#though Pokemon was pretty early to

[catboycyrus]

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS ABOUT CYRUS BEING CANONICALLY AUTISTIC

well sure but I figured we all knew that for years due to his nature? One of the most obvious autistic characters ever invented right behind Fegan Floop of Spy Kids fame.

[spittyfishy]

This week I binge watched the Twilight Wings little Pokémon mini series thing all about the Galar region, and it inspired me to redraw an absolutely Ancient drawing of Nessa I did back when the first Swsh trailers were coming out (seriously lol, I went and checked and I drew the original in early 2019)

The old one was Rough lol, it was back when any digital art I did was just done on my phone drawing with my finger lol, but here it is for comparison

[moe-broey]

My all time favorite shiny hunts though ARE the oddly specific ones though. LIKE ESPP if they're full odds but have a gimmick to them --

Most famous one ofc is the HG/SS starter hunt!!! Where you can check all three starters for shininess before choosing one:

Unfortunately!!!! This guy has my deadname as the OT LMFAOOO but it was a cool hunt!! Just under odds (around 7000 resets)

BUT. THE SCARY OPTION.

Doing double battle hunts w any of the companions that can join you temporarily in DPPt is fucking WILD and STUPID and extremely rewarding! Unless if you somehow by some monkey paw's luck run into two shinies at once. Then your game freezes!!!!!!!!! 😇

MIRACULOUSLY I got my target though under odds (around 3000) no phases no game freezing catastrophies!!!! 🫡

They live in different files now! I. Have a bad habit of starting new files and then forgetting. And abandoning them at any point. And feeling like I need to start over again. BUT whenever I DO start over it's VERY cool to have a low level shiny to play through with!! 😅 And ofc in these files I can't really start anew without it being more trouble than it's worth, so. I may return. Eventually........

And. Not technically full odds but how could I talk Oddly Specific Hunts and not mention:

Sunchip................ (I have done the Odd Egg hunt more times than I can fucking count LMFAOOO -- honorable mention to Dizzy my Hitmontop as well idk where he is though and I hit image limit 🫡)

[gaydryad]

started my soulsilver playthrough (since I am reaching the point of Must Trade Pokémon From Other Games to complete my dex in heartgold) and actually playing with sound on more to appreciate the music and wow Silver's theme kind of goes hard. sorry for muting and using speedup through all your scenes in heartgold man. also sorry for your fucked up backstory. your tunes slap

[clamorybus]

i know it's memed a lot and outside of that a lot more eloquent people than i have discussed it, but it really is fucked up how so many things are seen as inherently bad when it's chinese

[mspeevee]

Yesterday was my first official shift and I fucked up twice pretty big but otherwise it was fine JXBGJFJFJ. My co-workers said I am doing really good I am sob

Apparently we have one coworker who is super rude but I've yet to meet them so we'll see. No mean customers yet < 3

[oh-meow-swirls]

my ranting about noko's color took attention away from this post i think but it's a good post. pokemon and yo-kai watch have such clearly different design principles that it makes this kind of thing really funny to me.

i think my favorite instances of pokemon and yo-kai with similar inspirations are the ones where you can barely tell they have the same inspiration. like. jibanyan and espeon are both based on nekomata. frostina/blizzaria and froslass are both yuki-onna. komasan and growlithe are both (at least according to bulbapedia on the latter cuz i really doubt it) komainu. honestly basically the only one i can think of where it's obvious are like. walkappa and lombre skdjfljfssfdsfdkljfds-

[om-nom-snom]

[Morning Routines]

Rika x reader, Milo x reader, Piers x reader

Rika <3

Rika is very rarely in a rush in the mornings

Waking up at sometime between 7-8am on a normal day, you'll often be stuck in bed with her snuggling you until then

Once she is awake you'll both be out of bed pretty quick, however

She's up pretty quick each morning to feed clodsire, the Pokemon's bottomless stomach getting it into trouble otherwise

After making sure all your Pokémon are sorted, Rika insists that the two of you make breakfast for yourselves

Usually still in cozy pyjamas, she pulls you into the kitchen and insists on 'helping' you to use a knife for anything

Rika just wants to wrap herself around you from behind

Once a very relaxed breakfast is over, she's finally ready to get dressed for the day

