#but i hope it helps explain things

[convexicalcrow]

Oh? How normal are we about Pharaoh Cub?

Okay look. You gotta understand. I've been interested in ancient Egpyt since I was a kid. It's my longest-running special interest/hyperfixation, so much so that I've been practicing ancient Egyptian religion for over twenty years. It's something that's very, very precious to me, bc it's so personal to me, and bc I'm who I am, my knowledge of this stuff is arguably higher than the average person. This makes any kind of media about ancient Egypt actually not that interesting to me bc my brain will Not shut up about inaccuracies, so I tend to avoid them bc of that.

(I could go on about my issues with ancient Egyptian themed media, but I won't, that's a whole 'nuther essay frfr.)

(Also I hope you like infodumping, anon, bc that's what I'm about to do :D)

That said, I've actually written a whole lot of Egyptian myth rewrites, as well as ancient Egyptian stories exploring all kinds of various topics. I have some published on an old blog of mine, but some I never finished for various reasons. It's a whole thing. It's been a whole thing for me for a very, very long time.

So, you're me, someone with a more than average knowledge of and interest in ancient Egypt, and you've just become a Cub fan in s8 bc that was my first Hermitcraft season. I had heard about the pyramid, and Pharaoh Cub, and I was both SO INTERESTED but also actually quite hesitant to watch Cub's s7, bc I didn't want to be disappointed if he messed it up or did something wrong that caused my brain to Disagree. Again, very irrational bc my brain do be like that, but also based on previous experiences of seeing ppl just taking the aesthetics and doing whatever with it, and screw historical accuracy.

(Honestly, this is, like, my One (1) critism with the lore TrixyBlox built into the USW map. Can we Not have evil pharaohs plz just for once. ;_;)

I wanted to trust Cub, bc I'd seen the research that went into the canyon build. He's a smart dude. He cares about getting those kinda details right. And I did genuinely want to see how he approached the pyramid build and how he was going to use it as a base. But again, SO HESITANT. bc what if my blorbo messes it up and ruins the whole thing for me bc m brain is Stupid about this sort of thing. ;_;

But I'm so glad I trusted Cub when I did get around to watching s7, bc I fell in love with the pyramid. The fact that he cared about making it as life-size as possible, but also that he took an approach of taking what works, but also making it his own, and making it fit into the minecraft world. Like, using Standard Galactic for hieroglyphs! I loved that small little detail! It makes so much sense to use it that way.

Like, my very-not-srs gripes about the Pharaoh skin and its weird sleeves aside, his approach was very much how a lot of Egyptian pagans approach things today. Take what works, or what makes sense, and adapt it to where we currently are in the world and what we have access to. And I could tell from how he talked about it throughout the season that he really had done his research. And just- The Morning and The Evening Sun/Star epithet he gave himself like!!!!

Like, it's the little things, like the lapis roof, the stars - including Sirius!, the most important one bc its rising heralds the flood of the Nile and the new year - on the ceiling in the bedroom, the statue room and the way he built those five statues to represent aspects of himself (I cannot stress enough how much I adored those statues), allll the little tunnels and sekrit passageways, and the cartouche on the wall with his name in SGA and using SGA in the museum room, the treasure room with its traps, and the tomb of the Pharaoh himself. Like. It was such a perfect blend of Cub and Egyptian stuff. 10/10. I can find no faults. Although I do want to go back and finish the oasis room at some point. Make it a healing pool room with a shrine or two in it. Something like that.

Like, I had my doubts, but I trusted Cub and his process, and I was right to do so. It cemented Cub as my favourite Hermit at that point, bc he took my special interest and did it justice. And that's why I'm Very Normal about Pharaoh Cub.

But there are also other aspects too! Pyramids were designed to be tombs, and that's where the Pharaoh was left to rest at the end of s7. Which seems very appropriate, given where Hermitcraft went after that.

