#it seems i have much progress to make...!

[semi-completely-original]

this hoyofair was 3 months ago but i'm still here

[julijbee]

up the walnut tree

[faelumiina]

Jamil Viper at his barest essentials or smth jnhfbfg

[pallanophblargh]

“I have my color study and my fat stack of reference photos, what could go wrong?”

Untold hours later… and I’m still doing edits and color adjustments and doing my best not to panic. (And telling a reflection it needs to stop impersonating a shadow… 👀)

To be clear: considering how rusty I’ve become and how wild my anxiety has been, this has still come along better than I previously hoped. So that does count for something.

It was 100% watercolor until things got Goofy and then gouache and colored pencils got involved, bless them.

[themoonandmyman]

I can’t believe people are still confused by Ilya being ‘an asshole’ to Shane at the Sochi Olympics.

Even if you don’t know LGBT+ history, the show quite literally spells it out for you. The scene directly before - ‘Russia is not safe for folks like that’

Shane and Ilya start the show as ‘the two most talked about prospects in the world.’

They are famous. Hyper visible, and surrounded by people. In fucking Russia.

But poor baby Shane, who has no self awareness at this point, walks straight up to his supposed rival and wants to be cordial with him, in front of a thousand eyes. Not just cordial, but concerned. To Shane, there’s nothing wrong with this, and that’s why he keeps pushing. He can’t read in that moment that Ilya is trying so hard to get him to leave because it’s not safe for either of them to be seen like this. And yes- it is that bad. His father and brother are police, and Alexei clearly knows something about Ilya’s sexuality.

So Shane keeps pushing, and this is when Ilya loses his temper. Its literally all he can do in this moment, he is so utterly trapped- by being in his home country, by losing the game and earning his father’s ire, by the desperate feelings he has for Shane but can’t begin to name or even think about.

There is no one to ‘blame’ in this whole interaction, and looking for a character to blame in an impossible situation is so… childish to me?

[mandareeboo]

Rewatching some SU again and thinking about how Pearl attaches so hard to Connie initially because she sees herself in her; and how Pearl, at that time, viewed humans as lesser, weaker, more fragile. But that's exactly why Pearl sees herself in Connie, her wish to fight back and keep someone she loves safe fighting against the goo suit of her body to try and keep up with gems.

And also how, as the show goes on and Pearl grows more confident and grows to learn her own worth, her affection for Connie keeps growing and Pearl's teachings become more and more child-friendly, with 'points' and 'games' to help keep them engaged. As she treats herself nicer, Pearl learns to teach. I know Future had some hit and misses but I genuinely think the decision to have the gems turn to teaching after group-training their kids was the perfect ending.

[goldinrod]

it's not done yet, i'm not done yet. though, someday...

[happy 3 year anniversary, mr. showtime]

[emo-disaster]

I am currently unsure how much I would consider this a headcanon, or even a theory, but do you know how Virgil and Patton have been drifting apart? Have you also noticed how Virgil is progressively growing colder towards Patton, despite Patton trying his best? Granted, as we have seen, Patton's best can and has been counterproductive at times, but he is still making constant effort. His effort goes higher when he knows exactly what he's doing wrong, as he has an opportunity to focus on it. But Virgil is still distancing himself, and sometimes even appearing antagonistic, without explaining the core issue of why, even though we may have gotten hints or be able to tell the causes by being the viewer.

So I'd like to give you an idea, based on those points. What if the same exact thing happened between him and Janus? I would say Remus as well, but I'm not entirely sure this would have affected him as much as it would Janus. What if Virgil tried asking them to be better, and at the very least one of them tried? What if they didn't succeed, despite their best efforts, and their relationship got crushed under the weight of everything else that Virgil had left unsaid? What if Virgil's communication issues, his hypocrisy, and his black and white thinking was really their friendships' undoing?

This is not to neglect the issues that caused the rift, mind you. The boundary pushing, the manipulation, the constant disguising, the hiding of themselves, the knee-jerk reactions to criticism, those are all valid reasons for Virgil to be upset to begin with. But Virgil isn't innocent either. He can be just as hurtful, hide just as much of himself, and can be just as stubborn.

This is only furthered by Janus' reveal, which I have mentioned before. The lines:

Janus: "Virgil, buddy, I know you weren't too keen on it at first but...come on, could you stand to lose the support of one of Thomas' friends?"

Virgil: "Well yeah Thomas' friends make me feel more at ease, but Thomas lying would make me just as uneasy, and anyone who doesn't understand that should just shut up." - Virgil

Janus: "Virgil...it's me. Aren't we friends?"

Virgil: "I'm not so sure we are."

As well as Janus' behavior following this exchange showcase this idea. By this point, Virgil seemed to already know that Janus was disguised as Patton. They both tried to get each other to understand their perspectives. Janus was terrified of losing the support of a friend, and Virgil hated the idea of lying even more. Janus was manipulative during his part, and Virgil was aggressive during his. Virgil then casts doubt on the idea that they're even friends at all. This then causes the knee-jerk reaction that really all of the Othered Sides seem to have when they get hurt: they lash out. Janus pushes so hard for his argument that he gets himself caught, which seemed like it would not have happened had that interaction not taken place, and then targets Thomas himself in a negative way despite him later being uncovered as having the main goal of helping Thomas by any means possible. Janus was visibly hurt and, dare I say, caught off-guard by Virgil ending their friendship on camera without explaining.

This is all to say that maybe, based on the way Patton and Virgil's friendship is going downhill, the ending of Virgil's relationship with the Othered Sides may have been far more silent than many of us think. Further, the damage done in their history may have been much more mutual.