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ashlynniis-bracketeers · 1 year

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UNCHAINED SANGUINEOUS HEARTMAKER {Guilty Gear}

Riding the high of a resounding Epiphany.

...Did I pull another "Desdinova" purely out of sheer A.B.A hopium? (I kept the lines sketchy, though, because I could not be arsed to try and mimic Strive's linework style again after the pain from last time ahjsdgajhsdgadk)

Yes. Yes I did.

So, those Season 3 character survey results, huh? The A.B.A hopium is real. I really do wonder what they'd do with her if she was brought to Strive, so I decided to try my hand at a "Strive-ified" A.B.A design.

Make sure to check under the cut for the "concept art" I made + their associated information.

So, design background info:

So, she's a... weirdo homunculus, right? An artificial human, created by a mad scientist she never met, so she was alone and never really learned how to... "people". That key in her head also keeps on reminding me of the bolts lodged in the sides of pop-culture-ified Adam's (Frankenstein's monster) head. She's also desperately trying to find a human(oid) body for the demon/magical foci Paracelsus/Flament Nagel, who she is deeply in love with. Artificially-created human, medical themes, artificial human form, deeply in love...

So what if she decided that, with her attempts at finding a body for him repeatedly failing (XX endings don't count, XX's canonicity is completely FUCKED lmao), why doesn't she just... create one herself instead?

In other words, the creation becomes the creator. Lil' bit of "Bride of Frankenstein" thrown in, if the guy making the bride (or in this case, groom) was the monster itself.

So, making her into a key-axe-wielding mad scientist homunculus.

I tried to make her pose reminiscent of a dance move, specifically a "dip".

I hope you like it!

GG ABA Strive fandesign sheet 01

The first drawing I got done of my design for A.B.A (featuring a base-shapes Paracelsus for scale). Featuring her color palette (F1 is base flesh, F2 is scarring, H is hair, B is bandages, C1 is primary coat color, C2 is secondary coat color, C3 is tertiary coat color, E is "edges", M1 is one of the metal colors, A is "accents", M2 is the second metal color, and the square below that is the eye colors), weird ragged patchwork "lab-coat", boot details, "branding", and some of the text on her design.

- The phrase printed along the front edge of her coat (and the heels of her boots) is "LOCK&SEE" (the "&" stylized to look like/replaced with a keyhole symbol), a spin on the phrase "Lock and Key", fitting with her obsession with keys and tendency towards twisting sayings/phrases into mondegreens. Also implies hiding something.

- The brand on the back of her coat is meant to look like the coffin shape on the back of Paracelsus's head during Moroha Mode, with the nose hole and right eye hole visible. Text above it reads "PARACELSUS" (with the P and R stylized to have curved horns in the back like MM Para), and the text underneath reads "FLAMENT NAGEL" (with similar "horn" stylization on the F).

- The scarring is damage from her not wearing proper protective gear during her experiments (because she doesn't seem like one to wear proper PPE lmao), much of it taking up most of the left side of her upper torso/arm (meant to mirror Strive Faust's stitching).

- She's both grimy and very... "DIY", so her stitching is very hodgepodge.

- The text along the stitching on the back of her coat reads "The More The Moodier.", a play on one of her mondegreen win-quotes in XX (against I-No: "People say "the more the gloomier", but she's just too much to take...") but with the same alliteration as "the more the merrier" which it was derived from.

- The brand on the right side of her shorts is the same as on her back, but without the "FLAMENT NAGEL" and with "PARACELSUS" underneath instead of above.

- The key markings (gloves, boots) all have the same key-blade shape as Paracelsus.

- I had some trouble figuring out some of her colors, as they differed between the sprites (blue metal, glove. and trim) and official artwork (dark brown metal + glove, blue trim), so I decided to have dark brown for the keys and dark blue for the studded trim and left glove.

- The laces of her boots and the buttons on her coat are meant to resemble Para's mouth stitches

- Made her head-key/neck keys have a little skull decoration similar to some of her XX art (it's very inconsistent).

GG ABA Strive fandesign sheet 02

The second "Strive-ified" A.B.A design sheet I made.

- Both of the large gloves look the same, with the red bands and Paracelsus-blade key markings.

- The dark blue left-hand glove is (mostly) the same. I like to think that it's her "woobie", what with her tendency to get attached to inanimate objects.

- The dark blue cropped tank-top is meant to only be visible in Moroha. The text reads "MOCK&KEY" (the "&" stylized to look like/replaced with a stylized keyhole symbol, the top part of the keyhole meant to look like a coffin), another spin on "Lock and Key" like the previously-mentioned "LOCK&SEE" compounded with her believing herself to be superior to humans. Moroha is what was locked-up.

GG ABA Strive fandesign sheet 03

Third sheet I made.

- Noting specific design changes during Moroha. Coat opens + key "eyes" gain red glow.

- Design for her head + neck keys.

- Design for her bloodpacks. Text reads "FRASCO". Symbol underneath meant to look like a "flask" shape made out of an upside-down keyhole.

GG ABA Strive fandesign sheet 04 (Para)

The fourth sheet I made, featuring Paracelsus and his colors.

I honestly didn't change much lmao. His design is already weird by GG standards, mostly just tweaked some things.

- Made his eyes asymmetrical. Right has small iris and no pupil, left has beady pupil. Wanted to make him look "cartoony (western) neurotic/nervous" while hinting at his "main" glowy eye in Moroha being his right eye.

- I blurred/smudged the blood along the bottom edge to imply that A.B.A dragging him around wore away some of it.

- I added some spikes to his collar for a "punk" look, which glow red in Moroha.

- I kept his mouth stitches in Moroha. The mouth-corner stitches remain, while the middle stitches are tied around his left horn.

GG ABA Strive fandesign sheet 05

The final sheet I made, featuring mechanic ideas, "meta" stuff, and a design for repurposing an older move into a reversal super.

- Non-replenishable resources don't really fly in Strive, so I decided to make them replenishable through an alternate version of Bonding (a.k.a Keygrab). One Keygrab variant for Moroha, one Keygrab variant for a bloodpack. Starts off with no bloodpacks. Max three bloodpacks at a time. Functionality basically the same as XX.

- Turned Altercation (i.e. Enter Goku Moroha) into a Moroha-exclusive reversal super. Goku Moroha is not something that flies by modern fighting game characters, let alone Strive, so GM would definitely get axed. Still keeping Altercation as an absolute weirdo of a move, taking different resources depending on how much she has of each.

- Not sure what to actually do with Moroha's function/moveset, but having an "Install" state is the big thing that defines A.B.A's playstyle, so she'd probably keep at least base Moroha.

- Evidence: Concealment becomes a full reversal that only hits one hit as opposed to three, because most people cancel it after the first hit anyway lmao

#Guilty Gear #A.B.A #Paracelsus #GG Aba #Guilty Gear Aba #GG Paracelsus #Guilty Gear Paracelsus #Guilty Gear A.B.A #GG A.B.A #Brackets Draws #Brackets's Art #long post #fanart #fan art

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yukidragon · 1 year

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Remember that pic that voltageous Posted of Jack all angey. Do you think Alice would ever be in similar situation like that? Btw I love your character Alice and all the headcanons and stories that make!

Aww! Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you enjoy my writing, ideas, and Alice. 💖

I presume you're talking about this lovely picture, right? Jack's pose is very appealing, but his expression in particular is striking. Between that, the composition of the scene, and the lyrics, a story is being told that has sparked so many thoughts.

I actually made a short thread on twitter discussing Alice and this picture's scenario. I think this is the perfect opportunity to expand on that idea with a bit of a ramble, and maybe do a bit of writing.

Quick reminder that this fandom is for Adults Only. Mature topics will be discussed like sex, cheating, and such.

In that spirit, let's really look at the picture and talk about it, shall we? I think the main thing that really caught my, and a lot of other people's attention is the look Jack is giving the person standing in shadow in the doorway, presumably MC. We've never seen Jack actually show such an angry expression to his sunshine outside of fan art.

I mean look at that face. Jack is glaring daggers, at his sunshine no less! That is the look of a lover betrayed by their cheating partner if I ever saw it. Sauce does great work with their art and expressions. Full credit goes to them as always for their awesome work.

Speaking of which, consider joining the SnaccPop Studios patreon for more cool art that they haven't shared on twitter. Just remember not to share anything that's privately posted there.

Something I actually only noticed when really looking at Jack's face in close up, he has a slight distortion going on similar to what was applied to his sprites earlier in development. You can really see it in the slight blurring of his red marks.

As was mentioned on the official tumblr, Jack can touch and interact with things the more attached he is to his sunshine. In the demo, Jack picking up MC and making food is treated as a new development, showing how close they've become. MC can't touch him anymore when they distance themselves from him in the "no" route. When they could choose to "not make things weird" and keep Jack at arm's length emotionally, he started to feel cold and distant from them even though he was holding them close.

It was mentioned that Jack was given an intentional 3D/VHS distortion in earlier builds, which I think was to further emphasize that he wasn't quite real. MC is the one making him more real with their love and attachment. I suspect that the blur would've lessened and disappeared altogether as he became more real.

So now we see Jack with a hint of that distortion, glaring angrily up at the person casting a shadow over him in a darkened room. I think we can all guess this is supposed to be MC, and the lyrics give us a very strong hint as to what's going on here and why he's so upset.

It would seem that this picture is implying that MC was out all night at another love interest's place, likely having sex with them. They're choosing someone else to love, and Jack is probably barely keeping himself together as their attachment towards him wanes.

Jack has every reason to be pissed off in this scenario. Not only does this put him at risk, but this would make MC a cheater in the "yes" route. It's debatable if they would be one in the "no" route, since they did have sex, but it would no doubt still sting even if MC just regarded him as a friend with benefits.

It can leave Jack feeling hurt and betrayed. Remember how he questioned what more he could be doing in the "no" route? This is even worse. He tries to give MC everything - his love, patience, understanding, acceptance... even physical pleasure if that's what they want. Even still, they chose someone else to have sex with, showing even that wasn't enough to keep them.

So, yeah, this seems to be Jack having trouble remaining in MC's life while also feeling hurt and betrayed by them... and no doubt possessive and dangerous.

The lyrics might ask where MC was last night, but given Jack's supernatural abilities, I suspect that he knows exactly where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing... or rather who they were doing instead of him.

I suspect that Jack can go greater distances than a normal person can by walking while using his supernatural abilities. He might be able to track down MC or others he's targeted even at a distance. After all, he was haunting Nick for a while with those nightmares. If MC didn't come home one night, I'd expect Jack would go out looking for them.

MC probably got swept up with another love interest while Jack was at home waiting for them. They were late, so Jack went looking for them... and found his worst nightmare. He could've confronted them there and then, tried to stop them from what they were doing, but, as we've seen in the demo, when other people are taking MC's attention away from Jack, he has a difficult time bringing it back to him until they're alone or unless he exerts a little more pressure like the yes/no choice.

Given the situation, MC might have been way too distracted by their lover to even notice Jack... and I'm sure that it was emotionally devastating to Jack.

So Jack goes back to the apartment. He waits for MC, tries to figure out what to do, but he's hurt, betrayed, panicked... What more can he give them? What more can he do for them? What more do they want from him? What can that other man give them that he can't? He has to do damage control, make them feel the need to make it up to him and want to be closer to him, but he's also hurt.

