I didn't want to post all my little comics at once, but hey, y'all gonna get a treat today. I just love drawing their antics.
After all the battling and drama, I'd like to think maybe, just maybe, Martin gets a breather to rest his brain. What he forgets is he's real close with the living embodiment of chaos in the world.
Now available on Itch.io! I've worked on Primrose over the years, and recently we just wrapped it up with the cover illustration. It's a lovely little TTRPG you should totally check out!
Bonus sketches! The first one is from my client, who always sends me the best napkin doodles to springboard off of.
ettingermentum has just published an excellent guide to protest voting state-by-state. for those of you who are bemoaning your choice between biden and trump, for those of you who are against genocide, and for those of you want to utilize your civic duty to vote: this is how you can pressure joe biden for a ceasefire
How to protest the administration in all the remaining primary states.
Earlier this week, when I was talking with my girlfriend about the Michigan primary results, she asked me if we could also vote uncommitted in our state’s primary. Since we live in Georgia, I knew that we didn’t have that option, so I told her that it wasn’t possible and that I personally planned to use my ballot to write in Jane Fonda. Then she asked me if that vote would be counted, which made me realize something: I didn’t know if it would. I looked it up, and and after a bit of searching, I learned that the answer was no. As a Georgia voter, I have to either vote for one of the three names on the ballot or a “validated write-in candidate” or my vote will be discarded. My year-old plan to vote for Jane had always been DOA, and I had never known it until that moment.
This got me thinking. If I, someone who writes about politics for a living, didn’t know the exact procedures for a protest vote in my primary in my own state, how many prospective uncommitted voters out there actually know what their options are? I presumed that someone out there had published a guide for how to protest vote in each state, but, at least as far as I can tell, such a guide does not exist. To remedy this problem, I decided to create a guide myself. The following is the first ever state-by-state, territory-by-territory cheat sheet for how you can, and cannot, cast a protest vote against this administration in your upcoming Democratic primary.
Category 1: Can Vote Uncommitted
This is the simplest and most straightforward category. In these states and territories, voters are given a Michigan-style uncommitted option on their ballots. These ballots are fully counted in the results like votes for any of the named candidates. If the total uncommitted vote reaches 15% statewide or in a congressional district, it will be awarded delegates.
Although some of these states have additional protest voting options in addition to uncommitted, selecting the uncommitted line is the most direct and straightforward way to register an anti-Biden vote. If available, it should be chosen over all other options, including write-ins, blank ballots, or votes for named candidates like Dean Phillips or Marianne Williamson.
State/territory list:
March 5th: Alabama, Colorado (Called “Noncomitted”), Iowa (Mail-only Caucus), Massachusetts (Called “No Preference”), Minnesota, North Carolina (Called “No Preference”), Tennessee, American Samoa
March 6th: Hawaii
March 12th: Northern Mariana Islands, Washington, Democrats Abroad
March 19th: Kansas
March 23rd: Missouri
April 2nd: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wisconsin
April 6th: Alaska (Called “Undeclared”)
April 13th: Wyoming (Caucus, Called “Undeclared”)
May 14th: Maryland
May 21st: Kentucky
May 23rd: Idaho (Caucus)
June 4th: Montana (Called “No Preference”), New Jersey, New Mexico
June 8th: Virgin Islands
Category 2: No Uncommitted Option, But Can Vote Write-Ins
Following the set of states and territories that provide straightforward uncommitted option, we reach a small, unique category of primary contests. These states do not provide an uncommitted option, but they do allow for write-in votes, and they take the unique step of tallying every single one of these write-ins in their vote totals. This allows for voters to vote for whoever they want, from Abraham Lincoln to the demiurge, and still see their ballots counted in a broad “write-in” pile of general dissent.
Unlike uncommitted votes, write-in votes will not be able to win delegates as a category—they are only tallied together as a group convenience on election results pages for the sake of convenience. Legally, they all represent votes for entirely different candidates. While it would technically be possible for a write-in candidate to win delegates if they hit the required benchmarks through write-in votes for them, there are currently no efforts to coordinate this. As such, feel free to vote for whoever or whatever you want if you live in these states or territories.
State/territory list:
March 5th: Vermont
May 21st: Oregon
June 4th: Washington, D.C.
Category 3: No Uncommitted Option, Most Write-Ins Not Tallied, But Blank Votes Tallied
Right on the heels of the previous small list with very specific rules is another small list with even more specific rules. Like Category 2, these states do not provide an option to vote uncommitted, but allow for write-ins. Where they differ from the Category 2 states is that they do not count most write-ins in their overall tallies. To save time, only write-in votes for “qualified” write in candidates are considered valid and counted. This means that any write-in vote that says something like “ceasefire,” “uncommitted,” and, yes, “Jane Fonda,” will be discarded.
