#most adults and teens are taller than me.

[rebellum]

Anyone else also think of their older self as being taller, despite the fact that they've been a full grown adult for years

[arolesbianism]

Ended up finishing Butter ref remake in one sitting so here they are 👍. I also buffed their height a smidge

[yamujiburo]

okay, just to weigh in on the Brock discourse, I absolutely remember being blown away when I learned he was 15 because as a kid it was like.. He's 2 heads taller than Ash and Misty, he cooks like a professional chef, has by far the most level head of the group, and he was caring for all of his siblings because his father was hiding out on the outskirts of Pewter City and his mother was... Arceus knows where, add on the fact that he was a Gym Leader which, given the general vibe of the Gym leaders of Kanto, would lean more towards being a legal adult... Everything about him just screamed "mid-late 20's" Heck, I was also shocked to learn Misty was only a year or two older than Ash, since she was a Gym leader too, I just assumed at bare minimum she was 18 and just short for her age.

The assumptions we make as kids, I guess.

Oh super fair! As a kid it’s very easy to look at a character who’s noticeably a little older and be like “ah that’s a grown up”. Brock always read as a teen to me personally but I’ve definitely done that for other cartoon characters for sure

The pokemon world is very different than ours seeing how 10 year olds (even younger than that in the games) are allowed to go out on their own and begin what can only be equated to college level studies in a field they’re interested in. But that’s that cartoon suspension of disbelief you gotta give into. Which is the fun of it imo.

I think, especially now, it should be pretty clear that gym leaders can be any age. Like Ash is a world champion at 10 and Paldea gave us a fucking toddler in the elite four (poppy) which I love LOL

Also! Fun fact, Misty is also 10 in the anime. It’s mentioned only in the jpn version in like the third episode tho hahaha

[sokkastyles]

Some people have pointed out that Katara seems to have gotten taller in comparison to Zuko throughout the series.

So hear me out. Katara has her growth spurt first, as girls tend to, but since Zuko at sixteen is still shorter than most adults, he's not done growing either, he just has his growth spurt later. He seemed to be pretty tall for a thirteen year old, but boys often do have another growth spurt in their late teens.

So I give you Katara, who after the series continues growing until she gets to be taller than Zuko. Which, by the way, she endlessly teases him about.

Then skip a few years, the gaang doesn't see each other for a while, then the next time Katara sees Zuko he's in his early twenties and is a full ass adult, tall, broad shouldered, and suddenly Katara starts feeling all hot and bothered around him...

[desultory-novice]

White-Haired Noir (Older)

I wasn't kidding when I said Noir has become more of "my OC" than before. Anyway, they tell me cringe is dead, so let's get on with it!

BE HAPPY TEENAGE BOY ...Uh... ADULT MALE??!

(Pictured: Would you believe this guy was once my Dark Matter Swordsman???)

No longer a teary-eyed apprentice, White-Haired Noir in ~the future~ (circa Star Allies??) has become a knight in his own right, swearing his service to Dedede as thanks for helping house the bruised, battered, emotionally unstable teen boy so many years ago.

Dedede Stop Adopting People Challenge (impossible)

Over the years (and with plenty of hard hitting, gloves-off training from Meta Knight) Noir has both grown up and grown accustomed to life on Popstar. He's regained some semblance of a life (gasp!) and inner peace. (...When Popstar's not being invaded, that is.)

He has friends (and rivals), is able to stomach food and drink a bit better, and has accepted Gooey, finally. He can even speak positively of his lost childhood with his little sister, on occasion.

Despite Popstar's generally warm weather, the Shiver Star native continues to dress in highly concealing fashion, as his upper body still bears the scars of his interrupted Dark Matter transformation; one reason he grew his hair out long was to help conceal the ones on his neck better, so as not to frighten the younger Waddle Dees.

[Assorted Text Wall Below]

-

Age Range: Mid 20s and up (Tbh, his specific age'll probably fluctuate depending upon the kind of story I want to tell. This is, quite simply, an adult Noir who's got his life more together.)

Abilities: Mild regenerative abilities, magic reflection, healing/purification, light projection [Rainbow Sword] 

Protective magic and various physical ability-boosting magic [These come courtesy of the crystals adorning his jacket, a gift from the Queen of the Fairies. Noir is still a squishy human, after all. His fine swordplay aside, he needs magical enhancements to not get accidentally steamrolled by Kirby's other friends.]

Hobbies: swordplay, stargazing, crochet (Taranza taught him the last one, both as a mental grounding exercise and to help rehabilitate Noir's Dark Matter corrupted hands for performing delicate tasks. Half of Dream Land has one of Noir's early crochet octopi sitting in their storage. Nowadays, he makes toys for the younger Dees.)

Etc: Because of his closeness with King Dedede (and in large part due to their matching scarves/sashes), his general protectiveness of the Waddle Dees, as well as his fairy-tale outfit (which Ribbon helped with) Noir has picked up nickname of the "Prince of Dream Land"

A highly unfitting one, Noir has been heard to privately complain. In what world could an unwashed, damaged, sharp-tongued orphan with hands near-literally dyed in blood become a prince...?

Height-wise, if we consider King Dedede to be one of a breed of extinct "mega penguins" then Noir, fully grown, is of comparable height. (Dedede insists he's taller because of this crown puff. Huzzah! His title as king is safe!) In human terms, this does make Noir a short king :cough: prince, which in his case is due to malnourishment, physical abuse during puberty, and just plain genetics. ^^;

Anyway, despite how shockingly decent he looks cleaned up, Noir is still a feral cat at heart, and he hasn't lost his sass either, even if the edges have been somewhat filed off with time.

(Even the most angsty and tragic of emo boys can only go so many years with sparkly, shimmering, pastel rainbow hair (1) before they give up the act and start smiling ju~st a little more! ^_-)

-

(1) It is completely impossible for Noir to return his hair to its original dark maroon/black, btw. Even the strongest dye refuses to stick.

...And yes, he has attempted.

--

(Q: When is this...? Cause he still looked 16 in that FL comic you did.) (A: That's because I hadn't thought ahead when I wrote it! This form is basically meant as something to pull out for the later games with some extra padding for any future games/events. >w< )

(Q: So... is that FL comic still Apologies canon?) (A: ~ish! He would definitely be his older self now. That said, this Noir did still encounter Elfilin by chance, immediately recognized him as ID-F86, and had a PTSD episode over it, dredging up old memories he'd believed he had come to peace with. It was the closest the Dark Matter in Noir had come to re-awakening in years. Elfilin's sincere apology to the innocent victims of Forgo's rage helped Noir keep from losing himself completely and he was able to recover.

Also, following Crystal Shards, Noir DID resume having daily nightmares about Adeleine and her fate. That was why MK encouraged him to stay with the fairies of Ripple Star for a time and recuperate; that Noir could resume his training with Meta Knight later on. The grateful fairies all turned out to completely ADORE him - particularly, his shining rainbow hair. This period away from Popstar meant that he totally missed out on Amazing Mirror though.)

(Q: If he missed Amazing Mirror, what games DIDN'T he miss?) (A: He was actually there for a somewhat altered version of Meta Knightmare Ultra in Planet Robobot! It was his first "mission" with his teacher. (And I have a fanfic brewing about that, thanks to the anon who asked what if Noir got within wishing distance of Star Dream...)

