#I guess you could call this a redesign but one made for fun

[asdeadasasquirrel]

I did it @boss-the-goofball ✨

Here’s Alastor with twink death so severe, he is now cannibal Orson Welles. 🎙️

[shokolandish]

viv is not a good person and i don't support her, but ive got a hyperfixation right now and im gonna make that everybody else's problem

besides, separate art from the artist or whatever

hazbin has a shit ton of mistakes, problems, same body and hell, even same clothes syndrome. does hell only have one shop or something???

but i just kiiiinda enjoy (?) it for what it is

and ive seen a lot of people do redesigns and that seems really fun and honestly, the characters have a lot of potential that's just blatantly ignored by the show

aaaanyways, after all that out of the way, i present to you...

finished refs for two of my redesigns for the cast!!! did the main couple first, naturally

soo, here's charlie

age: about 22 in human years

and vanessa!

age: about 25 years old. not sure if angels age differently but that's her age in human years

some notes under the cut

Charlie

- yep, i made her non-binary. just get a lot of non-binary energy from xer. besides, i like the hc of them preferring the name charlie over charlotte because it sounds more gender-neutral

- i like to imagine xer a bit on the bigger side complexion-wise. like, i don't know if you could call her chubby but she is a bit plump and really soft to the touch not only because of the fur. i feel like being soft and having more soft edges in buns design would fit buns character more

- she's not freakishly tall anymore!!!! like.. i don't mind her being tall because she's the princess of hell after all.. also have you seen how tall lilith is???? but i feel like sometimes it's TOO much... also honestly it also just fits them more imo??

- they're a redhead now. I MEAN LIKE. both lucifer and lilith were described with red hair in old paintings.. i just had to.

Vanessa

- yeah yeah i made her a demigirl... her original color palette just screamed demigirl. like. it was literally the demigirl flag color palette.

- i thought of naming her violet but that'd be a little too on the nose i think- gave her actual hips!! and not whatever was going on in her original design (the waist just going straight into the legs)

- also made her a little more.. (uh i guess the appropriate word is "thicc") overall- yeah i also redesigned the angelic spear a bit. not too proud of it but i think it gets the idea across

- i don't usually.. draw noses, but i figured it was a pretty big/most recognizable part of her design so i gave her one.

- oh yeah btw she's not gray anymore!!!! yippee!!!!! like what's even up with viv and making poc characters gray. anyways since she's a fallen angel i figured giving her a more human appearance would make sense. we've seen winners in heaven and a lot of them look pretty human. even if we only look at exorcists, lute looks pretty human too.

writing notes

okay, so, i wanna give you some notes about the writing, but before i do - i am NOT a professional writer, im just a kid who has some criticism for the hellfire of a show hazbin is

with that out of the way...

chaggie's writing

okay so. chaggie am i right.

so, ill just get this out of the way - it's boring

like, really boring

chaggie defenders will say they're just "casual" and im an asshole for wanting more from them but you can be casual and not be FUCKING BORING

like.. all of their interactions just go the same waythey comfort each other or hold hands or vaggie is trying to convince charlie to do something and she NEVER. FUCKING. LISTENS. like seriously.

the only time she actually listened was when vaggie convinced her to be more assertive but she was trying to do it anyway... and she changed vaggie's words and did her own thing anyways

they don't even have that much chemistry. and they're like, the main couple. they're supposed to have chemistry.

hell, emily and charlie had more chemistry in one episode they interacted in than vaggie and charlie in the whole damn show

vaggie's writing

vaggie's writing.. it's... sigh.

she doesn't really feel like a separate character when she's with charlie

they're just. doing the same thing. over and over again. all of their interactions are the fucking same. like.. i wanna care but i just have no reason to. i just DON'T FUCKING CARE.

even vaggie's whole deal in "whatever it takes" is her just?? dedicating her life to being charlie's partner?? and not even being her own person and living for herself??? like. what's up with that. maybe i just didn't pay enough attention??? i can't be bothered to rewatch any chaggie scenes in episode 2 because they did not deserve that drama and i just don't care enough

im supposed to care but i don't

the show just. doesn't give me any reason to care.

vaggie interacting with ANY other character is so much more interesting - i don't know what to expect, i can't predict it!

vaggie interacting with alastor? hell yeah! we never know alastor's intentions and seeing vaggie not taking any of his shit is really entertaining!

vaggie interacting with angel dust? sure! id love to hear the bickering or maybe them having to put up being alone with each other for an episode? maybe both of them having to put up with charlie's shenanigans and bonding over that?

vaggie interacting with niffty? okay sure! a lil gremlin and an involuntary caretaker maybe with vaggie seeing niffty can take care of herself? or vaggie trying to put up with her insanity?

vaggie interacting with husk? oh hell yeah, they both seem to be the straight man in any situation (despite neither of them being straight but whatever), maybe they can have a drink or two together.

vaggie interacting with pentious? yes please! she'd not take any of his shit, but honestly? pentious' obliviousness with vaggie's seriousness could be a very fun dynamic!

but charlie? yeah i can just. predict any interaction they'll have.

and that's not really a good thing with the main couple

because it just gets old really quickly

and we see them all the time, so after some time they can just start to irritate people

how would i fix it?

MAKE THEM INTERESTING, DAMN IT

maybe make charlie listen to vaggie more often??

or maybe vaggie getting a bit irritated because charlie doesn't take her advice seriously

or maybe actually show us how they fell in love?? not just love at first sight or whatever they had in the flashback

like, id love to see actual chemistry develop!or maybe make their interactions not as predictable??

or maybe actually show us how they work together

have an episode dedicated to them

that's the problem with trying to fit everything into one season - the character and relationship developments can end up rushed and just. not very good.

like.. the season we got could be easily stretched out into two or three, WHERE ARE YOU GOING SO FAST, SHOW?? why so fast

this show doesn't know about the existence of filler episodes and we NEED filler episodes

to actually get to know the characters, to explore dynamics, to get to know the world around them

the season is just way too short to tell the story it's trying to say

and if i didn't care about a character from the start and the show doesn't let me meet them... im not gonna just start caring.

---

anyways, that's about it! im definitely gonna do more, i even have angel and pentious ready:) niffty, husk, alastor, emily or adam are next after them, i already have them sketched out

idk what order im gonna post them in but we'll see i guess

---

bonus:

some concepts

[non-plutonian-druid]

[ID: 11 doodles of Umbrella Academy characters in a style imitating the webcomic Paranatural. Allison, Luther, Diego, Klaus, Viktor, and Lila are drawn as kids, approximately 12 yrs old. Ben is a similarly aged ghost. Hazel, Cha Cha, and the Handler are present as well, all looking vaguely villainous. Five is drawn to be maybe in his twenties. All of them have colorful smoke rising from them indicating the powers from Paranatural, except for Viktor and Lila, for whom the smoke is white. End ID.]

Look, a Paranatural au! I wish I had been hit by this muse in time for Masked Author/Artist, but alas it was not to be. If you've read Paranatural is you can probably guess.... basically everything there is to know about this au. If you haven't read Parantural, you should!! It's a wild ride! But also I rambled for a super long time about it under the cut

Everyone has cool spirit powers and can see the dead, so Klaus isn't special sorry Klaus. I'm making up for it by making him directly possessed by a spirit that gives him superpowers, instead of everyone else who has to use a possessed object to get superpowers. I didn't put a ton of thought into what Cool Accessory (possessed object) to give the kids so I could change that later, but for now Allison has a megaphone, Diego has a yo-yo, Viktor has his violin, and Luther doesn't have anything because his dad thinks he needs to learn to control spirit energy on his own. Klaus doesn't have any either because he's possessed directly. I adjusted the rules of Parantural slightly because [Paranatural spoilers!!] in the comic someone with white energy can connect with spirits whose energy is any color. Viktor's should absolutely be white by show rules, but that power set suits Lila a lot better. So in this au, the rules are adjusted so that white can only connect with white, and Lila's is actually colorless (IE, it only looks white now because the background is white). She can't bond with any one spirit for long, but she can bond with any of them for a short time.

