~Obviously babies are not as stupid as they look
HEY LET'S DO A SKETCHPOST sure why not, I haven't done one in ages and as such this one will be MASSIVE AAAAA
I am thinking of making a tag just for these giant posts though, perhaps I'll get that going later. Although, I did finally go and make a tag for Edgar and Scriabin for those interested in their older antics. It turns out though that they were mostly running around outside of my LJ though, so those looking for more insight may be disappointed, haha. Those looking for me acting like a complete moron will be pleased though! The further back you go the stupider I get ugh, how embarrassing. Well, it is what it is.
Anyway, there's a good chunk of the zombie ladies in here, but because of the flash video I was in a sort of Edgar/Scriabin mood, so most of this is taken up by them, haha. There's also I think a few other things scattered in here... one or two Mother 3 things, some itty bitty Isaac things, a few Starcon2 things, random OCs popping up here and there. Mostly Ladies/Vargas though.
So, warnings! Groping and boobtouching and vaguely smutty things are in the lady section, probably not a huge surprise there. Nothing hugely hardcore though. I did do a pic for a song that references suicide if you're being careful though.
The Vargas side is a lot heavier. I don't think I've ever done a sketchpost seriously focusing on these two before or their terrible relationship, SO, be warned that that section is just crammed full of horrible abuse (primarily emotional/mental, but there is some physical as well), and there's also some random body horror/disturbing type stuff in there. And also another suicide-related picture, and mentions of diaryfic self-mutilation. I'd guess it's 90% terrible abuse/disturbing stuff, 10% inappropriately flippant silly things with them. SO IT'LL BE A FUN RIDE if that kinda stuff bothers you though you can just skip them.
First, ladies!
OMG COLOR boobgrabbing, it's an epidemic
SPEAKING OF WHICH
Unexpected side-effects of periods! Who would've thought
I have no idea what Smoker's so touchy about, haha. LIFE IN GENERAL, PROBABLY
OH i might as well do the little christmas request comic I did! Since I wanted to talk about it a little, haha.
SOMEONE WANTED MOUSEY SUCCEEDING AT SOMETHING AND THEN THIS IMAGE CAME TO MIND and I had to do the whole thing, haha. Anyway, Charger of course lost her ring when she was infected since her arm got all squiggly and it slipped off. How Mousey managed to find it again, I have absolutely no idea. :O I GUESS CALLED IN SOME FAVORS OR SOMETHING, IDK
Smoker is helping Charger write down her thoughts on the Charger strain at first, thus the talk of arm gigantism, haha. I guess Charger and David have the date engraved on the insides of the ring? And probably their names, idk. If they've been married for ten years and this is all set in like, 2008 then 1998 is probably about right for when they got together.
(This is set in 2008??? you're asking yourself, and yup. Or the same date the games take place, I think it's 2008. WHATEVER, I'LL CHECK LATER.)
Mousey not sure at first what Smoker wants to do when she pulls her in for the hug, haha. WHO WOULD EXPECT IT, ESPECIALLY WITH THAT LOOK ON HER FACE
Smoker refuses to acknowledge ever giving her a hug to anyone BUT THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MOUSEY'S LIFE OMG OMG
I didn't like this hug shot as much but eh whatever, here it is anyway
Charger may end up hanging onto the ring in the long run. |D Having it actually does help jog her memory a little, so she can remember more about him, which does a lot to help ease her mental anguish as a recovered zombie. At least she can remember his face and his voice, if nothing else. :B And it reminds her that he was there for real, and so on and so on. BASICALLY THE RING WOULD BE VERY HEALTHY FOR HER TO HAVE AGAIN so cue countdown until I take it away from her in some terrible way, haha.
It doesn't fit over any of the fingers on her giant hand though, and it's a bit clumsy to do anything careful with, but sometimes she can balance it alright on a finger. Her hand's sort of too dead to feel much of it either, and I bet she'd be wary of breaking the chain or the ring itself by putting too much pressure on it too often, so she wouldn't play with it as much as she used to. But just knowing it was there would be very comforting for her, haha.
BOING
I still haven't finished their EVA plugsuit designs sorry BUT HERE'S SOME SKETCHES OF CHARGER IN HERS ANYWAY. Taking the Rei role somewhat.
Tiny chargers everywhere
Their relationship wasn't always terrible! It just got terrible near the end, haha. SINCE BARDIC ALWAYS WANTS MORE JUAN HERE YOU GO
You don't want to know Hunter
I BET THIS'LL GO WELL
DID YOU THINK ASH WOULD GO FOR IT IN THE END he maintains his distance, haha. Though he's not as >:( as usual towards her. This basically just came about because I was trying to think of the two characters least likely to ever dance together and they popped into my head, haha.
Ash and Mousey get along like fire and water, basically.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CONTINUITY THIS IS SET IN, ZOMBIES, POST ZOMBIES, PRE ZOMBIES, WHAT, WHO KNOWS
i am a terrible fashion designer can you tell
I LIKE THIS BONUS STAGE OF TETRIS
for the purposes of this please pretend i can draw a fancy bra
Since I watched Attack on Titan at Moro's place, why not draw everyone in the Survey Corps uniforms! Cause sure, why not. Charger actually might be too heavy for the 3D maneuver gear (although she'd be great at titan killing I bet) and Smoker too tall/light, but whatevs they're in them anyway. SCRI CAME OUT TERRIBLE BLAH
I got The World Spins Madly On stuck in my head for like days at one point, haha. SO HAVE CHARGER ANGSTING TO IT even with her new ring
ALONG THE SAME LINES here's Mousey with Violet, which always seemed a bit more sinister than its jaunty beat would lead you to believe. IS MOUSEY CUTTING RED STRINGS? WHAT COULD IT MEANNNNN
SURE I'LL POST MY SPACEFILLER, WHY NOT
I can't help it if when we hug your chest is right at head level! What am I supposed to do???
The rare happy Smoker, haha.
THEY'RE ON THE KITCHEN TABLE THIS MAKES NO SENSE OTHERWISE if it's hard to tell
Let's go back to that weird mystery dance place!
haha mousey quietly judging them JOCKEY IS SO MUCH MORE ANNOYING THAN ME, WHY DOES HE LIKE HER INSTEAD OF ME :< I'M SO MUCH NICER AND MORE CONSIDERATE THAN HER, IT'S NOT FAIR
I like the idea of Jockey and Ash getting along, although I imagine he'd only like her in small doses since he's so quiet, but I think when they do end up hanging out they'd have fun, haha.
WHY IS MY GOODNESS NOT BEING REWARDED mousey laments to herself
Haha what is it, still waters run deep? That could apply to Ash for sure I think.
Braiding the ends of his bandana together. DON'T GET TOO EXCITED
MOUSEY'S HERE TO RUIN THE PARTY
Jockey of course immediately gets upset, what with her inability to really control her emotions as a cured zombie. Ash gets her back on track though when they wander off again, haha.
Secretly Charger just wants to be left alone to read.
Tiny hugs
fell off the HUG tower
More tiny spacefiller Jockeys
LET'S GET SOME WALLS OF TEXT IN HERE, IT'S ABOUT TIME
Hunter tends to assume anyone who expresses a huge interest in someone else has a crush on them, so since she thinks Mousey has a crush on Smoker, it's obvious to her that she has a crush on Charger too! Though she quickly amends that in case it makes Charger uncomfortable.
Charger of course just TL;DR when properly prompted, haha. She's probably thought about the situation a lot.
OR ARE THERE OTHER REASONS FOR CHARGER'S HYPOTHESIS? NEXT ON DAYS OF OUR ZOMBIES
ugh typos
More random Jockeys
And a margin Hunter! To shake things up.
Apparently mokyu mokyu means something adorably fluffy and cute, I think, or so I've been lead to believe.
This Smoker interlude brought to you by The Deadly Bees.
Spacefiller Smoker! Everyone gets a shot, haha.
Sort of like the Shimeji, haha.
STOP MACKIN ON ME YOU CRAZY DAME
FOR A BAD DAY
THESE JEANS ARE REAL AND I HAVE A FEW PAIRS hahaha
That's inspiring, Smoker.
Overlapping the 'verses a bit. I actually have no idea how Charger would react to Scriabin, haha.
PRETTY SURE I KNOW HOW JOCKEY WOULD REACT THOUGH
edgar is completely right
Later Edgar watches Little Shop of Horrors and >:(s to himself.
Crazy ol Diaryfic Edgar and Jockey havin a FUN TIME
Loose ends! Mother 3, Star Control 2, Binding of Isaac, so on and so on.
Little thing when I was planning that other shot I did for the game, haha.
