#i accidentally stuck to a bunch of background characters and now they have detailed personalities in my head

[emily-the-fae]

The Black Sisters and their husbands

Headcannon

This has been taking form for a very long time in my head and I needed to structurize it somehow, here's the team (how I see them):

(Helena Bonham Carter and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as)

Bellatrix Lestrange (neé) Black

born 16.07.1952

and

Rodolphus Lestrange

born 07.11.1951

(Rachel Weisz and Kevin Costner as)

Andromeda Tonks (neé Black)

born 11.12.1954

and

Edward "Ted" William Tonks

born 22.04.1952

(Helen McCrory and Jason Isaacs as)

Narcissa Malfoy (neé Black)

born 18.10.1956

and

Lucius Malfoy

born 07.09.1954

Bonus older generation:

The Lestranges:

(Amy Adams and Mads Mikkelsen as)

Marilyn Lestrange (neé Fawley)

12.09.1928 - 21.01.1964

and

Christen Lestrange

18.11.1907 - 11.02.1974

The Malfoys:

(Cate Blanchett and Alexander Skarsgard as)

Leticia Malfoy (neé Avery)

11.01.1930 - 07.05.2011

and

Abraxas Malfoy

02.02.1918 - 14.10.1989

The Blacks:

(Rosamund Pike and Hugh Grant as)

Druella Black (neé Rosier)

05.10.1931 - 30.08.1985

and

Cygnus Black

08.12.1925 - 10.01.1979

[erosia-rhodes]

Top 9 Newbie thoughts on Supernatural after Six Months of Madness

I started watching Supernatural a week before the series finale, and full disclosure, it was only because I heard about the gay angel. I loved me some Good Omens, so I decided to check out a series my only previous thoughts about had been, "Is that show still on?" In the past six months, I've watched about fifty percent of the episodes scattered across all fifteen seasons. I've also spent time following the bonkers-in-the-best-way fandom on Tumblr, and here is what I have learned:

1) Everyone who loves Supernatural also hates Supernatural

No one is capable of praising this show without also trashing it. Supernatural is as awful as it is awesome. Watching Supernatural is like hate-fucking your nemesis against a wall; you're totally conflicted about it, but it's enormously pleasurable and you know you're going to do it over and over again. No one has a pure, untainted love for this show. They only have complicated emotions. This is because…

2) The fact that the show needs to be fixed is an essential part of its appeal

Strangely, if this show were better, it wouldn't be as popular. If you love a show that is perfect, you watch it once or twice or thrice, make a bunch of memes, and move on with your life two years later when you find something else to hyper-fixate on. If you love a show that's broken, you spend the rest of your life obsessed with fixing it. It's the crooked photo hanging on the wall that yearns to be straightened (because, you know, this show is bad at making things straight). It's the stray dog you know would be adoptable if you fattened it up and socialized it with your other dogs, and just like some people can't stop rescuing animals, Supernatural fans can't stop thinking about how to fix a show that isn't great, but could be with a flea bath and a trip to the groomers. Supernatural fans are not fans of the actual show, but of the show they imagine it could be, one that only exists in an alternate universe. They are in love with the Platonic ideal of Supernatural. That's also the reason why…

3) The fans understand the characters and themes better than 95% of the people who worked on the show

The people who watch Supernatural have thought about it way, way, way, more than anyone who produced it. I have read complex essays about what the color of people's clothing imply and how the state of the Impala reflects the state of Dean's mental health and other things I'm certain this show did not do intentionally. People can find depth in the shallowest aspects of this series. Any random fan could explain the complicated dynamics of the Winchester family and the overriding themes of the series better than most of the people who worked on it. That includes the LGBTQ stuff, which leads to the fact that…

4) The show is simultaneously too gay and not gay enough

On one end of the spectrum are fans who are offended you would dare to suggest one of the Winchesters might like kissing a boy and they'll shove you in a locker and duct tape your butt cheeks together for it. On the other end of the spectrum are fans who think it's odd that every episode doesn't end with two attractive men dry humping in a dark corner of the bunker library. No one is happy with the level of gayness on this show. It's always got too much "No Homo" or too much queer subtext, which is why I've concluded that…

5) The audience this show wanted is not the audience they got and they are resentful of it

The original pitch for this show targeted a male demographic who’s into toxic masculinity in a non-ironic way. It was about bros and beers and muscle cars and shotguns and hot chicks who will be killed to further the man's storyline. However, when making that show, they accidentally created a show that attracted female viewers who liked speculating about the queer subtext of each scene while looking at pretty men with traumatic backstories fight back their man tears. The show depends on the unintended audience segment to survive, but is bitter about it, which they remind you of time and time again by killing the female and non-white characters and toying with endless queer-baiting. It's like the writers got a plane to Rome, ended up in a gay nightclub in Amsterdam instead, and even though the canals and tulips make it a lovely city to visit, they wanted to go to Rome, damnit, and they'll never let you forget it! I also suspect that…

6) The people who made this show were at constant war with each other

This show has such a split personality. Sometimes it leans into the gay stuff and other times it makes fun of it outright. Sometimes they'll introduce an interesting side character that could make the show more diverse and then they'll slaughter that person for practically no reason. Sometimes they praise free will and other times they force people down pre-destined paths. The writers feel like a dysfunctional family stuck at Thanksgiving dinner endlessly squabbling with each other—who then had to write a TV show together over dessert. That's why it's such a weird hot mess. The show's unevenness makes me think that…

7) Some people's attachment to the show can only be explained by the fact that it imprinted on them when they were young

Some fans have mentioned they started watching Supernatural when they were kids. It's a pretty common experience to go back and watch things you loved when you were a kid and realize they were…not so good. Your memories of them are far better than the reality of them, but you cling to them anyway. The shows you watch when you're young imprint on you in a way you never forget. Supernatural fans are like a baby duck who looks up at a cat and assumes it’s their mother. Then that cat slices open their poor little hearts, leaving them wounded but not dead, forever be toyed with in agony. The only relief is that…

8) The fandom is batshit insane in the best way

I started following the Supernatural fandom on Tumblr in November of 2020 and OMG, it was AH-MAZE-ING. It was total insanity. I didn't understand half of what was going on, but it was more fun than a yard full of puppies doing zoomies. People were posting detailed PowerPoint presentations theorizing how the series would end, citing extensive physical evidence like the background in Misha's hotel room. People learned election results through Supernatural memes. Destiel went canon every other week. When the Spanish dub was released, Tumblr literally crashed! Obama's Twitter was following a Destiel account. There was a Twitter wedding for Destiel on Valentine's Day, which made the one-month anniversary on Pi Day.

It's been a ride, y'all. I have no idea how you guys survived fifteen years of this. The fandom has been so much fun that I actually sat down and watched more than 100 hours of this show so I could understand everything better. It's like the show is an extension of the fandom instead of vice versa. If anything sums up Supernatural for me, that's it. It's all about the fandom and the show is secondary to that. It's like the fans willed the show into existence as part of some partially botched spell. And part of that twisted spell is that…

9) The show will never die until someone finds its bones and burns them

This show has been off the air for more than six months now and it keeps trending on Tumblr consistently. Misha recently trended on Twitter simply because he was at the Oscars. That was it! He didn't even do anything there, he just attended, and some people figured it out by the reflection in a photo posted by someone else! And just as I was proofreading this post, Destiel started trending again because John Cena is a stan or something? This fandom is crazy and unpredictable and I love it like Dean loves pie! If there ever does come a time when this show stops trending, that will be the moment when they decide to reboot it or revisit it.

There is a lot more I could say about this show, but these were the elements that seemed most unique and bizarre about it. I wouldn't say Supernatural is a ride-or-die fandom for me, and I have no intention of watching another 100 hours of this series, but it's been hella' fun to drop in for a while. The show is just as much a dysfunctional mess as the Winchester family and I guess that's why people love it, right?

[stickystarspectrumtroll-ocs]

I made all my OCs in this amazingballztastical EGG PICREW

To start with, here’s Luna’s egg! I tried to give it a “mysterious mystical creature of the night” vibe, she’s kinda got that going on. The key is for how sneaky and devious she is, the way she’s always got tricks up her sleeve. The sinister-looking symbol branded front and center is more for the assumptions and judgements that were stuck on her ever since she was born. The black angel wings are kind of for both. The black and white feathers at the top are symbols of both her morally ambiguous nature and the vague fragments of her origin story I have rolling around in my head.

Jewel’s egg! I tried to give this as much of her and her island’s aesthetic as possible. The vibrant colors, the jewels, the flowers, the magic. Honestly, I think I nailed it! This egg absolutely SCREAMS “Jewel”.

Allets’s egg! Her whole life she’s been chained to the tight confines of stuffy upright royal life, her parents have tried their hardest to mold her into that and she’s tried her hardest to comply, but she can never quite suppress that spirit inside of her always bursting to get out. So, I made this egg show that spirit of who she really is finally breaking free! The egg’s all fancy lace and spiffy little angel wings with a big crown on top, the gilded cage she was raised in, but there’s a bit of vibrant and colorful detailing too, and the egg’s breaking wide open, releasing colorful butterflies and swirling rainbows. Simple and clear symbolism that I think came out great!

Here we have Eliote’s egg! It’s surrounded by darkness, as she’s been metaphorically for much of her life. It’s got this dark woodsy aesthetic, for all the time she’s spent out in the dark Endless Woods and just the general state of mind she’s been in. That white stem in the middle? It might look like a tree but it’s the stem of a black flower that’s supposed to represent her parents’ deaths. You can’t really see the flower though, ‘cause that’s (accidentally but rather fittingly) where the egg’s broken open, releasing blue butterflies and glowy petals! That’s to show her true colors shining through starting to heal from all that pain and trauma. Connecting with a few people who support and care for her and starting to feel happy again, also regaining her magical ability that she lost touch with after losing her parents.

This is Maddie T’s egg! I think those blue mushrooms at the top have kind of a Wonderland-ish vibe, don’t you? It’s got plenty of eye-popping brightly colored things here to show Maddie T’s off-the-wall personality. The actual egg that all of those are on has some cooler colors to balance that out a little, and I think that egg by itself might have more of a classical fantasy vibe, which I think goes to show that however outlandish and nonsensical Maddie T can be, she’s more than just a clown. There’s a lot going on in her head, her thoughts can be deep and interesting and outside-the-box in ways that can be a serious strength. She’s a ravenclaw in the Hogwarts AU for a reason!

Here’s Finley’s egg! I think it fits her general vibe and aesthetic pretty well! I made an envelope bursting out the middle and a plant growing out of the top, representing how she has this insatiable hunger for knowledge and learning, and tons of potential just kicking and screaming to be realized. That potential along with her fairy magic is also shown by the four sets of colorful wings.

Penny’s egg is bright, glowing yellow, like sunshine! It has colorful shapes that look like they could be painted or cut out of paper for an arts and crafts project. There’s a colorful (paint?) ring around it and big colorful (paint?) spots surrounding it too. All of which represent her personality and her love of bright colors and arts and crafts. The black flower front and center, the foggy black patch at the top with black and white ghostly mushrooms, and even the darkness around the whole thing are there to represent her being a vampire and the impact that it’s had on her. The cracks are there for that too--she’s been broken and is trying to pull the pieces back together and hold them together. Heck, she’s drawn these colorful little houses on the cracks, like they’re the roads of a little town, or the branches of a tree with a tiny bird or fairy town in it. She’s trying to make something good out of this, take her pain and make something out of it that brings a smile to her face. Overall, I feel like what I was going for here is that there’s a darkness that’s been planted inside her and threatens to consume her, and she’s trying her DANG hardest to draw up enough color and light from within herself to keep that from happening.

And finally, Twig’s egg! This one was a bit tricky. I was a little unsure about how simple it looked, but maybe it makes sense with her being the baby of the bunch? (She’s 11, the rest of the OC squad ranges from 13 to 15 and the canon Trolls characters she’s friends with are young adults.) The colorful shapes down there look like they could be cut out of paper for a craft project. They also kinda look like troll pods! The flower could be cut from felt and paper too maybe. She could’ve scrapbooked most of the designs on this egg. The base color is a pretty bright color and pretty nature-y, which fits the environment she’s from. The crack in the middle and the dark patch at the top where the egg's broken open are kind of like her gray arm-stripe and freckles, showing her less typical-troll-like traits and her insecurities about them. The branches (ha...Branch...es...) around it can also be for that side of her, as well as the slightly shadowed background casting just a little bit of darkness over it. The general brightness of the egg and the sun spots at the top could show how she really is more on the sunny and whimsical side by nature though.

Whoo! This was fun! I love this picrew and I love how the eggs came out. I’ve got one for C.C. too, but I think I’ll hold off adding that until I get Jasper’s right, and it’s getting late now. Hope y’all liked these!!

[sharethisgemwithme]

Zach and Grace Friday panel at Connecticon 2019

Some highlights and notes from the "Growing Up with Steven Universe" panel featuring Zach Callison and Grace Rolek, Friday afternoon at Connecticon 2019. There are some promo spoilers. Most quotes are approximate from the notes I took on my phone. There may be a recording of the panel, but the camera was blocked by the audience question line for a while and when I got to the front of the line, I saw it wasn't even pointed at Zach and Grace.

