#(but its a bit difficult to do when I wanna see cool art and cool ideas too)

[dailynakaharachuuya]

(just some thoughts about things, I think its rather long so you don't have to read ❤️❤️)

[melancholysway]

Hi babe! If you’re doing requests at the moment, I have a cool idea that I think you’d write perfectly! If not just ignore this lolz But I was wondering if you could do like a short-shot headcanon of each of the Bayverse turtles with an S/O that gives them like a hand-made gift she made for them? Maybe a piece of jewelry or a blanket or something and how they’d react to it :) Thank you <3

Hii!! <3 & YES, I LOVE- I also did this with Christmas in mind :)

I hope you enjoy this!

TMNT Bayverse Headcanons: Gift-Giving (Fem!Reader)

Leonardo

You use Raph to your advantage with your gift to Leo

Because you want to make him something that he’ll enjoy and something that’s very unique 

You really wanna make him something, but you aren’t sure where to start

You sulk around the Lair for a bit, until Raph comments on how your face looks like you're constipated, when in reality, you’re thinking hard of a gift for your boyfriend

“I wanna make him something,”

Raph just sits there minding his business as usual, until you get an idea

A rug for his room! It’s so painfully obvious 

You have approximately 25 days until christmas arrives, and if you work really hard, it’ll be done by then! 

After watching Raph (who later says you’re making him uncomfortable for staring too long,) you decide its best to knit it. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?

 Wrong, kind of 

It’s not difficult, it’s just very time consuming. 

You want it to have this cool kanji symbol in the middle that you think he’ll like, and you run it by Splinter to make sure it means what you think it means

And once it’s cleared, you spend so much time to make it.

I mean, A LOT of time. Something like this would be very sentimental for Leo!

And when it’s time to give it to him, you sit there with the baby blue box with a royal blue ribbon, excited to see his reaction

Leo isn’t as expressive as Mikey, so you don’t expect him to be jumping off the walls 

But as he starts unraveling it, talking about how “you didn’t have to get me anything,” he’s absolutely shocked when he opens it

It’s the neatly folded rug, with the large kanji symbol face front for him to see as soon as he takes the white tissue paper off of it

“Love”

It was a VERY hard symbol to knit, with all the different directions the stroke marks go in, but it came out amazing.

“I ddin’t get you it, I made you it,” you reply. His blue eyes look back at the symbol, and then at you, back at the symbol, then at you

It’s pretty funny

“What’s wrong? Did I mess up the kanji or-” “no.”

“It’s perfect. I love it.” 

HE LOVES IT!

He flashes you a genuine smile, bringing you into a hug and then breaking it off to kiss you, with a slew of ‘thank you’s’ that followed. Leo really appreciates this gift, but honestly, he appreciates little things. After all, he wasn’t grown up like a normal kid, things were scarce, and Master Splinter did what they could. Things were often handmade for him and his brothers, so this means a lot to him.

The fact that you made it yourself? And oh, it probably took so much time, too

He seriously cannot be more grateful. It’s a great christmas gift, especially coming from his S/O.

Raphael

Bayverse Raph is most definitely not materialistic. He genuinely enjoys time with you

He seriously doesn’t ask for much

Like at all

You had seen something that reminded you of him in a store that you seriously had to get for him

It happens to be something useful to him yet also very sweet

It’s a knitting loom!

They’re very easy to use and can make a seemingly difficult project become easy!

While Raph does like a challenge, sometimes he just wants to unwind and knit as his leisure, not wanting something hard to do- just vibes

But then, you think about it for a moment. You put it back on the shelf and just think. 

What if you made him his gift instead? 

As you leave the arts and crafts store and get back home, you create a “List of Things I can make my Boyfriend who’s a Mutant Turtle” list and get to it. You brainstorm ideas and some are decent. You want them to be good for his hobbies, but you can’t MAKE a bench press or make yarn come out your as-

You get the point

But then it hits you

He loves music, it’s something he’s always listening to while he’s working out or lounging around or 

Seriously anything this man does

So why not make him a playlist!

You already know what kind of music he likes, and spotify is his go to

You make him a playlist and when it’s done you just

Sit and wait for the 25th

December obviously

And when that day hits, you’re excited, you managed to get the Spotify code printed on a small pillow for him, so that when he scans it with his T-phone on spotify it’ll bring up the playlist!

It’s a unique gift, and when it’s time to exchange them with the guys in the Lair, you save Raph’s for last

You give him this little pillow to put off to the side as bedroom decor and he just

He’s so happy

He scrolls through after scanning it and he’s happy

You know him so well, you’ve gotten to know him so well. It’s perfect. 

“I’m usin’ it afta this,” Its HOURS long, a load of songs that he likes. A lot of workout songs, and a bunch for leisure activities. It’s something unique to him that you made, and the title of it followed by red as the photo cover of it made him equally as ecstatic 

Made with Love, Y/n.

Once everything gets cleaned up from all the gift unwrapping, he just kisses you hard ending it with a soft “Thank you, baby,”

Because, well, nobody has made him a fucking playlist before! It’s the coolest thing to him. That you know his music tastes to a T.

Not only that, but you had to have paid extra attention during conversations. He doesn’t outwardly reveal what he loves and hates like his other brothers, but you can pick up on it in conversation and his actions

How he always makes this face of disgust when he passes by Donnie’s lab and hears classical coming from the other side

Yeah, he has his likes and dislikes for certain genres

So it makes this present so much more meaningful to him- you’ve been listening, and picking up on the  little things ever since you two have started dating.

He loves it so much

And he loves you, too

Donatello

 Donnie is probably the hardest to get a gift for

He has…everything

And if he doesn’t, he can make it

Broken phone? Okay, give him a few and he’ll invent one thats 100x better than the standard Iphone

You wind up just observing your boyfriend for awhile, wondering what he’s wanting to have

You try and ask around- asking Raph mainly, since they were always the closer pair

“Ya got me, ion know what I’d even get ‘em.” Raph replies after you ask what you should get Donnie

But, you think about making something instead

After pondering about it (for a long time, might I add)

You watch Donnie one day, and you notice that he folds his pages in anything he’s reading instead of putting a bookmark

Now, some people prefer to fold it, but a lot of the time, having a bookmark is a cool thing!

So, you have your idea.

Throughout the month of December, you take photos of you and Donnie together, turning down his questions as to why-

“I can’t take pictures with my hot boyfriend?”

He doesn’t ask after you say that, he’s now too shy 

Once you pick out photos that you like, you decide to make A LOT of them, a big bundle of bookmarks!

You laminate them yourself, just in case a coffee spill occurs while he’s reading, and it looks much better!

It also lasts longer btw

Anyhoozle, once christmas comes around, you give him this envelope with purple hearts on it, and he notices it’s more bulky than the standard christmas card

And once he opens it, he looks in and picks out a random bookmark to examine it

It’s a photo of you and him cuddling together on a lavender bookmark.

After looking at that one, he begins to take them all out, laying them on his lab table, looking at the different pictures you guys took together. Not only that, but the bookmarks are all different shades of purple.

“There has to be…50 here-” He says, “I…these are pictures of us! Hold on,” Donnie then examines each and every one, talking about how he remembered when each one was taken

“You made these all for me?” 

Yes, yes you did

He’s already bringing down books and notes that are in dire need of an unfolding page and to be replaced with one of your homemade photo bookmarks instead, and once he puts the first one in one of his favorite books, he admires it for a few

“They look incredible” He smiles down at you, leaning to reach your lips. 

“Thank you, dove,” He gives you another kiss while also giving a warm hug,  “I always felt guilty folding my pages.” 

Save the trees, ya know?

Michelangelo

Making something for Mikey may appear to be difficult,

Because, well, he loves a little bit of everything

He doesn’t really hate much, and honestly, he’s open to any and everything as a gift

He would prefer something like a new comic or new cookware he can use in the lair, so along with getting those items for him, you bake him brownies-

But special brownies

No not weed brownies

Homemade brownies! Not from a box, no, you’re starting from scratch

You buy some semi sweet and dark chocolate morsels, molasses instead of regular sugar, to really make them delectable and rich!

But, also sweet as well. Not too sweet, we don’t wanna give poor Mikey a stomachache now

But just the right balance between rich and sweet. 

He’s completely unaware of this by the way

When Christmas comes around and you give him the newest comic he’s been wanting and a new kitchen utensil set he can use while making food, you present the brownies in an orange box with a tinfoil top, and when he opens it, you could visibly see fireworks shooting out and his eyes becoming starry

“Guys! My Angelcakes made me…angelcakes!” He’s so happy and the hug given right after was as tight as can be

“Kind of. Brownies, from scratch.” You smile as he’s already picking one out- the corner piece- to eat

a/n: THE CORNER PIECE OF A BATCH  OF BROWNIES IS THE BEST PART AND NOBODY CAN CHANGE MY MIND

Anyway, he takes a bite and he just

Freezes

He looks at you and gives you a chocolatey kiss on the cheek

“Angelcakes, this is like, the best gift!”

He’s already taking another bite soon after, munching in the gooey goodness

Once he’s done with the first piece, he’s already onto the second

“Thefe ar sho….gwud, thanf you!” He says in between bites

Also, he wants to bake with you now. Because this tasted amazing, what other recipes do you have up your sleeve? 

He loves it because he’s usually the one cooking for his family and only knows his cooking and April’s 

He’s not really into April’s…she’s a healthy gal, the kind that would sneak spinach or avocado into baked goods  *shudder*

Plus, he doesn’t really bake anyway, he’s a cooking guy, breakfast food is his specialty

But, now is a great time to take a couple weeks to learn everything you know about baking! Testing out new combinations and food items to use!

//

Taglist

@bee-1n-space

Masterlist

[fandsart]

i’d love to see double date or tattoo fic for stobin (from the stobin month prompts)

I asked for requests because I could not choose between them and then you sent me a choice. Fear not, I will combine. Gonna ignore that tattoos weren’t legal in Indiana until the 90s, as it seems everyone is doing that anyway

Double dates make things easier. Nobody blinks an eye at what the activity they’re doing implies when it’s being done with two girls and two boys. It already looks like a double date. If they’re all giggling—as a group—well, no one really questions it. Still, they try to go out of town for it. The people in town know them too well. Assume that Steve and Robin would be dating which is uncomfortable on its face, but even if they were willing to go the beard route, that leaves Vickie and Eddie to pretend to be a couple, and they aren’t the closest. It would be a difficult idea to sell, long term at least.

It’s fun exploring the towns over too; places they’ve never been. Just walking around and finding things to do on the date as they go. Vickie once described it as like window shopping for date samples and then making a meal from the samples. Though she used more words to describe the idea.

So they’re wandering the area, looking in at random shops when Eddie suddenly shouts, “Oh my god, I totally forgot I’ve been here before!”

“Define ‘here,’” Robin prompts.

“This town. I drove over here last year for my wyvern tattoo.”

“I think, only you could forget about a town you went to a year prior,” Vickie says.

“What reminded you?” Steve asks.

“I recognize this area. The tattoo parlor is, like, a block away.”

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

It’s the drive back that gets them talking, because Eddie has a strict rule regarding not getting impulse tattoos after getting the one his bats now cover, but he’s always itching to get more ink. The only issue comes with committing to a design and figuring out whether he’s actually prepared for the permanency of his choices or if he’s just so desperate to make himself into a work of art that he’s willing to take any image and slap it on his skin.

“If you want something meaningful to put on your skin, why don’t you just have someone you care about pick the design?” Vickie asks. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have any regrets then. I mean, unless you have a falling out with that person, but if it’s someone you really trust it would probably have to be, like, way down the road.”

“Oooh, Stevie, wanna get matching tattoos with me?”

“I’m going to be honest, I don’t know if there’s anything that would be fitting for you to get that I would be also super comfortable having on my skin. No offense.”

“Course not, love.”

“But I could probably think up something for just you.”

“Aw, just for me?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“But yes?”

“Yes, Eddie, I’ll doodle you up something all for you.”

“You know, I wouldn’t mind getting a tattoo,” Vickie says, directed at Robin. “Maybe a matching one would be too early for our relationship, but corresponding ones could be cool. If you’re down for it. Like if they work as a pair, but could be viewed on their own just fine? But they would be meant to represent ourselves more than each other, you know?”

“We could get our instruments done.”

“Yes!”

“We aren’t heading back now for you to get that done,” Eddie says. “You’ll have to wait.”

“Obviously. We’d need to set up what they’re going to look like anyway.”

“Eh, you’d be surprised with how little a tattoo artist can work with. I know your instruments are kind of complex, but you could at least get a pretty good simple version of them. More detail means a higher price anyway.”

“We should probably sit on the idea for a little bit anyway,” Vickie says.

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

“Wat’cha workin’ on?” Robin asks, pulling on her uniform vest, ready to start the few shared hours of work she has with Steve after school.

“Brainstorming ideas for Eddie.”

“Oh, the tattoo! How’s it coming?”

“Not well. I feel like if I saw an idea I could tell you whether he would like it or not. I know him well enough for the yes or no of it, but coming up with an idea myself is so hard. I know how Eddie thinks, but it’s not how I think, so I’m drawing a blank. You and Vickie made these decisions look so much easier.”

“Well, maybe if you tried to look for something you have in common like Vickie and I did…”

“It’s not… Look, I’m not upset that me and Eddie are so different. I love him for it. I just wish I could do this for him. I’m glad that you and Vickie being so similar works for you, but so does my relationship the way it is.”

“Well, obviously it’s not working that well.”

“Shut up, we aren’t going to break up over my uncreativity. Eddie’s just usually the creative one in the relationship. I mean, the reason he asked me to do this is because he’s literally so creative he won’t think his choices through.”

“At least he’s self aware enough to recognize that in himself.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe instead of brainstorming for just Eddie you should do some practice brainstorming first.”

“‘Practice brainstorming?’”

“Like a warm up. Like, you know how professional artists will, like, warm up by drawing a bunch of circles on a page before working on their actual pieces.”

“... No?”

“Ok well they do. Basically what I’m saying is that if your issue is that you don’t think the way Eddie does, then you could at least get into the mindset of thinking about what makes a good tattoo first. You think more similarly to me than you do Eddie, so if you were picking out a tattoo for me, what would you pick?”

“Well obviously a trumpet is an easy go-to. Oh!” He snaps his fingers. “One thing you could do is get the word for robin—like the bird—down in every language that you know. And then you could add one whenever you learn a new language.”

Robin hums. “I might use that, but no time soon. I’ll have to think on it. Any other ideas?”

Steve snorts. “Ice cream.”

“That doesn’t even work out of context. The only way that could work, like, as something that represents me, is if you get a matching one.”

Steve shrugs. “I mean, yeah, the only way I’d even get an ice cream tattoo would be if you were getting a matching one.”

“Where would you get it?”

“I don’t know. The Scoops uniform had, like, a patch on the shoulder. I’d probably do that.”

“Well if that’s the metric we’re using, my uniform had it on the vest. That puts it on my…”

“Your boobie.”

She elbows him lightly. “Gross.”

“Oh, whatever! It’s part of your body Robin. How can you not bring yourself to name a part of your own body?”

“It’s gross that you’re the one saying it.”

“But you also don’t say it!”

“I’m also not getting a tattoo there.”

“Then just also get it on your shoulder! You don’t have to follow the logic.”

↞⬡+¤+⬡↠

A couple weeks later sees Robin getting two tattoos. A trumpet on her left forearm, the same place Vickie got her clarinet, and an ice cream on her right shoulder in the same place as Steve’s. And Eddie is absolutely obsessed with his new tattoo of an african death-head moth. He named it Andrew. Steve may have recruited Dustin for help on getting past “moth.”

Despite being their most physically painful double date, it’s probably one of their most fun ones. Having some kind of goal and actually getting something—an actual physical thing—out of it makes it feel like they’ve achieved something. Maybe they should start structuring their dates a little bit more, even if it’ll be a little more tricky to keep their relationships on the down low.

It’s not longer “stobin month” but I will continue taking requests from the prompt list by @lesbianancyy because I wanted to take more in the first place, but I got these out late, because I’ve been super busy

[postalollie]

What are ur favorite things about pdude :) any of them and what do think dating one would be like 😳

OO HI!! SORRY FOR BEING SO LATE!!

In general I love the fact hes a morally grey character that in general doesnt seems to care for what other think of him! (except if hes wearing a gimp suit obviously lol) and his smugness as well, for postal 2 dude I love his colors! theyre more dull which for me fits his character really well and I try to do that in my art of him as well (though Ive been slacking more on that aspect lol) his design in general is just so nice to look and memorable too, its simple but effective, peak character design right there and I dont even mean it as a joke I genuinely think his design is super good, and most importantly THE GLASSES!! I like drawing him with his eyes showing but when he has the sunglasses is where the fun is at, because it kinda brings a surprise factor to him, his colors are more died down but then you see his eyes and BAM!! green! of course theyre not too bright as to match with his other colors but still bright enough for him to have some contrast and bring some surprise to the player!