Jack can't even confront the rival at that moment while they're with MC. His sunshine might see. Even if his jealousy and betrayal might make him not care, he can't risk them wanting him to go away.

So Jack waits for MC to come back, to confront them. No doubt he'll play his few remaining cards of guilt for leaving him behind and forgetting him for a night, while struggling to keep himself together, both emotionally and metaphysically.

Finally, when MC comes home the next day, it's to the scene in the picture.

Now... with all that said, considering how I've repeatedly stated that Jack and Alice are my OTP and I want to give them a happy ending in Sunshine in Hell... I think you can guess that this cheating scenario isn't going to happen between Alice and Jack, hahaha.

I did a post before about what a fight between Alice and Jack might look like, and how far it might go. It's very unlikely that it's going to go as far as what Jack's face is telling us here with all that anger he's showing, especially for such an implied awful reason.

For one thing, Alice wouldn't cheat. She wouldn't do it even before Ian cheated on her and showed her just how much it hurts to be cheated on. She also wouldn't be having sex outside of a relationship. Alice is on the aro/ace spectrum. On top of that, she has issues when it comes to sex. Between SA trauma and her first and only consenting sexual partner being, shall we say, less than attentive to her needs... she isn't interested in sleeping with people after the breakup with Ian. She needs to take it slow in order to trust a partner enough with that level of physical and emotional intimacy.

For Alice, sex with another person is something she can only do with a partner that she loves with the intention to make them happy and feel good. Sure she enjoys masturbation, but when other people have been involved, the sex has been, well... not great. The primary satisfaction she got from sex with Ian was his pleasure. Sadly, he never managed to make her orgasm, and it was actually uncomfortable and painful for her at times. She really did herself a disservice not advocating for her wants and comfort, but she didn't want to make Ian feel bad for a poor performance when it was too easy to hurt his feelings. Really, their troubled, one-sided sex life and lack of open and honest communication are a couple big reasons why her relationship with Ian deteriorated like it did.

I've mentioned before in some past posts, but the sexual intimacy Alice shares with Jack is going to start off slowly, and only after they're together in a romantic relationship. Because he takes her needs and comfort into account, she's pleasantly surprised to discover that sex with her partner actually can be pleasant, especially with a partner who makes sure she has multiple orgasms, and her libido increases as a result.

However, this newfound interest in having sex only applies to Jack, since Alice falls into the demisexual part of the ace spectrum. She loves him, and he's her partner. He makes her feel safe and good enough to actually want and enjoy sex.

If someone else hit Alice up for a one night stand, that would be a big pile of "NOPE!" from her. Even a friend propositioning her would make her feel wildly uncomfortable. She's just not comfortable with casual sex or sex without romantic attachment. Without that deep emotional connection of love, trust, and intimacy, sex is something intimidating and unwanted for her.

While I did consider a what if scenario where Alice and Shaun get together, that was a slow burn that took a long time for Alice to trust Shaun that intimately, and she never even knew of Jack's existence. How he would be as a lover and how that would affect her relationship with sex would be speculation best left for another post.

Jack isn't about to give Shaun or anyone else a chance to win Alice's heart when he's around, and with how much he fulfils her needs emotionally, she doesn't feel the need to consider getting into a relationship with anyone else.

Would Alice potentially get together with Nick if circumstances were right? No idea. I'd have to see more of how he interacts with others, especially his partner. I do know that him asking her out at work made her wildly uncomfortable and was definitely working against him. It's hard to say if it could work out between the two in an AU, even without Jack around.

Would Alice ever sleep with Ian again, even if just "for old time's sake" or "to say goodbye" and end things between them for good? Oh hell no. The only enjoyment she got out of sex with Ian was making him feel good because she loved him and trusted him with that level of intimacy. Needless to say, the trust is gone. Even after she tried forgiving him for cheating, she couldn't handle sex with him anymore. Ian is never getting into Alice's pants ever again.

That's all to say that even though Alice might improve her relationship with Ian, stay good friends with Shaun, and possibly befriend Nick if things go favorably... she's not going to think about sleeping with any of them, and certainly not with someone she doesn't know at all. Even then, she wouldn't even consider cheating on her partner.

So this situation of Jack waiting for Alice to come home, furious and upset that he caught her cheating, just isn't going to happen.

It would take a lot to make Jack angry with his sunshine, and I can't think of anything Alice would do to provoke that sort of glare from him.

Now, with all that said, would there be a scenario where Alice didn't come home one night and made Jack worry about where she was... maybe even worry about what she might be doing and who she was doing it with? I think so. Some places don't have landline phones, and Alice can't afford a second cell phone for Jack, so if she winds up unable to go home, she can't call him to let him know. It certainly provides some potential for drama... especially when Alice has a chronic illness that sometimes flares up beyond what her medication can handle.

So, as I said in the twitter thread, it sounds like a scenario just begging to be written out in a flashfic, so how about we do that now, shall we? Funny enough, as I was writing it, I wound up with something of a sequel to a previous flashfic I wrote a little while ago. I hope you enjoy this piece of hurt/comfort fluff between Jack and Alice!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

...

Alice was late. She should have been home over half an hour ago. The dinner Jack made with love in anticipation of her return had already gone cold.

Jack tried not to let the ticking of the clock get to him. He tried not to overthink what it could mean. He tried to ignore the twisting inside his gut that kept him looking at the clock despite himself. It hadn’t been that long since Alice was supposed to be home. It wasn’t strange to be a little bit late like this. After all, that gosh darn manager of hers was always springing overtime on her after she was supposed to clock out, or she had to stay longer to clean up some mess Carol left behind for her to take care of.

But Alice wasn’t at work. She wasn’t a mere ten minute walk away. She left in her car after lunch, saying that she had errands to do without ever telling him exactly what those errands were.

Like a fool, Jack let her go anyway. He let her kiss distract him from asking questions. Her, “I love you,” left him feeling too happy and flustered to think too much about why she wanted to go alone. She promised to be home in time for dinner, but that promise had been broken half an hour ago.

Jack wished that he could call Alice and check on her, find out what was keeping her and when she was coming home to him. He had her cell phone number memorized, but he didn’t have one of his own that he could use to call her, and the apartment had no landline phone.

Where was Alice? What were the errands that kept her away from him? Why was she late? Jack could kick himself for not getting a straight answer before she left, or for not trying harder to go with her. She could be anywhere by now, be with anyone.

Including that darn Ian.

The nightmare from the night before flashed through his mind. Jack could still vividly remember the helplessness he felt trapped behind the screen as Alice kissed Ian and professed her love for the fake pretending to be him. The memory made his insides twist into knots.

Jack gave himself a hard mental shake. “What am I thinking?” he muttered under his breath, chiding himself for the very thought. It was almost as if he was suspecting Alice of cheating on him. That was absurd. How could he, Sunny Day Jack, think something like that of his sunshine? Sunny Day Jack didn’t get jealous or possessive of anyone, and he certainly wouldn’t suspect his beloved sunshine, the sweetest and kindest person in the world, who loved him just as much as he loved her, on the basis of her simply being out late.

He wasn’t a fake pretending to be Sunny Day Jack like Ian intended to do with that farce of a reboot that lied about being the first and only SunnyTime Crew Show.

Ever since Jack heard about the show and Ian’s part in it, he had been on edge, and the nightmare he experienced didn’t help. The only bright spot in everything was Alice. He still vividly remembered the way she comforted him that night, promising to always be there for him as she held him close and sang the sweetest song to soothe away all his woes and worries.

So why wasn’t she here now?

“I better check to see if she’s okay,” Jack mumbled to himself. He promised to be there when Alice got home, but she also promised to be home forty-five minutes ago, so it was only fair.

…

A rest stop was far from an ideal place for a woman traveling alone to lie down in her car, but at least it beat pulling over at the side of the road in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately, Alice didn’t have a lot of options at the moment. At least the tinted windows blocked prying eyes as effectively as they did the scorching Texas sun.

Pain tore her attention away from potential threats outside the car and turned her attention inward. Alice bit back a whimper, instead hissing ragged breaths through gritted teeth as she did her best to ride through the intensifying sensation of jagged blades cutting and twisting through her insides. The pain rolled in like the tide until it flooded her senses and made her eyes sting with tears, leaving her helpless but to wait for it to recede again to something a little more bearable.

Eventually the pain lessened, at least enough that her breathing came a little more easily. Still, Alice took care to move as little as possible from the reclined front seat while she carefully lifted up the cell phone that she held in a death grip. Through watery eyes she saw that ten minutes had passed since she took her medicine.

Only ten minutes. Fuck. It was going to be at least twenty more before Alice started noticing any real difference. She wished that she had better, faster acting painkillers for these attacks, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

Shit. It had been weeks since Alice last had an attack like this. Why did one have to happen while she was out on her own like this? Why couldn’t it happen at home? At least there she wouldn’t be alone and so vulnerable. At least Jack would be there to take care of her.

Alice was supposed to be home almost an hour ago. If it wasn’t bad enough that things had dragged on way longer than she anticipated, her chronic illness decided to flare up at the worst possible timing - right when she was driving down the middle of the highway. It was all she could do to force herself to keep driving until she was someplace at least relatively safer to park.

“Fuck,” Alice hissed as she carefully lowered the phone, wincing how even speaking made her insides twinge in pain. Jack was probably worried by now, and she couldn’t even call him. She was too used to having him always around; she never considered something like this happening. She could kick herself for taking for granted that it had been so long since her last attack.

Helplessly, Alice couldn’t do anything but wait for the medicine to take the edge off the pain. As another intense wave rolled over her, it was all she could do not to give in to the instinctive urge to double over as pain tore through her insides without mercy. She knew well from experience that any pressure on her abdomen would only make this hell even worse. She clawed instead at the seat’s cushion and her thigh in a desperate attempt to distract herself from the pain as she tried to keep her breathing even.

I wish Jack was here.

“Alice?”

Alice flinched at the sound of her name. For a moment, she thought that she only imagined it, but that unmistakable voice came again from just outside the car.

“Alice?” Jack repeated a little louder this time, his worry only increasing. He could feel Alice’s pain leaking through their connection even before he saw the agony twisted in her expression through the car’s tinted window. “Are you okay? Can you unlock the door?”

Relief washed over Alice almost as intense as the pain as she realized that Jack really was there. She tried to keep her movements minimal as she dropped her phone on the center console beside her car keys before pushing the unlock button.

No sooner than Jack heard the click than he threw the door open and leaned inside, practically covering her like a blanket, though he was careful not to put any of his weight on her. “Don’t worry, sunshine, I’m here.”

“Jack…,” Alice forced out through ragged breaths, her voice cracking with pain. “I-I’m s-sor-”

Jack shushed her gently. “It’s okay.” He touched her cheek delicately, afraid of making things worse. “You don’t have to talk if it’s too hard for you right now. I’m not going anywhere, sunshine. Don’t worry… I’ll take care of you.”

Alice held her fist up and bobbed it up and down, which Jack recognized her as signing, “Yes.”

