#I realise that if I actually put effort into my drawings then post them I probably shouldn't just keep it blank

[moldy-flowers]

Naori Uchiha :33

BAD BACKGROUND BC I HATEE DRAWING BACKGROUNDS SJSHSNSJ

Anyway Naori is in my top 5 I love this girlie I found her while scrolling through the Naruto Wiki and she instantly drove me insane she should get more than 20 seconds of screen time.

[supernowa-art]

oc hours!

[seunghyunjigglers]

mama, a stray kid behind YOU ★ @seunghyunjigglers

ot8 skz members as brainrot memes!

author's note: we even included links for some of the less chronically online divas out there (generous much?)! a lot of thought and effort went into this and we hope you love and appreciate our firstborn child. tw: dark humor. betas, do not interact!

chan ★ "i'm the leader, i'm the alpha, i'm the one to trust"

unironically watches bad edits of himself and goes "ayeee" to hype himself up about being edited

comments under them on his secret account

his fyp is now most definitely infiltrated by alpha chan edits

let's be real the whole trend was probably what inspired wolfgang to be released

bites his lip bc he thinks it makes him look sexy and he just looks like he's eating his bottom lip

tries to do that thing where guys put their necklace between their lips and take pics to be sexy but the necklace falls down his throat and he starts choking

would deliberately start doing aegyo followed by serving face to show his 'duality' since apparently the fandom love it (poor guy doesn't understand irony still)

LOVES when stays talk about his gyatt and starts using it bc he thinks its just another normal word for ass and seungmin and felix almost throw up laughing at him

minho ★ "queen never cry"

genuinely thought 'lock in' was something to be taken seriously and does NOT take it lightly when chan tells everyone to lock in

his kinky ass also probably thought it was some kind of jail roleplay (jisung had to explain it to him)

has mewing competitions with himself in the mirror

makes 'minho never CRY 💜' the note on his alarm in the morning

thinks it’s funny when he recommends the ki sisters manga (where the meme comes from) to people as his favorite series and the poor author has to actually go on a talk show cause he blew it up with the internet

checks his notifications EVERY day hoping someone will edit him with that baby

accidentally comments “queen NEVER cry” under a sentimental skz edit on the official account and wakes up with several calls from his managers.. let’s just say it didn’t go over well

changbin ★ "gadagadegadagadao" (omega nugget)

he stumbled across this meme on felix's fyp one evening and thought it would make the best vocal warmup for his raps, didn't realise it was a joke and actually uses it before recording tracks

when he discovers its a meme he thinks its hilarious and makes it his whole personality

stops mid convo with people and makes the face and thinks he's so funny (everyone is tired of it)

orders mcdonald's for everyone and takes the time to draw the face on EVERY chicken nugget and couldn't be prouder of himself

genuinely thinks the song is an actual banger and has it saved as a sample for a potential title track

hyunjin ★ "donatella VERSACE"

only types like THIS 💜 and felix and seungmin are the only ones who get it

chan finds out and secretly changes his name in a groupchat with their managers and staff to "hwang HYUNJIN 💜"

he is tired but donatella is not

his gag christmas present for secret santa is boxers with ms versace herself covering his chocolate starfish and he has a wardrobe malfunction while wearing them at a show and EVERYONE sees

is actually really embarrassed when he has to explain what it means to her and she just nods and tries to smile with all her botox

after this she comments it on all her posts and he accepts that he’s never escaping it

jisung ★ "jiafei 'in my head' remix" (floptropica)

this man is always singing his lungs out in every skz code and somewhere along the way he saw an edit of him with jiafei's vocals in the bg

was actually impressed by her vocal skills and tried to hunt down her ig page, ends up on some fake floptropican fanpage but he doesn't know this because he has minimal survival skills

dms some loser message like "wow your voice is sooooo nice haha...i also like to sing lol...so do you like korean boys haha..."

owner of the jiafei fan account is a stay and thinks this is hilarious and catfishes the hell out of him for WEEKS, sends vocal edits and jisung unironically eats them up, he def sends back vms of him doing vocal covers to impress her

felix hears him singing a jiafei remix one day and almost shits himself laughing, jisung gets angry and defensive until felix reveals that jiafei is literally a meme

realises he's been catfished

blocks the account and gets sulky whenever any floptropican edit pops up on his fyp, but still sings the jiafei remixes quietly to himself (some habits are hard to break)

felix ★ "oi oi oi...baka" (freaky larvae)

recreates it and everyone takes it seriously and he has to make a video telling everyone it was not in fact a thirst trap

breaks up serious arguments like "we need to calm down...you're all being a bunch of...heh...bakas..."

searches it up one day to see if there's any other lore and accidentally discovers a yagami yato audio and gets traumatised

seungmin gets fed up by felix constantly repeating it so he comes up with a master plan and during one of their japan concerts says "oh, felix has been practicing his japanese lately...what's that thing you keep saying?"

i feel like he'd perfect that freaky expression and everyone is sick of him and changbin for randomly using them

picks larva on his turn to choose something for movie night and everyone comically (see what i did there) groans and gets up while he’s just there cracking up

seungmin ★ "saddam hussein hiding spot"

this guy saw a 'saddam hussein hiding spot' comment under jeongin's post and fell down the rabbithole (or rather, the entrance covered in bricks and rubble)

thinks its HILARIOUS because it's a historically accurate meme (nerd!)

definitely whispers it every single time he sees someone or something laying down and everyone is so fed up with it, also gets felix to do the voice since he can imitate it perfectly

uses it as an excuse to randomly start lying down during dance practices and when everyone complains he just says "why am i lowkey serving saddama hussein hiding spot?"

he'd take this shi so seriously like he'd be doing the math to figure out how much time to spend on each app each day so he can make his daily screen time average look like saddam hussein JUST to make the reference

jeongin ★ "that feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow"

someone makes a comment about how they tore their acl and have to get knee surgery and he goes "that feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow" and starts laughing

it wasn't very funny to said someone

probably has to make one of those formal instagram apology posts because of it (he sets the music as the bg for the original post but his manager makes him delete it and post again)

fake falls at practice and when everyone crowds around him all worried he says he feels like he might need knee surgery tomorrow and gets kicked out of the room

pays an insane amount of money to get everyone matching knee surgery knee pads for practice and absolutely loses it every time someone actually needs to use it and has no other choice

posts a fake hospital pic with “do NOT get your knee surgery from shein !!” on his secret account

asks for permission to change his pfp to the grinch and considers outing jyp when he gets told no

[xwingsandohs]

‘Haunted Beauty’ | Spencer Reid

prompt: ‘Person A likes to sketch, and B catches them sketching, and asks what they are drawing. Person A had been drawing B, so they stutter out an excuse while slamming their sketchbook closed.’

word count: 2.3k

content warnings?: none. fluff

a/n: this is the beginning of a renaissance where i come back to tumblr. bare with me while i reformat stuff and checkout my recent posts if ya can

When you reach eleven days without being called out to the field for a case, there’s a lull in the BAU that leaves everyone bored and irritable.

Morgan sits at his corner desk twiddling his pen, spinning on his chair and occasionally ripping up small pieces of paper to aim at someone’s (usually Reid’s) head. His aim is terrible, only because the small, rolled-up balls weigh so little, so you can watch with suppressed giggles until Reid finally notices his game. A hit to the head leads to an irritated “Hey!” - While you and Morgan laugh openly.

Morgan walks over to ruffle the messy hair of your colleague and picks up the small mess he’s left on the floor around him- Spencer shuts the small notebook he’d been working in at the disruption.

You spin around on your chair to see Emily not-so-subtly looking for cheap flights on her laptop- one of her favourite ways to guarantee her time-off is approved is by booking the trip before she even puts in the request. There’s no need for the efforts really, Hotch has never denied a PTO request since your jobs are so demanding, though it doesn’t hurt to be sure.

JJ comes up behind Emily waving an empty mug, asking if she wants another coffee too. She nods, groans into a “God, yes please.” - before JJ begins to ask about her vacation plans and where she hopes to go, pointing at her computer.

Coffee sounds like a fantastic idea, so you stand from your chair and do a lazy spin towards Morgan - “Yes please, mama.” - and taking the empty cup from Spencer’s extended hand too before he even gets the chance to ask. You smile at him warmly- and before you even get a chance to lean over and see what he’s been working on, he’s slammed his notebook shut again and said “Actually, I could do with a break too, I’ll join you.”

You nod and shrug acceptingly, and Spencer jogs across to JJ when she shouts to make enough for everyone, and grabs the two mugs from her hand as well. “Thanks, Spence.”

It takes you only a minute to prep the coffee, replacing the filter and dumping in some grounds and Spencer has swooped in to fill up the water jug before you get the chance. You thank him, and watch as he turns to the sink in the small kitchenette, flicks the tap on and watches as the water fills its container.

He’s wearing a comfortable-looking navy cardigan, it’s well-fitting and you’re acutely aware of how he’s allowed his own sense of style to come through in his working wardrobe over his years in the BAU. You allow yourself an indulgent look at your co-worker while his back is to you, grinning slightly as you enjoy the view.

“How’s the case files?” He asks as he finishes loading the machine and presses the button to let the coffee drip. His hands glide in their motions after so long of using the machine most days.

“I finished all my consults, now it’s just an endless pile of cold cases to keep me busy.” You drag out a few vowels as you speak, teetering close to yawning in exasperation but the easy nights at home have kept you well-rested.

