#good squiggles

[sleepnoises]

I've started quilting my quilt and I thought it would be fun to approximately quilt in the shape of major roads (thanks yarrow for suggesting this in april) but now I want to quilt it more densely and feel locked into the road thing as 1) it is a sin to lie 2) as i am learning, Boston has an infinite number of roads

I will actually probably do leafs or vines or so on but wanted to share my road conundrum

Additional planning materials:

[suntails]

mwah 💋

[sebdoeswords]

HGSN images that evoke some visceral, raw emotion deep within me

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

a list of Feferi-themed creepypastas

Jeff t)(e KRILLer

SlenderMANTA RAY

ben drowned

T)(e LAKE

smile DogFISH

SQUIDDL-E'S suicide

Russian SWIM -Experiment

Eyeless jackFIS)(

[squiggle-and-company]

Help me settle a debate with my friend

[squiggl3]

behold!!! your name brother and new ally in art. his favorite artistic medium is cardboard deconstruction. his work is amazing considering he was born without any bones

A fellow cardboard connoisseur! I have much to learn from him.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

petrichors !

[shyshyaaaaaa]

GUYS LOOK ITS MY MAYOR ITS HIM!!!!

Kurtis town citizens. I have food for you. Eat up. (Please :3)

[lord-squiggletits]

What do you think is Tarn's favorite part of being ordered to do something? That he's worth something/seen as valuable or the idea of the reward at the end? Or something else entirely?

Probably closer to your first theory: my first instinct is that Tarn seems to derive a lot of his self-worth and purpose in life from an attachment to others/an ideology (see: his whole thing with Megatron), although I honestly doubt he was like that before Megatron fucked him up with brainwashing. Being ordered to do something = being needed, and being needed = having value and a reason for living.

It also seems to me that, even as Damus, Tarn has a bit of a rash/emotional/passionate streak: very much the type to fix an ideology/set of instructions upon himself, then charge forward with a sense of purpose. If we look at Damus getting irritated at Orion for "just sitting around and waiting for the Senate soldiers to show up," it seems this guy really wanted to ACT and DO, perhaps to the point of slight recklessness/thoughtlessness. As if he equated active "doing" with productivity and "having a plan" and taking initiative, but thought of waiting as a form of weakness/giving up/not being prepared. (Ties in rather neatly with his tendency for organization maybe... weird how he's simultaneously reckless with his individual actions but also needs a sense of Order And Hierarchy to feel fulfilled on a general life level.)

So I think Tarn also gets enjoyment from following orders bc eh... I'm genuinely not trying to make this a petplay thing 🤣but I'd say that maybe he gets a sense of comfort/security from being able to just charge forward and act, no need to worry about morality or questioning his own motives. Just outsource his thinking to someone else beloved, trusting, and all-wise (Megatron) so he can experience the pure bliss of fanaticism and utter self-righteousness/confidence in his own actions. He even admits to Deathsaurus that he let himself conflate Megatron with the Decepticon ideology when instead Decepticonism is based on a dream, an idea.

So on that note, it also seems to me that Tarn might like following orders specifically bc he feels a personal connection to Megatron? Megatron groomed him as a protege/his most dedicated and fanatical follower. Their conversation on Necroworld shows that Tarn quite obviously thinks the world of Megatron and wants to see him as that figure of legendary competence/willpower. I don't think Tarn just wants to have The Right Ideology so that he can Feel Good About Being A Good Person (TM); it seems like Tarn specifically wants* to have a personal connection, some sense of approval or specialness, a bond with some authority figure who not only assures that he can trust them, but that they also trust him utterly. I think it says a lot that Tarn was even able to fall in love (figuratively) with Megatron more than he was with Decepticon ideology itself. It points to the fact that what he's really missing is interpersonal connections. Er, as much as an incredibly toxic and manipulative parasocial relationship is an interpersonal connection, but I never said that it was a good connection.

*In light of recent panels of Damus I reviewed from a Tarn/Damus post I reblogged last night, Damus seemed to actually be quite comfortable challenging/questioning Orion to his face and wanting to know what their plan is and why. I think it says a lot that Damus' relationship with Orion was one between a leader and a soldier, yes, but it was also informal and non-hierarchical enough that Damus felt completely free to question Orion. When you contrast this with Tarn talking to Megatron ~4 million years later, he's suddenly switched to an attitude of absolutely worshipping Megatron and believing he has utterly absurd/impossible levels of ability, vision, confidence, willpower, etc. Seems to me like part of Megatron's brainwashing of Damus was specifically centered on wrapping his heart around his little finger for the purpose of cultivating that blind obedience. Given Megatron's thoughts at the end of his Spotlight issue (he refers to his soldiers basically as blind idiots who can be whipped into a furor with the right propaganda lines), this is a pretty common emotional manipulation tactic he used in general. It just seems like Megatron concentrated this manipulation by singling out Damus and making him feel special, that he saw himself in Damus, and that he truly cared about him and wanted him as a student. You know, an emotional connection.

