#and even if the shading is a mess and the shapes don't really make sense and the body looks weird-

[akantorrr]

Dying halo

Based on this post:

I did say I'd draw it >:0

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mr. Moon and Sun

Debut: Wario Land 3

Hey gamers! There was a solar eclipse yesterday! Did you get to see it? I saw the sun become a little crescent shape. How the tables have turned! If you don't know what an eclipse is, please refer to the boss battle with Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright in Kirby's Dream Land 2. Mr. Shine (the moon) can hover in the sky, and Mr. Bright (the sun) can go to one side of him, creating bright light that can cause damage if Kirby is not in the safe zone created by Mr. Shine's shade. Maybe Kirby would be safe in the light if he had extremely dark glasses made specifically for this purpose, but he doesn't, so he should not look at the sun. Don't look at the sun please!

You can look at Sun from Wario Land 3, though, as well as Mr. Moon from Wario Land 3. I hope they're not upset I spent their introductory paragraph talking about a different sun and moon duo! It is so funny the moon and sun are made into a binary, considering the real sun could effortlessly defeat the real moon if it was alive and mean. Here, though, the moon is the one with the advantage, being named Mr. Moon, while the sun is just Sun! But maybe one day his full name will be Mr. Sun Moon...? Ooh la la! Ok guys, let's get a silly one before I talk about the gameplay!

Heehee! Very nice! Mr. Moon and Sun only appear in some uncommon sky areas, where they will mess with Wario, because everything in the world is out to get him, and he probably deserves it regardless of context. You know the deal. They are Enemies. Both will chase Wario and shoot their own projectiles: Sun shoots fireballs that set him ablaze, which makes sense since the sun is a Fire Orb, but Mr. Moon shoots stars, which electrify Wario! Stars don't do that! And what's this floating rock doing with stars? Why doesn't the actual star of this pair get stars? Sun/Moon dichotomy really is so silly when you think about it to any degree!

I am glad the wiki has a gif of Mr. Moon, because I love the way he turns sideways! Don't tell Sun, but Mr. Moon is my favorite because of this. I just love how he is a mere crescent, but with a sort of aura to fill out the same space as Sun.

These sprites were ripped by ShyGuyXXL, who I must thank even MORE for making these two kiss! Earlier I explained what an eclipse is in gamer terms, but in science terms, it is when the sun and moon kiss each other, and it is specifically in a gay way every time. Sorry to Straight Sunmoon Shippers! Just the way it is!

[adobe-outdesign]

are there any neopets/colors/combinations thereof you have a really strong opinions about but haven’t had the chance to review?

(I'll do Peophins for this one as I feel like I like them more than most and there's no requests in for them right now.)

I'm always amazed that Peophins aren't more popular than they are. They are one of the most beautiful 'pets by far—Neopets as a whole have pretty stocky, chunky anatomy, but Peophins are abnormally thin proportionally, and surprisingly anatomically accurate to real horses compared to something like the Uni. This gives them a natural elegance, which a lot of colours build upon.

Peophins are also really strong conceptually, taking inspiration from mythologies like the hippocampus. Even if you don't know what that is, the mere idea of an aquatic horse with a tail instead of back legs and fins along their ears is a very unique and easy design to grasp. Little things like the plates on their snouts also add to the uniqueness of the design.

The only thing that's bad about Peophins (other than the fact that underwater Neopets like them don't get much NPC rep) is that their basic colours are kind of terrible. They have the base color and yellow accents, but then turn around and have a really off-putting second color for the mane and a random green spot on their forehead gem, creating a mess of a palette. It would've been much better if the green gem was either yellow or the base color, and the mane was a neutral lighter tone. Thankfully, most other Peophin colors fix this issue.

Peophins benefited heavily from conversion, as their old art was extremely dated. In addition to overall art quality, the anatomy was also improved to be less lumpy and things like the ears and mane were improved proportionally.

Favorite Colours:

Tyrannian: Tyrannian's caveman-like designs are not something I'd usually refer to as pretty, but the Peophin knocks it out of the park. The dark streak down the back and the underbelly combined with the fur makes it look a lot more like a prehistorical seal-esq creature, and little details like the mask being made out of stone are perfect. The mane is also quite pretty and adds a much needed pop of color.

Both the UC and converted versions are great, though I'll give the UC a minor edge for having a slightly more unique shape to the ears/fins and having the tail elements be more visible.

Royal: What I like about royal Peophins is that they take the idea of the Peophin's head plate and gem and expand on it, both by wrapping it around the ears to make a kind of crown and by adding lots of complimentary jewelry. I also like how the robes flow nicely with the body and make logical sense for an underwater creature. Both the royal girl and boy are good and match each other well, though between the two I do like the royal girl a bit more just because of the lovely palette.

Stealthy: Slightly unusual for a ninja colour but still very cool, the stealthy Peophin feels like it was also made with the water in mind. Lose-fitting cloth ninja robes are replaced with water-friendly mesh, and there's a bunch of metal holding bands that compliment the usual head plating. I also think that it's neat that they have a tie around their mouth similar to the reins of a normal horse. Also, the unclothed base, while much simpler, is also pretty nice.

BONUS: I'm normally of the opinion that faerie pets are best with markings, whether they be swirls, layers of color, or speckles, so that they're not just a normal Neopet with wings attached. However, while I would've loved to see some light pink swirls around the hooves and tail of the faerie Peophin, it still looks really nice. This is mostly because the lavender base is complimented by pink and silver accents, making it different than a basic Peophin.

Also, the UC/styled version is stunning; the pose is super fluid, the shading is really good, and the slightly different, more defined anatomy in the face really adds something. The converted version is still nice enough, but the wings are a bit too small and washed out color-wise, having lost the yellow dots in them.

They also screwed up the wing shape a bit; it's easier to see in the original Battledome poses, but the wings are one single wing that should run down the back rather then overlapping. They only overlap in the styled art because of the perspective on the tail that isn't present in the converted version.

[evablueblanket]

Will you tell me about an LU character you love and why you love them? Please please please ramble on and on! It's my favorite! I get so many fun ideas when people gush about their favorites.

I (think) I've said this before, but I am not the most analytical/observ person ever so most of what I say is probably kinda shallow :') BUT THIS IS MY RAMBLE SO OH WELL

Okay so recently, I've been on a Warriors kick. I just super love how like, everyone portrays him! Most see him as big brother shaped, which I super love. His background is just so vastly different than every other Link, which serves as a very cool contrast imo

The way @somer-writes makes Twi and Wars idiodic brothers is like, my favorite ever. I love love love LOVE how he writes Wars and Twi it's so insane the comedy that unfolds when they're just messing around xD

Warriors has this air, this *vibe* which I'm just super drawn too, I think it's just how my personality vs his works (you could theoretically draw *some* parallels with Sokka from ATLA, at least the way they each hold themselves I'd say. Also big bro stuff) (ALSO how both of them are portrayed as 'smart', which is a trait I typically relate too in characters)

When I like a character though, it's more based on the different types of relationships everyone writes them as though, I'd say. Wars and Time and Wind have this super intriguing bond that I think is cool to see how everyone interprets it! For the most part people write them as they're all aware of the War of Ages and whatnot, which lead to some nice fluff and/or angst. But when there's some time paradoxes, it makes it every so more tragic and it's really interesting to see how that can get written. I recall a fic (I FORGOT THE TITLE AND THE AUTHOR NOO) where Wars was teaching Wind medic stuff, but it was like a year before Wind meets Wars in the war. So Wars is all "sob this is why Wind is such a good medic? *Bc I taught him?*" THIS IS SO COOL AND INTERESTING

Also when there's War of Ages fics that have Time/Mask being a stupid child (/aff) they're just super hilarious. There's a series out there that has the Fierce Deity (sorry forgot the author again xD) act as Wars parent figure/older brother figure and it's just really funny to me bc ofc Wars would be a stupid overworking idiot. Loser smh

Four is also another one of the sillies that live in my brain, and I kinda wish there were more fics on how they interact. Though, if I'm being real idk how they really would cause they don't really have the same synergy as any other Links. I just like my favorites to interact, but I super understand how they wouldn't ^^

Small side bit on serious Wars (the biggest example is "Call Them Brothers" by wutheringmights which I'm almost 100% certain you've read that already cause it's soooo long and it's SO GOOD AHH) and ugh I wish I could pay attention more to get every complexity that this Wars has but the brain kinda hates me. I think it makes a lot of sense for Wars to have a grittier characterization, war does that to people. The entire fic is so visceral to me, I just vividly remember reading the flashback section about the long winter, and I don't even know how to really describe it xD

Wars has such a broad range of emotion, if one were to put him under and microscope and study him there would be SO MUCH.

HAVE I TALKED ABOUT THE AESTHETIC

HES THE FUCKING PRETTY BOY OF THE GROUP AND THAT'S SO VALUBLE TO ME FOR NO REAL REASON

Ik Wild is seen as the one with like, outfits and Legend has his jewlery, BUT WARS HAS HIS FUCKING SCARF. THERES SO MANY POSTS ABOUT WARS AND HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SCARF AND I AM SO FUCKING FOR IT YOU HAVE NO IDEA

THE SHADE OF BLUE IS AWESOME, ITS SO COOL, ITS SO COOL HES SO COOL RAHHHH

*oops tehe I rambled like a lot* ty for this opportunity :D I'm super glad I decided to type this on my laptop and not my phone xD

[gritsandbrits]

Okay some redesign notes his design isn't awful but definitely needs work.

Change the hat to a standard crown. It already looks like an apple and the rims can be serpent shaped.

BEEF HIM UP.

Or give him a dad bod!

Also give the cane gold accents

Dark blue or sunrise colored wings that contains stars (think of Teela's sorceress design from the cgi he man). He is called MORNINGSTAR for a reason.

Make his hair a deeper shade of blond so it wont blend in with his skin (or give him a deeper skin tone)

Traditionally depicted with red hair but personally I'd stick to blond or a soft orange pink. Like the dawn. ✨MORNINGSTAR✨

Also wrinkles so he looks older and experienced instead of looking like Charlie's twin

His canon outfit is fine it just needs more gold & other accent colors. Preferably blue for holy or green for wealth/envy.

Eyes can be blue or purple for angelic roots

Imma take a page from another Jeremy Jordan character - BLUE HAIR STREAK

Again, adding more blue/purple balances with red and hints to his angelic roots

he wears a mechanic outfit in his down time because he is an active schemer - an inventor if you will - also bc i love a man in goggles

Demon form is a European style dragon for serpent symbolism. Feathered wings you know like how some species of dinos had feathers.

Now for writing. I honestly dont mind him being the goofy ash dad but GIVE HIM EDGE TOO. He talks more elegantly and archaic, everyone can't be sounding like a late 2000s anime forum edgelord. Make him a diabolical mastermind who sees charlie as a disappointment at first then he realizes he isn't treating her better especially when the angels & Adam start messing with her. Stick with him being the villain in adam and eve's story; he isn't let off easy.

He drove Lilith away with his selfish pursuit of Knowledge. He hopes he can win her back but she still dislikes him, she only hears him out for Charlie's sake.

I'm split on the Adam dynamic; on one hand it makes sense considering Luci ruined his life. But I also think Archangel Michael is a worthy opponent because technically have the same ranking, and Michael is the often the one who banishes Lucifer from heaven in the first rebellion. So Luci has a complex dynamic where in a show about grey morality, Michael is justified in cutting him off and NOT demonized for doing so. Hehe. But also with Luci gradually losing family and love he realize he took it too far and tries to be supportive or at least not actively threaten people.

Inaccuracy aside, I don't even really mind that he's a separate entity from Satan. Just make Lucifer a bad boy, a truly bad boy. Make him edgy. Make him elegantly evil. Make him goofy. Just give him depth.

[cranity]

hi hi! i love your art so much & specifically how you use shapes, especially when you’re drawing heads and faces. i was wondering if you have any tips about how to incorporate shapes this way! pls feel free to ignore if course!

Thank you! I was mulling over this trying to figure out an answer that makes sense. I usually go for what "feels right" which is not a great answer lol so come deconstruct my choices with me in real time--

When i'm drawing figures i'm never aiming particularly for realism when it comes to movement. I go for flashy, poster perfect-esque compositions, so if having Vash's coat-tails flit around him unnaturally don't make sense but it looks cool, then i'll go for it! I think i'm always looking for a solid silhouette so whatever pose the character is striking, you can tell what's going on. Finding the right balance between making a silhouette with too much vs not enough is not something I know how to explain, but something I believe is important! :']

I also tend to extend a characters "energy" outward:

you can see in all these corners and edges everything points outward and even curves a slight bit away. I think this is one of the reasons people tend to call my art sharp/spikey! I don't tend to shade/render my work a terrible amount, preferring a flat graphic look most of the time or just playing with blacks (which is a whole shape language in itself) but when I do, all the shadows and highlights shapes tend to take on a spikey/lightning bolt shape even tho it wouldn't look like that in real life!

It's just really pleasing to me and I like how it looks! The spikier something is for me, the better! If you couldn't guess at this point, starts/lightning bolts are my favorite shapes haha Another thing I tend to do is avoid is curved lines. They're definitely still there! But my flow is more jerky straight lines so that if I drew a circle in my style it'd look like a messed up pentagon with soft points, that basic rule in my art brings forth funky shapes that otherwise wouldn't be there if I was trying to stick to realistic shapes This probably didn't answer a lot ToT but I hope my rambles brought something to light, whatever that may be!

[covenofwives]

Going Home Part 2

DreamXD is madder than he has ever been, having just saved Dream and George from the End. While he takes George home he has different ideas for Dream, instead giving his brother over to someone else to watch while he cleans up Dream's mess. Dream's lucky day is he gets to meet another God, too bad the God is a sleepy grouch who doesn't seem to want anything to do with Dream.

Part two of the three part fic! You don't need to read part one if you don't want to, but you might miss some details.

As voted by the peoples, part three will be coming out later on when it's finished. Originally this was only supposed to be two parts, but part two was going too long and I had a much better idea for it to be it's own story. It'll be worth it I promise!

Thank you all for your patient and support with this AU and I hope you all enjoy!

