#i'm always nervous posting character designs

[thefaeriecreek]

Continuing my series of botw redesigns, I'm working on my boyfriend Revali!

[081314]

Twisted Wonderland - 2024 Player Birthday Login Greetings

The player birthday login greetings have just updated today on the JP server for the fourth anniversary, and I've translated them below.

These are sorted in order of dorm, and then alphabetically by character name.

Heartslabyul

Ace Trappola

❤️: 'Sup, Yuu! Happy bday. 'Kay, time for the party. I'm gonna swing by this one restaurant in town and pick us up some grub, so you wait here and- Hey, hey, I'm not trying to trick you! I do know how to celebrate birthdays, thank you very much.

Cater Diamond

♦️: Happy bday, Yuu-chan ☆ Didja post anything bday related yet on Magicam today? No? No problem, just leave it to me! I'm basically a Magicam pro at this point. I'll take the perfect pic, come up with the perfect hash tag… Just think of it as, like, the Caycay bday special~

Deuce Spade

♠️: Happy birthday, Yuu! I'm going to go buy your present now, so- ���Huh? You're saying since I fixed up that light for you in Ramshackle the other day, I don't need to get you anything? Come on, don't say that. You're my friend, so let me do this for you. It'd make me a lot more happier than if I didn't get you anything, to be honest.

Riddle Rosehearts

🌹: Happy birthday, Yuu. Thank you so much for always looking after my students. Truth is, we'll be holding a salon at Heartslabyul this weekend, and as part of my well wishes to you, I'm going to have you join us. Ah, my apologies. I can see you're quite nervous, but you needn't worry - I'll be right there with you, and will instruct you in etiquette every step of the way.

Trey Clover

🍀: Happy birthday. Now about your gift… I did get you something, but it's, erm… When I was talking with the other students about your gift, one person would say to get you this, and then another'd say, no, get that, and after a lot of hemming and hawing I chose… this t-shirt. I don't even know anymore why I picked out this design, honestly… Ugh, if you could just go ahead and start laughing now, I'd appreciate it.

Savanaclaw

Jack Howl

🐺: Today's your birthday, right? You make any new goals for the year? What, you're gonna smoke me in class? Ha! That's the best joke I've heard in a while. But alright, I'll take you on. If you get a better grade than me on our next exam, I'll buy you something.

Leona Kingscholar

🦁: Yeah, yeah, happy birthday. …Why are you settin' up that chessboard? What, you've been takin' lessons just to beat me? An' lemme guess, now you're challengin' me to a match. You got guts - for a herbivore, at least. So whaddya gonna wager, then? Just "playin' to see who wins" ain't gonna cut it.

Ruggie Bucchi

🍩: Happy birthday! Yer dear ol' Ruggie Senpai whipped up just the perfect thing for ya. Ta-da! Yer very own fishin' pole! Handmade by yours truly. …Ooh, I know that look. I bet yer thinking', "ain't that just a piece a crap?" I'm tellin' ya, fish'll be linin' up to throw themselves at this bad boy soon as it hits the water! Listen, I know how much starvin' sucks, an' I can tell you know that, too. Next time yer stomach starts howlin' at ya, now you can just catch yerself somethin' to eat!

Octavinelle

Azul Ashengrotto

🐙: I wish you a very happy birthday. Have you already decided what you'd like for a gift? I'd be glad to arrange-… My, what excellent taste! That would be quite the challenge for the average collector to acquire… but not for me, of course! I guarantee you'll have it in your hands before you even realize it.

Floyd Leech

🦈: Heya, Little Shrimpy. Today's your birthday, right? Here, I got something for ya. Let's see, we got some gummies that taste kinda funny, and some cookies…. they're hard as rocks, though. Oh, and some mushy jerky, too. Super cool, huh? Oh yeah, and all this stuff expires today, by the way. You better not let any of it go to waste, since it's a gift an' all. Kay?

Jade Leech

🐬: My warmest wishes to you on your birthday. May this be another fruitful year for you. By the way, Yuu-san, have you already had lunch today? You haven't? Excellent, for I was hoping to prepare something for you. Worry not, I can assure you I have only the utmost best of intentions in mind. Heh heh.

Scarabia

Jamil Viper

🐍: Yuu, happy birthday. I know it's not much, but I got you this. Ramshackle's been around for so long I can't even begin to imagine how many insects have made it their home over the years. But if you use that product, you can wipe them all out in a blink of an eye. I can personally vouch for how well it works, so do go ahead and give it try. Sooner rather than later, please.

Kalim Al Asim

☀️: Yuu, happy birthday! Here's your gift… Ah ha ha! Were you surprised? I made you that pop-up card. There's these flowers we give to people on their birthdays back home in Scalding Sands, so I tried making a bunch of them with paper. Turned out pretty good, right? Nice and flashy.

Pomefiore

Epel Felmier

🍎: Happy birthday! I thought long and hard about what to get you, and ended up going with a pair of fingerless gloves! The design on em's just great, don't you think? I thought they'd be a good choice since you can still use your phone and stuff without them getting in the way. They already look super cool, and once you break them in, then they'll really start to shine. Wear them as much as you can, okay?

Rook Hunt

🏹: I've been waiting for you, Trickster, so that I might give you my birthday well wishes. A wonderful day calls for making wonderful memories, and to that end, I've constructed the perfect itinerary for us. We'll start off with two theater performances, followed by a live poetry recital, and then we'll wrap things up with a movie this evening. There shan't be a dull moment today. Now come! The theater awaits!

Vil Schoenheit

👑: Happy birthday, Yuu. …Hm? You'd like me to come to your party? And you you even went and made sure there'll be healthy food options available for me? …Hah, that's quite thoughtful of you. Very well, then. I'll stop by. Just don't forget - you should consider it an honor to receive my well wishes.

Ignihyde

Idia Shroud

💀: Okay, time to pretend we're all chummy with each other and spout the usual "HaPpY BiRtHdAy" garbage… Eep! D-did you hear all that? U-Umm… Happy birthday... Sorry, but I didn't get you anything. I didn't even know it was your bday, so… What, you're happy just 'cause I wished you happy birthday? Are you serious? *sigh* Okay, I'll order something online later and have it sent to Ramshackle. It's just gonna be something small, tho.

Ortho Shroud

🤖: Happy birthday! Here's your gift. Go ahead, open it! Heh heh, did you notice what's on it? I used my lasers to engrave "Happy Birthday!" and some other well wishes on that glass tumbler. It was difficult controlling the output when doing the finer details, but I think it came out pretty nice. I hope you like it!

Diasomnia

Lilia Vanrouge

🦇: Ah, that's right. Today's your birthday, isn't it? Goodness, kids really do grow up so fast… Kufufu. Oh, don't be so sour. I was just doing my grandpa bit, the boys at the dorm never indulge me. Now then, here's your present: a CD I made just for you! It's jam-packed with my most heartfelt screamo performances, and I hope you enjoy every second of it.

Malleus Draconia

🐲: It's your birthday today, isn't it, Child of Man? …? What's the matter? Your face looks awfully stern… Ah, now I understand. You're having trouble carrying around all those presents. Here, allow me to send them to Ramshackle for you using my magic. You needn't worry, it's but a trivial spell for me. Now then, I hope you enjoy today to the fullest.

Sebek Zigvolt

⚡: Today is your birthday, if I do recall… What? You wish for me to attend your party? What a boorish joke. I've no time to take part in such a… What? THE YOUNG LORD SHALL BE ATTENDING!? YOU SHOULD'VE MENTIONED THAT TO BEGIN WITH! Good grief… You truly are an unpleasant little human, you know that? Now then, tell me at once where the party shall be held, and at what time!

Silver

⚔️: Happy birthday. Hm? You want to know what this cord is? It's actually your present. I heard about this from Lilia Senpai, but… apparently, they say that if you wrap some string around your wrist or ankle, and it breaks over time, then your wish will come true. I wove this for you, so that your wish can come true some day. I know it's pretty crude looking, but please go ahead and take it, if you'd like.

Ramshackle

😺: Today's your birthday? Happy birthday! …Huh? Where's your present? Oh, come oooon. You're my number one henchman! Ain't that a present enough? Okay, fine. Your lap's always super hard when I sit on it, so I'll give ya a good ol' fashioned paw pad massage!

(Crowley and Rollo's messages remain unchanged)

[pigdemonart]

Battle Subway Depot Agents (by pig-demon)

When I made designs for these guys last year I didn’t really think they needed colored references/master post, but since then I’ve drawn them a lot! Also people have added them to their fanfics and drawn fanart! So I figured it was time I made a post for easy ref. :]

These designs are obviously free to use, just give credit (and link me your work if you're comfortable, because it makes me happy to see!) All I request is to stay respectful to their pronouns and skin colors, ya knooow… 👍 note: The pokemon on their cards are all companions, not the ones they use on the Battle Subway. Except Jackie...the litwicks are just there to fill space/give them company.

More info under cut:

Edit: Important disclaimer:

These are again my designs/interpretations for the agents. Please don’t treat them as canon or as the only, quintessential designs for these literal background npcs. Many people have done takes on them before and after me, even back in 2010. It feels silly to ask, but due to past experience, I ask that you please DONT hunt down anyone that does a different take on the depot agents!! 👍

Tags:

I'm gonna start tagging them individually, but for now all Depot Agent comics and art on this blog are tagged under Depot Agents.

Height chart:

I’m not too strict about heights, so I don’t really care about actual measurements. Here’s an approximation of what I tend to visualize though:

Sexualities/Gender Identities: I don't have official labels for each and every agent because I like keeping things fluid for characters to develop these traits on their own. However, as a queer person, I enjoy designing characters who are also queer, therefore I can safely say none of these characters are straight. The ones who are set in stone are Ramses (gay man), Cloud (lesbian woman,) Jackie (non-binary.) Furze uses he/they pronouns but their gender is undetermined. I also welcome anyone giving the agents a different gender identity to suit them (as long as it's done respectfully.)

Notes about each agent...

Cameron:

- Cameron dyes parts of his hair blonde and keeps other parts in black. This is because he is a big fan of Elesa and her fashion choices.  - Though there have been a few occasions to meet his idol, he is always way too nervous to approach her, feeling deep down that he'll mess up somehow. - He practices modeling poses in secret. He loves flourishes and flare, but is simply too insecure to put it on display. - Of his coworkers, he gets along the best with Furze. He's the easiest to talk to because Furze will do most of the talking. - Cameron is easily intimidated — even mean Pokémon can make him nervous. Though, his two worst fears are being left in a room alone with Jackie, and being left alone in a room with Isadore. - He takes advantage of his height to sometimes hide behind some of his coworkers. - Cameron is much better at Pokémon battles than he gives himself credit for. Emmet and Ingo were pleasantly surprised by this, since Cameron was promoted to fit a temporary role on the Battle Subway. They happily made him a permanent member when he proved himself capable. - His Dwebble (Pebby) is secretly very strong, and rushes to protect Cameron when it can. Cam sometimes thinks Pebby helps him feel more confident in himself too.  - If he stumbled into any of his coworkers outside of work, he would simply explode of embarrassment. - He is the youngest child and only son of his family. He lives in his own apartment in Nimbasa.

Cloud:

- Cloud (like Ramses) knew the twins when they were very young. - She used to be an ace trainer in her youth, even going so far to compete in the Pokémon league. Winning and becoming the champ was the most important part of her journey, but something happened along the way that changed that outlook. - It seems with age, her competitiveness has mellowed out. However, she maintains an intense energy when battling.  - Her favorite types are Psychic and Flying types. Swoobat (Sweetie) is her ace.  - Her favorite hobby is baking, and she often bakes sweets for the crew. She knows all their favorite flavors by now! - She prioritizes keeping a friendly relationship with all her coworkers and thinks of them fondly. She considers Ramses family after all the years of working together!  - She is a big fan of Brycen's movies and can recite the lines. - She lives with her wife in Anville. - Cloud loves doing maintenance work both at home and in Gear Station. She enjoys bringing her own tools and industrial flashlight.

Furze:

- Furze only has one volume setting (mid loud,) but he finds himself feeling right at home when talking to either one of the twins. - Furze has ADHD, and this is reflected in some of his habits, most visibly is his fidgeting when sitting still for too long. - He rides a bike to work every day. When he is late, Cloud clocks in for him so he doesn't get in trouble. - This is a kind of a guy that sits crouched gargoyle style on chairs. Only outside of work, of course. Bad posture could get him in trouble. - While working on the Battle Subway, there will be times Furze feels sorry for his opponents and offers to quietly let them pass anyways. This...has also gotten him in trouble. :[ - He went to the same elementary school as Isadore in Castelia. Though Isadore seems to have forgotten their short-lived acquaintance, Furze has not. This is part of the reason Furze claims they are in fact good friends!!! - Furze is the middle child of a big family. He lives with his mom and takes care of her, along with his many Darumakas and Darmanitan. All of his Pokemon have famous trains names. - He collects model trains. Naturally.

Isadore

- Isadore had plans to become the station master the moment he was hired as a depot agent, but alas... (sad trumpet sound.) - As a youth, he was more interested in science and engineering over Pokemon battles. He enjoys the strategizing aspect, at most. Not so much the competitiveness. - In addition, his Pokemon are all rescues and not used for battling. He's had his Watchog (Winston) since he was in his late teens. - His Electrode (Gregor) and Voltorb (Leonard) were rescued from the likes of Team Plasma. - Isadore admits he understands Pokemon better than humans. This has been apparent his whole life. - In spite of acting like a sitcom villain, Isadore cares about the management of Gear Station and the safety of the passengers to an incredible degree. He sees it as a personal life goal to assist in the management of Gear Station, as well as the success of the Battle Subway. - Though it pained him to become a subordinate to the twins, he begrudgingly accepts it for the greater good. - His almost militant efficiency certainly made up for his years of antagonizing the twins before they became the bosses. Ingo and Emmet understand this better than anyone. - Isadore keeps tabs on all of the staff members. So he very well knows all their birthdays and makes it a point to celebrate it. This is by no means a -happy- or -festive- event. It's just customary. - Like Furze, he was originally from Castelia, but now resides in Nimbasa. Isadore's only family is his mom and she lives in his childhood home with their Stoutland. - Isadore would have probably been voiced by every glasses guy ever J. Michael Tatum had he not already been cast as dear Emmet lmao

Jackie

- Jackie is a mystery and they like keeping it that way. When they talk, it's practically impossible to determine what is a lie or truth, especially if the subject is themselves or their background. - They love scaring Cameron the most and will ask to be paired with him whenever possible. They claim Cameron is their "favorite coworker," while Isadore is the least favorite. - It's plain to see why -- Jackie is the only one that doesn't passively tolerate Isadore's tirades. - Though my comics sometimes may allude to Jackie being a ghost/supernatural, this is not confirmed nor canon. I just personally enjoy toying with the concept. : ) That being said...

