#also I LOVE ASHES SO MUCH

[zurdurer]

Hades, Hades, to your terms I will agree!!

[ID in Alt]

[potato-lord-but-not]

YAY finally finished the jarthurs !!!! post 1/2 !!! also I severely fucked up two in the other batch so idk if I want to redo them or try something else but whatever aha :’))

Jarthurs in order!!: @teafromthemicrowave @colebirb @mikonez and @beentobeetle !!!!!!! YIPPE

[deadbaguette]

Our favourite winged science officer🪽

[julijbee]

in awe of the beauty of the world

[californianedgeworth]

portrait of Lana

[teal-tealwren]

come hell or high water

close-up :]

[luck-of-the-drawings]

JUST ROLL WITH IT: PRIME DEFENDERS - EPISODE 12: FESTIVAL OF FEAR

part of a thumbnail project hosted by the lovely wonderful GREF (that link goes to the twitty post, heres the pdf for ur own viewing tho)

THIS WAS VERY FUN! THANK U FOR ALLOWING ME TO JOIN AND PLAY.

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

some gitm sona doodles (because we wanted to practice drawing them and because we need to cope)

gitm is of course by @venomous-qwille (feel free to ignore this sorry!)

closeups under the cut:

[screechingfromthevoid]

You know what I love about the kiss? How fucking joyful it was. It was so light and so happy and so freeing.

The confession was so heavy and came at the last possible moment. Dorian was in his lower register, careful and eloquent. Orym had folded in on himself, shy and quiet. They have the weight of the world in their shoulders and they just needed a moment alone together. To say I love you. To let the other know. It all hinged on the moment before there was no going back.

But this. The kiss. It was after laughter and wedding planning and appreciating little things like lavender honey. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was feeling good. For whatever reason it didn't feel hopeless then. In that moment futures existed. Tomorrows existed. And Orym had one. Orym had a future and a tomorrow in Dorian.

Orym was so moved by all the happiness in the air that he confidently took Dorian by the hand to bring him out to the hall, told, then asked, him he was going to kiss him. All of Orym's fears melt away for ten whole seconds. Dorian stuttered and fumbled his words and kissed him back.

It was so cute. It was so joyous.

You know what it reminds me of? The stolen century. After Lup and Barry fall in love over years and years and they play this beautiful duet together. They lock eyes and smile at each other and steal away, running up the valley, away from it all. That moment of holding each other and just keep on not letting go.

The unrelenting giddiness of it all. The excitement. The glee. The promise of future. Wanting a future. Especially if it's together.

[i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end]

A list of Sherlock Holmes's Hyperfixations Monographs

"Yes, I have been guilty of several monographs. They are all upon technical subjects." (The Sign of Four)

Tobacco ash: Upon the Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccoes - "I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco." (The Boscombe Valley Mystery) / "I have made a special study of cigar ashes—in fact, I have written a monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco." (A Study in Scarlet) / "Here, for example, is one ‘Upon the Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccoes.’ In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-, cigarette-, and pipe-tobacco, with colored plates illustrating the difference in the ash." (The Sign of the Four)

Trailing/Tracking - "Here is my monograph upon the tracing of footsteps, with some remarks upon the uses of plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses." (The Sign of the Four)

Hands and occupations- "Here, too, is a curious little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hand, with lithotypes of the hands of slaters, sailors, corkcutters, compositors, weavers, and diamond-polishers." (The Sign of the Four)

Ciphers - "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers [...]." (The Adventure of the Dancing Men)

18th century?/historical manuscipts - "It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject." (The Hound of the Baskervilles)

Bees/beekeeping: Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen - "Alone I did it. Behold the fruit of pensive nights and laborious days when I watched the little working gangs as once I watched the criminal world of London.”

Articles:

Theory of criminology: The Book of Life - "Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life,” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examiniation of all that came his way."

To be written:

Malingering - "Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph. A little occasional talk about half-crowns, oysters, or any other extraneous subject produces a pleasing effect of delirium.” (The Adventure of the Dying Detective)

Dogs - "I have serious thoughts of writing a small monograph upon the uses of dogs in the work of the detective.” (The Adventure of the Creeping Man)

Typewriters/Typewriting- "I think of writing another little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation to crime." (A Case of Identity)

Please feel free to add what I missed!

