#im babbling at this point all of this is in the name of a silly goofy time (mine) all is good | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heyitsjay03 · 3 years

Note

Headcanons about each of the lords (+the Duke if you're writing about him) if they ever happen to adopt a little child?

THANK YOU ANON MY THE UNIVERSE BLESS YOU WITH PILLOWS THAT ARE COLD ON BOTH SIDES

okay okay okay okay this has definitely been on my mind so lets get into the thick of it

Alcina Dimitrescu

(im starting off with alcina for obvious reasons)

Alcina would be on the way to the church with the slimy moron, the demented doll, that disgusting manthing and Mother Miranda

She'd kiss her daughters goodbye and head off through the snow, quietly muttering about how cold her ankles were

while Moreau is literally up to his chin in snow but its fine

as she gets closer to the church she keeps hearing this. thing. it sounded familiar but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it.

she strays from the path to find it because it was just so familiar

as she weaves her way through the snow, her dress gets caught on something. she leans down to get her dress unstuck when she realises its this tiny basket.

like seriously. just a little woven basket in the middle of the snow. and it doesn't look like its been there for that long- there's hardly any snow on it

when she tugs at her skirts again, the basket makes the same noise she's been hearing

she stands back up to her full height, staring down at the basket with narrowed eyes

this cannot be a good idea, can it? opening a strange basket in the woods after being lured out here. it's probably some village manthing's trap.

she's about to step away when she hears the sound again- much more intense and much more clear

Alcina leans down and opens the lid of the basket

inside is this tiny thing- all soft and warm in a padding of blankets

a baby

she stands and looks around

who on earth would be so moronic as to leave their baby in the snow? it's much too cold for a baby to survive-

she sighs, getting onto her knees to pull the baby from the blanketed basket

the meeting will have to wait. it's too cold even in the church for this tiny thing.

when she finally makes it back home, she's greeted by her daughters in a swarm of buzzing flies.

as they manifest in their true forms, they're asking what- or who, rather- their mother brought for dinner

Alcina smiles and shakes her head, unwrapping the small bundle clinging to her breast

"this... is your new sibling" she announces, "they'll be staying with us from now on."

and the sisters are ecstatic. a new sibling!

Daniela especially is happy that she is no longer the youngest. she usually is the one to parade around the castle with her sibling on her shoulders, showing them the coolest hiding spots for hide-n-seek and the windows with the best views

Bela is incredibly protective. like. incredibly.

she smelt blood from across the castle and when she found her little sibling sniffling about a skinned knee earned from a game of tag with Angie, she lost her shit and almost broke the damned thing with her sickle

And Cassandra has been caught reading bedtime stories by nightlight multiple times. she tries to play it off but everyone knows that she loves- absolutely adores- her newest sibling

we all know Alcina is such a wonderful mother to the girls so adding another baby to the mix was a guaranteed success

she's so doting and careful (a little overprotective at times but she means well) as she is with her girls

as the child grows into a teen, she panics a bit because "my beautiful baby is growing into such a beautiful, talented adult" so expect a lot of late night visits when she just sits on the edge of her bed and just admires how much you've grown

Salvatore Moreau:

now this one is an easy one too if i'm 100% honest

think Moses type beat

(if you don't know, Moses was found in the riverbank in a little basket)

apparently i really like baskets

anyways

Moreau was so out of his element when he found this tiny, screaming, writhing piece of soft flesh

the first few weeks were rough

but he eventually got the hang of it (with Alcina's help of course)

he would take his child fishing every now and then- just the two of them out on a boat for a few hours

the kid would literally swim more than walk and that little fact would make Moreau so freakin proud

also this kid would be so well-versed in movie and film history it's stupid

like expect this little 4 or 5 year old babbling not about toys or snow or how many sticks they found but instead about the copyright war over the film Nosferatu and the destruction of its copies

Moreau, as the child gets older (like 11 or 12) would have just a tad of trouble trying to keep the kid out of the village

he'd wake up one day and go out onto the lake, expecting his child to be swinging their legs off the dock and watching the sun rise over the water

and when he finds that they were not, in fact, swinging their legs off the dock and watching the sun rise over the water, he p a n i c s

i mean, full blown red alert

all of the lords are summoned to help Moreau look for his missing kid, the lycans are given an article of clothing to help find the scent, Mother Miranda goes to search the village herself- the whole shebang

and when the kid is found playing with the village children, Moreau bursts into tears

needless to say, the kid isn't allowed to go to the village anymore

until they're fifty (Moreau's words, of course)

but the kid sneaks off more and more as they get older, using Alcina or Donna or Karl as an excuse to be away

and Moreau knows but he never says a word

seeing his child happy and free with the kids their age makes him happy, even if he is a tad, a tad, a tad bit nervous

Donna Beneviento:

when Donna found this child huddled up against the base of the stairs leading up to her front door, she at first thought it was a doll of hers

it was only when she actually walked outside that she realised it was this shaking, shriveled child in tattered clothes

she spent a good five minutes just staring, wondering how on earth she's supposed to react

that's when Angie jumped in and pulled at her skirt, telling her to "let the kid inside, already!"

Donna went immediately to work on some clothes- why on earth were they wearing such ragged things?! it's freezing outside!- while Angie entertained in the parlour

honestly, it didn't go well

the kid was a little bit unsettled by the floating doll that moved and spoke on its own FOR GOOD REASON

and when Donna walked back in with her measurement tape and some fabric, the kid backed themselves into a corner of the room with their gangly legs tucked into their chest

Angie sighs from the opposite side of the room, letting her little feet fidget as she gestures to the kid. "they're no fun" she pouts, "wouldn't even let me know their name"

Donna puts her materials down slowly and lifts her veil back before attempting a small smile

it takes a while but upon the offer of food, the kid finally lets Donna make them some clothes while Angie makes conversation

she works in silence, only offering small awkward smiles

Angie finally brings up the topic of where their parents are when the kid's clothes are done

when the child goes silent, Donna nods in understanding before hurrying off to make a room for them

as Angie helped tug the blankets up to the child's ears, they promised they'd be gone in the morning

Angie was the one to tell them off.

"You'll stay as long as you need, you silly goose!"

and the child did

Donna would let them tag along for meetings so long as they promised to keep quiet and help keep Angie out of trouble

most of the time, it didn't work and they both would end up in trouble but Donna let them come nonetheless

and when the other Lords question where on earth this little kid came from- all dressed in black fabric that matched Donna's dress, she just shook her head and let Angie chase them off verbally

she'd spend literal HOURS locked in that workshop making new little friends for her child and when they were old enough, she'd let them into the workshop

and when they were even older, she'd walk them through making their very first doll on their own

she'd just watch with pride as they carefully painted the freckles with a shaky hand while Angie danced around their ankles singing of how excited she was to have another friend

The Duke:

he would be setting up shop near the base of the Dimitrescu castle when he catches a kid trying to steal some his wares

he wouldn't be terribly upset, more concerned

it wasn't something shiny or expensive that they were trying to steal

it was some of the steaming-hot food he had left to cool in the wintry air

he confronted the child gently and with a warm smile

"That's cordon bleu," he says, gesturing to the steaming plate. "I can make you some if you'd like"

and as the child eats, the Duke continues tidying up his shop for any future customers

the child, through a mouthful of food, points to different items and asks their purpose, their price, their possible enhancements

the Duke answers each question with patience, happy for the company

but he doesn't just let the questions go one-way

"How about a trade?" he asks as the child asks about the strange-looking bottle of green liquid. "An answer for an answer."

the child agrees and the Duke starts to peel back layers of why the child was here looking for food

they had been orphaned by the last lycan attack, only barely making it out by fleeing into the woods

they tried to forage off of berry bushes and successfully managed to kill a pig- only for the blood to attract lycans before they could properly eat it

the Duke nods and continues busying himself with his shop, feeding the horse that pulls the wagon

the thought had hit him when he watched the child petting his horse

that horse hated everyone. including him at times.

maybe...

when he offered to take the child in, the kid nearly burst into tears and thanked him repeatedly, swearing to earn their keep

and they did, seven times over

what started off as a purely business venture morphed into something more as time went on

when the child would come back from selling smaller household items like gasoline and the occasional package of bullets, the Duke would have them climb onto the roof of the wagon and watch the sun set together with a plate of food

speaking of which, like Moreau, the Duke would raise the most cultured child

this kid would know how to prepare and identify different dishes and their ingredients just by looking at them or smelling them

and their palate would be far more sophisticated than most adults

the Duke, as the child gets older, would eventually allow them to choose destinations to set up shop- even outside of the village

wherever his child wants, the shop would go

it allows them to see the world and its earthly wares together- something the Duke had lacked in his life before the child was brought into the picture

Karl Heisenberg:

listen to me very very carefully

this man would be the most chaotic father ever to walk this earthly realm

when he finds this kid in the elevator of his factory, he's kinda standing there like 🧍 "what the hell-"

and when the kid starts spamming the button while maintaining eye contact, he kinda snaps out of it and starts chasing after them as they drop down to a different floor

it goes on for a solid twenty minutes before he finally managed to track them down in the corner of his office

and when i say this man is confused, i freaking mean it

i mean

why the HELL would some random kid be in his factory? don't they like... play with ponies or something at this age?

to be fair, this man literally has never been allowed a childhood so

obviously he starts scolding the kid ("what the hell are you doin' in here? it's dangerous and there's some really freaky shit here, kid"), dragging them to a nearby sink because "holy shit kid, you're filthy"

the kid is silent essentially the whole time, just kinda staring into his eyes

and of course Karl's gonna be like "...the fuck're you doin'?"

the kid's face is cleaned off and Karl sends them back out towards the village with a scratchy blanket he pulled out of the bottom of his desk drawer

he's working on his 'equipment' one day when he starts reaching for a wrench, keeping his focus on the body on the table

when i say this man jumps skyhigh at the kid asking a question, i mean it

he drags the kid back out, yelling about how dangerous it is and how "you shouldn't do that! you're gonna get yourself killed! go back home!"

the kid doesn't listen

it becomes a regular thing- Karl finds the kid wandering around the factory, Karl brings the kid out of danger, Karl tells them to get lost

eventually (day thirteen of this) he asks why the child keeps coming back

and he hates the answer he gets

it was something along the lines of "it's warm and there's nowhere else for me to go"

so Karl reluctantly eagerly lets them stay

it's a lot of rules at first (a kid shouldn't be allowed to just wander around a bunch of mindless cyborg killers, let alone a factory) but eventually the child learns to mind Sturm and the others

doesn't mean Karl does not have a fullblown heart attack when he walks into his workspace to find the kid tracing their finger along the center of the battery for the Soldats

after a very long talk (and some deep breathing) Karl reluctantly eagerly lets them sit against the very far wall to watch him work on the machinery- not, under any circumstances, the actual bodies

as the child blossoms into a young adult, they start to help out with certain aspects of Karl's work

exclusively machinery because Karl could not physically handle having his kid watch him get elbow-deep into a corpse

and Karl is so freaking proud of it

when the Soldat is kicked to life, he's got his kid in his arms and cackling like the proud dad he is

yeah. paternal Heisenberg>>>

#anon ask #anon #karl heisenberg #alcina dimitrescu #donna beneviento #salvatore moreau #re8 #resident evil 8 #the duke #resident evil village #resident evil #resident evil village fanfiction #gender neutral #headcanons #re8 headcanons #resident evil headcanons #resident evil village headcanons #yeah i had a lot of fun with this #thank you again anon

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ghostie-gengar · 3 years

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Ok so i have had this idea of an AU where N has like an actual known mother for like so long and i just. i have to get it out i need to so here’s a very very watered down version of her story with events that are so unlikely but whatever i just (warning it’s really long despite being a summary so prepared to get smacked with mom lore)

so. Her name is helen and she is a very nice lady. like SUPER NICE like you could break into her house and she’d be like “oh hey :) would you like some cookies i can put on a pot of tea” but also not a doormat. she Would Not hesitate to tell ghetsis off or smack anyone who hurts her kids.

anyways helen and ghetsis met in their mid to late teens, became friends (somehow :/ ghetsis was quite the charismatic young guy i imagine) and got married in their 20s. after a couple years twins!! im sure i don’t need to tell you how that happened. anyways concordia and anthea popped up and they were quite the handful but helen absolutely adored them and ghetsis was just kinda like “ok whatever children”

oh also im not sure if i’ll keep this but helen can sooooort of understand pokemon and N got that ability from her

oh also btw helen and ghetsis formed team plasma together see helen’s idea was to create like a pokemon relief center kinda like a sanctuary idk and ghetsis’ branch of family was kinda like a cult that thought humans and pokemon should be separate and ghetsis wanted to use that for more power and saw helen and was like “i can use this :)” anyways moving on

One day helen and ghetsis were taking a lovely stroll and they came across these young triplets who were homeless and helen was like “mine” so they adopted them and ghetsis twisted it to make it seem like He was the cool one who saved them so they’d listen to him (shadow triad)

this is kinda where team plasma begins to seem more evil and helen is catching on but she’s like “noooo ghetsis wouldn’t do that” (girl you’re wrong)

anyways once concordia and anthea are like eight or nine a little natural harmonia gropius pops up!! and helen is overjoyed cuz like she secretly always wanted six kids and now one two three four five six!!!!

she and ghetsis are also quick to notice how much n looks like ghetsis and ghetsis is mentally like “haha yes mini me >:D”

Then team plasma is very clearly a cult like helen can’t even deny it anymore and she tries to bring it up to ghetstink but he just waves her off like “now now dear don’t be silly” and she’s like >:(

ghetsis starts taking about making n the king of team plasma and helen’s like “well only if he wants to right” and ghetsis is like “no”

he only wants to use N more when he figured out N could understand pokemon cuz like he’d babble to helen’s minccino (oh yeah btw helen has a minccino)

theeeeeeeeeeen helen walks in on ghetsis being mmmmmmmmmmmm not good to concordia and concordia and anthea are both crying and helen is like “DUDE” and makes him sit down and have a serious talk about proper parenting which ghetsis also brushes off

then after a couple of days, concordia and anthea run away and helen is obviously absolutely devastated and she and ghetsis look for weeks. months. And no sign of them. ghetsis is like “well i guess they’re dead nvm then” and helen is like “DUDE” and she looks in the girls’ bedroom and finds a note from the girls that tells her to keep n safe and not to worry about them

after thinking about all the crap stuff ghetsis has done lately helen takes n in the middle of the night and runs. no looking back. bye bye ghetstink :( and life is much better honestly

she lives in that trailer in lostlorn with lil baby n and her plan was to wait for him to be able to walk and fend for himself and then they’d both go look for concordia and anthea but until then peaceful forest life playing with pokemon

And ghetsis upon waking up and seeing his wife and kid is gone he’s very upset. after a few years however he’s walking in like white forest or something and stUmbles upon concordia and anthea and he’s like “frickin sweet man” and snatches them and they are Not Happy but when they get back to the castle and see helen and n are gone? they are So Relieved those two got away even if they had to stay there

Anyways once n was three or four he was fine he could walk and he loved to wander around and make pokemon friends and he’d always come back to the trailer

one day ghetsis was walking through lostlorn for no particular reason and he came across n playing and recognized him immediately and was like “Oh My God No Way” and committed grand theft natural right there on the spot

but before he left he left a note for helen to find that said “did you really think you could hide forever” just to rub salt in the wound

anyways helen is like man it’s getting late i wonder where little natural is and so she gets a pidove to go look for him and the pidove brings back the note and when she sees it. tears. literal tears and sobbing she’s like “oh my god he has him He Has Him” and then she’s like “k you know what? Imma go get him i will go GET my child from this stinky man watch me grab my coat and i will get back the boy and if he has the girls too i’ll take them too and”

and then!! The shadow triad appear in the trailer (they all have names that only helen bothered to learn) and they’re like “hey so we kinda have strict orders from ghetsis that if we see you in the castle or anywhere near team plasma we kinda have to tell ghetsis and he’ll hurt n so maayyybe don’t?”

and helen is like crap. like genuinely there is no good solution cuz if she goes and fails to get the n back ghetsis would hurt n and if she did get the n back ghetsis would hurt the shadow triad and so she’s stuck and she has no choice but to just let everything happen

But!!! This story has a happy ending!!!

so i didn’t mention this cuz my thoughts are all over the place but helen likes to paint and so in order to cope with everything she painted her kids and they’re like really good anyways

N meets her at some point after bw2 cuz he was in lostlorn and it was raining and zoroark ran into her trailer and he was like “zoroark you Cannot Be Here we need to go” and helen walked in and she recognized him immediately like she was internally like holy arceus above that is my son that is my son that is my

but N doesn’t remember her like at all so she doesn’t want to say anything in case she overwhelms him and N is like “i am so sorry for coming in here my zoroark just hey you know what i’ll just leave”

Meanwhile she’s trying not to cry and she’s looking from n to a painting of n she did and she’s like holy arceus and she’s like “nono you can stay for tea until the rain is over”

And n had also noticed the painting and he was like that’s literally me but didn’t want to say anything

So n stays for tea and they have a lovely chat and helen is like this is literally my son and he has no idea who i am and then the rain stops so n leaves and helen is just like. Sad

But then n comes back another day and stays for tea again cuz they kinda became buddies and n is about to leave but he stops. at the doorway and slowly turns around and is like “i feel like i know you from somewhere” and helen is like “???” about to cry again

And you can like see the gears turning in n’s brain and he just freezes. and he looks up. And he’s like “.......mom?”

tears. Everywhere and both of them are sobbing and hugging each other and helen’s like “omg you’re so tall look at you how you’ve grown” and more tears and they literally hug for like hours while helen tells the story and helen was like starting to calm down and n’s like “btw connie and anthy are alive” and she just starts crying again and then they go to the house in driftveil so helen can see the girls and everyone just starts crying the girls are freaking out cuz they never knew what happened to mom and rood was there and crying like “mistress helen you’re alive ma’am” and just. big group hug and the shadow triad probably teleport in there for like five minutes and helen will absolutely not let them go without hugs even if they still work for ghetsis and yeah. that’s the very long summary of n’s mom imagine how long it would have been if i like actually wrote it professionally ok bye

#pokemon #pokemon n #pokemon bw #pokemon black and white #n harmonia #natural harmonia gropius #pokemon oc #ghetsis #team plasma

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch3 Meeting The Champion

After giving Gloria's mother your good bye's you exited after Gloria and paused. Eyes widening at the sight of beautiful spacious meadows and all kinds of plants including what looked like the beginnings of a forest over towards the very far right.

"Y/N! C'mon!!" You blinked and looked down. Gloria was waiting right next to Hop, she waved to you as you looked down at them and you nodded back in under standing.

As you took a few steps from the home, you turned your head to look around the front of it. A cottage like in a cliche fairytale greeted you as well as leaved vines hanging all over from the roof hanging down from it. The front of the house consisted of potted plants and flower bushes, a wheel barrel with a few gardening tools inside, and a small space of fertile brown dirt surrounded by a ring of stones filled with more plants. A little farther away was a stone fence leading down the dirt path you began walking down to the two teenagers, you passed a small grass type pokemon who babbled something in it's own language at you happily. You thought if memory served right it was a Budew?? But you didn't pay much attention to it before walking the steps down towards the two kids, noticing some more sheep pokemon near the two of them. One of them the kids were watching one of the sheep pokemon continously roll and bump into a wooden fenced gate over and over again.

Hop blinked from the sheep pokemon for a moment and looked over at Gloria as you reached the bottom step and chuckled. "Hahaha! Have a look at you, Gloria! That old bag looks like it could pull you over! At least we know that it should hold anything Lee might bring, even if it's as big as a snorlax!"

"Hey! I happen to look great in this! It matches my hair perfectly!," she huffed back and Hop continued to chuckle before blinking and turning his head towards you, "Oh hey, Ms. Y/n! Glory said you were gonna be traveling with her since you two were heading the same way."

You nodded. "Yeah I guess so. But you can just call me Y/n."

"Alright! Cool!" He turned his head along with you and Gloria when a loud thump from your right caught your all's attention. It turned out it was the second sheep pokemon thing. It rolled like a ball and had rammed itself into the wooden fence that lead off towards the forest you woke up in. "A Wooloo..." Wooloo? Was that what they- OH!! Now you remember! You had to really start wracking your brain if you wanted to get past this. "But what's it doing here?" He watched as the Wooloo rolled hard into the fence again. "Hey! You silly wooloo! I see what you're up to! Don't go using Tackle on that fencing!" The pokemon turned to him and gave off a loud baa in protest at Hop. "Now you listen! No going past that fence! No!" He scolding wagging a finger at the pokemon like a parent scolding a child. " Everyone knows there are scary Pokemon living in the Slumbering Weald! " He looked at you for a second. "Well almost everyone."