Hazel, Cha Cha, Five kind of, and the Handler are all members of a version of Paranatural's Consortium, which I'm just going to call the Commission again because why not. As you may be able to guess, it's slightly more villainous in this au than the Consortium. I wanted AJ to be a high ranking member, but if I made him the Handler's spirit then we wouldn't get to see him ever, so I made him Five's. This was before I remembered that people possessed by spirits look more and more like their spirit over time so the fish head thing could still totally work, so I might revisit that. Hazel and Cha Cha's spirits look like thier masks, of course. I didn't spend much time on the mask/spirit redesign so they're not as fun and funky as I'd like, but they're still reasonable stand-ins. The Handler is this version of the Boss Leader because.... duh. If you've been keeping up with Parantural and are wondering about how That One Thing About Boss Leader translates... I haven't decided yet.

Five is the Mr. Spender of this au. He is possibly the least Mr. Spender-like character to ever exist, but look me in the eyes and tell me that acting as the teacher-supervisor of a club of unruly kids that can see ghosts who is secretly part of a nefarious (?) organization is not where he belongs.

I have a few more doodles of this waiting in the wings! Mostly of Five because I love him. But also if you have stuff you want to see, send it in. No promises I'll draw your suggestion, but the main obstacle between me and drawing more of this is not having concrete ideas for situations to put characters in

[phoebified]

ooooobliiiiigaaatory sso post because new dark rider design dropped! erissa (not sure why they didnt just keep elise or change it to eris? but that's ok!), the remake of chiyo, just dropped, and... she's white! interesting. there were a lot of ways sso could've saved the dark riders fumbles. there were a LOT of those fumbles, but the one i hammered on the hardest was chiyo, because i myself am japanese, and immediately know a bad design when i see one. likewise, i'm pretty spot on with calling how that character will most likely be written, and can make a few good solid guesses. i will say, i feel lots more in common with sabine, and am against the way they designed someone i could relate to and then painted them staunchly as a villain; likewise with all the dark riders, this may be sso's most diverse group yet, and they are villains. HOWEVER. at that point, they had already put them in-game, and now all i can hope for is some good old fashioned childhood "everything ends up fine" writing that shows these characters some love and perhaps sways them from their homocidal ways.

back to erissa.

why was chiyo's design racist? well, it wasn't just her. most of the dark riders were handled poorly. to be honest, i've talked SO much on this blog about why chiyo was such a bad design that i simply don't want to rehash it. was it the worst i'd ever seen? no. but putting in those stereotypes to a game children -- WHITE children -- play is like teaching children to hit bees nests for fun. it's pointless and hurtful to everyone.

SO: what do i think of erissa? she's cute! i like this design way better than the last.

that's it. whole idea. i think the colors are more comprehensive, i like the crochet details, i think the hobby horse looks a little silly but i kinda like it. overall, i am happy.

now you're probably wondering, "what, so sso can't make non white villains!?" and the answer to that is 1. don't be stupid and 2. of course they can. but they better put just as much effort into the rest of sso. they don't, though. our only buff woman is alex, who barely counts because she's kinda small as fuck in game. that leaves Sabine, who's more buff. her character is nonwhite, visibly has arm hair, and until proven otherwise, is nonhuman. not only that, she's evil. that sends some pretty strong messages, and, side tangent, but to anyone too goofy or too stubborn to see how that's a problem, i'm excited to see how the children in YOUR family turn out, be it yours or other family member's. will YOU teach them what racism is and why it exists and the complexities of it that people scoff at that allow it to continue to exist day in and day out, or will you let them play all the other games that DONT revise their writing, where the good characters are straight and white and every other type of "normal" and the enemies are gay or nonwhite or both? anyway. i hope you see my point.

"children will experience this stuff ANYWAY!" sure. why add to it?

"oh, so you're pulling a save the children thing? so what, you want everyone to be th3 same?" no. i want them to take chiyo's design, make her clothes look better, make her default state not like a mouse, and put her in the game as sso's like. only japanese character. i'd fucking love that! do you know how little representation there is for weird japanese girls? we dont got dick or shit. it'd be so fun to have a slightly redesigned chiyo as an npc, i'd totally fucking adore that! different clothes bc i think her past design was a little. ourgh. it'd be fun and cool if they made her like, a budding emo? omg that'd resonate with so many people i'm sure, and the purple hair is already suited to it. black hair would also be cool, though. do you see what im saying here, though? context is everything. im sad sabine is a bad guy. im sad every white girl who plays this game gets someone to relate to. i guess i too really relate to and like anne, but that's where the similarities end. it's easy to say "why does race matter?" in a sea of white people if you're white, but it can get lonely playing any video game if you're not white. sso is one of the best games ive found in terms of trying to really add diversity (although im still waiting for updated fat npcs), and that's why i weighed in so heavily. it matters to me. i love this game. i think they've done so much good with it recently, i'm really just beyond impressed and in love.

i think erissa is a good design.

[anonymouscheeses]

Just for fun Hazbin Hotel redesigns!

(If it sounds like I'm hating on vivzies designs. I'm just critiquing I love her designs so much yall don't even know)

Angel Dust! Gave him a more slutty mafia look to make it clear where he came from. If it weren't for the rumors I would have never known he was from the mafia. In addition, I gave him a scar on the eye that had no reason being black but now it does. Also gave him more pink to blind your eyes with his pink...iness. He has shorts, that can atp just be called underwear, he uses for quick... usage erm.. this is angel Dust we can't be surprised.

Vaggie! Gave her a more moth look, because honestly, I didn't know she was based off a moth. Just... smack some antennas.. boom, that's it. No hate to any of the designs, I just think there could be places to be add more. Also striped arms because MOTHS HAVE THEM AND ITS SO ADORABLE (I'm a bug freak) made her bow bigger to give a better silhouette. She wears armor 24/7 the only moment she takes it off is when she goes to sleep, even then she keeps it near. Which is both hilarious and concerning- (Also this isn't really reflected but I wanted to make Vaggie more sassy because it just fits. Angel Dust and Vaggie cuss eachother out until one of them passes out. So hc ig! :D) PURPLE

Alastor! Hhhhhh.. Ngl this is my least favorite. My design I mean. If that's because I didn't reference the others bodies and made him look short or I didn't transfer him to my style well enough or because his design DOES look ass idk. I made him more deer like, putting his deer ears to where his real ones would be. His antlers are bigger now, yeah I understand how hard it would be to make the antlers look normal while also near the deer ears so I just made the ears relocated. Oh yeah, I gave him a scar on one side of his face because maybe one of his victims did that to him when he was alive, it also just symbolizes his two-faced role(sorta, since he doesn't hide it all that much). Since the others don't have as much red as him it gives him the possibility of standing out.

