#I did have that to thank for a Lot of how I do my comic stuff tbh so! I think this is good. this is probably good

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Hello! I've been meaning to do this forever and finally had time today soooo I love your comic and art style. It, and you, have honestly inspired me so much with my own art and really helped shape my art style for the better! Like seriously, studying you helped with body types, expressions, character designs, (which I love your designs btw), poses, all sorts of things! I studied a lot of your panels to kinda see what I liked and I thought I would show you what I did. Or... Some of it at least. I don't have a lot of them saved to my phone anymore apparently...

Sorry for the chaotic pages. I don't have the time to crop unrelated stuff out.

I just wanted to say again, thank you so so much. I binged all of Steven Universe really recently, since I could never get into it as a kid, and have been hyperfixating baddd on it. Your comic keeps my hyperfixation happy. As a final note, I love how you draw sign language! I'm learning ASL and it's so fun to be able to follow along/challenge myself to read the signs without the words first. You draw hands so well and show the movement perfectly! In my opinion at least. Anyway, ramble over, even though I could write a whole essay on this. o7

I await the next chapter but make sure to take breaks and drink plenty of water! :)

This is such a collection of kind things to say, but to also send so much cool art at once?! I'm really overwhelmed by all the things here, and I can hardly decide where to look! Please check out this incredibly cool set of sketches! I'm particularly in love with this (reset?) Pearl learning ASL letters from Earl!

[zu-is-here]

Zu! Long time no see! ^^ Happy holidays, and hope you've been having a spectacular end of 2024. Hope this next year is filled with blessings and cute skeletons for you, your friends and family! :D

So, I was taking a look again at your deliciously drawn Cream artworks and comics (They give me life <3) and I remembered something. In all your comics where bones are showing, I noticed... well, bones. (Like in Aiming for Your Soul, the cute rattling one and Aim's birth) instead of the common "ectobody" headcanon most of the fandom goes with! It's nice seeing boned bodies getting some love.

Do you, perhaps, have any other skeleton monster anatomy headcanons to share with us? :3

OH hii Bliss!╰(*´︶`*)╯It's so nice to see you again, thanks a looot <3 Hopefully you're having wonderful holidays too, lots of love and skele-joy to you! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♪

I'm really flattered to hear that you enjoy them too, your sweet artworks (especially the latest chibi drinks) are a feast for my eyes and soul (〃ω〃)

We're naturally attracted to bodies rather than bones, though these are no less aesthetically pleasing and interesting to work on than ecto ☆ After all, skeletons deserve to have their own body charms ;D

Might add more later so feel free to share yours:

✧ They indeed can rattle, both unconsciously (shiver but like teeth chattering) and intentionally (intimidating heh);

They can feel cold and heat, but for the most part they're resistant to temperature changes since they have no skin;

✧ They don't have joints but still can crunch bones since these are held together by magic as well;

A fracture is always painful, but what about the detachment of a limb? Maybe it is possible and in fact not so painful since magic is not physical and shouldn't imply pain... Another question is how to attach the limb back—

Can the skull rotate 360 ​​degrees, or is it firmly attached to the cervical vertebrae? Gotta check later XD

What if Blue's baby Flicker did it and never fixed it— :'D

✧ They still have tears, sweat, saliva, it's part of their magic; as well as breathing, soulbeat, redness, etc.;

NAIL POLISH OMG ˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ≀ˍ̮ ❝᷀ົཽ⁎⁺˳✧༚

The function of reproduction is taken over by the soul (carrying the souling inside) or by magic (intentional or accidental appearance of a ship child :'D);

FR that explains the difference!! (*⁰▿⁰*)

Thanks to @/clownyclowns for the idea! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

[oargasm]

Prev!

syp ; the school’s popular pretty girl is also an otaku

“That’s it?” And he nods in return “You make this so easy for me, I’ll be the bestest friend you’ve ever had!” You smile “One thing though, I can’t be seen talking to you in school. Not that I’m embarrassed of you..” you trail off “Then what are you embarrassed of?” He retorts - offended “Being apart of the occult..” you mutter with your head hung low

“You’re such a poser, a true fan would never be ashamed!” “Well if you were as popular as me you would understand!” “Pish posh” he exasperates “You’re really bratty” you huff earning an eye roll from him

“Nevermind that though, give me your number!” You ask as Takakura fights back the flush from his cheeks - he knew what you were implying. It was the fact that a pretty girl was asking for his number. He slowly nods his head pulling his phone out for the exchange.

You put your contact name as 'Y/N :p' seeing this Ken decided to put his as 'Takakura :)' “Awesome! I’ll text you to plan our first hang out!” You wave as you depart

“Hang out?” He mutters to himself

There stood Ken Takakura outside a manga cafe, Takakura reminisces your previous words ‘It’s perfect! We can eat and read, what’s not to like!’

He sighs before walking in and sees you already enjoying a pastry as you discreetly try to read a magazine about the fake moon landing.

You look up seeing your new found friend and smile at him “Hi! I got you something!” You say as you dig in your tote bag while Takakura pulls out the chair across from where you’re sitting

You pull a book out from your bag and push it towards him “What’s this?” He asks “Turn it around!” You chirp doing what you say his eyes widen “WHAT?!” He shouts making the cafe look at him “Ah, sorry…” he says embarrassed "How’d you get a book signed by the author?! No one has ever been able to see him!”

