#also I keep designing new ocs instead of drawing the ones I already have

[malachite834]

A peaceful night to oneself

[missywritesfor7]

❤️‍🩹Lifeline | MYG❤️‍🩹

Synopsis: It’s long been controversial for idols to date, but idols dating each other can be really beautiful or a complete nightmare. When Yoongi's relationship with another idol is discovered, he decides maybe it’s time to break the taboo and show people it’s ok for idols to date. Instead, they find themselves caught in the midst of one media frenzy after another and struggle to keep their relationship as strong as it had been the past 2 years. Yoongi finds a self destructive way to cope, and it causes even more problems than it solves. As they fight for their relationship and their careers, they discover that sometimes, the only way to truly be free is to let go.

Pairing: idol!Yoongi x idol!OC

Warnings: nsfw, alcoholism, cheating, depression, anxiety, Yoongi goes through a bisexy ho phase, Yoongi is also in his alcoholic phase, post-military BTS

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Ch. 23: Together

The members have been excited about Yoongi’s return since they heard the news. They’ve been eager to see him and how well he’s doing. Taehyung suggested a welcome home party but the rest of the guys agreed that Yoongi probably wouldn’t want them to make his return a big deal. Still they wanted to do something, so with help from Hyeri, they planned to bring dinner to their place to keep things low key.

Yoongi and Hyeri hit the road early in the morning and made it home by mid-afternoon. When he took his first step inside it was like he stepped into a dream. He’d only been gone 2 months, but he feels like it’s been much longer. The first breath he took filled him with the comfort that can only come from being home. He’s missed his home and the safety his heart feels when he’s there.

Before leaving, Hyeri made sure the entire place was perfect. No dish in the kitchen was out of place, no cushion on the couch unfluffed, not even a speck of dust on the tv. The place looks straight out of a catalog, except the random box sitting on Yoongi’s dresser in the bedroom.

“What’s this?” Yoongi asks approaching the unfamiliar rectangular black box. It looks big enough to hold a bottle of something and he’s trying very hard to remember if this is another hidden drink he had forgotten about.

“Yours,” Hyeri says gesturing for him to open the box.

“Mine?” He questions inspecting the box closer. The last thing he wants upon returning home is to find that Hyeri found another bottle of liquor that he didn’t remember he had.

The box is closed with a latch as if it were a treasure chest. Yoongi flips the latch and slowly opens the box hoping he doesn’t need to drive himself 5 hours back to the cabin because he got triggered 5 minutes after getting home.

However, instead of revealing a bottle of alcohol, the box contains a microphone. A black microphone that shines as if it were covered in diamonds, but isn’t. There’s an intricate holographic design of deep green vines with thorns that spirals up and around the entire microphone and shimmers when held under the light just right. At the bottom is a small heart drawn in the same color and holographic material as the vines.

The heart is very unique to Yoongi. It’s the way Hyeri draws her hearts when she writes to him. Usually in cards and handwritten letters she gives him on special occasions and sometimes for no reason at all. It’s different from the simple heart she uses in her autograph, it’s a heart with one side rounded like a normal heart, but the other side pointed like a triangle. The first time she wrote him something he asked why one half of the heart was rounded and the other pointed. She told him it represented them, Yoongi being the bold and brash pointed side, and Hyeri being the soft and more timid rounded side. Like the yin and yang that is the two of them.

“What is this?” He asks already making plans to never use another microphone again.

“A microphone,” she says shyly. “For you. I had it custom made for you.”

“What?” He asks as if he weren’t staring at the obviously custom piece of equipment in front of him.

“I had it custom made for you. The thorns are like…I don’t know, it’s stupid,” she says getting suddenly embarrassed by her thoughtful gift.

“No it’s not,” he objects. “It’s beautiful.”

“You think so?” She asks unsure. “I just thought a lot about everything we’ve been through. I love you so much, but you’ve caused me so much pain, so…the thorns are kind of like the pain. At the end of it is you, like you’re a rose. The most wonderful thing to me…but you hurt so much. I mean, at the time I thought of the idea that’s what I was feeling. Well I still feel it, but not as much as that time you know?” She’s babbling out of nervousness and she isn’t even sure why.

She came up with the idea one night as she had been thinking about all of the hurt she’d been going through. At the time she was only getting daily text updates from Yoongi but she wasn’t responding to them. He sent his usual text telling her about his day and how his session with Minho went. He told her that the conversation they had made him feel like he needed to apologize to her again for everything he’s put her through. He never stopped apologizing from the start, but this day he mentioned Minho talking to him about how his actions need to match his words and feelings and he got to feeling sorry. He told her he never wanted to hurt her, but he realizes that his actions tell a different story and that he would fully understand if she doesn’t believe him because he hasn’t given her a reason to trust his word anyway.

That was one of the moments Hyeri felt he was making good progress, but it still wasn’t healing her wounds. He was right that his actions didn’t seem like those of someone who truly loves and cares for her, but at the same time her heart can always feel the sincerity in his words. His message gave her the bittersweet feeling that manifested into this microphone design. He’s her beautiful, wonderfully sweet, caring rose who’s hurt her greatly the more she held on to him.

It didn’t take long for Hyeri to turn her idea into a design and find someone that could turn it into a reality. When it was completed she held on to it afraid she had made a mistake and wasted time, money, and energy on this when she still wasn’t sure she would be able to continue their relationship. Her anxiety grew more and more up until she saw him yesterday morning looking like the Yoongi her heart had been longing for. She felt better after their talk, but as they drove the 5 hours back home today she began feeling anxious again. She was worried if he would even like it or understand the meaning or even care. Up until this very moment she had been anxious about how he would react. That all finally melted away when he smiled at her and pulled her into a tight hug.

“I love it,” he says squeezing her tight and kissing the top of her head. “I love it so much.”

“You do?” She asks into his chest seeking an extra layer of reassurance.

“Of course, baby.” He pulls her back and looks down at her big brown eyes. “It’s gorgeous and I’ll never use another mic for the rest of my life,” he chuckles. “Thank you. For this and everything you’ve done. Sometimes I feel like you’re the glue that’s keeping me, us, together. You’re so strong and beautiful and thoughtful.”

“Don’t make me cry, Yoong-ya,” she jokes.

“I mean it.” He gives her a soft kiss against her lips. “You’re the best and I’ll make sure you know it every single day. This is the most beautiful gift I’ve ever gotten. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she smiles. Their lips meet for another kiss and the anxiety Hyeri had been carrying about this small surprise finally washes away.

For Yoongi this is one of the most thoughtful gifts he’s ever received. Even if she had only given him a drawing on a napkin with the same meaning it still would have been the best for him because it’s not so much about the object as it is about the meaning. It means the world to him and gives him the greatest boost in motivation. He wants to be the best person for her, it’s what a kind, caring soul like her deserves.

The rest of the members have been ecstatic for Yoongi’s return. They’ve planned a great meal with plenty of his favorite cuts of meat, his most loved side dishes, and his favorite dessert: a large embarrassingly decorated cake. They agreed to keep this low key with the at home dinner, but after some discussion the guys found it was almost impossible to greet Yoongi without doing something a little mischievous and extra. It just wouldn’t feel right to them if they didn’t.

Jimin was all too eager to take charge of finding the perfect cake. Not wanting to get a cake that was too obvious and could possibly tip off a baker with a much too suspicious request, he ordered a large cat cake similar to one Yoongi had gotten before for his birthday, but it’s about 3 times larger and is sitting on a larger piece of sheet cake with plenty of room for all 6 members to decorate however they want.

Jimin picked up the cake and the members all met up at his place to give it their special Bangtan touch. Equipped with various cake decorating materials provided by Jin and Jungkook, the 6 of them get to work. Jungkook used purple icing to write “I love you, hyung” on the cake. When Taehyung saw he got a great idea that they should all write “I love you” on the cake. He knows that would be the most embarrassing for Yoongi, though he’d never admit it to them. So that’s what they all did. In the end the cake was covered in expressions of love, many colorful Hobi drawn hearts, other poorly drawn figures by each member, sprinkles, strawberries, and a single tangerine from Jimin’s fridge used to cover up a spot where the icing pen chose to be uncooperative with Namjoon and unleash an explosion of blue icing on a corner of the cake. It’s the perfect amount of chaos to make Yoongi feel at home. They decided they would keep the cake a surprise until the end of the night. When dinner time came, Jimin kept the cake secure in his car while they all carried all of the food for dinner up to Yoongi and Hyeri’s apartment.

Hyeri told Yoongi the guys were coming for dinner so their arrival was no surprise to him. He’d been excited all day wanting to see his brothers. Just like with Hyeri, he’d missed them a lot during his time away, but unlike Hyeri his contact with them was much less frequent. Being openly and enthusiastically affectionate with them isn’t typical for Yoongi, but he almost wanted to run and jump into their arms when he heard the 6 of them come barreling through the door with their arms full of food.

“Hyung!!” Taehyung shouts being the first one inside. He puts the food he was carrying down on the kitchen counter and runs to Yoongi with his big boxy smile painted across his face.

“Taehyung-ah!” Yoongi smiles as he’s pulled tightly into Taehyung’s arms. Before he can say anything else or pull away, Jimin runs up and wraps his arms around Yoongi too.

“I missed you, hyung,” Jimin says.

“I missed you too!” Jungkook shouts adding himself to the group hug.

“Yoongiiiiii!” Hobi shouts wrapping his arms around wherever he can in the mass of 4 bodies.

“Ya!!” Yoongi shouts starting to turn red from embarrassment.

“Yoongi hyung!” Namjoon squeaks as he barrels into the group hug.

“Wait,” Yoongi laughs trying to maintain his footing.

“Yoongi my bro!” Jin shouts. “Did you miss us?” He asks adding himself as the final piece to the big Bangtan hug.

“Yes,” Yoongi responds still laughing his way through this embarrassing show of affection though deep down he loves the comfort his heart feels at the warmth of his family. “You’re going to crush me.”

“Good,” Jungkook laughs.

“We’re going to crush you with our love,” Taehyung teases.

“Yaaaa!” Yoongi protests again.

They all laugh and finally show mercy and release Yoongi from his embarrassment. There’s more planned for later anyway.

They all help getting the food set up on the table while Hyeri gathers drinks for everyone. They all agreed they wouldn’t have alcohol around Yoongi, so Hyeri stocked the fridge with sodas, juices, and teas for everyone before she left to get Yoongi the day before.

It looks like a holiday feast laid out on the table. Everyone digs in and instantly begins catching up on everything going on with them. Talks of solo projects, song features, and variety show appearances makes Yoongi feel like he’s missed a lot in a seemingly short time, but he’s happy to hear that everyone has been accomplishing great things. He’s even more happy once they start discussing group work. All 7 of them are eager to start their next era of music and touring and for the first time they feel like they can truly look forward to it without worries.

Everyone is happy and excited and once they finish their meal Jimin and Taehyung slip away to get the cake out of Jimin’s car. Yoongi noticed them sneak off, but Hyeri and the rest of the guys kept him distracted before he could question anything. When the pair return they carry the cake in singing “Happy health” to the tune of happy birthday.

“What…?” Yoongi asks as everyone else joins in and sings along. He notices the cake Jimin and Tae are carrying in and his cheeks immediately flush red.

“Our beloved Yoongi, happy health to you!” Everyone sings crowding around the table to see his reaction to their heavily decorated masterpiece.

“Why did you bring a cake?” Yoongi asks in embarrassment. “You didn’t have to bring a cake,” he smiles reading the words of love written all around the cat cake. “Guys…”

“Of course we had to,” Hobi laughs.

“What else did you expect from us?” Jimin giggles.

“Guys,” Yoongi repeats. He’s suddenly hit with a wave of emotions as a montage of his memories with the members flashes before his eyes. Each sloppily drawn “I love you” on the cake brings more tears to his eyes. “Isn’t this too much?” He chuckles trying to mask a sniffle.

“No,” Jimin smiles. “I don’t think it’s enough.”

“Stop,” Yoongi says trying to fight the tears.

“We love you, hyung,” Namjoon says.

Namjoon’s soft and rare show of affection finally breaks Yoongi. He buries his head in his hands and begins sobbing. The overwhelming amount of love he’s received from the 7 people he knows he hurt the most is just too much to fathom. He feels they should have given up on him a long time ago, but here they are celebrating his new beginning and showing him so much love. His shoulders bounce as he sobs even harder.

“I love you guys,” Yoongi sobs. “I’m so happy to have you all in my life. I’m…fuck why do you always do this to me?” He jokes.

“Because we love you,” Jungkook smiles wiping his own tears with his shirt sleeve.

“Stop it,” Yoongi laughs through the knot in his throat. “I’m sorry,” he says breaking his smile briefly then quickly lightening his tone. “You guys mean so much to me, I just…”

“It’s ok,” Taehyung says. “We’re family. We’ll always be here for you through the good and bad.”

Taehyung’s words draws tears from all of them, whether they were already crying or not. Yoongi feels so unworthy of the amount of love they give him, but each member can think of numerous times where Yoongi was there for them when they thought no one else was. It’s a touching moment that has all of them crying tears. Not tears of sadness and not even tears of joy. They’re all crying tears of love. Pure unfiltered love.

[chocodile]

art fight???? how???

hey, could you explain a little about the art fight thing? i want to fight people !1!1!

Art Fight is an art gifting and trading game! It's been running in some form or another since (quickly checks about page) 2007 apparently but I've been playing it since 2016.

The way the game/event works is outlined here on the site's About page. Basically you just pick other users and draw free art for them of their characters--art you make for other people is called "attacks", and if you're lucky, they'll get "revenge" by drawing something back for you of one of your own characters, too!

There's a light framework of "teams" and "points" overlaid on top of that "draw art of others' OCs" concept to gamify it and give it a fun aesthetic (with team themes like sun vs moon, vampires vs werewolves, etc), but there are no prizes for the winning team, you can freely draw stuff for people on your own team, you can switch teams at any time, and... honestly most users don't really care about teams or points and are just in it for the OC gift art aspect of it.

