#Mostly Etho tho

[kingscourthouse]

May Etho lore doodles be upon ye

Oh yeah and a Tc zoom in I guess

[renthedevil]

drew hermits that i don’t usually draw from memory today lol

[wasyago]

Please more Trail's gone cold au I'm begging you I need it just pour out every thought in your brain I want to hear it

hgdhhfbd i mean, sure why not

everything plot related is in the main post, there's nothing else really to tell. but i could share random details that didn't really fit into the lore drop. again tho, it's a small au and mostly an exploration of the concept, so there's not a lot.

❄️ gem and etho are siblings, i don't think it was mentioned anywhere? blood related and all that, they both have black hair, gem just dyes hers.

❄️ behind the scenes reasons for the order of deaths. generally i picked these three to be the main cast because i suddenly realized pet crew were just dungeon master and his two winners, and that was too crazy of a concept to not do anything with? so, tango as the main guy and actual master of the dungeon had to die first, seeing how he's the cave's favorite. pearl as the main explorer and as the one to unlock all the secrets had to die second, because she had to return to the dungeon / the cave to find out the truth, and she conquered it but never actually got out. and etho had to survive, because he's the "proper" winner and the one who actually escaped the dungeon with treasures.

❄️ lore reasons for the order of infection. tango you already know, but pearl and etho went in at the same time so in theory they had to start experiencing the effects together. but because etho was wearing a mask it did lessen the amount of sculk he inhaled, slowing down the process. wear masks kids!

and, well, you did say you wanted to hear every thought so. i really like the plot point of them leaving tango to die, so im gonna ramble a little about it. even just, the difference in their views on the situation is so satisfying to me. because tango had no idea something scary was happening to him! and for pearl and etho it was a life or death situation. and just-- they were talking about leaving tango and tango obviously, obviously, protested, because what the actual hell??? yes okay he's ill and a burden, but don't leave an ill guy to freeze to death in a cave, what is wrong with them????? or, okay, what is wrong with etho, pearl was against the idea. but, straight up tango did not plan for it to end this way, he had his whole life ahead of him and so many things ha still wanted to do! of course he cried when they left, what else was he supposed to do? thank etho for his awesome decision? be all cool and stoic and sacrifice himself? hell no, he didn't want to die, he never asked for this.

he did die tho, so. whomp whomp 🎺... i imagine he passed before pearl and etho even reached the stairs, so at least he didn't suffer for long. if he had a breakdown about being left alone he probably hyperventilated and inhaled like a ton more sculk, so that killed him even faster. must've sucked tho...

and then pearl, god, pearl.... she didn't encounter any dangers on the way back, since she wasn't trying to escape and the cave had no reason to be hostile towards her. but seeing how she was at the last stage before turning... she probably didn't get to tango before collapsing... not dying just yet, but too feverish and too weak to walk. but if tango was already back, he could very much go and find her. can you imagine the pure horror of drowning in your regrets as you slowly die and then having your supposedly already dead friend appear in front of you all cheery and oh so wrong. i dont know how much of tango is left in that thing, but the image of him sitting by pearl and holding her until she dies is so-- its haunting but it's sweet. and then there's still enough time to catch up with etho.

actually, gahhhh, all three pet povs are their own unique horror story and it's so good.

the horror of having to go through this terrifying experience, and then being the only survivor, knowing full well that the only reason you lived is because you left your friends to die, and there's no way of fixing it now.

the horror of everything falling apart around you because of miscommunication, and then the one time you decide to do it right you end up regretting every single decision and witnessing the direct result of your mistakes come for you.

the horror of being stupid... the horror of losing all control over your life and being betrayed in the moment of your most vulnerability, dying fully and utterly helpless.

this au is so sad but i love it so much...

okay wow that's enough for one post, ask more if you want tho!

[beeecat]

reposting some of my favorite past skephalo drawings, since they're the only thing i drew for like a solid 4 years, and i'd like to preserve them here for if I ever decide to leave twitter.

Please don't expect very much happyduo content from me in the future tho! I mostly focus on etho + general hermit/life series stuff, as well as animals now.

[asexual-pancakes]

Here's some TIES concepts too! And a bonus cletho hehe

Found some Cleo sketches I made last year for a lil scrapped limited life au I had in my head.

[wyvernspirit]

DEFINITELY want to hear about Western Jewels (disappointed you're not still doing it, but I get the workload). Do you mind telling how Gem and Pearl's relationship would've developed throughout it, or what the overall story was after their first meeting? Also, just out of curiosity, who else was going to show up in the AU and how?