---

The tall white columns of the unending void ended a while back. Dream didn’t know when, but suddenly the hallways opened up to a wide void of opalescent colours. There were shapes and shadows off in the distance that moved around but Dream had no time to focus or make sense of them. He was dragged, by his arm through the seemingly endless spot, never being allowed to slow down. If he started to slack behind or falter a single step, DreamXD yanked his arm and he’d be stumbling to keep up.

The brothers had been walking in silence for probably ten minutes now. Neither said anything. Dream gave a glance up to XD every once in a while, but the anger radiating off his brother was too great for him to find the words. He tried to focus on something else, but his eye would keep wandering back to XD, and take in the marks of battle on him.

His lower right arm was limply hanging by his side. His cloak was torn to near shreds and covered in golden and violet blood. He winced every time he looked at those wounds, but it gave him enough courage to find his voice.

“E…EhexD…” Dream cleared his throat. His sibling didn’t respond. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for-”

“Stop talking.” XD’s snapped.

Dream clamped his lips shut, and just let himself be dragged the rest of the way in silence.

Eventually the landscaped changed. Gone were the white with tiny colourful hints and instead it slowly morphed into a dark blue. The dark blue overtook the white, but left small speckles all dotted about. Some shining or streaking through.

Like a night sky. Dream thought. He was so mesmerised by the stars, his steps faltered and he was yanked back to XD’s side.

“Keep up!” XD hissed.

“Wh-Where are we?” Dream was still too impressed to be scared.

“That’s not important! We’re here…”

Dream looked ahead, expecting to finally see something else grand in this wondrous place, but instead it was a lain out pile of blankets.

The blankets were all different shades of blues and purples. There were a few pillows strewn about between the blankets as well and a clumped up pile of blankets and pillows in the centre.

XD walked over the blankets and pulled Dream along. Dream was more hesitant to step on the cloth with his boots but XD didn’t really gave him a choice. He dragged Dream over the blankets to the big pile in the middle.

Dream didn’t even have time to look at it before XD gave the blanket a swift kick and the blankets jumped. They flailed and kicked about and Dream realised it wasn’t just blankets. There was a person in there.

The person kicked of the blankets and twisted themselves around. They sat up in the sheets pooled around them. They had a black tight turtle neck but their arms covered in flowing fabric that ended at the golden bracer around his wrists. Their hair was an unkempt, the colours fading between a dark and light blue as what seemed like stars streaked through their hair.

It reminded Dream of the realm, but when the person woke up the realm started to change. The night sky instantly faded and was replaced with a dark teal colour stretching out over the realm. It seemed to match the colours streaking down the stranger’s cheeks. Like colourful tear marks, almost.

The person looked around frantically before realising XD was there. “Wh-What is it? Wha-?”

“You’re watching him.” XD spoke before they could even finish.

The person seemed taken aback to the order. He looked incredulously to XD, though most of his expression was hidden by the large but familiar white goggles on his eyes. Eventually the stranger’s attention looked to Dream beside him, taking him in for the first time. He looked over the mortal before the corner of his lip turned up in a scowl.

He turned his bed back to XD then. “Excuse me?” It was less of an asking tone and more of a demand for an answer.

“You’re watching him.” XD repeated, and lifted Dream’s arm slightly as if to point out who the ‘him’ was. “Until I get back, Dream is to stay here and not leave.”

Dream just managed to keep back his gasp, but only because the news of it had shocked him. He honestly wasn’t sure where XD was taking him or for what purpose. But the last thing on his mind was to think XD was taking him to a babysitter. And a stranger no less! Dream’s mind added.

“Oh?” The stranger sat up straighter now. All daze of being awoken was gone and replaced with anger. “Am I to be a babysitter now? I don’t remember becoming one.”

Dream could hear his brother’s fangs grind together. “Just until I get back.” His attention then snapped to Dream, who had to fight back the urge to cower away. Even with the mask hiding his expression, Dream could hear the snarl in his brother’s voice. “You will wait here,” he said and pushed Dream forward to sit down.  Dream just caught himself but his legs wobbled under him so he was half sitting.

“I-I’m not a child!” Dream found his voice. The shock had worn off to anger now. To be treated in such a way was embarrassing. “I don’t need minded over!”

“This isn’t babysitting, this is punishment!” XD pushed Dream down till he was sat (half sitting half fallen) on the blanketed ground. “You should be grateful I’m taking you here! I’d lock you in the prison myself if I wasn’t so angry!”

The mention of that dreaded place took all fight out of Dream, and he shut his lips then. So it had been a thought that crossed his brother’s mind. There was a level Dream could get to in XD’s head that meant he deserved to be locked in the prison.

But even if he was silent, the stranger certainly wasn’t. “And I have no say in this?!” The person huffed. “Why am I being punished for something your brother done?!”

“Because I asked you to!” XD snapped, the last of his patience gone and he ended up shouting. Dream had heard XD angry, but he’d never heard him shout like that before. “And you’re supposed to be a friend who wants to help out another friend!” He added, his voice calmer now. “So, please, watch Dream until I get back.”

A long silence settled between XD and the stranger. Dream felt the tension rise like electricity between them, until the stranger huffed. “Fine…” He mumbled. He lay back down in the blankets, pulling some over him again but he seemed to be going back to sleep.

Once that was dealt with, XD sharply turned to Dream. Suddenly all the built up tension seemed directed straight to the blonde mortal, and Dream even flinched when the End God pointed at him.

“You will stay here, with HD, and not move!” He growled. Dream could hear his fang click together, seething with rage. “You better pray no-one else followed you into that stronghold and that yous were the only idiots to go through, otherwise you’re in worse trouble!”

Before Dream could even respond, or even think about what could be considered ‘worse’ right now, XD turned and he left. Disappearing instantly.

Even with XD gone the tension and electrical charge of the air still remained. Dream kept himself as still as possible, afraid to move and encure XD’s wrath again, or annoy the stranger wrapped up in his blankets.

At least Dream knew their name was HD now, though he couldn’t see much conversation happening between them. HD didn’t seem to want to talk or entertain XD’s visit, so it was even less likely he’d put up with Dream’s company.

Dream moved his head slowly and risked looking over to HD still buried in the blankets. They hadn’t seem to have moved since XD left. Maybe they had fallen back asleep, or they were trying to at least.

He hadn’t really been given an order from this HD, though the order from XD was clear. ‘Sit here and don’t move.’

Still, even with the threat of further anger from XD, the restless energy had returned. Dream had calmed down from the shock and fear of his fight with Dragon and facing XD’s wrath, and now it gave way to curiosity. And mischief.

Dream gave another sly look over to HD. He was still wrapped up in his blankets, only his starry hair flowing over the pillows was seen. Surely he was asleep by now. And if he was asleep there’s no way he was going to notice if Dream just wandered off just for a little bit.

He wasn’t allowed to look around when he was being dragged here by XD, but nothing could stop him just taking a harmless look around now. He’d be back way before HD even woke up. No-one would know.

He was curious how far this colourful realm reached. It seemed to fade in from the opalescent walk he was on before, so did that mean it was two different areas? How far did they stretch?

Dream was sure he could find out. The realm lay in a slight yellowish-green hue right now, fading from the teal of earlier and Dream wondered if it would fade into more colours. Or if there was something to set them off.

He had too many questions to just keep still. With a last peek back, Dream unfolded his legs out from under him and slowly stood up. HD didn’t move. Dream half stood up, taking a careful step forward. HD still didn’t move.

Already filled with the confidence he got away with it, Dream looked ahead, trying to remember which direction he and XD had come from and took a few steps forward. He was confident he could make it back to the grand hallway he saw. If he could just…

“UGK!”

Dream felt his hood be yanked back, pulling him down down before he was dragged back, undoing the distance between himself and HD.

“Do not even think about it!” HD hissed behind him. “You think I’d be that dumb and let you wander around by yourself?”

“I-I wasn’t going to go far!” Dream tried to reason while also trying to pull down the collar of his hoodie so he didn’t choke. HD’s grip was strong and he was dragged back all the way before the hand finally let go. Dream turned back but was surprised to see HD was still wrapped in his blankets. He hadn’t even turned around. Dream gave a sceptical was confused and looked behind him to see what had grabbed him.

It was a white floating hand in the process of letting his hoodie go. It was attached to no arm or body, just floating by itself.

“WH-What is THAT?!”

The hand floated to HD’s side before disappearing in a white mist.

“It’s to keep you out of trouble.” HD grumbled. He slightly turned over, looking to Dream through his white goggles. The lenses of them looked like static rather than a darkened lens. “If you try and get away, they’ll drag you back. If you keep trying they will hold you down until XD gets back. Is that clear?”

HD turned back over, this time laying on his front and gathering the pillows under him. “Sit there, be quiet and don’t bother me.”

That was the end of it, according to HD. It was impossible to tell if he’d fallen asleep again, or just pretending like he did last time. Dream watched him for a few seconds before slightly scooting away. He tried moving quieter this time but almost instantly the hand appeared in front of him, and before Dream could move it grabbed his arm and pulled him down.

“Don’t! Move!” HD hissed. “You move again, you’ll regret it. I promise you!”

Dream didn’t want to chance it again. HD sounded mad and the hand that forced him down was a lot rougher than the one before. He - very slowly - sat himself up again and when he didn’t move anymore the hand slowly let go and disappeared. A lot slower this time.

Now Dream was overly curious about the realm, but he no longer had the freedom to move and explore it. Which just made the urge to move that much worse. He crossed his legs over one another, one of them slightly twitching as he waited for…anything.

He supposed the only thing he was looking forward to now was XD returning, and then he’d have to deal with that whole mess. Dream sloughed  slightly. His mood soured as he thought of XD returning. He’d still be just as mad and still refuse to listen to Dream’s side of things. Well that was fine. XD never listened before why start now?

Going down this thought process was depressing, but Dream couldn’t distract his mind enough. He tried looking around the sea of soft blankets and pillows, only taking note that the colours were fading into a night sky again but that was it.

Dream was leaning his head over his hand, almost lulling to sleep himself when, finally, something changed.

The distant horizon seemed to mist out and fade from view so Dream wasn’t sure if the shapes were really there or just his eyes playing tricks. He stared at them, for a minute or so and realised they were there. Various shadowed shapes with glowing eyes were watching him from a distance. Few of the shapes were tall, humanoid looking, and others were not. Despite whatever shape they were they all stared with their glowing eyes, watching him.

Dream froze, unsure what to do. The figures were so far in the distance that surely they weren’t a threat, but Dream didn’t know how to deal with them. Were they friendly in this realm or was their fighting? Did HD know these figures?

He thought he was doing well keeping himself calmed enough, but one of the figures just slightly moved. It wasn’t like they lunged forward or anything like that but it was a noticeable move that got Dream’s heart racing and without taking his eyes away he tapped onto HD’s shoulder until he heard them huff.

“I told you to stop bothering me!” HD hissed as he pulled himself up from his pillow.

“There’s people here.” Dream made his voice go quiet. He felt rather foolish until HD suddenly picked himself up from his pillows, and looked to the shadowy figures with urgency.

HD doesn’t move for a few seconds before giving a light shrug with his shoulder. “They’re Gods.”

Dream blinked. “Wh-What?!”

“Other Gods.” HD refluffed his pillow under him. He leaned on it but didn’t bury his face in it like he was going to sleep. “They’re just checking you out. We don’t get many mortals through here.”

“Th-There are Gods here?!”

“Well you’re in the Godly Realm, so I would hope so!” HD huffed, like it was the most obvious thing. “They’re just having a look and they’ll leave.”

Yet despite HD’s confidence when Dream looked over, HD kept his eyes onto the distant figures. Dream tried to look at the Gods, but also keep his eye on HD. He didn’t know what was normal here and only had HD’s reactions to judge. During one of the times he glanced out to the shapes he saw another one of them move closer.

Dread filled Dream’s heart. He wanted to reach for his axe but was horribly reminded XD took his weapons from him. He hated feeling so defenceless.

He felt something grab onto the arm of his hoodie, and Dream looked down to see the white hand had appeared again. It gripped tightly onto Dream’s arm but it wasn’t like before, when it was pulling him. This time it was firm hand on him, offering support rather than harshly moving him.

The kindness confused Dream, but he didn’t have long to ponder on it. When he looked back up, there were fewer figures and even more going off to leave. Eventually they were all done, faded further into the horizon and the hand disappeared.

“See?” HD folded his arms under his head. “They left.” He sounded confident but Dream could also hear the sigh of relief in his words.

“Will they be back?” Dream gave a last look around the open horizon, suddenly not liking how open the space was.

“Others might, those that haven't seen you and want to. But they won’t come near here. No-one comes near me, and they’ll know you’re XD’s and Drista’s brother so nothing will happen to you.”

When he was certain there was nothing around, Dream relaxed again. Or relaxed as much as he could. He noticed HD seemed more alert. They were turned slightly on their side, and one hand rubbed under their goggles.

“Are…does that mean you…?”

“Yes, I am a God. I know. I hide it well.” HD huffed, but his voice was lighter than it was before. Perhaps that was even some attempt at humour. “Well I doubt I’m sleeping with you here.”

“Is that all you do?” Dream asked.

HD slowly looked around and made a waved off gesture to the area around them. “Well it would be a shame to let all these blankets and pillows go to waste.”

Dream held back a snort of laughter, only because he wasn’t sure if HD wanted it taken as a joke. But the starry haired God’s lips turned up in a small smile as he pushed himself to sit up.

It was hard to judge how to act when HD was awake. When they were asleep all Dream had to do was keep quiet but now he wasn’t sure what his goal was. They were hard to judge and even harder to read  with half their expressions hidden by the large white goggles.

The goggles looked strikingly familiar. And the shape of HD’s face reminded Dream of George in a way. It wasn’t an exact copy, like a clone or twin, but there was something similar about them in the shape of their jaw and nose. While that fact should have raised questions, it actually made Dream feel a little more relaxed. A reminder of George was better to have around if he couldn’t have George here with him.

Was that the reason George became so close to XD?

“What did you even do? To get XD so mad?”

HD’s voice pulled Dream out of his thoughts. He was thankful for it. “I uh… I went to the End.”

HD was setting up the pillows closest to him so he could sit up, and he paused midway through setting down one of the pillows. “Oh, yeah, I see why now.” He sounded surprised. “If it had been anyone else he would have killed them. I can see why he’s so mad .”

