#i also had a comic following the art but i got lazy and never finished

[ahhlehlehlehleh]

[krysmcscience]

It’s finally done, guys – five whole pages of Narilamb AU comic AND MORE be upon you! (If you have trouble reading any of the text, view the full-size! These pages are huge!)

Yeesh, this took forever. <:)

There’s probably a ton of inconsistencies and anatomy/perspective wonkeries, but this was mostly just comic practice, so Oh Hekkin Well, Lol <:D

(Yes, I am aware the Gateway’s door isn’t present in the Afterlife, and the actual way in is just a pentagram portal. Yes, I put the door in there anyway because Artistic License, i.e. it felt more impactful for there to be a prison door of sorts to walk through to freedom, rather than just a bland boring portal on the ground. 😠)

anyway, i hate backgrounds so much lmao

Alternate ending and a buttload of bonus art under the cut, followed by goofy AU rambles and headcanon stuff:

I’m calling it the Revival AU. It’s not all that creative a title, and someone else has probably used it already, but I am too lazy to really care, LOL

Alternate ending page, which you will Definitely need to view the full-size for, Whoopsie Daisy:

The alternate ending was actually the first ending I finished things off with, because I had a brief badbrain moment where I forgot the emotional beat I initially wanted the comic to end on, and I tend to write comedy, anyway. I later remembered and drew out the proper ending, but I preserved and finished this one, too, because it still makes me giggle.

They had to go back for the followers off-screen in the AU’s real ending. And by ‘they’ I mean just the Lamb, because they weren’t about to ask three newly freed cats to go back into what used to be their prison. The Lamb DID spend some time watching Narinder and the bois enjoying the outdoors first, though:

In other news, here’s the Lamb and me making fun of my anatomy-drawing ‘skills’:

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering why the Lamb is just a-okay with how things went down vis a vis Their Murder, this bonus comic should answer at least some of your questions:

Ah, yes, also this is how they get engaged outside of the alternate ending. Forgot to mention that bit. XD (I already refuse to believe that Narinder is capable of flirting normally, so why would his initial marriage proposal be any better???)

Oh, and before any of them get a chance to actually head back to the cult grounds, there is one potential problem:

And by ‘problem’ I mean something Narinder intends to ignore for At Minimum a thousand years. Cuz he’s a petty bitch like that. :D

what do you mean i drew the lamb too tall compared to the background? clearly they’re standing on top of baal and aym lmao, why else would you think those two aren’t in this one??? (aym and baal got way too excited about finally being outside, you see, and their silly modes are nothing to sneeze at)

And, speaking of heading back to the cult grounds, I’m sure y’all would love to know how the Lamb’s followers felt about the brand new change in management:

It all went better than expected. <:D Tiny ramble now, feel free to skip down to the next comic.

Before you ask, no, the Lamb does not have any actual powers anymore, other than the immortality Narinder definitely grants them. The Red Crown just thinks it’s funny to suggest otherwise, and Narinder does nothing to discourage this. Also, the Lamb and Narinder aren’t actually married here yet, but, uh. Pretty safe to say that particular ritual directly follows the events of this comic. XD

Given how quickly he mellows out in canon, Narinder probably chills out a lot in this AU once he’s in charge of the cult, too, if only because 1.) He’s finally free, and 2.) He’s equally smitten with and distracted by the Lamb. He’s definitely in charge at least 95% of the time, though, because the Lamb never actually wanted to be a cult leader and, now that their time as a vessel is done, they just want to be a normal(ish) sheep who’s wholly devoted to their hot new divine husband.

Some followers do still have some valid concerns about these two being together, though, which I’m sure at least a few of you might share…

Unfortunately for any such concerns, the Lamb is a bonafide masochist in this AU. :D

They’re also 100% a sub, obviously

Anyone at all: Your relationship is problematic and potentially toxic

The Lamb: fuck yeah it is, it’s so hot~ OuO

Here’s just the last panel, made transparent for whatever nefarious purposes y’all might have for it:

Additional exchange Narinder and the Lamb have at some point, probably after the Lamb does a fatal whoopsie while out on a mission trip or in response to things getting a little too sadistic in the bedroom, ahaha:

Look, there is a very important distinction between life and death, and if you don’t understand that, then you’re probably not worthy of being the God of Death, anyway. (At least, according to Narinder, and ONLY Narinder.)

Last but not least, have these shittens:

~Such creative naming conventions I have utilized, lololol~ :D Anyway, there's a few deets on them in the rambles down below.

The rest is all ramble, so before I get to that, I’ll just say – likes and especially reblogs are very much appreciated!!! :D If you happen to really really REALLY like my stuff, meanwhile, I do have a link in my bio to my ko-fi page, where I’m accepting commissions and donations if you’re especially generous… ÓuÒ

Now, BE FREE IF YOU AIN’T DOWN FOR READING MY GOOFY RAMBLES

First ramble is re: Baal’s question of ‘Did it really work?’, since I didn’t feel like expanding on it in the comic proper, and it’s arguably pretty vague? He doesn’t ask because he doubts Narinder or his capabilities, exactly, but because neither Baal nor Aym have ever actually seen their god at full power before (he’s still technically not at full power here, either). It’s not expressly stated how soon the brothers were brought to Narinder after his imprisonment, but whether it was early on or after a length of time for Shamura to (somewhat) recover from his attack, he must have already been weakened, since I have no doubts that there was a huge battle that accompanied the Bishops working together to trap him. So, between that fight with all four of his siblings, sharing his power with a variety of vessels over time, and being chained immobile for a thousand years, he must have been severely weakened by the time he lent the Red Crown out to the Lamb, which would have only weakened him further.

I like to think this is how the Lamb is able to defeat him if they refuse to be sacrificed, despite how it took all four Bishops working together to subdue and chain Narinder in the first place.

All that aside, the three cats have been trapped in the Afterlife for so long that Baal also wanted verbal reassurance that they are all, indeed, actually able to leave it now – something that I headcanon isn’t possible without a significant amount of power (i.e. the Red Crown’s cooperation with its bearer/vessel).

(On a semi-related note, I don’t headcanon Aym and Baal as twins. I like sweetheart big bro Baal and snarky little goth bro Aym too much to have them be that close in age.)

Ah, teeny thing: If you noticed I switched up the art style for Narinder on the second page, that was intentional. It's sort of a visual indicator that there has been a Big Change for him - that being, how much power he has after sacrificing the Lamb. As for why I changed up his arms in the grass rollin' pic, I don't really subscribe to the notion that his arms are spooky bones because they're horrifically injured (beyond chain-chafing scars, that is), but rather just because he's the Bishop of Death, so he can change how normal-to-spooky they look at will. At some point I might doodle out how I imagine his appearance to range between least to most eldritch... 🤔

Next ramble, regarding Narinder’s feelings towards the Lamb...he was initially too focused on being freed from his imprisonment to form any real attachment to them. They were a tool for his use, first and foremost, but he did notice their intense devotion towards him. It was impossible not to notice, because the Lamb was always very happy to see him, even if it was because they died during a crusade (yet again). He wasn’t originally planning to revive them once he was freed, either, because he saw no real point to it – after all, they were already dead when they first met him, just as any other mortal would be when meeting him in the Afterlife, so death has very little real consequence in his eyes. But, once the chains were off, and it really sank in that he stood to lose the most devoted follower he’s ever had, he decided…why put their soul to rest for good or leave them stuck in the Afterlife when he could just as easily revive them again? And why not reward them for their hard work, anyway? Not only would it cost him nothing by comparison, but the future devotion that could come of it would surely make up for his (bare minimum) effort in reviving them.

He wasn’t expecting to get a full dose of that devotion and a smiling face so soon after killing them, though~ :3c (because the Lamb is a bonafide freak, and not-so-secretly into the fucked up power dynamics going on here, lol)

I should mention here that I am firmly of the belief that any non-god/vessel who crosses through the Gateway and into the Afterlife just straight up dies. So, Aym and Baal? Also straight up dead, from the second Shamura brought them through. Their souls were just never put to rest so that Narinder could have some company – if only according to Shamura. Narinder kept the two around mostly out of bewilderment, because honestly, who are these kittens, and what is Shamura’s game here, anyway??? They never even explained anything, they just tossed these kittens into the Afterlife and LEFT!!! At any rate, Aym and Baal being dead is how I explain why their souls apparently become lost in the void if they’re killed, along with the added complications required to revive the two because of it.

So, with those deets in mind, and given a bit of time, if Narinder hadn’t chosen to revive the Lamb, and also hadn’t chosen to put their soul to rest, they still would have woken up at some point, despite being as straight up dead as Aym and Baal. Who, don’t worry, were also properly revived while Narinder was waiting for the Lamb to wake up. Because I am also firmly of the belief that, first, the dead cannot leave the Afterlife without the use of a ritual/relic (and can't stay in the living world for long regardless), and second, dead followers’ devotion isn’t anywhere near as potent as that of the living, given how much more the living stand to lose.

Final ramble, regarding the Lamb’s feelings towards Narinder, and why they’re so devoted to him…

Well, you don’t spend most of your life on the run with your steadily-dwindling herd, trying to evade the ongoing genocide of your species, without becoming a little fucked up in the head. Maybe a lot fucked up in the head. Life is suffering, so might as well have fun with it, right? Maybe start finding death and pain to be kind of hilarious, even a little bit hot, once everyone you know and love is dead and gone, leaving you all alone? And maybe after that, there’s something comforting in how, despite the cold, cruel uncertainties of life, at least you can always count on the inevitability of death, patiently waiting for you until your very last breath? Who knows. Either way, as soon as the Lamb was killed, and they learned that the literal God of Death was offering them a second chance at life and vengeance via effective immortality, they were 100% ride-or-die-devoted all at once. Turns out death is kinder than life – go figure. (Of course, it helps that Narinder is 100% their type.)

They weren’t put off by Narinder’s thinly-veiled sadism or manipulations, either – they’re not too different in those regards, albeit opting for vastly different methods. It’s a very ‘two sides of the same coin’ sort of deal. In order to stay alive once they were made the last of their kind, the Lamb had no qualms with using others to their advantage, and that did not change once they were revived and expected to run a cult. They didn’t care for the position of authority, though – being a sheep and all, they’re much more of a follower than a leader, and thus greatly appreciated Narinder’s need for control. With how they had to keep on their toes for so long, the Lamb was also pretty good at reading people by the time they died, so they could recognize that a lot of Narinder’s posturing was just that – posturing. Dude’s 95% bluster and only 5% bite. He could obviously be vicious when he wanted or needed to (the Bishops' injuries were clear proof of that), but underneath his outer layer of cruelty was a generous layer of tsundere, and underneath all THAT was a soft squishy middle sibling velcro cat in desperate need of attention and affection.

(Which, for the record, he Did Not feel comfortable getting from Aym and Baal – Narinder still has no idea why the fuck Shamura sent them to him, beyond acting as keepers at best or trying to sabotage his attempts to escape at worst. Which, he thought HE sabotaged in turn, by guiding the kittens into being his devoted disciples instead. He thought he was very clever for it. ‘I outsmarted Shamura!’ he thought, despite that there was never anything there to outsmart. ‘What do you mean, Shamura sent your kittens to me for company?’ he demands of Forneus later. It may or may not lead him to pull Shamura out of Purgatory just so he can shake them and scream about how they should have Fucking Explained that!!!)

But, getting back on track as to why the Lamb was so willing to be sacrificed, I cannot stress this enough – if you pay even a minimal amount of attention to what he’s saying, Narinder is REALLY NOT SUBTLE about his intentions. ‘Death is of little consequence.’ ‘Followers are for you to use to your advantage.’ ‘Sacrifice a follower to absorb more power.’ So, yeah, the Lamb knew exactly what would be expected of them once the other Bishops were dead. They knew Narinder would expect them to die for him one last time. But, after all, death is of little consequence (not to mention hot), so when the time came, they wanted to see him freed, even if it meant oblivion for them in the end.

He’d given them a second life, and the ability to avenge their kin, and they felt indebted to him for that – so, while they were still pretty glum about the possibility that they might not get to see him free of his chains, nothing beyond their devotion and debt to him mattered. They never wanted all the drama and expectations that came with the Red Crown’s power, anyway, so, better for Narinder to have it back so that he could deal with it. What he did with the Lamb afterward would be up to him, and seeing as he was their god, they’d accept his decision gladly.

Were they in love with him by that point? Oh, obsessively so, but only in the devotional sense – romance was nowhere on their mind nor radar. That is, until he unexpectedly revived them again, told them he still needed them, and then offered down his hand to help them up.

The Lamb fell HARD for him in that moment. :3c

And now, a tiny shitten ramble. Lu and Li are twins, because sheep tend to have those a lot, and are conceived not long after the Lamb and Narinder’s marriage ceremony. Lu is the minutes older one, but Li is much more mature. I have put no further thought into these two, other than that they are utter menaces, birthed by the Lamb, cling hard to both their parents but especially Narinder (who spoils them rotten), and they are both genderfluid, using whichever pronouns/names they feel like at any given time. They are also both intersex, same as the Lamb, who was initially infertile up until Something Something Vague Magic, which I have also put no further thought into ¯\_(シ)_/¯

oh, and before anyone tries to suggest i headcanon this AU’s lamb as trending more female due to them giving birth or whatever, no, no, a thousand times no, they might have a vag, but they've also got a dick, and even if it's not as big as they'd like, they still know how to use it

Finally, the very tentative name for the Lamb in this AU is Yazdi, which is really just another name for the Baluchi breed of sheep XD (Not that the Lamb is this specific breed, I just didn’t like any of the other sheep-related names I found, ahaha...)

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW (collapses into an exhausted pile of goopy limbs)

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @velinxi​

Hello! I’m Xiao Tong Kong, better known as “Velinxi.” I’m the creator of the webcomic Countdown to Countdown and have been doing freelance artwork since I was a teenager. I love telling stories with my illustrations! Tumblr was where I first got my start as an artist, specifically a small fandom artist as a hobby… and now I’m somehow here! When I’m not trying my best to stay awake in front of my tablets, I’m usually cooking, gaming, or sleeping. Sometimes all three, in my dreams.

Check out our interview with Velinxi below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

Yeah! I’ve basically been on track to become an artist since I was a child. I went to a middle school with an emphasis on arts and a high school specializing in it. I went to SVA briefly for computer arts but dropped out to pursue freelance and webcomics after my first year.

Over the years as an artist, what or who were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

My biggest inspirations growing up were Yuumei and Shilin Huang, two titans on DeviantArt back in the day. They still inspire me today, but the list of inspirations has grown exponentially over the years, including artists, movies, entire art movements, etc.

What was your thought process behind the creation of your webcomic, Countdown to Countdown?

Well, Countdown to Countdown started as a passion project back when I was 15, in high school, and pretty depressed. I just wanted to draw whatever story I thought was cool, inspired by my favorite media at the time. There was a very loose beginning and outline, but I was truly just writing as I drew the story. That’s why I had to stop the comic in 2018 and restart from scratch the year after. Now, the story has a set story and a clear outline. It still has similar roots, characters, and themes of neglect, abuse, and escape—but I think the story is a lot easier to follow now. It’s got an artstyle I can actually keep up with in the long run. The origin of why CTC exists also remains the same: I simply wanted to make a story I wanted to read for myself. Which happens to be about two dumb boys with superpowers navigating a hostile world that wants them dead or caged—together.

