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moonstruckdraws · 2 months

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Plant Portraits

(pst- psssssst!- Hey, hey you. Yeah, you! Want to see something cool? look at this post by @hellishgayliath. It's about the characters shown here! They worked on it for a week straight, so check it out!) . . .

Hi, yes, hi, hello. Yeaaaaaah- steering away from the angst me & Helli brewed while I recover from crying. This was inspired exactly a month ago from this ask I made to Helli ask bout their oc's fav plants. I wanted to try out a new rendering style & thought this be a good opportunity + plant practice

Pico; He likes cinnamon plants/trees & likes to knaw on cinnamon sticks. So I did cinnamon plants! Specifically Cinnamomum cassia, or known as Chinese cassia, that is the most commonly sold cinnamon in North America (yes you are getting plant facts this took longer to research than to draw mainly because I like learning but that's besides the point and I wanna share knowledge) I really like how the leaves came out! Twas very fun. His plants are well maintained, healthy, & green (maybe too green lol) which shows his craft in gardening & care. Luci doesn't have teeth, so she can't really 'knaw' on things, so she didn't like trying Pico's snacks when she stole one. She was coughing on cinnamon for the next hour after. Pico laughed at her, obviously Ingenuity: the quality of being clever, original, and inventive

Bao; He likes wisteria flowers, the purple variation (my fav colour)! I loved loved LOVED coloring these plants, but it feels the most empty out of all of them (Clem is all over the place lmao) but I also kinda like it. Like it reflects their personalities this way, like he's the most upkept in society (despite his utter lack of gardening knowledge). Apparently, American wisteria is a host plant to native butterflies and moths! Add that to another reason Luci likes Bao lol. I feel like anytime she comes to the tea shop, Bao would bring her to the garden he & Pico would be working on. And everytime he's show her the plants he managed on his own they'd be drooping and dying lmao. Bao would be so confused & Luci is just unsurprised. And yes, I did think of & look at the wisteria in demon slayer Versatility: the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities

Clem; She likes (take 3 seconds to guess) citrus fruits!! Like her name. So I of course did citrus fruits, lemons & oranges. She has my FAVORITE pose, her reaching for the fruit while juggling some in her other arm is adorable. And of course that cute face of hers! Her plants are just EVERYWHERE & is the only one to touch the ends of the canvas (that I wanted to avoid but oh well, it didn't look good otherwise). Besides, it shows her big personality and chaotic energy children have. Apparently, they're sometimes called 'Christmas oranges' because they're in season in winter months. I thought that was interesting. Does Clem like the cold, Helli or does she despise it like Pico lol? Apparently, they are also those cuties or halos oranges I use to devour as a child lol. And because of said memory, I say that Clem does too. I like to think Luci learns to share, like a child, from Clem, a said child. Luci sells back people's stuff overpriced all the time, and only shares things with Repo. She obviously isn't sharing anything with Pico & she mainly hangs out with Bao at the tea shop so she only buys things. She stole Clem's fruits in front of her once. Let's just say a bunch of sad faces and crying, not only bleed her earholes, but made her feel bad (but she'll never admit it). Does she share things now? Kindaaaaa- no. No, not at all. Only Clem & Repo Affability: the quality of being friendly and easy to talk to

aaaand my inspo board just cuz I was going to draw Vera, I really was! (I was so FRICKIN EXCITED to draw the plant with the braided stock next to the pink flower) but... one look at her head and the pose I chose, I said "No."

Bao was already troubling enough I don't need to build up hate to a character I barely know & already like by getting frustrated with their head (again). So no Vera, Helli, sorrys. Her descriptor was going to be 'nobility' btw

GO CHECK OUT HELLI'S POST IT'S SO GOOD (sad) BUT AMAZING!

