#Especially when it comes to editing

[shiroselia]

Absolutely no joke after having uploaded Smile for the Camera, Dream of Me, and QuintSum chapter 11 and soon 12 (all of which are around 4.4k at Least) within a Somewhat short span of time all things considered I should be entitled to financial compensation

Uploading anything above 3k with as little margin of error as possible is a fucking CHORE-

Every time I upload something over 4k somebody BETTER send me a paycheck you hear-

[artsymeeshee]

just thinking about how Ford would take any chance to tell Stan thank you :,)

[azen13]

CW: Yandere Themes, Arranged Marriage, Stalking, Forced Kiss

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

You had thought for years that the prophecy wouldn't be true. It hung over your head like a crimson moon, equal parts beautiful and haunting, words lingering on your lips like a young lover.

As decreed by the Mnestia long ago, Kephale would one day take up a lover who would wield witticisms and words as weapons forged in an ever-burning mind. At the time, it had seemed preposterous that a Titan, much less Kephale, would take up a lover. If not for a servant scribbling those utterances down and telling his children, who told their own children, who told their children, so on and so forth, the prophecy would have been lost to time.

If it had, would you still be in this predicament?

The first time you had heard of the prophecy when studying poets of old, you had brushed it aside as a simple legend. Kephale had already laid down a prophecy of his own by this time of how new heroes would soon conquer Coreflames to inherit the Titans' divinities, but you knew none of the Chrysos Heirs.

After a period of study, you soon began to craft your own verses. You much preferred the solitude of your home to the bustling crowds of the city, so you didn't hear how quickly your works began to gain popularity. Bards had a new repertoire to learn, and schemes and conceits never once imagined flowed through the air.

When one of the Chrysos Heirs himself began knocking on your door every day, demanding your attention, you realized your popularity had shattered any preconceived zeniths. Phainon was his name, he said, and from what he had heard of you, he was enchanted. The look in his eyes was such a hazy, skylit blue, it seemed like he truly had been the victim of some bizarre spell.

Every day he came and encroached more and more upon you and your home. At first, he stayed outside of your door, but eventually, he began to barge in, sitting at your table or searching amongst your shelves for any subjects he could strike a conversation with you on.

Despite his idiosyncrasies and his forthright behavior, despite the occasional memory igniting in your mind, reminding you of the prophecy, you didn't worry about it. Phainon had told you many times how he longed to take the Coreflame of Nikador, not Kephale. When word spread through Okhema over Nikador's defeat, whatever lingering doubts seemed to be extinguished. You were fine. The prophecy wasn't true, or perhaps it was meant for another Chrysos Heir, another poet.

Weeks later, you found yourself regretting your assuredness. It started, as many no-good things did, with a knock on your door. As you begrudgingly walked to open it, expecting to see perhaps a bard or a fool, you instead were greeted by Phainon. Despite the weariness in his eyes, his hands shot out and clenched your shoulders with such speed and strength, you nearly leapt out of your skin. His nose nuzzled into your neck, taking a deep breath. For what seemed like hours, he mumbled and babbled and blathered and prattled about Coreflames, Nikador, Kephale, and the prophecy. After his tirade, his grip tightened.

"But, at least you're mine now." The words seemed to shackle themselves around your wrists, binding you and your attention.

For a moment, you were so dumbfounded you couldn't find the words to express what you wanted to say. Had your situation been any less confounding, you would've found your speechlessness a wonderful little paradox. "Phainon, wha-what do you m-?"

Before you could finish your sentence, Phainon sealed away any remaining restraint he had with a brutally tender kiss. He seemed to push against your lips with the goal of wearing them down until they molded perfectly against his. The kiss itself seemed to metamorphosize with how long it lived; at first it was tender, like new shoots of life growing in spring, but as it grew in age, so did its greed. Phainon seemed intent on savoring every second as an eternity in its own right.

When he did break the kiss, he gazed at you with an otherworldly devotion. It was a look of such sweet softness that it could kill. "I might not have Kephale's Coreflame yet, but I will. I'll do it. Just for you." Though he said he didn't have a Coreflame, his eyes burned with passion brighter than the sun. It scorched your tender skin, branding you with illusory markings of possession. A declaration, almost, that you were, in fact, the subject of Mnestia's dreadful prophecy.

[hazelnootnut]

ACT 2 "You're... me?" "That's right, stardust!"

You know I've been drawing Loop as their Siffrin form so much that it's got me thinking. I've read and seen so many fics and artworks of Loop eventually getting back to looking like their old self, but I don't think I've seen any so far of Loop already being a mirror copy of Siffrin. So uh, yoink?

