#guess who learnt how to draw

[arunneronthird]

third ones the charm

[greenfrogartist]

Guess who finally finished a fan art? This frog :D

This is for you @zoiaeras and your amazing Spider-Man x DC

Was gonna draw him on a roof top smoking with Nightwing in the background, but I suck at city scapes + wanted to draw peter being completely calm and at peace with who he is and was lol

Here is the fic if you want to check it out (you totally should) :

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54272470/chapters/137443834

[littleweirdcunt]

Me recently.

[lisafication]

This post is uh, extremely normal I swear

So hello yes I am absolutely On My Bullshit regarding my new favourite game. 

That’s right, it’s the cannibal incest game, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. And I’m here to shove five thousand words of pretentious analysis down your throat because, and I do not exaggerate, I think it is one of, if not the best written game I have ever played. And I have played a lot of games, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Undertale, to name a few narrative luminaries to come to mind.

That wordcount is not an exaggeration. My brainworms are extremely powerful and now you can share them with me as I walk you through my insane skyscraper of inference-driven analysis.

Or you can click away. I really wouldn’t blame you, it’s quite a lot.

Content Warnings: …Yes?

(To drop the bit for a moment, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley covers extremely disturbing material and challenges you to examine aspects of living in this world that many have taken for granted all their life, it is not a comfortable game, this will cover similar topics and will often echo the game’s unremitting scepticism on basic principles of society and humanity and you should look after yourself first. My Content Warning is framed as a joke, but it’s also quite real in that the game is designed to make you uncomfortable and there’s no shame in that not being for you.)

This was originally posted on and formatted for Sufficient Velocity, and you can probably more easily read and discuss it with me here.

With that said, let’s dig in. I have had to split this into multiple posts because tumblr will only allow so many images. There will be spoilers for all endings.

She’s excited, are you?

It’s All About Ashley

It really is, isn’t it? I mean, for approximately eighty percent of the total game as currently released and the entirety of Episode 1, you’re in control of Ashley, just as she’s in control of her and Andrew’s relationship for 80% of the game, up until the various ending sequences where it begins to slip. The only other characters who really matter at all in and of themselves are Andrew and her mother — and the former is under her thumb, and she eats the latter. It’s all about Ashley. Even her obsession with Andrew is, ultimately, about Ashley.

But who is Ashley? What is Ashley? Why is Ashley, even? Let’s take a look.

Ashley as presented to us in Episode 1 is very straightforward, so let’s list off the traits we’re given — she is malicious, she is fearless, she lacks empathy, she doesn’t have anything resembling a conscience, she demands Andrew belong to her and her alone, she has him at her beck and call.

In Episode 2, we’re ostensibly shown how she has him at her beck and call— she leverages the threat of reporting Nina’s death over him and had him swear to be with her forever. We’re shown that even as a child she was “just, like that” — but as a child, she hadn’t learnt to live with it yet, to laugh at the farce of it all.

Yeah, exactly like that!

And she does this throughout Episode 1 — The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a remarkably silly game much of the time, finding moments of absurdity and levity against a backdrop blacker than pitch — and most of the time, your internal narration is coming from Ashley and the jokes will not-infrequently come at her own expense.

She will later get negged by her human sacrifice for her poor ritual circle drawing

Her reaction to being told that her soul is as dark and viscous as tar is “You guess you already knew that” — it’s confirmation to her, not new information. Ashley knows who she is. But who taught her this? There’s layers to this, nothing in this game is as simple and straightforward as it appears at first sight, which is why I’ve been obsessing over it for days.

While it’s common in fiction, the truth of the matter is, most ‘bad people’ really do think they’re good people. But Ashley has never once thought of herself as a good person — or perhaps better put as a person worthy of love — as we learn across Episodes 1 & 2, with our flashbacks to Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!!

I really wish I had space in this essay to talk about this, but I’d like to touch on these being traits usually more easily forgiven in young boys than young girls at some point.

If she removes all other options, only then can she expect him to like her.

This is something that is echoed in the modern day — her seeming self-assurance is easily shaken and she reaches out to the world — usually Andrew — to affirm and validate her, soothing her insecurities, using any tool she deems necessary. Even when her life is on the line when Andrew has her by the throat at the climax of Episode 1, the only ‘compelling reason’ she can give Andrew to not kill her is her ability to soothe his nightmares. When he tells her there are sleeping pills for that…

Most people would have a bit more to argue for their existence.

While she, unlike Andrew, acknowledges having had friends before the quarantine… you know she’s got a point that they didn’t even bother to answer her calls, that was clearly not something the state was interfering with given Andrew’s calls with his mother and his girlfriend, and given her general demeanour it’s not hard to imagine that… they weren’t ever very close. When we see her and Nina talk in the infamous ‘box scene’, it’s clear that Nina doesn’t like her very much, despite Andrew’s assessment of Nina as being one of Ashley’s friends.

We see further support for her general lack of companionship in her dream sequence in the Burial route — Leyley and Leyley Alone. No matter what you do, you can’t place the pink plushy at the family table, the flowers won’t bloom if you give the Julia and Nina plushies her own as a companion instead of Andrew’s — and if you’re bold enough to go for the ‘incest route’, in the ‘Love’ room you see that no one ever looks happy to be with her in the childlike depictions of her history, nor is she happy in turn, save for when she’s with Andrew. In a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, the player then overwrites all of these tense, upset, hard moments with Andrew, having him fill in for everyone else in life — and happy with her.

Once Upon A Lousy Life…

THE END

And that’s why she needs him to affirm her, because no one else ever has and no one else ever will. It’s even included in their comic beats — when the siblings are getting along well, they’ll often play a game where Andrew dramatically overpraises Ashley while she demands more; it’s a comedic bit but I mean — it really does matter to her!

For the record, she opened a door. She gets a little heart in a speech bubble after this exchange.

We have a great example of this dynamic, that of insecurity and affirmation, in Episode 1, after Andrew has killed for her, butchered for her, his girlfriend broke up with her, he’s seemingly thrown his entire life away for her… she’s still insecure over her relationship with him, she’s uncertain of her control and she needs him to reaffirm it for her.

This is her victory, surely?

Andrew affirms her once, with his usual dead-eyed look.

But she's still not so sure.

He actively reaches out to affirm her again with cheer.

Look how happy she is!

