Melt The ICE

This vacation is doing me so much good, and it's really motivated me to draw a lot, so here’s the WIP of my second fanart.

Image id two screenshots from Crystalline Echo by TENBLACK

The first a group of four in a mirrored dome with musical instruments with text reading “no matter what else happens”

The second a young woman holding an orange umbrella with text reading “the moon will be found by the sun”

Thank you so much! This scene is literally everything to me. Katara cautiously looking at the Blue Spirit... there’s just SO MUCH unsaid between them. I'm going crazy! I'm actually crying!

$495,000/3 br/2 ba/1862 sq ft

Camden, ME

✧ Being poor is expensive. You can't buy in bulk to save money. You pay fees for not having enough in your account. You buy cheap shoes that wear out fast instead of good ones that last.

✧ The math is constant. Every purchase is a calculation. Can I afford this? What can I skip? Is this worth it? Your character's always doing mental accounting.

✧ You get creative. Meals from whatever's left in the pantry. Fixing things with duct tape and hope. Making do because you have to.

✧ Shame is real. Your character might lie about why they can't go out. Make excuses. Hide their situation because poverty is treated like a moral failure.

✧ Small luxuries feel huge. A coffee from an actual coffee shop instead of gas station. Buying name-brand something. These aren't nothing, they're big deals.

✧ You're always tired. Working multiple jobs, irregular hours, the stress of never having enough, it's exhausting. Your character's running on empty.

✧ Future planning is hard. When you're worried about making rent, thinking about retirement or savings feels impossible. You're in survival mode.

✧ Other people don't get it. Friends who casually suggest expensive activities. People who think you're bad with money when really there's just not enough of it.

✧ The system works against you. Need an ID to get a job but need money to get an ID. Need an address to get assistance but you're homeless. Catch-22s everywhere.

sometimes you (or your character) will be downright insulted right to your face. a lot of the time people will tell you what they think you're living and they will be so wrong you have to save your laughter for later.

Summer dates!