For most states that do this and don’t provide an uncommitted option, this rules out the possibility of a protest vote beyond voting for the named candidates. These states are the exception, however. Unlike most states, they count blank ballots in their totals. While blank ballots cannot earn delegates, they are counted as a bloc, making them a clear statement of opposition to Biden that avoids providing support for Phillips or Williamson. As such, it is best to send back ballots in these states.
State/territory list:
March 5th: Maine
March 30th: North Dakota (Caucus)
April 2nd: New York
April 28th: Puerto Rico
Category 4: No Uncommitted Option, Most Write-Ins Not Counted, Blank Ballots Not Counted
Category 4 states have easily the most delegates of any section on this list. Unfortunately, they’re also where the options for protest votes become sharply limited. These states have similar rules as Category 3 states. They don’t provide an uncommitted ballot line and don’t tally write-in votes except for those given to qualified write-in candidates. What makes them different from Category 3 states is that they also don’t count blank votes in their tallies.
To register a non-Biden vote in the tallies here, you have to vote for someone pre-approved by the state, whether that be a named candidates on the ballot or a qualified write-in candidate. For most states, this leaves you with Dean Phillips and/or Marianne Williamson if you want your vote to count. Feel free to choose between the two at your own discretion, although you can always vote for another listed candidate or even prick someone from your state’s list of qualified write-in candidates if you really want to avoid voting for either of them.
State/territory list:
March 5th: California (Both Dean and Marianne on ballot), Texas (D and M), Virginia (D and M), Utah (D and M)
March 12th: Georgia (D and M)
March 19th: Arizona (D and M), Illinois (D and M), Ohio (Dean only)
April 23rd: Pennsylvania (Dean only)
May 14th: Nebraska (Dean only), West Virginia (Dean only)
Category 5: No Uncommitted Option, No Write-in Option, Blank Ballots Not Counted
Category 5 is very similar to Category 4, except with one difference. Instead of just making the write-in option functionally useless, these states don’t provide it at all. There’s no way to get around voting for one of the named candidates of you want to cast a protest vote in these states.
State/territory list:
March 5th: Arkansas (D and M), Oklahoma (D and M)
March 12th: Mississippi (No D or M or anyone else. Biden will just get 100% of the vote here. They’re still holding the contest, though.)
March 23rd: Louisiana (D and M)
June 4th: South Dakota (D and M)
June 8th: Guam (Candidate list currently unavailable)
Category 6: No Primary
Here’s the strangest section of them all. These states just cancelled their primaries and handed all of their delegates to Biden. They won’t let you vote against him even if you want to!
State/territory list: Florida and Delaware
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voting 'uncommitted' aka utilizing the protest vote is now one of the key strategies to let the biden administration know exactly what you think of their policies. it doesn't affect your vote in november, but it does very much affect the US policies being enacted on the ground in gaza right now.
think of it as a "fuck you" to joe biden, in the most democratic way possible.
you're not abstaining. you're not voting third party. you're not voting for trump. this is a protest vote. you're exercising your civic rights and letting joe biden know: fuck you.
One fun thing about The Dark Crystal is that it’s not exactly the evil skeksis and the good mystics. It’s the cruel skeksis and the gentle mystics. It’s the mystics, who study and ponder and chant and don’t really do any harm, but don’t do any good, either, because all the drive to do anything got ripped out of them; and then the skeksis, who are all drive and hunger and probably can’t stop themselves because all their impulse control is off meditating on the other side of the planet.
Kieran and the Player take the mochi that Pecharunt fired at them to the Crystal Pool to get info on Pecharunt (the player meeting Sada/Turo being a requirement beforehand), and they meet the couple who took care of it and who appeared in the pecharunt lore vid.
The couple explain Pecharunt's past and Kieran+ the player fill them in further. Together, they use the mythic pecha berry to create a special mochi that would cure the poison mochi if Pecharunt eats it.
When Pecharunt is captured by the player, Pecharunt eats the mochi after they explain their family wanted him to have it, it frees everyone including the lousy three.
Totally optional: The Caretaker tries to stop them because his ancestor was the human Pecharunt controlled, and his bloodline has been enforcing the lie of the loyal three to hide this fact. (and they've been applying pressure on Kieran's family to stay in line, and is the reason they live on the outskirts of Mossui Town) And he woke Pecharunt in order to look like a hero and build pr.
Of course this epically fails and the Caretaker is promptly fired after everything, and Kieran and his family is fully accepted back into the town.
Juliana "Introvert trying to pass as an extrovert" Greer- Santos
Juliana is 14 2/3s when the story starts, and 15 when she begins her treasure hunt (born in February, Aquarius). Her hair and eye colors are based on the concept art, and her accent is Scottish.