The reason I fixate so much on this is that there's this Egyptian underworld book called the Book of Caverns, that describes the King's journey through the underworld. It's not as well-known as the Book of the Dead, but the reason I keep coming back to it is because of Cub's canyon in s8. Where he built everything in little caverns in the canyon itself. And with the change of skin to young Cub, my brain just cannot let go of the idea of s8 being Pharaoh Cub's journey through the underworld, culminating with the final battle against the serpent we do not name so we do not give it power (a/p/o/p/h/i/s) that is here manifested in s8 as Moon Big. It's not a perfect metaphor, and I won't pretend it is. Especially bc while Cub escapes, the world is destroyed, and that's not necessarily accurate. But! He still escapes! He uses all his knowledge and resources that he's gained through his journey through the underworld to escape. To rise again in s9 as the new sun.

AND AND AND the fact that in s9 PHARAOH CUB DID ACTUALLY RETURN. Only now, we have the Pharaoh as a distinct entity. A divine akh/ancestor, a master magician, one who is clever and wiley like Thoth and who loves playing games and playing pranks. (Thoth is a trickster, and a very smart one.) And to have the distinction between Pharaoh Cub, who is a god, and mortal Cub, who is just Cub, like.

(Cub and his possession kink is also a whole 'nuther essay frfr)

That distinction makes sense in an Egyptian theological framework. Once the Pharaoh dies, they become divine akhu/ancestors. Very few were Actually Deified in a way we would recognise, but Cub is still not wrong when he calls the Pharaoh a god. The Pharaoh was a conduit between the people and the gods. He acted as the only high priest of the religion. He became King by hosting the Kingly Ka, the divine soul of Horus that legitimises their rule. This Ka/soul, has been with every king before it, and all the kings are attached/accessed through it. Kings live forever, after all. My own personal religious work has involved various Kings and Queens and working with them. (Not the most famous ones, tho, it's mostly the Sobek ones bc I worship Sobek first and foremost.)(Sobek being a crocodile god, a strong protector, and a god who was incorporated in Horus at one stage and gained Kingship attributes from that.)

And so it makes so much sense for the Pharaoh to be a separate entity now. The old man died, bc Cub is mortal, and ba/eternal soul of Cub was reborn into a new, younger body, with a whole new ka. Everyone has a ka, it is the soul that belongs to a particular lifetime and is the one that goes through judgement after death. The ba is eternal, and can have many kau/souls throughout its existence.

And bc the Pharaoh has died and become an akh, he can be contacted and manifest in the world again through the mortal Cub. The fact that Cub never actually changed the Pharaoh skin to reflect his younger self? It still has the old man's face? Like. This helps the distinction work. They're two different souls. This is theologically sound. And honestly I never imagined the Pharaoh lore would get to that point. But here we are, in s9, and we have the Pharaoh and mortal Cub, and I am Just So Normal about this bc I thought I'd missed my chance at Pharaoh Cub bc I only started watching in s8. BUT NO. s9 came along and is like, would you like some more Pharaoh Cub? and it's eating my brain like. oh my gods.

And also like, the Vex Magic Grimoire I've been working on? Canonically (to me), it's being written by Pharaoh Cub. Once the ConVex and ConCorp shenanigans settled down, and Cub had space to really focus on his magic, that's when he starts working on the grimoire. bc almost all Pharaohs were also master magicians. They had to be! It was part of their work as high priest and conduit for the gods. So Cub has Pharaoh magic on top of Vex magic, and in working through his new powers, decides to start recording down all he knows about Vex magic. Scar does some as well, but it is intended to be mostly Cub.

(I have an ask I STILL have not got around to about the Pharaoh's magic, and I will save a longer discussion for that there. I will get to it, I promise, anon! It's just taken a while to get my thoughts in order. <3)

It's like, in Pharaoh Cub, I can combine my love of writing about Egyptian things with my current hyperfixation on Cub, and it's so much fun omg. Cub doesn't do deep lore the way someone like Sausage does (again, whole 'nuther essay lol), but there's enough there to make a really good story, and build up these aspects of his character and make a really coherent story out of it.

And with Pharaoh Cub, I can explore all kinds of things that maybe don't work with other characters. Like death! In a way that doesn't really happen in minecraft bc players just respawn. Permanent death is something I've really only encountered on Empires, not Hermitcraft. But with the Pharaoh dying and being laid to rest in his pyramid? Like. That's something to work with. There's lore there to explore. Old Man Cub coming to terms with dying and what happens afterwards. and bc like. idk if anyone has actually ever written Old Man Cub as an actual Old Man. But as someone who's approaching 40, and has their own chronic pain stuff to deal with, like? Maybe I see it differently. Maybe I want to approach Old Man Cub as an old man. And maybe the Old Man dying as Pharaoh, and being reborn into a younger body is one way to do that.

