#silvysartfulness

[veliseraptor]

@silvysartfulness replied to your post “decided this morning to play hooky from work for a...”:

And is there picture proof of this baby elephant..? 👀

love how my delighted laughter in the background somehow ended up sounding vaguely sinister

[seolhe]

Top 5 of your original characters! 😀

Ah, where to start! This obviously tends to change a lot, so this is just a reflection of whichever idiots stand out to me at the moment! 1 + 2: Lotus and Hadriel:

Lotus (left) and Hadriel (right) really examplify that black cat/golden retriever relationship dynamic. Lotus is a bit of an ice queen, left a little emotionally stunted by a tough childhood, and also a master of snark. Hadriel on the other hand is a chaotic disaster bisexual, party boy supreme and notorious manslut 😂 Lotus might think Hadriel is an obnoxious idiot, but he is HIS obnoxious idiot.

These are my go-to comfort characters, and I often fall asleep playing scenes of domestic fluff or snarky banter between them in my head. Also, Hadriel is by far my favourite character to draw, and the character I bring up the most in casual conversations. He's just FUN!

Dropping this beautiful drawing you did of them here as a bonus. Look at my precious babies! 🥰 3: Sabreas

Sabreas may have been born as an outlet for a past hyperfixation with the history of eunuchs (imagine the internet search history that left me with!), but he's grown into so much more than that. If nothing else, he is prime punching bag material! Life serves him a lot of genuinely horrible, tragic garbage, but he's just enough of a spoiled brat that you don't feel too bad punching down on him. Sabreas is all righteous anger and brittle pride, motivated by pure spite. He's also one of the rare characters of mine that get to have some genuinely badass magic powers, which definitely adds to his coolness factor!

4. Tala

Tala is a relatively new addition to the cast of characters rotating in my brain, but she's been occupying my mind a lot lately. Tala is Sabreas wife, and although their marriage began as a politically motivated arranged union, they end up developing a very beautiful partnership. Tala is a woman who knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to get it, so when she decides that what she wants is Sabreas, he really doesn't stand a chance (I think she and Relonia would get along well! ((I also think they should kiss)))😁

5. Kharim

The thing I love most about this guy is his dynamic with Sabreas. Sabreas really tests his patience at times, especially throughout those edgiest, brattiest late teenage years, but Kharim can't deny he gets a kick out of goading him on. At the same time, there's definitely a certain amount of respect there. While Kharim may be Sabreas's superior (and also able to physically squash him like a bug), Sabreas's powers make those power dynamics more than a little blurry, and it's a good thing they're both just honourable enough to respect the terms of their contract. Also, the danger kinda turns him on.

Commission by @chotomy who captured these idiots and their dynamic perfectly! 🥰 Thank you for allowing me to ramble about my idiot children! I love them all so much! ❤

[yiling]

Quantifying the chapter illustrations for Heaven Has A Road But No One Walks It

This blog has been quiet for a minute (I unfortunately have a life, and I'm also on discord a lot more now??) but @silvysartfulness just had her birthday, and because her incredible songxuexiao fic Heaven Has A Road is something I get wildly excited for whenever a new chapter drops, I wanted to do something - a fanwork for a fanwork, if you will.

HHR has been updating with impressive consistency and quality since last summer, but not only is it skillfully written, emotionally rich, and a really good fixit for a ship that is very hard to write a convincing fixit for, every single chapter is illustrated. Every chapter! It's very impressive and the art is beautiful.

I don't actually know anything about art, at all. But I do know about basic excel functionality numbers, and so I decided to answer a question that I (and maybe no one else but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) was interested in: who appears the most in the chapter illustrations? Who is Silvy's True Favorite? And what pairing appears the most? A fraught question for any SXX fic!

