#I've wanted to draw it for more or less two years :'D xD

[mitamicah]

Happy two years Carpe Diem <3

[insertsomthinawesome]

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense but how do you… art? Like from looking at your art, there’s just so many different fandoms and it’s all fantastic!! How do you not stick to one or feel like you *have* to stick to one? Sorry

Aw Friend! No need to apologize! :D You asked your question plenty politely! That's a really interesting question actually, and I'm fascinated to be asked it! Because I actually do know the kinda thing you're talking about! or at least I have experiences that feel like they line up with what you're asking. A lot of its... growing up? I guess? And not in the sense of like. becoming an adult. but the non-stop process of growing and learning more about life. When I was younger, an actual child, I just Did it. I drew whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I didn't question hoping to a new interest or drawing different fandoms. I just did it. But the older you get the more complicated a lot of things get right? 😔 That was true for me.

I actually spent several years terrified, of moving on. Of leaving old fandoms behind. There was one fandom I actually forced myself not to leave for like... 2 years? Because I was afraid of all the projects I wouldn't complete, all the stories I wouldn't tell, all the art i wouldn't make. But honestly that was a horrible decision? It burnt me out of the specific fandom SO BADLY. Its only been around this last year that I've been able to enjoy things around it again without an overhanging shadow of stress.

I was still scared to fandom hop after that incident tho. Despite having gotten burned by caving to my own fears. It wasn't until I got into Trigun that I actually started to get less scared. A friend I met in that fandom, someone who was older than me, told me that... things have a way of coming back around. If you know the song "Everything Stays" From Adventure time? She said it was like that song. You will inevitably get older. But these things won't be gone. And you can always come back to them :) That clicked in my brain... and it took a bit longer, a bit more time of accepting that fact for me to find peace... but honestly? I kinda have now. At least for this moment in time. I wouldn't be surprised if the fear comes back around again, fear is funny and insidious like that. But I have the tools to beat it now :) The other two things I would mention are these: For starters: this might be obvious? But I'm a hobbyist artist. I don't make money off of my art, I don't sell it, I don't need numbers or clout in order to pay my bills. I'm completely free to do my own thing! Ain't nothing wrong with making a living off of your artwork and if that's the path that you want to walk GO FOR IT. But that path does have its own challenges. Because I don't walk that path, I am free to make whatever I want, without worrying about how it might reflect on my finances. The other thing is...

PERFECTIONISM...

THIS, NASTY LITTLE VILE COCKROACH, WILL RUIN YOUR ART LIFE SO BADLY ITS INSANE. It will ruin your NORMAL life super fast too 😔 it is an insidious little shoulder devil telling you, that you will be happier if you just do it the "perfect" way. IT IS SO SO SO SO SO SO WRONG. That is the key to the door of endless procrastination and broken dreams. SFLJSLF to get less metaphorical about it though: If you're always waiting for the perfect moment to make art for a fandom, to leave a fandom, to join a fandom (in this case i just mean "Get into the thing that interests you" when I say "Fandom") or create literally anything, you will be waiting forever. I know because i have been :') And its made it very hard to draw both in my past, and right now this very day.

Truthfully i'm still working on that one??? I've had some epiphanies recently that have helped a lot with my perfectionism... but I haven't tried drawing since having them? (drowning in the new Honkai Star Rail Patch WHEEZE) So uh. Not sure If I'm over that hill yet xD But yeah, if that's one piece of advice i could give you to take seriously, its don't chase perfection, in ANYTHING. Especially art. It will never be enough for you. And if you're doing it for other people, it will never be enough for them. Art is wonderful and messy, and human. And that is okay.

Its taken me a lot of soul diving and thinking and a lot of help from outside influence and kind people for me to figure this stuff out too. So don't feel bad to ask for help kay? We all need help. A lot xD I'm still not like, the king this stuff either. There are a lot of smaller, more niche, fandoms, I want to draw for, but still haven't, because of my own anxiety and embarrassment. There are fandoms I haven't drawn for because I don't feel like i have the adequate amount of information to be, ""allowed"" too (which is totally a fake standard btw, there is no barrier to entry for when you're "allowed" to draw something). I'm working on these problems every day.

Oh actually one last note: People can influence how hard it is for you to draw for a bunch of fandoms too. If you know you'll get made fun of for drawing something, its hard to draw. If you know you'll get praised for drawing something, sometimes that makes it easier to draw. Both of those things can mess you up BAD. Constantly drawing for other people (when its not a deliberate gift) can make you feel really upset and angry, and dissonant with your artwork.