Sorted into broad categories:

Movie hype / spoilery talk

Host asked about the poster. Zach said he's kinda looked at it, but not studied it closely. Grace: "Spoiler alert, someone has a neck." Zach: "That's all anyone can talk about."

What's the hardest scene to record that you've done. Zach: "I hate to do this but the hardest scene I've done I did a few weeks ago and I can't talk about it for quite a while." [audience groans]

Audience member: "I have a question about the movie." Zach makes police siren noises, "Oh no the Cartoon Network spoiler police!"

Attempts to get even small details were denied. "So we saw you have a neck. Is your voice going to change?" [pause] Zach: "A week from today (Friday), there's a big panel and there's gonna be a bunch of stuff. I recommend you watch."

This was earlier in the day, when I met Zach in the autograph line. Me: "I'm really looking forward to all the stuff that's gonna come out next week in San Diego." Zach: "There's so much. I'm not going to be there, after six years of going, I need a vacation."

Zach makes ABUNDANTLY clear how excited he is for what's coming up, "I am thrilled with what they've done after CYM."

Reaction to the new gems from CYM. Zach: "Sunstone is one of my favorites now. Like an after-school camp counselor." Grace: "Obsidian is one of the hardest secrets I've ever had to keep on this show." They finished recording CYM in 2017!

Have you ever cried in the recording booth? Zach: "Over a dozen times. One time really badly... with something that hasn't come out yet."

What's the biggest theme you've taken from the show? Zach: "I'm really sorry to do this, but I'm gonna skip this question because the theme I take away is something that hasn't come up in the show yet." He says the show has become intensely personal to him and his experiences, both intentionally and unintentionally, and says if he accidentally gave hints as to upcoming themes, it wouldn't be fair to the crew. (This probably ties in with some of the stuff below under “Outside of SU”)

Favorites and funniest

What's the hardest scene to record that you've done. Among stuff that's aired, Zach: Storm in the Room. Connie: "Either Nightmare Hospital or Full Disclosure when Connie is like 'Stop ghosting me, Steven!' "

What are some funny moments from recording? The opening scene from "Winter Forecast", the directors INSISTED on real marshmallows, "nothing else would do". Grace: "And these were not small. There's jumbo and then there's novelty size." Zach: "They got novelty size." Grace: "I could barely fit one inside my mouth."

Favorite episode (this question might've had a "besides the Big Plot episodes" caveat).

Zach: "Onion Gang. Any of the weird Onion episodes."

Grace: "I realize this is an unpopular opinion but I love the Ronaldo episodes. I have a Keep Beach City Weird sticker on my laptop. I don't like having stuff that's too overtly Steven Universe because I don't like to toot my own horn, but KBCW is great because it's 'if you know, you know'." Zach: "It's a lifestyle."

That segued into talk about "Rocknaldo", which Zach thought was hilarious, especially the way CN trolled everyone with the Bloodstone promo. Grace "Was that the one where Ronaldo tried to kill someone in the basement?" Discussion brings up that's "Horror Club". Grace continues, "That was a great one, like what are we DOING? No one went to jail for this?"

Favorite songs:

First, ones that they did.

Zach said "Let's Only Think About Love". I think he added a second one, but my notes say “or” and then stop there so I think I moved on to the next bit and forgot what else he said.

Grace says "Of course 'Do it for Her'" but also that she loved providing background harmonies for "Escapism". "Aly and AJ was the first concert I ever went to, so to do back-up vocals for AJ was the greatest fangirl moment." (There’s been some confusion as to whether Zach and Grace had vocals on that song, it’s now clear that they did)

Then, overall. Zach immediately sings "It's over, isn't it? Isn't it over?" Grace grumbles that she can't take the same answer, so she throws out "Stronger Than You".

"Back in the start of the show, it was a lot more lighthearted. What's the funniest or weirdest line you had to record?" Zach IMMEDIATELY goes into voice: "A boy on the cusp of manhood can't spend the whole day wackering." Grace enjoyed her line from "Open Book": "Of course you like the ending, you LOVE schmultz."

Pivoting into the weirdness of early episodes, Zach says "Frybo and Cat Fingers were back to back, 5 and 6. I don't know how anyone stuck with the show after that."

What's the biggest theme you've taken from the show? Grace: "I think about Mindful Education all the time. Here Comes a Thought is such a great song but also an important mantra."

Other than Uncle Grandpa, what crossover would you like to do? Zach: "I wanna be the very best!" Audience cheers. Grace says she would've loved to do "Adventure Time".

This segues into a joke that people confuse Zach for Jeremy Shada (Finn), in some cases even when Zach is standing in front of a poster that says ZACH CALLISON. Grace says that her boyfriend loves the joke so much that Zach is listed in his phone as "Jeremy Shada".

Behind the scenes

What was it like seeing the show blow up the way it did? Grace: "I used to go on Tumblr and read all the posts, all the reactions people had, but after Jail Break... couldn't do that anymore." Zach: "I poke my head into a reddit every once in a while."

What's it like in the booth with the rest of the cast? Grace: "Deedee and Michaela always get to do the funniest things."

Discussion of how voice acting lends them a little more anonymity than live-action, and there's still a spectrum of how recognizable people are.

Grace recounts a story from earlier in the day, possibly on the way to that very panel. "The elevator was pretty crowded and I was able to get on but Zach wasn't. And as soon as it closed, one of the other people in the elevator was like 'Oh my god, Zach Callison almost got on the elevator with us!' And I was like 'Oh my god, that would've been so cool!'"

Both Zach and Grace recounted times when they've greeted stranger wearing SU apparel and gotten blank stares in response, like, "Uh, yeah, what's your point?"

Zach: "As of Sunday, I'm leaving the country to be a hobo for a bit." He's flying to Siberia, then taking a 62-hour train ride to get on a boat to Korea, where he plans to visit the Korean animation studio where SU is drawn (as seen in "Steven's Dream"), something almost no actors do (apparently Michaela was more or less the first to do so, for any show at all).

Sometimes Grace will have a lot of "catching up" to do with the plot. "One time Rebecca was like 'oh by the way Lars is pink now." Zach jokes, "Lars is pink, Ronaldo and Pearl are married, oh and Steven is dead."

Have you ever cried in the recording booth? Zach: "Over a dozen times." Grace says she has, sometimes in group records.

More joking around: "Yes, I'm Zach Callison, the voice of Onion. I'll be in my booth." "You should have a print that's just Onion." "With the flames behind him."

What were your auditions like? Grace: "I was reading the sides from 'Bubble Buddies', and Connie is worried she's gonna die with no friends and I was like 'This is a kids show? This is a show for children and I'm supposed to say these words?!'" She saw Rebecca Sugar's name attached to the show, which she recognized as a fan of Adventure Time, particularly Marceline "I'm edgy like her!"

Audience member starts her question: "Ohmygod, my heart is in my ass. Wait, can I say ass?" Grace: "You can say whatever you want, you're not under the thumb of Time Warner." Zach: "Technically, I've never signed any NDA. Oh hell, I'm leaving the country in three days. ACT ONE!" [laughter, and he does not continue with joke spoilers]

Outside of Steven Universe

Tell us about yourself outside of Steven Universe. Zach: "I'm a dirty rowdy hippie." He goes to music festivals barefoot (but not urban ones).

Zach talked about some of the over-the-top scenes he's been in or seen on "The Goldbergs", where he plays a minor recurring character, including one where the actual rain they were filming in wasn't enough, so the producers dumped thousands of gallons of additional rainwater on the cast.

Zach said he hasn't auditioned for anything new in a while (I think he said at least a year) because of burnout. Whenever SU may end, he's ready for a break. Following on with that, discussion of what a shitty industry Hollywood is, especially for kids.

Zach: "A lotta people (in this industry), their big break is a show they hate, and that kills me to think that. And it couldn't be further from the truth for anyone in SU. If I had booked a live-action sitcom that ran six seasons, I wouldn't be here. I'd be in a much darker place."

What would you be doing if not this?

Zach: "I enrolled in college, signed up for things, never went to class, and eventually dropped out. I never had any other plan." Ties into further discussion of what an absolute nightmare Hollywood is for kids, that some of his friends from high school are no longer around.

Grace: "I went to college for two years (she would've graduated this spring), trying to make sure I had a plan B lined up. But flying back and forth from San Francisco to Los Angeles was getting ridiculous and I realized I wasn't being fair to my plan A."

[wamawamachihuahuamama]

1. Favorite place to write.

On break during school or work.

2. Favorite part of writing.

The exciting, vibrant, fuzzy feeling I get when something comes out really good.

3. Least favorite part of writing.

Writer's block.

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

Not writing but still holding onto the someday mantra.

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

I don't really know, I read a lot. Like A LOT a lot.

6. Favorite character you ever created.

Justin Gabe Leon of The Consequences of Beth. He is supposed to be like the good guy, but he is way worse than anyone realizes.

7. Favorite author.

Stephen King.

8. Favorite trope to write.

Hurt/Comfort.

9. Least favorite trope to write.

Anything with a bad ending.

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

l'd write a story with my middle school best friend that shall not be named. Likely a romance because we both are reluctantly prone to writing them.

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

I write like crazy and professionally for like a week and then I get busy with something else and the inspiration disperses and I only write sometimes. Like only when I get an idea or something. A lot of fanfictions to be honest.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

I tell myself it is in my head. Most everyone who had read my stuff thinks it has a lot of potential.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

I try to write through it. If I'm really stuck, I rewind and rewrite already written scenes until I get a further idea of what to do with it.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

Probably when I wrote a fanfiction of Soul Eater and I needed some information about some secondray characters. Most of the time i go by a write what you know mantra.

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from other writers works.

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

My motivation comes from nothing except random feelings of "what the hell am I doing with my life."

17. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

On average, I write very little. It's mostly whatever I have to write for class.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

I rewrite as I go. Then again at the end. Then repeat. It just keeps going.

19. First line of a WIP you’re working on.

“I was woken by the gunshots.”

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

Amidst a dreary fog, a young woman finds herself disoriented by looming lights, becoming closer and larger by the second. Her vision glares and the few paces she could see in front of herself fade away. She blindly throws her arms out to keep upright as she continues towards her destination and, more importantly, away from the glowing orbs behind her. Just as her vision begins to return, it is enveloped in darkness again. Had the lights dispersed? She glances over her shoulder for a moment. They are still there, but smaller, and concealed by the trees. She sighs relievedly and turns back around. A cold chill rushes past her. Annoyedly, she tugs at the strings of her hoodie. The thick fabric falls over her eyes. Before she can even reach up to move it out of her view, she kicks herself in the heel. Flailing about wildly, she stumbles forward. Long blades of grass grab at her ankles. 

A strangled yelp escapes her as she finally hits the ground. Her palms burn, sending worse tingling sensations up her arms until they give out completely. She fights to sit up again, flailing backward and landing on her butt. Cold rainwater soaks through her jeans. She grimaces. 

Then, she gasps. Little shards of rocks cover her palms, trapped in tiny cuts. She brushes them away the best she can. Most of the pebbles fall onto her lap while others remain deeply embedded. Cursing to herself, she looks around for something to work them out with. More of the same tiny rocks surround her. They stretch far in front of her and even farther to her left. It’s a driveway.

Scrambling to her feet, she begins to dash down the road. Nothing appears in front of her or changes around her. She slows to a stop, breathing heavily. It’s too dark to tell if she is heading in the right direction. Everything is either black, gray, or disguised by scattered, glittery orbs. The lights begin to form into one, brightening the path in front of her. Not too far away is a house.

Despite how long she has been looking for it, it’s nothing extravagant. A simple trailer hidden by trees and lined by bushes. It’s hardly visible at all in fact. As she gets closer though, she notices good elements to the structure. A small porch leads up to the door, beside it is a bush, and between the two is just enough space for her to slip between.  

Crouching down, she pulls dead leaves and other muck over her like a blanket. Another sickening feeling moves through her as the moist goo makes contact with her bare skin. Or maybe the twists through her gut are caused by the sound of gravel crunching under the wheels of a car. The vehicle stops and the lights go out. 

A door flies open and someone steps out. He wanders cautiously towards her without shutting the door. Of course he saw her and of course he is going to be smart about confrontation. She closes her eyes and listens to him walk. Each stomp is closer than the last. Then it stops again and her eyelids turn orange. 

The yellow circle from a flashlight luminates the siding above her head. It rests there for a moment before dashing across the house. It reaches the woods and turns around again, following the same path before landing on her. Their eyes meet and he drops the flashlight. 

A minute passes and neither makes  an effort to retrieve it. It’s all so overwhelming. He anticipated a startled racoon; or even a deer; not the cowering eyes of his highschool sweetheart. Her name and everything else he wants to say attempts to seep between his lips, but he bites down before his thoughts become verbalized. If he allows himself to say, or do anything for that matter, he’s terrified of what he would do. 