Charlie Morningstar! Can you guess who the favorite is? Can ya can ya? Since I heard that Charlie is based off a puppet I made her look more like it with joints and the mouth lines(it doesn't work like a puppet would, it's like marker drawn on a normal face except it's genetic). Vaggie told he to dress up more formal(Charlie always wears overrals), so she put a yellow suit jacket and blue jeans on over her overrals and called it a day. I feel like she's the type of silly who would doodle and put stickers on her pants, so. She did. What a goofy goober *pat pat*. I gave her a bit of pink to compliment the yellow, despite pink not being it's complimentary color I still think it's cute. I changed her pose back to the original one, because instead of it looking like she's singing(like the new one) it looks like she's actually welcoming you

Demon form Charlie. Yeah. SWEET MAMA. *cough* it's not that hot but uh anyway. I gave her a halo because, duh, she's half angel. But I didn't try to lean too much to the angel side since this is her, well, DEMON form. Maybe she could have an angel form as well? Buuuut I haven't started designing one yet. She has two colored eyes because. Iunno it looked nice. Just kidding, because everything symbolizes something it's supposed to show her normal/angelic side and her inner demon(HELP). I GAVE HER BIGGER FANGS. *INHALES* SWEET MAMA. Vaggie is bleeding each night I swear to you. Charlie sometimes transforms into her demon side on accident, If she's thinking very hard or is mad at something. Yes I thought extremely aggressively for this one because I love Charlie, fight me.

Gave them all their own specific colors to be associated with, because why would I not. That's like 101 of designing, twas a joke, vivzies designs DO have their own associated colors it's just I made it more apparent and noticeable(plus changed Vaggie's main color). I did NOT reference their bodies with the others because all of them I did in the middle of the night bruv. So, no they did not get shorter or taller, except Charlie, who is just a tiny bit taller than Alastor(I don't know their actual heights, what, you think I did research? No. I just took what I heard and SPRINTED with it.), I just love height difference relationships so I exaggerated it for Chaggie heheheh

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

one thing that's been bothering me for a few years now is how i basically have 2 types of ocs: ones that are pretty much entirely original, and ones that are very obviously inspired by media i like. it's that second category that's been bothering me, and i just... feel the need to finally put it into words.

it's no secret that i'm incredibly passionate about the media and characters i like, especially if you're someone that knows me closely and/or talks to me a lot. so sometimes when making ocs i just go 'ooh i should make one that's like this character i like', and i think that's normal. characters people like often have traits they find to be interesting, and those traits can easily be spun in many different ways.

however, there are quite a good chunk of my ocs that i think are a bit too... derivative. and i have no clue how to make them not feel that way, both because me and my friends who i do oc stuff with all already know what the inspirations were and because i feel way too attached to make any major changes.

it kinda started as a joke. a few years back when i was in an active rp community (a story for another time (never)), and thought 'hey it'd be funny if i made some ocs that were just bootleg touhou characters since all my friends know im obsessed with the series lol' (this was technically not the first time i had done something like this, but the previous characters had very rapidly separated themselves from their inspirations in all but general appearance and/or color scheme). and so i did. and it was great, i had a lot of fun taking them and spinning them in a different direction, trying to subvert the mold i had made them from.

however. i quickly began to feel just... really conflicted about these characters. i REALLY liked them, and i still do, i think some of them are some of my most fun characters, but... can i really call them my characters when they're so heavily inspired by something else? even if they're different enough, it didn't matter. you could still tell (or i could, at least). and i couldn't bring myself to massively change anything about them because... they were already cemented into my mind. it felt wrong.

even now, having redesigned basically all the characters i have that fit into this category at least once i just... can't help but feel conflicted about most of them. and i kind of can't escape doing this, even with new ocs (example: i recently made a character based off of a japanese mythological figure, and all i could think about when designing them was the touhou character also based off of that mythological figure... and it definitely shaped the design a lot).

i... don't know what point im trying to make here. or if this is even coherent, or something i should be all too concerned about at all, or something other people have even noticed.

i guess what im trying to say is i was gonna post some redesigns ive been working on for like two weeks but im kinda too scared to because i feel like all the characters are very obviously derivative and it's making me feel really... well, conflicted.

oh, and quick clarification because this just occurred to me as i was about to hit post: this has nothing to do with the thing i was doing around mid last year where i was making actual bootleg touhou/len'en characters. that's for something else, and those are supposed to be very obvious spoofs and are not actual ocs. i am still working on those i prommy, ill get around to the few in my ask box/commented on that post eventually.

[jane-crow]

ummm oc ranting???

get ready this is going to be a fucking lot/srs ALSO TW JUST TO BE SAFE: mention of puk1ng b100d/coughing b100d

(first one is hisan. the one with wings second one is clax the one with a flower crown- also when my husband sees this i wasnt sure if i should put the redesigns so i didnt just for the time being- apologies)

(clax shit) trauma. so much trauma- but anywayanyway going away from childhood- xey meet this god- his (the gods) name is phantom :D and throughout the aus (yes thats important) hes a well known god SPEIFICALLY for his spell book AND GUESS WHAT FELLAS??? yeah clax is somesomehow a decadent from phantom- like zey have god blood basically

so clax gets his spell book and is very good with it and uses it against the universe destroyer basically-her names hisan and yes she does have a design- let me fetch it heheh

(hisan) the reason why (basically) everyone hates hisan- is because she basically tortures clax- often

they are baically evil bitches who want to rule the multiverse- and hisan is basically one of the most powerful

sad fact!: hisan used to be friends with clax when he was younger

basically by shaking her hand it bounded them together forever- yeah dont ask to much

anand naturally hisan has powers-

she can make you relive truama,give you nightmares andand- well those are the MAIN ones

she can possess you to

and she has these red strings she can summon so ykkk- slay hours

clax also basically cannot sleep because of the nightmares hisan gives to zem- clax is basically running on coffee 24/7

sooo- what does clax exactly do?

well- zey protect the multiverses so hisan cant control every living human-

hisan also has minions she sends after clax!

at one point hisan had a war with clax. i think it was like- 10,000 of her minions vs clax. all at once. yeah clax had fun.

and one random thing i guess? uh- hisan can kill clax but clax cant kill her- BASICALLY MEANS hisan can kill clax and live BUT clax cant kill her and live- if clax kills hisan then they both die

clax has god blood- as of rn clax is a demi-god and not a god

only because once the gods feel zer ready then clax has to fight the five gods (4+phantom) and if he wins HURRAY GOD CLAX if he loses he stays a demi-god

bbuuuttt clax has a spell issue-

he can only use four powerful based spells (like- if he was to blow up a building or something ig?) at once

at one point he got hit with an axe to protect one of the aus and um it affected zer magic basically

IF he uses more than four? ||he coughs blood/pukes blood||

AND SOMETHING THE WET CAT WASNT TOLD???

hes kind of immortal in a way? like- the axe SHOULD have killed zem but didnt THAT was because zer a demi-god and arent- technically very human so yeaaahhh-

and zer life span is extentedlike age wise- zey dont know how long that is but its longer than a normal humans length

and due to trauma reasons zey do NOT want to live longer than zey need to- bro is ready to hit that restart life button

and now an au segment :] basically- think of this as the undertale aus- clax in different timlines but as different people because otherwise none of this will make sense at all

ok SOOOO there wwas this au called "adventurer!au" who was the one who found clax/the og au in this case

and they both co-owned the "au house" together rather than just having one of them own it and advent was a bit of a uh- posessive friend when it came to clax

aadvent made this one invention that could basically reset timelines- or at least the day anyway

basically advent just used that to talk to clax and shit way to much- SO MUCH SO clax eventually became aware AND WAS VERY PISSED

so zey confronted adveadvent about this and banished them from the au household

clax hates to speak of them at all

ANNNDDD at one point

clax used a time seeing spell to see what else advent had done throughout the timeline resets and advent had actually killed one of the aus

so yeaahh-

clax is now the owner and is happy about it

yeah ummm- thats basically it?