Jack managed a small but encouraging smile at that. “Is it your illness acting up again?” When Alice nodded her hand again, his heart went out to her. He knew about her chronic illness, particularly that it couldn’t be cured. Her medicine managed it most of the time, but sometimes it wasn’t enough to stop an attack from leaving her debilitated. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Alice grimaced and brought two fingers up before bringing them down on her thumb in a definitive, “No.”

“I see… that’s good at least,” Jack said, the words coming out in nearly a sigh of relief. “Do you need me to bring you any medicine?” Another negative indication. “I see… You took some already, is that right?” A nod of her fist. “Good, good… Then we’ll just wait here until you’re feeling better.” When her fist moved again in the affirmative, he took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, I won’t go anywhere.”

Alice returned the gesture, but her gentle squeeze quickly turned into a crushing grip as the pain intensified again. She forced herself to release him, but Jack refused to let her go and placed his other hand to secure her grip on him.

“It’s okay,” Jack said soothingly. “You can keep squeezing me if you need to. If it helps you deal with the pain, you can squeeze as hard as you like.” He offered her a lopsided smile that would have been more playful if his eyes weren’t so filled with concern for her. “Don’t worry, I can take it.”

Reluctantly, Alice tightened her grip on his hand again until her knuckles turned white as she rode through the latest wave of pain. When she could breathe a little more easily, her hold on him slackened, and her mind began to focus on the situation.

How did Jack find her? How did he get here? She was in the middle of nowhere, miles from home. Was this part of his supernatural abilities too?

Upon remembering where they were, Alice felt a shiver run through her, and her eyes darted to the darkened parking lot. She could see Jack with her, someone big and imposing, but anyone who happened to come by would only see a vulnerable short woman lying down in her car, illuminated by her car light. It was practically an invitation to rob her, steal her car, or worse. Could Jack stop someone if they decided to take advantage of the situation?

Jack caught the frightened thought right away. “Hold on, let me get inside.”

Just like that, the car was soon locked and dark once more, with Jack seated in the now reclined passenger seat so that he could be as close to Alice as possible. He took her hand in his and with the other hand he stroked her forehead, brushing sweat and strands of her hair away from her watery eyes.

“There now,” Jack said, his voice soft and soothing. “You’re safe here with me, Alice. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to you. We’ll wait here until the medicine starts working. When you feel ready to go, I’ll drive us home.”

Alice furrowed her brow before deliberately raising her eyebrows as she pointed at Jack.

Jack chuckled as he caught the simple signed question. “Yes me, silly. You’re in no shape to drive, and you need to rest. We’ll switch seats as soon as you’re feeling a little better.”

Alice frowned a little, as what she wanted to say required too much movement for her to accurately convey her meaning without the risk of causing the pain to intensify.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to, as Jack picked up on her fears immediately. “Don’t worry, it’s too dark for anyone to see who’s driving the car.” He paused to chuckle. “Or ‘not’ driving.” He bent down to kiss her forehead and smooth the furrows from her brow. “You don’t need to worry about anything like that. All you need to focus on right now is feeling better.”

Alice sighed at the gentle kisses he pressed upon her flushed skin, though her breathing was still ragged and harsh. She nodded with her fist again as she focused on Jack, his gentle presence soothing her far more than the medicine.

Jack leaned back just enough to see his sunshine’s face. He wanted to hold her close, but he knew about her condition, particularly how pressure on her abdomen, especially in the wrong spot, could make it so much worse. It made him careful how he touched her, softly stroking her brow and letting her squeeze his hand until the pain subsided.

When silence settled in between them, Alice grunted. She wiggled her fingers in front of her mouth before pointing at Jack and raising her eyebrows.

Jack nodded in understanding as he smiled gently at her. “Of course, sunshine. I can talk as much as you want. Don’t worry about needing to respond either. Just focus only on me and my voice. Don’t pay attention to anything else.”

Alice squeezed his hand again, but gently and intentionally this time. His voice, soft and smooth, flowed over her like water on a burn. It didn’t magically make her pain disappear, but hearing him talking to her and feeling his gentle touches grounded her, reminding her that she wasn’t alone and vulnerable. She had Jack with her now.

“That’s right, Alice,” he said. “I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you, sunshine.” Gently, he dabbed away at the wetness that still lingered in her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. I promise, I’ll always take care of you… forever.”

As the pain started to ebb again, Alice managed a weak smile. She held up a hand in a particular gesture that made Jack’s heartbeat quicken when he realized what she was signing.

“I love you too, Alice,” Jack said before pressing a soft kiss on her lips, which she weakly returned. “I love you so much, Alice… my sunshine.”

The pain radiating from Alice was horrible, and it took all of his acting skills to make sure that she didn’t realize that Jack felt it too. He could feel it even more clearly with how close they were like this, but he refused to leave his sunshine to suffer alone. The worst part was that he was sure that the pain he felt at that moment was only a fraction of what she was experiencing.

“You’re so strong,” Jack said, his voice hushed with admiration. “You’re doing so well. I’m so proud of you.” He kissed her forehead again and was rewarded with a soft, but pleased sigh from her in return. “That’s it, just focus on me. You don’t have to face this alone anymore. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Alice squeezed his hand again in gentle affirmation as she closed her eyes to focus on his soothing voice and gentle warmth.

Despite the situation, relief washed over Jack, and he could feel some of the same emotion coming from Alice as well. A small pang of guilt crept in underneath it, but he hid such feelings from her. She didn’t need to worry about the irrational fear he had before, that silly split-second when a part of him feared the worst, no matter how impossible that was. It felt laughable now to think that this precious ray of sunshine in front of him could’ve been doing anything as awful as cheating on him, not when he could practically taste her love and gratitude for him as clearly as the pain that - mercifully - was starting to wane.

Jack knew that it was silly to let some stupid nightmare influence him like this, no matter how awful it was. Alice didn’t deserve to be suspected of such a thing, not even for an instant, and especially not during a time when she was suffering so much. She needed him. For as much as he hated that she was suffering, he couldn’t help but feel relieved by that simple truth.

A flash of inspiration struck Jack, chasing away his gloomy thoughts. “Oh! I know. How about I sing a song for you? Would you like that, sunshine?”

Alice opened her eyes again and answered with a soft smile and another bob of her fist.

“Now how did it go…?” Jack turned his eyes up towards the roof of the car as he thought back to the song Alice sang for him. He didn’t remember the first part, but he could improvise, making up new lyrics for the same sweet melody that she shared for him. It was their song now, in his mind, and he made sure to let his sunshine know with his version of the lyrics that he would be here for her no matter what storms and pain may come to help her shine bright with happiness.

Alice couldn’t help but smile crookedly as Jack changed the song, but somehow she liked his version better. She made a mental note to tell him later when she felt well enough to speak again. For now though, she let his gentle voice cast its soothing spell over her, filling her with love and slowly chasing away the pain.

Jack continued to sing until he was certain that Alice had fallen asleep. He pressed another sweet kiss to her forehead and used his influence to make sure that she wouldn’t wake up until she was safely back home in bed with him.

“Sweet dreams, sunshine.”

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Ask #My Writing #Sauce-y Art

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momo-shut-the-fuck-up · 3 months

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Long post discussing/critiquing the unicorn/nightmare hell event story. Spoilers ahead of course

I dont mean to be a hater here. I love shining nikki and the story its tryin to tell, and i dont know if this is a new development or not- i can t remember anythin about the last lore relevant event but i do remember i had a LOT of fun with desire/leonid- however.

I feel like unicorn/nightmare was poorly written. The structure for a great event story is there, there s no issues in that regard, but it s just- how can i describe it.. the writing feels amateurish? I didnt quite get the emotion in everyone's nightmares. I didnt get the feel that this nightmare was as bad as the narration tried to make it seem it is. I didnt even know the entire world was plunged in a nightmare and i feel like thats kinda critical info (and if they did tell and i forgot, disregard this whole sentence)

We kinda jumped through unconnected nightmares and thats ok, i guess, but it felt like nikki and player kinda just. Decided to fix everyone and immediately had the correct answer because of course they do, its nikki and player. I think dodora s nightmare was the best out of the bunch, but even with her, i didnt feel that emotion that i shouldve felt.

I was thinking while reading that in comarison to life makeover, sn's story isnt presented that well visually. They sure got better! Aloysius' vines, all the different lights that appear due to whatever crystal the current story is about, yknow, all those vfx they added. Thats super good and they should do more. But that s the thing, they need more. At the moment i feel like the story suffers a bit because not only is it not voiced, it feels quite static and inexpressive.

Ima use dodora s nightmare again as an example, but she was havin a whole breakdown over here, and her sprite looked just like the usual dodora... not even a pose change. And with how short it (and every other one) was, it really felt like the importance of the whole shebang was diminished.

I do appreciate that they seem to be makin an effort though. As far as i know sn makes way more money than life makeover, and their story presentation was fuckin great. I aint even askin for the same gameplay element that lm has (for context, you can investigate rooms for clues. They re 3d, linear, and can be skipped, but they re nice for immersion) or for live2d models, but i Am kinda asking for more sprites and more animations of the sprites. Make em bounce a bit! Or shake! And i wish we saw the old god.... maybe an abstract representation of them in the bg... just. Something... we were fighting a blank arena while the narration was trying to convince me some epic shit was happening.

Oh and also write the story better. I feel like i didnt explain that great but i think its the biggest downfall atm even though i didnt focus on it much on this post.... narration is very flowery and detailed, dialogue does the job, yet there s something missing from it all imo. U can have the blandest visuals ever but if ur writing is good it doesnt matter... thats why vooks exist yknow. At the same time, you re a visual novel sn, so u should be usin the visual part better... anyway this is long enough. Post

#long post #shining nikki #shining nikki spoilers #tags for those that need em

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torrentialstardust · 5 months

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TOUHOU TIME: YUUGI BEING ALL STRONG AND STUFF

This was finished a while back, I think towards the end of March (which now that I write it I have emotions about!) and I'm really proud of how it turned out! I think the initial inspiration back in February or January was just drawing a buffer woman. I think I can improve with that to some extent, but I wasn't trying to go for ripped, more swole, and I think I brought a nice energy to her.

I was initially just trying to draw Yuugi herself but I ended up finding a pic of the wrestler Rhea Ripley which I liked the pose of, and she was stepping on another woman in the photo so I decided to draw Marisa here too!

I also realised that since Yuugi had two major costumes this would be a great opportunity to flex my alt skills! I definitely think Yuugi looks better both in terms of her base looks and her alts, and it was really wonderful getting to design new alts for her. Some of the alts for her T-Shirt costume were based on her sprites in a MUGEN character pack, but all of the Robe alts were mine, I really like what I managed to do. I even had one alt representing Kasen Ibaraki! This was fun to do, and I hope to do more pieces with alts in future. The Umineko stuffs, I haven't really done that much, although I am gonna be posting a new piece based on that tomorrow so look alive!

I think after my uni course it was a little difficult to muster up any desire to draw, so it's nice looking back and seeing myself be able to draw at a pretty fast clip again! Part of that is cos that Umineko readthrough is motivating me to get pieces done faster but also it wouldn't work if I didn't already have the beans to do it. It's nice to remember why I'm doing this, why I love art.

