#finding and finishing up old sketches in the drafts

[baudouinette]

The Latin text layers 😭😭😭💀

The historical cum (idk how it’s called in English???) Sndjsj “el cum histórico”💀 i suppose those who’ve studied latin in school know what im talking abt 🙏🏼

It’s the inscription on the sword btw 😭 “benedic et sanctifica hanc gladium cum tua serenissima pace et voluntate”

Latin aside, I was thinking of doing a post with Old French words and phrases, categorized like for greetings, farewells, common sayings, titles and ways of addressing people, differences according to century, etc. aside from what the links in my pinned post provide. Would anyone find it useful?

——

•Ignore the sword as it is not finished at all yet it has many layers underneath it that need to be erased later on. On top of that, the angle in the zoomed portion is a bit wrong, and Lluna’s arms should be further apart—or the sword higher up—to hold it in a way that makes sense, considering the weight and balance, but idk whether I can fix that.

But this is what it is like according to my first draft & concept (this is the diary I used to annotate research, and conceptualize aspects of not only HCW but in general~). It is basically the movie one (same colors for example) but with more accurate proportions applied (but I make other creative variations too). There is some indecision in the part types for this concept, mostly bc of the variations, but nowadays I have narrowed it down more for Pais Sereine at least. Will show his type XI heirloom sword someday too.

Scabbard drawing is missing. For HCW the leather both on it and the grip is a dark brown, like the movie, with interspersed rims.

For other concepts, I might give it a very distinct ‘natural-looking’ dark greyish blue tint (dunno how to describe it) just for fun, although I can’t quite tell whether that would be entirely acceptable. Maybe it would look good in the dragon fantasy AU!

Many possible names for others: Gratia, Cineris, Taeda, Iusant, Rayonner, Fulgens, Ensis, Arcens, Addala, al-Adel, al-Quzat, Igniscor, Plantamor, Cireur, Nurqamar, Mafoi, Voisdefoi. Which sounds coolest? (And don’t get me started w Armenian names: Hayrapetakan or Patriark, Luys…) There’s Greek to take into consideration, too… 🤯

Btw if any of these caught your eye and you wanted to use it, let me know! I’d be v happy to share! (These ideas are not just for me, I just literally can’t stop brainstorming so part of the reason I share so much is with this purpose. 🩵)

Lluna and Baldwin’s concepts ���� Baldwin with the eastern look I like to give him (my hyperfixation w ‘tablions’ 😅). Was too lazy to finish the horsie’s legs on Lluna’s art haha.

Al Mualim, Juliana, and one of my favorite characters, Teodora Tsion-Naxos (have not properly introduced her yet, so it is a mild spoiler)

As these were concepts and meant to be drawn quickly, I used Tom Tierney’s art as reference for some of them (for Teodora I didn’t, since she is very much an original character with an extremely rare role and background—her sister Tania too). I never showed these other than in my private insta—I used to be sooooo self-conscious about unfinished, sketch art. But sharing art like that lately here with you has helped me break out from that shell, somewhat. I hope you don’t find it annoying 💕

I wish my writing looked prettier 😭 (any other left-handed ppl here struggle w this???)

Juan Vicente says hi :) he loves learning with me and watching me as I write lol (he had to had his eye removed recently my bbyboy 😢)

I might take a more serious break from some social media soon, I’ve been thinking about it, and you can probably tell/assume I can feel burnout easily, with all this hyperactivity 💔

[ahhrenata]

[number44newseries864962]

Need to rant for a minute because even though I have very much been enjoying the fruits of my efforts learning how to sew vintage style clothes, I just swapped out old fatphobia (nice plus size vintage clothes never making it to stores) for new fatphobia (trying to find patterns). Cause it doesn't end at what clothes you're able to buy already made.

I finally bought a Friday Pattern Company pattern the other day, and man it made the bare minimum feel like I was being spoiled. The sizes go up to 7X (that's XL, XXL, 1X, 2X, etc, so there's 9 sizes above L) they had a thin and a fat model on the cover! Usually I'm barely lucky enough to get an XL, and I'm just expected to guess how it's going to look on my body. The majority of their patterns have two differently sized models on the covers, and all of them have that full range of patterns inside.

It is so hard to find good plus size patterns, even if they're available, many companies just scale up their mediums and I can't guarantee they're actually sized correctly for a different shape. As good as Friday is, them and other modern indie pattern companies aren't easy to find.

Okay well what if I went another step deeper, what if I forgo patterns all together and decide to be completely independent and draft things myself?

Then I'll need a plus size dress form. I got lucky and found one at an antique mall for 50$ but these are incredibly rare and more expensive than smaller ones. I'll need to learn how to draft patterns, something that was taught to me on a XS form by my college and nearly every tutorial out there. Drafting close fitting clothes for fat bodies is a completely different skillset, because all that extra fat is much squishier and shifts more. Measuring yourself correctly and getting the shape you're looking for is far more important. Before I even got there I'd need to sketch out what I wanted to make, right? Well the patterning book my family got me only shows you how to draw tall, skinny people. A beginner would have to look up their own drawing references and tutorials because what what supposed to be a super accessible beginner's guide to fashion has decided their body isn't normal enough for the baseline tutorial.

We're expected to be the ones who put in the extra effort. Digging to find the pattern companies that fit our shape and actually prove they can, paying extra in shipping or driving farther to pick them up. Having to search specifically for plus size tutorials for drafting and sketching. It's always treated like it's not part of the beginner's experience to be working with a fat body, that's just going to make people more frustrated and lost and less likely to pursue something they're excited about! Especially if it's in response to already being frustrated about the lack of clothing options.

We need a little positivity to this post so to end on a high note, here's me modeling the blazer I just finished with a shirt I made a couple years ago!

Being able to finally wear clothes I really feel like me in has been an amazing confidence boost. It's not fair that there's so many roadblocks in the way for someone who looks like me who just wants to wear things they enjoy.

[bkblaise]

hello i love ur art <3 may i ask how you shade/render? or if you can share any helpful tutorials you learned from ^^

Unhinged Art Tutorial

Well, anon and @merlucide! I'm not sure if I'm the best person to learn from (I'll attach some video links at the end to people who I personally look to for art advice) but I happen to have a series of screenshots for how i render with a strawpage drawing I did recently(at the time I drafted most of this a month+ ago), so I'll go over what I do, at least in this case.

Warning: A bit rambly. Not sure if intelligible.

Tutorial..? Explanation? under the cut.

I have a few different shading styles based on ease of program usage and effort level, but in this case i had to individually streak the shadows. I'll be focusing on hair and skin for the most part here.

My sketches are pretty poor, because I'm hasty:

Honestly I find the better the initial sketch, the easier the final profuct will come. So take your time, use layers when sketching to be clean. The airbrush layering shows vaguely how I tend to shade hair.

Backlighting *Applicable mostly when there is a bright background, light behind the subject, or in neutral lighting.

The 'underside'/inside I tend to use a peachier, brighter tone closer to the skin color (for tanned skinned characters I'd use a shade closer to a rosy orange, since that's just a more saturated peach. For darker skinned characters, I'd recommend a slightly redder & brighter version of their skin tone. This works pretty well with dark hair+dark skin, but in the case that your character's hair color is a lot lighter compared to their skin tone [also in the case of a fair skinned character with WHITE hair] it's totally fine to ignore the natural undertone of the character and shade it with a pinkish white.) This works for any hair texture but can be more time consuming for coily hair textures. (2c-4c)

Lineart when I take my time / Old rendering video

It looks more stable if you start off with a solid lineart base because you won't struggle with big-picture placement issues.

"Lineart" when I just try to pump out a drawing

I first did a rough sketch, kept it as an overlay layer and drew over it.

(Chickenscratching is valid though, honestly. I think it has a look to it!) I usually block out base colors, and vaguely where I want the shading to go, unless I need a special type of lighting, which then I'd do the base colors and either choose to wait until I'm finished rendering or do light processing* (*will discuss this later in this post) with different blending modes and layers.

For example if I'm doing the colors mostly FIRST (Choosing a grayed out palette) and then rendering, it'd look a little something like this: Left (Trackpad, on FireAlpaca) / Right (iPad, on Clip Studio & Procreate)

Sometimes, I'll shade with a dark, grayed out tone and then fill it in with something slightly more vibrant. This kind of gives it a bounce-light feel? Also with a lot of pieces I do recently I try to block out entire parts as white because lighting especially on white background pieces looks better if you pretend that it's white behind the character due to an intense sunlight.

Also, I use gradient layers to tweak with the colors. It's pretty useful and looks nice!!!! Gradient maps are available in every software I use: Procreate, FireAlpaca and Clip Studio Paint.

I find that the more intense the light (but not scattered, as in the source is either very bright or it's very close) the darker the shadows usually look? And if there's a brightness coming from behind the figure and the hair is splayed out in some way, it will appear semi translucent because it's just a bunch of strands made of keratin and collagen, something like that....

Anyway this is all very messy but I hope it helped

Here's a process photo for how I shade if that helps too.

More examples..

I broke down my thought process in my lighting so here's a close up of that.

i totally forgot about the video links so here's my idol the one and only:

And I think this guy makes quick but concise tip videos:

Finally I really like the in depth professional explanations from a long time illustrator:

I've personally taken advice from all three's videos and used them to improve my own art, so take a peek!!!!

[deqdlyowl]

I actually have some old doodles TPtR au related... This one portrays an event from the second chapter.

I have a few more things, but they're kinda spoilers and I'm not really into spoiling... Though one of them is just a spoiler of one interesting detail I want to add (the event my sketch shows most likely won't appear in the fic), while the other one is a WHOLE AHH SPOILER of the shit happening in, maybe like 10+ chapter, I'm still not sure how big I want to make the fic, ahaha.

Also rambling and venting out my feelings under the cut because I forgot to take my meds yesterday. You don't have to read but I would be happy if you do.

.

Every time I start something I like, it begins to feel like a small obligation after some time, no matter how I feel about the thing I create. I love my fic and I really want to finish it, because it's also a huge emotional boost for me when I understand that I passed my word count goal in the chapter and I finally can write down my 24/7 daydreaming about CotL (even if not all of them, I often think about selfship, sorry, ahaha),AND I have a nice feedback. BUT. My ability is to abandon things. I have many unfinished drawings, unfinished crafts, like, a crocheted Spycrab or a full-sized HHH tf2 weapon, even though I really want to finish it all, but since I took a really long break, I just abandoned it all. That's usually the reason why I don't make comics. (The only comic I've ever made is that one silly meme about bees). And a month ago I started writing TPtR.

I'm scared of this happening to my fic, that's why I force myself to write if I'm not doing so for more than two days. Somehow it boosts my motivation, but at the same time, the thought of having to force myself to do something, even if I love it, makes me anxious. Why am I not doing anything if I love it? Perhaps it's just my depression with AuDHD kicking in, and sometimes I forget to take my ADs (I don't have ADHD meds yet) that makes me suddenly apathetic about everything. And then anxiety. And then I get sad when I can't come up with words.

Today I was describing the thing I have no experience in. I made tonnes of research, watched many videos of how people do it, tried to find words, but it looks... Meh. And I'm sad. And when I'm sad about something I do, I abandon it. BUT I WON'T. I will force myself to not, because I still want to write! I try to reassure myself that it looks shitty because it's still a draft and written in my native language. However, if looking at my current word count, the chapter won't be short, and it makes me happy. I'm sad and happy. I'm confused about my feelings about what I do!! I can just abandon doing ANYTHING and be lazy for years as it happened in middle school! But I have to force myself. To do anything at all. I already bed rot when I'm not studying, and if I'm studying at home, I still do it in bed. I'm losing weight (I'm severely underweight), my dogs feel bad (they're almost 12), it's my final year in school so I also study hard for my finals, my dreams say weird things (I believe in dream-telling or whatever, and I kinda can decipher them) and it all devours me from inside. But I can't give myself a rest. Or. I'll. Abandon. The thing. I love!

I'm repeating, but my head repeats everything most of the time as well, it's either loud and messy (adhd) or quiet and agonizing (autism), my ADs make my body parts twitch, I don't think that I need my therapist anymore, because it feels like there's no different between me before and me after talking to her.

I love my friends though. Their cheerful reaction to my fic or sketch updates is something that also boosts my motivation of doing something. I love art because of the feeling of creating something, but after finishing, I get the desire to see someone's reaction to what I did.

That's all, I think. I mean, not all, but I don't want to repeat again and again, my memory is getting worse as well, I feel like I kin Shamura ahahahha. I want to take an MRI. What if I have a tumor.

