before you know about women, you hear that you do not need to love the man, just that you need to love him through his manhood. which is to say you have seen the future painted in lamb's blood over your eyes - how your mother shoots you a look about your father's inability to cook right. how your aunt holds her wineglass and says i'm gonna kill em. men, right! how your best friend bickers with her boyfriend, how she says i can't help it. i come back to him.
you learn: men are gonna cheat. men aren't going to listen when you're talking, because you're nagging. men think emotions are stupid. they think your life is vapid and your hobbies are embarrassing. men will slam things, but that's because men are allowed to be angry. if you get loud, you're hysterical. if a man gets loud - well, men are animals, men are dogs, men can't control their hands or their eyes or their bodies. they're going to make a snide comment about you in the locker room, about your body, about how you're so fucking annoying. you're going to give him kids, and he will give you the money for the kids, and you're going to be running the house 24/7 - but he gets to relax after a long day, because his job is stressful. the man is on stage, and is a comedian, and says "women!"
and you are supposed to love that. you are supposed to love men through how horrible they are to you - because that's what women do. that's what good women do. wife material. your father even told you once - it'll make sense when you're older. it was like staring down a very lonely tunnel.
it feels like something's caught in your throat, but it's all you know, so. it's okay that you see sex as a necessary tool, a sort of okay-enough ritual to keep him happy, even though he doesn't seem to care about happiness as-applied-to you. it is relationship upkeep. it is kissing him and smiling even though he didn't brush his teeth. it is getting on your knees and looking up and holding back a sigh because he barely holds you as you panic through the night. it's not like the sex is bad and you do like feeling wanted. and besides! he's a man! like... they're another species. you'll never be able to actually communicate, right. he isn't listening.
you just don't get it. you don't feel that sense of i'm gonna climb him like a tree. mostly it just feels fucking exhausting. you play the part perfectly. you smile and nod and are "effortlessly" charming. and it's fine! it's alright! you even love him, if you're looking. you could have good life, and a good family, and perfectly happy.
in the late night you google: am i broken. you google i'm not attracted to my husband. you google i get turned on by books but not by him. you google how to get better in bed.
the first time he yells at you, it almost feels like blankness. like - of course this is happening. this is always how it was going to end up. men get angry, and they yell, and you sit there in silence.
you mention it to your friend - just the once - while you're drunk. she shrugs and says it's like that with me too, i just try to forget and move on. men are always gonna hear what they want to. pick your battles and say sorry even though he's in the wrong. you play solitaire online for a month. you go to your therapist appointment and preach about how you're both so in love.
after all, you have a future to want. nobody lied about it - how many instagram posts say marriage is hard. say real love takes work. say we fight like cats and dogs but the best part is that we always make up. how many of your friends say happy anniversary to the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. if you really loved him - loved yourself too - you'd accept that men are just different from you.
the first time she kisses you, it's on a dare at a party. something large and terrifying whips through your body. you wake up sweating from dreams where her mouth is encrusted with pearls and you pick them off one by one with your teeth. fuck. you sit at the computer and your almost-finished game of sim city. you think about your potential perfect life and your potential future family. you google am i gay quiz with your little hands shaking.
you delete each letter slowly. you don't need to love him. you just need to keep going.
When I was a kid I didn't really notice the mulder-scully height difference much, it was just a background detail. Probably partly because they would do those tight shots with GA on her gillybox, especially in the later seasons. But when they're striding around rural Vancouver and those early city walk and talks etc together, I notice it much more and it makes me feel kind of unhinged lol. I can't help thinking that some of that early physical intimacy is even because of the like 11 inch+ height difference, that Mulder has to swoop down and lean in close and tip her chin up to get a read on her because from mid-close talking distance his perspective is going to be her fluffy bangs and rolled 90s bob and her top quarter profile unless she looks up at him specifically... And then of course the Gazing began and it was unnecessary. But I wonder if there were 'look at me, what are you thinking, I need to learn to read you' impulses at play at first.
I was drawing this as one of the art requests, but... As much as I LOVED coming up with these looks, I'm not satisfied with the "generic standing" pose, so... Have it as a fanart. The pending "Rocky and Zuma" art request will still be done, I'm not counting this one for that, the art requests deserve something cooler. I might draw these two again but INTERACTING for that request, sounds a lot better!
Uh should I come up with looks and draw the other pups like this too or nah, what do you guys think
SOMEONE STOLE MY IDEA WORD FOR WORD AND IT GOT MORE ATTENTION BECAUSE THEY HAVE MORE CONNECTIONS??? imma go throw my heart into a blender rq with bananas and all, then travel to the sewage treatment facilities to personally pour it into the gutters myself.
Once upon a time I had an AU where Ichor ended up working with Nightmare, and I wanted to do some doodles for it!
I think that Nightmare only puts up w/ Ichor in this because Ichor still has his Godly powers, and being God of Punishment really helps pull in more negativity. Also, Ichor's more unhinged in this AU because his AU was destroyed. Here he really has it out for the "good guys" because they're trying to keep Balance. (In his AU, the God of Balance gave him so much grief and suffering.)
Also, he'd be unafraid to step between his co-workers disputes. Hense him scruffing Killer and holding back Dust in the second doodle.
If Night is Dadmare, Ichor is like a weird Uncle who's bumming on their couch and teaching them gambling games.
Also, shout-out to shadowed-hood and hat Dust designs, because I'm adopting that as a side-headcanon. It's really fun to draw!