I Posted This On My Oc Blog (surprise, I Have An Oc Blog! Mostly Because I Panicked When I Posted An

Auriana's Take On Love

Auriana was a romantic at heart. Yes, it's true her ventures in romance were many, and she admits that she may not stick around for long. But she loves love nevertheless. There's just so much to love about it afterall.

Falling in love, for one, is always a blast. A sudden bout of carelessly slipped passion that has her cursing underneath her breath. Playful foot fights and knocking of the knees, leading up to shy shoulder brushes, and the ever hinting touch of the fingertip. The tell-tale rhythmic pulse of rushing blood and drenched palms. Stolen glances from the other side of the room that either break off immediately or turn into heated stare-downs with neither wanting to back off.

Ah yes, the falling. Ironic, seeing as it isn't a fall at all. Rather, when her heart jumps onto the cart, there is no falling but anticipation until the top. Unsure of the new course as she reaches further and further up, until she is hanging off the edge. It's always the highest hill that's first, the one that takes up your whole view because all you can see is down. A guaranteed promise of risk and adrenaline, and a slight bit of stomach turning. Exactly the kind of ride she signed up for. Auriana knew this since her first kiss with the court magician's son. (He tasted like Iris's attempt at lemon curd pie)

But as nice as the metaphor is, whereas a rollercoaster, with all their dips and loops, can never satisfy her needs with a single monotonous attraction, her loves had no such blueprint. They may buck like an untamed stallion and throw her off the rails, damn safety. They may tease her with a swerve as she settles into the dips. They may ease her with steady winds lapping her face as they cruise with leisure. Auriana prides herself to picking only the interesting after all. (Her standards are not recommended to be followed)

So is it all a sport for Princess Auriana of Volta? Does she simply ride until another catches her eye? Or until she decides that this one has not the strength to move her heart no more? Many would say yes, her bandmates included. But nay, the lady herself thinks otherwise.

Although she has been called flippant in her attitude towards love, there's a lovely hope, deep in her heart, that this one would be her last adventure. For them to be her last ride.

Of course, she has had no luck thus far. The trail of broken hearts and cut strings are plenty proof of that. Indeed, there were many sweet Earthlings that pulled at her heartstrings, some rather spicy ones that intrigued her curiosity, not to mention the roughened Ephedians that come by and remind her of home.

Despite that, she still dreamed of cuddles late at night, gazes meant for only one other so often shared by lovestruck couples, holding hands to the annual Dawning Festival in hopes of future luck, sharing scarves to shield from the cold, lazy bedtime kisses…

Maybe her expectations are too high. Or perhaps, as her close friends have hinted many times, too low. In Auriana’s hopeful (albeit unlikely) opinion, perhaps the Great Destinies of Volta had put her in a lover’s path and she has guided them to a better part of life in what seemed at the time to be an insignificant, now fateful action and would thank her for the rest of their life? A stretch, but not one without evidence. They have gathered at least three Oracle Gems from her voyeurs afterall.

For now, as Auriana sips her strawberry kiwi smoothie, she still hasn't quite found "the one." But that’s alright, she mused as she purveyed the small sandwich menu. Iris’s shanila just passed, Talia hasn't murdered her for tardiness yet, and Lolirock keeps getting more and more popular. Time is everything, and everything moves in due time, as her Father always said.

Maybe she should take a break from love. Focus more on sightseeing and taking back her kingdom after they defeating Greymore.

“A steak and cheese sandwich please,” Auriana ordered to the part-timer, deciding on the first sandwich that caught her eye after all. Checking her phone, she realized that for once, the schedule was subjectively free. (subjective because Talia had scheduled a strategy meeting; like they ever actually use any of the strategies against the twins in the heat of the moment.)

Sucking down her smoothie as she waited, she considered her options. Iris and Nathaniel are going on their not-double date with Carissa and Lyna, so she can't risk interrupting the romantic atmosphere. Talia was studying Borealis spell formations back at the house so no way in hell was she going near that place. Ticking off names off her mental list of friends, it was then that she realized that everyone else that came to mind all had plans or were her exs. What to do, what to do…

Skrrrck

Settling down onto the stool, the newcomer looked at the menu nervously. She looked to be around Auriana’s age with long blonde hair and a face that reminded Auriana of Earth’s bunnies.

Turning to Auriana, who was faking choosing a drink but was secretly side eyeing the new girl, she seemed to be quietly debating to herself about whether or not to risk talking to her before making a decision. Stuttering a quick accented greeting and introduction, the blonde turned to Auriana.

“Uhh.. Do you know any... good food?” asked the girl slowly, peering at Auriana through her lashes. Her head was faced down, most likely from the nerves talking to a foreigner. She’s cute, Auriana thought as she turned toward the nervous girl.

“Oui, les smoothies sont à tomber par terre,” Auriana answered cheerfully. Whipping her head up, the girl grinned toothily, happy in finding someone to communicate.

“You know French?” she asked, switching to her mother tongue.

“Yep!” Auriana said enthusiastically, just as happy to find someone to talk to.

“I went to France for work and picked up the language. It’s pretty cool how you can go from sounding like a gorbleck to a swiggle in a sentence, Like right now,” Auriana said, thinking back to the days when she and Talia were still searching for Iris.