[kikikoifish]

Day 3 - Hobbies

Yessss I finally finished it!!!!! This piece was genuienly SO MUCH FUN OH MY GOSH. And I adore how it turned out so much!!!!!!!! Like. 100% this is in my top 5 favorite art I've made, if not #1. There's like nothing I would change about this. It just looks amazing as it is. I also made a micro comic to go with this as well! Here's the link. Yapping and old versions of this piece below the cut!

So I have a lot of headcannons about Bonnie and Freddy, but also something we should keep in mind is that since Bonnie's lowkey dead, basically everything about Bonnie's personality is kinda a headcannon... But I DIGRESS. The headcannon relevant to this post is that Bonnie and Freddy would totally play each others' games all the time, since their attractions are literally connected to each other (if that isn't love I don't know what is). And they're both really bad at the others' game 😭😭 (Like Bonnie is bad at Fazerblast and Freddy is bad at bowling, despite how much time they spend playing with each other). BUT HERE'S THE FUNNY PART. In my brain, Freddy would go easy on Bonnie so he could have a chance to win, so cutsie. But Bonnie would not. 💀 Like bro would go out 100% every time and just whoop Freddy, no mercy. 🤣🤣 Tell me it's not true 😂🤣

So the two versions above are the initial sketch idea in my sketchbook and one of the rougher drafts with slightly different coloring choices. I ended up making Freddy's shirt more blue/indigo because the green blended in too much with Bonnie's hand but also really contrasted Freddy's orange color. The final color I chose was much better 🥰✨️ Sometimes you just gotta play around with different options until you find something you like.

These final two versions are full flat colors and full flat colors with the lineart colors improved. In the final version we got some lovely shading and of course the Bowling Night signature at the bottom. And I also added some aging stains! Because I do NOT think the picture was taken care of after it was confiscated from Freddy.

Here's the lore behind the little comic as well! So the idea is that when Bonnie goes missing, they have to take down all his stuff so kids stop asking questions. Which includes any memoribilia or trinkets in their Green Rooms. Notice how Bonnie's room behind the stage was filled with Freddy stuff? You can't convince me that Freddy didn't have the exact same thing. But of course, when Bonnie's gone, they can't leave any hints of his existance (???). And so all of Freddy's things have to go... :((( They confiscate all of it and just dump it in a storage room somewhere, to just rot.

It's super sad to be honest... :( But don't be sad, look how cute they are!! So happy! No one's dead!!! :DD

[lynaferns]

The Forest On The Other Side

Chapter 1: I want to go home.

Ver. [ENGLISH / SPANISH]

EDIT: This fic is now on AO3

A girl gets lost in the forest and finds a misterious gate in the middle of nowhere. At the other side she meets a... very peculiar individual who seems to only want to befriend her and play. Everything seems fine. Until night falls and someone else joins to play...

Again, I appreciate feedback about the english adaptation. English is not my first lenguage and I still mess up sometimes.

This is in some way a more "joyful" story than BIOMáquina, still with its dark themes. I wrote this a year ago. By this I mean I forced myself to get it written down and ended up hating it and burning myself out. A couple of weeks ago I decided to reread it and I though it was pretty ok actually, so I edited it a bit to make it flow better. It used to be written more as a script for the comic I wanted to draw buuuut that didn't happen (cough stressed myself out cough forced myself cough don't force yourself to make content out of a hobby, a hobby is supposed to be for your own fun). I'm not completely satisfied with the final draft but I think is good enough for my first ever fic written.

I originally planned to make it a Y/N thing but that didn't last long. But I keeped the original idea of the first person POV. The Y/N stories I've read has always some narrator telling you what you do insert you in the story. I thought of making the MC the narrator, this way the reader can insert themselves like it's their story or they can read it as if someone else is telling them a story. This is also a bit limiting, since the narration is also the MCs thought process and sometimes I may skip details MC couldn't have seen.

AU, Magical forest, DCA centered, Sun fnaf, Moon fnaf, Elves Sun & Moon, OC, Selfinsert, Character & OC, platonic, friendship, slowburn (kind of), Moon is agresive at first, Moon is also a bit of a gremlin, Protective Sun (I think), OC is a potty mouth, Female Main Character, First person, Angst.

The first post where I showed this AU and my first sketches ideas.

Tumblr archive with all of the art, ideas and anwsered asks.

Youtube Playlist which I'm pretty proud of how it turned out :] It's in a specific order but you can put it on mix.

Note: even though I try to keep things light some things may be triggering for some readers.

CW: Anxiety, Suicide ideation, Implied death, Choking, Non sexual abuse.

Wordcount: 9,700 (It's not rounded, that's literally the number Word tells me it's at lol)

Welp.

Here we are again, in the old village house (yey...). Well, 'I am', my family won't arrive to settle in for another week. They brought me here beforehand a few days ago for organizational reasons. They took a quick look inside before they left to see the state of the house, if it needed any repairs and such, and they headed back to the city. While they finish preparing everything, I take care of the house and text them messages about anything that may be needed for when they return.

We haven't been here in years, the house needs some repairs, and I'm sorry for the spiders, but it could use a deep cleaning. We can't do a deep cleaning but I have been cleaning what I can these last few days, at least so that it looks decent... at first glance.

Well, it's not like anyone is coming to visit.

It's a quiet town, until the kids from the town next door come to make a racket with their bikes. They play in our field, scare away the cats and throw cans around. They are assholes.

Anyways, the people in the village are nice. The adults I mean, the kids I used to play with, I don't get along with them anymore. Some of them aren't kids anymore, we have grown up and are going down different paths. But those who are still kids... they're still interested in the only older kid in the town who listened to them and let them do whatever they wanted, to a certain extent.

I don't want them to come looking for me to go out and play. I've been avoiding them by saying that I'm busy cleaning the house and getting it ready for when my family arrives, but I feel like interacting with them less and less. That's why I'm going out to the woods behind the house to get lost for a while, as always. The kids don't go near the forest so they won't bother me there.

There is an area for tourism and hiking but not many people come, some police cars border the forest from time to time but they never go inside. The reports of missing people in this forest have been coming in for decades, only some lost children have returned but there is no trace of any of the adults who disappeared along with the rest of the children. The areas marked with signs are safe but you can't go out of bounds unless you want to disappear with those people.

And I, who right now am alone and with no one to notice my absence if I go missing, am going to head straight to the forest. Don't you think, I don't want to disappear, I just don't like people and I usually go into the forest but I don't go too far away. As long as I see my house in the distance, I know how to return.

I grab my bag with my sketchbook and pencil case, in case I feel like drawing (probably won't) and step out to the back porch. The outer sliding metal door that protects the inner one is rusty and difficult to open. It would be better to oil it but I don't know when it will be done, considering that the broken railing has had a wooden board tied to it for years. I already sent my mother a message talking about it.

I enter the forest and start walking around. It's hot, of course, it's early summer, but it's quite noticeable after being in the cool inside the brick and stone house. That's the good thing about coming here in summer, the houses are made to stay cold inside and it's great, sometimes I even need to wear a jacket. But outside I'm dying, the trees don't provide enough shade. In fact, some trees are missing. I used to have my routes memorized but time has passed and some paths have changed, some have disappeared and others have formed. I admit that it makes me a little sad... I began to walk absorbed in my thoughts not paying attention to where I was going.

I'm walking away, I should go back. I'm not going to draw anything here anyway, and it's hotter outside than inside so I'm gonna to turn around-

I hear screams and laughter in the distance, the sound of the voices produces me an immediate disgust. It's those kids from the next door village. They must have come to 'investigate' about the disappearances or maybe they don't care and they just came to be idiots-

They're getting closer.

I don't want them to see me. God. Don't let them see me. Anyone but them. They're getting closser. Don't let them see me. I can't go back home now. They're cutting me off. Of all the people who could have found me. It had to be them. No, please. Don't let them see me. I have to go further into the forest, I can't let them see me. They're getting closer. Don't let them see me. I want to leave. I want to leave. I'm getting too far. I want to leave. I don't see my house. I want to leave. I don't see the village. I want to leave. I don't see the kids.

...

...

...

Where am I?

Fuck.

Where am I?

I want to leave.

I want to leave.

I want to leave.

I want to leave.

…

—

Now I'm wandering through the forest. I don't want to go back. I want to get out of here. Even though I'm walking in a straight line I feel like I'm going around in circles, and I'm not going to get out of here now. Great. I'm lost. Now what? People who get lost in this forest don't return, no one has returned except for some children.

...

I'm going to disappear.

...

For now I keep walking until something happens. Maybe there's an animal that kills people who get lost, or maybe it's a group of kidnappers, or maybe I should stop giving myself anxiety and focus on getting out of here. Maybe if I find a field or road, or even the tourist area, I'll be able to get out of here and return bordering the fores-

...

There is... colorful graffitis on the trees. Someone has painted eyes, hands, stars and more on the bark of the trees...

What's this?

I don't know where I've come to, I didn't know this was here, in the middle of nowhere in the forest. The trees have red leaves like in autumn even though summer has just started... The first thing I thought was 'climate change's fault' but there is something that stands out in the middle of this entire flat area and it is disturbing me.

In the center there is a kind of circular gate made of stones supported by roots.

Okay, maybe it doesn't sound aaaaas disturbing as, I don't know, a totem with a human figure being impaled or something, but it's giving me a bad vibe. What is this place? Who built a stone arch in the middle of everything and why?

A bird appears flying from behind me and goes through the gate, but nothing comes out on the other side... wait what? how? The bird has crossed the gate, and disappeared behind the stone arch? ...I had to imagine it, it's not possible that that happened. I approach the arch but not before picking up a rock from the ground and throwing it to the other side of the gate.

It's still there.

…

For some reason the thought of going through the gate makes me uncomfortable, so I go around it.

...

...And the rock? It's not there.

I go back and look from inside the portal.

The rock is there.

...

I look from outside. The rock is not there. I repeat this multiple times. Rock. No rock. Rock. No rock. Rock. No rock... What?

Alright, this is weird, this is VERY weird.

Even though it is clear that this isn't normal, I have to go back, pick up a fallen branch from the ground and pass it through the portal. This time I don't throw it, I've grabbed a branch long enough to see it peek out from the other side of the arch.

...

Welp.

I should be seeing not only the branch, but also my hand sticking out of the side, but I'M NOT SEEING IT. OKAY. OK. ALRIGHT. IT'S CONFIRMED. THIS IS WEIRD.

I'm asleep, right? Or unconscious. I must have passed out from exhaustion from endlessly wandering through the woods and I'm delirious or something. No, wait, it can't be, in my dreams I'm not this aware of what's around me. Where am I?

A breeze begins to pass through the gate. It's getting stronger but not enough to push me. The leaves rise from the ground and float towards the portal, none slipping outside, all entering through the stone arch. Suddenly the breeze that had become wind stops. The leaves fall to the ground.

...

I look back for a moment, as if there was something behind me that could help me make a decision. Grabbing with both hands my bag strap I look back at the portal again. Okay. Alright. This is possibly the death of me. I'm going to cross. I'm going to go to the other side. I'm just one step away from crossing. I wrinkle my face and narrow my eyes before taking the last step.

...

Nothing has happened. Everything seems the same. However, I know it's not the same... Or at least it doesn't feel the same!

Well, I've already crossed. I'm gonna... keep walking, I guess, even though this is scaring me and I don't know if I'll know how to go back. For now I'm moving forward. The red leaves have disappeared several meters ago. It's starting to look like a normal forest, except for the multicolored drawings and handprints that I keep seeing on the trees. In fact, it seems like the trees are taller with every step I take. So high that I can barely see the top. I almost tripped while looking up. Whether this is the same forest I come from, I no longer know.

This was a bad idea. I just hope to find something that'll help me know where I am, a sign or the road if possible.

*cling*

...?

I hit something with my foot. There is a ball attached to a small chain on the ground. Oh, no, wait. *cling diring ding* It's a rusty bell, I think. It doesn't have the typical cross-shaped hole or slot, rather it has several holes in a pattern. It looks like it can be opened.

There's nothing inside.

?

There's nothing? But I could have sworn it had rang. I close it again and shake it.

*...*

Nothing.

I'm going to put it in the bag, it's totally a good idea. I'll think about it later, for now I'm moving on.

—

I've been walking for a while now and throughout this time I had a constant chill on the back of my neck, as if someone had their eyes on me.

*din dirring* I hear a soft tinkling in the distance.

Okay, I'm not alone, awesome, what do I do now? Do I say hi and risk the potential danger finding me? Do I ignore the sound of bells and keep moving? It's very possible that whatever made that sound is watching me right now...

“Hello?” Still nervous, I try to say hello looking around “...” “Is someone there? H-hello?”

“-HEEEEELLO!”