"Meeeh?" The wooloo protested again but didn't try to tackle the fence again.

Hop nodded and turned back to Gloria and you. "Now that that's been taken care of...How about it, Gloria? Let's race! Bet I can make it to my house first, what with you lugging that big old bag!"

"I don't think that's a good idea. Y/n could get lost and she's never bee- HEY WAIT!!" She reached out just as Hop chuckled, turned, and ran off down the dirt path with his wooloo pal right behind him. "HEY!! THAT'S CHEATING AND YOU KNOW IT!!" She sighed shaking her head and turning to you. "Sorry 'bout that. He must really be excited to see Lee again." She smiled and pointed. "C'mon! I'll show you the way to his house. Knowing Leon, he's going to be late again seeing as it wouldn't be the first time he forgot where his own house was too."

"It's alright. I can get why he's excited,'' you assured her.

"Oh, do you have a brother too?" She started walking and you followed.

"Nah. Only child actually. It must be fun having a brother like you and Hop tho."

She shrugged. "Somtimes. When Victor and I were babies everyone kept mixing the Postick twins up until Ma eventually stopped making us wear matching outfits."

You hummed and decided to take in the town's scenery as you followed her, rubber gumboots making squeaking noises. If you remembered right, meeting Leon for the first time in the game is also where the player (or in this case Gloria) got their starter pokemon for the game. Maybe it would be the same for here too. You looked around at your surroundings as you two stepped over a bridge and creek. There was a small herd of wooloo in the distance, as well as a windmill, a couple farms, a few houses, and a silo. A few butterfly looking pokemon fluttered in the air near the wooloo herd but their name escaped you in the moment. It was just really pretty to look at..although your mind wondered elsewhere. Back home. What was your mother thinking right now? Did she think you ran away? What if she was worried sick right now and reported you missing? A guilty feeling eased into your gut. You never wanted to make her worry. But now-

"Hey, Y/n. Are you ok there?" You blinked and turned to Gloria who cocked a brow as you both walked. Passing a middle aged man with dark brown hair, maybe one of the NPCs? "You were kinda staring off there for a minute."

"Hm? OH! Uh..N-No Im fine. Just thinking about something. Ahehe."

Gloria still stared at you but shrugged and continued walking to a brick house not very fair away from her's actually with a small comcrete rectangle with a pokeball painted into it, and like gloria's had some potted plants around it too.

"Hey, Gloria!" Both of you looked over to a small boy sitting on the brink fence who waved friendly at you. "Hop was looking for you, you know! But no need to go to the next town to find him when he lives right next door, right?"

"YEAH! Lucky me!," she called back before gesturing to you. "C'mon! You're going to like Hop and Leon's mom! She's like my mom but with a more stubborn attitude."

You didn't say anything but followed her and wondered how this would go. You two continued to go down the road and you noticed Hop was waiting rather impatiently by the white door.

"Hey! I thought we were trying to hurry!"

"Well I told you to wait up! Y/n could've gotten lost!" She retorted back.

Hop through his arms out. "I literally live across the creek from you-....You know what? Let's just go inside and see if Lee showed up in the five minutes I was gone!" He grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open. "Oh. You can come in too if you'd like Y/n. A friend of a friend is my pal too!

You smiled. "Thanks!"

"Or got lost in the ten minutes you were out," Gloria mumbled but Hop didn't hear as he went in and you both followed.

You stepped into a small room similar to Gloria's home, with a pink wall in front of the door, more gum boots, vase of umbrellas and a stairway leading away to a second floor. Hop went to the left and you two of course followed after him into what else, a kitchen. But this one was a lot more bigger you thought than Gloria's. This kitchen had biege-tan wallpaper, green cabinets, and more space to add a whole table and a couple chairs too. Oh wow! Way bigger than your kitchen back home that's for sure. In there was a woman. Her purple hair just above her neck, wearing a yellow shirt with jeans and green house shoes, and atm she was shopping what looked like carrots, lettace, and other veggies. But she paused and turned her head when she heard footsteps come in. Her golden eyes and skin tone matching Hop to a T.

"Mum!? Is he here!?," Hop asked excitedly.

The woman stopped chopping the carrot in her hand and fully turned to you all. "There you are at last, Hop! Oh, and you've brought Gloria along. Hello, Dear." She greeted and smiled as soon as she noticed the brown haired gal. But her eyes blinked at you. "Oh. And who's this?"

"Hi, Mrs. L!," Gloria greeted happily and loudly before jabbing a thumb at you behind her. "This is Y/n! She's going to be my traveling partner when my journey starts! Isn't it cool! Maybe Ill even get a rival before I even leave town too!"

"Is that so?" She smiled at you. "Well hello to you too young lady-"

"Yeah, yeah! But where's Lee!?," Hop interrupted impatiently tilting his head at one of the green cabinets, "Have you got him crammed in a cupboard?"

"Hop!" The lady said in that mother tone. The one that made all kids freeze when they heard their name be called in THAT tone. And that's exactly what Hop did as he paused and his mother placed one hand onto her hip with a frown. "Now don't you be so rude like that especially in front of guests. He's still not here yet! For the hundredth time...Honestly, Hop, you must learn some patience!" Hop mumbled an apology and his mother sighed. "He's probably only just arrived in Wedgehurst."

"Wedgehurst?" You asked.

"The station just down the road," Mrs. L answered you.

"Then that's where I'm going!," Hop exclaimed pointing out the window towards the outside, "You know Lee is hopeless with directions. I'll make sure he doesn't get lost on the way!"

"Oh, will you?" Mrs. L asked amused...before humming in thought. "Yes, that probably is for the best..."

You jumped with Hop suddenly turned to you with an excited smile. "You've got to come with me, Y/n! You've still never met my big bro, right?...Wait. Have you met him?" You shook your head no as an answer. Because technically you didn't. Only in a video game. "Oh good! You can't miss out on your chance to meet the undefeated Champion!" He then turned to Gloria. "I'll wait for you on the route!" Before running off again.

"HOP! WAIT!'', Gloria whined but the door was already slamming behind Hop's form and she groaned. "UUUUHHHHH!!! Leon is bad with direction just as bad as Hop is with patience!!"

The chuckles and head shake of Mrs. L is what directed you both back to her. "Go on with Hop to pick up Leon, won't you, Gloria? I know you're the reliable sort. I'll have everything ready for a barbecue in the garden by the time you're all back!"

Gloria sighed. "Sure, Mrs. L. You can count on me." She waved you to follow her as she turned and trudged towards the door. "C'mon Y/n. We ca-"....She paused mid step and her eyes went wide. ".....BARBECUE!? AH MAN!! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!?"

You blinked. "Forgot what?"

She groaned and continued walking. "Today's not the actual day we're leaving on our journey." She peeked at eye at you. "It's the day we're getting our new pokemon partners from someone. The journey part is a few days later."

"OH! Well that's alright,'' you assured her. Honestly not a bust to you either if it meant you'd get to see some more pokemon too. "Im sure it'll be fun!"

Gloria seemed to be a bit mopey at her remembering her new predicament, but still went ahead with you out. She pointed back down the road where you came and you nodded following her back up the road, before turning right and seeing Hop waiting for you two just a few yards way, as you two approuched he smiled wider.

"Let's get a move on!," he shouted excitedly, "Only remember, Gloria..Wild pokemon come out of nowhere if you walk through patches of tall grass! I've got my Wooloo with me, so I'm ready for battles against wild pokemon, of course! But not you, Glory. So we'll steer clear of tall grass as we go."

"Gee. I never knew that," Gloria rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I was just giving you the same advice Lee gave me...Oh wait." He looked at you. "Do you have any pokemon on you Y/n?" Gloria turned to you too at the question.

"Uh....Well...I n-never even owned an actual pokemon before," you answered reaching a hand up to rub the back of your neck.

"WHAT?! How could you not ever own a pokemon before?"

"Eh...I was busy traveling?" You gave a shrug with the excuse as Hop shook his head.

....Hop shook his head. ''Well anyways, we better get to the station before Lee gets lost trying to find his way home. The last thing we need is him somehow ending on top of Old Lady Harriet's barn again."

"Yeah. I'll never know how he ended up there," Gloria replied.

"Well....Let's go meet Lee at the station!" He turned and pointed down the road, waving his other hand in a 'follow me' motion. "It's dead ahead from here!" He then turned and began jogging down the road.

"HEY! You really need to learn to be more patient! C'mon Y/n!," Gloria yelled before running after him.

You blinked, but with the old back pack over your shoulder, you jogged after the kids. Running down the hill and past a sign reading 'Route 1' and towards what looked like a train station the closer yougot...and the closer you got the more you blinked. It looked like....people were there. A small gathering that became more apparent the closer you got following the two teens. The rest of the town could also be seen the closer you got. Soon you were running over a stone bridge right behind the crowd of people and came to a stop, heaving for breath right beside the two teens. ...Oh right. This must've been the scene in the game where Leon and the player first ever meets! ...But this crowd was definately much BIGGER than the one you remember from the game. You blinked and looked around the murmuring people. There must've been thirty maybe forty people here of all kinds of ages waiting for Leon. And you weren't the only one to try and look over the crowd. Both Hop and Gloria were hopping and leaning this way and that to try and peek around the crowd blocking all the way around the train station.

"DO YOU SEE HIM?!", Hop asked Gloria in the middle of her holding her hat to her head and jumping up to peer over the crowd.

"NU UH!! The place is too packed!!"

You blinked and had to stand on your tip toes just to try and glimpse the doors to the station yourself. But you caught just a glimpse of the big doors open and two figures coming out-

"ITS HIM!!," Gloria shouted and you jumped at her suddenly next you you.....sitting on top of Hop's shoulders as he grunted to keep them both upright as he held her up. But gasped excitedly at her announcement. "AND HIS CHARIZARD TOO!!"

"REALLY- AH!!"

Both kids toppled over and you hurried over to them to make sure the two were alright. In the meantime the crowd began to cheer louder than ever!! You were just helping Gloria up as she was rubbing her head when the deep man's voice sounded off.

"Hello, hello, Wedgehurst!!,'' the man's voice called out making Hop instantly get up with a gasp scrambling to his feet, "Your Champion, Leon, is back!!"

"LEON!!" Hop scrambled to the crowd as you helped Gloria to her feet. Desperately jumping and waving his hands around to get his attention past the crowd. "LEON!! HERE!! OVER HERE!!"

"I promise I'll keep doing my best to deliver the greatest battles for you all to watch!!," the man's voice shouted off again happily.

"Are you ok?," you asked Gloria looking her over as she nodded and dusted herself off.

"Yeah. Won't be the first time we tried that trick!" She looked behind her and quickly scooped up her hat laying on the ground next to her and plopped it back upon her hand as the crowd began shouting cheers of praise drowning out Hop's voice in the back.

"It's our unbeatable champion!" "Leon, you and charizard are the best!" "WE LOVE YOU LEON!!" "SIGN MY BOOK!!" "THAT'S THE MAN MY DAUGHTER WENT TO SCHOOL WITH!!" "LEON!! MR. LEON!! PLEASE LET ME GET A PHOTO OF YOU IN YOUR VICTORY POSE!!" "LEON!! LEON!! LEON!!" "WE'RE ON IT!! We've all been working on our battle skills just like you've taught us, Lee!!" "But that charizard of yours is to strong for the likes of us to take on!"

"LE-ON!!," Hop desperately called out trying to see past two very tall men, unfortunately being drowned out still.

The poor champion hadn't even noticed the figure of his younger brother through the crowd as he smiled and tried to answer the crowd as best as he could. "Well thank you for that! I hope you all carry on training up your pokemon and never shy from battle!....Oh! Of course Ill sign it for you little buddy!...Then come challenge me for the Champion title!...Too true Charizard is blazingly strong. But other pokemon can be strong as well! That's why I want the strongest of challengers to fill the Gym Challenge and come battle me! My wish is for Galar's Trainers to work together to become the strongest in all the world!" You also thought you heard a dragon call from his charizard to, but you couldn't be sure with this massive crowd. "....OH! Yes! Of course! I'd love to have a picture with your daughter!"

"Im never going to get Leon to notice me!'' Hop had taken a few steps back from the crowd and looked upset to see no openings in the crowd. "At this rate, Leon won't get away until it's nighttime!"

"Maybe you could stand on my shoulders?," Gloria offered.

You stood there for a moment taking in Hop's pleaing face and the crowd. ...Well you didn't want these two trying to stand on one another and falling over again. You'd feel bad if they got hurt while around you even if you weren't they're babysitter...but maybe there was another way. The idea hit you in an instant and you smiled. "Hey Hop!" He looked towards you and you signaled for him to come over to you. "Come here so I can lift you up! He might be able to see you better if someone taller helped you." Actually you weren't sure if you were physically strong enough to hold up a teenager, but it was probably a safer way than two kids climbing on top of each other like a jenga game.

But Hop's face lit back up. "GREAT IDEA!!"

He then came over to you and turned around as you grabbed him under the arms when he faced the crowd. "Ok, ready?" You asked and he nodded yes. "Ok. Hang on cuz I haven't tried this before."......Yeah. This plan wasn't as easy as you thought it would be. It was like trying to lift a hundred pound stone with your flimsy noodle arms as you grunted and somehow by some miracle managed to lift the boy and pull him up to shoulder level with one of the tallest people in the back. Certainly still not tall enough to be noticed- The wieght all of a suddenly became lighter when Hop lifted higher, and you briefly caught a glance why when Gloria had placed her hands under one of Hop's feet and pushed him up higher with both of your combined strength. Enough for the smiling boy to be hoisted a head or two above the back crowd. "Please hurry up and work!" You hissed arms shaking. You weren't sure how long you two could hold him up.

"LEE!!" Hop shouted at the top of his lungs and waved his arms around just as Leon turned back forward.

He blinked for a moment surprised to see his little brother so high up, before he smiled widely. "Hop!" He called back and made his way towards his little brother. Charizard in tow.

"HE'S COMING!!"

Whelp that was enough to get you two to start lowering him down and when he was safely put back onto solid ground you both groaned. Gloria shaking out her hands and you leaning back to stretch out your sore arms. Well....at least it worked. Hop was practically (excuse the pun) hopping in excitement as the crowd slowly parted and before them walked forth the champion of galar! He was-....Honestly he was a lot more goofy looking than you remembered. Maybe it was the giant grin? Or the bad sense of direction?? Or the laugh he gave when his baby brother hugged him and he hugged back. Which you did smile at.

"Lean!" Hop shouted into the hug. "I missed you!"

"So, my number one fan in all the world has come out of his way to pick me up!" They soon pulled away from each other with Hop absolutely beaming up at his older brother. "Look at you, Hop!" He hummed eyeing him a moment. "I reckon you've grown....exactly an inch and a quarter last time I saw you!"

"Bingo! That's the sort of sharp eye that's kept you undefeated for so long, eh, Leon?"

"Hm. Well it's funny because for a moment I could've sworn you got a growth spurt and grown taller than me," he teased back and Hop shook his head turning to you and Gloria.

"Nah. They helped me out in getting your attention."

Leon turned to the two of you and Gloria smiled widely when his smile landed on her with another hum. "And these bright eyes over here...I've got it! You must be Gloria! Am I right?" He asked in the same teasing voice which made Gloria playfully roll her eyes. "I've heard LOADS about you from my little brother."

You blinked. That's right. In the game Gloria (or Victor) never met the Champion before Hop had them help retrieve him from the train station-

"Oh knock it off, Lee! You know it's me." Her response from him was him ruffling her hat and hair playfully.

"Oh y'know I was just teasing! It's good to see you too, Glory! How's your Mom and Victor doing?"

Gloria giggled before shaking her head at the ruffling and reaching up to fix her hat. "Fine. Pretty sure Mum's helping with the barbecue dinner and Victor started his journey earlier this year."

"Wow. He did? I must've missed a lot since being back."

Wait. What the-...Oh that right! Gloria did mention a few times she knew Leon since she was smaller. So not only were Victor and Gloria twin siblings here, but they both definately know Leon personally too. That's two differences between the game and this world so far...other than the larger crowd too, but you made a mental note just in case they came up later.

"There you go again." You blinked at Gloria again as she rolled her eyes. "You were staring off at nothing again, Y/n."

"Oh..Uh sorry. Just thinking about something....Again." Gloria rose a brow but you looked up past her when Leon stepped beside her.

" Oh. So you're the other one that helped Hop, yes?" He asked in a friendly tone and smile.

Before you could speak tho, Gloria chimed in proudly. "YEP! That's right! Not only did Y/n help but she agreed to be my traveling buddy for my upcoming journey!"

"Is that so? Good for you Glor! But I don't think we've properly been introduced." With a swish of his cape Leon proudly pointed at himself and smiled confidently. "I'm the Galar Region's Greatest ever Pokemon Champion!...And a massive charizard fan, too! People call me the Unbeatable Leon!"

You couldn't help the chuckle and smile you gave and he smiled wider. Did he always say things so playfully or funny like this in the game? This was definately a goofy older brother type.

"Come on, Lee! And you two, Gloria! Y/n! Bet I can beat the both of you back home!"

"You're on! And this time I can finally catch up with you!"

Hop smirked with a challenge. "Oh yeah!" Gloria opened her mouth- Hope turned and bolted back up the dirt road. "LAST ONES THERE IS A SMELLY SKUNTANK!!"

"NO FAIR!! YOU NEVER SAID GO!!" Gloria shouted running right after him.

Leon laughed out loud watching the kids run off and shake his head. "That Hop...Always wanting to be the best, isn't he? With a proper rival of his own, I bet he'd push himself to become something truly speacial..."

"Oh he will. I know he is-..." You froze up as he turned to you. OH CRAP! How could you be a dummy and forget you already knew what would happen!? Quickly thinking you held up your hands and sputtered out, "B-Because he has such a great role model! H-H-He r-r-really looks up to you y'know! You're a really kind person and good brother!" He blinked seeming surprised and you again froze up. Oh CARP! Was that too much!? Did you come off as a wierdo or something!?

"Thank you!".....You blinked staring at his smile and made a 'Huh' sound and he chuckled again. "I said thank you. That's honestly really nice of you to say so. I always try to be the best person and role model I can be for Hop and others like him. It's just one of the many duties as the best Galar Champion."

"Uh...Your w-welcome."

He smiled and turned back to the watching crowd with another cape swish. "Well, everyone! I bid you farewell for today! But don't you fret..." In a sudden blur he struck a pose with his arm pointed towards the sky and the crowd cheered loudly for it! Giving the same hand signal back. "I'll always be around to make sure everyone in Galar can have a Champion time!" You couldn't help but smile as he did so. Yep. At least this Lean was pretty spot on from the vaugue memories you have of when you played the game. He turned back to you with a smile. "Hey. Since the kids already ran ahead why don't you race me there? It'll be fun!"

Well....Why not? You were stuck in a video game and meeting the greatest rival between Gloria and the game's ending, and you heading home. One race just back up the road wouldn't hurt right? So you agreed and off you two ran back off towards Hop's house........AAAAAnd it turned out if you thought you were out of shape by lifting Hop up for a few seconds, you were sitting on the ground a lil ways from Leon who patted your wheezing form making sure you were alright. Eventually taking a seat in one of the green lawn chairs while Lean excused himself to speak to the children after you confirmed to him you were alright after your short run. His Charizard standing a lil ways from him. Whatever it was Lean was offering it was exciting the two teens in front of him.

"Come on, Lee!," Hop whined, "You promised us a present! So out with it!" ...OH! That's right. This was the part in the game where Hop and the player got their first- "You brought Gloria and me pokemon. You did, didn't you? I know you must have!"

Gloria snapped between the two brothers gobsmacked. "Wait...LEAN!? Is giving us our first pokemon!? We're getting our first pokemon from THE Champion!? NO WAY!! You've got to be kidding me!"

"Glory, where did you THINK we'd get them?"

She shrugged. "I mean-...Ma gave Victor the wild wooloo she caught. Y'know. The one that kept getting into her garden to eat it, so she caught it and gave it to Vick before he left-

Both children looked up when Lean cleared his voice to get their attention. "Right then." He smiled brightly placing his hand on his hips. "The greatest gift from the greatest Champion. It's show time, everyone! Take a good look you two!" In a fluid motion Lean pulled three normal pokeballs out of nowhere and tossed them towards the battlefield area beside the three. Here you go. You leaned forward to watch in anticipation as three absolutely ADORABLE pokemon popped out. A green plant monkey looking pokemon, One that looked like a rabbit with a band aid over his nose, and what you could only think of as a blue chameleon newt looking one. "Meet your new potential partners! The Grass-Type Pokemon Grookey! The Fire-Type pokemon Scorbunny! And the Water-Type Pokemon Sobble! I made sure to reveive the best of the bunch for you three!!....Well-" Lean scratched the back of his neck. "I had assumed Victor would be here too, but hey. More variety right?"