While it’s most obvious and clear cut here, it’s hardly the only case. Let’s look back to the aftermath of Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!! (I’m not using the other name). Leyley is, after similarly extreme acts — he murdered a girl and hid her body for her — convinced Andy doesn’t like her and she needs this leverage to keep him around, to meet her basic needs for survival. Because that’s what this is — she receives no care of affection elsewhere, so she forces it out of the only source she sees available through the means she sees as necessary.

I really hope we see some of their earlier childhood in Episode 3

What exactly made her like this? Was it just neglect, or something more specific…

She needs this to be the case because otherwise she doesn’t believe he’d stay.

This pattern repeats throughout — Ashley’s insecurities are hit on and she reaches out to Andy to affirm that she is not alone, and she will use any and every tool to exploit her ostensible control over him and force him to be what she needs him to be — and as long as she has that, as long as she is everything to him and it’s not possible for him to leave, she’s happy. As long as she thinks he loves her in her very particular, very peculiar view of love, she’s content, come what may. As long as Andy and Leyley are together, they can take on the world.

Let’s talk about that view of love, because there’s always more layers to unpack here I’m only scratching the surface with this essay — Ashley consistently refers to anyone else Andrew may have befriended or spent time with as a whore, a slut, a bitch — highly gendered insults that bring to mind the idea that he’s cheating in some way. But it’s not even about sex — when Andrew mentions that their parents had friends, she accuses them of cheating on each other in the same way!

There’s a lot to unpack about Ashley’s view of femininity and the role the patriarchy plays in their relationship.

Any kind of emotional engagement, any kind of commitment, any kind of life outside of your significant other is, to Ashley, cheating. Because that’s what she needs from Andrew, a seeming complete and total commitment, secure in her place as the only thing in his life, because she cannot understand anyone picking her if they have a choice.

This insecurity she has in her relationship is what drives her to empower the trinket — he can’t leave her as long as she can protect him with prophetic dreams, after all. She needs every kind of leverage she can get because until she succeeds in being everything to him, in devouring him so completely she has him in her thrall mind, body and soul she can’t be sure of herself — hell, her dream sequence in Burial has you placing Andrew’s signature green plushy, ‘the best thing in the world’ in a cage far away from anything else.

Ultimately, it really is all about Ashley — even her seeming obsession with Andrew ultimately comes back to her own insecurities. If she is everything to ‘the best thing in the world’, some of that ‘best’ must surely reflect on her! 

But that’s enough about the more normal, straightforward and understandable sibling. 

That was not a joke.

Andrew’s Rank 100 Deception

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist.

Let me explain.

You might have noticed that in the previous section I often use language such as ‘ostensibly’ or ‘seemingly’ to describe Andy and Leyley’s relationship, and there’s a good reason for that. From the beginning of the game through to its end, Andrew is lying to you, the player, without ever falsely representing or misinforming you about events that occurred.

The common, or obvious ‘initial take’ on Andrew as presented in Episode 1 is fairly straightforward. The game primes you to think this way, it frames things and strings reveals just right so as to make it very easy to overlook the incongruities it introduces in Episode 2. He’s a victim. Plain and simple, Ashley is his abuser and he is her victim and would be fine, a normal albeit kinda depressed guy without her.

It really is not a difficult conclusion to draw

You can go all the way through the game, have him try to accept his mother’s olive branch and enter the Decay route as a method for him to finally actualise his desire to get out from Ashley’s thumb and it makes sense, it’s a reasonable way for the story to go, given his character.

You see him this way because the game primes you in Episode 1 to view their relationship like Andrew does — he’s lying. He’s lying to himself, he’s lying to Ashley and he’s so good at it — Deception Rank 100 — he even lies to you. Without misrepresenting a single event or otherwise misleading you directly, the game gets you to buy into his preferred self-perception. Nina? Ashley. Julia? Ashley. The murders they commit in the course of the game? Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, it’s not his fault he’s not to blame he’s just a doormat at the beck and call of his demonic sister.

But he wants to be there. From the very outset, the very first puzzle, that’s made clear. Does anyone else remember this exchange, from right at the beginning of the game?

Ashley wants to investigate the music!

Andrew disapproves…

…Or does he?! 

Like. Listen. Okay. You do not frown when saying ‘Nope’ and then smile when saying that you’ll instead tag along if they do it if your heart is at all in the no. That’s not an objection, that’s using Ashley as his excuse. Especially if you immediately throw her the balcony key that she could not possibly have gotten from you by force (more on Andrew’s ability to use force later).

This is the very first time you control both characters together with Andrew following Ashley instead of off on his own, the first adventure, the first puzzle! 

But put a pin in that for now, let’s talk about his initial framing in Episode 2 first. Episode 1 has set us up to, generally speaking, believe the superficial framing of the siblings as portrayed in its promotional art:

The question that we then ask, right at the heart of it is… why is he a doormat? We explore this in his dream sequence in Episode 2, which does make it clear that the boy’s not okay but— it’s real easy, given the priming from Episode 1 to make you think that he’s the one with the originally functional moral compass, to think that that him being fucked up is damage done to him by Nina’s death and being bound to Ashley for his entire life. She corrupted him.

But, well, is that the case?

You're primed to ignore this as manipulation (which it is) but the best manipulation has some truth to it.

Precisely two things spur Andrew to action in the entire game, consistently — they are the fear of consequences and Ashley. And the first incident of that fear, the very first time we’re shown his seeming moral compass as a kid — the first time it’s really hammered home that it’s a fear of consequences rather than any true moral qualms is after Nina’s death. And why does he fear consequences here?

……

The ‘natural’ read that many take away from this sequence, particularly those who have only played Decay, is that Ashley browbeat him into doing this against his will, using emotional blackmail to overwhelm his objections, and then used the event itself to bind him to her forever as her personal doormat.

In a strict sense, this is true. But this doesn’t match up with the details, something the game uses shock to encourage you to overlook. That outburst is before any kind of threat has been made, and absolutely nothing either of them say anything about it being morally bad until Ashley weaponises ‘you’re a bad person’ against Andrew — morality didn’t seem to enter his mind or the equation at all until Ashley brought it up. More than that, his greatest fear and driving motivation even prior to that is, as shown above, being taken away from Ashley.

She, of course, recognises this and uses it against him. But she never needed to, it didn’t change anything about Andrew’s attachment to her, it was there to address her own insecurities.

Just like to touch on how a lot of his affirmations are preceded by him confirming her insecurities.

