#i just gotta figure out how to insert them into the flow of the page. i foresee many uses of clip-path() |:3c

[dexaroth]

i wonder if i could pull something like this off.. sounds like a nightmare to make responsive with an animated tail wag but who could resist daron like this. look at him

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

I have kind of a niche Garashir fic idea I want to write but I’ve never posted anything publicly before, so I am nervous. But I can’t seem to get over the idea? You’re one of my favorite fic writers, any advice? 💕🥺

Ooooh, you gotta try to write it!!! I always love to indulge my new ideas that are driving me insane as soon as I can hehe (because part of writing often has to be done after the initial idea no longer excites you quite the same way).

I like that you said it’s a niche idea, too! I do enjoy most of the common fanon tropes and worldbuilding, but it’s always so refreshing when people add something brand new to the Garashir body of literature. And the nicher and stranger the better, in my opinion!! One thing about writing something niche is that maybe it won’t get the same amount of attention as quickly as something that has broader appeal, HOWEVER... I can tell you from experience that when your niche stuff does find its audience (which may take patience and persistence) that audience will likely go absolutely WILD for it. And I always find that very rewarding <3

Is the reason you haven't started yet because you don't quite know how to start? If that's the case, I would recommend writing an outline first. I even sometimes will outline really short oneshots lol, not because I think I really need to, but because that way i at least have a good record of my idea and ALSO because sometimes I can trick myself into just starting to write by taking notes on in outline format until I get to the part I'm REALLY excited about, at which point I realize I'm just writing full sentences instead of notes and I just let it flow from there and go back to fix the beginning later. XD You could also just try to summarize the plot for a friend, that often reveals to me where any structural issues are tripping me up, and identifies what I need to think about more before I set words down on the page.

Idk if you haven't written before or if you just haven't posted any of it, but I want you to know that a few years ago, when I was easing myself back into writing, I worked on writing like 3 or 4 different garashir fic ideas privately before I actually figured out which idea I wanted to write all the way to the end and actually post. Most of those first wips never got posted (and my wip graveyard is still massive and always growing lol) and that's for the best bc I either got bored of the idea or could not yet achieve the story in the way I wanted to. Which is NOT to tell you that this is inevitable or that you should let your inner editor shut you down, but I just want you to know that it's perfectly okay and normal to, like, have to noodle around a bit before you've written something you're happy with.

Speaking of your inner editor, you gotta tune them out while writing a first draft. Don't even worry if the sentence makes sense, just get the words out, and then get the next words out, and then the next... If there is something stopping you from writing the next sentence (a name you need to make up, or something you need to research, or uncertainty about what a character would be doing, or even if you are just blanking on a word) and you are trying to maintain a flow of writing, then write a note for yourself (e.g, "[insert title of a Cardassian novel here]" or "[Julian makes some kind of expression. Surprise? Anger? idk]" or "[synonym for sinister, bc I've used sinister three times this fic already]") and then MOVE ON. You can go back in and fill in those blanks later.

Also, I really really really really like the writing advice of thinking of your first draft as your worst draft or stupidest draft. It's so true and it helps take the pressure off. One related amazing thing about writing star trek fanfic is that if ever you begin to doubt yourself, you can just fondly think about a beloved episode of Star Trek where something very silly or buckwild happens in a very contrived way, and then remind yourself that people LOVE that episode anyway. This is a genuine way that I have reminded myself not to be so harsh on my own writing lmao.

I really working with beta readers, but I know that's not something everyone enjoys and it's def not required. Still, a beta reader can give feedback on your writing to make it clearer, and they'll likely become invested in your fic and will cheer you on, and if it’s longer than a oneshot you can have someone to talk it through with during the writing process. But it might be hard to find someone you work well with and everyone’s beta reading style is a lil different, so I recommend always being very clear about what kind of feedback you want from them (grammar/typos, plot structure, clarity, brainstorming ideas for how to fix this plothole, does this one specific line of dialogue work, etc! whatever aspects you are uncertain about and want help with for that specific fic). And you should know that it’s okay to not take someone's recommendations too, it’s ultimately your fic, so anyone giving you feedback should just be trying to help you achieve your own vision. Still, even in those cases where you don't go along exactly with their idea for what to change, knowing what parts confused them can help you figure out how to get your vision across more clearly.

If you think concrit might actually be demotivational and intimidating (totally get that, back in high school I actually solicited concrit on my fics publicly, as was the custom back then, and received some critiques from some truly well-meaning friends, and the experience STILL rattled me so bad that it turned me off writing for awhile), or if the process of finding someone to beta read sounds overwhelming, I’d recommend that you instead just find a trusted friend who is willing to read over the completed draft, with the understanding that they must simply give you a sanity check and then tell you yep that’s good! Cannot stress enough the power of encouragement and support and having someone hype you up. ^_^

If you are too nervous to post it under your own name, you can post it to the Anonymous collection on ao3. This is a reversible process, so if you want to reattach your username to your fic later then you can!

Anyway, feel free to send follow up questions about any of this or let me know if there's an aspect of writing I didn't mention that is what you're actually stuck on. I hope this helps and good luck and HAVE FUN! Have fun is actually the most important writing advice haha.

(P.S., anon, if you want me to beta read a draft of a oneshot or at least look over a chapter or two if it's multichapter, I am down to do so, just DM me. If not that's fine too, I'm just so so flattered that you reached out to me and I want to encourage you in any way I can! <3)

[choccos-aaart]

Close enough to 10 mintues of “Ms Axel is a Goon”

Screw it. I'm posting it here, too. *NOTE: This is 100% fictitious and not going to happen*

Final Assignment Script Writing, Winter School 2021 ONE-PAGE PITCH

TITLE: Ms Axel is a Goon

GENRE: Action, comedy, sci-fi, family

LOGLINE: In the humid city of Dasmus, Mei Axel is a former goon who's just escaped captivity. Since her escape, she's been trying to better her life with her new found passion for music, but she quickly learns that the entire country wants to trade her name and face for a price.

FORMAT: Full-length animated film

MAJOR AND RECURRING CHARACTERS: Mei Axel – A wanted fugitive. Mid 20s. Despite her physical competence, she's mostly a foolish, plucky girl who steals a guitar one day.

Alicia Vonarb – CEO of a liquor company. Late 30s. The last boss to hire Axel to do her sneaky business work. Confident and vain, but does everything in spite of her mother. Wants to capture Axel because she doesn't want to get ratted out.

Kannie Orma – An old gadgeteer friend of Axel’s. Mid 50s. Also a “lame uncle” sort of figure to Axel. Their friendship must remain secret because his work is also involved with Vonarb.

O. Miho - Axel’s former coworker from when she was working for Vonarb. Early 30s. His current assignment is to capture Axel. Smug and thinks he's funny.

K. Claymont – Axel’s other former coworker. Late 20s. Works together with Miho. A kind man, but only most of the time.

SYNOPSIS: Mei Axel. She's a goon that's been caught and jailed. Eventually enough, she makes a successful escape and ventures outside. Not much happens afterwards other than stealing a guitar, and once discovering that she's got a passion for music, now she aims to live up that dream. But while attempting to live her new life, her face still reads as an incompetent menace to her former friends and foes, as well as to the majority of the country – they all seem to want to trade in her face for a cash reward. Now, aside from escaping the hands of everyone that wants to hand her over to the government, it is now up to Ms Axel to figure out how she is going to be able to pursue her new life goal that heavily conflicts with her current place among her people. This first follows the story of a wanted fugitive who sets off on a quest for redemption which, unfortunately, never works out. The story ends when Axel eventually escapes the country. She finally acknowledges that she can never truly change the way she's perceived, as well as never fully experience the life that she wants. However, she still performs under a low profile, happily living a drifter's lifestyle.

RATIONALE: This is a story about someone whose wrongdoings and nurture had shaped the way that others view them. Our protagonist is Mei Axel who had been built up to become a significantly infamous member of society, but once discovering a part of herself that showed her potential in a more respected position, being a musician, she starts wanting to better herself. A problem with this scenario is that her past actions prevent her from fully achieving that dream. She can relate to audiences who want to change aspects of their past, particularly their mistakes or the wrong ways they've been brought up, but can't.

MARKET: Children ranging from 11-16, particularly those that are interested in scenes that involve action-packed chases and fighting between individuals. The [film] will present itself through retro-futuristic aesthetics in its city setting. Rock is also a prevalent music genre for the soundtrack, which may interest audiences who particularly like the genre.

The Script

EXT. BUILDINGTOP – NIGHT

Axel checks out the guitar from every angle with a grin, having a feel of its neck, strings and body. She sits it on her lap as if to play it.

AXEL

Oh... I hope those lessons never went to waste...

She wobbly plays a C major scale while slightly wincing through every second. She runs over the same scale again, but this time it flows a bit more smoothly. She smiles a little.

MONTAGE OF AXEL PRACTISING GUITAR

- Axel goes over the same scale a couple of times and with every run, her playing gets smoother.

- She then moves on to a different key and practises that scale

- She then moves on to another key and practises that scale

- She plays some chords now, beginning with the I IV V I progression

MONTAGE END

Axel continues strumming. A light turns on from a nearby building.

DWELLER

Who is playing that garbage?!

Axel stops strumming. Silence.

AXEL

(Breathes in)

I'll get the hang of it.

She slings the guitar over her back and runs into the shadows. Eventually, she disappears into the dark.

EXT. MARKETPLACE – DAY

A view of a cranny on a roof between two walls. Axel sleeps there resting her guitar on her lap. Waking up, she yawns and then lazily sits up.

CUT TO:

A view of the market grounds. Axel smugly and excitedly, yet discreetly scurries out of an alley between a bakery and a liquor store, with a paper doughnut bag in one hand and a small bottle of liquor in the other.

She sits by a cafe playing some instrumental reggae rock music through a speaker. Axel hums along to the melody of the soundtrack while tipsily bouncing her finger to the beat. She then quickly strums a few chords for a brief moment, all which clash with the song's key signature, until right on the chorus, where she strums a chord that matches the root note of the song.

AXEL

Ooh, it's a G song. God, why do they always gotta be G songs? (Giggles)

She strums along with the music, landing every chord. Her smile grows and she gradually plays more confidently. She whistles the melody, then proceeds to hum. A TEENAGE BOY chucks a coin in front of her. Axel looks up and grins. She finger guns at him as he skids away to his friends, laughing. Axel stands up and plays more purposefully. The background starts dimming down.

DAYDREAM

Soon the marketplace around her blends into a stage. An abstractly drawn audience watches her perform and cheer her on. The chorus section of the song finishes.

AXEL

(Laughs)

I'm going to be known! I'll make myself the talk of the town! Everybody's gonna love me!

Axel starts strumming along to the background music again. Suddenly, a MAN with a large, muscular build grabs onto her shoulder.

