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psformybss · 8 days ago

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could we get some angst with secret fiance?

Rumors Like Smoke

series masterlist

warnings: angst, established relationship, long distance struggles, social media rumors, emotional vulnerability, hurt/comfort

an: this isn’t as angsty as it could have been but i feel like it still has a good amount of angst.

︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　

The rumors started as whispers.

Nothing more than a tagged post.

A fan video of Drew and Odessa walking out of a narrow alley in Belgrade, laughing over something he said.

Someone zoomed in on their hands—not touching, but close enough.

Then came the Reddit threads.

The Twitter sleuths.

The articles with photoshopped thumbnails and question-mark headlines.

“Are Drew Starkey and Odessa A’zion more than costars?”

She hated that it got to her.

Because she knew better.

Drew was an actor. Odessa was his scene partner. This was no different than how he was with Maddie or Madison or any woman he’d worked closely with.

She wasn’t jealous.

Not really.

Not until the silence started to stretch too wide.

She woke up on the couch in Charleston to the buzz of her phone at 2:17 AM.

The sound startled Teddy first. He lifted his head from her lap with a soft huff, looking toward the phone like he expected Drew to walk through the door. But it was just the screen, glowing with his name.

Drew (Serbia)

She answered on the third ring. Her voice was sleepy but strained. “Hey.”

“Hey, baby,” he said, breathless like he’d been rushing to find quiet. “Sorry. I know it’s late over there.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I just… missed you. Needed to hear your voice.”

Her heart cracked a little at that. It always did. But this time, something stayed sharp at the edges.

“Where are you?”

“Outside the hotel. We just wrapped. Odessa and I had pickups. It ran long.”

Of course it was Odessa.

The name hung there like cigarette smoke, curling around things it had no business touching.

She didn’t answer right away. Just sat up straighter, brushing sleep from her eyes while Teddy pressed closer to her thigh.

Drew picked up on the silence. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, her tone too clipped to mean it. “Just tired.”

He sighed. “Talk to me.”

“I haven’t heard from you in three days.”

“I know. It’s been crazy—”

“Yeah. Busy, right?” she cut in. “You’ve been spotted all over Belgrade with your busy.”

There was a pause on his end. A sharp inhale.

“Don’t do that.”

“I’m not accusing you,” she snapped. “I’m not one of those people online, Drew. I’m your wife.”

Her voice cracked at the end, and she hated it.

“I know you are,” he said softly.

“Then why does it feel like you forgot?”

Teddy’s tail flicked once, sensing her voice tightening.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Drew said, more firm now. “I think about you every second I’m not on set. I’m just… worn out. Trying to finish this job strong.”

“I’ve defended you to strangers,” she whispered. “I ignore the tags, the DMs, the fan theories about you and her. I tell myself I know you better than anyone. But the longer you stay away, the more those voices start to sound like mine.”

That shut him up.

“I’m not mad that you’re working,” she went on. “I’m mad that you let the internet keep me company more than you do.”

Drew exhaled a curse. “That’s not fair.”

“No? You think Teddy doesn’t notice when your side of the bed’s cold every night? You think I don’t check your location just to feel close to you for five seconds before I remember it hasn’t updated in days?”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel like this,” he said, voice low.

“But you did.”

Silence.

Teddy pressed his head into her chest, grounding her. She curled her hand into his fur.

“I used to feel like I had all of you,” she whispered. “Now I feel like I have your ghost.”

Drew was quiet for a long time. “I didn’t want to call like this. Not when we’re both tired.”

“Then why did you call?”

“Because I miss you,” he said. “And I don’t know how to fix this from halfway across the world.”

She blinked away the sting in her eyes. “I don’t want a fix. I want you.”

“You have me.”

“Not when I have to fight the internet every day just to believe that.”

His voice broke slightly. “You think I’m cheating?”

“No,” she said instantly. “I think you’re disappearing.”

That was worse somehow.

“You barely call anymore. You’re out with her every other day. And I keep telling myself it’s the same as any other project, but this one feels different. You feel different.”

“I’m not different,” he said. “I’m tired. I’m stretched thin. But I love you just as much as the day I left Charleston.”

“Then show me, Drew,” she whispered. “Because I can’t keep loving a version of you that only exists in old photos and saved voicemails.”

Another silence. Longer this time.

Then, in a whisper: “Don’t give up on me.”

“I’m not,” she said. “But I’m running out of ways to hold on.”

Something moved behind his voice. A shake. A crack. And then—click.

Call ended.

She stared at the screen.

Heart thudding. Hands shaking.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell who ended it. Then she realized—

He hung up.

He didn’t know he’d hung up.

Not until he stared at the screen, still pressed to his ear, and realized the silence wasn’t hers anymore—it was his.

