This place smells like old, yellowed books. Some of the pages are stuck together, obscuring what's inside.
Gallery account: @vals-canteen
→ All my art and writing work, free of reblogs and clutter!
BASICS:
🌹val/valla/vallahai
🍊 they/them
⭐ aromantic/asexual
🌹 adult (Nov 12)
🍊 DNI proshit, generalized bigotry, AI/NFT, NSFW accounts
→ I'm not anti-NSFW (trust me LMAO), I just don't want any minors to be exposed to it through post interactions, just be careful gang keep it clean use your SFW alts
⭐ please don't be weird abt boundaries or yume or fictkin stuff, remember that I am a stranger on the internet !
More details here! (Expanded Bio)
→ (‼️Old and a little clunky)
Below this cut lies easy navigation to my various post subjects!
MASTERPOST INDEX:
⭐ FAN-BASED EDITIONS:
🚧 =——• UNDER CONSTRUCTION •——= 🚧
→ Accumulating all of these and actually making the masterposts is gonna take a minute, bear with me HUUUURGH
🚧 =——• UNDER CONSTRUCTION •——= 🚧
→ Dandy's World 💐 #EDITION: 💐
→ Cassette Beasts 📼
→ Moonstone Island 🌙
→ Project Moon 🌇
→ Miscellaneous 📀
→ (this is like one post lmao but organization is organization)
⭐ OC-BASED EDITIONS:
→ These worlds are all created in equal conjunction with @katoobee! Katoo is the "world host"/owner for Divinity, SUBCONOƆᗺUƧ, Elaryan, Netty's WWW, and Phantasma, while I am the "world host"/owner for Interstice, the Atrament, and Goldenfield Village.
🚧 =——• UNDER CONSTRUCTION •——= 🚧
→ These may not have masterposts (or at least, not extensive ones) for a while, since it would involve me actually posting about them first! I'm a little shy about non-fandom OC work, so who knows when that might be.
🚧 =——• UNDER CONSTRUCTION •——= 🚧
→ Interstice (The In-Between) 🌌
→ May you never forget the beautiful world you once dreamt.
→ Divinity 🪽
→ May your sins one day be absolved.
→ SUBCONOƆᗺUƧ 🧠
→ May the mind's complexity compel you to curiosity.
→ Elaryan 🚀
→ May the unknowable infinity always enchant you.
→ Netty's WWW 🌐
→ May this digital wonderland never lose its lustre.
→ Phantasma ☠️
→ May death never be the end.
→ The Atrament 🌊
→ May the darkness provide you enlightenment.
→ Goldenfield Village 🌻#EDITION: 🌻
→ May you become far more than you were ever made to be.
I suppose that as a detective, I ought to start keeping a timeline of events.
I believe we're on... Is it week three? Since the shutdown? It's admittedly a little difficult to keep time.
Emilé and Yurie are once again at each other's throats.
Strong personalities — the whole cast hears just about every word, even from rooms away.
It seems Yurie's... "Borrowing" tendencies... May have worsened since the closure.
With the dwindling supply of extraneous items, it appears she has begun to resort to personal ones to hoard. The importance Emilé places on his appearance as a performer consistently escalates the situation further.
I've tried to locate her hoard to ease Emilé's mind, however I have had little success.
Group morale is low. I dare not say it can't get lower, as I fear wishing upon us whatever could make that so.
Perhaps I will confer with the good doctor. He's always been an excellent listener with infinite patience, given how well he puts up with Notiker.
selfish fucking freak
i want to claw all my skin
off
but my fingers just skid on the plastic
, ,,
,hair dryer
hehe . i am not dead promise i've just been finally learning to drive and it's a bit mentally exhaustive combined w/ a couple other demotivating factors leading 2 low output but all is well 😌
When I went to say goodbye, all of my friends said:
"Oh boy, here comes the killjoy,
Chill the fuck out, you're so young.
Just shut up, you're bringing me down —
And parties are supposed to be fun."
This closure's been driving everyone nuts.
It was kinda funny at first — getting pissy with each other, fighting, throwing things, it all made for a good show; it's like we've all got cabin fever, since everyone's way too scared to leave our busted old staff housing without permission.