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

Oh, all the time. It’s part of the process. Personally, though—I just have to draw through it. Every month on my Patreon, I have my patrons vote on a theme I have to draw by the end of the month, and I try my best to make it as interesting as possible. I draw quite a few—tens even, of doodles or compositions for each of these themes to try to make something that tells a story while still being aesthetically pleasing and clear. I think pushing myself like this helps with art block, really. I also do remember to take breaks and simply consume other media I like! It gets the inspiration juices flowing.

Advice you would give to an aspiring creator?

If you do one—your first webcomic should be a short, fun, messy thing. It’s not often you can get it right the first time, but you’ll certainly learn a lot through sheer experience. This goes for a lot of things in art, to be honest.

What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

3D Animation. I briefly learned it at SVA, and I think that’s enough of that tech for me. I accept that there are some things that are truly beautiful if done right, and I am too simple and lazy for it.

What is your goal for the rest of this year?

Get Countdown to Countdown book 2 finished! And live HAHA

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@yuumei-art on Tumblr, still! They’ve been a huge inspiration for digital artists and storytellers online for years. I have no doubt that many digital artists of my generation have been influenced by them, and they’re still here, making beautiful art and stories. It’s a thing to behold.

Thanks for stopping by, Velinxi! If you haven’t seen her Meet the Artist piece, be sure to check it out here. You can also follow her for more amazing art over at her Tumblr, @velinxi!

[merryspark]

Uh NO, another UP!date!

Oi My Beloved Followers Friends!

I hope this New Year will be awesome amazing for all of You! No more depression from my side, I came with rock-hard facts!! :D

Let me begin with some infos what you gonna be see from me in the upcoming weeks:

- finished asks from my box (for example BeeFormers, Human Barricade, etc.)

- finished old projects, like:

1.) You can meet Mr Flimsy and find out the end of the story;

2.) See the last page of one of my fav comic sheets how Cross doubted OP;

3.) Follow my new skill I learn from tutos bc I am a home-person currently lol - this keychain plushie I am working on is Ezreal from the LoL band Heartsteel. My li'l Sis pushed me to make it, she designed the sheets for me about the keychain, which was only the background element of an official LoL art, so we had to plan everything for ourselves to own this plushie, call it to life cuz the merch does not exist yet:

Talking about plushies, I have my excuse for missing the whole december - not just my home-problems: I worked really hard to make her an Oliver Aiku plushie from her fav anime BlueLock - it was my first job, and I did not find the perfect fabrics in the shops, so as you'll see below, it is not my peak work, but I keep practicing to make BeeFormers plushies in the future. :)

It was not an option to keep ya'll updated, because at daytime while she's at school we talk via Tumblr chat, so I would unmask my secret with any post about it, and would definitely bust my own sorry-ass in a minute. ;D Also, I learned to make embodiery (!!!) - some fatass teardrops escaped from my eye, because I bet my granny laughed her ass off from Heaven: when I was a lazy teenager, I've never planned the learn things from her (though she was an official women's tailor), even She called me into her room, and now She has to see I am learning the same stuff from YT videos... hahaha... How the turntables...

I am so sorry I was a bit sad in the close past in comments, sometimes things pull me down - like missing friends I left behind the city; friends from abroad I cannot spend enough time with: sometimes it feels I am invisible, and everybody stepped over, and continue their lives, the challenges they meet day by day, and I don't fit in their lives anymore. It is hard to handle problems at home, while I just try to be happy, but others are unsatisfied with their own life, so they try to ruin others'... So nevermind, I just wanted to reach out to all of you, because I Love You SO MUCH, and I am greatful for following me on Tumblr and other sites (which I shall Update as well...), because you look after me, and never get tired to text me, ask me, love my drawings!!!

You're the reason this blog is still good and produces new and quite acceptable pictures! :D 💚🩵💙🖤

Down below you gonna see Oliver plushie step by step, and more is to come ( sadly I have got only two hands, so cannot draw and sew at the same time )!!!

Thank you for reading!

I love you all!!

Note: this was the sample I used:

And I started the embodiery of the eyes (peak of my life by Daph):

To be continued....

[yunhowhoitiss]

𝐜𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐮𝐦

𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭!𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨 𝐱 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐟𝐞𝐦)

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.5k+

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fluff, fantasy au (?), slow burn, angst if you squint, ft co-worker jongho :)

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: You’re finally starting to make ends meet when you start working at your school’s local café, but the world is so full of surprises.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: reader panics a bit(?)

𝐚/𝐧: I came up with this at 4am a couple days ago so it’s not my proudest, but I felt bad just letting it sit in my drafts so here you go :) enjoy!

masterlist

The gentle smell of freshly baked pastries, accompanied by the stronger aroma of ground coffee beans, wafted through the comfy café. There was a constant chatter as customers scattered around the joint whilst waiting, disguising the soft hum coming from behind the coffee machine. Your face was out of sight, except your hair peeked out above the espresso machine where you were pouring a latté, entertaining yourself by decorating a small heart in the foam. A smile tugged at the corners of your lips as your eyes turned to soft crescents when soft wisps of your hair had fallen out of your bun and across the sides of your forehead. The steam floating from the cup caressed your hands as you picked up the mug along with an assortment of macaroons. 

“Order for Julie: four macaroons, a chai latté, and an espresso affogato, extra dry!” You announced through the coffee shop, turning a few heads. 

You made your way back to the station to continue other orders but stopped as you noticed something missing; you had run out of cinnamon to top off drinks. Your coworker ought to know where another carton would be, so you turned towards the kitchen to find him wrist-deep in bread dough. 

“Jongho, where are the extra containers of cinnamon again?”

“Oh, those are in the grey cabinet below the pastry display,” he smiled back, all the while kneading the dough. 

Flashing him an ‘ok’ sign, you headed back to the front of the shop. You hadn’t been working at the Crescent Café very long, but you happened to be a pretty fast learner, according to Jongho; you could make latte art before other trainees could even make a latte. Quickly getting back to work, you served a customer until something caught you eye whilst jotting down an order on your notepad; had the writing been on your wrist all day? It must just be something I wrote down earlier, you thought.

As the sun made its way towards the horizon, you returned to the comfort of your small apartment to freshen up, eat dinner, and momentarily forget your academic responsibilities— homework, ugh-- before heading to school again the next day. You entered you apartment with a relived sigh and threw your keys onto a nearby dresser, mumbling "I'm home" to nobody in particular. Too lazy to go to your room, you simply undressed as you walked towards the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothing behind you. Note to self: clean that up later. 

The moment you stepped into the shower, your shoulders loosened as the hot water washed away your tension. The writing on your wrist caught your eye again. Scrutinizing the messy handwriting, you saw what seemed to be a shopping list. 

“Eggs, lucky charms, and aftershave,” you read aloud. 

Aftershave? I don’t use that. Could it be… you were lost thought, not noticing the warm steam filling the bathroom. You rubbed at your soapy skin frantically in an attempt to wash off the pen, to no avail. Lately, although rarely, you’d started to notice small bruises or random marks on your skin; you’d never seen writing, though. You briefly wondered if there was possibly another person causing this, but you only saw such things in movies or books... right? 

Your heart rate started to pick up, and a heavy sensation built up in your chest. It isn’t possible, it can’t be. The cramped space of your shower started to feel suffocating. Nearly slipping, you jumped out of the shower and dried yourself off. You got dressed in whatever shirt and sweats you found hanging around your bedroom. Was something wrong with you? Am I imagining things? I’m not going crazy, right?  Worrisome thoughts flooded your mind as you spiralled deeper into a panic. Calm down. Don’t skip to conclusions. You threw yourself onto the bed. In and out. It’s that simple, you consoled yourself. Slowly but surely, you felt your heart come to a rest. 

When you lifted your hand up above your head the writing was still there, unchanged. So you weren’t losing your mind. Could somebody else be the cause of this? Was someone else somehow writing on your skin? No, you felt stupid for even considering the thought; otherworldly things like that only happened in comics or movies. Nevertheless, it was the only possibility that made sense to you in the moment. You let your curiosity get the best of you, and paced towards the living room to grab a pen off the coffee table. On your right hand, you simply wrote "Hi," in hopes of eliciting some sort of response.

The following day proved to be a rather sunny, warm Monday, but you had to spend your time in a closed lecture hall. The cold-toned ceiling lights were much too bright for your liking, and the monotonous professor spouted information maybe only a handful of people were genuinely listening to. That morning, you had woken up to find the list on your wrist gone, leaving only your own message from the night before. You started to think you'd really had a hallucination of some sort. 

Half an hour into the lecture, you were already bored out of your mind and absentmindedly sketching intricate doodles on your notebook. I should just give up on biochemistry and become an artist, you mused to yourself. You remained focused on your art, while marks started to take shape on the back of your hand. Your soft eyes widened almost comically at the sight, and you shot a brief look to the people around you to make sure they hadn’t seen anything. Whipping your head back to your hand, you saw that the words stopped writing themselves, leaving a short message saying “Am I going nuts?” 

Wondering the same thing yourself, you jotted down a response below it: “I dunno, you tell me,” followed by a cheeky smiley face. If this really was real, you might as well make a good first impression. 

Weeks trickled into months as you made short exchanges with your newly discovered friend. Some nights you would write “good night” followed by a drawn heart, earning a sweet “sleep well” in return. You would frequently wake up to thoughtful words written on the palm of your hand, or you'd kindly ask your companion how they were doing when you had a quiet day at work. Even so, all you had learned about this person was their name, age, and that they were a student as well. Yunho was a twenty-one-year-old elementary education major with a minor in physiology-- he also worked as a dance teacher on weekends. You still didn’t know much about each other, so the messages never went further than greetings and simple conversations. 

Be that as it may, you liked it like that. Your relationship wasn’t complex; it felt comfortable and pure, and you didn’t want to change it.

Mellow spring afternoons at the café had always been your favourite. The wispy clouds in the sky were painted a buttery yellow by the slowly setting sun, and a steady stream of nearby students stopped by for coffee. Your new friend had sweetly noted "It's golden hour. Made me think of you," on your palm, leaving you in a bubbly mood. You had started your shift by drawing a heart on your wrist, hoping your secret companion would see it. 

You worked by the espresso machine as usual, humming to yourself as always. The bell rang, indicating that customers had arrived; it was a group of what seemed to be three guys and a girl. 

“We’ll be right with you!” you called. You turned towards the kitchen.  “Jongho, can you take their orders?” Silence. “Pretty please? I need to clean up my station.” you persisted. 

“Fine, yeah,” you heard your colleague grumble. 

As you tidied up behind the machine, you felt as though someone was watching you from the counter. You lifted your head curiously, meeting a pair of inquisitive doe eyes coloured a soft hazelnut brown. The warm eyes instantly turned into friendly half-moons as the boy smiled shyly upon being caught staring. You hurried back to cleaning up your station, hoping to hide the pink tint of your cheeks, but the red shade consuming your ears gave you away. 

Jongho handed you the cups for their orders and walked over to the pastry display. You got started on a hot chocolate and three iced americanos, getting back into your “barista brain,” as you liked to call it. After finishing the drinks, you called out "Three iced americanos, a hot chocolate, and two blueberry muffins!” 

You turned around to grab straws, and you overheard one of the guys say “I’ll grab ‘em, you guys can stay here.” You made your way back to the counter, looking up only to be met with the boy from earlier. Butterflies littered your stomach, fluttering up into your chest. “Oh, um, here are some straws,” you smiled gingerly.

“Thanks. Could I please get a sleeve as well?” he asked, “For my hot chocolate.”

“Of course!”

As you handed him the cardboard sleeve, his hands caught your eye. Not only were they the most beautiful hands you'd ever laid eyes on, but the boy had a heart drawn on the valley of skin between his left thumb and wrist, exactly where you had drawn one on your own hand just a while earlier. He seemed to recognize the message on your palm as well; a confused expression ghosted over his face. Gathering all your courage, you nodded towards his hand and did your best to form a coherent sentence. “That’s—”

“Your heart,” he interrupted, “Right?” 

You giggled softly in response, barely containing your excitement.

“Right,” you smiled down at your feet in an attempt to hide the bashful grin that pulled at your lips. A hand popped up in front of you.

“Nice to meet you, y/n. My name’s Yunho-- Oh, but you know that already, don’t you?” Yunho chuckled sheepishly. You looked up and slipped your hand into his, shaking it gently. His hands were warm, fingertips ever so soft.

“Nice to meet you too.”

[shnowbilicat]

Carpe Diem

-----------------------

As the days now turn to the end of an era, I wanted to reflect and put in my part; so I finally did some Unus Annus Fanart featuring myself holding two skulls representing Unus and Annus, remembering their lives and future deaths for the future generations.

I wanna be honest, I already knew I would be crying when Unus Annus comes to an end, but I never thought that I would also be ready for it to end. I will miss all the great videos and memes and art prompts this channel had to offer. It was fun watching every single video and experiencing this channel's lifespan from the very beginning, looking forward and patiently waiting for every new video every day to brighten up my life. But I guess that's life? If one thing ends you have to look for something new to fill that hole ... and I've already made some plans, thanks to you Mark and Ethan.

My life wasn't always the sunniest, or greatest, and I've always struggled getting on my feet from the very beginning. But just about two or so years ago I finally did a step to repair what's broken and this year, though a bit chaotic, was honestly one of my best years in life. I finished my training and officialy became an media designer and just this fall I started working and getting my very first real paycheck. In the lifespan of my training I also filled every minute I could going to therapy and treating my depression and anxiety and I also got engaged to my fiance in that time.

I still have a LOOOONG way ahead of myself, but I'm not pushing myself to the edge anymore. Nudge myself to work if I notice I'm getting lazy, but also take better care of myself. You two inspired me to have fun with my friends, even in these trying times, to work hard and just try your best, no matter what people will think or say about it. As long as you had fun and are proud of it, nobody can tell you otherwise.

When I look at my own works of art, I struggle with it, I even feel bad throwing away my old art I did as a kid ... but sometimes you have to let go and make room to grow. You will still remember the work you put in it, the stepping stone of the beginning of your journey. But you will grow and learn from the past you left behind.

And since this is one of the only chances I have to share my thoughts with you guys ...

Mark, I've known you for a long time and I was always hyped for the next video you've put out. When you started playing FNAF I immediantly got sucked itnto it and now the franchise is a huge part of my life. Thanks to you and these game I actually held myself over the water of my deepest depression I have ever been through. Your positivity and will to help others, see them succeed inspired me more than one time and I will always be a life longtime supporter of you.

Ethan, you are a really amazing person and I curse myself that I never followed you actively up until this channel started to exist. I always loved the vids you did with Mark on his channel and the moment I realized how much of a fun and wholesome person you are I immediantly started to follow you. Mark was right in wanting you to do more things; you have so much potential for acting and I would love to see your next projects!

You two inspired me to work hard on myself and follow my dreams to the end. I want to become an Animator, Comic artist and freelance artist. I want people to enjoy my art and my stories, I want them to feel, to be hyped, to be their light that they can look up to in trying times. I want to be there for people, just like you two, and I hope that the both of you know how much you mean to so many people in this small world.

Memento Mori, Unus Annus.

Remember the Fallen and Seize the Day.