“One of the perks of having money!” You flaunt “That’s my prized possession ya hear? Take good care of it!” “Well why are you giving it to me?!” He says as he tries pushing the book back towards you

“Think of it as a thank you for keeping my secret!” You explain as you wink at him

A few days later you catch him lost at a beauty store “Hiya Takakura!” You wave he looks at you startled at pushes his glasses up “Oh hello Y/N..” “Whatcha doing here?” “My mom’s birthday is soon and I’m hoping to find her a gift.” He looks over your appearance and a lightbulb appears above his head “You know a lot about makeup right? Could you help me?” “Of course!” You grab his hand dragging him to the aisle you came here for

You grab a lip gloss tester off the shelf and apply it on yourself “Hmm I can’t tell since I already have something on..” you say looking into the mirror “Cmere, you try it on!” You inch the applicator closer to him “No way you just used that!” “So what? Stay still.” You scold

You grab the strings of his hoodie bringing him down as you apply the gloss onto him, both of your lips inches from touching. Takakura can hear his own heartbeat from his ears, it was as if there was no one else in the busy store “Ooh this is a nice color!” You admire leaning away from Okarun’s red face then dragging him to the mirror you were at before grabbing his face making himself look at the mirror “How bout it?” “Huh?” “Do you wanna get it for your mom? If not I’m happy to keep looking with you!”

“This is fine..” he stutters out grabbing the tester from your hand and setting it back into the display and grabs a new product “Uhm which way is it..” he mutters nervously

🛸༄␥⋆｡°✩

You were walking back home from comic book run when you’re hit in the head by something blunt. Irritated you look up seeing a big flash ‘the hell?’

On the floor you pick up the golden ball that had hit you “I’m selling this!” You say out loud as you skip home

After Takakura missed one day of school he appeared the next day with a perm - it was kind of a look for him however you did like his bowl cut

Y/N :p : I’m digging the perm!

You hit send and giggle internally but as class went on he didn’t bother responding- it’s okay maybe he’s just focusing in class!

During lunch you caught him locking lips with Momo Ayase - the gyaru from class B. Oh! He has a girlfriend now! Very weird for this to happen after his absence yesterday..

At the end of the day you decide to tease him - the hallways are crowded no one’s going to see u talking to him anyways

“Takakura!” “Eh? Y/N? You’re talking to me.. now?” “Seen you have a girlfriend now!” You tease “No I don’t!” He’s quick to deny “Then is it a girl you like?” You wiggle your eyebrows as he looks away

Suddenly you feel your arm getting dragged and see your friend drag you along leaving Takakura behind “Say Y/N why were you talking to that otaku?” “I had a question about class that’s all!” “Oh he’s lucky for even being in the same presence as you!” “Bet he’s never had a conversation with a cute girl!” “Yeah, he’s totes head over heels over you!” “Y/N you player!”

“Woah don’t talk about him like that.” A big metal bang echoes in the hallway as you’re on the floor startling Takakura but is unable to check on you as Miss Ayase is wrapped around his arm obnoxiously shouting praises about him

“Some girls deserve washtubs falling on em instead of guys falling for em!” She says as she makes eye contact with you a giant translucent hand following behind almost as if it was waving goodbye

As the week goes on Takakura continues to ghost you, ignoring the messages of you wanting to hang out or just you simply checking up on him. Not only that but you’ve been seeing a woman in a red dress lately and it’s starting to drive you crazy to the point where you are now sliding down the hallway walls crying as your friends stare worried

You meet their gaze and quickly wipe your eyes “Hiya guys!” You quickly put a facade on “You okay Y/N? Is something bothering you?” “I’m fine just some personal issues..” “Are you sure?” This was the final straw for you “No! I’m not fine! At all! There’s a freaking ghost lady - I don’t know if you guys can even see her, she just gets closer and closer!” You shout as people start peeking their heads out of their classroom

“Ahem, um I’m just going to go to the nurses office..” you quickly stand up speed walking away

Not sure if you can tell but I plan on having Y/N replace Aira ++ I don’t know if I should make this a full on fic which would be published on wattpad 🤔

[glitter-stained]

I’m trying to get a handle on Jason as a character. I got a great answer on Jason and Tim from @ultimate-marysue but they directed me to you as the Jason Todd expert. I’m wondering about Jason and Damian now. Do they interact at all in canon? Are they friendly/friends, typical brothers, enemies, or just acquaintances? Or do they just ignore each other?

I hope you can give me an answer. Thanks either way!

Oh goodness, that's because @ultimate-marysue is an absolute sweetheart but unfortunately my Jason knowledge is far from exhaustive, especially when it comes to Jason and Damian since some of their relationship happens in, um, unfortunate comics that are hard for me to get through (they probably say that because I study developmental psychopatholgy and do in-depth analysis about jason through that length rather than exhaustive lore-knowledge).

Sorry to toss you around like a pingpong ball, but I know @daisybell-on-a-carousel is currently trying to read through every single one of Jason's apparitions in comics (godspeed), so depending of where they're at in the comics they're definitely the one to ask for stuff like that in general. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who posts a lit of lore/meta about Damian and Jason's relationship, but I do know @spicy-apple-pie loves Damian a lot and does really sweet comics so idk if they can help you but at the very least if they can't you'll get to read some cute comics.

