#to be better as a doodler and as a person

[kheprriverse]

Ares holding useless knowledge about dragons 🤝 Apollo holding useless knowledge about monsters

[secondstar-acorn]

anyone else feeling emotionally destroyed over dood rn or is that just me

[goldendoodlerlockerlove]

I’d like to throw hands with the Anon that sent @devilh0rnsinc that incredibly rude ask yesterday morning.

Okay, I don’t actually want to throw hands, because I wouldn’t win in a fight, but still. What an incredibly rude thing to say and do to a person, especially one as sweet as Devil!! They’ve done nothing but be kind and organized a wonderful ship week back in December.

[golden--doodler]

Dear Tumblr,

Please, for the love of god, can you Un-Shadowban @drawthethingdoppelganger and me?? Why did you even Shadowban us in the first place?? We’re innocent, we swear 😭 What did we do wrong??

Can you please make it so that your support team doesn’t take forever??

Also, screw you for terminating the blog for Geneuary. I am not a bot.

Sincerely,

golden--doodler

[mod2amaryllis]

im just gonna be petty ignore me

are you ever training someone and eventually it gets to a point where you just like

give up on them lol

[rjalker]

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin Abbot Abbot, published in 1884, is public domain. That means it has no copyright, and belongs to everyone.

This post will have links to as many versions and adaptations of it as I can find, and will be updated whenver I find new links to add.

Feel free to copy and paste this whole entire post and make it a new post for your own blog too!

None of these links are piracy, because you literally cannot pirate what has no copyright. Anyone who tells you you must pay to read the original Flatland is scamming you.

The only time you should be spending money on Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, is if you find a cool physical copy that you want specifically.

Check the original post before reblogging to look for updates if you are seeing this post days, weeks, or months after I originally post it.

____

Visual books:

Public domain:

The Original Novel:

Read online or ownload the original book in multiple formats from Project Gutenberg

Read or download from Standard Ebooks

Read and download from the Internet Archive. This also includes a computer-generated audiobook.

_

The 2024 translation:

Read online or download the 2024 translation in multiple formats from the Internet Archive. This also includes a computer-voiced audiobook.

Read the 2024 translation here on tumblr @flatland-a-2024-translation

___

Audiobooks:

The original novel:

Listen to the original book on the Internet Archive, read by Ruth Golding

Listen to the original book on the Internet Archive read by David "Grizzly" Smith

The 2024 translation:

Listen and read-along with the lazy audiobook of the 2024 translation on Youtube

___

Free visual media with full stories:

Here’s an animation from 1965. Contains some flashing lights.

Here’s a stop motion film from 1982 in Italian with English subtitles

Here’s an animation from 2006

The 2007 Flatland film by Ladd Ehlinger is free on youtube. Unfortunately Ladd Ehlinger is a virulently racist and misogynistic conservative who thinks feeding school kids is the same thing as slavery. His film is filled with almost constant flashing lights and spinning cameras that cause headaches, motion sickness, migraines, and seizures.

Here is a link to timestamps for these if you still choose to watch it.

The film ignores all of the politics from the original novel because the creator of the film agrees with the bigotry the novel condemned. You are much better off watching another visual adaption or reading the original or translated book.

Especially if you suffer from photosensitivity or motion-sickness, this film will make you want to throw up.

___

Shorter visual media:

In-universe

Part 4 of a Korean animation. from 2010. Haven't found parts 1-3 yet.

A short animation from 2020 showing an Equilateral being taken away from his Isosceles parents

Flatland Heist from 2013, A short animation from 2013 where the Narrator and Sphere team up to rob a bank :)

Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions Alternate Timeline (without audio yet) 2024 Here's the version with audio

No Nonbinary Door 2024

A Visit to Lineland 2024

Up, Up, and Away 2024

Meta:

A short TED-Ed summarizing the math parts of Flatland from 2014

Another short animation explaining the math of Flatland from 2012

A long presentation (38 mins) about the math in Flatland. from 2017

Youtube Shorts:

A very short animation about the narrator meeting the Sphere

___

Related books by other authors, in publishing order:

Public domain:

An Episode of Flatland: or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension. With Which is Bound Up an Outline of the History of Unæa by Charles Howard Hinton. (1907) Public domain, unlimited reading and downloading. It's terrible. But you can rewrite it to make it not terrible.

The 4D Doodler, by Graph Waldeyer. Also on Youtube as an audiobook.

Other copyright:

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster (1963) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. A short....poem? Nothing to actually do with Flatland.

The Incredible Umbrella by Marvin Kaye (1980) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. I have not read it yet.

Sphereland: A Fantasy About Curved Spaces and an Expanding Universe, by Dionys Burger. (1983) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. It's racist. Was intended to be a sequel to Flatland, but the author's racist and failed every lesson Flatland tried to teach.

“Message Found in a Copy of Flatland” by Rudy Rucker (1983) free to read online from the author.

The Fourth Dimension, by Rudy Rucker (1984). Can be read for free online from the author. I have not read it yet.

The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-dimensional World by Alexander Keewatin Dewdney (1984) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. Good 2D worldbuilding, nonexistant plot and boring abrupt ending.

Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So by Ian Stewart (2001) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. it's useless crap that unironically defends the bigotry against Irregulars from the original novel by pretending it's just natural selection that's totally natural and not at all artificialy and violently upheld to uphold the supremacy of the Circles.

Spaceland by Rudy Rucker (2002) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. I have not read it yet.

VAS: An Opera in Flatland (2002) by Steve Tomasula. no copies donated to the internet archive yet. I have not read it yet.

A 2024 Summary of Flatland. Buy a physical copy here. Buy a digital copy here.

__

Neopronoun short stories:

The Breaking Point, a short story of a Line and Isosceles in another country of Flatland, attempting to deal with an abusive officer of the military who's invited himself into their home. Almost 4k words.

First Day of School, a young equilateral has zov first day at school, and discovers that the "specimen" they're supposed to be studying is someone zo knows.

Gaining a New Perspective, a short story of the Sphere contemplating everything that's happened after throwing the narrator of Flatland back down to his plane. Almost exactly 5k words.

Other short fiction:

[link me your stories and a short summary to go here!!]

__

Please feel free to add more links and I'll add them to this original post.

Here's the first masterpost I made which has fewer links.

[novasolstarr]

Hello and Welcome to NovaSolStarr’s blog!

Come in come in, take a seat!! I don’t bite here {:

Welcome to my blog! Apologies for this lengthy post but I just wanna get down a few rules and regulations here before you venture any further friend!

This is not a required read but it may provide some helpful insight to you {;

Let’s get it started

INTRODUCTION

My name is NovaSolStarr, feel free to call me Nova or Dusty!

I go by They / Them and It / It’s but feel free to also use bun / buns and fae / fier {:

I’m a digital artist and traditional doodler, you’re gonna see a mixed batch of content from me!

My fandom interests vary greatly and you’re likely to see some jarring switch ups to say the least

I do primarily Fandom and personal OC content, but you are likely to see other things!

Art Trades are 🔒Closed to the public, friends can ask but I am busy

Commissions are 🔒Closed

Art request are 🔐Tentative, see more in “Ask Rules”

‼️ACCOUNT WARNINGS‼️

I make a variety of content, though all SFW please know that I may also;

Make fairly suggestive content

Curse a lot, I mean a lot [I promise I’m not an aggressive user

Make blood and gore related content

Make some horror related content

May touch on more sensitive topics [Drugs, Abuse, Alcohol, etc.]

I usually try to censor that which needs it but sometimes I forget to properly tag things, please be aware of this!!

This is a VERY important section and I want you all to listen!!

Please be kind and respectful here

I try to keep my space drama free, and yes this will apply to real world happenings as well. I’m sorry if this disappoints anyone but I want to keep things stress free here.

So if you have drama please take it somewhere else, maybe to an account that’s more attuned for that, this is not the space and will result in a block.

Also please do not be weird towards me, I have a wife, I love my wife, @cyanide-cafe you are my silliest :3

This is a safe space for most people, although there’s exceptions, which leads me to

Let’s get things cleared up right now

IF YOU APPLY UNDER ANY OF THESE, PLEASE UNFOLLOW ME or better yet block me

I welcome most anyone regardless of ethnicity, region, religion, political views, or whatever, however I will NOT tolerate;

Bigots of any form or fashion

Transphobia, Homophobia, LGBTQA+phobia in general

Racism

Body shaming of ANY kinda

Misogyny

Zoophiles

Pedophiles

Proshippers [People who romanticizes problematic or harmful things]

If more needs to be added I will, but so long as you are not one of these people I don’t care.

I had a smaller post related to this but I’ll go ahead and squeeze it into here as well!

My ask blog is completely open for any and all!! With that though here’s some rules to keep it fun for everyone!

Do Not post anything NSFW or explicit in there, this will result in a block

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Do Not put anything hateful or cruel, again this will result in a block, I don’t put up with that shit and I will not feed it

Now we have that covered, let’s talk about what IS okay and what is acceptable {:

Questions related to OCs or AUs of canon characters, I have a lot of fun with it [:

Art requests between OCs and Canon, although I might use my own design for this so be warned! This interaction could be familiar, an introduction, angsty, shipping or whatever! So long as it’s SFW I don’t mind

Art requests of canon characters! Always happy to give new characters a spin

Questions related to me or any comments you might have, do note I might not always respond to comments cause sometimes I just..dunno how to outside of “WAAH THANK YOU {: >”

And that about wraps it all up!

That’s all I have for today! Please just be kind, respectful, and over all have fun here!! I like having a space for people to enjoy and have fun with {:

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

Kiddads headcanons: (Lark and Sparrow)

Sparrow:

drinks red wine out of a coffee mug every morning.

Sometimes mixes in actual coffee with the wine (it's fucking disgusting and makes Lark gag)

Low-key kinda an alcoholic in the way that white upper-middle class suburban moms are

Still wears the friendship bracelet him and Lark made for each other as kids, along with a bunch of those beaded circle bracelets and the leather strappy ones.

Abso-fucking-LUTELY rockin' the 'Burks.