Shnowbilicat / Victoria

@markiplier @crankgameplays

[erin-epica]

Woop-de-doo, it's Lord Scarlet stuff part 2

This was a post I planned on making WAY sooner, but I accidentally lost the original draft so I didn't even bother to try doing it gain until recently. And just now something happened that changed everything; and I mean what both DID and DIDN'T automatically give me the right to post this. I almost deleted my first post at that, and here's why:

In the first post, I mentioned that when I initially found out Vic was lying to me, I was quiet about it and just stopped talking to her out of fear, and then when I asked for help on what to do I was told to leave without a word. I don't think that was entirely the right thing to do in the long run, because it may have been the easiest way out but I'm better off with proper closure.

And the thoughts she left me scarred with never left my head. Time and time again, I'd find myself crying myself to sleep again at the thought of Brock forced to hide romantic feelings for Master Frown and not know who he was anymore while Frown was left unaware and in love with someone else, even if it wasn't Lord Scarlet.

And the pain sometimes came with a want to confront Vic one last time and open up to her about how I wasn't blind anymore, and how much she really hurt me. But I, again, wass scared she wouldn't care and would cut me off.

So when the pain got worse, I did what any coward would do: tell everyone else about my pain.

Now I DID tell friends of mine other than the Unikitty Amino staff about what happened, and they were all sympathetic and understanding about it. But then I told almost everyone, and then made my vent post on here (as well as Wattpad). As much as I wouldn't want to call them call out posts, they might as well have been. I didn't want people to harass Vic and make her mad...but at the same time I kinda did. I was too scared to face her that I was hoping that someone would do it for me. I even tagged accounts of Vic's. Not cool of me at all.

Now the Tumblr and Wattpad posts got me pretty much more of the same: sympathy, and acceptance that I had moved on. No one came after Vic but we could still agree that none of her actions were justified (I even got @careeningle's attention...sorry about the aneurysm)

Now comes the next important thing that happened, because I mentioned @friffinx kinda being responsible for me getting back to the Lord Scarlet Amino to write the message that I did. In it, I said that after I sent the message I did I would leave the Amino again & for good.

Well...I lied. I still checked in every day for the same reason I started venting: I kinda wanted Vic to see my message. Even if she'd ban me, I wanted to see if she'd ever notice my message. And that would've been the end of it if it wasn't for Brook.

I briefly mentioned Brook in the last post. She was another OC of Vic's, and was exactly to Brock what Lord Scarlet was to Master Frown; a carbon copy love interest. Except Lord Scarlet was far more developed and drawn & written about more. Brook didn't even really have a distinct personality, she was a girl Brock and that was it. But with reptilian overlord eyes. (To be fair, Vic drew Brock like that sometimes too)

(I didn't include Vic's art unless it was in chat bgs or whatever in the last post, but for the sake of referencing/proving a point, this is what Brook looks like)

No one really paid attention to her for the longest time. She was there in the fanfics because according to Vic, "Scarlet needed a friend." And like I said in the first post, Brook wasn't said to be canon so I never found a reason to really care for her. Plus I can only recall someone giving Vic fanart with her, and it was with Scarlet (@plastic-papercuts made it, go follow her she's gr8).

But then one day, for some reason, something in me clicked. I actually thought of a story idea for her. Somehow this bland cutout of a character had potential in my eyes, and I weirdly started liking her because of it. She suddenly felt...more real. I got pretty invested in my idea and newfound interpretation of Brook, and describing it would make this post way longer than it is so if anyone asks about it, I'll probably make a whole other post about it.

Anyway, I came up with a little plan: draw out this idea in the form of a comic and post it to the Lord Scarlet Amino. And see if Vic gets suspicious and checks out my profile and then maybe bans me. It felt a bit better than total silence and she'd probably see that someone gave a crap about Brook after all.

So I started a new chat called "It's Brook" to share my progress with the other members of the Amino, which there weren't too many of but we had fun in it. It was basically me, @friffinx , @soapycocacola, @plastic-papercuts, and a few others who aren't on Tumblr (or at least don't think are) chatting about how awful Vic was and calling out her lazy art tactics like tracing and using assets/clips right from the show. And of course me sharing the comic progress I was making. Again, this doesn't make anything we did right but it felt good getting everything off our chests. We were like a secret rebellion against an absentee dictator. One time Vic came online as we were chatting and even viewed my profile, but nothing happened. And it stayed that way until I opened Amino up one morning. For those of you who don't have it, the menu shows all the communities you're in when you open the app, and all of mine were there except for the Lord Scarlet Amino. I assumed I must've been banned overnight. But I wasn't banned from Vic's other Amino so I commented on her wall on that one. For Vic's sake, I won't show how the conversation went (and I'll explain why at the end) but here's how it went:

Me: Did you ban me from the LS Amino?

Her: There was drama in one of the chat rooms and I'm not having it. I didn't want to do it and it's not a big deal It's just an amino and you're still on this one AM I RIGHT?

Me: Yes, but I assume you read my updated bio. As I hoped you would.

Her: Nope.

Me: Oh. But you know what? Ban me from here too for all I care, I feel like you deserve to know why I left and came back: *insert me finally telling her how I know she lied, that she hurt me, and what I did was wrong here*

Her: Lol ok be that person but keep in mind that I'm one of those people that doesn't gibe a fuck lol

And then she banned me from that Amino too before I could type and submit a fitting farewell reply.

At least I finally got all the built-up emotional pain out of me, but it did help me realize something important: we never really were friends. I wanted more of her content despite all her red flags as a person so I tried enduring them, thinking it'd be worth it, and she only kinda cared about me when I was being a yes man. She never kept any promises and didn't respect me the same way I did her. So I could at least feel confident knowing she most likely didn't care at all when I first left.

@friffinx and the others didn't get banned, though, and Friff even started another chat on the LS Amino called "It's Brook 2" where they talked more about Vic being a terrible person. And it didn't take long for her to shut that chat down too and ban everyone from it that time. Friff sent me screenshots of what happened next (which again, I'm not gonna show), where Vic basically had a meltdown. She changed her username to "Little Miss Guillotine", and made a post about her being "finished with the bushit". In it, she announced that she didn't even like Unikitty! anymore but was still gonna keep/use Lord Scarlet because she wanted to. The part that made my blood almost boil wasn't her views on the show, she's free to have her opinion and I couldn't care less about it. What DID was that she acknowledged that she lied the whole time because "she didn't care anymore" and said that it was "our faults for believing it in the first place" and that "we needed to grow up"/"stop brining it up"

Ooooh boy, victim blaming, my favortie...

Since then she changed the Lord Scarlet Amino's theme to make it about The Penguins of Madagacar (again, fine with me). Either way she was still a narcissist and I thought she'd, sadly, likely never change. And my friends and I all thought that was the end of it.

Until a few hours ago...

I was browsing the Unikitty Amino and saw a new member named BlueCat. Didn't think anything else of it until the user PMed me. And this is what happened:

I didn't know what to think other than "I thought this day would never come", I was that shaken. This was so left field-ish that what else could I do but believe her? It didn't even seem suspicious or like she was trying to be a suck up, that wasn't Vic at all.

But the one thing I knew I had to do was ban her because even if she meant well and did it for the right(?) reasons, but I still asked if I should in the staff chat. @girly-glorious (also amazing so pls check her out :D) told me that yes, it was ban evasion so since I'm a leader too now I could to it on my own. But I knew I had to message Vic first and Girly told me to be careful, so this is what I sent:

And then I banned her, the end (not really)

Now I don't understand how or why this sudden behavior change happened but I don't know if I should question it in case it's personal. But again, I at least want to believe that she's really being genuine and had a change of heart because never in a million years could I imagine her being this mature. Again, she didn't demand that I forgive me or probably even expect me to. But the message still does leave me feeling sorry for her.

Now I thought that was the real end of it until I see the Penguins of Madagascar/old Lord Scarlet Amino on my sideboard.

She unbanned me.

Now I don't know where we'll go from here, if anywhere. I'm not too sure if I can really let my guard down around someone who hurt me so badly just in case she does it again. So I may not talk to her again, but if she really asks something from me, I might try and build up courage to ask her more about how she came to apologizing to me. Plus she followed me on Wattpad too.

But this is why I didn't show our conversation right before my ban or her "f.u." posts. Because I don't want people seeing more of Vic's past behavior and possibly embarrassing her about it if she ever sees this. But that's kinda why I felt like it was 100% necessary to finally make a sequel post in the end; I'm hoping people at least acknowledge Vic has changed and don't keep thinking about based on what I shared out of attempts to gain sympathy like a crybaby.

So before I go: PLEASE, DON'T GO AFTER OR HARASS VIC. I KNOW YOU PROBABLY WON'T, BUT THIS IS SERIOUS. ALL THE PROBLEMATIC LORD SCARLET DRAMA IS STUFF OF THE PAST AND NEITHER OF US WANT TO KEEP LOOKING BACK ON IT.

I hope this helps whoever's reading as much as it did me.

[paradisobound]

“Stormy” Days

Summary: Dan finds a dragon sitting on the street one afternoon and takes it in as a pet. However, a suspicious note is beside it that leaves Dan thinking about his future with the new pet...and Phil's reaction to the sudden creature.

Word Count: 4.3k 

Warnings: None 

**Read on Ao3**

A/N: This is my 3rd and final fic for the @phandomreversebang! I had a lot of fun writing this prompt and I hope you all find it just as cute too! The fic was beta read by @masoncore and the art was by @phantasticphun! I have a few more fics coming (one for phandom gives) and then my PBB fic in the fall. I hope you all have enjoyed all of the pieces from the PRB this year!

Phil had just left for the weekend, which was completely normal. Dan was used to him leaving to go to his parents and with Phil’s mum’s birthday coming up, he knew that it made sense for Phil to leave to go and visit them.

Phil had asked Dan to go, but Dan had refused this time because he was busy working on his finishing touches on his new project: a poetry book that told the story of life. It had taken, the better part of the last two years to write, so with the publishing so close, he was putting all effort possible into making it as best as he can.

But there was also a problem with this. Dan hated being home alone. He was scared of the dark, so night was especially a challenge. He’s pretty much learnt how to sleep with a light on at this point, which...he doesn’t mind all that much but he wakes up completely exhausted.

It was day two of Phil being gone, and day two of having this new sleeping routine. He wakes up completely drained, his eyes feeling cottony and a migraine beginning to take residence in his temple from exhaustion.

He swings the duvet off from his body and slowly starts to get up, stretching out his limbs that had stiffened from the tense position he had been in trying to sleep and ward off any intruders. He shuffles to the bathroom and relieves himself and then turns on the shower to a cold setting and strips down, getting inside.

The cool water feels like pricks to his skin but it works in waking him up more. He shivers a bit, and washes the cold over his face and his eyes feel less cloudy. He washes his hair and then washes down his body and steps back out, wrapping a towel around his waist and another around his head. He’s taken Phil’s habit of multiple towels as the years have gone by and Phil will pick on him. But really the jokes on both of them when they get too lazy to do the laundry and suddenly all of their towels are dirty.

When Dan walks back into the bedroom, he sits down on the edge of the bed and ruffles through the duvet for his phone because he has a bad habit of falling asleep without putting it on the chargeer. When he finds it, he unlocks it and looks over his messages and emails that are lighting up his screen.

Two are from Phil, which is unsurprising. The messages are telling Dan that he dropped his cereal in the kitchen and his mum banished him into the living room and the other one is that Martyn doesn't come down for the weekend too. So Dan just shoots back a reply and then scrolls the rest of the way through his notifications until he sees a text from Bryony asking if he wants to go out to lunch at Nando’s. He hasn’t been to Nando’s in well over two years, but at the thought he suddenly craved it and sent her back a text telling her he could.

Deciding he needed to get his ass into gear, Dan got back up and strolled to his closet. He opened the curtains and pushed them aside to see the array of black clothing on the hangers in front of him. It was almost comical actually when he looked to the left and saw Phil’s array of colors compared to his monochrome.

He goes with his normal striped sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans. He grabs a black cap and puts that on his hair to cover the unruly mop that it’s become. He needs a haircut desperately but he hasn’t made an appointment with his hairdresser. He and Phil normally do that at the same time so he’ll wait for Phil to get back home to do that.

Bryony texts him back and he calls for a taxi  and starts heading downstairs to meet it.

***

Lunch was good as always, but yet again, he never has a bad lunch with Bryony. They’ve always been close, as far back as Dan can remember. So every time he meets up with her, it’s always fun. Bryony will talk about her newest KPOP fascination and Dan will waffle on about his new obsession with The Real Housewives of Orange County, because damn it there is something about that show that just grabs him.

But now, it’s only half past one and he’s not sure what to do with the rest of his day. The weather, when he looks into the sky, looks a bit grey, but that’s normal. Although, he doesn’t want to get stuck in the rain if he decides to do something outside...which is already unlikely.

Dan folds his arms over his chest and hurries his strides down the pavement. He’s close to their flat, not too far now from the building. So he continues on his way, passing by the little shops and other apartments along the way.

As he passes by the park on his right, he hears a noise that stops him in his tracks. It sounds almost like a dog panting, but the noise also doesn’t sound like that at all. He sees a small bush of flowers down by his feet and he bends down, looking at it.

He shouldn’t look at it, he thinks, because he doesn’t know what is there. But there is someone drawing him in. Just as he peeks over the grass, his eyes come into contact with something he had never seen before.

It looked like a baby dragon, straight out a Game of Thrones episode. He stumbles back, falling on his ass on the pavement. Dan looks around, noting that no one is around and it’s like he’s the only one even in the area. That’s weird in and of itself.

It’s starts walking out from behind the bushes now, it’s little tail wobbling behind it and it’s wings extended away from its body. Its scales were blue and purple, shining quite prettily in the afternoon glow. Dan didn’t know what to do though. This felt like a weird fever dream.

Surely, dragons aren't real? They were just mythical creatures but…

Dan notices a note sitting on the pavement next to the little creature. It was a white piece of paper, but Dan could see something written on it. He picks it up, because maybe this will tell what exactly is happening with this little creature that Dan swears can’t be real and he’s seeing hallucinations.

“Be Careful of Who You Trust”

Dan read the note over and over again in his head. What could that possibly mean? That sounds like a threat...but also not like a threat. Dan’s confused. He doesn’t know what it means. He doesn’t know what to do.

Does he turn this into the police? What about an animal shelter? Do places like that even take dragons? What about an exotic animal pet store?

The little creature looked up at Dan, it’s eyes so big and wide that it was almost comical. As Dan reached down, his hand extended in a gesture like a puppy to let it stuff him, it’s nostrils flared and it huffed out a puff of smoke.

Dan slowly stands back up, and backs up slightly, but the dragon waddles towards him, following him like a lost puppy. Now Dan knows he’s in trouble. What is he going to do? He stuffs the note in his pocket and looks around. There was still no one around the area.

“Hi little buddy,” Dan finds himself saying in a calm, gentle manner.

The dragon’s tail begins to swing back and forth excitedly behind it.

“Where did you come from?” He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Maybe he should just leave and call the animal shelter as soon as he gets back to his flat. But he can’t leave this animal here. That would be inhumane to do. He needs to help out the creature in any way possible. But how does one take care of a dragon?

Up until now, Dan didn’t even know they were real.

Just as Dan begins to back up again, the sound of footsteps sound down the pavement from him and he turns his head to see a woman walking his way. He has just a few seconds to make up his mind, so without thinking too much, he bends down and takes the creature in his arms and bolts towards his flat.

The creature is squirming a bit, it’s tail hitting Dan’s cheek as Dan tries to run without seeing anyone. Because how can he explain to a random person why he’s carrying a dragon in his arms?