“Me too.” He shrugs, gently pushing the tub of sugar closer to the mugs to use when the coffee has finished.

“What are you making notes on?” You ask, and lean your body comfortably against the countertop.

“Notes?” He scrunches his face.

“You’ve been scribbling in your notebook for the past half hour.” “Oh!”

Realisation washes over his face, and you wonder if there’s a reason for his unusually cloudy brain. You laugh just once and raise an eyebrow in confusion at him.

“Nothing in particular, just some musings to keep me busy.” He shrugs.

There’s an old metal tin sitting on the side, some cookies that an agent had made and brought in for everyone to take from. You reach across and open it, looking closely for the biggest one before taking it. You snap it in half and present the biggest piece to the man beside you.

“Thanks.” He utters, before taking an indulgent bite.

“What kind of musings are keeping Dr Reid busy on this fine Thursday afternoon?” You ask with a glint in your eye.

He shrugs, and begins to mumble through his cookie-filled mouth before pausing to actually swallow before he speaks. His action makes you giggle. “I was asked if I’d like to do a guest lecture on profiling for the FBI Academy and I’m not really sure if I want to do it.”

“Why not?” You ask sincerely.

“I think a lot of my stories about the job might change their mind about working here.” He smiles, you both laugh, and then he shakes his head. He’s not wrong. “No, I’m kidding. I’m just not sure if I’m ready for doing something like that alone, I think there’s a lot of pressure for lecturers to be engaging and informative, and I tend to go off on a tangent.”

“I love your tangents.” You reply honestly and with a smile, which he returns appreciatively, and a little rosy in the cheeks. “But I know what you mean, I’m a profiler for a living but I don’t think I could get on a stage and give a good lecture on it.”

“I, um,” He smiles wistfully and nods his head as he speaks, something he frequently does. “I’d love to run my own classes at the Academy or maybe Georgetown one day, but I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility yet.”

He’d be a fantastic professor, you know this. And you’re sure he’d have a lecture full of hopeful psychology fanatics just like you both once were. “Maybe a guest lecture is a good trial run, even if it’s a little out of your comfort zone.”

“Yeah.” He smiles, then begins to pour out the coffees. Each mug is almost identical- white or navy with some variation of the FBI logo on, but somehow he knows who’s is who’s, and leaves enough room for cream in cups that need it. “Which case would you choose?”

“For a guest lecture?” He nods. “Um…”

It’s difficult, while every case is important you know that a balance needs to be found in a case chosen for an Academy lecture- it can’t be too standard, it wouldn’t show off why your jobs are so important or might even struggle to keep the audience interested. But you can’t choose one of your worst cases either, some of them can be particularly heavy even for you all to think back on.

“Maybe the zodiac imitator?” You suggest with a shrug. “You can go through how you deduced it wasn’t the real zodiac, looking for messages in online articles, Garcia going through MENSA records, you could even talk about navigating all the reporters and public attention.”

“Y’know, I was thinking about that one.” He agrees and you tap his arm playfully. “The trainees always enjoy the imitator cases.”

“As much as you can enjoy this kinda thing, right?” You laugh humorlessly. Spencer knows everyone’s coffee preference off by heart, you know that, but it still makes you feel a little hot when he perfects your drink and holds it out to you.

“Maybe ‘interested in’ would be a better way to put it.” He corrects himself with a similar chuckle. You nod in agreement.

You both take a small moment to enjoy a sip of your drinks before taking the rest of the mugs to the members of your team- Morgan grins at Reid as he passes his mug, and JJ and Emily thank you when you bring their drinks too.

“What do you think,” JJ calls you by name. “Where would you go for a beach holiday?”

“Beach?” You say and laugh lightly. “Wherever Morgan’s not going.”

They both grin and laugh, and you hear Emily begin to say “Y’know I’ve seen those pictures of Morgan’s Jamaican resort…”

You head back to your own desk, you have Reid right in front of you and Morgan at a table across from you both, it makes for easy conversation and sharing of the sweet treats you bring in when you try to hide them from the rest of the team- more for you that way. Every so often you stop on your way to work and fill up a pick ‘n’ mix, you know by now that Spencer’s favourites are the chocolate jazzles and Morgan loves anything sour.

Emily shouts for Morgan to help her find a holiday destination, so he shakes his head playfully and taps you on the shoulder as he walks past you.

The coffee is perfect as you sip it, just slightly hot, not too sweet and not too strong. You cradle it between two hands as you step past your desk and stop in front of Spencer’s, leaning gently against the table. He looks up at you, mid sip, and raises his eyebrows to ask what you need from him.

“Can I see what you’ve been writing?” You ask innocently, pointing at the small brown book that sits central on his desk. A pen sticks out of the top of it to hold the page he was using, and he seems unusually shocked by your question.

You’re profilers, though Spencer is a surprisingly good liar, you have a feeling he wasn’t pondering a guest lecture for the Academy.

“There’s nothing important in there.” He shakes his head and instinctively goes to pull it out of reach.

“C’mon, Reid!” You giggle, putting your coffee cup down in a space on his desk. “I just wanna know what’s been keeping you occupied. You’ve been scribbling in it all afternoon, so secretively too.”

“I-I’m not-” He pauses, stuttering and puts his own mug down and out of reach before pulling the pen from between the pages of his notebook. He leaves the brown pad where it is. “being secretive, why do you want to see?”

“I’m just curious.” You say, bowing your head in apology. “I didn’t mean to pry, I’ll just leave you to it.”

“N-no, wait,” He stops you, seeing your small change in demeanour and immediately washing with guilt. Your body language changes just slightly, not quite closed off but a little less open and maybe a smidge of your own guilt for possibly upsetting him. He’s not upset, and he certainly does want you to be. “I’m sorry. I-I’m just, um,”

You turn back to him, offering another apologetic look. It’s not necessary, and he holds the notebook tightly in his hand, looking at it while he thinks. “Would you like to see?”

“Only if you want me to.”

“Why not?” He hums, gently passing the small brown book to you. You take it, just as gently, curling a finger into the gap created by the pen to hold the open page.

The brown book is worn on the edges, creased from opening so many times and his recent page is over half way through. You’ve seen him scribble in it frequently, and you’ve seen the way he slips it into his satchel at the end of the day- it’s important to him, you know that.

You open the page and it’s a drawing, a sketch in black biro. You’ve seen some of Reid’s drawings before- wavy lines, shrunken eyes and wiry hair, it’s his own unique style of illustration and you love his hidden passion for it. His drawings have been of imaginary characters, animals, even halloween decorations; they have a haunted aspect to them and you admire his talent for capturing the way he sees the world. This one is adorned with small wavy lines bouncing off the central figure.

“It’s-” This one you recognise, an unhidden smile and the shape of the hair. “-me. You drew me?”

“Um… yeah.” He smiles, but it doesn’t hide his nerves as he shifts in his chair while you look over the lines he’s made.

It’s today, you know the top you’re wearing today and one wiggly line for the chair you’ve been perched on. Your hair is styled as it is today, but you haven’t smiled so brightly today, you haven’t had the reason. That part, you realise, is from his memory. You like that he thinks of you as a happy person- the lines show that too, they add a bright, liveliness to the illustration of you.

There’s small flowers on the page adjacent- lavender, daisies, chrysanthemums, with what you assume is the scientific name underneath. They dot across the page like a printed pattern, but with the handwriting you know of Spencer all around. Underneath the drawing of you, though you’re not sure if it’s meant to describe both pages, it says “Beautiful”.

“Wow, Spence- I mean- Spencer,” You stutter over your words, grinning and feeling flushed at the thought of him spending his afternoon drawing you so dearly. “It’s amazing, you’re really good at art, y’know.”

“Thanks.” He replies sweetly, face unabashedly pink and smiling from ear to ear. “It’s um, really tempting to draw you when you’re sitting right across from me. I wanted to try and capture your smile but my drawings have given you more of a… haunting beauty.”

You don’t know what to say, still smiling and stuttering over nothing at all as you look over to him, to the drawing, then him again. His pride in his work makes his face light up in a way you rarely see on the job. “A-and Spence is fine, if you like.”

“Thanks for letting me see, Spence.” You say, dancing lightly around the last word, an affectionate nickname you know is only reserved for the special few. It feels good to be special to him. “I’ve never been very good at drawing.”

“I don’t think skill matters when you’re passionate about what you’re trying to recreate on the page.” He says with a simple smile, then bites down on his bottom lip to stop it from being too bright.

“You think so?” “Yeah.”

—

a/n: and just for funsies…

[omgwhatchloe]

Ur Sean au has actually been occupying my every waking thought

Like it’s such a sad idea but like

Ahhhhhhhh

When I’m in a depressing thoughts competition and my opponent is the soul crushing feeling of responsibility and moral obligation to care for a person who can’t care for themselves but you are unfit to look after due to inexperience and or inability

well then i suppose ill have to post some more about it wont i hehehe

-the first time the gang hears sean cry, they are stunned. miss grimshaw has left him alone for a few minutes, and they are all doing their own things. only to be interrupted by a sharp breath, and a broken wail. its like a baby's cry, loud and shameless as it draws attention. they all freeze, looking over as lenny approaches him fast. he's sat at the poker table, hysterical, his bottom lip quivering as he takes another breath in. they keep staring as lenny hushes him, looking around frantically for any pain, knowing asking sean whats wrong would be futile. that's when he sees the stain on his jeans, and realises sean is most likely uncomfortable and has been left in his own accident. he has no idea what to do, how he's supposed to go about this, and looks to the women for help.