I MEAN DUH DUSTER, CMON WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT let's make out now
presumably talking to him about Wes
THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE but I do really like the idea of ZEX and DAX being in the Survey Corps, they'd probably be incredibly good at it. ZEX in particular, who looks awful here because I haven't drawn them in ages and only realized here that I don't like his human design anymore, I'll have to come up with a new one. DAX is fine though.
3D Maneuver Gear would be impossible for a VUX to use but whatever, I can draw them in it if I want to you can't stop me
A long time ago I drew my VUX OC YIK in this bizarre toga dress thing that sort of looked like this! So I tried to redraw it from memory. Apparently it actually looked more like this:
I dunno why this random outfit out of all the ones I've drawn in the years has always stuck around in the back of my head, but whatever.
And here it is again!
This was just spacefiller while some dude was talking to me. :B
ALL MY ORZ LOOK SO CRAZY
Omg it's Teishi! I haven't drawn you in a million years, what the.
IDLY SPECULATING ABOUT WHAT A DATING GAME WITH MY OCS (well charger and edgar aren't mine but) WOULD BE LIKE I could've redone the text but I was tired, whatever. I imagine it'd be SUCH A NIGHTMARE to get some characters into bed. Primarily Scriabin, he would be the hardest because he is an enormous douchebag. His and Edgar's paths would probably be intertwined since the two of them are sort of a unit, haha. Cyrus might be hard too though, and Triangle as well.
VARGAS TIME!!!
I BLAME THE FLASH VIDEO
AND I DO REITERATE MY WARNING FROM BEFORE THAT FROM HERE ON IT'S LIKE 90% TERRIBLE ABUSE/DISTURBING STUFF, SO BE CAUTIOUS
Usually I don't bother to explain most of the backstory of the stuff I post here cause I'm lazy and such, so I'd usually just post these and be like IF THEY MAKE SENSE GREAT IF NOT WELL
But since this is sort of the first time they've shown up here this much and I'm in the mood, I'm going to try and explain some stuff about them for those of you that don't want to/haven't read the fics and such or don't want to go digging through my old site for all this junk. AS SUCH I ANTICIPATE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TL;DR AHEAD because I could go on for ages about these two, I swear.
HERE'S A SHOT OF EDGAR VOMITING YARN FOR NO REASON
WELCOME TO VARGAS!!!
I didn't redo the text cause beh I was gonna redo it here anyway. SO BASICALLY AS AN OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATION WITH THESE TWO:
I always say that their relationship is complicated, and it's sort of hard to sum up in one word. Haha how did I put it in the one stickfigure summary, "he's my bff boyfriend brother son codependent soulmate abusive husband!" which is about as good as you can get, really.
But long story short (ha!), Edgar got exposed to a supernatural brain parasite when he ran into Nny (who also had supernatural brain parasites), and that brain parasite planted the seed (or fragment, as K calls it in the latest chapter) for Scriabin in him. When he was first developing, Scriabin tried to hide himself in various ways, claiming that he was just another side of Edgar, that he was Edgar, that Edgar was always talking to himself, dadadada, primarily so Edgar would never suspect his presence and let him keep growing. However, the more Scriabin grew - in the process eating away more of Edgar's brain/personality and taking it into himself - the more he became a person instead of a parasite and the more obsessed he got with being validated and treated as a separate person (Scriabin also developed his own set of crippling neurotic complexes and emotional problems and insecurities as he grew more human, deep meta commentary on the human condition here).
So in a way, Edgar helped create him, and although they aren't strictly blood related since Scriabin doesn't technically physically exist, there are pseudo-familial ties between them. I really don't know how you'd classify that, haha.
Scriabin doesn't have a physical body - he exists only as a consciousness inside Edgar's mind, and interacts with him primarily by talking to him (although he can manifest to him in dreams, as in the whitespace in the flash video). He can sometimes throw his voice in the physical world, but primarily speaks to him internally.
The primary conflict between them comes down to Scriabin's personhood, you could say. From Scriabin's side, his situation is extremely unfair. He never asked to be trapped in someone else's body, and he's powerless to do anything about it. He can't escape, he can't control Edgar's actions, all he can do is watch Edgar screw up and put them both in danger by hanging out with Nny, since if Edgar dies, so does he. Scriabin has literally no one else he can talk to or interact with, nobody else in his entire life, but Edgar refuses to treat him like another person, or take his feelings into consideration, or look at things from his perspective. You can imagine how frustrating it would be to constantly be a helpless observer in someone else's life instead of your own. How frustrating it would be to have the only person in your life refuse to actually see you as a person, or respect you as a person, or care about your life. He didn't ask to be trapped in Edgar, but he's still a person with his own dreams and ambitions, and the fact that Edgar doesn't take that into consideration when he deliberately puts himself in danger infuriates him.
From Edgar's point of view, the situation is ALSO extremely unfair. He never asked to get kidnapped or exposed to a parasite, and he never asked to get infected either. He never wanted Scriabin or ever tried to help him grow - Scriabin tricked him into doing that. His body and mind has been invaded by some supernatural being without his permission, despite him actively fighting against it. Now his parasite feels entitled to his body and his life, just because it chewed out a place in his brain for it to stay against his will. He feels like Scriabin has no right to demand control of his body, or has no right to demand input on what he does with his life, because he was here first and it's his body. Scriabin actively lying and manipulating him in order to help himself grow, as well as refusing to tell him anything about what he actually wants or what his end goal is, AS WELL AS abusing him terribly for pretty much the entire course of their relationship, doesn't exactly endear Edgar to Scriabin's angst over being validated as a person. You can imagine how it'd feel to have someone who punches you over and over in the face, who then goes "but how do you think I feel?" and gets angry when you aren't sympathetic.
There are other things they fight about (SO MANY OTHER THINGS) but this is mostly the heart of their constant antagonism towards each other, and something that really can't be solved. BUT THIS IS WHY THEY ARE OFTEN SO ANGRY AT EACH OTHER
Off to a great start
I've toyed with the idea of making them ladies and tossing them into the zombie universe at points as survivors, but eh who knows if anything'll come from it. I just really like the idea of them having the same length hair, just with Edgar keeping his tied back. IT'S SYMBOLIC
Barely the size of a pinkie nail, I swear.
MOST OFTEN SEEN YELLING AT EACH OTHER
Little preliminary things for Childish War when I was deciding whether or not to do it, haha. IN THE END, IT CAME TO FRUITION
OOF THE STUPID WINGS here we go
As I mentioned Scriabin doesn't have a physical form, and when he does manifest, it tends to be in dreams and such. He can actually take any form he wants there, and often does swap around just to mess with Edgar's head (he's particularly fond of pretending to be Nny to prove some point or another). So his wings aren't like a permanent part of him and actually don't show up very often (I don't think they showed up in the actual fic at all, I think Scri mocked me for that even, let's see)
YUP
Anyway, his wings are made out of bone and yarn. As you can guess, he actually can't fly with them, they're purely ornamental (well he could if he bent the laws of gravity for it, whatever). He usually keeps them to himself, although he has manifested them at times whenever he feels threatened by other supernatural brain parasites, and a few times near the end of the loopy hospitalfic although honestly that thing is so crazy who even knows what's going on there. They're something he generally keeps to himself though.
How did he get them/why does he have them? Let's just say when he was a lot younger and weaker, he thought devil wings would freak Edgar out since Edgar's a devout Christian and all, and they didn't manifest quite the way he planned. In the end, he kept them for his own reasons.
I kept wanting to do something to Delusion Tax but it wouldn't come out right, bleh. Oh well.
THIS WORKS JUST FINE THOUGH
Scriabin lies about everything, he actually is a compulsive liar probably. Although he really hates it if you call him that.
A LOT OF THIS IS ABOUT SCRI AND EDGAR but Nny and Edgar aren't really much better. Long story short again haha yeah right, but Nny's basically a completely unstable serial killer sociopath who has promised Edgar to his face that he will kill him when he's happy enough with him. SO THEIR RELATIONSHIP ISN'T REALLY VERY HEALTHY EITHER
Although it is for very different reasons than why his relationship with Scri is so awful, haha.
It's easy to make fun of Edgar for being a doormat or having emotional breakdowns a lot (I do it myself!) but really he's not in a very fun place when you think about it.
Also Nny has actually physically assaulted Edgar... five times? Well he slashed up his face first off (that's where those scars are from!), tried to kill him a few other times but got thwarted in one way or another, and then I think the most recent one he actually stabbed him real good in the shoulder, although Edgar survived.
THERE IS A LOT OF PHYSICAL DANGER IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP
Nny himself actually can't remember why he slashed up Edgar's face, just one of those things he just does sometimes, whatever. Edgar as usual tries to pacify him because he doesn't want to die. Healthy relationships.