Now for p1 dude, I once again love his color scheme, I love red so its fun to look at him, even with just his limited model on the original postal you can see a lot of stuff in his design which is very impressive! I love his fingerless gloves and his sweater vest as well/shirt he wears on the gone postal cover, also...long hair...pretty.. ALSO his design with the red coat and green vest! I dont usually see it being drawn (I personally do prefer to draw the red and black version because I prefer that color scheme but the other is still quite good and I wanna draw it someday!) idk his design is just once again very cool to me

NOW FOR THE DATING PART OwO (sorry if these are hard to understand im very bad with writing and most of my fantasies rarely follow a story or a very strict personality to them lol)

for p2 I imagine it would be more difficult for him to "open up" I guess, he would start pretty closed off like he is in the game, even when hes interested in you hes still kinda closed off, with stuff like flirty interactions the thing he can do best because hes more in control, show that man some genuine affection and he wouldnt know how to take it (show that man love no one in paradise apreciates him >:( ) he would probably blue screen a bit from affection, however slowly he would start getting used it and start showing a bit more as well, you would just need to be a bit patient with him, he would however still care for you and be a bit possesive, not in the unhealthy way I mean would get jealous about you and if anyone tried to do anything he would kick their ass, in general his love language is a mix of physical contact and acts of service, he also calls you darling and dearie :)

NOW FOR P1 oh p1

tbh I think he would a bit more possesive compared to p2 by a bit, finding a not sick person would be a miracle to him, he would be a bit more emotional as well, confiding in you and being the only one he would trust, to me he would profess his love to you in a way more I guess poetic way?? idk how to call it but yeah! man is down bad for you essentialy, dont get me wrong though hes still postal dude of course, just ya know with more problems

now for the massacre part.. I feel it COULD be possible to be able to stop him from doing everything like people generally write p1 x reader fics but honestly to me, idk I feel like no matter what something would make him snap, the thing is would you join him or not... my self insert does but really I think that changes from person from person, I imagine that during the very small breaks from the killing he would be all over you, you're the thing that calms him down, also if he went to the asylum he would be saved by you, together till the end no matter what

AGAIN I know the whole joining in with him might seem bad! its just that for me its not any postal dude, especially postal 1 dude wihout some violence ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

ALSO i headcanon all the dudes with the exception of corkscrew for obvious reason that theyre all part brazilian and portuguese is their first language! (self projection wee hoo) so they would call you pet names or say how much they love in the language! I feel they would say amor a lot and the variations of it (amorzinho, meu amor, mo, also that basically means my love in different ways in english) p3 would say xuxu or xuxuzin for sure though (idk how to translate this but like, imagine it as like saying doll or darling but in a more joking manner)

In any way, all of them would be protective of you, wouldnt want to hurt you no matter what and if anyone tried they're dead

(also bonus p3, he would be the most smug out of all of them, he KNOWS you love him and he loves you too and oh boy is he gonna have fun with it, also both him and p2 would probably fight for you a bit in paradise lost lol)

[hammity-hammer]

Happy Holi-gays!

Here’s my spicy six holiday writing! (two months late (((:)

Thank you so much to @thefreakandthehair for the prompt, please go make sure to read everything that everyone else has been posting!

(i also made art that's on ao3 with the story- but im a sleeby boy and that shit's difficult to add in so-- go check it out on there! & my dividers were made by someone...... i cannot recall their user and i feel like a bag of dicks but if any of y'all can figure it out pls tag them for me so i know<3)

(second also-- ty to lou, ej, & cat for beta-ing for me<33 i love you guys so much!)

to read on ao3:

if you wanna read it here then here ya go!

10 days before Christmas - 1987

Eddie slams his fist on the door to apartment 2B, rattling the door on its hinges. He’s got his bottom lip bit between his teeth while he pops his knuckles, waiting anxiously for someone to let him in. After what feels like five minutes (which realistically was about thirty seconds, but when you’re nervous time seems to move exceedingly slowly, give the man a break), a very festive looking Argyle opens the door. Bells ring as he lazily waves a hello to Eddie, nods his head and takes a step back to let him inside.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, my herbaceous buddy?” He asks with a dopey grin on his face. Argyle closes the door while Eddie looks around, taking in the colorful lights and heavily decorated tree by the television.

“Well, okay, so here’s the deal. It’s our first Christmas, like, together, you know? Like, with everybody being in their little couples and no weird upside down related shit, and we’re real adults now, right? And we’re gonna have our little Christmas party together, but I was just thinking, everyone has like little traditions that they do for holidays, right?” Eddie rambles, his hands moving wildly around him while he meanders around his point. Argyle nods at him, hanging off of every word to encourage him to go on.

“What if, we all— you, me, Stevie, Jonny, Nance, and Robbie come up with our own traditions? Like, maybe we all bring one tradition that our family does or something, and we make it like a thing?” He starts again, a hopeful look on his face while he explains, “‘Cause me and Wayne have always gone and visited some of my family and like we spend a day making tamales and flautas together, and I was just thinking that I would really, really enjoy seeing everybody try and cook that shit. I like, barely have gotten the hang of it, and I’ve been helping with them and not hanging at the kiddie table for like, four years or something now.”

Argyle thinks for a second, nodding his head softly, while Eddie wrings his hands together and grins at him. Thinking about the few cousins he has on Wayne’s side always makes him happy, but when he thinks about spending holidays with them, his happiness expands tenfold. They don’t see each other often, but every time they reconnect, it’s like there was never any time in between their meetings.

“Okay brochacho, I totally am picking up what you’re putting down, and I think we totally could convince our funky little friends to do that! Just thinking about Big Byers covered in maza has me fucking excited,” Argyle laughs. He grins so wide his eyes basically close at the thought, but suddenly they shoot open, “Wait bro, where are we gonna do all this at? Jonny boy and I definitely don’t have a big enough kitchen, and I don’t think you and Nance would be able to hold all six of us, would you?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, dearest Argyle, for we’ve got the Harrington Manor at our disposal for the foreseeable future,” Eddie grins wickedly, throwing his arms out in front of him as if he’s displaying something in the air. “Speaking of Harrington, I do need to go see my lovely boy, so I’ll smell ya later, dude. Is it cool if I call you later to confirm the time and everything once Jonny’s home?” He asks as he spins around to leave, opening the door and taking one step outside, so he can still hear Argyle’s response.

“Sure dude, we’re spending a night in for once, so we’ll be here,” He affirms, as if he and Jonathan ever leave their apartment for anything besides work and picking up their “supply” from Eddie.

Eddie basically skips to his van, throwing the door open and hopping in. He puts in his favorite tape that Steve made him, that has a perfect cursive “You suck, Eds” written on the front. He remembers when Steve gave it to him, acting all shy and trying to use his Harrington Charm to make Eddie swoon.

He’d batted his pretty round eyes at Eddie, hiding his arms behind his back while he asked questions about metal that he already knew the answer to. Eddie’d rolled his eyes and thrown a crooked smile his way, saying, “Now, now pretty boy, I’m pretty sure we’ve already gone over this. Do you just like hearing me explain things to you a million times?” He brought his hand up to push hair out of Steve’s face, basking in the deep blush that slowly spread from his cheeks to his neck.

“I- I um… I was just wondering because… Um- I made you this? And you know, I just wanted to make sure I had, like, remembered things correctly and everything,” Steve started rambling, his hands bringing the perfectly wrapped tape in front of him, a shy smile on his face. Eddie stared shell shocked at the gift in front of him, his hand still softly brushed up against Steve’s temple. Steve nudged the tape into Eddie’s chest, blinking his eyes very obviously at him.

Eddie took the present that was given to him, and held it carefully. With the utmost caution, he peeled the black wrapping paper back, his eyes growing even bigger when he realized it was actually a mixtape that Steve made. No one had ever made Eddie a mixtape before, and especially not a mixtape covered in goofy looking hearts and two stick figures holding hands on the bottom.

He glanced up at Steve, who was biting his bottom lip anxiously, as he did a little jazz hand, “Tada! I’ve been working on this for like… A few months, honestly. I just wanted it to be perfect for you? Because you’re perfect to me?” An awkward grin graced his face while he scratched his neck with the non-jazz hand.

“Steve Harrington… I know you didn’t actually make the little ole town freak a mixtape now, did you?” Eddie whispered, a teasing grin beginning to form on his lips.

Steve’s blush deepened even further while he looked to the floor, shrugging his shoulders.“I just wanted you to have a little piece of me with you everywhere you go? You know, like, you get to hear these songs and then think of…Steve,” He mumbled and rocked back and forth on his heels. Steve blew air out of his mouth and gave Eddie a goofy grin.

“Stevie, you… You are so unbelievable,” Eddie breathed and put the tape in his front pocket. He cupped Steve’s face with his hands and gently pressed their lips together. Steve immediately kissed him back, moving his hands to Eddie’s hips and stepping closer to him. They stayed like that, kissing in Steve’s bedroom and losing track of time. Eventually, Eddie pulled back.

“No one’s ever done anything this nice for me before,” He breathed, his face barely inches from Steve’s. “You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever met, inside and out, and I really, really don’t understand why you’d spend any time doing something so sweet for me.”

“Can’t you tell why I’d do this? I feel like I’ve been so obvious!” Steve laughed, moving one hand from Eddie’s hip to cup his cheek, “I like you so much, Eds. I know that it says you suck, but that’s actually a lie. You make me so, so happy, and you’re practically all I talk about. I’m pretty sure Robin was going to murder me if I didn’t figure out some way to tell you that I have feelings for you.” He grinned and poked Eddie’s cheek, “Plus, I was getting real sick and tired of not being able to do this.” Steve kissed him softly and pulled away before Eddie could kiss back.

“Now, if I said I wanted to be your boyfriend… would that be okay?” He asked shyly, moving his hands to hold Eddie’s. Steve chewed his lip while Eddie processed, spinning the rings on Eddie’s fingers.

“I would be over the moon if I got to call you mine, pretty boy.” Eddie nodded, his reserved smile turning into a giant grin.

Eddie uses his key to unlock the front door to the “Harrington Manor”, kicking his shoes off when he gets in and putting his keys in the bowl. He wanders to his boyfriend’s room, humming a little ‘Mr. Crowley’ while he swings open the door, finding a napping Steve on the bed. He’s got his glasses falling off his nose, and Eddie’s very loved copy of The Two Towers resting open on his chest.

“Stevie, baby… Good morning,” he whispers, lightly brushing hair from Steve’s forehead. Steve huffs and shakes his head, rolling over as he presses his face into his pillow.

“C’mon, I’ve gotta talk to you about some holiday plans,” Eddie laughs, plucking the book from his boyfriend and trying to roll him back over. “You aren’t even supposed to be sleeping right now, you’re gonna mess up your sleep schedule!”

“Eds… I gotta sleeeeep, get in the bed with me, please?” Steve mumbles into the pillow, not letting Eddie roll him. He reaches out his hands and grabs at Eddie, trying to pull him on top. “So sleepy… Waited so long.”

“Baby, it’s been barely an hour, I literally haven't been gone long enough for you to be asleep.” Eddie complains as he crawls over Steve, cradling his head, so he doesn’t accidentally hurt him.

“Tell me about it,” Steve huffs, opening one eye to look at Eddie as he cracks a sleepy smile. Eddie grins back, “Stevie, can we talk now? I have a question that’s kind of important.”

Steve yawns, ���Go for it.” He rests a hand gently on Eddie’s head and starts playing with his hair.

“So… You know how we don’t really have any plans for Christmas? Because Rob and Nance are doing their Hanukkah thing, and the Hopper-Byers clan has decided to vacation to Cali, excluding Jonny, so we were just going to… do nothing?” Eddie continues, “I talked to Argyle, and we want to try and do like a holiday cooking party type thing. Here. Just the six of us, no kids, and we can make our own holiday traditions.”

Steve’s eyes shoot open, “You mean like… like a family? You wanna do family things with me, Eds? And, when would we do them? Christmas is in like… a week, and I think Robs told me that Hanukkah starts soon, right?” He moves his hand down to hold Eddie’s cheek.

“Stevie, of course I wanna do family things with you, I love you. I love you so, so much. You are my family, you and Wayne, but I want to celebrate with you. I want to celebrate every single holiday we can together. And we can have the party this Saturday? I’m pretty sure everyone’s got it off, and I have Friday off, too, so I can go and get supplies. Does that sound okay?” Eddie leans into Steve’s hand, giving it a soft kiss and smiling.

“That sounds perfect, love. I’ll go call Robs and check if that works for them. Do you wanna come with me, or do you wanna stay here and rest a little?” Steve asks, pulling Eddie close to plant a soft kiss to his lips. Eddie smiles and kisses him back.

“I’ll go wherever you go, pretty boy.”

---

“Buckley residence, this is Nancy speaking,” Nancy answers the phone, sticking her tongue out at Robin who wasn’t able to get there quick enough.

“Oh, Steve! To what do we owe the pleasure of your call?” She leans away from Robin, who grabs for her and the phone, “Nance! That’s my best friend, I wanna talk to him!”

“Oh wow, you guys are inviting us to your house for a… holiday cooking party…? Do you mean like Christmas, because you know Robbie doesn’t celebrate that, and if you’re inviting us to a Christmas party I will be offended on her behalf, considering you’re supposed to be her best friend.” Nancy scolds, squealing when Robin grabs her by the waist. Robin plants a kiss on the side of her head, giggling when Nancy blushes.

“Okay… So you want us to come over Saturday? We’ll just have to be home in time to light the menorah and everything, so you can’t keep us too late,” Nancy questions, looking over to Robin.

She puts her hand over the receiver, “Does Saturday at 3pm sound okay to make food with the boys?” Robin nods, resting her chin on Nancy’s shoulder. Uncovering the receiver, Nancy lets Steve know that they’ll be there before hanging up.

“Not even letting me speak to my best friend in the whole world? The love of my life? Nancy, what are you doing! Are you jealous of little ole Stevie?” Robin jokes, placing dramatic, slobbery kisses to her girlfriend’s shoulder. Nancy giggles and rolls her eyes, “Darling. You see him every single day at work, and I just wanted to get him off the phone so I could spend some time with my favorite woman on the whole planet.”

Nancy turns around, wrapping her arms around Robin’s neck as she plants a soft kiss to her cheek. Robin snorts and her face starts to turn a bright red as she wraps her arms tighter around Nancy’s waist.

“I’m your favorite woman on the whole planet, Nance?” Robin whispers, a cheeky smile on her face. Nancy nods, kissing her other cheek, “Robin Buckley, you may be my most favorite person on the whole planet, not just my favorite woman.” Robin kisses her softly, knowing that Nancy’s telling the truth, if the letter she’d received 6 months ago was anything to go by.

“Robbie,

I don’t think I have ever met someone who makes me feel the way that you do. I thought that maybe I was making things up, or that I was misreading our interactions, but I know that the way I feel about you isn’t anything that could be misread or made up. I think about you more than is probably sane, considering that we barely get to see each other as of late. I love listening to you ramble when you’re nervous, or when you’re really excited about something, or someone brings up a topic that you love. I love when you make snarky comments under your breath that you think no one can hear. I love when you protect your friends without thought, not caring what happens to you as long as they’re safe. I love when you smile, when you laugh, when you accidentally make noises because you’re so excited you have no other way to express it. I love that you love things so passionately, not caring what people have to say. I love you, Robin. I think that this may be the easiest thing I’ve ever done, although I guess I am copping out a bit, sending a letter and all. I hope that you get this soon, and I hope that I’m not wrong about your feelings.

Estaré aquí cuando me quieras, por siempre si es lo que quieres.

Para siempre,

Nancy Wheeler”

As soon as Robin finished reading the letter, she called Steve. She waited for about three rings until he picked up, “Harrington residence, this is Steve speaking.”

“Steve! Get over here, like asap! I really, really need to get to Nancy’s, like now, please,” Robin urged. She kept the phone between her shoulder and ear as she slipped her converse on.

“Nancy’s? Why do you need to go there now? It’s like… 2pm, what are you going to do at 2pm on a weekday?” Steve asked. Robin could hear him picking up his keys, though, which had her grinning.

“I think your ex-girlfriend is also in love with me? She sent me a letter? I really, really hope this isn’t some kind of sick joke, Steve. No one would do that, right? I-I mean… No one even knows, about me, I mean, so they wouldn’t know to confess to me as Nancy… Right?” Robin started rambling, almost dropping the phone while she tied her shoes.

“Robs. Calm down, dude. I don’t think anyone knows, and it’s definitely very like Nance to send you a letter like we don’t have cars and phones,” Steve laughed, “I’m leaving now, love you, see you soon.”

“I love you too, hurry your ass up before I spiral even further, please!” Robin rushed out, putting the phone back into the cradle.

It took him 20 minutes, but Steve finally pulled up to Robin’s house. He honked his horn obnoxiously, and Robin ran outside so fast she almost fell down the steps to her house.

“Dear lord, could you have taken any longer? How am I supposed to go profess my love to your ex if you take 20 minutes to get here?” She started speaking as soon as she opened the car door, throwing her bag in by her feet before throwing herself in.

“I’m sorry that I have to obey traffic laws? Would you rather I died on the way to get you to the love of your life?” He asked rhetorically, easing his foot off of the brake and heading for Nancy’s house.

“I dunno, dude, I think maybe that would not be so great, but I can’t think about anything right now besides the fact that your ex-girlfriend, one of the most literally smartest people in all of Hawkins,” Robin started, pulling down the passenger side visor and checking her hair. “Confessed her love for your current best friend and platonic soulmate, one of the most awkward and anxious people in all of Hawkins.” She continued, rubbing under her eyes and slapping her cheeks.