- Item #: SCP 7453

- Object Class: Euclid

- Special Containment Procedures: The ████ ██████ is ██████ within ████-██████. - Ingo and Emmet choose to not question anything about Jackie, since it's clear they're one of the more efficient workers. However it can be a safety concern... - Cloud and Ramses have worked with Jackie for a long time, though they've forgotten somehow. They believe Jackie is a new hire since they appear to be young. - Anyone trying to make sense of Jackie's employee records simply can't bring themselves to any conclusions. It's better to ignore the inconsistencies. - Jackie has never been seen to leave Gear Station. Jackie has never been seen in anything but their uniform. Jackie has never been confirmed to eat, drink or blink. Jackie knows your secrets. Jackie thinks it's... amusing.

Ramses

- Ramses sometimes misses having a full head of hair, but he thinks his signs of age make him look distinguished. (he is correct.) - Ramses is sort of the "mom friend," making sure everyone's concerns are heard, as well as trying to keep the peace whenever a conflict might arise. - If another coworker is feeling low, Ramses will try to cheer them up with a lighthearted joke or offer advice if they'd like it. - When the twins were promoted to bosses of the Battle Subway, Ramses cried because he felt so proud. - In most circumstances, he is a very simple and logical man. He is quick to find solutions and tries not to fret over the little stuff. It's not good for his heart after all. - His ace is his Pikachu (Musa,) though the mouse is more of a lap pet now. At home, he also has an Audino (Sara) and a Manectric (Nubi) who keep Ramses' husband company. His Klinklang (Moli) is the only one of his personal pokemon that accompany him to work nowadays. - Ramses considers Cloud family. They are best friends and love having family gatherings outside of work. They also gossip a lot, and don't mind when Jackie decides to join. - Ramses jokes about looking forward to retirement, but really doesn't want to leave until he is physically incapable of working anymore. Gear Station is like a second home to him.

In-Game Quotes

The most important reference of all are their in-game quotes, of course, so I'm adding it to the post. A lot of their personality traits can be extracted and interpreted from these few lines. And I personally love that about Pokemon NPCs -- there's a lot of room to explore and play with. Some appear very obvious. Cameron practically announces that he isn't ready for the battle that's about to ensue and seems genuinely surprised to win. Furze comes out the gate talking about the subject they actually care about, which is their job and their love for trains. The two of them are very easy to understand. Now, Ramses lines allude to a gentle and simple personality. He views himself with humility, and maybe even with a bit of humor comparing himself to a train and to his opponent to a station. If he loses he shows no signs of disappointment, he just accepts defeat with one last honest quip. It s also amusing to see the Depot Agents all use train metaphors to describe themselves since it falls in line with how Ingo and Emmet talk.

In comparison, Cloud does the same thing calling herself the terminal instead. Immediately, she is way more daring, though still keeping a sense of professionalism. To me, it's obvious she is competitive as she even admits she was expecting to win ("Ah...I didn't see it coming.") Jackie's lines are fun since it's up to interpretation if they are being literal or lying. It's almost like they are more interested in confusing/creeping out their opponent than actually beating them. To me, it gives off a mischievous vibe. Isadore's opener "There are only two roads in life." is a curious one because it almost feels like he is trying to be philosophical. Definitely a guy who views himself as an intellectual, regardless if that’s true or not. I like to think it's a saying he really believes in, and it applies to his life. The road he likes (long route) vs the road he hates (shortcut) -- fighting tooth and nail to become boss vs biting his tongue and accepting Ingo and Emmet as the Subway Masters.

Those are just my thoughts on how I write these characters. Please have fun playing with these lines too!

[kotoku]

Hiii~

Can I request aventurine and Dr ratio (separately or together ur choice) with klee reader

Maybe Sunday too?

I just want chaos to unfold-

Take care ☺️

ꜱᴜɴᴅᴀʏ, ᴀᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀɪɴᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀ ʀᴀᴛɪᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴋʟᴇᴇ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

pairings - sunday & klee! reader / aventurine & klee! reader / dr ratio & klee! reader

content - reader is gender-neutral/ klee! reader/ platonic relationships/ familial relationships/ chaos

warnings - a bit of angst (?), might be ooc i'm sorry guys T_T

⋘ ʟᴏᴀᴅɪɴɢ... ⋙

↻ Whether you met Sunday because you’ve been unknowingly stirring up trouble in the dreamscapes or you met him by chance, he’d be a bit worried and concerned about a child roaming alone in Penacony

↺ He may or may not slowly adopt you into his routine as he always finds himself being greeted by you on the streets of Penacony (or called by a family member because mayhem has been occurring in certain parts of the dreamscapes)

↺ Gazing upon the damage you had done in the dreamscape as you stared at him with wide innocent eyes, he couldn’t be upset with you but rather surprised by how much power this unknown child has

↻ Sunday would be a lot like Jean, but he’d be a little more lenient when it comes to you

↺ He’d probably have a small area/room that’s your designated play area whenever you’re with him and sometimes he’d have to give you a time-out for blowing up something in the dreamscape

↺ Said time out wouldn’t last long as he’d feel guilty looking at your saddened state

↻ Sometimes whenever the other family members had a meeting with Sunday, they would see you playing around with your favorite stuffed animal but wouldn’t dare question your presence (you had quite the reputation for being.. explosive…)

↻ I think when it comes to each character with a Klee! Reader, they’d have those animal backpacks with the leash attached to it just because you’re so chaotic

↺ One moment they would be walking with you and then the next you’ve run off to somewhere that caught your attention

↺ For Sunday’s mental well-being, he got you this backpack to help him keep an eye on you whenever you were distracted

↻ As I mentioned in previous posts, Sunday, whenever he’s anxious or worried for you, would pace around his office with his feathers just puffing up and some of them popping right off due to his stress

↺ When you are found safe and sound, he’d give you a tight hug and you’d start playing with the feathers that were scattered on the ground

↺ He’s.. amused by it

↻ Honestly, Sunday had no idea what to do with you as you were found to be alone and it didn’t seem like you knew any of your family members (Just going to ignore Albedo and Klee’s mother for my sake…)

↺ Eventually, he warmed up to you a lot and considers you his little sister, which Robin also adores having around

↻ Sunday would be very protective of you but a little.. nervous about your abilities, he knew to an extent you were capable of handling things yourself

↺ But you are still a child so he’s extra cautious about the dangers in the dreamscapes and makes sure that you don’t get into trouble

↺ Otherwise, he’d have to confiscate your bombs.. which he really didn’t want to do because then you’d be super upset

↺ He tried to confiscate them one time but that ended up with you ignoring him for the remainder of the day and you were sulking in your playroom

↻ Sunday, during the Charmony Festival, would keep a very close eye on you because of what has been going on within Penacony

↺ He’ll keep you in his line of sight at all times, whether it’s him personally accompanying you around or having you sit near him in his conference room, he wouldn’t want you wandering too far off

↺ You’d find Sunday mumbling to himself while looking at some documents, but you never really understood them so you always stuck to what you were doing

↻ Sunday is very fond of you, and he’d do anything to ensure your safety

-----

Sunday was seated at his conference table, hand holding his chin in thought as he scanned through the multitude of documents. He carefully looked them over and over again, thoroughly reading through the letters written by a family member he assigned an assignment to. 

With the Charmony Festival coming in full swing, Sunday wanted to make sure that things would run as smoothly as possible, despite the growing concern that was nagging him from the depths of his consciousness. He couldn’t afford to become distracted…

That is what he thought, but yet he still found himself engaging in your little antics. Although things were growing busier and busier by the day, he wanted to ensure that you were alright and safe, playing a couple of your games when you pleaded for him to stay. He didn’t find the idea of playing with bombs safe, but if it was what made you happy, then your wish was his command.

As he stood up to roam the halls of his mansion, he gazed out into the open through the grand windows, a million thoughts racing through his mind. The future of Penacony contained countless outcomes and he could only grow restless every time he thought of it. But having you around to distract him from his worries with your silly antics, even if for just a fleeting moment, made him feel as if everything was going to be alright…

He would make sure of that.

-----

↻ Aventurine would also find your chaotic nature interesting, in fact, he might even indulge in it by taking a role in your little schemes

↺ He’d be a little concerned when you go a bit too far with your bombs and antics, so he’d try nudging you into a not-so-concerning situation

↻ Aventurine would find you when you got into a little scuffle with his subordinates, somehow destroying some IPC property and getting an earful from his coworkers

↺ Those IPC grunts would be terrified of you if they saw what you could do, especially because you’re a CHILD playing with BOMBS (They’re seriously concerned about who raised you and why you are the way you are.. or how you even managed to have bombs on you??)

↻ He’d send them off to go do something else (or to go bother someone else..) and bend down to your level to ask about your guardians or caregiver

↺ When you are confused about what he is talking about, his concern would only grow before he’d take you to find a trusted person to watch over you as he was busy with an assignment

↺ However, he would only come back to find that you escaped a worker’s watchful gaze and were playing with that bomb toy you had on you (Docodo? Cododo?? Whatever you said its name was…)

↻ When Aventurine hangs around you a little more during his free time (whether he’s done with work or doesn’t feel up to gambling), inquiring about the little fella you had on you and about your background

↺ He’d kind of take you under his wing from there on out, having you accompany him on missions if he determined they weren’t dangerous and were minor assignments

↺ Topaz would find it surprising seeing him around with a little kid, she’d even be wary about his intentions with you as he had suddenly popped up with a small kid out of nowhere

↺ She’d introduce you to Numby who, to your delight, would play and spend a bit of time with you

↻ Sometimes you’d accompany Aventurine on his casino trips, but he’d try leaving you out of them as it wasn’t really a kid-friendly setting

↺ So sometimes you’d in up in a more appropriate setting like a small daycare where you were safe (yet you’d sometimes pop up next to him in a game and catch him off guard)

↻ Aventurine, as someone with a lot of money to freely spend, would spoil you with a variety of things that he’d think you would like

↺ You aren’t necessarily a spoiled child, but he’d still get you the things that have caught your interest, whether you voice what you liked or not

↻ When he passes by a shop that has a showcase of kid backpacks, he would see one with a plush animal and a leash and he’d automatically get it for you 

↺ You wouldn’t really care about the leash part as you’re too distracted by the cute plush animal backpack, so it really was no problem for Aventurine

↺ He’d be walking around the IPC’s headquarters or Penacony with the backpack leash in his hand, you following him yet straying whenever you saw something

↺ He’d have to give the leash a small tug to make sure you weren’t wandering too far off though

↻ If you did something dangerous such as blowing up something that belongs to the IPC, Aventurine would vouch for you, becoming your partner in crime (Him sending a sly wink your way as you giggle innocently, hands covering your mouth to stifle your laughter) 

↺ Topaz would be the one scolding you before Aventurine tries defending your honor, but then he’d end up getting scolded by her too

↻ Aventurine would try his best to protect your innocence, not wanting you to see the dangers that linger on the different worlds he ends up on or what may invade the IPC’s headquarters

↺ He’s seen and witnessed firsthand hand of losing his innocence at a young age, those memories of his past still haunt him to this day and he doesn’t want you living with the same burden so he tries his best to protect you from danger (even if you’re somewhat capable of protecting yourself)

-----

“_____, did you destroy a piece of the IPC’s belongings again!?” Topaz asked, a stern look on her face as you stood there innocently with your hands tucked behind your back. 

“No… I didn’t do anything I swear! You can even ask Dodoco!” You answered, shoving Dodoco out in front of you as if to emphasize your statement. Topaz sighed, shaking her head.

“_____… I know you want to play around but sometimes you need to be careful of where you are. You could get hurt or, well.. damage things that aren’t yours.” Crossing her arms, Topaz looked at you with a softer gaze. You persisted in your stance. 

“But I swear! I didn’t do it!” You cried out, holding Dodoco closer to your chest. “Y-you can even ask Mr. Aventurine!”

“I heard my name?” Aventurine slinked to the spot right next to you, giving Topaz a questioning yet sly look. Topaz couldn’t help but groan when he popped up next to you, feeling as if she was on the verge of being teamed up against. 

“Mr. Aventurine! Please tell Miss Topaz that I wasn’t the one who blew up some of the IPC’s equipment!” You begged, tugging at his coat as he looked down at you with his cat-like eyes. 

He gave you a closed-eyed smile, patting the top of your head. “Is that what’s going on? Well, I have unfortunate news for you Topaz, as little _____ here was busy helping me out with an assignment.” Aventurine had a smug smile on his face as if to tease Topaz and tick her off, which worked.

Topaz, rolling her eyes, heaved a deep sigh. “Fine, I believe you, _____. You can go run off and play now.” 

With a joyful smile on your face and a cheer, you thanked Topaz before turning to thank Aventurine, bowing slightly with a quiet giggle.

“Thank you Mr. Aventurine! Promise we’ll play next time?” 

“I promise, _____. Now go play with Dodoco in your room, okay? I’ll check up on you later when I’m done with work.” 

“Okay!” 

-----

↻ Dr Ratio wasn’t necessarily fond of children…

↺ He understood that they weren’t the brightest of stars, but he could barely handle some of the behaviors they exhibited

↺ I imagine he’d be so disgusted because of how kids can be known for doing the weirdest stuff… (Picking their boogers, touching a variety of items, being unsanitary... the list goes on)

↻ When he meets you for the first time, he’s curious about the construction of your bombs and how you were able to make them

↺ To his disappointment, you are only able to draw crude drawings of the construction of your bombs and poorly explain how you built them

↺ He takes it upon himself to sample one of your bombs to see what they’re made of and how they’re made

↻ You’d invite him (more like drag him) to help you create and play with your bombs and he’d reluctantly follow you to where your room is

↺ Aventurine walking in on you playing dolls (or your bombs) with Ratio

-----

“How are you doing?”

“Mister Ratio, say it in your girl voice.”