He’s not far from his flat so getting there isn’t that much of a hassle, but as he gets out his keys from his pocket, holding the dragon in his arms like a puppy, he realizes just the situation he has gotten himself into and begins to panic.

Can he even take this creature into their flat? Can it breathe fire? Will something happen to it? Will something happen to Dan? What does he even feed it?

He lets out a sigh and looks down at the dragon. For all intents and purposes, it seems friendly really. If Dan didn’t know any better, which being real he doesn’t, he would think it was smiling at him, wagging it’s tail and flapping it’s wings.

It looked almost excited.

“What am I going to do with you?” Dan asks and the dragon stares up at him with a cocked head. Dan sighs and opens the door to the flat, and walks inside. He sets the dragon down on the floor and almost immediately, it flaps its wings and begins to try and fly.

Dan’s eyes widened and he reached out, catching it in mid-air, “Oh no! You are not flying around in here.”

The dragon seemed to huff in annoyance of being reprimanded.

Dan gently set it back on the floor and looked at it. He had no idea what he was going to do now, “Do you eat food?”

As soon as Dan says anything, he facepalms because of course the animal eats food. Every living being does. But what does this creature eat in specific?

Dan began to walk to the living room and the pitter patter of feet behind him reminded him once again that he wasn’t alone. He made it to the couch and as he sat down and reached for his laptop, the dragon flew up and landed on the couch next to Dan, curling into a ball and looking up at Dan with those big eyes.

Keeping it well within his view, he opened his laptop and googled Dragon Pet and he was shocked at the amount of websites that came up. Apparently dragons were extremely popular among people as a new form of exotic pet. According to the blog that Dan found, they require a high protein diet and lots of water. They also like sleeping in a comfortable bed at night but a lot of people claimed that they slept right on the edge of their own beds so Dan figured he could let…

Dan suddenly breaks out into a sweat because he forgot the most important part about this entire ordeal. He had to tell Phil about the dragon. What was he even going to tell Phil about it? He was going to have to tell Phil before he came home tomorrow.

Their landlord didn’t want them to have pets of any kind.

And then came the other tough part. Can you even keep this animal as a pet? Is that even feasible? He could barely handle a hamster, how can he handle a dragon that is...currently looking up at him with big eyes.

Dan turned back to his laptop, trying to ignore it’s gaze as he scrolled down the website further. They are like any normal pet really. They require vet visits and other various things. They also require walks, occasional baths, and they loved to be petted as well. Dan bit his lip and continued scrolling but found nothing else that stuck out to him.

Knowing what the thing eats now, Dan decides to google exotic pet shops around him and see if any of them would have any food for it. He would need to get food regardless if he is even going to keep this thing because it needs to eat. He can’t let it go without food.

He looks at the first website and goes to the search bar and searches for dragon food and much to his surprise, he sees that they have all kinds of options for various high protein diets for them. He clicks on a few of the different varieties of food and then checks out, putting that he would pick them up in a half hour.

Dan goes to stand up, shoving his laptop off to the side of the couch. He places his feet on the floor when he hears a little whine and he remembers that he can’t just leave. The little creature is flapping its wings and huffing through its nose and Dan doesn’t even know if he could trust to leave it alone for the whole fifteen to twenty minutes he would be gone.

But he doesn’t have a way to take it with him like one would take a dog on a walk.

Dan takes the chance and decides that it shouldn’t take him more than a half an hour so he can totally make it back before it destroys his entire flat. So he gives it one more look and a hopeful smile before grabbing his wallet and walking out the door.

***

Bag of food in hand and other various things like a “dog bed” and toys, Dan walked back to his flat as fast as he could. He looked at his phone many times to see how long it was taking him and by the time he reached the door to his flat, it said it took him approximately 27 minutes to walk there, get the stuff, and walk back. He figured it could be worse but also he was terrified to open his door in case he walked in to everything smouldering or tore to shreds.

Much to his surprise though, what was waiting on the other side wasn’t complete and total destruction, but rather a very well behaved creature sitting on the other side ofother of the door, waiting for him to walk in.

Dan was suspicious. He walked in further and the dragon followed him inside, like an actual puppy to it’s mother. Dan scoped out everything in view in his flat and noticed that nothing seemed out of place besides a pillow from the couch now sitting on their floor. He walked over to inspect it further and nope, nothing looked weird or out of place. Dan was actually relieved.

Walking to the kitchen, Dan takes the bag with the dragon’s new stuff and puts it on the floor. He pulls out the bowl for the food and then a water bowl and places it next to the counter. He pulls out the bag of high protein dragon food that sat on the bottom shelf of the pet store...much to Dan’s surprise… and opened the top, pouring its contents into the bowl. As soon as he finished, the dragon rushed over to the bowl and began to eat, it’s swings and tail moving rapidly, content.

Dan found himself smiling. Even though he has no clue what he’s doing, he still feels good knowing he’s going to take proper care of the animal. He can’t keep it, he knows that. But for the time being until he can find a place for it, he can try his best to take care of it.

Instinctively, he reaches down and pets it. Of course the texture of it’s skin is nothing like the fur of a cat or a dog. It’s rough, a bit coarse, but also has a soft feel that makes Dan want to continue feeling it.

Standing up, Dan grabs the bowl for the water and takes it to the sink, filling it up and then setting it on the floor. The dragon moves from the food to the water and laps at that as well. While the dragon is finishing that, Dan goes to the living room and sets down it’s bed and some of the toys he bought. He keeps an eye on the dragon and just as he looks into the kitchen to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to be, the creature flew out of the room like a bat out of hell and Dan screeched trying to catch it before it broke something.

To no avail, the creature flew from corner to corner and Dan had to just run after it and hope for the best. Tripping over the coffee table, he managed to reach out and grab onto the flying dragon just as it was zooming for another corner. He held its squirming body in his hands and took a few deep breaths.

This was going to be a rough night.

***

“Dan? Where are you?”

It was the next morning and Dan was currently laying in bed, the dragon curled next to his body. He was up most of the night, mostly because of the dragon in question not sleeping at all. Dan had also learned that the dragon had a new ability: it could definitely breathe fire. Dan learnt that the hard way after Dan woke up to the smell of burning and looked to see the dragon sitting on a burning pillow. Dan immediately threw the pillow in the sink and got the fire out before it spread, sweating at the adrenaline of having to move so fast.

But now...Phil was home, and Dan was sitting straight up in bed as he looks down at the creature and heardhears the footsteps outside of his room telling him that Phil was now walking around inside of the flat.

Dan gets up, giving the dragon one more look before heading out of the room to greet Phil, “Hey! How was the trip?”

Phil looked at Dan and smiled, “It was fun! Martyn and Corn showed up and it was fun to have the family all together for a bit. I also beat my dad at Scrabble.”

Dan just laughed.

Phil started walking into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks and turned to Dan. Dan at first didn’t know why Phil was stopping but then he remembered that food and water bowl on the floor.

“Dan...did you get a dog?” Phil asks, turning to him.

Dan bites his lip because he knows he’s going to have to tell Phil now.

“Not exactly.”

“A cat?” Phil says. “You know I’m allergic.”

“Not exactly.”

As if on cue, the dragon flew out of the bedroom and zipped past them both, landing on the island in the middle of their kitchen. The dragon sat there, panting and huffing and looking like the happiest little animal in the world.

Phil yelped and held his hand over his chest, “What is that!”

“It’s a dragon,” Dan mumbles. “I found it on the street and took it in.”

“A dragon!” Phil yells. “This is a dream. There is no way you have a dragon.”

“I haven’t named it or anything but yeah, we have a dragon.” Dan says, scratching the back of his neck.

Phil slowly walked up to the counter and lookedcounter looked down at the creature. He placed his hand out, offering his scent to the animal who just stared at him and then turned it’s head the other way away from Phil. Dan thought that was odd. The animal has been so receptive this entire time but suddenly it doesn’t even want to go near Phil, the gentlest person Dan’s ever known?

Maybe it has something to do with the note that came with it?

Dan hadn’t forgotten about the note. In fact, it’s sat in the back of his mind this entire time and he has no clue what it means. It said to beware of those he trusted but that doesn’t make any sense to him because he knows he can trust Phil. He’s not had any reason to not trust him in the long time that they’ve known each other.

“What do we do with it?” Phil asks.

“I’m not sure.”

They both look at each and then look back at the dragon sitting patiently on the counter. Dan has no clue what they even can do.

***

Over the course of the first week, Dan and Phil take turns researching the dragon and how to properly care for it. Dan even takes it on a few walks at night when he thinks people won’t be around to comment on the weird creature in a harness.

Dan’s trying not to become attached to it. But it’s slowly making it harder when he’s already came up for a name for it. Stormy. He knows that it’s a cheesy name, and also the same name as Kylie Jenner’s daughter. But the dragon’s temper was that ofthat of of a stormy nature so he thought the name fit.

Stormy also got used to sleeping next to him in bed. He feels bad that Stormy has taken the middle so now he and Phil actually don’t touch at night but Dan supposes that’s normal for a new animal.

Dan has also gotten Stormy better food, toys, and even a cute collar so he can keep track of it. He also found a vet that specifically handles dragon’s and other exotic animals and Stormy’s first appointment is in a week'sweeks time.

But Phil is adamant that they’re not keeping the dragon.

Dan kind of thought that Phil might be against it. Maybe it’s because the dragon won’t actually take to Phil. Stormy never comes to Phil for anything. Even if Phil tries to play with it, the dragon will huff and turn the other way.

However, it still catches Dan off guard when Phil turns to him one day and says, “I think I’ve found a new home for Stormy.”

Dan’s heart aches and he furrows his brows, “New home?”

“I found a special humane society that takes in dragon’s. The turn around rate for their adoption is less than a day, so Stormy will go to a good home really soon.”

“But why can’t we keep it?” Dan asks. Stormy was currently laying on his lap as they watched TV, curled up with his wings relaxed and his tail curled around him.

“Dan, be realistic. We can’t keep a dragon.”

Dan felt a bit hurt. He has grown to really like Stormy and having them as a pet. He didn’t want to get rid of Stormy unless he had an actual worry as to why he couldn’t keep them. He did all of the research. Stormy shouldn’t grow any bigger in size. Dan can even teach and train Stormy to control their flying and fire breathing.

“I’m not going to get rid of them, Phil,” Dan says, his voice unwavering and serious.

“We can’t keep them,” Phil repeated.

Dan picked up Stormy and held him close to his chest and walked to their bedroom, shutting the door and sitting on the bed with Stormy. He wasn’t going to let Phil take Stormy away. He was going to keep them regardless.

He just hopes that Phil will understand why.

***

The note is replaying in Dan’s mind. Be careful of who you trust. Dan can feel the words bearing into his mind and he couldn’t quite move past them. He has a feeling that the note is about Phil now. The note was a future comment about Phil not wanting to keep Stormy and trying to convince Dan as well that they can’t keep them.

Dan knows why. Dan knows why Phil says that they can’t keep Stormy. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Dan has grown to really love the little creature and he’s found it hard to not think about Stormy and all he can do for the dragon during its life time.

It’s been two weeks now since Stormy first came to live with them, and Dan is sitting on the floor playing with Stormy as he plays fetch like any other pet. Phil is sitting on the couch on his laptop and Dan keeps looking up at him to see if Phil will say anything to him.

Stormy brings the ball back to Dan and Dan pets the back of their head as Stormy huffs and pants and wags their tail excitedly at being praised for doing the right thing.doing right. Dan ruffles behind their eyes and leans down, pressing a soft kiss against Stormy’s head. The dragon sticks out it’s tongue and licks against Dan’s skin and Dan giggles at the feeling of the slimy tongue against him.

“Stormy’s appointment is tomorrow, right?” Phil asks.

Dan turns to him and nods, “Yeah, their check up is tomorrow.”

“After their appointment, I found this shop next to the vet that carries dragon specific stuff. I think we should stop there and see what they have.”

Dan’s heart races a little bit as he smiles, “Are you sure?”

Phil nods and flashes him a smile, “I’d be lying if I said that Stormy hasn’t grown on me.”

Stormy huffs out a breath and Dan smiles wide.

Yeah, he was happy to have the little creature as a new family member.

[djnicklesanddimes]

“GET TO KNOW ME” TAG GAME

rules: answer the  questions and tag people you’d like to get to know better!

Tagged by: @jediofbooksandsnacks

Thank you!! :3 I’m so glad i’m on my laptop when i saw this.

What do you prefer  to be called name-wise?

uhhh Miranda probably. djnicklesanddimes is a bit of a mouthful :0

When is your  birthday?

3 days before Halloween! I don’t really feel too much like a Scorpio tho.

Where do you live?

The most western tip of New York in the good old US

Three things you are  doing right now:

Working on some chibi art, trying to get back into digital stuff. Trying to get back into anything really.

Taking a break from drawing to check socials, knowing that i’m going to have to start winding down for bed soon. I go to work pretty early.

I guess not trying to  over think about stuff? It happens to often. Stupid stuff is always happening at work, I should be drawing more, working on my comic, digging myself out of the retail hellhole. It goes on and on.

Four fandoms that  have piqued your interest?

Psycho Pass!!!

I guess I’m not too active in anything else but probably the most I’m interested in is,

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fruits Basket

Star Wars (I’m so happy to see other Star Wars fans here, my family’s been total nerds since we were kids)

How has the pandemic  been treating you?

I work in one of the big retail stores that made huge profits from the pandemic and never closed. Some days are better than others and it was a real surreal experience when everything shut down at the beginning. They made us walk a long way down the side of the building to get in a side door for temp checks. (Which was dark since I work super early) But they moved it over it a safe place now. It sucks that I didn’t get a break like a lot of people did. I’m grateful for the job but we need a break from the madness too. I thought I was going to do a lot of projects this year but I ended up doing less and falling into deep depression and anxiety. I’m trying my best to carry on and eventually get better and back to more of myself!

Thank you to everyone that is on the frontlines and following the guide lines. Especially those who are kind to us poor retail workers.

I will say though that the best thing out of this year was that I was finally able to adopt a cute kitty cat! I haven’t had one since I was 15 and I adore cats!

A song you can’t  stop listening to right now:

I don’t really have just one right now, been mostly listening to a playlist but Darkness Dies by Disciple has been running through my head lately.

How old are you?

27

School, University,  occupation other?

I tried college twice at two different schools but had financial troubles so I wasn’t able to finish. I’ve been working retail for 8 years now. I need to build a portfolio so that some day I can leave and do what I really want to do. I’m also working on a graphic novel that I hope will be published some day. Wether it be on a small scale or not, that’s the dream. 

Do you prefer heat  or cold?

Cold! No heat! I think i’ve adapted to living in a colder climate, I can not stand the heat in the summer. It’s easier for me to put on layers and blankets than dying in the heat. Plus New York can be pretty during the changing months.

Name one fact that  others may not know about you.

I guess it might not be totally about me but it’s the only one I can think of,

Both my parents got remarried and had kids. And when they did, their kids birthdays were right next to the birth parents that we share. So my one sister, that my mom had when I was 13, her birthday is 8/31 and my mom’s is 9/1. And my other sister that is 23 years apart from me, that’s my dad’s kid(he was almost 50 by the way, and my stepmom is not that far behind) her birthday is 9/27 and my dad’s is 9/28. It’s super weird.

Are you shy?