END DAYDREAM

The stage fades back into the marketplace. Axel is still strumming.

MAN

You got that last part wrong.

AXEL

And who are you?

The man bats Axel with a club.

OVER BLACK.

SFX: Walking footsteps.

EXT. DESOLATE CITY AREA – DAY

In an alleyway, the man carries a bag containing Axel's body, also with Axel's guitar strapped around his back. After some time, Axel can be seen moving inside of the bag.

MAN

Huh? Hey. You keep still down there, would you?

Axel still moves inside of the bag.

MAN (CONT'D)

Look, this is goin'a be a long walk. That means you better cooperate with me, you hear that, Girlie? (Pause) You don't want to make me hurt you, now--

Axel falls out of a hole the bag with a shank in one hand and one of her boots on the other.

MAN

What the?!

The man looks behind himself while Axel stands up in front of him, holding her boot in both hands. She sends a finishing blow at the back of man's head and he falls to the floor. Axel cautiously looks at the man for a brief moment.

The man lies motionlessly on the ground. Axel drops her boot and fixes her shank back inside her pocket, then dusts off her hands before then squatting down next to him.

AXEL

Gosh, they really never hired me for nothing, huh... But I ain't into that stuff anymore. Say, can I have my guitar back?

The man does not respond. Axel lifts one of the man's eyelids and learns that he's out cold. Axel sighs with a slight chuckle. She lifts up the man and, with a struggle, unstraps the guitar from his body, before eventually slinging it over her own. Once fitting her boot back on, she then stands up and slowly walks over to the edge of the alley, whistling a chipper tune – the same melody she was playing earlier - on her way there. At the edge of the alleyway, her eyes look up. Then they widen.

INSERT – ELECTRONIC POSTER

containing Axel's mugshot and in large writing, "WANTED". Below is a list of details including Axel's height, approximate age, gender, race and the time and location of where she was last seen, “18:50, Southwest of Dasmus City”. There is also a cash prize.

INSERT – ELECTRONIC POSTER

containing the same contents as the previous poster, except the location which reads, “Southern markets of Dasmus City at 15:47, drunkenly playing a red Phenver brand guitar”.

A view of Axel between the alley's walls. All around are copies of the same two posters, both in electronic and printed forms. A mildly shocked expression crosses her face.

INT. TOILETS – DAY

A view of a row of toilet stalls. None of the stalls' doors are closed, except for the one in the centre. Axel's guitar leans on a nearby wall. Her feet can be seen in the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. Axel kicks the wall.

AXEL

Damn it! I'm such an idiot! What was I thinking?! Me? A musician? That's just one way to draw attention!

VONARB (O.S)

Axel? Is that you?

AXEL (CONT'D)

I can't b-- (Pause) Ms Vonarb?

Axel immediately opens her stall's door and looks in the direction of ALICIA VONARB'S voice. Vonarb walks towards Axel.

VONARB

And to think I'd meet you here of all places?

AXEL

I never expected to see you here, either.

VONARB

Well, isn't this quite the reunion?

AXEL

Eh. Not really.

VONARB

I'm surprised you got clever enough to get yourself out of prison.

Axel exits her stall.

AXEL

So, is that to say you're impressed with me?

VONARB

Nope. How'd you think I found you here so easily?

AXEL

Easily? That was easy?

VONARB

Anyway... Don't think I came trying to find you for no reason, now.

AXEL

Oh yeah! Coincidentally, I'm a bit short on cash. You don't happen to want to hire me again, don't you?

VONARB

(Laughs)

What? After getting yourself thrown in jail?

AXEL

Oh... (Pause) What are you even here for, anyway?

VONARB

Well. First of all... (Clears throat) Whatever you do, please don't take this the wrong way.

AXEL

Huh?

Silence. The two stare at each other. Axel tilts her head in confusion. Eventually, O MIHO and K CLAYMONT enter the room. Miho holds a taser while Claymont holds a bag.

CLAYMONT

Now, I don't mean to spread any panic or alarm--

AXEL

(Gasps)

You gotta be kidding me!

VONARB

I just said to not take it the wrong way--

AXEL

I knew it! You are as easy to see through as a window! It's 'cause of my “WANTED” sign, isn't it, Vonarb?

VONARB

Wrong!

AXEL

Huh?

VONARB

You see, we're here to keep you away from those authorities. And knowing you, you're probably so incompetent that you'd just wind up stuck in prison again! So, since you're with us, you're going nowhere.

AXEL

What? Why?

VONARB

You're pretty infamous now. And I've got my business to worry about, too. So, if it didn't all add up in that brain of yours, let's just say, I don't want to risk you ratting me out.

AXEL

Yeah, I'm not doing that!

Grabbing her guitar, Axel jumps on the sinks and runs along them. Miho runs to tase her. Axel whacks him with her guitar and then heads right out the door. Claymont follows.

CLAYMONT (O.S)

I got it!

EXT. CITY STREETS – DAY

A view of the front of a pub. There is people scattered everywhere. Suddenly, the door swings right open and Axel sprints outside with her guitar now strapped over her back. She continues along the street. Claymont chases right after.

[ultimatenekomancer]

K so I’m absolutely Weak for William and there’s an insane lack of written content for him and the Black Clover fandom as a whole. So I’ve decided to grace the internet with my absolute shit writing for the first time in 5 years for some crap attempts at fluff. These were originally written with an OC (who has 20 whole pages of profile wow I need to stop) but I’ve made it into a reader insert the best I could. I kept the third person pronouns though just because I’m lazy and tired sorry I personally don’t enjoy reading that myself but again laziness wins. There are most definitely typos and I apologize in advance but I hope fellow fans enjoy these entirely self-indulgent piece! If anyone can even find this rip also tumblr formatting is a pain and i was in physical pain editing this

Note: (s/e/c) stands for secondary eye color. Sorry again if it doesn’t fit how you’re reading it :(

Another note: because this was based on an oc, there are some details (not many, like two I think) that are specific to her and don’t take into account different skin tones or eye color. Again I apologize for leaving them in, but I loved the flow the sentences and couldn’t really find a way that sounded just as good to me. If I ever write more, I’ll try to be more considerate with details like this.

(William x reader)

Fluff

Word count: 1,555

Warnings: None

Shoulder Pillow

A time before either realizes their feelings; or when (y/n) falls asleep on William’s shoulder (Takes place a few months into the two turning seventeen)

“William.”

“Yes, (y/n)?” He smiles slightly but doesn’t lift his eyes from the book in his hands. He knows that tone; slightly pitchy with the end syllable drawn out. His suspicion is confirmed when she throws her head back and sighs.

“I’m bored.” Keeping her head back she slants her eyes towards his figure, taking in his relaxed form, the way one hand is lightly gripping one edge of the book while the other cradles the spine. She notices the small smile on his face when her eyes flicker up and lightly huffs. His smile grows slightly when he finally looks up to see the pout curving her lips downward.

“Do you want to do something else?” he asks. Her eyes find his again; (e/c) with bits of (s/e/c) speckled at the bottom meeting bright purple. He notes how much darker they are now in the back of his mind, deciding he would ask later if everything is alright.

She’s torn and doesn’t answer for a minute. While reading is fun and William’s presence provides a warm comfort she hasn’t felt in some time, it’s getting hard to focus and she’s getting antsy. It doesn’t help that she’s running on about two hours of sleep won after a hard battle against her insomnia and nightmares. He follows his first question with another before she can land on an answer.

“Would you like me to read to you? I can start over if you want.”

Badump.

Ignoring the swell in her chest (because honestly she can’t spare enough energy to think about what that could mean) she nods and scoots closer on the couch to look on with him as he flips to the first page. His voice is even and more soothing than usual, and within minutes she feels her eyelids drooping.

When was the last time someone read to me like this? Maybe three- no… four years ago? Ahh his voice is so nice.

Her head dips forward slightly and she jerks back, widening her eyes and staring intently at the words. William spares a quick glance but keeps reading, another smile beginning to spread across his face when he feels her breaths start to even out again. He doesn’t expect to feel the weight of her head or smell the citrus scent of her shampoo a few minutes later and cuts off midsentence. A warm blush is already darkening his cheeks under the mask, so when he looks down and sees her relaxed face smooshed against his shoulder, mouth slightly open with light snores escaping, his heart skips several beats. He stares a few seconds more, memorizing the way her lashes cast shadows across her cheeks and the steady rise and fall of her chest, before going back to reading out loud.

He’s just reached page 20 when she wakes up, just slightly refreshed but with an odd ache in her neck. It takes a few seconds for her groggy mind to take in exactly what her face is pressing against, and a few more seconds to properly react. Apologies begin to pour out in a jumbled mess; her eyes are bouncing anywhere but his face (completely missing his grin), freezing only once she catches sight of the dark spot on his shoulder. Impossibly more heat rushes through her body as she begins apologizing for not only using his shoulder as a pillow but drooling on him on top of that.  

He lets her carry on till she can find nothing else to beg forgiveness for; in the lull during which she tries to catch her breath, he places his hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit before saying: “It’s fine. You were tired right?”

It takes a few seconds for the question to register, but she nods her head once it does and raises her eyes to his. She takes in the smile, heart skipping another beat (seriously what is wrong with me today??), relief washing through her that he’s not looking at her in disgust. They both sit like that seemingly frozen in that position for another five seconds before he takes his hand away. She can’t see it, but another blush is spreading across his cheeks at the realization that he held his hand there for too long trying to imitate her comforting habit. They continue to stare at each other awkwardly, neither knowing what to say now, until the clock in the common area rings out. 

She stands abruptly, quickly spouting off an excuse that she’ll be late for a meeting with so-and-so and that she’d better head off now.

“I can read to you again whenever you’re tired, (y/n). I didn’t mind being your pillow for the afternoon,” he calls out when the door’s halfway closed behind her. It slams shut before she can respond, not that she could have with the way her mind and heart were racing at the unusual and rather brazen comment from her fellow knight.

Ahh seriously what is this?!?

When He Knew

Seeing William without his mask for the first time; or when William realizes he likes you (Two weeks after the shoulder pillow incident) 

“He’s late.” 

“Yeah, no shit genius. He’s probably on his way right now.” The other knight throws a glare before going back to staring out the window. The foot tapping grew old five seconds after he started, but now the attitude directed towards William is giving you a new reason to dread the two-day mission. It’d be a lie if you said you weren’t worried, though. In the three years you’d known him, William was never late, instead almost always showing up a few minutes early. This realization causes you to think of the worst possibilities, ignoring the more probable answer that he had overslept or gotten wrapped up in something else. 

Dead. He’s definitely gotta be dead. Or maybe he caught something and is laying helpless in bed? Or did intruders somehow manage to sneak in and now he’s all tied up and- Taking a deep breath to calm down, you decide to give him another five minutes before heading over to check on him. A minute passes in silence and you’re pushing off the wall, mumbling incoherently something about going to fetch him. A tiny part of your brain is still somewhat rational and begs the other parts to slow down and think for a second. 