“Sigh… How you doin’? 💅”

*Aventurine laughing before Ratio throws the doll he’s holding at him*

-----

↻ Ratio, knowing him, would tutor you if you went to a daycare or school, helping you understand your homework and teaching you about different subjects

↺ You wouldn’t comprehend half the things he’s teaching you but you follow along anyway

↺ Ratio would be genuinely happy if you were able to learn something new from him and apply it to your life

↻ Ratio is the type of teacher figure to give you random quizzes to test your knowledge and understanding but he rewards you with things like snacks or trinkets he gets from his trips

↻ Ratio would be delighted to talk about his trips to you, explaining the history and geography of the planets he has traveled to you when he comes back

↺ He would draw a small map for you to understand the general location of the places he’s visited

↻ You’d be excited to learn about what places he’s seen and you’d ask him a myriad of questions to which he’d patiently listen and answer 

↺ The thought of Ratio being patient with a young child warms my heart, this is how he’d find out that maybe he can tolerate specific kids

↻ Ratio reading stories to you to help you fall asleep, but those stories would probably be academic books he uses to teach his students

↻ If you were to get in trouble for blowing something up, he’d show his disappointment and sternly give you a punishment that isn’t too harsh on you (he’d give you school work lol)

↺ Ratio would check in on you here and there when you’re in your room, if he finds that you’re asleep he’d tuck you in before looking over your work

↺ This makes me think of Ratio walking in to see that you had drawn him an artwork of the both of you with Dodoco (who he came to know as your prized friend)

↻ Ratio doesn’t have a clue who your parents or guardians are, so he tries to locate them at first to no avail (he ends up pretty much adopting you as his own kid)

↻ Sometimes you’d sit near his desk in his lecture hall when he was teaching his students, swinging your legs back and forth as you eyed everyone in the room

↺ His students find you adorable and get distracted by your presence at first before their professor sends them a chalk their way

↺ His students give you little gifts or snacks as they leave the room, a part of them hoping that Ratio’s rampage on his grade book will be softened by your happiness at the gifts you received

↺ He finds out what his students are doing, but lets them do it anyway since it’s making you happy (he’d probably set some limits though before you get way too much stuff)

-----

Veritas had just finished up his lecture with his students, organizing their work into neat stacks on one side of his desk. Once the last student had left his classroom, he took off his plaster head and sat it in front of him. In his peripheral vision, he saw a small empty chair to the left of his desk. It was where you normally sat. 

The violet-haired man was then reminded of your absence due to the sudden sickness you had caught the day before. With a sigh, he turned back towards the ungraded stacks of paper on his desk and got to work. He’d try to be home before midnight. 

…..

By the time he finished, it was already 9. Walking out of the campus, he was met with the emptiness the night brought with it. Students were already long gone, the handful of teachers that had stayed late already packed up and left for dinner, but he was running a bit late. So with a brisk pace, he set off in the direction of his home, the cool night air hitting his skin.

Once Veritas reached his destination, he quickly unlocked the door and went inside, the warmth of his home greeting him. His shoulders fell, the weight that had been put upon himself leaving his body as he could see a faint light coming from your room. 

Slipping off his outerwear, he quietly walked across the hardwood floors and stopped outside of your bedroom door. Veritas listened for any signs that you might be awake, but nothing. He placed his hand on the door and gently pushed it open so he was able to enter. 

You had left your bedside lamp on, with a couple of papers and crayons scattered across the desk you normally drew at. His eyes had landed on your small, curled-up form, snoring away beneath the comforters of your bed. He softly chuckled to himself, walking towards your bed and lifting the blanket so it reached your shoulders. You had stirred but only shuffled to get comfortable. Placing a small kiss on your forehead, Veritas got up to put away the crayons and papers you had left out.

While picking up and putting away the crayons in the correct order that was directed on the box, the bright, grainy colors on a paper caught his eye. He gently picked up a piece of paper that you seemed to have been working on while he was gone. It was a drawing of the both of you in a field of flowers, your best friend, Dodoco, in between the both of you. Veritas had to admit that it was cute, a small smile appearing on his face before he gathered the rest of your drawings and slid them into a folder. 

When he had finished making sure that everything was neatly put away, Veritas moved to turn off the lamp, wishing you sweet dreams. 

-----

⋘ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ! ⋙

note - hey ya'll.. nice weather we've got here... 😀 i really need to blast through my requests-- wearesobackipromise.

[parisoonic]

I just want to say I love how you do your lineart, it looks so good! ahhhhhhhh!!

I'm gathering a lot of advice about the topic of lineart and I just wanna know how you get it to look like that? My line weight is getting better but the drawing itself just comes out a bit.. weird.

Thank you so much! Lineart is probably the thing I've been working hardest on as I am not a lineartist (and still struggle a lot) but it's something I really need to get better at for my job. UM there's honestly so much that could be said on the topic of lineart. Big things for me are:

Weight -> Use line weight (aka thickness) to describe form, lighting, contact and scale. Thick lines imply shadow, contact and nearness-to-camera. Thin lines imply tension, recession and light.

Straights vs Curves -> Use straight lines against curved ones for maximum interest. This is partly a character design thing but as we're using lines to describe our characters it's worth mentioning :)

Complex vx Simple -> Use complex lines against simple. Faces are always complex so therefore the backs of heads should always be simple. Chests are quite complex so backs should be simple. Dorsal sides of the arms are complex (Delt, tricep, bicep) whilst the ventral side is more simple (tricep...mainly) etc.

'Think in Ink' -> Lower your sketch layer almost to 0% opacity so you're not getting hung up on how nice/energetic your sketch look and instead are approaching the piece from an ink mindset. BUT it's digital! So if there's something in your sketch that you like just bring it forward (copy and paste) into your ink layer. I sketch and ink with the same brush so I can use this workflow

'Confidence' -> small hesitant feathery lines will look nervous compared to big swooping lines. Less is always more. I'll redraw arms/limbs until I can get the appearance that it was done in one brush stroke. Again it's digital so you can erase to cheat this look : )

MISC 01: I always hear 'draw from the shoulder'........meh............it's digital so draw from your wrist...it's fine honestly. If we were working at A1 in a life drawing class then we could get some shoulder action going but most of us are hunched over 16inch tablets. I think this advice aims to pull people away from feathery-nervous lineart honestly which you can improve on without relearning how to draw from your shoulder.

MISC 02: For a 'smoother' look do your lineart at a larger canvas size than you need. Once I'm happy with a sketch I usually double the canvas size and do my lineart then.

MISC 03: In PS (at least) anti-aliasing goes funny at any zoom level that isn't in the 5 times table. So try not to look at your canvas when you're zoomed in to 87% or 71.39% or something crazy. Just stick to 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% if possible.

UNFORTUNATE TRUTH: Lineart is incredibly based on raw draughtmanship I've discovered. When you're working with colour you can hide a lot in rendering (shadows, highlights) or post-processing (depth of field) but in lineart all your mistakes are just...there for people to see. There's ways round this...which I use A LOT. 'Flourishes' (I use 'flourishes' to mean over-confident lineart where it veers particuarly thick or particuarly thin in contrast to your approach in the rest of the image) can sort of trick people into thinking you're more confident about an area than you actually are.

As well as leaving 'breathing room' within your lineart instead of actually...resolving the area. I do this the most around the face and hands.

Hopefully some of this helps? Honestly there's a lot of deep dives that could be done into indivudal things and there's also the massive caveat that all of these are 'guidelines' and not strict rules. I also favour a more...concept-arty? animation-y? storyboard-y? look to my lineart which favours flourishes and breathing room for a incomplete/work-in-progress feel which would make methodical colouring (ie: for a comic or something) a pain.

Keep up pratice is the main thing and doing studies of artists who you like that have great lineart - you'll pick up draughtmanship skills along with the lineart studies. Here's some of my lineart from a year or two ago...it varies between very 'standardised' (which makes it difficult to read volumes and to be honest, it's boring) and 'TOO EXCITING' (which...also makes it difficult to read volumes and for the eye to rest).

I'd like to share my brushes at some point as I've found 3 that I really like and use for everything more or less. I discovered that a shocking low amount of people use PS on tumblr (shocking to me I guess as i'm so used to PS being the standard) and everyone seems to use Procreate or Clip Studio Pro...so I want to check that the brushes are Procreate compatible at least before I share!

[generic-anime-boy-bracket]

Final Round

Shigeo Kageyama vs Tadano Hitohito

Reasons for being generic + Propaganda below

Mob/Shigeo Kageyama

Reasons:

Shigeo’s whole thing is being the most average boring middle schooler ever. He yearns desperately for a social life but he’s always been part of the crowd, so much so that his classmates and even his boss call him “Mob”. Also consider this post https://www.tumblr.com/codynaomiswire/190630281009/spot-the-main-character-amazing-mob-psycho-is?source=share

https://64.media.tumblr.com/15122b75c98b6a5978d892e284f5fe60/1c80e81d36417001-2f/s1280x1920/195aa0ce13b4bbea7fab38e3f930c250940fa9a2.jpg could someone who's never seen this anime pick him out as the main character

very plain face, and his hair is a simple black bowlcut. his design is intentionally as simple and generic as possible, mob appearing plain and unremarkable is a big part of his character.

The whole point of his character design is that he looks bland and blends into the background (hence his nickname "Mob"). There are characters with way more exciting designs, even including his brother who at least has Anime Hair™️, meanwhile Mob is just very plain with his bowlcut and monochrome design

a very obvious candidate. black hair, spends the majority of screentime in a school uniform, got his nickname (mob) literally bc of how generic and bland he is. a perfectly common face. no aspirations, no hobbies, no academic achievements, no sport talents. just a guy. regular dude. the only notable thing about him is his immensly powerful psychic abilities but he avoids using them in daily life, doesnt like to show them off and supresses them as well as his emotions

the point of mob's entire character is to be generic and plain. even his nickname "mob" was given to him by others to show that he is just part of the crowd and nothing special.

He's got a bowlcut, a very simply designed face, and usually is only seen in his school uniform.

He is designed to look like the most generic middle school boy with a plain unexpressive face and a bowl cut, and his nickname Mob comes from the fact that he doesn't stick out and everyone sees him as a background character. He spends most of his time going to school (he is bad at math) and reading manga and daydreaming/zoning out. He's socially awkward and gets nervous around girls. He started working out recently. He also has psychic powers but it's not a big deal it's just another trait someone can have like being charismatic or smelling bad

look at him. his literal entire point is that he is just some guy. his name (mob) was given to him because hes so bland and doesnt stand out that hes part of the mob / a background character in everyones life. it's also, in japanese, the equivalent to the english term "john doe."

Hair is a black bowl cut. Wears a school uniform, plain face. His whole thing is basically being completely average except for his insane psychic powers. He suppresses his emotions and powers because he just wants to live a normal life like everyone else.

bowl cut. standard school uniform. literally designed to look like a generic background character

classic bowlcut kid, literally designed to look generic and blend in

He's literally just a schoolboy with a black bowlcut and no distinguishing features. Look at he: https://mob-psycho-100.fandom.com/wiki/Shigeo_Kageyama?file=Mob+Fullbody.png Ofc, he's also an OP psychic, but he looks so entirely generic I think he fits perfectly

look at him. He checks every “how to look as generic as possible” box

Normal kid (appearance wise)

He is meant to look generic, he is this very powerful esper but he has black hair, a bowl haircut and mostly dresses in his school uniform. He looks like a background character even though he is the protagonist.

Propaganda:

i love him so much he's like a son to me

(Sorry to the person who submitted a Reddit img link it won't make me put the image there because i'm on phone since I probably won't get Access to my pc since I'll be outside 😭)

i love mob so much he is my boi

…but also, if it helps, mob's character is "boy with bowlcut, almost always seen wearing standard japanese middle school uniform, who speaks in a monotone voice and has no strong opinions of his own (for reasons but its not important)"

He's literally earned the nickname Mob for being so bland and generic looking (Mob being a term Japanese programers use for background NPCs). He also was purposefully designed by the creator to be as un-protagonist looking and plain as possible.

he is literally just some guy and that is the point of the entire show is that hes not special hes just a guy. this is a good thing :)

he has my exact autism :)

Look doesn't he seem like a very polite young man? With no distinguishing features whatsoever? Yeah. He's THE generic anime boy. Immense psychic power notwithstanding

He <3

Tadano Hitohito

Reasons:

Just a good bean. Like a kidney bean

his name is LITERALLY a play on the japanese equivalent of the phrase "just some guy". he is DESIGNED to be a generic-ass dude. everything about him is comically average.

Propaganda:

No propaganda submitted for this character

[blighted-lights]

because of course im gonna ask: first aid? —cmofirstaid

(Based off of this post! TFP Soundwave, IDW Sunstreaker, IDW First Aid, IDW Ravage, and IDW Cosmos have all been asked for! Feel free to send in an ask for any character that isn't one of these five 🌸❗️Not limited to followers or mutuals, so go wild!)

First Impression: Oh shit, First Aid! I read MTMTE before I read most of IDW, and I was fucking stoked to see him appear in the Delphi arc- ESPECIALLY with how he was introduced with his report that doubled as the issue's intro narration. Aside from that, though, I didn't focus on him much during my first read-through. Pharma and Ambulon immediately stole the show away from him, and it wasn't until my second read a few months later that I really focused on Aid. Aside from being happy to see him, I LOVED how he was drawn in MTMTE. He's always been cute, but something with how he was drawn in the first half of MTMTE really cemented for me that he has one of the best designs. He somehow manages to be boxy and round at the same time and I love him for it.

Impression Now: You are ENTIERLY responsible for how much First Aid means to me now, I hope you know this. One of my top ten IDW faves. His design remains one of my favorites, and I wish we got more canon content digging into his POV of things pre-mutiny. I wish he stayed on the Lost Light instead of being called away, too! There is so much focus on Ratchet passing over the title of CMO to First Aid, but then Aid leaves so quickly after. Idk, I wish we just got to see him more pre-mutiny. Aid is such a tragic character to me but he's another background tragedy and it makes me want to shake my screen a bit when I think about him. A somewhat vaguely odd thing to say, but I wish we got to see more of First Aid's grief over Ambulon and his feelings towards Pharma. Honestly I wished we got to see more interactions between Aid and the rest of the medical cast in general- including Ratchet, Velocity (ESPECIALLY Lotty (is not biased)), and Rung.

Favorite Moment: Speaking of Pharma, my favorite moment of First Aid is this one right here:

I think Aid should be shown like this more often. I NEED him to be angry. I need him to be murderous. As a treat for myself. I hate the idea in media where the good guys refuse to kill a villain because they'd be "letting the villain win". It's good to see that narrative challenged by Aid here.

... Even if the consequences aren't easily forgotten.

Idea for a Story: Someone put First Aid and Rung into a therapy appointment, I need to pick their interactions apart under a microscope. I do not thing going to Rung would be able to help Aid. In fact, it might just make an already shitty situation worse. But I want to see First Aid sit down and talk about what he is experiencing. And maybe I want to see Rung unintentionally making his grieving process more difficult. We already know from Rung's own admission in Lost Light that he does not know who he is without his patients. He banks his entire identity and self-worth on trying to assist other people. But what happens when nothing he does seems to help First Aid, and therefore his own self-image begins to crumble for it? How does his own perceived failings affect his treatment of First Aid?

Unpopular Opinion: 🤔 Not sure if I have one. I'm allergic to the idea of Aid being really nice and nervous 100% of the time, ig. All things considered, the First Aid we have in IDW isn't nervous at all. But I don't actually know how prevalent this is in fandom or if this is even an unpopular take 🤷‍♂️.

Favorite Relationship: Canon-wise? It's a toss up between him and Ambulon and then him and Ratchet. It is devastating how hard Aid takes Ambulon's death, and his desperation to help save Ambulon when Ratchet wouldn't let him was heartbreaking to read. At the same time, I NEED more of First Aid and Ratchet arguing with each other and Aid calling Ratchet out on his bullshit. It is rare that anyone steps up to Ratchet like that and succeeds in affecting him. I would like more, thanks.