“AAAAAH-!” I cover my mouth with my hands as I turn to look at what the hell has greeted me back. I take a few steps back while I look at the figure of earthy and sunny tones who responded, he seems as surprised as I am, I think (with the scream I made, normal), at least it looks like he's surprised. He wears a two toned wooden mask... it looks like a sun, with a crescent moon on its right... It gives the impression of two faces merged into one... Damn, he is tall, he's almost doubles my size. He appears to have two skin tones dividing him in half, his right side being the lighter and the left darker, especially the arm, which also has a light-colored tattoo of lines representing a sun symbol that covers from the shoulder to the pectoral and to the middle of the bicep. The right arm is covered by a long fingerless glove that reaches to the shoulder and is tied around the chest. He's wearing baggy pants with leaves coming out of the waist and legs, some... cloth boots? with a long toe bending sharply and curving in a geometric swirl with a bell at the tips, a bag hangs from the waistband of his pants and falls below his hips. His chest and neck are tied by ropes decorated with hanging stones, metals and crystals, he wears a pendant that ends in a carved symbol of a crescent moon with rays. Some of the 'sunrays' on his mask have ropes tied between them holding them in place and some metal dangling. Some red ribbons along with bells hang from his wrists.

“um... Helloooooo.” He greets again, this time he lowers his tone of voice. I manage to react, I turn around and walk away. “¡ah- eh- Wait!” Nope, I'm not going to wait and see what he does with me, I'm leaving. “He-! Hey!” Nope. I quicken my pace and try to get lost among the trees, changing direction every time he appears in my vision angle. “Human? Human-! FRIEND. Can I call you friend?!” Nope, nope, nopnop, nop, nop, nope. “Friend! Hey!” God, no, god, god, no, why are you following me? “Look, I know what you're trying to look for...! And believe me, you're not going to find it~!” How are you still following me? Where do you come from? “Hey! Listen! Why don't we do something else besides running in circles!?” Noooooooooo... “There are TONS of other activities we could do! Like... HOLY MOLY, look at this stick! Do you like sticks!?” Leave me aloneee... “You aren't looking at it! Okay, alright, you don't like sticks, erm... what might be of interest to you...” If I don't look at it it doesn't exist. “Could you help me a little here?” I want to leave... “Look, no matter how much you wander around, you won't find the portal-!”

“STOP—! STOP FOLLOWING ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!” The sudden scream startles him again, making him jump in place. He stands completely still looking at me. I'm leaving before he gets angry.

“B-but I- ...okay.” I thought I heard him say before I left him behind.

It seems that this time he's not following me, finally... Although I'm not calm, he could still be following me and simply not be in sight. Anyway, I think I'm coming back? I hope I am. I want to find that portal as soon as possible and go back to the house- what the fu-? “WHY?”

He's there. Right where I left him. Sitting on a rock. Waiting. “...! I haven't moved from the spot!”

“Yeah- but- WHY?”

“Because I knew you were going to come back here!”

“...What?”

“Is what I was trying to tell you! You can't leave! No matter how hard you try to find the portal, it won't appear before you!” The Sunman exclaimed.

“…” I'm just about to turn around. In fact, I'm already turning around.

“N-No, wait! Please don't go!” I stop in my track and look back at him. He gets off the rock he was sitting on but remains squatting, almost at my height, a little below. I move back, keeping my distance. He puts his hands up. “Look, I'm not doing anything! I won't chase you! Just- ...don't go.”

“…”

“L-look, listen, there's no way it's going to show up! Well, not to you at least. But even if you find it back, it won't work! It only works when it wants to work.”

“...” Let's imagine that I trust what he says “Ok... and when does it want to be working?”

“...” “No idea!”

“...”

“...”

I'm about to collapse on the spot. At least he doesn't seem hostile, for now. “...” “Okay... Good... Great...” “...” “FanTAS-tic.”

“...” “You don't seem like it.”

*ಠ_ಠ* I could only look to the side in frustration in response to that. I looked back at him with concern showing on my face and grabbing the strap of my bag with both hands. “And... what... do you plan to do with me?”

He took his hand to the chin of his mask and with the other he held his elbow in a comical thoughtful pose. “MmmmnnDUN know! What do you plan to do?” He asked so nonchalantly. He ended up sitting on the ground crossing his legs. “You have a good while until the portal opens again...!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

He started swaying. The silence has become uncomfortable for a while now, but I can't organize myself on what to say, and I don't know if I trust him. I don't even know if he's human, although something tells me he's not.

“You could wait here.” He suggested, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Or anywhere else, if you want. I would recommend somewhere high like the treetops (for no particular reason)! If you're going to wait... But wouldn't that be really boring?” There was something in his tone of voice... “Being there... at the top of a tree... waiting... alone... with no friends to hang out with (can I call you a friend?). Aaall on your own until the portal opens again.” He looks aside for a moment “...” And back at me again. “With no one to be with you.” He repeats the head motion “...” “alone...” Wow... I wonder what he's implying, ahem. “Wouldn't you want to have someone...? ...Someone...keeping you company?” Yeah, yeah...

“...” I guess... “I-I guess I wouldn't want to be alon-?”

He rises to his knees. “That's what I thought! Do you want me to accompany you? Only if you want! But can I?” He clasped his hands together as if asking a favor.

“um...”

“Can I?Can I?Can I?Can I?Can I?Can I?Can I?” He approaches, dragging his knees on the ground.

I'm starting to miss personal space. “Okay! Okay, alright...”

“REALLY?” He started hopping and jumping around me. “OH, ohoho hO! Great! Oh, there are TONS of things we could do! Like... Like...!” He moves faster, doing bigger and bigger flips and jumps, it almost seems that he is very light, as if the breeze of air lifted him. “We could paint and decorate trees! Or we can also paint on rocks! Or paint leaves! Or paint us! Oh! We can tell stories! I'm very good at making shadows and puppets.” He moves from place to place with each sentence he says. “We can also play something!” It's moving so fast all I can see is the wind and the leaves it stirs up as it moves. “Anything! Whatever you want!” Finally he stopped in front of me half crouched. “What do ya say?! Hmm! Friend!?”

“Don't... call me like that.” Makes me feel awkward.

“Oh...why not-? Oh true, true! How silly, I don't know your name! What do you call yourself, potential friend?”

“...”

“...” “Aren't... you gonna tell me your name?”

I twist the bag strap “Depends...” I must say I'm a little skeptical about this. “Are there any consequences for telling you my name?”

“...Consequences...?”

“Like... I don't know... Mmm-by telling you my name I become your possession and cannot regain my freedom until... certain conditions are met...”

“...”

“...”

“Why- how-? Where did you get that from!?” It did sound a bit stupid when I said it out loud.

“I dunno- that's what they say in old children's stories about elves and fairies!” I just hope the embarrassment isn't showing on my face.

“Really?” I could feel his deadpan expression behind the mask.

I shrugged.

“...” “Okay... Oh, what if I tell you my name first? Will you tell me yours? It's only fair, I'm Sun!”

“...”

“Can I know your name now?” He asked expectantly.

“...How do I know you're not trying to trick me?”

“...” I must be driving him crazy with this “The only thing I can do with your name is treasure it in my memory.” He put his hands together as if he was carefully holding something and brought them to the forehead of the mask. I gave him a distrustful look. It doesn't seem like it made him desist “Please?”

I grip at my worn out bag strap “...” “ Fern...” I ended up murmuring.

“Hmm? Fern? OH, I like it!” “Sounds like FRIEND.” He emphasized the last word by making a gesture like jazz hands, leaning to the side and moving his head closer to me.

“Yeah... I think you are missing a couple of letters.”

He straightened his posture again. “Nope, I don't think so!”

“You're still not my friend.”

“Oooowwwwwnnnnnggghhh” He lowers his head dramatically until it practically touches the ground “nnnnnnngggghh, alright!” And cartwheels to stand up again “So... what will it be?”

“Hm?”

He straightened his posture and puts his arms on his hips “We have plenty of time, ya? What do you wanna to do?”

“I don't know, what do you want to do-?” Bad mistake.

“Come with me!”

“aaAAAAA-!” Before I knew it, he had grabbed my arm and I was being dragged through the woods. We visited several places and he offered me an activity to do in each of them.

—

Sun took me to a place where the trees were full of colorful paint “We practice painting on the trees here!” He said.

“Ah.” That explains the crossed out lines and the repeated imperfect shapes. By the look of it is also where he tests the quality of the paint.

“Do you want us to paint something!?”

“Not really...”

“Oh, would you prefer it to be on a rock?”

“Nah.”

“...And in star leaves-?”

“I don't want to paint, Sun.”

“Oh... Well, I can show you more places!”

“OkayyEEEEEE-” And I'm being dragged away again.

—

He brought me to another area of the forest, the ground here seemed more leveled. Not a single tree was straight, all of them were twisted and even seemed to be hollow. “How about playing something!? Like hide and seek-! No, wait, I can’t let you out of my sight.” He mumbled at the end “And chase?! We can climb a tree and see who reaches the top first! We have a place full of vines and it's perfect for swinging- and jumping from one tree to another-!”

“I don't... really want to move a lot…” With the way he runs without getting tired and me, who doesn't exercise... he would let me dead.

“Oh... well, theeen-”

—

We arrived at a place full of vegetation and humidity. Sun seemed quite excited... “This place is full of insects! We can look for cool bugs!”

“Mmmmmnoooo... I don't want to.” I had to tell him, trying to show as little disinterest as I could.

“You don't like them?” He sounded a little disappointed hearing my reaction.

“No, I do like them, some of them, but I don't like to touch them.” And I'm terrified of them flying into my face.

“Oh, well, it's okay!” He said brushing it off and we moved on to the next stop.

—

“I know that bird!” He stopped us on the way to point at a robin high up on a branch.

“ah.” I said as I removed leaves from my hair and clothes, and checked that I still had my glasses.

“He's a little rascal!”

“...” I think the bird is making us the equivalent of 'mooning'.

—

“Look fish-! Oh, they're gone…” The noise must have scared them away “We can go find more places to look at them if you want!”

“...” “...no, pass...”

“…”

—

“Look at this stick!” Sun had suddenly sprinted past me, picked up something from the ground, and came back just as fast, showing me the stick as if it were a sword.

“oh.” It's a cool stick, must admit it.

“Do you want to look for more sticks!?”

“No...”

“oh...” He looked at the ground in disappointment.

“Why would we go looking for sticks? There are all over the ground.” Specifically, in this area the ground was all sticks. We are literally just stepping on sticks right now. I don't see the ground.

“Variety!” Sun said pointing at the ground with both hands. A branch is heard falling in the distance.

—

“That's a deer!” He pointed at the deer passing nearby. The deer stopped to look at us.

“Yeah, I see.”

“We call 'em Adoquín!”

“...Why is it called Adoquí-?”

*THUMP!*

“…”

The deer smacked itself against a tree when trying to run away. It stands still for a minute, processing the hit, looks at a side and then the other, then runs off again but this time avoiding the tree.

Another *thump!* is heard in the distance.

“...” Alright.

—

“Do you wannaaaa look for pine cones? There will be some fallen around here. Oh! We can also look for mushrooms!”

I keep saying no to everything he suggests and it doesn't look like he's going to run out of ideas to pass the time. In fact, he's very insistent that we do something. I guess at some point I'll have to say yes to something. “...” “...okay...”

“Hmm?! Okay? Okay to what?” His exaggerated surprise offends me but I don't blame him.

“To... I don't know, pine cones?”

“...You don't look very convinced.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“OKAY! On the hunt for pine cones then!” I startle a little at the sudden shout. He makes a pose pointing in a direction, as if he were leading an expedition.

He takes me through the forest looking for pine cones. We aren't finding many, especially me who's not paying any interest. He tries encouraging me to put more effort into it but I keep looking at my boots.

We passed near a shingle river. I find a pebble at my feet and bend down to pick it up and take a better look. It's like a bluish gray, it has some reddish lines in the shape of waves, it feels good to the touch.

I hear the soft tinkling of a bell and feel a shadow fall beside me. “You like pebbles?” Sun is crouched next to me with his arms full of pine cones.

“…” I nod.

We go down to the river and spend some time collecting pebbles with curious shapes or small details of colors, lines, spots, etc. He comes over to show me one every time he finds weird shapes.

“…”

*rin* This time he's hunched over resting his hands on his knees. “You look… a little down.”

“…”

“Hey... we can do something else if you're tired of the pebbles.”

“...” I drop the pebbles I was looking at on the ground.

“...” He turns his gaze from me to the sky. It hasn't gotten late enough to be getting dark, but it's been a while between the walks we've taken (dragging me from here to there), looking for pine cones and then pebbles in the river. He looks back at me. “Oh, I know! Can I take you to one last place? A better place than the ones I've shown you!”