Unlike Meta's relationship with Kirby, where Meta trusts Kirby to bounce back from everything and is excited :wipes drool off face: to see how much Kirby will grow, Meta Knight tries (somewhat) to keep his very human disciple out of danger, if he can. He's not soft on him by any means, with hard blows and even harder life lessons, but he knows that Noir came to them hanging onto life by a very frayed thread and he only pushes as far as he believes Noir can take.

Nowadays, he's much more trusting of him to handle himself.

(Q: Assuming he was in SA, where was he during TDX, RtDL, and FL? (A: In both Triple Deluxe and Forgotten Land, he was away from Popstar. Record of Stopping Dedede Abductions: 0/2. He rolled his eyes at a giant beanstalk erupting from Dream Land leading to a kingdom in the clouds "...You're kidding?" and Dedede was stomping mad when Noir laughed outloud about the story of the abduction - which concealed the fact that Meta Knight WAS LAUGHING TOO.

In Return to Dream Land, Noir was still on Popstar but didn't participate in the adventure in any capacity. When everyone returned and told the tale of Magolor's betrayal, his response was a deadpan, "Okay but you all saw that coming a mile away though, right? .........Tell me you saw that coming." He was a little less sassy when he heard Magolor's downfall came at the hands of a corrupting artifact.)

(Q: Wasn't Noir taller than Dedede in that one random sketch?) (A: As an Earth human. Noir eventually became Popstarian size.)

(Q: It's nice that he's okay but... but Adeleine... ; _ ; ) (A: Yeah... However, similar to Blade and Gooey in the main verse, in the AU AU, it was Painter who took care of and sheltered the Dark Matter outcast. Noir initially hated Gooey, because he despised Dark Matter for destroying his family and he hated it every time Gooey tried to approach him - like a sign that he would never escape his mistakes. Only later was he forced to confront Gooey and realize that Gooey was always seeking Noir out because of Adeleine's memories Gooey had taken in. They eventually had a painful heart to heart, where Noir was able to experience his sister's last memories through Gooey. Noir now lets him wear Painter's beret in memory of her.)

--

Anyway, that's now two (and a half (?) if you count "Snowflakes") Noirs who have escaped the cycle of misery! Hooray!

Don't worry, Main Timeline Noir, your salvation comes next............Probably???? >w<

[meirimerens]

the pathologic cane using as i see it...

MARK IMMORTELL canonically. he has a cane canonically, now whether or not the game wants us to believe he uses it for real or it's an accessory... for real to me. in my mind's eye he has sciatica. it acts up on and off so sometimes he'll be prancing around like a goat swaying his cane like he's trying to hit people with it, sometimes he uses it for real, and sometimes he has a fanciful little wheelchair when the pain's too bad to stand on his two legs. in which case he still holds his cane for hitting people purposes. his cane is a constant thing.

Yulia... she also mentions Leg Problem in P2 so Joy the cane be upon ye. i think her deal is a repetitive strain injury of tendinitis in the knee & ankle, and she never got enough rest for it to heal properly, never did physical therapy, so now, like other types of tendinitis, it flares up from use & some movements/postures. as the rainy & cold season approach, she gets more and more sedentary because the weather makes tendinitis worse by stiffening the tendons, so it gets in vicious cycles of Stiff tendons from the cold -> even less easy to do some stretches to help with the pain -> tendons get stiffer from no stretchin -> even less easy to do some stretches... her cane is an on and off thing, but becomes regular as fall & winter roll around

Notkin as he grows up. in p1 & 2 his spoken dialog mentions (a) bad leg(s); considering his mom died in childbirth (likely His birth) in my mind's eye his bad leg(s) is attributed to having been pulled out of there Fucked Uply. mom didn't make it through a complicated birth and baby got a leg messed up when they hurried to get him outta here. adolescence and getting taller gets him apophysitis (a bone + cartilage inflammation/strain injury often seen in teens because the bones grow faster than the muscles around them) in his knee and he never gets to have the rest needed for it to heal properly so as an adult, while the pain is mostly gone, it flares up sometimes. he's way past giving a fuck what anyone might think about seeing him limp with a cane in hand so he periodically, but quite often uses one. also might use it to hit people.

Khan occasionally once he gets into his mind that it's not a big deal & if he needs it he needs it. he already has a messed up knee as a kid (p2 model bandage) but i'm still deciding how extansive of a wound that is. more than what that is i think this guy gets inflammatory arthritis as a plague residual symptom, and while most of it is concentrated in his hands, fingers and wrists, it sometimes, rarely, attacks his ankles & knees, which is when he gets on his legs wobbly like a newborn foal. while his coping mechanism for it is to lie down and suffer through gritted teeth because he still has in mind that showing pain is showing weakness and is undignified of a man of his rank (the imaginary kingdom he once had) he eventually, from being yelled at "hey moron CATCH" and thrown a cane at, gets into his mind that he should use one for such moments and not even his Mortal Enemy* will care. his own would be a fanciful thing, black-lacquered wood, silver rings, a silver dog's head at the end of the handle. too proud and proper to hit people with it but he can't say he doesn't think about it.

Burakh, later in his life (his 40s). he also has a bad leg as of Being In His Twenties, but copes and manages without a physical aid for a while. he's on homemade painkillers and various rest regiments (when he can). when it gets too bad & arthritis sets in around 40s he's on that wood and bone tool in a blink and keeps it. maybe his father used on in his old(er) age... he reuses it...

[olderthannetfic]

There’s this popular ship in my fandom, I am partial for Dom A/Sub B. There are plenty of Dom A/Sub B fics to read from, but most of them are from the early era, when B was a teenager and A is an adult.

Now I do read these, but I prefer it when they’re adults. Mostly because at that age, B is much stronger, taller, and muscular than A. A, while older and still pretty tough, is a lot slimmer. And I find it very hot that A is able to dominate B, despite of their physical capabilities. It’s all mind games.

I’m sure that reason why most Dom A/Sub B fics are in the past is because it’s easier to imagine a grown man doming (domming?) a teen, rather than a slim jim doming a trucker type.

But it still makes me very sad that I don’t more of the specific type of pairing I want. Oh well. The past fics are still good, and they are abundant.

--

I await the guesses in the comments.

[meoproject]

Beriith's aging! For fun. And loredump I guess.

I kept the exact years vague because I keep going back on how old Beriith is/how long-lived his race is... I can't really make up my mind, so any definite number I've ever given as his age needs to be taken with a grain of salt because it's probably not relevant anymore. I know the Goet (Beriith's species) are longer lived than say, elves, but I haven't really decided how long-lived exactly, I don't want any humanoid species in setting to have average age over 500 even if this is a fantasy setting... and uhh I haven't really decided how they'd age anyway (though as a reminder, all the loner lived species in this setting age like humans until young adulthood for my convenience, so I can say "5 yr old Beriith" and he would actually be comparable to a five-year-old human child). All I know I want Beriith to be a dilf for a while still because to me... that is peak.

Also I'm planning on making one for Val too. She's probably going to have 1 or 2 less "age stages" because she's younger, but there's still a lot I wanna talk about when it comes to her past, so!

Anyway. Sorry this is long.