It's not actually about the workload that wasn't what I was referring to lol (look up pitching maybe, am I being straightforward enough yet hm) The way Gem and Pearl's relationship would have worked is that at first, they would start off as enemies and very reluctantly work together to escape the first set of sheriffs and bounty hunters Later that night, they would have to attend to the wounds they had given each other earlier in their own fight Since they escaped into the desert, they have to at least stay together till the next town and pool their supplies together, otherwise neither of them is quite likely to make it, since they hadn't expected to have to dash off While travelling to the next town, Pearl would pester Gem with questions that she would reluctantly be answering, notably Pearl wouldn't offer much information about herself

In the next town, they would discover a large crowd surrounding new wanted posters for them proclaiming them to be a Duo, The Lawless Jewels, the bounty for the two of them to be brought in is very ,very high After some vicious swearing from both of them and ducking around town trying to avoid the large crowd of people looking at the bounty signs, Pearl would sneak them into Big B's bar In this AU Big B is a rather large informant for both the criminal underworld and the law; he plays to all sides, really, whatever brings in the money. To talk about some of the other characters that would be involved with him, Shebly, also known as Shubble would be one of his main informants; she infiltrates towns as a simple barmaid and overhears a lot of information. Later on, Katherine Elizabeth would become one of his field informants, too, after growing tired of being belittled and underestimated by the people she had surrounded herself with because of being a cowgirl instead of a cowboy. She and Gem were meant to have a lot of talks and parallels to discuss/show gender disparity in this setting, but I don't have any solid writing to show for those, tho I wish I did The story was less planned from here out, mostly just fun ideas I wanted to try to cobble together The two would continue travelling together simply because it's now simply too dangerous to go alone Etho in this AU is Gem's older brother, he took her in after their parents were killed by outlaws due to his own past He's incredibly overprotective and parentified, and part of the reason she ran off in the first place A sorta b plot/continuous backstory plot going on in the background would be around Etho's own past as an outlaw, his time with "the family" and his decision to abandon it all to protect the person he loves most, his baby sister There is a BIG age gap between the two, so he very much sees her still as that traumatised child who had been hidden by their parents when they were attacked

Etho helps out a lot in the background to try to keep the jewels bounty as "Taken in Alive" instead of "Wanted dead", he's basically calling in every old favour he has to protect Gem and, by extension, Pearl I think before I had talked about some characters who would definitely be in the au so I'll briefly go over everyone and what their roles would have been Ah found the list okay

Gem Maple - Main character - outlaw - Pearl's partner - Etho's younger sister

Pearl L'escantmoon - Main character - Most wanted Outlaw - Gem's partner - Was scouted by Cleo for the Family once, it didn't go well

Etho Maple - Previous mysterious past as an outlaw, was a part of the family with Cleo/Bdubs/Scar - Gem's Older brother/stand-in guardian due to their parent's murder

Cleo - Leader of the family - Angry at Etho for abandoning them - Angry at Bdubs and Scar too, sends a lot of people after the jewels until he tracks her down to both beg for his sister's safety and explain himself

Joe Hills - Cleo's second in command

BDubs - A member of the family though distant, - Knew where Etho went, didnt tell Cleo - she's aware of this

Scar - Left the family but isn't antagonist to them - Y'allternative - Kinda travelling with this random chaotic bandit he found

Grian - Bandit - causes chaos and destruction - not particularly violent

Joel Small - the "mayor" of the town Etho and Gem are from - married to Lizzie

Lizzie Small (Originally Elizabeth Shade) - The Actual Mayor of the town - couldn't become it due to sexism, had Joel run instead and secretly runs things behind the scenes, he's very proud of his wife

Jimmy Shade - Sheriff of the town - Lizzie's younger brother

Scott Smajor - Bounty Hunter after the Jewels Mythical Sasuge - Bounty Hunter after the Jewels

Miscellaneous folks would also be one-off hunters/town sheriffs involved in the chase for the jewels - hadn't decided those yet

Big B. - Major informant

Shelby/Shubble - Informant/infiltrator for Big B Hannah Rose - Performer/entertainer at Big B's bar - a bodyguard/bouncer if things get dicey in the bar - past informant/bounty

Katherine Elizabeth - A foil to Gem, suffering from the misogyny of those around her - her and shelby were probably going to be a background pairing

False Symmetry - The Black Rose - a legend in the bounty hunter community - does she truly exist? - (A retired Lawless living her best life these days lol, she helps Pearl and Gem out a few times, and eventually was going to run into Cleo and help with her self-loathing)

The like main ends I had in mind were the jewels ending not even being known to the audience

Like Gem and Pearl ride off into the sunset together Their whole ending is that we don't know their ending And neither does anyone else They become a myth, a legend, a tale told