The little I know about Jason and Damian's relationship:

-Jason and Damian's first meeting, from what I've gathered, is either from Battle for the Cowl (brutally butchers Jason's character, my second least favourite ever if I could go back in time to stop Tony Daniel from writing it I would), in which Jason shoots Damian in the chest, or Morrison's Batman & Robin run (somehow even more hated by the fans than Daniel, Morrison has admitted later to just not liking Jason's character. According to a survey I'm running these two are in the top three of worst Jason writers, but Morrison has a bonus of also butchering Talia's character to an unfathomable level and I don't know if I like his Damian very much either.) in that run (which is Dickbats with robin!Damian) Jason is portrayed as the classic "crazy evil villain" bs and making Dick his sworn-enemy apparently (he's more of a plot device than anything imo). So, we're off to a great start.

-The issue is, with the reboot, I find it pretty hard to clarify for some events which ones are still canon or not. The current state of dc comics is pushing the batfam conception more than ever before, with Jason back in the family (something that vaguely happened off-screen in the n52) and neither jason, dick, tim, damian nor anybody else seems to reference or resent anything about that despite how cartoonishly evil jason was in those so I think it's implied that they're not canon anymore (and I hope they stay this way and buried under twenty layers of retcon). However I don't think I've heard or seen any mention of a different first meeting for them so there's this shadow area of yeah btfc and morrison's jason probably didn't happen but then what did?

-currently as I said dc (ie tom king amongst others) pushes for a very "classical family batfam vibe" so they're on panel/on missions together but i haven't heard of them having arcs together in mainline (people who know more than me please feel free to correct me in the notes, in general but also if there's more about this specifically). I'm getting "siblings that don't really like eachother but don't hate eachother either vibes", especially on Damian's part. It's really not the most developed relationship in the batfam, of that I'm sure.

-for many people I've seen that their favourite damian and jason comic is juni ba's boy wonder volume 2. It isn't canon in mainline (and not my favourite jason characterization tbh) but since the two of them don't seem to interact that much in canon and the story is pretty popular and feels kinda parallel-ish to canon I get why people would consider it their reference. Also it has pretty sick designs for the both of them which certainly doesn't hurt.

-in the young justice show, a brainwashed/brain damaged(?) Jason is shown holding a baby Damian in his arms. This has no incidence on any dc comics canon but is extremely cute and therefore worth mentioning.

[kitts-mechanix]

Thank you for taking the time to write that! I'm not familiar with any of the continuities outside of G1 and TFOne but I'll try to follow along.

So for TFP, I do know that Starscream went rogue because he hated the Autobots but also Megatron. And the fact that the first thing Megatron did after coming back from the dead was beat up Starscream....I say this about every continuity but it's obvious that Starscream is his favourite punching bag. I can see why Megs gets frustrated with him, but it does NOT excuse him abusing Starscream. Although, to be totally fair here, it's not just Starscream. Megatron abuses the hell out of everyone (at least from what I've seen in G1). I mean, he's yelled at Soundwave for being a fool because his plan got foiled, and Soundwave has NEVER talked back to Megatron and is his most loyal comrade who does things without question or comment.

I've always wondered if Starscream would have a hard time actually trying to be a leader/function by himself considering Megatron basically controls everything, hence why he gets upset over Megatron's demise later on. It's complicated and I'd need to actually sit and watch the series to get a better idea but abusive relationships 100% screw you up like that. And I think the reason Starscream resorts to violence is because it makes him feel powerful. Because he always feels powerless under Megatron and he hates that feeling.

"And if people can be happy for redemption arc Meg, there's no Primus damned reason why anyone should be against a Starscream redemption."

THIS! And honestly, I think Starscream actually has a much better chance at being redeemed than Megatron, because regardless of what anyone else might say, I still say Megatron was much more evil than Starscream. And I'm dying on that hill!

I know Megatron got a redemption arc in IDW when he became an Autobot, and while I'd need to find and read the comic for context, it just felt....weird? like they were trying to appease the Meg fans who wanted a redemption arc for him? Granted, I know that all boiled down to Megatron hating what he had become, but still....

I heard Armada Starscream was probably the most complex and fleshed out version of the character in any continuity. I haven't watched Armada, but I heard that he used to be Megatron's most loyal warrior, then got betrayed by him and left for dead, and only turned on Megatron because he caught him admitting it.

"There's a lot of star getting beat up for shit that isn't his fault but told it is, and people constantly manipulating and gaslighting him and he questions his whole ass life but then even after leaving after a particularly wack incident....he expresses how he came to realize that nothing he ever did was ever enough."

Oh my gosh....THIS is what I'm talking about. Armada Starscream was dished out narcissistic abuse because Megs saw him as a scapegoat. No wonder the poor baby has a fractured psyche. And while I totally acknowledge that Starscream had it much, MUCH worse than me, as someone who's been gaslit and blamed for everything under the sun, I just get this!

Earthspark I haven't seen and I've honestly heard really mixed things about it. Starscream saying to Megatron, "Nowhere is safe if it's with YOU" is one of the most brutally honest lines I've heard. I haven't watched it, but there is a video on YT that breaks down Earthspark Starscream and talks about the PTSD symptoms he displays in the series. I hate that they made Star a villain for no good reason and threw away his trauma lore ugh. Give my baby a redemption arc already or something! And not a "bam bam he's okay now" make him work for it!

