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Okay, so I watched the Httyd Live Action Remake yesterday.

And I absolutely loved it. The soundtrack, the visuals, the voice acting ( I mean I watched it in german).

Uhm... SPOILERS AHEAD, lol

Something I especially liked was that tiny Snotlout subplot with his dad. I dunno, I somehow enjoyed his and Spitelout's screentime and roles a lot, Spitelout is established as a right hand man to Stoick and Snotlout is constantly trying to prove himself, so... nothing changed much, except for the fact that the father-son relationship was much colder than in the series and, well... I dunno, I liked it xD

But.

Yeah, now comes the but.

There are also a few things, that I really didn't like that much. Except for one thing, it's mostly minor stuff, but still something I noticed.

The Twins.

I hate how the Twins are portrayed. I'm sorry, but their appearance, their whole behavior.... just... no. I was especially afraid of how they would be represented, because they are my favorite characters, so that made it even worse, when the Twins were established as these two very stupidly people, who don't even look like each other (I know that they're not identical twins, that's impossible, but in the original they at least somewhat look like each other). And they're apparently much older than the other main cast members? Why?

Was it too hard to find younger people? I highly doubt that.

Also the Twins aren't stupid in the first movie. They are bad-mouthed idiots, but they didn't fail their exam FOUR TIMES and are thus much older than the rest of 'em. They... Man, I dunno, they feel so out of place in that cast. Also that Ruffnut basically clings to Astrid in search for her friendship... just... naahh, wasn't my thing.

2. Speaking of their ages.

The cast... The age differences are HUGE. We got people from 19 years old to 30 years like... what? The characters in the movie are between 14 and 15. You cannot tell me, that Dreamworks wasn't able to find young actors, who had the abilities to act according to the characters from the original. You cannot convince me that that's true.

I think Nico as Astrid actually fit the cast the best age wise and she did a phenomenal job, not gonna lie. I had my doubts at first about this whole movie, but to be honest, the casts acting was amazing, in my opinion. Just a side note.

3. The screenplay.

For me... many scenes happened too fast. I can't even really explain it, the whole movie, except for a few scenes, it felt rushed. Like everybody was in a hurry sometimes. The first scenes in Berk were great because of this fast momentum, but the Forbidden Friendship Scene somehow seemed a lot faster than in the original, which kinda made me feel as if it wanted everyone to hurry up. I literally thought "Wait wait, slow down, let me take in the moment, what's happening here?",while watching this. Or maybe I'm getting old and slow, I dunno.

4. Astrid

I liked her character and Nico's performance was great. There were just some minor things that I... didn't like.

She wasn't a downright asshole in the first movie, she just didn't want to deal with Hiccup's shenanigans, she didn't want him to be in the way. She never established some sort of rivalry between them, because she never saw him as a threat, even though he was the chief's son, that never was a problem in the original.

She grew very irritated with Hiccup, when he strted to outdo her, yes. Especially since she can't see through his tricks, which is why she then follows him and so on and so on.

But in the remake... Astrid and the whole gang just hate on Hiccup for being the chief's son. Which is weird, since Hiccup actually has a job at Gobber's, he doesn't just lay around and do nothing. The fact that he doesn't get thrown off the island for all the stupid stuff he does in battle, well... none of them do. The Twins literally steal yaks on a daily basis and don't get thrown off the island. So... huh? Why the hostility?

Also, Astrid putting her hand on Stoick's shoulder to comfort him while Hiccup lies there, seemingly dead... I dunno, it didn't bother me or anything, I just thought that she somehow stole a bit of Stoick's spotlight in that moment. For Astrid was shown to be the strongest and smartest the entire movie, she literally punched teeth out of the Red Death's mouth (which was awesome, not gonna lie). But I just thought the "Astrid is badass and strong and independent" came on a bit too... strong. No pun intended.

Like, that wasn't needed in the original movie, no one in the entire movie said "Astrid is the leader" "Astrid is the strongest" "Astrid is the most capable". Her actions showed all of that. And they also did in the remake, so these comments were a bit unnessesary for my liking.

Apart from that... I loved it. The dragon designs are great, when they're in action on screen, I dunno, at first I thought some of them like Stormfly looked weird, but when they move around and do stuff, they somehow look pretty cool.

Most of the movie was kept word for word, which was nice.

And the visuals all in all... really great.

It's not the original, never will be, but it is definitly worth watching.

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FNAF x Pokémon Crossover - Part I

Hey guys! Today I had the spontaneous idea to make a crossover between Pokémon and Five Nights at Freddy's. However, I'm more interested in the AI of the animatronics, so I'm making a kind of guide to a hypothetical video game based on the FNAF series and mixed with Pokémon characters. A quick note – I'm working on this idea purely for fun and not to fill in any gaps or be realistic.