Honestly, this is kinda dark tho, bc now I'm kind of sad and thinking that Tarn doesn't naturally have this level of codependence/slave-like devotion to a person and it was actually just something Megatron shaped him into as a leash of sorts... Damn, I can be horny about people sublimating their trauma/emotional issues through kink, but not in a guilt-free "haha he's a dog" way. 😔 JK I'll still call Tarn a dog (affectionate) bc it's just so true.

[skunkes]

was about to make a post like lol hey is it possible for your art to actively degrade even when you draw every single day for years but the fool forgets practice makes permanent not perfect 🫵

[sleepnoises]

i had a restful and restorative saturday where i slipped all social obligations and assembled a wonky future wall hanging. i want to have a hand quilting project (see second image for quilting ideas) and this is a nice portable 2'x3' size. i think it will end up being ugly but that's okay.

this was my first time piecing blocks with curves! i was very brave! also all the dark blue is slightly stretchy corduroy and it is nigh unironable and this sucker needs to be steamed

[suntails]

adrift

[fan-person-forevernever]

I made a thing

[snugglesquiggle]

Any tips on writing Juzi would be nice to see

(planning a fun scene in SKN)

good timing — i was actually just about to hit submit on a reblog where this was asked in the tags, but this works better as a standalone post.

took so long to respond because i underslept yesterday because i kinda feel that, while there's many areas of writing i'm good at giving advice on, characters are one area where it's all intuition for me right now. but here's a few thoughts

the number one insight that made relationships in general click for me is the understanding that it's all about emotional needs. the core of any relationship isn't whether they like each other, or whether they have chemistry, or whether they do anything else that couples conventionally do. it's answering the question "what do they get out of this relationship?"

could be validation, respect, a sense of security, even just having fun, but i find it clarifies things to be able to frame it as "this character needs something, and that character provides it"

there's a fair amount of room to flesh out J's character to whatever works for you story. in terms of what's established, it's not groundbreaking, but you can understand a lot of what she needs through the lens of middle management. she simultaneously wants to have someone above her and someone beneath her, smugly obedient or smugly superior, but always smug.

this isn't all of her character — her humansona drawing is very suggestive of a repressed drive for expression and individuality — but i think it's the easiest part to relate to Uzi.

because Uzi is a lot easier to get a read on. the text all but announces what motivates her: she wants respects. the edgy teen assertions, acting out in class — she badly wants recognition. (i think deep down, it's partly cope and she needs affection more, which N provides, but this isn't a post about nuzi). she also has a drive to for expressing individuality, but she's far less repressed about it (though of course, being loudly unconventional gets in the way of the whole recognition and respect thing).

and again, this isn't all of her character — her quest for answers about her mother suggests a drive for meaning, purpose even — but this post isn't exhaustive

the thing is, you can see the resonance, but these pieces don't fit together. i think it's easy enough to see the ideal form of the relationship. it's mutual respect, it's Uzi knowing J is proud of her accomplishments and who she is, and J knowing Uzi thinks she's doing a good job or that Uzi will listen to her orders.

but the thing that makes J/Uzi so interesting and spicy is how much it doesn't work. even along their most compatible axis, you can see a much more likely outcome is a rivalry, each wanting spite and outdo (or undo) the other. J would want to slot Uzi in as her underling, which Uzi reject conforming to. and given the things that J takes pride in — efficient, orderly adherence to rules — can you imagine Uzi complimenting that?

a very concise way to put it is an old joke of mine. J/Uzi is a mutual superposition of "i hate her, she's fucking insufferable, but i can fix her" and "she thinks she's so much better than me, but i can make her worse"

[damnianalghulnotwayne]

give damian more scary pets. not in a goliath or squiggles way but in a rat/beetle/giant spider/ possum way. they scare the SHIT outta his family and he has no clue y. he found them in a dumpster and they r now his bestie and he’ll never let them go (no matter how much his family WISHES he would-)

[squiggle-and-company]

My girlfriend, everyone.