The light was on them for merely a second, but that's all it took for him to recognize her and hear him. Six years should have been more than enough time for them to become strangers, but with her expression it is obvious she had no trouble identifying him as well. Picking up the flashlight and redirecting it to her, he takes in her aged form. Her hair is the same length and she bares the same expressions. Her name fights at the tip of his tongue again, the only thing he can think to say. “Beth?”

21. Post the last sentence you wrote in one of your WIP’s.

Not again, not again. 

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?

Yeah, haven’t figured that out yet. 

23. Single or multi POV, and why?

Single, definitely single. It can get confusing and I find it to be a bit of lazy writing... don’t come after me. 

24. Poetry or prose, and why?

Definitely poetry. I write a lot of it to decipher my feelings and it just sorta sounds cool. 

25. Linear or non-linear, and why?

It depends on the story. I definitely have a habit of writing non-linear. I’m not the type to start with a whole bunch of background, you learn as you go just like when you meet someone. 

26. Standalone or series, and why?

Standalone. I don’t like it as a reader because I want the conclusion within reach and I have a feeling a lot of my readers feel the same way. I can live with torturing with a dead character or two but I cannot make them die of anticipation. 

27. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 28. And who do you share them with?

I used to share rough drafts with people, but now I don’t even share polished stories. I don’t want to upset people or make them worry about me or get a bad review or to have my ideas stolen and done better... yeah, they are kinda for my eyes alone. 

29. Who do you write for?

I write for my future readers and for my own enjoyment. 

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.

My favorite line I have ever written has to be “Don’t let the probable be more important than the definite.” 

31. Hardest character to write.

The hardest character to write is someone very positive. 

32. Easiest character to write.

The easiest character to write is Madeline from The Locket. 

33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Sometimes. It depends on where I am when I am writing. 

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

Handwritten. It’s more memorable based on some studies I’ve read on studying and I have an addiction to notebooks. 

35. Tell some backstory details about one of your characters in your story

 Bethany is the accidental baby of a successful business women who abandoned her and an abusive, alcoholic father. She pushes people away to avoid being hurt and doesn’t really want anyone around anyways. Then she befriended the new boy at school and kissed him during a spur of a moment, last minute spiteful action against her late father. An orphan, she must trust the one person who doesn’t let her push him away. 

36. A spoiler for story 

Peter dies at the end. 

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

“It’s not the absense of fear, it’s over coming it.” - Emma Watson.

38. Have you shared your outline of your story ________ with someone? If so, what did they think of it?

No, I’ve never shared an outline. I shared verbal ideas with my friends in middle school and “finished” stories with friends in elementary school. 

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

No, I don’t base my characters off of real people. I think it is wrong. It is a way to deal I’m sure, but it is also hurtful. 

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

Both. I write fanfiction for practice and fiction as the “real deal”. 

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

I work on one and will do random little prompts in between. 

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

My characters are the first thing that comes to me. I don’t really know how I think of them, they mostly come from my dreams. 

43. Are you an avid reader?

Yes, I read and read and read and read some more. 

44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

The best piece of feedback I’ve ever gotten was from my 5th grade teacher after just I started writing and finished my 1st “novel”. I still have the sticky note hanging on my wall she stuck on the inside of my notebook. 

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

The worst piece feedback I’ve gotten is when my media teacher (I write articles) told me I’d make a good librarian because I’m organized, punctual, and love to read... but wouldn’t make it as a writer. 

46. What would your story look like as a tv show or movie? 

My story would definitely be a movie. It would have a cloudy, depressing filter on it like in Tim Burton films, but be live action and happy in parts. 

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

I start with the characters. I get attached and I form the world around them. 

48. Favorite genre to write in.

Realistic fiction. 

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

The middle of the story is the hardest to write. When I begin I know how I want to start and end and am “faking it till I make it” in the middle. 

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

The weirdest story idea I’ve ever had was definitely based on some dream I’ve had. There has been a lot of odd ones, but the one I actually made into a book idea was about a dystopian family with a father who is a part of a cult who kidnaps children and chemically manipulate the brains so they appear different then they really are. Or feed them to a giant, invisible man to keep them from killing the entire cult. 

51. Describe the aesthetic of your story in 5 sentences or words.

My stories are dark with a sarcastic overtone. 

52. How did writing change you?

Writing has made me more sensible to myself. Like, I understand me more. 

53. What does writing mean to you?

Writing is a way of living and of communication. 

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

To just do it. You don’t have to do it now or for the next twenty years. Having a colorful language and huge imagination is what makes you one, not how many words you have written. 

[distractnova]

ok so i made a post abt this already but it was super rambly and barely got any attention and i feel like i didn’t do the game justice in that post and i’d love to edit it and make it better but i honestly dont see the edit button anywhere??? so i’m just going to remake it hopefully a lot better and try and add pictures if i can, so hopefully this is better sdfgfds i’m gonna add a read-more so you aren’t bombarded with a block of text dhsjkksdj (edit: might not work on mobile)

so it’s called Full Metal Furies, it came out January 17th this year and i think i got it around the 20th of January, it’s made by the ppl who made Rogue Legacy (yknow that super duper hard game?) and to get a much well thought out description u might wanna check it’s store page, the game’s on xbox and steam! (it’s also on sale for the steam summer sale! not for a whole lot but less than 20 dollars) ((its also recommended to play w a controller, preferably an xbox one, otherwise ur stuck figuring out which button does which blindly but once u get over that hurdle its all good, i personally find the keyboard controls annoying so i take the temporary button confusion over getting used to the keyboard)) (((u can also just google full metal furies and the first result should be the main site that cellardoorgaming made for it if u want even more info!))) also here’s the menu!

most things i have to say abt this game are good, but like everything even an amazing game can have its flaws. the good things i have to say abt the game are; i love the controls and i love the fact that you don’t have to play alone for good gameplay, you can still play the game without gathering people to play it, but its still fun when u do, they recently even added in lobbies so u could play w random ppl or ppl u know online rather than a couch multiplayer kind of style, i also love the art of the game, the backgrounds the lighting the pixels and the lines and the characters and how detailed everything is, and i love the character personalities and relations, they aren’t the largest part of the game but there’s enough for me to get attached to them, even throw away kind of ones or minor characters, i love the lore as confusing it can b for me at times i love the battle mechanics and the boss battles, the music is also amazing!!! the album 4 the music is on itunes, apple music and steam if u wanna check it out! i especially love how the all four protagonists are kick-ass women who are goofy at times cus that’s just human!! and they interact w each other in a way i like! and the puzzles are super clever! i also like how you require teamwork when playing w other people, like there’s no leaving the other behind bcus u NEED the other to progress, there are these color shields that assign to a character (only if u have that color in ur party) that only that character can break, even the places that are usually stepping stones for games are incredibly important like the level map, you need the level map to solve puzzles and it even looks amazing! same with the camp where you can level up and access character choice, u also need that to solve puzzles and its extremely pretty, at some point u also get a cat! 

b4 i get carried away abt what i like abt the game i want to name some of its flaws, cause i think i failed to do that in the previous post so here goes. the puzzles are insane, like out of the box’s box thinking, like i accidentally unlocked a puzzle thing by just playing Alex’s guitar (from a music set u get l8r in the game needed for the puzzles) for the fuck of it sdfghfdsfdsds but the only really possible ones for me, a person who is shit at puzzles where the first two stages, and some points of the game can be pretty tough, that’s just me tho, there is a way to tone it down w a setting called story mode, and even then it can b pretty tough, it’s not game ruining but for people who really hate hard challenges i wouldn’t recommend it, unless u think u can overlook that sorta thing bcus u like the art, gameplay and the characters, back to the puzzles real quick; you CAN finish the game w/out the puzzles, but to get the true ending (from what i’ve gathered) you have to solve those puzzles, and they get HARD, for me personally it would take a lifetime for me to solve any puzzles late game by myself, as a person who is not good at puzzles, i could still do it but it’d take a while, and there’s this stealth level at some point within late game where you have to sneak around these enemies or fight a fuckton of difficult enemies if u don’t successfully sneak past them, and it is almost impossible, the game was not made for stealth, although a part of me tells me that’s intentional, cus even if you do like die, you still keep any money and i think level ups to items you have equipped, so the level might be designed specifically for that purpose, it’s a good grinding level or fighting for fun level, but if the true intention was a stealth level it pretty much failed.

and i think that’s all the flaws i can point out, in the end i’d highly recommend this game even with it’s flaws, for me the flaws weren’t many but they where still there, the puzzles are definitely hard as rocks but i think the outcome would b worth it (haven’t finished em but i hope it is) the hardness of the game is also there but heavily intended (this game is made by the ppl who made rogue legacy after all) and you will definitely fail some levels cus failing isn’t always the end, learn from ur mistakes and grow stronger n all that jazz, the stealth level is kind of a mix of good n bad, cus if u look at it in the perspective of it wasn’t really designed to BE a stealth level, and instead just to look like one, i personally can kind of appreciate it, cause the Furies don’t hit me to be exactly the stealthy kind of war-stoppers sdfghfdsjhfs but if u look at the level the opposite way, it’s pretty a pretty bad stealth level

and that’s it, i think i did a much better job than the original post i made, i wish i could add in stuff abt the characters but that would make this post much more larger for my liking, i’m glad i targeted some of the key flaws for me, which didn’t even really turn out to be that horrible once you looked at them, some more stuff i wanted to add, the game has colorblind and heard of hearing modes you can turn on if you experience any of those, which i thought was extremely thoughtful, also the story mode that makes the game easier DOES deduct some of the gold it gives you, not a whole bunch, but it is less than you would get on normal mode. on the final note of this post, i would absolutely highly recommend this game, absolutely worth any money it costs! (20 dollars usually, rite now it’s 13 dollars due to the summer sale) if you read through the whole thing the only thing i can really say is; thank you so much for reading! i hope you want to check the game out after this! and if u do end up buying it i hope u like it!

[talented-headache]

A Man and His Demons

@dialyce Happy Belated Christmas! I meant to have this out forever ago but time got a way and I hope you like it.

Prompt: A accidentally summons a demon, B. 

Pairing: HundarNovaHD with established NovaHD

Summary: Brett gets roped into pretending to summon a demon except it accidentally works and now he’s bound to two who make his life a living hell.

(The second part is edited by me so if there’s something big message me and I can fix it.)

[LINK][AO3]

Honestly, Brett wanted to know how he was kept getting roped into such stupid fucking ideas. He stared at Steven with the blankest face he could muster to show his disappointment in his shenanigans. He looked around the edge of the screen hoping to catch a glimpse of Cib or James with the camera.

“Is this a bit?” He asked.

“No.” Steve scoffed at him. The sarcasm in his voice didn’t make it any more believable. “But it is a great idea for one. Come on, the great Hundar summoning a demon using Latin chants in your dumb soft voice. It’ll be hilarious.”

“Yeah it would.” Cib said, his voice coming from somewhere behind Suptic, and Brett hoped his heavy scowl could be seen by him.

“See Cib agrees.” Steve nodded turning to throw a thumb up at his friend.

“Yes, because we should all do what Cib thinks is funny.” Brett replied rolling his eyes hard.

“You have a point.” Steve said turning back to him. Brett could faintly hear Cib yelling at Steve.

“I thought you were done with all the dumb supernatural stuff?” Brett asked, thinking about the recent videos he’d seen from the fake vlogger.

“Nah, it’s this whole new thing we want to try. I’ll tell you about it when you get to the office. Say around eight on Saturday?” Steve pushed, smiling like he already knew the answer.

Brett almost just hung up on the other man but paused. He hadn’t been doing much lately outside of his writing and and often got bored. He mentally shrugged. Why the hell not?

“Fine, I’ll be there.” He could already feel the headache starting.

“Great! Can you do one favor though? Pick up some fake blood, this stupid book we got says you only need a few drops in a tiny bottle or something.” And with that the asshole hung up on him.

Brett growled at his phone and laid back on his couch. He was going to exact some revenge on them some time. He didn’t know how yet, but he was going to do it.

He didn’t do much the next few days outside his usual routine. Worked out in the morning, went to his boring job, and worked on his script when he got home. Friday night he went out with some friends and got a little too drunk. Normal life things. It was slowly starting to feel mundane now that he settled down after losing his last job. He could handle it most days, he’s already a pretty calm, normal person, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a day or five when he was bored out of his mind.

He checked around his apartment for any last minute things he’d need. Checked his pocket to make sure the stupid little vile was there before heading off. It was by some miracle he didn’t get stuck in traffic on the way over to the office. He’d been living in LA long enough to know the back ways, but it was still a Saturday night.

He was met with Steve and his stupid camera the second he got to the door. Brett sighed heavily and put his best dead face on as he stared back at him.

They moved towards the back room where everything had been moved to the sides. In their place was a large painted pentagram looking thing. He could feel a headache growing as he watched everybody move around him. He didn’t really join in on their jokes, only laughing in the background when he saw the camera on him.

