#Character Concepts

[honourablejester]

A thought I’ve always had with the celestial warlock is that …

So warlocks are mercenaries, right? They make pacts to gain power. They do things for patrons in exchange for magic. I mean, not exclusively, but bargaining is something of a core concept of the class even if you’re not focusing your roleplay on it. Warlocks are mercenaries.

And the thing with that in the context of a celestial warlock. So often I see the concept for the patron as a celestial who rescued you, or who’s trying to redeem you, a hand of good laid upon your soul, a plaintive Jiminy Cricket in your ear.

But the question I always have is not what kind of mercenary makes deals with angels, but what kind of angel hires mercenaries?

I feel like you could do some really cool things and have a really cool and interesting relationship with an angelic patron who is … greyer than the stereotype here. Because. They are a force for good who is perfectly willing to hire agents. Not by seeking a true champion or relying on conscience, but by the simple mercenary inducement of payment. Your morals don’t come into it, your beliefs don’t come into it, the arrangement is simple. You do a service for them, you help the cause of good, and they pay you. There’s a certain amount of pragmatism in that, and subtlety, that I find fascinating to imagine in a holy being.

Also. Celestial warlocks get mostly good-seeming powers from their subclass, healing and the like, but they’re also still getting the whole warlock package from their patron as well. Your eldritch blast and your hunger of hadar are still coming from that source. What kind of angel equips someone with those powers?

What kind of relationship could you have with such a being? Is it rigid and remote, a handler towards their agent? Something more casual, you do some jobs on a freelance basis and they pay you in healing and spell slots? Or something more collegiate, warmer, conscious of the moral greys and the sometimes extremely physical horrors they’re sending you into, but knowing that it needs to be done? Do they trust you enough to let you colour outside the lines a bit, or are their instructions extremely strict? Or do they want to know the details at all? Are they so grey that they give you carte blanche, a need to know that they don’t need to know, so long as there is a net victory for good at the end of it? Or are they extremely conscious, not only of everything you do but everything that is done to you?

I don’t know, I just feel like there’s a lot of room to play around with what sort of being your celestial patron must be to even enter into the relationship you both find yourself in. The kind of celestial that is at least a little bit greyer in nature, by pure implication of the bargain itself. You could do something … very Cold War-ish there, a more pragmatic and sordid sort of relationship.

And, yes, there are also evil gods and evil celestials. But honestly I like the grey celestial idea better, a servant of a genuinely good and holy cause, who’s just that bit more pragmatic about it. Yes, yes, moral champions, but when we’re short on time, or bodies on the ground, or when we need someone to blend in that little bit more … I mean, if the job gets done, does it matter by who? We can just pay someone to go in and do the needful. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. And if we save a sordid soul in the process, great, and if not … it’s no overall loss? We can’t lose what we didn’t have in the first place.

Are you expendable to such a being? Are you used to save the truer champions, genuinely good and worthy souls, at least some trials here or there? If so, what does that make such a being, who would use and sacrifice you so? Do the ends justify the means? Do you have opinions on such questions, regarding both yourself and your patron? Do you hate them, as much as any fiend warlock might hate their cruel master?

Or do you live in world where the things that must be done must be done, where principle is all very well but only so long as it does get the job done, and thus you and your patron understand each other quite well. You are a mercenary, after all. So long as the jobs are reasonable and you’re getting paid up front, that’s all any mercenary can ask.

I just really like the idea of a pragmatic angel, a handler with their agents, operating in a more subtle realm than that of crusades and champions. Sometimes, if you need a job done, you just hire someone to do it. No muss, no fuss. Get your bodies on the ground, and work out the rest later.

And the question then is, what’s it like being the poor hired muggins in question?

[worldofdarkness-eyecandy]

Artwork by: Anna Podedworna

[lonelysheepling]

Recently read @queenofthequillandink ’s DPxDC crossover fic Unearthed, Reborn

I got inspired to draw character sheets for Danny, Sam, Jason, and Jazz’s vigilante personas. Here’s a link to the author’s drawings of their outfits (these were a vital reference for me when doing this so thank you so much for sharing them Quill) More commentary (like 7+ paragraphs plus 2 images) about this project and the designs below the “keep reading” line.

None of these thoughts I have for each character are in order, but I have a lot of commentary for these since this project was a lot more conceptual than my normal work. I also just like talking about my art/design process. If you ever find yourself wondering at some point why an element from the original design wasn’t included, the answer is that the removal was completely intentional and part of my grandmaster vision for this work and wasn’t because I just forgot about it entirely during the design process.

————————————————————————

Aconite (Sam)

This was the first one I sketched out, I wasn’t even sure at the time if I was going to fully commit to drawing all of them. I thought that Sam was gonna be the hardest since her description was way longer than the others, but then bird boy beat her out. I took a lot of creative liberties with her design, the bag was added bc I couldn’t figure out how to add pockets to the skirt. I was trying to avoid a joker color scheme so I had a lot of ref images that I got by searching like “purple green aesthetic” on Pinterest. The dark purple and dark forest/blueish green won out in the end. I desaturated a lot of my colors for her just to get as far away from the neon Gotham rogue aesthetic. I also added the bdsm harness over the armor to add more punk elements to her design, I know that in real life that would be very uncomfortable to wear over scalemail armor but sometimes we take creative liberties when they look sick as fuck. Also, I didn’t realize until I went to look for a reference for aconite flowers that aconite is wolfsbane! That was neat to learn! Also, the font I used for Aconite is called “zai Art School Calendar 1931”, I’ve used this a few times for other projects, it’s one of my favorite fonts. The ‘zai’ fonts the creator has are all very good.