Magan's sniffed around a few times on account of being the only one Nori even lets go out there, between his usual neurotic rants about how bad it would be if we got caught doing so much as breathing in an unauthorized zone. As if Hummel and Ram are ever gonna come back at this point. They've ditched us, or maybe Sammy killed 'em and just didn't tell us; either way, get real.
...But it's getting a little less funny these days. Food's going bad so everybody's getting too tired to fight, and Sammy isn't letting anybody down the storage elevator but himself. How long can we really stay in here? Nobody can eat paint or wires, even though I'm sure a few of these thickheaded clowns have tried.
I wonder who's gonna leave first.
Ain't gonna be me. I'm not giving up this window spot.
I don't wanna be a buzzkill, but I'm sad as fuck
Hell, when I wake up it's bad as fuck
I mean, no you don't give a damn,
So I point a gun at your bust —
Bang bang!
I've been thinking abt this one I received a lot bc it brings me joy SNIFFS ....... THANK YOU ....... I love women #1 women/femmes truther especially mean ones and morally grey ones and freaks and weirdos and unsettling ones, sweet ones that are lying to you and kind ones with a personal agenda, they're all so IMPORTANT !!!!! not a coincidence I've tacked this to Ruya/rewritten Brusha first and foremost (coughs into my fist very pointedly)
I'm rly glad that makes you happy bc it revitalizes me Extra-Style too when people want to engage w/ women and femmes with me, without them just being "unsalvageable bitches" or "perfect angels" it's a breath of fresh air ...... every one I'll ever show's got a little somethin wrong with 'em and/or thinks some ugly thoughts and I think that's beautiful /goofy but srs !!!! extends hand let's all engage with femme characters just as much and with just as much nuance as we engage with masc ones 2gether
surely this lindsey stirling concert will not impact or otherwise inflame what I already wanted to do with rewrite boxten's character at all, I say foolishly and in fact knowingly in the middle of an amphitheatre lawn
ik I am an art blog but I am also just a me blog so I will yap I deny myself nothing
amazing concert that woman does insane aerial work and the production is absolutely off the charts she is an unstoppable creature ....... however I forgot that seeing her is extremely bittersweet and makes me cry my eyes out for personal family reasons so I feel very odd and drained today and also dehydrated let's all drink water together . got a nice shirt at the merch stand though and have a strong urge to play some modded Skyrim as a humanized Medha bc I always remember Lindsey's cover of its theme and also restoration is a valid school of magic /ref /stupid
sorry to that one person who asked what Notiker would look like as a human I didn't expect to get to Meduli/Medha first for some reason /silly
it's never too late also isn't hrt amazing
Meduli a real "every man wants to be a girl at some point you're not special just ignore it" ",,,,HEY SO. OLD MAN I DON'T THINK THAT'S A UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE?" -ass individual
I'm no photographer but this woman will play a violin in ANY OL DAMN POSITION it is patently absurd /vvpos
would you believe me if I said she did a cover of darude sandstorm during this . I hardly even believe it myself real ones know generational gas I guess
I don't think she'll ever rly play Electric Daisy Violin, Moon Trance, or Song of the Caged Bird in concert ever these days (the first ones I ever heard from her when I was young so, sentimental value they're still some of my favorites) bc I don't think they rly fit into her current MO of storytelling among other things, but it was rly nice to hear Roundtable Rival it never gets old and is very fun heehee . wish I got a picture of Roundtable Rival but I was too invested in how fun the "duel" and visuals were and forgor ..... had very beautiful "church stained glass" visuals though
also it was v nice to see the full extent of her performance, the first time I saw her in concert a few years back it was absolutely pissing it down with rain to the point they were actively sweeping water off the stage both during and between performances, so she couldn't do all the stuff she wanted to do for safety reasons ...... I thought she was gonna wipe out on that stage bro she really don't quit rain or shine
anyway. holy unfettered and unprompted yappathon ........... I'm good at those
surely this lindsey stirling concert will not impact or otherwise inflame what I already wanted to do with rewrite boxten's character at all, I say foolishly and in fact knowingly in the middle of an amphitheatre lawn
peeling myself off the floor but yes !!!! behold someone else also asked this
An art gifting game
I always revenge everyone that attacks me and if I don't get to you this year I will get to you next year (if you're participating) this is my creed no one goes without a revenge (I have a couple from last year backed up to get through, once I stop cooking to death in this heat wave I'll be able to return to art things)
god the sheer heat recently is utterly destroying man so many ideas and zero motivation to unstick myself from the wood floor to do anything about them . I'll get there eventually
also medha was easy as hell but trying to incorporate notiker's flower into his design for GFV is comedically difficult bc his design is already kinda perfect 2 me . whatever I'm sure I'll come up with something as I cook to death in "feels like 117°F" weather gotta stay hydra t ed (melts into an indescribable goo)
not an interest I usually post about so don't mind this coming out of left field we will return to regularly scheduled programming after this but bc of my own relationship with dreams all dreamweaver characters make me stupid sick and ill and I adore them
I think not deltarune, not undertale but gaster himself may have been the primary subject of toby's dream . take my bum ass ramblings w/ my friend I don't feel like condensing them !!!!