Sure, it may not be the most popular fics for ppl. Maybe ppl are more interested in my other works. But I don't care. It's all my special interests in one place and I'm having the time of my life. :D

Even if I STILL don't know what to do with the journey through the afterlife!s8 caverns idea. Maybe one day I will find the right spark to do that idea justice. <3

[giantkillerjack]

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

[lilybug-02]

Pain is a great motivator…

Part 26 || First || Previous || Next

—Full Series—

Meanwhile Toriel:

(Loud noises don't wake her up usually.)

Artist note: I’m so proud of this :))) I know it’s a lot of dialogue and reading, but dialogue is grueling work for me. I’m glad with the art and for the amount of pages I made in such a relatively short time span -w- page 5 was super fun to work on. A lot of blood, sweat, and hours here... :) The backgrounds were a big bore tbh, but I finished them! Yippie!

[ping-ski]

csp mini guide: edge eraser!

@lunasun hihi!! i tried to make an visual and wrote an explanation i hope this makes sense but if not then i failed LOL i hope you don't mind the tag

Erase Along Edge (Edge Eraser) text version!

1. Sketch or line as normal on one layer. 2. On a separate layer, below the lineart, color as normal. 3. Return to the lineart layer, and set it as the "Reference Layer". (Toggle ON by clicking on the lighthouse icon!) 4. Return to the color layer, select the "Erase Along Edge" tool, and erase the offending overlap! Aaand then you're done! Try stick to the outside of your lineart to avoid accidently erasing what's inside. As long as your brush size is reasonable, it shouldn't erase what's inside too much or at all unless if your cursor is inside of the lineart!

Quick Troubleshoot

"It won't erase properly?" "My lines aren't opaque and/or is too messy." That's OK!! While I do recommend solid lines (few gaps or none) or opaque lines (at 100% opacity), it's NOT necessary! It just makes using the tool easier! Most of the time you can get away with it, so don't worry about having to change your style or anything. If the lines are not solid (have gaps) or aren't opaque (lower than 100% opacity), please refer to the tool properties/settings! You may need to experiment here. Adjust the "Tolerance" and "Area Scaling" settings and repeat the process until you reach your desired result! Please note: If lines intercept (creating small "pockets) or opacity is still an issue you may have to manually erase anyways (sorry lol). By all means, it isn't perfect BUT it is a BIIIGG time saver once you have it down! The creator (pharan) makes more specific points and fixes in their guide that is far more in depth! I just want this to be easy to understand for anyone who's never used it before or is trying it for the first time! :)

[badassindistress]

do you perhaps have a pattern for that gentleman's corset? asking for a friend

Hi!

Unfortunately, I do not have a pattern to give you, but I do have a way for you/your friend to draft your own.

(If you really do just want a ready pattern, I'm pretty sure my #binding stays or #flattening stays tags include some etsy shops that have binders with corsetry methods)

I'm presuming you are here because that 5 year old post of the binder with elizabethan stays method is going around again (left). I've also since made a pair of stays that flatten nicely as well (right).

The left pattern was drafted with the free Custom Corset Pattern Generator from elizabethancostume.net. You just input a little extra breathing room in the waist and the bust measurement you can comfortably squish your chest down to.

However, that was many years ago and I have since had more success using a Mariah Pattie's circular drafting technique. It has so much less measuring and math and it gave me a better fit.

Here's my post on that technique, along with her video.

And here's my post amending that to a binder instead of stays.

In short, all you need is:

a large piece of paper

a string

a pen

a measuring tape and

the measurement of your waist circumference

the measurement of your chest bound down circumference

the measurement of the vertical distance between your waist and chest.

You draw out the pattern following the video + my explanation post (this takes me about 30 minutes vs the hour or two for drafting the usual way). Then I make it longer with a cm or two at the bottom and at least 3 cm on top. One change I've made since that post was to pinch out a little dart at the arms to make it lie smoother under clothes. One day I'm going to experiment with adding straps to this design, but today is not that day.