I adore this phrasing

There’s a second prong to this as well, to the question of ‘who really calls the shots here’ because — Andrew can, at any stage, apply an ‘ultimate veto’ of physical violence. The game is very clear to the player that that is on the table — even when they were children, when Andy swears their blood oath, he briefly considers killing her — and take note of how he ultimately got a ‘winning’ condition out of her by not specifying there wouldn’t be others and she is forced to accept that, there. Even outside of their most serious confrontations, Ashley is portrayed as having to convince, manipulate or otherwise coerce Andrew into going along with her schemes — she really can’t make him do anything, she doesn’t have the supremacy in violence and, to a lesser extent, capability that would allow her to. 

Andrew, you are like ten years old.

The truth of the matter is, Ashley can only make Andrew do anything because he lets her. I don’t mean in the sense that I’m saying abuse victims let their abusers emotionally abuse them, I mean in the sense that he is clearly considering his options on the table and choosing to discard those that could stop her, or bring an end to any of this. He needs her.

But it’s true that he hates her, too. He has to hate her, because if he doesn’t hate her, if he isn’t forced to have done this, that means… he’s responsible. And nothing, at the start of the story, is as important to Andrew as avoiding the consequences of his own actions, not even Ashley. By the midpoint, he loves her, he hates her, he can’t live without her, he wants to kill her — by the end… well, that depends if you’re on Decay or Burial, but more on that in a bit.

A great scene to study for this dynamic is the climax of Episode 1, when Andrew grabs Ashley by the throat and considers strangling her to death. She’s pushed him too far with hurtful words and assault, and he’s seemingly had enough.

It’s still framed as a question of risk, of consequences happening to him. 

Like, this is not the usual behaviour of someone who’s been pushed past their breaking point.

He tells Ashley that he wants to kill her, because she’s just going to throw another fit and that’s a risk to him. She is… not framed as being able to fight back (she does have a gun here, and more on that in a later essay, maybe). He’s so calculated in how he approaches his use of violence here, which isn’t at all what you’d expect of someone about to commit a crime of passion… but it’s very easy to overlook because of the abuser/victim narrative that the player fits his behaviour into the narrative that the game primes them to accept, brushing incongruities under the carpet.

At the start of Episode 2, we get to control Andrew for the first time, and the first obvious holes in his cover start to show. Some of this is optional — you only learn that he’s been faking having nightmares in order to share a bed with Ashley if you choose to go back into the motel room and check the bed, for example — but not all of it.

----(See reblogs for the second half)

[luffydotcom]

sharing their interests

synopsis: what happens you have the same interests as them (sword-fighting and cooking) feat: zoro and sanji notes: could've included the other characters for this, but i feel like for zoro and sanji this would work best!! i've honestly ALWAYS wanted to learn to use a sword. don't mind how i can't write a fight scene to save myself 💔 also i will make a masterlist soon i just barely have any posts right now RAH

zoro

ZORO has lived by the ways of the blade his whole life. he eats, sleeps and breathes his training, and takes pride in his abilities. but for him its more than just a display of strength, and not limited to protecting others, but what he enjoys doing the most - he wants to become the greatest there is after all - so he is genuinely passionate about it.

so one day, when the crew stops by a marketplace on a new island, and you take keen interest in a display of swords, he is very much intrigued that it also caught your attention. even he can't help admiring the designs of the swords, despite being perfectly happy with his own.

"i didn't know that you were interested in this sort of thing," he folds his arms, looking down at where you're squatted.

"i have learnt how to sword-fight in the past... but i wouldn't exactly call myself a pro," you tell him as you trace your finger over the blade, careful sure not to cut yourself. "even though it's been a while, i still enjoy it and admire people who are great at it."

zoro quickly looks away just for a second, before looking back with a small smirk. "is that so? i want to see for myself." he tried to hide his interest in seeing the skills you claimed to have had.

"i guess i could try, but i'm probably rusty now and these swords are pretty expensive." you sigh as you stand up and face him.

before zoro could argue, you hear loud voices chanting not too far away from you both. you and zoro turn your heads to see some marines not too far away, obviously having recognised you both, charging faster in your direction with weapons in their hands.

zoro was quick to draw out his swords and fight, however you had an idea, and a highly impulsive one. you quickly snatch one of the swords from the display, much to the dismay of the stall's owner as you let out a short "sorry, but i need to borrow this!" and follow zoro into the fight.

with all your strength, and despite how unsure you were of yourself, you grip the sword tightly and slice the marines, making them fall onto the ground and heave in pain, then turn around to fight off the rest that are behind you. having been victorious, and seeing them on the ground, you laugh, pleasantly surprised at yourself. from the corner of your eye, you catch zoro smiling at your show as he deals with the last marine.

after that day, zoro now felt a new level of respect, but also admiration of you, stunned that you also had an interest and talent in the same thing as him. he even bought you the sword that you had used, which nami wasn't too happy about at first, but he wanted to see you in action again, better if by his side.

he mentally made note to ask you to train with him one day and even show you techniques that you might be interested in - he's excited to have a sparring partner to practice with!

sanji

cooking is SANJI'S whole life, it was his very first love and he would never trade it for the world. he loves the feeling of making and serving food to hungry people with a smile, even if he's the only one doing it on the ship.

when sanji discovers that you have a knack and enjoyment for cooking yourself, his love and admiration for you grows tenfold.

after returning to the sunny with groceries for dinner, sanji notices a heavenly smell coming from the kitchen. he knows it can't be luffy - he would never be able to make food smell that good without burning the kitchen down. when he opens the door, he is surprised to see you busying yourself rolling dough and pressing it into shapes, while something is baking in the oven.

"mon chéri, are you making something?" he sets the shopping down on the counter and comes to inspect what you're doing.

"yes, luffy was getting hungry and you weren't here, so i decided to make pastries for us all to share," you indicated to what was baking in the oven. "sorry, i didn't want to use the kitchen without asking you, but i didn't want luffy to wreak havoc with his hunger..."

"it's no problem, love," he smiles warmly, then glances at the pastries you're moulding, each in pristine and neat shape. "they look amazing, i didn't know you were so experienced!"

you laugh quietly. "i love cooking so much - and baking - but i love your cooking much more."

sanji flushes for a second, taken aback by the sincerity in your compliment, but also your modesty. "you should've told me sooner, dear. and you don't need to ask to use the kitchen - in fact, i'd love it if we cooked together."

after the rest of the crew joins you both and share the finished pastries together, sanji feels so happy that he's discovered that he has a common interest with someone in the crew, especially because it's his number one passion!

that same night, after you tell him about how much you love cooking and what you've made in the past, he practically begs you to cook dinner with him - not because he can't manage on his own, but he knows it would be more fun if he was doing it with someone who is also passionate as he is. after, he even lets you borrow his favourite cookbooks, lets you in on his best recipes, and makes it a personal mission to cook with you more!

