#this was a wonderful ask

[emry-stars-art]

Hello! I just wanted to say your art is gorgeous and I love the attention to detail you give to your work! This royal au is scrumptious and I'm so grateful you shared it with us! Second, for Jean's role, I was wondering what you thought about making him a blacksmith? It would make him useful for Riko without having any power (not a guard, etc.)but also give a reason for Jeremy to seek him out (and get swept off his feet), perhaps once he's escaped and is in Palmetto. Feel free to ignore tho!😊

IGNORE THE MENTAL IMAGE OF BIG POWERFUL BLACKSMITH JEAN MOREAU? SAFE IN THE UNNAMED TROJAN KINGDOM, BULKING UP AND FEELING ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE WORK OF HIS HANDS??? I WILL NOT

I’ve been really invested in the idea of the “perfect court” now that we’re in a royal au, and since Kevin and Riko were both technically royalty, Nathaniel was/had the potential to be a noble, I think Jean should also be high end?? Like while at Evermore they all have different duties right, maybe Jean was an attendant to Riko or something. Whatever he was there, we know he wasn’t treated well. Probably not allowed to pursue his own interests, just like everyone else.

But Kevin and Nathaniel both escape, and they find new jobs that fulfill them. So Jean should as well!! He gets to the Trojan kingdom, probably with the help of Renee still (which is. A whole thing about politics and family lines in this au strangely enough) and he doesn’t have to be a noble anymore if he doesn’t want to. He’s probably already renounced his nobility in the way he left Evermore. I don’t doubt Jeremy, who I’m imagining as another prince because that’s the image my brain gave me, would hesitate to reinstate him as Trojan nobility if Jean asked (as long as it’s far enough down the timeline obviously). Instead, Jean kind of slides under the radar, and once he’s all settled he finds work in the smithy. And he really enjoys it! He feels stronger and healthier and he gets to make such amazing things, he doesn’t even have to make weapons if he doesn’t want to. The workers all choose their own specialties and jobs, filling in gaps as needed

Then one day the royal family or the prince is making rounds, coming to see how things are running, and Jeremy is kind of wondering if he’s seen this blacksmith before? Like he’s pretty sure that’s a familiar face, but he definitely would have remembered seeing someone like him around the kingdom before now, so he brushes it off.

(Really he’s seen Jean Moreau at summits and other large gatherings, only once or twice. Back when Jean was much less healthy and when he still tried to make himself smaller to fit into Riko’s shadow. So yes he recognizes the face; but this is a much different man than the person he saw across grand halls.)

And for my lovely jerejean enjoyers: if Jean ends up talking to or in close proximity of the prince, for whatever reason? Jeremy can definitely blame his red cheeks on the heat of the forges 💫

Sliding a couple process pics under the cut

(Find the royal au writing masterpost here 💕)

[noka-exe]

doomed family

[druid-for-hire]

[image id: a four-page comic. it is titled "immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as “do not stand at my grave and weep”). the first page shows paleontologists digging up fossils at a dig. it reads, “do not stand at my grave and weep. i am not there. i do not sleep.” page two features several prehistoric creatures living in the wild. not featured but notable, each have modern descendants: horses, cetaceans, horsetail plants, and crocodilians. it reads, “i am a thousand winds that blow. i am the diamond glints on snow. i am the sunlight on ripened grain. i am the gentle autumn rain.” the third page shows archaeopteryx in the treetops and the skies, then a modern museum-goer reading the placard on a fossil display. it reads, “when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush, of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry.” the fourth page shows a chicken in a field. it reads, “i am not there. i did not die” / end id]

a comic i made in about 15 hours for my school’s comic anthology. the theme was “evolution”

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[fantastic-nonsense]

[kelddaa]

I was plagued by a vision

[notherpuppet]

Were you friends before? ⚔️🎀🪽

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

Stan forgets they’re old now sometimes

[morganbritton132]

17 year old, CEO Tim Drake canceling a press conference and then putting out a statement like, “Sorry for canceling last min, Alfred said that he was going to run my laptop through the dishwasher if I didn’t clean my room. I think he’d do it :/. Also, wasn’t really in the mood. Cya -Tim.”

[o0kawaii0o]

"Oh farmer! Good morning!"

[kabumisun]

read left - > right

she ace on my trap til i pola

[chloesimaginationthings]

This is Scott Cawthon’s biggest regret in FNAF..

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

PD-MDZS: The Hallmark Episode.

[akanemnon]

We don't talk about the scar