#helli's children #pico the possum #clementine the opossom #bao the tanuki #plant portraits #sorry Vera #maybe next time or whenever im bored and open this file again #i was excited to draw succulents & cacti but oh well #lightening the mood from the cloud of angst lol #to brighten your day Helli #& the sleep I hope youre getting #just don't hibernate- even though rabbits don't do that but still-#i've reread that post 20 times counting im not even joking #i swear i notice a new detail everytime from Pico's tears to Bao's hearing aid #to the trembling hands and the texture difference in Krangg Pico & past Pico's fur #beyond WAY beyond honored that you included Luci in it #Im over the moon (me ha) about it still; its stellar truly #you're literally amazing get loved idiot

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transmandrake · 1 year

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Well, went to see avatar 2 yesterday. Had a lot of thoughts on it, that I have almost certainly forgotten.

To sum up, if you liked the first one you'll like the second. It unfortunately and unsurprisingly has similar weakpoints/critiscisms to the first, but, I think plotwise its stronger than the first (which isn't hard to do lol) but simultaneously has bigger weak points (at least 2 aspects that... contribute nothing)

Full spoilers obviously, but uh. Theres not really any huge revelations here. Its the first one again with more layers and also less on account of parts already being done.

The good:

The creatures obviously. Not asss strong as the first but well water-based life has a lot more restrictions tbh. Theres a reason a lot of unrelated fish look the same. The setting felt less alien and I'll be real Subnautica has already, excuse the pun, blown the standard for ocean spec bio out of the water, and wellll look, if its true they made these films ages ago but couldnt release them, thats a shame, it would have felt more innovative in a pre-subnautica world.

The Na'vi felt a lot more fleshed out in this one, a good sense there's a lot more to them than. Uncomfortable Space Native American Metaphor. However a bad point ahead completely dries up a ton of, and a ton of future, development to them as Not Just Space Native American Metaphors. Siiiiigh.

I liked that we got to see, well, more Na'vi who werent avatars! People critiscise their designs for being too human but the sequel makes it WAY more clear that the avatars are essentially *half human* and that the actual Na'vi are considerably more alien looking. This take annoys me so much I am a Na'vi Design Defender this is my Hill to Die On except the feet. God i hate their people feet. And that they dont have the neck holeess whhhyyy???

Stronger plot! Yes it's essentially the same film again in terms of Moral or whatever but its less of a straight course. The beginning was very strong, though I honestly felt it was contrived the reason they leave at all. I think staying in the forest and developing it more would be a better idea plot and setting-wise but its fiiiine. Its been ages maybe moving on was a good choice long term.

The sorta side plots of the kids, the outcast whale, they were good! I liked them! It added a bit more than just Same Movie Again but Water.

The bad:

Its still Avatar. It still has, a lot of questionable choices. Why does the water chief guy have a cape made seemingly of feathers. Have you seen a single feathered animal in avatar. Why not. Dried fish fins. Sea plant fabric. Something that isnt Feathers. You and I know why its feathers. And its a shame. Same as the first movie, it burns inside me there probably were innovative original ideas that got scrapped in favor of making the Na'vi read as. Well. Space Native Americans and now Space.... Maori? Like, the tattoos. :///// C'mooon its a cool idea in concept (whale tattoos. Amazing.) but youre just... taking that.. its just. Siiiigh. I really do hope its true this is actually like, technically a ten year old movie. It doesnt of course *excuse* all that but if you had decades to make another and you didnt listen to a major critiscism of the first that is easily fixable? Unexcusable.

And uh hey why does Jake have dreads. Maybe I didnt notice this in the first in which, okay, that's established if still a Wierd Choice, but uhh. I dont remember any of the navi having dreads, or curls or whatever at all... Their hair is kept around their neural link whip thing... Why'd they. Do that. The new water people had some curls which was cool, I shouldve paid attention to notice if they still had the neural hair braid. Cuz i really hope they just have a tentacle sticking out of their head when the hair isn't there that'd be cool. But yeahh ummm. Giving the White Guy dreads. I'm more of a benefit-of-the-doubt giver you can maybe tell but uhhhhh. I can't really think of a plausible reason for that choice that makes it not look. Bad.