[evostrashbin]

a complete collection of all of the (mostly) FEH inspired headshot & bust doodles I've drawn so far!

[beifong-brainrot]

Honestly for the small flaws it does have, I did overall really like Ashes of the Academy. Like, perhaps it's because of the all-girl's school trauma that I like to brag about ❤️, but I do genuinely like Mai's character development in it, and it warms my heart to see her grow.

I think (or at least I like to think) that a lot of what I expected Mai's character development would be in the comic in my post before the comic came out was on the right track, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much here.

For some reason this panel hit really hard lmao. In a hopeful way

I think my observation that Mai was often forced into things she didn't want, mainly by her parents chasing status, and later Azula. This is, most likely, why she pushed down her emotions, since in her adolescence, her emotions and desires did little to help her. Of course, this led to Mai struggling to express herself and using mainly passive aggressiveness to get through negative emotions.

Though I don't know how I feel about the comics seemingly completely handwaving Michi's involvement in how Mai was brought up. Michi seemed to be at least eager to bolster Ukano's political career at the cost of Mai's psychological wellbeing, mainly being the one to quash Mai's self expression and even scaring her with stories of evil spirits. Also the potential Tom Tom neglect but we won't talk abt that right now.

Mai : My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about.

But this isn't too much of a retcon, I suppose, more of a... recontextualisation. Michi could just be incredibly unaware, and, once she realised her husband wasn't great, she decided to step up and try to do better as a parent. Which is commendable.

I know a lot of people were a bit upset about the notion that Azula and Mai's friendship wasn't "organic", but rather due to Mai being pressured into it by her father, as Mai and Azula seemed at least a little bit fond of each other in the show.

Though I don't think this necessarily duscredits Azula and Mai's relationship. I think it was always a complex thing, with both characters having a lot of layers to themselves and their interactions. And Mai befriending Azula at her father's behest doesn't mean she stayed Azula's friend for that reason. We see that Azula had many sycophants, but seemingly only her relationships with Ty Lee and Mai endured.

I also know some people disliked that Mai wasn't a "meanie" like Azula, but, honestly, just because she wasn't as eager and active about it as Azula. Though it is important to note that Mai is implied to have participlated in Azula's bullying (throwing le knives at your fellow middle schoolers may be a little more than bullying though), as well as being complacent in Azula's bullying of others. Which, if you haven't been bullied before, even if only one person is actively bullying you, there's a whole lot of difference between them being alone, and then having a friend standing there menacingly.

And we've already seen that Mai will often do the bare minimum for Azula, and even shunning her "duties" if she thinks she can get away with it.

I think, boiled down to its bare essentials, "Ashes of the Academy" is about characters in the Fire Nation who were previously complacent despite potential doubts taking an active role in dismantling the Fire Nation's harmful traditions and unlearning their compliance.

This is where the mild parallels between Mai and headmistress Shihan come in. They're both characters who were complacent in their environments, bolstering the power of dangerous people and systems just by keeping their heads down. It was safer, easier to comply.

Shihan grew to become one of the Fire Nation's regime's upholders, directly contributing to the indoctrination of new generations. Mai could've easily followed a similar path, if it weren't for Zuko. While I don't think, at the time of atla, she shared much of his 'redeemed worldview', he was still someone she cared for, someone she was willing to rebel for. And it was the first step of Mai unlearing what had been drilled into her from her childhood.

And although the Gene Luen Yang comics weren't the most graceful about this, we did see Mai growing to be more opinionated and genuinely believe in dismantling the system. Once she realised it was possible, and she had gotten more freedom in her life, she grew as a person. Shocker.

It's also important to note that it was, in essence, Zuko who showed her that rebellion is possible. Which is another reason to as why she may have been so hurt when he left. They both felt trapped by the Fire Nation, but alleviated each other's misery. And then, from Mai's perspective, Zuko abandoned her, going somewhere that she wasn't aware she could follow.

However, Mai has, by the time "Ashes of the academy" happened, learnt that she can, in fact, follow Zuko in rejecting the restrictions their upbringings' had placed on them. And that she can, like he did, inspire others, like Shihan and the children, to strive for a better tomorrow. It's all very sweet actually.