But it can be equally as hard to realize nobody will share your enthusiasm if you don't draw what they like. That's not a judgement against anybody's friendships, we all got our own interests, and nobody can be 100% Invested in everything their friends enjoy. But It can make it a bit more emotionally challenging sometimes. And it can be hard to like?? Emotionally deal with that? in a way it makes art that you know will perform well, either with your friend group or online, like... "Candy". Its tastes good, but it doesn't give you long term energy (ie there's nothing wrong with it, but its not sustainable as your only form of sustenance) Meanwhile making art that is purely self indulgent is like eating a full and healthy meal. It gives you that long term energy of personal satisfaction, and your enjoyment and happiness also doesn't inherently hinge on whether or not other people appreciate it like you do. Obviously there's no issue if what you genuinely want to draw would also do well online/with your friends!

ANYWAYS, yeah, I'm still maturing and learning and growing with a lot of my opinions and perspectives and emotions on this stuff? Its definitely easier said than done, and while from the outside it looks effortless... I understand why you'd be struggling anon. I hope you can figure it out for yourself too! Best of luck :D also i could go on and on and on about this topic for years because alsjdfaksjdflJSDJGSD ooohhhhhhh boy I have learned and witnessed and thought many a thunk.

[entityandstereo]

This is Stereo Bayle, my main oc and self insert

This is Stereo with her hair down

She's part wish fulfillment, part online identity, part her own thing entirely. She is also the one I ship Ornithicera with :3

The full body above is propably the best thing I have drawn to date and also my third rendition of her design. I'm very proud of it

Here is her character bio

General facts

•She's the shortest of her trio of friends at 5'11, but the oldest at 34 (the height and age is incorrect, but this does reflect real like xD) (she's been 34 for the last several years)

•She has mild shapeshifting abilites, mostly just affecting her vocal cords, feet, and hair length/color

•It's not shown here, but she has shark-like teeth and insectoid wings. these are both entirely natural. To her, anyway

Background

•She was originally born in our world as Sierra Boon

•She had a brief stint in the military before work as a security guard for E.H.E Facilities (think a mix between the Magnus Institute and the SCP Foundation with significantly less horror)

•She was put in charge of a missing persons case involving the disappearances of several Minecraft YouTubers after she revealed past experience with a similar case

•After a whoooole lotta shenanigans, including the loss of her arm and eye, she ends up in Minecraft (that is a massive understatement)

•She now leads one of the largest anti-slave efforts

This is vague, but that's intentional. I have a podcast/audio planned and I don't want to give too much away yet

General Facts

•She is as wild as she is kind, which is a good bit

•She loves to fight, especially if it's wrestling. She loves it even more when whoever she's fighting enjoys it as much as she does

•She might be a little crazy about farming (you should see my crop fields)

•loves to listen to music and long video esseys

•loves animals, especially big dogs, cats, and horses

•doesn't have much respect for most authority figures, or governments. doesn't claim to be an anarchist though

•if it were her choice, she'd be completely nocturnal. unfortunately, her body keeps waking her up at 8am

•not so smart in academics, but terrifying when it comes to observatin and reading people

•manipulates bad people into doing good for fun

•her only fears are snakes and insects. and public speaking

Design

•The scar is supposed to emulate the wither effect

•The prosthetic arm is powered by redstone; the bulk of it is netherite, while the fingers (and swords) are diamond

•her hair has a loose curl to it; she usually keeps it down too, I just wanted to draw a bun :D

Relationships

•her two closest friends are @fusciaguardian (hi fren) and Veil

•romantically involved with Captain Ornithicera (more on that when I make his post)

There's more I could probably say, but some of it goes into spoiler territory. Plus I've been stuck on this all week :⁠-⁠\

There's something I'm forgetting though, hmmm...

Oh right,

•she's related to Entity ;⁠)

[ducky531]

I just wanted to share some doodles that I've had since I don't really have much in the way of art here. (And yes, I know I said that I'd take a break until the end of the year, BUT IT'S TOO HARD NOT TO DO ANYTHING DX)

Anyways, these are just a few doodles that I have in my sketchbook. I'll kind of explain the idea behind them as i put them into the post here :3

A Thatch and Bernice Doodle I plan to digitalize. (In their canon info, Bernice and Thatch do end up head over heels for one another, but neither of them admit it. So when either of the two change something about themselves, the other is obsessed with it. Like here :D)

This is a meme template I'm making...this also wasn't an excuse to draw Ivankov- (THEY'RE FUN TO DRAW, I CAN'T HELP IT!! XD)

I plan to redraw Stefan here, but this is Bernice and him more or less trying to get Thatch to give them chocolate (for obvious reasons, Stefan can't have it, but Bernice is actually allergic to it :3)

Some Heat and Lee doodles because they're my otp at this point (Aka, my favorite and first oc pairing, lol)

Dunno how I came across this, but I always do this for shading practice. It's actually really fun, and it looks cool in person. Cameras don't do justice :'(

[udaberriwrites]

I was tagged for this by @mikaharuka , thank you! In turn I want to tag @hylianjo , @tamras-shieldmaiden , @bleepbloopbotz , @lena-hills and @sapphosewrites (I hope none of you were already tagged!)

