#AND ON BASKERVILLE TOO!

[laski-and-sage]

Alucard: Why do you do this to me again?

TJ, putting more stickers on him: I'm bored and we're family. Shut up or I'll put a littly pony on your mouth

Anderson, entering the room: What is-

Alucard: RUN!

*two minutes later*

TJ: I LOVE this rainbow on your nose, Alex!

[szynkaaa]

started out with the Destined One grabbing his Travel Companion and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potato before she could get hit.

Deciding that enough is enough she summons her rapier and joins the battle.

ughh I'm still working on her outfit design but I also really like the composition of this wip so maybe I will clean it up and color it??

I also learned that those wooden things are coffins, not chests. I imagine at some point the Destined One and his Travel Companion had to squeeze into a coffin to get across a big body of water or whatever. Tight fit but at least take got some power naps in.

[noonewilleverknowistealkneecaps]

Older Baskerville sketches ✍️

[eggubato]

divorce so romantic it almost ended the world

[clearwingedmaven]

As voted by the people, I'm offering my analysis on the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Firstly, and getting this out of the way, I adore the Hound of the Baskervilles. My chosen area of focus in my Master's Program was Gothic Literature, and this novel hits all of my favorite aspects of the field.

But there's more to it that I've noticed.

Chiefly among them being that most of the novel focuses on Watson, rather than Sherlock Holmes. While yes, it may have been a product of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle being bitter that he was forced to bring Holmes back, for this novel in particular, I think it's brilliant.

It operates under the premise that this Hound, this creature, is a Fairy Tale come to life and stalks the moor to bring death to all of those of the Baskerville family. In this sense, Watson, as he normally is a vehicle for the audience, is also a purveyor of a Legend come to life.

Watson, even if Sherlock Holmes is never quite Gothic, never quite horror, becomes a Gothic protagonist the more he lives in Dartmoor and learns about the family. But he's an evolution of a Gothic protagonist, too.

By the 1890s, the Decadence movement primarily took up the reins of Gothic Literature, creating what we know as fin-de-siecle, or the turn of the century. Many protagonists of this age fell to sin, corruption, and hedonism, such as the case of Dorian Gray.

(I find it fitting to use Dorian Gray, as Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle met over a meal that lead to the creation of both A Study in Scarlet and the Picture of Dorian Gray.)

But Watson? He remains steadfast in his nature. He never falls to the era defining corruption and sin, and, even evolves in his deductive reasoning when he finally finds and reunites with Holmes towards the end of the novel.

Even still, he still is, a Gothic protagonist, alongside Sir Henry. They navigate the Baskerville home on the Moor, a crumbling, haunted place, ripe with ancestral sin.

That is what defined the time, even if Watson never falls to sin and corruption. Decadence and fin-de-siecle were defined by all things falling to sin, decay, and rot. What was once glamorous and majestic of the preceding Aesthetic movement had rotted away, underneath.

And, given that Holmes and Watson reunite towards the end of the novel, they yet again defy the era's expectation of Gothic Literature. Their presence is hope, a light in the corruption that drags at the Baskerville family name. While by definition, perhaps a deus ex machina, it works brilliantly.

After all, who else could you go to, when there's a beast of legend killing your family?

As for the Hound itself. It alone is one of the greatest images of late Gothic horror I know. A coal black hound, muzzle shrouded in flame and phosphorous and snapping at your heels... it indeed installs primal, Gothic terror. It makes you ask, what's real? What's not? Can I even trust my reality anymore?

And it's also something that Holmes, for all of his brain and power of the mind, does not know. It invokes a sense of delicious, morbid terror, that while amazed, our detective is just as in the dark as we are before the Hound is killed. And it again, creates another layer of vulnerability that we don't normally get to see.

Lastly, the Hound is also fantastic in invoking the Black Dog Fairy Tales of Europe and beyond. A lot of cultures have a tale, from the Cu-Sith of the Celts, to the Black Dogs roaming England. It strikes fear, because it is used as one of the bases for what we form logic around, as Fairy Tales and folklore so often do for children throughout history.

Perhaps Stapleton knew about this, and preyed upon it on purpose? It's fascinating to think about.

All in all, this is why I adore this novel. Gothic Literature, character evolution, and Fairy Tales...? It's brilliant.

[sanhatipal]

"Who killed poor Alice?"

An illustration of Alice's defiance and hatred and conviction all culminating in the event that unfurled before Jack's eyes on that fateful day, 100yrs in the past

I did this as an experimental technique,more under the cut!!