If you ever have any issues picking clothing, Rika is happy to pick for you

Though, she makes a few less than innocent comments in the process

"Those clothes look great on you babe, but you'd look better if they were on the floor-"

If you want to make your girlfriend quiet then you do have a secret weapon

Do up her tie for her

Rika can't look you in the eyes when you do, blushing, hardly able to hide how much she loves it

The precious pout on her face as she turns away is everything

With a couple kisses at the door, Rika tries to delay her departure to work, only leaving when you push her out of the doorway

Milo <3

Milo has always been an early bird in the mornings

Growing up on a farm will do that to a person

Before it's even light outside, you'll feel the rustling of your boyfriend getting out of bed

The soft sounds of of wooden drawers opening and closing, Milo attempting to get himself dressed in the near complete darkness of your room

He always tries not to wake you but he can't leave in the morning without giving you a quick kiss on the forehead

Overall, he's very quiet and efficient in the early morning

When you do get up you'll notice there's coffee waiting for you in the pot and some breakfast being warmed in the oven

Milo is always doting on you, even in ungodly hours of the morning

After a simple but relaxing breakfast it's not long until your boyfriend is back from the fields

A bit tired and already covered in dirt, Milo is more than happy to give you another kiss before washing up

After making himself the sweetest cup of coffee you've ever seen, the two of you finally have a bit of time to sit down and chat

"C'mon, six sugars are completely normal in a cup of coffee."

When Milo next heads out into the fields, expect an invite to come join him and his wooloo

Piers <3

Good luck getting out of bed anytime in the morning with this guy

Piers refuses to wake up before midday, and considering he spends all night on the stage or writing songs it's hard to blame him

You'll find yourself stuck wrapped up in the gym leaders arms, with his grip tightening every time you attempt to get free

He's quite content soaking in your warmth and catching up on sleep

He's a very heavy sleeper too, so if you want to try and wake Piers up you'll need to enlist help

Obstagoon

Your boyfriends ace pokemon is more than happy to weasel himself under the blankets before dragging a now half asleep Piers out of bed

The dark type does expect to be paid back in both breakfast and treats but it's worth it

With a grumble, Piers without fail always tries to run a hand through his bed hair before feeding the pokemon

It's somehow even wilder than it is usually, visible knots almost making you wince with the thought of getting them out

Piers is always a slow starter 'in the morning' and after settling the pokemon he's always happy to corner you in the kitchen for a few kisses

"We've got nothin' goin' on Doll, let's go back t' bed."

[chiisana-sukima]

nine people i want to get to know better

Thank you for the tag, @slutsons-blog! Starting a new post because I'm autistic and therefore mostly only care about the "Current Obsession" question, and want to ramble excessively as usual in that one.

Last song: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team: Pokemon Square because I'm currently playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon with my daughter. Otherwise I honestly couldn't tell you. Whatever was on in my car.

Fave color: Purple

Currently watching: Star Trek Discovery

Last movie: Knives Out

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet, tart, salty

Relationship: married x 27 years

Last thing I googled: the word "dependent", for spelling assistance. which is a good thing because I spelled it "dependant".

Current Obsession: it's been spn since 2016. Truly we are the Hotel California of media franchises. I did recently play Disco Elysium twice in a row in quick succession, and I follow the DE tag. I can't recommend the game highly enough.... but I can feel my Special Interest-level obsession with it fading already. Spn has never faded even a tiny bit and I wonder if it ever will.

@slutsons-blog I feel after reading that you're watching spn for the first time, that I did you a bit of a disservice with my Sam takes to you before in that I mostly talked about Sam's evolution as a character as the show goes on and very little about him from the first five seasons.

Gotta be honest and tell you that although I liked both brothers all along, I was a Dean girl until the end of s6/beginning of s7, when the balance of who gets whumped the most started shifting and my subconscious suddenly decided to switch allegiances. It's not that I liked Dean any less; my id just loves a sopping wet pathetic kitten of a man who has been sexually abused, and Sam got suddenly way more kitteny and pathetic after the Cage. So I don't actually have a ton of takes on "what to love about Sam in the early seasons". I do love early seasons Sam too--she is my beautiful baby princess--but my early seasons takes are a lot more inchoate.