Sadly due to Tumblr's limits on words, I have to Post this in two parts. Also, trigger warning! The following contains murder, death, and psychological torture – in line with the FNAF series.

At an unspecified point in the FNAF timeline, William Afton's lust for murder becomes so strong that he no longer limits himself to killing inside Freddy Fazbear's Diner and related locations. He stumbles upon a secluded warehouse, where he takes the lives of teenagers at irregular but increasingly shorter intervals after luring them into the warehouse under various pretexts. Within a few months, William Afton kills a total of ten people: Ash Ketchum Misty Cascade Drew Hayden May Maple Dawn Berlitz Paul Fitzgerald Reggie Fitzgerald Gary Oak Leaf Owen Brock Marble Afton recreates the bodies of his victims by adapting them to the animatronics in his well-known restaurants and building almost lifelike copies. They resemble the victims down to the last hair, even if the animatronics in the warehouse were not actually intended to be able to move, but merely served as hiding places for the corpses and as reminders of his deeds. Ultimately, however, Afton decided to give his own animatronics an endoskeleton as well. He made them guard the warehouse and prevent intruders from gaining access to evidence against him. Posessed by the souls of the murdered, the animatronics now wreak havoc in the warehouse, willing to kill any person, that enters the warehouse without permission. The protagonist of the game is a young adult who, after losing a bet to his best friend, breaks into the warehouse and is supposed to spend a night there alone. On the first night, however, he notices some inconsistencies – clues to disturbing events within the warehouse. The protagonist, a journalist by profession, returns after surviving the first night and sets out to find more clues (something that is mentioned in the game itself but never shown, as the protagonist is always in the same room and never leaves it). The warehouse is equipped with various rooms and security cameras, which are supposed to record unwanted activity and do so. The protagonist uses these cameras to keep track of the animatronics and follow their movements. This allows him to survive and gradually gather information that puts him on Afton's trail. To protect himself from the animatronics, the protagonist can hide under a cardboard box with a small slit that allows the player to see the animatronics running around in the safe area. He also has a flashlight and a wind-up music box at his disposal, which works similarly to the one in FNAF 3. The flashlight repels animatronics by shining directly on them, while the music box can be played through a speaker in the old office. It can attract certain animatronics and keep them away from the safe area. However, both tools depend on a battery, whose power diminishes over the course of a night. The player receives information about how the animatronics and their movements change each night from notes left by Afton in the safe area, who leaves himself reminders and messages so that he doesn't get killed by his own creations. Now we finally come to the exciting part of this idea. The movements of the animatronics and their AI levels per night. For those who don't know exactly how the AI of the animatronics works in FNAF, I'll explain it briefly. I should note that the AI in this little thought experiment is based on the AI of the second FNAF game. The so-called AI level of the animatronics determines the probability with which an animatronic can move. Every 3-5 seconds, the animatronics are given opportunities to move, but whether they do so depends on a few numbers. For example, if an animatronic is at level 5 and selects 10 as a random number after 3 seconds, it will not move. However, if it randomly selects exactly 5 or a lower number, the animatronic will change rooms. Each animatronic follows a set pattern for changing rooms. However, there are a few exceptions, which I will discuss later in this summary. We will go through each of the ten animatronics in detail, uncover their secrets, follow their paths, and clarify their AI level per night. For better orientation within the warehouse, I have created an overview here.

Ash Ash starts in the Butchering Hall, together with Misty and Gary, but except for Night 3, he is always the first to move in this room. His AI levels are as follows: Night 1 Level 1, at 2 a.m. Level 2 Night 2 Level 2 Night 3 Level 0, at 3 a.m. Level 5 Night 4 Level 5 Night 5 Level 5, at 4 a.m. Level 8 He is a fairly active character, moving every night, but at very different speeds. However, this also makes Ash quite loud, and you can tell by the noises he makes when he is about to enter the safe area, even without a camera. Sometimes you can hear quick footsteps and occasionally a giggle when he changes rooms. Ash's route is usually in this order: After leaving the Butchering Hall, he crosses Hallway #2 to finally reach the backyard through the garage. Via the shed and through Storage Room #2, he will try to finally reach the safe area via the main entrance. On night 5, this route changes rapidly and becomes much shorter. Ash will then immediately try to reach the safe area via Hallway #2 through the side entrance at the beginning of the night and surprise the protagonist from behind. Ash can be fended off by hiding in the cardboard box, provided the player hides there within 3 seconds after Ash lets out a laugh of anticipation. He will wander around the room looking for the protagonist, but will leave after a few seconds. Finally, on all nights, he will return to Hallway #2 after a failed attempt and take the usual route again. On night 5, his AI level suddenly jumps as soon as the clock strikes 4am. This makes Ash even faster and more aggressive. He relies on the player believing that he still has plenty of time before Ash can enter the safe area due to the rather long route, only to surprise him with his sudden increase in speed. The light from the flashlight successfully wards him off if Ash is standing in the main entrance of the safe area. However, if he comes in through the side entrance, the only thing that helps is the cardboard box hiding place and a good dose of hope. The music box, which the player can play via speakers in the Old Office, has a big influence on Ash and he is easily distracted by it. Only on Night 5 does it seem to offer almost no protection from him, and from 4 a.m. onwards, Ash ignores it completely.

