Stress and Stomachaches

A reference sheet for the ‘canon’ couples of ‘2072′. (Unfortunately missing Timothy x Sophronia, Gabriel x Paulette, and Bernard x Cecile; I lost motivation before I could add them, D: )

I know I technically posted this awhile back, but I fixed some things on it that I wasn’t necessarily happy with (mainly how Triinu’s hair looked, though I like how it looks now).

Still messing around with this WIP of Triinu and Nadia. (AKA yes, I draw more than quick scrawled chibi heads, but burnout is basically zapping all my motivation, unfortunately.)

Decided to edit that edit (lol, edit-ception) I did before, giving the characters their eye colors. (I think the most dramatic ones are Mihails’ and Lorand’s.)

Fixed that other sketch I had of Nadia and Triinu by making them face each other. 

While not the most obvious example, they can be considered foils of each other. (Aside from the clear protagonist [Triinu]-antagonist [Nadia] aspect, I mean) Though both are aloof and hard to read, Nadia prefers to solve her problems by fighting them, while Triinu prefers less violent methods. Nadia manipulates situations (and people) to her advantage, while Triinu is genuine. 

However, both do have a lot in common, especially as the story goes on. (Aka the big reveal that Nadia was raised and trained as an assassin, and even went through some brainwashing and mind-wiping in order for her to meet the standards of her ‘guardians’. Meanwhile, in Part Two, Triinu’s memory is wiped and altered so that she doesn’t look for the other contestants)

Though I draw a lot of memes and joke comics for this story, it does get intense at times. Especially in sections involving Nadia because, unlike the other contestants, Nadia is a trained killer. (Which this excerpt under the cut will show...)

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Finished that edit I was working on before. (Now with Nadia, Felicjan, and Lorand!) 

Sooo...I think I finally got out of my art slump. Sort of. Because I was finally able to draw something without totally hating it, I guess, X’D

I was outlining the end of Part One of ‘2072′, so I got inspired to draw this. The final two competitors: Triinu and Nadia. 

This last Arena match is definitely going to be written as very (I hope X’D) tense, suspenseful, and even a bit sad. Because Triinu is not holding back, here. All of the stress/tension/anger/grief/everything she experienced over the past half-year has taken its toll on her. All of her friends were eliminated from the Competition, and now she knows that none of the eliminated contestants were sent to the Post-Competition Village, like they should have been, nor were they sent home. She has no idea if they’re alive or dead, or any inkling of where they could be*. So Triinu is very frazzled, to say the least. (And this isn’t even going into how her parents, cousin, and best friend were assassinated as punishment for her stepping in during Mihails’ last match, to stop Nadia from bludgeoning him to death.)

(*Spoiler alert: they ARE alive, but they are not being treated well, where they ended up...)

And then she learned from Gabriel, before he was eliminated, that Nadia was working for the Panel, the corrupt organizers of the Competition (aka the bad guys, as Triinu has been slowly learning throughout the story, though her talk with Gabe confirms it). Nadia is one of them. 

So despite the injury Nadia gave her the night before to make sure she wouldn’t fight well (she stabbed her weapon, a pickaxe, through Triinu’s left hand), Triinu fights her hardest. 

This line I have her plan on saying as she continues to hit Nadia with her shovel (Nadia’s old weapon, but Triinu stole it from her during the match where she protects Mihails) is heartbreaking, but also iconic, in a way: “Niele? Mihails? Risto? You took them all from me! So now, like I took this weapon, I will be taking this victory from you.”

And for whatever reason (this will be explained as the story progresses), she is able to actually land hits on Nadia...and gets the upper hand. By the time the match winds down, it is clear Triinu will win. Nadia tells her to go ahead, to kill her. And Triinu will say this absolute Wham Line:

“That would make me like you. And you’re the last person I want to turn into.”

With that, Triinu grabs Nadia’s hand and makes her grab her white flag (all contestants have these during Arena matches, and they are used to signify that an opponent has surrendered, thus ending the match), and the final match is over. Triinu Sepp is the winner of the Competition. 

But right after she gives her first post-Competition interview, she feels a needle prick her neck. And then nothing...

(Aka that’s where Part One of the story ends. I am so excited to start outlining Part Two, XD) 

I drew Triinu’s hair a bit longer than usual, since this is like...six months after the start of the story, and she’s only gotten a small hair trim since then. Nadia’s looks the same because her mentor cuts her hair regularly. 

It was sort of weird to draw these two in their final match outfits. I only wrote down what Nadia was wearing, and the only sketch I ever had of Triinu in her outfit was drawn all the way back in 2011. (Aka eleven years ago, omg alksjfsdf) 

I tried to make a visual that showed the heights of these guys. (Plot twist, Mihails is not the shortest, and Felicjan and Lorand are probably taller than people assumed, XD)

(Also, lowkey cackling because Nadia/Niele, TriinuxMihails, and Felicjan/Lorand are all ships for this story, XD)

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day! I am not much for the holiday (aka I actually don’t like it much), but I decided to draw some 2072 couples for it. (Or edit some that I already had drawn to match the theme XDD)

Here are the canon endgame couples of this story. (Not pictured are Timothy x Sophronia, Gabriel x Paulette, and Bernard x Cecile, since I ran out of energy before I could draw them).