I kept mine quite low, because I wanted a 18th century round chested look, but with straps and longer stays you could probably go flatter (depending on how much you have to flatten of course).

This is what it looks like under a waistcoat tailored according to a menswear manual:

i'll also drop here the posts of other people who've I've talked about their binders using corsetry and tailoring methods: horsehair canvas summer binder, there's another one about how convenient ribbons are for easy adjustment but i can't find it (EDIT: found it!)

Good luck and do let me know if you've advanced this research any further!

[candyheartedchy]

Do you have any advice for drawing characters kissing?

Sure! I even made a guide just for you!

[bitcell]

the ordem paranormal universe masterpost

ordem paranormal is a ttrpg universe created by cellbit. it started in 2020. as of today, ordem paranormal has 4 seasons, 2 spin offs, and the first one-shot to be aired on september 23rd.

ordem paranormal takes place in a universe with two dimensions: the normal and the paranormal.

the normal dimension is where we live as human beings, while the paranormal dimension is a completely different place, where everything that seems like the impossible can become real, like spirits, demons, among other kinds of anomalies connected to the after-life. those two places are separated by a layer called the membrane, the membrane stops the normal and the paranormal from coming in contact. however, the membrane can be weakened by fear of the supernatural, making horrendous and dangerous monsters enter our reality. this phenomenon usually happens in specific locations, prone to the perception of fear, like abandoned hospitals, old houses and deactivated sanatoriums.

all across the world, different groups have formed, looking for ways to weaken the membrane, trying to destroy it and blend the two dimensions, with the objective of seeking their own wishes, or even, fulfilling a bigger purpose. the members of this groups are called occultists. to stop chaos from being stored, a secret global organization was created: ordo realitas. common people who live double lives to stop the acts done by occultists, which aim to increase the contact between normal people and the paranormal, increasing their fear, and consequently, weakening the membrane and allowing the paranormal to cross over.

official campaigns

-> the first campaign aired on february 29th, 2020, and it's called ordem paranormal: iniciação (initiation) it has 5 episodes that are around 4 hours each and all the episodes have been translated to english.

"this story begins in the early hours of february 29th, 2020, when the neighborhood of “nostradamus school” hears a terrifying scream coming from inside the building, the same place which hours before had been consumed by the flames of a fire. this leads ordo realitas to summon their rookie members to investigate the scene, where the presence of paranormal activity is suspected."

-> the second campaign aired on april 11th, 2020, and it's called ordem paranormal: o segredo na floresta (the secret in the forest) it has 16 episodes that are around 4 hours each and all the episodes have been translated to english.

"on april 11th, around ten o'clock in the morning, a team from ordo realitas has a meeting scheduled with the man known as senhor veríssimo. everyone goes to veríssimo's room and there he introduces them to team kelvin, a team of veteran agents who were sent to investigate a strange murder case involving a spiral symbol that ended up mysteriously disappearing without any prior notice."

-> the third campaign aired on october 31st, 2020, and it's called ordem paranormal: desconjuração (deconjuration) it has 20 episodes that are around 4 hours each and the episodes are currently being translated into english.

"the santo berço (holy cradle) was destroyed. the restructured ordo realitas now operates from an underground base. from there, the man known as senhor veríssimo commands a legion of agents who, with the help of more intense methods, seek to save the world from the growing threat of the occult. with a new formation, the team receives a mission of searching and rescuing one of the order's most important agents who disappeared while investigating a strange occult branch, known only as the order of deconjuration."

-> the fourth campaign aired on september 4th, 2021 and it's called ordem paranormal: calamidade (calamity) it has 13 episodes that are around 5 hours each. it has not been translated yet.

"with no sign of any interference with the balance, a new lead makes ordo realitas start to act again. an old case, reporting on an entity described as "o diabo" (the devil), brings together a new team of agents. together, they must further investigate the case as they continue their search for the power of the calamity relics."

the official campaign has been on a hiatus since calamity.

spin-offs

-> the first spin-off aired on june 25th, 2022 and it's called ordem paranormal: o segredo na ilha (the secret in the island) it has 8 episodes that are around 5 hours each. it has not been translated yet.

