#also accidental redraw from like a year ago

[tsukinoshinjiu]

Commission for @1caru of Link with their new kitty Beans 🥺🥺🥺

[golby-moon]

happy one of the destiel anniversaries to all who celebrate. this was supposed to be a prompt fill thing for @letsdrawcastiel's Cas but what if he was wearing something other than the trench coat for the series. not sure if this exactly fits that prompt since I could never replace the beloved dirty trench coat but ehhh it got the point across I think

so a little while ago I realized how much my style changed without me even realizing it and decided I wanna try redrawing something, like you do. so this started out as a redraw for a panel from a comic I did exactly a year ago where Claire gets Cas to try on different outfits but I couldn't choose between two outfits to draw so I kinda...combined them?? (blame @lazarus-rose) then I accidentally made the pose more dynamic because I couldn't find a decent reference and it was just no longer a redraw at that point like at all but

idk what's going on with the background either. also yes by the next morning I did hate the pose I did in the first panel thank you for asking (it just stopped looking line a dress twirl like it was supposed to be idk man crazy what a few hours of sleep can do).

so yeah. Cas in a dress

(02/14/24)

[artisticangel]

Prince Wispy (Super Mario Bros/Luigi’s Mansion OC)

Thought I make a redraw post while introducing my OC at the same time. (I forgot I had accidentally drew him looking like a rice ball a year ago. 😂)

Prince Wispy is the son of King Boo from Super Mario Sunshine, who is also King Boo from Luigi’s Mansions nephew. Luigi’s Mansion King Boo’s headcanon name is Darius. (Which I’ll explain his headcanon another time in a future post)

Prince Wispy is a sweet, calm boy who is learning how to be a scary boo like his father and uncle. He’s around Bowser Jr’s age despite himself being a ghost.

He stays with his father during spring/summer time while the young prince stays with his uncle during fall/winter, doesn’t complain about this arrangement since it’ll give him a chance to visit his family and maybe making a few friends along the way.

Luigi’s Mansion Series and Super Mario Sunshine belongs to Nintendo.

My art and OC belongs to me.

Please be sure to leave a like, reblog, and to leave a comment. 🙂

Halloween is only five days away so I hope everyone is having a great time when that day comes. I recommend having a good snack, play some Luigi’s Mansion or any other game that’s to your liking, turn on a movie or your favorite holiday special, or simply listening to some music while you’re drawing or writing. 😊

That’s all for now! 🙂👋

[eldritch-araneae]

I finished this mini-project! I wanted to redraw and redesign all my Sonic OCs I had 18 years ago, just to see how they would look like with my current skills and it's was absolute blast!

My teen self would never believe they will grow that much, my inner child is happy now!

I don't remember the story for these characters, so I quickly made up new one to tie them all together, which you find under the cut, along with stand alone pictures.

Blade the Hedgehog (?).

An immortal weird-looking hedgehog who been around for 3000 years. They've seen and been through a lot, but despite anything, they keep a positive, yet grounded view of life. Blade has incredible charisma which lets them to get along almost with anyone, but they rarely open up. People often assume they're naive and too trusting, but in reality, Blade has very few things to worry about - their life is not one of them.

Blade is dedicated to record history and preserve their findings in the huge archive, hidden in Rusty Ruins. After all, time erodes everything, and if it can't take one's body - it will take their memory instead.

Abilities are unknown.

Tulip the Echidrel.

The long-living echidrels are small community of squirrel-echidna hybrids, carrying knowledge and customs of their ascendants since ancient times. They're natural explorers, charting places where many wouldn't dare to go. Tulip is no exception and that's the main reason why she quickly became friends with Blade.

Excellent problem solver, but also very stubborn that sometime leads her into "must find the way to complete a task today or else" trap.

She's a guardian of Rusty Ruins Archives and will introduce her spiky mace to the intruder's face if necessary.

Glint the Tenrec.

A lone sorceress living on the remote island in her mansion she inherited from her parents. She appears to be shy amd innocent, but make no mistake - she will not hesitate to fight using whatever means necessary.

Collecting varios magical artifacts, she wants to uncover the secret behind planet origins and it's dimensions, especially the places known as "Beyond". The simple curiosity drives Glint forward, sometime even dealing with shady people to obtain knowledge.

Umbra the ???

A mysterious entity from the "Beyond". Made of darkness, she can hide herself in shadows and between dimensions. Long ago Umra made a mistake and accidentally broke the biggest taboo of her people. As punishment, she was banished from Beyond for all eternity.

Entities like her cannot exist long in different dimensions, unless they bind themselves to someone native to it. Lucky for Umbra, she crossed her paths with Glint and made a pact - survival for helping the sorceress to gain knowledge she wants.

Fierce the Chimera.

An escaped experiment, who recently broke free and now roaming in Rusty Ruins. Always angry and never seem to be in a good mood, she already had few fights with local immortal hedgehog. Blade has no idea where Fierce came from and what's her deal, but they her and her pet snake Ping stay regardless.

Meanwhile, Fierce just wants to be left alone, haunted by images of her forgotten past and headsplitting migraines.

She's strong, sometimes can go berserk of pushed too much. Ping has a potent venom and will strike lighting fast if it's feels Fierce being in danger.

Dr. Prion.

A kangaroo how deem himself superior above the rest. The world is unjust place, plagues with lies, overlords, and "heroes" who believe what they do is best for everyone. It's up to him to fix it, diving deep into genetics and brain functions. Fascinated by long lifespan of echidrels, he seek to achieve the same result by making hybrids.

One time Glint supported his aspirations, funding his projects. But as time passed, the more she saw his terrifying egoistical side despite the fruitful reserch. She backed away, and to this day Prion dreams of revenge.

But first, he wants to fix the world, and soon everyone will become like him - rational.

Flow the Aquabird.

One of successful hybridisation experiments Dr. Prion even made. Strengths of both species turned Flow into a beautiful and dangerous weapon, who combine ballet dancing with hydrokinesis.

Not only she's powerful, but 100% loyal to Prion no matter what. His worldview is current and it's the only way to save the world and turn it into paradise. Of course, she wasn't like this when they first met, Prion wiped her memory entirely, erasing the person she once was.

Now she's eternally grateful to the doctor for saving her from the cruel world, and will anything in her power to archive his dreams. Trusts no one expect Prion and Mecha Raptor - her bodyguard.

If you hear Swan Lake instead of regular drowning theme - you know that Flow is nearby.

Mecha Raptor.

Dr. Prion, while being sure that his work on Flow won't come undone, still wants to put a failsafe. Someone to protect his perfect weapon from forming different opinion on the world. Through some shady and illegal shenanigans, he got his hands on a stolen schematic crated by an engineer genius Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. It took Prion some time to figure out, but eventually he created Mecha Raptor.

It has no personality and it's only priority is to ensure Flow's happiness and protection.

[fainthedcherry]

2024 Human Art VS 2019 Human Art !!!!!

AS PROMISED, HERE'S A POST WITH SOME NEW ART!!!

And also an art comparison, just to see, how much I improved in drawing the 2 bois <3

I'm MEGA tired despite having slept after work, but I WON'T let that deter me from writing a description!! YAPNADO AHEAD;

FINN AND MARCOOO. FINNANMARCO. BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE ACOUSTICALLY AND FERALLY YELLED ABOUT MY 2 FICTIONAL MEN WHOM ARE CLOSE TO MY HEART.

I'm SO glad, that in the new drawing, Marco finally looks like the twink he always was, but still enough meat on the bones to look NORMAL lmao, can't say that about the 4 other sketches of me trying to redraw this ref for years. xD (why yes, his wings took forever, why do you ask? /lh)

I'M MEGA SUPER DUPER GLAD, that Finn FINALLY looks like a chubby, wild bastard TOO, OH TOOTHPASTE MAN, HOW MANY HEARTACHES YOU GAVE ME OVER STRUGGLING TO DRAW AN ENDOMORPHIC BODY TYPE. BUT I CAN NOWWWWWWWwwww!!!!!

God this habit of loudly reading out my posts as I type them made me realise what a bad Schwarzenegger impression I do on accident bc I'm overly excited to post something after a month of silence SDKFSKLDG

ONE THING I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO. IS PUT EVERY DETAIL I NEEDED ON A BIG REF. SO I DID! I've drawn closeups of the boys's eyes, I've drawn Finn's tongue so that I don't need to constantly remind myself what his blush and flesh colours were sdfkldsgkl, I FINALLY denoted their heights, so people know that they're tall TALL dudes (and that Finn obviously will struggle w/ his lanky mfing legs, we LOVE giving a middle-aged man heart attacks once he reaches his 40's!!!)

ANNDDD ALSO SOME SIDE VIEWS OF THEM. The last side-view I had of F & M, looked REAL bad. Like, Marco's face looked WAY too stereotypically European (to my fault bc surprise surprise not many African people live in Europe so I had poor frame of reference but I've been fixing it via looking up images online instead, at least it helps but yeah, I have a hard time so far unfortunately💀), Finn's was just... B u c k e t. NOT LIKE HANDSOME BUCKET. BUT JUST BUCKET. IT NEEDED FIXING (fun fact I accidentally made Finn have the most attractive jaw shape for men according to beauty standards and I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I JUST WANTED THIS MAN TO LOOK S Q U A R E AND THAT'S IT, MINECRAFT STEVE HAS MORE RIZZ THAN MOST MEN OFFICIALLY).

OH YEAH ALSO A CLAW REF AGAIN FOR FINN!!! His old ref looks too cool for me to give up on it tbh even as dated as it is sfjklsdglk, BUT I felt like I needed to redraw them properly.

FUNNILY ENOUGH A PERSON I COMMISSIONED SAID I HAVE SOME REALLY CLEAN AND NICE LINEART. I wish I heard that 5 years ago when I was really insecure about my bad lineart skills xD, I don't use lineart anymore nowadays outside of reference-drawings like these I don't plan to redraw in the next years unless necessary soooo yeah! They're gonna appear much rarer unless I go off and about making more ref sheets of all of my Sonc OC's sfklsdgsdfksdg

This drawing took 5 days to make btw. Not the hours spent on this LOL. 5 days of my life I'll never get back tho bc I care too much about my babies and I feel they deserve proper refs sdfklsdglk

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I MENTION.....HOPEFULLY I PLAN TO DRAW MORE HUMAN REFS IN THE FUTURE INSTEAD OF STAY IN MY COMFORT ZONE OF SONIC OCS ONLY. I for years wasn't confident in my ability to draw humans, but I can do so NOW at least!!!!!!!!!! Even if I'm like...3 years too late to how I wish my art looked back then already dsklfdsg, I have some high standards I need to continue to knock down as my 2024 resolution sdfklsdg

^IT'S BEEN WORKING THOUGH AS YOU CAN TELL BC I'VE BEEN UPLOADING SOME BAD DOODLES AND SKETCHES, BEEN DRAWING MORE GARBAGE AND BECAME MORE INVOLVED IN MY BELOVED FANDOMS. I wanna continue doing so! It was the most fun I've had with art ever. I hope to properly meet more fandoms I left in the past bc I thought it'd be embarrassing to share my passion for a franchise back then. I EMBRACE THE CRINGE NOW AS AN ADULT AT LEAST EVEN IF 7 YEARS TOO LATE ON THAT FRONT TOO. We all age and mature ig but I just become more silly year by year,,, c:

Oh yeah if you also see this btw lemme know, whether the new watermark tiles are subtle enough to not be noticed!!!! I know, watermarks are annoying and nobody likes them, but ever since AI invasions, I REFUSE to put my work online without ANY form of proof that somebody took it from my page. I just want people to stop lying on the internet for cloud and pick up a pencil. It's not that hard smfh. The only time I could excuse AI art is w/ amputees man. That's the only time I could empathise with someone, who wants to be an artist but LITERALLY can't bc they got dealt a bad hand in life. I digress my AI hate can be rambled about some other day, I know I love yapping and writing essays about THAT topic for sure sfklsdklg

I chose to post this ref to my Tumblr first tho, bc I still wanna work on my drawing of Abbacchio,,,, he is quite dear to me and I'd love to put effort into a doodle of him that won't take too long. Like 4 hours or 5 hours tops. I still have yet to figure out, if his cute star shape on his head is a hat or part of his hair. Bc I CAN'T TELL TBH AND I'VE BEEN DRAWING IT AS PART OF HIS HAIR PATTERN BUT I THINK IT'S A HAT NOW EVER SINCE I LOOKED AT MORE ASBR CAPS OF HIM I TOOK FOR REFERENCES. xD

Also another side-note, but I've ofc reduced down the lankiness of the dudes I draw™, but I in result wanted to sliiightly make larger feet/hands bc my Sonic phase will continue to possess me 'til the end of time /hj, if you also wanna lemme know what you think on that, bls do! I am messing about with stylization still. I am finding my footing with stylizing humans sOOO yeah!!!! I hope to some day be satisfied with my artstyle change of '24! So far it's been really rewarding and eye-opening to me and my journey as an artist for my 7 years of existing on the 'net w/ my silly goobers I like to scream about to in the void <3

Once again, tagnado also incoming below bc I dunno how to properly tag my art so lemme throw in things I THINK are relevant to this post sdkldsgkl

See you hopefully tomorrow w/ a lil doodle dump if I get around to it!!!! : D

[n0ts0phism-art]

Here are some drawings of me. The first one was from March 2022 and the second from September of the same year. As you can see, I was shying away from drawing realistic noses for some time. And lips. I like rendering lips now, even though I didn't before.