I have revealed the answers to these questions via a sophisticated method: I counted and I made a graph about it. Here are the results:

Everyone appears almost the exact same number of times! As of this writing, there are 33 chapter illustrations in HHR; Song Lan and Xue Yang each appear in 26 of them (79%), and Xiao Xingchen appears 28 times (85%). No one appears in every illustration! (Not even Xue Yang, who I admit I expected to show up the most since he is Silvy's favorite son.)

Xiao Xingchen appears slightly more, though. What's that about? This very Graphic Design Is My Passion pie chart illuminates things a little bit:

(it's not my fault that this is a completely monochromatic group of characters but it is kind of my fault for trying to hew to that)

All three characters appear together in more than half of the illustrations (17, to be precise). Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen share an illustration (without Xue Yang) four times*. Xue Yang gets daozhang to himself in four illustrations as well. Songxue, though, get to be together five times - the recent arc has been good to them since Xiao Xingchen has been out of commission. They only had three illustrations together prior to the Muaishan arc, where Xuexiao and Songxiao each had their four knocked out before this arc started.

*Chapter 14 is a borderline case - Songxiao are the foreground and the illustration is very clearly Songxiao in spirit, but Xue Yang is there unhappily in the background, so I had to count him

The three remaining illustrations show one character alone. You can see I colored that pie slice white because...it's Xiao Xingchen, they're all Xiao Xingchen. (If you don't remember, it's chapter 7, chapter 10, and chapter 28). Again, the Muaishan arc caught Songxue up a little - since they got another illustration together in Xingchen's absence, he leads them by two rather than three.

Why is Xiao Xingchen the most popular? Only Silvy can say for sure, but my hypothesis is she likes drawing flowing white robes - 10 and 28 are action shots, with Xiao Xingchen exorcising spirits in the former and fighting the bat king in the latter, and he's also foregrounded in the chapter 19 illustration, which is the fight with the catfish. My opinion of this is that daozhang is beautiful and perfect and deserves this 100%. (I am a little surprised Yangyang didn't come out on top though!)

Bonus: There are three illustrations of yao so far: the measuring snake nest in chapter 5, the nianyu in chapter 19, and the eight-winged bat king in chapter 28. There are also 5 illustrations (15%!) that feature food and/or tea. There's a lot of discussion (and often argument but shh) over tea in this story, which I think is very good and comfy.

That about does it! Happy birthday Silvy, and thank you for your incredible fic!

[wingyenart]

Hi! I absolutely love your latest piece of art - breathtaking!

I was wondering if you do commissions..?

Thank you! And yes -- I don't have an official info/price sheet but I'm always open for commissions (paintings, comics, non-SFW, even though this blog is SFW, etc). Feel free to DM me! That goes for anyone else interested as well :)

[yiling-who]

I just read chapter 20 of Heaven Has a Road But No One Walks It by @silvysartfulness and I was having some FEELINGS. And I couldn't stop thinking about that night after the whole haggling and candy and kiss catastrophe

They go to their room, and Xue Yang falls asleep (or so Song Lan thinks!) and Song Lan asks Xiao Xingchen "so earlier -" "yes?" and Xiao Xingchen knows something is bothering Song Lan - "You two.. you used to kiss?" Xiao Xingchen smiles sadly and says "ah yes. I suppose we were lovers in all but name." And Song Lan bristles at that, knowing that he & Xiao Xingchen were never that close, never intimate (physically), never kissed or even held hands before either of them died. And maybe he's a little angry! How dare Xue Yang take advantage of Xiao Xingchen's sweet, loving, believing heart! How dare Xue Yang be that person for Xiao Xingchen! But mostly he's just sad.

Xue Yang on the other hand -- still awake and listening -- remembers a night, years ago, sitting around the fire in Yi City when Xiao Xingchen was telling stories of his adventures with Song Lan to A-Qing and she says something about how much he must have loved Song Lan, and Xiao Xingchen's face softens and he says "ah yes. I suppose we were lovers in all but name."

And Xue Yang knew then that no matter how much they might hold hands or kiss, he'd never have that with Xiao Xingchen, never be that close or intimate (emotionally) because he'd been lying to him and manipulating him, and if he ever really knew Xue Yang he'd no doubt be upset and leave!

