#I was originally going to have foam and spit flying out of his mouth in the second picture but it didn't look that good

[yours-the-author]

Exactly one hour later...

So I saw this post by @hammerhead-art and thought; "that would be fun to draw... but no, I just posted something, I shouldn't". And then I saw it AGAIN... and I knew it was a sign.

So, despite just posting some CopperRight art, here's some MORE CopperRight art! The Toppat Chief and his watchdog:

Expectation vs. Reality

Please excuse the weird-shaped baseball bat Right is holding in the first picture- baseball bats are surprisingly hard to draw. Maybe we can pretend he hit someone with the stick end of a metal plunger...

Bonus picture under the cut! I hesitate to call it "risqué", but I'm posting it under Keep Reading just in case; I know some people are into this kind of thing.

...This would look so much cooler if the background weren't so blindingly white. I'd really like to be able to change the background color of my work into something more eyeball friendly, but my drawing process isn't much good for that sort of thing.

It'd be neat if I could figure out how to adjust the size of the picture on the post instead of leaving a bunch of white space around the art to make it more visible. This is supposed to look cool and slightly menacing, but it just feels a bit silly... oh well, what can you do?

Considering that I drew the base sketches with pen, though, I'm pretty pleased with how these came out.

[morimess]

I just watched The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I have to rant about it real quick.

Spoilers under the cut for those who want to see it- I HIGHLY recommend the movie btw.

-So, first off THE MUSIC IS SPECTACULAR. The scene where Lucy Gray is covered in the snakes is *chef's kiss*. Apparently for every song, it was a live performance by Rachel Ziegler, and she fucking nailed it.

I've seen a couple people criticize some of the songs as taking melodies from other IRL folk songs- but honestly, I don't see this as a bad thing as a lot of those original songs have probably been forgotten as this is YEARS in the future. Music evolves, and certain chords and beats will stay long after words are forgotten.

-Her dress is gorgeous- all of the costumes are awesome. I think I made one comment on how the school uniform looks a bit weird, but I quickly got over it.

-Flickerman is actually really funny- I thought he would be annoying as a bit character- but he did get a couple laughs out of me. (Which makes me feel bad because people were dying in those scenes, but at the same time- I think that's a commentary for another time.)

-Arachne's death was absolutely deserved.

-Wovey's death was absolutely tragic

-The drones were *menaces* and I LOVED IT- it was so fucking funny to me to see them flying around and nailing people square in the chest- or knocking people tf over.

-I love how Lucy Gray immediately called bull on Snow's "the third person I killed was my old self."

-THE OLD HOB WAS AWESOME!! The mood in the tavern was so cozy and joyful, and it is EXACTLY what I imagined the Hadestown speakeasy looks like when Persephone is singing "Our Lady of the Underground"

-That being said- I wish we got the scene where they burn it down for being the heart of rebellion.

-I didn't like the change they made to Jessup's rabies. He was supposed to get it while at the capital. That bite was supposed to be after their first night in the zoo, where they thought a rat bit him (later speculated to be a raccoon). I don't like how it was changed to a bat bite while on the train.

The whole point of it in the book was supposed to emphasize the propaganda that's even being forced onto capital citizens- not just district citizens- that the capital is utopian.

"There is no rabies in the capital anymore- we got rid of it within *our* borders. It must have come from those *filthy* districts. Look at how it turns him even more *animalistic.*"

But instead, they change the bite to be from a bat while they were on the train. To me, that seems too close to "the rabies came from the districts." (Even if it was a capital train.)

Like, at the start of the movie, we are treated to an absolute rollercoaster as they try to set up everything that was going wrong in the capital during the war in the span of 5 minutes. One of these being a dog who's foaming at the mouth. I entirely expected that bite to happen within the zoo with that kind of set up.

There could have even been really interesting pay-off for it too. Other students seeing the foaming, freaking out, and almost panicking because "rabies is back." (Hell, even have Flickerman seem spooked by it). SELL HOW DANGEROUS THIS DISEASE IS/ SEEMS TO THEM. Because they lived through it. Most people in the capital probably have a horror story involved with a rabies encounter, because of how rampant it apparently was in the capital.

-The same can also be said about Dill- I don't like how blaise they were about her constant cough, and possible tuberculosis. That shit kills- they would not be casual about being near her. (Though the absolutely would make jokes in her expense)

-Reaper could have been more of a dick. In book, he actually says "I'm sorry I'm going to have to kill you all." (In response Jessup spits in his face- which causes Reaper to ALSO contract rabies, but that's neither here nor there). He honestly isn't too threatening other than a quick jump scare when his mentor is first talking to him.

