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Random babbling moment of the day: I SO hate feeling mentally tired all the time. 🫠 I really miss being slightly more active around here, for example. There's OC lore (and art WIPs) to share, there's friends posts to reblog and tag-ramble about (and I SO want to do that, you have no idea), but oof, so little energy to do any of it. I'm kinda stuck in the "perhaps tomorrow I can do some of that" trap nowadays, and, well, spoiler alert: tomorrow never gets any better. The fact that I'm also somewhat stuck in a place where I hate anything I write/draw 5 seconds after doing it doesn't really help much, either (I'm actively trying to snap out of it, but it's not going amazingly well). I just miss some of the energy I had some time ago. Even then it wasn't much, but at least it was better than it is now. Now I'm lucky if I'm able to post the polished stuff I manage to finish every ten weeks or so, before I poof out of existence again, and even those posts feel more like a chore. 😂🫠

Truth be told, I feel like I'm tired about pretty much everything nowadays, you know?, but feeling too tired to even do the things I enjoy doing is the absolute worst, and I hate it. I really do.

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More Bridge Shenanigans

(1985, Inverness, Scotland)

The Unusual Rendez-vous scene (you can find some of it here) has been on my mind quite a lot lately, so here is another glimpse of that! I really love the idea of capturing certain little moments of it, such as this one, and I'd also love to write that whole scene in its entirety someday! Don't know when and how long that's going to take, especially considering some very-soon-to-come changes in my personal life (new job), but still. There are lots of promising dilogues, hilarity, and friendship dynamics worth exploring in this whole encounter, so I'll keep it up there on my list.

I gotta say I do have slightly mixed feelings about this art piece. Something about it doesn't look quite how I wanted, but I can't tell what it is exactly. Could be just my mind playing tricks on me, too, who knows. At least it's HIM, and I love him, so. 🥹

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There You Are

A slight turn of the head, more like an instinct than a conscious movement. That feeling when you know someone is approaching without fully understanding what gave it away—a sound, a footstep, or just the vague sensation of not being alone anymore. Dougie looked at her just as her hand touched his shoulder. “There you are,” Brandy smiled at him.  “Hey,” he smiled back. 

Finished another older piece, because this man right here has officially taken over my entire brain. 🫠 Now featuring Brandy's hand, too. 💅😂 I knew this was going to be a Dougie/Brandy scene ever since I did the sketch, some time ago, and once I returned to it, that feeling only grew stronger. Sooo I really wanted the image to reflect that, even if the focus remained on Dougie, hence why I added Brandy's hand. I also wanted it to somewhat capture that specific moment when she had just arrived and was in the middle of saying "Hi!” and joining him. 

These two had quite a few encounters like this one, mind you, as their friendship grew stronger. 🥹 The initial hesitation on Dougie's part, the feeling of "not being able to match her energy" that he struggled with when he met Brandy for the first time (in 1984), slowly subsided over time, leaving space for moments such as this one. Dougie shifted from feeling slightly intimidated by Brandy, to feeling comfortable around her. Comfortable enough to even share some of his deeper thoughts (and struggles) with her. 

P.S. They are at THE bridge here, by the way. 👀🤣 The scene happens on an entirely different occasion than the one I was talking about a little while ago in the Unusual Rendez-vous art/writing piece, but the location is the same. Dougie is not the Bridge Man for no reason, after all. 🌝🤣

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Sleepless mornings, dads and coffee

Date: 1984

Synopsis: After spending the night at Emily and Brandy's place, Dougie Graham has the misfortune of waking up way earlier than he would have been comfortable with. Unable to go back to sleep—and not wanting to disturb Emily, who is still happily sleeping—he decides to hang around in the kitchen until she wakes up. To his surprise, however, he's not the only one awake at that hour. Brandy is, too. The two end up spending some of the morning together, chatting about past—and somewhat unconventional—experiences, sipping coffee and strengthening the bond of their still early friendship.

▫️ Trying one of these "Writing Only" posts again! This was my most ambitious writing piece so far, I've never managed to write this much 'til now. It took ages, sure, but still! 😂 Writing Dougie and Brandy proved to be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to dive some more into their friendship, which warms my heart each time I think about it. 🥹 ...and also gives me massive feels, too, knowing Brandy's fate (she passed away in 2000) and what impact that's going to have on Doug. But let's not think about that right now, shall we? 🥲 Now it's time for casual talk and warm coffee. ☕️

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Irv

(IRV!!! 🌝)

Full name: Irvine “Irv” Bayne

Age: 68 (*the art piece depicts his younger self, back in the late '70s and early '80s)

Birthday: 7 July 1956 (Sign: Cancer)

Height: 186 cm (6'1”)

Heritage: Scottish

Place of birth: Inverness, Scotland

Residing in: Inverness, Scotland

Job: mostly odd jobs over the years; anything that could pay the bills, essentially

Relationship status: I feel like he has someone in his life, but his romantic endeavours are still a bit unclear to me at the moment

Immediate Family:

▫️(†)Jasper Bayne (father)

▫️(†)Ella Bayne (née Wilson, mother)

▫️Michael “Mike” Bayne (brother; born in 1963, aged 62)

▫️Jane “Jenny” Bayne (sister; born in 1966, aged 59)

Children:

▫️Elisa Bayne (daughter)

A few things to get to know Irv!

