#the highwayman: kate heriot

[chiropteracupola]

Lucky rabbit's foot...

[a more lapine kate heriot for @sailorpants!]

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #GENUINELY these may be some of my favorite kates ever... she makes a delightfully creepy little bunny #the concept of hbyh beatrix potter style does haunt me... james would be some kind of big dog and jill and peggy both cats #and then harebell of course is a bunny of some sort as well

[chiropteracupola]

All shall be well, I'm telling you, let the winter come and go / All shall be well again, I know...

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #the gambler: james webster #snow outside my house = snow inside my drawings :) #again messing around with the idea of kate looking different in different environments! #caption lyrics from 'julian of norwich' (the gordon bok version of which I have been listening to on repeat lately) #it is NOT true in the particular situation that all shall be well again but I hope that that is not the case in my own situation #all being well again would be darn great actually

[chiropteracupola]

DANGEROUS GAY WOMEN with EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL RECORDS and EVEN MORE EXCESSIVE DEGREES OF HUBRIS in YOUR AREA!!!

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #autumn's mood this year is Sultry I think #also I realized I'd never drawn pre-ghostification kate with her hair down before and thought it was about time #genuinely I am a little surprised at myself for drawing this whole thing right in front of my mother but hey who can say what goeth on #unaccountable boldness occurreth!

[chiropteracupola]

I only just saw the message, so I hope it's not too late for OC questions! I want to learn everything about your butch ghost highwaywoman. What's her (his? their?) favorite song?

WELL it does seem that the people wish to know about James and Kate!! and I do realize that I have quite the habit of not ever properly introducing What Goes On In The Exciting World Inside My Head -- perhaps it's time to get a little more specific about these two and what they get up to.

in this particular story, it's the force of external expectation that creates ghosts. places that you believe are haunted are haunted, people that you think should haunt do haunt. this is not necessarily a good thing.

so when an innkeeper drags the body of his highwayman lover down from the gallows and brings her home, a ghost is already beginning to be spun up, and with that step into the web of necromancy, that haunting just can't stop once it's got James's belief to power it. you think your ghost needs to be bound to their body? now you've got a mummified hand and a soupy corpse to take care of. and you think this ghost can act on her own terms and her own power, and that that stealing hand of hers still has got skill that now is certainly more than mortal? well, now you've got a situation where your best girl is incorporeal, visible only to you, and developing a tendency to crawl around on the ceiling just for the fun of it!

...in short, this is not something that really encourages business at the Sign of the Cross-Roads.

and in much the theme of the rest of their tale, Kate is something of a murder ballad enthusiast! here's her rendition of 'Willie's Fatal Visit,' a tune that might be a little more apt for their situation than either she or James yet know...

[haunted by your hand also has a playlist if you want to hear more jamesnkate tunes!]

#answers from the cupola #em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #and a pronoun clarification in accordance with the first ask here - he/she for james and she for kate! #innkeeper+ghost is a type of duo of all time hehe yayyyyyy #and hey well if you're ever traveling in northeast england in the 1750s-60s and come across a small and ominous tavern...

[chiropteracupola]

hello! hello! who are you!

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #the gambler: james webster #here are james and kate when they met!! they are about seven here and they are about to be bestest friends #kate likes playing make-believe and poking things (and people) with sticks and james has that sort sort arbitrarily sort autism #kate will also not figure out exactly how hairstyling works for quite a few years yet #one of those images where you can kind of tell I have been looking at a lot of jon klassen artwork lately. I like how he draws kids. #ah... the girls... so small and also no one is dead or dismembering each other yet...

[chiropteracupola]

Spotify wrapped—lucky number seven!

7. 'Morirò da Re,' Måneskin

kate heriot theme song!!

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #she takes to this style very well :)

[chiropteracupola]

but still I keep your hand, as a precious souvenir...

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #remember that 'what should I draw' poll? well girl soup won so here is Girl Soup as you so politely requested. #feel like I ought to tag this for Something but for the life of me I do not know What. #time to say a little context also. for I fear that this needs context. #james's entire Deal is a bit 'sad old bartender with a dead wife in the walls somewhere' except that she's not particularly sad or old #and the wife in question is not precisely in the walls so much as being preserved in alcohol in a barrel in the basement #'but what else are you Supposed to do after you've stolen your ladylove's corpse and turned her hand into a sorcerous artifact? #just bury her? well that would be both a difficulty and a waste wouldn't it. better to keep her close. right here. right here.' #so you see james's thought process on this one. and if she's drinking a little of what's in that vat of dead girl juice what's the problem. #...I realize now that I'm not ever sure I Said what the haunted by your hand storyline was out loud on the website before. #so if this was a sudden bucketload of information then. well. do not know what to say beyond That's Just How It Is. #aaaaand caption lyrics from tom lehrer's 'i hold your hand in mine' since I am still finding room to get a little silly with it around here

[chiropteracupola]

sei bella da schiantarsi!