Still really likes art and painting but feels weirdly guilty about it so he only does it when everyone else is out of the house.

Has so many crystals it's a fire hazard. (Rocks rock!)

Keeps them right next to the Incense too.

Eats reeses peanut butter cups when he's really drunk and cries about how guilty he is cause they're not vegan as he is actively shoving them in his mouth. He never remembers this in the morning.

Actually, weirdly does not like weed. It makes him paranoid and he starts acting like Lark.

Took shrooms once as was convinced he had prophetic doodler dreams where he saw the end of the world.

He was convinced because it's true. That's literally exactly what happened.

Before he lost his love wolf powers, he got drunk and wandered around in wolf form until he got caught by the pound and Lark had to pay 30 bucks to get him back.

He read homestuck as a kid and LOVED jade but he grew up and ended up more like roses mom.

Both him and Lark watched gravity falls as kids and routinely argued over which twin they were.

Hero once told sparrow that his ponytail made him look like a dead anime mom and it mentally fucked him up for 2 day before he cut his hair down to his shoulders "just incase"

Sparrow doesn't have a favorite. he loves both his children equally. (its hero)

Sparrow believes in his heart that he's a bad father and thinks that Lark would do a better job than him (despite evidence to the contrary)

When Sparrow started doing yoga, both Lark and Henry had a heart attack cause he would do EXACTLY what barry did and start just yoga-ing mid-conversation.

Sparrow is still afraid of snakes.

Sparrow still has dreams about when Lark died in Oakvale, and it scares the shit out of him. Because of that moment, Sparrow is so afraid of Lark dying alone on a mission that it has gotten them into screaming matches because Lark refuses to stop going off on his own.

Sparrows favorite TV show actually IS the sunrise because it's been so long since he's seen it. He paints it a lot.

Sparrows second favorite TV show is gossip girl.

Sparrow thinks Harry Potter is stupid cause real spells are nothing like the Harry Potter ones.... but like.... he also owns a hufflepuff sweater.

If sparrow paints when he's blackout drunk he always ALWAYS paints the doodler. He burns the paintings cause they give him nightmares.

Sparrow feels like he, personally, is the reason the doodler was released. Because his drawing is what started the whole mess.

However, he feels like Henry is responsible for what Lark did.

Sparrow participated in heros training but he wasn't the main source of it. And he's the one who made Lark cut it off.

Sparrow has no idea if either of his kids are actually his. He asked both Rebecca and Lark if the timing lined up and they both just grimaced.

He played barbies with his kids when they were little and considered going to AA meetings after hero made the dad barbie get drunk at 3pm and fall asleep on the couch crying.

Sparrow has seen ALLLL the barbie movies #dadofadaughterthings

His favorite is Princess and the Pauper.

Sparrow was the one who set the school on fire. After he became a love wolf, he wrote a letter of "apology" to the school suggesting they make their classrooms less flammable.

Sparrows favorite kiddad (aside from lark) was Terry Jr. But he wasn't really all that close with him. it's like when you just observe someone from the outside and get invested. They still hung out tho. But both Lark and Sparrow are personally closest with Grant.

Sparrow is more afraid of Lark dying than he is of himself dying.

Lark:

For the longest time, Lark had pretty short hair, especially in comparison to sparrow who grows his out. But after code purple Lark stopped really caring about cutting it.

Lark bitched about normal never washing his mascot costume but Larks bomber jacket hasn't been washed since before normal's birth.

He smells like cigarette smoke all the time.

Lark drinks black coffee like normal people drink water. he drinks it hot when he can, but he also drinks it cold out of a fucking flask like a psychopath.

His ass never sleeps, or when he does its like 4 hours a night. he's constantly running on 14 cups of coffee and a prayer.

like and share if both you and your twin have ADDICTION ISSUES.

speaking of addictive shit, lark does not drink. he's too fuckin on edge to allow himself to be in a vulnerable position. especially since he has to willingly put his mind at the mercy of the doodler shit.

he did, however, smoke weed a lot with nick as teenagers.

Lark didn't get that moment of being absoultely alone in the world like sparrow did when he watched lark die, so lark literally just doesn't comprehend how much it would effect other people if he died. so he's an insensitive asshole about it.

He cares if he dies, but only in the sense that he feels he's the most capable of the kiddads of fighting the doodler and keeping everyone alive, and dying would inconvenience that.

He got arrested for trying to sneak a gun into hero's 1st grade classroom, quote, "in case of emergencies. its fine. she knows how to use it." unquote.

shockingly, this arguments was not taken well by the police.

Lark lives with sparrow because both of them are a fucking wreck without each other and they need that other half to stabilize them.

Lark knows a shit ton about the rocks on old earth from henry and he HATES that its legitimately helpful knowledge on the plane where its really easy to loose your mind and forget where you are and knowing the geology of the terrain really helps navigation.

He wore his glasses one time. for his drivers test. and has never worn them since.

He's is a really really good driver. he doesn't follow any of the traffic laws, but he's never gotten pulled over, and he'll get you places 3 hours early. He knows how to parallel park too its insane.

during one of the "camping trips" with hero, Lark pretended to be a bear to "keep her on her toes" and got shot in the shoulder.

