#for that i need my tablet so i can start mapping.

[bengallemon]

i opened up a doc and started writing notes. i have a page of them. it's happening.

[umbrellacam]

*steeples fingers and stares at my tablet with gimlet eyes*

so. Road to NML. You mean to tell me that the reason the rest of the country, Congress, and the President himself decided to write Gotham off, blow the bridges, and isolate everyone left - all criminals and asylum lunatics and 'undesirables', of course - was in large part due to *checks notes* a satanic rock star's unnatural, irresistible charisma and cult-like media manipulations aimed at dooming the city for his own benefit?

and that in order to find out what actually happens to this villain, who disappears from the Batman and 'Tec storylines...I'd have to *checks notes* read Azrael's event issues?

....yeah, PASS. I only included JPV's book on my reading list when I absolutely had to (*cough* whenever Cass pops up *cough*), so it's off to the wiki summaries for me!

...but okay, on the one hand I find it very funny how thoroughly fandom has excised this demonic media influencer aspect from the collective consciousness of NML - or at least it had never made its way to me via either fic or fandom posts. I know how few people read comics in general in this fandom, and even for those who do, NML is a Beast that only a percentage have tackled (see: me just starting to pick away at it!), so honestly it's not that surprising.

and like it can easily be left out of the story and still leave it coherent lmao!! One can certainly argue things are in fact neater that way; certainly it's not something that would ever be kept (or at least not in the same form) if NML were adapted to another medium, except as perhaps a normal media demagogue (or a montage of them).

but on the other hand...hmm. Thinking about Hurricane Katrina hitting all of six years after the NML storyline played out. And the debate over whether funds should be used for reconstructing New Orleans and other massively damaged areas. And people around the country wondering if New Orleans would or should be rebuilt at all. Or if a vibrant, historic city would just be basically wiped off the map.

I know this is a conversation that happens everywhere and every time a major disaster wrecks a city. There are always huge fights over disaster aid and funding allocations of any kind.

but man. It's something to see this fictionalized depiction in such close proximity to a real life disaster that paralleled it so strongly, and to know that - yes, there are always people who Do Not Abandon Their Homes and work to reclaim them. Yes, massive amounts of aid (federal and otherwise) and federal reconstruction funding did get dispensed. Yes, people cared, and yes, we rebuilt.

so...maybe we do actually need the demonic social media influencer's evil powers in order to comic book logic explain how everyone in the country turned their backs on Gotham and created No Man's Land.

like - no, it's not necessary. the narrative would work without it. and yet...

the premise imagines - requires? - a significantly more callous, selfish populace. Still plausible and compelling! Possibly even stronger as a story since the turnaround for No Man's Land still hinges on winning the country over to open Gotham back up, let aid in, and rebuild. But. You do have to start from - kind of a bleaker take on humanity?

it also kind of reminds me of what scintillyyy pointed out a few weeks ago about Dick killing the Joker, and how actually there's an important comic book superpower interaction going on there, too, with Rancor present massively amplifying Dick's hate and anger to push him over the edge.

but so few people ever notice or remember that and it certainly isn't one of those things that gets transmitted via fandom osmosis. (It was news to me!!) People focus on Dick breaking down and letting loose solely due to being pushed too far.

and that's extremely compelling on its own! It is! Just like the no-satanic-Nick-Scratch NML.

just thinking about fandom's tendency to ellide the supernatural or powered influences that are canonically affecting a situation, in order to explore/focus on more purely humanistic explanations or motivations...that actually end up being darker than what we might reasonably expect from real life, or from a character's typical values.

like it's part wanting to brush off comic book nonsense, part wanting to dive into gritty realism (that's not always realistic), part not having all the information because of learning things secondhand so you construct the most reasonable explanation...idk it's just interesting.

anyway.

more importantly: Dick and Tim are adorable in 'Tec 727-729!! Especially love them trading off yelling each other's names in fear/alarm, and also trading off protecting each other - Dick's "You hurt that kid and you're gonna be eating through a tube!" and Tim's clever solo rescue of a thoroughly captive Dick via clever use of a voice modulator and a two-way radio. The Boys 😊

[runawaycatwalker]

Part 26. Asynchronous Expectations (Oni-Chan 2.0, part C)

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Description below the cut

Astrocat wings pattern from here.

Ladybug leaps through the air, swinging her yo-yo towards the Agreste mansion.

Ladybug: Those ribbons were coming from Adrien's place.  Now where's the villain...?

Cut to Gabriel’s atelier, where Oni-Chan is throwing up her hands (one hand holding her sword upwards) in exasperation while looking at a sentimonster—the Unpublisher—as he holds up a single finger.

The Unpublisher: It looks like you want to know what my powers are.  Would you like help?

Oni-Chan: Yes!  I just said that!

The Unpublisher has an uncanny smile and holds up a hand in helpful explanation.  (The Unpublisher is an unsettling inversion of Adrien Agreste—blue hair, dark blue skin, a black overshirt with a white undershirt, hair parted on the other side, and all line art with white lines instead of black.)

The Unpublisher: To delete a picture of Adrien Agreste: Hold my amok and order me to delete a picture of Adrien Agreste.

Oni-Chan picks up a photonegative that was left on the corner of the central platform of Gabriel’s atelier.

Oni-Chan: Is this it?

The Unpublisher: That is the amok belonging to the Unpublisher.  Helpful tip: the Unpublisher is me!  This amok can be used to control the actions of the Un—

Oni-Chan: I get it.

Oni-Chan holds the photonegative and points towards Gabriel’s computer.  The Unpublisher looks at her with a large grin.

Oni-Chan: Look through that computer for Adrien Agreste photos.  Delete all of them from existence.

The Unpublisher: Got it.  Please be patient while I take care of that for you.

Ladybug throws the door open and leaps into the room, wielding her yo-yo.  A couple black ribbons are starting to weave their way into the world.

Ladybug: Not if I have anyth—

Ladybug is abruptly swarmed by a dense slurry of the magical ribbons conjured by the Unpublisher as he deletes every image of Adrien that Gabriel owns.

Ladybug: —Mmph!

Cut to Rena Furtive looking through her telescope at Oni-Chan teleporting across the rooftops as the ribbons fan out across the world.

Ladybug (over comm): I can't get past these ribbons!

Rena Furtive: You might not have to.  Oni-Chan’s mass-teleporting again.  She’s holding something new—I assume it's an amok?

Ladybug (over comm): Then I’ll have to bring her to me...

Cut to Nathalie’s bedroom, where Nathalie sits on the edge of her bed as she speaks to Ladybug.  Her room is largely untouched by the ribbons (though a few can be seen flowing past her windows).  Note that Nathalie has a large map of the world on her wall.

Ladybug: Ms. Sancouer, I need your help.  Do you have a picture of Adrien that Mr. Agreste doesn’t have copies of?

Nathalie: I believe so.

Nathalie (internally): As much as I want to find Adrien, I can't risk an akuma like Oni-Chan leading Gabriel to him first.  If Gabriel asks, I’ll just say I couldn’t refuse Ladybug without rousing suspicion.

A closeup of Nathalie holding her tablet, on which is a picture of Adrien as he stole the grimoire.  He has yet to be deleted.

Nathalie: Here.

Ladybug: Wait, don't look yet—

Oni-Chan teleports in and hits Nathalie (and her tablet with the offending image) with her sword, petrifying her.  Oni-Chan looks towards Ladybug and waves an angry fist (which holds the photonegative amok).

Oni-Chan: Again, Ladybug?  Why must you keep getting in my way?

Oni-Chan swings her sword towards Ladybug, who manages to deflect it with her yo-yo as she leaps back.

Oni-Chan: I just want to find Adrien!  Don't you want that too?

Ladybug: Not like this!  I won't let you hurt everyone just to get to him!

Close-up of Oni-Chan’s unyielding eyes.

Oni-Chan: Then perish!

Ladybug, on pure instinct, yells and throws her yo-yo.

Ladybug: Chat Noir, now!

Ladybug clenches her eyes shut, berating herself.

Ladybug (internally): Stupid reflex!

Ladybug yanks her yo-yo back before it makes contact with Oni-Chan.

Ladybug (internally): He's not here!

Ladybug uses her yo-yo to flee as Oni-Chan lunges towards her.  But behind Oni-Chan, Catwalker has backflipped into the room behind her, his finger touching the amok with his Cataclysm.

Ladybug (internally): I have to fall back and try something els—

Catwalker: Cataclysm!

A closeup of Oni-Chan as she teleports away as the feather starts to emerge from the amok.

Cut to a closeup of the Unpublisher as he begins to dissolve, his mouth forming an ‘O’ as his final ribbon fails as it comes out his finger.

Cut back to Nathalie’s bedroom (she’s still petrified), where Ladybug raises a hesitant hand towards Catwalker.

Ladybug: C-Catwalker?  Where’s the amok?

Catwalker: Oni-Chan took it with her when she teleported away.

Ladybug, face in panicked shock, clenches her fists.

Ladybug: No!  That means I can’t heal the sentimonster’s damage!

Catwalker holds out an appeasing hand.

Catwalker: But it was only destroying Adrien Agreste’s modeling photos, right?  No one got hurt.  And I don't think Adrien would mind losing all that exposure.

Ladybug holds up her hands in infuriation.

Ladybug: Not mind???  Those pictures are incredibly important to Adrien and everyone who still cares about him!  They were all anyone had left of him!

Catwalker slumps and touches the back of his neck.

Catwalker: I'm sorry.

Ladybug: What were you even thinking?

Catwalker: I thought... I thought I was following your orders...

Ladybug points her finger in accusation.

Ladybug: The only order I've given you is to stay out of my way.  And you can't even do that!  I am this close to taking that ring and giving it to someone else, screw what Mayura promised!

Catwalker backs up against the bedroom door, shamefaced, holding his baton in both hands in front of him.

Catwalker: You called for Chat Noir.  Since he couldn't answer you, I just... did what I thought he would have done.

Ladybug shoves Catwalker through the doors, bursting them open.  Catwalker loses grip on his baton as he tumbles backwards.

Ladybug: Don't you dare put the blame on him!  You aren't Chat Noir!  And me calling for him out of old instincts does not give you the right to act like you could ever fill his shoes!