Shade (Danny)

There wasn't much to add to this page. His outfit is pretty simple (besides the patterning). I wasn’t sure how to pull of an optical illusion pattern but I was reminded how I sometimes get an eyestrain induced headache when looking at someone wearing a patterned shirt with really thin stripes so I just leaned into the idea of a small/detailed hard lined pattern. I originally made 5 separate patterns for him and then turned them into stamp brushes in procreate. I only ended up using three of them, the one on the chest, the one on the legs, and the one on his hand. But, I imagine the patterns fade and shift when he moves, sort of like a lenticular print. I gave him constellation freckles and stylized the hair’s fade into white. The hair was inspired by how time-woods draws Martin Blackwood’s hair (linked: time-woods’s fanart of Martin Blackwood). Also put way too much effort into the teeth on the mask. I just like the chunky teeth design. Oh yeah and the font I used for him is called “Typewriter_Condensed_Demi”

Erinys (Jason)

Repeatedly ran into the issue of not having enough canvas space bc of my fervent need to thoroughly document and plan out how the wings worked. I also reversed the colors for the bodysuit & armor so the under layer was black while the armor plates were red. I only realized afterwards that I may have been inspired by the red centipedes in Rain World (linked: gif of the red centipede, don’t click the link if you’re unsettled/afraid of bugs/insects), artists subconsciously draw inspiration from other artists all the time though so I’m not like upset about it. I stand by it because it looks sick as hell. Also leaned into the magpie theming for the wings. I think the vigilante form was supposed to be reverse magpie coloring? I can’t remember, but I stuck with normal magpie coloring. The anatomy of how the wings connected to the collarbone was inspired by JayEaton’s Magpie Bridge Project. Reference image link. Link to the article the image is from. I didn’t draw the wing armor because I couldn’t figure out how to would work with the wing anatomy and I ran out of canvas space. Finally, the font used for him is “DIN Condensed” this is a default font, I would’ve used something more punk but I needed the text to be legible.

Insight (Jazz)

I did Jazz after I’d already finished the initial trio, so I had to switch to a new canvas for her bc I’d hit the layer limit multiple times on the previous one. I really do love doing that spiked under-eyelash thing with characters. Don’t know when that started. Anyway, I added the shoulder pads to her outfit to help break up the empty space. The golden eyes were a nice accent color since her design is very overwhelmingly green. Honestly the braid hairstyle and gold eyes really do obscure her identity, multiple times when drawing her I was worried that she didn’t really resemble Jazz enough. There wasn’t a drawing from the author for her so I only had the text description to go off of. I just realized that she sort of reminds me of a forest ranger and I don’t know what to do with that realization. I copy/pasted my drawing of her eyes when gold and recolored them to match her normal eye color. There were two layers for that, a hue shift and a hard light layer to emphasize the shadows.

Here’s what it looks like without the hue shift: 

It looks really cool and I’m 100% that color combo in another drawing down the line. Oh yeah and the font used for this sheet was “Euphemia UCAS”. It comes with Apple’s operating system, I use it as a neutral default text most of the time bc it’s nicer than helvetica but not overly fancy like Times New Roman—and why am I talking about fonts. ——————————————————————— Anyway, this project was very fun to work on. The alt text for this was its own endeavor, hope the folks using screen-readers don’t mind 4-5 paragraphs of description text. Also, I cannot remember for the life of me if Dani got a costume description, but if she does I’ll make sure to update this image set with a sheet for her. And to the author, QueenOfTheQuill, if you’re reading this message that I’ve left at the very bottom of this post below a read more line, thank you for the fic. It’s very good and I’m glad I caught it during my slow decent into DPxDC brainrot. I love the interactions between Jason and Tim, it’s nice seeing a revived Jason that’s not bogged down by pit rage. They definitely seem like they could’ve been good friends if not for the unfortunate circumstances that led them to meet in canon. Also, I’m sure Jazz will love interacting with Batman and Nightwing. So much psychological & childhood trauma to unpack with them. Feel free to use/share these images if you so desire and thanks again for your work.

[clockworkreapers]

so we all know the main characters of course... but these two I really like in the books- for very different reasons

[fir-fireweed]

I think it's so funny to see all these asks about Tellus' virginity because, as someone who is demi/ace(not saying that he is), his feelings towards sex seem to fall into the realm of it not being something of priority for him at the moment, which is typically my thoughts towards sex, (it's not really a thing I ever really think about, and is typically only a thing I think about when deeply emotionally invested in someone) and I only ever realize how differently I view sex when it's mentioned in the context of what characters' sexual experiences are (if that makes sense 😅, like, finding out he's a virgin, didn't even bat an eye because yeah, that makes sense, but to see everyone talking about it like it's this big thing is funny)

Hi anon! I agree that it sparked more interest than I thought—some borderline disturbing, ngl 😳.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experience, thank you! From what I’ve read about demisexuality, I think Tellus can definitely be categorized as such. Maybe even Corinne, to a degree. Not to get too personal, but I think myself included. I wish the term and understanding had been around when I was younger.