But I am thinking and I think he’s got to be dead or near death since he’s more than twenty minutes late! You reach his room in record speed and hesitate for a second. Should I at least knock? If he’s dead he won’t hear it; but even if he’s alive he may be unable to answer back. A thud sounds from the other side of the door and your brain switches to automatic. 

Eyes are already scanning for threats or a slumped body when the door slams open; instead of either, though, they catch sight of a frozen, maskless William staring back at you, half in horror, half in fright. It feels like hours tick by as you two stare at each other; You glance over every part of his face, vaguely taking in the scar that spans the top half, but more enthralled by all of the emotion you can see now. His eyes are even more enchanting fully visible (are they even brighter than before?? No no no... probably not…but maybe?); his nose that was already the cutest form of elegance you’ve ever seen fits perfectly with the rest of his face. And the hair it’s- 

It’s only five seconds of intense staring as you try to memorize the pure beauty that is bare faced William before snapping out of it and offering your excuse. “I thought you were dead and came to check on you.” Straight faced, eyes locked on his, said with total seriousness. 

He can’t tell if he wants to laugh or cry, and if he does cry if it’ll be from embarrassment or joy. There’s no change in how you’re looking at him, the tone of voice you’re speaking to him in. Brutally honest (y/n) who never fails to let others know how you feel no matter how it might hurt the other person. The girl who told him his mask was tacky and he could do better upon their second meeting. The one who almost got into a fistfight with another knight that made an offhanded remark about the same mask. (y/n)! His heart is still racing for a completely different reason now. All the pieces are linking together and he knows. The stuttering heart, breathless laughs, warm and tingly feeling throughout his body; it all makes sense because some part of him knew all along. You’re rambling speaking again, red painting your cheeks (adorable he thinks), but he doesn’t hear any of it. He’s still staring when you finally stop; one heartbeat…two heartbeats…you turn on your heel on the third and shout out another apology (this one he hears) for the intrusion, and tell him to hurry up or you’d leave him behind. His body relaxes once the door closes and he stares at the mask in his hands. He briefly wonders what kind of expression you saw on his face, why you looked so flustered (it definitely wasn’t because she’s attracted to me that’s for sure), and most importantly, how he’ll act around you now that he knows he’s in love.

[smolbeandrabbles]

Love The Way You Love Me - Vince Kovac (Tangle)

Author’s Note: Whilst this will be a part of the ‘Relentless’ series (I say series. It’s more like another multi-part retcon) it’s still  xOC. I love her name too much to not have a really short OC fic to get it out of my system.

Disclaimer: Anything to do with Tangle (so. Vince.) isn’t mine, the OC & writing is mine. This is the one occasion where a Lyric is mine!

Premise: In an attempt to solve his girlfriends architectural problems, Vince Kovac recons there’s only one thing he can do...

Words: 2857

Warnings: Swearing NOT Reader Insert

_____

So come with me and walk for awhile Can I spring you outta here and talk for awhile Gotta know what's the deal with you Mister now I'm really feeling you

If you got a little extra time Then won't you let me have it?

I like how your T-shirt cuts you right And how you melt me deep inside Oh, you're running in a different lane Don't make me chase you, boy, you know I'm game By the way you're rockin' it in them Nike's Won't you let me play on your team tonight We can go one-on-one, you and me That's the way it should be ---

The kitchen work top was cluttered with papers, books and technology. An array of architectural folders and drawings – from simple framework plans to extensive detail – scattered themselves in front of her as she squinted at her Laptop screen again. From easy exercises to the plain absurd, the design project she was currently working on was taking far longer for her to work out in her brain, to commit to paper, than she would like. Which is why she’d turned back to books. Luckily, from the complicated wording, the woman sitting scribbling away knew what they were talking about. Lyric Brennan reached for another book and studied her drawing carefully again skipping a few pages onto the next chapter, lazily she held the book open in one hand and twisted her hair around her pencil in the other – muttering as she did so… “Why would you ask for something so complicated when you already told me to make it simple on our phone call… That’s not simple… Do you have any idea how long this will take for someone to project plan… let alone build…? And they can’t figure that out until I can figure out how to draw it and fit it in here…” Lyric scanned the book, as if it would give her answers she knew it wouldn’t, and began scribbling away again.

 Vince Kovac’s footsteps bounced down the stairs as he hummed some tune Lyric had recently heard on the radio – something catchy, it wasn’t his usual music taste, so far as she remembered…. “Morning!!” – The cheerful greeting was only returned with a mumbled, “Yeah…” “Lyric.” She didn’t look up from her book, staring hard at her drawing and then the computer again, eyebrows furrowing. Vince placed his hands on his hips “Oy! Ms.Brennan!” Lyric lifted her head slowly “What.” “Are you not talking this morning, or what?” She indicated to her computer “Like this isn’t giving me enough of a headache.” He scoffed at her jab “What is it?” “Corporate building…” “Oh, they want a little Lyric-al flair do they?” His pun didn’t even raise a smile, so something was up. “Uh huh. But what they are asking for is about as complicated as it gets, and hasn’t been well thought out at all…” “Long project?” “Will be if I need to oversee it.” “It’s… here right?” “Canada.” “CANADA!?!” “Mm hmmm…” Vince looked to all the books and drawings in front of her; including some building manuals he’d given her as a joke. She clearly wasn’t joking though – this was serious. “Oh.” “Yeah.” Lyric sighed “Sometimes I hate having an in industry name.” “Yeah, when they put those plaques up in the building and people walk in and can automatically tell it’s a Lyric Brennan building it’s just the f**king worst.” She gave a small smile “As long as it’s paying the bills… I suppose.” “Heh…” Vince nodded, then skipped around the table, and wrapped his arms around her; “Well, I can tell you’re busy, and I’ll leave you alone then…” “Oh, thanks.” Lyric closed the book in her hands and tossed it to one side. “Well, you’re not going to talk, when you’re doing... Heck – what even is that!?” “At this point. I can’t even tell you…” She leafed through her sheets to another drawing “This is what it should look like. But this is structural… And drawing it on paper structurally is not gonna…” She studied Vince’s face, and thought he had it on point, a builder’s worst nightmare. Essentially a corkscrew of glass and metal that would run in colours from one corner of the building diagonally to the other, and then up into the sky. Exactly the kind of artistic piece someone would want to hire Lyric for, though. “Don’t, whatever you do give them my business card.” “Shit! Should I ask for it back!?” Vince pushed her shoulder gently and brushed his lips to her cheek “When do you think you’ll be done?” “…Oh… I wouldn’t like to put a time to it…” Lyric bit her lips together as his hands ran down her shoulders to her sides and down her body to her thighs. “Vin.” “Aw, c’mon…” “It’ll take even longer if you pull me out of the zone…” “And how long have you been sitting here!?” “Since 5-?” “FIVE!? You left me alone in bed for 3 hours!?” He grabbed her waist, causing her to laugh as he peppered her with kisses “Oh, now I really need to drag you away from this! I deserve your love!!” “Oh really…” She pushed him back with her elbows “Get off! I have a compass and I’m not afraid to use it.” “How often are you going to threaten to stab me with drawing apparatus?” “Get on with your work and we’ll see what you deserve, Kovac.” He bit his lip at that. She always had a certain flair to the way she said his last name. She always had. And he’d always liked it that little bit more when she did. He straightened up, “I don’t have any sites to be on today, all legal paper work…” She gave a shrug and turned back to her computer “As long as you’re doing it.” Vince gave a tsk and rolled his eyes, for a girl who liked trying to break the laws of gravity, she sure loved nearly every other rule in the book.  “And by the way, the password on your computer – waaaaaaay too easy. And your pin-number. Even easier.” “WHAT!? LYRIC! W-” There was a teasing grin on her face, even though she wasn’t turned to him to use it, with the way she tossed her white blonde hair over her shoulder. He’d always liked that too, the white bleeding into blue; “I’ve only used it once, come on, I’m not gonna tell anyone.” Lyric’s incredibly neat writing flowed across the page as she made further notes. He stared hard at her “…I’m changing them.” “Good. I like a challenge.” Vince narrowed his eyes; “Just f**king make sure the builder can understand those notes okay.” “Alright Kovac, far be it from me to insult the intelligence of any of your builder buddies.” “HA!” She heard him muttering as his footsteps wandered away, but ten minutes later he came back with a load of washing; Lyric gave him a look with a raised eyebrow, Vince, washing!?  She shook her head and continued with her work. “Lyl. Did you wear my shirt to workout in; again!?!” Vince dragged one of his blue T-Shirts from the washing-machine. “Yup.” He sighed “Why??” She gave a smirk; “I like wearing your clothes and nothing much else.” He had to pause his train of thought before he said something he’d regret. For a woman who didn’t want to do anything until she’d finished working, Lyric certainly was going the wrong way about it. Truth was she just liked wearing his shirts to run in; they were way too big for her, but so comfortable. And every so often she’d wear one he’d worn for work earlier in the week – and if he couldn’t run with her that particular that day it was nice to breathe him in instead. Vince got up and came over to the table again, looking at all the stuff that wasn’t architecturally related. A single coffee mug. But nothing else. “Babe, didn’t you even have breakfast!?” “Oh… No…” He could understand why, once Lyric got obsessed over something she couldn’t finish, that became the only thing she could think on until she’d figured it out. He’d watched her in the back room getting frustrated and throwing both screwed up paper and pencils at the wall from time to time. “Do you want me to make you something…!?” She looked up to him slowly; “As long as there’s no banana involved?” “Yeah. Preferably.” “You’re missing out, you know. You should eat one before running. You know they give them out after marathons right?!” “Why do you think I don’t run marathons.” “Sure, it’s all to do with the banana’s…” She leant on her hand for a minute and those blue eyes of hers softened. It was moments like that that he would see those pretty almost violet lines that criss-crossed through them.  “…Go on, surprise me.” “You sound like you need comfort food. Pancakes?” “Pancakes…?” She gave an almost childish smile “…Before running?” “Okay. I’ll make ‘em so you can still run on ‘em…” “Why thank you.” “Well, always got your best interests at heart, don’t I?” “I noticed…” She  scratched the back of her head with her pencil as she looked back to her drawing “…Thank you…” Vince bent down and kissed her on the cheek gently, his unshaved face scratching against her skin and making her scrunch her face with a slight giggle; “Before I do that though - I’m gonna get ready…!” Lyric eyes widened suddenly as she froze, a smile spreading  across her face, she turned quickly in her chair as Vince ascended the stairs, this was important too. “VIN..!!” He stopped and leaned over, “Yes---?” “I love you!!” She always loved that smile; “I love you too!”