I'm a huge fan of it because Art Fight feels like one of the last places on the internet that is by and for artists exclusively. On Art Fight you can openly relish in the fact that you're obsessed with one of your characters, or show off this idea for a cool story and setting you want to turn into a novel someday, or proudly display the fact that you've been worldbuilding in-depth dragon lore for a decade and be totally and completely surrounded on all sides by people who not only get it, but also are all doing the same thing. It's also a great way to give some love and support to beginner artists.

Some tips on how to have a better Art Fight experience:

Don't go in with the expectation that you'll get a ton of art, especially your first year. Your main goal should be to make gifts for other people.

If you are hoping to get "revenges" back, try to "attack" people who are definitely playing this year (as in, have drawn at least one attack this summer) but who aren't already swamped with a ton of attacks to "revenge" already. (Attacking only very popular/professional artists who get more attacks then they could ever possibly keep up with will leave you feel disappointed... that said, it's arguably worth attempting a few, just in case you get lucky, because that's how I got a drawing from Shoomlah, one of my childhood art idols!)

If you have an art blog, promote your Art Fight stuff to your followers there so they know you're playing. Playing with a group of friends is also more fun than playing solo 'cause you can always attack each other if you're not getting many revenges. Leaving nice comments on other people's characters and art can also help make you more visible/leave a good impression if you're brand new to the game.

Points and teams seriously don't matter at all, even a little. I suggest not paying them any attention at all beyond picking the team theme you think is cooler.

It's best to at least skim a character's profile and rules before drawing them. Not only does it help you get a better feel for the character, sometimes people put useful design details there instead of on their refs.

One more thing: Don't take Art Fight too seriously! You and everyone else are here to have fun. Don't get hung up on art "quality"--lots of people (including myself) are only doing headshots or sketches. Don't get upset if someone forgets a detail on your character or doesn't draw them quite "right". Don't get hung up on numbers or "ratios" or feel too stung if someone doesn't comment on or revenge something you draw for them. After all, Art Fight is for all types of artists, including young artists who don't fully understand netiquette rules yet, busy adults with full time jobs, people with disabilities that make it hard for them to communicate or hard for them to type or leave them with limited energy... etc. That doesn't mean they didn't appreciate what you drew for them!

Wow, I wrote too much. I should probably stop typing and go draw something for Art Fight before it gets too late in the evening!

TL;DR: Fun art gifting game. Great to rub elbows with other creatives for a month! Feels like an online convention of sorts! A+! Would recommend.

[severevoiddragon]

I decided that instead of drawing my persona/mc character, I would put her into Pirates SMP

Behold, a heron. She wants to make a name for themself, and decided herons would be the best bet (failing that, kites & kestrels seem like a good bet too). I did some new shading techniques with this drawing & I quite like them! Design notes & more about her under the cut, if anyone's interested (I don't know if anyone else has made a piratessmp oc/thrown their character into psmp but oh well!)

So, her natural skin tone is a lot lighter than this, but if you spend enough time on the water, you get a tan. Hence the tanned skin. Their hair is very long, and she is constantly torn between cutting it off and keeping it long, so plaits seemed a good idea. I also tried to incorporate at least one thing that is the colour of every faction, bc she'd probably be asked to join each faction. Obviously, the dress is green (herons), but also there's a blue flower (nightingales), a red gemstone (kites) and the ropes/scarf are yellow (kesterels). While Heron/Kite/Kesterels I've already explained, they'd be asked to join nightingales because whilst she pretends to be all tough & independent, they actually really like having company, and consider her crew their family. The hair colour & eye colour are based off my minecraft skin (Bc this is my minecraft character in psmp-), and the corset & skirt are just brown bc. Pirates. She's a leftie and favours close-range melee weapons, like rapiers, but can and will use a gun if needs be. They're very fearsome, and all their crew died because they dared mutiny (she is a stowaway on one of the pirate's ships). She stole the gemstone from a rich pirate (they found it lying on a beach and picked it up). People often assume she's a kite bc they use pink to decorate everywhere. She is not a kite. Uhhh that's all my rambling for now, if you've got this far thank you for reading, I love you/p

[pine-niidles]

Looking Back on 2023

Heyyy folks! Long time no news from me huh. 

I'm struggling to think of what to even say about my silence. I've not been doing so bad I'd call myself depressed, but I'm doing a tad worse than just a slump. It's been a rough 6 months, not because of one big thing. Instead, a bunch of medium-sized reasons all piled up on top of each other to leave me extremely drained. I've mostly been working on the two commissions I still had in my queue (thank you to my commissioners for being so patient with me, I'm so sorry to make you wait so long <3). I've done a little personal art other than that but didn't have the leftover focus to keep up with sharing it on social media or writing up any updates about my situation. I've pretty much only been active sharing things in my art discord. I'd like to say I've been doing better in the last month or so, but I hesitate to make any promises at this point! We'll just have to see how things go :)

Artfight

So you were promised a more in depth artfight review but I think I missed the right timeframe for that... instead have this look at 3 years of unfinished artfight thumbnails from my new year's wip clean-out!

Year of Art Summary

All things considered I made a lot of art this year, and I'm really happy with how most of it turned out ☺ I did a bunch of experimenting with more playful techniques and color schemes and I think they suit my style a lot. I want to try and much those limits even more next year to see what kind of fun art I can create! Something with colors specifically really clicked in my brain after that witch drawing I did in April, before then I would spend a long time figuring out the perfect color scheme and doing a bunch of adjustments but ever since that drawing things have really been coming together super quick? I'm not sure what changed but no complaints from me. 

Life Drawing Summary 

I rarely post my life drawing but I've been keeping at it! Actually, I put together a few pdfs showcasing all my life drawing going back to 2022, you can download them for free in my itch or ko-fi shops! :>

I also put together a yearly art improvement comparison going back to 2015 that I was planning to put here. However, seeing how long this is already getting... I'll make a separate post for it.

Commissions

I've been gearing up to open commissions again after that unintended hiatus. I don't want to open slots until I'm sure I'm back to being able to finish them in a reasonable timeframe, so I've been using that leftover energy I do have to think about revamping some things and new styles to offer. Back in November I ran a survey on what people want to see from me (it's still open if you'd like to fill it out and help me get more stats!) 

here's a preview of what's to come based on that & my whims:

- stamp commissions were super well received so they'll be added to my main repertoire

- A combo of me reading too much dun meshi and wanting to offer some kind of comicky commissions led to this idea of comic pages of characters eating together, I have a couple examples in progress, when they're done I'll add this style to my main offerings!

- I'm still not 100% set on sketchpages but I like the idea of them so if this test goes well I'll add them as an option

Onward to 2024! 

I already completed my new year's resolution on day 1 of 2024, it was to pet a cat. I've made a second one which is to get a library card whenever my visa is approved and I move back home. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while but never got around to, hoping this will be the excuse I need to do it.

Art-wise it's not a new goal, but I've been trying to focus on improving my rendering! Though I've also been playing around a lot with screentone... the two don't have to be at odds 🤔 

I'm dedicating this year's personal art time to making new references for as many ocs as possible with nude bases so I can easily design new outfits for them whenever I want to without fully making a new ref from scratch.

Otherwise I'm just trying to take it slow, work on things one at a time and see what happens from there.

[zoroara]

So I decided it was about time I made a complete bio and timeline of Vittorio into a post, and of course this included drawing refs for all of their outfits/weapons/and box weapons. Their TYL design is positioned first because of them first appearing in that arc. Here’s some basic information before we get into the timeline:

Name: Vittorio Ardizzone Residence: Italy Age: 27 Birthday: January 18th Gender: Demiboy he/they Height: 190cm/6′3 Weight: 92kg/205lbs Blood type: AB+ Aligned with: Avvoltoi di Scarto / Varia Flame: Flame of Stagnation(Rain+Sky hybrid details here)

Now for the timeline that’ll be under read more cause boy there’s a lot:

Okay, when I made them I wanted them to affect the least amount of the plot we actually have. So what I did was slightly change what the hold up for the Varia was in italy. Which is originally them having to continue to hold down the base they had taken from Millefiore members. Also I’ll go over Weapon abilities at the very end. Other Ocs will be referenced here, there’s a short overview that can be found (here)

Here however, Vittorio, the leader of a group(Avvoltoi di Scarto or the Scrap Vultures) who attacks people already in combat in order to steal weapons, equipment and supplies from them to either use for their own group, sell them or for Vittorio specifically to use to make new weapons all together. With Vittorio picking off both sides only doing so confidently due to the chaos knowing the Millefiore and Varia are weak enough from the fight to essentially get away scott free. They get what they want and abandon the fight halfway through getting their men out with minimal losses.

In the present(second image is present design) while the Avvoltoi di Scarto are not well known, currently too afraid to do operations against such big mafia groups, this encounter sticks in the Varia’s minds. After healing from the Representative battles, they seek Vittorio out. For several reasons, one mainly being a grudge, the potential of getting them to engineer something for them, but also the threat Vittorio poses if left alone. It should also be noted, Vittorio has no knowledge of the future as they were not considered important to how the future turned out. But course, they aren’t going to just talk it out, and a fight ensues, the threat they find that Vittorio held is still very much the same almost taking them down before being captured instead. (I have drawn a comic of this)

Upon being captured Vittorio is forced to work for the Varia, under their watch they are tasked to design and create combat gear for them.(x) Vittorio does so, making them durable and protective against both flames and physical weapons more so than the regular varia uniforms are(Designs found here). While he is working on the Varia uniforms, Vittorio makes an offer, that if they can get them readings and information on how the actual vongola rings work, he can attempt to upgrade their Varia rings and Box weapons. (His attempt at bargaining)

Squalo is sent out to give these readings and while he is Vittorio works on his own version of the combat uniform that he made for the Varia in secret(it looks like the blue and orange combat uniform minus colour, and instead pure black), at this point gaining enough trust to not be constantly under watch. When Squalo comes back he does as he promised though not without great difficulty struggling for a while to upgrade Talbot’s work. However eventually he succeeds giving the varia improved cambio formas that can keep the box weapon out in addition albeit in a weakened state.(I have designs and abilities for these but I’ve not fully coloured them. When I have this will be edited.)

Of course, as he worked and figured out how to upgrade the ring, he made his own copy, and made the vulture box weapon, Avo. (Whose Cambio forma is the orange combat suit). But once Vittorio finished he struck a deal with Xanxus, who begrudgingly agreed to let him go free, for the ability to call on them(and vice versa), and for the ability to ask them for upgrades, to fix equipment, or build something for the Varia.

Vittorio then disappeared without a trace leaving Xanxus as the only person who knew how to contact him despite getting along with the other Varia members. (perhaps a little too well in some cases.) At least he did until one night he sent an emergency alert to Xanxus who only had time to grab Lussuria.

They then found Vittorio in the midst of being attacked by a mercenary known as Kira. She is a Flame of Deceit user and has made real monstrosities that have to be fought. It’s a struggle but once Lussuria heals Vittorio up through team work the Trio take her down. Only to find it was a fake and she is still out there. For his safety Xanxus forces Vittorio to return with them, and Vittorio promptly shuts down. (Also art of these events 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13)

You see, Vittorio has no ability to handle any form of care, especially care that is forced upon them. Growing up in a house that they could not leave for the fact the world was “too dangerous”, he eventually had no choice but to run away if they ever wanted to see anything outside of what they could see from a window. Left scarred from the first attempt, only escaping because their flame awakened, they soon went back home, the only place that he could think of for safety. Only to be met with even more of their freedom taken, with that and their second attempt, only cemented further a twisted idea that if anyone ever cared for them their freedom would be stripped away. (little bits of their past + how they got the idea to form the scrap vultures 1 - 2 - 3 - 4)

However, after two days, Squalo aggressively comes into his room and says that he needs to leave if he’s just going to completely shut down. Vittorio is given his freedom back, provided he at least eats something first cause it was two days. Though he does dip out for a few hours to clear his head, realizing they were right and it is too dangerous to stay alone and goes back. In order to help fight his anxiousness about it he asks to temporarily join the Varia so that he can at least tell himself it’s just for work.(9th picture is his uniform for present day Varia). During this he does admit that the reason he was alone when Kira attacked was because he ended up dismantling the Avvoltoi di Scarto after a recent betrayal as a last straw. Leaving himself as the one and only Scrap Vulture.

From there he works as a trainee, as despite his strength and usefulness.... Vittorio doesn’t meet the requirements of the varia in one aspect. He only know Italian and cannot be a full Varia member in any capacity until he learns. So while they’re trying to track down Kira for their proper fight Vittorio is also trying to learn enough languages to count as a member in some form. It takes several years for them to track down Kira, and in that time they grow comfortable being in the Varia. and in their good relation, the Varia give Vittorio an Axolotl Box weapon which they then name Alba. Which they then make the blue combat gear cambio forma with. Now Vittorio has both box weapons he had in the future, even if they don’t know it.

Upon tracking down Kira, the Varia and Vittorio attack her head on, but of course this being her domain, she is able to easily gain the upper hand practically warping reality to her will. Only Vittorio, Xanxus, Belphegor and Squalo can put up a fight against her flame with easier ability to neutralize it but, unfortunately due to her power they end up overwhelmed. on the brink of defeat and about to die. The horrific living ghost tale that is Presagio appears, making a deal with Vittorio, who is healed and powered up to kill Kira. Only to be stolen away by it as part of the deal.

While Vittorio is trapped with Presagio they find it is a person, an incredibly powerful one but a person nonetheless. They have no choice but to toil away as whatever Presagio needs them to be until after a couple more years, eventually the Varia come to rescue them. Explaining that the reason they made no plans to escape was because Presagio would simply re-capture them there’s a quick plan made. Soon Presagio enters the room that had been broken into, and is challenged to a game. The Varia also offering themselves if it wins, but that they get Vittorio back if it loses.

The game they play is 3 nights, capture the flag. The flag being Vittorio who is tied up in the same building but you can knock out other players(non-lethally only, more to the Varia’s benefit than presagio’s) and if you do so they can't act in the next rounds.

Round one: Team of Levi Mammon and Squalo take vittorio as objective. Xanxus tries to take down Presagio alone. Lussuria and Belphegor act as back up but arrive after Xanxus has already been taken down and get sweeped. However Squalo's team captures the flag before further damage can be done.