[lena-cant]

I kinda get sad whenever they make a remake of a game that is similar enough in enough aspects that people begin to view it as a replacement for the original game.

Let's take the example of Resident Evil 4, since its remake came out at the beginning of this year and it's fresh in my mind. The Resident Evil 4 remake (let's call it RE4R for brevity) is a pretty great game and in a lot of ways it's a noticable improvement from the original. It rewrites the plot in such a way to shuffle around the order of events, and I'd argue that the result does flow better. The game feels really good to control (I never really had a problem with the original's tank controls but RE4R is still a noticable improvement) and the enemies that you fight are generally more responsive. The game is better (though still not perfect) in the way that it treats women, and avoids (some) of the overt male gazey-ness of the original. A lot of the characters have been redesigned and they generally better suit my taste. They removed (most) of the god awful quicktime events and managed to make interesting sections of gameplay to replace them. All of these improvements make it, in my opinion, a better game than the original and I would probably recommend RE4R over the original if I was asked a question like "if I could only play one of them, which should I play?"

But the thing is, I still love the original RE4 and it is different in enough ways to make it a distinct game from the original. Ignoring the changes that I referred to as improvements previously, the remake also made a lot of changes that I think of as lateral moves. The tone is darker and it leans less into campy vibes than the original. The level design is different and can often feel more sprawling than the original. The voice actor for the merchant just isn't nailing the vibes. You can upgrade the knife but it has durability. It's a whole bunch of little things, really, that make RE4 a different game from its remake that's worth going back to and playing, even when the remake is out and (I would argue) better.

And even the little, shitty annoying things about RE4 are still things I like about it. The quicktime events are bad, sure, but their existence as an early implementation of the concept is charming to me, I see them and roll my eyes. "Oh, those quicktime events, god bless 'em." Sometimes I fuck up with my movement because the controls are less than ideal and I die for it, but that feels to me like a bit of texture in the wall, that subsequently was sanded off. Like, yeah it was giving people splinters, but it just doesn't feel the same with it gone.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post was, I guess it's just "if you liked the RE4 Remake you should play the original too." And more broadly "if you liked a remake of anything you should play/watch/read/etc. the original." If nothing else it'll be an instructive experience in how far that medium has come. I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old (I was 4 when RE4 came out but shut up) but it just seems really sad to me when a remake like that replaced the original. Especially when it seems like the creators behind them (like with the case of RE4) seem to be wanting to actively revise the history around the game.

When RE4R came out, they just called it "Resident Evil 4," and they retroactively retitled the original to be "Resident Evil 4 (2005)." It feels to me like Capcom wants us to forget the original came out at all. Which would be a shame, because the original is such a fun and interesting and unique game that I'd hate to lose it in the stream of time.

[sigh-artist]

Bois, gals and goblins, i have a oc that’s probably cringe so you been warned, I’m currently redrawing/redesigning him, I guess he’s a part of a lost wings au (a transformers prime au I’m working.) sigh so please hear me out I’m a little embarrassed and shy… so here’s a brief story. ;

Jeremiah, also known as Jeremy, i affectionately call him jerebear, he’s a frankinstine-ish monster creature of sorts, he been created by random scientists and a sketchy organization, he was ment to be a war machine of sorts, but he was too emotional. Too sensitive, his heart was too big so he was basically abandoned, he was fed unseasoned chicken livers or kidneys. Or…..other organs. From any animal basically.

So…somehow he was discovered by… Silas. And there was some stockholm syndrome stuff that went down, and now he is extremely loyal and devoted to him. He is his assistant and a bit of a “guard dog” if you will. (Yes ,yess a cringy oc x canon ship) and my guy is crushing over this sick old man. (lol, poor guy is desperate for lover or any positive attention or praise, he’s blinded but the love and attraction he feels for Leland.) i image their “love” is sadly one sided for most the story, maybe feeling develop of Jeremiah saves his life or something of that line, it takes a long time for them to become proper lovers, probably in secret for awhile.

Boys imma be honest I just made this guy to ship with Silas. lol but I got attached to Jeremiah’s character so I wanted to give him a proper story. I love him.

(I know, I know Silas and airachnid is horrible for what they did to breakdown, poor dude. In my au he’s alive and bd and ko are both alive and happily married :> I guess airachnid is doing her own thing in this au, probably tormenting starscream. And I do…kinda think Silas and airachnid deserve each other lol)

Fun facts!? : Jeremiah, aside his limited diet of kidneys, also have a few wires and metal in there too, his eyes have lights and they change different colors and dim due too emotions or health. Pink is love, admiration. Violent is lust, yellowish-white is normal, green is ill/ nausea, blue is sad, red is anger. Ect. They will dim or black out when extremely angry,sad,serious, or ill. He could just be alsleep.

When he blinks his eyes will flicker, but he has eyelids too, but they flicker too.

This is original sketch or Jeremiah, I’m currently working on this design now.

[wolken-himmel]

Referring to this ask. I also have some opinions on this, hope it doesn’t come off as rude/ignorant ^^’ I apologize if so.

I probably wouldn’t call it racist, but disrespectful. I understand that some color them and make them blasian but, most of them (or at least from what I’ve seen) they’re always just black.

‘What if (an asian character) was black?’ ‘Turning (an asian character) into black’

I’m not sure about other medias, but most I’ve seen are anime/manga characters getting colored as black by the fandom. As an asian person myself, I understand that people want representation of their race(s) in medias but, by doing so (coloring characters into black) aren’t they erasing our representation? /g Asians are a minority too, and I don’t think there’s ‘too much representation’ in anime/manga because that’s one of the few platforms where we get huge representation.

Isn’t it better to make a black OC instead of erasing an existing character’s race? /g

I know it is all made in a lighthearted way and for fun, I agree that as long as they’re not forcing it on other people then it’s okay, but it becomes an issue when it’s the other way around. Personally I haven’t seen people draw any ‘turning black characters into asian’ art, or edit the manga panels of a black character to make them look asian, but I think that if it was ever done, the one who drew it/edited it would receive a lot of backlash for ‘turning black characters into asians’ just like how ‘asian characters turned black’.

Again, I don’t wish to start any discourse. I sincerely apologize if I worded some things wrong.

Yeah I very much get where you're coming from. Redesigning a character to change their race is kinda,, not my cup of tea. I do get why some people do it though, to get more representation since they may not feel represented enough in media. I guess that's okay as long as they're just having fun and are just doing it for entertainment, to each their own. But I dislike the hypocritical side of it (like you mentioned, when someone would redesign a black character to be white/asian/etc and would get a lot of backlash while the other way around would be okay; you could argue it's just for fun too).

AND YES, I'm all for people making new characters instead of changing an existing character's race to something else. Not just OCs, but also— Disney, stop making useless live-action remakes and give me some new original movies with racially diverse characters...

[oughtnots]

I’m in love with the Ghost Quartet/The Terror crossover art!! It’s a super unique take and they fit each other very well. I think “Hero” could definitely be one to apply to .. well nearly any of the major characters (“Guess I messed up/Guess I made a bad call/But I have no idea what I could have done different/One little choice/One small action” and so on). You’ve put that idea into my head where it now lives rent free thank you.