"on an isolated island, there is a huge mansion, built by a painter who mysteriously disappeared more than 20 years ago. an art appraiser is hired to spend a few days inside this mansion, looking for valuable paintings inside. to do this, he decides to take his family on the trip. after all, what could go wrong?"

(for the qsmp enjoyers, this is where montelyson/romero richas comes from)

-> the second spin-off aired on october 29th, 2022 and it's called ordem paranormal: sinais do outro lado (signs from the other side), it has 7 episodes that are around 4 hours each. it has not been translated yet.

"the paranormal doesn't come to our reality easily,, but things weren't always like that. the year is 1997, several cases of disappearances happen in the south of brazil. a group decides to investigate the disappearance of their mentor, a paranormal hunter who has extensive research into aliens, mysterious and dangerous creatures. however, something or someone, more powerful and unknown, may be behind all this."

you can watch the spin-offs without watching the official campaign, because although they happen in the same universe and some characters may show up on these stories, they are not connected to what happens on the main story, although the spin-offs may contain information about some things from the official campaigns.

one-shot

-> the first one-shot is going to be aired on september 23rd, 2023, and it's called ordem paranormal: quarentena (quarantine) and it will have 1 episode. this will be the first ordem paranormal session in english/spanish and it won't be connected to the main campaign, just in the same universe.

"at the offices of a multinational company called “panacea industries”, five people, looking for ways to make quick money, decide to carry out the scientific test of a new medicine. but perhaps the true intentions of this organization are not so clear when you look at it from the other side."

this is an update from EquipeT about the translations:

[puppyeared]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[waywardstation]

Hola! Hope it's ok to ask for any drawing advice.

I'm very rusty in my drawing skills and I really want to draw pokemon, is there any tip(s) you could give on how to draw pokemon?

Thanks in advance

Hello hello! I appreciate you wanting to ask me! Thank you so much!! :)

Yes, I can do my best to give you some tips that help me!

This tip works best if you want to stick closer to Pokémon’s style and designs rather than wanting to do your own interpretation — that can be fun to do too, though!

So for this, I picked purugly as an example!

So when I am drawing something, to me, IT COMES DOWN TO CONSTRUCTION WITH SHAPES!

When I find I have a hard time drawing pokemon (or anything else!), I can take its official art, and break it down into shapes.

Then, you can take those shapes and move them around into another pose! (I used different colors to help differentiate overlapping parts, certainly not required)

Then you can use these shapes to help figure out the Pokémon’s body over the pose, and make changes as needed! (See the left back leg, and the front paws)

And there you go! A pokemon drawn from the shapes!

It can also help a lot to trace right over the official art to get a feel for drawing the pokemon, too! You can also use it as an opportunity to see if you’d like to draw anything differently than the linework already set down below you (as you can see, the ears stray from the linework slightly, it’s just a style choice I decided to make!)

I hope this helps! If not, I’m always down to give more tips! But basically, tracing the pokemon to get used to its design, and breaking it down into shapes so you can use those shapes to set up poses you want, are what I recommend! Cause man there are some crazy pokemon designs out there haha.

Breaking down designs with shapes and tracing is something I do all the time, it’s a method that helps me a ton! Hopefully it helps you too! :)

[theloveinc]

I am in love with the idea of sugar daddy bakugou, he would have to physically drag me out of bed to class, I set like 5 alarms and then still not go

IT'S ABSURD, like you can't even lie to him abt it either because he has your whole schedule memorized!! You think you've finally gotten away with missing one morning class just to sleep in and cuddle, but NOPE, after one hit of the snooze button he's pulling off your blankets and flickering the lights on and off.

You're like, "can't i just be your housespouse, stay home and do chores???"

And he's frowning, "first you were beggin' me for tuition, now you don't even wanna go???" (i'd immediately get up to argue with him but that's another story)

He is so annoying lmfao. Has an argument for all of your complaints, and will try to slap your butt if you don't get up. And the worst part is that he really does want you to do well !!! and get a degree in case you need to support yourself ever. Good LUCK not feeling guilty and trying to get out of homework, too.....

