2025 is nearly out the door. It has been.. Well, a year.
I probably write the same thing about most every year that goes by these days, but 2025 was a hell of a ride. Not a fun one, but one to be endured, one to grit one's teeth to plow through, and one that, despite what many might think, doesn't just end when the number changes.
I think I spent the better part of the beginning of the year floating between various health problems that seemed to all arrive at once, dutifully set their suitcases down, and decided to stay. I wasn't as productive as I'd have liked to have been, but I did survive it, so I'll consider that a win, if anything.
I tried to close out the year on a few happier notes. Research into a (very slow going, which is my fault) commission, images of a kobold's mini-adventure, and now this last picture of the year of Lyssi. Married, older, lovingly aging and settled in by the fire in the family home. She's still in love with her husband(s), with her wives, with her whole family. Despite the mania of the year she was steadfastly there to grab one's hand any time they needed it.
She's the modern version of one of the oldest characters I have in the vast, windy, cobweb-strewn halls of my mind. Her original form was that of Lyssiah. At the time, known simply as 'Wild Wolves' and later changed to Khavijas, she was a representation of how I sometimes wished life could be. One of the hunt, one of nature, one of dancing around a fire, and one of freedom from what I'd seen at the time as societal constriction into personal spaces.
The first art I ever did of her was over 30 years ago now. Faded memory of trying different coat-colours with her, of fantasy images based on slices of life rather than rampaging through hoards of enemies. The first I had ever seen of her was her sliding down a hill on a shield like a toboggan, popping up bright-eyed and saying hello.
That moment her soul was born, solidified, and promised to stay. She wasn't just some passing design-choice as I was still figuring out how to draw what I later learned to be 'furry' art, she was a life, and alive.
In over 30 years, she's aged far more gracefully than I have. Joints ache more, and she traded the sword for a good strong cup of tea and modern conveniences. Lord knows, she hasn't fallen apart anywhere near as much as I have. I'm told its all the blueberries.
Anti-oxidants, y'know.
That said, this indeed is the last image of this railgun-screaming-circus-ride of a year. I'm taking a couple days off to tend to.. more health things (of course) but to also just turn off for a little while.
I wish you all a happy new year. May it bring brighter days, may you all have a wolf by the fire. Don't forget to feed the kobolds.
-T.J.