Dream felt the same agitation rear it’s head again. “Well he shouldn’t be! It’s my home too. I have a right to go back.”

“Did you want to go back home? Or did you want to kill the Dragon?”

Dream opened his mouth then quickly closed it. His cheeks burned red when HD gave a satisfied smile.

“I-If I could have gotten home without killing her, I would have!”

“Yes yes, but then you wouldn’t be the hero who saved the End.” HD settled onto the pillows, lounging over the pillows rather than laying on them. “Did you even consider that you might have given the dragon a way out to the Overworld? Or, did you even consider the possibility that you could have died?”

“I wouldn’t have died!” Dream snapped. “I wouldn’t have!”

“Really? So XD just came across you having a stroll in the End, is that it?”

“I would have killed the dragon!”

“Would have and would not have. You seem to have a lot of explanations for how it would have went. So should XD have left you? Were you just moments away from landing the killing blow?”

Dream opened his mouth again and then quickly shut it again. He didn’t know how to answer that one without admitting that HD was right. If XD hadn’t turned up when he did, he and George would have been dead. Burned alive by the fire or even if they did somehow avoid it, Dragon was being constantly healed and Dream and George would get tired eventually.

“Then what was your plan when she had died? Did you think XD would be thrilled you risked so much and put others in danger?”

“Yes!” Dream snapped, surprising himself with his answer. “Yes! Then they’d finally listen to me and take me seriously! Then they might actually pay attention to me again!”

An awkward silence fell over the two as the words said couldn’t be taken back. Dream’s face felt hot and he wished more than ever he had his mask to hide away in. It was worse as he couldn’t really tell what expression HD was making under his goggles and thick hair. He almost looked stoic, or unimpressed, but his shoulders slouched a little with his sigh.

“Ah…” The God finally spoke. “You didn’t want to be the people’s hero. You wanted to be a hero to XD.”

It was stated as a matter of fact and even Dream couldn’t find the fire to argue with it. He just looked away, with his face burning. His eyes stung with unfallen tears that he quickly blinked away.

Everything had been simpler explaining his plans to George, because while George bickered with him and said it was dumb, he would have followed Dream. Not from hazardous loyalty, but because there was an understanding between them that even if things did go wrong, they could have worked it out together. They were good at adapting to things and handling the unexpected.

HD’s elbow rested on one of the propped up pillows and he leaned his head over his hand as he watched Dream. Dream shyly looked back once he was sure his eyes were dry, but the static lens of HD’s goggles were cold to stare into. “Seems to me you didn’t have a plan at all, little champion. You just had a plan of what would happen after it.”

Unsure what to do with himself, Dream gave a half hearted shrug. Maybe he had said too much, but it wasn’t like HD was going to understand him anyway. The God couldn’t help or hinder the situation anymore so nothing was lost.

His eyes went to wander off until he noticed HD was still staring at him. Or, he assumed he was under the goggles.

It must have been a good few seconds of silence before HD spoke. “You’re so much like XD.” He breathed.

Dream shuffled under the comparison. “Well…y-yeah, we’re siblings.”

HD just hummed at that. They stared for a few seconds more before suddenly pushing himself to sit up. “You should change your clothes. You’re a mess.”

Green eyes blinked rapidly in surprise to HD’s sudden mood switch before Dream looked down at himself. He hadn’t realised how scuffed and ripped his clothes were. One of the worst rips was on his legs, tearing through his trousers to his shins. It was probably from the dragon’s teeth when she shook him off after stabbing her eye.

“I don’t have a change of clothes.” Dream pointed out, but HD seemed to have that fixed.

He was sat up, and suddenly clothes materialised on his arms. A soft short-sleeved green tunic and black sweatpants it looked like. “Will these fit?” HD asked, but he had already pushed the top up against Dream’s chest as though checking the measurements himself.

“I…y-yes…”

Dream quickly changed out of his shredded clothes and into the new ones HD had got for him. Or…made for him? Either way, the clothes fit him perfectly. The material of the top was soft, Dream kept touching over it just to feel. The trousers were a little rougher in feel but still very comfortable. Dream felt more relaxed and when he looked back to HD, there was another set of pillows propped up beside him. HD pat them and Dream, shyly, scooted over to sit by the God.

“Thank you…” Dream said.

“You might as well be comfortable, since I guess it will be a while before XD comes back.” HD shrugged. “He’ll be…oh! You’re hurt.”

Dream looked down to where HD had pointed. There was an ugly bruise and deep cut down his left arm, just under the sleeve. It was caked with dried in blood and there was another cut just over his wrist. Dream hadn’t even realised he was injured. Now that he looked at them he could feel the sting of the cuts and the aches of the bruise before his body followed suit. It was like it suddenly remembered what pain was.

“Do you want healed?” HD offered.

“Uh…y-yeah. If you have bandages I can do it myself.”

“No no, I can just heal you.” HD said it so casually and expectedly, like Dream should have known. Dream looked over to see HD holding out his hand, expectantly waiting for the arm to be given. “Give it here.”

Dream was hesitant before giving his arm over to HD’s waiting hands. The starry haired God held the arm in one hand, while the other covered over the wound.

The hand over the wound was warm, and Dream tensed himself. He remembered being healed by XD and remembered how much it tickled. His skin prickled just from the memory and he was expecting the same feeling to follow, but it never did. HD’s hand was just warm and a few seconds later he pulled his hand back and the wound was gone. The bruises had all faded as well.

“There you go. Where else are you injured?” HD let go of Dream’s arm. “I saw a bruise on your ribs earlier.”

There was a dull pain thumping against Dream’s ribs and side just from it being mentioned. He pulled up the tunic, looking down to the bruise that was currently purpling.

Even despite nothing happening with the last wound, Dream still tensed when HD pressed his warm hands on his ribs. He moved his hands to cover more of the bruise and Dream flinched.

“You’re tense.” HD stated, still concentrating on the wound.

“S-Sorry…” Dream swallowed back the nervous giggles in his throat. The touch didn’t tickle at all. In fact it felt nice. But Dream was just anticipating himself up for tickles that weren’t happening. His skin felt overly sensitive.

HD hummed lowly. He was still healing over the last of the bruise when he asked. “Has XD ever healed you before?”

“Uh…yeah.” Dream gave a slow nod. “A few times before. Why?”

“Just thinking out loud.” HD excused and carried on until the bruise was all gone.

Dream gave an experimental poke to where the bruise was and there was no pain. He sighed in relief.

“Anywhere else?” HD asked, but he seemed to be expecting the answer.

Dream gave himself a look over. The cut on his wrist was already gone. He thought he could feel a bruise earlier by his hip but when he poked there it was fine. His eyes travelled down to his leg, and he could feel the sting of a cut there. He lifted up the leg of his sweatpants and was relieved the cut wasn’t as bad as he thought. It wasn’t deep, but it was starting to bleed again down his shin.

“Can you heal that? Please?” Dream looked over and HD had already moved himself down.

He took the injured leg in his hand and the other covered over the wound, as normal. It stung a bit to move the leg but when Dream felt the heat, he started to relax.

Dream let his guard down too soon. The moment he started to relax, a tingling feeling prickled on his skin. Like light pulses of electricity coursing through his skin, starting from the wound and working it’s way out. Dream couldn’t help the jolt in his leg, alerting HD.

“What’s wrong?” The God’s voice was soft, unusually warm.

“Not…nothing.” Dream controlled the laugh welling up in his chest. “Just sore…” He quickly excused.

“Sorry. I’ll go slower.”

No no no! Not slower! Dream wanted to yell, but he controlled himself. All he could do was bite down on his lip, and try to distract himself from his tickly shins. HD surely must have felt his skin jumping under his touch.

Finally it was over. The cut was closed and HD pulled his hand back. It took a moment for the tingling to die down but when it did Dream sighed in relief.

“Oh! You’ve got a cut on your foot.”

Dream had no time to respond before his ankle was grabbed. His foot was yanked up and onto HD’s lap, pulling him to lie down. Going from sitting to suddenly laying on his back confused Dream for a moment, and he hardly had time to scramble up and make a grab for HD’s arms before his hand got closer. “Wait wait! N-No! There’s no cut on my f-foot!”

“Of course there is.” HD said so casually. “I’m looking at it right now. You’re not calling me a liar are you?”

“I…” Dream knew no good way to answer that, and he had no time to as HD’s fingers touched onto his heel.

Before he had at least a few seconds between the heat before the tickling started. Now they came together. He felt his foot grow warm and the tingling started instantly. Spreading out from his heel and over his foot, tiny ticklish shocks ran over his skin and tickled his nerves.

“S-Stop! Stohohop!” Dream couldn’t stop his leg from trying to kick.

“What’s wrong, Dream?” HD’s voice did well to sound concerned, but when Dream looked at him the God was grinning. He moved his fingers up from his heel, to Dream’s arch and the very thin veil of determination Dream had was lost.

He threw his head back into a laugh and kicked out his other leg. He was trying in part not to kick at HD, but it was hard to control when his very survival nature was to get away from the tickling no matter what.

“PLEHEHEAHASE Nohohot thehehere not thehehehere! S-STohohop!”

“Your feet are so ticklish, and XD’s feet aren’t ticklish at all. So you’re not an exact clone of your brother.”

A deep red rushed to Dream’s cheeks. Somehow being compared to his sibling in that way was horribly flustering, but it also told him that XD had been tickled by HD before. Dream would have loved to think of that more, but HD’s fingers travelled up to his toes and he jolted up to try reach the God’s hands.

“No no no. None of that.”

Dream was pulled again, forcing him on his back again, only this time he had his leg pulled up into the air, keeping his foot completely out of reach. Dream looked up to see his ankle being held up by one of the white hands, then another appeared right by his foot and immediately began dragging a finger down, from his toes to the heel of his foot.

He laughed from the tickling and partly in shock. He did not expect another one of those hands. How many could HD make?

“Where else are you ticklish, little champion?” HD asked.

Dream’s cheeks grew pink from the laughter, but now they felt red form the nickname. “N-Nohoho whehere?” He tittered. The hand up by his foot wiggled over his toes, tickling under a few of them before slowly scritching down. When it reached his arch he pulled and wiggled onto his side.

“You’re a bad lair.” HD hummed. “Now, let’s see.”

Both Dream’s wrists were grabbed and hoisted up over his head. A little squeak came out that was probably supposed to be pleading but words were lost to him. When he felt he had just enough breath to speak again, it suddenly turned to a scream as his tunic was lifted up to show his stomach.

“Oh, it looks like your tummy needs healing.” HD said, his voice not even straining at all from holding Dream down. It probably didn’t feel like anything to the God.

“N-Nohoho it doesehehen’t!” Dream giggled. His first response was to hide his stomach, or cover over his face but with his hands trapped he didn’t have that luxury. Instead he twisted his head to hide in his arm, though it hardly covered much. He knew his red cheeks were still visible.

“Oh yes it does! It’s all jittery. It’s clearly in pain.”

“Ihihit’s cause y-yohohohour t…t…”

The words stopped, his laugh muffled as Dream pursed and bit his lips together. HD’s eyebrow raised so slightly and the hand tickling over his foot gave a good taser right into his arch, already marked out as his weak point. His laughter came spilling out of him.

“Can you not say it?”

The tickling on his foot died down. Not completely gone though. The fingers were just lightly tracing over the ball of his foot and down to his heel. They deliberately avoided his arch, saving that spot till they really wanted him to laugh.

“Wh-Whahat?” Dream tried to play dumb.

It did not work. “’Tickle’. Can you not say the word tickle while you’re being tickled? Can you say it at all?”

“Shuhush!” Dream hid into his arm again. “I cahahan!”

“Say it.”

Dream’s lips clamped again. Even the thought of saying it made him giggle into his arm, followed by a few more giggles when the hand on his foot wiggled a finger over his heel again and again. “Plehehease stohop!”

“Stop what? What do you want me to stop doing?”

“You know! Yohohou-!”

“No I don’t. You need to tell me.”

Even if Dream wanted to, his body physically wouldn’t let him. It felt like his tongue tried to physically tie itself into a knot whenever he tried to say the word. It was embarrassing, and mortifying to admit how much the word effected him.

Keeping quiet had never worked before and of course it didn’t work now. The finger on his foot went right over his arch. It didn’t tickle yet but it was a clear warning of what was to come. One of HD’s own hand lay over his stomach. It slowly began to heat up, bringing it to a warm temperature.

“P-Plehease…”

“I’ll stop when you can say the work ‘tickle’. That’s fair.”

“Nohoho it’s noo-OHOHOHOHOHOHO!”

Fingers scribbled over his arches and stomach. HD’s hand moved in a circle around Dream’s tummy spreading the tingling all around but avoiding his bellybutton with each loop. The hand on his foot scribbled up and down but always went back to his arch, never letting it go without tickles for so long.

“NAHAAHA! PLEHEEEEhehehease! H-Hehehe Dehehehehe! D-DohoHOhoHOHON’T!”

“Don’t what, little champion?”

“YohOHOhoHOhohou! Knn-!”

The ephemeral hand on his foot tickled right under the ball of his foot. A  sensitive spot that turned his laughter up into silent shrieks, only for a moment until it came roaring out and his other leg tried in vain to kick against the white hand.

HD’s fingers on his tummy found a terribly sensitive spot just under Dream’s bellybutton and focused there. The tingling tickles had faded, now just being tickled by HD’s kneading and pinching.

“You better say the word, Dream. I don’t think you can last much more of this.” HD spoke matter of factly, like he wasn’t the one absolutely destroying the mortal with tickles.

“Ihihihi cahahan’t!” Dream squealed and tried to hide in his arms again.

“No no, none of that now.” A hand grabbed onto Dream’s chin and pulled his face out of his hiding spot. Dream made a scream of protest between his laughs. He tried pulling away, but it was another white hand that held him, and it had no sympathy for Dream’s plight. “I think you’ve hidden too much.”

“ThaA-AHAHAT’S NOHOHOT FAHAHAHAHAHAIHIHIR!”

“You better say it then. I think your face is gonna explode from how red it’s getting.”