Round two: Now with the strongest player out of the way, Presagio focuses the objective, with their swift movements and sturdiness they can't be budged from it. making an easy win for them.

Right after round two: Mammon decides to use Presagio's greed against them, and offers that if it can awaken their full power as it did with Vittorio, they will have a better asset if they can succeed in beating the Varia. Presagio agrees on the one condition that if they do this, and Vittorio cannot create Gear more suited for Mammon's new form in time for the next match. Only Squalo and Levi will be participating. knowing this is their only shot the Varia agrees.

Round three: Fully powered up and newly equipped Mammon aids the remaining two members after them. Though Mammon cannot take down Presagio due to their strength they simply need to cause problems with their illusions and while Presagio is good at seeing through illusions, a fully powered up Mammon is too much. Presagio stays distracted too long, as Squalo and Levi capture the objective and thus they finally get to bring Vittorio home.

After some time to recover both physically and mentally from all that happened. Vittorio asks to permanently join the Varia. Later on getting a tattoo on their back that though they had in the future with wings and the scrap vulture emblem, has the varia emblem added to it as well. They continue their work for the Varia, eventually asking to make a division similar to the Avvoltoi di Scarto, but loaned varia members so that they can easier get the materials they need. They are given a small group to command and continue well into the future.

The first thing they make once they form this group is the Cambio Fusione, the first of it’s kind using both Avo and Alba’s cambio formas to create something that’s an extremely powerful combination of the two previous weapons. However it has heavy physical drawbacks on the user so it is only ever used when Vittorio is desperate to protect someone, but also knows after they can be trusted to take care of him. The trust required originally, they never would have dreamed of.

Now that I have explained their whole story, it’s time for the weapons!

Gun Blade: The gun blade is pretty simple in concept but has a lot of moving pieces. First the blades on both sides of the gun with a press of a button near the trigger of the weapon will be unleashed from a lock mechanism and shoot forward from their position. The only downside is they do have to be physically reset but it doesn’t take much, even quickly slamming the weapon onto the ground will get the locks back in place for it’s next use. Next is the extra part of the handle that the end that can be adjusted so Vittorio can hold the weapon like a bat or like a proper gun. Due to the weight of the weapon it takes a lot of strength to use. Finally the gun part, fun fact, Vittorio has stolen many documents and recordings from mafia groups, they actually learned how to make a gun like this by using Xanxus’ as inspiration. much like Xanxus’ gun it can fire fairly fast but is more often used in charged blasts.

Pioggia Avvoltoio di Cieli, Avo: Avo is a large box weapon, based on the Cinereous Vulture however is a bit larger to allow Avo to pick up Vittorio. Vittorio only uses Avo to handle crowds, as it’s flames are weak in their effects but the Vulture itself is incredibly powerful. However prolonged exposure to it’s flames however weak will eventually cause sluggishness. In the alternate future, Avo was a stolen Sky box he modified to suit his flame.

Cambio Forma, Pistole del Mietitore(Gun of the Reaper): Avo’s Cambio forma much like the box weapon, is focused on power. Vittorio carries a Shotgun and pistol, one for long range and the other for up close. While both can be switched between a normal charge shot, they both have different option settings. The pistol can be switched to a seeking shot which while much weaker will follow the enemy, while the Shotgun can be switched to an explosive spread shot that will petrify anything caught in it. Though they both have blades on them, they’re static unlike the gun blade’s, and are typically only used when someone gets too close and vittorio needs them to back off quickly. This is typically used when there’s plenty of room for the opponent and Vittorio to run.

Pioggia Axolotl di Cieli, Alba:  A small box weapon based on an axolotl, that isn’t very strong physically but makes up in it’s strength of flame.  Alba is typically used in stealth, the small axolotl is hard to feel as it quickly numbs your body. by the time it’s noticed the target is too sluggish and will soon be picked off by vittorio. Thankfully for them Vittorio prefers non-lethal. In the alternate future, Alba was a stolen Rain box he modified to suit his flame.

Cambio Forma, Spada dello Scorticatore(Sword of the flayer): These are two Identical swords with a hook at the end of them. The holes on either side of them will emit a fog version of the flame as long as vittorio squeezes the black triggers on the hilt. This fog will fill the air and slowly overwhelm anyone who enters it. The fog lingers for a long time so Vittorio does not have to constantly refresh it unless they are forced to move out of their area. Vittorio prefers to use this weapon in close combat situations.

Cambio Fusione, Arma dello Scavenger(Weapon of the Scavenger): The final combination of the two previous forms. Through appearing to mainly be the sword, hidden inside of the weapon is a gun which triggers are what used to be for only the sword’s fog. Additionally, only the first 3 sections of the weapon can cut and slice. The fourth is entirely a bludgeoning weapon and is completely flat aside from the hook. Both swords are only colour coded so that Vittorio can keep track of what setting he has them on in case they switch hands. As before, the guns can be switched between a charged shot, a seeking shot, and a the explosive shot. However the blade can also be set to only produce the fog.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

[into-the-blorboverse]

HELLO- how many aus do you have over all i need to know

Yes!! Hi! Thank u for the question!

We've got 12 named major story-changing AUs in different settings! Things like The Vampire AU, Mermaid AUs, Pirates, Spies and more are listed on our toyhouse pages! [X] [X] (I think there's one not listed, a fashion AU where some OCs are fashion designers and models etc) Some of the big AUs we haven't really explored in a long time and we don't always draw for them enough, but we hold them close to our hearts for when we're ready for em again!

HOWEVER! We also keep making an innumerable amount of what we like to call Relationship Swap AUs where everything is essentially the same except, well, relationships! Just exploring new combinations and dynamics that wouldn't necessarily work out in the main story with what we already have established, but when we couldn't resist putting our guys together! Thot experiments, if you will.

Notable Relationship Swaps include Drew/Teddy staying together past their initial hookup, and the Disaster Trio where normally exes Libra and Drew get back together and add Darla's resident Fancy Boy Levi into the mix! There's a Disaster 3 variant where instead of Levi it's Andre. But then we joked what if it was the Disaster Quad with Andre AND Levi and Drew and Libra? Because Andre/Levi already have their own Relationship AU together so we know they're good together, and the list goes on! A lot of the relationship swaps involve Drew… 🤔 He needs help exploring actually good relationships sometimes… and we just think he's neat. :)

Similarly, there's also the Trans Drew AU where everything is the same except Drew is a trans man bc I was exploring Gender Things instead of ships. Fundamentally it would change some things in his backstory and that's the only reason I didn't just canonically make him trans? But he grows into essentially the same man at the current story timeline! (I like to say any picture drawn of Drew where you couldn't see evidence of if he has top surgery scars or not could technically be read as trans Drew even if it wasn't technically drawn For That) :)

We love putting our OCs in new exciting situations, but I'm pretty sure that's all of them now, lol!

[shinjukuspiritcommittee]

Housamo but a two year timeskip?

Okay so for the past few days I've had this idea in my head thanks to the Housamo Discord server cleverly titled "Samocord" of this theoretical sequel to Housamo. Not necessarily an inheritor but a direct sequel of the events of the current mobile game. I jokingly pitched Housamo 2 would be the characters aged up 2/3 years in their college/university years most likely and sort of see where they develop and age over the course of that time frame. So I thought it would be sorta fun to express my thoughts and opinions where I can potentially see the characters in that span since I think it makes for great headcanon material. I'll be mostly talking about where I can see the Summoners and Yoyogi students since the Summoners are the poster kids and leads of Housamo, and the Yoyogi cast are some of my favorites (plus it gives me the chance to plug my own thoughts about my OCs at the very end shh) and I felt this could be very fun to sort of slot it between other headcanons.

also i’m realizing how long this turned out and how frequently i say theoretical. it’s a fun word

MC: So who better to start with than the player character themselves. I think the player character would probably change the least physically. Their style would evolve from a typical high school student to a more traditional local kinda feel in the casual days. Since this is the player character I don't believe they'd fit into one set curriculum since that would be up to the player to decide, however I do see them entering community college first since that would allow them to more thoroughly look into their options and see if they'd rather attend a graduate school or full on university. Not really much else to comment here since that's for the players to decide what they want to do. If you want my opinion though I can see the player wanting to follow closely with Mononobe's steps, recounting all the times he's helped them through a rough patch and kind of wants to be that guiding hand for other generations so most likely after community college they'd try to either break into the education scene as early as possible or get into graduate school and continue educating themselves there.

Salomon: Very briefly I don't believe Sal will change too much from his initial appearance (if he's still around) and is just helping the MC find their bearings and making life as a college student more manageable. Maybe he'd have a few cute new outfits he'll wear on occasion but I wouldn't know. I'm not a fashion designer, just a writer.

Ryota: I normally do Shiro first in these types of organized ramblings and discussions but I kinda wanna save him for a bit later, and instead talk about Ryota. Ryota appearance wise I feel would probably remain mostly the same body type maybe just a smidgen taller. His hair cut might be a bit more evened out and possibly a bit of stuble on his face. Style wise Ryota would still remain with a mostly casual vibe to him, though I feel he'd wear colors a bit more standout than the others since he wouldn't be afraid to draw much attention to himself. He could be entering community college with you and one other friend we'll talk about in a second but unlike you who's more comfortable taking their time, Ryota is worried that he doesn't have a career planned out and is concerned that he isn't as mature as Shiro has become or as capable as Kengo and Toji. He wanted to attend a culinary arts program but didn't really feel his heart was in it at the time and wanted to try thinking about things a bit harder than he should have because ultimately the culinary and hospitality programs call to Ryota the most since it's in his disposition to love good food and to be as open and friendly as possible.

Moritaka: The other friend that joins you in your community college days and is already dead set on taking up studies in social welfare (with a few preferences on the side like fashion design and home economics) and he intends to keep practicing kendo. Appearance wise Moritaka's most noticeable change is his weight as I could see him slimming a bit and leaning a bit closer to a shorter version of Yasuyori's build as 2 years of training with you all have helped him build a bit more of a trimmed body, though he doesn't get taller and maintains his usual sensibilities from when he was in high school. Moritaka's biggest fear I could see is stagnating and being unable to adapt to the changing world around him so he plans to take a course that allows him to get knowledge and resources on ongoing events and trends.

Toji: He's probably the most simple and predictable to change of the cast. For the most part he looks relatively the same but he's doubled down with his work at the police academy since graduating high school properly. So his schedule is pretty packed and usually keeps him busy for days at a time either studying or training. He does aid a bit where he can. It's just difficult for him to meet up in person with the others these days...

Kengo: So you know Ryu from that Street Fighter teaser? That's what Kengo probably will look like in two years let's be honest. Just shredded and facial hair. He probably would look like he'd have a kid or something despite his age. He keeps up with his training and matches while also attending a technical school after finally to start taking Shiro's advice a bit more seriously and he plans to get a way to make a more reliable income since he can't always book a match these days. Since he goes to a different school and does still occasionally get a match or two or even focuses on training he tends to not have as much free time as he'd like to to go and see the others. It's just out of the way ever since he started. Though apparently he's been in touch with Shiro more often than the others, but mostly to make sure he stays out of trouble.

Shiro: While his appearance hasn't changed too much, he would have a more refined air about him since he'd need to look his best for the grad school he'd be attending. He did test for it and got accepted, though he was reluctant at first. Though the nudging of his friends pushed Shiro to put himself first for once. Naturally going to such a high degree of education requires Shiro be focused and diligent so he doesn't have time immediately to spend with his friends, though he is keeping tabs on Kengo apparently as the two have kept contact in emails to prove that Kengo is attending his classes. Though beyond that he does wish he can sometimes see his high school friends more often.

Hanuman Gullinbursti and Agyo: I'm grouping them together since I don't have much to say on them individually. I can see them both entering into the high school social sphere finally and forming their own cliques. While Hanuman still remains short he has grown out his hair to more closely resemble his primate origins. Agyo still has a long ways to go though if he hopes to reach his grandfather's aspirations though. Gullinbursti doesn't look different at all and is just travelling to train more.

%%%

For a plot I could see that while the characters' lives have gotten on a correct track, there seems to be this lingering feeling that something isn't right. Until MC is confronted by something that threatens the peace of it all- a mix of their own dissatisfaction with this new found solidarity and an antagonist potentially creating all sorts of chaos out of that fact.

Yeah I'm presenting the idea that the MC is unhappy with this sort of good ending and is hoping for something to bring their friends back together even if by force and an antagonist that intends to exploit that for some kind of endgoal. That's all I got cuz the plot wasn't at the forefront of my mind when I was coming up with these theoretical futures.

%%% Gameplay though, weirdly was. Cuz if we ever did get a Housamo 2 I could see them using most of the same baselines as the base Housamo but with a few bells and whistles! Basically I came up with two ideas- an affinity bonus/penalty system and Love skills. (This next part is purely theoretical on my part and not anything real happening anytime soon. In fact none of this is so just stick with me)

Love Skills are pretty straightforward: when a character is in love with another character (usually done on the player's whim) the character will get a skill that becomes live whenever they're with the preferred partner. For example if Horkeu Kamui were to fall in love with the player character then Horkeu could obtain a theoretical skill where if the lover (in this case the player) were to take damage, he would have a chance to redirect and halve the damage back to himself. As if he were guarding the player from harm. There's a plethora of options you could come up with like "If lover takes damage, grants CP up to self; if lover takes a hit, unit counterattacks on foe" or some other wacky shenanigans like player phase follow ups, quick healing to keep someone from dying. Housamo as it is is a varied game littered with all sorts of fun effects and quirks that something like this could add another layer of strategy and actually make Forget me Nots somewhat strategically useful.

An affinity bonus/penalty is something that's a bit more out there in concept, but basically these would be a party wide buff you would be able to grant dependent on what characters you're fielding. For instance if you were to bring Shiro/Moritaka with MC in the party then the party could receive a +10% activation rate to their skills for the whole duration of the battle, or if you were to bring Kengo/Toji it would be a slight boost to the party's damage output. Even if Ryota and MC were in the party it would increase the potency of healing skills. Now where do the penalties come in? Note how I mentioned in every example with the MC? They'd be this sort of equalizer character who would give a little less than the full potential, but at no cost. To explain what I mean let's take Kengo and Horkeu Kamui from our previous examples. If you were to put them both on the same team they'd have an affinity given that Horkeu is a Berserker and Kengo has a strong tie to the Berserkers where they'd give a much stronger damage boost to the party. However the drawback is that they now take more damage in return from enemies, almost like a permanent Berserk effect. All sorts of different combinations could happen with this theoretical system- Ryota and Choji could give healing buffs extended duration but to the cost of damage output as a whole being reduced, Shiro and Shuichi could increase activation rates by a larger amount but have a harder time letting the part charge CP. There could even be characters, like Leanan Sidhe, who could potentially disable affinity bonuses/penalties for lore purposes and to open the way for other strategies to get some time to shine.

