... # g ts l m

21 years acclimating together, like you're new to me every day...

Pencil drawing of Tangle and Lanolin sitting facing each other, very near. Lanolin is looking behind herself; Tangle’s watching Lanolin closely. Her arms are apart to her side; not touching the sheep, but close. They’re both dressed casually, lightly. Caption text: “21 years acclimating together, like you’re new to me every day…”

bluesky (qzne)

Pencil drawing with loose, mostly not so bold lines. Tangle and Lanolin sit opposite each other, very near but not quite touching. Lanolin, with her back to the view, twists her head to look behind herself, a little anxiously; Tangle is at more of a quarter angle and watches Lanolin carefully, maybe concerned, but definitely attentive, and not pensive.

Tangle is dressed in a short binder and medium skirt, which is loose enough to drape between her legs. Lanolin wears pants and a crop-top or similar covering. The two are otherwise bare, so their arms, lower chests/backs, and tails are out. Tangle's got patchy fur down her forearm. Lanolin is mostly hiding her arms (though they're in about full view to Tangle); cutting scars along the side and top of her own forearm are visible, though. Tangle's shoulders have tufts and underarms similar in texture to on her neck; Lanolin's shoulders are totally buried in her own hair. Tangle's tail curls up then down behind her, loose; Lanolin's is a puff at the bottom of her bare back.

The two are near. Tangle's legs are spread halfway apart and Lanolin sits almost between them; her far leg is totally obscured, but forward in front of her. Tangle's arms are to either side, resting by her legs. She gives the impression of a prone observer, very close but not at all encroaching, not beckoning neither. Lanolin is reserved and in tighter-held posture, and it looks almost stiff, but subconsciously so; like this is just how she is, taken without a filter.

Caption or dialogue text reads, 21 years acclimating together, like you're new to me every day... This isn't clearly spoken by either of them, but may be more by Tangle's voice.

archive of our own (january 2025)

All our art is not-so-secretly system art

lan, discord

It's only been a week since we drew this, but that's apparently enough time that I don't remember the feelings or instigation for this piece precisely, anymore.

We initially added pieces to this fic chronologically, but we're going to go out of order and at our own interest now. As you might glance from the photo, this one is in a great big hardcover-bound black sketchbook. (The spine is bare, so you can see the leaves and even feel the threading under the glue.) It's the biggest paper we've done any art on. This isn't the first in the book, but we were still getting used to the large space. It's definitely freeing in a lot of ways—especially being able to do big, not-sharp lines like here, without them filling so much of the page all on their own. (And fine details can be much sharper, when we want them so.)

It's been so long, but we're still coming to understand what being a system - what sharing ourselves, and in ourselves, together, this way - means to us. I mostly remember a feeling of acceptance, here. You never stop rediscovering yourself. It makes you new to yourself, yes, but... new to the rest of you, too. Do you get used to it? In a way; yeah - but in others, never.

This is a drawing of two adults. Honestly, fandom art of Sonic characters is sometimes a little stressful and suffocating just because it, so often, is... well, on-model. Stylized like Sonic. Sure it's canon that the characters are roughly fifteen, sixteen years old, but that never really shows - they're just these... iconic characters. Timeless, ageless. Well, we aren't fifteen, sixteen years old. We're twenty one. This is a drawing about us being together, and having always been together. None of our past exists without us, so every year counts. We showed that in our bodies and in our expression. I like this piece a lot, for that.

lan, archive of our own (january 2025)

21 years

Our birthday is in May, not January, and it's a coincidence we drew this on the 21st. But that's how numbers always go, right?

We've already sort of written a lot about this drawing, so for fear of repeating ourselves... we are not going to reread any of it lol. It's meaningful to us. It is maybe the first time we drew a figure from behind, like this, so it's practice at something new in that way... The lines, a little sparser than some of our stuff, also remind me of the Daymare Town art we keep reminding everyone is our single biggest stylistic influence. (Is Newgrounds the gaming platform? Am I allowed to shout things out?? Go wishlist it!! And play the demo!)

I lied, I did reread our initial caption: "All our art is not-so-secretly system art." It's true. This is maybe when we decided to be plain about that, though, at least to ourselves. I don't remember what feelings were happening on January 21st, but I know they still live, crystallized, in this drawing. / Our art is a part of us - we've always known that... This is maybe when that first rung unfiltered and true, though. At least to ourselves, and maybe to you, too.

newgrounds (2025-02-21)