You along with the other three watched as the three happy pokemon chittered and ran around. Grookey climbing the tree and then scampering over to a fruit on the branch, chittering excitedly and began tapping it with the stick from it's head. The Sobble diving into the pool nearby. And Scorbunny running around the field leaving flame footsteps in it's wake. And you smiled at their little antics...until it went kinda wrong. The sobble spat a small spurt of water that accidentally his the poor scorbunny and you watched as the poor fire type pokemon jumped in shock from the sudden shower and ended up colliding into the branch the Grookey was on before falling to the ground by the pool. Luckily Grookey didn't fall but the fruit it was insterested in did. It fell with a splash into the small pool startling the sobble into leaping out of the water. The poor thing gave off a couple cries until it's two counterparts scampered over and comforted their pal in their own pokemon language.

"All right!", Lean called to them, "Everyone line up!" The three little pokemon happily did as he asked and as soon as the three were lined up he turned back to his brother and Gloria gesturing to them. "Which will you choose?"

Gloria looked at them with glee and excitement in her eyes. You guessed Hop must've noticed her eagerness because he pointed at them. "Go on. You pick first. I've already got my Wooloo, after all." Said sheep pokemon baaed next to him.

Gloria gasped and turned to Hop wide eyed. "REALLY!? AW! Thanks, Hop! You're the best pal ever!" Hop chuckled with a small pink hue to his cheeks-...Huh. You didn't think that happened in the game. But Gloria and you were soon distracted by the teen's determined face. She scanned over the three excited pokemon smiling up at her carefully, like how you would when you would do homework. ....Eventually her brown eyes went back to the middle pokemon and pointed. "I chose you as my future partner and totally cool companion!!"

Leon smiled at the excited bunny-like pokemon's expression. "Ah! Scorbunny is Fire Type. It's filled to bursting with Fiery Passion! You're set on the Fire Type Pokemon Scorbunny?"

"You best your champion title I am, Lee! I can tell we're going to get along great!" The small pokemon did a number of excited hops bringing up flames from it's feet. "Can you do a fist bump buddy?" The small pokemon nodded and when Gloria offered a fist the Scorbunny bounced up and delivered a cute punch to her own. Aw!

Lean chuckled. "Well it's no surprise you chose the one riled up with confidence like yourself. Go get his pokeball there and we'll let Hop pick next."

Hop nodded. "So it'll be Scorbunny for you? Nice one! I'll go with...Hm." His gold eyes glanced between the two hopeful pokemon as they stared up at him as he studied them carefully....Eventually pointing to- "Grookey! You're mine!" And the small money pokemon chittered in pure glee. "I'm aiming to be the next Champion, so be ready! You and I'll be doing some serious training!" Hop's new Grookey made a chittering noise, chittering again when his Wooloo baaed at him again.

"I bet you will be, Hop," Lean spoke in a gentle voice and Hop blinked up towards him when Lean patted his back with a proud look, "That's why I brought these pokemon along for you and Gloria. So the two of you can battle and train and grow stronger together...to try to reach me!" Hop smiled at him, but the brothers were soon distracted when a sad noise reached their ears, which turned out to be Sobble crying most likely from being the only one not to be picked. A surprised look came over the champion but soon he smiled and pulled away from Hop to walk over to the crying pokemon. Sobble stopping his crying as soon as his shadow fell over him. "And you'll come with me!" Lean smiled down at the sad pokemon. "Charizard will show you the ropes! He's strict but real strong and real kind, too!" Lean's charizard made a grunt noise behind him and the poor sobble looked more scared of the giant dragon looking pokemon than happy.

"Hey, Lee." Lean hummed and turned to Hop as the young boy picked his Grookey's pokeball from the ground where his brother had thrown it, looking unsure between Sobble's expression and his brother. "That might not be the best idea, bro. Sobble's looking kinda...spooked at the idea."

Lean blinked. "Oh. You think so?"

"Yeah..." As if struck my lightning, the boy perked up at an idea, whipping around to you still watching silently from the table. "Hey! I got a great idea! Why don't you take 'em instead?"

.....You...blinked and it took a moment for you to realize what he was implying. And all you could do was point at yourself and ask, "Who? Me?"

Hop nodded. "Why not? You said you never had one right? This could be a great way for you to get to experience what it's like! And I'm sure sobble over here would really appreciate it." At the mention of what Hop said the small pokemon perked right up and chittered in question towards your direction.

You still stared...before holding up your hands. There was NO WAY you could have a real pokemon! One being you never had a REAL one, and secondly you doubted if you were ever suddenly sent back you'd be able to take this little guy with you. It'd cause more problems than solutions. "I-I don't think-"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!!" You all jumped from Gloria loudly proclaiming and pointing at you. "If we're going to be traveling buddies it's better to have more back up just in case! Who knows? We could be attacked by robbers! Or what if someone tries to steal my Gym badges on my journey? Or what if you're attacked by another flock of Corvinight?? Or like get seriously hurt and I'm not around to save you!? If we're going to travel it's better to be safe than sorry! Why do you think Lean never leaves home without Charizard? He needs someone to bail him outta trouble whenever he gets lost."

"Ouch. That stings a little Glory."

Well.....when you put it like that? You really could use the extra spare muscle if you were going to be running around Galar while trying to remember how the game goes, it wouldn't hurt to have a pokemon just in case. And in either case you could just give the sobble to someone more suited or release it back into the wild when Gloria claimed the Champion title. That way when(and if-) you were sent back after she won, you wouldn't have to worry about the poor thing. So...should you accept??

"Well-...I- Uh-"

"That's not a problem is it, Lee?"

Lean hummed, glancing between Sobble's brighter expression and you for a moment before smiling. "Not at all. That sounds like a great idea considering if Y/n actually wants to take Sobble-....Wait. What was that part about her not ever owning a pokemon before?"

"SURE! I don't mind!," you interrupted before anyone could answer that question and you blinked when a small chittering caught your attention as a blue blur came scuttling towards you and you jumped when the thing launched intself clambering onto your leg and up tour body. It took you a moment to realize it was sobble and the pokemon didn't stop until it was flopped over your shoulder giving a smile to anyone watching. ......Well-......I guess you were stuck with a new pokemon now. At least until this whole thing was over with- You jumped when Gloria walked over without you noticing and placed what must've been Sobble's pokeball on the table in front of you. "....Oh. Thanks."

"All right, enough of all this Trainer nonsense for one night!," a familiar voice called out and you four looked up to two middle aged ladies coming around from the front of the house food in both their hands for the tables and the barbecue.

"MOM!!,'' both children greeted as both their mothers came out.

"Hey! Ma!," Lean greeted smiling before looking around a little more, "Where's Gran and Gramps?"

"Oh you know Dad. We can never get him away from his pragrams," Mrs. L rolled her eyes, "And Mom's cleaning your room for your stay."

"MOOOOMM!! Why didn't you remind me today wasn't actually my journey!?," Gloria whined Scorbunny in her arms, and her mother rose a brow.

"Considering this your first lesson. Always remember something important before going to run off. " Her mother shook her head before holding up the small saled bowl again. "Dinner's ready, Children. Bring along your pokemon, and let's all eat. Y/n you're more than welcome to joing us."

Your stomach rumbled catching the attention of your new sobble pal who chittered in question as you gave a sheepish smile. Golly. Had the entire day passed by already? Well you weren't going to pass on free food when it was so kindly offered and not when you were hungry. So you nodded your head in agreement and stayed seated as you watched the two ladies work. Gloria's mom had placed the large salad bowl she was carrying on the table you were sitting at and you recognized them as the Veggies Mrs. L was cutting earlier. In the meantime Mrs. L was heading right for the grill next to the table you were sitting at. Soon it was lit and the coals in it heated up a warm orangey-red color. You were watching as Hop and Lean's mother as she went back into the house with Gloria's and a moment later the two came back with plates, forks, and what looked like hot dogs of a few different colors and chopsticks. You watched silent other than a few chitters of the Sobble on your shoulder, as Gloria's mom set the table you were sitting at and Mrs. L squired the hot dogs onto the chopsticks and placed them on the grill to sizzle. OH! She was making shish kabobs. As you lazily watched them cook, the two teens were playing around with their new pokemon partners and Hop talking to Lean every few minutes or so. The sun in this world slowly lowered, and the lanturns on the shed's stone walls behind you lit up when the sun was lowered enough. It was a very peaceful scene.

"Ok, Kids!," Mrs. L called looking up from the shish kabobs she was every so often flipping on the grill but looked up as she called. "Food's ready! Come and eat!"

The two teens and pokemon cheered and came running over to the grill. Hop getting there first and grabbing two kabobs from his mother when she offered them to him. You watched as Hop smiled and ran over to Lean handing one over to him as he smiled at his younger brother. His charizard made a grunt sound as it sniffed over his shoulder and Lean began pulling off the food on the stick one by one and tossing it up, the dragon like pokemon snapping it's head in lightning fast reflexes- You jumped when Gloria ended up pulling a chair out next to you to your left and a moment later her mother sat across from you as Mrs. L sat the rest of the shish kabobs onto the table for you all to enjoy. The other people sitting down at the table and the small pokemon chittering around them, besides Hop's wooloo who baaed and Lean's charizard who grunted and made groans like a real dragon until they were all given bowls of brown kibble like food. Which you guessed must've been pokemon food. You lowered your shoulder and stretched out your arm to allow your new sobble pal to climb down it like a chameleon and jump to the ground after a bowl that was placed down for him along with the others- You looked up and blinked as someone sat next to you and you leaned back up. Staring face to face with none other than Lean the Galar Champion himself as he took seat next to you with a smike and Hop right next to him with Mrs.L sitting in front of them along with Gloria's mum next to Gloria. And passed out the food went. Good. You were starving-

"You're Y/n right?," Lean asked and you blinked back up at his smile. He chuckled and pointed a hand up. "I don't think we had the chance to talk since you all met me at the station. You helped my little brother stand a little taller-"

"And give Lee an ego boost," Gloria teased.

"Hey! C'mon Glory. She just gave me a compliment." He chuckled and looked back to you. "I also heard you agreed to be Glory here's traveling buddy. Are you two friends?"

You opened your mouth to speak but Gloria cut you off as she pointed her fork at you two. "Actually we just met this morning. She was camping in the Slumbering Weald and was chased out by a flock of wild Corvinight." She shoved the food into her mouth and you wanted to sink into your seat as Lean blinked in surprise before looking at you.

"You went camping in the Slumbering Weald? Even I wouldn't get lost there, and corvinight are big pokemon. How'd you manage to get into that mess?"

"Uh-..." Your mind raced with any possible reasonable answer to give other than 'you woke up in a video game in the middle of the night'-...WAIT!! What did you say before?? You attempted a nervous smile and spoke. "It's actually a f-funny story. You see I'm n-new to Galar! I've been uh-...T-T-Traveling around and I guess I didn't know what I'd be getting myself into." You smiled at Lean and said 'Please work. Please work. Please work.' over in your head. Luckily it seemed he bought it.

"Oh. Well at least you were able to get out of there alright by the looks of it. So...You're new to the Galar Region?" You nodded yes relieved he bought it. "I see. So where are you from?"

CRAP!! Everyone seemed to be politely watching you two now and you could feel yourself sweating. How were you supposed to answer that!? You couldn't say 'from the real world'! Quick!! What was some place in the pokemon world you remembered!? Your scared mind raced and the only one you could think of was- "Uh...I-I'm from the K-Kalos Region actually..B-But I've been..Traveling around for a l-long time so...y'know I've been here and t-there."

He blinked. "Kalos Region huh? Wow. That's a long ways from here, across the ocean even. You must really enjoy traveling."

You smiled. "YEP! It's the best!" Of course you never really thought of traveling around the world for real, but for now you'd just go along with this story.

Lean smiled at you. "I admire a free heart and spirit! So what brought you to the Galar Region? Was it just to see me?"

"She's here to see the Champion's Cup! And since she's going to be sticking around until everyone can finally battle you, I offered her to come along and BOOM! Instant traveling buddy," Gloria chimed in and you were grateful for her for making an excuse you could go on.

"Y-Yeah! That's right! It's not every day there's a big event like this! And who knows? I might just be eating with the next champion right now, or if you manage to stay champion that is."

"Oh. Well then you're in for a real treat! I have a feeling that this year is going to be full of excitement and powerful trainers like these two here," he gestured to the two teens who seemed to be proud-

"Lee." Lean froze as his mother pointed her own fork at him with a scowl. "I didn't slave away all day making your favorite lunch just so you would be too busy talking to eat it. Champion or not you're still my son in this house and what I say goes! Now hush and eat up!"

"Yes, Ma!"

You snickered as Lean immediately began eating and finally you got a break to begin eating yourself as your stomach rumbled and enjoy the delicious cooking courtesy of Mrs. L. But you absolutely made sure to tuck away your 'backstory' for now in case you needed to use it again for later. Time flew by as you all chit chatted and ate. The sky grew darker and soon all the plates were emptied out with a few of you all grabbing seconds. Soon it was time to go, and your stomach felt content. And soon good byes were had after Gloria's mother helped Mrs. L bring in her silverware and put out the grill's fire. And soon you found yourself at the front of Hop's home with all of the others saying goodbye. Your sobble having climbed back on top of your shoulder.

"Come meet me back here first thing tomorrow morning," Lean explained to Gloria. "Well run your first ever pokemon battle and Ill show you the ropes."

"YOU BET!!....Oh wait." Gloria turned back to you and blinked. "Hey, Y/n. Where are you going to sleep tonight?"

......Oh.....right. You hadn't even thought of that. "Uh...." You shrugged. "I guess I can camp outside??" You didn't like the sound of that but what other choice did you have??

Seeming to read the look on your face, Gloria's mother waved a hand. "No sweat. You can take our couch again until the kids' journies."

You looked to the older woman in surprise. "What? R-Really? Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude.

"Now I insist. You can stay until you're two's journey."

"....Well...If you say so."

Good byes were had as well as you thanking Mrs. L for dinner before leaving with Gloria and her mother. The scorbunny at Gloria's heels bouncing around happily and proud around his new master as Gloria went on to bragging on how she was totally going to beat Lean before Hop was going to. When you three arrived back to the cottege home, it was already pretty dark and already the lamps outside were lit. Once you were inside Gloria's Mum allowed you to use the restroom and change into the pjs you had arrived into this world with. You were so tired you barely noticed the poor Sobble scuttling around your feet chittering in concern about the munchlax sleeping away in the bed in the corner of Gloria's living room. You barely noticed as you bid the other two girls good night and flopped back on the soft couch before throwing the blanket over yourself. Luckily the quilt was left where you left it from the night before. As you laid down, the Sobble much like a cat, chittered and climbed on over towards you. Settling down in the space between your shoulder and the pillow curling into a warm ball. Not that you minded. For all you know you'd be back home tomorrow anyways and this would've been all a dream. Just your mother yelling at you for being late and missing collage....

As your eyes closed, you couldn't help but frown at the memory.

#pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #piers x reader #pokemon piers x reader #reader x piers #Piers #pokemon piers #reader

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rocorambles · 4 years

Note

im just imagining a yandere!Kageyama finding out that his crush is Oikawa's sibling and so he 'logically' decides that kidnapping them will erase that connection.

“Logical” to Yandere Kageyama makes absolutely no sense already to everyone, but now add on the mixed emotions he feels from his crush being Oikawa’s sibling? His logical is going to be pure insanity.

Warnings: Yandere, Toxic Relationship, Kidnapping

Even pro athletes need a day off sometimes and today was one of those days, but Kageyama wouldn’t know what a break was even if it slapped him across the face, which is why he’s jogging through the old neighborhoods he used to traverse through as a high schooler. He had just meant to stay near Karasuno, but he’s feeling light on his feet and in good shape and he finds himself pushing further and further until he’s in the vaguely familiar streets of Seijoh.

He’s finally running out of steam and, spotting an empty swing in the park across the street, he sits, lazily swinging back and forth as he catches his breath. He smiles as he watches the young adults his age fool around on the outdoor volleyball court. He can tell all of you have played it semi-seriously at some point in your life. Maybe college? Maybe high school? But his eyes widen as you step far back when it’s your time to serve and take running strides before leaping in the air and following through with your jump serve and something about your movements reminds him of an older man he hasn’t thought of in a long time.

I wonder how Oikawa is doing?

Pushing that thought aside, he continues watching you and he knows it’s silly, maybe even a little creepy, but he can feel himself falling for you as you run, set, and serve. He knows nothing about you and yet, he can feel his heart racing as he sees you sub out and walk towards the empty swing next to him, sweating and panting. Exhausted, you plop down wordlessly into the empty seat, but once your breathing goes back to normal you turn and give him a wide smile. “So you like volleyball?” He stutters out an affirmation and then there’s awkward silence before he finally remembers his manners and introduces himself. “I’m Kageyama Tobio. Nice to meet you. You play well.” He mentally kicks himself in the head for sounding like a robot, but he’s distracted by your next words. “Oh! Did you use to go to Kitagawa Daiichi? Tooru-nii talked a lot about you. Wow, what a small world. Can’t believe we’re actually meeting in real life like this.” You’re babbling on and on, but Kageyama is hardly listening as his fists automatically clench at Oikawa’s first name slipping past your lips.

Tooru-nii? You were Oikawa’s younger sibling? He wants to instantly dislike you for your connection to the older athlete, but it’s too late, he’s already so drawn to you so he sucks it up and continues talking to you, happily smiling as he walks away with your name and number saved in his phone. The two of you hang out quite a bit after that, but much to Kageyama’s annoyance, you constantly bring up Oikawa here and there in conversations. He hates how close you are to your brother, how attached you were. If only there was a way to permanently cut your tie with the older setter...An idea flits through his mind and he narrows his eyes thoughtfully. Yes, that could work.

The two of you start dating and to celebrate your one year anniversary Kageyama insists on taking you away to a beautiful, secluded cabin in the woods where you two can really escape and spend some quality time together. You think it’s a little weird that Kageyama won’t tell you the exact location and seems to be packing way too much for just a weekend trip, but you’re so touched by his thoughtfulness that you easily oblige him when he blindfolds you before driving off with you. The cabin is gorgeous and Kageyama is an absolute sweetheart. The weekend flies by as the two of you roll around in sweat soaked bed sheets, relax in the huge tub, and lounge in front of the fireplace. But you sadly sigh when Saturday night arrives, already dreading having to pack and return to reality the next morning.

“I wish Tooru-nii could have seen this place. He would have loved it.”

You shriek as a hand roughly grabs your face, squishing your cheeks together and forcing you to look at your boyfriend’s scowling face.

“Tooru-nii this. Tooru-nii that. I don’t want to hear you talk about him anymore, do you understand? Not even one more fucking word. I didn’t bring you all the way here for you to just go on and on about your brother. As long as you’re in this cabin with me, you don’t have a brother. Oikawa doesn’t exist.”

Fear pools in your gut, but you nervously smile, hoping for the best. You gently push his hand from your face, opting to hold it affectionately in your own slightly quivering hands.

“I’m sorry, Tobio. This weekend’s supposed to be just about us. I understand. I won’t talk about Tooru-nii at all anymore until we get back home tomorrow, okay?”

But your heart drops as piercing blue eyes pin you down.

“We’re not leaving this cabin anytime soon.”

And suddenly, you see the lodge for the prison it really is and you see your boyfriend for the monster he really is.