Dream didn’t want to think of how red his face was getting, or how much the fingers tickling over his foot were focusing on his arch. HD’s fingers were just inching ever closer to his bellybutton, and when the nail just brushed along the edge of his bellybutton, Dream’s back arched and screamed.

“TIHIIHIHICKLED! TIHIHIHICKLED! I’M BEING TICKLEHEHEHEHED! YOHOHOUR TIHIHICKLING MEHEHEHEHE! STOHOHOHOHOP!”

In HD’s defence the tickling stopped by the second time he uttered the word. The hand tickling over Dream’s foot pulled back and faded out and HD pulled his hand back from Dream’s stomach.

“Hmm…alright. You managed to say it.” HD sounded disappointed, though Dream could only half hear him with his panting breaths and racing heartbeat.

He was given a moment of peace to catch his breath and let all the tingles leave his body. When he finally caught his breath with a sigh and his brain settled down, he realised his leg was still being held up in the air. His wrists had been let go, and he brought his arms down in defence when he looked up to HD. The God was still looking down at him, with a sly smile that made Dream nervous, and sweat run down his neck.

Dream opened his mouth to speak, his voice was shaky before he even tried to speak; but HD spoke first.

“What’s this called then?” HD moved before Dream could answer, or ask what. They took in a huge breath before pressing their lips to Dream’s stomach.

They moved so fast Dream didn’t have any chance to protect himself Suddenly his top was lifted and HD had leaned in before Dream could realise what was going on.

The raspberry started in the middle of his stomach and rippled out over his skin, strumming his nerves like a guitar and sending the tickles rippling throughout his body. Dream made a scream, though it was jumbled between his laughter and screeching. His arms flailed wildly before finally getting on the same page of defending his stomach and he tried to push at HD’s shoulders.

For as spry as the sleepy God looked, he was undoubtedly strong. Dream couldn’t move him even an inch. HD was so bothered by the attempt he pulled back, taking in another shorter breath and blew again over Dream’s tummy. This time a little bit up so it was under the blonde’s ribs.

“HeheHEHEHEHEehehe DehEHEHEHE! S-STOP STOHOHOHOP STOHOP! PLEHEHEHEASE!”

HD pulled back a little more, but mercy was not on his mind. He was grinning widely, a maddening look of having too much fun to stop. “Tell me what I’m doing, then I’ll stop.” His voice got familiarly high pitched in a hyper tone.

“RAHh- Y-YOHOhou’re bloHOHOwing rahahasbeherries!” Dream quickly gasped between HD’s attack, taking in large gulps of air when he could.

“Well well well. So you can say that just fine.” HD’s voice overly imitated being impressed, and Dream knew it wasn’t over. He let out a low whine which turned into giggles as HD grinned again.

“What’s this then?” HD asked and then Dream’s blood ran cold.

The God opened his mouth, this time showing off his fangs. They weren’t as long as XD’s, but they were just as rounded and thick. Dream’s eyes went wide just looking at them and he had no time to shout out before those fangs were on him.

The fangs touched below Dream’s bellybutton. They nibbled along the bottom of his stomach, circling up to the side of Dream’s tummy, and that’s when Dream’s mind stop keeping track of where the fangs were and fried into full blown panic.

His throat felt like it ripped from his shriek. Words or letters at least jumbled into his laughter but even he couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. His whole body was in survival mode.

One of his legs was was still held up, but the other flailed with his arms. His knee hit onto HD’s back and his hands were beating and clawing into HD’s shoulders as he hoped he was pleading though the roaring and screeching laughter.

The tickling stopped not long after the knee went into the God’s back, though Dream’s laughter didn’t go down until his ankle was let go and he could curl into himself and protect his tummy.

All of his nerves felt fried and jittery. He gasped for as much air as his lungs could ask for, and only when his breathing got under control did he realise HD was talking.

“Are you dead?! Please don’t be dead!”

“I…I’m nohot dead…”

“Thank Prime…” HD breathed out a sigh of relief. He worked his hands under Dream’s armpits, earning a panicked whine from the blonde but he could do little more than wiggle and curl up more. “Hush, you baby. I’m only moving you.”

Dream was lifted from his protective curled position. He felt his back pressed against HD’s chest, and the God’s arms wrap around his chest. The pillows and blankets under them were moved and quickly rearranged by the ephemeral hands. They patted down the last pillow before HD pulled Dream and himself down to lay on their side, Dream still in the God’s arms.

“I thought I’d honestly killed you.” HD’s voice mixed with worry and a huffy tone. “Then XD would have absolutely killed me.”

A twisted part of Dream’s brain wanted to dispute that fact, and say XD wouldn’t care, but he quickly shook that thought of his head. It settled like a dark weight in his chest, but he quickly spoke to distract himself from it. “Well…you went at me with your fangs!”

“XD used his fangs on me and they don’t make me react like that.”

Dream processed that information with two outcomes. HD was ticklish, and XD had tickled them before. He would have loved to explore that fact further, but the softness of the pillows and the sudden smell of lavender was overwhelming him.

“God you are his brother. You even get sleepy after your tickles too.”

Dream opened his mouth, wanting to deny that fact and also wonder aloud how HD had tickled XD before, but all that came out was a long yawn. His body stretched as well, comfortably clicking his bones and melting him more into the soft sheets and HD’s arms.

“When…hmm…when will XD come back?” Dream asked, his voice already slurred with sleep.

“He won’t be back for a while, you’ve got time to sleep.” HD assured him. Dream didn’t want to question why the God was being so affectionate to him in fear he’d stop. HD seemed to switch between sudden annoyance to sudden fondness. It reminded Dream of a cat.

It reminded Dream of George.

Dream wanted to wonder more, but the thoughts weren’t enough to keep his interest awake and he drifted off to sleep with HD’s gentle purrs against his back.

---

Dream was roused from his sleep with a hand gently shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes with a whine, blinked the sleep from his vision and got his bearings. HD’s arms were still around him, but looser. The realm was in a dark blue night sky again, and the blankets under him were still warm. And XD stood in front of him.

The tall God stood above the two, with his mask still on. His cloak was still tattered and a mess, and his one arm still hung limply. Dream tried not to stare at it, but his eyes couldn’t help flicking to it.

“Get up…” XD voice was quiet, and tired.

Dream gave a look back to HD. He opened his mouth, but was quickly shushed by XD.

“Don’t wake, HD. I don’t want to bother him any more than I already have.”

HD’s arms weren’t exactly holding onto Dream, so it was easy for him to slip out of them. Even if he felt bad about leaving HD without saying goodbye.

“I’m taking you back to the Overworld.” XD said as he took his brother’s arm to help him stand.

The thought of that panicked Dream before he could rationalise his mind. Anxiety rose up his spine and stopped himself half way getting up. “W-Where?” He blurted out, not catching his volume.

“Shh!” XD hissed. “Quiet.”

“Where are you going to take me?!”

“Hush!” XD snapped. “I’m taking you to George, that’s all.” His voice was softer at the end, not at all like the venom he had before. His whole demeanour now seemed calmer than the rage he was in before, though Dream couldn’t tell if it was from XD’s mood calming down or just making sure HD could sleep. “Keep quiet. You’re going to wake HD.”

“Too late…”

HD’s sleepy voice mumbled  from his blankets. The night sky realm faded out to a soft blue as the starry haired God turned on his back and rubbed his eyes under his goggles. “You’re back…” He mumbled to XD, and seemed to really wake up when he got a look at the other God. He paused before pushing himself to sit up. “You’re exhausted.”

“I’m fine.” XD quickly shrugged off. “I just need to take Dream home and-”

“Nope.” HD cut in. They pushed themselves up in one fluid move and now Dream found himself stood between XD and HD. “I’ll take him home.”

It was a surprising offer even to Dream. HD didn’t seem like the kind to leave his nest often, and it must have been a big deal as XD seemed stunned for a moment and his voice stuttered.

“U-Uhh…H-HD no. No you don’t have to do that.”

“No I don’t. But I’m doing it because I’m nice.” HD stepped forward to Dream’s side. “I can teleport there easily and drop him off. In the meantime,” he pointed up to XD. “You’re going to park yourself on those pillows and wait till I get back.”

Dream’s eyes flicked between the two Gods curiously. HD was speaking with such authority, and XD was surprisingly responding to it. Dream had never known XD to be anything other than the powerful, unwavering older brother, but with HD he seemed meek and more docile.

“I… Are you sure you can take him?” XD asked.

“Yes! Prime sake it’s not that hard! I can drop him off and come straight back here. You just sit and rest.”

The mask blocked his expression but Dream could read his brother easily. XD was torn, debating with himself on what to do. His head cast down slightly and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other before he looked at Dream. “Are you fine with that?”

Part of Dream wasn’t, just for the chance to talk to XD. If XD took him to George, it would be easier to explain their actions and get the God to listen to them. But XD looked exhausted and his still unmoving arm churned Dream’s stomach.

“That’s fine.” Dream nodded.

XD thought on it for a moment longer before nodding as well. “A-Alright.”

HD seemed pleased, and slapped his hands onto Dream’s shoulder. “Great. Now, go sit down. I’ll take Dream home and be right back.”

XD complied to the instructions, moving past the two and slowly sitting down. Dream noticed they were wincing as they moved. “J-Just be careful.”

“I’m not a novice! I have done this before.” HD seemed to roll his eyes, and focused down onto Dream. “Where am I taking you?”

Dream opened his mouth to answer before realising he didn’t have a good way to answer. He wanted to ask if HD knew coordinates but HD had materialised a map in his hands like it was nothing, and held it out to Dream.

“Here. Point where I’m taking you.”

The map wasn’t an area Dream was familiar with. It covered a wide area of forest and meadows, but no clear landmark. And then Dream blinked and the map slowly changed. It melted from it’s old picture, forming into a new shape. The forests were cut away. Squares and shapes of all sizes took it’s place and it began to look familiar.

The SMP! Dream thought, amazed. It was a very zoomed out map, but it nearly covered most of the SMP area, and Dream could see the red mushroom colour theme of Kinoko Kingdom.

“Here…” Dream pointed at the map. “But I need to go to a specific place. It’s like…”

The map changed again as though responding to Dream’s words. The images morphed again and instead of looking out over all the SMP it was zoomed in to more detail to Kinoko Kingdom. Dream would have been more amazed had he not seen George’s cottage on the edge of the kingdom, nestled in the dark oak trees and suddenly all Dream wanted to do was get home as soon as possible.

“There. That cottage right there.” Dream pointed.

HD looked at the spot Dream had pointed out. He did nothing for a long moment and Dream wasn’t sure if the God was just thinking or charging up some power. Just when he thought about asking, HD grabbed at his arm and he was teleported.

HD’s teleportation was very different from XD’s. With XD was a like a quick journey through an air tunnel to an abrupt stop, but HD’s was softer. It was like stepping into a pool of water, not too cold but enough to feel the pass of something over his body and then suddenly he was there, back on the Overworld.

It was dark like the dead of night and the dark oak trees were shaking their leaves softly to the wind. The smell of flowers and mushrooms filled the air and HD let go of Dream’s arm.

A light suddenly shone though the window of George’s cottage. Dream could hear his friend shout something and then the door was flung open.

The cuts and scrapes George sustained during the fight were cleaned up and somewhat covered. His mismatched eyes were wide and sunken and the mushroom blush over his cheeks was almost gone. Clearly he had not slept, and yet despite his haggard look, his eyes lit up and he ran to Dream to pull him into the tightest hug.

“I thought XD had taken you back to the prison!” George cried. “I thought you were gone again!”

Dream’s arms went around George so naturally and he felt himself relax and almost fall into his friend’s arm. Waves of emotions, both happy and remorseful, swept over him and made his tears very confusing, but he couldn’t care. He was with George again and everything was right.

“Where did XD take you?” George pulled himself back, taking himself out of Dream’s arms and Dream just about held himself back from protesting. “What happened? Did… What are you wearing?!”

Dream blinked and looked down to himself. Of course, he was still in the clothes HD gave him.

HD!

Dream turned, ready to apologise, but there was no-one there. HD was gone without a trace of ever being there. Dream gave a last look around before his eyes fell on George again, and thoughts of HD were gone. His only focus was George.

“Dream? What happened?”

“I… In a minute.” Dream said and took George’s hand. “I’ll explain everything but…right now I just need to lie down.”

The two went in, exchanging more tearful words and happy exclamations between them, then they fell asleep in each others arms with nothing being explained.

[minevn]

Here we go again talking about "Mine" and explaining my absence. For the past month or two I've been questioning myself if I want to put Mine on a hiatus(Which I didn't feel was surprising considering that I've vented about the game so much on this blog, I'm sorry for that). I wouldn't be getting rid of it and I would be heading back to it eventually, but I just needed to step away and really think about what I wanted to do. At this point in time I'm still questioning what I want to do. Long story short Mine won't be getting released any time soon and it needs a lot of work to be done on it, in every way.

I think my biggest issue was rushing into this project. I was so SO excited to just get my story out and talk about my characters and ideas, but I had almost nothing set in stone or planned out. Some of my favorite story aspects I created after I made this blog, granted it wasn't a obvious change since it had to do with spoilers, and story aspect kind of just fit together to make a bigger plot twist. I still love what I've created thus far, but it needs so much work, and it feels weird and off to have changes just happen with the characters and story.

I was getting bored of certain characters and the art style. I won't be getting rid of any characters because even the ones who don't seem that important to the overall plot are still important, but I'll be changing/upgrading character designs. And especially changing the art style. I was really disliking my style for Mine and even more so after the Halloween drawing. I did practice around a bit and I found a style I like, but it's still not set in stone.

This is kind of what I was thinking. The eyes have a more defined shape, the nose is different, the hair is more detailed. I've also been wanted to mess around with coloring and shading. And once again this style is not set in stone, but this is what I'm leaning towards as of now. I want the game to have an anime style for reasons, but I did also try a style that's more mine I guess? Like I drew Yani in the style I draw in the most, the style that's most consistent to me. I mainly did this because one my bestfriends has been helping me sort out my own feelings and she said to at least try a more cartoon style even if the anime style is what I'm aiming for in the end.

I obviously I do like the style, but it's just not what I'm going for, so I was going to try drawing different eyes styles and then I would build a face to match that.