Ladybug slams the doors shut.

Ladybug: Here's your new orders: Go home!  You've put in your mandatory appearance, now leave me alone!

Cut to a conciliatory Rena Furtive calling over her comm, split screen with Ladybug as she answers over her comm, trying to get a grip on herself.

Rena Furtive: I'm sorry.  I know how important Adrien's pictures have been for you.

Ladybug: I can't worry about what's been lost.  I need to figure out my next move.

Rena Furtive: All the other heroes have been frozen by Oni-Chan.  We're running out of allies.  If we can't use Catwalker, I might have to expose myself and join in the battle.

Cut to Catwalker as he sits sadly on the floor on the other side of the door, hugging his knees and eavesdropping on Ladybug.

Ladybug (voiceover): I can handle this all on my own.  I just need a...

Cut to the creation of a Lucky Charm.  It’s a pair of gloves holding hands, one red covered in black spots with Ladybug’s emblem on the wrist, the other solid black with a red paw print on its wrist.

Ladybug: ...Lucky Charm!

Rena Furtive (over comm): What did you get?

Ladybug: A red glove glued to a black glove... holding... hands?

Ladybug looks frazzled and in deep denial as she lifts one of the fingers from the red glove and making it point somewhere.

Rena Furtive (over comm): I hate to say it, but that sounds like you do need to ask for help this time.

Ladybug:  No!  This can't mean that I have to use him!  It's obviously just pointing towards...

Ladybug holds a pencil in the air, about to throw it, as she starts to cover her eyes with her other hand, one eye peeking as she takes aim.

Ladybug: ...This pencil!  And if I close my eyes and throw this pencil at this map, it'll show me where Adrien is!

Rena Furtive (over comm): Uh... I don't think your Lucky Charm works like that...

A close-up of the map, where the pencil has embedded itself.  Ladybug takes a picture of it with her yo-yo.

Ladybug: I've got the coordinates!  Now I just have to follow them!  Power up!

Catwalker watches Cosmobug flying through the sky via the window.  In one hand, he uses his baton to take a picture of the map; in the other, he holds a purple piece of cheese to his mouth.

Catwalker (internally): I'm sorry, but I think I have to disobey you once more, m'Lady...

Catwalker (aloud): Power up!

A closeup of a pair of cuffed black gloves in front of magical green wings.  He holds his baton in one hand and points at the picture of the map on its screen with the other.

Astrocat (internally): If I take a path curved away from the equator... I can get there before Ladybug does and—

Pull back to show Astrocat—the powered-up form of Chat Noir, not Catwalker—looking at himself in panic.

Astrocat (internally): Oh no.  I powered up as Astrocat without thinking!

Adrien hides himself behind a wall and detransforms.  Adrien closes his eyes and tries to focus.  Plagg, meanwhile, helps himself to another piece of purple cheese.

Adrien: Claws in!

Adrien (internally): Focus!  You're Catwalker.  Perfect...  Controlled... No more cat puns under any circumstances...

Adrien (aloud): Plagg, claws out!

Astrowalker—now in his proper form—resumes his flight to the location Cosmobug thinks she’ll find Adrien.

Astrowalker (internally): I really hope that no one saw that...

Cut to Rena Furtive, who Saw That.

Rena Furtive: Chat Noir...?

Below is the same image as above, only without text:

[rottenpumpkin13]

Wait! Have you done a Road-trip shenanigans bit with the Firsts + Zack and Cloud yet?? If not, please I gotta know the crazy details.

How do they fair with everyone taking turns driving? Who nearly kills them all? Who is bringing what snacks? Do they get lost? Who goes insane first? Boredom songs? Fights in the backseat? Please I need this 💀

The Road Trip From Hell

• Genesis made the dumbass decision to buy a car—a vehicle he will never in his life use because the traffic in Midgar is ASS. It's this nice, red convertible that he now has to drive from Banora all the way back to the city.

• He convinces Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack and Cloud to come along with him on a road trip (they were all nearby on a mission). Angeal doesn't trust Genesis' ability to drive, Sephiroth does NOT see the appeal of spending 14 hours in a car with Genesis, Cloud has raging motion sickness, and Zack saw someone flip Genesis off on the road once and Genesis immediately retaliated with a fire ball, so he's scared.

Genesis: Fine. But if I crash the car and perish you will ALL be unable to live with yourselves.

*Sephiroth silently crosses his fingers*

• After much back to back and and a lot of dramatics from Genesis' end, the boys agree.

• They start off pretty good!! They're having sing-alongs, stopping at the side of the road to take fun pictures, eating unhealthy food at those road-stop diners, and generally having a good time.

• And then hour 3/14 rolls by and they are sick of each other.

Zack: Are we there yet?

*Angeal whips around immediately*

Angeal: Look at me, Fair, LOOK AT ME. This is the first and last time you ask this, got that? If you ask one more time, I'm going to shave your head and make you eat your own hair. Understood?

Zack: 0_0

• Genesis can't drive anymore and asks Angeal to take over. He switches over the the passenger seat and mans the playlist, forcing the entire car to listen to his cringey pop music.

Cloud: Can you change the song? This music sucks.

Sephiroth: I second that.

Genesis: Oh, does this bother you? *cranks the music up louder*

Cloud: On three.

Sephiroth: Got that.

Cloud: One, two—

• Sephiroth and Cloud lunge forward at the same time, using four hands to pin Genesis in place and strangle him. Zack is screaming and trying to pull them back, Genesis is choking and Angeal is dangerously close to driving the car off road—intentionally.

• By hour 5, everyone has fallen asleep except for Zack. Angeal made Genesis sit in the back with Sephiroth and Cloud while Zack sits up front.

Zack: I'm having fun!

Angeal: That's great.

Zack: When are we going to start the trip though?

Angeal: What do you mean?

*Zack pulls out a map on his tablet*

Zack: Well, according to this map, we've just been going in circles for 5 hours.

• Angeal wakes up Genesis to punch him in the face.

• Zack takes over the wheel now and has Cloud sit up front while they play I-Spy.

Zack: I spy something prickly and green.

Cloud: A tree?

Zack: Nice!

Cloud: Okay, uhhh...I spy something tall and silver.

Zack: Sephiroth!

Cloud: No. Sephiroth's not here.

Zack: Oh.

Zack:

Zack: WHAT!?

• Zack stops the car because Sephiroth is indeed missing. It turns out they left him back at their last stop, so they have to turn back around again to go pick him up.

• Sephiroth is indeed back at the restaurant, and he's PISSED. He makes Zack get out of the driver seat and insists they do this the "hard way"

• Sephiroth is driving now and makes everyone sit in complete silence while he finally gets them on the right track. Several hours later, Cloud shyly raises his hand.

Sephiroth: Speak.

Cloud: I have to go to the bathroom.

Sephiroth: Hold it.

Cloud: But what if—

Sephiroth: Hold it.

Cloud: But—

Sephiroth: HOLD IT STRIFE.

• Cloud holds it.

Genesis: This is ridiculous. It's my car. Get out, I'm driving again!

• Sephiroth gives up the wheel without much of a fight, but now Genesis is back in the driver's seat and Zack is antsy again. He sits in the passengers seat and decides to be a backseat driver.

Zack: You're going too fast!

Genesis: Oh, please, I'm going slow. You should see what this car can really do—HEY! THAT GUY JUST CUT ME OFF!

• Zack starts praying (loudly). Genesis is pissed beyond calming down, and decides to floor it and chase after the guy.

• Everyone is screaming, Zack is praying and crying, Angeal is trying to reason with Genesis, Cloud is swearing every curse word in the dictionary, Sephiroth...is asleep.

• When Genesis finally does stop, Angeal makes Genesis pull over. Him, Cloud and Zack get out of the car. Genesis makes a run for it, screaming down the road.

• Sephiroth awakes a few moments later, looks out the window, and sees everyone jumping Genesis. He looks around, then picks up the tablet with the map.

Sephiroth: Wow. I wonder how long it'll take them to realize that we went 120 miles in the wrong direction.

-

@salternateunreality has a ASGZC road trip shenanigans series on her blog if you want more of this :)

[wilteddreamsofbaldursgate]

2. Writing Set Up: Where to Write Your Draft

Before you even start writing, you’ll need to find a writing program/medium you feel comfortable working with. 

I promise you—from start to finish—you’ll look at your draft for a couple of hours at minimum, so I suggest you choose a program/medium that aligns with your individual needs. Now it’s time for you to identify what those needs might be. 

Here are some options:

Creativity strikes while you’re cuddled up in bed or on your commute to work? 

Try writing on your phone/tablet (unless you’re the one driving, of course!)—you can use pre-installed apps like Pages (iOS) or your Notes/Memo app. You can also download free writing applications like Google Docs. Google Docs works on and offline on basically any mobile device, which is great for when you’re on the go! 

You prefer writing/typing on a computer? 

There are many desktop writing programs like LibreOffice (free for Windows, Mac and Linux), MS Word (needs to be purchased/subscription-based), countless online text editors or the browser version of Google Docs. 

You need to physically feel the words flowing through your body? 

Well, imagine you’re a classic author and write them down by hand on generously perfumed paper (preferably with royal blue ink)! Of course, you can also use Post-it notes or that coffee-stained notebook from 2013. Regular paper will do, too, though it’s obviously not as cool. 

Of course, there are many more options to choose from, but since you’re just starting out, I suggest you try free and more readily available programs first. Everything has its pros and cons, but digital writing is generally pretty clean-cut and saves you the trouble of digitising hand-written drafts (which you’ll need to do if you want to share your writing online! Unless you want to share scans of your beautiful handwritten writing, of course!). 

But before you settle for one (or more!) program/media of your choice, you might want to consider a few things: 

Is your writing easily accessible to you? → Can you add to your draft whenever and wherever creativity strikes? 

Does your writing program save your progress automatically? → You don’t want to lose hours upon hours of work because you forgot to save your progress! 

Is your writing secure? → Is your writing uploaded to a cloud? Will you still be able to access your writing if your computer crashes or you lose your login data/ phone/notebook? Can you easily create external backups of your files?