There is an out of story reason for those scars though! In the original canon comic, Edgar hangs around for four pages or so, then Nny kills him. In Vargas, Edgar survives and then hangs around for the whole rest of the comic, influencing various events in different ways. But the scars on his face served as a quick visual shorthand to me of which Edgar you're looking at - no scars, canon!Edgar, face scars, Vargas!Edgar. So if you're wondering why he doesn't have those scars when other people draw him, that would be why!
Give Nny an earring, why not.
As mentioned he got stabbed real good in the shoulder, but it healed pretty well for supernatural reasons that I, bizarrely, won't go into here cause blah blah. But it probably still twinges him sometimes when he's trying to lift stuff, I need to keep that in mind.
THE HERO
So where does the whole brothers thing come in with Edgar and Scri, since they're not actually related in any kind of sane way? WELL, LET ME TELL YOU
(or the stick figure version of these chapters does a pretty good job haha)
Basically, Scriabin wanted his own life and to be his own person, so he started creating his own memories of his own fake childhood, or just subtley inserting himself into Edgar's memories as his younger brother as his own private validation of his existence. And one night when Edgar was having a dream about being a kid again because he was again having a bunch of emotional problems and wanted an escape, he pulled Scri into his dream as a little kid unconsciously. And they fought for a bit, then made a somewhat tenuous truce and made up a bunch of stories (that were actually huge metaphors) about what life might have been like if they had been brothers after all, in a way giving them both something they wanted - Edgar wouldn't have gone through his life alone, and Scriabin would have a life as a real person, at least to someone.
Eventually, as most things do with these two, it dissolved into TERRIBLE SADNESS and they got to screaming at each other again, but it's probably the closest they ever actually got to understanding each other, haha.
This is also where the yarn in Scriabin's hair comes from. Edgar has weird neurotic issues with yarn because when he was a kid, his grandmother who raised him would have him hold yarn for her while she knit and lectured him for doing something wrong, so he associated it with powerlessness and fear and self-loathing and failure and punishment, all that stuff. Scriabin thus made up a kid story where he stole a piece of yarn from her while she wasn't looking and wore it in his hair to spite her, to try and defuse the power she had, to show he wasn't afraid, to defy authority, to take it from Edgar and make it his own, to show that they were connected, for a whole lot of reasons.
So after they have this sort of dream breakthrough, Scriabin tends to have the bit of yarn in his hair somewhere. Where exactly varies since his form is malleable, but it's there somewhere. It's a symbol of that night and that they have a connection as "brothers", as people, even if it was all a pack of lies they told each other to avoid reality.
Sometimes when Scri gets mad at Edgar, he deliberately hides the yarn or gets rid of it, but other times, when Scri's really upset or frightened, the yarn just shows up in his hair unconsciously. So it's become a part of him, in a way, although sometimes he has mixed feelings about it.
Scri of course is the younger brother, as Edgar came first. This is why I thought Childish War was so perfect, haha.
Accurate assessment
Scriabin pulled like 99% of himself from Edgar since he grew in him so in a way, everything in him comes from him, although it's been twisted and distorted around to be his own. His reflection in a mirror! Or his evil twin, that could work too.
Sage advice
LadyScri filler, why not
Lady arguing, tiny kids, sure
Can't find an OC to abuse you? Why not Scriabin?
Ladyversions again although I positioned them in such a way that you can't even tell, way to go
ANIMAL CROSSING
Scriabin lives in the same tent you start in since he spends all his money and time planting pitfalls and hedges and insulting signs around Edgar's house instead of doing anything actually constructive. Then at night he sneaks into Edgar's house and sleeps there instead when it gets cold and Edgar's like what is my life JUST UPGRADE YOUR OWN HOUSE
gd wings are fun to draw
GUESS WHICH PART OF THE VIDEO I WAS DOING
cold out
I swear these two are always just napping in the back of my head and then something wakes them up and they run around all crazy for a while then go back to sleep. In a way it's sort of comforting, haha. These two can go into darker places than most of the other characters I can think of. I CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON YOU GUYS
Scri gradually picking up little doodads here and there. One thing he very rarely has is a quartz crystal necklace. Devi was given one by Tenna because they "promoted inner healing and strength", which she told Edgar about, and then later on when Edgar and Scri are going super crazy and basically completely falling apart, he gives himself a similar necklace in a desperate attempt to stop what's happening to them, to no avail. The necklace does show up in the latest chapter! But there wasn't a chance for him to explain why it was there, not that Scriabin actually would ever explain anything about himself.
There are sidefics off of Vargas that explore alternate versions of events, and I guess the darkest timeline (to borrow from Community, haha) would be the diaryfic, also known as Violation. Basically, Edgar decides to keep a journal, Scriabin decides to contribute to it, and it becomes a sort of second-person chronicling of the process of the two of them going completely bonkers. It's pretty hard to tell what's actually happening a lot of the time, but Edgar hallucinates a ton of weird stuff and also starts mangling himself, sometimes on accident and sometimes on purpose. For example, he put out his eye by accident, although he cut up his arm on purpose which he then immediately regretted the next day. BASICALLY HE IS A TORN UP MESS.
Butterflies also feature heavily, and not in a good way.
Sometimes other people would draw Scriabin as a tiny version of himself hanging around Edgar's head or shoulders to represent him in a scene where otherwise there'd just be his voice... let's see, like... this comic by bialy, or this shot from chapter 18 by mith-maulin and I always thought that was kind of cute, haha. SO HERE IS TINY SCRI HANGING AROUND EDGAR'S HEAD
Edgar in his coat, and a little planning chibi for the flash, as you eventually saw. :B
Scriabin's hair changes styles ALL THE TIME altho for now it's settled into wavy and fluffy, so whatever. Originally here he was berating me for something but I cut that since it wouldn't make sense to any of you, haha.
I'M ONLY HERE TO CRITICIZE YOU, I DON'T HAVE SOLUTIONS
Amusingly while sorting through my files I found I'd drawn pretty much this exact exchange years ago, although with a different ending, but I'm too lazy to find it for you, pfff.
You poor man.
God just how long it took me to get the head shape right, what was wrong with me
Scriabin makes a lot of noise about how much he hates Edgar and wishes he could get away from him for good, but he needs him a lot more than he'd ever like to admit.
IT WAS PROBABLY CLEAR, WHATEVER
I watched that while coloring the video, seemed appropriate haha.
I MAY BE THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED THIS but Scri's bangs are longer in the first couple shots in the movie, near his chin, and then as it goes along, they shorten down to near his glasses. IT WAS TOO LATE TO FIX AT THE TIME not that that'd stop him from mocking me for it.
When it occurred to me to do this as an ending chibi, haha.
TOO MUCH STEVEN UNIVERSE
Sudden departure here, something harmless and fluffy with Nny! I remember drawing him carrying Nny a million years ago and on the spur of the moment deciding on his monochrome colorscheme then. Edgar has no set color, so that's also why you may see Edgar with shirts/hair of varying colors, haha. I just always liked grey myself.
VARGAS, ALSO KNOWN AS MEDITATIONS ON ABUSE: THE SERIES
Haha poor Duster LITTLE DO YOU KNOW
I actually didn't realize until doodling around that Edgar and Scri actually both have scars on their shoulders - Edgar got his when Nny tried to stab him to death in chapter 23, and Scri got his from the thing in chapter 19 that nearly tore his arm off and succeeded at tearing his wings off, which is why you keep seeing him every now and then with stubs for wings. PERHAPS SOMEDAY YOU WILL SEE THAT SIDEFIC
someday
I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH SIDE IS WHICH THOUGH, ARGH
It sort of amuses me that these two are actually in a unique position to really understand each other better than anyone - Scriabin can read Edgar's thoughts and emotions (which is why he's particularly good at finding ways to torment him), and Edgar can sort of feel how Scriabin's feeling sometimes, although he's still really clumsy at it. AND INSTEAD THEY JUST KEEP HURTING EACH OTHER INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY, IT NEVER ENDS
Diaryfic again! Haha any time Edgar has one eye that's the case. Anyway, of course only after it's too late and Edgar's already long gone does Scri actually open up to him and swear to protect and care about him and fix things. THE COWS HAVE ALREADY LEFT THE BARN
Scriabin likes using Edgar's (forced) relationship with Nny as a tool to try and get him to do what he wants, particularly emphasizing how unhealthy it is and how really, he just wants Edgar out for his own good! Honest. Edgar's not that gullible though.
For all his yelling at Edgar to take responsibility for his life, Scriabin is practically incapable of taking responsibility for anything he does wrong.