also i think gaster is an honorary dreemur with all that lebron james of suicide but that's a discussion for another day
Is it cruel of me? To say I didn't love her right away?
That her fear was inconvenient to me? Her tears, just aggravating? A constant obstacle: property damage, evidence tainting, cover-blowing... Spouting off unfounded nonsense theories, "predictions" as she calls them.
"Whose child is this?" I would inquire. Mr. Ram, he never seemed to have an answer for me. He always dodged the question. Ms. Hummel, she insisted I was perfectly capable.
I didn't ask if I was capable. I asked whose child this was.
When are her parents arriving? Does she have other family? I don't know what I'm supposed to tell her each time she asks whilst practically glued to my hip.
I've scoured through every episode countless times. I'm the only one she's ever featured with, and I've found no mention of a surname.
. . .
. . ."Dunwoody" will suffice.
it's his first name, and his only name — some of them do have creator-given full names, though!
characters who got explored more, were more likely to have a last name. main characters and characters with family tended to speedrun that, but occasionally there's a more unorthodox puppet that had a last name simply due to Janie or Ishan liking them more and having given it some thought.
so, a creator-given last name is a marker of some level of favoritism.
for those left unnamed — these days, it's up to them.
slowly cranking out another GFV post (designing these chuds first so obv it takes a little time) and thinking abt it like. so funny what do I do with these dw asks and strawpages now . bc I still wanna answer them all even if it is literally taking me months to do so, so maybe I'll just do it for their GFV counterparts (Dyle → Sterling, Rodger → Detective Magan, Toodles → Lucia/Lucy, etc) esp bc I got a couple rly cool ones in there from lurkers brave enough to hit up my inbox and I don't wanna leave that shit to rot
understandably not everyone is gonna gaf about a rewrite/OCification though so maybe they'll be more of those "indirect" answers where I tack em to the bottom under a readmore ...... much to consider
Locked up tight since before any of us were made, we didn't have much of an interest in it. We presumed it to just be an empty, decorative piece that remained off-limits for public safety.
A tower that simply told the time.
But as systems around us fail, its clock hands are never even a second slow. Even broken bulbs and collapsed shutters attempt to twitch to its mechanical thrum far past their expiration.
A great and powerful twitching, like some living beast convulsing across the Village every morning and every evening.
We can find new bulbs and shutters down the storage elevator, but not food. What remains has since begun to mold.
If the local trains, too, still run empty on timers...
What is there to lose?
you bet your ass !!!!!
AND THANK YOUUU EHEHEEEE 🫶 FANS MY FACE SILLYSTYLE I AM TOUCHED everyone shall be a flower ........ rubs my hands evilly
The sun rises on a new day in Goldenfield Village, silent as the grave.
The only sound to be heard rings out high in the center of the village, from a clock tower whose clicks and ticks sound off through the empty cobblestone alleys long after the voices of early visitors stopped singing.
Everything runs through this beautiful structure, its clockwork heart responsible for all automation within the village confines. Gates, lights, trains, even hourly park announcements are all hooked up to this bloodless arterial system.
"It's like magic," visitors used to exclaim. They were content to avert their eyes from the eternally-shuttered windows.
Perhaps the shutters open at night once everyone has gone home, only to close again as the sun begins to climb into the sky.
Oh Sterling, in the image of Ms. Hummel, you always were Mr. Ram's favorite.
