#hopefully Tumblr makes it transparent @tumblr please. I love you

[tunascribbles]

Something something HAZMAT AU

[smalltimidbean]

Hey you!!! Do you wanna make a silly, little guy in my style? Well now you can!!!!!

Here are some free-to-use linearts of my versions of the Fake Peppinos and Peppino Clones from Pizza Tower! Link to Drive with all versions here!

There are five different linearts; Tall Fake, Wide Fake, Peppiclone, Baby Fake and Baby Peppi! (tho the last two are technically mostly the same but shh)

And each variation has four versions, so at least one should hopefully work regardless of your art program! (Except traditional, sorry traditional artists kjgfsl)

There is: PNG with white background, PNG with transparent background (marked with 'Trans'), Photoshop Document (marked with 'PS'), and an MS Paint friendly version (marked with 'Paint')

Please Read Before Use!

I have a few rules when using these, so please follow them! If these rules are broken, I reserve the right to ban anyone from using them or revoke free use entirely. Just be respectful, please!

These are free to use - but if you would like to support me or give a tip, I have a Ko-fi right here!

Please do not remove my signature!

Please credit me when posting your own versions - I am SmallTimidBean on most sites, but if posting to a site I am not on, just say SmallTimidBean on Tumblr (also probably credit McPig/Tour De Pizza for the og concept!)

You may edit the lineart to add features (tails, horns, wings etc) or change features (the expression etc) - just keep in mind, if you are going to edit very heavily, then consider drawing your own version first!

Please do not use for commercial use - IE Making designs to sell (aka adoptables)

Please do not use in AI databases, or for AI bots

Please do not use for hate or bigotry

Please do not draw anything sexually explicit on these - I don't mind what you do with your clones outside this lineart, but I don't wanna see that on my art Imao (Also, two of these guys are literal babies)

Adding Body Horror or Gore aspects is fine, - those come with the territory of being a clone - just be sure to use the appropriate content warnings!

While these are based on clone characters from Pizza Tower, they do not have to be used as such - any characters you make with these, are yours to do with as you wish!

I encourage you to draw your new clones after you have created them! I would love to see them in YOUR style, not just mine!

And have fun!

Hopefully that's everything! I do plan to make versions with additional features and maybe even a version with all features to mix and match - but I do not have the spoons for that right now, so check back later!

Please let me know if there are any issues, or if you have any questions or suggestions for me!

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/26/24 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast&Crew;WeeJohnWondays; New Calendar; Watch Party Reminders; Uk Billboard; Trends; Fan Spotlight; Love Notes; DailyDarby/Tonight'sTaika

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= Wee John Wonday! =

No guests today! Just the wonderful Kristian Nairn himself! So I didn't get time to write up a synopsis, so I'll give you a few highlights I thought you might like!

Next Wee John Wonday will feature: Ruibo Qian and Anapela Polataivao!

Calypso's Birthday Airing Episode, the guests will be: Con O'Neill and Gypsy Taylor!

Tattoos!

GOT questions!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

== New Calendar ==

Weekly Calendar! Tomorrow is #TomatoTuesday!

#TomatoTuesday is a day to rave about OFMD's rave ratings on Rotten Tomatoes to different streamers! Please add your own review if you haven't already! Rotten Tomatoes Review Tutorial.

== WATCH PARTY REMINDERS! ==

= People of Earth S2 =

People of Earth S2 continues tomorrow Feb 27 at 9 pm GMT / 4pm EST / 3pm CST / 1pm PST. Need access? Reach out to @iamadequate1!

#PiratesOfEarth

= Uncle Season 2 Watch Party! =

Wed 28th + Thurs 29th GMT - 8pm / ET - 3pm / PST - 12 pm Streaming on I-player! Outside the UK? Follow this VPN tutorial to learn more.

#ForTheNewUncle

= Joe Lycett Watch Party =

According to the new weekly calendar you can join @lcwebsxoxo for Joe Lycett Watch Party at 10 pm GMT on twitter! #YoureATreasure

== UK Billboard ==

As many of you have heard, the Save OFMD Crew has been working on getting a billboard going in the UK.

"Our goal is to help achieve pick-up for Our Flag Means Death. To do it, we need the show (and the campaign) to continue garnering attention through sustained interest, viewership and fandom growth, and we need to prove to other streamers that picking up the show is a good financial investment."

Since there's so much information, I'm just going to give you some links that you can peruse at your leisure:

Save OFMD Crewmates Billboard Post on Tumblr

Transparency Policy

London Billboard FAQ

SaveOFMD Crew Contact Info

If you'd like to donate to the billboard/truck/subway effort (it's not required) please visit: Save OFMD Ko-Fi

I mentioned in another post-- if you don't feel comfortable reaching out to SaveOFMD Crew directly, and want to chat/forward feedback anonymously, I'm more than happy to do that on your behalf, just shoot me an anon ask. However, I will probably not get to them tonight because it's already very late, sorry! I'll forward them on first thing in the morning for me.

== Trends ==

Sure looks like #OurFlagBBC is still going pretty strong! Great job friends!

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Collages =

Almost at the end of the month of February -- and the Feburary LOVE #OurFlagMeansDeath Collage Fest! from our fabulous crew-mate @WanderingNomad on Twitter! So close to being caught up on the rest of the month!

Day 26: Season 2 Costumes!

Day 10: Ewan Bremner!

Day 11: Joel Fry

Day 12: Ruibo Qian

Wanna be featured in the fan spotlight? Send me a message! We're trying to make sure our creative crewmates are getting a chance to strut their stuff! I've been reaching out to several folks so hopefully we'll have lots more soon!

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies. Tonight, I was gonna write a bunch of stuff but then I found this video of Rhys sending some love and encouragement, and I felt like it was needed more than anything else. I haven't gotten permission to share the full video on here yet, so if I do I'll get it posted. For now, @lividturkeys posted an uplifting section that I think we all need to hear tonight.

"Keep the laughter coming...We stick together and keep bringing love and joy to this planet, it needs it more than ever...Keep laughing, Love you"

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Okay so I'm running out of time, so tonight will be pics not gifs, sorry all. One of these days I'll finish catching up earlier in the day (ha!)

PS: I have no idea why but my 5 year old finds Taika and Rhys HILARIOUS. Like, laugh his ass off roll on the floor laughing when he sees Taika talking and Rhys making silly movements.

[blu3b1rd]

Some spring cleaning :3

Ive made posts about this before, and hence the reason why I asked everyone to flood my asks with their faves, but due to some recent asks...

ONE, if you send me a very sexual request/ask please don't expect me to respond. I don't understand the whole "oh but you have a private nsfw blog so you should be okay with me asking for graphic porn." argument, it makes no sense and it doesn't even matter because I have minors following me on this blog. This blog is strictly SFW. This is why I made the recent "tell me about your favorites post", I needed some positivity.

TWO, Ive been very silent recently and I can shed some light on that, just barely. First off, I'm an adult, I work and am attending college, and do not have a lot of time to draw and/or participate in fandom. Second off, the behavior of certain fandom members has been concerning to a point I almost took a total leave, thankfully with the reopening of a specific cesspool, most of them have fucked off back to hell. But there is one case that was on tumblr which involved someone not respecting my boundaries, thats been hopefully settled. I shouldn't have to say this but if you think you know who's responsible for the mentioned asks or stalker-esque behavior, PLEASE dont run after them on my behalf, I'm a grown ass man and can handle myself. Don't witch hunt.

BIG thanks to the folks throwing their faves at me, I'm loving reading all the esasys yall have written about your blorbos, it makes me very happy! Apologies for the more serious post, but I want to be transparent!

[parkerflix]

-ANNOUNCEMENT PLEASE READ!

Hello! I know that this post is a long time coming, i keep hinting towards it but have yet to actually make it. (yes i am currently writing this at work- anyways). I kinda wanted to be transparent with everyone about everything and have a few things to address. I’ll mkae them bullet points so feel free to ignore the parts you really don’t care about. Okay enough of me rambling.

The layout of the blog

As you can see, the blog looks a little different ? why is that? Well, i’ve kinda decided i was tired of how things looked and i wanted to do something different. I’ve been active on this blog for going onto 3 years, and i’ve changed the layout very little. It’s time to try something new & also try different writing!

Kpop content

With you trying different writing, what does this mean for your kpop content? I will continue to write for kpop and the fandoms i currently write for, but i will not be branching out from those two fandoms. Quite honestly. Kpop writing just doesn’t bring me joy as much as it used to and the engagement i get varies as to what member i post which honestly just doesn’t motivate me. I also don’t get a lot of feedback or engagement currently, and its unmotivating. With this being said, my current fics as of this time ( starstruck & about love) are currently on two different routes. Starstruck is currently in it’s final chapters and im hoping and aiming for a release of all the chapters all at once. I’ll be able to distinguish that at a later date.

About love

About love has been my work for almost 2 years now. I’ve learned a lot about my writing since then, and how to manage plot lines. That being said, about love will be on a permanent hiatus for the foreseeable future. Why is this? Well once again engagement comes into play, along with the fact that where i wanted the story to go and where it was going just wasn’t happening. I am planning on revamping it, making the story more clearer & what i want it to say, and really sticking to it. Hopefully it’ll still be a smau, but for now, until i can plan it all out and really focus on it, it’s going to be on hiatus. I’ll be unlinking it from my nav fairly soon after this post goes up.

Other writing

I want to venture into other fandoms that aren’t kpop and make my side blogs more for reblogs & fic recs, and to be able to write what i want and enjoy my writing. There are fics that i’ve posted within the last year, that have been published for kpop, but when writing them i envisioned with either a different person or a different character. It’s something that i’ve been thinking about for a while, so i’m hoping that it’ll be interesting to those who are only here for kpop writing!

Posting

If you haven’t noticed, my posting schedule has gotten a bit… lacking for a while. I started a new job in june of last year, and it’s been a little hectic at my job. I work anywhere from 30-36 hours a week, and my days currently consist of (mostly) 3 12 hour shifts. I’m also responsible for a lot of things at work, so I keep busy most of the time. When i’m not busy, i’m supposed to be working on work stuff (this is being written with timings in consideration of not getting caught) and so most of my day goes there. My normal schedule i work 5 out of the 6 days we are open, and i’m here 6 hours each day ( there go my nights). Why am i explaining all of this? Well i typically write during the night and with my hectic work schedule also comes my school schedule. Recently i’ve been having trouble even working on school just because work takes up so much of my time. I’ve also had a LOT of personal issues within my life, outside of tumblr & work that has taken up mentally space & my time. I’m trying to get back into the rhythm of things and have a normal posting schedule for the fics that i am tying up, but for the foreseeable future, that will also be a compromise.

TDLR:

the blog will change but i won’t stop writing kpop it’s just not going to be kpop writing on here though, i will be changing my user & updating my links but that takes time so please bare w/ me while i do. about love is on permanent hiatus & updates are slow for everything else. I know this post is long and redundant, and you probably don’t care, but i felt it was better to explain & be honest about my writings. I’m grateful for those who follow me, keep up with my fics, and just support me. Thank you! Okay this was long & i need to do my closing tasks for the night! xxx

[otaku6337]

Writing AIs *might* be scraping AO3

This is a direct copy-paste of what I announced in my server - I do not know what is true, how scared or angry we should be, what the full implications, legalities, or technicalities are

Also, I’m not a professional AI-developer or the like. My knowledge of them is based on some old school stuff and some more recent but light research - please look things up for yourself and make you own judgements

All of that being said, we’re all in fandom, and I want to try and promote what “info” I can

---

okay for the sake of transparency and info-sharing, because there's a reason we're all in fandom community together

this might *not* be true - there's nothing that seems "certain" about it yet - but it also seems to be a very legitimate concern

it looks like there may be AIs scraping AO3 for writing - to my understanding (and I’m not a professional, please let me reiterate to do your own research on all of this), very similarly to how the art AIs are working (think DeviantArt), wherein the AIs learn from writing fed into it (in this case from AO3) and then essentially regurgitates it in a slightly different form - but still regurgitating it. to my mind, and many others', this is outright theft, but that’s my opinion. AIs learn from what they’re fed - it isn’t the same as reposting

a lot of writers, from the looks of it, are debating locking down their fics so that only registered users can see them - it isn't a guarantee of "safety", particularly as there are websites like the Way Back Machine that store historical captures, but it should help make things more difficult for any AIs that may be essentially using AO3 as a database

I'm not telling you guys this is true, that you have to lock down your fics, or that this is something you should be scared of. I don't know anything for certain. But I *am* telling you to look this up if it worries you, keep an eye in servers, Reddit, tumblr, etc, and to consider locking your fics if that makes you feel safer. I know I'm considering it.