I did like these, but it didn't inspire me and I didn't want these for Mine. So this is what I've been working on for now, I'm trying t build my interest in this story again. I know I've talked about it before, but Yani and Jun's designs are the ones I'm most proud about(maybe Aki as well, if I change anything it wouldn't be too extreme), but the other characters will be getting an upgrade, in design, story, and personality.

Minato in particular. I feel so bad because as much as I like Minato, he feels so plain to me. Like I don't have fun writing him or drawing him. There are things I do really enjoy about him, like his hair style, and his yellow eyes. But I'm bored with pretty much everything else about him, and that's not a good sign, he's the first route, the first character to be released. he needs something to draw in the player, but I don't feel like he has that. I don't know where to really go with him though. I think the fact that he's the least yandere is charming and important, like to lure the player into a false sense of security, almost as if they were just playing a normal visual novel/dating sim with routes, and then the creepy stuff starts mainly happening with the other routes, but obviously I need something to make his route exciting.

In the meantime asks will most likely not be answered until I've figured the characters out more. When I figure out the characters as well, I want to go back and slowly work on updating previous asks to fit the new personality and stories. I'll probably make a poll on how to go about that just in case people want the old answered asks or something. Maybe I could just do something like-

Old: bhjdhsvjagjhasgd

New: VHJDhfdjgshdf

I don't know as of now. I also want to go back and update my 100 followers event drawings, and obviously finish that. Which by the way I am so sorry to everyone who sent in requests, for that event and just in general. Me struggling with Mine's art style has been a thing, even with the refs, there were some refs that I just hated how they turned out(cough cough Hoshi). I also have been practicing with more cartoon(?) styles, so working on a game with an anime style reminds me of my past styles, which I hated because I got those feeling of hating my style or falling behind my peers who were finding their style. I'm a lot better with it now, but I felt like I was falling back into old habits/styles, and it was upsetting.

While I was planning my hiatus, I kept thinking about some of my other game ideas because if I was going to go on hiatus I would focus on another one of my games with a more simple style(Since I wondered if complexity of the style was also an issue for my lack of motivation with Mine), and I do like my other games and ideas and characters, but none of hem were appealing to me like how Mine did. I went into Mine so excited and ready to talk and share my characters, but with my other stories I was just feeling more unmotivated with them, other then "The Magi Academy" which makes sense since that is my comfort story but also I'm gonna work on this in the background since the game is huge.

Another thing I thought about doing while on hiatus was making a test game, where I get used to making games, where I practice. Cause Mine is my first game, but I'm not sure I want it to actually be my first game, but I have no interest in my other games as of now so this game would be simple, a little test to get used to everything that comes with making a game. I'll probably work on this while I'm working on the art style for Mine and the character designs. It will have multiple routes and characters. I wouldn't really call it a dating sim, there will be romance elements but I think more then anything it will be a little "get to know my oc's" type story. Maybe I'll talk about it more if anyone if interested. Although when I make games in the future I'll either make the blogs later, when the game is almost finished or if finished, or at least claim the name and work on them later.

I'd say that Mine is going on a hiatus, at least with this blog, but I will be working on it! Mine won't be getting released soon and when I made this blog I didn't expect Mine to come out this year. Another thing I want to end up doing is dev logs, maybe weekly or monthly, it won't happen soon, but eventually I want to do dev logs. As of now though, I have a lot to think about with the characters and the story/stories. I'll probably work on character personalities and stories before their actual design so I can get back to writing asks, and then I'll be redoing refs and any bigger drawings I've done so far. I also want to have a schedule for answering asks, so I'll probably spend the weekends answering asks and then the weekdays I'll be working on the game, but this is for the future. My ask box and messages will be open though if anyone has any questions :3 I hope that this will help me regain the passion and excitement that I hold for this story, have a great day/night, and thank you for you continued support🩵

[moondragon618]

Hey guys c!Dream butterfly chat propaganda except it's also c!Prime :)

First of all, I really like the idea of Chats being entirely amoral entities that are very much shaped and influenced by whoever they've attached themselves to. Some people have one and some don't- for the most part, it seems to be connected to having a very close connection to a deity or deities of some kind, like c!Techno with the Blood God and c!Phil with the Goddess of Death.

Now here's where c!Dream specifically comes in- I imagine his Chat would start to manifest soon after getting the revive book due to the connection to XD that it has. Of course, when ppl start to ask questions about the seemingly endless amount of butterflies that follow him around now, he just says it must be because of his connection to the Primes :)

This becomes a huge point of insecurity for c!Tommy btw- he doesn't have a Chat, even despite his strong devotion to the Primes and founding Church Prime alongside Dream. Surely if Dream's connection to the Primes could manifest a Chat but his can't, then he must have displeased the Primes somehow… But maybe Dream can help him with that during his exile, the same way he's helping him learn to behave and be better :)

However, despite the little pang of envy and guilt he feels when he sees them, Tommy loves the butterflies- even when Dream is gone, he still sees them around in Logstedshire from time to time, easily recognizable by their colorful stained glass-like wings and small smiley face markings, and it makes him feel a little less alone. And the butterflies love him too- he can hold out a hand and they'll come right to him, as if they're drawn to him. And when Dream is around, they flock to him, and sometimes he'll have more butterflies perched on him than the admin himself does.

"Aww, Tommy, they like you :)" Dream had said with a fond, amused chuckle the first time he noticed it.

"Of course they do, they can sense how awesome I am. They're like 'Oh Tommy Innit Tommy Innit you are so much cooler than Dream we want to stay with you forever' because I am simply the best," Tommy replies, getting a laugh out of Dream- he feels a warm glow of pride at that as Dream ruffles his hair affectionately, stirring up the butterflies that were sitting there for a moment before they return to their spots.

It's so colorful and lively when Dream is around, and so much more empty and lonely when he's gone.

Of course, it's not long before Tommy inevitably fucks up in some way and needs to be punished- and strangely enough, the butterflies don't seem to differentiate between bonding time and punishment. Even as Tommy trembles and pleads for mercy as he faces Dream's wrath, they still flock to him, staying clear of Nightmare's blade as though they know exactly where it's going to hit before it does.

Even as he lays in agony, blood seeping from multiple deep wounds, they stay with him, their bright colors a nice distraction. It's almost comforting, in a way. Some of them land around his wounds and the deep crimson stains all over him, and start drinking his blood. He didn't even know they did that until now.

Meanwhile, Dream can't help but take in the sight in front of him with a bit of reverence- his courageous little hero, his Tommy, reduced to a trembling, whimpering little mess, littered with new scars and bruises of varying shades, fresh bleeding wounds and deep crimson stains, and a bright, vibrant rainbow of butterflies over every inch, almost giving the impression of framing him in stained glass- it's almost beautiful, the perfect finishing touch for his little masterpiece :) :) :)

[sushiisiu]

Hello~ 🙋🏽‍♀️ Your art is really, really cool and beautiful, tysm for sharing it with us! 💕💕💕 I saw you mention that you would like more asks so I wanted to ask you, what's your favorite phase and why?

Hi! thank you so much for liking my art T__T and as for your question it's hard to decide since i like most of the phases a lot...

I'd say style-wise my favorite would be phase 2? I love that it's way more grungy and nasty looking, esp with the new greyer palettes and soft shading. it's in that perfect sweet spot of being more realistic but still having the stylized shapes and anatomy of phase 1, which is great because i get to see jamie's lineart. also big fan of the way he drew everyone's hair kinda choppy here it's soooo cute. most of my favorite gorillaz art all come from this phase

Story-wise tho then obviously phase 3. like plastic beach might've been a hot mess while it was releasing and a lot of things just never got followed through but fuck if it doesn't feel cinematic as hell and the most fleshed out out of all the phases. like the web game ??? and obviously the emotional weight of the story, murdoc alone ruling over a literal pile of garbage and the only people he has with him is a soulless copy of his daughter that HE killed and someone he's holding captive, his only outlet being songwriting and broadcasting a radio show that he knows no one will hear all while being chased down by all those he's crossed both demonic and mortal. like i could really go on it makes me so emo I dont even care if the lost chord doesn't make that much sense. it fucks me up either ways to see it wrapped up like that.

although music wise (and just general marketing and promotions) i LOVEEE phase 1 so much. EVERY song on that album is so memorable and i love the amount of weird noises and falsettos 2d did. love the hologram concerts and the ones with their vas up, 4 whole music videos and an animatic (AND THE GBITEZ!!!!) and a whole interactable website of their studio... INSANE like the dedication to making them seem real is insane i wish we still had that instead of them being glorified mascots. . .

that's honestly not to say i don't like the others as hell tho like humanz had a great art direction too with the photobashing and lineless style and personally i love realistic proportions soooo and the mocap interviews were funny as hell even if i hate kevin bishop. the now now was soooo crazy too im a big fan of spiral imagery and just.. the pink/blue thing is great Fav album art love the emotional complexity it gives 2d (never recovered from souk eye) and honestly song machine is amazing too i adore the "episodic" formula of the music videos and like personally i don't even mind keyframe 2d that bad since i barely noticed it within the videos themselves its the endless marketing that reuses that same pic that drives me insane (billboard near my college STILL has keyframe fred perry 2d on rotation and it ambushes me every time)

ANYWAYS i kind of rambled on but!!!! basically phase 1-3 i love those the most. Thank you for enabling me

[cadrenebula]

Describe your character(s) room. Not just in the sense of like 'their walls were blue and they had a desk'. How many pillows are on their bed? What does their duvet look like? Do they have a mat on the floor - what colour/shape is it? Do they keep their space clean or are items strewn across the floor? Is a 'room' not a place but more like a tent they erect every night to sleep in?

Stefan's room definitely reflects a more hidden side to him. The softer side that most don't get to see unless he has feelings for them. Overall his apartment is almost one big room other than some walls for privacy to hide the bathing area and bed from easy view from the front door. But only Sahji can enter his room without a special invite and he rarely invites anyone into his personal space. (Even Ronove has yet to be invited into Stefan's personal sanctuary.) His door is actually warded and spell trapped. He hates mess unless it's an organized chaos that he specifically knows. Everything in his room is some shade of green (usually teal or dark green) or some shade of wood. Various different parts of the walls have brightly neon colored paw prints. Usually a couple random posters decorating the wall but that will probably change to different works of his own art eventually.

He has at least two pillows on the bed at all times. Especially since he started dating and who knows when Sahji might stay over. Other any other company. He's got one of those carbuncle beds because he's a nerd that loves his carbuncles so his room has several carbuncle themed pieces. Usually there is a carbuncle plush kept near by that he will sleep with when alone. The plush tends to end up one the carbuncle arm chair next to the bed if not the dresser once he wakes up an gets moving. Usually the dresser. Which also has a plush shark near it. He keeps a glade rug under his bed because he hates cold feet and his feet tend to meet the floor before he can find his carbuncle slippers at the foot of the bedside. On the wall beside his bed hangs a carbuncle clock with it's ears telling him the time. Above the bed hangs a map of Eorzea from his days of ruin exploring. It's got marks all over it from places he's explored.

His carbuncle themed desk is just past the foot of his bed, items on the top neatly arranged. A bonsai tree sits on one corner and a small vase with a colorful assortment of flowers on the other. A stack of books just behind his chair in the corner, neatly stacked. You'll find books almost throughout the entire room really. He's very rarely without a book nearby or on his person. Of course there are papers also neatly placed on his desk. Though it tends to be a bit more chaotic when he's actually working on something. He cleans and straightens everything up when he's done working. Or at least the next morning if he's so tired that he takes the short distance to flop into bed instead.

Next to his desk is his art station. The one thing he tends to guard so preciously. It's one of the few slightly messy places in his entire room. Though lately it's been neatly cleaned and ignored. His canvas sits empty and unpainted currently. (Still dealing with some trauma that happened and makes it hard for him to paint without remembering it.) He never has clothes strewn over the floor. Well except specific moments and those get cleaned up later. But everything in this area is very clearly arranged in a specific way. A way that he finds best when he does paint.

His dresser and wardrobe are near the bathtub area. Besides the plush, his dresser has a set of books on it and another vase of flowers. All these colorful flowers are usually from either his sister or mother. Beside the dresser between it and his art table, are his travel bags. The bags are well worn though they clearly haven't seen much use lately. Like a lot of other furniture his wardrobe and bathtub are both carbuncle themed. Between the tub and wardrobe is a glittering blue carbuncle lantern. It's both a nightlight and adds extra light to his dressing area. The floor has a soft fuzzy carbuncle rug covering it in this area. Beside the tub is a small table with the top covered in bandages and various colorful vials of medicine. He's not the healer his sister is so he prefers to keep medicines nearby. But he is a decently skilled alchemist. Most of the medicines give off a sweet mint smell.

If we continue around the room and step past the dividing wall, we reach his work area. Well his Other work area. There is another small table with scrolls and papers and a couple opened books. Organized chaos on a table. Next to it is his work station. This is where he sometimes does some minor alchemy. Though lately it has become another art area. But not with paints. There is an opened sketch book sitting on it as well as a some sketch paper strewn across it along with the tools he was given. All gifts from his recent nameday. Watching him from above on the top is a black stuffed bunny that he keeps in case his niece is over so she has something to play with. Other than his carbuncle plush that he likes to keep for himself. Beside the rabbit sits a will-o-wisp lantern from the latest festivities and he likes it enough to leave it out when All Saints ended.

Even though he doesn't have a proper kitchen, he has a carbuncle table with two chairs. On the table is a coffee maker and another flower vase. He mostly tends to grab food from somewhere nearby because he doesn't tend to feel like cooking. His cooking skills are passable but he'd rather someone else do the cooking. So sometimes there will be a sandwich or container of some takeout food of some kind on the table. Almost always a small container of rolanberry tarts there from his mother.

Across the way is what could be considered his living room. A dark green manor couch that looks comfortably worn as someone spends a lot of time reading or napping there. A clearly full bookshelf with a large pile of stacked books sits off to one side. A well stocked shelf with medicines and various alchemic liquids sits off to the other. And a shelf of glittering gemstones sits just next to that alchemy supply. Some of the stones glow a little and others glow more as they were used to experiment with for one of his projects.