#haikyuu yandere #yandere haikyuu #kageyama x reader #yandere kageyama #haikyuu #kageyama

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babysizedfics · 4 years

Note

i know u have the moving stuff going on so u can answer this whenever u get a chance but i got an ouchie so how would the boys react to getting an ouchie? does mama or papa give the boys bandaids? does ro ever get hurt and fall out of headspace? im just v interested! 🐝

We addressed Roman's reaction to getting a boo boo in this headcanon and now i'm gonna build on the virgil side of it!!

i just wanna mention that i hc adult virgil as being very good at hiding physical pain - like Too good, i remember we said once that he didn't tell the light sides about his allergy to eggs and accidentally ate some in pattons baking and had a reaction - but he hid it from them for a few hours until it got pretty unbearable. also he's just not overly aware of physical pain, i like to think its part of his autism that while he is hyPERsensitive to temperature and textures he is hyPOsensitive (less sensitive) to physical pain

HOWEVER we all know vee is very emotional and jumpy when regressed and i think being a baby makes him much more subconsciously aware of the fact that he can be hurt and relies on his CGs to protect him form danger

in both chapter 3 and 8 of little accidents you see Vee take a bit of a fall - once from tumbling down a couple stairs and the second time from falling out of logans lap - both times he is not injured but both time he bursts into tears from the shock of the experience

so adding pain into that situation i think would result in a pretty inconsolable baby vee :(

all of the family are incredibly gentle and careful and protective with vee and also he's low energy when regressed and doesn't tend to move around much, so him being hurt is a rare occurrence, luckily

but when it does happen..

vee will be silent for a couple of seconds - the calm before the storm - where his body is just shocked from the sudden change in sensation

and then his body will register it as Pain and will set off his panic and he starts crying pretty quickly after that - it starts out silent, or perhaps supplemented by muffled whimpers because his instinct to minimise his pain is still in place

but as soon as roman goes 'vee are you okay??' or logan goes 'Sweetheart are you hurt?' or patton goes 'oh my poor little baby' the waterworks really start and he starts sobbing and spluttering and whining because that last wobbly wall of wanting to hide his pain is shattered by his family's care for him

its rlly heartbreaking when anyone witnesses vee properly wailing while regressed, the sound is just so genuine and so clearly completely real for a baby who can't process pain that everyone HATES to hear it and make it their mission to stop it

Logan's top priority is always to check for injuries - if vee hit his head he will feel for a bump and ask some baby friendly questions to check for a concussion (you can never be too careful when vee is regressed and wouldnt be able to communicate his needs verbally)

then logan immediately picks vee up and carries him into the kitchen to the first aid kit - meanwhile calling for patton or roman to help him because he isn't as strong as patton, so he cant really move his arms while carrying virgil and needs help getting a bandaid

patton's paternal instincts scream I NEED TO HOLD MY BABY whenever he hears vee crying - all reason drains from his mind and it is pure instinct, he will literally drop anything he's doing (and has broken a couple of objects from dropping them in panic) and dash to his babys side, cradling him in his lap or bouncing him on his hip and cooing constantly, desperate to comfort his baby enough to stop crying

but yknow what logan's thorough checking for injuries and preoccupation with medical attention makes vee feel scared because its not soft, not comforting, it makes him worry he is seriously hurt

and pattons coddling is nice but it doesnt really make vee feel better necessarily, the tears continue because as much as pattons babying is comofrting and keeps him in that young headspace, it doesnt do much to change the situation

so with both caregivers doing these things virgil is as i said pretty inconsolable no matter what they do

But roman..

Roman is far more aware of his brother's needs than anyone realises. They spend a lot of time together while little, they're (as patton said in chapter 8) "practically inseparable" - and while they are almost always accompanied by one cg, theres just a special bond between siblings that can't be matched

even though they bicker a little and their needs and interests dont match up, they understand each other because theyre both littles, and roman is the closest to a childs mindset than either of the CGs

roman understands some things that vee says that the CGs dont oick up on - sometimes literally, he will undersyand a babbled word vee is trying to say because he understands virgils thinking process and that when logan mentioned the ocean vee saying 'woumber!' is him saying flounder, his favourite character from The Little Mermaid - also i accredit this to the fact that they are both neurodivergent!

and while they are big roman is surprisingly the one who picks up most on virgil being in pain - because he too tries to hide his pain behind a facade of bravery and indifference, he sees himself in virgil covering up his suffering, and when he notices this when theyre big he squeezes virge's shoulder gently and challenges him to mario kart - virgil always scoffs or rolls his eyes or something nonchalant and says yeah sure whatever, but he always squeezes romans hand back just as softly (thank you)

so, back to the point, little roman knows that the best way to get virgil through his pain is to make him smile and forget about it - so roman dials up his class clown energy when baby vee is hurt and it ALWAYS works

we mentioned in a couple headcanons before that once when virgil is crying roman sings the peppa pig song and adapts it so that it's their family saying their names and snorting like piggies, and in another headcanon we said that while vee is upset roman gives him little stuffie performances and makes them climb over vees legs and arms (it works because 1. its silly and he makes them dance and encouraged vee to interact with them and 2. the soft textures on vee's limbs distract him from the pain)

so while it is very important that logan is there to treat vee's injuries and patton is there to coo and coddle him, they only manage to get vee to stop crying because roman is such a good big brother 🥺

#this was soft as heck #long post #little/big concepts #agere virgil #little virgil #agedre roman #little roman #cg logan #cg patton #asks #🐝 anon

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mcfreakin-bxtch · 4 years

Note

this is so strange to ask, but could you write something about Mando and the reader and about their age gap (she’s 20/22 - that’s because technically he’s 33/34 - i don’t remember well)? choose you if something fluff or anything else, obviously just if u have free time!! ☀️

This is not strange at all man, and yes I think that’s about right. Or at least it sounds right to me.

I decided to go for fluffy fluff with a smudge of angst and mentions of smut on this one since I’ve been writing a lot of smut lately, buuuuut if you all would like a smutty part two I would be more than happy to oblige as soon as I can!

This is also unedited and short I apologize.

You hate this.

Din—you were there when Moss Gideon called him by his true name—is sitting with the Child in the hull, rolling that metal ball towards him on the floor, gently so that the Child has a chance to grab it. When the baby giggles, you grin and there’s a soft noise that escapes through the vocoder. It makes your heart swell with a longing ache.

When you first met Din, you never thought in a million galaxies that it would go this far. That one job would lead to another with your skills, and eventually you would become the Child’s caretaker. That slowly, as you became more familiar, the Mandalorian started to creep into your every daydream. It soon escalated into your every thought, your every breath, and the butterflies in your stomach that flutter in a frenzy when you were around him; the very same ones that still reside within the confines of nervous giddiness.

At first, you chalked it up to a stupid crush. You are young, early twenties, and he’s a man; just in his early thirties, and illuminating every bit of swagger and enigma that was just sexy and appealing to you. And Din is nothing but good towards you, even stoic and ever so distant in his way. He’s kind when he’s not bounty hunting, he’s soft when it’s just the three of you on the Razor Crest—with the Child more than you, obviously, but he never once has asked you to leave the room if you sit from afar and watch. It’s something that you could easily get over and eventually move on from. You said this to yourself every day and night when your thoughts drifted to that Din Djarin cloud of yours, and occasionally—if the need was too much—you’d stick your hand down your pants and think of his cock inside you as you came.

Then he almost died. That broke you, made you realize that it was all more than just a crush; somewhere along the lines, you fell in love with him. Hard. Life is funny like that.

But he just doesn’t feel the same about you and you will never be the to make him laugh like that and no doubt smile. You will never even have a chance of feeling a sliver of his bare skin against yours, or the brush of his lips. You will never hear any adoring words of affection from him that’ll turn you into a puddle of lovey gooiness. It’s something you have to endure and suffer through.

“Hey.”

You blink through your daydream, realizing that Din—Mando, you have to remember to call him; Din is too… personal and you don’t want to make him uncomfortable—has been calling your name.

“Sorry,” you mumble. “Just… thinking.”

“Yeah.” The modulator crackles. “Are you hungry?”

As much as it sounds appealing to you, you're in too much stress right now to put in the effort to eat, so you shake your head no and watch as he sighs and stands up. He stands in place and wobbles with one foot poised in one direction and the other in yours. It’s like he’s contemplating something and that brings your undivided attention.

“Did I—did I do something?” He asks with uncertainty.

You blink dumbly at him. “W-what do you mean?” You curse yourself for how weak you sound.

“I—” He stops, puts his head down for a moment, then whips it back up to you and clenches his fist. “I mean did I do something to make you… distant?”

Distant? Oh. Oh. You thought you were really good at concealing your emotions, you really did. But you’re not as good as you like to imagine and now the jig is up. You’re going to have to tell him, because he’s, well he’s the Mandalorian; the one you’ve been partners with for a while, so he knows when you’re lying and you just—you need to tell him. It’s only fair to the both of you.

You wring your hands nervously in your lap and chew on your bottom lip. Your heart is pounding against your chest rather uncomfortably that spreads to the rest of your body and makes your leg start to bounce with the increasing anxiety.

C’mon. This is now or never.

“Mando I’m—I’m in love with you.” It practically comes out a whimper, and it’s too fucking quiet but you take a deep breath and will yourself to keep going. “And I know that that probably makes you uncomfortable, and that you don’t feel the same way at all. So I’ll… you can drop me off at the next stop. I’ll be okay.”

As painful as it was saying, you can’t deny how good it feels letting it all out. Din—Mando—appears to be in shock. His whole body is stiff, and you’re sure if you poked him he would sway under the miniscule pressure. Your stomach is in knots, awaiting his response to your confession with tears burning in the back of your eyes. But you will not cry, not here and not now.

“You think—” He chuckles, deep but without humor. “And here I was sitting here thinking that you didn’t like me.”

Wait. What? Is this real?

A gust of air escapes you with an airy laugh. “Wha—wow.” You don’t know what else to say. It’s like your brain is short circuiting, blank and unyielding in its chaos.

“Yeah.” He sighs and takes tentative steps towards you until he plops himself down next to you, but doesn’t face you; he stares ahead at the Child. It’s quiet for a little, sans the gurgles and babbles, and you take this moment of silence to collect your thoughts.

“Why did you think that I didn’t like you?” You finally whisper.

The helmet tilts down. “Because… because you’re so young.” He whispers. “And I was trying to spare you from making you uncomfortable or—or hating me. And you still—” He stops.

You nod your head eagerly and encourage him with a small smile. You need to know.

“And you still call me Mando.” He relents. “I know that sounds stupid, and I know that you’re just being respectful and I appreciate that. But I don’t know, the doubt started to creep in when you didn’t ask your silly little questions like you always do, especially about my name.”

This is all just… ridiculous. You start to giggle, and you can’t stop even when the visor stares quizzically at you and you feel him tense even more beside you.

“I-I’m sorry it’s just,” you manage to croak. “It’s just this whole time, and our own insecurities were holding us back.”

It takes a minute, but eventually you hear that sweet, raspy and robotic chuckle filter through the helmet. Your heart swells and your smile is wide to the point of discomfort that you can’t stop.

“And with the age thing,” you start. “I don’t care about that. I’m an adult and you’re an adult. Just because your bones crack when you stand and you groan when you have to bend down does not mean I love you any less.”

You grin at the end and expect him to argue back, or to laugh with you.

“...Can I kiss you?”

Maker. Maker this is really happening.

You lick your lips and nod, not fully trusting your voice.

“Close your eyes.” It comes out soft, almost a whisper.

You look towards the Child, who must have fallen asleep on the blanket Mando—Din, you can call him Din now—laid out as they played, and close your eyes. The anticipation is killing you already and it’s only been a second, but you’ve been waiting so long for this and it’s finally within your grasp. There’s a loud hiss that makes you slightly jump.

Then there’s a soft wisp against your lips; that small ghost of air that flows from his mouth onto your awaiting kiss, teasing you. You keep your eyes tightly shut as he palms your cheeks in his hands—bare and rough but soft against and you wonder just when he took those gloves off—and he presses his lips against yours.

At first it’s soft, just a cautious press. It’s still enough to take your breath away, to have to fight back the urge to keen into him and throw yourself onto him. Then he finally, finally, kisses you harder. You immediately gasp and he clumsily fits his mouth against yours, trying to move in perfect sync. You follow his lips, losing yourself to the language of this kiss; the first of the many that are to come, the one that’s a little unsure but absolutely reventing in the simplicity of it, begging for more and more. When you trail the tip of your tongue against his plump lip, you swallow his moan and explore the divine taste of him. Din responds just as eagerly and your body is on fire, and he’s the cooling water and the smoldering flame at the same time, bringing you into his warmth and completely enveloping you into… into his everything.

You whine when he pulls away for air, and he indulges you into a few more pecks before he completely pulls away. It feels cold but your swollen lips thump with an untainted love that’ll keep you sated; at least for a little while.

Tags: @scarlett-berserker, @justlovetoreadfics, @lil-baby27, @mando-vibes, @beepbeepyabitch, @that-void-witch, @im-the-music-whore, @certifiedhunter, @softpedropascal, @domino-oh-damn, @okaydacre, @lemongrove, @appreciating-chase-brody, @iwontforgettheapplepie, @mybabyboytony, @olyamoriarty, @pcrushinnerd, @elusive-ivory, @dizzydazed, @bluejeancntrygrl, @dadzawas-eyebags, @moonstruck-witchy @our-mrlangdon, @parody-the-emi, @evalynanne, @purplewaterbird, @vikingqueen28, @tedpicklez, @blunt-cake-yes, @agoldin, @lustriix, @readsalot73, @kateb013, @eupphoriaaa, @imalovernotahater, @everything-lost-and-unsaid, @dlmafa1, @hoodedbirdie, @drunkenliterary, @fioccodineveautunnale, @fangirlfree, @mrsparknuts, @amarvelousmandalorian, @ironheart-hanako, @bunniotomia, @thisisthe-way, @rosadorando, @meganoid1997, @adikaofmandalore, @cahooter, @charliepeaceout, @dreamgirl-67, @phoenixhalliwell, @acrylics-and-sunshine, @sunkissed-winter, @oloreaa, @equalstrashflavoredtrash

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #din djarin x reader #din djarin #din djarin x you #pedro pascal #star wars #the mandalorian imagines #requests

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emy-loves-you · 3 years

Text

Useless Gays: The Prequel Chapter 2

Thick as Thieves

Chapter 1 | Masterlist | Chapter 3

So this chapter is divided into 3 flashbacks: The first one has Roman at 5 years old, 10 in the second one, and somewhere between 20 and 24 in the third one (after high school, before WNaUG). For those of you who are reading this and not WNaUG (which makes no sense but okay), Rebecca/ReeRee is Remus' deadname. Remus and Roman are fraternal twins, with Remus being slightly older. Remus will be using the name Rebecca and she/her pronouns because: 1.) Remus didn't realize that he was a boy until he was 13, so he wouldn't use male pronouns yet. 2.) This chapter is all in Roman's POV. Roman never knew that Remus transitioned, since he ran away before telling Roman. So, until someone tells him, Roman will always use she/her pronouns when describing ReeRee.

“Come on, Ro! It’s not that high!” She laughed, striking a dramatic pose.

“Yes, it is!” 8-year-old Roman yelled, balling his hands up at his sides. She knew he was afraid of heights! Roman started crying, and he glared at the bottom of the tree. He was such a crybaby. Why couldn’t he be brave like her?

She stopped laughing. Roman looked up and saw her smiling softly at him, no longer teasing. “(Sigh) Here, give me your hand. We’ll go up together.” She crouched on the tree branch, using one hand to steady herself and lowered the other one towards Roman.

Roman frowned, eyeing the hand in suspicion. “You’re not gonna drop me, right?”

She raised her arm to place over her heart. “I swear as your big sister-”

“By six minutes!”

“I won’t drop you. Or pretend to drop you. Or shake the branch. Or drop down and leave you up here-”

“Okay, I get it!” Roman yelled, stomping his foot.

She smiled again, the type of smile that Roman wishes he saw more often. It was the smile that said I love you. You mean the world to me. I will always protect you. “I would never use your fear for my own amusement. You know that, Ro. And if you fall, I’ll catch you. I promise.” She extended her hand again. “Now get your butt up here! I have somethin’ to show ya!”

Roman grabbed her hand, and there was a scary woosh before he was in the tree. He buried his head in her hair, so scared. We’re so high up and we’re gonna fall fall fall fall fa-

“Shh,” her hand rubbed against his back, grounding him. “We’re fine, we’re safe, nothin’s gonna happen I swear.” They sat like that for a few minutes, Romans sobs slowly turning into sniffles. She slowly pulled away, using her hands to keep Roman steady. “Better?” He nodded. “Good. Now look.” She pointed somewhere off to his left. He forced himself to look away from her face, his fears resurfacing. He took a deep breath before turning towards his left.

“Woah.” There, on the neighboring branch, was a bird’s nest. There were two eggs, and Roman watched as cracks slowly formed along the eggs. The two birds were nearly identical, with the bird on the right hatching seconds before its sibling. “They’re so pretty.”

“That’s us.” She relaxed on the branch, her back leaning up against the tree. “Birds of a feather flock together. And we’ll stay together, even when our wings are plucked and our dreams are shattered. Twins forever, right?”

He opened his mouth to respond. “Righ-”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Roman shrieked in fright, suddenly losing his grip on the branch. He screamed as he started to fall.

“Ro!” Suddenly, arms were wrapped around him, and he landed on top of her. “Ah! God that hurt! Are you okay Ro!”

Ro nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He got up and gasped. “Your arm!” Her arm was twisted from where it was crushed underneath him.

She went to move it and hissed in pain. “I think it’s broken.” She smiled, but Roman could see tears in her eyes. “At least I caught you! I told you that you’d be fine!” Before Roman could respond, his mother marched up to them. Momma immediately began to scold them, only noticing her broken arm when she went to grab her and she screamed in pain.

Roman was told to clean his room while they went to the doctor. When they returned, she had a lime green cast on her arm. Momma took away their favorite toys (her dolls and Roman’s foam sword) before telling them to clean up the kitchen. Roman grabbed a red sharpie, signing his name on her cast. She smirked. “Your ‘m’ looks like a ‘v.’”

“Does not!”

“Does too!”

“Does not!”

“Does too!”

“Does not!” She realized what had happened an laughed. “Good one, Ro.” She used her good hand to ruffle his hair. Her special smile was back, the one that she only gave him.

He giggled, leaning into her touch. “Thanks, ReeRee!”

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

Boom!

Roman shrieked, pulling his blanket over his head. He could hear the heavy rain against his window. He loved rain (he stomped in puddles while she made mud pies) but he hated thunder. It was so loud and he could never tell when it would-

Boom!

He shrieked again. He flushed in embarrassment. He was 10, for God’s sake! He shouldn’t be afraid of something as silly as thunder! His sister had gotten over these stupid fears years ago! His mind wandered to his sister. Can I?

He shook his head. It’s really late at night, she’s probably sleeping. When they were younger, Roman would go stay in her room during thunderstorms (he’d tried going to his parents room once, but they yelled at him and sent him back to his room). But that was when they were younger. They were 10 now, and she kicked him out last time he went into her room uninvited.

Boom!

Roman jumped, falling off of his bed. That’s it! He quickly grabbed his Dragon Witch (a stuffed animal that Uncle Terrence gave him for his 7th birthday) and ran out of his room. He made his way down the hall until he reached the pink door. Roman scrunched up his nose. His sister hated pink. She had asked their father if they could repaint her door green, and he yelled at her. He opened the door, stepping into her room. Since their parents never went into their rooms anymore, she had redecorated it. The pink walls were covered in drawings of green tentacles. The floor was filthy, with dirty clothes and torn drawings strewn about. Roman was surprised to see his sister awake, sketching a new tentacle drawing. “Thought you might show up.” She said, setting down her sketchpad. She patted part of the bed next to her. “Come on, I don’t bite.”

Roman hurried over, diving under the blankets. He shrieked as another clap of thunder hit. He felt a hand in his hair and tensed. The hand paused for a moment, before slowly rubbing Roman’s scalp. He relaxed, leaning into the touch. He always loved his sister, but he loved this version of her the most. When she realized that he was actually scared, not startled or mildly uncomfortable. She wouldn’t tease him or ask unnecessary questions. Sometimes she would twist together a tale from nothing, concocting a story of pain and hardship, of love and trust. Other times she wouldn’t speak, offering silent comfort and protection against the world around them. He sighed, finally drifting off to dreamless slumber. The last thing he knew before darkness took him was the press of her lips to his forehead as he drifted off. “Goodnight, Ro.”

Goodnight, Ree...

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“Ro, you gotta wake up!”

Roman woke up with a gasp, his chest heavy. He forced himself to breathe, shaking like a leaf. He felt a hand in his hair, and he immediately lunged, burying his face in her shoulder. He sobbed, listening to the gentle shushing sounds as he was rocked back and forth. He felt a second hand on his back, and he started babbling. “ReeRee, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should’ve listened to you. I should’ve trusted you.”

“Oh, sweety.” Roman jerked up. Patton stared back, tears running down his cheeks. He felt the hand on his back retreat, and he grabbed it, bringing Logan closer. Patton’s hand pressed against his cheek, and Roman suddenly realized that he was crying.

“’m sorry.” He muttered, wiping his eyes.