Total number of completed works: That would be 21, with two of them being multichapter and the rest one-shots of various wordcounts, from 200 to 7000 :D

Total number of WIPs worked on this year: I... have absolutely no idea. I do have two ongoing fics that will be finished this year, I promise, but there's always a ton of fics in different stages of production in my drive... and some of them have been there for years at this point xD

WIPs neglected this year: As I was reminded recently, Death Doesn't Play Chess is still incomplete and I should really work on it. The combination of action and OC-focus has made it difficult, but I'm working on it, I promise.

Fandoms I've written in: There are my beloved, Deep Space Nine, Temeraire and Hades of course... Arcane and Castlevania... and a few new ones! Heartstopper, which was a surprise for me, and Loveless, The Good Place, The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante (going for the obscure one there xD)... oh, and for yuletide there were a few small fandoms too! The Song of Achilles, Legally Blonde (musical), Iron Widow and Spiritfarer!

Total wordcount: According to AO3, that'd be 76,219 words. Not bad!

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected? Probably more, yes! In previous years I was only just over 50k... let's see if the trend continues!

Did you take any writing risks this year? I'd say my biggest risks were... writing my darkest story to date, which included Major Character Death... signing up for Yuletide, which I had always found intimidating... and writing a proper multichaptered story, even if it was still short :D

Do you have any goals for the new year? Finish Death Doesn't Play Chess soon, that's the big one. Write a companion piece for Life is a Rollercoaster, as promised. In general, to publish more wlw and polyam content, even if I still love gen :)

Biggest disappointment? Having to finally let go of a longfic that I had been fighting with since 2019... but I have finally conceded that it's not going to happen. I may publish part of it as one-shots, if I have the time to rework the story :D

Biggest surprise? See below xD But also Yuletide was a lot more fun than I expected! I made a few mistakes, of course, but I'm glad I made the leap of faith, and I'm very much looking forward to joining again next year.

Most popular story of the year? By a huge margin, the winner is Life is a Rollercoaster; or Tao Xu's Fight Against the Big Butterfly of Chaos. That one was also a surprise, both how easy it felt to write and how well-received it was. Now I like Tao even more than I already did xD

What's your own favorite story of the year? Either Cry for the Innocent or Neither Grief Nor Glory, both took several months but I feel like it is some of the best writing I've ever done.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Maybe my TSOA/Hades stories, as they haven't gotten many comments, but they haven't been revealed for very long... so it's pretty early to say for sure.

Most fun story to write: Molly Holmes and the Case of the Missing Present! I swear I was cackling as I typed some of it, and the twists and turns sometimes took me by surprise as well... I certainly didn't expect it to get that mushy xD

Most unintentionally telling story: I'm not sure. Maybe Friendship, Gossip and Cake? But I'm not sure I would call it unintentional, as I did draw from my experiences as asexual to write Georgia and Isaac (pretty please, I so hope Isaac is confirmed as ace in season 2 of Heartstopper)

My favorite part of fandom this year: The friends made along the way. I'm sorry for getting mushy here but... yeah, meeting @mikaharuka was one of the highlights of the year, I've loved our conversations <3 As well as joining a couple of multifandom Discords with very supportive people... just for that, this year has been a success. Thank you!

~ Udaberri

[dark-sarya]

i have the Vergil motivation to start doing digital drawing. But its kinda intimidating. I mean I've always done things traditionally and I do know how to make designs on Adobe software but not drawing. I was wondering if you have a software that you prefer or would recommend; or just tips in general.

Hello anon! how are you doing? :D

Thank you for asking, I’m not en expert, but I’ll try to help you as much as possible :D. Also, bear in mind that english is not my mother tongue, so there may be some mistakes (ans I’m also a idiot who types really fast without re-reading xDD).

First of all, I assume that you own a graphic tablet, this tool is essentioal for digital art, as they have pen pressure and helps a lot to create unique effects! The brands I’ve seen people recommending the most latelly are Wacom and Huion. I can only give you my opinion about the first one though, I’ve owned a Wacom Intuos 4 for over 6 years and it has never failed me ♥ not even when I accidentally threw the pen inside my tea xD.

Now, speaking about software, I have tried 3: Paint Tool Sai (1 and 2), Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop. Each one has their pros and cons, and you also have to bear in mind what your computer can handle.