“You may be awkward and anxious, but you’re still a catch! Do you know how many languages you know? And, you have like the cutest freckles, and you get her weird nerd jokes! You guys are like, perfect for eachother!” Steve exclaimed, taking his eyes off the road to look incredulously at his best friend.

“I guess… you might be right. And, she wrote in Spanish! Do you know how many people have learned phrases in other languages for me? None, Steve, the answer is none. She went out and learned how to say something, just because she knows that I know the language.” Robin rambled, her hands moving wildly as Steve pulled in front of Nancy’s house.

“She totally is in love with you, please, please go get your girl, and keep me posted!” He yelled the last part as Robin got out of the car, waving her hand at him and flipping him off.

Nancy walked to her front door when she heard the bell ring, opening it to a red faced Robin.

“I love you, Nancy,” Robin started, glancing at Nancy’s face and then immediately looking at the ground. “I am so, so in love with you. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone tell me they love me, especially not the way you did, and I especially didn’t expect you to pull out Spanish on me. No one’s ever learned Spanish for me, Nance. I- I don’t think anyone’s ever really even written me a—” Nancy cut her off, kissing her quickly and softly, barely giving Robin time to react.

“You are so incredibly cute when you’re nervous,” She said, her voice barely above a whisper. Robin’s face turned an even darker shade of red and her eyes widened comically.

“I-I’m sorry, I just really, really didn’t know that you felt the same way I did, and I just got the letter and I wanted to see you as soon as I could, so Steve drove me over here and now I’m here and you’re here and I just love you.” Robin laughed nervously.

“Can we- can we do that again? Please?” She whispered, ghosting her fingers along her bottom lip when she realized that Nancy had in fact kissed her. Nancy reached her hand out to Robin’s face, touching her cheek softly.

“You mean kiss?” She asked, taking a small step closer to Robin. Robin nodded, so Nancy leaned in to press their lips together again. Robin let out a small breath, kissing Nancy eagerly.

They stayed like that for what simultaneously felt like five minutes and five hours, before breaking apart to smile at each other.

“It’s just you and me now, okay?” Nancy asked as she broke the kiss, cradling Robin’s head in her hands.

Robin nodded and took one of Nancy’s hands off of her face to hold it, giving it a soft kiss.

“Cara mia, could you please come here?” Robin yells across the house to Nancy. She ties the last bow on the small gift box on the table as she waits. Nancy makes her way to the living room with a little gift bag in her hand.

“Did you finish your wrapping, lovely?” Nancy asks and sets her gift bag next to Robin’s box. She wraps an arm around Robin’s waist and plants a soft kiss on her cheek.

“I did indeed! Do you like the little bow?” She responds, twisting to kiss Nancy as she grabs the present box to hold up.

“Oh! That’s so cute! You just did that?” Nancy exclaims, gently taking the present to examine it. “This has to be the cutest thing I’ve ever gotten and I haven’t even opened it yet.”

“It’s no big deal, really! Just some ribbon and scissors and time and I got it all done!” Robin laughs awkwardly, a light blush on her cheeks. “Do you wanna open it and see if you like the gift…?” She suggests, biting her lip lightly when Nancy nods.

Nancy gently undoes the bow on top and takes her time removing the paper to reveal a small, black, hand-bound leather journal. Her mouth opens in a little ‘o’ as she opens it to find that the first page has already been written in.

“For Nancy, my beautifully brained pearl in a sea of fish-scale imitations. I adore you and you are going so, so many places.

Xx Robbie”

Nancy puffs her bottom lip out and looks up at Robin, “I’m the beautiful brain? Robs, this is so thoughtful. I love this and I’m going to write only the most special things in it. I love you.”

“I love you too! I tried really hard and had to make Steve take me to like four different bookstores to try and find the perfect journal, because they all had like boring journals with flowers and like, girly things, and you’re girly but you’re not girly, and you deserve something that’s professional but sleek, but also sturdy, which is why I went with a hand-bound one instead of just a regular old machine-bound one, and Steve thought it was sweet and so did Eddie, but nothing that they think matters because they’re not you, even though Steve did—” Robin gets interrupted in her rambling by a swift kiss from her girlfriend, pointedly shutting her up.

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Open your gift now, please,” She whispers, pulling the bag from the table and lightly shoving it in Robin’s hands.

Robin nods quickly and takes the tissue out of the bag, squealing when she pulls out a rubix cube. “Nancy! Are you for real right now?” She asks as she drops the bag and starts trying to solve the cube.

“One hundred percent, lovely. I know it’s not a lot but I figured it would make you happy and keep you entertained,” Nancy smiles as she watches Robin hop from one foot to the other while she fidgets.

“I absolutely love it, please, please can we light the menorah so we can cuddle on the couch and I can play with this?” Robin whisper yells and looks up at Nancy.

Nancy nods and takes the lighter from the table, “Do you wanna do this or do you want me to so you don’t have to put the cube down?”

“You, please. Thank you,” She responds, smiling softly while Nancy lights the Shamash. After Nancy lights the Shamash, Robin recites the blessings and gives Nancy the go ahead to light the first candle. She lights it and places it on the very far right side of the menorah, smiling proudly at Robin. Nancy places the Shabash back in the middle of the menorah and lets Robin begin singing ‘Maoz Tzur’, closing her eyes to take time to just listen.

When Robin finishes, Nancy holds her hand softly, “Thank you for letting me be a part of this with you, Robbie. I really appreciate it. This was very special and I’m sorry your parents couldn’t be here tonight to help.”

Robin smiles softly at her and plants a kiss to her cheek, “It’s okay, it really is. Their jobs wouldn’t let them off early enough and we’ve got a big next few days, so I’m glad I got to spend tonight with you.” She takes the hand holding Nancy’s and leads her into the living room, dropping her off at the couch.

“So, querida, do you wanna watch Rocky Horror or The Apartment?”

---

Jonathan hums as he licks the rolling paper and seals it closed, twisting the end and grinning to himself.

“Argyle, babe, are you ready to smoke the prettiest doobie ever made?” He asks and turns to his side, holding the joint up proudly. Argyle laughs and kisses his cheek, “I was born ready, Jonny baby. This bad boy’s about to be so good!”

Argyle lights the joint, inhaling smoothly and holding in for a second before lightly grabbing Jonathan’s chin to give him a light kiss and exhale smoke into his mouth. Jonathan inhales the smoke and breaks the kiss to exhale, chuckling at his boyfriend’s antics.

They continue smoking, keeping up the puff-puff-pass routine and occasionally sharing kisses and smoke, smiling at eachother. When they’ve finally cashed it, Argyle puts it out in their Garfield ashtray, a gift they’d received from Eddie and Uncle Wayne.

“What say you to a holiday dinner with the mystery gang? Eds and I talked about it earlier because he just, like, showed up here, and we thought it might be cool to have everyone together,” He asks, taking Jonathan’s hand to place light kisses on his knuckles.

“Oh yeah, when are we gonna do that? Also, where? I don’t think our apartment is big enough for all of us…” Jonathan looks around with glassy eyes, his lips slightly parted. He squints and turns his head back to Argyle, shrugging lightly when Argyle grins.

Argyle laughs, “We’re gonna do it on uh… Saturday? I think? And Eds volunteered Stevie’s house! But… I think he’s supposed to call soon… I can’t really remember…” He shrugs, leaning his head onto his boyfriend’s shoulder and yawning. Jonathan wraps an arm around him, pulling him in close and closes his eyes.

Suddenly, the phone rings, pulling them out of their little bubble. Argyle hops up, almost hitting their heads together before running to the phone attached to the wall. He picks it up excitedly, cheesing at his boyfriend on the couch,“Thank you for calling the Byers-Alvarez residence, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call, my righteous friend?”

Argyle nods, seemingly very into what the other person was saying. Having piqued Jonathan’s interest, he gets off the couch to see who’s called them. He walks up behind Argyle, snaking his arms around his waist before gently placing kisses onto his shoulder. Jonathan does his best to eavesdrop, and Eddie makes it especially easy as he talks loudly and excitedly on the other end.

“Stevie said we can use the Harrington Manor, so you guys can get here at like, 2:30 so we have time to get things finished before the ladies have to go back to Rob’s?”

“You got it, bud! Jonny and I will be there, should we bring anything?” Argyle responds, and finishes their conversation before hanging up the phone. He turns in Jonathan’s embrace and wraps his arms around his neck, planting a big, slobbery kiss on his lips. Jonathan returns the kiss, smiling widely at his dorky partner.

Argyle hums softly, moving one hand to hold Jonathan’s cheek, caressing it softly. He breaks the kiss after a moment, touching their foreheads together.

“I love you, sweet thing.” He whispers, rubbing his thumb up and down Jonathan’s cheek.

“I love you more, Arg.” His boyfriend responds, lightly rubbing their noses together and letting out a little laugh. He gives him one more peck before reaching up to take the hand that’s on his face into his own, swaying to an imaginary beat. Argyle joins him, lacing their fingers together. He hums softly, resting his cheek against Jonathan’s as they continue their dance together.

Argyle rang the doorbell to Jonathan’s house, taking a step back so he wasn’t right in front of the door when it opened. He looked down at the pizza box in his hands, grinning as he thought about its contents.

Jonathan opened the door, with bloodshot eyes and a goofy smile on his face. He pushed the door open a bit wider and gestured for Argyle to come in.

“Hey man, I wasn’t expecting you! Come on in, it’s just me tonight cause Will and El went out with my mom earlier,” He supplied as Argyle followed him inside and stepped out of his shoes.

“Oh, righteous! I was at work and they let me leave early, so I thought I’d come see my favorite Jonny Boy and bring him some ‘zza,” Argyle held out the box to his friend after Jonathan closed the door. He took the pizza box and walked it into the kitchen to place it on the table.

“Thanks, Arg, what kind is it?” Jonathan walked to a cabinet and pulled out two plates, setting them on the table where they’d be sitting. Argyle thanked him and opened the box with a shy smile on his face.

“It’s uh… Veggie and pineapple, just like you like it!” He turned the now opened box to Jonathan, watching him for his reaction. Argyle had placed the spinach on his pizza to look like a little marijuana leaf in the corner, and tomatoes in the center in the shape of a heart. Next to the heart was a pineapple question mark, and a little note was tucked underneath. Jonathan’s mouth opened in surprise, and he removed the note from underneath.

“Jonny,

You’re my best friend in the whole world, my sweet cheese, my ride or die. I love you with my whole heart, and I put it on a pizza just for you! (Don’t panic, no hearts were harmed in the making of this pizza) I don’t think I’d rather spend my time with anyone but you. Please look up at me now!”

Jonathan chuckled lightly and held onto the note, his eyes moving up to look at Argyle who had a soft blush on his cheeks.

“Do you wanna maybe… be mine, Jonny?” He asked softly, chewing on his bottom lip while he waited on a response.

“Like… Your boyfriend?”Jonathan clarified. Argyle nodded, his eyes wider than they had been before.

Jonathan stepped closer to him, reaching the hand without the note up to cup Argyle’s cheek. He nodded quickly before moving in to press their lips together. Argyle immediately kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Jonathan’s waist.

Breaking away, Jonathan smiled at his now-boyfriend, “Do you wanna eat this masterpiece and roll up with me, boyfriend?”

Argyle laughed and squeezed Jonathan where he held him, “That sounds rad, boyfriend.”

Jonathan presses a tender kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, taking one step back so he can extend one of the arms connected to Argyle and spin him in a circle. Argyle laughs while he spins, his long hair gliding in the air like an aerialist’s silks.

“Aren’t you glad you stayed here now?” He asks, landing gently back in Jonathan’s arms. Jonathan smiles sweetly up at him, “I’m always glad I get to see you, babe. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

As they continue their dance, Argyle hums a soft string of notes, not seeming to match any songs that Jonathan’s familiar with. He moves their noncommittal steps into a consistent 4/4 beat, starting a shuffle as he begins to sing in a soft voice,

“Amor, adiós

No se puede continuar

Ya la magia terminó

Ahora tengo que marchar

Será mejor

Seguir nuestra soledad

Si hoy el cielo se cubrió

Quizás mañana brille el sol,”

Jonathan closes his eyes and loses himself in Argyle’s voice, letting himself be dragged wherever his partner sees fit. When Argyle begins the chorus with a dip and a dramatic,

“No sufras (más)

(Quizás mañana nuestro llanto quede atrás)

Y si me dices que tu amor me esperará

Tendré la luz que mi sendero alumbrará

Y volveré

Como un ave que retorna a su nidal

Verás que pronto volveré y me quedaré

Con esa paz que siempre, siempre tú me das

Que tú me das,”

Jonathan chuckles and kisses his boyfriend, making sure not to get him in the middle of the lyrics. Argyle smiles brightly at him, pecking his lips back. He finishes their dance, not by completing his song, but by spinning Jonathan one last time and planting an overly dramatic kiss on his hand.

“I bet you didn’t know I had that up my sleeve, Sweet Thing,” He laughs while Jonathan gives him an exasperated smile.

“I figured you could sing but… I can say I’ve never had anyone make me dance with them while serenading me.”

“Well, since you had to stay back here for me, I figured I’d let you know that even if you think we might be better apart, I’ll always come back for you,” Argyle says earnestly, making sure to keep a firm grip on Jonathan’s hands while he maintained eye contact.

“I didn’t have to stay back for you, I chose to and you know it! You totally could’ve had a fun holiday here with everyone, it’s not your fault your family decided that they suck and would rather abandon their only son than accept him,” Jonathan replies sternly, frowning and tugging his boyfriend closer.

---

It’s a quarter past three when Argyle and Jonathan knock on Harrington's door, eyes as red-rimmed and glossy as ever. They hold each other's hands while they wait, barely registering that the door had even opened before Eddie pokes his head out.

“What’s the password?” He croaks out in an overly dramatic voice.

Argyle jumps back a bit, and Jonathan’s eyebrows raise slightly in surprise, “Is it… Mary?” he asks tentatively.

Eddie holds a hand over his mouth, trying to suppress his laughter while he opens the door for them. “You’re fucking blitzed, dude. Is that what took you guys so long?” They both nod and giggle, sharing a look with each other before entering the household.

Argyle and Jonathan make their way through the hall before realizing that one of the doorways has mistletoe hanging from the top. Jonathan turns to his partner with a grin, “Aww shucks, Arg. Looks like someone owes me a kiss.” He winks and pulls him slightly closer by the hand.

Raising an eyebrow, Argyle takes another step toward him, “Oh, do I now?”

Jonathan bites his lip and nods slowly, completely enamored by the man in front of him. Argyle rests his free hand softly on Jonathan’s cheek, just above his jaw, and closes the space between them with a gentle kiss. Jon smiles against his lips, sighing contentedly through his nose.

After a few moments pressed together, they separate and Argyle drags Jonathan to the kitchen.

The other three are busy at their own stations, Steve sitting on a stool at the island with a big bowl of some tan mush that makes Jonathan feel a bit queasy. Robin and Nancy are working on grating potatoes and onions by the sink, getting them ready to go into latkes.

“Woah Eddie, we’ve got the white boy working on tamales? You didn’t wait to put Jonny to work?” Argyle asks with a laugh while Jonathan looks between them confused.

“Tamales? That’s what he’s doing? Why’s he got a spoon?” He stares at Steve’s hands, covered in masa with some weird looking yellow thing that he’s spreading masa on.

Eddie laughs and nods, walking behind Steve to watch his technique. “He’s making tamales, yes, I just taught him while we were waiting for you two slow-pokes. Get over here and we’ll get you making them great in no time.”

Argyle shrugs when Jonathan looks at him, “Go on, baby, Eddie won’t hurt you.” Jonathan sits by Steve and takes a spoon, watching Eddie with wide eyes while he explains tamal basics.

Watching as the women grate their vegetables, Argyle decides to walk over and help. Robin hands over some potatoes and a cheese grater with a grin on her face, “Welcome to holidays at the Harrington’s! Glad you two finally showed up, my hands are tired from doing this shit.”

With a roll of her eyes Nancy hip checks Robin and laughs, “You’ve barely been doing any of the work, babe. Just standing there staring at me the whole time.”

Robin scoffs, a bright red flush beginning to rise from her neck, “That is- that’s so not true! I promise, I totally have been… working on the latkes!”

“Ladies, ladies, it’s okay. I am here in all of my gorgeous glory to learn and to teach, I don’t care who’s doing what so long as my hands keep moving on this sacred food,” Argyle soothes, starting to grate his potatoes onto a plate in front of him.

“Eddie, I genuinely don’t think this is supposed to look like this…” Steve murmurs while staring wide eyed at the corn husk covered fully in goopy maza. Eddie walks back over to him and has to turn his head to laugh into his elbow at the sight in front of him.

“Babe- how did you manage to get maza so far up your own arm? It just- goes on the husk?” He half-scolds, amazed at his ridiculous boyfriend.

Steve shrugs and doesn’t move his arms for fear of making even more of a mess. Jonathan giggles from his seat, quiet and high pitched when he realizes just what exactly his faux-competitor has done.

“Man… I don’t know if there’s any saving that one,” He snorts as he lays his newly finished husk in the pile. Steve sighs dejectedly and groans, a dramatic pout on his face when he sees Jonathan finish.