CHILDHOOD: Beriith is an only child. Even as a young child, he is serious and stubborn. His parents are two craftsmen/artists: his father does pottery and other assorted clayware, while his mother creates jewelry. They have a small shop and workspace attached to the house they live in, and also travel to fairs and markets to sell their wares. They hope that their child will grow up to take interest in either of their crafts and continue the family business in some form. As a young child, Beriith does not care about pottery or jewelry, even if his parents try to encourage him.

When he is about seven or eight years old, his family is part of a traveling caravan, enroute to a more distant marketplace, and they get attacked by a monster. A traveling warrior happens to be nearby, and single-handedly kills the monster, saving the lives of many. Beriith sees the whole fight and knows instantly what he wants from life. 

TEENAGER: Beriith's parents are against him training to become a swordsman. They love their son but don't understand why he'd rather do that than focus on art or creativity. A family friend convinces them to let Beriith become a local retired guardsman apprentice: the friend reasons that the boy will either become fed up with the hard physical work required and come back, or he excels, and Beriith's parents wouldn't be able to keep him home anyway, not long term. So, eventually, they relent and let Beriith go.

Under the guidance of an experienced warrior, Beriith indeed excels at his training. In his late teens, Beriith enlists into a local chapter of road guardsmen. While this sounds boring to the uninitiated, road guards are in charge of making sure the roads are safe to travel on... so they mostly fight and hunt monsters that get too close to roads or towns. His parents are sad to see him leave his hometown, and while he occasionally writes to them, he becomes distant from his parents almost by accident.

As a teenager Beriith hits a growth spurt before filling in, as some teenagers do, and there are awkward few summers where he is almost a full head taller than most other people he knows, while still a gangly teenager. I'll also take him until young adulthood, until his horns are fully grown. During this stage he hasn't fully internalized the size of his horns either, and awkwardly knocking into things with his horns is a sad but funny reality.

YOUNG ADULT: Beriith's young adulthood is good. He makes through the ranks fast, and is a reliable, loyal worker who is willing to push himself and also inspire others around him to try their best as well. He is skilled on the field, able to make split-second decisions on the fly, he is strong and dangerous. He is still serious and has a dry and sarcastic sense of humor, but during this time he has close friends and is generally well-liked by his peers. He starts a serious relationship with a woman named Paimona, who matches his energy well, and people around them think they will get married in the future and start a family. He continues to be distant from his parents (who have taken an apprentice) but he occasionally visits and writes to them still.

But things don't stay good forever. Gradually, as Beriith becomes older, he starts to take his work too seriously. He takes on more responsibilities; he's on the field as often as he can, and when he isn't, he does paperwork and administrative work. Or he's training. Or planning. Eventually, his friends get tired of being rejected, and largely leave Beriith to his own devices. His relationship with Pima suffers as well, and eventually Beriith breaks off their relationship over conflicting interests -- she wants a family and children, he wants to work and no children.

Having distanced most of his friends, Beriith focuses solely on work. He might've been heading towards a burnout, and perhaps his life would've turned around if he truly had experienced and gotten over it; maybe he would've healed and learned the importance of having friends and family around him. This never happens. Because a civil war breaks out, derailing everything.

ADULT: The monarchist faction of the Goet wants to reinstate the royal line that was dethroned several generations ago. This sparks a bloody civil war between the monarchists and people's union (an anti-monarchist faction who do not want to return to the days of royalty ruling over) that will take somewhat long time to resolve. Beriith serves on the people's union's side -- most of his peers share his values, and fight on the same side. But some do become monarchists, and Beriith must fight - and kill - several of them during the war.

The war keeps Beriith busy. It's not non-stop action, there are times when the civil war goes somewhat cold, or at least cooler, and there are moments of normalcy even during it. Beriith starts another serious relationship, with a woman named Vapula, who is a soldier like he is. She gets killed in combat later in the war, after making a rash decision, and Beriith develops horrible guilt over her death. Eventually, the people's union's forces the monarchist faction to back down. The monarchist's leadership is forced into exile, and a painful and slow rebuilding of the country begins. Beriith hopes to return to his pre-war work, but for a while he works as a manual laborer, helping to rebuild infrastructure.

At some point, he visits his parents, their hometown having survived the war relatively untouched. At this point they've basically adopted the apprentice they took, and he is more like the is the son they wanted, rather than Beriith, the son they had, but never really understood. The meeting is awkward. His parents have planned to give their business to their apprentice, and Beriith feels more like an outsider than anything. Beriith leaves feeling awkward, and while he doesn't know it, this is the last time he'll ever see or talk to his parents.

Beriith never gets to properly get back to his work, because not too soon after the civil war ends, the neighboring nation of the pseudomonarchia invade.

OLDER ADULT: The Pseudomonarchia invasion is worse than the civil war was. The exiled monarchist leadership collaborates with the invading force, giving them access to some intel and insider information. The Goet forces are scattered and unprepared, still recovering from the civil war. The Pseudomonarchia take over lands, but are willing to let the Goet stay, if they agree to become underclass. Some stay, but most choose to fight back and, eventually as the war becomes hopeless, flee. Beriith works in more organized military efforts, but also occasionally splinters off to work alone, utilizing his experience with the terrain and nature to guide refugee groups.

At some point during the war, Beriith is taken to a POW camp (pictured) where he spends about six months until a revolt lets him and several others escape. The camp isn't the worst it could be, but there is forced labor (it's re-education through labor kind of a camp) and while they actually get fed, it's not enough to let Beriith keep his bulk, so he actually loses muscle mass during this time, and this is pretty much the low point of his life.  Even after escaping, he is particularly unhinged, and spends the tail end of the war being dangerous, unpredictable and on so many uppers to keep himself upright.

Eventually, the Pseudomonarchia take over most of the Goet lands. The survivors either move to refugee settlements in nearby friendly areas, or are pushed to small territories unclaimed by the Pseudomonarchia. Most people alive during this time have lost friends and family, and there is currently little hope of any attempts at reclaiming land. The survivors start building new communities in areas they have settled in.

CURRENT: Beriith as he is in "current" time. After the war ended (though there are still occasional conflicts around the "new" border, so ended is perhaps a wrong word), Beriith lives in a community near the Northern Gnomish border. He has a house there but spends little time there. Suffering from an intense survivor's guilt he finds it hard to stay with his kin, and so he decides to become a traveling swordsman, working mainly as a bodyguard around the [name pending, but basically fantasy europe]. He has undiagnosed PTSD from his experiences, and he manages however he can (often not well).

Then, suddenly, one time when he is actually visiting his own home, he gets magically whisked away by a summoning ritual gone wrong and finds himself bound to the service of a certain mage...

[pep-the-artemis]

The age of MD characters

Ground rules. Not actual age because that's impossible to determine because we don't know a lot of information like how quickly WDs age, how old Uzi was when the DDs arrived (or how long after was she born), etc.

So basically, how old would they be if they were human.

Lets look at the canon evidence before going into theory territory.

Uzi is in a rebellious phase which can happen at any age but is most common in the range 11-13 years old.

In episode 3, the characters went to prom meaning they're ever in the yr11 or yr13 (basically in the age range 15-18). Since in episode 4 its shown they're still in school, we can conclude they're in yr11 (15-16 years old). for US peeps, yr11 is 11th grade and yr13 is 12th grade

In episode 1, we see the teens were given homework which was a word problem about watermelons. Although these are present in yr13, they're infinitely more common in y11 backing up the earlier segment.