What looks like the og Reddit post on this topic, to my research: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/z9apih/sudowrites_scraping_and_mining_ao3_for_its/

And instructions if you do want to lock your fics, for this or any other reason (wherein locking is preventing anyone who isn't registered as an AO3 user from reading your fics - keep in mind this likely would impact your readership): https://archiveofourown.org/faq/posting-and-editing?language_id=en#controlaccess  - please note you can edit multiple works at once to do the same thing, to apply it to all fics at once

(edit, a few hours later: I personally don’t think I’m going to lock my fics unless we get further, hopefully-reliable information on this being an active and ongoing scraping - even just judging by the fact that my ao3 account has several previous records of it on some of the internet-archiving sites made me decide that, for me, locking my fics will just hurt myself and my readership more than it could a company, no matter how much I disagree with those companies, as I know I have quite a few lovely regulars who are guests, and plenty of random guests besides - but I think everyone should be making their own decisions based off of their own research and feelings)

[vintagesimstress]

4000+ followers gift: 1890s wedding gowns

Hello everyone, I'm finally back! Well, sort of.

Today I bring you something special: two 1890s wedding gowns, based on designs from, respectively, 1890 and 1894. Originally it was supposed to be a set of three dresses, but with everything going on in my life right now I can't see myself finishing dress no. 3 in any foreseeable future - and I really wanted this gift to be out this month/year, so I decided to release at least the two gowns which are ready. It got so late that now you can treat it not only as a followers' gift (I reached 4000 followers on tumblr last month, thank you everyone so much for all the love!), but also as a gift for Christmas, Hanukkah, Midwinter or whatever it is that you celebrate. Hope you'll like them!

(Dress no. 3 (1899 design) should follow next year, when I finally find some time and motivation to work on it. It's kind of ironic that it's the only of the 3 dresses that I need for my own game, and also the simplest one, and yet I can't make myself finish it... Hopefully the meshing drive will be back soon).

Both dresses come in 3 white swatches: creme, pure white and ecru:

polycounts: 1890: 13K, 1894: 9K

Base Game compatible

some details use transparency - won’t work properly in laptop mode

HQ mod compatible (pictures taken with the mod, I still haven't updated the game)

all LODs

custom thumbnails, bump and specular maps, some shine

tagged as everyday, formal and situation

found under long dresses subcategory

colour tagged (I mean... as white)

disallowed for random

PDNs for recolours included - you don’t need them for the meshes to work. Let me know if you’d rather have the PSD files!

Some info on the trains:

It looks like there are two ways in which a train can behave: either you assign it to calves, thanks to which it behaves perfectly while sitting, but jumps stiffly up and down while walking, or you assign it to pelvis, which makes it lie on the floor while walking, but disappear underground while sitting. I decided to go for the second option, as I think trailing behind and looking all beautiful is the point of a train - right? But that means it won't be fully visible while sitting. I'm sorry, the game just comes with some limitations. If anyone knows a way around it, please share your wisdom with me :)

Hope you’ll like them, enjoy!

DOWNLOAD (free on Patreon, no ads - also, check for some in-game pictures!)

PS. Veils used by Lena Sims, slightly edited by yours truly.

***

Terms of Use

Don’t: claim it’s yours or monetise in any way

Do: convert, recolour, include the mesh, edit the mesh to create something amazing - just please tag me once you publish it, so that I could also see it!

[silverdreamsstudios]

a6 dub update ♡

hi everyone!! i'm really sorry it's been very quiet on the radar, it's been very hectic lately!!

to be transparent, because i like honesty LOL i haven't been doing great personally ;; life is really at a stressful sort of state right now because school has been steamrolling me LOL combine that with my broken computer problems™️ and it's been just kind of messy and not great. i started my internship this monday, which i really love, but it's basically a full time job. because my semester hasnt ended yet it's been i go to work 9am-5pm and then i come home and do school for the rest of the night LOL and repeat ;;  i don't really have any time for recreational things and my hobbies so that makes me stressy and not in the best of moods at times (rip) i just haven't had any time and my computer . is still not fixed. LOL im doing my best to try to stay positive through at all but it's also just taking a huge toll on me mentally LOL @.@ the past couple weeks have been very hard for me to get through because i'm just not very good at handling large amounts of stress without tears and tissue boxes XD

thus, unfortunately with all this stuff going on, i think the dub will probably end up going on hiatus for several weeks until i can get it together LOL i didn't edit as far or as much as i wanted prior to all of this >> and im praying they can fix my computer and get it back to me at a reasonable amount of time. so when my semester ends (finally), my computer is fixed, and i feel better mentally, we will be back XD

i'm really sorry we have to on hiatus ;; it's not something i wanted LOL but unfortunately just something i need -- hopefully not a long one though -- i hope to be back soon!! i don't have an estimate currently because it's all dependent on when i get my computer back, but hopefully before the end of june, we'll be back. i’ll post updates as things happen!! please wait for us ^-^

idk why anyone would have any questions or concerns LOL but if u d(?) or just want to talk to a6 with me because im always down for that LOL, you can always reach me at discord (Silver#7086)!! i respond here but im a lot slower on tumblr!!

thank you for your continued support ❤ ,

silver

[guerrierofamilyblog]

Welcome to the Family!- The Guerriero 3

Note: This blog contains content that is and/or will be protected by copyright, patent, or trademark laws. This blog is under construction and responses may be delayed during establishment.

Important: For right now- no reproduction of this content is allowed without permission, and your respect is appreciated. Family Content developed 1960 and beyond. My content developed 1995 and beyond.

"Years ago, a baby showed up on our family's doorstep in Italy, and our family took them in. That's where the Guerriero name came from."

- My loving Grandpop ------------- Hi!

I prefer to go by "Heidi" from here out- a name my mother almost chose for me as a child. You can also call me "Dot" or "Dottie", which reference family names and my past creative work.

I’m here because I want to introduce myself and my family to the web, and to establish a way to promote awareness of issues affecting those with conditions that affect mental health- especially MDD, OCD, and PTSD- which I've been diagnosed with. I’ve done lots of personal creative work during a recovery period in the past, and that’s what I’m going to use my art and image for in the future.

My mom got her career started as a legal secretary, and my dad has done a lot of work involving driving and mechanical labor. They've worked hard to raise me and have been my greatest supporters in life, no matter what.

My parents will make their personal intros after I get us up and running on the web, and I'm sure the family pets will make an appearance too one day. To get the ball rolling, I'll continue to develop my own and my family's artwork, history, and progress in life on this web page, over the next few years. If you don’t see my personal art here soon, you’ll see a link to it here soon enough. Hopefully, we'll start a charity or scholarship foundation one day, with lots of public support and plenty of transparency.

Those are some lofty goals, I hear you! I'll try to make lots of updates as appropriate and requested in the meantime and give you a better outline next time you see a post.

Please say "hello!", any time you feel up to it :) Love, Heidi (On behalf of my family) P.S.- I'm on Tumblr and Indeed right this second- nowhere else. If you're contacted by someone claiming to be me, you might be talking to someone who...isn't. Beware! P.P.S.-

Can I create a character for you? I'm only doing freelance piece work write now, and I'm getting set up- but I love to create characters and am looking to practice caricature work.

I use commonly available crafting resources and utensils, primarily pen, pencil, and paper.

Price will vary depending on your requests- between $5 and $15 dollars for a very brief sketch based on a photo you provide- potential for more detailed work in the future. I'll make my personal photos, writing, and journals available here, once I've finalized them for public availability on the web.

I also love shopping and design- I'd love to create a very simple piece of jewelry or clothing for you. Please keep an eye out to learn more.

[mosneakers]

the thing about morgyn transforming into a "biological woman" and it being a "curse" on them comes off kind of transphobic (as a trans person) and even if the curse is seen as a "good" thing idk its just uncomfortable. dont know if ur trans or not but if u arent then its good to be aware of these things.

Hi. Thank you so much for coming to me about this. Now that you brought this my attention I’m actually horrified that the story came across this way. I’m truly incredibly sorry, and that wasn’t my intention to do that. Fair warning, I’m going to be posting spoilers going forward, but I think this topic is far more important than the story, and I want to urge all the My Darling readers to continue reading this to the end despite the spoilers (I know it’s long but I have a lot of feelings about this) First, my intention was NOT to come across this way. I completely see how I did, though. My intention was actually to try to be inclusive and try to create a unique situation for Morgyn’s gender, other than just being cis or trans. I wanted to create a situation that made the reader think “how would I word this if this were me in this situation?” But it’s clear I failed. I know that gender is a sensitive topic for everyone and I tried my best to be delicate with it, while still answering all the questions everyone (readers and characters) might have. I also did my best to tag each post with gender and sexuality, just in case that topic is a trigger for anyone. Although Morgyn isn’t considered trans in this story, I still watched and read hours and hours of content online from trans people to make sure I didn’t say anything that might offend others, but as a human I made a mistake and I regret it deeply.

Morgyn comes from a magical background with a complicated family history. I made it way too complicated by using the term “biological woman” instead of just woman, because really it is the same thing. I know that. I messed up, big time. And I’m really sorry. Honestly, if I knew this would cause someone pain, I wouldn’t have written it. Now for the spoilers. So the curse wasn’t on Morgyn. Morgyn isn’t suffering and it’s not Morgyn’s punishment to be a woman. Morgyn *did* word it that way, yes, but later Coraleye speaks to Rosemary and Coraleye learns that the curse was actually Rosemary’s the whole time. The curse isn’t that Morgyn transforms into a woman once a month, the REAL curse is one that is self-inflicted by Rosemary, by having to live with her own guilt and internalized misogyny. It’s a curse she placed on herself by wanting Morgyn to change so badly that she willingly gave up her husband’s good looks just for Morgyn to become a girl. While she’s initially excited to have a girl, once she realizes the change is temporary, she’s more disappointed than before, and the monthly cycle of having her son become her daughter and then her son again makes the pain of not having what she wants worse over time, making her feel guilty for ever being disappointed that she had a son. Morgyn isn’t cursed, Rosemary is. (And Abel is also cursed for being the town flirt so his face becomes disfigured, which ruins his confidence since he relied on that face to be an emotional cheater, which teaches him a lesson about being self-absorbed or whatever) This realization then brings the family closer together as they learn to forgive and love each other (Much like you and I, hopefully🥺❤)

I want to be VERY transparent, at risk of making myself look even worse. When I first got this message, I was already having a crappy day (which doesn’t matter because my story probably made you feel 100x’s worse, I’m sure. Just putting that there so you know where my headspace was) I felt ANGRY. I’ve cut family members and people who I thought were close friends, because of their blatant transphobic comments. I’ve spent countless hours on facebook arguing with those strangers for suggesting that trans women should be forced to use the men’s restrooms. I am passionate about trans rights so seeing this message suggest that I said or did something transphobic shook me to my core. I was fuming. I started crying. (like, ugly crying) Then I almost deleted the entire tumblr.  Then I sat a while longer, and thought about the story. I completely see where I went wrong and I want to use it as a learning opportunity. 

I want to end this by saying that this is a place where I want everyone to feel safe and included, and as I navigate the storytelling world (I say storytelling because I’m FAR from a writer) please be easy on me when I make mistakes and help me learn how to fix it. I appreciate SO MUCH that you came to me and shared  your feelings, and I’d love it even more if you could help me fix this so you can feel comfy too 🤍 As for the story, I’m not sure what to do at this point. I’ve dedicated so much of my time and passion into this story so I don’t want to abandon it, but honestly I don’t know if I can mentally handle continuing this storyline (which is completely my fault I know) If you are trans or have a lot of trans knowledge, please feel free to message me and kindly teach me. Also include if you’d prefer that I don’t post your message publicly please.