I count myself lucky about my id's sudden defection though, because I think we have limited control of who our blorbos are, and having Dean as a blorbo is a tough row to hoe as the later seasons go along. You know how you noticed that in s6, Dean suddenly gets a lot more assholey without apparent reason? Unfortunately he never gets better again, and in fact keeps getting worse and worse as the years go by, until by the last seasons he is openly far more abusive to their joint child(-in-an-adult body) than John was to him and Sam. It's a realistic picture of what can happen when trauma keeps piling up on people, but it's also honestly pretty distressing, especially if he's your blorbo.

If one is in it for the ship, there's some good destiel content in the later seasons, but if you're in it for Dean, you're left either 1) dealing with the fact he's got extremely significant interpersonal problems that he never gets much of anywhere on solving and that negatively impact his chosen family in profound ways, or 2) pretending he's the same character he was in s1 and Sam is the same Sam from s1, only more boring, and Dean is just trying to put up with him because he was brainwashed by John (or ig 3- something in the middle between those two. But that seldom seems to happen in practice for whatever reason). These two versions of the show are poorly compatible, and that's how the Sam girls and the Dean girls end up in isolated silos. A few people manage to live in both, but not many.

Anyway, I feel like without the context of how Sam and Dean change in the mid to late seasons, the two fics I recc'd as Sam character studies are going to seem insanely Dean-critical, so if you haven't read them yet, you might want to wait until s10. In the meantime, the general recs are fun reads and hopefully do a good job of showcasing both characters earlier on.

Tagging (but I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't specify there's no pressure to respond, since I almost always fail at responding to tag games myself): @adihildilid @aliusfrater @quietwingsinthesky @sammygender @ardentpoop

@peanutbutterandbananasandwichs @schizosamwincester @normalbrothershow @jellybracelet.

[dovalore]

did you know? he's the guy that sells houses

design thoughts under cut

he got hit by the kittification beam, i'm afraid it's terminal

another design! this means i get to share the song that inspired it

he's not wearing a suit because i wanted to have fun with his attire and the actual suit kinda bores me, he's got a retro futuristic suit now!

i did try and keep the colours and placements somewhat similar so it's not as different as it could be, plus the monochrome works out when the rest of him is super vibrant

speaking of, i'm not entirely sure what he looks like without his suit, probably just really green

glorp was like, the starting point, but another cat that came into play was mew because y'know, cute little space cat, best mythical pokemon in existence

his antennae glow in the dark, so do his irises. actually, a fair amount of him glows in the dark (green bits on gloves, star on chest, purple bits on his tail and boots)

eyelashes? whiskers? why not both? he's an alien after all, i added them in pretty early on in my initial sketch because i wanted his head area to have a little more visual interest and it kinda made sense since the eyes on his skin already kinda float off his head

smooth to the touch (though whether it's because you're making contact with fur or skin is up for debate because i don't know either)

not really pictured: quasar is tall as fuck because his body is so damn long

theoretical champion design thought: he'd have rocket boots! complete with boosters at the bottom to help with jumps

his design is meant to compliment peekaboo's! together, they are peesar (pronounced pizza)

that's not the reason i chose the name, it's the title of a song and i was like... sure that's spacey enough let's roll with it even though there's not much else that came from there for him

[zarla-s]

I was cleaning up some broken links on my old silly Pokemon fansite, the Neglected Pokemon Lovers Unite (NPLU), and I realized that it has now been open for 25 years. TWENTY. FIVE. YEARS. That is an ASTONISHING amount of time for a site to stay open! Even if the last substantial update was like back in 2009 lol. The world around it has changed so much, but I think it's still valuable as a time capsule of a certain time on the internet. I wrote up a new essay about it on the site and did some general clean-up here and there.

Anyway to that end, since so much of the fic and art there is so old, I decided to compare Radic's oldest form to his newest! Radic was always a human boy but I just couldn't draw humans at the time so I made him a furry lol. Eventually I figured it out.

I also thought it'd be a neat challenge to mimic my own style back when it was really wonky and bad. And it was! It was kind of fun actually. I don't have too many shots of Radic from back then (it was hard to get art on the internet in the late 90's-early 00's), but I do have a few - hugging Kitsune, two old kiribans if you want to compare. I had a lot more old shots of Parasects though to reference unsurprisingly, they were very triangular lol. I think I did a pretty good job of matching what my art used to look like. I had a clear see-through Gameboy back in the day if you can't tell what Radic is holding lol.

