#i did basically everything else except draw it and make the first thought about it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

frflyavenue · 3 months ago

Text

Under Your Touch - Chapter 1

Pairing: poly!Ateez x makeup artist!Reader (Fem!Reader)

Warnings: Implied childhood trauma/parental issues

Summary: Down on your luck, you pack up your things and move to Korea on an impulse. With no job and no money, you have no clue what your future could hold—until you’re scouted by two employees from a company you’ve never heard of, KQ Entertainment, looking for a new makeup artist. With the opportunity of a lifetime and the offer to work with a group named Ateez, maybe there’s hope for you after all. But what your future holds may be even more exciting than you expect.

Author’s Note: Hello everybody, and welcome to my new series, Under Your Touch! This is my first fic EVER, so please tell me what you think! I already have so much in store for you guys ;) —Planning to update with a new chapter every Sunday! Leave a note if you want to be added to the taglist for UYT~

Join me on ao3 @frflyavenue <3

WC: 5.1k

Without further ado~

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The chill of the Seoul winter air hits you immediately as you step out of your apartment, sending a chill down your spine as you turn to lock the door. It’s your first winter in Korea, and while you’ve loved the moderate weather of the summer and fall, the winter chill alone is making you reconsider your choice to pack up and live here. Or maybe it would, if you hadn’t finally scored a job.

You smile lightly to yourself at the thought. You moved here 8 months ago, just toward the end of spring, wanting to get far away from your home country to start afresh. On an impulse, you packed up two suitcases, the most you could carry on your own, and booked a flight to Korea. You found a reasonably priced studio apartment during your first night at a hotel in Seoul, and with the small amount of money you had, you signed the lease the next day. It really all happened too fast for your own good. You were panicked—you didn’t really think ahead. For a month you stayed in your apartment with basically no money and no job, desperately studying Korean and looking for jobs. And for a while, your only source of comfort was your art.

You’ve always loved art. You grew up with nothing much to do except go to school, come home, and draw, not the type to stay around your parents too long. You always stayed away from them, in fact. That’s the reason you’re here in the first place. But regardless, drawing got you through it all. It was your first love, the first time you felt that you could forget about everything else and immerse yourself in a different world entirely. And even when your parents and teachers scolded you for doodling on your papers instead of doing your schoolwork, you continued. It was everything to you, why care about school? Not that you were a bad kid—you did everything you possibly could to make your parents and teachers happy. But you drew the line at abandoning your art, no pun intended.

As you got older, that passion carried into makeup. Considering your artistic background, it came as no surprise to you that you had a knack for makeup, and in that month trying your best to survive in Korea, that’s all you did. Makeup, different styles and different techniques, over and over, just to pass the time.

Mastering the Korean idol makeup style was easy. As was mastering pretty much any style, all around the world, you name it. But particularly, maybe because you now live in Korea, you loved the modern Korean idol makeup styles. Truthfully, you knew nothing about Kpop aside from the music you had heard in passing through the streets of Seoul. Your knowledge ended there. But that didn’t stop you from practicing and mastering the makeup, putting your own spin on it based on techniques you had learned from practicing other styles.

Regardless, you weren’t any less surprised when two women approached you during your weekly trip to the grocery store, speaking in rapid Korean and smiling excitedly, pointing to your face. With your limited knowledge of Korean, you managed to pick up a few things: “Your makeup—I like it!” Unsure of what to do, you smiled politely and thanked them, turning to leave. But they quickly shook their heads, stopping you and typing something into a translating app.

‘Are you a makeup artist?’

You shook your head and smiled awkwardly. “No, sorry.” You responded in what you hoped was an understandable Korean accent. They continued typing, seeming more excited now.

‘We work for a K-pop entertainment company called KQ Entertainment. We would like you to train with us and show the company your skills so we could hire you as a makeup artist.’

It seemed too good to be true. You accepted their business cards, typed back to them in whatever app they had that you would give them a call, and went home. It took you a while to confirm that the whole thing wasn’t a scam, but when you did, you were ecstatic. You had just received the opportunity of a lifetime.

The next few months went by fast. You were given what you compared to a scholarship—a free pass to attend a small class on makeup techniques. All for free under their eyes, you learned how to adjust different styles to different face shapes, how to do hair, learned what products to use on different skin types, how to utilize colors to make features pop. You studied Korean and were immersed enough in the language to be able to communicate effectively, which was a plus. You studied color theory, something you knew from experience but were interested to learn technically. And you had fun. So much fun. You didn’t think it could get any better, even if you weren’t getting paid.

But six months later, during an observation from one of the higher ups in the stylist and makeup department, it did get better. They complimented you on your hard work and your abilities, saying that your work was some of the best they had ever seen. And on the spot, they gave you a job offer to work at KQ Entertainment as a personal makeup artist for one of their boy groups, Ateez. It seemed too good to be true. You? Really? You accepted the offer without hesitation, thanking them profusely for their opportunity, and you were sent home. That was two weeks ago. In the meantime, you researched as much as you could about this group, Ateez.

You learned that there are eight members: Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong, Kang Yeosang, Jeong Yunho, Song Mingi, Choi San, Jung Wooyoung, and Choi Jongho. And all eight of them are possibly the most stunning men you have ever laid our eyes on. The perfect canvases. You were giddy at the thought. Your job description noted that you would be the personal makeup artist for Jung Wooyoung and Choi Jongho, the two youngest members. Jung Wooyoung is an incredible dancer, apparently known to be more energetic and lighthearted in nature. He has the visuals of a black cat, incredibly elegant and colder in appearance, though his personality is anything but. Choi Jongho is the youngest member and the lead singer of the group, and his voice is the most beautiful thing you have ever heard. You silently wished to yourself that you would get to hear him sing in person. He’s visually like a teddy bear, an adorable face with the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen. But it seems that his style is cool and simple, which you kept in mind.

Over the two weeks waiting for your paperwork to go through and finishing up interviews with their managers, you spent your time practicing. You drew models of their face shapes, testing out different styles on your drawing tablet and getting to know the curves and geometry of their faces while keeping in mind personal style and their group concept. All things considered, you would think that now, as you walk down the street in the freezing cold toward their makeup studio, that you would feel at least a little bit prepared.

False.

You’ve never been more nervous in your life.

While maybe you didn’t fangirl over the members like much of their fan base, this was your first proper job ever. Your Korean is nothing better than understandable at best, and while you’ve practiced with drawings, you’ve never actually done makeup on these two before. So even though what you’re doing today is nothing more than just a consultation with the two, you can’t stop the shaking in your hands, glad that you will be able to blame it on the cold. You need to do well today. Whether or not you really get the job depends on it.

No pressure.

It’s still dark out when you make it to the address the company sent you, an obscure studio in Seoul supposedly nearby to the Ateez dorms but still hidden from the public’s prying eyes. You check your phone. 6:45am. Perfect, 15 minutes early. You go to your contacts, calling Bae Hyerin, the agent you had been working with during this whole process.

“Good morning Hyerin-unnie! I’ve just arrived at the studio.” You call out into the phone, hoping your usually cheery tone overrides the shakiness in your voice.

“Ah, you’re early! One moment, I’ll let you in!” She hangs up, and you smile to yourself. Hyerin has been a lifeline since this whole ordeal began, possibly one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met. She’s two years older than you, and even though you haven’t known her long, she’s helped you like an older sister, standing up for you when others undermined your abilities or made snarky comments about your Korean, and always praising you for your hard work. You can’t help but feel some of your nervousness dissipate when she greets you at the door with an excited smile.

“Y/N-ah! Welcome!” She says happily, gently pulling you inside. “It’s freezing out, please come in!”

You obey, familiarly holding her arm while she gives you a brief tour of the studio. There’s a large space inside past the entrance with two spaces—one with a couch, some seating, a small fridge, and a TV, presumably an area for the members to relax or sleep while they wait. But you’re more interested in the other side, a slightly smaller space with clean tile floors and four neat stations, three of which are clearly occupied with various products and tools. The fourth is completely empty, with nothing but the vanity, a chair, one staple hair tools, and a large lit mirror. You nearly drool at the sight. Assuming all goes well, this station would be all yours. Hyerin seems to notice, and she ruffles your hair lovingly with a laugh. She lets you set your large makeup bag on the empty vanity, getting a few things set up before they arrive for their consultation.

You blow hot air onto your freezing hands, relieved to finally have a bit of time to yourself to prepare. Unpacking a few things onto the vanity, you count once again to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Their respective foundations and concealers—check. Clean brushes for each of them—check. Palettes—check. Respective lip products—check. Everything is still unopened.

Phew.

Ater reassuring yourself that, yes, you brought all of their hair products too, you relax a bit, taking a seat on the couch in the other side of the studio. Now there’s nothing to do but wait.

——————

It’s still quiet in the Ateez dorms when Wooyoung begrudgingly wakes up to his alarm. 6:00am. Gross. He sighs and manages to get himself out of bed, cringing as the cold air hits his torso while he desperately searches for a hoodie. He struggles to get it on as he trudges over to find Jongho, knowing the younger member probably snoozed his alarm.

Entering his room, he smiles affectionately at the younger man still laying comfortable in bed, his squishy face pressed against the pillow and his blankets pulled all of way up to his chin. The serene moment is interrupted quickly, however, as Wooyoung climbs onto Jongho’s bed, effectively laying on top of him and wriggling around in an affectionate attempt to wake him up. Jongho groans and turns onto his back, sending Wooyoung rolling of to the other side of the bed. Puffing his lips out in a pout, Wooyoung shakes Jongho’s shoulders in another attempt to wake him up, making him grumble outa string of curses before opening his eyes. “What?” He asks, annoyed.

Wooyoung sighs. “We have to get ready to leave. Another makeup artist consultation.” Jongho reciprocates a sigh. Last month, the makeup artist responsible for taking care of the two men’s hair and makeup quit unexpectedly, leaving the company in a desperate search for somebody to fill the position. Over the last few weeks, Jongho and Wooyoung had to wake up early countless times in order to meet with potential candidates for consultations, the company wanting only the best for their prized members. Unfortunately for the two men, their company is picky. Jongho has lost count of how many artists they’ve consulted with over the last few weeks, and he’s tired of waking up earlier than everybody else everyday just to meet with another candidate that ultimately gets rejected. He has no doubt that today wont be any different.

Wooyoung seems to be thinking the same thing, because he nods sympathetically while he slides off of the younger members bed. “I know. But we have no other choice. Get up and get ready, we have to leave in 45 minutes. If we’re lucky, we’ll find a good candidate soon and we won’t have to do this shit anymore.”

Jongho sighs, but complies, forcing himself awake.

Now showered and clean shaven, the two men meet with their manager outside of the dorms, greeting him and climbing in the back of his car with less than eager expressions.

“Who’s the candidate this time?” Wooyoung asks, not doing much to hide the bitterness in his tone.

Manager-nim buckles up and starts the familiar drive to the makeup studio, looking at the tired men in his rear-view mirror with a sympathetic expression. “It’s somebody new, no experience. She’s foreign, moved here less than a year ago from what I gathered, so she speaks little Korean.”

The two men sigh, tired. Out of respect they say nothing, but their thoughts are clear. Why are we wasting our time doing this again? Manager-nim seems to take notice, and he adds quietly, “Hyerin-ssi recommended her.”

Jongho’s eyebrows raise slightly, though his face is still skeptical. Hyerin is known for being rather harsh when it comes to perfecting makeup—its part of what makes her such a good leader. So if she were to recommend somebody so unqualified to even consult with the members… she must see potential there. Still skeptical, the two opt for saying nothing.

Wooyoung nudges Jongho’s shoulder, waking the poor, tired boy as the car pulls into the lot of the studio. Wooyoung, deciding to be optimistic, smiles as he exits the car, hissing through his teeth at the cold but giggling regardless. No point in making yourself any more miserable, is there? Jongho couldn’t care less about looking towards the bright side of things. He’s tired, cold, and pissed off, and quite frankly he doesn’t want to be here. His face only prolongs Wooyoung’s fit of giggles.

Entering the studio, Bae Hyerin greets the three at the door, taking their coats.

“Good morning! Thank you two for coming in so early.”

Wooyoung nods, less grumpy now that he’s woken up a bit. “Of course! We’re excited~” It isn’t a complete lie, he justifies to himself. Jongho says nothing.

Hyerin isn’t blind to the air of annoyance eminating from the two youngest members, but she decides not to mention it. “I’m excited for you guys to meet her, too! She worked as a student under the studio for a few months, but honestly there wasn’t much we could teach her that she didn’t know already. She’s amazing.”

The two blink, a bit surprised. It’s the first time they’ve ever heard Hyerin speak so highly about anybody. Wooyoung smiles, looking forward to this visit a little more now. “What’s her name?”

Hyerin smiles fondly. “Y/N. She’s foreign, but I’ve had no difficulty communicating with her. She’s really cute, I hope you guys like her. I sincerely want her on our team.”

Wooyoung laughs softly, a bit entertained by how fondly their usually strict coworker is speaking about this new candidate. “Are you sure you don’t just have a crush on her?” He asks teasingly, making Hyerin roll her eyes and playfully smack his shoulder.

”Hush.”

Jongho opens his mouth to speak, but is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a new voice calling out from the doorway.

“Unnie, I’m sorry but is there any water I can- …uhm…” You blink with your wide doe eyes as you meet the gaze of two stunning men standing in the entrance speaking with Hyerin, confused. Hyerin turns around and smiles sweetly at you, walking over and gently pulling you toward the two men. Unable to do anything else, you let her.

“Good timing, Y/N, our members just got here! Wooyoung, Jongho, this is Y/N, the makeup artist you will be consulting with today.”

——————

A bit flustered to be meeting them so unexpectedly, you just blink for a second with your pretty, flustered eyes, before remembering yourself. You bow deeply.

“I’m sorry, you surprised me. My name’s Y/N, I’ll be taking care of you two today.”

Wooyoung giggles softly, finding the whole situation rather endearing, and Jongho can’t help himself as he, too, smiles at the scene. You’re nothing short of adorable, with deer-like features and a welcoming closed-lipped smile. Your hair falls short around your shoulders, fluffy as it frames your face, though it doesn’t appear to be particularly styled. Your face is adorned in a subtle, natural makeup, not appearing to be much more than a simply base, natural eye makeup, and some pretty pink lip gloss, but Jongho notes to himself that it suits your face perfectly. Your outfit is also simple, a cream colored, tight-fit turtleneck sweater tucked into light-wash baggy jeans topped off with a simple brown leather belt. Nothing about your appearance is necessarily astounding, but your girl-nextdoor vibe leaves the two finding themselves admiring how pretty you are.

Nervous as you feel their eyes on you, you instinctively reach to hold Hyerin’s hand, making Wooyoung press his lips tight together in an attempt to suppress his sudden cuteness aggression. Jongho smiles after only a few seconds since your introduction, bowing in return. “Good morning, Y/N, my name is Jongho Choi.” He responds in English. You blush from the cute gesture, giggling in slight surprise. Picking up on it, Wooyoung does the same. “I’m Jung Wooyung. Or… Wooyoung Jung. Nice to meet you!”