-hosea is the one to attempt to feed sean most days. they have to be careful what they feed him, as toothache would leave him absolutely inconsolable. he holds the spoon to sean's mouth, and tries to be gentle as he places it in. sometimes, he wonders what he's doing. he can't actually believe what he's doing, spoon-feeding sean. if sean doesn't like a food or even a certain mouthful, he will reopen his mouth and start to push it out with his tongue, giving hosea about 2 seconds to catch it with the spoon. all efforts to make him stop have been, of course, useless.

-sean has been mocked by bill and john once, around the campfire. mostly, john was bitching about the whining sound sean made when he was distressed, about how it grates on his nerves worse than the sounds jack makes when he's in a bad mood. despite never helping once with sean, he acted as if he was the most frustrated in camp. bill agreed with him a lot, and laughed about the way sean cried. they started to talk about him having accidents, but hosea, who was walking past, lost his temper greatly with them.

-dutch made a speech about sean, the night before he was to leave. he spoke about how the entire situation was "a real damn shame" and how he felt guilty about the whole thing, he felt guilty about the greys easily ambushing them. he also spoke about who sean was, and what he stood for, unfortunately butchering this for lenny, who really knew sean and what he stood for.

-on a normal night, micah spoke about getting rid of sean. his methods of how to do this angered arthur and hosea, who snapped at him to shut the hell up. he kept those views until the day sean left.

-lenny has cried a lot. he cried to himself the day sean got shot, a few times during the period of time he was unconscious, but he cried the hardest when sean was awake. as he started to care for sean, the responsibilities piled up until they were absolutely dumped on him, no one else wanting to be as involved anymore. for a few days straight, it was all on lenny. everyone else tried and failed to justify this. to say the camp is always fairly full, lenny felt like a new and single parent to his partner/ex partner. he knew his relationship with sean was gone, a vital part of it to them was already completely off limits the moment it was realised sean had brain damage. it was the afternoon of the last day he was going to put up with sean and the responsibilities that had been dumped on him, he sat on his bedroll, moved next to seans, and tried to hard to get him to calm down. he was angry, for some reason, yelling unintelligibly at lenny and swinging his arms around. he got caught a few times by his clenched fists, and it hurt. he'd barely eaten, barely slept, he was barely holding himself together. he just broke. he flew up from his bedroll, tears streaming down his face. "i can't-i just can't. i'm not doing it anymore." he tearfully explained as he hurried through camp and mounted maggie. he rode off fast, leaving sean sat where he was, still yelling at no one in particular.

-he returned after a few days, and no one blamed him for running away.

[urfavflyingfish]

What is GOODY my gang, here be a wip for a big illustration I’m drawing for Bedroom Community. This is just the first half but I’m REALLY proud of the poses. Since I’m planning on this to maybe be the cover for the completed comic I wanted to simply talk a bit about the actual story and characters. I’ll talk about all the other characters when I draw the second half !!

From left to right the main trio of the story are Paulina “Paula” Patranowska, Mika Łudź, and Saanvi H. Patel. All three live Nowhere, also known as Somewhere and Anywhere, a mysterious city made up of miscellaneous architecture and mysteriously abandoned buildings that doesn’t seem to work under normal conditions. It’s a colourful, confusing and complicated place that the main cast have to live in daily, and as everything progresses, they must manoeuvre best they can and make sense of everything.

Mika and Saanvi met first at a group art therapy session, before both bumping into Paula at a hectic party. Later, Mika and Paula met at a ceramics class at uni, and afterwards mika introduced Paula to Saanvi and her brother, Julien, at a concert. Music is a VERY big motif throughout the entire story so all the main relationships either bond over music, during music or somewhere where music is played. Each character has a very different music taste and style, however through music, they’re all able to realise that they’re not as divided as they think.

Stfu corny ass BOOOOO anyways time to get into the individual characters. Paula is an intense, yet highly creative young person who came to Nowhere as a young teen. She sings and plays rhythm guitar for her band. No one, not even her closest friends know anything substantial about her past. In a way they’re all slightly scared to ask because of how much it’s seemed to affect her. As a character she’s agential and very independent, blunt, impatient and has a habit of either speaking too much or not making sense of what she’s saying. She’s prone to sounding cryptic and sometimes unconsciously rude. She IS the Weird Girl. like.I’m gonna have SO much fun visually illustrating how her mind works because she’s REALKY not having a fun time sometimes. Like, she’s whimsical but also has plenty undiagnosed issues ykwim? Paula has the ability to see into people’s minds,and. i mean I gu e s s you can call it mind reading if you want but it’s very much not that simple. She has the power to see people’s thoughts, feelings and memories and that DEFINITELY doesn’t have major links to the bigger picture that’s happening simultaneously alongside the actions of the story. This tends to take a toll on her and gives her The Horrors, so. There’s LOTS of intricacies I can’t really get into rn because this post is already gonna be SO long. She also loves stars, crafts, crafts involving stars and bossing people around.

Mika is witty, slightly sarcastic and literally doesn’t know who they are sometimes. They play bass. They also like to play a very specific front so that people see them as this super-sexy-party-crazy-girl, but in reality their having a crisis about their self worth half the time. They came to Anywhere after finishing school in Poland and lying to their family about going to college and having a career plan. Personality wise they ARE witty, but are always putting up walls so that they sometimes come across as dismissive or slightly arrogant. They like to play into what others see them as, which can have a toll on any legitimate relationships or friendships they cultivate. A big thing is they tend to run away from issues instead of acting or facing them head on. Naturally because I love a good cliche from time to time, they only ever properly get to be themselves when they’re with the gang, in which they come across energetic, idealistic, talkative, and very sensitive, thought they make an effort to hide that bit as much as possible. Their weird freaky ass ability is electricity!! Or energy, more energy because they can convert one source to another, such as electricity to light or sound to kinetic. They do be ballet dancing.

Lastly Saanvi is SO unserious. Just, unbothered king. Sarcasm extravaganza. Okay ACTUALLY being serious now. Saanvi is the smug joker who plays lead guitar for the band. She came to Somewhere with her brother, Julien, after making a deal with (antagonist which I’m not name dropping yet because spoilers) and running away so that he couldn’t find her. She VERY much finds it difficult to communicate verbally, and I mean all three of them do but it’s most noticeable with her. Saanvi has a tendency to ignore her problems for as long as she can before they catch up to her, which tends to reflect how she goes about heart-to-hearts, or should I say, how she doesn’t. To most people she comes off as smug, passive aggressive, and often stand offish, but her friends understand that she has her own, minute way of showing affection and care to those she really loves. Either way, Saanvi’s often uncommunicative approach to life and her relationships sometimes cause rifts between herself and others. For her weirdo-ability she can control and create fire, which takes on different colours depending on what’s happening around her. Shes secretly a whizz at math and physics. And she love dinosaurs.a l ot.

Theres lots of stuff that I don’t want to fully reveal until I start releasing the finished story so I’ll probably just be posting small tidbits about characters and story heats instead of lore posts, because I have a feeling people should go into the lore of this world COMPLETELY blind. Or maybe I’m wrong idk. like wnd subsrinbe

also some closeups of the gals 🫶

[tonydaddingham]

am i missing something in kinda comparing the entire maggie and nina situation to paris? 'cause there was no need to get them to fall in love. a&c might not be able to make people actually feel it, but they seem to have mind control down pat without much effort (or any moral quandaries). they could have waited for an angel to show up and just faked it- easy, certain way out. it's not like the idea of working together like that is even weird, not after the gabriel miracle.

so. either they missed it, which is plausible, and uhhh, renders this whole ask pointless, or *would* have moral issues with it (also plausible💀), or they're being completely ridiculous again, and would rather plan balls than actually make an effort to get themselves out of Mortal Fucking Peril (not that aziraphale necessarily knows it is). i think it would fit the pattern, honestly- when not having huge blowouts over *problems of their own making* (hey aziraphale kill this kid it'll be fine, aziraphale why won't you ditch earth with me, crowley why won't you come to heaven with me), the ineffables always seem to be constantly, aggressively orbiting eachother, making heart eyes and goofing off (cough end of the resurrectionists "not kind" cough) with 0 regard for safety except for the (very very sadly i can't find the -ennial word for every other century) occasional heart attack, and then just skipping right back down the aisle.