Eddie takes a spoon and starts to clean off the husk so it’s salvageable, trying not to laugh more at his poor boyfriend. He gently kisses his cheek and moves the husk to the pile before finishing his cleaning with Steve’s arm.

“Thank you, Eds,” Steve whispers, his cheeks a bright red. He gets up from his seat and runs to the bathroom to clean his arms off and try to stave off his embarrassment, worried it may turn bad quickly.

Eddie just watches as he leaves, chuckling to himself before sitting in his chair and watching Jonathan continue with his tamales.

“You caught on really quick, Jon, I’m surprised. Argyle over there was saying he was all excited to laugh at you,” He mentions, keeping a close eye on how thick Jonathan keeps the spread while he works.

“Argyle doesn’t know anything- I help my mom cook all the time and this is just like a weird swiss roll!” Jonathan huffs out before placing more husks into the bowl. This earns another laugh from Eddie who decides to get up and take the bowl of husks so he can start filling them with meat.

“Hey man, I know some things,” Argyle shouts indignantly from across the room- taken out of his zone with the latkes.

Jonathan rolls his eyes with a smile, continuing on his work while Argyle keeps his snarky jokes audible to Robin and Nancy only.

---

Steve finally comes back to see that everyone’s already started actually cooking- the latkes being fried on the stove while Eddie places the wrapped up tamales in a giant pot to boil on a different burner.

“I really missed the tamales getting finished?” He pouts and stands behind Eddie, resting his chin on his shoulder.

“Yeah baby, that’s what happens when you run away for a while,” Eddie chides and puts the lid on the pot, turning around to press a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead.

Robin pretends to gag, “Could you guys go be gay somewhere else, please?” Nancy giggles from next to Robin, knowing that they were absolutely standing almost exactly like that right before Steve came back.

“Hey Robs, can you do something for me?” Steve blinks his big eyes at her.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She sets the spatula she was using down and turns to him with furrowed brows.

“Fuck off!”

Eddie chokes on a laugh, completely caught off guard by his boyfriend’s hostility, “Babe- babe please, oh my god!”

Robin rolls her eyes and flips him off, grabbing her spatula again to keep cooking, “Literally suck my whole dick, Harrington.” Her girlfriend snorts at that and bites her lip to keep from laughing too hard.

“Wuh-oh! Lovers’ quarrel?” Argyle asks before he realizes that they were just kidding around with each other. Jonathan brings his hand to his lips and presses a kiss there, “You know they’re just being them, babe. It’s fine.” He soothes and Argyle laughs and nods.

---

By some holiday miracle, the food comes out unscathed and they’re finally able to sit down and just enjoy each other’s company. Steve and Eddie set the table, while Jonathan and Argyle start plating everything to be served. Robin and Nancy take a much deserved break before grabbing sodas and lemonade from Steve’s garage.

“All right, gays and gaydies, I present to you: our Wexi-ewish buffest,” Argyle finishes displaying the food on the table with a flourish.

“Did you really just…”

“Yeah, I think he did, Rob.”

Steve and Eddie giggle at their end of the table, having partaken in some purple palm tree delight before the food was set down. Jonathan beams at his ridiculous lover, excited to spend the holiday with his found family.

Argyle takes it upon himself to give everybody their tamales, latkes, and the various sides that they bought pre-made, before sitting himself between Robin and Jonathan. Everyone thanks him and digs in, exhausted after their long day of cooking.

“Okay, Eddie, where the fuck did you learn this recipe for the chicken? This shit’s schmackin’, I’m gonna need to kiss whichever abuela gave you this,” Argyle moans after his first bite of tamal. Eddie laughs so hard a bit of latke flies back onto his plate and he has to cover his mouth with a hand.

“I mean- if you really wanna call Wayne abuela, be my guest. I cannot control how that man reacts to you,” He responds before taking a drink of lemonade.

Jonathan giggles at his boyfriend before taking a bite. His eyes widen, “No man, I think Argyle might be onto something… this is really fucking good, man.”

Steve nods in agreement as he stuffs more tamal into his mouth, completely forgoing speaking for the time being. Robin and Nancy eat their food a bit more calmly, but still share the sentiment.

“This may just be the best tamal I’ve ever had. Not that I’ve had that many,” Robin smiles and takes another bite. Nancy wipes her mouth with a napkin, “It is really good, Eddie! Thank you for teaching the boys how to make them.”

Eddie blushes and ducks his head while he eats, “It’s just normal holiday shit- no need to thank me, guys…” Steve nudges his shoulder and shakes his head, “No sir, we are not doing that shit right now. You made our holiday special, with Argyle of course, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly thank you.” He maintains eye contact with his boyfriend and nods his head seriously.

“You’re right… I’m sorry- I just am not used to all this,” Eddie laughs, “You guys make the holidays really great, too, you know.”

They spend the rest of the evening eating their food, cleaning up, and generally just basking in their togetherness.

---

“Promise me we’ll be together every Christmas?” Steve whispers to Eddie while they’re tangled together on the couch— everyone left hours ago, leaving them to cuddle and rest peacefully.

“Whatever you want, love, I’m yours.” Eddie seals his promise with a kiss.

[shinesurge]

I don't want to be all "hello random stranger, I think your art is cool please give me advice", but I saw your webtoons post and I'd like to ask where/how you'd recommend putting webcomics on the web? For me and also for my friend who does have a comic on webtoon.

Hi! you're good, I don't mind talking about this at all haha

Before Webtoon got to be a thing the usual procedure for making a comic was to start out posting pages on your social media for a while so you could test the waters before making the jump to a dedicated site. That way you could build up a little bit of a reader base on an existing platform who would be interested enough to make the extra click, maybe start generating some revenue to pay for the real site, but also you got the chance to see if you even want to make comics without dumping too much time and effort into a site. I posted Kidd Commander pages on deviantart (now deleted) and its tumblr blog for about six months before I decided to change over, but to be honest if it's just a hobby or it suits you you can keep doing that forever if you want.

Personally, I think if your comic is important to you (and ESPECIALLY if you're getting income from it) I would strongly suggest making a home for it that you own. Make your own website and funnel people to it from social media. I know that's a tall order for a lot of reasons, but if you really can't do it, Drunk Duck is fairly reliable option that even lets you customize your vanity links and such. It's also not a terrible idea to MIRROR your comic on other sites as long as you have at least one independent place, although the quality of your reader base varies wildly between locations. There's your answer from Me Personally, but I wanna talk about why I'm so adamant about this so people reading this can make more informed decisions maybe.

Hosting and making your own website is always the safest thing you can do for a project. I don't know how well-known this is outside of the webcomics community but an issue we have come up every few years is that The Current Aggregate Site, like tapas or webtoon or even patreon, gets big enough that they decide to throw queer/marginalized voices under the bus for the sake of advertising. The biggest one I recall was Tapastic leaving a lot of queer creators in the lurch because their (then new) rules about smut pinged queer content too, as these rules tend to. If you'd built up your comic's following and community on this website it could all just disappear, you lost your archive and your comic's following and had to start over. Patreon has been tightening its policy on 'indecent media' for years too. Even tumblr, arguably the best social site for hosting a comic rn, is unstable because the site is so glitchy and unstable. I had a friend have to painstakingly rearrange their archive because a tumblr update jumbled all the pages overnight, and that's small compared to getting your blog randomly deleted. Webtoon already DEEPLY disrespects comics as a medium and has no love for small creators, given they make most of their ad money from Scandalous Content I don't know what their Moment will look like but I assure you it'll happen like it does everywhere. There's that saying about how if a service is free then you're the product; if you establish your webcomic in a place you don't own they can take that product away at any time. Along those lines, you're also tied to their ship if it ever goes down.

Webcomics has always been a medium for voices that are unwelcome in the mainstream, and that means we need to be careful about who we throw our lot in with because all these companies WILL sell us out when they get the chance. We cannot rely on them to take care of us. It's incredibly difficult to build a following, and building it in a place that could disappear as rules change over time pivots neatly into a hostage situation. Getting people to visit an independent site is definitely more difficult! But I've always been able to rest much easier whenever these periodic upheavals happen because my community has a place to reconvene and my archive is safe no matter what I post. The quality OF that community is also much higher since everybody is actively choosing to be there, I'm not just borrowing people who happen to be on an unrelated site anyway, and honestly not having to tailor my comic's story around a company's guidelines fucking rules lmao

Webcomics is a bizarre landscape these days and I'm certainly no authority on what every individual should do. Maybe your friend is just posting for fun and webtoon works for them! There's nothing wrong with using tumblr indefinitely if you're comfortable with that! Everyone's different. But if you're serious and want to have the most control over your work, try to own it all the way down. I hope some of this was helpful! Best of luck with your comics!

[reddowind]

So im not alone, I want to see pokeronpa too and i just saw your art! ITS SO AMAzING sksksksksk. I wonder what about the rest of V3 Casts.... OH! also I wanna your hc if any V3 Casts have sygna suit

WAAAAHHH THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND IM ALSO HAPPY TO KNOWING THAT IM NOT ALONE HERE WKWKWKWKWKWKWKW

This is the rest of V3 Cast's partner according to my opinion :

Korekiyo : Banette/Mega Banette (I mean... c'mon, it's obvious, they are just look alike.. a bit too much)

Gonta : I think between Mega Heracross, Mega Scizor, or Mega Pinsir (It's obvious Gonta's team will be full bug type pokemon. But I want to give badass Bug Pokemon to this pure boi. Cuz he can be scary and badass in my opinion)

Tenko : Mienshao (her Mienshao is female, her entire team will be female too, yeah you know her characteristics)

Ryoma : Liepard/Alolan Persian (he loves cat, and i think Liepard or Alolan Persian or any cat pokemon suits him)

Keebo : Genesect (Genesect reminds me of Keebo, IDK why)

Angie : Smeargle (They're artists, right?)

Tsumugi : Mimikyu/Ditto (Cosplayers, yea)

Miu : Morpeko??? Idk, maybe any Steel and electric type??? ((I just can't thinking of it)))

SYGNA SUITS

(I can't think any designs and seems like... I won't do it either, but I can imagine the partners)

Maki : It'll be Houndoom or Incineroar. Imagine how badass is Maki with them, If she paired Houndoom, she got mega evolutions. If she paired with Incineroar, she got Z moves. But Maki would be more badass... If she got paired with Giratina. Yes, I know Giratina isn't a dark type but a ghost type pokemon. But Maki and Giratina shares a similarity that is works in underworld, hiding in the shadows, as we know. Maki is an assassin who works in the shadows and underworld as for Giratina is a pokemon who live in Distortion World which it can be said.. it's an underworld from pokemon series.

Kokichi : It would be Zoroark, yeah Zoroark isn't ghost type but a dark type pokemon but you know... Zoroark would be troublesome if he joined Kokichi when he do any pranks. But I think Kokichi would be A LOT troublesome if he got paired with Hoopa, A mischief and troublemaker mythical Pokemon from Gen 6. Hoopa is a psychic/dark type Pokemon who can sends anything and everything to faraway places using its loop, which can warp space. Now, Imagine how much troublesome and overpower this pair will be....

Kaito : Cosmog/Solgaleo/Lunala/Necrozma. ...I think i don't have to explain this one

Tenko : Lopunny, in my opinion Lopunny is look like a feminine pokemon? IDK but.. knowing this, it would be a perfect pair to Tenko if she got any sygna suit in pokemon masters. Ofc, the Lopunny will be female. plus Mega Lopunny is normal/fighting type, making it more perfect pair. Also, Lopunny is very a cautious pokemon and it quickly bounds off when it senses danger. Imagine if this Lopunny's "danger" are males.... Yeah

Shuichi : I think Inteleon would be a good pair for him, I also felt like Sobble to Inteleon are similars with Shuichi's character development. From timid, pessimist to cool character. I know this opinion may be weird but.. That's how i feel. and His Inteleon can gigantamax. Or Metagross would be a good pair too due to Metagross has four brains in total. Combined, the four brains can breeze through difficult calculations faster than a supercomputer. Shuichi and Metagross are smart so they would make a great pair too, Shuichi also would be badass because Metagross can mega evolve too.

Miu : Rotom, I think Rotom will be a great help for Miu's invention due to Its electric-like body can enter some kinds of machines and take control in order to make mischief. Now, what if Rotom takes control of Miu's... "that kind of things" tools and make mischief with it? Yes, a good combination, i think. Also Rotom loves to surprise others, sometimes makes Miu annoyed of it. they would make a funny dynamic.

Tsumugi : Hisuian Zoroark, actually IDK if hisuian already made their appearance on pokemon masters but, I think it would be deathly pair to her, as you know Hisuian Zoroark with its disheveled white fur, it looks like an embodiment of death. Heedless of its own safety, Zoroark attacks its nemeses with a bitter energy so intense, it lacerates Zoroark’s own body. What i mean is.. it's intense bitter energy also can be interpreted as "despair".

Angie : Tapu Koko, Well.. Tapu Koko and Angie shares some similarity, they also can be scary too. I think

Kaede : Meoletta, I think i don't have to explain it.. Oh, Primarina would be great too. Kaede and Primarina will make a scary combo. because To Primarina, every battle is a stage. It takes down its prey with beautiful singing and dancing. It's also known as a songstress, it has a fantastical look on moonlit nights when it leads its colony in song.

I think... That's all. If you have any headcanons let me know! I'd love to hear it! ^^

[daily-ethoslab]

hihi! this is a bit of a weird question totally fine if you don't wanna answer this, but how dyu find like, what to draw etho doing for this account?

I mean ofc he's etho he's a little cryptid, but still you're on day 200! big achievement!

im currently on like day 40 of my daily account and it gets hard to keep coming up with different things to draw the character in. So much kudos to you for keeping this up for 200 days!! really cool dude

This is a very normal question! Don’t worry about it :D

I’m not the best at explaining things BUT ill try my best!

The way I go about choosing a topic or subject for my etho drawings kinda goes in this order! If one dosent currently work then I move onto the next.

1. Something from the newest upload! (Screenshot redraws or moments that made me laugh)

2. Idea list () Sometimes I get an Idea or two but i wont have the time/energy to develop it so i write it down! As you can see… a lot of them I kinda skip over but thats ok! Not every idea is going to work :). I try not to think about it too much, the thinking is for later me.

3. Pinterest. Not to shill but Pinterest is great for inspiration. I have different folders for poses, outfits, and more! So if I cant come up with something I can go to Pinterest! (This does take a bit of set up cause you need an account and all that ish)

4. Try to experiment with your art! I’m kinda guilty of not doing this one. Its very easy to just use the same mediums and same poses and same colors because they’re comfortable and fast! Try using a different medium! (Traditional art is great for this) maybe set some restrictions on your art like drawing using only straight edges, color palette, using your non dominant hand! Its always a great way to shake things up!

5. Other people! Sometimes you can ask others for requests or ideas! More often then not if people follow you they probably have something they want to see! I also want to include drawing something from fan fiction in this category cause thats other peoples brains. Just make sure you credit people!

6. Memes. these also tend to be the more popular posts ive noticed haha. But sometimes drawing characters in a meme format can be a good because it gives you a joke and sometimes a pose. (I try not to use these too much cause I don’t want it to get stale and i dont want to become reliant on them.Not shaming anyone who does 😓)

7. Last resort….. I HATE when it comes to this but sometimes your ideas are nonexistent and your inspirations are evaporated. Think of this as a break in case of emergency option. Don’t. Stop. Drawing. If you keep drawing the same thing over and over the mind numbing boredom will force your brain to pull SOMETHING out. (Not recommended! Can cause burnout!)

This isn’t in a strict order as i kinda bounce around! I hope this helpful in some way! If you need me to explain something a bit more I would be more then happy to!

This account is actually really huge for me! Would you believe me if i told you I’ve NEVER made it past day 10 of Inktober. Look at me now! Day 211! I think one of the best things to keep in mind is that not every post has to be perfect. Some days art just isn’t working but you still want to post! (Ive been trying to get a back stock of ethos for these days but it’s been difficult q_q ) Its ok to post something bad! Its ok if you don’t really learn anything from it! Its ok to be human! Don’t push yourself to post everyday! I don’t think ill be able to when school starts up for me again!

Last but not least, have fun. Its your account! No one is forcing you to do what you are doing so just have fun!