You laugh softly, giving the two the opportunity to admire your smile, which they find equally as endearing as the rest of you. “Nice to meet you too. Jongho, Wooyoung.” You nod in each of their directions, making them laugh. You feel Hyerin squeeze your hand happily, and you return the squeeze. “Which of you would like to work with me first? I can give you two some time to relax before we start while I get set up. I know it’s early.” You say politely, this time in Korean. You take your time with each sentence, wanting to pronounce everything correctly.

“Me first!” Wooyoung replies eagerly, interrupting Jongho snaps his head to look at Wooyoung in protest. Wooyoung shut him down quickly, stating simply, “I’m older.”

You laugh lightheartedly, enjoying the scene. “Alright then, Wooyoung-ssi first. I’ll give you a few minutes to eat something and get settled in while I set up, yeah? Just let me know whenever you’re ready.” Both men nod and thank you politely as you turn to leave, silent for a moment.

As soon as you’re out of sight, Wooyoung whispers excitedly, laughing in spite of himself. “She is cute!’

Hyerin laughs. “I know, right?”

——————

You hum to yourself as you get Wooyoung’s makeup ready on the vacant vanity, looking over your drawings one more time for good measure while Wooyoung and Jongho laugh over a small breakfast in the other room. Convincing yourself that you know his daily makeup by heart, you turn to rehearsing different hairstyles in your head, knowing it’s your weak spot. Wooyoung usually uses this mouse… or was it the other one? No, he likes the coconut one, right. And he recently got his hair bleached, so use an extra strength heat protectant for good measure. You jump as Wooyoung suddenly appears behind you, tapping your shoulder with a bottle of water. You wince as your jaw clamps down and you bite the inside of your cheek, but smile as you turn around.

“You okay?” Wooyoung laughs, sorry to have scared you. “Here, you were asking for water earlier.”

“Ah, thank you!” You feel a bit relieved, suddenly remembering how dry your mouth is. “Sorry, I was in my own world for a moment. Ready?”

Wooyoung nods, and you smile up at him, pulling the chair out for him and gesturing for him to take a seat. He obliges, sitting down and letting you drape a light cape over his front to protect his clothes. You pump the chair up a few inches, steeling yourself with a few breaths. God, I’m dramatic. You think, exhaling in slight annoyance at how nervous you are. It’s really not that serious.

“Any specific styles you want for today?” You ask, unable to bear staying alone with your thoughts any longer.

Wooyoung thinks, blinking. “Mmm… cool… sexy style.” He replies with a hint of bravado, making you smile. He lifts his hands, pushing one side of his hair back. ”Maybe half slicked back hair like vintage American TV actors, you know? And for makeup just… simple. Handsome..”

You nod, relieved to know exactly the style he’s referring to. You smile, and, unable to handle feeling awkward, you mock a salute. “Aye aye, captain.”

Wooyoung laughs, his eyes a bit surprised, but he quickly shakes his head through fits of giggles. “No, I’m not the captain! That title is only for Hongjoong-hyung.”

You blink, a bit confused for a moment. Hongjoong. As in Kim Hongjoong, the leader of Ateez? Probably. Thank goodness you did at least a little research. “Ah, your leader is the captain? Apologies.” You reply smoothly, your doe eyes sparkling with humor.

Wooyoung nods, clasping his hands in his lap and smiling with intrigue. “Do you know anything about Ateez?” He asks, watching as you squeeze some sun cream onto the back of your hand.

You laugh awkwardly. “Only what I researched when I found out I would be consulting with you two today.” You admit, gently applying some of the sun cream onto his face with the pad of your ring finger. “Eight handsome members with a pirate concept working hard to bring badass stages all around the world.” You say simply, summing up what you know.

Wooyoung laughs, endeared by your description. “You think we’re handsome?” He finds himself asking, wanting to tease you.

You nod, humming affirmatively without hesitation as you blend the cream on his face. You make brief eye contact and smile cheekily before refocusing on his makeup, making him blush.

Well, that backfired, he thinks, cursing himself internally for his failed attempt at flustering you. “How old are you?” He asks suddenly, almost without thinking.

You smile. “I was born 1999.”

He blinks, suddenly excited. “Oh, we’re the same age! Shall we drop the honorifics?”

You meet eyes with him, equally surprised, before nodding eagerly. “Ah, I would like that.”

Conversation comes easy with Wooyoung from that moment onward, as you introduce yourselves and get more comfortable with joking around. Jongho observes with slight surprise from the lounge portion of the large space, taking note of every laugh and blush from Wooyoung at your occasional remarks. He smirks, capturing a picture of the moment and sending it in the Ateez group chat, wanting to tease his hyung. But as he looks closer at the photo, he gasps slightly, catching a glimpse of his completed makeup while you finish up his hair. It’s nothing special, just what appears to Wooyoung’s normal, daily makeup. But something about the harmony of his features looked different… it was the closest thing to perfection he’d ever seen. He looks up from his phone, squinting to try and see him from across the room as if to confirm what he’s seeing. Unfortunately for him, you turn the chair around almost as soon as he does so, done with Wooyoung’s hair and eagerly showing him the finished look in the mirror.

Wooyoung’s reaction is equally as surprised.

He gasps as he sees the job you’ve done, taken aback as he leans forward to look closer at his makeup. The base is so flawless it may as well be his skin, and he reaches up to poke his cheek as if to make sure it isn’t a filter. His eye makeup is minimal, but the product is placed perfectly to accentuate the sharpness of his eyes rather than change the shape, something makeup artists have done commonly in the past. His lips are done in a perfect color for his skin tone, with gloss placed subtly in places where it can only be seen when the light hits it at certain angles, sculpting his plump lips beautifully. Even his nose, one of his proudest features, is perfectly carved out, again accentuating the feature just enough for it to harmonize with everything else. It’s shocking, frankly.

You knot your hands together, fidgeting nervously. Mistakenly taking his silence for dissatisfaction, you bite the inside of your cheek and shuffle on your feet.] “Ah.. is there anything you would like me to change…?” You ask tentatively, worried you might cry if he doesn’t say something soon. He seems to notice, because he pries his eyes away from the mirror and turns to face you, excitedly grasping your hands.

“No… this is amazing. How did you even do this?” He asks, no sign of his usual teasing smile on his face—only sincere shock.

You blush, suddenly looking away, feeling shy and…relieved. “Ah, really? I’m glad you like it.” You say quietly, hoping he can’t feel the nervous tremble of your hands. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.

He lets go, turning back to look at the makeup in the mirror again. “Jongho-yah, come here. Look.”

Jongho stands up, also eager to get a closer look. He gasps in the same way as Wooyoung, gripping Wooyoung’s chin and tilting his head side to side in admiration. “Handsome…”

Wooyoung nods, meeting Jongho’s gaze with wide eyes as he communicates silently what he’s thinking. Jongho’s eyes say the same thing.

You clear your throat nervously, checking the time. “I’m sorry, if you don’t mind, can I get started with Jongho-ssi? We only have 45 minutes before you have to leave to get ready for your next schedule.”

“Ah, sorry.” Wooyoung says, removing his cape and handing it to Jongho while he swaps positions with the younger man. “Go ahead~”

You nod in thanks, and get to work with Jongho, starting the process all over again.

By the time you’ve finished up with his makeup, turning him around to style his hair, he’s already as energetic as Wooyoung, laughing at almost every silly remark you make and rebutting with ease. Wooyoung notices, noting to himself how easily you manage to adjust to different member’s humor. For reasons unbeknownst to him, that thought makes his cheeks feel warm. You speak comfortably as you style his hair, this styling a bit cuter than Wooyoung’s, per Jongho’s request. It doesn’t take long before you’re done with his hair as well, and you gently pat his shoulder before turning the chair around so he can see the final result.

The two men’s reactions are no different this time. Again, his features are balanced perfectly, with lips a perfect shade of pink, super soft nose contour, and puppy eyes accentuated with bits of subtle sparkles Jongho has never worn before, though he can’t help but like them. It’s perfect.

Wooyoung is quick to run over and admire the work as well, unable to close his jaw as he looks it over. “Jongho-yah, I don’t think you’ve ever looked so good.” He says, a hint of teasing in his tone.

You shake your head, laughing. “His bare face is my favorite. Both of you are perfect canvases to work on, seriously. So handsome. All I do is make that handsomeness pop for the cameras.” You explain, wiping excess makeup off your hands with a wet wipe. “But I’m glad you both like it.”

Both of them blush, unable to say anything in response as you excuse yourself to go wash your hands, struggling with just the wipes. Now along, the boys can finally speak in private.

“Hyung…” Jongho says softly, his voice carrying a tone Wooyoung’s maybe heard only once or twice before. “She’s perfect, seriously.”

Wooyoung nods, agreeing with a hushed, but still undeniably excited tone. “And also she’s so-“

“Cute, right?” Hyerin interjects, walking in the room. The two nods unashamedly. Hyerin steps closer, admiring your work on their faces. “Perfect, as usual. To think she was so nervous she would mess up today…” She shakes her head, smiling proudly as you return. You chirp happily at seeing her and rush over, quick to hug her arm.

“You did a good job, Y/N. You managed to make these two sleepy fools look like idols.” She praises sweetly, making Jongho scoff playfully.

You laugh nervously, shaking your head. “Thank you, Unnie. I’m glad you like it.” You turn as you hear the chime of the front door’s bell, presumably their manager re-enter the building to pick the two members up. You let Hyerin go so she can bring them in, and you’re surprised to see a few new faces instead of their manager. Hyerin clears her throat.

“Y/N, these are the people I was telling you about that would observe your work. No need to be nervous, they’re just going to talk with the members for a bit and make some final decisions.” She winks, but your shoulders still tense slightly at her unspoken words.

They’re going to determine whether or not you get the job.

You feel a sudden poke on your hip and look down to see Jongho smiling. You let out a breath at his sweet thumbs up, smiling slightly in return and bowing your head in silent thanks.

“Y/N, why don’t you go ahead and head out for the day? You did well.” Hyerin interjects, her face sympathetic. You nod, quickly moving to clean up the vanity and pack everything back into your compactable makeup bag. You give a quick bow to Wooyoung and Jongho, grinning sweetly before turning around, quick to leave the building.

Wooyoung and Jongho look at each other and smile, silently crossing their fingers while their hair and makeup is being observed.

They like you.

…

Yeah, they like you a lot.

This fic belongs to @frflyavenue and nobody else—please do not steal this work or any other works by this author <3

Chapter 2

291 notes · View notes

beomiracles · 5 months ago

Note

darkish thought because I love mentally ill love yandere horror tropes and beomgyu, so why not put two and two together?! >3< (fyi this is my first time writing lols..)

imagine beomgyu as the quiet, intimidating kid at school. no one dared to approach him because he just gave off this unsettling vibe—except for y/n, who was always so cheerful and saw the good in everything. beomgyu didn’t understand how someone like her could exist, so pure, so sweet. it frustrated him. it consumed him. he wanted to be the one to destroy her innocence, to ruin her from the inside out. his obsession spiraled until he couldn’t take it anymore, so much so that one day he snapped and ended up kidnapping her, having her all to himself, to do as he pleased. <3

y/n woke up in his basement, tied up, blindfolded, and gagged, completely at his mercy. if feeling the tip of a knife gliding down y/n's trembling bare thighs wasn’t enough, her heart completely dropped when she heard that all-too-familiar voice.

"dumb girl~ haven’t you learned not to trust everyone?" beomgyu chuckles darkly, almost mocking. "lucky for me though..." he let the blade glide further up, earning a muffled squeak from her as it grazed against her most sensitive spot ''..now you’re right where i wanted"

you cappin, ain't no way this is your first time writing gawd lawd.. I mean you've basically done all the work here, but I shall indulge nonetheless.

tw, kidnapping, beomgyu is very unstable but what's new in these thoughts, use of knife, implied violence and blunt force trauma, nonconsensual bondage, hints at further sexual advances

the weird kid of class D, that's what they called him. with long and dark hair, shielding his sickeningly pale face. his hunched posture and strange attire making him a laughing stock all around school. ― still, people knew to stay out of Beomgyu's way. it was kind of common sense by now, for all except one.

you didn't think beomgyu was much different from anyone else. perhaps it was why you'd joined him in the cafeteria that day; your tray nudging his as you squeezed in next to him with a wide grin. ― it doesn't bother you when he ignores your advances, when he turns away and mutters a few curses under his breath.

your persistence doesn't waver, and soon you find yourself by his more than your own friends. and even though he rarely talks to you, or even pays your presence any mind, he doesn't make a move to shake you off.

naive as you were, you thought that beomgyu only needed an opportunity, a chance to show his worth. you feel almost heroic when you think about the fact that you were the one presenting him with it.

had you if only once stopped to look around, to see what was actually happening around you, maybe then you would've noticed how everyone else seem to draw back whenever you walked alongside him. perhaps then you would've caught their hesitant faces and worried glances.

"will you come to my house this Friday?"

you had practically squealed when he first asked. excitedly jumping up and down as you accept his invite. ― this was it, you were finally breaking through his thick shell. weeks worth of effort finally paying off !

it did not feel rewarding to wake up cold and confused in complete darkness. in fact it felt utterly terrifying. frantically your head jerks from side to side, unable to see through the thick blindfold that covered your wet eyes.

with your wrists bound behind your back, the ropes around your skin burned as they tightened with each tug you gave. your ankles felt sore, bloody like someone had beaten them, they, too, were tied. ― something large and round keeps your jaw locked in an uncomfortable position, drool running down your chin as you struggle to speak.

footsteps echo in the dark and you emit a muffled scream as you try to retreat. the failed attempt at fleeing merely ends with your barely dressed body pressed against a cold stone wall. ― with your breath caught in your throat you listen as someone approaches, the presence looming before you as it exhales a deep breath, sounding almost like a hum.

"look at you.." the voice speaks, it's dark and menacing, upholding a mocking tone. your blood runs cold as you recognise it. beomgyu. but that didn't make any sense why was he... when did this..

your whiny protests come out as incoherent nonsense around the gag and beomgyu chuckles, it's sinister rumble echoing against the four walls of his basement. ― "dumb girl~ haven’t you learned not to trust everyone?" he's crouched down before you now, you can feel his warm breath on your face, it makes you recoil.

Beomgyu's fingers are harsh and unforgiving as they seal around your arm, keeping you in place. "lucky for me though..." he drawls, pausing to listen to the hitch of your breath as something cold comes in contact with your tender flesh. a knife.

''..now you’re right where i wanted"

the knife glides along the inner part of your thigh, it's pointy edge poking at your soft skin and you whimper as you shake your head. beomgyu lets out a short breath, like he wasn't believing his own eyes, and with one flick off the knife he cuts your panties in half.