Call ended.

Three seconds passed. Then five. Then the weight of it hit him all at once like a punch straight to the chest.

“Shit,” he muttered, breath catching, his heart galloping too fast. “Shit, shit, shit.”

His hands shook as he fumbled with the phone, heart thundering while he stared at the screen, willing it to light up again. Willing her to call him back. But it stayed dark.

No call. No text. Nothing.

He didn’t even remember pressing the damn button. He’d been too caught in the sound of her voice—cracking, raw, real—too caught in the feeling that he was losing her in slow motion.

Now he was afraid she might already be gone.

He sat there in the hotel room, the echo of her final words thick in the air like smoke that wouldn’t clear.

His throat closed. He looked around the room and hated everything about it—how sterile it felt, how quiet. How far. The bed was cold, still made, untouched from the night before. His hoodie still smelled like the set. His bag was half-zipped, clothes spilling out. And all he could think was: What the fuck am I doing here?

Not just Belgrade.

Here.

In this space between good intentions and terrible execution. Between promises made and promises missed.

He opened his phone and didn’t hesitate this time—he dialed the director.

“Starkey?”

“I need two days,” Drew said, voice gruff. “I’m not asking. I’m telling you.”

There was silence on the other end.

“Something happen?”

“I hung up on my wife by accident. After telling her I loved her and then making her feel like I didn’t. So yeah—something happened.”

Another pause. Then a sigh. “Alright. Two days. Don’t make me regret it.”

“You won’t.”

The airport was buzzing, loud and impersonal, but Drew moved through it on autopilot, booking the soonest flight out like a man possessed.

There was a kiosk just past security that sold flowers—cheap airport bouquets, all wrapped in crinkly cellophane—but he stopped anyway.

He stood there longer than he should’ve, staring at them like they could somehow fix the last three months. The last three days.

“Need help?” the cashier asked.

Drew nodded once, eyes landing on a bouquet of white tulips and blush peonies, her favorite.

“I’ll take those.”

The woman wrapped them slowly, chatting about nothing, and he kept nodding even though he wasn’t listening. His pulse didn’t slow until he was seated on the plane, flowers in his lap, staring out the window and counting the minutes until he could make it right.

Charleston felt warmer the moment he stepped out of the airport.

It always did.

He kept the window down in the taxi, let the breeze wash over him as they drove through streets he knew like the back of his hand.

The office was a brick building tucked between a yoga studio and a secondhand bookstore. Ivy crawled up the side like it had been trying to get inside for years.

He hesitated at the entrance.

The flowers were still in his hand, the stems damp from the melting airport ice pack. He wiped them quickly on his jeans, tried to shake the nerves out of his fingers.

He saw her car parked out front and almost turned around. Almost.

Instead, he stepped inside.

The receptionist—Sienna—looked up from her desk, startled. Her eyes went wide.

“Drew?”

“Hey,” he said, offering a small, sheepish smile. “She in?”

Sienna nodded slowly. “Yeah, she’s here. Her door’s closed but—”

“I’ll knock,” he said.

She opened the door after two knocks, and the look on her face nearly undid him.

She was tired. Still beautiful, still herself, but visibly tired in a way that made his gut twist. Like she hadn’t slept in days. Like his silence had carved something hollow in her that she didn’t know how to fill.

She blinked. “You’re here.”

“Yeah,” he said, voice soft. “I’m here.”

He held out the flowers, suddenly feeling like they weren’t nearly enough. “I know it’s stupid. And they’re from the airport. But…”

She reached out, took them from him without a word.

For a moment, they just stood there, neither one sure what to say.

The ride home was quiet, but not cold. She drove, one hand on the wheel, the other resting just inches from where his sat on the center console. He didn’t reach for her. Not yet.

When they got inside, Teddy was the first to break the tension, leaping onto Drew’s legs like no time had passed.

Drew laughed, crouching down to hug him. “Hey, buddy.”

She walked past him into the living room, setting the flowers in a vase like her hands needed something to do.

“Why’d you come back?” she asked finally.

He stood there for a long beat. “Because you were right.”

She turned to face him. “About what?”

“About everything.” He stepped closer. “I let the noise drown out the only voice I should’ve been listening to. I let you feel alone in something we were supposed to be in together.”

He sat down on the edge of the couch. “I kept telling myself the distance was temporary. That you understood. That love was enough. But I stopped showing it. And that’s on me.”

She leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. “I didn’t want to doubt you, Drew.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t want to feel like I was losing you.”

“You’re not,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “I swear. I’m still yours. I just forgot how to say it in a way you could hear.”

She didn’t speak for a while. Then: “You didn’t even tell me you were coming.”

