#i really needed to make a long tangent

[mellohd]

Vampire Empire COF/AOM Update

ohhhh godd i can't sleep, I keep thinking about that Vampire Empire cof/aom anamatic im trying to make. I realized I lost a lot of motivation before because I was going 100% semi rendered drawings without a concrete plan for what I wanted to do and that my krita was actually killing itself at so many drawings on one canvas.

so ive started storyboarding, but attached to music and actual frames. so its really like I'm doing the whole thing, but in shitty doodles and I've made it a little further than my previous attempt. and I've moved the animation process to another animation program.

im around the part where its like "i see you there rejecting all your earthly prowess" ( I think I don't remember the exact lines) and I have the PERFECT literally PERFECT idea for how the rest of this is going to go and how it all can fit into ANOTHER fic I want to write centered around David. I can literally imagine perfectly what I'm going to draw for the rest of the scene and it snowballed to the rest of the anamatic and its taking soooo SO much restraint from just going over and finishing the storyboard cause like I want to wake up at a decent time for once.

BUT EVERYTIME I CLOSE MY EYES THE REST OF THE SONG PLAYS IN MY HEAD ALONG WITH WHAT I WANT THE REST OF THE ANAMATIC TO LOOK LIKE AND like I'm literally yelling into my pillow, these homos wont let me sleep 😭

im kinda rotating this fic centered around david based off of my last fic I made where it takes place on a day he isn't visiting simon/isolating(probably takes place before, or after depending on if I stick with the direction I'm going for this stupid animatic). I have a very distinct idea of the topics I want to tackle outside of my journal (loll), the feel, and a firm visual of like what his surroundings are I just have to kick my brain into action because for some reason when I want to do things I simply can not. Id share more but I haven't made the 7 paragraph word vomit of pure nonsense I write in a pure maniacal haze prior to writing the actual fic so I don't have a lot to share that just wouldn't be trauma dumping

anyways i lliterally love you if you actually read through all that, I almost just described in like full detail what I was gonna draw but then I was like spoilers so I ranted a little bit about David fic instead. friendly reminder my askbox is open to anything :3 (not anything anything, please don't send me pikachu nsfw again be reasonable 😭)

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

[ruporas]

hello there, angel

[ID: Digital illustration in color of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. Vash is sitting facing the viewer and holds a rose between his clasped together hands, but he’s looking to the left, upwards, at Wolfwood, with an awed expression. Wolfwood hovers over him with wings sprouting from his back. He has a cigarette lit between his lips, his arms and legs are crossed, and he looks back at Vash with a neutral expression. The both of them are covered in a blue shadow, casted by Wolfwood and his hovering form, while warm light hits the back of his wings and over Vash’s legs. Small feathers sits next to Vash. End ID]

[rragnaroks]

hello. it is i, your friendly neighbourhood goblin that pops up every now and then to scream about something new.

i love damien haas.

this has been a psa.

[cathymee]

maybe it's to maintain a sense of tension & turmoil that would eventually reach an explosive peak, a sense of tug-of-war, a back-and-forth to hammer home the ideals they want to deliver and for the viewers to chew on, but although these arguments regarding hiroshi & his stance as a man torn between his loyalty for his country & the loyalty for his Filipino friends and lover is of course important, how they write these scenes & the points they present from this week alone is getting too repetitive...? literally the argument scenes from last night & tonight between adelina & hiroshi is basically the same; the ideas were the same, the dynamics were the same: the aggressive, radical adelina, bristling rage and fear over the injustices she's seen thus far, and the cautious, inspiriting hiroshi, all hopefulness and reassurance one moment as a lover, defensiveness and sternness as a japanese soldier in another. this debate will be ever-present ofc, it is one of the series' biggest conflicts, but it is unfortunately so easy to tell when it is a.) being pulled up as a main topic to move the plot along / be a necessary conflict for character development/introspection / be the conflict to deliver the morals & messages the writers want to send to their viewers, or b.) when it is being pulled up only for the drama and filler to pass the time. like watching the characters sit down to argue for 10 minutes, do other things for the plot for 2 minutes, then sit down again to argue for the next 20 minutes. lol.