See, I still think Megatron is the more evil one who's done worse things than Starscream. I may be biased as a Starscream fangirl, but from what I've seen, 99.9% of the time Megatron (or another Decepticon) started it, and at least 50% of that time it was done to push Starscream's buttons and make him angry. Oh my gosh, I was about to mention that...."oOh bUt StArScReAm TrIeD tO kILl MeGaTrOn!" And look, I don't condone murder obviously, but considering Megatron has tried to kill Starscream before.....I understand why he snapped, like in that G1 episode where he blasted Megatron and, thinking he was dead, declared himself the new leader. Which then lead to him being thrown out of the Decepticons and enter the Combaticons, whom he treated like dirt. I have always wondered why Starscream allowed himself to follow Megatron (I assumed it was for power) but him having some form of respect for Megs is interesting....oh boy I need to do some deep diving on this.

But yes! Megatron's abuse likely created the part in Star that makes him lash out. And like I said I imagine he was always hot tempered (like Starscream, I get angry/irritated easily and I lash out. I'm not proud of it) but what Megatron did to him drove him over the edge. This behaviour was modelled to him, not just by Megs but by the other Decepticons. Also, they are in a war. Kill or be killed. Sympathy is dangerous and makes you weak. This is what's drilled into their brainboxes. And I imagine Starscream probably doesn't know/doesn't get the chance to let out his anger in a non-violent way.

"Star has done questionable things, and can be a jerk, but that doesn't mean it's his fault he endured what he did. It's only his fault for his /own/ actions of hurting someone else as a result. And that doesn't exempt someone from being able to become better and deserve better."

This! 👏He deserves another chance, he deserves happiness and a redemption. And if I have to write that for him myself, I'll damn well do it!

But really as someone who's dealt with some abuse like that, I just want to hug him and let him know he's loved 💔

I just had a huge realisation yesterday and I wanted to share this after going through some pretty horrible stuff over the weekend: Something I've always asked myself ever since getting into G1 Transformers was "why do you like Starscream so much even though he's a narcissistic bully? Why are you, someone who is a victim of narcissistic abuse, taking comfort in a narcissistic character?" Well, I think I finally figured it out. Because Starscream is also a victim of that very same abuse. I mean, he's beaten, called names, bullied, unappreciated, abused, and put through the wringer…and he internalised all that abuse because he knew no other way. He had no one to turn to, and the few bots who did support him, he treated like dirt. Once he had that freedom and power, he abused it and became the very thing that abused him. I have no doubt he was always self-centred, selfish, had a huge ego, etc. before all that but honestly? I think Megatron's abuse caused him to turn out the way he did. I could have turned out that way and it's a little scary, some of the parallels I'm drawing with him.

@ichbinmeltdown wrote a great analysis on Starscream that I want to share here:

"Megatron was abusive as hell to Starscream. He treated him horribly, and I legitimately almost cried a few times watching it. There's an episode called Starscream's Brigade that introduces the Combaticons, and I think that perfectly demonstrates the cycle of abuse. The entire world is against Starscream at pretty much every turn throughout the series, but none more so than Megatron. Every word out of his speech synthesizer to Starscream is to berate him, and he's constantly throwing him around, beating him, even ripping out his speech synthesizer in a scene from a previous episode (Hoist Goes Hollywood, IIRC). His own teammates don't like him, and even his brothers- Skywarp and Thundercracker, going off of the idea they're brothers- just... allow Megatron to abuse him. (Not to get into headcanons here, but I personally believe that Megatron's abuse fractured the Elite Trine's family dynamic. They are still brothers and love each other, but they're all too afraid of Megatron to really... stand up for each other as they did in the past.) And Starscream seemed to just snap in this episode. He treated the Combaticons poorly, and even when teaming up with Shockwave, he subjected him to a lot of the same ridicule and torment that Megatron put him through. He failed to realize Shockwave was the one of the only bots who would give him a chance- and unfortunately lashed out at him, which ruined his chances of Shockwave ever being a true friend and ally to him. Once Starscream had finally gotten a taste of power and not being under another bot's boot, he too became the very thing that he lived in fear of. And that really is how the cycle goes- when you're finally free from abuse, it can be tempting to overcompensate and take back all the power you were robbed of, at any cost whatsoever. Starscream, like D16 in Transformers One, snapped up this opportunity."

And the sad thing is, I've seen this in real life and I've internalised some of the abuse I've dealt with too. I'm not proud of it. Like the Seeker Trine, my own family dynamic has been fractured by similar abuse. I know there's traces of narcissism in my behaviour too, and I'm NOT proud of it. Maybe this is why I can forgive Starscream for being a narc, because I can see a little bit of my own personality/attitude/behaviour in him. Maybe it's because I know where it came from, I get why he acts that way and it's not just random and out of the blue. Maybe it's because--and I know this is a bold statement--I don't think he would do some of the stuff my own family did to me (blah blah blah he's a fictional character).

I didn't mean for this to turn into a long rant, so

TLDR: I finally figured out that part of the reason I love and relate to Starscream so much despite him internalising some of the abuse I went through, is because he was the victim of that same abuse.

[nwarrior777]

okay internet, i know that you not ready for this but

it's strange being all omgyes #slay yay totaly okay for like, all kinks, but going #omg wtf cringe scull emoji about fat kink

like we as society know how kinks works (importance of consents, special rules for practices like using special candles for wax play, etc), we know how really infinite can human fantasy go and so on and so on but why is it still taboo to be openly horny about things like big tasty meal with your lover

can we be finally chill about it

p.s. i have post which gives good arguments on this topic but i couldn't find it by search, only in my blog archive, so here is the link.