“I wanted to show up before I talked myself out of it.” He looked up at her. “I didn’t know if you’d want to see me.”

“I always want to see you,” she whispered.

He stood, closing the distance. Slowly. Carefully.

“I miss us,” he said. “The stupid jokes. Your half-finished coffees. Fighting over blankets and waking up to your hair in my face. I miss hearing about your day instead of reading between your posts.”

She looked at him for a long time, eyes glimmering. Then: “I miss us too.”

He reached for her hand, and this time, she let him.

“I’ll post photos of me kissing your forehead every damn day. I’ll FaceTime you from set, from the makeup chair, from the bathroom if that’s the only private place I can find. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel like you’re not competing with a spotlight I never even wanted” he murmured.

“You don’t have to do all that,” she said, though her voice cracked. “Just… don’t disappear on me again.”

“I won’t,” he promised. “I couldn’t. You’re the only thing that keeps me grounded.”

She stepped into him then—just barely—and he wrapped his arms around her like something sacred.

Teddy circled them twice before settling by their feet, tail thumping.

They stayed like that for a while.

And when she finally looked up at him, eyes softer now, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”

This time, she believed him.

And this time, he meant it.

#drew starkey x secret fiancee!reader #drew starkey x female reader #drew starkey x y/n #drew starkey x you #drew starkey #drew starkey x oc #drew starkey x reader #drew starkey blurb #drew starkey obx #drew starkey one shot #drew starkey imagine #obx #rafe cameron x oc #rafe cameron #rafe outer banks #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x y/n

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olderthannetfic · 13 days ago

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I'm realizing that there's a part of me that never really internalized the. Um. Principle of art? Idk what to call it–Why art doesn't have to be skillful, or maybe, more specifically, why a person should not just give up if their work is not perfect, why a person's work should be worth anything if it's not "good" especially if they aren't willing to break their backs to improve. Whenever I see people who talk about art like that what I've always done is keep it in mind,bit inside I've always just wished I understood how what their saying is true. If it's true.

So when someone says "AI Art has no soul" for a fraction of a second I think "this sounds like baloney, what does that mean?" Before I remember myself and think "oh huh, yeah, I've seen people talk about how AI really just isn't as advanced or capable of the profit that all the company's and investors think it is, and there are doubtlessly things a veteran artist can do that these programs can't pull off, even if I'm not skilled enough to know what those are yet." And therefore when I come across people online talking about, say, the glaring limitations of LLMs that are now a headache because of how many people blindingly trust them to do their writing for them, that always makes more sense to me than people who talk about "AI art having no soul" and such. And I suspect a big part of it is some sort of insecurity of mine

Because I didn't realize that this is how I felt (I thought I was just mostly, in every part of me, Anti AI, like ‘fuck that noise’ y'know?) Until it came to bite me in the ass. A woman who's like my sister though we aren't related, is letting me live in her house as I try to get my bearings and handle on life after deciding to push my last year of college back a year, and she's like, a capable adult with experience in the job market and some industries so I trust her when she says "you know you're going to have to focus on developing your painting and traditional art skills, since with the Advent of AI Art, no one wants to pay for that service anymore." Because that makes sense. Artists in my country, as far as my college goes anyway, are embracing and trying to figure out how to integrate AI into their workflow so as not to be taken over by it. So the market has definitely changed, I've not really met another artist here who has any profoundly negative views of AI art, definitely customers are for the most part the same. For some job security, I better get a handle on the form of art that can't be replicated well by AI.

And yet I feel horrible. Because now I fear it's going to be a thing where any digital.art I may end up doing in this house will be looked upon disapprovingly. Because I'm not as good in traditional painting and I should be focusing on that, there's no need to be putting so much of my energy into digital art like this because it's no longer going to bring me money. All the personal projects I'm doing, my animatics, my oc character sheets are as they have always been, a waste of time or the thing I tend to focus on rather than my school work art. It doesn't matter that I've realized I kind of hate painting, I still prefer it to every other section of art I could have chosen to specialize in (digital art is under graphic design and I hate graphic design and Photoshop/Adobe/coreldraw etc.) And all of that is bumming me out because my main drive for art seems to be in my personal art despite it getting in the way of school work. And I can't stand the thought that it's not worth anything, that I should take a break from it, that AI art is better at it than me therefore there's no point to it. But what else am I supposed to do when I'm not entirely sure how much of all.that is false? And it's become apparent my entire philosophy of art is on shaky ground.

I just want to know and understand the truth so I can stop feeling this way. I'm sorry for the long ask I'm just really conflicted

I'm honestly confused about what your philosophy of art even is.

The vibes I'm getting off of this ask are 1. depression/anxiety and 2. extremely black-and-white thinking.