Misty Like Ash and Gary, Misty also starts in the Butchering Hall and is one of the more active animatronics. Her AI levels are as follows: Night 1 Level 1, at 2 a.m. Level 2 Night 2 Level 2, at 3 a.m. Level 4 Night 3 Level 4 Night 4 Level 5 Night 5 Level 3, at 2 a.m. Level 6 She is active every night, but is almost silent, so the player cannot rely on sounds to notice when she is approaching the safe area. Therefore, Misty must be closely monitored using the cameras to keep track of her route and notice when she is getting too close. Her route always goes through these rooms: First, she leaves the Butchering Hall and heads toward Hallway #2. From there, she disappears into the workshop, which can be seen by the fact that she interferes with the camera there while she is in the workshop. She moves across the garage to the backyard and from there across the shed to Storage Room #2. Similar to Ash, Misty will then try to enter the safe area through the main entrance. Misty always follows the same route and cannot attack through the vent or the left entrance. However, she is very present and always returns via the same route. She can be fended off with the flashlight in the main entrance, but she is not impressed by the music box and cannot be lured away. The cardboard box is the best place to defend yourself against Misty, as she only stays in the safe area for a short time if she does enter. She can be fended off with the flashlight, but it takes more light to chase her away successfully than with all the other animatronics, which makes her particularly dangerous as she consumes a lot of the flashlight's power. Gary Gary starts in the Butchering Hall, but moves completely differently from his comrades Ash and Misty. His behavior is not very noticeable at first; he is active every night and wanders around, but rarely attacks. What makes Gary dangerous is the fact that he suddenly becomes extremely aggressive towards the end of the night. His AI levels are as follows: Night 1 Level 1, at 4am 2 Night 2 Level 1, at 4am 3 Night 3 Level 1, at 4am 5 Night 4 Level 2, at 4am 8 Night 5 Level 2, at 4am 11 Gary becomes a real threat towards the end of the night, as his movements appear unpredictable and he can follow one of three possible paths. Route 1: He leaves the Butchering Hall via Hallway #2 and goes directly to the Scraps Room. From there, he climbs into the vent and waits for an opportunity to attack the player. Unlike his colleagues from the Butchering Hall, Gary cannot be fended off with the flashlight and only reacts to the music box in the Old Office for a short period of time. The only way to defend yourself against him is to hide in the cardboard box, but you must enter it in time before Gary enters the room. If you hear an almost maniacal laugh coming from the vent, it's already too late and you only have a few seconds before Gary kills you.

Route 2: The second route takes you through Hallway #2 to Electricals, where you can stay for quite a while before heading to the garage and wandering through the backyard and shed. Gary does not affect the cameras, so unlike with Misty, you can easily follow his path. Through Storage Room #2, he appears a little later in the main entrance of the Safe Area and can attack from there. Route 3: Gary leaves Hallway #2 towards the Workshop and from there switches to Hallway #1. From there, he returns to Hallway #2 and then immediately to the rear entrance of the Safe Area. He usually uses route 3 when night has been going on for a while and his AI level has increased. This route can be particularly dangerous at the beginning if the player is not yet familiar with the exact routes, as it makes the player believe that Gary is moving away, only to reach the safe area in no time at all.

Apart from a crazy laugh when he enters the safe area with a 100% chance of killing you, Gary makes hardly any noise. Sometimes, if you spot him on the camera in the garage, you can hear rattling noises as he messes with the equipment in the room.

Alright, that's it for Part One!

Let me know what you think so far!

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A little Art Journey post.

I've drawn Paul a lot over the years, starting from when I was a little kid and sometimes watched Pokémon at my grandma's, over the early teenage years where I watched the Anime a lot more, to the late teens when I finally understood his character to its full extend - until now, my early twenties.

This Dude somehow managed to become my most favorite character out of any form of media. When people ask me, what's my favorite character in general, it's Paul.

Why?

Well, that's a looong story and complicated as heck. If anyone would be interested in that, I could dive deeper into this once I'm done with my school stuff.

But for now, I wanna enjoy this short moment of noticing, that a little bit of childhood passion can come a long way.