“You got the stuff?” James’s voice ran out through the thumping in his head. Brett just nodded at him and pulled the small vile out of his pocket. He wiggled it with the tips of his finger in front of James’s face. It was really small and only about a sixth filled.

“Great. Now all you have to do is sit at the top of the circle and say this.” He handed Brett a folded up piece of paper. Brett looked it over, there were a few other instructions on it but there were quite a few lines of Latin on it.

“I’m not going to be able to pronounce any of this.” Brett pointed at the Latin.

“Dude, no one fucking cares. Besides the worse it sounds the funnier it’ll be.” James’s rolled his eyes but it quickly turned into a reassuring smile when Brett glared harshly at him. He really wasn’t in the mood for their characters tonight.

Maybe I should have backed out. Brett thought as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Before he could say anything Steve was already calling people to stand around the pentagram. Brett moved to the spot they wanted him at and watched everybody else. They were messing around but not moving from their spots. Cib was on one side and he guessed the empty spot on his other would be Steve’s but the taller man was looking through an ancient looking book. Steve nodded to himself and moved into his spot next to Autumn.

“Where the fuck did you even get that?” Brett asked and motioned towards the book.

“While we were Idyllwild we saw this really old bookstore with a bunch of occult stuff.” Cib explained as Steven placed the book in the middle of the pentagram.

“I didn’t need that much detail.” Brett replied blandly. Cib was about to say something else but Steve interrupted him.

“Okay, so what we’ll do is when the camera is pointed at you, you put your item in front of you. Then the four of us will hold hands as Brett starts the ritual.” Steve was oddly serious as he explained the motions. Brett raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything.

“You okay, man?” Cib did though, with that vacant but serious look on his face.  

“Yeah, I just have a weird feeling.” Steve replied and started up the camera. He nodded pointed at Brett first, and he just quietly put the vile with blood on the floor. He watched as everybody else started to do the same. Cib had his headband, James’s gun, some tarot card from Autumn, and finally Steve put down his hat.

“I don’t want to hold your hand.” Cib suddenly broke the silence and glared at James. They started bickering at each other with James trying to grab his hand without moving from their spots. It took a bit before Steve yelled at them and they pretended to reluctantly hold hands.

“We gather here today to summon this demon. This is so stupid, why am I saying this?” Brett asked not quiet glaring at Steve.

“Don’t break character. It’s supposed to let the Underworld know what we’re doing.” He explained not turning to look at him, which meant he didn’t see Brett’s eyes roll.

“Everybody place something important to you in the middle and hold hands to make our bonds strong as we open the portal. Using this blood I bind you to me.” Brett continued and couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice. He could see everybody but Steve as they tried to stop their laughter from getting out. Brett looked down at the paper as he started to read the Latin off of it. A loud slam startled them out of the trance and they all looked towards the now closed door.

“What the fuck was that?” James asked, nervousness tinged his voice and Cib shrugged at him.

“Brett, can you please continue?” Steve asked instead ignoring James. Brett briefly caught a look at him and he couldn’t read his expression so he started reading again. A strange tug of his heart made him flinch and stop but a look from Steve made him continue. Which turned out to be a very bad idea.

“Don’t stop and stay connected.” Steve yelled out as the lightbulb above them started flickering before exploding. Autumn let out a started laugh and everybody ducked down, flinching.

“What the hell is going on?” Cib yelled back at him. Brett hardly heard him, a part of him wanted to stop but he found he couldn’t. It was like something was forcing him to continue reading the ritual out.

“I don’t know. The book just warns not to stop once it started.” Steve sounded afraid and out of control. It sent a chill through Brett since no one seemed to know what was happening. He felt a wave of relief flood through him when he finally read the last word.

He saw the same look flow through everybody else’s face but it didn’t last long. Just as he was about to yell at Steve the ground started shaking. Brett was lucky he was able to curl into himself slightly, even sitting the room was shaking hard enough to unbalance him. The others weren’t as lucky as they shook about.

It started to feel hot in the room and Brett closed his eyes not being able to focus on much. The tug on his heart seemed to spread through his whole body and he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Holy shit.” Steve’s voice yelled out and Brett risked opening his eyes only for it to be almost too bright. A ring of fire flickered around them on the outsides of the pentagram, trapping them inside. “We’re going to die.”

He thought he could hear James’s saying something quietly and a whimper from someone else. As quickly as everything started it stopped. It was quiet and they all stared at each other. Fear and confusion were all that lingered between them, no one wanted to start talking because it seemed too unbelievable.

A huge gust of wind seemed to push out from the center of the circle and everybody flinched away from it again. Brett squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears because he couldn’t hear anything over the loud whistling.

Wow, would you look at their scared little faces? A cruel voice laughed in his head. He couldn’t tell if there was a wheeze coming from the voice or if it was just the wind.

Maybe we should stop; I kind of want to play with them. A separate voice said sounding way more bored than the first one.

Fine. And with that the wind stopped and the room suddenly turned cold. Not a freezing cold but the fire had slowly fizzled away leaving behind an absence of warmth.

Brett hesitated to look up from where he was curled in on himself. A dark presence seemed to fill the room in silence, no one moving, and the tugging feeling in his body slowed but felt sharper. He didn’t look up until Steve’s and Cib’s screams filled the silence.

The second he looked up he caught the stare of cold empty black eyes. The cold stare didn’t seem too interested in him but a deadly smirk was on his face. Curly black hair framed a slightly tan face but Brett didn’t really pay much attention outside the harsh stare.

The cold eyes were the ones to break the moment. Brett took the chance to look around the circle, needing to know that everyone was okay. Steven was still holding onto the camera in one hand, white knuckles clutching onto both it and Autumn’s hand. It looked crushing but she didn’t seem to care. Both her and James were dead faced and wide eyed as they stared at the center of the pentagram. It was Cib he was worried about.

Other than the black eyed man there was another person in the circle. This one had short brown hair and almost sickly pale skin. He was bent down staring deep into Cib’s eyes and Cib looked like he hadn’t taken a breath since the whole thing started. A pale hand started to reach towards Cib’s face and Brett didn’t know what came over him.

“Hey.” He yelled out at them and the pale man stopped and turned to look at him. While the first man’s stare was cold this one’s eyes were burning and harsh. Bright red irises that made Brett feel like he was staring into the pit of a fireplace.

With that it seemed like the dam in the room burst. James and Autumn ran towards the door. Autumn hit it first. She tugged at the door and James hit her back reaching around her to try and open the unmoving door. Steve and Cib shot up both running to stand behind Brett.

They didn’t seem to pay any attention to anyone else, both staring hard at Brett. The paler man moved to stand next to the other and Brett was able to get a clear look at them. Or so he thought. Everything about them was blurry like he had been staring at them for two long without blinking and tears were trying to fix the dryness. The only clear things about them were their eyes.

They looked human enough besides the blurriness, no horns, no tails, and no wings. They stood there seemingly feeding off of their fear and exuding a feeling of pure power. The blurriness covered their arms but when Brett tried to look closer they were colorful and dark. The colors seemed to move around their arms and it made Brett feel car sick just trying to watch them.

The pale man didn’t stop though only pausing next the other for a brief second before taking the last few steps towards Brett. In fear, Brett backed out of the circle all but crab walking to get away and he felt hands grab at his shoulders to help pull him out of the circle. The red eyed man scowled at him as he moved and stomped angrily towards him. Just as he was about to take a step out of the circle the pale man hit some type of invisible field that the pentagram had become.

He hit it with his full body, the wall forcibly pushing him back away from Brett. The black eyed man rushed forward to catch his partner under the arms as he started to fall back. Brett looked up at Steve to see his eyes light up in realization. James and Autumn stopped trying to get the door open and watched from the corner of the room.

“Cib! Grab that.” Steve yelled pointing at the vile still on the ground in front of them. Cib dove for it just as the black eyed man dropped the other to grab at it as well. The red-eyed man gave out an undignified yelp as he hit the ground and his partner tripped over him. Fortunately for them Cib was faster as the other two got tangled together and Cib managed to grab the vile and roll out of the pentagram. The black-eyed man tried to rush after him but just hit the wall. He growled a low, animalistic sound and punched the invisible wall, glaring darkly at them.

The other one stood up and moved so he could be slightly behind the black eyed man, his glare no less angry.

“Steve, what the hell is happening?” James’s voice cut through the tension of the room. And everyone, including the strange men, turned to stare at him.

“I think we managed to actually summon some demons.” Steve replied cocking his head slightly to stare at the demons. Everyone else followed suite not wanting to take eyes off the supposed demons in the pentagram.

“How the fuck did we manage that?” Cib asked.

“I don’t know? Brett tell them to do something.” Steve offered waving his hand in his direction.

“What do you mean ‘tell them to do something’? They’re fucking demons, apparently.” Brett snapped with uncertainty in his voice. He did not want to be on the receiving end of their anger if they got out.

“Just shut up and do it.”

“Back up.” Brett asked softly, he did not want to do this. They blinked but didn’t move. Brett raised his eyebrows at Steve and in return he kicked Brett slightly. Brett looked back at the demons and pushed as much strength into his voice as he could.

“Back the fuck up.”

It started with the black eyed man who moved around his friend to stand in the middle of the circle, not even hesitating. He reached forward to touch the paler man’s elbow and he moved to stand next to him.  

“Holy shit.”

“What the fuck?”

“How-“

Everyone started yelling on top of each other moving farther away from the circle, almost hugging the walls. Brett wasn’t paying any attention to anyone else as he continued to stare at the demons. Cib reached down and Brett allowed him to be brought to his feet as James and Autumn moved to stand with them.

“Brett.” Steve calling his name was the only thing that managed to break Brett out of his spell. He turned to look at the taller man but something stopped him from turning his whole body away from the demons.

He hummed in return.

“Did you use your actual blood in this?” Steve asked and took the vile from Cib.

“Yep.” He said popping the p at the end a bit.

“Ew, Brett, what the hell man?” Cib’s voice whined and he scrubbed his palm on his jeans. Brett rolled his eyes at them.

“I thought it would be funny.” Brett replied. He heard a snort from the pentagram and turned back to glare at the snickering duo. The black eyed one just shrugged as he smirked at Brett.

“Why does that matter?” James asked.

“Because, you idiots, we now have two demons trapped in our office. Oh, and they’re bound to Brett.” Steven explained handing off his camera to James. He moved to grab his book.

“What do you mean bound?” Brett asked.

“They have to obey you, just like we say. At least according to the book.” Steven replied and flipped through the book. What he was looking for Brett didn’t know because it was in Latin.

“Can’t I just tell them to go back to hell or something?” Brett pointed at the demons.

“Hey, assholes, still here.” The red eyed demon suddenly said and everyone jumped at the sound of his voice.

“Besides, it doesn’t even fucking work that way anyways. You have to break the bind with a spell. Just like how a spell brought us here.” The black eyed demon answered.

“Jesus Crist, this is happening.” Steven muttered.

“Yep, now can you let us out dipshit?” The red-eyed man rolled his eyes.

“Wait, what spell?” Bret asked, like he wasn’t talking to a pair of trapped demons. The black eyed demon just shrugged again, his face twisting but Brett couldn’t see any details to it.

“How the fuck should we know? This is our first summoning too. Glad we could go through this experience together.” The red-eyed demon said voice filled with sarcasm, but he had a sweet smile on his face. It made Brett want to whack it off of him.

“Do you have names?” Cib asked and everyone turned to him. The demons blinked at each other and the black eyed one nodded slightly to the other.

“I’m Aleksandr, a fire demon. This is James he’s a chaos demon.” Red-eyes explained and honestly that made a lot of sense, Brett thought as he looked down at the ash marks in the ground and the exploded light bulb shards.

“There are different types of demon now?” Brett asked voice going further high pitched than normal. Aleksandr went to explain but Brett’s glare stopped him. “It was rhetorical. I don’t actually care.”

“Why are you blurry?” It was Steven’s turn to ask a question this time apparently. He was still standing there filming.

“You know when you’re walking down the street and you see something at the corner of your eye? That’s us. It’s all your human minds can perceive. There’s a limit and it’s all you can recognize of our bodies.” Demon James explains.

“I feel like that’s just a long complicated way of calling us stupid.” Steven muttered.

“Give the ape a bone.” Aleksandr smirked at them.

“Aleks!” James yelled at him. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

Aleks face twisted into something like fake offense. “Oh. I’m sorry-“

“Both of you, shut the fuck up.” Brett snapped at them. Both of their mouths shut with a sharp ‘click’ of their teeth. They took turns glaring at each other and Brett.

“Is there a way to stop it? It’s kind of giving me a headache and I want to throw up just looking at you.” Human James said.

With a blink of an eye they solidified. Aleks’s paleness turned to slightly acned skin and bright blonde hair. Red eyes turned brown and he had dark almost perfect eyebrows. His stupid smirk was more prominent now that they could actually see his lips. James though had a no-emotion face, staring blankly at them. Long curly hair framed his face and black eyes seemed to bleed into his pupils like ink receding.

The moving shades of color on their arms turned into tattoos that Brett was too far away to decipher clearly. James’s were a lighter shade of yellow and red while Aleks’s were dark purple and blue.