Anywho! Upcoming is that Umineko piece I alluded to and I've also applied for that Seasons of Gensokyo zine so I'll hopefully have something in association with them soon! Comms open as usual, and I hope you have a wonderful day! <3

#art #drawing #my art #digital #fanart #artists on tumblr #touhou fanart #touhou project #touhou #yuugi hoshiguma #marisa kirisame #alt costumes #palette swap #fanart friday

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alienssstufff · 11 months

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i luv ur dr art recently @_@ if you don't mind me askin who are ur fav dr characters design wise (not personality/story?)

LOVE when people ask me stuff like this yes - i'd gladly <3

Only included DR, SDR2, NDRV3 - we'd be here forever if it was the entire franchise. Also only accounting for their ingame default outfits

The placements on each tier is deliberate, the closer the character is to the top of that tier, the higher they are. I judge them by: >Prominence of the Talent, its practicality >Relevance to the character's identity/personality >Colour and aesthetics :]

[ramblings undercut]

[S-TIERS]

Like Gundham for example is an S-Tier design as it ticks all above boxes whilst still in a school uniform. The Four Dark Devas are important to the design, they go with him everywhere and the 5 of them are a UNIT which shows his strong connection with animals. I love the bandages and the eye-scar as it has a double meaning that indicates yes he works with animals (they can be rowdy), but as a character Gundham builds onto this detail using these scars to create this dark angsty facade. Aesthetic-wise by his hair he has a unique character silhouette, and I like how his purple is made the focal point by the blacks and whites of his uniform... both reinforcing the villain-facade and highlighting the importance of the Four Dark Devas.

Similar reasonings for the other Top 2 of Souda and Miu this time toppled with the strong yellows and pinks in their design. It's eye-catching and easily conveys what their talent is. (I really wish they kept Miu's promo-art backpack into her regular sprites, imagine her emoting with 4 arms isn't that awesome >:] )

Honorable mention to Impostor (Twogami) as well. While the regular Togami design is... mid. I really appreciate how contrasting Impostor's colours and accessories are down to the necktie and poses! Like yes they are impersonating Togami, but their values and personality as a person are not the same. The deception of Togami's dark clothing vs honest white suit of the Impostor's. Impostor fucking CLEARS regular togami any day on all accounts I will die on that hill.

[GOOD CHARACTER DESIGN]

A lot of the talent indications on this tier are more subtle in compare to S-tier but they get the job done and they do it in a pleasing way (I like the colour palettes on Chiaki, Mikan and Ibuki for example). Like I loveeee Sonia's uniform especially for it's simplicity. And yet the design still alludes to the Princess talent by elegance in the bow, the brooch, her crowned braid and how the shape of her skirt resembles that of a puffy princess gown. I also think the reds in the design like Snow White are a cute touch!

To me, Sonia should be the standard in what a Danganronpa design SHOULD be in accordance to detail.

[BAD CHARACTER DESIGN]

[ie the Green and Blue tiers] Reasoning why I put them here mainly because of wasted potential, either too basic (in a sense it doesn't tell much about that character) or not practical in any way for their talent... I HATE Ryoma's stripe leggings ik he went to prison but the execution of the concept looks awful.

And I hate Akane's and Sakura's outfits particularly cuz you KNOW why they made those skirts so short and I hate that. We could have gotten awesome gymnast of martial artist outfits but no......

I added Kiibo in that bottom tier because structurally even as a robot he is a visual nightmare if you're an artist trying to draw him. Especially when most of his suit is different shades of black and complicated chest cavity. And I despise the way that it looks like these robo-plates are attached on top of what looks like fabric long sleeves and pants as if the designer was too scared to fully commit to him being a robot. He is NOT 3D-optimised and he is NOT animator-friendly I'd throw up if I ever had to deal with him.

#ask stufff #stufff rambles #danganronpa #dr #sdr2 #ndrv3 #this is so unnecessarily long idc i love talking about design details i will have this #i was gonna start COLOURPICKING... and ANNOTATING dude shits serioussss

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fraeuleintaka · 2 months

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Character Introduction (Investigations 1): Miles Edgeworth

This is the 29th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 52 days left until release!

Today's topic: Miles Edgeworth Character Introduction!

I've previously talked about Investigations 1's introduction, now it's time to focus on the individual characters starting with our main protagonist!

Miles' introduction starts with a bit of backstory on him, mentioning his childhood trauma, how that caused him to despise crimes of all kinds and how he used to ruthlessly served the law above all else. Then it goes on to say that he isn't that person anymore and now pursues the truth first and foremost.

It's a good move to introduce his background a bit, even for people who haven't played any other AA games, because, while they're not a huge focus in Investigations 1, they do play a role in many of its cases. The most significant is definitely his major change in attitude in I1-4 vs every other case in the game and his interactions with Manfred von Karma in the same. His childhood trauma surfaces in I1-2 and is the reason he even gets suspected for the first half. The questionable methods he used to employ and his connection to von Karma also gets mentioned in I1-3 in his awkward interactions with Ernest Amano who he knows through von Karma and by Shi-Long as one of the reasons why he suspects Miles in particular of being corrupt. I love how interconnected Miles' history is with what happens in the present without overshadowing anything, it's so natural that he'd still feel the consequences of it in so many different ways.

I like the dichotomy they put forth here with following the law vs pursuing the truth. Miles' journey was a lot more complicated than that but it's a great way to summarize it and provides a wonderful connection to the overarching theme of Investigations 1 where the limits of the law are tested and the question is asked how you catch criminals who are outside or above the law. Past Miles wouldn't have bothered with that conundrum (as I1-4 shows) but present Miles rises to the challenge.

They also mention how Miles essentially stumbled into this case without meaning to but that he will follow it through until justice is done. Accurate and a very Miles thing to do. If Miles meets a case, he just has to solve it. Even if he accidentally got involved in all of this, with the accusation in I1-2, the kidnapping and restricting of his ability to investigate in I1-3, the attack on his office in I1-1 and Kay's entire involvement it's become very much personal for him. I love that development. I also like the little comment on his "investigation" in particular because that's what we're doing here 😉

Going from the text to the artworks, I especially love Miles' full character image here! What an epic pose with his hands in his pockets and his cravat and the ends of his jacket dramatically blowing in the wind! The chibi sprite animation example they chose is his formal bow. I love that one because it always comes across as so sassy and confident. Look at him, how extra it is with the extravagant arm movement and the other arm so formally behind his back! And that sassy smile! So polite and yet so mocking. I love him.

#ace attorney #ace attorney investigations #ace attorney investigations collection #aai collection #ace attorney investigations collection countdown #52 days left

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biolizardboils · 8 months

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so heads up! im popping a LOT of Prime Season 3 posts into the queue--they'll start coming out one week from now, on January 22nd! if you can see this post and haven't watched it yet, here's some tags to block: #prime spoilers, #sonic prime spoilers, #sonic prime s3 spoilers, #sonic prime season 3 spoilers.

got all that? great! here's my final unorganized little rambles about the show:

shoutout to Rusty Rose's Birdie, who only appears in the very first and very last eps for some reason 😭 her speech about it not being her power source came outta nowhere too, but i loved the message behind it

when everyone arrives at the Grim, just before the ep ends, Nine starts breathing heavily and it. instantly reminded me of Movie!Tails when the bar was calling them freaks. fuck. its a nice reminder of where Nine's coming from

speaking of Nine his poses getting more unhinged over time!! hell yeah

i love that the final fight(s) felt like a kid smashing 3 different Lego sets together, real Robot Pirate Island shit

i laughed a little too hard when the Grim's dome started closing in cus Nine's citadel-thing already reminded me of a thing that happened in Fortnite once, but hell naw they had to add The Storm too sdfghj

METAL BIG DESTROYED ME LJKHGFDV im SO glad i wasnt spoiled about it!!! a while in i started finding it creepy instead of funny, which is an added bonus

i was spoiled about the Advance flashback and its clashing sprites though. the utter whiplash of seeing that without warning mightve made me choke on my hot cheeto puffs. someone's already remade it btw, check it out

i fistpumped at the small reprise of "me beauty" gfhjk ill miss you so much Dread

we're four years into the 2020's and Sonic has nearly died an agonizingly slow death 3 times in 3 different continuities! and dare i say it was delicious every time >:)

unless Word of God says otherwise I'm gonna assume that the giant shadow at the end was The Return Of Metal Big lpoihgfds

So... Twitter, huh? My spoiler filters there had some leaks, and I saw some discussion out of context that... actually made me kinda scared to finish the show. But then I did, and had fun with it just like the other two seasons, and I remembered that Twitter gets high-strung about things that don't matter so much, and that giving it sway over how much I enjoy things is silly lol.

Yes, I think the last season could've been paced differently so it wasn't 5 episodes of the same Final Boss Fight. Yes, I think the writing switches jarringly between gearing for a young new audience and for a seasoned old one. Yes, I think the 2D flashbacks look and move worse than what fans constantly make for free. Yes, I think the final episode doesn't do nearly as much housekeeping as it should (does the Shatterverse still exist or not??). Yes, I think declaring the show is canon to the games or whatever they said probably wasn't the best idea. And yes, I think Black Rose should've had a shoulder-parrot!Birdie to match the other Amys. All valid critiques! All sensible things to think when you've been around the Sonic bush!

But I swear to god, people on Twitter act like these things spoil the whole package. Where's the nuance? Why does every opinion there become an absolute worth tearing others down for? Is it the character limit? I bet it's the character limit.

There's so much I love about this show that were infeasible for the Sonic brand just 3-4 years ago. Externalizing the characters' facets to explore them in-depth. Said exploration spanning multiple episodes instead of being one-and-done. The sheer amount of genuine Sonadow food (and I don't actively do shipping, so me adding it here should hold a lot of weight). The snappy, playful, yet blistering fight scenes that, dare I say, feel like a successful TV-budget Spider-Verse. It was all so much fun!

But I guess stuff like Green Hill being the gang's "home" is a big deal-breaker?? Like?? I thought that was silly too, but not worth ratio'ing people with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over? Get well soon, I guess??

Rambling over, shout-out to the entire country of Canada for giving me the most fun I've had with a Sonic show since X! I'm gonna go figure out how to address all this as The End lol

#sonic prime #sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime season 3 #sonic prime s3 #prime spoilers #sonic prime spoilers #sonic prime s3 spoilers #sonic prime season 3 spoilers #sth #prime #me talking #boils watches #long

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veinsfullofstars · 3 months

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hey just wondering, how do you draw daroach? i wanna figure him out for myself but dont feel like i get down how he looks well enough. thanks for the help if you have any, if not then thanks for just answering

Thank you for the question! And, yeah, I totally get it - that rat can be a nightmare to draw sometimes, haha. I definitely struggled with him a lot at first (you can kinda tell if you compare my earlier works to my recent ones). I think it’s because so much of him is obscured by his outfit in official art? The way the brim of his hat dips over his face or how his cape likes to defy physics - all in service of a cooler silhouette, sure, but taking away a lot of readability and foundation to work from in the process. I’ll try to offer some tips that work for me (though I’m hardly an expert on this, and teaching's not exactly my strong suit, so please bear with me if things get muddled, haha).

