#i just wanna jive making art

[l-la]

Ultimately I am interested in the stories and art people create. I want to see what people's minds come up with. I want to think about how they chose to design their characters, the lines and colours they play with. I want to know people are creating. Being. There's something so human about it.

I joke often I can't imagine not thinking about my characters and stories always in the back of my head, and I can't. I can't imagine what it is not to make or think about a sentence. Think about how I want to scribble out my next illustration.

I fear generative AI making for a populace that is easier to manipulate. Easier to convince of badly cloaked lies because they don't know how to read with any level of consideration for that.

But I also will not abandon the places and people that make up stories and art. They can make their poor mimicries, even bad ones. I hope artists and writers can protect themselves to the best of their own abilities. But I am not going anywhere. I want to be here, where people are making and telling and creating. In spite of everything.

[moonpie016]

Functional sleep is meh/hj

(not actually, but y'know.)

Idk why, but as I was listening to The Mr. Hyde jive, I kept thinking of the part where Hyde is talking about kicking an old guy. And thinking more on it made funnier in my head.

So that's why this was made.

!!Mild shaking!!

---

---

---

---

---

I have not drawn this man as much. Only like...three times? But yay. (Imma just refer to him as The Narrator or Chonny for the time.

And his tie colors are in order of the songs colors. Yay.)

---

And as that thing I said I was making, had progress to the first few sketches/lining/coloring, testing stuff. Annnnd I was enjoying it... until I wasn't. And that made me think, I should make this easier for me. (It was nice to try something unfamiliar yet hard.)

Though I feel that whether I take a few hours (like this animatic) or days (which I wrote down), that it needs to be fun. Or at least enjoyable enough. So that's going on hold for now, still have the thing planned. But wanna do it comfortably and not get frustrated.

---

I like making funny things I find funny.

Anyways, I guess that's all until another time (whenever).

But hey, more GW/The novel lyric hunt art.

Enjoy. Imma rest now.

---

[nanjokei]

i think the spread of character ai usage (and ai art generation usage also) is definitely an issue with people wanting instant gratification which actual rp usually is just not sustainably built for unless you're doing chat rp, even then your friends aren't awake 24/7 waiting at beck and call to entertain you. it's not literally entitlement, but it 100% stems from entitlement to be entertained constantly and passively instead of actually going out and finding something to do.

god this sounds like such boomer shit but the creation of endless scrolling like on tiktok with specifically tailored algorithms has made people so PASSIVE. ai can never come close to human creators but if people, especially the younger generation, are getting too cozy with choosing it over seeking out other human beings (whether it be indirectly via consuming fanmade work or directly via actual collaborative stuff like online roleplay), then how different is it from the ai "winning"? i don't think any of the excuses are valid. it's a subpar product in every way. it's almost never im character, it breaks if you propose anything too left field, and it's ultimately empty wish fulfilment and i have no idea how anyone past the age of 16 AT BEST gets any gratification from it. is it just the spread of a lack of reading comprehension? OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!

i do think it's an issue of people not being comfortable with boredom, always needing instant gratification, not wanting to sit down and hone a craft, or give the people who hone a craft themselves the time of day because they can't crank out """content""" for you 24/7. in a way, i'm thinking right now, when i'm bored i just channel surf on tv even if i don't do it as much anymore. but most people don't have tv anymore (personally we pirate iptv so LOL). i don't blame it on that necessarily, but i think with the rise of streaming, you just sit there on a media library staring at a bunch of thumbnails and posters, having to make a decision on how to invest your time. in this case, i get why people are so passive. tiktok is easier, character ai is easier. because i never ended up watching anything whenever i opened netflix (when we had it years ago). one could argue that watching tv is passive, but there's still a choice. you check the tv guide or google it and you know a certain show is on tv a certain channel at a certain time so you keep that in mind. what do you do in the meanwhile? i remember when that was an actual routine for me. i'd be slacking and not doing my homework, so maybe i'd draw a bit, maybe i play on my ds for a while, maybe i go make myself a snack or bake some pastries if i have all day, maybe i continue a book or even surf the web a bit.

the instinct of "aight, im gonna do something else on my own while i wait" is kind of dying. yes i'm on my phone! the difference is my use case. these days i'm not on social media aside from here so i don't use it as much aside from talking to friends on messaging clients and playing games (rarely tho). i say this as someone who stares at the ceiling not doing anything for a good bit each day, but at least i feel like i still have retained some ability to sometimes go, ok time to learn about a new hobby! i don't have to even pick it up. just entertaining it is gratifying on its own. i'm not a writer, but sometimes i'll write a little bit for fun then go "yeah i get why i don't jive with this". lately, i've been interested in competitive pokemon (with not much interest before) because i've been replaying platinum. i research a bit, watch videos, i even got a little brave and tested some sample teams on showdown. it was a fun time killer! i might keep doing it. i might even do it later today. i started reading pokespe too to scratch the pokemon itch too. and it's not like i don't suffer from crazy hard executive dysfunction but hey, this is a product of my effort. lately i've been thinking i wanna pick a character in guilty gear and learn at least one combo! trying new things is fun!!!

i'm sure this post sounds self important, self impressed, self absorbed (c-c-c-combo breaker) and boomer ish as fuck but honestly i don't care anymore. if someone who struggles with simple tasks on the daily like me can find shit to do that isn't just instantly caving to endless scrolling and resorting to chatting up an AI then i'm sure most people can too. it is so much more gratifying actively seeking out fun than to be passive about it.

[unreone]

Art Fight 2024

STARDUST Agent UNR30N3, Reporting for Duty

FIRST WEEK:

Blueprint Preparations — Sketch out the concepts for charas; came up with ideas; choose which wip to commit or scrap for next year

Wait and Prowl — Assess both sea dwellers and friendly lasers that targets the crew of mah ship

Massive Chara Inclusion Selection — Scout for active agents to choose for the mass attack

CAUTION!!!

Some of the arts below the cut contains cartoon gore and elements that might disturb you.

You may proceed with this knowledge.

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□

Attacks Receivedth:

SNIPPY!!

By OCandada

Remark: Awwww heccc yeeez, first attacc of the yearrrr!!! My scissor rat boii looks so adorb and meek here, almost harmless! (just the way he would like you to believe hue hueee) It's frimkin cute to see him like this, I ain't even threathened by his scissor blade bwuhagagsbs. Thanks a bunch for this mate!!!!

The Happy Hills Killers

By ZillyCat

Remarks: Looks like Amora did not head to the right direction after all hyuackc huyckyc ycuuhxk (ill see myself out-) THIS IS FRIMKIN NEAT!!!! Just gurlzzzz slayinnn like they mean it. Literally. They slayed. Many corpses went unfound. The way that Sparkly is smiling, unfazed and that Mori is so proud of herself really makes this! OML this is a delight, I ain't even mad. Ames definitely snoop to close to get there ahaifhxjkx-

Buzzsaw

By Vilke

Remarks:

BRUV- WHAT-

THIS IS AWESUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Fricking crayon stuffed in breadsticks, this is not just eye candy. It's the whole confectionery!!!! It's soo cool to see Sketchy despite literally being halved. The clutter of sketches around them is fun to zoom into. This cursed oracle is beyond the concept of pain and suffering, look at death straight in the eyes and smiled wide. Sure, the pain not really getting to them is a lie, but it ain't gonna bring their jive down!