“…” I got up from the ground and waited for him to start leading to follow him.

We enter the increasingly thick forest. The trees are taller and bigger, in fact, I start to see platforms and bridges lying between the trees, I even see small shanties in them.

“Wait here!” He takes a run and jumps onto one of the trees with bridges. He takes three steps running up the tree, with a jump he pushes himself off and climbs with agility until he reaches the platform and climbs on it. “Just a moment!” It can't be seen from here but I can faintly hear some squeaks. I have no idea of what he's doin-

*rush*

“........eh?”

A rope.

A rope has fallen. At the level of my head.

“.......”

What?

…

He said he knew a better place.

No. It can't be this.

“Is it at a good height?! Can you reach it?!” He says...

It can't be.

A better place.

He can't be referring to this.

A better place.

A better place. A better place. A better place. A better place.

“Can you put your foot in?!”

“..........” For some reason what he said throws me off. “WAT-?”

“Can you put your foot in the loop and hold on to the rope so I can pull you up!?”

“..............”

“You can't climb trees, can you?! ...or you can?"

… “...” Oh “....It's...It's too high!”

“Okay!” Squeaks are heard and the rope descends to the ground.

I put my foot into the rope as he told me and hold on to it. “O-okay...!”

“Are you ready!?”

“Yes!”

“Okay!”

He begins to pull up the rope (which doesn't tighten around my foot as it supports my weight) and helps me up to the platform. (That's what it was for, obviously, what else would he want? I'm such an...) “Come on!” He says cheerfully, as always, and takes me over the bridges. “You seem tense... Don't tell me you're afraid of heights!”

“S-something like that... it's nothing.” He tilts his head at that but he says nothing. I have an unpleasant sensation in my throat.

We arrived at a high place with a view of waterfalls, I can't see above the trees. We sat on one of the bridges, resting our arms on the rope that serves as a railing and letting our legs hang off the bridge. I've thought about taking out the sketchbook to draw... but I don't really feel like it right now, so I just quietly observe the landscape. It is a better place, yeah.

…

I feel watched. I turn to look at him ...Of course he was looking at me. I don't even know whether to say something or keep quiet. ...I decide... not to say anything and look to the front.

“You... aren't very talkative, huh.”

“…”

“Not that it's a bad thing! Many people who have come here weren't very talkative at first either.” More people...

“...” “I have… nothing to talk about.” I don't want to talk.

“...” “Well, I do.”

“…”

“If it's okay with you, of course.” He laughed. Although something tells me that he is going to talk anyway.

“…”

“...” “What brings you to the forest?”

“...” Really? “I got lost.”

“Yeah, I already know!” He says between laughs “But what made you get lost?”

“...” “There was a group of kids I didn't want to get close to and I decided to go into the woods to lose them.” He makes a 'hum' sound and looks at me expectantly waiting for me to continue “And... I ended up getting myself lost...”

“...” “Only that?”

“...” “Well, yeah.” What do you mean 'oNlY tHaT'?

“...Mmm...” He places his hand on the chin of the mask.

“...” “What?”

“Nothing!” “...” “You know? You're the first human to visit the forest in a loooong time. For several cycles now…”

“Cycles?”

“Mhm” He nods.

“...What are cycles?”

Sun points to the sky “The turns that the Moon makes in the sky!” He emphasizes by rotating his arm in the air. It's pointing right at the Moon that's visible in the sky.

“Oh...” He uses the lunar cycles to know what day he's in, makes sense. “...” “So no one has been here in a while.”

“That's what I said! Well no, but yes!”

“A-and so the humans who came are still here? Have they been here all this time?”

“Yeah...! Well, no!” He paused. “They're gone!”

“What do you mean they're-?” He didn't let me finish the question.

“They are gone! They 'left'!” It sounded like he had given this answer many times already.

“What do you mean they left-?”

“They 'left'!”

“...” “...You mean...they disappear-?”

“Nope!” “...” “Something like that!” “…” “Mmmore or less…” He hesitated between one answer and another.

It seemed worthless to ask about the missing people. “...okay.” “Can I ask you-?”

“You can ask me anything!” A hint of nervousness escaped his tone.

“...okay. What is this forest?”

“My home! And the home of many other animals.”

“...” “Alright, and... how many are you...? How many of you live here? I mean. You have taken me everywhere and we haven't seen anyone of your…” I make a pointing gesture, spinning my hand around in the air. He can't be human, it doesn't look like he is. “...” “Honestly, I don't know what you are.”

“...” “There's only me... And someone else!” He looks away, as if trying to hide something.

“Oh... and who's that someone?”

“Oh! N-no, don't worry! He’s… just a friend… But it’s not important that you meet him or anything!” He brushes it off making a gesture with his hand. “Uh-um- How about we talk about you!? huh? What things do you like? Earlier, since you said no to everything, I thought you didn't like ANYTHING!” He continued talking without letting me respond. “I didn't know what to do if I ran out of ideas. I started to worry! But at least you're not one of those who spend all day shouting and threatening with a weapon in hand, ahaha...” He let out a nervous laugh.

“Um-”

“Well, you ran away screaming, yes.” He began to gesticulate widely as he complained “Like everyone-! No, not like everyone, some don't run, but those who, apart from running and screaming, attack you...! I mean...!” Something tells me he wasn't going to shut up and I was already half listening. “First they throw rocks at my head, then they insult me and run away. And I have to run after them because I can't just leave a human running around alone! No! I can't! Not in this forest! Anything could happen to them! But they never let me warn them!” He sounded tired. “And when I get them to stop running away from me, they throw things at me again and yell before demanding me to tell them where are they and how to get out of here, and when I explain it, they yell at me even more and accuse me of lying!” He turns to look at me with his hands pointing to his chest. “What reason would I have to lie?!” I don't know if he hasn't noticed or if he's ignoring the deapan I responded with. “UGH! I don't know what to do with those! But anyhow... I'm so glad we found something to do in the end!

“eh?” I snap out of my thoughts. It seems that now he is directing the conversation to me.

“The pebbles!” He sits turning his body towards me, leaving one single leg hanging from the bridge and the other resting on it. He takes out of his pocket some of the pebbles that he had been collecting with me. “I don't know why I assumed you wouldn't want to look for rocks. Maybe because you didn't want to paint them before... You left them back in the river in the end tho, I thought you would keep some.”

“Ah... I don't know. I didn't think I could take them with me.”

“You can keep some of mine!”

“No, it's okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“You suuuuure??” He insist.

“Yeees.”

He puts a pebble very close to my face “Suuuuuuuure?” Each 'u' sounding higher than the last.

“...” I push the pebble away from my face “Yeeeees.”

“mmmh... Okay! But I hope you don't regret it later when you don't have a cool rock like these and think 'Oh man, I could have a cool rock right now!'.” After a bad impression of me, he keeps the rocks in his pants. “So... Besides pebbles, what else do you like? Mm? I haven't been able to deduce much from today.”

“Don't know.”

“What do you mean you don't know!? Oh! Is it a secret?” He approaches and starts to whisper, putting his hands to the mask's mouth “I won't tell anyone, promise.”

“No. I don't know.” I looked to the side. “I can't think of anything... so suddenly.”

“ooow...” He slumps a little over the railing, looking sad.

“…” I hesitate whether to say something or not “...Drawing...”

“Mmm?!” He no longer seems sad.

“And listening to music, I guess.” “It's... all I do... most of the time.”

“Really!? Oh! I also like drawing! And music! But is that really all you do all day? Don't you do other kinds of things? Like reading! Or writting. Don't you go out for a walk or play with your friends?” I wrinkle my face at that last bit and he tilts his head in confusion.

“I don't go out.” “I have comics, but I rarely read.”

“Comics?”

“Um... They are stories but instead of narrating what happens there are drawings and only what the characters say is written.”

“...It's a book with drawings?”

“Yeah, but with a lot of drawings on each page, from start to finish.”

“WOAH.” He sounded perplexed. “That's drawing A LOT.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Ahh, I'd love to see what they look like.” He rested his arm on the railing to hold his head in his hand “Too bad I can't…”

“I didn't bring them anyway.”

“Do you normally carry them around?”

“No, it's just that I didn't bring them to the village with me, I left them at home.”

“...” “Oh!” It seems that something has clicked on him. “You are not from the village.”

“No, I'm from a more urban area. My family used to come to the village every year in the summer, but we stopped coming. Now it seems that we are trying to get back into the habit.” I sighed.

“Why did you stop coming?”

“...That's personal.”

“Oh... okay.” He let a minute of awkward silence pass. “Hey, I can bring some books that I have at home! I think you might be interes-!” He looks away from me to the sunset behind us, the sun is almost gone. “-ted...” I look at the sunset too and then at him with confusion. “...” “...oh...oh-OH, Oh-no!” He stands up abruptly causing the bridge to shake slightly. What could have he seen? “We have to move!” He extends a hand to help me up. “We have to start moving!”

I get up in a hurry on my own, ignoring his hand. “O-okay, to where?”

“Come, run!” Once again he grabs me by the arm and leads me over the bridges between the trees until we reach a tree hut. It's small and dark, it looks like a small shelter. He opens the door and enters “You'll spend the night here, stay inside, do not go out, try to hide well and don't open the windows or doors, okay? Here, there are some blankets. I'll come back later.”

“Wait wait wait! What? What do you mean you'll come back later? What's happening? Why do I have to hide-!?”

“Sssh-ssh-sh” He grabs me and covers my hand with his, his left hand resting on the back of my right hand. He begins to speak in a calmer tone, with a voice that I had not heard him use until now. “It's okay, nothing happens. I have to go, I'll come back, but I can't stay now. You hide, try to rest, I'll be back, I promise.”

“...” I take my hand away from his. “Okay.” “I'll stay, but don't take too long.” Please, I don't want to be here alone.

“Yes. I'll be back.” He affirmed one last time. I watch him run away and disappear among the trees and undergrowth. I enter the small shelter to inspect it.

*TAP TAP TAP* *PLOK* *TAP TAP FOOSSSH! *

…? A noise comes from behind me. I turn around and there's a pebble on the floor.

…

Okay.

I take out my phones flashlight to see better inside the house. There are what appear to be some trunks, small cabinets, and a trapdoor in the floor, It seems that there are corners and blind spots for the windows where the little moonlight that enters through the cracks cannot reach. It's freezing cold and I haven't brought my jacket. I leave the bag on the floor against the wall, I cover myself with the blanket and curl up in a ball in the most hidden corner I can find. I'm tired, I want to sleep, but I can't close my eyes.

…

—

It's been a few hours now.

…

I can't sleep, I simply can't.

…

It doesn't look like he's coming back.

*creek*

…?

*rin*

*tap tap, creek*

Sun?

“S-...” I pause before saying a word, I have the feeling I shouldn't speak. I remain silent and wait.

*tap, tap, tap, creeeeeek, tap*

*rin dirrin*

If it were Sun he would have already let me know it is him. That or he's playing a prank on me which isn't funny, but I'd better stay silent. From the shadow I look at the windows. I notice movement through the cracks, something has just passed through the wall next to me.

*dirriring dirring*

I cover myself more with the blanket, back against the wall, I stay as still as I can, I leave a gap between the blankets and the floor to see. A red glow sneaks through the cracks in the window and scans the room.

…

The glow is gone.

*tap, tap, rin, tap, dirring, tap, tap*

It's on the roof.

…

*tap, tap, tap...*

It moves again.

*rin *

…

It sounded on the other side of the wall.

…

…

“nghehe...”

It laughed. Why did it laugh? Whatever is on the other side of the wall just let out a laugh that made the hairs on the back of my neck and all over my back rise.

…

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no no no no.

I have to move. I have to get out of here. I can't stay here.

*creeek*

It came from the door. It's trying to get in.

*rin*

The trapdoor.

*rin dirring*

Where was the trapdoor?

*creek creeeek*

I crawl across the floor making the minimum noise, carefully feeling the floor, looking for the edge of the door.

*tap tap ring dirring*

…!

I found it. I open it carefully. It's too high. I'm at a very high altitude, I don't know if I'll be able to go down.

*rin, creeek...*

…

Fuck it. I slip through the gap quietly, closing it slowly, but that doesn't stop the door from creaking. I cling to the bark of the tree-

…

I left my bag. If it comes in and see it it'll know for sure that I have been there-

…

It doesn't matter now. I have to focus on getting down from the tree without killing myself. My fingers hurt and I can't put my foot down properly because of the soles of my boots. I feel like I'm going to slip at any moment. Somehow I make it to the ground. Still attached to the tree, I look up at the house. I don't see it-

…

A shadow appears from behind the tree. I press myself against the tree and hold my breath. It's looking for something. When he doesn't seem to look I move to a nearby tree, he moves to another tree, I move to the next, and the next, and the next. We continue like this until I start to get further and further away from him. When I think I've lost him I start running. I hide behind a tree to catch my breath.