Oh I forgot, the bad point I mentioned. The film translates Na'vi.

*sssssssiiigggghhhh*

Whyyyyyyyyyyy

You made a whole languaaaageee

Theres so much culture you could have addeeeeeddd via the languaaaageee

There is the sea sign language which I hope was a conlang at least. But uugggghhh.

It's just crushing. The whole reason I make conlangs, this movie. And well it's not gonna happen anymore.

Some of the plot points are useless. Why does the human kid exist. I thought he'd be a cool way to take the plot but uhhhh they do nothing with him! His only contribution was funny backtalk (which the other kids did better) and saving the Colonel. Which. Whhhyyy.

And the dreads again. Why? The colonel's a pasty white guy. Its already wierd for him to have a kid that wasnt mentioned or foreshadowed at all but. Huh???????? What. Why.

Speaking of, I really liked the Colonel as a villain in the first movie for his over the top villainy and generally likeable hateableness. I'd be fine with him being a returning villain... but hes just not as interesting and hes just. Boring this time. And well he's not dead so he's coming back again. Okay. I'd have preferred the exploitative whale hunter guys to have been the main villain here. They weren't developed much at all. Did they even get names???

In general the villains motivations were wierd. He just wants to kill Jake. What happened to unobtainium. The whale guys want the whales eternal life juice, cool. That goes nowhere really in favour of Kill Jake. Why aren't they colonising the forest now they know he's gone. I still don't see how him leaving was a good idea.

Conclusion:

In general I work on a basis of liking things as I know they Could Have Been rather than What They Are. Avatar is one of the best things ever from that point of view and I will defend that point of view, because I like being contrarian and well I want. More things like it to succeed.

But it's not that in reality. It's flawed, but in a way that is fundamentally... fixable. It's not like where I don't like something because at its core it cannot Get Better. But the Avatar in my head's real good.

Again, if the rest of it's creative production went how the music supposedly did... we were robbed.

Here's to a bunch more maybe? Hopefully of continuous improvements but uhh it's Avatar. I would be happy with more of the same which is prolly what its gonna be so yay for me and my low standards?

#avatar #avatar spoilers #i guess #i prolly have more thoughts but i forget #also unironically made me laugh sometimes. thats always good #i dont think the first one got more than a chuckle out of me so thats #something i guess

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haphazardlyparked · 3 years

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cousin Billy

lol i have spent two days doing literally none of the things i need to be doing, but meg did suddenly get a cousin. :)))

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“Hey, favorite cousin,” Meg said when I opened the door. “I need a favor.”

I opened it enough to get a good look at her. She was wearing some kind of crude brown coverall-trousers and a rough, threadbare shirt, totally filthy hair (and the Meg I saw off wore a gorgeous dark braid, and now all that thick woven glory was a short frizzy cut that had leaves in it, not even dead leaves, golden and red and orange).

She wasn’t even alone; her entourage included a square-faced man larping as a dirty knight, a tall sallow woman with subtly mis-matched eyes that I absolutely did not notice, holding a small blue dragon statue that did not close one eyelid and curl its tail a bit in. It didn’t, because that would have been insane, or worse, in the realm of fantasy, and that’s one place I generally prefer not to go.

I closed my eyes and shut the door.

Meg immediately started banging on it. “Don’t be like that, cuz, open up, please,” I could hear her say, very clearly, followed by the dirty knight who said, “Lady Meg, should we go somewhere else?”

And the tall woman asked, “What is a cuz?”

“Cuz, cousin, my mother’s sister’s daughter,” Meg explained, exasperated yet very thorough in her reply. Just for the record, she hadn’t stopped banging on my door either.

Then the tall woman, sounding very different and perhaps a bit taller than the first tall woman, which I also decided not to think about very hard, murmured, “You have family?”

There was just enough absurdity in that to make me pause. It was not the loneliness that got me, or the the wistful surprise, like the tall woman had only just remembered family was a thing people could have.