But you didn't know any of that, did you?
Locked away like Rapunzel, or perhaps in your eyes more like the Hunchback, you thought you were the least loved of all atop your Notre Dame.
hrmmm haven't been sure how to tag this to make it clear this is a DW rewrite/OC-ification due to recent events but ! :)) heehee
I'm basically shifting all my interps of DW into this (Goldenfield Village) and opting to really lean into many of the aspects I found interesting, approaching it that way instead of letting what I am fully aware are just my own thoughts (such as the character peelings) wither on the vine !!! so if you liked how I peeled everybody before this is where it's all going just squint one eye iykwim
Have you ever participated in/considered participating in Art Fight? I could’ve sworn I saw it mentioned on your account but a lowkey might’ve been hallucinating that LMAO. If you have, I’m sure a few people (me included) would LOVE drawing your ocs, their designs are so perfectly charming I love them sm…
not to fill my account with textposts here oops sorry ((been thinking about what I want to make Goldenfield Village has been occupying a lot of my brainspace I've been doing some character redesigns and contemplating what to do with all my DW drafts given the shift to GFV, I am not dead)) but yes yes I'm a regular, I've been occasionally chiming in since 2018 and have been hoping that the recent streamlining in my art process will make me a better participant this year !!
I opted to willingly pick the "this is just a humiliation ritual" preemptive losing team this time around (Mystery) (/silly but I've played enough Splatoon here cmon in a 3bie one team's gotta be the Frye)
An art gifting game
I haven't put my DW (or I guess, now GFV) OCs in there yet since I haven't touched the whole-ass account since last year but I'll try to put Notiker/Medha/Nori in there by the time AF begins !! In the meantime a bunch of my other OCs are in there if they are of any interest hehe ...... I should rly just bite the bullet and add Screws in there too I need to feel less cringe abt how much I love Minecraft + the piglins and Nether specifically (plus, Screws and Nous are just dead ringers for how I characterize local freak Delilah Keen (Janie Hummel) and wouldn't YOU like to know just how much Peter Sørensen is like Notiker /silly)
not sure if now is a good time to say this at all but ig I just wanna let you know that your dw related rambles always scratched my brain in the best way imaginable. you’re such a cool and talented writer and artist to me and no matter what other stuff you pursue after this my opinion won’t change. i hope you have a good day
naw it's ok gang you're all good, I really appreciate this it's really touching :')) thank you ,,,, auwaaa ........ I do plan to continue thinking about and peeling these characters as I mentally work on "shifting the concept to the left" and doing with it what I would personally find most compelling, so I'll still be hanging around in the DW tags for a bit while my thoughts coalesce especially bc I do still have a bunch of asks and strawpages bumming around I have writing and sketches prepared for ! I do expect a drop-off once I head for "could technically call this an AU but this is a full rebrand, baby" territory, but that is ok I don't expect everyone to stick around bc there's a reason fandom work is more popular than OC work and that's recognizability
I just refuse to cede my own thoughts to the void just bc Somebody doesn't know how to behave, so if one would still be interested in "DW with a 'Val's OCs now' skin" that's probably where this is headed HAHA — I find that the thoughts I have for it are well-aligned with my friend and I's other OC worlds, it fits very well among the roster and I refuse to let that go to waste :'))
will it make me less shy about possibly posting other oc things as well ? who am I kidding hell no it won't LMAOOOO
Please take a ss of what I said and comically censor my main's name with "SYNTHBEATZ" in all caps instead of linking people my main tumblr decided it wants me dead and I don't want infant children accessing my main - synthbeatz
your wish is my jesterly command oh based one welcome to truth nuke central, population: just those of us in the bomb shelter
but like . yeah for real . Not to be annoying to everyone on main OUTSIDE the tags this time about things nobody is following me for BUT !