It really doesn’t matter what you need to write down at this early point. Be it an idea, rough outline, dialogue, stream of consciousness, mind map or a finished draft—you just want your entire writing process to happen in a secure, accessible location that you feel confident working in. There is no perfect writing program; whatever program works best for you is the best program for you! 

For example: 

I almost exclusively write on Google Docs since it meets all my personal writing needs: It’s a free cloud service that syncs my files all across my devices (phone, laptop, tablet) regardless of where I am. It has an intuitive interface with all the basic writing/formatting tools I need. 

Once a month, I download my most recent drafts as “.docx”-files and back them up on an external hard drive—so even if I can’t, for whatever reason, access my Google Docs account, my files are still secured in a different location. 

Sometimes, I make use of handwritten notes, too—though I keep losing them or can’t decipher my handwriting…This seems minuscule or even funny, but it’s hard to come back to an idea when you’ve literally lost the physical manifestation of it! 

Next: The Idea: Coming Up With and Developing Your Idea (with examples)

Masterlist

[bigbadbatch]

The Light We Feel - Chapter 5

On Jedha, things don't go according to plan, everything unravels.

My FAV chapter so far!

Hunter x fem!JediOC - 2k words.

Warnings: Injuries

Listening Recommendation: Let it Happen by Punch Brothers.

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Hunter's POV

To say the planet was hot would have been an understatement. The crew stood in the shade of the Marauder and took small sips of water as Tech fiddled with the locator’s coordinate map. “I just don’t understand.” He said. “There is some sort of frequency disrupting our gear. I can’t get a read on our heading.”

I splashed water onto my face and head, my hair dripping.

“I say we find somewhere to make camp. Look again with fresh eyes in the morning.” I took one last swig of water as I said it, and started for the on-ramp. We had been on Jedha for two days, searching caverns and temples, and had found some great artifacts, but no key. Thea was thrilled at the finds we had already secured. It brought a smile to my face just remembering her excitement when we unearthed an ancient Anchorite tablet. She prattled on and on with Tech about the significance of the find, and how best to store it. I stole a look at her as we all settled into the ship, Tech taking the helm. Her hair was up, and her face was tinted pink from the intense sun. She caught my gaze and gave me a tired smile. I had been meaning to talk with her, really talk, but privacy isn’t my brother’s strong suit. We landed near our next target area, Tech having narrowed down our best location guess to a ten mile radius of caverns and ridges. That’s when Echo piped up with a brilliant idea.

“Tomorrow morning we should split into teams. We can cover more ground that way.” I nod, “Great thinking Echo. We can each have a partner to search with, and rendezvous back here by nightfall.” Murmurs of approval around the group, and then Tech began assigning roles based on the challenges of each search area.

“Omega and I can take the ridges, I’m sure there will be some climbing involved. Hunter and Thea can take the caverns, Echo and Wrecker can take the plain lands between.”

“Sounds great.” Thea chipped in, and Wrecker waggled his eyebrows at me. I shot him a warning look and said

“Well let’s all get some shut eye. We will check in at dawn before heading out.” We all made to head for our bunks, but Thea still sat in the red dirt. She rubbed at her neck and shoulders, a pained expression on her face.

“You alright?” I called to her, headed back down the ramp. She noticed me and stood, wincing.

“Yeah” she said “Just a little sore. I haven’t been sleeping great the past few nights.” I nod, and feel like an idiot. Of course she wasn’t sleeping well, the cot in the hall of the Marauder slept like shit, and I was a shit leader for not stepping up and being a gentleman. 

“You’re sleeping in my bed tonight.” I said flippantly, casually. It was only when I saw her panicked expression that I realized my mistake. “Without me! I’ll be on the cot tonight. You can take my bunk, and I’ll be on the cot. Not in my bunk- with you.” Real smooth. She laughed a bit and smirked. “I don’t mind the cot. I just have had some rough dreams lately.” I nod, understanding. I had nightmares too, especially since we lost Crosshair.

“Take the bunk.” I said. “That’s an order. You need rest for the search tomorrow.”

She stands and salutes me. “If you say so, I won’t argue.” She walks past me. I tried my best not to watch her go. 

That night on the cot, I understood why she hadn’t been sleeping well. My bunkroom on the Marauder had thick blast proof walls, which were also sound dampening. Out in the open of the ship, every beep and click and whirl of mechanics kept me awake. I had to distract myself. I wish something else had come to mind, but all I could focus on was Thea in my bed. This was the second time she lay in my bed, and I didn’t share it with her. I wiped a hand over my face, my body heating as I imagined her curled on my sheets, head on my pillow. Stop, stop. 

With some deep breaths I run over the plan for tomorrow, mapping out routes and strategies in my mind. Eventually I fell asleep.

—-

Thea’s POV.

I woke up in Hunter’s bed, again. It smelled like him. Though I could hear the men in the hallway, talking, I did all I could to stay and soak it all in. His bed was warm, his room tidy and so much like him. I knew I had to get moving, so reluctantly I met the boys in the ship’s common area, ready to go. As Tech debriefed with Echo, Wrecker and Omega about each one’s route, Hunter stood next to me by the wall. 

“How’d you sleep?” His voice was gravelly with morning.

I smiled, “Actually really well for once. Thank you. I owe you one.” He smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Don’t mention it.” He said. “Ready? We can head out and get a start on the search. Plenty of ground to cover.” I nod and off we went.

Our first two caverns were a bust. After searching a third cavern we took a stop to rest and check in with the group via comms. Hunter had a small backpack with essentials- water, rations, and a few emergency items. I set down the Zyggerian energy bow I had borrowed from Omega and leaned against the stone wall. “Thirsty?” Hunter said as he handed me a canteen. The water was cool and refreshing, and I did my best not to gulp it down. This desert planet was sweltering during the day, but could hit freezing temperatures at night. We sat in silence for a moment, resting and enjoying the respite from the heat in the darkness of the cavern. A question ate at me. “Can I ask you something?” It came out before I could stop it. Hunter gave a curt nod and focused his eyes on me in response. “Why did you and your crew split from the Empire? I mean most clones still work for the Empire, but you and the rest of the batch… what happened?”

Hunter rubbed a hand through his hair and gave a sigh. I sat and listened as he launched into his tale. An order had come through during a routine mission. Order 66. All clones were ordered to kill all Jedi. He refused. He went on to tell me about the inhibitor chips implanted in each clone forced them to obey the order, how regardless of the bonds they had with their Jedi generals, they had to comply. He told me about how his and his team’s ‘defects’ overrode the chips for awhile. I couldn’t help it. Grief and overwhelming sadness welled inside me, and silent tears fell as he continued his story. 

“The boys and I have have a friend, a brother really, Rex. He helped us excise our chips on Bracca. Now we can never be forced to do anything we don’t want to do, like hurt a Jedi. If there are any left, that is.”

I quickly wiped away my tears and cleared my throat. “Yeah.” I said. That’s all I could say. A million thoughts flooded my mind, swirling. Hunter truly was safe. He wasn’t like the other clones, the ones who had done all those horrific things. I was safe with the batch, with him and Omega and the others. But sudden images of the fire, the smoke, the blaster shots rang in my ears, and I held my tongue. 

Hunter moved to get closer to me, concern in his eyes. I remembered he could hear my rapid heartbeat with his enhanced senses. “Are you oka…”

A shrill screech shatters his words. Skittering legs and scattering rocks as the cavern is sudden filled- filled by this enormous creature. A Skriton. The scorpion-esque giant crawled in from deeper in the cavern, and moved to block the exit where sunlight gleamed. I grabbed my bow, and Hunter quickly had his blaster in hand. 

“No. Sudden. Movements.” He growled to me. So slowly, I drew back my bow as the skriton’s looming, barbed tail swished in the light of the mouth of the cavern. I held my breath, waiting to see who would strike first. The skriton. Lighting fast, its barbed tail lashed out, and Hunter rolled away in a dodge, firing at the beast. Its hard exoskeleton was impervious to the blaster’s bolts, and I tried with my bow to no avail. The skriton turned a massive pincer to me and snapped at my face. I backpeddled, firing all the way, as Hunter aimed for its eyes. His shot rang true and the creature screamed so shrill that it hurt my ears. Half-blind the creature clawed out at us, its tail piercing the ground in quick strikes around us. One strike was worryingly close to Hunter, and I gasped out of instinct. The creature whirled towards me, the claw knocking me backwards and flat on my back, bow skittering across the cavern floor away from me. It raised the claw to smash me, and I went to roll away, but the claw was slammed away from me by a hard body. Blaster steaming, Hunter fired shot after shot at close range into the monster’s face, and it struck blindly out, pincer connecting with Hunter’s skin and squeezing tight. I could hear the splintering of bone as Hunter called out, “Run, Thea!” But I couldn’t. My heart pounded and my ears were ringing.. Suddenly the cavern shakes, and my vision blurs. My muscles tensed and the ceiling of the cavern collapsed. 

—

When the dust cleared, the skriton was dead. The patch of rock above its head had fallen, crushing it and only it. A lone claw sat severed on the floor feet away from its remains, still wrapped around Hunter’s leg. I ran to him, as he was just sitting up, propping himself on his elbows. Using all my strength I pried the pincer off of him. His shin and ankle were already bruised a deep purple. “You’re gonna need a bio-cast, Hunter.” I gently help him sit up all the way.

“I have a med-spike in the emergency bag. That should kick-start the healing and get me through until the others can recover us. Grab it and the comm for me will you?” I did as I was told, and Hunter didn’t even flinch when I injected the bacta from the med-spike into his thigh. A chill settled over my shoulders. The sun was setting, and the killer cold was sweeping over the desert planet. 

Hunter made a call to Tech. The other two groups were just rendezvousing at the ship, it would be an hour before they could make it to our coordinates. 

Hunter dragged himself to the cavern wall and sat against it. I joined him, shivering, half from cold and the other half from adrenaline. I felt so fatigued, hollowed out even. “C’mere, keep warm.” Hunter said, slurring his words a bit. The med-spike had pain reducing sedatives, and I doubted I could keep him awake much longer. Glad for the warmth, I moved in close to him and he wrapped an arm around me, rubbing my bare skin to relieve the chill. “You’ll be okay, Hunter.” I said, teeth chattering. “They’ll be here soon.”