“Why the fuck are you blonde now?” James yelled as he took in his companion’s appearance.

“We’re in L.A. James. I want to be a Cali boy.” Aleks replied and ran a hand through his hair. James looked like he was about to yell back at the new blonde again but Brett cut him off.

“Excuse me, but you aren’t going to be anything. I’m getting rid of you ASAP.” Brett said and he could feel his head thumping from a new headache. One from irritation and not from demon summoning.

“How are you going to do that, huh? No one knows how to remember?” Demon James rolled his eyes.

“I can try and find something.” Steven said. “There has to be a sister spell or something in the book.”

“Perfect.” Brett smirked at the boys.

“Except, it will probably take a few weeks.” Steven finished and he looked sheepish.

“Ah, sweet dawg.” Aleks muttered and elbowed James.

“What do you mean a few weeks?” Brett asked.

“It took me forever to translate this spell let alone the whole book and keep up with the channel.” Steven explained gesturing with the book.

“Great, well, they can just stay here until then.” Brett waved his hands becoming more irritated. He could hear them mumbling softly about being ignored.

“Nope. Unless you also want to be here 24/7. We go where you go.” Aleks explained. “It’s part of the fucking blood bind you stupidly put us in.”

“’Stupidly’?” Brett said air quoting the red eyed demon. “It was a fucking joke.”

“You’d be surprised how often demon summonings in 2017 are jokes. What were you fucking expecting?” James snapped throwing his hands up. Aleks just raised his eyebrows in support of him.

“I don’t fucking know. I thought it would disgust everyone and freak them out.” Brett said and shrugged before turning back to Steven. “So what? I’m supposed to take them home? Um, yeah, not happening.”

“They have to obey you. Tell them to sit or not to leave the house and you’re fine.” Steven explained again and rolled his eyes. It was like going in circles at this point.

“It’s like having a couple of cats.” Cib helpfully offered.

“Cats? I don’t think they obey people, dude?” James muttered.

Brett heaved a heavy sigh and glared at the demons again. They looked human enough but even with their glamor or whatever on there was still something off about them.

“Fucking great.”

It took forever before Brett worked up the courage to let them out of the pentagram. He had to tell the demons three times that they weren’t allowed to do anything to his friends. As it turns out wording was big for them. Because Brett’s first rule was that they weren’t allowed to touch anyone and Aleks retaliated by lighting Cib’s shirt of fire with a snap of his fingers.

In the end they were able to make it into his car without any further incidents and promises that they would come help put the office back together on Monday. All Brett wanted to do now was go home and crash in his bed and hope this was all a fucking nightmare.

“Let’s go there.” Aleks voice popped up from the backseat where he forced them to sit. Brett took a glance just to see the pulsing lights and colors of a club.

“No.”

“Why?” Aleks pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. He honestly looked like a child.

“Because it’s fucking stupid, Aleksandr.” James snapped at him and Brett flinched a little at the sheer volume of it. It seemed like that was a common occurrence with the two of them because Aleks didn’t even blink.

“Just because you don’t like to have fun doesn’t mean me and Brett can’t.” Aleks said smirking back and poking Brett in the shoulder.

“Can you two stop? We only have half an hour before we get to the house.” Brett said and was honestly surprised when they went silent without the use of commanding them.

Tiredness and relief filled him when he finally pulled into his driveway. He got out of the car expecting the demons to follow him up and sighted when he heard their footsteps fall in line with his own. It was going to be a long few weeks.

He locked the door behind him when they moved in and watched them take in the living room.

“I have a spare bedroom. One of you can take that and the other can take the couch.” Brett offered. He could at least be nice when they were in his house in hopes that they didn’t blow it up.

“We can both take the bed.” Aleks replied. Brett took his jacket off and threw it on the chair beside the couch. The demons were only wearing plain jeans and shirts, although Aleks’s were much tighter and he did really look like he belonged in L.A. compared to James.

“Oh.”

“We don’t need to sleep. It’s pretty rare for demons to actually rest.” James explained as he moved to sit on the couch. He fell on to it with a huff and stretched his legs out before him. Aleks followed moving and sitting down much slower than his counterpart.

“No rest for the wicked.” Aleks muttered. Brett would have missed it had he not been looking at them.

“Fine, that’s whatever. You can find some way to entertain yourselves while I sleep.” Brett replied pinching the bridge of his nose. He knelt to start untying his boots and could feel the weight of their stares on him.

They both smirked and Brett glared back. Although part of him wondered how much of it contained real anger.

“There is to be no fire, explosions, or noise.” Brett said in his new commanding voice. They both dramatically rolled their eyes at him, as if he was the one being unreasonable in the situation.  

“Wow, you are no fun.” Aleks pouted at him.

“I’m human. There are other ways to have fun.”

“So we’ve heard.” Aleks pout turned to weird mix of a smirk and a sneer.

“Go watch fucking Netflix or something.” Brett said as he shooed them into the spare bedroom and shut the door before he could see them settle down. He thanks whatever god was listening that he put a television in there for guests.

With that Brett walked off to the bathroom to take a shower. He let the heat pour over him and let his body relax under the spray. It was late by the time he left and walked towards his bedroom. He stopped when a slight whisper got his attention from his spare room.

“Dude, are you sure about this? What about the others?” Aleks’s voice chimed.

“Come one, man. Let’s have a little fun. It’s been forever since we we’re allowed up here.”

Brett walked away after that. He didn’t want to know whatever they were planning. If it was anything big he would stop it but for now he allowed the sweet obliviousness of sleep take hold of him.

~

For a brief second, Brett thought the entire week had been a fever dream. Maybe Cib slipped him something or he went out with the boys and it was all a drunken hallucination. He would take a week long hallucination over reality.

It was a blissful second as Brett just stared out his window and basked in the dawn light coming through it. A coolness on his skin before the heat of the L.A. day started. He didn’t know what woke him up yet but it was quiet and peaceful in the apartment.

It was broken by a loud crash and an even louder screech. “Aleksandr!”

Brett groaned and buried his head in his pillow, not ready to face the world or his new roommates yet.

“Oh, please, asshole. That was totally your fucking fault.” Aleks’s voice rang out.

“I wouldn’t have fucking knocked it off if you weren’t being such a bitch.” James yelled back and it had enough power behind it that it felt like the shout shook the apartment. Brett groaned louder and all but yelled at the end before he left the nice comfortable bed.

When he entered the kitchen he glared at the demons and their new mess. It didn’t even surprise him anymore. This had been his life for the better part of the week. James and Aleks didn’t need to sleep so they tended to hangout in their room until dawn before they ventured back out. They didn’t usually try to make breakfast but they did always manage to make a mess. Without any thought to their poor human roommate.

It didn’t bother Brett that much because he tended to wake around that time anyway to hit the gym but he couldn’t go spend his usual time there without bringing his guests. And he did not want to make his normal ass friends deal with his new crazy. So he’d skipped it and did what he could at home.

The first morning had been a disaster after they discovered he was a vegetarian. Well, when James found out he was a vegetarian anyway, Aleks seemed to eat anything put in front of him. James all but threw a tantrum about it, he whined and groaned on his couch until Brett left to get food for him.

Of course, Brett would not know that a chaos demon wasn’t just destruction and anger because when he got home James was waiting for him with a mischievous smile and a sink full of dishes. Thankfully, they left him a plate and it hadn’t been that bad. He could still feel the leftover anger from the prank.

“After 200 years that insult is getting a little fucking old, don’t you think?” Aleks said and kicked the broken glass at James.

“What are you two idiots doing?” Brett asked. He felt a bit like their parent, hands on his hips and shoulders hunched like he was about to cave in on himself in disappointment.

“James broke your bowl.” Aleks shrugged and pointed at the glass on the ground.

“You fuck!” James yelled at him. “Technically it fell off the counter.”

“Yeah, because you keep letting your powers get out of control. Like, Jesus, man.” Aleks said back and waved a hand up and down James’s body.

“Hey, I’m not the one who lit the bed on fire.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Brett asked them, one hand already moving to run through his hair.

“It was one time and one pillow, asshole. Besides I took out all the batteries in the alarms the first night. It was fine.” Aleks snapped and let his eyes lose their glamor. He did that pretty often, while James had less of a control over his powers Aleks had a problem with his glamor.

“What?” Brett yelled, tired of being ignored. He resisted the urge to actually pull his hair out. They both blinked at him, as if shocked by his shock. He ignored their demon eyes, it was the one thing he couldn’t get used to.

“If you keep doing that you’re going to lose what little you have left.” James pointed at him and smirked.

“I hate you both.” Brett sighed and both demons laughed at him. Argument forgotten for Aleks’s squinty huff and James’s wheeze.

A knock on the door cut through their conversation and Brett was almost glad for the interruption of their bickering. They all looked at each other in an intense stare down before Aleks ran towards the sound.

Brett stomped after the blonde. Aleks was quick so Brett was too slow to stop him from opening the door.

“Hey, Mrs. Jones.” Aleks’s voice was oddly sweet as he talked to his little old lady neighbor. Not that the two couldn’t be nice, Brett was just too used to them sniping at each other. How those two stayed together for so long blew Brett’s mind.

“Hello, dear.” Mrs. Jones said. Brett couldn’t see her yet but her voice was pleasant as she answered.

Brett huffed and wrapped an arm around Aleks’s waist. He ignored the heat that Aleks’s body let out, and he definitely didn’t think about how much he missed it or how cold he felt when he strong armed the blonde behind the door. Brett just put it off as Aleks being the living embodiment of fire.

“Sorry about that Mrs. Jones. How can I help you today?” Brett asked and put on his most polite smile. He subtly tried to reach around the door to push Aleks back when the blonde tried to snake around the frame. He could see James wonder out from the kitchen from the corner of his eye.

“Oh, it’s no problem dear. Have you seen Snickers?” Mrs. Jones asked and Brett felt bad for the little old lady at the thought of her tiny dog going missing. She didn’t have much since her husband passed away except for the yippy thing.

“Sorry, I haven’t. But if I do I will get her home as soon as I can.” Brett offered and waved her off. He watched her wander off to the next house until she was out of site before he slammed the door shut.

“What the fuck did you two do?” Brett snapped at Aleks, who just rolled his eyes at James as if to say ‘Can you get a load of this idiot?’

“Dude, what the fuck? We are demons not monsters.” James snapped back at him. After a week of living with them Brett learned that James isn’t really angry just loud. That didn’t mean Brett wasn’t one to take him up on his bait. Besides James seemed to feed on the arguments.

“There’s a difference?”

“What the fuck, dude?” James yelled, actual anger bleed into his voice. His eyes turned black and he looked near feral.

“I know nothing about you. You could have eaten the damn thing for all I know.” Brett snapped back and James reeled back a bit and took a deep breath.

“That’s fucked up.” Aleks said and rolled his eyes but he moved forward to stand next to James. He didn’t turn towards Brett like he thought the blonde would do. It was more like he tired to stand between them but could stop James if he tried to move.

“Yeah, man. We have dogs.” James relaxed a bit now that Aleks was closer to him. He still looked pissed off but not like he was about to rip Brett’s head off.

“What? Like hellhounds?” Brett tried to joke and smirked at them. His voice still had a biting edge to it.

“Yeah, man, exactly. They’re adorable.” Aleks replied to him and Brett stopped for a second to try and figure out if they were joking with him or not.

“You know what I’m done. I don’t want to deal with either of you fucks until lunch. I’m going to go workout now.” Brett literally whipped his hands at them and turned away from them to walk down the hallway.

“What should we do?” Aleks yelled after him.

“Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.” Brett yelled back.

Brett stalked off to his mini home gym after he grabbed his work out clothes from his room. He let himself get lost in his routine and the world faded around him. No demons with pretty glowing eyes or demons that made his heart race. Just him, the heat in the room, and his music.

“Yoga? Really?” Aleks sarcastic voice cut through his mind set.

Fuck, there goes that peace and not even an hour of it.

“It’s part of my cool down. Leave.” Brett said and did not turn to look at the blonde.

“Nah, I’m fucking bored and you said not to bother you until lunch. You never said who’s lunch.” Aleks smirked and from the corner of his eye Brett saw him briefly hold up his bowl. Fuck them and their loopholes.

“Go mess with James.” Brett tried again.

“I can’t. He left.” Aleks moved to sit on the opposite side of the room so he was closer to Brett.

“What do you mean he left?” Brett looked up him from his pose.

“Don’t get your headband in the twist. He only left like half an hour ago. He’ll be back before the time limit.” Aleks explained and he continued to eat.

They had done a few exercises since they had showed up, because Brett couldn’t just call into work with a case of demons. An hour is as far as they could get away from each other and distance definitely affected how long they could be apart. Brett usually got them to stay close to his workplace.

“Because that’s what I’m worried about. James hurting himself.” Brett muttered. He didn’t really bother to do it under his breath because he knew Aleks would hear him anyway.

“You’re fucked up.” Aleks sighed and pointed his fork at him.

“I’m fucked up. You’re the demons here.”