This is really well-done, thanks a bunch for making this one!

Run Like Your Existence Depended on It

By @zeddye

Remarks: THE MOST PATHETIC CRITTER KNOWN TO MANNNNNNN RUNNING YET ONCE MOREEEEE. When will this damn badger ever learn that Resustance IS fuccimg futile omlll. I adore the action lines for the bg, there even seems to be a skull formation right behind Dodger. It's soooooo funni he thinks he really can escape outta this one alive bwhshsvs. Great frimkin job as always mate!

BIG ART

By OCandada

Remarks: AYYYYYYYYYY, this is neaaaat!!!! A bunch of coolio quirky misfits altogether. This makes me smile so frimkin damn much!

Cheeky Rodent

By Cosmo

Remarks: Ayyyyy snipper snoppers!!!!!!! In Cosmo's artstyle!!!!!! What a glorious time to be alive!!!! Such attitude, this is definitely the face he makes when you say what kind of cut you wanna have at his barber shop. Is internally passing judgement? What does he mean when he said that is a choice you'd obviously made??? How can one infer from his monotonous tone his true intentions? Ahh all that will never be answered. He got that smayl tho

ㅤᵕ̈

snip snip

By @pierrotlunaire08

Remarks: YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! This is (onfg MY COMPULSIONS DEMAND i MUST SAY IT-) bloody awesum! The way you render fur and blood here is cuttingly good. I guess, Snippy wants to stay sharp else he'd be on edge. The shading really seams everything together-

Seriously tho, this is fricking great and I'm still put in shear awe whenever I re-realize that I received this bit.

Rufforth Attack

By @shoups32

Remarks: PURE FRICKING DELIGHTFUL- It's really cool how ye made Rufforth here exude gentleness and sweetness, leaning to a friendly air. This tol puppet doggo may be a bit broken but still approachable as everrrr oml!

Dodger the Badger

By Daaniell3

Remarks: YOOOOOO WE GOT DODGER IN DANIEL'S ASSET ARRANGEMENT ARTSTYLE BEFORE GTA V LEZGOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! It tickles my eye sockets to see funky ear tuffs AND tail variant for him here. Adding to that is his silly frightful expressions. Oh to imagine him being put in situations. Def for the sake of plot and character evolution and not my entertainment. WbUha.

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□

That concludes my report! I'll keep y'all posted for future updates.

[domini-porter]

Double apple! 🍏 🍎

Also 🍑

🍏: Oh lord, what don’t I overuse. Dropping subjects and articles. Opening with unattributed dialogue. Triple emphasis. Run-on sentences. I could name specifics but highlighting them feels like a risky move, and I feel like I’m just barely skating by on calling it writerly voice as it is. (I’m only partly self-deprecating here; I’m hyper-aware of many of my writing tics and flourishes, and it’s a constant battle to make them intentional, and not just tics and flourishes.)

🍎: Happy domesticity, especially babies. I’m someone who has never experienced a maternal instinct/desire for children, so I just wouldn’t know how to do it in an authentic way, and I’m a lifelong, legendary hater of the trope of Cute Kids™️ being every woman’s dream. I never bought Jane being baby-crazy; it always felt pretty out of character. I’m aware she’s married with kids in the books, but on the show? Absolutely not. Until a baby shows up, and it’s all she’s ever wanted? It just really struck me as one of those meta choices—suddenly Jane loves babies, wants a baby, as a way to, I dunno, prove something, but they couldn’t even make that read as comfortably hetero, what with the plan being Baby Rizzoli Has Two Mommies.

So it’s both me not liking or understanding the innate desire to have kids, or be around kids (I mean, I don’t hate being around kids; I do lots of kid-centric arts education and love it), coupled with it just not jiving with the characters, at least for me, at least until consistent characterization became optional (season 4, I wanna say?). 

Plus, or mainly: just let two powerful, professional female characters in traditionally male spaces own it. Particularly when their lives seemed satisfying and complete without babies, without even getting into that sort of gross misogyny-adjacent conservatism that a woman can only be truly happy when she’s a mother.

Uh, lots of feelings on this one, it seems 😬 

🍑: The gimme here is Edith Wharton, since the whole Age of Wickedness series is basically an homage, down to the name. And as an AU-forward writer, I spend most of my time dropping them into other worlds. But let’s see—Maura is obv my baby, and she (both the character and Sasha Alexander) have a vibe that feels timeless, that could fit into pretty much any setting or era (Jane can too, but more as a generator of conflict in the individual-vs-society mold; Angie Harmon has def seen an iPhone, or at least a cordless). I absolutely see her in some candlelit ballroom wearing a fancy gown, just as bewildered and oppressed by rigid social norms as she is in the modern era. Honestly she could vibe with any of the great romantic heroines of that era—Jo March, Anna Karenina, Lily Bart (hopefully not as tragically as those last two). Certainly that has a lot to do with high society being the same as it ever was, no matter the time period, but that makes it so easy and fun for me. And Maura’s internality makes her a useful and intriguing cipher in ways that really allow for explorations of culture, society, relationships, etc by using her as the lens. 

Anyway, I’m pretty sure she and Countess Olenska would’ve gotten along like a house on fire, even though it meant displacing Maura as Mrs. Manson Mingott’s favorite granddaughter when Ellen came back from Europe.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Writing asks: 10, 11, 38

10: Top three favourite fic tropes

Transformations - Vampires, alien goo, zombification, demonic corruption, dragon mode, I eat this shit UP! Day fucking one my mom asks little 3 year old me what kinda imaginary story I wanna play and I am immediately transforming motherfuckers into various animals, monsters, and strange shapes. I've been on my freak with this since birth.

Omegaverse - I've only half written the one fic for it myself, but I find A/O/B very fun and extremely gender affirming. I could honestly rant about the appeals of this one for a while, but half of it would be NSFW and the other half would be railing against one specific anti-omegaverse argument that genuinely makes me want to fist fight people lol, so suffice to say, I do really like it.

Edgy Panic Button Powers - uhhh so idk what the proper name for this would be, but I'm talking like superpowers that are overwhelmingly powerful, but have some kind of cost that necessitates that it can only be pulled out in absolute emergencies, and I want that shit to be edgy as all hell. Ichigo's Hollow mask thingy is a good example of this. Rin from Blue Exorcist doing his demon thing is another great one. Alucard's control level zero (might be getting that name wrong??) from Helsing Ultimate OVA. Dante's Devil Trigger and Jason's All-Blades could be the same kinda sauce with the right tweaks. Bonus points if the Edgy Panic Button is a transformation.

...Just realized this one isn't exactly a fic trope, have another one

Only One Bed - something about this one strikes just the right balance between fools getting put in awkward scenarios against their will and character choice. The bed forces temptation, and it's up to the characters and their own foibles as to who breaks how. Have yet to write this one yet, but it will happen someday, mark my words.