Realistically anything is possible and while I don't expect much of anything to come from this it's just cool to theorycraft and speculate.

%%% Finally, my personal favorite segment to talk about, the Yoyogi characters and where they'd be.

Durga and Daisuke: I am bunching these two together since I don't have much to say about them when compared to the others. Maybe both of their muscle definition improving since high school because I see them both being the first of their friends to break into the athletic world as upcoming celebrities. Daisuke obviously getting into a more formal wrestling career while Durga being a sponsored track and field runner. They both would otherwise be relatively the same Durga and Daisuke. Though Daisuke would probably be a bit more confident in himself and letting his friends know who Taurus Mask really is.

Gunzo: I can see Gunzo joining the MC and his friends when they all start attending college, but going to a different school through Yoyogi (if I'm remembering right they have courses all the way to the college level so Gunzo would probably do that) and Gunzo would be heavily involved with the Rugby team on the college level. Though he's become a lot more outgoing and confident in himself like a shining star. Appearance wise I could see Gunzo starting to grow a subtle stubble but maintaining his mostly athletic aesthetic. While he hasn't quite broken through the public sphere just yet, he at least wants to finish school before making any big plunges.

Kyuma: Finally a third year and current captain of the baseball team after so long. Not only did Kyuma get taller, but he also got a whole new perspective now that juniors are looking up to HIM for advice and adoration. He would be taking his schooling very seriously so he can catch up to his other peers properly and be able to feel he can stand as their equal as opposed to living in their shadows. He's got a lot of work and training ahead of him if he hopes to feel shoulder to shoulder with everyone.

Ashigara: I think Ashigara would be going to college, but having an internship to be a teacher's aide so he can be a teacher and coach for his old stomping grounds. While Ashigara would want to be popular like his peers I think he gets happiness more from the ones he surrounds himself. He just kinda gives me the vibes that he'd just be happy raising new generations to be the strongest and best versions of themselves. Also Ashigara would buy a pair of fake glasses to sell the bit that he's more mature than when he actually is.

Yasuyori: I thought about giving Yasuyori a position in the military, but after thinking it through it sounds like an awful idea for him to have him placed back into a military setting. The trauma of what the game did to him would motivate him to learn to become a trauma counselor. So during this he's knees deep involved with that and trying to become someone capable of treating that.

Wakan Tanka: Firstly this is an assumption Wakan Tanka makes it to see the end of the main story in Housamo which we don't know yet but seeing the track record of World Representatives... we can only hope. But assuming he does I see Wakan Tanka taking a break since he was completely wrecked after the events of the game and needs to find himself. So after a few years he eventually makes his way back to Tokyo and he's a lot more laid back and sage-like, a lot more soft spoken but still kind.

%%% And as a little aside my Fan characters Yui- She'd be an aspiring light novelist or mangaka with some kind of story in the works after getting lucky in a writing contest. While Yui got a lucky break she is taking school part time and also juggling her personal life. While on the surface she never seems to find a break she's able to squeeze it in and knows when to make time for everything. That isn't to say that she won't drop what she's doing in the face of an emergency.

Tatsuya- He would be taking classes with Gunzo and Ashigara, but mostly because he is also taking an internship in learning to become a doctor. Specifically Tatsuya wants to become a pediatrician for reasons pertaining to his own childhood and understanding what those years can mean to someone. While he and Yasuyori spent a lot of time together in their high school days and are still really close, he grows closer to Ashigara Kyuma and Gunzo during this period.

%% And that should cover everything I wanted to. For everyone who made it this far on this headcanoning a wild sequel I wanna say thank you since I normally don't put up these kinds of projects and just stick to keeping it in my notes and never really sharing them until now. But also I'm kind of curious what everyone would see their favorites would be doing, or if there was a portion of this that you may not have fully agreed with me on. I'd be curious to know!

[zulivaris]

Art Block tips that helped me

 I’ve recently experienced art block after 3 or so months of overcoming my last one. Thankfully this block only lasted a few days thanks to some things I’ve observed and noted down from the previous time. So I’m sharing these few tips in hopes that it might help someone get unstuck :D!

First and foremost if you’re tired, sad or anxious don’t be surprised that you can’t make art, go and take care of yourself by treating yourself with kindness and patience, the sketchbooks and canvases will wait for you :)

The tips are under here:

Separate art studies from the creative time:  When you do art studies you’re there to focus on specific things, learn and understand how things work so you can apply them later in your art. Studies take a lot of energy and focus and are the opposite of the creative "flow” of making your own pieces. If you combine the two the results are either unfocused studies or stiff drawings. When you sit down at your desk ask yourself “Do I want to learn something new or do I want to create something of my own?”

When you have an idea don’t be afraid of being messy: Let’s say you want to make a picture of several cats kolo dancing in the moonlight. How do you go about doing this? Well since you came up with the idea you already have a vague image in your mind, sketch it out with simple shapes, stick figures, circle and spheres etc Don’t worry about cat anatomy, or the dancer’s moves, sketch out the essence of it. This method removes the need to be perfect or accurate. 

Ok after the messy sketch then what? Well now that you have sketched out the essence of your idea (and hopefully had fun doing so) now you go on to look for references! You put the creative process on pause and you can do a few brief studies if you need to: anatomy, color schemes, values, poses. Pick out a few of your favorites but don't obsess over them, they are a guide, a tool.

You know much more than you think. You’ve probably been drawing for a few years now. You’ve probably done some studies and drawn more than one type of subject. Then you have already internalized some of that information. I used to be obsessed with capturing the minute detail of the subject, and not be able to draw ANYTHING without reference. Instead of a useful tool, references became another obstacle to my creativity. That’s perfectionism my friend, and that’s no good. Here is an exercise a good friend of mine offered: Draw a few characters, animals and objects from imagination. Make sure that the subjects have no personal value to you (no ocs for example) so that if you make a mistake you won’t feel bad about it. Make the process relaxed and comfortable, pour a nice cup of joe, listen to your favorite music ... You will notice that you do indeed know how to draw some things without reference, and it’ll help with your confidence. 

The more you do studies the more you understand This seems evident but the more you understand your subject the freer you can be and the easier it’ll be to draw it from imagination in the future. If you really struggle with something to the point of frustration (as in you can’t get it right even with reference) It means you have to study it. Have a study list, for example: hands, perspective, color theory etc. And one of those days you want to study pick something from the list, and look for videos on youtube or useful sites like line of action etc. Only study one thing at the time. You can go from studying hands to studying arms since they’re more immediately connected, but you can’t study hands and then jump to learning perspective right after. Trust me you can learn perfectly fine with the resources online, and I’m sure you’re clever enough to do it :D

Mistakes don’t mean you “suck”  I’ve noticed that the two most common causes for art block are perfectionism and lack of self-confidence.  The two can often go in tandem which is worse :’D But let me remind you of something, you can fix your piece along the whole process. Use erasers, lasso tools, liquify , select, paint it all over etc If something looks off to you then you also know deep inside how to fix it. Useful ways to see what clunks: flip canvas horizontally (helps with placement, proportions), turn the image to grayscale (helps to check values and where your eye tends to look), look at your image in thumbnail size and ask yourself if it’s clear, see the pose’s silhouette and ask yourself if you can tell what the character is doing etc. Don’t fret, everything can always be fixed :)

Perfectionism, sometimes it stops you before you begin Perfectionism causes you to overwork a piece, it makes you draw less, it makes art stressful, it brings insecurity. Let’s remove it with a simple exercise. It can be combined with the “draw things from imagination” once you’ve drawn something you like: dont do line art, don’t shade it, keep it as simple and crude as possible and then...post it. Yes, post it. You’re not at your best? You’re only human, this will help you embrace that very human side of you. You make mistakes. So what? The more mistakes you make the more you know what you need to study and the better at art you become. Mistakes are there to show us what we need to learn. See them as another tool and not a sign of failure.

Make the process as enjoyable as possible: You like art. You love drawing. Never forget this. Otherwise why are you drawing if you don’t enjoy it? It’s easy to fall prey to the mentality of those relatable memes that “art= suffering” or “I can’t even draw the other eye”. No no no my friends, these messages are fueling your insecurities instead of overcoming them. Let me tell you what, art is fun. It is. Art is fun, because I decided to make it fun again. And you should decide on that too. Personally I adore lineart but my hand-eye coordination is lacking to do it digitally, so....I just skipped it. Yes. I skipped it. I do the sketch, I clean it up a bit and then jump onto color which I adore. It allowed me to draw more and more freely. When I draw I listen to music, make strokes with the rhythm, I take breaks often and I drink my favorite iced teas. If you don’t like coloring do it in grayscale, if you love lineart then do that etc It doesn’t mean you won’t learn your weak points in the future with studies and practice, but you won’t let your weaknesses prevent you from drawing at all. No no, you won’t let them. You draw because you want to, despite of them.

Don’t wait for inspiration, provoke it  Inspiration is not a divine and capricious muse. You make inspiration. It’s easy just collect all the things you like, music, artists, objects, characters, animals, patterns, plants etc Make boards on pinterest or similar sites, combine things you like. You like suits? You like birds? You can draw a bird in a suit, or a bird-inspired suit design, there is frankly a lot of ideas that can spring up from little things like these.

When a project stops being enjoyable either pause it for now or move on to the next thing. Pieces aren’t precious. They’re not “the one time I got x right” they are one of many. This advice goes mainly to hobbyists who can afford the luxury of passing to a new project. I have a WIP of a character who is overly complicated (I enjoy a challenge from time to time) sitting for half a month. I sometimes come back to it and add something... but as soon as it starts to create discomfort and insecurity instead of enjoyment I move onto something else. In the meantime I created 3 or 4 new pieces. If I had waited on finishing that piece I would have been severely creatively and physically exhausted. The art comes from you, not inspiration. The more art you make the better you become.

That’s about it :D I know it’s long but I prefer to be thorough and cover all the possibilities. If you have read of this: Thank you so much I hope this helps you at least a bit, if it helps only 1 other person I’d still be very happy. Have a nice one, and kick art block’s butt!

[antiloreolympus]

12 Anti LO Asks

1. STOP why are those two panels of her trying to not be a bringer of death literally two obviously different pink hues???? hello??? does this comic not have quality control??

2.Alrighty, read the recent chapter (not the fast pass but the one before) and I have questions

So like, All the side characters are back now I guess? (Also I totally forgot that Artemis went to visit Hermes - how many chapters ago was that even?)

Did... Thanatos and Daphne get together / move in together off screen?? Why is there random narration all of a sudden when LO has Never had it before? (At least that I can remember) - and who's narrating?? Why does one of the side characters need to die? Am I supposed to be invested after RS ignored them for like 20 chapters? (At least its a break from the super slow burn of HxP)

Is this going to effect the overarching plot at all? Do you think RS is gonna try and flip the myths again? (Eros + Psyche, Echo + Narcissus, Apollo + Daphne, etc. Thanatos?)

Also, yeah whats been going on with Hera since she had that Kronos premonition? Why does Daphne sound so happy / smug about Demeters probable heart attack when she eventually finds out about Persephone being in the underworld with Hades? (Whenever RS gets to that).

And what happened to Zeus being all pissy with Persephone and the Trial?

Why are there so many unconnected plot threads? I cant keep up with them all! (It also doesn't help that RS just expects readers to remember all this info after ignoring it - like Artemis going to visit Hermes).

3. If we're being completely blunt and honest here... There's no happy ending for LO. Even if RS ends it on LO Hades and Persephone being "happily" married, you can tell by his past actions that LO Hades will just keep "switching out" for "newer models", so to speak. He'll keep getting mistresses. He'll keep financially manipulating women until they get away from him (one way or another).

4. ok but as a character designer? red and pink are KNOWN CLASHERS. there's a reason ariel's marketing is all in a green/teal/purple gown now instead of the pink one she wears in the movie. pink + red, especially a very saturated, blue-undertoned pink like persephone is, are a HUGE ARTISTIC NO-NO. she needs to get a refund from whatever color theory teacher she had because they l i e d to her.

5. ok but. how cool would it have been if it was trans persephone, and kore was her stand-in (similar to a deadname, but not quite the same) until she decided on her official new name, persephone? if smythe wanted a name-change so bad she could have done so much cooler, better stuff. mtf persephone would make 'becoming a queen/princess' SO much more significant. girl you were already an heiress to begin with stfu.

6. i say this as a transgender man: sometimes smythe's art legit looks like rcdart's stuff. the  weird racial features, the huge hips and tits, the dorito-men? she's cis rcdart.

7. when its the korean imported stuff the webtoons team has to market it themselves and do as best as they can, off the translations, but western made stuff like LO has the creators all input on the marketing (duh, they made the images and banners) so the "Hell" connection is very much Rachel's doing, which kinda implies she doesn't exactly know the Hades mythology or even seems to care if Hell seems more "spicy" and "sexy".

8. no more persephone x hades. if the antis hate us making OCs so much, someone should design cyane! you know. the nymph who literally died trying to protect her?

9. To that one anon - about Apollo needing to drive the sun chariot - Helios is still up there. He could perform the duty of leading the sun across the sky. 

10. oh lo apollo is pretty clearly based off someone rachel knew and was harmed by IRL, which like if that's so then go to therapy? get help? dont take out your issues on a real god from a real place and pretend you're the second coming for homer for the bastardization of a real country's mythology and culture.

11. So you guys know that famous statue "the rape of Persephone"? I think RS took it a little too literally. While the title states 'rape' its more of an allusion to kidnapping than anything else.

Or perhaps it's titled like that to draw a comparison between the violation of Persephone's personhood, her identity and her lack of agency in the situation.