The main piece of advice I can give is gather and study as much reference as you can. Official art, concept art, promotional stuff, sprite sheets - whatever you can find, just grab ‘em and put ‘em somewhere you can easily pull up when you’re drawing. I get most of mine from Wikirby, Spriter’s Resource, and official sites like the Kirby JP Twitter, as well as screenshots taken directly from the games (a great way to get in-motion poses and back views, I’ve found). Here’s what my ref sheet for Daroach looks like (I also have a separate one for color swatches):

Kind of a mess, yeah, but very worth it, I assure you. The more visuals you have to work off of, the easier it will be to detect consistencies in design. Which brings me to my next point: shapes!

Most Kirby characters are, at their core, just a buncha simple shapes. It can be hard to tell sometimes when they wear clothes (like with our rat buddy here), but they still have similar foundations of circles and other rounded features. A way I've found that helps with this is to try redlining (that is, take a piece of reference and trace over it for the purpose of study, learning where lines connect, how silhouettes look, how different parts overlap, what shapes are used, etc.). Here’s an example:

This is a great way to find those design consistencies I mentioned before. I did these a bit messy for a better sense of movement (and ‘cause I’m practiced enough to sketch a little quicker), but you can always start slower and cleaner if it helps you see the shapes and layers more clearly. You can even do them multiple times to familiarize yourself with the design and eventually try copying them without tracing, like doing gesture drawings or life studies.

In Daroach, I’ve found that his head isn’t a perfect circle shape, but more like a rounded diamond, with his ears connecting at or just above the “points” on the sides. His body is a bit smaller than his head, and his snout smaller still, each having sort of a teardrop-like shape. His eyes are bigger than I expected them to be, half circles tilted down slightly, often cut off by his snout and hat to create a shaper angle (meant to make him look more intimidating perhaps?). His ears are taller than his hat, though they can tilt back to look shorter. There are also a lot of arcs and triangles present in his design, especially in his cape when it sits across his form or flares out, and the brim of his hat pointing down from just past his ears to right over his snout. Also, unlike many Kirby characters, he does in fact have a neck - it's just hidden behind his collar and bell most of the time (don't ask me why I spent so long verifying this, no I don't have ulterior motives, don't look at me).

Of course, these observations aren’t set in stone. Kirby characters rarely stay perfectly on-model (see Dedede for proof of that), and Daroach is clearly no exception. I mean, just look at these official pieces (all collected from Wikirby):

Even the folks at HAL Labs are not immune to style inconsistency. And that’s not a bad thing! We love a little personal flair in this house. There’s nothing wrong with altering the design a bit to fit your own style - in fact, it’ll probably happen naturally the more you practice, especially once you’re comfortable enough to work without a guide. Here’s some studies I did recently, no tracing, just observation (with different colors used to help me figure out layering):

I’ve seen other folks take their own designs even further than this, adding more fur or sharper shapes or even realistic rat features to our favorite thief. Nothing like stretching those creative muscles once you’ve got the basics down! On that note, don’t be afraid to be inspired by unofficial sources as well. If an artist you like draws Daroach (or any character) in a way you find appealing, ask yourself what it is you like about it, study it as you study official works, and find ways to incorporate elements of that into your own art - “steal like an artist” as the saying goes.

Another thing I recommend for Daroach specifically is studying how real top hats and capes look, especially from various angles and poses in motion. I find it helps to see exactly how fabric sits on a figure or what sides show at different positions. It might seem weird to use human reference for a cartoon rat, and it might take some finagling to get proportions right, but it’s surprisingly effective. I do this with fighting and athletic poses all the time to help figure out weight distribution and line of action. Don’t be afraid to expand your art repertoire into other fields - you never know when it might come in handy!

And, of course, the key thing to hammer home here is practice, practice, practice! Do studies, do gestures, draw with and without references, build muscle memory, do sketches you show to no one, draw memes, draw angst, take your time, fill pages with messy doodles or just drop one in a corner and call it a day. The more you draw this smarmy rat, the better you’ll get. That’s the long and short of it with any skill, creative or otherwise. You gotta try in order to get good, you gotta make mistakes in order to improve, you gotta be kind to yourself in order to do what you love.

Anyway, I think that’s all I got for now. Forgive me if this got a bit rambly or incoherent - I have trouble putting my thought process in words sometimes, haha. I sincerely hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with your own future rat-creating endeavors!

Sketch started and finished 06/14/24.

#veins answers #veins in dream land #veins art #veins sketches #veins fanart #kirby series #kirby #daroach #art thoughts #art advice #art tips #asks #anonymous #description in alt text #veinsfullofstars #thanks for the ask!

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willkimurashat · 1 year

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Exactly 0 people asked-

Oh, never mind, Andy wants to know, so here I am yet again, rating Love Island the Game: Double Trouble this time!

Here’s the rating post I did for s5, for anyone curious:)

I just wanna preface this by saying, I love this game. I know it is greatly flawed and I get frustrated, annoyed, irritated, riled up very often, but it’s still my comfort place and I enjoy playing it so very much. I am aware that fusebox as a company has many issues and I am not thrilled that they might be using AI to write their scripts, even if it's just a speculation. I don't spend any money on the game and I play it on plane mode, so I don't get any ads. Additionally, I think it’s long established that nothing will ever repeat the success of s2, the one hit wonder I’m afraid, so I choose to not compare it to earlier seasons to not ruin my expectations. However, my one hope for s6 was for it to not be worse than s5. Did it fail my expectations? No. Did it exceed them? Also no. But it did meet them exactly where I set them, so to me, this season was generally a success. But not without its issues, of course.

Disclaimer: I tried to be as objective as I can, but at the end of the day, I’m a mere human and these are all just my humble, subjective opinions. Feel free to agree/disagree/add on/make your own:)

Also, beware of the potential spoilers ahead:)

So, without a further ado, shall we?

Character Design: 9/10

Lots of hotties this season, that is for sure. The design team (I think/hope/want to believe that a human did the art for the most part at least) worked very well this time and the art style is wonderful. I personally found myself attracted to most of the islanders - Bella, Jamal, Ozzy/Marshall, Chloe, Andy of course… Their faces look proportional, I love most of their facial expressions, the blushing faces are just so adorable (especially Andy’s, but I may be a little bit biased lol). Took the point off for some weird poses though (*ahem* Andy *ahem*), some odd expressions, Ryan’s mop of hair that just doesn’t sit right on him, and for the fact that both sets of twins have the exact same sprite - I understand that they’re identical and share the same face, but like, give them a different pose at least?

Character Personality: 6/10

This is where my main issue lies: they’ve given us so many fun characters with distinct personalities, and then they merged them into one. Why? Less work, I assume. How can a bad boy wannabe Jamal who never settles for a relationship act the exact same way as a golden retriever footballer Lewie? Conversely, how can a golden retriever Lewie become a villain in the same exact way that a suave, confident pilot Roberto became? Why do we never learn about their personalities besides the first date in the first volume and then through random sprinkling of one sentence facts about them to give a slight illusion of variety? Why are all their personalities boiled down to recollection of past events that were so surface-leveled and so superficial that even talking about them in later episodes feels like an afterthought, or, dare I say, a chore? Why do all the og’s personalities revolve around love bombing? So much potential down the drain.

Personally, my favorite islanders this season are Casa Amor people. To me it seemed that that’s where the most energy went when creating the season. Everyone in Casa was their own person with unique personalities and stayed that way for the longest time. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they all had unique dialogue and shared bits about their life, their worries and concerns about relationships and life that helped me get to know them better, understand them as people, as characters with personalities. And even after being merged post casa, though they suffered from the merging as well, Flo remained the most interesting girl and Marshall kept his snarkiness still.

Character Diversity: 5/10

This section brings me great sadness, I can't lie. Yes, this is about Grace. You've talked about it, I've talked about it - we're all in consensus that the way her character was treated is absolutely wrong. How many times can Fusebox step on the same rake to finally get it in their heads and stop villainizing women of color? It is frustrating. The treatment of Black women in the fandom is already... not great, even if the characters themselves did absolutely nothing wrong (Thabi, Genevieve). So, of course, let's perpetuate the stereotypes, let's make the one Black woman in the game possessive, territorial, immature, and the main rival to MC if you're romancing Ozzy. Why? What reason does it serve? Who hurt you, fusebox?

Let's look further. LGBTQ+ players were downright neglected this season. All three queer women in the game share the same route - it's not really a choice to keep eliminating women so that you're only stuck with one per wlw route and basically pre-pick who you like most solely based on looks. Why can't we have them all in the villa at the same time and get to actually learn who they are, then ruminate on who we like the most, and toss and turn in our sleep, and then pick amongst them? Why couldn't we couple up with Bella right away? There was literally no obstacle to do that, it's just ridiculous that we can bring her to the hideaway, but not couple up. Why can’t it be done in equal measure to, you know, picking male li’s?

Overall, I’m glad the cast is diverse, but I still wish we’d gotten a better look into everyone’s culture and identity, and I would’ve loved to see at least some nod to their cultures throughout the game.

MC Design: 9.5/10

MC is beautiful. Every single MC I’ve seen is absolutely gorgeous and none look the same. She fits in with the cast, she stands out as a true love islander, she looks fantastic in a couple with any and all LI’s. Might even say, s6 MC is the most beautiful and unique MC we’ve ever had. Half a point off for reusing s5 pose - while it didn’t bother me at all, that is a little bit of a lazy move.

MC Personality: 8/10

Well, I'm glad she has one. If I were to compare her to myself - we are completely different people, but that doesn't make her any less fun and/or entertaining to watch/play as. Let's put aside for a moment her generic comments a la "oh yeah?" or "oh really?" because she has said many a gems this season. She's not afraid of putting people in their spot, she's telling it like it is, she's an instigator, she is fun and fiery and so unashamedly herself that I strive to be more like her. Truly. You cannot tell me she doesn't cuss like a sailor and I love her for it. If I knew her irl or even if she were one of the npc's, I'd probably love to hate her because frankly, she's a bit rude, but that's what makes her loveable. Or a loveable bitch, so to speak.

MC Customization: 7.5/10

I was easily able to make my MC look like myself (more or less), but I am a white cis girl and can’t speak to experiences of bipoc players. I will be honest and say that I didn’t register the prices for any of the customization choices because my game has unlimited amount of gems, so there might have been choices for more diverse hairstyles that were gem blocked, as has definitely happened before. I thought the game had a lovely range of facial features and hairs to choose from, though I’d love to have seen more color choices for hair. The outfits were hit or miss - some I loved, others I cringed at, the shoes were outright ugly, but I’m just glad we put granny fashion to rest and no glass shard bikini was detected. I’m glad they kept the choice for a curvier or skinnier body, but I think they can definitely do a bit better, for example giving us a choice of feminine/masculine presenting figures, variety of curvy body types, allowing us to pick pronouns - here’s already typos and inconsistencies in the script, I don’t see how that could make it worse.

Challenges: 6/10

Is it bad that I can’t really remember much of them? Yeah, I’d say that’s a bad sign… The challenges were so… forgettable? And just not done correctly? Couples quiz - over too quickly and I didn’t learn anything about anyone. The doghouse whatever it was - I don’t even know the purpose of it. What were those categories in villa vs. villa? “The sportiest girl?” “The most well traveled?” Is this a joke? Why are we having a snogathon in casa amor? How is movie night not giving us the most tea and why is it not stirring any pots? How can you manage to make the baby challenge so.. boring? And just fleeting? I would say, the heart rate challenge was the most elaborate and fun, Snog, Marry, Pie was okay, but nothing to write home about, unfortunately. Fusebox, you have good ideas, but just see them through to the end next time please. Oh, and maybe watch the show for inspo? You know, as a suggestion.