Funny to see how my style changed over the years xD And also how Paul apparently grew as well, he's a big, strong Demon Hunter now >:)

Fun Fact: I... I actually drew Paul as a pancake once, because I was mad at him for abandoning Chimchar once again... Yeah... the things I do when I get angry... Think I still got that lying around here somewhere...

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"I hate you... Yeah, that's right! I HATE you! I hate you ALL!"

Whew....

That was my biggest and most difficult project so far. As much as I love Paul, I sometimes hate how much I fall into the dispair cycle when I draw him xD

Anyway, I tried a new coloring technique and wanted to test out some new perspective for him in my AU for him. Grown up Paul is one of my most favorite things to draw, so... this is definitely not the last picture of him I'm gonna do :P

Noticed how the number of snakes increased over the last few years? We've reached number seven now... which means, Paul finally commited so many different crimes, he attracted every sin snake in existence :)

...Not something to be proud of and the fact that he can't even see them is... well...

Hey, after this outbreak in the story, he actually finally in all honesty tries to become a better person and slowly make it up to everyone he's hurt. Even for the one person, whose life he accidentally took.

I'll see you on the next part of the mini story about AU grown up Paul ;)

And maybe I'll one day add my mini sketches of Pokémon Paul too xD

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Well, I actually did another Warrior Cats OC drawing.

This one is called Jokerlaughter and is loosely based on Tuffnut from the How to train your Dragon movies (but mostly the TV shows, because... more of his character got to shine there xD)

Jokerlaughter is a member of Treeclan and together with his twin sister, well... wreaks a lot of havok and causes his clanmates to panic more than once a day.

Nonetheless, he's a formidable foe in combat, especially when paired up with his sister, and would do anything to protect his clan.

I've got more Warrior Cats OCs coming, so stay tuned ; )

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This.

Couldn't have said it better, this literally sums up everything that went wrong with this movie.

As the weird character 'development' for most of the characters is gladly hated by me, I downright refuse to accept, that this movie ever happened.

I'd much rather have another series with them.

Make a series for an older audience, but with the same characters, only in a more mature setting (meaning show blood, wounds, deaths, deep talks like really really deep, just don't lose the essence of RTTE).

But noooo, we got this and a half ass excuse for a live action movie...

Hey! Real big fan of your stuff :)

If you had the power to- What would you change about the third movie of httyd??

First of all thank you so much!!

For the third movie? Everything.

I don't think there is a single thing I like about the third HTTYD movie (Aside from the Deathgrippers ofc, they're perfect <33)

Scrap the lightfury, I don't like her. She was made just to be feminine and that pisses me off. Her invisibility, while kinda cool, just doesn't really sit right with me. Especially since it was supposed to make her unique and then they gave Toothless the same ability two seconds later. Which leads me into my second point.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself" WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LITERAL. GIVING TOOTHLESS SKRILL POWERS AND INVISIBILTY MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE. WHY DID YOU EVEN BOTHER GIVING IT TO THE LIGHTFURY IF HE WAS ALSO GOING TO HAVE IT. FLASHY ABILITIES MAKE NO SENSE FOR A STEALTH DRAGON.

Adding on to this, Toothless should not be acting like a horny dog. He should have been a graceful, cat dragon and not what he was. Also him practically abandoning Hiccup for the Lightfury???? She tried to kill Hiccup--Toothless's BEST FRIEND--multiple times and he did nothing????

Why did Toothless become the king of the hidden world right away??? Why would he even be fit for king?

Speaking of the Hidden World, kick that out the window. It makes literally no sense. No fresh water, no food, and the habitat is NOT SUITED FOR ALL DRAGONS.

Sending to the dragons was STUPID. HICCUP. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. Not only sending them away betray the whole message of the previous two movies, that you have to fight for what you think is right, But it also gathers all the dragons in one place, with no food, water, or natural.

None of the villains were compelling at all, the Warlords were just meh, and Grimmel? Oh boy do I have something to say about him.

The ENTIRE aspect of his character is stupid. While I can get behind a nightfury hunter, you're telling me that STRINGBEAN killed ALL of the nightfuries? Not buying it. Not only were all of his facts wrong, but there's no feasible way one person killed off an entire species of dragon. There is absolutely no way he could ever cover that much area or kill that many nightfuries, even with the help of the Deathgrippers.

Ahh, the Deathgrippers. My babies, my big murder puppies. They are perfect and deserved so much better. They didn't even get to live at the end of the film. What happened to "Good dragons under the control of bad people do bad things."???? NAH, JUST STRIKE THEM OUTTA THE SKY ITS FINE. HE DIDNT EVEN TRY TO SAVE THEM.

The only bad thing I will say about them isn't even about them, it's about their venom. It was inconsistent at best and random at worst. It changed based on what the plot needed it to, and yes, the could be chocked up to it having different effects based on what it's mixed with, but Grimmel didn't even label them. It was just a random draw. Imagine him trying to knock out the Lightfury and just killing her because he didn't realize that was the really poisonous dart. The random effects makes literally no sense.