© luffydotcom

[finalfrontierpublishing]

elwenyere double feature: recollection / tactical engagements

by @elwenyere

Techy bechy bitches!!! this was the second of two books i made for @celestial-sphere-press, styled as a tête-bêche, my favourite way of binding two shorter fics together.

a relatively simpler bind, also because i had like 4-5 days to finish this before i left for japan, so i speed moded this lil chunk.

some stats as usual:

37,106 words // 237 pages

Body text: Adobe Garamond Pro 10 point

Accents: Goudy Initialen and Glorious

i really liked doing the typesetting for these two fics??? i recently acquired a colour lazer printer, and decided YES I MUST ABUSE WITH SOME 212th GOLD ORANGE. cody deserved fancy ass drop caps, and yes i love that the other accent font is called glorious (no puns intended)

can't draw for shit? it's fine, if there's one thing that affinity publisher lets you do, it jazzhands lines with aplomb.

i was inspired by @zhalfirin-binds' intricate fussy cut designs (which i learnt at the retreat that she did them with a goddamn scapel), no wonder i was crying when i cut my patterns terribly with a bloody scissors). for the cover paper and the endpapers, i used chiyogami. the cover paper was interesting because i wanted something visually interesting with a different perspective when the book was viewed one way and then when it was flipped for the other. i liked the wave pattern with flowers as it looked a bit like waves from one perspective and tree leaves from another.

lesson to the wise though, chiyogami doesn't really like being pressed hard together for endpapers. the gold bits are mildly sticky. guess who had a mini panic attack when it stuck together and bits of the blotting paper stuck to it? it came off with a little bit of rubbing but whooo. terrifying.

i used a faux suede beige bookcloth i had bought from germany with zhal, which lent some interesting texture and colour variation to the bind. endbands were done with japanese size 9 silk, my beloved.

Des, my wonderful silly friend Des, stroked the text block paper among other things and went, "I love your paper!!!! It feels so nice."

Des. Buddy. My good friend Des. I used the nice paper that you recommended that you yourself use. Can you tell how much I laughed at her? (A lot.)

photos are exemplary and much better than what i would throw together because Des did the photos as I had none.

@elwenyere - thank you so much for writing some great fic! I'd love to bind you a copy if you're keen!!! (Just that it might take a while but YES can i make you a book?)

[sunriseverse]

I keep meaning to look this up, but could you please help in pointing me somewhere to start? I'm learning Chinese (on a hobby level, at a snail's pace) and every class, on- or offline I tried so far expects me to just bruteforce learning hanzi one by one. I think you've mentioned it before (or I read it somewhere, can't remember) that there's a logic to how they are built and by knowing the building blocks you can even guess how a new-to-you character might be pronounced. Could you point me somewhere reliable I could learn more about this? Thank you :)

hi fixa! my apologies in advance if this reply is a little disordered, i personally learnt chinese as a child/growing up in china so my experience with learning chinese is very different from those wanting to learn as adults. but hopefully the resources i've provided will at least give you a starting point!

in terms of texts:

for character dictionaries that allow you to look things up via radicals and/or allow you to practice writing, there is adrian van amstel's text "simplified chinese character dictionary", cheng & tsui's "chinese character dictionary", and muhammad wolfgang g. a. schmidt's "the big chinese character dictionary" which all look fairly promising. cheng & tsui and schmidt's texts both have built-in writing portions, where you can practice the characters, while amstel's text is more of a classic dictionary in that you can only look characters up. (there's another text that i would recommend here, but i can't for the life of me remember the title and i don't have the text on hand—it's probably from the 80s, but it also teaches characters through radicals and has some explanation on the history of the evolution of the characters? will add this if/when i remember the title (providing i didn't list it already, but i don't think i have).)

the main drawback to these is that i haven't actually been able to find a copy of the cheng & tsui text online anywhere :/ it is possible to find the schmidt one, though (probably because it was published in '65—which is a drawback because i'm not sure where it would be in terms of simplified characters vs traditional), as well as the amstel text (though the copy i managed to find lists both the traditional and simplified character versions, which might be a bit confusing).

for actually learning how to write chinese characters, without having to pay anything: i cannot recommend TOFU Learn enough. when i was trying to regain competency in writing, this was the app/website i used the most. it's technically a general flashcard resource, but it's designed for learning chinese first—there are specific decks for all the hsk levels, and for radicals (usually the kangxi radicals list, but there are also 100 most common lists, etc).

in terms of other resources:

— the pleco dictionary is invaluable for looking characters up—it also breaks down characters by components, and you can, if you have it downloaded on your phone, draw characters to look them up rather than having to remember the pinyin. it also includes alternate pronunciations of characters when they exist (saved my life in a classical chinese translation project where i was ripping my hair out trying to figure out who the fuck was being talked about because the common pronunciation wasn't yielding shit).

— haven't used it myself, but my good friend @commandersya claims the mandarin blueprint system is incredibly helpful (despite looking scammy as hell); they have a free 30 day trial, as well. they put a lot of emphasis on radicals/character components, though the system they use to memorise characters feels a little baffling and roundabout to me (but howl says it works great, and i trust her because she's actually the one learning it from scratch).

most other resources i can think of off the top of my head are geared more towards getting you ready to speak, so i hope at least some of these are useful!

( @mejomonster might have some further resources as well; i know he's been studying chinese for a while, and would probably be a better source for that sort of thing than i am, since my experience is not really anything like your average foreign chinese language student.)

[sameore]

"This Type of Morning".

And here is Mommy Long-Legs!

Technically, my second fanart of the year, and my first of Poppy Playtime! 😃

I don't think she is my favorite character, but I still found her design captivating.

While I was drawing her neck and her waist, something crossed my mind: "How does food go down there?"

Well, I guess it miiight have the same girth as the small intestine (at least, when it doesn’t stretch), so I might suggest that could be an extension of that... or perhaps of her esophagus? Of her duodenum? 🤔

Something in the digestive tract, solely protected by... this layer of skin. :')

Not sure either if her organs would be exactly placed where a spider's would have been... but then, she remains somewhat humanoid after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Another fun fact is: I found it a bit confusing when I noticed she talked about herself in the third person, calling herself "Mommy" in the second chapter, but then... 😆

Pumpkie: She definitely looks like some sort of spider...

Sam: I'm abouuuuuut sure that was the idea. "Daddy long-legs" are actually a species of spider, so I have learnt!

