note, he really likes astronomy!! really anything to do with the sky!! He finds it calming. Stars are his favorite and he will  sneak out  to a proper spot to be able to watch the stars, look for shooting stars, matching constellations, etc. He also likes watching the sun rise and set when he can. He also likes cloud watching, not nearly as much as stargazing, but it is nice. Really, the sky as a whole in most state makes him happy and calms him down basically as much as his cloak would.

Hes also low key a good cook, okay baker, but like, pretty good cook.

Oh btw he cards through his hair or plays with it when hes nervous. Sometimes pulls at it, not hard just like, grounding almost.

He has eye contact issues although it mostly stems of the practice he has of keeping his head down to hide his face in the shade of his hood.

Doesn't like a lot of attention, gets overwhelmed easily. Honestly the Legacy Day outfit if  i had the ability to design one, hes be totally flustered in because of how flashy/loud it could be

IDK who is roommate would be but the vague image i have is whoever it is they have an unspoken agreement to leave each others stuff alone and basically not bother each others sides of the room. Very quiet dorm i’d bet.

Because of how many students stories view animals as friends, a few people don’t quiet see eye to eye with his story, seeing how it is literally named after the  killing and  cloaking of an animals pelt.

General traits to finish this off:

Reserved

Polite 

Studious

Anxious

Flustered easily

Blunt (Comes off as rude) when you push him

If anyone for whatever reason wants to hc with him with your own ocs hmu!! Or even if yall would want to ask him or me quetsions im loving my EAH high rn and im loving my darling baby Auric UwU Thanks for reading this far if you have lol!!

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Elleth!

✿ Ko-fi ✿ Twitter

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself Hi! I'm Elleth, I'm a 21 year old a self taught artist just about to graduate as a Psychologist. I currently live between Argentina and Spain but I've been moving between countries and continents my whole life, so I can't really say with confidence that I'm from anywhere.I love most fantasy themes and I'm a BIG LoTR and Anime nerd! I'm a sucker for story-centered games, some of my favorites are Shadow of The Colossus, The Last Guardian, Witcher III, TES, RDR2 and Soma. I'm currently into BNHA and She Ra cuz I love me some heroes!  When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon (yes, crayons y'all) but I only started taking it seriously and actually puttinf effort into it some months ago or so. I'm a mainly digital artist, tho I still start all my sketches traditionally. Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? Yeah, I mostly use pencils and watercolors. Watercolors are my absolute favorites, I love how dynamic and calming they are ^^

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) Well, actually I dont have a strong preference, I want to improve my digital art and it's easier for me to keep a consistent production of art that way (art supplies are kinda expensive where I live so drawing digitally is way cheaper once you do the tablet investment) Also I love how clean my pieces can be when I do them digitally. I mostly do traditional as a way of self care now, it calms me What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? Practicing and actually spending the time to learn how the software works and it's functions What inspires your pieces? Anything, from shows or games I like to nature or just things I find funny

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process I mostly have an idea in the middle of psychology class (cuz I'm a responsible student) I do a draft of it in my sketchbook and play with different ways of bringing that idea to life. When I end up with something I actually life I take a photo of the sketch and then, when I get home, I start tracing the sketch in my drawing tablet. There I tweak the design and any anatomy mistakes (which are a LOT cuz I don't know anatomy to save my life), from ther it's just the stardart: I do the lineart, base colors, do the background, then add light and shadows to the whole piece, add details and check for mistakes and voila! Art. Then I post it on Twitter and look at it only to notice a mistake, I take it down, correct the mistake and post it again only to notice ANOTHER mistake, and so the cycle goes on and on. Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

I'm literally inspired by almost every artist I see! I try to learn from every art style and artist I see, I try to see where I can improve from seeing their work. I also tend to like artists from their personality more than their work, I love to see supporting and kind artists more than crazy good artists that treat others as their inferiors. Some artists that really inspire me are: @Kf1n3 @souratgar @Velinxi @kroovv @SHelmigh @Amaretta_ @cherriielle Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? I'm really proud of this WIP I'm currently working on: https://twitter.com/EllethsArt/status/1124055356445986818 But an actual finished artwork I'm insanely proud of is this one: https://twitter.com/EllethsArt/status/1119694506662797312

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? Yeah! I watch BNHA or just Jacksepticeye or other gameplay vids (I told ya I'm a nerd), sometimes I put on a speedpaint or a stream of someone I like hearing, for music I mostly put on lofi or something that goes with the mood of the piece (I need that sweet inspiration!)