(*all usage of "you" in here is in the general sense or as an encouragement to think, NOT directed toward the asker or anybody in particular)
I think altogether too many people use certain labels on characters as either 1) fun superficial jewelry that's unknowingly attached to their personal biases 2) complete and uncritical projection to the point of erasing existing character concepts in favor of it — yes, these characters aren't real and they're just fictional dolls, no headcanon is going to be killing anybody's grandma so from THAT perspective it's not that deep, HOWEVER,
At the same time, the way you play with your dolls isn't separated from you as a person. And not in the "damning moral indictment" way, but in a way that reminds both you and the world that you're a unique person with unique experiences that all shape your current worldview
The idea that the way you engage with art can't also say something about your own unexamined biases is wild to me; it doesn't make you some kind of demon to have them, it just makes you human, but I think because of a fear of being "outed" as the former people are too frightened to simply let themselves or others be the latter. It equates to this simultaneous "moral OCD" (for lack of a better phrase, bc I think most understand what I mean by this) and/or doubling and tripling down on their own views and interpretations to avoid ever being in that unsafe and vulnerable state of self-reflection. We all have our own lived experience that has shaped who we are and what we think and how we interface with the world, an imperfect one, and that's alright: that's human. We just also cannot possibly hope to grow when we leave ourselves unexamined.
In reality I think a lot of people, even fellow queer people, haven't managed to unpack gendered social norms (and norms in general, like neurotypical ones) the way they like to think they have. As though "I don't perpetuate misogyny" is some kind of prerequisite course to being in LGBTQ+ spaces or discussing queerness and queer hcs, so if you're doing those things you're understood to have already "passed" and you're trusted to not be capable of any misogyny or other such beliefs. The state of something being queer doesn't exempt it from harmful action or belief, and I think in the fight to prove ourselves worthy some of us start inadvertently "using the tools of the enemy" so to speak like painful gender norms, bioessentialist rhetoric, and unfortunately there's racism in there too. And no, I'm not talking shamelessly bigoted people who are proud of it, I'm talking about everyday people — friends, fellow community members, people you care about that have certain seeds buried deep under their skin by their lived experience that they might not even really realize are there.
Like, why are you making certain queer or even mental illness hcs? What's the reasoning you're giving? This isn't a plea to find as much "evidence" as possible, but to question what your aim is. Is it because it actually seems to align with the character's identity in your mind or because you think it would improve their life to be, for example, trans? Or is it because you've made the character an extension of yourself — are you engaging with this character for what's been written for them, or based on a version you've made up to align with yourself more? Or are you just, unfortunately, regurgitating tired old gender norms again or the idea that certain surface-level behaviors and hobbies are inherently rooted in biological sex?
Does your Astro have an intersex hc because you recognize certain aspects of his behavior as being possibly allegorical to an intersex identity struggle or the identity as a whole, or is it just, ultimately, because he's the only "alien" in the cast (four arms) and it's a bit "exotic" to extend his unconventional biology because of it?
Does your Vee have a trans hc (in either direction, if going by the binary) because of her struggle with identity and possibly being able to choose her own path after her sense of self was always on the precipice and at someone else's mercy? Because she relates to Dandy even more than she realizes or perhaps has been comfortable realizing? Or is it because she wears masculine clothing, is in a male-dominated field, and has an abrasive personality? Do you subconsciously associate femininity with good social skills, being able to articulate yourself well, being conventionally nice and considerate, so when a woman doesn't meet those conditions she's assigned masculinity as an indictment of her ability to socialize (transmasc) or implied to have been male all along and that's why she acts that way (bioessentialism)? Are clothes still somewhat gendered to you, so her suits make you feel as though she may want to be a man?
Does your Sprout have a trans hc (again, in either direction) because you genuinely think it suits his identity? Or because you've reasoned in your head that as a character with what can be interpreted as gay subtext (re: Bert and Ernie), with a caring and even overbearing personality and a love for cooking and baking, he has enough "feminine" stereotypes that he has to be connected to femininity in some way through either wanting to be (gender norms) or having once been (bioessentialism) a woman? And when Sprout's gender is changed, is it usually for the purposes of pairing? And is it always with Looey that they're women? I know I certainly rarely see Cosmo's gender changed or given a trans hc, a character most often interpreted as black and fat — not to state the elephant in the room, but the subconscious application of masculinity to blackness seems to leave people hesitant to afford him much femininity the way Sprout and Looey are. Is Cosmo, in your mind, afforded the same sorts of depth and flexibility as Sprout?
Does your Blot have a nonbinary hc because he generally doesn't seem to have a big attachment to how others interface with him because he tends to do his own thing and gets along just fine, or because he appears less masculine than you'd expect? Is he too androgynous for you to entirely perceive him as a man with masculine pronouns?