In episode 4, its highly implied that the DD drones are older than Uzi's peers. This isn't conclusive by any means.

With the exception of Uzi and DD, all the teens are exactly the same height (which makes sense since they're robots) and all the adults are the same height being slightly taller than the teens. This means the teens aren't fully grown but the height difference isn't major so basically this backs up everything discussed earlier.

In episode 4 N refers to himself and V as 'kids' implying that they're adults or just barely adults.

Although far from definitive, I think most evidence points to the teens being ~16 years old with the DD being 17+ years old.

Now onto theory time.

I think Uzi is younger than her peers and was moved up a year or a couple in school.

First going back to the height point from earlier, it does seem height is only correlated with age (which makes sense for robots).

secondly, the reason she was moved up a couple years is because she's a genius. In the show, she's created a: sick as hell railgun, a device which allows her to steal someone else's sentience, and a device which allows her to inception into peoples minds.

Thirdly, her anti-social behaviour and detachment from her peers mirrors a lot of experience of children who were moved up a year.

So, how old is Uzi? to avoid nuzi becoming too... controversial, I think she's 15 and was only moved up 1 year.

Cyn is even harder to age but since she is even smaller than Uzi and from her personality, I think she's in the age range 10-13, my instinct is telling me 12 years old which is much older than what the fanon usually present her as.

For *those* creators, I do think you can make a very persuasive argument that the whole cast (except Cyn) is 18+.

I also want to mention there's a lot of leeway with these numbers and headcanon age can we whatever you want, personally I think J is 30 years old.

I wonder what everyone else thinks or if there's any strong evidence i missed.

[meruz]

hi im putting all my asks in one post again. these are from like the past month and a half approx? some digimon thoughts some tmnt thoughts some art musings u know the usual

@waywardistics YAYY thank you so much for ordering! I'm glad it got to you & that you are enjoying it!

this is kind of a missive to everyone who ordered but: I am very nervous about pre-orders whenever I do them... nervous that not very many people will order, nervous that there will be supply chain or production dilemmas and I won't be able to get copies out to people in a timely fashion, nervous about having people's money but having an indeterminate amt of time where i have not yet "held up my part of the bargain" etc etc SO. THANK U GUYS...FOR ORDERING and being patient and im so glad it got to y'all

@seanonthemoon (idk why i cant tag u BUT) interesting... i gotta be honest I don't think abt the crests that much. i agree that they're very much like heres the "girl" crest heres the "nerd boy" crest etc to the point that it becomes almost meaningless. but i think what makes them even more meaningless to me, and is probably the reason they kind of designated girl/boy crests etc is that i think like the digivices they're toys and merchandise more than they are actual narrative tools LOL. I wouldve loved something with cody and mimi! theyre both so deeply empathetic and sensitive.. theres a lot they share but i think because they look so different on the surface it would make it difficult to market that merch...booo capitalism boooo toy marketing its all sexist bullshit at least here in the u.s. idk if japan is that different though.

I'm actually a little frustrated with how often 02 and 02 related media squanders cody in general lol. he feels like a parallel of izzy, joe, and TK(season 1 tk) while also being kind of none of those and suffering through lackluster characterization as a result... and then once ken joins the team it feels a little redundant. there's a couple cody-centric eps of 02 I remember really liking but then i think abt how he's been used since in like post-series content and 02:the beginning where they made him type on the computer even though obviously that's yoleis thing but because he had nothing else to do and aghh... my blood boils. i feel like the youngest but most serious anime achetype even at its bare bones is actually rly interesting idk why they don't play it up. UM. Once again my opinion is that he should be taller LOL and maybe they should play up his kendo martial arts honorable training stuff more idk. tallest + youngest + most serious just seems like a recipe for success for me. well. theres still time. and theres always fanfic.

THIS IS SO NICE TO SAY and not the first time someone has said it but i appreciate it everytime because i really admire the mm art style so much. It's like part of why I got really into the movie because I really recognized my own artistic sensibilities and aspirations in the way they stylized everything.

UM And i feel like since watching the movie and looking at all the concept art and making my own art i do feel like its only become more obvious how much my own art is lacking LOL LIKE when you see something that feels so similar I think the differences only become more stark. those artists are definitely on a different level than me. But it's nice to hear people say it doesn't look so different from their pov. thank u ^^

thank u!!!!!!! i love mundanity and naturalism... there's something so beautiful abt it to me lol... I feel like my anatomy needs work actually but ive been feeling better abt it this year so it's good to hear! thank you!

DLKGDSGDLALSNDF WAS IT TOO FAR..?? firstly, yeah I was thinking late teen/young adult ages for both of them ie 18-19ish, definitely not the age the kids are in the movie lol.

but also they arent DOING anything in that pic it is literally just a confrontation + some innuendo... I think teens should be allowed some less than subtle innuendo.. its like one of the top 3 classically teen pastimes...

this is such a funny ask to get because i feel like i haven't been able to do thin lineart until like. this past year or two maybe LOL. UM having a line-centric art job helped I think. I started on craig of the creek back in 2022 and thats a show where we spend a lot of time inking so I had a job where I was constantly moderating my line weight 40 hours a week every week for over a year. disappointingly, much of improvement is simply horrendous amounts of practice.

Here's a tip though: I think a lot of thin lineart boils down to confidence. I think instinctively we read thick, bold, fast lines as confident but theres actually a lot of obscuring you can do with a thick line. if you're not sure whether the nose on the face or a browline should be a little more left or a little more down you can hide that with a thick line and pretend its a shadow. or hide it with a bunch of quick lines and the eye can kind of approximate where looks best among the mass.. whereas a thin line is rly singular and stark and hides nothing, it needs to be precise. so anytime i know i want thin lineart i spend a LOT of time sketching, making sure i know exactly where i want my lines to go. so im not second guessing by the time im inking...

ok thats kind of a broad tip lol... here's one thats more applicable: IF POSSIBLE, lower your pressure sensitivity on your device. most devices have some way to edit your pressure sensitivity curve. I use a surface pro at home and this is what my pressure curve looks like most of the time.

When I work on a wacom it looks even more like a reverse L shape LOL. I'm naturally a really heavy-handed artist and I use a "light" or "hard" pressure curve to compensate for how hard I'm always pressing on the pen lol. if you're like me and you struggle with going too hard with the ink too fast... this will probably help a lot!

SFHASLDFH I LOVE THIS ASK this is like the type of question a person gets asked when chalk drawing on the sidewalk at recess LOL. but i understand because I've been struggling also for like. months. I think I'm finally starting to nail it down though so here's some of my observations.

[feel free to save this img but **please do not re-post it or share broadly**. my biggest fear in the world is to spend 30 min on some notes and become a widely proliferated art tutorial im not even kidding. i made it low contrast and difficult to read on purpose.]

my other tip is to just look at and study a lot of reference because that's all ive been doing. the tmnt are really cartoony so its difficult to use like actual anatomical reference unless ur going for that look BUT theres been so many adaptions in so many different styles that there's a real treasure trove of stuff to look at for how to simplify, stylize, and dissect these characters while keeping the recognizable essence. so theres lots to pull from.

If you want to expand further, it's also good to have 5) something sci-fi 6)something fantasy 7)something mundane/slice of life. a bedroom is a really good go-to. And of course some bgs can be two or more of these things at once.