He laughed deep in his throat, and just that laugh sent warmth spreading throughout me. 

“‘Course I will be.” He mumbled. “Got you, don’t I? Right here with me, mesh’la.” 

I gave him a quizzical look. “What’s that mean? Mesh’la?”

He turned his head to face me, and gazed into my eyes. His eyes flicked down to my lips, and before I could stop him, he kissed me. I somehow both froze and melted into him at once. He pulled away smiling. "Been meanin' to do that." He said.

I shook my head, "...Hunter. You're not yourself right now. Try to go to sleep." He smiled and laid his head against the wall, immediately drifting to sleep. My hand shook as I lifted it to touch my lips. He couldn't have meant anything by it, right? It was the meds talking. I sat there thinking about it over and over until I heard Wrecker call out "They're in here!"

Once we had been recovered, and Hunter was safely in a bio-cast and tucked into his bunk, I sat in a flight seat aboard the Marauder, exhausted. Omega prattled to me about her adventure, how she had single-handedly found the key we had been searching so tirelessly for. “I just had a feeling!” She said. I laughed quietly. I still couldn't stop thinking about Hunter, our kiss. I had made up my mind that I would never mention it. He likely wouldn't remember, and I didn't want to embarrass him. But...

A low whistle sounded from behind me. Wrecker had used the key we found to unlock the chest Cid had loaded onto the ship before we left. Glittering in the chest were gemstones of various sizes and colors. Tech said, “Well that is certainly worth the price the buyer is paying.” We were to meet the buyer on the other side of Jedha the next day and make the exchange for Cid. “I’m gonna turn in, Omega.” I said, feigning a yawn. I dreamt of skriton and falling gemstones, Hunter’s lips on mine. 

—

“Where is this nerfherder?” Hunter asked gruffly, as we all stood in the heat outside the Marauder. We were to meet the buyer in the Spires, an area of towering boulders and columns of rock. It provided decent cover and shade, but something about it set me on edge.

Omega sat against a column on which one of the largest boulders perched. She sketched in a little book the outlines of the Spires above and around her, bored with waiting. “Here.” A nasally voice piped from behind the columns, and into the semi-circle stepped a small group of Zabraks, dressed in tattered desert clothing with cotton masks over their mouths and noses. Instantly I feel my muscles snap to attention. They were…off. Fidgety. Their cloaks seemed too bulky, draped oddly around their bodies. Before I could warn the others, the Zabraks pulled out their blasters and aimed at each one of us, Omega included. Hunter froze, his leg healed with the help of the bio-cast’s quick setting, but the bruises still causing a limp that I knew made him feel uncomfortable. “Now boys.” Echo said, stepping forward to calm the situation. The Zabraks cocked their blasters, the clicks echoing in the rocky canyon. Omega sat very still against the rock column to my right, and I noticed Hunter was moving, ever so slowly towards her. He was only feet away from her when the Zabraks noticed him. “Don’t move!” A small one shouted. He had to be only a child. Hunter raised his hands and nodded. “Easy, kid.” He said.

“Give us the chest and no one gets hurt.” The leader of the Zabraks barked.

“Take it.” Echo said. “Means nothing to us, we’re just the messengers.”

The Zabraks sent two of their men forward who gathered up the chest and as the rest backed away slowly, I silently breathed a sigh of relief. Then, chaos.

The head Zabrak shot one bolt from his blaster, not at any of us, but at the boulder over Omega’s head, sending it careening down towards her. Hunter dove at her, but with no time to do anything but cover her body with his. I froze. Time froze too. Electricity seemed to buzz around me, as visions came flooding back. I had been dreaming of this moment. It was why I was here. I knew what I had to do. I lifted my arms, focusing. I closed my eyes. 

— Hunter’s POV—-

I waited for the end. Any millisecond now, the boulder would crush us, but atleast Omega would feel loved and held as we both went. I held her tight against my chest, and closed my eyes tight. Nothing. I opened my eyes. A large shadow pooled around us, a perfect circle of darkness in the harsh light of the sun. I looked up. Looming above me, frozen in the air, was the boulder. How could this be? Everything was silent. “Thea?” Omega said, her voice shaking with fear. I looked to Thea, and everything became clear. She stood, arms outstretched, in a form I knew all too well. Blood trickled from her nose and down her chin, as she shook with the effort of using the Force to lift the boulder and set it gently down, feet away from us. Our eyes met. Then she collapsed. 

[captainx-camino]

Someone commented on an old video recently asking me (genuinely) if one of my speed paints was AI because 1) it was broken up into highlights for TikTok, and 2) I have a very unorthodox sketching process. So, I have decided to show the entire ass backwards way I sketch out the nearly incomprehensible nonsense that my mush brain spits out at me.

To preface, I use Ibis paint x on a cell phone.

I do not have a fancy program like procreate or clip studio, or even a tablet and a lot of how I work has evolved from what I have found works the best for drawing on my tiny, little, shitty phone screen.

That being said....

A speed paint video

To begin, I rarely map faces more than just very basic shapes. (Though, I will admit the structures can get more complex the less comfortable I am with drawing the face.) I usually start with a very basic framework that I implement half from just years of practice in drawing faces and becoming more comfortable with those base shapes, as well as the fact that I'm already aware I will inevitably be over using the liquify pen. Now, I would like to say this is a crutch and I just do it because it's easy, but unfortunately it's actually just because I have fat fingers and a tiny screen (sometimes I can place lines better with my pen but it's still a really small surface to work with) and it's just less of a headache to address the lines with liquify than redoing them a million times or zooming in so close that I lose the rest of the picture.

I will often start with faces because they tend to have the most small details. From there, I will then usually shrink the drawing down and place it about where I think it'll need to be to draw the next part, all while less than strategically erasing the piss poor guidelines I had originally given myself.

SOMETIMES I will save my guides of a second layer in case I might need them later, but that's about as far as I ever plan ahead to be honest...

And we can see that in the next part where after scribbling in a few vague marks for their hair I then IMMEDIATELY regret erasing my head guides and hastily sketch them back in so I can proceed to poorly map out their bodies (most of which I will inevitably be covering up anyway, which I KNEW was going to happen with this one and I cursed myself the entire time). I then fill in where I want all the glorious hair, which fills up the rest of the blank space in the art with fun and interesting shapes and conveys the lore of the AU.

After this, and to take this from a sketch to actual lineart, I will clean up some of the lines on a second layer and keep some of the original sketch features where I like them. This helps me keep the life of the original sketch while also allowing me to clean up the more scratchy lines, which usually produces a pretty nice, clean looking line work.

Should I do a lore drop for my AU next??

Kinda want to...

[akaiitori]

Attack Dog - Rendering Breakdown

OK here's an attempt at explaining how I go with illustrations. This isn't necessarily an 'effective' way to paint, but rather it's a process to maximize my personal enjoyment. I encourage you to do the same! Find those steps you have the most fun with, and exploit the hell out of them.

For this post, I'll be going step-by-step for this illustration

1- Sketching

A Mess. I don't like making lineart unless I'm super in the mood for it. In this case, I couldn't be bothered to spend a lot of time in the sketch. I often use 3D models as a base for paintings because, if I'm making a painting I only want to paint, not to stress out on anatomy.

2- Blocking values

I only start painting with colour if I'm certain about what I want to do. In this case, I wasn't. When it comes to visual information, values (light and shadow) are more important than colour, so it's easier to block those out first than trying to improve the values in an already coloured piece.

This is a very insightful video if you want to see if a greyscale-first process could be useful for you. Marco Bucci's content in general is a treasure.

Here's a link to the head model used for light reference

3- Paintinggg hell yeah babyyyyy

Not much to say here except, look at a lot of reference. I only limit my canvas to one or two reference pics to not get it super crowded, but I'll always have more pictures open on my browser, tablet, etc.

There's this little app you can use to compile reference pics. I don't use it because the act of opening it is too much work for me but, it's a neat tool.

The main brushes I use for rendering are the following:

Regular round brush with pen-pressure opacity.

Custom triangle brush. It's just a triangle with some texture layered on.

Clip Studio Paint's textured paint. Unmodified.

Custom square brush. Same as the triangle, but it's a square.

Clip Studio Paint's gouache brush. Unmodified. Good for blending.

"Fur block-in" from this pack. Excellent for blocking in feathers.

"triple line" from this pack. Very good for adding texture.

You don't need this many brushes, but I like the variety to keep things interesting. I'd say that only #1, #2 and #7 are essential to me.

A quick trick I used for the muzzle was to make the wires with a white brush, on a layer with border effect.

I considered explaining how to shade feathers here but, it was making this post a little too long. Even more than it already is. But, let me know if a guide on drawing feathers is something you'd be interested in seeing!

4- Colours

For this one I kept it simple. I liked the values and I wanted to have a very stark contrast with the red blood. I made some quick tests with gradient maps trying out different palettes, using gradient maps and overlay layers.

While I enjoyed #1, at the end I went with #5 as it worked better narratively. The clinical white and silvery shadows give a stoic indifference to the blood, which fits with Blackbird's character.

The muzzle and situation on itself aren't a canon event happening, so it also felt more fitting to keep a more stylized 'colouring' rather than actually putting in the character's colours and scene. For this colouring, I only used a single gradient map, but it's not rare if I end up using several, placing masks for areas of different colours.

When it comes to colouring greyscales in character colours I follow a different process, for which I'll use another illustration as an example.

(this is Loketh, he belongs to my partner)

So, for this drawing I also started with a grayscale, but started adding colour in much earlier.

1- Black and white base render

2- New layer with a flat colour, put it on overlay. This will serve as a base for colouring, kinda like glazing on a canvas for a traditional painting

3- Adding character colours, in a new layer on overlay mode. You can do this in a single layer, or make new layers for each new colour. Just keep it loose, no need to add all detail yet.

4- Colouring the shadows. I used a gradient map adjustement layer, set to overlay. Made the lights green, and the shadows purple.

5- Flatten and paint! Now this is the step to add all intricate colour details missing from step 3.

5- Post-Processing

This is a term more used in 3D renders, where it refers to colour corrections and final tweaks. Things like adding depth of field, motion blur, vignette, any final filter.