Thanks for the ask @gatheredfates

[egophiliac]

Can you give like, a "style guideline" for how you do the unique magic posters? It can be as rough or developed as you want, I'm just curious about your thought process

I'm not sure if I can explain it very well, but I'll try! there's definitely a skill to being able to explain The Process in a way that makes sense to other people, so apologies in advance if this just ends up a confusing mess of words!

since these are about each character's unique magic -- though some of them are. looser. than others -- that's a pretty obvious starting point. I try to stay away from a literal "here's a picture of them using their magic" and go for more of the tone and feeling of it. like...the ones I did for the twins don't really have anything to do their magic at all, because I decided it was more interesting to make it about their twinny-ness and their eyes, and having them bookend Azul. so...their magic got relegated to the background as the teeth/tails from the kanji, rather than anything relevant. :') but they look nice and creepy, which was more important to me!

I always start by doing a bunch of thumbnails to get the idea down and figure out what exactly I want to do. for these I go to colors straight off the final thumb instead of doing a tighter sketch; things tend to change a lot and get moved around and shapes and silhouettes get refined as I go, so I just try to get the idea and the important shapes down and worry about fixing my wonky anatomy later. the style is so flat and minimal that it's fun to lean into that, use a lot of symmetry and lack of depth to push the shapes a lot further than with lines! my only rules for it are that 1) the character should be prominent, and 2) facial features are in limited supply and only to be handed out when necessary (both eyes? don't be greedy). other than that it's anything goes!

here are the final thumbs I went with for each if you're interested! some of them stayed pretty close, and some of them still ended up changing a lot during painting:

once I feel good about that, I come up with two or three main colors + an accent color + a "black" and a "white". (I don't use pure black or white for these, I use dark and light shades of other colors. like for the poms, the "white" is a super pale green and the "black" is a super dark blue. it looks richer and blends better with the rest of the palette that way!) I try to use the same colors within the dorm groups (except for the scaras) to keep some internal consistency, but they don't have to be exact or anything.

color is something I tend to really struggle with so I like to have a palette to start with, even if I end up getting away from it. :x I don't restrict myself from adding more shades and colors as necessary, but I try to be mindful about it -- pops of contrasting color immediately become a focal point, so I don't want to overuse those and make it distracting. the little rimlighting highlights are in the "white" color, and just there for fun and to make things a little less 100% symmetrical for some of them! they're easy to overdo though so I try to use them sparingly.

the actual process of painting is mostly thinking about shapes and silhouettes. because there's no lines and no real depth, clarity is really important; a lot of it is making sure the shapes all look satisfying and there aren't any weird little messy areas or anything. and pretty much all of the fonts I go over to add bits too or change slightly, to make it less stock-looking and integrate it more! there's just a lot of trying different stuff and havin' fun, seeing what happy accidents happen. (like...the heart shape in the milk on Trey's was not planned, it came out kind of heart-shaped by accident and I went YESSSS PERFECT and cleaned it up to make it look more intentional. stuff like that!)

uhhh what else. I do everything with one brush (except for some of the little grungy font touchups on the twins), constantly check my values with an adjustment layer on top at 0% saturation, and horizontally flop the canvas to make sure it isn't looking weird or skewed. the paper textures are a final thing, they're a couple of paper layers on top set to soft light and are mostly the same across the board (just slightly adjusting for each) so they don't take a lot of thinking about. the nice thing about doing a series like this is I only have to figure out sizing/borders/etc once. >:)

so...yeah! I don't know if that all made sense or was satisfying, but that's the way I can think to express it! and if nothing else you can enjoy my stupid doodle of Rook making a weird clown face. 👍

[adobe-outdesign]

thoughts on robot neopets? I love robots but none of them quite click for me

Robot might seem like a newer colour, but in reality it's been around since the early 2000s, and was one of only a few colours to get unique artwork pre-customization. It has a very loose tie-in to the lore due to most robot pets coming from the Virtupets space station, as no other place in Neopia has tech that advanced.

Visually, there really isn't any consistency to the color beyond just the pet being a robot. Some designs are incredibly detailed, some are super minimalist, some are sleek and elegant, some are bulky and square, etc. For the most part I feel like simpler designs tend to be the best, but both can be good depending on execution.

When it comes to customization, robot pets generally did alright, though there was little consistency as to how they were converted. Some robots seem to completely change design, while others changed body shape or details for little reason. I think as a whole the color works fine customized because the poses weren't too unique to begin with, but more care could've gone into the actual converting.

Perhaps one of the stranger additions was the ability to remove the outer casing, basically giving robots two different designs. I'm not sure why they did this exactly, but some robots look far better uncased so I'm not complaining. For the sake of this review I'm just going to show the images for the option I think looks best.

Favorite Species:

Ixi: As I mentioned in my Ixi review, the converted robot Ixi looks pretty terrible due to weird proportions and bad shading, but the UC/styled version is incredible. The design is nice and slick, it's appropriately robot-ish with the tubes and paneling, and the black, dark green and red palette looks lovely.

(While I don't like it more than the UC/styled version, the uncased robot Ixi does look better than the converted version, with some pretty fun eyes and lightbulb horns that make no sense relative to the actual casing but who cares.)

Tuskaninny: The robot Tuskaninny is the complete opposite of the robot Ixi, focusing on being chunky and re-interpreting parts of the design to be more robot instead of sticking close to the original's anatomy. I really like how simple this design is, and little details like the antennae in place of hair and wheels so it can move on land are great. I actually kind of prefer the customized in this case, as the original's proportions feel off and I like the tail a bit more on the newer option.

(The uncased version has a disturbingly not-robotic face and looks mostly like a normal Tuskaninny but with wires, making it a disappointment compared to the cased version.)

Gnorbu: This one is just plain cute and charming, with a super nice smile and bright green and red accents against a neutral base. Also, it has a buzz saw tail. What's not to like?

(I'm not big on the uncased for this one; it's just a mess of colored wires, and it doesn't even make sense relative to the casing).

Poogle: The Darth Vader design of the cased is fine and the UC/styled is the same, just with different colored eyes for some reason, but the uncased is terminator-styles of straight-up terrifying and you have to respect it for that. Also, reminder that all Poogles canonically have sharp teeth!

Least Favorite Species:

Lenny: The converted version is just a huge visual mess, with entirely too much detail that makes it hard to figure out what you're even looking at (though the lightbulb tails are fun). The uncased isn't much better. On the plus side, the UC/Styled version is quite charming, keeping the fun details but greatly simplifying everything else down, making me wonder why the heck they changed it to begin with.

[its-not-a-phase-mom-i-d8-demons]

pairings: Lucifer x Fem!Reader, Mammon x Fem!Reader, Leviathan x Fem!Reader

warnings: tw abandonment (but it turns out okay, I promise), mentions of the act of birthing,

A/N: you came to the right place! as the second oldest of six children, I have some experience when it comes to pregnancy:) I hope you don't mind, nonny, but I'm gonna split this up into a few parts so I can do the dateables as well!

Lucifer

The moment you had shyly produced the positive pregnancy test from the pocket of your hoodie, it felt like Lucifer had entered into a fever dream filled with nursery designs, baby names, the expenses that pile up before the baby even arrives, researching human pregnancy, keeping you out of harm's way and healthy and happy...

So when you first stagger out of bed and rush to his bathroom, hand clamped over your mouth and one shaky hand on your slightly swollen tummy, Lucifer isn't surprised

He is very concerned, however. You had been so nervous to tell him of your pregnancy, you waited until the last moment before your bump was noticeable to tell him

That meant you had been suffering from all of these pregnancy side effects before he'd permanently moved you to sleep in his room

Lucifer hoists himself out of bed and pads into the bathroom, gathering up your hair, if any, into his fist and pulling your hunched form between his legs for support

You hate this feeling with a passion; throbbing stomach and a lump in your throat with little to no vertigo and tears rolling down your face as you try and catch your breath

You tell him it hurts, you ask him if he can take the pain away as your head rests on his chest, lashes fluttering with wooziness

Lightheadedness was unbearably common; you would suddenly grip his sleeve and he could watch the color drain from your face and your knees get shaky, body beginning to sway

He always catches you though, finding a place for you to sit or lie down and gather yourself

Tummy rubs become more common; the feeling of his hands against your bare tummy, spreading their warmth and nullifying the ache, allowing you to relax

He's extremely attentive as well and can tell whenever you need something

Water? Here's a cup sweetheart, remember, you're hydrating and eating for two people!

Craving something? Chocolate? Fried pickles? Chips of some kind? sweets? He's stockpiled anything you could want and locked it away just for you.

I feel like Lucifer would want your baby to be a little girl. A little princess he can carry on his shoulders and spoil with his love and gifts.

Satan ruined him for having another baby boy, but if that's how the cards fall, he certainly wouldn't mind. Unfortunately, he'd be constantly walking on eggshells, afraid he'll make your little boy into another rebellious child

That's the last thing he wants

Lucifer does his best to keep his kid away from Satan and Belphie and out of the 'Formerly Anti-Lucifer League', but sometimes you're taking a nap or out shopping with Asmodeus, and Satan and his brothers manage to coerce the little one into their shenanigans

One thing is for sure though, even if Lucifer didn't want any kids and the creation of one was unplanned, he would never ever turn you away

He's very responsible and does anything in his power to make the pregnancy as easy and happy as possible

On the day you are to give birth, he's a mess

He has already sweat through 3 shirts by the time the IV has been secured to your hand

Everything he says doesn't come without a stutter

He's squeezing your hand and kissing your hair during labor, trying to distract you from the burn between your legs as much as he can

You probably need extra stitches from baby's horns ngl

Definitely cries before the baby is even put in your arms

Refuses to let his brothers come and see you, "They can wait until we go home."

Lucifer is Smitten™

He smooches the tiredness under your eyes and tells you to get some rest

Surprisingly, he enjoys a lot of the names from the human world you discuss and will most likely pick one of those

But if it's a girl, her name is Lilith. I'm sorry MC, your input is invalid at this time

You don't regret 'final day in the devildom sex' at all when you get to witness the Avatar of Pride reduced to tears when the nurse puts the child in his arms

P-P-Pregnant? MC, ya better be jokin'...

Mammon

You weren't, judging by the pregnancy test(s) clutched in your fist

He's not mad at you, he's not upset, (in fact, he's the happiest he's ever been), he just scared

Broken Condom Victim™

He loved you just a bit too hard last week...

but let's be real here, HIS MC, carrying HIS baby?

That's like the highest level of ownership on his lovely human you could get! Levi, Asmo, Beel, Lucifer, everyone would be SOOOO JEALOUS!!!

AND

He gets to have a little one running around again!

You saw how sweet he was to babified Satan in the obey me anime premier! He LOVES little kids and nothing would make him happier than someone to play with (besides MC of course) that wouldn't make fun of him for messing up and being silly!

AND

You're so pretty!!

I mean, ya were always pretty, but somethin' about ya is different and yer even more beautiful than before somehow!

Mammon said, his entire face the shade of a pomegranate

Pregnancy glow is REAL

Asmo agrees, after stealing you away from an extremely overprotective mammon and hiding in the attic to chat without disturbance (mammon)

But as much as YOU know he would be the BEST father, comments from his brothers continue to drag him down and the evenings he cried into your shoulder became more and more frequent as your pregnancy progresses

Mammon, as we all know, is, in fact, a tiddy man

He likes to touch and squeeze them, and just gently hold them while cuddling or even browsing in a store, he'd just come up behind you and touch your boobs

(also, mammon likes all sizes, so if you have next to no tiddy like me, you'll be at his mercy as well. those with the large honkers, however, watch yourself)

Now that there's a miracle growing in your tummy, other parts of your body are preparing for its arrival, including your chest

Swelling, swelling, soreness, growing and darkening of the nipples, and swelling make it so Mammon can no longer touch your pretty tiddies :(((

(grammarly didn't like that word)

On the day mammon snack size was to be born, mammon is silent but extremely fidgety

It was early in the morning when you'd shaken him awake like, "mammoney, I'm going into labor" and he was out of bed and out the door with your luggage before you finished blinking

After grabbing your DDD's and you, he carries you down to the car (what dysfunctional family doesn't have a car? a nice one (Mercedes, Audi, you get the idea) for lucifer and a Volkswagon bus or something for his siblings to share) and drives quickly, but very carefully drives to the hospital, holding your hand the whole way.

He covers your eyes when they put the IV in, just in case you're squeamish, and rubs your arms as the drugs begin to take effect and there's a little fear in your eyes at the thought of pushing an entire human/demon being out of your coochie

He assures you and never lets go of your hand no matter how long you're in labor

When it's all over with and you are resting in your hospital bed waiting for the doctors to finish the Apgar tests and give you your baby

Mammon is speechless as the nurse places the baby in your arms

That's HIS KID!!

Immediately starts crying

The little horns poking out of the blanket? Those look just like his!!

Judging by the bit of hair on it's head, it looks like the baby will have hair like yours

If it's a baby boy, he thinks it should be named "Mammon II" but you just giggle and remind him of the deal he made with lucifer long ago, that his first born child, no matter the gender, had to have 'Lucifer' somewhere in their name

Human names are dumb, except for yours of course, so he searches for suitable demon names

The last thing he wants is a kid named Lucifer, so that will be the kid's middle name

He really regrets his past decisions now

Leviathan

"Levi?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"I'm pregnant."

*leviathan has been KO'd*

No joke, this man is literally floored and didn't wake up for a while and you were afraid you had just slain the fucking Lord of Shadows

Some Henry you were

You had to call Lucifer in to wake him up because he was still flat on the floor a half and hour later

Mammon is more that happy to tip a bucket of ice water on the face of the son of a bitch that impregnated HIS MC

Levi wakes up and pounces on you, gripping you tightly by the arms

"You're k-kidding r-right?"

Him? A father?

Uhhhhhhh

Unfortunately, Leviathan.exe has stopped working, try again in two thousand years

I hate to say this, but he definitely detaches himself for a while until his brothers, especially Asmodeus, literally beat him into shape

He comes back to you, a little bruised and sobbing, but not from the beating he just received

He's so sorry he neglected you! He's such a horrible demon, undeserving of your welcoming nature

He's gonna be the worst dad, and he's not good enough for you, and his kid will hate him just like everyone else does, he doesn't deserve you, he's so sorry for making you suffer the side effects and feel all alone,

Sir, I-

FALSE

It's your turn to shake some sense into him, reminding him that he would be the. best. dad!!