▫️Irv Bayne is one of Emily Glenn’s friends (I haven't officially introduced her here yet), possibly one she knew for quite some time. They grew up in the same neighbourhood, so they most likely saw each other around quite a bit. At some point, they simply started hanging out on a more regular basis.

▫️He is also one of the first people Brandy got to meet back in 1978, after her little running-away-from-home (mis)adventure landed her in Inverness. They met through Emily, who took Brandy in (a story in and of itself) and who figured it might do the teenage girl good to meet some new people, and ground herself a little bit better into her new surroundings.

▫️He has a slight underbite.

▫️He is bisexual.

▫️Irv is a school dropout. Not entirely by choice, but rather out of circumstance/necessity. Being an older brother to his siblings was not the only role Irv had to fill in at home; he often had to fully look after them when no one else could, too, and at some point showing up to class became a difficult thing to keep up with, so he stopped altogether. It was rather unfair, given that Irv was just a kid himself at the time (only about 13-14yo), but that’s just how life decided to be for him.

▫️That being said, Irv has always had a certain wit to him, paired with a bit of a curious mind, that helped him pick things up here and there. He learned from quite a young age how to be resourceful and be on his own, and he is self-taught in many ways.

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Brandy

Full name: Brandy Macaulay (née Larue)

Birthday: 14 May 1962 (Sign: Taurus)

Date of death: March 2000 (at the age of 37)

Height: 181 cm (5'11”)

Heritage: Scottish, French

Place of birth: Glasgow, Scotland

Residing in:

▫️ Glasgow, Scotland (until 1978, when she ran away from home);

▫️ Inverness, Scotland (from 1978 until her death in 2000)

Job: she had worked in retail for a couple of years, then switched to working as nail technician at a beauty salon in town—a job she highly enjoyed. She held that particular job until her eventual death, in March 2000.

Relationship status: married to Malcolm James Macaulay, from 1988 until her death, in 2000; they met in 1985

Immediate Family:

▫️ Matis Alexandre Larue (father)

▫️ Davina Larue (née Gordon, mother)

▫️ Malcolm James Macaulay (husband)

Children:

▫️ Blair Úna Macaulay (daughter)

▫️ Donald Dougal “Donnie” Macaulay (son)

A few things to get to know Brandy!

▫️ Brandy was quite the character, one could say. Determined, passionate about her beliefs and desires, quite stubborn, the type who set her mind on something and then went ahead and did it, or at least gave it a try (or multiple). The type who couldn't be pressured into doing what she didn't want to do, and who couldn't be stopped from doing what she wanted to do. Last time someone tried that (her parents), she took her backpack and walked out the back door (aka ran away), leaving only a note behind.

▫️ Yup, you heard that right, she ran away from home. That's how she ended up from Glasgow to Inverness, actually! She was only 16 at the time, and it happened after a particularly nasty argument with her (well-intentioned, but somewhat overbearing) parents. Her life got quite chaotic for a while, but she managed to stay afloat and figure it out, believe it or not. She was that dead set on proving (mostly to herself) that she can be on her own and handle it just fine. What started as a reckless decision made on a teenager’s whim (and definitely felt like a reckless decision for a while), ended up with Brandy having a taste of the independent life, and realising she didn't wanna have it any other way from then on. This whole thing is a story in and of itself, and we will get to it another time (you can find a short version of it over here), but I’ll say this: this wasn't the end of her relationship with her parents. Brandy reconnected with them after a while!

▫️ Brandy loved squirrels! So much so that she and Malcolm built a little feeding house for them in their backyard. It’s there to this day, periodically taken care of by Malcolm, and still frequented by the little critters.

▫️ She was fluent in French (learned it from her dad, who is French).

▫️ Before she and Malcolm moved together, some time after they got married, Brandy lived in a rented flat she shared with a dear friend (a lass named Emily Glenn).