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? All that it represents, art can be healing, it can be a way to deal with stuff we can't even speak about, it's in our very essence. You can see at someone's work and see their personality, what they like, their fears, it's like looking at someone's eyes. Ahhh I'm sounding really corny but I really think art is the window to the soul. What do you do when art block strikes? I just try to relax and doodle something I like or just stupid things (like trying to make cats out of splooshes of black ink or my OC's doing stupid things) If that doesn't work I just leave it be and do something I enjoy, watch a show that inspires me, go for a walk, writing things for future comics, etc. Usually fanart of things that currently inspire me gets me out of the artblock. If not I'll just stop and try and do something the next day, it usually gets a lil better each day, so it's just a baby steps situation. What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

PRACTICE! And don't compare yourself to others, you're your own person and your art is as unique as you. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be yours.

[calamaricollie]

Y'know what I miss? Having a not soft-locked paypal and a Wacom Tablet I can't even draw anymore are you fucking kidding me??? I'm stuck to traditional art and while I don't hate drawing on paper it limits me A LOT, I can never replicate something of high quality in Digital art as a Traditional drawing nor do I have the materials for that, and it happend exactly when I wanted to save up for a Nintendo Switch!!! (I can still receive money and send it to the bank account so I can still do Commissions in a way) And the Paypal situation? I???? I just want to be able to commission amazing artists and buy some cool games on Steam??? But Nooo I need a credit card WHICH I cannot have right now, I'll have to wait probably over 2 years to even be able to get one??? Come on!! Oh and the games I bought?? I can't even play half of em' because the goddamm laptop I'm using right now is SO TRASHY it can't even run Monster Prom and to play LAGGY Minecraft I neee to put it on every lowest setting, why this laptop? Well cuz' my GOOD laptop broke...TWICE NOW, so I'm stuck with this thing that's pretty close to being good for nothing, just try listening to a Youtube video while drawing, JUST FUCKING TRY :) Then I'm doing extremely bad at school and I can't help it cuz' I literally can't remember shit that was said in class UNLESS I had enough energy to be awake or it was a topic I was interested like SOMETIMES in History or Biology And the cherry on top of this whole situation is my dad got cancer and I'm really fucking worried cuz' he's just starting treatment Oh well, atleast I have my bf to help me avoid another period of extreme anxiety and suicidal thoughts, otherwise known as my crisis periods,,, Idk why I said all of this here, I guess because nobody will really read or care-

[renaroo]

The Search (3/16)

Disclaimer: Red vs Blue and related characters are the property of Rooster Teeth. Warnings: Language, Canon-typical violence, Psychological manipulation and trauma Rating: T Synopsis: [Canon Divergence - Alternate S15] The Reds and Blues saved Chorus, but it has been a year and they are still missing. A motley crew has been gathered with the common goal of finding the war heroes, though the road is more troubled than anyone seems to realize.

A/N: I absolutely loved writing this chapter. I had a blast with it and while I apologize for taking vacation last week so missing all of my fic updates, I hope that this chapter more than makes up for it!

Special thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown, @analiarvb, @notatroll7, @run-a-goth-chick, @illumynare, Yin, CabooseIsTheBest, EasilyDistractedBookworm, and a wonderful guest for the comments and feedback!

I’d also like to note there was a not so wonderful guest who liked to point out last week that there wasn’t an update. Sorry you weren’t aware of my vacation last week. But generally, yes, schedules are difficult to keep. Thank you for noticing. 

All According to Plan

Carolina knew she was taking a risk by bringing along a civilian without any vetting — especially one who reported news for a living. But what she understood and what Wash and the others seemed to be missing was the simple fact that what they had been doing for the past several months wasn’t working.

They needed a change in strategy. A change in plans. A change in something.

And maybe a reporter honed in on their case just happened to be that missing piece.