Drama: 5/10

I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think fusebox definitely took our feedback regarding drama. Of course, Ivy’s pettiness and twin mix up is.. annoying to say the least, and Grozzy-MC love triangle is tiring, especially if you’re not on Ozzy’s route, but otherwise we are able to have a chill summer of love, just like you signed up for. Personally, I love drama only when it has nothing to do with me, and that’s how I felt about playing this season. If you want to be a little more involved in it - by all means, go for Ozzy and pick ruthless choices, but if you want to sit it out - sweep all the arguments under the rug, couple up with an og for a loyal route, or play around in casa amor with no repercussions and couple up with someone there to enjoy the rest of your a chill summer. The choice is yours. After the disaster of s5, this felt quite refreshing and exactly what I wanted, but I wouldn’t say the drama was so otherworldly that it kept me very invested… Therefore, I’m afraid by toning things down they ran into another problem - they made it a tad boring.

Relationships: 6.5/10

I touched upon this already, but I’ll just say this, I strongly dislike the merged routes. In my humble opinion, the og route was written for Lewie, the post-casa route was written for Andy (or I can also see Elliot sharing some dialogue with him), and the only other unique route is Ozzy. Oh, and I suppose there is a Bella/Chloe/Flo route (you see how sad this is that they don’t even feel unique enough for me to consider them as a separate route? Yeah, sad.) I personally think casa amor li’s/Elliot are the best relationships, if you’re looking for a sweet, loving route with no drama, where your li is head over heels with you in a cute kind of way, and you learn a lot about them that isn’t just rehashing past events and/or love bombing. It progresses so naturally and realistically, in my opinion. That romance just makes sense and I love it. I haven’t played other routes, of course, but from what I’ve seen, they just feel a bit lacking in something. They feel superficial, perhaps boring. I don’t think they did a good job with their attempted slow burn route with Ozzy either - all his chats became so repetitive that it didn’t interest me enough to pursue his route. That being said, I appreciate that we could have a completely loyal route this time, with no backstabbing, no persistent exes, and no drastic change of personalities.

Friendships-wise… Did we have any? I know all the girls are kind of friends and all the boys too, but I feel like after the first few volumes where I could definitely tell the islanders were all bonding and having their lil bro moments, it all kind of vanished with time. Of course, we had those moments of gossiping with the girls and the boys, but yet again, it felt a bit surface-level. It was just not enough. In addition, I would love to see relationships bud between the islanders I didn’t interact with as much. It can’t be that mc is the only one who developed feelings for one other person - what about others? Why are they just extras? Why aren’t there bromances and romances and girlmances happening among the rest? We need those background friendships and couples who are genuinely in love to make it feel more realistic and more interesting and more fulfilling.

And of course, we can’t talk about s6 and not talk about family (insert a Dom Torreto gif). Introducing a twin to our mc was a risky move, but we’ll talk about that later. I’ll just say, family relationships are complicated and nuanced and their attempt at doing that kind of failed. Amelia could’ve been our saving grace, she could’ve been our confidant, she could’ve been our best friend. Or, she could’ve been our rival, our source of unresolved family drama, or at least our shared attempt at building bridges. We, on the other hand, got none of it. The twins seem neither close nor distant - they are just paid improv actors who pretend to like each other, but just don’t share any sentimentalities. I was hoping they’d tap into why they seem so estranged, but instead they just kept on talking about Zeph, which turned out to be the most worthless and meaningless plot point ever. They could’ve just made MC’s relationship with Amelia very close and non-problematic, that’d be so easy and lovely to have an instant bestie in the villa. Or, they could’ve let us shape our relationship through the choices MC makes - become closer or more distant or remain neutral - but instead, we got a very superficial relationship yet again, where Amelia is hopelessly desperate no matter what your choices are, and MC is deeply uninterested in what she has to say.

Recouplings: 4/10

It’s funny because I don’t actually have much to say about recouplings this time. Nothing extra disastrous happened, nothing drama worthy - just rather predictable. Yes, we could pick who we wanted, more or less, but at the same time, recouplings are a great way to stir the pot and we didn’t have that. Did the boys pick at least once? I can’t remember… And the way we had recouplings so close to each other in the beginning and then they barely meant anything in the end - meh. Also, I still don’t understand why we couldn’t couple up with Bella early on - she went first that one time and could have definitely picked us, but for some reason that was too much to allow for us…

Finale: 7/10

The finale did what it set out to do and checked off all the required boxes, so technically, I have nothing to complain about. We got the final dates, the prom prep, the speeches, the winners, the love or money, a spicy scene on the swings, and even a little lighthearted pranking moment with the girls that I enjoyed. I would have actually liked to see the afterparty this time because I truly loved the characters, but I guess it’s too many personalities for fusebox to handle at once. Fine. The final date was nothing special and didn’t differ from any other dates we had, although the overall vibe of the date was quite sweet, I can’t lie. The declarations of love were cute as well, we got to make things official, although no “l-bombs” were dropped, which is a little sad, if not disappointing. Massive bonus points for bringing back Hamish as the host - he is such a perfect showman, I think that was actually a great decision! He’s hilarious and no one takes him seriously and that added a lot of charm to the final, in my opinion.

Structure: 5.5/10

The structure of this season was so odd to me, I can’t lie. It just needed more volumes and more chapters to be better paced and to really take time with the storyline and all the twists they set up, give us the character development we deserve. The beginning started so well and promising, then everything was incredibly rushed, then Casa Amor happened - the best three volumes in my humble opinion, and then the plot just dragged on to the point where I just didn’t feel excited to play the episodes. The challenges were rushed and some were nonsensical, the recouplings oddly sprinkled throughout, gossiping around the villa was just weird, when we could’ve just asked the islanders concerned straight on. Though I loved Casa Amor, it also felt weird how we could go on dates during our time there or to the hideaway, and none of the challenges were done correctly either: the raunchy races were weird, and the beer pong not substantial enough, and the snogathon doesn’t really happen in casa. The beach huts are completely abandoned at this point, which I hate because it was one of my favorite things, but at least we had the hideaway this time and the box with spicy trinkets, so I’ll give them that. The finale hit all the necessary points, so that’s good I guess. I don’t know, I just want them to draw more inspiration from the show itself, I suppose, which they are not doing as much anymore.

Storyline: 5/10

Double Trouble. Amelia. Our beloved. Or beloathed - however you choose to look at it lol. Like I mentioned previously, giving us a twin was a risky move. I’m an only child who always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling, or a twin at that, so I was madly excited about this sibling plot line. On the other hand, again, like I said, families are complex and nuanced and are not always sunshine and rainbows. Much like the ex storyline, the family one could be just as triggering. Moreover, deciding MC’s identity and background story for us, the players, is far from a good choice. Even if we pretend it was done well, which it wasn’t, not everyone wants to have a sibling steal their thunder in the game where we are the main character. Not everyone identifies as a woman, but giving us an identical twin forces us to be so. You see where I’m going? The interactive game is becoming more and more of a visual novel and we are just living in that story instead of creating our own.

Overall, the storyline of the game was just not pushed enough, not elaborated enough, not drawn out enough. Of course, they’ve beaten to death the Grozzy thing, and the sister chats, and Tobelia, but everything else… Zeph - the most anticlimactic and useless plot point. Ozzy and Marshall - so much fuss and completely unrewarding resolution. The fake dumping plot twist - wasted potential. Casa Amor - no consequences. Movie night - I ran out of synonyms for “useless” and “wasted potential.” What saddens me is that they had so many interesting ideas and just did not see them through - they gave up too quickly, untwisting the twists too easily, which made the plot, yet again, superficial and a tad boring.

Writing: 4.5/10

I know I said I don’t like comparing, but I was replaying s4 at the same time as s6, and even though back then s4 felt like a downgrade, the difference in writing is humongous. With the speculations that fusebox is using AI to write their game, I feel like I could exactly point out to where it was written by a robot and where a human hand was involved. All the superficial, going in circles, love-bombing moments (which make up about 70% of the season) were definitely the product of a computer, but I think the moments where we learn something personal about our li was written by people. The first couple of volumes were written by people, when the characters still felt unique. Casa Amor islanders were written by people, I’ll stand by that because that’s where characters had the most charm. MC’s telling off moments were written by people, I am sure. But right as we got back to love bombing and all those “hey remember when *something superficial that happened before*” and every! time! a sentence! ended! with! exclamation! points! it all went back to AI. I wouldn’t say in general the writing got worse, but it didn’t exactly get better either. No raw animalistic NSFW display of passions happened, and the spicy scenes seemed a bit better this time, but as with what seems to be my main concern with the season, it felt very superficial a lot of the times.

Replayability: 4/10

Initially, when they’ve given us the illusion of branching routes, I was very excited to go back and replay for other characters, but I have since changed my mind. I lost any interest I may have had in Ozzy’s route, and I fell out of love with Jamal, who was my og li because they made him (and other og’s) boring. Knowing Elliot shares his route with Andy turned off any temptations I had for pursuing him either, especially because I like Andy more than any other character in s6. The girls routes? *sigh* I was curious about them, but not anymore, sadly. But you know what? Despite all that and my hatred for shared routes, I can see myself replaying this season. They’ve given me Andy, who has become one of my favorite (if not the favorite) li’s of all time and I would absolutely replay the game to relive his moments again. Plus, there’s so many scenes that I genuinely found funny that I’d play again to have a little laugh for myself. I can see s6 becoming a comfort season on par with s4 for me (at least the Casa Amor bits).

Overall Score: 6.2/10

This season had a lot of pressure on its shoulders - it had to convince us that things could be better than s5. Some people loved it, others - hated it, and as for me, it was okay. They tried to do better, I could tell, and maybe they were careful not push it too far for the sake of preserving whatever the thing that fans keep coming back for, yet not without making heaps of mistakes along the way. I think that’s the main problem with s6, it had an interesting cast, a fun premise, a promising start, curious twists - everything needed to pique our interest, and then they just didn’t use any of it to its full potential. I appreciate that we could have lovely, loyal li’s, and they’ve given us the best casa cast, they’ve given me Andy lol, and I definitely had a fair share of laughs throughout the game. I think after s5, Double Trouble felt refreshing, which created the illusion that it’s better. I’m not saying it’s much worse, not at all, but it’s positively mediocre, which I would still take over s5 every time.