1. Paint Tool Sai:

 This is the one that I use and like the most, the interface it’s quite simple and the only thing that may cause you trouble may be the brushes settings, but once you have created you own ones, the only preset you’d probably need to change is density.

This software comes with a pen stabilizer, which is very handy if you do linework, I always set mine to S-3 so it’s easier to get more accurate and less “crispy” lines, you may also notice that the pressure works a bit different, like it’s a bit more sharp. 

For colouring I always set my flats with selections and the bucket tools, and then I add layers for shadows ans highlights. I always start with flat shadows and blend them using both the Brush and the Water tool. I may share my brushes presets for Sai 2 if you like. This software also includes a “transparent” color, which is really useful when you need to fix some blended areas or softly remove part of the colour.

I have used bot Paint Tool Sai 1 and Paint Tool Sai 2, I have noticed that in the second version brushes work a bit different, specially when it comes to using the transparent color. But Sai 2 comes with many enhacements which makes it more enjoyable, thing such as:

Elipse Rulers

Linear Rulers

Perspective Rulers (they work wonders even if you know 0 about perspective)

Text

Shapes

Gradients

Better compatibility with Photoshop’s layers

It seems that Sai 2 is going to be on Beta forever, but you can still download (illegally, lol) and use it, It’s my fave one, so I really recommend this one.

If you want to see more about its interface, I highly recommend you to take a look to my youtube channel, I tend to upload there some of my drawings speedpaints, I hope they can help you to understand hot it works.

2. Clip Studio Paint

I haven’t used this one that much, I only made my first V drawing with it, as well as some headshots for practicing.

This also comes with a pen stabilizer, but I noticed it didn’t worked the same way as Sai’s, it took me a while to get a level of hardness that I liked. The good thing is that it comes with a wide variety of pens, and I really recommend G-pen when it comes to making linearts, it has a nice and sharp finishing.

It also comes with poseable 3D models to use as references, I don’t really like to use them as they have anime-ish proportions and such, but some people may find them handy I guess. CSP also has a wide variety of resources such as premade images (grass, dust, floers, manga panels, halftones…) so this one may be a good option if you also plan to create comics and such.

If you are going for the paid version, you also get access to a marketplace in which people uploads their resources, and you may find some interesting ones there for free.

CSP also has rulers and perspective tools as far as I remember, but I haven’t tried the new ones (this software used to be called Manga Studio, and that was the first time I used it xD).

You can see me struggling with it in this video.

3. Photoshop

I think this is the one that everyone knows the most, right? xD. Though the use of Photoshop has been widely spreaded, we have to keep in mind that this software is very heavy to handle for some cumputers, you’ll probably need over 8GB of RAM memory (I have 16 GB and it still crashes some times) to make it run “properly”. I am isung CC 2015, since I don’t have enough space in my HD for CC 2019, and I would probably need an SSD to make it work smoothly.

I find it really difficult to do linework with Photoshop, it doesn’t have a pen stabilizer (unless you pay for the lazy nezumi plug-in), so the pen usualy “slips” more, I don’t really know how to call this, but I don’t like the feeling I get when I do linework with it. On the other hand, I find it really funny to sketch with it, don’t ask me why xD.

When it comes to colouting, you have to find the brushes that appeal to your style the most, and it’s also really easy to make your own, you can also make patterns and such. Bad thing that you have to use the sampler a lot, in the end you have to use 3465654 tools to blend properly in photoshop, when in either Sai or CSP you only need two, and this is depending on your style.

I have seen many people doing wonders with realist style in PS (you may take a look to @i-have-no-name-v‘s works, they are awesome!) though!

Other thing I don’t like about PS is their color wheel…It works totally different to Sai’s or CSP’s, and most of the times I find it hard to pick the tone I really need. You may also need a plug in tho swap your color wheel too.

I like to use Photoshop when it comes to adding effects to a drawing, be it lightin, particles, color corrections, etc. It’s very handy for this, and it’s also a good thing that both Sai and CSP allow you to save in .psd format.