 **

 Half an hour later Vince appeared again, in what looked like training gear. Lyric frowned but continued drawing, she had her suspicions but she’d have to wait to see if he proved them right. He was an efficient cook she would give him that. And no sooner was she finished with jotting down notes for the next piece of interior design was she receiving another kiss on the cheek as he placed the pancakes in front of her; “High energy, low sugar. You’ll need it, given how far YOU run.” She shook her head after him, daring him to say it again. He didn’t, just grinned. She ate slowly and placed her attention back on her work, rather than he partner. Even as Vince laced his trainers and attached a step-counter to the waistband of his tracks. Lyric was passed again as he collected his phone and zipped that into his pocket too; it was the one thing she always insisted he take. What did make Lyric prick up her ears, though, was the sound of the front door key – “Vince! What are you doing…?” “Going running!!” She opened her mouth in shock, for all his talk about her running he was going to go early-!? “Without me!?” “You’re working…” “I don’t have to be…” His footsteps echoed down the hallway and Vince appeared again, taking one of her hands, “Well come on then…!” For a second it looked like she might drop everything and stand up, but she hesitated and he knew he’d lost her as soon as he’d got her; “NO! Oh God – all this stuff is due next week and I’m really no better off! I’ve got two days before I-!” Vince waved his hands to calm her down; “Well, you need a break!!!” “N-No!! I need to do this – I’m focused!” He tipped his head and pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, clearly less than impressed; “Can you at least give me a straight answer?” She dropped his hand with a shake of her head; it’s because she didn’t really want to say no to spending time with him. But Lyric knew how much work she had to get done. And how long she’d be out running. The times just didn’t collate properly. Vince tsk’d and ran upstairs again.   Lyric sighed and looked to the scattered papers in front of her – how badly did she want to be with him? Sure, she wanted to finish this, right now, but right now she was more worried that Vince would leave and not come back. Like it or not, she needed him to bounce ideas off, or for advice. A book couldn’t given her answers it didn’t have written. And certainly couldn’t make her laugh with a snarky attitude. She slammed her laptop and book shut – sticking a paper in as a book mark, she lined her pencils up to the side of the drawing she was finishing, and straightened everything else on the table out neatly. Jumping up from the table and taking the stairs two at a time, Lyric rounded the corner into their bedroom and rooted quickly through her dresser, she found a running shirt and a pair of leggings – throwing them onto the bed. Vince appeared and leaned on the door with a grin; “Ah. I see you’ve changed your mind…!” She opened another draw and ran the hair tie around her wrist; “Yeah... urm… Just let me change… Uhhh… Yeah. Right.” He rolled his eyes in mocking; “Oh, come on. I’m not waiting for you now! You’ve got two minutes I’m counting!!!” Vince started his stop watch, (half as a joke) as Lyric gave him a look, then sprinted to the bathroom to change. Vince raised an eyebrow; “What I can’t watch you change now!?” “F**k you!” “You may when we get back if you like?” At least he heard her laughing as she slipped off her shorts and shirt and replaced them with her running gear. Tying her hair back into a high pony tail; maybe that wasn’t always the best idea, she knew he’d make the same joke about pulling her hair. Aw, let him make it. See how he likes it!

“Right I’m going!!!” Vince laughed knocking on the door as he passed to go downstairs. “HUH!?” Lyric thought hard for a second – no way that was two minutes…! She laced her trainers and flung open the door – scrambling down the stairs as Vince closed the front door, “NO!! VIN!! WAIT UP-!!!” She sighed, frustrated, kicking the door, “Aw. C’MON….” Lyric turned, picking up her own phone and fishing her keys from her work bag, just in case she didn’t catch up. Checking she had everything she needed, Lyric opened the door – closing it firmly behind her, she ran after Vince at almost full tilt, who was jogging gently, he was waiting for her…

 She sprinted passed him and turned around; now jogging backwards. He flashed her a smirk; “Was wondering when you’d turn up!!” “Shut up. I was calculating your mistakes. I recon you jumped the gun by at least 12 seconds!!” “Did I?” “No, you know you did!” “Well. C’mon then! We’re doing a round of the block!” She scoffed “You’ll be lucky if you get away with the block. At this rate you’re not even getting away with the running path.” “Oh, don’t make me run all the way to the track and back.” “Ohhh-! Good idea, hope that 12 seconds was worth it.” He let out a groan; “You’ll be the death of me woman.” She laughed; “What a way to go!” Lyric levelled off and jogged next to him, getting as close to him as possible; “Okay, what’s going on...?” “I’m cold…” “Cold, eh?” Vince glanced around, it was autumn sure, but it was hardly cold yet. Plus at the rate she usually ran she’d be hot in no time at all. “What’s wrong with you!?” “What’s so wrong with wanting to be with you…?” That was unnecessarily smooth, Vince frowned for a second “Hm. Nothing, But I feel like if you want to be with me and burn calories we wouldn’t necessarily have to go outside…” She only looked mildly disgusted with him; “I hope you want to end up in the middle of the road with comments like that.” “How are you not used to me by now?” “I am, sometimes I still can’t believe what I’m hearing.” “And yet-!” He turned those smart blue eyes on her and she shook her head; “For some reason I still love you.”

 This continued for about half an hour – until they came to the park in the middle of town, by this time Vince was beginning to slow, no such luck that his other half would be doing the same. Lyric was now slaloming through the piles of fallen leaves and jumping every couple of times she did this – turning and changing pace whenever she could. He couldn’t help but smile at her self-training. But she slowed down and turned, now walking backwards. Vince was grateful that now he could slow right down as well, and pretty soon found himself almost on top of her; given she was walking so slow.

Of course, this was Lyrics’s plan, and she placed her arms around him, almost at a standstill she was now being dragged backwards by Vince’s paces forwards. After realising this would only end up with him tripping, or her on the floor, she decided it best to walk again; but this time it was awkward. Luckily Vince wound his arms around her waist before she fell and slowed down his walk even more, they both eventually stopped – and closed the gap between them. Lyric’s hands moving through his hair slowly and his hands caressing the small of her back as she did so.  Ah! Now that’s much better!

The autumn leaves fell gently around them as they kissed…

---

@dennismitchell @wltz-bby @happyskywhale #MendoTagSquad. @3134045126 @kylo-ren-has-an-8pack Figured I might have got a Vince Kovac crew...?

[thehonorablekingerik-blog]

Obsession

Chapter 5: How Does It Feel? (Part 1 of 2)

It’s was a rainy Sunday afternoon, Erik laid in bed. His bedroom illuminated by the dull light of the cloudy overcast outside. His eyes focused on his phone as he scrolled through Facebook looking at Samara’s page for what seemed like the 100th time. He couldn’t get this woman out of his mind, intrigued with her ever since he had laid eyes her at Club Indigo.

Since her impromptu visit to his apartment just two nights ago, Erik felt his desire for her burn brighter. On her Facebook profile he read that she graduated from Tulane University; her friend’s list was filled with people from this school and other schools in Louisiana. Continuing down her friends list he clicked on random profiles of anyone he felt could give him more information about her. After looking for a while, he finally found someone, a guy by the name of Jamal Francis. Browsing through his profile he found an old picture of him and Samara hugging each other wearing Tulane University shirts. 

Erik read the caption under the picture;

“Throwback 05’ @SamaraEdmonds.” 

Samara was tagged in the photo and responded;

“Wow. The good ole’ days!”

Erik’s head was flooded with thoughts.

“Was Jamal her ex?”

“What did she mean by the good ole’ days?

“I need to find more information about her.”

He yawned, closing his eyes briefly before looking back at his phone. He looked at a few more profiles but didn’t find anything interested. Going back to his homepage, he looked at Samara’s name on his messengers list. He noticed that she was online, he decided to text her.

“What you doin?” he typed.

He was surprised to see her typing back.

“Nothing much.” 

Erik thought about his next response. He chuckled to himself, thinking about how lame and childish he felt thinking about what he should text back to this chick. He wasn’t used to feeling this way about women. He always had the upper hand when it came to them but with Samara he felt a little…vulnerable.

“Oh. You got plans for tonight?” he typed back.

A few minutes passed and no response. Erik felt stupid laying in his dimly lit room staring at his phone waiting for her to text back. In frustration he locked his phone before tossing it beside him on the bed.

Erik walked into the ground floor doors of Arcadia Tech’s office, coming in early so he could leave before his usual time. He just didn’t feel like being at work all day. He felt a little sour that Samara seemed to be in control of his time, arranging for them to fuck but would go ghost at a moment’s notice. He just felt that he needed some time to himself, to get his thoughts and emotions together.

He walked to the elevator pressing the button to the 7th floor, the doors began to close.

“Hold the elevator, please.” A female voice cried out.

Erik placed his hands between the doors, stopping them from closing in time. He looked up to see who was entering the elevator and his eyes landed on familiar hazel ones.

Samara walked into the elevator.

“Thanks.” She said a little winded.

Erik gave her a small smile. They stood next to each other as the doors closed. Erik peaked over at Samara. Dressed in her usual black pencil dress, sheer back-seam stockings and black heels; but she added a black blazer to the mix. This didn’t stop Erik from admiring her figure. He thought about her body and how beautiful it looked and good she felt. Licking his lips, he geared up to say something but Samara spoke first.

“You’re here early.” She said still looking straight ahead.

Erik turned to look at her fully before saying, “Yeah, I tryna finish up some work early.”

“Do you have any plans today?” She asked turning to look at him.

Erik felt his body grow warm at her question. He pondered what she meant by it. Was she going to ask to come over again?  Looking into her eyes, he thought about how much he loved her expression a few nights ago as he fucked her in his apartment.

His mind quickly went back to her question. He didn’t have plans today, he knew why he didn’t want to be there but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

“Yeah, I gotta few.” He said plainly before turning and looking straight ahead again. Samara nodded at him and smiled before turning to look ahead as well. Erik noticed her smile and wondered what she was smiling about. Before his thoughts could go any further the elevator doors opened to their floor. Samara was the first to step out followed by Erik. They walked away in opposite directions toward their office’s.

Just as he planned, Erik finished work early. He even successfully dismissed any thoughts about Samara and avoided seeing her throughout the day. Like clockwork, Kevin arrived at his door asking if he was ready to go to lunch.

“Nah, I’m leaving early.” Erik said closing his laptop.

“Aight. Everything good?” Kevin asked as he watched Erik stand up from his seat.

“Yeah. I got some shit to do later.” Was all he said as he walked toward the door, brushing past Kevin on his way out.

Erik sat in the backseat of the Uber he requested. He unbuttoned the first two buttons on his shit and slouched in the seat, relaxed. As he looked out the window admiring the ever-growing city of New York, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

An alert popped up on his screen. It was a Facebook notification. Quickly opening the app, he had a message from Samara.

It was a video message.

“What she up to?” He thought.

His thumb lingered over the file, excited and annoyed at what it could be.

He clicked it.