[red-dia]

hi! i've always loved your hnk panel redraws and recently i've been so inspired by them that i've tried my hand at coloring some panels too! if you don't mind me asking, do you have any tips?

oh i certainly do! some of these are a bit generic/art related but they’re definitely useful in this case too. I’m adding a read more because unfortunately it got a bit long but here you go:

1) Get to know your tools!

Since you weren’t very specific, I’ll assume you aren’t too familiar with art softwares (and if you are, you can just skip that part it’s not That deep). I’ll start with the basics; I know this is obvious, but please bear with me, because understanding how your program works WILL make you a lot more efficient.Here are quick descriptions of some features I think are very useful - I use Clip Studio Paint, but I believe most programs have equivalents. If you don’t know them, please experiment with them, they’ll come in handy!

- Locking transparency :

Locking the transparency of a layer means only the parts where something is already drawn can be modified. Basically, you can recolour something that already exists in a rather precise way.

This is very useful for gradients, which I’ll talk about a bit later.

- Clipping layers :

This gives the same result as locking a layer then drawing over it, but the difference is that you use more than 1 layer ; one as the bottom layer, defining the part of the canvas you can draw on, and the others, clipped on top, where you’ll draw. This can be more practical than locking transparency, because if you have a lot of details to add, doing everything on a single layer may make things more difficult.

I use this a lot when I shade, but just like gradients, I’ll bring that up later.

- Layer settings :

These options change the way the colours on a layer blend with the colours below. As an example, addglow is pretty good for colouring very bright light sources or for adding highlights on gems  :

Basically, using those isn’t a necessity, but they’re still pretty useful so I’d recommend experimenting with them whenever you feel like it!

- Magic Wand : 

Not the most complicated to use, but damn it’s really useful. It allows you to make selections based on the colours you’re targeting, so basically, if you need to colour an entire area a certain colour, you can just select it from the original panel, go on the layer where you’re colouring, and colour nothing but the part you selected. That’s about it!

There are lots of others, but these are the main ones you need to know about when you’re getting started. 

2) Colouring stuff

This is where it gets interesting! I guess! I’m not too good at just coming up with these kind of tips, so I’ll illustrate with some colouring, hopefully it’ll help you out?

I usually colour in 5 parts : 1) Preparing the panel(s), 2) Applying flat colours, 3) Adding gradients, 4) Adding shading, 5) Finalising with details.

I always prepare pages in the same way: first, I use the magic wand to select everything i do NOT want to colour ; the frames around the panels, the speech bubbles, the sfx, etc. Once they’re selected, I copy them, and paste them on a new layer. Then, I select the original layer, and turn it transparent so I can colour below while still keeping the lines. To do that, I go in Menu > Edit > Change brightness to opacity (in CSP at least, it depends on your program tho but most of them support this, I think!).

I end up with something like this : 

Two layers, one on the bottom with the semi-transparent page, and another on top, with everything that I don’t plan on touching. On the page on the right, you can get an idea of what it looks like when you add a layer below these 2 and draw on it.

Now that I’m done with the panel, I can start adding some (flat) colours. 

I think it’s a good idea to start with the background, because it’ll help you figure out the feeling you want to give the panel.

The airbrush is a pretty good tool for gradients btw, just make sure you use a brush that is big enough so the transition in colours looks natural.

Next, I add a new layer, and colour the shape of the characters (and here the vessel as well), so it stands out from the background. It’ll make colouring less complicated, since the lines will be clearer.

As you can see, I was kind of confident, so I directly added a gradient. The bottom of the panel is a bit “darker”, because I wanted the main light source to be the reflect on Phos’….. head thing?

Here’s something kind of important about your choice of colours : if you’re colouring an area that is already shaded in the original panel, I would recommend taking a colour that is more saturated than it should, or else the colour may end up looking dull because the original shading will make it darker.

Next, I do more flat colours. Nothing too fancy, and pretty much everything is on different layers. The clothes are left uncoloured because the background colour already fits, so it’s okay honestly

Then, I added some gradients using clip layers :

As a reference, I used some overlay layers for Dia’s hair, and some addglow layers for Phos’ alloy.

I mean it when I say gradients are important! They make your colouring feel more complete even when they’re barely visible. quickly coloured bortz for reference, assuming tumblr won’t compress the colours too much:

the bastard on the left has nothing but flat colours. They’re nice, but when you’ll have shaded everything, chances are it’ll look kind of …. i dunno, like something is missing? So yeah, gradients : good, though i would recommend you keep them in the same tone as the base colour. I’ll talk about this a bit more later if i don’t forget.

Ok! next: 

I felt like golden colours weren’t quite fitting the mood, so i added a layer with blue on top of it to make it colder. It’s at 40% transparency, so you can still see the colours behind well enough. Some parts were slightly erased because i liked the idea of these parts being lighter (you can see it a little bit around phos’ neck, or above dia’s knees : these parts are yellower than the rest of the pic)

I added some shading! Nothing too fancy. also not to sound like some gradient-freak but you can add some of those in shading as well, it’s usually a nice touch.

After than, I added some lightings, which are on a layer clipped on the original manga panel (so basically only the black parts of the original image changed colours, and the colouring work I did on the layers below wasn’t really affected, if that makes sense?)

The red lighting is the obvious one (it’s an airbrush, and i used an eraser to clear the part near Phos’ head so it looks like it’s coming from above/behind them and not from themself). 

There is another lighting at the bottom, which is grey/blueish, to contrast with the warm colours on the top of the pic. it also kind of looks like smoke but yeah

Now the panel is mostly done, and I’m starting the “details” part.

Something I find really bothersome in the manga is the *original* shading : while it’s always really good, colouring under it will leave some grid of pixels on top of your colours, so to counter that i just colour on top of the grid by colour picking and painting on a layer above the manga layer.

It’s a bit tedious but it has a texture that makes it look like a painting. The downside is that the colours can be altered since you’re colourpicking from something with an irregular pattern, but it can end up making your panel look less boring, honestly, it just depends on what you’re aiming for!

I end up with something like that : 

And then it’s just. Whatever man. I added a black border and some highlights, sparkles, etc, it’s the kind of things you do when you’re basically done. 

For the technical aspect, I’m not sure I have a lot more to add. If you want some advices for picking colours, tho…

3) General colour stuff :

These are just recommendations! Licherally these are mental notes i came up with ever since i’ve started colouring, so they’re kind of personal and if you don’t follow them you’ll be fine, i suppose. But so far they’ve been useful to me so consider them whenever you’ll be colouring something:

- Do not use pure white! Unless it’s for something CLEARLY meant to stand out, such as the frame of your pages, a speech bubble, sparkles, or a light source/something very shiny. If you’re just colouring something that is not meant to draw attention, use some other shade of white, but not the  #ffffff one if you see what i mean?

- Same about pure black, to be honest. 

The shades circled in red tend to look “emptier” than the ones circled in green (here the hue of the colour is yellow but it works with most colours). It doesn’t mean you can’t use it, just, use it sparingly or it may make things look dull I think? I would recommend trying a few shades before taking a decision.

- Sometimes adding highlights where the shading starts can make the transition look smoother: 

- Even if a panel is already shaded in the original page, I would recommend shading it again, because the manga shading is a black shading and shading a coloured drawing with black usually doesn’t look that good. (hence why i said something about using saturated colours in shading earlier).

- Even if a panel isn’t shaded in the original page, consider shading it anyways, even if it’s just a very light shading. It’s worth it :o)

I’m running out of things to say oh well

[stubbornness-and-spite]

If you aren’t dealing well with quarantine and can’t/don’t want to see someone else’s emotional problems, please scroll by.

Seriously, I don’t want anyone who doesn’t have the emotional or mental energy to read about my issues to feel worse because of me. The way I am currently, I would not be able to handle reading this from someone else. Protect your own mental health. Put on your oxygen mask before trying to help others.

I am writing this as catharsis(hopefully) and because I believe that being honest and transparent about my emotions will help me to deal with them. 

Side note: I got some information while writing this that made me feel a bit better and it ended up turning into something a lot less hopeless and more positive than I thought it was going to be. Still keeping my warnings. Emotions are hard in an ideal situation and we are so far from that.

The current situation of the world is not doing my mental health any favors. I live in the US and it feels like my government is out to get me and it’s not eve paranoia, it’s rooted in fact and backed up with provable evidence. My state’s governor is handling this like a champ and that is my one silver lining about the current state of this country.

That’s big picture. Maybe it’s selfish but I cannot care about the big picture right now. The little picture is pushing me past the threshold of some of the worst places I’ve been mentally and I can barely deal with that. I think as of this week I can officially say that I might not be able to deal with that anymore. And that’s terrifying. 

I didn’t finish the work my school assigned for the week and I planned to get it done over the weekend, but when I tried I realized that I mentally cannot process it. I was just staring at words on a page and not understanding. 

I bit the bullet and texted my friends and admitted to someone other than my parents that I wasn’t doing well and good god was that cathartic. One of my friends sent me the best response I could have hoped for and I actually believed it. I have been talking to my parents, but as much as I know what they mean what they say about it being okay to not be okay, there’s a part of me that can’t accept positive reassurance from my parents when I’m doing bad. I want to clarify that I am lucky enough to have a really go relationship with my parents and the reason I struggle to accept reassurance from them is because my anxiety says that they’re saying it because they love me rather than because it’s true. 

I have a hard time convincing myself that my decisions are okay so hearing from my parents and friends that I’m not wrong for doing badly right now is very validating and like a weight off my chest. 

So this was going to be a sad rant but while I was writing it, I got really great and supportive responses from people I care about and holy crap I love my friends.

I should probably tell them that instead of tumblr but I think we’ve had our fill of emotional vulnerability for today. Eh, at least one of the people I’m talking about follows me on here so I might end up texting the rest of them when I feel up to it. 

I started this feeling overwhelmed by all the bad in the world and now I’m overwhelmed with love for the people I care about and that is so much better to be overwhelmed by. 

My emotions have been fluctuating like I’m menstruating and it has been a train wreck. The most important thing for me and anybody who’s having the same issues as me is to accept that and recognize that it is a justified and valid way to feel. Emotional vulnerability is hard. It’s hard and it’s not fun, but it’s necessary. Pretending that everything is okay or it will be okay soon enough so it’s fine is not a long term solution. 

Ultimately, I’m still not doing well, but that’s okay. It really, honestly is okay to not be okay right now and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Even if it’s you. If you’re telling yourself that “Yeah it’s okay to not be okay but I should still be better than this. I should still be able to do more than this. I should at least be able to do this much.” I’m sorry, you’re wrong. Wherever you are is okay, all the time, but especially now. If you woke up today, then you’re doing great. If you put on pants or made a conscious decision not to, then I’m genuinely proud of you. There are people who love you and there are even more people who will love you regardless of if you managed to make the most of this awful time or you just made it through.

My inbox is always open if you want to talk, with the caveat of: I am doing better than I was when I started writing this and I am not currently feeling crushed or hopeless, but I was 20 minutes ago and I likely will be again many times before we’re through this. I may not be in an emotional state where I can answer or address any issues but my own. Either way, a burden shared is a burden halved. Find people you can talk to or scream it to the void by telling the internet. Whatever helps. 

It’s okay to not be okay and it’s okay to be anywhere in between. Whatever you’re feeling is okay. 

[windchimesgames]

The Kickstarter campaign ended a few days ago with a total of 12.6k USD raised! Thank you so much for the support!

I made a post on Kickstarter outlining some important points about what will happen now after the end of the campaign. If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve copied the content below for your convenience!

Even if you didn’t back the project on Kickstarter, if you’re interested in what will happen to Sebastien’s stretch goal as we unfortunately didn’t reach 15k USD funding, read onwards to find out what the plans are!

1. Accountability to backers

I know it's super important for Kickstarter creators to be open and transparent about progress and just how the project is going in general. So one thing I'll be done is public monthly Kickstarter updates that gives an overview of the progress made on the project in each area of development, as well as some quick previews of new assets.