CASE IN POINT
From their screaming argument near the end of chapter 24.
Don't usually see the bonewings extended, haha.
Yeah I wonder why Edgar'd be having trouble falling asleep with the weird creepy yarn bones touching him
Hands tied to and by each other
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Someday I'm going to count how many pictures of Scri have "shut up" written next to them.
can i help you lose your mind
In some of the last bits of the hospitalfic, kidScri actually has his bonewings, although they are little mini versions, haha.
Ironically Scriabin is incredibly starved for love and yet makes it unbelievably hard for anyone to love him to the extent of actively driving people away. SO MANY ISSUES
The last panel could've stood on its own but whatever it's related. SCRI'S RIGHT THOUGH the basic intimacy problems have their source in Edgar, they're just twisted around through Scri's mirror, you could say.
He's supposed to be choking him but it's not very clear woops
As usual the longer I draw someone's hair the poofier it gets
Referring to a fight with Nny since Edgar does try to argue back sometimes with Scri, although he usually doesn't win, poor guy.
NEVER ASK SCRIABIN FOR SYMPATHY
It's a totally innocuous sentence but I always hear Zydrate Anatomy in my head when I see it.
Scriabin again berating me here though I erased most of what he was saying. TRY AND READ THE REST IF YOU CAN
ANOTHER SHOT WHERE HE WAS BERATING ME again cut all the text except the last bits since it wouldn't make sense to anyone else
NOW WE'RE BOTH DEAD this could apply to a lot of different things Scri's done, haha
If only it were that easy.
Monopoisoner! With a pronoun swap, that song works really well for them, who would've thought.
People treat him so terribly and he can't stop caring about them. Someday that's going to get you killed, Edgar.
Scri with hair in his face. If you could actually get Scri to shut up long enough or tolerate him enough to get him into bed, sex could actually make him really stupid and happy for a while, or at least get him to stop being awful for a bit. BUT WHO WOULD BE WILLING TO DO SUCH A THING
You'd probably have to gag him, otherwise he'd just criticize you through the whole process, haha.
Scriabin's favorite game: how can I make this Edgar's fault
ANOTHER SHOT OF HIM INSULTING ME now it is blank, woop
Outer Science is like the only jin song I actually like and it's so weirdly abstract it doesn't work for much, but these couple shots seemed to work for them.
Quick reminder that Vargas and all of this takes place around 1994. SO WHY NOT HAVE A FRIENDS REFERENCE
THIS COULD BE EITHER OF THEM more likely coming from Edgar though
So many endless Biblical conversations aaaaa
Tiny scriballs, why not
Yarn attached to Edgar's vocal cords! Cause ~SYMBOLISM~
Unfortunately for Edgar, he actually did make some really poor decisions that are not easy to defend (he enjoyed watching Nny kill a pedophile, and torture/kill some teenagers that were bothering them at a movie), and because of that he gave Scriabin endless ammunition against him. When Scriabin can't think of anything else, he'll go back to those mistakes and just beat Edgar with them, because there isn't any real way for Edgar to defend himself. Not that he wouldn't have felt bad to begin with OH NO THAT'S WHERE SCRI GOT IT FROM GASP
It's not so much a love triangle as it is an abusive relationship triangle, I dunno why I'm so stuck on that idea.
(mango's summary of the triangle is much funnier though, haha)
You can't even really say Nny doesn't intend to hurt him since he's promised to kill him, but SOMEtimes it's by accident. IT'S NOT MUCH BETTER THOUGH.
Sheena got me the Starbomb CD and of course I ended up doing this. LUIGI'S BALLAD SEEMED APPROPRIATE THOUGH
An image that came to mind while listening to Our Special Place for some reason.
Then for some reason I got Love's Not for Me in my head and ???
KEEP GOING SURE
Scriabin is always convinced that he's right to the point of blindness. He can't be wrong, he can always win. It's what gives him the strength to do what he does, and sometimes to keep both him and Edgar alive when Edgar gives up. It keeps him fighting no matter what happens, and it also makes him do some terrible things. But he's committed to staying alive and keeping Edgar alive, no matter what he has to do to do that. Always right.
This phrase showed up in SOMEthing I was watching but I can't remember what it was, oh well.
I got stuck listening to Go Long for like an entire night at one point, haha. I had a better mental image for this that did not coalesce here, maybe I'll try again later.
Go Long again! Scriabin isn't always terrible to him. Sometimes when it serves his purposes he can be very kind to him, although usually that happens when he goes too far and breaks Edgar, then has to try and put him back together again (which happened in... chapter 17 and 18 I think). Although sometimes he's broken him on purpose just so he could comfort him/fix him to get Edgar to trust him. SCRIABIN'S A GREAT GUY.
this may be a clue that your relationship is unhealthy, edgar
Edgar has his own issues with yarn, but Scriabin's ties to it actually go deeper than he's aware of or would like. He likes to pretend and play that it has no effect on him, and he uses it as a tool to mess with Edgar, and in general likes to think of himself as very above the whole childish thing, but that's not really the case. Yarn symbolizes a lot of things that Scriabin took to give him power, and it represents things too deep for even him to reach, and as such it's laced into him in ways he himself doesn't understand and can't control.
One potential example of this, although it's only happened in a tiny ficlet way back when, would be Scriabin trying to slit his wrists, primarily to make Edgar upset and show him that he's suffering more so than to actually kill himself, and finding that instead of bleeding, all that comes out of him is yarn. Just yards and yards of it pouring from his open veins. At that point he threw up and passed out, which isn't an unreasonable reaction, considering. THEN IT WAS TIME TO MAKE IT EDGAR'S FAULT WHEN HE WOKE UP AGAIN
So thus yarn blood here.
NO SCRIABIN KNOWS EVERYTHING AND IS ALWAYS RIGHT, SHUT UP
one of scri's favorite tactics is to take questions and turn them back around to the person asking
WHO COULD BE RESPONSIBLE
Edgar's last expression here isn't so much because of what Scri said but because he knows that means Scriabin's going to lay into him in a few seconds.
idk RANDOM VIOLENCE, SURE
Speakin of which, one of Scriabin's favorite traps is to hurt Edgar in some way, then make it Edgar's fault that he's doing it because he's not stopping him. I think there's a tempfic about that, where is it... here we go. Usually he smacks him around like so.
Then of course, if Edgar doesn't try hard enough or succeed at stopping him, then secretly he must want it or he must not want it to stop badly enough, and it continues. Then again, going limp doesn't really work very well either, but the way he sees it he doesn't have many options.
The irony of Scriabin demanding Edgar to take responsibility for his actions and himself, while at the same time conveniently absolving himself of taking responsibility for his OWN actions, is completely lost on him.
Edgar's a Christian, he's used to it! Or self-flagellation, if you could call this that anyway.
Eventually, Scriabin becomes strong enough to actually take over Edgar's body by force, although honestly the first time he does it it's a complete accident. Once he realizes he can do this though, he works very hard to ensure that Edgar doesn't figure out he can or do anything to stop him while he tries to figure out how it works. Once Edgar finds out what he's been doing, he's understandably pretty hurt.
But anyway, near the end before they collapse into a pile of crazy, Scriabin gets good enough at taking him over that he can do it fairly reliably, although he can't stay for very long. Edgar is the default consciousness of the body, after all. However, it's amazing how different someone can look with just an attitude change.
You can't fight, there's no point, so why not love? What else can you do?
Scriabin of course seeing relationships in terms of what benefits you get out of them.
I've always been really adamant that Edgar will never "fix" Nny because what's wrong with him isn't something that can be fixed, certainly not by some random dude. But maybe if Nny actually does really commit to getting professional help and trying to get better, he can manage his moodswings and bloodlust enough to remove a little bit of the fear from things. BUT GIVEN THIS FIC, THAT MAY BE TOO OPTIMISTIC
Tied into the world around him, and every time he pulls a hand free, rips a strand of yarn, another one appears, there's no escape.
MOSTLY I JUST WANTED TO DRAW HIS WINGS THOUGH BECAUSE WHEE I LOVE DRAWING LOOPY STRANDS OF THINGS APPARENTLY I got way too crazy with the yarn in this but I seriously forgot how much fun it can be to draw, haha. You can see a bit more clearly here how it stitches into his back.
NO ONE WEARS ANY SHOES AROUND HERE, WHAT pfft anatomy whatever, BONE WINGS ARE THE FOCUS NOW
Scri's ripped his hands free a few times but still he ends up tied to this place. Can never be completely free of Edgar, no matter how hard he tries. The appearance of escape without an actual escape, just like how the wings give the appearance of flight while actually being useless. IT'S SYMBOLIC SEE
and christ that's enough I feel like I've been typing for ages
I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!