But yes, Tellus is very much as you described—he needs to be emotionally invested to feel that attraction, and having a partner has never been a priority. Add in the trauma factor and he’s even more closed off.

I want to say again how much I appreciate your thoughts, thank you! ❤️

[chellustrates]

my favourite melodramatic mean girl (who stabs people with knives)

[pooterplaytime]

the big four freaks of poppy playtime !!! elliot is not here but, maybe I'll do a design. either or, enjoy poppy play friends, in order : leith pierre, stella greyber, eddie M.N ritterman, and harley sawyer they're my favorites I fear, they're also the worst people on earth

UPDATE : FINISHED HARLEY SO I AM EDITING THIS !! ENJOY !!!!

[kalpeavaris]

Round 2 for the Wild West!AU :D Featuring the second round of characters in the cast - my hand and iPad are actively dying /j

[ Nori - Nizhóní Burman ]

A former outlaw that returned to a more domesticated life after meeting Khan on the mexican-US border in 1871, Nori seemed to never quite adapt to running a town. While she could get behind the importance, she always felt the urge to leave for great travels again, returning to a life in a gang once again. Upon her suden disappearance one day, folks are rumoring that she might've given in, returning to her life as an Outlaw, while the Elders in the town whisper of her being taken by the Spirits of the West, in order to help them establish balance again. Whatever's true in the end, only she know, and only she may tell her tale.

[ Khan Hernandez Burman ]

The child of an indian immigrant and a mexican farmer, Khan grew up appreciating the desert around the border, being fascinated by not only the farmwork, but also capentry and building houses, as well as helping his father establish the settlement that came to be known as "Tumbleweed", a humble yet orderly town he now runs after his father's passing in the Winter. Since Nori's disappearance he'd been on the look for her ever since, raising their daughter Neera by himself and establishing her as his deputy.

[ Neera "Uzi" Burman ]

Coming after her mother in many regards, Neera (also known als "Uzi") also seeks a life beyond the borders of the town she grew up in - held back by her father's fear of her bringing harm upon herself or the town. Assisting her father with deputy and farm works, Neera's also quite fascinated by guns, repairing and cleaning her own repeaters and colts, as well as saving up to buy new ones she finds in stores and catalogues all around. In her free time (or when she sneaks off) she's often seen in Thaddeus' saloon, downing a whiskey or two to pass the time and gossip with her best friend.

[ Thaddeus "Thad" ]

Thaddeus, by most folks only known as "Thad", is the friendly face and bartender of Tumbleweed's only saloon. He came from the city and is actually Lizzie's brother - annoyed and quite bored by the city life and rapid industrialisation happening he moved further down to the border, where he met Khan and his daughter Neera. Taking over the old, run-down saloon Khan's father used to run inbetween sheriffs work, Thad's skills from having worked in the city before proved themselves useful.

[ Elizabeth "Lizzie" ]

Always a smile on her joyous face, Lizzie is known for her pompous demeanor, loud voice and a meanly swung dance leg in the bar. She does not shy away from embracing her feminine side while also standing up for herself and other women, especially during the women's rights movements happening in the US. She grew up in the city together with Victoria, who she considers her best friend... and secret crush. Since Lizzie got married, she and Victoria had to keep their relationship even more off a secret. Upon recieving a letter one day asking her to join Victoria in the countryside, Lizzie leaves the city - although with a heavy heart - to rejoice with her lover.

[ Victoria "Vicky" ]

Similar to Nathan and Jemima, Victoria grew up as an orphan, actually stationed in the same orphanage as the other two, where they got to know each other. Being adopted into the city by a middle class family, Victoria felt gratitude, although she deeply missed the countryside and hard work on a farm she'd experienced before her parent's death, eventually running away from home at the age of 17, leaving not only her family but also Lizzie behind in the city. Swearing to make enough money as a farmhand to one day purchase her own property, Victoria stood up to defy the stereotype of the "weak woman" at the time, proving herself daily.

[bekkomi]

Bi yearly sketch dump to lighten up the files!

[honourablejester]

One of the things I do deeply enjoy about Daggerheart are the rules for mixed ancestries, which are nice and simple and fun. Basically, every ancestry gives you two features, so if you’re mixing them, mechanically you choose the first feature from one ancestry and the second feature from another.

(It is very specifically the first, as in first listed, feature from one and the second listed feature from the other, not just your favourite feature from each, so there are some limitations on feature combinations. But still).

You can have more ancestries in your family tree if you want, but they’re only for flavour, they won’t be represented mechanically. You still only get two features, no matter what ancestry combination you’re aiming for.

But I love that mixed ancestries are built in from the get go, and there are immediately some fun combinations that spring to mind for a combination of mechanical and flavour reasons.

One of the suggested combos is the ‘shroomshell’, a fungril/galapa combination, which is immediately cool just for the name. And, honestly, fungril with anything is really interesting. Both of the fungril features are weird and cool (either communication through the ‘mycelial array’ to other fungril across any distance, or you can extract one memory from a recently-deceased corpse on demand). The fungus people are cool and spooky, and a fungril hybrid with another ancestry immediately makes me think less interbreeding and more infection. Sporelings. A creepy-cool backstory to put on a character.