…

I slowly peek out from behind the tree.

*rin*

…

It sounded above me.

…

I don't look up, I run.

“nnghehee...” He laughs.

He gives me a few seconds advantage before coming after me. The chase begins.

I run forward as much as I can, I hear his footsteps behind me but I don't look back, there's no time for that. I hear him laughing like a madman as he moves from left to right, from one tree to another, crawling on the ground, trying to confuse me, waiting for me to make the slightest mistake to catch me.

“Ah-” I trip. As soon as I fall to the ground I get up, ripping my stockings and scraping my knees, falling again, my nerves not letting me stand up.

“Nnhehehhehe...” Asshole. He has stopped running, he approaches by walking. I try to keep as much distance as my hands and legs allow me to move. I search desperately with my hand for something on the ground to throw. Finally my hand finds something.

I throw a rock at him “AGH!”

The rock passes by him, flying one or two meters away from him. He hasn't even moved, he didn't move a single muscle to avoid it, he just watches me still from where he is. I hear the nearby *pof* of the rock falling to the ground.

“...”

“...”

…

I get up and run. He grabs my leg and I fall to the ground again. He won't let me get up, every time I try he throws me to the ground. I struggle, I kick, but I don't break free from his grip. He never stops laughing, he is enjoying this. He drags me closer to him, no matter how much I twists, he doesn't let go. “ACKH-!...Hhhh-hh...-hh-h...” He grabs me by the neck, red pupils stared at me, I'm looking straight into his crescent moon mask (or waning, I don't know. Do you think I care right now?). He raises his free hand and his veins begin to glow a platinum color that extends to his fingertips. The hand approaches my face, I don't know what it's going to do to me, I'm scared, I don't want to look. I close my eyes, cover my face with my hands. I wait.

…

…

…?

Nothing's happening. It stopped. Why?

“Mun, nïe.” I hear Sun's voice. I open my hands a little to see what's going on. Indeed, it is Sun, several meters away from us... He looks exhausted. The one with the moon mask stares at him for a moment, until he decides to look at me again while bringing his glowing veiny hand closer. “¡Mun!” The Moonman looks at Sun again “Fehreh.” He seems to speak another language, I don't understand what he says.

“...” “Nïe” For the first time I hear him say something else besides laughing. Even though I can't understand him.

“Fïer pehgïer.” Sun responds.

“...” Moonman remains silent again.

“Bïelïe óubseh góuh...” Sun continues.

“Móu txehb móunsuvïe.” The Moon responds.

“Lïe bóu ¿Sóundïe mïesugïeb fehreh nïe txehtehrlïe?”

…

The air feels tense. Probably because of the hand grabbing my neck.

“¿Zkaóu fuóunbehb txehtóur tkaehnvïe nïe bóueh mehb zkaóu ïesreh rehuh óunsóurrehveh óun leh suóurreh?” Longest sentence I've heard him say so far.

“...” “Fïer óubseh góuh.” “...” “Vóuyehmóu óuntehrdehrmóu vóu óulleh” Sun takes a step forward “Nïe suóunóu fïer zkaóu ehtehkehr ehbu” Another step forward “Nïe sóunóumïeb fïer zkaóu txehtóurlóub... óubsïe” Another step “Óullïeb bïelïe óubsehn... fóurvuvïeb.”

“...” There's no response from the moon man.

“Behkehb tïemïe óub óubïe.”

“...”

…

The hand that grabbed my neck now grabs my shirt and yanks it. I grab his wrist as he pulls me to my feet and drags me to Sun, making me stumble. He throws me against him. Sun catches me before I fall over.

“Ska óubpkaóurhïe óub óun gehnïe.” The moon says something as he walks past. Sun puts a hand on his shoulder before letting him go, there's a pause between the two. The Moonman disappears into the trees. Wind and leaves are heard passing by.

…

He's gone. I feel dizzy. I fall down.

—

…

…

…

A faint light begins to seep through the cracks, illuminating enough to wake me up and make me open my eyes, I look around. I see my bag propped against the wall. I'm at the shelter where Sun left me.

…

My body aches, I have a hard time keeping my eyes open, it feels like I've been sleeping on the hard floor. No, wait, there are some blankets underneath me... It's still too hard to sleep well, either that or as I said, it shouldn't help me at all that everything hurts. After a while of staring at the ceiling I try to sit up. I emphasize trying. With every slight effort a pained moan escapes me.

“Oof...” Hurts.

*creek, tap tap tap tap*

Those wood creaks bring back bad memories from last night (which by the way, I'm alive, wow, I just realized), I can't help but cringe at every noise, I hear footsteps approaching, I try to move but the stinging pain prevents me from it.

*creek... *

The door opens.

Triangular shapes appear through the door followed by orange earth tones. “…Oh…!” “Early bird!” Thank god it's Sun and not the other one, or something worse “I didn't expect you up this early!” He says laughingly.

“ah?”

“How are you feeling?” He walks in. When he sets foot inside I lean back, towards the wall. “...” I don't really know why I did that. Sun stands at the door showing confusion with his usual head tilt. “...Arrr...re you okay, Fern?”

“...” I became tense suddenly. I really don't know still if I can trust him? He hasn't done anything to me yet but that doesn't mean that I can trust him. I don't know if he plans to do something with me like whatever that other one, the moon one, was going to do last night. “...ehh...hhh...h...” I can't get a word out, I'm afraid to ask.

“Mm?”

“...” I don't know what to say to him. My eyes go somewhere else.

…

He enters further into the house, ignoring that I keep my distance from him, leaves a bag he was carrying on the floor and begins to open the windows, letting in the little light of the dawn that is just beginning. He kneels on the floor in front of me with the bag. “Are you hungry?” He opens the bag and takes out an apple “Do you like apples?”

“...”

“No?”

“...”

“Um... I also brought berries... (It's what I had on hand coming here) There are... different types, you can choose” He brings the bag closer to me. I move further away. “uhhh...”

“...” I want to leave.

“You don't like them either...?”

“...” I don't want to eat. I want to leave.

“...”

“*snif... *”

“u-um...!”

“...*snif* *sob*...” I started crying out of nowhere.

“Ahhh...! D-do- don't cry! Ah-I-Um- Ca-can go find other things you might like-!”

I felt ashamed for crying and I put my hands to my face trying to wipe away the tears, but they wouldn't stop coming. “*hic, sniff, snif *” I looked away in an attempt to cover my face. I ended up looking at the floor, letting my hair act as a curtain.

“I can go in a moment!” Sun was already getting up.

“...w-want to leave...” I managed to get a murmur out.

“...W-what? Um...”

“...” *hic, hic *

“O-okay, um... If you aren't hungry... -we can do something else- uh- we can go look for rocks like yesterday in the river!”

“...” I don't want to do anything “...want to leave...”

“O-or we can do something else! Ah-bah-b-b-b- W-won't you like to go draw??! Somewhere, some landscape?! Wherever you want! We can draw together! If you prefer we can look for animals instead of landscapes!”

“...leave...want to...go... *hic, snif *”

“¡D-don't n- uh! ¡L-let's... um- let's not- uh!” He no longer knew how to order his words “H-hey, ¿Why don't we go to-?” He extends his hand towards my arm.

“I want to go home...”

He stops before touching me and removes his hand. “...” “...home?” There is a pause. He remains silent and unmoving. He finally speaks “Do you want…?” His tone became more serious.

“...”

“...to... go see the portal?” I look up slightly, I can't see through the tears and the fogged lenses of my glasses.

“...” I nod my head.

—

…

We didn't walk far until the red began to become visible. He brought me back to the portal. The same plain of red leaves and stone arch in the center of it all, as yesterday.

…

Sun has been quiet the entire time.

He advances towards the portal and stands facing it. He turns. “Come.” He extends his hand towards me. “You can pass through.”

“...”

I advance towards the portal. I stop before crossing. If it doesn't take me back home, what do I do? I don't want to stay.

A breeze begins to come out of the portal. The breeze turns to wind, the leaves rise, they pass through us. It's the same thing that happened yesterday when I went to cross. I turn to face Sun. Motionless, he looks back at me, the leaves pause in the air for a second as if time has stopped, the wind changes. From where the wind and leaves came now they come in, they push me towards the portal. I finally cross it.

…

Am I in the forest I know? I turn to look at Sun who stayed behind in the portal. “...Sun?” He's not there. I look around. He's not here. I've already crossed the portal, he must have left.

I notice a sudden draft pass by me. It's soft, like someone walking past you. I turn towards the forest, I have to start moving, I don't want to be here another minute.

...The air current that I noticed has lifted some leaves, they reach the trees, between them the wind does something strange, it forms a transparent silhouette. It looks like Sun, I can barely see him but I could swear it's him. The wind figure raises its hand and makes a gesture, it wants me to follow it. When I approach it turns around and walks into the forest, leaving a trail of leaves behind it. I follow the trail of the air current. Sometimes it stops to look at me, making sure I'm still following it. The red-leafed trees and the paintings disappear from view the farther we go. We crossed the forest until we arrived at the entrance of the town, near my house. There is no one on the street. If I walked into the house and pretended nothing had happened, officially no one would have noticed my absence.

I'm not one hundred percent sure if the wind figure that guided me is Sun or not, but I should at least thank him for bringing me back.

…

The air current has dissipated before I turn around. I look around, there's no one.

…

…

…

I enter the house, go up to my room and throw the bag on the floor. I go to the bathroom to wash. …I feel something strange in my hands but I couldn't say what. Doesn't matter. I change my clothes and get into bed, the tiredness of the previous night makes my body succumb immediately and I fall asleep instantly.

—

…

…

…

“ah...!” I wake up with my lungs begging for air. I need a moment to calm my breathing. I look at the clock without lifting my head from the pillow.

…

It is 12 midday. I rub my eyes and from my eyes I move to my face. I'm still tired. My body still aches. I stare at the ceiling.

…

My bag. I reach out to pick it up from the floor, making strange positions so as not to get out of bed.

I open it and search in the pockets. The bell. I put the bell to my ear. “...” I shake it.

*rin, diring diring*

“...”

I open it.

…

It's empty.

[crisco-babe]

TAKE ON ME *NightWing x Fem!Reader*

SUMMARY:

You, a successful graphic novel artist, have finally decided to take a leap of faith and branch out on your own. Writing and designing your debut novel - with the help of your dearest friend/boss by your side. However, it's not as easy as you initially thought. It also doesn't help that you keep running into your ex-boyfriend with his new fiancée. Or the fact that you keep running into trouble with a guy in red and blue spandex. Oh! And there's the whole "Keep having such vivid dreams every night that it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between what's real and what isn't" thing. But it's fine! You're fine!

WARNINGS

DC/Marvel crossover! Fem!Reader, angst, fluff, swearing, Ex!Peter Parker, future mild smut, future dreamwalking? (kinda), mentions of past drinking??, reader could use some therapy, more warnings further down the line, anything I missed, let me know!

Read On AO3 MasterList

Chapter One

"It's good, it just... needs... a..." Felix clicks his fingers, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the words.

"I know," You sigh. "I was kinda hoping you'd be able to figure that part out for me." He leans back against your couch, letting your draft fall onto your coffee table. Well, your newest one anyway. Your desk was littered with various scraped sketches, story lines that got stuck or went nowhere crumpled in a small trash bin by your feet.

"Babes, its good." He says again, fingers toying with one of the many bracelets on his wrist.

"So you've said." His puppy-dog esque brown eyes meet yours, lips forming a faux frown. You sigh, again and apologetic. "Sorry. I'm just..."

"Frustrated?"

You nod. "Yeah, frustrated."

Felix Howard was one of your best friends. He was just shy of being ten years older then you, and at one point had even been your boss. He was your mentor, your foot in the door to a career you thought you'd never be able to enter. Always so unsure of yourself. A bad trait you'd yet to grow out of. But before all of that, he was just a guy, someone who's face you'd only ever seen on panels at conventions, or was found on the inside sleeve of books on your bookshelf. His hair dark raven with red streaks, and enough eyeliner to make a punk rocker look plain.

The first time you'd actually met him you were still only sixteen. Still just a fan. His novels scattered around your small bedroom in Queens, their pages dogeared and littered with annotations. When he had branched out and come out with his first graphic novel, a collaboration with his old college roommate, you had been one of the first to get it.

A memory suddenly flashes in your mind of that morning, desperately trying to get Peter to come with you to wait in line. Promises of breakfast and coffee falling from your lips when he flops back down onto his bed... Your stomach fills with toxic butterflies, throat tightening.