11: Three tropes that are fine but overrated

continuing the trend of only half staying on topic, some of these are more like tropes of unknown rating that don't jive with me? I have a hard time saying something is getting undue praise, but I tried

Soulmate AUs - I think they're simultaneously underrated and overrated. They get treated like they're THE exemplar of romantic storytelling in fanfiction, especially in terms of talking about hating it and wanting it subverted into dust because it's supposedly this hollow hedgemonic whatever, when really like... It is not the core and pinnacle of pure romance, nor is it emblematic of what's wrong with the kids these days. It's just a trope, with narrative strengths and weaknesses the same as any other trope. It's fine.

coffee shop/flower shop/mundane job AUs - These are simply incompatible with me. I do not like normalcy; normalcy does not like me. I have a really hard time imagining my weirdo blorbos being so normal without exploding out of their own skins trying to find something more. Tim and Jason would attempt to throw hands with everyone and God in every world I think, but at the same time, maybe I kinda get why people like it? If I wrote the same kind of slice of life fic about Jason and Tim working together as assistants in a necromancer's lab I'd really like it. I can respect a trope that's comforting and has a routine that puts the characters in proximity with a craft they can mutually share and have passion over. Still feel like it's kinda over-done tho

Wing fics - I am way, way too anal retentive about speculative biology and speculative anthropology for 98% of these, which prefer to focus on using the wings as thematic and emotional indicators. I get why they're popular, they're cool and lend themselves well to dope ass art, but also they do sometimes make me want to scream about wingspan ratios and improper joint placements.

38: "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

"This happened but" all the way. I find taking the concepts that didn't work in comics execution and improving upon them to be a fun challenge. I firmly believe that with effort and care, you can make a good story out of nearly any starting concept, and there's a ton of advantages I have as a reader/fanfic writer that the original comic writers didn't have (like hindsight and a lack of executive demands), so idk I pretty much always feel like I can take the comic's basic beats and figure out a way to improve it.

I'm also just way more forgiving than a lot of other comic readers I think? Like I have gone on record as a defender of both Brothers in Blood and Pill Helmet Jason and some of my first comics ever were Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws new 52 stuff and that somehow didn't turn me off of comics lmao, it takes a LOT to make me say "this is too garbage for me to want to use any of it". I enjoy going into comics looking for stuff that works or could work better if ___.

The only "this never happened"s I really go for are the ones that are like specifically in service to keeping a character's cool magic power or transformation curse or whatever intact. Like if the story's happily ever after involved the main character no longer turning into a sicknasty demon form when mad, I will hate that enough to pitch it out entirely lol

anyhow, thank you for the ask Laufire! I might send u some questions back as revenge :3

[blubushie]

Opinions of furries?

From being a furry for decades, i can give you bit of information on it all in case you dont know. There is different "catogries" of furries. I can say that there is a hypothetical graphic that all furry charracters can stumble on.

The x axis would be the level of anthropomorphisation. the extremes going: (-100) Human (fully human. No anthropormorphisation whatsoever), (0) Anthro (the blend between feral and human. Characters tend to walk on two legs, skeletons and anatomy are usually changed, etc,), (100) Feral (Literally an animal).

The y axis is the aesthetic style your character is intended to be in: (-100) Toony (Stylized in a way that is very cartoonish. Big expressive eyes, distinct character design, etc,) (100) Feral (Literally an animal).

The z axis is the intelligence/sentience your character have: (-100) Human (fully capable of all of the abstract human thought and intelligence and critical thinking), (100) Feral (Literally an animal. Usually aligned with the level of intelligence/behaviour the species of the character.).

A character that is (0, 0, 0) Is i would say your average furry.

A character that is (100, 100, 100) would be a straight up animal. a whole ass animal with no unrealistic characteristics or behaviors. like a frog or something.

A character that is (-100, -100, -100) It is just a human person that is stylized in a cartoony way.

Most furries have fursona characters that are only existing in artistic form. Like drawing on a computer or a paper sheet. Most do not own fursuit costumes.

I am wanted to know curiously what you think about the furries. Where do you draw line? Do you not like things certain?

good day for you, i hope

excuse myself for the not so good wording english is not my first language

Mate I've spent the past 15 minutes or so staring at this and trying to puzzle out how to respond to furry algebra in my fucking inbox.

Funny answer: If you've got a hide to peel and look like an animal then I'm hunting you like an animal. Smart as people makes the job fun. Rare, unique, artistic? Sounds like it'd be nice trophy over my mantle. I'm sharpening my skinning knives and you should start running.

Real answer: Iunno, mate, furries make me really bloody uncomfortable. Even a human body with animal ears and tail kinda toe the line for me. It crosses wires in my brain that don't jive well. When I was younger I liked the art of, er, anthro wolves and shit (think Native American-esque themes, with natural colours, not sparkledog stuff) because I thought it looked cool but the community's always kinda given me a weird vibe and whatever interest I mighta had completely detached with the whole Kero situation in addition to having some... unpleasant interactions with people in the community. I want nothing to do with the community at all at this point, not even the art. Gives me the creeps, especially the more sexual aspect.

If you're a furry you can still interact of course, I just... don't wanna be sent furry stuff. Makes me uncomfortable. One of the few tags I've got blacklisted here.

[afreakingdork]

Hey Dork! It's been a while since I came to your ask box hehe, I just wanna say that CtM was such a ride, and I'm glad I found that fic cause it's probably one of the greatest Donnie x Readers I have read!!!

Which also makes me come to my question, which feel free to ignore if you've already answered something like this!

But you've inspired me into making an OC x Donnie story and I've gotta ask you about some writing tips? Also writing Donnie's character since I'm... uh... Not that great at writing for him? 😅 is there just anything you do to get into his character or is it just something that easily comes to you?

AA sorry it's long I got carried away-! I hope you have a good day/night wherever you are! :D

Goodness gracious, it's good to here for you! You come back just to make me blush!

Even if I have answered this, it's certainly been awhile. First off, the fact that I inspired you to write makes me doubly blush! There is nothing in this world like inspiring someone else to make art! Back to the question at hand, it's funny I recently wrote a little example of my process on my membership ko-fi, but that's not really tips, is it? Not to schlep this off onto someone else, but @kathaynesart wrote an incredibly poignant bit about storytelling that I hope everyone has a chance to read! To be specific, I especially jive with "the Greenhouse Method" and their notes on scenes mattering. Even when writing something akin to a slice of life, I'm a huge proponent that the scene has to mean something. Even if the whole sequence happens just so one tiny revelation or line of dialog can be said, I think that justifies the scene for the plot! I get frustrated, especially with movies as of late, that are long for the sake of being long and have scenes that don't serve the plot. Everything is in service of the plot; that's the point of a story!

My writing has been refined through years of reading as well. Whether that be fanfiction or real books, being a voracious reader is practice step one and integral to hearing many voices in a means to hone your own! Also, just like drawing, you just have to start writing now. Good... Bad... It's all subjective and what's important is practice. Plus even stuff I look bad on that's 'bad' grammatically or problematic that I wrote a decade ago, still has merit because the idea may have been good or the emotion I explored was interesting! It breaks my heart when old media gets deleted for the sake of 'cleaning up.' I understand the necessity for brand management at a certain point, but sometimes I wish there were more options like orphaning a fic on ao3!

As for Donnie, and this specially I have mentioned before (again, not a thing, this is a note for myself), but I got to a standpoint where I felt comfortable writing him after listening to hours upon hours of compilations of him on YouTube. I have this thing where I 'hear' a character's voice, but I need to tune that and compilations help tune out the noise of other characters when you really want to sharpen your ear for just one. That isn't to say this process ever ends. I still watch compilations to this day to remind myself what I'm going for!