He's honestly more of a gentle giant? In a way? Like, he pairs with Dill and after she dies, collects all the bodies around the arena in a row and covers them. He isn't the same threat that he was in the books.

-I would have preferred if we went in the arena with a count of how many tributes were left. I think 22 were still alive? But it was really hard to keep track. I know in the book between the rough handling, the Arachne incident, and the bombing- both the mentor and tribute pool slimmed significantly before the games even started. But in the movie I think only 2 tributes actually died before the games.

-As far as that rollercoaster at the beginning- it throws a LOT of information at you all at once- and not all of it is mentioned again. Especially not the cannibalism- which I feel could have been changed a bit?

-We didn't get much about Snow's peers, which is a shame since he has SO MUCH that he thinks about each one of them and their backgrounds in the books.

-Clemensia's poisoning should have been more colorful, and could have been WAY more grotesque. I'm talking a rainbow of mottled skin spreading up her arm until her face swells shut. We also should have gotten confirmation on whether or not she died.

It would have been more satisfying if during Snow's hospitalization, he tried to see her, only to find those golden scales covering her body and turning her eyes yellow like in the book.

-I wish Maude Ivory was more of a character- she's one of the main reasons it's theorized The Hanging Tree and other songs by Lucy Gray are remembered.

-In the book, in that last conversation with the doctor, she tells Snow that she will never replay the footage of the 10th games. There's too much rebellion attached to it. I wish that line has been kept- that way his thoughts of "People will forget her" actually have a bit more weight.

-I wish we had seen more of Sejanus' mom- just to see what costumes would have done with her dresses.

-I wish we saw more of Tigris' designs, or heard more of her struggles with her boss- just a mention of what she had to do to keep the House of Snow on top.

I think that's it for now? I just watched it last night, so some things need a bit longer to be thought about, but in general I just want MORE.

[pinkfan-gurl]

Center Stage

02

The Ropes 

“I don’t understand why we’re staring at it like this,” Yukine groaned, covering a yawn with the crook of his arm.

Hiyori pulled the strap of her bag further up here shoulder. “You get used to it,” she deadpanned.

“Guys,” Yato whined, shooting them both looks, “I’ve already asked you to be quiet. I’m almost done so just shh.”

Yukine groaned and took a sip of the soup in his foam cup leftover from the ramen he had for breakfast. He hadn’t expected his life at the boarding school to be overly glamorous but last night was terrible.

Yato’s room was originally a custodial closet that had been remodeled as a bedroom. There was only enough room for one bed, which was really just a box-spring and a mattress, pushed up against the corner furthest from the lone toilet. A small desk was shoved near the door, making it hard to get in or out of the room and the microwave took up space in the middle of the room.

Yukine ended up having to sleep on stacked sleeping bags he borrowed from Hiyori to cushion himself against the tile floor. Not only that, but there wasn’t any heat in the room so he nearly froze to death thanks to the draft coming from under the door.

Now here he stood, tired and hungry, staring at a stupid wall honoring a bunch of people he could care less about. Was it too late to change his roommate to someone else? Because he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make it through a semester living with Yato, let alone a whole school year.

A whole school year…. Where was he going to go once summer finally came and school was  over?

Off to the side, Hiyori coughed into her hand. Yukine was grateful for the distraction; the last thing he needed was to think about home. “Sorry, guys,” Hiyori said. “But I have to get to class early so I can help a friend with her homework.”

Yato turned on his heel, jaw dropped and looking personally offended. “But Hiyori! You can’t just leave!”

Hiyori leveled her eyes with Yato and gave a short laugh. “Sorry. But I have to go.”

Yukine watched as Hiyori scurried away. “Hey, Yato,” he turned to Yato who was grumbling to himself, “I’m going to go to class to. Because I don’t want to hold you up.”

He added the fib at the end in hopes that he could just slip away, but Yato slung his bag over his shoulder with one hand and then draped the other one over Yukine’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, buddy,” Yato said, cheerfully, “I can wrap it up. I’ll take you on a tour of the school!”

Yukine blew out a breath. School didn’t start for another half hour and clearly there was no way of shaking this guy, but the whole staring at the wall for ten minutes in silence thing had already put him in a bad mood. He didn’t think that Yato giving him a tour of the school was such a wise idea if there was any hope of Yukine trying to salvage any positive feelings for the older boy.

“No really,” Yukine tried pushing Yato away from him, but Yato nearly tightened his grip around Yukine’s shoulder, “I don’t need a tour.”