For the second one, I was going for the vibe of someone trying too hard to be cool, with a snazzy outfit undercut by a doofy hat and glasses... And it also looks like I really have to use the bathroom. Choice.

Of course, that second piece being from September 2022 means it was made right before October of 2022, which, to anyone who has perused this blog, was an extremely emotional and formative time of my life. Ever since coming to terms with my grief, I've felt like my persona and I have become separate entities.

The Notsophism in the sketch is awkward and reclusive, especially in the face of conflict or difficult circumstances. He feels tied down by his limitations and doesn't think he's capable of much. The Notsophism in real life is... well, he's still awkward. But he's harder and more willing to challenge difficult situations when need be. For better or worse, he's more willing to assert himself, no longer feeling restrained by diabetes, anxiety, what have you.

Well, I aspire to be like that, anyways. Given how much I've changed in such a short time, it's about time I redraw my persona again. I don't think too much will change beyond refining what's already there and changing the body language, though. This is a repost. I accidentally posted this on my reblog page a few weeks ago, and I'm feeling a bit miffed that I haven't addressed it yet, so here we are.

[preciadosbass]

15/8/24 [1 DIY/2, if you concider the jacket diy due to the custom aspects + got 2 CDS!! key & significant photos at end]

reguarding the end of yesterdays journal, the update for when i actually went to sleep was 3:40-50. i woke up today at 8, fed boris and briefly said goodmorning to him, checked my socials, and got to adding a new addition to the things i post. i’ve decided to do weekly recaps/highlights to focus on the cool things i’ve done because i can imagine most people dont want to read the long journals i write and find out if there’s anything interesting hidden in there. i therefore started screenshotting parts of my previous journals to write it down and make a draft/drafts. at 9:20 i started making just random drafts, like unposted pictures ive taken at reptile experience, things like that.

AND saw the new gerard way sighting via my tumblr feed!! apparently he was at the cinema again XD — at 9:30 i started downloading drawing references of my fav musicians and got to drawing my killjoy oc again at the same sort of time. i finished at 10:30 and had to keep on redrawing stuff before uploading it to my phone because i couldn’t find a layer id drawn scribbles on so i could delete it lmaoo // i’m not really happy with how it came out, look for more than a quarter of a millisecond and you notice everything wrong with it. hopefully if i keep up drawing everyday i’ll improve.

i cant expect much from a second time drawing since like 4 years ago but i’m just disappointed. everyone else on here is so talented *cries /hj* i scrolled on scenemo-related posts on my tiktok feed until getting ready to go out. i didn’t plan on going out today, mostly because i thought i’d be sleeping all day, but i didn’t have the urge to go back to sleep so i tagged along to see some family with my parents. i got dressed into my dark cargo jorts [told you i’d be wearing these a lot] and my skinless shirt, as that and my silent hill shirt are the only ones that go with the cargos. i also accidentally forgot all of my bracelets, so i felt naked the entire time i was out. 11:20, i went outside with boris.

he was SO affectionate and spent the whole time i was out there circling around me while pressing his-self onto my back and then going over to my hand to nudge it, and prompt me to stroke him. he’s like this almost all the time but something about it today just made me more happy than usual. i literally couldnt stop smiling. like he was propped up on me that’s so adorable 😭. i must’ve looked crazy to all the people driving past though. i stayed out until 12:10 when i had to leave.

i went out to see my grandad at his assisted living facility, his daughter [my distant aunt], and my other grandad, of whom i didn’t know was coming until we got there. i listened to underoath and paramore during the car ride and we got there at 12:30. i was greeted by the care home’s cat and with my grandad [the one who lives independently] WITH LITERALLY JUST HIS FRONT TEETH AND NO OTHER ONES APART FROM HIS BOTTOM SET 😭 he talked about something to do with this when i came round his house not too long ago but i thought he’d have more than two?? just joking, he found it funny i was surprised too.

the care home had this outside music thingy on so me, my mum, and my mums dad sat in the garden while my aunt and dad wheeled my grandad down to our table. he wasn’t as unresponsive as he sometimes is today. it was clear he tried to make conversation and said a few things which were just so - him. [he has dementia and dosent usually speak/has little to no mobility to an extent/has been this way since i can remember etc. just tryna give you an idea of why this was amazing.] a few times he came out with like, full sentences, which was nice to hear. my aunt also gave me the can tabs shes been collecting for me. me and my dad left to go charity shopping [thrifting] at 2, while the others stayed. we went into at least seven/eight and in the third i found an evanescence cd RAA - such a good find. not even a minute later my dad pointed out an avril lavigne cd which i also took and bought.

i cant wait to play them both, i just need to find something to do while listening. i’m bad at just listening to music without another task, i end up focusing on my thoughts and not taking in or processing any of the lyrics etc. me and dad walked back to the home and sat with the others for a bit before my dad and aunt took my grandad back up to the living room area. to be fair it was getting colder and we had to head off anyways. he didn’t like the lift very much but they eventually got him into his signature chair around all of his housemates and i said goodbye to him. i gave him a hug and he kissed me on the top of my head without any prompt whatsoever, which was heartwarming. we starting driving back at 3 and i listened to gerard way on the way home before having not even a minute long nap.

we got home at 3:10 and boris was so happy to see me. he ran up to the car once we’d parked and meowed at me while lifting up his head for me to stroke it. i stayed outside with him and added the new can tabs to my tab bracelet. it was enough to finish it so i tied it off and it’s a perfect fit. its big enough to go down my arm a bit, but not big enough to fall off my wrist. at 4:50 i randomly sparked an idea to make an upcycled necklace with one of my favourite musicians on it. i didn’t have any pictures of jaime or chi that were small enough to fit on a bottlecap, so i resorted to a print of kellin quinn. my dad drilled holes through a corona bottlecap and once he was done i used mod-podge to still the picture onto it. i left it to dry on a book and went back outside with boris.

he came inside to sit on the table so i also sat there with him until around 7:20 as my phone ran out. while i was sitting with him however, i attempted to draw my killjoy oc again. its honestly embarrassing so i’m never letting anyone see it and i hope i neevr do again — but it’s a shame because i genuinely thought it’d turn out alright. in my room i checked to see if my necklace had dried [it had], doomscrolled on tiktok, and saved outfit inspo. this lasted up until 8:30 and at this time i got dressed again to try on one of the outfits in question, just so i knew how it looked on me so i can wear it the next time i do something.

the outfit was: [there’s a photo at the end but you can’t see a few things because of the lighting] a sleeping with sirens shirt, with a long sleeved burgundy shirt underneath it rolled up to just above my elbows. with my can tab bracelet, a studded single rowed cuff, a wooden bracelet, a string bracelet consisting of lots of shades of blue, an earth colour schemed crystal ball bracelet, ripped skinny jeans, and a sleeping with sirens band bracelet. after taking photos for journal reference and so i don’t forget anything when i wear it, i found a plain black zip up jacket. i took a few pins off my backpack and added them to the pockets and neck piece/line.

they consisted of: a saw pin, a paper clip with the gay flag on [again, not even really because i’m gay - i just love the colours, a paper clip with a black stone/crystal sphere attatched, a pin implying taxidermy, a kellin quinn pin, and a pentagram pin. i tried it on, and maybe it’s just because of the general heat [although i tried it on at night and my room dosent have a working radiator or anything] but it warms me up almost immediately. which is great because i haven’t worn a coat since i started dressing alt and im always cold. i did all of the above while listening to my new evanescence cd — my favourite song from the album hasnt changed, its imaginary. afterwards i went out to the kitchen table and sat with boris.

my sister suddenly [i say suddenly, she’s always like this - which is why it’s so draining.] started screaming at the top of her lungs and jumping and punching the floor [the ceiling above the kitchen] and it was terrifying boris and archie. boris was already panicking, and then it set off the dog because he must’ve thought someone was dying. it was deafening. i went upstairs, frustrated, because she genuinely acts like she dosent share a house with anyone else and screams while gaming everyday; despite also being told to quiet down everyday. she also knows how loud she’s being, and how sound sensitive me and the animals are. anyway, i asked her to be quiet because she’s scaring boris [in an slight angry tone, because it was angering. but not like, anywhere near shouting.] and she replied with something along the lines of ‘no im not, and i don’t care.’

i told her to stop again and she shook her head and continued speaking to whoever she was playing a game with. i just said her name, again, implying for her to stop and she smirked and started waving at me. i said ‘what is wrong with you?’, she told me she hates me, and i walked off. then i cried for like 30mins because i felt guilty about saying that. i’m just really sick and tired of my cat, who lives here, feeling scared in his own home because of her. aswell as me, i also feel on edge here because of the whole screaming thing, and how angry she gets over it when she’s told to shut her door or quiet down. [shutting doors dosent make a difference though, as our house is from the 1800s and the walls are paper thin.] i carried on accompanying boris and made a couple of gerard way gifs at 11.

i went into my room for a split second and when i came back i saw that boris was sitting in corner beside the doorway of the kitchen. which i immediately thought was really weird, and then i saw that he’d been sick. i called my dad because i don’t know how to clean stuff like that up from our old floors and tried my best to comfort him. he wasn’t really having it, which makes sense because he obviously couldn’t have been feeling good. it was a hairball, thankfully [and unkthankfully, of course], most likely due to him licking/biting out lots of his hair because of the bugs from outside getting on him. my mum will be giving him treatment for it soon, it’s just always trouble when its applied, because he gets very agitated and one he runs away, your not getting another chance. and if you do get through to him and apply the treatment, you can’t really fuss him for over a day.

which is such an obstacle for me because i try my best to spend a lot, if not all, of my free time with him. he kept on wanting to go outside afterwards, so i left him to his own devices as he was still quite skittish over being around anyone. at 12:20 i was in my room after checking if he wanted to come in, when i decided i was gunna nap. i slept on and off for 10 minutes before my mum came back from being out with her friend. i napped again, this time on and off for 15-20 minutes. she came back once id woken up and let boris in with her. he straight away had something to eat at the bowls outside my room’s door and was purring. my mum told me that it was raining outside so i felt terrible that id accidentally left him out there while i slept. hopefully he managed to get under my dads car/the bit over the front door but he was clearly wet.

i attempted to fuss him and apologise. i spoke to my mum about why i think he’s not okay and then got the yes to coming up and doing the questions. on the way upstairs, boris followed me round the living room and onto the living room table. he put his head back for me to stroke it and purred again. which sort of gave me the idea that he was/is feeling better, which i hope with every part of me is the case. upon going up to ask the questions, my sister got into a huge heated argument with my parents over some update that’s coming to one of the game she plays tomorrow. she said that it’s being released at 4am our [UK] time.

my mum said my sister could put an alarm on her phone, but she said that it won’t wake her up and started begging my parents to wake up at 4 to get her up. they said no and she started screaming and everything. she finally went into her room after my dad looked it up and found out it’s allegedly happening at 9, so she got her phone back for 10 minutes to put on another alarm and tell her friend that the original time is most likely wrong. i started doing my questions after my sister agreed she wouldn’t disrupt them and everything would still be okay, even though she’s not supposed to be awake when i do things like this. mainly because of change in routine.

i started doing my questions and she came into my parents room and i had to stop. she eventually left after kind of verifying that didn’t mess everything up and i finished doing my questions. i actually managed to get downstairs at 2:25, so that’s also when i finished them. it took longer that it should’ve because of the really long argument and after boris being sick, i had even more reasons to believe he isn’t okay. and, my parents didn’t ask me to do them until quite late. i went on to pour myself some icy water, feed boris, do my teeth, and then say goodnight to boris.

i showed him what i’d done today and fed him his treats like always. he was purring like crazy throughout the whole time i was speaking to him which made me feel really relaxed. i finished at an unknown time [i thought i logged it but apparently not] and went to sleep at 4:10.

🗝️ — boris/my cat, archie/immediate family’s dog, questions [about boris]/i ask my parents questions about my cat to verify he’s okay + will be okay in the morning. its a compulsive thing and i’m hopefully going to be tested for OCD in the future.

have a good day/night O_o

[miutonium]

I can't sleep because i am lowkey nervous about tomorrow but also I just want to show yall basically my art progress (in terms of rendering) in the spam of 1 year contracting Utonium brainrot hhhh it's so surreal to see how different both of them looked like ahaha

(for guide, first pic to last, 1st week july 2021>3rd week july 2021>21st Nov 2021>9th Apr 2022)

Also witness me talking about each journey of my progress undercut lol

I cAN TOTALLY EXPLAIN THE FIRST 2 PICS. The first one is exactly from a year ago when my brainrot just started and I was like "well fuck I guess I have a new f/o now". If you ever see or feel familiar about the first art even though you prooooobably never see it,

its because it was an original picture for this redraw a few months AFTER that pic

Also if you notice, the art style for that one is totally different from others and shhh the reason it was like that is because initially I want to draw them in my actual artstyle around that time and I dont want it to follow the same artstyle like in the show. My friend said Utonium kinda reminds them of that guy from clo.udy wi th a ch.ance of meatb.alls and im like "oH SHITTT". There's more drawings of Utonium pre-brainrot era with this kind of artstyle in my folder but I don't think the world is ready for that yet lol

Anyway as I progresses to the 2nd pic, I changed my mind and was like "wait I actually WANT them to look like they're in PPG and not my own artstyle" so I slowly draw both of them to look more like the ppg style if you understand what I mean??? Althoughhhh in the 2nd pic I still want him to look a bit like my own style with my own touch and despite how much I don't like the reboot, I actually like his gray hair on his sideburns??? So if yall remember that phase and followed me from way way in the early days of this blog, I used to draw Utonium with those streaks before I gradually stopped doing that because of.... actually idk why I stopped??? I should totally add the grays back because I love it actually lol but anywayyyyyy the 2nd pic was also around july too me think? So there's probably like a few weeks gap between the actual totally real not clickbait picture of Chloe and Utonium 'together'.