There is no single Truth™ in art, though there are strong tendencies. AI art sucks for some ethical reasons, regardless of whether the art is pleasing to the eye. AI art also sucks because the way it is programmed leads it to default to one style of human face unless explicitly told not to. "AI has no souuuuul" is silly nonsense. Plenty of boring art by humans also feels soulless.

The actual issue is that "Draw a hot girl" elicits lots of different responses from human artists. AI goes straight for AI Face. There has been drama and much hilarity about shitty book covers where what was supposed to be this individual character has ended up with AI Face in a really visible way. AI also suuuuucks at drawing hands or having little details correct. (Like... even more than human artists already suck at hands, which lbr, is a lot.) AI is objectively bad at art in a bunch of formal ways. It may get better over time, and the least discerning type of customer does not notice, but it does, in fact, suck at its job.

AI art is preferred because it is cheap.

This is the same principle as moving factory jobs from country to country looking for the lowest paid labor.

If you want to make money on art, you have to find something that cannot be done elsewhere and for less. For many people, this means building a cult of personality around themselves so that they are the product and are not replaceable.

You do not sound like someone who wants to be a commercial artist.

I get that you feel you have no obvious path to supporting yourself, but that doesn't mean you actually want to be an artist. Hobby art has plenty of value emotionally and for enriching your life. It does not need to make money to have value.

However, if you want to make a living at art, basic digital arts skills already wouldn't have paid the bills before AI took over, at least not in any market I'm familiar with. The people who pay rent this way generally have a strong interest in multiple types of art, and they are far more interested in fulfilling a brief from a client.

Honestly, nonnie, if you can't already tell how bad AI is at digital photorealistic paintings or whatever, I think you do need to go focus on painting classes.

It's not that I think you should be a painter, but if your art school is any good, they should have some instruction on formal, traditional art aesthetics. This will include things like anatomy and composition.

It is that da Vinci Michelangelo shit that will set one digital artist apart from another. I see way too many people whose whole education was drawing bishies for DeviantArt. They refine and refine and refine the surface details without ever addressing the underlying issues with proportion and perspective.

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eyrieofsynapses · 1 year ago

Text

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

#aurora comic #aurora webcomic #comicaurora #art analysis #...I hope those are the right tags???#new fandom new tagging practices to learn ig #much thanks for something to read while I try to rest my wrists. carpal tunnel BAD. (ignore that I wrote this I've got braces ok it's fine)#anyway! I HAVE. MANY MORE THOUGHTS. ON THE STORY ITSELF. THIS LOVELY STORY #also a collection of reactions to a chunk of the comic before I hit the point where I was too busy reading to write anything down #idk how to format those tho #...yeet them into one post...???#eh I usually don't go off this much these days but this seems like a smaller tight-knit fandom so... might as well help build it?#and I have a little more time thanks to break so #oh yes also shoutout to my insanely awesome professor for teaching me all the technical stuff from this he is LOVELY #made an incredibly complex program into something comprehensible <3 #synapse talks

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skythealmighty · 7 months ago

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why am i just now finding out about thisisnotawebsitedotcom i feel a little stupid.. then again i dont have the Book of Bill so maybe im lucky to know about it ???

#rocket talk #gravity falls #miss this show. anyway twink cipher fuckign jumpscared me

(3 notes)

👓 the-nerdiest-glasses Follow

Why Flatland counts as an object show: an essay

Keep reading

🔧 warp-pipe-sfx Follow

Why Flatland does NOT count as an object show: a rebuttal

Keep reading

⛓️ chainsaw-massacres Follow

why flatland isnt an object show: its a book + movie you assholes

#this argument is fucking stupid its just flatland

(3,821 notes)

🔘 join-my-evil-polycule-deactivated08142020 asked: Im going to tear apart your circuitboard until its broken irreparably

🌈 super-rainbow-epic-computer Follow

lol ok have fun w that 👍

also do u know any recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds the internets failing me rn and im cooking a big dinner for me and my bf

🔘 join-my-evil-polycule-deactivated08142020

Oh yeah sure https://www.jessicagavin.com/how-to-roast-pumpkin-seeds/#wprm-recipe-container-35845

🔘 join-my-evil-polycule-deactivated08142020

Wait why am I telling you this go die I hate you

🌈 super-rainbow-epic-computer Follow

thx for the help!

☝i-date-iconic-posts Follow

Date of origin: November 3rd, 2021

(216,025 notes)

❌ mephonex-deletes-your-favs Follow

~~Welcome to MePhoneX deletes your favs!!~~

I'm mod Xav (the only mod rn - -"), here to cause trauma to your favorite characters :)! PLEASE keep in mind that submissions will take a while to get to, because I have to photoshop out the limbs + background or even completely recreate someone's object if they're transparent!

