#and yeah. I do run on a queue

[l3irdl3rain]

Hello! How is Arasha recovering from her surgery? I saw a few recent pics on your page but I remembered you use a queue and i couldn't see any stitches on her. So I assumed those pics were from before the surgery and thought I'd send an ask :-)

She’s good!! She actually got her sutures out on Tuesday. So this is the final “Arasha in a cone” picture you’ll get to see.

[onepiexe]

remaking to @kuuigosu btw :)

[front-facing-pokemon]

[good-beanswrites]

Fe Aspec Week Day 7: Free Day -- Legacy

This one took me forever to settle on something I liked -- I was toying around with some ideas about Lukas's epilogue text and the idea of legacy, as well as a bit of meta impact. A few scrapped drawings and 1k words later, I've got this 😂

As always, thank you so much for running this week!! 💜💚 I always have so much fun with the pieces, (it's been the only event week that I can regularly commit to because I always have a blast haha!) and seeing others' amazing work! It's been such a great time :D

Forsyth stepped back from his canvas. He wiped hair from his forehead, hoping he wasn’t smearing any paint there. He studied his work, then his model, then his work once more. He gave a decisive nod. 

“Well. I tried.”

Python choked back a laugh. “That’s not quite the confidence you want to hear from your portrait painter, you know.” He walked up to the canvas, but Forsyth was quick to angle it away from him. 

“Oh, hush, I wasn’t even painting you! I’ll have you know, it was rather difficult trying to paint something without having it in front of me.”

“What are you talkin’ about, Luke was sitting right there for hours!”

At his mention, Lukas perked up. He’d been lounging in front of Forsyth, his eyes lowered to sift through a pile of student writings. He’d been scribbling notes in the margins, absentmindedly angling his face this way and that when Forsyth requested.

“And I am incredibly grateful for his presence. However, I did not want to capture him looking like a sleep-deprived schoolteacher –”

“– but that’s exactly what he is –”

“– so I attempted to recreate my personal favorite expression of his.”

Lukas smiled. “Oh? And what would that be?” He placed the papers aside, giving Forsyth his full attention. Lukas nodded to the canvas, encouraging him to reveal it. 

“Well… you see… the point of this whole project…”

Forsyth searched for the right words. The point of the whole project actually struck him months ago, back at Rigel Castle. 

He and Python had sat for their own portraits, which would later be hung in the great hall to commemorate members of the Brotherhood. Forsyth could have cried seeing he and Python’s likenesses full of dignity and chivalry. The whole time, though, he couldn’t shake the feeling of injustice that boiled in his stomach: Lukas would get nothing. 

Sure, his name would appear in the records as the royal family’s right-hand advisor during and after war, but his image would disappear entirely. He left the Brotherhood to fulfill his dreams long before the kingdom was stable enough to commission a professional painter. With his brother furthering the bloodline and becoming the major focus of the household, Lukas was relieved of all marriage obligations – and opportunities for a couple’s portrait. Paintings alongside any future children were out of the question, as well. 

“It’s terribly unfair!” Forsyth had cried. “Are war and romance the only means to remember a man? Is he any less worthy because he will never marry?”

“You’re overthinking things, Fors.” Python had hardly spared him a glance. “Plenty of good people don’t get their paintings done.”

“And that is just as much an outrage!” 

He brought his concerns to Lukas, who seemed at peace with the situation, as Python was. The pair’s disinterest only caused Forsyth more urgency. After a bit of deliberation, he knew there was only one path forward. 

“I shall take this into my own hands.”

They would find out he meant this very literally. He showed up at Lukas’ schoolhouse with various brushes clutched in his hands, an apron thrown over his chest. He pulled up a nearby seat, propped up an easel, and got right to it. It became their routine: once classes dismissed for the day, Lukas would busy himself with reading through his school materials, and Forsyth would busy himself with work of his own.

He’d done his research beforehand, but had never actually painted anyone’s portrait. He looked again at the finished product.

“I was hoping to capture… er… the point of this work is to commemorate your independent situation… and thus… I remembered the days after you first told me, you were the happiest I’d ever seen you. The face is still a rare one, but after that night, I’ve seen that side of you more and more. I just thought…”

He gave an audible huff. Screw it. 

He turned the canvas around. 

“I am sorry. Perhaps I should have gone with a more dignified look, like the other knights’ portraits. I am aware that I have yet to accomplish a professional’s level of –”

“It’s perfect.” 

Forsyth blinked. 

Lukas stared at the canvas. He appeared to be working out his next words. Meanwhile, Python let out a long whistle. “Lookin’ good! Not too shabby, for your first masterpiece.”

“‘Not too shabby’ is an understatement.” Lukas stepped closer to the piece, his voice full of warmth. “Thank you, friend.”