For a galapa mixed ancestry, my dragon turtle loving ass would love a drakona/galapa mix, for an armoured turtle with a breath weapon. Steam breath. Just. Dragon turtles. I love them.

But while I was thinking about that, a mobile little steam-breath character to roll out onto a battlefield, I started thinking about a clank/drakona mix. A clank with a breath weapon, built to mimic dragons. A flamethrower clank. Which. Horrifying built-for-war backstory, anyone? But also, going back to the steam-breath idea. An extremely steampunk sort of character, a steam-powered clank who can vent their steam core as a weapon. Or a fire-fighter clank. Which immediately makes me think of that scene from the Metropolis anime with the firefighter robots, which does give me a built-in soundtrack for the character …

Moving swiftly on. On a purely mechanical level, there’s one particular combination that I think winds up a bit unintentionally funny? If you make a human/firbolg mixed ancestry, you could choose both the firbolg’s Unshakeable feature, where they have a 1-in-6 chance to just not mark stress when required, and the human’s High Stamina, where they just get an extra stress to spend at creation, to make a character who is just ridiculously chill. They’re just unfussed. Not bothered. They’ve got spoons to spare. Don’t sweat it, kiddos, mama’s got this. You are a 7ft tall human-bovine mix, and you are the chillest person in this room. Heh.

If you wanted to go the other way and make an extremely twitchy person, the scion of elf and goblin parents might choose to have both the elvish Quick Reactions, to have advantage on reaction rolls, and the goblin Danger Sense, where you can occasionally force enemies to reroll an attack against you. So you can make an extremely skittish, jittery sort of character whose head is just permanently on a swivel over here.

If you wanted to make a sort of horrifying melee-oriented fairytale boogeyman over here, by the way, you could also get a lot of mileage by combining faun plus giant. If you take the faun’s Caprine Leap, which lets you bound around anywhere in Close range as if it was normal movement, including scaling walls and vaulting obstacles, plus the giant’s Reach, which lets you treat Very Close range as Melee range for any weapons or spells or abilities you might have, you have this horrifyingly mobile fairytale goat-giant thing bounding around like a demented demon with very long arms. All the better to grab you with and stab you with, my dear!

I just. There are a lot of fun options that the mixed ancestry rules open up? *grins* I really like my little firefighter drakona-clank idea. And my horrifying goat-giant. But there are a lot of fun options.

[worldofdarkness-eyecandy]

Artwork by: Anastasia Fedorova

[prehistorictoast]

Soupman

[yandereduckie]

Old Draft: The bat and bird twins pairs

I found this unfinished draft in my notes, it was one of my first attempts at creating an AU, it's basically a test of concepts for Always!AU

★°=================•●•================°★

The first time it happened, they didn't even think of it...

It all started about half a month after Bruce became the Bat, Kate had just broken up with Renee, well before that they had decided to live together, and now that their relationship was over, Kate decided, in a moment of anger, to take all her things, throw them in a suitcase, and go bother her cousin in Gotham.

Bruce, even though reluctant because of his recently started nocturnal activities, welcomed his cousin with open arms. She took a room right next to Bruce's, and honestly, she ended up throwing herself into the socialite life for a while to clear her head.

But one night, she went looking for Bruce in his office, and found the clock's secret passage open, going down the stairs to the cave, she saw Bruce, still partially in the suit and with the wings, being treated by Alfred in the Medbay because of a bullet wound in his side caused by a momentarily lucky criminal, who didn't even have seconds to realize his hit.

As the suit was not yet perfect and was in experimental status, the bullet hit one of the areas with little reinforcement, which was already more worn out from another fight before in the same patrol.

She immediately had a small outburst, arguing with him about his crime-fighting activities, citing the rumors she had heard about the Bat, and, unlike anything Bruce had expected her to say, Kate ended her dictation by exclaiming that she wanted to do it too.

20 years old Kate, shooting furiously: AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER INCLUDING ME!? HOW COULD YOU!? HOW DARE YOU!? I FEEL BETRAYED! BETRAYED BY MY DEAR AND FAVORITE COUSIN! 20 years old Bruce, still half doped up on painkillers: The fuck? Bitch i'ma ya only cousin. Kate, faking angry tears: EXACTLY. 42 years old Alfred, putting away the basic equipment after finishing Bruce's bandages, muttering to himself: It seems then that it wasn't the way i raised Master Bruce that went wrong... Alfred, reflecting: Please, do not let this be/become a family thing.

And then, after much insistence and much, but much pestering, Bruce gave up, and let Kate join him.

Kate, for the 107396395259453 time, practically foaming with pure rage and determination: LET ME FIGHT CRIME WITH YOU OR I WILL DO IT ALONE! Bruce, head in hands, clothes and hair disheveled from a fight with her, sweating cold and exhausted: OK, SATAN, BUT YOU BETTER PUT YOUR MILITARY TRAINING BACK IN ACTIVE AGAIN AND ADAPT TO MY CRYPTID THING!! Kate, raising her fist in the air in victory: YESSSS!!! By the way, fuck you, Why did it take ya so long to accept it, even though I was in the military and know that I can take care of myself? Bruce, collapsing into an armchair, eating a grape: Cuw I dinw tonw tha ya *chew* wou du a geit cwipit Kate, consufused: The hell ya said? I didn't understand a thing, don't talk while eating! Bruce, swallowing: I said, that i doubt, that you would make a good cryptid creature. Kate: *Extremely offended dramatic gasp* How dare you doubt my capabilities! I'm sure I'll be a much better and scarier cryptid creature than you! Bruce, raising an eyebrow: Bet? Kate, with a sly smile forming on her face: Bet. Kate, throwing herself on the couch: I'm going to scare the shit out of those scum of criminals. *steals a handful of grapes from him* Bruce, pointing a finger at her face: But no violence towards minor thieves until it is proven whether or not they are doing it out of necessity. Kate, rolling her eyes, chewing and finishing swallowing before speaking: Yes, Mr. Weird Bat. Those guys are supposed to be advise to leave the life of crime and go to WE after get out of jail, is it? Bruce, squinting suspiciously at her: Yeah. *Puts another grape in his mouth* Kate: *thumbs up*