Super shy! I don’t always show that here but that’s cause it’s easier to talk and I ramble and overshare in the tags lol. But I don’t think I’m a super interesting person or have lots to share, so my friend circle is very small. I don’t talk to them like I should.

Pronouns?

She/her

Biggest pet peeve?

Lazy people that make hard workers do all the work.

What is your  favorite “dere” type?

There’s a Nyan-dere that’s a cat like girl I guess lol

But to go more classic probably Tsundere. Kyo Souma is still an anime crush for me. Tsunderes have the cutest character growth.

Rate your life from  1-10, 1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be.

Well I should be grateful. I have a decent apartment, don’t have to starve, have plenty of tech, car to drive, a fiancé that loves me and I love back, and a cute kitty cat. There’s a lot that I wish I had or could go better so I’d say 7/10 because I have a lot I need to improve on myself before I can get it back to as happy as it was before. This year has been rough.

What’s your main  blog?

This one!

List your side blogs  and what they’re used for.

I had made a Psycho Pass one a long time ago but never did anything with it. I like connecting with people on my main I guess.

Is there something  people need to know about you before becoming friends?

I’m just super awkward and weird. Communication is not my strong suite, I’m used to staying in my head a lot and not having too many people interested in me. But start talking nerdy stuff and that usually helps opening the connection. I get confused easily and I’m still learning a lot about myself even as I get closer to my 30′s.   

So, don’t feel like  you need to do this, all right? It’s cool either way. I’ll tag @stressmix​ @charliemcarthy​ @justduckie1031​ @dragon-cyn 

… and anyone else who sees this and wants to join in.

No spoons? No  problem. If you’re not feeling it, then I get that. I hope you enjoy the day. 😊

[powermetalhag]

Digging Deeper

 @alienfuckeronmain​ tagged me in this massive tag meme (Thank you!! I love doing these things). If I tag you, feel free to ignore this if you don’t feel up to doing it/reading it. If you aren’t tagged and want to be, feel free to just say I tagged you ❤

I tag: @flowerkitten @meemimajima @darlingdear @wizards1977 @violet-tea @lickthatbattery @lusamine @misfit-on-a-journey @lampshroomomg @cyrsed @wooden-duck @wildbayou @curse-you @ghostly-rowlf​ @icedchailatte​ @oni-lover​

1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? black

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? City

3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? I’d love to be able to sing and metal-scream really well. I’m trying to learn but I practice pretty inconsistently and it’s an uphill battle bc I don’t have much natural aptitude for it. Also it would be really cool to be a contortionist. 

4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? I don’t drink coffee. Sometimes I sweeten tea, sometimes I don’t.

5. What was your favourite book as a child? I didn’t like reading books much as a child. When it came to reading novels, my reading comprehension was pretty below average (I think I posted about this ages ago, but when I tried to read Harry potter when I was 7 I couldn’t follow it at all. I somehow thought that Harry and Hagrid were the same character and that Hagrid was just the name for Harry’s Wizard self. My concentration just wasn’t there). I read a lot of manga though. I think my favourites were fushigi yuugi, saint tail, and miracle girls.

6. Do you prefer baths or showers? showers.

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would it be? Hobbit

8. Paper or electronic books? I prefer paper books, but I mostly use electronic ones.

9. What is your favourite item of clothing? my cloud-print long sleeved mesh shirt

10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? I used to want to change it, I don’t anymore. 

11. Who is a mentor to you? I don’t think I have one

12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for? I like the idea of creative projects of mine becoming a little bit known, but I’d never want to be famous.

13. Are you a restless sleeper? Not really

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? I’m probably less romantic than the average person, but in the right situation I can be.

15. Which element best represents you? I associate myself with fire (bc I'm a leo) but in some ways water or air might better represent me. Idk.

16. Who do you want to be closer to? Honestly? Pretty much all of my friends. My life is complicated and the severity of my ocd makes me keep everyone at a distance more than I’d like to.

17. Do you miss someone at the moment? Everyone who I haven’t seen since quarantine started.

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. As young kids my sister and I hated Tracey Sketchit from pokemon so passionately that we would draw his face on the bottom of our feet before going to jump on the trampoline so that we could feel like we were jumping on him

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? When we were little my sister and I would sometimes eat raw dried spaghetti dipped in vegemite when there was no other easy snacks in the house. We called them cardboard sticks. (The food situation in my house wasn’t dire or anything, we were just too lazy to make a sandwich or something lol)

20. What are you most thankful for? I am thankful for the people I have in my life and for the amount of stability i’ve been able to have in my life in recent times.

21. Do you like spicy food? I do, but if I eat it often enough to increase my tolerance to it I get bad reflux. So I remain a spice wimp who can only have mild.

22. Have you ever met someone famous? Zakk Wylde, Chris Lilley, and some guy who was on Blue Heelers. Also I spoke to Tracy Grimshaw on the phone once. Meeting Zakk Wylde was funny because I was REALLY weird and embarrassing.

(Long story ahead, feel free to skip) Basically, my friend and I were 16 and wandering through the city high on acid. We saw Zakk standing near Hungry Jacks and became completely captivated by him. We had no idea he was some big famous rockstar, we thought he was just some random guy. I cannot convey to you how intense his presence felt at that time. It was like he was everything that is and ever will be metal but congealed into a human being and magnified by 2000x. (in case you don’t know him, he looks like this)

We were so high that we were very in our own world and felt like we were the only ones who really existed and that everything else was just kinda there for us to observe. So we started following him and discussing him as if he couldn’t hear every word we were saying. 

I remember us being like “He’s the most metal thing i’ve seen in my life” “He’s like Neptune, king of the sea, but a brutal version” “He’s the raw original concept that all other metalheads were disseminated from. He’s the true, the original.” It made sense at the time that he could be the origin point of metal and the first ever metalhead because time and space felt like it existed in a looser way than usual. We were really fixated on the idea that metal was invented through his very existence as a direct expression of self, then people copied him, then people copied those people and so on. The further they got from the source (Zakk) the more diluted the essence became. That’s why being around normal metalheads wasn’t as viscerally overwhelming as being in the presence of the raw undiluted concept. We concluded that no metalheads were actually expressing themselves through their subcultural identity. Unknowingly, they’re just expressing him. And we were saying all of this while walking maybe a metre and a half behind him while he ignored us.

Eventually some of the people he was with noticed we were following him and started talking to us (they may have been members of Black label society or they may have just been friends of his, idk). They were friendly and said that they used to do acid when they were younger too and invited us to get drunk with them. We said yes and walked with them for a little. I don’t think Zakk said a word to us the entire time. He probably found us annoying. But we kept staring at Zakk and getting overwhelmed by how intense it was just to be in his presence. Then me and my friend abruptly turned and left without saying anything because being around Zakk was getting to be too much. It was like a sensory overload. As we walked away we barely heard them yelling back to us “something something something ZAKK WYLDE!”. I was familiar with the name but I’d never known how he looked. I googled him a few days later and learned that it was indeed Zakk Wylde who we met and that he’d been in Brisbane with black label society.

And that’s the story of how I passed up the once in a lifetime opportunity to get drunk with Zakk Wylde because his vibes were off the charts.

23. Do you do you keep a diary or journal? No. Kinda wish I could, but the habit doesn’t stick.

24. Do you prefer to use a pen or a pencil?  Pencil

25. What is your star sign? Leo sun (Virgo cusp), Scorpio moon, Sagittarius rising.

26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? Crunchy

27. What would you want your legacy to be? I’d like to have a positive effect on the people in my life and leave art behind that people might enjoy or relate to (I use the word art loosely, I mean any kind of creative project). I think I've become more aware recently of how important that is to me, which is why I've been so uncharacteristically dedicated to finishing my comic.

28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? I like reading books but I don’t always have the attention span for it. I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction. The last book I read was Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. A really great book if you want to learn about emo history. The only downside is that it was published in 2003, before emo really took off in the mainstream. Had some insightful things to say regardless.

29. How do you show someone you love them? Idk I can’t think of a concise answer for this. I think it varies depending on who it is and what our dynamic is. When I took that love language test it said my love language was quality time.

30. Do you like ice in your drinks? I don’t like it in water. It’s fine in most other drinks.

31. What are you afraid of? I don’t think I can answer this without oversharing or getting too bleak

32. What is your favourite scent? I like tropical scents like mango and coconut

33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? By their name

34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? I’d buy a house with my sister and I wouldn’t have a job but I'd volunteer and do freelance creative work. I’d donate a lot more and help people out more. I’d learn lots of new skills and make lots of art. I would have an amazing wardrobe too.

A kinda sillier dream is that I'd start a cheerleading team where our routines are exclusively to metal songs. As well as entering competitions, we would also be an opening act for bands (in this dream i’m much better at cheerleading than I currently am). It would be cool ok

35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean.? Ocean. I miss going to the beach so much

36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? See if someone dropped it. Then idk, would depend on my financial situation at the time.

37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Yes

38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? I’m not going to have children. I’d like to be a good influence in my friend’s children’s lives though.

39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? Probably some old-school gradient style neopets art (maybe an aisha) or 90s tamagotchi art or a cool wizard. I’d get it on my thigh. I’m very unlikely to ever get a tattoo though

40. What can you hear now? The hum of my computer. It’s old and loud and on its way out

41. Where do you feel the safest? In my bed at home with my cat Luna or hanging out w my sister

42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? Once coronavirus is less of an issue (which may be in the near future where I live), I’d like to try and push myself to start dating again. I haven’t done that in a long while. The limitations that ocd causes me makes it hard for me to imagine a relationship-- even a casual one--being workable. But I ought to at least try before I decide that. Sometimes things turn out to be easier than I think they’ll be 🤷‍♀️.

43. If you could travel back to any era, what would it be? This is so hard!!

If this is purely for enjoyment and not to change the past, i’d probably just want to see all my favourite bands live while they were in their prime and like, cry the whole way through because I am so moved.

44. What is your most used emoji? :) or :/ 

45. Describe yourself using one word. I’m really bad at questions like this

46. What do you regret the most? Eh, that’s a bit personal. I feel like i’ve overshared enough in this thing.

47. Last movie you saw? Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

48. Last tv show you watched? Degrassi the next generation

49. Invent a word and it’s meaning. Idk

If you’ve read this far ty!! Here’s a little sheep for your trouble

[sweetescapeartist]

Since there is barely anybody that looks at this blog now, imma say some things now that I'll reveal later on Twitter (maybe). Also this is gonna be a long read so you can read if you wanna or not. Its kinda a rant.

I started this blog because I liked Dragon Ball and wanted to share my ideas and things I liked with other fans. I enjoyed that. Krillin is my favorite character so I wanted to show him some love & maybe get more ppl to like him. Then eventually I started drawing nsfw art.

I began doing so because there's a great lack of Krillin positive nsfw art. Eventually on my Twitter, I gathered a following that like to see Krillin getting some love. I also went from sfw with my OC Tobi to drawing nsfw. The problem I have with both is that I don't have time as much to draw what is like to. Nor do I care as much for nsfw art.

So this is what I'm trying to say. I have other things I want to do. I draw for free and accept some requests. I'm not getting paid and I feel like I'm wasting my time somewhat. The positive is that more ppl have come to like Krillin and hopefully more will later. There aren't a lot of nsfw artist that promote Krillin. Its all about Saiyans and I understand why. I like Saiyans too. But its always at the expense of human characters that I like especially Krillin.

"Vegeta got beat up by 18 so he deserves to dick her down"

"18 should be with anyone else but Krillin. She should be with a Saiyan."

I'm seriously tired of it, ya know? Its just such negativity. I've tried to combat it with positivity and that does work but that's not what most ppl seem to care about or see. Krillin means a lot to many of us. Yes, we know he's a fictional character but he's someone we can latch on to and see ourselves in. How he constantly tries hard and doesnt give up despite having low self-esteem. He is very relatable and an encouraging character. So understand that it frustrates me and others when ppl keep making fun of a character we love just because of memes that are very innacurate, he's short, he's married to what most of the fandom consider the most attractive female in the series (so they're jealous of him to an extent), or when ppl downright degrade his character.

Why? Why treat a positive character so negatively? Ppl make fun of Krillin because he has PTSD but won't make fun of Future Trunks. They trash his marriage and make it seem as if 18 doesn't care for him because he has the most stable marriage in the series. They call his daughter an ugly troll but want to see her in hentai with some Saiyan. Such hypocrisy. That's why I've drawn some of the things I have.

There are drawings I've done that I haven't posted because they are so disrespectful to characters like Vegeta or Gohan. And I love Gohan so that's a reason why I never posted them. I'm a positive person but it seems many ppl only respond to negative. So here's what I've done/plan to do.

I have some comics planned to draw along with some pictures. The pictures vary on what they will be, but the comics... Here's what they are.

I will be making NTR comics starring Krillin but he is the main character. There are too many of him being portrayed as a wimp or punk that lets everybody get with 18 besides himself. Or its done behind his back. So I'm going to have Krillin taking other character's ladies from them. Yeah its negative in a way but also positive for Krillin. Maybe this can get the point across to ppl? Idk.

But I will make a comic where Krillin gets Videl, Bulma, & Chichi. I will make others where he gets into "situations" with characters like Kale & Caulifla, Cheelai, & others. I also plan to make a comic about Roshi basically being cucked by Krillin (you'll have to wait and see to understand that one). So that's what I have planned. Hentai comics with Krillin as the lead. Its unpopular and that is why I do it.

I'll make other more positive comics too. Like a comic about Krillin getting advice then marrying 18. Ill draw stories with my OC Tobi as he lives with Krillin and his family & dates Marron. It will focus on the Chestnut family and have father/son moments with Krillin & Tobi. And ill introduce other characters too.

But here's the big thing that contradicts everything I said prior. I don't want to draw DB anymore. The fan base has kinda wore me out but so has the direction the series has gone. In bored of the writing for DBS and it being solely about Goku & Vegeta when there are other characters like Gohan & Piccolo. Its a fighting anime so why would we only want to see 2 characters? God ki was introduced so that's an easy way for everyone to get stronger and involved. But its too corporate now and lazy. And the DBS manga... so terrible. Toyotaro is a much better artist than I am and not to talk bad about him but I think DragonGarowLee is much better for the position that Toyo. DGL knows how to choreograph fights better and understands Toriyama's comedy better. Toyo doesn't know how to write the characters. He makes Goku an uncaring idiot, makes Vegeta a poorly written Goku clone, makes fun of Krillin for no reason except he doesn't like him (seriously! He has called him ugly, weak, scared, useless, & had ppl like Goku and Roshi insult Krillin. Wtf?!), he doesnt know how to create a unique character without ripping off a character Tori has done much better. And the fanboys (& girls)

Gosh! The Vegeta fans are great but they can be crazy sometimes. They ignore all the evil Vegeta has done and ignore his flaws as if he's a perfect angel. Vegeta's flaws is what makes him such an interesting character! And him being different than Goku is a good thing. But there's a weird and false understanding of his character. "Vegeta is a better dad than Goku" sure. Vegeta just knocked up Bulma then left her as. Single mother and didn't care if she or his infant son died, never hugged his son until he was 10+ yrs old & didn't love Bulma until sometime during the 7 yr time skip. He was a terrible person in a terrible relationship! THEN he became a better person and actually loving to his family. That change is what make Vegeta great. Not his power level or how many kills he has or "cool moments."