I mean, when people hear the name Persephone they tend to think of Hades wife and the story of how she was kidnapped against her will.

I think perhaps RS saw the statue and confused rape with kidnapping - or decided to conflate the two. She wanted persephone to be kidnapped And raped (for plot reasons), and thus, further stripped away Persephone's agency regarding the situation (because in some versions of the myth after Persephone is kidnapped she finds she is actually ok with the underworld so long as Hades treats her with respect - which he does).

But because RS wants Hades to be the MVP she decided (for some reason) the villify Apollo (who yes, Demeter mythologically does have beef with, but Not for that reason). 

12. Alright hold on a moment - in some versions of the myth Persephone Did wander down to the underworld by herself (because, if I recall, she heard the sorrow filled voices of the dead and wanted to help them) - and in some versions of the myth Hades isnt even present - its just Persephone ruling the underworld by herself like the badass queen she is.

Also, yes - Demeter was a loving mother who grieved for her daughter and she had every right too - but I wouldn't say Persephones kidnapping was entirely Hades' fault (as the comic points out Zeus "gifted" Persephone to Hades *real Dad of the year there*).

Also also in some versions of the myth of the Kidnapping of Persephone - Hades is noted as a pretty mild mannered God - he is respectful of Persephone and seems to love her (and yes, depending on the myth Persephone either ate the pomegranate seeds on purpose or because Hades tricked her) - there are many different variations of the myth. There isnt really a "agreed upon narrative" by everyone - as far as I know.

I think most versions of the story state that neither Hades nor Demeter were pleased with Zeus decision to have Persephone stay 6 months with each of them, but because she ate the pomegranate seeds it was a kind of rule that she had to stay for each seed she ate, hence the 6 months.

If you guys want to get some more broad details of the myth I suggest OSP's "Hades and Persephone" video - which goes a bit more into the canon.

So overall I would say, yes Demeter was a loving mother who grieved her daughter (who was stolen - in most versions) AND Hades was comparatively a decent husband, despite his flaws. Both these statements can coexist - I promise. 

[terrified-spider]

ID above the cut this time! I took up a good amount of space talking about the inspiration and process for this one, and wanted to make the ID easier to get to, so no one needs to scroll through it if they don't want to.

[ID: A portrait of a moon elf, from Dungeons and Dragons, shown from the shoulders up, facing forward. Instead of having hair, five mushrooms of various sizes have sprouted from their skin, and a couple on their neck. They wear silver earrings, and their left ear has a small notch carved into it. Small beads of a dark, red liquid are scattered across their cheeks and right shoulder, and are concentrated on areas where red blotches have started to darken the pale skin. Their eyes are completely red, with the left eye containing a thin webbing that is also starting to form on the right. End ID]

CW for a discussion focused around mushrooms, fungal infections, death to said fungal infection, and undeath. There's also mention of tree parasites, starvation (after death), and colonization.

Really, anything under the cut is extra; you don't need to read it if you're not comfortable. Please stay safe! (:

Hi! Get ready for an essay, because while I was taking a break from drawing, I wasn't taking a break from thinking about drawing, and I have a lot of unorganized thoughts about this piece, not just about the design, but the fictional fugal infection that its depicting.

I got my Spotify wrapped playlist, and wasn't surprised when Lord Huron's "Not Dead Yet" was my most played song. After all, it's one of my favorites, often getting me in the mood to create, and the inspiration behind a concept I have for another new OC, an undead-ish ranch hand. (It's a work-in-progress.) So over the past few days I've been listening to that song on loop even more than usual, and it put me in the mood to look into some different zombie video games that I have no intention of ever playing. I noticed that the zombie apocalypses I was looking at were all focused on humans turning, and I couldn't remember anything about a zombie plague for any fantasy races. Thus, I decided to create a concept for one that effects the moon elves from Dungeons and Dragons.

I decided that the condition would be caused by a fungal infection. Partially inspired by how European colonizers brought illnesses to the Americas, I decided moon elves would first encounter it when trying to colonize land originally inhabited by wood elves. I know that is the opposite of how it happened with the colonizers, but I wanted to change it up a bit. The fungus wouldn't be a concern to the wood elves, as they already had time to adapt and build up a resistance. However, once brought back to moon elf settlements it would be able to run rampant.

As many already know, elves live for a long time. In this universe that I am apparently creating now, part of the reason for that is that all of them, not just wood elves, are similar to trees, slow growing, and able to survive even when most of its body has been damaged. In the case of trees, it means that when a parasite such as Dwarf Mistletoe* decides to use a tree as its host, a slow race begins. The tree needs to keep growing in order to have enough branches to obtain enough oxygen, while the mistletoe tries to use that oxygen for itself as it tries to take over the entire tree. In some cases, the parasite remains inside the host for a long stretch of time before sprouting to release seeds.

Something similar occurred with the infected moon elves.

After the moon elves' failure to take the land from the wood elves, they returned home, not knowing they were carrying the fungus. It took around fifty years before anyone noticed something was amiss. Infected elves began to die from an illness that weakened them over time and reddened their skin and clouded their eyes. From there, it becomes a standard zombie story: they start to rise from their graves, mindless and seeking out living targets.

The zombies themselves are fairly passive, only attacking if one around them is attacked first. In most cases, they simply wandered around they areas they had risen from, then following living elves. They did not go out of their way to feed, so many would eventually collapse once their bodies finally gave out, either due to starvation or decay.

The main threat comes from the mushrooms that sprout from their bodies. As the mushrooms matured, they released their spores, which then in turn infected the living around them.

The main design inspiration for this was the Bleeding Tooth Fungus, a type of mushroom that, as its name suggests, looks like a tooth with drops of blood on it. I decided that moon elves, with their pale, blue skin, would match the fungus the most after the infection sets in and red blotches start to form. The mushrooms sprouting from the body are not based on any particular species, just slightly inspired by the mushrooms on my Animate Dead sticker. The disk shapes are fun to shade and detail.

A large portion of the line art on the face and neck were done with the symmetry tool. To hopefully keep the piece from looking too balanced, and to distract from the mirrored lines, I purposefully shifted the mushrooms and details in the coloring to different heights on the face.

For the red markings, I experimented with a different combination of brushes that usual. In most cases, I use a simple opaque brush and add details with the flat marker, thin gouache, and g-pen brushes, but I decided to use one of the airbrushes to add some finer speckling.

The eyebrows are only there because I liked the shape I had made them, and I thought the cool color would add some contrast to the area around the eyes.

Thank you for reading this far! I normally don't post lots of writing like this, but if you're interested in reading some more of my world building ideas, check out my side blog, @tired-spider. I'm more active on this blog, but I a lot of my art and world building ideas there, along side some DnD stuff and headcannons for different media I'm invested in.

Critique is always welcome, and I hope you have a nice day!

* It should be noted that I first learned about this on a hike a few months ago. So while I think that this is the type of mistletoe I was told about originally, I'm not entirely sure.

[shadowandjoltdev]

Jolt Inspirations

Hey! My bad on the radio silence here. While I was working on Heater’s design process mentioned last post, I realized a lot of the decisions made for the supporting cast are so dependent on how Jolt and Strike turned out that I’d need to start on those two before diving into the other guys. Hope that didn’t put too many people’s hopes up. ^^’

Anyway, I did a little social media challenge to choose three images of things that inspired your oc. Of course I chose Jolt (wow). But for here, I’m gonna expand a little more on these and why I chose them as influences.

Let’s touch on why I went with these and how I came upon them. (Keep in mind, I went through much trial and error to find the right influences to draw from. We’ll go into that another time)

Power

My choice to do an electric theme for Jolt came from a pretty anti climatic process:

“Hm, this oc (side note: she had no name at this point) is pretty boring without powers and feels like the scales between her and Shadow is way too tipped out of her favor. She needs something that pairs with him better. What hasn’t been used as a power set yet?

.....Electricity?

....Yeah ok. I could have fun drawing that.”

Riveting stuff, I know.

When S&J was first conceived, I was living in the historical city of Boston. If you’re from the New England area, one thing it’s well known for is the very boisterous thunderstorms especially in the summer. After deciding on her powers, the super dramatic storms served as further inspiration for how to depict it.

One day, a storm brewed outside my window where I saw this astonishingly beautiful display of pink lightning dancing in the sky. I was so entranced by how pretty it was, I just sat there watching it. That’s how I landed on that color.

Hair

It’s tricky to design something based on an established franchise. They already have a style and specific guide for what they want for any new addition. How do you add something that feels convincingly like a part of it?

One thing I learned that was quite helpful was immersing myself into the the media popular for the time of it’s original conception. Since Sonic’s a product of the 90′s and early 2000′s, there’s a ton of material that the original creators could’ve drawn from in movies, anime, music and so on.

I was going through a list of 90′s anime (I do love that era anyway so it was a real treat for me) and got into G Gundam, which is so over the top and out there it wasn’t tonally similar to what I wanted to do for S&J. However, you never know what might influence you! I really liked the look of Rain and in particular her hair. I struggled with finding out how to draw Jolt’s spikes in a unique fashion so when I incorporated Rain’s hair flow to her, it just fit well! Sometimes older works can be repurposed for new ideas. Never forget the classics!

Main Colors

This was decided on before her lightning was pink. As noted, I lived in Boston which has lots of historic buildings topped with copper rooftops and motifs that have long since oxidized to become the infamous Patina Green.

But the idea didn’t actually sink in until I was in a meeting at work discussing products painted with a metallic ink. We were trying to come up with a third metal to use since we already had Gold and Silver. I offhandedly said “copper” and everyone ended up agreeing. A co-worker then said:

“Hey, why don’t we match the copper with Patina Green on the product? That’ll look really good!”

The passing remark hit me like a bolt (ha....ha) and I realized that not only could it work for Jolt, but it would functionally make sense since copper is highly conductive to electricity!

Inspiration strikes at strange times. You never know when a good idea will hit so be exposed to lots of things and be observant!

(And then the whole bus clapped)

Overall Silhouette

I’ve mentioned once how important a strong silhouette is for character design. Bold shapes help define and set a character apart from the rest of the cast.

I had the colors, I had the hair shape and things were making sense....but drawing Jolt in different angles proved super difficult without an idea of how that silhouette changes as she turns her head.

While perusing for inspiration, I thought back to my original “Rules of Design” I set for myself before starting this project. These were more self-defined and meant to help me stay on track in case I get lost and in need of a direction.

One of these rules is that Jolt is meant to be, thematically and visually, a foil to Amy. She needed to suit her in a way similar to how Sonic and Shadow are foils to one another. One of Amy’s main motifs is the Rose, a symbol of her strong romantic drive and femininity. I wanted something similar for Jolt that’d suit her and wouldn’t be too overt.

The Lotus came to mind! It’s construction helped me see how I could draw her at multiple angles and still convey that “lotus” shape in her hair. This was tremendously helpful for making her both easier to draw and also add some depth to her design.

Influences don’t always need to be super prominent but can instead be subtle and a good accent to the main ones. So after much mixing and matching, these were the core pieces that fit the best for the kind of character she’s supposed to be.

Whew, we made it! Thanks for reading this far. Stay tuned for more posts like this in the future. I’ll be sure to make them for each of my characters when I have the chance of digging deeper into them. Until then, take care! :>

[rpbetter]

Sorry if this isn't the place to ask but I'm in need of advice. I have a canon character I truly adore, but I haven't gotten muse or any opportunity to write them at all. My blog is collecting dust and the fandom is kinda dead at this point. Not to mention, it's hard to find compatible writing partners, especially with how picky I can be. I'm honestly considering deactivating the blog (for the nth time), but I don't want to lose the writing I have. I know I could archive, but I hate having blogs just sitting around.

In short, I really want to write the muse/keep the blog but I'm not getting any incentive to do that.

Hello, Anon, it’s totally the place to ask!

I will say, though, that since finding and keeping muse can be flavored rather personally, I can’t promise that what works for me is going to work for you. I’ll even confess that in over two decades, I’ve never personally lost muse. I don’t know if it is due to underlying, neurodiverse style, fixating, or if it is due to keeping myself continually invested in both my muse and writing regardless of what else is going on. (Probably a combination of both, though, and the things I do to keep myself highly in touch with my muse I’ll be recommending.) I’m definitely happy to try to help, however.

That really is a very frustrating spot to be in, wanting to write the muse and keep your blog active, but logging in every day to be reminded of what little reason you have to do so. Since we’re drawn to the characters we are for reasons of personal appeal and writing in itself is a pretty personal form of art, it can also feel depressing on top of the frustration.

However, that’s also the good news, in my opinion, because your incentive here is, or can be, yourself.

You were drawn to this character because you connected with them. They mean something to you, you can relate to them, maybe they have qualities (good or bad) that you wish you could experience. Whatever it is, there’s a reason why you had this draw. Writing is like that as well, there’s a reason why this is a hobby that drew you, that you get enjoyment out of. Again, though all art (it doesn’t matter if it is a hobby) has personal bits of the artist in it, writing is uniquely personal. When you write, you’re exploring thoughts and feelings, giving them life in a character that matters to you. I know, all of that sounds really convoluted and hokey, but it’s true.

And it’s good! That means you always have a reason to write and that you have the tools necessary to find and keep muse without any outside push necessary.

I’d say, firstly, work on getting muse back.

Get back in touch with your muse the next time you feel a particularly strong urge to write. Instead of spending time trying to find people in a silent fandom or forcing yourself to write something you don’t want to, just do some exercises that will help you get back into your muse.

I don’t know what media type your character comes from, but especially if it is something like movie or show that you can have on in the background of what you’re doing, do that. If it’s a comic or a book, think about your favorite scene and read it over first. If you’ve ever made some playlists for writing/your muse, you can always do that instead or as well. The point is to do something passively inspiring while you actively create. Now, that creating...

You want to do something that requires you to think about your muse so you can get in touch with them, not something that is going to make you feel overwhelmed and shut down. So, maybe don’t pick writing prompts for this - you can work up to that. Try out headcanon and character development memes and other question lists instead for right now. Things you can scroll down a list of, find questions that jump out as interesting (or even simply answerable to you at this point, you’re jump-starting a dead battery, it’s alright) and answer them. You can also do something as simple as write down what you like best about the character or their story, or put down the basics of filling in missing information that has always bugged you.