I believe I'm the one who ended up getting carried away, but I hope any of this helps and please feel free to message me if you'd ever like my thoughts on your work! This has been a delightful addition to my day so I wish you a similarly wonderful day/night as well!!! ✨

[syrupspinner]

nextfest demos in the order i played them!

except for 500 calibre contractz since i already talked about that

im not gonna spend too long talking about em, since theyre just demos and all, but! i like talking :3

this was great! ive tried some pinball games in the past, and out of them ive enjoyed demon's tilt the most. the progress system reminds me of mario pinball land, where if you fall down youve gotta work back up. it was kinda frustrating in that game, but i trust that this will work to make improvements like the checkpoint system. also, i like the abilities! it reminds me of wizorb in the way that i dont enjoy arkanoid/break-out by itself, and the magic lets you avoid stalemates and give the levels more freedom. so yeah, looking forward to the full game!

windows firewall defender moment. sorry, but im not really feeling this one. i couldnt progress after building the chocolate crafting table. im not sure if i was missing something or if the game just wasnt showing me new recipes. the menu sais thered be more pages if i scrolled, but there wasnt. also, i killed a ginger bread guy, but like... nothing happened? it didnt give me anything but the body just stayed there. next.

a little rough around the edges, but i respect the niche! i won my first match through attrition, but i can see myself really latching on to the gameplay if i gave the full game a shot. definitely one of those games that you leave lying around your library and launch when youre in the mood, not the kinda thing you focus on and grind out.

first impression, this needs better controller support, sometimes the menu just... doesnt work without a mouse, including the title screen. ive got a bit of a soft spot for marble games, i was inspired when i saw patricia taxxons marble blast video. but a lot of them just seem a bit unpolished, Sphero included. the foundation is there, i think the controls are pretty alright, but the presentation loses me

typo in the tutorial. the game was really polite about being a work in progress, so ill let it slide. especially since this was made by three people, wow? anyway, im kinda surprised by how well i jived with this game. i was expecting this to be a kinda mid ecchi game, but its actually surprisingly fun. the weird thing is, i remember trying viscera cleanup detail when i was younger and really not liking it. maybe this is more engaging because of the setting and style? either way, wishlisted. wish i had people to try the multiplayer with!

oh my god its so small. ew, up to jump?oh never mind this game is funky /pos as hell. i dig the music, and the npcs have such killer personality. the core mechanics are a bit simplistic but im hoping the full game fleshes them out more. i feel kinda bad that i dont have much else to say about this, the gameplay's pretty straightforward but the art direction saves it. wishlisted

last one for the night. full disclosure, i held off on this one because i knew id be into it anyway, but MAN thats a understatement! im so so into the combat here, i love being able to plan things out before committing to them, and its SO fun to play with the AP system! the writing is super fun, i already love all these characters, and i cant wait for a second to see where the story's going with the memory loss and the weird teacher, ugh i wanna play more! bar none my favorite game so far

tune in whenever my adult responsibilities are slightly less worrisome for the second part! homefully itll be the conclusion, im planning for it to be but oooooo viddy games...

[vicekillx]

Update for Stream Sketches

I love doing stream sketches. They’re relatively quick, easy, fun, and give people a more accessible way to get custom art from me. They’re a great way for someone who wants to commission me to “test drive” and see if they jive with my style, personality, and workflow without committing to a larger piece. I get to meet all kinds of new clients and friends through them. They’re great, everyone loves them, yada yada

What I don’t love is that all but 6 of my 20 submissions from Halloween to New Years were stream sketches. In fact almost half my posts from 2023 were stream sketches.

I don’t wanna do fewer sketches, but I think I do want to post fewer sketches. So from now on I’m gonna start trimming back how many of them I post, at least publicly. They’ll probably all still end up on Discord, and maybe I’ll put them in scraps on the sites that have that feature (I haven’t decided yet). 

But I’ve had people in the past feel some kinda way about me not posting their commissions, so I wanted to make this post to be explicitly clear about it:

What me posting your stream sketch DOES mean:

Your character happens to fall into the middle of the venn diagram of my favorite subject matters to draw and the feeling that I really nailed the execution

I want to attract more work in a similar vein

What me NOT posting your stream sketch does NOT mean:

I don’t like how your sketch came out

I didn’t enjoy working on your sketch

I don’t like your character

I don’t like/didn’t enjoy working with you

I never want to draw your character again

I don’t think the art/your character is “good enough” to post

I’ll probably also go through and move a bunch of old ones to scraps on my gallery sites too. Hope that clears things up, and please don’t feel offended if your sketch doesn’t get posted. I just gotta balance it out better and I can only choose so many!

[hurlumerlu]

Also throwing critrole s3 at you for the fandom ask thing, I wanna hear your opinions

thank youuuuu (though given the recent spoilers I kinda feel like you just gently placed a landmine at my feet)

The first character I fell in love with: I mean, Ashton ? I just saw their character art and immediately went "oh shit" because I'm easy like that, but I also really loved their introduction so I was on board with them from the start.

A character that I used to love/like but now do not: FCG I guess ? But it happened pretty fast.

A ship that I used to love/like but now do not: RIP Orym/Bertrand you could have been something, if only in my head.

My ultimate favorite character: right now it's Chetney, I feel like there's so much to explore with him, and it's always nice seeing Travis flex his sense of comedic timing.

Prettiest character: Imogen.

My most hated character: I don't hate anyone yet ? maybe that will change next monday.

My OTP: I still don't have any, but I ship Ashton with literally everyone but FCG and Imogen, and Fearne with everyone but Orym.

My NOTP: way too strong a word, but I don't jive with Orym/Dorian. Idk, I just don't feel it.

Favorite episode: Heart to Heartmoore : so many good late-night conversations ! Absolutely love it.

Saddest death: Well. I guess I'll tell you next monday ? (it will probably be orym's)

Favorite season: Loved the whole Heartmoor mini-arc to bits.

Least favorite season: The whole thing with Yu should have been super exciting but for some reason it didn't work for me ? Same with Fearne's parents, and since the two are linked I guess this is my least favorite mini-arc.

Character that everyone else in the fandom love, but I hate: I don't hate them, and I don't think everyone in the fandom love them, but I mostly dislike FCG. Like, I love Sam's jokes, but I find FCG irritating a lot of the time. But then, it was the same for Scanlan when I first watched Cr1. (also I'm. very ambivalent about the Greenseekers. and a bit surprised that the fandom latched onto them like that)

My "you're a piece of trash, but you're still a fave" fave: Miss Jiana Hexum please call me back <3 <3 <3

My "beautiful cinamon roll who deserved better than this" fave: no clue ! None of them are cinamon rolls and I can't think of a NPC who fits the bill.

My "this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul but I still love it" ship: hahaha so. Fearne/Birdie is a thing. that I wondered about. I wouldn't say I love it though, it's more of an idle thought.