Anyways, love the art!! Your latest one with the Marines was so visually striking I love it

thank you so much! im glad youre enjoying the au (and the marines piece, i had a lot of fun with that one!)

ive definitely had some thoughts about "hero"—it would seem to fit crozier pretty well as ive redesigned him in this au (making much more of a "bad call" wrt the bargain to kill franklin), but since im not following the rule that all iterations of rose are crozier, i might split some of the lines up for various characters to explore the mistakes they all make. after all, this au is all about mistakes and cycles of violence!

thanks so much for your thoughts!

[sunder-the-gold]

To me, there's a distinction between a fanfic that diverges from Canon, even in a massive way, and one that tried to "fix"/rewrite Canon

I guess it's sorta like fanart that redesigns a character or their outfit for fun vs a redesign to "fix problematic design choices".

I get that this is kind of a semantic distinction, but at least in my experience there's a noticable difference in quality between something made for fun vs something made out of, for lack of a better word, spite.

(It might also just be that if you're trying to do a "fix" rewrite, you inevitably end up with something totally different, to the point where you may as well have just written your own story, and it would have worked better as a standalone, free of the baggage of whatever you've based it on)

TLDR: AUs and Canon Divergent fics are still fun even if "I Rewrote Franchise and Now It's Better" usually suck

Agreed on all counts.

Anything I'd want to "fix" about RWBY, I'd want to change with the fewest consequences possible. And usually, I'd try to "fix" an issue by introducing more to the setting in an effort to fill in a plothole.

For example, the way people have reached for explanations why Blake Belladonna could attend Beacon under her own name and no one realizes that she's the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, former leader of the White Fang. Multiple answers are reasonable, and leave the story largely unchanged.

Myself, I once wrote a chapter or two of an AU in which Jaune actually knew what Aura was before he arrived at Beacon and had received any sort of training in how to use it, with a weapon he designed himself and having discovered his own Semblance.

I called it "Jaune Just Right", not to mock the original writers, but to reference how the intent was to change Jaune the slightest amount possible to make him believable (to me) as a native of his world, while making sure to keep everything else about him exactly the same.

So he was still a well-meaning dork largely ignorant of modern Huntsman subculture things like the Mistral Regional Tournament, and who feels like he doesn't belong at Beacon because he still faked his records of attending a combat school, and he doesn't feel his independent training and the guidance his uncle gave him counts for enough.

I stopped writing because we didn't yet know much of anything about Ren and Nora (and we still don't know as much as I'd like), but if I did start writing it again, it would have to become a full-blown AU fic because there's no way that Ozpin wouldn't jump at someone who can magically heal people with a touch.

Ozpin would blackbag Jaune, drag him to Amber, have him Lay On Hands blind, and then whisk him out of there with a promise that Ozpin won't do anything about his faked records if Jaune never breathes a word of this incident.

I mean, come on. I couldn't kill Amber and Pyrrha again, myself. I'm not strong enough.

[dickgrcyscns]

Play Pretend

Play Pretend, Steve Rogers. Based off of the prompt “Go on then, tell me you don’t love me”. 

Summary: In which you had been hiding your feelings for a super soldier for quite a while, and he was getting tired of waiting to hear you say you liked him. 

Set During: AU

Word Count: 1813 words

Gif used not mine!

“Morning everyone,” You came into the compounds kitchen with a smile, taking a seat on one of the breakfast bars stools. Steve placed a cup of coffee in front of you, smiling back. That was his way of greeting you in the morning. And every time you looked back up to him with a shy smile, a warmth spreading across the apples of your cheeks. 

“Morning Y/n,” Tony took a sip of his coffee, taking a glance between both you and Steve.

“Morning Tony,” a smile rested on your lips, taking a sip of the coffee Steve had given you. “How’s the suit redesigning going?”

“It’s tedious,” Tony smiled. “But it’s coming along pretty well. How’s working in the lab with Banner?”

“We’re working on this really cool biochemical theory right now, I’m interested in seeing how it’s going to play out but I have a good feeling about it! Otherwise it’s just a lot of paperwork and making sure all of the files are in their correct places. Which reminds me,” you pointed at Steve, “it’s about time for your bloodwork again.”

“Again?” Steve let his head fall back, the mug of coffee he had been carrying up to his lips long forgotten.

“Well, we have to make sure you’re well, Cap,” you laughed lightly, sipping on the coffee. See you had only joined the Avengers at first because of your background in medicine, but then you kind of accidentally showed them that you have powers that allow you to either kill or regenerate cells in an instant. You kind of, maybe, became a full member after that. But when it came down to the basic lab work and doctorly things, you were always happy to do them. You loved everything around that type of work. Getting to draw blood and analyze it, trying to see if anything had changed. It was like a mystery waiting to be solved and you loved that. 

“She’s right icicle,” Tony quipped. “Can’t have you dying on us Cap. Especially Y/n here.”

You felt your cheeks go warm when Tony nudged your shoulder, your eyes rolling as a laugh fell from Steve’s lips. See, it would have been funnier if Tony wasn't telling the truth. Steve had become such a big person in your life, you had almost no idea what you would do if he left. A part of your heart was owned by him and he didn't even know that. “Geez,” you muttered, “thanks Tony.”

“Anytime,” Tony winked back in response. “I’ll be in the lab, you two don’t mess up my kitchen, okay?”

“Tony!” Your cheeks flushed, giving the billionaire wide eyes before he walked out of the room with a smirk rested on his lips. A huff pushed past your lips as you turned towards Steve, trying to reconcile the situation. “I’ll uh, I’ll be down in my lab if you need me at all. We can do the bloodwork tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay,” Steve nodded, setting his mug down onto the counter as you got up to walk away. You pulled your hand up to your lips, nervously biting at your fingernail. The thought of Steve knowing — of Steve finding out how you feel freaked you out. Now, listen, you had a lot of things going for you but subtlety was not one of them. But Steve had never said anything and that was enough to calm your nerves. You didn’t want to lose him — you couldn’t afford to lose him. That’s why you had never told him how you felt. You had gotten so used to playing pretend, part of you began to believe you enjoyed it. That hiding a secret was fun to you. 

Settling into your lab, you let out a short sigh. Your lab was a place you were never afraid to be in, pulling off your coat and placing your hair into a ponytail effectively pulling it from falling in front of your face. A smile rested on your lips, a pen tapping on the papers you had just began to fill out. Your favorite song played lightly in the background, only adding to the smile on your face. Mumbling the lyrics to the song, head nodding along, you continued to analyze your past labs and samples while taking notes. This was the place that you had all of the control, something you couldn’t quite say you had in the normal day-to-day life as an Avenger. So many things were left in the air; how would a mission end, would you end up having to heal people that had become your family or would you end up using your powers to harm people in ways you tried not to think about?

But when it was just you, in your lab, you knew how things would go. You knew the songs that would play and you could almost guess how the labs would come back. Out in the field, you were working on pure adrenaline, in your lab, you were working on caffeine and intelligence. You got to sit back and think about things, not having to worry about the time it would take or what could be lurking around the corner. Your friends had noticed it as well, Natasha and Wanda loved to sit in the lab with you. Something along the lines of you having better conversations when you were in the lab. Every now and then, one of the Avengers would come running in with a small cut they got during training (or even in Bucky’s case, the one time he was trying to cut an onion and cut his hand, you didn’t ask any questions as to how a former assassin cut himself with a knife) asking you to heal it. And you would do it with no questions asked. 