Thank you for reading through this sheet of text, if you did! I’ll definitely be here for s7 because I don’t have that much respect for myself lol. And I’ll still be here in between the seasons - we have the fanfics to get through, don’t we? But until then,

Stay hydrated, islanders. xoxo

#me and my unsolicited hot takes hahaha #as always i went off lol #the overall score is the average of all the categories #no matter how i feel about s6 i already miss it😢#and I’m already missing andy😭😭😭#there’s no way i’ll feel ready to give it my all for a s7 boo because I’m weird like that lol #litg #love island the game #litg s6 #litg double trouble #litg everyone #fusebox #fusebox games

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vampzzi · 2 years

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you're vaild ✧﹒﹒ Dylan lenivy x trans male reader

cw; emetophobia, gender dysphoria, not beta read I'm tired

author's note; there's not enough fics for my trans male lovers who love dylan lenivy and I just wanted to make something for you guys. Dylan gets you a binder :)

Sunk into your extremely uncomfortable bed you laid there, scrolling through your phone looking for a decent movie to watch on netflix since Mr.H gave us our phones back while he takes the kids home on a trip around the camp. Your chest was uncomfortably in the way as you wanted to look down at your feet, the cozy socks complimented your feet, a gift from Dylan since you get so cold at night you begin to shiver and tremble all over. Getting up out of your bed you look at yourself in the mirror, everything feels wrong about your body. You don’t be as masculine as you want to be and no matter how much testosterone you take, it just doesn’t feel right.

The blank feeling sits in your gut as you don’t even wanna leave the room, climbing right back into the uncomfortable bed and snuggling into your sheets. Your mouth is dry through, you need some kind of refreshment as you get back up and open your door and walk through the door as you walk down the halls. Why is the place so cold?? You shiver as you continue your journey to the kitchen, everyone is already in the kitchen. Ryan and Nick are making cookies together, what an usual sight to see Nick and Ryan bonding together but you can’t judge they seem to be enjoying their time. Emma is posing for Abi so she can draw her, they’ve been dating for a while now and they fit each other like puzzle pieces. It’s super crazy.

And dylan..dylan, is sitting down doing something stupid as per usual, Jacob dared Dylan to eat one of those super carolina reaper chips mixed with mustard. The chip is red in color covered in disgustedly rancid smelling mustard as Dylan takes a bite and immediately dashes for the trashcan. He grips onto the trash can as he groans out and empties his stomach contents as everyone looks at him and then at Jacob with sour faces.

“Whattt, nothing but a little plus it can't be that bad” he takes the chip and the eats the whole thing as everyone looks at him in disgust before he coughs and almosts gaps out, swallowing it with a smile “mmm delicious’ he rubs his stomach to emphasize his point, you laugh at point at him as you cover your mouth to silence it as he looks at you “Ayy, what’s up (name)?” you clear your throat and look at everyone and then your eyes lay on Jacob to answer his question “I’m doing fine, I can see you guys are up to no good again” “as always” he says back with a smirk.

Dylan slowly brings his head up as Ryan is offering him a water bottle as he takes it gratefully and downs it in one go, gulping it as I’m pretty everyone can hear his deep gulps. “That’s better - Oh! Hey (name)!” “Hey Dylan” you smile at him as he flashes you a smile back making your way over to the fridge you open to the many juices, sodas and flavored waters and plain water. You pick a nice cold sprite from the back as those are usually the best ones to drink, they are always cold and hit differently when you’re extremely thirsty.

Dylan arms wraps around you as you open your soda and he looks down at you “I forgot to mention, I got you a gift and since summer camp si coming to an end thought I’d give it to you” you nod as he drags you away from the others, their voicing of curiosity soon disappears as we’re soon in the other cabin room, Dylan closes the door behind him slowly making the less noise with the loud creaky door. “Stay there” he gets on the floor and gets under the bed to reach for something fishing out a package as he hands you it “Had to hide it from the others but

it was hard since jacob loves teasing and being nosy” you chuckle “almost sounds like someone else I know”.

You rip out the package to a package the tag reads “gc2b” and you already know what it is. It’s a binder, something you’ve been trying to get forever but never having the pocket money for it as you smile brightly at Dylan giving him a hug as he hugs you back, squeezing you tightly.

“Thank you so much Dy” “You’re welcome name” He then looks at you again and steps back heading to the door “You should try it on, I’II give you your privacy” nodding as he opens the door and closes it waiting out, pulling off the shirt you wear and taking the bra off that you no longer need as you take the binder out and slip it on, placing the shirt back on. You place your hands on your chest, it's completely flat, your worlds feel so much better you could almost cry. No, you wanted to cry.

You opened the door and Dylan whispered “Looking handsome dude” you shook your head as you hugged him again and laid your head on his shoulder “...Thank you so much, I just can't thank you enough” “No need name, just helping out my best friend"

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pheiral · 1 year

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Master chef / Culinary crucible with IdoAzu lense

This include jp server spoiler

MasterChef where octa appear as judge:

2 mer: Fish- Floyd Azul, Paprika- Jade Floyd, Milk- Jade Floyd.

1 mer: Meat- Floyd, Spice- Jade, Bean- Azul, Potato- Azul, Noodle- Jade, (maybe there'll be solo judge Floyd later?)

As for personal story:

Azul judge Jamil (fish). He's lucky he got Jami. It'll be disastrous with his ultra sensitive taste bud if he get amateur cook.

Jade judge Floyd (noodle). Awfully suspicious judge rotation, how can he end up here? Bitching about the food too, really asking for a fight eh. He's always like this with Azul too. Sigh How handful.

Floyd judge Leona (milk). Leona failed it and it entertain Floyd so much he keep laughing at Leona. He thought all land dweller should have known how to use microwave, I wonder if this is knowledge he obtained from Jade and Azul because they're his sources.

Chef Octa

Bean Jade: poisoned Rook

Noodle Floyd: somehow Jade is his judge and critiques how he need more.

Waiting room Azul:

Oddity of Floyd master chef card (by extension, Sebek)

This card series buddy bonus supposed to be the other chef and judge in personal story. So Sebek and Jade and yet it's Sebek and not Jade. Sebek buddy bonus also not with his judge Jack, instead there's Trey. Where's those person then? What's happening with this banner cards? 🤔 It feels like either someone mess with the judge list or both original judge can't attend at the same time.

I'd love to think it's because Jade messed up the schedule ofc 😌, it's a very great move from him.

Octavinelle judge sprites comparison

that started because of Halloween Jade battle sprite baring his fang, so I got curious of their teeth in currently running cooking events in both servers since we have all octa attending!

*adding tsum Azul because cute fang (no Floyd since he always show his)

Let's begin teeth inspection

Azul only have one spoon feeding move to eat his entire serving, Jade two, Floyd three. Azul use of napkin after he eat.

The one with same animation as Azul during potato event is Vil. Riddle and Lilia also use napkin but they eat two times. Difference in physique?

Btw Grimm blow his food first since he has cat tongue and proceed to eat his food in one gulp).

Floyd hold the cutlery flipped but use right hand while holding the score board.

Interesting thing during milk event, there's 1 point difference with Jade giving less score. Even thought on previous event where they're both present aka paprika event, they have exact same score. Jade and Floyd have different preference with milk.

When they open their mouths while eating

When fed with Mystery food X or less than average food.

Expression for score 2,3,4. Just politely smiling at the amateurish attempt. Azul arms pose is half of each twin, right hand Jade and left hand Floyd. Super cute

Score 5,6,7. Getting better. Why do i feel like Azul smile because he find potential chef to work at mostro. Again Azul pose is half2 of the twin, big love.

8,9,10. Still need to point out how I like Azul arms look like that. Now it's the opposite from previous pose, his right just like Floyd and left same as Jade.

Azul's full score as reference

#idoazu #ydaz #idoazu brainrot #culinary crucible

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hausofmamadas · 1 year

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NUGGETS OF BENJAMAYO | aka just gif dump of my madness about 1 measly scene

✴︎

For Narcoctober's Day of Visuals - Oct 6th 5th (posted on the 6th cause I generally suck and my life is a mess) leftover from Day 1's fic

Okayokayokay so I made so many extra gifs for my Benjamayo fanfic that were theoretically set aside days ago for the Narcoctober Day of Visuals (I know that much like “fetch” Benjamayo is not a thing but much like the legendary Toaster Strudel heiress, Gretchen Weiners, I am very much trying to make it happen) and legit thought the prompt was Oct 6, not Oct 5 but I already have an amnesty day post technically I haven’t gone to sleep yet …? So technically yesterday is still today regardless of the date...? and I can’t not share these bc LET ME DO TELL YOU, I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS INTERACTION FOR LITERAL YEARS NOW so without furtherado

The scene in question: Benjamin schmoozing at Dina’s wedding, shaking babies and kissing hands, spots Mayo and decides, fuck it- he’s in a good mood! Little social butterfly, precioso is feelin’ himself. It’s a wedding, love is in the air! Why not take a moment to go flirt chat with Mazatlan’s very own Camarón King of actual sex Not Giving A Fuck About Anything Pretty Much Ever, Ismael El Mayo Zambada and this is how it starts off. First, Mayo asks the waiter?/waitress? if the shrimp in the shrimp cocktail is fresh but manages to pose it in the most sexy way, it’s actually borderline disturbing just how fucking hot this man is asking about fucking shrimp of all fucking things then again, passion in one’s professional pursuits is pretty hot …? But like no, I really don’t think that’s what’s happening here

Then Mín, little pep in his step, La Reina del Baile, glowing even more than the bride herself, strolls up and basically is like, “Bish, that’s a spiffy new hat. You buy that with the money you made movin’ shit through my plaza? cause there’s more where that came from if you’re interested in a sugar daddy🤭”

At which point Mayo is lowkey like🫣 oh god, what do I say now. Is he trying to strong arm me, what’s the angle. I really don’t wanna start shit rn, I’m so full of shrimp, like ngl I don’t even think I could run away without making myself sick and he tries to keep things simpatico but like the extra mile he goes??? This sly mf is smiling at Mín in a way that resembles a little too closely how he smiled at the waiter/waitress. And sure, maybe we can chalk that up to just Mayo a ho. He a May-ho sry, I just– you know I set myself up to spike that ball and I couldn’t not no matter how bad it was sksksksks and Mín rolls with it, he does one of those blind-and-miss-it thousand yard stares which I will devote an entire gif set post to later bc he does it more than once throughout the show and it’s actually devastating and shoots his shot, “pero imagínate que no tuvieras qué”

So anyway, this establishes what? Mayo a May-ho, right. And Mín is lowkey liiiiiiiiiiiiving for this shit bc he thinks he’s got an in. And do you know what tf this savvy, spritely little Drug Lord Dilf-Nymph of Tijuana does????????? something Miguel would never dream of doing in a million years, not just bc he’s homophobic asf and deeply insecure about his entire general essence as a human being, but he doesn’t have a fucking f r a c t i o n of the affable, boyish charm that Mín does HE FUCKING FLIRTS RIGHT BACK. TAKE ONE GOOD GOTDAMN LOOK AT THE GIFS BELOW AND TELL ME HES NOT FLIRTING. YOU DONT FULL-BODY SCAN SOMEONE UP AND DOWN LIKE THEYRE THE FUCKING THANKSGIVING TURKEY AND YOU HAVENT EATEN IN DAYS UNLESS YOU’RE SEXING THEM IN YOUR MINDDKSSKSJWB I MEAMaaaan–

BUT DSKWJWJWIEIWJWJSB THE BEST FUCKING PART ABOUT THIS ENTIRE THING?????????? MAYO IS SO DOWN FOR IT. THE SHIT-EATING GRIN HE GETS ON HIS FACE LIKE MANS IS SO GODDAMN FLATTERED, MANS IS SO ABOUT IT, HES LITERALLY THAT GIRL DAFFYDUCK GIF, ALL BATTING HIS EYELASHES AND UNDRESSING SEDUCTIVELY, OKAY LIKE