Moreover, backers of the US$20 tier or above has access to backer-exclusive forums as their reward. I'll be setting up the forum within this week, and then sending out a message or update post to all the backers of the US$20 tier or above so that they can sign up on the forum if they wish. I'll be posting more frequently on the forums with even more exclusive sneak peeks and some behind-the-scenes stuff as well when possible!

I'll also be posting smaller, weekly updates on social media, so you can follow Wind Chimes Games on Twitter and Tumblr if that's more convenient for you.

2. Backer Reward Surveys

I'll start working on the reward surveys and sending them out slowly tier by tier throughout this month. Since there are no physical rewards, no shipping addresses will be needed, so it should be less risky to send out reward surveys early as I don't have to worry about shipping addresses changing by the time the rewards are ready to be sent out.  

I'll be contacting the backers with custom locations, characters and/or scenes as rewards via Kickstarter message as soon as possible, if I haven't already, so we can start ironing out the details of the custom addition to the game / universe to make sure it fits perfectly into the story!

If anyone has any questions about the rewards or anything related to the project, please feel free to message me any time!

3. Sebastien's Route?

I've received quite a few questions about what I'm going to do about Sebastien's route now, since we didn't manage to reach 15k USD funding. We're 2.4k USD short of what I'd need to be able to make his route, which is quite a bit... I really love Sebastien and very much want to make his route happen, and I'd be blind not to see how much the players have loved Sebastien so far, so I'm going to be exploring some possibilities of how to make this work.

One thing I'm looking into is setting up late pledges on my website, offering a more limited number of reward tiers for a limited period of time, hopefully with the possibility of PayPal payment if I can figure it out. I'm hoping this will raise some extra funding towards Sebastien's route, especially since I've heard of some interested players who wanted to pledge but couldn't due to not having a credit card for Kickstarter. I really have to figure out the coding side of this though, but I'll start working on it this week and keep you guys updated on how that goes.

I'm also thinking of setting up pre-orders for perhaps the digital OST, artbook and lorebook to scrape together some extra funds and contribute it towards the costs of Sebastien's route. I'll have to do an interest check on this though, to see if this would even garner any interest.

Some have suggested running a second Kickstarter campaign some time in the future just to fund Sebastien's route, which is a possibility, but I'm not really sure if it's a good idea. If you have any input, please feel free to comment and let me know!

I cannot make any promises about adding Sebastien's route to the game at the moment, and any final decisions will have to come after I figure out the above two ideas I have so far and see how much total we've raised. It also depends on how much money I actually collect from Kickstarter, due to the likelihood of there being dropped pledges from expired credit cards and what not. I won't really find out until a week later, I believe, so I'll make a post about it to be transparent about how much funds have been raised.

In any case, regardless of what happens, I will keep everyone posted about any decisions I make with regard to Sebastien's route!

Alright, those are the key points about the Kickstarter campaign that I wanted to mention right now! I'll make another post if I think of anything else.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send me a Kickstarter message or email me at contact@windchimesgames.com!

Once again, thank you so much for the support! I'm really thrilled to be working on Reanimation Scheme, and I hope I'll be able to bring an excellent product to you guys next year!

[princess-of-luxure]

Masquerade [2]

<< Prev / Next >>

You moved to the capital city, Altadellys, in search of job opportunities. You had anticipated several significant changes in your life, but nothing could have prepared you for almost getting robbed in an alley, only to be saved by a mysterious masked vigilante. Their mysterious appearance throws your life into chaos, and you soon find yourself swept up in the high-stakes underground operations of a group of… supervillains?!

You didn’t ask for any of this, but there’s just as much excitement amongst the potentially lethal drama. As secrets hundreds of years olds begin to unfold before you, can you be the missing link in solving a dangerous mystery, or will you bring everything to ruin?

Fandom: Reigning Passions (Visual Novel) Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Relationships: Gen (so far) Characters: Lyris (Reigning Passions), Main Character (Reigning Passions), Sevastian (Reigning Passions), Piama (Reigning Passions), Hazel (Reigning Passions) Content Warnings: None

Thank you everyone for voting on the last chapter! I got more votes than expected and even now I'm still getting new fans. I'm pleased to announce that choice b (Stay to try and diffuse the situation with Lyris and Piama, and hopefully get some answers) has won the vote! Hoping you enjoy this chapter.

As per usual, you can cast your vote on the end-of-chapter choice in a comment on AO3 here, or by sending me a DM or ask here on tumblr! You can also cast your vote by replying to the appropriate chapter, or by putting it in the tags of a reblog.

Chapter below the read more.

Guilt ached in your gut as you nibbled on your lower lip. It didn’t exactly feel good to blow Hazel off, but she was your best friend. It couldn’t be that difficult to reschedule, and besides, you couldn’t imagine the anxiety that would weigh on your shoulders if you didn’t discuss the hey-I’m-pretty-sure-you’re-a-masked-vigilante thing with Lyris while you had the chance. Decision made, you tried to steady your shaking hands as you typed out a reply.

You: I’m so so sorry

You: Something came up

You: Can we reschedule?

You didn’t wait for Hazel’s reply before tucking your phone back into your pocket, taking a deep breath as you assessed the situation. Lyris had mostly managed to mask his shock by now, though the intensity of his gaze on you still sent shivers down your spine. Not that you minded having a gorgeous guy’s attention, this just wasn’t exactly what you had pictured. Add the fact that Piama was still looking between the two of you with raised eyebrows, evidently waiting for an explanation, and this was starting to look like a social nightmare.

Okay, focus. You can’t spill his secret—even if you don’t have confirmation of it yet. Mustering up all your courage, you gave Lyris your friendliest smile. “Wow, fancy meeting you here!” Please go with it, please go with it, please go with it.

You could see the exact moment he snapped into the role, his charming smile overtaking his features. If you weren’t so busy trying to play off the whole situation as nothing to Piama, you would’ve probably had a bi panic. “A lovely coincidence indeed, my lady. It seems as though fate wished for us to meet.”

You stole a glance at Piama out of the corner of your eye. She still seemed surprised, but for different reasons now. “You know her, Lyris?” she asked skeptically.

“I had the pleasure of running into her earlier,” he replied smoothly, and okay, that part was technically the truth. Still, his mismatched eyes didn’t leave yours, and you had to remind yourself that the way he looked at you, like you were a jewel more precious than any known to man, was just part of his act. “I’m afraid I never got to introduce myself, however. If the lady would allow, I shall now rectify this error.”

He stepped closer to you, and you desperately fought back the blush that threatened to crawl up your cheeks. Slowly, deliberately, he bowed to you, just as he had under the guise of Peacock. “I am Lyris Rosi.” He gently caught your hand in his, raising it to his lips and brushing a feather-light kiss there.

You were pretty sure that the kiss had completely killed your last few brain cells because you found yourself stammering out your name despite the fact he already knew it. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind, releasing your hand and rising, still with that brilliant smile on his face. Plus, I guess it’s believability points for Piama. “A beautiful name for a beautiful maiden,” he complimented, and despite having heard it from him before, it still sent a jolt of lightheadedness through you. “If you would permit, I would much like to resume our earlier conversation in the privacy of my apartment?”

You heard Piama scoff, shattering the moment. “Inviting a pretty girl to your apartment already, Lyris?” She fixed him with a critical stare. “You better not make this awkward for me.”

Lyris gasped, his expression twisting into a mockery of hurt as he placed a hand to his chest. At least, you were pretty sure he was just acting. Damn, this guy was good. “You wound me, dear Piama. I assure you, my intentions are nothing but pure.”

“And yet you knew exactly what I was referring to with my comment.” Piama huffed, shaking her head before turning her gaze to you. “Do yourself a favour and avoid getting swept up in his charm. Underneath the bravado, he’s a giant nuisance.”

“You must be fond of ‘giant nuisances’ then, to hang around me so much,” Lyris noted, and you could see the familiar glint of a best friend’s teasing in his eyes.

“Hardly. Don’t get a swelled head over it.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to make some more tea. You two better behave yourselves.”

She swept from the room, and as soon as you were sure she was out of earshot, you breathed a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping as you released tension you didn’t even know you were holding. “Sorry for putting you on the spot there,” you apologized, forcing yourself to look back at Lyris. “I had no idea you’d be here.” Obviously! You mentally chided yourself for the stupid comment.

Lyris chuckled, and you couldn’t help but notice his smile seemed a touch more genuine. “You handled that very well,” he offered, and you felt your heart skip a beat. “And pay Piama’s words no mind. She seems to have gotten quite the wrong impression about you and I.”

You tilted your head, trying to figure out how he felt about that, but he was completely unreadable. Right, well. If all else fails, resort to humour. “Well, have you given her a reason to believe that before?” you teased.

There it was—the real smile you’d gotten to glimpse earlier in the day. “I suppose there may have been an incident or two in the past,” he admitted lightly, and you found yourself drawn to the playful glimmer in his eyes. “But I believe my intentions with you should be transparent.”

“Yeaaaah.” You rubbed the back of your neck, a sudden sheepishness crawling up your spine. “Look, I’m really sorry about this. I know this must be far from an ideal situation, but—”

Lyris gently raised a hand. Startled, you froze mid sentence. “It isn’t your fault,” he reassured, the melodic tones of his voice compelling you to believe him. “If anything, I should have been more careful.”

The fact that he didn’t seem angry or upset with you washed away most of your lingering anxiety. You offered him a tentative smile, idly brushing your fingers through your hair. “You know, we probably should head to your apartment before Piama comes back.”

“She’d be quite surprised to see us still here after our previous conversation,” Lyris agreed, offering his arm out to you. Your heart leapt into your throat as you scrambled at this opportunity, rushing to link arms with him without tripping over your own two feet.

“So, do you do this with every girl, or am I special?” you attempted to joke as he led you up the stairs. In hindsight, you figured this may have been a mistake, but seeing the slight curve of his lips and almost fond look he gave you, maybe it wasn’t too bad.

“I am a gentleman to all the women I have the pleasure of meeting, but you are special in more ways than one.” You hoped he didn’t notice how you clung to him tighter so as to not fall over at his words. Your brain struggled to come up with a response, but thankfully you were saved by Lyris pausing in front of a door. “Here we are. I’m afraid it isn’t much, but I hope it will be satisfactory.”

He led you inside and your jaw dropped. ‘Not much’ was indisputably an understatement—you knew Spring Apartments was on the higher end of quality housing, but Lyris’s apartment was borderline a penthouse. “How do you afford this place?” you burst out, unable to help yourself, immediately clapping a hand to your mouth as embarrassment colored your cheeks.

Lyris regarded you with an amused look. “That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” he quipped, before gesturing to a couch that may as well have been a piece of cloud for how heavenly it looked. “Take a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

You shook your head, trying to push down your nerves as you sank into the cushions. You were right, it did feel like you were resting upon clouds. “No thanks. I already drank two cups of coffee recently, I wouldn’t want to be bouncing off your walls.” You chuckled at yourself, trying to appear more confident than you felt.

“Of course, I understand,” Lyris hummed, and you couldn’t help but feel disappointed as he settled onto the couch opposite you. “Now as to what brought you here—”

“Mrrrow?” Both you and Lyris turned to look at what was the fluffiest Persian cat you’d ever seen in your life. Their long white fur was immaculately groomed, and their collar was bedazzled with… pink rhinestones. Okay, at this point you were certain Lyris either came from money, or his profession paid extremely well.

“Madame Whiskers, so nice of you to join us,” Lyris greeted, and the cat turned her judgmental stare on him. “That’s right, it’s time for your dinner, isn’t it? How silly of me to forget.”

“Mrrrow!” You didn’t speak cat, but you were pretty sure Madame Whiskers was agreeing, her gaze seeming to pierce right into your host. You noticed she had heterochromia just like her owner, though hers was of the blue and green variety.

Lyris reached down to scratch Madame Whiskers behind the ears as he addressed you. “Forgive me, Madame Whiskers gets quite huffy if she isn’t fed on time.” He bent down, placing a kiss on top of her forehead, and she blinked back at him lazily. “Now play nice with our guest, my precious princess. I’ll be back in just a moment.”