Non-canon relationships? Another toss-up between Velocity and Ravage. Put these three in a blunt rotation, I'm sure they'll be fine.

Favorite Headcanon: First Aid is extremely tactile. There is not a word or phrase that could properly describe how touchy First Aid is. He has the capability to turn someone who is touch-starved to touched-out in the span of thirty minutes. While this is in part due to just him being an affectionate person in general (or at the very least, more physically affectionate than most other Autobots), it is also partially because of his intense focus on Autobot brands. He is so used to checking everyone he comes across for their brands in the case that they might have a bullet shot through them that the process of checking someone over is compulsive. This extends to people who fall outside of the Autobot ranks who do not even have brands, like Ravage, Cyclonus, and Ten. It's earned him more than a few strange looks and awkward silences over the course of being on the Lost Light.

[blueberrymuffinmassacre]

So The Amazing Digital Circus has latched onto my brain like a particularly stubborn tick so now I gotta share a theory of mine from the Pilot.

Considering it's all, indeed, digital and the mental health of its occupants ties to their stability, I bet their avatars are near direct reflections of themselves and their issues/flaws, albeit with a filter to fit the Fun, Child Friendly Aesthetic of the Circus.

Pomni is a classic rendition of a Jester. A Court Fool. Her eyes are incredibly expressive and even change to scribbles, hollow circles, or pure black depending on her mental state.

She likely views her life as a joke, or views herself as the punchline of a joke. She's a Fool. Whether this is due to perceived incompetence, an inability to "grow up", or simply considers herself to be lesser than her peers.

I do however use the above picture on purpose. She's an absolute nervous wreck 99% of the time, but stops while being chased by a monster and is stunned by her own reflection. That isn't a look of fear or confusion, it's awe. Something about her avatar struck a cord with her and seemed right. I personally subscribe to the theory of her being transgender and experiencing a small bout of gender euphoria amidst the horrors thanks to a post made by one demilypyro.

Jax is a Cartoon Rabbit. Not really terribly much to say about the design itself other than it being very rubber-hose animation in its proportions and the seeming default smug expression.

Jax is an asshole. He plays pranks in bad faith, is incredibly snarky and dry even to someone in distress, and doesn't seem to overly care about the others well being.

"I'm fine with doing whatever, as long as I get to see funny things happen to people." It makes sense his avatar would take a similar look to another wise-cracking cartoon rabbit we all know. He also seems the most content to actually be in the Circus itself. Considering it can let him do all manner of things to others, from the lethal to the physically impossible, he might consider it better than reality.

Ragatha is literally just raggedy ann. A patchwork doll.

She seems to be the most outwardly kind of the individuals in the circus, showing patience and understanding with Pomni even when in distress, though she clearly has a limit to said patience.

I think it's safe to assume Ragatha has been through a lot of shit for her avatar to make her seem patchwork. Which is to say, damaged multiple times and repaired each time, leaving clear marks of the repairs like scars.

Zooble is a mess of individual parts slammed together in an approximation of a humanoid shape. Like someone took dozens of pieces from all sorts of toys and put them together into an amalgam.

Gooseworx has stated they have no idea what they're even suppose to be. This can and likely does include gender, but probably includes their entire identity as a whole. Or rather, their lack of one.

For whatever reason, be it alienation, isolation, or any number of potential causes; Zooble doesn't know who they are or what they want to be. No ambitions, no dreams, no real self identity. This makes their avatar manifest as a mess that also doesn't know what it wants to be, so is a little bit of everything.

Gangle is most insubstantial, their body almost entirely a ribbon. The key part of their avatar is the mask: Comedy and Tragedy. And it seems in the few instances it's not broken, they always try to wear the comedy mask over top the tragedy mask.

Gangle's behavior makes me think she's the youngest of the individuals, at least mentally. As for the masks, something about her circumstances in life made her feel the need to put on a facade of joy. Maybe to live up to expectations, or to hide her true feelings to avoid worrying others. As an avatar, this seems to have become literal: She seems to only be happy with the mask on and discontent at best with it off/broken.

Kinger is a White King Chess Piece.

He's a forgetful paranoiac who, according to the characters, has been present in the Circus for the longest amount of time. He seems to forget where people are and what he's doing quite a bit.

In a moment of lucidity near the end, he goes in depth about how the food they eat is just simulated, and how they provide the sensation of eating despite not being real. It's also worth mentioning the ground floor of the circus is a Chess Board.

I believe Kinger is/was at least partially in charge of creating the Circus. His avatar is a walking symbol of authority, a reflection on his standing within the digital space rather than his current mental state. Perhaps the avatar was more fitting when he first entered the Circus, aware of its intricacies and rules, but has long since forgotten such things.

We don't see Kaufmo while he's uh. Normal. But we do see pictures of what he did look like: A Clown.

From the dialogue of other characters like Ragatha and Gangle, he seemed to actually try and play the role of clown during his time in the Circus, even if he wasn't terribly funny.

Kaufmo likely found himself to be a clown in reality. Maybe he was a clown in the literal sense. Or maybe he just saw himself as a funny, quirky guy to be around even if he was none of those things.

Finally, we have what happens when someone goes completely plum insane.

The Avatars are based on mental scans of the individual made to fit the aesthetic of the circus. an Abstraction is what happens when said software tries to read a mind that has no logic or reasoning left. There's nothing to find, no basis of personality, no base to work with. So in confusion the avatar becomes a glitched mess, trying and failing to find a shape within the madness to settle into.

Kinger seems to be insane, yet they're stable, because there is still an individual underneath the neurosis. There's nothing left of Kaufmo at this point: Just a cyclone of emotions inside a broken human mind.

That's the theory, anyway. It's a fucking pilot I could be entirely wrong.

[midwesternwitchery]

Die Sonne | Apex Alpha König x Female Omega Original Character

Chapter summary- Mina finally gave in and signed up for the Alpha Omega matchmaking service. Only it doesn't go quite how she planned.

Warnings: a/b/o dynamics, general anxiety, no König yet as I'm just setting this up. No real description of oc yet other than the name. Not beta or proofread. 1.6K words

Please be nice this is my first time posting any of my own stuff. Let me know what ya think! Don't be shy! Don't be rude tho!

The soft blue glow of Mina’s phone screen illuminated the room as she reluctantly opened the compatibility app. MatchMakes they called it, she rolled her eyes at the generic name. She had finally succumbed to the pressure of family to submit her samples in an effort to find a match. She had never had those thoughts of marriage like other little Omegas her ago, no she wanted more than that. Wanted her freedom to go and do as she pleased, though she knew she would eventually have to submit to an alpha given her designation, something about that thought put a cloud over her thoughts. 

Mina didn’t want to be mistreated or controlled as she had seen so many other mated couples. She put it off as long as she could but as her birthday approached she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. Her heats were becoming more intense, lasting longer and she had even began to resist the blockers she had taken since her presentation at the tender age of 18. At the very least she would need to find an alpha she could trust to see her through her heats. Fat chance at that though. Alphas were territorial, passive, aggressive when provoked or displeased and in her opinion a gigantic pain in the ass more often that not.

Sighing she pushed those thoughts aside and opened the app seeing a notification. Opening it she quickly scanned the formal email stating the compatibility service had a few scent samples for her to choose from and that she could either come in person (they even listed appointments to chose from) or they could mail her a package, whichever was more convenient or comfortable for her. She thought for a moment, considering having it mailed if for nothing but to prolong the inevitable for a few more days. She typed out a quick reply selecting the closest appointment figuring it was best to just get this over with. 

She hadn’t always been so leery of alphas, it was more the way her parents acted as if she couldn’t do anything for her self without one. She didn’t have much experience with them other than on a professional level, and even then she worked from home most of the time so there were little opportunities to interact. Before then school had taken up most of her life, she realized very early in life if she stayed in school her parents wouldn’t pressure her to settle down with an arranged marriage. She would much rather do things her way so she did. She sent in her scent samples and filled out the digital mountain of paperwork they asked for and here she was soon to be faced with possible doom. 

Not all alphas were bad but they were aggressive at times especially the Apex Alphas. She shivered thinking about them. One thing her mother had always cautioned her about was the Apex Alphas. They weren’t normal Alphas no these were behemoths almost always male, they were faster, bigger and harder to contain than any of the second genders even though they were rare. Even more rare than Omegas these days at only 10% of the population. 

Her phone lit up once again signaling another notification from the app confirming her appointment along with a slew of instructions about the meeting. Her brows shot up as she read through everything. The alphas would be there on site in case she chose one to accompany her next heat. A nervous knot began to form in her stomach turning her normally sweet scent sour. What if she didn’t like any of them? Or worse what if she did like one and he rejected her? Her inner omega whined at that. Shaking her head she cleared her thoughts, standing from the couch she made her way to her bed determined to get some rest and not worry about what would happen at the appointment. 

* *

The next morning she woke to her alarm blaring beside her head. Groaning she shut it off and threw her phone somewhere on the bed. Rolling in bed she ducked her head under the covers and squished her eyes shut as tightly as she could, hoping she could block out the day and what lay ahead of her. She almost succeeded in drifting back to sleep when her phone rang again signaling if she wanted a shower and coffee she would need to get up. Now. 

A few hours later she found herself outside the seemingly endless office block. Looking up she couldn’t even see the top of the building among the clouds. She closed her eyes taking a deep cleansing inhale she made a promise to herself that she would do this her own way. That she was the one to make the decision. It didn’t matter who wanted her or not she would choose for herself her own path in destiny. Reaching out she opened the door stepping into her destiny fully embracing it. At least until the smell hit her. Her nose scrunched slightly at the strong smell of disinfectant cleaner clinging to seemly every surface. The lobby was white and sterile looking just like any other doctors office. 

The receptionist greeted her as two betas approached her. One male and one female. Ah so these are my handlers then she thought. 

“You must be Mina! We were so happy to receive your response so quickly. I am Tara and this is Emil. We will be assisting you with the selection process.” The female- tara said warmly. 

“Yes h-hello.” She winced at her fumble but the two betas just smiled softly, likely scenting her anxiety and guided her to the conference room to begin. There was a large conference table set up with several stacks of files, water and snacks. Tara motioned for her to sit as she gathered up a few of the files placing them in front of mina. 

“We will have you start with these. If none of their scents spark any interest we can go back through the system and try again at another appointment.” Tara smiled at her and placed her hand on mina’s shoulder before continuing, “I know this is a lot but you need to trust your omega through this process. Can you do that?” Mina nodded in response, eyes going a little wide at the question. 

Elias spoke this time “Okay then! We will step out to give you some time to go through everything. If you need breaks that’s fine there is no rush at all.” Elias winked at her before tugging on taras arm guiding her out of the room. 

Mina was now alone. Faced with her potential future. She shook her head dispelling the thoughts of destiny and what ifs. Shrugging off her jacket she sunk down into the chair and grabbed the stack of folders. Slowly she began sifting through them. None had photos which was to be expected. The selection was supposed to go off of what an alpha could offer her and most importantly attraction, which started with scent. 

Sighing she opened the ziplock bag attached to the first file. An almost acidic scent assaulted her senses. Quickly she zipped it back up and continued down the stack. It went much the same way for the rest, none of them smelled appealing to her at all. Too sour, too sweet, none appealed to her. Until the last file. It was thinner than the rest, but this one had a red stripe of tape down one side of the yellow manilla folder. Curious she thought as she opened the file. There wasn’t much on this Alpha, one form of mostly redacted information and a ziplock was all she found. She hesitated to open the baggie, a strange sense of foreboding washed over her, as if her omega knew something she didn’t. 

Opening the baggie she inhaled the mysterious alphas scent. Oh fuck…. Her inner omega preened at the scent, spicy and musky with a hint of wood smoke and something else she couldn’t place. This one. This was the one she wanted. Quickly she zipped the baggie back up, snatched the folder off the table and opened the door to the hall. Tara and Elias were at a desk across the hall, they looked up as she approached. 

“Any luck?” Tara asked. “Yes I think so. Id like to know more about this one.” Mina held the folder out to her. Taras face dropped and Elias let out a strangled sound. “Oh no dear this simply won’t do!” Tara said her voice low and full of regret. 

“What do you mean?” Mina asked cautiously. “The red stripe…..You have to understand this file wasn’t meant to be in your stack of potential matches. He isn’t suitable for you-“ Elias cut off shortly. 

“Why? Why isn’t he suitable? He is an alpha is he not? He is available and submitted his scent for consideration correct?” Mina needed answers and she knew from the looks on their faces they weren’t wanting to give her the full truth. 

Tara stepped forward reaching her hand out to mina. “He’s ….This alpha is an Apex.” She said quietly. “So you see he isn’t suited to you dear.” Mina’s face dropped at her words. Conflicted she closed her eyes and did what tara asked her to do. She listened to her omega. Lifting the baggie to her nose again she inhaled deeply and let out a satisfied purr. Opening her eyes she set her sights on Elias and Tara watching her carefully. 

“You may think because he is an Apex that he isn’t suited to me, but I still would like to meet him.” Elias looked as though he would protest so Mina stated sharply, “My omega demands it.”   Tara sighed and checked her computer. “Well it seems there was a glitch in the system allowing his application to slip through.” Tara looked up at Mina for a moment. “You are sure this is what you want?” She asked. 

“Yes”

[moldingtundra]

why sk8rclown (pilby x infected) is OTP 💥💥

Sooo you read the title, so you know what this post is gonna be about!

P.S this is MY personal opinion and if you ship anything else that’s fine! But for the 0.5 percent of ppl who are here for the rare pair I present to you the ultimate explanation on why this ship works so so well

without further ado let’s discuss why the non-bi pan cattipillar and the emo chic dude form the 2010’s would totally kiss!

Ok first of all; what is their dynamic and why does it work so well?

well that actually depends on how you see them, but in general, I think their base dynamic is the scared and soft introvert x outgoing extrovert, as clearly seen by their dialogue and personality documented in the wiki, it’s clear that this dynamic seems to fit best.

It even shows in their limited interactions with one another, yes, I know there’s only technically 3 interactions so far (subject to change in the future) BUT even then you can clearly see the chemistry that bounces off.

This and the other dynamic being old fashioned x high tech of some sorts, example:

Infected: "I c4nT wA1t tO r41Se My Fi5HinG Stat5!! B)"

"Golly.. fishing.. stat?

"That sounds confusing.."

Infected: "Th4t5 My aw3sOM3 Vid30 g4mE!!"

Infected: "I'm TrY1nG to G3t a G0lD3n TenCH!!"

"All those video games and whatnot has got me so confused.."