[the1975attheirverybest]

not to come across as a performative leftist like you can't make these jokes aaahhh. obviously don't make jokes that actually hurt people but i think from a white cis male inherently those jokes come across as hurtful even when not intended to be. and while I think there could be a case for looking at the bigger picture also i think if you are hurting people you should be critisized and yes allow mistakes but when you are super privlaged and saying that while having made mistakes it comes across as saying you should ignore those doing harm. like a lot of the jokes are arguably not wholly harmful like i dont think he would have genuinely had anything to follow on from trans people in sport but when you are not trans (i am) it comes across as a bit tone deaf especially considering the state of politics in the US currently.

and like critisize the right and question the left but when you are privilaged and you do it by making racist jokes and nazi solutes it comes off across as genuinely hateful and like i know ur not and ur fans know but also do they? because you are a guy on stage who we don't know and when you don't adress anything (other than saying its a performance and a bit) or sit down with anyone other than white men to talk about it it comes off as hateful. and it's really hard to come across as critical when it seems genuine and you have to do the 'well but actually he is a good guy but he is pretending' like look at jshlatt because that's a 'bit' but its fucking harmful.

though i do think the idea that music and concerts should be more widely seen as an art space is interesting because if it was someone in a movie/theatre production doing a nazi solute you wouldnt hate the actor. but i think when thats not assumed because its a gig and you say risque shit and you dont necessary put the work in (like obviously he has morals and has been vocal about misogyny and racism previously but thats not always super apparent especially when they don't know you. and like when he attempted to coerce amelia into a kiss or he posts about hot women which comes across as weird and objectifying that is what people know him for to an extent (or at least my irls) its hard to explain to people that he's not like that.

as an aside I also think its interesting that he's gone super masculine 'I'm a man I'm a male I'm a he' after so many years of being disintrested and saying that he isn't interested in masculinty. like saying that being a leftist man is confusing despite saying previously in response to that sentiment 'just existing is confusing' so like is it all just a bit? we will never know and its both very cool and incredibly frustrating and i genuinely struggle to reach a solid conclusion and put it into definitive words

i think overall his performance is based on trust that he is not a bad person and while i believe that its difficult if you don't know him personally and as a white cis man he has privilege so he doesn't have to worry about the repercussions of his jokes

(sorry if this is all a bit much i have a lot of thoughts) - 🐸

Thanks for offering this alternative perspective! I really appreciate it! I am, myself a woman of color, but I’m a cis woman, so I can’t speak for the experiences of trans people and how they are affected, nor would I ever want to invalidate your feelings. If that’s how you feel, and you genuinely find fault in the things that he does, I think you are well within your right! And you can be a fan of someone AND also criticize them. Like I hate that a second of the fandom is like “if you’re saying this it means you don’t get the band” or whatever. That’s not my intention here at alllll.

The way I see it is this, and please please please feel free to disagree with me! I think disagreement is healthy and helpful when done respectfully and I don’t mind it at all.

1. Matty has a lot of blind spots. Because of the very things you mentioned. I don’t wanna get us off track by bringing up a separate issue, so I won’t get into all the debating, but, like, his stance on “nepo babies” is kinda faulty and a little dumb, lmao. But I think he thinks the way that he does because he grew up around art and artists so those things come intuitively to him. Also, just bring a white, male, wealthy person makes him inherently privileged so his stance may not always be representative of most peoples. So, I agree with you that, sometimes, the jokes, well intentioned though they may be, come off as tone deaf. Like, let’s take the Japanese accent nonsense as an example. Matty isn’t racist. We all know this. DH represents a lot of poc and artists of Asian descent and we know he supports them fully, etc. his music actively tries to point out the ways that society marginalizes black and queer people. We know all that. But, my thing is, would he make that joke in front of a Japanese person? As a white guy, would he feel comfortable in doing that accent and have it come off as “just a joke” if the person sitting across from him were Japanese? My guess is he’d say no. Well, then, that’s a good measure for a joke that shouldn’t be told. If you can’t say it to the people it’s about, then maybe stfu. Like, he just straight up fucked up there. There’s no beating around the bush. He shouldn’t say it was art or whatever. He should just say he’s sorry.

2. I think your point about trust, and about people who don’t know his heart reacting differently, is EXACTLY why Matty does what he does. Like, progressive politics and standing up for the rights of marginalized communities should not cancel human decency. We shouldn’t be in a position, as a society, where we have to even say “no, no, listen, guys! He’s a good human! He actually wrote songs like Jesus Christ 2005, and Love It If We Made It! He’s a good guy!” Like why is that even necessary. Why is not the default of society to say “I don’t hate you as a person and want to cancel you, but, look man: what you did/said is fucked up. And here’s why.” Like, his thing is based on trust because trust SHOULD BE the norm. (Obviously, don’t extend that trust to the Epsteins and Weinsteins and Cosbys of the world, they don’t deserve it). Like the norm should be saying “no. This is bad. Here’s why. Do better.” Without all the moral outrage and performant I’ve nonsense that we do around it, you know? I think that’s what frustrates Matty and that’s why he does that stuff. It’s also unfortunately why it doesn’t work. Cuz people who don’t know him ARENT trusting him. So it’s not gonna work. Perhaps the goal here is to point out the problem within our society. But I’m not sure that the people who hate him are seeing it that way. They don’t realize that they need to be more compassionate. They’re patting themselves on the back for “canceling” him. So…is his goal accomplished? Not really. Sadly.

3. I think it’s inherent in his job as an artist to criticize culture, to ask uncomfortable questions, and to observe and react to his surroundings. I don’t think he’s suddenly saying “I’m a man, I’m a make, I’m a he.” I think, as he has said in the past, he grew up privileged enough to be in a position where he didn’t HAVE to question his sexuality. Cuz he was surrounded by artists, queer people, liberal values, etc where progressive ideals were the norm. That’s not the experience of all of us. I think he took the fluidity of gender and masculinity for granted when he was younger cuz he’s been lucky enough not to have to assert his identity day in and day out cuz nobody is writing legislation to criminalize him. However, as he has talked about before, seeing his own gender react the way that it has post- Me Too, and seeing how the right has capitalized on men’s issues, and seeing how western societies here in the US and elsewhere have been rapidly regressing, he feels more aware of his position, wants to express the frustrations, and wants to think about the issue alongside the culture. I think that’s a function of maturing and growing up, and also just being alive in 2023. If you’re a thoughtful person who is concerned about the future of mankind, then you can’t really not get socio-political. How could he remain silent when all this shit is happening? The 1975 has never been the type to be silent. So, I don’t really think this is a recent thing nor do I think he’s asserting his own masculinity. I think he, like all of us, is going “what is the role of the leftist male in todays world? Especially if you reject performatism , fake wokeness, etc.” that’s a valid question that he has every right to ask!

Does that make sense? Just how I’m viewing it. But like I said, please do feel free to disagree with me!

[meruz]

i was gonna draw tonight but i dropped my tablet pen and the barrel of the pen broke off and flew somewhere underneath (??) my bed (?) and now i cant find it so I’m just gonna answer asks before bed instead. just some art asks and more mentions of infinity train LOL

What program and brushes do you use when making your art?

@ravki hi! part of this is in my FAQ but i’ll say it again anyways LOL: I use photoshop CC and have used photoshop for pretty much....my whole art career. I’ve dabbled in clip and paint tool sai in the past but photoshop is my true wife, we eloped away from her awful father adobe many years ago and are very happy together. 

as for brushes... I should prob put this info in my FAQ too lol,... my default brush set is actually free to download here! Tho I will say I also use steve ahn’s storyboarding brush sometimes and lately i’ve been using shiyoon kim’s brushes A TON. Shiyoon’s cost a couple bucks but they’re super worth it imo

How do you choose colors?

This is kind of a difficult one to describe from scratch but hmm.... I’ll put it this way. Generally when I go into coloring or painting something I already have some colors in mind. Like for a certain piece I know I want a bright green, or a magenta, or a dark blue in certain areas. A lot of the time I know a mood I want. So I’ll start with that core color tone and build around it. I’ll use an example from a recent piece

So you can see here that the first color I accessed was that bright cyan. So I start with that bright cyan and then bring in its “friends” in the form of analogous colors (shown below on the far left)

greens greys etc. THEN I know I want the characters to stand out against all the blue so I start laying down warm contrasting colors for them (middle group). the mat under them is orange, skin tones are warm, ryans flannel is red etc. then to get them to work together I work more cool colors into the shadows and slightly warmer (not too warm because its a cool img overall so in this case, greener LOL) colors into highlights. 

hope that makes sense? for me choosing colors is a lot about story and composition. If you know what you want to say, the mood you want to create, where you want to go, the path to get there becomes a lot clearer imo.

Have you ever considered making an art book?

I have! But I don’t think I currently have enough...original illustrations for one LOL? Not that an art book has to be all original work but if I were putting fanart in an art book...at that point I’d just make a fanzine. I’m making more original work lately though so maybe this year....? Who knows. For now, I do have a sketchbook up on gumroad. Hoping to do one of those next year too.

Any tips for keeping background drawings from getting super stiff, especially since things like interiors have a lot of straight lines?

This is a really interesting ask. Really great question that I don’t think gets asked enough - forgive me if I get a bit art school here but I drew up some examples.

First I think we have to investigate the assumption that straight lines make things stiff. That seems true on an instinctual level and certainly proves to be true very often But I don’t think its actually the straight lines themselves but the sort of arrangements and compositions they tend to dictate. Take this for instance.

pretty big difference, right? there’s a couple things that make a composition feel stiff and one of the most significant is lines that are perpendicular and parallel to the frame. it feels locked in and solid, like bricks. but the moment you shift these angles even a little the composition instantly becomes more dynamic because our innate senses of weight, gravity, and directionality can sense movement.

But it’s not just diagonals let’s take this one step further

when lines meet and terminate together those tangents can flatten and lock space so the best way to solve this is with overlap and complete intersection, forms continuing past or behind each other feel more layered and less like a flat mosaic... again, even in the simplest line drawings. So how do we apply this to a background?

ok I drew this really fast so its potentially not the best example but I think the idea is there. This space isn’t even particularly deep, it’s basically a room, a doorway, and a hallway behind it, and we’re not seeing that much of any of those things LOL. but when you draw an environmental object like a doorway in a way that lines up with the perpendicular and parallel lines of the canvas you’re automatically flattening it and making it look rigid.

and when you create tangents with objects and characters you flatten the space around them and make it difficult to tell what is actually in front or behind or if they’re on the same plane.

GOD I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. Anyways. avoid those things and you’ll instantly have less stiff bgs no matter what kind of bg you’re depicting.

I wanna mention however that this isn’t to say a stiff bg with flat space doesn’t have its purposes.

sometimes you want to create parallels and tangents. it can make characters feel closed in, trapped, regimented, part of a routine, etc. it’s also great for making a composition look ornamental (especially combined with symmetry).

directors like wes anderson can even use these compositional elements to make images feel uncanny or harrowing! its very versatile. I think the important thing is to just be aware of when you are making something rigid and when that’s the last thing you want to do. conscious choices.

Can you speak Tagalog?

@lemuelzero101​ I can! BUT NOT VERY WELL LOL ;;; both my parents are from Visayas! but they met and had me in the states lol so I’m pretty American born and raised. We go back to visit family on occasion but not regularly. My tagalog is mostly absorbed from listening to relatives at parties lol and my parents speak bisaya at home so I’m marginally better at that. Sorry to any filipinos out there hoping I’d be better educated, I’m like a little baby...

I do love meeting and talking to other filipinos online though, I grew up in an area that was relatively diverse but the asian population was small and the filipino population basically non-existent. I was like one of maybe 2 filipino kids in my highschool of 2000.

Apart from infinity train what shows are you watching now? Have you seen jujitsu kaisen?

Man this is gonna sound so boring but I haven’t watched a lot of tv lately.  It’s not really part of my daily routine. Let’s see... I was sort of watching Amphibia, Craig of the Creek, and the new Digimon Adventure 2020 but I keep falling off watching those for one reason or another. Also there’s a lot of episodes, it doesn’t feel like something I can just binge and be done with.

The last thing I binged was Succession. I want that show and Euphoria back so bad, when I’m done forcing all my friends to watch Infinity Train im cancelling my HBO subscription until Succession and Euphoria return so they know exactly what I’m on their list for LOL. 

I have not watched jujitsu kaisen but I’ve kept up with some of the sakuga news (I keep up with anime industry news and production info like x5 the amt i keep up with actual anime) for it and their compositing/editing looks dope. I’ve read the manga actually LOL or at least part of the beginning. I wasn’t super keen on the whole finger eating thing. Also to be honest I kinda feel like its the new Bleach and I never particularly cared about Bleach. Characters look nice enough tho. I wholeheartedly support jjk fans.

Thank you! Thank you @keznodzieja​! <3

And thank you anons who don’t watch infinity train LOL...it’s always nice to hear when people enjoy my fanart despite not knowing the source material because it lifts a little bit of the “oh god am I being annoying???” fear off my chest. But also I think you should watch infinity train because it’s really good I have no reservations recommending it.

[darkhats]

my response to that one cookie run drama video from 2019

if u were in the fandom at around 2019 you'll remember this video. really a grand hallmark of its time. this is probably the most unecessary thing ill ever do but i see alot of recent comments from a month ago agreeing with this and i think thats extremely sad. im mostly doing this as a fun nostalgia trip and also i really want to justify me wasting 14 minutes watching this

first of all i want to say this video is fucking awful. just dreadful. like girl what the fuck are you even saying. i'd only recommend watching in full if you want to hear about the fandom in 2019 with a condesending voice talking down to you the whole time and even then you could probably do better just scrolling through the discourse tag

i suggest you pull up the video yourself as i'll be responding by timestamps. if i sound angry at some points its because i am

you can skip to 1:40 the rest is just intro stuff

1:47 | im really curious why you put this screenshot while saying "entitled fans" bc u never elaborated and i would really LOVE for you to explain whatever this one meant

1:50 | for the "huge amounts of hypocrisy" bit i have no idea what this is? this would be hypocrisy if the twitter acc in the previous screenshot and this tumblr blog r the same person but theyre not. we don't all think like a hivemind? this post is stupid in general stop infantilising asian ppl like they have no idea what a black person even is

2:02 | "gatekeeping what kind of ships you're allowed to like" with this screenshot u a proshitter or sumn🤨

the rest of the things they listed will be talked about later

2:51 | oh wow the "fixing art" thing. i dont think this is a thing anymore but it definitely was a big thing back in 2019! the thing is im quite neutral on it because a lot of artists dont like their work being edited but on the other hand if you dont like when people put the correct skintones on your art then maybe you should colour it right the first time

i will say though if you see cool art of like dark choco or espresso and its whitewashed and u wanna edit it so its not and u keep it to yourself then idc thats fine to me. the grey area is when it comes to characters like moonlight or alchemist, who's skintone is quite difficult to pull off in some artstyles. a lot of the examples in the video use people like cherry blossom or cotton candy who don't quite fit in the same category but are usually targets of this anyway

a very simple fix is to just use a different colour but to not make them significantly lighter from how they look in canon, which alot of the examples you showed don't do. they all look pale as shit compared to what they actually look like ingame and thats why people complained about them

also your marina video is fucking awful btw

3:53 |

4:56 | "so many people in the fandom hate the developers" im one of them hiii. i should probably use this time to explain why (please note that this was made in 2019 so a few of the points im bringing up here will probably be a bit too recent)

devsisters really love showcasing whitewashed art of their characters (they used to do it on their forums rarely but thats now gone) and recently they've been quite excited to dabble in the whitewashing themselves (keep in mind the others except from twizzly gummy don't really count as whitewashing but they're all significantly lighter than their regular appearance). its like a hobby or sumn. everytime they host a fanart contest i brace for god damn impact. and this has been a thing since FOREVER

speaking of race and ethnicity, lilacs costume (and redesign in general) is just... bad but i dont think they were even introduced at the time of this video. milk and yam WERE though and its extremely baffling to me how this went through an entire team/company and got greenlit. its insane how shit they are (if it was just yam on his own i wouldn't hate him as much, i still wouldn't like him tbh, but they decided to pair him up with a white saviour). would i call them racist though? ...idk? they've been moving funny recently cant lie

another thing is the valentines day video which pisses me off to even think about. in that vid theres alot of.. ships that definitely arent legal. and whitewashing ^_^ they still haven't addressed it btw if ur curious. but it happened this year and honestly i wouldnt blame them for not thinking devsisters would do something like that bc i sure didnt!

theres also the thing with nfts but no one couldve foresaw that one coming

i assume when you mention people saying devsis are transphobic that you're talking about characters like dark choco or cinnamon who weren't referred by any pronouns until they were magically given he/him pronouns later on. nonbinary people can use any pronouns they so damn please but i get why people would get annoyed about them both suddenly being referred as he/him. wouldn't call it transphobic though. other than idk, how tf am i meant to defend something when u dont even telling me what ur talking abt

and 5:29 is quite the bold claim if you have to say "do i have evidence for this asian hate? no.." when bringing it up again btw

now we're onto the "stories from a few people" section. the few people are actually just two, the first one just runs their mouth for way too long. dw they both suck. ignore how the creep art person is there its been addressed already in the description (which is funny because the creator remembers this video still? and they presumingly agree with it still..?)

7:00 | i would heavily recommend putting the video on like 1.75 speed and just reading the reply yourself because this person goes on for WAY too long. excuse me if the timestamps are wrong because of this but at this point i really just do not care

the first thing i want to address is the cuphead and cookie run fandom comparison, because its just as ridiculous as it sounds "i have no idea why its so focused on being sensitive about cookies sexualities, genders, and races, when other fandoms dont even take subjects like that as seriously. im pretty sure the cuphead fandom takes its bosses less seriously than the cr fandom does its cookies..." literally what the fuck are you on about? excuse me as im not a cuphead fandom connoisseur here but how are either fandoms connected?? they both got a vastly different audience, gameplay, artstyle and characters (+ character design). the only thing similar is that theyre both popular i GUESS. also maybe the cookie run fandom is so "sensitive" about cookies races bc they keep getting whitewashed every 5 seconds🤔? just a game theory tho🤔

7:25 | pisses me off ever so fucking much. the "ive never seen a fandom get so disrespectful over issues that i honestly dont think even exist" while talking about MILK COOKIE COOKIE RUN are u crazy are u dense im glad you can frollick along in ur flowerfields not having to ever deal with racism but I cannot. and if ur not talking abt him then you'd be talking about the "sensitive about sexualities/genders/races" thing and yeah man u right none of that is real. the LGBT disappeared suddenly in 1987. all humans were destroyed as they had race. we're all grey goo people

im not even sure what the complaint even is.. oh nooo someone did a milk redesigning the controversial parts of his design... how ever will we recover..?