Peter...

The chime of Felix's phone brings you back to the present.

'Good.' You think. No need to open that large can of worms. Not now. Hopefully, not ever.

You instead turn your attention back onto Felix, who is now leaning forward, hands snatching his phone from the coffee table with an annoyed huff.

"God, can anyone do anything without me?" He mumbles, fingers already aggressively texting back a reply. He might just be the only person you know who always has his sound of his typing still on, his phone constantly making some kind of noise. You wait patiently for him to finish up, knowing trying to speak to him when he gets like this is a pointless waste of effort.

Finally, with a loud ping, he looks back up and smiles apologetically.

"Sorry, bub." He says, letting the words draw out a little longer then necessary from his mouth. He tucks his phone back into his jeans' pocket and stands, rolling his neck a little. "Gotta go and put out some fires." You wave him off.

"It's fine. I should properly get back to work anyway." Though you doubted that was gonna happen. You'd most likely just channel surf a bit while you waited for your dumplings and rice to arrive. But you'd never tell him that.

"That's a good idea." He grabs your draft from the table and holds it out for you with a small grin. "It's better then your last one." You take the pages from him and nod. "Maybe have a quick bath. You know," He dramatically swishes his hands around his body, his jewellery clinking as he moves, "- wash off some of that negativity. all that self-doubt will age you like milk."

"Gee, you know exactly what to say to make a girl feel pretty, Fe." He clicks his tongue, annoyed.

"You know what I mean."

He gives you one final wave of his hand, and a quick "Call me if you need me, babes" as he leaves your apartment with a small click of your door.

You crumble into yourself in your seat. Frustration claws at your heart as you thumb the pages in your hands. You'd hope Felix would be able to see something you couldn't. That he'd take one look and go "ah, that's what it needs", his famous red pen appearing in hand as he corrected your wrongs like he had done so many times before.

Though, you suppose, maybe it was because it used to be about his work, his vision. Felix was a very detail-orientated person. The stories he told filtered and altered to his liking in his brain before he'd even think of writing out a full draft. Not like you, always needing to get ideas onto paper before they're even fully realized. Sketchbooks filled with half drawings, word documents of random chapters from stories that would never see the light of day littered your laptop's hard-drive.

'Why was it so fucking hard?'

Before you could stop yourself, you let out a small cry and threw your work across the room. That was enough writing for the day.

----- Despite wanting to just hide under your bed and wait for the world to go away, you'd actually been pretty productive.

You'd taken some of Felix's advice. Choosing to take an 'everything' shower instead though. You weren't really a bath kinda gal. You'd scrubbed your skin raw, lathering your body in every kind of make-yourself-pretty product you owned, and even took the time to shave and pluck away until you were satisfied.

It was a nice distraction. However, it was fleeting. All it took to sour your mood again was a quick glance at your work desk as you walked to your bedroom.

"No." You told yourself, "Think about it tomorrow."

And so you push forward. You throw on some clean clothes, grab a pair of shoes and quickly looked up directions to your favorite Thai place. A nice walk, some fresh air would do you some good. You were sure of it.

The walk was a five minute straight line from your apartment. Easy enough.

The sun had only set about a hour ago so it was till rather quiet. Most people too busy trying to get home from work to even notice the city around them. The restaurant was a lot smaller then you remembered. It's green bricks and bright 'OPEN' sign crammed in between a deli and small convenience store. Before going in you took a peak inside through the door's glass and saw only two sets of tables and chairs. Had it always been this small?

The last time you'd been here was with Felix a few months ago, a congratulations dinner for getting your first solo apartment. Maybe you had a little more wine that night then you'd remembered...

A bell chimed above you as you walked in. A girl a little younger then you took your order with a shy smile, ginger curls framing her face as she fiddled with the cash register.

"It shouldn't take too long." She mumbled with a push of her glasses. You nodded and smiled politely.

"It's okay." You say, already making your way to one of the chairs, " I don't mind waiting." You choose the furthest chair in the corner, a laminated menu in the center of the two seater table grabs your attention as you settle into your seat. As you wait your eyes skim over the various dishes, fingers drumming on your legs.

The restaurant is quiet, the only sounds being from outside as people walk past and the sound of a muffled radio you assume belongs to the kitchen. For the first time in a while, it actually feels kinda... peaceful?

It's nice to not be huddled up in your apartment for once, and sure, you're technically alone on a Friday night, but it's still more social then forcing yourself to work with zero motivation, right?

But then, as if in another life you went on a mirror smashing spree and gained ten thousand years of bad luck, the bell above the door rings again and your heart sinks to floor.

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?

He looked older then the last time you saw him. Then again, you doubt you look the exact same as you did four years ago. His hair was a little longer, his face - though still with that boyish charm that had once made you swoon - had matured, and since when did he get a gym membership? But his eyes were the same. Even when they widened in shock at the sight of you, the same specks of honey brown swirled inside of them. Neither of you seemed to move, a weird and unsettling tension filling the space around you.

Peter was the first to make a move.

"Hey," His voice was different then you remembered too. He took a small step toward you, hands shoved into his jacket's pockets. You hadn't really been able to register that fact that he had spoken at all, your eyes still staring at his, searching for... well , you weren't even sure what. "Uh, how you been?" He cringed a bit at his question, shifting on his feet.

Mercifully, you snapped out of your initial shock.

"I've been good." Was the restaurant getting smaller?

"That's... good." Jesus H. Christ, this is single-handedly the worst conversation you ever had the displeasure of being apart of. If you weren't so fucking hungry, you would have bolted by now, locked yourself inside of your apartment and vow to never speak again.

'Anything' You thought to yourself. 'Just say something! You can't just sit there and wai-'

So many questions filtered through your head at once, but one stuck out from the rest. "I thought you still lived in Queens?"

"I do." He replies. You try to hide the relief on your face. A part of you hopeful that this is just a one time thing. A once in a lifetime twist of fate, like meeting a celebrity at a grocery store. Part of the reason you moved here was in hopes of avoiding this exact situation from happening. Hoping that New York was a big enough place to hide in from everything. And it was, unless of course you, you know, kinda didn't wanna to run into your ex.

Your just about to make a mental note to get a lottery ticket after this when he adds, "I'm just spending the night at my gi- my friend's place."

"Oh." You know he's hoping you didn't catch his slip, Peter's brows furrowed as he waits on bated breath for you to say something else. Yell at him, cry, maybe throw a chair if your feeling up to it. But you don't do anything, your mouth remains closed, eyes not even a little glossy. Because, what is there to say?

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Your saving grace comes barreling out from the kitchen, dropping two large Styrofoam boxes onto the counter and cutting through the tension. She pushes back a stray curl from her face and turns her attention toward Peter. "I'll be with you in just a moment."

"Oh no, it's okay." He says. "I'll, uh, just come back later."

Her face morphed into confusion. A flustered fiery of words leaving her as Peter met the door in three strides, opening it and leaving. Not looking back once. You catch a glimpse of his face just before he leaves, his eyes distant, mouth forming a frown.

She scoffs, arms folding. Offended. "He wasn't waiting that long, was he?"

-----

A/N

Feel free to ask me anything, inbox always open!

One of the only chapters without my boy, don't worry!

[litteralyjustawriter]

Young!EddieMunson who, after discovering his love for DnD and fantasy from finishing the first Lord of the Rings book, wrote his first draft of a DnD campaign and group called Hellfire.

Young!EddieMunson who grabbed a piece of printer paper and quickly sketched a logo made up of a demon, a mace, and a sword.

Young!EddieMunson who dug through his craft supplies to find permanent markers.

Young!EddieMunson who grabbed one of Wayne's old white tshirts and started scribbling his design on the shirt.

Young!EddieMunson who's new shirt quickly became one of his comfort items and got upset when Wayne said it needed to be washed.

Current!EddieMunson who now has the shirt in a frame on his bedroom wall.

[taylor-titmouse]

Shrinking Violet is out! another of @petitemortality R/L Monroe's wonderful erotic shorts, with another cover by yours truly >:) i've been saying it on nearly every promo post i make for this but if you're one of the people who has wanted me to write f/f, you're legally obligated to read this one. below is the sales copy, and then below that some discussion of the process for designing the cover!

Nobody at college knows that shy, nervous Maya had a 'bad boy' reputation in high school - and Maya is the only one who knows tough, rebellious Nasrin used to be a sweet-tempered teacher's pet. Mutual attraction is rekindled when their paths cross again, but the two find their old dynamics have been flipped on their head. Maya finally knows what she wants, and Nasrin is bold enough to give it to her...that is, if she can bring herself to ask. Will their first time be perfect the second time around? 7k words, EPUB and PDF format. This is the second in the Fuck Yourself Friday series of shorts. New stand-alone erotic stories are released on the last Friday of every month. FYF 1: Go Fuck Yourself These stories contain explicit sexual content, and are intended for 18+ audiences.

Contains: -F/tF -transfem sub -outdoor sex -praise kink -soft penis stimulation -non-penetrative sex

THUMBNAILS

this one was very straightforward with the request: "the image I have in my mind for a cover is someone's fingers knotted in a skirt spread out against wildflowers. but more in the sort of gripping your own skirt gently kind of way, somewhere between anxious and excited if that makes sense. I'm thinking like you know the classic soft grunge tumblr aesthetic photo vibe. type of shit you'd post next to a closeup of a skinned knee in long socks"

very easy instructions to follow! so while i usually prefer to do 3 thumbnails, i only ended up with 2. there's only so many ways you can depict a hand on a skirt, after all. and we decided that we wanted to continue with the style i established with the first one, with silhouettes, lineless art, and bold textures. we liked the first one more, but wanted to get some leg in there.

i proposed adding black pantyhose to the narrative to make it work on the cover (i have changed prose to match what i drew for illustrations Many times) but we went with bare leg in the end

FINISHING

so i didn't actually do a sketch for this one, just went straight to rendering. as we all know i use gradient maps a lot in my work, so i gave lee a choice between a bright, springy palette, and a wetter, darker palette. i also offered it with the border, or with the skirt going over it. personally i like the skirt going over it, but the border keeps it consistent and more book-cover-y, so we went with that. lee chose the darker palette, which suits the story much better

but the font didn't fit! too vintage for the story, which takes place in modern day.

fonts time :^)

we went with the third option for the contrast. and also added a raindrop to the flower (which got moved to the right petal in the final draft). gently touching petals, wetness, This Is Yuri.

and the final result is as above!

anyway you should all read this story, it's incredibly sweet childhood-best-friends-to-lovers and in itself a love letter to trans femininity. i highly recommend it, and it's only $3!

go and get it!

[datura-tea]

holy shit this year marks 10 years of this blog and moz!! i can't remember the exact date i started posting here - my archive says i have one post from november 2013 but let's disregard that - but i do remember it was around late 2014/early 2015 :)

^ one of the very first moz art pieces i ever drew, for fallout week 2015!!

memories and art through the years under a read more bc it got long

2014 → baby's first rpg!! i started playing fnv on my cousin's jailbroken xbox late 2013 and finished mid 2014 and i loved every minute of it. i remember waking up at 8am and playing almost nonstop until 2am the next day haha!

i didn't play moz on my first playthrough - but i did start creating a character that would eventually become her: a shorthaired ex-boxer who punched her way through obstacles when diplomacy failed. i remember she spent a lot of time with boone. i liked him then, because he saved my ass more times than i can count. but i digress. this is draft 1 moz essentially

2015 → this is the year that i was doing my thesis so i could graduate but i was so depressed and stressed about it that i distracted myself by replaying fnv on pc, where i played through the dlcs for the first time. i fell in love with the dlcs' oversarching story; particularly ulysses, who i became obssessed with, especially since i couldn't find any content of him at the time. in the game, i played as moz; i had most of her personality and choices down, but her backstory was still up in the air.

fun fact: this was an existing sideblog that i remade to be a fallout blog so i could look for ulysses content, and when i couldn't find any, i made some myself, featuring moz as my main courier six. originally, i didn't ship them, but eventually i ended the year as a courier/ulysses otp shipper.

this was the year i started drawing digitally - my uncle let me borrow a drawing tablet and i used an old copy of photoshop i pirated hehe

2016 → i graduated this year!! and promptly fell deeper into my depression. this was the year that it got so bad that i had to be medicated. through it all, this blog and moz and ulysses and my fandom friends were with me. and for that i am truly grateful :) this was the year i figured out how to lock transparent pixels so that i could color my lineart lol

2017 → i started hammering out moz's backstory this year i think. there's a lot of sketches of her and her family in my files. i experimented with shading and backgrounds here but that experimentation was pretty short-lived

2018 → i started using references seriously!!!! i did a lot of oc on oc kissing this year, featuring mostly moz and many friend ocs haha

2019 → didn't draw much this year. actually this year was a blur and i can't remember much from it except from it being the year of my terrible no good bad copywriting jobs... anyway i did manage to continue my courier/ulysses brainrot and make this piece, which i'm still proud of

2020 → pandemic time. i spent a lot of time asleep at home and i think this was also the year i started doing commissions?? shoutout to anyone who has ever commissioned me - thank you so much, i truly appreciate it!!

