I was planning on streaming today and it still may happen but there are currently some Very Threatening Thunderous noises going on and we just had a partial brownout, so before I either buck up and stream or run away like a weenie, LET'S POST SOME WORK, EH? For whatever reason this piece was anachronistically the next 'in line to post' in my work folder despite having finished it this week, but... oh well. Let's show it anyway! This was a gift for AtelierHeidi on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AtelierHeidi) of her gorgeous fluffy cat Aries, as both a gift and a weird, recent personal project I used to try and work through some complicated feelings.

For those who don't know, this woman was previously married to a youtuber who went by Projared-- who I watched for some years, and in fact found Heidi's (frankly fucking beautiful) cosplay/textile/3D work through due to the association. Jared's Let's Play content was admittedly one of my more favorite go-tos for something to put on my phone and listen to for background noise while I made breakfast before work, and that content has been something in my general youtube consumption/rotation for years now.

... Needless to say when it came out that the guy-- who had always presented himself outwardly in content as a more or less conscientious feminist, ally, and Decent Person-- turned out to be emotionally/psychologically abusive to a spouse *and* cheating *and* SOLICITING UNDERAGE FANS FOR INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT, I... well. I took it kind of hard. There was absolutely a kind of parasocial horror and betrayal Im borderline ashamed of, for a lot of reasons. One of the things that got me most on a visceral self-projected level was taking advantage of one's following, because that's just... unconscionable? Let alone the young fans whom you-- as the adult and power figure-- should be taking steps to ensure are safe and protected in your internet house?

Anyway, I really felt for Heidi, and she'd been doing a lot of really beautiful craft work and making fairy houses recently that I saw through her twitter, so I painted her good fluffy boy as a little ginger fae king in my own awkward gesture of support, on top of helping me work out some of my own parasocial anger about a thousand things at once.

Cheers, guys. Take care of yourselves-- and remember: all forms of relationship are valid as long as 100% of participants involved are fully and eagerly consenting adults, and also consent can be revoked at any time in any situation! Treat those who look up to you kindly, and also, love your cats. Because they're really, really good fluffy babies.