vitya sketch for the amazingly talented, ridiculously kind-hearted @gabapple whomst i adore and am so glad to have befriended ? happy birthday you sweet sweet angel
PARKER! You’re the sweet angel here!!!! Ilu and thank you so much!!!
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In addition, we are happy to announce that because sci-fi is such a broad topic and many of our contributors had a vast range of ideas, we will also be including, for free, an “Extras” PDF with every order! This will contain concept sketches, notes on illustrations, extra fics that accompany the zine pieces, and more!
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Taken from Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, Psy.D. A summary of the tips the book hands you on how to recognize emotionally healthy people.
They’re realistic and reliable
They work with reality rather than fighting it. They see problems and try to fix them, instead of overreacting with a fixation on how things should be.
They can feel and think at the same time. The ability to think even when upset makes an emotionally mature person someone you can reason with. They don’t lose their ability to see another perspective just because they aren’t getting what they want.
Their consistency makes them reliable. Because they have an integrated sense of self, they usually won’t surprise you with unexpected inconsistencies.
They don’t take everything personally. They can laugh at themselves and their foibles. They’re realistic enough to not feel unloved just because you made a mistake.
They’re respectful and reciprocal
They respect your boundaries. They’re looking for connection and closeness, not intrusion, control or enmeshment. They respect your individuality and that others have the final say on what their motivations are. They may tell you how they feel about what you did, but they don’t pretend to know you better than you know yourself.
They give back. They don’t like taking advantage of people, nor do they like the feeling of being used.
They are flexible and compromise well. Because collaborative, mature people don’t have an agenda to win at all costs, you won’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of. Compromise doesn’t mean mutual sacrifice; it means a mutual balancing of desires. They care about how you feel and don’t want to leave you feeling unsatisfied.
They’re even-tempered. They don’t sulk or pout for long periods of time or make you walk on eggshells.
When angered, they will usually tell you what’s wrong and ask you to do things differently. They’re willing to take the initiative to bring conflict to a close.
They are willing to be influenced. They don’t feel threatened when other people see things differently, nor are they afraid of seeming weak if they don’t know something. They may not agree, but they’ll try to understand your point of view.
They’re truthful. They understand why you’re upset if they lie or give you a false impression.
They apologize and make amends. They want to be responsible for their own behavior and are willing to apologize when needed.
They’re responsive
Their empathy makes you feel safe. Along with self-awareness, empathy is the soul of emotional intelligence.
They make you feel seen and understood. Their behavior reflects their desire to really get to know you, rather than looking for you to mirror them. They aren’t afraid of your emotions and don’t tell you that you should be feeling some other way.
They like to comfort and be comforted. They are sympathetic and know how crucial friendly support can be.
They reflect on their actions and try to change. They clearly understand how people affect each other emotionally. They take you seriously if you tell them about a behavior of theirs that makes you uncomfortable. They’ll remain aware of the issue and demonstrate follow-through in their attempts to change.
They can laugh and be playful. Laughter is a form of egalitarian play between people and reflects an ability to relinquish control and follow someone else’s lead.
They’re enjoyable to be around. They aren’t always happy, but for the most part they seem able to generate their own good feelings and enjoy life.
And now, a short story about young Vitya and his homework from me and @tosquinha !!! <3
~*~*~
It was late. So late. But Viktor was determined. If he finished his homework, Coach Feltsman would let him have the next day off, and he wanted it. No– he needed it. The hotels they stayed at for competition were normally so pedestrian, but this one was fancy. Fancier than almost any he’d ever stayed in. It had queen beds, not doubles, so he could completely stretch out, end to end, and the shower head came off in his hands which meant he could rinse off like an elephant. But best of all, the swimming pool was in an atrium with trees. They’d walked by it earlier, on the way to the lobby, and the rock feature at one end created a waterfall to keep the heated pool moving.
It would be like swimming in the jungle.
Like a tiger.
He had to. He just had to.
But only if he finished his homework.
“I could just go for a quick swim, though, Coach. Ten minutes.”