"don't worry", he quickly shushes your scream with false sympathy, "if you promise not to scream, I'll go easy on you"

111 notes · View notes

phneltwrites · 6 months ago

Note

I wish you would write a fic where…

….Jan-Olof decides he has had enough of Erik and Wilhelm's antics, escapades and scandals. He retires. His successor is a young man called Simon Eriksson. The moment Wilhelm lays eyes on Simon for the first time, he trips over his own feet and falls (in love). Simon, however, isn’t impressed with the two princes. They make his job difficult. He can’t decide who’s worse. Pretty quickly Wilhelm is also annoyed because while he can’t stop staring at Simon, Simon is exactly like J-O was: professional, conservative and boring (but also cheeky/rude when it’s just the two of them). They have lots of stupid arguments but there’s also loads of unresolved sexual tension between them. Meanwhile Kristina watches everything from the sidelines and facepalms mentally.

💜

I was trying to think about this one and rotating it and I'm not so good at talking so here's like the short fic version of what I'd do! The angle I basically took here is about how anxiety from the outside often looks like rudeness and being judgmental.

Everyone knows this is a bad job. It’s why it’s the one for the most junior member of staff. Simon’s often caused himself to question his life choices and the series of misfortunes that have led to him firstly working for the Swedish monarchy—a thing he ideologically opposes—and as a wrangler for Prince Wilhelm. His literal, full-time job is to make sure the Prince is where he’s supposed to be, upright, and in clothes. On day one he’s informed they need someone for this because it is extremely difficult.

The prince is unreliable, they said. He’s used to being catered to and he doesn’t consider how to make any one else’s job run smoothly. Don’t expect any consideration. He won’t practice his speeches and will act unprofessionally if you follow-up on his preparedness. Just put things in front of him and hope for the best.

Simon doesn’t love the idea of being personal servant for a manbaby who is emotionally volatile in the workplace.

At first he thought it might not be so bad. Wilhelm introduced himself carefully, with a handshake and direct eye contact, dead serious like it wasn’t ridiculous on the face of it. He slid Simon snacks under the table at their first interminable briefing meeting.

“I didn’t think it would go this long,” Simon muttered as thanks.

“When you see the line ‘review precedence’ it means we have to list everyone who is going and what order they’ll walk in,” he whispers back with a grimace. “I always bring snacks when I see that.”

Simon files the note away and when he says as much to Wilhelm, Wilhelm rewards him with a real smile. His entire face brightens and when he does it reminds Simon that Wilhelm is his age.

All of that optimism dies the moment they have their first event where Simon is in charge of wrangling, without anyone else guiding him. And he can’t find Wilhelm. Why did he think that Wilhelm would make an exception to his unreliability for Simon?

He runs around, dashing from room to room, as if a six-foot suit bedecked man might be overlooked in a corner like a stray pair of headphones.

The patter of rain on the window draws Simon’s attention by chance and then it’s his second heart attack. Wilhelm is out there. Soaking.

Simon dashes out and immediately feels the rain seep down the back of his neck. It’s raining hard enough that it pushes at his curls, wetness worming its way in.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Simon feels hysterical. He grabs Wilhelm’s wrist. It feels like ice. He drags and Wilhelm follows him, feet stumbling. Simon closes the door behind them and starts to fret. Wilhelm’s hair is wet. His suit is wet. His tie is ruined. He got a whole onboarding document on the caretaking rules for silk ties. Exposing them to rainwater is not best practice. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm’s hair drips onto the parquet floor. He isn’t saying anything. He’s supposed to be giving a speech to this anti-drunk driving charity in ten minutes and if Simon sends him out like that, he’ll get demoted in such a way that they’ll make his life miserable enough until he quits. He thought Wilhelm respected him a little but he’s just standing there, staring at nothing, looking bored. Offering no solutions, no explanations. Least he could do is apologise. He’s not even looking at Simon, instead peering at the detailing on the baseboards. Now is not the time to develop an interest in design.

Simon is going to get fired. And Wilhelm doesn’t even care. Simon supposes he has ultimate job security and doesn’t know what insecurity would feel like.

“Look at the state of you,” Simon scolds. “How could you do this? Is this hazing? My first time so you want to fuck with me?” Simon brushes at Wilhelm’s hair, helplessly. The front pieces have slid onto his forehead. “I get that this is nothing for you, but this is my job. I need this.” He takes Wilhelm’s tie. He pops the top button open. Maybe it looks intentional. “You get everything handed to you. I’m here to make sure you have your tissues and your shoes are shined and all your whims are taken care of. And all you have to do is show up and hand out some ribbons, shake a few hands. Would it kill you to take it seriously? Or at least, if you aren’t, would you try not to waste my time? Your extremely royal highness? If that isn’t too hard for you.” Wilhelm is just like the rest of them. Every rich kid at University who complained that the professors weren’t nice enough to them, or who whined that they were broke because they spent all their money on drinks and movie tickets and for the first time had to consider a budget. People to whom it had never occurred to them that they’d have to be careful about anything in their life. That they’d have to think ahead or go without.

“Yeah,” Wilhelm says absently. Simon stops talking. He glares at Wilhelm. “That’s right. Isn’t it?” The question sounds like it’s of no matter to him. Simon wants to shake him.

Wilhelm does it first, shaking his head, water flying. He wipes his hair with his hand, slicking it back as much as he can. Then he steps out.

Simon doesn’t watch the speech. He’s not allowed in the room anyway. His precedence is too low.

Later, he sits around with the staff, Friday night out to celebrate the week and starts to complain. Everyone laughs in that nostalgic way that Simon has never mastered.

“You didn’t bring an extra suit?” Margot asks. “Someone didn’t train you right. For his Highness you always have to bring a full change.”

“And his headphones,” Andreas jumps in. “If he starts looking like he’s going to bolt, those can keep him in place for a bit.”

“At least if he runs he usually comes back,” Karl says. It seems that everyone has a Wilhelm story. “It’s the hiding that’s more difficult.” Karl is one of the older members of the team. He leans over to Wilhelm. “His Highness knows all of the nooks and crannies in the palace. Every built-in cupboard and weird space under some stairs. You’ll get to know them too.”

The longer this goes on, the less funny it gets. Everyone had told Simon how difficult Wilhelm is, how spoiled, and he’d seen Wilhelm’s behaviour today as careless. But this is so consistent.

Then Margot hammers the final nail. “He can’t fit in the worst spots anymore. You’re lucky. Trying to reach in to the top shelf of a wardrobe to get a grip on him while in heels was not what I studied for.”

“How long ago were you managing him?” Simon asks. He feels the shape of the answer already.

She purses her lips. “Ten, fifteen years ago? Don’t worry, it won’t take you that long to get a better portfolio.”

So she was a grown woman and Wilhelm was what, seven?

He stands up. “I have to go.”

***

He goes to Wilhelm’s rooms at the palace. His badge gets him in the building but a guard stops him at the door. “No staff entry to the prince’s private rooms outside of working hours,” she says firmly.

Simon hadn’t thought about that. He didn’t think about that.

He won’t push his way in.

***

Simon grabs Wilhelm’s sleeve at the end of the next briefing. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Simon says.

Wilhelm is staring at his sleeve where Simon has a hold on it. Simon lets go. Wilhelm’s fingers twitch, turning and curling towards Simon’s. He looks up at Simon and blinks. “I’m sorry?”

“No, that’s what I’m saying.” This conversation is going weirdly.

Wilhelm looks confused. “For what?”

“For snapping,” Simon repeats.

Wilhelm doesn’t look any less confused. “You were doing your job.” He says it, almost questioning. Like why are they still talking about this.

Simon did not think he could feel worse, but Wilhelm’s total lack of understanding why anyone should give him any consideration makes him want to claw at his shirt collar.

Then Wilhelm is called away.

***

At the next function, which is a rose garden tea thing that Simon can’t pretend to understand, Simon finds Wilhelm sitting on a bench next to a trellis.

“Hi,” Simon says.

Wilhelm takes a big inhale, shoulders rising up and in. “Am I out of time?”

Simon thinks about it. Thinks about Wilhelm forcing himself out there. Then he says, “Want to get out of here?”

Wilhelm laughs. Then he takes a second look at Simon’s face. “Oh.”

Simon puts out his hand. Eyes darting between his hand and Simon’s face, Wilhelm takes it. Simon tugs and Wilhelm comes easily.

When they go, they don’t look back.

#my fic #young royals #young royals fanfiction

89 notes · View notes

alllgator-blood · 1 year ago

Text

I have ten billion WIP sketches I need to finish, but for some reason I stayed up from 9 PM to 4 AM conceptualizing, making patterns, sewing, painting and applying makeup on this stupid fucking felt squid......the detailing needs to be cleaned up cause there's only one coat of paint so far, but he's pretty much done

my neighbors probably think I'm insane because I was running around the yard clenching this toy kallamar in a death grip and flying him around like an airplane/putting him in the barbecue/poking him with a stick. I want to tie him to a string and recreate the opening of napoleon dynamite >:) ALSO I MADE HIM SMOKE OUT OF A STUPID CRYSTAL PIPE BUT PLEASE DON'T ACTUALLY USE THOSE, THEY ARE SUPER TOXIC LMAO MINE IS FOR DECORATION

I don't have any process pics because I had tunnel vision autism style and forgot the rest of the universe existed while I was working on him. BUT if you're curious I'll ramble below the cut

Okay I am not a seamstress by any means. I've sewn my entire life but very, very infrequently. I've done plushies, clothes, cosplays, fursuits, accessories, etc. but I only do one like once a year, so while I planned to make all 5 bishops, I'm not really sure I'll get them all done. The material cost was like 20 bucks tops so I'm not too upset if I don't finish them. I AT LEAST WANT TO GET SHAMURA OR HEKET DONE.

here is the concept sketch ft. heket's toes and shamura's fingers. I decided to do his pre-schism version so I could fit him with jewelry! I did him first because like I said I sew infrequently and don't know wtf I'm doing, everyone else seemed a lot more complicated.

So I basically just traced this drawing on a printer paper-sized canvas in SAI, and guesstimated how everything would look in a 3D space. His head is four pieces, one triangle identical to the one in the picture, two wide triangles that are sewn together in the back, and a circle for his chin. You can't really see it in any of the pics but he's literally like a black cylindrical stick with little tentacles sewn on where his mantle connects to his cloak. The leg tentacles are one piece of felt that look like tassels, where they're connected by a rectangle but branch off into individual pieces. He can't stand up very well, so his cape keeps him up (that's gonna be an issue for every other bishop too except heket cause she's gonna be ROUND). Mostly everything like the crown, cloak, head, etc. are cones so I just had to make a lot of wide triangles.

For the details, I just used acrylic paint that was watered down so he's not especially crunchy, and for the blush tone I used a makeup palette my mom bought me 10 years ago in hopes I'd get in touch with my "feminine side", but I grew up into a nonbinary butch lesbian so OOPS. Kallamar looks better with makeup than me anyway. I'm kinda sad I couldn't get his freckles as lopsided as I draw them but it probably looks better in plush form to have them even anyway....

I could just post the pattern so I don't have to explain this but 1. I am mentally ill about the thought of my kallamar being in someone else's house and 2. the original pattern had to be tweaked while I was working on him so the final pattern straight up doesn't exist, I winged it the whole time

OH and the jewelry is just scrap pieces I had laying around, I might repaint it all to be gold instead of silver + bronze. I used 20g aluminum wire for his armlet thing, jumper rings for his earrings + ring (+ a diamond dot from my mom's kits for the gem) and chain for the bracelet. I made him an amulet as well but it felt like overkill so I took it off. I'm probably gonna make him a plague doctor mask and medicine bag sometime because I think about nurse kallamar more than I probably should :') I've already sewn one as a prop for a toy raven before so it shouldn't be too hard

#cult of the lamb #cotl #kallamar #plushie #felt craft #does this count as a plush or is it like a doll idfk #I just make shit because I feel like it not cause I can categorize it in any way #drug cw #ONLY CAUSE OF THE REAL PIPE #THERE IS NO ACTUAL DRUG USE HAPPENING

339 notes · View notes

pitruli · 6 months ago

Text

the reverse Aruani comic i was talking about but it's only part of the storyboard and too many thoughts

I just started wanting to picture Annie's version of the ocean dream, except i wrote the outlines at 3AM and it turned into a weird meta thing about the fourth wall somehow. and then i wanted to tell as much as possible with minimal dialogue so i was That close to illustrate all 3 seasons haha,,, I'm stopping here for now so there's only (most of) season 1 there

Just the basic idea of how reverse au Annie would act knowing about the Ocean. I put it less in a weird-forbidden-book and more as something that slipped through the censorship. It's only a mention of it, small enough to be confusing without context. And it was enough to get Annie's curiosity because everything else makes sense in this book. Except this thing. But she couldn't find a single thing about it and now she doesn't know what to think of it. (It manages to inspire Eren because, maybe it's a fictional place, but maybe it's real and that's what the scouts could find outside. so it's kinda a 'i realised we were not free' in a 'we didn't know a single thing' way)

Also jumpscare Trost arc

Trost arc was planned differently at first and i don't remember what it was haha. I just got inspired by one of Mirthle's post later where the trio fleas from the canon shot and tries to prove by themselves Eren is alright. Also thought him saluting as a Titan to prove his loyalty would be cool as hell visually so i did haha. After Trost i was supposed to rush through most of the arcs until i reached late S3. But while drawing i got quite inspired for so many details in the FT arc and HAD to draw it haha.

Silly page, just Because. I also wanted to put 'sneak peak' of the Ocean at different place throughout the comic. So the wall-like vision Annie has of it in the previous pages and there the steam after Armin's attack, that would progressively get more accurate over time. I also started to make my storytelling around her hair more apparent in the last page. Since i made her Coloss design i had the idea her let down hair was a sign she didn't know what was happening anymore after turning a shifter, and i wanted to keep that in the rest of the plot. She had her hair a mess and tied it back once she decided to go a different way

What was planned afterward was the ideas i had with Stella a while ago about Armin's betrayal happening in this arc because it really stuck in my mind. (he would also have made the salute as a sign of surrender. Oh and he talks a bit too.)

And the last page that i has planned right from the begining haha. I'm kinda upset to not have the Return to Shiganshina arc drawn yet cause i really wanna try things out in this one, but i don't have the strengh for it now. maybe i'll add it later tho-

#reshie.art #reverse aruani au #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #Wall Ocean

22 notes · View notes

scrunglepaws · 11 months ago

Text

Tried to fit all my fic ideas on one page, but I still forgot some because they're like... scrawled on random pieces of paper all over my house/in different notebooks/ect. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I tried!

The little branchy-offy things are prequels/sequels of that particular series. Bleeped out things I thought might be spoiler-y to ongoing series. Things with * are super WIP-y titles because I dunno what to call them.

More ramblings under the cut! (Nothing spoilery for the ongoing series; just vague things!)

No Heroes Zone // - I have a lot more generalized worldbuilding, character notes, ect than actual stories. The story ideas are mostly vague/short... Though, I suppose I could stand to write some super short fics. - The exception is an angsty sonighty fic that's basically done, but I just have to fill in all the inbetween, connecty bits. And decide how sonighty-y I really want to go with it. That ship came outta nowhere, I tell ya. - NHZ is really mostly Tails (and Metal) angst, tho. The other day I was thinking about how he tries to latch onto Shadow and even Metal in the absence of having Sonic and was like "Wow, Tails, clingy much? What are you, Nine???" then I felt really bad. T-T; He just misses his brother...!