His ass has like three prepper bunkers.

Lark is no longer afraid of snakes. (lie)

he's not a vegan anymore, and he'd never admit it, but Lark actually still prefers a lot of the "vegan substitute meats" that he ate as a kid.

Larks hair is curlier than sparrows because sparrow brushes his and makes it fluffy rather than curly, but Lark hasn't brushed his hair a day in his life.

Lark definitely has a favorite. its hero.

Larks least favorite of Normal's spouses is Lincoln (he slapped him that one time)

When he was alive, Lark and Terry Jr. had that awkward relationship of like "our friends are friends, but I don't really like you"

The main reason Lark grew out his beard, doesn't wear glasses, is all in an effort to not look like Henry. It mostly works until it doesn't.

Sparrow doesn't make that effort to avoid looking like their dad, and sometimes, he looks just like Henry. Especially when he's being kind and fatherly to hero and normal. Lark feels really bittersweet about it.

Lark knows that the doodler is his fault.

Sparrow has walked in on Lark trying to wrap up actively bleeding wounds in the bathroom in the middle of the night so many fucking times they have a jar for it now.

This is extra annoying to sparrow because sparrow HAS HEALING SPELLS. there is NO REASON for Lark to be actively staining the carpets with blood on his tromp through the house.

Lark is the main one who was training hero, the training was much much more brutal when sparrow wasn't there.

He's deffo the one who made her kill a deer with her bare hands.

Lark got the idea from batman to make contingency plans for if any of his friends turn on him. They're all 10 pages long. Sparrow found his and Lark had to make a whole new plan cause now that one was compromised.

Lark was bribed into playing barbies with the kids and then got yelled at by sparrow when he made his barbie kill all the other barbies.

Grant got prescribed anxiety meds, and Lark made a huge deal about them dulling your senses and instincts so he doesn't take them.

Lark should be on anxiety meds.

[enbysiriusblack]

rereading snape's worst memory:

severus is writing A LOT more than the other students around him, so like. he probably does try super hard in all his exams, but defence is clearly one of his favourites i think from this. like he's writing super small and still filling out a lot of the parchment, so he's got a lot to say about the subject, plus he's writing like really fast without stopping

if james is only a short distance away from severus and sirius is in the same row as james, does this mean exam tables aren't set up in alphabetical order? people just sit where they want or something? weird

james' hair is described as messy like 5 times by harry. i don't think we focus on that enough.

girl, pay attention to your exam. we get he's hot, but damn

remus, you're good at dada, stop worrying sm about it. u got this mate

peter having exam anxiety is soooo canon i swear. also i'm giggling at him trying to cheat

doodler!james >>>> also harry not clocking his own mum's initals is kinda sad

ooh guys, should i make stebbins (he's a guy who doesn't put down his quill and continues writing after the exam finishes so flitwick calls him out) florence's boyfriend?? should i actually give 'boyfriend' a name???

honestly, other than the weird seating plan, this is so accurate to gsce exams. like turning around just to do a face or hand gesture to your friend a few seats away when the teacher's not looking? someone always writing after they tell you to stop? laughing at the teacher? waiting for your friends to discuss the paper straight away? its so real

these guys are incapable of being serious. they are all so fucking sarcastic. i love it.

why's severus still enthralled in his exam for???? it's over mate, go fucking relax

unrequited prongstail is real (also james' nicking a snitch?? he's such a weirdo)

severus!! harry literally was describing you as super pale and like you never go in the sunlight.. and then you go and sit in the shade?? it's early summer in scotland, it's not gonna be that fucking hot.

poly marauders are canon? (they were just described as being a foursome)

handsome just keeps getting added to any description of sirius. might start doing this in my fics /j

this is making me realise how canonly accurate the personalities of the marauders are in my fic (i'm only cryptic and machiavellian), and i love that for me

yeah unrequited prongstail is def canon omfg.

"sirius was the only person for whom james would stop showing off". james doesn't need to show off for sirius, because he knows sirius will always be there for him and give him attention anyway aww

remus and james both trying to think up solutions as soon as sirius says he's bored?? i'm giggling.

peter must have been sooo dissapointed that sirius and james stopped hexing people as often... his fav entertainment. gone.

okay i swear i've read this like loads of times before but i never actually realised sirius 'barking with laughter' was how he canonly laughs, i always just write that to be funny, i didn't know it was canon

james constantly looking over at the girls by the lake. like mate, she didn't notice or care about you throwing a snitch in the air but i don't think bullying her friend is any better. like yeah it gets her attention but is that really the kind of attention you want?? oh, you'll take any attention you can get from her? okay, right, fine

peter edging... IM SORRY

"i was watching him" OKAY,, snirius enjoyers are eating today

*smugly grinning* i KNEW james' hair fidgeting thing was an anxious/nervous habit I TOLD YOU ALL

lily's hair is dark red!!! just in case anyone forgot!!

i love remus. disagree with your friend's actions? don't worry! u can always just pretend you're so enthralled in your book you don't even notice what they're doing! just look the other way and you're totally absolving yourself and your friends from any guilt!