On top of that, their mindset is actually quite parallel with each other; infected is stuck in the 2010’s, while Pilby is stuck in their old fashioned ways (idk what time era though help)

plus, infected seems like the type of guy to really have a deep care for the ones he loves, with words of affirmation and physical presents and whatnot, and pilby, being a guy with little self esteem and belittles themselves, while also showing comfort in reassuring words, would definitely either get flustered at infecteds compliments or crash like a windows explorers page and go💥💥💥 /hj plus, I’d like to think that he’d get pilby flowers (despite his allergy) just to please them and see them smile super brightly (although pilby would immediately stare in horror at infecteds puffed up face (allergies ammiright)/jjjj

And then there’s my interpretations, obviously this ain’t gonna apply for everyone but I personally believe that infected is the type to show the most affection and also be the caring type while pilby is the two stud tall guy who is a nervous wreck and shrivels at the mention of going out to a party, LOL, ok but no seriously soft caring extrovert and scared little rat dynamic save me save me dynamic.

alright lh, that’s all I have for this section, onto the next!

I think the reason why pilby x infected always stuck out to me is just the thought of it, like wow! A 2010s emo chick and a clown! Sounds like something random but trust me, it works, think of it like the emo and bright pink chic dynamic, just with a few tweaks.

this and also my interpretations of the characters (Alr explained in the previous section) it’s just such a unique take, and I’m a fucking sucker for unique ship types.

heck even their designs actually compliment each other, pilby is soft and round, and infected is bright and bold.

Anyways, more ramblings uhm, I feel like infected, despite being the caring one, would also be reckless, often time getting into scuffs, which worries pilby and brings out his more firm and true side, like a wife having to deal with their husbands shenanigans. I feel like because of that pilby can take the opportunity to show their more truer side, the side that’s not always sad and sighing about their mama, the side that is happy for the little things in life and always takes the time to admire the surroundings, something that infected takes for granted sometimes due to their hyperactive and fast nature, and that alone, would teach infected to slow down as well, to take in the scenery around him sometimes, the warm sun, the falling leaves, the chirps of the birds, flying high into the clouds, setting off on an adventure, it’s the little things that count the most.

and in return, pilby would learn that not everything is all rainy clouds, that they sometimes does need a few push’s outside of their comfort zone to enjoy a few things. Maybe a little skating wouldn’t hurt (or will, depends if pilby falls when infected let’s them go) or saying hi to split every once in a while can actually lead to some funny conversations and thereafter, thoughtful moments to cherish for years to come possibly.

it’s an effect, they rub off each other, they stuck together and learned new things about and for their life, even if it’s little or silly, it’s worth everything to them, and it’s worth it because they have each other. When pilby is with infected, there’s nothing to worry, and when infected is with pilby, he can relax for once and actually chill, seeing the comfort of being simplistic.

And I think that’s fucking beautiful, I think that’s what struck me hard for this ship, it’s so loving and touching ai feel like I could cry just writing this. It’s truly the deep realizations that make these types of silly posts worth writing.

anyways im Uhhhhh getting TOO autistic here.and I have limited time, BUT THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK ON WHY SK8RCLOWN IS MY OTP AND MAYBE WHY U SHOULD SHIP THEM IDK I JUST REALLY WANTED TO RAMBLE ABOUT THE YAOI DUO. Anyways uhhh bye ^_^

[glazedtrash721]

Beware, this is a LONG post!!

TW: a lil' scopophobia perhaps

So, you know how there's a boat load of Welcome Home AUs floating around?

Well, now there's one more!! (And even more given some time!)

Let me introduce you to my first Welcome Home AU:

Children's Hospital AU!!

In this AU, all of our lovely neighbors are staff at the town's local Children's Hospital, which is officially titled the "Healthy Home Children's Hospital", or HHCH for short! This AU doesn't really have any spooky or funky elements to it, as I was pretty desperate for ideas that haven't already been done when I thought of it. Although, this AU does serve its purpose in being very cute and wholesome, and I'm sure that it could make for some fun content!

Characters and more info can be found under the break!

By the way, these drawings are not to scale! I just made them so that they would fit on the page :/

Anyways...

Let us first start with the Doctors!

Doctors Darling, Joyful, and Frankly have bested too many years of medical school and are now here to take care of their young patients! Both Dr. Wally Darling and Dr. Julie Joyful are physicians, and they can be found buzzing around the hospital, tending to whoever needs it! Dr. Darling, with his calm and cool energy, is more often assigned to older and more anxious kids. Dr. Joyful, on the other hand, is often tasked with the care of younger children and babies with her more energetic and sweet personality. Dr. Frank Frankly is the surgeon of the group, and he excells with his steady hands and his thirst for knowledge and for solving problems! Dispite his grumpy appearance, the children find him a joy to see when he checks up on them before and after surgery!

Next, we have the Nurses!

Nurses Sally, Barnaby, and Howdy help make up the back bone of the hospital, and they are always on their toes helping those in need! Nurse Sally can typically be found in the ER, where her quick feet and her sunny disposition are a must have, though she can be found bouncing all over the hospital! Nurse Barnaby never fails to put a smile on a patient's face with his funny jokes, and he is a dream when someone needs a distraction from a needle or anything else that may be frightening them! Nurse Howdy is extremely handy with his four hands and arms, making him an amazing multi-tasker! He is also a master of hugs, and he is wonderful with calming down particularly upset patients. He and Barnaby are also often called on the occurrence where a patient (or even parent!) needs restrained, thanks to their size and even tempers!

Lastly, we have those with more miscellaneous jobs!

Mr. Eddie and Ms. Poppy also have important jobs that help the hospital and its patients! Eddie is the HHCH's trusty mailman! He takes gifts and letters from the mail room and gift shop and delivers them to their recipients. As he knows the hospital's layout like the back of his hand, he also often accompanys visitors and volunteers, such as those who bring therapy dogs and such! He also takes extra care to dress up on holidays and other occasions! Ms. Poppy is an Emotional Consultant, and she is there to help patients and their families make difficult decisions, usually regarding treatment. Still the nervous bird that she is, she still tries to put on a brave face and a warm smile to those who need a little extra guidance or reassurance.

They're all colorless now, but I'll probably add that soon lol.

Also, I haven't designed Home yet, but I imagine he'd be the Headmaster of the hospital or something similar? I may give him a design later on.

Anyways, that concludes my first Welcome Home AU! Feel free to ask for any specific info that you want me to elaborate on, and feel free to use these silly dudes in your own fan content, given that it's not sussy (NSFW in the sexual way), and that a lil' credit is given! Otherwise, go ham!

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles magic 8 ball-

Here we go again, I feel the chemicals kicking in-

Ah, we've arrived at a scene I literally wanted since I read the manga so I might have some stuff to say. X'D Shadow introducing Vio to Vaati. Like I stated on the posts of these updates, it's heavily implied (And even outright stated in the German translation, thx AK for that info ^w^) Vio met with Vaati directly.

Also his "I can't believe I didn't notice..." line when fake Zelda turns out to be Vaati ALSO leads me to think he knew what Vaati looked like/has met him before....?

In English it's vague as hell but the Viz Translation has a few genuine flubs imo compared to what I've seen of other translations. (The German one seems super accurate from what I've heard? but that makes sense because it was directly translated from Japanese to German apparently. English gives off "interpretation not 1 to 1" vibes.)

Suffice to say: I've REALLY wanted to know how their interactions went down. X'D

Shadow feels he has some leverage with Vaati since TECHICALLY him and Vaati are equals? Even though Vaati bosses him around oof.

Because Creatures of darkness can sense fear, despite Vio putting on a blank face Shadow knows Vio's nervous and kinda tries to subdue it. (He cares aww)

He's really excited to get this out of the way so they can officially work together.

I figure he technically doesn't NEED Vaati's permission but is still getting it anyway: Because he doesn't wanna upset daddy lmfao.

Also the lines about Vaati being "Lazy" and using people: It comes up later

Vaati's entrance here was so fun to think of. Bro was napping or smth lmfao. Loved the idea of his weight being so huge it shoves giant gusts of wind as he rises.

The other 3 in FS seem surprised, I think it's supposed to be Green who shouts "SO THAT'S VAATI!?" during the fight. Already mentioned Vio's "I can't believe I didn't notice" rather than HORROR at the Eldridge monster they're about to take on??? X'D

Figured he got the terror out of the way when he MET Vaati. Because Vio is ya know, not experienced fighting DEMONS and virtually ALONE right now he is obviously shitting bricks at the sight of this huge floating eyeball demon lmao.

He also holds Shadow's hand cause it's cute and Shadow Link is the only person who could MAYBE protect him against Vaati.

I can't with eye contact so maybe I'm just a wuss but Vaati's design is so unnerving to me. X'D Also again: If you know my previous fandom work you know I love creepy/scary scenes. You'll notice I virtually always avoid making characters look AT YOU because I literally hate that so much in manga.

Especially in romance scenes I cannot stand eye contact, don't look at me look at your lover lmfao. So if a character in my comics is looking AT the audience: It's because it's meant to be uncomfortable.

Vio tries to dampen his own fears and Shadow not so casually tries to keep things smooth between them and Vaati. Talking about how great this is.

Vaati can see right through that shit though.

Vio tries to pass off his fear as just being nervous to meet someone so amazing lmfao. Stroke that ego Vio, Vaati's a sucker for that kind of thing.

Vaati wants a moment alone with the hero. X'D Shadow again is very adamant on Vio being on their side because he really thinks they are.

He in THEORY has just as much of a say as Vaati and has MORE of a say considering Vio's fate is up to him because Gannon put him in charge of that.

Which is hysterical considering he's like 14 to 15 here at minimum considering Link's old enough to drink in FSR and Link deals with the curse for 7 years tho their ages are really whatever in the flashbacks. Like the idea of Vaati and a 14 year old having the same amount of say on their evil plans is so damn funny to me lmao. Gannon thinks Vaati is as competent and useful as a literal child and that's HILARIOUS.

Vio is quick to realize Shadow's wording here and that SOMEONE is a bigger player. He assumes Gannon because that's the only name he has to go off of.

Something I noticed in the manga: Despite being Shadow's partner Shadow doesn't EXPLAIN a LOT to Vio. Vio has to ask him things lmao. I genuinely wonder if it's a trust issue thing or if it's a "he didn't ask so I didn't tell" thing. I had to be smart about this scene because Vio and Shadow don't bring up Gannon until like...WAY LATER in the timeline of them hanging out. I really try to take into consideration the timeline of the actual manga while writing in-between scenes. I'd love to do an entire rewrite of FS but I do not have the time or patience for that. X'D

Honestly the most annoying thing about writing in between scenes is just how WEIRD it is from like: a regular ass person perspective.

Like it's not natural to be like "Yeah lol Gannon, I'll wait to bring that up like a week after it was first relevant"

This is done a LOT in media. Lmao literally just experianced a scene like that in JJK volume 0. It's like for the audiences sake, always awkward and ALWAYS done for exposition, and it's ALWAYS weird from like: an actual person conversation side of things? Idk if I'm articulating this well lmao.

So Shadow was told to leave the room because Vio brings up Gannon to gain Vaati's trust and I needed a reason for Shadow and Vio not to bring up Gannon here because they do later in the manga.

But I thought it'd be clever if Vio brought up Ganon because: He's already gambling might as well use the fact he THINKS the bigger player is Ganon to his advantage.

Anyways: Shadow's still a bro and gives Vio some advice on dealing with Vaati.

The panel of Vaati's eyeball/body taking up the entire background behind Vio while he steels his mind miiiiiight have a very special place in my heart. UwU It's just so ominous.

I wanted to get across just how much of a threat Vaati is. Mans is TERRIFYING. He's also HUGE.

Vio's rightfully terrified of this thing. I really wanted to show the struggle Vio went through with this plan because it was A HUGE RISK. I feel kinda snuffed we didn't get to see Vio's struggles with this plan in the manga save a few panels of him looking guilty.

We were robbed by page restraints and I'll never forgive whoever only gave Akira 2 volumes for FSA for that, they did SO GOOD for what they had to work with though so don't think I'm dunking on them for this.

I also get the liberty of giving thought bubbles. Smth I noticed is the severe LACK of thought bubbles in FSA?

Also 1 on 1 convos but that's a whole other thing. Again, time and page restraints would be my assumed reason. Pacing in FSA was rushed so I can't really say "For pacing reasons" imo.

So we get to see inside Vio's head as he goes through this, he uses Shadow's assumptions about him here: "Admitting" he always had second thoughts and admired the darkness.

Vaati is obviously skeptical of this nonsense considering who Vio is.

Vio really hams it up.

Bringing up Gannon which surprises Vaati considering NONE of the heroes should even know about Gannon. He is purely there to distract them while Gannon gains power after all lmao.

The fact one of them KNOWS is not only surprising but kinda scary!

Vio continues to show his "faithfulness" by bowing and declaring his loyalty.

His words hit different for somebody who's been through the same shit as Vio's describing, as Vaati's eyes widen and his wings droop as Vio continues to describe how he would have been despised. If you don't know: Minish Cap manga explains Vaati worshipped the darkness and was a bit of an outcast.

Vio's mind is on one person only at this moment: Princess Zelda! :D

Vio cares about Zelda deeply as we'll continue to see through FSR.

I don't like to see it as romantic (Just because I think Vio is gay but that's a whole other thing), but he is DRAWN to her and wants to protect her no matter what, because well a LOT of reasons.

1. He's apart of Link. And this version of Link and Zelda are childhood friends and deeply care about each other. So just on a personal level he wants her to be alright

2. He's apart of the chosen hero destined forced to save hyryle.

3. I kind of like to think Zelda Gannon and Link have the Triforce in FSR at least, and it's drawn to itself. Side note: Would love for the Triforce to appear on Link/the four's hands at some point. Because I love that design motif on Links.

The moment of truth...Did his plan work? Everything is FUCKED if it didn't...

Vaati just silently stares at him as Vio dares to raise his head to meet Vaati's eye.

But Vio can't even tell if Vaati's looking at him in this moment with that thousand yard stare.

Rightfully: Vio is still shitting bricks.

Lol so that blurred word bubble is Vio stating "Lord Vaati?" but Vaati can't hear him lmao.

He's too busy wrapped up in remembering the time he grave robbed-

Jokes aside: You might have noticed smth a tad ODD about being able to see what Vaati was thinking in this moment. But this point is SO FAR from being relevant I'll just leave you to think about it.

If ya noticed it: You noticed. I'll bring it up when it's actually relevant. Which is a LONG time away.

Anyways also if you don't know: Master Elzo gives Link the hat Vaati used to be magical boy at the end of Minish Cap's manga. So Vaati's just stealing it back lmfao.

He is still a demon with magic regardless of the hat, the hat is just a symbol of his bad boy-ness.

Also the idea he "returned" to Minish Cap Link after the dude died was an idea I just could not leg go of.

I maybe have an idea for Minish Cap Link in FSR but I dunno if I'll end up going with it or WHERE. Stuff has changed in the script before so who knows.

Stealing some of Zelda's light force forever fucked Vaati's mind and body up.

You can kinda assume what went down but the general idea is Master Elzo is fucking dead and Vaati's on a downward spiral. Link is dead because the door between the Picori and the Hylians only opens every 100 years. Also the "Using people" line: Vaati often doesn't use his own striength but uses others to achieve his goals. Ya know like a coward. X'D

Nobody ever fully trusted or accepted Vaati after what he did in the events of the Minish Cap manga. Sooooo.