Also, NO, Thorsen and Björk are NOT related in any way. (I am only saying this because a few of my friends thought they were siblings or cousins at first. NOOOO they are not; they’re not even from the same country XD). I think the confusion came from how, in two of my other original works, the Norwegian and Icelandic characters were related to each other in some fashion.

Even though Felicjan is with Lorand, he still looks like he’s picking on Niele X’D

...This was the first time I drew Nadia since 2013. WTF I didn’t realize it had been so long. (I also really like the outfit I gave her!)

I guess I like the ‘tall girl, shorter guy’ trope, since I used it for both FreyaxRisto and TriinuxMihails XDD.

Basically this meme:

Sometimes, when I am trying to figure out something for one of my WIP novels, I end up drawing a silly chart about it, XD. This is one of them.

Basically I am trying to figure out who Niele will end up with (if anyone). 

Here’s the rundown (if my handwriting is hard to read):

Paulette/Niele: Definitely too similar. (And it’s true. I can’t see them being a couple for this reason.)

TimothyxNiele: Probably the healthiest option. (*Will probably end up w/Sophronia, though) Also true. While TimNi is such a sweet ship, and I absolutely adore their friendship (and I think they’d be an amazing couple), so much of the later part of the story has Timothy and Sophronia realizing their feelings for each other. (Sorry, Niele...) I mean, I guess it could be altered, but I do really like ‘The Special Relatioship’ (aka TimothyxSophronia).

Triinu/Niele: Too opposite?  They have a great friendship, and this could work as a romantic relationship, but...TriinuxMihails is like...the main ship for this story. (Once again, sorry Niele...)

MihailsxNiele: Too similar? Actually, if Mihails and Triinu weren’t planned to be The Big Ship (along with FreyaxRisto) for this story, I would 100% ship Mihails with Niele. Their friendship is so sweet and lovely, they help each other through their trauma, and the care they have for each other is just so gentle and loving. (And like...if I did ship them, I’d totally ship RistoxTriinu and Freya/Vivica, so it’s not like there aren’t any alternate options for the others. I just like MihailsxTriinu better than all of those, I guess.)

FelicjanxNiele: Problematic, but interesting. (Emphasis on the ‘problematic’. Yeeeah. While Felicjan does eventually redeem himself, and apologizes to Niele, she is still very wary of him because of all he put her through. And yeah, I consider his bullying of her to be emotional abuse. So no. They will not end up together, even though, if this was a stereotypical YA book, they would have, XD.) Plus...I am planning on Felicjan to end up with Lorand, one of the people he actually treated well, and showed his true self to.

Nadia/Niele: Problematic, but actually very compelling.  Honestly...I like this ship a lot. And while it might seem hypocritical of me at first (since Nadia bullied Niele too), there is a difference between how Nadia treated Niele, and how Felicjan treated her. While Felicjan’s bullying was so specifically aimed at Niele, picking at her weak spots, and even things she considered strengths, Nadia’s bullying is...so generic. (Basically ‘I’m stronger than you, you’re weak, blah blah blah’.) Plus, she directs this towards Mihails and Triinu as well, along with Bernard, Lorand, and Risto.  Plus, it’s revealed later that she’s basically like the Winter Soldier mixed with Black Widow (trained, abused, and conditioned as a child to be an assassin for a secret scientific organization associated with multiple countries’ governments, as well as basically mind-wiped and ‘reprogrammed’ whenever she disagreed with what her captors asked of her.)  Without getting into too much detail, Niele’s mother was a scientist working on the project (though she disagreed with their cruel methods). Niele ends up meeting Nadia when they were both small children, and Niele shows Nadia kindness. While Niele forgot this, and it was wiped from Nadia’s mind, they eventually remember, and this memory is what causes Nadia to finally break the control the group’s leader has over her.  Also, even during her periods of instability, Nadia has protective instincts towards Niele. Those are genuine.  All of this can lead to a very slow-burn, but very fascinating romance. (Also, unlike the douche villain who shall not be named from my fic ‘Duality’, Nadia doesn’t enjoy hurting people. Not to mention her character isn’t referencing anything, history-wise.) There is just one downside to this ship (aside from the dark aspects): Nadia sends Mihails into a coma during one of the arena matches in the competition portion of the story. While she is in ‘Winter Soldier mode’ (idk what else to call it XD) during this time, Triinu still hates her for this. I feel like Triinu would be sort of cold to Niele for awhile if she and Nadia got together, at least until she finally allows herself to forgive Nadia. (Niele and Mihails did.) Also, another thing holding me back is just what countries both characters are from. Which shouldn’t really be a factor, but still...X’D (I feel like this ship might be the winner, though, since I wrote so much about it)

ThorsenxNiele: Cute but kind of random (*Most likely will end up with Bjork) Yep. The coffee pair, friends who bond over coffee and pessimism, XD. Honestly, I can’t see this being a ship, but it is cute. Also, yeah, ThorsenxBjörk (lol, I nicknamed their ship ‘Thörk’) will be a ship, as well. 

Bonus shameless crossover with HWS, since I always cross my original stuff over with it, X’D (aka of course Liet would fret over one of his citizens XD):