And I love that for them Katherine gets to end up in a place where she feels valued and important The town always wonders what happened to those two siblings that left but dont worry about them too much Etho lets Gem go. He understands now that he cannot keep her when she doesn't want to be kept or protected He understands that their relationship fractured for a lot of reasons and that it's not fully either of their fault, but that he shouldn't keep pushing it He goes home to his family (hahah puns) and explains himself, apologises and is let back in Its sorta a happy ending all round, just sorta a tinge bittersweet (And somewhere in between all that is a blossoming deep relationship between the girls lol) Hope that's satisfying!!! kinda really glad to just get to fucking say it all Been sitting on it for months haha only @solarockk got to know most things and even then I hid a few bits too I'm very happy to have got to explore all this myself but it's just become, framework for something else, thats a little more important to me and so I'll start taking things down in perpartion for that eventually In case anyone asks though I am putting this out here - No You Can Not Take These Ideas Yourself - I don't want someone continuing this au - I don't want fanfics made for this premise of mine Be inspired and make a western AU for SURE!!! would love to see more wild west and cowboys/girls But I dont want my story beats/character relationships and such to be copied Please, I'm taking a risk in sharing all this, I can't control anyone But i can ask for you to be respectful of me and my creative works Thank you to everyone who followed this idea though! It was a lot of fun send more asks if you have them I'll probably answer any questions for a few more weeks Wyv out~

[tatertato]

Can we have a small little list of everyone’s roles/parts in the circus? (My peanut brain is getting a little lost)

cirque de la vie AU powers/roles list!

i did a poll on the gem and pearl post on whether or not i should release a full list, and guess which option won!

the results came out really close, so if you want to wait for the comics to drop, i advise you to simply ✨look away✨

this list is going to be formatted as: Name - Circus Act/Role - Power

some will be on this list without their powers, or with ambiguous descriptions of their powers until i finish their backstory comics because i really do want those ones to be a surprise, so look out for the update!

some of them i am still on the fence about as well, so the comic may not always line up with this list in the future, but i'll do my best to keep it up to date.

with all that out of the way, let's get into it!

Management

martyn - manager/organizer - enhanced hearing

ren - $the funding$ - none he's just rich (some form of smaller nobility)

The Performers

cleo - knife thrower - doesn't have magic, but alive somehow??? (hint: it has something to do with bdubs...)

etho - magician - has magic but hates using it (rumor has it that only bdubs knows what he's hiding)

bdubs - doubles as knife thrower and magician's assistant - something to do with time. no one knows exactly what, but sometimes he disappears for weeks on end. scar usually steps in as the replacement.

jimmy - aerial acrobat - wings/flight

grian - aerial acrobat - same as jimmy, but sometimes scar says his vision is uncanny

scar - ringmaster - jedi mind trick (he can convince anyone of anything depending on how strong their mind is)

lizzie - underwater escape artist - don't tell anyone, but she can definitely breathe underwater. the escapes are still pretty impressive tho

joel - stilts (11 foot joel is canon) - no power, he's just lizzie's supportive husband (more kenergy than jimmy)

gem - happy clown - deer traits, mostly enhanced agility

pearl - sad clown - doesn't like elaborating, but she disappears during full moons...

scott - tightrope walker - read the comic when it comes out lmao

impulse - juggler - power still very much in development, but he can talk to/see/control ghosts to a degree (inspired by the phasmo streams)

skizz - strongman - enhanced healing

tango - fire breather - literally breathes fire. very high internal temperature, good for winters.

The Production Team

mumbo - lighting (it's still the late 1800s-ish so the lighting is very rudimentary- that said, mumbo is a bit of a genius, so the shows still look pretty amazing) - is almost an unlimited source of electricity (he's a little eccentric, makes a big deal about how much of a human he is, which has sparked curiosity, but never enough for anyone to pry into. grian seems to know something.)

bigb- concessions (he sells cookies!) - everything he bakes tastes amazing! (he swears that's his only power, but he has a habit of leaving rooms through doors that weren't there before...)

pearl (again) - sets and props, she decorates the stage!

joel (again) - makes the boxes and tanks for lizzie to escape from

and that is all! i might have some hermits or empires folks make cameos every so often, but this is the main cast!

[unkn0wnnn06]

Tysm for all the love on my Cleo cosplay guys!!! I just wanted to do a lil comparison for all the times I’ve done her 80’s skin!! Just cus I’m bored and I like seeing my cosplay progress :33

2023

So this was my first try and it was honestly pretty meh. I for some reason decided to add fake blood (which not only looked weird but also just felt awful) Idk why I added the ears and I don’t particularly like the makeup that much either but my skill has definitely improved since then so

The actual outfit was okay mostly, it’s good for what I had at the time, I wish I didn’t have the belt on but it is what it is.