Bro turns back to the dark side.

That's the only thing I could think of after seeing he was "Good" at the end of Minish cap manga I was like "????????" after reading FSA first. X'D

Like did he just wake up one day and decide to be evil again lmfao.

The Zelda manga's reference themselves so I'm under the impression they're all SOMEWHAT connected. SO like- WHAT'S VAATI'S DEAL???

Presumably after this he went on to do the events in the story told at the start of the FS Manga: where he fights the first incarnation of the four hero.

Which holy shit I'd also like to dive into buuuuut mmghhh- It's wild to me OUR Link from FS manga is the SECOND bitch to do this. Like MMHH So interesting to me...

Insanity aside this is my explanation for "Good" Vaati. He just reverted. Like a lot of people would under that scenario.

Lol looking at the same face he did years ago. That must be weird.

Vaati kinda felt a kin-ship with the purple hero cause...YOU KNOW. EVERYTHING I STATED BEFORE THIS. XD

He's a Link-

He's caught off guard by all this so is just kinda like "Oh...Yeah sure you're a part of the team yeah... Yeah...Whatever" Vio broke Vaati by appealing to his trauma lmao.

Shadow spying on if Vio's okay is very funny to me. Dude's worried about his new friend.

Shadow nervously walking up to Vaati after being caught spying is very funny to me. Bro was just keeping an eye on his new Boyfriend. UwU

Vaati asks for Vio's unput well: Because he was on the Four Hero team at one point lol. If he IS evil getting his opinion is a good route to take.

Which he doesn't fully believe considering he's still sus of Vio but doesn't feel like arguing with Shadow, who is the equivalent to his boss's entitled bratty kid.

Vio of course gets leverage to go to Death Mountain, because he's holding onto the idea he MIGHT be able to regroup.

Vaati's still distracted as fuck from the state of his expression. X'D Like he's kinda just, repeating himself/out of it.

Shadow's just like "Yeah yeah shut up we're great yeah yeah It's fine it's fine"

Shadow takes a moment to just walk ever so casually away from Vaati getting enough distance before showing how happy/excited he is.

I just like drawing Shadow trying to touch Vio in some way he's so starved for attention and positive interaction. Not having a bad word to breathe about Vio before the betrayal was always funny to me from the manga. He just admires this boy so much.

Like, I like showing off that "He's not really EVIL" side of Shadow link half the fandom seems to DESPISE.

Cry harder we sympathize with Shadow Link in this house. UwU

Vio's cracking under the welcoming nature a little by making a jokes, and even thinks "Man I used to be scared of this dude"

Shadow is just a little guy in love and I like that about him moving on-

Vio laughs at his dumb joke and Shadow's like "Finally you're not a tense weirdo" X'D

Vio's coping hard lmao.

He's still just a kid during these events so it's HARD to deal with what's going on. I wanted to write him getting his cracking through because how normal he acts in the events of the manga leads me to think he steeled himself overtime.

Laughing his ass off before going into a state of pure raw emotion of "Holy shit I could have just died" comes off as jarring and unnerving.

Shadow can tell SOMETHING's wrong but guesses the cause wrong.

Shadow assumes Vio's having a difficulty with the heat.

This goes off of TOTK/BOTW logic where sapphires ward off heat because I think that's awesome.

If I were rewrighting FSA I'd have him give Vio a different outfit or smth like that.

I DO love the sapphire specifically though because um: Anyone remember what the Zora Sapphire was in OOT?

Lmao an engagement ring- X'DDDD

From that one frame of Blue yanking out his hammer from his hat we know they store shit in there. Freakin' Link From the LOZ cartoon has a magic bag that shrinks his shit and I find that hysterical. I like to think Link's hat works similarly.

Vio's blushing and not unsubtle heart skipping is so funny to me.

If the fact Vio kissed Shadow first didn't already get ya:

Vio's in love with Shadow Link too lmao.

[e-vay]

EVAY QA BULK POST 2

Here's a new assembly of asks, assorted by topics so you can browse only what interests you:

PERSONAL ASKS

Anon Asked: Have you ever watched The Nightmare Before Christmas? I was wondering if you watch it during Halloween or Christmas or do you consider it as both for the two seasons?

A: I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!! I consider it appropriate to watch for the last quarter of the whole year haha.

Anon Asked: Do you sometimes envision you and your husband as Sonic and Amy?

A: I do not, we really aren't anything like them. Ryan is very quiet and humble and shy. And yes I am forward and romantic like Amy, but unlike her, I'm an annoying little gremlin LOL!

Anon Asked: Have you ever watch 'Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'? You MIGHT like it amd I highly recommend you watching it ( but don't force yourself if you don't want to)

A: I've never actually watched it properly, but I've watched compilations of it and I really enjoyed what I saw! I love the art style of it and I like how all the turtles are unique. Plus Ben Schwartz, c'mon!

Anon Asked: Hi e-vay, have you ever played life is strange?

A: Hi! YES! I loved that game. Nana always said that she was Chloe and I was Max haha. I didn't play the sequel though.

Anon Asked: Here’s some positivity to counter that negative ask you got! What’s your favourite thing about your new style? *grabby hands* Gimme all the details!

A: I appreciate that. Honestly, I didn't purposely "change" the way I draw; art just evolves over time ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Besides, I still think my style is MY style. I feel like the characters are more on-model and expressive and don't look as flat as I used to draw. If people don't like my art anymore that's fine. I like it, so really that's all that matters.

Anon Asked: EVAY I AM DISTRAUGHT, I've been perusing your blog looking at fanfics but I keep coming across some posts that I can't access anymore like ones by kbspeeding :( Do you know of any way to read them?

A: I know, it breaks my heart, too :( To my knowledge, there's no way to access the posts of anybody who has deactivated their accounts. I wish that wasn't the case because I sincerely miss her work, but I have to respect her and others' decisions to remove their content.

MISC SONIC ASKS

Anon Asked: What do u think of the amy rose ballerina hc? I think it’s so beautifully graceful and fits her so well💗🩰?

A: I'm not sure what specific headcanon you're referencing, but I definitely believe she knows ballet! Especially her idle animations in the Boom games. That girl knows how to dance.

Anon Asked: Do you like sonic unleashed or have you ever played it?

A: I never had the chance to play it, but I love the story and I love what I've seen. I am hoping they'll re-release it for the PS4 (or PS5) so I can finally play it!

Anon Asked: If you don’t mind me asking, what do you think of Barry the Quokka, the protagonist from The murder of sonic the hedgehog? If you don’t know anything about them what do you think of their design?

A: Of course I know the trash bin king! I like his design a lot. He's super cute and I love a nervous wreck of a character. I also loved that he was just this totally normal dude who has to spend an afternoon with the most insane group of friends ever.

Anon Asked: If you had to choose, what is your favorite and your least favorite sonic game?

A: I always have a hard time answering this because there are so many styles of games and I think some are better at certain aspects than others. For example, I think Frontiers had the best writing and actor perfomances. I still think Sonic Adventure 2 has the best gameplay and replay value. And Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is my favorite of the classics because I think it's the most visually perfect and the gameplay is a lot of fun. But if I have to choose, I guess I have to go with SA2 because I never get sick of it. My least favorite is Sonic Spinball haha I suck at it.

@tonyrockstar15 asked: Hey E-Vay, have you thought of making your own Sonic Fan-Cartoon?

A: I kind of already do that with my comics :) I would love to make animations, but unfortunately I just don't have the time to do that kind of thing regularly.

Anon Asked: Do you think sonic does his taxes?

A: He has no income! But if he did make any money, I'm sure Tails would make him do it (and by that I mean, file his taxes for him because he's worried Sonic will do it wrong)

@twistedchaos101 asked: Hey, What is your expectation for the new Sonic Frontiers DLC?

A: Sweet, sweet content! By the time I'm writing this I've already played some of it and I LOVE IT! UGH, Sonic Team has been so good to us in 2023! 😭💙

Anon Asked: Hey E-Vay! Big fan of your art. I was curious to know what’s going to happen with the Hell Hath No Fury comic? Will it be continued or left up to fan interpretation following the Shadow page?

A: Thank you so much! I will finish it. It won't be left up for interpretation. I just have to get to it.

Anon Asked: Is there a possibility that everyone I mean Sonic,Shadow,Amy,Tails, Aurora and so on have some mental illness? I now that Shadow does have PTSD at some point, but does anyone else have some specific mental illness? Btw love your art ✨

A: Thank you so much for the compliment! I'm not a professional so I don't feel right diagnosing anyone with anything, even if they are fictional characters. I personally suffer from anxiety and depression so I can speak to that, but I don't think I am the person to comment on anything else.

MY OCs/AU ASKS

Here are some fun questions I received from @pccyouthleader about Aurora that I wanted to share:

Q: What are Aurora’s primary and secondary love languages?

A: I had to take the Love Language quiz as Aurora. I got her primary as Quality Time. Physical Touch and Acts of Service were nearly tied for second.

Q: Does she like practical jokes? I remember you saying at one point that sometimes she acts without considering the reactions.

A: Yes! She loves a good prank, so long as it doesn’t hurt anybody. Sometimes she doesn’t realize that not everybody enjoys a practical joke though.

Q: Is Aurora competitive?

A: She is, because she feels like she’s got a lot to prove. But not to the point where she’s going to hurt a kids feelings just so she can say she won at something. She’s always going to let little ones win.

Q: Do she have a guilty pleasure?

A: She loves reading romance novels and sometimes she writes friend-fictions like Amy does in Sonic Boom or Tina in Bob’s Burgers hahaha

Q: What quality does she most value in Shadow?

A: She loves how he is unapologetically himself, if that makes sense. Despite what he was created for, he is his own man/hedgehog and he’s forged his own path. Even when others try to put him down or break him, he knows who he is and he doesn’t back down and she’s in awe of that.

Q: Pet peeves?

A: Closed-mindedness is the main thing. Whether that’s about something important like accepting somebody for who they are, or something small like not willing to try a type of food for the first time. She doesn’t understand how people can be like that and it irks her. She also hates when people agree to something and then they flake out haha

Q: If she were shopping, what type of store would she choose and what type of item?

A: One of those record stores that has a little bit of everything. You go there for music and movies and books and they always have fun, quirky gifts. Even though the world she lives in is futuristic, she can appreciate classic things and finds them fascinating. Otherwise yeah she’d love a thrift shop because there’s always strange stuff in there. Wherever she shops, she can’t leave any store without getting something silly that she found cute.

Q: What is her most and least favorite chore?

A: Her favorite chore is spring cleaning, where everybody rummages through everything and downsizes stuff. She likes it just because of the things she’ll find that she’s forgotten about or never knew was in the house. Her least favorite chore is laundry. It’s boring and it never ends!

Q: Outside of swimming and singing, what others hobbies does she have?

A: She loves to dance, that’s a big one. I’ve also joked in the past that she’d do really well if Shadow ever brought her to a gun range, so with that in mind she’d find things like laser tag and paintball super fun

Q: I remember you saying she hadn’t traveled a lot, so if Aurora could choose anywhere to visit, what place would she most like to see?

A: She’d love to go to outer space. She’d never been to space before meeting Shadow. But she also gets that it’s a “ridiculous” dream since she hasn’t even explored all of her own planet yet. Honestly she would be happy to travel anywhere, she wants to see the whole world and beyond. She wants to experience the most of life.

Q: What is her favorite fairy tale?

A: Thumbelina. She could see herself in that story a lot: a small lady who is loved but doesn't really fit in anywhere, and gets whisked around by others trying to control what she does with her life. In the end she's rewarded for her kindness and finally finds where she belongs.

-----

@nerdk7 asked: Don’t know if you answered this question, but how did Shadow propose to Aurora? Was it sweet? Chaotic? Or both?

A: I can't reveal that yet! 🥰 I want to keep it a surprise!

@mod-bubamon asked: I have a question about cc...maybe a few im sorry I'm kinda obsessing over how adorable she is tailsxcc for life We know cc can indeed feel,but can she feel pain? Does she know about the ai art and apps? How does she feel about them? I'm sure that in winter mobians fur coats grow thicker. So did cc somehow implement that into her body? Also how much more cuddly would she get when tails fur grows out? Sorry for all the questions out of nowhere, I've been a fan since I've started tumblr a while ago.

A: Please don't ever apologize for questions. I'm happy you're so interested! And especially glad you enjoy CC! When she was in her original "drone-like" form she couldn't feel pain but she could feel fear. When she builds her Mobian body, she engineers it so she does have all kinds of feeling-receptors, including pain. Not that pain is enjoyable to her, but it's important for her to be able to have as much of the Mobian-experience as possible. I wasn't expecting AI Art to pop off the way it has so I never thought to include it in my work. CC is beyond the AI form now though, she's a full on person. Just like Sage became a full person, beyond just her programming. So I think she and Sage have the ability to create their own forms of art from their own minds. I think I've address something similar in the past: CC has the ability to just play music from her body like a speaker, but she preferred to learn how to play an instrument because she wanted to experience the art form properly. CC didn't think to include a winter coat for her Mobian body, but upon snuggling with Tails she'd definitely add that to her list of future modifications! He's the fluffiest of them all in the winter so he'd be so snuggly and warm and lovely. Thank you for following me!

@firerush asked: What does Aurora think of her Werehog form? What does she think of Shadow's or even Sonic's if that's canon?

A: She likes that she's finally tall, but other than that she doesn't like how she looks. She's very self-conscious about her werehog form. But she loves how Shadow and Sonic look as werehogs.

@jhyannarqq768 asked: How would you think if Aurora was the project while shadow was a mortal one? And i just wanted to ask how would you think if there's a another universe that Aurora it's he imortal and shadow it's the mortal?

A: Well, if she was the project she wouldn't be Aurora. She is the creation of Sonic and Amy so without them she wouldn't exist :) As far as her being immortal and Shadow being mortal: If Shadow was engineered in the 50s and he wasn't made immortal then they never would have met. He would have passed away long before she ever came around.

Anon Asked: How good of a fighter is Rory?

A: She is average as far as physical combat. She's better at diversions and dodging, using an opponents' energy against them. If she was playable in a game, I imagine she'd have a lot of QTE actions that allow her to dodge a boss and make them tire themselves out before she uses her light powers to damage them. While she attended the Young Heroes program she learned combat, but Sonic never wants her in harms' way so he instructed her to always try to distance herself from enemies so she can use her long-range light powers. But she won't back down from a fight if it means she can protect someone else.

@jordanjoebanana asked: Can the Shadora kids turn super when they have all the emeralds or is it only just Shadow,Aurora,and Sonic?

A: All the kids can go super except for the third litter (Cinder, Diamond and Boon). Those three aren't able to use chaos emeralds at all. The family does not know why.

@mysticalsuitfury asked: What led you to create a child for sonamy and naming her aurora?