▫️ There’s a lot of Brandy in both the Macaulay twins. They look quite a bit like their mum—the eyes, the freckles, the little tooth gap, the nose shape—but they also hold some of her fire. Some of that bright, vivid energy that fueled Brandy's every action. I think there are moments, every once in a while, when Malcolm kinda just… stops to look at the twins and is a bit like “🥹”.

Here’s the sketch version, because I quite like it:

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Playground 🛝🍃

(1985, Inverness, Scotland)

Just look at these freaks, about to make out at a kids' playground. 🌝🤣 I might have mentioned before that these two had NO shame when it came to making out and/or hooking up in public/slightly unconventional places, and that statement still stands. I mean, let’s not forget that one time when they hooked up in their best friend’s bed, on his birthday, after he specifically told them to “not fucking dare!!”. Dougie (the best friend in question) most certainly did NOT forget, I can assure you. 🤣

All of that aside, I still can’t get over this little interaction, and once again I feel compelled to point out how smitten Malcolm is right here. 🫠💖 Not only because I love his pretty little face in general, but also because I feel like this one was a meaningful moment for him (which shows in the way he looks at Brandy). He might not have actively realised that, at least not right away, but it sure played its part on him. He was in the process of falling for her, and it was little moments like this one that did the trick for him.

There were no kids at the playground around that time of the day, by the way. A few might have come around at some point tho, forcing Brandy and Malcolm to (eventually) cool down, possibly while being a bit like "You guys REALLY had to come and play hide and seek or whatever at this precise moment, didn't you? 🙄" as if the KIDS were the problem here. 🤣

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The emboldened, rising tide of fascism in the US has me reflecting a lot about the importance of standing up for our marginalized communities in meaningful ways. There is power in unity - we must build our communities, support our neighbors, and stand together.

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Narrator: "George and Emmeline Fitzgibbons were thrilled to learn that their granddaughter was conceived out of wedlock."

This is so dumb but I thought a lot about Cal's parents a while ago, and how they were really a little bummed that their son was never involved in any mischief or wee scandal as a teenager. 😂 Sure, he smoked and partied with his friends and all, but Cal really was quite well-behaved, and while they wouldn't have wanted him to get caught up in anything truly bad, of course, Georgie and Em would have loved to get some more of the "parents of a teenager" experience. 😂

Andrew and Fionnuala Foster probably would have loved to trade in Floppy Fozzy for Cal, at least for a day or two. 💀🤣

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Somewhat finished version of my last doodle! I could have done more with it but it's okay, they are enough. 😂💖✨️

I've been pretty hyped about their story in the past few days and the feels linger on. I'm just coming out of an extremely busy phase, too, so here's hoping I can draw and write them more this upcoming weekend. I am manifesting! 😭✨️

Here's a slightly cleaner/sharper version.

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I did a little „through the years“ for Lancie as well, like I did a while ago for Lowell. :D (Ages from left to right: 15/16/17ish, mid-twenties and mid-thirties)

I really need to draw mid-twenties/med student Lancie more because that hair is glorious and I love how he‘s still so cute and still kinda looks like a teenager, too. 😂

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(Wow… the way I SUCK at art these days! 😃 🔫 Seems to be one of those annoying phases. 🤷‍♀️ )

Anyhoo, I have also been thinking about young Hallie and Lancie again, stumbled over an ancient piece of writing that has Lance comforting Ali during Craig's funeral service and kept thinking about how he had his own source of comfort around that day, and how Hallie tried her best to look out for the three remaining Abbotts, just because she wanted to! Didn't leave her favourite Abbott's side all day. 🫂 🫠

I like to think that this is them spotting Nessa and Ali somewhere, who were only 13 at the time but I still think that Hallie and Lancie somehow *knew* that day. 😂 There wasn't just sadness around, Craig wouldn't have wanted that. No one was dressed in black (unless it was band shirts or otherwise METAL or just the fave colour of choice), and not all tears came from grief. 💞

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Wee doodle with a few notes. 😁✨️ As I said, big feels. 😂

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Sad cowboy hours with my oc Qynn

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Finally finished this one! 😅 Started it right at the beginning of the year but kinda lost steam with it for a bit. This is probably the busiest illustration I ever made. 😂

Cal, Hallie and Lance in their favourite club, in 2005. All Hallie wanted was a cool photo of herself (there used to be staff members walking around with cameras, to take snapshots they could put on the website!), and then her dumb friends HAD to photobomb. Stupid boys are STUPID. 🙄😑

(Made a slightly less busy version without the neon sign but I really love them both! Also added the sketch, because this was really just supposed to be a warm up. 🤣)

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Elizabeth of York, fashion character design, c. 1479.

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My first fan art ever as well as my first tumblr post since my childhood days on tumblr. Watch out world, I like Gale Dekarios!