I hope this long post has been helpful to you or to anyone that needs it, as I said, I have no problem in sharing my Sai 2 brushes presets if you want, you can either reply here or send me another ask ;D

[cinnab3an]

Get to know me some more

This time tagged by @goodnightmoonvale

1. Nicknames: my name doesnt lend to nicknames well (teigan) so the only one I have directly based off my name is teigangerine, and that's technically not a nickname since it doesnt shorten my name??? Idk. The folks at my job call me red so that's what I usually go by

2. Zodiac: scorpio. The primary scorpio fact I know is that they are supposed to be Super Horny And Sexy and that's not me in the slightest, no, but supposedly also passionate and fierce too which is also not me. Yesterday I looked at a horoscope piece and the drawing of the scorpion hurt every piece of my soul. Listen, i was premature and i i wasn't even supposed to be a scorpio

3. Hogwarts house: I've "tested" into ravenclaw and hufflepuff. I think I lean more toward hufflepuff but I'm also not that into harry potter so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what do I know

4. Height: Its been at least over a year since the last time I was measure but probably 5'4" and a half , or a quarter

5. The last thing I googled:

6. Favorite musicians: usually I dont like more than 1 or 2 songs by a person or band, so I'll say if I like more than 8 songs by someone then they have favorite status. That would be: flogging molly, radical face, Keaton Henson, and steam powered giraffe

7. Song stuck in my head: silhouettes/ by sleeping at last. Idk I havent even heard it in a few days but for some reason I just cant stop thinking about it

8. Followers: 160

9. Following: 318

10. Do you get asks: I used to, but that's mostly because I staunchly refused to speak to my friends through messaging and so we all communicated by sending asks xD. Every now and then I get some, but not like I used to

11. Amount of sleep: recently I've been getting about 5 or 6 hours a night but that might be because I moved out of the dorm bed and into a king bed? The last few months at school I would get around 3 or less because my body hated me. I also nap a bit around the house so that adds another hour or two

12. Lucky number: I dont have one. I usually pick 11 or 19 because of my birthday but I'm not emotionally attached to any numbers

13. What're you wearing: a truly ridiculously fluffy white sweater, my oldest pair of leggings, and two bracelets that my friends made me

14. Dream job: short answer, explorer. If I had to think of everything I would love to do and find the common factor, it would be exploring. I want to go on adventures and see new things and just be surrounded by the environment. Too bad the majority of the world is already discovered and I have an incredible fear of the ocean :))))

15. Instruments: I used to play the viola in elementary school. I have a violin now and I'm learning how to play the harmonica and the guitar. As a kid I wouldve died to learn how to play the harp (and I still would, probably)

16. Languages: english is my native language and I'm only barely fluent in it. Talk to me for more than a few minutes and you're gonna know it. I've been learning Italian for around 6 years and I just took a course on irish Gaelic so I know a bit of that.

17. Favorite song: if I ever leave this world alive / by flogging molly. I'm emotionally compromised by that song in THE BEST WAY. Other close faves: along the road (radical face), 3 rounds and a sound (blind pilot) and waterbound (dirk powell)

18. Random fact about me: I had a total obsession with squirrels in elementary school. Meaning, I'd chase them down whenever I saw them on the playground, to the point where other students would pretend to see one just to set me off and see what I'd do. This led to the shocking moment in fifth grade when, to everybody's surpise, I ended up being faster than a squirrel and managed to catch it. And then the whole school swarmed me and half the kids thought I was the coolest thing in the world and half the teachers though I was gonna get everybody killed. And for the next year and a half, my nickname at school was "rabies girl"

19. Aesthetic: i like flower crowns and flowing dresses and glitter. My neighbors once said I dressed like a fairy, which was pretty cool. I enjoy all colors and color combinations (except green) but my most common patterns are all colorful and bright or all black. The ideal look for me is a chaotic mess that shouldn't work but somehow does

20. Dream trip: I want to say italy, because that's what I always say when people ask me where I want to go, but my DREAM trip, which doesnt have to be a realistic trip, would be out to space to visit all the planets and their moons. In the same logic that would make this dream possible, I would delete all time needed to travel between locations, and I would also make it so that any surface I touched down on would be safe for me and the people I bring with me (no crazy temperatures, no deadly gases, etc). I just think that would be really neat. As a kid I used to dream about floating up to the stars and putting one in a jar, so maybe I'll bend logic one more time and find a star small enough to do that.

--

Okay this one was a lot of fun :D tagging: @taegiyes @itsdragonstar @feral-renaissance-cat @totalnerdway @becauseflour @princesucculent @danish0212

[scarletjedi]

You said that you don't have to choose a Ray in Due South, because both Rays are wonderful for different reasons. Can you talk about those reasons? I love RayV, but I've had a hard time liking Kowalski. There's something about his personality that irritates me.

Sure! 

Remember, that all of this is my opinion, and one that has been shaped and polished by 20 years of fanfic. This is also long, hence it’s under the cut :D

I wanna begin by saying that I loved Ray V first. When I started watching Due South (because I read a .rtf fic names XDS - a crossover between X-Files, Due South, and Star Wars that I came to though Star Wars and read because I knew X-Files and figured I could learn enough about Due South to make it work), the show was playing on TNT in the afternoons, and may have actually been *before* Ray Kowalski made an appearance. 