The screen was black and muffled sound could he heard as the camera moved against something. He moved the phone closer to his face looking into the screen, trying to examine what was going on. Suddenly the video became a bright crisp image. He looked at the phone confused but quickly noticed he was looking at a pair of thick brown thighs.

Erik watched as the beautifully shaped cocoa-colored thighs slowly seperate, a delicate hand of the same color coming into view.

He recognized it as Samara’s hand due to the gold wedding ring on her finger. Samara began to massage her left thigh, parting her legs wider.

The camera descended in-between her thighs, a hairless flesh colored clit coming into view. Erik felt his crotch twitch in his pants.

“This girl is wild.” He said smiling.

Samara rubbed her folds between her fingers. Lightly brushing against her sensitive clit in-between strokes. Erik watched as she fondled with herself before slipping one of her slim delicate fingers inside her entrance. She let out a soft moan. Erik bit down on his bottom lip. 

He quickly looked up to see if his Lyft driver heard anything, but it doesn’t seem like it. 

His eyes swiftly returned to the screen. Samara worked her finger into her center, sticky wetness soon coating it.

Erik adjusted himself in his seat as he continued to watch as Samara slowly moved her finger in and out her box. Removing them, she started rubbing her clit vigorously.

Samara cried out low. She stopped rubbing, inserting two fingers, pushing in and out of herself swiftly, her juices flowing. Erik rubbed his thigh, his arousal growing as he watched Samara play with herself.

Just as thoughts of what he wanted to do to her, the video ended.

Erik not missing a beat, sends her a message.

“All that for me?”

Samara responded almost instantly.

“Of course. Let me know when you want it.”

Erik smiled at her response before typing, “Shit. When’s the next time you free?”

He watched the screen on his phone intensely, waiting for her reply.

“Tomorrow.”

“Aight, cool.” Erik typed back immediately.

Samara went offline. Erik chuckled to himself as he rubbed his goatee thinking about Samara. He felt he was getting himself into something risky and that intrigued him. He was used to getting whatever woman he wanted with little to no resistance and out of the blue, Samara Edmonds appears. Although she didn’t offer much resistance, she was in charge and Erik couldn’t help but admit that he liked that.

He chuckled as he lowered his phone to his lap, looking out the window, his mind on Samara.

Erik stood at the desk of one his team members watching as they speedily worked away. Today at the office had been unexpectedly hectic. The new program his group was working on was near completion but a few bugs had to be sorted out. He didn’t mind being in the office but some days he did wish he had chosen to work from home. But productivity between his team at Arcadia Tech seemed to increase when he was there to supervise. 

Work kept him busy from thinking about Samara. Although all that was about to change.

Erik checked the time on his watch.

“I’m taking a break.” He told one of his lead team members. It was already half past 12, he was hungry and his eyes were a little tired from not having a break from looking at a bunch of computer screens. As he walked out of one of Arcadia Tech’s many computer lab rooms, he bumped into his best friend Kevin.

“Aye, where you headed.” Erik asked turning to face Kevin.

Without even stopping, Kevin held up a small black flash-drive. “I got to upload and send this program real quick.”

Erik nodded his head, “Aight bro. I’m ‘bout to go grab somethin’ to eat. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Aight. I’ll catch up with you later.” Kevin said before turning back around and walking down the hall toward his office.

Erik walked toward the elevator, passing his office on the way. As he got closer to his office, he noticed that his door was slightly ajar. Wondering why it was open, he stepped closer, fully pushing the door open.

Stepping halfway through the door way, he saw Samara sitting in the chair opposite of his desk, texting on her phone. He watched her, wondering why she was in his office. His groin trembled as his mind dared to think about what they could do right then and there. 

Samara sat engulfed in her text messages, the loud clicking of the letters could be heard in the quiet room. She had an associate that insisted on meeting her today and she was trying to make plans for another time.

She suddenly stopped texting feeling someone in the room, she looked up and turned toward the door.

“Oh! Hey Erik.” She said with a smile.

Erik stepped fully into his office. “Hey. What you doin’ in here?” He asked his eyebrow slightly raised. 

Placing her phone into her purse, she stood up smoothing out any wrinkles at the bottom of her dress. “I stopped by to see if you wanted to go to lunch.” She said stepping a little closer to him. She continued, “I know you were busy in the lab so I decided to wait here for you.”

A broad smile spread across Erik’s face, “I’m down for lunch. Where you tryna go?”

Samara received a text message. She ignored it. Erik noticed. “Who was hittin’ her up and why is she ignoring them?” He thought.

“There’s a nice Thai spot in Midtown called IV.”

“IV? That shit don’t sound like no Thai food.” Erik said with a little laugh.

“Trust me, it’s going to be good.”

“You been there before?”

“No, but the reviews are great.”

Erik nodded his head, briefly thinking about her offer. He was down to go eat Thai food today. He really enjoyed cuisine from all over the world, most of it came from traveling while in the military.

“Aight, let’s go.” He said nodding his head toward the door. Samara smiled brightly as Erik moved out her way allowing her to walk past him and out his office door. He took pleasure in watching her ass as she passed before quickly following behind her and toward the elevator.

Erik and Samara arrived at the Thai restaurant, IV. It had a sleek, futuristic décor. Although it was the middle of the day it wasn’t packed but it was a decent crowd of people who filled the seats. It didn’t take long after exiting there Uber that they were seated.

“I’ll go on ahead and get you two some water.” The waiter said handing them both a menu before walking away.

Both glanced through the menu. Samara sat in a booth seat while Erik sat opposite of her in a chair.

“You ever had Thai food before?” Samara asked still looking at her menu.

Erik still eyed his menu, “Nah, but I always wanted to try it.”

“Thai food is usually spicy, although I think you can modify the spice level if you ask.”

“It’s all good. I’m into spicy foods. I’m from Oakland, there’s hella Mexican spots. When I go to any of them I’m always gettin’ somethin’ spicy.”

“Oh yeah? You like Mexican food? We could go get some if you want.” Samara said slightly lowering her menu looking at Erik.

“Nah its cool. This a nice switch up. I’ve had enough Mexican food for awhile.”

The waiter returned with two cold glasses of water.

“Are you two ready to order yet?” the waiter asked with a small smile, his eyes looking at Samara.

Erik and Samara looked at each other, a beat passed. They both shook their heads at each other before looking at the waiter.

“Okay, please take your time. I’ll be right back.” The waiter said before walking off.

Samara continued to glance at her menu but Erik placed his on the table, looking at Samara.

“Did you really just invite me here just for lunch?” he asked smiling.

Samara paused placing her menu down, a smile on her lips.

“Hmm. I have plans later.” she said.

Erik broke eye contact with her adjusting his posture in his seat before returning his gaze.”

“Word? Like what?”

“I’m not sure yet.” She said licking her bottom lip. They both share a brief heated gaze, before Samara’s eye returned to her menu.

It isn’t long before she let Erik know what she was going to order. They talked about the food and Samara helped Erik narrow down his choices on what he was going to get. Not soon after, the waiter returned, taking down their requests and removing the menus.

Erik placed his hands on the table, slowly tapping his thumb.

“Tell me about yourself, Samara.” He said staring at her.

Samara took a sip of her water before answering. She looked away from Erik briefly admiring the restaurant.

“What do you want to know?” she said looking back at him.

“Anything.” Erik said still looking at her.

“Well, you already know that I’m married; and I’m sure you looked on my Facebook for more info on me.”

Erik nodded.

“I was born and raised in New Orleans, my family, both sides are from there.” She said looking at him casually.

“What made you move to New York?” Erik asked taking a sip of his water.

Samara shrugged her shoulders before answering. “I just got tired of that city. Seen it all my life, I just wanted a change of scenery.”

Erik nodded, remembering that he seen pictures of her travels on her Facebook page.

“What about you?” she asked him before continuing, “I can tell by your accent that you’re not originally from New York.”

Erik sat up a little straighter, licking his lips while scratching his head as he thought about answering her question. It had been awhile since he’d been out like this with a chick. Usually his interactions with them were one-night stands or dick appointments. He also didn’t like to talk much about himself, he had friends, could make and enjoy good conversation but he usually kept himself guarded.

“I’m from Oakland, born and raised.”

Samara nodded, “And…what else?” She said with a slight laugh. “What about your parents?”

Erik slightly shrugged rubbing the back of his head looking away from Samara.

“Ain’t really much to say. My moms was from Oakland and I…don’t really like to talk about my pops forreal.”

Samara noticed his use of the word, “was”; she wanted to ask about his mother but decided against it.

She shook her head, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—”

Erik cut her off letting out a deep sigh. “Nah you good. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

An awkward air hung between the two before Samara received a text on her phone. She ignored it. Erik raised an eyebrow at her.

“You goin’ get that?” he said taking another sip of water.

Samara chuckled, “No. It’s not important.”

Erik laughed, “You sure bout’ that.”

“Yes. You’re way more interesting.” Samara said smiling looking Erik placing her hand onto his.

Erik rubbed her hand. A smirk danced on his lips.

Once their food arrived, they sat, ate and chatted. Samara told Erik about some of her favorite things about New Orleans. Such as one of her favorite places to eat was a place called Parkway. She spoke on why she decided to get her degree in psychology saying she just always liked how the human mind worked and understanding others emotions. Erik told her some brief things about his time at M.I.T. and how he graduated with a degree in computer science and engineering. He then went into a few details about how after college he was offered a job in the Navy, spending a few years there before going to the Air Force.

Erik was surprised at how at ease he felt talking to Samara. As Samara sat and listened to Erik tell her about parts of his life she couldn’t help but want to know more about him. When she first met him she already summed him up as the average egotistical male with mommy issues; and although she still feels that she’s right about that, there seems to be more hidden…parts of him she wants to uncover.

The sound of Samara’s cell phone ringing broke their conversation. She grabbed her phone from her purse. She looked at it but didn’t answer.

Looking back at Erik she asked, “Are you busy later tonight?”

Erik shook his head, “Nah. You wanna come over?” he asked smiling with a sharp look in his eyes.

Samara leaned in toward Erik, softly taking his hand into hers. She smiled sweetly. “I would love to.”

Erik felt the salvia in his mouth increase. He looked at her lush full lips and he impulsively licked his own. He desired to feel hers against his own. The need to explore her mouth grew. Just when he was going to act on it, the sound of a phone roused him from his thoughts.

Samara rolled her eyes annoyed that her phone was going off again. Retrieving it from her purse once again, she looked to see who was calling her. Erik noticed her eyes light up. Samara’s eyes shot up to Erik’s.

“I’m going to have to take this.” She said removing her other hand from his.

Erik nodded. He watched as Samara took the call. She idly looked around the restaurant as she carried on her conversation. Erik listened as closely as he could and it seemed like someone was trying to meet up with her which she agreed.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” Samara said as she ended the call.