“Yeah but we’re mischievous demons. Not harmful or destructive ones.” Aleks explained. As much as Brett wanted to laugh at him it made sense. The demons hadn’t actually done anything too mean since they showed up let alone caused any actual harm.

“So what, there are classes of demons now?” Brett asked instead. He stood and stretched, the cracks in his bones caused him to grunt. He reached for his towel to wipe the sweat off his face.

“Yeah, man. If you fucking wanted to know anything all you have to do is fucking ask. You can’t deal with us because you don’t know us. We are literally just as bored as you are annoyed and the more bored we get the more we are going to try and break you.” Aleks said. His voice a mixture of calm explanation and annoyance.

“What do you suggest then?” Brett asked and moved to stand against the wall with him. He looked down at the demon with a raised eyebrow and an honest face.  

“Wanna go to a strip club?” Aleks asked and Brett laughed loudly with him.

“No. But how about we start with a normal bar first?” Brett offered. He knew the perfect place they could all go that night. It wouldn’t be too crowded and they couldn’t do too much damage if they got drunk. Probably.

Aleks pouted at him but there was too much amusement in his glowing eyes to mean anything.

“You look fucking stupid like that.”.James’s voice cut through their conversation. He stood in the doorway with dirt all over his pants and hands.

“Oh, great. You’re back.” Aleks said and rolled his eyes at the sound of James’s voice.

“Fuck off.” James said back but there was no hint of any anger in his voice, not even a hint of irritation. Just plain boredom at the red-eyed demon.

“Where the fuck were you?” Brett asked and helped Aleks stand up because the idiot refused to put his bowl down.

“I went and found Mrs. Jones dumb fucking dog.”

“You did what?” Brett asked, stunned. He shook his head slightly in disbelief at him. He could hear Aleks ask James the same thing. At least Aleks sounded more enthusiastic about the damn dog.

“Yeah, it’s in the living room.” James pointed behind his shoulder and Aleks took off down the hallway as fast as he could. The liquid in his bowl spilled onto the door as he ran by.

“Why did you do that?” Brett slowly moved to follow the blonde. James fell in line right behind him and he could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

“To prove we didn’t kill it, asshole!”

“Oh.” Brett should probably apologize for that if he was going to try and get on their good side.

“I hope it pisses all over the floor.” James laughed and nudged Brett’s shoulder forward. Brett turned back and glared at him before he quickened his steps to the living room.

Maybe later. Brett thought.

“Aleks! You better not excite that damn dog.”

Thankfully, when they got there Aleks had the puppy on his lap on the couch and the damn thing hadn’t pissed everywhere. It took him thirty minutes to convince Aleks to let Brett take the dog back to Mrs. Jones but he did, in between the cooing. When he got back to his house after he dealt with a crying old lady he walked in on James and Aleks glaring at each other from either side of the couch.

“What now?” Brett asked as he watched them. Aleks had changed clothes from his baggy Adidas look to extremely tight jeans. Which Brett tried not to stare at.

“The fuck? I don’t want to go out.” James yelled pointing at his partner and Aleks just stuck his tongue out in return. The blonde went to open his mouth to reply but Brett cut him off.

“Look, we need to start getting along better or else I’m going to kill the both of you.” Brett stood in front of them and they both looked up at him.

“Only works if you have holy water.” James snipped. He folded his arms and leant back into the couch but he didn’t break eye contact.

“I’ll keep that in mind. So let’s start with being friends.”

“This is exactly how we stay friends. It’s pretty fucking normal you can ask any of our children.” Aleks explained and pointed between the two. He did notice how often they fought with each other but they never seemed to have any ill will towards one another.

“Stop calling them our children. They’re our students, asshole.” James muttered at him and Brett paused to think about whether he wanted to continue that side conversation.

“Later. James, Aleks wants to go to the bar. What would you like to do?” Brett asked and James scrunched up his face to think.

“Horse racing.” He offered and smirked at them. Aleks raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything.

“What?” Brett asked tilting his head and squinting at him.

“I wanna go bet on on some fucking horses.” James enunciated but he did look a little excited at the idea. Well as excited as he could get past the bored expression James had on a lot. “You’ve always had a problem.” Aleks smirked at him and shoved James’s knee with his.

“It’s not a problem if it’s not your money.” James said and laughed at Brett’s confusion.

“Fine, we can go out tonight and tomorrow go to the races.” Brett nodded and got his phone out to start checking his bank account. He needed to make sure they couldn’t spend too much.

“Sweet.” James and Aleks both said at the same time and Brett rolled his eyes.

“So wait. You have kids?” Brett thought back. It didn’t surprise him at all if they together with how they acted but the thought of the two demons having kids shook him. He couldn’t even imagine what a mixture of the two would be like.

~

The Lyft to the bar was one of the most awkward experiences Brett had ever been in. That was because every time their driver opened his mouth to say anything James’s glare darkened. Brett threw a few apologetic looks his way through the mirror and swore to give the poor man a heavy tip.

Brett had to drag James out of the car while he also kept a hand around Aleks’s elbow so he couldn’t run off into the dimly lit bar. He knew that both of them could just tear themselves away or rip his arms off but they were in public and couldn’t exactly do that.

“James, you fuck, let’s go.” Aleks yelled and grabbed Brett’s arm and helped pull at the wiggly demon. Brett grunted at Aleks’s pull.

“No.” James screeched. His eyes wide as he continued to grab the seat in front of him. Their driver just stared at them. He tried to stutter something out but was ignored over James’s yelling.

Aleks snapped and pushed past Brett and rolled his shoulder. Without the strain on it anymore it bordered on painful.

“No, Aleksandr.” James yelled as Aleks grabbed his shoulders and yanked back. James was forced to let go with a scream and they both fell back. Brett tried to grab them and keep them steady but they were both too heavy and he crumbled under their combined weight.

“You okay, sirs?” The driver’s nervous voice cut through the chaos of James and Aleks wrestling on top of him. Brett shoved them off and onto the sidewalk before standing.

“Yeah, man. Thanks.” Brett waved the man off. He reached down and pulled the two demons apart and forced them to stand.

“You little shits are lucky I lost my shame years ago.” Brett mumbled and pushed them towards the door. They calmly waited their turn to get checked and Brett kept them in front of him to make sure they didn’t disappear.

“ID’s?” The bouncer asked and Brett was about to hand his over when Aleks lent towards the much larger man.

“What are you doing?” Brett asked and even the bouncer looked confused. Brett blinked and almost grabbed the blonde’s shirt when he was shushed in return.

“You already saw our ID’s. Just give us the stamp and we’ll be on our merry way.” Aleks whispered to the man and looked deep into his eyes. The bouncer’s eyes turned glossy before he did what he was told.

“What the fuck was that?” Brett asked as they made their way towards bar.

“It’s a spell.” Aleks explained. He didn’t elaborate as the bartender made her way over.

“I thought that was a vampire thing.” Brett said and took a swig of his whiskey when it was handed to him.

James scoffed from where he sat. “Vampires don’t exist dude.”

“I didn’t think demons did either until last week. At this point anything can fucking happen.” Brett said and left to grab an open table. He knew the other two would follow him to it, thank god.

It felt almost normal, like they were just a couple of friends out for drinks after a long week. Not a human and his two blood bound demons. James nursed a beer the entire time, he didn’t want to drink outside the comfort of Brett’s house.

Aleks though chugged whatever was in front of him. Nothing lasted long with him and Brett inwardly winced at the thought of what would be missing from his bank account in the morning.

“I’m bored.” Aleks said and winced after his whiskey shot. Brett waved over the waitress to close his tab.

“Okay, then we can go home and play something until you pass out.” Brett offered and signed his receipt. He heard James agree with him but Aleks huffed. Brett didn’t even have time to put his card back in his wallet before the table in front of him disappeared.

“Now this is a little more fun.” Aleks yelled over the thumps of music and a room of people who also yelled to be heard as they danced. Brett snapped his head up to look at him in shock. Aleks’s eyes still glowed red but they blended with the pulsing lights that flashed over his face. Even with everything that was happening around them Brett couldn’t help but stare at him like the red-eyed demon was the only one in the room.

It was broken by James’s loud groan in his ear. He stood next to them and did not look pleased at being there, even unhappier than when they were at the bar.

“Shut up, man. This is my night.” Aleks stuck his tongue out at him. James just rolled his eyes and pushed them towards the bar. They stumbled but allowed them to be lead away. Brett may be a little more drunk than he wanted but James looked stone cold sober.

Aleks ordered a few shots before he handed over Brett’s card. Brett didn’t linger on how Aleks got it and toasted him. Aleks tried to push another glass at James but it slipped over onto his shirt. James glared down at his shirt then at Aleks and moved over to grab a napkin to clean himself off.

Brett didn’t get to watch him return back to them because Aleks rushed him onto the dance floor.

“What are you doing?” Brett asked as he was forced closer to Aleks. He glared at the person who pushed him but whoever it was was lost in their own dance partner.

“I wanna fucking dance, dude.” Aleks yelled at him over the crowd.

“But, James?” Brett tried to turn to look for the now familiar bun but Aleks pulled his arm and he was forced deeper into the crowd of people.

“He’ll join us when he’s ready. Fucking asshole is being a prick.” Aleks laughed and started to move, he wasn’t very coordinated but his hips moved to the beat. “And he doesn’t like being touched.”

Brett shrugged and let himself get lost in the movement of Aleks’s hips and the sweaty bodies that surrounded them. He had no real concern that they were so close to anybody else. Nothing really mattered except Aleks’s body against his.

Everything got blurry after that. He let the whiskey course through his body and the relaxed feeling of being drunk take over his mind. Brett remembered more shots and more dancing. A flash of Aleks as he tried to get James to dance with him but it was just Aleks moving around James as the dark-eyed demon glared at him while he spun in circles.

“Where are we?” Brett asked. His voice felt scratchy and his head was foggy. He tried to look around but his head fell back onto the seat behind him with the heaviness of it.

“Back in the fucking car. You fucking idiots passed out at the table.” James said, his voice tailed off into a loud growl.

“Can you get any fucking louder?” Aleks said from the other side of Brett.

“Yes, Aleksandr, I can. You fuckin’ prick.” James yelled. He leant forward to glare at the blonde around Brett’s body. Aleks groaned in return and put his head on the window.

“Please don’t start or I’m going to puke on you.” Brett mumbled and let his eyes close. He hoped to either fall back asleep or cool the nausea.

“Ew. You fucking face him if you do.” James said and shoved Brett towards Aleks. He went with the movement and put his whole weight on Aleks.

“Please don’t puke in my car.” A new but familiar voice came from driver’s seat. Brett opened his eyes to see the driver from earlier. Brett was pretty sure he yelled something at him and hoped it was nice at least, before he blacked out again.

He came too to James as he dumped him on his bed. “I’m not taking your clothes off. You get to be fucking uncomfortable.”

“Where’s Aleks?” Brett mumbled at James as he tucked the covers around the human.

“I left him on the living room floor.” James answered and turned to leave.

“Oh, cool. Goodnight, James.” Brett yelled after him. James paused and Brett could see the confusion on his face. Probably because he was still right next to the bed and did not need to be yelled at.

“Night, asshole.” James yelled in return and while it made Brett’s head thump he relaxed into his pillow and passed out for the last time.

~

“I didn’t think demons could get hangovers.” Brett questioned and looked down to where Aleks was lent on his shoulder.

“We don’t. He’s just being a baby.” James replied. He was stood in front boards to look at the stats for the day. He already collected the paperwork and pamphlets he needed and Brett let him borrow 200 to put in. James promised he’d win it back but Brett was cautious since it had been a long time since the demons had been to the races. Brett didn’t even go that often.

“Then get the fuck off of me.” Brett laughed and shrugged Aleks off of him.

“I see how it is, you fucker. You only like me when I’m in pain. I’m pretty sure that’s a kink.” Aleks smirked at him and Brett could see the slight glow behind his sunglasses.

“Fucking freak.” James said and even though he didn’t turn to look at them Brett could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Don’t do that in public. It was because you were being quiet for once.” Brett said and he got a laugh out of James and a pout from Aleks.

“Whatever I’m going to find food.” Aleks rolled his eyes at them and walked off.

“Don’t go very far, sweetie.” Brett yelled after him in a mocking tone. It was sweet like a mother who told her rebellious child to stay safe.

He got a middle finger thrown back at him from behind the blonde’s back as he walked off. Brett chuckled and walked up to stand next to James as he placed his first bets.

“You going to put any in?” James asked as he looked down at his receipts.

“Maybe next time” Brett answered. James shrugged and led the human to sitting area he liked. It was a benched area that was just started to fill up. Brett stretched out where he sat and kicked his legs up onto the bench in front of them and his arms to the side. One of them all but around James’s back.

He relaxed into the warm late morning sun on his body. James was the opposite. Lent forward, elbows on his knee as he watched the track being prepped. He was in his normal loose jeans and sweatshirt that shouldn’t look as good as it did. It was better than Aleks’s obnoxious lime green Adidas look that hurt Brett’s hangover that morning when he was shaken awake by the blonde.