Not to mention the fact that you were just happy he realized his mistakes and came back to you

He begs you to sleep in his bed tub with him for security, and you have to admit his tail is very comforting

Levi does extensive research on human pregnancy and now at the dinner table, instead of talking about the latest slice of life anime he'd been watching, he's just spouting random pregnancy facts and you're laughing so hard it brings you to tears

When the weird dreams and vivid nightmares happen, Levi is right behind you, rubbing your swollen tummy, and letting you talk about them

A lot of them were about him and about your future child

Most of them were about how they got hurt in some way, either that or YOU got hurt and the baby died

These, more often than not, brought you to tears and stress you out, but Levi is right there, okay? Nothing can hurt you, nor would he let anything happen to you on his watch

Learns how to massage you (safely) to reduce stress

Definitely talks to the baby a lot

Levi begged you to be induced so the birth was safe and not a sudden occasion and you agree

On the day the doctor recommended, you arrived at the hospital and got down to business

Levi didn't really want to be in the room with you, but he knew he had to for your sake and he'd played a few birth simulators from both perspectives and you really needed him

Kinda sits there awkwardly comforting you and encouraging you, holding your hand and caressing your cheeks, a bit flushed from exertion and tears

Listen

If the baby is a boy, his name will be Henry and that's final

If it's a girl, he doesn't really care, as long as you don't name her 'mammonia' or something dumb like that

definitely crashes your hospital bed to snuggle until the baby is ready

cries when the baby wraps its extremely small digits around one of his own

also at the little horns protruding from its head

and the tuft of purple in its head

Also Smitten™

He's so excited to get home and show off his beautiful baby to his brothers and then formulate a plan to raise the kid to live and breathe TSL just like his daddy <3

--

July 9th: VIP MEMBERS, GET YALLS JUICE!!

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[devilslinks]

# 𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔 !

— 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕 𝗙𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 | 𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔, 𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥.

wc; ( 3.2k )

synopsis; your best friend, raihan and you find yourselves eager to get intoxicated in one another's company. what better place than a night-club, dim lights, the overwhelmin' musk of the various alcoholic beverages; it's every guy pairs wet dream. that is until raihan gets shit-faced and excuses himself to the restroom while he pukes up his spiked guts. only to return to watch his sister take you balls deep, down her throat.

a/n: no brain, only nessa and her magical throat 🤝

warnings. MINORS DNI, NSFW CONTENT, family!au, raihan and nessa are siblings, club sex, intoxication, dirty talk, the name princess, deep throating, oral (m receiving), throat bulge, throat fucking, cum eating, flirty!nessa, jealous!raihan, exhibitionism, voyeurism.

euphoria.

that was the only word that came mind when raihan and you got involved in recreational activities like you did. galar was a go big or go home type of region, and the two of you stayed true to that motto. the itchy, messily thrown together suits that matched all the way down to the type of socks you had on— the overexcessive amounts of booze, and the loud music which just barely drowned out the fits of laughter and discussion littered throughout the packed club. as soon as the doors opened, flooding your senses with nothing but the sickly sweet, aroma of sex and other intoxicating chemicals; that's how you knew the had night begun.

the two of you had been indulging, before you arrived on the scene— time seemed to blur together with head-spinning speeds or come to a full halt at the worst of moments. you don't even know how long you'd been locking eyes with the transparent shapes and manufactured blurbs dancing across the wall a good, twenty, maybe thirty feet adjacent to your seat at the drink counter. the weight of something too heavy for your alcohol infused mind to register until the bar hostess was practically brewing with irritation at your non-compliance with her attempts to have you regain control of your dazed state; sat lazily in-between your pointer finger and thumb, respectively.

hell you don't even remember waddling over to the bar with the company you had brought with you. but you didn't mind, the painfully challenging to recall memories mattered not when there was already another drink swirling around the rim of your shot-glass. raihan's shifty frame wiggling in and out of your peripherals as you tug the half-empty cup to the skin of your lips, craning your head back to knock down whatever liquid remained at the bottom. the delicious burn of toxins coated the lining of your throat, trails of steamy fluid leaving their mark as the mystery liquor made it way down your esophagus. whatever it was, it packed a punch and wasted no time forcing your lips to curve into a bitter sneer— eyebrows shadowing your face in a sour demeanor, as you used the hem of your suit sleeve to whisk away any spilt mixture that tarnished your cherry red lips.

you hardly have the chance to open your mouth for a second time to address the swaying body, huddled closer the counter than it is to your own. raihan is a total mess, loopsy, and feverishly hot skin to compliment— he's stained a harsh, sickly green against his natural melanin tone. doubling over in either pain or the sudden flow of too many drinks pooling in his system; whatever the emotion he was enduring was, he wasted not a second longer before hustling off into the large gathering of people. disappearing before his lips could slur the final word, missing from his dialect.

“hh..h fuck- my stomach is gonna explode, i'll catch you-” his gravely tone churning into the backdrop just as quickly as he initiated the conversation; the familiar hum of lyrics to a song you couldn't quite place your finger on replaced whatever words raihan had previously gargled out before dashing off towards the public restrooms.

your head feels like it weighs a metric ton this late into the night, threatening to tumble forward as if your neck had lost any and all of it's support. your eyelids pulling down roughly over your eyes like window shades before the sudden wave of loneliness hit you like a truck. fiddling with the collar of your dress-shirt was entertaining enough to fill the void that was the now empty stool, where your best friend once resided. but that quick fix subsided rather easily and the once overwhelming presence of boredom had returned to take a seat.

and then, so did she.

“shit, rai- back so soon? you alright?” your vision was foggy and adorned with blurry bits here and there— but it was still evident enough to make out that, whoever was indeed now in your friend's seat, was not the person you had chauffeured to the club with.

“damn, do i really look, that bad? it's me, y/n. the painfully better looking sibling. what did that idiot put in your drink?” the speech is followed by a laugh. it was a warm and inviting chuckle, one that seemed to relax every muscle in your liquor tense body the moment she parted her spit silken lips. you had been in her company earlier that evening, which made it a tad easier for your incoherent mindset to process it. but nevertheless it was hard not to distinguish who the women paying you a visit was at this point, even if you hadn't engaged with her previously; nessa was infamous for those enchanting looks. and in your dumbified state, those gorgeous navy locks tied together by aquamarine highlights were one of a kind and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the room of normal presenting citizens. though your brain didn't want to pick-up any of your surroundings, you found it quite easy to fawn over her in that ebony dress and the way it hugged her curves in all the right places.

“fuck.. nes' when'd you get so.. so.” you couldn't even find the energy or hell, the words to cough up the remainder of the sentence, you were so taken aback by how stunning she was, even behind your bleary, drunk eyes. but nessa wasn't oblivious— you were sure she had picked up the hint you had layed out so bluntly, and the warm palm slowly inching up your clothed thigh secured that suspension for you.

“not even so much as a greeting? you didn't even buy me a drink first; asshole.”

her words are firm, yet so light hearted at the same time; but just enough to set your arousal over the edge. your headspace so vulnerable to teasing that you're certain she knew what she was doing to your conflicted mind and body. her sly fingers are enough to coax you to shuffle your bar-stool closer to her's— not a single word wriggled around your throat in response, instead the tangy after-tase of alcohol still heavy on your tongue distracted you and you were sure the whole bar could acknowledge your intoxicated musk.

her features held so many different emotions at once, as she pryed you for a reply— trying to tell you each one obscured behind that pretty face, way too quickly for you to decipher. her brows furrowed quizzically, one tilted slightly higher than the other as her half lidded doe-eyes stared up at you like prey at a final stand off with their predator; just humbly surrending their body to the circle of life.

“hah, you're one to.. talk, nes' just because 'm out of it- doesn't mean my numb skin can't feel your heavy hand toying with my waistband.” the both of you swiftly changed direction, heads leering down at nessa's free hand. you were infact correct, you observed as the woman swirled shapes into the expensive leather of your belt. pulling bits between her fingers now and then as she silently struggled with the metalic buckle. your groin swelled tightly, gripping your boxers closer to the fat bulge behind your suit pants; it would take an idiot not to take notice of the wrinkled fabric secured around your aching dick. her skin felt like a furnace, contrasting your slightly cooler temperature— but with her body pressing so desperately to yours, you were sure the warmth from her melted over onto your feverish flesh. the damp, sheen of anxious sweat made the fabric of your suit, dewy. sticking slightly against your hellish skin.

“mm, i guess i was wrong about the greeting part— hello there, you look happy to see me.” not a hint of shame obscured her voice, you're miserably watching nessa shift her weight as she now palms at the mound between your legs. you've seen countless renditions of this night loop in your head, but now that the scenario is a reality; it's agonizing to try to contain your primal urges, face to face. it's a chore not to profess all the vile things you wanna carry out with her, but she's already one step ahead. that glare is dangerous, it makes you feel like she's trying convey that the two of you are already in on something devious.

“let me take care of you.. y/n.”

“let me treat you, nessa.”

the both of you drawl out in what would be perfect unison if your mind wasn't foggy and running slower than usual. you had both finally voiced the elephant in the room, the one which was just positively dripping with thick tension up until this moment in time. you're still squirming under nessa's grip, she can feel you whine and pant everytime she gives your cock a light squeeze between her fingers and it's not long before the two of you are absent from the bar and clawing at one another's linen around the corner. closest to any vacant area within eye-shot. well, as vacant as a small room seperated from the bustling club-life can get.

did you think the night would come to a close with your friend's sister skillfully sucking the soul out of your sloppy cock? not in a million years, but you'd be damned if you didn't want it to end on any other note. nessa fell to her knees before the two of you even made it out of view— planting herself in-between your thighs like she was a trained professional; no flaws in her technique as her tongue slid obediently from her mouth and latches onto the moist fabric masking her mouth's destination. nessa's fingers are long and slender, as they snake up your hips and meet at the belt tangled around your waist. you can feel your cock pumping against the seams of your pants, the uncomfortable sensation making it appear as though you'd rip through the cloth if your cock was imprisoned a second longer.

with the head-splitting atmosphere of the club playlist stretching and stuffing your ears to the brim with fast pitched edm that made your skull pound and jitter. as well as the added hum of the gym leader whispering inaudible nothings against your bulge as she at last pushed your pants down, and past your ankles; material getting caught on the fancy design of your shoes. you felt like you were on the brink of death, but the enticing appeal of hooking up with your best friend's relative kept your iron-will alive long enough to rough it out and pass the irritation that came with being black-out drunk.

your storm of worries fizzled just as quickly as they sprung up, maybe it was the alcohol but you swear this girl had the hands of the divine; you were washed away into infatuation once more. nessa's teeth hike up your boxers until they meet the waistline, pulling down on the hem with a familiar aggressiveness as she relishes in the way your big dick pops to life and looms over her lustful features; all chubby 'n decorated with veins fer' her viewing pleasure.

“shit.. i'm gonna have so much fun with your cock. you wanna make your stupid slut already? my mouth is just asking for it.” the first piece is low and almost voiced as if it was meant for her ears only— but the second half is most definitely directed at you; as she tilts her head to plant a few delicate lovebites along the base of your shaft. fingers looping gracefully around your hilt as she admires the girth you carry.

“fuck..” you hiss, cock twitching violently as you pleaded with sinful eyes. she had barely started her reign over your dick before guttural groans and mewls slid past your lips. the sensation of her tiny tastebuds as they trailed over the little glob of pre-cum that drooled from your cockhead was insatiable. the sudden action sent your hips forward almost automatically, like they instinctively acted on impulse; it felt so right. merely a few inches breached past her lips but there was enough speed and prowess in your thrust to drag a surprise gag from the mouth attached to your dick.

impatience was on the horizon, the buzz from copious amounts of alcohol had knocked down a few pegs. you were now fully aware of the figure positioned at your feet like she was praying for a god, and soon you'd make her chant like she was being fucked by one as well. broad fingers clamped down, squishing both sides of her jaw while simultaneously easing your length deeper, and deeper down her gullet like your dick was her last meal on earth. you throw your head back before letting it fall forward against the wall, watching those desperate dark iris' pool with puddles of lust that seem to be neverending.

“come'on princess, you know how badly you want this-- you gonna let me ruin this pretty throat?” you thumb over her warm cheeks, eyes glossy and threatening to ruin the simple makeup she applied before she arrived. the uncomfortable stretch of her esophagus molding as your cock fills the empty gaps in her throat with every inch you have; is one that isn't unfamiliar to her. dragging your pulsating veins along the dip in her mouth, her tongue greedily laps up any and all of the skin yet to be consumed by her.

“jesus.. fuck, oh fuck. take it, nes'. shit.” your cock fully slips into her, heavy and swollen as it spears her right down the middle; eyes rolling back into her skull as it's just too fucking big. bigger than anything she's previously had inside of her, anyway. your core bleeds with spots of warmth as you take the time to bask in the way every individual wall in her mouth feels as it constricts you almost painfully. sucking you in before she slides you back out of her throat once more; repeating the tedious cylce that has the two of you in a heated frenzy.

despite all the sudden and erratic pain, nessa bobs her head in sync, coaxing you to go as deep as humanly possible. rocking your hips as they snap against her face with every good fuck you give her— watching yourself grow rapidly from the outside of her neck, the moist skin now holding a curved bump near the middle. nessa takes the initiative. removing a hand from one of your thighs, she uses four fingers to lightly push and stroke the bulge; almost as if she was jerking you off while you ravaged her inards.

she knew exactly what she was doing, and it had you riled the fuck up.

you picked up the pace, delirious from the amount of stimulation your precious cock was receiving. with your erection fully encased by her face and your dick bouncing off the gummy walls of her gullet, you could tell her throat was already forming bruises with a throbbing soreness to compliment, time come the morning. your rough hands dig behind the back of her head, hands feeling lost amongst her ocean of hair— beautiful locks just perfect for pulling. you yank her face forward, lowering yours as well to not only established authority but to get your point across to the cockdrunk slut mindlessly slobbering all over your messy shaft.