The beauty of this is that it is all on your own terms, your only objective here is to answer what you want, as much as you want. You can stop any time, but you can also answer a single question for three hours, making it eight pages long if the inspiration strikes you. It’s only about recharging your inspiration and establishing a connection with your character again. (This is also going to help you with getting back into writing, or approaching it for the first time, with a more internalized focus of interest.)

When you feel like you’ve done that, you can branch out on these exercises more. Answer the memes more in-depth, answer more of them/the ones you don’t have immediate answers for. You can also try writing out scenes from the character’s canon from their perspective, if it wasn’t already so, adding in their thoughts and feelings, or changing the scene in some ways that would be interesting to write out. This is the point where it’s a good idea to try a writing prompt or two, as well! Take the prompt as a sort of starter sentence from a mutual, you’ve got the situation, fill in with your muse.

Write when you feel like writing. The RPC is great at saying this when it comes to muns not wanting to write, but kind of ignores the other side of the equation. The side where you want to write, have the inspiration and muse to do so, but it might not be the best time. As in, you’re not home/wherever you usually write, with whatever device you tend to write on accessible. No, you’re not going to be able to get as much done, but you can write without the usual situation and device regardless. You can write a scene or ideas down using your phone or tablet, or go old school and use a notebook. If you’re at work and your job isn’t applicable to being able to get down a single sentence, that still doesn’t mean you have to wait 8+ hours to get home; while you’re taking your break, write a little bit. It is a break, and writing is your hobby, it isn’t work. It’s good to do things you enjoy on breaks, and far more fulfilling to have also accomplished something you happen to enjoy.

Not writing when you have the drive to do, putting it off and holding it in until “the perfect moment,” is a great way to lose your inspiration and never actually have that moment. If you feel like doing it, that means it is the perfect moment. Life is restricting, don’t impose even more restrictions on yourself by having to be at home, in a specific spot, with a specific device, at a specific time, on a specific day. Was that annoying repetition? You’re right, it was. And that’s how your creative mind processes all the crap piled onto it that doesn’t allow for creativity.

Now, the other problem, the fandom situation.

There isn’t anything you can do about that, to be absolutely honest. I’m not going to blow smoke and tell you to be positive, wait it out, maybe the fandom will spring to life again. You know, maybe it will...but you could be waiting literal decades for that to happen. Not cool. Please, take my word for that, it’s personal experience that it blows even more than you imagine it will.

What you can do is take the matter into your own hands in other ways; putting yourself out there with more availability in multiple ways.

Are you a single-fandom blog, or are you crossover friendly? If you’re not crossover friendly, try to think of a single, relatively popular fandom that you enjoy. Don’t look at it like a hassle, but rather, just another creative exercise. A serious pitfall of creating alternate universe versions of muses is to take the simplest route, merely picking something you want from that other universe and applying it to your muse with no relevant changes that would naturally occur from it. It isn’t just reductive as hell, it’s not remotely creative, it’s like sticking a sticker on your muse’s forehead and saying that’s a whole different muse. It’s neither attractive to potential partners nor going to sustain your own interest for long. You want this to be a passionate investment on your own end, for yourself.

What not to do:

Let’s say the fandom you picked to do crossovers with is based around magic, the main characters are witches, and they are divided into factions based on how their magical talents display and develop. Not only do you decide to make your muse a witch, you pick the most badass faction. It’s the one full of assassins and action and (metaphorically or literally) sex appeal. Well, that’s also going to be the most popular faction in the fandom. That means there will not only be plenty of big name canons there but also that there’s going to be a plethora of OCs designed just for this universe...and other crossovers from other currently active fandoms.

While that might sound like it’s great for maximizing interaction chances, it’s really not when you’re just starting somewhere new with a character from another fandom that might not be known or liked. It can also take a minute in another fandom’s RPC to identify where the good partners are. Every now and then, it is the most popular and over-populous era/faction/etc., but most of the time, it isn’t. People who write with considerable dedication and talent fairly rarely are in the popular kids club even in their fandom choices. By inserting yourself into that area, you might be bypassing (and being bypassed) by better partners on the assumption that their characters are simply going to bore you to death since they’re not within the scope of your focal point.

It’s not a situation of not being allowed to be picky, you not only have that right regardless of your situation, you also should be. This is not a “beggars can’t be choosers” situation, you’re not beholden to anyone on the basis of being new and bored. However, some of my best, and longest lasting, writing partners over all 23 years I’ve been RPing didn’t/don’t fit with all the exact surface details that automatically draw my interest. It is as true within my own fandom as it is in dealing with crossovers. Opposites (with enough similarities) really do attract and work out well together!

Don’t judge and write people off for anything that isn’t an issue of compatibility with your muse, your writing, or yourself. Decline someone because they do one line only and you are novella, they write topics that are upsetting to you, you can see no way your muse and theirs can interact without instant murder, or because you cannot stand writing with someone who is pulling 90% aesthetics and purple prose. Not because their muse is a witch who uses life-based magic, loves nature, is a healer, and into their health...while your muse in this AU is all about the death, only appreciates an urban environment and is grossed out by animals, kills as an occupation, lives on cheeseburgers and caffeine. You see what I’m saying? Don’t limit yourself unnecessarily!

What to do:

Did you consider if, in that hypothetical idea of a fandom, your muse based on their purely canon self would even fit into that faction? Or is it just something you wanted to see? If you didn’t consider this, or it was the latter, fix that. That’s bad.

If you’re not absolutely dead set on that and only that, think about what really does fit the muse better. Maybe, they would be better as a healer, someone who messes with the very fabric of reality, or someone who manipulates natural elements at will. Then again, they might not even be a witch. They could be more mundane in terms of power, but more accurate and interesting as a normal, human (or whatever). They could even be greatly opposed to the use of magic and witches. Use your muse’s original canon as a base to decide these things.

If you are absolutely dead set on it, though, you have a lot of work to do making the character into what amounts to a markedly different one while still retaining some recognizable aspects of themselves. Consider what events, in this new universe of fandom, might have happened to alter the character thus. Keep in mind that even small changes can have great consequences in a character’s development, and you might need to think about the myriad ways in which that can display, how it changes still more things for this character.

While that job becomes so much more intense when you haven’t planned out a path that matches your muse’s canon characterization at all, it is still an important part of constructing an AU, of any kind, in general. Ask yourself what experiences led to the character you know as you already know them (including your own headcanons, yes). Then, find similar possible experiences within your new fandom verse that can have the same effect. Again, though, it’s important to understand that you are never going to have an identical set of experiences, so you need to explore relevant changes still.

When you do this, you’re allowing your muse to more seamlessly fit into this other universe in a fleshed out, interesting way. Interesting both new partners and yourself.

Okay, next obnoxious question from me! Do you have multiple verses, or are you single-verse?

Whether you are already exploring new fandoms or not, by creating a variety of verses for others to interact with, you’re increasing your chances for interest and activity. When you have a verse from a different fandom you can then, additionally, advertise your presence in both that fandom’s tags when you do a promo or applicable open starter and on active RPer lists for that fandom.

Every popular fandom has such lists. You can get on them by messaging/sending an ask to the blog or by reblogging their post to be added, following the directions. I haven’t seen one yet that doesn’t allow for crossovers. You simply have to tag it as stated in the post, such as “your canon’s name here - original fandom name - crossover.” By tagging your open starter or promo as “-insert fandom here- rp” and “-fandom here- open starter” you allow people in that fandom to find you to interact. Either way is excellent for getting started in totally new places with a character others might be unfamiliar with.

Please remember that if you tag a promo as “promo,” it’ll not show up in searches off of your blog. You know, where it actually needs to be searched. Thanks, tumblr, for being janky! Being more specific as to the fandom and character will help others actually find you. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by tagging it as “promo.”

Make your verses accessible on your blog itself, in the nature of those verses, and how you set up your page or post that lists them.

Don’t put any page behind an impossible or complicated aesthetic. You really shouldn’t anyway, but when you’re needing interactions, it’s actively hurting your chances. Many people don’t want to have to play a game with your theme, it’s a turn off. Try a pinned post that lists all of your links to important pages like rules, verses, and bio instead. It means that, even from the dash, that information can quickly be found while other muns are first interested, and also that anyone who might be using the app can access it more expediently. (I’m genuinely not a fan or big supporter of doing google docs for rules, verses, bios, etc., as it forces people off site, so I can’t personally say, in good conscious and honesty, that I’d recommend it, but you do you!) You want to keep things quickly accessible is the idea here; when people are interested, you want to catch them right then and there before they have a chance to forget and lose your blog.

As to the nature of the verses themselves, give people real options. Don’t have 20 verses that all read same way. Same themes, plot possibilities, and backstories, or incredibly similar names. Have a diverse list of verses that can act as foundations for a variety of different muns. As many fandoms as you can reasonably have a good portrayal of, and different types of fandoms; not all the same genre (all fantasy, all horror, all scifi). Verses where your muse has substantially different goals, occupations, and other life situations that will involve another muse; don’t make your muse A Warrior™ in every verse, you can keep plenty of those aspects without being that literal. People love “modern” verses set in our own universe and, usually, in our own era. That doesn’t mean you have to go stereotypical or otherwise bore yourself by doing the standard “high school/college verse,” for instance. You don’t even have to designate that sort of thing, let alone make it the focus; simply create the verse by considering what your character really would be like if they existed within your reality.

As a final note on verses as pertains to this point, when you’re doing crossover verses, it’s alright to do some verses where your muse from their own canon existence somehow ends up teleported or whatever to another fandom’s reality, or even our own. Just don’t make every verse like this, it puts the onus of a great deal of creativity and effort onto the other mun by default; your muse has cluelessly dropped into the universe, and while it is high drama time for you, the other mun has to babysit, educate, deal with fallout, etc.

On making the list of your verses accessible, you want to focus on ease of browsing and not being overwhelming. People tend to look through a verse page and not read every verse listed, rather, they look at the titles and breakdowns to see if it is of interest, then read it. Don’t try to make everyone read them all, it isn’t going to happen, and shouldn’t change your effort any as the right people are going to find the verses that interest them...if you make it clear and easy enough.

Have a basic format you stick to, firstly. I do it this way: small verse banner, title of verse (linked to its overall tag so that muns can look through the tag at headcanons, aesthetics, pictures of the FC, and threads), muse age/age range, small blurb, possible triggers found uniquely or just heavily within this verse. In that order, one following the other in a simple, but pleasing way. Below that, is a more in depth breakdown of the “verse canon.” Sometimes, that is giving a brief rehashing of canon itself and anywhere my muse differs, be it in this verse only or overall, ending with where my muse is in this verse. Not literally where. I mean their present occupation, emotional and general state in life. At the very end, I provide any other relevant links and/or an expansion on the triggers mentioned at the top of the verse description if they’re that serious/recurrent so that muns can decide this isn’t the verse for them. I happen to have a potentially triggering muse, triggering verses, and writing triggering topics, though. That’s not something everyone needs to do.

Secondly, group your verses in a sensible way. I do my short list of default verses first. (And, I do mean short, you don’t want this be any more than four or five, it is overwhelming right out of the gate.) For me, that is two default verses of canon at different points on the timeline, one default AU that is a bit of a reversal of canon, and one default “modern” verse. Then, I list the verses that are in line with the altered canon one, just different possibilities, changes, points in history. After that, the different “modern” verse options. Then, verses for other fandoms, the crossover verses. And so on. This way, a potential partner can find the type of verse that might appeal to them and have an easier time picking from those possibilities and getting ideas.

Lastly, don’t be so succinct that you give too little information and underwhelm, but also don’t be so excessive that it takes all of the mystery of interaction away and overwhelms someone. It can be a difficult balance to strike, and some verses require more information than others, just experiment a bit. Additionally, it’s fine to link to pertinent information for the other mun to view aside from this, but don’t just link people to a fandom wiki as your “description/bio.” That isn’t giving information on how you write this muse, approach this fandom, or what another mun can otherwise expect. Keeping your descriptions interesting is important, you’re not giving a boring lecture, you’re trying to inform someone while making them hyped for their choices. It’s more interesting, and informative, to read if you do them with an ear to the “tone” of your muse in that verse. Is it a sad one? Sound that way. These can, indeed, function as snippets of your writing, so be sure you are writing them with the same care you should be giving your replies; spellcheck, good word flow and use, mind the grammar, and read over what you’ve written for common, easy mistakes.

Again, by giving a genuine variety of verses to choose from, you’re allowing for a greater reach in potential partners. Everyone from those still in your original fandom to those in new ones, all the way to fandomless muses will be able to interact with you this way.

Finally, in regards to what you can change or do when you’re in a dead fandom and seeking interactions; make sure you are increasing your reach by using proper tags, being honest about what and how you write, and don’t wait for others to stumble across you.

When you use tags properly, you’re increasing your chances of being seen at all. Every time you post something at all applicable on your blog, tag it with relevant things. Tag as described above with whatever fandom it is and “RP,” your character’s name, “open RP,” character name and RP, indie RP, open starter, and so on. Be sure you are optimizing your tags by placing the most relevant to finding you in the first four, those are what show up in site-wide searches only. Anything after that isn’t going to appear in a search across all tumblr.

By tagging your character’s name, as a canon, you should know that you are likely to get personal blog interaction. I’m pretty against being nasty to personal blogs for no reason, as I don’t appreciate personal and fandom blogs being shitty to me for the sole reason that I am an RPer. Please, use clear, short, attention getting directions for them. If you want no interactions with them, put right in the description of your blog “RP blog, does not interact with personal blogs.” When you say things like, “personals dni,” or “personals blocked,” you’re not doing anyone any favors. Personal blogs often don’t even know what the hell a personal blog even is! They do not denote themselves this way, to a personal blog, they’re just a blog. By designating first that you are an RP blog, you’re making it clearer that they’re the personal; they’re obviously not an RP blog, so that must make them a personal. Follow this up in a pinned post, right on top. Give a note to personal blogs that describes them as “any blog that isn’t an RP blog” first, then either tell them in brief what they can and can’t do or that you don’t interact and will block.