My "they're kind of cute, and I low-key ship them, but I'm not too invested in them" ship: pretty much everyone still ? I'm gonna say Laudna/Asthon because while I think the ship has a lot of potential, I'm still more interested in Laudna/Imogen.

aaaand that's it ! I do feel like the fact that I had a truly hard time answering many of these questions at like, episode 32, tells something about the show, but I'm still not sure wether it's a bug or a feature (would love your take on that btw). I'm still curious to see where things go, but that may change with episode 33 and the next. We'll see !

[thegalleonsnest]

I FINALLY DID IT! GRUMPSONA/SELF-INSERT TIME! MAJOR SELF INDULGENT HOURS!

It finally happened and it only took 9 months. It’s not like I was having a hard time coming up with anything, I literally just never got around to it. The idea and foundation has been set since literally the start of me getting into Bugsnax, I’m not even joking. I busted this out in about two days and refined it. I wanted this to be more than just me, per say, and I’ve been remunerating a lot on how Chordical would be a character in the context of the story cause I wanna have fun damn it lol. Lot’s of thoughts I’ve never written down before, but here’s your background info.

Chordical Gallopano is a recent graduate with an art degree with not much going on. Most of his time is spent dealing with family trouble, and very little time spent on how to apply himself with his work. During a raffle drawing, he decided to put his name in just for the heck of it, cause why not? Entering was free anyhow. A month later he got a call from the agency holding the raffle and was told he won the 1st place prize of a free vacation of his choosing! The timing was perfect since most things were calming down, and he honestly couldn’t wait to leave! He took a moment to review possible vacay spots before remembering a certain Grumpus...Elizabert Megafig. She was planning an expedition to Snaktooth, and said she was taking in anyone who could help fill out certain roles, or if they had won one of her raffles. The raffle he won was good for any trip, so he bit the bullet and went for Snaktooth. Luckily, Lizbert wasn’t strict on her rules, so it ended up working out!

Although Chordical was only a raffle winner like Shelda, he offered her his artistic talent as a way to document all the different Bugsnax they could find on the island. He would sometimes journey with her to different locations to get on site documentation. They were generally pretty good with each other, and he appreciated her charisma and leadership. Although Bugsnax were interesting, they just felt off to him. Something wasn’t right, and the fact that eating certain ones turns your paws into numbs or make it hard to hold any art tools, he found them mainly bothersome. He would only eat Bugsnax when necessary, and try to aim for ones that gave him some kind of digits to work with (although got carried away a few times for how good they were).

Besides documentation, he ended up forming good bonds with a good number of the islanders with very little friction, but the group he gravitated towards was Gramble, Floofty, Wambus, and Triffany.

Growing up in similar country sides, he jived pretty well with the southerns, and his overall level headed nature meshed well with Floofty and Triffany as well. Gramble became a very close friend early on. They were pretty close in age range, and their personalities for general kindness clicked for them. Chordical would often be found helping out at the ranch and hanging out for the most part.

Wambus and Triffany felt more like parental figures to Chordical, and enjoyed being around them. He would occasionally join Triffany in her archaeology runs and help document her findings. History was always a fun topic, and Triffany brought that out in spades. 

On the flipside though, there was always an underlying tension between Gramble and Wambus that he had to deal with. He would often act as a mediator between them, but the stressful ordeal just kept going, even if he managed to cool things down. Literally the last thing he wanted to put up with after leaving home.

Floofty ended up becoming a rather good friend and interesting Grumpus in general. They were the opposite of acting on pure emotional, and being able to talk to someone who was very reasonable and level headed like him was a breath of fresh air. Although they couldn’t see eye to eye on everything, he still valued their input and company in general. He even helped in a few of their experiments, but he knew when to tap out, even if it frustrated them.

Despite taking this trip to get away from everything, it seems like his troubles continued through other Grumpuses. He wants to make this work, but there’s only so much he can do before it really gets to him. 

[xenotwink]

Okay, well, I’m jealous of your job, but whatever, it’s fine, whatever. It sounds kind of fun, and like you get to learn things, and the actually helping people aspect is nice. Seriously, though, anytime you wanna talk about b0nes, talk about b0nes, bc I wanna hear lmao.

I understand having triggers and asking for warnings, but there’s a total difference between going off on someone for not doing so/ not knowing and someone who’s actually just… trying to live their life without impeding on yours? I’m of the opinion we shouldn’t be dicks to people unless they’re genuinely being dicks to us. What’s that quote? Why assume malice when ignorance suffices, or something? Sorry that things went downhill for a while, glad they’re better now though. And that you seem to have supportive friends ‘n stuff.

@ CEDF charity folks- Making a zine with content you enjoy is totally not a problem! I’m glad y’all have managed to raise a sum of money for a good cause. The issue, with me personally, anyway, was that I was confused when I read the description. As Blue said, pin-up art is, and always has been, a tool for horny people, lol. So saying it’s Safe For Work while labeling it pin-up feels contradictory. That makes it difficult for me especially because I am ace, and I kinda don’t want nudies cause it’s not my jive, but seeing non-explicit was like, “It’s not nude people, but pin-up suggests they’re being… suggestive,” lmao. So, even though I like Chiss and fanart in general, I’m not sure how to decipher where my comfort level with the zine would even be. Personally, I won’t be making a purchase, but it makes me happy to hear you have made something you are proud of.

Chanukah. Hanukkiss. Idk, neither of those are great lmao, but Christmas stuff all the time in December just kinda. Sucks, Ig. Not trying to put anyone who likes it down, and I have friends who think it’s like, the biggest good thing ever, and I’m happy people get happy because of it, but. Yeah.

Omg Blue’s Ascendancy Info Zine? Yes please! I’d actually love that. And I think you’re right about the Tatooine thing, but where the hell did that info come from?

How was your day? And yours, @💚💙?

Love my Big Blue Brain group. 😘💙

-💙📘🖋

It’s such a cool job and I’m so sorry everyone that your job isn’t as cool and that mine is absolutely the coolest. I will talk about it so much don’t worry!

I think people were prepared to be assholes after I renamed the server from “Thrawn fans” to “queer Thrawn fans”. I’m not gonna ask people their triggers? No way. And if someone says something you should like message a mod (me) about it, not flip the fuck out and tell me that you were On Watch for a person all night because it triggered them? Like there’s more than one thing going on there. But don’t take it out on me, the person trying their best. I have receipts but I’m not gonna drop them because I don’t really care.

You put that perfectly with the charity zine. My only other thing with that is are there gonna be female-presenting nipples or no? If you draw Thrawn with his nips out, you should draw Ar’alani with Her Nips Out. So it kinda doesn’t really work for ace people and horny people because of expectations. That’s all. We’re allowed to discuss this. You don’t have to at me and be a dick about it.

Haunakiss is pretty good but. Like there’s other religions. Stop! You’re subjecting us all to it and for some people it Especially Sucks because persecution. I’m not Jewish but all my friends are so. I’m an ally in the most honest way.

I think they teased it on one of the recent movies but then didn’t run with it. Csilla and Chiss Climate Change Zine? Something.

So far, my day has been great!

Big blue brain group ftw

[shsl-box-worshipper]

Secret Santa is BACK

*coughcough* My apologies for being such a disaster with my messages.

It is absolutely ok that you prefer not to give me any topic! That's room for imagination 👍

And OH. I am a lover of angst and fluff too. I love reading things that torn my insides apart lol. So don't worry, nobody's scared here (maybe just my elves, I've got them working 24/7 at this point) 😝

I already have something half cooked for you! Dreamy colors and all. Sounds good?