("Isn't Radic the faceless avatar of your gamer self as depicted in Handplates-" yes, but Pokemon!Radic is the only one that actually became his own character, all the rest are shells)

If you do go poking around the NPLU, please keep in mind that almost everything there is very old and most of the fic and art is pretty bad (and shockingly violent). Plz do not judge me! My younger self was a cringey weeb but she was trying very hard. :<

[patreon]

[azurityarts]

1 and 4 for the pmd ask game please.

1. Favourite game(s) in the series?

Jokes aside, my personal rankings for the PMD games are:

Explorers

Gates to Infinity/Super Mystery Dungeon

Rescue Team

Sorry to all the og fans; I just have zero attachment to the rescue team games lol

4. What were your hero characters like before being turned into Pokemon? What did they look like and how were their lives? Do they ever recover any of their memories?

I'll be honest, I haven't thought about this question all too much, so the content here is somewhat subject to change!

(Gonna be excluding Explorers hero in this discussion cause they technically have a canon backstory set in the future and I haven't delved much into that—other folks have though and it's a super neat train of thought!)

I think each of my PMD hero characters probably entered the Pokemon world at different ages; Arcas and Brooke probably got yoinked in the early-teens, but Reese being PSMD Hero is kiiiinda up in the air if we're going with the story's canon (in these doodles she's about the age of the other Serene Village kids though, if not just a little older!)

One funny idea I had for Arcas was just that he was a Team Skull delinquent, but his rather dry humor and lack of expressions probably didn't change that much after getting turned into a Pokemon. Likely got more and more scraps of his old memories back, but overall it doesn't bother him much!

Brooke remembers all of her old life (GTI Hero is actually the only protagonist out of the entire franchise that canonically doesn't have amnesia), and she does not miss it at all—getting turned into a Pokemon probably helped her if anything!

Reese unfortunately kinda ends up in the same boat as Explorers Hero; the game's plot gives them a set backstory that I haven't thought about too much—but I do think she gradually pieces more and more of her amnesia together! it's probably pretty bittersweet?

Ask game questions here!

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you reviewed Ekans and Arbok yet?

Ekans is, shock of all shocks, a snake; probably a rattlesnake of some kind given the tail, though it also looks a bit like a ring-necked snake given the markings.

Visually, it's a least fairly striking. The purple makes for a nice base color and reflects its poison typing, while the high-contrast yellow neck, tail, underbelly and eyes compliment it well. I like the eyes a lot too, which are stylized to have a single vertical line as a pupil.

I will say that in some earlier art all of the ring on its body were yellow, and honestly I prefer it like that. It gives there a reason to have the otherwise random lines (Arbok has them but there it's more of a texture so it's not as odd), and it makes the design all the bolder. I do think it's a bit much combined with the underbelly, but I would've just dropped that entirely in favor of the stripes; it's curled up most of the time, so it's not like you see that element a lot.

Also, I think the mouth is a bit weird; no fangs (not that all snakes have fangs mind you), round shape, and a weirdly human tongue instead of a snake-like one. It doesn't need to have all three, but I do wish it had at least one of those elements, as the shape just looks strange and it comes across almost as more of a worm.

Unfortunately it doesn't have much going on with it conceptually yet, which isn't a huge deal given the design is decent. That said, I do wish they could've figured out a way to work the idea of a false face into this design as well, like if it had two false eye dots on the back of its head or something

also side note, what the fuck was going on with its early backsprite

Arbok immediately differentiates itself from its pre-evo by becoming more of a cobra and adding a theme by having a giant face face on the underside of its hood. This is a nod to how some cobras have vaguely face-like markings on their hood (though usually on the back instead of the front):

The face adds an immediate theme and something to remember it by, and it's a pretty neat design too: two orange eyes with yellow eye spots and a black outline along with a black mouth and black angry eyebrows. However, the biggest disappointment here is that for a few gens, Arbok was stated to have up to six different face patterns. We even have examples of some of them:

For some reason all of the different face variations were dropped around I think gen 4, and nowadays we always get the same face pattern. This was such a fun idea and it added a lot to the line, so why drop it? It's not like we haven't had Pokemon with different patterns before (Alcremie, Vivillon, etc.).