i feel like james asked lily out only once before this. like in fourth year of maybe just a couple months before this, and like in a proper fairly private, giving her flowers, asking timidly (well as timid as he can be), and she responded in a fairly similar way to here. so james asking here, is like trying to resolve his own feelings of embarassment about the rejection ig?

lily smiling!!!! oh she's such a cunt i love her (ofc james and sirius are bigger cunts ofc!!!) like girl that's your damn friend getting 'pantsed'. although ig like. it was kinda a norm thing to like do it TO your own friends soo hmm. (btw i put 'pantsed' in brackets since it's not pantsing, like. the point is that severus isn't wearing pants, he's wearing robes. it's robesing...)

sirius and james are too wuss to duel lily <333 cause she'd thrash them <333 (they totally duelled her before and got their arses kicked)

oh severus... u suck so bad... just cause she found you getting robesed funny doesn't mean u should go call her slurs wtf man

go off lily okayyy. her insults/jokes hit harder than all of sirius' ngl (ily sirius you're still funny and got good insults i swear!!)

okay personally lily, i don't think someone who shows off and hexes people who annoy him (which is. maybe just in my opinion) majoritively people who are bigoted/do dark magic, and then someone who calls their supposed best friend a slur in front of like half their peers are as bad as each other...

^also james!! omg mate she noticed you showing off with your snitch and messing your hair up!!! (also furthering my proof that he does it as a nervous act cause he's all nervous around her so does it more often and she just thinks he's showing off)

sirius, now is not the time for your brutal honestly. like that's so real of you and i suffer from the same infliction but still..

[writtenicarus]

AFTG Headcanon Series [4] Kevin

part 1, part 2, part 3 part 4, part 5

Okay first of all let's start off by saying this man is so much more then vodka and goddamn exy, seriously

The fandom and the foxes never take his trauma and issues seriously and it hurts me to the core so much

A year after he told Wymack he was his father he started getting him Father's Day cards, he was extremely embarrassed at first and ran away but Wymack found him after and hugged him

Eventually sees Bee about his drinking problems, he tries very hard to work on it but it's still quite tough and he relapses several times

Trials to call Jeremy and Jean once every two weeks to check in on them, see how they're doing, he's trying to build friendships

Still gets upset on both Riko's birthday and the anniversary of his death but, again, it's another thing he's working on

Is able to set boundaries with Andrew, he doesn't trust him as much as he used to after what happened on the bus trying to figure out where Neil was but he's at peace with it, he doesn't feel bad. Andrew fucked up, he's allowed to distance himself

Finds new friends that take the same classes as him

Starts truly coming out of the shell he was forced into throughout his teenage years and is able to discover who he is as a person

Gets really close with Neil by the end of Neil's second year at Palmetto and he values Neil's opinions on everything

Doodler!!! This man will absently draw on anything without noticing including the people around him

Doesn't like hugs from just anyone but if he does trust you will hug you for hours

Is not really the type to get sick but when he does he takes absolutely no time off to feel better, he just pushes himself until he breaks and moves on

Silently judges people whenever he leaves the house

Idk why but I could see him being really really interested in marine biology

Writes a book at some point in his life - whether it's about exy or whatever he does eventually and it does really well

Can tie his shoelaces at an alarming pace because he used to being forced onto the court as soon as possible, but also because he can't wait

I'd like to say he eventually Coaches his own team, but I don't think he would, I think he would play until he couldn't no longer and opt for a quieter life (perhaps pursuing marine biology)

Misses his mom oh so very much

Hates any form of hot drink unless it's extremely black coffee or tea with ONE sugar

Is trying to get out of the funk he's in when it comes to food, he is trying to learn that not all foods are bad and will kill him just because they're not fruit or vegetables

Afraid of dying and drowning (why he works so hard on being a strong swimmer)

Can't sleep fully in the dark, he got used to it early on but after being at Palmetto and getting used to the life around him, if he ever was put in a dark room it triggers a lot of flashbacks for him

Always helps Abby with dinner when the foxes go to her house, she will never be Kayleigh but he eventually sees her as a motherly figure

Overall, I think his recovery and development as a person starts with him realising he doesn't have to box himself up anymore

Part of why he cared so much for Exy was because it was all he had

Now he has so much more

[kineticallyanywhere]

Tell us more about Doodler Normal Kinetic i beg of you

First thing to note: Doodler Boss Normal would not survive contact with Canon Normal

Cause the thing with this version of Normal, I think, is that the situation to create it is so specific; and in a way that I've never thought about before, for a narrative? I'm sure it exists somewhere, because what story framework doesn't already exist somewhere but like.

this version of Normal only happens in a world where all 4 anchors are broken with violence and not a single other person is questioning that decision by the end. (which I don't think is going to happen! for the record!) in this world, Normal presents himself as a last bastion of empathy, but where in any other story that would look like a shining knight with their Chosen One sword and shield and righteous strength, in this story it looks like a kid ready to turn into an eldritch monster because the eldritch monster is the only other creature he can find that makes any sense to him. a character who, written in words, is a paragon hero who's virtues refuse to crumble. but because of the Ao3 CSS skin of the world he's in, he gets all the style and flair and trappings of a villain.