“No. I won’t be held responsible for slipping grades. You said yourself that your instructors were as strict as Lilia,” the old man said, clearing his throat with a glance to the North, toward Russia, as if he were sure they were watching them from afar.
He had a point. They would probably eat him alive.
Unfortunately, the homework in question was a world history report, which was one of Viktor’s worst subjects. It wasn’t that he was unintelligent. Far from it. It was just difficult for him to find purpose in busy work, and therefor force himself to do it. His teachers knew all about the collapse of the Soviet Union already, and all about the changing political atmosphere of the Western European front, but what did that have to do with him? Or dancing? And why was he having to cut and color hand outs? He was much too old for that. It proved nothing.
Groaning, Viktor scissored his feet in the air while he coloring the various pages in front of him, deciding that if he waited to cut them out after, he’d at least be able to clean up his messy lines. And, that way, he could draw in the margins. Adding unicorns and dragons and things between the Russian imports and exports seemed like the most natural thing to do. And a wolf could eat the potato that represented the 2.5% of vegetable products. Perfect.
“That’s how they cross the river, you know, Coach.”
“…What?”
“The wolf and the potato. It’s…” he yawned. “… ….never mind.”
The dragon curled around the 9.9% of of metals, which he colored gold. The unicorn stood majestically by the minerals. 48%. Probably salts and… he checked his text book, but found nothing of use in the two seconds he searched, so colored it pink. Because it was pretty.
“Vitya, you should finish in the morning.”
“What? No way. I’m getting really close.” He looked over his sheet, most of which was colored and ready to be cut out for gluing. “And I’ve learned a lot, surprisingly. Though I don’t know what ‘unspecified’ means. 16% of our exports aren’t defined. Probably crime. Right, Coach? Is crime an export?” Viktor picked up a grey colored pencil, because he had come to accept that crime was never black and white. Especially since his coach may or may not have been involved in the mafia if rumors were true.
“You’ve colored the flag wrong.”
Blinking, Viktor looked back down at the page. “No I didn’t.”
“It goes white, blue, red, not blue, white, red, Vitya. You’re tired. It’s time for bed.”
“…oh, no, that’s France, Coach. I… well, you know, because…”
“A sideways French flag?” Yakov arched a heavy brow, amused at the blushing student, but unimpressed.
Viktor turned the sheet 90 degrees. “Hey, why are you being difficult, little flag?”
“Bed, Vitya. You can finish in the morning.”
“But Coach! I have to finish! I wanna go swimming. Tiger swimming. I’ll make a new flag! Do you have any paper?”
“Tomorrow.” Then he laughed. He couldn’t help it. “You can swim in the morning and then we’ll ask the front desk for some paper. Now put those scissors away; if you’re tired enough to mess up the flag, you’ll end up cutting off your fingers.”
So I’ve only done it a couple of times (I want to do it more, but I haven’t made time for it), but I can definitely point you at some resources! It’s a lot of fun and it’s deceptively simple. The big key is PATIENCE… you want to use a small brush and paint each of the flocked hairs on the figure with thin coats of acrylic paint and build up the color very slowly so that it never gets heavy or clumped.
Here’s the post where I turned my little white baby bunny into a dutch rabbit.
This post shows how I turned the grey tabby cat into an Egyptian fruit bat (MUCH more involved with a LOT more photos)…
Neither of these really explain the process much, of course, but don’t worry- I GOTCHU… there are many others who have made brilliant custom Calico Critters (otherwise known as Sylvanian Families), such as this Cheetah Family, explained in great detail. That should give you a fantastic start where my posts are lacking…
AND… if that isn’t enough, there’s an entire community for the Sylvanian Family/Calico Critters, which has a forum for DIY, and lots more fun projects that you can explore, right here: http://sylvanianfamiliesforum.co.za/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=13
Please go and enjoy! They’re all very friendly and wonderful. 🙂
Let me know if you have any more questions after reading these and I’ll do my best to help… and please share photos when you’re done! I’d love to see what you do!
Young Viktor Nikiforov begins his last year as a junior division competitor, but he’s extremely distracted by the drama that comes with being a non-binary teenager in Russia.