Lyris vanished into one of the neighbouring rooms, leaving you alone with Madame Whiskers. You stared at her—she stared back.

You cleared your throat. Why the hell do I feel so judged by a cat? “Madame Whiskers, was it?”

She just kept on staring. Yeah, okay, that’s my fault for expecting a cat to talk back. “You seem to be a cat of high class,” you commented, awkwardly bowing to her as best you could while sitting down. “Lyris must treat you very well. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Madame Whiskers tilted her head to the side, studying you, before trotting over to jump up next to you on the couch. She then laid down in your lap, staring up at you with a look that could not have more obviously screamed pet me.

Hesitant but not wanting to risk offending her, you slowly began to rub your thumb in circles behind her ears. Soon enough, you began to notice a deep purring coming from Madame Whiskers, and more confident that you were doing the right thing, you began to rub a bit more firmly. Within moments, she was stretched out to her full length, looking completely blissed out.

“Apologies for the wait, I hope Madame Whiskers behaved—” Lyris paused mid sentence as he entered the room. He held a fancy dish of what was most likely expensive cat food in one hand, and a smirk curled across his lips as he took in the situation. “Well, would you look at that. She likes you.”

He placed the dish down. At its gentle clink, Madame Whiskers hopped off your lap and trotted over, daintily nibbling at her food. You, meanwhile, were left trying to process this new information. “She does? Does she not usually like people?”

Lyris chuckled, an amused gleam in his mismatched eyes as he sat back down. “That would be the understatement of the century. She nearly clawed poor Piama half to death when they met.”

You shuddered as you imagined what Madame Whiskers must be like when she’s upset. No wonder Piama had called her the most annoying creature on the planet. “Yeah, I think I can say I’m glad she likes me.”

“I suppose that’s just another way in which you are special.” Your name rolled smoothly off his tongue, and judging by the way he smirked at you when you went rigid with shock, he knew what he was doing to you. Has he known this entire time?!

You cleared your throat, trying desperately to save face. “As much as I’m sure we could chat about your cat for hours, we did come here for a reason.”

“Of course.” Just like that, Lyris’s flirty demeanour evaporated, a far more serious expression falling over him as he leaned forward slightly. It was a jarring change, and you fought not to squirm in place. “If I may ask, what is your understanding of the situation?”

You took a deep breath. Moment of truth. “You’re Peacock. You look exactly like him.” Not to mention acting exactly like him.

Lyris smiled. It wasn’t unkind, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It only took a second to decide you didn’t like it. “You have a good eye. Though as much as I intended to be recognized, you were not the one I was expecting.”

Your head snapped up. “You wanted to be recognized?”

“By a certain someone, yes.” Lyris crossed his arms, regarding you carefully. “Have you heard of Fox?”

One of Hazel’s statements from earlier in the day rung in your mind. After Fox disappeared, he took over as Altadellys’s protector of the night. “Just in passing,” you admitted. “My friend Hazel mentioned them. Were they like you?”

“Somewhat.” You were shocked to see his smile turn fond, real and bright. “He had his own way of going about things, but yes, we had the same ultimate goal.”

Your mind was reeling under the weight of what you’d just learned. Lyris was familiar enough with Fox to speak of him like an old and dear friend? He was hoping to be recognized by Fox? “But my friend said he disappeared,” you said eventually, your thoughts still spinning.

“That’s right. And that’s why I’m Peacock.” The explanation seemed to make perfect sense to Lyris, and yet it clarified absolutely nothing for you.

“I don’t follow,” you admitted, brows furrowing as you tried to put the pieces together. “How did Fox’s disappearance lead to you becoming Peacock?”

Lyris hummed, a thoughtful expression crossing his features. “For the sake of his privacy, let’s just say he’s someone important to me. We fell out of contact years ago, but I still think about him pretty often.” He chuckled. “Nothing could prepare me for seeing him debut in the news as a masked thief, but I was hardly surprised. He’d deny it to his dying breath, but he always had a flair for the dramatic.”

And you don’t? You bit back the comment, preferring to focus on the matter at hand. “I still don’t understand. I get you guys have history, but…”

Lyris raised an amused eyebrow. “Well, of course you’re confused. There’s more to the story.”

You sank back into the couch cushions, feeling your cheeks burn. “Sorry,” you mumbled.

Lyris chuckled, which only served to increase your embarrassment. At least he didn’t seem to think any less of you for it. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. In any case, Fox goes to much further lengths to conceal his identity than I do, but there’s no disguising his powers. I recognized them immediately, but I wasn’t concerned at first. He could take care of himself, and if he needed me, he’d find me. Or at least I hoped so.” There was a flash of sadness in his eyes, gone in an instant. “Then a few months later after his shine into the spotlight, he disappeared. No news about an arrest. Nothing.”

You tilted your head. “If there was no news of an arrest, then isn’t that a good thing?”

Lyris shook his head, giving you an almost pitying look. “You have a lot to learn about Altadellys. Someone disappearing without a trace like that is never a good thing.”

You got the idea he wasn’t trying to be condescending, so you tucked that nugget of information away for later and tried to focus on the matter before you. “So you became Peacock to… look for him?”

“Close.” His mismatched eyes glittered with mischief. “It’s hard to look for someone with no leads. So I thought…” He trailed off, standing and carefully removing his vest. Unobstructed, you were able to see that the clothing he wore had a slit in the back, the function of which immediately became obvious as there was a flash of brilliant green light, revealing his beautiful wings when it faded.

You giggled even as you found yourself taking him in in all his glory. Even without the suit and mask, he was so openly and unashamedly Peacock. “You planned to lure him out with drama?”

“Precisely.” He bowed deeply before perching on the arm of the couch, careful not to disturb anything with his wings. “I’ve had no luck yet, but assuming he isn’t dead in a ditch somewhere, he can’t avoid me forever.”

You chewed on your lip, fingers fussing in your hair as you tried to decide on a course of action. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Genuine surprise flitted across Lyris’s expression for a second before he smiled. “That’s sweet of you, but it’s best if you don’t get involved. Just knowing this much is dangerous. I have just as many enemies as admirers.”

You sighed. A part of you wanted to protest, but he had a point. Besides, how were you supposed to help? You didn’t have any powers. “Alright, but if there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all…”

To your surprise, Lyris stood and closed the distance between the two of you in a few strides, close enough that you were struck by the memory of meeting him earlier in the day. “I sincerely hope that you don’t have to get dragged into my mess,” he said quietly, “but thank you. I’ll let you know.”

He pulled back, the moment over far too soon. “It’s getting late,” he murmured, eyes only briefly flickering to the window before falling back on you. “And trust me, your room is something of a mess right now.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” you began to say, but Lyris was already shaking his head.

“You’d be surprised,” he replied, and you could see a mischievous glint in his eyes that was beginning to grow familiar to you. “But you know, since it’s my fault your room looks like an apocalypse hit it, the gracious thing to do would be to offer up my own.”

“What?!” Your eyes flew wide open. “I couldn’t accept that! It’s your room! Where would you sleep?”

Lyris raised his eyebrows, looking for all the world as if you’d just told a hilarious joke. “In my bed, of course. Where else?”

You choked on air, and you saw concern flicker over his face. “But— you— I—”

Lyris eased up immediately, his eyes bright as he chuckled. “I was only joking. I’ll take the couch. It’s only fair,” he explained lightly, before he paused, leaning in. “Unless, of course, you would prefer to share.”

Your brain screeched to a halt. Did he just say—?! You took a deep breath, closing your eyes as you tried to calm your racing thoughts. Yeah, okay, he did offer to share the bed with you. He seems serious about it, too. You’d never had an attractive guy offer to share his bed with you before. It would be madness to pass this opportunity up. Summoning all your courage, you looked Lyris in the eyes, your voice firm. “You know what? I think I would prefer that.”

If your response shocked him, he didn’t show it at all. In fact, he actually looked pleased. “Come with me, then.” He extended a hand to you. As you took it, he laced your fingers together, bringing your joined hands to his lips to place another kiss there. Once again, the action caused a stirring of butterflies in your stomach, but you did your best to conceal it. Two can play at his game. Don’t let him win.

Lyris’s bedroom was incredibly lavish, but your eyes landed on his bed and never left. The queen-sized bed had a mattress that looked heavenly to you right now, fancy pillows perfectly fluffed, pale green silk sheets neatly folded over the bed. Your exhaustion from the day’s events hit you all at once, and it was all you could do not to collapse on the bed then and there.

Lyris’s hand left yours, and you glanced over at him only to nearly choke again as he began to strip down without a care. He hummed a small tune under his breath as he removed his various pieces of jewellery, his shirt coming off next with practiced expertise. In a matter of moments, he stood almost completely naked before you, his underwear the only thing remaining. Jesus, is every person in Altadellys this ripped or have I just been getting lucky?

Lyris looked over at you, a smirk curling across his lips as he caught you staring. “Do you see something you like, my lady?”

“Uh—no! I mean, yes! I mean—gah!” You turned away from him, trying to ignore his satisfied laugh as you stripped down to your bra and underwear. Once you finished, you turned back to the bed, finding Lyris already relaxed on one side of it, though to your surprise (and gratitude) he had his eyes politely averted.

He evidently felt your weight settle into the mattress as you laid down, and he reached out to turn off the lights. “Rest well,” he offered up to the darkness, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“You as well.” There was no more talking. As you curled up beneath the blankets, you began to wonder if you could fall asleep, hyper aware of Lyris’s weight and warmth right beside you, but soon the events of the day began to wear at your consciousness and you drifted away. Your dreams were filled with hazy images of peacocks and foxes and masks.

You awoke the next morning to find Lyris’s side of the bed empty. You fought back the disappointment that tried to settle in your stomach, reaching for your pants (that had been neatly folded and placed next to the bed, you noted curiously) to fish your phone out of their pocket.

You swiped over to your messenger out of instinct, noting a couple texts from Hazel and… one from an unknown number. Blinking in surprise, you checked the timestamp, finding it was sent at 3:42AM—in other words, while you were fast asleep. Who in the world would be messaging me at quarter to four in the morning? Curiosity compelled you to open the message.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Are you Amara’s friend?

You stared at the message, hands trembling slightly. Normally you would’ve blocked the number and paid it no mind, but this stranger had mentioned Amara. You were pretty sure that wasn’t the world’s most common name, which meant that whoever this was, you had a common acquaintance. Unless they were stalking you. Gods, you really hoped they weren’t stalking you.

You: Yes? Who are you?

Given their apparently abnormal sleeping schedule, you really weren’t expecting them to reply for a while, but immediately, the typing dots showed up, as though they had been waiting for your response.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: You may call me Owl.

Another animal themed alias? You couldn’t deny your suspicions were raised, narrowing your eyes at your phone. Just like Fox and Peacock… but I haven’t heard of an Owl. And what connection would they have to someone like Amara, anyway?

You: Okay, Owl. What do you want from me?

In the time it took them to reply, you quickly added them to your contacts, figuring ‘Owl’ would be a lot less unnerving than a string of numbers. When you looked back at your messages, they had already responded. Damn, they type quick.

Owl: Nothing. I simply needed to verify your identity. When are you planning on applying to Optimus?

A jolt of shock and even mild fear ran down your spine before you remembered that Amara had mentioned a friend yesterday who could help you with applying for an internship. It must be Owl. You were going to pray it was Owl, or you were probably fucked.

You: Uh, later today, I think.

Once again, Owl’s response was immediate.

Owl: Thank you. I will keep watch for your application.

Owl: I’ll erase any traces of this conversation now.

You nearly choked, fingers fumbling with the phone in your haste to type.

You: What why?!

Owl: It’s for your safety. Have a good day.

Before you had a chance to further protest, the messages disappeared from your screen, leaving you with a blank DM with the mysterious Owl. You were about to try sending them a new message, bewildered, when you remembered the texts from Hazel. Shoot, how did I forget that?!

You quickly opened them, finding that they were both from yesterday afternoon, before you’d headed to Lyris’s apartment.