I opened the door and sidestepped Meg’s falling hand. “What in God’s name are you bringing down on me, cuz?” I demanded.

I’ve found that holy curses, the kind my grandparents use, are always safest. That took some trial and error, and a lot of hiding under my covers.

Meg beamed and pulled her arm back the second she realized I’d caved and opened the door. “Billy, these are my, uh, friends, Cal, Arina Firedancer, and—“

“Do you call me that in your own thoughts,” the (second) tall woman wondered, but more in statement form; cool and cutting, with none of that breakable loneliness now.

“Shut up, Arina Firedancer, what else am I supposed to call you?” Meg hissed, introductions derailed. But she paused before she took them up again, glanced at the dragon statue, and then decided to keep mum. If the dragon statue snorted, it might have meant that was exactly this Arina Firedancer’s purpose, but I didn’t see the dragon move at all.

“This is fun, Meg, really,” I told my wayward cousin in a way that emphatically declared the opposite. I crossed my arms and kept my eyes on her very normal, dirt-streaked face. “Disappear for a few years and show up on my doorstep like you haven’t bathed in any of that time, and you have leaves in your hair, by the way.”

“Billy, stop pretending you don’t know exactly where I went, please let us in, and no I don’t.” Meg was trying to smile at me when she said it, only she did not sound nearly as foolhardy and blithely optimistic as the last time I saw her.

Well, that wasn’t my problem. But she was family.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, and then I stepped aside and let everyone come in. Meg knew it the minute my security went down, and she barged through the door with a cry of relief and went running for the bathroom.

Typical.

“Alright, dirty knight, tall woman, very inanimate dragon statue—please do not sit on or touch anything until you’ve washed. Actually, just stay here for a minute. Meg will show you the bathroom when she comes back out. Anyone want a glass of water?”

“Yes,” the dragon statue said.

“Anyone?” I repeated, pointedly, and then the dirty knight, who I presumed was Cal, said, “If you would be so kind,” and Arina Firedancer repeated him, word for word and inflection for inflection, neither cutting nor wistful now. She managed Cal’s earnestly obliging politeness so convincingly, I decided immediately not to trust her.

I retreated to get them two glasses of water to sort out amongst themselves. When I returned, they stood huddled together by my door, Cal positioning himself closest towards me, hand not quite on his sword, while Arina Firedancer watched me with her strange, intent stare. The dragon statue drank water.

At the very least, they were good about not touching anything, though I’d long since moved most things from the small entrance hall. There was a coatrack, in the corner opposite two closed doors that filled one side of the hall, all its walls now bare of the photos that used to be there. The hall itself opened up into the living room behind me, with the kitchen hidden off to one side. My bedroom was one of the doors by the entrance, which you’d think was extremely unlucky and maybe unsafe, but then I’d say, let’s think about where my potentially unwanted visitors might be coming from.

The open living room, and the kitchen for that matter, had very big, spacious window-doors that led out onto a little terrace in the backyard. So sometimes it was better to be near the front door. And my bedroom does have two (locked) exits, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t also hedging my bets. If you were me, you’d be this paranoid too.

It wasn’t long before Meg came out of the bathroom and reappeared in the living room, shaking her hands out to dry, and before she could sit on anything I called out, “Same rules apply to you! No touching anything until you’ve showered.”

Meg jerked up from the beige chair she was about to plant her dirty pants all over, caught, and then straightened with a huff. “Okay, fine.”

“And even if I do let you shower, that doesn’t mean I’m helping you.”

“We only need a door, Billy,” Meg said immediately, abandoning the chair to rejoin us out in the little hall, which was starting to feel crowded. There was a strange purpose to her, no longer smiling to lighten the mood.

“You already know how to get back to your”—I waved vaguely in the direction of Meg’s friends, and didn’t look to see what the dragon statue was up to now—“place.”

Meg tried another smile. It seemed off, for some reason, like there really was something desperate to her. I guess a couple of years living in some weird fantasy land commune--yes, that is the story I'm going with--can do that to a person.