ISAT AU where the game plays out the same way (plot-wise at least) but Loop looks like Siffrin the whole time and while Siffrin is extremely perplexed that there's another him, he's still gotta accept their help because how else are they supposed to escape the loops? Good ol' Loop is here to help, helpful friendly Loop!

Siffrin is going through it still but Differently.

[lucabyte]

leering

[mischievous-thunder]

Also, Logan:

[nanihirunkits]

WE ARE | EP16

[hija-ck]

life in the worst town in the world might be okay if you can find your soulmate

[2hoothoots]

alright, here's my hot take on the Sasha-Raz dynamic: i think Raz represents a wish fulfilment self-insert figure for Sasha just as much as Sasha does for Raz.

Raz wanting to be like Sasha and seeing him as an aspirational future self is self-explanatory, right. Sasha is his hero from his favourite comic books, he even dresses up like the guy – it’s cute! there’s a fun hero worship angle there. but i think there’s also an aspect of it going the other way: Sasha sees Raz as an idealised past self. he's an excuse for Sasha to recast his own troubled childhood in a more flattering light, to imagine a version of himself who was more confident, more capable, more driven; and to explore the fantasy of that version of himself getting support and training and recognition, instead of the way things really played out.

here's something. when you use clairvoyance on Sasha, he sees Raz as a younger version of himself:

not as his younger self – specifically, a miniature version of his current self. there's a difference.

here's something else: from what we see in the memory vaults, I don't think younger Sasha was actually like Raz at all.

this part is heavier on extrapolation, because all we see of younger Sasha is a single memory vault; but i think the expressions and the body language tell a clear story here. the boy we see in these vaults is shy, uncertain, estranged, lonely. the distance between him and his father is palpable, physical and emotional. 

think about the things that Sasha says to Raz: your talents will always set you apart. sometimes, isolation is a good thing. those are very weird things to say to a kid as “advice”, and they’re very revealing about Sasha’s own mindset! i think it’s very easy to read Sasha as someone who had a very troubled, lonely childhood, and then sought to retroactively redefine and romanticise it. it wasn’t grief that stopped him and his father from ever forming a meaningful bond; it was just his talents, his father didn’t understand. if he was lonely and isolated growing up, well, maybe that was a good thing. just look at where he is now!

and i think Raz serves as a vessel for Sasha to project all of that onto. because their experiences aren’t that similar, not really. Sasha left home because he was unable to connect with his father; Raz ran away because his family didn’t understand or support his gifts. Sasha pushed things too far with his powers, and was shocked and unsettled by what he saw; Raz pushed things too far with his powers, and was rewarded for it. Sasha left home uncertain and afraid; Raz left home on a mission. the two stories aren’t the same, but they rhyme – you can draw parallels, if you squint, if you’re willing to change a few details here and there. and one of these stories is much more alluring, more satisfying, more compelling than the other. 

when Sasha says to Raz in the shooting gallery, “I would have done the exact same thing at your age” – sorry, but i absolutely do not buy it. younger Sasha was meek and conflict-averse, he faced one single unexpected consequence and immediately noped out. i think he absolutely would not have done the same thing. but i bet Sasha wants to think that he would have, y’know? i bet he wants to see himself in this boy, who’s driven and confident and focused and such an eager student – who has so much promise, and is in an environment where that can be recognised and rewarded and nurtured. Raz isn’t just a promising student, to Sasha – he’s also an opportunity to live out that what if, to explore the wish fulfilment of his own younger self getting that kind of recognition and support, instead of being left, lonely and alone, to fend for himself. 

one final thing: one of the big reasons i really like this reading is that i feel like it makes the scene where Sasha scolds Raz for messing with Hollis’ mind way more interesting: [screenshots from this upload of the game's cutscenes]

"You thought you could manipulate another person's mind, to bend their will to your own! There are few things worse, Razputin."

i’m not the first to point out that this feels a little hypocritical coming from Sasha, especially when you consider that this is basically the exact same thing he encouraged Raz to do in his own mind! and besides that, you could argue that it isn’t even Sasha’s place to hand out this lecture – Hollis was the one whose mind was actually messed with, and her and Raz have already hashed things out.  but if you think about Sasha as projecting himself onto Raz, then i think there’s more depth here. this isn’t just Sasha being upset because his protégé did something bad – he’s shaken because Raz did something unexpected. suddenly, Raz has broken away from the model that Sasha had built up in his mind, of the perfect, confident young agent that Sasha could easily see himself in. now he’s having to realise that Raz isn’t perfect – and maybe he isn’t just like Sasha, either.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

i tried to play into tumblr's automatic video looping but you can also watch it on youtube with subtitles for the dialogue, it's not that important, it's more about the idea of the loop than the experience

[jesuis-assez]

↠ Tim & Lucy ↳ 6x03 - Trouble In Paradise

[viperwhispered]

Too Hard

Woop part 2 of the trip inside Jamil's head. Part 1 here.

