#i started drawing one of the cats and got as far as putting down basic color splotches bc it was literally like

[sickmachete]

its actually infuriating how much i wanna draw rn when i literally cant

[ask-unpleasant]

hey chat sorry for the month of inactivity. i was unmotivated to do anything with this blog

but then i looked at some of the art on here and realized that i just lost my love for the character designs. so you know how we're gonna fix that? we're redesigning some characters bayybeeee 😈

starting with the man the myth the legend, here is UNPLEZZIE 2.0

he's probably the only one i had genuine problems with other than not being very aesthetically pleasing. he seemed too boring, his proportions were always a bit wonky, and the way he became more and more simple the more i drew him dumbed him down to just...awkward.

for this redesign, i kept all the features that made him my unpleasant. the only really signature thing i changed was his hair, sorry not sorry he had to fire his barber. i changed his scars to be far less opaque as to not clutter him up (which was the main reason i left them out most of the time), the only drawback is that i'm no longer just scribbling them in with a brush, they're actual geometry, so i cut back on the arms just for my own sake. also his tail now looks (and acts) like an actual docked tail.

next is the QSWX GVCTXMG AMXLSYX VIEPPC FIMRK GVCTXMG GLEVEGXIV SJ XLI CIEV, here is CREEPY 2.0

creepy was probably my least favorite character to draw. its head shape with the hair that always ends off screen, the 4 arms, the lack of any real way to move visible, it has always been a mess of a character. don't get me wrong, creepy is my second favorite character to write for (beaten only by neuro), i love its personality and its inflection, i just never got the chance to show that because i hated drawing it so much.

so for the redesign, i've basically reimagined it. its face hair now has an actual definitive ending, it has a more unique shape, and is just much more expunged-friendly in my opinion. it looks even more like its mom now...

next is this one, i thought she was american. here's PARANORMAL 2.0

i'm gonna be totally honest i have no idea what i was doing when designing para for the first time. that outfit was 100% subconsciously stolen from some other character i can't think of right now. it also really just didn't fit her character at all. also i dont know why i gave her boobs???? what????

anyways for the redesign she's basically a whole new design now. i wanted to play with some shape language. also, para always had a sort of inhuman quality to me, despite her personality, so i've given her inverted eyes and some animalistic features. i guess it adds irony or something, i dunno.

and finally, the moment GERIATRIC CAT you've all been waiting for, UNNERVING 2.0

in truth nervy's design is my favorite. the only gripe i had is the lack of legs, like with creepy. also i had to give her one of the same pride flag ass gradient as the rest so she'd fit in with the rest. other than all that i love her she is perfect just the way she is with minor adjustments

that's all the redesigns done!! i only did these 4 because stabby is not mine to redesign and NEURO is perfect just the way it is. feel free to give me any constructive criticism for these redesigns, i can always tweak em a bit. also the more stripy gradients wont a pattern that follows the contours of the body but rather just unmoving plaid always. i hope this lengthy yap sesh contributed something to something, maybe gave some insight into my characters.

and if you got this far i put a public discord server link in the intro post. you dont gotta ask anymore. dont tell anyone....shhh....*lovingly puts my finger on your lips* *smirks* *bolts away* *gets hit by truck* *instantly fatal*

[marymarvels-blog]

I just wanna be a part of your family |

Eddie Diaz/ Evan Buckley

or Chris wants a gecko. Eddie doesn’t.

Eddie Diaz adores his son. Every time when he is seeing sad grimace on Chris’s face, he is ready to go through literal fire to bring his son a smile. And he is a firefighter and. by his shy opinion, not so good at cracking jokes, so when he is saying that he means it literally.

He tries to think about how much he loves his son, as he carefully watches all the lizards lazily moving in their aquariums.

His dignity didn’t allow him to say that he is deeply enormously scared of every type of lizard that has ever existed. In their family there were already enough inside jokes about his persona. It was already humiliating enough that he was afraid of AI or other bunch of smart technologies and don’t even get him started on cooking.

***

It all started one week ago after they started to watch Disney series named Jessie. Normal family friendly sitcom, that got him chuckled far more times than he wants to acknowledge, so for a kid show it was really an impressive score.

Chris watched in awe when the lizard first appeared on the screen and Eddie, as thoughtful as he is, didn’t give it too much attention. He was more preoccupied with Buck’s hand gently drawing circles on his leg as he previously threw it over Buck’s laps and other securely put an arm on his knee.

Eddie waited for that moment to happen. He knew how excited Chris and Buck were about animals and he for years expected Chris to ask him about some variation of a pet in their household but that moment never happened. So he let his guard down. His dad-radar failed him.

Because he shouldn’t have to, because the Chris and Buck combo was strong enough for him to agree on any animal they would like to get. He expected them to ask for a jellyfish for a tiger (luckily he knows it isn’t possible and they care for wild animals, so big no no!) etc. But he never saw this coming. And he paid the price for it.

It was almost midnight, way too past Chris’s bedtime �� and honestly Eddie’s too — but they were too preoccupied with new season of their favourite telenovela and when Eddie and Buck fall asleep on the couch, Chris the little strategic boy he is, didn’t wake them up, innocently clipping on them with his bamby eyes “I didn’t want to wake you up you seemed like you needed that sleep” and okay, maybe he was right but he will not acknowledge it near his son because it would basically mean he gives him a free pass not to sleep at night if Eddie and Buck are asleep on the couch.

It happened exactly when they changed their position and now Eddie’s head was on Buck’s laps.

“Dad, can I get a lizard?” asked Chris casually cleaning the table. Which was not typical for him. No one in this family is the cleaning type of person.

Thank god Eddie didn’t eat something or worse drink, because he would definitely choke.

He stroke him in the most casual way possible — and much worse was that Eddie could feel that Buck is excited about it.

Eddie immediately shoots into a sitting position, taking a surprising huff from Buck, who put his arms on his shoulder, steading Eddie.

“Wow, be careful, baby”.

“I’m-I’m okay,” answered Eddie, clearing his throat and trying to cover the panic in his eyes and voice”, maybe we should consider other animals? What about cat? Hamster? Rabbit?

“No, I want a lizard”.

“ Are you sure? Like sure-sure?” please, no

“Yeah, dad, I’m sure. Please, please please, let it be my birthday present for the next 3 birthdays.”

And listen, Eddie has only two weaknesses. Chris and Buck. And he feels himself so weak by the look Chris is giving him.

Instead, Eddie looks at Buck silently begging for help.

“ We will consider it kiddo, alright? “ Buck soft calming voice as opposed to Eddie’s anxious.

Worst of all, Eddie knew that Buck was probably super enthusiastic about taking this creepy cold creature home, but he didn’t want to show it too much to already obviously scared Eddie.

Eddie saw the same expression on Buck’s face when they first saw Mrs. Kipling on TV.

**

Buck tried to approach this topic slightly and Eddie appreciates the slowness of it. He knew they need to talk about it because Chris rarely asks about anything at all and those last years were hard, to say at least, and maybe a new family member will cheer them up.

Other than that it, could teach Chris be responsible for another alive being.

You can see Eddie desperately tries to find pros in this situation.

***

While Eddie cooked (read tried to not cause a huge mess and optionally not to cause fire and to blow up their house) Buck casually leaned over the kitchen bar, scrolling through tiktok with fast looks at eddie. He knew when Buck was “randomly” offering to give him a company while he cooks it was always as a safe measurement.

He thinks Buck’s left eye is still twitching at a slight reminder what happened six months ago, when Eddie was left alone with the kitchen and him himself. To say at least he burned his arm all way from little finger to the shoulder. Don’t even ask how that happened. Thank god it wasn’t third degree burn but hurt nonetheless. And he thinks he will never forget scared, frightened look on Buck’s face when he saw his arm and then even more horrified, if it was possible, when he found that it’s not all the burn he got. And listen, Eddie isn’t some damsel in distress, who always needs someone to rescue him.

It just happened that he is very distracted when he is cooking. So he enjoyed Buck’s company while he was cooking and he is not complaining. Having his hot boyfriend near him and listening to him ramble about lizards — if he takes away part with lizards, geckos, whatever — it’s ideal evening.

“Hey baby, I’m going to distract you for one second. Please put your knife down,” cautiously asks Buck, coming closer to him.

Eddie puts the knife down but still works with dry ingredients humming in his own rhythm.

Buck smiles at the sight of that and gives him one soft kiss on the cheek.

“Look how funny they are imagine one like that here,” Eddie gives one look at the screen and he is happy that Buck asked him to put the knife down, because he would certainly accidentally chip one of his fingers. The video Buck was showing him wasn’t funny — it was heinous. 1,5 metres of green creature was running through the house.

Eddie feels nauseous.

“Omg Buck, put this away, I can’t look at it,” at this point Eddie begs him and Buck looks at him, concern shows on his face.

“You don’t feel good? Baby, what hurts?”

“No, no, not in that way. I’m alright. It’s just those lizards. Hate them,” whispers Eddie like some kind of a secret, looking around.

“No way,” Buck eyes widened and he is audibly gasping.

“Yeah, I would rather allow tarantul to live in my bedroom, rather than that.”

“Oh my fucking god.” Eddie thinks he broke Buck because the man looks at him like he sees him the first time, still processing the new information.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Buck comes closer and kisses Eddie’s temple, making his anxiety go away, “we definitely will not buy something like that. It could be something small, like geckos, you know. They are pretty cute.

Eddie audibly gulped, making Buck snorting.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Eddie groans. God, maybe it’s better to buy someone large, geckos are even scarier.

“I will think about it. but I guess that could be tolerable as long as this baby gecko will stay at Chris’s room.”

***

They made plans, so it was official. On Saturday they will go and visit a nice pet store nearby.

The sun was amazing, the weather was warm and the grip Eddie has on bucks biceps was nearly painfully tight. As tight as he can be to not cause pain to Buck. If Buck noticed the way Eddie clings to him like a lifeline, he says nothing.

But it was worth the excitement Chris had and how happy he was the last week when they announced that if Chris wants, they could get a gecko.

It took a little bit exposure therapy (aka every night Buck showed him 1-5 videos of geckos).

“Omg dad look! I found them!’” with a happy yelp Chris rushes as fast as he could over to yet a glass cage, filled with four geckos.

Eddie clung to the Buck even harder, not being able to move his legs. But Chris was waiting for them, so Buck had to physically but still gently nudge Eddie.

“Wow, sooo..eh.. cute”, if Eddie wasn’t so scared right know he might as well cringe at the tremble in his voice, that was so obvious.

Chris snorted rolling his eyes.

“You can’t possibly be scared of them. They are so cute!!”

“Oh buddy you don’t no what I am possibly capable of.” Eddie shook his head.

“Are they safe?” He frantically turns his head to a consultant that he only now notices was standing near them.

The little smile on her face as she shooks her head looking at those gecko as fondly as Chris was looking at them. If not more.

“They are safer than the hamsters”, woman laughs.

“Can I pet them?” asks Chris with his baby eyes directed at the employee.

“Of course, which one do you want first?” honest to god, she is so nice to them. Seeing how often he clears his throat, on purpose not looking at gecko.