Kaleidoscope // - The name of this fic is based on an art piece I've been wanting to do for forever: A kaleidoscope of Tails/Nine/Mangey, looking at each other and seeing them each from their own perspective. Because that's the theme of the whole story, funky scifi weirdness aside. But uh, 1) didn't have a decent digital art program for a bit and 2) I'm not good enough at drawing the subtle differences in their appearances to really make it hit how I wanted. Also 3) Tails looks basically the same to all three of them, lmao. - "Mangey Remembers" is Mangey's backstory and "Loneliness*" is... Less of a backstory for Nine, more of a brief showcase of his character in general. Because we already know Nine's whole deal from canon. Same reason Tails doesn't have a backstory- he's supposed to be canon Tails. - "Starless Sky" and "Ruination*" are both poteeeential sequels, but I'm not set on doing them. Ruination would just be a short, noncanon "what if?" bad ending for the heck of it.

Someplace AU (Aquarius) // - Also halfway calling it Aquarius for now because I ended up continuing the first part of the story under that fic name.

- It was originally more focused on Sails, hence Someplace being a play on No Place. But now it's about equally Kit and Sails. I ended up getting SO MANY effing ideas for these dudes, man. ;w;

- "Hollow Existence*" isn't a specific story, but just a sprinkling of scenes/backstory bits that detail why Kit is the way he is. Mostly his relationship with Surge growing up.

- "Sails' Tales" is likewise a collection of random Sails backstory bits. I have a lot more specific/fleshed out things for him, though. BUDDY, did I have fun with the No Place lore. Also, his relationships with Catfish and Black Rose are so cute... ;A;

- The bits to the right are basically going to be chapters in Aquarius. They're vague enough not to be spoilery (other than the blipped ones...)

- "=D?" is a sequel that I'm very excited about. Probably shouldn't say much beyond that.

Everything Else // - CaveTails is a Journey to the Center of the Earth-esque silly, silly thing. That could maybe become a bit more serious? BAsically, I was thinking "Huh, kind of weird that my main kittails fic is with Sails. That'd be funny if I did ones with Nine and Mangey, too. Just for the lulz. Especially the Mangey one." This is the Mangey one. xD Except he's sort of like... Tails AND Mangey at the same time, character-wise? So? :? Also, potentially some wholesome Sonic+Tails moments because I weirdly haven't written any of those yet.

- "Kids" is just a continuation of that goofy Tails Doll+Cream oneshot. Just small ideas for another chapter or two. Cute friendship, fluff, and lots of comfort to make up for the hurt in the first chapter. :3;;

- "Alien*" is what it says on the tin. I have a couple different ideas for how it could go. One of them boots out Silver entirely and had Metal in his place. xD But I might have enough material to write an alien Silver AND alien Metal fic. We'll see whenever I get around to it. :3

- "Nine's Shadow*" is something I've wanted to write ever since I made that joke oc, Stales the Fox aka Zombie Tails variant from the Grim. Probably just a oneshot (or a few short chapters) fic that mostly focuses on Nine being "all alone" after the ending of Sonic Prime.

- "Why is Babies?*" is the second idea I had for a fic. It's just Shadow being awkward and not knowing how to look after a chunk of the main cast that are suddenly tots for unknown reasons. It's very lighthearted, comedic, and cute. Originally a Shadow+Metal fic until I learned more about Eclipse and just HAD to include him. Dude is literally a struggling single parent in canon, how could I not include him in a story about his brother going through something similar? xD Also, I might call this fic "Rascals" as a reference to that one Star Trek episode with a similar premise. Because! Star Trek. 8D

- "The Fifth Element" ... I have put off posting anything about this fic idea for so long because I'm EMBARRASSED IT'S SO STUPID AND CORNY DON'T LOOK AT ME,,, In case you're totally lost, the 1997 film of the same name is my. Favorite movie. So naturally, this was my first idea for a fic. It's so all-over-the-place tonally, though. Obviously, got a LOT of silly, especially the parts that follow the movie almost exactly. But I also added a lot of original bits that help flesh out the characters' relationships. The protag is Shadow, who is very, very soft and introspective in it. Which, like, how did that happen??? But I love it. Metal is his co-lead and is mostly goofy because he's a fish out of water. Sonic is VERY, VERY goofy like goddamn (he's Ruby Rod- if you know, you know). Then there's just the silliest shit ever like Silver. Silver is Shadow's cat. It's stupid, but it's also fun, and maybe even matters to the plot. You don't know. Blaze is the president. Dr. Starline, Surge, Eggman, and The End are in it. Tails has the smallest part of any of my fics, but I think I cast him well. I need to stop now or I never will. Don't look at me. xDD

But yeah, as I said, I forgot a lot of other ideas. A few more (still forgetting some, I'm sure): - "Creature from the Black Lagoon" ft. kittails - Steam Powered Giraffe-vibes 50's thing w/ Tails, Cream, and automatons of Kit, Surge, Metal, Belle, Gemerl, ect - Tails Doll trying to be a Real Boy(tm) - Kittails-focused folklore AU with Kit as a kelpie and Tails as a normal mobian. Bunch of other people as fae creatures and villagers, including Starline as the main villain. - Maybe a whispangle oneshot from the above au (Tangle is a mobian, Whisper is. basically a magic wolf? xD) - Knuckles/Tails role-swap

38 notes · View notes

zorilleerrant · 2 months ago

Text

A Jarring Proposition

@flashfictionfridayofficial

“Yeah, okay,” I agree, and demonstrate the spell again. It’s a little awkward to do it without an actual ka to enclose, but he should be getting the gist by now. Maybe I shouldn’t be using tupperware for this. “Do you need me to track down an actual canopic jar so you can understand this?”

“I thought those already had the spell in them,” he says, giving me a wounded look. I don’t even know what to say to that. To be honest, I was worried he’d have never heard of jars before. “All the ones I’ve ever seen had the spell already in them.”

“Well, sure, because no one can cast this,” I agree, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’s about to ask me whether it ‘counts’ as the same spell if you can it by hand or inscribe it, I’m sure of it.

“You just cast it,” he says. Without even a shit-eating grin, that’s how serious he is. He’s not even trying to push my buttons, he just accidentally leaned on them.

“Okay, sorry, let me be more specific,” I say, and carefully unclench my jaw, using dismissing the spell as an excuse to stretch out my hands. “About two thirds of doctoral level necromancers, like twelve percent of paramedics, and actively practicing lorekeepers can cast this spell. And like basically no one else.”

“What happened to the rest of the necromancers?” he asks. I stare at him. I’ve been asked that question in a lot of circumstance, but I don’t think it’s ever been this one. I figure if it had I would’ve worked out what the other person meant by it, and so I would know what the hell David is saying.

“Nothing,” I say, “happened to them?” except the thing is he keeps staring at me, waiting to find out what secretly really did happen to them, presumably. “Nothing is happening to most necromancers, you know. We’re not all out breaking curses on the fly. No one is doing that. That’s like. Dr. Wu. And even she isn’t doing it on horseback. They don’t want horses near the manuscripts basically ever, what do you mean what happened to them?”

“I know about the horses!” David says, exasperated. “I’ve met a horse. I wouldn’t let one near a manuscript either. Why don’t they know the spell?”

“Oh,” I say, wondering what that horse did to David’s manuscript. Probably not the actual issue. “You only need to know the dozen most basic spell to pass quals and if it’s not going to come up then it’s not going to come up. The only reason so many necromancers do know it is that you tend to pick it up on your way to learning Reintegration, which I think is why so many paramedics know it, too. And you need that one for the theory or you’re never going to get anywhere.”

“Why didn’t you teach me that one then?” he asks, exasperated, and I can’t help it, I start laughing. Usually I can keep from laughing during class, but I can’t honestly be expected to keep my shit together when someone asks me that out of the blue. I’d draw it for him, but neither of us has time for that.

It doesn’t take me very long to find it. It’s artifacted to hell and back, but it never takes more than a minute to find Knife and Reintegration being memed in some kind of forlorn desperation for the learning curve to be flatter. I don’t think it’s enough of the sigil for his magic to pick up on it, but everything else registers immediately, and he makes the same face we all made the first time we encountered it.

With a sigh, he says, “yeah, I’ll take the small one, please.” Then he holds out his hand – I assume for the tupperware, so he can try out the incantation. We’ve really got to get him casting silent, one of these days. Two methods is overkill, especially with something finicky like this, where he’s definitely going to contradict himself. “Isn’t it a problem that it’s, like, not a real jar?”

“Okay, well, you better not be trying to put anyone in it yet,” I say, slamming my hand down on the lid until he looks at me. There’s a limited number of people around here for him to try this on. “But, no, I had a colleague put someone in a pringles container for hours until medevac showed up. It’s fine.”

“Were they still in there?” David asks, in a small voice, looking horrified at me. “I don’t want to be put in the same container as snack food.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to only put real leftovers in here,” I say, patting his hand in a way that’s supposed to be comforting, and from his scathing look, definitely fell a little far from the mark. I wasn’t actually going to put him anywhere. “Look, I’ll get you a real jar, if you ever need one, okay?”

“I want the box,” he says, eyes wide, like he’s seen some sort of tech magazine. Actually, given his last job, probably he did.

“Hm,” I say, and smile at him.

“It’s cool!” he says.

“It’s not cool, and if you ask a doctor for that they’re probably going to go full malpractice on your ass,” I explain, and when he looks crestfallen, manage to add, in as neutral a tone as possible, “they interfere with the magic.”

“They do not!” David says, aghast. He actually scrapes his chair against the floor, that’s how hard he sits back in it. “They’re completely safe. They’re made of nothing but botanical magic. It’s neutral, what’s it going to interfere with?”

I bite my lip. “Okay. Well. They interfere with the music.” He glares at me, and I have to admit, I always have a hard time not laughing at this one, too.

#look I said something #my writing #original fiction #original character #zorille's board certified necromancer #a lorekeeper is this universe's version of an anaesthesiologist. that's not relevant to anything but just in case you wanted to know

11 notes · View notes

nitunio · 1 year ago

Text

Ryou and Riku Are The Same! (just differently)

In the latter half of Third Beat of IDOLiSH7 Ryou approaches Riku (after countless of hours spent researching and watching him) with a thought-provoking sentence: You and I are the same. I'm you and you're me.

To a normal i7 fan it might come off as a stretch or as one of the infinite amounts of Ryou's manipulations BUT hear me (Tsukumo Ryou pfp) out...

UNDER THE CUT. IT GOT REALLY LONG.

Ryou was raised emotionally abused/neglected by parents (calling himself an "overlooked talent", mentioning to Shiro that his family hated him) which led to all of this (vague hand gesture). And to Ryou's knowledge Riku suffered just about the same — but what Ryou knows is only the surface of what was happening to Riku.

While looking at Riku's "abandoned by family" the initial assumption is that they did Not like him or even neglected him — which is the assumption that Ryou makes since it's the most likely one, which leads to him making the comment in the first place. But we as an audience know that everything about surface-level information is coated with layers of nuance.

Riku is loved by his parents, and adored, protected and always pampered by his brother. All of the attention of this world was given to Riku — in a deep contrast to Ryou being constantly overlooked by his relatives. Yet since Ryou doesn't have insight into the inner relationships of the family he doesn't see how different they are.

Then how are they the same?

Both lack and abundance of attention can cause the same kinds of traits to manifest — selfishness, seeking attention, constantly proving oneself to others — as well as give near-identical core beliefs.

Riku has the ability to connect to other people's hearts, one that was prevalent in his childhood, with receiving love from a giving brother and parents. Riku draws people in, to feel the sense of connection, collective emotion that's dependent on its center (Riku). (Insert Iori's analysis here, but basically — if Riku were to need anything, all people affected would rush to provide it, selflessly without any regard for their own safety/emotion)

Ryou has the ability to read people, which was, and I'm speculating on the material given, a vital thing in his childhood since the lack of emotion/presence made him far and distant from people's experiences, but very close to knowing How people Work. Ryou draws people in, in the sense of knowing how to make them walk into his grip, to manipulate for own gain later. (If Ryou needed anything — he'd make all people affected get it for him, without any regard for their own safety/emotion)

And to that extent, both of them are monsters.

And when Ryou notices Riku, he connects with him too, but on a deeper level than anybody else. Riku to him is like a younger version of himself he can still save (hence the "I'll protect you" thing he said, and generally his tone and expressions dramatically shift to more sincere ones than the voices and expressions he does for Momo/other people), because Riku is both still young and hasn't had as much disappointment with other people as him.

But in spite of Ryou thinking that Riku and he are the same, Ryou doesn't have what Riku has.

He barely gets noticed (pt3 ep1, he is not doing anything loudly and weirdly in public, and naturally doesn't get noticed. or when he does it's in context of bothering Momo), which leads to grander and more dangerous outbursts over time (in contrast to Riku, who is, by design, more vibrant and noticeable, as well as a magnet for people, and the attention he gets increases with more joy and fun and popularity of i7).

All of the people Ryou was with, at one point or another abandoned him (IDOLiSH7 as a group consists of people all of which (except Riku, I think) thought about quitting but ultimately didn't, and the journey to the conclusion made the bonds even stronger).

And both of these points lead to weirdness, coldness and sadism on Ryou's part — which to a larger extent turn people away from Ryou and make them hate him even more.

And the speed at which this hate happens matches the speed of Riku receiving more and more love in First Beat. And the core reasons for which all of Ryou's plan happens Match Riku's core reasons.

Riku is selfish — it's about him proving himself to his brother (and to the entire world, for that extent), about him having fun, about him being loved and appreciated For What He Can Do and Not Being Underestimated, about him being in the center of it (the whole Perfection Gimmick thing is the proof of it).

Ryou is selfish — it's about him proving his skills to his family ("i'm [insert skill] yet they still kept choosing my older brother"), about him getting his revenge, about him being noticed as he stands atop of the now useless and hated idol corpses, about him being in the center of it.

Riku craves attention and love to the same extent Ryou does, and Ryou feels like people overlook him and his capabilities to the same extent Riku does.

And what Ryou read through Riku, and what Riku felt through Ryou, is mutual, both of them the same, even if they're different.

_________________________

Tangents I went off on that felt like they didn't fit in the text:

Riku and Ryou are ZOOL

What Antagonistic Quartet establishes is that Ryou, in one way or another, relates to/resembles all members of ZOOL in their fears and insecurities (rich of him to mock them for being dependent on external validation when deep down he is the same).

But, applying the Riku = Ryou to it, you can see that Riku pretty much connects to ZOOL in this way too. He wants revenge (on Kujo Sr.) (as Haruka), he wants for people to Have expectations of him and not just be worried about him (as Torao), he wants to keep singing with teammates for fans who will cheer him on (as Touma), he wants to keep pursuing what he wants to (as Minami)...