2024

I actually really do like this version!! There are some improvements to the makeup that could be added but my style is always evolving so I can’t complain too much. I had tried to do a ponytail with the wig but it was giving me too much trouble & was stressing me out so I just gave up.

I actually love the outfit for this one, I got it from a charity shop for a college assessment but it worked so well for Cleo!! I might try at the mesh top next time I cosplay them too! The headband was definetly a good addition at the time too.

2025

And now we’re onto the most recent version!! I absolutely love how this one came out but I definetly think I could’ve added a lot more accessories like a pocket watch for Lim Life and maybe something Etho related for Secret Life and something relating to Scott and Pearl as well, but there’s always next time!!

I love the makeup for this one & my lipstick is just amazing. The ponytail mostly worked out this time & the way the fringe looked with the sweatband is one of my favourite parts about this cos!

Even tho the costume isn’t that accurate to their skin I still love it sm and I think it fits really well!! I love the glasses I got to represent Real Life & I just love this cos sm in general!! I do want to get purple fishnet gloves to add as well!

Not that they’re visible, but I did have pastel rainbow leg warmers on & my orange flowery shoes which I think both fit this cos very well :P

But uh yeah thanks for taking the time to read this & thank you again for all the love <33

[dailyminecrafterdoodles]

Attempting to post 100 days of mcyt art!! This one is kind of old and I was trying some things, but it’s not the WORST.

I have no idea if anyone will even see this because I don’t know how tags work, but this is mostly just to challenge myself!! I’m nervous to be posting tho cuz all the fanart here is crazy good

I’ve noticed trad art for me just ends up looking kind of messy but I cannot bring myself to draw anything digitally I hate it sm 😭😭

I have ZERO commitment ever or artistic skill and I am so so easily tired but I AM GOING TO TRY!!!!

This was inspired by a video I got on my recommended on yt of a blog drawing Etho for 1000 days??? Atp we shouldn’t even call ourselves etho girlies, they win

Really hoping I can stick to this, I’m new here so I have no idea what I’m doing!! Life series + Hermitcraft + rats smp gang PLSSSS moot me up I need more good stuff on my feed

Anyways, this is just a general lizzie, did this a while back so my designs have changed :D

[mcytshipsandmore]

"And its just me myself and i" i sing, comfort zone (cut song from epic), as i sit alone in the gripearl tumblr community party... I'm the only member, and im also the creator... no one wants to have their cake and eat it with me :(

Anyway grian x pearl please i need

Theyre so exes

I made this whole au where. Idek anymore but

I think. Ok so its this high school au except

Evo is more so kindergarten, and then grian moved away at like the first years of elementary and everyone split up (grian and pearl were kindergarten sweethearts... COUGH kindergarten boyfriend from heathers)

Oh I should also. Probably mention. Scar and Pearl are bio siblings in this

In middle school (3rd life) we have the silly lil cast ofc.

Pearl changes to that school by start of high school (last life, first 2 years). We also have Lizzie as an exchange student then. Grian denies knowing Pearl per usual.. (per usual in my life series gripearl lore)

Lizzie leaves, we have the last two years (double life), drama ensues. Majormoon was actually kinda something by the end of sophomore year and start of junior year. The usual "you cheated on me so we're over!!" "What?? I didnt?? We just went to buy suits/dresses together??" Thingy ensues. All soulmates are pairs for the whole senior prom thing, and cheating on a soulmate implies going with someone else. Pearl and Martyn went dress and suit shopping together at the mall cause they wanted to look for options early and bc trying on funky stuff together was fun, but they got pictures taken by someone? And Scott and Cleo saw and thought they were getting stuff to go with eachother... Martyn again tries to win Cleo back, ends up going with Ren, cause BigB is going with Grian, and Scar and Pearl go together as family, mostly in solidarity cause they both got dumped.

then we get to college (limited life), and we have pearl making bad decisions after the whole dl fiasco. Rooms with BigB, tho not so convinced at first, but they make up for the whole prom thing (since yes Pearl's upset he went with Scar's partner??), but its okay cus Pearl and Cleo make up aswell... Scott and Pearl... kinda make up?? Anyways.