The girl giggled, thinking it was some kind of joke. As the two talked, it wasn’t until she got the French girl’s number that Auriana remembered that she had left her sandwich at the smoothie bar.

Some Doug family details I thought would be nice to add:

His mum had him at 20 with her college boyfriend at the time who bailed on her and left her to raise her kid in her own. She dropped out of college and went back to her hometown to live with her father, who set her up with a job working at a friend's company.

Now, she's trying to earn a biology degree online while working as a mechanic. (She sounds like a Dorothy to me)

Doug's aforementioned grandfather, whom I affectionately call Grandpa Bo, is also a mechanic, a car mechanic to be specific.

He likes to work on a little more delicate things like clocks and cameras sometimes as a hobby and dabbles in wiring and coding. A bit of a gruff old guy, but sweet nevertheless.

He owns a car mechanic shop called Bo's Auto Repair Shop, or BARS as everybody calls it for short.

Doug works part-time there, although he's less of an employee then a barely willing volunteer

As for why Dorothy isn't working there, in her own words, "I would die before I let my paycheck be decided by my old man"

The whole family is into anime, so they make that into their Movie Night Friday. Whoever wins rock-paper-scissors gets to choose.

Doug's family, while on the rough side and prefer a pounding on the back then a hug, is completely and totally there for him.

Bo doesn't really get why his grandson wants to spend the rest of his life writing articles upon articles of some other people's business, but he does know that Doug needs a good camera and help making a website, and he's the best guy to go to for both.

Dorothy understands more then her dad, and while she secretly hoped that he would pick a more, er, secure job, she supports Doug nevertheless.

Does anybody else think it's weird that nobody in Lolirock has a last name? Personally, I think the surname Irving fits well with this family. Doug Irving has quite a nice ring to it.

Wild horses crossing a river in Iran Photo: Eydi Heydari

So THAT'S where the twin Barbatos fanart came from! I knew he didn't have a secret twin.

if Gilbert Gottfried isn’t voicing this slamming power bottom then what are we even doing here

Pay Attention to Palestine

I really don’t mean to guilt trip anyone, but the word needs to be spread about Palestine and no major news outlets are covering it. Hundreds of Palestinians are being injured by the Israeli Occupation forces trying to defend their homes from settler violence and ethnic cleansing.

For the past month lynch mobs and anti-Palestinian pogroms have filled the streets of Jerusalem, this is an extension of over 70 years of ethnic cleansing, dispossession, occupation, settler colonialism, and murder that has effected Palestinians, and Israeli courts have ordered the eviction of 12 Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and to hand over their land to Israeli settlers. If you are American, this is what your tax dollars are going to, the least you can do is spread the word and voice your support for us. 

If you are able to donate, here are some donation links for Palestinians in need: 

Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) 

Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association 

Save the Children 

US Campaign for Palestinian Human Rights

Project Rozana USA 

Adalah Justice Project

Medical Aid for Palestine (UK)

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Palestinian Policy Network

Electronic Intifada 

Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU)

International Medical Corps (GAZA) 

Human Concern International (Gaza) 

Playgrounds for Palestine

Watch to Donate: 

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The Reptile King

Shane! My first time drawing him. Haven't even figured out his character design yet, but I'm ok with how he looks rn.

{The crocodile skulls and bones are different sizes, whoops. Let's call it individual difference shall we?}

Doug and Nathaniel’s Friendship: The Start

According to what I saw on the official Lolirock tumblr @teamlolirock , Nathaniel and Doug were apparently best friends, so I thought I would give a go at attempting to figure out/add on to the story of their friendship.

They met in middle school, 6th grade perhaps. 

Doug was really shy back then and just listened to music secretly by himself on breaks, insecure because of past bullies and jealous of people like Nathaniel who always seem to have people around them laughing with them.

That was until little Nathaniel came by and saw he was listening to anime theme songs and then got super excited to find a fellow fan. At first Doug isn't very open thinking that he's just there to make fun of him for something, but slowly after more and more interactions he starts to trust Nathan

After getting over Doug's initial mistrust, they just generally click together, as surprisingly they have a lot of shared interests as well as a shared sense of shock humour.

Nathaniel, as a result of having made friends with Doug, drags out his new friend to meet his many other friends and helps Doug further his social group.

Till this day the pair still hang out all the time, whether at Doug's flat or at the smoothie bar

By now Doug’s mostly grown out of his shyness although he's kept his shyness for meeting new people. He can fake confidence pretty darn well though.

And after years of dealing with the blond, Nathan is still thoroughly befuddled at his long time friend, longing for those days where he wouldn't be assaulted by text messages at 2 am in the morning about the extinction of honey bees.

Note: If I were to assign them an irl friendship counterpart, I would say Josh and Ollie from Korean Englishman and Jolly. Their interactions are similar to how I imagine Doug and Nathaniel interact.

Heroes of Erdas, all together!

(You can kinda see an erased Uraza next to Abeke. Animal heads are beyond me for now unfortunately. I thought about making another guy too, but ehhhh)

Wasting time.

Aka. I just wanted to draw kitty cat.

#pascalcampion