That was how my render looked like for a few months until november (the 3rd pic).

So in the 3rd pic, I discovered this very magical spectacular magnificent function on CSP called t E xt U r e and holy fuck, let me tell you, I feel like I am a changed person. I was never the cringe person with mediocre render like I was, this legit marked a cultural shift in me, I just feel like I've been blessed by god himself. I spammed the fUCK OUTTA THOSE TEXTURES like it was MY BUSINESS. i pAID CSP FOR FULL PRICE I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE IT TO ITS FULL CAPABILITIES AND SQUEEZE IT OUT OF ALL IT'S WORTH. Although I must say, my render time after that significantly increases. By standard I used to render around 3 hours? Now this bitch took 6 fuckin hours to completely. It wasn't a daijobu era ngl 😔😔😔

And holy fuck do I have a fuckin field day with it. You think I was a changed man back then? I have ascended, I am now r e b o r n. My friends feared my, my peers stared at me, my teachers are baffled by the amount of brainrot I drew at that time. How am I real?

I rendered like that for around 4 months until I discovered something even more cooler:

B L E N D I N G M O D E

Okay jk but hhh anyway for my current render; it's kinda more like an accidental discovery? I wanted to look for ways to cut render time because it was really tiring for me to render with a fuckton of texture layers and I also wanted to emulate my fav artist's render style soooo bad (it was luoman if anyone asked) and I kinda figured out how they did it? I mean they still do it better but like I was really inspired to be like them and lemme tell you, I cried for 3 days 3 nights unpaid vacation time when I figured it out. I wasn't kidding when I say I feel like I am a new person. I am quite pessimistic tbh, I'm insecure about my art but like this is the first time in like 3 years ever I feel like I did a major progress and I feel really good.

Why did I made this post? I actually dont feel good about myself, maybe because I am nervous about my test tomorrow and I just need a quick mood boost from myself. I don't believe I did any progress. But now, after typing all of my thoughts at 3 am, after I just put art phases of my braunrot together, kinda believe I actually did progress and I am proud of myself ;w;

[sineala]

Does Steve or Tony smoke?

This question has a few possible answers, actually! So, I mean, yes, but also no. Comics are great.

The answer as it currently pertains to canon is that no, Steve and Tony do not smoke. In 2001, after Joe Quesada became EIC at Marvel, he instituted a policy that heroic characters would not be allowed to smoke; villains still could. If you look this up you can see, like, graphic novel covers that were originally comic covers except someone has edited the cigar right out of Wolverine’s mouth. I don’t know if this policy is still current (I kind of suspect it is, at least in some form), but I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t expect Steve and Tony to smoke now.

(Incidentally, I’m pretty sure there’s also a smoking ban in the MCU.)

But, as we know, Steve and Tony have existed since long before 2001, and so that means that, absolutely, yeah, there are panels of both of them smoking.

Let’s start with Steve! Steve as a character dates from 1941, and it probably will not surprise you to learn that Golden Age Steve smoked like a chimney. He smokes in pretty much every issue, as far as I can tell. Like, I opened up Captain America Comics #1 and I found him with a pipe in his mouth at least three times. In one issue!

Interestingly, the recent Captain America Anniversary Tribute, which features modern Marvel artists doing a panel-for-panel redraw of Captain America Comics #1 (and Avengers #4) does have this panel, and guess what Steve isn’t doing?

He’s not smoking! (This is why I suspect the no-smoking policy is still current; this issue came out maybe three weeks ago.)

But, yeah, if you’re reading actual Golden Age Cap comics, Steve is absolutely definitely smoking:

However, in modern comics featuring Steve that are set during World War II, he’s not only not smoking, he explicitly doesn’t smoke. This is Captain America: Theater of War: Prisoners of Duty, which is from 2009. (Which is, yes, during Quesada’s EIC tenure.)

So it sure seems like he’s been retconned into not smoking due to the no-smoking policy. (Though, really, if you wanted some kind of in-universe explanation that keeps Steve a smoker at that point in time, “I don’t smoke” is also probably what you’d say if you did smoke but didn’t want to share your cigarettes with whoever was asking.)

But there are certainly Silver Age comics where Steve is smoking; it’s not just a Golden Age thing. The latest I’ve found is Captain America #110 (from 1969), which opens with Steve leaning against a wall lighting his pipe, and starting to smoke it:

So that’s Steve.

As for Tony, there are definitely Silver Age panels of him smoking, too.

Here Tony is in Avengers #3 with a pipe and a very fetching smoking jacket:

And here Tony is again in Avengers #7, enjoying a cigarette and a television program while he is charging up his chestplate:

You get the idea.

And, twenty years later, there’s also Iron Man #144 from 1981. If you are an Iron Man fan, you will be familiar with this issue as the flashback issue that retcons Rhodey into Tony’s life as a Marine whom Tony meets in Vietnam when he has just become Iron Man, has escaped his captors, and is trying to get home.

What you may not remember is that this issue includes Tony and Rhodey sharing a joint. No, I’m not kidding.

Sadly, Tony doesn’t get a hit, because he accidentally crushes the joint in his big Iron Man hands, but he, uh, definitely doesn’t seem opposed to getting high with Rhodey:

I mean, okay, yeah, it doesn’t have to be marijuana. We aren’t told what it is, and it could conceivably be anything that’s hand-rolled, which would include tobacco, but come on. Come on. It’s weed. Right? Who’s with me?

For the record, Rhodey is Not Real Thrilled that Tony has accidentally crushed it:

So, anyway, yeah, there’s what I know about Steve and Tony smoking.

[boymeetsweevil]

in your court

Grouping: Reader x B-ball player!Jaehyun (feat. BFF!Hyuck)

Word Count: ~10.8k

Warnings/Themes: Two idiots in love, oc is scary when mad, hyuck is crafty always, jae is a bit intense but he’s just trying his best, gratuitous descriptions of dimples, a kiss!!! sfw!

Prompt: “awkward!oc with his basketball teammate jaehyun. Honestly anything with bff!haechan.”

“Make sure you don’t make it look shaky.”

Donghyuck puts the phone camera close to his face so he can better see your handiwork through the video call. He looks a bit like a fish, but you can’t see him because you’re focused on the mirror in front of you.

“Remind me why I’m being forced to do this?”

“Because I’m your best friend and I deserve a sign just as much as Jisung and Johnny.”

You have to stop yourself from rolling your eyes so you don’t mess up the number 14 you’re drawing carefully onto your cheek in eyeliner. Although you hate to see good makeup go to waste, you’re trying to be a better friend while also trying not to accidentally write the number backwards. It’s Donghyuck’s new number this season and he begged you to show some team spirit despite the fact that you normally mix with sports the same way oil mixes with water. The last time you showed up at practice was the first day of the season and you fell from the third courtside bleacher after Donghyuck called you over to introduce you to a cute new walk-on team member. If anything, just being around sports is dangerous for you.

A minute later, you sneeze while holding the pencil and draw a huge line straight through all your hard work. Donghyuck literally screams and you hang up the call to focus. When you finally finish redrawing on the side of your face, there’s half an hour left before the first home game of the spring season starts. You grab the matching construction paper sign you made earlier, complete with a huge gold glitter 14, and head out the door.  Taeyong is supposed to pick you up so you can make it to the gym on time. He’s the only other friend you have who is remotely associated with sports and that’s only because he’s dating one of the players, Doyoung.

The ticket Donghyuck gave you days ago places you near the court’s side with a near-perfect view. You settle in and wait for the game to begin. The team is already out on half of the court, doing some light warmup tosses and making the occasional mean eye at the visiting team practicing on the other half. You catch your best friend’s eye and he lights up when he sees the sign and eyeliner drawing.

“Check me out, Hyuck!” 

You turn to give him a full view of your profile, subtly proud of your skills.

“Look at you,” he drawls as he jogs over to you, “You know, I think this is the best your eyeliner has ever looked.”

“God, you’re so annoying.” 

You try your best to cast an elbow at him without disturbing the still slightly wet glitter on the sign. When you nearly take out the old man sitting directly in front of you, you settle for flipping him off.

“Wait,” Taeyong peers at the sign, “Aren’t you—”

“I think Doyoung said he was looking for you. Something about wanting a good luck kiss.”

Taeyong narrows his eyes but still stands up to go look for said boyfriend. Doyoung’s not the nervous type, but he’s also not the type to say no to some pre-game affection. You watch Taeyong disappear towards the locker room while Donghyuck steps over some of the fans already seated and takes the now open spot next to you.

“Hey,” he says with no trace of humor in his voice any longer. “Promise you’ll still be my friend after this game?”

You place the sign on your lap and turn to look at your friend. Lately the coach has been pushing him harder and you suppose it’s starting to wear down his usual confidence. With the hand that’s not covered in little golden glitter flecks, you reach down to rub his shoulder.

“Of course I will, Hyuck. And even if you guys don’t win tonight, I’m still taking you to get food after. My treat.”

It was supposed to be a rare moment of sincere friendliness. But this seems to distress him further because he looks down at your hand on his arm and then groans before covering his face in his hands. You’re confused but you don’t have any time to ask him what’s up. A few of his teammates walk over then.

“Sorry to break up the love fest, but Coach wants us to do some stretches before the whistle,” team captain Johnny says, gesturing to the other side of the gym where some other players are already contorting themselves. 

Behind Johnny stands that new walk-on. The one you fell on your face in front of. He takes in your temporary face tattoo and overly detailed sign and smirks, allowing a dimple to wink at you. You can only hope to every deity in the universe that he doesn’t remember the way you first met.

“Hey,” he smiles good-naturedly. “Glad to see you made it here in one piece.” 

“Thank you,” you say with way too much sincerity.

It’s enough to knock Donghyuck out of his bad mood and make him snort loudly beside you. The new guy smiles a bit wider, revealing a twin dimple. You look away.

“Don’t get too friendly, Jung,” Donghyuck says with fake menace in his voice. “There’s only room for one Dream Team member in her life, and that’s me.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize you guys were—”

“We’re just friends,” you blurt out before looking down at the fascinating liver spots on the old man’s head in front of you.

“Yeah, she wishes.”

“I definitely don’t,” you snap.

He sticks his tongue out at you. “Well, I’m glad you don’t.” 

“Guys, come on!” Johnny calls a moment before the coach’s whistle blows to give a final warning.

As they walk over to the side of the gym you curse yourself for acting so weird in front of that Jung kid. If he didn’t think you were a dope when you tripped over nothing the first time you met, you’re certain he thinks you have the charms of a 13 year-old boy by now. The only thing that snaps you out of it is the fact that Donghyuck is in a time of distress and clearly needs his friend. 

With squared shoulders and a new sense of duty, you try your hardest to be the world’s best cheerleader. You’re not really sure how sports work, basketball included. The game itself turns out to be really fun. Even though you’re not quite sure what’s happening. Taeyong sends you a text with a picture of your own mildly confused face contorted into a pout as you raise your handmade sign a moment too late, after everyone has already sat back down. But eventually you figure it out after enough times of standing when people around you wearing school colors stand up first. You know enough to cheer every time Donghyuck takes the ball to the basket and boo loudly every time he gets knocked down or his shot misses. In fact, you get so into it that you catch yourself cheering for other players. You even make the mistake of cheering once for new kid Jung but immediately stop when he catches a glimpse of you in the stands and shoots you a beaming smile. 

They win by a small margin, thanks to a 3 pointer Johnny shot in the first half of the game. By the time that happens, you feel like you have a good feel for the game. You don’t have to wait for the other fans from your school to stand up when the last buzzer rings, and you instinctively run out onto the court with the rest of them as the final score settles. There’s adrenaline and joy pushing you into Donghyuck’s arms. He’s genuinely surprised but welcomes the greeting, spinning you lightly while he laughs.

“Congrats on the first win of the season,” you shout when you finally pull back. He lets you squish his cheeks in excitement. Doyoung ambles over then, looking for Taeyong. You offer him congratulations as well.

“Thanks,” he smirks a bit as he takes in your large sign and the slightly smudged 14 on your cheek. “Shouldn’t Jaehyun be the first to hear it, though?”

You raise a confused brow.

“Shouldn’t I be the first to hear what?”

You can’t help the way you stumble back against Donghyuck at the deep sound of Jung—no— Jaehyun’s voice. He looks pleased. Probably with the outcome of their first game.

“I was just saying you should get the first ‘congrats’,” Doyoung explains, nodding in your direction. Jaehyun blinks, but takes it in stride.

“I’d be glad to receive it,” he says with a grin. His dimples pop out even more than usual under the sheen of sweat and the glow from the fluorescents. “So, what’d you think? How’d I do?”