(which, again, I don't have reason at the time of this writing to think that this situation would happen; that there isn't going to be at least one other person on Normal's side. It's all but impossible to predict any of these kids and I think they all have good hearts, even Scary. Link right now is an unsettled weather vane in a storm, Taylor for all his swagger doesn't seem on the side of brutality, and then like... Hermie???)

that said! In a world where sometimes you can't decide if you want to sit in your disappointment or scream at the top of your lungs, there's falling back on your new frienemy-of-the-family monster bro

(anyone with a writing bug and time, feel free to use any, all, or none of these ^^)

for thoughts on where this AU would end up, anyone can obviously take it anywhere but I know the version I would make would have a happy ending (I am allergic to writing tragedies, sue me). I guess it would be a story where finally snapping and letting out some Oak Anger and not apologizing (because while it's not okay to be cruel it is okay to be angry) is what gets characters to come to terms with each other and better understand each other and meet each other in the middle and even come to terms with themselves and what version of expressing themselves makes them happy and comfortable and best able to love themselves and the people around them.

all of that admittedly wrapped in a gift box with the catharsis of a character saying "I'm not okay with how you're treating me" in a very badass fashion, as we all wish to do one day.

also for those of us who would die for Scary but also want to take her by the shoulders and shake vigorously there's the Rule of 3s for swiping the Goth Crown from Scary a THIRD TIME

all of her put-on apathy and tiredness and lashing out but from a genuine place, simultaneously forcing her in front of a mirror and asking her to reach back for the part of herself that started the day of the debate "bright eye-ed and bushy tailed" so that she could even stand a chance at getting through to Normal??? The ways to talk about Scary skyrocket even higher. to be clear, I don't want this as a form of stealing Scary's narrative, I want it as a way of taking Scary's narrative and hitting the NOS. give her just about everything she wants, for everyone to agree with her and listen to her and think she's right and enforce the belief that she has any power over what's going on and then see if she even likes it. See if she likes herself and see how far she's willing to take the identity of goth punk seeker of darkness. ask her where the line is. show her the road she she's taking and ask her where the line is. canon parallels and connections between normal and scary are a whole other post I can have and will drive to work in the morning writing the meta in my head, the way Normal is a previous version of Scary cranked up to 11 and the way Scary makes herself into a person that Normal has every right to be but isn't becausehe'shumanandflawedbutsogoodatheartandnevergivesuponothersnotevenherandAUGH

[y2ksnowglobe]

Since I'm apparently incapable of writing fluff to save my life (despite desperately wanting to write a non-sad, kinda hopeful (except we know what happens later) type of Nark fic, and having tried multiple times and I still just have Nick stress baking muffins and little else to show for it) I felt like throwing my Nark thoughts into the ether and see if I can infect anyone else with them.

So I'm a big fan of "I don't deserve happiness and nice things" Lark. I like "Lark doesn't imbibe in anything that will make him feel less terrible because he doesn't think he deserves to feel less terrible" Lark. I like the Lark that reminds me of my senior year of college where I stopped taking my anti-depressants because if I couldn't remember to take them, I was a terrible person who didn't deserve to feel not-depressed anyway. (Note: Not a healthy way to approach your depression)

So how does this Lark get with Nick? That's the question, because if he's in a relationship because it makes him happy, that's not gonna stick. Lark doesn't think he deserves to be happy, so he's not going to pursue that. How do we get, deny himself any pleasure Lark, into a relationship with someone who loves him?

Well, that's where part two of this comes in, because Lark doesn't think he deserves to be happy, but he's also extremely guilty about fucking up everyone else's lives. Every time someone gets hurt in the fight against the Doodler, he blames himself. Every time his friends have to give up something they deeply want to keep fighting, he adds it to the guilt pile. He wants them to be happy.

Does this cause some complications? Sure, seeing them happy makes him happy, and he doesn't deserve to be happy, but he's not going to ruin their happiness. They don't deserve that. So, he'll endure being happy that they're happy. Second-hand happiness that he'll feel bad about, but tolerate.

So what happens then when Nick decides that what makes him happy...is Lark? Is Lark confused? Of course! It doesn't make sense, no one should love him, he ruined the world, he destroyed all their lives! Why should anyone ever love him?

But Nick tells him, No...you're not responsible for fucking up my life. And he's one of the only people who can say that to Lark and have it be true. One of the only people that Lark can't turn around and say that they're wrong, because even without the release of the Doodler, Nick would still have two childhoods, be half demon, and have one of the weirdest parenting situations known to man. His life would be fucked up either way. He'd probably have ended up battling monsters on one of the planes regardless.

And Lark may still be resistant, may still think he's not worth it, but he can't bring himself to break Nick's heart. Nick doesn't deserve that. Lark may think he deserves better, but Nick tells him he doesn't want "better" he wants Lark. Nick says that Lark is what makes him happy, and Lark wants Nick to be happy. Nick deserves to be happy. He might judge him for what he thinks might make him happy, but who is he to deny him?