A: I always make fan kids for everything I'm obsessed with. If you knew me from my Naruto days, I had a huge world of Naruto kids. So naturally I wanted to give my favorite couple of all time (Sonic and Amy) a kid! As far as the name, Aurora is my favorite name in the world. Ever since I saw Sleeping Beauty as a child, I've loved that name. So I gave my favorite name to the child of my favorite couple. Also I think it suits her personality: Colorful, cheerful, hopeful.

@twistedchaos101 asked: Aurora speaks how many languages?

A: She only speaks English.

@aurorathehedge6 asked: How old is Ruff and T-Bone since Aurora is now an adult and have kids?

A: Ruff is 8 years younger than Aurora and Tumble is 12 years younger than Aurora. For most of my comics where Aurora is not yet married, she is 20 years old.

@animeartbros asked: Do Aurora Piper and Blitz hang out much?

A: Piper and Blitz are constantly bickering so a girls' day out tends to involve a lot of yelling and picking on each other haha. It involves a lot of Aurora going "Girls, remember, your sister is your best friend for life. You don't know how lucky you are to have siblings! TT_TT Please stop fighting."

Anon Asked: Has shadow ever taught any or all of his kids how to use a gun and if so how did Aurora feel about it? | And another Anon asked: If Shadow tells his children where babies come from, I am sure that he taught them how to 'defend yourself' with a gun at a very young age ... or at least tried haha I see sometimes short comics in which Shadow tries to teach Cream how to use a gun and I can imagine that this mf would totally try to do the same with his children. Would Shadow succeed if he tried this or would Aurora stop him?

A: Gun-wielding is a part of Shadow's identity so I'd never take that aspect away from him. And Aurora actually enjoys shooting too (targets, not people!) so she doesn't feel weird about that topic. However, I believe that they are huge proponents for RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP so they keep all their weapons securely locked up and unloaded at ALL TIMES. And Shadow wouldn't teach the kids how to shoot until they're MUCH older and responsible enough to handle such a dangerous weapon. But you'd better believe he trained them well in marksmanship via laser tag and paintball as kids!

Anon Asked: Hi! I noticed that in your Aurora-comics Sonic grows a mustache as he gets older - what made him come to that decision? And what does Amy think about it???? What about kissing Sonic with a 'stache? I, personally, think he kind of resembles Eggman so, I'm not that big of a fan but that doesn't matter! I'm more interested on their POV. I still love the way you draw them, btw. And it's really sweet to see them together through the passage of time 🥰

A: Hi and thank you so much! Honestly, the reason I gave him a mustache was just to make him appear older haha. I tried multiple ways to age him up but the mustache was the most effective. Originally, I wanted to give him something more distinguished but I ran into two problems: 1 - I didn't want people mistaking him for Uncle Chuck. 2 - I don't see Sonic taking the time to properly sculpt a mustache/beard, so I gave him something rough and simple haha. I have drawn him deciding to grow it out and Amy's reaction to it :) Amy loved it, then didn't like it, then went back to loving it because now she gets the most ticklish, delicious kisses! 🥰 The good thing about hair/fur is that it's not permanent! You can always change it :)

Anon Asked: Omg ur feeding us so WELL with the content I honestly can’t picture actual sonic canon anymore without Aurora like she is completely canon in my mind I love her so much!! Also I have a kinda weird question, if Aurora saw a gay or lesbian couple out in public as a little kid and she was curious about it, how would sonic or amy explain it to her?

A: Aw, thank you! Well the Sonic franchise has been feeding ME well this year so I have the energy to nourish you all hahaha. I'm so happy you accept Aurora 🥰 I like to think that Sonic and Amy are very accepting and loving people and would raise their children to believe that too. Also, Aurora is VERY used to seeing public displays of affection from her parents, so if she saw two people kissing or holding hands in public, no matter their gender, she'd be bouncing up and down "OOH ARE THEY IN LOVE?! ARE THEY IN LOVE??" and Sonic and Amy would be like "That's right, Tiny!"

Anon Asked: What have been going on in Aurora's mind when she was a baby?

A: I'm not sure babies think about much 😉 Just general thoughts of "Mom, Dad, Food, Joy, Sleepy" But hey I could be wrong!

Anon Asked: Out of curiosity, I know that you ship Shadow + Aurora together (and I’m okay with that)… But what if the Time-Travel Adventure never happened?… What if Shadow never went on a Big-Space Adventure and stayed with the Others?… What if he was there to watch Aurora grow up, with the Others?… What would their relationship be like, if that happened?… Would Shadow become like Aurora’s Uncle or be like a Teacher/Mentor to her, in the ways of combat?… Or would they somehow still have a romantic relationship, instead of platonic? 😇?

A: Even if Shadow never left, I don't imagine he'd spend much time with Aurora as a child. He and Sonic are not friends, and though I'm sure he'd consider Amy a friend, I don't think they're close enough for him to want to be actively involved in their kid's life. I don't think he'd even be actively involved in Ruff and Tumble's lives if he was on-world the whole time. It'd be more of a "Oh... hey kids... just here to see your mom... goodbye..." He'd likely be more of an idol to Aurora and she wouldn't mean anything to him. That being said, I do believe in soulmates, and again Shadow is immortal so he does not age. So I believe that once she's grown up, that's when he starts to really see her for who she is and that attraction would come later in life, but that would not happen while she was a child obviously.

Anon Asked: What was the scariest movie that Aurora ever saw and how exactly did it end?

A: Aurora does not like scary movies so she avoids them haha. Sometimes she'll agree to watch a classic horror movie with Shadow because he likes that kind of thing but she still finds it terrifying haha. Aurora can sort of handle movies like Wolfman or Dracula but not anything more intense than that. She couldn't sleep for days after "Night of the Living Dead (1968)"

Anon Asked: i appreciate the effort you went thru compiling all those asks. felt like a free readers digest that was nice to read through! …and now here are more questions 😈 1- how does grandpa sonic feel about shadow’s shadoralets? i wonder if he jokingly calls em faker and lil fakers sometimes haha. 2- whats it like having amassed long time followers of your art stuff? (ive been around since the ol 2009 days)?

A: I'm so happy you enjoyed my last set of asks, Anon. I hope you return and see your question here! Grandpa!Sonic is wayyyy more accepting of his son-in-law at this point and doesn't hold (much) ill-will towards him. However he does revel in the fact that Shadow doesn't know a moment of peace now that he's got a million children haha! But he loves his grandkids to death and so does Grandma!Amy. I did an old comic (having a hard time finding it right now) where Sonic has a dream about his future grandkids and when he wakes up he calls them "Tiny Fakers" but he would never actually call his grandkids that. They're his family! I appreciate that compliment and I can't believe you've been following me for so long! I'm honored (and blown away haha!). Honestly though I don't really think about the concept of having "followers" all that much. I just look at it as I'm here having fun drawing silly things and I've been lucky enough to have other people come and enjoy it with me. I'm very thankful for the support, especially to those who have tagged along for as long as I've been online.

-

SHIPPING ASKS

@tatablue2004 asked: Do you like silvaze?

A: I like it enough, but I don't actively seek it out. I'm mostly indifferent to Blaze and to Silver as characters so I'm not that invested. But I do think they're cute.

@chrismantike asked: What’re your thoughts on the shadaria ship? A: 👎

Anon Asked: Sonadow yes or no?

A: Yes! I like them having a bickering, sassy relationship where they still annoy each other but they actually really care about each other.

Anon Asked: How do you feel about Sonic x selly? Would you ever draw them? Maybe for a time travel thing or a space rip or something??

A: I believe you're asking about Sally Acorn. If so, no I do not ship it and I won't draw it. If you're referring to another character, then I'm sorry but I don't know who that is.

Anon Asked: What do u think of amy being sapphic in any shape or form?

A: That's hard to say, since we've only ever seen Amy have eyes for Sonic. I'm not against it, though.

Anon Asked: In your universe, have Sonic and Amy had any suuuper big fight in the marriage? If so, what would it be like for them and how do you think it’d “affect” their relationship??

A: I mostly avoid heavy topics and fights because we get enough of that in other media and I like most of my art to be a safe place people can go to to just get a good boost of feel-good serotonin! So for my main storyline, they get into little arguments and bicker over small things because all couples do, but I try not to ever put them in a giant blow-out fight that will alter their relationship. That being said, the biggest disagreement I ever have them going through is in Aurora's Time Travel adventure (which still hasn't been published yet, sorry!). Sonic adamantly believes Aurora should not risk her life and time travel in that story and Amy disagrees. This will put tension between them for awhile, but ultimately they will be okay.

---

Thank you all for the questions! There are way more but I don't have the mental capacity to answer any more at this time lol

Evay QA Bulk Post 1

[444lpblue]

The Witch and the Beast #1 - The Witch and the City of Blazing Red

Screenplay: Yuuichirou Momose Storyboard/Episode Direction: Takayuki Hamana Chief Animation Direction: Hiroya Iijima Animation Direction: Kei Tsushima, Yuri Hashimoto, Guonian Wang, Kazuharu Tada, Miyoko Shikibu, Asuna Imahashi, Shinya Segawa (Monster AD: Shouya Gotou) Key Animation: Mana Azumaya, Noa Kawamura, Shigenori Taniguchi, Yoshihito Narimatsu, Yuki Uejou, Hiroyuki Kamura, Mitsuyo Tsuno, Kouichi Hayamizu, Kazunori Ozawa, Shouya Gotou, Yoshiko Nakamura, Studio Maf, Yuka Hayashi, Takuya Nemoto, Maru Animation, Yeong-Nam Ko, Su-Jin Oh

A bit late on this, aren't I? But no matter what, I was going to write about this, and I will write about every episode too – don't worry about it!

If you were in the know how of Yokohama Animation Lab's recent animes, much like me, you were probably very nervous about The Witch and the Beast adaptation. I mean, I made a whole write-up on the outlook, which mostly hinges on director Hamana's consistency in terms of quality and his tendency to bring in specific animators. Well, now that the episode is out, how do I actually feel?

It's… surprisingly very well done. Of course, I'm not saying it's perfect; the biggest issues are likely the limited animation and a bit of off-modelness. But I'm not going to lie, guys. Maybe I am biased because The Witch and the Beast is one of my favorite mangas, but I genuinely had a lot of fun with this debut, and I kind of loved it. It felt like it had the soul of the manga I love despite some production hiccups.

First, let's talk about what you probably felt but haven't been able to confirm. The episode was indeed better than the PV. I got a sense of this as I was watching, and I was really kind of confused about why I didn't feel like the PV looked this good. When I looked back, it was very interesting to see how many differences there were and the improvements that made the shots so much better.

The obvious improvement in the shading of Guideau and Ashaf is apparent, but I also love the addition of the impact gust that they added to Guideau's stomp. Personally, it was something I noticed in the PV as feeling a bit too still. The only effects in the PV were just simple camera shakes, which didn't really sell the impact of her stomp that much at all. Seeing improvements like these from the trailer to the actual episode fills me with a lot of hope for the production. I feel like it shows that, unlike more recent Yokohama productions, they are trying a significant amount more.

If you couldn't already tell from some of the close-ups I've provided in this post, while the on-modelness of some farther away shots can be questioned, the close-ups in this show are absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't super sold on Iijima's character designs initially, but after seeing the improved shading and the various shots they kind of hid from us in the PV, the designs are freaking gorgeous up close. The Witch and the Beast, the manga, has always been a visual spectacle that relied a lot on its art direction, aesthetics, and of course, character designs. While it's nearly impossible for the anime to match it, I think they came very close. The characters' eyes are so pretty; I love the compositing effects they applied to them. It feels like it gives them a lot of depth and kind of like an otherworldly blur, which I think looks great. The features are sharp; they're so pretty. Everyone has their premium eyelash extensions on, and it's just about as aesthetically pleasing to me as the manga. To be honest, it might be my favorite character design for the season.

And since I also briefly mentioned the compositing, I have to apologize to Natsumi Uchida. I specifically pointed her out in my social media rambles as someone who was making me worry a bit. And that mostly stems from her recent effort in The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World, which, to be frank, I thought was terrible. The effects looked cheap, just due to how bright and almost neon at times they are. They don't fit in with their environments; it just wasn't pleasant to look at. However, her work in The Witch and the Beast is so much better. While some effects are somewhat questionable, like the smoke and Ashaf's crow appearing when he was saving Guideau, I would definitely say the compositing was a highlight in this episode. It really puts a stamp on the character designs with the beautiful compositing over them. It makes every scene paired with the art direction feel so dense, like everything is just so in-depth.

The art direction in this show is probably its best visual element. It absolutely shines. I mean, if you had to pick something out from this production as a major highlight, it has to be one of the undeniable biggest pros of the show so far. The series is a dark fantasy, but it's not a dull one. A lot of adaptations, I feel, confuse this with each other a bit. A dark fantasy doesn't have to mean dull colors or a realistic design; after all, The Witch and the Beast is all about its aesthetically gothic yet fantasy appearance that is quite grandiose and beautiful in nature, and the art direction covers that perfectly. So huge credit to the art director, Hirotsugu Kakoi and his crew at Kagoshima Ramecahirim.

One of my biggest worries for the anime adaptation, when I first saw the trailer, was actually, believe it or not, kind of its color palette. I genuinely thought they didn't get a full sense of Satake's style. It felt a bit too plain to me when I always imagined the colors in the world in this series to be very solid and strong, while not bright. I think the series functions on its boldness, and the backgrounds are a perfect example of it. The opening, I think, is a great example of this too, just them surrounded by those buildings in the midst of the night feels almost overwhelmingly dense. It really serves as the main appeal in many of the show's shots and ties everything (the compositing, the character designs, and the aesthetic) all together. The buildings and architectures, a mix of 2D and 3D, blend in so perfectly. You can take so many of those shots and make them your wallpaper; honestly, it's so pretty. It's also not just the buildings; the flowers in the room where Guideau and Ione fight were stunning. I also love the visual of the flowers always fluttering up due to impact; it just created such a magical experience for me. It's such a simple addition, but it was great. That, paired with the great soundtrack which goes from almost Persona-like music to soft notes of somberness that build up to the release of a monster, just all goes together so well.

At the beginning of this write-up, I already noted its production issues in terms of sometimes limited animation and a good bit of off-modelness in farther away shots (which I hope they'll fix in the Blu-Ray). There are many instances of very solid animation, which you can just look up on Sakugabooru if you want an example. I'm very impressed by Hamana's ability to manage this level of quality and a very strong self-identity of the show's visuals.

His direction in this episode, while some people might not like it due to its reminiscent of older styles, is noteworthy. Many of his shots rely on simple zoom-ins and zoom-outs, which I would say was a more common technique around 2008 or so. His way of transitioning is also a lot less focused on smooth transitions than most styles nowadays. For example, in Ghost Hunt, Gungrave, or Library of Bantorra, the flow of the storyboard is much less smooth and flowing than modern ones. Hamana's boards feel much more jumpy, I suppose? There's a larger gap that isn't covered by anything, which seems to have given many reviewers the impression of a slideshow. Personally, I don't mind it too much, as I think he still has some pretty interesting ideas. The transitions to Guideau getting stabbed and then grabbing Ione, I thought were really well done and mesmerizing. All the choices for the fluttering flowers were probably directly from him.