I am thinking of making a tag just for these giant posts though, perhaps I'll get that going later. Although, I did finally go and make a tag for Edgar and Scriabin for those interested in their older antics. It turns out though that they were mostly running around outside of my LJ though, so those looking for more insight may be disappointed, haha. Those looking for me acting like a complete moron will be pleased though! The further back you go the stupider I get ugh, how embarrassing. Well, it is what it is.
Anyway, there's a good chunk of the zombie ladies in here, but because of the flash video I was in a sort of Edgar/Scriabin mood, so most of this is taken up by them, haha. There's also I think a few other things scattered in here... one or two Mother 3 things, some itty bitty Isaac things, a few Starcon2 things, random OCs popping up here and there. Mostly Ladies/Vargas though.
So, warnings! Groping and boobtouching and vaguely smutty things are in the lady section, probably not a huge surprise there. Nothing hugely hardcore though. I did do a pic for a song that references suicide if you're being careful though.
The Vargas side is a lot heavier. I don't think I've ever done a sketchpost seriously focusing on these two before or their terrible relationship, SO, be warned that that section is just crammed full of horrible abuse (primarily emotional/mental, but there is some physical as well), and there's also some random body horror/disturbing type stuff in there. And also another suicide-related picture, and mentions of diaryfic self-mutilation. I'd guess it's 90% terrible abuse/disturbing stuff, 10% inappropriately flippant silly things with them. SO IT'LL BE A FUN RIDE if that kinda stuff bothers you though you can just skip them.
First, ladies!
OMG COLOR boobgrabbing, it's an epidemic
SPEAKING OF WHICH
Unexpected side-effects of periods! Who would've thought
I have no idea what Smoker's so touchy about, haha. LIFE IN GENERAL, PROBABLY
OH i might as well do the little christmas request comic I did! Since I wanted to talk about it a little, haha.
SOMEONE WANTED MOUSEY SUCCEEDING AT SOMETHING AND THEN THIS IMAGE CAME TO MIND and I had to do the whole thing, haha. Anyway, Charger of course lost her ring when she was infected since her arm got all squiggly and it slipped off. How Mousey managed to find it again, I have absolutely no idea. :O I GUESS CALLED IN SOME FAVORS OR SOMETHING, IDK
Smoker is helping Charger write down her thoughts on the Charger strain at first, thus the talk of arm gigantism, haha. I guess Charger and David have the date engraved on the insides of the ring? And probably their names, idk. If they've been married for ten years and this is all set in like, 2008 then 1998 is probably about right for when they got together.
(This is set in 2008??? you're asking yourself, and yup. Or the same date the games take place, I think it's 2008. WHATEVER, I'LL CHECK LATER.)
Mousey not sure at first what Smoker wants to do when she pulls her in for the hug, haha. WHO WOULD EXPECT IT, ESPECIALLY WITH THAT LOOK ON HER FACE
Smoker refuses to acknowledge ever giving her a hug to anyone BUT THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MOUSEY'S LIFE OMG OMG
I didn't like this hug shot as much but eh whatever, here it is anyway
Charger may end up hanging onto the ring in the long run. |D Having it actually does help jog her memory a little, so she can remember more about him, which does a lot to help ease her mental anguish as a recovered zombie. At least she can remember his face and his voice, if nothing else. :B And it reminds her that he was there for real, and so on and so on. BASICALLY THE RING WOULD BE VERY HEALTHY FOR HER TO HAVE AGAIN so cue countdown until I take it away from her in some terrible way, haha.
It doesn't fit over any of the fingers on her giant hand though, and it's a bit clumsy to do anything careful with, but sometimes she can balance it alright on a finger. Her hand's sort of too dead to feel much of it either, and I bet she'd be wary of breaking the chain or the ring itself by putting too much pressure on it too often, so she wouldn't play with it as much as she used to. But just knowing it was there would be very comforting for her, haha.
BOING
I still haven't finished their EVA plugsuit designs sorry BUT HERE'S SOME SKETCHES OF CHARGER IN HERS ANYWAY. Taking the Rei role somewhat.
Tiny chargers everywhere
Their relationship wasn't always terrible! It just got terrible near the end, haha. SINCE BARDIC ALWAYS WANTS MORE JUAN HERE YOU GO
You don't want to know Hunter
I BET THIS'LL GO WELL
DID YOU THINK ASH WOULD GO FOR IT IN THE END he maintains his distance, haha. Though he's not as >:( as usual towards her. This basically just came about because I was trying to think of the two characters least likely to ever dance together and they popped into my head, haha.
Ash and Mousey get along like fire and water, basically.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CONTINUITY THIS IS SET IN, ZOMBIES, POST ZOMBIES, PRE ZOMBIES, WHAT, WHO KNOWS
i am a terrible fashion designer can you tell
I LIKE THIS BONUS STAGE OF TETRIS
for the purposes of this please pretend i can draw a fancy bra
Since I watched Attack on Titan at Moro's place, why not draw everyone in the Survey Corps uniforms! Cause sure, why not. Charger actually might be too heavy for the 3D maneuver gear (although she'd be great at titan killing I bet) and Smoker too tall/light, but whatevs they're in them anyway. SCRI CAME OUT TERRIBLE BLAH
I got The World Spins Madly On stuck in my head for like days at one point, haha. SO HAVE CHARGER ANGSTING TO IT even with her new ring
ALONG THE SAME LINES here's Mousey with Violet, which always seemed a bit more sinister than its jaunty beat would lead you to believe. IS MOUSEY CUTTING RED STRINGS? WHAT COULD IT MEANNNNN
SURE I'LL POST MY SPACEFILLER, WHY NOT
I can't help it if when we hug your chest is right at head level! What am I supposed to do???
The rare happy Smoker, haha.
THEY'RE ON THE KITCHEN TABLE THIS MAKES NO SENSE OTHERWISE if it's hard to tell
Let's go back to that weird mystery dance place!
haha mousey quietly judging them JOCKEY IS SO MUCH MORE ANNOYING THAN ME, WHY DOES HE LIKE HER INSTEAD OF ME :< I'M SO MUCH NICER AND MORE CONSIDERATE THAN HER, IT'S NOT FAIR
I like the idea of Jockey and Ash getting along, although I imagine he'd only like her in small doses since he's so quiet, but I think when they do end up hanging out they'd have fun, haha.
WHY IS MY GOODNESS NOT BEING REWARDED mousey laments to herself
Haha what is it, still waters run deep? That could apply to Ash for sure I think.
Braiding the ends of his bandana together. DON'T GET TOO EXCITED
MOUSEY'S HERE TO RUIN THE PARTY
Jockey of course immediately gets upset, what with her inability to really control her emotions as a cured zombie. Ash gets her back on track though when they wander off again, haha.
Secretly Charger just wants to be left alone to read.
Tiny hugs
fell off the HUG tower
More tiny spacefiller Jockeys
LET'S GET SOME WALLS OF TEXT IN HERE, IT'S ABOUT TIME
Hunter tends to assume anyone who expresses a huge interest in someone else has a crush on them, so since she thinks Mousey has a crush on Smoker, it's obvious to her that she has a crush on Charger too! Though she quickly amends that in case it makes Charger uncomfortable.
Charger of course just TL;DR when properly prompted, haha. She's probably thought about the situation a lot.
OR ARE THERE OTHER REASONS FOR CHARGER'S HYPOTHESIS? NEXT ON DAYS OF OUR ZOMBIES
ugh typos
More random Jockeys
And a margin Hunter! To shake things up.
Apparently mokyu mokyu means something adorably fluffy and cute, I think, or so I've been lead to believe.
This Smoker interlude brought to you by The Deadly Bees.
Spacefiller Smoker! Everyone gets a shot, haha.
Sort of like the Shimeji, haha.
STOP MACKIN ON ME YOU CRAZY DAME
FOR A BAD DAY
THESE JEANS ARE REAL AND I HAVE A FEW PAIRS hahaha
That's inspiring, Smoker.
Overlapping the 'verses a bit. I actually have no idea how Charger would react to Scriabin, haha.
PRETTY SURE I KNOW HOW JOCKEY WOULD REACT THOUGH
edgar is completely right
Later Edgar watches Little Shop of Horrors and >:(s to himself.
Crazy ol Diaryfic Edgar and Jockey havin a FUN TIME
Loose ends! Mother 3, Star Control 2, Binding of Isaac, so on and so on.
Little thing when I was planning that other shot I did for the game, haha.