The next time Jamil caught sight of you on campus, his first instinct was to turn around on his heel.

What a stupid thought to have because of you.

Besides, that would only make him more conspicuous, not less.

So, when your eyes met his, Jamil gave you a short nod in greeting. He would’ve left it at that and kept on his way, had you not walked up to him.

“Hi Jamil! How’s it going?” you said with that impossibly disarming smile of yours.

Why was it so difficult to look at you like he normally would? You had no right to make him feel so stiff, so unnatural.

On autopilot, Jamil exchanged a few pleasantries with you - those lessons from his parents had been instilled too deep in him for him to falter too badly in a simple exchange such as this. Still, Jamil quickly excused himself by telling you he still had to find Kalim before his next class.

Jamil didn’t miss the way your smile faltered. Had you hoped to get something out of him?

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you two later, then.”

Something about that irked him, though Jamil did not allow himself to dwell on it further.

His heart really had no business still racing as it did when he walked away, unaware of the frown on his face.

Just act normal. That’s all he needed to do.

After all, he had no time for dwelling in silly fancies.

If Jamil had been acutely aware of you before, it only seemed to worsen now that he was making a conscious effort to not act any differently with you. In fact, the harder he tried to keep you out, the more you invaded his thoughts, unsettling him.

The most innocuous words from you looped in his mind, and even the simplest actions caught his eye. For goodness's sake, he’d found himself staring at you while you were queueing up in the cafeteria the other day, not even doing anything other than standing around and looking bored!

For once, Jamil found himself grateful for all his duties. At least they provided him with something else to occupy himself with.

After all, if he was busy enough, it was difficult to think about those bright eyes of yours, your sweet laugh, or the way you bit your lip while thinking.

Still, sometimes it felt like no matter which way he turned, you were there, ready to throw him off-kilter. Not like it was his fault that often the most convenient route to class intersected with your daily routines. Or that your face seemed to jump out from any crowd, catching his attention.

Which certainly did not help his basketball performance. Jamil certainly did not recall you having such an interest in sports before, yet suddenly you were always there, distracting him. What had changed?

Could you possibly-

Jamil scoffed to himself, forcing his thoughts back on track for the nth time that day.

He picked up the tray of food and started taking it to Kalim. After dinner, he’d need to help Kalim with his homework, there were some housewarden tasks that would need dealing with, not to mention the preparations for the next-

Jamil froze in his tracks.

The voice he heard was quiet, but it was unmistakably you.

Really, it should not have come as such a surprise to him. You had become a rather frequent visitor to Scarabia, and Kalim often invited you to stay for meals. In fact, Jamil had started planning the dorm’s meal prep with your tastes and dietary restrictions in mind, just in case.

Jamil rounded the corner with strange exhilaration, his heart fluttering needlessly.

Yet, his mood evaporated when he saw you.

Why did you stop talking and look so guilty as soon as you caught sight of Jamil?

Jamil knew that look you gave to Kalim, had used it himself a thousand times. The one telling Kalim to keep quiet about something.

What could there possibly be that you would be comfortable sharing with Kalim, but not with him? That would give Kalim reason to sit so close to you, a comforting hand on your shoulder?

Jamil's mind raced with possibilities, yet could not settle for any single explanation.

He’d have to ask Kalim about it later.

Jamil gave you a short, polite greeting, his eyes lingering on you in an attempt to read what you were hiding.

“If I’d known you were coming over, I would’ve prepared something for you to eat as well,” Jamil said, already thinking about which parts of the dorm’s dinner to spruce up for you.

“Oh, no need, just figured I’d pop by. I’ll get out of your hair soon enough,” you said, something sheepish about your expression.

As expected, Kalim asked you to stay and dine with them, and with just a bit more persuasion you agreed - though not before telling Jamil that he should join you too and have himself a breather.

And since Kalim agreed with you, Jamil soon found himself sharing a meal with you and Kalim. Yet, even as he sat down with the food, his mind raced.

Had you been getting particularly close to Kalim lately? But surely Jamil would’ve noticed such a thing. Maybe someone from the dorm had been giving you trouble? But if that was the case, then surely you could let Jamil know about it, too. Unless for some reason you did not want to? But if it was something that concerned Kalim, then sooner or later it was bound to concern Jamil, too.

All the while, Kalim was talking to you about this and that, the latest topic being the animals kept on the Asim estate.

“I’ve got some pictures, let me show you!” Kalim said with an excited grin.