That same twisted misunderstanding of Vegeta is similar to the misunderstanding of Krillin. Ppl think he's weak and a coward. But he fights aliens & beings stronger than him and even injures stronger opponents. He smiles in the face of danger and even gets excited during fights but is smart enough not to risk others lives. Krillin nearly killed Nappa, he would've finished Vegeta with the Spirit Bomb if Yajirobe didn't alert Vegeta that Krillin was attacking him, smart enough not to fight on Namek when they're outnumbered, took on aliens stronger than him, outsmarted them & escaped, protected both Gohan & Bulma, more skilled than Ginyu when he was in Goku's body, sacrificed his safety for others like Dende & Gohan, (for real tho, Vegeta didn't see 2nd form Freeza move but Krillin was fast enough to throw Dende out of the way and sacrifice his life. Krillin saw Freeza attacking and Vegeta who is supposed to be stronger did not see Freeza move!), he was the first person to actually damage Freeza and then taunted the Emperor of the Universe, he's always there for his friends, knew better than everybody else that if the androids defeated Vegeta & Trunks then he shouldn't get involved. He saved 18 who was innocent in this timeline, helped 16, wished for the bombs out of 17 & 18 so they could live normally. Then fast forward to DBS he fought to protect his family & planet & 18 calls him "cool", he conquers his PTSD and gained new power he always had but laid dormant, he defeated someone who actually hurt 18. & there are things he's done I didn't even mention.

And ppl constantly saying Goku is a bad dad. He's waaaaaaaay better of a father compared to Vegeta if were being honest.

I guess I've seen a lot of the negative side of the fandom and its disappointing. So I'm at a point where I kinda don't care. I'll make my comics but after I'm done with what I have planned, I'm just done with DB. I won't stop drawing entirely but I won't draw any requests unless I feel like it, I won't keep up with much DB news and content. I just want to come back to Tumblr, draw Krillin fanart, draw Tobi, write some rewrites, draw Tobi's story & that's it. Ill be a part of Chestnut Fest every year tho. That is one of the greatest things to come out of my time on Tumblr & Twitter. So big thanks to @chestnutisland!

But basically I'm tired of the fandom and I still enjoy parts of it but I want to do my own thing. So I'll partially be a part of the DB fandom but not in it too deep. Look forward to what I have in store. If some of my future content isn't to your liking, hopefully you ccan find something else I've done that you'll enjoy. But its still been fun & I've enjoyed the ppl I've talked too & friends I've made.

[suridiviner]

I Got Tagged

...by @giographixnola. Don’t feel pressured to fill it out if you don’t want to or are on mobile! 

Want to get to know me? If not keep scrolling I don’t usually do these.

1. What do you prefer to be called name wise?

Suri is good. No I will not tell you what my username means unless you know what game its from. Then we must never speak.

2. When is your birthday?

Usually falls on the first day of fall. aka the best season.

4. Three things you are doing right now.

Work. Work. and Work. I work 12 hour shifts days and nights and that is kicking my ass. I mostly just sleep and do my chores on my days off.

Think I am getting a new kitten so that’s something I will look forward to.

Games I guess when I have the time and energy.

5. Four fandoms that have really quipped your interest

Just finished rewatching ATLA and LOK and I love the avatar series soooo much. Am kinda thinking about getting the comics to see more to the story. 

Dragon Age series is really good and I wish I could replay Inquisition again but it’s a big game and I have played it 2 times already. Thinking about replaying the entire series as a mage since I have always picked rouge. 

Rougelike games are very addicting to me especially if they have good art. Dead cells, risk of rain 2, and hades are all suuuuper good. They’re all pretty unique too.

I got pretty far in stardew valley and return once in a while to check on my ancient fruit wine, my wife Abigail and my child ShartFace. Sometimes play some overwatch as zenyatta. And some Witcher 3 that I am still getting into.

6. How’s the pandemic been treating you?

Bad. I think about getting fired a lot just to go on unemployment because I would probably be making the same amount. But I am getting experience and also exposing myself to catching covid19 so that’s cool.

I went 3 months without ordering take-out, not going to store, still not hanging out with friends, and haven’t gone to a coffee shop since I quit mine. However I am learning how to cook and eat a little healthier so thanks covid I guess.

7. What’s a song you can’t stop listening to?

Haven’t listened to my boy Matt Maeson in a while. Listening to Cringe - Matt Maeson a lot now. RKS is another good artist.

8. Recommend a movie.

I don’t watch a lot of movies. If I watch a movie it is either spooky or for comfort. The top one I would want to watch now is Howl’s Moving Castle probably.

9 & 10. How old are you? School/Occupation/other?

I am 23 and graduated. Not really sure what to do with life but I don’t mind working in labs like I am now.

11. Do you prefer hot or cold?

I will never complain about the cold but I die in the heat. I am one of the few in the midwest that actually likes the cold. Fall and fresh snow is pretty and everything about the 2 are comfy (except driving on ice and through blizzards).

12. Name one fact about you that others may not know

My best friend is my random freshman roommate and I still wish we were living in our tiny dorm together. We had a lot of good times and I miss how easy it was to hang out.

13. Are you shy?

Very but I open up slowly to people.

14. Preferred Pronouns

She/her

15. Any pet peeves?

I will snipe you if you whistle AND aren’t even good at it. 

16. What’s your favorite ‘dere ’ type?

No idea what that is?

17. Rate your life

Not good but not bad. 6.5/10

18 & 19 What’s your main blog? Side blogs?

This is my main one and is just a smorgasbord of whatever I like.

20. Is there anything people need to know about you before getting to know you?

I am very lazy tbh. and I spend too much time on tumblr mobile if you can’t already tell.

If I tag you don’t feel pressured to fill it out! This is the first one I have done I think cause I couldn��t figure out how to do these on mobile. 

@ibuyallmypantsfrommatalan @pioneergurl @harbinger-of-reason @flufs

and anyone else that follows me and is bored.

[comicteaparty]

July 4th-July 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from July 4th, 2020 to July 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What was an unexpected aspect of making webcomics you didn’t realize before making one yourself?

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

How much our comic and it's story we're going to change during the years of creation was the biggest and most jarring aspect for sure. There's scripts and thumbs that were all made before we ventured out to make GJS with paths completely different from what we initially thought we would take that have completely changed how we approach not only writing but reading webcomics too. Webcomics as a medium have the biggest connection to time, whether it be production or the consumption, they have this opportunity to exist and transform in the long hours it takes to enjoy and read them. It's honestly one of the biggest advantages imho. To see a story slowly unfold, listening to ur audience reactions, peer critiques, or new inspiration can make such a drastic and intense impact on a long form work- its both jaw dropping and humbling to be apart of!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

For me it was the community aspect of comics. I knew a community existed on the reader side of things (comments!), but I didn't expect the creator side to be how it is! I don't know why, but for some reason I kind of always thought that all of us were sort of throwing our comics out from the void... I guess that was me looking at comics from a reader's point of view! But as soon as I started making comics, I started meeting people who made them too... and it's been incredible!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@deo I never really understood what an internet community or internet friends were until I started making a webcomic

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, I had been in (and quickly decided to not be in 0_0) gaming communities, but nothing really as wonderful as what I've found through comics. Closest I had gotten other than that was comments on social media

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Community definitely one of the big things, much like Deo pointed. I was kinda expecting to have get connections through readers, but it's much more with other creators, which is super satisfying in it's own way. Also gonna second Krispy's comment about how time affects how you see your story's past and future. A lot of things changed in the past four years that made my comic change as well and having so much time to think each individual scene allows them to be much more complex and interesting than they would when I first thought them through. Having the time really helps. This also kinda touches the topic of personal change too, which affects how I write and what feels most important to focus on and that's interesting to think about as well

eliushi [Keyspace]

How long things will take, the longer the story goes on! I started out being able to complete a page in 2h but then I found more I wanted to try on each page (colours, layout, composition etc) and even wanted to extend certain scenes. With 500 pages planned, I definitely thought I’d be farther along by now, heading into AWT’s first year anniversary in a month. That being said, I’m also enjoying the ride and it’s all thanks to the great community here and making connections with other comics folks/readers. I never expected to get comments and so each one has been a treasure to read.

Desnik

An unexpected aspect of making webcomics is how much people respond to them. I figured I'd be creating into a void but I met so many people as a result of publishing my dinosaur comic

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Ditto on the webcomic community. I didn't realize how far reaching it was to have a community that supports each other. And I've enjoyed meeting so many wonderful and creative people who raised each other up. Another thing I didn't expect, however, was how invested I got into my comic.(edited)

At first I was doing it mostly for fun. But the more I delved into it, the easier it was to get sucked into my story and want to draw it out. And as a result taking it a lot more seriously.

Desnik

yeah sometimes I miss my dinosaur comic even though I had some pretty good reasons for moving on. It was created out of desperation and evolved into something that made me feel good about myself

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

How much work and time it takes to keep a weekly update going with no backlog

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah same

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.

eliushi [Keyspace]

Making comics became a lifestyle for me

@Haruh2 (Colony Life) When I had no backlog I was updating every two weeks with 7 pages per update; so about 14h of work. But this is with a finished script. I am also told I work fast.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

That's soooo much, Eli!

That's at least twice as much as I do (edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.

I hadn't realized how much I put myself into my comic! My friends who read it have all said that it's incredibly in my voice and reflects my opinions and worldviews Before I shared it with people I hadn't thought of it in that way at all

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

As an artist, I didn't expect how my comic production and mindset will change. Once I started comics, it brought out my ideas from thoughts to a physical form. I start to invest more time into it. Each project evolved through each chapter. How to balance script writing to a polished piece. I put alot of time and research in my works. It makes me glad to hear other creators do the same. I'm not the crazy artist who's wasting her time. One of the positive change was meeting other creators, how we give advice and receive praise.(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

The support has been amazing. It makes the work less lonely

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Fish, oh for sure! I didn't realize until recently how much my characters are all just facets of myself!

eliushi [Keyspace]

(I don’t work that quickly anymore and I’m making big changes to the format soon so it’s going to be a Transition)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I've been in school with art students who never made comics, so when I came to CTP discord, reading comic discussions. It was comforting and fun. I enjoy the cooperation our group has, helping each other.

eliushi [Keyspace]

I like to commiserate about the unique challenges comics have

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Hahaha, yeahhhhh

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I agree, it's different from illustrations. Different approach(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

I am perpetually balancing time spent on a panel vs how much time the reader will spend on it

Vs illustration: lemme make all the details

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Oh I agree, each panel takes longer than it takes to read it. Hence I dislike when readers call manga creators 'lazy'

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

how much time does it take to read one of my pages?

20 seconds?(edited)

haha

e.e

wait is that emoji supposed to be someone rolling their eyes??

i jsut looked it up

i might've been using it wrong this whole time

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Pacing

It's way different than in novels, and definitely came as a shock at the start

eliushi [Keyspace]

Yeah have to play to the strength of the medium. Still imagining AWT as an animated movie written from a novel, in the format of a comic

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Haha, same kinda

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

@eliushi [Keyspace] ah haha, that makes me feel better about my update habits, but thats a good goal for me to shoot for now that im learning a new way to make long comics specifically

cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)

I completely underestimated the amount of effort that would have to go into formatting, website design and maintenance, etc. If I got to do it again, a little more research beforehand probably would’ve saved me a lot of time and hassle.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I really overestimated the "if you build it they will come" aspect of webcomics lol. Like, you actually have to work to advertise your comic in order for people to read it. Nobody ever got hundreds of readers just from posting their comic onto some hosting site without doing major marketing work.(edited)

dako

yeah, I feel that

I've never really been an advertising type before my comic, im learning to just get used to it

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've not really done much advertising tbh, it makes me uncomfortable

dako

it feels kinda...embarrassing? might be too harsh of a word

i dunno

Deo101 [Millennium]

its just uncomfortable idk! i feel awkward doing it

dako

yeah, same ive done it a few times on reddit but i have to force myself

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

it does feel, odd..hell most of the time it just feels like i open the door to my house and toss a bunch of paper to the wind hoping someone can see it

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah, I dont know if ive done anything other than posting updates on twitter and talking about it in groups like this

and twitter is mostly just me talkin to people who already read it...

idk talking about my work without being asked first makes me feel like im inserting myself where im not allowed

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Self promo got MUCH less intimidating for me when I started thinking of it like: "okay, so my comic is made for readers like me, people who share my tastes. That means I only need to answer one question: what can I say to get me to check out this comic? I don't need to impress anyone else. I just need to appeal to me." (since "me" is my target audience)

Deo101 [Millennium]

mhm ^^

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But take it with a grain of salt because I'm still not really promoing

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

exactly, thats why i find it hard to tweet about it most of the time, but i get the whole if i dont care about to talk without being asked no one else will either

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah lmao mood im like what would get me to read... hmmm... probably exactly what im doing.... I'll keep it up then :)

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

yea i get excited to draw out certain parts..but wouldnt want to just tweet about all the little tidbits of the story ruining it for others

Deo101 [Millennium]

sweats

dako

i made a whole side twitter for my comic cuz talking about it on my main intimidated me too much

it is my containment chamber

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

hm may do that, just to say i did it and to get my mind away from the thought

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

yeah same

Deo101 [Millennium]

My main is just whatever I want it to be idk. Its kinda for all my comics, since my comics are all I want to talk about

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

though my main is mostly just retweeting from my side twitter lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

it removes a lot of the pressure of like what if my followers dont wanna see this??

cause they wouldnt be here if they didnt wanna see it

cause its all Ive been doing the whole time

dako

thats a good point

i had my main way before my comic so most of my mutuals/followers dont follow for that

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

yea, it can feel abit disorienting when there is no interaction one way or another on anything you tweet (also if twitter has messed up and causes your tweets to not show up)

Deo101 [Millennium]

but yeah I dont really advertise cause it just makes me so uncomfortable >.<

dako

understandable

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I'm kind of somewhere in between. I advertise my comic mostly because it is all I wanna talk about, like Deo. But I also don't think it's gotten me many readers. Most of my readers came as far as I can tell because I was making something that appealed to them. (The whole "if you build it, they will come" thing.) Although, I really don't have a big audience, I do have an audience, and I am certain most of them came from me just posting.

I think it's determined a lot by luck, and also, how big your niche's audience is to begin with (and some skill tbh).

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah like I think "gay sci fi" is a p big niche so ive got a big amount of people I could potentially reach

which makes it much easier to draw people in

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I'm particularly lucky, I guess, that fantasy/romance has a lot of readers (also more competition, but...)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah fantasy romance is a damn big one

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

eh i think im in an awkward void with my action/drama story (since im not doing romance drama)

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I just go with the mindset: "what makes my fantasy/romance different from the rest" and go from there.

Deo101 [Millennium]

mhm

tbh I dont think my sci fi romance is doing anything special?

but im having fun so :) I dont rlly care about that hahahha

dako

having fun the most important thing

Deo101 [Millennium]

its not my goal to make somthing mindblowing ^^ truley im just here for a good time

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I mean, LGBT+-inclusive sci-fi is pretty unique

I haven't seen a lot

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's clear that your characters are people, and that's special, regardless of how common/uncommon

dako

think if i didnt love my comic as much as i do id have stopped a long time ago

Deo101 [Millennium]

thats true keiiii, thank you <3

also yeah its Sad that theres not more LGBT+ sci fi cause its like youve got aliennnssssssssssssssssssss you can do whatever you waaaaaant

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I knooowww

Deo101 [Millennium]

guess it shows what ppl want or something

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yup

Deo101 [Millennium]

off topic

so to make it back on topic

I underestimated how much people would like gay sci fi GJKLAGJLAJLKAGJSLAKGJKL

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One thing I learned specifically with my current comic... I did not realize how much difference the reader's cultural background would make in terms of interpreting my story.