[savage-rhi]

*insert pink color here*

[lungfuls]

Maybe I'm projecting and being hopeful but I mentioned to M that I don't even get to shit by myself in peace lmao and I feel like something clicked for him. Bc I was like hey, at least you get private bathroom breaks at work (noncombative). And since then he's been a lot more acquiescent when I ask if I can nap and stuff

[immortalsins]

im so so tired jsjdhbj an engineering employers panel just scared me half to death with their startups and innovation and investment and passion commitment linkedin networking etc etc etc i hate it here

[gwensy]

sorry for reblogging fugly trends from 2012 it's for my enrichment

[lover-of-mine]

hi anna i’m glad to hear you’ve rested! 😊

i just had a ?? moment so thought i would share to see what you think

i know they’re saying that buck’s jealousy and ‘wanting attention’ has nothing to do with eddie, he wanted tommy’s attention not eddie’s… but him being insecure about chris doesn’t fit into that? he complains to maddie that chris thinks tommy is so cool and then tommy basically has to reassure him that buck could never be replaced in chris’ life… but then they say it’s got nothing to do with eddie?? buck was jealous of eddie bc he wanted to be in his position spending time with tommy… okay. so are we suggesting he was also jealous of chris for the same reason?? lmao no way, he was insecure about chris liking tommy more than he likes buck, and that does NOT fit with the ‘tommy was buck’s focus not eddie’ explanation

do you get what i mean? 😅

Hi, darling, thank you 🩷, and, like, I get what you mean, but I also do think that this is all gonna lead to Buck sitting down and being like "oh shit it wasn't about Tommy" in the future and then gasoline will be poured on our slow burn. Because it doesn't make sense if it's only about Tommy, I think Buck was experiencing a strong case of "I want to be in the middle" because you have Eddie, who's everything Eddie is, and you have Tommy, this guy Buck has a crush on he doesn't have the tools to process yet, so he was feeling ignored on all fronts, but since he was confronted with the "oh I'm attracted to Tommy" first, he just accepts that his behavior is about Tommy, even though we know it wasn't, because, yeah, he wouldn't get insecure about Chris if it was only about missing out on Tommy and the whole gym scene doesn't really add up to Tommy either, because Buck was behaving like that before he knew the person on the phone with Eddie is Tommy, and he was acting like that before the ball gets there and he can just say he wants Eddie to invite him so he can see Tommy again. Because, again, the whole thing starts at the hangar, with Buck being there with Tommy outside of Eddie, so Buck knows how to contact Tommy himself, so why wouldn't he just call Tommy? You don't need Eddie to be this involved on Buck finding out he's bi if they are not planning on going back and making Buck reevaluate what his feelings for Eddie might be. Narratively speaking, from a storytelling perspective and from a business perspective, to make Buck bi and not go there with buddie is dumb, but Buck is settled in his relationship with Eddie, so he would never find out he might be attracted to him or men in general alone. We all have been saying someone would need to slam Buck into the realization for years, but you can't really have that person be Eddie, because with the way Buck acts with romantic relationships, if you, for instance, make Eddie kiss him, you risk making it seem like Buck isn't really into Eddie, he's just so scared of losing him, that he would even go there to keep him, and that would put some huge cracks in their relationship, because Eddie himself could end up feeling this way while Buck tumbles through the discovery, and that would be bad. The whole thing is that Buck needs to accept that he's into men before he can actually process the idea that he might be into Eddie. I don't know if it's my demi Eddie believes, my belief that Eddie has been semi aware he's in love with Buck since s3, or just the general way Eddie has existed around Buck since he got introduced, but I kinda think that if they are going the route of Buck needed to understand he's into men and Eddie needs to understand he's into Buck, that does make sense.

Not that the groundwork for the both of them to be in love with each other is not there, but Buck had a thing going with men in general, that Eddie mostly only has with Buck, and I think that making Buck accept he's bi outside of Eddie, to work on that outside of buddie, and then have Buck go for it would make Buck's bisexuality a lot more complex, which honestly, I think it's the goal here, Buck can be great representation and to have that with a guy that looks like Buck makes my bisexual ass want to cry. But since I'm hoping for Eddie to be on the ace spectrum, to have his queer storyline attached to Buck would make sense, because he can have a nice "oh I have a family with the guy, this is why no one else feels right" and then if they decide to go there, which I didn't think they would, but hey, Buck actually kissed a guy so I'm shooting for the sky now, you can have Eddie figuring out he's demi be attached to his thing with the expectations that come with being a man and what that's supposed to look like and the whole thing he was always expected to be "The Man" and that he dodges the whole dating thing that hard because he's not interested in casual intimacy and it could be beautiful. I think they are trying to make the point that Buck's bisexuality is not about Eddie, which it isn't, but that we are still gonna get to the point of Buck being like "maybe I do want Eddie's attention more than I realized" and then something is gonna happen. And seriously, Ryan, the captain of the buddie ship since day 1, wouldn't be down right giddy talking about how much closer Buck and Eddie are gonna get if Buck was just going to get a new boyfriend and they wouldn't tie it back to buddie. They are playing the long game here.