Moving onto my next point, the characters. Oh boy, the characters. Everyone was out of character from HTTYD 1/RoB/DoB/RTTE/HTTYD 2

Snotlout, my guy. Why the FUCK would you say "Who died and made you chief?"???? BROTHER YOU WERE AT STOICK'S FUNERAL. YOU CRIED, YOU MOURNED. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. NOT ONLY THAT, YOU STARTED GOING AFTER HICCUP'S MOTHER. DUDE.And Tuffnut. You would never leave Ruffnut behind. And as stated in the shows AND movies, YOU RIDE A TWO HEADED DRAGON. YOU CAN'T FLY WITHOUT A RIDER ON EACH HEAD. And you, Ruffnut. You would never lead all of the hunters/trappers right to Hiccup and all of Berk because you 'never look back'. BITCH WHAT. WHAT. Fishlegs and Eret served literally no purpose other than comedic reliefs, and the movie would be the exact same without them.

And what happened to all the riders working together??? We literally see them raid multiple places in RTTE and HTTYD 2. Heck they tricked VIGGO during Last Dragon Auction and that takes working together.

The ableism oh the ableism. What do you mean "I have a parasitic twin and you don't see me limping around about it." BROTHER HE LOST THAT LEG IN THE BATTLE WITH THE RED DEATH. PROTECTING THE ENTIRETY OF BERK FROM LITERAL DEATH.

Speaking of Berk, Hiccup would never endanger the entirety of Berk with overcrowding and bad infrastructure. Why were there so many dragons. Why didn't you expand to the rest of the island. Why didn't you rehome the dragons to different islands. Why did one dragon bumping into a tower cause so much destruction. There are so many things wrong with it.

Changing the subject back to Grimmel, it is insane that they let him win in the end. Even though he died, he won. Toothless is confirmed to be the last nightfury, and Hiccup made the dragons leave. He accomplished BOTH of his goals, kill all the nightfuries, and for dragons to not live with humans.

And back on Hiccup sending the dragons to a death pit in the middle of nowhere. There will always be bad people. Always. It's the curse of humanity and by sending the dragons you have not only gone back on the entire message of all the previous shows and films but you have doomed all of the dragons and shoehorned in an ending that doesn't fit the series.

Anyways all this will be fixed in my rewrite and thank you for listening to my rant about THW, I hope you have a nice day/night!

TLDR; THW was awful and pretty much everything needs to be changed, deathgrippers are amazing tho and are perfect as is

[creoterative]

hello!! i was wondering if you're still continuing that marlon redemption fanfic? it's one of my favorite twdg fanfics, and honestly one of the best fanfics i've ever read. i started reading it last summer and got a little nervous after seeing that it's been a little over a year since the last chapter was written and didn't know if you were still interested in continuing it since you've been writing it since 2022.

Hello and thank you for your interest in my little Marlon Story!

I will definitely finish that fanfiction, no matter how long it takes - the problem I got at the moment is, that 2025 hasn't been very kind to me. Lots of private Drama, school drama, just drama in general and I'm in the middle of it all.

That Marlon Redemption Fanfiction is one of my favorite stories I've ever written and I already started working on the next chapter a few weeks ago. It just... takes more time, as I don't have the same amount of energy I had 3 years ago :')

And the chapters are long, so I gotta read through it all again since I basically lost my notes for the details on every chapter and that takes time as well...

I hope I can bring you a new chapter soon though, especially since we're almost at the end of the story!

Again, thanks for your interest and your kind words, stuff like this keeps me writing ;)

[creoterative]

Ahhh...

Complicated Love.

This is a little Sketch I made for an online friend of mine, it's Mika from Drifting Dragons and her OC.

I've played him in an online RPG for yeeeaaars now, similar to Paul, and somehow these two ended up together - and then she backed out of it xD

Her OC had tried to get his attention for a long time, but when her own family told her that this behavior was destroying her, she ultimately refused, when he finally asked her to be his girlfriend.

This has torn a rift between them, that didn't seem to be possible to fix. Years afterwards they meet again under different circumstances, she's a mother of four kids, two of them came from a ONS with another man and two of them came from the love of her life, who sadly passed away soon after, just like most of her kids.

Mika's been travelling the world since they parted ways and never fell in love with anyone else.

So nowww... We gotta see if they really end up together, or if they'll always have this romantic tension between them, unable to really express their feelings xD

Geez... the stories I started with 15 and gotta deal with 7 years later.

[creoterative]

Sometimes I find hidden gems in the Anime World.

Drifting Dragons is a beautiful manga-adaptation of Kūtei Doragonzu by Taku Kuwabara.