Nick tells Lark that he wants him to be happy. That seeing those that he loves happy, makes him happy. Lark tells him he's not sure he can do that. Tells Nick he bet on the wrong horse if that's what he wants. But Lark wants Nick to be happy, and if it will make Nick happy...even if it goes against every instinct Lark has...even if he fails more often than he succeeds...for Nick? For Nick, he'll try.

[golden--doodler]

This sounds a bit sad, but I'm someone who used to have absolutely zero faith in my artistic abilities. I've been writing my entire life, and haven't had too many self-confidence issues with that (well, I've gotten down on myself about my writing before, but I've gotten a lot better about that). I've always known I have the ability to write, as I've been doing it almost my entire life.

But drawing was a different story. I used to always tell myself "Ha! I just need to stick to writing. I'll never be able to draw. Are you kidding? Look at all of these talented artists. And look at these gorgeous realistic anatomy they can do!! I'll never be able to do that. I have no artistic ability whatsoever. It's just not my thing."

That was really my first mistake, comparing myself to other artists, and judging my ability to draw before I even tried. But another thing that really lowered my confidence in my artistic abilities was this one moment in my English class my Sophomore year of high school. We had this assignment to make a short comic based on the story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe. I'm sure everyone knows that story. I did mine, and forgot to sign it at first, and my teacher saw. He was always a harsh grader, but he held up my paper, not knowing it was mine, and called it Kindergarten work. In front of the entire class. Needless to say, I was mortified. I immediately redid the assignment, losing almost all of my faith in my own artistic abilities.

But something changed when the Pandemic hit. I got an iPad, which made digital drawing so much easier and more fun. And I just had a lot of time on my hands because of lockdowns. And I thought to myself: Huh. Well, maybe I don't have to draw realistically. Maybe I can practice my drawing skills more by drawing more cartoony art.

And that's exactly what I did. And now I'm proud to say I'm actually confident in my art now!! I sort of have my own style now, which has definitely evolved over the years. I guess that's just what can happen when you practice and try to push aside the self-doubt festering in the back of your mind. It wasn't always easy, but I kept trying to encourage myself instead of just putting myself down.

Now I can proudly say that I've gotten paid for my art, and my clients were all thrilled with the results so far. And I can't wait to keep drawing for people and making them happy. I think I've definitely come a long way from so-called "Kindergarten work".

[kaseyskat]

my Thoughts on like, normals character and where he's going btw are highly based on his own flaws and like. idk ive kinda seen both sides (normal is a baby and must be protected versus normal needed this ego blow because he was getting too into his head) and I think it's maybe more nuanced than that? cause the thing is. normal is RIGHT to think that his side of things are the morally correct side. he's the one whose seen what the doodler wants and fears and where it came from, he had more perspective on the quest than any of the other teens and I'm not arguing otherwise because it'd be silly. it's HOW he's going about it that puts him firmly into the, "teen character is going to fuck up because they're a teenager" category: as much as he does genuinely try, he's not good at connecting to other people and he does put himself on this pedestal of "i know better and therefore im the best" that isn't exactly the MOST healthy mindset, as a self-proclaimed leader.

that being said, I absolutely understand where he's coming from in this episode in a very. he is hurting and lashing out kind of way? we know why scary is acting the way she is (her own past with her dad + willy trauma=she's still looking for the trauma that justifies her inner darkness) and we know why link is acting the way he is (he's hurt and scared and he never asked for this and he just wants to ensure that he's not the one actively hurting people, he never forgave himself for the casualties of ep2 and the last thing he wants is to add more) and one of normals flaws is his pride, the way he's so sure of what he's doing, he's the best for this and of COURSE it's the right way, he knows that!!!

but he can't empathize with scary right now. very specifically he cannot empathise with her because he can't trust her. and if he can't trust link he can't empathize with him either. normal does view himself as the reason the team is together, and I think that's why he was suddenly on board with kicking scary out when before he was so deadset on helping her: if he personally can't trust anyone, does he really have a team he can lead?

that being said, the shots taken on him recently have been sooo low in comparison. scary has done nothing but bully normal since they reunited. link has been sassy and snippy with normal even since ep26 and it's only gotten worse. normal and taylor don't really have much of a relationship outside the teen friendship circle in general. hermie is angry at normal- and I kinda agree with will that it should NOT solely be up to the players to remember anthony's fucking npc, as funny as it is. as much as I want normal to listen and understand and empathize with scary and link both, it IS a little frustrating when in comparison normals been fucking tanked at every opportunity by the other players- and link's line to normal after he found out about hero actually made me so upset on normal's behalf like dude.

I'm still on the boat that normal should get and deserves a mild villain arc. I desperately want him to team up with hermie and go to the goofs realm alone. I think it might be good for him- both to have a solo adventure with hermie and to have a solo adventure in general, so he can find out why he loves having friends so much. and I think him going through a villain arc would be so narratively compelling, because again, he's not WRONG about the path they should be taking: it isn't underestimating links personal trauma to admit that normal is actually right and he's just so bad at following through. it's just kinda a little tiring sometimes when normal actually does his best to keep the group together and it doesn't work (looking at episode 27 in particular) or when he tries to bury that oak family generational anger the way sparrow and henry do. let him be angry!!!