I'm curious however, what do you like about ShinRan's relationship? 🧐

Hi! Don't worry about being a disaster when it comes to the messaging. I perfectly understand where your coming from (especially since my midterms are like only a couple weeks after Christmas Break). AND FUCK YEAH!!! I honestly love both so much, even though I mainly write Angsty fics. I especially love it when Angst and Fluff is used in the same fic like for example, in one paragraph, some dude's hanging with his friends after recovering from an attempted murder. Next thing you know, WHAM! He's turned into some horror and his friends don't even know as they panic (totally not referencing the planning for one of my fics there. NOPE!)

And awwww, I wanted to be horrifying for just a little while, but oh well (Can I steal your elves FYI? I need to eat SOMETHING in order to get all of the energy for my fics)

And fuck yeah! I honestly don't mind dreamy and trippy colors and the like (also you're implying that you're making fanart which is making me very happy rn). I just REALLY love art in general (and Shinran, which is making foam at the mouth rn because I love the ship way too much).

Speaking of Shinran, you wanna hear my opinions about it?

Well, for one, I really like how Ran and Shinichi are set up. Even though Gosho stuck with the Childhood Friends Trope when writing their romance, I honestly love the trope when it's well-executed. And it's done pretty decently here. Outside of the heavy graphic mutual pining, you honestly get a sense of how well they jive at being best friends. Which is honestly the step I wish some ships took to make their ships more realistic because it's so crucial for the characters to understand how well they could survive around each other NORMALLY as just friends. Because there are some ships that jump straight into shipping the characters straight from a really complex hateful, but completely canon and realistic rivalry/enemy-ship to an ooc or completely toxic romance (*LOOKS DIRECTLY AT KOMAHINA CUZ THAT'S THE EXACT REASON WHY I HATE THAT SHIP!*)

And once things start rolling the ball with the whole APTX shrinking, Ran gets really worried about Shinichi. So much so that she starts trying to figure out what happened to him, only to end in a suspicion arc that ends with Conan concealing his identity once again. Which I honestly love. Cuz usually these arcs are so angsty and painful at the same time, because you can see the pain Shinichi's Cone-ification has inflicted on both sides of the relationship, but at the same time, you know Conan can't reveal himself.

However, once the antidote comes into play, things start finally rolling for the relationship, and it's honestly one of my favorite parts about Shinran. Sure, IRL, it takes like a couple years before they move to the next milestone, but in Canon, it's only been a few months. Which is really fast considering how slow relationships develop normally, ESPECIALLY IN JAPAN! However, it isn't going so fast that it's completely out of the realm of possibility. Plus, the urgency fits with how Shinichi can be only around so much before he turns back into Conan, and the fact that Ran is completely clueless when it comes to his black org fight (I honestly have the theory that at this point, Ran's been thoroughly convinced Shinichi's Conan, and is just waiting for him to tell her WTF HAPPENED THAT NIGHT?!).

And that's not even counting the non-canonical headcanons and theories I have on Shinran's relationship. Both have really crappy parents and they generally gravitate towards each other due to how much they helped one another during their initial parental torments. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MY MENTAL HEALTH HEADCANONS!!! Cuz this ask will probably be three times as long with them. Anyway, I hope you like my Shinran two cents. It's crappy, I know, but there's so much about the ship I like that it's hard for me to put it all in an ask-answer.

[indigowallbreaker]

Happy Spooky Secret Friend Day, @lazy-alienn! I’m so sorry this is late but hopefully you enjoy the Halloween fun times anyway! Below is a Teacher AU spiced with Sportarobbie and sprinkled with other favorites we talked about :D

The art and stories that came out of this project are amazing to see. I love you all and it’s good to see all your work again :’)

(Also available on ao3 as well!)

--

Stephanie’s uncle’s house was covered in tape, paint brushes, cardboard, open cans of soda, scissors, markers, sting, and spice cookie crumbs. It would be a doozy of a mess to clean later but none of the kids were thinking about that. Currently they were staring at Trixie’s white astronaut suit and making the occasional humming noise of consideration.

“What if we just threw the paint bucket at it and called it a night?” Jives suggested, holding up the bucket of crimson paint.

Stephanie frowned. “That sounds too messy.”

“Using the brushes would make it look too deliberate,” Pixel mused. He scratched his head. His hair was green for the evening but no one knew what character he was supposed to be. Some kid from an old play none of them had heard of, except Jives. 

With a huff, Trixie dipped her hands into the paint bucket. “We’re overthinking this, guys.” She slapped her palms on the front of the suit and ran them down to the belt. “There! Now it looks like they were begging me to help them right before I killed them!” A malicious grin appeared on her face that made Stephanie want to step back.

Pixel got between her and the paint before she could do it again. “That’s not how it works in the video game! You just slice them through— they don’t have time to beg!”

“If they did,” Trixie gestured behind her, “it would look like that. Come on, Pixel, it’s Halloween! It doesn’t have to be perfect!” Red paint was dripping from Trixie’s arms onto the tarp they had spread out. It added a certain something-something to the scene, Stephanie thought. 

A knock cut the argument short. Jives put the bucket down and went to the door. With the paint unguarded, Trixie dived for more.

Stephanie joined Jives as he answered the door. “Grovel or treat!” Stingy cried, lifting his chin regally. He was dressed in a thick red coat and shiny crown, holding a plastic scepter that glittered with fake jewels. A plastic pumpkin hung off his other arm.

Behind him, Ziggy said with authority, “It’s ‘trick or treat’, Stingy! How could you forget?”

“I don’t want to trick people,” Stingy explained with his nose in the air. “I want them to give me sweets or bow before me!”

“Are you King Stingy again?!” Trixie called from where she was still slathering the suit with paint. “You said you were gonna be someone else this year!” 

Stingy scowled. “I am not King Stingy!” He flipped long brown hair over his shoulder in a perfect imitation of a shampoo commercial actress. “I am Queen Stingy! Long may I reign!”

Trixie and Pixel both heaved dramatic sighs. With Ziggy in tow, Stingy walked inside and immediately swiped a candy bar from the bowl beside the door. “What are you supposed to be, Ziggy?” Jives asked kindly as he shut the door against the autumn chill.  

The youngest of their group was wearing a silver cape, a black superhero eye mask, a shirt with the letters C M on it, and grey boots. His hair was wet and his face looked pink as if it had just been scrubbed clean.

“I’m the super hero Candy Man!” He declared proudly. “Only I can’t make my face look right. I wanna make a swirl like on my lollipop.”  Ziggy held up a few tubes of face paint. “Can you help?”

Jives took the paint with a grin. “Comin’ right up, my man.” 

As Jives sat Ziggy down at the kitchen table to get to work, Stephanie checked in on Trixie and Pixel. “Uh… everything okay over here?”

The suit was more red than white now. Pixel’s goggles had red fingerprints around the edge and Trixie was rubbing her sticky hands on the tarp. Pixel himself looked annoyed, holding the bucket close to his chest. “She messed it up!” He said, pointing an accusatory finger at Trixie.

Stephanie crossed her arms. “It’s her costume, Pixel. If that’s how she wanted it to look, then it’s fine.”