Colourful, adventurous and cozy at times, it was the perfect comfort Anime for me when Covid hit us all in 2020.

Now I finally read the manga and wanted to draw my favorite character, Mika, who's also one of the main characters.

Actually it's quite unusual for me to really like a main character, but Mika is really well written in my opinion, not taking the spotlight too often and staying in the background for other characters to shine. But when he has his moments, it's either funny as heck or action-packed and I love it.

Alright, that's it from me for today! xD

[creoterative]

We've met before - Chapter 2

Rook, Paper, Scissor - Part One

Hello guys!

It's been a tough year so far and I didn't really have the time nor energy to write a lot. My semester ends in a few weeks and then I'll come back to writing more, I definitely realized once more, how much I still need this.

As always, a little snippet of the next chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55281388/chapters/158785843#workskin

Traveling on a cruise ship was no longer unusual for Dawn. Even as a small child, she had dreamed of being able to travel the world, whether by ship, plane or automobile. Since she came from a good home, at least a few visits to relatives in different regions of Canada had been possible, but she had not been able to gain any experience outside her own country in her younger years.

That's why it was so important to her to find a proper vocation that would allow her to broaden her limited horizons. The world had so much more to offer than she had realized back then, when she had lived in her modest childhood room. Her dear mother was the one with the relieving message. She found a job ad in one of the daily newspapers, which Dawn read through with unruly attention, a little disappointed at first.

It was for a position as personal secretary to a chess player. His name meant nothing to Dawn at the time, which is why she was so disappointed and didn't expect much from this job despite her mother's hopes. So for the time being it was supposed to be just a stopgap, a transitional job until Dawn found the right position. Perhaps she could develop her language skills and hone her writing talent a little while working for this ominous chess player, thus preparing for further job interviews in more prestigious establishments.

At her first interview, which surprisingly enough took place not in an office but in a secluded area of a luxurious café, Dawn was immediately put to the test. She was received by a well-dressed gentleman whose dark eyes looked kindly at her. The small, dark moustache gave him the look of a typical gentleman of the 1930s, and his white gloves gave a certain impression of good hygiene.

As it turned out, however, this man was not the one Dawn was supposed to be working for. He would merely assess her typing skills and put her communication skills to the test. Then, if she performed her work in a manner that convinced the man, he would send her a letter asking her to report again.

Dawn didn't really expect much from this test, but she did her best to write the dictated words as fast as she could, taking great care not to allow a single typo. Then came the language test. Dawn was proficient in French and English, and she also knew a little Dutch. Whether the man was impressed or not, she couldn't tell from his expressionless face. In the end, she left the café with a more or less strong feeling of uncertainty.

It took only three days for an elaborately decorated letter to reach her, reminding her of her interview and indicating to Dawn that she would definitely get the job if she could now convince the actual client, the chess player mentioned in the newspaper.

A meeting was arranged and it wasn't long before Dawn was back at the café. This time, however, there were two men sitting across from her. She knew the friendly man who had tested her skills and language abilities. The other figure sharing the room with her, however, radiated a completely different energy than his butler did.

He had shoulder-length hair, with strands that shimmered in an unusually bright violet. His face was angular and sharply defined, with an unchanging, stony expression that made it seem as if the young man hadn't laughed in years. Dawn wouldn't be surprised if that were the truth. Most fascinating of all, however, were the eyes of her new counterpart. They were pitch-black, as dark as night, and stared incessantly at the noble glass table that stood between them.

He didn't greet her, merely introduced himself as Mr. Hayato, and then sat down in that large, red, velvet-covered armchair, from which he seemed to stare fixedly at the beautiful engraving in the table. It was only much later that Dawn learned that this constant, empty stare had a very specific reason. At that point, however, the stare seemed extremely inappropriate to her, when his attention should have been on her to assess whether she was suitable for the job.

Instead, however, it was the man with the dark hair, apparently really his butler, who asked her further questions, this time about her person and her characteristics. While Dawn gave direct answers and naturally adopted her open-hearted, polite manner, she occasionally tried to catch a glimpse of her counterpart and, if necessary, observe his reaction to her statements.

She was bitterly disappointed. The tall man in the dashing black suit didn't move a millimeter, as if he was stuck to this oversized armchair and his thoughts had fallen prey to an endlessly long train leading into the yawning void. The conversation, or rather the interrogation, ended after about ten minutes and the butler leaned a little towards his master to ask him for the decisive answer.

Slowly, as if he were moving in slow motion, the man with the violet hair raised his heavy-looking head and looked long into Dawn's sapphire blue eyes. It seemed to her as if two black holes were opening up before her, gradually threatening to swallow her whole. Until, after a good half a minute, the man opened his tight-lipped mouth and made his decision.