And hey, normally I don't like his openings, but the opening for The Witch and the Beast is badass, and I might write an individual write-up for it this week. However, I would also love to see other storyboarders and episode directors on some episodes to compare, especially for future episodes like for Johan and Phanora. I would love to see somebody like Shinj Itadaki give it a try, who I really hope to see in this series at some point. I think it's very possible due to the fact he's worked with Hamana before, and he's worked with Yokohama Animation Lab before. Much like a lot of the key animators here, he was also on Ancient Magus Bride S2, which, if you guys didn't know for some reason, contains an oddly large amount of staff that Hamana worked with before across the years, and they're also appearing in The Witch and the Beast now.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed the debut, despite its issues. I could ramble about it all day; there are so many things I want to talk about. However, I think it would be best to save that for when we get to future episodes. In this write-up, I've already spent a lot of time discussing more of what I like about the general direction and visual appeal of the series. Hopefully, in future episodes, I will be able to go more in-depth on specific storyboards, direction, and visuals that the upcoming episodes will showcase. I'll see you guys next week for the next episode of The Witch and the Beast.

[lavendermage]

Characters: thoma

Genre: sagau, no gendered pronouns 

TW: fear

1.6k words

AN: The Thoma centered fic I promised! (Ignore the fact that it's in the wrong series)

AN: I hate posting on mobile

    Thoma watched you with your head down, clutching your little bag. When reached out his hand to help you, you practically jumped away from him. You held yourself like a kicked puppy, unlike how confident you were with the Arataki Gang. You wore a mask, just like Shinobu.

    “So, you go by Goldie?"

    You nodded. “Itto started, now everyone calls me that.”

"My name's Thoma. I work for the Kamisato clan, I'll help show you around. I see you've got a mask, where'd you get it?"

"Shinobi gave it to me." Your eyes crinkled as you traced the grooves of the design.

    “It's beautiful." It was, the pattern swirling around your cheeks. "Do you always wear it?”

    “Yes, unless I’m with the gang.” Several emotions swept over your face, not giving him time to decode any of them. 

    “May I ask why?”

    You laughed bitterly. “Same reason anyone wears a mask. So others can’t recognize me.”

    He backtracked quickly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude.”

    “No, it’s alright. I’m just … nervous.” You tugged the edge of your kimono.

    “Is there any particular reason?”

    “I try my best to stay away from large groups of people, for safety reasons." 

    “And now you’ll be staying at the Kamisato estate.” Thoma said, thinking. “I’ll see what I can do.”

    “Thank you. You seem trustworthy.”

    Warmth flooded his body as he processed your words. Why was such a simple phrase making him feel like this? He gathered himself quickly. "I'm glad you think so."

"So, when will I start work?"

"Tomorrow. Today's for getting used to the place."

"Ok." 

There was silence for a moment before Thoma spoke. "Do you like animals?" You looked at him and he quickly clarified. "Dogs and cats, I mean."

You nodded. "Yeah, why?"

He scratched his neck nervously. "Well if you want, tomorrow we could head to town. There's a place with tons of furry animals, we could feed them."

"Do you have time?"

"No need to worry about that, I'll figure it out."

"Alright, I'll take you up on your offer." You relaxed and smiled.

You saw the Kamisato Estate up ahead. The guards caught your attention.

"Halt. Thoma, who are you with." The guard towered above you and Thoma.

"A new servant. They've been cleared by Ayato, so there's no need to worry."

"Ayato doesn't do the clearances" He glared at you and you subconsciously shuffled closer to Thoma. 

He noticed and placed himself between you and the other man. "They're a special case. If you like, you could always bring it up with Lord Ayato." You marveled at his ability to stay calm.

"Alright, alright. You're free to go." He stepped aside. You could feel his stare boring into you back as you and Thoma passed. You sighed. This felt like the sort of thing that would be a problem in the future. 

"Mora for your thoughts?"

"Just don't like soldiers. They make me nervous." You hugged your bag closer to your chest.

Thoma made a mental note to tell the butler to assign a shift away from the guards. Plus your mask…based on what you've told him you probably wouldn't have a chance to take it off if you had a roommate. Maybe he could get you a separate room, though the only free rooms in the estate were tiny-

"So where will I be staying?"

"I'm working on it right now. What's the most important to you?"

"A separate place to sleep."

"Alright. Does it matter how big it is?"

"No, I really don't care."

"Ok. There's a free room here." He led you to the servants quarters and showed you the room.

It was bare and dusty and barely had enough space to lay a futon, but it was a room all to yourself. "This'll work, thank you!"

He looked at you in surprise. "Is this really enough?" You nodded. "Alright then, I'll start cleaning then."

You shook your head. "No, you have enough work already. I'll do it. Just show me where the cleaning supplies are."

He did and you started cleaning. He came by half an hour later.

"Are you sure you don't need any help, I'm taking a break right now."

You wiped the sweat off your face with your free hand as you stopped scrubbing the floor. "Exactly, a break! Go eat, get tea, or something." You scolded. "You don't need to work all the time, you know? You do so much already."

"You think so?" He tried to keep his voice calm despite his flustered state, and it worked enough, you didn't notice.

"Of course! Everyone knows how hard working you are. Or they're stupid." This was common knowledge, right? You looked up to see Thoma blushing bright red. "Are you ok?"

He turned away and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I just… don't get this much praise often."

You bit back a grin. "People don't tell you that you're a miracle worker? That you hold this whole place together? That you have a cute smile?"

"Wait, what was the last one?" He turned even redder. "You're just messing with me!"

You laughed. "A little, but it's all true."

He sighed. "Are you always like this?"

"No, You're just easy to tease. Plus, you deserve to have your ego fed a little." 

You politely ignored his lack of a reply, instead continuing to clean. "Where are the extra futons?"

"Just down to the hall." He left. He probably had work to do, or maybe he had taken your advice and gotten some food. 

You wiped the floor dry and stood back to check your handiwork. The room was sparkling clean now, you noted with pride. 

"Excuse me." You moved out of the way to see someone with their arms wrapped around the futon in front of them. Thoma's head peeked out from behind the futon. "Where do you want me to put this?"

"I asked you where it was, not to bring it here!"

"Oh, sorry. Do you want me to bring it back?"

"No, you just didn't need to do it for me."

"I wanted to." He smiled boyishly.

"Thank you. Just drop it where ever"

He placed it gently and pushed it against the back wall. "Is here good?"

You nodded. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem." He pulls out a timepiece. "Break's over, see you later."

You waved. "Sorry for wasting your break."

"You didn't. I like talking with you." 

The knock at the door woke you the next morning. You stretched, feeling well rested. The futons in the Kamisato Estate were much softer than the Arataki Gang's. You pulled on your mask and opened the door to see Thoma standing outside holding a parcel.

"Here's your uniform. Did you sleep well?"

"Yep!" You smiled, your eyes crinkling above your mask. "So what will I be doing?"

"Breakfast is in thirty minutes, and you'll be shadowing me today. Then, we can see where you'd fit in best."

"Ok, I'll get dressed. Could you stay for a bit? I'm still not used to Inazuman clothing."

"Of course! Just call me in when you need help."

You closed the door and unfolded the garment. It was much more complicated than the simple outfit the gang had given you. You succeeded in pulling it on, but couldn't figure out how to tie it. "Thoma…"

"Need help? I'm coming in." He closed the door behind him before standing in front of you. "So, what can I help with?"

You showed him the issue and he started adjusting it. He circled around you, straightening the neck, crossing the collar, reaching into the fabric to tie the knots, clearly used to this sort of thing. His gaze was respectfully focused only on his work, ignoring your body. He stepped back to take a look at his work.

"You look great!" He smiled. 

"Thanks." 

"Now let's head down before we miss breakfast." He led you through a maze of halls to the kitchen. Servants who were already eating looked up from the food when you arrived. "This is the new hire, Goldie."

You waved nervously. 

"Izumi, Chiyo, can we sit here?" He gestured at the chairs next to the two girls and they nodded. 

You sat, taking a protein of fish, soup, and rice.

"You're cute!" One of the girls said. "Are you shy?" She tapped your mask.

"Maybe he's on the run, using his mask to hide from the Tenryo commission." The other giggles.

Your eyes widened in surprise.

"Chiyo stop, you're scaring him!" The first girl- Izumi- chided, swatting Chiyo's arm.

You buried your head in your bowl to hide your face. You ate quickly, trying to ignore their joking comments. The end of breakfast was called and you followed Thoma out.

"How do you like being teased?" He asked jokingly.

You just groaned in reply.

As you followed him around it quickly became clear that you were a jack of all trades. You learned everything easily, the tools always cooperative. You even learned to dress Ayaka, with her beautifully complicated kimono.

"We can put you anywhere, really." Thoma said, his hand to his chin. He suddenly grabbed his head.

"What's wrong?"

"Headache." He groaned.

"You had it this whole day, didn't you?" His little sighs throughout the day showed his pain.

"Yes." He didn't even argue. Good.

"I'll make tea." You walked off, not even giving him the opportunity to talk back. You returned moments later with a steaming cup of tea. "Drink up."

He took it, expecting something bitter, but the tea was mellow and sweet. His headache melted away, and he felt more relaxed than he had in weeks. He hummed his approval. "Where did you get the herbs for this?" 

You gestured vaguely towards the courtyard. "They're just lying around."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you make this for me tomorrow?"

"Of course! You've helped me so much, it's the least I could do to pay you back." The sun caught your hair as you smiled and you looked angelic, at least to Thoma.

[generic-anime-boy-bracket]

Round 4 (Semi-Finals) Group A

Shigeo Kageyama vs Tracey Sketchit

Reasons for being generic + Propaganda below

Mob/Shigeo Kageyama

Reasons:

Shigeo’s whole thing is being the most average boring middle schooler ever. He yearns desperately for a social life but he’s always been part of the crowd, so much so that his classmates and even his boss call him “Mob”. Also consider this post https://www.tumblr.com/codynaomiswire/190630281009/spot-the-main-character-amazing-mob-psycho-is?source=share

https://64.media.tumblr.com/15122b75c98b6a5978d892e284f5fe60/1c80e81d36417001-2f/s1280x1920/195aa0ce13b4bbea7fab38e3f930c250940fa9a2.jpg could someone who's never seen this anime pick him out as the main character

very plain face, and his hair is a simple black bowlcut. his design is intentionally as simple and generic as possible, mob appearing plain and unremarkable is a big part of his character.

The whole point of his character design is that he looks bland and blends into the background (hence his nickname "Mob"). There are characters with way more exciting designs, even including his brother who at least has Anime Hair™️, meanwhile Mob is just very plain with his bowlcut and monochrome design

a very obvious candidate. black hair, spends the majority of screentime in a school uniform, got his nickname (mob) literally bc of how generic and bland he is. a perfectly common face. no aspirations, no hobbies, no academic achievements, no sport talents. just a guy. regular dude. the only notable thing about him is his immensly powerful psychic abilities but he avoids using them in daily life, doesnt like to show them off and supresses them as well as his emotions

the point of mob's entire character is to be generic and plain. even his nickname "mob" was given to him by others to show that he is just part of the crowd and nothing special.

He's got a bowlcut, a very simply designed face, and usually is only seen in his school uniform.

He is designed to look like the most generic middle school boy with a plain unexpressive face and a bowl cut, and his nickname Mob comes from the fact that he doesn't stick out and everyone sees him as a background character. He spends most of his time going to school (he is bad at math) and reading manga and daydreaming/zoning out. He's socially awkward and gets nervous around girls. He started working out recently. He also has psychic powers but it's not a big deal it's just another trait someone can have like being charismatic or smelling bad

look at him. his literal entire point is that he is just some guy. his name (mob) was given to him because hes so bland and doesnt stand out that hes part of the mob / a background character in everyones life. it's also, in japanese, the equivalent to the english term "john doe."

Hair is a black bowl cut. Wears a school uniform, plain face. His whole thing is basically being completely average except for his insane psychic powers. He suppresses his emotions and powers because he just wants to live a normal life like everyone else.

bowl cut. standard school uniform. literally designed to look like a generic background character

classic bowlcut kid, literally designed to look generic and blend in

He's literally just a schoolboy with a black bowlcut and no distinguishing features. Look at he: https://mob-psycho-100.fandom.com/wiki/Shigeo_Kageyama?file=Mob+Fullbody.png Ofc, he's also an OP psychic, but he looks so entirely generic I think he fits perfectly

look at him. He checks every “how to look as generic as possible” box

Normal kid (appearance wise)

He is meant to look generic, he is this very powerful esper but he has black hair, a bowl haircut and mostly dresses in his school uniform. He looks like a background character even though he is the protagonist.

Propaganda:

i love him so much he's like a son to me

(Sorry to the person who submitted a Reddit img link it won't make me put the image there because i'm on phone since I probably won't get Access to my pc since I'll be outside 😭)

i love mob so much he is my boi

…but also, if it helps, mob's character is "boy with bowlcut, almost always seen wearing standard japanese middle school uniform, who speaks in a monotone voice and has no strong opinions of his own (for reasons but its not important)"

He's literally earned the nickname Mob for being so bland and generic looking (Mob being a term Japanese programers use for background NPCs). He also was purposefully designed by the creator to be as un-protagonist looking and plain as possible.

he is literally just some guy and that is the point of the entire show is that hes not special hes just a guy. this is a good thing :)

he has my exact autism :)

Look doesn't he seem like a very polite young man? With no distinguishing features whatsoever? Yeah. He's THE generic anime boy. Immense psychic power notwithstanding

He <3

Tracey Sketchit

Reasons:

He has a very "just some guy" vibe, spending most of his time as a background character quietly observing after his 30ish episodes as a main character. Former head writer Takeshi Shudo himself once said on his blog that he thought Tracey didn't have a strong enough personality. Appearance-wise, Tracey has dark hair and brown eyes and doesn't stand out all that much.

He is literally *just* a guy. The best guy, but just a guy. A little dude, little fella. The guy ever.

Tracey is an incredibly sweet respectful king who got sidelined by the anime. It’s so sad because he loves drawing and research and pokemon, but he barely got any screentime 😔 I think he’s a wholesome fun character and he deserves more love!!

Propaganda:

Despite the fact that large swathes of the fandom either give him flak for being "boring" or completely forget about his existence, to the point that people also meme about his forgotten-ness, he has persisted. He went 17 years without a single line of dialogue due to his expensive seiyuu and then finally got to speak again in the final episode of Ash's story. He has 12 fans but we are dedicated and we are proud and we adore this sweet boy.

Tracey is king. Respects women, stays in his lane, draws pokemon. What’s not to love???