“I know, I know,” Andrews was saying through the ship’s scrambled communicator. “Just trust me when I say I’m onto something. A real story that will knock everyone’s socks off.”

“You’re killing me, Dylan,” the voice on the other end groaned. “Do you know what strings I’m pulling for you and you don’t even have the decency to have the GPS on this phone call? The stones I’ll be pissing out because of this are coming directly out of your paycheck!”

“Noted and… gross, Sir. For the record,” she insisted.

“Alright. Jesus. Fuck. Killing me. Fine,” the man continued to snap on the line.

Involuntarily, Carolina glanced toward Washington and Grey to get a read on their reactions. Wash seemed flustered and confused but attentive toward the conversation. Grey looked indifferent, with her arms crossed on her chest and her knee over the other, but there was that typical sharpness to her expression — she was taking in and evaluating each and every word.

“Sent your clearance information to your inbox,” the man finally informed their resident reporter. “Don’t do anything stupid with it, Dylan. It’s not just your reputation at stake here. It’s the whole organizations! Jesus. Just saying that gave me the galaxy’s worst bout of indigestion.”

“Maybe you should try a change in diet,” Andrews responded. “Or… a trial of diazepam.”

“Funny,” the man spat back before the line went dead.

Relieved to finally be done with that diatribe, Carolina leaned in closer to where the reporter was standing. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Andrews and tightly gripped her knee. “Did you get it?” she asked fiercely.

“Patience is a virtue, Agent Carolina,” Andrews responded, turning to face her.

“One I never could afford,” Carolina replied wryly.

They stared at each other for a moment, surprised by how the other kept up with the fast quips.

Which simply gave Kaikaina an opportunity to lean back far enough against the pilot’s seat that her head was able to hang upside down and face them. “Oh my god. Is that sexual tension? Are you having sexual tension back there without me? What. The. Eff. Like actual what. The. Eff. When I try to have sexual tension with anything on this ship it’s always this isn’t the time or place, Little Grif. It’s the same goddamn time and the same goddamn place, and you know what? The steering column is still shaped like a dildo!”

Carolina scoffed. “Sexual tension? Little Grif, you’ve never seen my actual game.”

“How does a quick correspondence translate to any sort of tension, let alone of the… erotic variety?” Andrews asked, still innocent from a life of limited exposure to Grifs and Tuckers of the world.

“It doesn’t,” Wash clarified before putting his full attention on Kaikaina. “Private Grif, I told you that when you are navigating the ship you’re supposed to pay attention and not steer us into an astroid field and explode. Or worse!”

The yellow armored young woman snarled in return. “Oh my god, I told you to stop back seat copping, COP!”

Seeing that the fighting was going to progress just by how red Wash’s face was already getting, Carolina snapped her fingers at him to bring his attention back to the real matter at hand. “We have more important shit to worry about, Wash. Leave Kai alone.”

“You say that every time like it isn’t always her starting shit.” Wash grumped, folding his arms.

“I agree with Agent Carolina,” Grey spoke up, after a period of uncharacteristic silence. Her attention was fully on Andrews. “I believe that there has plenty enough time for a data package of the size a news clearance would predictably be to reach any of your personal devices, Miss Andrews. I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly would be put to ease if this matter was cleared up and we were confirmed for the next step of our voyage.”

Emily’s tone was crisp and high in a way that sounded full of ulterior meaning and threat. Carolina was impressed and worried by it. Her distrust of the reporter they had joined up with seemed very beyond her. But at the same time, tension — of the nonsexual variety — had been high ever since their team had been thrown together with the united and difficult purpose of finding the Reds and Blues.

Of finding… their family.

And knowing that it could mean alive and well or not that at all.

“Yes, well, thank you for reminding me,” Andrews said, pulling out the tablet she had brought with her from her apartment. “And yes. We definitely have clearance to approach the UNSC battleship Gokstad.”

“Which we’re certain was the last location of Hargrove on UNSC record?” Washington double checked.

“Yes,” Andrews replied.

Junior, who was swaying uncomfortably in a seat that was most definitely not constructed with Sangheili in mind, let out a series of long honks and growls between clattering teeth.