Here's where the gripearl comes in. Pearl goes out drinking and karaoke withhhh BigB, Cleo, Scar and Bdubs... they start shittalking everyone in campus cause BigB and Pearl got their lil nosy info, noses all up in other ppl's business, and the Clockers looove hearin all the drama they have to share... no one knows when exactly Etho and Cleo were a thing? Sometime between here and when they graduated and shit. And then they get to the Bad Boys (NAAATURALLY).... and Pearl, specially after discussing Scott and such, has taken a bit too many sips. And theyre like completely doing full on instagram checking business on these people, so they pull up Grian's socials and Joel's and Jimmy's where ofc he's tagged a lot. and she starts seeing him in a different way... and considers calling him.... but surely thats a bad idea. Scar is aroace in this au so him and Grian werent romantic partners, but at least best friends, at *most* qpps, still- DL, HUGE BETRAYAL, Pearl cannot do that. Moon tells the group- and they ALL agree its a terrible idea, and theyre horrified at the thought.... Scar knows they have history too from way before but- hey?? What the flippin fuck....

things happen, shenanigans ensue, and yes im aware this makes pearl a terrible sibling but- low and behold, moon ends up at suns dorm.... needless to say, next morning, pearls in the kitchen having breakfast, reconsidering life choices. Bad Boys (jim and joel) are- flabbergasted. Jimmy had a bit more of an idea of where this could come from (though its been SO LONG AGO????) but JOEL?? My man thinks the world is all upside down and messed up, he couldve sworn Pearl hated Grian's guts

Aaaand all of this was created after looping Bad Idea by Olivia Rodrigo btw. This is all I have of the au for now, I hope u liked it so far. It ends up in majormoon again btw but I LOVE the liml gripearl era and i miss gripearl, i dont talk abt it enough

imagine walking in and seeing the person your roommate says he hates is making breakfast.

-🍫

[a-bucket-in-the-void]

hm.. would you like to just... talk about your au idea? even just a base. a starting platform..

also ty for sending asks about my au!

i honestly really don’t have much lol but when i did talk about it i was just kinda trying to get stuff out there so i'm gonna use this as kinda like a place to clean that up a bit

ok so…

superheroes are already a thing to begin with. im not really sure how sense there are lots of world building things you can do with it but i imagine they’re all sort of vigilantes kinda like think classic superhero comics. idk i can clean that up a bit more later

everyone in this au is based off this last session of wild life mostly

the tuff boys are like your classic comedic relief dysfunctional villain team, a nuisance to anyone who wants to get anything done really. etho engineered his own super jump boots and comically large hammer. tango has super speedy roller skates (which were entirely engineered by him and he definitely didn’t get bdubs to enchant them with his time powers definitely not)(oh and also i like to think that he has red goggles for eye protection when he’s in his in his super suit), and bdubs has a magic clock that gives him time powers because uh yeah :]

scott is a respected super hero i think maybe one who’s actively working with the government. uh his powers will be from a magic amulet too why not. as you can see i’m just kinda making this shit up. he’s mostly in reconnaissance because of his powers but i think in his day to day life he’s a big public figure, maybe a pop star like from gem and the scotts or something. he stills does do non undercover superhero work and when he does he’s almost always accompanying pearl

speaking of…

pearl would be like your friendly neighborhood superhero like spiderman, helping people across the street, making an appearance at the local middle school, etc etc as well as ya know actual superhero stuff. her wings are her own design after scott was jokingly making fun of her cause he can shape shift into anything and then she figured out how to make those wings out of shear spite and commitment to the bit

while we’re on the subject of that alliance…

cleo, also known as zombie cleo queen of the underground, is essentially a mob boss villain, aided by her small army of lackeys nicknamed ‘the hoard’. if the tuff guys are the kind of comic book villian to fail robbing a bank cleo is the kind to kidnap a famous scientist. they don’t do it just for fun tho, they’re more of a service for hire, willing to do anything for anyone at a price. she’s gathered her lackeys through a mix of blackmail, debts, fear, loyalty, and other such means

slightly adjacent to them is bigb. bigb is a bit of an enigma, only seen in the shadows and never giving a straight answer. you can always tell it’s him though by his stiff gray skin and too many bright golden eyes. and also his large twiggy body guards

uh this is getting a lot longer than i thought it would be lol so i will get to the rest the guys later if i ever remember to do that

wait i forgot to do impulse-

[wasyago]

How much of Tango and Pearl are still in there? How much are they vaguely aware of their actions and surroundings, feverishly shambling around like zombies, two dead puppets of the caves? Like, the skulk invading their thoughts until their own voices are just a quiet whisper in their own head? Do they remember Etho? Do they feel anger for what he did? Leaving them to die? And, most importantly, has the cave claimed anyone else we might know?

please I’m hungry for TGCAU lore

they are kind of like zombies, yeah! for how aware they are, it's like, they don't really know how they got from one place to the other or how much time has passed, but when the change of scenery is drastic enough they go "‼️" and pay attention for a while until going back to the kind of mindless state they were in.