I've definitely answered asks abt bg tips before but here's one specifically for if you want to do bg design for a job:

Your portfolio should probably have at least one of each of the following 1) an interior 2) an exterior 3) a cityscape 4) a nature scene. Just to cover kind of the basics of what you'd be asked to draw on any given project.

I actually feel like I don't have that many cityscrapes in my portfolio... this is something I'm gonna try to work on in the coming year LOL. OH ALSO. This is a very basic tip and people will tell you it all the time but its worth repeating: look up portfolio websites of artists who have the job you want. An easy way to do this is to go onto imdb for any cartoon or movie you like and to find the names listed as "bg/background designer" or whatever then just google that name +"art" or "animation" most artists have some public facing internet presence so it's not hard. spend time studying their work and hold those images in your head! it's a good way to get a good idea of what "industry standard" looks like and comparing ur own art to it... I know people sometimes get bummed comparing their art to others but if you can keep your head up lol.. it'll help you figure out what you need to work on!

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ok thats all i have to say sorry for typing so much. happy new year everybody who read this far LMAO!!!!!

[froggiebi-moved]

i swear nothing has been so validating and helpful to hear than other intersex people with pcos explaining that they had an alternate puberty than what we were taught to expect - because i did, too.

the first sign i had that i was entering puberty was the development of acne at age 8. even as a kid i knew how weird that was, as everyone around me still had nice, smooth skin, while i was the kid in the photographs covered in red bumps. it was humiliating.

as i travelled further into puberty, my boobs and body hair developed as expected, though the boobs got way too big too fast, and the body hair was patchy (but at least easier to maintain). my hips developed, too, but i always felt more top heavy due to the growth of my boobs, as well as the fact that my body type already had a longer torso and big tummy, the latter being a very common pcos thing. i had also been tall until i suddenly stopped growing at 14, giving me a squarely average height and dooming my legs to be forever short. i'm not kidding; at 11, i was about an inch shorter than i am now. i grew a measly 3cm in as many years, and that was it for me. i am now 164cm (5'4") despite my parents and all my siblings being taller.

as a teen, i tried to focus on how i was just like the girls now, how we shared this commonality (even if i had extreme dysmorphia from my body developing somewhat differently), but i couldnt help but be preoccupied with the state of my skin. i noticed the boys were not only more likely to have acne or to develop it early, they were more likely to have severe acne than the girls. my acne began to spread over my chest, shoulders, and back, and some zits were particularly painful and/or itchy. i didn't have cystic acne, but it was mild to moderate on almost every inch of skin down to my armpits. i thought of myself as a monster, fated to be the ugly, overlooked friend, the weirdo who couldn't get a boyfriend as they kept having crushes who didn't like them back - fairly typical teenage concerns to be sure, and one that i couldn't even express as different to my peers' as we were all hormonally haywire. even my irregular periods and heavy cramping seemed normal, because it was hard to find a teenage girl without a single experience of irregular periods and heavy cramping.

all the girls talked about using proactiv, clearasil and neutrogena to battle their pimples, and i tried what my mother was willing to buy for me, even dicey balms she found on ebay, but nothing helped; not until i went on the combination pill at 16. until then, i understood the boys who straight up pretended they didn't have it because either nothing worked, or there was nothing socially acceptable they could do about it - what millennial teenage boy would ever wash their face with specialised soap? don't worry boys, because i tried it, and it didn't do shit; the pill, however, was like a miracle cure. it didn't clear my acne up 100%, but it got better by at least half, and the redness calmed down. my face now seemed just as pimply as most other 16 year old girls, and i couldn't be happier.

i wasn't diagnosed with pcos until i was 19, after a decade of suffering and hating myself and questioning what was wrong with me and begging my mother to take me to a specialist. she even told me that as a teenager she only got pimples when she was due for her period, but didn't make that same hormonal link for me because i had pimples all the time. the constant dismissals and blaming, the shit like "you just need to be more hygienic! here, put toothpaste on your skin!" - it was all infuriating, and only succeeded in bringing my self-esteem down further.

the diagnosis helped a lot with helping me let go of a lot of the self-blame and shame i developed alongside my symptoms, but as an adult i have had other associated issues. since giving birth to my son, i have been growing facial hair that steadily became more and more noticeable, and it now has to be removed every week or so - just like my body hair, it's patchy, so i can get away with leaving it for a few days, despite it growing at the same rate as a typical beard. pregnancy changed my body and made that "topsy turvy" feeling even greater, as my bust is now far larger than my hips, despite women's clothing accommodating for the opposite. (though to be fair, this is also genetic, as my mother was more top heavy than i am; it's just another factor in the struggle of accepting my body.)

on top of all that, i have been struggling to understand my gender for the last decade, coming to the realisation i am nonbinary but itching to know what "flavour", trying on a bunch of different labels (mostly multigender ones that hover around agender), knowing i had dysphoria but not really understanding how as it differed to most accounts told by afab people. due to how my hormones work, as well as my nebulous dissatisfaction with my body, i figured i had to be a transmasc, or at least equally masc to fem. however, the more i heard trans women's stories pre-transition, the more i realised i could relate to them, and that i was doing the same thing - trying to conform to what i felt i had to be, though for me it was more that i didn't feel "womanly" enough to deserve being called one, despite wanting to be involved in the collective of women. trying to pigeon hole myself as transmasc or even completely agender wasn't realistic for me, and the reason my dysphoria was so great was because i wanted to be fem and to feel that i fit in - with women.

this whole confusing journey has been aided by my making the connection between dysphoria and pcos, finding out pcos is considered an intersex condition by the intersex community, being acceped into the community, and growing to understand just how complicated gender can be for us; i'm far from the only intersex person in this boat, despite sailing in it alone for quite some time. i've been calling myself a nonbinary woman / agender woman for a while now, and it feels right, even if it seems counterintuitive to perisex people. but i'm done trying to make myself palatable for perisex people, especially perisex cis people. i am intersex, and nonbinary, and a woman, and the "nonbinary" part modifies the "woman" part, and the way in which i am nonbinary and a woman is further influenced by my intersex status and bisexuality. and all of that is okay.

we are who we are, and when you have a community behind you, it'll quickly absorb the limitations you've put on yourself all your life. i see that now.

*terfs do not fucking interact*

[charbon-et-feu]

I got this ask on my art blog within minutes of posting that Hoenn boys bunny art so I'm pretty sure that's what prompted it. I don't want to clutter my art blog with this nonsense, so I'm not going to answer it there, but I do want to dissect it a little bit.

"You're not even trying to age him up or anything"

It's fascinating (and sometimes a little concerning) to get a glimpse of what people's standards are for what makes a fictional character look like an adult. I can usually see where people are coming from when they assume that a character is young based on their appearance, but it's annoying when people confidently say that a character must be a child if they're drawn a certain way, and then go on to assume the worst of an artist if they draw something a little spicy. It's already difficult to guess most people's ages irl, so it's silly to think you can reliably guess the age of a fictional character drawn in an anime/cartoon style.

People come in all shapes and sizes. People from some East Asian countries tend to be shorter and younger looking, and then you have people from Scandinavian countries who are typically super tall. Idk where anon is from, but a lot of the people who like to fuss over the ages of fictional characters are from the US. This is crazy to me because the US is such a diverse melting pot, so you would think that someone living here would understand that there's no one-size-fits-all definition for what an adult looks like.