The problem with fat kink is not in it existing, but in not-exsisting of range of image of fatness in media

[winepresswrath]

Darla/Angelus is also great because the show has a competing designated OTP and they exist to serve as contrast and hateful competition to THE ship. they are soulless monsters even by the standards of soulless monsters, they literally make the other soulless monsters go "yikes... your relationship seems not good maybe." but they love each other so fucking much. the writers can't help it. they are constantly trying to find their way back to each other. the way she hits him over a head with a shovel and leaves him to an angry mob while he tries to say he doesn't mind dying if it's with her AND the way they coo about it to each other afterwards. the way she takes him back against her better judgement because she missed him so so much but then kicks him out again later because he still can't be who she needs him to be. that's just how they say i love you.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Just popping in to say i LOVE UR ART SO MUCH WAUGH!!!! Its soooooooo exoressive and u get across emotion and movement SO WELL!! I love ...littlr apple ...so much.....u imbue this donkey with Such Chaos

I love this little chaos creature, we should all forfeit our mortal possessions to her.

[lunarharp]

figured i'd do this again..bit early i guess..

[bacchuschucklefuck]

Can you expand on what you mean by Baron being "too cool" to really fit a horror monster? It's a very interesting concept and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Is it that they're too active/involved/tangible and it detracts from their scariness?

I feel like I should preface this with a wall of disclaimers lmao 1/I am a hardcore, down-to-the-marrow, avid, deeply sincere horror enthusiast, esp. horror creatures. this usually means my mileage is vastly different from the average populace's, and my scaredy bone has been disintegrated by longterm exposure. most things in a piece of horror media won't scare me! so I practically never use that on its own as the scale to talk abt horror experiences, but when something does scare me it's always a special occasion to be treasured. 2/canon d20 is never really meant to be horror horror, and for good reasons: it doesn't fit the company's output, it takes a kind of carelessness in production estimation that is always a huge risk, it's often vulnerable in a way that kinda goes against how TTRPGs usually facilitates vulnerability, and for most people it's just! stressful! d20, even with the "horror-themed" seasons, generally just plays with horror tropes and stays focused in its goal of being a comedy improv tabletop theater show. 3/fantasy high's chosen system is DnD, which as I've mentioned before is before all a combat-based game system, which means the magic circle of play is drawn based on stats that facilitate and prioritize combat. want or not this affects every interaction you have in the game, and given fantasy high's concept from the ground up (everyone's going to school of DnD stuff to get better at DnD) it's doubly relevant. 4/This Is Fine I have no quarrel with this. my meters are internal, I do not ask this show to be anything it doesn't advertise itself to be, and what it is is fucking great! I like it! when I expand on this ask's question it will be like a physicist going insane in a lab. that's the mindset we're going in with.

disclaimers done. my stance on horror as a genre is that it's a utility genre rather than a content genre or a demographic genre; it is the discard of narratives. it's the trash pile. horror, above being scary, is about being ugly and messy, it's the cracks on the ground any story inevitably steps over to stay a genre that isn't horror. the genre's been around long enough to develop a codex and a general language that medias and makers and enthusiasts of the genre can use to talk about and build onto, but if you go into individual pieces there's really no unifying Horror Story. one person's beautiful life can be another's horror story, it's just how it is.

this makes The Monster a deeply intriguing piece of the genre. thing is a monster is in a decent percentage of any story - it's just when the antagonist force steps into something past a certain line traced out in the story's world. monstrousness is in pretty much every western fantasy story, it's in any story with a hero and something to vanquish or win; more than anything it's a proxy of that thing up there. the line in a narrative's world. the monster is the guard of the unknown lands, where heroic, civilized people don't tread.

what does this mean in the context of horror? the genre is about that perceived lawlessness, that "unknown land" so to say. we're in the monster's home. that's the literary context that we often walk into a horror piece with; the monster knows more than you about where you are. it may not understand you, but it holds more information than you, and with that it moves swifter than you, has more covered than you, and is more assured in its existence in this context than you. it's a struggle to catch up to it, it's nigh impossible to get one over it, and you're never sure it'll 100% work, because you just don't have the information necessary to.

with that framing you can kinda see where I'm coming from here: horror's often about the breaking of rules. I always think a monster's most effective when it breaks well-established rules of both existence and visual storytelling. think Possum (2018) or Undertale's Omega Flowey or the Xenomorph Queen - unique change in medium, unique change in graphic, unique change in design language, etc. in that sense I actually really like how canon baron plays out: they don't really function like anything else in the fantasy high universe, the bad kids have not managed to kill them when they've felled literal gods, their domain in fhjy literally introduces new mechanics to encompass their existence! from an experience design standpoint they slap mad shit. BUT! I can't help finding their character, like as a character riz (and the other bad kids, eventually) interact with, to be very... coherent? in design. this is kinda hard for me to articulate in words, it's more often a sense you get once you've looked at enough of these scrumptious fuckers, their general design and the way they show up is just kinda too clean, so to say. always kinda newly made? fresh unboxed. it, once again, makes sense for their lore - they are looking for more about themself from riz - and their function - they're an antagonist in a game experience, they're meant to be interacted with in a way that produces results and meshes with the existing magic circle - but that shininess takes away from the implied history they should have dominion over and the person they're haunting doesn't.