sculk isn't exactly invading their thoughts, because there's no more their thoughts, it's all somewhat collective. one body feels it more than the other, but everything is still shared. and, well, they died, so. it's a little hard to generate thoughts all on your own when you're dead...

if you remember, sculk in minecraft gathers and stores the exp of a mob that died near it, and then grows and expands using that exp. it works similarly here. the cave gathers the life experiences, memories, life essence, and uses it to grow physically and to expland its "knowledge pool" or something. the cave isn't sentient, it can't talk, but it stores information.

so they do remember etho! but their memories of him are merged together now, and merged with the cave's own memories of him too. etho is a friend, etho left them, etho is almost like them he just needs to return, etho is alive, etho is too far away, etho hurt them, etho is bad, etho is good. there's no cause and effect reasons for their feelings, it's just feelings that they associate with the memories. memories of etho are mostly good, they miss him tho, they need him back.

not sure about any other characters, i kinda want to try and keep the au to only these four. makes it more contained.

[wingerwind]

Finally! Tuff Guys designs! They’re done! (Really wanted to get this out after session 3 before Tango was perma-dead, but luckily he is still here with us)

Obligatory ramble under the cut warning:

Bdubs looks very wonky but maybe that fits his character. If you squint you could say it was done on purpose. His pupils are permanently dilated. I don’t really know why I have this headcanon, but like…it feels wrong to have him just be a normal guy, you know? He’s like…weird-ish. Maybe not as obviously weird as Tango, but… remember his brief stint as a god during the Empires crossover? Yeah, I do. I just need to make SOME part of him vaguely inhuman. I feel like it fits with his big eyes, too. A combination of mascara and dilated pupils (I did not mean to make it look like he was on drugs but I guess that checks out too)

Now that I’m looking at Etho (eight heads tall) next to other characters (mostly seven heads tall) I realize that his small head makes him look very strange. HOWEVER I am probably just projecting as someone who is eight heads tall and always looks weird in photos (esp selfies) because despite being the closest to the camera I look like I’m further away at the same time. Also, despite Etho being blown up by a creeper his clothes have actually fared well and maybe that is favoritism. (Who, me? Favoritism?? Never) I couldn’t get rid of his mask, though. Come on.

Etho and Tango are both very much party in the back right now. They both got exploded from behind so the backs of their clothing are pretty much demolished. What you see visible of Etho’s original jacket, for example, is basically the only thing left. Just the right half and sleeve. Tango’s in the same boat but he got creative and decided to move the front of his vest thing (the only part which survived) around to cover his back which was very uncovered. His outfit is held together with hopes and dreams and probably some duct tape.

Tango’s pose was an absolute nightmare to draw, btw. I like how it turned out tho. (I actually REALLY like all the little design details in his hair…mostly the funny little tufts on his cheeks. Kinda like sideburns? I guess?)

[zhukzucraft]

Hi I absolutely love your banner!!!! Did you make it yourself ?

thank you!!! and yeah i did (well except for "Etho" haha)

it's a mess but it was fun to try out all the different artstyles

i fully drew everyone in the back row too, even tho they're mostly covered up. So i plan to post them as separate pieces whenever i go too long w/o drawing something new

[birdieisnotwriting]

ramble about jason ? who is he? i feel like id like him

JASON PETER TODD my beloved my strange sad undead-ish son. gripping your shoulders intently. thank you so much for giving me this opportunity it means a lot to me  

i am putting this under the cut bc it got stupid STUPID long lol. its also very incoherent and rambling so idk. be warned.

(mild tw for references to addiction, sexual assault, and violence/blood)

jason todd is the second adopted son and robin to bruce wayne/batman. he grew up in a extremely poor part of gotham (which gives him a connection to the underdogs that bruce never had oop) his dad went to jail/died when he was a kid, and his mom ended up passing away from a drug addiction. jason became a self-sufficient street kid at a very young age.

how do independent young street kids meet up with the motherfucking batman?? easy. they jack the tires of the batmobile.