“Yeah,” Kai said, not bothering to lean back again and instead keeping her full attention on the cosmos ahead of them. “What the eff kinda name is Gooksteed for a ship? Makes me wanting to name this ship the Fat Clit almost more cool than it was already.”

“Goksted,” Andrews corrected. “It’s—“

“The name comes from a Norse viking ship of legend dated back to the ninth century literature Gokstadskipet,” Grey interrupted, earning a pair of shared glances from Carolina and Wash. “Goksted, like most of the resurrected Marathon-class heavy cruisers brought back into working order and manufacturing after the appointment of Malcolm Hargrove to the Chairman of the Oversight Committee, follow a naming pattern of legendary ships within Norse literature. This was meant to champion a new purpose of use in the Naval efforts of the last years of the Human-Covenant War as an offensive maneuver rather than the traditional defensive, hence using the cruisers for raiding parties in Covenant territory. Of course, the overwhelming size and poor fuel conservation were what had caused the ship class’ decommission in the first place, thus the only real benefit to manufacturing these gigantic warships again in a time where the War was finally turning toward peace would be to impose an intimidating image of the military and to increase spending toward the companies like Charon Industries which constructed the ships for profit.”

After Grey’s interruption, an uncomfortable silence overcame the ship. It was only broken by Kaikaina releasing a low whistle and turning back to her driving.

“Doctor Grey…” Washington began to say worriedly only to stop when Carolina shook her head at him.

“I want to see how far this will go,” Carolina explained to him. “It could be the closest we get to entertainment on this flight since Miss Andrews can’t seem to tell us when we’ll have clearance.”

“I can tell you right now,” the reporter informed them, bringing up her tablet. “I have it right now set up and ready to feed into the HUD of the ship whenever we get closer to the Goksted.”

Kai punched into the air. “Awesome! ‘Cuz we’re here, and it’d be really fucking awkward if we didn’t have a pass when they beamed us in.”

“We’re not going to be beamed in, that’s Star Trek,” Washington argued. “The entire ship will be pulled into a side port hangar by a tractor beam. It’ll pull us directly in. That’s Star Wars. I had to listen to your brother, Simmons, and Tucker argue about this for about a month in the middle of a jungle.”

As soon as the ship jarred and relinquished control to the tractor beam, Kai flipped around in her chair, sitting on her knees so as to lean over and get more in Wash’s face. “You’re such a fake nerd boy, oh my fucking gawd. There are tractor beams in Star Trek, too! The fucking Borgs used them, asshole! Don’t gatekeep me when all you know are comments from other douchebags on the internet!”

“One of those douchebags was your brother!” Wash pointed out angrily.

Almost immediately, Junior began clattering his teeth loudly as if to join into the chaos and send their small crew into more disarray before even getting to the heart of the enemy’s ship. It was something that was amusing, but not that Carolina could stand for much longer given the circumstances.

Standing up, Carolina brought everyone’s attention back around to her.

“Alright, enough’s enough. Everyone stop goofing off and get ready for assignment,” she announced.

Wash’s mouth was still hanging open in preparation for a retort toward Kaikaina, but he snapped it closed and nodded before putting on his helmet. “You’ve got it, Boss,” he said with a nod.

The motion was enough to bring everyone else into a similar state, putting on helmets and straightening up with full attention on Carolina.

Otherwise, the complete opposite of what Carolina had become accustomed to among the Reds and Blues. And that thought alone was enough to make her wince, though no one seemed to take note of it.

“Alright, Andrews, go ahead and feed that code into the HUD and give any other copies of credential information over to Little Grif. She’s going to be manning the ship,” Carolina ordered.

Andrews hesitated only for a moment before moving toward the console. “Right. Of course.”

“More like manhandling the ship,” Kai snorted.

“Bow chicka honk honk!” Junior called out, unbuckling his seat.

Carolina held up a hand to stop the youngest member of the team in his tracks. “I’m sorry, Junior, but you still need to stay on the ship,” she explained. In return, Junior let out a series of growls and clicks. Then a blargh or two for good measure. “You’re the most conspicuous member of the group. Sight of an alien onboard a UNSC vessel of this importance will cause a stir. Best for you to keep a low profile for the time being. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He flung himself back into his seat with a snort and crossed his arms petulantly.