from another angle there is kinda something there about how put-together canon baron is as a concept; the domain they call home is riz's deep-seeded fears, extremely vulnerable things he's drawn borders around to quarantine and refused to walk into. things that from his perspective would irreversibly shatter certain pleasant fictions his world is built on top of. canon baron, While Extremely Cool, I feel is kinda too neat to connect with and signify the apocalyticized mess that'd result from this paradigm shift. the part where they're in riz's briefcase and looking through every mirror is Very Cool And Fucked Up! but ultimately the show draws a line around them as well, by making game-physical, tangible spaces they're in (the mirrors and the haunted mordred manor) and put riz and the bad kids there only when they need to confront stuff. riz is meaningfully narratively away from baron's unknown land for most of fantasy high.

with that and all of my disclaimers in mind my conclusion here is if canon baron wants to be a Horror Monster they'd have to cross way more lines. be a Lot more invasive. hence (holds up my class swap baron like a long cat)

[fumifooms]

You’re the resident chilchuck expert, so I was wondering about it there’s any canon evidence that he did smoke or drink alcohol when the kids were younger. I always thought it was something he picked up due to the strain of long jobs, when the kids were already older, but you seem to think differently and I was wondering if there was anything in canon that made you think that way!

Now that you mention it I guess it’s true there’s no evidence he did. Smoking we literally only know he does at all because of one post-canon panel where he has a pipe, so no, maybe this stick-looking thing in the panel below too though, I’m not familiar with medieval blunts eh. We’ve only gotten one panel of him and his daughters interacting when he was younger so that’s not too insightful on that end, and every time we see him young and freckled it’s in a job context so again not really where we’d expect him to be drinking. The earliest proof (/heavy implication since we don’t see inside his cup I guess) is 3 years before canon when Laios hired him, where he’s at a bar, classily placed in front of all the bottles ✨

Yes alcohol is almost certainly a way through which he copes especially with stress, so if we go with the theory he started around when work got stressful, well… Chilchuck started working as a dungeon diver ~10 years ago so when he was ~19, making Mei, Fler and Puck ~6 and ~4 respectively, so from that draw the ‘stressful enough to start drinking’ line wherever. We don’t know what he did before that with any certainty, and it could be he did odd jobs, lived off mostly mutual aid and community work, or just focused on only raising the girls. Half-foots tend to be poor and I see a lot of that in Chilchuck specifically so I don’t think he could have afforded to not have some paying work though.

Alright, so then why do I think he did drink when the girls were younger?

I give a more complete rundown of the info we do have on his alcoholism & his family with panels and references + all the speculation I make from it here. But the most targeted and objective answer I can give is:

Of course there’s just very very little we know of Chilchuck’s life with his family, and I think that’s by design too. I think the details being up in the air is to allow more nuance of the topic, like, will trying to reconcile go well, is their relationship salvageable? We don’t know, because we don’t know. So the message of giving hope a chance even if it’s a long shot, that things could truly go either way, is more relevant, impactful and meta in that way. How long was he usually away for work travels into dungeons here and there? How did he act with them? All we can really do is "it’s likely that", it’s a game of which way we think it’s more implied. There’s no right and wrong answer, it’s all Marcille-like larping the events out.

My main reason for thinking he did is that his father died from overdrinking and Chilchuck is very aware of that. He mentions his death casually in the extra about their stance in alcohol and in his Adventurer’s Bible profile, etc. He acts towards the alcohol presumably the same way his father did: with abandon, uncaring for the health effects, probably happily too considering Chil says "dying doing something you love is a good way to go". Very nonchalant. So you see what I’m saying here right, wether he started early or late, his view of alcoholism is very influenced by what he saw of his father growing up, it’s something he’s always been aware of and saw in a mostly positive light, something that was inherited you could say. It’s something that was normalized to him from a young age. Regardless or where it goes from there I do think this part is pretty inarguable. If he views it positively and we know that in the present alcohol is his favorite food that he loveees, why would he have held out on it? Personally that all makes me think he started drinking very young, especially since I don’t think they limited alcohol to age as much as modern standards (and I mean, teen drinking is obviously still a thing). And here you could argue, maybe his father only started being more alcoholic later when Chilchuck moved out, or something! And to that there’s nothing I can say except I think that’s a strained theory, and that Chil might even have largely cut contact with his family after moving out (since he and siblings are listed as almost strangers and he doesn’t seem to have much emotional attachment to his parents, but also we know he rents out his place to "a relative"), but it’s true we have no evidence. "I’ve picked up the same unhealthy substance abuse as my father haha! No big deal right haha" repeated several times to me just reeks of intergenerational trauma, & the alcoholism gene as they call it. Like effortless sliding into drinking as if it’s second nature, it’s natural after all, it’s normal after all, it just makes sense, it makes you feel good and that’s what matters.