“You start tomorrow at 6:00 in the morning. Bring a pen and paper.”

Hayato's voice was lighter and softer than Dawn had initially expected. It wasn't any less intimidating, as he spoke with such cold monotony that it sent shivers down her spine, but she had expected a much rougher tone from someone who had apparently lost his manners. Usually, you looked at them when a potential employee asked you questions – or had it asked!

The fact that Dawn had been accepted and had withstood his critical gaze caused her to give a brief, pleased smile, to assure him of her presence the following day and to thank him for the time the conversation had cost. Once at home, however, her joy at her new job quickly faded. It would certainly not be a fulfilling job, carrying piles of papers for a chess player who had become dull to human emotions and getting him his, certainly black, coffee.

It turned out that Mr. Hayato actually resembled an automaton more than a human. His daily routine was always the same and followed an extremely rigid schedule that had to be adhered to under all circumstances. If he was not awakened punctually at 5 o'clock in the morning by his butler, Dawn got to feel his bad mood for the rest of the day and had to endure his grumpy humming. Since she couldn't prevent the butler Harrison, who was actually a perfectionist, from delaying his early rising by thirty seconds after a long day, Dawn wanted to at least make sure that she could perform her own tasks with the utmost precision.

It took her a few months to get used to her first job and to become familiar with the daily routine of this chess player. During this time, she also realized from the many documents she had to sift through that Mr. Hayato was by no means an ordinary man who had become rich and had a chess obsession. She didn't condemn herself for not having found this out before; after all, chess had never been one of her interests. But it turned out that Mr. Hayato was the reigning world chess champion.

Harrison brought Dawn up to date in the few free minutes they had together, telling her the story, omitting a few details, of the events that had ultimately led to these special circumstances.

Paul Hayato had grown up in a small village surrounded by dense forest in the middle of Germany, and had lived in poor circumstances for a long time because his mother was a housewife and his father a shoemaker. Although shoemakers were still needed, industrialization meant that many jobs were in danger of disappearing. Unfortunately, this was also the fate of Paul's father.

One day, Paul stood at the gates of the village church wearing nothing but a pair of hole-riddled trousers, a dirty grey jacket and a pair of old leather shoes. His mother had died of pneumonia and his father had worked until the end with the frayed and worn-out shoes until his body gave out and the old man suffered a heart attack. The only one he had left was his older brother Reggie, as Harrison told it.

A clever boy with an intellect that significantly exceeded the average of the villagers. But at twelve years old, Paul was just seven, he was too young to do hard labor and had not yet been able to learn his father's trade. The two boys had no choice but to ask for safe shelter for at least one night, because there were no other relatives nearby.

Fortunately for them, the local pastor took the two of them into his care and put them up in the church. He also made every effort to ensure that both of them could at least attend elementary school, which ultimately brought Reggie's hidden talents to light. The boy had an extremely keen mind, was a fast learner and easily found his way among his peers. The terrible circumstances in which he had previously found himself were in no way apparent in him.

Paul, however, caused the pastor concern from the very beginning. He hardly ate, didn't speak a single word, and the grades he showed the pastor at the end of each semester were simply miserable. The pastor could not fully explain this difference in expression, behavior, and indeed in his entire being. He merely speculated that the trauma of the early and sudden death of both parents was processed differently by the two sons.

The younger of the two brothers avoided contact with other people, shut himself off, and would rather carry snails hundreds of times from one place to another and back again than bother with learning the German language. No matter how hard the pastor tried, he couldn't get a single word out of the boy. The only one who could understand what was going on inside him was Reggie. The pastor never heard him talk to Paul either, since he certainly expected just as little of an answer as everyone else. But it seemed as if the two had developed a kind of secret language to communicate with each other. It started with small hand signals, unobtrusive gestures, blunt pointing at an object. The older they got, the more complex their secret language became, and in the end it almost seemed to the pastor as if Paul had a much better command of this invented language than of his own spoken mother tongue.

Since he could not get through to the younger of the two and the older one did not want to teach him the secret language, after all, his brother was using it to tell him things that he no longer dared to say, he gradually began to despair. What options did a child have who could neither read nor write nor speak? What place was there for him in this world, which could be so unjust and cruel to the disadvantaged?

To take his mind off his worries, the pastor liked to play chess in the garden. Sometimes the baker from the neighboring street offered to play, sometimes the sexton, sometimes the butcher's wife, and other times a police officer whom the pastor knew well took on the black pieces. The boys were not normally particularly interested in what the priest did, although they always did the tasks he gave them immediately and without argument. On this day, however, it was Paul, of all people, who seemed to be watching the unfamiliar game from a distance.