[ghost-t-cryptids]

A fake book cover I made for my LoZ fanfic!

(My commissions are OPEN!)

[webcomic-character-tournament]

Genuine question. Why are comics from online only publishers discouraged? What is the goal behind discouraging paid webcomics?

sorry for taking so long to answer this!

i got really excited about answering this but also am not very good at communicating things clearly, i often get lost in the details in my passion about stuff like this, so i hope this is still interesting to read and intelligible lol!

i dont think there is any one thing that inherently defines what is and isn't a webcomic, it's an amorphous category that i enjoy the ambiguity of. but for me, what first led to my wonder for them as an 11 year old, and what has been a major factor in my passion for them even as an adult, was their low barrier to entry in both making them and accessing them. if you have internet access and time, almost anyone can make a webcomic if they want to! of course, without editors (or often even full story plans) or sensitivity readers or more people on a team to collaborate and contribute to the comic's vision, and the huge effort that it takes to do all the tasks of writing, inks, coloring, lettering, etc. all on ones own often without professional resources to facilitate that, that means that a lot of webcomics are really rough in some way or another. but a lot of people have interesting ideas they want to work with, but don't have the technical skill, desire or ability to market themselves or be beholden to external work deadlines, or connections in some way or another to be able to share those ideas through traditional publishing. regardless of skill or ability, a lot of marginalized people are barred from having their stories accepted by publishers due to bigotry and expectations about what kind of story is profitable.

as a disabled lgbt kid, i definitely read a lot of really bad webcomics i wish i hadn't, but also some of the media i was exposed to that most represented me back then was in the form of webcomics from people a lot like me. and i could read so much of it easily and for free without having to risk much to access it behind my parents' backs!

obviously that isn't the case for every webcomic, but for me and my history with them, them being easily accessible to both publish and read has been really important.

there are absolutely a lot of good points to be made about how publishing free to read webcomics isn't always the most accessible thing for a lot of people, especially for poor and disabled people. making webcomics takes a huge amount of time and effort, and sometimes even if people are passionate about making a comic, they just can't afford to find the time for that around all the other responsibilities of their day to day lives unless it can be a consistent income source. thats why even if paid online comics arent my platonic ideal of webcomics, i absolutely would never exclude them. i want small creators making stories i want to read to get the money they need to survive and keep telling stories without burning out!

it could be argued that online publishers who specifically focus on webcomics don't always present the same barriers to entry as traditional publishers, and many don't restrict the scope of marginalized creators' stories at all or to the same extent as people have struggled in other more mainstream avenues. and from my outside understanding of publishers like hiveworks, i'd absolutely agree with that! i love a lot of hiveworks comics and think its an awesome thing! (of course literally my icon is from a hiveworks comic, tiger tiger!) nonetheless however, part of my goals with this tournament is to highlight lesser known comics, and as publishers like hiveworks help advertise and promote their comics, even if i still want everyone to read all my favorite comics published by them, and certainly there are limits to those advertising resources, they still don't need as much help as other comics without that support. so its not as much 'try not to submit these' and more 'as you submit stuff like this, try to submit stuff with less advertising resources and popularity too!'

going into this tournament i also had a similar sentiment for stuff like webtoons originals. there was an added element to me in how i feel like i know a lot of people nowadays who read webtoons but don't have much awareness of other forms of webcomic, but even if in my love for webcomics i want people to come to appreciate all the breadth of ways they can exist in, thats obviously not something to make a huge priority. it's incredible the amount of forms comics can take (sidenote but reading scott mccloud's "understanding comics" a couple years ago was really formative for me in cementing how much i appreciate that, i'd highly recommend it!!!), and the way infinite scroll comics like webtoon style comics more fully make use of their digital medium, using time scrolling to pace things in place of traditional gutters and panelling, is really really cool. of course they're becoming more popular in a world where more people have smartphones, where webtoon style comics are a lot easier to read than many other forms. i love a lot of webtoons, and id feel regressive to discourage stuff like line webtoon original comics any more than stuff like hiveworks comics, just to go against current trends in what comics people seem to prefer. they have a similar low barrier to entry (through contests) as other online publishers, and it's cool to see creators get the opportunity to get paid for their work and get help from professional editors and stuff