He grumbled but set the bucket down and stomped over to Jives and Ziggy. Trixie stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. “He takes video games way too seriously,” she said.

“You should wash your hands,” Stephanie advised. Her hands and forearms were both covered in red. 

“Eh. Adds to the look.” Trixie scanned Stephanie up and down. “Should you be getting ready too?”

Stephanie held out her arms. “I am ready.”

“You’re going as Mr. Sportacus?”

“No! I’m a yoga teacher!”

“So, you’re like a lame version of Mr. Sportacus.”

Mr. Sportacus was their gym teacher. It was no secret that he was Stephanie’s favorite teacher; she helped him clean up the equipment after class and often brought in healthy recipes for him to try. He was always kind, taught them a lot about healthy habits, showed them tricks, and helped them start their own garden just outside school.

“Yoga isn’t lame!” Stephanie argued. “You’re just saying that because Mr. Rotten said that.”

Most everyone liked Mr. Sportacus. Except for their music teacher, Mr. Rotten.

Trixie wiggled her fingers. “Careful, or I’ll poke you.”

Thus began a game of tag that had both girls screaming as they ran around the room. It only ended when Jives called, “Done!”

Everyone gathered around Ziggy, who was sporting a pink and white swirl on his face and beaming as he looked in the mirror. Jives rested his chin in one paint-dotted hand. “Well?”

“I love it!’ Ziggy hugged Jives. “Thank you thank you!! Now I’m ready to save Halloween!”

“Is that what Candy Man does?” Stingy asked through a mouthful of chocolate. 

“Yup! He makes sure to gather up a bunch of candy so everyone can trick or treat!”

There were a lot of flaws in that hero motivation, Stephanie noted, but the older kids just laughed goodnaturedly. Pixel clapped a hand on Ziggy’s shoulder. “Then we better get going, Candy Man! Almost time for us to trick or treat!”

It took another ten minutes for everyone to finish getting ready. Stringy whined about his wig getting caught on things until Jives sat him down to braid it. Pixel washed off his goggles with an apologetic Trixie. Ziggy ran around to make sure his cape flying behind him looked heroic enough. Stephanie assured him it did. 

At last they were ready to go.

“I can’t wait to get to Mr. Rotten’s house!” Trixie said as they left. The visor of her space suit was up so she could see as they walked. “He said he made it look really scary!”

Ziggy grabbed Stephanie’s arm. “C-Could I maybe skip that one?”

Jives, walking just behind them with Pixel, ruffled Ziggy’s hair. “Candy Man isn’t scared of Halloween decorations, right? He’s supposed to save Halloween, not run from it.”

“I guess…”

“I’ll stick with you,” Stephanie assured Ziggy. “That way it won’t seem scary. Okay?” He nodded vigorously. 

“Do you really think he’ll decorate though?” Jives wondered out loud. “He’s kinda lazy. I can’t see him putting up a lot of stuff.”

Being lazy was Mr. Rotten’s most known trait. If he was aware, he didn’t seem to care. Although part of his duties as music teacher was to direct the school play, Mr. Rotten had warned the kids on the first day of school not to expect dancing because it was “too much work and I hate getting all sweaty when I try to teach brats how to dance”. Singing was more than enough, he argued. Overall he was a fun teacher and introduced them to lots of different kinds of music and instruments. But the lack of dancing in their plays bugged Stephanie to no end.

She had enlisted Sportacus’ help in persuading Mr. Rotten to change his mind. This had likely been the cause of Mr. Rotten hating Mr. Sportacus. Big whoops on her part.

“If he likes something he usually puts in effort,” Trixie defended. “Remember when we told him about the bake sale by the playground? He ran right out of the classroom!”

Jives gave a low whistle. “Wish I could’ve seen that!”

“You would have if you didn’t sleep through school all the time,” Pixel teased. Jives gave a dismissive shrug followed by a yawn. His gardener costume was just a brown apron smeared with dirt. He was still wearing his characteristic hat.

The first hour of trick or treating went very smoothly. Stingy had to correct some people about his costume and Trixie’s outfit scared poor Penny Pestella who was handing out candy; but otherwise, no one in the group wandered off or fought with each other. 

Jives and Pixel kept swapping their candy because Pixel didn’t like taffy and wanted Jives’ peanut butter candy instead. Ziggy grinned whenever someone complimented his cape. When they stopped for a break, Stephanie pulled water bottles out of the bottom of her treat bag and everyone thanked her up and down.

Trixie was practically bouncing on her toes when they rounded the next block. “It’s Rotten time!” She cheered. Ziggy grabbed Stephanie’s arm again.

All six of their jaws dropped when they came to Mr. Rotten’s house. Trixie had been right— when Mr. Rotten wanted something, he put his heart into it. The walkway up to the door was covered in fake spiders and webs; some of the spiders had glowing eyes and some had legs that moved up and down. Scattered across the lawn were tombstones with gory hands and heads popping out of the dirt. A scarecrow with a slowly revolving head stood beside the door. Bats dangled from the giant tree beside the house. Among all of the decorations were a dozen perfectly carved, purple jack o’lanterns. 

“AWESOME!” Trixie yelled, racing into the yard. Ziggy was trembling, eyes on the spiders. Stingy was practically sticking his face in the nearest pumpkin with awe. Pixel tensed and took Jives’ hand as the pair walked forward. 

After some exploring and assurances, the kids all made their way to the door. “I bet his costume looks super cool!” Trixie said with barely contained excitement. “Let me ring the bell!”

“You rang it last time. It’s my turn.” Stingy reached up a hand but Trixie slapped it down. “Hey! How dare you treat your queen this way!”   

In the middle of their arguing, Stephanie pushed Ziggy forward with a wink. Smiling, careful not to stand too close to the scarecrow, Ziggy rang the doorbell. 

Stingy and Trixie whined in disappointed unison, but Trixie perked up when a witch’s cackle rang out instead of a standard bell sound. 

Then the door opened and revealed the real shock of the night.

“Hello, kids!” Mr. Sportacus greeted. His usual mustache was covered in favor of black whiskers. Black cat ears sat on his head and he was holding a blue bowl filled with candy. Other than that, he just looked like his normal self. He was even wearing the blue athletic attire he wore during gym class.

Recovering her wits first, Stephanie waved. “Uh. Hello, Mr. Sportacus. This is Mr. Rotten’s house, right?”

“Yes! He did very well on the house, don’t you think?”

“What are you doing here?” Pixel asked, clearly dumbfounded.

“Well, Rob— er, Mr. Rotten might have overdone it with the decorations. He hurt his back so he is unable to hand out candy tonight.”

“But, why are you here?” Stephanie stressed.

Mr. Sportacus grinned. “To help him, of course!”

Trixie crossed her arms. “Blue kinda sus.”

The grin faded. “What?”

“She means you’re being suspicious,” Pixel translated. “Why are you the one helping Mr. Rotten? He hates you!”

Sportacus chuckled. “No he does not. We just have different opinions, that’s all.”

“B-but!” Ziggy stammered. “He always pops the soccer balls! And he greased the handle of the gym doors one day so you couldn’t get in! He even tossed all the frisbees on the roof yesterday! He’s mean to you!”