You have no idea why but your heart is beating like it’ll fly out of your chest. It takes everything in you to muster up a cool and natural response.

“You throw good.”

Donghyuck, the traitor that he is, gets sent into a cackling fit. If you listen carefully, between the gasps for air and the hyena-pitched giggles you can hear him calling you a dork. You’d turn to yell at him, but he’s right. Doyoung barely covers up his own laughter while leaning on Donghyuck’s shoulder to try to disguise the sound as a series of coughs. But Jaehyun merely smiles down at his shoes as if he’s somehow moved by your clunky words.

“Sorry,” you mumble.

“No, I feel like I did well today thanks to your little sign.”

“The sign? Oh. Actually, this is for—” 

In that moment you realize two things. The first is that Jaehyun’s jersey has a big 14 emblazoned on the front of it. Just like the one you spent 10 whole minutes drawing onto your right cheek. And the one you spent 2 hours glittering the night before. The second is that you aren’t nearly as observant as you thought you were. Then you realize a third thing: Donghyuck is slowly creeping away from you as it all clicks together in your head.

When you turn to face your friend, the color has already drained out of his neck. He can see the wheels turning in your head and he raises his hands in a placating gesture, but you cut him off before he can even start. Grabbing at his jersey you make him turn around until you can see the white number 6 emblazoned on the fabric. It’s the same number he had last season, and the season before that.

“Just to clarify,” you begin with an unsettlingly calm voice, “When you asked me earlier if I would still be your friend after the game, you were talking about this, right?”

Donghyuck’s eyes go wide and dart around anywhere but your face. “You know what? I think you’re thinking of my brother, Hyongduck. We look a lot alike, so it’s an honest mistake.”

The coach calling him over in that moment is the only thing that keeps you from eviscerating him on the court with so many witnesses. You let him go, but not without him having to un-pry your fingers from his jersey. Jaehyun watches on with amusement in his eyes and you remember that he saw you nearly Hulk out on your friend.

“So, you actually didn’t know my number was 14?”

You shake your head, “I thought it was Hyuck’s.”

“I see.”

He tilts his head again, with eyes narrowed he looks you over before looking past you to where Donghyuck has finally made it to locker room safety.

“Well,” he fiddles with the chain around his neck, “I’m kind of sad the sign isn’t actually mine.”

“Oh. I mean, you can keep it if you want.”

Jaehyun’s head ducks down a second time, shaking his head at the ground like he heard something funny that you couldn’t hear. He does take the sign out of your hands though. With slow hands, he wraps the construction paper up until all the remaining glitter is safely tucked away.

“What about that one?”

“What do you mean?”

He points at his own cheek to mirror yours. You had forgotten all about the 14 you drew on your face to go with the sign.

“I don’t—I don’t know if you can wrap this one up, you know” you laugh stiltedly.

“Yeah. But I could always take a bit for the road. May I?”

All you can do is let out an eloquent ‘huh’ before he’s reaching out then and swiping away at some of the eyeliner that had moved around during the game. The drag of the pad of his thumb across your cheek should be completely harmless. Donghyuck has been infinitely rougher with his handling of you; one of the privileges of close friendship. And yet it’s this soft touch that has your breath leaving you like he punched it out of you. You swear the corner of his mouth raises, but it could be a trick of the light.

“What are you doing after—”

“I gotta go, sorry. Good game,” you toss over your shoulder before pulling your phone up to your ear like you’re taking a sudden phone call. 

No one has to know that you spend the next few minutes dunking your head under one of the running faucets in an empty locker room to cool your heated face.

---

Nearly 20 minutes later, Donghyuck is tiptoeing out of the men’s locker room. He doesn’t notice the shadow waiting for him. When he deems the coast all clear, he opens up his messaging app and shoots you a text asking for your whereabouts.

“I’m right here.”

He jumps nearly 3 feet in the air before letting the scream that built in his throat turn into a whine. You’re just barely visible in the dark corner of the gym. If he squints you look a bit like his sleep paralysis demon.

“You scared me,” he says as he takes a step back only to hit a wall.

“Funny how that happens.”

You pull out your phone, stilling standing in the dark, and let the light from your phone cast eerie shadows across your face. Donghyuck gulps audibly as he watches you type slowly in response to his text. The sound of his phone notification moments later sounds deafening in the otherwise silent space.

You (21:39) - Run.

“Look, let’s talk this out like adults.” His hands come up, palms exposed like you’re a feral animal.

“I knew you weren’t number 14,” your voice is steady and devoid of emotion as you take a step towards him.

“Then you shouldn’t have fallen for it—shit. Wait!”

He trips in his haste to get away from you and falls. You foot lands dangerously close to his face as you come to stand in over him and he grimaces.

“Please don’t kill me, I’ll do anything.”

“Why did you tell me your number was Jaehyun’s number? Make it good and maybe I’ll let you live.”

“I just felt like it.”

“What the hell!”

“I’m serious.”

“Wrong answer, Hyuck.”

With that, you wriggle a foot free from one of your sneakers and shove your socked foot over his nose. You’ve been wearing the shoes all day and, because you forgot to do laundry the night before, the socks are recycled. The sound of Donghyuck’s cries for help make you slightly better and you smile softly to yourself.

You would think that Donghyuck would have learned his lesson about not causing chaos in your life after a face-full of foot. But you should know that it’s practically his job description after knowing him for as long as you have. Sometimes you love that about him and sometimes you kind of hate him for it. This time, you hate him for it. 

Donghyuck prefaces the outing as a way of apologizing for tricking you. Normally you would have been slightly more critical. The first thing to tip you off should have been the fact the “apology" in question was coming almost two and a half weeks after the fateful jersey swap accident. The second thing should have been that the “apology” was coming in the form of a trip to a very specific tea house you don’t frequent because you’re not a tea person. And Donghyuck knows this. Because he knows everything else about you. Like which sweatpants you wear when you’re feeling bloated or when you just need a hug. But mainly you should have known something was up because it was Donghyuck. When he feels like he should do something, there’s no stopping him.

“What do you want to order,” he asks while holding the front door open for you to pass through. 

“A smoothie.”

“It’s a damn tea house, order something normal.”

“A smoothie is normal.”

“Do you order hot dogs at seafood restaurants too,” he pins you with a tired glare. You mirror the glare and add crossed arms.

“If they don’t have a smoothie, then I don’t want anything.”

You take a look around at the interior of the shop. It’s the polar opposite of the shops you usually frequent, which are all trendy with their mixes of dark, unfinished woodwork and sleek minimalist furniture. This place is almost cottage-like in the ornateness of the older architecture and the collection of kitschy antique pieces. You’re not surprised to see that a good deal of the patrons are older, some verging on elderly. There’s only a handful of people who look like they could be your peers. One of them looks oddly familiar. You can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something familiar about the way he stands and the delicate gold links laying across the back of his neck.

“Jaehyun,” Donghyuck calls a bit too excitedly, “Hey, man is that you? What are you doing here”

“You told me to meet you—” Donghyuck cuts him off with a dramatic gasp and a glance at his bare wrist.

“Aw, would you look at the time. I actually have somewhere to be right now, so I can’t stick around.”

“But you drove us here,” you whip your head around to look at him, but he coughs suddenly and looks away.

“Yeah, sorry. No time to drop you back off at your place, so I guess you have to figure that out yourself. Jae drives though. Maybe you can figure something out.”

Neither of you really know what to say. You watch silently with your mouth open in disbelief as Donghyuck turns on his heel and struts out of the tea shop exit, whistling contentedly. You suppose that if you’re the god of chaos reincarnated, all of this would feel like a good day’s work. You berate yourself for recently washing your socks.

“Good to see you again,” Jaehyun says after a beat. He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Thought I had scared you off after...yeah.”

“Oh, right. That.”

The air feels both too thick and too thin at the same time. You want to leave, every fiber of your being is screaming at you to leave before you do something weird in front of him again. But you can’t move. So you stand there, 3 feet away and not saying anything as Jaehyun looks over the large chalkboard menu hanging above the head of the older woman who is manning the front counter.

“What are you getting?”

“Me? Uh, I don’t know. I’m not really a tea person.”

“Well, what kind of person are you?”

Given the context, it’s a harmless question. But there’s a sing-songy lilt to the way he asks the question. It’s so blatant that curiosity gets the best of you and you stop purposefully avoiding looking at him. One of his dimples is out and he’s very nearly poking the tip of his tongue out at you, like he knows you’re suffering and he thinks it's funny. Almost like he’s flirting. Almost.

“I’m a smoothie person,” you finally say. “But there’s no smoothies on the menu.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“But doesn’t it say ‘no customizations’?” 

There’s a sign on the edge of the counter that says just that. Despite the fact that it’s written in beautiful, looping cursive, there’s an ominous tone to the message. Like the little old lady behind the counter might actually make you into tea if you asked for a frappe or something. You’re a little worried for Jaehyun’s safety. He must sense some sort of hesitance because he brushes it off and gestures toward the rest of the shop.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it, you can go grab us a table.”

The way he says ‘us’ so casually has you tripping slightly over nothing. He’s somehow there in the nick of time to grab at your elbow in a gentlemanly fashion to help steady you. Perhaps you yank yourself out of his proximity a little too quickly. But it’s only because you really want to find a good table and you can’t do that if Jaehyun is distracting you by grabbing at your limbs. 

In actuality, though, the tea shop is fairly vacant. There are a variety of tables with pressed white tablecloths and dainty tiered tea trays housing pastries. You pick one at random and sit down. Part of you really does wish you’d left when Donghyuck did. But the other part is curious to see what Jaehyun’s like when he’s away from his team and truly outside the context you usually find him in. So you compromise and watch as subtly as you can.

He seems fairly similar—all charming smiles and pretty hair while approaching the counter to talk with the lady you assume is the owner of the shop. She looks stern as she polishes some dainty bone china, but brightens when he comes to the counter. You watch in quiet awe as she reaches a hand up to pat fondly at the side of his face, most likely pinching a cheek from the angle you’re sitting at. You see him run a hand over the back of his neck which grows red after he says something to her that she must not like. Her brow grows heavy and her lips purse but he says something else then that has her directing her sharp gaze at you. You gulp and pretend you were merely admiring the tea sandwich tray on the table as opposed to spying. A wave of sudden embarrassment comes over you and you open up your phone to text Donghyuck

You (15:38) - this is a shit apology just so u know

You (15:38) - come get me plz

Hyuck (15:40) - sorry suddenly cant read dont know what that says :)

You place your phone face down onto the table and cross your arms with a huff. While trying to plan an escape that makes you look the least asshole-y possible, Jaehyun returns with the drinks. More specifically, he returns with a tall water glass in one hand that’s filled with a pale tea with fruit chunks and mint leaves sprinkled throughout. The other hand is encased in a floral appliqué oven mitt that holds the prettiest squat little teapot you’ve ever seen. It’s blue, so it doesn’t match the pastel green teacups organized on the tablecloth, but it’s still a lovely sight.

“What’s this,” you stir at the fruit in the glass with an elegant teaspoon.

“It’s a chilled fruit tea,” he explains while casually pouring himself a steaming cup of black tea. “I tried my hardest with Mrs. Li, but there was no way I was gonna get you a smoothie. This is the closest thing I could get.”

“You really didn’t have to go to all that trouble. I would have been fine with just a water. I don’t want to get you in trouble with the owner.”

“Don’t worry. I think my reputation is fine for now.”

It’s weirdly fascinating to watch him fix up his tea. As a member of a basketball team, you would have never thought he’d be a tea drinker. Let alone a tea drinker who takes heaping spoonfuls of sugar to go with a tiny splash of milk in his tea. He hums a little to himself as he stirs it all with a silver spoon that’s been crafted to look like roses are growing up the stem. When he looks up a moment later, he catches you staring at him. His eyes crinkle and they look like they did when he looked at you after shooting a 3 at the latest home game, full of quiet joy. Both then and now you’re not sure what the smile means or why it seems to be for you. You look down and realize his lips are moving.

“What?”

He chuckles at how far away you sound. “I said ‘how’s the tea?’”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know yet. I got distracted. I was...thinking.”

“Mhm.” There’s smugness practically oozing out of his thoughtful hum.

You take a sip to appease him and frantically search for something to say that won’t make it obvious that you aren’t a fan of tea, but then you stop yourself. It’s no smoothie, but it really is the next best thing. The tea is cold like a smoothie, providing the same reprieve from the sticky heat of Spring. The tea with all its macerated berries and mint leaves is sweet and thick much like a smoothie.

“This is amazing,” you peer down at the cup like you’re not sure where half the glass went.

A light weight lands on your shoulder then. “That’s very kind of you, dear. High praise coming from a non-tea-drinker.”

It takes a lot of effort not to scream and even then your eyes open comically wide and you jump in your seat. Jaehyun has to disguise his laughter at your reaction by turning away in his seat as you turn in yours to face the old lady who was at the counter.

“I’m sorry for any trouble you went to so you could make this, Mrs. Li, Ma’am. I told Jaehyun that I wanted a smoothie and he was just trying to make me feel comfortable.”

“Oh, I know. Jaehyun’s been coming to the shop since I opened it, so he should know all about my ban on requests.” Mrs. Li eyes Jaehyun as he takes an innocent sip of his tea. “He’s always been courteous about it, so I thought he must have a darn good reason for breaking my rule this time.”