Pumpkie: Oh. So, this is it. But, I have a question: would the conceptual version of "Mommy Long-Legs" actually be aware of what's going on in the factory?

Sam: Uhmmm... probably not? As she wouldn’t have gone through any of these experiments, and I would tend to think no human would have been used to create her. She would have been just born as an anthropomorphic spider on her own.

Pumpkie: Oh, no trauma on her side or weird use of orphans.

Sam: Nop!

Pumpkie: But, which version does this fanart apply to, then? The conceptual, oooor... the Bigger Body? I feel like she could be the result of the experiment, but could also be that innocent mother who invited you.

Sam: Well... in this case, I guess it really depends on what the viewer wants to imagine. :')

Pumpkie: Now you're done, what's next?

Sam: Ohh, the Big Dough Baby, I guess!

Pumpkie: The... who?

Sam: Doey the Doughman.

Pumpkie: Oh, I think you've already mentioned him before!

Sam (clears his throat): I guess I have, a few times.

However, I might need to go easy... as my physical health has been a bit complicated, these past days... So, I'm not sure how long it's gonna take. But, if you're curious: I have written 5 pages about him! The only thing left is the fanart.

Pumpkie: Didn't the doctor you saw today suggest you to be more careful with your physiological needs, by the way?

Sam: Errrrr, well... anywaaaaaaay, I'll take a (short) break before the next artwork! 😄

[redbecomesher]

GRACE UPON GRACE E:23

Was That A Dream.. Or A Word From God?

Hi y’all, today we are going to discuss prophetic dreams and more specific if our dreams are a word from God or not! We are going to go over 1. Does It Line Up With Scripture 2. Does It Point To Jesus Or Godly Direction? 3. Is It Clear, Or Does It Leave You In Fear/Confusion 4. Does It Stir Your Spirit After Waking 5. Has It Been Confirmed In Prayer Or Through Others? So let’s begin<33

Does It Line Up With Scripture?

God never contradicts His word. If your dream involves something unbiblical, it’s not from Him—no matter how vivid or emotional it felt. God does not speak in contradiction to His own word. The Holy Spirit and the Bible always agree. Even prophetic dreams should leave us into deeper truth, repentance, or awareness, never toward confusion or sin.

Does It Point To Jesus Or Godly Direction?

God doesn’t give prophetic dreams for entertainment. They usually point toward repentance, preparation, or a closer walk with Him. If the dream draws your heart to pray, warn others, or trust God more, it could be prophetic.

God doesn’t only speak through pastors—He can speak through you, especially in a dream, when your defences are down and your heart is still.

Ask yourself: “Is this dream pushing me toward Jesus or away from Him?”

Is It Clear, Or Does It Leave You In Fear/Confusion?

Not every intense dream is prophetic. Some are just emotional leftovers from our day. But even prophetic warnings from God don’t carry fear the way nightmares do—they bring a sense of urgency, not terror. A true dream from God will often carry peace, even if it’s calling you to act.

Fear that causes confusion, panic, or hopelessness isn’t from God.

Does It Stir Your Spirit After Waking?

When a dream from God happens, you know—because it lingers. You don’t forget it an hour later like a normal dream. You might feel a heavy presence, a deep sense of clarity, or like God is still nearby. It might even bring you to ears without knowing why.

These dreams often come with symbols, spiritual themes, or unexplainable peace. Even if you don’t understand them right away, they’ll sit in your heart for days, months or even years.

Has It Been Confirmed In Prayers Or Through Others?

God confirms His voice. You don’t have to guess alone. After a dream, bring it to prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit, “Was this from You?” Many times, God will confirm it through Scripture, a song, or a message at church, or even someone else’s dream or word.

You can also talk to someone wise and spiritually grounded—a Christian mentor, pastor, or parent in the faith. Don’t keep big spiritual dreams to yourself. God often gives pieces of the same message to different people.

I hope y’all enjoyed this subject and learnt a thing or two! Let me know if you have any questions about this episode or any other episode of ‘Grace Upon Grace’<3 Read your bibles, pray, and worship today, remember God loves you and God bless 🤍<333 Till next time…

ACTS 2:17 (NIV)

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

JOB 33:14-15 (NIV)

“For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds..

JEREMIAH 33:3 (NIV)

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

PROVERBS 3:5-6 (NIV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

DANIEL 2:28 (NIV)

“but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:

[gay-dorito-dust]

bro a ken x reader where the reader moves to barbieland but she’s got tattoos and he’s got no clue what they are …

The ending to this is absolute arse. Idk what to do.

‘What’s this?’ Ken asked as he gestured to the tattoos you had littered here and there before even more questions followed after. ‘Can they come off? Did someone draw on you like Weird Barbie? If so was it with permanent marker?’ Ken then proceeded to smile, puffing his chest out like a proud bird, ‘I learnt that big word all by myself.’

You chuckled, now realising that ever since you came to BarbieLand there wasn’t a single person in sight who was even remotely as tatted up as you were, and so all of Ken’s random inquiries concerning them made all the more sense. ‘These are called tattoos and no they can’t come off, and I guess you could say that someone ‘drew on me’ but not with a permanent marker pen, but instead a piece of equipment that some might consider a painful process.’ You shrugged. ‘Though that depends on the pain tolerance and the placement of the tattoo.’ The look on Ken’s face was borderline hysterical to you with how wide his eyes became as they trailed over your most recent tattoo as though it’ll jump out and bite him.

‘Did you say painful? Like someone pinching your skin type of painful?’ Ken asked.

‘Hmmm. Think more like being stung a thousand times when in the midst of the outlining of the tattoo, only to then feel like your being scratched repeatedly and all over by a stray cat when they start the shading and or colouring process.’ You told him.

‘So you’re meaning to tell me that you were being hurt!’ Ken cried, retracting his hand away from you as though he was going to cause you more harm, which was something he doesn’t want to have happen. ‘Why would you or anyone ever want to go through that horrible process?!’ He said, voice muffled with his hands clasped over his mouth. You should’ve probably known that Ken would’ve reacted like this but the damage was already done, and yet you couldn’t help but find it sweet when he exemplified concern over your well-being, despite the fact that it was over something as briefly painful as a tattoo.