For almost all my art I'll add a grainy noise layer and chromatic aberration, I just think it looks neat. You can also add paper textures or flat colours on top of you image and set that layer to overlay, it helps to tie everything together.

AND THAT'S ITTT

I hope this was useful, and remember to just have fun with it :)

Further reading:

Marco Bucci's youtube account

Jason Rainville's blog with breakdowns of his illustrations

Sinix Design's video on colouring skin

Anatomy For Sculptor's 3D models for muscle reference (cw nudity)

[a-moment-captured]

REEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s it! Come get him! I’m tired of being checked by an 8 year old boy version of myself!

8:30

Me: Coit if you want to read, you need to start now. So do you want to read or watch your tablet til it’s bedtime?

Coit: ummmmm

Me: you need to be sure. Read your book starting now or watch your tablet. When it’s time for bed at 9:15, you can’t say read your book because then it’s bedtime and you have MAP testing starting tomorrow.

Coit: ok, I’ll watch my tablet.

Me: are you sure?

Coit: yes mommy

Me: 100%?

Coit: ugh, yes mommy I’m sure! I understand!

9:15

Me: Coit it’s time for bed

Coit: can I read my book?

Me: no because I told you at 8:30 that if you wanted to read your book that you needed to do it then and not at 9:15 when it’s time for you to go to sleep

Coit: awwwww but I wasn’t sure!

Me: I asked you if you were sure!

Coit: I needed more time to think!

Me: coit, I’m not arguing with you because this is not a democracy!

Coit: Yes it is! We watched National Treasure yesterday and the Declaration of Independence says we are a democracy!

Me: GO TO BED!!!! Now!!!!!

If Ree isn’t getting him then who is?! @harlowsbby @nattinatalia @divinedd @labella420 @neon-lights-and-glitter @hoodharlow @harlowcomehome

Which one of y’all wanna get your feelings hurt on a daily basis by a smart but sarcastic soon to be 9 year old?

He is soooooooooooooooooo serious when he says it too! Like I know that’s the autistic part of his brain so I know I can’t even get mad!

[wrenseyeview]

Gotta ramble a bit about Dredge because it's got that Good Game Design.

For one thing I saw it classified as a horror game, but it also felt fundamentally at odds with my (very limited) experience of horror as a genre? Primarily, that it kept control very squarely in the player's hands, including control of pacing and encounters. I mean honestly that's rare enough in a lot of games generally, but I'd probably most categorize Dredge as a creepy-themed puzzle game more than anything else, and not just for the cargo/fishing mechanics. The entire game is very deliberately structured so the only time pressure is solving how far you can go in a single day cycle and ideally making sure you end the day on the same square as the fishmonger or merchant (or not having fish in your cargo that day). You get a heads up that the night is when the scary shit happens and your main four zones are where some big bad lives and if you observe their patterns and ask the locals, even those don't tend to jump scare you? Fundamentally the game feels surprisingly and entirely safe, which is not the vibe I would classify as horror.

The fishing/dredging mechanic is a very solid foundation and has some nice little variety to it, just a good timing test to break up the more mystery and exploration sections. Good visual interest, crunchy sound, just very good detail focus on the design.

I think I only looked up two things during the entire game (where the last stone tablet was, and how to find the catfish), which is also astonishingly rare for pretty much any game nowadays that I'm getting at least mostly completionist on. The low-hanging comparisons are pulling up an icon map to find all the damn korok seeds, but even say, Fenyx Rising - I had to look up how to catch and ride a horse because some specific input just wasn't intuitive. Dredge did a very good job at not using text heavy tutorials for game functions and still very clearly and easily getting the point across. In large part by gating progress in a way that allows the player full access to the game's entire core mechanics from very nearly the beginning, and offers clear ways to progress further that don't feel too much like grinding given the available space to explore. To look back at those examples, BOTW/TOTK and Fenyx all lock very basic movement mechanics (among lots of other skills) behind lengthy tutorial areas. It's genuinely difficult to open up the entire core gameplay from the start and not have players feel overwhelmed, and I don't think Dredge accomplished such a thing by just being simpler (I wouldn't necessarily say that it is much simpler either, just... economical about it's constituent parts?)

Good map density too, in terms of fish locations and populating the in-between islands with things to discover and revisit. BOTW (lesser extent in TOTK but still there) and AC Valhalla both suffer from having maps a little too big for their contents in places, just in terms of how far you can run across barren fields between fixed map markers with nothing else to really do except maybe collect a few low-level creature loot bits if you're lucky. Even when I'm crossing the map with purpose in Dredge, there's still nice opportunities to get distracted and find more stuff that's going to be useful, though not at such density that it's no longer interesting to find the specific things I need.

[curious-zigzagoon]

I want to know you. Pt. 2

Simon Riley x gender neutral reader

Warnings: none

(Your code name is fennec, like the fox :))

Summery: well you definitely got to know Simon better.

Would have written some more I think just didn’t know what to add, also didn’t wanna make it too long. But yeah I hope you like pt. 2 let me know your thoughts. (Respectfully please <3) (also I kinda proofread so plz ignore any errors)

Over the last few days he’s warmed up to me more. Following me closely wherever I go. Recently I’ve noticed this book he’s been reading in his spare time. “Ghost.” He cut me off. “I said you can call me Simon.” He said in a stern voice. “I’m sorry but I only know Ghost. Not Simon, remember?” “Right.” He groaned. “So Ghost, what are you reading?” “Oh umm East of Eden.” He stated in a low tone. I came closer to him and sat myself on the floor next to his chair. He looked nervous but pleased. “Read me something.” He looked down at me and I could see a small smile form under his mask, which made me smile. “Okay.” He opened the book up and seemed to search for a page he favored. He started. “A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will only have left only the hard, clean questions: was it good or was it evil? Have I done well-or ill?” I took it in for a moment, that And his deep, sultry voice. I don’t know him well but I will admit he is very attractive, at least what I have seen of him. “That’s beautiful Ghost. I suppose that is the question people need to ask themselves at the end of the day, especially people like us.” He looked down at me with his full undivided attention. “Yes, I wonder that sometimes, i'd like to think I’m doing the right thing, but who knows.”

Clearly this is something he thinks about. I can see it in his eyes that this question puzzles him and makes him think. For someone who wears a mask all the time, he still doesn’t seem to know that the eyes are the window to the soul.

During our days we spent countless hours tracking this ‘super important’ target, which he was but the way ghost talked about it while we were working made me laugh a little sometimes. He gets really hyper focused.

“Why are you giggling fennec? You need to be paying attention.” Ghost scolded.

“I’m sorry I am, it’s just funny watching you work sometimes it’s kinda cute.” I smiled.

“What?” The absolutely dumbfounded look he had on his face made me giggle.

“Will you please knock it off.” He said sternly.

“Yes I will, I’m sorry.” I smiled again trying to be serious. He turned his face away from me and started looking at the map on his little tablet, but I could see a small grin forming under his mask. It was pretty cute.

We did eventually find what we were looking for, this targets house. It took longer than we anticipated to find but we did. At this point we were ready to leave. I was hungry and tired, and ghost well he was being grumpy. That’s usually how he gets when he’s frustrated or tired. Something I had to get used to.

Later that night after dinner we had an actual conversation. Something I was NOT used to yet with him. At least when we weren’t working that is.

I sat down on the somewhat dusty old couch that was there, Simon sat across from me while he was working, trying to find some things out on our target. “Anything interesting?” I asked. He looked over at me. “No, not really.” “Damn.” I sighed. “Well why don’t you take a break then, there’s old movies down here and a tv. I was gonna watch one, do you want to?” He thought for a second. “Okay.” Is all he said. “You wanna pick one?” I asked. “No, you pick one.” He said, eyes never leaving me. Did I not notice this before? Has he always looked at me this much? “Okay.” I said standing and approaching the tv stand. I sat myself on my knees to look through the movies. As I sorted through them I could feel his gaze on me. Then I stopped at one movie. I held it up to him. “Ghostbusters?” I asked, smiling. He looked at the movie then at me. “Any reason in particular you picked this one?” He asked. “Uh no? I just like this movie.” I smiled again. “Fine.” Is all he said. I put the movie into the dvd player and sat myself down on the couch. Then I looked over at him still in the chair. “Why don’t you sit on the couch with me, so you can see the tv better.” He looked at me for a moment, and stood up. “Okay.” Is he nervous? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him nervous for anything. I watched as he approached the couch and sat down as far away as possible from me. So bold to confess, but too scared to sit next to me. He’s clueless. I just decided to start the movie and leave it be. After a while I scooted closer to him very slowly. I don’t wanna spook him, like a stray cat. Thankfully he didn’t really seem to notice or care. But eventually I was getting pretty tired. Sleep hit me hard. Id imagine I’ve been sleeping for awhile because when I opened my eyes again the credits were playing. I was laying on something, and that something was definitely ghost. I looked up and he was just staring at me, he quickly looked away and was still. “Oh shit I’m sorry Simon…” I caught myself preparing for him to scold me. But he didn't, he just sat still, saying nothing. I looked up at him, and smiled. “Oh that’s right I can call you that now.” He just nodded, still avoiding eye contact. I think was embarrassed that he got caught. I decided not to sit up. I just watched him for a moment and he finally looked down at me. He relaxed a bit when he did. I just looked into his eyes for a moment reading him so clearly. I could see just a hint of blush on his face that wasn’t covered by his mask. “ I wonder what’s hiding under there sometimes.” I touched his mask. He jerked back slightly. I pulled my hand away. His eyes softened. “Maybe one day you’ll know.” He said softly. I smiled. “I hope so.” I sat up slowly. “I really do wonder what you look like.” “Why?” He asked. “We’ll who wouldn’t Simon. There could be so many things hidden under that mask, and only you really know.” “Yes, I do. It’s nothing impressive.” “I might think it is. You could be the best looking man I’ve ever seen.” “Or the ugliest.” He said in a low tone. “I highly doubt that treasures are hidden for a reason.” “What do you think that reason is?” He asked. “People often take for granted what they didn’t have to work hard for to find.” “And you think that applies to me?” “I mean I guess so. You're like a locked box with an unknown key, so tangible but hard to get to. I think if I ever get to see who you really are in full that’s something I won’t take for granted.” He sat silently for a moment, his eyes softly looking at me. “I hope that’s how you really feel if you do ever find out.” “I think I will Simon.” We sat there quietly for a few minutes. Just taking in each other’s company. Before my drowsy mind started to hit me again. “ I think I need to go to bed Simon.” I said while stretching. “Yes, get good rest.” He stood up and held out his hand to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up so I was standing right in front of him. He just stood there for a second looking at me, before letting my hand go. “Goodnight.” I smiled. “Goodnight Y/N.”