8:15 | yeah as everyone knows i can make a character as pale as i want in fanart as long as i say these are my humanizations actually. garbage argument, most people dont draw the characters as actual cookies and most of the fanart does just fine with eyedropping the characters original skintone (oh im sorry, dough!!) so whats the excuse?

dont worry this person is done now we're almost at the end

11:18 | for the other reply, its the fiction doesnt equal reality shit do you really need me to go over this one? do you really. if they just cookies and its just fiction then why y'all feelings hurt so bad. also lumping in whitewashing with age and gender while ur talking about peoples headcanons is a bit weird btw

anyway the last thing i want to go over is the "cookie run fandom is soo obsessed with debating on whitewashing, ages, gender and sexualities!" thing thats so prevelent with these arguments. 2019 had this fun period where with every new cookie that came out there was some sort of controversy with them (millennial tree and raspberry mousse being he/him, roll cake and sorbet shark being a child or not, ect.)

whitewashing is obvious why so i'll move on. some characters can be seen as lesbian coded (white choco and rose for having majority girl fans, sea fairy in general) and there are a few characters that explicitly aren't referred to by any pronouns (dark choco before the guild adventures, peppermint, ect.) which u dont see everyday in games. so yeah.. people care about these things because they like representation. who would've thought?

now im gonna be fucking real. the arguments over cookies ages were always annoying - the reason why the fandom has arguments about ages so much is because devsis REFUSES to tell us canon ages. think about it, majority of the "canonially confirmed" children in the game are from a child event that happened in LINE. thats a completely different company running the game. because of how character-heavy the game is, ships are a very big part of the fandom. i sincerely doubt theres anyone in the fandom who doesnt like any ship and at the time rarepairs were rly common. so when you've got a fandom who really likes to ship and developers that dont ever mention ages then you get a fucking mess. i dont know what sorbet shark or roll cakes age is and its pointless to even debate it because id rather just have the devs confirm it themselves (not like they ever will). and even for the one singular time they did specify that one of the characters was a child, they still showcased fanart of said kid being shipped with an adult anyway

but that concludes the video and thus this response! i have wasted so much time on this i honestly could've showed you them ranting about how "cookies dont have skin colours" in the video or the part in the marina video where they complain about how people "think whitewashing is bad but make non-black characters black" and moved on but what else would i do on a sunday night?

[junowritings]

how about before being isekai'ed to NRC mc was a vigilante? like a mix of daredevil and batman or like deadpool and red hood? imagining mc using martial arts or macgyvering unassuming everyday objects into weapons to defeat overblots instead of magic seem cool, the funniest scenario, mc using a wooden spoon, a slipper or even if you watched icarly a butter sock to hit and defeat an opponent would be hilarious

Honestly I love the idea of this scenario! Part of me always kind of wished with the overblots is that the MC would get involved somehow - I know it’d be dangerous, but who doesn’t love going a lil feral at some overblot monsters lmao ------

It’s like something straight out of a comic book. Sure, the same thing could be said about your situation - a self-made vigilante fighting to protect those close to you from idiots who think they’re smart enough to cause anything other than trouble - but getting straight up isekai’ed into another universe full of magic and fairy tale rewrites really takes the cake of weird situations you’ve gotten roped into. Guys in masks? You’ve seen them in abundance back home, so while the ‘extravagant’ nature of the headmaster is weird, it doesn’t really phase you. Being surrounded by a bunch of confused boys with vividly bright hair (and do some of those guys have razor teeth? You really don’t wanna find out if they do) and having a talking cat ranting your ear off about becoming the greatest wizard of all time...that’s around the time you figure out this isn’t just some elaborate kidnapping plot.

Being shacked up in this new world isn’t as bad a deal as you thought it would be, though going from physical fights every other week to just having to worry about classes was...an experience, to say the least, and takes a bit of getting used to in terms of putting your guard down. It isn’t long during your stay at Night Raven college that you start garnering attention too, and not just because of the circumstances surrounding your enrollment. Your way of dealing with things is a lot more physical than many of them used to; when Ace had first come to Ramshackle after being collared by Riddle, instead of asking what it was or what he’d done, you’d instead just sat him down and spent the better part of half an hour picking the lock. Granted, it wasn’t enough to crack Riddle’s magic, but Ace is pretty sure he heard something click open while you fiddled with the keyhole - and that was just a speck of some of your skills. 

The physical prowess and litheness that comes from your ‘profession’ were valuable assets back in your homeworld, and while you’re not there anymore you’re still able to make use of them in this world, or you try to, at least. It makes for a hell of an entertaining sight during Ashton’s classes - you’ve just about knocked everyone in your class on their ass at least once (both intentionally and unintentionally). It’s been useful getting to lessons too, though you’ve spooked more than a few of your fellow classmates when they’ve caught you scaling the side of the building to skip the stairs and make it to class on time. You’ll never forget the shriek Ace let out when you dove through the window, skidded across the floor, and slid seamlessly into your seat right before the professor came through the door. Things like that have earned you more than a few skeptical looks, but it’s also led to more than a few people coming up to you to ask how you do it.

Just because you’re in a school setting doesn’t mean you slack off on your training. If anything, it means you have to train all the more to make sure you’re not growing rusty - you’re not about to get left in the dust just because all of these guys have wands and this ‘unique magic’ business at their disposal. That being said the lack of a fighting partner makes things difficult; when you first get settled into Ramshackle you find plenty of furniture beyond repair that you’ve been able to use, and with everything being such a cluttered mess it makes for the perfect obstacle course as you fight to clean it all up. But you’re missing your training buddies, and as much as Grim gets on your case about you being his subordinate, you’re not about to get expelled for fighting your magical feline housemate...not just yet, anyway. You do look around for some sparring partners though, and you find some pretty damn good ones in the process. Deuce is one of the first, being quite the fighter in the past, but given that it’s a skill he hasn’t actively trained it doesn’t take long for you to - quite literally - sweep his feet out from under him. Jack’s fairy competent too thanks to all of the muscle, so sparring with those two at once has given you something to bond over after school. As you got to know more students, you found a pretty good training buddy in Rook - you guess being a hunter has its perks, and isn’t that far off from being a vigilante, but it gives you one hell of a lesson to avoid getting on his bad side.

They’ve seen you make impromptu weapons out of things before - you just about took Floyd’s head off with a spatula when he’d rushed through the door unannounced, and Grim keeps finding the ends of the kitchen’s wooden utensils sharpened to a point when he sneaks down for late night snacks. You’re guessing old habits die hard, and it's tricky business completely stopping some of your more bizarre daily tasks. 

Looks like those same skills come in handy when the overblots happen however! It’s not as though anyone gives you a crash course on magic overuse and overblotting, so when you see Riddle transform and watch that huge, tank of a thing start forming up behind him you have what you’d like to call, a reasonable reaction. The boys are preparing to fight their overblotted friend when a tea cake stand comes sailing overhead and nails the being behind Riddle directly in the face - or pot, you guess. 

The thing is at least physical, which means you can hit it, and your friends are too preoccupied with Riddle to stop you from barging into the fray with just about every impromptu weapon you can get your hands on. Plates, cups, shoes, amongst other things shower the air as you close the distance, and at one point you end up hoisting up one of the garden chairs and swinging it up at the jar head until you have enough momentum to let go. The sound of shattering glass has you letting out a triumphant holler as you backtrack to avoid the spew of ink that spatters across the floor, cracks fanning out across the inkpot‘s surface as its hands fly up to its broken ‘face’ and it howls as though appalled by your audacity.

Whether that actually has a hand in finishing the fight or not, it isn’t long after that the overblot incident passes and Riddle collapses; however, that’s not before you get a couple more hits in, just about bringing the overblot to its knees by the time it finally dissipates for good. Once the Heartslabyul dorm leader is back on his feet and led away to rest and recover somewhere less demolished, that’s when the attention is focused back on you. 

There’s more than a few comments about you getting involved in the fight when you have no magic - some comments are admonishing, telling you to be more careful and to not be so reckless; others however are more than a little intrigued by the turnout. Ace just about knocks you over when he claps his hands onto your shoulders and demands to know how the hell you learned to move like that, and Grim is more than a little puffed up bragging about how of course his lackey would be so useful. It catches you off guard - you’re so used to just doing this in your day-to-day life that having someone admonish or praise you is...nice, in a way. It reminds you of when you first took up the vigilante mantle, and you find yourself brimming with excitement at the thought. If they think what you did then was neat, just wait till you tell them about all of your escapades in your home world! You’ve got enough to keep em hooked for days.

[let-them-read-fics]

Home For The Holidays

Pairing: Lisa x Fem!Reader

Word Count: ~ 3,335

Warnings / Misc. -- Potentially Lethal Fluff, Crying, Holiday Themed

Disclaimer: This writing is a work of fiction, and no disrespect is meant for those mentioned herein.

A/N: Hey everybody! This idea came to me out of nowhere, but it’s definitely gotten me into the holiday spirit. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

“Babe, have you seen my beanie?” Your question rings throughout the air, carrying across the apartment in search of Lisa. Just as you get your earrings put in, her reply comes through: “Mhm, it’s in here.” Before setting off to grab it, you take a long look at yourself in the mirror: the nervousness that you’re harboring is decently masked for the moment, but you pray that your composure doesn’t slip in the next few hours -- after all, that would surely spoil the fun that you have in store for Lisa.

“Aha!” You declare, sliding the material onto your head. She stifles a chuckle, which prompts you to look at her. When you do, all of the air in your lungs swiftly leaves your body; she looks absolutely stunning. She chose a simple outfit, consisting of a regular pair of jeans and a cozy sweater, but she makes it look designer. 

“I’m convinced that you can make any and everything look good.” You tell her earnestly, once some of your thought processing skills have returned to you. With a roll of her eyes, she engulfs you in a hug; her perfume washes over you, and you fall into her embrace. 

“I love you.”

Even after hearing those words from her as many times as you have, they still managed to send your heart wild. You hide your face in her neck, loving the cute squeal she lets out as you pick her up and twirl her around.

“I love you, jagi. So much.” Her eyes find yours, and the moment is perfect.

~~~~~~~

“Keep them closed! We’re almost there.” 

“You’ve been saying that for the past 5 minutes.”

“Just trust me!” You laugh at her impatience, keeping your grip on her thighs steady as you make your way towards the restaurant. She lets her head lay beside yours, resting it on one of her arms that’re wrapped around your shoulders. In any other circumstance, she would’ve been whining more by now; this time, however, she didn’t mind waiting a little longer, considering she was comfortable and content, currently receiving a piggy back ride from you. In competition with the frigid air rushing around, your bodies work to keep each other warm. 

After a little more walking, you finally reach your destination. 

“Reservation, please?” The hostess requests upon your entrance.

“L/N.” 

You gently set Lisa down, back on her feet again, and tell her to open her eyes. The expression that takes over her features is priceless, and you pat yourself on the back for having the foresight to book a table here so far in advance. The holidays always made it difficult to get in anywhere in the city without a reservation, and this restaurant is no exception -- in fact, it’s one of the hardest to get into. After hearing about the reviews, the two of you had been dying to try it out.

“Right this way, ladies.” The hostess says, and you fall in line behind her. Lisa links her arm with yours, and she begins ranting about all the different foods she wants to try.

~~~~~~~

The view from your table is unbelievable; seated next to a row of large windows, you can see the entire city before you, throngs of people walking about, enjoying their night out. You take a minute to think of all the possible things they could be doing, what routes they’re going down, each of them having a unique and beautiful story playing out in front of you. 

Against your palm, the surface of the window chills your skin. Once you remove your hand, you see the imprint of it on the glass; a reminder that you had been there. 

Lisa notices this, and leans towards the window; at first, you were confused, but soon your heart melts at her actions.

She releases a breath against it, the warm air prepping the surface for her artwork; her finger -- the very one that you’re wrapped around -- draws a heart, complete with your initials and hers inside of it.

“You’re the cutest,” she gushes, looking over your features. You can feel how dopey you look, completely in love and in awe by her. You can’t blame yourself, though. 

Her hand finds its way to yours on the table, just as it always does, and you bring it to your lips. She grins at the feeling of your lips pressed against her knuckle, and her heart skips a beat. Both of you are completely whipped for each other, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

~~~~~~~

Stuffed and satisfied with the special anniversary meal you just consumed, you and Lisa make your way out of the restaurant. Next up on the agenda for tonight: ice skating.

~~~~~~~

Waves of fresh snowflakes flurry around the two of you, seemingly in a tango with the breeze that’s drifting by; two lovers rediscovering one another. Her hand is warm within your own, the mittens on your skin keeping the harsh temperatures at bay. 

The gentle scraping of your skates can be heard against the ice, little patterns trailing behind in your wake. Yellow and white lights are strewn across the sides of the rink, offering a dazzlingly cozy aura, and you take them in. They remind you of the stars in the night sky, shining brightly, a certain unique twinkle held within each and every one of them. 

Lisa gives your hand a squeeze, her silent way of requesting your attention. 

“Yes, my love?”

A light blush rises to her cheeks as she begins speaking; you’re amazed that she still reacts to your pet names like that, just as she had when you first started dating. It’s adorable, and you can’t get enough of it.

“Let’s grab some hot cocoa, I’m getting a little cold.”

“Alright, last one there has to clean the litter box tonight!” The last part of the sentence leaves your lips in a rush, an attempt to stall her and give yourself a bit of a head start.

“Uh! Hey!” Her shocked exclamation quickly fades as you dash away from her, set on getting to the stand first. 

~~~~~~~

Now armed with your warm beverages, the two of you skate over to the bench positioned directly outside of the rink. Conveniently, the seat is equipped with a heater, and Lisa pulls you in tight.

“Mmm, it’s good.” You tell her, taking another sip. She had spent the trip over here pouting at her defeat.

The two of you carried on with light conversation, reveling in the feeling of having each other so close. The city’s atmosphere was always different around this time of year, the holidays adding an extra charm to everything, no matter what it was. You would be content with doing absolutely nothing, so long as you had Lisa by your side -- and she felt the same way about you. Perhaps that’s why your relationship was so strong; genuine love and understanding ran true in every aspect, and you could never seem to get enough of each other. You still felt the same as you did at the beginning: the happiness upon waking up next to her, that excited blush when she told you she loved you, that familiar rush of desire from your passionate nights spent together -- all of it. She’s everything you’ve ever wanted and more, and you feel beyond blessed to have the privilege of calling her yours. 

The night had been perfect so far; memories being made that would surely last a lifetime. The thoughts raced in your mind, swirling around just like the snow had before. They were only stopped by the feeling of her soft lips pressing against your cheek in a sweet kiss.

“Thank you for tonight. I’m so happy.” She leans her forehead against yours, and you brush her nose with your own.

“Of course. There’s no one I’d rather do this with.” 

Her eyes are shining with affection, and you nearly get lost in them. Before you can, you stop yourself; your plans for this special night are long from over.

“How about we walk around a bit? I saw more trees and light designs on the way here and I wanna check them out.” She happily agrees, and the two of you change back into your boots before returning the skates. You slip an arm around her shoulders as you begin your journey, and she settles against your side.

You had remembered correctly -- after a short walk, you find the hub of activity from before; a whole block of the city is filled with different vendors and booths, a wide array of services offered. The area is a holiday bazaar, groups of merry people roaming about, lighting up at the different things to do. 

Trees line the square, decorated beautifully with various lights and ornaments, their toppers reaching high up into the sky. The moment is too perfect to let slip by, so you retrieve the camera from your bag to capture it all. Lisa cuddles in close to you, smiling widely as you turn the device around to take a selfie of the two of you. 

One mini-photoshoot later, you begin your exploration of the square. Quickly, you discover what the places have to offer: some hold arts and crafts, others have face painting, snacks, and even eggnog chugging contests. You grimace at that last one, seeing a group of what appears to be frat boys stumbling around nearby.

Upon spotting a special booth in the distance, you’re quick to remember your reason for suggesting coming here in the first place: Lisa’s next surprise. You do well in acting cool and calmly bringing her attention to the area, being careful not to blow your cover. It doesn’t take much convincing to have her trailing along after you, her hand snuggly tucked into yours.

The booth in question sticks out among the others, a bit out of place in what it offers: for $5, you get the opportunity to knock the city mascot into a dunk tank. The money goes to charity, and everyone has fun in the process. Win-win, right?

The second that you approach the counter, your heart begins racing feverishly -- the plan is coming together. “Just the $5 option, thank you.” You request, and the clerk hands you the balls: $5 gets you 5 opportunities to dunk the mascot into the chilly water below. As you walk over to the tank, you’re afraid that Lisa can see your nervousness; she’s always been able to read you well. 

Luckily for you, though, you know just what to do to throw her off your tracks: you pull her in, guiding her lips to your own in a tender kiss. She places her hand overtop of yours, against her cheek, and her fingers lace with yours. She sighs against you, and you smile. Mission accomplished. Before things can get too heated, you pull away, setting the weapons of choice into her hands. “Good luck,” you whisper into her ear, a chill running down her spine at the lowness of your voice.