I MEAN DUH DUSTER, CMON WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT let's make out now
presumably talking to him about Wes
THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE but I do really like the idea of ZEX and DAX being in the Survey Corps, they'd probably be incredibly good at it. ZEX in particular, who looks awful here because I haven't drawn them in ages and only realized here that I don't like his human design anymore, I'll have to come up with a new one. DAX is fine though.
3D Maneuver Gear would be impossible for a VUX to use but whatever, I can draw them in it if I want to you can't stop me
A long time ago I drew my VUX OC YIK in this bizarre toga dress thing that sort of looked like this! So I tried to redraw it from memory. Apparently it actually looked more like this:
I dunno why this random outfit out of all the ones I've drawn in the years has always stuck around in the back of my head, but whatever.
And here it is again!
This was just spacefiller while some dude was talking to me. :B
ALL MY ORZ LOOK SO CRAZY
Omg it's Teishi! I haven't drawn you in a million years, what the.
IDLY SPECULATING ABOUT WHAT A DATING GAME WITH MY OCS (well charger and edgar aren't mine but) WOULD BE LIKE I could've redone the text but I was tired, whatever. I imagine it'd be SUCH A NIGHTMARE to get some characters into bed. Primarily Scriabin, he would be the hardest because he is an enormous douchebag. His and Edgar's paths would probably be intertwined since the two of them are sort of a unit, haha. Cyrus might be hard too though, and Triangle as well.
VARGAS TIME!!!
I BLAME THE FLASH VIDEO
AND I DO REITERATE MY WARNING FROM BEFORE THAT FROM HERE ON IT'S LIKE 90% TERRIBLE ABUSE/DISTURBING STUFF, SO BE CAUTIOUS
Usually I don't bother to explain most of the backstory of the stuff I post here cause I'm lazy and such, so I'd usually just post these and be like IF THEY MAKE SENSE GREAT IF NOT WELL
But since this is sort of the first time they've shown up here this much and I'm in the mood, I'm going to try and explain some stuff about them for those of you that don't want to/haven't read the fics and such or don't want to go digging through my old site for all this junk. AS SUCH I ANTICIPATE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TL;DR AHEAD because I could go on for ages about these two, I swear.
HERE'S A SHOT OF EDGAR VOMITING YARN FOR NO REASON
WELCOME TO VARGAS!!!
I didn't redo the text cause beh I was gonna redo it here anyway. SO BASICALLY AS AN OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATION WITH THESE TWO:
I always say that their relationship is complicated, and it's sort of hard to sum up in one word. Haha how did I put it in the one stickfigure summary, "he's my bff boyfriend brother son codependent soulmate abusive husband!" which is about as good as you can get, really.
But long story short (ha!), Edgar got exposed to a supernatural brain parasite when he ran into Nny (who also had supernatural brain parasites), and that brain parasite planted the seed (or fragment, as K calls it in the latest chapter) for Scriabin in him. When he was first developing, Scriabin tried to hide himself in various ways, claiming that he was just another side of Edgar, that he was Edgar, that Edgar was always talking to himself, dadadada, primarily so Edgar would never suspect his presence and let him keep growing. However, the more Scriabin grew - in the process eating away more of Edgar's brain/personality and taking it into himself - the more he became a person instead of a parasite and the more obsessed he got with being validated and treated as a separate person (Scriabin also developed his own set of crippling neurotic complexes and emotional problems and insecurities as he grew more human, deep meta commentary on the human condition here).
So in a way, Edgar helped create him, and although they aren't strictly blood related since Scriabin doesn't technically physically exist, there are pseudo-familial ties between them. I really don't know how you'd classify that, haha.
Scriabin doesn't have a physical body - he exists only as a consciousness inside Edgar's mind, and interacts with him primarily by talking to him (although he can manifest to him in dreams, as in the whitespace in the flash video). He can sometimes throw his voice in the physical world, but primarily speaks to him internally.
The primary conflict between them comes down to Scriabin's personhood, you could say. From Scriabin's side, his situation is extremely unfair. He never asked to be trapped in someone else's body, and he's powerless to do anything about it. He can't escape, he can't control Edgar's actions, all he can do is watch Edgar screw up and put them both in danger by hanging out with Nny, since if Edgar dies, so does he. Scriabin has literally no one else he can talk to or interact with, nobody else in his entire life, but Edgar refuses to treat him like another person, or take his feelings into consideration, or look at things from his perspective. You can imagine how frustrating it would be to constantly be a helpless observer in someone else's life instead of your own. How frustrating it would be to have the only person in your life refuse to actually see you as a person, or respect you as a person, or care about your life. He didn't ask to be trapped in Edgar, but he's still a person with his own dreams and ambitions, and the fact that Edgar doesn't take that into consideration when he deliberately puts himself in danger infuriates him.
From Edgar's point of view, the situation is ALSO extremely unfair. He never asked to get kidnapped or exposed to a parasite, and he never asked to get infected either. He never wanted Scriabin or ever tried to help him grow - Scriabin tricked him into doing that. His body and mind has been invaded by some supernatural being without his permission, despite him actively fighting against it. Now his parasite feels entitled to his body and his life, just because it chewed out a place in his brain for it to stay against his will. He feels like Scriabin has no right to demand control of his body, or has no right to demand input on what he does with his life, because he was here first and it's his body. Scriabin actively lying and manipulating him in order to help himself grow, as well as refusing to tell him anything about what he actually wants or what his end goal is, AS WELL AS abusing him terribly for pretty much the entire course of their relationship, doesn't exactly endear Edgar to Scriabin's angst over being validated as a person. You can imagine how it'd feel to have someone who punches you over and over in the face, who then goes "but how do you think I feel?" and gets angry when you aren't sympathetic.
There are other things they fight about (SO MANY OTHER THINGS) but this is mostly the heart of their constant antagonism towards each other, and something that really can't be solved. BUT THIS IS WHY THEY ARE OFTEN SO ANGRY AT EACH OTHER
Off to a great start
I've toyed with the idea of making them ladies and tossing them into the zombie universe at points as survivors, but eh who knows if anything'll come from it. I just really like the idea of them having the same length hair, just with Edgar keeping his tied back. IT'S SYMBOLIC
Barely the size of a pinkie nail, I swear.
MOST OFTEN SEEN YELLING AT EACH OTHER
Little preliminary things for Childish War when I was deciding whether or not to do it, haha. IN THE END, IT CAME TO FRUITION
OOF THE STUPID WINGS here we go
As I mentioned Scriabin doesn't have a physical form, and when he does manifest, it tends to be in dreams and such. He can actually take any form he wants there, and often does swap around just to mess with Edgar's head (he's particularly fond of pretending to be Nny to prove some point or another). So his wings aren't like a permanent part of him and actually don't show up very often (I don't think they showed up in the actual fic at all, I think Scri mocked me for that even, let's see)
YUP
Anyway, his wings are made out of bone and yarn. As you can guess, he actually can't fly with them, they're purely ornamental (well he could if he bent the laws of gravity for it, whatever). He usually keeps them to himself, although he has manifested them at times whenever he feels threatened by other supernatural brain parasites, and a few times near the end of the loopy hospitalfic although honestly that thing is so crazy who even knows what's going on there. They're something he generally keeps to himself though.
How did he get them/why does he have them? Let's just say when he was a lot younger and weaker, he thought devil wings would freak Edgar out since Edgar's a devout Christian and all, and they didn't manifest quite the way he planned. In the end, he kept them for his own reasons.
I kept wanting to do something to Delusion Tax but it wouldn't come out right, bleh. Oh well.
THIS WORKS JUST FINE THOUGH
Scriabin lies about everything, he actually is a compulsive liar probably. Although he really hates it if you call him that.
A LOT OF THIS IS ABOUT SCRI AND EDGAR but Nny and Edgar aren't really much better. Long story short again haha yeah right, but Nny's basically a completely unstable serial killer sociopath who has promised Edgar to his face that he will kill him when he's happy enough with him. SO THEIR RELATIONSHIP ISN'T REALLY VERY HEALTHY EITHER
Although it is for very different reasons than why his relationship with Scri is so awful, haha.
It's easy to make fun of Edgar for being a doormat or having emotional breakdowns a lot (I do it myself!) but really he's not in a very fun place when you think about it.
Also Nny has actually physically assaulted Edgar... five times? Well he slashed up his face first off (that's where those scars are from!), tried to kill him a few other times but got thwarted in one way or another, and then I think the most recent one he actually stabbed him real good in the shoulder, although Edgar survived.
THERE IS A LOT OF PHYSICAL DANGER IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP
Nny himself actually can't remember why he slashed up Edgar's face, just one of those things he just does sometimes, whatever. Edgar as usual tries to pacify him because he doesn't want to die. Healthy relationships.