Does your Brusha have a transfemme or butch lesbian hc as an extension of her expressed desire to break outside the boundaries of the toons' narratives and expectations placed upon them, or is it because she's unpleasant and that unpleasantness is associated with being "masculine" behavior? Do you still associate ugliness with moral failing, like many children's games and cartoons used to teach us by having ugly villains and beautiful heroes? Is abrasiveness conflated with masculinity? By extension, is she made into the masculine one because Tisha is the more feminine one in a dress associated with purity and cleanliness and often made out to be Brusha's ex and even, possibly, her victim?
Similarly, do you subconsciously believe Teagan and Tisha are purer, better people that haven't really hurt anyone else because they're beautiful or cute? Because they're women? Are they automatically given a pass in your head, immunized and exempt from potential bad behavior because they just "don't seem the type?" How much do you ascribe politeness and palatability to morality, too, not just beauty? Isn't that what some of our mothers and grandmothers tell us: to nod and be quiet and polite, lest we commit the most terrible faux pas by actually daring to speak our mind or rock the boat?
Do you recognize both perceived "masculinity" and perceived "femininity" in any given character, no matter if they're high-masc, high-femme, or somewhere in between? Do you see where the lines blur and assignment fails? Do you associate femininity with positivity and purity, and masculinity with negativity and pollution? Masculinity with stability, and femininity with neuroticism? Femininity with motherhood, masculinity with detachment?
Again, none of it is an indictment, we're all our own person and most of us are exceptionally young and have barely properly started our adult lives (if we have at all). You just weren't born or raised in a vacuum, nor does your identity or experience exempt you from harm (ie: being a victim of something, being queer, your biological sex, etc) and sometimes that brings some nasty things with it that might be impacting how you view others or interface with the world and with media. Similarly, we already know no group is a monolith, so no one interpretation of a character could ever be fully "right" or able to please everyone because there's no such thing — there's no perfect victim, perfect queer, perfect woman, perfect anything.
And HARD agree that not every character or person has to be just like you; I think that line of thinking harms one's ability to empathize with or understand others and risks some serious media illiteracy, wherein people demonize Bassie because they just can't relate to or understand her mental health struggles or overpurify Tisha/demonize Brusha because they're projecting their bad breakup onto the pair of them in ways that aren't supported by the media itself. There's a middle ground to everything !!! I see pieces of myself in almost every character I like and every character I make because as human beings there's almost always something you share with every other person on the planet — and yes I do mean every single one, even the ones that hate you or that you hate in return. Even the ones that are "monsters" in human skin, or seem so divorced from you that you can't fathom such a thing. Nobody's asking you to feel bad for a serial killer or something, but more people need to realize that we have more in common with each other and more in common with fellow animals than we might initially like to believe — and that includes both the good and the bad, the beautiful and the hideous.
Bassie (much like you just said for yourself dear asker !! this is the only part for which "you" is directed at the asker !!) I find often has a lot of really messy beautiful hcs about the way her mind works and the problems she faces and her identity, I think a lot of people with mental health or personal identity struggles can at least somewhat relate to her and that ends up creating a lot of the better toon hcs I've seen. Like waow transfemme hc I can see it !! I can absolutely see how her life experience could inform that interpretation !!! She really speaks to some people and I even have some of my own appeal in her, even though it's not a trans or an explicit mental health hc (mostly just ambient thoughts floating around rn that I haven't developed much further) I can usually see just about every affectionate train of thought people have about Bassie and it makes her really interesting chewing gum for the mind for me. At least in the corners of the community I've been in, people dare to mistreat or test or mischaracterize her a whole lot less than other toons because of those personal attachments, and y'know what thank god bro /lh I find that the "Bassie is evil and hates Cocoa" interpretation is largely outweighed by people much like yourself that are the proud owners of at least half a braincell and truly that is wonderful LAUGHS
But like I said, a questionable hc didn't kill anybody's grandma, from that perspective it truly ain't that deep. It just might be worth examining where you get some of these justifications from and if they say what you want them to say, if you agree with what what they're reinforcing. The same things in your mind that impact how you consume media also impact how you live your life and how you view other people and I think for the sake of yourself and your own happiness that's worth examining