And while Riku is a manifestation of these wants that gets presented with IDOLiSH7's innocence and fun, ZOOL shows the audience the uglier and more aggressive side of it, which is valid in its openness and sincerity. And they coexist well.

Chaos, Zero and black holes

Fuck! So, Riku = Ryou and Riku = Zero. You see where this is going.

Zero in his hurried leave left chaos and uncertainty, and by Kujo Sr.'s concerns, Riku, with the same ability to influence other people, might turn out the same. I honestly don't remember where I was going with this. I wrote this bullet point at 5 AM and I'm looking back at it with a confused expression.

The Ryou thing is too vague

What we know of Ryou is limited to imagination and thoughts based on what he (and others) share about him. These points:

He was not a "family pet" (mentioned by himself in antagonistic quartet section 2)

His family didn't love him (mentioned by Shiro and himself, Momo too iirc)

highlight that he is vastly different from Riku, then how did he make such a good assessment of character?

As antagonistic quartet shows, Ryou can not only dig up surface-level information, but also background info as well.

(in AQ we see that he Does dig deep to strike the most painful spot. also another tangent -- how. how did he find 4 talented people. did he consistently go and scan for them with his people-reading skills only to (obvious in Haruka's case) stalk them until they're at their worst??? to provide a helping hand??? BUT ALSO. to know that at one point of time there were people that experienced the same kind of pain as he did. and many more felt seen and heard by ZOOL's songs after that. im going to cry. he did connect. in his own way)

SO, continuing on Riku, he probably Had asked people who worked at Nanase family's place or were close to them and found out all about the relationship they had. Let's entertain the thought of him going this deep and Knowing that Riku and he, in fact, were not treated the same by their families.

My ultimate Reach with this is that it either A. didn't matter to him when the end is the same - being abandoned (which was a recurring thing to Ryou) or B. twisted itself into an even unhealthier connection.

point A is obvious. point B:

Ryou's family Did do good things for him. like, Zero concert. listen there's not many examples and this is my "reach" segment i get to. i get to reach. But even in its good it was bad behind the scenes. And since he can't literally intrude inside Riku's head he can't really know if what others said about his relations with family was true or just keeping appearances of a happy family.

So, how is their friendship going to pan out?

I feel like even if Momo didn't exist as an obstacle it just wouldn't pan out for them. Momo and Riku share the same sentiment of having complicated feelings towards a person (Banri and Tenn respectively), which don't reach Ryou's calculating heart. (It's easier to hide away Banri and bury Tenn into the ground than confront feelings that may require one to reflect on own concerns and emotions)

And even then, Ryou is very quick to change gears if anything unpleasant happens (which would just quickly lead to unproductive destruction, as it did with Momo -- and it also happened with Riku because that "I'll protect you" changed into "You too will betray me"). I feel like in pt 4 the development they had while barely interacting in person amounts to a greater effect because both recognize the abilities that they have, and Riku gets to tell him a piece of his mind.

yes ryou idols can be selfish and dreaming in itself is selfish. dreaming can lead to hurting others and being hurt. but its okay

it's also something that they share in that aspect -- ryou is afraid of being hurt (even in his coldness he is fragile) and riku is afraid of hurting others (even in his selfishness he wants people to be happy)

_________________________

anyways,

NPD flag colour-picked from their colours (3 from each, only picked from hair/eyes, not clothes)

#nitunio.txt #nitu i7 ramble #idolish7 #ryo tsukumo #tsukumo ryou

27 notes · View notes

stepswowdsen · 17 days ago

Text

【KagePro】 KuroEne Art Ideas + Comm Plans 🖤💙🐍🐇

Summary:

KuroEne Art Ideas for 6/9 💙💛🖤

Current Commission Requests (KuroEne) 🐍🐇

Future Commission Plans (KuroEne, MaryEne, AyaEne) 🖤💙🩷❤️

Some rambles about my KuroEne art ideas for 6/9, current commission requests I ordered, and some future commission plans 👍

KuroEne Art Ideas 🎨

Main Ideas

KuroEne Kiss 😽

KuroEne Kiss (MR2 Saeru) 😘

KuroEne wearing Traditional Wedding Kimono 👘

Other Ideas

KuroEne wearing Traditional Viet Clothes 💙🖤

KuroEne biting into a golden apple 🐍🐇🍎💛

Redrawing old KuroEne sketches

Rambles

Thought of some ideas for what I can draw for 6/9 🖤 💛 💙

Happy HaruTaka/KonoEne/KuroEne Day~ 🖤💛💙

Technically KuroEne is XX/6 but tends to gets included in 9/6 by association for obvious reasons.

I had a few KuroEne angst ideas in mind, but I was like, "I probably shouldn't draw angst for 6/9"

I can probably speedrun drawing something later today 🫡

I originally drew the KuroEne kiss doodle in May 2024, and then did the rough coloured sketch version in July 2024, which is when I posted it for 9/6 day last year 🖤💛💙

I was planning to work on my JuAli WIPs, but since it’s getting close to 6/9, I’ll just sketch something KuroEne related first.

If I get the time, I’ll make it a coloured sketch.

I’ve been meaning to get back to my KuroEne kiss doodle eventually…

I've just been drawing a lot of sketches lately cuz they’re easy and quick to do (and lower commitment)

And I tend to clean up sketches multiple times and take a LONG time with colouring. Like I just know my art process would take at least 10 hours if I actually rendered fr

The option where I just redraw my old sketches would be the easiest cuz I'd just have to redraw some stuff (Saeru’s hair and expression) and make my sketches cleaner

Since I do multiple sketch passes and refine until it looks "good enough" to me. So basically, until I'm satisfied.

MR2 Saeru Redesign 🖤❤️

The shapes are inspired by this wonderful MR2 Saeru redesign by @/dirtsooop 🖤❤️

Probably gonna redraw MR2 Saeru's hair in that 1st one to be the same as another doodle I did

I'd like to make his hair similar to this MR2 Saeru doodle I drew before.

Since I drew the 1st one before settling on a hair shape I liked.

I'm glad I'm finally satisfied with how I draw his hair shapes now ^^

I love the idea of him having fluffier hair and pointy devil looking horns since villains tend to be designed with sharp shape language (pointy shapes) since it evokes the sense of danger 😈✨

I prefer making his hair much fluffier over using the manga's hair shapes tbh... I tried drawing with the manga's version many times and I was never completely satisfied with my sketches.

I appreciate Mahiro's work, but I'm personally not a fan of her art style so it's kind of disappointing to me that the manga doesn't have dynamic art (ex. strong shape language, silhouettes, or panelling/compositions)

And eventually I'm gonna proceed with my MR2 Saeru redesign where he wears traditional clothing and takes more design inspirations from Azami's design

Cuz I fuck with everything on this design EXCEPT for the canon design's crop top (and entire clothes, tbh)

I love the black snake scales on his face, the cute little tufts of hair and black horns, the braid in the back that looks like a scorpion's tail like Judar's, red sclera and red gradient limbs, and the white sash with bloodstains on it.

Just not everything else 😭

KuroEne Wearing Traditional Viet Clothes 🖤💙

KuroEne wearing Việt Phục 🖤💙

I imagined that Ene would wear this blue Áo Tấc (which is also called Áo Tế (lit. "Ceremonial dress")), and blue Khăn Đóng (lit. "towel to wear tightly," means, "headpiece; turban") 💙🤍

I imagined that Kuroha/Saeru would wear this ��o Giao Lĩnh (lit. "Cross collared dress") 🖤💛🤍

The name comes from 1 Tấc (a unit of measurement), which refers to the width of the bound seam.

This Áo Giao Lĩnh has colours that are PERFECT for Saeru, especially since black, white, and gold are his theme colours. I love the gold embroidering.

I love to imagine Ene wearing blue Fairy style Áo Tấc where she also wears a white translucent scarf/shawl or has translucent sleeves~ 💞🥰

Ofc I have more rambles on my ideas, but I'll put it in a separate post dedicated to talking about KuroEne wearing Việt Phục.

KuroEne Art Pose Ideas

Various pose ideas for KuroEne wearing traditional clothes...

Tbh if I draw the option with them in traditional clothes, then I'll definitely be late for 6/9, so I'll probably opt for the 2nd option and then draw KuroEne in traditional clothes sometime later.

I like the 3rd one’s pose the most. It's the most intimate

Drawing over CSP's 3D models for sketch drafts helps me get a basic idea down so I can sketch faster that way

Rambles with Feila

F: I JUST REALIZED IT'S ALMOST 6/9 😭

Me: Tbh I can probably speedrun a quick doodle 🫡 As long as I work on it today.

F: I like 3rd too, it's a lot more touchy and close, and Ene can easily reach Kuroha that way wwww

Me: I can choose the 1st one’s pose for my own art, while I chose the 2nd for Rin's art

Current Comms

KuroEne Wearing Traditional Wedding Kimono Bust by Rin (@/acengkebab) 👘💐

Poses and compositions similar to this comm sample: (X)

Ene can wear Iro-uchikake (色打掛, "Colourful wedding kimono"), the 2nd highest formal wedding kimono, that has a draping bridal trail 💙🤍

Kuroha/Saeru can wear the traditional formal men's kimono, Daiichi reisou (第一礼装, lit. "no. 1/most formal dress"), the highest level of formal wear for men's kimono, which consists of black (黒, kuro) montsuki kimono, haori jacket, and hakama 🖤🩶🤍

Since Kuroha's main colours are black and gray (and yellow), the traditional black, gray, and white colours really fit him.

At first, I thought about them carrying black and blue Wagasa (和傘, lit. "Japanese umbrellas"), which are oil paper umbrellas.

But I felt like it'd clutter the piece (and add too much detail complexity especially with how detailed their outfits are), and I'd rather the focus just be on their faces with it being a bust comm.

I imagined that Ene would wear blue flower accessories in her hair 💙🤍💐

I imagine that the BG would have wisteria flowers.

One of my fave flowers that I love is Wisteria.

I consider it a Selena flower 💜

I associate it to my KHR OC and beloved wife 💞

It's a purple flower and also a poisonous flower 💜💐

In Vietnam, we call it Hoa tử đằng (lit. "Flower behind death"), and Cây đậu tía ("Purple bean tree")

We also call it by the name, Hoa fuji ("Fuji/Wisteria flowers"), which is used when referring to the JP variant.

There are both JP and CN variants of Wisteria.

"Flower behind Death" is especially fitting for them... Sighs... :'^) 🖤💙

Basically, I saw that Rin, an ID/SEA artist, drew KuroEne in the past, and I found out they were offering comms, so I asked if they could draw KuroEne in traditional wedding kimono 🖤💙👘🙏

Omg 😭🥺💖💞💗

Rin's message to me is very sweet 💗

It makes me happy to see a fellow SEA artist who ships them 🥺🖤💙

Feila also discussed ideas with me for the KuroEne comm to help me decide on their outfits, and pose/expression/composition ideas.

Ty for your inputs! 💞💗

Poses and Expressions

I imagine that they would both have open eyed expressions...

I imagine Saeru would still have his signature smug smirk, but that his gaze would be a little softer in this...

While Ene has a happy smiling expression (^v^)

I imagined that they their fingers would be intertwined

And Ene has a hand to his face, while Saeru has his other hand coming around the back of Ene's neck

Just used CSP's 3D models to get a quick idea as a rough visual guide.

I had this at first but then I was worried that his kimono sleeves would obscure too much of Ene's kimono, and I want Ene's kimono to be visible in the piece.

Feila suggested a kind of pose where their fingers would be intertwined. So I did this after! Now both their kimono sleeves can be visible and not cover too much of the other 👍

...

I considered the 1st pose for Rin's comm, but then I realized that his kimono sleeves would cover sm of Ene's kimono (unless his sleeves drooped down to his elbows) and I want her kimono to be visible.

So I'll use the 1st pose for my own art and handed the 2nd image as a ref for Rin to use

Hard to get the poses exact for the 2nd one but it gives an idea

This post is more of an update from me... Wasn't sure whether I should tag

I also had these when I was drafting ideas for the poses for Rin's KuroEne Traditional Wedding Kimono comm.

Rin (@/acengkebab) will get back to me whenever they’re finished their current commission queue (since they already have a lot of slots), since I was put on a Waitlist. I don't mind the wait ^^

For Rin's comm, I went with the ones where they're holding hands 😘

KuroEne Wearing Traditional Wedding Kimono Chibi Icon by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo) 👘🌹

Poses and expressions similar to the bottom comm sample: (X)

I considered KuroEne wearing their Design Poll and Seek at Mekakucity outfits but decided to go with the option of them wearing Traditional Wedding Kimono.

Rambles with Feila

Oh I definitely have an idea of what I could commission Hika for 👍

KuroEne in their Design Poll and Seek at Mekakucity Outfits 🖤 💙

And Ene has blue and white roses (flower hair accessories) in her hair 🌹

And they could be holding each other's roses like that one comm sample Hika has ^^

Perhaps Ene could have a veil (but Idk if that's overkill. I just need the roses in her hair 💙 )

Since my refs for my HC version designs of JuAli aren't ready yet. I need to draw their headshots at least. I'd need their half-bodies (or down to their sleeves) if Hika needs to draw poses with their sleeves/arms raised up.

The other idea I had is KuroEne wearing traditional Japanese wedding clothes.

Ene wearing blue and white Iro-uchikake (色打掛, lit. "Colourful wedding kimono") with blue and white roses in her hair 💙🤍👘🌹

Kuroha/Saeru wearing traditional formal men's kimono, Daiichi reisou (第一礼装, lit. "no. 1/most formal dress") 🖤🩶🤍

Though it adds complexity. Hika can simplify as much as needed ^^

Commission Ideas

I came up with the options of commissioning Hika for:

KuroEne in their Design Poll and Seek at Mekakucity Outfits (while they're holding each other's roses and Ene has roses in her hair) 🖤💙👗

KuroEne wearing Traditional Japanese Wedding Kimono (while holding each other's roses and Ene has roses in her hair) 🖤💙👘🌹

One is simpler for Hika. She'd have to simplify details a lot more for the 2nd one

F: I feel like with the context of roses, weddings are perfect but the other choice is so good too... 😭

THOUGH, I'm leaning more towards wedding

Me: Yeah I also thought about how Ene's Seek at Mekakucity dress goes down to her shoulders so Idk how much would be visible in the chibi icon. Chibi Icons are Headshots. 🤔

I think going for them wearing wedding kimono is the play here, since it'll go down to their shoulders.

I'll tell Hika to simplify as much as she needs to. I just want the light blue to blue gradient on her wedding kimono 👍

No need to worry about patterns. That wedding kimono is VERY detailed.

F: Same, as long as it still has it's main characteristics, I'm sure it'll be fine :D

Me: Thanks for helping me pick! I'll send the form soon. I'll say I want the poses to be similar to one of her comm samples 😌

Me: OH I just forgot about expressions. What kind of expressions do we want?

Would Saeru have a smug flirty expression and would Ene have a shy blushy one or an exicted happy one?