The background flag is in the header and the X (recreated from an image of MePhoneX) I overlay on top is the profile picture if you want to make your own :) just @ this blog and I'll reblog it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~❌~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RULES ABOUT SUBMISSIONS:

NO INANIMATE INSANITY CONTESTANTS. I would like to avoid Apollo's Dodgeball thanks (plus it's insensitive)

No algebralien or algebralien-adjacent characters! I love those guys too I get it but I honestly don't have a good method of 'deleting' them planned. Feel free to do it on your own time though!

If someone asks me to take down a submission with them in it I will do it without questions. This is for a variety of reasons, but I think you get it.

Alright, that's it! Have fun :)

#not xed out #mod xav #pinned post #your fav is #your fave is #mephone #mephonex #inanimate insanity #ii2 finale

(681 notes)

📁 sticky-note-hit-post Follow

has anyone else wondered why this spaghetti code webbed site can connect across DIFFERENT UNIVERSES??? or is that just me

(2,416 notes)

🦀 thesamepictureofbaxtereveryday Follow

follow for the same picture of my crab every day!!!!! look at him :D

(3 notes)

anonymous asked: greeny how does it feel to be technically a higher being than most other people on the site

🟢 greenyguy Follow

sir this is a wendys

#i didnt order an existential crisis today :(

(37,102 notes)

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

todays liveblog!! B)

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

knife and suitcase made it to the finale!! hell yeah so proud of them

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

balloons talk with suitcase didnt go so well :/ i hope they can get some alone time without anyone else so they can like talk properly next time

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

mepad???

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

oh i think the finale challenge is happening

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

baseball looks worried but lightbulb's brushing him off :|

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

ojs backing away from paper??? wh

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

WHJDT THE FUCK

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

WAIT I HAVENT SEEN SOAP IN A WHILE WHERE IS SHE???

🎤 screamintothemic Follow

OH GOD

#mics ramblings #SOAP???!??

(11 notes)

anonymous asked: evil woman are so hot <3 i will do whatever you want queen

🌐 dr-who-could-never Follow

Awwww, this means a lot to me, anon! Could you find Film Reel for me and doxx him? That would be really helpful <3

#He's been evading me #It's really annoying #Hard to take over the world when I have to worry about him 🙄

(6 notes)

🥄 only-a-spoonful Follow

WHY DO I KEEP GETTING SENT ASKS ABOUT PREGNANCY?!

#I'M GOING TO QUIT TUMBLR AT THIS RATE.

(47,284 notes)

📗 journal-of-secrets Follow

if this fuckass hand keeps showing up at the edge of my vision i'm going to hit something

📗 journal-of-secrets Follow

#maybe hes in love with you

what the hell is wrong with you.

#unreality #fake dashboard #rocket talk #roc save #osc #object shows #osc community #object show community #twisted turns reboot #twisted turns #the daily object show #tdos #inanimate insanity #paper puppets take 2 #ppt2 #ppt2 osc #greenyguy

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hooned · 7 months ago

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it's kim sunoo's world, we're all just living in it

#enhypen #enhypenet #*jelly's #kim sunoo #sunoo #invented duality THAT'S RIGHT !!!#he is just SO gewd ugh #that smile in the middle YOU FAKE ASS VILLAIN I SAW YOU BEING A CUTIE !!! 💙#i love him so much #also this coloring is hsjcnjsn #but i have stared at it long enough i figured it wouldn't make me like it more if i stare at it longer #so it shall be released from the drafts !!#WHY DOES PHOTOSHOP HATE COLORS PART 7823728

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chippdhearts · 1 year ago

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GONNA THROW my computer

can anyone who uses photoshop and import video layers to frames to make their gifs PLEASE help me because I am suffering

#rambles #like for real why does photoshop hate me in particular #I should not be doing this at 1am

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stop-talking · 10 months ago

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Breakdown of the @joshsbimbo controversy.

@mike-schmidtten already made a detailed list of every reason why people are upset with you, "lamb", but I'm going to quickly go over it all anyways because you obviously didn't get the memo.

Extreme trigger warning for this entire post, I'm going to be talking about rape, SA, assault, violence, abuse, incest, stepcest, pedophilia, substance abuse, and probably a lot more.

First of all, you tagged this fic where Mike literally rapes the reader as "cnc". That is not correct.

I mean, if we look at the definition of CNC, it says "this type of scene does not encourage ACTUAL rape. All proper scenes are done after much negotiation between of-age, consenting adults."

But I don't need to explain that to you, do I? You know what CNC is. You said yourself MONTHS ago that you tagged your fic incorrectly and NEVER went back and fixed it.

Mike's next point was that you make it impossible for people to "steer away" from their triggers when you don't tag your posts properly.