“Wash, you’re staying to guard these three,” Carolina said firmly. “I need you to be in charge and maintain radio contact with myself and Grey. Use frequency Tango-Foxtrot-Romeo-Romeo-Won-Too-Too.”

“Holy shit, that’s a long codeword, can’t we just use Vag1Fartz like normal people?” Kaikaina begged.

“No, and this is why Wash is in charge of maintaining radio contact,” Carolina responded flatly.

“Why am I not going with you?” Washington demanded.

“Because we need someone I trust here to keep the ship running, and you are very recognizable in your personalized armor, Agent Washington of the Reds and Blues,” she reminded him.

“And you’re not?” Wash scoffed.

Carolina couldn’t help herself but smirk before activating her camouflage unit, near instantly shifting her aqua armor to a white with teal trim. “I’m just a bodyguard for our resident reporter. And Doctor Grey is…” Carolina paused and looked over to Emily, everyone else joining her glance.

Grey stared back.

“She’s in white armor, too,” Carolina decided on before looking to Wash. “Those enough excuses for you?”

“No,” Washington answered honestly.

“I wouldn’t expect it to be,” Carolina sighed before putting her hands on her hips and looking directly at her partner. “We’re going to find them. This is just another step, like all the others we’ve had so far. You can trust my instincts on this.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Wash said, though the conviction could have used some work.

Something to banter about at another time, perhaps.

With a deep breath, Carolina pointed toward Andrews and Doctor Grey then motioned toward the door. “Alright, ladies, we’re here to act covert. Andrews, you have most of the talking since you’re our ticket into this place. I expect that there’s guards waiting to lead us off our ship just outside so I say let’s meet them with our best bets.”

“Right,” Andrews said, pulling her pad closer to her chest and heading toward the exit.

Doctor Grey looked at Carolina intently. “Are we certain that they aren’t expecting anything out there?” she asked lowly — or at least what was low for Emily.

“Why should they? It’s a news interview. They don’t have reason to be defensive toward Dylan,” Carolina answered, walking with the doctor to the exit. “Do they?”

“Hm,” she hummed in return, not even looking Carolina’s way. “I suppose you aren’t very familiar with her body of work or critical lens toward any sort of possible government corruption.”

“And you know?” Carolina asked almost cheekily.

“Of course I know, Carolina,” she replied, finally looking Carolina’s way. “Oh, and Carolina? Dylan?”

Carolina shrugged. “We’re on first name basis. I figure agreeable mutual kidnapping gets us to that point.”

“Hm,” Grey hummed again before going quiet as they reached the lowered platform of the ship’s exit and stood just behind Andrews.

If Carolina didn’t know better she’d almost think Grey was jealous rather than concerned. But, then again, she had spent days packed in a ship with a young woman who could make innuendos from literally anything in her vicinity. So she was probably inoculated to human reason anymore.

“And who are these?” one of the guards asked, nodding to Carolina and Grey as the other inspected Andrews’ clearances.

“My body guard and my personal assistant,” Andrews answered. “When traveling through H.Y.P.D.E. territories with classified U.M.L. codebreaking skills it’s best to keep things F.Y.I. including personal security detail.”

Carolina and Grey glanced at each other then back to Andrews. The Freelancer was beginning to doubt her decision in allowing Andrews to be the one to speak off the cuff.

The guards glanced to each other and then back to the three of them. “Uh… right… If you’ll follow us this way, Miss Andrews.”

“Thank you,” she answered, walking confidently behind them as they were led out of the hangar.

Carolina kept close in step with the reporter, glancing her over suspiciously. “What the hell was all that you were listing off back there?” she whispered.

“Acronyms,” Andrews replied readily. “I find that low level military types love them, but rarely assess them. You’d be surprised how well placed acronyms can smooth over any sort of confusion in a crunch with soldiers.”

“That doesn’t explain why you would list me as some sort of personal assistant,” Grey replied, clearly offended.