“It’s okay, sweety.” Patton assured him, pulling Roman into a side hug. He felt Logan do the same on his left. “Do you wanna talk about it?” Roman shook his head, still feeling slightly despondent. “Okay. Do you wanna stay up and cuddle?” Roman nodded, sighing when he felt Patton’s fingers in his hair. In less than an hour, they would all drift back into a dreamless sleep. A few hours from now, they would each go to work, a cheerful facade in place. But for now, they stayed there, silent tears streaking down their faces. For Patton and Logan, it was for the pain their lover was going through. For Roman, it was for the sister that he had pushed away,

You said you would always be there to catch me, ReeRee. But I pushed you away. Now I’m so scared that I’ll fall again. What am I going to do without you there to catch me?

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Taglist: @bisexualdisaster106 @self-taught-mess @itawalrus @arodynamic-enby @sanderssides-angst @whatishappeningrightnow @idont-freaking-know @cute-and-angsty-princess @artsy-enby09 @girl-who-reads @drarrymalecsolangelo @count-woe-laf @im-an-anxious-wreck @ent-is-undecisive

#useless gays #sanders sides fic #roman sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders

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yourfaveisyanderematic · 5 years

Note

im thinking about that trish/bodyguard so piece you wrote a while back, and all I can think about is trish being so desperate for any sort of affection that she’s just like “okay, time to fake my own kidnapping”

Hm. I put my Narancia piece down to bang out something for this prompt bc this is, as the kids say, a mood. Modified it just slightly though, because that’s how I am.

love is just another kind of greed.

Trish didn’t get the appeal of dogs.

They were cute, sure. Little silky fluffy things that yipped and yapped and tolerated being carried around in purses. They were also expensive as hell—hundreds of thousands of lire could be invested in premium shampoos, gold-flaked specialty foods, champion breeding (why, again? You’re not taking this dog to any fucking show, Anastasia, you don’t need it)—and those two things alone should have had her clamoring to get one.

She didn’t want one, though. Dogs were frail, frilly little things that cried endlessly when you kicked them (even if it was an accident) and whined for attention even if you were busy, and they couldn’t do anything, anyway. They could posture, sure. Strike a pose and bark and bark like the silly boys playing at being gangsters she had to tolerate every now and then, but if you pointed a gun at one and pulled the trigger, that would be that. They’d fall over with a little sigh and get all still and silent, and then they wouldn’t be good for anything anymore.

The reason she was thinking about this, by the way, was because she was bored. You were taking forever. Weren’t you taking this whole kidnapping thing seriously?

“How’s your ankle, babe?”

Ugh. Trish took a breath and pulled a smile onto her lips, gently tipping her head back to look up at the man. Despite the coiffed hair and designer shoes, he’s nothing special; some dumb kid with good looks and soft hands, partying his youth away with cash that wasn’t his. A drop in the bucket of young hedonists. The kind who took a pretty girl’s smile as an invitation and the light brush of hands as a blank check. More importantly, however, he was the kind she could lure in without too much effort, too eager to get into her pants to ask many questions.

She didn’t even remember his name.

Trish raised her foot, a languidly elegant motion that let his eyes trace every inch of her delicate skin, and after a moment’s hesitation he rearranged the pillow to better cushion the black-bruised skin, one of a handful of trophies from an ‘accidental’ fall she took down the stairs here.

“I’m bored,” she replied, as if the pain thrumming through the fibers of her muscles didn’t exist (it was that easy to ignore; she’d endured worse for less) “don’t you have anything fun to do?”

He hummed back, delicately rubbing small circles around the site of the bruise, cushioning the movement by keeping his other hand on her heel. She suppressed a laugh; were those tentative prods supposed to do anything? Did he think she’d shatter if he touched her?

Despite his arrogance, Rich Boy here didn’t have much initiative; the only thing Trish didn’t have to prod him into doing was getting her back to his expensive loft. Frankly, it was a miracle the two of them had managed to slip away from you at all.

I’d love to party with you, cutie, but first we have to ditch my chaperone. Come on, let’s go before they notice we’re not at the bar anymore.

Throwing herself down the stairs in a tangle of Versace and toned limbs had been an impulse, but wasn’t everything tonight? So what if she’d scraped herself up, or felt a horrible snap inside her leg as she plummeted to the bottom. It’d all be worth it soon, once you’d realized she’d been made off with and had to go find her.

You really did need to hurry it up, by the way. Eventually Rich Boy here was going to get his nerve up and actually try to touch her, and then she’d have to just kill him and wait for you by herself. That would be boring, too.

He probably didn’t even notice she was getting impatient, honestly. His eyes seemed to be on a rail, tracing a line from her plush lips to the delicate hollow of her collarbone to lower still. Typical, really.

Rich Boy starts to chatter, some fumbling innuendo about the things they could get up to with just the two of them, but she isn’t paying any attention to that. In the space between heartbeats, the air changed, the stale conditioned air suddenly heavy with tension that only she could feel. The storm had rolled in. It was coming down the hall.

Rich Boy’s voice registered, asking if she was okay, and it was in that moment Trish realized she’d been sitting bolt upright, abandoning the discomfort of the expensively minimalistic couch as she waited for the storm to draw nearer.

It knocked on the door. Three short, sharp taps that resounded in the relative silence of the loft, a muted thunder.

“Who could that be?” Rich Boy muttered to himself, and then “Stay right here. I’ll get it.” as he wandered off. She didn’t reply, just listened, heart in her throat as his footsteps echoed across the tile, undoing the lock on the front door and drawing it open to meet the interloper.

“Can I help—“ the words weren’t even out of his mouth as something—your fist, Trish thought with a thrill of delight, you must have hit him—connected with a hollow-sounding thud, and his body careened into the dining table.

“Holy shit!”

“Where is she?” In contrast to his own panicked scrabbling, your footsteps were slow and measured as you advanced. You didn’t even shut the door behind you; there’s no need to. Nobody stupid enough to try to help could stop you.

Trish considers throwing herself off the couch—she wants to watch you work, and maybe seeing her sprawled on the floor would make her seem more helpless—but you’re already in view, poking your head into the doorway after the Rich Boy who staggered back in, and she knows what you’re seeing: your charge, sprawled on some pervert’s couch, visibly bruised. You opened your mouth to say something, but Rich Boy drew your attention.

“Jesus Christ—don’t come any closer, or I’ll—“ the gun he pulled was just as flashy as the rest of him, and equally worthless; under the gaudy gold plating and filigree was a waste of metal that wouldn’t be hurting anyone tonight.

If nothing else, because the safety was still on.

You didn’t even respond, except to sigh. The invisible blades of your Stand sliced apart the gun and the hand holding it, showering him in splintered metal as he went down with a high-pitched shriek of agony. You strode forward, stepping on his leg to hold him in place as he started to crawl away, already deaf to the whimpering babble that might have been bargaining. Your head turned, pinning Trish in place with your stare.

“I wish you wouldn’t do this, Miss Una.”

Your voice was soft, but with an edge, the one that always gave Trish a thrill of joy when she heard it. It was different from your normal tone, the indulgently subservient I’m your faithful bodyguard and nothing more mask you wore when other people were watching. Different, too, from the terrified adoration you held for her in private as she did what she pleased with you.

This was your bite. Incandescent rage, barely restrained in the taut coil of your muscles and your piercing glare. It was hideous, savage, implacable, the look that heralded only pain and death as you obliterated anyone who even breathed a threat in her presence.

How dare you, you said with every movement as your Stand opened the man up in a shower of blood, how dare you try to steal her. How dare you let her come to harm.

How dare you touch my master with your dirty hands.

No command she gave could ever get you like this. You were a killing machine she could point at anyone she chose with only a glance; you would destroy yourself for her whims, if she let you, but there was no passion in obedience.

Your voice has turned plaintive, almost hurt, and it puts her back in the moment. “Do you doubt my devotion? Were you just bored? You could have just told me to kill for you. Look, I’ve even let you hurt yourself. How can I face your father now?”

Don’t look away, Trish wanted to cry out, seeing you turn your glare back toward the remains of your enemy, get angry with me. Let me see how love twists your face.

These were the moments she knew you loved her. The uncontrollable passion of your fury, for her and only her, only shone when something threatened to take her from you. These were the moments that Trish Una well and truly and fully felt wanted, and they were getting addicting. Was it cruel to do this to you—to drive you to this edge of madness, repeatedly and on a whim, purely to satiate her cravings? Perhaps, but it felt good not to care.

You drew near to her, taking another look at her injuries, and she breathed the smell of blood and smoke that hung around you like it was perfume. Your touch was delicate, but not gentle, and after a few seconds you pronounced it definitively broken. She wouldn’t be walking for a while. She was fine with that.

“Then you’ll have to carry me everywhere,” she declared, crossing her arms. You met her eyes, searching them for something, and then raised a hand to graze her cheek. She leaned into it a little, sure that it was a caress, but your hand came away with a smear of blood; you’d been rubbing it away.

“If that’s your wish, Miss Una,” you murmured, and then gathered her into your arms. Her arms wrapped around your shoulders as she relaxed into you, until her lips were inches away from your own. You didn’t incline your head in the slightest as you carried her out of the loft, just let your breath ghost across her face until she finally closed the distance and kissed you full on the mouth in the elevator.

There wasn’t any appeal in dogs for someone who already had a wolf.

#by me #yandere x reader #yandere trish #I mean in a way?#this is a little different but the relationship is still pretty unhealthy #also hi! I'm not dead #I know it's been a week #digging myself out of this grave with a spoon #so things will take a while #but I will post what I promised

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comicteaparty · 4 years

Text

March 7th-March 13th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 7th, 2020 to March 13th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

What is your overall marketing/promotion strategy for your webcomic?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't know if this counts as a strategy, but these are some of the things I do to promote my comic or my work in general. 1. Most important from what I've noticed (which I have been failing at due to stress and self-doubt lately) is to post updates to your comic frequently and consistently. It seems somewhat silly that simply putting your work out there is the best way to grow an audience, but it really is. Newly posted chapters frequently get shown on more pages and thus detected by the algorithms and potential readers. It also helps to establish trust with current and returning readers. 2. Participating in art/comic events, forums, and other comicking communities (such as this one). In a way, this isn't really marketing directly, but it is good to build connections with other creators! 3. Conventions! I actually have gotten a several new readers/followers from attending cons. It's also nice just to talk to people, get your name out there locally, and to make a little bit of money while at it. 4. Social media promotion. Tbh, this hasn't been super helpful to me, but more eyes is always a win in my book. I try to post almost every day, even if it isn't art or comic related. Having some kind of social media presence at all, even if it's small, shows people that you are working hard to connect to others. Also finding the right hashtags definitely helps with visibility.

kayotics

Overall, my strategy for marketing is to be authentic and just keep plugging my stuff. People will come if they like it. I work as a marketer for my day job, so I know what I COULD do, but I really don’t do that much since a whole marketing plan would take a lot more time than I have available to me. Some of the stuff I do otherwise: - regular updates. This ones pretty important for retaining viewers I already have. Any good marketing strategy is thinking about retaining people, not just getting new ones - self promo: this usually is on top webcomics or on social media. I get a LOT of traffic from top webcomics, and I get a good handful of people from social media. - conventions, like mentioned before, can be a great way to get people’s eyes on your stuff. I have a postcard that I hand out to people if they come by or they purchase something. - the thing I don’t do enough is post more art outside of the comic, or even just little previews. If I were dedicated to marketing, I’d be sharing sketches or illustrations on social media to grow my audience.

DanitheCarutor

Ah you know, I don't really have much of a strategy. At some point I promoted as much as I could on Twitter, adding my comic to those share/promo thread, getting in on relevant hashtag events, participating on WebComic Chat (whenever I remembered to). I've done a little promotion on forums, but there is really only so much you can do since only so many people hang out there and if your work is super niche like mine, they will pretty much avoid your promos at all cost. Lmao Other than those I don't really do much, at some point I attempted to use Instagram but the site/app is very stingy about offsite links. I also started a Facebook page, although if you don't have the money to boost your promos and don't usually have a lot going on with your comic outside of weekly updates, it won't get a whole lot of attention. I've also tried to be more active, but I'm not a good conversationalist, and I tend to be kind of a thread/conversation/mood killer so I try to avoid talking outside of Q&A prompts like this.

eli [a winged tale]

Same Dani, I used Instagram for a while too and I just don’t think the platform is a good fit for my vertical scroll comic (see exhibit 1) Twitter is a mixed bag as well and I think unless you have a solid following already, it’s hard to gain traction. What really helped was being on Webtoon’s staff pick for a couple days. I’m not sure how Tapas picked up but it’s reassuring that there’s a couple of followers gained every week when I posted regularly. So it really does sound like the first step is to have a steady update schedule (working on the buffer! Got a month’s work down today). It’s just challenging because while I could upload one page a week but on the vertical scroll sites it seems like a longer episode (6-7 pages) is valued more as a solid update. Love hearing everyone’s thoughts and hope to learn from y’all! (edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Consistency and con attendance were big ones for me, but something I learned worked well (and was really fun to do) was creating really fun, really dumb, non-canon bits of art every now and then. Following meme prompts or funny ideas from other people. If your comic can afford some humor being thrown its way, making people laugh is a great way to get some attention. No one needs to know the details of your story - they just need to relate to the characters/humor somehow. I had more than one person come across my dumb, meme-y ancillary art and go “Welp, I want to read your comic now.”

eli [a winged tale]

Memes to the rescue! What has been your favourite to do? And which one has surprised you in its relatability/popularity?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Two shots of vodka.

Also that terrible sweater meme. Everyone is required to do the terrible sweater meme. People eat it up.

eli [a winged tale]

Too good

Ahh I can’t wait till I can actually write silly adult characters

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Now that you mention it, the nice thing about the terrible sweater meme is it works with a WIDE variety of comics.

eli [a winged tale]

I would love to do a meme with y’all

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

"Came for the story, staying for the sick memes"

Spring-heeled Jack

I try to post updates every friday when my new pages go up on Patreon. And then I make my big post when my tapas and website update at the end of the month. Between all that, I have little flyers that I carry with me and if I'm ever in a shop that has a little self promotion section, I plan on tacking up a flyer. I do conventions, and this will be my first convention season while actively making a comic, so flyers will be handed out then as well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

My comic isnt very comedy-heavy, and even for the funny scenes, my sense of humor isn't compatible with most people's. So a lot of the memes out there just don't work. But terrible sweater meme doesn't have to be hilarious. It can be just cute, or even weird.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

For me, uh lmao. I sometimes make some funny strip panels and it was received well even though it's not polished for my liking lmao

Spring-heeled Jack

Keii, I feel you. I'm not good with comedy and my comic isn't meant to be funny, either, so I don't know how well a comedy meme will help me.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

overall, I try to be honest with just self promo and asking when I have a chance "Hey pls check out my comic lol"

eli [a winged tale]

Or maybe just something relatable? Seen a couple caption this on tumblr

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think instead of memes, what I'm gonna do is my characters cosplaying more well known characters from works that have some tonal similarities with my own. This isn't just for advertising purposes; it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time for myself. But I'm realizing it can serve some of the same purposes that memes do.

Spring-heeled Jack

That's extremely cute!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Keyword being "SOME" Tonal similarities... Some of them aren't very similar but have a couple of parallels, etc.

Spring-heeled Jack

Oh for sure. Even if you could find that 'perfect match', it might not be a great cosplay for them, and give too much away

Are "draw the squad" prompts still a thing? I love those

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The One White Dude and the Tiger Dude in my comic will definitely cosplay Calvin and Hobbes at some point.

Spring-heeled Jack

LOL

omg please, Keii

eli [a winged tale]

YES

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yeah, not every comic will have super memeable humor - but whatever you can do to break down that wall between you and a potential reader and go “Hey! Look at this. Is this relatable? Do you get the reference? Etc” Is a very good bet

Also yes squad memes are PERFECT

You can boil down your comic’s relationships so simply.

Spring-heeled Jack

I have four couples in my comic so those "ship dynamic" posts might be fun

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What are squad memes?

eli [a winged tale]

I also need to be educated about squad I mean all the memes

Spring-heeled Jack

OH MAN!! They are fun as heck. You can find templates and it's a very simple character design in the template, but the poses are super silly. And then you just draw your characters in place of those simple figures(edited)

If you google "Draw the squad" you will find a bunch

renieplayerone

Oh! Ill have to try that! These squad bases look fun!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I still have one of those I need to finish Back when I first started sharing my work, I was surprised and delighted at how quickly people shoved it through a meme filter.

Maybe that’s another thing! If marketing opportunities present themselves as a surprise, try running with them and see where they take you Within reason, of course. Never feel forced to follow anything that people respond to in a particular way. Just take it into account and see how you feel about it.

renieplayerone

(Im here to lurk on this week's question, i have no strategy and need ideas haha)

eli [a winged tale]

Omg draw the squad looks

too many to choose

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I love draw the squad poses so much TuT I wish I had more time to draw within more of them. I think I always get a little dishearten about making memes because I feel like I need to make my jokes full illustrations but I never have time for much extra content beyond ballpoint pen sketches :T

Mei

Honestly I don't have a marketing or promotion strategy for my webcomic. I make updates every week, and I post it on my twitter and kinda plug it there. I'm actually god awful at trying to make people read my comic because I'm a little bit nervous about it, to be honest. So I just sort of leave it there and see if people find it, half the time. That being said, I tried to promote it pretty hard at conventions last year. But that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I'm hoping to make flyers with QR codes so that people can scan it, and it'll take them to the landing page/tapas for the comic. That might be a bit easier than getting them to just search the title, plus having a flyer is a nice bit of promotion if I get the opportunity?! Making memes and drawing characters in different clothes or in squad things sounds like super fun tho and I might look into that in the future

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's nice to hear everyone talk about this topic. TBH I had completely stopped promoting my comic because I got too scared of backlash, being a disappointment, etc. (Initially I'd attracted a number of people who weren't actually my target audience, and that led to some less than ideal results.) But some time last year, it occurred to me that 1) I'm making this comic for my reader self (or my "hypothetical taste twin" as I like to call it)... which means 2) I only have to appeal to people like me. So I started asking myself, "What would I have to say/do to get me to read this comic?" and that made it significantly less intimidating. I haven't actually started doing self promo (though I did start plugging my updates on Twitter at least). But most future self promo I do will be based on that ^ question.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(oh god, I was just checking out the latest update for one of the Korean webcomics I read, and the new episode is about a hikikomori... who says "I want to change, but I can't step outside because... maybe there isn't a single person out there who will understand me." THAT WAS ME but with comic promo. Well, I'm getting better and I also hope this character will, too, though knowing this comic his chances aren't so great lol...)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I hope that wasn't too awkward to share! Tl;dr I really think the "what would I have to say/do to get ME to check out my comic" is a good approach for anyone else feeling intimidated about doing self promos.

In the same vein, but on the opposite side of the coin: I'm curious to know, what were some things that got YOU to read someone else's comic?

Some of my own answers to that aren't very relevant to what we can do for our own comics: e.g. I'm Korean and when Naver has a new comic in their pro comic lineup, I may check it out. I'm also a member of SpiderForest and I check out the applicants' comics during the app season. Stuff like that aren't really good promo options that we can take. But things that may be relevant: - 'Evocative scenery shot that doesn't show the face/ doesn't focus on the face.' MY WEAKNESS. That kinda pictures feel subtle and kind of lonely to me, even if it's a group shot. And I like stories with those vibes. -Promo includes an evocative quote. Could be from the comic itself, or from something else like a classical literature or whatever. The creator of Ark (https://www.arkcomic.com/) does this sometimes and even though I'm already following Ark, those promos get my attention.

eli [a winged tale]

Definitely the art promo now that I think of it! Merch, posters, banners etc. If the art intrigues me, I definitely take a look at the site/blurb/first chapter

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I wonder if we can semi-workshop promo art at some point? Not really intensive like "change xyz" because that's not always feasible with art, but just impression feedback like, "this pictures gives me these vibes, and makes me expect this kinda story"

I would be curious to see everyone's even if we don't workshop

eli [a winged tale]

YES

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Yesssss

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yes please. I don‘t promo besides update notices simply because I have no clue to start.