Hazel: Np

Hazel: Amara and I were looking to hang out somewhere this weekend so we’ll let u know abt that if u want

You: That’d be great, Hazey

You: Sorry for the way late reply, I got distracted

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.~” You almost dropped your phone as Lyris walked into the room, looking up at him with wide eyes. He was thankfully(?) clothed, though still sans vest, that unbearably attractive smirk curled across his lips. “Did you have nice dreams?”

“Uh… weird dreams, more like,” you replied, running your fingers through your hair in an attempt to look presentable. “What about you?”

“With you here, my lady? Best I’ve ever had,” Lyris replied with a playful wink, before taking on a slightly more serious demeanor. “I went out to grab breakfast, and a certain flowery devil roommate of yours accosted me on the way back. Seems like she’s pretty insistent on taking you out shopping for some new clothes today.” Despite his seemingly uninterested words, you couldn’t help but notice an excited glint in his eyes. “Though if you ask me, she’s scoping out the competition.”

“Competition?” You raised your eyebrows, and Lyris chuckled, leaning forward as if to share some scandalous conspiracy.

“Piama’s a fashion designer,” he explained with a hum. “Her talents are almost unparalleled, but don’t tell her I said that.” His attitude shifted again, lips curving into a frown as his eyes darkened. “Unfortunately, talent doesn’t matter as much as influence in Altadellys.”

“But that’s not fair.” The words were spilling out before you could stop them. Lyris gave you another pitying look.

“It isn’t,” he agreed, “but that’s the way things are in Altadellys. If you’ve got money, you’ll succeed.” He sighed softly.

Your insides still burned red hot at the injustice of it, but you were also smart enough to realize that not only were you just one person, you were also a nobody in Altadellys. As much as you wanted to help Piama, you couldn’t think of a viable way to do so. Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. Once you opened them again, you moved on. “Well, I’d definitely love to have a fashion designer’s help in picking a new outfit.”

“Hey, I know my way around high fashion too.” Lyris gave you a mock hurt look that was so convincing you almost felt bad. Almost. “Haven’t you seen me?”

You laughed, and were rewarded by seeing the fake frown immediately turn to his genuine, gentle smile. “Don’t worry, you silly peacock,” you chided, relishing in the way his eyes lit up at the subtle nod to his alter ego. “I couldn’t forget about seeing you even if I wanted to.”

The smile was replaced by a smirk. “Flattery will get you everywhere, darling,” he said smoothly, sending an electric jolt down your spine. Before you had a chance to react, he turned away from you, grabbing a hairbrush off the dresser. “I’ll give you some privacy. When you’re ready, I grabbed a blueberry muffin for you, it’s on the kitchen counter. Hope you’re not allergic.”

You giggled despite the heat still staining your cheeks red. You figured it would be a while until you got used to how Lyris could change between personas in a snap, flirty to serious to friendly in the blink of an eye. “No allergies here. And thanks.”

“Not a problem. I’ll be in the living room if you need me.” He swept from the room, and you wasted no time in getting ready for the day. You were in the middle of trying to tame your hair with a few hair ties when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket.

Hazel: Distracted huh? :p

You nearly choked, suddenly grateful you were alone as you fumbled to not drop your phone.

You: Hazel!!!

You: It is SO not like that!!!

Hazel: LOL

Hazel: Sorry Freckles I had to tease ya

You rolled your eyes at your phone. You loved Hazel, really, you did, but she was going to be the death of you.

You: You definitely didn’t.

Hazel: Definitely did

Hazel: Best friend duties and all that

You: So should I start teasing you about Amara?

Hazel: If u wanna

Hazel: I mean shes cute

Hazel: And have u SEEN her

You: Hazey! Do you mean to tell me that my best friend has a crush and I didn’t know about it?

Hazel: LOOOOL

Hazel: Nah just aesthetic attraction tbh

Hazel: We’ll see tho

There was a knock on the door. “You alright in there?” Lyris called. “Not to rush you if you have a very detailed morning routine because I get that, but Madame Whiskers can only hold off Piama for so long.”

“I’ll be right there!” you called back, quickly typing a goodbye to Hazel.

You: Okay you useless lesbian, I’ve gotta run though.

You: My roommate and a friend are taking me clothes shopping.

Hazel: uwu have fun I’ll lyk abt any plans w/ Amara

You slipped your phone into your pocket and finished getting ready, heading out to the living room, pausing to grab the muffin from the kitchen. You found Lyris relaxed on the couch, more or less the same as he was earlier except he had now donned his vest and his hair was done up in its usual braids. Madame Whiskers was curled up by the entrance to the apartment, eyeing the door with the intensity of a hawk watching its prey.

You cleared your throat, unsure of what to say, and Lyris looked up. He offered you a small smirk before softly clicking his tongue twice. Immediately, Madame Whiskers got up, trotting over to her owner’s side and laying back down.

“Piama, you can come in now,” Lyris called, and immediately the door opened, revealing a very huffy Piama.

“Why do you let the cat have more authority in your own home than you do?” Piama complained, before her eyes landed on you. A bright smile immediately lit up her face. “Oh, good morning! Did you sleep well?”

“Uh.” Your brain decided this was an excellent time to remind you that you had shared the bed with Lyris. “Yeah, I slept fine.”

You realized your embarrassment must’ve been showing on your face as Piama grinned. “You’re blushing,” she noted, her tone filled to bursting with thinly veiled excitement. “Did something happen that I should know about?~”

“Now now Piama, don’t you think it’s rather impolite to ask another lady to kiss and tell?” Lyris reprimanded, arching one eyebrow. You breathed a sigh of relief as Piama turned to him, mouthing ‘thank you.’ He gave you a short nod.

You could see that Piama was pouting, but she quickly relented under Lyris’s unimpressed stare. “Fiiiine,” she sighed. She looked back to you. “I’m sorry.”

You offered her your best reassuring smile. “It’s alright. But just for the record, nothing happened between Lyris and I last night.”

That gave Piama pause, blinking in shock. “Wait, seriously? I thought for sure that…”

“Assumptions are a dangerous thing, Piama,” Lyris noted, coming to stand by you. “But I am rather curious as to why you’re so invested in this. Are you perhaps jealous?”

“What? No!” Piama puffed out her cheeks. “Sure, she’s cute, but I—” She stopped, groaning as she realized what he’d just got her to admit. “Lyris, I hate you.”

Lyris hummed, smirking in satisfaction. “Love you too, Piama.” You, meanwhile, were currently trying to process the fact a pretty woman had called you cute.

If looks could kill, you were pretty sure the glare Piama gave Lyris would’ve made him keel over on the spot. “You think she’s cute too,” she accused.

Lyris shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it. “Perhaps. But she’d look cuter in some more updated fashions, don’t you think?”

That was apparently an acceptable distraction for Piama, and soon enough, you found yourself in the largest clothing store you’d ever seen. Your companions navigated it with practiced ease, playfully bantering and bickering back and forth the entire time.

They were debating what shade of green you’d look best in when your thoughts began to drift. You couldn’t really keep up with what the pair were discussing, so you decided that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look around on your own for a bit. “Hey, guys? Is it okay if I wander off for a sec?”

Lyris’s gaze slid over to you for a second as he gave you a brief nod, before returning to animatedly arguing with Piama. Permission granted, you picked a random direction and started walking, not really minding where you ended up.

Your path eventually found you in the store’s jewellery section, and you surveyed the large array of glittering trinkets with awe. Wow. It was pretty much all you could think. All of this is at least ten times fancier than anything I ever saw back home. You frowned as you took note of their price tags. And at least ten times more expensive.

Even so, your eye was still drawn to a sparkling silver necklace. Pale green crystals decorated it with leaves and flowers, and despite the fact you had never been one for luxurious accessories such as this, you found yourself checking the price tag anyway. A hundred and fifty dollars. You sighed, feeling the weight of disappointment settle in your stomach. Oh well, not like I was expecting any different.

You turned to leave only to squawk as you nearly collided with someone, a slight chill shocking you at the point of contact. “Oh shoot, I’m so sor—!”

The sentence died on your tongue as you took a step back, flicking your eyes up to fully take in this dizzyingly handsome stranger. Long black hair streaked with a gorgeous dark blue fell neatly past his shoulders, his head cocked to one side as he surveyed you. You had to repress a shudder under the intensity of his gaze, light purple eyes seeming to pierce right through to your soul and pinning you in place. His deep, deep neckline (if it could even be called that!) did nothing to conceal most of his torso, allowing you a good look at just how powerfully built he was. Fuck. Why do I keep embarrassing myself in front of hot guys?!

You realized he was still staring down at you, expression expectant, and you quickly cleared your throat. “Oh, um. I’m sorry.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow, the absolute picture of arrogance. “You should be more careful where you step,” he reprimanded, catapulting you from bi mode into indignation. Well, mostly.

You put one hand on your hip, giving him an extremely cross look. “Hey, you were the one who snuck up on me without making a damn sound.”

The stranger huffed in amusement, which only made your irritation flare higher. “And yet you still felt it necessary to apologize to me.”

You refused to tell him that it was because you were too flustered to think straight. “That was before you started acting like a haughty princeling.”

A smirk twitched across his lips, and god damn it all, it was just as stupidly attractive as Lyris’s. “You aren’t from here, are you?”

“No, I’ve lived here all my life and I’m just really obsessed with out-of-town fashions, can’t you see?” you snarked back, already not in the mood for bullshit. You tried to be a nice person, you really did, but sometimes…

“My mistake.” His tone didn’t change at all, smirk unfaltering. “I wasn’t aware that any self-respecting Altadellian would take interest in such things.”

You rolled your eyes. “Did you need something or are you just going to stand around insulting me?”

“Perhaps, if it proves entertaining.” Holy shit was this guy a smug bastard. You kind of wanted to punch him in the jaw right now, but as you were in a public space, you refrained.

“Right, well.” You weren’t going to stand here and be some arrogant jerk’s plaything. “If you’ll excuse me, I have places to be.” You stepped around the stranger, though you had barely managed to take a few strides when you heard him call after you.

“Leaving so soon? And here I was considering helping you.”

You gritted your teeth, slowly turning to face him. At least he didn’t look as condescending as before, which was lucky—for him or for you, you didn’t know. “And what could you possibly help me with?”

He tilted his head towards the necklace you’d been admiring, smirk returning. It took all your willpower not to leave then and there. “I couldn’t help but notice you were ogling that necklace there.”

You pressed your lips together in a thin line. Patience. “What about it?”

He didn’t say anything, just giving you an amused, smug look. Before you had a chance to further press, the stranger reached into his pocket, withdrawing several crisp hundred dollar bills. He held them out to you, and in your shock, you took them without thinking.

After a moment, the action fully processed, and you narrowed your eyes. “Wait. Why are you giving me this?” you asked, tone laced with infinite skepticism.

The stranger shrugged one shoulder, looking for all the world as if he didn’t care about the large sum of money he’d just given away. “I have no use for it.”

A voice calling your name stole your attention. Turning to look for the source, you found Lyris nearby, evidently searching for you. You waved to him. “Over here!”

Lyris made his way over to you, a small smile on his face. His expression immediately became filled with curiosity as he noticed the bills in your hand, folding his arms as he nodded to them. “Well now, that’s quite the sum of money you’ve got there. Where’d you get it?”

“Oh! It was given to me by—” You turned to point out the stranger, only to find he was gone. Scanning the aisles, he appeared to have disappeared without a trace. “—this man here. Huh, that’s strange. He was just behind me.”

You looked back at Lyris, who was frowning. “What did he look like?”

Well, at least it wasn’t hard to remember that. You had been having a bi panic over him before he’d opened his mouth. “Long black hair, dark blue streaks. Light purple eyes. His neckline could barely even be considered that—” You stopped as you noticed something strange flit over Lyris’s expression. “Are you alright?”

Lyris shook his head slightly as if to clear it. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he replied, and you couldn’t help but feel as though his smile was fake as he surveyed the nearby area as well. “Whoever he was, he’s gone now.” He didn’t seem willing to dwell on the topic.