“I get Aleks’s love of clubs and being drunk but really horse racing?” Brett asked and there a silence that followed.

James rolled his eyes at him and huffed. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart or something? It’s gambling. Anything can fucking happen when it’s all high risk high reward. People lose and get angry or they win and lose their damn fucking minds. Either way it’s a lot of wayward emotions going around.”

“Uh-huh.” Brett offered.

“Dude, sorry I’m not some wild party boy.”

“Nothing wrong with that. I like this just as much. I was just curious, I’ve expected you both to be, well, more chaotic than you have been.” Brett explained to him and he got a shrug in return.

“We can be at home. But we like you and we like Earth, so me and Aleks don’t go all out. We like fun and jackassery more than destruction and blood shed. Sure mass murder and burning cities would fuel us for years but there’s nothing to it.” James continued to explain and looked Brett in the eye. The human swallowed because he could see how powerful and yet restrained James was at that moment.

“Besides, I can do this.” James said and snapped his fingers, eyes briefly bleed black as he did so.

“Ladies and gentlemen they are off.” Brett and James both turned to watch the horses take off but something was off to Brett. The announcer talked but Brett didn’t pay any attention to him. The horse in the lead started to slow down, almost like it had lost all stamina before it even got started. The horse slowed to a stop before it bucked they jockey off. Brett held his breath as he watched the small man fly over the railing to safety.

“Looks like Hot Potato is out of the race and The D has has taken the lead.” The announcement yelled, excitement in his voice.

Brett could see James’s smirk from the corner of his eye. He felt his heart skip a beat at the mischievous look.

“Looks like I fucking won.” James grinned and laughed at the confused jockey who watched his horse graze on the track. James continued to laugh as he waved the ticket in front of Brett’s face.

“What the fuck, James?” Brett asked and looked from the demon to the dehorsed jockey to the angry people around them.

“I told you he had a problem.” Aleks’s voice came from behind them and they both turned to see he had already taken the bench behind them. Soda in one hand and a pretzel in the other.

“I thought you meant a gambling problem.” Brett said,eyebrows raised  and a dumb expression on his face.

“You’re a bitch.” James muttered and Aleks pulled his bun. James let out a yelp and pulled away from the other demon.

“That’s more of a consequence. James has a cheating problem.” Aleks explained. “Anything he can get away with is fair game.”

“At least I don’t-” James started and paused as he tried to think of something to say.

“Yeah?” Aleks asked and James puffed out a breath and pouted. “That’s what I thought.”

“So what? We just cheat our way to the big bucks.” Brett asked and dodged James’s swinging arm.

“Do you want your money back?” Aleks asked. He wasn’t  as lucky to dodge James and he got a fist to the knee.

“Yes.” Brett explained and thought for a second. “But you have to help some of these people as well.”

“What? Fuck that.” James yelled eyes wide as he glared at Brett.

“I think that sounds like a great plan, Brett.” Aleks snickered as James.

“Oh, don’t fucking think you’re getting out of this. You’re helping him out.” Brett replied and pointed at the blonde. “You need to do something after setting the bar on fire last night.”

Aleks gasped and glared at him. “I was hoping you didn’t remember that.”

Brett laughed at them and watched as the next race began. That’s how they spent the rest of the day. They laughed at the new ways James could sabotage races and watched as the poor became slightly richer and the rich became slightly more poor. Aleks eventually found a spot that served him alcohol so they had a few beers before they were ready to leave.

“Here.” James’s voice cut through Brett’s spacing out. Brett briefly glanced at him and his shy smile before he looked down at what James had to offer him. “It’s your money man. Didn’t win anything but you broke even.”

“Thanks.” Brett pocketed the money and waved towards the entrance. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, need to get this fucker to bed.” James shrugged and it jostled Aleks from his spot nestled into James’s shoulder. Brett looked closely at him and Aleks opened his eyes briefly enough so he could wink at the human.

~

The next morning he woke up to a text from Steve. One he had wanted to see for so long but now it struck him. I got the reversal spell done.

He ignored it for as long as he could. At least until lunch where he watched James cook for him and Aleks was still asleep or at least hidden in their room.

Kind of busy. Maybe next week we could do it. Brett typed back and got a confirmation in return. He didn’t know why he wanted to wait because the week before he would have dragged the demons to the Sugar Pine Offices to get rid of them. Or maybe he did know.

Instead of doing the responsible thing Brett took the week to have fun with the boys before he sent them off. A lot of dinners out, where he had to stop them before they tripped the waiter, which was probably the most evil thing they could do. At nights they played games and it felt normal. Turns out Brett liked to have people around.

There was a night where Brett had been up too late after a long day at work and he fell asleep on James. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes open any longer so he tried to obnoxiously lay his head on James’s lap as a joke but he couldn’t stay awake long. Aleks cuddled on his chest when Brett muttered about how cold he was.

His couch was way too small for three grown men to try and sleep on it but they did. Or Brett slept and James and Aleks just relaxed into the night. He would never admit it but it was probably his favorite night of the two weeks they had been together.

It had been great until Aleks fainted in the middle of his kitchen on Friday. James and Brett both rushed over to kneel next to him. Brett felt for a pulse, he forgot for a brief second that it probably wouldn’t be there, while James felt his face.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Brett asked. James had a brief look of guilt and worry before it turned back into his passive face.

“Yeah, we were hoping to keep it from you a little longer.” James started and they moved Aleks onto the couch. “But Aleks has been away from Hell a little to long. He needs the fire down there to survive.”

“He needs to go back.” Brett finished and looked down at the blonde. James nodded and sat on the couch so that he could rest Aleks’s head on his lap.

“Well, I’ll call Steven and we can meet him tomorrow. Will he be okay until then?” Brett sat down on the other end. Aleks was laid out in between them and Brett placed a hand on the demon’s ankle. His skin was ice cold and it made a shiver run down Brett’s spine. He was too used to the heat Aleks usually let out.

“He’ll be fine. Just needs to sleep” James muttered and when Brett looked over to him he was running a hand through Aleks’s hair.

The next day they were on their way to the Sugar Pine Offices. Aleks was basically held between them as they made their way up the stairs to meet everybody. Steve lead them towards the pentagram which was still painted on the floor.

“Turns out it’s really simple. They just have to go back into the pentagram. You say “I release you from my service” and they should be gone.” Steven explained. He pointed everybody back to their original spots around the points.

“I know this is going to be real fucking sappy but it’s been real.” Aleks turned to look at Brett. He was pale and sweaty still but he smiled like he wasn’t about to collapse.

“Yeah, man. If we’re ever back you can bet we’ll show up at your house.” James replied and fist bumped the blonde.

“Please don’t.” Brett said and reached out to hug them. They both wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed. They ignored the stares of the humans in the room as they release him. They walked backwards into the pentagram almost like they didn’t want to leave either. They waved at Brett and for a second Brett thought his heart was going to stop beating.

“I release you from my service.” Brett said. There was no fanfare or dramatic winds this time. They just winked out of existence.

There was an emptiness in his heart after they disappeared. Like a whole chunk of him was missing. Brett never realized how much of the bond he felt until it wasn’t there anymore. A part of him wanted it back but the other didn’t. Maybe he just wanted them back.

“Well, now that’s over with. Thank God. New lesson: no more books in Latin.” Steve said and laughed with everybody else.

Brett didn’t stick around much longer. Just thanked everybody and was on his way home. It was quiet as he walked in, something he didn’t think he would ever hear again.

Brett threw himself on the couch with a groan, and threw his head back to stare blankly at the ceiling. He was spaced out so it took him a minute to recognize the sound of a faint pop. Brett looked over to see his lamp on fire and glass scattered around the coffee table from where the light bulb exploded.

Brett smirked and went to get the fire extinguisher he kept under the kitchen counter. He knew he couldn’t actually get rid of them for long. Even when the demons didn’t walk on Earth, they were still a pain in his ass.

[caffeineivore]

On Review Etiquette

So, lately, I have been participating in @sailormoonreviewevent and it brings back some of my best and worst memories of fandoms, not just SM but fandoms in general, and the people who populate them. 

Background information: I’ve been around since dinosaurs still roamed the Earth and geocities sites with animated word-art headers and the like were still the norm. In the case of Sailor Moon as well as other fandoms in which I have participated, I seem to always end up in a peculiar sort of capacity-- on the one hand, I’d pretty much stick to a very small corner of the fandom wherein my ship and/or character preferences kept me mostly away from the vast majority of the riff-raff and the fandom politics, but maybe because I have an inherently bossy and super type-A personality, I’d still end up in some sort of organizational capacity. The whip-cracker, as it were, amidst a bunch of creative types. For instance, in Sailor Moon, I pretty much stuck exclusively with senshi/shitennou. I paid very little attention to fanfics not about senshi/shitennou, and don’t really know people outside of that group. However, for all that, I ended up organizing ficathon for a few years, as well as moderating a writing community and planning meet-ups between members. In this role, I get to see a lot of the nuts and bolts which go on behind the scenes, and, unfortunately, also have to play the bad guy in certain sticky situations, which brings me to the point of this post.

Now, as a fanfic writer myself, I can say definitively that reviews make the world go round. Much as we write for fun, and we write to please ourselves, there is nothing quite so uplifting and encouraging as a genuine, sincere, detailed positive review. You know the type-- the ones that tell you exactly what they liked the most about your fic, in such a way that shows that not only did they read it, but it truly had an impact on them-- maybe it made them reconsider a facet of a character they’d never considered before, or maybe it mentions their favourite lines, or maybe it subconsciously reassures the writer on some point or another which they were uncertain about. Obviously, these are like the gold standard of reviews, and somewhat rare and far between. However, you’ll also get a bunch of “omg i <3 this fic MOAR PLZ”, which is okay too. You’ll probably even get a few with constructive criticism, which may sting at the time, but if the reviewer 1. means well and 2. has a point, it’s definitely worth your time to take their words into account. 

However, then you get one of these other types of reviews:

1. “Why did you write about [character] and/or [ship] they suxxxx [other character/ship] IS SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!”

2. this fucking fic is dumb. you suck. die in a fire. flame flame flame flame flame. trollololol I have no life I live in my parents’ basement and wank over how hard I am even though I need to put people down behind a meaningless screen name to feel better about myself. Not in a million years would I have the balls to say this sort of thing to someone’s face, but on the internet I am a Grade A Certified Prime Asshole and proud of it. [guest review anonymous]

3. So yeah this fic is great and I know it’s marked complete but could you add another chapter? Perhaps with [very specific plot and character requirements to cater into my personal whims] plzkthxbai!

4. Ummm... so why are you writing [characters] in [AU setting] or [different version of canon-- manga/anime/pgsm/etc.]?? MY PREFERRED CANON IS BETTER. WHY CAN’T YOU DO WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO??

5. Update faster plz!!! I need the next chapter NOW!! Actually I needed it YESTERDAY!! WTF ARE YOU DOING WHY ARE YOU NOT WRITING?!?!!?!!

Annnnnnnnd... you count to ten, resisting the impulse to chuck the phone or computer out the window. Take a deep breath, count to ten again, backward this time, and remind yourself that this is just fanfic. Just fanfic. Fandom’s bound to have a few idiots. You want to reply to the reviewer: “Look can u not” but that would be validating them, making them more important than they should be. You tell yourself it’s just a troll, but nonetheless, it hurts. And when you pick up that fic again, you’ll probably remember that one review in the back of your mind, taunting, more vivid than a dozen “gr8 job hope to see more soon!”’s. 

And it’s sad. So I’m about to give everyone who has experienced this (which, in all likelihood, is everyone who has posted a fanfic in any fandom ever) a voice. A loud, stridently snarky one. 

Reviewers: CAN U NOT?? with the trolling????

Look, I’m so glad that you have the time and the means to sit around and chill and read fanfic. It’s a luxury that requires a lot of first world amenities that not everyone has, so kudos to you. But that means, also, that you have a lot of freedoms not afforded to everyone, such as, y’know, the ability to pick and choose what you decide to read and comment on. There will be fics about every possible permutation of character ships in a fandom. There will be fics in every genre, which run the gamut of writing skill from novice to expert. And pretty much every single fic site, be it something privately owned or some behemoth like ff.n or AO3, will separate their fics into categories by character, genre, length, rating, etc. etc. The internetz is a wonderful thing. You can pretty much find anything with a few clicks. Like you can literally probably search for “I want a fic featuring [character A] and [character B] in a high school AU with angsty undertones and make it a one-shot less than 5000 words because I am on lunch break”, and it will take only the minimal amount of effort to get exactly what you look for to fall into your lap.

We all have our fic preferences. We also all know what we do not like. So, let me ask, why the hell do people insist on not only reading but flaming stuff that they KNOW they’re not going to like?? I am a diehard senshi/shitennou shipper and manga is my preferred canon. I KNOW that I do not ship Rei/Yuuichirou for example, so I won’t go out of my way to read fics featuring them. I’m not crazy about fics which feature tons of violence or porn, or lots of OCs, and I tend to dislike fics which make light of serious issues such as self harm or drug abuse, and I draw a very hard line at rape and sexual assault, especially if it features characters below the age of consent. Like, serious, trigger warning, PTSD, nope nope nope nope at Planet Nope. Now, what do I do if I come across a fic featuring any of these things? 