Buck was also so patient with him glueing to his side (aka read as Eddie glued to Buck’s side) although he could bet if Eddie wasn’t so terrified Buck would be also with Chris petting all the geckos.

“Go take a look”, Eddie is already tugging his hand. Buck is so solid, so warm under his arm, he will miss that.

“Nah, I’m fi-“ Buck shakes his head, but abruptly stopped mid sentence.

“Don’t say you’re good I know you’re dying to pet all the animals out there”, Eddie says as he stirs, pointing an accusing finger at Buck.

“Maybe but being with my silly boyfriend and holding his hand is more important and better than petting the whole zoo. Even if there are penguins in it”, Eddie can hear the grin in Buck’s voice.

“What if you will pet gecko while I will stand near you?”

If five years ago someone would told Eddie that he would love someone so much that he would be asking about standing next to that person while they are petting the lizard, he would actually lose his consciousness.

“Are you ready for such a brave step?” it was meant as a joke but even such a stupid fear of his Buck took seriously.

“Yeah, besides, I think Chris needs our company and your expert opinion”.

“Really, are we doing this?”, dramatically asked Buck, turning his head from side to side trying to find the camera, “is this a prank?”

Even in this tension situation for him he can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah yeah yeah, let’s go”, he pushed Buck towards Chris, who is doesn’t even seem to notice that they are here existing in his small bubble with the geckos.

And Eddie was right. The light in Buck eyes almost visibly became even lighter when he took one of the geckos Chris gave him.

If he was shaking a little it was between him and God, in which he doesn’t believe anymore.

“Hi baby!!” softly whispered Buck, petting his head, “how are you doing?” Hearing how Buck cooed over the geckos made Eddie turn soft for seconds forgetting they are talking about geckos.

Strategically Eddie placed himself behind Buck, and at a slight distance but also that in any moment he could be able to touch Buck’s back or his arm if he needed. But also in a way so Chris and Buck would see him and see that he is, in fact, not scared.

Buck and Chris were rumbling and giggling, making the whole world brighter and more wonderful.

Eddie tried not to look at those geckos managing his breath, even the thought, the mental image of taking gecko in his arms makes him shiver.

And Buck, his kind, loving Buck, every thirty seconds is turning to Eddie to check on him, silently asking are you alright? do you need me?

Eddie might feel like his heart is bursting. He loves this man so much.

“…geckos eyes are 350 times more sensitive to light than human eyes and although” he hears Buck talking.

After another 10 minutes of looking, petting, cooing the geckos, Chris finally choose one he wants to take home.

It was..just a gecko. Like any other. Although Chris and Buck have sweared that he smiled at them and was special.

“Are there special notes for this type of gecko? Any information we should know before adopting her? “ asked Buck. Eddie knows that in that week of intense research Buck has read more than enough about how to take care of this creature but he still doubts himself.

“To keep geckos happy and healthy it’s very important to have specific habitat requirements like: right temperature, humidity levels, lighting, enclosure. I can give you a guide how to properly take care of them.” it was seemed like she was happy for them too because she is so excitedly telling about that. Wow, she really loves her job.

„And now I will show you what do you need to buy for her right now. For those type of gecko with his size and age it is a good choice to buy 76.2 × 30.5 x 30.5 cm (20G) but after she becomes adult, you will need to upgrade it. A proper size enclosure is important because allows for a good heat gradient, which is how they keep warm/cool and digest their food as they can't adjust their body temp on their own. Without proper heat they can get impacted or have trouble digesting. You will need a heat lamp. Heat lamps must be connected to a thermostat to make sure they don't get too hot/ cold. The temperatures in the enclosure should be 90-93F on the hot side, 70-75F on the cool side, and 95-100F on the basking spot. Make sure to use a digital thermometer with a probe to measure temps as they are the most accurate. uvb light would be a good to buy too and..”

Chris is practically vibrating with excitement, listening to everything woman has to say, making sure Buck notes everything on his phone.

Definitely not the right time but Eddie started to think about clipboard Buck.

“So, are you ready to take your gecko home?”

Maybe extending their family a little bit isn’t a bad idea. Eddie silently tells gecko that he is sorry for not liking him at a first sight, but he will try to do his best to love him because they are family now.

"Do you wanna pet Sandy, dad?" sweetly asks Chris.

"No, no, no! Im actually, actually watching the route for Buck. Right, Buck?”

He hears his son giggling.

"Right, bud." Buck tries to stop himself from laughing.

Okay, but not today. They will try tomorrow. He will give himself another day to be terrified.

[natarstyc]

So, to distract myself a bit, I'm going to make a really long post explaining the piece that took me two weeks to make, I put a lot of effort into it and I'm still not bored of it :D

As some of my drawings, they've been floating around in my head for a while before I decided to sit down and do it, so I had already imagined the general concept a while ago...

Now starting with the character that stars in the piece, my belbic Kai (Belbic is my open species, I don't have updated information but it's basically a rodent the size of a maine coon cat with a huge, colorful tail and ears XD) So Kai is a soldier, he was one of the best friends of the NV main character but he actually has a strong one-sided rivalry with him, he feels jealous of him, also he's irascible and impulsive.

So, taking this into account, the piece is about Kai and his character but it's also inspired by some MARETU songs, especially Mind Brand; The title "Jello Yellow" is a kind of wordplay, Jello for jealous, and Yellow for the predominant color in the work.

It's also my thing to draw characters covered in flowers, particularly tough male characters?? and lately to include certain types of flowers based on their symbolism: In the case of yellow roses they represent jealousy, among other things, and marigolds represent jealousy and in some cultures death.

But also the small ambiguous flowers in the background, I arranged them in a way that they resembled the constellation of Scorpio, which can be associated with Kai by personality according to astrology and the zodiac, coincidentally Kai's tail looks like that of a scorpion itself.

The main color is yellow because it matches Kai's color and the flowers, and because being a warm color it represents more energy (I mean, more than any cold tone)

For the pose there's not much more than me trying to make it feel dynamic but a bit original, and for the style I thought it combined better with my idea but at the same time it's the reason why it took me so long to finish it, Bf says it looks like a manga cover so, successful task I think :3

And, to finish, the process from the first sketch to the final work, yay! (/O wO)/

Transparent background ver and full bg ver for practicality reasons but I like both and can use them for different things (web and print)

-Also, the PSD file for this piece and some others can be found on my Patreon starting at $3 a month✨

If you got this far, then thank you sooo much for reading this huge text, have a cookie and have a good night <3

[lattedusks-mochadawns]

Ever felt like you have banger AU ideas or crossovers for fandoms but the moment you try to draw, write or explain it, it starts fizzing down?

Either due to fearing only makes sense to you, it’s hard to explain/express or you just don’t have the time? So then you just stop and it becomes like an afterthought.

It happens to me way too much, and I don’t have to time now to work on it. So here is a list of every idea I’ve ever had for a fandom that hasn’t been put into place. I really hope to work on these eventually. Spoiler, ideas are very out there.

Warning: the ideas with Red mean there are TW.

Wild Sekai - Wild Kratts x Project Sekai crossover where the bros suddenly get transported to that one grassy sekai with the Sekai Tree. This is due to a malfunction from the time trampoline (an excuse I use too much to transport the bros to a new dimension) and they meet Hatsune Miku. It was supposed to be a fanfic series where the bros would travel into the units’ sekais briefly, meet the Sekailoids but never actually meet the units themselves. It would start from Leo/need to Nightcord - The one I actually tried to write shit and got some of it down. However, they haven’t even met Miku yet in the story so far. I just really wanted to think of what the bros reactions would be in the different sekai, especially at WxS and 25ji.

WK “Normal”/Work AU - (TW: dark themes, coma, simulation, derealisation + depersonalisation, psychological stress). This is the newest one I literally thought of 2 days ago. I actually did make small doodles of this. It’s in a universe where the bros have like normal 9-5 jobs (that somehow switch different weeks). The only thing is that they’re constantly activated in their Creature Powersuits, which changes automatically to a different creature power every new day. The bros have no choice in what their activated as and are unable to deactivate. However, they see it as “normal” and believe it’s just a part of their very “normal” life. The bros also have a personality change. However in reality, they are living in a simulation. What’s actually happening is that their conscious is trapped in a simulation in order to keep them alive due to them being in a coma-like state from a very bad creature powersuit malfunction. And Aviva, Koki and Jimmy are monitoring them in real time as they work tirelessly to try and avert it. The malfunction is either due to Zach tampering with it during the later testing phases and fucking up big time or during the early phase when the safety protocol programming fails big time. Either way, Aviva is especially blaming herself big time and working herself to death to save them. Let me know if you wanna know more about this. ^^

WK VBS, WK WxS and WK L/N - you can see the recurring theme of my ideas mainly being crossovers. I can’t help it personally. Literally just the Tortuga crew in place of PJSK units. For VBS: Aviva as Kohane, Koki as An, Chris as Akito and Martin as Toya. For WxS: Martin as Tsukasa, Aviva as Emu, Koki as Nene and Chris as Rui. For L/N, Koki as Ichika, Martin as Saki, Aviva as Honami and Chris as Shiho (l/n is the one I’m most undecided on). And Jimmy is all the Sekailoids. Yes. All of them. And there are no current ones for MMJ or 25ji because I really have no idea who would fit best.

Lacka-Kratts - (TW: Gun violence and alcohol) literally just Lackadaisy x WK crossover. Basically, Martin and Chris somehow get swapped places with Rocky and Freckle. Aviva and the tortuga crew are shocked and trying to stay sane with Rocky’s antics. Meanwhile, the bros in 1927 - also in cat form - are with Ivy during what was supposed to be a bootlegging run and are trying not to get shot by the marigolds. (Basically, the pilot plot but replace Rocky and Freckle with the very confused bros who are too nervous to aim a gun at the enemies.)

WK Gas Station/Urban/idk they have clothes- Yeah I really don’t have a better name, it’s the story that counts. Oopsie, another creature powersuit malfunction. Except this one is a 100x less horrible as the bros are just stuck in the suits. No really bad shit. However, there is still bad shit as the tortuga is being hunted down by the CIA. Or whatever government organisation there is, idk my governments. Anyways, they are being hunted down for all the wrong reasons and have been wrongfully accused by the villain. The bros are in a forest near a gas station, somehow have no communication, and basically are trying to survive and get help from people to find the Tortuga (as the Tortuga crew are on the run). However, these people don’t recognise the Wild Kratts or Creature Powersuits, and are scared as the bros can’t describe. Chris is in a coyote powersuit, Martin is in the raccoon suit. Also, they find clothes and wear it. This AU literally sparked because I wanted them to have fashion while activated in the power suits.

Poke-Kratts - (yes, I don’t have better names atm) POKÉMON X WK!!! TORTUGA CREW (+villains later on) GET SENT TO THE POKÉMON WORLD. THEY GET POKEMON. YAY!!!

Pokémon but there are no trainers and Pokémon work jobs - (don’t have a title for this) Also, first idea with no WK. It is what the title is. Pokémon, act like people. This is way more personal to me as it focuses on my mons from my Pokémon Sword play through. Mainly my Lucario named Rei and my Cinderace named Dasher (but in this AU, he is Damien). Rei is like an IT guy, Damien is a professional soccer player. And they are gays roommates.