Xue Yang thought if Xiao Xingchen ever referred to him as a lover he'd be elated!! But Xiao Xingchen's confession was so soft and sad in the quiet room. He's referring to a past life, that it was Chengmei, not Xue Yang. And so he squeezes his eyes shut even tighter, almost to the point of pain, and tries not to listen to anything more of their conversation.

[ameliarating]

May I ask for some Xue Yang on the theme of candy? ♥

For the three sentence fic meme! I’ll keep it canon since I wasn’t given an AU.

The first piece of candy you never eat is clutched tight in the hand of a larger boy, the kind of boy you don’t fuck with, not yet, even though its your favorite, and he won’t taste it like you would, seeing as you eat with your whole self and not just your mouth.

The second pice of candy you never eat is hanging from a sweets stall and you can get it yourself, you got some money now and you got your knife, an between the two, you can get yourself whatever you want - but the owner figures you for penniless when he sees you and calls you a name, and when you kick over his stall, and kick him over with it (and kick and kick and kick and kick and kick until he’s barely a person, like what he called you), you knock the candy into the dirty by accident.

The last piece of candy you never eat, well, you’re gonna eat it eventually, aren’t you, just as soon as you bring him back, you’ll eat it with him, maybe you’ll even share, you’ll be generous like that, just with him, for him, he’ll come back and you’ll share and he’ll come back and you’ll eat it together and he’ll come back and get you more and more and more and he’ll come back -

enjoy!

[seolhesart]

Birthday gift for my dear friend @silvysartfulness, featuring her character Ziradess from her Pangaea storyline. Silvy is a super talented artist with a whole host of beautiful, ingtruiging stories and characters, so please do have a look at her blog. If you want to learn more about her characters from this partciular story, you can check out her pangaea tag. Main

[soawen]

Come Fly (Pangaea fic for Silvy)

Title: Come Fly

Author: Soawen

Summary: After the Final Battle, Rannon has trouble seeing anything but a battlefield when he approaches a zenaqet board. Combine that with the darkest night coming up, and he’s in free fall. Fortunately for him (and his surroundings), Khata is used to dealing with foolish ZanTaoyakas.

Warnings: Mentions of battle, a so not realistic cure for the aftermath of war

A/N: https://pangaea.silvystrand.se/?p=1849 is the cause of this. I realize Rannon and Khata are being all bad-ass here (no better player indeed!), but maybe the aftermath was less ... fun.

Isokell was careful not to scowl when Rannon carefully stepped around their zenaqet board and ignored their game completely despite it being his turn.

Not that she minded how he sank down next to her with a murmur of her name, not at all, but it was so frustrating that he didn’t want to talk about the lack of- of- she didn’t know what, only that he had stopped playing after what had become known as the Final Battle, claiming that he had played enough, and only that he was not getting any better with new year and its dark night closing in.

She would have pulled down the sun and tied it to his arm if she could, just so he would have light.

Or maybe she should just settle for a good whack at his head, knock some of his former sense into him.

“Rannon-“ she began, but another voice dwarfed out hers and it took her a hammering heartbeat or two to recognize it as Khata’s.

“Rannon. Come fly.”

*

Khata was a patient being, she thought. For instance, she hadn’t eaten any of the stable boys, tasked with keeping her home neat, even when they squealed so amusingly when she sneaked up upon them. (One of them had earned her grudging approval, though – he hadn’t made any noise, just looked her up and down, bowed, and waited until she was outside before fainting. Good kid.)

She also liked queen Isokell and would graciously allow the human to feel her face, fangs and spines included, because no one else had dared ask if she was as warm to the touch as they imagined.

But Rannon, the man who had dared climb upon her back when told to do so, who had kept his composure and played an exquisite game of real life zenaqet while so many others had died screaming in fear under them, who could sympathize with her loss of her twin… He was so different once on firm ground.