“Well, things will be different from now on,” Sportacus said with a dreamy smile. “You could say we came to an understanding.”

Stephanie beamed. “So he isn’t gonna do mean things anymore?”

“He is. But they will be all in good fun.”

“Oh good,” Trixie said even as all the kids sighed in disappointment. “I’d hate for things to get weird around here.”

“Anyway,” Mr. Sportacus shook the bowl, “what are you supposed to say?”

Six voices confidently yelled “trick or treat!” and Stingy was the first to grab at the bowl. They all took massive handfuls. Jives put one piece of candy on the shoulder of the scarecrow with a satisfied smile. 

“I thought you said candy was unhealthy?” Ziggy asked, frowning into his candy bag. “Why are you handing it out?”

“Candy can be okay sometimes. As long as you do not eat too much!”

Sportacus looked ready to say more but a voice from further inside the house called “What is taking you so long, Sportadoof?! You’re just supposed to give out candy! Not make conversation!” Wearing a fuzzy purple bathrobe and fuzzier orange slippers, hunched over, and practically pushing Mr. Sportacus, was their music teacher.

“Mister Rotten!” All the kids cried.

Mr. Rotten glared at them. “Happy Halloween. Take your candy and go.”

“Robbie! Be nice!”

“Love your decorations, Mr. Rotten!” Trixie chirped. 

That got Mr. Rotten to smirk. “Thank you, Tricky! I think I’ve outdone myself this year. The spiders are new. Did anyone cry? Any of you?”

Ziggy slowly raised a hand. “I wanted to cry.”

Mr. Rotten stood a little straighter, winced, and hunched up again. “That’s something.”

Someone else stepped into the doorway— a girl about Stephanie’s age with bright spots of pink on her cheeks, dark hair in pigtails, and glancing out at them all. She was wearing a purple ballerina outfit.

“Hey! I’ve seen you around town!” Jives said. “So this is where you live.”

Pixel peered closer. “But you don’t go to our school…”

Mr. Rotten put a hand on her shoulder. “This is my niece, Ella. She’s just staying with me for a bit. She was going to be in charge of handing out candy until this one insisted on being helpful.” He aimed a glare at Mr. Sportacus, who just smiled back.

Stephanie caught the way Ella was looking longingly at everyone’s bags of candy. She made eye contact with Ella, whose gaze dropped to the ground. “You look nice, Ella,” Stephanie said, hoping she sounded friendly. Ella’s lip briefly twitched upwards.

Mr. Sportacus looked down at Ella, then out at the kids. He leaned close to Mr. Rotten and whispered something. Mr. Rotten looked out at their group. “Would you be willing to take Ella trick or treating with you? I can’t walk with her and I don’t want her going alone.”

The kids exchanged a look. Ziggy stepped forward and put his hands on his hips. “Candy Man never lets kids miss out on candy!”

“We’d be happy to have you!” Stephanie agreed. The others nodded eagerly. 

Ella seemed taken aback by their reactions. She disappeared from the doorway and, for a moment, Stephanie thought they had spooked her. But then she came back, grinning wide, and holding a pillowcase. With a quick kiss to Mr. Rotten’s cheek, Ella skipped out the door to stand with them. Jives gave a small wave. She waved back. 

“Well, that’s that. Have a good time.” Mr. Rotten made a shooing motion. “Now get lost.”

“I said to be nice,” Mr. Sportacus repeated.

Rolling his eyes, Mr. Rotten grabbed Mr. Sportacus by the collar and pulled him down for a kiss. All the kids gasped, except Ella. Stingy’s crown slipped off, Jives and Pixel let go of each other’s hand to over their mouths in surprise, Trixie’s visor fell over her eyes, and Ziggy and Stephanie both dropped their candy bags. 

When Mr. Rotten pulled back, evil grin on his face, Mr. Sportacus’ cheeks were as red as Trixie’s costume. He practically yelled, “Good night!” at them all before slamming the door shut. “Robbie!” They heard him cry through the door.

Mr. Rotten cackled. “You deserved it!”

“Now they will just badger us with questions tomorrow! We will not get any teaching done!”

“They’ll badger you tomorrow. I called out. On account of my aching back. Speaking off, let’s get back to watching the movie. ‘How Bad Can I Be?’ is my favorite song and it’s coming up.”

Stunned, the six kids plus their new addition made their way back to the sidewalk. As they walked to the next house, Ella giggled. “Yeah,” she said when they turned to her, “they’re always like that.”

[esculentevil]

AntiHero: Delicate (Prompt Fill)

((Inspired by @the-captains-sunken-ship​’s OTP prompt here and my answer here! Just had to~))

((Read this on AO3!))

“Anti, stop that!”

Jackie lunges forward and grabs at his counterpart’s hips, trying to stop him from endlessly terrorizing the poor fish in the museum. His hands make contact and tug backwards after his fingers dig into the soft pixels of Anti’s illusionary flesh.

Anti’s breath hitches.

Jackie immediately lets the other go, worried he’s accidentally hurt the tiny evil. This shouldn’t be possible (again: Anti’s flesh is false—a mere pixelated illusion), but Jackie’s abnormal strength really does know no bounds...

The daemonic menace snorts.

Smirking like the devil Itself, Anti turns and advances on the worried hero, multicolored eyes alight with mean mischief. The hairs on Jackie’s nape rise as the Glitch presses himself up against the much taller man, purring spastic static, “hWy don’t ye make me?”

“I-I don’ wanna hurt you...”

Anti snorts, lips curling up into a near snarl; but his eyes are still highly amused. “‘Urt me? Ye ain’t gonna ‘urt me; and t’at ain’t c’use Ah don’ feel pain, neit’er.”

Jackie fidgets, on edge as endless energy eddies under his skin.

Anti smiles, amusement melting into affection, “Yer too careful ta ever ‘urt me, ‘Ero.”

((Hi All! xD;;; I’m running into some... art block? I guess? In regards to the SheepyAntiHero drawing/speed draw/narration thing I mentioned Thursday [Jive, that was forever ago Q~Q]. Weirdly, I’m struggling to draw something I technically already drew??? Like, ok, so, months ago, I drew Anti and Jackie as sheep because I was testing out other drawing apps after the one I use right now failed to properly save my Pride AntiHero poster drawing. Now, this was a really simple doodle of SheepAnti and SheepJackie meeting each other for the first time; but it was super cute so I saved it and figured I’d just redraw it so you all still get a full speed draw and paint on YT. But... I find myself struggling to do this for some reason and I’m honestly not sure if it’s because I’m overthinking the YouTube thing [if MatPat has taught me anything it’s that YouTube basically ignores you of you don’t constantly churn out content—like, at least once a week! I’ve come to realize that this is impossible for me and, honestly, doesn’t matter since I’ll never be a real YTer] or if I’ve suddenly started overthinking the whole anthropomorphic vs actual sheep debate [which, yes, I had: even though I was picturing them as real sheep as I wrote Antidiom]... And then I started wondering if you All would even like that particular scene and if I should change it--draw something else. But then I’m like “what something else??? what would they like to see???” And now I’ve kinda stuck myself in a corner xD;;; I still wanna do this thing but... it’ll be a while. SO: For now, here’s another AntiHero drabble xD;;; Hopefully it makes up for this a little bit.))