“Not back,” she corrected me, and this time her wheedling grin was just as obnoxious as ever. “Somewhere else. Somewhere like… Fairy?”

“Oh are we talking about that now?” someone said, and then gulped down another sip of water. “Can I talk now? Crouching to be this small is extremely stifling. ”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and counted back from ten. I didn’t care how stupid it made me look.

When I calmed down, I opened my eyes and breathed out. “Meg, you are hands-down my least favorite cousin."

She beamed at me. She knew what I sounded like when I gave in.

••• ••• •••

You might ask why I am still with the thief who doomed me and her knight and their dragon. I could give you a very long and complicated answer about how she also saved me, in her own time, and how the knight and dragon have shown me kindness, and how these are debts that must be repaid. It would be believable. I know how to be believable.

But I record this to be honest. So instead I will think about that space between them, all the things they say, which outline its shape, enough that I can guess at the things they don’t say. They circle each other, some nearly-tangible connection between them, and it’s that thing that I need to see.

It reminds me what it is like to be human, and while I am being honest, I am doing my best to want that again.

Lady Meg’s cousin is… extremely human. Perhaps something humans can become only without the fear of fairy, I suppose, though this one has really been employing the human power of belief to maintain a strange atmosphere in her home. It feels strangely clean. Empty.

She reaches out to Lady Meg and starts plucking leaves out of her hair. I had thought I'd seen them, but they shimmer fully into view when Lady Meg's cousin draws them out, and Meg frowns, washing away the last light of her triumphant, relieved smiles.

"I don't even want to know how long those have been there."

The cousin Billy sniffs. "Me either. You can use the bathroom off my bedroom, and your friends can share the guest one.”

"And you--"

"Yes, yes," cousin Billy says, and her fistful of orange, red and yellow rustles. "I think these might help seeing as they're native to... your destination."

That makes Lord Cal look worried, and Lady Meg rolls her eyes, because that seems to frequently reassure him. Well, it did before the unicorn.

"Let me show you the wash room," Lady Meg announces, while her cousin unhappily examines the fairy leaves. She ushers us through to the next open room. Through there we turn a corner, where there is a door to one side and another room before us, one with high counters, many cabinets and a deep sink. Lady Meg opens the side door to reveal the bathroom.

It is an odd affair, like something between fairy and home. Lady Meg shows us how the taps work in the standing bath and the white chamberpot, and stresses that it's not magic but merely plumbing. She points to the towels folded on a rack, and I cede the first turn to Lord Cal.

Out the door together, we move to the kitchen, the room with the sink where Lady Meg refills the dragon's glass cup. I set the dragon on one of the counters.

"Hey," Lady Meg says, voice lowered in her version of polite. "Am I not supposed to call you Arina Firedancer?"

I look at her for a moment too long before I remember to blink and look away. I know why she’s asking. I shouldn’t be surprised by it anymore, by that directness. “You may call me what you want," I assure her. "I was just surprised… It is very kind of you. " I hadn't expected her to be so courteous.

"Why is..." Lady Meg trails off, then mutters, "Names. Is it that? I'll never understand them."

I shrug. I don't know that any human can, but it feels right to me, honorable, that we don't think in first names, showing how we don't presume to each other's true names. Is that a fairy or human kind of honesty?

When I don't say anything, Lady Meg recognizes my silence and says, "Alright. I'm going to get some clean clothes for you guys, then shower myself."

I wait until she's back with two piles of folded clothes to ask, "And then?"

"Then Billy will find us a door to fairy. Or something. She's really good at that stuff, once you get her to take the blinders off.”

“I didn’t hear that!” cousin Billy’s voice calls from some other room, loud and indignant and very, very human.

The miniature blue dragon's scales rippled. "Your cousin seems very bad at observation," she commented dubiously.

Lady Meg snorted.

