#And will post actual art at some point

[scooterpengie]

So whenever I see a pink outfit, my first thought is "draw Heed wearing that" and Barbie is full of pink outfits so naturally I had to draw her wearing one. And since Flug shares a name with Ken...

That's how I ended up with this weird thing😂 enjoy

Edit: check the notes for more art

[wolfsnooze]

in which hunter’s possession goes a whole lot worse

[xxplastic-cubexx]

chair + helmet for funsies

[emperiocism]

I'd actually made and finished an entire other jonelias button design, but I decided that I hated it and instead did this one in a day lmao (bless you super best friends omikron lets play for the company)

anyways! the girls are fightinggg

[opashoo]

An Exchange

Pioneer is showing Rook her system of notating slugcat scents by their scent proteins and other chemical compounds, while Rook is showing off a system of writing developed by slugcats from the far north, who were apparently tutored under a late iterator (one who was quite legendary….)

Artfight revenge on @kalivasquezart!! This gets to do double duty as fanart and thanks for that honestly amazing attack you did with Rook.

Pioneer's writing, I just pulled directly from the askblog from this post here. Kali made it using logographs from @ikayblythe's Standard Hegemonic Dialect!

Rook's writing is an ongoing project of mine trying to adapt the symbols of Rain World to a working conlang I'm developing for the colony slugcats in my setting. Each block represents a syllable, and most characters represent consonants, each of which natively have an 'a' attached. A line above changes that 'a' to an 'i' while a line below changes it to an 'o'. Stacks of two characters represent a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable block, with the vowel decided by the top character. Sometimes the Monk symbol (circle) is used to represent the absence of a consonant (such as the third block). A syllable block encompassed within another character (such as the second syllable block) represents a long vowel.

Rook's writing reads "pajmūy ag sayong da". Grammer and lexicon are still very heavily in development, but 'pajmūy' means "One who is often convinced".

[journey-to-the-attic]

one thing about ik is that she will always reach out

[omaano]

Scratching up their armor is incredibly satisfying for some reason

[ruporas]

feast (ID in alt)

[oblique-lane]

more mercenary analysis, whichever merc you want <3

Not a mercenary but... Okay!

Let's dissect Pauling

Always so collected, responsible and efficient. The one who is not afraid to get her hands dirty for the sake of a goal, and her performance is always one hundred percent. What could possibly be not cool about her?

Well, maybe the fact that this all is, in fact, an act. Of course it is.

I'm not saying her determination and dedication to her job aren't sincere decisions of her heart, she really enjoys it and shines in her work. It's just a matter of WHY and WHAT she's doing it for. And on what scale.

For her, her job is EVERYTHING. Eagerly working 364 days a year with barely any rest, masochistically putting herself in so much danger, blindly following the boss's instructions, not even hesitating to kill people standing on the way...

Wow, there's gotta be something going on here.

Well, obviously the Administrator plays A HUGE role in this situation. Why would Pauling trust her so much? Referring to the comics, Pauling trusted her wholeheartedly on whatever the Administrator was planning, even though she didn't know what it was. This blind following that vaguely resembles nothing less than a weird somewhat child-to-a-mother attachment. It's just a Boss, just a job, why?

Because that's what it is. Mother issues. Very apparent.

We don't know anything about Pauling's past, so there's where the headcanons begin:

I'm assuming her birth mother was very neglectful and dismissing, never acknowledged her daughter's accomplishments and struggles. No matter how hard Pauling tried to become "worthy" in her eyes, it seemed to be never enough, as if she didn't even exist at all. Maybe her mother was a substance addict or something and their household wasn't safe and stable, so Pauling had to become an adult early and run away from home as a teenager and find a job to get by.

(I assume that because I believe there was a mention in the canon lore that Ms.Pauling had been working for the Administrator for long long years (don't remember exactly), indicating that she started working when she was still a minor).

So, being taken under the Administrators wing, her young wounded brain found a substitute for a very thing she was lacking, subconsciously clinging onto the Administrator as a newly mother figure, in order to "get it right this time".

Administrators Strictness, responsibility and demandingness were the most favorite qualities of a person of authority in Pauling's eyes, in contrast to the laziness, unaccountability and indifference of the environment in which she grew up. She could finally strive.

This time she would show the mother figure that she's worthy, she's important and irreplaceable; she exists. She would prove that no amount of hardship is too much for her if it means approval for the Administrator.

And the Administrator kind-of-sort-of gave Pauling this pseudo-love in return, encouraging her to sacrifice herself even more for their work. Which is at the very least unfair, and at most just predatory. Administrators "love" was conditional, in contrast with when the real motherly love Pauling unknowingly expected. Administrator was too immature for a mother figure, too much in power for a partner or a friend, yet too close for a formal boss. What is this!? Something not nice.

The Administrator doesn't love Pauling for Pauling, she loves her working qualities. And thus, Paulings subconscious guess was confirmed that "I'm only important when I'm doing the job. I AM the job."

Tying your worth to what you DO instead of what you are is a huge dangerous existential rout one could choose. But she never really knew her importance outside of her skills, so she wouldn't know.

Now imagine how actually painful that character arc was for her, when the Administrator proved herself to be unreliable and secretive, and when Pauling started to question her intentions for the first time.

"... Because I trusted you!"

"Then why are you questioning me now?"

It wasn't even the real conversation between them, just Pauling's mind torturing her.

It reminded me of the crisis of a 4-year-old when they realise that their parents aren't perfect; they don't know anything and they CAN hurt you.This shattering illusion of almighty love. When a child stops believing that the "harsh love" their mother treats them with is simply an abuse.

Wouldn't it be terrifying to realise in your 20s thar despite running for "the mother's approval" all your life, you will never truly get it. If your mother failed to provide it to you at such a young age, nothing will truly substitute that, especially now, when you're an adult, no one will love your inner child the way it was supposed to be loved.

Unless you yourself decide to take that role.

...

Realistically speaking, it's not nearly that sever with Pauling! She's happy in the environment she's in, there's lots of interests for her to explore (Guns, fights, killin'!) So many adventures every day! Even if Pauling has her inner suffering, it's not that bad aa I describe it. Her mother problems may actually be an advantage, a reason she is such a good and caring boss for the mercenaries.

I'm just edgying things down for the sake of the clearer analysis. But still...

If the Administrator will be gone and Pauling loses her life-dedicated job... What will be left? Who is Pauling once Mann Co is no more? Can she answer that?

References:

– A video that helped me better understand the Good Girl mask:

– "Lise Bourbeau's 5 soul wounds model: Injustice"

[minjimunji]

I finally finished my Meg designs 😅

[wasyago]

ouuuhhhg my god recks etho is so,,,,, chefs his whole design and concept is so damn cool,,,,, are there any other little facts about him? id love to learn more about the creature ever,,

heheh thank you!!!!

okay actually, this ask made me realize a couple of things. while scrolling searching for what would be considered a little fact about him, i realized that the way i draw etho is actually how he looked 10-15 years from the "current time" of the au. im just too used to drawing him young 😔

so i guess your fact for today is that etho should look like this. not too different but still

[tallykale]

a bit of my postcanon vision

i heart people arguing

[devotion-disorder]

Chest size of the yan bois? Pls?

Kuuya has actual negative chest cause hes always hunched over. and as much as i would like to draw noel with some big ol’ honkers, he has, at most, just slightly more chest than the average anime twink😔

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

yknow what whatever have some beauty mark boys

[magickpancakes]

woa, whats they sayings?

(textless below)

[spkyart]

I am so normal about them