Anyway, face aside, the rest of the design is good too. The body is simple so it doesn't distract from the hood, and I really like the shape of the head and the way it has entire rows of teeth instead of just fangs (some early art, like what's shown above, does show it with two sets of fangs, but they seem to have decided against that). I just wish the colors were bolder, as this purple seems washed out. Some of its sprites show it as being much more vibrant, so I don't know why they didn't stick with that.

Anyway, a pretty decent line. Ekans is decent even if it's lacking in concept, and Arbok has a pretty neat thing going on with its hood, only hampered by GameFreak's insistence on not giving it different forms.

As a side note, this line seems like it would perfect for a mega. It's not unfinished as-is or anything, but it feels like there's a ton of potential for more cool designs here.

[narrat3333d]

ARAN RYAN HEADCANONS!!1! (explodes..starting w/ him bc he my fav..heart☹️)

FAMILY.

Declan Ryan. (Father, 52.)

Peigí Ryan. (Mother, 54.)

Aofie Ryan. (Older Sister, 25.)

Ronan Ryan. (Younger Brother, 19.)

Sean and Cian Ryan. (Younger Brothers, 16.)

GENERAL.

Previously worked as a Dockhand in the ports before he boxed, it’s where he gained most of his strength.

Knows how to swindle someone out of a pretty penny, his Ma taught him how to charm his way through any situation.

He began fighting as early as he could, (18). Though he’s most likely been illegally weaselling his way into professional matches before hand.

ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS gets up at 7:00am SHARP. If he doesn’t get up at 7am he’ll probably be up at 7:07, and if he isn’t up at that time he’ll be extremely pissed about it.

He uses an unhealthy amount of gel to get his hair to stay like that. No fucking way does it just do that thang.

Apart from that, he somehow has nice-ish hair despite how ratty and unkempt it looks, his Ma' and Aofie taught him how to care for his hair once he started growing it out.

Still lives at the Ryan Home, with his parents, and siblings, (though Aofie has moved out.she visits.) he’s WAY too irresponsible with his money to rent his own apartment.

Got surprisingly decent grades for how he acts.

He eats Lucky Charms for breakfast, but he usually only eats the marshmallows.

Learned Irish Stepdance from his Father, he’s trying to rope his younger brothers into learning it as well.

SOMEHOW. SOMEHOW still has his drivers license. He drives this really banged up looking car, each time he has to drive someone somewhere they exit the car hyperventilating, dehydrated, malnourished, trembling, tense, teary eyed../j

He’s tasked with babysitting Sean and Cian more often than not, he most likely drops them off with one of the other Boxers if he can’t be bothered to deal with their bullshit™️. (Which, surprisingly, isn’t all that common.)

When he was a kid, he tried to sell or trade Ronan/Sean and Cian when they were babies for something ridiculous. Like a Pokemon card, or something of the sorts.

Also tried to make his Younger Brothers’ first words a curse. (It worked for Cian, his first word was ‘Arse’.) ((Aran was overjoyed, his parents not so much.))

Owns a lot of lucky charms, almost to the point where it’s absurd.

Most of his old clothes end up becoming hand-me-downs to Ronan, Sean and Cian.

He knocked out (one of) Cian's teeth when he was younger.

He has a couple photos of his family members haphazardly pasted onto the inside of his locker door.

Plays shitty, overused pranks on some of the other Boxers.

He's coaching Sean and Cian on how to box. (And cheat, he enthusiastically encouraged the twins to keep up with their whole 'Switch-Places' shtick.)

His knuckles are bruised from the horseshoes he has in his gloves, as well as a few swollen spots on his face. Probably has a dislocated or even broken finger or two.

There's merchandise of all of the boxer's in the WVBA, sometimes there's a figure or plush of Aran being thrown at the wall or kicked down the stairs in the Ryan Household.

Most likely would try to fight with Sean or Cian in the ring. (Sort of almost a..Bear Hugger situation. But not with a squirrel. I do not know how to word this..)

Buys the shittiest Birthday presents ever. Literally. He doesn't gaf.

Was somehow dragged into a Double Scull by Sean, Aran purposefully tipped the boat and Sean didn't speak to him for around 3-5 business days.

He goes to the pub from time to time, which gives him a lot of gossip and such about the locals.

Doesn't get into Bar Fights as much as one would think.