THIS IS HIS REAL BACKSTORY. IM NOT KIDDING. WHO IS DOING IT LIKE HIM!!!!

anyway baby jason helps bruce take down a crime ring inside of a school and bruce goes you’ve got gumption! be my robin blah blah blah and jason becomes robin ii!! im sure this will go so well for him

as time goes on jason’s anger management issues start rising to the surface and bruce, the biggest hypocrite on the east coast, takes umbrage with this. just like bruce, jason has an extremely strong drive to do the right thing and obtain justice, but he often finds himself frustrated with the constraints of the legal system.

this comes to a head with felipe garzonas, the son of a diplomat who sexually assaulted a young woman but cannot be held accountable due to ”"diplomatic immunity”” the young woman ends up hanging herself out of desperation. jason—who is particularly sensitive about violence toward women—takes this hard. he goes to felipe’s apartment to exchange some words and, well.

personally, i don’t think jason killed garzonas, but i wouldn’t be particularly upset if he did. guy was an asshole and nobody should feel bad that hes dead. but already we can see the cracks forming in jason and bruce's relationship and in jason's relationship with the extremely strict bat ethos.

anyway, jason gets benched as robin due to his anger issues (bruce. come on. a modicum of self-awareness.) while he’s benched, he discovers that the woman who raised him was not, in fact, his biological mother. jason runs away from home to find her, bruce eventually catches up, and they find jason’s biological mother, sheila haywood, working as a doctor in ethiopia.

unfortunately for everybody involved the joker is also in ethiopia doing….some joker nonsense with nuclear weapons. i don’t fucking know. anyway, turns out sheila is working for the joker, and jason, in an attempt to save her (because of COURSE he was trying to save her, because he is always always trying to be good and caring and heroic) gets lured into a warehouse and beaten half to death with a crowbar. joker leaves jason and sheila in the warehouse with a ticking bomb. they don’t get out in time. 

that’s right!! dc just killed off a roughly fifteen year old robin!! ahaha!!

it’s important to understand that like. jason STAYED dead. like he was dead for a long-ass time!! i’ve read that a common saying in comic book circles was something along the lines of “only two characters stay dead: jason todd and bucky barnes” and uh. i feel we all know how the bucky barnes thing went. anyway.

i'll help you guess, bruce. this is jason. surprise!!!

yeah he’s back!!! roughly sixteen years real time and four-ish years comic time after death in the family, we get under the red hood where jason todd returns to gotham city with a vengeance. how did we come back, may you ask? superboy punched reality too hard. he dug himself out of his own grave. wandered around brain dead for a bit before he got tossed into a magic pit and came out spitting mad. don’t worry about it it’s mostly handwaved. 

wasnt kidding about the grave thing tho

(but wait!! if it’s four years comic time and he died when he was fifteen, wouldn’t he be a whopping nineteen years old?? yes. yes he is. possibly less, if you don’t count the time he spent brain dead or comatose. this will help to explain many of his succeeding actions)

anyway jason comes back to gotham and he is PISSED bc 1.) batman clearly isn’t an effective deterrent, seeing how crime continues to run rampant. gotham needs somebody to follow through on the threats and take the people who can’t change out of the equation. 2.) the joker is still alive. bruce claimed to love him like a son, and yet the man who brutally tortured and murdered him is still alive. 

AHHHHH anyway im normal

they fight about this. blow some stuff up about it. jason kills some guys. eventually, jason tries to give bruce an ultimatum between killing the joker, letting jason kill the joker, or killing jason so jason won’t kill the joker. bruce handles this by uh. hitting him in the neck with a batarang. ahahahaha

(wow that’s a lot of blood!! wouldn’t that have killed him?? some people (me) think it did, and whatever brought jason back for round 2 brought him back again for round 3. your father didn’t break his closest held rule to kill your killer, but he did to kill you. fucked!!)

anyway, after this jason’s role fluctuates. he goes through a phase where he’s a full-on villain/antagonist (and a ginger?? for some goddamn reason??) and then he moves into a more anti-hero/tortured hero role, which is roughly where he’s at now. sometimes he kills and sometimes he uses rubber bullets. sometimes bruce lets him do whatever and sometimes he really really doesn’t. depends on who’s writing him. 

there are a LOT of things that i like about jason peter todd. i think it’s pretty wild that he died that one time. i think it’s cool that he’s high-key a lit nerd (in just the comics i’ve read, he��s casually dropped references to orwell, austen, dumas, and a few others that i don’t even know despite having roughly five sixths of an english degree.) i think the white streak is cool. i love how stupid and dramatic he is at his best. i like the dumb loser quips that he makes. i think it’s wild that he’s doing all this in his late teens-early twenties.  

i love his deep, deep empathy, especially for the people batman overlooks.

i think his fraught relationship to his own emotions is incredibly fascinating. jason tries so hard to present himself as somebody who doesn’t give a damn and can’t be bothered by anything, but he’s a terrible liar and his true, explosive emotions always leak through. he’s always furious and grieving and trying, and no matter what he does, those are coming through to the surface.

loathe as i am to give scott lobdell credit for anything at all ever, there’s a really good illustration of this in red hood and the outlaws vol 2 (a jason comic that is not great, but is at least readable and often even fun). jason’s just found out that his dead and presumed estranged biological father tried to write him letters and reconnect while he was in prison. jason never got these letters, so he never got the chance. he goes to his father’s grave and digs it up, all the while screaming that he doesn’t care.