2021 → i switched from my old-ass pirated photoshop to clip studio paint and never looked back. also i did a bunch of commissions for my grandmother's surgery, which failed, and i distracted myself from the sadness by drawing my ocs over and over and playing disco elysium

2022 → by this year, i've got moz down pat and have started vaguely developing other ocs instead. but she's still always at the back of my mind

2023 → i bought new brushes from true grit texture supply and immediately found new favorites that i started using for everything. i tentatively started incorporating background elements in some pieces!

2024 → while it's still too early to say where this year will lead me art-wise, i will say that i started experimenting in realistic paint studio (which i bought in 2021, the same time as clip studio paint) a few days ago and i'm liking the results so far. we'll see!

all in all, these last 10 years have been quite a ride, but i'm glad i stuck around and i'm glad you guys stuck around too!! much much love 💖💖💖

[marabarl-and-marlbara]

Hi Mara,

I enjoyed the first chapter of Cinnamon Psychic and I am really looking forward for more! You have a wonderful way with words, the tone of your writing is extremely unique and lends itself well to the atmosphere that is being built up. Thank you and keep it up!

It made me curious, apologies if it sounds inane or nosy, about the technicalties behind your writing, and maybe to hear your advice on writing stories! I mean, there are many different methods of planning out a story beforehand—like drawing up timelines, creating character profiles, compiling notes and drafts to be stitched into a complete story and so on—and there are all kinds of software that help with writing. I have seen writers who create these complex mindmaps for story notes, draw up charts, write in word processors that have thesauruses etc., and then there are writers who write seemingly off the dome in plain old notepad or even with just pen and paper. I wonder which type of writer you are!

Thank you again for your art, and happy (late) birthday!

hey there anonymous, thank you very much for reading!

for cinnamon psychic you can find my drafts for it extending out a year backwards on my substack subscriber posts (i don:t mean this as an advertisement, mostly just that each month i tack-on every writing draft i hadn't finished to the coat-tails of those posts and the majority of those draft sections had all been sketches for my 'isekai project' which was always the now off-the-ground cinnamon psychic) which gives a good clue to my writing process and also why i am both not an efficient writer and a very slow writer:

i rewrite extensively; for months all of my writing had been rewriting various 'false-starts' for the maud story and the cheryl story and how the two would intertwine; sometimes i would start on the actual 'isekai' portion of the story and detail the assaults the angels would levy against the school or try to sketch out scenes of the dean bethlemass holding meetings of prophesy --this is basically my writing process: i get really excited about a detail (usually while out on a walk or exercising or on a drive) and then rush home to sketch out a small scene for it until i run out of steam and hit an impass, or the scene presents itself as having a 'mental clunk' while i:m writing it -- this is hard to describe but sometimes sentences have a feeling as a food has a texture or flavor; maybe the word choice 'works' but does not match the tone, or perhaps the sentence is all tone but no coherency. then i:ll start rewriting the same scene (top to bottom, reading my own writing and redoing it) with what i think will have a better texture/flavor, and then steadily let myself run out of steam/excitement. these rewrites are mostly my unproductive 'sketching' portions of writing, they:re helpful for slowly fleshing out a story but not helpful for finishing a story.

while i:m writing to finish, (this is especially true for short one-off fictions i write) i really do nothing except 'start at the beginning' and then slowly force myself forwards through a story even if it is boring (maud:s whole scene from waking to eventually going to her closet was something i did not want to write, i only wanted to write her becoming a servant to a demonic painting; her backstory in an initial draft (of the false-maud) was mostly just a 1:1 of a 'what-if i went through with my doomsday plans and drowned myself' and instead one day i got really excited about instead re-using the 'hateful sister' story i had written for hate corp and the warhammer fanfiction that was only left as a draft); for this writing i really can:t make myself do it unless i treat it like a job and intentionally make an hour dedicated to just writing while letting anime play in the background.

then, i try to make a rolodex / concordance of all the details that i know for the setting and want to keep consistent -- character names, their classes, any quirks, rough description, what their house is like, every item i:ve described for them; i mostly just use it to keep details straight instead of proactively flesh out the world unless it:s necessary that i have some boring details thought out, ie: the school of the setting is divided into different colleges with sub-groups in each, and i have to have these planned out in advance with names because chapter 2 needs it;

currently i:m on the "writing to finish, start from a point and go till done" with chapter 2; but also i like to start this from the middle and then go back to the start after i finish, because i think i have a better idea of what characterization should be for both tone and action when i:m at the end.

also, just reading a lot; paying attention to how other authors use language makes me want to write.

thanks for the ask, anonymous; have a nice day

[greyskyflowers]

I have all these half hearted soulmate AU ideas and I hate to just delete them, so I'm just going to post what I have and roll with it. Please enjoy some rough draft soulmate AU ideas that I'll never finish ~

💙

Visible soulmate marks

Strings - brook

All his strings are tangled in his rib cage.

Vivid red that's thickly woven and caught between several ribs, always moving and pulling Brook forward.

Dark green tangled up, knotted and fraying in some places but still one of the strongest looking strings he has.

Grey blue that's tied securely towards his inner ribs, usually tangled up with the dark green, and close to where his stomach would be if he had one. Yohohoho

Shimmering orange ribbon that shines on the edges and doesn't pull so much as guide with gentle tugs.

Brilliant yellow in twine, multiple smaller pieces braided into one larger stand and tried off on the bone is a messy knot.

Peaceful pink that's carefully tied with a bow and drapes in gentle loops to a lower height before fading.

Deep purple silk thread, it's thin and slides like water over bone, deceivingly sharp to the touch.

Neon blue wire that's bent on a few places but strong, wrapped over bone in multiple coils.

Flower tattoo - robin

Sunflowers cover her back in messy lines, sprouting into long leafy stems and then giant detailed blooms, a heavy and bright presence always at at her back.

Gladiolus grow up her left forearm in thick inked lines that intersect with fine perfect ones, and lush blooms, one of the larger blooms sits where her arms cross.

Blue stars cover her right forearm with elegant and surprisingly subtle line, the most stunning one parallel to the Gladiolus and they meet when her arms cross.

Dahlias grow around her ankles, beautiful and healthy with lines like a rough sketch, looking wind swept and rain drenched.

A mix of peonys grow on her collarbones, they're sweet and inked in childlike handwriting, the blooms hide playful behind each other in a bunch of petals

Clematis bloom on her chest, they're the largest bloom and are messily arranged, the lines are reminiscent of blueprints with scales and measurements.

Daffodil climb up her left side in elegant white ink and tangle together in all stanges of life: bud, bloom, and wilting with petals dropping.

Marigolds cover her right side in ink that mimics paint strokes, the blooms more detailed than any of the others and look like something from an old gardening book.

Color spots - luffy

Luffy is cover in color, everything from pale, watercolors to vivid metallic

Green covers his right hand and forearm, always visible and on the side that he throws the first punch with.

Pale blues mix on his left hand and forearm, intermixed like different depths of water.

Gold drips down the right side of his chest like spilled ink, a shine to it that catches the light and gleams.

Yellow shines like sunlight on his left knee, it's a burst of courageous color and quick to draw the eye.

Pale pink is whispy on his lower back like cotton candy, edges soft and happy.

Crisp, black is in sharp lines against his left ribs. They site between each rib like a shadow and curl like skeletal fingers.

Purple stains his fingers dark like fruit, it finds its way into his finger prints and trace the shape like it's memorizing it.

Solid grey wraps around his ankles like bands, gleaming like metal and strong looking against his skin.

Moving tattoos - zoro

Zoro is full of life, even when he's fast asleep

A sun, filled in with all the colors of a sunset and whispy, white clouds that roll lazily over the design before fading away and reforming again on the other side. The only mark he ever wants on his back

A part of a map wrapped around his upper, left arm. It flutters like it's catching the wind and the edges shine vivid gold and copper.

Flowers bloom on the back of his right hand, they drop petals that fade like they're sinking into water before the flower starts as a bud again.

Gears turn on his left side, little blue stars tumbling between them before flickering out and reappearing at the top.

The going merry circles his left ankle, it bobs happily under a half circle shape with 5 prongs on the inside.

There's a sheet of music wrapped around his upper, right thigh. Binks Sake, the notes jump like they're being played.

Smoke curls around his right forearm, spitting embers and flashing flames in dark smoke before settling back into a gentle grey.

Hoof prints walk in happy, steps around on his right ribcage. They're there and gone in quick black prints like soot in snow.

Names - nami

Luffy curls around her right wrist, vivid red ink that forms the letters in playful strokes.

Zoro is inked on her lower back in a strong, green.

Sanji rests in greyish blue under her left collarbone in clean, neat lines.

Chopper is a warm brown that wraps around her left ankles, the O replaced with a little hoofprint.

Usopp wraps around her right ankle in messy yellow like paint.

Robin is on her right ribs in dark purple, it's a beautiful cursive.

Franky is neon blue and sits on the back of her neck in block letters.

Brook is one her left ribs, black ink spelling his name in thin, curling strokes.

Usopp - constellations

Taurus in red like blood across his collarbone, a rough circle with proudly raised horns growing off to the sides.

Scorpio in black ink around his upper left arm, razor thin lines that raise high and curve before dropping back down and closing off in an arrow.

Cancer like copper coins behind his ear in tight, storming swirls and long tails.

Pisces in silver around his upper right thigh, two curves back to back and gleaming.

Aquarius in pearl around his fingers in waves that creast in points.

Capricorn in bronze on his right ribcage dripping down and up before curling into a circle and trailing off

Pisces in cobalt on his left shoulder blade, a second pair of curves sliced through but this pair is has thicker lines.

Aries in platinum down his spine, the curve starting by one side of the neck before dropping all the way down his back and back up to the other

Something from home - Sanji

A jungle tree cover his right arm, a small treehouse tucked in between all of the leaves and branches.

The outline of a small building rests on his lower back, the large doors are open and even though he hasn't seen it in person he knows it's a dojo.

A orange tree has roots on his right ankle and grows up his leg into a tree baring healthy, ripe oranges.

The outline of a snowy mountain covers his left ribs, the tops snow tipped and the shadows adding a depth.

A whale rests on his left hip, it's got a scar and a sprout of water above it

A trains follows it's tracks in loops around his left ankle and up to his kneecap

Another tree grows on his left leg, smaller around the base and larger around the middle with little dots like windows in the trunk.

The going merry sits between his shoulders, she's bittersweet but he's honored to have her on his skin.

Franky - bands

Red band that ties like an anchor hitch knot and the edges are wavy like the sea

Green band that's frayed and threadbare in some spots with 3 razor sharp lines carefully cut

Gold band with a little bow and faint maps designs almost light enough to overlook

Purple band with a design like lace, elegant flowers and hearts mixed in

Yellow band with textured like a rope and a little ship he knows but never met sailing on top

Brown band that looks like gauze and just barely covers a little hoof print behind it

Blue band that looks like fish scales and has smokey edges

Couldn't decide what to do for Chopper so let's just say his fur covers them 😀

💙

Soulmate AU ideas

Where you share parts of everything with your soulmate. Random thoughts, wounds, knowledge, etc will sneak through before disappearing

Luffy saying something he absolutely should not know and Robin grinning

Nami sharing in the heavy sleeping feeling from Zoro

Usopp showing off the brief wounds he gets from Sanji like they're his own before they disappear from his skin

Chopper being musical in a way someone with hooves shouldn't be

Franky having medical knowledge that a cyborg doesn't have much use for

They all know they could weld Zoro's swords if they needed. None of them trained in any type of swords style but they can feel the ache of the repetitive motions that come with training and way it feels to attack with the intention of killing. His swords are weary of them, aware of the power soulmates have. They all know what happened at Thriller Bark, felt the acceptance of death because it meant their captain wouldn't have to.

They all love Ace as their own immediately, memorizing everything about him in the way you do for a loved one. They have a fondness for Shanks and others that they've never met besides in stories. Their hands have been busted again and again, the skin splitting over broken bone. They've felt fire in their chest, a loss far deeper than skin.

They've all felt wind against exposed bone, even with there own safety wrapped in skin and muscle. They've felt strings under their fingers and hum melodies they've never heard. There's a loneliness in their heart that speaks of a lifetime lost, one they never lived.