~~~~~~~

After 3 misses in a row, she’s beginning to get discouraged. 

“Ahh, this is rigged!” 

As you open your mouth to reply, your phone begins to ring. Right on time. You suppress the smile playing on your lips -- a task much easier said than done -- and tell her that you’ll be right back. 

You pretend to answer your phone as you return to the counter, making eye contact with the clerk. 

“Are they ready yet?” 

“Almost. They’ll be right out.” He smiles back at you, happy to see something like this about to go down. The holidays truly are a magical time of the year.

The moment is interrupted by Lisa’s father walking out of the back room and into your line of sight. “How do I look?” He asks no one in particular, and receives a whistle from his wife, who is also making her way out of the room.

You beam at them, so excited to be with them again. “Those suits look great on you guys.” You tell them, fanning yourself to add to the comical effect. They don the same outfits as the mascot sitting in the tank. 

“Alright, so does everyone remember what to do?” You ask, eyes darting between them.

“Once she dunks him, we run out and celebrate.” Lisa’s mom looks to you, waiting for your reassurance of the plan.

“Exactly. Any questions?”

“No, but hurry her up. This outfit is itchy.” You can’t help but chuckle at her father’s words; now, a little weight lifted off of your chest, you make your way back to Lisa.

“There you are! Who was that?” As much as you hate lying to her, you think it’s safe to bet that you’ll easily be forgiven. 

“Just someone from work, lame business stuff.” 

She accepts your answer right away, and turns the topic back to her mission. With you by her side once again, she resumes her efforts.

After an eternity of careful deliberation and tense preparation, Lisa chucks the next ball through the air; a loud whoosh sound follows behind it, and you hold your breath. 

Time seems to move in slow motion; the ball collides with the target, sending confetti into the air and retracting the seat beneath the mascot. Soon he’s submerged in water, everyone in close proximity to the booth now cheering loudly. Lisa turns to you, her arms above her head in triumph, a winning smile on her lips. You lift her up in celebration, and smile against her as you nuzzle your face in the crook of her neck. 

With a quick peek over her shoulder, you spot the two “mascots” approaching; you swiftly set her down and attempt to contain your excitement. 

Her mother taps her on the shoulder, grabbing her attention. She offers her daughter a balloon -- the customary prize for winning -- and claps when she takes it. Her father gives her a thumbs up and a pat on the head. 

As she turns her attention to you, shooting you a look of confusion, her mother stands behind her and removes the mascot head. The subsequent smirk that you don lets Lisa know that something is up, and she spins around once again.

Upon seeing her mother’s face, she drops to the ground, quickly becoming a mess of tears and emotions. The situation is only heightened when her father removes his mask as well, bending down to wrap his wife and daughter up in a long-overdue embrace. 

The sight before you has you in tears within an instant; opportunities like this are rare for Lisa, and you feel honored to be the reason for this little reunion. You release a silent thank you to your past self for having the foresight -- yet again -- to squirrel away some money. Something back then had told you you’d need it, and you were beyond thrilled that you had trusted your gut.

Perhaps it was your imagination, but you could’ve sworn that everything shined a little brighter now. The snow sparkled in some majestic way, and the city lights worked together to create a beautiful picture, contrasting with the dark mountains that resided in the distance. Nothing could compete with the view in front of you, though; especially when Lisa raised a hand in your direction, calling you over to their little huddle. 

The four of you held each other tightly, simultaneously sobbing and wiping away each other’s tears. No one spoke for a while; everyone was too emotional and content with the happy silence to do so. 

Besides, what could she say to you? Lisa knew automatically that you had been the one to arrange all of this and raise the money to get them a flight out. What could she possibly say to repay that? You’re her world, and she’s so happy to have you in her life. People like you are rare, and she cherishes you more with each day you spend together.

None of you really kept track of how much time had passed, but you had made your way into one of the enclosed tents, seeking shelter from the cold and dying to fill each other in on all that's happened since your last visit. 

You watch them in awe, loving the way that they light up when they talk to each other. It warms your heart, the way they're all holding hands and looking at each other with so much love. It’s easy to see that this is just what they needed; you can practically see their worries being lifted and cast away.

With one last swig of your drink, you begin to mentally prepare yourself for your final surprise.

In one motion, you accidentally drop your phone into the floor, and crouch down to retrieve it. Lisa gives you a quick look but soon does a double take when she sees you still on the floor, now down on one knee, a small box in your hand. 

You’re sure her eyes are about to pop out of her head.

As you clear your throat and swallow your nerves, you glance up at her parents; they’re already looking to you, proud expressions written plainly on their faces. That silent gesture alone is encouragement enough, and it prompts you to begin.

“Lisa…” Wow. One word in and your voice is already failing you. Your eyes shyly scan up to hers, only to find her recently dried cheeks now covered in tears once again. Her hand is clasped over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her cries.

“I knew from the moment we met that I wanted to marry you someday, and I can’t think of a better way to ask than this. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone, and I’m so glad we get to share this day with your parents. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to properly thank them for making you, but I’ll spend my life trying, as long as you’ll have me. So, whaddya say?” 

Lisa has always made it clear how much she loves you; despite knowing that, you can’t help but feel nervous as you wait for her answer. Her head is swimming with just about every different emotion imaginable right now, and she’s doing all she can to hold in her tears long enough to respond to you.

“I love you so much. Let’s get married, Y/N.” 

A loud whoop leaves your mouth upon her reply, the sound echoing around the space.

You surge forward, eagerly pressing your lips against hers, and she cheerfully takes you into her arms. Once the ring is on her finger, you walk around to the other side of the table and embrace her parents. Having their approval and support means the absolute world to you, and you take a minute to think about how perfect everything turned out.

Now, once again cuddled into Lisa’s side, one of your hands playing with the ends of her hair, you look up into her eyes.

“How did I get so lucky?” She asks, looking down at you, utterly overjoyed with what went down tonight. 

“It was written in the stars, baby.”

Lisa’s heart swells at your words, and she pulls you in impossibly closer. Wanting to give the two of you some private time to celebrate, her parents leave the table and go to order some food from across the tent.

Now alone, her lips find yours again, and they take their sweet time in showing you all of the things she didn’t know how to verbalize to you. She peppers kisses across your face; starting with your cheeks, then your nose, and finally, your forehead. You let out a squeal as she grips your waist, her fingers gently toying with the fabric of your sweater. 

Sitting there, in the arms of the love of your life, you’ve never felt more content. What a night, you think to yourself, smiling at her parents once more.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Thanks for reading!

[incorrectsnkships]

OKAY OKAY OKAY! I CAME TO THIS CONCLUSION LAST FUCKING NIGHT! CONNIE THE MOTHERFUCKING SPRINGER IS GAY!

So at first I just thought he was a really confident and comfortable heterosexual, y'know? BUT NOW! NOW!? oh no, no, no!

Reason numbrero uno! He has feminine hips. Straight boys don't strut like that, straight boys don't fucking be flexible like that.

Reason numbrero duex! He says bitch waaay to much. So if you don't know the history of the word bitch, bitch was also used a a gay slur for y'know twinks. You don't see Jean or Levi OR EVEN EREN going around going bitch, bitch, bitch, fucking crazy bitches. Sure maybe once in awhile, but Connie use it like a sister y'know?

Reason numbrero drei! Look at who the fucking hell he's hanging 'round with! Ymir; the fucking bitch lesbian. Christa/Historia; the lesbian or bi girl dude. He's the fucking second lesbian protector (next to Eren). You see that gay ass gay homie grab in like what season 3? Or was it 2? He's friends with Sasha, who does she hang out with most of the time!? Ymir and Historia! Sometimes Jean and Mikasa. Speaking of Jean, he ain't sleek either! Connie hanging 'round with a fucking bi-saster a bi disaster! Not to mention Reiner and Armin! We see him worry about Reiner and Bertholdt when they “missing” asking someone to check on them to see if there alive! Man looking out for his gay homies! Also in one of the games he asks Armin why he spends so much time with Eren, to which Armin shoots back with one of the most gay awakening responses, “Hm well what about Ymir and Historia, or Reiner and Bertholdt?” Like yo.

Reason numbrero shi! He mom picks out gay ass fucking names! Sunny, Martin, Connie. Fucking gay dude. (everyone seems to think Sunny is a girl but judging by there titans I actually think Sunny was a boy dude. That’s just a hunch tho~)

Reason numbrero five! He seems like the kinda guy who would wear jewelry. Not really necessarily gay BUt~ I think earrings would so be he thing, and if he we’re to come out he’d probably start wearing one earring!

Reason numbrero six! Look at the kind of shit this man does! He fucking carried Armin princess style, put him down like a prince, bruh he fucking CHOSE to he CHOSE to. He knew what he was doing. And that one official art where he’s wearing that blonde lopsided wig with makeup on. That dress with the fake boobs in it!

Reason numbrero 7! My mama always say, that if a boy is best friends with a girl he will almost always usually fall for her. Connie is close as HELL with Sasha. And while I LOVE springles. This know discovery is D A W N I N G on me! Connie don’t really seem to show that much interest in women. But not necessarily to men either. And that factor being. I think bby Connie is shy!

Overall I think he’s a great fucking character! I love Connie, but this just made me open a whole new chapter for him. I’m currently rewatching AOT with my mom ‘cause she done wanted to watch it and I couldn’t let her watch that cringey dub so yee. I’ll be paying attention for other Easter eggs and clues. I never researched Connie to much but now that I have I’m made some pretty interesting discoveries! In conclusion Connie Springer is probably fucking gay. SO in other words you were RIGHT! ATTACK ON TITAN IS FUCKING GAY! 😍

( j u s t l i k e m e l o l )

srry for the late reply, but you’ve actually convinced me

mans comes across heterosexual but he definitely had a crush on every single male member of the 104th. literally every one. and like many others, one of the older scouts was his gay awakening. and im not saying that connie had a crush on them or anything, and this is definitely not a ship post between connie and any adult in the show, but im just saying that he admired them. a lot. too much. and had to look away when they got changed in front of him.

“connie why do you offer to go kill titans with captain levi whenever we have a mission?”

“i admire his skills!”

“connie, you do realise that erwin doesn’t have time to have tea with you right?”

“no i know i just wanted to talk about stuff with him. professional stuff. as a soldier.”

“connie, you know that moblit doesn’t need an assistant right? he is the assistant”

“WELL SUE ME FOR WANTING TO BE HELPFUL JEAN-“

he’d simp for armin so hard. every week he has a crush on someone new, and then it goes in a loop. and he’d “practice” kissing too. like he’d occasionally bring the topic up in conversation and then go from there based off of the persons reply. “hey uh, jean, so like- have you had your first kiss yet?” and then jean would tell him no and connie would go full internal gay panic. “o- oh yeah, thas- thas cool, um, well, i havent- had mine either so like- would you wanna practice? it doesn’t count-“

connie would have his first everything with jean and it would be so funny because it just happens all at once. like hed get asked if hes ever kissed someone and hed just glare at jean and be so flustered

connie finds it so difficult to tell romantic and platonic feelings apart and thats why hes fallen for all of his friends

armin: oh, connie, thanks for doing that favour for me! i dont know what id do without you!

eren: wait! hurry, where do they keep the extra blades?!

connie: in the cellar!

eren: great- connie, i love you!

marco: see connie? if you just fold the paper a little more, youll get there :) youre a pleasure to teach and i love spending time with you :)

also why do i feel like connie and marco dated for a little while? not even dated then, had a thing going on for a bit. like besides from jean because he doesnt count, but connies first romantic encounter was with marco, fight me

and i definitely feel like connie went to hange for some advice about his sexuality. he was so confused and liking everyone at the same time, so who else better to go to than the person who tried to convince erwin to start an lgbtq+ youth club right?

but when eren and armin announced that they were officially dating, that was an eye opener for connie and it made him realise that its okay to be yourself

and it took him a while to actually realise that he was gay. hence the fact that hed physically gag whenever someone suggested for him to date sasha, and all those times in the boys changing room that hed have to turn around or leave completely

so yes, i can see where youre coming from, and i agree with you. but if we were to list the people connie has simped for from most-least?

marco

armin

jean

eren

levi (not really simping, more fanboying/celebrity crush)

reiner

moblit (same as levi)

bertholdt

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 55 - Rage Room.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression . Joe, Tasai, welcome.

J: Today we are wearing...

K: Yeh, you've been wearing these recently, havn't you? Its just the right season for them.

T, J: Yeah.

J: Its a bit warm out for a thick coat during the day now..

T: Yeah, this is really useful.

K: It is a bit warm now, isn't it?

J: Yeah, and when it gets too warm I can just take this off, and put it straight in my bag...

T: Yeah, its just right. It really is easy to use.

K: I see.

T: Its great. And when I wear it, the girls think Im cool.

J: Do they really say that to you?

T: Haha, is it just me?

J: That sounds like bragging! No one says anything to me!

K: Don't they? haha

J: No! Why do some people get called cool, and others don't..even though we are both wearing Dir en grey clothes?? Does this simply mean Joe Yokomizo is not cool? Is that it?

T: No, no. Your mood switch is impressive, haha.

J: Please stop it. You know I'm still trying to get married again. Don't get in my way!

T: Why are you so angry? haha.

J: Thats just me, haha.

K: You are angry, aren't you?　

J: Oh, I'm ok.

K: Speaking of getting angry...lets have today's topic.

T: Oh, good idea.

J: Ok, may I read out today's news? This news is about a 'Rage Room'.

T: Oh, very fitting.

J: Yes..In the suburbs of São Paulo, a 'Rage Room' has recently opened, where people can release their pent up stress and anxiety, and it has been proving popular. The room is set up in a warehouse, and peope can unleash their anger by smashing up old tvs and computers etc. According to Vanderlei Rodrigues (age 42), who started the business a month ago, there are quite a lot of people using the room who want to release their anger, especially with the spread of covid. Rodrigues claims this was the best time to open a Rage room, with so many people needing a release from the massive stress and aniexty which they are experiencing. Incidentally, the price to experience this is $4.64, which equates to about ¥490. Users need to wear protective clothing and a helmet, and can write words on the wall to aim their anger at, like 'ex-girlfriend', 'ex-husband', 'corruption', 'work' etc. A single-mother of two who used the room had this to say about it: 'Its good that I can work off my discontent in this rage room. My daughters, or anyone else, don't have to bear the brunt of my complaints, and its great being able to smash things'. A Rage Room! What do you think? First of all, would you go if there was one here?

T: I wanna try it out, yeh.

K: It sounds interesting.

J: Right? Smashing stuff up.

T: And its under ¥500.

J: Yes, it is.

T: Hm, that sounds pretty good.

J: Right?! It might be more expensive if it was in Japan, what with the land price being higher...if you compare it to São Paulo, Brazil. But if it was in the suburbs, like my home town Hachiouji or something, it might be cheaper, haha. It would be difficult to get there though. But if there was one here, I'd wanna try going. The question is though, if you went there, what would you aim your anger at?

T: Yeah.

J: Is there anything at Tokyo Sports you would pick?

T: There's a few things.

J: Right? Its like, what are you angry at? Like, 'My idiot boss!!!'?

T: Ah, I see.

K: Hiranabe?

J: Hiranabe! haha ???*1

T: Yeh, maybe I'll go with that. haha

J: Haha. Would you whack him in person?

T: No no, haha.

J: That would become a crime scene, haha. Kaoru, how about you?

K: Well, yeh...

J: What do you wanna unleash your rage at?

K: Hm, what do I? I don't really want to get direct anger AT anything. Stress happens as a result of lots of small things building up to make something bigger, right?

J: Of course.

K: I'd just wanna get the stress out in a way unrelated to all that stuff.

J: Ahh, I see. Well, yeh, stress has been building up bit by bit, even in just this last year.

K: Punchbags in gyms are apparently pretty popular too.

T, J: Ohh

J: People need somewhere to aim their rage. Ah, yeh there's that too. Some people go to the gym too. Lets go.

T: To a rage room?

J: Yeah. Well, I mean, I've got loads of things to  be angry at...loads that I can't say here, but...

T: Joe, are you that stressed out?

J: Yeah, its tough. My radio show is tough, everything is hard! Its been so tough, I wanna smash stuff.

T: But have you guys been really angry at anything recently? Like, so angry you wanted to punch someone?

K: Well, im not sure if its at that level, but I do get angry quite a lot...at people in the street wearing those noise cancelling earphones. They don't pay attention to anything around them, and just walk into you! There those people right?

T, J: Ahh, yeh yeh.

K???*2

T: You do get angry!

J: Well, yeah!

T: Well, I was out walking too, in Kichijōji, on a really narrow street near the station used by cars and pedestrians. And a drunk guy came riding his bike right down the middle of the street, and was about to crash right into me until I yelled at him. I was so angry with him!

J: Were you? Ahh.

T: Maybe my anger is aimed at people like that.

K: Mm, there are a lot of them.

J: This is why this kind of business works. Like you said earlier Kaoru, its not about being against a specific thing or person, its the daily stress that builds up and up, and this rage room helps to relieve that.

T: Its good, isn't it?

J: its just right. Should we do this? Let's open one.