After a whole game, which the policeman just won, Reggie joined him on the wall, from where they could easily observe the garden, and asked by means of small signs whether his brother would be interested in the game that the pastor was playing there. The younger of them nodded briefly and a few moments later they looked on at the next game.

When the policeman also managed to win this game, they both actually wanted to stop and go back to their respective duties. That's when something happened that ultimately set the ball rolling. Paul raised his hand and pointed at the board, his pitch-black eyes fixed on the wooden square. Surprised, the pastor had Reggie fetch two chairs and allowed the two boys to join them.

This time, Paul played against the policeman, who seemed to be vastly superior to him at first. However, when they started the third game, they noticed something unusual. Paul began to make his moves much faster, much more determined, much firmer, until he had a clear advantage from about halfway through the game, without the policeman realizing it. He finally managed to checkmate the king and won his first chess game in a few moves.

It didn't take long for the priest to realize that Paul seemed to have a talent for this game. Over the next few days, they played the game non-stop, with other opponents constantly stepping up to the plate, but the boy defeated them all. Only the sexton managed to achieve a draw, because Paul was not at all familiar with the theory of chess and therefore did not recognize a particular move at the beginning of the game as such. He was only later introduced to the various opening tactics, but he quickly mastered them and gradually made a name for himself.

After a few major tournaments, for which the pastor even dragged the boy to the barber, Paul was so well known in the surrounding villages and even the next small town that the press took notice of him. More tests of his intellect were demanded, more tournaments to put him to the test. He mastered them all with flying colors, never once did Paul really get into trouble.

Even when he was aiming for the world championship title years later, he was called the Undefeated, although by then he had actually lost a few games. Nevertheless, his victories outweighed his defeats to such an extent that the defeats received very little attention and were virtually ignored. Every time Paul suffered a defeat or a draw, it had more to do with the fact that it was impossible for him to thoroughly study chess literature and the knowledge of his confidants was only sufficient up to a certain level. When he encountered new positions, unknown moves and possibilities, he initially found it difficult to adapt. But Paul never made the same mistake twice.

[creoterative]

The first drawing of the year!

It's Connor, from Detroit: Become Human.

He's become my favorite character of the game rather quickly, didn't expect that. So, yeah, here's a little drawing for him.

I kinda used him to try and learn more about colour theory and how to properly blend colours... Hope it paid off xD

I wish you all a great start into the new year of 2025!

[creoterative]

This was a commission for an internet friend I gained almost seven years ago.

On the right is her character Thiefstar and on the left is my character, her mate, Hawkfang.

It's a little Christmas drawing I made and I'm very happy with how it turned out, especially the cold atmosphere.

The dynamic between the two is... interesting.

They love each other to the moon and back, but have a different way of showing it.

While Thiefstar loves to cuddle, talk with him and just be there when he needs it, Hawkfang is not a fan of physical touch and also doesn't enjoy talking, especially not about his troubled past. He's done some pretty shady stuff back then.

On their journey as a couple, they learn to deal with each others quirks and also can come to agreements, try to comfort each other in a way that is acceptable for both and will and have protected the other from serious danger.

They both are the only ones who really understand their dynamic and how they work so well together, but they don't care a lot about what others might think of their relationship anyway. For them, only the clan and family matters. The rest, they can debate on xD

Have a nice day and stay safe!

[creoterative]

I've always had this annoying quirk, that whenever there is character customization in a game, I gotta design my character after another character I love, because otherwise I won't identify with them.

The character I used the most for this is... Paul...

So... I used him in Diablo IV too, as a Rogue and a Necromancer.

Since I love the snake theme for him and I always wanted to draw a grown-up version ofmy favorite character, I thought I'd try it today.

Hope you have a nice day and stay safe!

[creoterative]

I got a new obsession.

Well, actually it's an old obession reawakened and I wasn't really aware that it could become an obession.

Anyway, I finally played Ace Attorney myself and, of course, Mr. Edgelord is my favorite character so far.

So I had to draw him. Kinda.

I liked that one outfit he had in the Anime, so I drew him with that, and the reference was taken from one of his sprites, the one where he smiles so... awkwardly. I didn't want him to smile though, lol.

Bonus - Eyes

[creoterative]

Well

here's a Warrior Cats OC I worked on today.

I haven't drawn for WaCa in a long time, so I thought this might be a fun little exercise to learn a bit more about shading and lighting etc. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I guess I never will be :')

Have a nice day and stay safe!

PS: little bonus xD

[creoterative]

Ahh, well.

We all need time to relax in an old, enchanted forest, hm?

A drawing I wanted to learn some colour theory with, it was really helpful in a lot of ways.

Plus, I could finally draw my beloved game character Sonic the Hedgehog again.

Have a nice day and stay safe!

[creoterative]

Soooo cool!

Always loved this duo, there should be so much more art for them!

Hmm