There is an out of story reason for those scars though! In the original canon comic, Edgar hangs around for four pages or so, then Nny kills him. In Vargas, Edgar survives and then hangs around for the whole rest of the comic, influencing various events in different ways. But the scars on his face served as a quick visual shorthand to me of which Edgar you're looking at - no scars, canon!Edgar, face scars, Vargas!Edgar. So if you're wondering why he doesn't have those scars when other people draw him, that would be why!
Give Nny an earring, why not.
As mentioned he got stabbed real good in the shoulder, but it healed pretty well for supernatural reasons that I, bizarrely, won't go into here cause blah blah. But it probably still twinges him sometimes when he's trying to lift stuff, I need to keep that in mind.
THE HERO
So where does the whole brothers thing come in with Edgar and Scri, since they're not actually related in any kind of sane way? WELL, LET ME TELL YOU
(or the stick figure version of these chapters does a pretty good job haha)
Basically, Scriabin wanted his own life and to be his own person, so he started creating his own memories of his own fake childhood, or just subtley inserting himself into Edgar's memories as his younger brother as his own private validation of his existence. And one night when Edgar was having a dream about being a kid again because he was again having a bunch of emotional problems and wanted an escape, he pulled Scri into his dream as a little kid unconsciously. And they fought for a bit, then made a somewhat tenuous truce and made up a bunch of stories (that were actually huge metaphors) about what life might have been like if they had been brothers after all, in a way giving them both something they wanted - Edgar wouldn't have gone through his life alone, and Scriabin would have a life as a real person, at least to someone.
Eventually, as most things do with these two, it dissolved into TERRIBLE SADNESS and they got to screaming at each other again, but it's probably the closest they ever actually got to understanding each other, haha.
This is also where the yarn in Scriabin's hair comes from. Edgar has weird neurotic issues with yarn because when he was a kid, his grandmother who raised him would have him hold yarn for her while she knit and lectured him for doing something wrong, so he associated it with powerlessness and fear and self-loathing and failure and punishment, all that stuff. Scriabin thus made up a kid story where he stole a piece of yarn from her while she wasn't looking and wore it in his hair to spite her, to try and defuse the power she had, to show he wasn't afraid, to defy authority, to take it from Edgar and make it his own, to show that they were connected, for a whole lot of reasons.
So after they have this sort of dream breakthrough, Scriabin tends to have the bit of yarn in his hair somewhere. Where exactly varies since his form is malleable, but it's there somewhere. It's a symbol of that night and that they have a connection as "brothers", as people, even if it was all a pack of lies they told each other to avoid reality.
Sometimes when Scri gets mad at Edgar, he deliberately hides the yarn or gets rid of it, but other times, when Scri's really upset or frightened, the yarn just shows up in his hair unconsciously. So it's become a part of him, in a way, although sometimes he has mixed feelings about it.
Scri of course is the younger brother, as Edgar came first. This is why I thought Childish War was so perfect, haha.
Accurate assessment
Scriabin pulled like 99% of himself from Edgar since he grew in him so in a way, everything in him comes from him, although it's been twisted and distorted around to be his own. His reflection in a mirror! Or his evil twin, that could work too.
Sage advice
LadyScri filler, why not
Lady arguing, tiny kids, sure
Can't find an OC to abuse you? Why not Scriabin?
Ladyversions again although I positioned them in such a way that you can't even tell, way to go
ANIMAL CROSSING
Scriabin lives in the same tent you start in since he spends all his money and time planting pitfalls and hedges and insulting signs around Edgar's house instead of doing anything actually constructive. Then at night he sneaks into Edgar's house and sleeps there instead when it gets cold and Edgar's like what is my life JUST UPGRADE YOUR OWN HOUSE
gd wings are fun to draw
GUESS WHICH PART OF THE VIDEO I WAS DOING
cold out
I swear these two are always just napping in the back of my head and then something wakes them up and they run around all crazy for a while then go back to sleep. In a way it's sort of comforting, haha. These two can go into darker places than most of the other characters I can think of. I CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON YOU GUYS
Scri gradually picking up little doodads here and there. One thing he very rarely has is a quartz crystal necklace. Devi was given one by Tenna because they "promoted inner healing and strength", which she told Edgar about, and then later on when Edgar and Scri are going super crazy and basically completely falling apart, he gives himself a similar necklace in a desperate attempt to stop what's happening to them, to no avail. The necklace does show up in the latest chapter! But there wasn't a chance for him to explain why it was there, not that Scriabin actually would ever explain anything about himself.
There are sidefics off of Vargas that explore alternate versions of events, and I guess the darkest timeline (to borrow from Community, haha) would be the diaryfic, also known as Violation. Basically, Edgar decides to keep a journal, Scriabin decides to contribute to it, and it becomes a sort of second-person chronicling of the process of the two of them going completely bonkers. It's pretty hard to tell what's actually happening a lot of the time, but Edgar hallucinates a ton of weird stuff and also starts mangling himself, sometimes on accident and sometimes on purpose. For example, he put out his eye by accident, although he cut up his arm on purpose which he then immediately regretted the next day. BASICALLY HE IS A TORN UP MESS.
Butterflies also feature heavily, and not in a good way.
Sometimes other people would draw Scriabin as a tiny version of himself hanging around Edgar's head or shoulders to represent him in a scene where otherwise there'd just be his voice... let's see, like... this comic by bialy, or this shot from chapter 18 by mith-maulin and I always thought that was kind of cute, haha. SO HERE IS TINY SCRI HANGING AROUND EDGAR'S HEAD
Edgar in his coat, and a little planning chibi for the flash, as you eventually saw. :B
Scriabin's hair changes styles ALL THE TIME altho for now it's settled into wavy and fluffy, so whatever. Originally here he was berating me for something but I cut that since it wouldn't make sense to any of you, haha.
I'M ONLY HERE TO CRITICIZE YOU, I DON'T HAVE SOLUTIONS
Amusingly while sorting through my files I found I'd drawn pretty much this exact exchange years ago, although with a different ending, but I'm too lazy to find it for you, pfff.
You poor man.
God just how long it took me to get the head shape right, what was wrong with me
Scriabin makes a lot of noise about how much he hates Edgar and wishes he could get away from him for good, but he needs him a lot more than he'd ever like to admit.
IT WAS PROBABLY CLEAR, WHATEVER
I watched that while coloring the video, seemed appropriate haha.
I MAY BE THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED THIS but Scri's bangs are longer in the first couple shots in the movie, near his chin, and then as it goes along, they shorten down to near his glasses. IT WAS TOO LATE TO FIX AT THE TIME not that that'd stop him from mocking me for it.
When it occurred to me to do this as an ending chibi, haha.
TOO MUCH STEVEN UNIVERSE
Sudden departure here, something harmless and fluffy with Nny! I remember drawing him carrying Nny a million years ago and on the spur of the moment deciding on his monochrome colorscheme then. Edgar has no set color, so that's also why you may see Edgar with shirts/hair of varying colors, haha. I just always liked grey myself.
VARGAS, ALSO KNOWN AS MEDITATIONS ON ABUSE: THE SERIES
Haha poor Duster LITTLE DO YOU KNOW
I actually didn't realize until doodling around that Edgar and Scri actually both have scars on their shoulders - Edgar got his when Nny tried to stab him to death in chapter 23, and Scri got his from the thing in chapter 19 that nearly tore his arm off and succeeded at tearing his wings off, which is why you keep seeing him every now and then with stubs for wings. PERHAPS SOMEDAY YOU WILL SEE THAT SIDEFIC
someday
I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH SIDE IS WHICH THOUGH, ARGH
It sort of amuses me that these two are actually in a unique position to really understand each other better than anyone - Scriabin can read Edgar's thoughts and emotions (which is why he's particularly good at finding ways to torment him), and Edgar can sort of feel how Scriabin's feeling sometimes, although he's still really clumsy at it. AND INSTEAD THEY JUST KEEP HURTING EACH OTHER INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY, IT NEVER ENDS
Diaryfic again! Haha any time Edgar has one eye that's the case. Anyway, of course only after it's too late and Edgar's already long gone does Scri actually open up to him and swear to protect and care about him and fix things. THE COWS HAVE ALREADY LEFT THE BARN
Scriabin likes using Edgar's (forced) relationship with Nny as a tool to try and get him to do what he wants, particularly emphasizing how unhealthy it is and how really, he just wants Edgar out for his own good! Honest. Edgar's not that gullible though.
For all his yelling at Edgar to take responsibility for his life, Scriabin is practically incapable of taking responsibility for anything he does wrong.
CASE IN POINT
From their screaming argument near the end of chapter 24.