Jaehyun’s hand slips while pouring a second cup, but he doesn’t say anything as Mrs. Li continues to expose him. 

“Now, that reminds me. Jaehyun, my boy, I’m sorry to tell you that Kevin won’t be coming to his sessions this week. He has a dentist appointment and it can’t be helped,” she sighs and waves her hands.

“That’s alright. As long as he practices a little every day he should be in good shape and we can pick up right where we stopped.”

She nods and for a moment the serious expression on her face morphs into something softer. Patting the back of his chair, she looks over the table and then at you.

“Alright. I hope everything is to your liking, but if something does come up do feel free to tell Jaehyun. He’s a very capable young man and he knows the shop like the back of his hand. I’d better get back to work now. The silver won’t polish itself.”

You wait a few beats to be respectful, but as soon as Mrs. Li returns to her post behind the counter you gulp down the rest of your tea and lean in. 

“Who’s Kevin?”

“Her 9 year old grandson. I teach him and his younger brother piano on the weekends.”

“Oh, that’s—that’s nice,” you nod coolly. At least, you hope it appears cool. Internally you’re scrambling.

Of course your best friend’s basketball teammate teaches piano to young kids. Of course he helps the elderly tea shop lady with her store. Of course he drinks sweet tea out of blue floral teacups. Of course.

He’s finally ready to go after a third cup. You’re not sure where he’s putting it all, but it seems to be a regular occurrence for him. He takes your glass from you before you can argue about your own ability to do it and walks back over to the counter. Now more than ever you wish you could read lips. He goes around the counter to wash the glass in the farmer’s sink in the back and then stops briefly to say something to Mrs. Li. She says something back with a smile that has his cheeks flaming. He leaves a bill on the counter and comes back mumbling about his tea being too hot when you stare at his face. You’re not sure how true that is given how fast he downed those cups.

When you emerge from the tea shop, the sun is shining from a different angle and the temperature has mellowed out.

“My car is a few blocks that way,” he points in the direction of the parking lot nearby. 

“You don’t have to—”

“I want to.” Even with his soft tone, his voice is firm and you don’t try to fight him on it.

But it’s strange walking with Jaehyun silently. It feels entirely too companionable despite the fact that you don’t even know him. 

“Do you...want to play 20 questions?”

He stops in his tracks, clearly not expecting you to talk without him coaxing you out of your shell. But after the initial shock fades, he nods.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“White,” he says immediately. “What’s your major?”

“Studio art. Do you play other sports?”

“Nah. Is Donghyuck your best friend?”

“Yeah, Hyuck’s my best friend.”

“Is he...protective?”

“Protective? Of what?”

“You, I guess.”

“Hyuck?” You let out a snort because the thought is just hilarious. “On the right day I’m pretty sure he’d sell me to Satan for a fresh order of sweet potato fries.”

“I see,” he purses his lips like he’s in deep thought before returning back to the present moments later. “You get two since I asked two.”

“Do you like it here, now that it’s been a while since you transferred?”

“Yeah,” he looks you in the eyes. “I like it here.”

You swallow a bit too audibly but power through and keep asking questions. It takes nearly half an hour to walk the two and a half blocks leading to the parking lot. Even after that, Jaehyun takes a scenic route back to the main campus. When he pulls up outside your dorm, you’re not sure what to say, but it feels like something should be said. The sun is near setting and he’s haloed by the dying rays as he leans on the steering wheel to make sure you make it inside.

After giving a little awkward nod, you drag yourself out of the cabin of his car. There’s only a few steps left until you reach the door when he calls out. You turn.

“So,” he trails off, drumming his hands on the steering wheel before adjusting the mirror even though he’s in park and no one is coming. “Donghyuck has, like, a million fans.”

“What?”

“I just mean that he’s been on the team for years, he has a fan base. But I’m just a transfer student, so I don’t have that. And, you know, it’s really nice to have someone to cheer for you.” He tests the waters and looks at you hesitantly before continuing. “I still have your poster.”

All you can do is blink as you realize what’s going on. Or, you think you know what’s going on. And it makes zero sense to you, but you have a habit of overthinking things anyway. You kick at a pebble near the toe of your shoe, taking some time to muster up the courage to be presumptuous in a way you’re not used to.

“I can...I can make you another sign. If you want. Or like wear your number.” He grins and in that moment it seems to outshine the fading sun. “So you don’t feel left out.”

“I’d like that.” He starts the car up then, still grinning as he looks down to shift gears and adjust all his mirrors yet again. “Tell Hyuck he doesn’t need to set aside tickets anymore.”

“Okay,” is your witty reply before turning once more with a too warm face.

He waves at your retreating back before putting the car into drive.

Everyone on the team knows that every once in a while Donghyuck likes to come to practice a lot earlier than is probably normal. It’s not strange to come in when there’s 30, 40, even 50 minutes before practice starts and find him practicing footwork or doing layups on the court alone. 

Jaehyun hedges a guess that he’ll find Donghyuck in the gym a good hour before practice starts one day and is pleased to find that his intuition was correct. There’s music blasting from a portable speaker and Donghyuck is doing some of the drills the coach likes to run, but done with his non-dominant hand.

When the ball rolls to a stop and Donghyuck moves to get some water, Jaehyun announces himself.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” 

“You quitting already?”

“Not yet,” Donghyuck takes in the serious set of Jaehyun’s jaw and shoulders. “We can do a 1-on-1. If you’re up for it.”

Jaehyun nods and sheds his outer layers on the sidelines. Donghyck wonders if he’s angry about something, perhaps that about practice a few days ago where he went a little too hard on Jaehyun and bashed his cheek with an elbow during a scrimmage. He braces himself for some incoming aggression, knowing he may deserve it a little.

They settle for leaving the ball on the ground in the paint since the equipment cabinet is still locked until the coach arrives. Both of them sprint from the freethrow line, with Jaehyun grabbing the ball first. Donghyuck moves into defense easily, having been in game mode for who knows how long. Jaehyun isn’t nearly as tough in his offense as Donghyck expected. In fact, he’s playing surprisingly light.

“What’s up with you,” Donghyuck says after the first basket.

Jaehyun catches the ball after it falls from the basket, jogging it back to the starting position. Donghyuck waits for him back at the freethrow line, brows raised but otherwise silent.

“Nothing’s up. Nothing big, I mean.”

“You’re a pretty bad liar.”

The words catch Jaehyun by surprise and he stumbles a bit coming off the line. Donghyuck uses the momentary shock to his advantage and steals the ball. The point comes easy as he basically runs a circle around his competitor.

“Since I won that point, why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you?”

Donghyuck doesn’t bother going back to the freethrow line and instead goes back to dribbling practice. His rhythm is slow with his off hand, but steady. Better than Jaehyun’s with his off hand.

“Do you believe in bro code?”

Donghyuck snorts. “I guess. You’re not gonna ask me for my mom’s phone number, are you?”

“No. Not your mom’s,” Jaehyun trails off.

Instantly Donghyuck knows what this is about. Or who. Your face flashes in his mind and he has to bite his own cheek to keep from laughing. Being your best friend gives him exclusive access to just how awkward you can be. But the fact that Jaehyun resorted to all this buildup is kind of hilarious.

“Aw, you guys are cute.”

“What?” Jaehyun’s cheeks grow pink. “Why is this cute?” 

“Look, you don’t need to ask me first or do whatever this is. I’m not her keeper. And I’m not gonna sabotage you, either.” Jaehyun’s shoulders lose some of their squared off edge.

“Okay,” he nods. “Thanks, man.”

“I could use a favor, though.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“I have a meeting with Coach after practice today. But I also really need to pick something up at the stationery store before tomorrow. Can you go pick it up for me?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Cool. I’ll text you the details later.”

---

Jaehyun arrives at the stationery store with his phone in hand. The note from Donghyuck mentions some special set of paints with a foreign-sounding name. As he walks through the aisles of the little store, Jaehyun wonders who the paints are for. The note also mentioned that they were a gift for someone, but it doesn’t say who the someone is.

It takes a few laps around the store, and by the time he spots the little nook for the brand, the store owner's voice had already sounded through the overhead speakers to say that the shop would be closing soon. He grabs the last box left and quietly rejoices. Donghyuck had bartered your number for the price of running the errand. If Jaehyun could get the paints, then he could get the number. The odd part was that Donghyuck had mentioned something about Jaehyun possibly not even needing to ask him for the number if he played his cards right. Originally he had shrugged the comment off, but it did raise the hairs on the back of his neck a bit. There’s something about Donghyuck that feels akin to a cartoon villain, but Jaehyun can’t put his finger on it.

“Checking out?”

“Yeah,” he hands the shop attendant the container of paints.

The attendant tries to scan the barcode, but a strange sound comes from the machine.

“I think something’s wrong with the barcode. If you can wait right here, I’ll go get another one to scan and give you that one instead.”

“Oh. That was actually the last one left.”

“I see.” The attendant presses some keys on the computer before nodding. “I think we should have a reference code in that backroom. I can go get that and punch it in manually if that’s okay.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, that would be great.”

The attendant assures him it’ll only be a moment before leaving the counter and disappearing into the back of the store. Jaehyun waits patiently while leaning on the counter when the bell to the front door of the shop rings. Another customer has come in right before closing, and the sound of their labored breathing makes it clear that they know they’re cutting it close. The footsteps fade out and then grow louder once more after a few minutes. He takes a glance over his shoulder to see you standing a little bit behind him.

“Oh. Hi. H-hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Jaehyun turns completely and sets his phone on the counter. “What brings you here?”

“I’m just grabbing some paint. I ran out a few days ago and I have some big projects coming up.”

“That’s funny. I’m doing the same thing.”

“Do you paint,” your eyes grow a little bigger with the prospect. At the sight of your small smile, Jaehyun wishes he could paint for the first time ever.

“No, but I’d like to learn.” And it’s never been true before, but he means it in that moment.

“Well, I could—”

“Sorry for the delay,” the shop attendant comes jogging back from the backroom. “Another employee had the reference book, so I had to spend some time to hunt it down. But you should be all set now.”

Jaehyun sends an apologetic smile your way before turning back to finish checking out. Once he’s done, even though he’s on a tight schedule with this favor, he hangs back.

“—I’m sorry but we sold out of the Neo Color Technology paints. If you’d like, we can give you a call when the next shipment comes in, but there’s a two-week wait.”

“Ah, really? Okay.” 

You gnaw on the inside of your cheek as you think about what you’ll do now. The idea of continuing some of your projects with a new set of paints that could have a completely different set of hues makes you nervous. You just perfected the shade of green you needed at the base for your huge forest study. Now you’d have to start from scratch.

Jaehyun is trying his hardest not to eavesdrop, but the odd paint name catches his attention. It’s the same one he just bought, per Donghyuck’s request.

“You can have mine,” he blurts out. “I’m the one who bought the last ones. But I obviously don’t need them like you do.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please, take them.”

Jaehyun hands you the bag. The smile you offer him in return is brilliant.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“God, no. Don’t worry about it.”

“Then, let me buy you a tea or something at least.” You hand him your phone. “Here, put your number in and you can pick a day. I’ll pay.”

So Jaehyun takes your phone and inputs his number. A moment later he gets a text from you, clarifying that it’s you. He feels victorious for a moment and then confused. Here he is, getting your number without having to ask, just like Donghyuck himself had mentioned. He’s getting this number because he gave you, Donghyuck’s friend, some paints. Paints that Donghyuck asked him to buy, as a gift to a mysterious friend. 

Maybe Donghyuck is less like a villain and more like a twisted fairy godmother.  

This little dance you keep doing with Jaehyun is strange, to say the least. 

It felt odd to copy the number 14 onto your cheek for the first time knowing who it would really be for. And it felt weird to get so used to doing it that you can now copy the stencil in with practiced ease using the face paint you bought specifically for the occasion, no longer worrying about accidentally writing it backwards. All the while, you can barely make eye contact with him after a game, although you can practically feel the weight of his gaze when you make a beeline for Donghyuck after the last buzzer rings. And you can see the way his hand tugs at the gold chain around his neck as he approaches you cautiously. And you can hear the disappointment in his tone when he asks if you’re going to the house parties thrown by one of the players that typically follow the games only to hear you say no each time.

Another few weeks later finds you trying to make it through midterms. Donghyuck being a literature major means his midterms schedule is always different from yours. This time his midterms end much earlier, a few days earlier to be exact. You’re left to suffer through late night crunches to finish up paintings for one of your crits. Photoshopping some pieces for your digital art class leaves you so busy you don’t even register what’s going on around you.

“It’s my turn to host the post-game party,” he says after letting himself into your apartment one day. He drops the spare keyring reserved for him in the dish near the front door.

“Mhm.”

“But I feel like it would be a nice change to have it here.” When he makes a big show of dropping the takeout he brought you, you don’t even flinch at the sound of it hitting the table you’ve taken over.

“Sounds good,” is all you say as you try to find the one layer out of the 25 you had that you were looking for.

“Great, so I’ll probably stop by on Friday with stuff before the game to set up and then the team can just come through afterwards.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t hate me,” he places a kiss on the top of your head before wrinkling his nose when he smells your unwashed hair. “And don’t work yourself too hard, either.”

“Yeah...definitely.”