Deo101 [Millennium]

!!!!!

I actually almost mentioned you in class once tbh keiii

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Big oversight, in retrospect

!?

Deo101 [Millennium]

saying "someone I know makes a comic which they noticed, it's interpreted completely differently just depending on cultural backgrounds" kind of a thing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

like I would not have made the comic any different, but I would have approached the... presentation differently. Like, talk about it differently

Deo101 [Millennium]

cause we were talking about how narratives affect rt

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I guess another thing that was unexpected about making webcomics was... there are way more people with my exact tastes than I thought

Deo101 [Millennium]

and I was saying that I think the viewer's narrative affects art more than the artists narrative

I mean, the artists narrative obviously is what makes it so.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

In the eyes of the beholder

Deo101 [Millennium]

but interpretations and all that... yeah!!!

so. actually I might have offhandedly mentioned you I cant remember if I did or not

lemme check

I did! very like "second hand" offhandedly mentioning though ahaha

hope that doesnt make you uncomfortable GSKLGSJALGJLGK no one replied to me so e.e

in the class I mean

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I am super uncomfortable and offended !!!!!

j/k

Deo101 [Millennium]

hgjkghsjkagskajgdhsakgjhgjd

but... yeah idk starting out I truly just was making it cause I really love my characters a lot, the idea that other people would like them too is very unexpected :) in a good way

I also definitely didnt expect how important enviornments were e.e

didnt plan those well enough.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

that relatable feel

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I really desperately advertise my comic everywhere. I don't really know how to do marketing effectively though & I don't know if its working

eliushi [Keyspace]

I find what increased readership most consistently is still the feature aspect from the hosting sites. It’s really about finding the right readers/right readers finding you

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Same, I'm basically a rounding error away from being 100% reliant on the features for subs

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I don't think my comic has ever been featured on the hosting sites. My numbers have always been low on Tapas and maybe thast why

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, features help a lot

I've been featured on Webtoon, but not Tapas, and you can really see the difference in readership there

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ive been featured on both, uhh in a couple of diff places, if you wanted a breakdown of how many readers i got from the diff spots and stuff ever just lmk im happy to share

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I've been featured on both. It certainly got people to check it out and even sub, but retaining those people (even if they've subbed!!!) is a different story. I think my story is just not the right type for the platforms, but eh, even if 99% of the platform users aren't into the kinda thing I'm making, 1% increase is still an increase.

Which is another thing I learned over the course of running this comic, specifically (since the internet has changed so much after my first two attempts). Just because the majority of your subs don't actually read the comic, doesn't mean your work sucks. Today's internet caters to casual users, and there's a bajillion factors affecting who's actually reading your stuff.

dako

i agree

my comic has never been featured on either, and webtoons doesnt have a guideline on what they pick but tapas does and my comic doesnt really meet their featuring requirements so i dont think either site ever will feature mine haha

so i gotta advertise on reddit and use twitter tags a lot

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't go too crazy with twitter tags; they can make people zone out and not look at your tweet.

dako

i try to use 5 at the most, i know too many is unpleasant to look at haha

Jib {WIP haha}

Oh huh, my rule of thumb is to use 1-2 on twitter and as many as I can on Insta but I’m no expert lol

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG seems to be where you want all the tags XD

varethane

Webtoon's algorithms are like turning a hose on and off lol

The difference between views and sub growth during periods of being featured vs not is stark(edited)

carcarchu

i've never been featured by webtoons but i've seen series grow from 100 followers to 10k overnight

not an exaggeration

varethane

I put my new comic on webtoon in november 2019, and in 1 month I crawled up to.... maybe 50 subs?(granted I only put up one episode and then paused for a bit)

Then in December I started updating it weekly and got placed in the new and hot section of the app

And bam, 6k subs

It last 2 weeks and then the section updated and all growth stopped, and subs went down by 10 or so over the next week

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

(Omg featured is like the new Daily Deviation goals from DA way back in the day!)

varethane

Until it got another feature on a different part of the website and went up another 2k. It was like playing with the handle on a faucet lol

dako

I got some pretty good growth during canvas week, but beyond that not really

I get 1-2 subs after an update if I'm lucky

varethane

I feel like their algorithms are very reliant on the regular rotation of features that staff have to do manuallt

Outside of that, discoverability is quite weak

Mostly because of the volume of comics on there

boogeymadam

same boat as vare. the only thing i know about webtoons features is they have stated a couple times one of their recquirements is consistant updating, so if u skip a week that disqualifies u for a lil while i imagine

varethane

I wonder what they count as consistent. I was doing every 2 weeks for awhile, but this month I'm gonna try weekly to see if it helps me earn more $$ from ads :U

dako

I wish there was more incentive for readers to check out the new section on webtoons and tapas

carcarchu

i have found some amazing gems in the new section

i swear i've seen stuff in featured that were not at all updated consistently

dako

I have too, there's a ton of good comics that get overlooked because they're not in the front page

some featured comics havent updated in months sometimes

varethane

I definitely would not have considered myself consistent at the time of the first feature, considering there was a gap of a month between episode 1 and 2 lpl

carcarchu

the consistently updating thing is more of a recommendation than a requirement i feel?(edited)

boogeymadam

ooohh good to know!!

varethane

I'm sure it cant be a hard rule, especially for comics that have just launched

boogeymadam

im just going off their canvas qna's from last year

dako

if it's actually a hard rule for staff to feature comics that regularly update they break that rule a lot

i also heard a bot picks up comics too

carcarchu

well i at least think the staff or bots or whatever at webtoons are doing a better job with features than tapas is

tapas is always pushing their premium comics way more than their indie stuff

boogeymadam

tapas needs to bring new comics onto the frontpage more often than it does, yeah

dako

yeah I agree

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean, I get why they put premium on the front page. But I feel more variety would help them because it's more interesting for the readers?

dako

I can't tell whats premium or not with tapas sometimes

boogeymadam

i do like that they've been asking stuff like this in the forums tho

carcarchu

more distinction would be helpful to me too dako

i don't think its as clear as it could be

dako

yeah, webtoons at least it's clear what is and what isnt featured or canvas

Jib {WIP haha}

Huh, anyone remember that really popular writing podcast? I forgot the name

Or have any recommendations I guess

Moral_Gutpunch

Terrible writing advice? It's sarcastic

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

is this related to the topic?

Moral_Gutpunch

It's a podcast about writing, so I'm going to say yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think snuffysam meant the weekly topic for the channel

Moral_Gutpunch

Oh

Just for this channel, no. I'm too new to know that.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Please check #rules

Moral_Gutpunch

Sound more like someone forgot context than the rules

That's why I'm hardly here. I don't know stuff people who've been here for a long time know like podcasts or older comics(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Basically each of the channels under "CTP Activities" on this server has its own topic of the week.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

It's not a matter of being here for a long time or not. This channel is used solely for discussing the weekly topics, and such information can be found in #rules

Moral_Gutpunch

Kudos then. I came for creator babble only.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

For general webcomic creation-related advice (either seeking or giving) and such, #shop_talk usually is the place!

creator_babble is for answering the topic of the week

It's not actually for generalized "creator babble" despite the name.

dako

looks like they left

Jib {WIP haha}

Oh my bad, it’s been a while since I read the rules, I brought up the new subject

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Happens!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

No problem, we were just reminding you all :)

Jib {WIP haha}

Ty for that then haha

dako

I think one unexpected thing for me is that no one tells you how crazy the highs and lows can be

well I guess people do but you really don't know until the highs and lows happen to you if that makes sense

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Oh God, that's so true

Burnout is way more dreadful than I could ever guess prior to experiencing it

Feather J. Fern

One unexpected thing for me was how many people I would meet because of my comic. It surprised me greatly that I found so many cool people through the comic community and made the friends I have made now. Love you all

rajmews

The unexpected thing for me was just how much you have to just...predict...what the market will want to read. Like even if you research a whole lot, and you draw really well, and have been doing art professionally, you can still strike out. It's a humbling experience, but being able to just let go of poorly received pages and move on and try things differently is a lot of the battle for doing a webcomic. It teaches you how to fail gracefully because...it's all a process of learning your readers better. Even if they're few at first.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

My major unexpected thing was how much my initial ideas change as I work through a page. Everything from the expressions, dialogue, and layout can change as I look at it and 'solve' it more closely than I did in thumbnails. There are pages I look back on and realize they are ENTIRELY different than what I had first sketched. And they're better for it. Allowing myself the freedom to edit during the artwork... it's created some majorly awesome opportunities.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yes!!!!! Me too!!!

It's exciting thoufh

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Absolutely same

Could plan something out meticulously but then change it in the last 2 secs before uploading

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yup... I don't thumbnail much ahead of where I'm at cause of this(edited)

I thumbnail a scene at a time, and then usually I end up changing stuff halfway through ahahfjjdkskdkss

varethane

Same hat, haha. I often make changes at every stage-- even the thumbnails will often depart from the script. If anything, I wish I made even more changes-- I feel like my page layouts tend to be pretty standard, I do a lot of pages with the 3 rows of 2 panels each, and I want to break out of that more. But... well, that's a work in progress.

[sssuperbartola]

The “App store”

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I’m pretty much random with this little thing I wrote, but I couldn’t resist after looking at @ jafndaegur’s little comic strip of a funny AU with not so modern Sesshomaru and the battle with the “app store”.

Anyway, I wanna first thank @meggz0rz for having been my proofreader for most of the fic, although I’m gonna post it without too much attention bc meh too lazy sksksks. This is a fic for a ludicrous purpose, I did it because I was really interested in a situation with Sesshomaru being a chill af dude in modern clothes but with the mentality of a dad when it comes to smartphones lmao.

All the credits for this idea go to @mmhinman, who suggested the idea first, and to @jafndaegur, who first came up with this little piece of art. Without further introduction, enjoy the one-shot!

"I was waiting for you two. Please, come in." a towering - and definitely more polite - Sesshomaru greeted from the doorstep of the quarters of a house in central Tokyo. Kagome and Inuyasha first exchanged a brief glance to each other before stepping into the fashionable, yet discrete residence of the Lord of the West. The only difference was that said Lord was not in his usual attire. A simple attire with a light blue button shirt and a pair of blue navy suit trousers were his outfit, whose material, in the eyes of Kagome, could only be described as fancy.

If then, one was to look past the casual look of such latest fashion and moved to the interiors of the house, another considerable surprise would wait: refined marble flooring extending to all the corners of the spacious apartment; a set of leather couches in the very center, together with some simple furniture - black, rigid chairs, a refined low glass coffee table; a kitchen counter with a set of dark stoves and a well-furnished library on the very left of what looked the most redefined apartment Kagome has ever seen.

It didn't surprise her anyway, whose lifestyle in the modern era didn't differ from the daiyouki's - at least, not in the terms of tastes. If anything, what did surprise her the most was the fact that there really was a descendant of the greatest daiyouki currently living in her time, who lived not even that far from her family shrine, on top of that. When she first mentioned Inuyasha’s half-brother during dinner time in her modern home, Mama Higurashi didn’t miss a beat, and told Kagome that what she described as a merciless, powerful demon with long silver hair and a death stare was actually the same person she used to work for some years ago in the fashion industry. When she heard that news, Kagome could barely finish eating before flinging down the bones eaters’ well and rushing to tell her friends her revelation.

“What kinda games are ya playing, you jerk?” he all but blurted when the modern version of his half-brother stepped aside to let them in. Sesshomaru frowned in hearing those harsh words, confused by that sudden question, too.

“Inuyasha! He was just welcoming us inside, he did nothing wrong.” said Kagome, not wanting to start with the wrong foot - only the Kami knows what could go wrong with those two together.

“Keh! If I know anything about this guys, is that kindness is not really his strong point.”, he replied, not too convinced by this whole act. ‘Not only do I have to deal with his asshole version in my time, but I also have this pompous one to deal with!’ he thought, his trademark scowl never leaving his features. He had been the first one to tell Kagome that dealing with another Sesshomaru was not a good idea, the first reason being he already hated the original version with all his might, and so he wasn’t very optimistic with them going to pay a visit. After a heated discussion between him and the young girl, they finally came to a compromise which made the two parts agree to visit Sesshomaru number two: Kagome and Inuyasha would go visit him once to ask if he knew anything about how to defeat Naraku; if the mission failed, they would never ask for him again. With that set, the following day Inuyasha went to Kagome’s era and to her home to pick her up, and, after a robust breakfast and saying goodbye, they went off in search of said daiyouki 2.0. After a whole half day spent looking up on the Internet, they managed to find his location and even made a phone call to check if he was still living there. Surprisingly enough, he was and had no problem with them coming over.

“Well, you can’t know that for sure, he’s not like the Sesshomaru we know.” “How can ya be that sure?! As far as I’m concerned, this is the first time for you too! He couldda been the same as 500 years ago!” he interjected, now even more unsure about the whole situation.

“I am quite surprised as well, Inuyasha” Sesshomaru finally spoke, “it’s not usual to meet your brother from 500 years ago in this timeline. However, I should not be too much shocked, since I knew this day was coming. I know you may have several questions to ask, so let’s not wait time standing here, let’s have a seat”. Once more, he gestured to the couple to come inside and, eventually, Kagome stepped into the apartment, followed by a more reluctant dog boy. Once the door was closet, Sesshomaru walked past them and went straight to the little couch in the middle of the room, not bothering to see if the two other people were following him.

As they stepped into the well-furnished area which was the living room, the pair had then a more clear vision of the place: several tall, narrow windows surrounded the entirety of the room, allowing the exterior light to brighten the apartment. On the left side, Kagome noticed a staircase ascending to what could have been a second floor, and, just below that, an underpass stocked with books, lamps, and some glass boxes with all sorts of objects.

The trio soon reached the couch and immediately sat down, Sesshomaru on the Celestine couch facing Kagome and Inuyasha.

“If I may, could I offer you some refreshments? Some tea, perhaps?” Sesshomaru proposed with all the calm in the world; “Okay, who the hell are you and what happened to that arse of my brother?!” “Inuyasha!” “What?? This is not what I’m used to in my time, I have to literally fight this guy every time I see him, it’s fucking weird to see him so…mellow!” Inuyasha growled back at her, while Sesshomaru heaved an exasperated sigh. This was going to be an intense afternoon.

“We can’t keep this up, Inuyasha, we came here for a reason, so try to behave a little; we need as much information as we can get.”

“Humph! I ain’t got that much of trust in that. What makes you think he will help us anyway?”

“Well, we only have to try!”

“Pardon me,” Sesshomaru eventually intervened into the couple’s bickering “but as a matter of fact, I am here, right in front of you. This is proof that I survived the fight against Naraku centuries ago, isn’t it? Therefore, you can trust me and my pieces of advice, since I already experienced what will happen in the past. Confiding to my words or not is your choice and yours only.” He calmly stated to them, slowly coming forward, his elbows resting atop of his expensive trousers. Kagome and Inuyasha carefully thought over his speech and, after several seconds of silence, the daiyouki spoke again. “I am aware of my position towards you and your group of friends, but you cannot deny the fact we are fighting the same battle, and that our discordances should be kept to ourselves for the greater good. I am simply answering your call of help, nothing more, nothing less” he reasoned “I cannot try any advantage from this; as you can well see, I have my own life right here and I have never bothered interfering with yours. The only ones who will gain something from this are you.”