He DEFINITELY has messy, horrible handwriting.

here,, dumps this and walks away

therr will probably be a part two,,and maybe i'll do one soley focused on his relations with the fellow boxers because ive been too scared to dip my toe into that territory yet,,(I DONT UNDERSTAND SHIPPING FOR THE LIFE OF ME, hwo does it work..) anywasy thank you for coming to my ted talk and sorry for yapping heart heart

[kafus]

as the resident ceo of likodot, what are your thoughts on the scene in episode 9 where dot ends up being the one who gives liko the courage she needs to tell her father that she wants to continue traveling with the RVT?

AH YES. THIS SCENE. I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS. THANK U FOR ASKING. apologies if this post is messy i have brainfog but i wanted to answer it anywayyyy

dot and liko's early connection is pretty interesting to me because at the time of this episode, the two barely know each other. dot first appears in episode 7 and this happens a couple episodes later in episode 9... not a lot of time has passed.

at this point in episode 9, liko knows that dot:

is murdock's niece and around the same age as her

is a tech wiz who wrote the app the RVT use to maintain the brave asagi and talk to each other

is good at gathering info online too

is a social recluse

does not eat very well/doesn't eat with other people

is interested in legendary pokemon, mysteries, that sort of stuff

and of course, she has heard the gurumin theme song coming from dot's room, and seen her quaxly, which leads to the iconic misunderstanding that dot is a huge fan of gurumin and not... literally gurumin lol

on the other hand, liko has no idea what dot looks like, does not know anything about her history, and has not had a proper conversation with her - their only communications have been through her bedroom door, first through quaxly bringing her and roy notes (which are drawings to interpret and not even actual written words), then when dot yells angrily at her to shut up/go away because she's interrupting dot setting up for her livestream, and then when dot finally budges just enough to mention her interest in legendaries & mysterious things.

by all regards dot is probably more of a concept to liko at this point than a whole person; a disembodied sometimes-voice who belongs to someone that deserves to be reached out to, but who hasn't actually been reached yet. this is overtly clear with her misunderstanding about dot being a gurumin fan - liko is piecing together who she thinks dot is with very little context clues and actual interactions and she is literally drawing the wrong conclusions lol. at most right now liko is interested in dot because of the whole gurumin thing... and because she's just a compassionate person who can't imagine that the person behind that door is a bad one, or someone who should be ignored, so she's compelled to learn more and reach out and figure dot out.

and that's the thing. liko is just naturally the sort of person to want to go out of her way to reach out to dot despite knowing pretty much nothing about her personally, and even having their first couple of interactions be rude ones. she follows through - she takes dot's lunch to her, makes sure to say "i'll talk to you later" and thank her for things, in a way that roy isn't (not to say that roy doesn't care, but liko is focused on her in particular). sure, the idea that they have a mutual interest in gurumin definitely helps, but she was interested before that and wasn't thrown off by her rude drawing of roy losing to fuecoco even before she started associating dot with gurumin. and this, especially coming from a peer and not a worried adult, is certainly foreign to dot and she kind of doesn't know how to deal with it, but it means a lot to her.

^ i think this bit at the end of episode 8 after liko and roy walk away is a really good summary of how dot is about all of this. she's reclusive, doesn't like noise, likes being in her own space, and she's "supposed" to find people like roy and liko irritating... but she can't help but smile about them being around, and while thinking about them.

oh, and of course dot has been overwhelmed by liko's compliments towards her work as gurumin even though liko doesn't know that's who she's complimenting. she's a popular youtuber and i'm sure she gets compliments from people all the time, but this is definitely a foreign experience for her in person, coming from someone verbally like that, not to mention how genuine and passionate liko is about it. i mean it makes her blush like this okay come on:

ALL OF THIS is to say that liko is a meaningful person to dot at this point, despite how little liko actually knows about her. liko has reached out to her in a way that no one has before, has directly complimented her work/passion, and has responded to her rudeness/antisocial behavior with even more curiosity instead of shying away.

so like of course when it's possible that liko is going to leave, she's upset about it and wants to do something about it. this is such a new situation and she's still so reclusive that she needs a little push from landau (who knows her well enough to tell she has emotions about this despite her not exactly wearing them on her sleeve), but the feelings she has about liko are enough to push her through, just enough to leave a wordless drawing by her door, which is massive for her at this point in time.