And as an example he used this post of straight up incest porn between Mike and his little sister. All completely out in the open, tagged under "#mike schmidt" and "#mike schmidt x reader" for all to see.

He followed it up this this. A plea for you to, at the bare minimum, tag the major triggers in your posts and hide it under a "read more" section.

Let's take a look at how you responded to that very reasonable request.

Oh. You DM'd him the word poop and blocked him.

Instead of reblogging to respond, you actually deleted your origional post so your followers couldn't see the criticism of you as easily. I wonder why? You made your stance clear, though. "I should have put more warnings on my work, but it doesn't matter anyways because it's all fictional." But then, immediately after, you started relogging an account that makes photoshopped foot fetish content of male celebrities for some reason...?

(I censored the feet myself because its just weird) Oh, and weird AI pictures of him, too.

There were worse ones, but I didn't screenshot everything, and you deleted these posts just a few hours after reblogging.

You followed it all up with this now-deleted post about how you wish you could make your notes private. Again, I wonder why? If it really is OKAY to sexualize incest, rape, and abuse just because it's fictional, why would people be scared to support you? Why is no one willing to publicly like your posts, or speak out in your favor? Even some of your biggest supporters (@leah-hutcherson @teenagedreamsss @cuteskunkz @renaissancebewbies) who continue to like (some) of your posts, still haven't come to your defense. If writing about fictional rape, abuse, and incest really and truly wasn't harmful, why would you need to hide?

Once other people started catching wind of what was going on, you responded in some... interesting ways. Like here, in response to this ask (from a person who is a minor BTW). You switched up your story from "I should have tagged my work better" to "everyone hates me now because I forgot to put warnings on ONE story" (which was just blatantly false, as you had been posting other triggering things at the time with no warnings whatsoever.)

It was absolutely ridiculous of you to claim you put warnings on your work when I could scroll down two posts (back before you deleted this) and see a post about Mike beating his kid.

Like... please show me where exactly the warning is?

Then, when this person, (another MINOR, btw!!) posted after reading Mike's breakdown of your behavior, your responded by DMing them a slur.

I don't even know what to say to that. A minor. A slur.

But as much as you like to INSIST your work isn't for minors, you sure seem to interact with them a lot.

This person who reblogged your masterlist? They're a minor.

^^ You can't say you don't want minors to read your work without actually taking all precautions possible to prevent them from seeing it. (Tagging your content, blocking ageless accounts, NOT REBLOGGING MINORS!!!)

Yes. This person is also a minor. Which makes, what, the 4th minor you've interacted with in the past few days? At least from what I can tell.

They also hate you btw so I don't even know why you reblogged them.

FINALLY, this user commented under one of your posts in an attempt to get you to AT LEAST tag your posts correctly if you're going to write triggering shit. (Which was the same think Mike asked you to do, if you remember, but he got "poop" and reblogs of foot fetish posts as a response.)

But then it looked like you either blocked them or removed their comment, so they tried again.

You ignored this message, then apparently posted this?

So they tried again (being much nicer that I would have)

And you finally responded (and still got blocked anyways because your posts are DISTURBING and GROSS)

I doubted you'd actually fix your page, because again, you ignored the same request when Mike asked, and in the past admitted you tagged your fics wrong but just never bothered to change it.

But surprise surprise, you actually went through with it and added trigger warnings to your content.

Though, I'm still not sure "non-serious" is an appropriate tag for a post where mike beats you to death...??

Look. I appreciate that you're at least TRYING now, but it was a fucking FIGHT to get you to do the bare minimum. What I, and apparently 84% of people actually want you to do is delete your account.

(This is from @mike-schmidtten's breakdown post from a couple days ago)

I know you want to PRETEND that just because something is a work of fiction, it doesn't have negative real-world effects, but that's just not the truth.

A lot of people were hurt when you posted things without trigger warnings.

And even now, as you continue to post fetish content for rape, incest, and abuse, people are still being hurt. MINORS are still being hurt.

Yes, obviously, if you post something on the internet, you can't completely 100% control who sees it. But you don't even seem to TRY.

(Dming minors slurs, letting minors reblog your masterlist, letting ageless accounts interact with you, reblogging minors, answering asks from minors, etc)

People, minors, CHILDREN, are raped and abused by those closest to them every day. It's disgusting and horrifying to think about, but it's the world we live in.

You aren't "helping people cope" by writing these stories. You're normalizing abuse. And allowing the most vulnerable people to read it.

You're taking actual things that have happened to real people, and sexualizing it for others to get off to. It's immoral, disturbing, and disgusting.

To my followers, if any of you support this kind of content, you are NOT welcome on my page. Please unfollow or block me and go seek help.