I don’t recommend taking your blog off of being findable, however. That’s alright once you have the RP activity you are looking for, but until then, it’s working against you. Other RP blogs cannot easily find you either, they will only find you if you’re on a list or appear in their recommended blogs, if you interact with a mutual, or are recommended by a mutual. You’re not just lessening your chances of personal blogs finding you, so if you have that turned off, turn it back on.

Don’t entirely rely on others finding you regardless, though. You can’t be 100% passive when you have no interactions, and by relying solely on serendipity you’re far less likely to get them. I know that everyone here is terminally shy, but seriously, you have to do more than put your silent will into the universe that someone perfect find you. You have to make this happen. Once you get a few people, you can afford to be more passive. Not only do you have some people to write with, you will be more visible to their mutuals, and more established as a presence. I’m not saying this is easy, or that it will become easy, not awkward or stressful, if you have a legitimate issue behind the shyness. Just that it is the only way to really proceed, and I believe you can do it!

So, go looking for interesting blogs. Be crossover and OC friendly (again, this doesn’t mean “accept everyone,” there are valid reasons for not accepting people you won’t work out with that have nothing to do with their fandom or being an OC), and search those fandom’s RPCs, following any blogs you think you might work out with upon reading their rules and other pages. Search for fandomless OCs and do the same thing. Fandomless OCs aren’t just floating around in the ether, they just weren’t created expressly for a particular fandom and within its confines. What is excellent about that is their ability to have a wide variety of verses and many possibilities to fit into any fandom or verse. So, don’t count them out solely on the basis of being an OC and fandomless. It doesn’t mean what people seem to think it does!

Do not stop at having followed 50 blogs. I mean, other than that you probably should stop following people for a bit. That you should do, as you need to be building writing relationships here, not following so many people that you cannot get to them. Don’t just stop at the follow, though. Since you’ve read their rules and information like a good RP partner, you should have some idea of what their interests are and where they align with yours, as well as how they prefer to be approached, if they accept memes right away to start, need plotting, have a rules password. When they’ve followed you back, proceed with interaction!

Ask if they’d like to plot when they have time, you’re really looking forward to writing with them. But...have some idea of a plot, please. It is a serious turn off to have someone message you wanting to plot, only to reply and get “lol I don’t have any ideas, anything works for me/whatever you want to do.” That isn’t plotting, it’s one party coming up with ideas and constructing a plot while they’re being told “I’m fine with anything.” That may be true, but it’s disheartening and a red flag for many people. If you genuinely can’t come up with anything, pick verses that match up well and suggest doing something within them.

“When you have the time, would you be interested in discussing writing? I was looking at your verses, and I think your verse -name- and mine, -verse name-, would mesh well.” Is a good way to start. Once you have a discussion flowing about the verses meshing and the muses, it’s typically easy to organically develop some plot ideas to go off of.

If both you and the other mun are alright with plot-free interaction and memes, you can send a meme any time. If you can’t find any memes on their blog, look for a wishlist or navigation page that shows you the tags for memes/wishlist. Still can’t find it? Ask them if they’ve got a wishlist or meme tag you can look through.

Additionally, if open starters are a thing you both do and are alright with, find some of theirs and respond. Post your own, tag it appropriately to be found in general and on your blog, and reblog it once or twice. Don’t excessively reblog it, and don’t get upset on the dash if no one interacts with it or any memes you reblog. Both are demanding to outright guilting, and not a good way to get partners. Just provide them with the ability to easily interact by making the posts available in the first place and by making them findable on your blog search and navigation.

Provide something for potential partners to see. Since you said you already do have writing, that’s great! That’s content on your blog that your partners can view. However, since you’re also having the issues you’ve stated, it’s likely that you haven’t many new posts. Show that you are active, interested in being here, and how you write your muse (and in general) by posting some newer content. For original content, do a headcanon or some meta, or post about new verses you are adding, the changes on your blog, a promo. For reblogs, things pertaining to your muse like canon imagery, fanart, quotes from canon or that generally express your muse, and aesthetics relevant to your muse are all excellent things to queue.

Use that queue. Not only do very few people appreciate having dash spam of similar content for the comparatively short time you might be around, but also, running these things on a queue means you spread that out for maximum view. While there are hours of heavier activity, you’ll have mutuals who are on at unusual hours due to their life and preferences or their timezone. This way, you’re not appearing inactive, if not outright invisible, to those mutuals. It’s not a bad idea to use a queue tag so that people know if they interact with a post that’s been queued, you might be here to quickly respond.

Ultimately, to fix your fandom and lacking partners problem, you just need to up your availability and reach beyond that fandom alone. Be proactive in following and approaching, decline blogs based on not working out only, utilize tags and fandom RPer lists, have everything on your blog easy to follow and not overwhelming, and have your verses meet as wide of a range of people as possible while also not being overwhelming.

Try updating your promo, as well, by the way. They’re not dead, they just really tanked when people kept making them based solely on aesthetic principle instead of being at all informative about the muse. They do seem to be coming back, so it’s a thing to consider.

Yes, make it visually appealing, it will draw people to reading it. No, do not just use a song lyric or quote with words highlighted linking your rules, verses, bio. Tell people basic info like the age of your muse and yourself, if you are multiverse and multiship, your muse’s canon verse and a couple of big interest verses of other major fandoms or themes that tend to be of interest to people, and what kind of RP you write - one line/para/multipara/novella. Absolutely give links to rules, verses, bio, and either memes, wishlist, or open starters, but give them just like that; make it very clear what this link is to. Put a very short statement of interest on there denoting that you’re expanding to new fandoms and looking for writing partners.

Do not sound desperate, demanding, or devaluing of yourself. Don’t say shit like “because my fandom is dead,” “trying this before I give up and delete my blog,” or “I suck at interaction/writing/ooc interaction/being a person but welp giving it a try, so follow and hit that heart.” (Conversely, calling yourself derogatory things and implying that your partners are too, such as the “we’re all just losers here” shit.) All of the above are not attractive, and they’re not even surprising enough to stand out anymore. It’s another reason to scroll right by that promo because nothing at all was different or of interest.

And as a wrap-up/rehash of the first topic, getting muse back: try starting over at the beginning by approaching the media involving your muse that has really stuck with you emotionally over the years, and exploring and developing your muse again.

Don’t tell yourself you can only write, for example, at home, on the laptop, after 7pm, and with a pop toy staring at you. The best thing about writing, as opposed to so many other hobbies, is that you can do it anywhere! So, do that. Do it any time you both feel the inspiration to do so and aren’t going to get fired or expelled for it. This isn’t work, it’s something enjoyable that does take effort (like literally all creative activities and skills do), but approaching it as though you need to follow novel writing advice from someone who has never published anything of note and isn’t you on the internet, with strict rules for success makes it feel that way. So does being frustrated with a dead fandom, no interaction. It’s disheartening, feels as annoying and fruitless as work often does. You probably need to break out of that mindset, and you can only do it by beginning to allow yourself to be creative on your own terms, entirely for yourself.

Do write simple things at first that you are inspired to do (you can’t get a scene out of your head, or a bit of dialogue), and/or headcanon/character development memes and question lists. Build from there as you get back in touch with your muse, writing things primarily or entirely for yourself still. Expanding on headcanons, doing some meta, or maybe writing out a missing piece of canon or what you’d be interested in seeing happen in canon if some event was altered.

Doing this sort of thing, you are getting in touch with your muse again and back into the real spirit of writing creatively, simultaneously.

Whatever you find most inspiring, do it. If it’s watching the movie or show again, do that, have it on while you write or simply think on the character’s actions, thoughts, and emotions during those scenes. If it’s reading the material again, do that, and read snippets of personal importance before you write. Maybe it’s some past playlists you can have on while writing, or even while you’re cleaning, walking the dog, driving or riding somewhere. It could even be your own previous writing! Go ahead and re-read that, it sounds like you still appreciate it, and that’s truly promising. If you find that you’re horrified by some of the things you’ve written in the more distant past, hey...that’s not just valid as hell, it’s natural. You know what else it is? An inspiration. You can clearly see that you could do better, that means you now know how to do better and are ready to do so. Validate yourself, prove it to yourself by rewriting or fixing something.

Don’t delete the blog or archive it. It is unpleasant to have a dead blog around, but don’t keep it dead. Use the same blog and simply transition it into wider things that will net you more partners and the interactions you deserve.

Look, even if you weren’t the most popular blog in your fandom before it went quiet, you really appreciated the blog, muse, and writing you were doing. You’ve defined that it wasn’t something you did to cause this situation, you just had the shit luck we all run into eventually of being in a fandom that ran out of material or interest. People are really fickle, so by taking a wider approach and fixing on the writing and muse instead of fandom now, you’re stopping this from repeating. Seriously, on a long enough timeline, every fandom dies or goes into hibernation. If you make a whole new blog with a different muse, it is going to happen again eventually.

So, don’t feel like you’re ridiculously clinging to the past and need to move on, you’re just sticking to something and can continue to stick to it through the next five fandom deaths. Just because it is the most popular thing to do to drop muses, constantly add new ones, and have this attitude that you can “blog refresh” your way out of recurrent, and inherent, problem doesn’t mean it is actually the right thing to do. It’s not even the most sensible, and certainly not the best thing to do with anything you’ve spent time and effort on.

That’s your incentive; yourself, the time and care you’ve put in, and your continued interest in writing and the muse. You’ll find good people, and bluntly, everyone else can fuck right off when you’re incentivized by yourself. It becomes a self-fulfilling activity at that point, I swear, and it feels really nice.

Just get back in touch with your muse and writing itself so that you can begin to expand and start interacting again!

[temporoom]

“Why” TPN ended so quickly ?

Theory and analysis of the authors and the reasons why the manga ended with a rushed final arc with a climax announced too long ago.

Hi. Yes, I know, you expected me to write a long post about my impressions on TPN. And you are right ! I shall do that ! But I’m not home right now, and I decided to do better.

My art history teacher was always suprised to see me caring so much about the context of some art piece rather that the piece itself. But as an artist myself, I know how the context can be so important and affect something. And TPN is no exception in that matter. That’s why, instead of directly talking about the fictional piece, I want to tak more about its authors and their mindset for the end of this manga.

Or more precisely… I want to talk about Posuka Demizu.

(Everything said in this post are only speculations, I don't pretend to know the Truth or to know the authors better than others, those are just analysis from what I could’ve guessed happened in Posuka Demizu’s life)

Credits to my older sister @machikurada​ for translating Posuka Demizu’s tweet in English.

Now, who is Posuka Demizu ? Posuka Demizu is (seemingly) a young japanese woman who worked as an illustrator for various people, such as book writers or even magazines. She has been spotted by Kaiu Shirai when searching for an artist for TPN when it was only him and his editor back then. She was working part-time at a cafe at the time, and immediately accepted to work as the illustrator for TPN once she read the script.

From interviews, her and Kaiu Shirai gets along, teasing and giving advices to each other from time to time. They trust each other enough to let the other work their imaginations in the best way to improve the manga. And it worked wonderfully for those 3 years of serialization.

Things started to go a bit more weirdly after a few years though. But it wasn’t Shirai’s fault, far from that. TPN has been an incredible way to be known for Posuka Demizu, she wasn’t just an underground illustrator anymore, but an actual mangaka. Publishing artbooks (though I don't think it was just TPN to be honest) and making exhibits of her artworks...

I bought her artbook in japanese/English (it was translated) a while ago. One sentence left a strong impression on me :

“I draw depending on my mindset, for example I drew a lot of motorbike illustrations since I bought my own motorcyle.”

(It’s not the exact sentence but as I said I’m not at home right now, I will edit the exact sentence once I’m back)

This sentence stood out to me because… It’s right. You can feel it in her art, she draws depending on her mindset. It’s not just ideas, it’s her feelings, it’s incredibly personal.

Since then, while I was following her twitter, I became more attentive to what she posted, because it wasn’t just art anymore… Posuka Demizu rarely talks about herself, her art is herself. She talks with her art. So you can guess why I wasn’t so surprised with the rush ending.

The final arc was announced at the beginning of September 2018. The climax, only in November 2019. 

Demizu already posted art often… maybe too often. Usually it even was original new art. Always something new each week, I was even joking that they weren’t giving her enough work to do with how much free time she seemed to have. But I was soon to regret ever joking about that.

She strated reposting her own art more often as the manga continued. She even got sick once. She… seemed tired. The original art she posted would become simpler each week, sometimes only small characters on a blank background, everything always with shades of grey. Something was wrong and I knew it. And then… The first post came.

A few months after the announcement of the climax. This doesn’t seem much to you, but the little boy in bed is one of Posuka Demizu’s OCs. He is surrounded by bunnies… Weirdly similar to Little Bernie. He seems tired, and theirs cardboard boxes. Then we get to another post.

“Carboard boxes piling up”

First thing in my mind : “Oh! She’s moving out !” It seems like so. But she wasn’t just moving out… It’s working AND Moving out. I also rememebered another interview when she said that she had more than 2000 pages in her drawers for TPN.

“Tonight I’m working overtime”

Seems clear enough for me. Also notice how the books are pilling up and taking over the picture ? How the character in the back seems tired ?

“I’ll make you a cup of tea, why don't you sit down?”

Next art. It seems she finally settled down in her new appartment with her other assistants. She is nor just working now but also chilling. You had no idea of how reassured I was when I saw this. I was so worried during the week that I was scared for her physical and mental health.

Demizu kept reposting her own art afterwards, but she seemed to feel overall better. Then…

This tweet arrived. What’s written in japanese here is aproximatively “I understand that feeling”. Any artist can tell that she is having an art block. At that point I knew.

I knew something had happened. 

She was tired, overwhelemed by her own work and manga. Tired of drawing. (I want to precise that she posted a lot of sad and melancholic art during that time)

She was coming to her breaking point.

A few months go by. She seemed to feel better again… But during that time the manga was rushed, people noticed that it was being made too quickly. And then the end arrived, good or bad… the side announcements made everything clearer for me.

They announced that Posuka Demizu would work as a character designer and concept artist for a video game that had nothing to do with TPN. But what does that have to do with anything ? Everything.

Soon after, the main characters for the game were announced… Designs had been made, concept art had been made… 

Posuka Demizu was working on BOTH the manga and the video game.