>//< or :D

F: Might sound simple but how about a (cute) nervous expression on Ene and a gentle smile from Kuroha? I mean, she's getting married to a snake demon, who wouldn't be nervous /j

Me: Ooooh it'd be nice if Saeru has a more tender expression 😽😚

I'll ask Hika for a smug yet slightly gentler/tender looking expression

So is Ene's expression like the sample?

F: Yes the purple haired one :D

Me: Okee gotcha! I'll gather my refs and send the form when I can 🙏

(EDIT: As an update, Hika accepted my comm form so we'll see the sketch WIP update soon ^^ Probably sometime next week.)

Future Comm Plans

KuroEne Skeb Chibis by Akiko (@/Akiko_141)

Upcoming Commission Ideas

KuroEne Sketch Icon (Style B) - Ene holding a small chibi Kuroha in her hands, similar to Akiko's ALNST commission arts 🖤💛💙

JuAli Skeb Style Chibis - JuAli wearing matching couple hanfu 🖤❤️💛

KuroEne Sketch Headshot (Style B) - Kuroha holding a small chibi Ene in his hands, similar to the Outer Science MV and Akiko's ALNST commission arts 🖤💛💙🐍🐇

JuAli Sketch Headshot (Style B) - Judar holding a small chibi Alibaba in his hands (perhaps with a haniwa (clay doll) Alibaba too. Maybe Judar has cat ears and Alibaba has puppy ears) 🖤💛❤️🐈‍⬛🐕

Mekakushi Dan wearing Casual Clothing by Sidu

Eventual Commission Ideas

MaryEne Sketch Headshot (Style B) - Mary holding a small chibi Ene in her hands, similar to Akiko's ALNST commission arts (Either of Mary's usual design or in her Casual Dress where she's wearing Ene-style twintails with Ene colours) 🩷💙🤍

MaryEne Sketch Headshot (Style B) - Queen (Medusa Form) Mary holding a small chibi Ene in her hands 🩷💙🤍

AyaEne Sketch Headshot (Style B) - Ayano holding a small chibi Ene in her hands ❤️💙

Examples of Akiko's ALNST ship commissions: (1) / (2) / (3)

These are the comps and poses I imagined for my future comms ^^

Admittedly I wanted to commission Akiko (@/Akiko_141) for KuroEne and JuAli, but her waitlist slots closed a lot quicker this time.

I'd like to commission her for my biggest OTPs (JuAli and KuroEne) when her slots reopen again 🙏

And then I'll go for my secondary ships ^^

The 2nd section is what I eventually want to commission.

The main reason why I've been mostly commissioning XanLena and KuroEne of my main OTPs, is because they have tons of refs that make it easier for the artists I commission to draw them.

I’ll be waiting patiently for next time 🙏 Her art style is sooo clean and professional!

Akiko knows both KagePro and Magi 💗 This is very sweet of her 🥺

I was pleasantly surprised she knows both KagePro and Magi!

Her art style is SOOO gorgeous! 💗

I know exactly who to commission in the future for comms of my biggest OTPs 😌🥰💞

Though I need to get JuAli's ref sheets of their HC designs done first.

This does also give me time to refine my eventual arts of them, cuz I wanna make sure the details are good so I can finalize the designs so there aren't inconsistencies in design details.

If I finish JuAli’s refs soon (at least their headshots or down to their sleeves, depending on the pose), then I can comm Hika to draw JuAli Chibi Icons soon ^^

#kagepro #kagerou project #kuroha #ene #kuroene #enomoto takane #saeru #kozakura mary #tateyama ayano #ayaene #maryene #kuroha x ene #saeene #saeru x ene #black konoha #dark konoha #me ga saeru hebi #saeru hebi #snake of clearing eyes #clearing snake #ayano x ene #mary x ene #sen's rambles #Lmk if you don't want me to tag for these kinds of unsorted rambles and just use my rambles tag? This is more of an update #I always tend to gravitate towards rare pairs & niche popular ships. It feels more personal to me that way.#So basically the charas that I think she'd have an interesting relationship dynamic with. I always go for whatever compels me most #I wish to see my wife being loved by charas I approve of. I'm selective of who gets paired with my faves. I need to approve of them first #For every fandom I'm into I almost always tend to have 1 chara that I revolve multiships around. And those are my fave ships

3 notes · View notes

tammyhybrid21 · 4 months ago

Text

Pokémon Aura Affinities(Humans with Typings)

The Tumblr Version

The saddest part of this is you don’t get the colours that I have in my original document version of this... well, not entirely... You’ll get it for at least the preview image for summarising everything. But-- So...

How’s about pokémon, people and typings... Whether called affinities or leanings, it’s a piece of worldbuilding I want to go completely feral over. Pokéverse humans, aura and how that is not just a background detail to me. It’s an influence in so much more. Be prepared, because this is going to be a really messy ramble.

If you can’t read these, no shock... the colour choice is a bit... odd in some of them, because I was not great at picking colours and it was just for the vibes. But these are basically the dividing trio of categories for types and discounting the special cases that are Stellar and Shadow typings, though I will talk about those in this ramble... Much of this will be put under a Read More, because this will get LONG.

Also, shush, I am aware this is basically a big give away on my type preferences, it’s not subtle.

General Overviews:

I will not be ordering this in anything that makes sense...

Commonality is arbitrary. The choices of things is more like a fun thought experiment and me going somewhat feral over the idea of Humans in Pokéverse been pokémon themselves and how Aura works is nebulous enough that this is just going to go in circles if I try to say anything is more common over anything else...

Typing for humans is at least half the vibes anyway, a word association game. That said... Normal/Fighting/Psychic are the biggest culprits for human weirdness. The arguably most common type affinities for people to have.

HUMANS-- Humans are weird, but just like Pokémon, People have a wide variety of options with Typing, with how they mesh into the world. Most people are not aligned strongly enough to use moves, that generally comes from been really stubborn and determined, or you know... training as an Aura Guardian. THAT SAID-- there is arguments to be made about Aura been used in battles to support and boost your pokémon.

Z-Moves, Mega Evolution and even Terastallization all seem to draw from a trainer’s aura to charge up before transferring to the pokémon whether through tool or bond.

Dynamaxing/Gigantimaxing is the exception to this since it’s region locked so heavily

PARTNER BONDS IN GENERAL HAVE FUNKY AURA STUFF

For humans I like to think of typing been something of a slots game almost. This is where human “evolution” can kind of come into play. You have three slots for type options... some people fill all three with the same type and become so... so heavily associated it’s funny. Others... Well, but it’s not even that simple because you can be typed one way as a kid and then grow up and into something completely different... or else events can happen and your affinities completely change.

Humans are a bit, a lot, like Eevee in their typing adaptability, but also more extreme.

Three slots, Primary, Secondary(Subtyping) and then Tera bonus slot.

Generally people settle into their Primary typing by the time they’re 4-5 years old. Encanto Rules

Typing doesn’t seem to follow any real strongly defined rules with humans, or pokémon really. Is it something in the environment, in the person, just random chance? All of the above even. Most people seem to assume it’s got something to do with personality and values, or even something on the soul level, but it’s not something that’s been really studied or delved into. Just like how most people can’t or don’t bother to try and get themselves a move set. Or think about if they have any specific ability inherent.

Usually if you want to guess someone’s type affinity you can look at their starter or their non-starter ace pokémon... it’s about a 45% give away.

There’s a bit of a chicken or egg situation with partner pokémon choice, did the type affinity come first, or the partner?

Most people’s typings are that subtle it all works out to be fairly neutral in most aspects... exceptions do clearly exist though.

There of course, are some other theories about how human typings work as well. Mostly from analysis of more recent discoveries. There are conspiracy theorists out there who swear up and down that the truth must be that humans are inherently typed with the recently discovered Stellar typing or just have the energy of all 18 basic pokémon types in them by default-- anything else is just what people have trained/cultivated themselves to be.

Not helping the arguments is just how many people seem to align to one type and folks who fill all three slots tend to be more exceptions than the rules.

OF COURSE, There’s also the matter of when you think about Shadowing or Shadow Pokémon, the idea of becoming Shadowed. Because yes, I do think there’s a risk here, it’s about closing off your heart. It is trauma expression, some people with really, really bad PTSD kind of have a half state of leaning into this, super effective against all that it is. It’s also very, very uncomfortable and unsettling to witness, uncanny vibes.

The picture at the top of this post is also the somewhat trio of how typings are grouped and associated. It’s not the rule, but it is a box system to try and make things neat and tidy because we humans do so enjoy that.

The Passionate: Types associated mostly with people with HIGH ENERGY, High movement. The folks who are active, who are out and about, loud. Unapologetic. Define Extrovert hours.

The Stoic: The most neutrally associated group, the ones who’re steady, calm, more “down to earth” which especially with that WEDGE been there... Somewhat basic, more associated with introversion.

The Abstract/Aberrant: The Rest, Or not really, these are more for those who don’t cleanly fit into either other category, the more esoteric and nebulous, those who’re shifting or between states. Neither introverted or extroverted exclusively

Not helping this of course is you could theoretically resort most typings into any of the three categories if you done enough mental mathematics. They’re just the basic idea of how it works. People also tend to take a bit from multiple boxes, generally... and if they don’t well-- it doesn’t really matter anyway. It really is a word association game after all.

Also on human Aura, just as a small aside, PMDE colour ribbons, what determines this is basically just favourite colour. Not anything much deeper but still fun to think about. (I’m also pretty sure they’re selected by DS favourite colour settings lol)

A stately silver, Silver Bow

A subdued brown, Brown Bow

A fiery red, Red Bow

An uplifting pink, Pink Bow

A stunning orange, Orange Bow

An energetic yellow, Yellow Bow

A brilliant green, Lime Bow

A refreshing green, Green Bow

A deep green, Viridian Bow

A gentle mint green, Minty Bow

A clear aqua blue, Blue Bow

A cool sky blue, Sky Blue Bow

A smart marine blue, Cobalt Blue Bow

A mystic purple, Purple Bow

An elegant violet, Violet Bow

A vivid pink, Fuschia Bow

Basically just throwing that as a bonus. Other interesting things is thinking about Aura in terms of how Conquest shows linking up with Pokémon, it’s again in the vibes and projecting Intent. Modern day Pokémon Rangers use the stylus to basically cheat the process since the old way has been... somewhat lost/forgotten along with the rest of Ransei.

I would also talk something about how Pokéverse humans are uncanny valley here... but I might talk more about that when I’m actually rambling in each typings section. But even at their most basic, there’s something ever so slightly off about humans in this world. Eyes too bright, mouths slightly too wide, ears too mobile and noses twitching... body proportions ever so slightly wrong or off, the hair colour variety... SHINY GENE.

Humans are Pokémon still.

BEFORE Properly going into these... most weaknesses and resistances follow general rules like for pokémon themselves. The type chart is still in full effect on humans as it should be. That said, sometimes things get a little bit weird when you factor in how status conditions work, with some typings offering surprise shielding and others making you suffer even worse... the more interesting thing is usually how been typed even in the standard subtle way affects someone’s reaction to the environment around them or even their appearance in subtle... or not so subtle ways.

The appearance thing especially ranges depending on the individual, genetics or just how deeply someone has leaned into their type affiliation.

More often the appearance stuff is just vibes.

Or really, really subtle things that makes someone look twice.

I am inevitably going to come back to a lot of this and probably give each type their own post and time to shine at some point... excluding... certain ones, but that’s for future Hybrid to worry about... For now... this.

Normal - Balance/Stagnation

Alright, default settings first. Which is such a funny way to think of the Normal typing but it basically is. It’s no shock that it’s one of the most common typings for humans. Again, the association with Eevee comes to mind, but also com-mon the world over generally fall into the Normal typing.

Some folks have argued that Normal is so common because it’s the default setting that humans are born with. Which is not something that has been proven in any capacity. That said, it’s also the most balanced typing, a big hit and doesn’t have any major incompatibilities with anything or anyone aside some trouble and trickiness when it comes to handling Ghost types.

People with a Normal type affinity tend to get stereotyped as somewhat boring. Neutrality is all well and good, but sometimes it feels a bit much for how everyman this type tends to trend. It also tends to be negatively associated with stagnation, which does track. These people seem to find their comfort zone and then stick with it. It’s a pretty strong supportive type as well, the flexibility enabling people to basically fill whatever role they want.

Due to how everyman it is, these people tend to be much the same, just the slight uncanny valley affect, or sometimes people get vibes that are just ever so slightly to the left looking at them. A particularly notable person with the Normal type as an affinity is Larry from Paldea. So normal, so everyman that it actually goes into the uncanny.

He feels so neutral, so in the middle people theorise he has the Normalize ability.

Some people also wonder at how neutral his aura actually is, like does he even have it?! (He might be Isekai’d and that one theory never stops making me laugh)

All that said, there’s a reason it is default settings. Due to not having to really compete against the environment so much you can really be focused. You can adapt and change, it’s a balanced act. You don’t have to push back against anything, but at the same time you are at the mercy of the environment around you. Appearance tends to even out as well, these folks are arguably the ones who would be the most familiar to us. Maybe a bit softer, a bit rounded, but features that are familiar and comfortable...

Or mostly comfortable. Can feel uncanny when it is too normal. Like when everything is quiet and too quiet.

Paradoxically, I actually think that people who’re truly Normal Aligned are the minority, because there’s just so much else that folks can be. To truly be normal someone tends to have to want to be normal. It’s kind of an effort to find that balancing point. Aura Trainers and Specialists are generally normally aligned for a reason, but there’s just as equal a reason that they’re so few.

Move tutors and specialists actually might also tend to the normal affinity

That said, just to round it out... I do want to do my “Difficult types to Train” lists at the end of these. Which for Normal aligned people is basically... only one thing.

Hard Types:

Ghost

Fighting - Discipline/Honour

Alright, next up Fighting Type affinity. Another kind of “everyman” type alignment.

Also not actually as hot blooded as they seem on the surface. Considering fighting type is in the “Stoic” box, it’s because it takes a lot of discipline to get good. Cultivation of the self. Fighting has a certain code of conduct to it... for better or worse. Not entirely sure how to get my thoughts running smoothly for this one.

An example of a canon character who I think has this Aura Affinity is Ash Ketchum, face of Pokémon itself. Yes, and the reasoning I think is pretty solid beyond just the fact he uses Aura like a Lucario/Riolu, but it’s also his personal code of honor and how he acts. With a few other things scattered around, while he’s scattered that doesn’t mean he isn’t... yeah.

Aura Guardian affinity

Real Protagonist Hours

AURA SPHERE

Much like Normal Affinities... fighting type by itself doesn’t really change people that much actively. It’s pretty neutral on the settings and doesn’t offer much in terms of notable resistances or difficulties. Physically fighting types are hardy, with the energy to spare on exercising and keeping active. Stoic is really the wrong descriptor, but again it’s more about the discipline association that it comes from.

A dedicated training routine, or hiking, going out and keeping active.

There’s a different group of people who argue FIGHTING is actually the default nature of Aura. Especially because well, it’s definitely the one that’s “easiest” to learn and mould into actual substance. Aura Guardians are well recognized after all... along with other instances where people have meditated and called up aura for standard use. It’s very much the state of been, a collected head and discipline of body that leads to-- well.