“Change of plans?” Erik asked.

Samara sighed as she looked at Erik remorsefully. “Yeah.”

She placed her phone back into her purse before removing her wallet.

“Here, this should cover my---”

Erik shook his head, waving his hand. “Nah, it’s all good. I gotchu.”

“Really? You sure?” Samara asked as she looked at Erik.

“Yeah. You good.” Erik couldn’t help but to smile.

Samara returned a smile before placing her money, phone and wallet back into her purse. She slid out of her booth seat, standing up. Erik hurried to his feet, standing too.

“Okay, Erik. I’m about to go.”

“You ain’t goin’ back to the office?” He asked.

“No. I clocked out early.” She said moving past him.

Erik grabbed her hand, “When’s the next time we can meet up?”

Samara stopped her eyebrow wrinkled in thought, “Oh, I almost forgot.” She said.

She thought for a brief second. “I’m free this weekend. How about you stop by my place this Friday?”

Erik looked at her shocked. Did he just hear her right? She suggested that he go over his place.

“I’ll be there.” Erik said with no hesitation. 

Samara smiled as she leaned closer to Erik kissing him on the cheek.

Erik’s eye widened raising his eyebrows. He was amazed at her public display of affection toward him. Usually in public (at work) she was cold and distant.

She turned and began walking away before not stopping briefly to tell him.

“I’ll message you my address.”

With that last statement, Erik watched as she continued to walk through the restaurant and finally out the door.

[silver-ninja-of-the-tides]

Silver and Gold 4--Not Just a Tournament

Chapter 11--Know Thine Enemy, But Know Thy Friend

Summary

Fractured once, then fractured again. Four of the heroes of Ninjago have hung up their ninja gear and vainly started anew. And they’ve convinced themselves that they’re not going back.

But as Lloyd and Janet try to piece their team back together, a mysterious invitation to a massive tournament tells them that Zane is alive.

Bonds will be tested. Suspicions of everything they know and don’t know will arise. It all goes down at the Tournament of Elements.

(First chapter)

Janet’s POV

Well. Dinner was nice, despite the man who runs this whole island. But at least we had a good time. For now.

Now we just have to find a way to get some answers. And speaking of answers . . .

“Garmadon?”

He looked to me.

“Remember that conversation we had with Wu about the First Spinjitzu Master talking to me?”

“Ah. You’re wondering if we ever found an answer.”

“Have you?”

“Mmh well—”

“What’s going on over there?” Cole asked. We were all on the second floor, and his attention was on the crowd of competitors that had gathered around the leader boards.

“Didn’t he say that was it for the day?” Des asked.

“Yeah . . . he did,” I said, narrowing my eyes. We turned around and walked back down the stairs, and the closer we got, the more we could tell how eager the murmurs were.

“What’s all the commotion?” Jay asked as we made our way through. Finally at the front, we all gasped at who was in this surprise round.

“No . . . He can’t do this!” Cole objected.

“He already did,” Lloyd said, and my sister and I exchanged worried looks.

Cole looked to Jay. “We gotta fight . . . each other!”

“Ugh. Why does it say I have to fight Cole?” Jay complained. “It didn’t say that before! I’m not ready to fight! It was supposed to be my day off.”

“I tried to warn ya but you never listen! Talk, yes. Listen, not so much.”

“Guys,” I warned.

“Is there a problem, Ninjas?” Clouse asked as the other competitors were walking off.

“You cheated!” Cole accused. “You changed the brackets!”

“Oopsie.”

“Whaddowe do?” Lloyd asked as Clouse and the accompanying thug walked away. “They can’t fight each other! We came here to become whole, not fall further apart!”

“You can’t undo what’s been done,” Garmadon said. “My only advice is to be at peace with it.”

“Peace?!” Jay snapped. “One of us has to lose! Oh my gosh. It’s totally gonna be me! He’s got super strength, and whaddo I have? Quick, tell me! What do I have?!”

“Don’t listen to my dad,” Lloyd argued. “We find Zane then none of us have to battle. Your fight isn’t until tonight so we still have time to figure out what Chen’s up to, and stop this.”

“I think I know just the person who can help,” Kai said. “And I think he already knows.”

We followed Kai out of the room and out to a courtyard where the other Elemental Masters were. He scanned the area for Neuro before leading us over to him meditating. Oh boy . . .

“We need your help, Neuro,” Lloyd said.

“You think I can get close to Chen to read his mind, so you can find your robotic friend and not have to fight,” the Master of Mind said.

Wow. He’s good.

“Don’t forget—”

“You still need to know what Chen’s up to because he’s hiding something,” he continued, cutting Kai off. Okay he’s really good.

“That’s really impressive, Nerdo,” Jay complimented.

“It’s Neuro, Master of the Mind, and Cole thinks Jay won’t last long in a fight.”

“Pfft. You think that?”

“Well you just said it yourself!” Cole accused.

“But you didn’t have to believe it!”

“Don’t be offended, Cole,” Neuro went on. “Jay here thinks you’re the least valuable Ninja.” Did he just—

“Ya don’t say?” Cole sneered. Instantly that set them off.

“We wanted you to help, Neuro,” Lloyd stated. “Not make things worse.”

“But why would I help?” Neuro said. “You’re competition. The sooner you’re out, the better for me.”

“If you want what’s best for you, just look into my head and you’ll see what this tournament is all about.”

Neuro focused on Lloyd for a few moments before a look of concern crossed over his face.

“It’s only a matter of time before Chen steals your power, too. So, are you in?”

Zane’s POV

No matter what I did, I still could not break free from my restraints. There must be some way out of this . . .

“Zane, you’re built differently,” Pixal explained. “You have to search deep within yourself.”

Deep within myself . . .

I began to scan through my new and not-so-new functions before deciding on opening a compartment near my wrist, activating a spinning shuriken.

“Yes! That’s it! You’re remembering!”

I heard voices coming from outside, and I soon detected that they were coming closer. I frantically looked from the door to the shuriken, and I quickly deactivated it before feigning unconsciousness.

“Huh. Eh I guess I was just hearin’ things,” a man said from outside. “C’mon, let’s go.”

I waited for their footfalls to fade out before opening my eyes.

“It’s not safe,” Pixal cautioned. “I suggest you break out when everyone’s at the big fight.”

“You mean, we must break out.”

“Yes . . . Of course.”

3rd person POV

The dreaded arrival of the fight was upon them, and still the Ninjas had not found a way out of the match that pit Cole and Jay against each other. So while the boys set off to prepare for the inevitable, Garmadon and the girls took for the stands.

“I don’t believe this,” Destiny grumbled. “I don’t believe any of this. Next thing you know Chen’s going to pit me against my sister.”

“Careful with those words, Destiny,” Garmadon warned.

“I know I know. It just infuriates me that this guy can do anything he wants while we have to be passive about it.”

“I don’t like it, either, Des, but it’s what’s gonna happen,” Janet said. “And no matter what, we have to see this through.”

The trio climbed the steps to the loud stands and found their seats, which overlooked the circular arena that was decorated with red lanterns and the Anacondrai symbol. And at the top of a pole in the center was a Jadeblade. From the stands, they could spot Cole and Jay warming up aggressively.

Kai then spotted Neuro running up to him. “You’re cutting it close. So what did you see into his head?”

“I’m sorry,” Neuro admitted. “I couldn’t get past Clouse.”

“Good. Then we can finally put our feud to rest,” Jay spat. “Gladiator style!”

“But I did see something. For a brief moment, I saw inside Clouse’s mind. The powers he’s collecting--they’re for a spell.”

“A spell for what?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s in his spell book, on page 149. I’m sorry it’s not enough to stop the fight. I wish I could’ve done more.”

“That’s okay. You’ve done what you could.” Disappointed, Kai shook his head in Lloyd’s direction.

“You don’t have to say it,” Cole said, preventing Lloyd from speaking. “It was inevitable we were gonna have to face each other. It may as well be Jay. This fight’s been a long time comin’.”

“Well I’m not at peace with this,” Lloyd said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t still find peace with each other. We don’t have control when we fight, but we do have control how we fight. Jay’s not your enemy. Chen is. Remember that.”

“Wu once said the best way to defeat your enemy is to make ‘em your friend. But how are you supposed to defeat your friend?”

Cole’s POV

Lloyd backed away from the door as the bars lowered, and I raised my mask as a fanfare rang out.

“Let the Tournament continue!” Chen announced once Lloyd cleared out. “Jay, Master of Lightning, versus Cole, Master of—”

Let’s just get this over with.

I flipped over a stream of lightning and pounded at the ground, sending a wave of rocks speeding toward Jay.

And he flipped back with a laugh. “That’s all you got? Least valuable Ninja!”

“Eat dirt, Bluebell!” I shouted. I hurled a wave of rocks at him that he evaded, and I used the earth to block a shot from Jay. Oh he doesn’t know what he’s up against.

Zane’s POV

With everyone at the fight, I was able to cut through the chains. Now all I had to do was free Pixal, escape this prison, and find my friends.

“Hurry, Zane! Before they come back!” Pixal urged.

After a few more moments I was finally able to cut through the bars and enter the room she was being held in. “I’m through. Now let’s get out of here.”

Instead of Pixal, all I saw was pieces of scrap.

And one of her arms.

“Pixal . . . You’re . . . you’re—”

“Scrapped. I know. But I couldn’t tell you. Not when you needed to get out of here. Sadly, this is where my journey ends.”

Even though she could not feel my hand, I held hers.

“But not for you. Zane you must go alone. Find your friends, stop Chen; I know you have it in you. And don’t worry about me.”

Both of us pressed a hand to the screen. It was cool to the touch, but it wasn’t her I was feeling.

“I will always be a part of you.”

I glanced to a neural drive flickering with every word she spoke. Maybe there is another way . . . “You’re right. You will . . . always be a part of me.”

"Zane! What are you--"

Before she could finish her sentence, I removed the drive and inserted it into my system, and it only took a few moments for her to appear within my system. It may not be her entirely, but at least I have one part of her.

“Zane! You’ve taken my neural drive and imputed it into your processor! You’re ingenious!”

“Not ingenious. Upgraded. I’m sure there’ll be other surprises about me we’ll find out together. But until then, let’s both get out—”

An alarm suddenly went off within my system, and Pixal began to warn me.

“Zane! Behind you! Initiate evasi-i-i—”

Before I was shut down, I was able to see a man whose dark hair was tied back, and he wore a sinister grin.

Cole’s POV

Jay and I pushed against one another with our powers, but soon he was the one that began to overpower me.

“Stronger than you thought, ey?” Jay spat. “That’s your betrayal flowing through my veins!”

“I’m lookin’ forward to the peace and quiet when you’re out of the tournament!” I snapped.

With a burst of strength I knocked Jay to the floor, and he dazedly raised his head as the crowd went wild.

I . . . I almost hurt him. This isn’t right . . .