And none of this even really matters when you're talking about fictional characters. They're not real. They're objects, dolls that we play dress up with and smush together and use to tell stories. We throw them on a stage to entertain us. Sometimes, it's heartwarming or funny or sad, and, sometimes, it makes us uncomfortable. Oftentimes, we put them through hell, but no matter what, they can't hurt us, and we can't hurt them. So, it's a safe way to explore our ideas and try to understand ourselves and our world a little better.

It's so strange when people judge someone based only on what they enjoy in fiction and art. It really doesn't matter how I draw Brendan or any other character, so I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing. But I do want to try to dig into why anon thinks that I'm not aging up Brendan at all, because I think it's interesting to analyze and try to understand the thought process behind comments like these. Feel free to take this next bit of rambling with a grain of salt. I'm mostly just speculating based off anon's ask and similar arguments that I've observed from people who try to argue that a character looks too young to be an adult.

For reference, here's the art that (most likely) prompted the ask:

When I draw Brendan, I'm usually going for older teen/young adult. I did make him a little skinnier than I would have liked here, but he still looks like he could be anywhere from a teen to a baby-faced adult. So why does anon see a child?

I'm guessing one of the main reasons is that Brendan is short. And since Wallace is super tall, it makes Brendan look even smaller. Most of the characters don't have canon heights, but I've seen people estimate Wallace's height at a little over 6'(183cm) by comparing character models in Pokemon Masters, and Steven is a few inches shorter than Wallace. I go with 6'2"(188cm) for Wallace and 5'11"(180cm) for Steven. I think most of the protags are under 5'(152cm), but I make Brendan at least 5'5"(165cm). Even with the extra inches, Wallace still makes him look small lol. Here's a little chart I made for myself a while ago so you can see what I mean.

Could I make Brendan taller? I guess I could, but I'm not going to. The height difference is part of the appeal for me. It's fun to draw, and with certain poses, it can be an interesting challenge. Also, short men exist, and they're valid.

I'm guessing the other reason anon sees Brendan as a child is because I drew him pretty cutesy and baby-faced compared to Steven and Wallace. In the bunny pic, Brendan's bashful expression and somewhat feminine pose and outfit also add to the cuteness. I like to keep the somewhat big, rounded eyes from his canon design, but I do the same thing when I draw Akari/Dawn, and I haven't gotten any angry asks about my volokari art. I just like to draw Brendan cute. Is that the problem? Can someone not be perceived as a man if they give off too much cute, feminine energy? Hmm... That kinda smells like toxic masculinity.

I can't help but wonder if anon is letting common stereotypes rooted in traditional patriarchal USAmerican gender norms poison their perception of what a man should look like. "Real" men must be tall, strong, rugged, etc, and if they don't meet those strict standards then they must be either a boy or a woman. (Similarly, women must be short, dainty, soft, have big boobs, etc, but this is about Brendan so we won't get into that.) If you transfer this mindset to stylized art of fictional characters, I can see how anon arrived at their conclusion. But this way of thinking is close-minded and objectively wrong because the average, white USAmerican's view of the world is not universal. What about short, feminine men? Flat chested women? Trans men? Are we not allowed to draw and sexualize these types of characters? Kinda sucks for all the short kings and petite women out there who want to see a character that looks like them get railed by their favorite blorbo of the month. Sorry guys, you must be this tall if you want a fictional character with your body type to be sexualized. No fun allowed.

Maybe I'm wrong and it's not that deep, but this is how ridiculous people sound when they start breaking out the rulers and measuring the art of fictional characters to determine if it fits into their (often inconsistent) standards of what an adult looks like. Now, I do understand that certain types of art can make people uncomfortable, and that's perfectly valid. I also have a certain threshold for when a character starts to look a little too young and I'm no longer comfortable seeing them depicted in certain ways. When I come across art like that, I just unfollow/block/mute and move on. It's not that serious and definitely not a good reason to jump into some random person's inbox to harass them.

Also, I don't want to get into this topic too much (since this is already really long) but I think it's worth noting that these types of comments usually only start popping up when the art has sexual elements to it. Young Shounen Anime protagonists experience varying degrees of violence regularly, but I can't remember the last time I saw someone question the morals of those creators. Why does the pearl clutching only happen when creators try to dive into sexual territory with fictional characters? Just something I wish these people would take the time to think about.

Anyway, anon can think I'm weird if they want, but I think the assumptions they're making say a lot more about them than they do about me. I'm just here to have fun and draw cute anime boys, and Brendan just happens to be my favorite doll rn. I enjoy playing dress up with him, and sometimes that means he's gotta get in the bunny outfit. It's fine. He's having fun. He told me himself.

I didn't mean to ramble this much, and I don't usually like engaging with discourse, but I had some thoughts, and I wanted to get some of them out. I love art. I think creators should be free to make whatever beautiful, weird art they want, so I think it's important to push back against this behavior when we can. But if I get more asks like this, I promise I won't respond to them often.

If you made it to the end, thanks for taking the time to read all that. I don't usually talk much, so when I do, it's nice when people listen. As a reward for your efforts, please accept this unfinished Steven art.

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

One thing that always hit me in Bleach fandom is that some people see Hitsugaya as a literal child in the main history, even tho we get glimpses of his childhood - and a lot of Hinamori haters use that as an argument of why hitsuhina would never happen. I particularly see him as a young teenager with an obvious problem of aging (😂) and I’m glad to see blogs just like yours that perceive his youth, but doesn't put him as a kid and also explore his feelings towards things and people who are dear to him in a way really loyal to the character (because putting him acting as an adult also give me awkward vibes, you know). Just a thing I was minding, you can take it as a compliment, I guess.

Sorry for the late reply anon!

I want to start off this response by saying for anyone who does see Toshiro as being a child, more power to them if it helps appreciate his character more.

I have to admit one of the main reason I saw him as a teenager in the beginning is because I was a teen myself when I started reading BLEACH and assumed any character who didn't obviously look like an adult/child/elder or had an ambiguous age was probably a teenager. That's probably a weird reason, but that's how my brain worked while reading BLEACH at that age ^^;

There were other factors too, like his reactions to others referring to him as a child, the flashbacks to his childhood, and that he was able to pass as a student at a high school.

His reactions in particular are what convinced me he's not a child, they struck me as not just someone who was demanding respect for his high ranking position but also as someone who's sick of people thinking he's a child because of his appearance. I've always seen it as because of his short stature and maybe a baby face, everyone mistakes him for being a child when he's actually a teenager.

As for the flashbacks, when I compare his appearance from back then to the one in the main story, to me there's a noticeable different. As a child, his eyes and face are rounded and he's obviously shorter. In the main storyline, his eyes shape changed (perhaps to reflect the change he underwent as a Shinigami), making them look more narrow and sharper, his face is slightly sharper, and he's taller (not by much but).

Then there's the recent revelation from Kubo that Toshiro is actually older than Momo. I've seen most people take this to mean he's literally older than her, which would strongly suggest he isn't a child, because then how old would that make Momo (who is definitely not a child)? If this interpretation is the correct one, then I'm okay with that. However, as I've mentioned before, I've actually taken this to mean he's been in the Soul Society longer than she has (if you're interested, you can read more on it here).