#stress what is stress #writing #cal & meg #cousin billy #and arina firedancer #self indulgent 2021

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shadeslayer · 3 years

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sorry if this is a weird ask, but I'm writing an essay on why patohlogic 2 fails at anti-colonism (leaning on tropes that were used to dehumanize poc, carelessly mixing cultures together, equating the loss of culture to the loss of childhood) but I'm only coming from the perspective of filipino with the effects of colonization still affecting my country, and post-colonial theory. R there other concepts I should research since I don't have the pov of an indigenous person? I want to be respectful

not weird at all, very cool to get, im very flattered! i cant say i have any strong resources to look into (im actly not very well read on the topic, mostly i just speak from personal experience and synthesizing others experiences ive heard + my NAS classes) though i know braiding sweetgrass is hailed as a very strong writing about NA experience

my other biggest piece of advice would be to do some research into buryat people and indigenous russians, since a lot of the stuff i know comes from a very specific history of native american (+ some first nations canadian) experience and politics which is what formed the stereotypes that are harmful. i know in the past with pathologic in particular, a buryat person pointed out that the "negligent/bad father" stereotype was not one that had any relation to the buryat people, so there can be big differences between the "main discourse" and its talking points and stereotypes which is very americentric and the actual issues the game itself is tackling in the sphere of indigenous russians. as well i think the game has a lot of post-soviet context which an outside audience would struggle to understand, so just in general remember that the context theyre writing in and writing for is different than what you or i may know about

that said, from a lens that is fully death of the author and is purely about the work outside of its creation or intent and more about its impact as a translated work in non-western spaces (esp its popularity with western english audiences), issues/concepts/keywords that may be of interest to look up would be: the stereotype of the noble savage, the "hawkeye" character trope (not like marvel, as in hawkeye from last of the mohicans, the original story not just the movies), imperialist nostalgia, and in fact the three key tropes in NA film in american history that i learned in my recent NAS film class: primitive purity, savage violence, and inevitable disappearance.

id love to talk this more even if you wanted to, either through here on tumblr or we could talk on discord (cuz i have a lot to complain about LOL) or something else! but my main issues with patho2 actually are centered in particular on

1) the endings feel like a slap in the face about being mixed where actually you Do have to choose and both the options are without nuance and are shit and make almost no sense and make some strange statements

2) the kin themselves are a mess, they feel completely hollow, and tbh they feel a bit like the noble savage trope a bit. but in general they do nothing, have no agency, are completely defanged in comparison to patho classic, and literally do nothing but angst and cry or whatever until artemy mixed white boy who went to the city comes in and tells them whats the Right thing to do and then they thank him and make him leader

3) the racism is so "beat you over the head" overt it feels hamfisted, it butchered characters in the name of basically trying to americanize the game and make it more abt the racism and not the world when the whole thing was that the kin were a PART of the world and added to the horror game vibes with their weirdness the same way the kains do, and it just ruins all sense of nuance and actually existing in a world about race in favor of "racism bad!!! everyone racist!!!"

and well. i can GO ON about my different Opinions on patho2 at length xD so just let me know if ud want to talk more on it or not! i have a couple friends ive discussed this with as well (though one is mainly in another fandom atm) and i could pass along some of the stuff weve discussed. that said, i actually do enjoy patho2 very much and i dont think its completely terrible or problematic or anything, i just think it fell flat a bit on the elements i wouldve otherwise enjoyed most and while its a diff game from classic, as "pathologic 2" it will be compared and i find it comes lacking in regards to the kin and race stuff in a lot of places, which is a shame since p2 tried to more actively address it and put it in the foreground ... which is kind of why it flopped

#i know other mixed people who really identify with artemys story and with p2s experience it gives you #so theres no One Way to feel about it - in particular ive even discussed with some other indig people that they rly love p2 where i didnt #and thats part of whats so very lovely about pathologics writing and creation - its made pretty explicitly to foster diff interpretations #so i dont want to come off as the be all end all Indigenous Voice And Opinion bc there is a widely varied one #as there will always be on all issues #this is just my own thoughts and explaining why i think them and where things make me go 'meh'#long post -

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