Don't usually see the bonewings extended, haha.
Yeah I wonder why Edgar'd be having trouble falling asleep with the weird creepy yarn bones touching him
Hands tied to and by each other
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Someday I'm going to count how many pictures of Scri have "shut up" written next to them.
can i help you lose your mind
In some of the last bits of the hospitalfic, kidScri actually has his bonewings, although they are little mini versions, haha.
Ironically Scriabin is incredibly starved for love and yet makes it unbelievably hard for anyone to love him to the extent of actively driving people away. SO MANY ISSUES
The last panel could've stood on its own but whatever it's related. SCRI'S RIGHT THOUGH the basic intimacy problems have their source in Edgar, they're just twisted around through Scri's mirror, you could say.
He's supposed to be choking him but it's not very clear woops
As usual the longer I draw someone's hair the poofier it gets
Referring to a fight with Nny since Edgar does try to argue back sometimes with Scri, although he usually doesn't win, poor guy.
NEVER ASK SCRIABIN FOR SYMPATHY
It's a totally innocuous sentence but I always hear Zydrate Anatomy in my head when I see it.
Scriabin again berating me here though I erased most of what he was saying. TRY AND READ THE REST IF YOU CAN
ANOTHER SHOT WHERE HE WAS BERATING ME again cut all the text except the last bits since it wouldn't make sense to anyone else
NOW WE'RE BOTH DEAD this could apply to a lot of different things Scri's done, haha
If only it were that easy.
Monopoisoner! With a pronoun swap, that song works really well for them, who would've thought.
People treat him so terribly and he can't stop caring about them. Someday that's going to get you killed, Edgar.
Scri with hair in his face. If you could actually get Scri to shut up long enough or tolerate him enough to get him into bed, sex could actually make him really stupid and happy for a while, or at least get him to stop being awful for a bit. BUT WHO WOULD BE WILLING TO DO SUCH A THING
You'd probably have to gag him, otherwise he'd just criticize you through the whole process, haha.
Scriabin's favorite game: how can I make this Edgar's fault
ANOTHER SHOT OF HIM INSULTING ME now it is blank, woop
Outer Science is like the only jin song I actually like and it's so weirdly abstract it doesn't work for much, but these couple shots seemed to work for them.
Quick reminder that Vargas and all of this takes place around 1994. SO WHY NOT HAVE A FRIENDS REFERENCE
THIS COULD BE EITHER OF THEM more likely coming from Edgar though
So many endless Biblical conversations aaaaa
Tiny scriballs, why not
Yarn attached to Edgar's vocal cords! Cause ~SYMBOLISM~
Unfortunately for Edgar, he actually did make some really poor decisions that are not easy to defend (he enjoyed watching Nny kill a pedophile, and torture/kill some teenagers that were bothering them at a movie), and because of that he gave Scriabin endless ammunition against him. When Scriabin can't think of anything else, he'll go back to those mistakes and just beat Edgar with them, because there isn't any real way for Edgar to defend himself. Not that he wouldn't have felt bad to begin with OH NO THAT'S WHERE SCRI GOT IT FROM GASP
It's not so much a love triangle as it is an abusive relationship triangle, I dunno why I'm so stuck on that idea.
(mango's summary of the triangle is much funnier though, haha)
You can't even really say Nny doesn't intend to hurt him since he's promised to kill him, but SOMEtimes it's by accident. IT'S NOT MUCH BETTER THOUGH.
Sheena got me the Starbomb CD and of course I ended up doing this. LUIGI'S BALLAD SEEMED APPROPRIATE THOUGH
An image that came to mind while listening to Our Special Place for some reason.
Then for some reason I got Love's Not for Me in my head and ???
KEEP GOING SURE
Scriabin is always convinced that he's right to the point of blindness. He can't be wrong, he can always win. It's what gives him the strength to do what he does, and sometimes to keep both him and Edgar alive when Edgar gives up. It keeps him fighting no matter what happens, and it also makes him do some terrible things. But he's committed to staying alive and keeping Edgar alive, no matter what he has to do to do that. Always right.
This phrase showed up in SOMEthing I was watching but I can't remember what it was, oh well.
I got stuck listening to Go Long for like an entire night at one point, haha. I had a better mental image for this that did not coalesce here, maybe I'll try again later.
Go Long again! Scriabin isn't always terrible to him. Sometimes when it serves his purposes he can be very kind to him, although usually that happens when he goes too far and breaks Edgar, then has to try and put him back together again (which happened in... chapter 17 and 18 I think). Although sometimes he's broken him on purpose just so he could comfort him/fix him to get Edgar to trust him. SCRIABIN'S A GREAT GUY.
this may be a clue that your relationship is unhealthy, edgar
Edgar has his own issues with yarn, but Scriabin's ties to it actually go deeper than he's aware of or would like. He likes to pretend and play that it has no effect on him, and he uses it as a tool to mess with Edgar, and in general likes to think of himself as very above the whole childish thing, but that's not really the case. Yarn symbolizes a lot of things that Scriabin took to give him power, and it represents things too deep for even him to reach, and as such it's laced into him in ways he himself doesn't understand and can't control.
One potential example of this, although it's only happened in a tiny ficlet way back when, would be Scriabin trying to slit his wrists, primarily to make Edgar upset and show him that he's suffering more so than to actually kill himself, and finding that instead of bleeding, all that comes out of him is yarn. Just yards and yards of it pouring from his open veins. At that point he threw up and passed out, which isn't an unreasonable reaction, considering. THEN IT WAS TIME TO MAKE IT EDGAR'S FAULT WHEN HE WOKE UP AGAIN
So thus yarn blood here.
NO SCRIABIN KNOWS EVERYTHING AND IS ALWAYS RIGHT, SHUT UP
one of scri's favorite tactics is to take questions and turn them back around to the person asking
WHO COULD BE RESPONSIBLE
Edgar's last expression here isn't so much because of what Scri said but because he knows that means Scriabin's going to lay into him in a few seconds.
idk RANDOM VIOLENCE, SURE
Speakin of which, one of Scriabin's favorite traps is to hurt Edgar in some way, then make it Edgar's fault that he's doing it because he's not stopping him. I think there's a tempfic about that, where is it... here we go. Usually he smacks him around like so.
Then of course, if Edgar doesn't try hard enough or succeed at stopping him, then secretly he must want it or he must not want it to stop badly enough, and it continues. Then again, going limp doesn't really work very well either, but the way he sees it he doesn't have many options.
The irony of Scriabin demanding Edgar to take responsibility for his actions and himself, while at the same time conveniently absolving himself of taking responsibility for his OWN actions, is completely lost on him.
Edgar's a Christian, he's used to it! Or self-flagellation, if you could call this that anyway.
Eventually, Scriabin becomes strong enough to actually take over Edgar's body by force, although honestly the first time he does it it's a complete accident. Once he realizes he can do this though, he works very hard to ensure that Edgar doesn't figure out he can or do anything to stop him while he tries to figure out how it works. Once Edgar finds out what he's been doing, he's understandably pretty hurt.
But anyway, near the end before they collapse into a pile of crazy, Scriabin gets good enough at taking him over that he can do it fairly reliably, although he can't stay for very long. Edgar is the default consciousness of the body, after all. However, it's amazing how different someone can look with just an attitude change.
You can't fight, there's no point, so why not love? What else can you do?
Scriabin of course seeing relationships in terms of what benefits you get out of them.
I've always been really adamant that Edgar will never "fix" Nny because what's wrong with him isn't something that can be fixed, certainly not by some random dude. But maybe if Nny actually does really commit to getting professional help and trying to get better, he can manage his moodswings and bloodlust enough to remove a little bit of the fear from things. BUT GIVEN THIS FIC, THAT MAY BE TOO OPTIMISTIC
Tied into the world around him, and every time he pulls a hand free, rips a strand of yarn, another one appears, there's no escape.
MOSTLY I JUST WANTED TO DRAW HIS WINGS THOUGH BECAUSE WHEE I LOVE DRAWING LOOPY STRANDS OF THINGS APPARENTLY I got way too crazy with the yarn in this but I seriously forgot how much fun it can be to draw, haha. You can see a bit more clearly here how it stitches into his back.
NO ONE WEARS ANY SHOES AROUND HERE, WHAT pfft anatomy whatever, BONE WINGS ARE THE FOCUS NOW
Scri's ripped his hands free a few times but still he ends up tied to this place. Can never be completely free of Edgar, no matter how hard he tries. The appearance of escape without an actual escape, just like how the wings give the appearance of flight while actually being useless. IT'S SYMBOLIC SEE
and christ that's enough I feel like I've been typing for ages
I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!