but in the past couple weeks of running this tournament, i ended up reading a lot more about the behind the scenes of what its like to be a line webtoon original creator. line webtoon's expectations for their creators are incredibly unrealistic and exploitative, with grueling deadlines leading to a lot of creators to get repetitive strain injuries, all while working for well below industry standards. obviously a lot of webcomic creators make an inconsistent poverty level income out of it as independent creators, and that shouldn't happen either, but it's absolutely inexcusable for a company to profit off this labor and then manufacture these same conditions. without any organized labor movement surrounding that issue, that of course isn't an argument against reading or promoting these comics on its own, creators are more likely to get more income if their comics get more popular, and despite the promise of popularity by becoming an official comic, they absolutely still aren't all promoted equally. what has made me want to slightly more discourage (but still absolutely not disallow!) stuff like line webtoon official comics has been the combination of that along with learning that much of the editing of webtoons originals carries less of the benefits of having experienced creatives collaborating with creators to elevate their stories to new levels, and very often instead ends up taking the form of 'simplify this plotline and make this character look more attractive and fit this archetype more fully so we can market this better and have readers easily consume each update while they're scrolling their phone without having to think about it too much'. while obviously there are a lot of amazing webtoon official comics in spite of what i've heard anectdotally, hearing that just really went against so much of what i've most valued about my experience with webcomics!

i want creators to be able to tell stories no matter how weird and unmarketable, where they'll never have to worry about pushback for making stories with characters and themes that resonate for them as a member of any oppressed group, and where there's as little pressure as possible pushing them to work harder or faster than they healthily can or want to! so for me, even if i still love a lot of online published comics and want them to be celebrated and want their creators to be able to make a comfortable living out of them, i still just want to highlight stories that had that level of freedom that has created some of my favorite experiences with webcomics just a little bit more.

[fakemagicjaye]

I HAVE FIVE PAGES. LEFT. TO DRAW.

[sage-is-in-fact-very-tired]

having incoherent thoughts actually

(mostly a small collection of everything I can discern that gives us insight into sherb and raes relationship as children)

(also known as a long post about c!sherbert and Rae and siblings-)

(Also also known as mildly incoherent long post time that it just word vomit and stringing along thoughts-)

so like. Going through the notes in order, at the end of notes 1 there is the hint that Sherbert maybe isn't the best older sibling, with the '-lled me stupid because I got her name wrong'

do I Uh. Have to go through notes 2? Do I. Do i.. cause. Cause that was pretty fuckin shitty. There's nothing I can say that will excuse that Or what they said to him. I get stress and everything going on, but I'm not sure there is an expectation for that. Sherbert shouldn't have done that, and was obviously not being a good older bother in this moment.

first entry of notes number three that we can see (post notes 2, and presumably post sherb ripping it up) talks about sherb saying that they shouldn't go into Isla room anymore. With the addition of the fact the both of them won't have sleepovers in there anymore. Sherbert couldn't have cared that little about him, if they had sleepovers presumably fairly regularly in their mothers room.

Just. Sherb calling Rae weird. (Entry 9 that we can see) which. Might just be a sibling thing, but ┐(ﾟ～ﾟ)┌

Entry 11 that we can see, Sherb caught Rae sneaking out, Rae says they're going to tattle. That they always do. Gives the impression that sherb just wants rae in trouble for one reason or another. (However, my dad likes to tell us that tatting is okay if someone at risk at getting hurt. Sneaking out isn't exactly harmless. On the other hand, we don't know what the other events they've tattled about, so I cannot say if this was a concerned older sibling tattle or a needing and wanting a younger sibling to get in trouble tattle.)

Entry 12 of notes 3, and '-eld notes' both reference rae questioning something that someone (presumably sherbert, as said person is referred to with they/them) else presumably doesn't believe, saying that it was made up. Which. Maybe listen to your sibling when they say they've seen/heard/experienced someone?? I don't know, it doesn't seem like Sherbert believed mush that Rae said. (It is important to note entry 12 was labeled a day after entry 11.)

Also in '-eld notes' "we can't get it to stop" in reference to their eye implies they were both trying to get it to stop. What Rae said today on stream pushes doubt on the idea that Sherbert wanted that help.