WHERE IS THE LIE Spoiler alert: IT’S NOWHERE, THERE IS ONLY TRUTH OKAY and then Mayo does this real cute thing all appealing to the control freak in Mín, saying he likes to be his own boss, “no más que tú sabes” and all that AND THEN, AAAAAAND THEEEEEENNNNNNN FOLKS HE JUST. KEEPS. ON. MF. GRINNING. AS IF HE COULD GRAB MIN BY THE TINY LAPELS OF HIS TINY SUIT AND PLANT A BIG WET ONE RIGHT THERE ON HIM, RIGHT ON THE DANCEFLOOR IN FROMT OF ALL THOSE PEOPLELWKWJW W

and then he has to scramble for something else to say bc he knows good goddamn well that they've been making eyes at each other for far, far too long, so he's like "ohshitohshitohshit ohhhhh look there's Azul, the closest boner killer within reach besides Rayo hey, you know where home is!!!!!" AND THEN MIN, FUCJINGAKSJFNLKQJWELKJN DOES THIS WAY-TOO-INTIMATE HEAD NOD AND SMIRK, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMING TO MY PARTY ERM IMEAN DINA'S WEDDING, IF YOU'RE EVER IN TOWN GIRL CALL ME

NO BUT EVERYONE LITERALLY SHUT UP AND SITDOWN ALL FIVE OF YOU BCTTHENNNNSI;RAJQPO23IJRPOQJIWEFOH THE WAY MAYO SAYS CLARO, AND IT'S THE EXACT WAY I WOULD IMAGINE LIKE HOW HE'D GOODBYE LOVE PAT A ONE NIGHT STAND ON THE SHOULDER AS HE'S OPENING HIS FRONT DOOR FOR THEM TO LEAVE ???????? IDK IDKIDKIDKDA;WOJEF;AOIJ AND THEN THE LITTLE PRIVATE LOOK OF LIKE "idk what the fuck that was but I'm- y'know i really didn't hate it......"

it just- i mean i'm sure we're all in agreement that i'm insane but like what other conclusions am i supposed to draw in the face of this raw, objective evidence

☇

taglist: @narcosfandomdiscord, @narcolini, @ashlingnarcos, @drabbles-mc

#narcoctober #day of visuals #but like .... a day late #bc i'm the worst and don't know what day it is at any given moment #imsorryforeverything #narcos mexico #benjamayo #it's not a thing but we can pretend #day 5 #oct 5 #gif dump #og gifs

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frogs-in3-hills · 2 years

Note

clawing my way into the asks again like a little parasite ahem. Thoughts on susato 👁👁

oh my god susato... *breaks down into sobbing* i actually finished the game an hour or two after i saw this ask and wanted to give it a little bit of time to sit in my head before i started trying to analyze things ^_^; but now i think i'm emotionally ready to think about her without destroying my own psyche. readmore cause this kind of turned into an analysis, albeit a very disorganized one

anyways SUSATO GOOD. i love her dynamic with ryuu so much, she's so competent but does still genuinely feel like a teenage girl at the same time. i think she's really the heart of the duology, especially dgs1, i mean she is literally the central piece of the emotional resolutions for each game and also the reason for 90% of the times i cried while playing. which, btw, was significantly more often than any of the other AA games ^_^; i was pretty much in tears from the moment the final trial ended to like, an hour after the credits stopped rolling. the idea of ryuunosuke going to japan without her absolutely destroyed me because he was so depressed during that six month gap :( and i was so relieved that they would continue to change the world together

also can i just say her design and sprites are incredible?? not only is she just. the fucking cutest. her animations and poses are so sweet, oh my god her expressions are amazing, they perfectly encapsulate her yamato nadeshiko elegance, her deep strength & tenacity & curiosity, and even hints at her deeper feelings of inadequacy. i mean god i am thinking about her teary-eyed smile that rips my heart to pieces every time and her stunned expression when she sees the masked assistant. screaming sobbing wailing banging my fists on the table. the same goes for her theme but like times a hundred, like, i don't really know anything about music so i can't explain why but it's so unbelievably perfect for both her and the overall tone of the game. honestly it might beat out turnabout sisters for my favorite track in the series

which by the way, it's so cool how she immediately breaks from the mold of typical AA assistants with her demeanor. she's the picture of temperance and humility, and despite her age she is the heart of the story and a guiding light in ryuunosuke's journey. this stands in huge contrast to characters like maya, who has an incredibly strong heart but really feels like a child lost in a world of suddenly inherited responsibilities and murderous family conflicts that she's 100% not equipped to handle. none of that is to say that i think all the AA assistants are the same because they are absolutely not, but they do have similar ~vibes~ so it's really refreshing to have a protagonist-assistant dynamic that feels so different from the outset.

but then 1-2 kind of destroys whatever initial perception you had of her right? because now susato's out here being actively hostile to you in spite of the slow trickle of evidence exonerating ryuunosuke. she literally attacks you like five times and hardly ever smiles. because just like ryuunosuke, asougi's boundless determination bled into her, to the point that she p much dedicated her life to studying so she could go to london in order to help him. and now that he's gone, she's left completely lost at sea. literally :(

personally i think her attitude after ryuu provides some reasonable doubt is very telling. first, it shows that she's extremely levelheaded in the face of a crisis, because even though it would be so so so easy and even cathartic to blame ryuunosuke, she realizes that it would be unfair and resolves to help him prove his innocence. however, even though it's clear she does believe in ryuu, we still get a bunch of moments where she makes digs at him and acts randomly suspicious again before moving on. these are probably just little jokes not meant to be taken seriously by the writers, but like i can't help but look into them more and wonder if susato is projecting onto ryuunosuke, due to their aforementioned similar situations. i think she's very frustrated with herself for being so helpless. she clearly bases her self worth on her use as a judicial assistant (which is not so healthy but we're getting there), but without kazuma, what does her help and expertise even matter? and she sees that resemblance between herself and ryuunosuke and takes her frustration out on him, even if she doesn't think he actually killed asougi. she reminds me a lot of godot in this case tbh.

speaking of susato having unreasonably high expectations for herself and other people, HEY THAT'S ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER TROPES

*gets emotionally ripped to shreds by the narrative*

it's quite clear that the high expectations she has of her loved ones-- mainly ryuu, kazuma, sholmes, and gina-- is her version of unflinching belief. every time she encourages ryuunosuke, she's saying things like "i know you can handle this" and "you have everything you need to take this on, so don't give up now" and she is certainly not lying or exaggerating. susato is the one who decided that ryuunosuke deserves to carry on with asougi's legacy, and therefore there's kind of an implicit don't disappoint me in there. nothing demonstrates this more than what she says to gina in the prison:

Susato: I'm sorry to say...that I must reluctantly bid you farewell. Gina: Eh? Farewell? Susato: Tomorrow, I must begin my journey back home. To Japan. ...I fear we may never meet again. Gina: ...! Oh...right... Susato: I've had the pleasure of meeting so many lovely people here in London. I have so many wonderful memories. And yet...as things stand now... ...it will be a glum parting indeed. Poor Iris is so miserable. Iris: Susie... Gina: Well...well...that ain't my business! Susato: Both Iris and Mr Naruhodo believe you to be innocent, Gina. They've put their faith in you. But somehow...you can't find it in your heart to put your faith in them. Gina: Yeah! That's right, I can't! ...Wot of it? Susato: It grieves me greatly to have to say goodbye to my friends when they are so clearly unhappy... ...because of you. Gina: ...! Wot, it's MY fault?! Susato: Yes. So I have one final request, Gina, before our paths never cross again. Right here and now... ...I want you to show both of them that you don't deserve the faith they've invested in you. Gina: Eh?! Susato: Only by doing that... ...will you truly be as alone as you claim to be.

this was like The Moment where i did kind of a double take and went, holy shit, susato is the best character in this game, i get it now. because we're seeing what it looks like when susato is disappointed in you. this the final chance she's extending to gina and she just gets right to business with "i'm tired of wondering if you're going to trust me, so if you're so determined to push away the people who care about you then i expect you to be straight with me. you need to decide right now if you are truly committed to destroying this chance at happiness because i can no longer accept the way you're treating my friends. and if you can prove to me that you're not worth it then i will give up on you." and not only is this fucking perfect because it's exactly the push that gina needs, it shows the epitome of what makes susato so great: her balance! she knows when to hold back and be patient and she knows when to assert herself. she really makes me think of the temperance card in tarot in that way. gina was never going to take to iris' puppydog eyes or ryuunosuke's insistence that he believes in her; she needed somebody to take her anxieties seriously and then say "oh yeah? prove it." and it is so terribly Lawyer of her to pull the evidence card like that, it makes me absolutely insane. i'm going to think about this forever

it's pretty explicit in dgs1 that she expects the most out of herself though with her thinking that she's a failure of a judicial assistant for losing faith, which is something she shares with asougi. asougi is carrying the weight of his family's legacy on his back and the responsibility of changing the world. i don't know a lot about meiji era japan but i know it would have been extremely challenging to become a defense attorney. there is no room for error with him. they also both try to punish themselves when they don't meet those expectations-- susato trying to throw her legal book into the ocean and asougi doing, uh, literally everything he does in dgs2, but specifically giving karuma to ryuunosuke. i wonder if he learned it from her >_>

i will be honest i'm not 100% sure how i feel abt the way she was handled in dgs2, i don't think she was poorly written or anything! just kind of lacking the bite she had in dgs1. it's hard to compare the way she reacts to gina disappointing her vs the way she reacts to kazuma disappointing her, because gina is her cool friend while kazuma is literally her dead adopted brother who came back to life and is kind of being a legendary asshole about it. so like, i'm not gonna say it's definitely inconsistent or out of character for her to react to asougi's Whole Deal by just kind of frowning in the background, but idk i wish she'd had a more active role in that conflict or been allowed to do something. like, they only exchange a couple of lines throughout the whole game and i think that was a huge waste. i would have at least liked to see a follow up of her and ryuunosuke's conversation about his body going missing, now that they know he's alive, because i find myself being unable to parse how she feels about the whole thing. i really expected her to be angrier or to show something bigger than "wow :( this fucking sucks :(" like SHE'S NOT WRONG! but there was so much opportunity to take it in a different direction.

anyways i think the ending of dgs2 is perfect because she's actively rejecting that path that's been expected of her, she was always supposed to stand by asougi's side and yet she allows herself to be selfish and follow ryuunosuke instead. yes, she knows when to be assertive, but she only ever does it for the benefit of other people. here she knows what she wants and is determined to pursue it-- i think it's absolutely wonderful and i am so proud of her ;-; in the first game she would have had to go back home alone, afraid for her father and for gina and for everyone else that she loves, believing that she had failed ryuunosuke and by extension, kazuma and his legacy. but here she gets to go back home of her own volition and continue to follow the path she believes in, assured in her worth and knowing that she has a true friend by her side and all that is to say i fucking love susato so much and i am losing my entire mind over her and i expect to be doing so for the rest of my days

#thank you for the ask i love an excuse to ramble incoherently about the blorbos <3 #prringlecan #dgs #tgaa #susato mikotoba #meta #dgs spoilers #dgs2 spoilers #tgaa spoilers #tgaa2 spoilers #inbox

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