K: Here?

J: Haha, we could smash loads here. Yeah, but a rage room. It sounds just right for these times....Kami is pretty quiet today..Are you there, Kami?

Kami: Im here, yes yes.

J: Were you asleep?

Kami: No no. Um, as for me...I wouldn't use this room.

J: Eh?! You wouldn't?

Kami: No.

J: Why? Don't you have any stress?

Kami: No, gods don't get angry.

J, T, K: Ehh?!

J: What do..

Kami: Its like, we are gods so we are not supposed to get angry.

J: Oh really?

T: I had the image that gods get angry quite a lot. 

Kami: No, not necessarily. You use a hammer to smash tvs and computers, right?

J, T: Yeah.

J: It would feel good, right?

Kami: I'd definitely hurt myself if I did that.

J: Haha.

Kami: Then I'd think 'Ahhh, it hurts' and regret doing it, which would make me get angry again. So I'd never do that. And charging ¥490 for it just adds insult to injury.

J: Haha

K: Well, there is that too.

T: Yeah.

J: Kami, have you never been angry in your life? 

Kami: I have loads of times.

J: You have? haha. You don't like the idea of a Rage Room though? You'd hurt yourself so you wouldn't use it?

Kami: I wouldn't.

J: Ahh, I see.

T: It would hurt your muscles a bit throwing a big, heavy hammer around.

J: Yeah, if you are not used to it.

T: Its scary.

K: Yeah, if its someone who doesn't usually use hammers.

J: Yeah, if it comes as a surprise, it'll be tough.

Kami: Um, wouldn't it be good to make something to prevent road rage? Something small.

J: Ah, yeah.

T: Yeah, road rage annoys me.

J: Road rage, yeh. Well, its dangerous.

Kami: If you told the government about a rage room that you can put in cars to prevent road rage, they would get it for you, right?

J: Ahh, well, like a small compartment?

Kami: Yes

J: A small rage compartment.

Kami: Yeah.

J: Before you get angry at person in front's driving, you could let it all out next to you ???*3

Kami: Ah, thats a good idea.

J: Haha

T: They could also make a room in the highway service areas or something?

Kami: Yeah.

T: To prevent road rage.

J: That might actually be good.

Kami: Yeah, road rage would disappear.

K: But if the wrong person comes in, they'll get punched.

J: Haha, your right. Everyone is there is stressed and annoyed, right?

K: Yeah.

J: If its not organised properly, they might start fighting.

K: They could have a martial arts contest in there.

J: Hahaha. Well, thats like putting your anger into a fight? Ahh.

T: I also wanna shout really loudly, to get rid of stress.

J: Ahh, we're not doing that recently, are we?

K: Ah, I see.

J: We can't yell at lives and stuff.

K: Well, Joe, you still talk a lot, but I've been talking less than usual.

T: Yeah.

J: Well, the number of conversations we have has decreased, right? Like, we don't go out drinking with friends..it builds stress.

K: Drinking makes your voice louder too, right? Joe, you get really loud when you drink! haha.

J: I do! Im so noisy

K: Well, yeah, its because of covid, people can't get their stress out.

J: Yeah. Well, lets think of some fun ways to get rid of stress.

T: Ok, lets think of something.

J: Firstly...

Kami: Something where you are not gonna get hurt and regret it.

J: Yes. But this is only dangerous because its tvs and computers, right, Kami? What if it were straw dolls or something?

Kami: Ah, in that case you'd hit your hand under the doll with the hammer.

J: Ah, you would. haha

Kami: There's no need for hammers and stuff.

J: Haha

T: He's peaceful.

J: Yeah

T: Very godlike.

K: But thats him messing up, right?

J: Oh, I see, its not that he's peaceful, its just about him messing up and hitting his own hand with the hammer. Does that make him a bit cute?

Kami: How about when you are opening a box and you pull it open with all your might, you cut your hand, right?

Kami: Cutting your hand on a box..

K: Oh, on a box, yeah. That happens a lot. I've been ordering online a lot recently. It cuts your fingers. ???*4

T: Yeh yeh, haha.

J: Also, when you get a package delivered and leave it in the hallway, and then bash your little toe off it when you walk past. Its only a small thing, but it hurst so much, right? Like, 'Uaaghh', you don't know what to do, right?

T: Yeah, thats annoying.

J: It really is. It would be better to just unpack it, but when you leave it there and bash your toe, its so bad!

Kami: Do you get annoyed?

T: What?

Kami: Do you get annoyed? As for me, if I bashed my little toe, I would think, 'Oh, not again!'. I would just be fed up.

K: Cute.

J: Haha, yeah. Whats happened to Kami today?

T: But yeh, it is those little things that often cause the big outbursts of anger. Just cutting your hand a tiny bit or something.

Kami: What would you call being fed up? Its not anger, but what is it?

J: What do you call that? Yeah.

T: Sulky?

K: Depression?

Kami: A sulking room would be good.

J: Ah, haha. Yeah, a sulking room.

Kami: It looks like there'd only be me in it.

T: Kami seems a bit sad today.

J: He does. Kami, did something bad happen to you?

Kami: Uh, yes, daily. All the time.

J: Oh, I see. Well, maybe not a rage room, but lets comfort each other in a sulking room.

T: Yeah, next time.

Kami: Yes please.

T: Lets get rid of the stress.

J: Yeah, haha.

K: Ok, lets finish here for this week.

J: Yes, im a little worried about Kami, but..

K: Thank you very much.

*1,2,3,4 - Couldn't catch/wasn't sure.

To top page

[epicofevil]

Series Illustrator Interview

Epic of Evil page 71-76

Meeting With AkunoP

.

--First, please introduce yourselves.

Yoshida Dondorian (hereon: Yoshida): I’m Yoshida. I started working on the series in “Wiegenlied of Green”!

you-ring@Kitano Tomotoshi (hereon: you-ring): I’m you-ring@Kitano Tomotoshi, who got to draw the cover art for “Praeludium of Red” and “Praefacio of Blue”.

You: I’m You. I did the cover for this book, “Epic of Evil”. This is my second interview after the one in Entr’acte of Evil, but I’m a bit nervous this time too.

--You-san answered this question in “Entr’acte of Evil”’s illustrator interview, but you-ring-san and Yoshida-san, what was your first AkunoP work?

Yoshida: I first started listening to VOCALOID around 2009 or so…So I got in around the time all those derivative fan videos of “Daughter of Evil” were coming out.

you-ring: My first AkunoP songs were “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil” of course. I think it was around the time “Servant of Evil” got uploaded, and I saw all these comments to watch it after watching “Daughter of Evil”, so I did…I remember bawling over it.

--There was a ton of uproar over “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil” at the time, wasn’t there. What was your impression of AkunoP-san himself?

Yoshida: Didn’t I hear that he completely transformed himself…!?

--Transformed (haha). That’s true, he did do an image change to wearing sunglasses and a beard.

Yoshida: My image of him wasn’t like that at all, so I think I might have been introduced to him pre-transformation at “VOC@LOiD M@STER” (colloquially “VoMas”)!

you-ring: I think I also saw him the first time at VoMas…But I can’t remember when that was lol

Yoshida: Rather than being surprised by him, I remember thinking, “Ah, so this is the guy who made the Of Evil series…!” That sort of thing.

you-ring: For an “Evil” person he seemed very good-natured. …That might count as malicious rumor, hey?

--I wouldn’t think so (haha)

you-ring: Sounds like I’m not getting scolded lol. In that sense, unlike Yoshida-san I was very surprised by him.

.

Celebrating Series Completion! Most Bittersweet

.

--Please tell us how you felt when the final and fourth installment of the series came out. you-ring-san, you were the one who worked on the cover for the fourth novel, Yoshida-san you worked on some of its artwork, and You-san you participated in the pinup art.

Yoshida: With all of the plot threads that were being revealed, from the first novel to the last I felt like it was all so very interesting…And also that I really wanted to read more of the “Of Evil” world just a little longer!

You: I had a lot of fun being able to draw art for each installment, and I remember feeling really desolate that we were at the last one. Even now I have the “Daughter of Evil” books piled up on my desk; you-ring-san’s Kyle, coupled with the book’s contents, are very striking, I think.

you-ring: While I felt very uplifted at being able to continue to do the cover art after the third book, at the same time the pressure at it being the finale was immeasurable. Still, in the end, since it was Kyle I muddled through it.

You: Also, it really felt like a collaborative effort, with Yoshida-san’s pictures really connecting the third and fourth books.

Yoshida: Aw, thank you so much!

you-ring: I would find myself going back to look at Yoshida-san’s artwork! I can’t help but sigh in admiration every time I see everyone’s artwork. You-san and Yoshida-san both have such tremendous ability for creating atmosphere in their pictures.

Yoshida: I’m truly honored…!

You: You’re much too kind! So many other illustrators contributed to the Of Evil novels, so it’s really fun in the sense that we get to see various worlds within that. Like, “Ah, that’s another way to go about it too”.

Yoshida: Yeah, I was always looking forward to it, and also every time I would get really nervous about if I’m redundant or not.

you-ring: Concepts and worldviews that I couldn’t put forward…I got a ton of motivation. I also had the same anxiety about being redundant lol, I was doing this work while constantly wondering if it was good enough.

Yoshida: And You-san and you-ring-san made such lovely art and covers from the very first installment, including “Entr’acte of Evil”. They really caught my eye when I saw them at the publisher’s!

--The illustrations for this book turned out pretty gorgeous too.

You: Wow!

Yoshida: Oh! I’m really excited to see it!

You: My heart’s all fluttery now…

you-ring: I’m gonna head over to the publisher’s in a bit! (I haven’t left yet)

You: Though everyone who’s reading this will have seen them already. Sounds great.

--On that topic, Elluka’s finally debuted on this cover.

Yoshida: I love her so much that I picked Elluka-san as my image for the illustrator comments in book four, so that makes me happy! I’m looking forward to that too! You-san’s Elluka is so pretty…

You: I was really happy to be able to draw Elluka-sama prominently, given her unique position. Her general image is really evocative of purple, which is a color you don’t see too much on book covers I think.

you-ring: I got really excited to see it as soon as I heard about it! I wanna see it already!

--On that note, all of the members here are people who’ve drawn a decent amount of characters. Please tell us of any you had fun drawing, or any you particularly like.

Yoshida: The sorceresses, of course! Naturally I love the other more human characters too, but with them having that unique position that got mentioned earlier, I’m just super drawn to these somewhat detached women… Although the frontispiece for this book is my first time drawing them.

You: In my afterwards comments I declared my favorites to be Allen-kun, Elluka, and Gumillia, but the person I get fired up about drawing is Yukina-chan from the third book. Since she’s a character that didn’t get featured in the songs originally, it was very refreshing to be able to draw her. After that, obviously Riliane and Allen.

you-ring: Yukina in the frontispiece for the third book was so beautiful, she was just too precious lol

Yoshida: Same for how you drew her!

you-ring: Out of all the things I’ve gotten to draw, I’ve drawn Yukina the most, and so I’ve become the most attached to her. In this story with so many different characters interwoven through it, I think she’s a girl with a really interesting and toothsome place in it. Also Prim too, actually—she’s comparatively more difficult in terms of time and labor to draw, but she was also pretty fun…

You: you-ring’s Prim is too beautiful, my eyes end up getting drawn to her chest…(haha)

Yoshida: Prim’s chest…and the wrinkling in her clothing under her chest.

you-ring: Wha—we’re talking about her chest now!? Shame on you lol. Yoshida-san, you really surprised me with how differently you were able to depict Yukina, despite her being the same character.

You: That illustration was so amazing, it really felt like it had that feeling of the pen telling the story. I also liked how the character silhouettes were put in with their motif colors.

you-ring: Yeah, the tracing line of the pen was great! I was just stunned at the concept put into such a picture.

Yoshida: Oh wow, thanks you guys! That kind of motif is one that’s very much inlaid into the story, and I just wanted to depict it myself…! The “Of Evil” world is full of setups and amazing motifs like that…So I just get…really excited…!

Yoshida: In that sense I also really look forward to the book binding, too! Like, “What kind of figure will be on the flap?” or “what’ll be the design on the pages this time?”…

You: I got you. The rose-->grape-->feather-->seashell designs were really cool.

--Thank you very much! I’d like you to observe the image of the cover under the dust jacket.

You: Ney-chan…

Yoshida: Praeludium and Praefacio…This is really…amazing! Anyone who hasn’t seen it should go look!

--There’s also a secret trick with Wiegenlied as well!

You: Everyone go look at the under-cover…!

Yoshida: Woah, I don’t think I ever noticed…! What is this…! *Rustle rustle* Aaah! Wow!!

you-ring: I guess everyone went to take off their dust jackets all at once, lol

Yoshida: Woooah! *rustlerustlerustle* …What a fantastic production…

You: Feels like everyone at the publisher’s made this really neatly~

Yoshida: I always get a kick out of seeing the maps and commentary! At the very beginning—if you’ll pardon my saying so—I was really dubious as to how it would turn out, since there weren’t any novelizations of VOCALOID songs at the time. But it was made with such love, and the story is naturally very interesting, I feel very strongly that this work makes for amazing books!

--When you put it like that, all the hard work was worth it!

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Any Surprises? Results of the Character Popularity Poll.

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--This time around we conducted a character popularity poll!

You: Kyle did very well!

you-ring: Allen had a real strong running!!

Yoshida: Woah…! I wasn’t expecting Clarith’s position…!

--There were a lot of comments from people empathizing with Clarith, it seems.

You: I see…(tears)

Yoshida: I also felt the most moved by Clarith. Congratulations, Clarith…!

--Michaela’s ranking was really surprising. And then there’s Ayn…

Yoshida: Ah, now that you mention it! That’s quite a feat. Surely you’ll put in something commemorative on the cover edges…?

You: Ah! I’ve already completed the cover, so…Everyone, please look at it with your mental eye instead…!

Yoshida: Wha…

you-ring: If I strain my eyes, I see there…

--Ayn has no character design, so you’ll all have to make sure to draw him when you get the chance (haha)

Yoshida: Well then, maybe we could slip him into an illustration… Though he doesn’t have a design…

You: That’s a good idea! Maybe I’ll upload an image to my blog then…lol

Yoshida: Ooh! I’d love to see your Ayn, You-san…! I’ll covertly look forward to it…

you-ring: You mean a festival for the Ayn I came up with!?

You: You’re gonna draw him too, aren’t you you-ring-san?

you-ring: Uh.

Yoshida: Yeah! Ayn’s gotta have this magnificent backstory, right? I feel like Akuno-san would make something like that…

--Various countries were featured throughout the story; are there any that you all would like to go to?

you-ring: It’s not a country, but I’d like to just go see the Millennium Tree at least once, soon. So in that sense, Elphegort?

Yoshida: Oh, me too! I want to go to the Millennium Tree Forest. Also, of course, the place where the story started: Lucifenia.

You: I also think I’d like to see the Millennium Tree. It’d feel like a world heritage spot, don’t you think? Also, I’d want to go to a banquet on the Freezis Estate (though I can’t).

--Held-sama is quite popular then! The Millennium Tree is meant to be a former pilgrimage site, though lately it sounds like not many people go there anymore.

you-ring: It’s an undiscovered gem! I’d just like to go there and take my time idling around, seeing everyting…

Yoshida: I’d love that! Frankly, all the countries sound dangerous…Even the Millennium Tree isn’t safe, but it has a peaceful image I think, so if I went to any of them physically…The Millennium Tree is good.

you-ring: Sorry that you asked us a question about countries and we all answered with a forest lol

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And Now, To the “Seven Deadly Sins”

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--Now that the “Daughter of Evil” series is complete, let’s hear some nice words for AkunoP-san, if you please.

Yoshida: Congratulations on finishing it. You did such good work! Although, as a reader, there’s still a lot more I want to see. I’m…really really excited to see the “Deadly Sins of Evil” series (chuckle)

You: I’m saying this a lot here, but I want to say thank you for all your hard work, it’s greatly appreciated. I’m very happy at just being able to depict your characters, Akuno-san. I’m also excited for the “Deadly Sins of Evil”. I’ll be in anticipation while listening to the songs on repeat.

you-ring: Always stay evil, yeah? I’m also looking forward to the Deadly Sins Series! And a sincere congratulations on finishing the Daughter of Evil series.

--Please tell us more how you’re all curious about and looking forward to the new “Deadly Sins” series.

you-ring: As a reader I’m very curious as to how the story will be told and how it’ll be released, like if each sin will be published one by one.

Yoshida: The Seven Deadly Sins have a strong impact in various different directions, so I’m really excited to see how it all ties together!

You: I’m looking forward to seeing how the various secrets woven into the work get brought to light. I feel like reading the “Deadly Sins” series will end up making me want to reread the “Daughter of Evil” series again.

--Thank you very much! Now then, please say one last thing here.

Yoshida: I am truly grateful for being able to assist in the “Daughter of Evil” series. It’s a wonderful thing to be involved in this enormous world. The songs, the books, I hope to see even more from here on out!

you-ring: I think this series has let me take part in a truly valuable experience, and it’s been a great honor to take part in it. Thank you very much for inviting me on here!

You: From the very first book to this “Epic of Evil”, thank you so much for having me draw for this series for such a long time. I’ve nothing but gratitude.

--Thank you all for your time.

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