That’s the exact reason as to why you rolled your eyes at the knock on the doorframe of the lab, looking over to see who it was standing there. Steve smiled over to you, raising an eyebrow as a way to ask if it was okay to come inside with you. You nodded, putting your pen down when he closed the door behind him. “Everything okay Steve?”

“Hmmm?” He looked over to you, rubbing his hands together. “Oh, yeah, everything’s okay. I just figured that you could take the blood sample today? I have training tomorrow for most of the day.”

“Of course,” you smiled, standing up to grab what you needed to draw his blood. “Have anything you want to talk about? Most of the team uses this time to ramble on about their issues.”

“That’s got to be a lot to deal with,” Steve’s brows furrowed together. 

You waved him off, “I enjoy it. Everyone needs a person to vent to, might as well use this time to ramble on about something, you know? It’s nothing we haven’t heard before or expected, either. A lot of the times they’l rant about the missions and things that went wrong. Bucky will complain about something Sam did or vice versa, it’s great when they’re both in here at the same time.” The words continued to run from your lips as you grabbed the supplies you needed. Steve’s laughter filled the silence once you stopped rambling. 

“What about you, doll? Do you take this time to rant about anything?”

“I’m more of a listener,” you shrugged. 

“So am I,” Steve raised a brow. “I’m not backing down from my spot either, so it looks like you’re just going to have to talk.”

Eyes rolling, you began to draw Steve’s blood. “What is it you want to hear about?”

“Anything,” Steve looked like he had a quick thought before a mischievous smile made its way to his face, “your love life maybe? Out of everyone on the team, you always keep quiet when people talk about their escapades.”

“If I’m remembering correctly, so did you,” you promptly added in.

“We’re not talking about me,” Steve muttered, pink dusted across his cheeks. “But for your information, I’m not seeing anyone.”

“I’m not either,” you felt your cheeks warm up. “Yeah, that’s about it for my love life there Steve. Nothing too fun.”

His hand went up to brush against your cheek, “You know, Tony’s comment earlier had me thinking.”

“That’s dangerous.”

“Are you in love with me?” Steve’s question caught you off guard, making you stand still in the middle of the room. A small vile of his blood rested in your hand, that was the only reason you kept a grip on the situation. Putting the vile down on the counter next to you, you turned back to look at Steve with wide eyes. His lips had been pushed upwards into a smile, “Go on then, tell me you don’t love me.”

Those words came out just as you opened your mouth, about to say something about how you weren’t in love with him. It closed wordlessly, your tongue resting between your teeth, blinking a few times. To be completely fair, you were normally much more relaxed in your lab. You figured that’s why Steve brought it up while he was in there. But you couldn't help your heart that quickly began to beat, the sound ringing in your ears as fear took over your sense. No matter what you said in that moment, your little charade was up. You couldn’t hide behind a mask of not being in love with Steve Rogers. Not when he knew. You could tell. The smile on his face, the look in his eyes. There was no escaping it. 

“God I hate Tony.”

“I don’t,” Steve muttered. “I wouldn’t have figured it out if it wasn’t for him. And it makes it a bit easier when you realize the girl you have feelings for, feels the same way about you.”

You blinked a few times, did he just say what you thought he did? “So, you mean, I’m confused.”

“I love you,” Steve placed a gentle hand on your cheek, placing a kiss on the top of your head. “Always have, Doll.”

“I,” you muttered, “I love you too.” He pulled his lips off of your forehead, your head leaning onto the hand he had pressed against your cheek. You glanced down to his lips and back up to his gaze. 

“Y/n,” you nodded in response to him calling out your name. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yeah,” a smile formed on your face as he pulled your face closer to his. Your lips melded together, it was full of longing. The two of you had been so in love with each other, yet never acting on it. In that moment, you felt it all hit you. All at once. 

Maybe playing pretend was a stupid move after all. Sometimes, you just have to trust that leap of faith. 

[starxscream]

1, 7, 10 for OCs!

1. Oldest OC

Scratches chin. Hm. Well there's a difference between Oldest OC still in use and Oldest OC in General

Tho actually wait I forgot I brought back Ven who fulfills both of these so NVM LOL it's Ven. Yea.

I made him like. a decade ago LMAO he used to be cis and straight and now I trans'd his gender like HE DESERVED. Lmao he's where my love for GNC men stemmed from as a kid esp the bastard kind bc that's what he is <3 little smartass.

He's a furret originally and in this pic but I'll likely be giving him a redesign to use him in Mirakae as well! His pkmn vers is just in a cool RP group I'm in w/some pals GKHNGKH

He's very sentimental to me bc he's what got me into character creation and world-building even if I didn't do anything w/his original world bc I just didn't have the tools or experience to do it back then. The og fav <3

As a fun fact! My first name I picked for myself was based on his! Tho a more "feminine" version bc I was still convinced I wasn't trans- I wanted HIS name but I was like "but I'm a girl..." so... I called it an online name but let's be honest that was baby's first transgender egg moment lol

Kind of ironic the name I use the most NOW is one letter away from his, I think it's kinda a full circle moment :) It makes me happy haha esp now that I have the capabilities and knowledge so that I can portray Ven how I want him to be and how he was always meant to be, similar to my own gender presentation.

7. Do you ship your OCs w/someone else's?

LMAO YEA IF U COULDN'T GUESS BY THE AMOUNT OF SHIP ART THAT GETS DRAWN OF THEM- but yea I mostly ship with my boyfriend! 9/10 if you point out an OC they're shipped w/one of his

There's a few outliers like Ciro, my RP group characters, the MLP ocs I post, and Opal/Saffron BUT FOR THE MOST PART I usually ship with him! We have a lot of fun with it :]

10. Villain OCs?

Oh boy we got PLENTY 'a those. But it really depends on what you'd call a "villain" bc I tend to redeem most of my antagonists and "villains" bc I'm a sucker for Tropes. GKHNGKHNGH BUT AS FOR LIKE. PURE IRREDEEMABLE VILLAIN I DO HAVE SOME. Actor is there but I talked abt Actor already

SO INSTEAD WE HAVE...

Jam and Kazi! I have so many cat ocs. I know. You get used to it.

Jam is a back-alley doctor who presents herself has a helpful sort and willing to do shit usually for free/cheap as long as you agree to her terms. Tho like, 90% of the time she's testing smth experimental she created and most likely ur gonna walk away worse than when u came in. She doesn't rly have any remorse for this cuz she's obsessed with the studies of medicine- she wants to create the perfect medicine and is willing to do anything to reach that goal !

Plus she's kind of an ass and does things on a whim and literally broke up with her bf who treated her SO WELL bc she was bored of him. she was only with him for an extended period bc he was interesting and she was essentially studying him but once that was exhausted she just dipped. He deserves better </3

Aaaand then there's Kazi.

Kazi is. Well he sure is. GKHNGKHKGNHG

I won't go in depth into what he does but he's a serial killer who masks as a famous artist who travels around. I'm not gonna get into it but if you've played "The Evil Within" his M/O is eerily similar to Stefano LOL So you can Imagine how fucked up this guy is.

Very Morbid but a very good artist. In both respects. Tho one takes a "certain kind" to appreciate and sure isn't the majority. Do not condone murder here but making villains is fun GKNHGKHGH my whole thing with him is like, the person next to u could b a killer and you'd never know bc he presents himself in such a way that's very misleading! He's actually quite soft-spoken, kind, and generous but. Well.