(I. Going on a side tangent about the eye and the eye patch and sherb throwing it away and laughing at Rae trying to help and Rae being upset. Um. Okay. So um. As the older sibling you are. Expected to be the one younger siblings lean on when your parents are busy or when your parents cant or they're unavailable or or or. And with that, you're expected to really only need help from either, a, your parents, or b, another older sibling (who is older than you). now sherbert didn't have any of those. they're without fable. Without Isla. (Without anyone above you, these are just 'expectations' you set for yourself.) They are the older sibling, they're not supposed to need help from their younger sibling. Sometimes you don't want help from your younger sibling. The eye thing must've hurt and they must have been very stressed about it on top of everything else, and and and. The laugh could've been something bitter. It also could have not. Them throwing the eyepatch away could've been them hold themself to "expectations" they dont have to, not thinking theyvneed their younger siblings help. (not wanting it.) We don't know, we weren't there, but also just. I don't know if that moment was sherbert being a shity older sibling or sherbert being a worn out done with the world (still kinda shitty because they didn't explain why) older sibling. Dont know. Just. Side tanget.)

(Rae being upset about it is perfectly valid. He has his right. I'd be upset to if my older sibling was hurting and I tried to help and they wouldn't let me and they laughed at me because how dare I try to fix something and how dare i try to care about them. I'd very very upset.)

Side tangent over. Alone together. Alone together. This book haunts my dreams /vvpos. Do I take it at face value? Do I look further into it? I don't know. So. This is mostly just. Quotes I'm pointing out because how do I take them after that lore today? I don't know-

So, first, "masking their disappointment as they put on a forced smile for the boy beside them."

This too, "In spite of every disagreement and struggle, their bond was unlike any other." Implying that despite everything priorly mentioned, they were still close.

And. And this. ""Rae, I'm glad I have you""

Also all the memories fable showed sherb and Rae the two of them seem. Really close. Rae clinging to sherbert and sherbert talking very gently to Rae.

Also. Also that one message in spoilers about sherb and the corruption and how its probably very similar to how a younger sherbert acted and heyhays response. that too. Actually-

And. That's. All I'm looking for right now. I'm sure there's more and yall are very free to add on and correct me (please please do correct me if I made a mistake) I'm being very incoherent and just having older sibling vs. younger sibling thoughts right now, so I'm not sure if any of this makes sense-

[cowboy-robooty]

Love your HCs <3!!! And your art!!!!!!!! Le Question: is Romano 99.99999% straight like Veneziano? What's his sexuality journey like? If you don't mind sharing your thoughts. Is it as weird as Veneziano's pre school BF then pussy for a millennium. Thank youu

FIRST) THANK YOUU MANAJW i always feel surprised when i remember it isnt just me and my 3 friends on da world wide web that like my stuff <:') ARIGATO! FROM ME! *points at me* TO YOU! *points at you*

Anyways now SECOND) i think romano knows he likes girls and actually is nice to them and tries to rizz them its just hes cringe fail so i actually think hes a total virgin whos never dated anyone ever bc hes so aids. i think he doesnt really see guys as an option not because of sexuality but more because hes too busy trying to catch a girl he aint even got TIME to think about other fish types we go one type at a time. like when he goes i would never date anyone in the g8 its not because theyre boys its because "theyre stupid and annoying and ugly and should kill themselves and one of them is my fucking brother" romano is a boy kisser its just that never gets addressed because he hates all the men around him too much. i also think he kinda likes the idea of a girl more than actually dating a girl because 1) he doesnt take into account that girls actually can fart (60% why he thinks theyre so angelic and wunderbar) and 2) he desperately wants to be popular asf like italy so hes like ITALY BANGS CHICKS EVERYDAY SO OBVIOUSLY THERES GOTTA BE SOME SECRET SAUCE IN THERE. but i think he never in his life ends up dating a girl because they all reject his ass bc he fumbles so hard and then prussia activates his yandere gene and he gets loyal asf (but still demented and terrible. basically nothing changes other than him no longer hitting on girls) so woooooo I THINK THE LABLE HE USES IS "normal" (he is anything except normal)

*read tags if u wanna see why i changed my mind. actually romano uses da lable

**drumrolllllll**

BISEXUAL! **judge gavel slams down**

SENTENCE: 10 THOUSAND HOT POCKETS!

[holytrickster]

listen i dont like fëanor but i can't deny that getting so mad you literally burst into flames and crumble away into ash is kinda fucking relatable