[womaninwinter]

Writing vs Visual Art

Prompts from @insidethekaleidoscope: if you both write and make visual art, how would you compare the experiences?

Have you always done both or is one a more recent hobby?

I've always been doodler and a storyteller, but it's only recently that I started thinking of them as Art. When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be a writer. When I was a teen, I thought I was going to be an artist. And now I'm writing again.

2. Do you prefer one over the other? Why?

I am a better (more practiced) writer than artist, so I am generally happier with the results of my writing than my drawing/painting. At the moment I'm on a writing kick, but there was definitely a long period where I preferred visual art, and I think this also had to do with the online spaces I was hanging out in. When I'm in fandom spaces, the primary way I can contribute is writing, so I tend to do that. When I was not into fandoms, and was just more generally into Insta art communities, I was seeing a lot of art, so I was doing a lot of art.

3. Are you drawn to the same themes in both?

Hm. Now, I never thought of myself as having Themes in my visual art, again because I'm not that good at it and thus I don't have a great deal of control. However, there are definite stylistic commonalities. My thought process tends towards gothic/intricate/exaggerated/intense and both my art and my writing have those characteristics.

4. Do you see them as connected practices?

This is funny. I've never thought about them as connected, mostly because I only seem to have the time/energy to do one creative hobby at a time. The times when I produce a lot of art are the times when my writing is fallow and vice versa. That said, I think that producing visual art sometimes helps unstick me in my writing, but then again, so does writing longhand on paper, so possibly it's just easier to be creative when I'm not taking psychic damage from the screen.

5. Do you feel more confident in one than the other?

As is probably obvious from my answers so far, I'm much more confident in writing than drawing/painting, but this is mostly because I've had more practice and training in writing. I've had almost no formal art lessons (until a couple of years ago when I did a life-painting class, which did actually rule), but writing was part of my education all the way up, and then it became part of my job, as a translator. Wish I had more time to practice/learn art, but alas, the brain worms are dead set on writing right now.

6. Do you do both at once or do you have periods of time where you only write or only make art?

Also mostly already answered. I can do both, if I really make a conscious effort to build it in, but it takes a lot of discipline and I don't have much of that. I really wish I had the brain space to do both, because I love painting and I miss it. But I do still make art in that I doodle constantly - all my notebooks have little scribbles in the margins, of castles and funny little people and flowers. My work diary is stuffed full of little scraps of paper like this.

7. Does one come easier than the other?

I would be tempted to say writing, but it really depends on what type of art or writing I'm doing. I doodle without thinking or even meaning to. If I have a pen and paper, the difficulty is stopping my hand from drawing. But a big writing project (like a chapter of a fic for example) comes more easily to me than an artistic project.

8. Do you feel more invested in one than the other?

This also varies over time and I think is hugely influenced by what I'm getting more feedback about/what forms part of my social life. At present, my social circle really revolves around writing to a great extent, so I'm super invested in that. But up until very recently, my answer would have been 100% the other way around. I have a drawer full of sketchbooks that I was so so painfully proud of.

9. Does one medium feel more true to you or representative of who you are as a person?

I don't think so, although I think I do tend to be more surprised to see myself coming out in my art. I'm often very conscious of what I'm doing in my writing, and I'm usually aware of a lot of what I'm revealing about myself in it. Because I'm less in control of my art, it's always a surprise to see how specific it is to me, that unbeknownst to myself, I was drawing an experience that I was having.

10. Do you decorate your house with your art and do you reread your writing?

I was going to say 'no' to decorating my house and then I looked up to the right at the massive portrait from my life-painting class stuck up on my wall and rethought that answer. So yes to the art, but not a whole lot. I do tend to reread my writing until I'm sick of it. And then I leave it a few months and come back reread it and think "oh hell ya, this girl knows my tastes exactly." (Actually, maybe this is why I'm less happy to decorate with my art. I'm not really good enough to cater to my own tastes there.)

11. What do you find the experiences have in common?

Flow state I think. It's been a long time since I reached it for either medium (creativity's always in bits and snatches with me, because that's generally all I have time for. It's easier for me to write 100 words though then it is to do a 10-minute sketch.) but the sensation of being totally absorbed, of not noticing time passing, and the burning pride and joy when you produce something good is the same in both cases.

All done! Thank you Mo for this very interesting and much needed exercise in self-reflection. I think I'll draw something now!

[strangeparadoxlikely]

sure, lark betrayed his father and brought upon the apocalypse so naturally he has like insane amounts of regret and self-hatred and he's never really going to forgive himself for that.

but think about sparrow. he not only blames himself for allowing lark to unleash the doodler, but he also blames lark and probably feels very guilty about this.

imagine you're sparrow and your twin, your best friend, the person who's always been there for you, asks you to help him unleash the doodler. of course you're going to help him, he's your brother.

but then the world falls into darkness and everyone is upset, your dad's trying not to show it but he's mad. he's not mad at you, he's mad at your brother, you're not sure if that's better or worse.

you could have stopped him. he's hurting. you've never seen your brother this upset and angry and broken.

it's your fault.

it's his fault.

you're not sure anymore.