“It was the only nice thing that came to mind,” Andrews replied snidely. “Though, of course, I could start getting more inventive if we keep this up for much longer.”

“I fail to see what’s more outlandish than the idea that I, Doctor Emily Grey, would be an ambulance chaser’s butt monkey,” Grey scoffed.

“Butt monkey?” Andrews repeated almost in disbelief.

“We’ve all spent an incredibly long amount of time in the company of immaturity at its rawest form,” Carolina attempted to excuse Grey. “Now, if we could remain quiet we look like we’re coming to a stop at the end of this hallway.”

The other women looked ahead as, sure enough, the hall came to an end at a large, open office door where their two guiding guards were already standing in posting at the sides of the doors. It had been a much shorter walk than what the outside of the ship had trained Carolina to expect. Though, having lived on the Mother of Invention for as long as she had, she wasn’t sure why that surprised her.

Grey seemed significantly more flustered, however.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Andrews said before stepping into the office.

Carolina followed without pause, but Grey was very deliberate in being a half step behind them both. Her head was still moving from side to side warily.

“Emily?” Carolina asked worriedly.

“This is wrong,” Grey whispered in hushed yet still very loud tones. “This is a Marathon class vessel—“

“Named after a viking ship, yes we all heard your expertise on the subject earlier, Doctor. Very impressive,” Andrews said, inspecting the office with more curiosity and openness. “Please remember to let me do the talking when the Charon representative meets us in here—“

“No, shut up!” Grey snapped.

“Emily,” Carolina said, a bit aghast.

Doctor Grey waved toward the ceiling. “This is a Marathon class vessel with over two hundred thousand meters of compartmentalized habitable space. All of which would be on the upper decks accessible by elevator or stair transit only and never on the same level as the hangar bays and disposal shoots which are susceptible to decompressed air pockets and unsustained zero gravity with low oxygen levels during hyperspace warping! This is not an office!”

Immediately, Carolina reached for her sidearms.

“What are you insinuating?” Andrews asked just before the ‘office’ doors slammed shut behind them and a gas began to fill the room with a resounding hiss.

“It’s a trap!” Grey announced. She then looked directly at Carolina. “Please inform Agent Washington that he has won this argument with Private Grif considering this would be counted as a definite Prequels moment.”

“I don’t give a shit about the Wars versus Treks argument!” Carolina announced before reaching to the side of her helmet to switch on her frequency. “Wash, it’s a bust, we’ll be coming in hot in exactly two minutes!”

“Already?” he asked critically. “That was the worst undercover job. Ever. Of all—“

“Hold that thought,” Carolina announced before backing up. “Ladies, this is a lot of equipment in here just looking pretty at us, mind seeing if this isn’t a complete waste of our time while I kick down this door?”

“It should allow us at least some access to the ship’s files. Which should be scrubbed clean by now if they suspected something from us, but I can still give it a try through my tablet,” Andrews offered, racing to the computer and then stopping.

“What are you waiting on?” Grey demanded.

“I’ve… never done anything like this before, maybe my tablet’s incompatible—“

Carolina reached to her helmet again. She could hear gunfire on Wash’s end. “Wash, move that table up to three minutes.”

“I can’t make promises,” Wash answered through what Carolina imagined was the same gritted teeth expression he got when he was concentrating at target practice.

“Oh, move,” Grey hissed, grabbing the tablet from Andrews and looking around. “One of my doctorates happens to be in computer science.”

Andrews stood back and gave the doctor a skeptical look before before, to her astonishment, the room began to light up green and the doors opened as the tablet also began to glow a soft blue. “How…”

The two guards who had attempted to lead them to their doom stood outside of the door with shock. “What the fuck—“

“Dude, they’re not dead yet!?”

Carolina smirked and dropped her camouflage as she reached for her helmet again. “Scratch that, Wash. Give us one minute. And tell Little Grif to be ready to bust out of here.”

“You sound happy to have a completely botched mission,” Washington said suspiciously.

“I’m learning to be more… flexible in the name of fun,” Carolina said, putting back her sidearms to the surprise of the guards just before using her speed boost to launch herself at them. One got off a shot of his rifle, but it hit the floor and ricocheted into the other one, causing him to leap back with a yowl of pain. Carolina followed the kicked that had redirected the gun with another roundhouse to the jawline of the shooting party that sent him into the ceiling.