BUT from my interpretation then we have a whole other layer: Alcohol is of course not all bad always. I think he’s always liked alcohol and drank it on occasion and it brought him joy etc etc, but I think here the implication in the question is, how much effect did his drinking have on the family relations and how early? And that isn’t so much about when him drinking started but when the alcoholism started. Addiction is defined by a habitual need, that has negative effects from filling that need (physical, psychological, social, etc) and negative effects from withdrawal. If Chilchuck drinks to cope and he can’t not cope without it, that’s addiction, if it affects his relationships, if it’s a need he has, it’s addiction. Addiction can be very insidious or look very casual, and how much people around the person are affected by it is case by case. Cheerful drunks can be sooo annoying and uncomfortable though let me tell you. Drunks are drunks. And this sounds harsh, but even if people around them don’t mind drunks it’ll still have some effects here and there, living with one can be such a challenge, ily drunks good luck with everything much like Chilchuck you deserve good things 🫡　

Ok so with the dad thing and the "ok well maybe he’s always drunk casually but it grew worse with time around when he started working as a dungeon diver" precision made, the other bit of info we have that can inform this is that Chilchuck is on a harsh diet and that alcohol is a hunger suppressant. We know Chilchuck "used to be fine not eating for two days", that literally on screen to quench his hunger so it doesn’t keep him awake he goes to drink water, drinking is his instinct to hunger. Again alcohol is a hunger suppressant and if you want info on that the internet has a lot of research and anecdotes about it. He diets to be light enough to not trigger traps, so it’s something he’d have started after dungeon diving most likely. Between the stress and the diet, yes it’s extremely likely he started going harder on alcohol after he started working in dungeons. There’s arguments on wether two days without eating is less bad for half-foots than humans, but apart from smaller portions there’s nothing that indicates half-foots should get less than 3 meals a day. They need less food but that’s because their bodies are smaller: the need is proportional to the body, not smaller than others’ races, the % of need is similar even if the kg amount of food isn’t. There’s also a popular headcanon with support basis that half-foots run hot and have a faster heartrate and whatnot, and that points towards a faster metabolism rather than a slower one: a bigger need for eating rather than a smaller one. He has the same bmi, 18, as Mickbell, but perhaps because Chil is much taller he’s less intensely visibly underweight with ribs showing than Mick during the bath extra, it’s most apparent when he becomes tallman.

Alcohol is something so important and omnipresent in his character that I have trouble believing it’s something that was part of only a small fraction of his life. It’s his immediate go-to, his no-brainer solution to a good time, I’ve sort of always assumed especially after looking at his family that it’s something he discovered decently young. Like he just acts like someone who’s always had alcohol to fall back on and started young idk. Alcohol is one of his 5 keywords. Alcoholism is very ingrained into his world view and life, his "it doesn’t matter" stance his ‘work hard play hard’ mentality his idea that the world is harsh so you get relief where you can, so it just makes sense to me that it’s always been in his life, if not actively then at least looming.

So yes, in summary, my take: Alcohol was always something he wholly enjoyed to an unwise level, but it could have been considered casual until he started working into dungeons and his need for it on a regular basis intensified. Alcohol has always had positive association to him as far as we see, so when it started being a problem he didn’t see it as such. To quote him, "I drink anytime I get the opportunity to". Why always? Approval of father’s alcoholism. Why alcoholism at all? Diet + stress & coping mechanism & emotional stunting + relationship issues, and she decided she had enough after they went out for drinks.

Conclusion

Chilchuck having drunk from a young age makes sense to me and it’s the strongest narrative angle I see on the table, but that’s objectively a me opinion, yes! There’s no evidence, moreso there’s canon basis and supporting info, but it’s all very left up to interpretation. I’ve made my own interpretations of things from the scraps we see, like everyone else making Chilwife and daughters content. Wether you have a stance on the topic or prefer to leave it vague in your takes, it’ll be a matter of what you think makes most sense, or what you’d rather believe I suppose (which is literally fine)

There’s a lot of subjectivity in even just setting up causal links like you probably noticed during this and I was careful with my word choices, because we’re just extrapolating from what we see and unless Kui states it explicitly from a reliable mouth all we can do is have informed opinions on most things. This particular interpretation is influenced by other details I’ve come to form about my interpretation of Chilchuck too, the more psychological and emotional sides of him and the timeline and how his marriage even happened, unplanned pregnancy imo. Like I hope you see what I mean, this wasn’t supposed to be a speculation post just a quick simple answer but there’s sort of just no other and concise but complete way with the subjectivity nuance to put "maybe it could be yes because of this but maybe it could be no because of this" haha

Edit: Wait the phrasing on this… Interesting. "In recent years"— This does imply that if not just his alcohol consumption increasing then the diversity and quality of it did, so either he indeed did start drinking more (not necessarily meaning he didn’t drink before) assumedly because of his wife leaving, or he started drinking other/more different kinds of alcohol maybe due to the union he formed + his experience gave him greater salary than he had previously (and no wife and family to provide money for), a mix of both perhaps.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

sorry if you've already mentioned but what (re?)ignited your love of comics/x-men/cherik? curious because there are so many different adaptations of them

i think im gonna speak for a few (or a lot of) people when i say that TL;DR the wolverine x deadpool movie that came out this summer is what pulled me back into comics and i COULD leave it there but i will go into excruciating and unnecessary detail instead because i love an origin story and i love oversharing.

under the cut tho because im nice sometimes (there's also wxdp doodles in here. if you want to see that)

ironically (and probably commonly), growing up i was more of an avengers kid. Kinda. Loosely <- binge watched the cartoons and movies and read copious amounts of comics and fics and i am hoarding fanart in my old dresser as we speak ok 'loosely' is a modest lie.

embarrassingly i remember getting into discus cause of captain america LMAO so yeah needless to say i was a Humble Fan- me joining my school's comic class/club didnt help either (shoutout to my teach from that she was the realest one out there for. A Multitude of reasons). she definitely is was inspires me to even draw still and make comics and i often think bout the tips i learned from her class tbh she was great

back to the movies t and comics tho, i got into em because my brother would offer to take me and that's how we'd hang out (i rarely saw movies in theaters and i even more rarely went anywhere as a teenager. still kinda like that today tbh ooops) and yk. it just snowballed after that.