Over the rest of our stay he opened up a lot. He’s kind, and gentle when he wants to be. He tries but I think opening up still makes him nervous.

“So Simon, how do you like your tea?” He walked up behind me, his head peeking over my shoulder. “Lemon and honey, please.” He turned to walk away from me but I grabbed his hand to pull him back. “Show me how much so I don’t fuck it up in the future.” ‘In the future?’ He thought. “Alright.” I sat myself up on the counter next to the cups while I watched. “Only a little bit of honey, too much will ruin the flavor, same goes for the lemon,alright?” “Mhm, got it.” I hummed. I watched as he mixed in the slightest bit of honey, and just a tad of lemon juice.

When he was done he went to walk over to his chair to continue reading his book. “Wait Simon.” He stopped and turned back in my direction. “Yes?” I could see his brow rise from under his mask. “ I think I’ve made a decision.” He loomed a little closer and set his mug back down on the counter. “I’ve gotten to know you a lot better over the past few weeks, and we’re returning back to base tomorrow.” “Yes we are.” He came even closer. “And there’s a few more things I want to know about you before we go.” I said in a soft voice “Mhmmm.” “So I’m giving myself to you.” I say reaching my hand out to him. He grabbed my hand and moved so he was standing right between my legs. I came closer to his face and slowly lifted the bottom of his mask to reveal his lips. I pulled him in for a kiss and he practically melted into me. He placed his hands on my thighs and squeezed them. I pulled away slowly before the kiss could progress. I could see the desire and need in his eyes, I could see it since he confessed but it was very prominent now. “There’s one more thing I want to know before we continue.” He nodded slowly. I placed a finger under his mask. He grabbed my wrist like he was going to pull away but he didn’t. “This, I want to know. I want to see. I won’t tell anyone, I promise you.” I could see his thoughts rolling around in his head before his attention returned to me. “Okay.” He looked afraid, but he was trusting me to do this. I took my time removing the mask. My excitement was building, I let him see my face long ago before he even confessed, but I had yet to see his. When I removed the mask I was in awe, he was so beautiful. He looked worried, maybe he thought I was disappointed. I traced my hands over the scars on his face, his eyes fell shut. “You are so handsome Simon.” He opened his eyes again looking so surprised. He hastily lifted me off the counter, slung me over his shoulder. “Hey where are you taking me?” I squealed. “My bed.” He said firmly. “What?” “There’s some more things I wanna know about you too.” He teased. It made me blush. “Oh, okay…” I trailed off. I didn’t even know how to answer that.

[icedmetaltea]

I've been feeling discouraged about my art recently. Could you possibly give me some tips?

Ok I wanna preface this by saying I am by no means a professional or even "good" artist, BUT I shall try!

These are all tips by a digital artist so I can't help much when it comes to other forms

This got long so under the cut, 20 ART TIPS TIME LETS GOOO

1.Try to draw most days, or at least once a week. The more often the better BUT I don't mean like hardcore, a complex drawing every single day (recipe for burnout right there). I mean like even just 30 seconds of SOMETHING. You can draw shapes, maybe fill a page with circles. There are programs u can find online that give you like a min to sketch something and challenge yourself in a really short time frame. Guess what?? When you draw often you're building those neural pathways (I think) and the more you do it the easier it'll get

2. Don't obsess over making stuff look perfect on the first draft... or at all. I recommend making a "draft" layer or 2... or 3 over the initial sketch. The more you go over it and change stuff, the better it'll be. Also, If you spend hours on it and still hate it?? Who cares! You put in the work and now you have an idea out on paper that you can go over some time in the future and improve if you chose to.

3. DON'T DELETE STUFF!!! Unless it's literally just mindless scribbles, save everything you draw. Like I said, you can go over it again and improve it someday. You can also look back at it in like a year and compare your art to see where you've improved! I deleted all my old art from beyond like a year ago and regret it so much. Don't berate yourself for the stuff you need to work on, be proud of what improvements you've still made

USE REFERENCES!!!!!!! Please just do it, I know it's annoying but I promise it helps so so much

4. Invest drawing tablet, preferably one with buttons that you can map to undo, sketch, fill and such. This will make drawing sooooo much easier (and faster). My quality of art has improved just from drawing the same thing and redoing it like 20 times at a time, and it takes way less time when I can just click a button to do that. It might seem daunting at first but it quickly becomes instinctual. This is the one I got and I'm quite happy with it! It's got good sensitivity, a pen you don't have to replace batteries for or even recharge, and it's mid-range so not wayy too expensive. However, if you're just starting out, I'd recommend this (I got the corded version but I assume it's about the same) since it's small, cheap and you can focus on just learning basics like improving lines n such.

5. Use a bigger canvas size. I started out with 1000x1000, and that's still fine for smaller stuff and doodles, for better quality I recommend bigger sizes. If it's too small it'll look all weird and pixel-y

6. THERE ARE LITERALLY SO MANY FORMS OF ART, maybe the one you're trying just isn't something you vibe with! There's mosaics, digital, traditional (and all the many sub-categories of that), sculpture, photography, etc. All are equally valid and you will improve in your craft if you choose something that 1. you enjoy, 2. are consistent with it!

7. SEGEMENT OUT THE LIMBS drawing DCA stuff for over a year has helped me improve on anatomy sooo much literally just because it forced me to think of each part of a limb in terms of segments, shapes- for instance, instead of an upper arm, I think of a tube which connects to a circle that allows it to rotate and another tube... followed by a weird shape for a hand that connects 5 smaller tubes, whiCH ARE THEN SEPERATED IN TO 3 TUBES EACH. Yes it sounds confusing but breaking it down like that instead of just trying to figure things out helped an absolute shitton

8. Have some kinda hobby that makes you draw frequently. For instance I have a discord sona I draw a new pfp for every month or so. It's a simple design and since the pfp won't show many flaws I can pump out lots of art for it in a small timeframe and I find it relaxing. I've actually improved a shitton just drawing pfps This is one of my first pfps from maybe 2 yrs ago compared with one of my most recent ones

(yes I'm a bit of a furry deal with it) It's cute, there's nothing wrong at all with it! However, you can see how things have changed.

See how the lines are a lot more even, less jagged? The proportions of the shoulders are much wider, the ears aren't just popping out of the hair, the shading makes a bit more sense and isn't just thrown around at random. There's also a broader range of color, with a few bright highlights to catch the eye, colored shading I think as well. The former is just like 3 simple colors. These are all things I learned from drawing pfps consistently.

9. CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! And FUN, if you have fun drawing it'll be a lot easier to do frequently

10. Whether it's drawing pfps, blorbos or landscapes, find something that brings you joy and it'll be MUCH easier to stick to. Draw, draw a lot, do not worry about "good" art and "bad" art cause there's literally no such thing. Compare what you draw now with what you do in like a year or two from now and I promise, if you're consistent, use references and are patient, you WILL amaze yourself with how much you improve.

11. Challenge yourself! Join secret santas (assuming you know you can complete it within the allotted timeframe), draw your friends' sona/ocs (if they're cool with it), do palette challenges, do monthly stuff like drawtober or whatever it's called (BUT I don't recommend doing something every single day for a month cause again, gonna cause mega burnout)

12. Draw when the inspiration comes, it will move your hand. These days I make much better quality art that I'm proud of when I just let inspiration flow through me instead of begrudgingly making myself draw. You shouldn't be forcing yourself!! If you are, you probably are burned out by either drawing too much, feeling a lack of confidence or some other stuff going on irl. Inspiration comes naturally, and when it doesn't it's prolly your mind trying to communicate that something's up. If resting a week or two doesn't help, take a deeper look at your life and see if the artblock is a symptom of something else (for me it's most often depression).

13. At the same time, sometimes you just need to start. Kinda on the previous point of lacking confidence, often we scare ourselves out of even trying. It might feel insurmountable. Nah, try. If all you can do is a wobbly, vague sketch?? You got the idea out!! Start drawing fuckin eyeballs or something, just start. Sometimes the hardest part is just facing a blank canvas and putting a couple lines on it

14. Not all brushes are equal. Some just make drawing easier- at least for me. I dunno the science behind it but when I use my sketch brush (it's got a similar look to pencil) rather than my lineart brush it makes drawings just... look better. Also using thicker lines in general helps. Why?? NO CLUE, maybe thinner ones just show flaws easier or intersect better or something.

15. Music or some other distraction can help, idk why. Some days I like to have a movie/show/podcast going in the background for a mild distraction that keeps me slightly stimulated on other stuff even as I draw- maybe it increases brain activity or??? No idea. Sometimes just listening to music. Sometimes I need total silence. Do what works for you! Give lots of different stuff a try, you may love drawing while listening to a podcast in the background

16. Take breaks!! The pomodoro method works with art as well. Every 25 mins or so, take a 5 min break. Get up, stretch, get some water, maybe watch a yt vid. Call ur friend and tell them you love and cherish them. Then get back to it and you will feel oh so refreshed. After maybe 3 rounds take a 15 min or longer break and then repeat if you still feel like it

17. SLEEP IS INCREDIBLY FUCKING IMPORTANT you will see a deep decline in the quality of your art when you're tired, plus you just feel like shit and art is about feeling good and expressing yourself. Sleep is important, even tho yes I stay up too late drawing most nights, I do my absolute best to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, as should you!!

18. DO NOT BE SCARED OF STICK FIGURES AND MESSY SKETCHES, they're actually the best way to start bc 1. it's a quick way to get an idea out before you forget it 2. the finished piece will actually look a lot more fluid since you weren't spending all that time obsessing over making the first draft look perfect- which often just makes it look stiff. You can do a whole lot with stick figures. Focus on that good ol' line of action.