Mei

Sometimes I get really attracted by the style of the story? I immediately started reading Wolfsbane because the art was cool and different from a lot of whta I'd seen on Webtoon up until that point. And then the story was perfect for me. What keii said about writing for yourself is right. Patrick Ness once said you should write the stories your younger self would have loved to pick up on a shelf

and I think that's a pretty evocative thing. At the end of the day, you should be enjoying what you're writing (hopefully). And if you enjoy it and you're having fun making it, that can rub off on the people reading it, or you find the people who like that similar vein of story?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(It's also 100% legit to write stories for your current self )

Mei

(oh yes 100% that's what i'm doing HEHE)

Tolkein wrote LOTR because he was like

in love with worldbuilding

was there a market for such a strange type of novel at the time? No. Definitely not. Did he write it anyway? YEAH HE DID

Deo101 [Millennium]

I really wanna do an art workshop yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Aight, anyone who wants an impression feedback from me, post your promo art in #art_help

Warning, my impressions may be totally off lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also I don't do much marketing. Mostly I try to get in with communities and learn about making comics, I just want to improve my craft. All I really do is make my updated every week, and share whatever art Ive made on my Twitter or whatever

Okay! I think I only have my cover on my phone, but on my computer I also have my banners and icon. So I'll share all those in a bit when I'm at my computer

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(off topic but I'm sick, and when I'm sick or very tired I constantly misread words. I read "my banners" as "my bananas" and I was very confused for a couple seconds.)

Deo101 [Millennium]

My bananers

Feather J. Fern

I am terrible at marketing my own work, but I am very good at marketing other people's work. I use the "you would like it for this reason" to grab people. Unfortunately I can't do it for my comic because I am bad at seeing the good in my own work oof. I am getting better at it though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a really good way to do it!

And I can relate. My own hangup is a little different, but it can be extremely difficult to be brave for sure, whether in front of other people, or just in front of your own brain that constantly judges you.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was talking about a friend's comic and then the person I was talking to was like "Don't you write comics" and I was like "ahfoofjw yeah but don't look at them"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I was thinking a lot about the whole "it's like [well known work] meets [another well known work]" approach that was discussed earlier. And I think that could be relevant here. Like, think of something that has either influenced your comic significantly, or just happens to have some core similarities. How would you market that thing? Could you market your own thing using a similar approach -- since there are similarities?

I'd thought of a really good example to compare HoK to. Then I got sad because the said example is extremely obscure outside of Korea. But now I'm like, hey, people don't have to KNOW that work. I can do this differently. I can talk about HoK the way I could talk about it.

('it' as in the other work that's obscure outside of Korea)

Feather J. Fern

I do think that's a good fast shortcut but I don't like using it becuase the shortcut sometimes makes people angry when they don't get what they like out of those two things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's why I said to NOT actually bring up the comparison work

Don't name it

Just list the traits that are shared in common

Feather J. Fern

Oh sorry

I miss read

(And my name changed colours all the sudden?)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's a confusing topic, so no worries

It means you leveled up

Feather J. Fern

OWO!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Say you want to compare your work to... I dunno, DBZ, because it's got super strong aliens duking it out barehanded, blasting ki-like energy attacks, etc. Don't name DBZ. Talk about your work the way you'd talk about your favorite aspects of DBZ. "My comic has super strong aliens duking it out hand-to-hand! YEEEAH!"

OH MY GOD I NEED TO DO THIS NOW.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah! That's what I would do. (But it also helps for me that my comic has no hard reference points) but for my new comic, people are gonna compare it to Zach Bell, and Angelic Layer i think

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm gonna write up some drafts that I will revise and tweet at a later time

Feather J. Fern

So I jsut got to you know, not promo it as such XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I want to do this too for a quick pitch

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do it (shop talk or story help maybe?)

I'm writing a vomit draft for mine

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yee

Feather J. Fern

I think I will do it for Story help

(Also so I can help flesh out my new project lol lol)

eli [a winged tale]

Kei I might be suuuuper off since I read only the beginning but I sort of thought inuyasha but Korea and handsome boys

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Sometimes you don't even realize your story can be marketed as "blah meets blah" until much later down the line - I've only started realizing the number of existing properties I've absorbed unintentionally into my comic. It's not how I'd market it on a serious front, but to a friend for story help, heck yes.

But a lot of people on Twitter seem to do that strategy for PitMAD and it works great for them, so... shrug

I guess it still belongs in a "pitch arsenal," as it were

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, the one "blah" I just thought of is something I hadn't realized for all these years. But it makes so much sense now that I look at it.

eli [a winged tale]

See that’s where I got confused but I think this is what I’m gonna aim to do: - pitch to readers: inspiration but this awesome unique thing in the comic - pitch to other comic makers: the Logline - pitch to agents: comparison works if requested and longer pitch depending on their format - pitch to family: just read it plzthanksbye

renieplayerone

or alternative pitch to family: Please dear god never read this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's me

Oof... Writing the 'promote your comic by talking about the traits it shares with Another Person's Work,' I made myself cry, and that is definitely a sign I'm on the right track.

eli [a winged tale]

Right track is good!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It took me years to even think of an 'other more popular work' comparison for Children of Shadow. XD But at the same time, it's really different from the works I compare it to, so it's hard to say 'Read this if you like X or X because it has a few similarities in theme and tone, but is still very much its own thing'.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah which is why I'm not even gonna namedrop my X.

I'm just straight up gonna talk about 'My comic has [this trait]' (and X shares that trait, but no one needs to know for the purpose of that pitch)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To answer the weekly question... I really don't have a marketing strategy. Marketing is my achilles heel, so I generally just throw pages up and hope someone sees them. I don't really understand social media nor do I have the energy to sink tonnes of time into it, which seems to be one of the biggest requirements for being picked up by algorithms. So my marketing strategy is just.., keep making comics and talking to other creators and hope for the best

eli [a winged tale]

I think that’s still solid Capn

Ultimately you need a product to promote

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's something that helps me, because while I can talk about my favorite works done by others, I feel stuck when trying to do the same with my own. So it's basically telling my brain, 'hey, you already know how to do it with other stories. Do the same thing with your own.'

eli [a winged tale]

So true Kei

renieplayerone

thats my strategy too. best case you market it great, worst case you've made a new friend so win win :3

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

My incredibly low numbers after 14 years of making webcomics beg to differ but... maybe someday I can hire someone to help me market.

eli [a winged tale]

I’m using the comic platforms rather than my own site so... sort of relying on their algorithms. I imagine it can be harder if you just post on your own website?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sometimes the platforms don't help much if their audience isn't into the type of comics you make

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I post on both my own website and on platforms, but the algorithms for WT and Tapas don’t seem to like me, haha.(edited)

renieplayerone

yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One of my top favorite webcomics got a front page feature on Tapas once, but it wasn't the kind of a story that gets a lot of traction there, so it still didn't get very popular. And that was in no way a measure of its quality. It is an excellent comic, just not a good fit for that particular place.

renieplayerone

I get far more views on my site, but I get way more engagement on Tapas and WT

I actually treat those two mirrors AS marketing for the main site(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Exactly renie! Good perspective!

I never know what different platforms tailor to...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, what Keiiii said. I make dark fantasy comics and both WT and Tapas favour romance, especially comics geared towards a female audience and drawn anime style. My comics aren’t particularly feminine and romance isn’t much of a focus, so they’re just not what that demographic is into.

eli [a winged tale]

I’ve been trying to remember how I came across my favourite comics and usually it’s through the art (interesting characters, unique dynamic style that I enjoy) and the first chapter holding promise (able to see what the character wants/will have to change into)

Romance has always been the best seller in the story world I think

Oh and most recently hiveworks and other web publishers have great recommendations too per genre

And comic conventions are always fun to meet creators. Sometimes If I feel I jive with someone I’m an instant fan

renieplayerone

I absolutely need to get better at having confidence enough to make friends at conventions x_x

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have noticed my audience grow a bit since joining Spiderforest. They’ve helped me get a bit better at promotion, though marketing just isn’t my talent, lol.

renieplayerone

im always terrified haha

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a big step for sure renie! It took me like... three years going to VanCAF as an attendee before actually exhibiting and making friends(edited)

Mei

I know i'm late but i personally detest the 'this book is X meets Y!!', even though I get why people do it. I just wish they'd describe it to me like what if I'd never read either of those books......

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I would really love to get out to cons, they sound like a great opportunity for connecting with other creators. One of these years I’ll be able to get to one!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah im usually kinda like "okay, well are you doing anything new or are you just doing those things :/"

renieplayerone

I exhibit with the Boston Comics Roundtable and I still havent gotten the courage XD

Mei

yeah, cons are really fun even to attend or to make friends! I find it really tough though, I'm so intimidated;;

yeah Deo... same... it's like

sure, I could pitch a story as two things. Like I don't know "The Walking Dead meets Shaun of the Dead" which is semi redundant anyway

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I only use it to give people a framework for the kinds of tones and themes they can expect from my work when I have to keep my explanation short and sweet.

renieplayerone

they should have badges that say "Hi i want to make friends but you are all so awesome its intimidating be kind"

Mei

or you know... use those words to just describe the story? It may be a personal preference, some agents LOVE comparisons

Yes renie, yes!

i'd love a badge like that like

pls talk to me i'm scare

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Sometimes a few words can’t fully describe a story as well as saying: ‘It’s a little bit like X meets X but if you add [insert unique thing your story does]’

Mei

I personally find that it depends a bit too much on people having read those books or stories before. BUT if you're pitching to an agent, they've usually read those books

so then they get a sense or vibe of like, what the genre is

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It’s all down to preference, really. Your own and the person you’re pitching to. If you don’t want to use comparisons to describe your own work, that’s valid, but try not to dismiss people who do.

Mei

so I get it, I just don't like it personally xD I think a lot of the times it takes away from your own voice and story

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That too is part of the reason why I'm not namedropping the works

Just having my self-promo self learn from my 'promo other people's stuff' self

Mei

yeah for sure, it adds that level of excitement to your own work that you'd give to others?

eli [a winged tale]

I think a cool exercise might be to check out someone’s work here and see how you would promote it

It’s always good to see from someone else’s perspective

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

yessssss, all of my friends have been much better at promoting than I am

mostly because they have no shame regarding it but they also just... know what sounds cool

Mei

Oh i'm very good at promoting my friends' work

I sold his DnD book to a kpop stan who doesn't like DnD and doesn't play, and it was a crowning achievement

eli [a winged tale]

Like for yours I’d probably say... Manta Ray princess finds herself very much dead but is given a second chance to revive her friends and save her kingdom... just need to find someone very much living and very much not afraid of the seaghosts they have become

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

SOLID

though now I imagine Phaedra as a Manta Ray in a dress which is... not entirely untrue

eli [a winged tale]

LOL omg I haven’t even thought of that! Just thought manta Princess is a hook

Mei

Me, pointing at Cheth "I mean look at him, LOOK AT HIM and tell me you don't want to read this"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I guess for my work I market it from four potential angles: 1) The princess is cool and has a sword, 2) The villain is the best character, 3) The environments ain't bad, and 4) THERE'S A DOG

again, you gotta know who you're talking to and what they already like

eli [a winged tale]

In a world where a fallen god became trapped in the sea, a dead princess is given a second chance to fight for her life with a mysterious sea-bitten boy and undo the sea ghost curse that plagues the world.

Dammit I repeated world

Mei

hey... the environments are GREAT

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah Lady your environment shots are

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

ok I do try BUT BACK TO MARKETING

The number of times I see someone marketing their comic with very epic-sounding descriptors or broad generalizations... then that one day where they're finally like "oh, I have a character who turns into a hamster at nighttime" and people are like 'I'M SOLD'

And then they go ".... THAT'S WHAT YOU ALL WANTED???"

often it's those little weird details that get people interested

Deo101 [Millennium]

I wanna read about the were hamster please

Mei

sometimes I think the simplest and maybe slightly silly lines are what grabs people?

when things sound TOO epic i feel a bit intimidated

eli [a winged tale]

takes notes

Mei

but if someone were to sell me a big adventure epic as "it's hamsters and they fight the forces of evil" i'd read it

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

god yes

"Four small creatures band together to defeat a great darkness overwhelming their homeland."

No.

"Hamsters fight evil."

YES

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I.... I have no idea how to snappily describe my comics. XD

eli [a winged tale]

Same... I got to kids with wings for hair then my brain short circuits

Mei

i'd say it's the way you'd tell the story to a close friend

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

The best I came up with was 'Teenagers with supernatural powers team up with woodland critters to defeat monsters' but it sounds more adventure-y and doesn't really get at the fact that it's a dark story with horror elements and everyone's mentally ill.

Mei

like they come up to you and go "what's your comic about" "oh you know, my stupid comic's about mutant hamsters that take over the world" or something

(don't call your comics stupid none of your comics are stupid they are great)

Deo101 [Millennium]

"plant man and his goth boyfriend babysitting a ton of bozos" would probably be mine then

Mei

BEAUTIFUL

i'm sold

Deo101 [Millennium]

ghsakgjhgkhkgahgk my target audience...

Mei

i do think tho like this form of comedic one-lining may not work for something dark?

Unless you go "Spooky horror about cats that become humans at night!"

would need experimentation

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a balance I think.

Kids stranded on an island with weapons explore the darkness in human nature - Lord of the Flies

Mei

ooh yeah that's a good one!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A space explorer stranded on a foreign planet must join forces with the indigenous population and save his ship before his life support runs out.

Alternately

Small man goes to war with small carrot people

Pikmin

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) I wonder if one could describe CoS the way how people might describe Evangelion, but with magical powers instead of mechs.

Teens, monsters, mental illnesses

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Probably. Though I've never seen Evangelion, but those three words work very well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The relationship dynamics are way different, but yeah, those three things...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Also add trauma and cute lil animals and you have Children of Shadow. XD

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Evangelion also has trauma (though I don't know if you'd like it; this isn't a rec, just a promo discussion!) and it was refreshing to see at the time

A teen trying to fight huge monsters, even if he was doing it inside an equally huge mech, could lead to traumatizing experiences, and it was the first time I saw that seriously explored

Hmm, so I guess "teens, talking animals, monsters, mental illnesses feat. trauma" ?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don't know if it's similar at all, but that description reminds me strongly of Eureka 7. Wow, was that series intense,

🌈ERROR404 🌈

I really liked how the end happened - it was a nice solution to the lack of budget issue and told the story of his psyche reall well

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Though Eureka 7 was intense in a good way. I found the ending kind of unsatisfying, but admittedly I find the endings of 90% of animes unsatisfying (probably a cultural clash). But I enjoy them for the journey more than the ending.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I haven't watched Eureka 7, but the storyboard artist (one of the storyboard artists maybe?) for that anime is one of my favorite artists.

DanitheCarutor

Ah, a little late, but regarding the snappy promos I'm in the same boat as Cap'n with not knowing how to make one. At least one that would be ridiculous and totally not fitting the darker themes. I agree with all the people who have a generally hard time coming up with a pitch for their work, while having an easier time promoting other people's comics. Honestly my comic can be super boring to people who don't like pretentious, non-fantastical, angsty, character study types of stories. So it's really hard to think of a way to make it sound interesting without spoiling anything. Man! That thing when people come up to you, asking what your comic is about! Me: "Oh! Ah, it's uh, kinda sad and it has uh mental illness" -trails off with uncomfortable laughter- Them: Oh cool. -has a look of complete disinterest- Someone was actually extremely enthusiastic about the vague description of my comic, which somehow made me a mix of uncomfortable and excited.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I saw the conversation about blurbs and I just thought of one for a comic I'm working on! "An ecologist and a bird have a conversation about ethics"

I haven't started the comic yet so please send your critiques(edited)

and first impressions

(of the blurb)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Angsty character study with a heavy dose of mental illness" <--- Could this descriptor work? @DanitheCarutor

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

kei said exactly what I was just typing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Great minds

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh, i just realized i've read dani's comic

I think your description is fine?

The artsy, angsty comics I follow all have kind of short, tongue in cheek descriptions

it's hard to capture the tone of an emotional comic in one sentence so they either joke about it or make it intentionally misleading

for example Drop Out's description is something like "two friends go on a road trip" and Fritz Fargo's description is "a human dumpster fire in the 90s"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The dumpster fire one is insta-effective

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dani, maybe make your description shorter if anything?

Something like, "An emotionally stunted alcoholic attempts to make amends"

and then follow it up with kei's line about it being an angsty character study

RebelVampire

Im not gonna stop the convo cause it is on topic. However, i do want to remind ppl these #creator_babble chats are permanently archived. So thats something to keep in mind if youre gonna workshop.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I asked before in this discord about making my own blurb better. The main critique I got was that I included too many things that I thought were interesting and unique that a new reader probably wouldn't care about. Like how the mc's powers work. But though it's unique and important to the story, it's not going to be a main reason someone reads the comic. I revised the blurb to remove extraneous info and make the tone of the comic more apparent, and I think now I didn't lose anything and made it more concise.

I think maybe agtahr could also be summarized a bit more succinctly

DanitheCarutor

Yup, you did once upon a time but said you stopped reading it a while ago. (which is totally fine, the reason is understandable.) The mix of yours and Keii's descriptions do sound a lot better than mine. Lol Thank you Fish and @keii’ii (Heart of Keol)! I've noticed people really like the word 'angst' when you describe heavy stuff. At least when I was a teenager everyone found it appealing. I'll tinker with it a bit and use Drop_Out and Fritz Fargo as a reference. Anyways, I'm going to stop talking now, don't want to bog down the main topic.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a good point; 'the best things about this story' and 'things that should go in its blurb' have an overlap, but they aren't always the same.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yeah, I did but I'll probably pick it up again eventually. I remember enjoying it. If you do want to keep talking, we can move to shop talk?

mirandalorian

babbling I have the first three episodes of my webtoon ready to post tomorrow and I’m really excited and feel kinda proud that I made it this far...even though it’s not very far. It’s far for me without posting immediately end babbling

Feather J. Fern

I forgot to ask, but if people are tabling at cons, do you guys have promo stuff at your con tables for your comics?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Mostly a business card, but yes

carcarchu

i never did but my table partner one year had free postcards she gave out with purchase / to passerbys with her comic info and an illustration on it

kayotics

I always keep free postcards to advertise my comic on the table right next to my business cards.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yep, the free postcards did wonders for me last year. They disappeared quickly!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Buisness cards and postcards~

Feather J. Fern

Seems like Business and Postcards are the way to go.

Mei

business cards!!

i might be making flyers/postcards for my comic next time though! :D

sagaholmgaard

I haven't done much to promote my comic but I've gotten some good ideas reading through this, thanks! I currently plug my updates in twitter and instagram with a cool/fun panel from the new page. I do also share WIPS and try to engage through my instagram stories (Asking things like, 'what type of benders would the Reclaim squad be in an avatar au' and making doodles for the answers), but that only reaches those who follow my IG. its good fun tho. I've done memes with the characters a few times but I didn't get much attention, LOL. But it's fun so maybe worth trying again

Spring-heeled Jack

Today I went into a locally owned comic shop and went to the guy that owns it and said "I'm a local artist and I'm writing a comic. Could I give you some small flyers to let people take?" And he said yes, and then asked if I have any physical copies. I don't yet but told him I'll bring some by when I have them. He then let me know he carries other local artists! Something cool to think about if you have a local comic shop.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooo that's good to know

I droped off my zines at my local comic shop but maybe I'll drop flyers of my webcomic too lmaooo

Spring-heeled Jack

I also just ordered a business card carrier so I can tote some around with ease. I carry my flyers in my sketchbook. You should totally ask, it never hurts! Carry a few extra just in case you find yourself in a new area and find another cafe or comic shop.

I ran mine off on my at home printer on some nice quality but regular weight paper. I might need to get some more professionally done.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I keep a handful of business cards in my wallet -- that way, any time someone says "hey, that looks cool, what are you drawing?" they get a card with the title and URL. Slowly but steadily burns through the supply.

DanitheCarutor

Seeing if my local book shops will carry copies of my comic when I print them eventually is something I'm kind of excited about! My town is hardcore into supporting local artists and writers, so that'll be something neat to try out. Although I'm a little nervous that the rating might be a little too mature for what the vendors want on their shelves.

I know of using postcards to advertise, but never heard of fliers. Maybe I'll give that a try.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I use double sided business cards, so on one side, it showcases some of my art, and the other side has contact info, a link to my comic website, and a QR code. It's been pretty helpful so far at conventions.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

You guys have all these sophisticated answers to this and my answer is just "scream on every social media platform I can reach and every person I meet about my comic."