“Ugh, what are we doing? I don’t want you out! You’re not my enemy. Chen is!”

“Ohhh sure,” Jay grunted as he pushed himself up. “Lower my guard by pretending to be my friend, then swoop in to steal the prize!” His hands summoned two streams of lightning that he was ready to fire. “Typical Cole maneuver!”

“I never meant to hurt you, Jay. If I knew it would destroy our friendship, I’d take it all back.”

His eyebrows furrowed, and he stopped stalking toward me. “Well, if we’re being honest, I was upset about losing Nya but . . . I take blame for that. I was more upset about losing you. We used to be good friends!”

“The best, right? We should’ve been honest with each other instead of bottling this up.”

“Agreed. But how are we supposed to stop fighting? We can’t both win!”

“Well, maybe we can draw it out ‘til they call it a tie. Quick, attack me, but not hard.”

The both of us charged at each other before missing most of our “hits,” causing some people in the crowd to boo us. But, y’know, Jay did make a few close calls.

“Release the Condrai Crushers!” Chen shouted. Both of us looked to the red doors swinging open to let four of the said vehicles loose on us, and each of them began to circle us.

“I got your back!” I said.

“And I’ve got yours!” Jay replied.

“Ninjaaa-GO!” We performed Spinjitzu as we darted out of the way of a crusher, and he crashed right into the wall. Hah! How’s that?

I bolted right into the path of another one before jumping up and pounding my fists into the ground. The crusher was jerked into the air by a ramp made by yours truly, and I caught the tail before throwing the crusher into a third one.

The last one jerked itself around to head in my direction, and Jay leapt up, landed behind the driver’s seat, and shocked the driver until the crusher came to a complete standstill. The blades stopped just inches away from me, but I knew Jay had me covered.

The crowd cheered as we stood victorious in the face of Chen’s challenge, but the man wasn’t having any of it.

“Enough!” he barked. “I know what you are trying to do. If neither of you will win, then both of you will lose!” He furiously began pressing buttons, and with every button press a piece of the floor dropped into a seemingly endless pit.

Instantly we leapt from one tile to the other to keep from falling. But eventually we were both gonna run out of floor.

“We can’t both lose! Chen’s right! There can only be one!” I said.

“Then it should be you!” Jay exclaimed. “You and I know I’m lucky to have even made it this far! You take the Jadeblade!”

I whirled around and jumped my way to the pole before scaling it. Upon grasping the hilt, I was tempted to claim the weapon as my own.

But it wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

Without a second thought I threw the blade to Jay, and the instant he caught it Chen declared him the winner.

“Loser! Master of Lightning moves on,” the man said.

“She’s yours, Jay. I should’ve bowed out long ago. Win this thing.”

Like everyone else, I was sent down below for Chen to steal my powers. Jay’s got this. They all do. And if they don’t, then Chen wins it all.

Nya’s POV

“Anything on your end?” I asked as I drove through the Outlands.

“Not a single thing,” Ryan replied through the speakers. “They may be Ninjas, but I know that even they can’t vanish into thin air. They have to be around here somewhere."

All of a sudden, a familiar bird passed into view, and I lowered my binoculars.

“Why did you call me here?” I asked, only for it to call once in reply.

When I faced the map of Ninjago, I pressed a button to scan the area for any sign, big or small, of the Ninjas. The scan then flew far beyond the borders of Ninjago and locked onto a small island.

“Zane’s beacon . . . coming from somewhere off the coast! But that’s impossible.” Immediately I contacted the others. “Sensei Wu, come in! This is Nya. Do you read? I think I may have found the Ninjas.”

(First chapter) (Next chapter) (Previous chapter)

[maiji]

Process and wip images for A House That Holds Long Limbs (Part 4)

Previous process and wip documentation: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Read the pages for part 4 here (full complete version will be linked from YYH North Bound master post)

This is a rare glimpse into how I tackle action scenes!! It’s rare because I rarely do it. Action is honestly one of the hardest things for me to draw, and as I’m sure I’ve said here many times before, I have the utmost respect for shounen manga artists whose works are steeped in them. It’s a really impressive skill to be able to do it well - to create a cinematic, dynamic sense of motion that doesn’t dissolve into visual confusion and incomprehensibleness.

This was as interesting for me to document my thought process as it hopefully is for you to read and discover what the heck was going on in my head (a big honking mess, that’s what). There was much screaming and crying while working on this hahaha.

Aside from Hokushin’s beautiful face (lmao), Part 4 is packed with things I don’t usually draw. Specifically: action, things taking place in the dark, and corpses. For things taking place in the dark, I heavily referenced the dark room rounds from the tournament for Genkai’s successor in volume 4, because it involves action and Togashi used practically zero screentones in it and I didn’t want to either. For the dead rokurokubi, I looked up photos of skulls and drew on my memory of various horror comics I’ve read, like Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. (At one point I also googled photos of rotting skulls, but TBH I didn’t really want to spend a lot of time looking at detailed photographic references of corpse and decomposing bodies for obvious reasons, especially as I usually work on these comics late at night before I go to bed. The last thing I need is for images to get stuck in my brain when I’m sleeping.)

The rest of this post focuses mainly on action and redrawing things.

Script

The original script for this section actually ran a little further in the story than what’s shown here, but in order to convey the sequence effectively, I ended up stretching a number of key moments out and have booted the later ones to be completed for Part 5.

Thumbnails

In the thumbnails above, you’ll notice quite a few are redraws of the same page as I struggle - pages 31-33 repeat immediately in the rows after, page 37 was attempted three times, etc.

Page count growth

A script of 8 pages turned into 10 pages at the thumbnail stage, and then ultimately netted out at 12 pages in the final version that was posted. As you can see, effective action sequences generally take me more pages than I think they will. With an exception (documented below).

Thumbnailing/storyboarding things out should theoretically minimize the page count creep! But because I tend to treat my thumbnails as such a loose stage (to avoid later disappointment when I can’t recreate it as nicely in the final page), I rush through them. Unfortunately, action sequences require me to think a lot more carefully through the scene as a director - staging the shot and the experience of the motion and coordinating people’s limbs and all the items in the scene more carefully and whatnot than, say, just a couple of heads talking. So inevitably, when I rush to get ahead to the finished pages, that’s when I realize it doesn’t flow as well as I was imagining (or not really imagining it).

As a result, the actual “live” pages turn into constant mental checks and runthroughs of the panels, realizing it’s not flowing as well as I’d like, and restarting. By restarting I mean mentally reenvisioning the sequence, sometimes quickly doodling alternate thumbnails (I didn’t bother in this case, so I have no alternate examples from after I started redrawing), and erasing and redrawing and adding pages. I guess I could probably avoid this if I just stop and put more time into thinking through the thumbnails… but it seems like I end up revising no matter what. So, constant juggling forever.

The evolution of the key action sequence

In my head, the main sequence was:

Hokushin lands.

He gets up and feels something in the dark.

He discovers the rokurokubi corpse.

He turns around to discover a swarm of hands in the dark!

Ahhh hands!! Ahhhh!!

Then he gets sealed and stringed up. End action sequence, back to people standing - or hanging out, I guess - and talking.

I roughed out my panels and pencils for all the pages following my thumbnails instead of doing one page at a time, because I’m impatient and also tend to think of all the pages as a wholistic narrative and then drilling down to the details on each page (big to small perspective).

As I went back over each page and detailing the base pencil art more, I began noticing more issues with the flow of the action and the pagination. Things started really shifting and changing at point 4. Here’s essentially how my thinking played out as I drew:

He turns around to discover a swarm of hands in the dark! - WAIT he just sees the corpse and then turns around? I should have him sense something is behind him first to get you more into his head and experience. OK, insert another panel of him sensing and whatever. THEN he can turn around. This is also good because I can erase the panel where he’s turning around and give the first panel a bit more room so I can draw more of his body in the first one and make his startled falling back motion a bit clearer.

HANDS!! AHHH HANDS!! - Wait, I have hands coming from BEHIND him and don’t effectively show that before they just appear to grab his hair. Which I suppose they do, but when I review panel flow it seems jarring, like a poorly directed cut and something was missing. Let’s try adding some hands behind him in the panel where he looks shocked. Never mind, this looks dumb and he looks dumb and basically seems even more like an afterthought. Ooh, better idea: let’s have him dodge the first wave of hands. That’ll be kinda cool and more interesting. And then he can land and be like OH SHIT MORE HANDS FROM EVERY DIRECTION

Ahhh hands!! Ahhhh!! - Hmm, maybe I should add a page here to better capture his dodge sequence. So the panels will be hands, dodge, and then the next page is he lands, then he realizes there are more hands behind him. How crouched down should he be? I guess in the later pages I basically drew him in a practically fully upright position… eh.. Working this out...

*starts drawing extra page* … Mmm, thinking about this again, no. It stretches things out too much. Now it feels like he lands, the new page adds an extra pause that could be interpreted unconsciously as he thinks he’s ok, then he gets attacked by hands from behind. But that’s ridiculous because he’s a rokurokubi, he KNOWS the hands can come back around or whatever, and he’s a good and cautious fighter, the extra pause doesn’t seem to fit. Thinking this through, basically I need it to feel faster - he lands (typed “he hands” there first time around haha), and he doesn’t have a chance to react again before it turns out hands are coming from all directions. So, I’ll keep it to the one original page and draw the reaction to the sound of the hands coming from everywhere. Done. (one of the few instances where I reduce page count in an action sequence)

Oh yeah, I forgot about his arms and legs getting sealed. Er, add another page. OK done.

For comparison, below are photos of the pencils for pages 35 and 36 before the above process:

... and after:

Redraws

I generally try to avoid redrawing an entire image/page from scratch if I don’t have to.  Even if I don’t like the overall drawing, I’m still terrified of effing up the parts that turned out OK the first time around. However, sometimes you gotta know when to cut your losses and start anew and save yourself time and grief (I’m definitely still learning how to know lol). I do have a few strategies to ease my mind - I often take photos of something before I proceed to the next step or change direction (which is where many of these wip photos come from). This helps calm me down because at least now I have a reference for what it was before I took the leap of faith to move forward. Another option is to just leave it and draw on a completely new blank page.

Page 37, where Hokushin is getting his head pulled back by the hands, was an incredibly rare instance of the pencils for a page turning out almost exactly how I wanted on the first try, so I was loathe to redraw or adjust it. This means I basically forced myself to shuffle things before and after to accommodate not having to change it.

On the flipside, page 40, where the shot backs away so you can see Hokushin tied up with the hands, is one I full-on redrew from scratch. I was having a hard time with his pose and how all the hands were wrapped around him and how everything was actually working. I wasn’t happy with the drawing the first time around, but inked it anyways to see if I would like it better the next morning (sometimes this works, to wait and look at it with a distanced frame of mind). Spoiler, I didn’t lol. However, the process of inking the entire thing helped me better hone in on what parts I liked and didn’t like, so when I sketched it out again I was better able to adjust.