I used to do the multi layer oil pastel scraping technique a lot as a kid,but only for fun,I never considered using it for a serious illustration. But a few years ago,I saw Mochijun use it for a VnC illustration: the one with Louis surrounded by stakes. And since then, I've wanted to try it,but didn't have a subject I wanted,so I pushed it to the back of my mind. Well.... inspiration struck recently,and I wanted to draw Alice this way..the composition was suddenly clear as day in my mind. So I started,the sketch as usual,and inked and coloured Alice with watercolour,as usual. Nothing remarkable here,I almost always use a lightbox for inking, so far it's the same (ignore the extra eyes)

Then...I busted out my old oil pastels. These are 12-14yrs old, haven't been touched at least 11 yrs or more,I have no idea.

Now, instead of removing the sketch from the back,I left it,and with the help of the light box,added in colours according to the sketch

The next step may or may not be done,but I didn't want to risk getting any ink into the paper,so I used a candle to rub the shit out of the oil pastel areas,and removed the sketch

Once I was satisfied that nothing would get past the wax layer, I used ink mixed with acrylic matte medium to cover it up. The medium is important,else it won't stick to the wax at all

Once dried, I rubbed graphite to the the back of the sketch and pressed it on with a ball stylus(a ballpoint pen or back of toothpick can be used) to press on the pattern onto the background

After that, it's just a matter of scraping and scratching with a scalpel until I was satisfied

Finally I sprayed it with some varnish,to protect the ink layer from peeling off(but scanned before that, because varnish scans weird),and adding some final highlights and lines here and there.

So...am I happy? Yes! It's almost exactly as I envisioned! I do feel like I overcomplicated it,I could absolutely achieve this with just paint and ink,no scratching. But hey,I had fun,and I'm happy with how it turned out!!

[queeriboh]

unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe

blond.

[daipeanutsaiban]

The Lord of the House is fourteen years old.

[prommytheus]

lady b’s first hint that maybe something was wrong with her husband

[furbs-and-prayers]

pandora hearts if they had tattoos (many ideas supplied by my conversation with the lovely @eggubato <3)

[noodles-and-tea]

Got these last month and do you still like Sherlock?

I kid you not I’m literally watching it right now.

[manunchan]

[szynkaaa]

Billard pose ref here

Most recent brainrot is putting Kiwi and Oz into a modern AU. Monkey See, Monkey Do

Started out with Destined One frequenting the same bar to practice billard, while Oz is the resident pianist there and it just snowballed from there and now I have some backstories for those two idiots

🥝 Kiwi / Destined One

5th year medicine student. 25 years old, he started with his study when he was 20, took two years to travel around

Lost his parents and older brother in a car accident. He barely survived and was hospitalized for a long time. Selective mute since then

Uncle Shen Monkey then took him in and raised him

remembers the nurses and doctors fondly hence, why he also wants to study medicine and become a doctor later

Uncle Shen Monkey owns cocktail lounge / fancy bar called Flying Monkeys . Shen Monkey is also the barista also, and there are few pool tables available.

Kiwi spent a lot of his teen years playing billard, hence he is VERY good at it. Still goes to play and practice

Kiwi participates in local tournaments

also helps out at the lounge from time to time

Seems to be very popular among his peers despite being an introvert and loner??

his fellow students like him because when they ask him for help he gives it to them

the type that seems like a cold douche but will not hesitate to step in when he sees a woman being uncomfortable or being harrassed

kinda popular among the ladies, plus the fact that he looks really good when playing billard adds to it

probably gets asked out a lot, or phone numbers slipped into his bag

always rejects them because he got his sight set on someone else hehe

frequents @maiden-of-the-waters cafe a lot to study there

Avid comic collector. Wanted to be a comic artist as a kid....

🌟 Oz

Med student drop out during her practical years. 26 years old

parents divorced when she was super young. Dad moved away and remarried and has a new family. She has two half-siblings

occassionaly talks with the half siblings, but has not much contact with her father. Mom had full custody and essentially raised her as a single mom

typical tiger mom. Loves her mom but has a strained relationship with her at the moment. low contact

Did not have many friends as a kid, mom had a tight grip on her and her time and education. Started making real friends once she moved out for university. Met Yù @marcu-bug, Birdie @dunanana, Liyu @s0rr3l and Beike @maiden-of-the-waters and they are pretty much her only friends LOL

Started having piano lessons as early on. Had good promises to be a concert pianist, but ofc that is not a viable career path as per her mom

Studied medicine only because her mom wanted her to. She was VERY MISERABLE during her time as a student. Dropped out during the practical years because the pressure was just too much for her and she realized being a doctor was just not what she wanted to do. She wasn't happy with it, hence also why her relationship with her mom is strained, cause Oz was THIS close to finishing and then decided to ""give up""

Also her then-boyfriend cheated on her she caught him in bed with another person

And her great-grandfather passed away

overall not a good year on her mental health. Realized all she did was just doing what other people wanter her to do. Dropped out to take a break and just figure out her place in this world

works as a pianist at Flying Monkeys after dropping out. Shen Monkey pays really well and she also gets very good tips because. Helps out at the bar on days when they are short staffed to make some more extra cash

Gets hit on few times at work, but luckily a certain monkey is always there to look out for her....