obviously, he does care. he cares so deeply. he tries to cover it up, but it just keeps on exploding through. it’s so delicious. 

anyway if you’re bored and you want to explore jason’s whole deal, i recommend starting with the under the red hood movie. it’s a little over an hour long, it does a pretty good job of hitting condensed emotional beats (even if it has to cut some pretty good moments from the comic). jason is voiced by none other then Jensen Fucking Ackles, and he does a really good vocal performance.

if you like that, i recommend moving on to the under the red hood comic, which has even more fun/absolutely emotionally devastating beats. the other essential jason reading is lost days, which covers how he trained to become red hood and is pretty good except for one weird moment at the end that everybody just kind of ignores because it is ah. bad. 

every other jason comic ranges from pretty okay (seeing red, which is technically a green arrow arc but jason shows up and is written well) to good and fun but throws a lot of random names at you really quickly (task force z, the hill) to entertaining enough if you lower your standards (red hood/arsenal, red hood and the outlaws vol 2, appearances in the morrison batman and robin run) to actively bad but characterizes jason pretty well despite everything and you’re desperate (gotham war) to do not read at any costs unless you are truly at your limit oh my god (red hood and the outlaws vol 1). there are plenty of other ones where jason has more of a supporting role. there's also a lot of excellent jason-centric fic, which is where i got into batfam, but this is long enough already jesus christ.

i’m wrapping up now because this has turned into a goddamn manifesto. to anyone who made it to the end, thank you. you’re a doll. here are some of my favorite moments of jason being absolutely silly as a palate cleanser.

(REALLY RICH COMING FROM THE GUY WHO ALSO DIED)

ANYWAY. truly he is one of these guys ever and i fear i am unwell.

[puer-aurea]

been thinking abt a fully fleshed out mercenary au since i posted that oneshot for sixth day of christmas so.... heres a drabble

jimmy and martyn are, ofc, human mercenaries who call themselves the big dogs so they can seem scarier than they really are. theyre mostly homeless theres a rumour abt a witch who lives in the woods and everyone thinks its lizzie but when they show up shes like "oh no thats scar!" and points to her very eccentric and flamboyant neighbor who lives across the river. scar looks NOTHING like a witch but when you go in, you come back out with exactly the potion you wanted, several others you didnt actually need, significanctly less money than what you went in with, and absolutely no memory of actually being inside and making the purchase. hes incredibly suspicious but godDAMN do his potions and crystals work well skizz owns a building plaza named the heart foundation where he rents out sections to people for their stores (yk like those buildings that are connected stores?? i really hope this makes sense). tango is his assistant as well as bigb but bigb is super weird and disappears a lot. tango was the one to suggest the coffee shop idea that martyn overheard. skizz is an angel and tango is an imp lizzie and scar own one of the spaces where they sell very normal things like farm produce and things that would usually be hard for the other members of the community to get like amethyst and food enchanted with elven magic. as well as very specific bones lizzie has found (no, she will NOT tell you where she got them, yes they are organic, she declines to answer if they are ethically sourced). scar is an elf which is why he's able to sell elven enchanted food. the roomies own one of the store spaces and mostly sell wool products but theyve started farming cotton in hopes of expanding their market. they live together on a farm with a fence covered in vines surrounding it so the animals can wander about sometimes. since they sell wool products, they have a lot of sheep, so when they need the sheep back in their pen they hire mercenaries to do it for them. cleo is the only zombie in the community and, while grian was mentioned as an avian in the oneshot, hes actually going to be a fae. everyone thinks etho is a human but he barely leaves home so cleo and grian are the only ones who know for sure whether or not he is gem is the girl who just moved in with the dream of starting a band. she ends up with an imp and an angel both named scott and they call themselves gem and the scotts. they rent one of skizz's spaces for a studio and gem lives in the apartment above it. impulse, scott the imp, lives in a cave, and scott the angel lives in a cottage on the edge of the woods (so not as far in as lizzie and scar) the mounders live in 4 big old creepy houses that look completely different on the inside than they do outside. its also a 'gated' community but they dont care enough to enforce it. mumbo and pearl are both vampires, bdubs is a fae, and joel is an elf. ren is also around to add more people to their little community even tho this uses the alliances made in secret life. he lives in a smaller house a little ways away from scott's cottage. he seems human enough but theres a rumor that he's a werewolf. no one really knows what bigb and lizzie are, scott even introduces them to gem as the 'suspicious weirdos' and cleo and grian joke that not even they know what they are.