Though I may not scream at people irl,,,

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Let's see... I have a twitter where I repost my comic pages, and a couple mirrors that help reach different audiences. I've also carried around business cards that have my comic's URL on it. One fun strategy I've used is doing review-exchange things, in an I-critique-your-comic-if-you-critique-mine way (with the assumption that most people who read all the way through Super Galaxy Knights end up liking it). Though, that isn't really viable anymore now that the comic is 600+ pages, cuz nobody would ever agree to that trade lol. And... that's pretty much it? Though, I should note that my goal with Super Galaxy Knights isn't to make the most popular comic I can so that I can make a living off ads or patreon or print sales or whatever. If I ever do manage to make money off the comic, it'll be in "spinoff tech" (basically, video games or other media based off it). (it's the reason why a bunch of early Starstuff Stories fleshed out the abilities of the characters they focused on) I would like people to read the story because I think people would like the story, but it's not like my future depends on its popularity.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

We (me and Q) are gonna (hopefully) tabeling at cons this year! I thought about doing free non permenant tattoos with our comic things. Also we have beautiful zines of the first chapter to sell. but a free postcard is also good

Desnik

promotional strategies...ah...the biggest thing I did for my first webcomic, RAWR! Dinosaur Friends, was simply update on a general platform (tumblr), using a consistent schedule and the same tags every time. That allowed some of the bigger biology/humor/critter blogs on tumblr to find me and I got a lot of people reading from their generous reblogs. I found some more niche crossover from sci-comm blog comments and dinosaur toy collector forums, because sometimes I'd have a comic that would coincide with paleontology news. It was mainly about finding my niche and bringing my stuff to that niche. To those struggling with finding readers, I would recommend distilling the contents of your comic and then reaching out to people who buy/read things like your comic. I've definitely made friends from general 'webcomic' forums and discords, but in terms of building a readership it's all about finding the niche and catering to it in a human way

In general I highly recommend shopping around for stuff like hobby blogs/forums/groups/discords that have some relation to the content of your webcomic. Those people DO want new content related to their hobby, but they don't really deal well with salesy pitches. Just be human and also a nerd for that hobby, too (nerdy enough to make webcomics about it)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, it's like fan comic for an existing IP with an existing fandom, except it's a fan comic of a 'thing' rather than an IP (e.g. you make a pirate comic? Great! Nobody owns pirates, but there are lots of pirate fans out there!).

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The very first customer I had at the first con I tabled at, came over and said "I like ghosts! I like the ocean! I'll take it!" And wrote me later saying it was exactly what they were looking for.

And honestly it's all because I make sure every cover has something spooky and something watery, and the genres are in the title I make it very easy for people to understand what it might be like.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg the genres are in the title

that's genius

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Definitely not planned But it helps so much!

I think if authors have a rule on certain symbols/motifs they MUST make sure come across on covers/posters/etc, that can be a good marketing strategy. With some wiggle room, of course.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I... I feel like I can barely even describe what my comic is, which makes it so hard to market. 'Do you like comics with cute animals and eldritch horrors and angsty teens that have superpowers and hidden religious symbolism everywhere?!? Then my comic is for you!' What even is that demographic, because I sure don't know.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) If you take away the cute animals part, that actually sounds like stuff a lot of teens are into/ a lot of people were into when they were teens. And most people love cute animals, so adding that to the mix, in theory, shouldn't reduce the accessibility too much. Buuuuut CoS has its unique flavor that's decidedly different from all the "angsty teens, eldritch horrors, religious symbolism" stuff I consumed when I was younger. I don't know how to describe that flavor, nor how to utilize it for marketing. But yeah, maybe some food for thought?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've used short phrases that are sort of representative to describe my comic. Examples include "consensual mind control" "a guy whose ideal life is not being entirely alive" "friendship" and "anticlimactic conversations"

I have no idea how effective any of those are

someone tell me pls

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

As someone who just started reading your comic last night I think consensual mind control is a really cool descriptor. I haven't heard that too much before.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

that makes me happy

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Heh, I'm not sure what that unique flavour is, either, but it might have something to do with me avoiding the typical 'chosen one' structure that most teen fantasy literature has. The characters are all (except Fawna) a part of the hidden world already rather than discovering it, and everyone's pretty much running around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than having any power over their situation (which is kind of a huge part of the theme of the comic). It's definitely different than the typical urban fantasy, so it's been really hard to find which audience that appeals to. From what I've gathered based on the people who comment on my website, it's mostly academics in college or beyond, for whatever reason. XD

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Honestly I think for almost all comics their first pages were what convinced me to keep reading. Even with Phantomarine I was ambivalent about the description but then I saw the first page, and though, yeah, I'm into this.

Maybe my own comic can be the same way

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Exactly the same with me and your comic - I was also all about that first page It's a powerful thing! I think for anyone about to delve into a comic - which is, by nature, a very visual thing - it's going to be that visual that ultimately pushes them over the edge.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

maybe my description should just be ascii art of my main character O-O | -(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

^ It's why I tinkered with the first page of HoK soooo many times even after it went live. But it wasn't enough; it still gave off the wrong impression as to what kind of a story one should expect. Finally, more than a year after I started posting it, I redid like 1/4 to 1/3 of chapter one from scratch. Even though it will never be perfect, I can live with it now. chapter 2 on the other hand... It's an imperfect intro to the right story, rather than an intro (good or not) to the wrong story.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To be honest, my intro probably doesn't hit the right notes to explain what my comic is about, which may be part of my problem. It starts out seeming more like an anthropomorphic fantasy than a dark urban fantasy / horror story. That's just something I think I'm going to have to live with, because I'm tired of reworking old pages (I already do it far too much). I think my best solution is drawing a new cover that showcases the tone and subject matter better than the one I'm using now.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh god, you reminded me of the 3 cover pages I spent hours on only to later scrap. Then my current cover page I did in one hour after it came to me at 4am(edited)

and it was perfect

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

and my page redoings were after the reboot.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Cap, I don't know how representative it is of the story but I looked up the Ashes cover page and it's very impressive

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, I already redrew my intro once.... and this is the third iteration of this comic. And I'm currently redrawing the first two chapters of my other comic. I'm so sick to death of starting over. -_-

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, thank you!! I like to go all-out on covers, heh.

Kabocha

Promotion... ... is that a thing you can eat? ... A few things I've tried is business cards -- tweeting about it -- posting about it on dA... I try to stay away from services like Tapas and Webtoon because I'm not formatted for those sorts of things, and I fear I'll probably just frustrate myself. It's a delicate balance right now between remaining happy with my work and getting it seen, but overall, I guess I'm not too stressed about it since it's not a source of income for me... I just... like making comics. I've also done conventions -- Conventions are fun, don't get me wrong, but nowadays they're a really low return on interest for many shows for original stuff (except slice of life and "oh no I did a bad" types of zines -- people seem to really enjoy things like that since it's often pretty easy to relate to). They feel like they used to be easier for selling original work, but the market's gotten rougher because there's so much competition and only so many dollars. if I ever print, I'm probably going to have to lean on some marketing-savvy friends for help... Hopefully things haven't changed too much by then. I think the tool that's worked best for me in the past few years has been doing guest comics here and there, as well as using topwebcomics, oddly enough. TWC was pretty good for referrals when I started doing comics way back in 2006~2007...

sagaholmgaard

Since the topic is about promotion... Do yall know if there are any twitter hashtag events for webcomic creators? My friends in the indie game industry have certain hashtags that people can post in during specific times every week - do we have anything similar?

Kabocha

#Webcomicchat!

https://webcomicchat.com/for-creators You may also find this page helpful

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

#webcomicchat is great because you get to talk shop while talking about your own work! It's not just "look at my comic"

sagaholmgaard

Ahh!! Thank you!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I know some people do #WebcomicWednesday - not sure how official it is, but it gets some attention!

sagaholmgaard

I'll check that one out as well!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

There's also #comicartistsunite too

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

webcomicchat always looked like fun, but I definitively am on the wrong side of the globe for the times it's going on

mirandalorian

Promotion is difficult. I always feel like I'm being too pushy, even for something that's free. I also feel like I built up a following that had nothing to do with comics or art and so when I switched directions to head that way, i don't get the response I would like. Reading all the thoughts here has been really helpful tho. Just got to put them into practice

Feather J. Fern

I think my current attempt for promotion is at least being more willing to promote. I have to force my fear of "I shouldn't tell people because it's not as good as (blank)" and just shove my comic into a spotlight

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If anyone is worried about bothering people, putting variety into your promotions will make things more palatable for people for sure. I have one person on my timeline spamming the same exact post over and over again, almost daily, and it doesn't seem to be doing them any favors There's no need for a promotion every day. The people I see that do a more-obvious promotion tweet, like, weekly, or every two weeks, seem to get good results from that Sometimes less is more

mirandalorian

I need to get to that point Feathery. And ya, daily is a bit extreme imo. But I have to figure out the good balance

Feather J. Fern

Even weekly I don't do it because I feel like I am spamming and I feel awkward

Oh! Speaking of promotions, one way I found I got my comic promoted was by doing guest comics for other people! I got lots of viewers after each guest comic I did

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, for social media promo, e.g. on Twitter, you want to make your actual tweets have value -- not just things being linked off the tweets. (This is where gag-a-day kinda comics have an advantage, because each strip has entertainment value and you can just post the whole strip in a tweet.) Obviously this doesn't apply to every promo tweet; so like, weekly promo tweet that's solely about the links, as mentioned by others, is fine. But yeah, aside from those, you wanna make your promo tweets fun to read.

Feather J. Fern

Also cameos! Cameos are a great promo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not gonna lie, I am lowkey paranoid about doing cameos. Someone I know had to remove their cameo of someone else's character, because that other person objected to their character being in the print version of the comic.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh rip

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, that's rough.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'll never even print HoK but I can still imagine someone being all "NOPE, I CHANGED MY MIND" at a later time

Feather J. Fern

I am planning to do some cameos for other people, not that Go Figure will ever be in print but I can see that problem. I think what I would say is that if you want a cameo you have to be 100% certain

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Might be a good idea to have a very simple agreement thing you can have them sign

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was going to have a written consent form

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"I agree to let you do a cameo of my character, and to not be a jerk about it at a later time. Signed"

Feather J. Fern

Signed and dated by both parties XD

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also the broad hashtags like #webcomics and even things more geared to genres like #drama and #fantasy and so on. Doing art memes helps sometimes, too.

mirandalorian

What do you think the best hashtags to use are? Is webcomics too saturdated?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not sure about the best hashtags, but my biggest thing about hashtags on Twitter : don't use a bunch of hashtags in a single tweet!

For broad hashtags like #webcomics or #fantasy, I gotta wonder if anyone's actually checking those out...

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, I usually tag my update posts with #webcomic and my comic's name, but honestly I have no idea if #webcomic has ever helped out my post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mirandalorian

Ya, I typically keep it to two or less, but i always wonder if webcomic is actually useful lol

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

takes note to use something more specific than #webcomic in my next update tweet

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think it may potentially be useful as a label for someone who's just found you on that platform, and is not sure what you're promoting. But beyond that...

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I usually use #historicalfiction and #webcomic. Not sure which one helps more, but well, there it is.

mirandalorian

Ya, I should use the genre tag too.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do people even search genre tags for that matter lol (a bit pessimistic, but still a genuine question)

like, I'll be the first to admit, I don't hashtag search to look for new comics to read. I don't think I ever hashtag search ANYTHING, unless it's like..... a very active trend that I am interested in (e.g. an upcoming video game that I'm looking forward to)

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Well, the tags are popular enough to be suggested by twitter so I'd think some use them, probably likeminded folk.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same keii. I mostly use hashtags to look for fan art, exclusively on Instagram.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also a trend of "art sharing" tweets. I have found a couple of artists and webcomics through that kind of event, but again, the turnover isn't anything to write home about.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I wonder if readers make use of the search more than us creators do?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I doubt it, Lee

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I never use it as a reader, at any rate, though I don't know if others are like that.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Though, actually that's not true, I have used hashtags to look at more things being posted within art events. So inktober, mermay, hourly comic day, etc.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But art event hashtags are useful, because -- like I mentioned before -- those tweets provide entertainment value without anyone having to click on offsite links. e.g. the #StartToFinish tag that's hot right now.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I have followed new artists from those tags though and then checked out their off-site stuff. It's definitely a more round about way than someone specifically looking for comics to read via hashtag

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

From my limited observation, when people are looking for comics to read, they tend to ask for recs rather than do hashtag search?

"Anyone know of some good magical girl webcomics?" etc

which is a bit of a bummer for us creators, because that is completely outside of our control. Nothing we can do about it.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

here's the popularity for the #webcomics tag

So SOME people use it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight) I'm gonna guess it's mostly creators using them to promote, rather than readers using them to search.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Also it seems to be peak in popularity in the USA

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) the graph implies interaction, really.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What counts as interaction?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

tweeting it and searching it

what I'm saying is we can't know.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t so much in Twitter, but I personally DO search hashtags on Insta to find new art.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's true, we can't know. I just personally can't imagine anyone searching for #webcomics to find stuff to read

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Insta is definitely hashtag game city.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG is a different beast

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Comics don’t generally gel so well with Insta’s format, though, so I’m usually seeking art and not comics.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

just to be safe, occasionally use it

To be honest, I'm probably more likely to find and become a fan of webcomics here on this server than any social media

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, I wouldn't say "don't use #webcomics" -- use it if you have no other, more specific tags to put. But on Twitter, you don't want too many hashtags, so if you got more specific ones... use those instead!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I feel somewhat self conscious in getting an instagram. But I'll get one most likely.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It might be a good idea to switch up your tags regularly? Choose two or three from a relevant list each update and see if any of those tweets get a noticeable boost in engagement.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah that sounds a good strategy

speaking of, any other creators into historical webcomics?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't seek them out, but there's some that I read.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

yours is touching upon the historical keii with the joseon-style elements.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's definitely not historical but yeah, got the aesthetics going for it!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah!

I must admit, I'm a bit starved for like-minded creators. I mean people that create historical webcomics. I know and follow a few but that's not nearly enough.

(if I'm babbling too much for creator babble please tell me!)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Babbling is fine! But this might be better for #general or possibly shop talk as it's not related to this week's topic?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

oh sorry, there's a specific topic here too?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, all the channels under CTP Activities have a... topic thingie that changes weekly

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

okay got it. I'll take it there. Sorry :/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't be sorry, be glad to chat about this stuff in another channel

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

With insta please be mindful that if you‘ll always post with the same hashtags, their algorythmn likely will assume you‘re a bot.

mirandalorian

Oh really?

I definitely did not know that.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yup, it‘s a big annoyance. At least it was that way half a year ago, how is the algorythm now? Nobody knows.

I kinda hate insta, but it‘s the platform with the most interactions for me, although I don‘t know if it goes beyound liking my panel cutout.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Instagram does it‘s darnest to lock the user into theor own ecosystem.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, hard same. I definitely get the most likes there, but I get very few referrals from insta.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Funnily, the only social media where I KNOW I got at least one reader from is pillowfort and their teeny-tiny webcomic comunity!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I keep wanting to hop over there, but also starting a new social media sounds exhausting TuT one day.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to start using PF

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s pretty chill, reminds me of the hey-day of livejournal, with great filtering - more intended to create many small communities than one giant pot like twitter.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t think any platform’s algorithms like me. I get very low engagement no matter where I post. I’m just not good at figuring out what these platforms pick up.(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I still have three invites left for this week.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Does cross promotion work for you guys at all?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A little bit? But I think my comics are a hard sell, so I generally don’t get a lot of referrals when I cross-promote with other creators.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s how I found this community; but otherwise, nope.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Now I need to check out your comics Lee. I'm intrigued!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Haha, if you want to! If they’re not your cup of tea that’s a-okay.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I still have three invites left for this week.

@chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa] if you don't have plans for those invites, I would definitely take one and follow you first

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

About the hashtag thing on Twitter..... I have found the hashtags #webtoon #webtooncanvas and #celebrateCANVASday to be particularly useful for those of us publishing on Webtoon Canvas. I have gained a few new readers from this, and the official Webtoon Canvas page often retweets when these hashtags are used.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

That's good to know. I'm planning to start mirroring on Webtoon so I'll have to be sure to remember to use those tags.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to fix my series on WT first. But I'll give those hashtags a try once that's been done

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I tried using webtoon hashtags a few times, but their page never retweeted me. It seems either random, or there’s some hidden requirement for getting a rt.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i use the tag sometimes but I found it more responsive if you have a vertical scrolling format comic

then they're more likely to respond to you

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh, yeah.... I use a traditional page format.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same rip

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I do combine all my pages into long episodes at the ends of chapters, so it’s kinda scrolling, but they’re just traditional pages stacked on top of each other, lol. WT definitely doesn’t like that, but I don’t have the time to reformat hundreds of pages.

Feather J. Fern

Also promo thought, I randomly joined people's streams before and then got hooked on their comics after seeing them draw on twitch or something like that

Pistashi

I struggle a bit with promo stuff, because I get too self-conscious about self-promoting and I'm the type of person that ends up doing too much of it or none of it

at the moment I'm working on making a press kit and sharing it with some blogs and networks about comics

but still, what I usually do is join groups and try to talk with people that works with art and comics

this is kind of more inclined to networking and meeting new people to talk about what we like than promoting my work to potential readers

nothing wrong with that, but looking with a more critical eye I still have a lot to learn about building an audience and reaching people who could become future readers

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I wonder HOW much a large social media following is worth. Insta‘s shown me that it isn‘t necessarily translating into readers.

carcarchu

in my experience followings on different platforms are non-transferable. same goes with having a large following on your comic itself, doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of followers on your art accounts. that's why they say "don't build your sandcastle in someone else's sandbox"

Pistashi

that makes a lot of sense

kayotics

If you’re building your following around your own content (original art, comic updates, etc) then the likelihood that the following is transferable is higher, but it’s still not 100%. You’re competing with everything else on their timeline too.

RebelVampire

i think a thing to consider with webcomics especially when it comes to social media is that a good portion of people who follow comic creators on social media are other comic creators, not people who are just readers. and the good majority of comic creators do not have a lot of time to read other webcomics. While there are certainly exceptions, I see those very few and far in between. So the conversion rates for social media right now are super low until the dynamic of the communities on the platforms changes.

kayotics

I’d agree with that, but also having a social media presence has definitely opened up some doors to being seen by other creators, many of whom are professionals. It’s good for networking, might not be the best for gaining and retaining readers.

RebelVampire

Oh yeah for sure. My point was about conversion factor

its factor in networking is a whole other matter entirely

and is indespensible

kayotics

One thing that I didn’t mention for myself is that networking has helped a LOT with getting new readers. Word of mouth, is always the best way to advertise, and other webcomic people giving you a plug can see some really strong results

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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oliverwxod · 6 years

Text

Bodyguard (Part 2) - Bucky Barnes

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Warnings: death, swearing, eventually smut in later parts

Summary: Tony Stark is a very rich man and with that came a lot of enemies. After a tragic event Tony decides himself and the people most important to him, especially his daughter, are in danger. He hires personal body guards. Bucky Barnes is assigned to Y/n Stark, the most troublesome, reckless Stark that there is.

A/N: had part 2 written and edited even though I only posted part 1 yesterday. This part isn’t very long, just needed it to build the story for the next chapters. So thought i’d post it now because every one is so lovely x

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Masterlist

If Tony thought Y/n having a bodyguard would stop her normal weekly routines he was very wrong.

He hoped she would calm down her partying ways, especially with all the danger surrounding them and the risk of the murderer of her brother still out there. But if anything it made her more wild.

Every other night for the past 3 weeks James found himself sitting at the bar or standing at the side of the dark sweaty room, his eyes boring into her frame as he kept a watch on her and the surroundings. Anytime someone approached her he was ready to make a move towards them.

One time last week some drunken guy had pulled her close to him to dance. Bucky immediately made his way over ripping him from her. Y/n wasn’t happy to say the least. Shouting at him to leave her alone and stop getting in the way of everything.

Bucky knew she had a lot of anger to get out but he wasn’t going to stand for her acting like a brat, so he dragged her by the wrist out of the dingy club. However, he found himself back in the exact same club a week later. He was watching her closely.

She had a drink in both hands surrounded by people she hardly knew. Dancing on the top of a table drunkenly, moving to the beat of the music that James hated.

At the start of the job he couldn’t help but feel almost disgusted by the amount she would drink, how she would be a drunken mess by the end of the night and he’d have to help her home safely. Listening to her talk about silly meaningless things.

One of the nights she babbled on about how much she missed her brother; Jackson , her eyes teary and James was glad she didn’t end up crying. He still didn’t really know her, but he had come to realize that her drinking and partying was how she escaped for a while.

Just like he did when he was working.

By watching her the past weeks he had learnt and understood more. Y/n was just a young adult who did make bad choices, but there were many reasons for it that he did not know of. But one of them for sure was because of the recent death of her brother.