I watched the first two seasons, I started reading Due South fic alongside Star Wars fic. I discovered Slash, and read a few Ray V/Fraser stories with my Luke/Wedge and Luke/Biggs fic, but at the time I was mostly reading Fraser/Frannie or Fraser/Thatcher. 

I didn’t dislike Fraser/Ray V, but I was young -- young enough that I worried about my parents finding the one slash fic that I dared print out (my dad had the internet, my mom didn’t. So, I’d print out stories on the weekend and read them over the week). 

Then I found out about Ray K and I stopped watching Due South. I was pissed! You can’t just replace one half of the duo! It doesn’t work like that! But, eventually, I came back. I missed Fraser, and figured I’d give Ray K a shot - and I loved him. They knew not to make him try and fill the same niche - and, when they finally met, the clash between them was perfectly done to highlight the different roles they filled. I dived headfirst into Fraser/Ray K fic (partially because I was older and had lost my hesitation around slash fic, and partially because my mom had finally gotten the internet). 

And that, I think, is the crux of the issue. Ray V and Ray K offer Fraser a different relationship because they’re different people and satisfy different needs - thus telling a different story. 

Let’s begin with Ray V. 

When you look at the beginning of the series, Fraser, like the protagonist of any fantasy story, is orphaned (literally, the first scene is Bob Fraser’s death) and alone- he’s the odd duck, the isolated character to facilitate his travel. it’s hard to go off and be a hero when you have responsibilities at home (hence why in Star Wars Luke doesn’t leave Tatooine until Owen and Beru are killed, or why Harry Potter is hated by the Dursleys). With no siblings (yet), and his mother and grandparents dead before the series, Fraser has no family. 

The driving force of the series is thus born, Fraser is looking for the killers of his father - the last of his family (even if he was a terrible father). The family relationships in the show are all very important, and are highlighted in different ways, thus giving us the theme of the Ray V seasons - the importance of family. 

Because, Ray V is *lousy* with family in a way that most Italian-American families are - you don’t always like your family, but you *all* gather for dinner when Ma makes her Sunday Gravy. And, in the *pilot* when he’s known this crazy mountie for less than 12 hours, he invites Ben HOME to his FAMILY for FOOD. (Ben is clearly uncomfortable, and it’s played for comedy, but it’s also heartbreaking. Ben is not used to effusive emotion --or any emotion-- and he is certainly not used to so many people acting like such a family.) Ray, in a sense, adopts Fraser. 

Now, you can say that taking Fraser home could be a “meeting the family” moment, like bringing home a new girlfriend. Ray is defensive of Fraser’s honor when Frannie hits on him, after all. 

But, there’s something about it that smacks more of *family* to me - he brought Ben home to be his *brother* and give Ben the surrogate family he has missed. (hence why Frannie throws herself at him - and also why Fraser keeps turning her down. Textually it’s because she’s his best friend’s sister, but thematically, she’s his new sister as well) 

Further, Ray V doesn’t react with jealousy when Victoria blows into down on her ill wind - he’s proud, and supportive, and then defensive when he realizes how terrible she is for Ben. 

I mean, yeah, Mrs. Fraser does dance with Ray V, but it’s because Ray V is the “safe” option. Now, if you want to say that’s because Ray V and Fraser are lovers? I can see why! It was certainly important in the few fics I have read, and I see it.

I think, ultimately, Ray V as Fraser’s New Family was the intent of the writers, and the writing on this show is *tight*. It makes sense that, with a plot focused on finding what ended your old family, you find new family. 

But then came the brief hiatus, Paul Gross taking over more creative control, and Collum Keith Rennie. PG said in an interview that they’d taking Ray K in a new direction, “very homoerotic, the fans will love it”

And...they did. Ray V’s telephone call - the ache in his voice because he knows that he’s not gonna be able to say goodbye (like Bob) is palpable, and feels almost like a breakup, signaling a shift in tone. This is no longer a show about the search for family - Ben found his family. Even with Ray V off screen, there’s no doubt that Fraser is a Vecchio -- but about finding a *parter* 

There’s red ships and green ships but no ships like partnerships. 

This half of the show gives us not only this line, but highlights the relationship between Buck and Bob (that was began in Ray V’s season), and focuses more than ever on pairing Fraser off (with more female love interests than Victoria, even though none of them pan out) and on Ray K’s divorce. 

Textually, they are two bachelors lonely for love. Thematically, the focus is on romantic parings, not brotherhood. 