In the painting, Lukas wasn’t sitting straight-backed and stiff; it was focused on his bust, leaning a bit in relaxed movement. He wore casual clothes, none of his usual professional garments. He smiled. His mouth was a little lopsided, a little odd, pinching his eyes a bit, showing some teeth, but not all – and it was a perfect replication. This was Lukas’s true smile, not the one he put up for others to view. 

Python gave him a poke. “So, now what? Where are we gonna do with it? We can’t just smuggle it into the royal gallery. And I don’t think Lukas is the kind of guy who wants to stare at it here in the school all the time.”

“Well, I… er….”

“I mean, we can certainly just go and hang it up somewhere around town, but I don’t think he’s looking for that, either.”

“I just thought he’d want it! For his legacy!” Forsyth huffed. His eyes shone with The kind of determination that the others knew not to overstep on. There was no stopping him now. “It’s important that he’s remembered through the ages! I think of all the heroes that inspired me – the way I gazed at their images in my fathers’ textbooks, gaining hope from their stories…”

“You’re hoping that Lukas ends up in some dusty textbook someday?”

“Indeed!” He beamed, not realizing that Python didn’t see it as a grand victory. “Just imagine: centuries from now, some harrowed scholar, crushed under familiar struggles. They get a hold of a secondhand book, and suddenly, bam!” He gestured to the painting. “They look upon his face and see that everything will be alright. They’ll think, ‘if Sir Lukas of Valentia can do it, and smile so purely at the end of it all, surely I can too!’”

He clenched his fists, caught up in his own excitement. His gaze was somewhere faraway, imagining this incredible future.  

Python scoffed. 

“It sounds like they’re just as much of a hopelessly sentimental dreamer as you are. They’ll probably think, ‘gods, now I need to study up on this guy too?”

“Python…”

“Or, if they’re like me, maybe they’ll think, ‘mmm, that is one fiiine –”

“Python!”

“Alright, alright. I think it’s a real nice gesture, Fors.”

Lukas had been quietly taking everything in for a while. Now he spoke. “I truly believe this is perfect. As you said – this is an expression only saved for rare occasions. It’s difficult for me to smile so genuinely. I… I never really see it myself.”

He placed a hand on Forsyth’s shoulder. “We can hope it reaches others someday, but regardless, I am grateful to have seen it right now. It inspires me about the future. I… I cannot thank you enough.”

[chrollogy]

running on strawberry protein shake and two tablets of ibuprofen!

[hopeswriting]

Haven't seen you online lately. I hope you're doing well! And if you aren't, I'm sending you much courage and kindness.

Good luck!

hi muffin, thanks for checking in! <3 and yeah, i sure haven't been online at all lately. sorry i said i'd try to come back on here and then very much didn't zercfgdfg. 😭

i've been doing fine tho, no worries! i just can't seem to bring myself to be online again for some reason lol, which sucks because i really miss being on here and miss you guys and talking to you. but, well, it's what it is for now. i don't feel like forcing the issue so we'll just have to wait and see.

i hope everyone's been doing well as well? how about you muffin? i hope you all stay safe and healthy and take care of yourselves guys! 💖

[thevalicemultiverse]

"How many vampires do you think have been hit by a car backing up in a parking lot because the driver couldn’t see their reflection?"

"I’ve never considered it but you’re really shining light on what’s probably a very serious issue"

"I believe it would depend on the vampire in question -- apparently only certain types don't have a reflection," Alice says, having just pestered someone for more information on Lasombras. "And I think those vampires would make their displeasure at being hit clear very quickly."

[ratwars]

Since I decided not to archive this blog to make a new one though because of the sideblog issue I am going to revamp my tagging system soon.

[leondaltons]

Hello besties I'm still (barely) alive, life has just been exhausting lately 😩

[novafire-is-thinking]

Me: I finally have a queue tag! Time to use it. 😏

Also me: Okay, but I can’t just use it for the first time on any old post. It must be worthy of being first. *proceeds to scroll through my extensive draft collection, looking for the “perfect” post*

[the-chattering-tower]

A very lowkey announcement bc I'm not getting back into the skin business proper anytime soon, but I just sent in a rerun of both starbound automaton and spacefarer bc they did well last time and I like having gems

Standard price of 500g, just let me know if I should jot you down and throw you a PA once they emerge from the queue

[truly-quirkless]

Twenty Day Challenge 2024 - Day Five

There are two options for this...either Yagi has to hold Fin, or Fin's gotta find something to stand on. Or both, in reverse order.

[sysig]

I'm almost finished with this notebook with it's horrible paper, and I just finished the first page of my Big Project

[magic-is-something-we-create]

im super behind on tags and asks of all sorts and im HOPING to be able to go through and catch up on as many of those as i can during breaks while i get my stuff back in my room today

[deus-ex-mona]

ice cream ✨always✨ makes everything better!!!!