He finally concluded, leaning back in the small sofa and regarding them both, giving them time to think about what to do.

Visibly amused by this behavior, Kagome didn’t really have anything to argue against his words: they were in need of help, whatever the source would be, and he was not pushing them away like his older- or younger? - version used to do. She glanced over to Inuyasha, the only one who could have to say something about it since she was still determined to keep going with this path. He still kept his arms folded into his haori and never once broke eye contact with his brother. One could say he wanted to see where the other would go with all of his talking, but the truth was, he had nothing to use against him at this moment. The fights against Naraku were getting harder and harder, Kagome’s spiritual powers were barely preventing the most damaging attacks, and, on top of that, his swords skills were still lacking the strength he required. There was not that much to do if not trying any other options, of that he was well aware of, but what really threw him off what the fact they were getting aid from none other than his half-brother. The last person he could think of. Well, there was no turning back now, wasn’t it?

“Alright, I’ll listen to what you have. But I’m doing it because I trust Kagome, not you.” he finally said. The girl in question heaved a sigh of relief, although she couldn’t help the little smile that appeared on her lips at hearing how much the hanyou relied on her.

“Very well, I will try to support you in what I can.” the dog demon replied. “However, I believe it was the Miko who wanted to share an idea of hers.”, his attention now focused on the young girl next to his hanyou brother, who turned his head towards her as well. Kagome suddenly lit up as she remembered the purpose of this visit “Oh, right! I wanted to propose a solution to keep up as much updated as possible with each other, even when far away”.She then took the little purse she usually carries around when going into the city and rummaged inside to look for what then appeared to be three tiny metallic objects, all of the same dimensions. She gave one to both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, each one frowning at the strange article in their hands. Inuyasha, more confused than anyone else, also sniffed the metal piece of futuristic technology and tried poking it to attain any sorts of reaction from it.

“So” Kagome started “I was thinking that regardless of the info Sesshomaru can give us, maybe we could use his help not only to take notes for our journey but also keeping us in constant contact while traveling the Feudal era. This way, even if we’re separated by time, Sesshomaru can still warn us from afar using this!” she explained while gesturing to the tiny piece of metal in her hands. Both demons looked at each other and then at the girl in front of them, but only Inuyasha asked “Uh, that’s really cool, but...what exactly is this thing?” he skeptically asked, looking down at the rectangular thing.

“This is a smartphone.”, she simply stated, but before she could explain further, Sesshomaru held up his hand before his face as a sign to stop Kagome from talking. He then lowered it down and, with what Kagome could describe as a mix of smugness and composure, he went “This Sesshomaru is okay. Just explain to this ignorant who I presume has never seen one before.” That affirmation earned him a bewildered expression from the girl and one of hate from the half-demon. ‘So that’s where he kept his true attitude, uh’ Kagome mustered with herself, while Inuyasha was ready to start a fight again. “Just what the hell do you think-!” “Okay! No bickering you two, let’s just move on!” Kagome interjected before the catastrophe; Inuyasha regarded a hard look to his brother, while Sesshomaru simply focused again to the girl. “Oh God...ok, since you’re already familiar with this gadget, Sesshomaru, I will tell you how I intend to use it.” Sesshomaru nodded slightly, then Kagome proceeded “First: go to the App store”. After she said so, Sesshomaru nodded again.

Then stood up to his feet, took his jacket which rested on the back of the sofa, and started getting dressed as if to go out.

Kagome just looked more confused.“Uh...why are you getting up?”

Sesshomaru looked at her, as if what he was doing wasn’t already obvious enough “Woman, you said to go to the App store. We’re going to the App store.”

As if suddenly called on, Inuyasha stood as well “Yeah, Kagome. If we need to go to this store we better hurry. Let’s go already” Quite pleased to have the support of his half-brother, Sesshomaru then turned again to Kagome “Woman, is this “App store” far away?”.

Kagome’s eyes went wide with surprise. It was a miracle she didn’t fall from off the chair at that statement.

Yep, this is going to be a loooong afternoon...

[twosidesofhorror]

My take on... Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich

To combine a creepy, half-burned up elderly man from Europe, an extreme case of discrimination from the ideology of the SS during World War 2, an Egyptian mystical curse or spell that is still active after one’s death, a 30th anniversary of a mass killing spree and… puppets?

The movie is about a guy named Edgar who gets a divorce and is invited by his mom to stay at her and his dads house for the time being. He works in a comic bookstore with his best friend Markowitz, where he sells and draws comics. While being is his hometown he meets this girl from high school again named Ashley and they start to date. Besides from the kissing and (apparently) lots of sexy time you see nothing of this relationship. He is trying to find ways to get money so he can get a place of his own. Being back at his childhood home he scouts through old boxes and drawers to feel sorry for himself and be melodramatic. He finds an odd-looking doll which used to be his brother’s, before he sadly passed away. Now, as soon as he grabs the doll and starts to turn it over and upside down, a knife comes right out of the dolls hand and slices his inner arm. But that is not all. As soon as he turns it around again and stares into those hollow eyes, a hook comes out of his other hand. He finds out his brother found this doll at a camp he went to and had never any real attachment to it, so Edgar tries to find a place to sell it. He finds out there is an auction for these kinds of dolls at an 30th anniversary of the infamous Toulon-murders. Because that is something worth celebration, obviously.

The three of them (Edgar, Markowitz and Ashley) decide to go there and see what it is all about, and to try to sell the doll. They check into a hotel to stay for a couple days. On the second day they get a tour off the house where Mr. Toulon tortured and murdered people, and where he made his infamous dolls. Here everyone finds out that dear Mr. Toulon was a dedicated Nazi-lover and fanatic. His grave, a gorgeous mausoleum with weird looking spikes, which Edgar is so kind to point out, is also on this land. When they get back to the hotel all hell breaks loose in a rapid motion. First, several people report their dolls missing and stolen. While this is being discusses and investigated with the local police the first murders take place. These are some weird ass murders where the victims are chosen based on the “racial purity” ideology of the SS. We see a man and a prostitute getting stabbed during sex, a gay man getting his throat sliced right after he finishes talking to his mom, a lazy-ass fat and disgusting man gets his head chopped off while peeing (after which he pees on his own head, lovely), a sleeping, pregnant lady getting her belly ripped open because a puppet entered via her backdoor and goes off with her unborn child. One puppet rips open a poor, old man’s back and decides to take over his body completely. Just to name a few. And all these murders and commotion seem to happen so fast it almost look surreal. Now, I can withstand gore and weird ways of slicing bodies up or stabbing people in sensitive places like the eyes, but what I can and will not accept in any movie is when someone’s ankles are being sliced, right through the Achilles heel. I hoped the scene in Hostel was the one and only time I had to see that, but unfortunately, no. No, they had to get that in during the sex-scene. Thank you very much.  

After more deaths and more hysteria all the hotel guests are asked to assemble in the lobby, where everybody decides to freak the fuck out after the power goes out. Thrice. Because that’s what’s really scary off course. They dare to just run for it and hope for the best. All I can say is that hope wasn’t on their side that evening. The surviving smarty-panties decide to take cover in the kitchen. After realizing these puppets are notorious Nazi’s, they try to use their dear friend Markowitz, who happens to be a Jew, as bait and just shoot these guys senseless. The only problem is that there might be around 40+ puppets who are possessed, and tiny, and super strong and stealthy, and work together and punch holes and get to your unborn child through your rectum and what not. So, what could possibly go wrong, right?

One of the funniest moments where I had to slap myself across the face because I couldn’t believe they actually did this, is where Markowitz sort of finds a girl to hook up with and this girl is just plain stupid. This girl happens to have a manga character pin on her work shirt and being the comic fanatic that he is, he recognizes it, and the two of them start talking. When they use big guy Marko here as bait and things turn bad, he and his girlfriend, alongside Edgar and Ashley decide to take cover in a hotel room. Here poor Marko gets stabbed in the throat and dies. But they can’t morn now, there are killer puppets after them! They start to jump out of the window one by one with Marko’s little Asian girlfriend as last. Edgar and Ashley, having normal IQ’s, jump right into the dumpster downstairs. This girl does not. She jumps right onto the side of the dumpster and dies instantly…

Where this movie is already so bad it is actually entertaining, they decide to throw that scene in like it is nothing. And it is nothing, not really. But, just, why?

Edgar says in a very sweet, little voice that he now knows how his brother died.

Edgar and Ashley seem to know how to stop all this and head to Mr. Toulon’s mausoleum. When they arrive after a thirty-minute drive or so and stop the car for a minute, they decide to buckle up. Because… logic. They see that those weird spikes are giving off electrical shocks. Edgar here warns his girlfriend very briefly about driving the car straight through the mausoleum’s wall before he does just that. Mr. Toulon gets disturbed in his death and the puppets stop killing. Unfortunately for the two lovebirds, Mr. Toulon isn’t as dead, and slow, and dumb as zombie movies make them seem. But then again this is an Egyptian spell, not a zombie-virus. Mr. Toulon kicks the shit out of the two and goes back to grab his gun (?) and shoot Ashley, after which he just leaves and let’s Edgar live.

Do the puppets get alive after this again? Because Mr. Toulon is not really dead. Why does it happen now? How does he get this spell? Why does he have this spell? So many questions…

This movie is full of weird and sudden deaths, fast paced shifts between scenes and a story which is not really explained. You get almost no backstory whatsoever (this has probably to do with the fact that this reboot is the 14th version, or spin-off, or sequel, or part of this huge franchise). What you do get is 86 minutes of pure puppet-gore. This movie has some excellent deaths with great visual arts and a good way of keeping it interesting. Everything could’ve felt very fast-paced because it was just so damn interesting to watch. The way it was filmed felt a bit off. It looked like a B-movie from the way the camera was angled, and the lack of storyline didn’t really help. The deaths, the blood, the intestines, the gore, everything important basically looked really fucking good though. At this point the weird point of views and slightly off-colored shots didn’t matter. It worked.

The puppets look absolutely gorgeous and really original. The creepy factor is definitely there. I can honestly say that I want to watch those other movies and read the comics. The art is just beautiful and well made, I want to see more of that.

I do have to say that this movie means absolutely nothing if watched on its own without further interest in the story. So, for a movie on movie-night, this isn’t really a good movie to watch. You just get more questions and find out you need to invest a lot of more time to get the whole story. But, if you got nothing better to do like me, I think this is going to be a hell of a ride to follow, figure out and enjoy. This wasn’t really my favorite movie to be honest. Let me hear what you think.

What was your favorite scene?

Which part of all those other ones do I have to watch first?

Which one is your favorite puppet?

Let’s talk.

-Miez.

[kynimdraws]

FINALLY....after months of art block I finished the post-game Team Nina gijinkas \o/

To the newer followers who may not understand the whole Team Nina thing, please check out the nuzlocke comic, which is named “Myths of Unova.” Here are some links

[ Deviantart | Smackjeeves | Nuzlocke Forums | Tumblr Blog ]

With that out of the way, here are some bios about the team in general under the cut btw if you are interested.

This team gijinka is set about....5 years after Nina beats Ghetsis. After a year or two of rehab, Nina does rebuild the team with the PC mons she has had + a Larvesta egg that Alder gives (ingame it was just that NPC egg I had hatched but did not find a good way to incorporate it into the main nuzlocke story)

FYI some of the info stuff are more gijinka-verse based

Zach: 

His general optimistic personality has not changed drastically despite the near-death experience with Ghetsis’s team. If anything he has definitely matured more.

He isn’t as fight-happy as he used to be, but is totally okay with sparring just to test his strength without too much risk. 

After years of the creator being too lazy to draw him proper Samurott facial hair, Zach also started to grow facial hair (his lack of it during Myths of Unova was an anomaly for his species), which made him happy. Laila fusses over it since the first time he let that grow out it was rather messy.

The eye injury required surgery for removal...Zach sported a nice eyepatch during the recovery period before discarding it when the area scarred over.

Laila: 

After facing Ghetsis, Laila has gotten less prickly around her closest friends and teammates, but you will have to earn that status first to see it yourself

She quickly became the new mom of the team, taking care of everyone. 

Laila and Zach finally got together and started to make a family by adopting some of the younger Pokemon that Nina would catch, adopt, or just find somehow.

Like her husband, she doesn’t fight much. She has found that she is a great dance instructor and teaches younger grass-types Petal Dance and some bug types Quiver Dance.

Her family, who was basically nobility, found Laila’s new job a bit too low for her position. But seeing her happy made them stop complaining about it (and Laila would tell them off too)

Momo:

The youngest of the new team, hatched from an egg that Alder gave to Nina after the Ghetsis incident. 

She was named Momo as a homage to Mimi and Jojo (the team agreed to this, and if she had been a boy the name would have been different but still a homage to their fallen teammates)

Zach and Laila’s first of many adopted Pokemon kids. Momo adored Laila, despite her tendency to scorch her mother’s possessions (Zach, who was better at tolerating burns, would always have to come to the rescue)

Laila eventually taught her to control her fire powers through dance lessons, which helped Momo immensely when she evolved into Volcarona. Fiery Dance and Quiver dance are second nature to her

She calls Izzy as “Aunty Iz” and Boo as “Uncle Boo.” She is particularly fond of Boo since he plays with her more than Izzy.

Boo

Boo was the first Pokemon that Nina sent to the PC and one of the first Pokemon that joined Team Nina when it was being rebuilt

While most fans were upset over the PC-benching, this break helped Boo come to terms with the fact that he had died and reincarnated as a Yamask (before Nina found him, he had just died as a Darumaka after being attacked by the Krokoroks/Sandiles in Desert Resort)

The reason why Boo is marked in asterisks is that that was the name that Nina gave to him. Due to the shock of his death, Boo’s real “living name” was never brought up until Boo eventually pointed it out (his real name is Alejo). But because Boo did not mind being called by either name, the teammates still mostly call him Boo. Momo in particular always calls him Boo because as a baby she could not pronounce Alejo.

He is still rather shy and reserved but not as completely withdrawn as he used to be when he was first found by Nina. 

Boo is most open around Momo, who really loves playing with him. Her favorite pasttime with Uncle Boo is to swing around on his scarf

The scarf that Boo gained upon evolution are just spirit-hands that he can control. This article of clothing is how he grounds himself whenever he gets overwhelmed with everything (Boo is in the autism spectrum)

Izzy

The last member that joined the new Team Nina. After hearing about the Ghetsis incident, Izzy was unsure on joining the team since a member of her kind had given Nina so much trauma and grief. 

Izzy became the therapist Pokemon that helped Nina work through the PTSD induced by Asha. While Nina insisted that Izzy did not need to help like this, Izzy kept on going. She even underwent training to become a regular service therapist Pokemon certified by the Pokemon Center

Due to this job Izzy undertook for Nina, she is rarely around the other members of Team Nina. While Momo finds that annoying (she did not fully understand the situation), the rest of the teammates understood the situation

Izzy only evolved to a Hydreigon after she was confident that Nina would be mentally stable upon seeing another Hydreigon after years of therapy. Nina did have a panic attack, but it was minor

While many Hydreigon gijinkas either grow literal extra heads or gain dragon familiars to represent their three-headedness, Izzy instead gained two dragon spirits that float around her and protect her.