Juliana FOUGHT to be able to wear skirts at Naranja/Uva and Clavell agreed only if she wore shorts and/or leggings underneath. She loves wearing dresses and skirts.
Juliana loves cooking, but sandwiches are unusually hard for her to make. She prefers making curry and stew, and Arven is in despair over her sheer lack of sandwich-making skills.
Juliana is trans, and her birthname was Florian. She went to Blueberry Academy but eventually dropped out and transferred to Naranja/Uva. When she meets Carmine and Kieran, it takes a while for them to realize they're the same person, especially since Juliana tried to tone down her accent in Blueberry before embracing it in Naranja/Uva
Juliana grew up in the Crown Tundra during the time where it's citizens were protesting Galar wanting it to join the region. It got so bad, her parents split up due to differing opinions (dad wanted Crown Tundra to join Galar, mom didn't).
Juliana's mom, Ailis Greer, eventually met a Paldean businesswoman named Calle Santos and the two hit it off, eventually marrying and moving to the Paldea region.
Juliana desperately wants to break out of her shell and get her groove back (so to speak) after the events in her home and Blueberry. She tries to emulate Nemona and be more out-going, even when it goes against her nature. However, in more serious situations, she tends to freeze up due to over-thinking and goes with the flow more often than not.
Juliana is very frugal, due to the divorce and her skill not being enough to get BP at Blueberry. So even when she gets more money, Juliana will most likely hoard it and will often spend hours searching for things to sell. (This is how she comes to get Gholdengo on her team XD)
Juliana's starter is Sprigatitto mainly due to her believing a cat Pokemon would be low maintenance to take care of.
Hydrappleshipping relationship progress/headcanons (Juliana Edition) Part 1
Juliana started out physically attracted to Arven, but she began to catch feelings for him after he opened up about Mabostiff. The feelings only grew the more she fought and cooked alongside Arven.
As for Kieran, Juliana quickly became attached to him due to his kind nature and boyish cute looks. It broke her heart how what they had had been broken by the end of the field trip.
When Juliana realized she had feelings for both of them, she felt like she was betraying them both by feeling the way she did and resolved to shut both down.
Penny was ultimately the one who taught Juliana about polyamory, much through example as Penny and her friends realized they had feelings for one another and became a six-person polycule.
After Mabostiff was cured and the two got the secret mission from Sada and/or Turo, Juliana confessed she liked Arven and admitted that she was polyamorous.
Arven was very confused by this and initially feels like he wasn't enough for Juliana to love just on his own. Juliana begged him not to feel like he wasn't enough for her, that it was her fault, her problem. Arven didn't know what to say other than he needed time to process this.
After The Way Home, Arven accepted Juliana post-nearly dying, and asked her to tell him about Kieran. Juliana showed him the photos they took together, talked of the fieldtrip and Ogerpon. Arven copied the photos of Kieran and kept sneaking glances at them, not even able to put into words why... only that he couldn't stop looking at that boy.
When Carmine invited Juliana to Blueberry Academy, Juliana requested Arven come with if he could for emotional support. Arven of course agreed, and mentally prepared himself along with Juliana to face Kieran.
Arven did not take Kieran's first introduction well. When he saw him bullying one of the league club members, Arven immediately stepped in. Kieran was confused but then immediately brushed him off when he saw his team's levels.
"Why? You can't make me do anything, not with those weak Pokemon."
"Does that make you feel strong? To know I can't use my Pokemon to make you do something? Is that what you need?"
Those words would send Kieran in a tailwind before Arven went to comfort the bullied kid, not sparing a glance at him. Despite the lies he's told himself; Arven's words cut to his core and would begin his fascination with Arven.
Drayton is VERY invested in the drama and goes so far as to promise Juliana he'd help her fight for the potential throuple's "golden ending". To this end, he would do his best to make situations where the three had to interact.
When Kieran came down with a fever due to lack of sleep and actual food aside from chocolate and energy drinks, Arven would end up nursing him back to health ala making him eat actual food, including a sandwich with the same herba mystica to heal Kieran.
Kieran grudgingly thanked Arven and would also eventually come to him for snacks and meals, even paying bp for them. Arven would grumble on principle, but still cook for Kieran ("This is just for the BP!"). These would eventually morph into actual cooking lessons that would lead to Kieran not looking like a twig about to be snapped in half and be less of an asshole.
Juliana initially kept her distance but when she walked in on a cooking lesson between them and tried to leave, Arven AND Kieran asked her to stay. The three were a bit awkward at first but eventually worked together to make some good meals for the week. She kissed them both goodnight on the cheek, leaving Arven smiling and Kieran very confused as he looked between them as though they understood something he didn't.