Gone was the hastily squashed joy of flying – and yes, she had known from the light in his eyes, no matter what he had denied to himself.

Gone was the human that had won her respect.

She had overheard some of the court gossip as they walked by her home (at an appropriately respectful distance, of course, but her ears were keen), and apparently it was ‘worse than usual around this time of year’.

Now, Khata wasn’t stupid and had made the connection between the encroaching darkness and her rider’s sour mood (surely it couldn’t be the battle – it had turned out well, had it not? Despite her not being allowed to eat anyone). What she didn’t get was why he didn’t just set something ablaze and warmed himself by the fire, but Isokell had very politely told her of the custom of the darkest night and requested no sudden bonfires, so that was out.

Hmph.

She rose from her resting place and went to the nearby royal gardens, sniffing a few flowers on the way, taking her time to make sure that quiet had descended everywhere, before rising to her full height and sticking her head through the balcony doors.

“Rannon. Come fly.”

*

“Rannon. Come fly.”

Staring blankly at the enormous head poking through what had been very pretty but apparently also very flimsy balcony doors, Rannon slowly let go of Isokell whom he had grabbed hold of as soon as the doors gave away.

“Khata,” he managed, “this is a surprise.”

“Khata, what a pleasant surprise!” Isokell said and eeled out of his grip, no doubt wanting to greet her guest properly.

The dragon growled and fixed him with a narrow stare. “Now.”

“Good thinking! Rannon, dear, remember your gloves and have fun.”

Flexing his hands, still a bit stiff after the many hours clinging to a sharp-edged dragon at the Final Battle, Rannon tried to formulate some form of protest, something, anything that would mean not going into the black night where even the stars were blocked by heavy clouds.

He failed, and suddenly his gloves were on and he was sliding down Khata’s neck to sit in place just before her shoulders, and Isokell was laughing in that way she did when she was trying to be quiet, and the ground disappeared with a high jump and a beating of mighty wings.

“Khata,” he finally managed, “Khata…”

“The words you are looking for are ‘thank you’,” she rumbled.

“Thank you,” he said automatically and then his stomach lurched as they rose steeply further up into the air and hit the clouds.

Rannon was now engulfed in darkness. He could see nothing. There was no light, no-

“Close your eyes,” Khata snapped, and he obeyed, taking the order to do anything that could get him away from this place with gratefulness.

He drew a shuddering breath. He might not be able to see anything, but Isokell lived with that every day and she was fine, she was fine she was fine she was stronger than him she-

“Look.”

It took him a few deep breaths but then he risked it, trusting Khata. If she had wanted to hurt him, she would have set him on fire, no doubt there, but quite frankly the damp cold that now permeated him made him welcome some warmth…

There was the palest of gold everywhere.

Clouds lit with starlight covered the darkness underneath, and when Rannon looked up, he could see the stars bright and clear, the familiar constellations being somehow even more eye-catching than usual, as if they were closer, and they were, they were, there was nothing to dull their light here, and there, a star shooting brighter and clearer than the others, and there an unfamiliar formation until he turned it over in his mind and it became part of his favourite constellation…

Khata carried him silently through the night until he went from shivering from cold to downright shaking and then took him down.

For some reason the clouds didn’t bother him this time around, his mind filled with stars, and he tumbled gracelessly to the grass, looking up at Khata with wonder.

The dragon reached out with a paw and allowed him to support himself there as he got back on his feet and gathered himself.

“There is always light somewhere,” she said, surprisingly gently before adding, “foolish human.”

Rannon bowed with as much grace as he had ever presented in the presence of other royals. “Thank you,” he said simply.

“Hmph.” Khata turned and stretched a bit before sauntering back to her stable.

Rannon winced as his inner thighs and hands reminded him that even leather was no match for dragonhide before going back to Isokell’s and his chambers.

She had long since retired to their bedroom, so she wasn’t there to see him approach the zenaqet board.

It was his turn.

Rannon made his move.

The end :)