And so, Kate became a vigilante cryptid with her cousin, but she didn't want to be a bat, imagine being called by the media something as basic as "Batwoman"? Naah, Kate was not a woman for that kind of basic, if Bruce is going to be a bat, she'll be a bird, the biggest and stronger.

And that's how the duo Bat and Harpy came about.

At first, the Ghotamites didn't know what the relationship between the two was, giving rise to several conspiracy theories about what they were, and the two let the theories run wild, since that's how their cryptid thing spreads, practically making them creepypastas, but real, since after 2 months of debut the majority of the population accepted that they were not just rumors from delusional criminals, and recognized their existence.

That is, until theories started to emerge that they were a couple, yuck, how disgusting, imagine their faces when a victim who ended up owning a vlog about them questioned them about it?

Vlogger rescued of a kidnapping, pulling out a cell phone to record: Hey! Would you mind answering a question!? Please, please!! Bat: Hn Harpy, just vibing cuz it's better for this lady to focus on a conversation than on the recent trauma, and it can't be THAT BAD: *Speaks with a voice modifier that distorts the speech and tone to give a more Eldritch tone* why not? Ask. Vlogger, excited because this is her favorite theory: Thank you! So what are you guys to each other?? ARE YOU DATING!? Harpy: Bat: Harpy, seeing that, yes, it can be THAT BAD, putting the retractable claws from her cat-like gloves out: Can I?- Bat, slapping her hand away and giving a weary sigh of reprimand that the voice changer translates into a growl: Don't you dare. Vlogger, intimidated and regretful: Er- Did I offend you?- Bat and Harpy at the same time, with different tones: Yes. Vlogger, still curious: Huh- sorry, but... If you guys aren't dating...then...? Bat and Harpy, still a bit disoriented cause of the absurdity of the previous suggestion, only going with what they remember that the adults said they were as united and similar as: Twins. Vlogger, who also has a twin sister who looks nothing like her, sympathizing: OH!- OMG I'M SORRY! Oh man, I would be pissed off too if somebody thought I was dating my twin. Bat and Harpy, not knowing how to deny it now: *Muttering agreement*

And of course, this made most of the theories fall apart, but there were still weirdos, who didn't care about incest, shipping the two of them, let's just say that when they met this type of people, they acted so extra animalistic and Eldritch that a guy peed himself once out of fear.

★•°=================•°•●•°•================°•★

Second time it happened, they thought it was a coincidence.

After a long year of action, a circus came to town, and two birds fell in mid-flight because of a certain person who decided to cut their wings, leaving a chick orphaned, but a bat with a very soft heart for traumatized people, especially children, took it to his own nest.

And yes, he tried everything to keep another bird from flying at night, but, as stubborn as the older one, that little baby bird did not give up.

5 years old Dick, two apples tall bloodthirsty to end Zucco, whining with a strong accent: BUT B I WANNA TO FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! 21 years old Bruce, looking for help looking at Kate and Alfred: Chum... 43 years old Alfred, just looking at them smiling neutral: *Internally, remembering when he himself tried to stop Bruce* The world spins master Bruce, the world spins... 21 years old Kate "not my kid, not my problem, just don't let him die or cry" kane: *Sneaking away with a bag of chips.* Bruce, sighing betrayed: Look Dick, you're still too young for this. 5 years old baby Dick: *Wetty little hurt pup eyes* Bruce, rubbing his temples: For now... Dick: *Eyes drying out and starting to shine* Bruce: Train, and maybe, if you prove that you can be strong enough, I'll let you fly. Okay Chum? Dick, running to hug Bruce: Thank you, thank you dad!! Thank you!! *Burying his face in Bruce's neck, eyes moistening again, whispering* Thanks... Bruce, wrapping his arms around him in shock cuz this is the first time Dick has call him dad: It's-...o-okay Chum...*Rubbing circles on his back* Shhh...it's okay.

And as luck would have it, on a patrol not much later, the bat encounters the late Jim Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, running away from the orphanage in a poorly made bat costume.