“A partnership is like a marriage, son” 

Ray K comes in, and he doesn’t try to be Fraser’s brother. Fraser has a brother, and wouldn’t welcome Ray K to try and fill Ray V’s shoes. They spend an entire episode showing all the way Ray K would never wear Ray V’s shoes (and not just because Ray K wears boots like Steve McQueen and Ray V wears Italian Leather), and also showing us that Ray K *is there for Fraser anyway*, symbolically taking a bullet the way Ray V did. 

(We also see Ray K fall hard for Fraser’s sister in a way that’s dropped, showing the audience, thematically and sub-textually, what they can’t textually because of the censors)

This new Ray, he’s sharp, he’s prickly, he’s “d-u-m, dumb” the way Vecchio was slick, as a way to disarm and play off of the straight forward image of Fraser’s serge. He’s a paradox - a crack shot who wears glasses, a vulnerable tough guy, a romantic punk. He gets under Fraser’s skin in such a way that Fraser begins to relax around him as well. I admit, I have an existing fondness for the tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold, and Ray K is that to a T. He’s not perfect (stalking his X, hello), but he tries to be better, and that I appreciate. It makes him a dynamic character. He has a temper, but he flashes quickly and then cools - it’s a good foil to Fraser’s simmering anger. 

Remember, Fraser told Ray V about Victoria, and Ray V was sleeping. 

Fraser tells Ray K about Gerrard. and Muldoon. and Bob. 

Ray K tells Fraser about Stella. and the Bank. and Beth Botrelle. 

The audience gets more of Fraser underneath his serge as a result of his relationship with Ray K - who is, himself, an “orphan” (estranged and living at a distance, his closest “family” is his ex-wife) can connect with Fraser on that level because he gets it in a way that Ray V, who has never not had his family, can’t fully. 

All of this comes to a head in the finale, when the Rays meet, and we see them clash - this is the “bringing the boyfriend home” moment. Ray K, the “boyfriend” meets Ray V, the “brother”, and the Brother wants to know if the boyfriend is good enough. They tense, and then they both go after Fraser because Fraser draws people in his wake like he walked through a line of streamers. 

They go north, and Ray K steps up as Fraser’s parter, taking an interest in the North in a way that Ray V never did (Ray K goes on the quest, Ray V tried to install modern plumbing). An that quest? The closest to “ride off together into the sunset” that I’ve seen outside of Disney. 

Ultimately, Ray V sees Fraser like his family: He doesn’t need to understand him, because he loves him and that’s what families do. 

Ray K sees Fraser like his spouse: What he doesn’t already understand, he tries to because it’s important to Fraser to be understood. 

Both are amazing partners for Fraser to have. Both fill different niches. Both are telling different stories. 

[seyaryminamoto]

Hey, I've been meaning to read Gladiator, but the story's really long, so I'm wondering if you can tell me what's currently happening so I can get motivated to read through the 100+ chapters?

Well, seeing as it’s Gladiator’s Anniversary just today, I’m taking the chance to answer your ask and hopefully convince you somehow to join in on this crazy ride :)

Gladiator is a retelling of ATLA, as you must know already. The world of ATLA is very similar to how it is in canon, though I changed a few factors, so not everything is 100% the same. As the summary says, the Avatar wasn’t found by Sokka and Katara at the time where they do in ATLA, and that leaves us with a very different storyline that includes the Fire Nation going down a darker path once the Earth Kingdom is defeated: slavery. It’s Ozai’s idea of making some use of the proud, stubborn Earth Kingdom populace who refuse to obey his rule.

There are major powers at play in the story: the Fire Nation controls most the world but the poles are still their own nations. The Fire Nation navy is locked in a fierce struggle they can’t seem to win against the Northern Water Tribe, while sending forces they can spare to slowly take over the territories of the South.

Sokka won’t stand for such a takeover, of course. Stubborn, strong, at 21-years-old, he decides to fight back and push off the invaders. He doesn’t expect that his plan will backfire on him when a deadly princess with blue fire just so happens to be in the South Pole, as her father’s envoy.

Sokka fights back, but it’s not enough. Yet for reasons he doesn’t understand, Azula spares his life… but the next thing he knows, she orders for him to be taken as a prisoner, and afterwards he’s sent to a slave market in the Fire Nation. The owner of the Amateur Gladiator Arena of a lowly Fire Nation town, Hui Yi, takes Sokka into his ranks and forces him to fight other gladiators to the death on the sand. 

This goes on for two years, until Azula is forced, because of some “mistakes” she made, to find a gladiator in order to defend her ambitions and her plans for her future. And as you must guess, her circumstances bring her to the very same gladiator she damned to this dreadful life.

Alright, so, after this weird summary of the first few chapters, I’ll answer your question!