They all felt the foreboding feeling of knowing a storm is coming while looking at clear skies. They wipe at their fingers like ink stains them and there's an itch that only comes from old scars that always sits on their shoulder. They trace maps in their heads and itch for a pen, calculations springing up in their minds for properly scaling.

They've all had situations where their hands knew what to do before they did, their eyes tracing over someone and seeing all the injuries like it was written on their skin. They've felt their noses itch with a influx of scents, knowing immediately what belonged to who. They've felt the zip down their spine of that animal instinct when in the presence of a predator.

They've all felt the feeling of being too big, metal where skin should be and a loss of nerves. They've felt the heavy satisfaction of building something new and impressive, constant bigger and better in their minds.

They've all spoke of books they've never read and place they've never been. They have felt multiple spines break and necks snap under their hands. There's knowledge in their heads that feels heavy and overwhelming, it wants to spill out from their mouths to make room. They miss a place and family that they never knew.

They've all had that vicious huger, the desperation only caused by starvation. They've felt the fleeting attraction to a stranger and also the beauty of genuine love. They have the itch for nicotine, lungs begging for something they've never had.

They've all had times where the day is clearer, a haze they didn't realize was there lifting off their eyes and letting them see further than they had before. They've felt the snap of a slingshot and the swelling urge of creation in their chest.

They never held Zoro's swords

They never mourn the loss of Ace the way Luffy has

They never taste a storm on the back of their tongue the way Nami has.

They've never aimed with the knowledge that people will get hurt if they miss like Usopp has

They never felt hunger as fiercely as Sanji has

They never saved someone's life with enough confidence the way Chopper has

They've never ran their fingers over the last of something the way Robin has

They've never traded skin for metal the way Franky has

They've never met death quite like Brook has

💙

Soulmate String of Fate AU?

Strings tangled in or around:

Zoro's swords

Luffy's hat

Brook's ribs

Robin's fingers

Sanji's wrists

Chopper's antlers

Franky's arms

Nami's bracelet

Usopp's hair

[spouseoftherisingsun]

^old finished projects vs recent sketches^

current list of projects under the cut for the curious

Baba Yaga: Out of the Woods

Key words: HOME, COMMUNITY, FOLKLORE, WHIMSY

What is it? Rogue-lite narrative-heavy video game, wherein you play as Baba Yaga trying to escape the suburbs and return to the Russian woods through a combination of crafting quests, NPC encounters, party-building, and puzzle-solving.

What do you need to work on? Additions and second drafts of outline, pitch, bible, screenplay, concept art, and storyboards. Research on twine?

Untitled Arthuriana Project

Key words: NAMES, REBIRTH, THEATER, OTHERWORLDLY

What is it? A project reinterpreting the Arthurian canon particularly with favor to and focus on the extended mythos of Morgan le Fay, the medium for which is undecided, with favored options being: animated series, animated film, book series, comic series.

What do you need to work on? First drafts of outline and pitch. Additions and second drafts of bible, screenplay, concept art, and storyboards. Revisiting medium decision.

Witches of the Four Movements [s.t.c.]

Key words: POWER, HISTORY, MYSTERY, COLORFUL

What is it? An original fantasy project of epic scale, focused on four independent storylines tied together by the relationships of the four secret witches propelling each plot, and the two secret witches yet undiscovered that are unintentionally interfering with them.

What do you need to work on? First draft of outline, pitch, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of bible, screenplay, and concept art. Revisiting medium decision.

House of God

Key words: POSSESSION, FAITH, HORROR, FIRE

What is it? An eerie trilogy that starts with a team of grad students assigned to the excavation and restoration of an abandoned rectory.

What do you need to work on? First draft of pitch, bible, concept art and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of outline and screenplays. Revisiting decision between film and television.

Primewick

Key words: CARETAKING, TRAPS, EERIE, DOMESTIC

What is it? A speculative thriller about a motorcyclist who crashes and wakes up in the care of an odd woman living in her old friend's massive, secluded estate.

What do you need to work on? First draft of pitch, bible, concept art, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of outline and screenplays. Revisiting medium decision.

Untitled Ghost Project

Key words: CLARITY, MEMORY, GHOSTS, MUNDANE

What is it? A speculative drama about an amateur independent journalist dropping out of college to return home and investigate a cold case of the disappearance of a local teacher and single mother, and how locals, especially the missing woman's now-grown children, cope with the renewed operation. (This work shares a storyworld and narrative elements with Primewick.)

What do you need to work on? First draft of pitch, bible, screenplays, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of outline and concept art. Revisiting medium decision.

Caspar Unlimited [s.t.c.]

Key words: IMAGE, INTIMACY, TRAGEDY, REALITY TV

What is it? A television series taking place in a contemporary world characterized by supernatural and speculative events, combining mockumentary footage following the lives of various employees of corporate empire, Caspar Multinational, and typical drama footage following the documentary crew and cast ostensibly part of it.

What do you need to work on? First draft of outline, concept art, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of pitch, bible, and screenplays.

Untitled Labyrinth Project

Key words: COLLABORATION, CRAFT, UTOPIA, RUINS

What is it? Slow-burn, esoteric, science fiction mystery about a group of strangers who find each other in a labyrinth of unknown origin.

What do you need to work on? First draft of outline, pitch, bible, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of screenplays and concept art. Revisiting medium decision.

Untitled Weird Project

Key words: CRIME, HIJINKS, CHASE SCENE, FUTURISTIC

What is it? Animated feature exploring a futuristic city run by silly rules and filled with whimsical characters, including a gang made up of germs and diseases evolved into humanoids; a zombie-vampire pair of lesbian bounty hunters; a skateboarder in his forties wanted by the law for failing to commit to the bit; and his general practitioner, a blue-haired, nine-year-old cyborg obeying disembodied voices of medical talents long passed on.

What do you need to work on? First draft of outline, pitch, bible, screenplays, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of concept art.

Bad House

Key words: DEBT, FAME, THEATER, FOLK MUSIC

What is it? A comic-concept album-tarot deck combination following a schtick-rock band called Bad Box made up of masked characters in the wake of a scandal that revealed the identities of its two founding members as they tour and promote their latest, and sonically much-toned-down, concept album, which is inspired by and features a few covers of the House of the Rising Sun.

What do you need to work on? First draft of outline, pitch, bible, screenplays, and storyboards. Additions and second drafts of concept art.

Untitled Clue Project

Key words: VIOLENCE, SECRETS, GAMES, GLAMOR

What is it? A television series based on the mechanics and premise of the game Clue/Cluedo, where each season features the same cast of actors assigned a new role, in a new setting, and with new context.

What do you need to work on? First draft of pitch, screenplay, bible, storyboard. Second drafts of outline and concept art.

if you got this far thanks here are some bonus pics of poor quality, pls reply with which project looks most interesting bc i have no basis for inferring atm

[blindrapture]

Act II poster, drawn by RealaChao Seen in the July 5th log

This one's been a long time coming. It depicts a scene from a little later in the act, from a log that will be titled "The God Machine." That thing up there is the God Machine.

This piece originated back in, like, at least 2016, when I was compiling the Fifth Draft, aka the First Edition, the physical (and now obsolete) book that contained the first three acts. I had asked Reala to depict this same scene, albeit in an earlier form. She began the piece back then but was never able to finish it.

Left: The earliest version, a sketch. Right: An incomplete render of a digitization.

This year, 2024, when I decided I was going to rewrite Act 2 entirely, I noted we still had no Act Poster for it, and Reala and I began talks of finishing the God Machine piece. I proposed that, rather than try and pick back up a decade-old piece, she try drawing it again from scratch. To aid this purpose, I purchased a drawing tablet myself and whipped up a sketch that basically "rotated the camera," and also added Donnie.

Left: The sketch itself. Right: With some notes, and an attempt to figure out where the text could go.

Reala was able to do the piece with the aid of my sketch, and throughout June we had regular discussions about the progress of the piece, interpretations of its composition and of its context as the second Act Poster, and I also did some tweaks to the final version myself to allow Reala to focus on other tasks.

Here is the final version again, this time the "color" version, without text:

I, for what it's worth, am extremely happy with this. It is distinct from the other Act Posters by virtue of being digital art, fluid figures drawn with small textured brushes. If you zoom in on the strokes, you will see textures on a sort of micro-scale. These textures manifest themselves on a much larger scale in the God Machine itself, which has large sketchy textures.

We wanted this to stand as a meaningful piece of digital art. It serves its function in the story-- you can easily skim your eyes over it and go back to reading. But if you decide to look more closely at it, you will find elements that are not realistic, are in fact expressionist, things for you to latch onto and interpret. I will not go into the intended meanings of these in this post, as we've only just begun the distribution of Act 2.

The poster for the first Act communicated a lot that reflected the tone of that Act. I think this poster communicates a lot too. I hope it feels like Rapture is new again. I hope it feels like we are young and tasked with solving a hard problem.

What are the Seven Ciphers?

See you. :)

[sunsetsmakemesad]

@alittlebitofasuckerforangst

HADGSGSHSJSHDHDDH

ok ok ok it took me forever to get to answering this, i also accidentally posted the post too soon and when i deleted it your ask got deleted too. Sorry for that.

So they all live in a set universe, in a story I'm developing that i may or may not post to webtoon. If I end up deciding to it'll take forever since i don't even have the first draft written.

This is Ann and she's also the first OC i drew for this story. I wa just goofing around but when i finished her i got too attached and couldn't just leave her as a sketch. She's a government agent and she loves theathre. She dresses sorta light academia, for lack of a better term. She's 25, but i might change that

She grew up in a small village with her grandmother which eventually was destroyed in war when she was 11. After that she got picked up by that work force and they trained her. She got very attached to a mentor figure in her life, one that i dont have a set design for yet.

Around the beginning of the story, said mentor is killed, leaving behind her daughter. Which leads us toooooooo

Lily! She's 6 and I love her so much. Very curious child who has a morbid interest in scary stories. I love drawing her a lot it's so therapeutic for me

She's left in the care of Ann, who has no experience dealing with children and frankly doesn't like Lily that much at first. She ends up yelling at her freshly having lost her mentor, and the house is very quiet after that. A big part of the problem is that she was given no prior notice. The child just showed up.

Against all odds Ann ends up being fiercely protective of this child. This is a very spy x family ahh plot but I'm a sucker for those.

Lily hates theathre. Hate is a strong word, but it's the word youmg children most commonly use when they don't like something. She finds it very boring. She only got to see one, one that Ann dragged her to since she had no idea what the kid would like. But! During the play she sees a pretty actress and is excited for the rest of the play. Only the scenes where the actress shows up. I have a comic for this one hold on

It's a frankly old comic so i'm not as proud of it anymore but still cute.

"Actress" ring a bell?

It's her!! My baby Dahlia the one and only. I drew this in physics class not too long ago and i need to figure out the formula to keep drawing her like this since it's my best version of her yet. She's not so kind to Lily when she goes to get her autograph so Lily is a little bummed later(kid cannot catch a break😔)

She will be an important character in the story but i haven't got anything fully figured out. Her parents died when she was a toddler and afterwards she's lived in and out of the foster system, due to having no other relatives able to take care of her and her brother(who is 7 years older than her). She does get adopted at some point and stays there for a year or two but they're severely neglectful. They die too and back to the foster care system it is. Her brother gets to live on his own at 18 and tries to adopt her since they don't wanna be seperated. This takes a while since to adopt someone not that much younger than you you gotta have a stable source of income and you have to prove that you can be trusted to raise someone. Eventually he does become her legal guardian(21 and 14).

Dahlia's quite pessimistic and doesn't have many friends. She loves spicy food. She hates cooking. She LOOOVES script-writing and has written many for the theathre, getting to act herself in some. She mistrusts people generally. Tends to not talk much off stage.

+

These two. I love them so muchhh even thought they're severely under-developed(tbh all of my OCs are). They're the main antagonists and also married. Sierra(left) is hispanic(or like. Fictional hispanic since all the countries are fictional despite being based on real countries)(Ann is british)(so is lily) and her husband who i don't have a name for yet(WE LOVE MY SCATTERED OC GRAPH I DONT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE ALL I KNOW IS THAT MY LOVE FOR THEM IS REAL) i dont know what he is yet he is unlock nationality at level 7. despite their being villains their relationship is very healthy and they care about each other a lot. They both wear an eyepatch but only sierra has to(well she doesn't. Have to what i mean is there is something wrong with her eye her husband just wears it to be supportive about her insecurities).

Sierra loves hime fashion

That's alllll i got for now i may change up some things if i dont like them in the long run but i hope you enjoyed my ted talk