(and LITERALLY ME THIS MORNING, my alarm rang for an hour and apparently i just did not give enough of a fuck to notice😭😭😭)

[aleiiii]

I just realized I forgot to actually answer the ask that was asking for this im so smart guys

I’m actual dog water in explaining things SO IM SORRY IN ADVANCE buuuut this is usually the method that works good for me ((also also still very much trying to get the hang of the Lego bodies too))

Very similar to the hair thing, it’s pretty much down to basic shapes, especially for the Lego bodies. The torso and down are pretty much just cubes, it can get a lil complicated tho because they are moving and in 3D spaces so you kinda have to figure out the perspectives n all that. If all else fails I really just like looking at screen caps from the show to get an idea of how they deal with the limbs bending.

The arms are slightly different in that they are more of cylinders (very similar to regular arms except they stay relatively simple in shape).

Conclusion: shapes

[galaxysugarr]

can I have a quick explanation on the plex au? It seems very interesting to me :D

Daycares in multiple locations hosted by fazbear have recently had a decline in visitors and subscriptions! Leading to the final decision to shut down all Daycare locations permanently.

Leading to the animatronics working in the areas to be sent out to other major locations to be re-used for parts/scraps or reprogrammed for new jobs!

The Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, doing new renovations; takes in a few of the daycare animatronics. Giving each a new paint job, personality and design for their new attraction and home! While the Glamrocks sing and dance, the new attendants play and work while they are away.

With the addition of 5 quirky celestials, each getting to know eachother, get through past trauma, perhaps even fall in love. As they bond and try to figure out one another along with the secrets and mysteries of their new home.

[aceghosts]

Rooney Shepard (They/Them): RELIC AU

There are stranger things I've learned on the outside Separated by an open door I find it hard to reach the end of my timeline Salivating 'cause I wanted more Is this the end or is this the beginning? -Too Close/Too Late by Spiritbox

[Template Credit]

Tagging (Opt In/Out): @bbrocklesnar, @marivenah, @alexxmason, @captmactavish, @carlosoliveiraa, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @nightbloodbix, @voidika, @strangefable, @captastra, @amalkavian, @katsigian, @cassietrn, @g0dspeeed, @clicheantagonist, @cloudofbutterflies92, @direwombat, @onehornedbeast, @thedeadthree.

[edwinisms]

wait yeah hold on how the hell did edwin open a door from hell to earth? like if powerful beings like the night nurse or certain demonic entities are necessary to open and close doors to other planes (especially hell where souls being trapped there is kind of the point) then what the fuck did edwin manage to pull off? did he somehow trick a demon or whatever into opening one? was one opened for one reason or another– maybe upon a demon’s return from retrieving a soul– and he timed it, booked it, and jumped in? there certainly isn’t just some constantly open ever-accessible door at the top of The Endless Staircase considering that would make hell kind of pointless. did edwin payne manage, somehow, over the span of 70 years, to figure out how to open a door from limbo/the staircase to earth by himself? am i just missing something here?

[wombrion]

What's your process? I see you don't use lineart, how do you think your pieces?

by lineart u mean like a base sketch? if it is, when it comes to trad art i try to go with materials that cant be erased as an exercise

when making a piece it kind of gets easier to plan out when u have more confidence on your lines, so by being unable to erase it obligates you to pay more attention. plus its more freeing when you dont care if u mess up cus either way you cant erase any of it (might as well make it count!!!)

also i draw. a lot. so the more you do it the easier it is to sort out what elements youd like to include/how to include them, id say most of my process goes by muscle memory at this point, and in other aspects i still have no idea what im doing. but we try💪

[fumifooms]

You’re the resident chilchuck expert, so I was wondering about it there’s any canon evidence that he did smoke or drink alcohol when the kids were younger. I always thought it was something he picked up due to the strain of long jobs, when the kids were already older, but you seem to think differently and I was wondering if there was anything in canon that made you think that way!