Pokémon Sword - literally just my Sword team and normal Pokémon universe, except I give my mons ✨personality ✨. Also Dasher is named Dasher here.

Lackadaisy x Showtime - I actually did draw this one a while back. Remember when Rui made a MOTHERFUCKING TIME MACHINE in the Petit Sekai episode? Well, he made an oopsie and the machine accidentally sent WxS back in time to 1927s St Louis. And they are cats for some reason

And that’s that akshanjsnjshs. I really needed to get my thoughts out.

I need to work on National Science Week stuff now.

[aemfocus]

At the start of covid, I decided I really did not want to return to my day job and I wanted to make a solid go at opening a sticker shop! Specifically one that would make gaming stickers.

Pictures and some info under the cut.

I was a janitor for the FAA and I asked for much better PPE, the sort you ask for in a pandemic, this was at the start of it all and my manager just... refused to order so I quit. (my spouse made in bonus what I was making in a year lmao, so I was fine)

I've always wanted to make a go of being self employed and I LOVE planners and stickers, and for years I've been watching my fav small shops with interest so... I figured lets do this!

I spent time figuring out taxes and all that; then I found a decent cheap first printer; after I got to drawing up 10 sticker sheets with a bunch of state stickers I was working on as well.

This one was the first, and I'm not a huge fan, the lines weren't clean etc. but I spent a bunch of time testing paper, ordering from 'the competition' as it were and eventually landed on something easy to work with and affordable. I tried to figure out 'branding' and landed on something I kinda liked. Even came up with a name for the shop.

Starberry Oats.

This was another earlier one, and I'm -really- not a fan, and I wasn't at the time but I figured it would fill a little void.

Finally things I really like! And am proud of!

Fallout and Skyrim stickers! They are, of course, my most popular, as I do give them out to friends and people in various discords.

My second most popular sets! The retro goodies, I loved making these, and they were such a pain to get to print well.

Some basics, I enjoyed making these but they needed to be themed better, as it is I have trouble working them into my planner!

I LOVE THIS ONE. One of my personal favs, because it's one of my fav things to draw.

Another popular set.

And that's what I planned to open with!

Except I never did. My MIL kept moving in and out, my SIL kept having issues, life just became a lot, and I kept pushing it aside because I didn't want to open a shop and not give it a full 40hrs a week.

Then 2023 happened, and it got ugly AF. But at the end of the year my spouse and I sat and had a conversation about if I would return to work in 2024. I know the tumblr knee jerk reaction is to always have a job and always be self sufficient, because ya never know. But if my spouse hadn't been our only source of income I wouldn't have been able to take care of my mother, or in 2023 his mother. After 21 years I kinda know. Anyways my cats are getting older, I would have to put one down if I was working. An otherwise happy healthy kitty, just because it needs some extra care. Fuck that shit.

At the end of the day we opted for me to not return to work and I assessed if I wanted to make the sticker shop a real thing. And I decided after watching several ugly charge back orders on very small sticker shops, that no. I don't want to. But I do want to give stickers to people. I still want to make them. But for me. And friends.

SO this year I started back up.

Cuttlefish and octo friends. I love drawing them, so relaxing!

Also some fic stickers.

I plan to make more sticker sheets this year, planning a BG3 set, a Mass Effect set and maybe Dragon age. My hands might be shaky as shit to the point of being unable to draw many days but damn if I don't enjoy it. <3

anyways if you made it this far TY! <3

[fiepige]

Hobie Brown variant OC:

I finally decided to make Symbiote!Hobie (nicknamed SH by Hobie, which over time turned into Sage) his own thing, cause I've made so many changes to him that I've decided he's just gonna be another version of Hobie from another dimension.

I basically came up with him when thinking about what it would take for Hobie to truly bond with a symbiote and this is what I came up with.

While he's technically Hobie too I'm gonna refer to him as Sage in this post to avoid confusion <3

Gonna start with his appearance and then move on to his origins and how he got involved with the Spider-Society:

Disclaimer: I cannot draw so I haven't even attempted at drawing his face cause I know I'd never be able to draw him in a way I'd like- So I did the next best thing:

(He has a normal face I just tried to find a way for me to draw him without drawing his face lol)

Pictured above is Sage and his symbiote K.A.T (and their symbiote form- yeah it's the same as Venom!Hobie cause I like the design lol)

He looks like Hobie but younger- he's around 11 when he's bitten by the spider and fused with K.A.T - he's around 12 when he gets introduced to the Spider-Society

He's got short hair as it was completely shaved off when he got caught by Oscorp - more about this under his origins - he wants to let it grow out after meeting Hobie and being inspired by his approach to his looks (he really looks up to Hobie but don't tell anyone I said that!)

His left iris is white as a result of the symbiote DNA being fused to him. He can make it match his right eye if he concentrates but only really bothers to do so if he feels it draws too much attention

After meeting Hobie he helps Sage get a few piercings of his own

He usually wears a hoodie and/or a mask to hide his face - he's super paranoid and does his best to hide himself from others

Never goes anywhere without his noice cancelling earmuffs - he's got enhanced senses due to his spider powers but they can be a bit of a nuisance since he's also sensitive to loud noises due to his symbiote...

He also usually wears sunglasses to shield himself from sensory overload as he was subjected to it a lot as part of the experiments he was put through at Oscorp - and thus getting his senses overstimulated can result in panic attacks, so he does what he can to avoid it + it hides his eyes as well

K.A.T (Killing Authority-opposing Targets) is Sage's symbiote

It usually stays hidden unless they're alone or around people they trust/already knows about its presence.

If it does show itself it'll usually stay on Sage's shoulder or sit in his lap, it's still tethered to him so it can't go that far without him - not that it really wants to anyways

The reason K.A.T takes this form is that Sage is a cat person and it used it as a method to make him like it more when they first "met" + petting it helped Sage calm down and still does

K.A.T is still made of the same goo as regular symbiotes so it does not feel like petting a cat at all- Sage doesn't mind but most other people get suprised when they first touch it

If it likes someone it'll rub itself against their legs and mimic purring noises - if it dislikes someone it'll hiss and arch its back at them

K.A.T is a more animalistic symbiote and mainly communicates with Sage by letting him feel its emotions instead of speaking to him

To avoid making the post even longer than it's already gonna be I'll link to this post where I go into more detail about the design of thier Symbiote form instead of describing it here too ^^'.

This was originally supposed to be a short summary but I've realised I'm incapable of making short posts when it comes to stuff like this:

Origin:

Sage is a younger version of Hobie Brown. (11 years old when bitten by the spider and fused with his symbiote)

Sage and K.A.T "met" at one of Oscorp's labs

He was living as a homeless kid (having escaped an abusive household a few months prior)

He was bitten by a radioactive spider while looking for a place to spend the night.

He got very sick from the bite and was easily captured by Oscorp goons looking for new test subjects in the streets

Despite his young age Sage is a more ruthless Hobie variant, in part due to his upbringing and due to his symbiote (and the trauma they both go through at the hands of Oscorp)

K.A.T was a new kind of experimental symbiote that was set to be terminated due to it killing all its previous hosts - Sage was their last attempt at fusing it with someone

They decide to fuse it with Sage as he was deemed indisposable due to him seeming more dead than alive - suffering from the venom of spider bite at the time - and thus it wouldn't be a problem if the symbiote killed him too

Since the spider bite was still changing his DNA as he got fused with K.A.T some of its DNA got fused with him as well as a "side effect" during the process

Due to this it's incredibly hard (if not impossible) to seperate the symbiote from Sage without severely hurting them both

His body develops organic web shooters when it fuses with K.A.T - the webs are black and can be shot from either of his 4 arms when in his symbiote form (they can also be shot regularly while in his human form)

Sage develops enhanced senses and a taste for human flesh after being fused with K.A.T - he also has enhanced senses from the spider bite - making it easy to overstimulate his senses and overwhelm him before he learns to get it more under control

Since Sage's gotten powers from both the spider bite and the symbiote they quickly become the subjects for many inhumane and painful experiments as the scientists futilely try to figure out how to replicate the symbiote (as they're unaware of the spider bite, thinking the symbiote alone is behind Sage's new powers)

The main scientist behind the experiments is this dimension's version of Peter Parker!

Sage eventually manages to escape the lab during one of their many tests- killing as many guards and scientists on his way out as possible - and eating some of them as well

As a result of their treatment at the lab + his past with his abusive foster family, both Sage and K.A.T have developed a deep distrust to other people - at this point they both consider the other their only friend

Sage goes back to living as a homeless kid, avoiding people as best as he can, but he's also got an insatiable taste for human flesh as well!

He will usually target anyone associated with Oscorp when he's hungry (if none are available cops are the next best thing- his dimension is just as corrupt as -138 Hobie's dimension)

He doesn't feel bad about killing but will still try not to harm civilians (emphasis on try- sometimes the hunger gets the best of him)

Due to his senses being extra sensitive + his paranoia from his experiences at the lab and his foster homes, he tries to avoid crowded and noisy places - This all leads to him being more active at night while he usually tries to lay low and hide during the day.

He lived like this for months until a certain event changed that:

First encounter with the Spider-Society

Sage's dimension is blacklisted meaning people from the Spider-Society aren't allowed to go there (cause a spider-person who's embracing their symbiote instead of resisting it is deemed unsafe by Miguel and thus best to be avoided)

Sage does still get introduced to the spider-society albeit through a rather unconventional way:

- One day a portal opens up and pulls Sage through it, sending him to another dimension as an anomaly

Having no idea about what's going on, and being scared and confused about the whole situation, he does his best to lay low and avoid other people.

Because of this he spends a lot of time in the other dimension before the society discovers signs of an anormaly - glitched objects like seen when Kingpen uses the collider in itsv, or the museum that the Vulture appears in in atsv

Sage eventually has his first run in with other spider people when his hunger gets the best of him and he becomes more careless as he turns into his symbiote form to go look for prey

Here he encounters Gwen and Peter B as they're looking for the anomaly causing things to glitch out in the dimension

Not knowing he's a spider person and an actual child, Peter and Gwen attack him as they always do with anomalies - it also doesn't help that Sage doesn't exactly look friendly when in his symbiote form.

He fights back cause these masked people attacked him for no reason so they must be bad guys and of course he's gonna defend himself - it also doesn't help that he's starving and thus not thinking clearly at this point.

Unfortunately for him, these guys have high frequency equipment to deal with symbiotes and thus they manage to subdue him, but not before he manages to fight back, revealing his organic webbing which tips Gwen and Peter off to him having spider powers as well

He's subdued and forced into an electric cage (which brings back a lot of unpleasant memories from his time at Oscorp) and sent to the Spider-Society afterwards

When he arrives at the Society he quickly gets overstimulated and has a panic attack and lashes out in a desperate attempt at escaping his electric cage - also seeing the face of the scientist who tortured him for months everywhere certainly didn't help

Gwen then uses a high-frequency device made to combat symbiotes to force him to revert back to his human form

She immediately recognises him as a young version of -138 Hobie

Her and Peter both panic cause 1. They realise they basically beat up a kid and locked him up. 2. That kid has a symbiote! 3. That kid is a younger version of another spider-person they both know (and who they both know has a very long and strained history with symbiotes!)