(hope this is coherent, i've been editing things a little too long to tell)

hello @aq-uatic my darling!!!💕

(bby im so sorry!!! i thought i had posted this ages ago and i went rooting around in the drafts to continue something else and realised i hadn't!!! im an idiot sorry!!!)

i think there is some context behind aziraphale's actions in particular with this scene:

we know that aziraphale has a fondness for maggie, that i'd argue goes slightly beyond the fondness he has for humans in general (and even then that's questionable at times), and he seems genuinely put out that he's not in a position to help her - to wiggle his fingers about, and make it happen for her (horrifying implications, aziraphale, but we move). so, whilst aziraphale obviously is prompted into the whole 'lets-make-these-two-humans-fall-in-love-bc-that's-totally-normal-and-okay' by holding the everyday record back in the bookshop, i think there is an element of aziraphale genuinely wanting to help her, and coming up with the ball is his interpretation of an organic way to do that (💀). but it doesn't justify the whole thing one little bit; despite the possibility of that being his intention, it's completely batshit - nina certainly didnt know, let alone consent, to anything, and maggie didn't either; they're not dolls for either of them to play around with.

essentially though, i agree - any logical, coherent, sensible thinking would have probably just helped them arrive at a solution that didn't involve warping reality and bringing a whole room of people under a horrifying amount of hypnosis. but you have two supernatural creatures who, in a fairly major way by the time of 2023 at least, have their sense of existing amongst humanity influenced by not only the clandestine, dramatic nature of their own story, but by their tendencies towards damsel-but-not-wholly-in-distress-ing and anti-hero-at-best-ing respectively. we have to barely scratch the surface to see the intertextuality between these traits of theirs, and where they might stem from stories told in certain books and movies (emma by jane austen, and james bond spring to mind).

they constantly talk in riddles to each other, in code and in double meanings - they may somewhat understand the general sense of what the other is saying, but it's not categorical and leaves too much room for error or misinterpretation (which, ultimately, it does). it's a constant dance circling each other, ebbing and flowing, pulling in and drawing back, but never coming together properly; it's a quadrille vs. a waltz.

it makes sense that they are so used to finding the most roundabout and convoluted ways to do things, and this continues into s2, because not only is it how it tends to go down in fiction, but also because that's literally how they've had to exist - not only so their closeness isn't detected, or so their true natures aren't suspected by their respective head offices, but also by nature of being literal supernatural creatures living amongst humans - sleeper agents, of a kind - and constantly having to exist without detection.

none of this makes it right, of course not - but i actually don't think they see any other way of going about things. they're so good at it, so well practiced, that (as just two examples) they run verbal rings around gabriel/metatron (book) and beelzebub chattering about the great vs. ineffable plans at the airfield, and they dance around the most straightforward solution to the maggie/nina problem. as for themselves and their relationship, they dont speak plainly to each other until the bandstand or final fifteen... and even then, i feel like its aziraphale that is maybe the first to break and speak plainly? idk:

i think it's clear that crowley is the more scared, and therefore the more cautious, in this regard. for all his objections attempting to distance himself as an angel compared to crowley's being a demon, aziraphale feels to me that he is the more inclined to throw caution to the wind. i think its because crowley understands the danger in blowing their cover a little more than aziraphale does - aziraphale on multiple occasions slips in nearly admitting their closeness (1800, end of 1827 as you pointed out, and when meeting with the archangels in heaven in s1) - and is still stuck in the safety that dancing around what should be plainly said affords them. they both - as you wonderfully put it - aggressively orbit each other, and breaking the holding pattern comes a little too late.

so no, i think your drawing the parallel between the Weird-Ass dynamic in 1793, how they handle the maggie/nina storyline, and then how they behave with each other, is very apt! but its, at this time, arguably all that they've known - acting in this way - and breaking the cycle is starting to happen, but won't pay its dividends until s3✨

[hardwiredweird]

What you don't see.

I've been doing a lot of fundamental practice lately. You know, the boring, annoying kind that really helps you, but is just ... tedious and not 'pretty'.

And doing that, I've been thinking about how much of an artist's progress people don't see in a time where we all so carefully curate our online presence.

You guys see stuff like this:

from me and even if I might not be 100% happy with some of these, they are still finished pieces, pieces done for 'practice' in some cases, sure, but still. Finished. 'Polished' in a way.

But some of my practice also looks like this:

Quick gesture practice to capture motion and silhouette and perspective practice.

I think a lot of people, especially those who still hold onto (even if only a little bit) the idea of inherent 'talent' completely underestimate the amount of practice some of us put in. Deliberate, careful practice.

And I want to use this as an opportunity to reiterate a few things:

1. Art is a skill that needs to be honed. It is as much a mental as well as a physical skill and both of those aspects need training. It's a long and tedious process, but you CAN learn it with patience and effort.

2. What you see in an artists online portfolio is usually the best of their best. It's carefully curated and not a 'true' representation of everything they make. I will eventually find a few of my 'failures' to post, too, because they still happen, even after five and a half years of intense practice and they will continue to happen. Failures are good actually. If you know how to analyse them and use them for progress (and that's a skill itself).

3. Going back to point 1 a little: Art! Takes! Time! and not everyone has the same amount of time they can dedicate to practice and study. Don't compare someone else's progress to yours. They might have more time to put into their practice.

4. Jumping off point 3: everyone learns differently and nobody will have the same process. For example, one of the most popular methods for constructing heads, the Loomis Method, just ... does not work well for me. I find it leads to overthinking which leads to stilted, crooked heads. Once I realised that that was not the be-all-end-all method of drawing people and moved to a sight-sizing approach, things became a lot easier for me. I learned by observation first and then added construction and anatomy into it later. It gave me the best results and kept me going with early successes. Someone else might really appreciate the structure of the Loomis or Riley methods. Finding what works for you, trying different approaches can be tedious but worth it!

Don't be discouraged by all the 'cool art' you see on the internet if you're not there yet. You're not 'lacking talent' if you're not improving as fast as someone else. We all learn differently, at different speeds. And that's okay!

If you have trouble improving, you might want to look at where you are, how you have been practicing and you might find that you have been staying in your comfort zone too much. You can take that step outside of it that will bring progress, I promise!

[mollymauk-teafleak]

top gun/daisy jones and the six au

So like the little magpie I am, I have once again stolen one of my lovely gf's hyperfixations in a piece of media I haven't even consumed. Because what better way to consume media than just having your gf @hangsters tell you all the best bits and then help you make a top gun au?

So there is an up and coming rock band in the 70s music scene called Top Gun, consisting of Nicholas 'Goose' Bradshaw on drums, Ron 'Slider' Kerner on bass and Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky on lead guitar and vocals. They've recently added a relative unknown called Alice Duong on keys to round out their sound (who keeps drawing the eye of their bassist) but they're struggling to climb the charts.

Their success and their struggle is all down to their lead and originator, Iceman Kazansky. Fellow musicians can't stop raving about the technical flourishes in the songs, the skill and effort put into every solo, the way Kazansky seems to live and breathe music. But that experimental nature is struggling to capture people who'd just be listening to the radio on their way to work.

So their manager has an idea. Guess who he also represents, whose was a massive hit before the drugs and alcohol and partying caught up with him, who works a crowd like no one else and just oozes raw charisma and just got out of rehab and needs a comeback? Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. And he could be just what Top Gun needs.

Instantly, Mav and Ice struggle to get along. Mav comes into the recording studio like a hurricane, messing up Ice's perfect riffs and technical genius with improvised solos, lyric changes and a general disregard for anything Kazansky (or anyone who ins't him) has to say. The rest of the bad worry that this could wreck the band entirely rather than save them. But the songs that come out of this battle are genius and sell like gangbusters.

So they tour and Ice and Mav are still butting heads but it seems to have...shifted. Like they hate each other but they love it? So no one is really surprised when one of their arguments over a song turns into the hottest sex.

But there's a problem. Maverick has never ever had a relationship like this where it's with someone he actually might love? And he panics about not being good enough, about letting Ice down and the pressure of having a gay relationship in the 70s. And yeah, he's always bucked gender roles (he's trans but not out publicly) and played with sexuality in his music but Ice feels real and he's so scared.

So one night Ice finds him high and shaking in the bathroom after a show. And he just helps him into the bath, washes him, gets him to drink water and takes care of him. But he tells him 'you have until December 1st when the tour ends and then you're done with this. you're going to get clean and be a good man for me'. And Maverick does.

Meanwhile, Goose is struggling being away from his high school sweetheart and love of his life Carole. They get the whole adorable 'if I say I have a record deal will you marry me?' thing and they have a cute backyard wedding when they realise she's pregnant and then along comes little Bradley who Goose loves more than anything (I have hangster stuff in this AU also but this post is getting long)

And eventually, after show after show of Slider staring at her, Alice finally confronts him. She's met guys in this industry that see her as a muse, see her as a skirt and nothing else and she's so done with all that. She just wants someone who treats her like a person and if Ron's gonna be that person he'd better hurry the fuck up and kiss her before she gets sick of waiting. And slider was just scared to be like one of those guys so he was holding back but now he has the go ahead he's kissing her like there's no tomorrow.

But yes I'm so deep in this AU it's not even funny and I'm looking how I can get some fics or maybe even a multi chapter thing out of it so! Ask questions, send requests, please enjoy!

[wordwings]

I saw someone post an #bweirdOCtober prompt and was inspired to join! I don’t have a lot of energy and I want to put what I can into actually writing so this is going to be all fun, as little effort as possible. I’m drawing from both my ‘professional’ writing OCs and my TTRPG OCs, whichever fit. Not literally drawing, btw, I’m a writer. Unless I get really inspired.

Prompt 1: Fave OC

I will take this as: OC that has been on my mind a lot, because I can’t actually pick favourites.

Linn (or, Galinndan Liadon) is my character in a DnD campaign one of my brothers DM’s. They’re an elven knight (cavalier fighter subclass) who disappointed their family by not being as stuck up as them and also getting into a romance with a member of a rival family, so they sent them out to adventure to ‘prove themself’ (or, be someone else’s problem).

They’re traveling with their boyfriend and their cousin/squire as their retainers (boyfriend has since been updated to sidekick; he’s a bard) and my partner’s character, a human who was taken in by their family after his whole family got murdered under suspicious circumstances. As for the other party members, well, I don’t need to go into them because they just keep dying and being replaced by new ones! My brothers (the two who are not the DM) have had to make new characters at least three times now, while my and my partner’s character keep surviving.