This photo shows the original (with the words REDRAW :/ at the bottom), a sketch I did trying to figure out his posture and where all the hands were/how the wrapping actually worked, and then the pencils of the redraw.

Final miscellaneous things

The end page of Part 4 is once again a last minute addition that resulted because I was facing a blank page (again!) after adding the page where Hokushin gets his arms and legs sealed. I changed the spoken line multiple times. First it was a line that’s been pushed to the upcoming part 5, then it was the “You certainly found my “treasure room” quickly” (that’s on the previous page). In the end, I just wrote a completely new line for it. It seemed to work better with the panel and closing off this part at a good point.

Last but not least, I somehow broke my pen inking this part lmao. Fortunately it’s a Muji pen so I only broke the tip off the cartridge somehow, probably in my intense scribbling/shading at some point. It’s not super clear in the photo but if you look closely at the point you’ll see this thin line coming out of the tip of the pen - it was this metal filament that basically scratched the paper without any ink coming out. I had to make an emergency run to two Mujis, neither of which had the black refills, so I ended up just buying two pens with similar thicknesses. Worst case scenario, I would have just inked with my blue cartridge, since the scanning would turn everything black and white anyways... the original pages would have just looked weird.

Phew! Hopefully it worked out and isn’t a totally incoherent mess!

[vonseal]

what im weak for this week

SOOOOO i haven’t done one of these in almost a month! i think it’s high-time to get back on track again! hopefully i can come out with the next one on the 11th instead of a month later.

this is long. like srsly long. like wow. it took me an hour. i could’ve written a whole fic.

call me maybe by shinigamibutter

i’ve got this weird thing with library aus. i love them. maybe it's because libraries are elusive and mysterious to me now (i checked out a book back in middle school, i still have it on my bookshelf and im too scared to return it), but they’re something so nice about libraries. also there’s something so nice about SOCKY and MYUNGJIN and BINU all in one lil fic, holla for a dolla! this is really nice and cute and i loved reading it! <3

out of my league by koutarous

BINU!!! DRINKING TOO MUCH (bad bin)!!! i loved this prompt and @shouldveheldon did it so much justice, it’s unbelievable how good it is (but i’ve never been disappointed from her writing). the set-up is good and even if bin should lay off on the alcohol a bit, at least it got him a cute guy’s number, AMIRITE.

i’ll pick the white and fluffy clouds from the sky for you by spaceviolet (vividplum)

did you guys know im a fan of the cute fluff? did you guys know im a fan of the socky? did you guys know im a fan if you combine both those things? heck yes man, this combination was so amazing and perfect. ALSO, ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP??? im in, im so in.

Does Lonileness Ever Truly End? by MidnightsDeath

i should stop writing angsty stuff bc people take it as inspiration to make even angstier stuff and then im all sad and depressed lol. especially WHEN I STARTS HELLA CUTE WITH MYUNGJIN. thank you for writing this, and thank you for making me cry and ruin my makeup haha.

(my) hot antagonist by rubanrose

we’ve been getting this nice influx of moonrock here lately, and seal approves. i mean, tbc was basically moonrock (did you see the way bin smiled when he brought up rocky???). ALSO ANOTHER ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP, YES. and just moonbin and rocky being cute dorks together and making my heart die of fluff, wow <3

you captured my heart by binubin

some people say that the fake boyfriend au is overdone. i say it’s UNDERdone. like, seriously, i love the idea of people pretending to date and then legit falling in love (the proposal is one of my favorite movies if you guys wanted to know), and WOW IM SO HAPPY THIS ONE EXISTS! bin is a photographer and dongmin is a (un?)willing subject, and i just want you guys to read it. it’ll be six chapters of awesome sauce.

home is wherever the heart is by diametrical

NO GUYS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THAT DOMESTIC AUS ARE JUST THE GREATEST!!!! AND MYUNGJIN???? DOMESTIC???? wow, just shoot me now, @leedeermin, bc you stole my heart already. i thought nothing could top binu domestic au, BUT THIS DID (mostly bc myungjin > everything for me, im trash, send help). thank youuuu for this, it’s all i needed in life 

i get to love you by asteraa

aka, lanna still tryin to make up for making me sob over trains to busan au. well it worked. it worked so so so well. and the song choice for the end I HAVE IT ON MY PHONE BC OF THIS NOW WOW i get emo over it thank you so much. this is all around just funny and cute and heart-wrenching and fluffy and perfect.

moving on by slaymyseoul

your username conveys perfectly what you’ve done to me, @slaymyseoul: you slayed my soul. slayed it hard. slayed it nasty. and then you acted all happy in the end notes like you didn’t just slaughter a thousand hearts all at once. this binu just...all 700 words of it just ruined me for the rest of my life. you’re such a good author and it shows in my tears.

baby by beifomg

tbh now all i can think in my head is BABY whenever they call each other that, bless astro and their bitchin tunes. NAH BUT THIS FIC is so pure??? so so so pure and i just wanted to touch the screen and somehow lengthen the story with nothing but this pure moment between eunwoo and binnie. at least im so happy this was created, it’s perfection.

Let's go on an adventure! by Rach4040

BINU!!! CUTE BINUUUU!!! also rulebreaker binnie and SUDDEN RULEBREAKER EUNWOO??? i love the idea of cute, romantic teens going off in the middle of the night just to be cute and pure and getting back home in the morning and knowing they won’t get any sleep and will be utterly exhausted all day, but it’s worth it because they love each other AND THATS WHAT THIS IS!!! it’s so cute, gosh golly.

rock show by roobix

i know a few people wanted bartender jinwoo, which i might still write, but i think this one is even better than what i could ever do. it was so short and i longed for more BUT MAN what we did get was fantastic (and made me imagine bartender jinwoo, haha yessss)

oh, the stars shine by parkjinchu

the stars shine for @parkjinchu and HER BEAUTIFUL FICS!!! i missed her writing in the lull after the year we met (go check it out, go check it out on her page, wow i cry), but she’s back with DOMESTICCCCC (im so happy with all this domestic we’re getting) JINCHA!!! why is there not more jincha, they work so well together. (i’d write it but also im myungjin trash, i cant escape my hell). also cute new parents peeking over a bed at their fragile baby just warms my heart (also, relatable, how do you touch a baby without breaking him)

summer paradise by aseuteuro

nopenopenopenope. i shouldnt recommend this, so dont read it unless you want to cry at work like seal did (not safe for work, bc you CRY). it’s binu and i sorta expected it to be happy despite the angst warning in the tags (im not smart, i dont claim to be intelligent) but it WASNT, it just RIPPED MY HEART OUT, HOW DARE

colour me by heybinnie

i will be honest, i dont normally read reader-insert fics like this, but i thought, “it’s @heybinnie and she’s perfect so i bet it will be perfect.” guess what? it was. it was so dreamy and beautiful and breathtaking, and i seriously cannot wait to figure it all out! (JINWOO SELLS DRUGS, PASS IT ON)

flytrap by tinytaeil

MYUNGJIN, i thought. METAPHORS, i thought again. BEAUTIFUL WRITING WOW IM JEALOUS, i thought once more. and then it ends with my cries, why can’t jinwoo just LOVE and have HAPPINESS, why this, why the poor fly, why the amazing description and flowing narrative??? tbh, i think this fic was a flytrap.

forbidden love by jiminaddiction

MORE MOONROCK! look at us getting blessed with all this moonrock. i love this one a lot bc minhyuk is deaf and bin is colorblind, but WOW they’re so adorable and blushy around each other! each chapter that comes out makes me so happy and excited, and i can’t wait for more of it!

Loop by ContraryNonsense

WOW MAN THIS IS SO INTRIGUING!!! i dont read tags, tbh, i just click at this point when i see the description, so i didn’t expect the ending to the first chapter (then i read the tags and thought, “gotta trudge past the angst to get to the happy ending.”) and we’re ALMOST THERE!!! ONE MORE CHAPTER!!! definitely read this, pls do so, it deserve so much more hits than it’s got.

where soil lies, a new beginning blooms by @vocalpmh

THIS WAS INSPIRED BY WITCHCRAFT WHICH>????? how did i do anything to deserve this amazing piece of perfection??? i still read it a lot, it’s one of my go-tos when im feeling down, and im so blessed you gifted it to me, i just absolutely ADORE this fic. pls pls pls read, it’s pure and perfect myungjin (also butt groping, my legacy spreads)

breadtrayed by @glowingjinjin

that pun. get in my home, lanna, i need your puns. i think we had a discussion bc i actually dont like bread all that much but NO WHAT HAS BREAD EVER DONE TO ME??? or to eunwoo, who apparently can find time to bag up a bunch of bread, what a great boyfriend.

a love stronger than furniture by @glowingjinjin

stop writing funny fics to make up for train to busan, you can’t replace my broken heart. IDK THO THIS CAME CLOSE TO DOING SO!!! everything about it was perfect, and you’re so amazing with writing these cutsie fics??? (and then you’ll turn around and rip out my heart, i know you will)

witch coven au by @astrofireworks

i still havent read the newest addition, but i have it up right now to read after i post this. i love your imagination. i love your ideas, i just need to tap into your brain and steal some of this brilliance, thank you very much

UPDATED FICS FROM LAST WEEK MONTH??? -

because of hani by gachigallae - have i mentioned how much i love these kids and domestic stuff??? because i do, i truly seriously do, and i love this fic and bin’s affection for dongmin’s daughter is so cute

5+1 by heybinnie - this makes my heart wrench, but in a good way, and makes me realize how fantastic of a leader jinwoo is to these boys.

stray romance by alette - @alette-stars done did it again, stole my heart and made binnie and dongmin both all so jealous, wow this is cute

medley by sassysavagesanha (RedJusticeLibra) - QUEEN OF SOCKY!!! MORE SOCKY FOR ME!!! more socky for you if you click right now, guaranteed you’ll enjoy it

short moments by Mieun (snowsketch) - i love these cute little movements, and new chapters always make me so happy, especially the myungjin in the last chapter!

inked by jinwoosmile - i figured you out, @jinwoosmile. you tryin to get me to cry. and you succeeded, congrats, you can stop bashing my heart apart now.

leave me dreaming by desiderate - im hooked. im so so so so hooked and idk how it’ll end but im so anticipating whatever happens because it’s such good writing so i know it’ll be fantastic (even if i’ve been so sad with this lol)

the language of flowers by birdbrainberke - I LOVED THIS PROMPT so obvs i love this fic, especially bc it’s @payneinthearsenal, who really knows how to write amazing fics.!!!

and if you ever have anything you think i need to check out, hit me up with that fic, fams. i dont even care if it’s your own. i check a03 regularly, so if it’s something posted elsewhere, pls let me know!