Here's like a part one to the TMA AU I was talking about a few days to a week ago.
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While Martin might have assured Tim and Sasha that getting them in to see Jon would be a simple matter of letting the guards know ahead of time, he neglected to confess the additional paperwork that the judge and prison was fond of for any changes in scheduling. Martin knew he was exempt from the usual form and hoops that were generally required every time someone wanted to spend time with Jon, but despite his trustworthiness he knew that getting Sasha and Tim into Jon's prison would be like pulling teeth. So without giving the two of them a specific date, just that he would give them a heads up 2 weeks in advance, Martin set about calling his contacts in the prison.
After 3 gruelling weeks of phone conversations, email correspondence, and filling out forms that were constantly delayed; Martin was finally able to give Tim and Sasha a date for them to take off of work to see Jon with him. In the interim, Martin had made sure to keep visiting Jon as normal, and did his best to hide how taxing the process had been from both him and the dynamic duo. Unfortunately, he knew that Tim and Sasha had their theories about the process, but they were at least polite enough to not ask questions. They just seemed happy to hear that the waiting was almost over, and Martin had to admit it had been a joy beyond words that he had been able to reconnect with them and begin the healing process. He still was on mediocre terms with Tim, but Sasha made for a good buffer and they both were trying their best to forgive and heal.
At last, 2 weeks later, the three of them made their way to the prison. The solid brickwork and menacing bars always reminded Martin of the Hunt domain fashioned after a prison that he and Jon had gone through on their journey to the Panopticon. The oppressive atmosphere and stink of human misery never quite got any easier to ignore, and tended to remind him that Jon probably was suffering on the days he didn't visit. Admittedly it was easy to forget when he wasn't at the prison as even most visits he made Jon was in good spirits and looked about as good as he had right before the Unknowing. But every few visits Jon would be sporting a cast, or would be holding himself gingerly in the chair, or he would look like he hadn't slept in a week and would have that hair trigger panicked response to everything that moved, and Martin would once again be starkly reminded that Jon wasn't just sitting in a prison cell day after day waiting for his time in prison to be up.
Martin shook his head, clearing the depressing thoughts and focusing on the present moment as they were brought through the checkpoints leading to Jon's visitation room. It wouldn't do for him to be sad when he was about to have (hopefully) one of the happiest afternoons on record. They cleared the final checkpoint and Martin glanced at them to try and grab their attention before he began to speak. "So, just a reminder, Jon doesn't know yet that you're both…"
"Alive?" Asked Tim, after Martin had paused for just a moment too long trying to think of something more tactful.
Martin nodded, grateful he wasn't the one to say it. "I also don't know how he's doing today, so as long as you don't say anything I should be able to ease him into the idea without startling him too much."
Tim rolled his eyes, but nodded his assent while Sasha just looked vaguely bemused and nodded as well. Martin, may have also neglected to mention his suspicions about Jon's treatment here, but he hopes that perhaps he could address that after the others had had some time to reconnect with their old coworker. With a deep breath, Martin opened the door they had finally arrived at.
As always, the guards had sat Jon down on a chair facing the door. The first thing Martin noticed was that Jon was looking good that day. There was a still healing bruise peeking out of the edge of the collar of Jon's shirt, which was only noticeable if you were looking for it; and the fringe of white bandages at the edge of his shirt sleeve on his right side were quite subtle. Martin assured himself that despite these, Jon must have been doing well as he seemed to be holding himself very relaxed in his chair. With a fortifying breath, Martin walked into the room and was happy to note that Tim and Sasha stayed by the door.
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Do you ever think about how when BMO plays pretend, they favor nomadic/loner roles like a cowboy, a hard-boiled detective, a traveling salesperson, etc., which is pretty in line with their directive from Mo. But when they really are on their own (eg in BMO Lost) they immediately, desperately establish a family from their surroundings.
And how one of those universal struggles of people, especially in the context of growing up (including but not limited to childhood) is dependence vs. independence. Wanting a hand to hold and wanting to be able to drop it at will. And how some people need to hold that hand less often than others, and how some people really don’t want to even when they really need to.
Finn and Jake get frustrated with each other and try to solve a dungeon separately, only to be met at every turn with a challenge that they can’t face without the other. Marceline travels for a thousand years and settles down here and there and picks back up because the people around her aren’t constant so she doesn’t want to be either. PB and IK each create an entire kingdom because they’re lonely, and neither of them feel whole because, just like the quarters of Ooo in Elements, living in those kingdoms is too much like living inside their own heads.
Every episode of Distant Lands is about characters who both resent and long for the versions of themselves they used to be— the versions who needed other people, the versions who could still insist they didn’t — and have to reconcile with the fact that they never really stopped being those people, but also that they can never really be those people again.
Every major character in the series is building connections and love and safety using whatever tools they have, and distancing themselves with equal effort. So they’re all kind of just alternating between playing cowboy and playing house, figuring out how to balance both and where they fit in between.
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I LOVE YOUR ARTSTYLE SO MUCH
What were the inspirations and process behind it?
my process is also very straightforward!:
1. sketch
2. clean up/lineart (optional! I really only do it on animations/commissions)
3. color
4. shade (optional!)
5. adjustments and other things afterwards!! (fixing lineart/ofther things)
a lot of the choices I make is bc im lazy ☝️😁 and thank you so much!!
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"too late to be free"
i'm in love with this girl's design!!! i was so excited for the song when i saw the premiere thingy! it was cool to read his blog on the website too, i like getting more bits of story. that includes the ??? website! i have my own little ideas abt that :3 the tiny instrumental explosion in the beginning was so fun ah!!! unlike the other stuff i've been trying to finish lately, i had a lot of fun drawing this one AND finishing it! it's a miracle!!!
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