In the end, as stated many times on here, aging in BLEACH is weird. How come Unohana isn't as old looking as Yamamoto if they existed together long before the Soul Society was established? What the heck is going on with Kyouraku and Nanao's families? The list goes on.

Also, thank you for your kind words too, I'm glad that's how my writing comes across for him :D I find it interesting to explore how someone like Toshiro reacts to things, whether they're mundane or life and death situations. While not a child, he's still a minor who has put himself in a world of huge responsibility, and death and violence. How does someone that young, despite being a prodigy and having a mental maturity that's suitable for the role, think and feel about what he does? How does he view those around him? How does it affect his relationships? What kinds of memories does he keep from his past and how are they different someone else his age? It's all interesting to me.

Anyhow, I'll leave it here. Thanks for sending this in! :D

[yutaan]

I can't believe I have to ask this with my own mouth and type this with my own two hands but.... will you ever drop the rita+dio heights 👀?!?!? Honestly I'm jk because they have that mechafiction thing going on so it's nice to leave it up to imagination but I'm just tickled pink the way you refer to him as tiny or 'comparatively' small. Rather than an actual height, is Dio small compared to the average person or just his super cool and adoring, amazing and loving tall gf Rita? From the mash up drawings I've seen, Dio is always the smallest person on the page :3 I love a confident little man in charge so I adore Dio and Rita and their dynamic <3 The caption about him being in distress because his gf was out of shot in distress had me cracking up lolol

Darlingest anon I cackled SO hard when I got this ask; thank you for being interested in my motorcycle kids!! And you are in luck: Even though I usually don’t get too fussed about how tall characters are, this is the one project I have where I did work out out everybody's heights. If you don't want to know exact answers, I'll just say that Dio is, in fact, Tiny specifically when compared to Rita. He's of pretty average height! Even a little taller than average! She's just QUITE tall.

And if you do want the exact measurements, Dio is 5'5 (and a half)! Rita is 6’3 in her bio body and 6’4 in her mechanical proxy body so next to her he simply looks like a bean rather than a beanpole. AND the rest of the main cast actually ALSO skews quite tall so he just… appears short most of the time. He doesn’t mind! It's rad! His girlfriend is tall and amazing and can lift him up with one arm and he is THRILLED about it.

Rita and Dio are in their late teens in the main part of the story, so it’s possible they both could still grow slightly? They’ve pretty much reached their full adult heights, though; it would be a very minor difference.

[articus-icecream]

HELLOOOO <333 could u tell me about your mml/pistachion hcs? :D

EEEEEE OKOKOK LEMME GET MY THOUGHTS IN ORDER-

Their skin is rough(because it's bark) but their bodies/muscles are squishy (like us humans! :D)

They only eat meat and have a huge prefrence for human meat

I feel they would have mixed feelings on deez nuts jokes. Some like them and some find them offensive. It depends on the pistachion really

The 'adult age' for them is 30 years

Speaking of ages, by a 100 years one starts to asexually reproduce by having a pistachion tree grow out of their nutshell and sprouts growing from the branches. King pistachion has been the only instance though (I'm not sure about Derek-)

If you were to cut one of their limbs open you'd see rings that show their age

Despite their looks, their anatomy is similar to humans! They vaguely have the same organs and stuff, though their blood is like a thick yet liquidy sap.

They have a way higher immune system and stamina, toughness, strength though.

King pistachion had cried tears of joy once he realized he became a father.

Child pistachions are about 4'9 ft, teen pistachions are about the average size of a human adult and full adult pistachions are taller than human adults! Their height can range from 7ft to 9ft! King is the tallest one (15 ft) and Derek would become the second tallest one! (12-13 ft!)

Despite hating humans they do have standards. None of them would hurt a human baby. They'd simply leave it somewhere safe.

They don't know why they hate humans. Some say it's instinctual. Some would say that they simply want to protect nature from humans. But most of them would avoid that question.

They're neutrual towards insects, but they love bees and butterflies the most!

They hate all birds, espiecally wood peckers.

A lot of them have the same name, so they use numbers to differentiate themselves better

All the female pistachions we have seen are trans. KP is a lil confused/uneducated about lgbtqia+ stuff but he's still supportive :D

Speaking of the female pistachions, since their hair comes from under their shells then it would mean that the other pistachions have hair as well.

Some pistachions would wonder what it would be like to have a human as a friend or as a romantic partner...xtheyxarexallxvirginsxixmeanxwhatx

Sibling wars are LITERAL. But they mostly end in peace and hugs :p

They're love language is physical affection!

The leaves on their lower body are their equivalent of clothes.

Eating pistachios is a hate crime for them.

They're pretty neutrual towards other types of plants that aren't in the nut family or trees but they still take offense at any harm done to them.

They sleep in gardens. Like, half buried in the ground. They can also sleep in beds just fine :p

If a limb is cut off they can just easily regrow it. But if their shell gets damaged there's nothing they can do.

They're all pretty emberrassed that their main weakness is dog piss. Espiecally KP, he's ashamed of it.

I think that's mostly it tbh! I apologize(not really /hj) for no hcs on the other characters ¦p

[robinade]

Mandalorian Obi-Wan

Winner from my ask-meme poll was a request for 1k of this!

FYI this isn't a young Obi-Wan is raised as a mando (which I have read and enjoyed a lot of!). I was more interested in what it would take for Obi-Wan as an *adult* Jedi to get drawn into mando culture. Unrelated this is also my slut!Obi-Wan manifesto.

Official summary is TBD but the general idea is that Obi-Wan needs to take up the armor he once wore temporarily as a teen on that mission to Mandalore. That means finding an armorer, and results in getting involved with the mando diaspora on Coruscant.

Fic snippet:

The spire where Dooku is being held has had the turbolifts switched off, for security’s sake. 

Did they take Dooku up to his cell first, Obi-Wan wondered, or did they make the ex-Count ex-Jedi climb the stairs the whole way? Possibly one would be too out of breath to manage any type of escape attempt, because Obi-Wan himself is drawing on the Force just to keep up appearances. The Temple guard escorting him doesn’t seem to be having any problems, featureless and unperturbed in their hood and mask. Obi-Wan finds himself ruefully self-conscious of the sweat dampening his back and temples. 

The guard takes him to a point perhaps midway up the spire, judging by the occasional view out to the Coruscant skyline, and through multiple sets of blast doors until Obi-Wan is face to face with Yan Dooku, apart from the orange energy shield in between them. 

He’s a pale-skinned human, with piercing eyes under thick-set eyebrows and a hawkish nose. His hair is cropped short and with a neatly trimmed beard, both going white with age but, like many Jedi, Dooku carries his age lightly and stands straight-backed and tall. Handsome, in an austere way. His broad shoulders narrow to a slim waist and his short black tunic does little to disguise a pair of well-formed legs. The most notable thing about his appearance, apart from his height, are the Force suppressing cuffs that shine at each wrist. 

He might even be taller than Qui-Gon was, Obi-Wan thinks with some asperity. What is with this lineage and their unnecessarily tall humanoids? Even Anakin is likely to outgrow him, judging by the size of the boy’s hands and feet. 

“Grandmaster,” Obi-Wan says with a polite nod. “I understand you were asking to speak with me?” 