“mfph-- please, cum.. i want- all!” you can just barely string together what sounds like whines for more— i guess she can sense just how close the knot in your stomach is to bursting because she grips the back of your thighs and tugs them forward with whatever coherent muscle strength she has remaining. just in time for the tension in your core to coil tighter and tighter, the lowerhalf of your body trembling with all the signs of an incoming orgasm.

“does my dumb little girl wanna be fucked, that, bad? hah, fuck nes' what would your brother think?” you mock so cruelly, totally disregarding the fact that there is a slim possibility, raihan is searching for the lost pair. and it just so happens that nessa's poor little brother had been observing for a little over half the engagement. fist wrapped around his pathetic cock, suit collar pulled between his fangs, ocean blue eyes fixated on you; your hip strength, the way you rolled and plunged balls deep into his sibling. his body felt so empty, only riding his high off the two of yours', praying he'd finish before you caught him lurking like a sleaze. it was so unfair, why did nessa get to taste your sultry cock before he did?

you can feel the bass reverberate in nessa's throat as her lips nip at your hilt, impatiently trying to babble out a response adequate enough to your liking. her mind is flying, no correct sense of direction as it attempts to form a reply, but all that breaks past the barrier is a few pitiful mewls. her nose is burried in your pubes and she's lost all feeling in her throat, only motivating her to show off the lump on her neck even more. you watch as your length disappears into the depths of her mouth for the hundredth time that night, hands pushing down the lacy strap of her dress in a last ditch effort to find something other than her hair to latch onto for support. her scalp is on fire and she can only accept the stinging sensation as the roughness of your thrusts increase in magnitude.

the club is filled to the brim with lewd moans and needy pants; those of which included raihan's. every inch of her esophagus is being used— you happily ram your cock down her throat a few more times, your balls were quivering wildly. contracting and spasming, boiling with a fat wad of potent seed all ready to venture inside of her. nessa squeals, feeling a thick bulge travel up the length of your cock, up to the head and straight on her tongue; some spurts flowing down her neck while the rest collected in her mouth. painting her insides a translucent white that would surely stain.

just for good measure, nessa deep throats your empty dick with a few simple strokes; a white, sticky ring forming around the base of your shaft after she detached from your dick. a lewd pop, followed by a line of stringy saliva connected her lips to your bottomed out cock before she ruined the trail by letting her tongue lull from behind her teeth. letting you get a nice overhead view of her empty mouth, watching as the last bits of your load traveled down her throat and out of sight for good.

“god.. such a g'girl. you sucked on my cock so nicely, princess. wasn't that a way to end the night?” a blissed out smile creeps over your face, marveling in the aftermath you caused. you gave the right side of her face a few taps from your cock— dried tears and sloppy makeup tainting her cheeks. cum dripping from the corners of her mouth, as a cocktail of her own spit and your semen coats the back of her throat. it was all one big look of;

euphoria.

[lightrises]

"Only in allowing her to pass..." — Hornet, The Radiance, and the means by which Hallownest turned its victims against each other

A quick note: I read Hollow Knight as an anti-colonialist text. As such I'll be touching on topics related to colonialism as it's depicted in the world of the game, and said analysis will reflect both a sympathetic take on The Radiance and a critique of The Pale King that won't pull its punches. If this sounds up your alley, hello and thank you for the read! Let us be sad about these bugs together.

———

So!! A while back I realized something about pre-canon that felt rather... "curious" is one way to put it, I think. To wit: for all the effort and scheming and determination The Pale King poured into trying to get rid of The Radiance, neither of his plans involved directly killing her.

Was that his long game? Well, sure, that seems clear enough. His tack changed from luring the moths away from their god and creator to a more literal form of incarceration once the infection became a factor, but at its core the end goal never really changed—The Pale King very sincerely wished to destroy Radiance via obsolescence. The Seer lends us foreshadowing to confirm as much:

[Image descriptions: Two screenshots from Hollow Knight, showing the Seer and Ghost in the Seer's alcove at the Resting Grounds. Across both screenshots, the Seer tells Ghost the following: "None of us can live forever, and so we ask those who survive to remember us. Hold something in your mind and it lives on with you, but forget it and you seal it away forever. That is the only death that matters." End description.]

(Which, by the way and given the context, talk about an extremely unsubtle allusion to cultural genocide huh!!! Whew.)

In any case, we're left with a whole bunch of machinations which build up to... well, two very roundabout attempts at committing deicide. That's kind of weird, all things considered! Why not just do the deed in one fell swoop and get it over with?

This could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the king was devoid of the means to instantly kill another higher being. Maybe his personal sense of scruples stopped him short of signing off on MURDER murder (although, y'know, the aforementioned genocide + eternal imprisonment = still cool and copasectic apparently!). Maybe the long drawn-out cruelty was the point. Maybe the idea of playing fuckign 4D chess with the circumstances was too delicious for him to pass up—that man did love to tinker and stick his claws where they sure as hell didn't belong—or maybe it was a little bit of All The Things. Who knows!!

But interrogating The Pale King's methodology on this count isn't what I'm here for, at least not really. The main reason I raise this question at all is that in her own way, Hornet did too.

"I'd urge you to take that harder path... "

See, going by The Pale King's actions and what The White Lady explicitly says, they both foresaw two outcomes wrt the infection: it can be allowed to spread, or it can be contained. At Teacher's Archives, Quirrel acknowledges the fact that Ghost is expected to do... something about this, but he doesn't elaborate on what HE thinks that's supposed to be apart from the obvious "Gotta bust into Black Egg Temple first". Hornet is the one person who presents to us—to Ghost—what's framed as a third option: confront and destroy the infection at its source.

And she doesn't bring it up like it's just another tactic for Ghost to consider, prim and indifferent to what they would do. She nudges them towards it, actively, up to the point where she throws herself into the fray against Hollow at a juncture that's uniquely dangerous to her and her alone just to make that option feasible.

Even when she's couching it in disclaimers that this is still Ghost's decision to make (and let's be fair, she's extremely not wrong about that lol), no one can pretend Hornet is unbiased. It's obvious in that buttoned-down Hornet kind of way that she is way the hell done with the increasingly tenuous stalemate that's kept Hallownest's desiccated corpse from collapsing in on itself. Personally it's hard for me not to read some Toriel Undertale-esque "My father was too entrenched in his own foolishness to pursue any course of action that would have DEFINITIVELY ended this" shade into her stance here, regardless of whether that's strictly true in canon.

And that bit—Hornet's hopes for an end to Hallownest's stasis, moreover her grim calculation of what needs to be done to get there—that's the bit I find super interesting but likewise tragic and depressing as shit, on multiple levels. In no small part because a) canon itself gestures towards Hornet feeling conflicted about the very plan she's pushing, and moreover b) she has at least two (2) damn good reasons to feel that way.

So, what do I mean by that? Let's look here first:

[Image description: A screenshot from Hollow Knight, of Hornet and Ghost inside the Temple of the Black Egg, standing in front of the unsealed egg itself. Hornet has been struck by the Dream Nail and her dialogue is displayed as follows: "... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?" End description.]

As the curtain is about to drop on things one way or another, Hornet thinks,

... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?

Now, looking at that last bit it's easy to go "Oh no, Hornet's worried that Ghost won't survive killing The Radiance!" And I do think that's part of it: Hornet is, categorically, not her father. By endgame it's clear she's not content to view her Void-borne siblings as tools to be used then disposed of. She's also well aware that as a healthy autonomous Vessel amongst the countless dead, Ghost is the only person left alive who has a fighting chance against The Radiance. Knowing someone is the only qualified candidate for the job doesn't make encouraging them to embrace a probable death sentence any less of a bitter pill to swallow, though. And odds are on that this sentiment extends to Hollow too, who IS going to die no matter what happens here. To put it bluntly, it's more than reasonable to conclude that Hornet hates the absolute fuck out of this.

But I don't think that's all there is to it either. Remember what I said earlier about The Pale King's bids for genocide? Well, it's not like the man deigned to limit his efforts to just the moth tribe.

"We do not choose our mothers... "

On top of everything else—an infected Hallownest being all she's ever known, the fact that she only exists because of the infection, the list goes on—Hornet has spent her life wedged into a position that's been uncomfortable and terminally unglamorous at best: she is both a daughter of her father's kingdom and of Deepnest.

Deepnest, which like the moths and many others was here long before the wyrm and his lady wife swanned onto the scene and the God Become Bug laid claim to everything the Light touched plus a considerable amount of change. THAT Deepnest, which has fought claw and thread to retain its sovereignty against same-said settler king, and for which Herrah not only surrendered her life but also agreed to bed her worst enemy, all in hopes of securing a viable future for her people (put a pin in that last part by the way, I'll come back to it soon).

Two Worlds, One Family (Ft. An Indigenous Woman Trying Her Damndest To Work With What She's Got Versus An Imperialist Who Only Signed Up For This Because He Needed The Political Favor THAT Badly, So It's The Height Of Dysfunctional Actually). Fun times!!!!

The baggage this entails for Hornet is gnarly enough without implications made by The White Lady and the pre-canon timeline of events and even Team Cherry's dev notes that the king may well have looked at baby Hornet, gone "YOINK", then ensured she spent the lion's share of her childhood reared within the pearly auspices of his Pale Court*. That would be rather advantageous for Him Specifically after all, the potential to mold a born foe into a future ally and even have her trained in combat under the same tutelage as her doomed sibling. And far be it from him to stop a grown Hornet—his own flesh and blood too!—from making Deepnest her forever home if she so pleased. He totally wouldn't be reneging on his "fair bargain made" by doing this one simple thing until Hornet came of age, not t e c h nic c a l l y.

If that is indeed the case, there's a non-zero chance Hornet's formative years were a hot mess of cultural alienation and being a good deal more privy than most to just how much of a bastard her father could be. There's an equally non-zero chance that at some point she stood or sat within earshot as The Pale King finally, finally dropped all pretense and euphemism to name the Light for precisely what (for who) it was.

See, in conjunction with the question that started this whole dang train of thought I've been asking this one too: Does Hornet know? When she speaks of confronting "the heart of [the] infection" does she know she's talking about not just a literal person but someone very specific? The Radiance, who god though she may be shares skin in the game alongside Hornet as a native woman screwed over by the same settler king, likewise deprived of her kin and saddled with a life gone horrendously pear-shaped?

I'll assume for the sake of exploring the possibility and because I think it's a likely one anyway that yes, Hornet does know. She knows, and despite everything can't help empathizing. She might even look at Radiance and see bits and pieces both reflected and slightly inversed in her own mother: Radiance was forced to the sidelines while her people—her children, the brood she was meant to lead and care for—died out under The Pale King's rule, and it's no stretch to assume she's at least as upset about that as she has been about everything else; Herrah too took drastic measures for her people's sake, trying to head off annihilation by relegating herself to the sidelines in an act that was as much calculated risk as an attempt to find wiggle room and leverage in the face of a nasty proposition.

A calculated risk that, if things continue as they are, might well amount to nothing as the rest of Deepnest gets eaten alive by the infection. It survived The Pale King's advances for so so long, only to fall here. Herrah's sacrifice would be for naught; the other tribes—themselves the king's victims—would keep succumbing to the infection too.

And this is where things fall apart.

"... or the circumstance into which we are born."

Let's be clear: I think Hornet is wise enough to know what's what here, that all the carnage and suffering falls on her father's head for starting this slow-motion trainwreck in the first place. Hallownest wasn't always Hallownest. This domain was Radiance's home first, along with many others. It was the worm-turned-king who rolled up on the scene unsolicited and decided this was a ""'problem""" that had to be """solved""".

But the fact of the matter is that he's gone and The Radiance is here, raging, seemingly inconsolable. Above and beyond being Deepnest's rightful heir, Hornet isn't in a position to countenance more splash damage even if the grief and fury fueling it makes perfect sense. She can understand without ever bringing herself to love Radiance, and she can bend her knee to practicality even if she hates the everloving shit out of it because the fact that it "has" to end this way isn't fair.

This lends itself to one last awful conclusion: that Hornet has probably considered and (rightly or wrongly) discarded the possibility that Radiance can be saved, at least not without dragging more collateral along for the ride. If even her mother and every other enemy to the king seemed to dismiss talking Radiance down as an option way back when... well. Why should Hornet hope for any better after things have escalated so far?

Again, it's practical. A practical net good is what Hornet strives for. And again, it fucking sucks.

For extra tragedy points, this makes Hornet's extended crypticness around Ghost followed by her last minute casting about for a reason to tell them "Wait, don't; not just yet" that she never voices even more of a gut punch. She can't bring herself to burden Ghost with the context that haunts her so, least of all when it might weaken their resolve to go through with what (she thinks) needs doing.

It's the "same song, different verse" which led to the mantis tribe and Deepnest being pitted against each other: Hallownest rigged the game so that two women who could have been powerful allies—who have a mutual vested interest in driving out settler rule—wound up poised as enemies instead. And how awful is that? The king for all his being extremely fucking dead still gets the last laugh, because outside of a miracle the game never manifests Hornet can salvage what her mother started and look forward to a future where Deepnest pulls itself back from the brink if and only if The Radiance dies.

Resolution comes at the price of a completed genocide. Add two more dead siblings to the unconscionable pile thereof, while we're at it. That's what it boils down to whether or not Hornet can bear to articulate it as such, and there's no grace or even a properly bittersweet ending to wring from this clusterfuck. And that is rough.

———

* This has been better explained elsewhere, but a quick rundown: The White Lady tells Ghost that Hornet and Herrah "were permitted little time together." On its surface this can be taken to mean that Hornet was still very young when Herrah was shipped off to Eternal Dreamland—except this doesn't jive with the fact that we meet Hornet as an adult. If the stasis kicked in once the Dreamers went to their rest, which in turn halted the aging process for every living bug in Hallownest, AND before all this Hornet experienced little by the way of quality time with her birth mother... I think you can see where I'm going with this.

To top it off we've got Team Cherry weighing in ominously from their dev notes on Herrah: "As part of the agreement for her alliance and her role as a dreamer, King gave her a child (Hornet). Was she allowed to keep this child or was she taken away?" This isn't confirmation by itself of course, but given additional canon details (see above): Can I get a "yikes" in the chat fellas.