Much like for normal types fighting on its own doesn’t really lend that much to anything really been different. Unless one counts the resilience and determination that codifies a fighter. Maybe some thicker skin, or more defined muscles... but it’s not really anything big. A fighter can range from been quite lean, to been more built...

That said, they can have a more steady way of breathing, and the body language is very deliberate... unless you’re meeting someone who leans more to the Mankey/Primeape side of fighting types... very feral, with sharper teeth and angles.

It’s kind of hard to think about how this type really affects people because much like normal type it’s really only a slight shift to the left from baseline. And again like Normal types most people with a fighting typing can handle almost all customers.

Hard Types:

Ghost

Dark

Grass - Growth/Nature/Nurture

Oh, now I get to start to have some more FUN with things. We’ve gotten away from the boring types here. Or well, we’re starting to...

Grass is the first of the Starter Trio, and those three due to accessibility are themselves very common. Grass in particular the type of nature, of growth and nurture. Generally belongs to people who’re caretakers, gardeners, naturalists. Nurturing people.

Yet, yet, grass can choke and claim. Just as wild and prone to overgrowth and smothering.

Friendly and yet hiding thorns, the hidden danger just below a pretty surface.

People who’re grass typed are generally some of the friendliest folks out there, outdoorsy and thriving in the countryside. As all the best stereotypes claim, green thumbs and singing harmonies with nature itself. Other subtle things is the hints that they can gather energy from the sun, photosynthesis.

People tend to assume grass types rise with the sun, early risers and full of energy but dropping hard for the night, there’s also a big stereotype with vegetarianism and veganism. There’s also some consideration for cooking, but that’s a more ymmv thing.

A bigger one is grass types tend to have something of a floral scent to them, or cut grass, soft and light. Their hair and eyes can take on the slightest greenshift. Depending on how deeply typed someone really is, there’s also the aspects of claws(thorns) and whispers regarding the exact nature of how someone’s hair might feel. Ever so slightly off, almost plant, and sometimes people’s skin can be-- rougher.

Grass is where the wild things are.

Grass is also where the resistances also show their weaknesses. While a lot of people become a bit more resistant to been affected by spore based moves, sleep power, stun spore and poison powder, it’s not a perfect resistance and poisoning is actually still just as big an issue as for anyone else. Grass types also tend to wilt a bit as the day goes on if they don’t maintain their hydration or spend too long inside or around places like a cave. They also don’t do brilliantly in the cold, unfortunately, they’re prone to a bit of freezing.

Cave depression is common

Hard Types:

Fire

Dark

Water - Fluidity/Flexibility

THE SINGLE MOST COMMON POKÉMON TYPING HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.

No but seriously, the second of the starter type trio, and the typing with the most pokémon ever actually, water is a fun one. And it’s common for a reason, even in humans probably, though much more low-key. It’s just as much about additivity as the normal typing... but also dynamic, travelling, running, running, running.

Water is both the most go with the flow type and yet the one with a purpose, a direction. Water will race to reach its destination.

Speed and not haste

Woe betide you to get caught in the riptide flow though

Water types often actually pair well with grass types and it’s because they share a number of common interests. The green thumb at least seems shared, though not in every single case. Water is also the type of mystery seekers and those with a sort of wanderlust, respect and awe of the ocean...

Water folks are well known for their water escapades. If they’re not just straight swimmers, or surfers, or marine behaviourists they’re just enthusiastic about the water... fishermen and women often also follow the rule. A surprise is firefighters as well, because it’s well known that water types actually tend to flag in both directions on the temperature scale. Too hot or too cold they suffer the same.

There’s also a lot of debate about whether someone with a water typing can hold their breath for longer or not... Underwater vision is definitely something, sometimes this comes with a second eyelid, sometimes not. It’s a bit uncanny and leads to something of a joke about people with glasses been water typed as well. Eyes made for seeing below the waves rather than above.

Other subtle things can be a double layer in their hair, slight scaling to their skin and some folks have extra webbing between their fingers and toes. The more someone leans into a water typing the more extreme their features may be.

Hard Types:

Fire

Ground

Fire - Passion/Destruction

FIRE!

Of course this is the final of the starter trio, final of the really common alignments due to easy access... well kind of. But it is extremely common due to how passionate humans are in general. Fire is the passionate typing. Creation and destruction two sides of the coin... kind of. This is a bit where I get really messy and circular talking about the word association game... really I have been the whole time, it’s just here that it’s especially noticeable.

Burn bright, burn high and burn out.

Fire types are a bit like stars with their passions. They blaze brightly, loudly. These are the kind of people who will drag themselves up from nothing, they will not stop to reach their goals. Driven and bold, at the same time... they can be very much too intense, burning either themselves out or those around them.

Of course they’re resistant to heat and hot temperatures, why wouldn’t they be? They also tend to themselves run hot so they don’t mind the cold that much either... except when they’re hot enough to melt snow then it causes some... concerns. They make good human shaped space heaters.

There is debate about what kind of physical traits someone gets with a fire alignment-- or even if there is any really. Red-orange shaded hair and eyes, sharper teeth, the body temperature stuff... more subtle things seem to generally be the universal rule. A scent of smoke as well... Poor fire types get stereotyped as smokers even if they don’t really.

THAT SAID. Where water types can hold their breath much longer under water, fire type people are like the cat stereotype of water no. So many of them have either a fear or distaste to water... on the other hand... fire types don’t notice smoke in the air quite as easily as other people... or at all really.

Can you touch the fire? Maybe

Also haha, freezing who?

Hard Types:

Water

Grass

Bug

Ice

Bug - Creativity/Invasive/Drive

You know what actually, we still aren’t beating the common complaint. BUGS!

Bug types are also really common, which no wonder. They hold a special place... and I associate them with creativity, with drive... at the same time, they are invasive buggers. Also it’s just a classic, Bug Catchers, Bug Catchers everywhere.

Bug is a “beginner” type in and of itself really. Mostly because if you want a pokémon that’s easy to raise and accessible, step outside and you will probably run into a bug type. Youth is definitely another thing that can be associated with bugs as a clean result... but it’s a very surface level observation to make.

Creepy Crawlies, oh creepy crawlies. Bugs can also be spooky as a treat. Unsettling and invasive as I sort of pointed out with the title word associations. And I think this comes from the survival aspects of bugs... and how those affect people. Sharp senses, scales can come... and compound eye effect, pheromones is also... an interest point. Climbing skills enabled

Ariadosman, oh Ariadosman

Bugs tend to be able to thrive pretty much anywhere and everywhere. They have a messy web of resistances and weaknesses and any one bug typed person could have a completely different group of weaknesses to the next. A common one is the thread of insomnia and lack of vulnerability to sleep though. Also common is a level of poison resistance, though rarely a full truly immunity.

Rather hilariously, bug trainers take issue with sprayed repels, the effect repelling them just as much as it might a pokémon. This is commonly assumed to be from the way been bug aligned can affect your sensory perception, smell and pheromones and all.

Finally, the drive aspect. For all bugs are creativity in my heart, survival and creativity going into an interesting mix of artistic... there is drive. Bugs are DRIVEN, they are strategy. Bugs work together in a colony, or a niche with a goal. Bugs are driven, they have JOBS. Work ethic and duty, colonies and community... I’d also mention bug wars but well... yeah.

Hard Types:

Fire

Flying

Rock

Flying - Wanderlust/Freedom

You feel like flying kid?

Ahahhah, this is the free pidgey typing. Wanderlust and Freedom, what goes hand in hand. And yet Flying is not without its organization. Migration patterns and setting out with a plan on where and how you want to wander around and see the sights of the world.

Most obviously, many, many pilots tend to be flying types. And to be a pilot you need to be able to follow the regulations, your safety checks and all the routines and rules. Keep to the schedule of flights to avoid a crash in the air. It’s all about safety in the air... the closest they can get to the sky that they long for.

CULTURE.

That said... another huge aspect of Flying is culture. Singing, Dancing, MUSIC. There’s this level of grace, of beauty, everyone knows songbirds, everyone knows how dramatic everything can get... flying types are stereotyped as theatre kids grown up just as much as anything else.

Flying types are... sharp... with their vision. Braviary Eyed as some will claim, or else taking after raptor pokémon with what they can see. Also the air pressure up high doesn’t bother them as much, some of them also tend to be sharper in features and something in the eyes just intimidates. How they spy so many little details.

Feathers, some of them seem to have fluffy downy, feathery hair.

While there isn’t really any notable status resistances afforded to people with a flying alignment, there is some notable weaknesses added due to a higher level of suffering when it comes to paralysis. ON AN EXTRA HAND... Flying types and their risk taking is there in a rather interesting way... the adrenaline seeking...

Watch your friend throw themself off a cliff just because they want to feel the air around them...

Altitude Sickness who?

Hard Types:

Electric

Ground

Rock

Steel

Electric - Erratic/Science/Energy

The end of the simple, and yet not really. Electric aligned folks are very, very easy to spot. Or at least people think they are.

Energetic and bouncing, electricity is of SCIENCE, or energy! Erratic and unpredictable. Electric types are charged and always changing, running, racing for a solution with the most speed. They run at their own pace and kind of leave it to others to keep up or drop off.

It’s also very associated with ADHD, which is a stereotype all of its own.

Similar to Flying types, Electric types are very big on their freedom. Wanting to get out, to go and see the world. Race off to see everything that’s out there on offer. But unlike their companion type, they’re a lot less likely to go out with a plan, more like throwing themselves out there and seeing where their feet take them.

Electricity is about spontaneity. It’s also a creative thing, but it’s more because of the energy that they build up. They need something to do with themselves. Something to direct excess energy to, else they sometimes literally build it up and get overcharged and overhyped. There’s a reason that they’re commonly in the sciences, not just technology wise, but anything that offers a challenge for them to chew on.

Feral behaviour really, electric types are the most common biters aside Dark types really.

Like electric pokémon, they’re immune to paralysis. Like flying types they’re not as affected by higher altitudes. Electric types also thrive in thunderstorms. They like and appreciate thunder and lightning and some particularly... bold folks go out and try to get struck.

The appearance thing is again mostly subtle, extra static hair, or spiky hair, sometimes it can feel a bit rubbery, insulated... or just so much static that clings in general. Tinges of yellow-gold in the eyes and hair... Or pouches, hilariously, pads on the hands or even the feet, beans. Pouches storing excess electricity. Or blush sticker pouches of course.

Hard Types:

Ground

Rock

Grass

Ice

Flying

Fighting

Ice - Comfort/Cold/Renewal

THE HONESTLY TRICKIEST OF TYPES TO DEFINE.

Ice is something I love to think about, but then hate to try and explain. Often the sterotypes for ice types is directly to the coldness. People expect them to be cold, to be harsh... Stiff and unwelcoming... but the reality is... Cold is a comfort. Or at least, the people who are ice aligned are comforting, warm. Friendly and open. People who will extend a hand out to offer help and assistance.

Ice, Winter and Renewal

I have... so many thoughts on Ice and Renewal, all the time. Winter is a time of comfort, of getting together into a snuggle pile and stocking up. It’s about been together with friends and companions just as much as it’s about the cold and the unwelcoming of the environment. So ice types... for how frosty they are... are actually going to lean into that comfort most times...

And renewal. Ice preserves and shields and allows new growth to thrive with the thaw. But I’m not entirely sure how to explain some of these things easily. The seasonal turn in ice and snow is just... mhmm nice.

Of course there’s so many obvious and less obvious aspects of how this affects people, the least of things been the sheer cold resistance that they get. Cold hands, cold bodies, but warm, warm, warm hearts. Also the temperature resistance is absolutely wild. Gaeric and Irida of the Pearl Clan and their everything in the cold of the Hisuian Icelands are iconic of cold resistance representation.

On the other hand, ice types are so vulnerable to burns and hot temperature that it’s almost too easy to laugh at your cold weather friends and their suffering on a lightly warm day. They otherwise don’t really have anything stand out and even the physical changes are incredibly subtle.

Also winter fun, Ice and snow is actually a lot more similar to Water than people want to admit in regards to changeability. The water cycle, ice is a big part of it after all. Some of their physical changes can blend a little bit with those recognized in water types... aside the eyes been more after... protection from snowblindness. Very reflective eyes actually, can be disorientating.

Hard Types:

Fire

Flying

Grass

Dragon

Ground - Stability/Inflexibility

I was so... so tempted to lump these next three just into the same section and be done with them. The “Earth Wedge” of types how I kind of loathe thee.

The confusion here is not just me as a writer but in universe it’s hard for people to fully pinpoint their alignment for certain between Ground or Rock type especially. And then you add in Steel for something of a surprise twist to the issue.

Ground is the type for stubborn and hard-working folk. Stubborn to an absolute fault really. Headstrong folks as well, it’s the typing for those who aren’t scared to get down and dirty. Grab yourself by the bootstraps and pull yourself up, there’s work to do and it isn’t much but it’s honest. In a surprise or not so surprise twist, they also tend to nail been green thumbs.

Then you get at least a little bit of fun, Ground types are obviously very at home down on the ground, or in caves and mining. In the darkness of the Earth itself. But counterly, they are absolutely the worst about going up high, flights are pure evil and suffering and they will complain the whole time about the air pressure.

You are making them suffer, SUFFER

At least they can swim, with complaint but they can

Their comfort in the ground might actually come from a certain level of night vision, though it’s not something that anyone’s really done much looking into. Ground types also tend to always seem a little bit dusty/dirty and their skin layered-- and their nails more likely to be claws with thicker padding for digging. Subtle things still.

Resistances here are very standard by environment and they basically care little for electricity, paralysis who hours. Not that it protects them against stun spore. And they think nothing of a sandstorm. You get lost out in the desert it’s good to have a companion who is aligned with the ground type.

Of course, sadly a lot of people think that ground types are a bit boring, because just like normal types, ground aligned folks are at great risk to stagnation. It’s because they tend to find their niche and then stubbornly stick to it to the point of inflexibility. Unwilling to venture too far out of their sense of stability.

Hard Types:

Electric

Flying

Water

Fire

Bug

Psychic

Rock - History/Preservation

With all the similarities to Ground types a lot of what I could say for the rock typed folks feels really redundant. They’re the second type of the “earth wedge” and even in the case of pokémon with the typing it’s very, very easy to just lump them under the same umbrella.

They’re similarly stubborn, similarly inflexible and stagnant. With similar resistances and weaknesses bar a few key cases. Again they can just handle a sandstorm without much issue and it really doesn’t help the confusion. Same with living and working around in caves, maybe one of the few exceptions is how much more these guys lead into the history angle.

Of course, on the other hand... there are those who’re just in it for treasure. Just as likely is the treasure hunter side. Folks who only care for the minerals and stones that could get them something. Or finding and selling history back to people. Still a decent bit of hard work, but a bit more to the side of it.

Fossils and archaeology, looking to the past to plan for the future. And unlike their counterpart... Rock types are not so commonly able to be green thumbs... under or overestimating the level of tolerance plants will have for the soil around them. The differences are a lot more subtle, rock types have much hardier and thicker skin, more rocky for the pun, even if they share the somewhat night vision trait... and at times the almost claws for nails. They share the always seeming dusty/dirty on the skin issue as well.