Which is why Linn has been on my mind, because they’re trying to be a noble knight, protector of good and the common folk, and they just keep losing people! On top of that, every time they try the get help from an authority figure, they turn out to be corrupt—our DM has tried to make us choose between these rulers who are each horrible in their own way and we just keep going ‘nope, you’re evil, fuck you’ while occasionally begrudgingly working with them when our goals happen to align… In short, Linn is having a crisis of conscience and it’s very interesting to roleplay. I hope they can save the world and remain a good person, but I can see them giving up on adventuring and running away with their boyfriend, or just straight up giving up on life and turning evil.

Oh, I forgot to mention there’s a possibly evil dwarven wizard living in their head who keeps trying to possess them!

This campaign is a great example of what I love about TTRPGs as a form of storytelling—it’s great practice for my character and worldbuilding muscles, because you’re never in total control and are forced to think about situations you’d never imagine on your own. And especially as a player there’s not a lot of pressure to get it ‘right’, it’s about having fun together and seeing where things lead. I was initially struggling to make Linn adhere to their initial character traits, before realising that everything that happened could change a person—and that made much more sense.

[martinaprocraatinates]

The story that goes with the drawing I posted

It was an ordinary, quiet day in the school library, most students quietly studying and whispering to each other, though there were some who chose to run the risk of angering Madame Pince and as such were speaking louder than most yet still it was easy to put it off as background noise. It was still quite peaceful even with that.

At least, that was until the double doors of the library were pushed open, slamming against the wall with a loud bang, the librarian immediately went on alert as a perfectly average looking teen, already in the telltale quidditch uniform strode through, looking for someone with a one track mind, managing to avoid her so far as he finally found who he'd been searching for, sneaking up behind him, grabbing his hand. "Knew I'd find you here. I thought you said you were coming to watch. Its about to start. Just thirty minutes we have to get there. Come on, you can't miss my first match as seeker. You know how much I've wanted this. Sunce we were kids," he bounced on his heels as he waited for an answer, fiddling with the loose strands of hair. He tutted as the other got a much too familiar look on his face, causing him t frown, not pout as he could already guess what he was about to say and nearly sat on the table in an effort to make his point clearer, "you promised you'd come to every one of them. You did. ANd you've upheld that promise so far so why's this one different?"

The other didn't seem much phased by the mini outburst, though at least he'd put the book he'd been reading aside, giving him his undivided attention, "haven't you realised we have our OWLs at the end of this year? I know you didn't study much the last two years, as indicated by your report card," it was quietly said but not in a way that went with some negative reason normally.

His face screwed up like he'd smelled something rotten, annoyed as he curled his nose up. "Come on Cas, a few hours isn't going to kill you. You know how long I’ve been wanting this. Ever since we were kids,” while there was an almost petulant tone to his voice it wasn’t on the level of whining just yet.

Castor but his lip, opening his mouth to respond, likely to give another refusal and an excuse, it wasn’t even so much of a bad one, ten OWL subjects wasn’t a very good idea but it was all worth it. His brother got to take only six and still have time to explore his hobbies it was all good. “Pollux, I-“ though he had the feeling he’d be cowed into agreeing anyways, it didn’t hurt to try and go against it at least. But this time he was cut off as his study partner returned, arms laden with a couple heavy looking tones. He pulled out his wand to help her only to be cowed by a fierce glare that was seriously too much for this small incident.

“What’s Polly doing here?” She asked in a tone that was anything but endearing, lips pressed into a thin line, brows furrowed, seemingly annoyed by his mere presence.

“You two know each other? Surprising. Don’t think he’d gone out of his way to get familiar with anyone else in our year, the newly dubbed ‘Polly’ looked between the two, one brow raised in suspicion. Such a little thing shouldn’t be suspicious but the other, he was just too familiar with him to not be.

“Of course. We share ancient runes and arithmancy. He’s the only one that seems to actually understand any of it. Other than me of course,” there was a slight smirk on the tall girl’s face as she pressed her fingers into her own chest, obviously proud while simultaneously putting others down. “Still you haven’t answered my question. I didn’t expect to see you of all people here,” she’d finally freed her hands of the tones, rolling her wrist, they were heavy but she refused to accept help. All par for the course.

“I’m just trying to convince my brother here to pull my brother from studying and now you to came watch me play,” he stood up to his full height, still managing to only just barely reach her shoulder, looking up at her, head angled a bit.

“Fine. I’ll attend,” it was inevitable quite frankly but he thought he’d at least be able to hold out longer. He couldn’t say no to him, it was coming to be an issue. Luckily he was much too nice to use it to his advantage purposefully and anyways, he’d been getting tired and stiff now. Admittedly spending the weekend like this probably wasn’t the best idea. “On one condition,” he stopped the other’s small celebration, a bit of a smile playing in his lips. “We come back here immediately after. I know you’re failing potions so that’s what we’re focusing on. Deal?”

Pollux looked at the hand, lips now pushed out in a bit of a pout, as he glared at the hand. But he hadn’t been lying. This really did mean a lot to him. Just like how the other and his academic achievements meant to him. Wildly different but they’d always seen each other through. He had a toothy grin on his face, taking the hand and shaking it like it was the most serious thing ever, “deal,” a light glow surrounded their hands for a moment. They probably shouldn’t be playing around with a weaker version of the unbreakable vie but it hasn’t backfired for them. Yet.

“Wait, what? Brothers?” She finally spoke up again, looking between the two, squinting a bit. “I always thought you two were cousins. What with the same name and same birthdays. Twins? You two are twins…” really it wasn’t a question at this point. Just a statement. She had an expression of someone who just made the discovery of their lives, looking between the two constantly. Now that she was looking for it the sikilarities were there. Once you ignored the different hair and eye colour. And the texture. And the height, one barely reached her shoulder, the other was a fair bit taller. They both had the same permanently haughty faces once you ignored the gauntness of one. Brothers she could see but twins? It was a struggle to wrap her head around that one. “You two don’t look all that similar. Who’s older?”

“He looks more like mother, I father. It’s as simple as that. What a stupid question, what does it matter? We’re twins,” there was a hint of bitterness in Castor’s tone as he said that, lips pressed so much into a thin line they were almost entirely invisible.

“It definitely matters to you. And to them too I guess,” it seemed to be quite the sour topic between the two, one could almost feel a shift in the air as the topic was brought up. “He’d older. Just by two hours though. You’d think it was more like ten years with the way he acts,” Pollux laughed, more than a little dramatically as he laughed, in an effort to lighten up the suddenly tense atmosphere.

“Someone has to do it,” such a vague and seemingly everyday statement yet it seemed to hold a weight behind it. One that shouldn’t ordinarily be there.

Normally unable to read the room, even Fausta was able to see and feel just how awkward it is between these two, which did probably explain why they weren’t seen together often. “I see Barbary saved me a seat. Good luck you,” she waved and seemingly disappeared, not wanting to spend more time than necessary around them. One was just too much for her. The other… well she wasn’t swure how to feel about him. Maybe she was regretting her decision to go up and offer him the opportunity to study together. But what with the things, mostly rumours she’d heard of his family and what she knew, however little it was, it seemed like a smart decision. And it had been. If she didn’t mind dying of awkwardness.

“You’re such a mess. Honestly. How do you expect to be flying properly if this is covering your face. I swear you’re probably one of the few sportsmen that cares more about having long hair than the ability to see,” and immediately his brother started acting like a mother worried about every little thing, patting down his hair, trying to convince him to let him plait it, and failing miserably. He even went as far as to brush off his robes for him and further use an ironing charm. Honestly, no one would care whether or not his uniform was pressed. Would they even be able to see at that distance? Most likely not.

”I’ll be fine. This is probably like my twentieth match,” he grinned a bit, as annoyed as he was, especially after they started gaining attention and while he loved attention like nothing else, this kind of attention wasn’t the same. He finally got annoyed enough to do something about it and pushed him towards the hufflepuff stands, his twig of a brother nearly stumbling and fell only to recover quickly enough. “Now go! It’s about to start. Don’t forget to cheer for me. Just block out anyone else,” and without a second glance at him he strode on to the field, a grin that from the looks had to be painful on his face, eyes shining brightly as he glanced around at all his teammates, sending Bean, the opposing seeker a wink as he took a moment to make sure the ribbon in his hair was tightly secured before going to the lineup. He was practically vibrating with excitement.

Finally! What he’s wanted since he was five was right at his fingertips. It only took a decade. He had to dig his heels in to make sure he didn’t go off on an early start, so excited he was.

As soon as the whistle blew, he was off on the air and he just had to take a moment to fly around, especially now that he wasn’t entirely focused on protecting the goals. He could just take some time to speed through the air, the sounds of the match fading into the background. Such an exhilarating feeling it was.

But eventually he got serious. All it took was a hint of gold flying by the his ear for him to remember where he was, honestly he was like a magpie. More magpie than wizard.

It took some time, honestly he wasn’t trying that hard, he’d always felt disappointed when the game ended early because of a seeker too good at their job. And it was fun leading Bean on, going like he was about to dive for it, only to pull up and of course his opponent was always just behind. Eventually, though he realised the other had caught sight of it and of course he had to cut her off.

And what a feeling it was! To wrap his hand around the fluttering little charmed object, that feeling cemented in his heart that this was what he was born to do. No ifs ands of butts. Still they ended up losing. And he couldn’t help but wonder, had it been his fault? Maybe he shouldn’t have stretched it on for so long. Oh well, he found he couldn’t bring himself to care.