He had read articles about it. He knew what had happened before he took the job, but he didn’t know Y/n witnessed the whole thing. He had stumbled upon pictures of the scene online, seeing Y/n covered in her own brothers blood from the fatal shot that hit her brother. His heart went out to her for that. Nobody deserved to watched their sibling die.

James was distracted momentarily as an unknown woman sat in the seat next to him, ordering herself a drink.

"Haven’t seen you around here before" she spoke, turning her head to look at him, a sly smile on her face.

"I don’t come here a lot" he replied giving her a polite smile. His eyes quickly flicking to Y/n who was still dancing.

"I know I would remember such a handsome face like yours" she winked, her hand reaching out to rest on his thigh.

A small scream and a commotion tore James’ eyes from the woman in front of him. He cursed under his breath before standing up. Y/n had fallen off of the table. Someone helping her up as she laughed hysterically.

James reached her, giving her a pointed look in which she rolled her eyes mumbling “killjoy” under her breath. She knew to follow him out of the club. Watching his back as he walked so she wouldn’t lose sight of him.

She followed him into the car, silently. She couldn’t figure him out. It had been weeks and they hardly said a word to each other even though they spent days on end in each other’s presence. Bucky was quiet and reserved, professional and polite. But she could tell from his eyes he didn’t want to be there.

"Who was the woman?“ She asked deciding she would actually try to start a conversation with him.

"No idea, ma'am”.

"She was pretty" Y/n spoke raising an eyebrow “did you get her number?”.

"No ma'am" She wanted to roll her eyes. How was she meant to hold a conversation with his short replies.

They were so polite but so rude at the same time. The car silence was cut by a loud ringing of James’ phone. He ignored it apologizing. It was silent again until the annoying ringtone of his phone filled the car.

. “Sorry” he spoke. But he it ignored it and it carried on ringing.

"Maybe you should answer it" she spoke. Looking at him expectantly. He did as she said, sliding the call button across.

“Yes?” He spoke ever as professional. Y/n could hear some mumbling not being able to work out who he could be talking to.

"Tomorrow" he said bluntly.

"No" It carried on for a couple minutes, his replying a being one worded and Y/n couldn’t help but wonder who he was talking to in such a way. He hung up, sliding his phone back into his jacket pocket.

"Sorry about that again m'aam" he spoke. She hated how he called her m'aam. It made her feel so old even though she was only in her early 20s.

"My names Y/n she spoke. So please call me Y/n" she said.

"Okay, Y/n" he said. Her name falling from his mouth.

"Who was it?“ She asked gesturing to his phone.

"No one” he replied shortly.

She shrugged. It wasn’t any of her business she knew. But she couldn’t help but be intrigued.

"Why did you become a bodyguard?“ She asked curious. She didn’t think he looked like he enjoyed following her around all day. "You must get bored”.

She knew for a fact he did. Always catching the dead blank stare in his eyes when she caught them from across the room in clubs.

“I’m good at it” he spoke.

"But don’t you ever want like … A day off or something?“ She asked. "Don’t you have your own life?”.

She must have hit a nerve as James spoke bluntly.

"This isn’t very professional" he said “I would prefer not to talk about my personal matters”.

She left it at that. She couldn’t be bothered to hold up conversation any more. Not when he was too mysterious and she couldn’t find a way to break through it.

“sorry” she said mumbling, a little embarrassed that he used that tone with her. She felt like a scolded child even though he was trying to still be professional “it wasn’t my place to ask”

“that’s okay ma'am. Forget about it.”

Ma’am. She almost rolled her eyes again but held herself back. She could not get through to this guy and it was making her uncomfortable.

It was frustrating. James was very frustrating.

Thank you for reading, you’re all absolute babes, the next few chapters will be a lot more interesting I promise xxx sorry if I missed any one in the tags xx

Tags:

@sectumsempra-beaches @im-patton @lovely-geek @fuckthatfeeling @roxytheimmortal @swtmckngbrd @albinotigerpython @hiken-no-stark

@urlindah @nessieaceman @feeling-straange @musicaltrinity @ahalolz @supercarricat @katecupcakekate @severuined @widowbite-legit @nerdyalienhybrid1987 @letaliabane @mrs-lovelace @chipilerendi @alihart @bellalikesplants @vogueworthy-barnes @mustbeaweasleyginger @gravedollie666 @liffydaze @dewy-biitch @ineedmorefanfics @bubblegum-love18 @amandatheboss @myfitspojoirney @person-born-winchester @madderson97 @thorins-queen-of-erebor @wolfsbxnee @thecauldroncake @musical-doll-x @wolfschild09 @thisismyfriend-tree @waaaaaaitwhat @queen-of-elves @bucky-barnes-doll @slender–spirit @liffydaze @honey-anon @madderson97 @chloe-skywalker @mackyboo21 @disneymarvelthe100fitness @vquezada84 @meowchickameow @jjsoccer11 @38leticia @gravewalkerray @bexboo616 @dragonselene

#bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes angst #james barnes imagine #james barnes fanfic #james bucky barnes imagine #winter soldier au #winter soldier smut #winter soldier imagine #the winter soldier fanfic #marvel au #bodyguard!bucky #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #avengers au

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magicallygrimmwiccan · 5 years

Text

I’ve Read This Script

Summary: It always ended the same way. He really should have learned better by now, but he hadn’t.

Notes: For the @secretsanders! Happy Holidays, @im-not-leaving-my-room-fuck-u!! Hope you enjoy my present!!

Also, yes, I forgot to put in a German translation, I’m sorry. I’ll explain what was going on there at the end, okay? :))

Title from Cleopatra by the Lumineers. Fight me, it works perfectly for this fic.

Can’t think of any trigger warnings... maybe betrayal? Mention of death (of old age)? Some non-descriptive blood? That’s all I can think of... let me know if you see something else! On with the story!

He swore to himself that he would never fall in love again, not after last time ended in disaster and the complete shattering of Logan's heart for the fifth time in his extremely lengthy life. He should have known better, he should have known that Declan would only end in heartbreak, yet he foolishly listened to his heart and trudged onwards, deeper and deeper into a relationship founded on lies. Logan sighed and rested his head on his arms, leaning forward until the ribs were digging into his marble countertop. Colours and scents and sounds pushes against the barriers of his mind, and Logan groaned as he realized what was happening. After decades of this curse, he still triggered it because he couldn't handle his silly, illogical feelings. Logan gritted his teeth and shook his head, attempting to clamp down on the leaking memories of half a century ago. He couldn't risk going under, he had work in only a couple hours, he couldn't do this…

His brain, however, would not listen to logic or to his pleas. These memories were determined to be acknowledged, to be remembered, to be seen, and Logan could not stop it, quickly losing the fight to the swirling technicolour vortex from his limbic system. He spiraled down, down, past kisses and missions, past stargazing and dinners, past betrayals and flashes of silver, and landed at The Beginning.

Lauren Johnson walked down the sidewalk towards her work, hurrying to her destination. She had awoken extremely late that morning, and while her employer would surely be fine with just this one instance of tardiness, Lauren did not wish to push. She was so focussed on her goal that she did not notice the change in traffic until she was tackled to the ground just before a loud screech cut through the air. She managed to push the person off of her and look around, her breath freezing as she took in the destruction before her. A car was flipped on its roof, flames streaming from the shattered windows. People were screaming and running, and Lauren barely registered a cool hand on her shoulder.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” a smooth voice asked, the hand squeezing Lauren's shoulder as they spoke. She nodded, still rattled, and turned around to face the stranger who had saved her life. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in her savior, the most handsome man she’d clapped eyes on in this lifetime. Amber-gold eyes gleamed above a pair of dark sunglasses that rested on a sharp nose and high cheekbones. Sleek brown-blonde hair poked out from underneath his hat, and a sharp black and white suit accentuated his slim, perfectly proportioned and muscular figure. In short: Lauren was faced with an angel.

“Er… yes, I am alright, thanks to you,” Lauren finally murmured. The stranger grinned and pulled her up, brushed her off, and then pressed a slip of paper into her hand before pecking her on the cheek and bouncing off. Lauren stood there, dumbfounded, staring after the vanishing stranger who had saved her life. Finally, she shook himself out of her shock and started to sprint for work. She couldn’t be late.

Logan snapped out of his memories, heaving. He hadn’t remembered Declan before, and he’d forgotten how… charming he’d been. How wonderful those first few months had been. He’d forgotten the moonlit rendezvous, the fancy dinners, the kisses after Declan returned from missions… He’d forgotten all the good as soon as Declan stabbed him in the stomach for accidentally helping another spy agency. He’d barely had enough magic to transform, so heartbroken as he was pushed backwards off the roof, the last thing he saw before the Change being Declan’s amber-gold eyes, now cold and uncaring.

Logan forced himself to his feet. He needed to let go of those memories; they would only hurt more in the end. With that, Logan locked cool rain, searing adrenaline, and amber-gold eyes back inside a heavy iron-wrought box and locked it. He could not be distracted by these meaningless romantic notions anymore; he had work to do.

He managed to stave off the memories for another month, until… until a shy, anxious, darkly-dressed boy walked into Logan’s library, checked out a book of faerie tales, and smiled at Logan with a smile Logan hadn’t seen for 300 years. The last time he saw that smile, it was on the dying face of a young Prussian captain, slain by a rival in the halls of Sanssouci. Logan managed to hold on until the young man left, but the second his final black combat boot left, Logan sunk to the ground, breathing erratically. His coworkers were used to this and bundled him off to the Panic Corner to allow him to become lost in memories. Logan screwed his eyes shut, blushing at the feel of warm tears, and tried to stop the flood; he didn’t want to remember her, he didn’t want to go back there, he didn’t want his heart broken again-

Ludwig Amsel stepped into the large ballroom, eyes wide in shock. They had never been inside a room this large or extravagant before, and they were honestly a little nervous. So many people, so many new faces… Ludwig couldn’t handle this. They wanted to go home already. Ludwig was not looking where they were going, and they found themself crashing into another person.

“Ah, es tut mir leid! Bist du verletzt? Haben Sie noch einen Wunsch, Sir?” the person babbled, their high-pitched voice cutting through the fog in Ludwig’s head. Ludwig shook their head and faced the person, their heart hammering in their chest. Short black hair framed a delicate, pale face. Blue-violet eyes locked into Ludwig’s own crystal orbs, and a deep flush rose on the soldier’s cheeks (for that was what he was, Ludwig realized, a soldier).

“Nein, mir geht es gut. Ich bitte vielmals um Verzeihung… wie heißen Sie?” Ludwig asked, extending their hand for a handshake. The soldier snapped to attention, flustered.

“Ähm… ich heiße Hauptmann Viktor Hinterberg. Und Sie?” the captain answered, voice high and shaky. Ludwig nodded and shook the hand, smiling bashfully.

“Ich heiße Ludwig Amsel. Nett es Sie kennen zu lernen, Hauptmann Hinterberg,” Ludwig returned, slowly releasing Viktor’s hand. Viktor flushed and stammered, causing Ludwig to smirk at the adorableness.

“Ich… ich muss gehe. Schönen Feierabend, Herr Amsel.” With that, Viktor walked away, leaving Ludwig alone in the centre of a crowded room.

Logan snapped out of the memory, still crying. His coworker Neah knelt down, large amber-gold eyes (so much like Declan’s, yet not at all like his) boring deep into his soul.

“Which one?” they whispered, gently squeezing his shoulder in a show of support. Logan sniffled, wiping his eyes with his Doctor Who scarf that Thomas had gotten him for Christmas only a few days ago.

“... Viktoria…” he whispered. Neah nodded and sat back, smiling softly.

“The Evans boy, yeah?” He nodded, and Neah nodded back again. “Do you believe that reincarnation is possible?”

“Of course I do,” Logan mumbled. “How could I not, after everything I’ve seen?” Neah shrugged and passed him a Rubik's cube to take his mind off of things and began to speak.

“Could you tell me about Viktoria? Maybe that would help. I know telling people about Laurel helped after… that, so maybe this could help you?” Logan pondered for a second before shaking his head. He wanted to talk about Vik, truly he did, but how was he supposed to tell Neah about all the little trysts as even the Prussian king supported them and gave them a room and privacy at his balls? How was he supposed to explain the sunshine in his stomach every time he saw Viktor’s smile? How was he supposed to explain the feeling of pure love and trust that exploded out of him when Viktor revealed that she was in fact Viktoria, and Ludwig had been allowed to reveal that he was in fact Louisa, but they had despised both names equally? How was he supposed to describe the feeling of pure… death, that came when Viktoria was stabbed through the heart by a fellow captain, jealous of all the attention Viktoria was receiving from Frederick? How in the world was he to speak about the cold, empty, hollow feeling of wrath as Frederick had the captain executed and Ludwig watched? It all still hurt too much to recall, let alone recount to another person.

Neah nodded before standing up. “When you’re ready, come out, okay?” and left him alone to hug the black cat plushie with the mismatched yes that reminded him so much of Viktoria’s sparkling green and brown eyes that if Logan didn’t believe in human reincarnation, he’d believe Viktoria had become this cat that he hugged and cried into on a weekly basis. There was… an odd sense of comfort in that thought, no matter how illogical and false it was.

The next flashback occured only two weeks after the Viktoria one, this time while Logan was out getting coffee with another coworker, Sascha. He walked up to the counter to order his coffee (black, three sugars, no cream), when the sight of the barista caused him to freeze. The soft blonde curls, the clear blue eyes, the freckles, the soft sunshine smile, everything pointed to her and Logan just froze. Sascha noticed, grabbed both their coffees, payed the barista, and quickly walked Logan out to his car, muttering assurances and soothing platitudes until Logan was safely in the car and the coffees were safely out of his reach.

“Okay, Logan, talk to me, what’s going on?” Sascha requested, pushing his sunglasses onto his head so he could look Logan straight (ha) in the eyes.

“B… barista… Pénélope…” he stammered. Sascha nodded in understanding and took Logan’s hands into his own, rubbing his fingers along the knuckles soothingly.

“Just let it all out, Logan, it’s okay,” Sascha soothed. Logan sucked in a breath and tried to stop this, but it was too late and he was yanked under, the last thing he registered in the present being Sascha turning the keys to start the car.

Léone LeClair glanced up as the bell above her shop door tinkled. “Good morning! What can I get you?” she called, turning to face the new customer. Her next question died in her throat as the stranger gave her a bright, sunny smile unlike any that Léone had seen before.

“Good morning! Could I take six loaves of bread, some eggs, and a bit of milk?” the stranger asked, blonde curls falling into her crystal blue eyes. Léone snapped herself out of her stupor and grabbed the items the beautiful girl requested, smiling awkwardly.

“Of course.” They exchanged payments, and the stranger left, leaving Léone feeling incredibly sad and lonely.

The stranger kept coming back, however. She kept coming back to buy more bread, more eggs, more milk. She came to buy butter and cheese and pastries of all kinds. Eventually, Léone learned her name. Pénélope Bisset, a weaver in the next town over who only came here because the products were cheaper and the people nicer, in her opinion. Léone didn’t argue with her.

It was about a year after Léone first met Pénélope when Pénélope asked the question.

“Léone, I love you. You are so kind and sweet and just… I love you. But… I don’t know how to be with you.” Léone’s heart froze in her chest. Pénélope felt the same way as she. They… they had a chance.

“Pénélope, I must confess that… I also love you,” Léone murmured. She flushed, shifting in discomfort, as she waiting for Pénélope’s response. Pénélope clapped her hands together, grinning.

“Oh, Léone! Thank you! I… I’m so glad!” Pénélope cried, dancing around. She paused soon, though, her smile dropping. “What… what are we going to do?” Léone thought for a moment before slamming her fist into her open palm.

“We run. We run to another part of the land and live our lives alone out there.” Pénélope pondered this idea for a moment before agreeing, and Léone’s heart fluttered. She loved this wonderful beam of sunshine more than she could ever quantify.

So, without even another thought, both packed a couple bags of clothing, food, and money and ran. They ran to the edge of the countryside, bought goats along the way, and settled down, telling everyone nearby that they were sisters to avoid being murdered. They raised their goats, and three orphaned children, and finally, finally, after 40 long years, Pénélope died, breaking Léone’s heart for the second time in her life. She held her wife’s body and cried, crying even harder when she realized that Pénélope’s sunshine had left, never to face her again.

Logan snapped back to the present, heavy tears fogging his glasses and dripping down onto his knees. He startled as he registered a soft, warm blanket wrapped around him and his coffee shoved into his hands.

“Logan? You good? Do you need anything else?” Sascha whispered. Logan shook his head, and Sascha nodded. After a few minutes, Sascha murmured: “... Want to talk?” and Logan shook his head again. A few more minutes of awkward silence, and then: “... Want to go home?”

“Yes please,” Logan whispered. Sascha yanked out his phone, fired off a quick text (most likely to Thomas), and then put the car back in gear to drive Logan home.

“Mi corazón, come here! I have something to ask you!” Prince Raúl called, his deep, smooth voice bubbling with excitement. Prince León poked his head into the room, confusion and concern stirring in his mocha eyes.

“Yes? What is it?” León answered, his voice high. Raúl spun to give him a large smile and presented a gleaming gold and ruby ring.

“We’re getting married! Well, in secret, but we’re still getting married! Isn’t this wonderful?” León’s eyes widened and tears bubbled in them. He was… getting married? To the love of his life?

“Of course! Yes!” León yelped, throwing himself into Raúl’s arms, crying and laughing at the same time. Raúl was just as much of a mess, grabbing León and spinning him around before pulling him into a passionate kiss. León giggled and smiled into the kiss as Raúl slipped the ring onto his finger. For just one moment, all was peaceful and happy with the two princes.

Logan snapped back to awareness, sobbing his eyes out. “Oh, sweetie, shh, shh, it’s okay,” a voice was soothing him. Thomas. That was Thomas. His employer. “Logan, I’m not mad, I need you to breathe with me.”

Logan tried, he really did, but nothing was working. Raúl had been the beginning of the end, the last time he was uncursed, the last time he was human.

A small scuffle, and then a new, cool presence was in front of him, telling him to breathe. He shook his head because he couldn’t, he was sorry but he couldn’t, he was too lost…

“Ludwig Amsel, I need you to look at me right this instant,” a soft voice firmly stated, cutting through the mess that was Logan’s thoughts. Logan’s breathing and heart froze. Only… only one person should still know that name; himself. So how… who… what?

“Logan, it’s Viktor. Viktoria. I need you to breathe with me,” the soft voice continued. Logan managed to finally suck air into his lungs, and the voice (Viktoria, but no, she was dead) cheered him on and praised him. Logan finally, finally managed to get his breathing back to normal, and he finally glanced up, only to meet one brown and one green eye, the same eyes of Viktoria.

“Logan. My name is Virgil, but you used to know me as Viktoria. I’m here, darling, and I need you to calm down so we can talk.” Logan nodded, still confused. How did Vik-Virgil know who they used to be?

Virgil pulled Logan to his feet, giving him that small shaky smile. “Thomas told me everything,” Virgil murmured. Logan swallowed. How had Thomas…

“I met the witch who cursed you, Logan. They feel sorry for what they did, and they decided to help me help you break it,” Thomas explained quickly, arms crossed over his chest as a warm smile dimpled his cheeks. “So, I reached out to the three who mattered, found out they all lived here, and told them everything.”

Logan blinked, surprised. The witch… was… sorry? “And Patton- you’d know him as Pénélope- and I are good friends, so I told him. He’s running to get you some tea; Sascha told us you like tea. So, Patton and I are friends, and Roman is Patton’s boyfriend- you’d know Roman as Raúl I believe?- so he’s with Patton getting tea. And I’m here to calm you down.” Virgil rattled off nervously.

“Ah… my… apologies for freaking out…” Logan mumbled.

“Hey, hey, no. No need. You’ve been through a lot, Logan, and no one is going to fault you for some breakdowns,” Virgil cut in, eyes fierce yet soft. Logan bit his lip. He didn’t believe him.

“Logan. Thomas has closed the place, so we’re going to sit down when Patt and Princey get back and talk this all out, okay L?” Logan nodded, and Virgil nodded before stepping back. “Now,” Virgil continued, arching a dark eyebrow. “Tell me about yourself?”

Notes: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Okay, so, the conversation was basically: Virgil apologizing to Logan after bumping into him and asking if he could do anything. Logan says that he’s fine and then asks for Virgil’s name. Virgil gives his name, Logan gives his, and then Virgil runs off in Gay Panic.

Hope you liked it! Happy New Year everyone!

#Secret Sanders 2018 #sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #deceit sanders #thomas sanders #some ocs #angst #fluff #immortality #mentions of magic

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