You sighed dejectedly. “That’s so weird. I have no idea how he could’ve slipped away in the second I turned my back.” You glanced down at the bills in your hand. “Well, I shouldn’t waste this. He gave me these for a reason, so…”

Your gaze slipped back to the necklace. Lyris followed your line of sight and grinned. “Are you sure you don’t have powers?” he asked teasingly, voice hushed. “You must be psychic to pick an accessory that will go so perfectly with the dress Piama wants you to try.”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly. After dealing with such an enigma of a man, Lyris’s teasing was a familiar comfort. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I spontaneously develop powers,” you quipped. “Lead the way?”

The dress Piama had picked was a simple off-the-shoulder one, green and white with swirling silver trim. It fit you perfectly, and as you stared into the dressing room mirror, you couldn’t help but think, wow, Lyris was right. It’s like the necklace and this dress were made to be a set.

You stepped out and Piama gave a little squeal. “You look like a princess!” she complimented enthusiastically, beaming.

“She’s right,” Lyris confirmed, which might have been the first time you’d heard them agree this entire trip. “You look like an Altadellian, born and bred.”

You went to thank them both before remembering what Lyris had said last night to you about Altadellys. You hesitated. Do I really want to look like I belong in a city that’s apparently much darker than its glittery surface? The thought made your gut twist with unease, but you were pretty sure his statement was meant as a compliment. “Thank you?” Even so, you couldn’t keep the slight questioning tone out of your voice.

Piama turned to Lyris, eyes bright. “This has got to be the one. It’s like it was made for her!”

“You certainly aren’t wrong,” Lyris agreed. “Not to mention I doubt we could find something else we agree on. However…” His gaze flickered over to you. “I believe it should be her final decision.”

You weren’t exactly eager to spend another few hours waiting while your friends bickered about something you really didn’t understand, and the dress was surprisingly more comfortable than it looked. “I like it too,” you decided. “I’ll take it.”

Piama clapped her hands together with glee. “I knew you would! No one will be able to take their eyes off you.”

Looking between Lyris and Piama’s resplendent outfits, you were pretty sure you still looked plain by comparison, but you decided not to comment. “Well, I don’t know about that…”

“Don’t undersell yourself,” Lyris gently reprimanded, and you glanced up at him, surprised. “You were already prettier than half the girls in Altadellys. The outfit just makes it more obvious.”

“Lyris!” Piama pouted, placing her hands on her hips.

Lyris chuckled, shaking his head at her. “Did I not say half the girls in Altadellys? You are as beautiful as ever, Piama, do not worry.”

You didn’t really catch the rest of their banter as Lyris’s words finally sunk in. What?! Heat blossomed in your cheeks as you shook your head, trying desperately to retain your composure. This isn’t the first time he’s said something like this… is he… flirting with me?

“Hey, are you listening?” You jumped as Piama’s voice cut into your reverie.

“She seems a little flushed,” Lyris noted, smirking like the cat who got both the canary and the cream. “Are you feeling well?”

Damn you. Damn you damn you damn you. Well, two could play at that game. “Maybe I do feel a little sick,” you countered, looking him in the eyes. “I feel weak, and my heart rate is through the roof. Do you know what’s wrong with me, Doctor Rosi?”

Lyris’s eyes gleamed with pure, unfiltered delight as he leaned forward, tapping his chin in mock thought. “Those are quite the serious symptoms. I diagnose you with a case of… feelings.”

You let out a dramatic gasp, placing one hand to your forehead as if in terrible agony. “Feelings! Oh, woe is me. Doctor, tell me—will I survive this affliction?”

Lyris gave you a look of such forlorn pity you almost broke character to laugh. “Unfortunately, neither time nor medicine can heal this malady. There are ways to ease the symptoms though…” Mischief curled the corners of his lips.

“I beg of you, tell me what I can do to ease my pain—” You made to mock stumble, only to misjudge your footing and actually trip over your own two feet. You saw Lyris’s act drop as he immediately reached out to catch you, pulling you close to keep you steady. There was a fierce determination in his eyes as he glanced down at you, and you could practically see Peacock’s mask on him.

“Get a room, you two!” The moment was shattered by Piama’s exclamation, and you flushed an even deeper red, looking over to see her grinning widely and slightly conspiratorially. “I mean, tell me everything, but still, get a room.”

You disentangled yourself from Lyris’s arms, hiding your face in your hair as you determinedly looked anywhere but at the two of them. Lyris, meanwhile, seemed completely unfazed, as you heard him chuckle. “As wonderful as your suggestion sounds, Piama, I believe I’m booked for the rest of the day.”

That caught you by surprise, enough for you to temporarily break free of your embarrassment to glance over at him. He gave you a subtle wink, and you immediately understood that oh, he’s going to go do vigilante stuff as Peacock.

Piama, who was evidently not in on the secret, gave an incredulous huff. “Seriously? This has been happening way too often recently. I’m crossing out the partner theory because you’ve been soooo blatantly flirting with her, so what the heck have you been up to?”

Lyris gave her a mysterious smile. “It seems I’m more and more in demand these days. You know how it is—you can never get a moment of peace when you’re someone like me.” He gave an exaggerated sigh, before turning to you. “I’ll leave you in Piama’s hands, but if something does happen… call me.”

“I don’t have your number,” you pointed out, but this only caused him to smirk.

“My mistake. We’ll have to fix that then, won’t we?”

Oh. OH. Holy shit, he was asking for your number. A hot guy… was asking for your number. A hot guy you’d seen almost naked and shared a bed with was asking for your number. You nearly dropped your phone in your haste to pull it out. “Oh, right! Of course, just let me…” You opened up a blank contact, naming it ‘Lyris’ before handing it over to him.

He inputted his number with a smirk, and you quickly sent him a text so that he’d have yours. “I’ll be on my way then. Don’t be a stranger, darling.” He offered you one last wink before turning and striding away. You could only watch him disappear into the crowd, your mind still trying to process what had just happened.

“Didn’t I explicitly tell you not to fall for his charms?” Piama’s playful reprimand brought you back to reality. “Though I guess I can’t blame you.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Okay, one, it’s not what you think, and two… do you mean to imply you might’ve caught feelings for him too?”

“If I had, it would’ve made me no different to half the girls in Altadellys,” Piama replied, and you couldn’t help but note the deflection. She didn’t seem to want to linger on it either, giving you a smug smile. “But he’s definitely never flirted with me like that.”

“Piama…” You sighed, shaking your head, though you found yourself unable to be truly upset with her. “Let’s just go home. I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Piama pouted, evidently not quite ready to give up this piece of juicy gossip, but she did relent easily enough. It was almost a relief to sprawl across your apartment’s couch with a cup of coffee and a packet of oreos, laptop balanced precariously on your knees as you idly clacked at the keys to fill out your application to Optimus.

You had half an oreo caught between your teeth as you finished, hitting the send button with a sigh as you shut your laptop and leaned back on the couch. Piama was holed up in her room working on a new design so you really weren’t sure what you could—

A loud chiming interrupted your thoughts and you jumped, barely managing to avoid spilling your drink everywhere. You quickly opened your messenger, expecting the text to be from Hazel or maybe even Lyris, only to stop and stare as you recognized the sender.

Owl: I’ve processed your application for you. They should be expecting you to start working tomorrow morning.

Shaking yourself out of your daze, you hastened to reply.

You: Already??? How did you do that so fast? I sent it in like, a second ago.

Wait.

You: TOMORROW MORNING???

Owl: I had assumed you’d want to start working as soon as possible. Altadellys is a treacherous city, after all. Hardly a place for someone with no money.

Lyris said the same thing, more or less… You sighed, chewing on your lip. Well, I guess I probably shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, huh?

You: Right, sorry. Well, thank you.

Owl: Don’t mention it.

That seemed to be the end of the conversation, and you waited for Owl to wipe your DMs like they had done earlier in the day. To your surprise, the messages remained. You were about to ask them about it when a thought occurred to you. Wait, this is my chance to get to know more about them! Besides, it’s not like I have anything better to—

A text from Hazel flashed onto your screen and you clicked on it out of instinct.

Hazel: Ok so I know I said this weekend 4 plans with Amara but we got 3 last minute tickets 4 a musical and it’s happening, like, now

...crap.

CHAPTER CHOICE

You've faced with a crossroads! You have the opportunity to gather some information on the mysterious friend of Amara's, Owl, but if you do, you won't be able to go see a last-minute musical with Amara and Hazel. Do you: A) Continue texting with Owl B) Go see the musical with Amara and Hazel

[clickabletale]

Guess who’s back? Back again-

I thought I was done with this but alas I found out @wolfwarrior142 who apparently unhid her profile after mines came back and got some anon hate over this. 

I hadn’t touched her Tumblr after my reblog since I did mine’s publicly on my blog which I thought was enough to illustrate how bizarre her response was and after her posts disappeared, and I thought that was that so there was no need to talk about the matter. 

Until now where I checked her account from my reblog and saw it was up to see this new text post. The reblog feature was disabled so I will have to reenact it here. 

I only ask, whoever is sending her messages, please stop. That doesn’t solve anything and from how insane her posts and logic are, it’s not worth the issue and it isn’t your place to tangled with it. 

This will be (hopefully) my last message. I say hopefully since I don’t know what will happen after so I keep in mind what could change if something new comes out. 

The post went like this

Anonymous asked:

don’t you feel stupid now for attacking someone over their opinion publicly, now you’re gonna hide? hypocrisy, hypocrisy~

wolfwarrior: I’m assuming you’re the dumb bitch who made that post (or their friend). Just gonna say that you shouldn’t post your dumbass ship hate in the ship tag. For one, it wasn’t even valid hate. You made it sound like you never watched the fuckin show. Also, just to make things clear, I’m not mad that plance didn’t become canon. I was sad, but I figured, oh well. It ain’t my show, it’s not the end of the world, they’re just fictional characters, and there’s no point in getting worked up over it. And then this dumb bitch drops by, tags the goddamn ship tag (even tho its common knowledge for anyone with a brain to be a decent fucking person and not do that, regardless of whether or not they like the ship), and makes a dumbass post while whining that oh boo hoo, poor me, I’m gonna get attacked. Yes you will, you dumbass, because you’re being a moron and an asshole for no reason while literally begging to get shit on. I know you probably get your rocks off to people calling out the dumb shit that you do, but I still wanted to call you out for being antagonistic. Legit, tagging any tags for a ship and then shitting on the ship opens you up to being shit on for needlessly being a bitch, and we have all the right to for you coming into the tag and acting that way. And you or someone else said in another anon message that I’m being “toxic,” but nah, I’m not. I’m just calling you out for being an antagonistic asshole who has no regards for decent tagging, and then I left. I said what I wanted to say, and then I left. I could have picked apart your post, because you made piss-poor “points,” but that was pointless because I knew you wouldn’t have cared if a plance fan had debated with you. I at least wanted to point out your poor decision to tag the goddamn ship names, you dumb fuck. Sorry that I didn’t roll over to you being an asshole and be nice. I’m not gonna do that, and I shouldn’t have to when you were being an antagonistic bitch while crying that “I’m afraid of getting attacked for this.” And I wasn’t attacking you, or at least not extremely. I’m just calling you out for making dumbass choices, and you didn’t like that. Oops, not fucking sorry. Also, I love how you say I’m being a hypocrite for “running.” I blocked you and that other fuck because I didn’t want anymore comments from you popping up in my notes. I said what I wanted to say and was done, because if I hadn’t I knew it was gonna further the argument. Also cuz I was about to go into class for 4 hours and didn’t want to be distracted by your dumbasses. But no matter what, at least I had the decency to actually say my opinions in public where my name was visible. I wasn’t afraid of doing that, cuz I meant what I said and wanted to be publicly honest. Apparently you can’t tho, and neither can the person who sent that other message if it wasn’t you, cuz both are anonymous. You’re too much of a little bitch to show your actual name or use an alternate account to send a message, so you send it anonymously instead. Its never looks good for you when you send anon hate. I try my best to never send anon messages unless it’s not antagonistic, because if I’m gonna say it, I need to make sure I’m confident enough to say it with my url showing. Otherwise, I’m just being immature by sending anonymous hate. But obviously you don’t care about being an immature little bitch who is too much of a wimp to send hate directly to someone with your name showing. That let’s me to know that I’m not the immature one here. Also, if you decide to continue to be immature and send anon hate, I’m not gonna respond further. This is the last response you’ll get from me, because antagonistic babies like you aren’t worth more of my time. Have fun hiding behind disguises and crying about being shit on even tho you 100% asked for it.