After s quick shower and change of clothes, he was searching out his brother, pleasantly surprised to see him smiling in that odd way of his. “You did well,” ah his compliments. Always nice to receive.

“Still lost though. Probably my fault that one,” Pollux had the decency to look bashful at least.

“Same change that it wasn’t. You’re always gushing about your teamwork so it isn’t simply your burden to bear alone,” Castor’s smile widened a bit as he wrapped his arm around him, a bit unusual for him considering he normally hated any physical touch of any kind but here they were. “Now back to the library,” he pulled him away from his friends, humming a bit.

“Oh come on! Even after suffering such defeat? You’re an evil man Castor Rigel Boavk,” he hissed, most certainly pouting now.

Even with how often they butted heads and with how rare it was they saw eye to eye, their different paths in life the one thing that would never change no matter how long they lived was that they were brothers. As much as each regretted how much they’d been pulled apart, they could admit that they still had that at least.

[nostalgiatrip2010]

So I'm gonna start off this nostalgia trip with introducing the stars of this madness, the two that started it all for my adventures in Humanformers; Shatter & Darkshadow!!

To start with a tad bit of context, these girls are clones of Starscream and Knockout. Ikr, how original?! But trust me there's a bit more to it, I don't wanna go too deep into that just yet, this post is to give you an idea of their appearance for now 😉

Until I can get my hands on a tablet, I've been experimenting with different art styles and looks for them. Still trying to get the hang of colouring and drawing certain features lol, so for now I'm gonna leave y'all with these sketches of my girls. With a few notes on my progress 😁

With Shatter's old design, it was very basic to say the least. Ash white hair, with a single Red stripe down the front cut into a bob, topped off with an undercut. Red bra-like tank top and matching pants, with a sheer mesh sweater.

Idk what I was thinking when I gave her this outfit, I guess my young brain just thought it was cute and it wasn't until I got older I realised, "isn't she, like, 9-10 y.o?" So yeah, probs not very appropriate to be having a literal child character getting around almost half naked.

I think the reason I had her dress like this is because in my head at the time, Shatter was the rebellious older sister type and I assumed thats how those types of kids dressed. Not to mention, going out on missions and training, it's loose, breathable and easy to move around the battlefield in.

Being Knockout's counterpart, I wanted Darkshadow to reflect that prim and proper side of him. Long red hair, often tied up in a ponytail and side part bangs. A cute little crimson dress with black puffed sleeves.

Darkshadow has a cutesy, almost cottage-core vibe to her outfit and you can't have a literal Knockout clone and not have her irrationally obsess over a certain feature she puts a lot of effort into, for this little lady that would be her hair and nails. Primus help the poor soul who dares mess up her perfect ponytail or chip her nail polish.

Much like Shatter's old design I kept it sweet and simple (and more age appropriate). But unlike Shatter's, I always liked Darkshadow's design and I haven't changed it much as you'll see in the next picture.

This one here is my most recent redesign of the two. As I said, Darkshadow doesn't change much in terms of her outfit. The most I've added is a gold bow in her hair, sometimes switched with a simple headband, and a matching belt. I don't know if these additions to her outfit are too much, so lemme me know what you think 😊 constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Shatter's outfit has changed completely. She's now rocking a spaghetti strap top, with different grey patterns and red accents. The only part of her old outfit I kept was the sheer mesh sweater, coz I know it's af cold on the Nemisis. I wanted to be more faithful to Starscreams actual colour scheme and robot pattern. Even her hair has changed into a slicked back pixie cut.

I can't think of anything else I can add to the girls for now but, as stated before, any constructive criticism and questions are welcome 🤗

[faintvibes]

Oh BOY did this take a while!!!

Ramblings about my process are under the cut:

Starting, with the drawing on the outer edges, as it's what I completed first, I'll note that Germania's outfit is absolutely inspired by this post [1], and not necessarily what is most historically accurate. That's something I still need to do more research on, however (due to that being a more obscure field of study with limited easily available sources, and that image I liked being right there) I'm ashamed to admit the thought didn't even occur to me. I'll take the L this time, and try to be more thorough upon the next opportunity.

With Rome, there was more effort put into the historical accuracy.

To clarify the time: this image was intended to take place in the 400s or so. I tried to include lots of tiny bits of symbolism while working on this illustration (most of which are too tiny to be noticed, or make too much sense, but shhhh), and this is one point in this. This is meant to slightly foreshadow the Fall of Rome, where Rome himself is looking to Germania, when it is his descendants that will cause the fall, but Germania is looking to the next image in the line, which takes place in the future, indicating that he will go on to see things Rome will not. (Admittedly, I don't hc Germania surviving long enough to be alive to witness the time period in the image he's looking at, but the point is still there.) As an added little bonus, though I need to work on my ability to draw detailed backgrounds, the forest behind them is based off a reference image of Teutoberg Forest.

So, with all this considered, as well as the more easy availability of information about anything Roman, I put myself to work on finding sources on Roman armour in the 400s. The first source on Google [2] was very insightful, and included a very helpful little image at the top, though I unfortunately haven't been able to find the original source for it. If you view it on the link, however, you'll notice it bears great similarities to the outfit I've depicted Rome in.

I'll note here that this above drawing, as well as the following two I will discuss, were actually made over two months ago, with only the middle one being completed recently. As such, I might miss some details, or not understand why I made a certain creative choice as well as I might've months ago. I don't expect this to be overly intrusive, but just something to be aware of as we continue.

I did the next two drawings simultaneously, and they hold similar symbolic roles as well. Generally, in this illustration, there is a significance to the order and appearance of characters on the left -> centre side, as well as the right -> centre side, with both sides mirroring each other. Hungary and America here are both here as sort of 'successors' (I use this very loosely) to each ancient beside them, the imagery in their respective drawing showing both their continued existence (the flame of life still burning, or something along those lines) as well as being a reference to their personalities. Hungary I more use as a successor in the sense of being a state which rose after Germania's time, who held a similar warrior-like attitude to the one I imagine him having, and also being associated with Prussia and Austria, which connected her to Germania's descendants. America, meanwhile, is a successor in the sense of having success in a way similar to, and modelled after, Rome. Neither of them are meant to be true successors by way of inheritance, or passing the torch, serving more accurately as a reminder of powers long gone.

Hungary is depicted ~1200s, and her illustration is based off of an older sketch I had, where I was playing around with those years when she'd just realised that she was, biologically, female, and had to find out what that meant to her. And also what it meant to her people, and rulers! This specifically depicts her in feminine clothing, which is based off of this painting[3] and this painting[4] of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary/Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet. I struggled to find resources for Hungarian, specifically, women's clothing around that time period, so I focused in on Hungarian women from the time, and attempted to find illustrations of them from as close to the era they lived in as possible. (If anyone wants to ramble to me about Hungarian fashion history, I eagerly invite you.) The cream-coloured background in her image is also a reference to this second painting, though I recognise that absolutely no one would realise that without me pointing it out. Additionally, I'll note that I depicted Hungary without a veil, when this is a characteristic feature of this period in European fashion- this is because veils were typically reserved for married women. Again, though, I cannot speak for Hungarian fashion specifically.

America's one also depicts him in a dress (of sorts), though to memory this isn't intentional. His is also based on a prior drawing, as I was reattempting an old project, where I depicted him in this same outfit, from a year or two ago. The general story behind this image is that I love the hc that he cross-dressed during the American Revolution to hide from England, and this is an outfit I found a depiction of and that I absolutely adore. It can be found in World of Art: Costume and Fashion[5], where in the 18th century section, there are a set of three sketches included by an artist drawing women he sees on the street. This dress is, then, actually from the 1730s, but as it so clearly depicts clothing worn by someone of low social standing, I doubt it would too out of place in later decades, beyond its wearer's clear lack of money. I don't have a particular scenario in mind where America would wear this dress, but I imagine that he would do so if trying to blend in on the street. As an added note: he's also grown his hair out a little, to make the disguise work better. (Why wouldn't he wear a wig? Don't ask my past self obvious questions :/)

And finally, we have the centre drawing. Technically, this image exists as part of its own little AU (which has lived in my head rent-free since I first thought it up while making this), it also occupies a strong place as symbolism in this overall illustration. Again, the character placements are important: Prussia and Germany finish the progression of Germania and Hungary, while the Italies are a callback to Rome. Both groups, unlike Hungary and America in the images to either side, have claims as the 'true inheritors' of Germania and Rome's legacies. Additionally, not only is this where both sides of the illustration 'come full circle', but the image itself depicts unity. This is the 1870s y'all!! Germany's unified! Risorgimento just came to an end! Double unification, both of which ring with reminders of the past!! Should Germany still be a kid? Probably! Why is Veneziano the only dude? I wanted to draw dresses! (Both a connected to the AU portion of this. If you're curious, dm me and unlock exclusive rambles. But I did also just want to draw dresses.)

For the references for this image, I drew the girls' clothes from this Harper's Bazaar compilation[6], which I found the link to on this glorious google doc[7], which I enthusiastically recommend. Meanwhile, Veneziano's outfit is mostly based off of references from this page[8]. Unfortunately, particularly for the girls, I saved all the specific images months ago, but did not save the particular pages I found them on, so if you're curious about anything in particular, you might have to go digging yourself.