19. Random but when drawing the face, I like to first make a circle and then like a "mask" over it for the actual face. For me it just makes sense. Then two lines, one up/down and one left, right, it'll make it easier to align the eyes and ears. In general, the ears usually go where the "mask" begins and just below the left/right line

20. Finally surround yourself with people who encourage you. I grew up in an environment where people would gawk at stuff my sibling drew and ignore me bc they were ~naturally talented~ and it made me not want to draw at all.

Well guess what?? Now that I spend time with people who encourage me and genuinely care about my interest in art I've improved a lot bc I have the motivation, the joy of showing ppl who care about me new pieces. If people in your life aren't encouraging you, or gods forbid insulting your art (excluding constructive criticism that you've explicitly asked for) then TOSS EM OVERBOARD THE BOAT OF LIFE and find people who will treat you with the love and respect you deserve

P.S

This isn't a tip, just a recommendation: Chicory, a colorful tale. It's a game where u play as a cute lil dog who gets a magical paintbrush that lets you color the world. The only issue? You have no ~talent~. My gods, this game struck a cord with me.

Feeling like you don't have any talents that come naturally to you. Being overlooked even when you try your best. Feeling like a complete joke when you try to pick up the brush (or in this case stylus) because there are so many "real" artists and you're not one of them.

Also the things people say and how they can affect you even when not intentional. Damn. It's just a beautiful game. It's made by the same people who made Wandersong, another absolute banger game with a character who is seen as a joke and I cannot recommend them enough.

bonus tip bc why the fuck not: OVERLAYS!!!!!!! In clip paint studio you have all these layer options, I can never memorize what they all do so I just make like an ombre color layer over my base colors and try all of them to see what looks cool

[blackestnight]

what's in my bag: hopeless nerd edition

by popular demand (read: like three people), have the contents of my bag when i'm playing ttrpgs in person!

in no particular order:

laptop. i use digital character sheets for most of the games i play, mainly so i don't have to do math every time i level up. pf2 (my preferred ttrpg system) also has specific restrictions for organized play, and the digital tool i use has a settings toggle for society-compliant characters, which is super handy. i can also keep tabs open for quick rules/item lookups.

case, etc. i keep my laptop in a soft sleeve that comes with a pocket for the charger, a wireless mouse, and a tablet pen. the laptop is a 2-in-1, so depending on available table space i might fold it up and keep it in my lap in tablet mode, using the pen to navigate my character sheet instead of the mouse.

power bank. a relatively new addition. outlet space is always at a premium at events, and while my laptop's battery is pretty good, my phone is old and the battery is starting to give out, so better safe than sorry. i got this power pack for like $40 at meijer and it's great.

binder. for holding chronicle sheets (basically after-session rewards handouts for organized play). i have different folders for each character. i also try to keep hard copies of character sheets in case of technological or internet failure, but uh. i usually. forget. oops.

gum. usually with me wherever i go anyway. it's good for mitigating the takeout breath after ordering dinner. also helps mitigate distracted snacking.

water bottle. hydrate or die-drate, bitch.

pens and pencils. even as a person who uses digital sheets, you need pencils. i don't care who you are. if nothing else, you may end up needing to play a pre-generated character and keep track of HP, and you don't want to be the asshole marking up someone else's sheets in pen. i prefer pens for my own note-taking and filling out chronicle sheets, but i always keep a few pencils (a nice one for me and shitty ones to loan to other people).

miniatures. not strictly necessary. not all games use physical minis and maps for tactical combat, and small things like coins, bottle caps, extra dice, or (especially for enemies) candies are all mainstays of the tradition. i don't always bring mine to regular home campaign sessions, but for society play and cons i keep them in a little plastic tacklebox. i have some fancy ~custom~ minis for long-running characters, and more generic plastic ones, plus some poker chips and bases for things like pets, mounts, and summons.

dice. clickety clackety, i roll to attackity. my dice collection is extensive and nearly all blue (gasp). "but cyan," you ask, "do you actually need to bring that many dice?" yes. the most superstitious people you will ever meet are theatre nerds and tabletop gamers. you need several sets on hand to combat the Dice Curse. (or loan to other players. or roll fireballs. et cetera.) my dice bag was handmade for me by my best friend in high school, based on my first ever d&d character, and i still use it all the time. for events where i'll be able to spread out more, or for home games, i also have a dice vault with a built-in tray.

tray. to keep my dice from running away, or getting damaged on the table (or damaging the table if we're talking metal dice). lays flat when unsnapped for easy transport. also, it's a kitty!

notebooks. i usually have a couple on me for different purposes. the skull notebook is for session notes—which i don't usually take, WHICH IS BAD, and i'm trying to get into the habit. i'll write shorthand bullet notes during the session and then tidy up/convert into better summaries in a digital notebook later. the sticker-fied (yes, i put stickers on basically all of my possessions) is for brainstorming and note-taking for my homebrew campaign, because nothing is quite as inspiring as a weekend of getting tormented by other GMs.

book. for downtime/between sessions. the nice thing about tabletop cons is that there's always a chair somewhere.

and that's basically it! i might swap a couple things out if i'm running as a GM, but as a player this is my go-to.

and if you're looking at this and going, "where are the rulebooks?" the answer is i usually don't bring them with me in a physical format when i'm traveling. for PF2, i have access to all the PDFs, but Archives of Nethys and PF2 Easy are both fantastic (and FREE) digital rules references. i prefer Easy for searching items and spells, but AoN is an unparalleled rules resource, and they work directly with paizo to update the rules with each errata release. it has every rule, item, spell, creature, and character option from every book, with no paywalls or ads. the only thing you can't get are official maps or encounter blocks from the adventure paths. check it out if you're interested in playing!

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes-Chapter 19

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18

Bruce sat watching the main security monitor in the Watch Tower. It was mostly just a realtime map of the globe. When something happened, it would give a ping and zoom in on that area. At that point, they would determine if League member intervention is needed and if so, who would be best suited for the job. Usually, it was a two person job because there is normally multiple fires to put out due to the large coverage area. However, on nights like this, everything was silent. Or at least silent enough that local authorities could handle the issues instead of the League. On rare nights like these, it left him open to focus on something else while monitoring the board. He had his tablet out scrolling through different websites. While scrolling, he felt a presence hovering over his shoulder. 

“Is there something that I can interest you in, Diana?”

Diana cocked her head and said, “Well, I got bored of looking at the monitor, and was curious of what has your avid attention.”

“I am doing research for a case that I have ongoing in Gotham,” said Bruce passively. 

Diana raised her eyebrow and said, “You case involves searching Monopoly forums?”

Bruce narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why does it sound like you doubt me?”

Diana smirked and said, “It is kind of hard to take you seriously when the title at the top of the page says hacks for winning Monopoly.”

Bruce groaned while he put the tablet down and rubbed his forehead. 

Diana chuckled and said, “I never thought you would be that into board games.”

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and said, “I am not, but I just don’t get it.”

Diana looked at him quizzically and asked, “What?”

Bruce sighed and said, “Everyone one of them has won at least once. Supergirl, The Flash, Damian, Dick, Tim, Jason, and even Alfred. I always come in dead last.”

Diana bursted out laughing. 

Bruce frowned and muttered, “I am glad you find it funny. It is embarrassing. I own a multibillion dollar company for goodness sakes.”

Diana wiped a tear from her eye and said, “You do realize that it is just a game that is mostly based on pure luck.”

Bruce sighed and said, “I know. I just want to win just once.”

Diana smiled and said, “It is nice to see you doing activities of a social nature. What brought this on?”

Bruce looked up thoughtfully and said, “It started when I started training Supergirl and the Flash. After training, they would hang out afterwards with Damian and play different board games. Gradually, Dick, Tim, Jason, Alfred and I got roped into the games as well.”

Diana raised and eyebrow and said, “I am surprised that you let them stay at the mansion afterwards.”

Bruce smirked and said, “You act like I never had members from the League over to my home.”

Diana smirked and said, “Not when it is just to socialize.”

Bruce chuckled and said, “Touché. Flash and Supergirl have been a positive influence on Damian getting him to come out of his shell.”

“So, that is their influence. That is wonderful. I noticed that he has been way less aggressive lately.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. 

Diana chuckled and said, “Well, less aggressive for him. He used to start a fight with everyone he came in contact with.”

Bruce sighed and said, “I am glad that has finally came to a stop.”

Diana mused, “I think I am more surprised though by the fact that you have a game night going and that you got all of your sons involved. The last time I saw you all together, everything was tense.”

Bruce looked up thoughtfully and said, “Supergirl and Flash are probably the most social people I know. Their auras are like moths to a flame. Somehow, we all got sucked in. Even Jason. Although, I have a sinking suspicion that he is in it to try to get Supergirl’s number.”

Diana chuckled and said, “Too bad he will be disappointed.”

Bruce smirked and said, “I take it you have seen the commercial.”

Diana laughed and said, “It is impossible not to. It is still trending in the top ten on youtube and it came out over a week ago. The chemistry between her and Lena is amazing.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow and asked, “And that doesn’t bother you?”

Diana gave him a deadpan look and said, “I come from a land inhabited only by woman. What do you think?”

Read the rest on AO3

[queerdraws]

i love your postcard artwork for the zolu playlist SO much!! the colours are so so good and i love the brushwork! i think my favourites are a tie between the one for chikai and the one for simple song <3 also, I was wondering if you could share what brushes you used + how long they took you! looking at your art makes me want to draw again after not doing it for so long

Thank you!! and wow i think this is the first time someone's asked me for my brushes, this is like a digital artist rite of passage!

Answers n screenshots n stuff under cut (I went a little to ham on this oops)

While we're talking settings I want to give a quick PSA to all digital artists:

CHECK UR ASPECT RATIO!!!: (MOST IMPORTANT SETTING BY FAR)

DO NOT DRAW WITH THIS ALL MESSED UP, IT WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY. It's probably good to check this after every system update (I don't, but, you know...). Windows likes to mess w your shit when it updates.

If you have a really tiny tablet you might need to trace outside a bottle lid or something.