liko's response to this is understandably not super expressive or emotional, and in fact right after seeing the drawing, she first has a far more emotive conversation with mollie and orio and then roy, before eventually taking the drawing with her to dot's door and thanking her. she still doesn't know dot that well and honestly even though she was thinking that dot was opening up a little bit, she probably didn't expect this gesture. she doesn't know how meaningful her reaching out to dot has actually been.

regardless, she understands the meaning of the drawing and once again goes to talk to her, even without expecting a response back, and is able to go leave and tell her dad she wants to stay on the brave asagi, so it obviously contributed to her courage. it's proof that even this person who she barely knows cares about her and wants her to stay, and it also rewards her efforts of reaching out and proves to her that yes, dot is opening up and receiving liko's attempts at reaching out - her advances aren't unwanted. how's she supposed to leave now that she's sunk this time and effort into connecting with dot? dot is not the only reason she wants to stay of course, but it's a piece of the puzzle. she can't just leave now that they've made this connection successfully!!

dot says this after liko's already left, but regardless they've made a connection in their own unique, nonverbal way, and of course everything between them continues to grow from here.

so anyway all of this is to say i think it's fascinating the way these two connect mostly without words and through action/gesture at the start of the series, and i think the lopsidedness of their connection with each other is actually pretty interesting and reveals how much liko's compassion and efforts affect dot early on. she really is the vessel through which dot comes out of her shell and that's evident from the beginning

ALSO as an aside, very cute that dot does these little doodles at all? they aren't bad!! liko also draws... even though dot doesn't seem to take it as seriously or have it as an actual hobby i think they should draw together i think this would be cute JIOSJDOF

[primarinite]

just realized i never posted my rescue team character redesigns oops

ninetales: shiloh (they/them)

-reworked to be a snowdrift (alolan) ninetales because it makes more sense with the climate they live in and spike chunsoft are COWARDS for not including the regional variants of pokemon in gens 1-3 that got one.

-actually only has 8 tails (lost one in the havoc encounter).

-@ all of the ties that bind heads out there: does their design remind you of anyone in particular? :3c

gengar: havoc (he/him)

-his real (human) name was alphard. he discarded this name and adopted havoc instead after his transformation, as he was hoping that it would make others want to avoid him entirely, as he felt like he didn't deserve any kindness or decency after what he had done. unfortunately for him, medicham and adder (ekans) are stupid and like him. he starts using alphard again after tureis is saved.

-he has a permanent frostbite scar on his right hand from when he grabbed shiloh.

-team meanies fully disbands after tureis' rescue and gengar decides to spend his time giving back to the community in pokemon square for forgiving him. he pretty much becomes team fable's biggest fan and hypes up mayar and turies after she joins (newlin.....exists), not that he will ever admit it.

-after the tureis rescue, mayar tells alphard that regardless of what he's done in the past he's still deserving of love and compassion and that he's not a bad pokemon. alphard becomes smitten with her after that (<- guy that is desparate for companionship). mayar thinks that he's funny and forgives him for the whole "sending a violent mob after her and newlin" thing, and they hookup eventually. everybody in town (especially newlin) hates it but they're still supportive.

-other than newlin he becomes the most active participant in team fable's research into mega evolution when their focus shifts over to that.

gardevoir: tureis (she/her)

-joins team fable for a few years before eventually joining team charm after meeting lopunny. the switch from rescuing to exploring excites her, especially since she's been unable to go anywhere for years. mayar and newlin are very supportive of this. medicham also joins in hopes of getting stronger by travelling to make up for fainting in wish cave.

-being trapped took a heavy toll on her physical body that left her very ill for a long time. she couldn't do much without getting weak and winded, and was severely underweight upon being freed. everyone was supportive of her just doing what she can while part of the team (though she was barred from partaking in mega evolution research due to being a massive strain on the body and could be lethal in her condition). she's much healthier as of joining team charm, which is her main motivation for getting out there and travelling.

-there is a 30ish year gap between rt and explorers in my lore, so by the time she appears in explorers she's in her late 50s/early 60s. still kicking it!

-first image is her appearance in rt, second image is her appearance in explorers

-never recovers her memories of alphard but, for reasons she can't describe, she feels a strong kinship with him. the two become good friends.