The frames, of course, are references to the images they contain. The Rome/Germania frame is gold and decorated, to represent the legacies they (particularly Rome) left behind. (Yes, I know the frames are uneven, and the Rome-Germania frame doesn't line up. Allow me to have a couple vices in life.) Hungary's and America's represent the shape of their fire and sun, respectively. The middle four's frame is silver, linking it to Germania and Rome's, showing that they, too, have legacies of importance, even if they might not be quite as revered as their predecessors. The lines at the corners was just to be funky, and the flowers are a reference to those on Germany's dress and in her hair, not because of any particular symbolic reason, but because they're placeholder flowers since I wasn't assed to draw anything more detailed, and by the end I found that really, really funny. Did I mention that the middle drawing took half the total drawing time? I was really losing it by the end.

While working on this, I'd tried out a couple different ways to frame the drawings and provide a foreground, but ultimately this hallway setting was the only one I was satisfied. This is now where you are when you're looking at my work, I guess. Welcome to the blue hallway, Tumblr.

Edit: Totally forgot to mention!! This idea was originally inspired by a piece of fanart I'd seen before, so a nod to that for the idea!!

Sources:

[1]: Illustration of Germania, Gaul, Britannia, and Rome by Tumblr user Kuso Horreum, published approx 5 years ago

[2]: “The Advancement of the Late Roman Armor and Its Effectiveness”, by Hayden Chakra, published May 6, 2023

https://about-history.com/the-advancement-of-the-late-roman-armor-and-its-effectiveness/

(for some reason, inserting a link won't work for this one, so ig just trust me that I'm not posting a virus link or smth???)

[3]: "Santa Elisabetta d'Ungheria" by Pietro Nelli, painted circa 1365

[4]: Title unknown, artist unknown, presumably pictures the right person??, dated to the late 1400s

[5]: “World of Art: Costume and Fashion” by James Laver, published by Thomas & Hudson, published 14 April 2020 (there are earlier versions, but this one includes some edits, and it is the one I use)

[6]: “Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar, 1867-1898”, complied by Stella Blum, published by Dover Publications, published in 1974

cuttersguide.com/pdf/19th-Century-Female/Victorian-Fashions-and-Costumes.pdf

(This is another link that tumblr just doesn't like... Fair warning that this is also a copy of this compilation that is available for free, however that might not necessarily be how the publisher wants you to view it)

[7]: “Claire’s Historical Fashion Reference & Resources”, created Apr 19, 2016, last updated 16 October 2022, created by Claire Hummel

[8]: “1870s Fashion”, by Bloshka admin, published 27 October 2022

[fishy-xp]

Macau Theerapanyakul - a character study (pt. 6)

safety, security and sleep - the minor family's hierarchy of needs

ft. vegaspete

this meta post is brought to you by this post by ta (macau's actor) as i realised 2/4 appearances of macau, we see him sleeping.

first things first, let me introduce to you maslow's hierarchy of needs. maslow was this old guy who made a pyramid about the needs that dictate human behaviour (shown below).

if we were to apply the hierarchy to the members of the minor family (minor family being macau, pete and vegas cuz fuck gun, ain't none of my homies respect gun), it becomes quite obvious that their psychological needs aren't being met, that being love, intimacy and self-esteem. much of this lack of satisfaction stems from poor parental father figures and absent mothers. pete is probably the furthest up the hierarchy as it appears being a bodyguard offers him his basic needs. he also seems to have stable relationships with arm, pol and porsche. whether pete feels respected and accomplished as a bodyguard is a question for him to answer, but personally, i don't think he does. the ridigity of his position is exactly what is stopping him from reaching self-actualisation as pete has been made to serve for the majority of his life and has never managed to branch out and actually find what fulfills himself.

vegas, our favourite pathetic problem child, is just a mess of loneliness and self-esteem issues. his father is an abusive piece of shit and whilst he may have a positive relationship with macau, there is still a level of responsibilty and burden he carries as an older sibling. he's constantly belittled by his father and the wider mafia society, recognised as secondary to kinn and the major family. being compared like that your whole life and having every single motivation dervied from the sole goal of usurping your older cousin but not being able to draws away from vegas' own needs in forming relationships on his own that aren't purely advantageous or transactional. it also takes away from vegas' ability to base his sense of self-worth on the things he's accompished and instead, he bases it on the things kinn's accomplished.

ta explains that macau has low self esteem in his character story, that he feels mediocre and average. and this can easily be inferred from his age compared to the other members of his family as well as being 1) in the minor family and 2) being the second son of the minor family. macau has no position worthy of anything to give him a sense of self-worth and confidence. other than his relationship with vegas, macau has zero bitches (he could have porchay if beoncloud weren't hellbent on killing off or uncanonizing ghostships) and again, his father is gun lmao. pete and vegas are older, and are trained in arms and combat. they are able to defend themselves. macau on the other hand, doesn't appear to be as skilled, as evidenced by when he tried to throw hands at porsche and immediately fell into the pond like the bitch baby he is, so perhaps he doesn't satisfy the safety needs to an extent.

i argue that the fractured positioning of each of the minor family at various stages of the hierarchy stunts each of them in reaching self-actualisation. in order to break through and move up in the pyramid, requires a breaking down of the rigid pathways that have landed them where they are and are stimultaneously hindering them from going further. in doing so, they must return to meeting their basic needs, take a step back to take three steps forward.

the running theme of food between vegaspete begin with pete rejecting or resisting vegas' attempts at feeding him because he understands that food to vegas is a means of submission and manipulation. but slowly they both begin to break down each other's preconceptions of their needs, vegas with his father and pete with his expectations of perfection and duty. vegas actually puts effort into cooking for pete for no reason simply than to feed pete (vegas pulls the ultimate give your child a plate of cut fruit after destroying their livelihoods power move) and pete eats as soon as he realises vegas isn't trying to get anything out of him (and that it's not poisoned lol). once this basic need of food is met, they ascend the hierarchy almost immediately, pete potentially reaches self-actualisation by way of first discovering the darkness that's been dormant within him until vegas manages to sink his claws in and pull it to the surface, and second, giving into that dark desire. vegas has someone that understands him, or is at least trying to. someone who chooses him and is willing to stay with him and comfort him. someone who sees him as his own person rather than a shadow to kinn. this food will sustain them as they sustain each other.

but old habits die hard. they go back to their old ways, their own understanding of needs and methods of achieving them. vegas still seeks the approval of his father, still craves that intimacy, and believes beating kinn will satisfy his self-esteem needs. pete goes back to the major family because he believes in duty and loyalty, his self-esteem is derived from serving others at the expense of suffocating himself and his individuality/desires inside that damn suit.

until they meet again by that poolside. both broken and desperate, ready to tear it all down and start all over once again at the bottom - "because i'm hungry"

for macau, we have him meeting the basic need of 'rest'. macau is trying to keep up with the rest of the family, in being a force of power, respect and prestige. in meeting the expectations of his father. the compound he lives in is not a home, it's a institution where people come and go. it's a place where people are armed to the teeth and there's a torture dungeon in the basement. it's a place where his father stalks the halls, turning his ring inwards and macau can only hope he doesn't stop outside his door. macau hears the screaming, the pleading, the gunfire, the beatings. macau hears everything. he's not safe here. macau probably gets barely any sleep in the compound and even if he does, it's riddled with nightmares and being awoken by the slightest of sounds. he only seems to manage to rest in the presence of his brother, someone who can fulfill his love/affection needs and in places of security and safety, such as the temple and hospital.

the epilogue scene in ep 14 shows another restart for the minor family. pete draws back the blind to reveal sunlight, bathing the room in light and warmth. pete mentions he bought food for a sleeping macau. pete reassures vegas that even if he doesn't have anything left, his heart wants vegas, just vegas. vegas tells pete that he is his most important person. macau gains a new friend/brother in the form of pete and welcomes pete into the family. the big pile on at the ends shows them surrounded by people who allow them to be themselves, who love them and who will protect them. they are gifted with a promising new start - a chance to climb the hierarchy together and with each other.

[Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 7]

[inexplicably-spookified]

hi i have thoughts and opinions about mr quotation marks cave story

...that i am putting under a readmore to not clog up dashes

so first part, i wanna talk about his canon characterisation - it's not much, but it's there:

- he doesn't have much hesitation on who or what he fights

- doesn't seem to have much understanding or doesn't care about taking things that don't belong to him if it'll help him progress

- however, he's capable of being curious and caring about people - he asks several residents of mimiga village about sue even before he knows who she is (albeit most likely because he overheard her name in kazuma's transmissions), and most importantly steps away from the core, his target, when misery threatens sue's life, showing he can prioritise others' lives over his mission

- zett (the old mimiga in the plantation) hints at this, describing how some robots during the war seemingly understood the mimiga, and he believed they 'possessed hearts and souls'

- while he doesn't emote much, he's visibly looking kinda angry when fighting misery in the credits art - and he's using king's sword

also this is debatably canon but if quote's the one narrating stuff like inventory descriptions then:

- he notices the silver locket must've been dear to someone from the wear on it

- thinks itoh is a 'big fat coward' (LMAO)

- describes curly as 'the only person he trusts' and hopes to see her again

second part, my personality takes:

- doesn't like to speak, both due to some lingering physical damage making it a little tricky (he trails off into static a lot unless he's concentrating and it frustrates the hell out of him) as well as his general quiet nature

- when he does speak out loud, it's very, very to the point and short sentences, prefers to communicate through gestures or radio transmissions, and later on learns some sign language

- incredibly bad at talking about his feelings/trauma. curly and rarely sue/kazuma can draw it out of him sometimes but it takes a lot of effort and he usually clams up again pretty quickly. he has issues :(

- post-island he has a lot of anxiety about not being there to protect people from all the times he's arrived just too late to stop something bad from happening, and when he's around others he likes to know where they are at all times otherwise he gets worried

- talked about it earlier but he doesn't emote much, and has his own subtle ways of expressing his mood/showing affection. his equivalent of telling someone he likes them a lot is literally just sitting quietly in their general vicinity lmao. will get up and follow you if you move. he's like a dog.