Still on her pivot foot, Carolina spun to the second guard and delivered three direct hits with her palms to his chest, shoulder, and then visor that sent him to the floor.

It wasn’t her best time, but she supposed that even perfect could take it easy for a day.

By the time Carolina looked back, Dylan Andrews’ full attention was on her.

“That… was mightily impressive, Agent,” she said formally though not without awe.

“Her form was off from what I’ve come to expect considering the amount of training she puts into the gym back on Chorus,” Doctor Grey answered, still working away at the tablet and computer. “Of course, you remember Chorus, Miss Andrews. I believe you wrote a smear piece about us little less than seven months ago.”

“Is that what this has been about? An editorial I did?” Andrews asked critically. “And just what are you putting on my tablet?” She reached for the tablet but failed as Grey was quick to swipe it away from her reach and then unhook it from the wall.

“Carolina, we are good to go,” Grey informed her before heading out the door.

For a moment, Carolina took the time to look almost apologetically toward the reporter.

“I didn’t mean to start a grudge with some doctor from a space colony I had barely heard of before a year ago,” Andrews answered. “Is this going to make the rest of this trip miserable?”

“Only if I can’t convince Wash that allowing Little Grif play filthy synth music rather than letting Doctor Grey put on her opera recordings is for the greater good of the team,” Carolina answered. “Come on.”

They both took off behind Grey, ignoring the blaring alarms and lights of the ship they had managed to piss off in a very short amount of time.

“You are all very strange people, I hope you realize,” Andrews marveled.

Despite herself, Carolina grinned beneath her helmet. “Wait until you meet our friends.”

Wash had managed to press the soldiers in the hangar back into hiding behind columns and other ships docked while still standing only partially covered at the ship’s ramp. He looked up as the three of them came running in the ship’s direction and fired a few last cover shots as Carolina came back from the rear.

“That was more than one minute,” Wash said, punching the button to lift the ramp as they fled inside the ship. “Also, this is exactly like—“

“Grey is siding with you in the Star debate,” Carolina said.

“Did you hear that?” Wash yelled across the ship, only to be given the bird from their pilot.

“Fuck off, cop. I don’t need you policing my fandom space. Fuck you and fuck the coppy privilege you walk on!” Kai screamed at him before settling in her seat and looking forward. “Wait. Did y’all just run in here without taking down the shields? This is why Trekkies can’t be fans with you Warheads. No sense of strategy.”

“Don’t presume too much, Private,” Grey half-sang, still clutching the blue glowing tablet.

“Bow chicka honk honk!” Junior cooed.

“Okay, you’re too young for that. Stop it,” Wash said flatly.

Grey pressed the tablet and, to everyone’s astonishment, the hangar’s shield lifted, immediately sending the hangar into zero g’s.

“Holy shit,” Kai declared before pulling up the suddenly useless landing gears and taking control of the ship. “How’re you doing that, Doctor Hot?”

“Easy enough,” Grey replied with a laugh. “Everyone, I would like to introduce the newest member of our group and the next step to finding our lost compatriots.” She turned the tablet around so that an orbiting eyelike image looked to them.

“Hello. I am the Freelancer Integrated Logistics and Security System. You may call me. FILSS. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“FILSS!?” Carolina and Wash both gasped out at once.

“Acronyms. I knew it,” Andrews muttered.

Taking a deep breath, Carolina smiled and looked at Wash’s stunned expression. When she finally got his attention, she smirked larger and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “How’s that for a botched mission?” she asked.

“We’re going to find them,” Wash realized out loud.

“We’re going to find them,” Carolina assured him.

[bi-privilege]

I remember you mentioning in one of your posts that if we were to start over again as a society, that we would have completely different gender roles because gender is a social construct. I'm trying to come up with some creative ideas for a society with completely different gender roles without using the "females took over the world" trope; I've come up with quite a few ideas but I'd love your input.