Miguel gets involved and a discussion begins about whether they should try and seperate Hobie (Sage) and his symbiote

- The other spiders mean well by this but Sage and K.A.T both panic at the thought of being separated - at this point they really view the other as their only friend as it's been them against the world ever since they fused

Sage, still panicking, tries to protest but they won't listen as they view him as a kid who doesn't know what's best for him

Sage is taken to the room with all the villains while they discuss what to do with him

Here Margo sees Sage and K.A.T comforting each other, K.A.T manifesting physically in Sage's lap, being hugged tightly by Sage as he promises it he'll never let anyone separate them

Seeing this, Margo takes pity on them and 'accidentally' sends them home before the other spiders get a chance to try and remove K.A.T from Sage.

Relationships with other spider-people

Some time later Sage has an encounter with Hobie who found out about the whole mess - despite Miguel ordering Gwen and Peter not to tell him

While Hobie isn't exactly a fan of symbiotes he first and foremost sees Sage as a traumatised homeless kid in need of safety and stability

Hobie offers Sage to stay at his boat whenever he wants (as long as he promises not to eat anyone while he's there), he also gives him one of his bootleg watches so he can come and go as he pleases (and explains that he can also use it to get home to his own dimension if he's ever unwillingly sent to another dimension again)

Sage declines at first but over time he slowly opens up to Hobie and begins to trust him

(He also secretly looks up to Hobie once he trusts him, cause who doesn't? He's an older version of himself who's got a place to call his home, one that he opens up to strangers in need such as himself, he uses his powers for good and not just to survive. He's not afraid to be who he is and draw attention to himself - something Sage has been too afraid to do ever since his time at Oscorp. He's got friends and people he trusts. - all things that Sage wants too but doesn't believe he'll ever have) Also he'll never admit that he looks up to Hobie but he can tell anyways

Hobie's the one that gives Sage his nickname, it started as SH but over time it turned into Sage instead, though he doen't mind being called Hobie as well, it's just easier to go by Sage when both he and Hobie are present.

He still doesn't trust people, especially not the Spider-Society after their first meeting, which made it very awkward when Gwen showed up to visit Hobie while Sage was there - luckily Hobie managed to interfere before they beat each other up too much...

(He trusts Margo a bit as well since she 'saved' him from the Spider-Society - also it's nice to be around someone who doesn't smell like food since she's an avatar and not made of flesh and blood)

He currently lives at Hobie's boat, switching between it and his own dimension as he pleases

Hobie did his best to hide it but he was rather freaked out by K.A.T's presence in the beginning, he did his best to supress it cause he genuinely wants to help Sage

Hobie mentors him in how to use his Spider Powers and tries to give him a moral compass to at least prevent him from eating civilians when he gets too hungry - He usually targets cops or people working for Oscorp but the hungrier he gets the less picky he is

Another reason Hobie took him in is because he knows ostracising someone won't make them a better person and while Hobie doesn't believe in deciding what's best for others he still knows life will be a bit easier for Sage if he doesn't just kill whoever he wants whenever he wants - impulse control is important when you have a cannibalistic symbiote in your body.

- Hobie still dislikes symbiotes but he respects Sage's choice to keep his and does his best to help him control some of the more violent urges that come with a symbiote.

Hobie introduces Sage to his punk ideologies and slowly introduces him to the punk community

Hobie also introduces him to some of his friends but it's a slow process due to Sage having a hard time trusting people - especially spider-people after his Spider-Society encounter

Some of the spider-people also have a hard time opening up to him because of his symbiote

But Hobie's good at making a safe space for Sage to feel like he can slowly start to open up to others

For the first time in years Sage feels like he has someone (besides K.A.T) he can trust and over time he starts to view Hobie as his older brother

And that's that folks! (at least for now)

To the one person who actually bothered to read all of this - know that I'm infinitely grateful that you took your time to read about my boy <3

- I initially tried to keep this short but I gave up cause Sage has been living rent free in my head for weeks and it feels so nice to finally flesh him out and write about him!

You know I couldn't resist making my first oc angsty - but at least he ends up doing better than where he started.

Hopefully you guys like him too! If you have any questions please let me know, I could talk about him forever <3

[supersoftly]

As a female One Piece fan, how do you feel about how increasingly sexualized the female characters have become? The biggest example is probably Nami, who started out with a tomboyish design and fairly practical outfits but is now a scantily-clad fanservice character with massive breasts.

Depends. If you're talking about the anime, they deliberately take creative freedoms to accentuate fanservice, and sure, it's a little annoying for them to be changing the blocking of the source just to put Robin's boobs up front, but in terms of manga, it's kinda almost always been like that? You can go back as far as the East Blue arcs and characters like Vivi, post-devil fruit Alvida and Nojiko already wearing what could be considered suggestive clothing and/or rocking the One Piece female standard body type. Jump into the Arabasta arc and you've got Miss Doublefinger basically in fetish gear. I think Oda has always made a conscious decision that despite having sexy characters as a constant in his story, he rarely draws or depicts them as sexualized, but even then it's almost always accompanied by a visual gag or bit. The only scenes I can recall on hand that explicitly had more (arguably darker) sexual tones was when Absalom spied on Nami in the shower, and him grabbing and licking Robin, but like all despicable One Piece characters similar to that of Spandam, they usually get a ridiculous level of comeuppance (in this case, being murdered by the Blackbeard Pirates).

Now I've had this discussion about Nami specifically before and I haven't changed my position even after all these years. As an audience, we're introduced to Nami as Arlong's crew Nami; an underling forced to work under the very despot who killed her adopted mother at the threat of murdering everyone and everything she's ever loved and cared about. That's the Nami we know right up until her facade breaks down and genuinely asks for Luffy to help her. That Nami, despite greed being an intrinsic part of her character, almost never acts selfishly or in her own interests beyond stealing money to buy her village back for all of her childhood into her developing years as a woman. None of that time is spent thinking about herself, she's fueled by vengeance and fear, there's no time allowed to be thinking about trivial girly things that most 10-17 year olds should be allowed to think about. So when Nami is finally freed, she stops hiding herself, she finally indulges in herself and becomes her final form, this beautiful, smart, greedy girlboss that can canonically harm Luffy if she's angry enough because it's funny! Everyone agrees Nami is beautiful in-world, but out of necessity as a cat-burglar, she dressed for her occupation. Freed of that obligation, every colour page and title cover, openings in the anime and even in the movies, Nami's downtime is depicted as having a good time with her crew; shopping clothing and accessories with Robin, putting her hair up in different fun hairstyles, wearing clothes that makes her happy because she's confident and unafraid anymore. To me, that's what Nami always was, despite how one might judge how she dresses or how she looks now.

I will agree though I do miss her original asymmetrical pixiebob, and I also wish Oda had went with her original design with the cyborg arm :p

[erroramended-blog]

Sketch dump extravaganza!

So, the end is near. The end of the owl house that is. I’m excited, and nervous, and happy and sad, and all sorts of other feelings all at once. This show really meant a lot to me, and this is the first time I’ve ever been THIS involved in making stuff for a fandom. It really helped me grow in both my art and my writing, so as a sort of sent off, I put together this! It’s a look back on my Owl house journey in the form of sketches I never posted, process pics, and unfinished works, along with some creator commentary!

Starting it off with a ton of Hunter! Hes been my most drawn victim subject, and one of my top faves. Above is a number of sketches I never finished and a few alternate goof arounds. Sometimes when I feel stuck trying to capture an expression I draw the most basic version of what I wanna get across, both for my amusement and to get out of the funk. More to see below the cut.

This next one was started during the hiatus after Yesterdays Lie and never finished. It proved a bit too challenging at the time.

That background was waaay above my skill level at the time, so this is as far as I got. You’ll notice, Willow is the only fully drawn character. I just really liked how she was coming out.

I already wanted Hunter to be part of the friend gang before he’d even met Willow and Gus, and I wanted them all to have a fun human realm adventure hiking and having a picnic. Here are some sketch highlights.

Hunter found a good walking stick, and then Flapjack found one too. Ghost in a cat backpack, Gus with a dandelion.

Next up is an early imagining of what Belos’s final form might look like.

With a scared Hunter for scale. It was also related to my long running fanfic (good days bad days and all the days in between)  written during that same hiatus along with a few other arts.

Hunter was not the only character I liked to make suffer. Here are a few Raine sketches related to that fic (on the right) and a few unfinished pieces from after we met Terra (On the left)

Next up, in a continuation of the Raine suffering. (And my terrible goofy looking thumbnail sketch on the upper left.)

Sketches from my happy then sad Raine and Eda fanart, featuring dead (or mostly dead) Raine. Fun fact, both the content, and style used here were inspired by the short animated film Fuelled, in which a cat wife seeks revenge for the murder of her cat husband. (Ok, it was actually inspired by a Fuelled fan AMV set to Mitski’s Because Dreaming Costs Money, My Dear, but still, beautiful film, go check it out.) For a change of pace, here’s something cute.

Big happy family with young bats, and baby Hunter. This was going to be for an unfinished fic I started in which the bats are already Raine’s adopted kids, and, unable to let baby Hunter suffer, Raine kidnaps him, and goes to Eda for help. Happy family shenanigans ensue.  Here’s a chunk of that fic. (and we’re back to suffering for both Raine and Hunter, so be warned) -- “Eda, I-I am so sorry to show up like this, but—” Raine swallowed hard, and looked over their shoulder into the distance. Fear in their eyes, like something was going to pop out of the woods and get them. “I did something...and I am in so much trouble and...and I didn’t know who else to turn to.” The kids behind them looked up at her with a mix of fear and hope. One of the younger ones clung to Raine’s pant leg, looking especially weary. “You owe me an explanation.” She said, stepping aside. “But it can wait. Get in here.” “Thank you,” They said, sounding beyond relieved, and absolutely exhausted. The kids followed them inside, and Eda paused in the doorway, looked out into the night, unsure what she was expecting to see. Nothing was out there. “Hey, Hooty.” Eda said quietly. The house demon sleepily gave a hoot of acknowledgment “Keep an eye out. Let me know if you see anything.”  With that she shut the door, and turned to face the...complicated situation she was suddenly faced with. Raine had set the youngest child down on her couch. There was a wad of bloody gauze secured to the kids ear. “Do you have any healing supplies?” Raine asked, firmly focused on the injured ear. “Anything for pain?”  

“Yeah.. uh, I’ll grab um.” she said, moving to fetch the kit. The whole situation was bizarre and confusing, but getting everyone taken care of had to be the first priority.

One of the kids followed her. 

“Do you have any food?” The little pony-tailed kid asked. Truth be told, no, she didn’t. Not much anyway. She really needed to keep more around, especially now that she had— oh, she should mention that. It’s a good thing he was a pretty heavy sleeper.

“Kitchens that way” She said, pointing “Don’t burn the place down. Help yourself to what you find. What are you, five?”