- it's a general quirk with some kinds of learning AI but both he and curly have an unconscious habit of mimicking random habits of others that they spend a lot of time around - ie. if he's around someone who rocks on their feet a lot he'll start to do it too without even realising it. curly has a lot of slightly mimiga-like habits as a result.

- initially he went along with helping stop the doctor bc he just. didn't know how to say no - nobody ever really told him he could, or gave him a choice otherwise. has mixed feelings about the fact that the only time someone actually asked him what he wanted was kazuma asking him if he wanted to escape the island (he said no because by that point he was kinda personally invested - he promised booster he'd rescue sue, promised king he'd avenge him, wanted to beat up mis/balrog/the doctor for what they'd done, etc etc etc)

- because of this, he doesn't really like to be called a hero/compared to arthur as he feels he doesn't deserve it since he was just following orders in a sense

- he's a bit better at saying no post-island but can still be very easily talked into doing dumb stuff. a little naive lol. sue takes advantage of this a lot but tones it back after momorin gets mad at her for teaching him swear words.

- unlike curly he doesn't fidget much when bored, is perfectly happy to just sit still and silently if he has to, though he does have a curious side and will inevitably get up and explore his environment

- very impulsive. if he wants to do something he will try and do it asap. not the best at anticipating consequences but it's not out of malice or stupidity, he just kinda. forgets it in the moment sometimes.

- like a crow, he picks up random stuff that he finds interesting without much thought for what it is or who might own it. his pockets are full of random keys.

- enjoys climbing up stuff ('why is quote on the kitchen counter?' 'he likes to feel tall')

- cares for the researchers and especially the sakamotos a lot, they're his favourites (after curly, of course) <3

- some mixed feelings about balrog but ultimately trusts he's redeemed. isn't quite sure at all what to think of misery.

- doesn't want to get his memories back as he trusts curly's telling the truth and has given him all the important info - his name, why he was on the island, and that he wasn't a mimiga killer - he'd rather just move on with who he is in the present rather than try and chase after his past. the two have some conflict over this but i have written way too much already so i will talk about it some other time LMAO

[jolyneswife-anime-reviews]

Magia record anime review

Spoilers for Magia record and tw for despair, violence and solitude

(Preface- Magia record is the story of part of what happens in one of the timelines of Madoka Magica. It is a spinoff, so I will operate under the assumption that readers are already familiar with Madoka Magica. If you aren't, I have a separate post covering it.)

(As I was writing this, I realised there were two potential ways to approach the judgement section. One of them involved linking back to Madoka Magica, while the other involved looking at this anime as a separate entity. I think that, because the two are so close knitted and set in the same universe, it makes sense to take the first approach.)

“It’s ok to accept my weakness, right? Start small, and move a little bit forward at a time.”- Iroha Tamaki

Genre: action, magical girl, dramatic, psychological

Where I watched it: Funimation

Characterisation:7/10 (Magia record offers characters with diverse and well developed personalities, all of which create distinct portraits of what humanity means. What makes this even better is that none of the girls are perfect- they struggle with insecurity and loneliness, but they put up facades of cheeriness, independence, or aloofness to cover that up. This made the characters a bit more complex and added a few interesting twists. Backstories are generally creative and quite well developed. However, to me, most characters seemed very similar to the cast from pmmm, which I found disappointing, because the idea of an imperfect magical girl, and the themes of hope and despair surrounding that, had so much potential for expansion, so I wanted to see a set of completely new characters, not shadows of the original girls)

Setting: 8.5/10 (The idea of Iroha needing to move to Kamihama because she suspects there might be a link to the rumors and her lost sister is a good one, as it creates a sense of adventure. The city caters perfectly to the plot, with each rumor being situated in a location that represents it perfectly. Another element of the setting I really enjoyed was the villa all the girls shared- with them living all together, it showed they relied on each other and were now something akin to a family, as well as adding opportunities for more wholesome and light hearted scenes with the cast. It’s appropriate that the villa belonged to Yachiyo previously, as she was left to live there alone after the death of her previous roommates and friends. This means that Yachio letting other girls into the villa again shows that she’s opened herself up once again to the idea of making friends. On a completely separate note, the memory museum and the amusement park embryo eve is meant to be released in are both built with complexity and creativity.)

Plot: 7.5/10 (the plot is generally dynamic and stimulating, with a lot of mysteries that need solving and increasing amounts of questions raised by Iroha’s investigations of Kamihama, rumors, Magius, the group fighting for the freedom of all magical girls. Sometimes however, it gets overly complex, so it can be hard to follow, or certain aspects start to drag a little bit. Girls from the original pmmm anime were featured in a few episodes in an effort to link the two together even more, despite them having little relevance or significance to the main story.)

Art style: 8.5/10 (The theme of visual storytelling continues to be strong in the spinoff series, with several hints relevant to the plot in the settings, and the rumors, which are very similar to witches, being made up of visual bits and pieces of girls’ past lives. The doppels, a temporary witch version of magical girls which can be used in combat or to purify a dangerously tainted soul gem, are also constructed in a similarly personal and unique way. The actual drawings are pretty and aesthetic, which goes hand in hand with the dual nature of what it means to be a magical girl. Colour pallets can also be seen changing to reflect the mood of scenes, or highlight significance.)

Originality: 7/10 (Even though a few new elements, such as doppels and rumors (which are essentially witches) were introduced, the majority of the main ideas remain the same. An interesting element introduced is the additional emphasis on infighting between the magical girls, with Magius fighting for their liberation in ways deemed dangerous and unethical. This sets them up as the main enemies for most of the series, instead of witches.)

Consistency: 6.5/10 (Throughout the first 2 seasons, the anime has a solid plotline and is, for the most part, interesting to watch. Season 3, which was made up of solely 5 episodes, felt rushed, so a lot was crammed into a relatively short period of time, especially when compared to the build up. This makes it easy to get slightly lost. The resolution also felt unsatisfactory.)

Addictiveness: 7.5/10 (the series is generally dynamic, fairly engaging and full of mystery. This made it a reasonably addictive anime, as there were several questions that needed answering, with changes in characters and setting helping to keep things interesting. Sometimes, there are so many things going on at once that it becomes easy to lose interest.)

Comfort: 5.5/10 (Following in Madoka Magica’s footsteps, this series is definitely not a lighthearted one, exploring the idea of misguided and naïve girls meeting their death at the hands of witches for a flawed wish, after being tricked by Kyubey. The older magical girls, who have witnessed all this suffering firsthand, bottle up their true emotions and put up a confident façade (Yui), or push others away for fear of hurting them (Yachiyo). However, very few of the main characters die when compared to pmmm, and the true friendship between Yachio’s team can make for wholesome moments and fragments of comfort in intense scenes, especially when compared to the rocky dynamic the girls had in pmmm.)

Philosophy: 8/10 (Just like pmmm, magia record brings forth some interesting dilemmas on morality, and whether drastic action, after an eternity of suffering, is acceptable. The idea of weakness, and more “vulnerable,” magical girls needing Magius to protect them from becoming witches, is also crucial, as it shows how our solitude and insecurities can be used to manipulate us, and how those struggling tend to be forgotten by the stronger or those with their own concerns, leaving them to seek help elsewhere. Magia Record also shone light on the touching friendship between the main characters, who had all experienced the most vicious forms of despair in their own way, and suggested that, with a little help, everyone can move on and continue to fight, especially when you have someone who genuinely cares about you by your side.)

The plot

Iroha Tamaki is a magical girl who fights witches in Mitakihara city, but she can’t remember what her wish was when she made her contract. When talking to her friend about the subject, the girl says that if a magical girl goes to Kamihama city, she can be saved from her fate, and one afternoon, Iroha finds herself on a train to said city. Unfortunately, the Kamihama witches are a lot more powerful than the regular ones, so Iroha has to be rescued by veteran magical girl Yachiyo, who makes her promise to never return. However, when a mysterious small Kyubey appears and seemingly guides Iroha to Kamihama, and as she becomes convinced that the city is somehow linked to the disappearance of her younger sister, Ui, Iroha employs the help of a trio of friendly magical girls, who rescued her from a witch, to help find her sister, with no luck. However, increasingly suspicious rumors are beginning to appear, witch like creatures created by seemingly harmless stories, so, after a while, Iroha joins up with Yachiyo and another enthusiastic girl named Yui to investigate these rumors. As the three continue to track down rumors and encounter new teammates, they also meet Magius, an association which claims to want to save all magical girls from their inevitable demise. After being invited to the memory museum, the girls learn about the horrible truth behind magical girls, and Magius’ risky plan to secure their future. Iroha is also shocked to discover that the leaders of Magius are non other than Nemu and Touka, two genius girls her sister befriended when they were all in the hospital. This sparks the beginning of a battle with Magius, which will determine the future of all magical girls, and it may take great sacrifice and pain to stop Magius and save all the girls, but Iroha is certain she can get through to Touka and Nemu. 

Masterlist