Friday comes by and you’re still working, so you have to skip the actual game itself. In the brief window of free time you had that morning, you wonder if you should text Jaehyun again so you can tell him you won’t be coming or bringing your little hand stenciled 14. But you decide against it. It’s a big game and he doesn’t need to be bogged down by unnecessary texts.

You’re actually away at your first crit when Donghyuck stops by again, this time with party supplies. When you come back, you barely register the mountain of beers and cheap wines sitting in your kitchen. All you want to do is sleep like the dead for a few hours. As you zombie walk to your room, you swear you hear him call to you to ask if he can store his balloons in the sink. With your last two brain cells you figure he must have said something else and you were just too tired to actually comprehend it.

Hours later, bass blaring through the thin walls of your place wakes you from your slumber. The details of your conversation with Donghyuck a few days prior come flooding back just as you pick up your pepper spray to drive out what you thought were home intruders. You leave your weapon behind and open your door just slightly. The music washes over you, louder now that the seal to your bedroom has been broken. 

There’s plenty of voices coming outside that accompany the music. Even a few errant screams make it inside and to your ears. Courtesy of Chenle, no doubt. A few more brave steps outside your room and a glance out of the hallway window lets you know that you didn’t mishear Donghyuck. You see several of the guys chucking water balloons at one another on the grass outside. The pile of little teardrop-shaped balloons is admirably large and it becomes clear that they’ll be doing this for a while.

You’re not in the mood to get soaked or get mosquito bites just so you can seem friendly. After all, the party is being hosted in your apartment complex. That’s friendly enough, you reason. Once you’ve done a quick sweep through the rest of the apartment to make sure nothing is stolen, stained, or broken, you return to your room to get ready for bed properly. It takes a while because you have to wash your hair on top of everything else after receiving a very strongly worded text from Donghyuck.

While in your bathroom, brushing your teeth and watching a video Taeyong sent you, there’s jumbled knocking on your door. Barely any time passes between the last knock and the creak of someone leaning on your door as they open it. You curse to yourself before spitting in the sink.

“Hey, the bathroom for guests is actually—”

Jaehyun stands in the middle of your room, squinting at the tapestry you have hanging over your bed. The sound of his teeth chattering despite it being the peak of Spring is actually alarming enough to stop you from being mad that Donghuck didn’t think to put a clear sign towards the bathroom for the general public.

“I always thought your room would have candles in it,” Jaehyun drawls. He looks around once more like he’s hoping a candle will jump out of a hiding spot. All his movements are slow and sleepy.

“Are you drunk?”

He grins with eyes that droop closed. “Yep.” 

“Great,” you mumble. When you take a step closer you realize the dark red sleeveless tank he’s wearing is actually dark from being saturated with water. “Why are you wet?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. We played water balloon tag. I lost the last round.”

Jaehyun places a clumsy finger to his lips and stage-whispers a loud “shh”. For some reason you mirror that back to him. He nods, satisfied with your reaction.

“Don’t tell the others, but I...” he hiccups “I got cold, so I came inside.”

“What’s wrong with telling them you’re cold.” He hangs his head in shame then. Clearly you’re missing something important.

“Hyuck says bad bitches never get cold.”

With his shoulders slumped forward in such a pitiful fashion, you actually feel bad for wanting to laugh. It’s surprising. Super surprising actually, considering Jaehyun’s presence in your room means Donghyuck forgot to do the one thing you ask of him when he hosts parties at your place—put clear signs for drunk people to follow to the guest bathroom. You usually don’t want to deal with drunk student athletes, but something about Jaehyun makes him exempt from that.

“You can warm up here.”

As soon as you say the words, you cringe. It sounds like the awful beginnings of a bad porno, but your intentions really are pure. There’s something too sad about watching him nearly doze off while standing up like a newborn colt. So you go and find the best hoodie that you have in your clean laundry and you risk going to the kitchen and getting hit with a runaway water balloon so you can put water on for tea. Hopefully it will warm him up while also sobering him up a little.

“Is this Hyuck’s shirt,” he asks as soon as you return with a steaming mug.

“Uh, I think so.” You take a moment to appraise the hoodie. “Yeah, it’s his. It’s from one of his basketball camps from when we were younger, I think.”

He purses his lips but gratefully takes the mug with swaying hands. After taking a large sip, he hums and lets his head loll back with a smile.

“This is Mrs. Li’s blend.”

“Yeah.” 

It doesn’t seem right to tell him that you’ve been back there a couple times now and have started trying to get into tea. You take the time to put some distance between him and you. You walk to your bed and fluff a pillow that doesn’t need fluffing. The thing is that Jaehyun being in your room feels...weird. He looks all too content and comfortable in the space. That’s not to say he doesn’t suit the environment well. Somehow he looks like he belongs in your room with his soaked tank top and damp hair. You fluff the pillow harder.

“You must be tired,” he says after a long silence. He’s finished his tea but his eyes are still glassy.

“What?”

“Donghyuck told me ‘bout all your projects. Told me you had to draw him for one.”

“Oh, yeah I did. People actually loved that piece the most. But it took me the shortest amount of time.”

“Next time,” he begins ambling across the room, coming to place the empty mug on your bedside table. “Next time, you can ask me to model. If you want.”

“I mean, I only asked Hyuck since he was watching TV and he was there. Plus I know his face so well that it doesn’t even matter if he talks while I paint. The company is kind of nice.”

“Well, you can do it with me next.”

He’s drunk, you remind yourself. He doesn’t realize how strange what he’s saying is. And yet, your face still heats up. The sound of his teeth chattering lightly again reminds you how he got to be in your room in the first place. Jaehyun hugs himself as he continues to check out your room with a small smile on his face. He looks content.

“Do you want to get in,” you offer before your brain can process what your mouth has just done. His eyes go wide.

“Excuse me?” 

“Not—I mean, you just...look really cold and tired. Plus I heard you guys lost the game tonight, so the coach had you hauling ass after.” At the sight of his mildly amused face, tongue nudged between his teeth you add, “I don’t mean you should stay the night. It could just be for a bit and then you could, like, get up and call a cab home. But I get it if you’d rather not. Actually, I can just go see if Hyuck is around. I think he brought his—”

“No, no, stay,” he replies quickly to keep you from jumping out of bed. “I could use the rest.”

He turns around to shrug off the wet tank and pull on the hoodie, mumbling something about ‘not wanting to get your sheets wet’. Internally you wonder if you’re being laughed at by the gods while staring politely at nothing in the other corner of the room. You scoot over from your position in the middle of the bed to the side opposite him. He rewards your kindness with a flash of a bright smile before moving to pull back the covers.

His face lands directly in one of your pillows and you panic when you realize your sheets aren’t fresh out the washer. Jaehyun doesn’t seem to mind and lets out a sigh before shivering a little. With the hood over his hair, you can barely make out his eyes but you can tell they’re trained on you.

“You sure this is okay,” he whispers. 

“Yeah.”

The bed shifts minutely as he turns a little to get more comfortable. It feels hot in the bed all of the sudden. Despite the fact that you have on weather appropriate pajamas and your most lightweight Spring bedding on. Despite the fact that you’re not laying close enough to him to be able to feel any body heat. Maybe it’s warmer outside than you thought. That’s probably it.

---

When you wake up several hours later, it’s to the sound of clanking in your living room. The other side of the bed is empty and you try not to read into it. It wasn’t supposed to be a full night over, after all. You swing your feet over the edge of the bed only to squeal when your foot hits something cold in the little rug you keep there.

“What is it!” Donghyuck crashes into the room while holding the trash bag he was collecting loose beer cans with. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just—oh.”

You look down at the rug and see something shiny and metallic as opposed to something wet and slimy. With your index finger and thumb, you pick up a medium length golden chain. It shines even in the low lighting of your bedroom. You both squint at the jewelry, trying to place it.

Donghyuck’s eye grow wide and he looks around the room in disgust suddenly.

“Was he in here?”

“Uh, yeah,” you grumble as you rub your eyes.

“What for?”

When Donghyuck raises an inquisitive eyebrow, your mouth drops open.

“We just slept—”

“You slept together?”

“Hyuck, not like that! What’s your problem?”

“Still, why is he sleeping in here? You never have guys sleep in here.”

“You sleep in here all the time,” you point a finger at him.

“True,” he cedes immediately, pointing a finger back. “Well, you better return that. I think it’s his lucky charm or something.”

“Can’t you do it?” He laughs before returning to the living room. 

“He didn’t leave it in my bed.” 

“I–fine. I don’t need your help anyway.” 

At that, he snorts.

“You do, but I’ll let you keep thinking that you don’t, because I’m a good friend.”

“You’re annoying, that’s what you are.”

You pull on a sweater before coming out of your room with your phone in hand. There’s a companionable silence that falls over you two as you attempt to draft a text to Jaehyun about his chain while Donghyuck picks up the remaining trash from the party.

“How’d everything go,” you ask once the message is sent.

“It was fine. Jae was so gone that we thought he had flushed himself down the toilet for a while. But I guess that’s not what happened.”

Your face heats up at the teasing tone he uses.

“Hyuck, I have something to tell you.”

“God, what? Are you pregnant?”

“No! What the hell? Are you?” You try to swipe at his butt from the back of the couch.

“No! But...can you just say what you’re gonna say? You’re making me nervous.”

He even goes so far as to put the trash down and come around to sit with you on the sofa. You take a deep breath.

“I have a crush on Jaehyun. I just thought you should know.”

He stares at you, not blinking for a few seconds. He opens his mouth and then shakes his head to himself and closes it again.

“I see,” he finally says.

“It’s been going on a while, and I didn’t want to leave you in the dark.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Nope! I don’t mind being in the shadows. I do some of my best work there.”

“Do you think it could go anywhere?”

“What do you mean,” he throws another can into his bag.

“Like, do you think I have a chance with him?”

Donghyuck turns to stare at you, deadpan. “Do I think you have a chance with Jung Jaehyun? The man who slept in your bed a few hours ago?”

“Yeah.” Your face is completely open and imploring.

He sighs, “I think you might have a shot, sure.”

“Why, though?”

“I don’t know. Just a hunch.”

The next game of the season is a big one. The team coming in to play is an old school rival, so it draws a crowd that contains even the less sport-inclined students. You manage to get a ticket set away, but it’s still tough trying to find a spot to sit. It’s first come first serve with seats since the gym isn’t big enough to have labeled arena seating. 

Initially you had planned to use the extra time you had before the start to return Jaehyun’s chain, but it took you so long to make it from the parking lot to the gym and then to an open seat that there wasn’t any time left. Somewhere in between, you nearly get knocked over by the heavy current of fans from both teams flooding the space. The chain, once clutched in your hand, ends up around your neck out of fear that you lose it permanently.

You end up in the nosebleeds for the rest of the time. The players look like ants and if it weren’t for the large printed numbers on their jerseys, you might not be able to tell all of them apart. You text Donghyuck your location, and you see him looking towards the back rows at the beginning of the game, but he has to stay focused. You try your hardest to focus as well. At this point, you’re just about fluent in the sport that is basketball. But tonight’s game is hard to follow despite this. Jaehyun grabs your attention instead. He plays especially rough tonight, you note. He pushes hard across the court, even gets a couple warnings for defending like he’s on offense. There’s a fair amount of goals with his name on them as well. It’s exciting and you just wish your cheers could reach him.

More annoyance comes when the game finally ends. It’s a last minute shot by one of the other players who walked on this season that tips the game in your school’s favor. The crowd is deafening, even the ending buzzer is muted by their shouts. The bleachers shake under you with the force of fans running to meet their favorite players and generally gloat in front of the other team on the court. The shaking underneath you is terrifying enough to keep you seated until things have died down. There’s still probably a minimum of hundred people gathered on the floor, but you can at least step over empty concession bags as opposed to being stepped on by the supportive members of the hockey team.

It takes forever to find a single person you know. Of course it’s Donghyuck, who is in the middle of talking with some friends from off the team.

“Hyuck,” you begin to run over. When he sees you, you give him a big smile.

“No,” he responds simply as you get closer.

You slow down and let confusion wrinkle your brow. He offers no further verbal explanation but does give you a swift head nod in another direction. You follow the gesture and find Jaehyun at the end of the path. He looks a bit lost despite being with Doyoung and Johnny.

The fact that the others are there makes you freeze up at first, but the feeling of the chain laying delicately on your clavicle reminds you of what you need to do. Luckily, he sees you before the others do and he steps aside under the guise of getting a fresh towel. He waits for you to catch up once he’s out of their line of sight.

His voice is low, like he’s worried being too loud will make you change your mind about talking with him. But there’s an undercurrent of sincere happiness.

“There you are.”

“I was at the top row. I got here too late to sit where I normally do.”

“Ah. I thought maybe you couldn’t make it.”

“There’s no way I would be able to miss this one. Hyuck threatened to shave my head if I did.”

“That...sounds like him.”

“Yeah,” you chuckle. The nerves are getting to you a bit. You’ve never confessed your feelings to anyone before, and you’re not sure if Donghyuck was right about you having a shot.

“So, what are you doing—”

“I’ve been meaning to tell—”

You both start talking at once and then immediately clam up when you interrupt each other. 

He gives the floor to you. “You go first.”

“Okay.” 

You reach for the back of your neck and watch as his gaze follows the movement of your hands only for his eyes to light up in recognition.

“I wondered where that thing went.”

“You left it at my place. I put it on because I was scared I’d lose it for real. Sorry.”