It also makes me happy to see that they've both grown so much and gotten healthier since we last saw them. It makes me happy to see Mai tell Zuko whrn she has an issue with something he's done instead of letting it boil over until she blows up at him. And that Zuko is learning to trust again, and to share the burdens of ruling the Fire Nation.

It makes me happy to see them grow, and it does give me hope for the future of maiko. Do that's nice. I know we didn't get much content that is "technically" shippy, but this is very good groundwork, and I'd rather this than for them to get back again and be handled poorly again.

[emarli-the-doodler]

A bit of a doodle dump from this weekend

[lynzishell]

Prev // Next

Transcript below the cut:

Ash Texting:

Asher: I’m here. Asher: This place is dead. Where are you?

Asher: [laughing] Jesus Christ, Lex. Lex: I missed you. Asher: Me too.

Asher: So, what are we looking for? Lex: Not sure yet. I’ll know it when I see it. Asher: Of course.

Asher: How about a very tall martini? Lex: You laugh, but that would actually look so cute in my apartment. Asher: If you say so.

Lex: I’m pissed at you, by the way. Asher: [scoffs] Get in line. What have I done now? Lex: You told me when you left Rainy Day that we’d still hang out all the time, but I haven’t seen you in five months. FIVE!

Asher: I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy. But we’re getting close. I’ll have more time again soon. Lex: I hope so. When are you moving back to the city? Asher: …

Lex: Ash? When are you moving back to the city? Asher: [nervous] We’re not. Lex: You’re staying in the Bay? I should’ve known.

Asher: No, we’re not staying there. We’ve been looking at San Sequoia. Lex: You can’t be serious. Asher: I know, I was unsure at first, but the more I look at it… I don’t know, I just see it. Lex: See what? Asher: Me and Atlas, settling down and raising our kids and building a life there.

Asher: Where are you going?

Lex: [sniffles] Asher: Lex?

Asher: Hey. Talk to me. Lex: This is it, isn’t it? The end of our friendship. Asher: No, of course not. Why would you say that? Lex: ... Asher: Come on, let’s go sit down.

Lex: Let’s not pretend things aren’t changing. I mean, you live an hour and a half away and we haven’t seen each other since March. And your kids aren’t even born yet! If you think you don’t have time now, just wait.

Asher: That doesn’t mean our friendship is over. We just have to be more intentional about calling each other and staying in touch. And I’ll let you know any time I’m in town. And you can come visit us whenever you want. No matter how much time goes by, we’ll always be friends.

Lex: I suppose. Still, it feels like the end of an era. You’ve been by my side forever. Hell, you were there when I got my braces off. Asher: It’s true. You were there when I adopted Jasper. Lex: We got drunk for the first time together. Asher: [laughs] And high.

Lex: You took me in when my parents kicked me out. Asher: You held my hand while I came out to mine. Lex: You put up with me when I fell in love for the first time. Asher: You put up with me when I got my heart broken for the first time.

Lex: Can I tell you a secret about that? Asher: What? Lex: I was the one who threw a brick through the window at Elias’ studio. Asher: Can I tell you a secret? Lex: What?

Asher: I already knew that. I’m the one that paid to get it fixed. Lex: Why would you do that? Asher: Because, you dimwit, he had cameras. You’re just lucky he called me instead of the cops. Lex: Well shit. Why didn’t you tell me? Asher: [shrugs] Because I kinda loved you for it.

Lex: I’m gonna miss out on so many firsts when you move away. Asher: Like what? Lex: Like the first time your kid pisses on you. Asher: [laughs] I’ll be sure to call you and give you a complete play-by-play. Lex: You better.

Lex: I’m gonna miss you. Asher: Me too. But I’m not gone yet, so how about we go get you that giant martini. Lex: Think we can carry it to my building and up the stairs without breaking it? Asher: Hell yeah. We got this.

[the-rolls-on-black]

after ford got pushed into the portal, imagine you and stanley running into a bunch of anomalies that ford didn't document in his journals (as far as you know, anyway, you guys only have the one) while trying to get him back.

for example, what do you mean it's supposed to be spring now and winter's still roaring outside? couldn't possibly (never, ever) be connected to how you and stan have bundled up your feelings for each other, or how strained your relationship is....whaaat do you mean that thick winter snow only lifts once you guys start getting along...

[luddlestons]

Ash makes a pretty good wall to be shoved into <3