And to you, lamb, I hope you come to your senses and either delete all of your rape & incest fetish content or delete your account entirely.

At the end of the day, you KNOW you're in the wrong. Or at least some small part of you does, or you wouldn't have been afraid to reblog Mike's post and respond defending yourself directly. And you wouldn't be afraid to reblog mine either, which you undoubtedly will.

I know you used to follow me, so maybe you'll take this all to heart. But probably not.

I won't block you. (for the next few days, at least). I'll be here if you want to try and have a civil discussion. But just know I will NEVER agree with the sexualization & glorification of violence and abuse.

#PSA #anyone connected to this person DNI

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sweetshelluvaau · 3 months ago

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Finally: I finished Michael, the Paragon saint and Golden Boy himself!

The hours I spent on this I'm just glad I'm done but I'm overall proud of the results.

Like always, notes under the cut. Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and with Photoshop CS6 for final touches. Okay to reblog, Feedback is encourage.

Let's talk about Adam very quick:

Considering that Michael is to replace Adam in my rewrite/AU, I feel it's only fair that I talk about the character himself because boy howdy do I have things to say.

I have...mix feelings about Adam. I don't hate him, but I do find him to be wasted potential but that's basically all of Hellaverse at this point.

Alex Brightman, as always, brings his A Game. He sounds like he's having a blast playing the character and won't lie, Hell is Forever is a pretty solid villain song and one of the better tunes in the show imho

because I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to talk about it, I think Hazbin's musical score is a mix bag. The are some genuine bops (Hell is Forever, Respectless, Stay Gone being some of my faves) but there's duds as well (Poison is basically 'We have Addict at home' without any of the charm that made that song good and Whatever it Takes doesn't work because we barely know anything about Carmila to get invested and honestly it's basically a nothing song). Overall I think the soundtrack is fine but all blended together as part of a musical? It falls flat however I feel their are people who are better to talk about what makes a musical good in regard to how it tells it's story.

Anyways... that's all the positives I really have.

The way for me to describe how I feel about Adam is kinda the reverse effect on how I feel about Mammon being they are similar characters in a sense. Both grew on me in some ways but unlike the case of Mammon where his vulgarly and general asshole-ness is kinda endearing in a way (that and he's voiced by Michael Cusack who plays Pim on Smiling Firends so I'm kinda a bit bias), Adam on the other hand comes across as grating to me. I don't know why but he just does. That plus because Adam is suppose to be an angel/Saint given a higher propose, one who's in change of the Extermination that happen every year mind you, while also being thousands of years old and the first man only for him he acts like...

This!

idk man, I have nothing agasist him being a frat boy but I feel it would have made more sense for character like Adam to have a more Knight Templar persona. If you want to play with this a bit though, have Adam behaves differently around those in Hell/winners and angels that have no power vs Heaven's higher ranking Angels/Seraphim.

Around Sera and others with roles similar to hers he acts like the righteous, paragon saint that Heaven praises him to be but to those who's word wouldn't be taken against him and the citizens of Hell regardless of where they are on the hierarchy? He doesn't hide his true personality where he's basically a self righteous asshole who has no problem stepping on others and enjoys partaking in the Exterminations but also indulging in some other sinful behavior during that time because he gets to cut loose a bit from Heaven's strict mandates.

This would also play greatly within the trial subplot where it'd be harder for Charlie to sell her idea of Redemption when Heaven's leadership takes Adam's word over hers while also having the mask he wears slipping the longer it goes on, everyone slowly seeing a bit of his true colors.

As I said before, Adam was wasted potential and his role could have been played any character really. Honestly, I'm surprise they didn't go with the archangels being how well known they are in biblical stories.

Also his design sucks but that's not really much of a hot take, is it?

...This part was suppose to be very quick wasn't it?

Anyways, let's get into Michael now:

I don't really have much to say about his design other than the fact I wanted him to give off the appearance of being seen as 'prefect' and a 'paragon' especially compare to his brother, Lucifer who's seen as the boogieman by Heaven and history. He does have a more casual outfit on days he's not wearing armor but I haven't designed it yet. He does have a Halo but I forgot to add it XD

Gave him golden colored wings to add to his 'Golden Boy' persona Heaven has dubbed him. That and they're just pretty.

As I said above, Michael is to replace Adam in my AU/Rewrite. He's in charge of the Heavenly Host, Heaven's army along with it's the sub group who conduct the annual Exterminations as mandate by the Seraphim Council. Unlike Adam however, it's not a task he enjoys. Quite the opposite. He sees them as an necessary evil (or at the very least, that's what he tells himself) to keep Hell's numbers down but even then he's starting to question if this is the way of handling it. He's not on board with the idea of the Happy Hotel at first but eventually warms up to it and becomes one Charlie's bigger supporters.