(anon is referencing this post on the social construction of gender)

i feel u, because while i love hypothetical matriarchal societies as much as the next person, i feel like a lot of time they’re based on the same concept of “visible genitalia as gender” which is not really all that out of the box. i think it’s important to note that for actual, real life examples of variants on gender, we need look no further than wikipedia (tw for cissexist language at the link)(you may also find this nb wiki page helpful). a lot of cultures historically haven’t followed the strict sex/gender binary that western culture uses. however, in case you are looking for other ideas for gender systems, i present to you:

“gender” based on height. no one is assigned a gender until their late teens, when they have finished growing. short people are hunters, because they can most easily dart underneath the stomachs of large fauna to stab at their hearts. tall people become gatherers cuz they can easily pick stuff off of tall trees. medium height people are given the option to choose one camp over the other, or stay at their village encampments to raise the children. sometimes short people defect to the tall or medium height groups, because they lack the athletic ability needed to spear mammoths, and that’s A-Okay.

“gender” based on occupation. there are no strict biological markers for gender. differences in genitalia and/or reproduction are treated much like differences in hair color. instead, gender roles are largely based on your occupation–which you choose yourself, based on your skills and interests. hunters are expected to be athletic, obviously, to better catch stuff, but also value stuff like the ability to set good rabbit traps and be quiet for long periods of time. occupations also heavily influence dress, obviously. in the future, all doctors will ask for your occupation early on medical forms, as everyone knows that occupation correlates highly with risk for certain diseases/conditions. as society becomes more specialized and new jobs functions are created, the number of genders increases a thousandfold. at some point along the line, people start talking about how inefficient this whole gender thing is. “that’s ridiculous!” says michael from your bio 101 class. “your gender is based on biology! people can’t just choose to be good mechanical engineers, pamela! they’re born that way.”

“gender” based on vocal range. you are either a soprano, an alto, a tenor, or a bass. in such a society, music would be ubiquitous and quasi-religious in nature. the traditional family structure would include four parents, one of each vocal range. “you can’t just marry three other tenors!” your grand-soprano says, shocked and horrified. “how will you participate in family choir time? what if you have a soprano? who will teach sopranoself how to sing? think of your children, darryl!”  entire tumblr accounts are created to support the liberation of tone deaf people, and everyone calls them social justice warriors.

no gender. no one gives a crap what your genitalia looks like. no one tells you that you should stay home and raise the children because of x, or that you must like monster trucks because of y. everyone wears dresses sometimes, because let’s be honest, it’s a lot easier than matching a top with a pair of pants when you’re already running 10 minutes late to your 8:00am lecture.

because in each of these situations, there is less focus on biological reproductive mechanisms, it is totally normal for people with similar genitalia to get hitched. as such, there are considerably fewer barriers to adoption. surrogacy is a well respected occupation. monogamy is not necessarily the norm. the nuclear family as we know it doesn’t exist.

so yeah, speculative fiction writers out there, please give me some cool fictional societies. especially you, sci fi, i am fucking tired of all these alien cultures adhering to the western gender system.

anyways, i hope this post has impressed upon you the ultimate arbitrariness of the male/female gender dichotomy. it was not handed down to humankind on a stone tablet engraved by charles darwin. so you might as well fucking respect people’s gender identities, whatever they may be. (this is a general you, not directed at anon, btw)

[akutatchi-moved]

1-30 asshole

fuck u im doing the first 12

Do you prefer traditional drawing, or digital? definitely digitally but ive been out of a tablet for a few months now and wont be able to buy a new one for another few ughughg

How long have you been drawing? uhh about 3 years this year?

How many classes have you taken?   n o n e im completely self taught

Do you have a DeviantArt, personal website, or art blog? i have an artblog but im still uncomfortable just throwing the url out there 

What’s your favorite thing to draw?

What’s your least favorite thing to draw? hmmm definitely arms/legs cuz im still wrapping my head around how they work so posing is euhghg

How often do you use references? a l l the time

Do you draw professionally, or just for fun? for fun!

How much time do you spend drawing on an average day? maybe 2 hours? 

Are you confident about your art? im getting there but not just yet

How many art-related blogs do you follow? so many idk 

Is it okay for people to ask you about your process? uuh sure haha i wouldnt call it a process tho lmao