‘Beauty is pain as they say,’ you began, ‘but I found that once you get your first tattoo, you’ll soon enough want more to add to the collection. Think of it this way, we use tattoos as a way of self expression, some of them can be of something meaningful or something fun and cartoonish and hold no meaning at all other then it looked cool at the time. But I think they quite cool, don’t you Ken?’ The blonde then removed his hands from his mouth, moving himself closer to you as to get a better look at your tattoos in general, just as a smile appeared on his face. ‘They’re so cool.’ He admitted but it was clear he was still a little conflicted about the pain you put yourself through for a tattoo. ‘But they still sound a little frightening.’ He admitted to you with a weak chuckle and you couldn’t do anything but understand and sympathise where he was coming from.

‘Yeah, they can be frightening at first but I promise you Ken, I wasn’t in that much pain for very long, besides I was the one who wanted it done, the tattoo artists were just doing their job.’ You reassured him as you felt his fingers gingerly trace the tattoo, taking in every last detail as he looked at it with a new found perspective. Your tattoos are beautiful to Ken and he’d show appreciation for each and every one by tracing his fingers over it, almost as though he’d ruin the artistry that went into them if he went any harder. He found tattoos fascinating but would probably never get one himself and even if he did, he hoped that this tattoo artist that you talk about could give him a horse portrait, or at least something related to horses at the very least. That would be cool.

[skulkiee]

Im sorry but thoughts happened :D

Theres a lot of thoughts here.

Lots. :]

Polites' design is one of my favorites and i learnt that i need to draw Telemachus more often. Also when i draw i always assign colours to each country so all the royal people in Ithaca wear yellow and red in my mind. Idk. The stories basically the same but with Eurylochus and Polites instead of Odysseus and Penelope. Except Polites gets to kill Eurymachus with one of the axes because how dare he use open arms.

Eurylochus and Odysseus built the olive tree bed together. Or rather Eurylochus helped Odysseus build it for Penelope. But he still helped. So the tree bit in Would You Fall In Love With Me Again still makes sense.

Odysseus and Penelope were killed by an assassin i guess who was hired by someone who Odysseus probably messed with. Probably another king. They were gonna kill baby Telemachus too but Polites got there first. Now they just kinda. Haunt the palace. They were given proper burials just this is more fun, especially when they get to mess with the suitors.

Telemachus is raised by Polites and Eurylochus. Hes born erlier or the war is later but i want him to remember Eurylochus after he leaves for the war. So he has his two dads and then theres the knowledge that he also has Penelope and Odysseus (whose ghosts he cannot see) who are his biological parents.

Polites stays in Ithaca because like Ithaca can't loose all four of its leaders in the space of like two years or something. Someone has to stay behind. On that note he also decided to be like yes i am the "Queen" of Ithaca. Because he would probably not loose a bunch of respect for not going to war is hes the Queen you know? And the suitors are stupid and didnt figure that out.

Um what else. I guess neither of them ever expected to become rulers, i like to imagine Polites is Penelope's little brother, and just came with her from Sparta, but even there he was like. Last in line for the throne. And nobody took him seriously because he's him.

Eurylochus was raised alongside Odysseus as his brother. And would have only been expected to take the throne if all Odysseus, Penelope and Ctimene died without an heir. So he was probably like yaay when Telemachus was born but then people went and died anyways. And Ctimene's not married in this au.

Oh yeah also Eurylochus has Aphrodite instead of Athena. I decided that a long time ago because he cares for the crew so much in Epic and i was just like. Its still Eurylochus why shouldnt he still have Aphrodite. Yes i know she was on the Trojan's side in the war and i have decided that that is irrelivant.

Elpenor is the dude that talks to the Lotus Eaters and gets killed by the cyclops this time around. Sorry Elpenor. Perimedes is the second-in-command. Someone else came up with the horse idea, it wasn't Eurylochus. Astanyax may or may not be alive i have not decided but he is probably dead.

Um yeah. I wanted to put my thoughts down because i will probably never like write anything for this, and if i do it wont be much.

Siren au is still my favorite and most important because i am invested in those little guys.

Hi if you actually read this far :D

[dysfunctional-doodle]

Hello. I hope I'm not bothering you, but I was wondering what's your personal headcanons on the Bayverse Turtles? I may have spelled headcanons wrong, so correct me if I am wrong.

(Dude I always spell headcanons wrong I got you)

Oooh hc time! Random stuff really, but:

Mikey has ADHD and Autism. I mention it very briefly in my tmnt chat fic, but I read a fanfic with this idea and it just fits so much for me. Especially the ADHD, which I think the creator of the movie confirmed somewhere anyway?

Donnie has chronic pain in his upper back/spine area, specifically where the shoulders are. To me, he just seems to have a more awkward, uneven build compared to his brothers - he is thinner and taller, yet his shell is still huge. So i kind of had this hc floating around. Idk if other people like it but eh. Cant be a nerd without a bad back I guess

Mikey and Donnie are definitely the younger brothers. Mikey being almost a full year after Donnie, and Donnie being about half a year after Raph and Leo (who are the same age)

Raph knits. Basically confirmed anyway. Specifically he learnt to knit after they were struck by a particularly harsh winter and needed blankets - Raph, being the only one that wasn’t too weak/in hibernation mode at the time, learnt how to knit to try and protect his family when he couldn’t fight the enemy with punches and kicks. He still knits blankets for them every year when the winter grows cold. They keep every one, so they have the comfiest beds

They share a room. 4 giant turtles crammed into one room with rickety bunk beds and hammocks is very funny to imagine

Leo loves romance movies. In particular the TV movie ones.

Leo had a similar attitude to Raph when he was a child until Splinter went missing for a few days whilst scavenging for food (he was fine in the end…mostly. A hasty escape from a warehouse caused him to injure his leg and be forced to hide until he could gain enough strength to return to his sons). When seeing his brothers grow hungry and scared over the few days he took charge, becoming much more of the Eldest Brother figure.

Mikey idolises Leo. He wants to be just like him one day. He thinks he’s the coolest. (It makes Leo’s comment about his head “always being in the clouds” hurt so much more)

Mikey gets a Klunk eventually, saved from being drowned. Her siblings were not as lucky (yes, I am very much writing a fic for this)

Donnie’s favourite pass time is computer science/programming/IT based activities, like how 2012 Donnie seems to enjoy chemistry the most and 2003 Donnie leans heavily towards engineering.

Leo loves house plants

Raph hates house plants

Donnie is blind as hell without his glasses and spent a lot of his younger years unable to see much. Once he could finally see he suddenly was given a world with endless possibilities and potential

Leo is terrible at technology. I’m talking 80 year old woman bad. He always clicks on scam ads and blows up computers. Something just doesn’t click with him and technology

They all have heavy turtle instincts due to them, like 2003, being just turtles rather than a mix of human dna. This causes them to have instincts and qualities turtles have such as retreating into their shells, brumating (at least partially), chirping, etc.

