My profile looks disgustingly pink and sparkly now.

[motetus]

1. Thank you so much to lallyloo, ainsoph15, chantefable, poziomeczka, honscot and awarrington for the lovely glass hearts! I am celebrating Valentine's day with the wife the same way we've done for the last how-many-years-we've-been-together: by ignoring it. We're awfully romantic, I know.


2. Hello altri_uccelli, rebeccaann08, radiogaga33 and twasadark, my shiny new friends from the Eagle friending meme! Here is the briefest of introductions - I draw stuff, I like tea a lot, I have a bit of an obsession with Liam Neeson. And I'm a microbiology post-graduate student, finishing up my Masters (see 3.) and once that's out of the way, I'm immediately moving to Glasgow to start a PhD (SO EXCITED about this - the moving back to Scotland that is, not the 4 years of constant stress). Permanent student status! I promise I'll try not to make too many "Waah, research is HARD and NOTHING WORKS!" posts because I'm sure you'd all rather I shut up and only posted stupid drawings rather than attention-seeking whining.


3. Thesis! 19.5K words, 82 pages, all finished and spell-checked (which means there's probably a huge one I missed, most likely in the title), just waiting to be printed and bound and submitted. Which... all this time I thought the deadline for was tomorrow.

It's not. It's the 30th. Of March.

Yes, I am an idiot.


4. Am currently working on the art for seascribe's Big Bang fic, and oh yes, I picked an AWESOME story to illustrate. I just wish I had more time/wasn't so busy right now so I could try scenes and styles that really challenge me, but at least I should be able to churn out a cover (finished!) and 3-4 illustrations in the time left. Stuff I am drawing for it that I've wanted to try for a long time now: Cub! Cottia! Uncle Aquila not dressed in speedos!

Once the Big Bang is over, I think I want to try some Arthur/Eames fanart, seeing as Inception fanfic has been keeping me going throughout the thesis (Eagle fandom, I love you dearly but you do not produce enough fic to keep me satisfied!) and I'm no longer content with just lurking. Problem is, I have no idea what to draw! I think I had the same problem with The Eagle, and made my first fandom appearance with a rather dull, crappy painting of Marcus and Esca glaring at each other - and then all the awesome and cracky ideas started flowing. So uh, if anyone has any (canon) ideas for me, let me have them! Otherwise I'll probably just end up drawing Tom Hardy cuddling baby animals. And then Channing Tatum would get his feelings hurt because only he is allowed to cuddle baby animals.


5. This post is looking extremely dull and self-indulgent, so to make up for that, have some fic/art recs!

First, here's one for Valentine's Day: Love Magic in Tolbiacum by the_little_owl A delightful and amusing story about a Roman architect, a barbarian blacksmith, and the gods that fight for their affections. It's a Star Wars AU, but only because of the names of two characters, so even if you're not familiar with/don't like Star Wars, it's still completely readable. And there's some lovely art of Cupid and his fetching steampunk goggles.

Obivanos cast a glance at the two little annexes to the bathhouse of Tolbiacum he had built last year.
 
“In Rome they build thermae as big as your whole town!” he growled. “That’s where I want to work! That’s where I can make a name for myself! Not in this...” Seeing the blacksmith frown down at him, he refrained from calling Tolbiacum a one-horse town. “There are simply not so many building sites here,” he finished lamely.
 
“You really need a relaxing bath and a good cup of wine!” The blacksmith patted his shoulder. Being patronized by a trouser-wearing, bearded barbarian was the last thing Obivanos needed right now!


Frontier Wolf - He Who Waits by Opalmatrix. Because more people need to get into Frontier Wolf fandom! I love the detail that's gone into this fic, and Hilarion's relationship with his poor horse. And now I rather want to try my hand at some Frontier Wolf fanart... *pokes carmarthen and her Sutcliff exchange*

For a few moments, they just held each other, and Alexios felt his head swimming as though he had drunk strong wine. Then Hilarion kissed him, and he felt that he would never be cold again. When Hilarion released his mouth, Alexios was out of breath, and he simply stared into Hilarion's eyes, pale eyes that were flecked blue and grey and brown, where they weren't reflecting the red-gold of the flames. "Hilarion ... I have no idea of what I am doing."

"I do," said Hilarion, and there was laughter in his voice.

Inception - Glitch by sho_no_tabi (ha yes, I am so far behind with all the good Inception fics). I read this on the train back from my PhD interview last month, when I was in a rather near-hysterical, sleep-deprived state, and incapable of focusing on anything. But for the few hours I was reading this, nothing else mattered - it was AMAZING. It's long and plotty, with characterisation I just loved (Cobb is always my least-favourite character, mostly because I'm not fond of Mr DiCaprio, but he was awesome in this), some really creepy moments (ugh, those spider-bot things!), and the Arthur/Eames relationship OF MY HEART (i.e. where they care for each other, but are not clingy or sappy in the slightest).

"Confucius said," Hollis went on, "that those who embark on a journey of revenge should dig two graves, Arthur."

Finally, Arthur had something to answer. "Oh, don't worry about that," he said, slipping the needle into his arm. "I've already dug about thirty."


Inception - this illustration by sin_repent. This makes me so insanely jealous, because it's what I've always wanted to paint - no, not the style or subject (though they are both lovely), but how it makes you feel something more than just "oh, that's a lovely painting". It's beautiful and it breaks my heart, which is something very few pieces of fanart do.


Temeraire - Vici by Naomi Novik. My entire knowledge of Temeraire consists of: it has something to do with talking dragons. But Mark Antony and dragons? YES PLEASE. I do love how much more civilised the dragon is than Antony.

“Well, Antonius,” the magistrate said, “you are without question a licentious and disreputable young man. You have disgraced a noble patrician name and sullied your character in the lowest of pursuits, and we have received testimony that you are not only a drunkard and a gambler—but an outright murderer as well.”


Inception - Because shameless crack is my favourite thing ever: an untitled fill for the prompt Arthur is a Recaptcha, Eames is a viagra-selling, penis-enlarging spam bot. YAY CRACK.

You had to work with what you were given, Arthur thought. It was difficult to make conversation with the humans when all he was given were these half-unreadable wordlets, and he was only permitted to say two words at once. But he managed. He prided himself on being as clear as he could possibly be. “morning upon,” he said to the new human. How are you this morning? Certainly not perfect, but it would do.

The response came instantly: “Gooooood day for all your health wishes is this day. Women love well hung men!”