In an interview, she mentioned how she wanted to do all the backgrounds at first for the manga until she noticed how much work it represented. Posuka Demizu is terrible at noticing how much work somthing could take her. She LOVES drawing, she adds so many details TO DRAW MORE. 

The breakdown, the feeling of being overwhelmed… everything was because she has decided to work on two big projects at the same time. She most likely announced to the editor and Kaiu Shirai that she had accepted to work for this video game before those posts, hence why the climax announcement. But then couldn’t follow the rythm.

Kaiu Shirai and her gets along, I wrote it down earlier. So, he most likely went ahead to make her finish the manga earlier, all in order to keep her mental and physical health safe. Besides, she seemed more interested to work on something else than continue TPN without bein invested in it anymore. TPN was a way to get herself known… and it was time to let it go once and for all. 

So like the bird in a cage, Shirai accepted to set her free from TPN.

Of course, there’s still work to do, but now, she can focus more on a new project she will be invested as much in as she was at the beginning of TPN. 

As for her mental state now :

“Street view”

I think she is a bit sad to leave TPN still, but ready go on her own now… After all... The adventures continues.

[sualne]

I revamped some of my very first ocs from when I was 11 !

(more about them under the read more)

Their names were Angelyn, Angela and Angelino, because I was 11 and an idiot. I tried to keep their design as close to what it originally looked like, except for their clothes, their clothes were terrible, way too bland and no fun at all. The story was basically Angelyn finding Angela and telling her she had powers (which she already knew) and had to work for death now and fight monsters and help the dead move on, and that was it for the plot. Angelyn : actually thousand of years old but got cursed and is now stuck in the body of a child, she's very salty about it. She's mean, have a superiority complex, violent and would let you die an a mission if you were rude to her. She used to be one of the top grim reaper but was too uncooperative and just insufferable so they tried to threw her out of the council and gave her for mission to train Angela, the new recruit. Her goal is to make Angela the strongest grim reaper ever to get back her position and maybe also kinda want to overthrown the current hierarchy too. She can use her hair as a weapon but will grab anything she can reach and beat the shit out of monsters with it, and ghosts too stubborn to leave too. Angela : 14 years old, good at martial art, makes her own clothes and have some questionable tastes, able to see ghost since she was a kid and helped them even before Angelyn showed up. She's a bit of jock and like to fight just for the fight itself, lowkey have fire powers but she'll rather use her fists instead. She doesn't take her new job seriously and just want to have fun beating up monsters without trying to know where they come from. She's immune to Angelyn's terrible personality and openly makes fun of her. A lot. So Angelyn send her to missions she shouldn't possibly be able to handle/survive but somehow always managed to get out fine. She triess to befriend everyone but in a intense kind of annoying way. She also have no volume control, moves a lot and will burst into someone's bedroom uninvited to talk about stuff she likes. Angelino: He's edgy if you couldn't tell, he's 14 too and basically an immortal corpse, his body can't regenerate or grow old but isn't actively decaying. His main personality trait is that his tired and doesn't want to be here, he'll try to sleep through missions and hope the monster will go away by itself. He was paired with Angela because he's just terrible at his job and the council just want to make Angelyn's life so much harder. The crow on his shoulder is death itself who thought it would be hilarious to watch Angelyn suffer, Angela being absurdly lucky while throwing herself into very unnecessary fights while Angelino just walk around and feeds them. Sometimes, often, death discretely help the two apprentices get out of impossible situations and also cause some themself. Now after talking about them I just remembered how much I love these morons and want to work with them again some day, they have some really funny dynamics and it's just fun to go back to my first ocs ? I made them for fun without caring or worrying about logic or what people would think.

(I’ll try to find drawings from back then to show you their original designs !)

[pastelpaperplanes]

Calling in a favor - Part 1 - Cops and Mob AU

A plot bunny got loose last night and after checking with Pastel, I wrote the first part of what looks to be a multi shot. Be aware two of my OC's are gonna be characters her alongside those already established for this AU.

----

Slag was going to go sideways soon, and Megatron had borrowed time to try and prevent it.

It had all started with that new hire, that gorgeous siren with an aft that was just sculpted for high cut attire the entertainers at his nightclub wore. 

Orion Pax.

A sweet, soft spoken mech who’d practically stumbled through the door one day in loose fitting yet still somehow fitting attire, and half begged for a job as if he was begging someone not to kill him.

At the time Megatron had thought little of it, he was young, the scene would scare him off in a day or two.

One night in and the young mech with lips perter than those he’d seen on some femmes, which became even more optic catching with that red lipstick, and he was the new favourite of his patrons.

Megatron hadn’t minded, more than happy to accept the uptick in patrons who wanted to see the new singer/dancer his club had to offer. 

He’d joined his patrons more than a couple times now to admire the new view, and found his lap full of the young mech on more than one occasion, very eager to please his new boss this one, and the view was always so much better up close. 

Once the patrons were gone, he’d made a habit of giving Orion one last drink on for the night, on his personal limitless tab, which he always got a rather timid ‘thank you sir’ from the bot who was always so much meeker and timid off the stage, from there just a couple words were exchanged before Orion was off for the night.

Megatron swore the mech shrunk when his stage persona faded away, or at least, he was always trying to make himself seem small, less likely to draw attention.

A good trait to have really.

Alas, it was hardly enough to keep Shockwave off the young mech.

Now again, Megatron was no fool, few tried so hard to get on his good side without ulterior motives, and there was a high chance he was a very dedicated to the act informant for the Elite Guard. 

But there was equally a chance that he really was just a poor sod laid off from his old job by the current mess of an economy Iacon faced and in desperate need for the money to keep the tiny apartment that he lived in, the place had been scouted by some of his mechs to check the story, and everything came through that the mech was telling the truth about being just that desperate for a job.

Shockwave however, was not so easily convinced, and no matter how many times he’d warned the one opticed mech to not cause a mess with the new employee, it felt like he was pulling on a slipping lead, and Shockwave was the enraged hound he was trying to keep from slaughtering the poor innocent pup he had set his one optic on. 

He’d caught the mech twice now threatening to make sure that no one would find Orion’s body right to the rightfully terrified mechs face. 

He’d had stern words for the mech, but he could practically see them going in one antler and out the other as that one red optic glazed over.

Shockwave was unfortunately in that mindset of ‘he was right, and he’d prove it’.

A state that, in any other situation, Megatron more than welcomed, it certainly kept the spilt energon off his servos, but this time, when the mechs target was Orion’s fresh energon, well, he was having to put his pede down.

At the present moment he was locked in his soundproof office, he had shoved a slug of extra credits to Orion and told him to get a cab home instead of walking, using the credible excuse of the mild acid rain outside to get him safely back to his shoddy apartment as possible.

Then he’d kept Shockwave behind by giving him every menial locking up task he could, the shady dealings done for the cycle it was mostly cleaning up the nightclub. 

Shockwave had vocalised his displeasure once during that time, a withering glare and Lugnut snarling from the main door the behemoth stood by swiftly shut him up.

Shockwave knew him hounding Orion had put him on Megatron’s ‘I tolerate you because you’re useful’ list, and he was going to have tread very carefully for a while to get back off that list… but it still stung to realise that his boss really was that far gone under the siren spell of that mystery bot claiming to go by the designation ‘Orion Pax’.

Eventually Megatron ran out of tasks for Shockwave to do, and finally released the mech for the night as well as telling Lugnut to go home, Strika likely had dinner ready for him, he passed them bot a slug of credits to pay for the over time before he retired to where he was now, in his locked office trying to figure out what to do.

He couldn’t keep this up, having to keep an optic on Orion and Shockwave each to make sure the later didn’t find a way to do in the former when he wasn’t looking. It didn’t leave much of his attention for everything else, and that could become very costly if he wasn’t careful...

He couldn’t get rid of Shockwave, he was too useful, and knew too much to just let go.

And he was not his brother, he would never kill a mech like Shockwave over something like this, it was a waste of use.

Orion was an innocent mech who just wanted to earn enough to keep his helm above the slag of this world, and he doubted he’d recharge well if he just let Shockwave have his way and offline the entertainer for the apparent crime of being able to do his job…

He brought the tips of his digits to his optics and rubbed, trying to get the residue buildup out of the seams around his optics.

As he pulled his digits away, his optics landed on the one picture frame he had on his desk.

It was a picture from his younger vorns, back when Megazarak ran the show and he was second in command. 

Leaning on the back of each of his broad shoulders, where the two bots he knew that, through the molten slag of the pits, and the emptiness of space, would always have his back.

Sol and Neb, abbreviations of their longer full designations, split spark twins who he had befriended by happenstance when they had stumbled upon him beaten half into the slag of a gutter. 

They’d been dressed all fancy, out for a night on the town to have some fun.

They’d been pulled into the fight Megazarak was still embroiled in when they tried to help him to his pedes, bleeding sparks he’d assumed at a time.

Then one of the mechs who’d way laid him had grabbed Sol by the neck and well…

That was the cycle he learned just how quickly an enraged femme could offline a mech with the heel of their shoe.

The stiletto had gone right through the optic and pierced the processor, dooming the mech to the Well right sharpish.

Neb hadn’t even missed a beat, put her shoe back on, just as her twin had pulled out a wicked looking switch blade that had some very nasty hooked edges to it. 

The greying mechs friend didn’t take well to his friend being done in with a shoe. 

He’d charged.

Now Megatron hadn’t been in the best state, and when things started to really move, it had become a blur he couldn’t follow, past a rather noticeable spray of neon pink as the mechs neck was slit across the front and sprayed all over a nearby wall.

He’d passed out completely from the helm trauma not much later, and had woken up in a very nice hotel room all patched up and Megazarak scowling and pouting on a very plush chair not far from the equally plush berth he was on, med-patches slapped on haphazardly, he had assumed as a result of Megazarak being a terrible patient and their ‘saviors’ not really having much experience with first aid.

They’d come in not long later, introductions had happened, and somehow, they’d never lost touch.

He quickly learned they were the all or nothing types, once they were on your side 100%, there was no wavering in their loyalty, and their morals were very flexible when they didn’t come to other femmes or sparklings. 

Some of the things he’d seen them so easily do to mechs had floored him in a way that sometimes still put a chill down his back strut.

What really mattered was, when the time came to pick a side between him and Megazarak, they hadn’t even hesitated to stand by him.

Megazarak barely put up a fight, it would have just prolonged his death, and there was no point making the tragedy of the situation stretch out any more than it had to.

Not long after that though, they had come to them, and told him, rather flatly he remembered, that their sire, a famous starship captain, had been diagnosed with a terminal and rather fast acting disease he’d picked up when traveling with his mate and ship to one of the distant colonies. 

They had at most an orn to spend with their creators before both returned to the well, their carrier would follow their sire’s spark at most a cycle after their mate passed. 

He’d hugged them as tight as he could, and promised to stay in touch, they all knew what this meant. 

The inheritance would come, and with it, the family’s starship fleet.

Saying the twins came from wealth would of been a laughable understatement. 

But the facts stood.

Family meant too much for them, and it was their duty to follow the family legacy as the captains of the fleet, specifically the flagship.

A new one, built for them on orders of their sire.

They’d depart Cybertron within the orn of their creators passing, and likely only return to Cybertron, let alone Iacon, infrequently for the rest of their cycles.

He missed them dearly, but he was also happy for them.

They were the only two bots he knew, who’d been able to bow out in grace from the Mob, and not have anyone come after them.

Mostly because of how much terror they’d instilled into the sparks of those who lived through their time being his left and right hand. 

The more he thought back on the good times, the more an idea formed in his helm.

He needed an outside opinion, someone's view of things that didn’t have a major bias in the current situation, but who still knew all the background context to understand the severity of the situation he’d found himself in. 

He picked up his phone, and dialed the number he had long since memorised.

It rung twice before it went through, a bubbly, yet sultry voice coming over the line, if he was anyone else that voice alone would have had him smitten. 

::This is Nebularburst, Co-Captain of the Transgalactic Flagship Polaris speaking, how may I… Mega! You called!::

He chuckled. “I see you noticed the call number.”

::Oh hush you caught me off guard! Normally you send me and Sol a com message saying you want to call first!::

That was true. “I apologise, I was in a bit of a hurry to call you… something has come up… and I need an outside opinion to help me make the right decision.”

Neb’s tone shifted from the happy babble she’d started with to a tone he recognised as her ‘down to business’ manner. ::I’m all audios.::

So, he relayed the situation, from hiring Orion Pax as an entertainer, to that night where he had to hold back Shockwave for over two joors to make sure the mech wouldn’t try and catch the poor scared half witless entertainer on his way home. 

Neb dutifully listened to the whole sworded tale, and waited for him to finish before she spoke, and the moment she did, he knew she had an idea.

He’d known her too long not to know how to read her by her voice alone, they’d been able to do little else for decavorns now.

::You have his work contract in your office right?::

“Of course, I have it right here… why?”

::Is it the same kind of contract we’ve been using since Sol suggested it?::

Oh, oh now he saw where she was going, he checked the fine print, there it was, tucked away innocently enough. “It is… tell me Neb… I wish to cash in a rather large favour from you... when will the Polaris next be docking on Cybertron?”

::Within six cycles actually… we were hoping to surprise you with a dinner while Polaris is taken through the motions. But this situation is more important than a nice meal out to catch up…::

“Next time perhaps… if we do this, you’ll keep him safe?”

::Of course we will! Hmmm… wait… hold up… Sol’s just saying something over the bond… oh… oooh! Oh my Primus! Mega! We’re so proud of you!::

He wasn’t going to lie to himself, her sudden burst of excitement over the line startled him. 

“What?! What are you talking about? Has something happened?!”

::Happened? … Oh… Oh Megaaaa… don’t you see what’s happened? No… no of course you haven’t… you’re pride and work have gone and given you a blind spot again... :: She paused to sigh. :: I guess I’ve got to spell it out to you over the com and not get to the see the face you’re about to make when I say it…::

That wasn’t good, he was already flinching back a bit, bracing for impact. 

::Hmm… Mega, my dear old bricks for a processor friend… you’re… in… love…::

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Hope you like it Pastel!