“I’m ten” The kid said “Hunter is five. I’m not five, I’m not a baby.”

“Good for you.” She said, digging through the half depleted healer's kit. “Don’t touch the bottle with the apple on it.”

“Katya,” Raine called, worry in their voice “Where did you go? Come back here please.”

“Sorry!” said the kid whose name was apparently Katya. The kid ran back to the living room, and Eda followed. She handed over the kit.

“It’s not much,” She said. “I can see about whipping up a pain potion. I gotta look up the doses for a kid — how old is...”

“I told you, Hunter is five!” Katya said, exasperated. 

“Katya, please.” Raine said, sounding more tired than frustrated. “Yes, he’s five.”

--

Next up, an unfinished crossover between Owl House and Hades Town

Set to the song Doubt Comes In, with Raine as Orpheus and Eda as Eurydice. I never finished it because I didn’t like how it was turning out (and it was way to much work, lol.) But I still love the crossover. Some highlights below.

Next, sketches from things that did end up finished.

And a few alternate poses and expressions from finished stuff.

Here’s King, and an itty-bitty Eda.

And some post Kings Tide sketching.

Another happy family type sketch from waaay back

and lastly, me!

Its me as an owl house character, featuring a spider beast form, and non-binary cape! So there you have it!

In it’s final secret title message to us, Owl House thanked us for watching, so I want to thank it back for all the entertainment and inspiration it gave me (And thanks to those who have followed, liked, reblogged and commented on my art and writing along the way.). I’m gonna miss it, and I wish it hadn’t been cut short, but I’m looking forward to its last episode. Goodbye Owl House.

[boxfullaturtles]

I have a question about your fic if its okay to ask

I was wondering what the threads and lights were about that mickey saw? What are those?

Ah yes, the worldbuilding I started for the magic system that I never went anywhere with lol

I'm gonna get kinda long here, please forgive me. I love talking about this kind of thing.

"Mortal Shell" was originally going to be a lot longer of a fic, with Mikey being outside of his body for an extended period of time, something nefarious possessing his body, and then it leading the family on a fun little chase all over New York with lots of collateral damage. It would have gone more into the mystic plane that Mikey was existing on and how mystic powers draw from it and so on and so forth.

When I changed almost everything about the fic (partly to make it shorter and partly because I had started reading Dandy's "I May Be Invisible" and got paranoid about being called a copy-cat), pretty much all of that stuff was scrapped. There was going to be a little scene at the end of the fic while Mikey was recovering where he asked Draxum about the stuff he saw on the mystic plane. I did start writing that scene, but it didn't fit the pacing anywhere so it got scrapped too. Here's the only bit of that scene I wrote:

So first off I am a massive fan of personifying things that are beyond comprehension. Sort of cosmic horror but without the horror. I love the idea of a city being alive simply because it is a city, because lives have been lived there and where there's life, there is magic. Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift and Magical Anonymous series have had a huge impact on me and remain my favorite books to this day for a reason. I highly recommend them if you're a fan of urban fantasy and kick ass women and a protag who is a pathetic little meow meow that could burn London to the ground if they so desired.

Anyway. All that to say, when Mikey describes New York City as "alive", it is in an almost literal sense. New York is living place, it is alive, it breathes, it feels, it IS. The white lines are akin to ley lines; the theory is that there are lines across the globe that important and historical landmarks and monuments fall on. I sort of localized this specifically to New York City and its major landmarks. So the ley lines connect to each other like a dot-to-dot going from places like Time's Square to the Statue of Liberty, etc.

The Threads I think I touched on a little in the fic, Draxum dropped a line about them being the connections of the universe. And that's pretty much what they are. Individual people have thousands of Threads that connect them to other people, to places, to objects--they are powerful in their own ways but can't be seen outside the mystic plane. Originally these Threads were going to be used in a ritual to pull the antagonist creature out of Mikey's body and put Mikey back in. But that ritual got scrapped really early on since I never really figured it out. Mikey was also originally going to be able to see the Threads of his family members, flowing out and tying together and attaching to him. But when I was writing the scene, they made everything wwaayyy too cluttered and would have given away what was going on far too early. So why can Mikey only see the Threads in that one specific scene? idk because mystic reasons. The mystic plane is a mysterious and virtually unknown thing, that's why.

As for the golden river of light in the sky, that is very much inspired by the river of light from Mushi-Shi, an anime I love very much which has also heavily inspired me. It represents life itself, in its purest form.

I think that basically covers everything? But please! Feel free to ask me more questions! I am always down to talk about turtles and my writing! And other people's writing. I can wax poetic about that all day, my dude. <3

[kayrllylikesblitzwing]

Hnnnghhhhh I should be drawing transformers …

BUT I LIKE THE ZOMBIE MAN.

HELLO I’m posting some ocs because recently I’ve gotten into a new rp server and it’s like one of those usual “oh kids go to highschool and they have powers and it’s alllllll monitored by the government” BUT they allow aliens too so it’s pretty neat

I brought in a TON of my old ocs who I used to use Back In The Day when I roleplayed on my hero academia roblox servers which HAS to be the most haunting, most horrible Experience of my entire life thus far. But basically I redrew a lot of my characters who I added to the new server im in and gave them a basic little sketch design and NOW im going to INTRODUCE THEM TO YOU

The girl in red is Fuji she is very mean and very manipulative and very evil and her ability is basically she can just glitch. Like it’s so funny the universe thinks she’s an error so she constantly like fades out of existence and stutters and lags and stuff but still remains. She can glitch through walls, lag and glitch other people, and even insert something like a trojan virus into others, where she can control them remotely, albeit she won’t have control of her own body while she controls them…. PRETTY COOL, pretty EVIL!

NEXT the weird SpongeBob looking thing is literally god. I’m not joking!!! In the lore of my own universes this guy, Sir Boxers (which, fun fact, had a close friend name him and it stuck perfectly!!!) is legitimately god he has the ability to warp reality and do legit whatever he wants. Ofc for the sake of the rp I have to tone down his power so we made this super crazy dramatic backstory that he was like the reigning but benevolent king of his dimension but then he got usurped by some evil force and sent into another world, trapped in a weaker, smaller vessel that can’t do as much as his other godly form, and he’s like trying to return to his dimension to restore order… it’s a funny thing LOL he’s just a joke character

Next is T-0FF-E3 of TOFFEE, and I HAVE DRAWN AND POSTED HIM BEFORE!!! I just didn’t like his design cuz he was too skrunkly so I bulked him up. I already talked about him but basically he was a regular dude and when his powers started showing up he just like mutated into a machine. Super nice, doesn’t know his strength, I love toffeee

Next is Liberty and I very Love Her!!! She’s a little bit of a mess because she’s both like a gym bro but also a cat girl so she’s pretty funny LMAOO she’s extremely competitive and almost aggressively supportive but also has the ability to turn things into weapons!!! As long as she can put both of her palms on something she can turn it into a weapon but that does NOT mean she can use it effectively, because a) the more elaborate the weapon, the more energy she needs to use on it to create it, b) the mass of whatever she makes the weapon on doesn’t change so if she makes like a weapon out of something heavy she might not be able to pick it up and c) she has NO EXPERTISE in any weaponry WHATSOEVER lol

Next is… Romeo 😍😍😍 he’s fucking disgusting! Little Zombie Boy “died” when he was an infant of like some sort of tumor in his brain but even though he was medically dead his body just persisted on its wild Basically his ability is he has full control over every single individual cell in his body and can use his his abilities to manipulate his flesh and stuff however he pleases and can just put himself back together if he’s torn apart. He’s like that trope where people talk abt bats and they’re like THE BATS ARE MORE SCARED OF YOU THAN YOU ARE OF THEM becuz Romeo lowkey is scared of everyone NOT socially inept but he just doesn’t like to interact and because of his strict upbringing

Next is Coronette and OKAY SHES ONE OF MY ALIENS Coronette was initially a part of a species I made for transformers where this group called the crixstaline were Cybertronian minicons that escaped to another planet, initially just to colonize it but then they sorta mutated with it… anyway Coronette is similar to that but I removed all of Cybertronian stuff from her stuff and made them just a species of PURE crystal theyre so cool they have their own language and like customs and stuff and UGH I might post their lore Bible one day it’s so cool anyway. Coronette is a princess from Crixstal, which is a planet that fell to foreign alien influences, and she hates earth and is stupid and dumb and wants to go home but doesn’t know WHY she can’t go home (planet was destroyed L BOZO) and she’s an iPad kid

TWO MORE second to last is CHIP and first of all I would like to say he is named after my dog and I have three ocs named after my dog two are named Chip Mooney and one is Chip Gebelhoff and the second Chip Mooney is based off Neil cicierega—

BUT ANYWAY this is the ORIGINAL CHIP other than my dog Chip used to wear red but I made him blue bcuz it fits him better and because I wanted a rainbow with my characters designs Anyway chip has the super power of onomatopoeia which means that when he says words like Pow or Boom they actually take affect in the world around him. This is disastrous and deadly and after he unintentionally nearly killed his father by activating his powers on accident, he has become mostly selective mute. He’s really guarded with how and when he talks and he’s JUST like those redditors who write like scripts of how they’re supposed to like interact and talk with people so he specifically doesn’t accidentally say a word that might trigger his power’s affects anyway he has my favorite ability

AND FINALLLLY we have Whizzer he’s a little guy the youngest oc of the line up. HES AWESOME he’s actually a remake of one of my OLDEST OCS EVER, who was an umbrella academy oc. Whizzer has a weird little astronaut bubble head not just to protect himself from anything, but to mostly protect others— FOR YOU SEE, whizzer’s ability is that his lungs are SO POWERFUL, if he breathes, he can basically desolate an environment of all of its oxygen and even take the oxygen out of other peoples lungs. He wears his little bubble so he doesn’t suffocate no one but also so he doesn’t breathe in nasty stuff like smog or bugs all of the time cuz that??? That would be bad.

ANYWAY. That’s my oc post have a wonderful day!!! Will blitz post soon❤️❤️❤️

[mjrino]

Since Ao3 is down, I thought I'd post the single fanfic that I'd posted there. Basically, it's a ToH fic that I wrote immediately after Hollow Mind - basically one of the many Hunter fics which were posted after it. It's pretty cliché, but I thought I'd share it.

Tags (from what I remember): Hunter & Darius, Hunter & Raine, Hunter & Eberwolf, Flapjack & Hunter, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Hollow Mind.

This was written a while ago, so it isn't as good as my current writing.

Edit: In light of ao3 being back up, here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38601936

As soon as Hunter got his head around what happened, he knew he couldn’t go back. It didn’t take that long, he’d always been smart.

(That’s what his - Belos said, anyway.)

But the castle was his home, it had always been. His few things were there, most of the people he considered as friends were there. He had never known another home. But he couldn't go back. He would never be able to go back. His breathing sped up and his heart raced as he tried to put his thoughts into words.

So what could he do, then? Stay in the infamous Owl House? Maybe, but it would rely on them letting him. Sure, Luz had offered before, but he could never take anything that had been said at face value. Not even from Belos.

He’d thought he could, once. Now he knew better.