5 years old super determined baby Babs, running at him, panting after climbing the fire escape to get into the building top: Heyy, wait! Stop righ there!!! Bat, completely confused, turning to her: *Tilts head curiously* baby here? Harpy, a little far, watching curiously: oh baby? *Tilts her head too* Babs, hand on her waist and the other pointing at the bat, with all her two-to-three apples tall confidence: If I have to get a new parent, it has be you. So I can beat up the criminals and corrupt cops who mocked my father's kindness! Bat, even more confused: ???? *Bat chirp* Harpy, amused: Ohhhh *Excited for a new niece bird chirp* Babs, spreading her arms wide in a pose very much like a T pose, throwing her head back dramatically: Take me with you and transform me into whatever kind of creature you are! Be it vampire, demon, it doesn't matter! Harpy, unable to control herself: OHOMGHAHAHA- *Laughing her guts out, almost falling off her perch* Bat, "fluffing" his wings and approaching her cautiously, worried if she's delirious with fever or something: *Confused and worried (artificial) bat noises* whaa...?

At first the children became wary of each other, and Babs was devastated to learn that her new dad was not a supernatural creature.

But over time, she accepted this fact, and she and Dick became best friends/siblings.

For their covers, since Babs wanted to be a bat like Bruce and Dick a bird to honor their parents' legacy, they decided to go with the twins concept™️ created by accident. Of course, after having a good laugh at the costs of their father and aunt.

They didn't leave the training mat until they were 7 years old, and even then, they started small, with patrols twice on the weekend so as not to disrupt their school sleep schedule, fighting weak criminals, always with Bruce and Kate at most 2 and a half meters away.

And so, the second duo emerged, Robin and Denevér appeared.

★•°=================•°•●•°•================°•★

The third time this happened, they were suspicious, but still called it a coincidence.

A year of action for the little ones later, in one weary night flying through Crime Alley with the fake wings, the Bat found a 4-year-old boy trying to steal a tire.

4 years old skinny, malnourished and dirty baby Jason: *Panics and throws the rusty screwdriver at the bat's face.* Jason, realizing who the cryptid that he attacked is: Fuck- 24 years old(Bruce)Bat, holding screwdriver in one hand and massaging face with other: *Low high pitched outrage and pain bat noises* urgh... 24 years old (Kate)Harpy, crouched in a corner of the alley: PUUFF- *Laughing breathlessly sounding like a kettle* Jason, nervous: I'm...sorry? At the manor. 46 years old Alfred, looking up from the book he was reading: Something just happened. 8 year old Babs and Dick, looking up from their drawings to him: New sibling? Alfred, sighing: Probably.

Let's just say that no one other than Bruce was surprised by him bringing another stray home anymore in this point.

And they were even less surprised when not even 72 hours after bringing Jason home, he picked up another child.

4 years old on guard, fresh from the clutches of David Cain, inevitably illiterate baby Cass: *Crouched in a defensive pose* Bat, recognizing the posture of a assassin, worried that a baby apparently knows this: *Approaches cautiously, trying to appear smaller so as not to scare her* Baby alone? Cass, reading, or trying to read, his animalized body posture, recognizing the concern and care, but not understanding what he said: ...? Bat, tilting his head more worriedly: Don't understand me? *Sad bat noises* Cass, still not understanding the words but getting that he's sad: *Hesitantly comes out of the defensive pose and makes little grabbing hands* Harpy, eating popcorn that she got from god knows where: *Chews* New niece. *chews* Robin and Denevér, eating popcorn too: *Chews* Absolutely. *Chews.* new sister. Bat, approaches her: baby? Cass, raising her hand to the top of Bat's head, imitating what she had seen a man do with his parrot some time ago: *Pat pat* Bat, confused but happy?: Uhh *Looks at others* They: *encouraging thumbs up* Bat,extending his hand to her: Wanna come with us? Cass, looking at the others and back at him, reading expectation, excitement, care, comfort and everything good coming from them, knowing that the hand is to go with him: *Takes the hand*

Jason was very shy and nervous during the first few weeks at the mansion, and Cass was curious about everything. Over time, Jason opened up to his new family, and became really close to Cass because he enjoyed helping teach her to read and speak. They also became the only ones besides Alfred allowed to be in the kitchen.

And Bruce, futilely tried to stop them from going to the streets, and as expected, failed miserably and had to make the same deal as when Dick and Babs started.

Bruce, arms crossed: No. Jason: *Puppy eyes by Dick lessons* Please? Bruce, Shaking his head: The answer is still no, Jaylad. Cass, just chilling around, without paying attention: 🎶 Jason, nudging her lightly with his elbow in her side: *whispering through gritted teeth* Help me here. Do puppy eyes too Cass, blinking as her brain slowly grasps the words: 🤔😯😀 *gets it and joins him* Jason, now with Cass imitating him: Pretty please? Bruce "soft hearted with his children getting along" Wayne:*sigh* okay... Bruce, pointing a finger at them: BUT- Same thing as with Dick and Babs. Train and only then fight. Jason and Cass noding, and then stepping away to do a little victory dance together:🕺💃🎊 Bruce, with a silly smile on his face: These kids are going to be the death of me...

And so, the two trained, preparing to fly for the first hunt at 7.

But with just one year missing to finish the training, new chicks arrive in the nest.

★•°=================•°•●•°•================°•★

By the fourth time it happened, they just had accepted that this was the norm now.

News had reaches Bruce's ears that the Drakes died on one of their trips, he comes to by a little sad that the family of three is gone, until Kate shows him the news that their son, Tim, 1 year old, is still alive, because he was left behind in their mansion, with an unreliable nanny who left the literal baby alone for half the week in that giant, cold house.

Needless to say, when Bruce had barely begun to consider it, the children and Kate were already on his tail to take the baby. He did.