I'm not gonna get into him cuz his mentality is very warped and could b triggering but yea. He's one of my favorites I'm sorry I'm s

(Art by Rob but design is sexily done by me ages ago)

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Wing Analysis

Maleficent 2014

Alright. I never watched the sequel, but I did very much enjoy watching Maleficent, I think it did a pretty good job of subverting some common fantasy tropes and doing the found family thing.

But oh boy the wings. I do have some issues with those.

(Description: a still image from the Maleficent movie of Maleficent standing on a rock in a gloomy forest with her wings spread on either side of her.)

Now, they are not horrible wings. The feather structure is actually pretty great, although I think the secondary flight feathers could be rounder and I think they left too many gaps between the ends of her feathers. These are minor problems though.

The real issues I have are those weird claws and the fact that they are terribly inconsistent about their color, size, and shape. Sometimes they’re such a warm brown they could be golden eagle wings, other times (even ignoring the perfectly acceptable lighting changes that affect colors) the feathers are all black. So are they black or brown? And are they super narrow or are they very broad? They seem to change shape based purely on the aesthetic need of the moment. I mean she is a magical being and part of the fae so I guess it can be excused as weird fae magic and so can the other issues I have, but that’s a silly excuse.

I also have issues with the way they move relative to her body but I will save that for my longer rant about animated winged people in general.

(Description: a simplified sketch of the first image, color coding the feather sections on her wings and drawing in where the wing bones could be. Various notes on the image point out things I mentioned in the previous paragraph.)

Also the wings are flatly posed while her body is turned a little and they just don’t match up. Wings should be included in body language and this movie follows the annoying trend of winged people being posed with their wings flatly held out behind them. Fold those things! Turn them with the body! You think it looks cool but it’s just a winged version of the T-pose.

And concerning the claws. It is really clear they only gave her wing claws for the draconic silhouette, having the claws curve towards her head and creating this circular frame of the upper wing edge around her face. Visually it does look neat. Having the wings up in this dramatic T-pose with the feathers flared, the wing edges and the big claws making that circular frame to draw attention to the face. Yeah, from a purely compositional point of view it looks good.

But it looks kinda bad from the point of view of a person who knows how wings work. The circular frame of the wings just makes them look oddly stiff and tense, and the claws do not work. They would have to require the wing hand bones to have an extra bit that juts out backwards over the wrist. Not even bats hold their thumbs like that all the time (especially since it doesn’t appear to have its own joint, it’s just a claw that sticks out funny) I also of course am bothered by the lack of a tail but that's kind of a Me thing. (Give winged people tails, cowards)

So I made a couple different options to fix these wings, keeping them feathery but also still including a claw because my problem is not that she has clawed wings, just that the claws they gave her are poorly placed.

(Description: the screenshot of Maleficent standing on a rock in the gloomy forest, but it’s divided in half with the original wing on the right and an altered wing on the left. The altered wing reverses the direction of her wing claw and adds a second claw a little further down on the wing edge, where the tip of the bones would be. I also added the edge of a feathery tail sticking out from behind her.)

This first alteration is based on baby hoatzins! Did you know we have a bird in our modern world that is born with clawed wings? The actual claws fall off later when they no longer need them for clinging to branches, but it’s still very cool! Just like their ancestral dinosaur relatives such as velociraptors. The claws on a hoatzin or older dinosaurs are basically a thumb and forefinger, they point down the edge of the wing. It is very possible to draw birdlike wings AND add a cool looking claw without sacrificing a more realistic wing structure.

(Description: same as above, but now the left side showing an altered wing has a totally redrawn wing that looks like a blend between a bat wing and a bird wing. The wing membrane sticks out from beneath the feathers surrounding the wing arm. The edge of a much longer tail is poking out from behind Maleficent.)

Want feathers and also a draconic silhouette? Well why just put a claw on a bird wing? Especially on a fae from some mysterious ancient ancestry? Have some fun with it! There is a real prehistoric creature we call the Yi Qi that is speculatued to have had both feathers and a wing membrane! That is super cool! So here I have drawn a yi qi style wing on Maleficent, with the implied longer tail to attach the wing membrane that also still has feathers on it. Unlike a bat, there are only four wing fingers here. Thumb, forefinger, and second finger all pretty close together, with the second finger being very long to give the wing its size. But then there is also another finger that goes straight down across from the thumb. I put the feathers along the entire top of the wing edge, but they could be done in a few different ways probably. Personally I like this one best because it’s unique and has a more mystical look to it.

(Description: colored drawings of Maleficent in my own style, showing off the two different redesigned wings in different poses so the tails are more visible. I also added a little more color like some purples in the feathers. In one of the poses she is holding a raven.)

Okay these drawings are a bit darkly colored on a dark background I apologize lol. I think they should have made her feathers more iridescent, like black with a purple sheen. Much more interesting and magical looking. So anyway, there is my own ideas on redesigning Maleficent's movie wings to give them more realistic claws.

[lovelyirony]

sweeter than honey (redux)

Pepper Potts did not exactly mean to become a criminal. Really, she still doesn’t think she is. 

But here are the facts: 

1.) She has broken several laws in pursuit of funds that do not belong to her. 

2.) The FBI would like to talk to her about several things and potentially put her under arrest. 

3.) She can no longer go to her regular coffee shop because the barista snitched and told them her name, as well as her occupation. 

Pepper broke several laws because the company she was working for (Stane International) was technically breaking laws, but laws that do not apply to corporations because corporations do this thing called “funding campaigns” and also sometimes “doing favors.” 

She decided to do the same and suddenly she is a criminal. Not her fault she redistributed money back into the community, and now they can’t get any of it back. 

It’s just how that worked out. 

She’s been staying at a hotel that serves many questionable individuals each month, and it has an indoor pool and a three-star rating on the latest travel website. 

It’s nondescript, not her style, and she’s currently in the bathroom having a crisis because she most likely needs to dye her hair. 

She’s vain. Pepper knows she is, has known it since high school when she trimmed her hair and cried. Her hair, by all accounts, is gorgeous. It’s a shiny strawberry-blonde that makes her look like an ice queen in winter and a mysterious fairy queen in summer. 

She does not want to dye it. But here she is with an eight dollar box of dye and thoughts in her head. 

And then her hotel door opens. 

Not supposed to do that, but that’s what happens when you’re in a three-star hotel. 

She is also in old athletic shorts that have most definitely seen better days and a tank top that was a last-minute buy from the nearest store, and it does not suit her at all. 

Facing her is a man with an odd beard, tinted sunglasses, and a graphic t-shirt over a blazer. 

“So. You pissed off Stane Industries,” he drawls. “I’m impressed. Usually they just sweep their little problems under the rug.” 

“I’ll sweep you under one if you’d like,” Pepper offers, wondering how quickly a blowdryer can knock someone out. She’s not sure how well-made the hotel one is. Probably not very. 

“I’m not here to kill you,” the man says. He takes off his sunglasses. His eyes are a nice shade of brown, not that you’re supposed to notice that about a potential enemy. Pepper is just that skilled. 

“Then what are you here to do? Make me move to Florida?” 

“No, the opposite. We’re staying here. I’m offering you a job position of helping me take down Obadiah Stane and the company itself.” 

“Who would I be working with?” 

“Anthony Stark.” 

Pepper stills. 

She read the news when she was in college, same time as Tony Stark. Went missing in the car crash, no one found his body. Temperatures were freezing, he was wearing a tuxedo. The chances were that he froze to death somewhere that they didn’t find yet. 

Chances were. What an odd little phrase. 

“So, you made it out.” 

“Not as hard as people say it seems to be, Virginia.” 

“Call me Pepper, my first name disgusts me.” 