Hunter also hated the way they looked at him, like some stray palisman, pity in their eyes.

But what he hated even more was that he was deserving of it. Here he was, some - what was it that Belos had called him? - grimwalker, which was only made to serve him and be destroyed when he wanted to think for himself.

It was too much. It was all too much. He needed some air. His cloak felt heavy, the material too much against his skin. It felt like it was choking him, a symbol of what he was created to do.

He’d fled the house, and nobody tried to stop him, really. Luz chased after, but stopped. The Owl Lady and her… cat didn’t know what had happened, and as such were confused, and the bird tube was distracted.

So Hunter ran. He ran into the forest, far away from the stifling air of the Owl House, and the danger of the castle. There was one problem, though. He was injured.

He’d gotten it while escaping the grasps of the Emperor's subconscious, that horrible place which he had been pulled into.

He escaped, in time to save the Human, but at the cost of a blow to the abdomen. Light, by his standards, but still there.

It hurt every time he took a rapid gasp of air, and at every panicked movement he made. It would bruise for sure, and he didn’t have anything to help with that. He couldn't even make ice, because his mind was too messed up to do magic and his hands shook too much whenever he tried stopping to draw a glyph and they wouldn’t stop-

Hunter leaned against a tree, and found himself with too little energy to do anything other than sit, using it for balance. He finally managed to compute what the Owl Lady - Eda, had said earlier.

Breath.

So Hunter tried. He tried to slow his breathing and think. But it wasn’t that simple, because thinking meant coming to terms with the fact that he was made, he was a grimwalker and would never be a witch-

Tears started leaking out of his eyes, tears which he wasn’t able to stop. He’d grabbed his hair so tight it hurt, at some point. His breathing was coming in fitful breaths, the opposite of what he had previously tried to do. He could feel and hear everything, every dent in the bark, every sound a demon or animal made, every stitch of his clothing. And something unexpected; the flapping of wings.

Flapjack flew into Hunter’s blurry vision. They sat on Hunter’s shoulder, nuzzling into his cheek (right where the scar was). Breath, they reminded him, and Hunter slowly found his breathing evening out.

Then, at the sound of footsteps, all that progress was undone.

Hunter scrambled to his feet, eyes darting as he located the source of the noise. Sure enough, there were the figures who were planning on invading the Emperor’s mind earlier. By the looks of it, they hadn’t spotted him.

Are they here to kill me? What will they do? I have Flapjack, and physical prowess, but I won’t stand a chance. I’ve lost battles in better positions. As Hunter thought, his mind automatically went to analysing the situation and his chances of survival. It grew more and more hopeless as he weighed his odds, and found them far from in his favour.

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The people had spotted him. He was probably going to die, but his one comfort - if one could even call it that - would be that it wouldn’t be at Belos’ hands, as his predecessors’ deaths were.

“Hunter? Calm down, it’s just me.” Said a strangely familiar voice. Hunter realised it was the first time he’d heard one of the cloaked witches speak. He gasped softly as the figure lowered their hood, trying to regain control over his breath.

“Dar - Darius?” Hunter exclaimed with a wavering voice, not daring to say more. Was Darius actually committing treaso- working against the emperor, or was it a front? It was better to wait, and Hunter couldn’t trust himself to speak yet.

“Yes, yes, it’s me, little prince. What happened to you? You look like a mess. Ugh, have you been sitting on the ground?” Darius said. Hunter still didn’t know what side he was on. Hunter looked up.

“In all seriousness, what happened? You show up, out of nowhere, and then I find out you’re in the Emperor’ mi-” Darius said, processing the tears on Hunter’s face.

Hunter swallowed, cutting him off. “Well, uh, after you left, I did accidentally enter Belo- the Empero- that place. It was, uh-” Hunter started to say, then stopped before he could finish the sentence. He didn’t, couldn’t describe what had happened. His breathing quickened again. Darius put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder, but it was just like Belos used to do, before he’d give an indirect warning. Hunter jerked back. Flapjack let out a small tweet.

Another rustling sound rang out.

“Darius? Where did you go? We were supposed to stick togeth- oh.” Another cloaked figure stepped out, the bard one who’d played the recorder. They rushed forward, their hood falling to reveal the Bard Coven Head, Raine.

“Darius, is that the Golden Guard? What are you doing-”

Hunter cut Raine off, “N-no, no I’m not the Gol- him anymore, I can’t, I just-” Hunter managed to stutter out. Raine’s face flashed in understanding. They took a step back.

“Darius, what exactly happened?” Raine said, their voice betraying urgency.

“Ugh, I don’t know, maybe the tyrant’s mind that he was trapped in!?” Darius replied. Wait. Was that the ‘Angry Blonde Kid’? Darius walked over to Raine.

“What do you want me to do? You know I’m not good with people!” Raine hissed. It was obvious that they were trying to be discreet, but Hunter couldn’t bring himself to care. He was still by the tree, breath catching and tears still leaking out of his eyes despite how much he’d tried to stop them.

Raine seemed to notice. “Um, ok, so I’m not very good at this, but I want you to try and breathe with me. In, hold, out…”

Hunter, following Raine’s instructions, found that it helped. He managed to regain control of his breathing (and his tears).

Suddenly, the third of the cloaked figures revealed themself. Their hood was already down, and there was- Eberwolf? Were all of the coven heads treasonous?

“Oh, finally, Eber, where were you?” Darius said. Eberwolf let out a series of sounds, which somehow Darius interpreted. Hunter still didn’t know how he did that. So did Flapjack, apparently, because they also gave some tweets, trills, and chirps in quick succession.

Eberwolf, apparently able to understand this, sat tentatively on Hunter’s lap. Huh. He didn’t remember sitting down. The contact felt grounding, and for the first time since seeing the masks of the dead Golden Guards, he felt completely in control.

Raine crouched beside him, while Darius looked on from where he was standing.

“Are you, uh, ok with saying what happened?” They asked, quietly. Hunter didn’t know how to respond. Technically, he could recall and state the events, but it might send him into a panic again.

“I don’t know yet. It - it was a lot.” Hunter said. His voice was steadier now, but still wavered every now and then.

“Ok. I, uh, just realised I don’t know your name. What is it?” Raine replied. Right, name. Hunter could do that.

“My name’s Hunter.” He said. Darius, Raine, and Eberwolf all looked at him. Hunter averted his gaze.

Darius blinked. “Wait, didn’t one of the children you tried to recruit call you Caleb?” He asked.

“Code name.” Hunter replied.

“I see. Anyway, can you stand? The boiling rain’s about to come in, and I don’t want to ruin my cloak.” Darius said, a small smile playing up on his face.

Raine seemed to realise something. “Hunter, do you have anywhere to go? We don’t want you to get caught in the boiling rain.” Hunter weighed his options. He could probably go with the coven heads, but only Darius didn’t live at the castle, and his house didn’t have the security to protect him from Belos.

The Owl Lady’s house did, however. And while he couldn’t trust anymore, Luz had never lied to him. Not yet, anyway.

“Uh, I think I can stand, and I might be able to stay at the Owl Lady’s house.” Hunter’s voice was getting progressively less shaky.

He didn’t miss the look that Raine gave Darius, or the pointed stare they received in return. Raine sighed. “Ok, but we’ll come with you, just in case.” Hunter stood up. His legs were shaking slightly, and at some point his injury had stopped hurting. Guess it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought. I really am weak.

They started to walk.

Darius decided to take the risk. “What happened in there? You don’t have to give any details, but I’d like to know.” The edge of his voice was gone now. Hunter managed to keep walking.

“We- There were- the other Golden Guards, they were all…” Hunter said, unsure of how to say exactly what he wanted to convey. “They were all clones. And- and when they would betray Belos, he would…” Hunter’s voice trailed off.

Darius’ eyebrows shot up in surprise. “So that’s why…” He muttered. “I see. If you can, is there anything else that happened?”

Hunter swallowed. “Uh, yes. The sigils- the coven marks, they…”

“...drain you of your magic.” Raine finished. But that wasn’t what Hunter wanted to say.

“No, no, it’s not that, they were made to-” Hunter’s voice dropped down to a whisper. “To kill people”

Eberwolf growled, Raine gasped, and Darius said nothing, but his face betrayed surprise.

“So what do we do?” Raine asked.

“I… don’t know.”

_______________________

And that's the fic! Hope you enjoyed. Little bit of trivia: this was originally supposed to be a longfic, but I gave up on it. Maybe I'll revisit it later, who knows. Anyway, thank you so much to all of the Ao3 volunteers who not only keep Ao3 running for free, but are also combating the DDOD attacks! Ao3 has been a staple in my life for so long, and I didn't even realise until it was gone.

[aerinis]

Doing my belated 2023 art review. Putting it below a read more because a lot of stuff happened this year and some of it is kind of heavy.

2023 was a pretty good year for me, both personally and artistically. I had a couple of annoying minor medical issues that I'm still dealing with, but I'd say I was able to maintain my goal of drawing at least one little doodle a day for most of the year. I will say though that the vast majority of what I drew this year - probably like 95% - was personal art. Hopefully someday I'll be satisfied enough with it to post it. I'd also like to spend 2024 focusing more on painting and practicing landscapes. I spent the first three months of the year working on a piece for a local art gallery competition, which actually ended up getting accepted and subsequently spent the rest of the year touring around the state in several different exhibitions. That introduced me to the wonderful world of trying to figure out how the hell digital prints and shipping work, but everything turned out fine in the end. It remains the largest piece I've ever made at 18"x24", and hopefully once I get it shipped back to me I'll be sending it off to my parents. I also found out that I HATE writing artist's statements, like fuck off you don't need to know my background, just interpret the piece however. I'd like to post here, but I want to make sure first that it hasn't been uploaded to the internet by any of the galleries since I'd like to keep my personal info off this blog lmao What's funny is that I feel like I've come so far as an artist ever since I submitted that piece, that every time I look at the B-grade prints I have lying around I'm like "oh my god this looks terrible, I can't believe this got accepted". I guess that's just what being an artist is like Following that, I took the next month off from art, which was a nice little break. I did a bunch of art parties in FFXIV, which are always great for improving, because as counter-intuitive as it seems the best way to get good at art is to be forced to draw a whole bunch of different things under strict time limits. I feel like I can definitely see my lineart improving as the months go on. I also started working more with color, my eternal nemesis, and I'm hoping next year I can really start to nail down a style. I did Art Fight for the first time ever in July and it ROCKED, definitely going to do it again this year and I'm still pretty proud of the drawings I did. I love an event where it's socially acceptable for me to draw people's OCs. I think I'll probably focus on doing more WoW OCs this year. Unfortunately July is the busiest month for me at work, where I'm waking up at 5AM for basically the entire month straight and working in 100+ degree weather, so we'll see if I can maintain the energy for it.