He reaches out casually to thumb at the chain around your neck. “Don’t be. It looks good on you.”

“It looks better on you.”

The chain slides off cool against your skin and your fingers shake as you carry the chain over to him. Wordlessly, you reach up and loop your arms around his neck to reunite the chain with its rightful owner. Sweaty palms make it difficult to redo the clasp without being able to see it. It puts you right in his personal space for an awkwardly long time.

“I’m really sweaty,” he whispers.

“Uh, that’s nice?”

He laughs and it puffs off your temple.

“I don’t want to get you dirty, but I really want to kiss you right now.” The clasp finally snaps into place

“Oh.”

The way he leans in, the way his arms come to cage around your waist, the drip of the sweat from his temple down the hinge of his jaw. All of it is slow. As if to give you the space to withdraw if you wanted. But you surge forward into him. And for once it’s not awkward. You don’t know how long you stand there necking like hormonal high schoolers in a sea of people on the gym floor at a school dance, but—just like at the school dance—someone is bursting the gossamer thin ambiance just when Jaehyun’s fingers graze the back pocket of your jeans.

“If you look to your left, boys and girls, you can see two local horndogs engaged in a seasonal ritual” He karate chops a hand down the space between your faces, cutting the kiss off abruptly and nearly bruising Jaehyun’s nose. Meanwhile Taeyong snickers loudly from behind Doyoung.

“Do you have a death wish,” you turn to him with fire in your eyes. He backs up slightly, but attempts to stand his ground.

“Do you know how hard I’ve been working to set you two up?”

“What are you talking about?”

You turn to Jaehyun, who looks just as confused. The gears turning in your heads are practically visible as you and he put 2 and 2 together slowly. The random lies, the weird errands, the sudden party. The blank stares from Donghyuck every time the two of you were in the same room but refused to talk. It all adds up.

“You owe me sweet potato fries for the rest of your life. Maybe longer, I’m not sure yet.”

Donghyuck puts his arms around you and Jaehyun, pulling you with him as he heads out of the gym and towards the exit that leads toward the cafeteria.

“I can’t believe you...puppet-mastered us,” Jaehyun’s voice is airy with disbelief.

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t realize what was going on,” Taeyong snickers on the walk over. Doyoung snorts while lacing their fingers together.

“Yeah, the whole team was in on it.”

“You guys are one to talk.” Donghyuck turns back to give the two boys a humbling once over. “Don’t get me started on how hard it was to get you two losers together.”

Doyoung stops in his tracks, nearly tripping Taeyong in the process. 

“What?”

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

11+54 leatin

Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.

Neighbour AU & Secret Relationship 

Too easy anon!

There is a perfectly ordinary suburb in Berkely, California. The public schools give the kids panic attacks, the private schools are overpriced, and all the teachers are overworked and underpaid.

Twenty years ago when they drew the borders the city councilors split a street in half. One half would go to Earhart High, the other Sally Ride High School.

Of course, none of this applied to Fatin Jadmani.

Fatin Jadmani had picked up her friend’s older sister’s cello when she was four and accidentally played Beethoven’s Fifth. It wasn’t like it was hard or anything, the sheet music was right there and you start at the start symbol and go up when the dot thing goes up and that obviously means hold the note and obviously that’s a rest what, is it supposed to be hard?

So Fatin Jadmani was stuck going to a performing arts private high school and that whole redistricting thing didn’t apply to her. In fact, she wouldn’t have noticed it at all if it weren’t for the girl across the street.

Over the twenty years demographics changed: parts of the district got poorer, parts of the district got richer. But despite the natural migration of people’s across the state the city councilors decided every year to put off deciding the districts for another year. So after twenty years the students who went to Earhart High were mostly Hispanic, mostly lower income, and had the highest percentage of students in the free and reduced lunch program in the state. The kids who attended Sally Ride High School were majority white, majority upper class, and were congratulated on speaking two languages fluently--instead of expected to.

And it just so happened that if you were standing on one street your family was made up of multi-millionaires, you licked caviar from the lips of eager butlers in Europe and never missed Coachella. And if you were standing on the other side of the street your family was one missed pay check away from having to sell the car. Definitely not the worst off at Earhart, you can afford to bring a lunch, but you would be eaten alive at Sally Ride High.

It was lucky then, that Leah had a scholarship to the fancy performing arts school in the area. Lucky because otherwise her parents would’ve never been able to afford it.

All of this would’ve been fine! There was no issue with Leah and Fatin grinning at each other over chem homework, or Fatin reading over Leah’s latest short story, or Leah going to Fatin’s concerts. Leah could march up to her door and bring Fatin flowers whenever she wanted. Fatin could press her against her bedroom wall, kissing her breathless while her parents were out getting groceries.

It was perfect, it was easy, it was the kind of easy every childhood first love should be.

But then the city councilors said: has it really been twenty years already? Wow they just flew by! Who’s the president now? Bill something? We should really redraw those borders.

And everyone, collectively, lost their fucking minds.

It took one (1) meeting for the Jadmani’s (who’s daughter does not even attend the public high school) to decide that Leah wasn’t good enough for their daughter. And it took that same meeting for the Rilke’s (who’s daughter also does not attend the public high school but at least they were in the right here) to decide that the Jadmani’s were classist assholes and Leah shouldn’t be wasting her time with their trash daughter.

And the city councilors said: everyone’s got way more upset than we thought they would! Maybe twenty years was too long? Should we just leave it as is? Let us know!

It was an ordinary suburb in Berkley California, there are a lot like them. This one just happened to be the front lines of a war-zone.

[toutallyahoe]

I fully know what your blog is for, and it's not this. But I just wanna talk about my dumb rpg OCs. Cause I'm redrawing one as I'm talking to you. The last I played with him was a year ago, but he's still my son.

His name is Pippin. He's a dumb lanky ass ghoul boi who just wants to eat. Not just cause he's a ghoul and therefore constantly hungry, but also cause it feels nice. He likes the motion of eating. Together with STUMPED (a zombie/skeleton bard boi) he formed the "Expendibest!" (the best of the expendables).

The last time I played with him, Pippin was stealing from stands at the market. But then he was found out and so he and stumped had to run. But in the process, Pippin knocked over an orange stand and fell over everything. He lost all the meats he had tried to steal in the chase.

Pippin and stumped somehow convinced a group of undead from a different necromancer that we were there to help (even though we were sent there to stop them). Pippin took the lead. It did not go well.

Pippin fell down a wall he tried to climb over.

Stumped broke one of his finger bones by trying to use it to pick a lock.

Pippin was struggling with fighting an old butler in a house we tried to break in, Stumped frightened the guy so badly he died.

We ended up actually helping the other undead and now their necromancer thinks that our necromancer send us there on purpose to help. So it all worked out.

We found a goose cult? And we quickly left. Cause we did not want to mess with that.

oh, you know that my blog is always welcome to talk about random shit. it may be horny but its always open for you to just gush about anything daeling!

and i havent even known pippin or stumped until know but i already fucking love them. they are fucking dumbasses and i am cackling at how the accidentally still did their work even with it having a rocky start, middle and close to finished akdbajdnwkjejfjwjejsnnf

[something-in-the-seas]

Did I replay Resident Evil 2 recently, yes. Did I remember the Bioshock/RE AU and redraw that old pic from months ago? Also, yes. 

I don’t know what’s scarier, being alone while Mr. X stalks you in the police station or having a bunch of little vampire-gremlin babies acting like they’re spectators to a gladiator fight and they’re really, really wanting you to die. 

 ~ ~ ~ 

“I can’t reach the button on the machine!” Leon watched the five-year-old stomp her foot, unfazed that her one remaining sock was drenched in blood. She turned to the giant, monster in the trench-coat and crossed her arms with a huff. “I can’t reach it, I’m too little!” Her brows furrowed as she pouted. 

The Tyrant stared down at the tiny girl. He tilted his head much like a dog would before he turned to the barely functioning vending machine. He raised his fist-

“No!” she cried, jumping at him with her arms held up. “I wanna press the button! Pick me up! Pick me up, please!” 

Surprisingly, he obliged, and with gentleness unseen for the creature’s size, he scooped her up and held her up to the machine. When she was done, he put her down. 

“Thank you!” She grinned, hugging her candy close. “High-five!” 

What shocked Leon even more was that the Tyrant actually held his hand out. She squealed, giggling and clapping her hands happily. As horrifying as it was...

“Aw, that's adorable,” Leon said, accidentally blowing his cover and earning him a punch in the face. 

His pain was hysterical to her. 

[wall-krawler]

Chapter 3- Cliché High

Midtown High School. The only interesting fact about the school is that over the last two years they’ve remodeled the lockers to make it impossible for a kid to get locked in. Kudos to the school board for trying to cut down on bullying. However, bullying came in all shapes and sizes. Midtown High was unfortunately a victim to these creative bullying techniques.

Terrik Cortez made it clear a long time ago that he was a smart bully. He avoided doing anything physical in front of witnesses, created untraceable dummy accounts to pick on those he deemed were “punks”, and somehow he came off as a class clown instead of a total ass.

Spoiler alert. He’s always an ass.

So when everyone was sitting through their mind numbing calculus class and there was an opened mouth sleeper, the set up was too perfect for Terrik not to take advantage of it.

“Watch this.” Terrik whispered to some of his friends, drawing in their attention as he began to crush a piece of paper down to a tiny ball. They all begin to smile as he turned around to check out his target. With their mouth open and head resting against the chair it made things too easy.

“Ay Beans!” He called out, stopping the teacher from talking and gaining everyone else’s attention. The kid only stirred until the wad of ball was thrown right into his mouth.

“Ah??” He jumps lightly in his seat, startled as his eyes opened suddenly and his mouth clamped down onto the wad of paper. Because they were in calculus this was treated like the funniest comedy skit ever seen. When in reality it was just embarrassing. It only got worse...

“Mr Dean,” The teacher sighed, he looked so tired and at this point there was no point in yelling. “Please just...spit it out.”

Marcus Dean, a seventeen year old doofus, got up and did the walk of shame towards the trash can. It wouldn’t be so bad if this wasn’t the eleventh time he’s had to do this. Marcus was one of Terrik’s favorite victims.

“Sorry Mr Cripe, it-“

“-Won’t happen again, yeah I know.” The teacher cut him off before going back to scribbling sloppy notes. He was quick to get back to doing his real job. Remember how the school board was trying to cut down on bullying? Yeah...that was a failed attempt.

🕷🕷🕷🕷

Marcus has always known that he blended in too well with the background. He wasn’t popular due to avoiding sports and he never rocked the hottest outfits. He’d rather wear a pair of jeans with a jacket instead of a jumpsuit. But that set aside he just couldn’t figure out why he felt so basic.

And yet somehow, as basic as Marcus claimed to be, his best friends were the exact opposite. They were the only reason why he kept showing up to school.

“Marcus, why?” Ethan held up his phone to show a repeating gif of Marcus waking up and “swallowing” the piece of paper. It wasn’t well made but apparently it got a lot of views.

“Do I really look like that?” Marcus questioned, not realizing how messy his hair was until he watched the video. He subconsciously reached up to touch the wavey mess, trying to flatten it a little while sliding his backpack on.

Ethan Just rolled his eyes but smiled, appreciating his friends lack of worry. “Yes, you’ve looked like this since freshman year dude.” He aggressively ran his hand through Marcus hair which resulted the two getting into a playful fight.

Marcus honestly wouldn’t be able to explain how he became friends with one of the coolest Jocks at their school. Ethan was taller, more muscular, and he had that charm to him. Maybe it was the intimidating muscles that flexed through his tight shirts but the girls just swooned over him. In a way he was also cliché but in the way Marcus wanted to be.

As the two were making their way down the hallway a third squeezed in between the two with their overly large curly ponytail. This was Toni.

Again something was being forced into Marcus full view as they walked. “I saw the gif, it was poorly made but funny enough to redraw.” Toni chuckles as she held up her sketchbook. In the middle of unreadable notes was a little doodle of Marcus sleeping with drool hanging from his lip as a ball was being tossed into his mouth.

“This is so mean. I’m not a recycle bin.” Marcus faked being hurt as he read the sloppy words written on the doodle’s shirt. In reality he was wearing an Atari shirt, one that she despised. She liked to call him a fake 80’s fan.

Toni huffed before shuttering her book closed, letting Ethan chuckle first. “Yeah but your shirt deserves to be in one.” She threw shade, not caring how it came out. Which really spoke a lot about who she was. Toni’s was more color expressive. Her giant Afro was platinum blonde and she went out of her way to wear her own tagged work. Pants and jean jackets all had running spray paint stains. She was a cool hipster cliché. The kind Marcus wanted to be.

“Hey don’t bash too hard, gotta save your best material for tomorrow when he’s being a super nerd.” Ethan told Toni, smirking as he reminded them about the trip that was scheduled for the next day.

Marcus eyes light up as he rememberers. “That’s right! The Oscorp trip is going to be so cool.” He said excitedly, recalling all the new information he read on their websites. “Four levels of the building is being showed off to the public for the first time in like ages. We’ll be the first to see what they’ve been working on.”

“See? Super nerd.” Ethan teases as Marcus lightly shoves him. But even though Ethan picked on the shorter friend he truly did see the excitement in the field trip. He just didn’t understand the level of excitement Marcus was on.

