Synth Blue Flavour

20s || currently my TAD-focused account || warning for potential spoilers || please don’t repost/use my art without permission

[synth3xanh]

Friendship… platonic love… ilysm… aghhh I need to draw Xiaolan!! I am saying this as a person who draws a romantic ship (jinmao) a lot! Do not let your shipper brain forget how much Maomao loves Xiaolan!!!

WIP added since I wrote the above in a draft a few days ago:

[synth3xanh]

I do have many other art ideas (including stuff that isn’t jinmao) but I needed some dumb fluff to clear my head…

More short haired modern Maomao propaganda

[synth3xanh]

My sister said she thinks modern Maomao would have short hair for practicality reasons, so this is for her

[synth3xanh]

don’t mind me, just looking through my stuff for jinmao doodles

Fuck it. Kusuri-ika no hitorigoto. Idk if this appeals to anyone besides me but I do what I want

(For non-Splat fans, she’s reaching for a sub weapon called toxic mist)

[synth3xanh]

I think I love this game

[synth3xanh]

More knh tomodachi updates :D

JINMAO SON!

Ah-Duo got married and Jinshi was revealed ON THE NEWS to be her kid. But it’s okay this island is free from angst. You are not the heir to anything Jinmii don’t worry

Also kinda funny that the game was then like it’s probably good for a parent to live with their child (recommending I move Jinshi in with Ah-Duo and her spouse), as if he isn’t a grown man with a wife and child whom he’s already living with lmao

[synth3xanh]

Oh right I forgot to update you. CHILD TWO! HER FIRST WORDS WERE ALSO OX BEZOAR

Also

[synth3xanh]

They had a third. I’m gonna have to stop them

Damn bro even your kids know

[synth3xanh]

I'm curious to know how you would write a modern au of the apothecary diaries? Like would you still keep the monarchy or would it be abolished entirely? At least in my version of a modern au the monarchy is completely abolished but replace millionaire/billionaires, ceos and politicians.

I’m not a writer but hm lemme think! When I draw modern au I’m doing it with the idea that there is no monarchy. To me, modern Jinshi is the son of a very well-known and wealthy politician (in my version he’s known as the son and not the brother). Even though Jinshi/Zuigestu himself is less known, Maomao knows he could hurt and lie about her and get away with it due to a mix of multiple systemic issues, even though he swears he would never. I also try to keep in mind how the original setting influences characterization, and how the characters themselves would change if they were put in a modern setting. I have thoughts but I don’t wanna ramble too long. Maybe I’ll eventually make some comics about them. I don’t draw it often but it could be fun

[galileosballs]

The Apothecary Diaries is extremely good at making a point that fandom is notoriously bad at noticing, since it conflicts with how the fan-brain interprets the world. The historical setting of the story isn't just set-dressing. It's thematically necessary. And this is never more obvious to me than when I see people hemming and hawing about whether or not certain elements of the central romance count as 'consensual'.

Because the answer to that question is 'the concept of consent does not exist in this setting, and that's a large part of the point of the story'.

(light plot spoilers up to most recent light novel under cut)

The idea of consent in the context of sex requires that the two people involved are, well, people. People who can enter into agreements with each other willingly and freely. That's why the age of consent exists in our society - to make sure that the parties entering into the agreement both have equal-ish standing and rights before the law.

From the first second of the Apothecary Diaries, it is clear that this is simply not the case in the world in which Maomao lives. She has no recourse to the law at all. She has no rights. Things can just be done to her, and there is no higher authority to which she has a right of appeal. Part of this is being a woman, part of it is being a commoner without money. Both roles objectify her, turn her into a thing to be bought and sold and disposed of. Maomao is rendered quite honestly and perceptively here as someone who was raised in this society and internalized its values. Part of her low opinion of herself comes from the circumstances in which she was raised, but most of it is a simple reaction to what she knows to be true.

And then we come to Jinshi, who is also not really a person, but in a different way. Jinshi is not a person before the law because no law could bind him. There's exactly one other being to whom he has any accountability whatsoever. For all intents and purposes, he is the law. Now, unlike Maomao, Jinshi has the blindness of privilege, so he can't see the power difference between himself and everyone else so clearly at the start (over the course of the story, he comes to understand it better).

There's no sense in which an object and the law itself can enter into a consensual relationship. And that's the root of the majority of the story's tension. The reason they haven't yet got together is that it is impossible for them to do so as equals. Maomao is still only barely capable of seeing herself as a subject of desire and agency, and Jinshi has become keenly aware of the fact that she isn't capable of refusing him. I don't know how this story will end, but that's the key problem that the resolution of the story must solve. This world can't support a romance between these two people.

The most recent light novel makes this point extremely clear. Ah-Duo represents the best possible outcome for a romance between monarch and subject in this setting. She's well-treated, she gets along well with the Emperor, and she's allowed to basically do her own thing (her own thing = collecting a house worth of assorted gender weirdos to hang out with, good for her). But she doesn't see the Emperor as a person, and he doesn't truly see her as a person either. They're not people with respect to one another. That's the fate that Jinshi and Maomao must avoid, and it can only be avoided by fundamentally changing their roles in society, or by changing society itself. They have to invent consent.

A lot of historical romance uses the fact that consent isn't a well-developed thing in most historical societies in order to enable certain fantasy scenarios to occur. Giving the heroine 'no choice' is a good way to allow the reader who empathizes with her to vicariously live out desires they would never allow themselves to choose in real life. I'm not here to critique or praise that. It clearly appeals to a lot of people, let a thousand flowers bloom, et cetera. But it's demonstrably not what The Apothecary Diaries is doing. The Apothecary Diaries is about consent.

This is one of the ways that fandom-brain can really impair reading comprehension. If you're slotting this work into the historical-romance-dubcon-fantasy thing, it's natural to look at this story and wonder if it's doing that. But if you were taking the story on its own terms without that baggage, you would never even frame the question that way. I don't think this is a subtle theme! It's just one that a huge proportion of the readerbase is primed to miss. And I wish that were not so.

[brehaaorgana]

YES!!!!!!!! this is part of what makes the story so GOOD and INTERESTING. Also because true consent doesn't exist in this setting, it forces everyone to examine "what IS meaningful here? What do people value, desire, or see as good treatment of their partners? What can love look like? Love is different than happiness or satisfaction or power." It's just so....yes. the setting deeply matters!!

[synth3xanh]

The urge to draw Jinshi’s scar in a way that’s very visible regardless of how long after the Shi clan rebellion the drawing takes place, but also the urge to draw it accurately as a thin white line to show that Luomen is good at his job 😓

[synth3xanh]

The first of this style of portrait sketches I did, before I switched to Procreate

[synth3xanh]

Joka sketch

[weedle-testaburger]

'bro's ragebaiting' -my friend's take on jinmao so far

[synth3xanh]

This scene altered my brain chemistry. Maomao was right. It’s like poison

[synth3xanh]

quick Gaoshun for Father’s Day

[synth3xanh]

Teeth made for chompin’

[synth3xanh]

Happy pride month to whatever the fuck is happening on my tomodachi island 🌈

[synth3xanh]

I’m finally learning how to use procreate kinda

[synth3xanh]

Dear, do you allow the use of your art on the fanfic cover? Of course, with due credit.

Agh sorry I saw this and forgot to respond. As of right now, I’m not really comfortable with anyone using my art in their fanfic. Sorry 😓 If that changes, I will make a post notifying everyone.

But if anyone is wondering, I am okay with my art being used for profile pics or banners, as long as you credit me and don’t use it to promote hateful rhetoric.