27 years old, angry Bruce and Kate: *unconsciously mirroring the other's irritated arms-crossed pose* Irresponsible nanny: *Swallows* H-here *Hands over baby Tim* 1 year old Tim: *happy baby babbling* Bruce and Kate internally: Okay, it's ours now, definitely. 11 years old Babs and dick, 6 years old Jason and Cass peeking behind the armchair: Baby brother 49 years old Alfred,very offended by the nanny's lack of professionalism and HUMANITY: It will be much better for him this way. Also Alfred: I just hope at least him doesn't become a cryptid.

And so the family gained another member, and soon his pair would come too.

The funny thing was that this time it was Kate who found a baby.

1 year old, rebellious baby Steph in all purple clothes, holding papers three times the size of her hands, angrily sucking on a pacifier: Dah *hands the papers to Harpy* Harpy, seeing that they are copies of three future cluemastee schemes, knowing that she is his daughter: *happy bird chirping* Oh you- do you *excitedly* want a batdad instead of this one? *Shakes papers* Steph, considering seriously while sucking on a pacifier: uhm... Steph: *Takes the pacifier out of the mouth* Yews.

With that, another pair of twins came to the family, and one year after they arrived, the third duo appeared, Bluejay and Molossus.

★•°=================•°•●•°•================°•★

But of course, everything that is good and perfect do not last like that, and has its moment... down

Bluejay and Molossus had completed a year of activity, but this time, unlike the feeling of something extra that Alfred always felt before another child was adopted, as if someone wanted him to know, Alfred now felt...the lack of something.

The feeling was causing anxiety in the old man's heart, so he decided to shove it in a little box in the back of his mind, it didn't mean anything, right? It wasn't because he always felt a chill before Bruce adopted a child that now that he felt different that they were going to...to lose a cub, right? right?

No.

they lost.

They lost him.

He died.

Jason died.

Joker killed him.

He did it.

He attacked the boy with a crowbar and the woman who was supposed to be HIS MOTHER did NOTHING and left him with the Joker and-

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Let's just say this didn't do anyone any good.

It was just another normal week, everything was fine.

Until the kids decided to play a challenge game with an online roulette.

13 year old Babs, with a tablet with a yellow bat emblem: Okay, it's Jason's turn! *Turns the tablet to reveal a digital roulette so full you can't even read it* 8 years old Jason, excited: *Clicks the button that says "spin"* Oh! *Opens his eyes* Family tree test, what's that? 13 year old Dick, with a half asleep 8 years old Cass leaning against him: Oh I know! I know! It's a test to see who you're descended from, a friend of mine took it and discovered that he's sort of a sixth degree cousin of our classmate because they share the same great-great-great-grandfather! Dick, eating a chip: They also discovered that he not only slept with their great-great-grandmother, but with 3 other women! What an idiot. Jason, whistling: Cool, I hope I don't have a grandpa like that.

It was supposed to be just an innocent game, but Jason discovered that he had a living mother, a woman different from Catharine, a woman named Sheila.

He was so impressed, he was so curious, he wanted to find out, he wanted to investigate, and Bruce couldn't say no to him, after all, she was his mother, he deserved to know. She's not. He don't.

Bruce, Babs and Jason traveled to Ethiopia, it was supposed to be just a quick visit, Jason didn't want to go live with his bio mother or something, he just wanted to see her, he just wanted to know who she was. Bruce came as his guardian (obviously) and Babs came just for company.

Bruce's biggest mistake was leaving them alone, Bruce's biggest mistake was trusting that woman monster. Bruce's biggest mistake was letting his son get kidnapped. Bruce's biggest mistake was not being able to locate him sooner.

He broke down the warehouse doors and threw himself against them, he opened them just in time to look into his son's eyes one last time, extend his arms to him one last time. All in vain.

The bastard assassin barely had time to laugh at his feat before he had a big, angry, vengeful Bat father pummel him nearly to death.

Bruce would have killed him, fuck, heaven and hell know how much he wanted to kill the clown.

But he couldn't do anything against the super strength of that idiot alien scout new hero.

Superman holding the bat down and pulling him away from the Joker: Mister- Stop it! You can't kill somebody, killing is not the answer for nothing, what happened!? *using a mix of voice for victims but one he used to talk to Luthor too because he has no idea what's going on here and is completely confused and this bat-person is criyng his guts out while beating an Ethiopian ambassador dressed as a clown* You- E-Eehh you just bit me!? No- wait stop! Your teeth- Why does it hurt!? The Bat with tears running freely under the mask, but very visible, struggling to get out of the other's grip, opening a compartment that just in case keeps Kryptonite since he discovered superman's weakness: LET GO! *hyperventilating so much that even though the modifier translates it as growling, the panting is still heard even without super hearing* GRH! *In desperation trying to free himself, resorting to biting as well.* Superman not being able to do it anymore and releasing him like a rabid cat, but staying between him and the man-almost-turned-into-pope: Why are you doing this!? *Panicking wanting to know what the hell he got himself into, and a little much afraid of the cryptid in front of him.* Bat, growling, in a defensive/offensive pose with wings wide open: HE KILLED MY SON! Superman, stopping floating: oh. Superman, processing that he ended up getting involved in a very family matter being a stranger: Oh. Superman processing that may be protecting a child killer: Oh. Superman staying silent, but also wanting to play the boy scout with a super moral code and offer to help catch the killer: I-

A shot is fired, interrupting whatever the blue scout was going to say, followed by a loud, piercing scream that is painfully familiar.