Toni seemed to just shrug, not necessarily caring about Oscorp or what they were doing. “Those places are all talk until they accidentally create something decent. That’s how most of those places operate.” She did a little shuffle walk to avoid tripping over her loose shoe laces.

“I don’t know, I’ve just always thought they’ve seemed...secretive.” Marcus imagined a person for a moment before shaking the thought away. He knew who it was but he didn’t want to deal with that right now. “Plus, it’ll be fun.”

The other two mumbled in response to it being fun but they didn’t diss their friend for trying to make the trip seem less lame. It clearly meant something to him so they respected that. “We’ll see Dean.” Toni patted the boys on the back before making her escape through one of the schools many exits. Continuing her daily skip.

“Welp, there she goes again.” Ethan commented. They were used to seeing her skip their last hour but it never stopped being funny when she would get caught. “Think they’ll assign her a truancy officer?”

“Maybe.” Marcus smiled as he watched Toni’s blond poof bob up and down as she tried to stealthy run off school grounds. “But they’ll have to catch her first.”

The late bell rings and the two quickly rush to their last period, not being as stealthy as Toni. But at least now Marcus didn’t feel as lonely as he did earlier. All because of his best friends. They made him feel like a good Cliché.

🕸🕸🕸🕸

[siarven]

Day 7 - Worldbuilding/ Dragons!

Worldbuilding of Aelaris - DRAGONS!  @originalficfest​ — THANK YOU so much for doing this! It was amazing :D (And I’m actually really sad that this is the last day! So much motivation...)

|| Introduction | Day 1 - Characters | Day 2 - Romantic Relationships | Day 3 - Non-Romantic Relationships | Day 4 - Quote Day | Day 5 - Music Day | Day 6 - Pictures Day | Day 7 - Worldbuilding/Dragons ||

First of all, there are several different classifications of dragons, and none of them are originally from Aelaris but from a different world entirely. If you want to read more about them, there’s info below (a lot ahahah). 

Anyways, dragons in the world of Dreams and Shadows! Dragons have existed for the past 500 years — since the Apocalypse. This means that everyone living today has never known a world in which dragons don’t exist. The dragons living in Merreadon, the city in which most of the story takes place, are predominantly very small — there are several different kinds but for the sake of simplicity the ones that are most common there are Featherdragons and mammal-based ones that don’t have a proper name yet but might probably end up being called Fuzzydragons (if you have an idea for a proper name you could send me a message, haha.). There are as many different kinds of featherdragons as there are different kinds of birds and most of them just sit around doing bird things, basically. Some are really intelligent and capable of speech, others not quite, mostly depending on the individual. 

All of them can communicate via mind-link (via Essence/magic) but some haven’t quite mastered language yet, so they use images and sounds and smells in addition to words. To the inhabitants of Merreadon it’s completely normal that there are dragons sitting everywhere, building nests, rearing their young, shitting on your coat when you go to work… just imagine a bunch of kids playing with a ball, and then they throw it accidentally into a bush where a featherdragon is sitting and the next thing they know the tiny creature is cussing at them violently inside their head? :D Also, there are two modes featherdragons: ball of floof and aesthetically sleek. :D Some people think that they’re different species but mostly it’s a question of temperature xD Featherdragons are somewhere between sparrow-sized and eagle-sized, at least the ones living in Merreador. 

Then there are the mammal-based dragons, which range from squirrel-sized to large-dog-sized, though the bigger ones don’t roam the streets of Merreadon and prefer to live in the woods instead. They lead similar lives to the featherdragons and love fruit most of all. They are also really great at remembering things so some people use them as messengers by bribing them with fruit to transmit messages. This only works somewhat, though, because they’re also very mischievous and resist taming 100% of the time. Featherdragons generally don’t care about people and prefer their flocks, living wild and free the way they want. They can’t be tamed and usually die in captivity so it’s illegal to own one (not to speak of the fact that you’ll only “own” them for about a month before they refuse to eat or drink) They are true free spirits. Fuzzydragons, by comparison, are loners that love playing pranks on people. They’re generally smarter than featherdragons. They also tend to “choose” humans to hang out with, especially lonely humans, and can become lifelong friends. They might still end up pranking you, though. It’s just in their nature. So it’s very possible that, if you suffer from depression or mental illness, you might end up having a fuzzydragon follow you, trying to make you laugh. You might just end up becoming friends for life.

The Apocalypse, how Dragons came into being, and why people call them dragons.

There was this apocalypse some 500 years ago. Basically people had once made a pact with the Ellariel (mythic beings) that granted them magic powers, more or less. This led to humanity getting a shit-ton done and creating a great amount of technology and generally being quite unkind to their home-world. The Ellariel finally saw that coming and broke the pact, redrawing and breaking off any contact with humans, but by then it was more or less too late. It took a few hundred years until humanity regained their footing but in the end it didn’t change the outcome, it just pushed it back.

So now we’re at the point where the planet is on the brink of utter destruction — climate change, animal extinction rate going through the roof, no natural resources left, most people fighting for survival in ruined cities while the 1% has all the power, money, and food. Usual crap.

Now there was one Ellariel in specific, Luzire, who really, really did not like this. So she made a few deal to get enough power to change that, which in turn made her go completely lunatic (I mean, she did become Master of Chaos, after all…). And then she used this power to sway a few important followers into joining her cause: Wiping humanity off the face of the earth.

That was the apocalypse: When nature suddenly went insane because Luzire used her chaotic powers to give plants mobility, to make animals into monsters, and to generally wreak havoc. When the remaining (and opposing) Ellariel finally managed to stop her some years later there were only a few pockets of humans left and the world couldn’t be compared to what it had been anymore. The technology, buildings, steel, glass — everything gone, just ruins left. Basically, nature was returned to its original state — but most animals were different from before, and somewhere during the chaos dragons had slipped through. And since most humans were dead and there were so few left that the ones who remembered probably never saw one everything the following generations had were tales that had been handed down from their ancestors, including tales of dragons — except that they’d only been mythology in that past world. Today’s society calls dragons “dragons” because of those stories. They are somewhat certain that there were no dragons before the apocalypse but nobody knows for sure. And since in this world they’re kind of uncreative with naming, everything with four legs and two wings is called a dragon, even if the different species have very little in common. There are amphibious dragons, reptilian, mammalian, and finally, bird-dragons! They were created during the Apocalypse by Viridaeya, Goddess of Creation, though they weren’t meant to roam this world. They just found a chink and slipped through — to be specific, the Sanctuary, the multi-storey garden structure at the centre of Merreadon, the city in which Dreams and Shadows takes place predominantly. That’s also why there are so many dragons living there, and why the Sanctuary is as beautiful as it is. People don’t consciously notice but they can sort of feel it and therefore there are a lot of superstitions surrounding dragons. They’re also rather well-treated by almost everyone :)

Dragons are very smart — not the way a person is smart, but of a different kind of intelligence. Most of them are capable of speech, though it’s inside your head, so not really a word-based language — more sensory-based, with sounds, images and smells. They use their connection to the Essence for that.

Species of dragons.

There are many different kinds of dragons and only a few of them live as far north as Merreadon. The typical, “proper” reptile-based dragons do exist, and even in big sizes, but there are only very few of those big ones. Some kinds of reptilian dragons never stop growing, and they have a rather long life-time because there are no age limits for they since they feed off Essence (magic, basically) in addition to “normal” food. Anyways, these big dragons can only exist because of Essence, otherwise their immense weight would crush them. They’re also incapable of flight because they’re generally too heavy. They could fly, once, but that was one or two centuries back. Anyways. The big dragons that exist are the ones that still live, First Generation. They also love eating people, and live a lot further to the south where they prefer to live their lives undisturbed by humans. While humans do taste quite good, they also make a lot of trouble ;)

Reptile dragons exist in multiple forms: just scales and “bat wings”, typical dragon fashion; just scales and scaled arms from which feathers grow; and partially feathered all over their body, with feather wings. There are also a few aquatic species, which get really large, too. 

There are no reptile dragons in Merreadon because it gets far too cold in winters and while it could be colder in summer they do prefer it hot or at least warm year-round. There are a few specialized species that spend the winter deeply buried somewhere (like snakes) but none as far north as Merreadon, apart from the aquatic species. There are a few deep sea terrors in the arctic oceans, and they mostly survive because of Essence, and because they can slow down their metabolism to incredible depths.

Amphibious dragons! They live mainly underwater, and they’re the weirdest, coolest, and largest of them all, especially the deep sea dragons! There are a few kinds that don’t get very large, though, and one of these kinds is common in the streams and rivers on Merreadon island. They don’t get longer than a chopstick and their wings have been re-purposed into awesome paddles XD Ava and Ben have caught one, once, and Ben got bit and had to go to the hospital because of possible infections :P Ava was still rather small back then so she had a few nightmares during the following nights. And then she decided to find another one but never did.

There are also insect dragons, of course, chitin dragons. They live to the west and south and everyone hates them with a burning passion. They are mostly really annoying and will talk to you inside your head. Which is worst of all, basically.

The bird dragons! In addition to the ones above, two species can become as large as 2m shoulder height, but the rest stays rather small — song-bird size, max eagle size. Also, the large ones don’t occur near Merreadon.

And, finally, mammalian dragons! They are the most common kind of dragon in/around Merreadon and range from very small sizes (squirrel-sized) to large-dog size. They have bat-like wings, with skin between the wing-fingers. They can be put in the “floof” category or the “sleek” category. There are more floof dragon species in Merreadon :D

Generally speaking, dragons are theoretically immortal, if they want to be, at least concerning old age. This is most visible in the reptilian and amphibious dragons. Chitin dragons usually don’t get much older than 10 years, and bird and mammal dragons are somewhere between 20 and 100 years, depending on the individual. If a mammal dragon has chosen a human as their companion they’ll usually live as long a their human does, and then die when they die. Bird dragons usually live as long as their chosen mate. There are documented cases of queer dragons raising the babies of deceased parent dragons, because while it doesn’t happen often, accidents can occur at any time and there are lots of animals that eat dragon. And sometimes humans are just mean.

@prismalicht, @madmooninc @lynnafred @romenna @merigreenleaf @yoojas3d@fynniana @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot :D If you want to be added/removed please tell me!

[bowl-of-shortness]

FOR THE RWBY NECROMANCER AU BLOG

I posted 5,977 times in 2021

5814 posts created (97%)

163 posts reblogged (3%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.0 posts.

I added 11,953 tags in 2021

#headmaster ozpin - 1967 posts

#ozpin - 1967 posts

#professor ozpin - 1966 posts

#necromancer ozpin - 1584 posts

#vix (blog owner) - 1075 posts

#qrow branwen - 964 posts

#necromancer qrow - 850 posts

#necromancer au ironwood - 718 posts

#glynda goodwitch - 467 posts

#necromancer glynda - 395 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#also here’s some context: the reason ironwood isn’t his boastful self isnt bc of the voices thing. it’s cuz of the fact that he didn’t sleep

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

A hug, perhaps?

Look! I drew actually good hands! I used myself for pose reference and went from there, but here have a lad in his updated outfit :)

41 notes • Posted 2021-05-26 14:28:49 GMT

#4

THE SPADE.

“Another example is the Spade, The spade represents a leaf of the "cosmic" tree, and thus life. Along with its companion suit, clubs, spades represent fall and winter and the power of darkness. In the Tarot, they symbolize intellect, action, air, and death.”

- Necromancer Ozpin

42 notes • Posted 2021-04-11 22:03:38 GMT

#3

See the full post

49 notes • Posted 2021-07-04 22:10:31 GMT

#2

Happy birthday Oscar!

50 notes • Posted 2021-04-05 14:53:44 GMT

#1

Ozpin week day 3: Childhood/Mistakes

——————————————————————————

Glynda: who are you?

Ozzy: ah! Sorry! Wasn’t trying to do anything wrong, I just accidentally slipped on some ice…..

Glynda: I asked who you are, not why you were here.

Ozzy: oh….uh. My name is Ozpin

Glynda: Glynda goodchurch.

Ozzy: nice name

Glynda: thanks….I don’t really like the last name though…..anyways, I shouldn’t really be out here.

Ozzy: why not?

Glynda: mom and dad don’t like me talking to street kids…

Ozzy: they the one’s who gave you that nasty scar too?

Glynda: . . . Yeah…

Ozzy: they sound like real pieces of shit.

Glynda: *snickers* you’re funny, a lot funnier than the other rich kids.

Ozzy: *poses dramatically* why thank you!

Glynda: you know, I don’t mind getting in trouble a little bit if it means we can be friends. I-if that’s ok….

Ozzy: sure! You wanna go run around the city?

Glynda: I can’t run from home….mom and dad will find out….

Ozzy: well I can bring you back before morning and we can do this every night, a chance for you to do what you want. Not what those rich fuckers want.

Glynda: …that sounds nice

Ozzy: great! Here, I’ll show you how to climb the fence!

Glynda: by the way…..I’m sorry for bringing up my parents, I’m just—

Ozzy: —scared of them, I get it. My parents aren’t super great people either. But hey! It’s alright, you’ve got a friend now, right?

Glynda: yeah!

——————————————————————————

This is a redraw of a drawing I made a while ago! And I’m really happy with this version of it.

Anyways, this is when N! Oz and N! Glynda first met!

51 notes • Posted 2021-09-22 17:44:31 GMT

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