On the other hand, while ground types can swim, rock types generally cannot. It’s a mirror situation, because rock types can stand higher altitudes relatively better, or at least on a more standardized level in comparison. It’s still not fantastic but they can.

Again, a lot of people think they’re boring for finding their thing and sticking to it. No respect for the grind truly. But it is a problem that’s understandable because stubborn breeds stubborn. But it’s not truly complacency, even if it can run into the wall of stagnation. Rock is even slower to move, to change than ground.

Hard Types:

Electric

Flying

Water

Fire

Bug

Psychic

Steel - Industry/Civilization

There’s something amusing... about how coming to Steel made me realise that I had split my thinking of the “Earth Wedge” into a lesson about past, present and future. It’s still not anything really amazing, not anything big because the blending of characters across all three and many of the traits stay the same but the focus is something to be stated.

Steel is the type of industry, of civilization and cultivation... knights and honor... and just that. It’s arguably the most and least malleable of the three. It’s another type associated with science, with technology... the magnemite line stands out... klink as well. Steel that can be melted down and reshaped... still stubborn, still just as bound to what they choose to be but-- yeah.

Once more the resistances offered by been steel typed is basically ones shared with the other two in the wedge. Sandstorms who, the general hardiness and comfort down in the depths of the Earth itself. Steel just also adds a poison resistance, sometimes a full immunity and gains a weakness to heat and burns that everyone can agree is suffering.

Their physical subtleties are also slightly different, something of a metallic sheen can be taken on their skin and sometimes, they kind of gain something like a connection with technology that’s... weird. Due to the many metal parts in machines it’s an interesting crossover that sometimes comes up in confused discussions and intrigue. Again they often can have almost claws, and steel aligned folks are a bit more likely to have sharper teeth and metallic seeming hair. They also are the ones who do not look dirty.

Also metal bones, r i p to going through an airport metal detector.

Hard Types:

Flying

Fire

Poison

Dark

Psychic

Fairy

Poison - Harm/Healing

I am so, so feral thinking about poison typed folks and their everything. While mostly associated with troublemakers, toxic folks and the worse side of society poison is... so, so much more complicated than that. Poison is not at all actually that.

Poison truthly is aligned more towards the clean up. Healing. The every medication is a poison issue. Poison Pokémon and people are often the ones most associated with the efforts to clean up and/or reduce the level of toxins out in the world. The ones who’re taking out the trash just as much as they are the trash.

These are the guys who take in the unwanted, the disliked and uplift their voices. Often pairing with dark types as well, to rebel.

Everything is a poison in the wrong dose, and just as much, a lot of poisons get retooled into their own antidote. You know Nurse Joy, a number of them are poison aligned, because the counterbalance of poison’s general association of harm is healing. So many people with poison typing tend to go into medicine. It’s a drive that’s strong and almost universal.

Unfortunately of course, self-hatred and harm is somewhat common, because for all the toxic traits that people assume they have to outsiders... it’s just as likely for that toxicity to be turned inwards.

More common really, heal the world but you yourself don’t deserve saving issues.

I have a soft spot thinking about this and Melli actually...

Poison aligned folks are a mess when it comes to their environmental resistances. Because there’s so many different ways that poison can manifest and interact with the world. Radiation? Toxic smog? Who knows, they can still be poisoned actually, but not always by the same thing and poison types have some wild diets and habits because of how long it takes anything to build up enough to get past their own poison nature.

Absolutely no psychic resistance. They are suffering, and it’s painful. Confusion and Hypnosis is the worst.

Appearance wise they can get a bit “snakey” almost. Fangs, little fangs and the ability to deliver a venomous bite, poisonous blood. A kind of oil-slick sheen to their sweat, hair and saliva... claws... there’s a number of subtle things that can build or sometimes they’ll get none of them but it’ll all be internal.

Poison in their blood, poison in their veins

Hard Types:

Grass

Fighting

Steel

Psychic

Dragon

Fairy

Dark - Secrets/Subterfuge

Our reputation proceeds us. Another type where the association from the public is generally negative. Dark types are seen as shady, as dangerous and untrustworthy so often, automatically. Considering as well that Dark is alternatively called the “Evil” type... yeah, it’s very much a crooks and criminals stereotype...

It’s not even that it’s fully inaccurate. Dark types deal in secrets and subterfuge. They prowl around at night and tend to be up at odd hours. Nocturnal or Crepuscular at best. They also thrive in cave systems and absolutely have night vision... and reflect light back when encountered at night-- freaking folks out.

People who’re dark aligned are also commonly tricksters. It comes with dealing with secrets, whether they keep those secrets or if they’re the kind of people who go digging for secrets and rooting them out, airing your dirty laundry as well as everyone else’s. It’s surprisingly common for journalists to be dark aligned.

Dark is also the rebels, the counterculture kids, punks and the goth. They have a lot to say and are willing to be LOUD about it. It’s about how the darkness is a shield, a cover, the dark is a protection just as much as something that holds danger. People get uncomfortable thinking about how much more caring dark type folks are than they wish to admit... it’s similar to the shock people experience when they realise how many poison typed folks go into medical fields...

Ironically, hilariously, Dark typed folks have a big issue when it comes to having a psychic immunity and resistance. In certain situations... they miss half the conversation, or even more. There have been occasions when a dark type person will be left behind when a pokémon uses teleport because well...

At least their minds are automatically safe, no non-consensual mind readings here.

Dark type specialists are also really opinionated about their favourites. They will pick up favourites and run with them. For better or worse. This even bleeds into their appearances, dark type folks are the most likely to pick up something weird. Because they lean hard into things. Sharper teeth, reflective eyes, wild hair styles, claws-- some of them even have hand-pad beans as well... Eyes can take on a red or yellow tint and their hair generally gets darker or somewhat two-toned like an “edgy” fashion.

Hard Types:

Bug

Ghost

Psychic

Psychic - Mysticism/Spirituality/Foresight

Now we have the “esoteric wedge” of typings to deal with. The first of which is Psychic. And I’ll be real, I got so, so annoyed trying to figure out how I wanted to break down psychic into associations because it is not clean at all. Also because of terminology and crossing over real world associations verses fantasy ones...

In anycase, psychics are... frustrating to deal with. Mostly because they’re the type that’s most likely to come with extra abilities. Whether it’s something as subtle as future sight to something more dramatic like psychokinesis.

Psychics are very likely to have pride issues. A sense of superiority that gets almost bred into them from the glorification of their special abilities. And yet paradoxically they’re expected to have the most empathy and understanding of others. The expectation to be something more. Something great, something wondrous... It’s a lot to level on someone truly.

Truly they’re often off in their own heads, off in their own worlds. Somewhat floaty and disconnected from the here and now. Dreamers... It’s not always a negative obviously, they’re definitely able to be great forces of change but with the expectations on them it’s... a lot. There’s a reason many choose to somewhat distance themselves from others.

Obsession is always a risk. Unfortunately making certain disorders common, and overstimulation is incredibly common due to the extra sense that psychic types have. The world is very... busy around them.

They share a lot more traits with ghost than most would like to admit as well, the kind of willowy and faraway look that they have as well as a kind of fragility. It’s just psychics don’t get to have any big notable resistances as a trade of... And even in the appearance side, it’s very much mostly the vibes for them. Physical traits and tells are very much on the subtle side, maybe some floating hair, or general pink-purple tinge to eyes and hair.

So often they learn teleport as a quick escape... among other pokémon moves. Arguably another type alignment that allows somewhat “easy” learning of moves. If only because again, obsession with improving that aspect of their abilities is common. And yet the most likely type to lean into their specialty to the detriment of all else...

Tunnel Vision issues.

Hard Types:

Normal

Fighting

Bug

Ground

Rock

Steel

Dark

Dragon

Ghost - Life/Death

GHOSTS! I am absolutely, 100% feral about my thoughts regarding ghosts and ghost typing. With it been the second of the “Esoteric Wedge” and by far my favourite of the trio, the ominous one. Ghosts and their association with the dead, with mourning... and paradoxically, categorically, life.

Ghost is generally considered to be an... “unnatural” aura alignment to have. It’s definitely one of the least understood, a lot of people are unsettled and struggle to understand how someone alive can be ghost typed. It’s definitely one of the rarest of all affinities for people to have... but that’s truly because like the other rare alignments... it’s generally rare for people themselves to be into the associated things that strongly...

There’s a strong misunderstanding that for someone to be ghost typed they must have died before. Whether they’re a reincarnate... or if they were pronounced clinically dead and later revived in an incident. This isn’t strictly true though, people can be ghost without either factor been a necessary ingredient.

Past life memories are... incredibly common for ghost typed folks though. Almost hilariously so.

Ghost arguably doesn’t provide that many resistances to people. Sure it makes folks trend towards been nocturnal and can make them more tolerant to the cold but-- it’s a bit of a mess. Some people find themselves able to tolerate all environments to some degree, others find their resistances about the same as a baseline normal type person.

More to the point, ghost typing leads to weirdness. A lower resting heartrate, generally colder body temperature, off vibes, slower breathing and metabolism... Sometimes these factors can trick the unknowing into assuming that the person they’re talking to is ice typed. Sometimes they seem half a step out of the reality they reside in.

Typically this is compounded because yeah, ghosts don’t mind the cold as much, and sometimes bring it with them...

They have similar night vision to a lot of the other nocturnal types as well

Hilariously, a poison resistance is common, while not the rule it is definitely a trend.

...You can’t kill what’s already dead...

Again, they’re incredibly close to psychics. With extra abilities in a number of cases. Usually less well received ones. The subtle ones like a bit of levitation or the “shadow step” teleportation is all well and good, but people get funny when someone is able to communicate across the veil or sense(or even consume) souls.

A lot of ghost aligned people become mediums, priests or monks to do something with these abilities. Otherwise it niggles.

Spooky scary spirits, October is very much their month. But that said, ghosts really are just as much about life and the celebration of it as they are respecting the dead. While some folks lean into the death and mourning aspects, you’re just as likely to meet someone who is loud and proud and speaking about all the good there is in life to experience. Celebrate that we are here and living.

Quite hilariously, this leads to the mismatch of just how many people who’re ghost typed and yet generalists. Speaking and touting about how much life is worth...

Generalists may also be common for ghost types because well... ghosts are possessive and often don’t like sharing with each other.

Glowing eyes, a general wispiness, physical differences are a bit... interesting for ghost typed folks. They tend to just seem a bit off... sometimes it’s a dangerous vibes, other times it makes people look at them and just feel sad... They seem a bit sickly and not made for this world.

Hard Types:

Normal

Fighting

Ground

Rock

Steel

Fairy - Dreams/Warnings/Fickle

The actual most frustrating of the “Esoteric Wedge” is the fairy types.

Generally my personal least favourite of the three, but also really, really fun. Because FAIRY lore is hardly ever consistent. Just like the other two players of this wedge fairies tend to have abilities beyond the norm whenever they pop up. But fairies are definitely the most esoteric of the esoteric.

Do you dare to make a deal with a fairy?

Fairies are both more and less constricted by the rules of the world around them. Truths and Ideals are very, very strongly associated and I am honestly salty that Unova as a region doesn’t have more to do with them... but that’s a rant for later. Fairies are a warning. They come to offer you all that you have dreamed but you need to stop and ask what it costs before you move ahead.

Magic tricks and real magic

The way that they mirror dark types and their trickery is really fun actually. Also a wasted opportunity in my heart

You cannot lie, Fairies are truth talkers... We offer you the Ideal, just not the cost upfront

Fairy abilities are somewhere between ghost and psychic... and true magic. It’s hard to define them very easily and it feels a lot like “if you know you know” type of deal. Fairy as a type also has so, so much to do with dreams. The association that makes me immediately think about the Dream World and just--

A lot of fairy is ideals in a warped looking glass, they’re dreamers and distant. They are looking for something far beyond themselves, beyond you-- Knowing and yet not, the fact they usually struggle with lying... it’s not good to lie. An adherence to rules and honor, exchange and deals.

Something, something Enamorus and Valentines, and romance

PINK, Opal knows all about it.

Once more, the environmental factor is a bit... weird with Fairy types. Their resistances much like ghosts tend to prove to be weird. Sometimes they’re good with almost anything, other times they’re really, really bad. Although at least consistently they’re good out in the wilds, in nature... where the veil is... weird.

Poison really is the worst in all the world and they also struggle with living in places with high level of smog and pollution and heavy metals...

They are truly the folks with the most uncanny looks. Even for pokéverse people. Fairy aligned folks tend to end up looking somewhat doll like when they really lean into their typing. Dressed up and pretty and yet almost too perfect seeming. Eyes too wide and clear, skin too smooth and clean, smiles just ever so too sharp, teeth too perfect...

Hard Types:

Normal

Fighting

Bug

Ground

Rock

Steel

Dragon

Dragon - Ambition/Pride

Finally... to round off the last of the types(discounting Stellar but we DO NOT go there). DRAGONS!

And honestly, oh boy we have a bit of a complication here. Mostly in the way it’s a mirror and yet not to Fairy types. But this is also mostly a me thing because ambition verses dreams verse other things... Dragons also have the PRIDE thing. So, so much pride. Pride, ambition... and I could chew the walls with how this all specifically makes me feel.

Dragons are kind of always, striving for something, and they’re greedy about it. But at the same time... honor, respect, protection. Dragon is complicated. So very complicated for me. There is a reason for Unova to have those strong and powerful dragons... the thematics there. Truth and ideals isn’t just something strong in fairies.

God the CLASH. I truly go feral when I think about the missed opportunity in Unova to really highlight the dichotomy in how fairies and dragons have the issues they do because it is literally... similar yet different, a warped mirror where neither side is willing to back down on the other.

Dragons are also very, very resilient. Environmental factors are literally nothing, they have resistances to spare really. It is harder to burn, paralyse or put them to sleep... there is of course one big downside... cold resistance is absolutely none and they are very vulnerable to freezing... and frostbite.

Poor Drayden when Opecluid City got frozen over, my man was at war...

Dragons are also very, very hardy and this translates to physical condition. In a bit of a similar way to fighting types. On the surface it seems very skin deep, but they also can get a bit of scaliness to their skin, claws and the teeth. Dragon types also tend to get some kind of-- deepness to their eyes and hair... something a bit more. They also tend to by default have this sense of just... authority... Dragons and rulers... they go together don’t you think?

Aside that, dragon is one of the few type alignments that really, really does seem to stick strongly in only certain family lines. It takes a certain kind of person to become a dragon... The most well known of those lines are the Draconids of Hoenn, the Blackthorn Clan of Johto-Kanto among others...

Those who keep the Dragon Totems in Alola

The messy snarl of a family tree of the Harmonia-Virtuoso family in Unova.

...There are whispers and wonders about the Oak family in Kanto...

But there’s not much else to really say.

Hard Types:

Normal

Bug

Flying

Ice

Poison

Dark

Fairy