Now that you mention it I guess it’s true there’s no evidence he did. Smoking we literally only know he does at all because of one post-canon panel where he has a pipe, so no, maybe this stick-looking thing in the panel below too though, I’m not familiar with medieval blunts eh. We’ve only gotten one panel of him and his daughters interacting when he was younger so that’s not too insightful on that end, and every time we see him young and freckled it’s in a job context so again not really where we’d expect him to be drinking. The earliest proof (/heavy implication since we don’t see inside his cup I guess) is 3 years before canon when Laios hired him, where he’s at a bar, classily placed in front of all the bottles ✨

Yes alcohol is almost certainly a way through which he copes especially with stress, so if we go with the theory he started around when work got stressful, well… Chilchuck started working as a dungeon diver ~10 years ago so when he was ~19, making Mei, Fler and Puck ~6 and ~4 respectively, so from that draw the ‘stressful enough to start drinking’ line wherever. We don’t know what he did before that with any certainty, and it could be he did odd jobs, lived off mostly mutual aid and community work, or just focused on only raising the girls. Half-foots tend to be poor and I see a lot of that in Chilchuck specifically so I don’t think he could have afforded to not have some paying work though.

Alright, so then why do I think he did drink when the girls were younger?

I give a more complete rundown of the info we do have on his alcoholism & his family with panels and references + all the speculation I make from it here. But the most targeted and objective answer I can give is:

Of course there’s just very very little we know of Chilchuck’s life with his family, and I think that’s by design too. I think the details being up in the air is to allow more nuance of the topic, like, will trying to reconcile go well, is their relationship salvageable? We don’t know, because we don’t know. So the message of giving hope a chance even if it’s a long shot, that things could truly go either way, is more relevant, impactful and meta in that way. How long was he usually away for work travels into dungeons here and there? How did he act with them? All we can really do is "it’s likely that", it’s a game of which way we think it’s more implied. There’s no right and wrong answer, it’s all Marcille-like larping the events out.

My main reason for thinking he did is that his father died from overdrinking and Chilchuck is very aware of that. He mentions his death casually in the extra about their stance in alcohol and in his Adventurer’s Bible profile, etc. He acts towards the alcohol presumably the same way his father did: with abandon, uncaring for the health effects, probably happily too considering Chil says "dying doing something you love is a good way to go". Very nonchalant. So you see what I’m saying here right, wether he started early or late, his view of alcoholism is very influenced by what he saw of his father growing up, it’s something he’s always been aware of and saw in a mostly positive light, something that was inherited you could say. It’s something that was normalized to him from a young age. Regardless or where it goes from there I do think this part is pretty inarguable. If he views it positively and we know that in the present alcohol is his favorite food that he loveees, why would he have held out on it? Personally that all makes me think he started drinking very young, especially since I don’t think they limited alcohol to age as much as modern standards (and I mean, teen drinking is obviously still a thing). And here you could argue, maybe his father only started being more alcoholic later when Chilchuck moved out, or something! And to that there’s nothing I can say except I think that’s a strained theory, and that Chil might even have largely cut contact with his family after moving out (since he and siblings are listed as almost strangers and he doesn’t seem to have much emotional attachment to his parents, but also we know he rents out his place to "a relative"), but it’s true we have no evidence. "I’ve picked up the same unhealthy substance abuse as my father haha! No big deal right haha" repeated several times to me just reeks of intergenerational trauma, & the alcoholism gene as they call it. Like effortless sliding into drinking as if it’s second nature, it’s natural after all, it’s normal after all, it just makes sense, it makes you feel good and that’s what matters.

BUT from my interpretation then we have a whole other layer: Alcohol is of course not all bad always. I think he’s always liked alcohol and drank it on occasion and it brought him joy etc etc, but I think here the implication in the question is, how much effect did his drinking have on the family relations and how early? And that isn’t so much about when him drinking started but when the alcoholism started. Addiction is defined by a habitual need, that has negative effects from filling that need (physical, psychological, social, etc) and negative effects from withdrawal. If Chilchuck drinks to cope and he can’t not cope without it, that’s addiction, if it affects his relationships, if it’s a need he has, it’s addiction. Addiction can be very insidious or look very casual, and how much people around the person are affected by it is case by case. Cheerful drunks can be sooo annoying and uncomfortable though let me tell you. Drunks are drunks. And this sounds harsh, but even if people around them don’t mind drunks it’ll still have some effects here and there, living with one can be such a challenge, ily drunks good luck with everything much like Chilchuck you deserve good things 🫡　