Bat, running towards the shout: DENEVÉR! Superman, confused, looking at the man dressed as a clown who holds a gun with a shaking and punched hand, and then looks in the direction the bat went: Oh Rao..

One of the worst first impressions a scout could have, isn't it?

Bat and Harpy became more violent, ruthless and volatile, hospitalizing countless criminals, calming victims with great difficulty.

Robin walked close amd glued to his father and aunt, never left alone, becoming silent, his cheerful laughter fading and leaving a haunted hole in the chest of those who encountered him.

Molossus blended even more into the shadows, also glued to her father and aunt, no longer a curious cub who walked here and there and needed to be pulled by the scruff of the neck, she almost never leaves the Bat's wings now.

Denever and Bluejay disappeared without further ado.

Gotham didn't need words from her silent knights to know what happened.

There was a funeral for Jason, the whole Wayne family was in mourning, they were more glued

★°=================•●•================°★

As I said, unfinished. But in short, Flock would have this concept of pairs, I wrote this based on a thought I had about how the patrol pair works, since I wanted the batfam to be less overworked, since Always!Bruce goes to therapy and knows well how bad being a workaholic is, having learned this not only from his therapist, but also experiencing it firsthand during his training journey.

Plus, I think it was implied that Babs went with Jason, but no, the shot only put her in a wheelchair. And Jason was scheduled to return from the dead only about 6 months later, and, since Always! Bruce is not part of the League, he was on Earth, and he heard the alarms at Jason's grave go off, and even though he was in the middle of a patrol, he ran to the cemetery, with Kate. There, some League assassins who were investigating the Flock decided to follow them, and after that, they capture Jason because he seemed important to the Flock, in the middle of the fight to catch him, they also get a DNA sample from the Bat.

Talia tries to manipulate Jason, but the boy is smart, and doesn't fall for her petty tricks. When he finds out about a clone make of Bruce and Talia's DNA, he immediately rescues him, stopping the growth process, and returning home with a three-week-old baby Damian.

And as you can see, there was going to be some tension between the superfam and the batfam, but I later dismissed that.

Always!AU is still in development, and I may end up changing a lot of things, concepts, people, and relationships. One additional thing I wanted to put is that I'm going to bring back this concept of twin pairs.

But Always!Clark and Always!Bruce will still have a strong brotherly bond, but Always!Kate will also be a part of that bond. I want her to be more relevant to the story, like I did with Jar and stuff. It'll be like, Always!Bruce and Always!Kate will be super close as twins growing up, and then after the Waynes become friends with the Kents, the twins gain Clark as a big brother, and they end up growing up together, and then the rest of it remains the same, the Wayne-Kent siblings discover Wonder Woman's identity and are taken in as her wards, Diana becomes a cool aunt and stuff, blah blah blah.

And here's a better guide to their ages

Start of year 1 of Bat and Harpy

Bruce - 20

Kate - 20

Alfred - 42

End of year 1 of B&H/ Adoption 1/ training arc 1

Bruce - 21>23

Kate - 21>23

Alfred - 43>45

Babs - 5>7

Dick - 5>7

End of year 1 of R&D/ Adoption 2

Bruce - 24

Kate - 24

Alfred - 46

Babs - 8

Dick - 8

Jason - 4

Cass - 4

Pre-year 1 of B&M/ Ending of Training arc 2

Bruce - 27

Kate - 27

Alfred - 49

Babs - 11

Dick - 11

Jason - 6

Cass - 6

Tim - 1

Steph - 1

Middle of Year 1 of B&M/ Dead in the family

Bruce - 29

Kate - 29

Alfred - 51

Babs - 13

Dick - 13

Jason - 8

Cass - 8

Tim - 1

Steph - 1

[silly-fly-media]

Charming "Charmy" Coccinelle, Reploid Bodyguard assigned to Libra Chance, Abel City News reporter 🐞

More concept sketches under the cut (including an older beta design of Charmy)

She was actually designed back in 2023 but I didn't have the energy to digitize her yet and I wanted to develop her and Libra's story more.

The sketch of her flying in the first concept image still applies to her current iteration, big wings open up revealing a rocket.

[worms-for-brains]

Here’s a fun challenge. In the reblogs or comments, make a scenario for these two characters!

[alexandraisyes]

I got to draw up more concept designs for the roleplay "TSBS Confessionverse". Once again, it was a lot of fun working with the mods on the designs, and I really enjoyed designing these four.

All of the casing designs are my personal designs, with the exception of adding freckles to Sun and hooves to Flare, at the request of their respective mods. I'll once again be working on more concepts for the other blogs that have reached out to me, and I get to show off more of my AUs "dress-up dolls". Huge thank you to the mods for letting me add my own twists to the designs, and I'm so happy to see the lore starting to play out.

@flare-tsamsfessions @crappy-tsbs-confession-blog @tsbs-sunfessions @bigboi-confessions

Disclaimer: These designs were made specifically for the confessionverse. (If any other rp mods specifically for the confessionverse that haven't reached out to me already would like to see me continue to go insane. . . DMs are open, hehe. But you need to be verified by the original mods (Sun and Eclipse) first.)