As we are right now, it’s little less than two years since Azula and Sokka joined forces as gladiator and sponsor for the first time. In between what I explained and this point of the story, they’ve seen been a LOT of strife, trouble from all fronts: they’ve had relationship drama, they’ve met lots of canon characters through gladiator fights and Sokka has faced off against some seriously deadly enemies now that he’s sponsored by Azula. In the larger scheme of things, also, they’ve defeated the Rough Rhinos (after the group rebelled against the Fire Nation’s order for them to stop pillaging the Earth Kingdom), they’ve uncovered a conspiracy by the Dai Li to retake Ba Sing Se, they saved the Fire Nation capital when it was vulnerable through a very clever plot concocted by the Order of the White Lotus, and lots of more things.

(Just to clarify, since not everyone seems to understand it by reading the story: the White Lotus here isn’t comprised just by epic old men who like Pai Sho and tea. The White Lotus has become the only bastion of rebellion against the Fire Nation’s growing empire, and they’re the only opposition that represents a real threat to their rule. Because of this situation, and because of a few factors that will be revealed in due time, the White Lotus has been a little too permissive about new members these days, and a lot of them merely join for the sake of fighting the Fire Nation somehow. In short, there’s a serious amount of not-so-great people in the White Lotus, and there’s also that the traditional members have very different takes on how to handle the war right now, when they think there’s nearly no hopes of defeating the Fire Nation as things are).

At the current point in our story, Sokka and Azula are very much involved in a committed relationship, and they may be more invested in it than they should be. They’ve taken their relationship a little further than they should have (… in short, there’s smut in this story, that speaks for itself). Their struggle, at first, had been about resisting their growing feelings. By now, all resistance was futile and their struggle is about keeping their relationship secret. But so far a few people have discovered it, for instance Toph recently found out about it (chapter 118). The real danger is, of course, if Ozai ever hears of it. If he knew his daughter is involved with a slave… well, the consequences won’t stop at Sokka’s execution. So they have to tread carefully and they know it, but sometimes it’s harder than it should be…

Anyways! Our current story arc is quite an exciting one, since it brings in the White Lotus for the first time since the chapters 51-57. Azula, Sokka and the captain of Azula’s guards, Rui Shi, are traveling across the Earth Kingdom on their way to Yu Dao. Their current predicament is that they’re being targeted, and followed, by Jeong Jeong. The most legendary firebender of Azulon’s time is sending his men after our princess and her gladiator, and nobody really knows why… (okay, obviously I know but I’m not telling xD you guys will have to wait a couple more chapters to understand what’s going on if you haven’t guessed yet, hehe).

As they travel, Azula and Sokka’s relationship grows stronger, as it always does because that’s what this story is about xD If you’re interested in reading Sokkla, I will say this story is, in short, the playground where I can fulfill practically every single one of my dreams about these two. There’s really no limits for it, I get to do it all. The slow-burn, steadily growing romance, the fulfilled relationship where they learn their way around each other, where they learn how to trust each other and share their lives… in short, it’s not only the “how they get together”, but the “what happens after they’re together”, too. In fiction you usually get one or the other, and most my other stories tend to be like that, too. And of course, it’s about how the development of the relationship affects both the characters, how it changes them. Azula has come a very long way from the cold-blooded, detached girl she was when she first showed up. Sokka as well has grown A LOT, as he has learned to see the world through different eyes. Well, to be fair, they both learned that xD 

So, if you want relationship and character development, you’ll find quite a bit of it here :D

Gladiator is a grand scale story: it’s a full retelling of ATLA, as I said, and it features the war as a plot that will become more central as the story progresses. The Gladiator business exists, slavery does, too, and there’s just so much to address that I can’t possibly end things cheaply with a simple “And now they’re together, storytime’s over”. This story is guided by Azula and Sokka, no doubt, but it’s not a story with the only purpose of sating my shippy feels. Its plot is just as important as the romance that sparked it all, and both things are blended together in a sometimes unbalanced mix that sometimes has more of one thing than the other… but well, I try to do both things at once ^^U

If this isn’t enough to catch your attention, sorry to hear it ^^U I do understand, though, not wanting to take the plunge with such a long story. It’s ridiculously long, but I always knew it would have to be if I was going to tell the story I wanted to tell. The good thing about fanfiction is that the writer isn’t limited by factors that usually would be a problem in regular fiction (no one on their right mind would publish a 1.4M story, obviously xD). So yes, I’ve made the most of this advantage. Some might think I’ve made too much of it and should slow down xD but anyways, if you do give the story a shot, I hope you enjoy it. I believe the first arcs are tense and action packed, and they tend to draw people in well enough. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them, and the rest of the story too if you decide to give it a chance :)