I DON’T FUCKING READ IT. Really. That’s all there is to it. I scroll down onto the next thing. And in the event that, say, I accidentally clicked on something that I figure out isn’t my cup of tea, it does not take any sort of effort to click right back out. Why give yourself grief? But even more, why give the writer grief? Even if it’s totally not your thing, they put effort into it-- far more effort than you did, clicking on their work. THEY are into what they wrote. 

Now, once upon a time, when I was organizing one of the senshi/shitennou ficathons, one of the submissions happened to feature something that NOPED with me very hard. And as ficathon mistress, I had to read it. So I did. And then replied to the author that it was very well written but I could not review it for personal reasons. Then I sent it off to another moderator to read it and give them an actual review. And that is an extenuating circumstance. Most people would not ever be in the position to have to read a fic that they would otherwise not read, or say anything to the writer of said fic. Even in that circumstance, it is not hard to deal with it in a respectful manner. So, why the fuck would someone willingly and knowingly inflict something they know they’re not going to like on themselves and then punish someone else for it? That makes NO sense.

As far as harassing authors to follow your own niche or write more on a topic or story that they feel as though they’re done with? Dude, write your own fic. You have total control over only one person in this world: yourself. Sure, validating what a fanfic writer does is very nice and gratifying, but they are not trained monkeys there to do your bidding and perform for your personal amusement. Unless you’re paying them good cashy money (which, since it’s fanfic, you’re not), you don’t get to have a say in what they write, when they write it, where they post it (if anywhere), any of that. They are under no contractual obligation to cater in to you in any way. And furthermore, when you try to dictate to them what to write and how to write it, the message is this: I Know Better Than You. Do As I Say. You Don’t Know Shit. What You Do Is Not Good Enough For Me. What You Do Doesn’t Matter. The Only Thing That Matters Is What I Want. 

That’s nothing but a goddamn put-down. And when you put down someone who probably put in a whole lot of thought and effort into something which brings them no possible reward but personal satisfaction and maybe others’ enjoyment, it’s really kind of a sucker-punch. If, say, this was the type of interaction between a boyfriend and girlfriend-- the put-downs, the belittling, the dictating, the insults-- we’d all recoil and call it a toxic, abusive relationship. We’d tell the person receiving those comments to get out of there, to get help, to leave.

So, when you make those types of comments, that’s the message you’re sending that writer. Leave. Get out of here. Go away, for your own good, for your own sanity and health and happiness. 

Now think about it, as you’re scrolling through ff.n or ao3 or wherever, looking for that next undiscovered gem. Think about it, when someone shyly asks you to review their fic, or signs up for the first time for a fandom event such as a ficathon or a big bang or a secret santa exchange. Is that the message you want to give them? That they should leave and never look back?

Now think about it again, and remember when you first discovered fanfic, or your preferred fandom, and wrote your first fic. Maybe it was campy and featured every trope on the TV tropes page. Maybe it was a shameless Mary Sue. Maybe it was ridiculously OOC and featured eye-gougingly purple prose. Maybe it was riddled with typos. Maybe you, yourself, looking back at it now, shake your head at how you could’ve written such a monstrosity. But would you have stayed, I wonder, if nobody at all encouraged you? Countless writers fade into oblivion after one fic, or disappear forever, deleting their fics off the internet. Countless people get fed up with fandom and throw their hands up and dismiss it as a lost cause. These things are going to happen regardless, sure.

But why the hell would you encourage that?

[thebigladjake]

AX2002 - Dimensions Group Project: Storyboard and Script

The Dimensions project is an animation where each 30 seconds, the animator switches. The aim of this brief is to get us to communicate with one another and be able to present a cohesive chase sequence with a clear narrative.

When it came to planning this out, we needed someone to be at the front and set up the narrative clearly. Before anyone could, I put my hand up. I was starting this off, I had the perfect idea that established Vasyl as a strong no-nonsense character and Skip’s more easy going and laid back approach. I knew how to set up these characters, so the rest of the class would know what to do, understand the relationships and mechanics of the characters.

First Storyboard Draft

The first impression I got for an introductory segment was to set up a tense narrative with multiple things going wrong at once. Setting a tone where our characters HAVE to get Guffyn back or it’s absolute disaster for everyone! So, immediately the ideas came flooding in and I scribbled down a rough storyboard. The visuals came to mind first, linking them up with a loose narrative. There wasn’t a definite script yet at this stage.

So, this animation “begins” with Guffyn opening a portal in time and arriving into a quiet alleyway in the night. Here Guffyn is rather confused, giving the impression that Guffyn doesn’t really know where it’s going. This was supposed to be the ending shot to the whole animatic, where it loops back to the last frame of the film will mirror the first.

This is where my segment really begins, with Guffyn looking off at the moon for a few seconds before a portal opens to Guffyn’s side with them looking at it in confusion. I always wanted this shot to be the opening shot, have the alleyway there with a little entrance and the moon in the sky.

A foot zooms through the portal, hitting Guffyn and slamming them into a wall! This violence was to establish a more urgent tone because who would want to stomp on a small cute creature like Guffyn? Not unless it was absolutely necessary, showing the audience that this character means business.

An aggressive hand came in, grabbing the Guffyn tight causing it to let out a squeak! A huge gun is then pointed in Guffyn’s face, with a closeup of Guffyn’s shock! This was to make Guffyn look that much more innocent and small in comparison to the huge hand and gun. 

Finally, we see the aggressor, Character A! Not named at the time. Pointing the gun at Guffyn in a POV shot, we get to see their rather intimidating appearance and are only left with vague answers on who these characters are. Then, a hardcut to Character B! Taking out some boxes, the designs here are both simple just to block out the scene and what’s happening. We hadn’t finalised any designs or even discussed them before this, so kept it to know what I’m doing. In hindsight, not a fan of how little Character B is actually in this, and so this was changed in the next scripts and storyboards.

Character A shoots out a portal to take Guffyn back. This establishes the whole narrative of things going wrong when Character B trips up and accidentally stumbles into the portal, much to Character A’s dismay.

Seeing a chance to escape, Guffyn transforms into liquid and melts out of Character A’s hands.

Guffyn then flies into the portal as Character A tries to grab them before they go, but fails... Character A groans saying something like “Not again...”

Summary

This storyboard was a perfect foundation to build upon, the setting was something I really liked and Character A’s reactions where perfect for setting up that there’s more to this story, however this draft has several problems.

My biggest being the portal Guffyn escapes into, would not have been a random dimension as Character A shot the portal, it would have been to go back to the facility which Guffyn had escaped from. Thinking from a story standpoint, Guffyn would have gone back to where he escaped from and Character A would follow, catch them without a chase and also return Character B home without any mad chances between dimensions! This would have also meant that Bee would have to have set her animation in the WTF facility and that wasn’t exactly fair in my opinion.

That was my major problem, but I also didn’t like how Character B hardly interacts and I don’t get a chance to set up Character B’s personality. So, back to the storyboards, I had to find a way where Character B plays just as much of a role in the setup, where Guffyn manages to escape by it’s own rules and an animation that won’t conflict with Bee’s aims and wants in her own segment.

Second Storyboard Draft

So, working on my problems with the first board. This version actually begins with Character B taking out the trash, the same sort of shot of the alleyway with the walls, entrance and moon in the background. Suddenly, a portal opens up that catches his attention.

Guffyn flies out and into the arms of Character B, very fast and conveys the impression that Guffyn is escaping. A small level of urgency established as Guffyn takes comfort in Character B’s arms and we get to see that Character B is a kind and caring character...

While Character B is preoccupied with Guffyn, a gun points into view which causes them to jump and look up in shock! It’s Character A! Looking all intimidating and menacing while pointing an alien device into Character B’s face! Quietly and calmly telling Character B to let go of the Guffyn...

Character B turns away, claiming that Guffyn is harmless and that it likes him! Character A establishes that Guffyn is actually capable of many things and that it has the capacity to destroy dimensions, not once lowering their gun. Showing how contained and composed they are.

Character B steps back claiming that it might not want to destroy worlds. As they argue, Guffyn melts through Character B’s hands.

Character B reacts in disgust, letting Guffyn drop to the floor giving it a chance to escape! I’m quite a fan of how I got to keep the melting effect.

I’d noticed how flat this might have been laid out, so I decided to do this high angle shot to show the portal forming under Character B. Not only to be visually interesting, but to challenge myself by drawing at that angle. It also shows where the portal is formed and also accidentally brings Character B into the adventure!

Now alone, Character A reflects on what just happened and simply wonders why their job can’t be easy.

Character A quickly jumps after and my segment ends...

As you can see, it’s almost the same. However, just simply rearranging certain aspects to make a much more refined film. Elements like Character A being left alone and Guffyn melting away to escape. The violence and urgency much more toned down and in a sense reversed, since Guffyn is all cute and cuddly until it’s revealed that Guffyn can be weaponized. Making him more of a threat rather than make him innocent throughout and making Character A the aggressor.

With this rough draft done, I then began to write a script and create a much more refined product.

Script Development

With my new foundations, I began development on the script and storyboards. This time however with my artstyle in mind and something that will be much much closer to a finished product. 

When writing the script, I had to keep in mind the character’s personalities. Character A, a headstrong, determined figure that has no time for nonsense. Character B, a lighthearted and accepting guy that won’t hesitate to show kindness to the most dangerous creatures. 

With these attributes in mind, I gave Character B the name, Skip. His last name was going to be Anajump because what I was originally going for was a name based on the phrase, “A hop, skip and a jump away“. But, that wasn’t necessary.

Character A became Vasyl, a name in some languages that means leadership and independence. I felt it was important to give them a foreign sounding name since they are an alien.

When I pitched these ideas forward in the group discussions, nobody seemed to object and the names stuck!

These characters went through a bunch of developments, character-wise and visually. Both Vasyl and Skip had lines where they swore in initial scripts, while it felt in line with Vasyl’s character, it didn’t feel right for Skip, plus it made him less endearing. He just seemed like any old teenager than a kind hearted youth!

Their personalities remained the same, but when the brief asked for a sudden detail to be revealed that changes the dynamic, it definitely got me thinking. A rough idea I came up with was have Vasyl grow a bond with Skip because she knew a relative of his who had died on their adventures, seeing those key traits she saw in them. Specifically in regards to his kindness. And just before they part ways, Vasyl would make a comment like “The boy’s just like you”. This idea was soon shot down as it was a little complicated and to keep characters down to a minimum, I didn’t want to restrict people into including certain details. 

Another idea I entertained was Vasyl knowing everything that was going on while Skip had no clue, so when she first appears it’d be like “Not again! No time to explain, follow me!” This didn’t really work for me and I preferred having them meet for the first time.

Storyboard Development

Now I had names, designs and direction for the story to go in. All that was needed was to rebuild my vision and get it more clearly across...

So, we establish that Skip is just a regular human with a regular job in his regular routine. Just having him sigh establishes he is a little bored of his usual life.

Skip’s reaction to the portal opens also establishes that the wacky adventures that he will embark on throughout everyone’s animation would be completely new and mind-boggling to him.

Guffyn flies out, straight into Skip’s arms. Making it seem defenceless and innocent.

Skip’s reaction to Guffyn is nice, we see his open-mind and kind heart. His and Guffyn’s shock when confronted with a big tall alien woman with an unusual device gives the audience the initial expectation of Vasyl being the antagonist.

A small pause to let the bizarre-ness sink in, building tension as Skip refuses to answer her. We see Skip takes a few seconds to pluck up the courage to say know.

Vasyl’s gun was changed to look more like a taser and device, make her look like she’s using a tool rather than a weapon.

Vasyl’s rant and expression shows the audience that there’s more to Guffyn than it seems, maybe it is not to be trusted.

Taking advantage of the situation, Guffyn melts into Skip’s hands in an attempt to sneak away unnoticed. This is set up into the ending of Alex’s animation, where Guffyn takes advantage of the situation to escape.

Skip notices Guffyn leaking through his fingers and reacts accordingly! Vasyl jumps back in surprise due to Skip’s sudden recoiling. 

Vasyl’s attempt to save Skip is the start of their alliance, showing the audience that Vasyl doesn’t want to drag innocent lives into her job.

But, alas, Skip falls into the portal. Getting dropped feet first into the conflict, Vasyl can only react in disappointment...

Her casual reaction sets up a drier side to her personality, showing how these unusual situations are a regular occurrence to Vasyl.

Vasyl jumps in after Skip and straight into Bee’s animation with them falling down. Which further goes onto establish Skip’s kindness and Vasyl’s casual attitude to this situation.

Summary

Being sure in my vision, I simply continued in this direction and made some animatics with test audio. Hardly anything story-based changed from now until my final animation unless it was purely visual. I was really happy with how this turned out and I was even more happy about bringing this to life.