🥝x 🌟

Kiwi bumped into Oz during his first year in univeristy. Probably when both needed to submit some paperwork for the univerity, Oz for dropping out. She noticed him carrying the newest comic issue of The Monkey King, and asked him about it

Learned really soon that he is a selective mute, but didn't treat him any differently and just carried on the conversation with him as usual, which he really appreciated

I wouldn't say it was love at first sight for him, more like the feeling you have when you're sitting in the plane and it is landing soon and you see the lights of your city below you and you know you are this close to home? Yeah it's that feeling.

anyway months passed and he hasn't seen her since then but she is always like there in the back of his mind

Uncle Shen Monkey telling him one day that he hired a new pianist which is nice cause they haven't had one in a while and that he wants Kiwi to be there to show her around the lounge a bit and stuff

Kiwi, not very happy about that because he doesn't really enjoy meeting new people, is then surprised to see that Oz is the new pianist his uncle hired.

Oz.... vaguely remembers him LOL. Probably takes her like a few weeks to go "hey.... have we met before???"

Suddenly Kiwi has a lot more time to be around his uncle's lounge again. Uncle Shen Monkey know what is up there. probably tries to play wingman

Enter the "and they were roommates" arc

Oz moved back to her mom but things are NOT good. lot's of fights

Kiwi overhearing one day how she asks Shen Monkey if he knows about any free rooms for rent to let her know

and whatdya know Uncle Shen Monkey does happen to know someone who has a free room

Kiwi. it's kiwi who has a free room that is sort of used as a storage at the moment. he doesn't mind Oz moving in there. Gives her a really good rent deal, where she is basically paying all the bills and that's it

Kiwi owns the apartment. His parents left a good amount of assets behind which he sold and then bought his own place

Oz is very grateful for the deal, because it helps her to save money and put aside to eventually move out and find her own place

spoiler alert that's not gonna happen lmfao

This is the apartment layout:

Oz has the room closes to the bathroom because Kiwi is nice like that. He'd move in an old piano in too for her to practice and play

at first Oz was very shy about playing because she doesn't want to disturb him when he is studying but he likes listening to her practice and play when he is studying

I think that before Oz moved in, Kiwi barely decorated the apartment much. The embodiment of only had the bare neccessaties in it. But once Oz moves in, it started to feel more like a home than just a housing for him to come back and pass out. I think the only real personal belonging he has is a good decent The Monkey King comic collectiona and collectibles

Definitely have a vinyl record player, something that Oz always wanted to have. She movied in with like five records in her collection, and Kiwi then gifted her a player, and the collection just grew from there

both are very much introverts, so they prefer to spend most of the time just chilling at home, on the couch together playing games or reading books

Oz does sometimes have her friends other to hangout

because both work crazy hours sometimes, Kiwi would go Flying Monkeys after his shift to pick Oz up and then they go home together

Kiwi doesn't know how to drive, never learned too traumatized from the accident. So Oz is the one who rents a car and drives when they decied to take trips together

Have a rule to put a sock on the door handle and text the other person to let them know when they have special guests at the palce

spoiler alert none of them ever bring any hook ups home lmfao

Oz does go on few dates but never brings anyone home because it just doesn't feel right

and Kiwi well, his heart belongs to only one person hehe

have weekly movie nights. Kiwi takes it personal if Oz binges a whole season without him

there is a lot more for me to share but then I'd have a massive essay so I will stop here.

anyway great chemistry as roomates. wink wink nudge nudge

[thehappyvet]

Having your dog offlead in public settings, especially near roads and other dogs, is not a flex.

All it shows is an arrogance that you can control your dog in every possible situation.

Which is impossible.

Noone has that much control over their dog, not even a trainer or behaviourists.

They respect their dog and understand they can't predict everything they'll encounter on a walk. They use leads to ensure their dog is kept safe in public.

Leads protect dogs. Leads protect kids. Leads protect humans. Leads protect your own dog from being attacked or injured. Leads protect people driving nearby.

There is no excuse to not use a lead.

[eggubato]

thinking about the divorced loser again

[existingtm]

1. Pandora Hearts, Retrace XCI: Juror 2. The Case Study of Vanitas, Mémoire 38: Naenia — She Who Harbors Death (Part One)

We love a good MochiJun parallel