“Padawan of my padawan,” Dooku says formally. “Yes, I do wish to speak to you.” Interestingly, he doesn’t show a hint of deference. They might as well have bumped into each other at a restaurant, for how little attention Dooku pays to the fact that he’s in a cell. 

“Why me, if I may ask? It does seem odd that you want to speak to someone you’ve never met rather than your own master,” Obi-Wan says mildly, as if the answer really isn’t that important to him. In point of fact, Yoda had been so shocked at recent events– Palpatine’s murder, Dooku’s confession– that he had stepped down as Grand Master of the Order. Dooku’s silence on his motivations certainly wasn’t helping. 

“Does it seem odd?” Dooku replies evenly. “It is not my intent to be secretive.”

Considering Dooku refused to talk to anyone, including his judiciary-assigned defendant, Obi-Wan doesn’t dignify that comment with an answer and merely raises an eyebrow. 

“It was a calculation, as in my current position I have no leverage but information. I didn’t think the High Council would be favorable of me speaking to you unless curiosity made them desperate,” Dooku explains. 

Obi-Wan has to concede the point, having been present during much of the Council’s deliberations. He wasn’t on Coruscant when Dooku was first remediated to Jedi care– Judiciary forces not being sure they can keep a powerful former-Jedi like Dooku contained– but he’d been in meetings with Master Windu and the Council nearly since the moment he landed planetside with Anakin. 

At first, Obi-Wan wasn’t sure why. He’d never met the man who trained his master, since Dooku left the Jedi order to become the Count of Serenno about the same time that Qui-Gon accepted Obi-Wan as his padawan, so he had no insight as to why Dooku would choose to assassinate the High Chancellor. Then it was revealed to him that Dooku had asked for Obi-Wan by name– no wonder the Council had grilled him mercilessly. Frankly, If Obi-Wan had been anywhere in the system (instead of wading through knee deep mud on a mission close to the outer rim) he would be under suspicion as an accomplice to be sure. 

Obi-Wan eyes the other man, standing calmly with his arms crossed. Was it luck, or did Dooku deliberately wait until his grandpadawan had an airlock-alibi? Obi-Wan would assume he was thinking too highly of himself to consider such a thing, but then Dooku asked for him specifically… 

“The fact of the matter is, Knight Kenobi, that the Sith were not destroyed on Ruusan, as the Jedi believe. They lived, carrying on their plans for the defeat of the Jedi and subjugation of the galaxy in secret. The downfall of the Republic would not come from an overwhelming outside force this time, but from the cancerous spread of darkness within.” Dooku’s tone of voice is serious, almost lecturing. He doesn’t sound like a prisoner. Instead, he sounds like a politician, or perhaps a scholar. Albeit one whose curriculum has driven him to madness. Sensing Obi-Wan’s doubt, Dooku harrumphs at him. “You doubt my words?”

“I think those who seek darkness are bound to find it, grandmaster,” Obi-Wan says truthfully. “Whether that is Sith or otherwise remains to be seen.” 

He expects annoyance from the other man, but instead Dooku smiles thinly. “You are cautious. That is good. Still, whether you believe me or not, the Sith line of Darth Bane continued unbroken… until now, when I killed Darth Sidious, who was the apprentice to Darth Plagueis. The line of Bane ends with me, for I’ll not train another.” 

Obi-Wan stands still as stone, inwardly reeling. What a statement to make! First to claim that Chancellor Palpatine of all people was a Sith lord– and it could only be Palpatine, for Dooku so carefully arranged the murder to affect no bystanders; even the chancellor’s guards were incapacitated by the planted bomb rather than killed. And then for Dooku to name himself among the Sith as well? Was he meant to take this nonsense seriously?

“It’s a very interesting claim to make to be sure, grandmaster,” Obi-Wan says thoughtfully, stroking his beard with a recently formed habit. “You might try to plea that you were saving the Republic with the death of Chancellor Palpatine– a chancy matter, unless you have some sort of evidence. But then to also claim to be a member of our old enemies, the same as the chancellor, rather detracts from that statement, don’t you think?”

Dooku deigns to snort at this comment. “I have no interest in saving the Republic. The governing body has grown rotten and the powerful take what they want from the weak and rarely do they suffer repercussions. No, I think the Republic deserves what Sidious had planned for it. A civil war the likes of which hasn’t been seen in a millennia,” Dooku says, looking off into the distance as if he’s imagining it. “The bloated corpse of the Republic would shake itself to pieces and from the rubble a new empire would emerge.” 

Obi-Wan is finding it all too easy to imagine, unfortunately. The tensions between different systems, the conflicts between the outer rim and the mid, the Corporate sector expanding their territory and the Republic always conceding ground, the Hutts and the pirates branching out along further hyperlanes– and the Jedi, often scrambling from emergency to emergency and rarely able to impact genuine policy change that could bring peace that lasts longer than a few months. 

“What about the Jedi?” he asks faintly. 

Dooku brushes some unseen lint off his tunic dismissively. “Stagnated and chained to the Republic’s dissolving throne. A war would force the Jedi to change… or die. I was hoping for the former, of course. But if the Order could not adapt, well, I’m not sure it would deserve to remain.” 

Obi-Wan puts a hand over his mouth, feeling ill. He knew intellectually that Dooku had fallen, but now he can feel it in the casual disregard for life. No– there has to be more to it. There has to! If Dooku was truly lost to the dark, why had he worked to avoid any collateral damage in his attack on Palpatine? A planted bomb had ensured that Palpatine’s guards weren’t able to help him, but while there had been injuries there were no other deaths besides the obvious one. And he had stepped down from the role of Count months earlier in favor of his sister, so that kept Serenno from being implicated in the murder, much like the Jedi and Obi-Wan himself were able to be dismissed from being involved. 

“Why change your mind?” Obi-Wan desperately wants to know. 

Dooku glances away from Obi-Wan, looking awkward for the first time. “I received a visitation from Qui-Gon’s spirit,” he admits. “For a man who focused so much on the present while alive, his spirit has developed a strong sense of prescience.”

“That’s impossible,” Obi-Wan snaps. 

“You needn’t be upset about it, you were his first choice,” Dooku replied calmly. “But the Force is too muddled on Coruscant for him to be heard. He spent years trying anyway. And then he had difficulty finding you when you were on missions. The few times he managed it he was eclipsed by Skywalker’s power in the force.”

Obi-Wan couldn’t help but shake his head, refusing to accept it. “It’s a very interesting story, grandmaster, to be sure. You’re going to be locked up for many years– perhaps you can write novels to pass the time.” 

Dooku continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “Qui-Gon knew about the war that Sidious was planning, but more than that he could see the rebellion that came after, and the war after that. Whole planets obliterated! Their art and their cultures gone forever. The history of the Jedi lost, our artifacts destroyed or perverted…” Dooku trailed off, looking deeply troubled. 

Our artifacts, he said, Obi-Wan noticed. [insert more stuff here about what ob1 thinks about all this, and qui-gon’s ghost and stuff]

“I won’t allow it,” Dooku said finally. “Palpatine has been neutralized but there are still a few pieces still in motion that cannot easily be stopped. Knight Kenobi,” Dooku says formally, “there is an army being built in wild space that will determine the fate of the Jedi. You will be the one to find it, but you must take up your Mandalorian armor before you do.”