Donnie has a major sweet tooth

Raph can’t stand most sweet things

As kids, they would spend most their time looking at the human world and pretending they were with them.

Donnie is autistic, and has a lot of stims when he is happy that involve chittering and chirps.

Leo cheats at every video game/board game they play due to the eldest sibling advantage

Mikey loves to draw his own comics

Their Christmas hip hop album is fire

Raph is actually the cook, and is quite good at it. Mikey always burns things or they are undercooked because he’s too impatient, Donnie experiments and Leo blows everything up

That’s all for now!

[aristotto]

(I shall post everything I have not posted here before but deleted from Twitter)

First of hello, hi TUMBLR!!! This is my MD OC. Her name is Ari. Ahhhh a lot of info in the picture too.

(Her eyes are periwinkle by the way (more blue than purple) it may look strange on some screens. On my phone they look pink lol.)

(Before you ask-- Yes I speak french— Spanish and English too, currently learning mandarin. I got the languages autism i guess. —I went to high school in Rhône-Alpes. Studied theatre. I keep everything in english though, I know it's a more common and comfortable language)

Now... Lore.

Ari and her family (mom, dad, little brother) used to live in a small colony about 7-8 hours by foot from the next closest colony, where Uzi and the other members of the cast live in Copper-9. Her father (who I still have to name, but so far in the story he has only been called "Papa" by his daughter, and "Ash" by someone who doesn't even know him) definitely has something wrong with him, with his programming. He is a pathological liar and is quite paranoid, thinking anything can be held against him. This is why after a commercial dispute with a colleague, he decided to leave everything behind and take his whole family with him to another colony.

Oh yeah, here, have some music in the meantime (a friend told me it reminded her of Ari, so I'll leave it here):

I quote one of my writings:

"The family was ambushed as they moved from their previous colony to this one. It was quite the risky move, if I do say so myself. I think Ash is his name? The father. Both his wife and youngest child were killed.

As for his firstborn...

She's damaged.

She played dead. Her voice box was mangled, and even though it was repaired... It seems she doesn't want to speak anymore. Her program must have gotten corrupted. After all she was pretty beaten up, she couldn't even walk by herself that day.

She's a weird one, but she has proven herself to be very useful. Good at sewing apparently, and she's done some mechanical fixes here and there.

Good for her"

Her father is a clockmaker, her mother was a dressmaker. She learnt from both, but she is not an expert in either.

After the incident her father insisted in taking care of her by himself. He knew better, apparently. However... It did seem every fix was temporary, as her knees would stop working again in a matter of hours. Something wasn't right.

Her father is obsessed with control and being called a hero, being called a fighter and a loving father. He wants Ari to depend solely on him, this is why, unbeknownst to his daughter, he has been inflicting her these wounds. Salt water accelerates oxidation, and hidden in a can of antioxidant, the child wouldn't know.

This is when she comes back to school. She doesn't speak to anyone, but other kids seem curious about "the girl with wheels".

One kid in specific was kind enough to say hello one day.

(I am really bad at drawing, but you get the idea).

Doll gave her the bell she uses to communicate.

"You're not broken, you're not incomplete".

These are words Ari would never forget.

They used to be friends. Not close, just occasionally spending time together. As they became older they also grew apart. Doll joined the cheerleader team, made new friends, became more social. And Ari could walk by herself and didn't really need help pushing her wheelchair anymore. They both became their own people.

Ari never stopped thinking about her friend. She had a crush on her but she kept denying her own feelings. How could she? She must've only been confused.

Besides, she would have sworn Doll forgot about her.

She didn't though.

After Doll's parents passed, Ari got her wake up call to start working on mechanics. Despite the pain on her knees, she started sneaking out every now and then to pick up drone scrap parts. She dressed on her father's coat and covered her face, but the rumors started anyways. A limping figure carrying a heavy bag through the halls at night... "The Collector". Beware or it might take your limbs too!

Ari was determined to help reassemble worker drones in hopes of one day helping Doll with her parents, too. What she didn't know was how to recover the cores, so she never really succeeded in bringing anyone back.

She was one day approached by Doll, which surprised her, because she wanted help fixing her prom dress. This day while measuring her she finally realized she felt something more than friendship towards her, but she ever spoke about it.

She never did until it was too late.

Picture this after the events of episode 5, before Doll left the colony. (Forgive my badly done comic layouts)

She broke silence but... also broke her voice box again because well, she screamed, and she hadn't said a word in years.

Last resource... Throwing the bell at her.

Of course that love was not reciprocated.

"Save your tears. We'll talk when I come back, this is not a battle I can run from."

She did not come back.

Ever since the end of the events of the show, Ari has been trying to bring back Doll. A new body, yes, but she wants her to be alright again even if her love is not reciprocated. She doesn't care about that. She just thinks she didn't deserve to die.

I'll end part 1 here.

There's a lot more to go, and very little space for images.

Thank you

[buggybrosart]

Guess who finally learnt how to scan drawings

[bubybubsters]

Hi my loveee !! I hope you’re doing well !! I wanted to participate to your adorable little event !

Here is some info about me :

So I’m short like 5ft2, I’m a brunette but with lots of blonde and ginger strands that catch the sun a lot, I have light brown eyes and a lot of freckles on my face (my skin is red after 2 minutes under the sun). And, not to victimise but I’m weak (girl I twist my ankle every two days, I have endometriosis and asthma, my articulations are non existent…) so basically my body is not cooperating….

But anyway I balance it with (i think) a joyous personality, i smile a lot, sometimes without wanting to, i laugh, I cry, I’m emotive, for everything and nothing at the same time. But I also like to think I have a strong and stubborn behaviour. I stand on my opinions and don’t hesitate to fight someone for something they said that wasn’t right or was hurting to someone.

I love anything that touches arts : dancing, making or listening to music, creating things like little shelves or decorating them, painting, drawing, etc..

I also love reading romance and fantasy books, and baking little treats to my friends (it’s clearly my love language). I value a lot my grades in school and I’m considered as a A+ student. I study maths and physics by the way.