Only, a thorough patting of his pockets and a look around confirmed that Kalim’s phone was nowhere to be seen.

Jamil pinched the bridge of his nose. Where had Kalim left it this time?

Before Jamil even had the chance to say that he would handle it, Kalim sprinted off. Jamil hesitated for a moment, automatically halfway up from his seat, before he decided that leaving a guest unattended would be a worse offense than not helping out his master.

Jamil slumped back down with a sigh, mentally tracing the path Kalim took today, trying to recall the last time he saw Kalim handle his phone.

“Breathe. He’ll manage,” you said. There was the faintest of smiles on your lips, and Jamil could not decide if it was knowing or amused. Perhaps both.

Somehow, despite his frustration, Jamil’s own lips wanted to curl up too.

“Hmm. Maybe he will.”

Sure, Jamil could’ve called Kalim’s phone, to make it easier to find, but it was not that urgent, was it?

Jamil took another bite of his food, keeping an eye on you from the corner of his eye.

How was his mind so empty and so buzzing at the same time?

“You know-”

“So-”

You looked at each other, both just as surprised that the other had spoken up at the same time.

Even your surprised look was so-

“You first,” Jamil said. The way you bit your lip... Jamil had to raise a cup to his lips, slowly sipping his drink.

“Just… Feels like it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you be still, you know. Or exchanged more than two words with you,” you said. You were attempting a light, joking tone, yet it was quite clear there was more to it.

“You say that like it would be unusual for me to be busy.”

He was not prepared for the way your soft sigh tugged at his heartstrings.

“No. It is not.”

You were both quiet after, poking at your meals. Normally, Jamil would’ve cherished such a moment of peace, yet this particular silence between you two was decidedly awkward.

Where was your usual chatter? Why weren’t you looking at him like you usually did?

“If you’re worried about me, don’t. I’m fine,” Jamil said, some softness creeping into his tone despite his best intentions.

“That's what Kalim said too,” you said. Yet the way you looked at Jamil made it clear you were still skeptical.

Wait.

Had you clammed up earlier because it had been Jamil you had been talking about with Kalim? That Kalim had comforted you about?

The thought twisted his stomach into knots.

Eta: you can find part 3 here, part 4 here, and finally part 5 here. Hasdhfsdf the way I fought with that last scene I swear. I don't even want to know how many versions I went through, trying to figure out how to say what I wanted without rubbing it into your face or making it too veiled. The joys of trying to convey things through a limited pov. Hopefully it came out reasonably balanced in the end. Rip to all those sentences that were lovely on their own but didn’t work for the whole. Hopefully I can rehome y’all one day. I do have thoughts for part 3 and part x (might be some chapters between those two as well, who knows at this point), so maybe we'll see those at some point, too. Tag list: @colliope @crystallizsch @diodellet @jamilsimpno69 @jamilvapologist @twstgo If you'd like to be tagged for future works, let me know! (Just be aware that sometimes I do also write nsfw, though you can certainly ask to be tagged only for particular kinds of works.)

[nabaath-areng]

"... Do you want something, boy? "Yeah. You." "Then what are you waiting for? I'm here, aren't I?"

(Florian belongs to @fourfoldfires <3)

[upsidedownsmore]

Croaks from Below

A 6-page comic final for a graphic novel class, following Croak on a short crypt-delving adventure of increasingly absurd proportions.

Timelapse, two-page spreads, wips, and more below the read line:

Timelapse:

2-page spreads:

Rough draft sketches:

Thumbnail sketches:

More art of Croak for assignments leading up to this comic (which were also shared in this post):

That should be everything! I've never really made comics before, and some of the lead up to this project has been a struggle as I found my writing skills lacking. But once I accepted a goofier action-first approach it clicked much better for me

I've been working on this comic pretty much non-stop for the past week or two, and honestly it's felt super cathartic to devote huge blocks of time into a single digital art project again after 3 months of my time being eaten up by smaller and extraneous assignments, even if it did involve being locked in my room and wearing out my wrists even more lol

It's definitely not perfect and I might revisit this comic for coloring and tweaks, but I'm happy with where I landed in time for the assignment deadline! Very excited to see this printed alongside everyone else's comics :)

(Additional note: yes it's weird that the story ends on the back cover and not page 6, but i felt that page turn worked best for the pacing. The professor agreed with that choice, and it doesn't really make much of a difference when posted online anyways ig lol)

[mischievous-thunder]

The Wade variants do know how to utilise every single opportunity to flirt

[fernifox]

Little creature, I just wanna squish him.

Episode 1072,,, ah I can’t wait

(If that top one breaks I have a few gifs under the cut)

He’s just so silly.