First off:  I’m assuming you’re the dumb bitch who made that post (or their friend). Just gonna say that you shouldn’t post your dumbass ship hate in the ship tag. For one, it wasn’t even valid hate. You made it sound like you never watched the fuckin show.

So just gonna say, I didn’t send these. When you went dark, I left it at my reblog. Simple as that. I also don’t know a “friend” you’re talking about. I talked about this to my mutuals but I didn’t see them involved in this at all after the topic went dead. The only one I know who was involved with the post was princessbuttershitz I think? (I can’t with the name, I’m sorry XD) I had not known this user until I saw they joined in and reblogged my post on some stuff I hadn’t talked about, but for transparency that is it. They don’t follow me from what I can see or talked to me further than that so it’s just whatever. 

And second, how was my post ship hate? Flat out tell me? Did I call Pidge a horrible person for Lance? No. Did I demonize the age gap? No. Where did you see hate in that post when all I talked about was doubting Plance being canon, talked about the “development” in comparison to Lance’s romance with Allura and rivalry to friendship with Keith? Please tell me with highlights, I’d like to know.

You also say you don’t care Plance wasn’t canon (good for you, I hope you still enjoy it regardless.) and that it wasn’t something to get worked up over. I completely agree, however, if you did believe that why did you bother to respond so hostile like you did? That doesn’t sound right, you said you shouldn’t get worked up over those things right? Especially my post was only a few sentences talking about doubting Plance was going to be endgame, not as the ship as a whole. (Catch me repeating that here.)

Also I have seen the show since 2017-2018. I got into it and it got me through a hard time, I was there for a lot of the seasons. You can see it on my archive. So a big statement you make there. 

Moving on-

“And then this dumb bitch drops by, tags the goddamn ship tag (even tho its common knowledge for anyone with a brain to be a decent fucking person and not do that, regardless of whether or not they like the ship), and makes a dumbass post while whining that oh boo hoo, poor me, I’m gonna get attacked. Yes you will, you dumbass, because you’re being a moron and an asshole for no reason while literally begging to get shit on. I know you probably get your rocks off to people calling out the dumb shit that you do, but I still wanted to call you out for being antagonistic.”

Guys. I implore you to read my first post. It is the lightest thing I have made. I made it to just be upfront about my opinions in a respectful manner in words than how many other fans would recycle argument to make the ship or characters look bad. 

Also with the parentheses, what if it was a Plance shipper who actively made content whether it be theories/fanfics/art/etc. and made my post, you would attack them the same? I sure fucking hope not. Jesus.

I didn’t want that to happen since I genuinely wanted to treat it like a discussion instead of another poorly made ship insult like people on Twitter did back then. I could’ve gone harder and made it pettier than I did but that would delegitimize my argument.

Once again, besides your tag claim, how was I antagonistic in my post? It’s on you to prove it since you’re making the claim. Shouldn’t be hard to prove if you insist it this much. 

My blog is open for people to see and the only person who has made this an issue is you, no one else in the notes. Only person who I can think of is Swindle94 but they were at least more mature than you.

Legit, tagging any tags for a ship and then shitting on the ship opens you up to being shit on for needlessly being a bitch, and we have all the right to for you coming into the tag and acting that way. And you or someone else said in another anon message that I’m being “toxic,” but nah, I’m not. I’m just calling you out for being an antagonistic asshole who has no regards for decent tagging, and then I left.

Once again focusing on the tags. Okay, upfront. So? If I was attacking Plancers with that tag on, that would be valid. All I did was say “hey plance being canon? i disagree, here’s why.”

I’m sorry but if a few sentence post gets you riled up like that, I don’t believe you don’t care. You obviously do. Especially when you replied publicly to this anon. That is your fault.

Also, yes, you are being toxic for responding like this. I had no insults to the Plance community or the ship in my first post. You charged head-on with no regard and decided to belittle me instead of either ignoring or talking it out like the others. Which is a toxic mindset, using insults to defend your fictional couple. So don’t try to have both, it’s not gonna work.

I could have picked apart your post, because you made piss-poor “points,” but that was pointless because I knew you wouldn’t have cared if a plance fan had debated with you.

Link to my replies to two others who reblogged my post: https://clickabletale.tumblr.com/post/190254499687/swindle94-thats-not-what-i-meant-i-shouldve

https://clickabletale.tumblr.com/post/190254645477/i-shouldve-used-another-word-for-it-while-they

Honestly, if you did pick apart my points instead that would be fine and I welcome it. Would’ve been better than your first response. I’m just gonna say you aren’t going to because you know you can’t.

I at least wanted to point out your poor decision to tag the goddamn ship names, you dumb fuck. Sorry that I didn’t roll over to you being an asshole and be nice. I’m not gonna do that, and I shouldn’t have to when you were being an antagonistic bitch while crying that “I’m afraid of getting attacked for this.” And I wasn’t attacking you, or at least not extremely. I’m just calling you out for making dumbass choices, and you didn’t like that. Oops, not fucking sorry. Also, I love how you say I’m being a hypocrite for “running.” I blocked you and that other fuck because I didn’t want anymore comments from you popping up in my notes. I said what I wanted to say and was done, because if I hadn’t I knew it was gonna further the argument.

Once again, to anyone who wants the original post it is here: https://clickabletale.tumblr.com/post/190247521977/i-remember-i-was-scared-to-say-this-back-when-the

If I’m being antagonizing in my words, let me know where please and thank you. 

And you only worded your post in an attacking manner (you did, throwing insults fast. Don’t tip toe around it, you fired at the most minial shit.)

Also not sure about the running comment? I don’t recall calling you a hypocrite on that, I don’t know what you mean by that.

Also cuz I was about to go into class for 4 hours and didn’t want to be distracted by your dumbasses. But no matter what, at least I had the decency to actually say my opinions in public where my name was visible. I wasn’t afraid of doing that, cuz I meant what I said and wanted to be publicly honest. Apparently you can’t tho, and neither can the person who sent that other message if it wasn’t you, cuz both are anonymous.

I did, my original post. I did so in a way that explained my thoughts in a non-insulting manner. 

You just came in unloaded and wrong, you should just step back to think before replying so people will actually listen and reason with you and no think you are insane.

At least your honest I guess? But that kind of backfired if you hid your profile after. My post is still up, with your words for anyone who wants to see it. Even linking right here. 

And once again, I don’t care to message you since you did block me and dipped. I left it at my reblog with responding to you and talked about the isssue on how dumb it was to get angry over since the only one who seems to be this angry over it, is you.

I don’t want anyone coming for you, and I will say again if anyone intends to: don’t. That doesn’t solve anything so don’t come to belittle her. 

You’re too much of a little bitch to show your actual name or use an alternate account to send a message, so you send it anonymously instead. Its never looks good for you when you send anon hate. I try my best to never send anon messages unless it’s not antagonistic, because if I’m gonna say it, I need to make sure I’m confident enough to say it with my url showing. Otherwise, I’m just being immature by sending anonymous hate. But obviously you don’t care about being an immature little bitch who is too much of a wimp to send hate directly to someone with your name showing. That let’s me to know that I’m not the immature one here. Also, if you decide to continue to be immature and send anon hate, I’m not gonna respond further. This is the last response you’ll get from me, because antagonistic babies like you aren’t worth more of my time. Have fun hiding behind disguises and crying about being shit on even tho you 100% asked for it.

Once again, wolfwarrior142. I don’t care to see you or send things like this. I don’t advocate those messages or hate to you, I want it to stop if it keeps happening but you don’t have a smoking gun in this. 

You obviously have some issues and you aren’t arguing them rationally, and you are advocating for attacks over the smallest shit being a tag about disagreeing two fictional characters were gonna bone. How do you justify something so ridiculous? 

So no matter how much you try to say you’re not a toxic fan if you go out to insult people over their opinion or the tags or whatever when it’s not inciting hate against the ship or you don’t bother to show how it’s hate or debate it.

That is toxic. You can’t spin it around. 

So that is it. I hope this is the last. I’m still in disbelief at how insanely she reacts and justifies her behavior. This is not okay, nothing about her response is okay. It’s a shitty thing to do and I hope you don’t do this to anyone else, that’s all I gotta say.

[anathema-game]

🌙☀️🌠 Hear ye, hear ye! To all our faithful supporters, followers and friends of the crown:

TWIST OF FATE: ANATHEMA WILL BE GOING ON AN INDEFINITE HIATUS.

While the project is not perfectly abandoned, various circumstances have made me, Meishali, decide it was time for a change. There will be a future in which I’ll return to finish what I have started: Anathema deserves its place in the world, and I shall find it. 

If you wish to read a more transparent why/how, please follow the link under the cut.

BEGINNINGS AND ENDS

For those who follow the blog and have read our entries, many know that Anathema is a love project, and many, many hours went into Anathema’s writing, code, visual designs, and overall conceptualization since 2016. It was something we did ontop of our IRL jobs, commission work, and other things. 

While working on it was its own reward, Merriweather got somewhat swarmed by life’s imperatives; and if it was something we discussed, I planned and even braced myself for, I failed to keep myself steady when I was left to my own devices.

Things moved slowly on my own, and true motivation never came. I considered hiring assistance in writing and corrections to keep this burden off of my shoulders while I tended to the game’s visual assets, unfortunately, these plans fell through due to an absence of communication or true interest from the interested parties.

INTEREST DWINDLING

Needless to say, this was just a bummer. Nothing seemed to work. I am not one for group projects, but I considered Anathema as a way to keep each other in check; both through the competitive aspect of group work and the fact that I knew that, no matter what, I was not alone. 

I wanted to try, before I gave into any personal project. It didn’t work. Anathema didn’t feel like something I would write, or design, or direct, or produce anymore. It felt as though it wasn’t mine, at all, and I came to loathe the idea of even having my name associated with it.

CUT THE LIMB

To stick by Anathema in this state was a chore. To draw assets, to read pages and pages of python and Ren’py documentation. To write chapters in the background, juggling with commission work and hobbies. It didn’t provide the satisfaction production typically offers me.

I also felt shame: this is not the first time I’ve started up a project only to see it fail because of my own shortcomings. Friends and family are supportive, but they want “tangible results”, and most are unable to understand how most artistic processes work. 

This added a layer of stress I didn’t, or couldn’t explain to anyone, as my actual entourage know I’m not one to bend to other people’s whims. I forced myself to keep up with the production because of other people’s expectations, namely those who struggle to understand why I do what I do. To them, it seems to amount to nothing but pretty characters posing on blogs, for nerds and geeks to consume and enjoy.

I realized I started to resent its characters, its concepts, its story, and more: when I felt that growing inside, I wasn’t proud of it at all. Thankfully, a moment of clarity allowed me to cut the limb and stop forcing myself, lest it influences the work. And it was already starting to. Quality can never be achieved if love isn’t present, and I found myself realizing I didn’t love Anathema anymore.

In the end, it’s not unlike a bad breakup. You feel it coming, and it can not be prevented whatsoever. I was saddened by own attitude and decided it was best to take some genuine distance with it and come back with hindsight, and only when I get the (internal) firepower needed to battle this project.

I still have a lot of affection for its main character, the Runereader, and I hope to do them justice some day.

WHAT’S NEXT IN STORE

My webcomic project: CAUSE. A thing I planned on doing the year Anathema was conceptualized: this is something I can do now and on my own. Something I will do, something I have absolute love for, and something I will write in good faith. It is mine, it is something I would write, it is something I would design, and it is something I would direct and produce. I can see the Runereader passing the baton my own protagonist, and I am thankful for the gesture.

A MILLION THANK YOUS

We’ve had a couple hundreds of followers, and I want to thank you for making this journey enlightening, and a wonderful learning opportunity. Your likes, asks, and reblogs have been seen and provided additional energy I needed then.

You can find my art and other projects on tumblr and on twitter, and do a little extra-support gesture by checking out my patreon.

See you soon, hopefully somewhere in As-Surim,

Thank you.