my brother and i have always liked comics- he just more than me for a while (though he still very much loves comics and As We Know From My Posts we still talk about them whenever i see him To An Exhausting Degree)

durin then i was really into stony and i have a few surviving doodles i made but those are between me and god. and anyone who asks tbh LOL

'snap can you make this related to x-men again this is long' ok so fast forward to This Summer again I Still Don't Really See Movies but my brother offered to take me and this was the first time i'd actually seen an x-men movie in full

as a kid i only remember seeing the 'perfection' scene between erik and raven in first class while i was channel surfing. pretty sure i changed the channel after seeing mystique naked cause i was scared my parents would get mad at me if they caught me watching it LOL

BUT MOVING ON As A Kid i think it's also natural you'll sometimes watch 92 if it's on And I Did though evidently it didn't stick too hard (i do remember really liking beast and gambit though.... still do really): my knowledge of x-men was. INCREDIBLY sparse. like diabolically so so i didnt have too much expectations (aside from the fact i vaguely liked deadpool beforehand).

tbh i dont know why my bro never took me to see any of the x-men movies. it's not like he doesn't Also like x-men (90% sure nightcrawler's his favorite but my brother will be caught dead saying he has absolute favorites like that)- he owns a bitch load of deadpool comics/omnibus sets too (of which ive read over the years and reread this year) but Shrug moving on

Much Like Most Of The Internet i fell down the rabbit hole that way. i have some doodles i made a couple days after seeing WxDP that i now have an excuse to throw at all of you Look And Perceive

and so. As I Do. i got curious and told myself i'd binge watch all the x-men movies the week before i went back to school And Then I Did ft. My Brother Sometimes and then i said i'd binge watch all of '92 and And I Did That ft. My Brother Sometimes But Less So and now we're here. currently watching Evolution...

once i got to school i realized i lived near a comic shop and started getting into the comics that way (the first ones i got since going down this rabbit hole was Magneto Was Right!, The Resurrection of Magneto, and The Trial of Magneto. if you were curious !!!!! clearly i didnt care too much about context i just needed to see My Guy jelvejlkvj i have no regrets and Evidently ive read more since)

i'm pretty sure what dragged me into cherik specifically was the fact i saw a clip of The Famous ending to 92 where erik's aghast at the notion jean even has to question his love for charles. i think that was what officially had me refocus my lens on them: not a single poolverine thought after that LOL (all the cherik posting i saw on twitter definitely helped too but that was the nail in the coffin for any other interests i had: i was locked into cherik and x-men in general now)

that clip specifically, i was surprised at the fact they- frequently even- have the x-men franchise say erik loves charles and vice versa so bluntly. even if it's not meant to be romantic, i fear im just a fan of how casually the word's thrown around with them two and i got tender bout it all. Then Yk. i just live for the drama. the hilarity even. the sincerity .... they make me sick if i think of them too long so im gonna end it here

before i go tho ironically enough, the first x-men issue i owned was This one (story a this is that while stuck in some wacko dimension charles accidentally gets himself trapped in logan's mind while utilizing his astral projection. if you were curious). pretty sure i got it for free with another comic set i got years ago since our old comic shop loved to do that, but it's poetic aint it. maybe ill doodle something referencing it..

i should probably look into finishing this arc someday im Dummy curious to even know how it started and how it ends.....

[james-spooky]

this is a test

[pipskippy]

2023 art summary ヽ(´w｀) i ended up not posting most of my stuff for the latter half (yet) but i’m really happy with a lot of what i worked on!!!!!

[sincerely-sofie]

I made this blog mainly as a place to store art + memes for my fandoms and doodles of my original stories. I’ve posted a lot of the former, but none of the latter, so… Here you go? Have some goofy “incorrect quotes” inspired jokes of a project of mine called The Name-Oath.

Context is indented and italicized, but you can probably read through the doodles below without getting too confused if you skip it:

The first half of the actual plot is your standard fae romance starring a human woman who doesn’t realize the male lead is a supernatural creature, and just thinks he’s really into cosplaying alone in a mansion in some freaky forest. The second half is rom-com shenanigans between the divorced human woman and male lead after the world's ugliest breakup. He desperately tries to get back together at every waking moment and she just wants to hang out with her bestie Summer and raise her half-fae daughter in peace. The human woman is named Eglantine, but goes by Egg. She got stuck with the nickname during high school and decided to start going by it in an effort to have a more "average" sounding name. This did not work as intended, but it certainly helped her avoid getting her name stolen when she first met the male lead. She's something called a skipwitch. This is a whole worldbuilding thing I'm not going to get into here. The male lead is named Kieran. He is a drama king. He spent several centuries under magical house arrest. He can talk to rats. He has pretty hair. This is all you need to know about him, except maybe the fact that he's royalty. Summer is Egg's best friend, and she is the resident fae expert in her and Egg's coven. Competitive and protective of Egg. She hates Kieran's guts, and the feeling is mutual. Egg and Kieran's daughter is named Violet, but she goes by Froggy. She is a terrifying force of nature by virtue of being the offspring of a skipwitch and Unseelie prince. Enjoys microwave pizzas, her pet beta fish, video games, and getting her way. Alois is Kieran's invisible butler. He's a surprisingly talented singer.

[cimicherrychanga]

btw u guys have to promise to not be mad at me for becoming ur turtle mutual. please