And now the heavy stuff. Some of you might know that I'm pretty involved in the secret finding community in WoW, and back during BFA when we spent 11.5 months trying to find Jenafur, I did paint-overs of a bunch of cat memes to try and keep spirits up during the hunt. Unfortunately, the Make-A-Wish kid who created the pet ended up passing away in April. You can read about her life here in this article that will make you want to guillotine a chemical executive, and this older interview from 2020 about the secret. But what really got to me was this one line from the PCGames interview:

And like, I don't want to be presumptuous but like. I think she was talking about my art. Every time I posted on she'd comment on it, and she even DMed me about them. This line fucking destroyed me. I'm not even going to exaggerate. For several days after we found out about her death I was a wreck. The thought that my silly little drawings actually had an impact on someone and made their life a little brighter just ruined me. The bill she was fighting for ended up passing, and I hope that someday the idea of 'forever chemicals' will cease to exist.

Downer ending but I'm kind of too bummed out to write more

[twistednuns]

July 2023

Four days in the Manú Rainforest. This trip really didn't start out ideal when my phone fell out of my bag, straight into the river. The crazy thing though: when we went river tubing, Ángel checked the spot again and found it! It had been in the river for two days and it still showed signs of life. Incredible. What I learned: I need to stop looking for distractions, trying to use other people to manage my emotions, and seeing my life trough a camera lens. // More good stuff: Ron teaching me Sanskrit in the van. / All the amazing plants and wildlife we saw on our daily (and nightly) jungle treks. A sloth mama with her baby. All kinds of monkeys and birds (red and green macaws, oropendulas, blue-headed parrots, even a small toucan). Ants in all colours and sizes. An agouti and a bush rat. Big spiders, a small snake and the tiniest frogs. A cayman. Ancient parasite trees, Palo Santo, erotic roots, exotic flowers. / Ángel's telescope and binoculars. / My room with a 360° view. / Regular visits from a tame peccary lady. She enjoyed scratchies behind her ears like a dog and rubbed against our legs. / That full moon night at the lake, a background of jungle noises: howling, croaking, squeaking. Magical. / Chef Jeff's delicious food. / The crazy little kitten at the lodge. / I got along very well with Agathe and Teva. They're going to send me their photos from the trip! / Lessons on hyperindependence: "You know, when I offer you help you should really take it." / Enjoying the boat ride and the view over the rainforest with low-hanging clouds. / Reading a whole book in one go on the way back.

Laura class about the foundations of Human Design. I even booked a reading with her.

Raw vegan cheesecake at Café Kula. I've tried three different ones so far!

Meeting Winni, one of the owners of SolSeed. Such an inspiration. I would love to create a space like that.

Joining a laughing circle one evening. It was an absolutely ridiculous experience. Imitation, accents, animal noises, laughing at tough life events, declaring thumb wars, pure comedy. So glad I took a hit of that spliff before the event.

Another breathwork session with my girl Ari back in Pisac. Going to higher spheres during the retentions. I didn't draw the Past Lives card again but Breakthrough and Ripeness. Afterwards we talked for a long time. About our plans and experiences, Human Design, plant medicine, this and that. I can't wait to meet her again some day.

A Human Design reading with Laura.

Painting intuitively with watercolors and charcoal. Drawing tarot cards, weaving their meaning into the painting. Explaining the ideas to the others in a sharing circle. It felt so nice to just sit down and paint, have access to art supplies on the road.

My second experiment with plant medicine at Ayasana Wasi. It was a very intimate ceremony with Magnus and Lynn from the Netherlands and our hosts Pia and Luca. I felt a lot of sympathy and gratitude for everyone. Luca's sound bath was incredible and Pia basically brought me back to reality. After the ceremony, all four cats explored the maloca and Kali (my favourite) enjoyed cuddles and conversation. My experience is quite hard to integrate because I was shown pure bliss and it felt like I'd died and come back to my human form. What is even real anymore?

Another otherworldly massage with Raphael. Dhruva had already done an amazing job the week before but Raphael really put a lot of time and love into it. I felt cared for and caressed like a cat at some point.

Vida Vegan saved me on a nasty travel day by holding on to my backpacks for a few hours! It was lovely to meet Eric and Jacqueline for the last time and eat some delicious tomato soup. Their food always looks like straight out of a Michelin star restaurant. And I tried llullucha for the first time. Enya's Sail Away on the radio. Green apple soap.

Actually being able to sleep on the night bus after a grumpy evening. Arriving in Puno (still sleeping so the driver had to wake me up), the hotel allowed me to check in at 6am. Grateful.

A boat ride to Uros, the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. Meeting two cats / taking the cat boat.

Buying strawberries, blueberries, a clementine and a lúcuma at the market. An afternoon nap, dreaming of being in the Andes.

Looking at old photos. Realising how much beauty, love and abundance there is in my life. I can't wait to go home. Anticipation.

Frank Zappa's genius.

I treated myself to another Clear Minds Meditation Club hoodie and a longsleeve from Rip'n'Dip.

Taking an early bus to Copacabana. Biting into sour tutti frutti gummy tubes - the taste reminded me of BumBum ice cream. Finally feelt like updating Instagram. Instant feedback from my friends. Sitting on the right side: The view was gorgeous. Hills, wide open fields and Lake Titicaca in the background. So many animals. Mainly sheep, alpacas and cows, but I also saw a kitty and a pig family with lots of little piglets!

I fell down on my way to the hotel upon arriving in Bolivia and hurt my knees. But I moved into my gorgeous little bungalow (stained glass windows, domed ceiling, view over the lake), lit a fire, made cinnamon tea and a hot water bottle. Ate snacks in bed/ordered food and had a video call with Do. She even shared her Netflix password with me and prescribed watching Gilmore Girls. Slow travel. I might stay another night.

The view from the waterfront. Isla de la Luna against a snow-covered mountain pass. Little ducks with pastel blue beaks. The soothing sound of the water.

Stumbling upon a cute souvenir for Do. Treating myself to two pairs of earrings and a necklace. Helping the lady in the shop change the chain, having a lovely little conversation. Learning about ametrine/bolivianite, a mixture of amethyst and citrine. Two of my favourite crystals. Now I really want to get one. A cute souvenir for myself.

Egg and cheese sandwiches. Ordering too much passion fruit juice. Getting it to go in an empty water bottle. A cherry popsicle with gelatin.

A bright and inspired morning before leaving for La Paz. A shower (hot water!), snuggling up in bed, discovering a career coach I really resonate with. Feeling light, positive, happy. Grateful, aligned, realizing that I have all that I need and more. That I need to work on shifting my focus away from the perceived scarcity and see the abundance there is in my life.

The photo Do sent me of the knot she'd finally made into a cherry stem. Mit dir ist gut Kirschenessen.

On the bus to La Paz. Super pretty views. Even seeing nandus. Listening to a gratitude mantra (Jhené Aiko - 'alive & well'). Going on a deep dive into Human Design unconscious charts. I created a birth chart for my design date and according to that my unconsciousness presents as an Aquarius (with quite a bit of Aries mixed in). I resonate so much with that!

David Bowie - Modern Love

My room in La Paz had heating and two big windows overlooking this crazy city and the mountains. I could lie right by the window and bask in the morning sun. And they had real baguette at breakfast, not only that empty, airy bread they usually serve in South America.

Walking through the streets with Rem. Eating my first tumbo at the mercado. Learning about the famous prison at Plaza Sucre where you have to pay rent but can bring your whole family. Bolivian superstition and turbulent politics. Dehydrated potatoes. We walked into a church and they had the same painting of Bisexual Jesus as that store in Belize. And the Virgen de los Remedios wore a blue and magenta dress with silver glitter stars. Catholicism really hits different in the Americas.

Accidentally ending up in a vegan restaurant with a fancy tasting menu. They served me five courses for only 100 bolivianos. I would have never expected this! And right after lunch, I went to the art museum and I was such an amazing experience! Usually I'm a bit disappointed when it comes to art museums around here but this one was top notch. Inspired.

I had fun watching a Cholita wrestling show from the balcony. The smell of sweaty plastic clothing reminded me of children's carnival parties. Now that I think of it, that was a very smell-focused day in general. Chewing gum on the bus reminding me of my teenage years, going out at night. A whiff of someone's cooking strongly reminding me of my grandma's kitchen.

Browsing the stores at the Witches' Market. They had all kinds of amulets, spells, powders and potions, herbs and incense. My backpack is full of obscure objects now. I wonder if they'll let me through customs.

I treated myself to a beautiful ametrine and a piece of an agate geode.

Only ordering food that doesn't exist on the menu in an Indian restaurant. A delicious choice. The owner called me princesa and I kinda liked it.

Warm Bounty porridge: coconut milk, dark chocolate, too much sugar.

Spending my last day in La Paz riding the teleférico up to El Alto. Amazing view of the mountains and the cemetery. Trying to find one of the famous Cholets I ran into a big parade for La Paz Day! I saw a store for Cholita skirts, browsed cheap cosmetics stores and enjoyed a bottle of cold sparkling water (I'd been searching for that for hours).

Ice-cream testing: the winner is clearly the sour fruit popsicle. Second place: a scoop of creamy cherimoya at the train station. Loser: Canela shaved ice. Tasted like the coating of Big Red chewing gum with a ton of sugar. Inedible.

I LOVED our tour through the Uyuni salt desert. It must have been one of the most fascinating and diverse places I've ever seen: crunchy white infinity / fun photos: "I'm a snack!" and asanas on an elephant trunk / finding the Bavarian flag at the salt hostel and a big Rallye Dakar sign / my lovely company - Bismarck, Leo and the girl gang: Hannah, Satoko, Tas and Verity / all the animals I saw: foxes, vicuñas, viscachas, flamingos - even a cat at Cactus Island / red wine and snacks at sunset / laughing so much together, comparing MILFs and cougars, listening to Babymetal on the road / the breathtaking vistas of the desert valleys, huge rocks, marvellous lagoons, volcanoes / a lava field that looked like the surface of Mars / bulbous green coral (?) formations / Burning Man vibes at the train cemetery, the Road to Nowhere (well, actually train tracks to Chile) / geysers and a hot spring that saved my toes from freezing off //

Stargazing in the Atacama desert. I've never had such a clear view of the Milky Way before. And for the first time, I saw Saturn through the telescope - the rings were clearly visible! There were tons of shooting stars coming down. Magical.

A cute little tienda with handicrafts made by local female artists. A lovely denim jacket and a very fluffy and adorable dog. Big boi. I cuddled and played with so many dogs in San Pedro. Highly unusual for me. Pretty ceramics and jewellery stores. Inspiration everywhere.

Witnessing an encounter of two cowboys on their horses on a street corner.

Touching a big meteorite a the Museo del Meteorito. Making a wish.

The thinnest possible crescent moon with a circular Earth shadow.

Going on a bike tour to Garganta del Diablo with Hannah. We even had to cross a river so we took off our boots and pushed the biked through the water. Quite an adventure. The walk through the canyon was longer than expected and in the end a steep mountain waited for me. I'm kinda proud of myself for turning around halfway, taking into account my bad knees and difficulties climbing down. Riding back during Golden Hour was lovely - the harsh shadows of the rock formations along the river and the desert trees made the landscape look like an African savanna in a way. We rewarded ourselves with a big batch of ice-cream.

Visiting my 40th country - Chile. Getting out of the Bolivian border scam with a firm no. Entering a different world. It's fascinating how a virtual line on a map can create such opposite realities. Chile is such a rich, western country and a striking contrast to Bolivia in many ways.