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #caption lyrics from pinguini tattici nucleari's 'giovani wannabe' which I have been listening to So Very Much #if I had a nickel for every time an italian song in much the wrong genre was james and kate to me. #both of the translations I've found for this line work equally well for them (which is rather fun) #anyway It's Been Too Long since I've drawn these two. #this is my favorite picture of james I've ever done... she's hard to draw and I'm not sure why. #also finally worked out their height difference! so perhaps more james + kate soon! #been taking a bit of visual (and auditory!) inspiration from cait o'riordan for kate... we'll see where this goes

[chiropteracupola]

I'll have no check upon my glass / But the hours of joy and laughter pass...

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #received sort of a push notification in my brain that said Draw Your Weird Butches Now and then I did that and it was Very Nice #one of my favorite jameses of all time but I do feel like I say that every time #maybe it is that I just really like her so much (yay james) #real pity that these two exist mostly in my brain and some drawings! I want to read about them so terribly badly is the thing #but also I have absolutely no inclination to Write about them #just rotate rotate rotate all the live-long day... #oh and! caption lyrics from 'only desire what you have' by kate rusby

[chiropteracupola]

she's got those stealin' hands

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #it is known that the hands do other stuff also but their primary purpose is Stealin'. #she can have an all-purple outfit if she wants. she's cool like that. #lately I have been showing off the fact that I am Fond of Beige again.

[chiropteracupola]

midnight kate scribblings

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #somewhat influenced by the fact that I added morirò da re to her playlist and I've been playing it on loop #unfortunately I have been feeling Mildly Disastrous: thus I drew this at 1am with zero tasks done #but hey! I just like to draw her all glowy and bright... james is truly Some Guy™️ but if you bit into kate there would be pop rocks in her #also I am trying to distract myself from making the fellow from yesterday's drawing a full-fledged Character #he's right on the edge of having a name but I have no clue what his deal is yet so it's back to drawing the usual suspects

[chiropteracupola]

handholding and other ghostly activities

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #saw a video of someone running glowsticks through a papershredder as I was writing this post and I think that's exactly how kate looks #the designs here are a little Something because I started this one in november and then neglected it while I changed them up later

[chiropteracupola]

they saw you across the room and had mildly conflicting opinions concerning your vibe.

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #the gambler: james webster #have got to stop drawing kate unghosted - I feel like I am being misleading about the number of limbs she has #it's fun to notice when my favorite palette (Black Brown Beige and Teal) starts appearing in my own characters again #these two and shipwreck steel and jerome as well... #and then if you look back at my very early treasure island stuff There It Is Again #aaaaaanyway. rotating james and kate at high speeds again but zero words appear on the page. got a playlist now though. #this image is brought to you by several hours of 'cracklin' rosie' by neil diamond on loop.

[chiropteracupola]

and here is kate all ghosted

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #I do a lot of stories where it is Guy and Ghost so I try to make the ghosts work a little differently every time #(although at this point you could probably make a fairly accurate conspiracy board of Which Seamus Heaney Poem Goes With Which Guy) #while I was drawing this I listened to a podcast about penny dreadfuls and moral panic and then afterwards one about bog bodies #and that was a lovely kate-appropriate set of media as she is both a highwayman and a mummy #her hand is all ...like that because james kept it after she died #her ghost-body is still attached to it though #cue tom lehrer's 'i hold your hand in mine'...

[chiropteracupola]

just some guy and the severed hand of her dead girlfriend

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the gambler: james webster #the highwayman: kate heriot #someday I will draw kate as something other than just a hand again but today is not that day #someday I will use color again too and that day is also not today! wow!

[chiropteracupola]

uh oh girl is that an incoming consequence or possibly several

#em draws stuff #oc time again hehe #haunted by your hand #the highwayman: kate heriot #kate again! hello! #it has been An While since I drew in this style and it was kind of pleasant to revisit #also just doing more original stuff again in general is neat to revisit #this drawing is not even two inches tall in my sketchbook so that is why the lines are a little different this time #two art! two art tuesday!