Okay now on to the meat of the post

-- Brush Stuff --

I use Clip Studio Paint. For my playlist drawings I think I only used these brushes (these are my main 3 in general) (p.s. they're all default brushes! but i've adjusted the settings):

1) Gouache This is most of what i used for the postcards. I nuked Color Stretch because i hate it (it blends colors together as you're painting, like painting over wet paint. I prefer things to look more crisp)

2) Real G-Pen Used this as little as possible, to keep the painterly effect. My preferred fine-detail pen, has a nice crunch to it. I've fine-tuned my setting further in the thickness dynamics / brush size dynamics settings because I mostly use this brush for linework and wanted it to handle really, really naturally and precisely

The random box is checked by default, probably to make this brush feel more like handling a real inkdip pen (I don't like that)

3) Mapping Pen Least used. I generally keep this brush at the 50-70px range. It's unpleasant to use for detail work (the taper is really fiddly at my tablet pressure settings) but good at filling in large areas very opaque very quickly, with a crisp edge (Also, doesn't lag as much as the gouache brush at large-ish sizes). Has enough wiggle room that it can be used to approximately fill tighter spaces at large brush sizes. Used for when I needed to quickly color over an area that wasn't working or quickly fill in background color that didn't need paintbrush texture. Did not realized the stabilization was set to 10 until just now. I usually turn that waaay down to prevent lag (my laptop isn't very old but it's a sensitive beast)

Other stuff that'll help:

General pen pressure: (under File -> Pen Pressure Settings)

tweaking how CSPaint handled my pen pressure helped a lot with making lineart look more natural. It's worth messing around with this and trying out different settings for a while to see how they feel.

-- How Long it Takes 2 Draw --

I don't really keep track of how long art takes me from start to finish, and making the playlist drawings was kinda nonlinear 😅 sorry!

-> I started out sketching really quick composition and color ideas as the songs were playing, limiting myself to just the duration of each song (so like, 5 minutes for this part) -> i did that again at least 2 more times per song -> after that, idk. I would work on one pic then get stuck and move to another. Some I could hammer out in like... 5 hours? Some took me upwards of 20 (30?) hours for no real reason (I have "will graham clock" days, where I'll try to draw a face over and over and it'll look really strange, like will graham's clock drawing every time) (this seems to be either a vitamin deficiency or a brainfog inflammation type thing 4 me 😵‍)

I'll use ur two favorites as specific examples: -> Chikai was one that went pretty quickly (with the exception of their arms and the clothing folds there giving me trouble). Probably took 4-6 hours? -> Simple Song had a couple different versions, partially because I initially had the cards all laid out landscape-style, and I decided I actually wanted them all portrait-style & repainted it after it was already done. That aside, the colors /atmosphere on that one gave me trouble and the general composition / perspective had a lot of tweaks (I was trying to figure out if I wanted it to be a kinda flat stylistic perspective or if I wanted it to make more literal sense, trying to figure out what to do with luffy, trying to make him not look Too baby boy sweetie pie). Probably took 7-10 hours...?

In-progress landscape versions: (varying levels of in-progress)

Misc in-progress of Chikai and Simple Song:

Simple song looks kinda sequential like this lmao. Luffy looks like he's A-posing and floating away to the boat and then sitting down pleasantly in it. Wonderful. --

Anway -- hope any of that was helpful!

[rubyarrows]

The Liaison Pt2

In ops, the team briefed YN in on everything they had Beaumont. Every lead they have hit, known whereabouts, the slightest bit of background information they had on the man, they made her aware of it all. As they spoke, the YEC eyed girl made notes of anything she may have thought would help her out. She added it all to the other things she had found out while on the plane. The young agent pulled out her tablet and started drawing lines on a map to signify the places that the team knew had been in one color and other places she had found him pop up under alliances in another.  

After mapping out his known whereabouts, she looked up at everyone around her. “It’s clear to me that Beaumont has been using at least some of his training to stay off the grid as much as possible. But what he hasn’t been using it for is nourishment. His wife’s atm card has been flagged multiple times within the last few weeks at several grocery stores in the surrounding area. Didn’t you all say that Johanna said she lost her card a few weeks prior?” 

Callen nodded. “Said she lost it in the car after a girls night. It was in her back pocket when she got in the vehicle but not when she got out, and she has had to use their credit card for all the purchases she’s made in the last few weeks leading up to Sebastian’s run.” 

“You’re thinking Beaumont is using her card to make it seem like she found it again.” Sam says as he looks over the bank reports and pinged area that YN had put on the big screen. 

“It’s a possibility. I’ve seen it done quite a few times. Someone up and runs off from their big problems but before doing so they take the extra money their significant other has laying around or their bank card a week or so beforehand. Often, they help them look for it just to make themselves feel better. The unknowing party involved doesn’t usually catch on to it until days or weeks later. By that time, the suspect has all they need.” she added as she quickly typed on her tablet. “My brother always says when in doubt, follow the money. It’ll take some time to get into the actual store records even with a phone call, but from what I'm seeing here, the lieutenant likes to frequent one store in particular.” 

Kensi moves closer to the screen to get a closer look. “Looks like we have a good place to start.” 

YNN nods. “I do suggest starting with a base radius of ten miles surrounding the store though. It's not that far away from Angeles National Forest. He’s got a lot of ground to fit into like some sort of gopher.” 

Deeks looked over at his team members in awe. “It still surprises me that she can catch on to the littlest details they we seem to overlook.” 

“In your defense, most people don’t think to look deep into the significant other’s personal records if the surface is as spotless as Johanna Beaumont’s. The girl was never the suspect, just her bank account.”  the YHC haired girl said as she looked over at her boyfriend. 

The next week felt like a blur for the LA team as they began to compile more information on where Beaumont was thanks to YN’s help. They seemingly had made more progress in the small amount of time the girl was there than they had when she wasn’t there at all. Just as she had suggested, they had followed the money trail from Mrs. Beaumont’s bank card. The store it was mostly used in had no issues handing the surveillance footage over. 

After that, the team scoured high and low throughout a ten-mile radius of the store and eventually found an abandoned shack about five miles from any civilization. After staking out the place for hours, they found Lieutenant Beaumont stalking back with handfuls of wood for a fire. Callen and Deeks chanced Beaumont through the forest for twenty minutes before Marty was able to tackle the former navy man to the ground and apprehend him. 

As the sun set, casting hues of oranges and pinks across the sky, YN and Marty sat side by side with their feet resting in the warm sand, watching the waves as they crashed onto the shore. The couple sat there enjoying the serene beauty of the moment. Something they hadn’t gotten to do in a long time. 

Deeks turned to YN with his heart pounding in his chest with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. “Hey, YNN, I’ve been thinking, right?” 

She turned to look at him as he spoke, “What have you been thinking about?” 

The blonde-haired man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box that he has carried around with him for weeks leading up to her next arrival. He stood up from his spot on the rock they had been sitting on and pulled her up with him. “With everything we’ve been through together from the distances and the dangers of our jobs, it's hard to even picture what life would have been without knowing you in the slightest. Got me thinking that I would never want to imagine my life without you being a big part of it like you are now.”  

Deeks knelt down on one knee in front of her, looking up into the depth of YN’s YEC eyes. “I can’t offer you much, but what I can offer is everything I’ve got. YN DiNozzo, will you marry me?” 

 Tears welled up in the young girl’s eyes as she looked down at the man she loved. She nodded and her voice filled with emotion. “Yes, Marty. Oh god, a thousand times yes.” she exclaimed as she leaned down grabbing his face and placing a love-filled kiss onto his lips. 

Marty stood up and gently placed the ring upon her finger with a grand smile on his face. As he did so the sound of applause boomed from behind the sand dunes and rocks that they stood in front of. YN turned in her spot in the sand to see all members from both LA and DC teams standing there watching with smiles as big as the one she had on their faces and all beaming with joy. 

“Tell no one, huh?” she said back to Marty. 

He looked down at his feet and had a sly grin on his face. “This kind of thing just would not have felt right without our family present. 

McGee, Ziva, and Gibbs stood side by side with Callen, Sam, Kensi, Hetty, Eric and Nel as they walked over to congratulate the newly engaged couple. The two of them were overwhelmed with love and happiness as they watched their friends and colleagues move closer. But as they gathered around them YN noticed that there was somebody missing. Gibbs knew who she was looking for and motioned with his head behind them. 

The girl directed her YEC eyes in the direction her mentor had motioned to and there she found her older brother down the beach aways, watching as everything happened. She could just slightly make out the smile on his face. YNN let go of Deeks’ hand and slipped away from the crowd, but she could still feel all eyes on her as she made her way towards Tony. 

The older DiNozzo sibling met his younger sister halfway, the smile on his face ever growing as he made his way over to her. “Look at you, YNN. I don’t think being engaged has ever made anyone look more beautiful and happier as it does on you.” he said as he pulled his sister into his embrace. “Congratulations, kiddo.” 

YN’s smile grew as she returned the hug that Tony was giving her. “How long have you known he was going to propose?” she questioned. 

Tony rocked his head back and forth feigning thought. “A month give or take.” He finally admitted as the two of them made their way back to the group about fifty yards away from them. “Called me and said he would much rather have my blessing than dad’s and to be honest I don’t blame the guy.” 

“Oh, neither do I.” YN said and shook her head. “Last I heard the man was off in London with Melinda.” 

“See that just shows you talk to the old man way more than I do.” he said with a slight chuckle. 

“I didn’t talk to him. I heard that from Aunt Sherri.” the younger one admits with a small laugh of her own as they walked up on the group of people. 

With an amused look on his face, Tony shook Deeks’ hand and said, “Welcome to the family, brother. All I ask is that you take care of her.” 

Deeks gently pulled his now fiancé back over to him with a smile on his face. “Wouldn’t dream of ever doing the opposite. She means the world to me.” 

The older DiNozzo nodded. “I know the feeling.” 

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a beautiful warm orange glow over the beach and YN stood there with the people she was more than happy to call her family, she was grateful that she was able to share these moments with the people she loved. She knew that she would never have been able to make it this far without them by her side every step of the way. She was beyond thankful for every single one of them and having them there with her to celebrate a special moment between her and Deeks was just the cherry on top.