Listening to my emotions. Booking a flight home. I feel so much better already. I let all my friends know that I'm coming home and we're making plans for the summer. I need to soak up some love and sunshine. It was tough beating the fear of missing out on an opportunity to see the Galapagos islands or go diving in the Caribbean. But I'll see it as something to look forward to - now I wouldn't really be able to enjoy it anyway.

Many cats on my street in Santiago. A cat cafe just around the corner! They even offer yoga classes. My very cosy bed. Hard to leave. Entering a big Chilean supermarket. Feels like home already.

Discovering waacking, a dance style with dramatic arm movements.

Retail therapy. I bought so many pretty little things in Santiago and I love them all! Especially the lipgloss from the kids department with a glitter star snow globe on top.

The taxi driver with two Freddy Mercury figurines on his dashboard who played Living on my Own for me on the way to the airport.

Jodie Foster's space travel experience in Contact made me cry.

Being back. Hanging out with Manu, goofing around. Cuddling, making food for each other, getting way too comfortable around each other. It's so nice not to be alone for a change.

A lemon ice cream flavoured smoothie. Butterbreze and Yogurette (lemon buttermilk!).

Survival of the Thickest - what a stylish, empowering show. FUN.

An amazingly empathetic Thai massage from Ploy. I'll be back.

An ice cream walk with Raphael. Meeting Do for the first time in months. It was really good to see her!

I ordered the "kiddie party" ice cream and wasn't disappointed: two lollipops, gummy candy and rainbow sprinkles.

Being able to move back to my apartment earlier than planned. Doris helped me so much with the move! We had breakfast together at IKEA and ice-cream in LA. She defended me against my brother. Talked some sense into me. I'm very grateful! After I returned the car, Manu ordered my favourite pizza for me and let me sleep on his sofa one more time so I wouldn't have to go back to my absolutely chaotic flat.

Café Mozart, fancy drinks and the Barbie movie with the Friendzone.

[thomacrumbs]

how fortunate it is, to have you.

thoma is inazuma's most eligle bachelor, i mean, he's got everything down- from looks to smarts to housework, there seems to be nothing that phases him. well, there isn't, unless that something is his classmate (and crush of, like, seven years), in which he then finds himself less of a put together barista and a schoolboy in sixth grade again.

thoma x gn! reader. coffee shop! au. thoma's a mess but we love him. ♡s & ↻s appreciated! a/n at the end but this is for @kkayn! happy hols!

“hi! welcome to komo-” when he whirls around, bright, customer-service smile ready to dazzle someone with his wit & charm, he wasn't expecting you to be standing there, basked in the light of a winter afternoon, staring thoughtfully at the menu above his head.

calm down, thoma, it's just y/n- my god, it's y/n! wait- put down the cup before you fucking drop it & make a fool of yourself.

his suddenly shaking and sweaty hands set down the mug he was cleaning on the counter with a clink, opting to set his hands against the familiar grooves & dips of the cashier screen instead.

“hi, um, welcome to komore teahouse! how can i help you?”

he flashed you his best grin, although he doesn't really have to try, as he realised his jaw is starting to hurt from how hard he was smiling once he spotted you.

“wow, thoma, i didn't know you worked here. do you run this place by yourself?” you smiled back at him, and he swears the room suddenly got brighter, you can't do this to him- he'll go blind!

so that's why ayaka gasped and suddenly dipped into the backroom, she must've spotted you from outside the window... she's never going to let this one go, thoma.

“i'm the only one out here right now. usually there's other people too.”

he replies, face heating up as you lean forward to get a better look at the menu. when you draw back you watch him fumble with those really gorgeous eyes he could get lost in... focus!

“anyways, i can, uh,” he stammers, attempting to find something to do with his hands. is it too awkward to pick up the mug again? or should i just keep it like this? am i gripping this too hard?

“can i get your coffee? i mean do you want drink? want cup? i-... thirsty?”

you laugh, and he hears wedding bells & angel choirs (even if you are laughing at his expense).

“calm down, thoma, i'm not going to eat you.”

you puff out your cheeks as your eyes scan the menu again, and his heart almost jumps out of his chest, and he's pretty sure you can hear the comical BA-DUMP, BA-DUMP of his heart wailing & screaming and doing cartwheels.

“how about that one?” you point at the far right display board, and he can already see the curly script of ayaka's handwriting in his mind.

how does our barista see you? get them to choose a drink based on how much they like you (or not)!

“the one where i have to choose something?”

you laugh at his horrified expression, “yes, thoma, the one where you have to choose something.”

you lean on the table, hand steepled as you place your chin neatly upon them, eyes fluttering in pretend innocence as you stare up at him.

“how do you see me?”

THINK CAREFULLY, DUMBASS. THIS CAN RUIN YOUR RELATIONSHIP FOREVER.

“maybe... the chocolate mocha latte?”

ARE YOU STUPID?

he sees your eyes flicker over the board, no doubt trying to figure out what a chocolate mocha latte means. he watches as your face stretches from confusion into a cat-got-the-canary grin.

“maybe?”

“uh, no, you are.”

he flashes you his signature smile- the one grandma coos over and everyone in a five mile radius swoons over. might as well die on this hill.

CHOCOLATE MOCHA LATTE - I WANT YOUR SMILE TO LAST FOREVER.

“well, thoma,” you muse, seemingly unperturbed by his basically-a-love-confession answer, “i'll give you... a caramel expresso.”

a caramel expresso? but that's... he whips his head around to make sure he's not imagining it. but as he suspected, in pristine white chalk looped across the board accompanied with a crude drawing of a coffee cup-

“i love you?” he splutters, surely, you must mean something else-

“i love you too, thoma.”

you laugh as he turns as red his apron, eyes widen as he gapes at you, “how did you know?”

“about your pretty obvious crush? ayaka had enough, so she told me. but i guess i hid my end pretty well,” you cheekily smile at him, and lean forward to press your lips against his cheek, and he splutters, the normally all-competent & head-screwed-on-straight thoma reduced to a simple tomato, and even more adorable, it seems.

“so?” you question, but all you get in return as a series of frantic incoherent noises.

ah, you might've broke him.

hi @kkayn! i was your secret santa for this year. i hope you have a wonderful time with all the gifts you want <33 happy holidays!!! i hope this was to your liking mwah mwah.

[joejoeba]

can I hear your thoughts on the nijimura brothers? your drawing of keicho holding okuyasu pierced by the arrow really got to me ;-; feelings about them are extra sad because I'm on a diu rewatch right now and the latest episode I watched was in the nijimura brothers arc

YES PLEASE so many thoughts

Warning though it's a little bleak? And these are just my personal feelings because of my own personal experiences, so they might not be for everyone but they ARE for me.

(Content warning: gonna be mentioning abuse in this one)

You can put up with and get used to just the damndest things when it's what you know best, and what's unknown is unstable and scary, and rocking the boat means things might get worse before they get better. I think Nijimura brothers were codependent and very toxic for each other, even though they definitely loved each other. Family is like that sometimes.

But they're like, not as codependent as they themselves think. The consensus between them is that Okuyasu needs Keicho, and he did when they were kids, but in my opinion it's the other way around by the time they're introduced.

Okuyasu is like, surprisingly well adjusted and responsible after Keicho's death, although he's definitely sensitive about it for a long time after. As far as we know, he manages to live alone and take care of his father and cat as well as himself, and he was pretty quick to go back to school and (deliberately??) get himself a social net. He puts his lottery money into savings, and he sucks at school but he DOES go most days if not every day. For a 16 year old with no family but his amnesiac mutated dad, he is....doing great??

Keicho was, for a lack of better language, a little off his rocker by the end? Shooting people with the arrow willy nilly, not caring if people died, not even caring if Okuyasu got mortally wounded. He was definitely Okuyasu's rock at the start, but I think with time, it just wore him down to the marrow. Trying to be a shield from abuse for your brother, raising him / helping his upbringing, being in foster homes / taking care of yourself and a younger kid will do that to a guy. The cycle of abuse and whatnot; I mean shit they were tiny kids when their father started abusing them, that's horrible! ...but amnesiac mutated dad Nijimura cant speak, can't defend himself.... Keicho's violence is also horrible. And Okuyasu was a witness to all of it.

Imagine if you knew, from experience, that your brother-guardian is capable of intense cruelty and murder, seeing it happen often, being ordered to help with it. (Keicho routinely beat their father, shot and maybe killed people with the arrow, told Okuyasu he didn't deserve to live if he didn't perform properly.) Okuyasu did as Keicho told him and even refused to sell his brother out to Josuke after being mortally wounded by him. Imagine knowing that and believing 100% that you deserve whatever happens to you, at your brother's hands or not, and -importantly- loving him with your whole heart anyway. That's fuckin heartbreaking, man.

Okuyasu basically deals with various degrees of abuse for most of his life, and Keicho is his only constant. Keicho loves and provides for him, but Keicho also seems to hate him. Keicho protects and guides him, but Okuyasu has seen and felt what happens when Keicho decides he doesn't care about you.

But the same goes for Keicho. He's had to pull out every coping mechanism to try and make life work for the both of them, and no one taught him how. I often think about it like... yeah, Keicho was cruel and distant, because that was all he knew. He didn't have a big brother to look out for him, just himself and his little brother that he had to take care of. I remember being irritated at my little brother when I had to babysit him often, and that wasnt even his fault at all. Imagine how mad you would be at everyone and everything if you were put into Keicho's shoes. Some days, even when they didn't get along, Okuyasu might've been the only sunshine in Keicho's life. And with how controlling he is and how much he DOES love his little brother, he probably wanted to hang onto that, even when it was hurting both of them, or it meant stunting Okuyasu's ability to be on his own (probably indirectly). Because Keicho needs him to stay.

I think that's basically how things ended up progressing: Keicho was incredibly stressed out from taking care of his brother and father - I think maybe he started out actually caring for Dad Nijimura, but grew into just wanting him dead. No one has ever come through for him, he feels alone and against the world, his brother can't take care of himself and doesn't pull his own weight- Keicho has gone past being angry to just being apathetic and disgusted with his world.

And it's not that Okuyasu can't take care of himself or won't pull his own weight, but he's so firmly under Keicho's thumb he doesn't really try. Keicho is the one in charge and Okuyasu does as he's told, that's how it's always been and that's that. He knows talking back and trying to change things just makes Keicho angry, which is bad, and Keicho tells him frequently how Okuyasu is hopeless without him, so its must be true- things are just easier this way.

They both fall into this stagnant way of living because it has worked for them so far and they need some kind of outside influence for change to happen.

And by the end, we're told that Keicho did, despite everything, love Okuyasu back. So much he'd die for him. But he was too proud and jaded to live for him instead, which is what Okuyasu would have wanted.

Wanted, not needed, because what Okuyasu needed was support and affection, not orders and tough love. When Josuke comes along, Okuyasu finally gets what he needed, and he flourishes. He's a good person, he's happy, he has very dear friends who encourage and support him, and he has Josuke, and Okuyasu would die for him for sure but more importantly he decided to live for him, and that means living without Keicho. And it was the right decision to make.