Ok so with the dad thing and the "ok well maybe he’s always drunk casually but it grew worse with time around when he started working as a dungeon diver" precision made, the other bit of info we have that can inform this is that Chilchuck is on a harsh diet and that alcohol is a hunger suppressant. We know Chilchuck "used to be fine not eating for two days", that literally on screen to quench his hunger so it doesn’t keep him awake he goes to drink water, drinking is his instinct to hunger. Again alcohol is a hunger suppressant and if you want info on that the internet has a lot of research and anecdotes about it. He diets to be light enough to not trigger traps, so it’s something he’d have started after dungeon diving most likely. Between the stress and the diet, yes it’s extremely likely he started going harder on alcohol after he started working in dungeons. There’s arguments on wether two days without eating is less bad for half-foots than humans, but apart from smaller portions there’s nothing that indicates half-foots should get less than 3 meals a day. They need less food but that’s because their bodies are smaller: the need is proportional to the body, not smaller than others’ races, the % of need is similar even if the kg amount of food isn’t. There’s also a popular headcanon with support basis that half-foots run hot and have a faster heartrate and whatnot, and that points towards a faster metabolism rather than a slower one: a bigger need for eating rather than a smaller one. He has the same bmi, 18, as Mickbell, but perhaps because Chil is much taller he’s less intensely visibly underweight with ribs showing than Mick during the bath extra, it’s most apparent when he becomes tallman.

Alcohol is something so important and omnipresent in his character that I have trouble believing it’s something that was part of only a small fraction of his life. It’s his immediate go-to, his no-brainer solution to a good time, I’ve sort of always assumed especially after looking at his family that it’s something he discovered decently young. Like he just acts like someone who’s always had alcohol to fall back on and started young idk. Alcohol is one of his 5 keywords. Alcoholism is very ingrained into his world view and life, his "it doesn’t matter" stance his ‘work hard play hard’ mentality his idea that the world is harsh so you get relief where you can, so it just makes sense to me that it’s always been in his life, if not actively then at least looming.

So yes, in summary, my take: Alcohol was always something he wholly enjoyed to an unwise level, but it could have been considered casual until he started working into dungeons and his need for it on a regular basis intensified. Alcohol has always had positive association to him as far as we see, so when it started being a problem he didn’t see it as such. To quote him, "I drink anytime I get the opportunity to". Why always? Approval of father’s alcoholism. Why alcoholism at all? Diet + stress & coping mechanism & emotional stunting + relationship issues, and she decided she had enough after they went out for drinks.

Conclusion

Chilchuck having drunk from a young age makes sense to me and it’s the strongest narrative angle I see on the table, but that’s objectively a me opinion, yes! There’s no evidence, moreso there’s canon basis and supporting info, but it’s all very left up to interpretation. I’ve made my own interpretations of things from the scraps we see, like everyone else making Chilwife and daughters content. Wether you have a stance on the topic or prefer to leave it vague in your takes, it’ll be a matter of what you think makes most sense, or what you’d rather believe I suppose (which is literally fine)

There’s a lot of subjectivity in even just setting up causal links like you probably noticed during this and I was careful with my word choices, because we’re just extrapolating from what we see and unless Kui states it explicitly from a reliable mouth all we can do is have informed opinions on most things. This particular interpretation is influenced by other details I’ve come to form about my interpretation of Chilchuck too, the more psychological and emotional sides of him and the timeline and how his marriage even happened, unplanned pregnancy imo. Like I hope you see what I mean, this wasn’t supposed to be a speculation post just a quick simple answer but there’s sort of just no other and concise but complete way with the subjectivity nuance to put "maybe it could be yes because of this but maybe it could be no because of this" haha

Edit: Wait the phrasing on this… Interesting. "In recent years"— This does imply that if not just his alcohol consumption increasing then the diversity and quality of it did, so either he indeed did start drinking more (not necessarily meaning he didn’t drink before) assumedly because of his wife leaving, or he started drinking other/more different kinds of alcohol maybe due to the union he formed + his experience gave him greater salary than he had previously (and no wife and family to provide money for), a mix of both perhaps.