“Gotcha, Pepper. Call me Tony. You in?” 

“Obviously. What do I need to do?” 

“Meet the team.” 

-

There is Rhodey, who was Tony’s best friend and sobbed on national television for two weeks until they forgot all about him. 

“He’ll cry at anything,” Tony says with a laugh as Rhodey sends him a dirty look. “Just made him think about neon shoes and he bawled like a baby.”

“I did not,” Rhodey hisses. “I was a good crier.” 

 “You looked like a seal,” Pepper intervenes. “But you played the part quite well. Nice to meet you.” 

“Right back at you, Pepper.” 

She meets Happy, a man who is all serious and grumpy and “did not want to break the law before forty” but he also gets to watch Downton Abbey whenever he wants, so he’s not doing too bad. 

He runs security and also tells Rhodey and Tony when they’re banned from ordering pizza all the time, and Pepper is inducted into the Healthy Eating Committee. 

There’s Bruce Banner, who enjoys taking over corporations for fun, and this is his second one. His first was some sort of health insurance scam, and apparently that was just to finish up his thesis for his third doctorate. 

“He has seven degrees, he’s weird,” Tony says. 

“Oh like you’re any better,” Bruce says with a snort. “You learned twelve languages for fun. Including French, which is useless.” 

“French is not useless,” Tony says. “It got us free food in Canada.” 

“We would’ve gotten it anyway if we’d done it my way.” 

“Stealing?” Rhodey asks. 

“Yes!” 

Pepper laughs. 

- 

Their job is a bit easier than anticipated. They found out from Pepper that getting into the building is stupid easy because no one likes their job and will do anything when bribed. 

Tony struts in with a badly-made-employee-ID and talks about a copying machine and coffee and seeing someone next month for dinner. Pepper just keeps her head down and pretends like she’s meeting someone for something. Like usual. 

Obadiah Stane is out of the country on a meeting, and his secretary is scared to death of him, so they’re allowed to poke around the office and find some interesting information. 

The problem comes when someone recognizes Bruce outside (government watchlists: the most pesky things on earth) and suddenly there’s this huge fuss. 

Tony pushes Pepper into an office closet and then promptly asks her if anyone opens the door, if she’s alright with him kissing her. 

“Why would you do that?” 

“People don’t like watching kissing, too intimate. Also, you have a lovely face and you’re quite funny, and I think it’d be fun and delightful to kiss you.” 

“How long have you thought about that?” 

“Not going to talk about that, just want an answer. If you say no--and feel free to, there’s no obligation in physical contact right now--it does complicate plans A to D. I suppose we could play the divorced couple route, but I’m not a gigantic fan about that.” 

“I mean, I guess? It wouldn’t be bad, and I’m not exactly opposed to it, Would it mean anything later?” 

“Do you want it to?” 

“Let’s figure that out after we do it.” 

“If we need to do it.” 

Door swings open. 

Oh, there’s a need. 

Tony is a particularly nice kisser, Pepper thinks. The thought runs through her head that she’s only kissed two people before Tony, and one was in high school so that doesn’t count, but the other was a secretary at an old company she used to work for.

But Tony is nice. Soft and warm and he grabs her waist and that’s nice. 

“Oh my god, sorry,” the employee mutters. “I just, I thought--” 

“Occupied!” Tony says, not even stopping as he kicks out his leg and practically stomps the poor other guy in the stomach. 

They get out, run, and Pepper laughs as she sees a bit of pink lipstick on the side of Tony’s mouth. 

“So, how’d I do?” 

“Send me a survey,” Pepper remarks. “Or a ranking.” 

“On a scale of one to ten?” 

“Seven.” 

“I was that bad?” 

“How do you rank things? Do you put one as the best?” 

“Obviously.” 

“No, you’re an idiot. One is always the worst. You’re a nine. It would’ve been higher but we were in a corporate office and in a supply closet.” 

“So what you’re saying is, I’ll have to try again?” 

“Preferably over a couple glasses of wine and pizza. The good kind, though. Not the garbage Rhodey orders.” 

They approach the car that Happy has, with Rhodey and Bruce already leading others on a goose chase. 

“You two have too much fun,” Happy mutters. “Boss, you got lipstick on your side. Did you get the drives?” 

“Transferred and set to release to every major news outlet tomorrow morning at six a.m.,” Tony says. “Interns are going to curse my name as they’re forced to rewrite articles.” 

Pepper smiles. 

That night, they have a couple of glasses of wine and Tony orders the good pizza, the kind that costs a little bit too much for what it is, but it’s all worth it in the end. 

- 

When Tony takes over the company after about six months of legal battles that would probably have drawn on for well over a decade if not for the fact that Tony is one of the most in-your-face-let’s-talk men she’s ever met, Pepper was kind of expecting things to slow down. 

Of course not. That’s not her style nor is it Tony’s, although arguably a vacation or a nice spa day would have been nice beforehand. 

“We have shit to do,” Tony says. “Rhodey, you need to help me revamp R&D. Pepper, I need to talk to you in the office.” 

They’ve already hired a company to completely redesign the entire building and refocus the company’s outlook, starting with getting rid of the disgusting 1970s carpet and chairs. God, it’s ugly. Pepper cried when she saw the office chairs. 

But she’s in Tony’s office, and she’s wondering if this is going to be directly related to workplace relationships or not. She’s already prepared an argument as to why she still wants a relationship and just how much professionalism she can exhibit in the face of hardship. 

(That hardship being the fact that Tony looks quite good in suits but also has arms that are made for tank tops.) 

“I have a problem with you,” Tony says. “And it’s that I want to make you CEO, but I don’t want people to think that you got it just because we’re dating. So we have an issue to cross.” 

Pepper was not expecting this. She was expecting maybe head accountant, or head of the PR team. But CEO? That was something that was...wow. Pepper had had a fifteen year plan for working up from wherever it was that she would be at. 

She also didn’t know they were dating. 

“We’re dating?” 

“Did I read the kiss wrong? Oh shit, was the seven secretly the bad seven?” 

“No!” Pepper says. “You just never told me that we were dating, we didn’t have a communicative conversation about it.” 

“Oh. Well, would you like to go on dates and things?” 

“What’s ‘and things’?” 

“You know. Sexy times. But I wanted to be a professional about it. But I am not that professional.” 

“No, no you’re not. Which is why you offered me the CEO position and why I am accepting it. But I will also date you...and things.” 

“Excellent. Have a dinner tonight while we discuss how to do Microsoft Excel?” 

“I already know how to use it.” 

“Pepper, you are the only woman for me in this lifetime and the next.” 

“And the one after that?” 

“I’m assuming you’ll get bored of me and marry someone who’s seven feet tall.” 

“Seven feet tall? What, am I going to attend every NBA game for the next husband?” 

“Maybe, I don’t know what you’ll do. I’ll probably be halfway into a grave over despair.” 

Pepper chuckles, dropping a short kiss onto his temple. 

“Well, I hope I don’t have to witness that. You want me to make some salad for tonight then?” 

“Yes please! We also need to review the decor and see what chairs to order.” 

Pepper nods. 

“We need to ask Rhodey, he has opinions about design of those.” 

“Of course he does, he hates standing too long. We’ll send him some of our options.” 

She waves as she leaves the office. 

What Tony misses: 

Pepper pumps her fist as she leaves the office, nearly stumbles, and is quite glad that no security cameras were installed that day. 

What Pepper misses: 

Tony spins so hard in his office chair as a celebration that it topples over. 

Yeah, they’re made for each other.