Other than that I’m a French girl living on a French island, so I love hanging on the beach, and snorkelling. I learnt English thanks to the books because fandoms are non existant in France, and thanks to mother Taylor swift. So I guess that’s all !! Thanks for writing !!

a/n: HIII wsup I LOVE ANY SHORT QUEENS i’m 5ft2 too lol my brother is 6ft how did that happen

also i know i said lucien was reserved but i feel like it would such a good match

lucien will just have two ig

or maybe everyone can have multiple

idk

event masterlist is in my bio i’m too lazy to link it 😣

best friend!lucien who drops by your work every day to walk you home. he offers you his arm and lets you rant or if you’re not in the mood, he’ll tell you funny stories or recommend books.

best friend!lucien who kisses you on new years day because “might as well be lonely together.” and maybe you won’t admit it but you can’t stop thinking of the brush of his lips against yours. they were so soft and gentle.

best friend!lucien who shows up at your work the next day with flowers and a bag if your favorite treats. he asks you out to your favorite restaurant and pays for everything. he will never let you pay (if you really wanted you could probably get him to fold though). he gives you another good night kiss as he drops you off at your house.

boyfriend!lucien who buys you matching bracelets. he surprised you with it at your six month anniversary along with your favorite treats.

boyfriend!lucien who accompanies you everywhere. he reads with you, paints with you, cooks for you, shops with you. his love language is quality time.

boyfriend!lucien who touches you at all times. when you’re standing, he’s there with a hand at the small of your back or an arm wrapped around your waist. when you’re sitting, he likes to pull you into his lap, but in more professional scenes, he loves intertwining your pinkies. 

boyfriend!lucien who loves when you smile. he’d do anything to keep that look in your eyes and the curve of your lip on your face. 

boyfriend!lucien who reads the books you read just so the two of you can rant together. or, if you have opposing opinions, it usually starts with a heated conversation and ends with lucien burying his face in your stomach and ending the conversation. 

boyfriend!lucien who loves gossiping with you. especially over face masks and a cup of sparkling grape juice.

boyfriend!lucien who loves taking care of you. at this point, his love languages are all five of em. he loves comforting you if you’re sad and insists on washing the dishes every day. he brings back random gifts that he just saw in a shop window and thought you would like.

boyfriend!lucien who loves you with never ending passion. he’ll never stop loving you. he would tear the world apart as long as you lived. he would do any sort of deed for you. he would be content to kiss you until the end of time.

lol i love this one

thank you @gamarancianne i’d love to talk with you esp since we’re already moots <3

[kana-daydreams]

𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥

summary: you and the general have a 'throw down' for the last panda bun in Hope Mart.

𝐏𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬��

“One panda meat bun, please.” 

The loud chime of Hope Mart’s doors follows the two voices that utter out their order in sync, one a deep masculine and the other a chirpy feminine.

Behind the cash register, the young female employee’s eyes flicker between you and the other customer to your right, a nervous smile crawling its way onto her face at your shared dilemma. 

Your brows pull down into a frown when you glance to your right, peering up to see a very much unwelcome guest. “Why are you here?”

Warumono glances down at you through his thick curls, seemingly surprised like you, at your presence.

“Panda bun.” He points a finger at the piping hot and adorable meat bun decorated in the image of a panda, that sits on the top shelf of the showcase seated atop the checkout counter. 

A meat bun that was the last of its kind.

“Hard luck, pointy ears.” You say, arms crossed. “The bun’s mine.”

Panda buns—Hope Mart’s newly, limited-time hot seller— had recently become your custom after-work treat. And after a long day of patrolling, you were looking forward to enjoying the meaty treat back at home, together with your favourite tv show. 

Hence, no way are you going to give up your precious bun to a despicable villain.

“Is that true?” Warumono directs at the cashier who gives him a questioning look. 

“Pardon me sir?”

“Is it hers?” He clarifies, pointing again at the meat bun. 

The cashier looks between you two. “Um, no sir. It isn’t.” She stutters out and you flinch.

“Then I’ll  have it.” He fishes out his wallet from his left pocket, pulling out a few notes— the same time the cashier hesitantly starts retrieving his order from the display case. 

However, before the transaction can be made, your hand seizes Warumono’s wrist. 

“Don’t. you. dare.” You aim at both Warumono and the cashier who flinches with a quiet squeak when your head suddenly snaps in her direction to cast her a threatening glare. 

You turn your gaze to Warumono. “Why should you have it? It’s unfair.”

“And why should I care about fair?” The left corner of Warumono's lips inches up into a devious smirk. “Did you forget who I am?”

“How could I?” You murmur, then heave a sigh, releasing his wrist. “Then I guess there’s only one solution.”

Warumono gives you an inquisitive look. “And what’s that?” 

“We fight for it.”

And that’s how in the next moment you and Warumono come to stand outside, at the back of the store, brandishing curled fingers of one hand at each other. 

 “Three rounds.” You explain the conditions, after just finishing explaining the rules of the ideal solution to any decision-making problem: Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Warumono’s lips had adorned a frown throughout your entire explanation. 

This wasn’t what the villain expected when you’d suggested you both fight. Though he guesses he can’t complain since he’d rather much avoid fighting you on his treasured day off.

“The winner gets the bun. The loser pays.” You finally finish explaining the conditions and Warumono nods in understanding.

He smiles an arrogant smile, and thinks to himself he has this in the bag. A recent earthling expression he’d learnt.

Though after one loss, leaving both you and him to reach a draw, he wasn’t so sure.

“Last round, villain.” 

The both of you take your position, both sporting a determined expression.

You chant. “Saisho wa guu, janken pon!”

A strangled gasp escapes Warumono while a happy cheer escapes you at your splayed fingers and his fisted hand.

“Too bad sucker. That panda bun is mine.” You grin.

After his disappointing defeat, Warumono watches with mild jealousy as you snap a few selfies with your earned award.

His shoulders slump and his head hangs low. He’d finally built up the resistance over the past few weeks to eat the long-awaited delicacy, but it seems his hard work was all for naught.

From your periphery, you see Warumono’s crestfallen expression.

A villain sad over a meat bun?

The spectacle surprises you. Once again—he’d surprised you. 

You frown. His defeated look makes you feel like you were stealing candy from a baby. A giant, over six feet tall baby.

You heave a defeated sigh. Then reluctantly break the bun in half. “Here.”

Warumono raises his gaze to see your outstretched hand brandishing half of the bun towards him. His brows knit in confusion.

“Just take it already.” You grit out. “I’ve got a show to catch.”

Warumono slowly retrieves the steaming bun from your hand. “Thank you.”

His words shock you and you’re even more shocked when you look up to see a smile on his face.

Your face involuntarily warms at the sight. 

“Creepy.”

© 2024 kana-daydreams