“You should change that attitude, Yukine.” Yato puffed up his chest pridefully. Yukine thought he looked kind of like a penguin when he did that. “I’m basically a god at this school; people would kill to be in the position that you’re in now.”

“Sleeping on the dirty of your utility closet and having your sweaty hands leave a wet mark on my shoulder?” Yukine responded flatly. Yato jumped back at that last comment, wiped his hands on his pants looking quite embarrassed. Yukine made a mental note.

“It’s a health condition,” Yato sniffed back. This time he kept his hands in his trackpant pockets. “And I’m pretty popular, Yukine. These people are my people, these hallways are my castle. Sometimes it’s hard being me.”

Yukine sighed deeply and dropped his empty cup into a nearby garbage bin. “Please don’t tell me you live in this delusional fantasy world of yours all of the time.”

“What’s that?” Yato cupped his hand around his ear and leaned close to Yukine. “I can’t hear your negativity over my fans screaming my name.”

“No one is screaming your name.”

Yato ignored his comment, putting on a bright smile and approached a random blonde guy at his locker. “Yo, Finnian,” Yato held out his hand for what was probably meant for a fist-bump, “what’s up, pal?”

The blonde stared at his hand with a confused smile. “Uh, can I help you dude?”

Yato shook it off with a laugh and kept walking as if he didn’t just get flat out rejected. “Ah, Finny, such a kidder. I’ll you later bro!” He shot him a pair of finger guns and then did a twist so that he was in step with Yukine again.

“That was just pitiful,” Yukine said.

Yato grinned. “You’re just jealous because he was speechless in my presence.”

Yukine resisted the urge to punch him in the stomach. “I’m not sure that’s the phrase I would go with.”

Yukine hadn’t realized Yato had stopped walking until his sweaty hands were clenched around Yukine’s mouth and he was being dragged backward. Yukine kicked and fought, but Yato just shushed him until they were backed away into an empty classroom.

This time when Yukine ripped Yato’s hands away, they came off. “What the hell, man?”

Yato didn’t have his usual dumb smile that Yukine had quickly grown used to, which was a little unnerving. “Phantoms. At least five, and they’re probably not happy about yesterday still.”

“Can’t you just apologize?”

“It doesn’t work like that. There’s been an unspoken feud between the actors and the stage crew since before my time here and there doesn’t seem to be a change in that any time soon.”

This school just seemed to be getting better and better. Yukine just couldn’t catch a break could he? “So we’re just going to duck and hide every time we see one?”

This time Yato laughed. “Oh of course not. Usually they just leave me be, but today they’re going to be especially bothersome. It’s probably better to just fly under the radar for today. It will be back to normal by toma—”

“Didn’t expect to find you here.” Yukine turned toward the owner of the new voice and found himself staring up at a beautiful, busty blonde. She didn’t look happy, though, which made Yukine want to fold up like a lawn chair.

Yato groaned in exasperation. “What the hell do you want, Bishamon?”

The blonde, Bishamon, moved her eyes from Yato to Yukine and then back to Yato again. “Didn’t know you had a thing for seducing freshmen.”

Yukine felt his face heat up in embarrassment. Is that what she thought they were doing in here? Getting handsy? He wanted to throw up at the thought.

Yato didn’t seem to bat an eyelash at the comment though. “Says the slut who wears a bra as a shirt when you go out into the city.”

Yukine inhaled sharply and kept his face parallel with the floor. He could feel the tension radiating between the two, and the fact that Bishamon was at least three inches taller than Yato made her even more frightening. If they fought, Yukine was pretty positive Yato would die after the first punch she threw.

“Class starts in five,” she said coldly. Yukine didn’t dare look up. “Make sure the freshman isn’t late.”

The door closed and Yukine released the breath he had been holding. “Who the heck was that?”

“Viina Bishamon,” Yato spat. His blue eyes looked dangerous, like they could spit lightning at any moment. All of the care free glow that had clouded his aura seemed to have vanished. “Along with her right hand man, Kazuma, she is my biggest rival in the theatre department.”

Yukine waited for him to elaborate as to why they were at such odd ends with one another, but Yato simply pushed the door open and murmured, “Let’s get to class.”

“You mean you’re not going to expla—”

“—you don’t need to know right now.” Yato responded harshly.

Yukine faltered for a minute before wrinkling his nose and stomping past Yato. “Whatever, ya weirdo! I’m going to class! And I’m going to get myself a new roommate at the end of the day!”

He couldn’t stand twenty-four hours with Yato, let alone a whole semester. A whole school year was a complete joke. And throughout all of the morning’s tragic events, Yukine was still hungry.