Personality wise, he differs from Adam as well. Michael has a good heart. He's brave, kind and loyal to all of Heaven; but he isn't a pushover by any means. His honestly can sometimes get him in a bit of trouble with the Seraphim but he fights for what he believes is right.

Michael is seen in the lens by Heaven as their 'Paragon Saint' in contrast to his Fallen brother. He doesn't really like this title because he doesn't see himself as any better than any Heavenborn or Saint/Winners but it ended up sticking and Heaven needs to fuel it's propaganda machine after all. He's also referred to 'The Golden Boy' both affectionally and sarcastically.

He doesn't hate Lucifer. There are a few times that Michael, even with his brother being declared Fallen and 'The Devil', tried to reach out to Lucifer to mend their relationship because despite everything; he does care and loves him. Lucifer on the other hand doesn't have the patience to want to 'fix' things due to his own bitterness and Pride, even if he was the cause of his own downfall.

I'm sure there are other notes I could add by my brain is fizzing out and I worked long enough on this post.

Kesha!Bee (Already drew Beelzebub herself but I'm posting these two together) and Stolas are next on my redesign chopping block and I'm currently working on my Wrath Ring post as well. One of those will be next...

#here goes sweets off her bullshit again #hazbin hotel rewrite #hazbin hotel critical #hellaverse rewrite #hazbin hotel: redemption arc #sweets helluva redesgin #sweets helluva rewrite

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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 days ago

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Steven Beschloss at America, America:

On January 20, Donald Trump mouthed the presidential oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That promise would include the protection and defense of the Fifth Amendment, which states that no one shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Yesterday Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen appeared on Fox News Sunday to stress how central civil liberty is to the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, who was taken to El Salvador without due process is being held hostage there in its notorious, traumatizing mega-prison. without due process. "I'm not vouching for the man,” said Van Hollen, who met Ábrego García on Thursday. “I'm vouching for the man's rights. His constitutional right to due process." And then he explained why this is so important, not just for Ábrego García, but for everyone living in America,. “My whole point here is if you deprive one man of his constitutional rights, you threaten the constitutional rights of everybody,” he said. And “if you threaten the rule of law for one person, you threaten if for everybody in America."

Meanwhile, the man who uttered the oath to protect our Constitution spent his weekend expanding his fabrications about Ábrego García—determined to persuade the court of public opinion why this allegedly heinous criminal does not deserve due process and fundamental civil liberties. On Saturday, he posted an obviously fabricated photo of a hand with tattoos and, in what looks like a cheap photoshop job, the letters and numbers of the Venezuelan gang on his knuckles: MS-13. “I was elected to take bad people out of the United States,” Trump wrote, mocking the idea that Ábrego García is “such a fine and innocent person.” Yesterday, on Easter Sunday, Trump continued his poisonous diatribe meant to underscore how right he is to keep Ábrego García and others in a foreign gulag. “Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country,” he lied.

If Trump were so sure of Ábrego García’s guilt, it would make logical sense that he would support returning the Maryland man to the U.S. and to the judgement of U.S. courts after the government made its case. But not only has Trump worked aggressively to undermine the legitimacy of our court system and flout its rulings, he has worked even more intensely to undermine the capacity of millions of Americans to know what is true and false and to believe his lies over verifiable, evidence-based facts. Remarkably, in an unusually swift order delivered in the middle of the night Saturday, the Supreme Court blocked additional deportations likely headed for the same El Salvador prison without judicial review. This followed an emergency request from the American Civil Liberties Union for the Court to intervene.

[...] As Reagan-appointed Circuit Court Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III vividly put it Thursday, concerning the government’s responsibility to facilitate Ábrego García’s return, “If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?”

Permit me to rewind over three decades, to 1989, when real estate developer Trump made clear the depth of his hatefulness toward minorities, his sadistic desire to mete out deadly punishment and his belief in his own judgement over the value of civil liberties. That was when he paid for a full-page advertisement in The New York Times to rant about the failure of the judicial system and the need to reinstate capital punishment to execute the five Black and Hispanic teenagers known as the Central Park Five alleged to have brutally beaten and raped a white woman who was jogging in Central Park. “Bring Back The Death Penalty,” the headline screamed. “Bring Back our Police!” “How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits?” the text implored. “Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!” And in a chilling precursor of what was to come from this hateful, unchanged man, he rejected then-New York Mayor Ed Koch’s urging to not respond to the murder with “hate and rancor.” Nope, not for Trump. “I want to hate these muggers and murderers,” he wrote. “They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence…I am not looking to psychoanalyze them or understand them. I am looking to punish them.”

This Steven Beschloss column on due process and Kilmar Ábrego García is a solid one.